《Castle of Black Iron》


 1 Arrival of Black Iron Age

    Chapter 1: Arrival of Black Iron Age


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    After raining for a night, the breathless coal ash was cleaned off. Rarely breathing fresh air, Zhang Tie walked alone on the road to school. ¡°It should be more azure without the black smoke from the towering chimneys rising into the sky,¡± he thought while absent-mindedly striding over the black puddles on the cement ground. After it rained, the remaining water on the ground was black and smelt like the coal ash in the mill areas. While this city brought people a sense of safety, it also brought the feeling of being bound and the feeling of congestion. Looking into the distance, Zhang Tie found the huge chimneys to be pretty dazzling under the crystal blue sky.


    Teacher said that chimneys symbolized human civilization and guaranteed the prosperity and survival of human beings. Those upright chimneys, however, reminded Zhang Tie of his p*nis and the black smoke his seminal fluid. They polluted the air like how the liquid polluted his underwear. Although he couldn¡¯t remember who was in his dream last night, for the third time this week, he could feel something sticky inside his underwear. In this age that severely lacked living necessities, Zhang Tie only had four pairs of underwear. Two pairs were tailored from his father¡¯s torn sweaters, while the other two were his brother¡¯s hand-me-downs. As it was always raining these days, two pairs of his underwear were still wet, including the current one. He only had the last half-dried one left; therefore, he had no other choice but to go to school miserably in this pair of underwear.


    The half-wet, coarse cloth turned hard and felt uncomfortable in the trousers. As a result, he always felt pain on his d*ck. It also felt very cold; Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t help but shiver. What¡¯s more is the 15-year old¡¯s d*ck got damaged. What torture!


    It was said that human society owned rich materials before the Catastrophe. In that age, underwear was sold by the dozen. Moreover, many precious articles like cigarettes, wine, meat, and as well as various rare and eccentric goods could be easily bought from a place called the supermarket. At that time, an ordinary man could afford 40-70kgs of rice or wheat through a day of labor, which was enough for him to live for half to one month, or perhaps even longer. It was also said that a mysterious energy called ¡°electricity¡± was made; human beings could use it to do many unimaginable things. Additionally, people also invented many great weapons which made them the only ruler on the celestial body. They were so arrogant that they held everything else in contempt. Unfortunately, what waited for the heyday was the Catastrophe.


    Zhang Tie always thought that even the gods could not stand the unending greed of humans; therefore, it launched the Catastrophe and created the Star of God. As punishment, the gods beat human beings back from their peak into a simpler age. As a result, human beings lost all the magical powers brought by science and technology. They had neither electricity, nuclear power, explosives, nor those amazing weapons. According to the most accepted saying, there was some particle in the unknown rays carried by the Star of God that greatly changed all micro components of the substances on the celestial body. Take the original star as a pot of plain water. Once the almighty god or any celestial beings found human beings uncomfortable, they could spray a hand of salt or pepper powder onto it casually, and as a result, the plain water was no longer plain. Likewise, the star was not the very same either.


    After the catastrophe, what people felt was fortunate might be that steel and iron were still as hard as before; they could be used to cast into cutleries, swords, and armors for the army. Black coal was still combustible; they could still bring light, heat, and energy to human beings. In other words, everything made from the above two such as cutleries, swords, armor, thermal energy, and steam engines would be the last dependence of human beings in this age¡­


    It was more than a 40 minutes walk distance between home and school. Zhang Tie had to go through the slums in the western parts of Blackhot city and the barren region at the margin of the urban mill district before he arrived at school. The name of Blackhot City originated from the Blackhot Mountain next to the city. It was said that Blackhot Mountain was one of the longest mountain ranges on Kun¡¯ang Continent before the Catastrophe. Back then, people created an aircraft that could fly faster than sound; however, it still took the aircraft several months to fly across the range from one end to the other. Take Blackhot City for instance. It was actually a fine branch south of the Blackhot Mountain Range. It stretched over 20,000km, a length that many people would not traverse in their whole lives.


    When the Catastrophe arrived, the Kun¡¯ang Continent, which covered hundreds of millions of square miles, was divided into pieces due to the tremendous geological and plate movements, akin to a loaf of bread being split by kids. Numerous parts formed, while the others directly disappeared. Through vicissitudes, people today could not imagine the magnificence of Blackhot Mountain and the grandeur of this vast continent. Even now, the world was still too large for everyone. The location 800km west and north of Blackhot City has yet to be explored; it was still an unknown. However, the area where Blackhot City was located, south of the Blackhot Mountain Range, covered more than 400 million square km. More than 9 billion lived here. It was a gathering of numerous countries, city-states, and clan forces; however, it was merely a slim and narrow belt on the map of the whole continent. With lofty mountains on the northernmost and westernmost regions and vast oceans on the southernmost and easternmost regions, it was the area with high population density. On the map, it was named the Corridor of Blackson Human Clan.


    After the Catastrophe, it took human beings about 100 years to find out what happened to the planet when the Catastrophe fell. It then took the remaining people almost 100 years to recover slightly. Unexpectedly, they found that human beings were no longer the only ruler of the planet. Those eccentric demons and dark clans from underground took human beings as delicious dim sum and slaves. They made the planet dangerous and posed several challenges to the survival of human beings.


    Today marked the 889th year on the Black Iron Calendar after the Catastrophe. Human survivors continued to multiply and now stood firm on the Kun¡¯ang Continent once again. Furthermore, driven by countless steel, iron, and steaming machines, they became ambitious to further explore the planet and convince the world that they were the rightful rulers once more.


    Blackhot City was younger than 40 years; it was the symbol of humankind''s rejuvenation and re-ignition of ambition. It was young compared to the numerous human countries and city-states in the southern area of the Blackhot Mountain Range. Blackhot City was founded by businessmen and mill owners. As an industrial city, it occupied a seat in the Andaman City-State Alliance Parliament. Same as most emerging cities in this age, the city relied on rich resources, which included rich coal and mineral resources. The entire city and its 3 million inhabitants were depending on the rich resources from underground the city. It was ruled by the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation of Blackhot City (CSIF). Numerous steam locomotives would carry coal, steel, iron, cutleries, swords, and armors, as well as other weapons and equipment, out of this city from factories. Meanwhile, they also transported in goods from outside the city.


    Under the most firm chimney was the mill where Zhang Tie¡¯s father worked. As an iron and steel mill, it almost always ran around the clock. Ever since Zhang Tie was born into this world, the chimney always emitted black smoke. It witnessed the human¡¯s decision to rejuvenate.


    When Zhang Tie arrived at school, he found that Captain Kerlin, the military representative and educational director of the school, was standing upright like an iron tower at the school gates as he usually does. His ox-egg eyes gazing at each student entering the Seventh National School of Blackhot City seriously. He was patting an iron rod like a toothpick on his other hand, which produced a frightening sound. No student dared to look at his scary face that was covered by a black eye patch. They all passed as fast as they could, with their heads lowered.


    ¡°Stop!¡± A boy with bad luck standing not far from Zhang Tie was stopped. The thunder-like voice caused everyone to shiver. When they found out that they were not the one, they quickly lowered their heads and passed the gate while silently praying for the boy.


    The poor boy turned pale. When he saw Captain Kerlin walking towards him, his legs shook heavily as he staggered, ¡°Captain¡­ Kerlin¡­¡±


    As the most terrifying one-eyed man in the school, perhaps even in the whole Blackhot City, he preferred Captain Kerlin instead of Director Kerlin. It was a precious experience accumulated by numerous predecessors in this school at the cost of blood and tears. As Captain Kerlin could fight terrifying monsters, any resistance or struggle in front of this terrifying man was in vain and would only make him more thrilled.


    Silently, Captain Kerlin simply pointed at the trousers of the boy with the iron stick in his hand. Perhaps due to the rain, there were some mud marks on the boy¡¯s trousers; that would be seen as guilty by Captain Kerlin.


    ¡°I¡­ I will clean it right away!¡±


    With his wrist raised high, Captain Kerlin glanced at the shiny watch, slowly and expressionlessly. He held that pose silently for more than 10 seconds while he patted the iron stick, which produced a horrible sound.


    Zhang Tie doubted that this guy aimed to just show off his valuable watch. When he patted the iron stick, it reminded Zhang Tie of a timber wolf wagging its tail.


    ¡°You know what will happen if I see you like this after school!¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­ yes¡­¡± the boy hurriedly rushed into school after having been remitted. When Zhang Tie was curious as to why Captain Kerlin was so kind today, unexpectedly, the one-eyed man looked at Zhang Tie¡¯s direction and rapidly arranged his mane-like hair. He stood upright, showing his well-developed pectoral muscles and made a magnificent pose. He raised his developed pectoral muscles and even shook them like a sexy lady. Besides that, a smile appeared on his ferocious face which almost frightened Zhang Tie.


    ¡°Miss Daina, good morning!¡±


    A fragrant wind blew past Zhang Tie, as a mature and beautiful lady passed by him. Needless to say, Zhang Tie knew who was coming; the dream last night became clear now. Zhang Tie became breathless when he saw that exaggerated, undulant curve of her waist and hip from behind. With her beautiful curly brown hair, Goddess Daina entered the school gate under the thirsty look of all the male animals. The proud goddess nodded to the one-eyed man who greeted her. He instantly became thrilled, and his face turned red. As a result, the iron stick in his hand was bent, reflecting his horrible face.


    Miss Daina was the very woman that all male students in the school desired to see in their dreams; they also fantasized about her when they masturbated. Her husband had died in the front lines soon after they got married. She was the goddess and the only scenery in the school. She was the flower on the cliff and the person whom Zhang Tie fell in love with secretly. She made the young beasts live an enthusiastic life.


    ¡°In two more years, I can afford a house downtown!¡± shouted the one-eyed man towards her back like a lion in heat ¡ª No, a disgusting and horny boar. Zhang Tie would even like to kill and replace him when he thought of the scene where Goddess Daina is groaning painfully under him¡­


    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± glancing at the rest of the people maliciously, the one-eyed man shouted. As a result, everybody, including Zhang Tie, lowered their heads and rolled through the school gates. Zhang Tie greedily smelt the last fragrance in the air. That beautiful and mature figure always made Zhang Tie self-abated. He was not even brave enough to have a face-to-face look at her. If Goddess Daina was a noble and beautiful swan flying elegantly over the tranquil late, then Zhang Tie felt that he would be a wild duckling that fell into a quagmire full of coal ash. Lowering his head, Zhang Tie gazed at the pair of old leather boots and became somewhat frustrated. What could a poor student like him give to Goddess Daina? Even Captain Kerlin was striving for her? **? How long would it take him to live downtown with high city walls like Captain Kerlin? Thirty or forty years? Thinking of this, Zhang Tie suddenly turned blue. However, the very thing inside his trousers, once again, became hard once he smelt the fragrance of a mature female in the air¡­


    On the stony wall before him, several words were carved into it ¡ª WELCOME TO THE AGE OF BLACK IRON

 2 National Male Middle School

    Chapter 2: National Male Middle School


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    The Seventh National School in Blackhot City was a standard male school; there were literally no female students in the school. Courses for male students were completely different from those for female students. For the purpose of conserving resources and increase teaching efficiency, boys and girls were separated into different schools after five years of compulsory preliminary education in the same school. All courses in the school for males were for survival. Each young man entering school should be able to accumulate their survival assets in the fastest speed and at the least cost! Each graduate had no graduation certificate at all; the best certificate was surviving in this world. Thus, each course in the school was closely related to your survival. In the male school, besides learning basic Chinese, laws, and math, they also had to learn skills like taking care of seeds, letting it mature, and turning grains into food. In contrast, education in the female school would be more human-friendly with courses like music, literature, cooking, fine arts, and dance.


    How to use all resources near you and turn them into basic survival tools.


    How to use convenient resources and build the simplest house.


    How to identify and avoid attacks from dangerous wild animals.


    How to make basic medicine with wild plants.


    How to deal with several common diseases.


    How to use weapons.


    How to increase your own physical strength...


    After eight years of national compulsory education, 99% of the common graduates would leave school and enter society. They had to start their own lives. If you had learned well at school, you could be a tenant with a hoe, a worker inside a factory, or a soldier in the army ¡ªor the food of alien clans or cannon fodder, although you have a little training. The national education spirit in the Age of Black Iron was to cultivate survivors instead of wild animal wastes, in the most efficient means and at the least cost.


    Of course, same as before the Catastrophe, compulsory education in this age was not the greatest. After eight years of compulsory education, only a few elite students with a strong background or exceptional talents were qualified to learn more professional knowledge and receive true elite education in more senior and mysterious places. Naturally, Blackhot City didn¡¯t have any senior elite colleges at all since it was founded by a group of businessmen and mill owners. It only had an ordinary commercial school which was already much-in-demand for commoners.


    Only the human cities with deeper cultural deposits and core agglomerations owned true elite colleges; however, they had strict enrollment conditions that only one in ten thousand students could be enrolled. To put it simply, the Seventh National School in Blackhot City had one thousand graduates each year. Despite this, for eight consecutive years, it failed to cultivate a single graduate that was qualified to enter a true elite college. Eight years ago, a Chinese talent named Li Shizhen was selected by the Continental Alchemists Trade Union. He was directly taken away after graduation. The man became the pride of the entire school, and as a result, his personal photo was hung in the exhibition room of the school for eight years. In each general assembly, the headmaster would always talk about Li Shizhen¡¯s glorious past. The other two photos that were hung together with Li Shizhen¡¯s photo were both legendary graduates from the school. The high-end education in this age was definitely true elite education. By contrast, the enrollment scale of ten million students a year in national high-end colleges before the Catastrophe was utterly a myth. Knowledge in this age was unexpectedly expensive and was only mastered by the minorities, a few clans, powerful schools, and all shrines and churches. Only the true elites could have the opportunity to touch that.


    Although Zhang Tie worked hard at school, he failed to become an elite or a lucky dog in this age where everyone was striving for survival. As none of Zhang Tie¡¯s family members or relatives were big figures, Zhang Tie was also common in every aspect. He was not the worst, good, elite, or crap. If it went on like this, Zhang Tie felt that he would have to follow in his father¡¯s steps. He might look for safe and stable work after serving the military. He would strive to be a common worker in a city mill and marry a diligent woman with common looks. He would have several kids and work hard like an ant for food for the whole family until one day, he would lay in bed, almost dead, recalling his miserable and dark life like a tiny screw in this age and missing the beautiful ladies like Goddess Daina whom he had met, but never slept with. Then he would raise his quivering hand and raise his middle finger towards this motherf*cking age before kicking the bucket¡­


    Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t help but shiver when this thought came to mind. He entered the classroom and swore to never live such a life. Although he had long made such a decision, he especially reminded himself to live long enough to have gold coins and sleep with enough beautiful women. If one day he had to pass away, Zhang Tie hoped for such a scene: a great number of beautiful and sexy ladies would weep for him, perhaps even die for him. Meanwhile, many disobedient children and grandchildren couldn¡¯t help but chuckle to themselves, or even LOL, that thankfully, the old man kicked the bucket.


    Zhang Tie imagined that he might also live those big figures¡¯ lives one day ¡ª dozens of pairs of underwear in the cabinet, dozens of pairs of new leather shoes, meat in each meal, and a personal maid with plump, sexy breasts and bottom...


    Zhang Tie always thought this way. He always thought that all big figures would never worry about food and clothes. However, it was unreachable like an ugly duckling rolling in a quagmire yet dreamed of being a giant dragon.


    About ten minutes before the technical class, when Zhang Tie entered the classroom, he found several beasts peering out the windows with one hand rubbing fast. Some of them even slightly groaned. Zhang Tie looked out a window, and what impressed him was Goddess Daina¡¯s big breasts as she passed by the flower terrace with her slim and supple figure¡­


    Zhang Tie swallowed his saliva¡­


    ¡°Bastards!¡±


    ¡°Bighead, what¡¯s up! Come on! Let¡¯s enjoy it...¡± the acne covered guy who was rubbing his d*ck out of his trousers turned around and suggested ¡°sincerely¡±.


    ¡°No, I saw Captain Kerlin heading for our classroom. You keep enjoying it!¡±


    Hearing this, everyone stopped and turned pale. Their d*cks shrunk in a speed that could be identified by naked eyes, like deflating balloons. Then the classroom was in general turmoil. Several people¡¯s flesh, even the pubic hair, was caught by the zippers. Therefore, howls and wails spread throughout the classroom. God bless. Zhang Tie would bet that Captain Kerlin would actually rush in and break their eggs if he knew what was happening in the classroom¡­


    Everyone instantly returned and pretended to stand in front of their operating tables. All of a sudden, the classroom became peaceful. Zhang Tie also went to his operating table and cleaned it casually. He then started to check whether the tools on it were well arranged. Ten minutes soon elapsed. When the bell rang and the teacher walked into the classroom with a large amount of things in hand, Captain Kerlin still hadn¡¯t shown himself. Relaxing, those bastards glared at Zhang Tie furiously, although they dared not to be presumptuous in the classroom.


    The teacher was a 50-odd year bald man; he always looked gloomy and spoke as little as possible. However, no one dared to look down on him, as the old man once made a pile of waste into a small, single-cylinder streaming machine in a single morning by using several simple tools in front of them. The streaming machine started to rotate when a fire basket was put on it. Besides the old man, every teacher in this age was great.


    As usual, when the bald man entered the classroom, he wrote ¡°man-made spiral spring¡± on the blackboard. He then began his lessons, and after that, he left formulas and relevant data on the spring winding ratio, compressive slenderness ratio, core diameter, and tensile strength and designated people to distribute his steel wires. Each student received three steel wires. Their work this morning was to casually manufacture three kinds of spiral springs. Receiving the steel wires, everybody started to work on their own operating table. Those bastards looked totally different from before since they were striving for their survival now. The bald man walked out of the classroom with a glass of water in hand.


    The largest difference between human beings and the powerful beasts and alien clans that only knew how to massacre was that human beings could create and use tools. Springs, although tiny, were applied in many areas. Undoubtedly, creating springs by hand became a survival skill.


    Getting his own steel wires, Zhang Tie thought for a while and got an idea. He kept the formulas in mind and measured his three steel wires in different lengths and thicknesses. Then, he started to calculate on a writing board. Finally, he had decided the shape of the three springs. Namely, a simple column compression spring, a concave type compression spring, and a column-type torsion spring with a round hook...

 3 Figh

    Chapter 3: Fight


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Each operating table was an iron desk that was longer than a meter. A rotary vice clamp was fixed on one end of each iron desk, and tools were placed in the tool slot at the front of the desk. The tools included: a hand saw, file, hammer, chisel, screw tap, incisor, straight steel ruler, divider calipers, scratch awl, and vernier calipers. On the other end of the table, there was a set of pedal-type grinder and an anvil that was placed beside the grinders. This was the most common and the cheapest operating table that was meant for apprentices. It was said that the senior operating tables were matched with a steam-powered module and a melting furnace. As for the experienced workers, a senior operating table was enough because they could make almost everything on it.


    With his plan in mind, Zhang Tie instantly put on his work uniform and wore his protective goggles. He then started with the largest steel wire. As he had no special steel wire control panel, he had to utilize the existing tools to process it. He fixed the steel wire and the wooden board onto the jaw vice. He then placed the core well inside and fixed one head of the steel wire onto it. After rotating it clockwise carefully, he checked and found no problems, thus he continued to rotate it. Generally, it was not that hard. After a while, Zhang Tie had almost finished his first spring. He counted the number of spring circles and cut off the excess circles on the anvil. He then grinded the two burry ends of the steel wire with the grinder, and finally, the simplest column-type spring was made. He tested it and found it to be truly flexible. Zhang Tie¡¯s spirit rose and finished the remaining two springs easily. It took him a bit more time to complete the round hook. By comparison, when Zhang Tie was working hard on a round hook with a chisel, someone else had already finished three springs. Finally, the bald man walked inside and answered the questions of the students who raised their hands. He checked each student¡¯s three works and explained tempering heat treatment on the springs. He emphasized that the ends of the springs should be round and tightened. He then solved problems regarding the coiling of springs and the creation of internal and external torque arm tools. The students then had another try. Three hours in the morning soon passed in this fashion¡­


    The students ate lunch in the school cafeteria. This was also a benefit of the school, although the food was not that good. They often saw no oil for a couple of weeks, and the food could only sated their hunger, but was not enough to fill them. Even then, the crowd that rushed towards the cafeteria at lunch time was really horrible. According to the arrangements of the school, cafeterias were divided by grades, and even the number of diners was fixed. As the number of dining plates was always less than the number of students in each grade¡¯s cafeteria, there were always some people with bad luck that failed to get their lunch at each noon. As a result, they would directly pass out on the playground where they accepted military skills training in the afternoon. Zhang Tie himself had encountered this occasion twice. From then on, he deeply understood the first rule in the Age of Black Iron, namely striving to fill his stomach.


    The only rule in the school cafeteria was to line up; therefore, if you didn¡¯t want to part of the starved group, you would have to line up as soon as possible. Besides that, you should also be strong enough in case of aggression from others. Certainly, luck was also very important.


    Take this time for instance.


    Zhang Tie was standing in the middle of the line. After three hours of classes, the group of fifteen or sixteen-year-old male students were starved. The line was already long, while many students continued to in. Thankfully, Zhang Tie slipped away extremely fast after class. Otherwise, he might have had no food today. When the slowest students arrived at the end of the line gloomily, the students at the front had already gotten their lunch and were ready to eat it. Right then, the noisy school cafeteria suddenly became quiet. Zhang Tie looked back and found a group of people led by Glaze swaggering over. Although they arrived last, they didn¡¯t line up at all. Instead, they strutted directly to the front of the line. Seeing this group, the students who had just received the dining plates turned pale.


    F*ck, disgusting craps. They do this every noon! Zhang Tie verbally abused inwardly.


    ¡°Ho ho, sorry to trouble you today!¡± They moved in front of the students who were receiving lunch. Speaking kindly, they showed off an arrogant air with their heads raised and nose towards the sky. They crossed their arms while showing a smile of ridicule. They looked at the students, whose faces had already turned pale, like what a cat would do to a mouse.


    ¡°Mother f*ckers! They¡¯re really arrogant!¡± Zhang Tie abused in a low voice.


    ¡°You can also be arrogant and grab others¡¯ food like them if you are able to beat them!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s said that Glaze has already passed the examination and is qualified to be a LV 2 soldier. Two burning points inside him have already been ignited. Seventh National Middle School has not seen such a great figure for many years!¡±


    TL note: The more burning points ignited, the greater the soldier would be.


    ¡°He was just born strong; he nothing to be proud of. They are just simple-minded guys with well-developed limbs. Are they attracting the school party in this naive method just to gain a recommendation?¡±


    ¡°Humph¡­ humph¡­ no more jealousy. He¡¯s born with that exceptional aptitude, and they are much stronger than us, so we should stay away from them¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°He has a great dad, a big figure in the CSIF!¡±


    ¡°Big figure? Bah! He¡¯s just a head guard !¡±


    ¡°Naturally, those behind him are also big figures!¡±


    ¡°I will never concede to that motherf*cker! No matter the reason!¡±


    ¡°They will beat you when you walk out the school gate, and it will take you one month to get up. Isn¡¯t that enough of a reason?¡±


    When the people beside Zhang Tie discussed in a low voice, the boys being grabbed walked over dejectedly. When seeing the unlucky fellows, some showed looks of sympathy, while others looked cold. However, nobody dared to comfort them, not even with a single word. Each student at the school had to strive for themselves. This was why the cafeteria was several dining plates short everyday. If you didn¡¯t fight for yourself, nobody would fight for you. As for the weak people, they had no options. They either had to submit to humiliation or suffer from nosebleeds and broken bones.


    Seeing the gloomy and embarrassed passersby reminded Zhang Tie of something. What would I do if it were me? What if they grab my beloved Daina instead of just a dining plate? What would I do? Zhang Tie suddenly became worried. It seemed that he had already seen the desperate and weeping face of Miss Daina. The teenager felt painful inside.


    Never¡­¡­


    The youth growled inside like a beast


    ¡­¡­


    The second floor of the cafeteria was for teachers. There were also several pairs of eyes peering over from behind the glass wall.


    ¡°LV 2 soldier. He was so powerful in front of those kids. Glaze himself could easily beat a dozen of them easily. He has such a physical advantage!¡±


    ¡°The group led by Glaze was composed of four people. By comparison, there were several hundred people behind them. They simply understood half of teachers¡¯ patient lessons and had learned how to compete and fight for their own lives, but they ignored the other half ¡ª teamwork, which was extremely critical to their survival¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°This was the difference between human beings and beasts. No matter how weak they are alone, weak individuals can be powerful enough to take down a strong beast once they have united.¡±


    ¡°They might understand this in the future...¡±


    ¡°I will see who among them can realize it first!¡±


    The voices behind the glass wall gradually became unclear amidst the sounds of friction from the forks and knifes and the crunching of food.


    Although Zhang Tie had no appetite, he still ate his poor lunch. He then queued up and seriously washed his dining plates and dinnerwares under a water faucet. After giving them back to the cafeteria, he felt somewhat frustrated, as the desperate and weeping face of Daina constantly appeared in his mind as if it truly had happened. He walked away with his head lowered; he became more depressed whenever he occasionally noticed the pair of heavily worn leather shoes with two patches on it. When he walked into the woods close to the school, he found himself surrounded by several people.


    ¡°Are you still satisfied with what you did to us this morning?¡± A fist had already landed on his stomach before he had realized. Zhang Tie almost vomited his lunch. Bending over painfully, Zhang Tie finally realized what was happening. ¡°!@#$! I¡¯m surrounded by them. I already noticed their hostility in class, so I shouldn¡¯t have forgotten that.¡±


    ¡°Beat him!¡± the moment the bent over Zhang Tie heard this voice, he found a pair of feet in front of him. Without thinking, he instantly tried his best to hug the pair of feet, and surprisingly, he knocked him over. Zhang Tie then quickly threw himself onto the opponent and punched the boy¡¯s nose before the he had realized what was happening. As a result, the guy fell flat on his back...

 4 Fighting Back

    Chapter 4: Fighting Back


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    In the woods at school, Zhang Tie was wrestling with that guy for a while before he got on top and punched him twice. Right then, he felt a great force hit him from behind, and Zhang Tie was kicked away from the boy under him by another foot.


    In response to the force, Zhang Tie rolled forward along the direction of the force and instantly stood up by using ¡°Carp Jump¡±. Carp Jump was a martial arts skill where a man would use the force generated by his legs, waist, and stomach to stand up when he is laying on the ground. The moment he stood up, he noticed two people pouncing towards him from both sides simultaneously. Zhang Tie kicked the person on the right; however, the boy was agile and instantly leaned his body while raising his leg at the same time to block Zhang Tie¡¯s kick. Feeling the pain, the man grimaced and seized Zhang Tie¡¯s right hand by using both hands. Zhang Tie threw a punch at the boy with his left hand, but another pair of hands seized Zhang Tie¡¯s left hand the moment he sent it out. The moment he wanted to struggle, a heavy kick landed on his stomach, and Zhang Tie instantly lost his will to fight.


    The whole fight ended within thirty seconds. It was predictable; Zhang Tie fought six adversaries alone without any preparation while his opponents attacked him after delicate planning. Compared to the other six people, the yellow-skinned and black-haired Zhang Tie was evidently weaker. He was 175cm in height and 15 years of age. By contrast, among the attackers, even the shortest among them was as tall as Zhang Tie, while the tallest one was taller than 180cm and was 1.5 times as heavy as Zhang Tie. This was the difference between races.


    Bending over, Zhang Tie continued to vomit as his two arms were held up by his attackers. The attackers groaned and rubbed the areas where Zhang Tie had previously hit them before they surrounded Zhang Tie. The boy who Zhang Tie hit ferociously also stood up. All of a sudden, the boy felt something salty and wet in his mouth, and when he touched it, he noticed that he was bleeding from his nose which caused his hand to be dyed with blood. Being irritated, he strode forward and punched Zhang Tie in the nose as revenge for what Zhang Tie did to him. As a result, Zhang Tie was dazed as his nose ached. He felt a salty liquid instantly cover the inside of his throat from his nasal cavity. Zhang Tie instantly coughed. ¡°Motherf*cker,¡± Zhang Tie cursed inwardly, ¡°what a quick revenge!¡±


    Soon after, the rest of the group began to punch and kick him ferociously. Zhang Tie suffered from more than 10 punches and kicks. Had he not been supported, he would have long fallen to the ground. Zhang Tie kept gasping for air; he felt like a suffocating fish that had been thrown into the sand. He didn¡¯t even have enough strength to move his fingers.


    A boy intended to give Zhang Tie another punch, but his hand was held back by another person.


    ¡°That¡¯s enough, Doug. His nose will be fully broken with another punch. It will be trouble if he¡¯s disfigured!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we made a deal. No more punches and don¡¯t kill him. Motherf*cker, the zipper tore off my hair this morning. It¡¯s still aching now¡­¡± explained the guy who held Zhang Tie¡¯s right hand.


    ¡°Bighead has average performance during the usual paired exercises. Unexpectedly, the two of us alone might not have been enough to control him today!¡± said Barley, the most goddamned horny fatty in the class and the one who had suggested Zhang Tie to enjoy the view this morning. The acne covered boy was the founder and organizer of the jerk-off campaign and was one of the most infamous scums in his grade at Seventh National Male Middle School. He had stolen his father¡¯s money and sought for a prostitute to end his virgin status. He always treated this as glory and showed off constantly in front of others.


    Doug hurriedly rolled paper into slim columns and inserted them into his nostrils to stop the bleeding. Raising his head, he pointed at his nose madly and showed the wounds to the others. ¡°F*ck, you¡¯re not as wounded as me. How do I have such damn bad luck¡­¡±


    He gave another punch to Zhang Tie¡¯s stomach in anger. As a result, Zhang Tie completely poured out his lunch like a fountain; a great amount of wet and steaming vomit sprayed onto Doug¡¯s head. The others were stunned. Looking at Doug, who had paper columns still inside his nostrils, being sprayed by Zhang Tie¡¯s vomit caused everyone¡¯s face to twitch. Everyone tried to control the compulsion to laugh out. The two helpers beside Doug also moved back two steps with their hands pinching their noses. Similarly, the two men who were clasping Zhang Tie¡¯s arms also let him go instantly. They were really afraid of being sprayed on by Zhang Tie when he turned his head around.


    ¡°Argh¡­¡± screamed Doug weirdly before he rushed away in an unprecedented speed.


    Seeing Doug run away, the five other guys began to laugh out loudly. Zhang Tie recovered his composure after vomiting; he gasped for air and struggled to stand up. Noticing this, the two guys closest to him became alert and moved one step back. They were afraid of being sprayed on by Zhang Tie, who, at that point, could not even walk.


    Zhang Tie stood to attention quiveringly and gazed at the bear-sized figure behind the group. He squeezed out a smile as he said, ¡°Captain Kerlin¡­¡±


    ¡°Haha, you plan to attack us when we turn around? Bighead, do you think we¡¯re idiots? You read too many crap novels about knights!¡±


    ¡°Do you want another beating!?¡±


    ¡°Too young, too naive! We have not used that trick for many years¡­¡± the pudgy Barley grinned shamelessly as he shrugged his shoulders with jumping fat.


    ¡°Really?¡± a horrible voice was heard behind them. All of a sudden, the five pleasant individuals were like frozen Mandarin ducks. Being rigid all over, their faces turned pale, and they kept sweating, as their legs begun to shake. Zhang Tie was really amazed at the series of difficult performances and movements in such a short period of time. Hearing Captain Kerlin¡¯s voice, Zhang Tie looked calm, yet his brain spun rapidly...


    With his arms crossed, the most terrifying one-eyed man in Blackhot City wandered out from the woods behind them. Although he only had one eye, the way he gazed at people was like how a timber wolf would when they stared at chicks.


    ¡°Ca¡­ Ca¡­ Captain Kerlin!¡± the five people staggered in unison.


    ¡°What happened?¡± raising his head, Captain Kerlin asked with his nose facing the sky.


    ¡°We are¡­ are¡­¡± staggered Barley, who was stopped by Captain Kerlin with a crude look.


    ¡°Shut up, it¡¯s not your turn to speak!¡± Captain Kerlin stared at them with wide eyes and pointed at the miserable Zhang Tie with a finger as strong as a wooden club. ¡°You! Tell me what happened!¡±


    Hearing Captain Kerlin ask Zhang Tie, the group of five instantly turned blue. They were scared to death. With eyes opened widely, they stared at Zhang Tie with a frightened, imploring, and desperate look. If Zhang Tie told the truth, Barley dared to bet with his ass that when the captain knew that his beloved goddess was dirtied by some students this way, he would definitely make them impotent for the rest of their lives. Because of the special education system and courses, Blackhot City allowed a couple of injuries or deaths each year in each national middle school with no one who would claim responsibility for them.


    ¡°Yes sir, Captain Kerlin. We were betting¡­¡± Zhang Tie made a decision inside. He considered fights between boys in the male middle school to be normal. In the recent years, he had fought with others many times. Although he suffered a little bit this time, it was still fine. Afterall, his father always taught him to forgive other people, and once he did, he would insist that they need to compensate him for what they did.


    ¡°Betting¡­?¡± Captain Kerlin frowned slightly and looked at the innocent Zhang Tie. He then turned and stared at the rest of the five, ¡°He said you were betting, is that true?¡±


    Betting? Of course, the five nodded like chicks who had been starved for three days.


    ¡°How were you betting? What was the wager? You want to lie in front of your smart Captain?¡± Captain Kerlin gazed at Zhang Tie.


    ¡°We made a bet that if they failed to beat me together, then I can beat them back and take all the money in their pockets! I¡¯ve won the bet, so I invite Captain Kerlin to be the witness and do the righteous thing for me¡­¡± Barley and the rest gazed at Zhang Tie and finally became relaxed. Some of them started to curse inwardly, ¡°He¡¯s still scheming for our money at this critical moment!¡±


    Zhang Tie strode forward towards them while cleaning his nose. He then punched and kicked each one of them on the nose and stomach respectively in front of Captain Kerlin. In an instant, the noses of the five continued to bleed with their heads lowered to the ground. They groaned painfully, yet no one dared to fight back.


    When the five stood up, Zhang Tie stretched out his hands in front of them and twiddled his thumbs with his index finger. Everyone knew the meaning of this¡­


    Getting paid for beating others, what a wonderful life!

 5 Hit-Plane Brotherhood

    Chapter 5: Hit-Plane Brotherhood


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Under the glare of Captain Kerlin, the five had no choice but to take out the money from their pockets. The least contributed was five copper coins while the most contributed was ten copper coins. Zhang Tie put the coins into his pocket without any hesitation. When it was Barley¡¯s turn, the damned fatty took out nine copper coins from his upper pocket and said while shaking and presenting an embarrassed but flattering smile, ¡°You win¡­¡±


    Looking at Barley furiously, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t say anything. He didn¡¯t move back his hand at all. ¡°Are you sure that was all of your money? You know what the wager was. All of it, all of it...¡± Zhang Tie stressed the three words. They had been classmates for several years. Zhang Tie naturally knew how much the damned fatty had since he was always the richest among them and always took groups of people to restaurants.


    Barley and Zhang Tie glared at each other for a few seconds as their nose continued to bleed. Barley noticed Zhang Tie becoming increasingly confident with his raised shoulders. When Zhang Tie pretended to open his mouth to release the news, Barley¡¯s fat face finally twisted as his acne filled face turned blue. ¡°Ho¡­ ho¡­ I almost forgot that I had some more¡­¡± saying this, with his eyes closed, Barley took out four shiny silver coins from his left pocket and placed them in Zhang Tie¡¯s hands.


    Seeing the four silver coins, Zhang Tie also opened his mouth slightly. ¡°I¡¯m rich now! One silver coins is equivalent to one hundred copper coins. He might have stolen his father¡¯s money again¡­¡±


    This was a ¡°huge amount of money¡± for Zhang Tie; however, Captain Kerlin didn¡¯t even glance at the silver coins. With arms crossed, he kept an eye on how Zhang Tie slapped the poor guys as one of his hands continue to stroke his short mustache, which was as hard as steel needles. Zhang Tie felt a little weak under the stare of Captain Kerlin.


    ¡°Erm, interesting. Boy, what¡¯s your name?¡±


    ¡°Zhang Tie!¡±


    ¡°You were good at being beaten. You dared to bet with them in this way. Well, I¡¯ll remember you!¡± saying this, Captain Kerlin left right away.


    ¡°Bighead, we¡¯re even¡­¡± raising his head, Barley sat on the ground so as to reduce the nose bleed. ¡°We beat you and you also beat us. You got our money, but you saved us. To be honest, we have to thank you!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome¡­¡± Zhang Tie also hurriedly took out some toilet paper from one of the trouser pockets. He rubbed the toilet paper into two columns and tucked them into his nostrils to stop the nosebleed. ¡°After all, we¡¯re students. It¡¯s ok to fight. I also didn¡¯t want to see anything happen to you, just like how you didn¡¯t want to see anything happen to me!¡±


    With the paper in his nose, he spoke in a low and muffled voice. It felt somewhat uncomfortable.


    ¡°Do you have more paper?¡± Barley stretched out a fat hand.


    Zhang Tie pulled out all of his toilet paper and divided it with them. The others instantly imitated Zhang Tie¡¯s actions to stop their nosebleed. After a while, the six boys looked at each other and felt that it was very funny. A Chinese proverb came to everyone¡¯s mind at this moment, ¡°With scallions into the nostrils, pretend to be an elephant.¡± Motherf*cker, it was really ironic. Everyone wanted to laugh, but they didn¡¯t.


    After murmuring with the others with their heads lowered, Barley solemnly said to Zhang Tie something that Zhang Tie would never have thought of before.


    ¡°After what happened today, we felt that you¡¯re good enough. Therefore, we have solemnly decided to invite you into our organization. We hope you consider it¡­¡±


    ¡°Your organization?¡± Zhang Tie glared at them in a doubtful manner. These craps shouldn¡¯t establish an organization. They were just a ragtag group.


    Noticing Zhang Tie¡¯s doubt, the crew pretended to be magnificent. Although their depressive expressions were not persuasive at all, Zhang Tie could still feel their enthusiasm.


    ¡°Out of blows, friendship grows. We have a good opinion of you; therefore, we have decided to invite you after discussion. Don¡¯t look down on us. Saplings today might grow to be towering trees in the future. Nobody is born to be a big figure. Once we have united, we will win a place in Blackhot City sooner or later!¡±


    The words moved Zhang Tie. Unimaginable. These guys should not be this ambitious. Compared with them, he would be the most timid one. Barley noticed that Zhang Tie was somewhat moved, so he continued, ¡°We will graduate this year. After graduation, we basically have to serve in the army for eight years. We may encounter dangers and frustrations. It is really hard for one man to survive in this age, but brothers can always help you with whatever you meet in the future. There will always be a solution. With the help of brothers, we will not be easily bullied even in the troops!¡±


    The last words finally moved Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie began to be interested in their organization. ¡°What¡¯s the name of the organization?¡±


    ¡°Hit-Plane Brotherhood!¡± said Barley proudly.


    Hit-Plane Brotherhood? Zhang Tie suddenly felt a chill when he thought of the scene from this morning where the group stood and masturbated in front of the windows. It was said that people had already invented an aircraft called the plane that could fly in the sky. Only god knew how and when ¡°masturbation¡± became associated with planes for the numerous adolescents. Zhang Tie could never think through how the dull and boring manual single-cylinder piston movement was related to that aircraft. He felt that the most holy place in his heart was stained when the scene of the damned fatty Barley masturbating in front of the windows that faced Miss Daina came to mind.


    ¡°I¡¯m willing to join, but you have to promise me one condition!¡± Zhang Tie told Barley after several seconds.


    ¡°What condition!?¡±


    ¡°Nobody is allowed to treat Miss Daina that way in school from now on!¡± the 15 year old young man felt great when he said this. Zhang Tie was a bit thrilled. No matter what, although he was weak, he could still protect Miss Daina in his own way.


    ¡°No problem, that¡¯s a deal. From today onwards, you are one of us!¡± the fat Barley responded frankly. It was not the first time for them to do this to Miss Daina. Even so, many animals in the school were doing the same thing every day; however, after today¡¯s event, the crew also realized what they did this morning was too risky. It was truly over for them if they were seen by Captain Kerlin. It was not an excessive condition while at school. No matter what, no one would stop them if they did that at home.


    Zhang Tie joined the Hit-Plane Brotherhood in this fashion. The crew¡¯s spirit rose with their new member. They seemed to have forgotten what had happened just now. Zhang Tie also didn¡¯t intend to give them their money back. He had made this decision, and if this damned fatty Barley asked for him to pay back in the name of the brotherhood, then he would instantly leave this motherf*cking brotherhood. Zhang Tie also understood the other members, which included Barley, Doug, Sharwin, Bagdad, Leit, and Hista. He was familiar with them as they were all classmates. The only contemporary rule in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood was being confidential about all situations regarding the brotherhood. They had no boss, and all decisions were determined through discussions.


    What amazed Zhang Tie was that the brotherhood was divided into different ranks ever since it was founded several months ago. Everybody agreed with the rules and considered it to be very fair. Barley naturally enjoyed the highest rank. According to Hista¡¯s explanation, Barley might be the largest contributor to the brotherhood; therefore, only Barley was qualified to be a Lv 2 member which meant Barley himself could vote twice each time. Consequently, a Lv 3 member could vote three times. As for Zhang Tie, since he was a new member, with the exception of Barley, he was only qualified to vote once like the others.


    When walking out of the woods, the fat Barley looked at Zhang Tie and hesitantly said, ¡°That¡­ the money¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s mine!¡± Covering his pockets, Zhang Tie looked at Barley in an alert manner.


    The damned fatty scratched his head embarrassingly with a bitter smile, ¡°It¡¯s fine. Let doug wait for another couple of days¡­¡±


    When the others heard what Barley said, they showed an obscene smile.


    ¡°Doug was really unfortunate today, hahaha¡­¡­¡± squinting his eyes, Sharwin laughed. ¡°What bad luck!¡±


    ¡°He had waited two weeks for today!¡± Hista shrugged his shoulders.


    ¡°Let him wait a few more days¡­¡±


    ¡°Then his face will be full of acnes!¡±


    ¡°Hahaha¡­¡­¡±


    Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t understand what they were talking about at all. However, he felt the way they talked was somewhat obscene.


    ¡°Hey¡­ hey¡­ you will know about it later. This is benefit for members!¡± Barley said secretly.

 6 Blackhot City

    Chapter 6: Blackhot City


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Zhang Tie had no idea how he was going to stand the hunger until school was over. He completely poured out his lunch earlier when he was beaten by the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood at noon, hence he had no choice but to stand the starvation. When he could no longer stand the hunger, he would drink water like a fish at a water faucet at school between classes. This was also a survival skill that he learned at school in this age. Drinking clean water like a fish could alleviate starvation and slow down the deterioration of physical strength. A person without food and water could survive two days at most, yet a starved person with only water could survive for more than three days. This showed the importance of water.


    What made Zhang Tie feel fortunate was that the class this afternoon was collective military drill, the class that consumed the least energy. In the training grounds for the entire afternoon, each undergraduate would wear infantry uniform and light armor and would carry a spear that was longer than three meters on their shoulders for training. They would perform formations and bayonet charges under the orders of the instructor. To be a level 1 pikeman and attain an emblem of a Level 1 pikeman symbolized the beginning of manhood and was the dream of most students when they served the army. Pikemen were the ones in the army that focused on formations and collective cooperation. They can be both the strongest arm and the weakest. A pikeman square matrix solely composed of first-ranked pikemen could easily defend against the attacks from enemies who were not in formation and had three times their number.


    Similarly, a heavy-armored square matrix composed of fifth-ranked pikemen was an important force on the main battlefield. With the citizens of Blackhot City and the millions of inhabitants that surrounded it, only three fifth-ranked heavy-armored square matrixes could be formed. This was the ultimate force used by the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation (CSIF) to rule the city.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s physique was not greater than others; he looked thinner and weaker compared to the rest of the group. He didn¡¯t really like this profession. Zhang Tie had difficulties when he brandished and pierced with the three-meter long pike, which was heavier than 10kg. In the later stages, whenever he saw his powerless pike, Zhang Tie would always doubt whether he would be able to strike and kill the enemy with such low speed and force. Speaking of the pike, even the damned fatty Barley looked better than him. Zhang Tie gradually felt weak after fifty attacks; however, the damned fatty didn¡¯t weaken until more than seventy moves. Clearly, Zhang Tie was the weakest one in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood.


    Although he didn¡¯t like this profession, Zhang Tie had to admit that even though he disliked it, the square matrix composed of pikemen brought him a great sense of safety. Whenever he stood in the middle of the square matrix conspicuously and looked at his classmates around him, he would always feel a sense of safety. This feeling was very contradictory. It seemed that this was the reason why a small figure like Zhang Tie felt depressed in such an age ¡ª on many occasions, you had to depend on those you disliked.


    When the afternoon training ended, Zhang Tie felt like his whole stomach and belly was like a sac full of water. Whenever he moved, the water inside would always make a sound which made him uncomfortable. Whenever he attacked, each time he made a slightly fierce, big movement, Zhang Tie would always feel the water inside his stomach dash to his throat like a rising tide with a weird taste. The moment it made his throat uncomfortable, it would fall back. His hands were always powerless. For several instances, Zhang Tie felt the instructor¡¯s sharp stare on him and felt reluctant to leave. Zhang Tie had no other choice but to grit his teeth.


    The coach especially paid attention to Glaze. The square matrix with Glaze was the most spectacular among the six square matrixes on the training field. Glaze, a LV 2 soldier, instantly displayed the difference between him and the other green birds. He was as tall as 190cm and wielded a standard military pike that weighed more than 30kgs and had a red-headed flag attached to it. Glaze stood out and commanded the whole square matrix. Under the appreciative eyes of the coach, Grace became very thrilled. He would always wail like a ghost and howl like a wolf for each movement. As a result, the whole training ground was filled with his howls.


    Although Zhang Tie despised him to some degree, he would never deny that he would be killed by Glaze within a couple of movements or perhaps in a single move. Glaze truly had the right to be proud. With the exception of Glaze, the rest of the students in the graduating class were just reserve soldiers, not even first-ranked soldiers. Normally, most people would be promoted to first-ranked soldier before the age of 18, namely two years before providing military service. During the eight years of military service, more than 95% of the commoners would retire at the third or the fourth rank, while a few of them would reach the fifth rank. Only professional soldiers and people who survived on the force might reach the sixth rank. Soldiers who were promoted to be fighters could gain respect wherever they were.


    The moment training ended, Zhang Tie removed his smelly uniform in the locker room, hurriedly wore his shoes, and rushed out with his hands on his stomach without greeting the other members of the brotherhood, who were led by Barley. This made the members of the brotherhood embarrassed, as they were preparing to greet Zhang Tie. As a result, they kept staring at each other with a vacant look.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him?¡± the freckled and brown haired Sharwin scratched his head.


    ¡°I saw him drink a lot in the afternoon. He might not be able to stand it!¡± replied Bagdad. As a black man, he was the strongest in the brotherhood. The training this afternoon was very easy for him. Naturally, he was the one with the highest fighting power in the brotherhood.


    ¡°Hoho, poor guy!¡± smiled Leit.


    ¡°I am the poor one!¡± Doug, even now, was still resentful especially when he recalled that he was sprayed with Zhang Tie¡¯s vomit at noon. Doug always felt that he was the laughingstock throughout the afternoon.


    ¡°Easy, man. Barley will fetch those silver coins for you!¡± Hista winked and made a obscene posture that everyone understood. Staring at Barley, he instantly became generous, ¡°We brotherhood members have to eliminate the status as virgin and become true men!¡±


    ¡°Trust me, you will have your benefit!¡± Barley comforted the sad Doug as he patted him. Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s shadow, Barley¡¯s fat face shivered painfully when the four silver coins came to mind. He shook his head. ¡°What an interesting guy! Although I have not seen what he¡¯s capable of, I find him to be smart and not bad. He¡¯s a reliable guy! At least I don¡¯t have to worry about being screwed over!¡± rubbing his chin, fat Barley said in an experienced way.


    With the exception of Doug, who was still sulking, the rest of the group nodded.


    Zhang Tie rushed to the washroom and had a long piss. He finally became comfortable. Meanwhile, his belly also thundered. Walking out of the washroom stall, he simply washed his hands and dashed out the school gate. With four silver coins and thirty to forty copper coins in his pockets, he had to find something to eat, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t even have enough strength to return home.


    There was a bakery a short distance from the school gate. Usually, Zhang Tie could only swallow his saliva whenever he saw the delicious bread. Touching his pocket, today, Zhang Tie was finally brave enough to enter this bakery. He spent 10 copper coins to buy a loaf of brown bread. As he devoured the loaf of brown bread like a wolf and exited the bakery, Zhang Tie instantly noticed Miss Daina.


    Miss Daina was always eye-catching. Captain Kerlin and another male teacher were talking about her diligently and gently. Zhang Tie¡¯s face even transformed with the bread still inside. Zhang Tie was suddenly stunned when he saw Miss Daina. Captain Kerlin didn¡¯t even glance at him, probably because he felt it was too shameful to be familiar with him. However, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t realize until they were far away. He instantly turned back and looked at himself in front of the beautiful glass showcase. With the half loaf of bread that he almost choked to death on in his hand, his mouth was opened while his head inclined. Because he continually trained in the afternoon and hadn¡¯t stopped his nose bleed yet, two paper balls were stuck inside his nostrils. His eyes were squinted like a crack, and his face showed that he had been beaten by others. He just stood there like an idiot with bread crumbs and saliva hanging at the corners of his mouth. He was clearly slow-witted.


    Miss Daina should have seen him just now? Zhang Tie became endlessly frustrated and gloomy. No wonder she didn¡¯t even glance at him. He really was slow-witted¡­ Lowering his head, he saw the pair of grinning and wretched leather shoes once again...


    The 15-year old depressed teenager felt nothing but frustration.


    Seeing Miss Daina leave, Zhang Tie felt the beautiful shadow was becoming increasingly far away from him. At this moment, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t even feel like following her silently for a distance. He stood outside the bakery and stared at those passersby. He finally finished the remaining loaf of bread with one bite after another. Then, in a sluggish manner, he walked towards the commercial area that was located in the eastern parts of Blackhot City. His parents had found him a part-time apprentice job through someone they knew. He had to work two hours a day for two days a week before going back home...

 7 Commercial Area and Grocery Store

    Chapter 7: Commercial Area and Grocery Store


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Naturally, since Blackhot City was founded by the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation (CSIF), Blackhot City had a rich commercial atmosphere.


    Its commercial areas were naturally located in the best place downtown; it was far away from the production area and in the upper eastern region. The commercial area in Blackhot City was very prosperous. Bulk commodities exchanges were established in the prosperous sections of the commercial region, and any trade volume there would make commoners scared. Rich coal, iron, and steel in Blackhot City made it a prosperous city. There would always be trains that carried the specialties outside of Blackhot City around the clock.


    The small grocery store that Zhang Tie worked for was also located in the prosperous commercial area of Blackhot City; however, it was much more remote and shabby compared to the magnificent facades and barracks of the large-scale business groups, free trade bodies, and exchanges.


    As the railway station was less than three hundred meters away from the store, its guests were from all walks of life. The store was close to a flea market that was founded spontaneously by local residents and foreign pioneers. It was very noisy every day. From the way they dressed, most people here were in the lower-middle class. People struggled to survive here. The people here hoped to become the very vendor in folk fairy tales who found a special object and became rich of it. Those fairy tales also encouraged groups of uninformed pioneers who traveled from afar to enter the unknown lands west and north of Blackhot City with their chests raised high. Naturally, if one had enough luck and foresight, they could also buy good items here.


    When Zhang Tie arrived at the grocery store, Donder, the fat owner, was huddled up on a lounge chair outside the store. He was enjoying the sunset afterglow and peered at the passersby with half-closed eyes. Unless a plump or beautiful woman passed by the grocery store, he wouldn¡¯t even slightly move his head. In the event that one passes by, he would always watch them walk off for a long distance.


    As usual, Zhang Tie¡¯s first task was to clean the store. Next, he had to check and clean the counter. Finally, he would adeptly calculate on an abacus. After a year of practice at the grocery store, Zhang Tie¡¯s largest achievement was that he now knew how to use the weird mathematical tool known as the abacus. This was a really practical skill that he had never learned at school. Zhang Tie always thought that it would be helpful for his development later on in life, as his father had always planned for him to be the bookkeeper at the Blackhot Coal Exchange. Naturally, he didn¡¯t need to think about it until he finished his military services. For commoners, It was satisfactory to find a job in the downtown area after serving the army, no matter the job.


    The moment he finished bookkeeping, a guest entered. Before the fat Donder sat up, Zhang Tie had already closed his accounting book and started to greet the guest.


    ¡°Excuse me, sir. What can I do for you?¡± asked Zhang Tie. The guest was a 40-odd year man who wore the uniform of porters from the Blackhot Railway Station and smelt of coal ash. Zhang Tie guessed that he was a passerby, as it was the closing time in downtown.


    ¡°I¡¯d like to see some white crystals!¡± said the porter while skimming through the cases containing crystals on the counter. Most of them were common Class-I crystals while there were also some Class-II crystals. White crystals accounted for the highest percentage among all crystals. Some white crystals were natural, while others were artificially created. Compared to the crystals with the same size and quality, double-headed crystals were usually more expensive than single-headed crystals, and natural crystals were much more expensive than artificial crystals, although the latter looked more beautiful. Nevertheless, given the effect, artificial crystals were still poorer than natural ones. It was said that crystals were just used for decoration before the Catastrophe. During that time, people had not known that crystals could be used to help humans cultivate. The usage of crystals had become a common sense that even street vendors knew about. Crystals in this age were a standard strategic material which supported the lives of many.


    ¡°Is this all that you have?¡± the forty-odd year man seemed a little bit disappointed. It seemed that he was not satisfied with these common commodities. Zhang Tie was slightly amazed by his expression since even common Class-I crystals were not cheap for commoners.


    ¡°We have something better, but they are more expensive. Do you want to have a look?¡±


    With a smile on his face, the man casually patted his waist pack. Zhang Tie knew what the man meant. He put on a pair of white gloves and took out a more delicate case from a container drawer behind him. Zhang Tie placed it on the counter carefully and opened the case in front of the man. The case contained four white crystals, two of them being double-headed crystals while the rest were single-headed crystals. They were crystal clear with little impurity. However, what was most attractive about the crystal was the hazy and pyramid-like fine sand in each crystal. The two larger two-headed crystals contained the better pyramids. When observed carefully, each side of the pyramid shined mysteriously. It was the divine workmanship between the heaven, the earth, and the natural combination of the energy in the universe. Not only could white pyramid crystals help the user enter meditation quickly, but it also enabled its user to absorb the energy from the universe faster and arouse their physical potential and vitality.


    As expected, much like Zhang Tie when he first saw them, the forty-odd year man didn¡¯t want to avert his gaze when he saw the pyramid-based crystal. Class-III crystals were the highest-end commodity in the store; each crystal¡¯s market price was more than two gold coins. In Blackhot City, a single gold coin could sustain a family of three for two months.


    The price of each crystal was marked beneath it. When the man saw the price of the crystal, he became hesitant and pointed at the single-headed crystal. ¡°Is it possible¡­ for the price to be lowered?¡±


    ¡°218 silver coins is the lowest price we can afford. Our commodities are all marked honestly. Pardon, sir, are you buying this as a present?¡±


    ¡°En? my son will be sixteen next year, and I want to give him a surprise. He¡¯s a genius!¡± saying this, the forty-odd year man smiled with warmth and pride on his face which reminded Zhang Tie of his own father.


    ¡°Well, 215 silver coins, and I will gift you a packing case and 100g of crystal sand. This is the lowest price we can provide...¡± explained Zhang Tie honestly. As the 40-odd year porter might have been introduced by a friend, he might have understood the situation and the reputation of this general store and knew that this was a very fairy price in Blackhot City. Given the bonuses, he agreed instantly.


    The man carefully took out his purse from his clothes and paid with two gold coins and fifteen silver coins before he left with the commodities and presents that were well packed by Zhang Tie. A business worth more than two gold coins was big even for the store.


    The store¡¯s luck might have been used up because besides two loiterers, there was no more business an hour after the man had left.


    Zhang Tie sat behind the counter with his hands supporting his jaw as he watched the street outside and thought about the events that transpired today.


    The sun had finally set, and darkness had arrived. The dead fish on the lounge chair moved and twisted as he stood up reluctantly and moved his chair back into the store.


    ¡°What¡¯s happened? Did you get beaten up today?¡±


    The boss smiled pleasantly when he saw the wounds on Zhang Tie¡¯s face.


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing, I fell!¡± responded Zhang Tie.


    ¡°Well, boy, no more pretending. It¡¯s nothing serious. When I was your age, I also got into fights often. Beat or beaten, it was normal. Fight back when you lose!¡± Donder lectured him generously.


    The only thing in Zhang Tie¡¯s mind was his stupid look when Miss Daina saw him. Hearing what Donder said, he couldn¡¯t help but murmur, ¡°What if I can¡¯t fight back?¡±


    ¡°Boy, so you¡¯re a green bird. You can always fight back. Only idiots and good-for-nothings dare not to win. If your opponent is stronger than you, then you have to surpass him with ten times more effort. Then, you can beat him with a more powerful strength. If you can¡¯t reach their level, you¡¯ll have to play tricks. Under the mask, you have to beat them stealthily!¡± the boss lectured him while making gestures. Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s idiotic look, the boss seemed to be dissatisfied. He patted Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder heavily. ¡°Boy, I think that you¡¯re clever, so I¡¯ll teach you what I¡¯ve learned in my life over the past dozen years. When you can¡¯t fight your opponents with your fists, then you have to compensate in this way¡­¡± pointing at Zhang Tie¡¯s head, he raised his head high. ¡°Listen! A soft tongue is sharper than any weapon as it can even break hard bones and smart brains!¡±


    The last words of Donder slightly moved Zhang Tie; he felt that it was reasonable. ¡°Who¡¯s proverb is that?¡±


    ¡°Donder!¡±


    ¡°Liar, I don¡¯t believe you!¡±


    ¡°Whatever, erm. I will not provide you supper as usual!¡± Donder added meanly.


    ¡­¡­

 8 Mental Arithmetic by Abacus

    Chapter 8: Mental Arithmetic by Abacus


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Walking out of the grocery store, Zhang Tie kept Donder¡¯s words in mind. Thinking of Donder¡¯s words, ¡°soft tongue is sharper than any weapon as it can break hard bones and smart brains!¡±, the depressed teenager felt a bit better.


    When Zhang Tie passed the flea market, carbide lamps along the street were ignited one by one. Lamplighters in the Blackhot City were shaking bells on their four-wheelers and parked them in front of each lamp. They climbed onto the poles, removed the lampshades, added fuel, and ignited them. When they left, sexy women with half exposed breasts appeared under the shadows of carbide lamps close to the railway station as the passersby ogled. A couple of those women gathered and talked about something to their companions. Following that, some of them laughed presumptuously and madly.


    Zhang Tie walked and peered at those women under lamps. They made him upset and gradually aroused his desire.


    ¡°Baby, come here to your aunt. Let me teach you how to be a man...¡± a forty-odd year plump and enchanting woman with red curly hair greeted him at the end of the alley beside a lamp pole. Zhang Tie could see her clearly. Looking into Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes, the woman slightly lowered herself so that Zhang Tie could notice her magnificent white breasts. She squeezed the two exposed balls outside the collar and groaned slightly, ¡°Mmm¡­¡­¡±. She then opened her mouth and slowly licked one finger. Seeing this, Zhang Tie felt that a muscle in his throat was shaking like a rubber band, his blood had rushed to his brain, and his crotch instantly rose up. Zhang Tie escaped under the lecherous laughter of the women.


    The flea market beside the railway station became really noisy at night. People from all walks of life appeared when the darkness arrived. Zhang Tie recovered his composure when he was almost 100 meters away from that terrifying and alluring woman; however, the untamed thing was still raising high. In order to avoid embarrassment, Zhang Tie had to pretend to hide his hands in his pockets so as to press down the wild thing.


    The moment Zhang Tie walked out of the flea market, a voice from a roadside stall slowed him down.


    ¡°Boss, you got all these things from the ruins?¡±


    ¡°Of course, look at this book. The characters on it are Chinese and Andaman City-States Alliance has no such publishing. Look at its cover. it¡¯s an abacus from a Chinese clan, a computing tool that could date back to several thousand years before the catastrophe. How could it be preserved so well if not from the ruins?¡±


    ¡°We are not idiots, I also know that this is Chinese; however, nobody recognizes it. Bullshit, what motherf**king abacus. Nobody uses such an antique at all¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you the truth...¡±


    Zhang Tie was attracted by the word ¡°Chinese¡±. He moved over towards the stall and squatted together with the other two in front of the roadside stall. Many things were placed on a water-proof cloth in a disorganized way. The cloth was no larger than two square meters. The only attractive goods were daggers and copper wrist guards on the four corners of the cloth. In the flea market, each stall owner would declare that their odd goods were from the ruins after the Catastrophe, and even idiots would never trust their words...


    One of the two beside him purchased a nice sheathed dagger for 8 silver coins and 60 copper coins. Then, the two went away, leaving Zhang Tie alone.


    The stall owner was a sixty-odd year obscene man with a red brandy nose. Once Zhang Tie spoke to him, he could directly smell the smell of hedge wine. The old man reminded him of an animal ¡ª a mouse.


    After Zhang Tie glanced over the stall casually, he took an abacus book and asked, ¡°How much?¡±


    ¡°This is a treasure from the ruins, so at least twenty silver coins... ¡± replied the old man treacherously.


    ¡°What¡¯s it used for?¡±


    ¡°Well, it may be a technical book on how to compute using an abacus!¡± the old man was also not sure about it. He had read it, but didn¡¯t understand its contents at all. He also invited an alleged expert to authenticate it; however, the expert could only identify some simple numbers inside. The contents were strange number arrangements like three three two two five five six six...


    ¡°What is it used for? Teach me how to count sheeps to fall asleep?¡±


    ¡°Erm, well... Sixteen silver coins, no less!¡± the old man added reluctantly.


    ¡°Do I look like an idiot? The book is no more than sixteen pages in total which is not even enough for me to clean shit. You want sixteen silver coins? No way! I asked about it out of curiosity,¡± Zhang Tie threw the book angrily. He was familiar with the flea market. If you didn¡¯t bargain aggressively, you would be ripped off by them.


    ¡°So how much can you afford?¡±


    ¡°Eighty copper coins!¡±


    ¡°Eighty copper coins?¡± the old man sprung up like a mouse having its tail stepped on. ¡°Boy, at least ten silver coins. I got this out of the ruins!¡±


    ¡°What motherf*cking ruins, I am not an idiot. There is no ruins within one thousand kilometer radius of Blackhot city. Even if there truly were some, they would have long been removed. It was never your turn. Eighty copper coins!¡±


    ¡°Nine silver coins, no less!¡±


    ¡°Well, as I respect you, ten more copper coins! ¡±


    ¡°Ninety copper coins?¡± exclaimed the old man like a pig being slaughtered. ¡°It¡¯s even lower than my price!¡±


    ¡°One silver coin!¡±


    ¡°Seven!¡± the old man gritted his teeth...


    After a ferocious bargaining for two minutes, Zhang Tie directly stood up and left instantly. Surprisingly, the old man shouted anxiously after Zhang Tie took five steps, ¡°No, don¡¯t leave. As you said, pay me four silver coins and the book is yours!¡±


    A slight smile appeared on Zhang Tie¡¯s mouth. Naturally, those outsiders didn¡¯t know the name of the book; however, Zhang Tie was stunned when he saw it ¡ª . He skimmed over it and found a mental arithmetic method that was related to the abacus. He thought it was special and decided to buy it...


    On the way home, Zhang Tie¡¯s stomach was already growling; however, Zhang Tie was satisfied when he touched the book in his pocket. In this age, knowledge was expensive and any skill or knowledge acquired outside the school gate was unique and precious. Zhang Tie remembered that Donder watched him for more than three months before he taught him how to use the strange thing known as the abacus. Even then, he still felt reluctant to teach him. Whereas, Zhang Tie found that only a few people in the Blackhot City knew how to use the abacus. Ordinary calculations were usually made on paper. As for superior calculation methods, there were metal hand-driven calculators in exchanges and commercial firms. Thus, the abacus seemed useless. Still, it was a special skill that could not be easily gained. When Zhang Tie noticed the abacus pattern and pithy formula on the title page of the book, he recognized the value of this book. Generally speaking, Zhang Tie thought it was worth the price. Even if its value couldn¡¯t be seen for now, Zhang Tie still felt it was valuable, let alone the fact that those silver coins weren¡¯t even his to begin with.


    ¡°Learn more, at least it¡¯s not harmful to you,¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s dad always taught him when he was young.


    His parents had always forced him to learn Chinese by slapping his hand with a bamboo clapper when he was young. It took him ten years to recognize all characters on the big-headed Chinese dictionary; it was Zhang Tie¡¯s darkest period. A dozen years later, today, Zhang Tie finally found what he had learned to be useful. He was a little pleased about this experience.


    Zhang Tie never trusted the old man¡¯s word when he said that this book was from the ruins. As goods from the ruins were at least one thousand years old, this book doesn¡¯t seem that old. He suddenly found several gloomy Chinese characters under the abacus pattern, ¡°Recommended afterclass reading for students¡±. ¡°I almost ready to enter society, yet I don¡¯t know about this at all. What students?! After-class reading?! Comparisons are unpleasant!¡±


    After being beaten inexplicably, he joined the brotherhood and lost face in front of Miss Daina. Besides that, he used his war trophy to buy a book.


    On the way home, Zhang Tie recalled that he had spent money and gained money today; he didn¡¯t even know whether he earned or lost today... Zhang Tie¡¯s house was in the commoners gathering area north of Blackhot City. When the upper eastern area in Blackhot City was the backyard garden of the rich, the northern areas were the cozy nests of the regular workers and citizens. Compared with the upper eastern areas, blocks in the northern area were not beautiful; however, they were tidy and safe. The parasol trees on the two sides of streets here made it somewhat warm and ordinary. Through a dozen years of effort, his parents could only afford a building with less than 100 square meters on one side of a street. The building was attached with a small log cabin in the backyard. His parents opened a roadside rice brew store in the room downstairs. His dad was a worker in the mill, while his mother ran this store. The business was so-so as it was mainly taken care of by neighboring households, and the thin profit could only slightly improve their quality of life.


    When Zhang Tie returned home, it was almost 9pm. His parents were not at home; he guessed that they were at church. The rice brew store was also closed. Supper was in warm water to keep the food warm. It contained a pot of mixed vegetables, a bowl of bacon braised with kidney beans, and a huge bowl of cooked white rice. A few slices of broad bean-like sliced bacon could be seen on top of the kidney beans. This was specifically left by his parents who always said that they didn¡¯t like them as an excuse. Eating the supper, Zhang Tie felt somewhat moved. He vowed to himself that when he became rich in the future, he would provide enough fish and meat for his parents everyday.


    He finished supper quickly and cleaned the kitchen. With a fatigued body, he went upstairs. When he arrived at the second floor, he could hear the rhythmed clashes and evidently depressed breath from his elder brother¡¯s room, although the door was closed. This was not the first time, and Zhang Tie naturally knew what was happening. Silently passing, he moved to the hallway. At the end of the hallway, Zhang Tie touched the rope on the wall and slightly pulled it down. Then, a wooden plank glided from the ceiling at the end of the hallway, and a flight of stairs appeared on the other side of the plank which directly connected to the above attic.


    These days, the pulley might be in need of lubricating oil, as there was a big creak when the flight of stairs was lowered. The rhythmed clashing from his brother¡¯s room stopped for a few seconds before it continued more violently than before Zhang Tie had climbed up.


    He finally reached the top and pulled the stairs back to reset the plank. The tiny attic with a triangular roof belonged to Zhang Tie.


    The house was not large, and with a rice brew store opened downstairs, less space was available; therefore, Zhang Tie had no other choices but to live in the attic. Almost half of the tiny space was occupied by iron sheets and planks for sundries. As a result, the rest space was only available for a bed, a desk, and a small wardrobe. There was only enough space for one person to move in. The paint on the furniture had already started to fade. They were all second-hand commodities that Zhang Tie bought in the flea market and were worth less than two silver coins in total...


    A room smaller than eight square meters and several second-hand furnitures were all that the miserable 15-year old teenager owned¡­¡­

 9 The Attic

    Chapter 9: The Attic


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    The only natural source of light in the attic was from the triangular window at the foot of Zhang Tie¡¯s bed. It was a little bit bright in the daytime, but when night fell, the attic was dim just like it was now.


    With the faint moonlight outside and his familiarity with the attic, Zhang Tie lit the oil lamp inside the attic. In order to save oil, Zhang Tie lowered the lamp flame to the smallest possible. Hence, the soybean-sized flame flickered as it brought some light and warmth to the attic.


    After adjusting the lamp, Zhang Tie directly threw himself onto the bed without removing his shoes. He stared at the sharply pointed roof with the faint light and noticed a small web woven by a spider in the corner of the beam. Gazing at the poor spider and its web that could hardly capture a fly, Zhang Tie instantly felt pitiful.


    The shaking of bed boards downstairs became clearer as Zhang Tie laid down, which made It harder for Zhan Tie to cultivate. Lying on the bed bored, Zhang Tie tossed and turned; his heart felt like it was being scratched at by a cat. He was bored to the point that he began to count the shaking from his elder brother¡¯s room downstairs. When it came to around 700, the sound accelerated all of a sudden, and dozens of seconds later, everything returned to silence. Zhang Tie then gasped and recovered his composure; however, Zhang Tie himself was amazed, as he had found his right hand holding on to the untamed thing below him. It was already very hard. It seemed that he had already unconsciously done the manual one-cylinder piston movement for quite a while.


    Could it be that he had been affected by the members of the brotherhood?


    He pulled out his right hand from the trousers as if he had touched a red-hot metal and recovered his composure after some time. Unlike the others, Zhang Tie especially felt guilty about what he did. His father once talked to him about this topic solemnly when he was twelve. As the Chinese clan was shorter and smaller than other clans physically, the average Chinese soldier didn¡¯t have the advantage in traits like speed and endurance. However, in this age, it was evident that physical differences between soldiers and their opponents were always fatal, especially between soldiers between LV1 - LV3, and normal soldiers. Take Zhang Tie for example, he was well developed for being in the Chinese clan; however, in school, Zhang Tie was slightly below average in both height and physical strength. In the brotherhood, Zhang Tie reluctantly admits that he¡¯s similar to the pudgy Barley and Sharwin in height, but Barley was much fatter and stronger than Zhang Tie. The physical difference between the Chinese clan and other clans would be very clear before they became true soldiers. Although the higher the rank the solder the less important the physical difference would be, physical disparity seemed like a huge gap that could never be overcome.


    In Blackhot City, in order to narrow down the physical differences between the Chinese clans and others, the most important thing was to quickly become a soldier and raise your rank so as to protect yourself. The higher the rank the less physical difference there would be. The wider the future road the easier you would survive in this world. However, in order to become a Lv 1 soldier and constantly improve your occupational rank, the more important it was to ignite the meditation flame on each burning point inside the body. Everybody had to experience it. In this age where all clans fought against each other, it was the most important standard used to measure personal value. Physical quality was critical for burning the meditation flames and each manual one-cylinder piston movement would damage the health of the teenager, as it might consume a lot of energy and vitality which would make it harder to ignite meditation flames. Teenagers who always made that movement would be weak both physically and mentally.


    ¡°Masturbation is a chronic suicide process that is hardly observed; therefore, whatever others do, you should never be influenced. There are legends that anyone being obsessed with this will damage his health, be unfortunate, and live a poor life!¡± as his father ended with this, he made Zhang Tie promise to never be influenced by this malicious habit as he heaved a deep sigh...


    Of course, as for what happened last night, his father explained, ¡°When seminal fluid is full, it overflows automatically.¡± He told him that this was a natural phenomenon and wouldn¡¯t damage his physique too much.


    When his father¡¯s admonition came to mind, Zhang Tie hurriedly pulled out his hand. Thankfully, he hadn¡¯t violated the rule too much. He recovered his composure after a period of time before getting off the bed and moving towards the window. Peering out the window, he saw his elder brother leaving the house with a woman. He had already put on the uniform of the city guards of Blackhot City and was sending the woman home. Judging from her shadow, she should have been the daughter of Mr. Wang, the boss of the tailor store on this street.


    Feeling someone watching him, his elder brother turned his head, raised his jaw, and smiled at Zhang Tie, who was peering out the window. Zhang Tie pretended to flick his fists as he saw them off in the dimly lit street. A handful of crystal sand was placed on a small plate by the windowsill. An ordinary double-headed white crystal was in the crystal sand. The crystal was naturally born and was barely qualified to be a low quality Class-2 crystal. It could be changed in the crystal sand just like a battery before the Catastrophe; however, it was much more convenient than a battery. Although the Class-2 double-headed crystal could never match the pyramid-based one Zhang Tie sold today, it was still the best cultivation material that Zhang Tie had.


    With the crystal in hand, Zhang Tie took off his shoes and sat on the bed with his legs crossed, as if he was doing yoga. Ignoring the weird odor from his feet, he put his hand in front of his stomach and aimed one end of the double-headed crystal to his navel. He then closed his eyes and began to cultivate.


    The process of cultivation was simple yet boring. Firstly, one had to slow their breathing and gather their spirit and consciousness to their navel, following the ¡°Qi¡± that they inhaled. This process was repeated until they touched the existence of the burning point in the ¡°shrine¡± in the navel. After touching it, ¡°rub¡± this burning point with your spirit and consciousness in a rhythm and gaze at it like a fly on a rotten meat until one day, the flame of meditation at this burning point would be ignited, symbolizing that they were now a Lv1 fighter and an adult.


    In this age, if a man could not even ignite the meditation flame at the burning point in the ¡°shrine¡±, then he would be seen as disabled and slow-witted. This was the law of survival in the Age of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie felt that the point in the navel was like a piece of gold underneath the sands. When he was in meditation, he firstly swept the sands using a broom to show the burning point. His consciousness was like sandpaper which he used to constantly rub and polish the piece of gold until one day, he would burn it like drilling wood to make fire. Then, he did it...


    He learned to how to cultivate from school. It started back in preliminary school where he could learn the method for free. As his teacher always said, the burning point was the largest secret on the human body. Besides the visible burning point in the navel called the ¡°shrine¡±, other burning points were all invisible and could never be touched without reaching higher levels. However, even now, people could still not figure out how many burning points there were on a human being, and what these mysterious burning points were used for. It was still a secret on how to explore and touch more burning points on the human body, and how to accelerate the cultivation of these burning points for everyone everywhere. The powerful sects, schools, shrines, and legendary fighters were all safeguards and the beneficiaries of this secret.


    Almost a fifth of all the people in Blackhot City could only ignite the meditation flame on the first burning point at the ¡°shrine¡± throughout their lives¡­


    For commoners like Zhang Tie, it was extremely difficult to enter meditation. He had to constantly adjust his breath to reach it. After half an hour, Zhang Tie entered meditation and finally touched the shrine burning point in the navel. He then began to inject his spirit and consciousness into this burning point constantly. Zhang Tie felt his navel start to generate heat slowly. The burning point gradually showed up, and finally, being ¡°polished¡± by his spirit and awareness, it slowly grew brighter and brighter. The light finally became as large as a grain of rice as it shone blue. Meanwhile, the crystal in his hand was linked to the burning point after the burning point was ignited. It was an energy that would usually never be touched. At this time, the energy was slowly injected into the burning point from one end of the crystal. Influenced by his spirit, consciousness, and the crystal, the blue light gradually became brighter and brighter. The light started to gradually brighten up the surrounding darkness like a star in the pitch night sky. Although it was faint, it always brought him a beacon of hope.


    After a long while, Zhang Tie felt that his spirit and consciousness had already been dried up and exhausted. He had reached his limit, and thus, he woke from his meditation. With several hours of practice a day, he could barely feel any evident progress. For Zhang Tie, he could not feel the progress without several weeks or months worth of accumulation. He evidently felt the change of the color of the burning point. In these years, Zhang Tie had experienced red, orange, yellow, green, and indigo from the beginning of his cultivation. He had to reach blue and purple before igniting the meditation flame. It would take him one and a half year to accomplish the other stages according to experience. His cultivation speed was almost even with most commoners who would ignite their meditation flame in the shrine on the first year in the army post graduation, which was the most important point in their lives.

 10 Benefits of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood

    Chapter 10: Benefits of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    The next week was peaceful. Zhang Tie and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood familiarized with one another. Thankfully, none of the other members in the brotherhood did any manual single-cylinder piston movements at school any more. The change might be attributed to their promise to Zhang Tie or the risk of being caught doing that movement. Although Zhang Tie was still very weak, he was already satisfied by being able to protect Miss Daina this way. In comparison, Glaze, who would always bully the weak at the school cafeteria, was still arrogant; however, he truly had to strength to do that. In the test organized by the school last week, Glaze almost broke all the records made by the students at the school. His records made all the other male students desperate. The differences between a Lv 2 professional fighter and an average person could easily be seen.


    Zhang Tie was happy that he was not the one who had his spot in the line stolen by Glaze in the cafeteria. Including Zhang Tie, Glaze brought a huge pressure to everybody. Zhang Tie thought to himself everyday about what would he do in the future if someone wanted to destroy something that he wanted to protect but didn¡¯t have the strength to overcome them. This huge pressure made Zhang Tie very lively. Besides training hard and learning at school, he also tried to save time to strengthen himself when he returned home. For Zhang Tie, the earlier he could light the meditation flame in the shrine, the earlier he could protect himself.


    In reality, every undergraduate boy at the Seventh National Middle School had been exerting their utmost best. Because this was their last semester at school, they had to practice outside the school gates in the second half of the school year. Speaking of where the students trained, the city¡¯s army safeguarded Blackhot City and the surrounding farming villages as well as the arterial roads and mines where the students trained in. There was no danger when they practiced downtown, but if they were to practice elsewhere, someone would lose their life. Once they left the protection of the high walls of Blackhot City, they would hardly be able to find a safe place because of the wild and dangerous variant living beings and crypt fiends that would kill them at any moment. Besides, the legend that gays in the city army liked fresh trainees had been popularized amongst undergraduates from the Seventh National Middle School for many years.


    No struggle, no life ¡ª the pet phrase of Captain Kerlin and the true reflection of this age.


    ¡°Attack, add more strength. Did you not eat lunch? Attack, add more strength...¡± the roars of the coach were drifting in the training ground in the afternoon. ¡°Bastards, hold your spear tightly even if it was a red iron rod. You have no power even the women are stronger than you¡­¡­¡±


    Sweating, Zhang Tie repetitively exercised the attacking movements dully under the hot sun. Two hours later, the spear body made of hollow steel had become very hot. The blisters that had formed on his palms were broken repeatedly. Being stimulated by his sweat and wounded by the scorching spear body, he felt like he was holding red-hot charcoal and felt like he was being pricked by needles. However, seeing the coach who was standing upright like a javelin on the training ground under the sun with a solemn face, Zhang Tie had no choice but to grit his teeth and convert all the pain in his body into an angry growl ¡ª ¡°Kill!¡±. Raising his chest, he strode forward and attacked like a machine without knowing what being tired meant. In the students¡¯ eyes, the most hateful guy¡¯s records motivated them to work harder than the coach¡¯s orders. As a tradition at the school, all the records of the strongest person in each group of undergraduates would be recorded on the high platform in the training ground in red words for the worship of others. This was a form of encouragement ¡ª to be precise, it encouraged increasing aggression for others...


    Glaze¡ª¡ª


    100 m¡ª¡ª10.3s


    Bench press¡ª¡ª160 kg


    Deep squatting¡ª¡ª310 kg


    Explosive punch¡ª¡ª Right fist: 510 kg ; Left fist: 340 kg


    Maximum stamping explosive force¡ª¡ª780 kg


    Maximum number of continual armor-breaking attacks¡ª¡ª137 times


    Endurance¡ª¡ª13¡ª¡ª The endurance value referred to the maximum effective power transmission distance at the standard speed with regular battle equipment, using kilometers as the distance unit. Although it sounded somewhat complex, it was the most accurate explanation. The endurance indicator was also a measure of the maximum tactic moving radius for the pikemen matrix on the battlefield. The maximum effective combat capability referred to the maximum personal combat capability that remained after three minutes of rest following a rapid march. The value should be more than half of the total personal combat capability. Glaze¡¯s endurance value was 13 which meant that he could still accomplish more than 69 armor-breaking attacks or could deal an attack with a force of 250 kg using his right hand after rapid marching for 13 km in standard battle equipment.


    Those are the indicators of a LV 2 fighter!


    The words on the high platform were still fresh. The scarlet words seemed as if it was mocking everyone beneath it. Since Glaze¡¯s name and data were written two weeks ago, the training ground became increasingly aggressive. Nobody would like to give up at this point.


    On the day Glaze¡¯s name appeared on the high platform, the coach shouted at them coldly, ¡°You either die or live on the battlefield. There is no good or evil, am I clear?¡± Zhang Tie thought to himself, ¡°The people who survive the battlefield are the good ones.¡±


    After two hours of spear training, what waited for them was the 10 km armored march at a moderate speed. Finishing the last task, Zhang Tie¡¯s feet felt as soft as scotton. He found shade under a tree and gasped for quite a while like a dog. Zhang Tie failed to stand up while the other members of the brotherhood tilted themselves and sat on the ground. Besides Doug and Barley, Bagdad was the strongest one in the brotherhood; he was even one of the strongest in the school. By contrast, Doug looked special today. Today, he was especially thrilled as he kept drooling with a foolish grin during the class. When they trained in spear attacks, Zhang Tie occasionally saw that guy. Although he looked tired to death, the crotch of his trousers were raised like a tent. Zhang Tie was really shocked by this scene. What the f*ck! Was it that exciting to practice spear skills? Zhang Tie was really shocked!


    Finishing the run, Glaze and his followers passed in front of Zhang Tie with their heads raised proudly. They even peered over most of the commoners laying on the training ground.


    ¡°Trash!¡± Glaze seemed to mouth. Zhang Tie was absent-mindedly trying to figure out what he had said. When he found out what was said, he clenched his teeth. When Zhang Tie recovered a bit after ten minutes of rest, he saw the pudgy Barley moving towards him quiveringly and squatted in front of him. ¡°Do you have any plans after school?¡± he said in a low voice.


    ¡°I have a part-time job at the grocery store that I go to twice a week!¡±


    ¡°Are you a virgin?¡±


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie instantly became irritated, ¡°F*ck, I am a virgin, so what! You¡¯re the same!¡±


    ¡°Wrong, after today, you¡¯ll be the only virgin among all the brotherhood members!¡± Barley replied calmly. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t even notice Barley¡¯s compassionate look at that moment.


    ¡°What does that mean?¡± Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t think it through for a while.


    ¡°You will understand after school. It¡¯s a benefit for the members of our Hit-Plane Brotherhood. It¡¯s Doug¡¯s turn today, so I will arrange it for you next time¡­¡± saying this, Barley patted Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulders, stood up, and left, leaving Zhang Tie with his head spinning for quite a while.


    Today was a special day. Walking out of the school gates with the other members, Zhang Tie noticed that Bagdad and the other members were bidding farewell to Doug solemnly at the school gate. Each one bidding farewell to him would bend their arms around Doug¡¯s shoulders and say something to him before making a lecherous laugh. Doug was also thrilled; his ears were even red. Zhang Tie could only hear something gloomily like ¡°if you wash your mouth, you would get a surprised¡±. When it was Bagdad¡¯s turn, his voice was loud enough that Zhang Tie finally heard what they were saying. ¡°It¡¯s fast for the first time. Spirit up, you have enough time that you can make love many times. When I was there, I did it seven times¡­¡±


    They patted shoulders and embraced each other as the last couple of guys bidded farewell to Doug with a lecherous expression. Hista wanted to follow Doug but was pulled away by Bagdad and Leit.


    Zhang Tie had no words to explain what had just happened. Barely said that it was an activity of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood and suggested Zhang Tie to watch if he was free. Zhang Tie asked about the whereabouts and knew Barley and Doug were heading for some place past the railway station. In the end, he went along with them.


    On the way, Doug was both thrilled and nervous. He kept asking Barley strange questions.


    ¡°Although I took a bath last night, I sweated a lot today, is it ok?¡±


    ¡°Have you changed your underclothes and underwear?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I changed them last night after my bath!¡±


    ¡°Then it¡¯s ok!¡±


    ¡°But Hista said there would be a surprise if I washed my mouth before going there!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve already prepared this for you!¡± Barley replied and took out a small paper parcel from his pocket solemnly. The paper parcel was well packed and made Doug and Zhang Tie especially curious. He stretched his neck and found three or four slim leaves inside.


    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Doug asked curiously.


    ¡°These are expensive tea leaves. I stole them from my father. They were give to my father by others as a gift. We treasure it very much, as they were only produced in Eastern Continent. Here you are, put them in your mouth like this and don¡¯t chew or swallow them. They are much more effective than washing your mouth.


    Barley carefully took the leaves and put them into Doug¡¯s mouth. Doug held them tightly in his mouth, saying nothing. He was afraid of dropping them when he spoke.


    ¡°How many times can I make love with her?¡± after a while, Doug asked another question.


    ¡°You can make as many times as you can within three hours!¡±


    ¡°Can I use the bottom hole?¡± Doug asked another question like a curious baby several minutes later.


    ¡°Bottom...¡± Barley was really shocked, ¡°Who told you?¡±


    ¡°My brother¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°You¡­ can¡¯t do this. Hista and the others didn¡¯t try that!¡±


    ¡°Erm!¡± With tea leaves in mouth, Doug recovered his composure once again. After a few seconds, in order to safeguard his authority, Barley explained solemnly, ¡°It¡¯s very expensive to use that hole. Yeah, very expensive and not healthy...¡±


    Zhang Tie had already realized what would happen, but out of curiosity and his increasing male hormones, he followed Barley and Doug all the way from school to the old slum neighboring the railway station. They wandered in the low alley for almost four minutes before arriving in front of a vermeil door. Compared with the surrounding gates that were evidently broken, this place was much cleaner. Standing outside the door, when Barley knocked the door, a couple of people passed by and stared at them. It felt strange. Zhang Tie felt fleas jumping on his face, which made him itchy.


    Although he didn¡¯t know what was behind the door, Zhang Tie guessed it must be very stimulating and became nervous as well. Doug was already sweating at this point. Hearing somebody vomiting, Zhang Tie turned and found it was Doug... Doug was constantly digging for something inside his mouth. Barley was also startled, ¡°What¡¯s wrong!?¡±


    ¡°I was nervous¡­ and swallowed those tea leaves¡­ When I swallowed, It felt really uncomfortable...¡±


    ¡°Idiot...¡± Barley verbally abused and patted his own head painfully with a hand, ¡°too shameful, no more drinking. Have a drink and flush it off when you enter!¡±


    ¡°Woo...¡± Doug kept acting like he was vomiting


    With his eyes opened widely, Zhang Tie saw Doug¡¯s face turn red, and then his veins stood out and thickened. It seemed liked something wanted to exit his throat. His mouth bulged as he tried to keep his mouth closed. Covering his mouth, he finally swallowed it back down¡­


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s fine. I swallowed them. Thankfully, I solved the problem instantly!¡± patting his chest, Doug seemed like he survived a robbery. He then grinned shamefully and exposed a vegetable leaf on his teeth that was half digested.


    Zhang Tie turned pale. Feeling disgusted, Zhang Tie thought to himself, ¡°You¡¯re really great!¡± When Doug spoke now, Zhang Tie could smell the gastric acid, which was really disgusting. Barley was also shocked, as he had never dreamed that Doug would solve the problem in this manner...


    Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t stand it any more. His curiosity and hormone both disappeared at this moment. ¡°Have fun, I will leave first!¡±


    Barley quickly took out four silver coins from his pocket and put them in Doug¡¯s hand. ¡°You enter by yourself. Remember, don¡¯t tell her I brought you here and don¡¯t say you know me either!¡±


    Zhang Tie and Barley ran away instantly and hid somewhere. Doug was left alone scratching his head outside the door. The vermeil door opened. Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t see anyone, but Doug, who stared straight and showed a ¡°shameful¡± smile, greeted, ¡°Hello...¡±


    The person who opened the door must have almostly been suffocated to death by Doug.


    The moment he greeted, the door was shut with a ¡°peng¡±. Doug was at a loss of words. After a few seconds, he looked over at Barley and Zhang Tie. Barley showed an encouraging gesture. Doug raised his chest and knocked on the door once again. Doug was still smiling coyly with four silver coins spread in his hands. Seeing his actions, Barley patted his head painfully again. As a result, the door was shut once again with a loud sound.


    When Doug knocked the door for the third time, Zhang Tie found a basin of water was poured out from inside when the door was opened. Doug became a drowned rat, and the coy smile was frozen at that time...


    What bad luck!

 11 Fool’s Gold

    Chapter 11: Fool¡¯s Gold


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Zhang Tie had already forgotten what had happened to Doug when he arrived at the grocery store. By tomorrow, Doug would definitely be the laughingstock in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood after what had happened. He might never be able to eliminate this stain for the rest of his life.


    When Zhang Tie arrived, Donder was greeting guests in the store, so Zhang Tie just stood to the side. After the guests had left, he moved behind the counter and took the broom, rag, and basin to clean the store. After he finished, he used the abacus to calculate the accounts of the past few days. Ever since Zhang Tie started to work here, he found that Donder was becoming lazier and lazier. It would always take him about an hour to finish his work, and it was the same for today.


    Seeing Zhang Tie working inside, Donder laid back on his lounge again and kept his eyes closed comfortably.


    When Zhang Tie remembered the tea leaves, he started a conversation with Donder.


    ¡°Boss, do you know what tea leaf is?¡±


    ¡°Tea leaf?¡± hearing this, Donder turned with a weird expression. He glanced at Zhang Tie, ¡°That¡¯s a very precious and rare drink. Those rich and powerful bureaucrats, who would like to be civilized and pretended to be stylish, always used tea leaves to show off!¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not a drink. I saw others put it directly into their mouths¡±


    ¡°Idiot, tea leaves should be soaked in boiling water. There¡¯s a lot to learn about tea leaves!¡± Donder raised his voice, ¡°Those nouveau riche always put tea leaves into mouths to refresh their mouths!¡±


    ¡°You said it was expensive!¡± ¡°Not only expensive, it¡¯s very expensive. A bag of the lowest-quality tea leaves from outside is worth¡­!¡± Donder stretched out his hand. ¡°As for higher-quality tea leaves, you should never dream about them!¡±


    ¡°Five silver coins!¡± it was already very expensive in Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°Five silver coins¡­¡± Donder grinned dismissively. ¡°You could only smell them with five silver coins. Five gold coins! It might even be much more expensive!¡± Zhang Tie was really shocked. No wonder Barley packed the ugly leaves with paper so carefully. Commoners could never afford it.


    ¡°So expensive. Why not plant them in Blackhot City? Then we will make a lot of money!¡±


    ¡°It would never be your turn. They were only planted in the Eastern Continent. Those could do business with tea leaves were large business groups and the chambers of commerce!¡±


    ¡°Teacher told us that there were many human countries in the Eastern Continent. Many powerful countries were over there! Some countries even owned thousands of cities like Blackhot City¡­!¡±


    ¡°Hick, Blackhot City is nothing compared with those cities that dozens of times bigger. You will understand when you visit them. There are human countries predominated by Chinese clans. When I was young¡­ ¡° Donder recalled and longer for that experience. He kept talking and Zhang Tie listened to him carefully. What he said should be true when he talked about his arrival at the Eastern Continent and his knowledge of it when he was young. As for the following scenes ¡ª becoming sworn brothers with strong fighters in accordance with the folklores, cooperating with his sworn brothers to beat the alien clans who threw everything away when they fled, discovering valuable relics with pioneers, exploring the underground word with a great wave of beauties and almost being ** by them, seeing numerous diamonds the size of the head and bullions the size of a house, Zhang Tie was sure that they were tales from common knight novels. Therefore, he ignored them.


    While Donder was boasting about when he was discovering the underground world with a great wave of beauties that wanted to marry him to the point where they cried, two guests entered. They were thirty-odd years with experience faces, unshaven chins, and they wore leather boots, copper-cotton wristbands, and riveted half-body armors. They also hung a long sword on their waist and had a box full of steel crossbow arrows on their back. The shoulder armor matched with the hanging buckle of the wind-proof hooded cloak. They really looked like pioneers. During the past year working at the grocery store, Zhang Tie had cultivated a sharp judgement. They must be new pioneers, as Zhang Tie could tell from their equipment. The new pioneers always wore clothes like the regular the regular army, so as to tell others they were pioneering wastelands. They also usually purchased the entire set when buying equipment.


    ¡°Can I help you, sir?¡± Zhang Tie asked politely and professionally.


    They glanced at Zhang Tie and looked around. They nodded to each other, as the taller man walked towards Zhang Tie, lowered his body, and said in a low voice, ¡°Where¡¯s your boss? We have business!¡±


    They usually met guests like them. Donder¡¯s grocery store did not only sell goods, but it also purchased goods. Considering their prudence and secretiveness, Donder climbed up from the lounge. While rubbing his hands, he bent his back and walked towards them.


    ¡°I¡¯m the boss, what¡¯s up!¡±


    The two stared at him for a while and looked at each other, then they nodded silently.


    ¡°Do you receive things?¡±


    ¡°Yes, once they are evaluated. If your goods are too expensive and I cannot afford it, I can introduce someone to you. If you agree, I want 5% as an agency fee!¡± The two pioneers finally surrendered to Donder¡¯s passion. Looking outside meticulously, they found that nobody was watching inside. One of the two lowered himself to block the line of sight from outside, while the other took out a fist-sized metal mineral from a leather bag of sundies and placed it on the counter.


    The mineral was shining, somewhat like gold. It seemed very expensive and frightening. Zhang Tie opened his mouth, saying nothing, he just waved his head.


    ¡°This one¡­¡­¡± a pioneer looked at Donder solemnly. ¡°What¡¯s your offer? We can establish long-term cooperation with you if you can give us a proper offer!¡±


    ¡°A copper coin for five kilograms!¡± Donder offered.


    ¡°What? Are you kidding?¡± with eyes widened, the two pioneers looked at Donder angrily.


    ¡°I mean it. A copper coin for five kilograms!¡± Donder replied slowly, ignoring the red faces of the two pioneers. The shielding man had been impulsive and put his hand on the sword handle beside his waist.


    ¡°You must have mistaken it for gold ore. It¡¯s very beautiful like a gold ore!¡± hearing this, the two were shocked and nodded. The man with his hand on the sword handle also slightly loosened his grip on the sword.


    ¡°Hoho, some gold ores are truly similar to it. But pitifully, this is not a gold ore, but a common pyrite. That¡¯s why I offered you one copper coin per five kilograms!¡±


    ¡°Common pyrite?¡± one pioneer took the shining and beautiful ore into his hand and seemed to not trust that it was as rubbish as scrap iron. The other pioneer seemed to doubt Donder¡¯s words. Seeing their expressions, Donder didn¡¯t say anything to the pioneers. Instead, he spoke to Zhang Tie, ¡°Take out the common pyrite sample in the store!¡± Zhang Tie turned and fetched a dusty bag from a corner of the grocery store.


    He placed it directly on the ground and showed the contents to them. About ten kilograms of goods were poured out, which looked the same as the ore on the counter. Squatting, they took two common pyrites and compared them to the one on the counter. They became depressed like deflated balloons.


    ¡°There is a valley in the Red Highland more than a 100 km southwest of Blackhot City. Did you get the ore from there? They are similar to gold ores. In the past, there were pioneers who treated them as gold ores and were made laughingstocks. Never mind, you might see something new. Nobody is all might and knows everything!¡± Donder explained. This completely broke the last beacon of hope they two pioneers had. They stood up and gave their thanks to Donder in low spirits. Feeling as if they lost face, they left with their heads lowered. When they walked to the gate of the store, one of the pioneers saw the common pyrite that they treasured and cursed furiously. He smacked the common pyrite onto the ground of the street.


    ¡°Common pyrite, idiots¡¯ gold, two more idiots are cheated¡­¡± seeing them leaving, Donder shook his head and signed, then went back to the lounge chair.


    ¡°Common pyrite, fool¡¯s gold. Two more idiots got cheated¡­¡± seeing them leave, Donder shooked his head and sighed before returning to the lounge chair.


    Later on, several waves of guests entered and Donder earned more than ten silver coins. As usual, when Donder said, ¡°... I will not provide you supper according to the agreement!¡±, Zhang Tie knew it was time for him to leave.


    ¡°What are Doug and Barley doing now?¡± Zhang Tie thought to himself when he walked out of the grocery store.


    When the dusk drew close, lamplighters were waving bells and lighting lamps on the street. Within ten steps, Zhang Tie abruptly stopped as he saw something shining slightly at the corner of the wall in front of him under the lamp lights¡­


    Oh, it was the common pyrite left by the two idiots. At this time, the common pyrite was found to have been smacked into two halves. Zhang Tie moved forward another two steps¡­


    Oh, there was something inside the common pyrite. It flashed just now. The color was different from the common pyrite under the lamplight. Zhang Tie was curious and moved closer to it. Bending over, he pretended to squat to tie his shoelaces. When he found nobody around, he picked up the two pieces and placed them in his pockets. There was really something inside! Zhang Tie¡¯s excitement rose¡­

 12 Mysterious Objec

    Chapter 12: Mysterious Object


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    On the way home, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t contain his excitement. He held his pocket tightly in fear that the thing would escape. When he picked it up just now, he saw a round object that was smaller than a chicken¡¯s egg in the center of one of the halves of the common pyrite. There seemed to have been a beautiful decorative pattern on it. Nobody would have known that there was something inside the common pyrite if it had not been smashed onto the ground by that pioneer. It was definitely not created naturally. Additionally, it took at least several hundreds of millions of years to form a common pyrite geologically. Zhang Tie was really amazed about the object which entered the common pyrite several hundred million years ago¡­


    Several hundred million years ago...


    Not formed naturally...


    Beautiful decorative patterns...


    When the above information appeared in Zhang Tie¡¯s mind, he was really shocked.


    On the way home, Zhang Tie maintained a normal walking speed at first, but he couldn¡¯t help but run when he was close to home. He continued to hold the common pyrite tightly as he ran. Zhang Tie might have been too nervous, he felt as if the common pyrite in his hand was becoming increasingly hot.


    When he arrived home, his mom was making rice brew. Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s scurry, she shouted without turning her head, ¡°Supper is ready. It¡¯s still hot, so eat slowly!¡±


    ¡°Mom, I¡¯ve eaten outside!¡±


    After their exchange, Zhang Tie rushed upstairs. As his elder brother was not home today, it was much more peaceful now. Lowering the staircase, Zhang Tie dashed into his attic cell. He then pulled up the staircase and plugged in the socket of the floor slab. Lighting the oil lamp, he lowered the curtains and the cold-proof double-layer wooden partition. Zhang Tie was alone in the narrow space and would never fear about being seen by others. He sat on his bed while continually gasping for air.


    While he was still gasping, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t wait to take out the half piece of common pyrite and put it under the lamplight. His eyes widened¡­


    The object wrapped inside the common pyrite was like a small crystal chicken egg that was carved with sophisticated and beautiful patterns. The patterns seemed as if it faintly formed an arched door. He noticed a miniature sapling inside the egg, which was really delicate and seemed to be naturally formed.


    Two-thirds of the crystal egg had been exposed while the rest was stuck within the remaining common pyrite. Zhang Tie tried and easily pulled the crystal egg out of the cracked common pyrite. He then was able to see the entire object ¡ª it contained no ¡°yolk¡± but a sapling instead while the ¡°white part of the egg¡± was flowing with something akin to mercury. Zhang Tie carefully stared at the ¡°mercury¡± and found that it was a colorful light fog that was exceptionally beautiful. The light fog was swirling about the sapling mysteriously. The faint flash that Zhang Tie noticed came from the colorful light fog.


    Several blisters had formed on Zhang Tie¡¯s palms after the spear training at noon. Perhaps due to Zhang Tie holding the common pyrite too tightly on his way back home, the blisters on his palms were pricked broken by the edges of the common pyrite. As a result, the common pyrite and the crystal egg were dyed with Zhang Tie¡¯s blood. The crystal egg, being dyed with fresh blood, became not as beautiful. When Zhang Tie tried to clean the blood marks on the egg with his sleeve, he found that a small patch of dark blood could not be cleaned off. Instead, it penetrated into the crystal egg slowly. The blood mark gradually shrunk and became round. It slowly condensed into a drop of fresh blood at the top of the crystal egg. When the fresh blood condensed, the crystal egg began to shine brighter.


    ¡°Argh¡­¡± feeling hot, Zhang Tie naturally loosened his hold on the crystal egg. He was stunned because the crystal egg was steadily suspended in the air in front of the oil lamp with a faint glow. Zhang Tie was frightened and widened his eyes nervously. While he was confused and frightened, the small drop of blood finally came into being at the top of the crystal egg and dropped towards the small sapling in the center of the egg.


    The moment the drop of blood fell, Zhang Tie felt dazzled; he felt as if he was falling from high altitude. He then saw the glowing crystal egg flying towards him. Almost at the exact same moment, he felt a sharp pain between his eyebrows. It seemed as if something had suddenly drilled into his brain, and as a result, Zhang Tie saw his vision dim and passed out...


    He totally lost his consciousness then...


    Zhang Tie finally recovered consciousness after a long time.


    The first thing he felt was a cold feeling on his face. He was still somewhat frightened and didn¡¯t know what had happened to him. After several seconds of thinking, Zhang Tie opened his eyes and realized his face was completely on the floor.


    Rolling his eyes, Zhang Tie tried to climb up. Sitting on the bed, he found the lamp was still lit, although it was a little dim. He estimated that three to four hours had already passed. He stood up and pulled away the cold-proof partition on the window. It was pitch black outside, and the barking of dogs reverberated from afar which confirmed Zhang Tie¡¯s judgment that it was currently midnight.


    Hold on... Where was the crystal egg?


    Zhang Tie was startled. He stared at his hands and looked around but found nothing except for the ¡°fool¡¯s gold¡± in his room. He picked up the half of common pyrite and observed it. The only thing he could see clearly was the smooth and round track in the common pyrite which told Zhang Tie that what had just happened was all true.


    CouldCouldn¡¯t it be that...it had flown away...


    When Zhang Tie recalled that the crystal egg was suspended in the air, he checked everywhere in his room, including wall seams, doors, and windows. He found nothing and naturally accepted the above conclusion.


    He took out a mirror from the drawer at the head of the bed. Besides the slightly pale face, he found no wounds between his eyebrows, thus he blankly sat on the bed for a while until his stomach thundered and reminded him that he had not eaten supper. Zhang Tie suddenly felt an unprecedented hunger and felt like he could eat an entire calfwolfing a calf.


    Aside from the crystal egg event, the most critical thing for him was to fill his stomach. Otherwise, he would starve to death and the crystal egg would mean nothing to him.


    Zhang Tie did not dare to make any noise as he carefully lowered the staircase. With an oil lamp in hand, he went down the stairs stealthily and found food in the kitchen. Thankfully, the staple food was boiled sweet potatoes, which were as delicious as when they were freshly boiled. There were seven or eight boiled sweet potatoes in the kitchen. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t think much of it and wolfed them down in the fastest speed he could. Surprisingly, he noticed that his appetite had greatly improved. The sweet potatoes weighed more than 1 kg. Usually, he would only be able to eat half of them at most. What was happening? To his surprise, he only felt half full and thirsty at the same time. He drunk another two gourds of water and three more bowls of cooked rice brew. It was really an unprecedented experience.


    Under the light of the dim lamp, he simply brushed his teeth and washed his feet before returning to his room. Removing all of his clothes, Zhang Tie laid on his bed as he tossed and turned; he couldn¡¯t fall asleep at all. Finally, he made the decision to cultivate. Assuming the posture, he sat on the bed and evenly adjusted his breath. The moment he closed his eyes and visualized the abacus in his mind according to the book MENTAL ARITHMETIC BY ABACUS, he suddenly found something new in his mind. When Zhang Tie focused on it, he gradually recognized it. He almost cried out as it was exactly the simple yet brilliant arched door on the shell of the egg. The arched door was suspended in his deep consciousness. When Zhang Tie concentrated on it, it expanded quickly and became increasingly clear¡­


    It seemed¡­ seemed as if he could enter it, a hazy voice reminded Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie was also confused about this idea. Zhang Tie gazed at the arched door and said, ¡°Enter!¡±. The miserable 15-year-old teenager would never have imagined that his life would be different from before at that point forward¡­


    ¡­¡­

 13

    Chapter 13: Castle of Black Iron


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Zhang Tie faintly felt that the surrounding environment had suddenly changed as if he instantly exited a tunnel while on a train. At the same time, Zhang Tie also felt warmer. He could smell a much fresher air, a smell akin to the park after it rained. Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t help but open his eyes. When he did, he was really shocked with his mouth opened widely, saliva dripping.


    What was presented in front of Zhang Tie was a square, broad, and empty land. Standing in the middle of the piece of land, Zhang Tie noticed that this land was several times larger than the Seventh National Male Middle School. He roughly measured the length and width of the land with his eyes and found that they were both at least 700m. It felt extremely open; there were only a few things left on the land. It seemed like a barren land with only one bulge at the center of the land. There was also a small tree as tall as a person not far away from Zhang Tie.


    With great curiosity, Zhang Tie looked at the small tree.


    It was growing well with its spreading branches and luxuriant foliage. Each leaf seemed as if it was flowing with a special brilliance, which made the tree very conspicuous. What amazed Zhang Tie was that the leaves were in various shapes and colors, making each leaf distinct from one another. How weird! However, Zhang Tie also felt strangely harmonious with the leaves of varying shapes hanging on the tree. The tree was neither made of gold nor wood; it was a material that nobody knew of.


    Colorful fog swirled above the tree in ever changing shapes. Staring at the tree for a while, Zhang Tie naturally felt a sense of tranquility and peace.


    What he had earlier seen in the crystal egg several hours ago was fully present in front of his eyes ¡ª the strange tree and the colorful fog¡­


    ¡°Am I dreaming?¡±


    Looking at himself, he was wearing the same clothes he wore before going to bed ¡ª he only wore shorts. Even his posture in bed was unchanged. Zhang Tie pinched his !@#$% and realized that he was not dreaming, thus he got up and stood on his bare feet. Where he sat was just ten steps away from the tree. He moved towards it and circled it twice. He didn¡¯t know why, but he felt a sense of familiarity with the tree. He felt that he and the tree shared a blood-tie.


    Being a relative to a strange tree, Zhang Tie was almost driven mad.


    Circling it for quite some time, he couldn¡¯t figure it out. He only felt that there was something strange about those colorful leaves. Thus, Zhang Tie decided to further explore the land. As the soil was fine and smooth with a proper temperature and contained no impurities, Zhang Tie felt like he was standing on soft and wet sand, so he began to run in his bare feet. Although the area only covered slightly more than 0.5 km2 and was limited in space, it was still enough for Zhang Tie to make a dash. He explored the surrounding environment and the edge of this space. He could see the rolling colorful fog from far away. There was a strange elasticity that pulled Zhang Tie back from the barrier; therefore, he was never able to break through it. More than 300m away from the small tree, Zhang Tie found a black deep mire that was larger than 200m2. The mire was as black as ink, and it was still bubbling; however, there was no smell, which gave Zhang Tie goosebumps. After looking around, Zhang Tie found no other living being within this space besides himself, not even a single ant.


    ¡°Anybody here? Where am I?¡±...


    ¡°Can anyone tell me where I am?¡±...


    ¡°Anybody here?¡±...


    Zhang Tie shouted yet got no reply, not even an echo. He spent another ten minutes to look around and finally ascertained that he really was the only living being here.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie decided to start from the tree.


    Circling the tree for a while, he felt increasingly intimate with it. Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t help but touch the small tree that had splendid leaves. Touching it, Zhang Tie abruptly saw a semi-transparent pale blue dialog box that had a line in it and was startled.


    ¡ª¡ªManjusaka Karma Fruit Tree


    ¡ª¡ªThe tree feels that energy is leaking from your body. With the leaking energy, you can produce Leakless Fruit. Do you want to produce it?


    ¡ª¡ªYes ¡­ No


    There were two options below which Zhang Tie had never seen before. He was really stunned when he saw this. Moving his hands away, the dialog box disappeared; putting his hands on it, the dialog box re-appeared. He repeated this for many times and got the same response. Although he didn¡¯t know what it was, he knew that it was definitely a great thing...


    Although Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know what energy was escaping from his body, he considered that the choice would do him no harm, thus he stretched out his hand and selected ¡°Yes¡±. It was a strange feeling. Although there was nothing in front of Zhang Tie, when he pressed the option, he felt like he really pressed something ¡ª¡ª


    ¡ª¡ªLeakless Fruit in production, 168 hours away from maturation!


    ¡ª¡ªSpace management system template of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree is established!


    ¡ª¡ªPlease name It. Attention, the name is permanent!


    ¡ª¡ªSpace name:¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª £¨followed by a line of sparkling spots£©


    The moment the old dialog box disappeared, a new one appeared. Seeing the line of sparkling dots behind the name of the space, Zhang Tie was stunned for a while. He then figured it out and replied ¡ª Castle of Black Iron!


    After That, the four words appeared on the sparkling light spots. This also shocked Zhang Tie.


    ¡ª¡ªName of space: Castle of Black Iron!


    ¡ª¡ªEnter ¡­ Back


    Zhang Tie pressed the ¡°Enter¡± button. Then, the old dialog box disappeared and a new one appeared.


    ¡ª¡ªWhat do you want the system to call you?


    ¡ª¡ªYour Name:¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª£¨followed by a line of sparkling light spots£©


    Zhang Tie then naturally knew what to do next. After a while, he figured that nobody would even know. Even though he was a little arrogant, no matter what, he was not afraid of being called sick; therefore, he set his name ¡ª Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord!


    ¡°It should be ok, nobody would know!¡± Zhang Tie thought to himself faintly. Finally, he made a decision and pressed ¡°Enter¡±...


    ¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron and the Lord of Castle of Black Iron confirmed!


    ¡ª¡ªPreliminary management system template of Castle of Black Iron has been established!


    When the dialog box disappeared, Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes turned bright once again. A semi-transparent pale blue icon, marked with a small tree in the center and ¡°Castle of Black Iron¡± below the small tree, appeared in the upper left corner of Zhang Tie¡¯s vision and started to sparkle. Becoming braver and braver, Zhang Tie touched the icon with his hand, and as a result, the icon instantly expanded in front of Zhang Tie while several lines of words appeared on the branch of the tree and became a tree-like menu.


    There were four options inside:


    ¡ª¡ªBasic Attributes of the Castle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªSpace and Topographic Creation


    ¡ª¡ªLiving Beings and Species Management


    ¡ª¡ªProduce Special Seeds and Fruits of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree


    Zhang Tie touched the first item, ¡°Basic Attributes of the Castle of Black Iron¡±, which was between the root and the branch of the functional tree. All of a sudden, a new data window opened.


    Castle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªLength: 1 Krosa (a length unit in ancient India)


    ¡ª¡ªWidth: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªAura Value: 0


    ¡ª¡ªMerit Value: 0


    ¡ª¡ªBasic Energy Storage£º0


    ¡ª¡ªSpecial Output: Void


    ¡°Length unit 1 Krosa? What¡¯s that? How long does that mean?¡± Zhang Tie only heard about millimeter, centimeter, decimeter, meter, kilometer, sound second, and light second. However, what¡¯s ¡°krosa¡±? ¡°I¡¯ve never heard about that!¡± Zhang Tie looked at the other basic attributes and heaved a deep sigh.


    It was completely empty. Although it had poor data, Zhang Tie became vigorous as he felt like starting from scratch. Even though he couldn¡¯t understand the content, he continued to touch another button ¡ª ¡°Space and Topography Creation¡±. Unexpectedly, the following words appeared in front of Zhang Tie:


    ¡ª¡ªAs the three storage values of Castle of Black Iron are 0, the Space and Topographic Creation Function is not available!


    Touching another option, ¡°Living Beings and Species Management¡±, a new window opened.


    ¡ª¡ªCarbon Based Living Beings and Species Management


    ¡ª¡ªSilicon Based Living Beings and Species Management


    ¡ª¡ªSulfur Based Living Beings and Species Management


    ¡ª¡ªOther Living Beings and Species Management


    This time, besides the first option, ¡°Carbon Based Living Beings and Species Management¡± was available, while the other options were all gray. When Zhang Tie pressed the first button, a dialog box containing two messages jumped out.


    ¡ª¡ªInput systematic resources into a biological population or an organism. You can help this living being mutate and evolve in an unprecedented way.


    ¡ª¡ªThe system has detected carbon based microorganisms on you, the Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord. When you entered the Castle of Black Iron, the Microorganisms System of the Castle of Black Iron started.


    After the dialog box disappeared automatically, three new options appeared.


    Among the three sub-options of animals, plants, and microorganisms, only the option ¡°microorganisms¡± was activated and available.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie touched the option of microorganisms.


    Zhang Tie then saw the microorganisms that he ¡°carried¡± into the Castle of Black Iron under the option of ¡°Microorganism¡±. They were bacteria and microzyme. Everybody, more or less, carried bacteria. Some were good, while some were bad. The microzyme might have come from the rice brew at home. He remembered having drunk three bowls of rice brews downstairs just now. Some of the rice brew might have spilled onto his clothes and followed him into the Castle of Black Iron.


    He touched the option ¡°Microzyme¡±, which enlarged and looked like a drop before another new picture appeared.


    To the left of the icon of ¡°Microzyme¡± was a red cross. Under the icon, the system showed three sliders that were similar to schedule bars and respectively corresponded to the three basic attributes: aura value, merit value, and basic energy.


    As it did not seem that complex, Zhang Tie simply glanced at it and understood their uses. The three sliders seemed to represent that you agree to input systematic resources into these living beings. Once you have decided to do that, the selected living beings or species would mutate and evolve to a certain degree.


    Zhang Tie touched the other red cross beside the icon ¡°Microzyme¡±!


    ¡ª¡ª Will you, the Handsome and Magnificent Castle Owner, kill these living beings using the rules of the space? Attention! Once it has killed, it will never revive.


    ¡ª¡ªYes¡­ Cancel...


    Zhang Tie was startled and hurriedly touched the ¡°Cancel¡± option and decided to use this function as little as possible.


    It seemed very interesting. Closing this window, Zhang Tie tried again and found the function ¡°Produce Special Seeds and Fruits of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree¡± was not available yet.


    The Castle of Black Iron seemed to be full of secrets. When Zhang Tie was prepared to further study it, a dialog box appeared in front of him:


    ¡ª¡ª The system has detected that you, the Handsome and Magnificent Castle Owner, is already exhausted, both spiritually and physically. All functions are in negative conditions. As the aura value of the system is zero, it cannot provide a good environment for you to recover. It¡¯s suggested that you, the Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, leave the Castle of Black Iron and return after you have recovered.


    Meanwhile, the ¡°door¡± in his consciousness also sent a slight wave to indicate that once Zhang Tie would like to leave, he just had to lock the ¡°door¡± in his mind and think to himself, ¡°Return¡±...


    After that, Zhang Tie felt very sleepy. It was a really energy-consuming day He made a deep yawn, and after thinking for a while, he held back his desire to continue exploring. He locked the door in his mind and thought to himself, ¡°Return¡±. He felt that feeling of traversing a tunnel once more. Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes opened widely, as he didn¡¯t know how he was out of there. He only felt that the door in his mind shook, and then he found himself standing on his bed and everything around him had instantly changed. What had happened just now seemed as if it came from nothing. It felt like a photographer pulled a line on the wall behind him to change the background when taking a picture of a family.


    That was mother!@#$ing amazing!


    Without recalling what had happened just now, Zhang Tie felt really sleepy and fell asleep instantly...

 14 Attributes

    Chapter 14: Attributes


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    The next morning when Zhang Tie woke up, he regretted two things: firstly, he didn¡¯t hear his alarm clock go off and might be late for school, and secondly, he forgot to blow out the oil lamp, thus it continued to burn overnight. How wasteful!


    Hurriedly blowing out the oil lamp, Zhang Tie put on his clothes. He then lowered the staircase and after walking down two steps, he realized something. He returned to his room and threw the remains of the common pyrite into a broken sundry box in the utility room before rushing downstairs.


    Dad had already left for work by this time, only mom was at home. The porridge was prepared and being warmed by the water in the pot. Hearing Zhang Tie washing his face and brushing his teeth, his mom walked out of the rice brew store and helped Zhang Tie take out the breakfast from the pot. At the same time, she murmured, ¡°Did you go to bed late last night? You should treasure your body!. Oh, I almost forgot. I already washed the underwear you hid in the drawer. Remember to take your underwear downstairs and throw them into the washing basin next time!¡±


    Zhang Tie was rinsing his mouth, producing a ¡°gulugulu¡± sound; however, when he heard what his mom had said, he instantly choked on the water. As a result, he coughed for quite a while before he was able to recover his composure. Perhaps due to choking or being irritated, Zhang Tie¡¯s face suddenly turned red. When he couldn¡¯t stand it anymore, he shouted, ¡°Mom, I¡¯ve told you more than three hundred times that I¡¯ll wash my own clothes. Please don¡¯t enter my room, I¡¯m not a kid anymore!¡±


    When Zhang Tie woke up yesterday morning, he didn¡¯t have time to wash the pair of underwear that had traces of seminal fluid. Thus, he took it off and hid it in the drawer under the wardrobe. After he came back last night, his full attention was on the mysterious object; therefore, he forgot to wash it. When he recalled that his mom found his ¡°secret¡± while she washed his underwear, he felt really shameful and wanted to hide in a hole in the ground.


    ¡°I know, our Guoguo has grown up. I brought you up, so it¡¯s nothing strange¡­¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s mom said without a care in the world. Zhang Tie realized that what he said just now was useless. He had no choice but to try his best to prevent it in the future. He needed to keep it a secret. Once other people knew about it, he would lose face.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t say anything. He wolfed down the porridge and ran out the door without even cleaning his mouth. He seemed to hear his mom¡¯s murmuring, ¡°Don¡¯t run so fast when you¡¯re full. Walk slowly¡­¡±


    On the way to school, in order to arrive as soon as possible, Zhang Tie, for the first tme, spent two copper coins to take a trolley traffic vehicle for several stops. However, when he had hurriedly arrived at school, he heard the rings of the school bell that indicated that the second class was over.


    Miss Daina¡¯s class was over! As this was an even week in May, the first two classes on Friday were taught by Miss Daina, while during the odd weeks, they would be history classes.


    Zhang Tie instantly became dejected. It was all his fault as he overslept.


    Rushing to the amphitheater at school, as he expected, he could no longer see Miss Daina anymore. He only saw the undergraduate bachelors pouring out of the door and crowding into the washroom. Usually, when Miss Daina was in the classroom, those bachelors preferred not to leave the classroom to piss during the two hours so that they could keep looking at her attractive figure.


    ¡°Miss Daina is becoming more and more beautiful!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°I met her last night in a dream!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°I¡¯ve observed her breasts for two hours, they are bigger yeah!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°That round and sexy bottom is really mature, I really want to touch them!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°I stood for two hours, it really was torture!¡±


    Zhang Tie heard all talks about her when a crowd of bachelors passed by him. Nobody cared about what she taught in the biology class at all.


    At last, the bachelors of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood also walked towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie saw them, and they also noticed Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie saw the fatty Barley winking his eyes towards him. Doug was also looking at him nervously, which made Zhang Tie confused.


    ¡°What¡¯s up? Why are you late?¡±Barley patted Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°Erm, I overslept!¡± Zhang Tie scratched his head coyly.


    ¡°Heh¡­ heh¡­ Don¡¯t be too !@#$ing tired. If you consume too much energy, you¡¯ll oversleep!¡± Hista always showed an obscene smile that was as evil as the acne on his face. Right then, the emphasized word ¡°!@#$ing¡± really made people impressed.


    ¡°Your face seems pale today, did Hista hit the mark? I¡¯ve experienced the benefits of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, so you must have had a hard time sleeping last night!¡± Leit gave him a surreptitious wink.


    ¡°What did Miss Daina teach today?¡± ignoring the two, Zhang Tie turned to Sharwin. Among the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, Sharwin was the only one who paid attention in Miss Daina¡¯s class and was really good at making notes; therefore, he would always be laughed at by others.


    ¡°Simple treatment with rotten vine and the living habits of man-eating spiders. I can lend you the notes if you want!¡±


    ¡°Ok, let me have a look!¡±


    ¡°Hurry up, I can¡¯t stand it anymore!¡± Bagdad urged. They then rushed into the washroom. However, Doug evidently slowed down. Seeing them leave, Doug silently drew Zhang Tie aside.


    ¡°Let¡¯s be friends!¡± these words made Zhang Tie tremble.


    Noticing Zhang Tie¡¯s expression, Doug realized that his words were not precise enough, ¡°Oh, no, I mean let¡¯s be at peace!¡±


    ¡°At peace?¡± Zhang Tie gazed at Doug, ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t tell Bagdad about what happened to me yesterday, then I¡¯ll forgive you about the vomiting thing. You know, I was seen by many people that day, so some guys have already started to call me the Monster Mucilage!¡± Doug dejectedly twisted his face.


    Zhang Tie finally knew why Doug was cold to him for the past week. What a narrow-minded guy! ¡°If anyone dares to call me the ¡®Monster Mucilage¡¯ at school and in front of Miss Daina, I swear I¡¯ll beat them up until even their mothers won¡¯t recognize them¡± Doug added.


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s be at peace. I will not tell anyone about what happened yesterday!¡± Zhang Tie became generous since he didn¡¯t want to give back the money. ¡°But what will I say if Hista asked about you?¡±


    ¡°Tell them I entered and did her for three hours! I¡¯ve already talked about this with Barley¡±


    ¡°Ok, you did her for three hours. Additionally, when you left, she felt reluctant to send you off. She then kissed you and asked you to come visit her next time!¡±


    ¡°Good brother!¡± Doug patted Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder excitedly as if he had met a bosom friend.


    Zhang Tie could only succumb to him.


    The next morning class was the carpenter class. For the next two hours, all the bachelors in Zhang Tie¡¯s class would use the two-man saws to saw the wood in the practice workshop at school. Until the bell rang, they continued to saw wood until even their hands were swollen.


    The classes in the afternoon were physique training and testing. As usual, Glaze would always attract all the attention. He renewed his records on the deep squats and the maximum continuous armor piercing strikes he made one week ago to 320kg and 123 attacks respectively. Even the instructor thought that Glaze was a natural born fighter.


    Compared to the glorious Glaze, the achievements of most students in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood were as plain as the airport landing areas before the Catastrophe. Only Bagdad ranked in the top twenties in the 100m dash with a time of 10.8 seconds in the afternoon and became the only shining light in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. As for the other members, take Zhang Tie for example, he had no records at all, as the instructor only recorded the achievements for the top 3 in each 100m dash. However, Zhang Tie¡¯s achievements were always below tenth place. His best achievement was ninth place with a time of 11.6 seconds, while the record for third place of the group was 11.2 seconds. There were even four or five people ahead of Zhang Tie. Evidently, his record was nothing special in the group of undergraduate bachelors. As for the fat Barley, he definitely had one of the worst time among the group of undergraduates with a time of 13.7 seconds, though he was never ashamed of his record.


    After the physique training class, Zhang Tie got his latest personal data:


    Zhang Tie


    100m¡ª¡ª11.6s


    Bench press¡ª¡ª90kg


    Deep squat¡ª¡ª170kg


    Explosive punch¡ª¡ªright punch, 240kg; left punch, 190kg


    Legs¡¯ maximum stamping explosive¡ª¡ª270kg


    Maximum continual breaking-armor pricks¡ª¡ª48 pricks


    Endurance: 4


    In the age dominated by fighting force, Zhang Tie¡¯s achievements were as miserable as the 15-year-old youth. Before the first strand of meditation fire was ignited in the burning point of the Shrine, the physical difference between professional fighters and the average person of the same age was decisive and rarely overcome.


    ¡°I should ignite the meditation fire in my Shrine as soon as possible!¡± the 15-year-old teenager thought to himself urgently...

 15 Red Scarf Burglars

    Chapter 15: Red Scarf Burglars


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    "Why does this guy always run so fast after school?" seeing Zhang Tie waving his hands and disappearing, Barley smacked his lip and said languidly.


    "Is he heading to the grocery store?" added Sharwin.


    "He has to be there twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday. He was there yesterday, and today is Friday, so what would he do there?" Barley explained.


    "Maybe he¡¯s in a rush to get home!" Doug covered for Zhang Tie for the first time since they made peace.


    "The males that go back home after school are hopeless!" Bagdad added proudly with arms crossed.


    "What are your plans?" Leit asked Bagdad.


    "I¡¯m getting ready to apply for a part-time job at the Fierce Tiger Fighting Palace. This weekend, a couple of part-time waiters are needed over there. If I get employed there, I would be able to use the training equipment inside for free, and If I¡¯m lucky enough, I might be able to meet several great fighters over there!"


    "Well, good luck. That place belongs to the rich. I heard that Glaze would train for a few more hours in the fighting palace after school everyday¡­" Leit shrugged his shoulders.


    "Glaze is always heading to the Fierce Fire Fighting Palace, which is one of the best fighting palaces in Blackhot City!" Bagdad admired. "If only part-time waiters are needed over there!"


    The last few words Bagdad said made Barley disgusted.


    "What about you, Leit? What are your plans for the weekend?" Sharwin asked.


    After some hesitation, Leit decided to finally tell the truth, "My dad is going to take me to visit one of his old friends. He had arrived at Blackhot City just two days ago and was appointed as the vice director of the Storm Business Group in Blackhot City. Dad might be planning to pave a road for me! What about you, Sharwin?"


    "I will be a private teacher over the weekend. 40 copper coins a day!" Sharwin became coy.


    "Your dad is really narrow-minded. You¡¯re only 15, yet he wants you to make money during the weekends?" Doug foolishly asked.


    "It¡¯s understandable. Shawin is the elder since he has two younger brothers. He should fulfill the responsibility of an elder brother."


    "Yea, what about you, Hista? What are your plans?"


    "Hoho, I have some spare money this month, so I plan to relax myself this weekend!" saying this, Hista kept thrustingraising his waist up.


    "Son of a !@#$%, you saved your spare money for a month, including the money for your breakfast, just for that?" Bagdad said, shooting a contemptuous glare at him.


    "I will die without doing women! After the first time, I now understand that I am living only for women..." Hista replied seriously. He then started murmuring with Barley with his arm wrapped around Barley¡¯s shoulder


    In this fashion on the last day of the school week, the core members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood chatted and joked freely before separating to do their own business.


    Zhang Tie was running rapidly across the alleys neighboring the school. After running for about two blocks, he finally arrived at where he had always gone to ¡ª the train station at Wesley Avenue. Zhang Tie stood at the mouth of a small alley beside the station, breathing heavily as he gazed at the corner on the other side.


    For the past two years, he had always waited here on numerous occasions and for the most part, he could see the one he was waiting for. In the past, he would always wait with many other students outside the school gate after school and followed her for almost two blocks. However, ever since the terrifying one-eyed man appeared, whichever horny student decided to follow her would be fiercely beaten by him. As a result, nobody dared to follow her anymore. However, Zhang Tie still stuck to it. Naturally, he didn¡¯t dare to follow her in the usual manner, so he would come here to appreciate her after school each day, even if it was only for a single glance.


    After Zhang Tie peacefully waited for more than ten minutes, a figure walked out from the corner of the avenue more than 40 meters away from the station. The moment Zhang Tie saw Miss Daina, he felt like he was appreciating a living painting instead of a person in front of him. At the sight of Miss Daina, Zhang Tie felt the whole world become alive, and the 15-year-old teenager felt breathless.


    Walking towards him from afar, Miss Daina arrived at the station. The shadow that was more than 20 meters away from the mouth of the valley where Zhang Tie hid was the most beautiful. With the most beautiful hair, the most beautiful figure, the most beautiful clothes, the most beautiful legs, and the sexy black high heels, Zhang Tie felt that Miss Daina was the reincarnation of a goddess.


    Her hair definitely smelt fragrant, just like her body fragrant. Gazing at her beautiful hair, Zhang Tie thought to himself, "What would it feel like if I touched it?" The teenager was in the mire of an illusion¡­


    On the station platform, there were several passengers waiting for the vehicle and were talking loudly. However, when Miss Daina arrived, Zhang Tie realized that they lowered their voices. Even the two gentlemen who were reading the newspaper on the chairs silently began to sit straight up. A man even turned his head and silently adjusted his hair against the billboard beside the station.


    Zhang Tie really hoped that the vehicle would never arrive. That way, he could continue to appreciate her. However, only five minutes later, a railed vehicle arrived slowly from afar. All the railed vehicles within the city were just smaller train with narrower rails, smaller heads, lower-powered steam-powered units, slower speed, and less capacity. They were naturally more available in the city.


    When it was close to the station, the train slowed down, and a wisp of steam rose from the deceleration valve at the end of the coach. With one foot in the doorway, a man showed half of his body while waving a bell. He yelled to remind the passengers to cast their coins for tickets. The passengers then started to board the train.


    Zhang Tie dejectedly couldn¡¯t recover his composure until Miss Daina boarded and the railed train moved far away. He reluctantly walked home.


    ...


    As it was the weekend, Zhang Tie¡¯s elder brother, Zhang Yang, would also come back as usual. On each Friday, his family would reunite and eat supper together, thus the supper would be very superb today. His mom had boiled a pot of fresh beans with the remaining half of bacon. Before Zhang Tie entered the house, he could already smell the fragrance of the meat soup. When he saw the steaming oily and milky meat soup tumbling in the pot, Zhang Tie¡¯s appetite instantly rose Taking the spoon against the pot, he scooped up a spoonful of soup. With cheeks puffing out, he heavily blew on it for a while. Although the soup was still hot, he wolfed it down quickly and the taste that could be described as happiness slipped into Zhang Tie¡¯s mouth instantly.


    "Greedy cattle, you can enjoy a bowl of soup first if you¡¯re hungry!" his mom walked over from the rice brew store and scratched Zhang Tie¡¯s head like what she used to do for the past ten years.


    Swallowing his saliva, Zhang Tie replied, "No, I¡¯m not hungry. Let¡¯s wait for dad and elder brother!"


    "Our Guoguo has grown up!" saying this, his mom tied her apron. "Dad is going to work overtime, so he¡¯ll probably be back a bit late. You go take a look at the store, I¡¯ll cook supper!"


    "Okay!"


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie¡¯s father returned. After greeting Zhang Tie, he went to the kitchen to help the mom. Twenty minutes later, Zhang Tie was about to sit at the dinner table, and just when he thought his elder brother might not come back tonight, Zhang Yang arrived. Zhang Yang was 1.88m in height and had a strong stature with fairly slim hands. Like Zhang Tie, his eyes and eyebrows were slightly longer and narrower, which gave him a sense of elusive spiritual energy. Wearing the pitch black military uniform of the City Guard Army of Blackhot City, he wore a yellow leather military belt with a copper buckle, had uniformed long sword that hung from his belt, and on his shoulder was a military emblem that signified that he was a sergeant first class. As the little captain of the City Guard Army of Blackhot City, he was almost a military officer.


    Ever since Zhang Tie was a child, his elder brother has been always his idol.


    Zhang Yang came back with a knapsack in hand. He opened the knapsack and took out two things and foisted them into Zhang TIe¡¯s hands. "Open them, it¡¯s enough for a meal!"


    "Canned beef!" taking the two cans, Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes turned bright as saliva began to pour out. Unexpectedly, his elder brother brought back such a good thing


    "Sit here, I¡¯ll open them... " his mom took the two cans away before Zhang Tie could respond. She put one of them in the cupboards when she went to get another pair of chopsticks for Zhang Yang in the kitchen. She opened only one can of beef. Seeing this, the three men at the table began to laugh. His mom was really shrewd and frugal when it came to their daily lives. All the family members have already gotten used to her.


    "Elder brother, what else is in your knapsack?" Zhang Tie sharply gazed at the filled knapsack. In Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes, his elder brother was like a magician who would always conjure many things.


    "Look, here you are!" Zhang Yang directly tossed the entire knapsack into Zhang Tie¡¯s hands. Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t wait to open it, and when he did, a pair of black leather training shoes appeared before him. Additionally, there were two dark green sleeveless sweaters, and two pairs of dark green underwear. Leather shoes, sleeveless sweaters, underwear, towel, and soap were all personal living necessitiesutilities given to the City Guard Army in Blackhot City. These goods were in great demand in the black market of Blackhot City. His elder brother had saved them all for Zhang Tie. Looking a the new pair of leather shoes and then at the heavily worn out pair on his elder brother¡¯s feet, Zhang Tie felt like crying.


    "I¡¯ve replaced them for you, their sizes should be suitable for you. Mom said you had grown up, so don¡¯t cry!" when he said this, he stretched out his huge hand and rubbed Zhang Tie¡¯s hair, making it a mess.


    Hearing the last few words, Zhang Tie instantly felt that he was losing face. He became coy and irritated all in a moment. At the same time, the elder brother felt it was funny and murmured something to his dad. His dad also laughed out loud, not caring about how embarrassed the young soul was.


    "Mom!" Zhang Tie cried unhappily.


    "Well, well, supper time, I promise not to disclose it in the future~!" with an opened canned beef on the plate, mom walked over recklessly.


    The family started eating happily...


    "Don¡¯t play outside in the evening during this period!" Zhang Yang told Zhang Tie at the table, "Blackhot City is not peaceful recently!"


    "What¡¯s happening?" his dad became a bit nervous. The mom also became alert. Only Zhang Tie was chewing on the beef tendon in his bowl dejectedly. "Any news?" added the dad.


    "A couple of days ago, Sara, the number two of Bloody Hand Bucher of the Red-scarf Burglars Group, was captured in Andaman City. Yesterday, the alliance parliament voted to hang Sara. The Red-scarf Burglar Group then released news that they¡¯re going to take revenge!"


    "Will this¡­ affect Blackhot City?" the dad doubted.


    "When voting if they should hang the Bloody Hand Butcher, 11 of the 17 city-state representatives of the Andaman City-State Alliance agreed, including the representative of Blackhot City. Nobody knew how the voting results were disclosed, but the Red-scarf Burglars Group has targeted the 11 alliance members who voted "yes" for revenge. Blackhot city is remote geographically and at the northernmost end of the alliance, and its surroundings are matched with the weaker alliance forces; therefore, it might be the place that¡¯s the most easily attacked by the Red-scarf Burglar Group!" the elder brother explained peacefully.


    "Is the alliance deteriorating? How was the voting result of the alliance parliament leaked? There must be a spy in the alliance. For killers like the Red-scarf Burglars group, some may want to sympathize with them and want them alive¡­" the dad cursed cynically. "I don¡¯t know whether there are any spies, but vacation for all the guards in the City Guard Army have been canceled for the following two months, so I can¡¯t come back home for the next two months!" said the elder brother with his hands stretched out.


    "Son, is it dangerous?" the mom worried.


    "Mom, trust me, the Red Scarf Burglars are not strong enough to attack our city yet. Us members of the City Guard Army and the city defense of Blackhot City are sturdy enough. They could at most launch terrorist attacks and destroy in secret. We at the City Guard Army don¡¯t feel too much stress, but you should watch out for yourselves!"


    Opening his mouth, Zhang Tie wanted to pour out everything about the Castle of Black Iron at this moment. However, he clearly knew that if he told his secret to the family, it might cause an unpredictable catastrophe for the happy family since Zhang Tie, his elder brother, and even his dad and mom were trivial figures in Blackhot City. Zhang Tie had heard many similar stories. He remembered that the trivial figures in those stories had all died miserably. Therefore he decided that keeping it a secret might be the best choice.


    After supper, his elder brother left, his dad went to black chess with the neighbors, which was his number one hobby, and his mom went to church. Before she left, she closed the door to their home. Zhang Tie was then left alone at home. After collecting and washing the bowls and chopsticks, Zhang Tie returned to his room. It was now the perfect time for him to further study the secrets in the Castle of Black Iron...

 16 Re-entering the

    Chapter 16: Re-entering the Castle of Black Iron


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    To be honest, Zhang Tie sometimes felt that he was a lunatic. Like now, although he knew there was nobody home, Zhang Tie still checked his room carefully before he would enter the Castle of Black Iron. He then tightly closed the window in his room and the mouth of the staircase. After all, this was a special experience. Zhang Tie himself also didn¡¯t know if there would be any strange sound or light when he entered the Castle of Black Iron. Besides astonishment and surprise, he also felt stressed about having to keep the secret. Hence, it would always be better to deal with it carefully.


    After checking his room, Zhang Tie felt like he had forgotten something. His mind spun before he patted his head and murmured, ¡°How could I forget this!?¡± Zhang Tie lowered the staircase and went downstairs to the courtyard neighboring the kitchen. On a wall of the courtyard hung two strings of dried corncobs. Zhang Tie took one of the corncobs, and after thinking for a while, he entered the kitchen and found two sprouted potatoes from a bag in the corner of the kitchen. He then returned upstairs, back to his room in the attic. Moving to the utility room, he found the two halves of the common pyrite that had been thrown aside. He also found an abandoned steel bar that was longer than a meter. Finally, he found the dagger which was given to him as a present by his elder brother from the drawer at the head of the bed. By either holding onto these articles or by hanging them onto his clothes, Zhang Tie kept his eyes closed in the room and started to touch the arched door in his consciousness.


    It might have been because he had already experienced the Castle of Black Iron twice, but he was able to touch the door much faster this time. Within approximately twenty seconds after Zhang Tie had closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, the door had already appeared in his mind.


    ¡°Enter!¡± Zhang Tie thought to himself. He felt the surrounding rays of light slightly sway, and by the time he opened his eyes, he was already in that weird space.


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    Once again, a familiar systematic dialog box appeared in front of Zhang Tie and disappeared in several seconds.


    ¡°Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord¡±, ¡°Welcome¡±. ¡°Those are some really mother!@#$ing good words!¡± Zhang Tie thought to himself pleasantly. He then hurriedly checked his ¡°equipment¡±.


    With a steel bar in his right hand, a dagger buckled to his waist, potatoes and corn cobs in his left hand, and two halves of a common pyrite in his pocket, if someone had seen Zhang Tie¡¯s weird appearance, they would definitely mistake him for a lunatic. They would never believe that Zhang Tie was thrilled at this moment


    Zhang Tie sprung up from the ground and yelled with increasing excitement, ¡°Great! I can actually bring things in.¡± Suppose he had not discovered the other functionalities of the Castle of Black Iron, this function alone would have already made Zhang Tie thrilled for a long time. This function meant that Zhang Tie could hide things in this secret warehouse and would definitely be useful in the future.


    ¡°I¡¯m rich, I¡¯m rich¡­¡± with his excitement rising, Zhang Tie spun many times on the ground before recovering his composure. Now that the first function of the Castle of Black Iron has been confirmed, it was the right time to look for its other functions. Thinking of this, Zhang Tie let go of the steel bar and potatoes that were held in his hands and pulled out the two pieces of common pyrite and the dagger that was buckled on his waist before throwing it all on the ground. After this, Zhang Tie squatted. Holding onto the dried corncob, he began to peel off the kernels. There were more than two hundred niblets on the corncob, which occupied almost half the space of the pockets on his trousers. After the niblets were removed, he threw away the bald corncob. Zhang Tie then held onto the steel bar, stood up, and began to look around.


    The space was exactly the same as it was yesterday ¡ª the colorful fog swirled above the space, and the weird small tree and the black mire at the center of the space remained unchanged.


    After circling the extremely spacious land, Zhang Tie finally selected a place and brutally inserted the sharp end of the steel bar into the mud.


    Puh, 20cm of the steel bar was fully submerged into the mud.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a little bit deep. I remember that teacher said 10cm was enough,¡± Zhang Tie scratched his head bashfully and pulled the steel bar out of the mud. Given the quality of the mud, the moisture of the soil under this land was ideal, so Zhang Tie became more confident.


    Puh, he inserted that end of the steel bar into the soil once more. Its depth this time was almost half of the previous attempt. ¡°It¡¯s ready,¡± Zhang Tie thought to himself. He then pulled out the steel bar, and a shallow hole appeared in the mud. He pulled out a dried niblet and placed it inside the hole before covering the hole with soil. In this manner, he sowed his first niblet; this was the simplest method to plant corn. Zhang Tie was filled with excitement. After he did it for the first time, the following attempts would be easier. Zhang Tie imitated what he had done the first time: steel bar in, make a hole, niblet in, and cover it with soil with 50 cm distance between the two holes.


    Puh, a niblet in, bury it...


    Puh, a niblet in, bury it...


    Puh, a niblet in, bury it...


    Puh, a niblet in, bury it...


    Only after more than 10 minutes did Zhang Tie finally finish sowing all the niblets. He irregularly sowed them in seven or eight rows. After that, Zhang Tie ran back to the pile of articles he had left. He pulled out the dagger and sliced the two sprouted potatoes into five or six pieces. He returned to where he had sown the niblets and dug several pits in a row beside them with the dagger before he buried the potato pieces one by one. After all this work, Zhang Tie patted his dirty hands with satisfaction and smirked for a while. He then inserted the steel bar between the area with the niblets and the area with the potatoes as a marker.


    The niblets were on the left side of the steel bar, while the potatoes were on the right. Whether or not they would grow up, only God would know.


    Zhang Tie felt pretty happy when he had finished the second task in the Castle of Black Iron. Sorting through the articles, Zhang Tie walked towards the mire with black bubbles. He had already thought it through and came to the conclusion that everything in this space would be useful, including the black mire.


    This time, Zhang Tie moved closer to the mire until he was at the edge. Naturally, Zhang Tie was no fool. He didn¡¯t directly touch it, as this place gave him the feeling that it was extremely dangerous and that people should stay far away from it. Zhang Tie knew that if he touched it with his hands, the result would be extremely miserable.


    After circling the edge of the mire twice, Zhang Tie could still not figure out what it was used for. Finally, his eyes turned bright as an idea came to mind. He needed to verify his idea, thus he went back to the two halves of common pyrite, took them into his hands, and ran back to the mire. About ten meters away from the mire, he waved his hands and threw one of the halves of the common pyrite into the black mire. The moment the common pyrite was cast into the black mire, Zhang Tie hurriedly opened the management panel of the Castle of Black Iron and clicked the Basic Attributes of Castle of Black Iron on the menu:


    ¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªLength: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªWidth: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªAura Value: 0


    ¡ª¡ªMerit Value: 1


    ¡ª¡ªBasic Energy Storage: 0


    ¡ª¡ªSpecial Output: Void


    ¡°The Merit Value has increased to 1. That¡¯s strange, where did it come from?¡± Zhang Tie was slightly confused. However, all of a sudden, the value of ¡°Basic Energy Storage¡± changed from 0 to 0.1. At the same time, the font of the option also became brilliant and alive, changing from a gray font to a raised blue font.


    ¡ª¡ªBasic Energy Storage: 0.1 (blue)


    The raised item reminded Zhang Tie of the ¡°Enter¡± button in the system, thus Zhang Tie attempted to press the item ¡°Basic Energy Storage¡±. As a result, a semi-transparent log window appeared in front of Zhang Tie. There were two tips on the dialog box. The first tip was at the top center of the dialog box and read:


    ¡ª¡ªEverything in the universe is a manifestation of energy. Matter is a form of condensed low-frequency energy, and space is a form of sublime high-frequency energy. Therefore, all matter and space can be reverted to its original energy.


    ¡ª¡ªAt 20:38, May 13th, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, a common pyrite was converted by the Pool of Chaos. As a result, the Castle of Black Iron has gained 0.1 unit of basic energy storage!


    ¡°The strange black pool is called the Pool of Chaos. It¡¯s somewhat useful; I can throw objects inside and convert them into the most basic energy. Isn¡¯t it similar to the garbage disposal incinerator in Blackhot City? Garbage was burned in the incinerator, while the heat generated from it can be used to provide central heating for the residents in Blackhot City. By contrast, the Pool of Chaos seems much greater!¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s excitement rose when he solved the problem and knew the function of the strange black mire. As for the first tip on the log, Zhang Tie blurrily felt that it was important, but he could not understand it at all. Hence, he ignored it.


    ¡°Energy? Matter? Space? What the !@#$!¡± Zhang Tie became irritated as he could not understand it. ¡°It¡¯s just a mother!@#$ing pool, a garbage treatment plant. What the !@#$?¡±


    Closing the dialog window, Zhang Tie touched the ¡°Merit Value¡± option. He clearly remembered the value of ¡°Merit Value¡± was 0 last time. How could it have become 1 today? Additionally, the font color and state of the two words, ¡°Merit Value¡±, were evidently the same as that of the ¡°Basic Energy Storage¡±. He opened it without any hesitation.


    Similar to the previous dialog window, there were two tips in the dialog that popped out.


    ¡ª¡ª


    Do good deeds and eliminate evil ¡ª the largest mercy in the Human World;.


    Worship the gods and love the people ¡ª the nearest stairway to heaven;


    Lucky people, please show the mercy of the creator to the secular world, so that the Gods can understand you;


    Please receive the most sincere pleasures and appreciation presented to you by the hundreds of millions of living beings;


    Please end the evil souls and the endless darkness to become the light, and when you are the light, you are definitely walking on the light and a magnificent road will be prepared for you.


    The first tip on the log brought Zhang Tie a huge impact. Reading it, Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes inadvertently became wet. When he read the second tip, his tears kept flowing down.


    ¡ª¡ªOn the evening of May 13, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord ate together with his family members. You took initiative and washed the bowls after supper, cleaned the kitchen, and kept your house clean, which made your parents appreciative. Therefore, you gained 1 Merit Value.


    It turned out that dad and mom were so easily happy!


    Although the problem of ¡°Aura Value¡± has not been solved yet, he had already gained a lot. In a complex mood, Zhang Tie left the Castle of Black Iron. All of a sudden, he returned and stood for a period of time before rushing out of his room madly.


    Three hours later, when Zhang Tie¡¯s dad and mom opened the door, they found that the house was clean, including the floors, walls, table, and chairs, as if they were new. Everywhere was well cleaned, even the places and corners piled with sundries. Being startled, the dad and mom stood there for quite a while.


    ¡°What happened? We were just out for two hours, did we open the wrong door?¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s dad felt it was strange.


    Opening her mouth, Zhang Tie¡¯s mom doubted that there was something wrong with her eyes. Right then, lifting a barrel of water in one hand and a map in the other hand, Zhang Tie walked upstairs. At this moment, they understood.


    ¡°Son, did you do this?¡± the dad stared at Zhang Tie with a weird look.


    ¡°Yea!¡± Zhang Tie smiled, wiping the sweat from his forehead.


    ¡°Son, what¡¯s wrong? Don¡¯t scare me!¡± the mother stretched out a hand to touch Zhang Tie¡¯s head nervously. Usually, Zhang Tie had never been that enthusiastic and diligent, although he had also taken initiative to help with some housework in the past.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie became moved and bashful. ¡°Dad, mom, I¡¯m ok. Whatever, I¡¯m free anyway, so here¡¯s a surprise! How about it? Are you happy?¡±


    A surprise from their son? Zhang Tie¡¯s dad and mom looked at each other. Heaving a deep sigh, they showed a smile, nodded, and replied, ¡°Happy!¡± in unison.


    Zhang Tie also smiled, feeling endlessly satisfied...


    Lying on the bed, Zhang Tie entered the Castle of Black Iron once again and threw the remaining half of the common pyrite into the Pool of Chaos so as to eliminate the last evidence of the Castle of Black Iron in this world. He opened the Basic Attributes Panel of the Castle of Black Iron:


    ¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªLength: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªWidth: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªAura Value: 0


    ¡ª¡ªMerit Value: 2


    ¡ª¡ªBasic Energy Storage: 0.2


    ¡ª¡ªSpecial Output: Void


    As expected, ¡°0.1¡± was added to the Basic Energy Storage. Opening the dialog box of the Merit Value, Zhang Tie saw a new log:


    On the evening of May 13, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord took the initiative and cleaned his home and made his parents happy. As a reward, you have gained 1 more Merit Value.


    With a satisfactory smile, Zhang Tie fell asleep¡­¡­

 17 Growing Up

    Chapter 17: Growing Up


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    As the old saying went, ¡°Kids in poor families always grow up early¡±. Zhang Tie had already begun to help his parents with housework ever since he was a student in preliminary school. His dad worked diligently in the mill, while his mother stayed at home and sold rice brew as a side job. In this manner, they brought up Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie.


    In the past, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know how to treasure his parents. Two years ago on a weekend when he was home, he found his mom doing housework even after closing the rice brew store. He noticed his mom¡¯s slightly plump and fat back as she mopped the floor. It was completely different from the slim and beautiful figure that he had in his mind from when he was a child. All of a sudden, Zhang Tie felt frustrated and grew up overnight. He started to understand that a man should be responsible for his family and parents. From that day forward, Zhang Tie would stay home every weekend and help his mom with the housework, while other kids played outside. Naturally, Zhang Tie also learned how to make rice brew from his mom. A year ago, the rice brew made by Zhang Tie was already the same as those made by his mom. By then, even the regular customers failed to notice that half of the rice brew was made by Zhang Tie.


    Oddly enough, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t have any dreams last night and fell asleep very easily. When Zhang Tie opened his eyes at 6:00 am, the sky was still slightly dim. Zhang Tie glanced at the clock and found it was just 6:15 ¡ª a time when young people were reluctant to get up. In Zhang Tie¡¯s memories, he has rarely got up before 7:00 am. Closing his eyes, he planned to have a nap; However, he was unable to fall asleep again. He felt clear-minded and energetic all over and didn¡¯t feel like sleeping at all. He felt as fresh as a white cabbage being scooped from the water after soaking overnight. He usually felt sleepy when he woke up in the morning; however, today, he felt like a polished superb crystal that was free of impurities.


    After failing to fall asleep, Zhang Tie decided to get up instantly. With only a pair of underwear on, Zhang Tie twisted his bottom as he stood beside his bed. No matter what he did, nobody could see him. He continued to stretch his waist by rotating it sixty circles clockwise and sixty circles counterclockwise, ignoring the obscenity of his actions. He had become used to this habit. His father had told him that men should twist their waists in the morning to strengthen their Yang Qi. Zhang Tie had always kept this in his mind, and later on, he slightly understood it. One day, when he saw his elder brother doing the piston movements with a woman, he understood the function of strengthening one¡¯s Yang Qi. Henceforth, he would slightly practice this series of actions every morning. Although Zhang Tie was still a virgin, for more than ten years, with the exception of his wet dreams, he had not ejaculated once. Men¡­ hm¡­ hm... always wished to be more fierce in that aspect.


    The moment he began to do that exercise, Zhang Tie lowered his head and noticed a high-raising tent. Removing his underwear, he found his !@#$% to be really big. Raising its head with blue veins all over, it was truly terrifying. Zhang Tie tried to bend it, but it was as hard as a stick.


    ¡°Stand for a while. Maybe one day, you will perform well!¡± Zhang Tie thought to himself.


    After twisting his bottom, he opened the small window in the attic. He lifted his legs and stretched waist several times. Zhang Tie then put on his clothes and lightly stepped downstairs. After cleaning his teeth, he made breakfast for his family. Their breakfast consisted of nothing but porridge. The rice had already puffed well last night and had already turned soft. These grains of white rice were really appetizing.


    After the rice grains were puffed, Zhang Tie started to make a fire. Blackhot City was rich in coal resources, thus coal was very cheap in Blackhot City. Residents were able to buy a small wheelbarrow full of coal cinder balls made from broken coal cinders with a few dozen copper coins. Although coal cinder balls were cheap, skill was necessary to burn them in the chamber of a stove. Thankfully, after many years of ¡°practice¡±, Zhang Tie had already become very familiar with this. In the past, Zhang Tie needed the aid of some pine oil to help ignite it, but he was now able to make fire with the coal cinder balls within ten minutes without the usage of pine oil.


    Ten minutes later, Zhang Tie made a fire in the chamber of the stove. He washed the pot and began to boil water. With the fierce flames under the pot, the water soon began to boil. He then put the puffed rice into the pot and covered it. Zhang Tie glanced at the fire and smiled. He found it very satisfying to faithfully serve his family and give them a surprise.


    It would take at least one hour to boil the puffed rice in the pot, thus he had a lot of free time. He walked around the kitchen and thought for a while. Zhang Tie then fetched several big ceramic mugs from the rice brew store, retrieved some water from the well in the backyard, and thoroughly washed them. After he finished washing the mugs, he put them under the eaves of the backyard to dry them. At this moment, day had already broken. After working for almost an hour, Zhang Tie¡¯s forehead was covered in sweat. The moment Zhang Tie had placed the last ceramic mug under the eaves, he found his mom standing at the doorway from the kitchen to the backyard, staring at Zhang Tie in surprise.


    ¡°Guoguo, what are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Ah, mom, I got up early, so I wanted to do something with my hands!¡±


    ¡°Foolish boy, you¡¯re not grown up yet, you can¡¯t just get up so early!¡± his mom walked over and wiped the sweat off Zhang Tie. She went and removed the pot lid to check the porridge. Looking at the porridge, she knew when Zhang Tie got up. ¡°Go take a nap. You¡¯ve finished most of the housework this morning. Come down and eat breakfast when you wake up!¡±


    ¡°Mom, I¡¯m really not sleepy!¡± Zhang Ti explained languidly.


    ¡°Come here, tell mom. Have you gotten a girlfriend recently and spent all the money I gave you? I feel like you were strange since last time¡­¡± His mom moved closer to him and added, ¡°If you want money, I¡¯ll give you some. A man should be generous to attract a girl. I have some saved up money, but you can¡¯t tell your dad about it!¡±


    Staring at his mom, Zhang Tie was at a loss of words. What!? In the end, his protests were useless and was almost kicked back upstairs by his mom while his ears were pinched. His mom insisted for him to take a nap...


    ¡°You are still growing, so you have to sleep more to grow taller!¡± Seeing his mom¡¯s murmuring shadow, Zhang Tie was moved and went back to his room and pretended to return to sleep.


    But in reality, he was not able to fall asleep at all. Thinking for a while, he tightly closed the door and the window of his room and entered meditation for the Castle of Black Iron once more. Due to experiencing this a couple of times, he was able to link to the Castle of Black Iron much easier than before. This time, the door appeared naturally in his mind, almost at the moment Zhang Tie closed his eyes and thought about the ¡°Castle of Black Iron¡±. He said to himself ¡°Enter¡± and entered the Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    The same dialog box appeared in front of Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes and disappeared instantly. although it was disgusting, Zhang Tie was really happy each time he saw the appellation that he made for himself.


    Handsome¡­ Magnificent¡­ Lord... Hahahhaha...


    Raising his chest, Zhang Tie stood still and looked around. Through his naked eyes, he found no change to the land ¡ª a strange small tree, a vast land, plus the steel bar he erected.


    He then circled the strange small tree, the ¡°Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree¡±, twice and found no changes which made him lose interest. He decided to check on the seeds he sowed yesterday. When the niblets and potatoes came to mind, his excitement instantly rose. He ran to the marked land and squatted on the ground to observe them carefully.


    Only a night had passed, nothing had happened to the niblets at all. Zhang Tie was also not that anxious, as he had learned at school that it would take about a week since it was buried in the soil for a niblet to sprout. It was still too early at this point. Thinking of this, Zhang Tie patted his head fiercely and cursed that he had forgotten to water them. This was a really low level error; however, it was still not too late to remember it. He planned to bring in two barrels of water next time. After checking the buried niblets, he moved to the buried potatoes. Surprisingly, some of the stubborn potatoes had already sprouted. He specifically put those sprouted parts upside down yesterday when he buried them. Unexpectedly, some of them should have sprouted this morning. The fresh saplings broke out overnight. Like bean sprouts being soaked in water overnight, they had grown up a lot. The potato with the largest twig had already sprouted out two fresh tender shoots. Marvelous!


    Zhang Tie was thrilled, ¡°Mother!@#$er, with this land alone, I would never have to worry about starving to death even if only potatoes could be planted in it!¡± Zhang Tie could only make this association at this moment.


    After a while, Zhang Tie opened the basic attributes panel of the Castle of Black Iron:


    ¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªLength: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªWidth: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªAura Value: 0.3


    ¡ª¡ªMerit Value: 3


    ¡ª¡ªBasic Energy Storage: 0.2


    ¡ª¡ªSpecial Output: Void


    Merit value rose by 1 as expected. Aura value also rose from 0 to 0.3 which instantly attracted the attention of Zhang Tie...

 18 This Is My World

    Chapter 18: This Is My World


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Fascinated by the ¡°Aura Value¡± option, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t wait to open it. Being similar to the two other options opened yesterday, there was a message at the top of the log about the ¡°Aura Value¡± of the Castle of Black Iron. Compared to ¡°Merit Value¡± and ¡°Basic Energy Storage¡±, ¡°Aura Value¡± gave Zhang Tie a better understanding of this world.


    ¡ª¡ªPlants perform as the bridge between matter and living beings. Aura originates from the life energy produced from the combination of plants and matter. It is the basis that all living beings rely on to survive and evolve in which the universe and mother nature can coexist in harmony. The more aura value, the faster the plants will grow. With aura value, other living beings can become more energetic and further evolve.


    Similar to the logs of the two previous options, the description of aura value shocked Zhang Tie once again. Zhang Tie read it more than ten times repetitively and finally understood why everybody liked the color green. Green was the color of plants, and plants represented the existence of aura, food, water sources, and all other living beings. A greener place meant more plants and more living beings. Try to imagine which would be a better place for humans to survive and reproduce: an unsettled desert or a lush mountain forest. Naturally, the latter option was more proper, as it contained more living resources and aura or life energy.


    A tiny seed buried in the soil could grow into a towering tree in several years. When you think about it, isn¡¯t that spectacular? It was still a seed without soil; however, it¡¯s a life form that changes greatly in the soil. The change is due to the release of life energy when the two combined. Plants convert matter and energy that could not be directly absorbed and utilized by people and animals into visible food, fresh air, and invisible aura which would nourish all living beings and built a bridge between matter and living beings. As far as Zhang Tie was concerned, the rule of the harmonious coexistence between the universe and mother nature was a benign interaction between matter, plants, and all living beings. Plants could constantly provide aura for all living beings, while the living beings should ensure that the process of aura provision was not destroyed as well as creating proper environments for plants. A teacher once taught him that the reason the human world deteriorated and broke down before the Catastrophe was essentially due to human beings constantly destroying mother nature and violating the rules of the universe. At that time, human beings were extremely arrogant. They treated everything provided by mother nature and the universe as resources and objects that could be willingly plundered and destroyed rather than their homeland and co-inhabitants which they could rely on. Instead of giving gratitude and repayment, people were constantly demanding more and more. As a result, a series of problems occurred. This explained why the orthodox school education system treated the arrival of the Catastrophe and the Star of God as the disaster of human beings, while many extreme sects considered them as the rebirth of human beings. In the eyes of the extreme sects, the Catastrophe and the Star of God represented the end of the wrong behavior of human beings and the beginning of the new behavior for human beings.


    Finishing reading the first message, Zhang Tie thought for a while before moving his eyes onto the next message that automatically appeared:


    ¡ª¡ªOn the evening of May 13, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar (Friday), some potato seeds have begun to sprout in the Castle of Black Iron. The aura in the Castle of Black Iron has been slowly increasing. Attention, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord. The aura in the Castle of Black Iron grows directly proportional to the quantity and the variety of plants within the space. The more high-end plants that could form different levels of life energy required by the Complete Ecological System, the more aura would be provided for the space within the unit time.


    After reading the second message on ¡°Aura Value¡±, Zhang Tie was very happy, as he had figured out another secret about this mystical space. He learned that several sprouted potatoes could provide 0.3 unit of aura value for the Castle of Black Iron overnight. What about other plants? Take those purple-leaf parasol trees on both sides of the street neighboring his home for example. Although Zhang Tie had not learned too much about the classification of plants, he could still instinctively feel that a tree could provide more aura to the space than several potatoes. As for how much aura would be provided by the tree, Zhang Tie could not answer it for the time being; however, this didn¡¯t matter. Zhang Tie glanced over the spacious space and thought to himself, ¡°Whatever it is, if only it could grow up.¡± Other unlikely and weird ideas came to Zhang Tie¡¯s mind. As he was in the Castle of Black Iron currently and there were many more secrets to be discovered, Zhang Tie had to put down the unlikely and weird ideas for the time being.


    Closing the basic attributes of the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie touched another branch on the menu and opened the ¡°Space and Topographic Creation¡± option. When he selected this function last time, the system tip stated, ¡°As each of the three storage values of the Castle of Black Iron is 0, the ¡®Space and Topographic Creation¡¯ function is unavailable!¡± Zhang Tie really wanted to see what the surprise was when none of the three storage values were 0.


    When he opened the ¡°Space and Topographic Creation¡± option, there was truly a surprise ¡ª a menu of three lower-class items appeared as follows:


    ¡ª¡ªSurface Layer


    ¡ª¡ªCrypt Layer


    ¡ª¡ªUnderwater Layer


    The options of ¡°Crypt Layer¡± and ¡°Underwater Layer¡± were both gray. According to his experiences, Zhang Tie knew that they were currently not available, thus he pressed the option ¡°Surface Layer¡±. Once it was opened, a three-dimensional image of about 0.09 m2 appeared in front of Zhang Tie. After careful inspection, Zhang Tie found that this three-dimensional image was a miniature map of the entire space of the Castle of Black Iron. The entire image was so intricate that even the steel bar that Zhang Tie used to mark the ground was displayed. Feeling like the image in front of him should be able to rotate for convenient observation, Zhang Tie attempted to rotate the virtual three-dimensional image. Unexpectedly, it truly rotated along the direction of Zhang Tie¡¯s force and presented the original appearance of the Castle of Black Iron from a different point of view. Zhang Tie¡¯s excitement rose as he continued to rotate the image by 360 degrees and viewed his Castle of Black Iron from all possible angles. Besides the function of rotation, Zhang Tie also found that any part of this three-dimensional image could be enlarged or shrunken. When he moved his two hands to opposite directions on the map in a manner that was akin to drawing open the door curtain, the map would enlarge. Similarly, when he put his two hands on the map and drew them close to one another in a manner that was akin to closing a window, the map would shrink. When he moved one hand towards a direction, the angle of the view on the map also changed. He could observe each detail on the map in a more intricate manner through a casual change of size and view angle.


    Really interesting! Zhang Tie played with the three-dimensional map as if he was playing with a magic square or a toy. He made drawings in the air to enlarge or shrink the entire three-dimensional map. He kept playing with it for more than ten minutes before he carefully studied other details. Even now, it was named ¡°Space and Topographic Creation¡±. It was never just that simple.


    He found no other functional options on the entire three-dimensional map. The moment he felt curious and wanted to do some ¡°creation¡±, a line appeared before his eyes.


    ¡ª¡ª Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, all creations are in line with the concepts of ¡°Visualized Creation¡±. Namely, once any topographic image in your mind is cast onto the map, the Castle of Black Iron could create it for you.


    What the !@#$! So easy! Zhang Tie was determined to give it a try. Adjusting the map so that he was directly looking down on it, Zhang Tie gazed at a location on the upper left area of the map and imagined a pond of more than ten square meters. Gradually, a pale blue shadow of more than ten square meters appeared in that region. Although it was blurry, its outline was generally consistent with what he had in mind. Visualization was really energy consuming. With Zhang Tie¡¯s present capabilities, he could not completely imagine all the details of the pond; therefore, the pale blue shadow of the pond was unclear on the map. He was unable to present it clearly no matter how much he concentrated on the pond in his mind. At this moment, another message appeared:


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, the completeness of the details of your created topography is lower than 5%. Do you want the system to use the Optional Nature Creation Law to compensate for the lacking details? After the Nature Creation Law is used to complete the establishment, the Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord can adjust it manually!


    ¡ª¡ªYes ¡­ No


    Naturally, he chose ¡°Yes¡±. The moment he pressed the ¡°Yes¡± option, the blurry, pale blue pond became clear. As imagined by Zhang Tie, a more natural and life-like pond appeared in the upper left corner of the map. Staring at the virtual scene, Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh. Although somewhat losing face, he had to admit that the system did it better than himself. After the past few days of practicing Mental Arithmetic by Abacus, the only thing he could visualize was an abacus. For his current self, it was difficult to even visualize an abacus, let alone a pond.


    After the general topographic creation, the alleged ¡°manual¡± adjustments became much easier. Namely, the general topographic creation adjusted the ¡°size¡± and ¡°outline¡± of the pale blue virtual scene, and its ¡°location¡± on the map was made by making hand gestures as if one were kneading dough. As for other more detailed aspects, he could not create them with his hand. However, the ¡°Space and Topographic Creation¡± function was a dozen times more interesting and convenient than Zhang Tie had anticipated. With this function, Zhang Tie saw the entire Castle of Black Iron as a very big, interesting toy ¡ª really mother!@#$ing interesting!


    Zhang Tie was very thrilled and almost sprang up. However, as he was grinning, a line of words appeared on top of the pale blue pond and instantly shocked Zhang Tie:


    ¡ª¡ªThis Topographic Creation Requires the Following Resources:


    Basic Energy Storage¡ª¡ª56879;


    Aura Value¡ª¡ª6878;


    Merit Value¡ª¡ª912


    Do you want to create it?


    ¡ª¡ªYes ¡­ No


    Create crap! Staring at those items and the data behind them on the Basic Attributes column, Zhang Tie almost cried. According to the present schedule, even if he did all the housework, including sweeping the floor and washing clothes, he could only gain 3 merit values a day. It meant that he would have to do housework for at least two years to accumulate 912 points of merit value. As for aura value, he could see a beacon of hope from the sprouted potatoes. It could be easily achieved by planting more on the land. Once the plants were alive, the aura value would grow constantly. However, the basic energy storage made Zhang Tie really desperate. It required 56879 units of basic energy storage. The common pyrite that weighed almost 1 kg could only be traded for 0.2 units of basic energy storage when thrown into the Pool of Chaos. Did it mean that the 56879 units of basic energy storage required at least 140,000 kg (or 280 tons) of common pyrite?


    Zhang Tie finally realized that he could not afford the huge toy known as ¡°Space and Topographic Creation¡±. It seemed that this system complied with the strict law of ¡°equivalent exchange¡±, implying that without sufficient resources being listed, the system would ignore you. Everything inside this space required the consumption of various materials and large amounts of efforts. No pie dropped from the sky even though the ¡°Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord¡± spent efforts for the achievements. That¡¯s why not everybody could afford this huge toy!


    Zhang Tie had no other choice but to check the other functions to find one that was affordable.


    He then closed the ¡°Space and Topographic Creation¡± option and opened the ¡°Living Beings and Species Management¡± option...

 19 New Targe

    Chapter 19: New Target


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Touching the ¡°Living Beings and Species Management¡± option, Zhang Tie did not see a dialog box like he did previously. Instead, he saw a miniature icon. He presumed that the dialog box appears only when it was tapped for the first time, which would not have appeared automatically had he not taken the initiative to look it up in the past. What appeared in front of Zhang Tie now was the following lower-level function tree of ¡°Living Beings and Species Management¡±:


    ¡ª¡ªCarbon-Based Living Beings and Species Management (Green, Activated)


    ¡ª¡ªSilicon-Based Living Beings and Species Management (Gray, Not Activated)


    ¡ª¡ªSulphur-Based Living Beings and Species Management (Gray, Not Activated)


    ¡ª¡ªOther Living Beings and Species Management (Gray, Not Activated)


    Zhang Tie then directly touched the ¡°Carbon-Based Living Beings and Species Management¡± option, as he found the other items to be difficult to be understood. He remembered that Miss Daina had taught them that carbon-based living beings had already been identified by human beings before the Catastrophe. Cells of the carbon-based living beings definitely contained the carbon element, as they were the basis of the organism. It seemed that all living beings in this world was carbon-based, including plants, microorganisms, and even magical beasts, let alone human beings and animals. As for silicon-based or sulphur-based living beings, Zhang Tie had never heard of them at all. They were totally foreign to Zhang Tie, thus he ignored them.


    After opening ¡°Carbon-Based Living Beings and Species Management¡±, Zhang Tie saw the following three sub items again:


    ¡ª¡ªMicroorganism Management


    ¡ª¡ªPlant Management


    ¡ª¡ªAnimal Management


    The option ¡°Animal Management¡± turned gray, indicating that it was unavailable. Since Zhang Tie tried the ¡°Microorganism Management¡± option last time, he touched the ¡°Plant Management¡± option this time.


    Then, a message appeared in front of Zhang Tie:


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªOn the evening of May 13, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, the system has detected that the Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord has entered the Castle of Black Iron with plant seeds; therefore, the Plant Management System of Castle of Black Iron has been activated.


    The message disappeared two seconds later, and a new window that only contained a three-dimensional icon of a 360-degree rotating potato appeared. Zhang Tie touched it lightly and opened it. He then saw the same scene as the one when he had opened the ¡°Microorganism Management¡± option.


    There was still a red cross beside the potato icon, and there were three sliders that could be moved to the right. The three sliders represented aura value, merit value, and basic energy storage.


    Looking at the number 3 on the merit value icon for a while, Zhang Tie slid it to the right slightly. As a result, the number 2 appeared precisely on the right of the slider, and the number 3 that appeared under the merit value label turned to 1.


    Then, Zhang Tie pressed ¡°Enter¡±.


    Another message appeared:


    ¡ª¡ªPlease choose your target to inject the resource into!


    Followed by three options:


    ¡ª¡ªThe entire population of this species in the space of the Castle of Black Iron!


    ¡ª¡ªThe population of this species in specific areas or spaces of the Castle of Black Iron!


    ¡ª¡ªOne or multiple individuals of this species in the Castle of Black Iron!


    Zhang Tie chose the third option, and a three-dimensional map that similar to what he had just seen appeared in front of him. Each potato pit was marked on the map with red sparkling numbers. Zhang Tie touched ¡°No.1 Pit¡± on the map, which was the one nearest to the steel bar. The sparkling number of ¡°No.1 Pit¡± changed from red to green and no longer sparkled. Zhang Tie then touched the option ¡°Enter¡±.


    Due to the limited merit values, he couldn¡¯t be certain of its effects even if he injected it into just a single potato seed, let alone more.


    ¡ª¡ªOn May 14, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and magnificent Castle Lord injected two merit value points into a potato seed to stimulate its mutation and evolution.


    ¡ª¡ªMutation and evolution is expected to be finished in 56 days. Please wait patiently, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord.


    The two messages appeared for two seconds and disappeared automatically.


    Zhang Tie also had no way to ascertain whether his input was effective or not. After all, it was only two points of merit value and nothing else, not even aura value or basic energy. It would be a surprise if it was a success, and if he failed, he would just see it as an interesting thing. No matter what, he was still in the process of exploring the Castle of Black Iron.


    Closing ¡°Living Beings and Species Management¡±, Zhang Tie opened the last item, "Production of Seeds and Fruits of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree¡±, on the systematic function tree, which was related to the small tree. Before opening it, Zhang Tie had already instinctively known that the small tree was the core of the Castle of Black Iron. Although the previous options were also great, they were just affiliated attributes when compared with the small tree, just like the green leaves on it.


    He opened it and the following message appeared:


    ¡ª¡ªIs the universe a friendly place? This is the largest problem that all living beings face and the ultimate pursuit of living beings. From then on, you can loudly answer, yes!


    The message disappeared in two seconds. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t even comprehend it before an image appeared in front of him. As a result, Zhang Tie¡¯s attention was instantly attracted as he stared at the dense introduction on the image and was stunned.


    One minute later, Zhang Tie started to drool...


    Two minutes later, Zhang Tie¡¯s pupil enlarged and sparkled...


    Three minutes later, Zhang Tie started to sweat all over...


    Four minutes later, Zhang Tie started to gasp...


    Five minutes later, Zhang Tie¡¯s face turned red with hands shivering...


    Six minutes later, Zhang Tie felt breathless...


    Seven minutes later, Zhang Tie¡¯s heart began to pound...


    Eight minutes later, Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes turned white. He covered his chest with his hands as he fell down on the ground directly with his mouth opened and passed out.


    Try to imagine a person who kept begging for food in the streets for fifteen years and was always mocked by others. One day, he was suddenly captured by a troop of soldiers and was taken to a place that was as magnificent as a paradise ¡ª a place that he had never seen even in his dreams. Then, a group of tender and sexy beauties with plump breasts would help him take a bath and put luxurious clothing on him. They would provide him with dainties of every kind. After going to the washroom three times, he was taken to a palace and was pushed to the only gold seat in the palace. A multitude of people would begin to kowtow in front of him and called him ¡°Your Majesty¡±. The beggar must have been scared to death as he asked, ¡°Why?¡±. It turned out that the old emperor had died a couple of years ago, and the successive heirs ranked from No.1 to No.800 fought and died for the throne, leaving no survivors. Thus, the imperial bloodline was completely destroyed and the grand emperor lost his legitimate heir. The chancellors were really anxious, so they racked their brains to find a solution. Finally, they found that the old emperor had raped a girl who was selling matches when he was thirsty for sex while he was privately traveling outside the imperial palace. After being pregnant for ten months, the girl gave birth to the kid before passing away. That kid then became an orphan. Naturally, he failed to learn how to sell matches, and neither did he know that his dad was the bastard emperor. However, should he be invited to be an emperor, what would the beggar do?


    Looking at Zhang Tie, who was twitching and foaming at the mouth, he was that beggar now.


    Is that true? Zhang Tie asked himself before he passed out...


    Probably¡­ maybe¡­ perhaps¡­ somewhat¡­ true! Zhang Tie replied to himself without confidence.


    He then lost consciousness in darkness and happiness...


    Passing out was actually a self-protection mechanism. When a person¡¯s spirit or body reached their limit, this protection mechanism would be activated. As a result, you would be able to face all difficulties. Sad people would become firm and brave, weak people would recover their physique and vitality, while the happy people would become calm.


    Once you woke up and dared to face it bravely, you would find that it was just so so!


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie woke up. Lying on the ground of the Castle of Black Iron, he opened his eyes. Looking at the ever changing color of the clouds that were swirling in the sky of the Castle of Black Iron, he finally calmed down and became rational.


    He was not a beggar, and there was no throne waiting for him. Zhang Tie was just a 15-year-old commoner in Blackhot City. A miserable teenager who fell in love with Miss Daina secretly and dared not to look her in the eyes. Luckily, he picked up a special common pyrite from the roadside, thus he owned more possibilities later in his life. He really wanted to know which passing-by God or Buddha was happy that day and pointed a bright future for him.


    Not every fortune could definitely be converted into power nor make your dreams come true. On the road from fortune to power and dreams, you have to work harder, harder, and harder! God only helps those who help themselves! This was the only rule for all commoners in the Age of Black Iron. Besides, all those lucky commoners should bear one tip in mind: before you are able to safeguard this fortune, you should never let others know that you are a lucky man.


    ...

 20 Ambitions of the Youth

    Chapter 20: Ambitions of the Youth


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    For Zhang Tie, the two-day holiday passed by quickly. As his dad had to work on Saturday, Zhang Tie would always spend the day making rice brew with his mom. Their rice brew store could sell five to six mugs of rice brew each week. Although it was a small income, it could still improve the family¡¯s standard of living to a degree.


    Rice brew was a traditional food for Chinese clan and was easy to make. Its raw material was mainly rice. The processing method was also simple ¡ª First, wash the rice and then put the rice into a pot and boil until it is almost fully cooked. Remove the rice from the pot and dry them. Seal it tightly in clay pots with sugar, honey, and yeast solution to naturally ferment them. In a month, you could open the clay pots and eat it. Well-made rice brew remained fragrant, sweet, and soft and had the glutinous texture of rice. Being rich in nutrition, it tasted sweet and could fill people¡¯s stomach. Besides, it smelt like an intoxicating wine, which made people cool down, decrease the chance of heat stroke, and made the intestines and stomach hydrated. Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang grew up eating their mom¡¯s rice brew.


    Although the process was simple, each step needed to be meticulously done. The reputation of the Zhang family¡¯s rice brew among the neighboring blocks and frequent customers has been gradually accumulating over the past dozen years.


    Zhang Tie and his mom made seven jars of rice brew after a day¡¯s work on Saturday. They made the rice brew and moved them into the warehouse behind the courtyard. Then Zhang Tie rode a modified three-wheeler to purchase rice and 2kg of sugar. Whenever they finished making rice brew on the weekends, their rice bag would be almost empty; therefore, each weekend, Zhang Tie would purchase rice at the rice store and 2kg of sugar on his way back. Curiously, Zhang Tie found that the price of rice rose a bit that day from 4 silver and 45 copper coins per 25 kg of rice from last weekend to 4 silver and 58 coins per 25 kg of rice this weekend. It was almost an increase of 3% within one week.


    Zhang Tie was startled. He was extremely sensitive to the changing prices of living necessities. Zhang Tie remembered that the price of rice in Blackhot City has remained unchanged since he was in middle school three years ago. How could it rise so sharply within a week?


    ¡°Alas, Zhang Tie, we have no choice either. It rose when we purchased it two days ago. We have to live!¡± The boss of the rice store started to complain to him, ¡°70 percent of the rice in Blackhot City is brought from outside. Those farming villages and planting areas surrounding Blackhot City can never ensure that there¡¯s enough food to supply the city. We have no solution since the price of rice is determined by the big business groups. Besides rice, the price of wheat flour has also risen in the past couple of days. You can check it out in other stores, some of them even sell rice at a higher price¡­¡±


    As Zhang Tie had been acquainted with the owner of the rice store for many years, he knew that the diligent and shrewd Chinese boss didn¡¯t tell a lie. Additionally, rice prices in Blackhot City were almost the same in each store with only one to three coppers difference at most for a bag of rice in different stores. If any store sold a bag of rice five copper coins higher than the other stores, it would have no guest.


    Zhang Tie bought three bags of rice for the price of 4 silver and 58 copper coins each. He loaded the 75 kg of rice onto his small three-wheeler that was a modified secondhand bike with the addition of a bag and a wheel. Besides its ugly look, it could only carry limited loads. Three bags of rice plus the weight of Zhang Tie was already its limit. Before loading the rice bags, Zhang Tie carefully inspected the seams and thread ends on the bags to ensure that there were no traces of leakage or being sewn a second time. He then became reassured. Zhang Tie knew there were some bad rice store owners and grains businessmen that would always lessen the real weight of the grains through the usage of tricks like replacing good-quality grains with bad-quality grains or filling the bag with sand. He came to this conclusion through his years of experience in purchasing rice. As the old saying went, ¡°Kids in poor families grew up faster!¡±


    After purchasing rice, he bought 2kg of sugar at a grocery store that was close to the rice store. He then rode the three-wheeler back home. As expected, after the price of rice rose by 3%, the price of sugar also rose even more sharply. Last week, the price of raw sugar was 91 copper coins per kilogram. This week, it has risen to 1 silver coin per kilogram. It was the same in the surround stores, thus he bought 2kg of sugar and put them in the cloth bag of holding that hung on one handle of the vehicle. He then rode the ugly-looking, modified, second-hand three-wheeler and returned home unsteadily.


    Returning home, he explained the situation of the rising prices of rice and sugar to his mom and gave the remaining coins back to her. Thinking for a while, the mom gave 10 copper coins to Zhang Tie as spare money. In response to this, Zhang Tie grinned, ¡°Thank you, mom! You¡¯re much more generous today. You usually give 5 copper coins at most.¡±


    Mom heaved a deep sigh and frowned, ¡°Now that the price of both rice and sugar have increased, we have to increase the price of our rice brew since our profit was already thin. If we don¡¯t increase the price, we will not be able to continue our business any longer; however, if we do that, we may lose some of our frequent customers! Alas¡­¡±


    Seeing his mom frowning, Zhang Tie was moved, ¡°Mom, trust me. I will let you and dad live well in the future. I have already changed!¡±


    ¡°Mom knows our small Guoguo has already grown up, totally different now!¡± smiling, his mom stretched out her hand to touch Zhang Tie¡¯s head.


    Getting another meaning of the two words ¡°grown up¡±, Zhang Tie became bashful again, ¡°It¡¯s not what you¡¯re expecting mom. I mean, I ¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, well. Mom knows our Guoguo has already grown up. You¡¯re an obedient and good kid. Oh! Hurry up and send this rice soup to Grandma Teresa. You won¡¯t be able to arrive there today if you leave too late.¡±


    Zhang Tie was interrupted by his mom and then loaded the remaining three jars of rice soup onto the ugly pedal tricycle and hurried towards a direction. Being impulsive, he almost poured out the secret of the Castle of Black Iron; therefore, he blamed himself in his mind. If his parents knew of this secret, they would be worried about him. Besides, their family would have to assume unpredictable risks. Riding the tricycle, Zhang Tie made the decision to keep this a secret deep in his heart. He considered that if he was capable enough to keep this secret, he could directly bring benefits to the family, and they would never need to worry about him. He stuck to the idea that the fewer people that knew about this secret, the more beneficial it would be to his family.


    As an emerging industrial city, Blackhot City had no deep historical background. At the beginning of its development, convenient urban traffic was one of its focal points. Hence, it had many broad roads, arterial roads, sidewalks, bicycle lanes, and road for vehicles. The road was even clearly divided for the bicycle lane and the normal road for vehicles. Zhang Tie rode the modified, second-hand tricycle on the bicycle lane, ringing the bell. He admired the buses that drove on the road. It was always his dream to own a bus, so as to enjoy a ride around the city with his family members or a beauty like Miss Daina.


    Steam engines have already been eliminated for almost a hundred years prior to the Catastrophe. It was said that human beings had already invented various advanced machinery equipment and technologies before the Catastrophe, some of which were like myths for Zhang Tie. For example, various aircraft flying in the sky, ships that could still be started without fuel after hundreds of years, vehicles that could carry human beings to the stars, equipment that could easily realize communication between two people more than one million kilometers apart, horrible weapons that could destroy a city, perhaps even a country, when it blew up, and so on. His teachers would always sigh when they mentioned them. As a listener, Zhang Tie was always dazzled by it. Human society before the Catastrophe was really unimaginable. However, after the Catastrophe, human beings lost everything magnificent. Being frustrated, they fetched steam engines from historical washlands and revitalized them from the simplest condensing-type steam vacuum suction pump to the most sophisticated high-pressure steam turbine. They made humans gradually powerful in this age that was utterly different from any age before. As a result, human society developed quickly, much like the minibuses with small delicate two-level steam engines that moved forward and backward in a straight line as it sped through the city.


    In Blackhot City, commoners used their feet or the urban public traffic system to get to their destination, while some blue collar workers might own a personal bicycle. For instance, Zhang Tie¡¯s family modified such a weird two-hand tricycle for the sake for delivery. However, rich men always owned a bus that was worth more than a thousand gold coins. For those people, a bus was not just a tool used for travel, it was also a symbol of social status and power. So many years have passed, and yet the number of privately owned buses in Blackhot City was no more than a thousand. People who could sit inside these privately owned buses were either rich or nobles. At least in the middle school that Zhang Tie attended, he had not found a single student whose parents or teachers owned such a vehicle. Even Captain Kerlin, the most terrifying one-eyed man, would have to go to work for fifty consecutive years without eating or drinking in order to be able to afford a bus.


    Almost everything that Zhang Tie had learned at school in regards to machinery and tools was related to various steam engines. As a man born with the desire to be free, the 15-year-old boy possessed two dreams: marrying Miss Daina and owning a beautiful private car. He had always dreamt of driving Miss Daina to a peaceful and beautiful place and making piston movements with her like a moving steam engine. Incidentally, he would also like to check the quake-resistance of the tires and the seats.


    Immersing in his ¡°wild ambition¡±, the youth rode the tricycle quickly in the city. Half an hour later, he arrived at Grandma Teresa¡¯s orphanage before 6:00pm...

 21 Orphanage

    Chapter 21: Orphanage


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Teresa¡¯s Orphanage was located in the civilian settlement close to the west city wall of Blackhot City. Standing outside the gate of the orphanage, Zhang Tie noticed the 30m odd city wall and the military buildings within it. The city wall made the people in Blackhot City feel confident and safe. Although people also felt depressed in front of the high city walls, none of them would complain that it was too high. As the city wall could bring enough sense of safety to the people, the prices of all the houses within the walls were soaring.


    ¡°I wonder if elder brother is standing on the city wall?¡± staring at the city wall, Zhang Tie thought to himself. As soldiers of the City Guard Army of Blackhot City, they had to defend the city walls. Since Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know the daily arrangements and shifts of the City Guard Army, he naturally had no idea where his elder brother was and what he was doing at the moment. Zhang Tie also didn¡¯t feel like asking for that information. Strictly speaking, all information on the fortifications of the City Guard Army and military actions were classified. When people casually talked, they would always expose something; however, if someone was excessively curious, they might bring numerous troubles and disasters upon themselves, and perhaps even to their family. As a commoner, Zhang Tie was always cautious and was not overtlythat curious. Nevertheless, considering the news of the Red-scarf Burglars, Zhang Tie paid special attention to the top of the city wall. No matter what, he felt that there were more soldiers patrolling on the city wall than usual and the atmosphere was more serious than before.


    When he recovered his composure, he found Grandma Teresa standing outside the gate of the orphanage. As usual, she would wait here at this moment every week for the arrival of Zhang Tie.


    As a pious disciple of the Grepis School, Grandma Teresa always wore a green nun¡¯s robe that had some white decorative patterns of olive twigs on it, which symbolized the spirit of the Grepis School. The slightly pudgy grandma in green robes looked very kind, like a neighborhood grandma.


    Green and white were the favorite colors of Grepis disciples, which also symbolized their religious doctrine. The combination of colors was always kind and delightful.


    Seeing Zhang Tie riding over, Grandma Teresa smiled and raised her voice, ¡°Children, your favorite food is coming¡­¡±


    When Zhang Tie arrived at the gate of the orphanage, he stopped his tricycle. Five or six nine-year-old children had already run out from the orphanage. In pairs, they started to help Zhang Tie unload the food from the vehicle before Zhang Tie had even asked them for help.


    ¡°Ho¡­ ho¡­ be careful. If you can¡¯t do it, I¡¯ll help you!¡± saying this, Zhang Tie helped them remove the big clay pots from the vehicle. The children hurriedly brought the clay pots into the orphanage happily. Cheers reverberated from the orphanage as more children ran out. The children with a little bit of strength had already rushed out to help them, while the younger ones stood on the roadside. With eyes widely opened and dripping saliva, they heavily sniffed and gazed at the clay pots that contained rice soup inside. For the children growing up in the orphanage, the rice soup that was as white as snow was already exquisite.


    At this moment, Grandma Teresa would always look at those orphans with a kind smile.


    Every week, Zhang Tie¡¯s family would always have a lot of rice soup left over when boiling rice to make rice brew. This rice soup was extremely precious; it was something which Zhang Tie and his elder brother couldn¡¯t grow up without. Their neighbors always fetched some rice soup to feed their babies when the mothers had no milk to feed them, or if they couldn¡¯t afford milk.


    Rice soup tasted good and was highly nutritious. It was the essence of rice. However, it could not be preserved over long periods of time. Basically, it would spoil in two days. His mom said it was a sin to waste food; therefore, she always kept two days of rice soup for their family and gave the rest to others. Some may look down on the bit of rice soup; however, these half-starved orphans might feel like this was the best food they have ever had. The Zhang family delivered the rice soup to the orphanage every week, which could feed the children for two days. As Grandma Teresa always said, this was the best gift from God.


    At first, it was Zhang Tie¡¯s dad who delivered the rice soup. Later on, it was Zhang Tie¡¯s older brother, Zhang Yang. And now, it was Zhang Tie¡¯s turn. The Zhang family¡¯s business has been based on rice brew for many years. They brought the rice soup here every year, and this had become the tradition of the Zhang Family.


    Guiding the children to bring in the clay pots containing the rice soup into the orphanage, Grandma Teresa walked towards Zhang Tie and slightly embraced him. She then gave Zhang Tie a slight kiss on his forehead as a blessing,


    ¡°Child, God will protect every kind-hearted man. People who give kindness to others will definitely be blessed by God, and they will witness miracles in their lives¡­¡±


    Grandma Teresa had said this line many times before, but it sounded different this time. Zhang Tie was slightly moved.


    ¡°Thank you, Grandma. I also trust that God will bless kind-hearted men!¡±


    Zhang Tie¡¯s face slightly blushed. Grandma Teresa¡¯s body was plump and soft. He felt nothing when being embraced by her before; however, as he had grown up and had known that men and women should not be that intimate, he felt somewhat uneasy. Although he was not that obscene, he felt somewhat embarrassed.


    After carrying the six clay pots inside, the children took them out after a short while. Each clay pot held more than 10 kg of rice soup. In total, they could hold 60 or 70kg of rice soup. This little bit of rice soup was already considered a ¡°generous¡± gift to the orphanage that was short on food.


    ¡°Oh, I forgot. Grandma Teresa, when I went to the rice store, I found that the prices of many grains have risen!¡±


    When the children loaded the clean, empty clay pots onto the tricycle, Zhang Tie mentioned that the prices of many grains had already risen. This was not good news for the orphanage.


    After asking about the details, Grandma Teresa looked somewhat depressed. Looking into the distance, she stayed silent and heaved a deep sigh.


    Seeing her dejected air and the smiles on the children¡¯s faces, Zhang Tie was moved. He stretched his hand into the trouser pocket and pulled out 10 copper coins ¡ª the 10 copper coins he received from his mom. He placed them into Grandma¡¯s Teresa¡¯s hand as he said, ¡°Grandma, here¡¯s all the money I have. I¡¯ll donate it all to the children. I hope it can help them!¡±


    It was the first time for Zhang Tie to donate to the orphanage. In the past, he was penniless, but now he had some spare money from his mom and felt it was much easier now, as he owned the Castle of Black Iron these days. However, the moment the grandma received the money, Zhang Tie was slightly regretful. He felt that 5 copper coins would have been enough. And now, he was poor again. Nevertheless, he found it too shameful to regret, thus he pretended to be a good boy and grinned bashfully.


    Being gifted with 10 copper coins, Grandma Teresa blanked out. She then took a deep look at Zhang Tie and touched his head, ¡°Good child, your kindness will be rewarded!¡±


    Hearing about being ¡°rewarded¡±, Zhang Tie suddenly thought of something. He told Grandma Teresa bashfully, ¡°Grandma, I heard you have many plant seeds. Could you give me some? A classmate of mine moved his home to a new place, which includes a huge courtyard. I¡¯d like to give him some seeds as a present!¡±


    ¡°God, forgive me. I have told a lie to your disciple.¡± Zhang Tie felt a little bit shameful and blushed. When Grandma Teresa mentioned ¡°reward¡±, Zhang Tie suddenly thought that he might ¡°need¡± something. However, she saw Zhang Tie¡¯s uneasy air as the innocence of a ¡°kid¡±.


    The Grepis School was also called the School of the Guardian God. The doctrine of which was symbolized by the two colors on their clothes. They used green to safeguard the land and used white to eliminate evil. This school didn¡¯t worship any idol or god. Instead, it worshiped the land that everyone stepped on. The land was called Gaia, the Mother of the Land, by the disciples of the Grepis School. The school believed that all living beings on the land were the descendants of Gaia, the Mother of the Land, and all green things on the land were the gifts and guardians given by Gaia to all living beings.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know whether the Grepis School was accepted in other places, but he knew that the School of the Guardian God was not well accepted in Blackhot City and the Andaman City-States Alliance, which was full of the commercial atmosphere and worshiped gold coins as God. This could be seen from the way the orphanage and Grandma Teresa were treated. In Blackhot City, religions, even with little power, would own magnificent churches or temples, while the School of the Guardian God didn¡¯t have a room for praying besides this orphanage. In the eyes of many people in Blackhot City, this school seemed to be nothing special aside from advocating for people to plant trees each year and adopt orphans. On the second Sunday of each March, the ¡°Blessed Day¡± of Gaia, the Mother of the Land, the school would always present free plant seeds to the citizens in Blackhot City and collect donations for the school. As a bit of time has passed since the ¡°Blessed Day¡± this year, Grandma Teresa should have some seeds left over. Thinking of the spacious land and the poor aura value in the Castle of Black Iron that only had several potatoes and some niblets sewn, Zhang Tie felt that he might be able to ask for some seeds from her. Whatever they were, if only they could sprout, they would be able to provide sufficient aura value.


    Hearing that Zhang Tie wanted some seeds, the grandma showed a big smile. She looked happier than Zhang Tie. ¡°Wait a moment, ¡± she said to Zhang Tie. Several minutes later, Grandma Teresa gave a 0.5 kg cloth big that was filled with seeds to him. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t open it. After thanking her, Zhang Tie rode his tricycle and rushed home with rising excitement.

 22 Land Reclamation

    Chapter 22: Land Reclamation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    After two or three hours of riding, when he returned home, dusk had already fallen. On his way back, Zhang Tie¡¯s legs already felt a bit weak. He slowed down, thus it took him longer to arrive home. To put it straightforwardly, Zhang Tie was happy to help others. He was really satisfied at the sight of the innocent smiles on the poor children. Although the rice soup he sent over was not valuable, and some may not even think highly of it, Zhang Tie¡¯s family never thought of it as a great or holy task. In regards to that, it was a waste to just pour it out.


    Blackhot City owned a rich night life. When dusk fell, some places would become bustling; however, this had nothing to do with Zhang Tie, who whistled and rode back home.


    By the time Zhang Tie returned home, the rice brew store had already been closed. The gate of their house was also locked up. Zhang Tie opened it and pushed his tricycle into the courtyard. The tricycle was modified by his dad, and although it looked ugly, the wheel added in the back and the basket in the middle were foldable and could be easily taken apart. This way, it would not occupy too much space in the courtyard. Zhang Tie guessed that his dad and mom were at their friend¡¯s place playing cards or at a church, as these were their only hobbies.


    Parking the vehicle, Zhang Tie washed his hands and took the bag of seeds into the kitchen. Smelling the rich beef aroma, Zhang Tie¡¯s stomach started to make a series of ¡°gulugulu¡± sounds, while saliva started to flow out of his mouth.


    The supper was still steaming in the pot. The main dish was braised potatoes with beef.


    Zhang Tie treasured the remaining can of beef and didn¡¯t want to eat it alone. He preferred to eat it together with mom and dad, like they did at yesterday¡¯s supper. Unexpectedly, his mom braised potatoes with the remaining beef. As a result, the small can of beef became a big bowl of delicacy.


    Seeing the bowl of ¡°braised potatoes with beef¡± and counting the number of slices inside, Zhang Tie knew that his dad and mom didn¡¯t even eat a little bit of the remaining beef from last night. They only drunk a little bit of the soup and ate some potatoes, leaving all the remaining beef for Zhang Tie.


    Being somewhat moved, Zhang Tie wolfed down the entire bowl of the dish. Even Zhang Tie himself had not noticed that his appetite has been gradually growing recently.


    After supper, he cleaned the house. He estimated that there were at least two or three hours before dad and mom returned at night. Thinking of the empty land, the niblets, and the potatoes he sowed in the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie quickly took action.


    Zhang Tie felt that he was somewhat a lunatic. When he returned, although he clearly remembered that he had locked the door from the inside, he persuaded himself to check again. Zhang Tie mocked himself, ¡°Could this be the feeling of a trivial figure who hit the lottery and is always scared that the place where he hid his money would be found by others?¡±


    ¡°Then, just be a trivial figure. No matter what, I am a real trivial figure and should not fear being mocked by others.¡±


    After making the decision, Zhang Tie moved faster and faster. He fetched two metal barrels and ran towards the well. After a while, he filled the two barrels and quickly moved back to the narrow washing room in the backyard.


    The washing room inside Zhang Tie¡¯s home was only more slightly more than two or three square meters and was usually well cleaned. As the first gift given by his elder brother to his dad and mom after receiving his salary and subsidiary, the bath tub occupied more than half of the washing room. As tall as half a person, the bathtub was not delicate, but very firm. Being painted with lacquer, it was heavy and smooth. Splash. Zhang Tie poured out the two barrels of water into the bath tub. The water level in the wooden barrel was as high as Zhang Tie¡¯s ankle. He took two more barrels of water, rushed into the washing room, and poured them into the bath tub again.


    It took Zhang Tie about ten minutes of repeating this series of actions eight to nine times before he filled the bathtub. If mom were home, she would definitely have prepared hot water for Zhang Tie to take a bath, but whenever Zhang Tie wanted to take a cold bath like his elder brother, his mother would scold him. However, he was not really planning to take a bath. Zhang Tie put the last two barrels of water beside the bathtub and took the small bag of seeds back to the washing room. As he had just finished supper, the violent movements made Zhang Tie¡¯s stomach and intestines slightly uncomfortable, though he had no time to care about that.


    Back in the washingroom, Zhang Tie closed the door from the inside. With a small bag of seeds under his right armpit, Zhang Tie lifted the two barrels filled with water and stood steadily. He then took in a deep breath to recover his composure and kept his eyes closed in order to look for the mysterious ¡°arched door¡±...


    This process seemed much easier. After his attempts in the past couple of days, Zhang Tie found that he could clearly ¡°see¡± the ¡°arched door¡±, only if he concentrated his consciousness between his eyebrows and the ¡°arched door¡± that was the gate of the Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t figure it at all, ¡°Whatever, nobody would spend time on it¡­¡±


    See¡ª¡ªLock¡ª¡ªEnter¡ª¡ª


    Lifting the two barrels of water, Zhang Tie, who held onto the small bag of seeds, disappeared in the narrow washing room.


    Feeling that everything in his surroundings had changed, Zhang Tie opened his eyes and found himself already in the Castle of Black Iron.


    He was facing the empty land and the ¡°Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree¡± in the middle of the land. Naturally, the following line made Zhang Tie¡¯s humble ego expand.


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, Welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    Seeing this line, Zhang Tie suddenly felt his spirit rise. His didn¡¯t feel pain in his stomach anymore, and neither did his intestines convulse nor did his legs shiver anymore.


    ¡°I am the motherfucking lord here¡­ Ahhh...¡± sensing the expanding ego, the miserable youth exclaimed like a horny beast. If he was outside, his noise would definitely have attracted the nearby magistrates. However, in the Castle of Black Iron, he couldn¡¯t even hear any echoes.


    He had never shouted like this when he was outside in the real world. However, after he released what was buried in his heart, he suddenly felt cool. It was a strange feeling as if he suddenly became more comfortable after that.


    Then, Zhang Tie decided to yell again¡­


    ¡°I am the motherfucking lord of this world¡­ Ahhh¡­¡±


    More comfortable now, one more time¡­


    ¡°I want dad and mom to have beef to eat everyday¡­ Ahhh¡­¡±


    More comfortable¡­


    ¡°I love you, Miss Daina... Ahhh...¡±


    One more time¡­


    ¡°I want to be a rich man... Ahhh...¡±


    One more time...


    ¡°All beauties with plump butts and breasts, your Mr. Perfect is me... Ahhh...¡±


    After a space of growl, Zhang Tie felt much better and cool. He didn¡¯t know if anyone else had tried it, but he found it to be a really nice means to release his own tensions.


    After that, Zhang Tie threw the bag of seeds that was under his armpit onto the land. With the two barrels of water in hand, he moved towards the patch of land where he had sown niblets and potatoes. Although he felt that the soil in the Castle of Black Iron was suitable for growing plants, he was still worried about them if he didn¡¯t water the seeds. It seemed that it doesn¡¯t rain in the Castle of Black Iron, thus Zhang Tie feared that the seeds would go bad without water.


    Arriving at where he had sown the niblets and potatoes, Zhang Tie put down one barrel on the ground and spread the water from the other barrel onto the niblets that had not sprouted yet. With the water from one of the barrels, he only finished watering less than a quarter of the niblet¡¯s land. He then spread the water of the other barrel, which only covered half of the niblet¡¯s land. He then held the two empty barrels. Keeping his eyes closed, Zhang Tie concentrated his consciousness between his brows¡­


    See¡ª¡ªLock¡ª¡ªExit


    ¡­


    The next moment, Zhang Tie appeared in the narrow washingroom again, even though his feet didn¡¯t move. Turning on the faucet at the bottom of the bathtub, Zhang Tie filled the two wooden barrels and kept his eyes closed.


    See¡ª¡ªLock¡ª¡ªEnter¡ª¡ª


    ¡­


    He entered and left the Caste of Black Iron in this matter for five consecutive times. Looking at the two patches of land where he had sown niblets and potatoes, Zhang Tie stood in front of the marked steel bar. Taking in a deep breath, he was very satisfied. However, he suddenly felt his brain ache. It felt like his brain was blank. Previously, he had not noticed it when he was busy watering the seeds. He tried to focus between the eyebrows and saw the marvelous ¡°arched door¡± soon. However, being different from the several instances before, this time, the arched door became very unstable and gloomy. When Zhang Tie seized the door consciously and ordered ¡°Exit¡±, an unexpected event happened.


    Abruptly, Zhang Tie suddenly felt lightheaded and dizzy, as if he was dropping from high altitude into a bottomless dark tunnel. All of a sudden, he lost his balance and sat on the ground, before passing out. After quite a while, he woke up with a pale face¡­


    ¡°What happened? How could this happen?¡± Zhang Tie became frustrated.


    The sudden following tip provided him with the answer.


    ¡ª¡ªIt was detected that you, the Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, had been excessively spiritually exhausted. It is suggested that for you, the Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, to have a rest inside the Castle of Black Iron before you leave. Caution: Frequent entering and leaving within a short period of time will consume a lot of your spiritual energy. While you lack spiritual energy, please do not frequently enter and leave the Castle of Black Iron, so as to prevent damage to your spiritual energy...

 23 The Poor Lord

    Chapter 23: The Poor Lord


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    ¡°It turns out that I have to pay a price to access the Castle of Black Iron!¡± cried Zhang Tie while sitting on the ground. The feeling of his brain suddenly going blank and the feeling of falling into a dark tunnel was really horrific. Moments before, Zhang Tie even thought that he would kick the bucket in this manner. If this was how excessive consumption of spiritual energy felt, Zhang Tie would never try it again.


    He recovered at this moment and noticed that his body, within a few minutes, was covered with cold sweat. He became weaker. ¡°It seems that excessive consumption of spiritual energy is serious,¡± he sharply shook his head and felt that the buzzing sense of being engulfed by darkness in his mind was not fully eliminated yet.


    There must be something wrong!


    Although there was some discomfort in his mind, Zhang Tie could still think about some things.


    He realized that his behavior towards the Castle of Black Iron was really stupid. Obviously, the Castle of Black Iron was immortal. Even now, the increase of ¡°spiritual energy¡± required the ¡°potential life energy¡± from plants. Zhang Tie had to solve the lack of a water source problem. The Castle of Black Iron would never let the lord of the Castle of Black Iron water the plants here in such a foolish fashion. Even though the soil here was fertilized and didn¡¯t need to be irrigated, what about the ¡°Basic Energy Storage¡± and the ¡°Pool of Chaos¡±? Didn¡¯t the rubbish disposal plant need something inside to convert matter into basic energy? Would it require Zhang Tie to access the Castle of Black Iron to gain the ¡°Basic Energy Storage¡±? Did he have to move things inside?


    When he thought of the huge amount of basic energy storage that needed to be consumed to realize some functions inside the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie became irritated. Motherfucker, it shouldn¡¯t be like that. What a motherf*cking castle lord he was! He was just a porter in the railway station! He had to access the Castle of Black Iron five to six times a day for thirty to fifty years to expand to 666 square meters of land. What the hell!


    No way! It¡¯s not like this! There must be something wrong or he hadn¡¯t yet discovered some mysterious function in the space. The Castle of Black Iron looked like a very senior system. How could it make such a low level mistake!? It would be like the tycoons in Blackhot City heading for Black Gold Hotel, only to take off their clothes, grow vegetables, prepare coal, and cook food for themselves.


    Thinking for quite a while, Zhang Tie still couldn¡¯t find the answer. Feeling like he was insulted, Zhang Tie cursed inwardly and decided to leave it alone. ¡°Motherfucker. Whatever, just be a porter! So what? Others are unqualified to even be a porter. It¡¯s more perfect now with the defect. The Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord will be a poor hardworking porter in the future! The Castle of Black Iron is finally perfect now! Is there anything better?¡±


    This was Zhang Tie¡¯s temperament. He was sometimes a lunatic and always became pessimistic when encountering frustration. Sometimes, he was simple and would do that once he made the decision. He would then find numerous reasons to comfort himself and strive to reach his goal. Previously, he regarded Miss Daina as his beloved, but moments later, he felt that a man who had a multitude of concubines is successful. He believed that the love he had never experienced should be great and dreamed about sexy younger sisters, beauties, and mature ladies with sexy figures¡­


    Human beings ¡ª perhaps just be a contradictory group.


    When he left the problem alone, another urgent and unavoidable problem also appeared in front of Zhang Tie. Namely, how does he recover his spiritual energy? How long will it take to recover? If it took too long, and dad and mom found nobody home while the door to the washing room was locked from the inside, and they shouted but got no response, then it would be a big problem. How would he explain it then? Otherwise, what if he abruptly appeared in front of dad and mom who had already returned home?


    This problem couldn¡¯t be solved by Zhang Tie. Whatever, if this happened, he could tell them a little bit of the truth. The worst case scenario would be beaten by slabs fiercely. However, he had always been beaten by slabs before. Though, they would never beat him to death!


    Once he thought it through, he felt that it was nothing terrible. Zhang Tie then patted his butt and stood up. He walked a few steps, and then returned. Lifting the two empty barrels, he moved towards the small tree. The small bag of seeds, which Zhang Tie had not opened yet, given by Grandma Teresa still laid there. It was the perfect moment to open it.


    Moving to one side of the tree, Zhang Tie put down the barrels in hands, squatting on the ground, he picked up that cloth bag of seeds. He undid it and poured all the seeds inside out.


    Moving to one side of the tree, Zhang Tie put down the barrels that he held in his hands. Squatting on the ground, he picked up the cloth bag of seeds. He undid the bag and poured out all the seeds.


    It could be said that Grandma Teresa was a caring person. The cloth bag was composed of eight small paper bags, and on each bag was the name of the seed.


    ¡°Hygrophila polysperma¡± was written on the smallest bag, while the names on the bigger paper bags were: ¡°Morning glory¡±, ¡°Olive¡±, ¡°Ligustrum obtusifolium¡±, ¡°Photinia fraseri¡±, ¡°Honey pear¡±, and ¡°Radish¡±. Seeing the word ¡°radish¡±, Zhang Tie scratched his head gloomily. He doubted that Grandma Teresa made a mistake. Why would she give me radish? ¡°Olive¡± was understandable because it was the symbol of the Grepis School. ¡°Honey pear¡± was edible and could bloom into nice flowers. Why radish? Including ¡°olive¡± and ¡°honey pear¡±, three of the seven seeds were edible. With one more, half of them could be eaten.


    What does it mean? Zhang Tie scratched his head. Was Grandma Teresa using these ¡°seeds¡± to give thanks for the soup given by the Zhang family all these years? It seemed a little bit weird.


    Seeing the biggest paper bag, that laid on the ground, was filled with something, Zhang Tie ignored the name and directly opened it. Several walnuts rolled towards Zhang TIe¡¯s feet, which made Zhang Tie utterly started. Another edible.


    What the fuck. Whatever, once they grow, they could provide spiritual energy to this space. Whatever seeds they were, it was better if they were edible! No matter what, he had to sow something in such a huge piece of land; however, he would have to sow the seeds in separate pieces of land. These seeds could also be natural landmarks. When they grew, Zhang Tie might be able to distinguish the four directions in the Castle of Black Iron.


    With the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree at the center, according to the preset view of Zhang Tie when he opened the map of the Castle of Black Iron, the upper part of the map was north, where he would plant the olive trees. The lower part of the map was south, where he would plant the photinia fraseri. In the west, he would plant honey pears, and in the east, he would plant walnuts. Other seeds like the hygrophila polysperma, morning glory, and ligustrum obtusifolium would be scattered in each direction, which would not be planned. Though, edible vegetables like radish could be planted beside the potatoes and niblets for the sake of collective management.


    Once he made the decision, Zhang Tie acted on it. First, he opened the bags of hygrophila polysperma, morning glory, and ligustrum obtusifolium, which were easily sown. He gather them together and casually poured them out. Zhang Tie was not good at planting these seeds. Instinctively, he felt that those plants were seen everywhere in the wild. They grew naturally and wildly, thus he didn¡¯t want to waste time on them, treating them as they would in the wild.


    More than twenty meters away from the small tree, Zhang Tie trotted one circle and spread the seeds casually. In less than three minutes, he had finished sowing the three bags of seeds.


    After finishing the first three bags, Zhang Tie became much more serious. He made a row of pits by the steel bar about 50m away from the small tree in the north, then he buried the olive seeds. He did almost the same thing in the south, east, and west. As he found the walnuts to be large, he dug holes that was especially deeper than those of other seeds. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know if this was correct or not. The rest is up to God.


    As walnuts were very expensive, Zhang Tie had rarely eaten them since he was young. As a result, when he was burying the walnuts, he couldn¡¯t help but eat one. In the end, there were only seven walnuts left.


    After he finished sowing the walnuts, he ran towards one side of the ¡°vegetables¡± land and found a piece of land beside the niblets to sow the radish. He inserted the steel bar into the soil and clapped his hands in satisfaction.


    For Zhang Tie, this was the most he could achieve today. As for whether to water them or not, Zhang Tie planned to make the decision in a month. One month later, if the seeds didn¡¯t sprout by then, he would learn from this experience and water the new seeds.


    After these tasks, Zhang Tie opened the basic attributes panel of the Castle of Black Iron. With his mouth gaping, Zhang Tie was startled by the huge changes.

 24 Merit Value

    Chapter 24: Merit Value


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    ¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªLength: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªWidth: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªSpiritual Energy£º0.7


    ¡ª¡ªMerit Value: 35


    ¡ª¡ªBasic Energy Storage:0.2


    ¡ª¡ªSpecial Output: Void


    Zhang Tie was not startled by the growth of spiritual energy, as the sprouted potatoes could grow day by day, which would result in them providing more and more spiritual energy. The peak of the growth of spiritual energy would come when all the seeds sprouted later on. There was no change to the other attributes except for merit value. He remembered that the number of merit value was 3 this morning; therefore, he tried to input two merit value points into the mutation and evolution of potatoes. As a result, only 1 merit value point was left by then. How could it increase by so much within only half a day? To answer this question, Zhang Tie opened the log for merit value.


    ¡ª¡ªOn the afternoon of February 14th, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord helped his mom make rice brew, which lessened his mom¡¯s load and made her comfortable. As a result, merit value was increased by 1.


    ¡ª¡ªOn the evening of February 14th, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord sent rice soup to the orphanage and donated 10 copper coins. As a result, many people benefitted from you. As a result, merit value has been increased by 32.


    ¡ª¡ªOn the evening of February 14th, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, when Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord returned home, he took the initiative to clean his house, wash bowls, and sweep the floor, which made his family members pleased.


    Seeing the sharp increase in merit value, Zhang Tie thought for a while and moved his eyes to the words to the beginning of the log:


    ¡°Do good deeds and destroyed evils¡ª¡ªthe largest mercy in the human world; worship the gods and love people¡ª¡ªthe nearest staircase to the heaven; lucky people, please show the mercy of the creator to the secular world so that those gods could understand you; please receive the most sincere pleasure and thanks presented to you by hundreds of millions of people; please end those evil souls and endless darkness to make yourself a light and when You are a light, you are definitely walking on the light and a magnificent road are paved on your foot!¡±


    Although he was confused at some parts, reading the paragraph and peering at the sharply increased merit value made Zhang Tie greatly inspired. He now had a deeper understanding of how to gain merit value. Although he was not able to eliminate evil, he could still do something good, whether it was small or big. He could gain merit value points by making others happy, more or less. ¡°Haha, Nice! I love you too much¡­.¡±


    Remembering the numerous ¡°fruits¡± that grew behind the small tree, Zhang Tie laughed out loudly. If the Castle of Black Iron turned into a woman and appeared in front of him, he would definitely kiss her for a long time¡­


    After sowing the seeds, he checked the basic attributes of the Castle of Black Iron. He then ran towards the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree and circled the small tree a few times. Being stunned, he gazed at a twig on the strange tree.


    He remembered that there was nothing on that twig. However, a light blue grape-sized fruit was now hanging on it. The moment he wanted to touch it with his hand, a line appeared in front of him.


    ¡ª¡ªLeakless fruit is in production and is currently inedible. Once the unripe leakless fruit leaves the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree, it would directly turn to gas and disappear. 124 hours left before it becomes ripe¡­


    After reading the line, Zhang Tie instantly pulled back his hand. He recalled that when he found the Castle of Black Iron for the first time, the manjusaka tree asked him to choose whether to use his leaked energy to produce the leakless fruit or not. Is this that leakless fruit?


    It took 168 hours to produce a leakless fruit, which was a week. This meant that by next Friday, the small fruit would be ripe. At this moment, although couldn¡¯t wait to eat the fruit to test its effects. He also knew that a watched pot would never boil; he had to control his desires. He circled the tree a few times and even touched the various strange leaves before sitting down on the nearby soil. With his hands supporting his jaw, he became absent-minded. After more than an hour¡¯s work, looking at the barren land, he felt that it was really boring, although it was honestly strange at the start. Now, he could only slowly wait until he recovered a little bit of his spiritual energy. In here, it was a nice place to do exercise and run; however, he was truly tired today and didn¡¯t feel like running at all. He didn¡¯t know if dad and mom had returned or not. They should not have returned this early since it was a Saturday and his dad would take a rest on Sunday. If it was like usual, they would come back late.


    What should he do then? Just sit here and do nothing while waiting for his spiritual energy to recover? Otherwise... meditate? Zhang Tie burst into laughter at his thoughts. Hahaha¡­ no kidding, how could a commoner of Blackhot City know how to enter meditation, a senior technique and skill? There might be someone in Blackhot City who knew how to increase spiritual energy through meditation, but it was monopolized by a few people and was something that commoners could never touch. Captain Kerlin said that the minorities who knew how to increase spiritual energy through meditation had various backgrounds. Even Captain Kerlin himself didn¡¯t know about it, let alone others.


    It would be impossible to light the burning points in the Shrine. Thinking for a while, he suddenly patted his head, ¡°How could I forget this? I got the book . No matter what, I have some time to practice it now. Why not test it out now?¡±


    Zhang Tie instantly moved. He quickly recalled the relevant content that he had recited more than ten times over the past few days from . He could fully understand it. Zhang Tie sat down with his legs crossed and hands naturally on his legs. He kept his eyes slightly closed. After a short while, he recovered his composure. He didn¡¯t know why, but he calmed down faster than before.


    After calming down, Zhang Tie started to form an abacus in this mind according to the skills he learned from . This was the most important step and was the foundation of . After forming the abacus in his mind, he could make quick mental calculations. If you had to ask for a single line to explain the principle of , it would be the following: Replace your hands with your consciousness, use the abacus in your mind. That was all.


    What made Zhang Tie puzzled was that the book required him to form a golden abacus in his mind. It should be brilliant. However, the reason for it was not mentioned. Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t figure it out and neither did he feel like exploring it. He just felt like it was just the way it was supposed to be.


    According to , Zhang Tie should imagine the abacus from outlines to details and from simple to complex. He should firstly imagine a rectangular abacus frame, then a horizontal beam within the frame, and then three vertical beams, which represented the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division operations within three-digits. When the entire image is stabilized, he started to imagine the upper bead between the first vertical beam and the farthest left frame, then the four lower beads between the first vertical beam and the farthest left frame. After that was the upper beads between the second vertical beam and the first vertical beam. Next was the lower beads between the second vertical beam and the first vertical beam, followed by the upper beads between the third vertical beam and the second bead. And then the lower beads between the third vertical beam and the second vertical beam...


    The first time, the moment he imagined the upper beads between the first vertical beam and the farthest left frame, the entire image in his mind broke apart...


    The second time, the same thing happened...


    The third time, he finished imagining the first lower bead between the vertical beam and the farthest left frame...


    The fourth time, he finished the second lower beam between the first vertical beam and the farthest left frame...


    ¡­¡­


    Even Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know how many times he had failed. After another four attempts, the poor abacus with three vertical beams was finally imagined successfully and seemed stable. What¡¯s 125 plus 579? Spinning his brain, he moved the beads to the right places on the abacus in his mind, and it turned into a readable number ¡ª 704.


    What¡¯s 18 multiplied by 39? He recited the formula and moved the beads to the correct places¡­ 702!


    What¡¯s 987 minus 789? He recited the formula and moved the beads to the correct places... 198!


    Zhang Tie laughed out loudly. He was happy and tested it a few more times. As a result, he could calculate in his mind on the abacus faster than before. How about 56 multiplied by 29? He recited the formula and moved the beads to the correct places. The golden abacus shook and suddenly disappeared in his mind.


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes. As the last calculation result surpassed the domain between the three vertical beams on the abacus, the image exploded like a steam boiler that couldn¡¯t handle the high pressure.


    ¡°The book was really valuable,¡± Zhang Tie reconfirmed its value. He never thought that he could gain such a treasure.


    ¡°Alas, what time is now? If dad and mom returned, it would be bad!¡± abruptly remembering it, Zhang Tie quickly stood up. He made no preparation, and neither confirmed whether his spiritual energy had recovered. With eyes closed, he locked onto the door between his brows with his consciousness and said to himself, ¡°Exit¡± ...


    The next moment, Zhang Tie appeared in the washroom room of his courtyard. Along the light of the oil lamp, he saw that the door of the washroom was still locked. He heaved a deep sigh. If his parents came back and found him not there, and yet the washroom was locked from the inside, they would shout from outside the door. If they got no response, the door would have long been kicked open. He opened the door of the washroom and slid out to look around. It was only 11 pm, the gate of the house was still locked from the inside. Thankfully, they hadn¡¯t returned.


    Standing in the pitch black courtyard alone, Zhang Tie stared at the stars in the sky. He patted his chest and comforted himself, ¡°I¡¯d better be more careful when I access the Castle of Black Iron. If this happened again, my secret might be found by others. I¡¯d better learn to save my spiritual energy.¡± Zhang Tie reflected, but then suddenly became still. ¡°How could my spiritual energy recover so fast?¡±

 25 Belief

    Chapter 25: Belief


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    ¡°Alas, dad and mom, leave me alone. Look, there¡¯s such nice weather today! Why not take a stroll at the downtown park or at the reservoir in the suburb? There must be many people over there. Since I trained really hard today, I¡¯d rather stay back and watch the store for you today!¡±


    After lunch, Zhang Tie diligently cleaned the house and then pushed his dad and mom out. His dad worked six days a week in the mill, which meant that he often had poor air quality. His mom was even more miserable. She had to stay in the rice brew store six days a week. Thus, at each weekend, in order to make his dad and mom live a better life, he would always persuade them to take a walk, so as to breathe fresh air outdoors. As for himself, he would help them look after the rice brew store.


    Seeing their son being obedient and sensible, his dad and mom were naturally happy. However, when they left, his mom still muttered to Zhang Tie, ¡°Remember not to increase the price of the rice brew. When frequent customers come, tell them about the increasing price of rice and grains. Tell them that if the purchasing prices are still that high next week, then we¡¯ll have to increase the price a little bit in response. Since they are frequent customers, don¡¯t make them feel like we¡¯re greedy!¡±


    ¡°I know, mom. You¡¯ve mentioned it more than thirty times. I¡¯ve grown up already!¡± explained Zhang Tie. ¡°I¡¯m already fifteen, you don¡¯t need to tell me like you would a small kid or a slow-witted guy. It really hurts my self-esteem!¡±


    ¡°I haven¡¯t said it thirty times, five times at most!¡± His mom pretended to glare at Zhang Tie furiously. At the same time, she also pretended to twist Zhang TIe¡¯s ears. In response, Zhang Tie hurriedly slid backward and grimaced at his mom. He then ran into the brew store and yelled loudly, ¡°Zhang family¡¯s fresh rice brew. Fragrant, sweet, and delicious. Men will grow stronger with it, and women will be more beautiful with it. Hey, you passersby, six copper coins for a bowl. More sales, less profit¡­¡±


    ¡°This kid...¡± Dad shook his head with a smile.


    ¡­¡­


    Seeing his dad and mom disappearing at the end of the street hand in hand, Zhang Tie touched his fuzzy jaw with one hand. He stared at them for a long time before moving his gaze to their shadows. As his dad and mom have been married for dozens of years, each time they walked outdoors hand in hand, it served as a reminder to Zhang Tie that they were not simply just a couple who had married for many years, but rather a couple of youths who are still passionately in love with each other. This gave Zhang Tie an indescribable feeling.


    ¡°Is this love?¡± Zhang Tie wondered. To be honest, he was not experienced enough to have feelings about it; however, seeing how his mom and dad treated each other, he felt a sense of happiness inside.


    After they left, Zhang Tie sat in the rice brew store boringly. He took a fly whisk to drive away the flies. Since rice brew gave off a sweet scent, it naturally attracted flies, even more so on hot days.. Summer would arrive in a couple of months. When it arrives, the door of the rice brew had to be fitted with a bamboo curtain to prevent the flies from entering. However, the delicate exhibitions on the counter would also be covered by the bamboo curtain. As a result, business in the store would decrease. This happened every year in this manner without exception.


    It was right in the afternoon when the sun was still hanging in the sky. All the birds were silent as they perched on the parasol trees. After a cold winter, they were finally emerging from their nests, jumping and singing happily as the mottled spots and shadows of the trees were cast onto the streets.


    A board had been hung outside the door of the rice brew store: ¡°Sorry, due to the rising prices of grains and other raw materials, it¡¯s expected that the price of our rice brew will rise¡­¡±


    ¡°Lovely dad, if it were Donder, he would definitely have increased the sales price of the rice brew as soon as the price of rice increased,¡± Zhang Tie admired.


    After sitting in the rice brew store for half an hour, Zhang Tie sold seven or eight bowls of rice brew. He put the scattered copper coins into a drawer and soaked the empty rice brew bowls and spoons left by the customers into the bowl washing barrel. Watching the rising sun, the hand flicking the whisk became more and more powerless. Zhang Tie felt bored. Surprisingly, as an adolescent, he stayed in here to drive away the flies while other boys his age were playing outside! However, the more bored he was, the more he admired his mom, as she stuck to this for twenty years.


    People would always do something when they felt bored, Zhang Tie was no exception. At this time, he practiced the Mental Arithmetic by Abacus, which included many states. The lowest state was what Zhang Tie had reached last night. Before he is able to use the abacus within his mind, he had to close his eyes and think quite a while to form the abacus in his mind. In the second state, one didn¡¯t need to close their eyes. Within a few blinks, one could form the abacus in their mind and use it. After all, this was a mental arithmetic skill, which meant it was a practical skill. Naturally, it would be useless if you had to spend hours to form it within the mind with eyes closed.


    In the third state, in order to reach the essence of Mental Arithmetic by Abacus, one would have to form an imaginary abacus in their mind and be able to get the answer instantly when they saw any mathematical question. At this stage, one should be able to create an abacus with two to eleven vertical beams, or perhaps even more in mind. Finally, one would be able to form several abacuses in their mind simultaneously and would be able to get the answer within a single blink. This was the sublime state of Mental Arithmetic by Abacus. Once one got to this stage, they would be a super human-sized calculator.


    Zhang Tie actually doubted whether it was possible or not for humans to achieve the sublime state. However, when he remembered the blurry words, ¡°Recommended after-class reading for preliminary school students¡±, Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh. No comparison, no anger. ¡°What are these preliminary school students? They must be really motherf*cking smart.¡± Finally, Zhang Tie even began to think that this book might really have been fetched from the ruins of the Catastrophe. Since the age before the Catastrophe was lustrous and dazzling, things from the ruins were strange and diverse. Expensive crystals used to practice cultivation in this age were just decorations in that age, a time where many people even looked down on it. What if this strange book was truly an ordinary after-class reading material for preliminary school students?


    ¡°Whatever, I will practice it and check its effects. It seems that I can recover spiritual energy by practicing in accordance to Mental Arithmetic by Abacus.¡± Zhang Tie intended to confirm it; however, when he thought of the word ¡°whatever¡±, Zhang Tie became absent-minded and the abacus with two vertical beams in his mind instantly collapsed.


    Naturally, he needed to treat it seriously¡­


    He found this really hard to accept.


    Zhang Tie tried it many times and lowered the time needed to form an abacus with three vertical beams in his mind from ten minutes to approximately five minutes. Unexpectedly, two people suddenly appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    Fatty Barley and Doug were on a bicycle. Doug awkwardly rode the bicycle with difficulty but with happiness as sweat covered his entire forehead. Barley was sitting behind the bicycle cunningly. The moment Zhang Tie noticed them, Fatty Barley, who was glancing over the two sides of the street, also found Zhang Tie.


    ¡°Right here, stop!¡± Fatty Barley shouted and deftly jumped off the back seat of the bicycle and stood on the ground. Hearing this, Doug, who was riding happily, was frightened and shouted, ¡°Argh, brake, brake, how do I brake? Argh... help...¡±


    Bang...


    ¡°Bastard, this is a new bicycle dad bought for me!¡± Barley screamed bitterly.


    With his hands on his forehead, Zhang Tie became speechless and closed his eyes¡­


    Two minutes later, Barley and Doug, who were gritting their teeth and rubbing their butts, appeared in front of the Zhang Family¡¯s rice brew store. Seeing Doug, who was taking in deep breaths of the aroma of the rice brew and swallowing his saliva, and the obscene smile covering Barley¡¯s face, Zhang Tie cursed inwardly. He took out two sets of bowls and spoons and opened one clay pot. He scooped a bowl of rice brew for each of them using a huge spoon and pushed it in front of them. Their eyebrows instantly danced. Without even a word of courtesy, they held the bowls, wolfed down its contents, and cleaned the bowls with their tongues instantly. ¡°Can you be more disgusting?¡± Zhang Tie complained. The bowls had to be sterilized with boiling water.


    Seeing the insinuating smiles over their faces, Zhang Tie instantly collected their bowls and spoons and became serious. ¡°That was my treat just now. Now, it¡¯s six copper coins a bowl, do you want more?¡±


    Doug instantly cast his sight towards Barley. Fatty Barley slapped his waist and put a handsome amount of copper coins onto the desk. ¡°Delicious! Two more bowls!¡±


    Zhang Tie also felt it was natural to put their money into the drawer and scooped another two bowls of rice brew for them. Soon after, they finished it. Under the fascinated gaze of Doug, Zhang Tie put their bowls and spoons into the water basin. When Doug moved his sight onto Barley, Barley automatically ignored him and started to talk to Zhang Tie.


    ¡°Well¡­ well¡­ what was that? Rice brew?¡±


    ¡°Yes, rice brew! What¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°Heh, heh, home visits are a good tradition of our Hit-Plane Brotherhood!¡± Barley laughed.


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s get to the point since time is money¡±


    ¡°Have you heard of the Red-scarf Burglars?¡±


    Hearing the words ¡°Red-scarf Burglars¡±, Zhang Tie was surprised. ¡°Yea, what happened?¡±


    Barley looked around before lowering his voice and repeating the news that Zhang Tie had heard from his brother, ¡°I heard about it last night. That¡¯s why I came here to tell all of you today. It¡¯s estimated that only a few people know about this news. Whatever, these days, you have to watch out and stay home at night. Do not go out of the city casually. Those Red-scarf Burglars are all cold-blooded butchers. Isn¡¯t there a proverb in your Chinese clan that a fire on the city gate brings disaster to the fish in the moats? I hope my brothers won¡¯t be those unfortunate fish!¡±


    ¡°You came here today to tell me this?¡±


    ¡°Of course, you think Doug and I like to come out to be burned by the sunlight? After warning you, I still have to warn Sharwin and Hista. Well, I won¡¯t disturb your business¡­¡±


    Seeing the fatty¡¯s face, Zhang Tie was slightly moved. ¡°Thank you, brother!¡±


    ¡°Another free bowl for us?¡± Barley smiled obscenely.


    Zhang Tie stretched out his hands and rubbed his fingers. Everyone knew the meaning.


    ¡°Ha¡­ ha¡­ see you. We still have other brothers to warn!¡± Barley slapped the seat of the bicycle and urged Doug to get on immediately. Doug pushed the bicycle a few steps forward before turning around and looking at Zhang Tie as he murmured, ¡°Barley said... men should learn how to ride a bike for the sake of girls!¡±


    ¡°Trust me, I won¡¯t tell the others about it. You are really good at riding!¡± Zhang Tie raised his thumb.


    Doug was satisfied. He nodded and awkwardly got on the bike and took Barley away¡­


    It was really unexpected that the news of the Red-scarf Burglars would spread so fast. People in Blackhot City has already become worried about them within two days¡­


    ¡°Never mind, I will keep practicing Mental Arithmetic by Abacus earnestly. Is there any relationship between the Red-scarf Burglars and a trivial person like me?¡± A self-deprecating smile appeared on Zhang Tie¡¯s face.


    In the evening, Zhang Tie¡¯s dad and mom came home with news. The city defense of Blackhot City has become strict. Identification was required to access Blackhot City in the evening.


    After supper, Gregory, the magistrate of this area, knocked at the gate of the Zhang family with a barn lantern in hand. He was sending a notice door by door and told them not to keep strangers at home in the evening. Besides that, they should instantly report any suspicious individual. Additionally, from midnight onwards, night meals in Blackhot City were forbidden¡­


    Half a day after the fatty left, the news of the Red-scarf Burglars had completely spread throughout Blackhot City. An uneasy atmosphere covered the entire city.


    However, this had nothing to do with Zhang Tie. After supper, when the magistrate left, Zhang Tie brushed his teeth, washed his feet, and then entered his small room. He then entered the Castle of Black Iron and threw a bag of garbage into the Pool of Chaos. After that, he patted his hands and opened the Basic Attributes Panel of the Castle of Black Iron, staring at the latest attributes of the Castle of Black Iron ¡ª¡ª


    ¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªLength: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªWidth: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªSpiritual Energy: 1.8


    ¡ª¡ªMerit Value: 43


    ¡ª¡ªBasic Energy Storage: 0.5


    ¡ª¡ªSpecial Output: Void


    ¡­¡­


    5 merit value for watching the rice brew store for dad and mom for one day, 3 merit value for doing housework, 8 merit value in total; 1.1 spiritual energy for sprouting potatoes; 0.3 basic energy storage for a bag of rubbish. That was all I gained today...


    He took a look at the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree again.


    103 hours before the first leakless fruit becomes ripe...


    Being unable to sleep, Zhang Tie took out the crystal that had been dried under the sunlight for a day. With his legs crossed in the Castle of Black Iron, he started to practice igniting the Shrine burning point. Through a few days of experience in the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie found that he could calm down and easily enter the state to practice cultivation by staring at the colorful mist that swirled in the Castle of Black Iron.


    He soon entered the state to practice igniting his burning point in the Castle of Black Iron. Even though it was the first time, he took several breaths and the Shrine burning point soon radiated with indigo colored flames.


    Only by making yourself powerful could you survive in this age. There was no shortcut, except for diligent work ¡ª this was the belief that Zhang Tie held for the past fifteen years.


    It was the same even in the Castle of Black Iron...

 26 What Would You Do in Front of a Red-Scarf Burglar

    Chapter 26: What Would You Do in Front of a Red-Scarf Burglar


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Similar to a few days ago, Zhang Tie accurately woke up at about 6:00 am. He had no dreams and his mind was as clear as a crystal. Brimming with vitality, Zhang Tie felt as fresh as a cabbage that had been soaked in water overnight.


    When he got out of bed, Zhang Tie peered at the clock. It was currently 6:08 am. He then lowered his head to look at his underwear. His p*nis was erected like a study pillar; however, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t think about it too much. He touched the inside of his underwear and found no glutinous feeling on his underwear or his belly. He did not have a wet dream for the past several days, and he really slept well recently. He remembered that he had a pee in the Castle of Black Iron after he cultivated last night. After that, he fell asleep until now. This situation may occur occasionally before, but now it had occurred for four consecutive days. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt it was strange and would like to know the reason. He thought for a while and recalled that it had occurred ever since the night he entered the Castle of Black Iron for the first time. Even now, the Castle of Black Iron was related, which made Zhang Tie lose interest. For Zhang Tie, besides the soil that allowed potatoes to sprout, everything else in the Castle of Black Iron was incomprehensible.


    Zhang Tie got up quickly. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, he started to ignite a fire in the kitchen. He then made breakfast for his dad and mom by putting several washed sweet potatoes into the boiling pot. After preparing breakfast for his family, he picked up a washed raw sweet potato and walked out the door. Today, he had left for school one hour earlier than usual.


    It was slightly dark outside. After wolfing down the raw sweet potato for breakfast, Zhang Tie sped along the old road towards the school. However, he felt that this road was different from before and everything had become interesting. Even the raw sweet potato seemed to be much more delicious than before. At this moment, Zhang Tie became determined to test out the sweet potato on the soil of the Castle of Black Iron. No matter what, it wasn¡¯t complicated to plant them.


    Mood determines one¡¯s view of the world.


    When he arrived at school, the sky was completely bright and the school gate had just opened. Although he was not the first to arrive, he was one of the earliest. Looking around, he found almost no other students on the spacious campus.


    Nobody else was in the teaching building meant for the undergraduates; Zhang Tie was definitely the earliest person among all the undergraduates. After entering the classroom, Zhang Tie silently closed the door like a thief.


    After the two days of weekend, the floor was still clean, but inevitably, a layer of dust had already fallen on the desks and chairs. Zhang Tie took a dried piece of linen cloth from the window sill and looked around to ensure that nobody else was in the classroom. He then started to mop all the desks and chairs, diligently and bravely.


    Naturally, they were easily cleaned. First, he wiped the desks and chairs with the cloth, and then he patted the dusty cloth over the window. This was also what each student would do when they entered the classroom.


    Twenty minutes later, Zhang Tie had cleaned all the desks and chairs. Seeing that some students had already entered the teaching building, Zhang Tie silently slid out of the classroom. He entered the washroom and took a long stroll before he slowly returned to the classroom. When he returned, he found that more than half the students had already arrived. ¡°Here¡¯s a big surprise!¡± Zhang Tie pleasantly thought to himself.


    Just as he imagined, the classroom was truly bustling. Everyone was curious as to why all the desks and chairs had been cleaned.


    ¡°Are you kidding me? Who¡¯s that warm-hearted!?¡±


    ¡°Heh, Bighead, come here...¡± Seeing Zhang Tie enter the classroom, Fatty Barley walked towards him and hung his arm over Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Have you noticed that something¡¯s different today?¡± he asked obscenely.


    ¡°What¡¯s different?¡± Zhang Tie pretended to be calm while laughing inwardly. ¡°Praise me. Come on, praise me. I¡¯m waiting for it.¡±


    ¡°A motherf*cking idiot mopped all the desks and chairs in our classroom, ha... ha...¡±


    Zhang Tie¡¯s reserved smile suddenly froze. Gritting his teeth, Zhang Tie gazed at the fatty and wanted to beat him until his nose bled once again.


    ¡°Did you brush your teeth this morning? Your mouth is so smelly!¡± Zhang Tie pushed Barley away in a stern expression and sat back in his own chair.


    Barley stayed there, yawned on his palm, and smelled his breath. ¡°No way, I brush my teeth every day!¡±


    Hearing the surrounding merciless discussions, Zhang Tie became more gloomy.


    ¡°Argh, who¡¯s that bored? What a big surprise!¡±


    ¡°Yea, so foolish. Is he in our classroom?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t say that. You might hurt someone¡¯s innocent soul. Maybe a lower-grade classmate wanted to find an elder brother among us to protect him!¡±


    ¡°I guess someone is expressing his love to me!¡±


    ¡°Then, how could he mop all the desks and chairs!?¡±


    ¡°Is he secretly falling in love with all of us? Hahahaha...!¡±


    ¡°Sh*t, watch out for your ass, guys...¡±


    ¡°You sons of b*tches, who cares about you if not for merit value.¡± Zhang Tie continued to grit his teeth. He made a decision that if the merit value increased by no more than 2, he would never do such a stupid thing again. These sons of b*tches!


    This was just a small matter. When the first class of the day began, they had already forgotten about it. The first two classes on Monday morning were survival classes. It contained a lot of things and the teachers always changed. In each class, the teacher would teach them about a topic concerning survival. One day, a teacher taught them how to seduce girls for two hours. He explained that it was an essential skill for posterities and was the most important class for survival. As a result, the horny students became eager to test it out for a whole week.


    The survival class was their favorite class since the class atmosphere was relatively relaxed. Rather than being taught, it was more about talking to their seniors about their survival experiences. Therefore, it was the most popular class. Under their anticipation, the teacher appeared.


    Seeing the most terrifying one-eyed man in Blackhot City, the carefree atmosphere in the class suddenly froze. Everybody sat straight up and dared not to suck in even a single breath of air. Captain Kerlin¡¯s aura was powerful enough to crack down all the bustling students.


    The one-eyed man stood at the podium peacefully as his sharp eyes glanced over each face. He was silent for half a minute.


    Zhang Tie was curious about his intentions and was also moved by this atmosphere. His heart started pounding.


    The classroom became so quiet that even the sound of an ant crawling on a piece of paper could be heard. Captain Kerlin then opened his mouth.


    ¡°You have heard about the Red-scarf Burglars, so I will not repeat it again. I will teach you the most important survival skill today; it¡¯s related to the Red-scarf Burglars. Suppose you met a Red-scarf Burglar outside the school gate and the guy was as strong as me, what would you do? Don¡¯t tell me so quickly, I will give you two minutes to consider your answer. I will award you if you are right and I will punish you if you are wrong. You can discuss amongst yourselves¡­¡±


    The moment Captain Kerlin finished talking, the whole class became lively as they discussed fiercely. What would you do if a Red-scarf Burglar was standing in front of you? Looking at the heroic and powerful stature of Captain Kerlin and his seemingly anticipating look, the horny students became thrilled. What could we do facing such an infamous scumbag? The only answer was naturally¡­


    ¡°Kill him of course!¡±


    ¡°Yea, surge forward to kill him!¡±


    ¡°Kill him for the ordinary people!¡±


    ¡°Surge forward to kill him!¡±


    The horny students exclaimed. Some of them were still hesitant, while other speculators also became lively when they saw Captain Kerlin smiling with the corner of his mouth after their blood-boiling ¡°declaration¡±. Fatty Barley was that kind of speculator. Zhang Tie was also observing the reaction of others. At first, only Doug and Bagdad from the Hit-Plane Brotherhood were shouting to kill the Red-scarf Burglar. At that moment, Barley lowered his head, narrowed his eyes, and looked at Captain Kerlin¡¯s facial expression, while the other members were still thinking. Seeing the others excited, Sharwin was also influenced, and seeing Barley yelling, he also followed. At the beginning, Leit and Hista were somewhat hesitant, but after they noticed Barley¡¯s reaction, they also joined in. As a result, the classroom became chaotic.


    Zhang Tie was also thinking about Captain Kerlin¡¯s question. Compared to the thrilled fellows, Zhang Tie had two questions: Why did the brave and powerful Captain Kerlin ask such a question in the survival class? What would he do if he actually encountered a Red-scarf Burglar in the classroom at this moment?


    Some followed the masses to make their decisions, while Zhang Tie always asked his heart since he was young. This was something his mom had taught him. His mom once said that life is a series of choices under different situations. Those choices determine your life, and life is the path towards your heart.


    No matter what others thought, he would always ask his inner heart when facing questions. His heart was innocent, and he felt he had nothing to regret.

 27 Feel No Regre

    Chapter 27: Feel No Regret


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    ¡°What would I do when faced with a Red-scarf Burglar?¡± Zhang Tie asked himself. Some people asked the sky, some asked the land, some asked luck, some asked the situation, some asked others, and Zhang Tie asked his inner heart!


    ¡°When you have nothing to regret, you will live a happy life!¡± Zhang Tie thought to himself and an answer came to mind slowly and clearly.


    The classroom was bustling. The smile on Captain Kerlin¡¯s face gradually became prominent. When he stretched out his hand, the entire classroom suddenly regained its peace. Everybody stared at the one-eyed person and wondered what he would say.


    ¡°Well, now that you¡¯ve already made your decisions, everybody stand up!¡±


    After a period of bustling, everybody stood up from their chairs.


    ¡°Those who want to fight the Red-scarf Burglars, come to my left...¡±


    Most of the horny students crowded to the left. Standing, Zhang Tie had made his own decision. A few people stood still; Zhang Tie was somewhat surprised when he noticed that as fatty Barley intended to move his legs to the left, his face suddenly turned pale, and he moved back. Doug and Bagdad had already ran to the left side, and Leit and Hista moved too fast. By the time fatty Barley moved his legs, they had already run to the left side. Finally, they gaped when they found out the fatty was not with them. Sharwin, the pious follower of Barley, also stood still. As a result, only the three members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood who were standing still and another student didn¡¯t move to the left. Under such a situation, even the people who had their own decisions would simply follow the majority.


    Seeing Zhang Tie not on the left side, Barley was also slightly surprised. He gazed at Zhang Tie¡¯s facial expression as if there was a flower on Zhang Tie¡¯s face.


    ¡°Well, have you made your decisions?¡±


    Everybody nodded while those who stood to the left of Captain Kerlin casted a contemptuous glare towards the four individuals.


    Captain Kerlin didn¡¯t look at those on the left; instead, he looked at the four who stood still. He casually pointed at Sharwin and said, ¡°Tell me, why not surge forward?¡±


    Sharwin was very nervous at this moment; sweat even began to cover his body when he saw the one-eyed man pointing at him with his wooden club-sized finger. Under the majestic glare of the one-eyed person, he swallowed his saliva a couple of times and weakly pointed at fatty Barley, ¡° He didn¡¯t go over there¡­ I followed him!¡±


    ¡°What about you?¡± Captain Kerlin slightly shook his head and pointed at fatty Barley with his wooden club-sized finger. Fatty Barley instantly made a smile like a chrysanthemum. He almost bowed, ¡°If I saw a Red-scarf Burglar, I would firstly report to the magistrate or Captain Kerlin instead of surging forward!¡±


    The moment Captain Kerlin saw that expression of flattery, he felt uncomfortable and moved his finger instantly towards another person, ¡°What about you?¡±


    That guy hesitated for a while before saying, ¡°If they could solve the problem of the Red-scarf Burglar, then it¡¯s not necessary for me to be there. If they couldn¡¯t, I would be useless as well!¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re saying that if you saw a Red-scarf Burglar, you would prepare to escape!¡± Captain Kerlin emphasized the word ¡°Escape¡± and turned stern. He made others feel pressured.


    Under Captain Kerlin¡¯s forced question, that guy felt like he was accepting the strictest accusation. He couldn¡¯t stand it any longer, ¡°I¡­ I¡­.¡± He was very brave for mentioning escape in front of Captain Kerlin. The boy was not sure if Captain Kerlin would jump from the ground and slap him directly into the wall when he heard the word. Everybody knew that a tough guy like Captain Kerlin hated cowards the most.


    Seeing his silence, a sort of unnoticed disappointment slightly appeared in Captain Kerlin¡¯s eyes. He then moved his finger to the last one who was still standing there, ¡°What about you? Do you also plan to escape?¡±


    ¡°Yea, I would!¡± Zhang Tie answered without any hesitation.


    Instantly, contemptuous whispers drifted from the left side.


    ¡°Why? They are all surging forward, so why do you turn your back and escape?¡± Captain Kerlin forced him with a sharp glare, ¡° Don¡¯t you want to kill the murderers to protect people like them? To put it straightforwardly, the head of any Red-scarf Burglar is very valuable!¡±


    ¡°They are just going to their deaths. Based on their force, even if they had another group with the same size, they would still be easily killed off by any member of the Red-scarf Burglars within moments. I heard that even the most ordinary Red-scarf Burglar is a LV 5 soldier, and if they surged forward against this LV 5 Red-scarf Burglar, they wouldn¡¯t even be cannon fodder!¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about, you timid bastard!¡± someone on the left side had already begun to verbally abuse him.


    ¡°Yea, don¡¯t try to find an excuse for your cowardice, you timid bastard. So what if we fought to the death? It would still be much better than escaping and being a coward like you!¡±


    ¡°Pah¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Shut up!¡± Captain Kerlin turned around and shouted; the whole classroom became quiet. Captain Kerlin looked at Zhang Tie in the eyes and asked another direct question, ¡°Are you saying you¡¯re afraid of death? Don¡¯t you find it shameful to escape? Aren¡¯t you afraid of being called a coward?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s shameful to run from an enemy who is much stronger than myself because I know I have no chance to win and would lose my life! Neither am I a coward! If possible, I would take more people to escape with me...¡± Zhang Tie dauntlessly stared at Captain Kerlin, whose eyes became more and more stern. ¡°They are the ones who are shameful¡± Zhang Tie pointed at people on the left. As a result, those people became irritated as they rubbed their hands and prepared to fiercely beat Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie suddenly became enraged and started to shout at those people, ¡°Shut up, you sons of !@#$%. You rush forward to end your lives, never considering your parents¡¯ and other family members¡¯ feelings. Your enemy could turn you into a corpse with the flicker of his hand. It takes your parents dozens of years to bring you up. You feel cool that you¡¯re sacrificing yourselves meaninglessly in the bravest and greatest manner you can think of, yet you leave long lasting pains for your parents and other family members. Do you know how much pain parents feel when they lose their son? Do you know how sad they would be when they hear of your death? Have you ever seen your parents cry? You guys don¡¯t know anything¡­¡± Those on the left turned silent. They began to consider what Zhang Tie had said as he continued to curse them, ¡°You big muscles and mother!@#$ing bastards, you¡¯re the most shameful ones, and you¡¯re also idiots. If I were a Red-scarf Burglar, I would also love to kill opponents like you. They could kill you as easy as slaughtering pigs. In front of machetes, even pigs would escape wildly, while you sent yourselves there to your death. You are the most adorable opponents! I¡¯d escape; however, as long as I¡¯m alive, I could continue to give them trouble and divide them. If they were careless enough, I would use other methods to kill them. I can use fire to attract them to dangerous places and poison them to death.


    I will grow up to give them more troubles. Perhaps even one day, when I am more powerful than them, I would kill them. The day I kill them, the grass on your tombs could already feed cows, you idiots who not even as smart as pigs!¡±


    ¡°Damn you, bastards. I got up earlier to clean your chairs and desks, and you cursed me and called me an idiot. Now, it¡¯s my turn to curse back, otherwise I would be dejected. I am cursing you on the behalf of your parents.¡± Zhang Tie felt so cool inside...


    After a while, the whole classroom was silent. The only sound that could be heard was Zhang Tie taking deep breaths.


    ¡°Did someone from your family members sacrifice themselves before when they served the army?¡± Captain Kerlin suddenly questioned Zhang Tie after a long silence. Zhang Tie gaped.


    He never thought that Captain Kerlin was that sensitive. In an instant, Zhang Tie recalled many memories. Finally, Zhang Tie lowered his head, ¡°I had two elder brothers before, but now I only have one. That bastard turned himself into a cremation urn and a medal of bravery on the second year he joined the army during the participation of the war between the Andaman Alliance and Scots. He was brave and always surged forward in each battle.¡±


    As he had lost an elder brother, he knew how painful it was to lose a family member. And his parents hoped him to be as firm as steel that could never be broken by naming him Zhang Tie(TL: Tie means iron in Chinese). This topic was forbidden in Zhang family. Zhang Tie had never seen his late elder brother. He only saw how his mom and dad would silently cry with a photo in their hands. This sadness was deeply rooted in Zhang Tie¡¯s heart. Later on, Zhang Tie knew that he had a bastard eldest brother named Zhang Yong(TL: Yong means braveness). He was so excellent that he was promoted to first lieutenant on the second year he served the army.


    Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang(TL: Yang means happiness) once swore to never turn themselves into a medal of bravery in their lives. Thus, Zhang Tie considered it to be reasonable to escape from a powerful enemy, and If necessary, he would even surrender. He had never thought of being the great hero who saved the world. His objective in life was to make his mom and dad happy, to make those who are close to him happy, and to make those whom he liked happy. As for the Red or Green-scarf Burglars, he didn¡¯t care about them at all...

 28 Rewards from Captain Kerlin

    Chapter 28: Rewards from Captain Kerlin


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Everybody was silent after hearing what Zhang Tie had said. There was a special feeling floating in everyone¡¯s heart. They were somewhat moved by Zhang Tie. As a classmate and an alleged brother to them, he was the very person who jumped out to scold them when they were doing foolish things! It turned out that everybody mistook him for a coward. Nevertheless, the air in the classroom when he abused them was really annoying and made them feel like beating him.


    Captain Kerlin was still silent; however, something special filled his eyes.


    ¡°I saw you last week in the woods, I remember your name was... ¡± Captain Kerlin scratched his head, gradually remembering something,


    ¡°Zhang Tie!¡±


    ¡°I remember now, it¡¯s you. Your words are very right. I was a bastard before that was more foolish than a pig!¡± after a deep look at Zhang Tie, Captain Kerlin turned and took in a deep breath.


    Towards those horny students to his left, he suddenly roared towards at them, which consequently made the whole teaching building tremble, ¡°You, the bastards who are even more foolish than pigs! Do you know why you are wrong? Go run twenty rounds around the training ground and keep shouting ¡®I¡¯m more foolish than a pig¡¯ before the bell rings. In this class, what I want you to remember is that sometimes ruthlessness doesn¡¯t mean bravery, and escape does not equate cowardice. When you face the enemy on the battlefield, you have two tasks: to survive; to make your enemy uncomfortable until they ultimately die. Whatever you do, you have to complete one of the two above tasks to be considered a qualified fighter, otherwise you were born just to be buried underground...¡±


    ¡­¡­


    They finished the rest of the class in the training ground. The group of horny students ran around the Training ground and shouted, ¡°I am more foolish than a pig¡±, ¡°I am more foolish than a pig¡±, ¡°I am more foolish than a pig¡±. As their voices were super loud, even the other teachers and students were attracted as they watched the group during intervals between classes.


    Captain Kerlin dispatched the fatty Barley, Sharwin, and the other student to the training ground to monitor the running guys. Then he called Zhang Tie to see him.


    ¡°Heh¡­ Heh¡­ What you did in the woods really impressed me. It¡¯s rare to see a student who can take such a beating like you!¡±


    In response to Captain Kerlin¡¯s words, Zhang Tie forced a smile. He knew that the excuse he gave didn¡¯t escape the experienced one-eyed man. He was sensitive despite being tough. Since it wasn¡¯t a serious problem, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t want him to punish the others, ¡°That¡­ was just a game¡­ We were playing a game and we are good friends, so we didn¡¯t treat each other too fiercely!¡±


    Seeing Captain Kerlin touching his mustache, Zhang Tie felt something was wrong. From the experience exchanged from blood and tears by numerous predecessors in the school, when Captain Kerlin pretended to think in front of an individual as he stroked his mustache and spoke like a leader, that individual might get some bad luck.


    When Captain Kerlin pretended to think in front of someone by touching his mustache and spoke like a leader, someone might go bad luck.


    ¡°Haha...Don¡¯t be that reserved, Zhang Tie. I have seen your miserable attitude. Energetic, very energetic. Young men should be very energetic, that¡¯s how it should be...¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t do that anymore, I won¡¯t!¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s heart began to race. He couldn¡¯t figure out how Captain Kerlin would punish him.


    ¡°I now see you differently because of your escape theory. You can not only take a beating, but also know how to protect yourself when confronted with danger. This is a rare quality, heh, heh, and you are a rare talent!¡±


    ¡°You must be joking, Captain Kerlin!¡± Zhang Tie began to sweat.


    Another experienced learned in the Seventh Male Middle School was that when Captain Kerlin started to touch his mustache as he praised someone like a leader, the other person would definitely get bad luck. ¡°Captain Kerlin, no more joking¡­ I will go watch them run in case they slack off!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve got a special reward for you!¡±


    ¡°Argh, no, Captain Kerlin, how could I receive your reward!¡±


    ¡°Erm...erm¡­ You have to. Are you doubting my, Captain Kerlin¡¯s, promise?¡± saying this, Captain Kerlin had already placed his two fan-like palms onto Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulders. Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t move at all. An expression of 100 percent sincerity appeared in front of Zhang Tie, ¡°I will introduce you a part-time practice. It¡¯s very good, and you will be highly paid. Besides, you can also strengthen your body and get to know more rich and powerful figures. This is a chance to broaden your vision. If you can do well, you will be much stronger and more powerful. Additionally, there is a handful of beauties over there. This means that you have a chance to get to know some beautiful girls. Many people have begged me for this job, but I didn¡¯t agree. I think that you are the perfect person for this job!¡±


    Zhang Tie gasped, ¡°The experience of the predecessors didn¡¯t come true? There is truly such a marvelous thing in the world! Otherwise, was it because of luck? I have been very lucky in the past few days, and a series of good things have happened to me. Could such a perfect job actually fall into my hands?¡±


    Zhang Tie was just slightly moved and then considered whether Captain Kerlin was telling the truth. Before he was able to nod, Captain Kerlin¡¯s hands had already patted Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulders and seemed like he couldn¡¯t wait to foist the paper into Zhang Tie¡¯s pocket, ¡°So you¡¯ve agreed, great. Here is my letter of introduction. After school today, you can go to No.18 Bright Avenue to report. Once you present this letter of introduction to him, someone will make arrangements for you¡±


    Bright Avenue? Is it that Bright Avenue? Hearing this, Zhang Tie began to trust in Captain Kerlin¡¯s words. Bright Avenue was the prime location in Blackhot City and had the highest price for land. It was where all the rich people congregated. Any commodity shown in the windows of the stores were worth at least a year¡¯s worth of salary for an ordinary person. It was the essence of Blackhot City. Owning a personal apartment in Bright Avenue was a symbol of status.


    Could it be that he misheard Captain Kerlin¡¯s words? The words ¡° Bright Avenue¡± made Zhang Tie dazzled. He instinctively clasped the letter of introduction, looked at Captain Kerlin, and seriously said, ¡°Thank you¡±


    Captain Kerlin was a good person, Zhang Tie teemed with praise towards Captain Kerlin.


    ¡°Erm¡­ you¡¯re welcome. Don¡¯t try to live up to my expectations, just do your job well!¡± Captain Kerlin¡¯s face blushed slightly and laughed as he left...


    ¡° I am more foolish than a pig.¡±


    ¡­¡­


    ¡° I am more foolish than a pig.¡±


    ¡­¡­


    ¡° I am more foolish than a pig.¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Looking at those guys who were running and shouting in the playground, Zhang Tie was filled with a sense of excellence. He took out the letter of introduction and knocked it with a finger. He was fully anticipating what would happen after school ¡ª I will soon go to the Bright Avenue and try to become familiar with the upper classes. ¡°Envy me, you bastards¡­!¡± Zhang Tie muttered to himself.


    At lunch, Captain Kerlin honored his promise and added a meat dish for the four individuals. Gazing at the alluring red-braised meat in their plates, Doug and Bagdad were so aspired that they even had saliva flowing down the side of their mouths. Doug stretched out his spoon towards Barley¡¯s plate; however, Barley fiercely pierced his hand with his fork. As a result, Doug screamed and didn¡¯t dare to try anything like that again.


    Bagdad was a bit self-reserved. He closed his eyes while he ate his potatoes, muttering to himself, ¡°This is red-braised meat, this is red-braised meat...¡± which really made him lose face.


    In contrast, Hista and Leit sat on both sides of Sharwin. They aimed at those pieces of alluring meat in Sharwin¡¯s plate and spoke with a kind expression, ¡°Sharwin...¡±


    After that, they found that Sharwin had directly spit out the half-chewed red-braised meat along with a lot saliva onto the plate full of red-braised meat and mixed it with the other pieces. When Sharwin saw Hista and Leit twisting their faces, he winked and innocently asked, ¡°What¡¯s up? Oh, well, would you like some red-braised meat? Come on, it¡¯s delicious! We¡¯re good brothers, so please try some...¡± Sharwin pretended to give the half-digested red-braised meat to Hista and Leit which scared them off instantly. However, seconds later, the two bastards started to bet with the red-braised pieces of meat on Sharwin¡¯s dining plate. The wager was if one of them dared to eat one piece of the meat, the other would have to pay one silver coin. They continued quarreling...


    ¡°Oh, I almost forgot. This morning, I saw that one of your feet had already moved towards the left, so why didn¡¯t you move to the left then?¡± Zhang Tie asked Barley while chewing a piece of red-braised meat happily.


    Being silent for a while, the fatty explained, ¡°When I wanted to move, I glanced at Captain Kerlin¡¯s eyes. All of a sudden, I found the same smile on his face as when he had caught me climbing the school wall two years ago. I was instantly frightened¡­¡±


    Being captured by Captain Kerlin while climbing over the school wall? Zhang Tie silently prayed for the fatty. He didn¡¯t continue to ask how Captain Kerlin had dealt with him because he could imagine that that event was definitely a dark memory for the fatty during his stay at the Seventh Male Middle School. However, after this event, Zhang Tie really praised Barley¡¯s ability to recognize people¡¯s facial expressions. Zhang Tie could never master that advanced skill¡­


    Glancing over those naive bastards in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, Zhang Tie found they were all talented!


    ¡°Oh, I almost forgot. I saw Captain Kerlin giving you something privately!¡± fatty asked absent-mindedly. At the same time, all the bastards of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood raised their ears.


    Zhang Tie slapped the fatty¡¯s shoulders so hard that the fatty even gritted his teeth and almost spat out the piece of meat from his mouth, ¡°This guy... Just ask straightforwardly! See, this a letter of introduction. Captain Kerlin said he had found a part-time job at the No.18 Bright Avenue for me...¡±


    Kneading his shoulders, Fatty forced an obscene smile. At the same time, Bagdad, who kept muttering red-braised meat, had a strange look and almost choked on the potato in his mouth when he heard ¡°No.18 in Bright Avenue¡±.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t notice the change on Bagdad¡¯s face. Instead, he was still thrilled with a full sense of vanity, ¡°Captain Kerlin said that this reward was especially for me and it didn¡¯t fit others. He was deeply impressed by me in the woods. He said that I would be highly paid and could meet many rich and big figures. I could strengthen my body and be more powerful over there. Additionally, I will have a chance to touch beauties! Alas, I actually didn¡¯t want to be there, but he forced me. You know, I am a soft-hearted man. After his long-time persuasion, I finally agreed with him. I have done too many good deeds, and as a result, even beauties and high compensation would fall to me. Moreover, I can even strengthen my body there. Although I won¡¯t be thinking about the beauties, but what if some of them wanted to be !@#$ed by me? Would I agree or not? What a happy boring thing! It really tests my self-restraint. However, I am not a self-reserved guy. Heh, heh, don¡¯t go, I¡¯m not done yet... ¡±


    Finally, Zhang Tie saw a row of middle fingers raised towards him...

 29 Molesting a Beauty

    Chapter 29: Molesting a Beauty


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    After school, Zhang Tie once again ran to the railway station to see Miss Daina off. Waiting until the passenger train disappeared from his sight, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t leave the alley nor did he run towards Bright Avenue.


    Although he could only saw her in secret, Zhang Tie felt time elapsed. If it was possible, Zhang Tie wanted to see off Miss Daina¡¯s shadow like this for the rest of his life. However, when Miss Daina finally left, Zhang Tie found his stomach growling.


    In the past couple of days, Zhang Tie found himself to be easily hungry. Previously, he could still stand his hunger after school; however, his stomach had already been growling by this time. Feeling frustrated, Zhang Tie muttered to himself and patted his deflated belly, ¡°You had already eaten red-braised meat at noon!¡±


    Recalling the red-braised meat, Zhang Tie naturally remembered the part-time job introduced by Captain Kerlin. There were passenger trains heading for Bright Avenue in the railway station ahead, but the cost of the ticket was four copper coins, a price that he was reluctant to pay. Therefore, he decided against taking the passenger train. As he sped up while walking, he comforted himself. ¡°I am a young man and I am energetic, so I should do some running!¡±


    This was not the first time for Zhang Tie to be here in Bright Avenue. Despite this, each and every place in Bright Avenue made Zhang Tie feel self-abased and out of place.


    On both sides of Bright Avenue sat numerous stores that showcased various commodities. Just now when he had passed by a shoe store, Zhang Tie could not help but stare at the pair of shoes which were showcased within the store. The price on the tag was an amount that almost frightened Zhang Tie to death¡ª16 gold coins! For the god¡¯s sake! That was the amount his parents would earn after a whole year of hard work. 16 gold coins, 1600 silver coins, 160,000 copper coins. This was enough to buy almost 7 tons of grains. Thinking for quite a while, Zhang Tie still couldn¡¯t think through trading 7 tons of grains for a pair of leather shoes. Although Zhang Tie knew that this was how rich people lived, this really challenged his capability to withstand these stimulations.


    After seeing that tag price, Zhang Tie became immune to all the other articles displayed in the stores on both sides of Bright Avenue. The more he saw, the more bored he felt towards them. Gradually, he felt self-abased. Hence, standing on the Bright Avenue, Zhang Tie pretended to look straight ahead and ignored the brilliant articles displayed in the stores.


    Nice cars parked on both sides of the street and uniformed drivers who accompanied them as they cleaned them diligently. Zhang Tie swallowed saliva and continued to look straight ahead, pretending to see nothing¡­


    Various tempting aromas drifted from the high-end restaurants situated on both sides of Bright Avenue. Zhang Tie swallowed saliva and continued looking straight ahead, pretending to see nothing¡­


    A row of high and slim sexy beauties were standing outside the doors of the clubs. Their skirts opened from their ankles all the way to their buttocks. At the sight of this alluring scene, Zhang Tie swallowed saliva and continued looking straight ahead, pretending to see nothing¡­


    Outside the gates of the hotels on both sides of Bright Avenue were doormen and servants who wore white gloves as they diligently and sincerely served the customers that entered and exited the hotels. Staring at the beautiful angel sculptures outside the gates of the hotels, Zhang Tie swallowed saliva and continued looking straight ahead, pretending to see nothing¡­


    When handsome boys and beauties passed by him, he noticed their exquisite clothes. Then, he looked at his own old-fashioned school uniform. Zhang Tie swallowed saliva and and continued looking straight ahead, pretending to see nothing...


    Gentlemen and ladies were muttering and joking in the coffee houses on both sides of Bright Avenue. Glancing at the tag prices outside the coffee houses, Zhang Tie swallowed saliva and continued looking straight ahead, pretending to see nothing¡­


    At this moment, in the eyes of the servants who stood outside the gates of the numerous shops and hotels on Bright Avenue, Zhang Tie was just a country hick and a person of low value from the rural areas. Nobody paid attention to him.


    Wandering on the Bright Avenue like a ghost for half an hour. Zhang Tie had finally arrived at No.18 Bright Avenue. No.16 was in front of him, while No.20 was behind. Seeing the wrought, copper ¡°No.18 Bright Avenue¡± sign that hung on the pillar and the staircase of at least ten steps beneath it, Zhang Tie instantly gasped. What was more impressive than the house number to Zhang Tie was the large words on the gate at the end of the staircase ¡ª Iron Thorns Fighting Club.


    Fighting Club? Fighting Club¡­ Fighting Club!


    It was a part-time job in the martial club. All of a sudden, Zhang Tie almost dropped down tears. He was really mistaken about Captain Kerlin. He was really a good good person!


    In this age, fighting force was of the utmost importance, and fighting clubs were the best place to improve one¡¯s fighting force ¡ª at least in the Blackhot City.


    Taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie raised his chest high. He then touched that letter of introduction in one of his pocket and strode towards the gate of the Iron Thorns Fighting Club.


    ¡°Gold coins, beauties, here I am!¡± Zhang Tie shouted inwardly¡­


    ¡°Stop! Who are you!?¡± One of the four terrifying armored guardians, who held a sword in hand as they stood outside the gate of the Fighting Club, stretched out a hand to stop Zhang Tie the moment he moved close to the gate.


    Seeing the polished, full-body armor on that tough guy, who was two heads higher than him, in a split second, Zhang Tie felt weak. ¡°I¡­ I am here for a job. Captain Kerlin introduced me to this place!¡±


    ¡°Captain Kerlin? Do you have any evidence?¡±


    ¡°Yes, yes¡­¡± Zhang Tie hurriedly took out of the letter of introduction. Right at that moment, Zhang Tie realized that the ¡°thorn¡± pattern on the upper right corner on the back of the envelope was somewhat related to this place.


    With the letter in hand, the tough guy read it and stared at Zhang Tie. Finally, he gave it back to Zhang Tie. ¡°Take your letter and follow me!¡±


    Taking the letter, Zhang Tie followed the tough guy past the gate of the Iron Thorns Fighting Club. Contrary to the scene he envisioned that a scene of a pile of tough guys fighting fiercely, when Zhang Tie entered the fighting club, the first sight he caught was a hall with a fountain that sat in the middle. No other surplus decoration was left on the mirror-like marble stone floor. There were no flowers nor grass. Everything was very neat and tidy. The scene was somewhat similar to the lobbies in the high-end hotels he saw in Bright Avenue. The only thing that made this look like a fighting club was the armors and weapons displayed on both sides of the hall. Some were new, while others were damaged. From them, a chilling killing intent could be felt.


    The hall was extremely quiet. Quiet to the point where only the sounds of the trickling fountain could be heard.


    There really were beauties. When the armored, manly guy led Zhang Tie to detour the fountain, Zhang Tie saw beauties ¡ª not one, but a row of them. They were standing behind the reception desk. Zhang Tie felt dazzled when those beauties gazed at him. He slightly became anxious. Before he could carefully appreciate those beauties, the armored, tough guy pointed to a beauty. ¡°He¡¯s here for a part-time job. Take him to the office of Manager Hance!¡± The moment the manly guy explained that he was here for a part-time job, Zhang Tie felt the curious gazes of the beauties suddenly leave him. All of a sudden, he became a trivial person once again.


    ¡°Follow me!¡± that beauty moved out of the reception desk and talked to Zhang Tie. Then, she walked directly to an path nearby. Zhang Tie hurriedly followed.


    The beauty in front of him had a ponytail. She was older than 20 years old. She wore a black elastic, sleeveless sweater and a pair of white sweat pant, which palpably accentuated her great youthful figure. She smelt fragrant. Behind her, Zhang Tie saw the wiggly butt beneath the slim waist. It was really seductive. Zhang Tie could only feel that blood rushed to his head as his p£¡@#s became sturdy in a split second. It was too embarrassing, thus Zhang Tie hurriedly put his hand into a pant pocket to press it down.


    With the exception of this sexy beauty and Zhang Tie, nobody else was on the carpeted path. Seeing her figure, Zhang Tie felt that he should say something at this moment. Finally, after ten more steps, Zhang Tie plucked up his courage to ask in a foolish way,


    ¡°H-hello. I¡­ am Zhang Tie. What¡¯s your name, miss?¡±


    The ponytailed girl stopped and turned around. She glanced over Zhang Tie and raised her eyebrows. Then, she forced a somewhat distant, ironic smile. ¡°I am Mary. Actually, you don¡¯t necessarily need to know my name. Although we are all here to make money, you should know that there is no chance for you, a toad, to f*ck me, a white swan¡­¡±


    For the first time in his life, Zhang Tie was destructively destroyed. His face turned slightly pale. He also realized that his face twisted. He was really wronged and neither did he know where his fault was. He was simply asking her name. ¡°Do I look like a toad?¡± At the same time, his fury rose as a result of being ignored and insulted by others.


    Being insulted, Zhang Tie had to pay it back many times over. Additionally, with rich experience since he was a kid and being influenced by the atmosphere in the male middle school, he deeply realized that when you were bullied or insulted by others, you had to fight back¡­ Not tomorrow, not the day after tomorrow, not after you had prepared well, but right now, at this moment. Therefore, anyone who ignored the rule of ¡°fighting back in front of insult¡± would unexceptionally become an unfortunate guy and a coward who would be casually bullied by others.


    Therefore, at this moment, Zhang Tie was so brave that he stepped forward and stared at Mary¡¯s eyes sharply. Under the frightening glare of this girl, he seized her exposed shoulders, ¡°Woman, do you believe that one day, you will strip off your clothes and kneel down me to beg me to f*ck you!? Like this¡­¡± saying this, Zhang Tie thrust his waist twice fiercely towards the girl in a manner that Hista had always done. Unluckily, the moment he let go of his p*nis, it suddenly popped back up and formed a high tent underneath his pants. As a result, the high tent hit Mary¡¯s stomach twice¡­


    Being knocked by a d*ck and being pressed down by the shoulders, Mary was really scared. She had never before thought she would be treated like this by a poor, part-time, and immature boy in the access of the Fighting Club in broad daylight.


    Before she screamed, Zhang Tie loosened his hands and retreated. Then, he foisted his right hand into his pant pocket once again to press down on the p*nis. Raising his jaw, he looked like a rascal. ¡°Lead the way, woman!¡±


    Zhang Tie¡¯s heart was also thumping at that moment. He never thought that he would do something like this. Recalling the pleasant feeling, Zhang Tie became exceptionally thrilled as his hair stood on its ends.


    Mary¡¯s face blushed. She opened her mouth but closed it again. Shivering, she pointed at Zhang Tie. After glaring eye-to-eye with Zhang Tie for more than ten seconds, she finally turned around furiously and moved ahead without speaking a word. Zhang Tie finally let out a deep breath. He had made a decision just now that if the girl in front of him dared to shout out, he would escape immediately¡­


    The Iron Thorns Fighting Club was very large. The two of them walked for almost one minute in the deep path before arriving in front of a well-decorated room marked with ¡°Manager¡¯s Office¡±...


    ¡°This is Manager Hance¡¯s Office. Since I¡¯ve brought you here, you can go inside by yourself!¡± After saying that, Mary raised her head and, like a swan, drifted away without even glancing at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie knocked on the door.


    ¡°Come in!¡± a man¡¯s voice that reminded Zhang Tie of Donder, the mean fatty, drifted over. He pushed open the door and actually saw a fatty who sat behind a broad desk made from Nanmu wood. He was trying to wipe the glittering brass buttons on his coat with a piece of green flannelette and subsequently blew on them¡­


    The moment Zhang Tie saw him, he felt that Manager Hance was definitely more stingy than Donder, who didn¡¯t even provide him with a supper.

 30 The First Close Encounter with the Upper-Class Society

    Chapter 30: The First Close Encounter with the Upper-Class Society


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    In front of such a stingy and arrogant guy, who was seriously doing something that he considered important, if you could not bring him gold coins or benefits at this moment, you should not disturb him. Instead, you should be patient and wait for him until he has finished his matter. Zhang Tie learned this experience from Donder. Thus, since the time he entered the room, he has said nothing. He just stood by the broad desk of the Manager Hance, being patient as he waited for him to polish those nice buttons. Meanwhile, he silently looked around the most luxurious room that he has ever seen.


    It was truly the most luxurious room that Zhang Tie had ever seen, as he had not seen any high-end places at all in his poor 15 years. Fortunately, the part-time job at the grocery store gave him a sharp eye. The moment he entered, he could identify that the floor was made of cedar wood, the desk of Manager Hance was made of Nanmu wood, and the other furniture, including the cabinets, seemed to be made from Golden Pomelo wood. In a corner of the office, Zhang Tie also noticed a huge, naturally-born one-headed crystal that was heavier than 5kg, resting inside a basin of crystal sand. God! He had never seen this before. Before the Catastrophe, people only used crystals as decorations. However, after the Catastrophe, the real application and knowledge of the crystals were popularized. In this age, everybody knew that any natural crystal heavier than 3 kg was called ¡°Crystal Generator¡± ¡ª this was common sense. Wherever you put it, its energy and magnetic field could purify and improve the energy within dozens of square meters. It was of great importance to the health and cultivation of human beings. Some even believed that people¡¯s negative moods could be purified and they would be lucky if they were constantly in an energy field created by such a crystal¡­


    Zhang Tie estimated that this qualified ¡°Crystal Generator¡± that weighed 5 kg was worth at least 40 gold coins¡­ ¡°How motherf*cking rich!¡± Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh. This crystal was at least Class 4 which meant it could not even be bought at Donder¡¯s store. It was palpably a standard ¡°strategic material¡± that could not be seen in ordinary stores. Only a few franchised stores were permitted to sell them. In Blackhot City, it was monopolized by the commercial groups directly designated by the CSIF. Despite knowing that someone was in the room, Manager Hance, who was polishing his coat buttons, didn¡¯t speak for almost three minutes before he sighed satisfactorily. He took off the flannelette and the monocle, put them away in a drawer, and then glanced at Zhang Tie.


    ¡°Sensible boy!¡± Manager Hance praised. He seemed to have been satisfied with Zhang Tie, as he had not bothered him when he was doing something elegant. ¡°Well then, show me your ability!¡±


    Being a fatty, Manager Hance¡¯s face looked like a steaming bun that had been punched fiercely. His eyes, ears, nose, and mouth were completely buried in his fat. Compared to him, Donder was slim.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly moved forward and handed over the letter of introduction to Manager Hance. Then, he stood straight in front of the broad desk and pretended to be innocent. ¡°I am a student from the Seventh National Middle School. Captain Kerlin said that this was a nice part-time job!¡±


    ¡°Ha, nice, of course. Nice¡­¡± Taking the letter, Manager Hance swept over its contents and smiled. Then he glanced over Zhang Tie for a while with a stern stare that made him look creepy. ¡°You will work here from 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm after school. How many days could you come in per week?¡±


    ¡°Monday, Wednesday, and Friday¡­¡± Zhang Tie replied after a few seconds. Since he had to work for Donder on Tuesdays and Thursdays and had to help his mom on the weekends, he was only available on those three days.


    ¡°Only three days. Although it¡¯s not too much, it¡¯s fine...¡± Pulling out a piece paper from his drawer, he rapidly scrawled on it. Meanwhile, he poured out without any signs of stopping, ¡°You can get your payment once a week. You will be paid 70 copper coins per hour when there¡¯s something you have to do, and you can get more paid more if you perform well. Remember to be here on time! If you¡¯re late even one minute, that day¡¯s work will be done without payment. As for your personal expense to get here, we will not reimburse you for it. If there¡¯s any tip from the guest, you can foist them into your own pocket. Kerlin should have already told you what you¡¯re going to do here¡­¡±


    ¡°Captain Kerlin said¡­¡± The moment Zhang Tie wanted to repeat the nice promises told by Captain Kerlin, the door to the room was abruptly pushed open by a man, who hurriedly reported, ¡°Manager, the guest in Room No.6 has been impatient¡­¡±


    ¡°Where is Harry?¡± standing up, Manager Hance shouted furiously. ¡°If you offend our noble guests, our gods of wealth, you¡¯re basically sending me to be stripped and thrown into the sewers. Is that what you¡¯re trying to do?¡±


    ¡°The contract terminated yesterday. Harry has already resigned!¡± the man replied with a cry. ¡°I have already reported this to you. What should we do now...¡±


    Hance instantly recovered his composure. Two seconds later, the two of them cast their sights onto Zhang Tie at the same time. Hance suddenly gave a friendly smile. ¡° You¡­ little boy, what¡¯s your name? Come on, sign the contract. You¡¯re very lucky¡­ yep¡­¡±


    The fat on Hance¡¯s face shivered painfully. ¡° I will pay you an additional 10 copper coins per hour and this part-time job will be yours!¡±


    Zhang Tie was thrilled. He never thought that he would encounter such an event on the first day. This job paid very generously and could make him stronger. What was more was that he could meet numerous important people. A job of touching beauties closely might even fall on him.


    Zhang Tie was really lucky. His compensation had been increased within one hour of arriving. This was the first paid job he has ever had in his life.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t hesitate in the least. He directly took the pen passed by Manager Hance, and without even glancing over the contract, he scribbled down his name.


    After signing the contract, Manager Hance hurriedly put away the contract into the drawer. Before Zhang Tie had a chance to speak, the other man couldn¡¯t wait and began to drag Zhang Tie by the hand towards the door. At this moment, Manager Hance remembered something and shouted, ¡°He reeks strongly of sweat. Take him to the bath¡­¡±


    Unexpectedly, he got such a high compensation of 80 copper coins per hour working for the Iron Thorns Fighting Club. Doesn¡¯t this mean that he could easily make three or four silver coins through four or five hours of work? Three or four silver coins? The happiness arrived so fast that Zhang Tie felt dizzy after hearing the news about his increasing salary. He simply followed others¡¯ orders mechanically, which made him feel like a machine on the production line. He got the full experience of what a streamlined production was ¡ª being urged to take a bath, then putting on soft cotton linen clothes and a pair of stockings.


    After his bath and putting on clothes, he was pulled aside by someone and was covered in another layer of protective pads and armor. These protective pads and armors were worn on his front chest, back, crotch, and his limbs. They made him feel mighty. Eventually, when half his head was covered with a huge helmet, Zhang Tie felt something was amiss. ¡°Is this the working uniform? So strange? Something must be wrong!¡±


    Nevertheless, before Zhang Tie was able to ask, he had already been taken into a room¡­


    It was a huge room covering about 200 square meters. The floor felt elastic, as it was paved with skid-proof rubber. The four walls were covered in padding that were akin to leather bags. The only person in this huge room was a 12-year-old kid. With red-brown hair, he wore a white uniform that was purposely made for practicing fighting. In a cold demeanor, the kid beat a figure-like doll.


    Staring at that kid, who also noticed Zhang Tie, he stopped instantly. Zhang Tie also forced a kind smile, striding towards that kid. Lowering himself, he spoke. ¡°Hey, little friend¡­¡±


    Without any warning, the kid turned and made a side kick directly towards Zhang Tie¡¯s head. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t have a chance to say anything before his vision turned dark and passed out¡­


    ¡­¡­


    After quite a while, Zhang Tie¡¯s nose felt itchy. When he sneezed, he finally woke up. Waking up, Zhang Tie still felt dizzy, as if there were dozens of small figures hammering drums in his brain. ¡°Kid, you¡¯re awake¡­¡± A bald muscular man that was more than 30-years-old stood before him. There were some wounds on his face. This man looked like he was as strong as an ox. Seeing Zhang Tie open his eyes, the tough man sneered and put away the small porcelain vial on the tip of Zhang Tie¡¯s nose. After putting away the small porcelain vial, he opened a locker beside him and started to change his clothes.


    Zhang Tie tried to sit up with difficulty. He found that he was lying on a broad and long chair. There were four or five other people in the room. Before he was able to speak, he suddenly felt nauseous. Noticing the trash can at a corner of a locker cabinet, he covered his mouth with a hand and dashed towards it. While vomiting, even his eyes almost popped out; however, besides some viscous saliva, he vomited nothing else. After a while, he finally felt better and returned to that chair. He shook his head and tried to remember what had happened...


    ¡°Wait...¡± Zhang Tie suddenly stood up, looking around for that kid. ¡°I swear I¡¯m going to beat the sh*t out of you when I see you again!¡±


    ¡°Boy, we¡¯re training partners. Faithfully, we¡¯re just flesh-bags. However, you need to learn some skills. Bruises are nothing serious, but you still have to protect your head and your d*ck. You are the first person I have ever seen who sent out their head towards someone¡¯s kick without any protection¡­¡± The tough guy, who had just changed his clothes, walked over. He patted Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulders and left the dressing room with a bag in hand.


    What? Training partner? Flesh-bag? Zhang Tie gasped¡­

 31 It Might Be Good

    Chapter 31: It Might Be Good


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    In the past, Zhang Tie always thought of himself as intelligent. Well, at the very least, he thought that he was not stupid. He was not someone who was easily cheated by others. However, on that day, he found himself to be innocent and naive. On that day, he understood the essence of the proverb ¡°human beings die in pursuit of wealth, and birds die in pursuit of food¡±.


    At this moment, he now completely understood what Captain Kerlin¡¯s words meant.


    High compensation ¡ª 80 copper coins for being fiercely beaten by another person. A hot water bath was also provided before and after being beaten by the people in the event that they reeked of sweat. What high compensation this was¡­ What human-friendly service this was...


    Meet influential and rich figures ¡ª people who could afford to use the Iron Horns Fighting Club were all rich and influential figures, as ordinary people could not afford it at all.


    Strengthen your body when you were free ¡ª nothing else could strengthen your body as much as becoming a training partner and a flesh-bag.


    Many beauties in the workplace ¡ª there were truly many beautiful waiters like Mary; however, those beauties had nothing to do with him. He was heavily attacked for just asking her name, which almost made him self-abased.


    Thinking of how he readily accepted this part-time job without thinking, he felt that his life became gloomy once again. Zhang Tie became especially gloomy when he realized that all of his ¡°guests¡± would be boys of about 12 years of age. It was fine to be beaten by classmates his age, which he could just treat as training at school; however, being beaten by a handful of kids younger than him, he felt that he would be heavily damaged both physically and mentally. Those kids were from influential families. They accepted the best education since birth. Their families spent a lot of resources on them, and they had already been able to ignite their Shrine burning point. They were even stronger than Zhang Tie in every possible physical aspect. He felt really uncertain about such a part-time job, thus after he became clear-minded, the first thing he wanted to do was to resign in Manager Hance¡¯s office. ¡°F*ck you! I won¡¯t do this! I have the chance to give it up!¡± Zhang Tie cursed inwardly.


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°No way¡­¡± Hance¡¯s smile instantly froze when he knew what Zhang Tie wanted to do. He turned stern and shook the contract in his hand like an acrid woman. The cigar in his other hand almost touched Zhang Tie¡¯s forehead. ¡°Boy, before you finish 600 hours of work, you have to compensate us twice the amount in the contract if you want to resign. This means 1200 hours in total at 80 copper coins per hour. You should know how much you have to pay in total since it¡¯s written right here in the contract and you¡¯ve signed here. If you want to quit, you have to pay the penalty. Although we, the Iron Thorns Fighting Club, are powerful, we are not bullying you as we are doing things in accordance with the law¡­¡± Gaping at the terms on the contract, Zhang Tie turned pale. He became speechless and started to blame himself for signing the contract without thinking it over. He never thought that there was such a motherf*cking term on it. He would have to pay 9 gold coins and 60 silver coins for breaking the contract. Obviously, this was a price he couldn¡¯t afford.


    Seeing Zhang Tie turn pale, Manager Hance put away the contract and let out a slow suggestion, ¡°Boy, this job is not as terrifying as you imagine. You are new here and don¡¯t know the skills required to be a training partner, that¡¯s why you suffered a loss. Later on, you will learn from these experiences and become smarter. I don¡¯t know why that bastard Kerlin recommended you, but since you are young, I think you should listen to my advice: ¡®Each difficult challenge you face is a chance for you to grow up¡¯. Think about this advice carefully. Now then, you should feel embarrassed about being beaten by several younger kids. If you can¡¯t even handle one of those small kids, what else can you do in the future? This world is far more sophisticated and difficult than what you have encountered today! Well, since it¡¯s your first time to on the job today and you have learned from this experience, although you have not stood for even one minute... I am a kind person, so I will pay you half an hour worth of compensation today. Alright, hurry up and go back home. In these past few days, night meals are forbidden in Blackhot City. If you get home late, you might get in trouble¡­¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Exiting Manager Hance¡¯s office, Zhang Tie continued to ponder over what Manager Hance had taught him ¡ª ¡°Each difficult challenge you face is a chance for you to grow up¡±. Yea! Would he be frightened by those small kids? Would he run away and be laughed at by that b*tch Mary?


    ¡°No, no way! I will never be afraid of those kids!¡±


    Thinking in this manner, Zhang Tie instantly felt much better.


    When he passed the reception desk, Zhang Tie encountered Mary. Seeing Zhang Tie coming out, Mary muttered something to the rest beauties. As a result, those beauties cast a contemptuous gaze at Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie felt that he had no chance to sleep with beauties like her, as no woman would fall in love with a man whom she had cast a contemptuous gaze on. Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh.


    ¡°I heard someone was kicked by young master Gregory and passed out within one minute. What a weak man!¡± Mary¡¯s words instantly stirred up Zhang Tie.


    ¡°Sister Mary, don¡¯t forget our appointment!¡± Zhang Tie gave a flying kiss to Mary and then thrust his waist, like what Hista usually does, a couple of times towards the rest beauties. This series of movements made Mary¡¯s face turn pale as the other beauties gaped. It seemed that they never imagined that someone would do such weird movements. Then Zhang Tie laughed out loudly, detoured the fountain, and walked out the gate of the Iron Thorns Fighting Club.


    Standing in front of the mighty gate of the Iron Thorns Fighting Club, Zhang Tie stared at the stars in the sky and waved his fists fiercely. He shouted inwardly, ¡°I will never be beaten!¡± Closely following his inner shouts was his thunderous belly, which reminded Zhang Tie that he had not even eaten supper yet. Hence, he trotted towards the direction of his home¡­


    Peering over Zhang Tie, who was trotting his way home, Captain Kerlin and Hance stood beside the window in Hance¡¯s office. Pulling down the curtain, Hance muttered, ¡°Youth is good! But, this boy doesn¡¯t seem to be able to take a beating like you¡¯ve told me. Do you have a good opinion of him?¡±


    ¡°The boy is smart. If he is able, he will get his reward. If he isn¡¯t, he will get his punishment. He dared to blackmail his classmates in front of me, the intelligent Captain Kerlin. He dared to justify escape in front of me, the brave Captain Kerlin, in such a reasonable way. Since that¡¯s the case, I have to give him a chance to prove himself. I will see whether he is a real man or just simply someone who pretends to be a real man¡­¡± with arms crossed, the one-eyed man explained stiffly.


    ¡­¡­


    Zhang Tie returned home in 40 minutes with less than one hour left before the time when night meals became forbidden in Blackhot City. The moment he engulfed all the food and dishes made by his mom and washed the bowl and chopsticks, his parents came home.


    ¡°Why did you come back so late?¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s dad asked curiously.


    ¡°Erm, your son performed well at school, so a teacher introduced me to a part-time job. The pay is really good. I can get familiar with many influential and rich figures, and I can also strengthen my body when I am free. Oh, I almost forgot. There are also many beauties over there!¡± Zhang Tie raised his eyebrows.


    ¡°Really? It¡¯s that good?¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s dad became a bit suspicious.


    ¡°Of course. I can go there after school on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so I might come home a little late. You don¡¯t need to worry about me!¡±


    ¡°What a kind of part-time job is it?¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s mom added.


    ¡°Iron Thorns Fighting Club. Those beauties were really enthusiastic. When I was there today, the elder sister who showed me around had praised me and said that I was ambitious. I also made a bet with her that I will definitely make my dream come true!¡± Zhang Tie pretended to be excited in front of his mom¡­


    ¡°So you¡¯re saying you were praised by a beauty? Your mom is not that easily cheated. Don¡¯t even dream about it!¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s mom flicked her finger on Zhang Tie¡¯s forehead a couple of times.


    ¡°Really, mom! I mean it!¡± Zhang Tie gasped with tongue stretched out like a puppy.


    ¡°Then, tell me! How did she praise you?¡±


    ¡°She praised that I was ambitious!¡± Zhang Tie pretended to be very serious.


    ¡°What ambition?¡±


    ¡°A toad that wants to eat a swan¡­ Heh¡­ heh...¡±


    Hearing this, both his mom and dad considered it as a joke. As a result, Zhang Tie¡¯s dad spat out a mouthful of water as his mom gaped for a while before laughing out loudly. Then Zhang Tie¡¯s mom stretched out her hand to pat Zhang Tie. ¡°You¡¯re better at joking than before...¡±


    After freely chatting with his parents, Zhang Tie successfully cemented the idea that he was just an ordinary waiter over there. They both considered this as a chance for Zhang Tie to learn and experience society through working. Judging from Zhang Tie¡¯s happy expression, they didn¡¯t oppose it either. If they knew that he was there to be beaten by kids, they would definitely be saddened and would definitely ask him to stop. Not to mention, Zhang Tie needs to work hard to garner respect!


    After washing his feet and brushing his teeth, Zhang Tie yawned and returned to his room. However, he didn¡¯t fall asleep. Instead, he entered the Castle of Black Iron. During the past day, the basic attributes also changed a lot¡­


    Aura Value changed the most from 1.8 to 3.7 within one day, as those sprouting potatoes in the Castle of Black Iron were growing taller and taller.


    Merit Value increased from 43 to 47. He received an additional 4 Merit Value points by mopping the desks and chairs for his classmates this morning.


    ¡ª¡ªIn the morning of February 26, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and Magnificent Lord did good deeds at his school by mopping his classmates¡¯ desks and chairs, which made everybody in the classroom happy. As a result, Merit Value was increased by 4.


    Seeing this, Zhang Tie realized that those guys were actually happy inside when their desks and chairs were mopped by others. They just couldn¡¯t control their mouths. Through this event, Zhang Tie knew more about Merit Value.


    After checking the basic attributes of the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie returned to his field. Those niblets had yet to sprout, while the tender sprouts of the potatoes were as tall as a finger. Compared to two days ago, they¡¯ve already changed greatly. No wonder, the Aura Value had increased so much.


    After checking on the niblets and the potatoes, Zhang Tie felt a little bit more comfortable. The moment he stood in front of the small tree and prepared to check the number of hours left before the first leakless fruit became ripe...


    A dialogue box suddenly appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    ¡ª¡ªOn the evening of February 16, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and Magnificent Lord was attacked in the Fighting Club. The attack exceeded your physical standing limit and had already harmed your health. A special fruit from the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree is ready to be produced. Please read the following tip, Handsome and Magnificent Lord!


    Zhang Tie slightly gasped. After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie moved closer to the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree. The moment he stretched out his hand to touch it, a line of words appeared in front of him.


    ¡ª¡ªFrustrations make you braver. Once you face them bravely, all the pain and strikes you receive will turn into sweet fruits. You should be calm like the motherland and strengthen your body like fine steel. Iron Body Fruit is ready to be produced. Do you want to produce the fruit?


    ¡ª¡ªYes¡­ No...


    Iron Body Fruit? Zhang Tie gaped¡­

 32 Mysterious Knowledge

    Chapter 32: Mysterious Knowledge


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Seeing the bastards of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood pointing at him with an obscene snort after class, Zhang Tie instantly knew that they had already known about the matter of being a flesh-bag. Although Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know how these bastards found out, Zhang Tie could feel it instinctively and precisely.


    After the two classes, the group of horny students crowded into the washroom and then talked as they laugh outside the classroom in the hallway. In the morning, the feeling of the sunlight on the human body made one feel comfortable, thus the students pushed each other in the hallway for a bit of that sunlight, as if they were moldy salty fish. Seeing Zhang Tie walking in their direction gloomily, the bastards of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood started to pretend to avert their gaze. They raised their heads and looked up at the clouds in the sky, pretending as if nothing had happened. Every one of them seemed like a poet. F*ck! Zhang Tie guessed that they must be boisterously laughing under their stern expressions.


    ¡°Just laugh. Stop pretending, it must be hard for you!¡± Zhang Tie passed by and said lightly. Hearing this, those bastards couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and burst out into laughter simultaneously.


    ¡°Brother, what unpleasant thing happened last night? Tell us and let us be happy. Hahahaha¡­¡±


    ¡°Bastards, you knew something was wrong yesterday, so why didn¡¯t you tell me? I was almost beaten to death last night¡­¡± Zhang Tie instantly grabbed Hista¡¯s collar as he pretended to be furious.


    Hista hurriedly raised up his hands. ¡°Who told you to brag yesterday? Bagdad had long guessed what would happen to you, but he thought you were too arrogant, so he didn¡¯t tell you. Do you remember what you had said yesterday?¡± Hista started to act like Zhang Tie as he said with an obscene smile, ¡°Alas, you know my greatest weakness is my soft-hearted nature and being unable to see others embarrass themselves. I didn¡¯t promise him until Captain Kerlin begged me for a long time. My popularity is really high, I¡¯ve done too many good things. Alas, even becoming close with beauties and high compensation fell upon me. Besides, I can also strengthen my body¡­¡±


    Thinking of his performance in front of these bastards and their laughter, Zhang Tie blushed. The old saying from the Chinese clan that ¡°people should not be too arrogant, otherwise you will be hit by lightning bolt¡± was really right! He only pretended a little bit yesterday, yet he already got what he deserved.


    Zhang Tie stared at Bagdad, who shrugged his shoulders naturally. ¡°Captain Kerlin is a part-time coach at the Iron Thorns Fighting Club. Previously, he used to introduce our fellow elder students to the part-time jobs in that place, and all the part-time jobs were being beaten by small kids from rich families.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t I know about this?¡± Zhang Tie asked dejectedly.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t a secret at all, but you didn¡¯t pay attention to the information concerning the Iron Thorns Fighting Club. Those kids have strict requirements for their training partners. Being limited in height and body development, their training partners should not be adults and neither should they be kids of the same age, as they would not be able to stand their fierce punches and kicks. This job is better suited for people like us. We are slightly older and stronger than those rich kids; however, as we¡¯ve not yet ignited the Shrine burning point, it¡¯s not possible for us to completely defeat them¡­¡±


    ¡°What? We can¡¯t beat them?¡± Hista asked curiously.


    ¡°Of course not. If we were stronger than them, how could they kick you over so easily?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re just training partners, so why do we have to be beaten by those kids?¡±


    Crossing his arms, Bagdad sneered, ¡°This is the distinction between us and those rich people. Although a stronger person could be their training partner, they don¡¯t really need such a person. Do you know why? It¡¯s because those rich people hope that their kids could easily beat us while they are still young. They need their kids to consolidate confidence and mental advantage. Their Qi field could weaken their opponent¡¯s confidence. As if facing an enemy, they would naturally like to be in an advantageous position, hence even though you may reach the same level as him in the future, you would still not be his match. There are many details concerning this, making it rather abstruse. This is a mysterious theory that I have heard from a person in the fighting club.¡±


    Zhang Tie heard this theory for the first time. He was rather surprised about it; however, he also felt that it might actually be true. Otherwise, why wouldn¡¯t the fighting club find a young man who was the same age as Zhang Tie that had also ignited the Shrine burning point? It was possible for them to find many people who met this description in Blackhot City. Glaze, for example, was already a LV 2 fighter. What made Zhang Tie even more surprised was that this knowledge was mysterious, meaning only a few people could learn it and was something that most commoners did not know about. Mysterious knowledge was very expensive and included most cultivation skills and fighting skills. It was said that before the Catastrophe, human society¡¯s mysterious knowledge system had already been well developed. Some of them were called ¡°intellectual property protection¡±, some were called ¡°patents¡±, while other mysterious knowledge was only privy to those from mysterious religious groups such as the group who knew about the functions of the crystals. Whereas, nowadays in the Age of Black Iron, most mysterious knowledge belonged to certain groups, various industrial associations, religious groups, various trade unions, various schools, etc. As the foundation and surviving assets of this age, mysterious knowledge was not something that commoners could come into contact with. Although the skill required to use an abacus was not very important, strictly speaking, it was still considered a form of mysterious knowledge that had been popular within Chinese clan. Before Donder taught him this skill, Zhang Tie was warned to not pass them to alien clans. If he violated the agreement, it might bring extremely serious consequences.


    In the Age of Black Iron, besides resources, once you master a valuable skill or mysterious knowledge, it was possible to become rich and powerful within an area in a short period of time. Of course, you might also be a thorn in the eyes of others due to the mysterious knowledge and may turn into a corpse one day. Mysterious knowledge was related to money. When you monopolize mysterious knowledge and skills, you also occupy the most of the profits accrued from them. This mysterious law seems to have not changed in the slightest, even prior to the Catastrophe.


    ¡°Resign as early as possible. You might suffer mental trauma if you are always being bullied by those kids. By then, it would be really hard for you to become a powerful man!¡± Bagdad suggested sincerely.


    ¡°I will consider it; however, I have to finish 600 hours first¡­¡± Zhang Tie mentioned the contract on purpose with a sad expression. The huge penalty of 10 gold coins made everybody gape instantly.


    ¡°What motherf*cking mysterious knowledge!? Could it match the Iron Body Fruit that is going to ripen on my Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree?¡± Given the name of the fruit, Zhang Tie had already known that it was really motherf*cking great. However, what he needed to do was to be constantly beaten by kids to form that fruit. People will pay me as they risk their lives to help me form an iron body from the fruit. What a splendid thing! Zhang Tie felt no failure at all.


    The moment Zhang Tie rolled his eyes and planned to brag about how Mary praised him so as to rouse those bastards, the whole hallway calmed down. Zhang Tie turned his head and saw Miss Daina entering the amphitheater with a mould of a snail in hand. They stared at her for a few seconds before glancing at each other. In an instant, they all poured into the amphitheater at a speed that was even faster than when they had rushed into the washroom previously. Everybody strove to occupy the front seats near Miss Daina.


    In the Seventh National Male Middle School, if it was a class taught by Miss Daina, every horny student would take the initiative and pour into the classroom before the bell rang. The best seats in the first row were naturally occupied by Glaze and his followers. In contrast, the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood occupied the seats in the middle row, which could be considered neither good nor bad.


    Noticing that everyone had entered the room, Miss Daina started class immediately. She took up a stick of chalk and scribbled two words on the blackboard.


    ¡ª¡ªBlood Clan!


    Miss Daina glanced over them with her beautiful eyes. At this moment, all the horny students sat straight like erecting javelins, showing a stern expression and a desire for knowledge.


    ¡°Dear students, for today¡¯s class, I want to talk you about the Blood Clan. The Blood Clan in our age is different from those before the Catastrophe. As described in artworks, mythologies, and legends, the ones before the Catastrophe were vampires that could change into bats; however, they didn¡¯t really exist. The Blood Clan in the Age of Black Iron, however, refers to the mutated, wild living beings and the aliens that emerged after the Catastrophe. The two are completely different from each other. The Blood Clan we usually talk about have the following traits: Firstly, from their appearance, they are always red all over, as if they were covered in blood, and could be easily identified in the wild. Secondly, every living being from the Blood Clan likes fresh blood. They are carnivores and the most dangerous killers in the wild. Any animal with blood would be considered food for them. Thirdly, every animal from the Blood Clan would greatly change physically after the mutation. If they mutate, they would develop some weird abilities that could make them even more dangerous and harder to deal with. Now, let¡¯s take the blood snail as an example. Blood snails are the most common species in the Blood Clan. I will teach you how to handle this thing if you ever encounter it in the wild¡­¡±


    Watching her tender and beautiful face as he listened to her fabulous voice, Zhang Tie gaped. In reality, they didn¡¯t care about what she was talking about. For most people, once they could see Miss Daina standing over there and listen to her voice, they were already content.


    It was said that a very bad event once happened in class that made Miss Daina extremely angry; therefore, an extremely strange rule, a rule that was considered the strangest rule within all the schools in Blackhot City, was made in the Seventh National Male Middle School ¡ª all students in Miss Daina¡¯s class must put their hands in a visible place. Hence, whenever her gaze swept through the students in her class, all the horny students would sit straight like a well-behaved baby. With hands overlapped on their desks, the student looked desiring for knowledge. After a while, the sound of swallowing saliva spread throughout every corner of the classroom. Besides that sound, there was also the sound of a knocking that was similar to the sound produced by the knocking between a wooden fish1 and stick while a piece of cloth was between them. All in all, there were various sounds and various phenomena. Miss Daina¡¯s classes would always make Zhang Tie hallucinate due to the excitement. Right at this moment¡­


    Miss Daina, in a short skirt, sat on the rostrum as a section of her plump and snow white thigh became exposed. The buttons of her upper outer garment couldn¡¯t cover her plump breasts as they dazzled the students. At that moment, only Zhang Tie and Miss Daina were in the classroom. Calling Zhang Tie to go in front of her, Miss Daina lowered her body and tried her best to push her breasts into a ravine that caused people to become awed. Then she pressed down Zhang Tie¡¯s head into the ravine and gave an obscene smile. Before Zhang Tie was suffocated by that mass of snow white, Miss Daina pushed Zhang Tie away and stretched out two of her beautiful fingers, taking out of a slim pipe as she started to blow out pink bubbles one by one. The pink bubbles flew in the air and exploded on Zhang Tie¡¯s face, causing Zhang Tie to be completely intoxicated¡­


    ¡°Baby, do you want to give it a try?¡± Miss Daina showed a seducing smile and curved one of her fingers towards Zhang Tie¡­


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°I will!¡± Zhang Tie stood up abruptly, which really startled the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. It was close to the end of the class when Miss Daina would ask if the students had any question. Zhang Tie¡¯s sudden reaction almost shocked those beside him to death.


    In a split second, everyone in the classroom cast their eyes on Zhang Tie. As a result, Zhang Tie felt hot all over. Glaze, who sat in the front row, turned back to cast a contemptuous look at Zhang Tie. Glaze had already prepared two questions concerning blood snails and pretended to be a well-behaved student, in an attempt to talk with Miss Daina for a while. However, before he was able to stand up, Zhang Tie¡¯s voice had taken away his chance. By the time Zhang Tie had stood up and shouted, he had already become completely clear-minded. Peering around at the thorny looks, Zhang Tie was suddenly sweating all over.


    ¡°That male student, do you have any questions about this class?¡± Miss Daina asked seriously.


    Thankfully, Zhang Tie was smart. Almost at the same time, he thought of a question that was somewhat related to this class.


    ¡°Miss Daina, I have almost remembered everything that you¡¯ve taught in this class, but I have a question on other types of living beings. I want to know whether you can help me answer it!¡± Zhang Tie fabricated a question¡­


    Wooden Fish, a Buddhist instrument that is normally knocked on by monks and nuns. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wooden_fish

 33 Human Body Energy

    Chapter 33: Human Body Energy


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    ¡°Big Head must have a bee in his head now. I clearly saw him absent-minded just now. Eyes half closed with an obscene smile on his face, his saliva almost flowed down. He was sleep-talking and didn¡¯t know what Miss Daina was talking about!¡± Leit muttered slightly to Doug. Right then, Barley kicked Leit slightly to tell him to shut up. Barley never knew that what Leit had said was actually true.


    ¡°Last night, I was heating up water at home. After the water was boiled, I lifted the kettle from the stove and placed it on the ground; however, I forgot to fill the thermos flask with the boiling water. By the time I noticed it, I found that the boiling water in the kettle had already cooled down¡­¡± The other horny animals widely opened their ox-egg-like eyes and stared at Zhang Tie. They didn¡¯t know what he was talking about at all. Thankfully, they were the utmost disciplined in Miss Daina¡¯s class. If this had happened in another teacher¡¯s class, Zhang Tie might¡¯ve been miserably hit by rotten eggs thrown by the other students the moment he finished his sentence.


    Miss Daina listened to him patiently, which allowed Zhang Tie to have enough time to organize his words.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think too much at that time and just boiled it again; however, when I thought about this in the evening, I thought of a problem that I couldn¡¯t solve at all. Hence, that¡¯s why I invite Miss Daina to solve it for me. Are each of us like a kettle of boiling water? From the moment we were born into this world, are we constantly losing energy from our bodies minute by minute and day by day unconsciously?¡± This question was really unconventional, even the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood were shocked. They never thought that Zhang Tie could fabricate such a high-level question ¡ª whether each of them was a kettle of boiling water?


    This question originated from the message Zhang Tie had seen when the ¡°Leakless Fruit¡± came into being. Zhang Tie had been unable to comprehend the message, thus he took the opportunity to ask Miss Daina about it.


    ¡°This student is really good at thinking. This is a special question. As this is your final semester at school, I had planned to talk about body energy in a later class, but unexpectedly, you¡¯ve already noticed it. So, I will talk about it with you now¡­¡±


    ¡°Dingling dingling¡­¡±


    The moment she opened her mouth, the bell rang. Miss Daina waited until the bell finished ringing before giving an embarrassed smile. ¡°Class is over, it¡¯s time for a break. Since this topic will take much time to explain, let¡¯s talk about it in the next class...¡±


    After class, a few people left the classroom, while the majority stayed in the classroom. Some students even purposely asked Miss Daina foolish questions concerning the previous biology class, and Miss Daina would patiently answer their questions, seemingly as though she did not notice their intentions. Glaze and his three followers almost surrounded Miss Daina as Glaze talked loudly and laughed exaggeratedly from time to time, as if showing that he was very familiar with Miss Daina. He pretended that he was getting along well with Miss Daina and would turn to the remaining people in the classroom when Miss Daina didn¡¯t notice, showing a pleasant and blatant expression.


    ¡°Glaze is an idiot!¡± Hista muttered aside, ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for his accomplished dad¡­ if it wasn¡¯t for his good family background¡­ Bagdad could definitely beat him up! It wouldn¡¯t be his turn to show off here!!¡±


    This assessment really made Bagdad pleased. Hearing their assessment, Bagdad made a cold ¡°humph¡± and gazed at Glaze. Every member of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood knew that Glaze was the very target that Bagdad had set in his mind to surpass.


    ¡°I hear that the final recommendation list will be determined by the end of this semester. If Glaze wants to obtain a recommendation to enter the Andaman Alliance¡¯s Military Officer Training Academy, he needs to have a good performance this time. Within our school gates, a LV 2 fighter is truly amazing; however, outside of the school gates, he is nothing at all. I¡¯ve heard that in the recent years, the lowest requirement for apprentices from Blackhot City to join the Andaman Alliance¡¯s Military Training Academy is LV 3 fighter. To conclude my analysis, currently, Glaze is somewhat unqualified!¡± Leit added.


    ¡°Suppose he doesn¡¯t get enrolled in the academy. Glaze is already something special!¡± Sharwin said admirably.


    ¡°Sharwin, the Andaman Alliance¡¯s Military Officers Training Academy is already something special for the commoners; however, it is not the best. We, the Andaman Alliance, are just a small power in the Blackson Human Clan Corridor that could only protect itself reluctantly. In the end, the alliance is not good at combat. Although the Andaman Alliance¡¯s Military Officer Training Academy is a comparatively senior learning agency within the Alliance, outside the alliance, it¡¯s not something to show off about. Outside of the alliance, there were real talents like Li Shizhen, who was directly taken away by a senior member of the Pharmacists Union and became an apprentice of a mysterious senior member. Li Shizhen was thousands of times greater than Glaze. Even Glaze¡¯s dad is just a pile of bullsh*t in front of him!¡± said Barley like an old man as he Sharwin¡¯s shoulders lightly.


    ¡°I heard pharmacists could make a lot of money?¡± Zhang Tie was interested in every highly paid industry, thus hearing the word ¡°pharmacists¡±, the first thing Zhang Tie thought of was money.


    ¡°There are only four pharmacists in the entire Blackhot City. Three of them are long-term advisers at the three fighting clubs in Blackhot City, while the last one is the supplier of the CSIF. Of course, they are rich! No one else could make more money than pharmacists on the whole continent¡­¡±


    ¡°If only I could be a pharmacist!¡± the manly Doug said like an idiot.


    The moment Doug opened his mouth, nobody else replied. Instead, they all turned to him. Doug pretended to be arrogant. After a long while, Barley patted his shoulders. ¡°Doug, I never thought you¡¯d be this funny!¡±


    The ten minute break soon elapsed and the last morning class began. With their hands on their desks, they pretended to sit well again. Without further explanation, Miss Daina started to draw something on the blackboard with a stick of chalk. After a few minutes, a time-honored tree, twisted with numerous vines, appeared. Nobody knew what it meant. Afterward, Miss Daina put the stick of chalk on the desk and turned around as she clapped her hands.


    ¡°Last class, a student asked whether our human body is losing energy over time. I will now explain it to you with an anatomy diagram of the urine routes and blood vessels neighboring the bladder of the human body. The old tree-like thing is the urine routes neighboring our bladder, and the vine-like things coiling around them are tiny blood vessels, which are similar to the tree roots, that absorb the rarely seen elements and energy from the urine back into the human body in order to avoid waste. The science of anatomy provides a tool for us to recognize the secrets of our body; however, this tool is also limited, as our body is the most precise instrument in the world. The instrument has numerous secrets that could never be explained by anatomy. Actually, even though our body has numerous complex systems and function whose purpose is to reduce the amount of body energy wasted, our body is still wasting a large amount of energy over time. Take urine for example. As you have learned in the survival class, when you are stranded in a cold environment, you would be able to last five more hours than others simply by just not peeing. When you are in a situation where you have no access to food and water, you can collect your urine, and by drinking it, you would be able to last another 48 hours. Urine is very important when it¡¯s concerning life and death, as it contains a large amount of body energy and beneficial substances. The body energy and beneficial substances that should¡¯ve been staying in our bodies run off for no reason. Although our body has adopted numerous means to prevent the loss, it can only slow down the loss. Much of the body energy escapes through various means. I know some special communities use their urine as a medicine, so as to improve their health. The first thing they do after getting up in the morning is going to pee, followed by collecting the urine and drinking it. They believe that they can prevent the loss of body energy and beneficial substances in this manner...¡±


    Everyone in the classroom was at a loss for words, for they thought that drinking urine was much more terrifying than the ¡°blood clan¡±, especially when the words came out of Miss Daina¡¯s mouth. They became so oddly excited that they almost exclaimed.


    ¡°Miss Daina, are there actually people who drink their urine?¡± a horny student in the first row couldn¡¯t help but ask.


    ¡°There is!¡± Miss Daina looked stern. Not feeling embarrassed from the question, Miss Daina seemingly treated it as a purely ¡°educational question¡±. ¡°When they drink their first urine in the morning, they believe that the energy within the urine could help them maintain their youth and health. Actually, they are all famous person now, as they live longer than commoners. They also treat the urine of children and infants as good medicine to cure diseases. They believe that the urine of children and infants contain the purest life energy!¡± The whole classroom became bustling.


    ¡°Using the example of urine, I wanted to tell you that much of the energy within the human body is wasted over time for no apparent reason. Nobody knows how much energy is wasted precisely. I only know that if a person could recollect all of this wasted energy each day, even a bit of them, it would be a very large amount. Besides urine, there are other ways that waste even more of our body energy!¡±


    ¡°What ways, Miss Daina?¡±


    ¡°Wet dreams and masturbation!¡± Miss Daina looked stern and calm. When the two nouns came out of Miss Daina¡¯s mouth, the classroom oddly calmed down once again. They looked left and right with very weird expressions. Some of them directly lowered their heads and dared not to look at Miss Daina at all. Zhang Tie glanced at those horny students of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood and found very excited expressions on their faces.


    At this time, no one opened their mouth. Miss Daina looked around and continued, ¡°When a sperm from a man combines with the egg from a woman, it could create a living being. Each sperm contains the great miracle of life that¡¯s waiting to enter the world. Have you ever thought about the rule behind it? Each sperm contains huge amounts of life energy. A mature female could only produce one egg a month, while an adult male could produce hundreds of millions of sperms a day¡ª this means hundreds of millions of life miracles! Do you know how powerful these sperms are? This is something you¡¯d never know and neither would I. The only thing that I know is in the ancient East, Qi cultivators treated the life energy from their sperm as treasures that could make them stronger and allow them to live longer. Besides giving birth to kids, they would never let their sperms flow out for no reason. Another thing that wastes our energy is having too many thoughts in our minds, which consumes a large amount of spiritual energy over time. However, in this age, there are powerful cultivators and fighters who use this large amount of life energy and spiritual energy to ignite their burning points, breaking through cultivation realms one by one solely depending on their self-discipline and mysterious cultivation techniques before finally becoming revered fighters and powerful individuals who can safeguard humanity. If you want to become a powerful person, you have to learn how to prevent your body energy from escaping...¡± Seeing the students who were thinking over her words in the classroom, Miss Daina showed a pleasant smile. ¡°Do you want to know my dream?¡±


    With their mouths gaping, the horny students stared at Miss Daina. Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes also shone in anticipation, not knowing what she would say...


    Under their anticipating looks, Miss Daina spoke a paragraph that changed all their views and their outlooks on life and the world.


    ¡°My dream is for one of my students to become a powerful fighter or a powerful person who could protect humanity. At that time, I will dress nicely and get married to him. Unfortunately, I have not encountered the right person yet. That¡¯s why, I beg you to make a promise with me¡­¡± The mature and seducing smile on her face and her glittering, beautiful eyes made them all gape. They gazed at Miss Daina, who was genuinely beautiful, and said nothing. Unexpectedly, she had said something so surprising.


    ¡°The promise between you and I is: marry me when you are strong enough to protect me.¡±


    Marry me¡­


    Marry me¡­


    Marry me¡­


    These words reverberated within all of their minds and shocked them all. They couldn¡¯t believe what they had just heard. The classroom instantly became bustling¡­


    ¡°Do you agree to make such a promise with me?¡±


    ¡°I do!¡± the horny students shouted at the same time, causing the windows to almost shatter into pieces.


    ¡°Well, then it¡¯s a promise. You are tough guys now, but females have limited youth and it¡¯s impossible for me to wait for my whole life. That¡¯s why, for our promise, if any one of you can become a Bloody-Scorpion Fighter before the age of 20, then I will marry him!¡±


    ¡°Good!¡±


    At this moment, they could not understand of the lie called love, which could weave the most beautiful bliss and expectation of the world, becoming the largest driving force for a person to mature. Right then, all the horny students stared at Miss Daina with red eyes, sucking in a deep breath. The only thing they could feel was the blood rushing to their p*nis and their head simultaneously.


    Zhang Tie also became excited at this moment as a sentence reverberated within his mind ¡ª become a Bloody-Scorpion Fighter by the age of 20...

 34 Bloody-Scorpion Fighter

    Chapter 34: Bloody-Scorpion Fighter


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Like the other horny students, Zhang Tie was also unable to control himself for the duration of the afternoon. For all the undergraduates, this biology class had become unforgettable. Some among them still couldn¡¯t believe that they had made such a promise with Miss Daina. They would never have imagined that they would have a chance to marry Miss Daina one day!


    Even though the chance was slim, it was still enough for all the horny students to unexpectedly burst forth with high morale. The excitement of the students that afternoon greatly shocked the coach.


    However, for the duration of the afternoon and even after he had returned from Donder¡¯s grocery store, Zhang Tie kept on thinking about two things.


    The first thing was the Leakless Fruit. According to Miss Daina, the human body lost a huge amount of energy every day through urine, masturbation, sweat, and even from undigested food. Nobody could tell how much energy they contained. After thinking for a long time, Zhang Tie realized that since last week, he had not had a wet dream for five consecutive days. Usually, he would have at least three wet dreams a week. Does this mean that the life energy from the thousands of millions of sperm was absorbed by the Leakless Fruit? Neither Zhang Tie nor Miss Daina knew how much energy was contained within those sperm. The only thing she had said about this topic was that in the ancient East, there was an ancient, mysterious cultivation system that described some Qi cultivators who converted tangible sperm into powerful, intangible life energy ¡ª ¡°Qi¡±. This seemed to be related to the huge amount of life energy produced by the reproductive system. However, this was only one source for the Leakless Fruit. Zhang Tie recalled that his urine was much cleaner than before. Besides that, he now had a good appetite and sweated less than before when doing exercise. Were these the benefits of the Leakless Fruit?


    Miss Daina mentioned that these were simply just tangible energy loss, while there was also more invisible energy loss. For example, our body was constantly releasing energy over time. Before the Catastrophe, human beings had already discovered the magnetic field and the brilliant rays circling our bodies as well as an energy called electricity that was produced in the human body every second. In contrast, the source of the most energy loss was something that could not be seen with the eye ¡ª having numerous, ever-changing disorderly opinions and thoughts. This was also known as human spiritual and mental movements. Some of those tangible spiritual and mental movements were called evidence consciousness, while the intangible movements were called sub-consciousness or over-consciousness. Miss Daina had mentioned that mental and spiritual energy was wasted during dreams or disorderly and blind conjectures. This reminded Zhang Tie that he had slept really well for the past couple of days. He was clear-minded each morning. Was the leaking mental energy absorbed and converted by the Leakless fruit?


    Then what miraculous functions would the Leakless Fruit have after it absorbed all the tangible and intangible energy that leaked from his body for a whole week?


    This made Zhang Tie become more expectant towards the Leakless Fruit that would be ripe within three days. Zhang Tie still couldn¡¯t figure out what ¡°Leakless¡± meant. No matter what it meant, he thought that there was nothing greater than the badge of a Bloody-Scorpion Fighter.


    The second thing that Zhang Tie thought about for the entire afternoon was how he could become a Bloody-Scorpion Fighter before the age of 20. This way, he would become strong and would be able to protect and marry Miss Daina. However, at the moment, Zhang Tie was not able to see even the slightest bit of chance for this to happen.


    Bloody-Scorpion Fighter ¡ª Among the 5 classes of fighters, a Bloody-Scorpion Fighter was a LV 9 professional fighter that belonged to the 4th class and was authorized by the Continental Fighters Union. A Bloody-Scorpion Fighter would have ignited 34 burning points on their backbone and would have high-end fighting force that could only be awed by many people in the rest of their lives. They were even an existence that was even more powerful than the one-eyed Captain Kerlin. A 20-year old Bloody-Scorpion Fighter ¡ª what a dazzling great existence! If it wasn¡¯t that, who else could match with Goddess Miss Daina?


    As for the poor boy who had not even ignited his Shrine burning point, how could he become a Bloody-Scorpion Fighter, which required 8 consecutive increase in ranks, within 5 years? This was his only chance to garner the favor of Miss Daina. This was not possible unless he was a genius...


    But as he had the Castle of Black Iron and the marvelous tree, he became determined to fight for Miss Daina...


    Thinking of Miss Daina¡¯s promise, Zhang¡¯s heart began to thump.


    On the way back from Donder¡¯s grocery store, watching the road lamps being ignited one by one, the 15-year old boy had a stern expression. He started to envision the goal that he had never dreamt of before ¡ª to become a powerful fighter with an image of Bloody-Scorpion on his back before the age of 20.


    Gulugulu¡­ His belly started to growled once again. ¡°I¡¯m more like a foodie now,¡± Zhang Tie muttered to himself as he began running home¡­


    When he arrived at home, Zhang Tie found the gate unlocked and was even half opened. ¡°Is there a thief?¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s heart started pounding. He slightly pushed open the gate and walked in quietly. Clasping onto a wooden stick that was previously hidden, he moved closer towards the entrance. Before he entered, he heard a strange voice


    ¡°I only have one daughter at the age of 20, and now she¡¯s pregnant because of your son. She no longer has any face to live. How can she get married anymore? Today, I brought her here for you to bring her into your Zhang family. If you don¡¯t admit that the baby in her belly belongs to your Zhang family, then I¡¯ll beat her to death. If you admit it, you¡¯ll have to tell this news to the neighborhood...¡± The voice was full of fury. At that moment, Zhang Tie heard a ¡°pa¡± sound and the curses of that man, ¡°I will beat you to death, you son of b*tch¡­¡±


    A woman¡¯s cry drifted from inside. The moment Zhang Tie entered, he found the door curtain pushed aside and Boss Wang from the tailor store and his wife walked out. Boss Wang looked really infuriated when he saw Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie instantly hid his wooden stick behind him and forced a smile. ¡°Boss Wang, don¡¯t leave so fast. Have a seat...¡±


    ¡°Humph, all of you Zhangs are scumbags!¡± The man left furiously as he hit the gate. His wife glanced over Zhang Tie carefully and followed him away with a deep sigh. Seeing them leave, Zhang Tie closed the gate and hid the wooden stick again. He then pretended to cough and walked into the guesthouse¡­


    There were three people inside the guesthouse. Zhang Tie¡¯s dad was smoking with a frown. The smell of the poor quality tobacco spread everywhere. In normal circumstances, Zhang Tie¡¯s mom would definitely scold him; however, his mom was comforting a crying woman, whose head was lowered as she cried. Seeing this woman, Zhang Tie remembered the sound of ¡°papapa¡± from his elder brother¡¯s room in the recent couple of months. Then he understood everything. Dad and mom also knew what had happened.


    ¡°Unexpectedly, my dashing elder brother stirred up some trouble now, heh¡­ heh¡­¡±


    ¡°Your supper is in the pot. Go eat it now!¡± Seeing Zhang Tie come back, his mom raised her head reluctantly. She then continued to comfort that girl.


    Dad also peered at Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie knew what to do. ¡°You guys continue. I¡¯ll go eat supper!¡± Then he ran into the kitchen and took out the food from the pot. Although the food was simple, it was made by his mom and smelled fragrant, thus Zhang Tie engulfed it all very soon.


    After eating, Zhang Tie washed the bowls and chopsticks and cleaned the kitchen to gain another point of merit value. Thinking about it happily, Zhang Tie saw his dad come over. It seemed that his dad and mom had already made the decision.


    ¡°Zhang Tie, come here. I need to talk with you¡­¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s up, dad!¡±


    ¡°Your elder brother, that bastard, he slept with that girl and made her pregnant¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s dad felt really felt reluctant when he mention that.


    ¡°Does this mean I have a sister in law now!?¡± Zhang Tie asked with a grimace.


    ¡°Quiet!¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s dad stared at him with eyes widely opened and flicked Zhang Tie¡¯s head with his fingers which made Zhang Tie spring up from the pain. ¡°Above all, your elder brother is not at home at the moment, so that girl will live in your elder brother¡¯s room. Be polite and call her sister when you see her. Am I clear? Don¡¯t let her feel uncomfortable¡­¡±


    ¡°Uncomfortable with what? She has already entered my elder brother¡¯s room more than once already...¡± Zhang Tie touched his head as if he was being wronged and muttered.


    ¡°What?¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s dad widely opened his eyes once again.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly made a wry smile. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. When I think about how you¡¯re going to be a grandpa, I¡¯m really happy for you!¡±


    Before his dad had a chance to kick his butt, Zhang Tie had long run away. Zhang Tie had already thought it through while he was eating just now. According to his dad and mom¡¯s temperaments, they would never force her to have an abortion. To have an abortion would be a huge problem. Additionally, she was innocent and although she wasn¡¯t beautiful, she wasn¡¯t ugly either. They lived on the same street and almost grew up together under the watchful eyes of mom and dad. No other girl could be her match. The fault lied with his elder brother, who was too rushed and did not make sufficient preparations.


    When his elder brother returned, the two families would discuss the marriage between the two. Additionally, when Zhang Tie mentioned that his dad was going to be a grandpa, although he looked furious, he couldn¡¯t conceal his excitement.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t think of it too much. After supper, he washed his feet and brushed his teeth. Afterward, he went to the guesthouse to say goodnight to his mom and his sister-in-law before returning to his own room.


    In his own room, Zhang Tie sat on the bed and started to practice in accordance to . Through a couple days of studying, he had noticed that cultivation became more effective by visualizing in accordance withbefore and after cultivation. If he practiced visualizing in accordance withbefore igniting his Shrine burning point, his spiritual energy would be slightly more condensed. If he visualized the golden abacus after cultivating and igniting the Shrine burning point, he could recover much faster. Zhang Tie felt like he has already learned the mysterious functions of .


    Through a couple days of cultivation, Zhang Tie found it to be easier to enter meditation before, as it took less time now.


    In the past, it would take him more than two hours to enter meditation since he felt distracted. In recent days, he would instantly enter meditation the moment he sat down and closed his eyes. He was always clear-minded now. Being ¡°polished¡± by the pure spiritual energy, the Shrine burning point over the navel radiated an increasingly bright indigo flame and responded more easily to the crystal. It seemed that in a couple of months, the flame would become completely blue and would help him reach a higher level. Was all of this the result of the Leakless Fruit? Zhang Tie was not certain about it. No matter what, these were good changes. What made Zhang Tie uncomfortable was the piece of crystal that he used to cultivate. Gradually, it was unable to provide enough energy for him to cultivate. This made Zhang Tie dejected like a thirsty person who moved his mouth in front of the water faucet but found that the size of the tap was as small as a needle. The amount of water that trickled down did not meet his demand. This was rightly what the poor people faced. If Zhang Tie owned a pyramid-based crystal, he believed that his Shrine burning point would already be radiating purple flames.


    After almost two hours of cultivation, Zhang Tie stood up from the bed and slightly moved his numb legs. Heaving a deep sigh, he placed the white crystal back into the crystal sand by the windowsill, so as to refill the energy. After peering over the pitch dark street which was not matched with roadside lamps, in order to ensure that nobody outside was peering in, he closed up the window again.


    ¡°What¡¯s elder brother doing now?¡± Zhang Tie suddenly wondered.


    Before he fell asleep, Zhang Tie entered the Castle of Black Iron as usual.


    ¡ª¡ªEyes closed¡­ Lock¡­ Enter


    It felt much easier to enter¡­


    Opening his eyes, Zhang Tie found himself already inside.


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    Zhang Tie casually touched the basic attributes panel.


    ¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªLength: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªWidth: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªAura value: 7.3


    ¡ª¡ªMerit value: 52


    ¡ª¡ªBasic energy storage: 0.5


    ¡ª¡ªSpecial output: void


    As expected, he gained 5 more merit value points; 2 at home and 3 at school. However, the growth of spiritual energy really surprised Zhang Tie. After closing the attributes panel, Zhang Tie went to his field. Squatting down, he checked his plants carefully.


    Surprisingly, he found rows of stubborn, fresh sprouts coming out of the niblets¡¯ land.


    ¡°The niblets have already sprouted.¡± Zhang Tie instantly became excited. They sprouted three days earlier than Zhang Tie anticipated. ¡°It seems that the soil here is suitable for the growth of plants,¡± Zhang Tie muttered. Thinking of the increasing price of food, Zhang Tie glanced over the vacant Castle of Black Iron that spanned almost 1,000 mu1 of land. He instantly thought of a crazy idea, ¡°Will I become rich if I plant more than 100 mu of grains and fruits here in the Castle of Black Iron¡­¡±


    1 mu is equal to 666.666 m2

 35 Realization

    Chapter 35: Realization


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Since he was young, Zhang Tie has always lived a simple and boring life that consisted only of going to school and working at Donder¡¯s grocery store. After school on Wednesday, he arrived at the Iron Thorns Fighting Club on Bright Avenue once again. For Zhang Tie, this fighting club has greatly changed his life. Through the part-time jobs at Donder¡¯s grocery store and the Iron Thorns Fighting Club, Zhang Tie could meet numerous people. Some people would have been driven mad by such a mechanical lifestyle, while Zhang Tie simply found it boring. He had already known since he was young that there were only a few people who had the power to choose their own lifestyle. Both of Zhang Tie¡¯s parents were commoners in Blackhot City, thus he was born with no such power. In any age, only a few people could live an easy and cool life with activities like riding battle horses, fighting on the battlefields, hugging beauties, and drinking alcohol. Most people could only do regular jobs before retiring, much like those defective objects on the assembly lines that would be abandoned when sent off. Most people didn¡¯t even have the time to explore and travel the world at all.


    The Seventh National Middle School in Blackhot City was undoubtedly an assembly line in a workshop where most of the products would be delivered to the army, factories, and farms before being abandoned. If there were no accidents, Zhang Tie might also follow this routine. In the past couple of days, Zhang Tie found himself much more clear-minded than before. He would think about many topics that he would never have thought of or considered before. Refusing to become a bad-quality product that could not choose its own destiny on the assembly line, Barley and the others formed the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, Glaze strove to be a LV 2 fighter since a young age, and numerous people put on the uniforms of pioneers and strove for an uncertain future at the cost of their own lives. In batches, they would step into that unknown black region and never return¡­


    When he arrived at Bright Avenue, he recalled the following image: an old man in a pioneer uniform with pure white hair and a beard buying something in a grocery store. He then sat outside the gate of the grocery store and leaned against the wall on the other side of the street. With a broken sword in hand, he smiled, drunk alcohol, and watched the sunset. After a short rest, he stood up, tightened his waist belt, and walked towards the railway station. From then on, Zhang Tie never saw him again...


    Zhang Tie was deeply impressed by the stark contrast between the old man¡¯s peaceful smile and his situation. Zhang Tie could not fully understand why he smiled when he sat on the roadside ground as he drank the poor quality alcohol and watched the sunset. But that smile on his time-honored face always appeared in Zhang Tie¡¯s memory. At this moment, Zhang Tie gradually understood what the time-honored smile meant. His face displayed pride and gave off a message ¡ª I have tried to live my own way!


    Everyone in this age was working hard. Some worked hard to become a superior product on the assembly line in hopes to gain higher compensation. Some worked hard to jump out from the assembly line regardless of whether they would lose their life in the process. While others worked hard to become an owner of the assembly line. And those who owned one assembly line wanted to own more!


    When he was in Bright Avenue last time, everything on the street made Zhang Tie dwarfed and uncomfortable; however, when he was in Bright Avenue at this moment, seeing everything on the magnificent Avenue, Zhang Tie suddenly realized that the ¡°uncomfortable¡± feeling was simply the natural fear and lack of confidence that an unfinished product felt when it saw its owner and the manager of the assembly line. This was the game rule in the Blackhot City: before you are able to rid yourself of your ordinary status as an unfinished product in the eyes of others, everything on this street would make you breathless.


    ¡°It seems that I am changing from an ordinary unfinished product to a good unfinished product! Ho¡­ Ho¡­ unfinished product? Motherf*cker, I should not take myself as an unfinished product! Mom would never agree on this. In her eyes, I am her most precious baby! In this world, when it comes to their opinions of me, I will solely pay attention to the opinions of three or four people and will ignore the evaluations of other people! Others¡¯ opinions have nothing to do with me, and I will never pretend to be an unfinished product that was meant to make the lives of others easier!


    When he recalled that he insisted for his mom to stop calling him ¡°baby¡± two years ago and to call him another nickname like ¡°Guoguo¡± instead, a smile appeared on Zhang Tie¡¯s face. Then, he strode forward with candid and confident steps on Bright Avenue and arrived at Avenue Bright No.18, the place where the Iron Thorns Fighting Club was located.


    The four guards outside the gate glanced over Zhang Tie and let him enter directly. Zhang Tie stared at their glittering full-body armors admirably. They owned a surprising defensive force. Being similar to the full-body armor worn by the average heavy-armored pikemen, the entire set of armor weighed more than 70 kgs. It looked magnificent and powerful. Those who could move freely in such armor were at least LV 5. For them to arrange four fighters above LV 5 on both sides of the gate, the Iron Thorns Fighting Club was terrifyingly powerful.


    Entering the gate and detouring the fountain, Zhang Tie arrived at the reception desk once again. Zhang Tie also finally understood why Mary praised him as ¡°ambitious¡± last time. A woman who wanted to jump out of the assembly line by depending on her external qualities, beautiful appearances for example, naturally didn¡¯t want to be related to a guy who seemed to have no bright future. Thinking about what happened last time, Zhang Tie felt like he acted like a rogue and had overreacted.


    The moment he felt sorry for her, Zhang Tie saw the row of featured beauties once again. Unlike last time when he was soon ignored by them, when he entered this time, Zhang Tie found that all of them were glaring at him, 80% in contempt and the remaining 20% in curiosity. He could easily identify their contempt as they sharply gazed at Zhang Tie, much like a true swan having seen an ¡°ambitious¡± toad. Those who glared at him with contempt proudly turned away their heads, raised their heads, and didn¡¯t look at Zhang Tie again, while those who were curious kept gazing at him with a faint smile.


    Mary was not here? Zhang Tie glanced over the beauties behind the reception desk and hurriedly put his right hand into the pocket to press down on that relentless p*nis. The beauties were wearing uniforms that consisted of a tight sleeveless shirt with a low-opening collar and a loose pair of sporting trousers. Glancing over them, Zhang Tie saw all the white skin and plump breasts, causing him to almost have a nosebleed.


    As nobody greeted him, Zhang Tie also didn¡¯t want to cause trouble, so he passed the reception desk. Several steps later, Zhang Tie heard discussions behind him.


    ¡°He¡¯s just a kid. It couldn¡¯t have been that bad!¡±


    ¡°You cannot judge people by their appearance. Kids these days mature early. Mary said this guy was really disgusting and even more excessive than those guests. He wanted to molest Mary the first time he saw her. Besides, he even did obscene movements to us!¡±


    ¡°Really? But he doesn¡¯t look like the type of person!¡±


    ¡°Is your heart pounding? You can go give him a try!¡±


    Then their laughter drifted towards Zhang Tie¡­


    ¡°F*ck!¡± Zhang Tie knew that his good image had been fully destroyed among them.


    This was his second time here. Naturally, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t need to report to Manager Hance¡¯s office; instead, he just needed to report to Director Beck, who was the one he had met in Manager Hance¡¯s office. His main responsibility was to take charge in greeting the LV 1 guests in the Fighting Club. In other words, he in charge of serving those rich and powerful kids. As the flesh-bag of those kids, Zhang Tie was naturally managed by him. Director Beck always spoke too many words, which might be attributed to his occupational disease. Sometimes, he would unconsciously repeat what he had said already for several times.


    Seeing Zhang Tie come to report to him, Director Beck was very happy. He then murmured to Zhang Tie in his narrow office for more than half an hour. He told Zhang Tie about what he should pay attention to, such as where he could go and where he couldn¡¯t, etiquettes towards guests, and some rules that he should remember as a ¡°training partner¡±. Although they were all simple and trivial things, Director Beck unconsciously repeated them twice.


    Half an hour later, noticing Director Beck couldn¡¯t control himself and started to repeat them for the third time, Zhang Tie felt the blood rush to his head and hurriedly opened his mouth to stop him.


    ¡°Well, Director, I¡¯ve remembered everything you have said. Should I go take a bath and put on my uniform now to wait for the guests in the rest area?¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Looking at the clock that hung in the office, Director Beck opened a drawer and threw a key with a number plate to Zhang Tie ¡°This is the key to your locker. Put your personal belongings inside. You have two uniforms change ¡ª the clean set will be worn when you arrive each time, while the dirty set can be handed over to the reception desk where someone will wash it for you. We will provide a new pair of socks for you every week. These are your benefits! Work hard, young man!¡±

 36 Come on, Baby

    Chapter 36: Come on, Baby


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Using the memory of the paths of the fighting club, Zhang Tie took the key and entered the dressing room. As he was somewhat lost when he was here last time, he didn¡¯t clearly see the size of the fighting club. This time, he realized that the fighting club was really huge.


    The sixth floor of the fighting club was more than 200m in length, and more than half of this floor was reserved for LV 1 guests. The sixth floor was mostly occupied by a public training field, which included various equipment and instruments that Zhang Tie had never seen before, as well as two standard speed testing tracks. Aside from the resting areas and the dressing rooms, the public training field was the only place where workers could stay. What Captain Kerlin had said was not out of reason. If Zhang Tie could train here when he was free, he could definitely improve his strength and physique greatly. Compared to this training field, the training field at school was like a rural field being used to dry fresh millets. Seeing those training equipment for the first time, Zhang Tie almost began to drool. Those training equipment could definitely strengthen each and every one of his muscles. In truth, given enough time, Zhang Tie was fully confident that they could make him as masculine as a sculpture and strengthen his physical traits greatly.


    Aside from the public training field, there were also some independent training rooms. Director Beck had said those training rooms were matched with more advanced training equipment and were only available to guests, causing Zhang Tie to be extremely curious about the special equipment.


    Zhang Tie could only use the independent staff staircases and paths from the first floor to the sixth floor, while the guests and VIPs were qualified to take the elevators, something which Zhang Tie had never seen before. Although there was no electricity in this age, that traffic tool invented by humans before the Catastrophe was still preserved. However, the driving force of elevators became steam engines and turbines that were built within the building. Additionally, each elevator was matched with a professional looking worker who wore a uniform.


    From the first floor to the sixth, although sound-insulation partitions were installed, Zhang Tie could still hear the loud crashes and cries from the rooms on each floor. Some of the sounds seemed to have originated from underground, giving off a feeling that was akin to rolling thunder to those above ground. As a result, the entire staircase hummed...


    The sixth floor was for LV 1 guests, the fifth floor was for LV 2 guests, and the fourth floor was for LV 3 guests. Previously, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t understand why they were arranged in this manner. When he went upstairs, he suddenly realized that the higher the level of the guests, the more powerful and destructive the training would be; therefore, they had to arrange the high-level guests on the lower floors in order to reduce the damage to the building. The training fields for guests above LV 5 were on the ground; however, Zhang Tie was not qualified to know what was installed inside those training fields.


    Zhang Tie went to his locker, locker No. 613. The dressing room was linked to the bathroom, which was one of the benefits of the Fighting Club. At the very least, Zhang Tie could take a bath in the luxurious bathroom. This place would be very nice if he wasn¡¯t here solely to be beaten.


    Entering the dressing room, Zhang Tie found no one else but a muscular man sitting on the bench. The muscular man was trying to apply something to the obvious wounds on his back. Feeling that this man seemed somewhat familiar, Zhang Tie recalled that it was the man who had woken him up when he had passed out last time.


    Seeing Zhang Tie, the manly guy grinned and smiled simply. Raising a brown vial, he said, ¡°Hey boy, so it¡¯s you. Come help me out!¡±


    Zhang Tie walked over and took the vial from the man¡¯s hand; it smelt like a medicinal liquor. He didn¡¯t know what it was made of, but he knew that it was used to speed up the healing of wounds, thus Zhang Tie rubbed his hands for a while and put some of the medicinal liquor on one palm. He then evenly applied it onto the wounds.


    ¡°I almost forgot, you woke up me up last time. Really, thank you!¡± Zhang Tie said as he applied the medicinal liquor onto the man¡¯s back.


    ¡°It¡¯s no problem! I¡¯m Anuo, what¡¯s your name?¡±


    ¡°Zhang Tie!¡±


    ¡°Chinese clan?¡±


    ¡°Yea!¡±


    ¡°You people from the Chinese clan aren¡¯t physically strong. I¡¯ve rarely seen a Chinese training partner here!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s bullsh*t. I will keep getting stronger!¡± Zhang Tie replied stubbornly.


    ¡°What a tough boy!¡± the manly guy muttered.


    After he finished applying the medicinal liquor, Zhang Tie covered the vial and gave it back to the manly guy. The man took the vial, stood up, and prepared to wear clothes. All of a sudden, he shot out a powerful punch toward Zhang Tie. Before Zhang Tie was able to respond, the fist had already arrived in front of Zhang Tie¡¯s face. The fine hair on his face could even feel a strong gust. The moment Zhang Tie thought that his head would be broken like a watermelon, the fist stopped 1 cm away from his face. Zhang Tie¡¯s face turned pale.


    The manly guy didn¡¯t care for Zhang Tie¡¯s response. He simply shook his head and made three movements in front of Zhang Tie. ¡°As a training partner, you should remember three basic movements. Firstly, when you lower your head, you should protect your head with your arms. Never expose your head to your opponent. You should respond to it unconsciously¡­¡± The manly guy demonstrated the movement twice.


    ¡°Secondly, although it is not allowed in the fighting club, if your opponent attacked your lower body, you should lift your right leg¡­¡± The manly guy patted his strong right leg. ¡°You should never put the center of gravity of your body under your feet. That would make you react slowly; instead, you should do this...¡± The tough guy quickly raised his right leg and leaned to his side. ¡°This way, your opponent¡¯s instinctive attacks will land on the muscles of your thigh and butt, which can afford to take a hit!¡±


    ¡°Thirdly¡­¡± The tough guy bent his body. ¡°Make your back naturally bent to tighten the muscles. A bent back and tightened muscles can form a natural arch which can let your back stand powerful attack. This will protect your bones and guts. If you cannot avoid your opponent¡¯s attack, you should use the places on your body that can take a beating to absorb the opponent¡¯s attack. For example, your shoulders, back, chest¡­ Am I clear, boy?¡±


    Zhang Tie was shocked by Anuo¡¯s patience. He nodded and was slightly moved. He didn¡¯t know what to say while Anuo simply smiled. He patted Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulders. ¡°I¡¯m expecting you to become powerful!¡± He then put on his clothes and left.


    Zhang Tie repeated those movements several times alone in the dressing room and slightly nodded. Then he opened his locker. There were two sets of uniforms, a clean towel, and a pair of clean socks. He instantly removed his clothes and brought the towel into the bathroom to take a comfortable hot water bath. The moment he wore his uniform and his socks, a worker came in to inform him to make preparations to serve the guest in Room No.4.


    Near the dressing room was a professional equipment room. The moment Zhang Tie entered, two workers helped him put on a set of protective equipment.


    ¡°Boy, don¡¯t get knocked out this time; otherwise, we¡¯d have to carry you back!¡± the man said with a smile of contempt as he helped Zhang Tie put on the complex equipment. After he finished, he patted Zhang Tie¡¯s back twice, implying that Zhang Tie could leave.


    ¡°Do you think he¡¯ll be knocked out this time?¡±


    ¡°I bet he will pass out within 10 minutes for 20 copper coins!¡±


    ¡°I bet he will pass out within 5 minutes!¡±


    ¡°Ok, that¡¯s the deal!¡±


    Hearing the two bastards sneering at him, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth and decided to not pass out this time.


    Entering Room No.4 like last time, Zhang Tie waited there for less than 3 minutes before the door was pushed open. Entering together with an arrogant 12-year-old kid was Mary. Seeing the cold smile on Mary¡¯s face, Zhang Tie cried out inwardly. How could she be so narrow-minded!?


    The kid arrogantly glared at Zhang Tie. ¡°Mary, is he the scumbag you told me about?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s him!¡± The goddamned Mary nodded.


    ¡°If I knock him out, you will?¡± saying this, the arrogant kid gazed at Mary¡¯s plump breasts and swallowed saliva with difficulty.


    Mary said nothing. She simply bent her body and showed a lecherous smile. Stretching out her tongue, she licked one of the kid¡¯s ear and murmured something as the kid began to laugh in high spirits.


    Zhang Tie coldly stared at the two. Within the depths of his heart, an uncomfortable appeared when he saw Mary¡¯s lecherous smile and the arrogant kid. He didn¡¯t know if it was because of fury or desire.


    ¡°I am Zhang Tie. It¡¯s my pleasure to serve you!¡± Zhang Tie clasped his fist and greeted the kid monotonously in accordance to Director Beck¡¯s instructions. Meanwhile, he coldly glanced at Mary, who was staring at him pleasantly on the side.


    Under the thick head protector, others could only see the pair of black eyes and the row of holes for breathing. Seeing Zhang Tie turning back as he stared at her, Mary felt savageness and a coldness that was akin to ice through that head protector. Her heart started to pound and her smile instantly froze.


    ¡°If you are smart enough, you should kneel down in front of Mary, apologize to her, and slam your face ten times. If you do that, I will let you go. I won¡¯t beat you up too fiercely!¡± pretending to be a man, the kid shouted.


    F*ck! How could these rich kids be so disgusting!? Zhang Tie said nothing. He only bent one finger towards this kid in contempt as if he was calling a puppy or a pet. ¡°Come on, baby!¡±


    ¡°I will kill you!¡± In a split second, the kid charged toward Zhang Tie and launched an extremely sharp kick toward Zhang Tie¡¯s stomach...

 37 It Depends on Your Attitude

    Chapter 37: It Depends on Your Attitude


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    It was an extremely fierce kick. However, Zhang Tie had long been prepared and instantly avoided it by leaning his body. As a result, the kick didn¡¯t hit him. Before he had time to rejoice, Zhang Tie noticed a punch rushing towards his chest. At this moment, Zhang Tie intended to test the kid¡¯s strength by grabbing onto his arm. A muffled sound was heard from the armored arm of Zhang Tie. He felt a strong impact on his arm, causing his arm to become numb. Being forced to take a few steps back, Zhang Tie was surprised at the strength contained within that punch. It almost matched his own strength. Zhang Tie never realized that this kid, who was two years younger than him, was so powerful. Given the strength of that punch, Zhang Tie knew that the kid was slightly more powerful than him and was slightly weaker than Bagdad.


    Even then, fighting him alone, Zhang Tie was not afraid of him in the least. After all, he was a couple of years older than this kid, meaning that he at least held the advantage in height and weight. However, if he could only be beaten and not retaliate, then the result would be obvious.


    Although the thick armor uniform could lessen the impacts from his enemy¡¯s attacks, it also affected Zhang Tie¡¯s agility. Several fighting moves later, Zhang Tie¡¯s response was delayed by the uniform, and as a result, the kid took this opportunity and directly kicked Zhang Tie in the chest, sending Zhang Tie through the air before landing on the ground.


    Zhang Tie felt dazed and suffocated. Panting, he picked himself up from the ground after quite a while. At the same time, Zhang Tie saw Mary wiping the sweat off the kid with a towel and kissing his face while the kid still displayed an arrogant face as he drank water and glared at Zhang Tie in contempt.


    ¡°I thought you would be powerful, but you¡¯re just trash!¡±


    Zhang Tie felt like he would lose face if he argued with such an innocent kid. Should I tell you that I¡¯m only here to be beaten to ripen the Iron Body Fruit? You¡¯re actually here to serve me. Hah, what a nice feeling¡­


    ¡°Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree, I love you!¡± Zhang Tie shouted inwardly¡­


    Under the head protector, Zhang Tie forced an ironical smile. As he was focused on helping the Iron Body Fruit ripen, he didn¡¯t care about being beaten at all. After standing up, Zhang Tie slightly moved his limbs and took a few deep breaths. Besides the pain from his chest, everything else felt fine. Once again, he bent his index finger towards that kid.


    ¡°Come on, baby!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    The anger on the kid¡¯s face flashed instantly. He put down the bottle of water and rushed towards Zhang Tie once again. Seven or eight minutes later, Zhang Tie was sent flying by a leg-sweep and fell onto the ground miserably. It took him half a minute to pick himself back up. At this moment, the kid was already panting.


    ¡°Come on, baby!¡±


    More than twenty minutes later, the kid broke Zhang Tie¡¯s guard and seized the opportunity to quickly throw out four or five consecutive punches towards Zhang Tie¡¯s chest. As a result, Zhang Tie was hit and was forced five steps back. Soon after, the kid shouted as he elbowed Zhang Tie¡¯s stomach using a bow step[1]. Zhang Tie directly felt blood rushing to his neck, and the vessels around his neck were painful and swollen. Aside from this, his eyes were dazed


    As his stomach was soft, Zhang Tie wasn¡¯t sent flying; however, he felt as if he was stepping on a marshmallow and had to kneel down. At the same time, Zhang Tie felt a gust blowing over his ear. In a split second, he used what Anuo taught him and instinctively used his arms to protect his head.


    ¡°Bang!¡± The moment Zhang Tie responded, a muffled sound reverberated. At the same time, Zhang Tie felt a powerful kick and instantly fell onto the ground. He rolled several times on the ground before stopping two meters away, losing the power to move.


    Once again, Zhang Tie saw the kid heavily panting and sweating all over. He was staring at Zhang Tie, who was lying on the ground. A fight like this meant a huge physical exhaustion to both the attacker and the defender.


    In the Iron Thorns Fighting Club, there were only a few training partners who fully worked as flesh-bags like Zhang Tie. As training partners, besides being beaten, they were sometimes here to assist the members improve their fighting techniques. Additionally, training partners could exchange their experiences with one another. In fact, a senior training partner was a mentor who could help guests of the club improve themselves. During training, training partners could find the mistakes of the opponent, like the weaknesses of his attacks, wasted movements, problems in attack rhythms, and possible defects that might arise from mental preferences. The guests were able to benefit from these experiences and improve their fighting techniques. Golden training partners usually got along well with the experts of the fighting club and were one of the most important figures in the fighting club. As Zhang Tie was new here, he was not eligible to meet the top figures in this industry. Moreover, the opponent today was invited by a woman who was specifically here to give him trouble. Naturally, he would not show sympathy. As a result, the fight today was a little bit harder¡­ If it was not Zhang Tie but someone else, they would have long been defeated. Even if they weren¡¯t defeated, they would still feel the obvious frustration and hopelessness that came after being beaten repeatedly by a kid.


    However, lying on the ground, Zhang Tie was not thinking about that; instead, he was thinking about the kid¡¯s kick. After recovering his composure, Zhang Tie realized that he should not have covered his head with his arms to prevent from that kick, but rather he should have withstood it with his shoulders or his back, which were the places on the human body that could take the most beating. When met with an unavoidable attack, you have two choices ¡ª the positive choice was to hide or to defend, while the negative choice was to intercept the attack. With a different choice, you would face a different result. However, hiding and defending were the natural instincts of human beings. Without experience or training hard, it was impossible to alter this natural instinct in front of a life or death situation.


    Thinking it through, Zhang Tie slowly picked himself up. ¡°I have benefitted from those kicks. The Iron Body Fruit in the Castle of Black Iron should be ripe soon! Haha, I really can¡¯t wait for it. Come on! More kicks! You are working for me, but I will not pay you! I¡¯m not mistreating him like what a boss did to a child laborer. Haha¡­


    Different perspectives on an event may lead to completely different feelings, which would cause different attitudes and bring different results, forming different fates. At this moment, due to the existence of that small tree, Zhang Tie had a stronger mental fortitude than others, who would normally be afraid of those terrifying attacks. Though, at this moment, Zhang Tie had yet to realize this.


    Zhang Tie felt like he could derive pleasure from watching others work until they¡¯re tired. Like an immortal spring in the desert, this job made him energetic, rather than feeling pessimistic and frustrated.


    After Zhang Tie recovered his strength, Zhang Tie slowly picked himself up. Twisting his neck and body, Zhang Tie bent his index finger towards the kid and Mary.


    ¡°Come on, baby!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Several minutes later, Zhang Tie was knocked over once again. Then he stood up again in an optimistic and absent-minded manner¡­


    ¡°Come on, baby!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°Come on, baby!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Outside the ring, Mary became increasingly frightened whenever she saw Zhang Tie constantly being knocked over and picking himself up in an absent-minded manner. It seemed that Zhang Tie was addicted to being beaten and even grew increasingly aggressive after being beaten. Besides his increasing aggression, in Mary¡¯s eyes, Zhang Tie¡¯s face gradually became more and more ferocious and looked much more stubborn than before.


    ¡­¡­


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know how many times he had tried to pick himself up. He felt pain all over. Finally, he was no longer able to stand. He simply sat on the ground, panting for air.


    As his body was sweating all over, Zhang Tie¡¯s clothes fully stuck to his skin.His sweat had also entered his eyes, causing his eyes to become hot and blurry. Trying to wipe his sweat, Zhang Tie attempted to undo the damned head protector that almost broke his neck; however, he was unable to touch the thin string on the back of his head. At this moment, Zhang Tie even found it difficult to lift up his hand.


    A bottle of water rolled towards Zhang Tie¡¯s feet. Zhang Tie reluctantly glanced at that kid, who was also threw himself onto the ground, as his face turned slightly pale. His sweaty hair stuck onto his head. The kid was drinking a bottle of water like a fish as he looked at Zhang Tie in an indescribable manner that lacked any trace of arrogance. Behind the kid, Mary was giving him a restorative massage. She didn¡¯t even look at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie then also took the glass bottle of water. He opened the glass lid and intended to have a drink; however, he realized that he had not even undone the head protector. As there were only several rows of holes for breathing over his mouth and he was already too weak to undo the head protector, he covered the glass lid cooly.


    The two simply stared at each other as they gasped for air. After a while, that kid staggeringly picked himself up and recovered his arrogance. ¡°Remember my name. Beneta, Andrew Beneta. I swear that I¡¯ll beat you so ferociously that you won¡¯t be able to get up next time. I won¡¯t stop until you apologize to Mary¡­¡±


    The kid then left the room with Mary. Seeing Mary¡¯s back, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t help but flirt with her. ¡°Sister Mary, don¡¯t forget our appointment!¡±


    Mary¡¯s back quivered, seemingly as if she would fall down...


    ¡°Are my words that powerful?¡± Zhang Tie intended to scratch his head curiously but found his fingers touching the thick leather layer. ¡°F*ck! Who invented such a head protector...¡±


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Bow step ¡ª a martial skill by bending your knees to form a bow for the benefit of attacking the opponent.

 38 An Inevitable Life

    Chapter 38: An Inevitable Life


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    The impact of being beaten in the Iron Thorns Fighting Club on Wednesday slowly appeared on Thursday morning.


    Yesterday, Zhang Tie casually took a comfortable, hot-water bath in the staff-only bathroom before returning home. Thankfully, there were only a few bruises on his body and none on his face. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t need to worry about his bruises being discovered by his dad and mom.


    After supper, Zhang Tie chatted with his dad, mom, and sister-in-law for a while. After washing his feet and brushing his teeth, Zhang Tie stealthily took two sweet potatoes and a handful of soybeans to his bedroom.


    Zhang Tie then naturally began his land reclamation inside the Castle of Black Iron. Beside the sprouted niblets land and the potatoes land, Zhang Tie buried the two sweet potatoes inside the soil and sowed a row of soybeans like what he had previously done with the niblets.


    When those sweet potatoes sprouted, he would need to move the sprouts into separate pits like what he had done with the potatoes. This was something that was taught in school. As for the soybeans, similar to what he had done with the niblets, he simply poked holes with the steel bar and buried them into holes one by one.


    The aura value in the Castle of Black Iron kept increasing and had already broken through to 13. On Wednesday, besides those sprouting niblets, Zhang Tie had found that the casually spread grass seeds had also sprouted from the ground.


    Over a day was left before the first Leakless Fruit would become ripe. On the other twig of the small tree hung a tiny silver fruit. Touching the fruit, Zhang Tie found that the fruit still had a bit less than three-quarters of progress to go before it became ripe. It seemed that the fruit would almost be ripe after another four to five beatings.


    Leakless Fruit¡­ Iron Body Fruit¡­ Heh heh heh heh¡­


    Finishing his cultivation as usual, Zhang Tie muttered the names of the two fruits as he fell asleep...


    On Thursday morning, when Zhang Tie¡¯s biological clock passed 6:15, Zhang Tie woke up. The moment he wanted to get off the bed, his face turned pale. Dense drops of sweat appeared all over his forehead as excruciating pain could be felt all over his body. Every place where he was beaten was so painful and was almost broken, especially his two hands that were used to block kicks and punches yesterday. This phenomenon could be explained through two reasons. Firstly, this was a natural reaction from his body after suffering from external damage after a night¡¯s worth of rest. Secondly, it seemed that he truly exercised a lot yesterday; therefore, his muscles ached and felt swollen after one night¡¯s rest.


    He sucked in a deep breath and slowly put on his clothes. During this process, whenever he made a slight movement, he would feel an indescribable pain.


    Zhang Tie now understood that it was not that easy to be a training partner, and the Iron Body Fruit was also not that easily obtained.


    Today, it took Zhang Tie twice as long to get to school from his home. Throughout the day, he moved sluggishly.


    Arriving at the school gates, Zhang Tie saw the august, one-eyed man standing outside the school gate. With lowered heads, students walked past the school gate as far away from him as possible while he patted the iron stick on his other palm, producing a loud sound.


    ¡°Good boy, I heard you performed well yesterday. You didn¡¯t make me lose face!¡± Zhang Tie did not expect that Captain Kerlin would praise him before he greeted him.


    Looking bashful, Zhang Tie forced a smile. At this moment, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know whether he should thank or hate this one-eyed man.


    Arriving at the classroom, Zhang Tie realized that the horny students weren¡¯t discussing amongst themselves about why nobody cleaned their desks and chairs. Instead, a group of his horny classmates was hiding in a neighboring classroom this morning in hopes to see the ¡°idiot¡± who arrived early each morning to clean their desks and chairs. Unfortunately, they were unable to find anyone at all, thus they became boisterous.


    ¡°Motherf*cker, I have to secretly do good deeds from now on,¡± Zhang Tie thought to himself. Since his horny classmates were so curious, he was no longer able to use this method to earn merit value points.


    After acquiring the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t want to become the center of attention at school or the classroom, as it would be quite strange for a normal student to do good deeds so passionately for no apparent reason.


    Although it was difficult for people to associate what Zhang Tie did with the merit value points from the illusory land, Zhang Tie still thought it would be considered wise to be low-key.


    The morning classes proceeded as usual. Perhaps due to the fact that they would leave school forever in two weeks, the teachers taught fewer theories than before; instead, they lectured about their experiences. As a result, the students would sometimes be completely immersed within their teacher¡¯s life experiences and perceptions.


    Starting next month on June 1 and ending on August 31, according to the rules held by all schools in Blackhot City, every undergraduate would have to participate in a two-month mandatory survival training. This test was a great assessment of the knowledge and abilities that the students had learned at school. As the survival training was the best test, no other test would be arranged. Consequently, those unqualified to survive in this age would be eliminated. Every year, there would be casualties among the undergraduates of Blackhot City during the survival training. Last year, five students were eliminated; four of which were dead, while the other one became a cripple. In its history, more than twenty undergraduates from the Seventh National Middle School have been eliminated during the survival training. For the horny undergraduates, the two-month survival training was seen as a coming-of-age ceremony.


    It would be a coming-of-age ceremony at the cost of one¡¯s blood ¡ª and even one¡¯s life! This coming-of-age ceremony was without the protection of the high city walls of Blackhot City, implying that the horny students would encounter the most realistic situations in this age.


    After two months of survival training, their days as students would come to an end. Following the survival training came a three-month holiday before most of them would be enlisted in the army to serve for a long term. Over their three-month holiday, before receiving the official notice of serving the army, a few talented individuals would have the chance to obtain the recommendation from school and would have the opportunity to learn in a more advanced place. They would directly become the elites of the age and would be backed by many huge powers and organizations. By this point in time, the direction of many people¡¯s lives would have already been fixed. The period of serving in the army was equal to the time they spent in compulsory education. It was their right to accept compulsory education and their obligation to serve the army. Eight years later, when most people finished serving the army, they would realize that they are completely different than those who had a chance to accept better education.


    After the four classes in the morning, those horny undergraduates rushed into cafeteria again. Like usual, when the group of students lined up to get a dining plate, Glaze¡¯s group swaggered inside. Jumping the queue, they became the first in line after chasing away the timid and unlucky fellows at the front of the line.


    Look at the way Glaze¡¯s group acted over the past few days, Zhang Tie always asked himself, ¡°What would I do if that unlucky moment happened to me?¡± Within his heart, he knew the answer. Every time at lunch, he would choose a spot near the end of the line. He would try to avoid trouble; however, for a 15-year-old adolescent, this was a really hard choice.


    At lunch, Fatty Barley told Zhang Tie that he would help Zhang Tie complete another coming-of-age ceremony.


    ¡°From then on, all of us, the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, will no longer be virgins!¡± Hearing Barley¡¯s great declaration, the horny brotherhood members at the table smiled obscenely.


    In truth, although Zhang Tie was dreaming a day ago about his ¡°happy life¡± and the ¡°astounding love¡± between him and Miss Daina in the future, hearing Barley¡¯s declaration, Zhang Tie¡¯s heart started pounding. He gradually aspired to become a real man. After a series of images came to mind, his crotch area of his trousers finally raised up like a tent. Zhang Tie then had to admit that as a member of the horny students, he was not more sensible than the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. However, Zhang Tie still considered his affection for Miss Daina sacred!


    For the remainder of their lunch, the horny members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood started to laugh at Zhang Tie¡¯s raised tent. However, as Zhang Tie has gotten used to these guys, he didn¡¯t mind it. After lunch, those guys went to play cards in the classroom, while Zhang Tie entered the small woods beside the cafeteria and sat down to cultivate . According to the book, he had to visualize the three-column abacus in a split second in order to reach the requirements of the first level. Once he reached the first level, he would instantly be able to get the computation result of the four operations within three digits.


    It was still quite a distance away from reaching the requirements of the first level described by the book. Within 15 seconds, he was only able to visualize the three-column abacus, and it took him longer than 4 seconds to compute using the four operations. When he thought of the sentence on the cover of that book ¡ª After-Class Readings for Preliminary Students ¡ª Zhang Tie felt ashamed. This seemed like an ability that was mastered by preliminary students, yet he was not able to reach the first level even after so many days of practice ¡ª so ashamed!!


    At that moment, it seemed that someone wanted to make him even more ashamed. Standing in front of Zhang Tie was one of Glaze¡¯s followers. While Zhang Tie was curious about his sudden appearance, the slightly gloomy guy threw a pile of dirty dining plates onto the patch of grass where Zhang Tie sat.


    ¡°Clean them and hand them over the cafeteria!¡± The guy threw the dining plates and left without even glancing at Zhang Tie It seemed as if he had never considered that the common looking student sitting against the tree would refuse his orders.


    Gazing at the four messy plates, Zhang Tie scratched his head and felt dejected. There were always some hard choices that you had to make in life¡­

 39 A Bloody Case Arisen from Several Plates

    Chapter 39: A Bloody Case Arisen from Several Plates


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    During the training class in the afternoon, the sun shone fiercely. The instant the bell rang, the horny students instantly assembled into a matrix formation and waited for the orders of the coach, who would usually wave a flag as he stood on the commanding platform. However, nobody appeared on the commanding platform until two minutes later. During this period, every one of the horny students held their breaths. Then instead of the coach they were familiar with, the awesome one-eyed man appeared. The icy, cold Qi field around him frightened everyone beneath the commanding platform. Not knowing what was about to happen, they realized after seeing the black leather whip in his hand and began shivering.


    As a semi-militarized school, extremely strict punishments would be meted out to students who didn¡¯t follow the rules. Among all punishments, the least offense punishment was running dozens of laps around the playground, while in some cases they would be whipped. However, in the worst case scenario, they would be handed over to the court of Blackhot City for judgment .


    Glancing at the whip in Captain Kerlin¡¯s hand, everybody knew that someone would be ferociously whipped this time. Over the past years at school, every time the one-eyed man held a whip, some presumptuous fellow would suffer a cool public whipping.


    Standing in a matrix formation under the commanding platform, Zhang Tie saw the icy expression on the one-eyed man and knew what was about to happen.


    ¡°Do you regret it?¡± Zhang Tie asked himself.


    ¡°F*ck!¡± he answered himself.


    ¡°Glaze, Sharon, Garner, and Zuhair, come out of the matrix!¡± Captain Kerlin shouted, causing the crowd to become bustling and shocked. Glaze? Glaze? Glaze¡¯s group?


    ¡°This is going to be a good show!¡± Standing next to Zhang Tie, Fatty Barley became thrilled. He touched Zhang Tie slightly with one foot.


    ¡°Yea, we¡¯re going to see some fun! Then some fun will fall upon me!¡± Zhang Tie thought to himself¡­


    Under everyone¡¯s watch, the group of four, headed by Glaze, moved out from the formation as their faces turned pale. The first to walk out was Sharon, the one who had thrown the plates in front of Zhang Tie. At the same time, Sharon seemed to have realized something and turned back, seemingly as if he was looking for something in the matrix formation which Zhang Tie stood. His eyes were filled with a dangerous look.


    Zhang Tie simply looked at Sharon coldly. Even now, he did not regret what he had done earlier. For others, this decision might be difficult and painful; however, for Zhang Tie, it was an easy choice. Before he made the choice, he only asked himself one question ¡ª which choice would make my parents feel proud?


    In response to Captain Kerlin¡¯s call, the group of four came out from the matrix formation. The moment they stood on the platform, several law enforcement members instantly removed their leather training armor, revealing their naked upper bodies, thereby confirming everyone¡¯s previous assumption that Captain Kerlin was here to whip them.


    ¡°Captain Kerlin, I believe I have the right to know the reason!¡± Glaze growled as the veins on his forehead became pronounced when his arms were held back by the two law enforcement members.


    ¡°According to Article 27, each student should clean their dining plates and hand them over to the cafeteria after lunch. Violators of this rule will suffer 2 lashings. According to Article 6, each student should not purposely damage public properties. Violators of this rule will suffer 4 lashings. Glaze, Sharon, Garner, and Zuhair didn¡¯t hand over their dining plates to the cafeteria. They simply threw them into the small woods casually; therefore, they have violated the above two school rules, prompting my decision to give each of them 6 lashings! Am I clear?¡± The one-eyed man coldly stared at the group of four headed by Glaze. As a result, the group of four was shocked like being struck by lightning.


    Standing in the matrix formation, Zhang Tie carefully observed their expressions. After Captain Kerlin finished whipping the Glaze¡¯s group, Zhang Tie realized that the three from the group of four did not stare at Sharon, but rather they glanced from time to time at the matrix formation in which Zhang Tie stood. At this moment, Zhang Tie became aware that what had happened at noon was not a coincidence; instead, it was deliberately planned by this group in an attempt to embarrass him. As they were always unruly at school and would usually find some timid fellows to wash their plates before handing them back to the cafeteria after lunch, Sharon had never expected that he would be refused this time. This explains the current situation.


    Once Zhang Tie came to realize this, he became depressed, as he has always tried to be low-key at school. Without knowing it, he had offended this group.


    Seeing the leather whip in Captain Kerlin¡¯s hand, the group of four turned pale. Seemingly as if he had something to add, Sharon said, ¡°Captain Kerlin, I have something to say¡­¡±


    Gazing at Sharon, who was swallowing his saliva, Captain Kerlin coldly muttered, ¡°Go ahead!¡±


    ¡°After lunch, I gave our dining plates to someone else...¡±


    ¡°Where?¡±


    ¡°In the small woods next to the cafeteria!¡±


    ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I placed them in front of the man!¡±


    ¡°In front of him? On the ground or in his hands?¡±


    ¡°On¡­ On the ground!¡±


    ¡°Why would you place them on the ground in front of him?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I¡­ I let him wash our plates before sending them back.¡± Probably due to his lack of confidence in front of Captain Kerlin, despite his usual defiant attitude, he lowered his voice.


    ¡°What did that man say?¡±


    ¡°Nothing¡­ he didn¡¯t say anything!¡± Sharon knew that Zhang Tie was in the nearby matrix and could show up at any moment to refute his lies in public; therefore, he dared not to tell any lies.


    ¡°What happened then?¡±


    ¡°Then¡­¡± Sharon gazed at Captain Kerlin dejectedly. ¡°Then I left¡­¡±


    ¡°I know what you¡¯re trying to say. You¡¯re trying to say that since you threw several plates in front of him and he ignored your orders to wash the plates, he should be the one to be whipped in your place? Do you feel wronged? In your eyes, since that man refused your orders, do you feel insulted? Do you feel like he should take responsibility for what happened? If you threw your plates in front of me, does that mean I would be the man who should be whipped?¡± The one-eyed man¡¯s face was emotionless; however, his words made the look on Glaze¡¯s group worsen. They didn¡¯t speak again.


    ¡°What a good excuse! Unfortunately, you are not powerful enough to write your bastard logic into the laws and rules of Blackhot City!¡± With a cold smile on his face, he added, ¡°Therefore, you deserve the six lashings!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Afterward, all the horny students in the matrix formations began to appreciate the art of punishment by the most terrifying one-eyed man in Blackhot City. In the eyes of the students, his lashings were always the cruelest and most horrible punishment available in the Seventh National Middle School in Blackhot City. He wouldn¡¯t use too much strength until his final lashing; although it would hurt greatly, it would not wound the veins, bones, or innards. Today, all the other horny students heard 24 screams and, like eating a popsicle, felt refreshed about what had happened. Then the group of four led by Glaze was carried away from the playground by the law enforcement members of the school under the glare of the public. Unfortunately, they had passed out.


    ¡°That was motherf*cking cool!¡± After being oppressed by the group of four led by Glaze for so long, this was what all the horny undergraduates thought.


    Although Zhang Tie still felt pain all over, after the morning break, he gritted his teeth as he finished the afternoon training.


    This afternoon, there were no battle cries heard from the training ground. Compared to before, all the horny students were more lively. During the breaks, they were discussing about who was the hero. Ever since Glaze had been promoted to LV 2, he had always been unruly at school, causing nobody to dare act against him. Unexpectedly, he has encountered such an event.


    With the exception of Zhang Tie and Barley, every member of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood also became excited. Zhang Tie was thinking about how Glaze¡¯s group would take revenge for the 24 lashings they had to suffer. Those bastards would definitely take revenge more ferociously.


    ¡°It looks like I won¡¯t have to worry about not having enough Iron Body Fruits later!¡± Zhang Tie mocked himself as he thought about it helplessly.


    Fatty Barley was also not that excited; he had turned gloomy ever since he heard Sharon¡¯s words.


    Every member of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood knew that Zhang Tie would stay in the small woods after lunch. As Barley was good at observing others¡¯ expression, he might have already noticed something from his expression, thus Zhang Tie felt that Barley might already know that he was the supposed ¡°hero¡±¡­


    ¡­¡­


    After school, Zhang Tie asked the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood to wait for him in the classroom for a while. He then decided to calmly declare his decision...


    ¡°What¡­ Bighead, you want to leave our Hit-Plane Brotherhood?¡± Doug gazed at Zhang Tie in surprise. ¡°Why? What¡¯s happening? We will help you be a real man next week!¡±


    Same as Doug, Hista and Sharwin were also shocked. Bagdad was filled with anger as he clenched his fists.


    ¡°I might have been accustomed to be alone, so please respect my decision¡­¡± Forcing a smile, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t say anything as he walked out the classroom, leaving behind the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood in the classroom, who were blankly staring at each other.


    ¡°This bastard, I should have punched him one more time!¡± Bagdad fiercely punched a wall in the classroom, resulting in a few pieces of limestone falling down...


    ¡°Even though we treated him as our good brother¡­ Pah...¡± Doug spat towards the door. ¡°It seems he didn¡¯t want to be our brother at all!¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Sharwin looked at them.


    ¡°How could he be so foolish to leave our brotherhood before enjoying the coming-of-age ceremony?¡± Hista couldn¡¯t understand.


    Leit rolled his eyes and stared at Barley, who was silent and had lowered his head, as he said nothing. Seeing Barley¡¯s actions, they all became silent as well. Then, Barley raised his head and glanced at them.


    ¡°I have already realized it back in the playground. What Bighead did has truly verified my judgment of him. You¡¯re all mistaken about him. He was leaving our brotherhood because he doesn¡¯t want to stir up trouble for us!¡±


    ¡°Trouble, you mean¡­¡± Sharwin seemed to have realized it.


    ¡°Bighead was that hero. He was the man who refused to wash dining plates for the Glaze¡¯s group and made them so miserable today!¡± Barley explained all of a sudden, shocking everyone else. ¡°Glaze¡¯s group will definitely take revenge on him. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t want us to get involved, that¡¯s why he chose to leave!¡±


    Barley glanced at each one of them. ¡°Glaze¡¯s group will probably take revenge on BigHead ¡ª and it will definitely be fierce! As Bighead is one of our Brotherhood, we have to suffer the revenge together with him. As this concerns our personal interests and safety, nobody could make decisions for others; therefore, I want to hear your opinions. If we treasure Bighead as our brother, we should face revenge together with him. If not, we are all safe and can just pretend that nothing has happened. We will raise our hands to make the final decision in five minutes!¡±


    At this point in time, every member of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood became silent


    ¡­¡­


    Five minutes later, Barley glanced at them solemnly. ¡°Those who agree to face the revenge together with Bighead, raise your hands!¡±


    The others looked at each other and nobody spoke.


    ¡°Well, since you¡¯re all silent, I will be the first to decide. Although Bighead broke my nose before and got me the nickname ¡®mucus mucilage¡¯, I feel that he is righteous, that¡¯s why...¡± Doug scrunched his nose. ¡°I want to help him¡­¡±


    Doug raised up his hand¡­


    ¡°Is Glaze, a LV 2 fighter, that great? I will surpass him sooner or later!¡± Bagdad cooly raised his hand as well...


    ¡°If we abandoned our brother just because of such a small problem, wouldn¡¯t that mean we would disband our brotherhood in front of bigger difficulties?¡± Hista spoke as he raised his hand.


    ¡°I feel like this guy always does the unexpected. I also feel like he is someone who wouldn¡¯t escape in front of a Red-scarf Burglar and would never push us into trouble, much like what he did today. He might have a solution. That¡¯s why I¡¯m relieved to have a brother like him!¡± saying this, Leit shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands.


    ¡°Since all of you have decided to stand on Zhang Tie¡¯s side, there¡¯s no way I can back down now. And don¡¯t all of you feel cool today?¡± Sharwin smiled coyly and raised up his hand as well.


    Just as everyone cast their eyes on the solemn looking Barley, he finally showed a brilliant smile and raised his hand. ¡°If our brotherhood wants to get a foothold in Blackhot City, then Glaze¡¯s group will be our first milestone. If we don¡¯t face troubles together, how could we be called brothers? If we don¡¯t experience these trials together, how could we be called brothers?? Speaking of this, I really have to thank Bighead. I¡¯ve been wanting an opportunity to test our loyalty to the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, and unexpectedly, here is the opportunity!¡±


    The members stared at each other as their eyes gradually glittered. Through this difficult and unanimous choice, they all felt much closer to each other. Filled with bravery and confidence, each one of them felt warm all over their bodies...


    ¡°What is the slogan of our brotherhood?¡± seeing everybody growing more and more ambitious, Barley shouted.


    ¡°Hit the plane!¡± Doug exclaimed. At the same time, everybody turned and glared at him. Doug instantly felt that this joke was not appropriate and shrunk himself.


    ¡°One more time, our slogan is!¡± Barley shouted again.


    ¡°Anyone who gives our brothers trouble will be in trouble!¡± the horny students growled in unison...

 40 Plot and Rat Poison

    Chapter 40: Plot and Rat Poison


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know what had happened in the classroom after he left, as he had already walked out of the gate of the Seventh National Middle School by then.


    Life was sometimes unfortunate like this:. While you¡¯re sitting under a tree in a daze, someone suddenly throws some messy plates in front of you. As a result, you have to make a choice ¡ª being an unpaid dishwasher or being beaten to death.


    F*ck! The one-eyed man¡¯s words were correct: ¡°When faced with someone, if you refuse their request, then they would feel like you insulted them.¡± Even now, I will insult you. Let¡¯s see whether you dare to bite me or not!


    The moment he went out of the school gate, Zhang Tie coincidentally encountered the one-eyed man. Naturally, as it seemed like the two had to walk on the same road for a while, he couldn¡¯t just pretend to not have seen him and pass him.


    ¡°Captain Kerlin, are you going to the fighting club?¡± Zhang Tie took the initiative and greeted him, as it was not a secret that Captain Kerlin was a part-time coach in the Iron Thorns Fighting Club.


    Captain Kerlin knew that Zhang Tie performed well yesterday in the Fighting Club, thus he felt that Zhang Tie was manly enough as his impression of him has begun to improve. He felt like he had made the right decision. ¡°Yea, I¡¯m heading to the fighting club. I heard that you have another part-time job at the grocery store?¡±


    Captain Kerlin didn¡¯t have an inkling that Zhang Tie was that ¡°hero¡± nor was he interested. For Captain Kerlin, he believed that everyone should take care of themselves. Even now when the ¡°hero¡± dared to stir up trouble with Glaze¡¯s group, he should be brave and face it. Besides, there were so many students at school and Captain Kerlin was not their babysitter.


    Zhang Tie knew the temperament of the one-eyed man; therefore, he didn¡¯t mention what had happened at noon. Instead, he talked about something else with Captain Kerlin.


    ¡°Yea, it was introduced to me by my family. I¡¯ve already worked there for a long time!¡±


    ¡°How do you feel about working over there?¡±


    ¡°The boss is kind, and I can learn a lot¡­¡±


    They kept talking and walking in this manner¡­


    When they were far away, Glaze¡¯s group appeared from behind a tree close to the school gate dejectedly. Seeing the backs of Zhang Tie and Captain Kerlin, they gritted their teeth.


    ¡°What the f*ck! That guy is walking really close with the one-eyed man. It seems that they are very close!¡± Sharon said dejectedly. Zhang Tie grabbed Glaze¡¯s opportunity to perform in front of Miss Daina, so Glaze wanted to take revenge on him. This explains what had happened at noon. In Glaze¡¯s mind, he should be the only star in Seventh National Middle School. This was the most critical stage that determined his future, and nobody else should be able to match him. Naturally, he thought it would be easy to bully someone weaker than him. They never thought that Zhang Tie would refuse, resulting in them suffering the darkest afternoon of their lives.


    Hearing what Sharon said, everybody frowned. At the same time, from the fresh whip wounds on their backs came a sharp pain that was similar to rubbing salt in a wound, reminding them of the insults they had suffered.


    ¡°If we deal with this guy, Captain Kerlin would definitely help him. He probably refused to listen to our orders at noon because he found someone to rely on ¡ª Captain Kerlin. We¡¯ll have to plan it well before setting him up!¡± Garner complained loudly.


    ¡°Once he leaves school, Captain Kerlin would not find any evidence. We would have more than enough time to deal with him, humph¡­ humph¡­¡± Zuhair sneered.


    ¡°What¡¯s your plan?¡± Sharon asked Zuhair.


    Zuhair looked around. The others instantly felt that the plan must be terrifying. Thus, they moved back behind the tree and listened to Zuhair¡¯s plan.


    ¡°If we do this, the result would be hard to control!¡± Zuhair looked at Glaze and waited for his final decision.


    ¡°Won¡¯t¡­ this be¡­ somewhat excessive? I just want to fiercely beat him. After all, we are¡­ classmates¡­ and this plan might kill him!¡± Garner, who was obviously startled by Zuhair¡¯s scheme, staggered.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Garner, you wanna back out?¡± Sharon stared at him coldly. ¡°Have the wounds on your back recovered so soon?


    ¡°Garner, you are still na?ve. ¡®Classmate¡¯ is worth nothing in this age!¡± Zuhair sneered.


    ¡°I¡­ I¡­ I mean¡­¡± Before Garner finished explaining, his neck had already been tightly gripped by one of Glaze¡¯s hand. The huge physical difference between Glaze, a LV 2 fighter, and a common student was obvious. Garner¡¯s feet were already in the air as his face gradually turned red, slowly showing a miserable expression.


    ¡°What¡¯s there to explain?¡± Glaze sneered. Garner found it increasingly difficult to breathe as he struggled while desperately waving his hands. Glaze then loosened his hand, resulting in Garner kneeling on the ground as he coughed heavily.


    ¡°So we¡¯ve made the final decision. He will have few days to show off. During the surviving training, I will give him a lesson he¡¯ll never forget¡­¡± Glaze showed a terrifying and cruel expression. The three people by him showed obscene smiles, either sincerely or reluctantly.


    So what if the result was uncontrollable? Worst case scenario, a death of a black-haired kid that nobody would care about. Deaths happened every day in Blackhot City.


    Zhang Tie usually called them horny students at school because he felt that everybody his age in the Seventh National Middle School were like rutting calves; however, he never thought that there were true emotionless horny students like them.


    ¡­¡­


    When Zhang Tie entered the grocery store, he found Donder busily greeting three guests at the same time. At the sight of Zhang Tie, Donder obviously heaved a sigh of relief¡­


    ¡°Show them our ¡®powerful rat poison¡¯¡­¡± Donder said to Zhang Tie...


    Several minutes later, the three guests left. Donder then counted the gold coins with a big smile.


    Zhang Tie realized that the number of magistrates and soldiers on patrol neighboring the railway station has increased since the message concerning the Red-Scarf Burglars spread. Despite the news being spread, Donder¡¯s grocery store has had more guests than before ¡ª at least 20 percent more than before. Various goods, even goods used to do bad deeds, sold well. Among the bestsellers, the ¡®powerful rat poison¡¯ had the highest sales volume. It was said that the ¡®powerful rat poison¡¯ was a raw material of the most terrifying weapon. Before the Catastrophe, anybody who was close to it would endanger their lives, even if it was just within the same room. His teachers said that it was called ¡°radioactive substance¡± before the Catastrophe. It was the Catastrophe and the mysterious particle carried by the Star of God that let the ¡°radioactive substances¡¯ lose their radioactive energy and made its basic properties change. As a result, they could no longer be used to produce the most terrifying weapons; however, its toxic property was preserved. Prior to the Catastrophe, it required people to adopt extremely sophisticated means to extract the substance, but after the Catastrophe, many people found the substance among the ores underground due to large geographic movements. The natural, virulent mineral ore was called ¡°Monster¡¯s Store¡± and was extremely toxic after being ground into powder. In the history of the Blackson Human Clan Corridor, this ¡°rat poison¡± was used by evil organizations to instigate malicious events that led to almost ten thousand wounded or deaths. Therefore, among the official regulations in the Blackhot City, this substance was specially regulated. In fact, for professional adventurers and pioneers who were striving to explore the land and find new places for humans to live, this substance was sharp weapon against low-level magical beasts and monsters. By putting just a bit of ¡°rat poison¡± on their simple bait, it was possible to send several magical beasts to their deaths. After being simply extracted, the poison could be smeared onto weapons, making them more powerful. That was why the substance could never be completely forbidden. Although it was forbidden to sell in ordinary stores, the government of Blackhot City just kept one eye closed on it, as they could not completely forbid it.


    People named it as ¡°rat poison¡± so that it could be properly advertised in public. Naturally, it could be found in a grocery neighboring the railway station where passengers from all walks of life passed. Donder sold both the real ¡°rat poison¡± and the so-called ¡°rat poison¡± that could not only kill those rats at home but also kill those large, terrifying mutated rats outside the gates of the city. This substance was colorless and tasteless. Without using special means or reaching at least LV 10, a level where one would develop very sharp senses and would be able to use spiritual observation, no man or magical beast would be able to notice it. That¡¯s how terrifying this powerful ¡°rat poison¡± was.


    Ever since the curfew in Blackhot City had been imposed in hopes to protect its residents from the Red-Scarf Burglars, the sales as well as the price of the ¡°powerful rat poison¡± in Donder¡¯s grocery store had increased from selling 5 to 6 vials per month at 75 silver per vial to more than 3 or 5 vials per day at 1 gold per vial. Most of the buyers were commoners. Thinking of what had happened at school today and the potential revenge, Zhang Tie became dejected¡­

 41 The Vicious Rule of Human Nature

    Chapter 41: The Vicious Rule of Human Nature


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    ¡°Boy, what¡¯s wrong with you? Why do you look so bad?¡± Donder didn¡¯t lay in the lounge; instead, he moved forward and asked Zhang Tie after seeing off two batches of guests as Zhang Tie closed his account book.


    ¡°F*ck! Is every fatty good at observing others?¡± Zhang Tie felt strange when he associated the Fatty Barley to the boss of the grocery store in front of him.


    Forcing a smile, Zhang Tie poured out what had happened at school. Soon after, he finished and felt much better.


    ¡°Heh¡­ heh¡­¡± Donder smiled obscenely and raised his thumb towards Zhang Tie. ¡°It¡¯s really unimaginable that you are so tough! Do you regret it?¡±


    ¡°Motherf*cker, those bastards... I would wash plates for my friends, for the roadside beggars, but I would never do it for those bastards! Let¡¯s see if they dare to bite off my d*ck if I don¡¯t do it!¡± Being familiar with Donder, Zhang Tie felt natural to lose his temper in front of him. ¡°Have you ever met motherf*ckers like them before?¡± Zhang Tie then asked the fatty for his suggestions and countermeasures. As Zhang Tie has already worked for him for a long time, he saw the fatty as a teacher who had taught him a lot. At the very least, Donder was much more experienced than he was.


    ¡°For cases like these, everybody has the chance to encounter people like them since there are so many defiant bastards in this world. You could just be sitting there peacefully and someone else might be aggressive towards you out of the blue. They don¡¯t feel comfortable until they have fiercely kicked your face. Encountering bastards like this, you should beat them fiercely. Do you know what mistake you made this afternoon?¡± Donder asked Zhang Tie.


    ¡°What mistake?¡±


    ¡°Since you have decided to be their opponent, you should use every possible means to deal with them. Young man, you are pretending to be tough, but inside, you are soft-hearted and hesitant!¡±


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes widened. He had set them up so ferociously, yet Donder still called him soft-hearted and hesitant.


    ¡°Since you¡¯ve become their opponent, you have to slap them ten times instead of once!¡± Donder criticized Zhang Tie relentlessly. ¡°You think those bastards would thank you for only slapping them once? If I was in your position, I would quietly throw their plates into the toilet and set them up ¡ª and I would never admit to doing so! However, you simply left their plates and did nothing. You tell me, how would that one-eyed man respond if he found those plates in the toilet? What punishment would the school give them? No matter what, they were the one who threw the plates, not you. So what are you afraid of?¡±


    Zhang Tie was stunned. He muttered to himself, ¡°It seems that if I were to do what he suggested, Glaze¡¯s group would be accused of ¡®purposely stealing public property¡¯ and ¡®damaging the reputation of the school¡¯ to some degree. Even though there was no rule about ¡°do not disgust others¡±, nobody knew how hard the one-eyed man would whip them and how many days they would have to stay on the bed. Am I actually soft-hearted?¡±


    ¡°And here is another mistake!¡± Donder added.


    ¡°Another one?¡± Zhang Tie stared at Donder innocently.


    ¡°Since those guys have been lashed to death, their overall strength should be greatly reduced. At this moment, you should call your buddies or directly instigate people who are usually dissatisfied with Glaze¡¯s group and directly cripple them. You have to make them fear you and lose the ability to take revenge on you. Even if you crippled one of them, this disturbance would involve a large amount of people and you have yet to graduate. They were also the first to be in the wrong and had bullied so many students. That¡¯s why you would not assume all the responsibilities by yourself ¡ª many other people would defend you!¡±


    Zhang Tie became speechless. In front of Donder, he felt as if he was as innocent as a tiny white rabbit. The boss was so confident that one of his fingers almost poked Zhang Tie¡¯s forehead. From his excitement, Donder¡¯s saliva even flew onto Zhang Tie¡¯s face. ¡°You should know that your third mistake is unforgivable. You shouldn¡¯t have left that Hit-Plane Brotherhood without explaining your reasoning. You idiot! Why not use your buddies? Is it that fun to cut off your protection when facing danger? Even a pig is a hundred times smarter than you. The correct solution is to tell your buddies about the conflict between you and those bastards and let them help you beat those bastards to death after school. If they don¡¯t dare to do it, it would be their fault and they would feel sorry for you in the future. However, you left without any explanation. That¡¯s why you¡¯re the one in the wrong. If they don¡¯t know the reason, they might even despise you and might even turn into your enemy¡­¡± Donder was so excited that he directly poked Zhang Tie¡¯s forehead with his finger. ¡°Whether your head had been kicked bad by a donkey or being squeezed by the door?¡±


    Hearing Donder¡¯s analysis, Zhang Tie felt like he lost face, so much so that he wanted to bury his head in his knees. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that what he had done was great and manly; however, hearing Donder¡¯s analysis, he felt that he was truly an idiot. According to Donder¡¯s suggestions, he should have united with the other horny undergraduate students who were dissatisfied with Glaze¡¯s group, surrounding those bastards with sticks and bars in hand and beating them until they beg for forgiveness. In this way, he would even be able to cripple them directly. If they were lucky, the Hit-Plane Brotherhood could recruit new members and develop quickly. ¡°Why didn¡¯t I realize this?¡± Zhang Tie felt very regretful.


    Cleaning the saliva on his face, Zhang Tie stared at Donder, who had cast a contemptuous look at him. Zhang Tie became blank and scratched his head. ¡°What should I do now?¡±


    ¡°What should you do? You have already missed the best opportunity. When you arrive at school tomorrow, explain why you took the initiative and left the Hit-Plane Brotherhood to the members. At the very least, you should beg for forgiveness and eliminate them as a potential risk. Then it depends on your luck. Keep one rule in mind: never think that your opponent and enemy are as kind as you, and never think that they would follow those motherf*cking ethical rules like you. In this world, human beings are the most terrifying existence, and the number of people killed by humans is much more than the number killed by alien clans. You should take care of yourself. It doesn¡¯t matter if you can¡¯t beat Glaze. You should not throw an egg against a rock. If you have more friends than him, unite your friends to beat him. If you had a high social status, use your power to control him. If you are richer than him, use your money to buy him. If you are smarter than him, set him up. If you are patient enough, wait for an opportunity to attack him. If you are shameless enough, deceive him using shameless means. For instance, kneel down in front of him and wait for their punishment. Afterward, you can join your opponents, gaining their trust and favor. At the critical moment, set them up so that they no longer have any opportunities to take revenge. You should know in which aspect you are better than him. You should use your advantage to play him to death. If you cannot match him in every aspect, just stay far away from him. This is the rule in this world. Am I clear?¡± Donder rarely had an opportunity to teach anyone; therefore, he seized this opportunity to shoot all his knowledge onto Zhang Tie¡¯s face like arrows shot from the steam-powered crossbows installed on the city walls of Blackhot City.


    As if meeting this vicious boss for the first time, Zhang Tie stared at Donder¡¯s expression for a long while, almost causing the fatty to be irritated. Intensely nodding, he said in a shameful way, ¡°I understand a bit!¡±


    ¡°Think over it carefully. On the Oriental Continent, what I said was the essence of the Vicious Rule of Human Nature ¡ª a mysterious knowledge among the Chinese clan that is used to deal with bastards and thugs!¡± Donder sharply winked, causing the persuasiveness of his words to weaken.


    The Vicious Rule of Human Nature? It only seemed like being shameless and vicious. Does this count as mysterious knowledge? Although Zhang Tie severely doubted Donder¡¯s words, he felt Donder¡¯s words were also reasonable. ¡°Well, I won¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ll just go with the flow. In the worst case scenario, I would just be beaten a few times.¡± Thinking of the first Leakless Fruit that would be ripe tonight, Zhang Tie¡¯s heart started to pound.

 42 Collision

    Chapter 42: Collision


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    ¡°Then I will not invite you for dinner¡­¡± By the time Donder had said this, Zhang Tie had already rushed out the grocery store long ago like a soaring arrow.


    ¡°Be careful on your way!¡± Seeing Zhang Tie running off so hurriedly, Donder shook his head. As Donder had already realized that Zhang Tie was absent-minded today, he let him go back earlier than usual. However, it really surprised him that the boy had already rushed out of the door the instant he said ¡°dinner¡±.


    ¡­¡­


    Zhang Tie was very excited at this moment. He couldn¡¯t wait to get back home and see what the ¡°Leakless Fruit¡± looked like. He even forgot the soreness and pain from his body.


    There was only one thought in Zhang Tie¡¯s mind ¡ª returning home!


    ¡­¡­


    As a result of the recently added midnight curfew in Blackhot City, just before midnight, the railway station would be bustling as more and more people gathered at the flea market and surrounding shops.


    In order to get back home as soon as possible, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t select the usual route; instead, he used a shortcut and ran into the populated alleys and streets near the railway station. Although these kinds of places had people of all walks of life and lacked security, Zhang Tie had always passed through this area for several years and found nothing strange about it in the least. However, there was always an exception. At a corner between an alley and a street, due to the darkness, Zhang Tie ran into another man who was exiting the alley. Neither of the two had expected that they would crash into someone else at this intersection.


    That man¡¯s body only shook a bit, while Zhang Tie bounced back and fell onto the ground. All of a sudden, Zhang Tie became dazed and made a furious harrumph.


    ¡°Boy, you wanna die!?¡±


    Zhang Tie widened his eyes and saw a tall, masculine man around the age of 40 standing in front of him. Like the average pioneer, the guy ferociously stepping towards Zhang Tie had a long, vicious face and brown hair.


    Zhang Tie had not yet recovered. From this fierce crash alone, he felt like his bones were almost broken and struggled greatly to get himself off the ground. Never would he have imagined that the man in front of him would be so vicious. After having seen Zhang Tie fall onto the ground, the man had actually wanted to step on him. Seeing the man¡¯s large feet and muscles, Zhang Tie realized that he would be severely wounded if not killed under his feet.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Huck?¡± From the alley behind the manly fellow came a thin shadow wearing a pioneer uniform. Seeing what Huck was about to do, the man instantly stopped him as he slightly raised his chin towards a certain direction. Following the direction of his chin, Huck saw a team of patrolling soldiers in a street far away. Seeing the patrolling soldiers, Huck stopped.


    ¡°Young man, are you ok?¡± The thin yet tall man moved from behind Huck and squatted in front of Zhang Tie with a smile. Looking into the man¡¯s slim eyes with yellowish pupils, Zhang Tie felt like he was being stared at by a cobra. At that instant, Zhang Tie felt the hair on his body standing on its end. The instant that man drew close to him like a snake, Zhang Tie smelt a fishy scent, which made him feel like vomiting.


    Thinking of how Huck had raised his foot, Zhang Tie hurriedly picked himself up. No matter what, it was too dangerous for him to remain lying on the ground.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m fine. I was running just now. Sorry about that¡­¡±


    ¡°Hoho, you¡¯re so careless. Are you hurt? Come on, let me give you a hand!¡±


    ¡°No need¡­ thanks¡­¡± Seeing the man stretching out his hand toward him, Zhang Tie hurriedly sat up.


    ¡°Come on, I mean it. To tell you the truth, we didn¡¯t notice you either¡­¡± The thin guy smiled, instantly grabbing Zhang Tie¡¯s hands as he intended to pull him up. Feeling the tight grip on his wrists, Zhang Tie did not have the time to say anything before he felt as if his hands were licked by a snake. Following that, he felt as if the man had searched every part of his body; from the palms, wrists, and elbows to his shoulders, armpits, waist, chest, and belly. Finally, he even searched Zhang Tie¡¯s crotch, shanks, and ankles as he pretended to pat off dirt for him. All this happened before Zhang Tie had a chance to realize what was happening. The thin man then shook his head towards Huck.


    ¡°Since it¡¯s evening, take care on your way back!¡± The thin man forced a weird smile at Zhang Tie as he left with the ferociously staring Huck. Soon after, they disappeared in the populated street.


    In just a few seconds, Zhang Tie realized that his back had already been drenched with sweat. When the night wind blew, he shivered. Instinctively, Zhang Tie realized that he seemed to have just escaped a huge crisis.


    Zhang Tie quickly left. ¡°God bless me. I don¡¯t want to ever meet those two terrifying guys again!¡± Zhang Tie muttered to himself as he moved forward. Several steps later, he felt something beneath his foot. With widened eyes, he bent down and picked up the item. Under the moonlight, Zhang Tie saw a palm-sized cloth bag that contained something within. It felt neither like a rare metal nor money. Being surprised, Zhang Tie took the object out of the bag, revealing a dark red triangular wooden plate that had cracks at its center. There was nothing on the wooden plate ¡ª no patterns or characters. It seemed to have been made of common red pine, which was not very expensive. The moment Zhang Tie intended to throw it away, he noticed that the wooden plate was very smooth as if the plate was regularly used and handled by people. Zhang Tie then became curious as to why a useless plate would be held so solemnly inside this bag. Realizing that Huck had dropped the bag, Zhang Tie smirked as he placed it back within cloth bag before foisting the bag into his pocket. He then rushed home.


    Half an hour after Zhang Tie left, the two men returned. Unlike before, their faces had turned pale with an indescribable fear. With oil lamps in hand, they lowered their bodies onto the ground and searched almost every corner on this patch of land. Unfortunately, they had failed to find what they were looking for.


    ¡°What should we do?¡± At this moment, Huck did not look vicious; the only thing that could be seen on his face was an uncertainty that would be seen during the end of the world ¡°Snade, why not go directly to them?¡±


    ¡°Are you crazy?¡± The snake-like man called Snade stared at Huck. ¡°You know the rules of our organization! You know what they would do if they don¡¯t see the token! Without the token, we would be killed the instant we told them who we are!¡±


    ¡°What should we do If we can¡¯t finish this task?¡±


    Remembering what their leaders had done to the followers who made mistakes, Huck and Snade turned utterly pale.


    ¡°It must have been that kid. It¡¯s really unbelievable that we lost the token. You had checked it when we left the railway station. Additionally, we did not come into contact with anyone else. The token must have been stolen by that kid!¡± Snade concluded ferociously.


    ¡°But you had checked him just now and found nothing at all!¡±


    ¡°That kid is definitely experienced. He must have thrown it away when he got our token. It was too dark just now and we didn¡¯t pay attention to our feet. After we left, that kid probably picked it up and ran away!¡± Besides mistaking Zhang Tie as an experienced thief who lurked near the railway station, his judgment was completely correct. ¡°Now, we can only hope that he didn¡¯t throw it away. Otherwise¡­¡±


    ¡°Otherwise, I will definitely kill all his family members and chop him into meat paste!¡± Huck¡¯s fat face trembled. ¡°What should we do now? Should we go look for him?¡±


    ¡°No, we should go get another thief and let him lead us to that kid. If that kid frequents the area near the railway station, other people must know him!¡±


    ¡°Fine¡­¡±


    Within Blackhot City, the neighborhood near the railway station was the most disorderly place. There were many criminals here who did bad deeds such as pickpocket, robbery, rape, etc. Those guys cooperated with the magistrates near the railway station stealthily. They were definitely an evil force in the Blackhot city. However, that night, the two more sinister men would finally deal with them tonight due to a ¡°trivial¡± matter...


    ¡­¡­

 43 Patience

    Chapter 43: Patience


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Naturally, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know what the two guys had done after he returned home. When the two were searching the ground, Zhang Tie had already returned home.


    As there was one more person at home as well as the baby that would be born in about ten months, Zhang Tie¡¯s parents haven¡¯t been going out in the evening for the past few days; instead, they stayed at home. Recently, supper has been more nutritious than before. Zhang Tie could tell that some dishes, which tasted really good, were made by his soon-to-be sister-in-law.


    When he returned, Zhang Tie only found his mom and his soon-to-be sister-in-law at home. After he had finished supper, he saw his dad return covered in sweat while carrying ham on his back. Zhang Tie then knew where his dad had been.


    Together with his dad, Zhang Tie dealt with the approximately 20 kg ham and hung it in the kitchen. As he had not smelled this kind of scent in a long time, Zhang Tie strongly inhaled. After having done so, Zhang Tie joked, ¡°Dad, you and mom really play favorites. I¡¯ve been wanting ham since a long time ago, yet you didn¡¯t buy any for me; however, as soon as my sister-in-law arrived, you bought it so soon. Your son really can not match your grandson!¡±


    ¡°No crap!¡± His dad poked his face with a finger. ¡°If you¡¯re a man, you shouldn¡¯t eat it even after your mom has prepared it!¡±


    ¡°Heh¡­ heh¡­¡± Zhang Tie smiled but muttered within his heart, ¡°Your son really did something amazing at school today.¡± However, Zhang Tie knew that what had happened at school would only make his dad and mom worried; therefore, he decided he would not tell them about it. ¡°Dad, how much was the ham?¡±


    ¡°58 silver coins and 60 copper coins ¡ª almost 60 silver coins!¡± His dad complained bitterly, ¡°It was never this expensive before!¡±


    Zhang Tie was startled. This price was almost equivalent to one month of his dad¡¯s salary. It seemed that his dad and mom had paid a steep price for their grandson. Seeing his dad being gloomy over there, Zhang Tie moved close to him and prattled, ¡°Remember to buy more fruits to provide enough nutrition for the health of the future baby of our Zhang family!¡±


    ¡°Yea, your mom also¡­¡± His dad suddenly realized that he had already fallen into Zhang Tie¡¯s trap. Being irritated, his dad chased him around the room and flicked at Zhang Tie¡¯s forehead.


    ¡­¡­


    Ever since his sister-in-law came to their home, Zhang Tie realized that his plan to earn merit value at home became ineffective. Every place in the house became clean and tidy, thus he could not even find an excuse to do housework anymore. As a result, Zhang Tie had nothing to do and could only smile bitterly. It seemed that he had to find another hidden way to earn merit value.


    After supper, his mom and sister-in-law sat close and were knitting. As she had grown up in the house of a tailor, his sister-in-law was definitely good at needlework. Seeing that pair of delicate hands, Zhang Tie¡¯s mom smiled. While helping them cut rags to create insoles, Zhang Tie casually talked to them.


    ¡°There are only a few days left before I will leave home,¡± while cutting the rags, Zhang Tie thought to himself. He only had a few days to accompany his parents in these months. According to theand thein Blackhot City and the entire Andaman Alliance, the house which was acquired through dozens of years of hard work would be inherited by his elder brother. As Zhang Tie was the youngest son, he had to leave both the house and the city and survive outside.


    When a young wolf grew up, it had to leave his parents¡¯ lair. If a young eagle was fully grown, then it would have to leave the eagle nest on the cliff, flying into the sky as it strove to survive even in the heavy wind and rain. Even if it was an ant, the moment it could fly, it would have to leave its nest for the future of its descendants. In this age, similar to other living species, human beings had also formulated rules and laws to manage themselves. They started to learn from the animals and species that have shown strong surviving capabilities. The two above Acts were prime examples of what humans had to do if they wanted to survive in this age. They had to move out of the high city walls. With ambition and swords, they had to be brave as they explore the land in search for new places for humans to live. They had to fight alien clans and eliminate the dangerous species as they gradually establish new cities and human settlements that could contain more people. This was the rule of survival in this age; it had nothing to do with morality. In reality, this was what the human race needed to survive.


    The cities were safe; however, a city could only contain a limited population, thus not everybody could live in Blackhot City. Using Zhang Tie¡¯s family, which had two sons, as an example, when Zhang Tie, the youngest son, completes his compulsory education and begins to serve in the army, theand thewould spring into effect. As his elder brother was going to get married and Zhang Tie would soon enter society, it would not be convenient for him to stay at home, thus there were only a few days left before he would leave.


    Over the past few days, Zhang Tie has tried to stay away from this topic. He tried his best to stay as close as he could with his parents and always made jokes to make them happy in hopes to lower the sadness they would feel from the eventual departure. His parents had also tried to avoid this topic. As the two months of outdoor survival training was soon, Zhang Tie knew that other families had already prepared equipment and food for their children.


    Without knowing it, Zhang Tie felt the flow of time flew by quickly when he stayed with his parents. The pile of rags was soon finished being cut into pieces. It was currently a bit late, and his mom looked a bit tired. After chatting for awhile, Zhang Tie found an excuse to leave. While yawning, he washed his feet, brushed his teeth, and returned to the attic.


    Back in his room, Zhang Tie looked over the triangular wooden plate carefully and finally confirmed that it was made of red pine and had no miraculous or hidden functions. Aside from the special, naturally formed grains on it, there was nothing else worth mentioning about it. If it was placed among kids¡¯ toys, others would simply take it as a building block.


    Whenever Zhang Tie thought back to Huck¡¯s pair of large feet and the snake-like, slim man who searched him all over, he would feel goosebumps all over.


    ¡°Motherf*cker, two perverts! Haven¡¯t you lived a good childhood? You two play this motherf*cking thing at that age!¡± Zhang Tie cursed. Throwing the wooden plate directly into the cloth bag, he then tossed it into the sundry box at the corner of the room.


    After having thrown the wooden plate, Zhang Tie sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes. He was soon able to find the miraculous, arched gate between his brows. Locking onto it, he muttered to himself, ¡°Enter!¡±


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    ¡°It feels really motherf*cking good!¡± Inside the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie sucked in a deep breath. Whenever he entered, he would be curious. Despite there only being a few sprouted plants with low aura value, whenever he entered here, he would feel vigorous. Even the air inside was much fresher than that of Blackhot City.


    As usual, Zhang Tie checked the basic attributes inside the Castle of Black Iron first.


    ¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªLength: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªWidth: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªAura value: 23.5


    ¡ª¡ªMerit value: 56


    ¡ª¡ªBasic energy storage: 0.5


    ¡ª¡ªSpecial output: void


    There was nothing special about this basic data; the aura value was still increasing due to the growing plants, and merit value did not increase today, as he had neither cleaned the desks and chairs at school nor did he do housework at home.


    Closing the basic attributes window, he checked his reclaimed land. The potatoes were growing quite well, and all the niblets had already sprouted and had broken out of the ground. The sprouted potato twigs had already started to bifurcate with the longest having reached a length of almost 10 cm. In contrast, the potato in the ¡°No.1 pit¡± which he had injected three merit value points for mutation and evolution was not different than before. Zhang Tie assumed that the result of the mutation and evolution might be related to the growth cycle of the species. As only a week had elapsed since he had injected the points, it was reasonable to see no change.


    After checking his reclaimed land; Zhang Tie arrived at the small tree once again. Gazing at the Leakless Fruit, he thought back to its growth process. From the size of a grape, it grew to the size of an egg. From dark cyan, it changed to a dark red. Zhang Tie drooled immensely and knew that only four hours were left before it became ripe. Zhang Tie was so excited that he even scratched his face. He then forced himself to calm down next to the tree for a while. With eyes firmly fixed on the Leakless Fruit, he simply squatted by the tree until his legs became gradually numb. Picking himself up from the ground, he started to circle around the tree. During this process, he couldn¡¯t help but glance several times at the time remaining before it became ripe. Unexpectedly, there was still four hours left¡­


    When Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t help but check it again, he suddenly realized. ¡°Zhang Tie! Zhang Tie! You are really this impatient! How could an impatient man like you match Miss Daina in the future? One ear of wheat would grow ripe and dry within one year; a diamond would form into being after hundreds of millions of years; a bean sprout will grow up in water in two days. However, I heard it took God ten thousand years to create the Olive Tree ¡ª the king of trees! All wheat straws would be burned into ashes; all bean sprouts would turn into the wastes of human beings and animals. However, a diamond would become a piece of jewelry, and the Olive Tree would become a holy symbol. This explained the difference between patience and impatience. In which way should I live for the rest of my life? As a wheat straw, a bean sprout, a diamond, or an Olive Tree?¡± he muttered to himself.

 44 Ignition of the Shrine Burning Poin

    Chapter 44: Ignition of the Shrine Burning Point


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Sometimes, morality and immorality were determined by whether you had patience.


    Thinking of this, Zhang Tie showed a resolute expression and a victorious smile before completely retracting his hand. Sucking in a deep breath, he gave a final glance at the small tree. Zhang Tie locked onto the miraculous arched door in his mind and left the Castle of Black Iron¡­


    Zhang Tie never knew that this small, patient choice of his had made him more mentally mature.


    After returning to his small room, Zhang Tie stood there for a while. Sitting on the bed, he started to practice . Afterward, Zhang Tie took out the crystal which had been buried in the crystal sand by the windowsill and started to polish the Shrine burning point. When his spiritual energy was almost exhausted, Zhang Tie visualized the contents of the book, , once again. Realizing that there was still more than one hour before the Leakless Fruit became ripe, Zhang Tie resisted his impulses to reenter the Castle of Black Iron and fell asleep.


    When he woke up from his sweet dream due to needing to use the washroom, it was already past midnight.


    With the moonlight shining through the window, Zhang Tie had a look at the clock and found it was almost 4:00 am. 2 hours had already passed since the first Leakless Fruit became ripe.


    Zhang Tie instantly sprung up from his bed barefoot, wearing only a pair of underwear. He then rapidly locked onto the miraculous arched door in his consciousness and disappeared from the room¡­


    After returning to the Castle of Black Iron a few hours since he was last here, the first thing Zhang Tie did wasn¡¯t running toward the small tree to pick the fruit; instead, he pulled off his underwear, got out his p*nis, and cooly urinated in the direction opposite of the tree about 10 m away. After the pressure on his bladder had been relieved, Zhang Tie trembled from the comfort. Pulling up his underwear, he moved to the small tree. 4 or 5 meters away from the small tree, Zhang Tie smelt a special fragrance that made people feel spirited. It was the fragrance of a ripe fruit that also smelt like the fragrance given off by sandalwood. It was too mysterious to be described. Zhang Tie was completely intoxicated and sucked in deep breaths as his eyes locked onto the ripe Leakless Fruit.


    Compared to several hours ago, it was completely different. Previously, it was as large as an egg and was dark red in color, but currently, it has a glossy surface and was somewhat translucent. The insides of the fruit loomed a wisp of gold.


    ¡°Gulu¡­¡± Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t help but swallow his saliva. Dragging his feet, he stretched out his hand toward the ripe Leakless Fruit.


    ¡ª¡ªLeakless Fruit has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    A semi-translucent dialogue box then appeared automatically to warn Zhang Tie.


    Seeing the dialogue box gradually disappear in front him, Zhang Tie¡¯s chest rose and fell. He sucked in two deep breaths and looked decisive as he picked the fruit without any hesitation as if he were picking a peach. Moving it close to his nose, he smelled the fruit before carefully staring at it. Finally, he raised his head, opened his mouth widely, and took a large bite.


    The instant his teeth broke into the marvelous fruit, Zhang¡¯s mouth was filled with the rich fragrance of the fruit. It was delicious! At that moment, all of Zhang Tie¡¯s pores expanded comfortably.


    With the sound of ¡°siliu¡±, Zhang Tie swallowed the juice of the first bite. The first bite had only bitten off a small part of the fruit. Soon, he gave a few more bites, finishing the fruit very quickly. Judging from its texture and taste, Zhang Tie swore that he had never eaten such a delicious fruit before.


    After he finished the fruit, Zhang Tie licked his lips for the juice that remained on his lips as he slowly savored its taste while questioning what sorts of effects it would bring. Before he was even able to taste the aftertaste, the effects of the fruit had already spread all over his chest and belly


    A warm Qi started to rise from between Zhang Tie¡¯s chest and belly, almost causing him to groan. This wisp of warm Qi turned into a warm wave as it started to rotate between Zhang Tie¡¯s chest and belly. In less than two cycles, the warm wave abruptly moved back and charged towards the Shrine burning point as if it were a boa chasing its prey. Feeling the surging wave, Zhang Tie¡¯s face twisted. He directly sat on the ground and crossed his legs. In response to the Qi, Zhang Tie instantly entered meditation¡­


    At that moment, an unexpected change happened at the Shrine burning point over the navel. That powerful, warm wave was swirling around his Shrine burning point like a fire dragon drilling into its own cave. As a result, the Shrine burning point, which was like a cave, was slowly absorbing the wisps of warm energy from the fire dragon, resulting in the ¡°entrance of the cave¡± slowly expanding from the wisps of warm energy so that the fire dragon could drill inside. As the cave gradually enlarged, more and more energy was absorbed and the insides of the cave became brighter and brighter. At the same time, the fire dragon began to fly around the cave faster and faster.


    More than ten minutes later, with the sound of a ¡°Boom!¡±, the cyan cave entrance directly expanded greatly as the cyan luster gradually turned to blue. However, the entrance with blue luster was still too small to allow that fire dragon in. Hence, the fire dragon continued to swirl around the entrance as it constantly injected warm energy into the cave. After around another ten minutes, the blue luster over the entrance grew brighter and brighter. With another ¡°Boom!¡±, the blue light turned purple as the entrance enlarged once more. In response to this, the fire dragon became more lively. The warm Qi rising between Zhang Tie¡¯s chest and belly continually converted into warm waves that supported the arrogant fire dragon while all the warm waves were injected into the wider and brighter cave entrance. About half an hour later, the entrance radiating purple light was large enough to hold the fire dragon. All of a sudden, that fire dragon threw itself into that entrance without any hesitation... ¡°Boom!¡± With another huge sound, the long fire dragon completely hid itself in the cave. Radiating dazzling light, a purple luster radiated in all directions in the form of light fragments. At the place where the fire dragon and the entrance disappeared, a red sparkle appeared in its place, slowly burning as it grew into a fierce flame in the darkness. It continuously radiated heat and light to the surrounding coldness and darkness.


    When he clearly ¡°saw¡± a flame over the Shrine burning point, Zhang Tie cried out and burst into tears before laughing out loudly like a lunatic. Unexpectedly, he had ignited the Shrine burning point today in such manner. The effects of the Leakless Fruit were really surprising ¡ª it easily allowed him to break through the three levels of cyan, blue, and purple and directly allowed him to surge from an ordinary soldier to a LV 1 fighter.


    ¡°Is the Leakless Fruit used to ignite burning points?¡± Such a question flashed in Zhang Tie¡¯s mind. Feeling weird, he picked himself up to the feet.


    He felt empty inside, as if he didn¡¯t have any organs, skeleton, or muscles. Right then, he felt a warm spring wind blow from the Shrine burning point in all directions and made him feel invigorated all over. His elder brother had told him that the ignition of each burning point in one¡¯s body was a process to rebuild and enhance one¡¯s physique. The feeling was very special, as it would either feel extremely comfortable or extremely painful. Besides the feeling of comfort or pain, there were also many other strange feelings. His elder brother had said that after some burning points were ignited, it felt even more comfortable than the climax of making love. In contrast, the ignition of some other burning points would even feel as painful as giving birth to a baby or like the feeling of metamorphosing from a cocoon to a butterfly.


    The warm breeze from the Shrine burning point stopped after seven or eight minutes. For over a minute, Zhang Tie could hear cracking sounds from within his body. This was a process known as ¡°Skeleton Rearrangement¡± that everybody who had ignited the Shrine burning point would enjoy. The entire process was really pleasant and felt like the body was being rearranged by an invisible hand. Zhang Tie felt like a machine being commissioned by an expert. Afterward, he felt that all the bones in his body fit well with each other. Additionally, the feeling of being full of vitality and the unprecedented sense of harmony made him so excited that he even wanted to loudly shout out.


    In this age, only after having reached this level could you step onto the road of cultivation.


    ¡°Miss Daina, here I am. I¡¯ve already ignited the Shrine burning point. Ah...¡±


    Zhang Tie exclaimed towards the sky.

 45 Midnight Massacre

    Chapter 45: Midnight Massacre


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Deep in the middle of the night, Blackhot City was covered in tranquility. Ever since the curfew was imposed, every night after midnight, the entire Blackhot City would fall asleep like a giant that they had finished their day of busy work.


    Like birds singing in the daytime and the snakes chasing after mice in the night, some preferred to wander about in the night rather than the day, especially those from the areas neighboring the railway station where people of all walks of life converged. After midnight, there would still be many people wandering outside. Unfortunately, if they were captured by the patrolling City Guard Army and the magistrates, they would be punished through lashings, would have to serve in Glanceburg Prison that was located outside Blackhot City, and would become a joke to many pioneers. However, for those pioneers, this punishment was nothing serious at all.


    Many people held this thought, hence why the bar in an alley near the railway station filled with pioneers, the ¡°Treasures of the Poisonous Snakes¡±, was extremely bustling after midnight. For the average adolescent like Zhang Tie, they would never know of the wonderful nightlife that Blackhot City had.


    As for the new arrivers, Huck and Snade, they had investigated the areas near the railway station before finding the bar called ¡°Treasures of the Poisonous Snakes¡±. After 00:00 when the curfew came into effect, the two entered the bar as they pushed open the two doors.


    The bar was not spacious inside. After midnight, the bar was boisterous, as there were around 30 people inside, most of whom were wearing the uniform of pioneers. Some talked and laughed loudly as they touched the breasts of the prostitutes beside them. Some murmured in the shadows of lights in the bar, where one would occasionally see two men scratching something hidden within their broad sleeves at the table. Some nodded when they were satisfied, while others shook their heads to show disagreement. If they could not reach an agreement, they would pull back their hands. This was the usual trading pattern among pioneers. The transaction was done within their sleeves to keep the items and prices of the trade a secret. Only the two parties involved knew what had happened, thus one would never know the topic of their conversation, even if they were planning your assassination and its price.


    When Huck and Snade entered the bar, many people glanced at them and continued their own business, while other more perceptive pioneers felt as if danger was drawing close to them. In response, they stealthily moved the weapons lying on the table or beside them closer, placing them in a convenient position in case a critical situation arises.


    The moment Huck and Snade sat at a table, two slightly nice-looking barmaids had already moved in front of them with slim twisting waists. They intended to lower their bodies to show their exposed, plump breasts. ¡°Handsome boys, what can I do for you?¡±


    ¡°Two cups of black pine wine. What kind of food do you serve?¡± asked Snade.


    ¡°Toast, soybean, beef soup, and crispy sausage!¡±


    ¡°One set for each of us!¡±


    ¡°Okay!¡±


    After the barmaids left, noticing what the two had ordered, the others moved their gazes away from them, as they knew few troublemakers would enjoy a meal before causing trouble in the bar.


    Soon, the food ordered by Snade and Huck were served. Looking at the food, Snade didn¡¯t eat it immediately; instead, he took out a grass root, which looked like a dried twig, wrapped in silver wires and poked every item on their plates and the mug of beer as he checked for a change in the color of the grass root and the silver wires. After no color change was seen, they started to safely enjoy the supper. After several hours of work, the two were currently really hungry.


    It was common for pioneers to test for poison by using the grass root of a Soul-Eating Thorn that was wrapped in silver wires. Silver wire and the grass root of the Soul-Eating Thorn was the perfect combination ¡ª it reacts to most poisonous substances, including the ¡°powerful rat poison¡± that only required a small amount to kill a fully grown man. Almost every pioneer had this habit of testing their food for poison before eating, hence others did not find it strange when they saw this. Even the boss and barmaids considered this as a common habit among pioneers. Aside from frequent customers, many new arrivers of this bar, which was teemed with pioneers, would test poison like those two. It was just a living habit.


    The guests of the bar were loudly talking about the town hall of the Blackhot City. The town hall had increased the payment for mapping the black areas north and west of Blackhot City, rising to a price of 46 gold coins per squared kilometers of black area. Additionally, for every extra square kilometer, the price would increase by 5%. Over the past few days, several waves of pioneers who considered themselves exceptional had already traveled over there in groups; however, it was unknown how many among them would return.


    After finishing their meal, Huck and Snade pretended to listen to the news inside the bar before preparing to leave and called the barmaid to settle the bill. Intending to pull out his purse, Huck¡¯s purse suddenly dropped onto the ground, causing two gold coins to roll out of his purse. Huck hurriedly put away the purse. Instead, Snade settled the bill before the two walked out of the bar. Soon after they left, a man in a corner of the bar also picked himself up on his feet. Drinking the last of his beer, he purposely spilled some beer on himself. Afterwards, he followed the two and left the bar.


    The actions of the man surprised no one in the bar.


    ¡°It seems like Squirrel Pond has finally found tonight¡¯s prey. Heh¡­ Heh...¡± Someone inside the bar started to smirk. Everyone forgot about the three who had just left. In this world, each and every one of them had their own set of survival rules. If others didn¡¯t affect them, then most would just choose to ignore what was happening beside them. This was one of the rules of survival in this age.


    The moment Squirrel Pond teetered out of the bar, he looked around and saw Huck and Snade walking into an alley on the left. Narrowing his eyes, he continued to follow them as he pretended to be a drunk man. When Pond drew close to them, the two walking in front glanced back at him; however, they seemed to not care when they saw the drunk man. Drawing close to Huck, he tumbled forward as he moved his hand inside of Huck¡¯s coat. The instant Pond¡¯s fingers touched Huck¡¯s clothes, he heard a cold sneer.


    ¡°Too slow!¡±


    Before Squirrel Pond realized what had happened, his hand was already firmly gripped by Huck. The moment he was about to pretend to be a drunkard and shout loudly, an ice dagger had already arrived at his neck. The dagger cut into the skin and left a shallow cut. Pond was really scared and began to sweat. Afterwards, as if treating a chick, Huck covered his mouth before carrying Pond into a shadow beside the alley, a place where nobody would see.


    ¡°Take us to see your boss. We want to see him!¡± Huck, the manly guy, seemed to be not that patient as he threw Pond directly onto the ground and spoke in a straightforward manner.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what are you talking about! I am¡­ ah¡­¡± With his mouth covered, Pond couldn¡¯t make a sound. Feeling a cold sensation on his right hand, he lowered his head and saw what had happened to hand. What he found was the main artery on his right wrist had been slit open, causing his blood to pour out like a fountain. The wound looked like a mouth of a beast and had almost scared Pond to death.


    ¡°You have less than ten minutes before your run out of blood!¡± Snade smirked at Pond while playing with his dagger.


    ¡°Our boss is Bres, a LV 6 Black Spider. Besides him, we have more than ten brothers. If you dare to offend us, you will regret it¡­¡± Pond shouted loudly. However, he didn¡¯t notice the look of disdain on Huck¡¯s face.


    ¡°Probably, but you only have two choices now ¡ª wait here for your death or lead us to your boss who can save you¡­¡± Snade casually explained.


    ¡­¡­


    Half an hour later in the gang¡¯s base near the railway station of the Blackhot City, Huck and Snade were surrounded by more than ten gang members with weapons in hand. The battle Qi of Bres was tumbling as the hazy shadow of a two-meter tall black spider stood behind him. Excited, every member of the gang looked at Bres with admiration, including Pond, who was under the foot of Huck and was pinching the artery that had been slit on his right hand. A LV 6 fighter who had condensed battle Qi was powerful enough to lead the gang members and allow them to have a good life near the railway station of Blackhot City. He was powerful enough to tear apart anyone who dared to challenge the gang.


    ¡°What will we do?¡± Huck asked Snade.


    ¡°You two, I¡¯ve told you that our gang doesn¡¯t have that black-haired kid nor is there such a pickpocket near the railway station. However, since you have wounded our member, you should consider how you¡¯re going to explain this to us! It¡¯s too late to regret now!¡± Bres smirked. Waving his hand, a group of gang fighters drew close to Huck and Snade with vicious expressions.


    ¡°Kill them all. Since they¡¯ve seen us, it would be troublesome if any one of them escaped!¡± Snade said.


    Hearing this, Bres roared furiously and shot towards Huck¡¯s head. At the same time, all the other members jumped on Huck and Snade with their weapons.


    Huck then directly stepped on Pond¡¯s head, breaking it like a watermelon. He then punched towards Bres¡¯ fist. The moment Bres touched Huck¡¯s fist, his face turned pale as he saw a huge shadow appeared immediately behind Huck. Different from his black spider, the shadow behind Huck was a huge centipede with numerous legs.


    ¡°One-thousand legged centipede ¡ª LV 7 fighter! That¡¯s impossible¡­¡± Bres exclaimed in fright. The moment the two fists collided, Bres¡¯s entire arm was fully broken. Huck¡¯s fist then broke through Bres¡¯ chest and exited from his back.


    With only a single move, the pillar of the gang had suddenly collapsed. The members of the gang didn¡¯t even respond to what had happened. When they realized what had happened, they immediately threw away their weapons and escaped towards the gate.


    Snade avoided the incoming weapons by twisting his body like a snake and instantly appeared behind the two escaping gang members. He gently slit his dagger through their necks like a poisonous snake spitting his tongue. Before the two fell down, Snade had already appeared beside several other gang members and had slit their necks almost at the same time. After several flashes, starting from the ones who had attacked Snade first, every one of the members, including the ones who were the furthest away from Snade at distance of seven steps, stood still as they started to spray blood from their necks as if they were fountains. Then, they almost all fell down at the same time.


    All of this took less than five breaths. The only things that remained were the two who stood in the courtyard and the blood stench that started to spread.


    ¡°How do we deal with these bodies?¡± Huck asked Snade as if killing a large amount of people was just a trivial matter.


    At this moment, Snade was immersed in licking the blood on his dagger. ¡°Let¡¯s deal with bodies now. We have to make sure that nobody finds them for at least two days!¡±


    ¡°Why not burn them right away?¡±


    ¡°Those people in that bar saw us tonight. Unless we kill them all tonight, people from the bar would definitely think that we are related to this incident. However, if we set a fire here two days later, nobody would think that way!¡± Snade explained in a cautious and experienced way.


    ¡°As they always appeared close to the railway station, they must have plundered a lot of things and collected them here. Let¡¯s search for them. We may get some good things if we are lucky. As for that black-haired kid that dared to run in the street neighboring the railway station, he must be very familiar with this place and always frequents here. We¡¯d better stay nearby the railway station for the next couple of days and capture him when we see him!¡±


    ¡°What if we can¡¯t find him?¡±


    ¡°If we can¡¯t find him within one week, we¡¯d better escape from the Andaman Alliance as well as from the Blackson Human Clan Corridor as far as possible. We¡¯d better not be found by the heads of our organization; otherwise, we would die miserably!¡± Snade said calmly.


    ¡°Fine!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    One hour later, Huck and Snade left the base of the gang and had even locked it from the outside, fabricating the image that nobody was inside. They believed that nobody would dare to break inside within a short period considering the terrifying power of the gang. Two days later, they could absolutely eliminate them all simply through fire, leaving no evidence. Nobody would expect that the gang had already been killed two days before the fire.


    ¡°A gang? Is that worth something?¡± When they left the base of the gang, Huck spat towards it.


    ¡­¡­


    During that period when the gang was wiped out, Zhang Tie was igniting his Shrine burning point. He didn¡¯t realize that he had been involved in such a huge crisis over such an ordinary wooden plate.


    Zhang Tie only felt that his whole life was filled with hope and he would have a bright future¡­

 46 We’re Brothers

    Chapter 46: We¡¯re Brothers


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    In fact, for a long time, Zhang Tie had always felt overwhelmed due to the pressure of this age. No matter how hard he worked, he felt as if he was just a small tree leaf that fell into the torrent, unable to control the direction of his life. He felt powerless and unable to change anything in this age. He couldn¡¯t make Miss Daina fall in love with him and neither could he stop his parents from feeling miserable over their deceased eldest son. Sometimes, he would even think of terrible scenes related to the people he was closest to. In those scenes, he was also powerless; he had no other choice but to struggle in vain, unable to even shout.


    That night, Zhang Tie slept very well. It was almost the sweetest sleep he has ever had. The Leakless Fruit did not only ignite Zhang Tie¡¯s Shrine burning point, but it had also ignited Zhang Tie¡¯s hope for a better life.


    As usual, a bit after 6:00 am, Zhang Tie¡¯s biological clock woke him up. Opening his eyes, Zhang Tie stared at the spinous roof and felt unprecedentedly alive. Probably from one of the benefits of having ignited his Shrine burning point yesterday, he felt much better today, contrasting greatly from the soreness and pain he felt all over his body the day before. Besides one or two places on his body that were still sore, Zhang Tie had basically already recovered.


    I am now a LV 1 fighter! Zhang Tie mumbled to the mirror in his room as he smiled at it. By then, Zhang Tie instantly felt energetic. He made some fighting gestures and felt much stronger than before. This feeling was really cool.


    Quickly putting on his clothes, he rushed downstairs to wash his face and brush his teeth. He then started a fire to make breakfast for the whole family. Before his mom woke up, Zhang Tie had already gained a point of merit value and had already wolfed down some porridge. Seeing his mom walking out of her bedroom with sleepy eyes, Zhang Tie rushed forward and kissed her on her face. ¡°Mom, I¡¯m heading for school¡­¡± He then ran out extremely quickly, leaving his mom staring in a daze at home. ¡°What¡¯s making him so excited?¡±


    After igniting his Shrine burning point, on his way from home to school, Zhang Tie could feel an obvious improvement to his physique. In the past, it would take him almost 40 minutes by foot to get to school from his house. Surprisingly, it only took him slightly more than 10 minutes this time. Although he was somewhat tired, he also felt much better at the same time.


    As expected, Zhang Tie was naturally the earliest one to arrive from his grade once again. Checking the neighboring classrooms to ensure that there was no one waiting in ambush first, he then started to clean all the desks and chairs in his classroom to earn another 3 points of merit value. Afterwards, he ran outside the classroom and entered the washroom. He then wandered around the training ground and the small woods for a while before slowly returning to his classroom while humming a song.


    Naturally, when those horny students found that their desks and chairs had been cleaned again, they began to discuss about it once more. It was almost described as a supernatural event. Hearing their discussions, Zhang Tie started to carefully consider different ways to discreetly earn merit value in the future. This method would not work again. He had to find another way to earn merit value in public places. Zhang Tie started to think about the tips on merit value in the Castle of Black Iron.


    Do good deeds and eliminate evil¡ª¡ªthe largest mercy in the Human World;


    Worship the gods and love the people¡ª¡ªthe nearest stairway to heaven;


    Lucky people, please show the mercy of the creator to the secular world, so that the gods understand you;


    Please receive the most sincere pleasures and appreciation presented to you by the hundreds of millions of living beings;


    Just as ideas began to emerge within his mind, Barley walked up to him.


    Seeing Barley, Zhang Tie faintly felt that what he did to the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood yesterday was really motherf*cking foolish. As Donder had told him, if he was just vicious and decisive enough, he would see a completely different result.


    Before Zhang Tie greeted this fatty, the fatty had already cracked a big smile and walked right in front of Zhang Tie. Lowering his body, he muttered to Zhang Tie lightly, ¡°We brotherhood members have something to talk to you about after class!¡±


    After Barley, all the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, including Bagdad, Doug, Hista, Sharwin, and Leit, arrived. Surprisingly, these guys looked friendlier than usual. Grinning as they exposed their front teeth, they smiled innocently at Zhang Tie, making him feel really embarrassed. Instinctively, Zhang Tie lowered his head to check the zipper on his trousers¡­


    ¡°Here comes Miss Daina!¡± a horny student shouted out loudly. Then, everybody in the classroom, including Zhang Tie, rushed to the windows and peered at the sexy figure passing through. Enjoying the view of the magnificent breasts, all the horny students considered it to be the most beautiful scenery in the world.


    Every window of the classroom was crowded with people enjoying the view of Miss Daina¡¯s figure. The classroom was filled with the sound of people swallowing saliva when the teacher of the first history class entered the classroom.


    As the most carefree class at school, the teachers would always freely talk about various topics ranging from knowledge and major historical events before the Catastrophe to mysterious legends in the Age of Black Iron. Everything could be mentioned in history class. Although some of the knowledge seemed meaningless, they had actually expanded Zhang Tie¡¯s horizon. All the information Zhang Tie knew about the human world before the Catastrophe was mostly from the history class. Some of the horny students in the class were not interested in the contents of the natural history class in the least, thus they would usually sleep during each class. In comparison, Zhang Tie would always listen to each history class very carefully. In today¡¯s class, the teacher taught about the exploration of the universe by the human race. At that time, human beings had launched a machine that flew even faster than sound. They started to explore the two moons circling the Kun¡¯ang Continent. It was said that they realized a major discovery during that exploration; however, commoners were not privy to this information in the least, as the human ruler did not disclose this information to the public. Therefore, even now, no one else knew what they had found. To be able to enable those metal machines to fly into the moons was a really amazing thing. Zhang Tie really longed for it and started to imagine it in the classroom.


    After the bell rang, Barley glanced at Zhang Tie. They then went out of the classroom with the rest of the members from the Hit-Plane Brotherhood and arrived at a corner of a small garden under the teaching building.


    ¡°Bighead, we called you here to tell you one thing!¡± Barley said to Zhang Tie solemnly. ¡°Do these guys want to beat me up? No, it doesn¡¯t seem like it.¡± Zhang Tie felt gloomy. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°We brotherhood members don¡¯t agree with you leaving!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you know that I have caused a big incident at school?¡± looking directly into the fatty¡¯s bandit-sharp eyes, Zhang Tie decided to explain it to them all.


    ¡°You mean you have offended Glaze¡¯s group?¡± crossing his arms, Bagdad said calmly. ¡°They broke the rules first, so if they dare to give our brother trouble, then we¡¯ll fight them to the death!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Doug put his big palm onto Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Trust us, bro. You have us. Don¡¯t worry, we will help you through this trouble. We are very proud to be your brothers!¡±


    ¡°Do they have one more d*ck than us?¡± Hista started to thrust his waist before placing his hand on Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°In the worst case scenario, we can set them up!¡± Hista added viciously. Right then, another hand appeared on Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing serious to be beaten together with you!¡± Shrugging his shoulders, Sharwin put one of his hand onto Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°This is our decision about you leaving!¡± Barley smirked obscenely as he placed his hand on Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that I will take you there for you to be a real man! How could you leave at the critical moment?¡± Everybody placed their hands on Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulders unconsciously. They did this to encourage Zhang Tie. However, they finally realized that Bagdad was still coldly standing at a distance. Everyone set their eyes on their black buddy. Feeling somewhat isolated, Bagdad also stretched out one hand and placed it onto Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder. Thus, by then, standing at the center, Zhang Tie was surrounded by six brothers, each of whom had placed one of their hands onto Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder or back. The whole scene was religious to some degree. All of a sudden, the youths felt as if they were doing something holy, and their hearts started to pound heavily.


    ¡°You bastards!¡± Zhang Tie abruptly felt like crying. At that moment, he felt very powerful. The source of his power didn¡¯t originate from his Shrine burning point but from that pounding heart. He felt like he had nothing to fear in this world anymore.


    Returning to the classroom once again, the group of seven sat close to each other, feeling different from before. Yet, they couldn¡¯t figure out why. Every member of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood seemed stronger and more dauntless than before. They felt a sense of interdependence deep in their hearts. That was really amazing¡­


    Fatty was also smiling as he felt that the brotherhood had become different from before. It was great! Previously, the seven of them were just like seven parts bundled together. Now, Barley felt that the seven parts had already been activated and had spontaneously already formed into a more powerful part, causing him to feel reassured. Stroking his mustache, Barley recalled the scene where the members had placed their hands on Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulders and back. It increasingly felt like it was a holy ceremony for the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. If anyone else wanted to join the brotherhood, it seemed that he could test them through that religious ceremony¡­

 47 The Mysterious Number Sequence

    Chapter 47: The Mysterious Number Sequence


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    ¡°This is your final history class and my last class before retirement. After this class, I will retire officially¡­¡± the teacher said to the students at the beginning of the second morning class. Hearing this news, the whole classroom turned quiet. Even Zhang Tie could not imagine that this was the last class for the teacher. Since he entered the Seventh Male Middle School, he seemed to have gotten used to this gray-haired old man who would enter and leave the classroom quietly. He never thought that the senior would bid farewell to them on the rostrum. The moment the teacher delivered the news, even the fellows sleeping in the classroom seemed to become awake. They gaped at him and felt reluctant for his will-be retirement.


    ¡°Are you really going, teacher¡­¡± a guy in the front row poured out what the other students were thinking in their hearts.


    ¡°I am already very old, and I have also served Blackhot City for a long time. It¡¯s the right time for me to retire!¡± The old man showed a friendly smile. ¡°I know what you are worried about. As long as the city walls of Blackhot City aren¡¯t broken by the alien forces, my pension would be enough for me to live the rest of my life in peace. And you guys are the ones who will ensure that the city walls will stand firm forever, not me. That¡¯s why, whether I will live a peaceful life or not after retirement will depend on you! In today¡¯s final history class, I will talk to you about my experiences and knowledge of what I¡¯ve seen that is required to be a powerful man who can protect the human race.¡±


    Hearing the final sentence, everybody¡¯s spirit rose. All the students sat straight instantly and stared at this revered old man with reluctant expressions.


    The old man was then silent. Pulling out a small, ordinary snail shell and two pine cones from his pocket, he passed them to the front row and let the students observe them one by one. After one minute, the snail shell and the two pine cones had been passed through the hands of every student. Nobody found anything special with them, including Zhang Tie who had thoroughly checked it for a couple of seconds but was unable to find anything.


    ¡°Do you guys notice anything special about the snail shell and the two pine cones?¡± the old man asked. Everybody shook their heads.


    ¡°You should know that the secret for the average human to become stronger is hidden within these ordinary things! We all know that people should always be trying to ignite their burning points to improve their strength, and we also know that human fighters are classified at different levels. Some people are LV 5, some are LV 6, some are LV7, and there are even some who have reached LV 10 or higher. However, who classified our fighters? Are those classifications made by the big figures in the Fighters Union?¡±


    Zhang Tie was startled, as he had always thought that the standards were created by the big figures. It wasn¡¯t made by them?


    ¡°Of course not, no one is entitled the right to create the standard in which billions of commoners and powerful figures pursue!¡±


    ¡°Teacher, then who made the standard?¡±


    ¡°The person who created it wasn¡¯t a human being ¡ª but a god or the laws of the great universe!¡±


    Hearing his words, the whole classroom became bustling.


    ¡°Those standards were not made especially for the human clan, but for everything in this universe. The snail shell and the two pine cones I have shown you also follows the standard, but you didn¡¯t notice them!¡± Afterwards, the old man drew two patterns on the blackboard using a piece of chalk. One was a spiral curve that was similar to a snail shell, while the other was some crisscrossed lines that were similar to the pine cones.


    Then, the old man turned around. ¡°How many burning points do we need to ignite to become a LV 1 fighter?¡±


    ¡°One! We only need to ignite the Shrine burning point...¡± the students replied in unison. The old man then drew a square in the center of the square shell in a way that the spiral curve went through the two opposite corners of the square...


    ¡°What about LV 2¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s also one. We just need to ignite the burning point on the tail bone of the spine!¡±


    The old man expanded the pattern and drew another square of the same size.


    ¡°What about LV 3?¡±


    ¡°Just ignite two burning points on the spine!¡±


    This time, the old man double the length of the side of the square.


    ¡°What about LV 4?¡±


    ¡°Three!¡±


    ¡°LV 5?¡±


    ¡°Five!¡±


    ¡°LV 6?¡±


    ¡°Eight¡­¡±


    The spiral curve was gradually wrapped by squares with side lengths that increased proportionally. Finally, when the old man asked how many burning points needed to be ignited to reach LV 10, nobody in the class could reply. Fighters above LV 10 were an amazing existence that the horny students could not imagine at all. For them, the world of fighters above LV 10 was as far as the Catastrophe itself...


    Instead of mocking them, the teacher wrote down a series of numbers ¡ª1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34¡­ ¡ª along with their corresponding levels, 1 - LV 1 to 34 - LV 9. Finally, he turned around and looked at students with shining eyes. ¡°Have you ever figured out a law among those numbers?¡±


    After staring at those numbers for a while, someone finally realized. ¡°Each number is the addition of the previous two!¡±


    ¡°What else?¡±


    Looking at number sequence, something in Zhang Tie¡¯s mind seemed to burst forth; however, Zhang Tie wasn¡¯t able to figure it out.


    ¡°Why not divide the next by the earlier and figure out the law among them?¡±


    As the horny students had learned the basics of math, they lowered their heads and started to calculate the results. The first result was 1, the second result was 0.5, the third result was 0.66666¡­, the fourth result was 0.6, the fifth result was, 0.625, the sixth result was 0.61538..., the seventh result was 0.619047, and the either result was 0.617647...


    ¡°Have you noticed that the numbers are infinitely close to 0.618?¡± the teacher poured out the truth, enlightening all the students. Yea, how could that be?


    ¡°To reach LV 1, one needs to ignite one burning point, while the human body has 33 vertebrae on the spine. When one ignites all the burning points on the spine, they would reach LV 9. Strict standards have been made for reaching each higher level. Likewise, you can calculate by yourself how many more burning points you need to ignite to become a LV 10 fighter. 55! Yes! What¡¯s next? 89! The number would grow geometrically in a terrifying way. That explained why the higher the levels were, the greater the differences would be, and this sequence¡­¡± the old man turned around and pointed at those numbers on the blackboard, ¡°...is called Leonardo Fibonacci Sequence, which was the Golden Sequence that contained numerous secrets discovered by a human mathematician named Leonardo Fibonacci hundreds of years before the Catastrophe. It contains the universal law and the law of the creator. Look at the spirals on the right and left of the pine cones. Have you noticed that the smaller one has 5 lines on the left and 8 on the right, while the bigger one has 8 on the left and 13 on the right? The numbers 5, 8, and 13 directly correspond to the Fibonacci Sequence. You can check the squares on this snail shell curve. You will then understand the relationship between this curve and this sequence of numbers ¡ª the Fibonacci Curve or Golden Ratio. The curve is the geometric pattern of this sequence. You can find this relationship on most living begins. If you take a look at nature and the things beside you, you will find more examples. For instance, there are two groups of spirals inside the flower disc of a sunflower, and the corresponding numbers are 34 and 55, 55 and 89, 89 and 144. Similarly, you can get the same result in roses and thistle leaves. After the Catastrophe, people discovered the secrets to practice cultivation from the underground ruins and realized that all the improvement and cultivation that the human race were doing were in accordance with the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci Sequence. Even all other living beings evolve along this curve. As the curve and the number sequence is the reflection of the universal law, fighters that didn¡¯t evolve in line with this curve and the number sequence would never be considered strong by the standards of all the humans and the powerful figures...¡±


    Hearing the explanation, all the horny students had their eyes opened, including Zhang Tie. Previously, he only knew that he had to ignite different numbers of burning points to reach higher levels; however, he didn¡¯t know why and had never put thought into it. Whereas at that moment, Zhang Tie finally understood that all the secrets were hidden in the universal law in the golden spiral and that number sequence.


    ¡°Teacher, what¡¯s the highest level after LV 10?¡± raising his hand, Bagdad asked.


    ¡°Even now, nobody knows the answer to this question because what comes after LV 10 is one of the most confidential secrets in any place. Knowledge after LV 10 is top secret. The most important reason being that the golden number sequence is endless as it constantly develops and gets increasing closer to the perfect number, 0.618. It has been less than 900 years since human beings stepped onto the road of cultivation in accordance with the golden spiral and have started to explore the treasures within their own body. In contrast, the universe has already existed for tens of billions of years. This means that we human beings have just started on the golden spiral. Before the Catastrophe, people were always proud of themselves. At that time, they treated themselves as the lord of the universe and everything else. However, after the Catastrophe, humankind started to realize that the human clan was just a trivial member among the numerous clans in the vacant universe and the Kun¡¯ang Continent. The human body and human civilization might even have regressed instead of further evolving over a long period of time before the Catastrophe. When it was no longer able to regress even further, the Catastrophe and the Star of God arrived and all the rules were rewritten. People also discovered the secrets hidden within their body that would aid them in survival, leading them back onto the path of evolution. The Age of Black Iron ¡ª the end of the past and the beginning of the future...¡±


    In the final history class, the teacher opened an unprecedented window for them which really broadened their view. For the remaining time in the class, all the horny students manually calculated the numbers in the Golden Sequence.


    1£¬1£¬2£¬3£¬5£¬8£¬13£¬21£¬34£¬55£¬89£¬144£¬233£¬377£¬610£¬987£¬1597¡­


    Zhang Tie gaped when he got to the 17th number in the Golden Sequence. He couldn¡¯t believe his eyes when his line of sight fell onto the last seven numbers. ¡°Is this the number of burning points needed to be ignited after LV 10¡­¡± Zhang Tie was really shocked.

 48 Preemptive Move

    Chapter 48: Preemptive Move


    Translator:Editor:


    At the end of the last history class, under the order of the on-duty class-monitor, Zhang Tie and the other students stood up and hammered their right hand onto their left chest in a show of respect to the teacher. The number sequence was something that they had never heard about. Zhang Tie considered the number sequence to be a form of mysterious knowledge, one which could not be easily obtained by commoners.


    ¡°An extremely strong human fighter should not only have overwhelming power on the battlefield; more importantly, they should have a pair of sharp eyes that are able to discern the sources of power that make him strong like the laws of nature and the universe. Through my classes, I hope that everyone of you will finally have a pair of these sharp eyes!¡±


    After saying that, the old man left in his usual calm manner under the silent gaze of all the horny students.


    Knowing that they would soon graduate, the teacher decided to give his blessings to everyone in his last class.


    ¡­¡­


    When the class was over, Zhang Tie leaned against the walls in the corridor and stared at the plants in the parterre under the stairs. The horny students couldn¡¯t help but rush downstairs to count the number of petals on the roses in an attempt to test the mysterious number sequence.


    Thinking of the last history class today and perhaps even the last one for the rest of his life, Zhang Tie felt slightly dejected.


    ¡°That man is very respectable¡­¡± said Bagdad. Without Zhang Tie noticing, the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood had already gotten close to him. ¡°The relationship between the Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Spiral and the relationship between the level of a fighter and numerous things in nature are definitely some form of mysterious knowledge. I have talked about this topic with some of his former students, and even they didn¡¯t know about the relationships and its secrets. The old man probably poured out this mysterious knowledge because this is his final history class...¡±


    ¡°Mind your own business! LV 10... I have never seen a LV 10 fighter at all. If there was a member above LV 6 among us, we would have nothing to fear at all. I¡¯ve heard that Glaze¡¯s dad is a LV 6 Black Spider!¡± Hista said languidly.


    Waving his fist fiercely, Bagdad gloomily said, ¡°I will definitely reach LV 6!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s solve our trouble first! I feel like some guys are giving us some very unfriendly looks!¡±


    Along the direction Leit pointed at, they found Glaze¡¯s group staring at them furiously on the other side of the corridor. Zhang Tie was evidently their target. Even when they had noticed that the brotherhood of seven turned to them at the same time, they didn¡¯t spare them a single glance; they only looked at Zhang Tie. When Zhang Tie noticed them, Zuhair, one of Glaze¡¯s most devoted followers, made an aggressive and menacing gesture of slitting his throat with a thumb toward Zhang Tie.


    ¡°Leit, you¡¯re wrong. They¡¯re not looking at us, they¡¯re looking at Bighead. We¡¯re being ignored!¡± Sharwin said languidly.


    ¡°What the f*ck. We are the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. Those bastards dare to provoke us? On the count of ¡®1 2 3¡¯, let¡¯s go send them a greeting from our brotherhood, so they¡¯ll stop ignoring us,¡± Barley suggested to the side. Then he started to count, ¡°Come. 1¡­ 2¡­ 3... F*ck you¡­¡±


    After the countdown, the group of seven, including Zhang Tie, raised their middle fingers towards Glaze¡¯s group, causing the expression of Glaze¡¯s group to suddenly become twisted. Doug had also turned around and pulled down his trousers before starting to slap his butt. He then turned around and started to stroke his little brother as he faced them. Seeing Doug¡¯s actions, all the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood started to laugh loudly, frightening the people around them¡­


    By the third class, the news of the two groups clashing and mutually provoking each other in the corridor had already been spread through the whole grade. Many people had already prepared to see what would happen. Zhang Tie¡¯s group had also prepared to fight with Glaze¡¯s group at noon or after lunch. Thinking of how they would be accompanied by six other brothers if they were fiercely beaten by the other group and sent to lay in the hospital, the group of seven looked extremely righteous and dauntless.


    ¡°If Glaze¡¯s group dares to provoke us at noon, we¡¯ll f*ck them up fiercely. Bagdad, you are the strongest one among us, so you¡¯ll be responsible for Glaze when we fight. Leit and I will be responsible for Sharon, Bighead and Hista will be responsible for Zuhair, and Doug and Sharwin will be responsible for Garner. Except for Bagdad, the six of us will form into three groups. Any group that cleared their target will go support Bagdad. Once we solve the problem of Glaze''s three followers, we will fight Glaze together. No matter what, even if we are beaten fiercely, we have to at least bite off some flesh from Glaze. If anyone dares to bully our brother, we will f*ck them up¡­¡± Fatty arranged the tactics with the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood in the classroom after the third class. Nobody showed any disagreement. Zhang Tie had originally planned to fight Glaze alone, as he had already been promoted to LV 1. Through last night¡¯s ¡°skeleton rearrangement¡±, Zhang Tie felt a bit more powerful than even Bagdad, regardless of the difference in muscles. However, seeing that ambitious mood of Bagdad, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t say anything. He wouldn¡¯t be able to explain how he had ignited his Shrine burning point so fast anyways.


    In the fourth class, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t listen to what the teacher taught at all. Instead, he recovered his composure and focused his attention on his belly, which gave off a warm and comfortable feeling after having ignited the Shrine burning point. Along with this comfortable feeling, he felt an energetic wave slowly spreading throughout all his muscles and bones. The Shrine burning point was like a marvelous, small door in his body that had been pushed open. Ever since the door was open, something strange was floating from the door. This explained why a common LV 1 fighter could defeat most ordinary soldiers. The ignition of the Shrine burning point indicated that physical abilities and functions of that person have started to improve. As the history teacher said, once one had ignited their Shrine burning point, they would be standing at the starting line of evolution in accordance to the Golden Spiral, which represented the laws of the universe and the creator. The difference between a LV 1 fighter and an ordinary fighter was similar to the difference between a fighter standing on the starting line and the spectator who was watching the race outside the runway. In most cases, the spectators in the audience outside the runway would hardly be able to catch up with someone who was already on the starting line when the race began¡­


    ¡°I am already a LV 1 fighter. Only one level away from Glaze,¡± Zhang Tie constantly reminded himself in the classroom and became increasingly confident.


    Class was finally over. Seeing the others rushing towards the cafeteria, the group of seven stayed behind.


    ¡°Are you ready?¡± Barley asked. According to the tradition in the Male Middle School, whenever two groups held aggression toward each other, they would fight on the same day, usually at noon or in the afternoon when class was over. The small woods beside the cafeteria was always the best place to fight or solve personal affairs.


    Everybody nodded.


    ¡°Do you remember your targets?¡±


    Everybody nodded again.


    ¡°It¡¯s a good day for us to be famous in school. Come on, let¡¯s go!¡± Fatty waved his hands heroically. Then, the group of seven walked out of the classroom, brimming with confidence.


    ¡°Erm¡­ could you please wait for me for a second¡­¡± Doug said sadly with a flushed face.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Sharwin asked as his nose turned red. ¡°The fight will start soon¡±.


    ¡°My stomach isn¡¯t feeling too well, I¡¯d like to use the washroom!¡± saying that, Doug¡¯s face was almost lowered all the way to the crotch of his trousers. ¡°It¡­ might have been breakfast¡­ and¡­ the pulling-down of my trousers just now¡­ I have a stomachache. It¡¯s really hard to stand it, and I don¡¯t think I can stand it any longer. I think if I don¡¯t solve it right now, it will weaken our total battle force¡­¡±The other six gaped at each other. Fatty opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something; however, in the end, he replied dejectedly, ¡°Hurry up, we will wait for you to return!¡±


    Everybody waited outside the washroom for ten minutes. When Doug finally came out, he looked much more energetic; however, the morale of the other six had already weakened from 90% to 60%.


    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s finish lunch first. Though, we probably won¡¯t get enough plates today¡­¡± Barley weakly waved his hand.


    Nevertheless, when Zhang Tie¡¯s group arrived at the cafeteria, they could not believe their eyes. Surrounded by hundreds of furious students, Glaze¡¯s group looked really scared. At the same time, someone from the same grade was standing on a dining table and was instigating those horny students to fight them...

 49 An Influential Figure

    Chapter 49: An Influential Figure


    Translator:Editor:


    ¡°Bros, are you willing to suffer from their oppression like this? Are we scared of them just because Glaze is a LV 2 fighter? Are they more dangerous than the wild beasts that we will meet outside the city walls in a week? If we dare to risk our lives to face the challenges outside the walls, then why are you afraid of them?¡± Standing on a dining table, a man was provoking the others as he used his limbs to make gestures. As a result, the horny students in the cafeteria became increasingly excited. He then continued, ¡°Those who are being bullied by them, do you dare to show up? Those who don¡¯t want to be bullied by them, do you dare to show up? They are only four people, yet we have at least 400. Why should we fear them? Why should we be bullied by them? Once we unite with each other, we will definitely have no reason to fear them. Can they withstand our siege? Let¡¯s drive those bastards away from the cafeteria and never let them in before graduation. From today onwards, once they dare to take revenge on one of us, we will take revenge on them together with even more intensity. Are you willing to unite with me and drive these boring guys away from the cafeteria? Come on, men from the Seventh National Male Middle School, pluck up your courage! Miss Daina is watching us¡­¡±


    Being incited, the horny students became really excited. Those who were bullied by Glaze became even more excited.


    ¡°F*ck ¡®em to death¡­¡±


    ¡°F*ck those bastards¡­¡±


    ¡°F*ck ¡®em to death¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s time to end this¡­¡±


    ¡°F*ck¡­¡±


    Everybody in the cafeteria became excited and gradually moved towards Glaze¡¯s group.


    Zhang Tie and Barley looked at each other for a while before Barley said, ¡°Let¡¯s f*ck ¡¯em together with the other students¡­¡± Thinking for a while, Zhang Tie nodded. Then, the seven members of the brotherhood glanced at each other and nodded.


    Seeing the student provoking others on the dining table, Zhang Tie suddenly understood Donder¡¯s proverb¡ª¡°a soft tongue could break hard bones¡±.


    However, before Zhang Tie was able to put in much thought into it, Bagdad had already rushed forward and kicked Sharon onto the ground, resulting in all the horny students no longer able to wait as they immediately surged forward with furious growls. A chaotic battle started¡­


    When the students surged forward toward Glaze¡¯s group, Zhang Tie swept his gaze at the common looking boy who stood on the table and noticed a flash of a smile at that moment. Zhang Tie became a bit uncomfortable when he realized that Miss Daina¡¯s promise was used by someone to provoke others.


    In fact, if a LV 2 fighter was afraid of fighting back, he would soon be defeated by a group of green birds who didn¡¯t even reach LV 1. If Glaze were to fight them without any restraints, then the other students would have to pay a considerable price. Glaze was not a fool. Although he would stop someone from leaving and beat them fiercely after school, he didn¡¯t dare to cripple a group of furious students. He knew that if he did that, what awaited him would not simply be lashes. Even his dad wouldn¡¯t be able to settle his punishment.


    Bench press: 290kg;


    Deep squat: 380kg;


    Maximum explosiveness of right fist: 510kg;


    Maximum explosiveness of left fist: 340kg;


    Maximum explosiveness of leg: 780kg;


    Resistance: 13;


    At this moment, Glaze could only try his best to protect Sharon, Zuhair, and Garnier while dozens of punches and kicks came from all directions. Glaze¡¯s group suffered greatly; with the exception of Glaze, his three followers cried miserably.


    When Bagdad surged forward and started this whole mess, the other six members of the brotherhood were unable to push inside at all. As a result, they could only watch the awkward state of Glaze¡¯s group through the thick wall of people.


    Finally, Glaze was no longer able to withstand it after having been kicked in the face and belly several times. He no longer had any choice. With a furious growl, he rushed towards several people behind him and escaped from the cafeteria with Sharon and his two other peers.


    ¡°We¡¯ve chased them away... We have won¡­¡± Seeing Glaze¡¯s group escaping the cafeteria, all the horny students became ecstatic¡­


    On the Friday one week before graduation, an insignificant student named Burwick immediately became famous within the Seventh National Male Middle School for completely defeating Glaze¡¯s group. Additionally, in the same afternoon, the physique test revealed that Burwick had already ignited his Shrine burning point, indicating that he was already a LV 1 fighter. This sudden revelation shocked everyone, as this would make him the second strongest fighter after Glaze among the undergraduates. Although Glaze was one level higher than Burwick in terms of physique and fighting strength, everybody knew that Glaze¡¯s time in the spotlight has passed. After the two events in the past two days, Glaze had lost all face in front of the other students. The day before, he was whipped by Captain Kerlin. Today, he was beaten by all the other horny students very fiercely. As a result, he was like a mouse passing the street that was beaten by every passer-by at school.


    In the past, everybody would be in awe at Glaze¡¯s performance in the training grounds every Friday afternoon and would admire his records as well. However, today, although Glaze was still unparalleled in those physical aspects and in fighting strength, he could only hear sounds of dislike and ridicule. For the whole afternoon, Glaze looked dejected and kept silent. As he listened to other people admiring Burwick, he casted a hateful look at Zhang Tie from time to time.


    Noticing Glaze¡¯s furious glare, Zhang Tie became gradually alert and tried to be low-keyed. Zhang Tie faintly felt that the hatred between him and Glaze was deepening.


    In the afternoon, Zhang Tie was very low-key. In every assessment, he tried and performed as he usually would, though he had spared some effort. After having ignited the Shrine burning point, his physique was greatly enhanced in all aspects, and this was especially seen in the 100m dash. In the past, Zhang Tie had always spent a gargantuan amount of effort, only to get a poor mark in the end; however, this time, the result was completely different. The moment he heard the whistle, Zhang Tie had surged forward like an arrow. Surprisingly, his explosiveness and speed were obviously higher than before. He felt extremely nimble and soon rushed ahead of the others; however, glancing back at the people beside him, Zhang Tie slowed down and eventually finished in 6th place. Although he received no mark this time, as usual, he felt very satisfied with his result. Since he had spared some effort this time, Zhang Tie clearly knew that he would be able to break through 11 seconds if he tried. The marks of his other items under Zhang Tie¡¯s deliberate control were as follows:


    Bench Press¡ª¡ª140kg


    Lifting force in deep squat¡ª¡ª180kg


    Explosiveness of Fists¡ª¡ªRight Fist: 260kg; Left Fist: 200kg


    Maximum Kicking Explosiveness of the Legs¡ª¡ª320kg


    Maximum Continual Armor-Breaking Spikes¡ª¡ª52


    The results from his tests were the same as usual. Aside from Zhang Tie himself, no one else was concerned about his results. Although it was a bit better than before, it did not attract any attention.


    ¡°This way, people won¡¯t be suspicious,¡± Zhang Tie mocked himself. What had happened today led Zhang Tie to deeply understand the truth¡ªin this age when everyone was striving for their own survival, one should remember to avoid being the target for anyone no matter where one was, as one would never know who was closeby and wanted to beat them to death. Glaze¡¯s failure was caused by his arrogance. Even as a LV 2 fighter, the proud guy was marked as a loser during his last two weeks at school. In contrast, nobody had noticed Burwick before this incident at all. He took this opportunity to climb above Glaze, becoming the new star of the school...


    ¡°Compared to Burwick, Glaze is just an idiot!¡± Barley said to Zhang Tie under the shade of a tree during the afternoon break. ¡°That guy took advantage of what had happened to you yesterday and what had happened to our brotherhood this morning. He really seized the overwhelming opportunity to cause trouble to Glaze¡¯s group. I suspect that that guy has always been waiting for an opportunity to use the animosity towards Glaze to attack him and to use Glaze¡¯s threats to unite the others. This guy was actually that terrifying. He hid the fact that he was a LV 1 fighter. This guy is actually not as open-hearted and righteous as he looked; he is actually really dangerous¡ªyou have to be careful around him!¡±


    Zhang Tie nodded and recalled the smile that flashed on Burwick¡¯s face when the others surged forward to attack Glaze¡¯s group¡­


    Afterwards, bustling sounds reverberated from a few steps away. Without even looking, Zhang Tie naturally knew that the exclamations were for Burwick. Being surrounded by a great amount of people, Burwick was showing his obvious physical advantage as a LV 1 fighter over common soldiers. At the same time, a great amount of horny students were shouting in amazement.


    That afternoon, besides Burwick, Bagdad also became eye-attractive by hitting Glaze¡¯s group¡­

 50 A Sword from Dad

    Chapter 50: A Sword from Dad


    Translator:Editor:


    Nothing special happened on that weekend.


    On Friday afternoon after school, Zhang Tie went to the lowest level of the Iron Thorns Fighting Club again to be a flesh-bag; however, it was different from two days ago. Zhang Tie, who had already become a LV 1 fighter, could easily deal with Andrew Benet¡¯s attacks. Sometimes, Zhang Tie could even control the rhythm of attacks from that kid, purposely allowing some of his attacks to connect on specific parts of his body. Of course, Zhang Tie would pretend to be kicked over by that kid to satisfy his vanity. Whenever he was knocked over, he would always stand up before saying, ¡°Come on, baby¡±. As a result, that kid would always charge toward him with red eyes.


    This job of being a training partner was seen as a hard job to many people; however, for Zhang Tie, it gradually turned into an interesting game¡ªhe would receive payment to accelerate the growth of the Iron Body Fruit. Through constantly being beaten up, Zhang Tie had also noticed that his fighting skills had improved. He was able to respond to his opponent¡¯s attacks faster than before and could more accurately identify the opponent¡¯s attacking intention. As the party that was on the side of purely being beaten, Zhang Tie would sometimes even take control of the rhythm of the battle.


    ¡°That one-eyed man really helped me a lot!¡± Zhang Tie felt happy inside.


    As Zhang Tie hadn¡¯t been knocked out from the past couple of times and had performed better than before, he felt that his standing in the fighting club had improved. At the very least, the two bastards from the equipment room would no longer mock or place bets on whether he would be knocked out again. Additionally, when he left the Iron Thorns Fighting Club, Director Beck had even encouraged him to work harder and settled his weekly payment of 3 silver and 40 copper coins. This marks the first time Zhang Tie had earned money.


    Zhang Tie tightly held onto the coins in his pockets on his way home. When he arrived at his house, he realized that the coins had already become hot. Handing over the coins to his mom, Zhang Tie felt extremely satisfied at the sight of her amazed expression. In the end, his mom only took two silver coins and said she would store them away for Zhang Tie, leaving the rest as his pocket money. This was the first time he contributed to his family through his own efforts, causing him to be filled with pleasure and pride.


    On Saturday, as usual, Zhang Tie helped his mom make rice brew at home; however, it was different this time. This time, his sister-in-law joined them, thus Zhang Tie felt that it was much easier than before since he had less to do. His sister-in-law was diligent and clever. She was someone who excelled at housework and had a good reputation in the neighborhood. Since her arrival at their place, she had also gradually become accepted by the Zhang¡¯s family.


    Watching his mom teach his sister-in-law how to make rice brew, Zhang Tie became dejected. His mom was growing old, yet he only had a little time left to accompany her...


    The lives of commoners always had its ups and downs. On the same Saturday, Zhang Tie found that the price of rice had once again increased when he arrived at the rice store with his ugly three-wheeler. This time, the price went from 4 silver and 58 copper coins per 25kg to 4 silver and 61 copper coins per 25kg. He inquired different rice stores and was quoted the same price. Additionally, he found that the prices of other foods had also rose in price at different degrees, among which the price of sugar rose the most sharply. Compared to the price of rice, the price of rice sugar had increased by more than 10% per kg this week, surpassing the price of 1 silver and 11 copper coins per kg¡­


    However, Zhang Tie had no choice but to buy it. As a result, the Zhang Family had to increase the price of the rice brew, which would definitely weaken its sales. This would definitely prove to be detrimental to their living standards.


    Hearing the news of the increasing cost of rice, the wrinkles on his mom¡¯s forehead seemed to be more pronounced, although her expression remained unchanged.


    In the same evening, Zhang Tie sowed a lot of pumpkin seeds on the land in the Castle of Black Iron. Those seeds were scooped out from a pumpkin by his mom several days ago. His mom was so diligent that she felt reluctant to throw them away, hence she washed them and dried them in the courtyard. She knew that those pumpkin seeds would be delicious after being fried.


    Zhang Tie sowed about 200 to 300 pumpkin seeds. Zhang Tie did this for two reasons. The first reason was the increasing price of grains. The second reason was that he had realized that the Castle of Black Iron was really suitable for agriculture. Including the gifts he received from Grandma Teresa, all the seeds he had sown the week before had already sprouted and were growing well. The potatoes and niblets especially seemed to grow better. And as a result, the Castle of Black Iron started to show more signs of vitality as the aura value in the Castle of Black Iron was growing quickly every day. By Saturday, the aura value would turn to 70, surpassing all the other values.


    After throwing the bag of trash from home into the Pool of Chaos, Zhang Tie had only gained 0.1 unit of basic energy storage. After land reclamation in the Castle of Black Iron, he checked the fruits on the small tree. The Iron Body Fruit was 50% ripe; it seemed that he would be able to enjoy it after being beaten another two times. Additionally, the second Leakless Fruit would also become ripe on the next Thursday evening. This small tree had become the largest source of Zhang Tie¡¯s confidence to become prominent in this age.


    Right when he exited the Castle of Black Iron and was about to cultivate in his room, Zhang Tie heard a long and sharp sound outside his window that drifted from afar. As the sound of this manual fire alarm could spread very far in the evening, Zhang Tie was immediately able to hear it, thus Zhang Tie hurriedly went over to the windowsill and opened the window as he looked into the far distance. In the pitch black night, a strong fire brightened the entire distant sky. Judging from the source of the fire, Zhang Tie felt that it happened in the old agglomeration of Blackhot City where people from all walks of life gathered. Faint cries and shouts reverberated from the distance¡­


    Zhang Tie wondered whose house caught fire near the railway station. He then ignored it and closed the window. Picking up the crystal from the windowsill, Zhang Tie sat cross-legged on his bed and started to cultivate.


    After having ignited the Shrine burning point, Zhang Tie could instantly feel the ¡°small point¡± near his tail bone shaking once he entered meditation. In the opposite direction of the Shrine burning point, the first burning point on the spine became the next target of Zhang Tie. In accordance with the introduction of the history teacher on Friday, this burning point was the one burning point he had to ignite to reach LV 2. According to the Fibonacci Golden Number Sequence, he would then have to ignite two burning points to reach LV 3, followed by three burning points to reach LV 4, then five burning points to reach LV 5, and eight burning points to reach LV 6... Those burning points lined up on the 34 vertebrae on the human body. There were many secrets hidden in the vertebrae burning points. Similar to the vertebrae, those burning points were also the support and the source of a human¡¯s strength. When ignited, each burning point could enhance a person¡¯s physique and strength greatly. That explained why the other students were not a match for Glaze, a LV 2 fighter¡­


    After entering meditation, along with Zhang Tie¡¯s spiritual energy, the energy gathered by the crystal passed into the first burning point on the spine. After more than 2 hours, Zhang Tie was only able to cause the burning point to be slightly brighter as it started to burn with a small red flame the size of a rice grain. Compared to the blazing Shrine burning point, that was only a small firefly. It was time and energy consuming for most people to practice igniting each point...


    On Sunday afternoon, Zhang Tie stayed at home to take care of the rice brew store, while his dad and mom changed into new clothes and left with his soon-to-be sister-in-law with goods in hand. Naturally, Zhang Tie knew where they were heading to. In the evening, his mom and his soon-to-be sister-in-law returned in a pleasant mood. Seeing the two of them, Zhang Tie knew they must have gone to visit his sister-in-law¡¯s parents.


    Today, he had increased the price for Zhang¡¯s rice brew by one copper. Despite having put up a notice in advance, their sales were immediately lowered. Today, they had only sold a bit more than half of their usual sales


    ¡°Mom, where¡¯s dad?¡± seeing them, Zhang Tie asked curiously.


    ¡°He¡¯s got something to deal with. He will come back later!¡± his mom replied in a mysterious tone.


    At the time they prepared to have supper, his dad came back with a long article wrapped in cloth in hand. At the sight of Zhang Tie, his dad smiled and undid the package, revealing a sheathed, slightly arched black sword in front of Zhang Tie.


    ¡°Ah!? The Blackhot Sharp-Edge Sword¡­¡± Zhang Tie exclaimed and instantly ran forward as if he saw a treasure. Grabbing the sword from his dad¡¯s hands, he unsheathed the blade, revealing a sharp two-handed sword in front of his eyes. Etched onto the body of the sword next to the handle was two words¡ªZhang Tie. He couldn¡¯t help but exclaim. This was a gift from his dad.


    ¡°You will be attending the survival training next week, so here¡¯s my gift for you. Heh¡­heh¡­¡± His dad looked a bit embarrassed. ¡°This is an ordinary, sharp sword made by the forge of Blackhot City. Although it can¡¯t match the swords used in the military and the sheath is only made of ordinary iron and wood, it¡¯s the best I can afford. So I hope you¡­¡±


    ¡°I love it, dad!¡± Before his dad was able to finish his sentence, Zhang Tie instantly hugged him as he kissed his dad¡¯s face. He was really satisfied with the gift. Zhang Tie clearly knew that this ordinary Blackhot Sharp-Edge Sword would cost his dad at least one gold coin. That was a great expenditure for his family.


    Seeing Zhang Tie so happy, his dad also showed a warm smile¡­


    ¡°Two of you, come on. Let¡¯s eat while the food is still hot¡­¡± his mom warned them, trying to alleviate the atmosphere¡­


    In this age, the first sword of many people was gifted by either their father or their brother. Aside from representing the blessings and concerns of their relatives, the sword also carried the meaning that the owner will be fighting for their own life with it. This was the inevitable fate of many males and their families!


    In the last week before he left school, Zhang Tie, a 15-year old boy, frankly accepted his own fate along with the first sword in his life, which was engraved with his name¡­

 51 Blood Tide Sense

    On the last week of school, not only were all the undergraduates preparing for their first survival training, but the school officials were as well. The undergraduates felt anxious about their safety, as there has been casualties every year during the survival training. This was not simply a trip in the wild but a test of their abilities to survive in the cruelty of this age. The world within the city walls was utterly different from outside the city walls.


    On Monday morning, all the horny undergraduates stayed in an amphitheater as they waited for the teacher. However, the person that arrived this time wasn¡¯t their usual teacher; it was a fellow student who had graduated the year before and was now a soldier serving the City Guard Army of Blackhot City.


    He told them of his past experiences on the trip and how he had witnessed the death of two peers because of carelessness in the last year¡¯s survival training. They were killed by a seemingly harmless White-Bone Mushroom. When they boiled the mushroom and consumed it along with the soup, they were unfortunately unable to get up the next morning, as they had already been poisoned to death when they were found. Only when the White-Bone Mushroom was found inside the soup was the cause of death discovered¡­


    Nothing particularly stood out in the story, and the reason for the tragedy was also simple. From its looks alone, the poisonous White-Bone Mushroom looked almost identical to the common, edible umbrella-shaped mushroom. The only difference between them were the gray circular grains over the rootstalk of the White-Bone Mushroom. Since the person responsible for scavenging for food wasn¡¯t able to distinguish between the two mushrooms, he lost his life. Although it was a simple story, it was because of the simplicity of the events that caused everyone to feel a chill. At this moment, they realized the cruelty of the survival training. Knowledge regarding the White-Bone Mushroom and the umbrella-shaped mushroom was something that was taught in school; however, if one doesn¡¯t remember it firmly, they would solely be responsible for the mistakes in the future at the cost of their own or even another person¡¯s life¡­


    All the horny students were shocked when they heard what the fellow student said. That class was ten thousand times more effective than what the other teachers had taught. The school probably knew about the difference as well; hence, why they arranged the class on their last Monday at school, so as to warn them.


    The moment the morning class was over, all the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood surrounded Sharwin.


    "Sharwin, have you kept your biology notes for the past two years with you?" Fatty Barley pressed down on Sharwin¡¯s shoulders and asked him nervously while the other members were nervously waiting for Sharwin¡¯s response to the side. The story was really terrifying. Nobody would know whether they had forgotten any crucial knowledge during the past three years, as the world outside the city walls was much more dangerous than they could imagine. It was unfortunate to be eaten while fighting a magical beast with full preparations; however, if you lost your life because of your carelessness, you would fully deserve it.


    "Yea, what¡¯s wrong?" Sharwin asked in a confused way.


    "What¡¯s wrong? Of course, you should lend them to us, so that we can have a good review¡­"


    "Alright, no problem!" Sharwin answered without any hesitation. "I have preserved those notes well. There are two more notebooks at home. I will bring them if you need them!"


    Hearing this, Fatty Barley rolled his eyes. Something seemed to come to his mind as he said, "Bros, maybe we can make some money with Sharwin¡¯s notes!"


    All the other members also realized it at the same time. Even Zhang Tie was admiring Barley¡¯s intelligence. However, their plan to make money by Sharwin¡¯s notes failed in the same afternoon. When Fatty Barley was planning the price of a copy of Sharwin¡¯s notes, Burwick made all the horny students boisterous once again.


    ...


    "Hurry up, let¡¯s go find Burwick. He has already made a copy of the notes from the biology classes over the past couple of years and turned them into a brochure called <Identification Brochure of Dangerous Living Beings in the Survival Training >. He¡¯s giving it out for free. Come on, let¡¯s go get one!"


    One guy shouted during the break. Hearing his words, almost all the horny students in the classroom ran out of the classroom, leaving the members of the brotherhood blankly staring at each other. After a while, Barley opened his mouth widely and finally cursed¡ªDamn...


    At that moment, Zhang Tie suddenly felt an uncomfortable feeling in his heart¡­


    The speed and preparation of the guy named Burwick really shocked Zhang Tie.


    Starting from the <Identification Brochure of Dangerous Living Beings in the Wild Training Survival>, all the horny students nervously began to prepare for their survival training during the last few days of the week, which included preparing the necessary equipment and living materials. Each one of them could only take five days worth of food at most for the survival training. As for weapons, luggage, medicine, or something else, they could bring as many as they wanted¡­


    In these days, Glaze¡¯s group was never seen in the school cafeteria again. It was impossible for them to show off in the school cafeteria anymore. Actually, they would feel reluctant gazes, so they directly ate in hotels outside the school.


    "Guess what Glaze¡¯s group ate this noon?" There would always be someone shouting this when queuing up in the cafeteria. Hearing his words, all the other horny students started to laugh out loudly.


    In contrast, Burwick became increasingly more popular at school, resulting in a great number of people standing by his side.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know why, but ever since Monday, his heart always pounded and his hands sweated more than usual. These days, he felt weak for no reason. On Tuesday when Zhang Tie arrived at the Railway Station once again, he found more magistrates patrolling the area than usual. Out of curiosity, he asked a person nearby about what had happened. It turned out that many people were burnt to death in that fire accident near the Railway Station a couple of days ago. That¡¯s why those magistrates nearby the railway station became more alert, though they seemed to have found no clues regarding that fire accident.


    Zhang Tie arrived at the grocery store as usual. While settling the accounts, a heart pounding feeling was felt again, causing him to make two consecutive mistakes. Zhang Tie smiled bitterly and pushed all the beads back to their original places before he started to calculate again.


    "What¡¯s wrong?" Donder asked to Zhang Tie when he realized something was off about him.


    "Nothing serious, just a little bit distracted. These days, my heart has been speeding up for no reason!"


    "Heart speeding up for no reason?" Hearing this, Donder gradually frowned. "Does anyone from your family have a heart disease?"


    "No!"


    "Did you have such a feeling before?" Donder continued.


    "Also no. I started to feel it this Monday!" Zhang Tie answered honestly.


    "Are you a virgin?"


    "Shit!" Zhang Tie cursed inside. However, he didn¡¯t say anything when he saw the serious face of Fatty Donder.


    "Answer me, I¡¯m not kidding!" Donder looked more serious than he has ever looked, which almost frightened Zhang Tie.


    "I am a virgin!" Zhang Tie could only admit. Feeling like he lost face, he then added, "But I won¡¯t soon!"


    After a while, Donder muttered while rubbing his sparse mustache, "Have you heard about Blood Tide Sense?"


    "Blood Tide Sense?" Zhang Tie was puzzled. Then, he seemed to realize something immediately and nodded. "I have heard about it from those horny students¡­"


    "How could someone from your school know about this Oriental mysterious knowledge?" Donder was startled.


    "That is an Oriental secret?" Zhang Tie was curious. "Many people know about it. I heard females would bleed so much every month, yet they wouldn¡¯t be hurt. They are truly strong¡­"


    "Bastard!" the boss cursed as the corners of his eyes twitched. At the same time, he flicked Zhang Tie¡¯s forehead with a finger, causing Zhang Tie to feel so much pain that he jumped up. "I mean Blood Sense. Have you heard about it? No crap! I have played with more women than you have seen, you scumbag!"


    Zhang Tie innocently rubbed his forehead. He truly didn¡¯t know where he was wrong. He really thought that women were stubborn beings, as they bleed but feel no pain.


    Sucking in deep breaths, Donder recovered his composure. Staring at Zhang Tie, he said, "The so-called Blood Tide Sense means that some lucky dogs might be able to feel impending danger or a fruitful opportunity. They would feel like how you feel these days; with Blood Tide Sense, you would always feel your heart pounding and would also feel excited. People who had a sharp sixth sense or virgin males might have the same feeling as you. I suspect that you have Blood Tide Sense and an unpredictable danger is coming to you!"


    Zhang Tie turned pale. "I¡¯m in danger?"


    "Tell me, have you provoked some important figure?" Donder asked genuinely.


    After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie recalled nobody but Glaze. "As for Mary, in the worst case scenario, she might fetch someone to beat me; however, it shouldn¡¯t make my heart pound."


    "Could it be Glaze? It seems that I have not provoked anyone else other than Glaze¡¯s group!"


    "I¡¯m not sure. Sometimes you don¡¯t know whom you have provoked; however, they still want to kill you. There are powerful diviners in the East who can figure out the origin of the unknown danger based on the time your Blood Sense or other relevant trivial symptoms that appeared. As a result, the danger could be avoided. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t!" Donder shook his head. "Since you know it¡¯s coming, you can only prepare for what¡¯s about to come!"


    Saying this, Donder searched the drawers in the counter and took out two goods, giving them to Zhang Tie. "I know you¡¯re going to take part in the survival training, so I¡¯ve prepared two gifts for you. They can help you deal with danger!"


    Zhang Tie realized that they were both "elite" goods¡ªa vial of the purest "powerful rat poison" and a sheathed dagger. The blade of the dagger was very sharp; however, the most threatening part on it was not the sharp blade; instead, it was the handle which could send needles covered with snake poison towards the opponent. As a result, the person hit would be paralyzed and unable to move. The needle being sent out was so powerful that it could even penetrate through glass that was 1cm thick¡­


    The two gifts were something that Zhang Tie definitely could not afford, but in the end, Zhang Tie did not reject them and finally accepted them.


    Seeing Zhang Tie receive them without any hesitation, Donder nodded¡­


    While Zhang Tie stood in Donder¡¯s grocery store as he thought over the possible sources of the unknown dangers, Huck and Snade were standing in an alley near the railway station. Standing in front of them were more than twenty young beggars and wandering kids. Lining up, they each stared at the coins in Snade¡¯s hands. Each of them would take 10 coppers before tossing them into their pockets and quickly scatter in all directions. 10 copper coins might be a small amount of money for commoners; however, it was enough for these people at the bottom of society in Blackhot City to do many things. As these poor people were willing to do many things for just a piece of bread, they would naturally be pleased to search for people near the railway station since they would each receive 10 copper coins at least. Once they found their target, they would receive another 2 copper coins, totaling to 12 copper coins¡­


    When they weren¡¯t able to find Zhang Tie after two days, Huck and Snade thought up this method. It was really hard for them to locate a person who¡¯s on the move in these streets that numbered around ten near the railway station of Blackhot City. Thus, from that Monday onwards, the two of them changed their strategy with the one suggested by Snade. They stopped searching around alone by themselves. Instead, they fetched a few young beggars and wandering kids to help them. They thought that Zhang Tie would easily be recognized by his black hair and eyes, which were common features among the members of the Chinese clan.


    Seeing those young beggars and wandering kids disappearing in the alley like a spreading fishing net, Snade showed a wisp of a smile.


    "Would this method actually work?" Huck panted. To the side, Snade impatiently pinched the joints of his fingers, causing sounds akin to exploding crackers. "In the past two days, they have found three wrong people¡­"


    "I can feel that we will get that kid soon¡­"


    "Once he gives back it to us, I swear I¡¯ll pull out his heart and crush his head with my foot¡­" Huck said furiously.


    "As you will¡­" Snade narrowed his eyes as he stretched out his long tongue and licked his lips. A cold and cruel air could be felt in the alley¡­

 52 The Last Virgin

    Chapter 52: The Last Virgin


    Translator:Editor:


    After Zhang Tie was beaten another four times on Wednesday, the first Iron Body Fruit should finally become ripe. Much like the Iron Body Fruit, the seeds of the parasol trees on both sides of the streets of Blackhot City would soon be ripe as well.


    After leaving the Iron Thorns Fighting Club, as Zhang Tie walked on Bright Avenue, he suddenly felt a sharp pain, as something had fallen and hit his head. Squatting down, Zhang Tie picked up the object on the ground¡ªit was a parasol seed. Every May and June, all the parasol trees in Blackhot City would start to produce thorny seeds. After drying up, parasol seeds the size of walnuts would fall off the trees, spreading all over the sidewalk.


    On the way back home, under the light from the street lamps on both sides of the road, Zhang Tie picked up many parasol seeds and foisted them into his pockets.


    Zhang Tie intended to throw them all into the Castle of Black Iron. He was brimming with pleasure when he imagined that the land in the Castle of Black Iron would be covered with parasol trees in just a few years.


    Wednesday was the day of harvest. Although he had already ignited the Shrine burning point, he was only a bit more powerful than those rich kids, thus he still had to suffer from being beaten up in the Iron Thorns Fighting Club, and it would always take him two days to slightly recover from the excruciating pain each time. Only a few people would feel no pain after being beaten by a powerful opponent.


    It seemed that Benet had already become resentful towards Zhang Tie. Every time, he would always knock Zhang Tie down; however, Zhang Tie was as stubborn as a small blade of grass trampled upon by numerous people¡ªwhenever he was knocked down, he would pick himself back up from the ground until Benet became exhausted. Rather than attributing it to his physique or his will, it was his positive attitude that allowed him to persevere, as attitude determined everything. For Zhang Tie, he simply considered all the pain as something that would help accelerate the growth of the Iron Body Fruit. Similar to his last name¡ªTie, which meant ¡°Iron¡±¡ªlike a red block of iron, he would not become fine steel without being repetitively tempered on an anvil.


    Zhang Tie appreciated each strike and each feeling of pain. When he experienced the effect of the first Leakless Fruit, he utterly realized how excellent that small tree was, causing him to greatly appreciate it. He also extended his sincere gratitude to the gods for giving him this opportunity to change his own life. He appreciated the Castle of Black Iron and the small tree gifted by the God. Zhang Tie knew that on the entire Kun¡¯ang Continent, there was no else that was as fortunate as him and no one else that was able to change the strikes inflicted on him into sweet fruits.


    Because of gratitude, Zhang Tie knew how to treasure it.


    Another day had passed, yet that unknown danger still hadn¡¯t arrived. Aside from losing his towel, which he had always used for the past three years to wipe his sweat and wash his face after training at school, after having placed it in his locker, nothing else happened. It was already old enough and even had some holes on it. Zhang Tie wondered who would be interested in that broken towel. Besides being a bit dejected, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t think too much about it.


    These days, the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood discussed about how they would help Zhang Tie lose his virginity. It seemed that besides Zhang Tie, all the other horny students were talking about ending their own virginity, many of which had already taken action. Since the survival training would soon start, do you really want to die as a virgin? This slogan was much more effective than any other reasoning at the moment. Nobody, including Zhang Tie, wanted to keep their virginity. As the education system had separated the males from the females, the horny students could only seek help from a ¡°professional¡± to solve this problem. It seemed that it had already become a tradition.


    So because of this, those prostitutes had good business on the last week of school. As dusk soon fell and the roadside lamps were lit, groups of horny male students from Blackhot City¡¯s twelve male middle schools appeared in this place which they rarely visited. At this time, all the small hotels in Blackhot City were filled with pimps and prostitutes.


    On his way home from Bright Avenue, Zhang Tie had already encountered several groups of these horny students. They appeared on the street in groups of two or three. They would always be looking around, and the moment they found the sexy prostitutes wandering under the light of the roadside lamps or the ones who stood on the sides of the street when dusk had fallen, they would pluck up their courage and stride forward. After idly chatting with them for a while, they would pull the hands of the one they fancied the most and would either disappear into the dark alleys or would head to a small hotel together.


    It¡¯s shameful to die as a virgin!


    That¡¯s why Zhang Tie also anticipated the ending of his virginity tomorrow after school. This benefit of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood provided by Fatty Barley was really attractive!


    According to the schedule, the first Iron Body Fruit would be ripe today!


    With one of his pockets filled with parasol seeds, Zhang Tie went back home excited. After finishing supper, Zhang Tie washed the bowls and the chopsticks as usual. The moment Zhang Tie prepared to chat with his dad and mom, his dad stealthily pulled him into the courtyard behind the kitchen. Before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, his dad tossed at least six or seven silver coins into his hands¡­


    ¡°Dad, what¡¯s this for¡­¡± Staring at the heavy silver coins, Zhang Tie was surprised¡­


    ¡°Shh¡­¡± His dad told him to lower his voice as he carefully looked at the door. At that moment, the voices of his mom and his soon-to-be sister-in-law drifted over. ¡°These coins are your pocket money for this week. I have been saving them up secretly, so don¡¯t let your mom know¡­¡±


    Zhang Tie scratched his head and was puzzled. ¡°Dad, seven silver coins is too much. I don¡¯t need that much. Are you ok¡­¡±


    His dad stretched out his hand and flicked away Zhang Tie¡¯s hand that had been placed on his forehead. He became a bit furious and glared at Zhang Tie. ¡°Boy, you should know that even though I am old now, I was also young before. Humph¡­ humph¡­ remember it. Choose the younger ladies with lustrous skin and eyes. They are healthier even though they would cost you one or two more silver coins¡­¡± his dad warned him, ¡°Remember, don¡¯t let your mom find out!¡±


    After saying that, his dad made a coughing sound before showing his stern look once again. He then left the courtyard, leaving Zhang Tie standing in place as his mouth gaped while holding a handful of silver coins¡­


    After quite a while, Zhang Tie finally figured out what his dad meant before forcefully gulping his saliva. ¡°Are you kidding me? Dad gives me money to sleep with whores¡­ ¡®Choose younger ladies with lustrous skin and eyes. They are healthier even though they would cost you one or two more silver coins¡­¡¯ That¡¯s really¡­ really mother*cking great, dad!¡±


    Zhang Tie almost burst into tears from the actions of his dad. His dad was truly considerate.


    Because of what had just happened, whenever he spoke with the other family members at home, he would feel a bit weird. Thus, after tell his mom about the situation at school and how beautiful and comfortable the bathroom paved with mosaic in the fighting club was, Zhang Tie left.


    ¡­¡­


    After washing his feet and brushing his teeth, Zhang Tie went back to his bedroom and entered the Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    Whenever Zhang Tie read this line, he would always feel much better.


    These past few days, Zhang Tie had noticed something¡ªalthough nobody dug pits to sow seeds and nobody provided fertilizer for the seeds, the plants would still be rather vigorous everywhere. That meant that those seeds got along well with nature. The seeds with good quality would be able to survive by rooting themselves into the ground, while the seeds with bad quality would wither away. It would only take Zhang Tie a little bit of time to sow the crops. For the seeds of plants, he could just scatter them about. It was simple, convenient, and highly efficient. If they could survive in the wild, there was no reason for them to die here in the Castle of Black Iron. In addition, the conditions in the Castle of Black Iron seemed more suitable for plants to grow than that in the wild.


    After thinking it through, Zhang Tie broke the shells of those parasol seeds and scattered them about onto a patch of land in the east. Then, he walked over to that small tree.


    Similar to how it smelled when the Leakless Fruit was ripe, when Zhang Tie walked over to the small tree, the fragrance of a fresh fruit drifted towards him.


    At that moment, two cute fruits were hanging on the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree; one in red, and the other in silver.


    Zhang Tie checked the Leakless Fruit first.


    ¡ª¡ª27 hours left before the Leakless Fruit becomes ripe!


    A line of words appeared in front of Zhang Tie and disappeared after a while. Zhang Tie grinned. ¡°One Leakless Fruit a week¡ªlife with the Leakless Fruit is truly marvelous.¡± Then, Zhang Tie moved his eyes onto the diamond-shaped, silver-colored fruit that was slightly bigger than a walnut¡ªthe Iron Body Fruit. When Zhang Tie put his hand over it, another line appeared.


    ¡ª¡ªThe Iron Body Fruit has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    Looking at that line of disappearing words, Zhang Tie smiled¡­

 53 Effects of the Iron Body Frui

    Chapter 53: Effects of the Iron Body Fruit


    Translator:Editor:


    When Zhang Tie realized the way to use the Iron Body Fruit was exactly the same as the Leakless Fruit, he no longer hesitated and directly plucked the strange-looking fruit and consumed it. It was slightly crunchy and had a fragrance similar to a peach that was not yet fully ripe. Afterwards, he waited for a while for the effects to manifest; however, nothing happened. He then waiting for another while, but nothing happened either¡­


    After quite a while, Zhang Tie blinked a few times and had found that nothing had changed. ¡°There really is a sharp difference between the effects of the Iron Body Fruit and the Leakless Fruit¡± He felt slightly disappointed; however, in that split second, Zhang Tie realized that he might have been too greedy. As he got this fruit from only being beaten up by a kid for 4 times, the effects of the Iron Body Fruit could not be noticed right now without quantitative accumulation. Iron body¡­ Iron body¡­ Naturally, you can¡¯t have an iron body after having been beaten up only 4 times.


    Thinking in this way, Zhang Tie recovered his composure. After finishing the practice ofand polishing the burning point at his tailbone, Zhang Tie fell asleep.


    At midnight, Zhang Tie woke up because of his growling stomach. Hurriedly sitting up, he grabbed several pieces of toilet paper from the head of his bed and locked on to the arched door in his mind, entering the Castle of Black Iron. With short breaths, he ran towards a corner in the Castle of Black Iron. Covering his stomach, he was only able to run a few dozen steps before he could no longer hold it in. He then immediately took off his pants and squatted. The moment he squatted, he cooly excreted the waste in his bowels, which smelt particularly bad. After more than ten minutes, Zhang Tie felt that he had discharged all the messy things from the insides his stomach. After cleaning his butt, Zhang Tie stared at that ¡°polluted¡± place as he frowned. At the same time, he was startled by that black pile.


    F*ck, that was really disgusting. How did my sh*t turn black?


    That pile of sh*t smelled extremely terrible and looked disgusting. Thus, like a cat, Zhang Tie decided to cover his shit with soil.


    After looking around, Zhang Tie ran over to that small tree, which had a sundry box beside it. The ¡°powerful rat poison¡± and the dagger gifted by Donder were stored inside the box in addition to a pile of sundries inside. Zhang Tie picked up a small shovel and ran back to that messy place. He then shoveled a pile of soil and covered the ¡°evidence¡±. After doing that, Zhang Tie returned to his bed and fell asleep again.


    Zhang Tie faintly felt that his stomachache was related to the Iron Body Fruit; however, he didn¡¯t put much thought into it, as he didn¡¯t lose anything in the end. As for the other effects of the Iron Body Fruit, Zhang Tie thought that he would know about it sooner or later!


    That night, Zhang Tie slept dreamlessly. When Zhang Tie woke up again, although the pain and the soreness of his body had greatly lessened, he felt no other special changes. His underwear was still dry and cold, and his p*nis was still erect and hard.


    Zhang Tie decided not to worry about the matter regarding the Iron Body Fruit anymore. When it came to mind that today would be his ¡°heyday¡±, Zhang excitedly got up immediately and began the start of his new day.


    ¡­¡­


    Zhang Tie entered school in the cleanest clothes he had and in the new leather shoes gifted by his elder brother. What waited for Zhang Tie was not admiration; instead, he was met with all sorts of jokes, looks of ridicule, and gossiping from the bastards in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood.


    ¡°Hey¡­ Hey¡­ You¡¯re well prepared!¡± Fatty Barley came over to Zhang Tie with an obscene smile after class. ¡°You look much cleaner and fresher than you usually are. A fresher virgin may be well welcomed by women. You may be gifted with a surprise~¡±


    Right when Zhang Tie was pretending to punch Barley in the face, he heard the word ¡°surprise¡±, causing his hormones to immediately rise up rapidly. ¡°What surprise?¡± Zhang Tie asked the Fatty curiously.


    Barley smiled obscenely. However, before he was able to answer, Hista, the evilest guy in the brotherhood, had already wrapped his arm around Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder and whispered something to Zhang Tie, making him really excited¡­


    ¡­¡­


    Could a virgin concentrate on listening to lessons on the very day when he would end his virginity after having endured for more than ten years? At the very least, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t. Most of the horny students in the class weren¡¯t in the mood for lessons as well; instead of paying attention, most of them were busy asking the teacher for their signature, as after tomorrow, they would have to say farewell to this classroom. Because of this, most classes in the final two days completely became classes where the students would ask for signatures from their teachers, and Miss Daina obviously had the most fans. Classmates also sought signature from each other. Early in the morning, Zhang Tie had already written down his blessings for many of his classmates.


    Although nobody would admit it, everybody felt somewhat dejected over having to leave school. Every one of them wanted to leave something behind, as none of them knew how many among them would lose their lives during the survival training and would be forgotten by the others after several years.


    The training class in the afternoon was their final class at this school. In the last training class, the instructor only talked about one topic¡ªthe usage of the long-handled weapon in wild training and how to hunt several common animals with long-handled weapons through teamwork. The instructor¡¯s implications were very obvious. For these green birds, they had to cooperate with each other as they used long-handled weapons like pikes and spears to keep a distance between them and the enemy. This was a critical rule for the training in the wild.


    Finally, class was over. Outside the school gates, the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood also bade farewell to Zhang Tie like what they did to Doug last time.


    ¡°Hope you will be a real man when we see you tomorrow!¡± Bagdad gave his blessings.


    ¡°Enjoy it!¡± Sharwin added.


    ¡°Young men are always ferocious for the first time. Once you can make her feel good, it will be possible to do it another five or six times!¡±


    ¡°Do not keep those damned tea leaves in your mouth!¡± Doug suggested.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget how to stall time as I told you!¡± Leit smiled obscenely.


    Zhang Tie had mixed feelings at that moment. He felt feelings of excitement and anxiety, and he also felt sadness since he could not easily see Miss Daina again.


    Finally, under Barley¡¯s urgency and those horny guys¡¯ whistles and laughter, Zhang Tie left with Barley and headed for the destination where he would end his virginity.


    ¡°The same place that Doug had gone last time?¡± Zhang Tie asked curiously on the way.


    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Barley nodded. ¡°Miss Anna is a good instructor to guide you to be a real man¡­¡±


    ¡°I have to work in the grocery store today!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve already told me. I will go pick you up at the grocery store at 7 pm, and we will go look for Miss Anna together!¡±


    ¡°Fine!¡± Zhang Tie didn¡¯t ask where Barley was heading to, as each man had his own secret.


    When they arrived at the first intersection at the railway station, Zhang Tie left Barley and headed for Donder¡¯s grocery store.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Donder¡¯s words almost made Zhang Tie fall down outside the grocery store. ¡°I remember you told me that you would not be a virgin soon. Judging from your clothes and the pair of new leather shoes, I guess it will happen tonight. Hey¡­ Hey¡­ Actually, I would understand if you told me it would happen tonight. There is an old saying in the Oriental Continent¡ª¡®It¡¯s worth one thousand gold coins to sleep with the one you love¡¯. I won¡¯t be that unkind. How about imparting you with two techniques? I am sure the lady will be highly spirited when you use them!¡± Donder smiled obscenely.


    The fatty¡¯s talent of observing others made Zhang Tie furious. His secret was revealed so easily, making Zhang Tie feel like he had lost face.


    ¡°Yea, I will go for a woman two hours later to end my virginity. I heard that young men always performed ferociously for the first time, and they could even do it seven or eight times. Dear boss, how long has it been since you have not been able to do it seven or eight times in one night?¡± Zhang Tie purposely patted his own forehead. ¡°Oh, I almost forgot. At your age, you should just stay healthy since you are not suitable to do this anymore!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s harsh attack, Donder, who was drinking water, coughed heavily. As a result, the two glared at each other furiously for a while, just like two fighting cocks. Then, they harrumphed consecutively, turned away their heads respectively, and started doing their own jobs.


    Donder dealt with several transactions, while Zhang Tie settled the accounts. It might be because Zhang Tie had made him angry, but the narrow-minded man looked cold for two hours. During that period, he didn¡¯t say a single word to Zhang Tie. Whenever their eyes met, Donder would harrumph and turn his face away. Two hours later, that guy spoke stingily again, ¡°I will not provide you supper!¡± Hearing this, Zhang Tie left.


    Walking out of the gate, Zhang Tie saw Barley greeting him on the other side of the street. In a split second, he felt his heart pounding again, more heavily this time. Zhang Tie then shook his head and that gloomy face of Glaze flashed away in his mind.


    ¡°Motherf*cker!¡± Zhang Tie cursed inside.


    ¡­¡­


    In an alley nearby the railway station, Huck became gradually infuriated after having received no clues in the past week. Even Snade became anxious as he played his dagger. It was becoming closer to the final moment when the organization would take action. If they were still unable to contact that influential figure inside the Blackhot City within two days, they would fail this task and would have to escape as far away as possible¡­


    The darkness fell again when a thin beggar ran into the alley.


    ¡°We¡¯ve found a person who meets your description¡­¡±


    ¡­¡­

 54 The First Time

    Chapter 54: The First Time


    Translator:Editor:


    There were many first times in a person¡¯s life, and some of them were unforgettable¡ªfor example, today¡¯s first time!


    At about 7:00 pm, Zhang Tie adopted Fatty Barley¡¯s suggestion and ate two pieces of bread brought by Barley. After drinking some water, he walked on the way together with Barley, just like the way they had previously accompanied Doug.


    On the way, Fatty Barley constantly told Zhang Tie about what he had to pay attention to. ¡°If you eat too much, you will not perform well, and neither would you if you were hungry. Later, when you see Miss Anna, you¡¯d better pretend to be slightly bashful. According to my observations, that woman seems to like conquering bashful boys, especially virgins!¡±


    ¡°Bashful, how?¡± Zhang Tie asked while looking a bit nervous.


    Barley glanced at Zhang Tie. ¡°You don¡¯t need to pretend, she will know you are a virgin at first sight!¡±


    ¡°F*ck!¡± Zhang Tie cursed inside.


    ¡°How do you know that¡­ that¡­ Miss Anna?¡± Zhang Tie asked curiously.


    ¡°When I was 12, my dad took me to visit a friend¡¯s home, and that¡¯s where I got acquainted with her. Ever since the first time I saw her, I had been attracted to her plump breasts. She was really sexy and started to seduce me the instant she saw me¡­!¡± Barley said frankly.


    Visited her at the age of 12? Zhang Tie became puzzled.


    ¡°Is she married?¡±


    ¡°Nope, Miss Anna was a mistress of a man who was a middle-class official in the Department of Goods in Blackhot City. Soon after he saw her for the first time, her lover was arrested. Do you remember that Great Train Robbery that happened several years ago? Her lover was arrested because of that event¡­¡±


    The Great Train Robbery was a bloody robbery that shocked the whole Andaman Alliance and had occurred when Zhang Tie was in preliminary school. At that time, a train filled with many valuable materials was being transported outside of Blackhot City, heading for the manufacturing center of Andaman Alliance¡ª¡ªKalur, the city of machines. However, it was robbed by the Red-Scarf Burglars on the way, and as a result, there was nothing left on the train. Additionally, the driver, a detachment of soldiers on the train, and as well as several unfortunate workers were murdered. Ever since that incident, the Red-Scarf Burglars had been wanted across Blackhot City.


    ¡°How is that incident related to her lover?¡± Zhang Tie was surprised.


    ¡°Of course, I was also confused at first. However, when I came back late after school, I saw Miss Anna applying makeup to herself while she stood under the roadside lamps. When I came back home, I asked my dad why and he told me that her lover was arrested for disclosing secrets of some of the goods in the train. It was reasonable to arrest him¡­¡± Fatty Barley cursed while walking along with Zhang Tie. This story was really interesting to Zhang Tie.


    ¡°What then?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s so alluring that I couldn¡¯t stand anymore, so one day, I stole some of my dad¡¯s money and helped her!¡±


    ¡°Help?¡± Zhang Tie stared at Barley curiously. However, that guy was not bashful in the least.


    ¡°Of course, I helped her with either money or my body. Try to imagine how lonely and helpless she is without her lover. In every aspect, she definitely needs the comfort and help from a man. And as I could meet her demands, I used my innocent body and spent all the money I could get for her!¡± Barley explained shamelessly.


    Zhang Tie became speechless as he had noticed another trait of Fatty¡ªshameless, endlessly shameless! How could he explain something like sleeping with a whore to be such a holy and righteous act? This was the first time Zhang Tie had heard such a ridiculous theory.


    Zhang Tie knew that there were some apologists and hypocrites that would criticize seeking a whore as a morally degenerate and filthy behavior; however, there were also shameless guys like Barley who would glorify it as a beautiful deed to help the unprivileged. For Zhang Tie, this was neither holy nor indecent; it was just like the trades that happened in Donder¡¯s grocery store¡ªthere was a need. A woman needed money to survive, while a man needed to complete his coming-of-age ceremony. Nobody got hurt, and IOUs didn¡¯t exist. What was more, Zhang Tie thought that he was neither an apologist nor a righteous man or swordsman that might exist somewhere at a given point in time. Zhang Tie could not change what happened to her before, and neither should he assume responsibilities for sleeping with her in the future. Each man had his own story. Today, he needed a woman¡¯s help to become a real man. That was it!


    ¡°Take this¡­¡± Barley gave him a small paper parcel. ¡°This should work if you¡¯re not as stupid as Doug!¡±


    After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie took that paper parcel and opened it. Taking out three tea leaves, he put them inside his mouth and smacked his lips. ¡°It tastes like nothing special!¡±


    This was the first time Zhang Tie had eaten tea leaves to freshen his mouth.


    By the time they stood in front of the same door that Doug had previously stood at, darkness had already fallen and the alley looked much darker. Perhaps it was because of his excessive male hormones, but Zhang Tie was excited.


    Spitting out the three tea leaves, he took a deep breath under Barley¡¯s encouraging stare. ¡°Bang! Bang! Bang!¡± He knocked on the door and waited peacefully. Zhang Tie began to hallucinate about Miss Anna¡¯s sexy figure and her sexy expression as his heart started to pound. He became breathless, and his erect p*nis stood up once again, forcing him to have to toss one hand into his pocket and press down on that wild thing.


    A little bit of lamp light penetrated from behind the door. Before Zhang Tie knocked on the door for the second time, the sound of footsteps drifted over. Hearing the footsteps, Zhang Tie became even more breathless and started to peep through the cracks of the door...


    When the door opened, the frowning face of a woman above the age of 50 with gray hair appeared in front of Zhang Tie. The old woman stood in front of Zhang Tie and Barley with a grin. Her front row of silver teeth scared Zhang Tie, causing him to take a few steps back. Never would he have thought that this fantasies of the ¡°surprise¡± would turn into a ¡°frightening shock¡±. At this moment, his p*nis shrunk¡­


    ¡°Come on in!¡± the old woman uttered¡­


    Zhang Tie turned pale and stared at Barley. Zhang Tie swore inside that he would definitely beat up Fatty Barley if this was Miss Anna, even at the risk of exposing his real strength¡­


    ¡°She¡¯s Miss Anna¡¯s servant!¡± Fatty explained. Hearing that, Zhang Tie felt reassured. ¡°Where¡¯s Miss Anna?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s inside¡­¡± the servant replied and closed the door. Barley then went inside with Zhang Tie.


    The house was not large, but it was well cleaned. When they passed through the door, they saw a passageway and a guest room, which looked really comfortable and warm. The whole house was filled with a slight scent of a woman. Smelling this, Zhang Tie¡¯s p*nis became as hard as fine steel once again.


    Waiting in the guest room, Zhang Tie found Miss Anna coming out of the washroom as she dried her crimson-red hair; she seemed to have just taken a bath. Miss Anna was wearing a pair of sandals and translucent lace camis that just barely covered her butt. She was thin and tall and had plump breasts and a plump butt. Although she was not extremely beautiful, she still looked enchanting and seductive, especially her pair of watery eyes. Once his eyes fell upon that woman, Zhang Tie was no longer able to avert his eyes. Consequently, the blood all over his body rushed towards his p*nis¡­


    Hidden under her translucent lace camis, her body appeared under the light of the lamps in the guest room. Her snow-white thighs were exposed, and the graceful curves hidden under the pajamas almost drove Zhang Tie mad. Her breasts especially stood out. Zhang Tie swore that they were definitely larger than Miss Daina¡¯s. Droplets of water from her hair fell onto her breasts, causing the thin camis to become even more translucent as her breasts stuck more tightly to it. Besides the seductive plump breasts, the two purplish grapes also loomed.


    Without needing to say a word, Barley pointed at Zhang Tie, and in response, Miss Anna showed an enchanting smile that made Zhang Tie dazed as he instantly mistook this woman for Miss Daina.


    Miss Anna walked over and held Zhang Tie¡¯s hand while he was still nervous and gaping. After kissing him gently on his face, she pulled Zhang Tie into her bedroom.


    Smelling the fragrance of that mature woman, Zhang Tie became more nervous and slow-witted. Before entering the bedroom, Zhang Tie anxiously looked back at Barley, only to see Barley clasping his fist in encouragement.


    The door to the bedroom was closed by Miss Anna as she pulled Zhang Tie towards the huge bed with a pink mosquito net. At that moment, Zhang Tie felt like he was in a wet dream.


    ¡°Come on, baby. Apply some rose essence on your auntie¡­¡± Miss Anna took out a fine glass bottle containing a dark-red liquid. She passed it to Zhang Tie and gave him a fascinating smile as she slightly undid the straps of her camis. Immediately, a charming, naked female body was lazily lying in front of Zhang Tie ¡­


    At that moment, Zhang Tie was in a daze. Her naked body was truly stimulating. Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva and moved two steps forward. Seeing Miss Anna staring at his high rising tent and her bashful smile as she rested her face on her hand, Zhang Tie felt all the blood rushing to his head and immediately charged at her¡­


    ¡°Slower, baby, ah¡­¡±

 55 Caugh

    Chapter 55: Caught


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    After seeing Zhang Tie enter the bedroom with Miss Anna, Barley paid the old servant 4 silver coins and then sat in the guest room alone as he drunk water peacefully.


    Listening to the faint moan of Miss Anna from inside the bedroom, Barley showed an obscene smile. After a while, he heard various strange sounds and the gentle laughters of Miss Anna. More than ten minutes later, a miserable cry drifted over, almost frightening Barley who was drinking water. Barley thought that it might have been Zhang Tie¡¯s cry. Then, the bedroom became silent for a while. Several minutes later, another miserable cry was heard again. Barley heard it clearly this time and it truly came from Zhang Tie.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Barley curiously stared at the bedroom. He knew that Miss Anna had no special hobbies and she was the best teacher for virgin boys. How come Bighead cried so miserably?


    After the second miserable cry, no more sounds were heard from the bedroom. 5 or 6 minutes later, Barley saw Zhang Tie dejectedly walking out of the bedroom with a pale face. Lowering his head, Zhang Tie pulled Barley¡¯s arm and ran outside without saying a single word.


    They didn¡¯t slow down until they were 100 meters away from Miss Anna¡¯s home¡­


    ¡°What¡¯s happening, Bighead? Why were you crying so miserably?¡± Fatty Barley asked while gasping.


    Zhang Tie looked frustrated. He opened his mouth wanting to say something, but he didn¡¯t say anything in the end. Only under the insistence of Barley¡¯s repeated questions did Zhang Tie reluctantly pour out his secret quietly¡­


    ¡°My d*ck¡­ expanded too much. It was similar unsheathing a sword, but it was difficult to pull it out. I have tried to ¡®unsheathe¡¯ it twice, but it almost tore off the ¡®sheath¡¯ before being fully ¡®unsheathed¡¯.¡­


    ¡°Did you have the same feeling when you slept with her for the first time? Was it utterly different from that in dream?¡± Zhang Tie asked Barley unconfidently.


    Hearing what Zhang Tie said, Barley gaped. Although he wanted to freely laugh loudly, he solemnly suggested, ¡°Bro, it¡¯s nothing serious. You should get circumcised when you have time¡­¡±


    ¡­¡­


    It seemed that Zhang Tie¡¯s plan to end his virgin status absolutely failed. Thinking of that disastrous defeat, Zhang Tie was fully frustrated.


    ¡°Circumcise? F*ck! Nobody has told me about that. It seemed that I didn¡¯t have that problem when ¡°fighting¡± Miss Daina in the dream. How come I couldn¡¯t stand it when in a real ¡®fight¡¯? It seemed that my good reputation would be ruined today.¡± Zhang Tie was willing to bet that Barley, that talkative guy, would definitely spread this awkward matter among the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood tomorrow.


    ¡°Bro, why are you so unhappy? Tell us, so we¡¯ll be happy. Hahaha¡­¡± Whenever Zhang Tie thought of the bad traits of the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, he saw no bright future.


    At that moment, Zhang Tie saw the two crescents hanging in the sky, seemingly giving off a smile of ridicule. After separating from Barley, Zhang Tie stepped on to the road back home gloomily while casually kicking cobblestones on his way home.


    Unconsciously, Zhang Tie moved onto a less populated path¡­


    ¡°Bang.¡± Zhang Tie had walked into someone. ¡°Ah, sorry¡­¡±


    He had walked into a huge figure. After apologizing, Zhang Tie raised his face and saw a familiar, evil face. As his two hands clasped around Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulders like a pair of iron pincers, he said, ¡°I finally found you, boy¡­¡±


    The face looked slightly familiar. The moment Zhang Tie wanted to open his mouth, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head as everything turned pitch black¡ªhe had lost consciousness


    ¡­¡­


    Feeling a cold sensation as cold water had been poured on his face, Zhang Tie opened his eyes. He then saw two ugly faces through the flickering of the lamp lights, giving off an expression as if they wanted to eat him. A cold feeling could be felt as he realized the snake-like man had already placed a dagger at his throat.


    ¡°Boy, I can easily cut through your windpipe before you can even shout. Try it if you don¡¯t believe me. If I¡¯m clear, nod once. Afterwards, we can have a good conversation!¡± Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know why, but he was almost more calm when facing dangers. At that moment, Zhang Tie¡¯s mind was as clear as a crystal. Hearing the man¡¯s suggestion, Zhang Tie immediately thought of four pieces of useful information in his mind:.


    The first piece of information: The man with the dagger is preventing him from shouting, which meant that this place was not very far from populated areas.


    The second piece of information: Since his fate was in their hands, and they didn¡¯t seem to care about killing him, he needed to speak carefully.


    The third piece of information: He had met them last Thursday when he had walked into the manly guy called Huck. In the end, he picked up a wooden plate. Since they are looking for him, it must be related to that wooden plate. It seems that although that wooden plate was useless to him, it was very important to them, thus the wooden plate would determine Zhang Tie¡¯s life or death.


    The fourth piece of information: Since the two of them have captured him, this means that they are not afraid of being recognized by Zhang Tie. And since they don¡¯t care about the troubles from the magistrates, then it seems that they have made preparations to ensure that Zhang Tie wouldn¡¯t be a threat. They must have made one of the following two decisions: First, they will take the wooden plate and leave Blackhot City; Second, kill him directly. Only having chosen one of those two options would they be this confident¡­


    As the icy dagger stuck close to his throat, the faint smell of blood immediately allowed Zhang Tie to determine their final decision. As he oozed sweat all over his body, Zhang Tie knew that he was faced with the greatest crisis in his life¡­


    All those thoughts flashed in Zhang Tie¡¯s mind in a single second. Then, Zhang Tie nodded¡­


    Soon after, the dagger was moved away; however, the icy edge caused goosebumps to appear on the skin on Zhang Tie¡¯s neck.


    ¡°I remember you! We met last Thursday!¡± Before the two were able to open their mouths, Zhang Tie had forced himself to calm down and started the conversation, causing Huck and Snade to be stunned simultaneously.


    Huck and Snade stared at each other silently.


    ¡°Very good, boy! Since you remember us, let¡¯s not talk nonsense! Give that wooden plate back to us!¡± Snade forced a smile within a split second as he immediately put away his dagger. ¡°That plate is very important to us, so give it back right now. If you do so, then we¡¯ll both benefit!¡±


    ¡°Can I sit up?¡± Zhang Tie asked.


    ¡°Heh¡­ Heh¡­¡± Huck smiled viciously as he stretched out his hands and yanked Zhang Tie up to his feet. He then pushed Zhang Tie into a chair. The moment Zhang Tie sat up, he noticed that all his personal belongs had been searched through by the two and were spread over the desk. It seemed that the two had only woken Zhang Tie up when they found nothing. If Zhang Tie brought the plate with him, he might have already been a corpse by now.


    Looking around, Zhang Tie realized he was in a bedroom with no windows. Around him were various common appliances that were cheap and clean. He could hear faint human voices from outside. Glancing over this bedroom, Zhang Tie instantly remembered those hotels especially used by the pioneers in Blackhot City. Due to the living habits for pioneers that drew them to secrecy and safety, none of the hotels for pioneers had windows, thus they felt like secret rooms. This room had most of the features one would find in a pioneer¡¯s hotel room.


    ¡°I don¡¯t remember taking your thing¡­¡± Hearing his words, Huck and Snade¡¯s faces twisted at the same time. However, before the two were able to beat him up, Zhang Tie immediately added, ¡°That day I walked into you¡­¡± Zhang Tie then pointed at Huck. ¡°After you left, I found a small cloth bag on the ground, and when I opened it, I found a common, triangular piece of wood. I wonder whether you are looking for that?¡±


    ¡°That piece of wood is very important to us. If you can hand it back to us, you will get 10 gold coins as a reward¡­¡± Snade gave a kind smile. ¡°Can you tell us where you put it?¡±


    ¡°Nobody would trust you!¡± Zhang Tie cursed inside. Putting on a greedy look, Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva as he looked at Snade. ¡°10 gold coins? Are you cheating me? I just f*cked a woman for 4 silver coins today. If I had 10 gold coins, I could f*ck 200 women¡­¡±


    ¡°How could I cheat you? Take a look¡­¡± As he said this, Snade took out his purse from his coat, opening it and pouring out dozens of gold coins into his hands immediately.. Seeing those glittering coins, Zhang Tie gaped. At this moment, he was not pretending; ever since he was born, he had truly never seen so many gold coins.


    Zhang Tie stretched out his hand to take them, but the gold coins were retracted at the same time. ¡°You still haven¡¯t told me where you have put it.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s at my house. If you let me go, I¡¯ll go and bring it back to you. Since I found it useless when I returned home that night, I had casually thrown it into my nephew¡¯s bunch of building blocks!¡±

 56 A Wise Figh

    Chapter 56: A Wise Fight


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Zhang Tie spoke fluently, causing the people who listened to feel as if his words were believable. Hearing his words, Snade gazed at Zhang Tie¡¯s face for a long while. He seemed as if he was trying to see through something, but Zhang Tie simply pretended as if he saw nothing. With eyes staring at Snade¡¯s purse, Zhang Tie swallowed his saliva forcefully.


    ¡°How about we accompany you back home? If we let you go, it would be difficult for us to find you again. We are just common pioneers. Since we are new to Blackhot City, we are not familiar with the roads!¡± Gazing at Zhang Tie, Snade explained kindly.


    Zhang Tie pretended to considerate it. ¡°Fine! But you have to pay me 3¡­ No, 5 gold coins as an advanced payment. After all, I picked that thing up for you. If you want it back, you have to, more or less, pay me as a reward¡­¡±


    Snade then gave Huck a look. Zhang Tie could tell that during their exchange, they had exchanged a cruel message from their looks. Aside from that, the corner of Huck¡¯s mouth rose from the terrifying message, showing disdain towards Zhang Tie¡¯s ignorance of the situation.


    ¡°Alright, lead the way!¡± In a split second, five gold coins were thrown into Zhang Tie¡¯s hand. Zhang Tie clasped them instantly and hurriedly tossed them into his pocket. He then pointed at his belongings on the table. ¡°Could you please give them back to me?¡±


    ¡°Of course¡­¡±


    As Zhang Tie had expected, they were in a large hotel for pioneers which was close to the edge of the upper eastern region of Blackhot City that neighbored the railway station. Huck and Snade had chosen a remote independent suite. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know how they had carried him inside. As pioneers always had bad temperaments and had weird behaviors, there were many taboos among them. Given Huck¡¯s exaggerated figure and strength, once he hid Zhang Tie inside a bag and carried him with on his back while wearing a cloak, nobody would doubt that there was a man inside. When Zhang Tie was carried inside, he was still in a coma; however, when he went out, Snade let Zhang Tie put on a cloak and a hat to slightly cover his face. Thus, Zhang Tie left the hotel with Huck and Snade, shoulder in shoulder as if they were bosom friends. Naturally, nobody else spared them a glance, as there were always people from all walks of life that wandered around here.


    Treating him as if he was a bosom friend, Snade stretched out his right hand and placed it on Zhang Tie¡¯s neck, causing Zhang Tie to cry inwardly. Rather than it being a hand over his neck, Zhang Tie felt like it was a poisonous snake who would spit out its tongue. With a casual bite, the poisonous snake would be able to easily kill him. Snade gave off a disgusting and fishy smell. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know when the dagger would appear in Snade¡¯s hand and cut through his neck as it ended his life. Before the two of them, even though Zhang Tie was already a LV 1 fighter, he still felt as powerless as a baby. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know whether they were LV 6 or LV 7; he only knew that they could kill him easily, thus he didn¡¯t have any hope of being able to fight against them. If he wanted to survive tonight, he had to make other decisions.


    ¡°Since we are new to Blackhot City, we have been feeling rather tense, so we may end up hurting others to protect ourselves. So, no matter who we meet, could you please not make us nervous? This will benefit all of us,¡± Snade told Zhang Tie kindly as they walked out of the hotel.


    Zhang Tie nodded, yet his brain spun rapidly.


    It was almost 9pm, only a few more hours before the curfew was in effect, thus there were currently numerous people on the street. Zhang Tie and Snade looked very close as they walked shoulder to shoulder with Huck following behind. They were currently heading for Zhang Tie¡¯s ¡°home¡±. On the way, they had met two groups of the guards from the City Guard Army. Zhang Tie knew that City Guard Army could not save him, so he didn¡¯t do anything to arouse their attention. In addition, he was really scared of encountering people whom he was acquainted with. Once that happened, it was very possible for him to lose his life tonight. Fortunately, that didn¡¯t happen. After passing by two groups of city guards from the City Guard Army, Zhang Tie felt that Snade and Huck were no longer alert. The atmosphere among the three was also relaxed.


    ¡°That piece of wood is just made of common red pine, so why is it so important to you?¡± Zhang Tie asked Snade as if they were bosom friends.


    ¡°You know for pioneers like us, sometimes we need to trade and contact others. That piece of red pine is our token. Since the grains and the quality of the material are quite distinct, we will always split the piece of red pine in half. When the two halves have matching grains, then it means we have found the correct person. When we get that piece of wood, we can finish our task and leave. You are really a lucky dog to get 10 gold coins so easily¡­¡± Snade answered in a relaxed way.


    Hearing his words, Zhang Tie finally understood what that piece of red pine wood was used for. He guessed that the two were here to look for someone and had taken that half of red pine as a token, but they had unexpectedly lost it. Therefore, they hurriedly searched for him as he might be the very person who had seen that piece of wood.


    ¡°You know, I am really sorry. If I didn¡¯t walk into you, you wouldn¡¯t have lost your thing. How about taking only 8 gold coins?¡± Zhang Tie said bashfully.


    ¡°We¡¯ve already made the deal, so we will give you 10. You are fortunate. It¡¯s our fault, so we¡¯ll pay the price¡­¡±


    ¡°Hoho, thank you. Those gold coins really help me a lot. My parents would never give me so much pocket money and would only give me 20 silver coins a week. I can only sleep with two women with it¡­¡±


    ¡°Hahahaha¡­¡±


    ¡°Hehhehhehheh¡­¡±


    The two prattled with each other, truly giving off an image of bosom friends.


    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Snade suddenly asked when Zhang Tie was totally relaxed. Zhang Tie almost poured out his real name. However, he was very clear-minded tonight and had already made a plan to stay alive. Zhang Tie instantly replied:


    ¡°I¡¯m Du Shaofeng¡­¡± Soon after Zhang Tie spoke, he immediately covered his mouth with a hand and stared at Snade in a hasty manner. It seemed as if he had made a mistake and had carelessly disclosed a secret. At the same time, a pleasant look flashed in Snade¡¯s eyes.¡± The boy is still innocent.¡±


    After more than 20 minutes of walking on a street in the upper eastern region of the city, they arrived at the residence area where Zhang Tie¡¯s ¡°home¡± was located.


    ¡°You wait here. I will go in and bring the thing to you,¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s heart pounded, though he seemed as if he was talking as usual.


    ¡°Is your home here?¡± seeing the heavily-guarded residence ablaze with lights and the two rows of fully-armored City Guard Army standing outside the gate, Snade and Huck asked dejectedly.


    ¡°Yes, my brother is a military official in Blackhot City. This is the residence for the relatives of the City Guard Army officials, so of course we live here¡­¡± Zhang Tie replied, ¡°We didn¡¯t live here before, but ever since my elder brother became an official, he got a house here. That¡¯s why we all moved here. Wait for a moment, I will bring it back to you soon!¡±


    The instant Zhang Tie wanted to move, Snade clasped onto him. A cold light flashed in Snade¡¯s eyes as he stared at Zhang Tie¡¯s face like a snake capturing its prey.


    ¡°Are you familiar with the guards over there?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I live in here, so of course we are acquainted with each other!¡±


    ¡°Then, let¡¯s go in together!¡±


    ¡°Well¡­¡± Zhang Tie forced a smile and said in a relaxed way, ¡°The residence is strictly managed. As you two are new here, you cannot go inside directly. I will let the guard call my elder brother out so that he could lead us in. Come on, let¡¯s go look for him together...¡±


    Saying this, Zhang Tie moved one step forward¡­


    The three then walked towards the gate of the community together. However, Zhang Tie¡¯s heart pounded. He felt his mouth was dry and his eyes were dazed. He felt like he was walking on a steel wire hanging in the air while under his feet was a bottomless chasm. Once the guards say they don¡¯t know Zhang Tie, he would be killed. Therefore, at that moment, Zhang Tie was betting with his life that Snade and Huck were more afraid of being exposed than he was. Zhang Tie felt that the two were extremely afraid of the City Guard Army of Blackhot City, as whenever they met the City Guard Army on the way, Zhang Tie could obviously feel that Snade would clasp him even harder. Common guards from the City Guard Army might be easily killed by these two; however, military officials of the City Guard Army in the Blackhot City were all above LV 5. As this was the residence for the relatives of military officials, there were a great number of great fighters inside, thus Zhang Tie didn¡¯t believe that the two would dare to go inside with him. Zhang Tie clearly knew that he might have a chance to survive tonight if they dared not go in with him. If he showed them where the wood was truly hidden, he would be killed. If they couldn¡¯t get their wood, they would kill him as well.


    He learned this from Donder as an apprentice during the past two years in the grocery store. When you give a despaired person a beacon of hope, you would get a beacon of hope when you felt despair. You should always make yourself useful to others. Don¡¯t be disposable. This was the key rule for the underprivileged when in trouble.


    If the two guys finally trusted him, they would try to let him in. Then, he could escape from the other gate of the community.


    The two rows of City Guard Army standing outside the gate of the community were becoming closer to them. Although Zhang Tie pretended to be calm, he was actually becoming increasingly reluctant to move forward. They were drawing closer and closer to those guards¡­


    60 steps¡­


    50 steps¡­


    40 steps...


    30 steps¡­


    Seeing the three of them drawing closer, alert soldiers had already glanced at them. Finally, at about 20 steps away from those soldiers, Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder felt it being clasped even more tightly as Snade had already forced him to move away in a different direction.


    ¡°I¡¯ve changed my mind¡­¡± Snade said, which made Zhang Tie relaxed immediately. ¡°We pioneers don¡¯t like to deal with those uniformed workers since easy matters always become difficult when they¡¯re involved. Let¡¯s find another way!¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s very easy!¡± Zhang Tie explained in a confused manner, ¡°I will go in and bring it out for you, or you two can go inside with me and get it together¡­¡±


    ¡°Snade, I feel there is something wrong with the boy¡­¡± Huck said gloomily as Zhang Tie¡¯s heart pounded¡­


    At a dark corner of the street, Snade glanced at Zhang Tie coldly. ¡°Huck, keep an eye on this guy. I will take a look around and see if what this boy is saying is true or not¡­¡±


    The instant Snade left, Huck had already placed one hand onto Zhang Tie¡¯s neck. ¡°Kid, I feel that something is wrong. Don¡¯t play tricks with me. If not, I will break your neck¡­¡±


    Zhang Tie hurriedly nodded¡­


    Ten minutes later, Snade came back and looked gloomy. ¡°Let¡¯s go back first¡­¡±


    ¡°Let me go. Give me two minutes and I will bring it back to you!¡±


    ¡°Shut up!¡± Snade lowered his voice. At the same time, Huck pinched his neck with even more force, causing Zhang Tie¡¯s face to immediately turn purple¡­


    ¡°Keep him alive. Let¡¯s go back and deal with him later¡­¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Then, the three of them returned to the hotel for pioneers faster than they had left. On the way back, Huck and Snade were both silent as they stared at Zhang Tie more fiercely and more viciously than before. As a result, Zhang Tie gradually became dejected. He knew that his plan had failed and the moment to determine his death or life was coming¡­

 57 A Test Concerning Life and Death

    Chapter 57: A Test Concerning Life and Death


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Although this was a test, for Zhang Tie, it was not an impossible task. On the way back to the hotel, Zhang Tie realized that it was possible to lock onto the marvelous arched door between his eyebrows. That meant that once he was given a couple of seconds, he could disappear from their clutches and seek refuge in the Castle of Black Iron. However, once he did this, although he would be able to rid himself of the immediate danger, he could potentially bring a greater and more dangerous dilemma to his family. The secret of the Castle of Black Iron was something so great that once it was exposed, nobody related to him would be able to survive, be it his family, the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, and perhaps even Donder. In the eyes of those great figures, the lives of dozens meant nothing when compared to the secret of the Castle of Black Iron.


    Returning to their room, they closed the door and Huck and Snade immediately showed their ruthlessness.


    ¡°Bang!¡± Zhang Tie was almost thrown onto the ground while his neck was still gripped by Huck. As a result, the bones all over his body almost broke, and as he couldn¡¯t stand the pain, he cried out miserably.


    ¡°Quiet! That might be heard by others!¡± Snade told Huck. Hearing his words, Huck reluctantly pulled back his foot, which he had wanted to use to kick Zhang Tie. Squatting in front of Zhang Tie, Snade patted Zhang Tie¡¯s face. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±


    ¡°My name is Du Shaofeng¡­¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s your elder brother¡¯s name?¡±


    ¡°Du Shaowu!¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s his position in the City Guard Army of Blackhot City?¡±


    ¡°Major commander of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Regiment of the City Guard Army of Blackhot City¡­¡± Zhang Tie responded miserably, ¡°That piece of wood was truly thrown to my nephew as a building block, I swear! Once you let me go back, I will bring it back to you. Why don¡¯t you trust me? I have suggested for you to enter with me, yet you refused! What do you want?¡±


    ¡°Where is your home?¡± Snade ignored what Zhang Tie had said and continued.


    ¡°B301 in that community¡­¡±


    After asking the question, Snade fetched some dirty rags and a rope before he forcefully opened Zhang Tie¡¯s mouth and stuffed some rags into it, causing Zhang Tie to be unable to utter a single word. He then bound Zhang Tie¡¯s hands with the rope. Afterwards, Snade patted his palms and stood up. He said something to Huck before leaving, resulting in only Zhang Tie and Huck being left in the room. Zhang Tie struggled on the ground for a while. He knew where Snade was heading for; however, he wasn¡¯t afraid. Du Shaowu was his elder brother¡¯s superior. He had heard information about the Du Family when he chatted with his elder brother. Unless Snade has a picture of Du Shaofeng, he would never be able to discover that Zhang Tie was telling a lie.


    Half an hour later, Snade returned again.


    ¡°How about it?¡± Huck hurriedly asked as Snade closed the door from the inside.


    Snade looked really gloomy. ¡°It took me 1 gold coin to verify that all the kid¡¯s words were true. There really is a major battalion commander by the name of Du Shaowu in the 3rd Battalion, 4th Regiment in the City Guard Army of Blackhot City. Du Shaowu has a younger brother called Du Shaofeng, who¡¯s as old as this kid. They live in B301 in that community. In addition, Du Shaowu has a 2-year son¡­¡±


    Hearing Snade¡¯s words, Zhang Tie started to twist on the ground again.


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible! I feel there is something wrong with what he has said¡­¡± Huck said furiously, ¡°I should have kicked him to death!¡±


    ¡°I have also felt that there was something off about him, but I couldn¡¯t figure it out. We have no other ways now. If the kid is still telling a lie, we have to kill him!¡± saying this, Snade moved in front of Zhang Tie. Squatting down, he patted Zhang Tie¡¯s face with his hand before saying, ¡°I have known since the beginning that you might be cheating us. I simply wanted to see what tricks you would play. Do you know your mistake? When a man tells a lie, his heartbeat would speed up, causing the veins all over his body to pulse even more strongly, and their body temperature would also slightly increase. Earlier when I had wrapped my hand around your neck, I could figure out when you were telling a lie through your pulse and your body temperature. I could feel that you became most nervous when we were walking towards those soldiers. If you were telling the truth, then your heart then shouldn¡¯t have beat so quickly. You are smarter than most of the other kids at your age I have seen. Pitifully, you have met me!¡±


    As he said this, Snade pulled Zhang Tie¡¯s hair, ignoring how much he was struggling on the ground, and brought him into the washroom in the room while Huck followed behind.


    Entering the washroom, Snade¡¯s dagger suddenly appeared in his hand once again. With a chilly aura, Snade cut the rope on Zhang Tie¡¯s hands. He then stepped on Zhang Tie¡¯s left hand while he turned around Zhang Tie¡¯s right hand and placed it onto the toilet bowl. Afterwards, he placed his dagger onto the artery of Zhang Tie¡¯s right hand.


    ¡°You have one last chance. Tell us where you hid the token!¡± When Snade asked, he pulled out the rags from Zhang Tie¡¯s mouth.


    ¡°It¡¯s in my elder brother¡¯s house. I really mean what I have told you! The reason I became nervous was because I was worried that you would kill me once you got that thing. I could feel that you two were having malicious thoughts and were trying to cheat me by exchanging for that thing with gold coins. Once you promise not to harm me, I will definitely bring that motherf*cking wooden plate back to you¡­¡± Zhang Tie seized the opportunity to explain. Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, Snade frowned and foisted the rags back into his mouth. Afterwards, Zhang Tie¡¯s right wrist felt cold. Following an excruciating pain, fresh red blood trickled down into the toilet bowl. The instant Zhang Tie wanted to struggle, his body had already been held by Huck, causing him to be unable to move in the least.


    The scene suddenly reminded Zhang Tie of how a butcher killed a pig. They bound the pig and poked it. He had found it funny when he saw people slaughter pigs; however, when he was the one slaughtered like a pig, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t find it funny at all. He now started to understand how the pigs thought when they were being slaughtered¡­


    First he felt pain, then it was followed by weakness, and finally, he felt cold. As more and more blood had flowed out, he gradually became more afraid¡­


    ¡°We have already lost patience! We will give you several minutes to tell us the truth. Once you do that, we¡¯ll stop the bleeding and let you live¡­¡± Hearing the alluring words of Snade, Zhang Tie suddenly realized that how happy he was when he wasn''t bleeding.


    Blood continued to trickle down into the toilet bowl from Zhang Tie¡¯s hand, turning the originally white toilet bowl into a pool of blood. Looking at the bloody toilet bowl, Zhang Tie suddenly remembered the topic that he and Donder were talking about, ¡°Blood Sense¡±. He was truly amazed at how women didn¡¯t feel pain when they bled every month¡­ At that moment, Zhang Tie started to admire women¡­ Gradually, he felt cold and weak. He forced a smile and muttered inside, ¡°What mother*cking blood sense!? I really don¡¯t understand it at all, but I am curious¡­¡±


    Time slowly passed by as more and more blood trickled down from his right wrist.


    He then felt dazed and could hardly lock onto that arched door in his mind. ¡°Should I enter the Castle of Black Iron?¡± Zhang Tie asked himself. He wished to survive a bit longer; however, he didn¡¯t want to bring a greater and more dangerous crisis to his family members and the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood.


    During that period, the rags inside Zhang Tie¡¯s mouth were pulled out one more time. Afterwards, Snade asked the same question, yet he received the same answer. Thus, the rags were stuffed back into Zhang Tie¡¯s mouth¡­


    Zhang Tie started to think of his mom¡¯s plump shadow¡­ the increasing white hair on his dad¡¯s head¡­ the pair of leather shoes and the underwear gifted by his elder brother¡­ and Fatty Barley¡¯s suggestion of getting circumcised¡­


    ¡°F*ck! I haven¡¯t even been circumcised yet and am going to die a virgin. It truly is shameful to die as a virgin¡­¡± Zhang Tie felt that he was gradually losing his consciousness¡­


    Looking at the young man¡¯s pale face and his miserable white lips, Snade started to have doubts. He had estimated that the body had already lost over 1800 ml of blood. ¡°If we don¡¯t stop the bleeding, he will die soon. But, he still hasn¡¯t said anything. Were we wrong? Could it be that what he has told us was true? Was the boy actually nervous because he realized we were having malicious thoughts?¡±


    At this moment, Huck also stared at Snade. Since the two of them had worked together for many years now, Huck knew that the method Snade used had made many tough guys succumb to him. Very few people would simply wait for their death since it was much more miserable than just being immediately killed. Could this boy be tougher than those guys? Impossible! Otherwise¡­ were the boy¡¯s words true?


    At that moment, Zhang Tie¡¯s body had completely turned limp by itself. He was no longer able to move. If Zhang Tie simply died in this way, then the two would have to escape tonight from being endlessly hunted down by their organization.


    Seeing the look in Huck¡¯s eyes, Snade also became frustrated. He cursed as he placed two fingers onto Zhang Tie¡¯s cut artery, ¡°F*ck! Just stop the bleeding first. Maybe¡­ he was telling the truth¡­¡±


    With the artery on his right wrist being pressed down, the blood stopped flowing out. At the same time, Zhang Tie saw a bright light before his eyes among the endless darkness. A line of words appeared in his mind:


    ¡ª¡ªThe Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree has detected that the body energy, Qi, and blood of the lord is approaching a dangerous, minimum level. Do you want to begin recovery and invert the flow of blood and Qi through the Leakless Fruit £¿


    ¡ª¡ªYes¡­No


    Zhang Tie spent his last effort to click ¡°Yes¡± in his mind¡­


    ¡­¡­

 58 A Huge Plo

    Chapter 58: A Huge Plot


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Huck and Snade carried Zhang Tie back onto the bed. Snade then pressed Zhang Tie¡¯s artery as Huck fetched a strip of clean cloth and a vial. Opening the vial, Huck shook out some white powder onto the wounded wrist of Zhang Tie. Afterwards, he wrapped up the wound for Zhang Tie with the cloth strip quickly in a familiar motion as he discussed with Snade about their next course of action.


    ¡°It seems that he was telling the truth. What will we do when he wakes up tomorrow?¡± Huck asked impatiently. They never would have imagined that they had mistaken the kid and had almost killed him. Huck was somewhat afraid, as they would never get the token back if the kid was killed. If so, they would be killed as well.


    Looking at Zhang Tie, who was in a deep coma, Snade frowned. ¡°We can¡¯t enter that community residence since it is 100 times more dangerous than that gang we swept. If we enter, we would be killed the instant the kid shouted out. We are not able to fight a major battalion commander like his elder brother, Du Shaofeng. According to the military traditions in Blackhot City, it¡¯s impossible to become a major without being at least LV8 or LV9. So, we should try to avoid meeting his family members and have him bring it back to us¡­¡±


    ¡°But he¡¯s too cunning! I swear he will betray us once he leaves!¡±


    ¡°So what do you have in plan?¡±


    ¡°We have to poison him and have him exchange the token for the antidote. If he¡¯s smart, he knows what to do¡­¡±


    ¡°Good! But will we give him the antidote?¡±


    ¡°Heh, heh, we will kill him when we get the token and have ensured that he had not revealed it to other people. Since he has seen us, if he tells his elder brother about what had happened after getting the antidote, we will be screwed. That¡¯s why we have to kill him¡­¡±


    ¡°We might be in trouble if we kill the kid since people in the hotel have seen us with the kid. His family would definitely be able to get that information through their rich connections!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why we should contact the Niumuen Merchants Group in Blackhot City as soon as we get the token and reach an agreement for that event as well as the time for action. Once that¡¯s out of the way, we will leave Blackhot City. One day after the kid has disappeared is enough time for us to complete our mission. By that time, his family members might not even have been able to respond to what had happened. After that¡­ heh¡­ heh¡­ we will have to worry about nothing!¡±


    ¡°Once we succeed this time, Blackhot City would belong to us. And then we will definitely kill his elder brother, Du Shaowu, with the help of our Lord to prevent potential trouble¡­¡± Huck said viciously.


    After wrapping up the wound for Zhang Tie, the two checked his wound and ensured that it would no longer bleed. Thankfully, Zhang Tie¡¯s life had been temporarily saved. At that moment, Huck¡¯s belly made a ¡°gulugulu¡± sound, reminding them that they had not yet eaten supper. Nobody could survive without food, no matter how great he was.


    ¡°You go and buy some food from the hotel. I will go outside and prepare some things¡­¡±


    ¡°What about the kid?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll return soon¡­¡± Snade stood up and stared at Zhang Tie, who was lying on the bed like a dead man. He then pressed and touched the spot by Zhang Tie¡¯s heart and smirked. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that kid. It would be amazing if he could wake up from the hemorrhagic shock tomorrow morning!¡±


    Afterwards, the two left the bedroom and closed the door¡­


    The instant the two left, Zhang Tie, who was supposed to be in a hemorrhagic shock from Snade¡¯s observations, opened his eyes. Actually, when the two carried him onto the bed, Zhang Tie had already recovered his consciousness. Although he could still not move, he could still perceive everything that was going around him, thus he had heard what Snade and Huck had said.


    Niumuen Merchants Group¡­ Contact¡­ Action¡­ The alluring Blackhot City¡­ Lord¡­


    Zhang Tie felt cold all over. This time, he knew that he had gotten involved in a huge conspiracy against Blackhot City. Huck and Snade were just two trivial figures dispatched by an organization to contact the Niumuen Merchants Group in Blackhot City. That piece of red pine wood was the very token between the two and the Niumuen Merchants Group¡­


    ¡°What should I do now? I need to recover my strength and survive tonight at first!¡±


    Zhang Tie smiled bitterly. He then closed his eyes again. He could feel something different from his head, spine, heart, and liver as a wisp of warm Qi was rising from those places¡­


    Zhang Tie recovered consciousness through the first wisp of warm Qi rising from his head. He then could slowly controlled his movements and opened eyes through the second wisp of warm Qi rising from his spine. From the third wisp of warm Qi that rose from his heart and liver and spread to his organs, Zhang Tie could feel that he was quickly recovering his vitality¡­


    Is this the result of the inverted flow of energy and qi and the blood regeneration from the Leakless Fruit? Zhang Tie tried to move his fingers and found that they could move.


    Zhang Tie realized that this might be his beacon of hope tonight. As Huck and Snade thought he was in a hemorrhagic shock, they would never have imagined that he was already quickly recovering¡­


    He had to escape before the two returned!


    Zhang Tie was brimming with anxiety¡­


    Within ten minutes, when Zhang Tie realized that he could sit up, he heard a series of heavy steps and the sound of someone opening the door. He then knew Huck that had returned, indicating that his escape plan would no longer work.


    Zhang Tie then became dejected once again.


    Be patient, patient, patient¡­ Zhang Tie reminded himself. As long as he was patient enough, he would definitely find an opportunity. Closing his eyes again so that only a faint amount of light could be seen through the corners of his eyes, Zhang Tie began to observe what was going on in the room¡­


    ¡°Well, just put food on it. I will take it in myself, you can go¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes, enjoy¡­¡±


    Afterwards, a dining cart was pushed away and the door was opened as Huck entered with plates full of food on them. Instantly, the room was filled with the fragrance of food. After placing the food on the table, Huck walked towards the bed. Zhang Tie then fully closed his eyes and pretended to be relaxed. Huck put one finger under Zhang Tie¡¯s nose and confirmed that Zhang Tie was still breathing before turning around. At the same time, Zhang Tie slightly opened his eyes and observed the situation in the room through the corners of his eyes.


    Zhang Tie saw Huck walking towards those plates. The moment Huck picked up something, he suddenly thought of something. He then put it down and muttered something. Afterwards, he wandered in the room anxiously.


    ¡°F*ck, I never want to do this again¡­¡± Huck cursed.


    Snade also came back within 2 minutes.


    ¡°How was it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve made the preparations. We will feed him the poison when he wakes up!¡±


    ¡°Fine, let¡¯s eat. I am so hungry!¡±


    The two then walked to the table. Zhang Tie saw Snade taking an object out and poking the food and the bottle of alcohol with it. After observing the object for a while, Snade uttered, ¡°It¡¯s clean. We can eat it!¡±


    However, less than 2 minutes since they started eating, the sounds of knocking drifted from outside. The man on the other side of the door shouted, ¡°Magistrate of Blackhot City, routine investigation. All registered persons, please come out¡­¡±


    Instantly, the doors opened and curses reverberated in the hall¡­


    ¡°Why so late? I had already fallen asleep!¡±


    ¡°Buddy, what are you doing?¡± Complaints were heard everywhere in the hotel.


    ¡°Friends, I¡¯m very sorry. Since some things have happened in Blackhot City recently, we have to do some security checks. As you might have heard, a couple of days ago, someone had set fire to a place near the railway station. It¡¯s said that there were dozens of bodies found from that incident. Because of that incident, the big figures were really shocked, and the magistrates are forced to do security checks. As it¡¯s almost time for the curfew, people who have registered at the hotel would be in big trouble if they¡¯re not in the hotel now. Therefore, simply show your face¡­¡± As the serviceman in the hotel explained what was happening loudly, those curses gradually disappear. Although those pioneers were defiant, they were not idiots. Nobody wanted to fight those guys in uniforms.


    ¡°Motherf*cker¡­¡± After cursing, Huck and Snade stood up and walked outside the door.


    Hearing the door having been closed from outside, Zhang Tie opened his eyes immediately. Seeing the food and alcohol on the table, Zhang Tie suddenly thought up of a crazy idea. ¡°F*ck you, bastards, I don¡¯t care about what happens to you anyways¡­¡±


    Be quick!


    Zhang Tie closed his eyes and locked onto the arched door in his mind. In a split second, he disappeared from the room and entered the Castle of Black Iron¡­


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!

 59 A Miraculous Reversal

    Chapter 59: A Miraculous Reversal


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Before the line had even disappeared, Zhang Tie had already long tumbled in¡­


    ¡°Handsome and magnificent my ass! I was almost slaughtered like a pig. Since you two didn¡¯t kill me, I will definitely kill you,¡± Zhang Tie ruthlessly declared in his heart.


    Even though he felt very weak, he was still able to run. The moment he appeared in the Castle of Black Iron, he immediately ran towards the sundry box¡­


    Inside the box were the two killing weapons gifted by Donder, the ¡°powerful rat poison¡± and a dagger. Besides being matched with poisonous needles, the dagger¡¯s edge had also been quenched in snake poison and thus had the same amazing lethality.


    Although this was risky, Zhang Tie decided to give it a try.


    The distance between the place he had appeared in the Castle of Black Iron and the box were only a few steps apart; however, by the time he arrived before the box, Zhang Tie was already slightly panting and his hands and feet felt weak. He quickly took out the vial of ¡°powerful rat poison¡± and the dagger from the box. Zhang Tie then squatted and took in two deep breaths. Afterwards, it took him more than 10 seconds to lock onto that arched door in his mind again.


    Exit!


    In the next moment, Zhang Tie reappeared in the bedroom, squatting on the bed.


    After having accessed the Castle of Black Iron over many days, Zhang Tie had noticed a reoccurring pattern when accessing it¡ªhe will reappear exactly at the place where he had entered.


    It was still bustling outside. It seemed that the investigation won¡¯t be over very soon, thus Zhang Tie took in a few deep breaths and moved off the bed with the smallest and slightest strength he could muster. Bending his body, he stealthily moved in front of the pile of food. After glancing over where the cups and plates were placed, he then took out the ¡°powerful rat poison¡± and opened the alcohol bottle deftly and rapidly before pouring in half of the ¡°powerful rat poison¡±. He then spread the leftover ¡°powerful rat poison¡± into the bowl of thick soup and slightly swirled the alcohol bottle and stirred the rich soup. Afterwards, he returned to his bed and threw the empty vial of ¡°powerful rat poison¡± back into his pocket. He then pulled out of the dagger as he held it tightly under his body, pretending as if he had not awoken even for a moment¡­ As Donder had told him that a dose of the ¡°powerful rat poison¡± was enough to kill 20 elephants, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t believe that Huck and Snade would be stronger than 20 elephants.


    Nervous, really nervous¡­


    Closing his eyes again, Zhang Tie felt his heart pounding like a beating drum. He was extremely nervous and kept taking in deep breaths. Zhang Tie kept repeating in his mind¡ªeasy, take it easy!


    Easy, take it easy!


    Easy, take it easy!


    ¡­¡­


    Zhang Tie slowly calmed down in this way. Repeating this phrase in his heart, he was able to calm down. This was a useful method that was taught in school for occasions such as this.


    Zhang Tie then waited for Huck and Snade as if nothing had happened¡­


    Huck and Snade stood outside the door coldly for about 3 minutes before the owner of the hotel came towards them with several magistrates. After checking the names they registered with and asking a few silly questions, they left. Afterwards, Huck and Snade stared at each other at the same time, as they had already figured out what the alleged investigation meant. Usually, the magistrates of Blackhot City preferred to slack off by capturing several hapless people. Nobody would have expected that the fatty magistrates would have already figured out what had truly happened in that fire.


    When the two returned to the bedroom, Zhang Tie had already been laying on the bed for a bit less than one minute. Everything remained unchanged in the room, and the food was still hot on the table, thus the two continued their meal.


    Huck drunk some alcohol, and Snade simply ate a bit of the rich soup.


    Laying on the bed, Zhang Tie glanced over them through the corner of his eye. When Huck chugged a large cup of alcohol, Zhang Tie gripped his dagger more tightly. As Snade was someone who would notice if he looked, he did not dare to look at him.


    Zhang Tie was very nervous. He was afraid that Snade wouldn¡¯t have eaten even a bit of the poisoned food by the time the poison took effect on Huck. However, after a few seconds, Zhang Tie became reassured when he saw Snade drink a large spoon of the rich soup, thus he held onto that dagger even more tightly...


    One minute after Huck drunk the alcohol¡­


    ¡°I feel a bit uncomfortable¡­¡± saying this, Huck¡¯s face suddenly turned black. He then inclined and fell backwards onto the ground from his chair.


    ¡°Huck!¡± Snade exclaimed. At the same time, he also felt a bit uncomfortable and noticed that something was moving on the bed behind him.


    When Huck fell backwards, Zhang Tie had actually already fully opened his eyes. At that moment, Zhang Tie had slightly adjusted his posture so that he could use the dagger more easily.


    Although Zhang Tie tried his best to not make any noise, his movements were actually noticed by Snade. Turning around, Snade stared at Zhang Tie while Zhang Tie stared back at him. At that moment, he looked even more surprised than he did when Huck had fallen over. Instinctively, he pulled out his dagger and charged at Zhang Tie, stabbing it towards Zhang Tie¡¯s neck like how a poisonous snake would spit out its tongue¡­


    Having been long prepared for Snade¡¯s attack, Zhang Tie only made one movement¡ªhe rolled onto the ground from the bed, avoiding Snade¡¯s first strike¡­


    Stabbing towards Zhang Tie, who was laying on the ground, Snade¡¯s face turned pale. He then slightly stopped and intended to throw his dagger at Zhang Tie; however, at the same time, Zhang Tie pressed the button on his dagger, releasing two poisonous needles that instantly shot into Snade¡¯s shank and thigh. The snake poison on the needles immediately paralyzed Snade all over, resulting in his hand remaining raised as he was no longer able to move. Zhang Tie then jumped up from the ground and fiercely stabbed Snade¡¯s heart with his dagger.


    Laying on the ground, Snade didn¡¯t die instantly. Instead, he gazed at Zhang Tie with his widened eyes as the corner of his mouth twitched. ¡°Wh¡­ why¡­¡±


    There were so many questions in Snade¡¯s mind. He couldn¡¯t figure out how this young man, who should have been in a hemorrhagic shock, could recover in such a short period of time. He couldn¡¯t figure out where the dagger and the poison had come from. He clearly remembered that he had searched this young man all over and found nothing that stood out. Why? How did it end like this¡­


    With widely opened eyes, Snade died with many unanswered questions.


    Kneeling on the ground, Zhang Tie panted for quite a while before he was able to slightly recover from the dizziness attributed to the lack of blood. The small tree in the Castle of Black Iron was not omnipotent; even now, he still has not fully recovered his strength, Qi, and blood. At that moment, Zhang Tie felt weak all over and had no strength at all, as he had exerted all his efforts just now. His forehead was covered in sweat, feeling as if he had just finished a 10 km run on the training ground at school. Over the past few minutes, he had experienced his most dangerous moment in his life yet.


    In the end, Zhang Tie survived, while Huck and Snade became corpses.


    Kneeling on the ground, Zhang Tie adjusted his breathing. He quickly wracked his brain on how to deal with their bodies. Zhang Tie knew that he had made a very dangerous decision, one which might tear him into pieces if he didn¡¯t deal with it carefully. Thus, Zhang Tie had to deal with it very carefully and not leave a single trace.


    Zhang Tie was thinking about how to deal with the weird scene in the room; lying on both sides of him were two bodies that had turned completely black, while he was kneeling on the ground like a sculpture. He remained still for quite a while. It was still noisy outside the door, as the magistrates haven¡¯t left the hotel yet.


    Three minutes later, after recovering a bit more, Zhang Tie picked himself up from the ground. After confirming that Huck was truly dead, he gave up on the idea of stabbing him once more. He then pulled Huck¡¯s body over and put it together with Snade¡¯s body. Afterwards, he searched every corner of the room and found their luggage. Several seconds later, lowering himself to hug Snade¡¯s dead body, Zhang Tie disappeared together with their luggage hung on his shoulders.


    1 minute later, Zhang Tie reappeared in the room. This time, he fetched a watertight cloak from their luggage and packaged all the food and tableware. Hanging the package on his arm, he went over to Huck, squatting as he hugged the body that weighed about 100 kg. More than 10 seconds later, Zhang Tie disappeared once again.


    This time, it took him longer than before. After more than 10 minutes, Zhang Tie tumbled and reappeared in the room with a pale face¡­


    Back in the room, Zhang Tie had already changed his clothes. As Snade¡¯s figure was similar to his, Zhang Tie put on a suite of clothes from Snade¡¯s luggage along with a cold-protective hooded cloak which was usually worn by pioneers. After doing this, Zhang Tie glanced over the room.


    ¡ª¡ªFlush the fresh blood in the toilet bowl. Clean his and Snade¡¯s blood using the towel in the toilet.


    ¡ª¡ªRearrange the chair lying on the ground.


    ¡ª¡ªArrange the bed well.


    ¡ª¡ªConfirm that no evidence related to him, Huck, and Snade were left in the room.


    He even checked it over for the second time. Sometimes, Zhang Tie even felt that he himself was somewhat a lunatic. Finally, on his second check, he picked up several strands of black hair from the bed.


    Before leaving the room, Zhang Tie tossed the towel drenched in his blood into his pocket as he glanced over the room one last time. Actually, he made it even cleaner than what the servicemen usually does at the hotel. Like all hotels for pioneers, the guests paid before they lived in the room, thus the owner of the hotel would not feel anything out of place when the guests left without even bidding farewell.


    Nodding inwardly, Zhang Tie put on Snade¡¯s clothes and raised the hood of the cloak in hopes to avoid being identified by others. He then sped up and left the hotel. Without careful looking, most people in the hotel could only mistake Zhang Tie for Snade. For the others who didn¡¯t know what had happened, this was also the last trace of Snade in this world...


    When he left, Zhang Tie glanced at the clock hanging in the hotel. It was 11:52, 8 minutes before the curfew¡­


    The magistrates had just left. Everybody else found it normal to closely follow the magistrates out of the hotel like Zhang Tie, as they knew every pioneer was rather bold.


    Sneaking out of the hotel, Zhang Tie especially chose dim alleys and paths and found a dark corner about 200m away from the hotel. Taking off Snade¡¯s clothes and cloak, he threw them into a roadside trash can. The next morning, some lucky wanderer or beggar would receive a nice surprise.


    After throwing away those clothes, Zhang Tie wrapped the towel dyed in his blood around a rock and threw it into a smelly sewer on one side of the road. As a result, all evidence was eliminated. Zhang Tie then let out a sigh of relief.


    After doing all of this, Zhang Tie chose the avenues and streets without roadside lamps and stealthily walked towards home. In the meantime, he started to think of how he would answer his mom¡¯s questions when he got back, as this was the first time he has returned home after midnight.


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°Stop!¡± A gloomy order drifted over. It really frightened Zhang Tie, as he was walking around a corner stealthily. A squad of patrolling soldiers shone their lanterns onto Zhang Tie¡¯s face, directly revealing him. Due to the strong light from the lamps, Zhang Tie wasn¡¯t even able to open his eyes. Hearing the safety wires of the bows being pulled on in the surrounding darkness, Zhang Tie hurriedly raised his hands and stayed still.


    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± A captain of about 20 years old walked towards Zhang Tie coldly with his right hand on the sword handle over his waist. Being alert, he didn¡¯t become relaxed until he saw clearly that Zhang Tie, who looked slightly pale, didn¡¯t carry a weapon with him.


    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ going home!¡± Zhang Tie stammered. In a split second, Zhang Tie found that he had already been surrounded by more than ten soldiers. Facing the bows in their hands, Zhang Tie did not dare to make the slightest movement. He had just escaped from Huck and Snade, and it would be really motherf*cking unworth it to be killed by those average soldiers here.


    ¡°Going back home? Why are you so late?¡± the young captain continued.


    ¡°I¡­ I played outside today and forgot the time!¡±


    ¡°Where do you live?¡±


    Zhang Tie told him his home address¡­


    ¡°Are you still in school?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Tomorrow is the last day!¡±


    ¡°I remember that block is close to Ninth National Male Middle School!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m from Seventh National Male Middle School!¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. Has Mr. Fiore the biology teacher been well?¡±


    ¡°Miss Daina is the one who taught us biology. Mr. Fiore taught us law!¡±


    Hearing the last answer of Zhang Tie, the captain showed a smile and raised his hand. Seeing his response, the other soldiers put away their weapons, alleviating the tension in the surrounding air.


    ¡°Leader, is this kid your schoolmate?¡± a soldier asked.


    Zhang Tie stared at this captain of the City Guard Army of Blackhot City in surprise. He really didn¡¯t think that this man had also graduated from Seventh National Male Middle School.


    ¡°I¡¯m Joy. I have also graduated from Seventh National Male Middle School. It¡¯s already past the curfew, why are you so late?¡±


    ¡°Erm¡­ I played¡­ too much... outside and lost track of the time!¡±


    Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s pale face, his unsteady body, and his staggering tone, Joy understood it immediately, and so did the other soldiers. Thus, all of them laughed out loudly, as they had already captured several students similar to Zhang Tie after the curfew in these past few days.


    ¡°Little bro, it must have been your first time touching a woman today. You should watch out for your health!¡± Joy suggested him kindly, ¡°Since we¡¯re on the way, let us send you home just in case. Otherwise, you might be caught by the other patrol guards!¡±


    Unexpectedly, Joy was so kind-hearted. Hence, Zhang Tie kept walking along with them until they reached an intersection that was less than 200m away from his home.


    Seeing the lamplights at home, Zhang Tie became somewhat upset, as his dad and mom would have always fallen asleep by this time. Needless to say, they were waiting for him. Entering his house, Zhang Tie saw his dad and mom were just sitting there, waiting for his return. His mom looked furious, while his dad looked dejected, seemingly as if he had been cursed at by his mom. Hearing the door open, his dad and mom saw him coming back and immediately let out a sigh of relief.


    His mom instantly rushed forward and looked all over Zhang Tie carefully. Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s pale face, his mom poked his forehead with force. Without saying a word, she only stared at Zhang Tie and his dad, humphed, and went upstairs.


    Followed by mom, his dad also walked up to Zhang Tie. Staring at Zhang Tie¡¯s face, he flicked at Zhang Tie¡¯s forehead several times ferociously. ¡°Son, why are you so late? I have already poured out everything to your mom. Because of you, my private money was completely confiscated by your mom!¡± After saying that, his dad also turned around and went upstairs. However, several steps later, he turned back and asked obscenely, ¡°How many times?¡±


    Hearing his dad¡¯s words, Zhang Tie was puzzled and almost shouted out¡ªyour son has not circumcised!


    Receiving no response, Zhang Tie¡¯s dad felt like that question made him lose face as a dad. Hence, he pretended to be serious, coughed twice, and followed Zhang Tie¡¯s mom upstairs.


    Seeing his dad¡¯s shadow disappearing at the corner of the stairs, Zhang Tie suddenly felt moved and shouted out, ¡°Dad!¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡± His dad turned around and became curious about what Zhang Tie was going to say.


    ¡°I love you!¡±


    ¡°Boy, I swear you will get no more money from me! I was almost cursed to death by your mom¡­¡± Being scared by Zhang Tie¡¯s words, his dad intended to leave but soon turned around again. ¡°Your mom has already prepared dinner for you. It¡¯s in the pot!¡±


    Standing in the simple yet warm guest room, Zhang Tie looked around. Thinking back to what had happened to him just one hour ago, Zhang Tie felt a sense of rebirth. Especially when he heard the last words from dad, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t stop his tears anymore¡­


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

 60 The Last Day of School

    Chapter 60: The Last Day of School


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Although he had benefited from the inverted energy flow from the Leakless Fruit, Zhang Tie was still not able to recover from losing a large amount of blood after just one night of rest. On Friday, his biological clock, which would usually wake him at 6:00 am, was late, thus on that day, he did not wake up until it was almost 8:00 am.


    Whatever, it felt much better than yesterday. At the very least, Zhang Tie¡¯s face was not as pale as yesterday. Although he was still weak, he could stand it. It felt like he had made several wet dreams overnight.


    What the f*ck! Who said bleeding was beneficial to health? Thinking back to those liars on the streets of Blackhot City who encouraged passersby to donate blood for the sake of health, Zhang Tie became really furious. Blood was the energy essence of the human body. How could people become healthier without blood? If anyone else delivered such a leaflet to Zhang Tie, he would definitely spit on his face. Those liars sold your blood for money while telling you that bleeding was beneficial for your metabolism and the recovery of your stem cells. Motherf*ckers!


    Since he had gotten up so late this morning, Zhang Tie was almost late for the last day of school. In addition, the way his mom gave him a strange look simply made him feel embarrassed. He remembered that Miss Daina had once said that when one lost too much blood due to some incident, they should eat sugar and protein to recovery quicker. Hence, Zhang Tie, who was always frugal in the past few years, bought himself the most ¡°luxurious¡± breakfast that he has ever eaten, costing him more than 50 copper coins¡ªa carton of milk and two eggs!. Thus, Zhang Tie felt really depressed about the money he had spent. However, by the time he arrived at school, he felt like he had recovered quicker both physically and mentally.


    ¡­¡­


    Barley must have already shared what he had experienced last night with the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. As Zhang Tie expected, the instant he entered the classroom, the other horny members of the Hit-Plane Brother burst out into laughter.


    ¡°Bro, just tell us what¡¯s making you so unhappy. We¡¯ll make you happy!¡± Just as Zhang Tie expected, Hista was the first to ask.


    If it was the day before yesterday, Zhang Tie definitely would have felt frustrated and irritated; however, after surviving last night¡¯s ordeal and taking two lives, Zhang Tie¡¯s way of thinking became completely different. Facing Hista¡¯s ridicule, Zhang Tie simply smiled. ¡°As you know, I¡¯m still a virgin. Are you satisfied now?¡±


    Zhang Tie¡¯s response surprised everybody. Everyone thought that Zhang Tie must have suffered a serious blow and was somewhat depressed. Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s look, Hista comforted him, ¡°Never mind, I know a good clinic. It¡¯s just a small operation. It will take you just one or two weeks to recover after the operation. If it wasn¡¯t for the upcoming survival training, I would personally take you there. The operation only costs a bit more than 60 silver coins, and we currently don¡¯t have enough money, so Barley already had a talk with us. We have all decided to save some money for you. We will take this survival training as an opportunity, and perhaps we can get something valuable!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right, we will never let you drag us down!¡±


    ¡°If there is a virgin in our brotherhood, it would really make us lose face!¡±


    Hearing their words, Zhang Tie felt warm inside. ¡°These cute bastards!¡±


    Speaking of money, Zhang Tie suddenly thought of the two dead bodies in the Castle of Black Iron. The two of them seemed to have a lot of money. He was trying his best to survive last night and was extremely spent both physically and mentally; hence, after returning home, he simply ate something and went to bed. He had almost forgotten about their money.


    Thinking of the pile of gold in Snade¡¯s purse, Zhang Tie immediately became spirited. He could not wait to go back home and searched through the two dead bodies. They might even have something more valuable.


    ¡°I¡¯m rich! I¡¯m really rich this time!¡±


    On their last day of school, they only had morning classes. After gathering all the undergraduates, the school staff reiterated the dangers and the solemnity of this survival training and delicately repeated the basic necessities that needed to be brought with them. Afterwards, all the undergraduates left school. All of them had two and a half days to prepare for the things requested.


    According to the school, every undergraduate should at the very least prepare the following things: a weapon, a sleeping bag, and 5 days worth of food. They could bring along a raincoat if their family could afford it. With the exception of extra food, they could pretty much bring whatever they wanted, assuming they were able to bring it along. Additionally, this year, undergraduates from four middle schools will be taking part in the survival training in the Wild Wolf Valley, which was 70 km west of Blackhot City. This was their final chance to show off their abilities. Those who performed the best during the survival training might even receive a recommendation from their school, giving them a chance to change their fates.


    As it would be their last lunch at the school, the school prepared two spoons of meat for each undergraduate, which they had really enjoyed. After finishing lunch, Zhang Tie felt that he had recovered about 70% of his physical and mental strength.


    After lunch, everybody was busy seizing the last chance to take photos. Although it was expensive to take a photo, a great amount of people still chose to take photos on this very day. Hence, the photo studios outside the school gate made a lot of money today. The photographers were extremely busy, and the powdered magnesium flashed and puffed here and there on the school campus¡­


    Standing to the side, the lower grade students were admiring them. They didn¡¯t understand that that photo might be the last trace of those horny undergraduates in the world.


    Besides making love, one should leave something behind to show others that they had existed in this secular world!


    For many of the horny students, ending one¡¯s virgin status and taking a photo before the beginning of their survival training had almost become a ceremony.


    The seven members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood also took a photo together. In front of the school gate, they stood in a line against the wall that said ¡°Welcome to the Age of Black Iron¡±. On the farthest left was Bagdad, who was crossing his arms cooly, showing his developed muscles. Next to him was Leit, whose hair was shining, giving him a look of a mature man. Then there was Sharwin, who gave a bashful smile, and Doug, who had one of his arms wrapping around Fatty Barley¡¯s neck. As for Barley, the one who was asked to pay for the photo, he forced a smile although he was miserable inside. Like an idiot, Hista made a hand posture in the form of ¡°V¡±. Standing on the rightmost position was Zhang Tie, who was somewhat sad and frustrated as he gave off a stiff appearance. The only thing in his mind at the moment was that he would rarely have the opportunity to see Miss Daina from this point on!


    With a dazzling flash and a sound of ¡°Bang!¡±, a puff of magnesium powder started to rise up. Everybody¡¯s youth and shadow were set fixed!


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°In the next two days, we should prepare well. Bring as many useful things as you can. In addition, we should stay together during the survival training. That way, we could look after each other during critical situations. The moment to test the unity of our brotherhood is coming!¡± Barley suggested to the other members of the Brotherhood before they left school. ¡°I will bring a first-aid kit, a bow, and some medicine for curing wounds. As for the others, each of us should bring as much as possible!¡±


    ¡°A bow? You really have a rich dad!¡± Sharwin was surprised while everybody else, including Zhang Tie, was staring at Barley in admiration.


    ¡°No way. If I kick the bucket this time, there will be nobody to help him through his old age. He prepared the bow for me since he was even more nervous than me¡­¡± Barley shrugged.


    ¡°Alright, bros, it¡¯s time to fight! See you next Monday!¡±


    ¡°Okay, see you next Monday!¡±


    ¡°See you next Monday!¡±


    A group of horny students departed outside the school gate and walked in all directions.


    ¡°Bighead, take care. I found that Glaze¡¯s group has been too low-key recently. I feel that there¡¯s something wrong and am somewhat curious about what they¡¯re doing!¡± Barley warned Zhang Tie in a low voice before leaving.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry!¡± Zhang Tie patted Barley¡¯s shoulder and gave him a sincere smile. He was probably worried that Glaze¡¯s group would take revenge for what had happened two days ago. However, after what had happened last night, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t take Glaze¡¯s affair seriously in the least.


    Barley scratched his head as he said, ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but I feel like you are completely different than yesterday!¡±


    ¡°Haha, I have really suffered a blow from yesterday¡¯s incident. It seems that I have to think things through!¡± Zhang Tie prattled.


    ¡°Is that true?¡± Barley glanced at Zhang Tie dubiously.


    ¡°Whatever, take care of yourself!¡±


    ¡°Alright, I will!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Separating from Barley, Zhang Tie arrived at the Iron Thorns Fighting Club. Today, he would be a flesh bag here again and would also receive his salary. Starting from next week, he would have to attend the survival training, and thus he would not be able to come here. Therefore, he had to ask for a leave from Director Huck.

 61 Luck

    Chapter 61: Luck


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    It was safe on the way to the fighting club. When he arrived at the fighting club in the afternoon, there were no guests in the LV1 service area; hence, Zhang Tie decided to use the special training instruments in the training area, which could not be seen at his school at all, as his body slowly recovered. Zhang Tie had intended to test his physical condition using fthe special instruments many times to discern the gap between him and Glaze; however, he abstained from doing so in the end. He was worried that it would bring him troubles once the fact that he was a LV 1 fighter was disclosed to the public. Additionally, he had killed two people last night and was also involved in an extremely large incident. At this important juncture, he should remain low-key, reminding him of an Eastern proverb that his dad had once told him¡ª¡±Exposed rafters will rot first¡±. Glaze was a prime example of the negative consequences mentioned in the proverb. Having realized that there were many secrets hidden within himself, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t want to repeat the same mistake that Glaze had; therefore, he was determined to hide his real identity as much as he could.


    It took God 10,000 years to create an olive tree, but the life of a soybean sprout would end in a week.


    ¡°I want to be an olive tree,¡± Zhang Tie mumbled to himself.


    As he had been in the fighting club for the entire afternoon, they had even provided him a meal at work in the evening. The meal at work provided for the ordinary staff was really substantial; it was even better than what he had enjoyed today at school for lunch.


    Suddenly, Zhang Tie realized that he had eaten meat for three consecutive meals, which had been a humble dream that he has had ever since he was a child. Without knowing it, his dream was simply realized in one day.


    Was this the legendary proverb ¡°If one can avoid disaster, one will experience a wonderful blessing after¡±?


    After finishing the meal provided at work, Zhang Tie felt that he had recovered a bit more. After resting for another hour, Benet finally arrived¡­


    As usual, Zhang Tie was being fiercely beaten; however, this time, after having survived the terrifying life and death situation last night, Zhang Tie looked much calmer when facing Benet¡¯s attacks. He didn¡¯t even feel the slightest bit of nervousness this time and responded much quicker both physically and mentally. Zhang Tie could freely transition between movement and stillness. Having the mental advantage, Zhang Tie hid his physical disadvantage today and stuck it through to the very end. This time, he was neither knocked over nor did he pass out.


    After another exhausting fight, Zhang Tie and Benet both threw themselves onto the ground as they panted. Seeing Benet¡¯s arrogant air, Zhang Tie started to really admire him. Regardless of the kid¡¯s family background and his character, Zhang Tie started to like this 12-year old boy simply because of his unyielding perseverance. Zhang Tie realized that those rich families might not be as extravagant, as arrogant, and as silly as commoners had thought; they must have some extraordinary traits to become wealthy.


    ¡°You are not bad¡± sitting on the ground as he drank from the water bottle passed by the kid, the sweat covered Zhang Tie praised. After a few times, Zhang Tie had learnt how to undo the damned head protector. Between him and the kid, there was also a slight understanding.


    ¡°Don¡¯t expect me to go easy on you simply because you praised me!¡± The sweat covered Benefit smirked as he gazed at Zhang Tie. ¡°I have been immune to this na?ve trick a long time ago. In order to marry Mary one day, I will definitely defeat you. To me, you are just a stepping stone. Your miserable destiny was predestined!¡±


    Motherf*cker! Hearing his words, Zhang Tie wanted to immediately beat him up ruthlessly. After a while, Zhang Tie stood up and glanced at him. ¡°I will be attending the survival training next Monday, so you will not see me in the next two months. I hope your fighting strength can be as sharp as your mouth when I come back!


    ¡°Don¡¯t kick the bucket; otherwise, I would not be able to realize the promise I made with Mary!¡± the kid retorted.


    The two stared at each other fiercely before Zhang Tie had left. It was not until Zhang Tie had left the training room did Benet start to realize that Zhang Tie had recovered faster than him!


    ¡­¡­


    Leaving the fighting club, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t immediately return home; instead, he had arrived at Donder¡¯s grocery store that was near the railway station. The moment Zhang Tie arrived, Donder, who had been preparing to close the store, caught sight of Zhang Tie and harrumphed, seemingly as if he was still complaining about Zhang Tie¡¯s verbal assault yesterday.


    ¡°Do old men really care about having their d*ck laughed at?¡± Zhang Tie laughed at Donder¡¯s response.


    Zhang Tie also didn¡¯t say a word. He simply helped Donder close the windows and the door and cleaned the store. Afterwards, before Donder had been able to speak, Zhang Tie abruptly hugged him tightly, greatly frightening Donder.


    ¡°Bad boy, what are you doing!? Quickly let go. I am not interested in men!¡± Donder shouted loudly.


    Letting go, Zhang Tie stared at Donder with a careful and sincere look. ¡°Thank you¡­¡±


    Without Donder¡¯s two gifts, he might really have died last night, thus he was really grateful to Donder.


    ¡°Thanks for what? Didn¡¯t you have a lot of fun the other night? How did the woman feel?¡± Donder pretended to be calm.


    Feeling embarrassed, Zhang Tie scratched his head. ¡°I¡¯m still a virgin!¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t look for a woman last night?¡± Donder became curious and immediately looked gossipy.


    ¡°I did!¡± Zhang Tie answered honestly.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t do it?¡±


    ¡°Half way!¡±


    ¡°Soft?¡±


    ¡°Hard, very hard!¡±


    ¡°What happened¡­¡±


    Zhang Tie was embarrassed and whispered to Donder about what had happened.


    ¡°Hahahaha¡­¡± The obscene fatty laughed out loudly, almost rolling on the ground. He felt so happy. After laughing for quite a while, Donder wiped the tears at the corners of his eyes and patted Zhang Tie on the shoulder. ¡°Boy, what did I teach you before? Don¡¯t be too arrogant! Otherwise, you will suffer from revenge! If you had asked me about that earlier, you could have discovered this problem in advance. It would be a shame if you died in the survival training as a virgin!¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t die that easily!¡± Zhang Tie confidently said. Feeling the confidence from his words, Donder could not help but stare at Donder for quite a while. ¡°I came to tell you that I won¡¯t be coming for the next two months!¡±.


    Smiling, Donder waved his hand. ¡°Actually, even after the survival training, you don¡¯t need to come here. It will almost be time for you to start your new life afterwards, so there will be many things you will have to deal with. Not to mention that I¡¯ve already taught you everything I can here. If you come here, you won¡¯t be able to gain any more benefits. But! If you have time, you are free to come and chat with me!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    On his way home after leaving Donder¡¯s grocery store, Zhang Tie suddenly felt that he had grown up a lot. That small grocery store and the Seven National Male Middle School seemed to have disappeared from his life all in a sudden. What was waiting for him was the mysterious, unknown world outside the lofty city walls¡­


    ¡°Let¡¯s see what Huck and Snade have left for me!¡±


    Thinking of this, Zhang Tie sped up and ran home¡­


    As usual, it was late when he returned home, Zhang Tie pushed open the door and smelt an aroma of chicken soup.


    Unknown whether his mom was still angry about what had happened last night or because she didn¡¯t know what to say to Zhang Tie, when Zhang Tie returned home, his mom was in her bedroom. His father alone waited for him with a bitter look on his face.


    ¡°Chicken soup is in the pot. After you finish, quickly go to bed!¡± dad said coldly and left.


    All the food was in the pot. After drinking a small bowl of chicken soup and finishing washing the bowls, Zhang Tie went back to his room.


    The instant he returned to his room, Zhang Tie entered the Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    The familiar words gradually disappeared. Zhang Tie took in a deep breath and walked towards the two dead bodies. Ever since he had carried them in, he hadn¡¯t carefully checked them. Since only a single day has passed, their bodies hadn¡¯t begun to rot, which made Zhang Tie feel reassured.


    Walking over to Snade¡¯s dead body, Zhang Tie pulled the dagger out of Snade¡¯s body. Yesterday, he was worried that blood would spurt everywhere if he were to pull out the dagger from Snade¡¯s body, which would make it difficult to deal with. Since a day has gone by, blood would naturally no longer spray from the corpse.


    Although both Snade and Huck were jet black, they did not look frightening. The powerful rat poison really took effect too fast. Before it was even noticed, the violent toxicity had already killed them; it was so fast that not even a frightened expression was left on their faces.


    Huck had already closed his eyes. In contrast, Snade¡¯s eyes were still widely open, seemingly as if he still had many questions.


    ¡°It was you guys who wanted to kill me first, so you can¡¯t blame me for this. I just wanted to survive...¡± Zhang Tie prayed silently while feeling terrified. After praying, he started to search through Snade¡¯s corpse first. He remembered that Snade seemed to have a purse filled with gold coins. After having seen it last night, Zhang Tie was no longer able to remove it from his mind.

 62 Trouble

    Chapter 62: Trouble


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    As expected, Snade didn¡¯t let Zhang Tie down.


    Just by searching Snade¡¯s coat a bit, Zhang Tie found the heavy purse that he had been dreaming about all day. Pulling it out of Snade¡¯s coat, he shook the purse twice. Hearing the sharp sound of the clashing of the coins, the pores all over Zhang Tie¡¯s body seemed to have expanded.


    The sound was so beautiful that Zhang Tie felt it was the most pleasant sound that he has ever heard. Compared to the sound of the clashes between the gold coins, even the elegant songs of the church choirs became as boring as the quacking of ducks.


    ¡°Huala! Huala!¡± [1] Zhang Tie moved the purse close to his ear and shook it. Hearing the clashes of the gold coins, Zhang Tie became excited all over, both physically and mentally.


    ¡°Huala! Huala!¡± With two more shakes, Zhang Tie realized that what had happened yesterday was worth it.


    ¡°Huala! Huala!¡± With another two shakes, Zhang Tie seemed to see Miss Daina¡¯s smile¡­


    ¡°Huala! Huala!¡± With two more shakes, the whole world became alive¡­


    With the purse in hand, Zhang Tie looked like a slow-witted guy. As he shook the purse closely by his ear, a foolish grin crept onto his face. With two more shakes, he made another foolish smile. He kept repeating that boring game for 5 or 6 minutes before he finally burst out into laughter.


    Let me see the surprise inside the purse!


    Opening the purse, Zhang Tie squatted on the ground and poured out all the coins from the purse. ¡°Huala!¡± With one sound of clashing coins, all the coins were poured onto the ground. Seeing those silver and golden rays reflected on the coins, Zhang Tie was so excited that he almost passed out. With a quivering hand, Zhang Tie picked up a gold coin and carefully took a look at it. On the front of the gold coin was a huge locomotive releasing smoke, while the back of the coin showed the symbol of the Andaman Alliance, the 17 Star Rings. This coin was issued by the Andaman Alliance and was called the ¡°Locomotive¡± Gold Coin by the commoners. Ever since Zhang Tie was born, he had never touched a single gold coin, let alone owning one. Weighing the gold coin by hand, Zhang Tie was brimming with happiness.


    Zhang Tie became more energetic as he continued to search through Snade¡¯s body. This time, he found a leather bag that was secured close to Snade¡¯s waist. Removing its cover, Zhang Tie moved closer and took a whiff, only to smell a strange, medicinal scent. Inside the bag were various colorful vials. Unfortunately, the vials were not labeled, thus based on his current capabilities, Zhang Tie naturally didn¡¯t know what was inside. Thinking for a while, Zhang Tie put them back inside the leather bag and placed the bag back into Snade¡¯s coat. He was not interested in what was inside the vials, as those things had to be destroyed.


    Besides the gold coins and the leather bag, Zhang Tie found nothing else on Snade¡¯s body; however, he was already very pleased with what he had found.


    After searching over Snade, Zhang Tie went for Huck. There was also a purse inside Huck¡¯s coat. Seeing the purse that was as heavy as Snade¡¯s, Zhang Tie soon felt blood rushing to his head. After pouring out all the money from Huck and Snade¡¯s purses, Zhang Tie took in two deep breaths. He then continued to search Huck¡¯s body. This time, he found another leather bag with four vials of medicine used to heal wounds inside. Those medicines were produced by the Continental Pharmacists Union and were packed with their packaging and symbol. These medicines were also sold in Donder¡¯s grocery store. Opening one vial, Zhang Tie smelt it and tasted it a bit. It was of high quality. Zhang Tie found no fake substances inside. It was really difficult to buy a vial of this kind of medicine in the market, especially in the shops neighboring the railway station. As taro powder was neither harmful to humans nor easily noticed by commoners, vendors usually mixed taro powder into real medicine along with additional fake substances that would compose 5 to 20 percent of the medicine. Zhang Tie learned the means that were always adopted by cunning businessmen from Donder¡¯s grocery store.


    Besides the purses, the medicine bags, and the portable equipment, nothing else was found on the two dead bodies.


    After searching their dead bodies, Zhang Tie started to search through their luggage. When he was looking for clothes inside Snade¡¯s luggage last night, he had already roughly searched through it and had found nothing that stood out, thus Zhang Tie mainly searched through Huck¡¯s luggage. Opening it, he surprisingly saw a palm-sized box. The instant he saw the box, Zhang Tie became excited because that box was specifically used to store crystals that were of Level 3 or higher. Opening the box, he found two white and translucent double-headed pyramid-based crystals that were almost Level 4 lying inside the box. Feeling his spirit rising, Zhang Tie picked up the two pyramid-based crystals and looked at the two pyramids inside. He then burst out into laughter as each of the crystals was much better than the Level 3 pyramid-based crystals being treasured as top quality pyramids in Donder¡¯s grocery store. These two crystals were worth at least 10 gold coins.


    Zhang Tie was highly spirited and felt like exclaiming towards the sky.


    Trembling, Zhang Tie counted the coins. In total, Huck and Snade had contributed 48 gold coins, 79 silver coins, and 34 copper coins to him, which, although was nothing to some people, was a large amount of money for Zhang Tie. This money was almost equivalent to 4 or 5 years worth of his dad¡¯s salary.


    In addition to the money, he had also received four vials of high-quality medicines that were great for healing wounds, with only half of a vial among the four having been used. Moreover, Zhang Tie also got two top-quality Level 3 pyramid-based crystals. In total, the vials of medicine and the pyramid-based crystals were worth about 18 gold coins.


    ¡°I¡¯m rich! I¡¯m really rich this time!¡± Zhang Tie was so high spirited that his face almost cramped.


    Although the two leather bags that contained the medicine were valuable, they had obvious signs of having been used, as there were scratches on them. If the wear and tear on the leather bags were noticed by people who were familiar with Huck and Snade, then they would inevitably realize that it belonged to them, thus Zhang Tie intended to throw the two leather bags away.


    After pouring out the items in the sundry box, Zhang Tie carefully stored the gold coins, the medicine, and the pyramid-based crystals in the sundry box. He then returned and began to drag Huck¡¯s body towards the Pool of Chaos, which was the best place to eliminate the evidence.


    The Pool of Chaos was about 200m away from Zhang Tie. Considering Huck weighed over 150 kg, Zhang Tie gave up dragging his feet after 50 steps. Seeing that line on the soil plowed by Huck¡¯s dead body, Zhang Tie wiped the sweat from his forehead and changed his posture. He held up Huck¡¯s body and let it sit straight up on the ground before squatting against Huck¡¯s back and placing his two arms under the body¡¯s armpits. He then half lifted him and dragged him away. This was much easier than his previous attempt.


    When faced with danger, people could actually burst out with great potential. Zhang Tie found it really difficult to drag away this body that weighed over 150 kg. In particular, how was he able to carry this body into the Castle of Black Iron last night when he was so weak? Zhang Tie himself had started to be proud of what he had done.


    Hugging and dragging the body in such a way, Zhang Tie would inevitably cause friction between his arm and Huck¡¯s armpits. As a result, 50m away, Zhang Tie¡¯s felt a completely different feeling from the upper right arm and his upper left arm; his upper right arm that rubbed on the left armpit of Huck¡¯s body was softer. Something seemed to be padding the area under Huck¡¯s left armpit, giving off a smooth feeling when Zhang Tie dragged the body.


    Could there be something hidden inside? Zhang Tie put down Huck¡¯s body and searched the area around his armpits carefully. Finally, Zhang Tie found something closely hidden by Huck¡¯s left armpit under his inner armor. He found a trivial opening on his clothes that could never be found without a careful inspection. Zhang Tie then undid Huck¡¯s coat and stretched his hand into that opening. Touching a piece of smooth cloth, Zhang Tie then pulled it out directly from that small mysterious bag.


    ¡°Wooh, it¡¯s a red silk cloth! Motherf*cker, it must be very expensive! What¡¯s the purpose of carrying a piece of red cloth? To drive away evil like what Chinese people always did?¡± Zhang Tie doubted at the first sight of the piece of red cloth.


    Afterwards, unfolding the piece of red silk cloth, Zhang Tie realized that it was a mask that was similar to those used by the executioners who executed criminals. A man¡¯s head could be properly covered under this mask. In addition, two holes on the cloth were left for eyes and some strange floral grains were embroidered on the forehead of the face mask. There was also a black and terrifying skull between the strange floral grains.


    Motherf*cker! What the hell! I¡¯ve never seen such an ugly mask. The instant Zhang Tie intended to throw away this red mask, a thought flashed in his mind¡­


    ¡­¡­


    A terrifying red mask like that of an executioner¡¯s¡­ Black skull on the mask¡­ Killing numerous people in bloody ways¡­


    Zhang Tie¡¯s face instantly turned pale. Glancing at this mask which symbolized death and blood in his hand, a few words came to Zhang Tie¡¯s mind instantly¡ªRed-scarf Burglar¡­


    Sh*t! The 15-year juvenile was frightened. Feeling weak, he sat on the ground helplessly¡­


    [1] Apparently, this is the sound that coins make when they clash.

 63 Fruit of Brilliance

    Chapter 63: Fruit of Brilliance


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Two weeks ago when his elder brother had talked about the Red-scarf Burglars at the dinner table, Zhang Tie felt as if he was listening to a story. To Zhang Tie, a bandit organization like the Red-scarf Burglars who instilled fear into the entire Andaman Alliance and killed numerous people had nothing to do with common families like the Zhang Family. In Zhang Tie¡¯s mind, although the Red-scarf Burglars were always causing troubles within the territory of the Andaman Alliance, they lived in a completely different world.


    When the curfew was imposed in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie felt that his life was influenced a bit; however, he was more worried about his elder brother. He hoped that his elder brother would not encounter those butchers with bloodstained hands.


    The Red-scarf Burglars were infamous across the entire Andaman Alliance because of the numerous casualties caused by them. 12 years ago, the Red-scarf Burglars broke into Baroque, an emerging city, and caused the ¡°Baroque Massacre¡±, an event feared by everyone. After the massacre, the beautiful city which had more than 100,000 citizens was wiped out. They killed every single living being they met, whether it was man or woman, old or young, and even farm animals like chickens or dogs were not spared, finally resulting in a ghost city.


    Those vicious Red-scarf Burglars frightened everybody. Although there were less than 1,000 Red-scarf Burglars in total, on average, each of them had killed at least 100 innocent residents in the Baroque Massacre¡­


    Every member of the Red-scarf Burglars would wear a red headcover when they took action. Besides a few members who were known by their infamous crimes, the identities of the other members were not known to the public, thus the government had not been able to arrest them. In addition, they acted in secrecy, as they would disappear soon after they finished their missions. Sometimes, they would reappear abruptly, causing people to become muddle-headed.


    Zhang Tie had never thought that he would be related to such a terrifying organization, let alone killing two of their members.


    Zhang Tie sat on the ground muddle-headedly for quite a while before he was able to recover his composure. Afterwards, he ran towards Snade¡¯s body and undid his coat. He found the same opening on his clothes near the region of his left armpit under the inner armor and pulled out a terrifying red headcover that was the same as the one from Huck¡¯s armpit.


    ¡°Motherf*cker, this kick is for your blindness and this kick is for my blood. You bastard, is it that cool to kill people?¡± Thinking of how he was almost killed by the Red-scarf Burglars, his fear of the two bodies turned into fury and disgust as he ferociously kicked Snade¡¯s body more than 10 times.


    After venting, Zhang Tie felt much more relaxed. Red-scarf Burglars? So what! Let¡¯s see whether or not you can bite me!


    ¡°Pei¡­¡± Zhang Tie spat onto Snade¡¯s body. Then, he dragged Snade¡¯s body by the foot towards the Pool of Chaos, much like dragging a dead dog. He found it much easier to deal with this body, as Snade was much lighter than Huck.


    After taking two short rests on the way there, Zhang Tie took 5 minutes to drag Snade¡¯s body to a place near the Pool of Chaos. Exerting all his strength, he threw the dead body into the Pool of Chaos, which then slowly sunk into it. Zhang Tie then turned back and spent almost 10 minutes dragging Huck¡¯s huge, dead body to a place near the Pool of Chaos too. After a powerful push, another Red-scarf Burglar disappeared forever from this world.


    Afterwards, Zhang Tie ran back and threw all their belongings into the Pool of Chaos, including the bag that held the medicine, their purses, their clothes, and the box used to contain the crystals. From then on, the two Red-scarf Burglars completely disappeared from this world, leaving no traces behind.


    Zhang Tie then became thoroughly relaxed. ¡°From now on, who would be able to link the disappearance of those two guys to me?¡±


    He then opened the Basic Attributes Panel of the Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªLength: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªWidth: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªAura Value: 328


    ¡ª¡ªMerit Value: 2122


    ¡ª¡ªBasic Energy Storage: 43.7


    ¡ª¡ªSpecial Output: Void


    As expected, the aura value and the basic energy storage had both increased. These past few days, as more and more seeds sprouted and grew well, the aura value also gradually increased. However, the merit value almost frightened Zhang Tie. How could it increase by more than 2000 points? Zhang Tie instantly opened the log for merit value to check the reason.


    ¡ª¡ªFor the Gods, you have carried out righteousness by killing Snade and Huck, who were part of the infamous Red-scarf Burglars. You have punished evil and have spread the mercy of the Gods unto the earthly world. You have found justice for the numerous people who were wronged by them. As a result, merit value has been increased by 2048.


    Reading this tip, Zhang Tie became moved, feeling that he did the right thing by killing these two b*tches.


    After closing the Basic Attributes Window of the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie arrived before the small tree again. He was really depressed about the Leakless Fruit that he had been waiting for over a week. He really wanted to see what had happened to it at that time.


    The Leakless Fruit that should have been ripe was as large as a peanut kernel. Hanging on a twig, it looked really pitiful. Zhang Tie stretched out his hand as another tip appeared.


    ¡ª¡ªThe Leakless Fruit has suspended its growth. After the Lord¡¯s Qi and blood recovers, it will continue to grow.


    Zhang Tie estimated that all of his energy might be currently used to produce more blood. According to his current physical condition, it might take him a couple of days to fully recover. That was to say, the next Leakless Fruit would grow ripe 10 days later.


    F*ck! Thinking of this, Zhang Tie cursed Huck and Snade fiercely again. If it wasn¡¯t for that incident last night, he would have improved a lot since the effects of the Leakless Fruit were really great.


    He had no choice but to wait!


    Afterwards, Zhang Tie checked the Iron Body Fruit. The new one seemed to have just started to grow, as the fruit was just about 1/5 mature. If he wanted to accelerate its growth, he would have to find opportunities to be fiercely beaten.


    When Zhang Tie turned back and prepared to leave the Castle of Black Iron, he suddenly saw something shining through the corner of his eye on the small tree.


    ¡°What¡¯s that? Zhang Tie moved back towards the other side of the tree. On the side opposite of the Leakless Fruit, he found a golden ray flashing among the leaves.


    After walking around half the tree, Zhang Tie stretched out his hand to move away a small leaf. Surprisingly, he found a fruit right hanging there, radiating golden rays. It was perfectly round like a ball, and the skin of the fruit looked gold with golden wisps looming within. Although it did not release a smell as fragrant as the Leakless Fruit and the Iron Body Fruit, this fruit looked much more brilliant than the other two.


    Seeing this fruit, Zhang Tie gaped. He truly didn¡¯t know when such a fruit had grown ripe.


    Although he couldn¡¯t think it through, he only had to check the tip. The instant Zhang Tie stretched out his hand towards this strange dark yellow fruit, a tip appeared.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Brilliance has become ripe. Usage: Pick and direct eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    Seemingly as if it had noticed Zhang Tie¡¯s doubts, another tip appeared above the previous one.


    ¡ª¡ªThe deteriorating glorious rays will definitely be used after the death of the sinners. The soul of the sinners shall return to the Dark Land, while the glorious rays of the soul shall remain. The glorious rays were a force that was granted to the soul by the Creator and should not be desecrated. The glorious rays belong to the brave men who spread the righteousness of the Gods. As a brave fighter who brandished your blade against evil, you will earn glorious rays as you judge evil. The glorious rays of the soul will coexist within you, making you stronger.


    Zhang Tie gulped twice. ¡°Glorious rays? Force of the soul? What were those?¡± Although Zhang Tie was confused, he definitely knew that the Fruit of Brilliance was something great. Additionally, the glorious rays of the soul might be some force that came from Huck and Snade. Although Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know how powerful Huck and Snade were, he could simply feel that the feeling they gave off was no less oppressive than Captain Kerlin. Was some of their force within this Fruit of Brilliance?


    ¡°I¡¯m rich, I¡¯m really rich now!¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s heart pounded again. Taking in two deep breaths, he rubbed his face with force, realizing that he was not dreaming. He then meticulously picked off this Fruit of Brilliance as if he were picking accessories at a jewelry store. He would definitely eat it before he recovered composure. Based on his experiences with the Leakless Fruit, taking this fruit carefully, Zhang Tie sat under the small tree with legs crossed. He then engulfed this fruit directly, much like how Bajie ate the human-like fruit [1]. Putting the fruit into his mouth, he then bit into it¡­


    The instant he bit into the Fruit of Brilliance, Zhang Tie seemed to have heard a huge sound reverberating deep in his mind. Afterwards, he fully lost consciousness.


    What happened after was like a dream. In the dream, he felt his body becoming translucent and weightless while a dark yellow fog swirled around a mysterious point in his mind. Afterwards, a wisp of dark yellow fog escaped from that jewel-like Fruit of Brilliance in his mouth. The golden fog then combined with the original fog in his mind. At the same time, a pleasure that he had never experienced before rose from the depths of Zhang Tie¡¯s soul. The pleasant feeling rising from his deepest inner heart made Zhang Tie feel unprecedentedly comfortable and peaceful. In this state, the golden fog escaped from the Fruit of Brilliance and constantly combined with the fog that was originally in his mind. As a result, the original fog in his mind became increasingly thicker and wider as it gradually turned brighter, changing from a dark golden color to a pure golden color¡­


    After quite a while, the transformation finally stopped. The fog that was originally in Zhang Tie¡¯s mind had already experienced huge changes, both quantitatively and qualitatively. In quantity, that fog expanded by at least seven-fold. If the original golden fog could be described as a pencil, then the current golden fog could be described as golden bamboo. In quality, besides becoming more vibrant, the fog was filled with Qi that was more energetic and lively¡­


    Opening his eyes, much to his surprise, he realized the Castle of Black Iron was different than before. The colors were more vibrant in his eyes, and his nose became much sharper. The scent of soil seemed to have become clearer, and the whole world became more splendid.


    Picking himself up from the ground, Zhang Tie moved his limbs. His body felt completely new, and every cell in his body seemed to be yelling out in happiness. It was truly a marvelous feeling.


    What happened? What was that golden fog?


    He then closed his eyes and opened them after a short while with a strand of shock on his face. He finally knew what the Fruit of Brilliance did and what the golden fog was. The golden fog was the spiritual energy in his mind. Previously, as he was too weak, he couldn¡¯t sense his spiritual energy; however, he could now sense it. The glorious rays in the soul represented spiritual energy. The fact was that the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree had exploited the spiritual energy of the two dead bodies and formed the Fruit of Brilliance with them. The Fruit of Brilliance was used to increase spiritual energy. As their spiritual energy was three times of Zhang Tie¡¯s, after consuming the Fruit of Brilliance, he could feel a sharp increase in his spiritual energy by six-fold¡­


    After figuring out what had happened, Zhang Tie stared at that small tree in awe¡­


    In the past, he didn¡¯t know what other benefits having spiritual energy brought besides assisting in the ignition of the burning points, as he had rarely learned about it and had close to no opportunities to learn about it; however, after his spiritual energy was increased by six times, he realized he was able to cultivate much more effectively. Using the same amount of time, he could reach a much better result; otherwise, it would take him a much longer time to achieve such a result. This benefit alone had already made Zhang Tie satisfied. Moreover, with the help of the increased spiritual energy, he could sense more sharply and react much quicker. This was the best gift from the Gods before the survival training even began!


    ¡°Here I come, survival training!¡±


    Zhang Tie shouted loudly in the Castle of Black Iron¡­


    [1] Bajie was a monk who looked like a pig from the story, ¡°A Journey in the West¡±. The human-like fruit was a wonderful fruit in the story which was said to give immortality.

 64 Human Calculator

    Chapter 64: Human Calculator


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    As expected, with the rise of the prices of grains and sugar, the sales of the Zhang Family¡¯s brew store also gradually declined. Although the wealthy would probably not be affected by the change of several copper or silver coins, for many at the lowest rungs of society, even a trivial increase in the price of grains or other commodities would greatly put pressure on their ability to survive. Naturally, they were more sensitive to the changes in price. Although the Zhang Family had only increased the price of a bowl of rice brew by a single copper coin, to some, it was a 20 percent increase in price and was something that would be difficult for them to accept.


    Seeing the Chinese woman dragging away her kid, who kept swallowing his saliva, in the rice brew store, Zhang Tie could only force a bitter smile. In the past, this kid used to eat rice brew in their store, but due to the recently increasing price, the kid¡¯s mom had no choice but to drag him away. For commoners like them, the rising price of grains not only affected the price of a bowl of rice brew but also their overall living expenditure. Influenced by rising price of grains, the price of the other daily necessities like cooking oil and salt also increased. In addition, Zhang Tie heard that the price of coal had also started to rise in Blackhot City for the past few couple of days. Obviously, the price of a wagon full of coal balls had also increased by 5 copper coins. As the price of grains and coal increased, the price of steel produced from ironworks would also naturally increase. Although it was only a small fluctuation, it was not a good feeling for many of the commoners.


    The Zhang Family¡¯s ugly, remodelled three-wheeler had been borrowed by a neighbor to buy grains. These past two days, several people had come to borrow it to transport necessities. As his sister-in-law said she was a bit uncomfortable this morning, his mom became worried and accompanied her to the hospital, leaving Zhang Tie alone at home. In the rice brew store, Zhang Tie boringly drove away the flies with a fan.


    Absent-minded in the rice brew store, as Zhang Tie concentrated, an interesting thought appear in his mind¡­


    With his spiritual energy increasing by seven fold, Zhang Tie realized that thethat he had been painstakingly training for the past two weeks had greatly improved. Before yesterday, it would take him a long time to visualize an abacus with three columns in his mind, the image of the abacus wouldn¡¯t be steady, and he couldn¡¯t calculate quickly using it either¡ªit wasn¡¯t even able to match the speed of just calculating manually. All in all, he could not use it to do daily calculations easily. Surprisingly, this situation has improved sharply this morning.


    At this moment, a golden abacus with seven columns was suspended steadily in Zhang Tie¡¯s mind. The beads on the abacus were moving up and down automatically, outputting results.


    What¡¯s 36 multiplied by 98? 3528!


    What¡¯s 1269 plus 9621? 10890!


    What¡¯s 362 times 125? 45250!


    What¡¯s 639 divided by 12? 53.25!


    What¡¯s 98564 divided by 125? 788.512!


    ¡­¡­


    In the past, Zhang Tie needed to use the abacus techniques in order to get an answer, but now, he was able to know the answer the instant he saw the question. After practicing for a while, Zhang Tie realized that he didn¡¯t need to use abacus techniques anymore. After using the abacus for two years, Zhang Tie finally realized how powerful and effective the time-honored calculator was. He didn¡¯t know where the bookthat was marked as ¡°After-class reading for preliminary students¡± was from; however, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t believe that any preliminary school student could match him from the intensity and effect of spiritual energy. Previously, his spiritual energy might have been similar to that of a preliminary school student, but ever since his spiritual energy had combined with the Fruit of Brilliance, it has already become seven times of that from before; it was much more powerful at this moment. Benefitting from the new spiritual energy, he could fully experience the powerful effects of , as he could work it out the instant he saw any calculation question within seven digits. Additionally, Zhang Tie realized the abacus was easily stabilized after it was visualized. During this entire experience, Zhang Tie had even sold a few bowls of rice brew¡­


    ¡°I am able to calculate faster than the manual metal calculators used in trading agencies and commercial banks!¡± Zhang Tie became excited. He never would have imagined that the sharply increased spiritual energy would help improve hisskills so greatly over night. Zhang Tie was sure that Donder would definitely be startled if he saw his improvement.


    As Zhang Tie felt great about usingso easily, an extremely absurd thought suddenly came to mind¡ªmaybe this was how people used the abacus in the beginning? A long time ago, people had powerful spiritual energy and could easily use this calculating tool in their mind; however, later on, their spiritual energy declined and they could barely finish calculation in their mind. Thus, someone decided to use a real object to replace the imaginary object in their mind and started to operate by hand. After another hundreds or thousands of years, when everybody was accustomed to operating an abacus by hand, a guy suddenly realized this calculator could be visualized in the mind and could replaced by visualized object. As a result, he invented the , which reflected the original usage of this calculator¡­


    If his assumptions were correct, then he would be the only person who could master the true usage of this calculator. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know whether this marvelous calculator could be improved. He remembered that Donder had once told him about a powerful profession in the East called ¡°fortuneteller¡±, which would own a calculator known as ¡°Yi¡±. This calculator was not used to calculate numbers but instead the fortunes or disasters that would befall a person and the changes between the heaven and the earth. Wasrelated to ¡°Yi¡±?


    While Zhang Tie was pondering on this thought, his mom and sister-in-law had returned. Instantly breaking the abacus formed in his mind, he ran towards them. ¡°Mom, what¡¯s wrong with sister-in-law?¡±


    After speaking, Zhang Tie realized that he had said a really silly question. In response to his question, the face of his sister-in-law flushed slightly, and his mom glared at him ferociously and flicked his forehead. ¡°What matter? Go make lunch...¡±


    ¡­¡­


    In the afternoon, as usual, Zhang Tie helped his mom make rice brew, but this time, it was different; his sister-in-law had joined them. As a result, they finished much faster than before. After lunch, their neighbor brought back the three-wheeler, and thus Zhang Tie rode it to shop for rice and sugar. As expected, the prices had risen a bit again. Considering the poor sales of rice brew last week, he only bought two bags of rice this time. Returning home, Zhang Tie noticed that his mom was teaching his sister-in-law how to make liquid yeast.


    ¡°This liquid yeast is the key, as it determines the final taste of the rice brew. Our Zhang Family makes our own liquid yeast, and we store it inside the spare jars boiling water after they have cooled down. We prepare two jars of rice brew; one is to be used, while the other is to be left to ferment. When one jar of rice brew is almost used up, we¡¯ll add some water, cut-up fruits, fruit rinds, and kernels, and we¡¯ll open it every day and give it a shake to give it some fresh air. After a week, a new jar of rice brew would be ready. We usually put two spoons of well-fermented liquid yeast into each jar before covering the lid. Taste some, this liquid yeast is delicious. Zhang Tie used to stealthily eat it before¡­¡± Zhang Tie had remembered those steps deeply in his heart. He didn¡¯t pay attention to what mom had told to his sister-in-law at the beginning; however, his mom really made him lose face in front of his sister-in-law. While listening to what his mom had said, Zhang immediately thought about something¡­


    Yeast¡ªRice brew¡ª


    Mutated and evolved yeast¡ªMutated and evolved rice brew¡ª£¿


    Zhang Tie remembered that there was an option in the Castle of Black Iron that allowed all living beings to mutate and evolve, and he had even tried it on a sprouted potato the first time he entered the Castle of Black Iron. As he hasn¡¯t seen any improvement lately, he had almost forgotten about it. Watching his mom teach his sister-in-law how to make liquid yeast, Zhang Tie had a sudden realization. If he could help mutate or evolve the yeast used to make brew, would the taste of the rice brew be improved? If so, that would help improve the sales of the Zhang Family¡¯s rice brew.


    After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie felt this way was feasible. At the very least, he could have a try. ¡°The Zhang¡¯s family has already used the same method to make rice brew for the past two decades, so why not try something new? Nothing is lost even if it fails!¡±


    Thinking of this, Zhang Tie became excited. In response, in the evening, he found a clean glass jar in the kitchen and stealthily filled it with half a bottle of liquid yeast. Afterwards, he took it back to his room and quickly entered the Castle of Black Iron. Opening the ¡°Living Beings and Species Management¡± option, he chose ¡°Carbon-based Living Beings and Species Management¡± and then ¡°Microorganisms¡±. After selecting that bottle of liquid yeast, he inputted 300 points of aura value, 5 points of merit value, and 0.1 point of basic energy storage and started the first evolution and mutation for the yeast.

 65 Preparations Before the Survival Training

    Chapter 65: Preparations Before the Survival Training


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    ¡ª¡ªOn May 28, 889th year of the Blackhot calendar, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord used 300 aura value points, 5 merit value points, and 0.1 basic energy storage point on the mutation and evolution of a bottle of yeast.


    ¡ª¡ªMutation and evolution is expected to be completed within 360 hours. Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, please wait patiently!


    Reading this message, Zhang Tie estimated that the time consumption for evolution and mutation might be related to the life cycle of the living being. Seeing as how the yeast would become evolved and mutated after two weeks, Zhang tie estimated that it would take about 2 months for the potato to evolve and mutate.


    Through this attempt, Zhang Tie realized one thing¡ªthere is a limit to the number of aura value points, merit value points, and basic energy storage points that a microorganism can receive. For example, with the experiment with the half bottle of liquid yeast, when he slid the three bars to the furthest right positions, the maximum number of aura value was 7600 points, the maximum number of merit value was 860 points, and the maximum number for basic energy storage was 340 points. Seeing those ¡°huge numbers¡±, Zhang Tie was greatly startled before frugally choosing to make a bearable, small investment.


    After leaving the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie noticed that his dad had already returned home. It was currently time for supper, and today¡¯s supper was extremely luxurious, consisting of ham and beef. In addition, his mom had made many delicious dishes that would make Zhang Tie drool. On the table, his mom kept putting food from the dishes into Zhang Tie¡¯s bowl while his dad lectured him about topics pertaining to the survival training.


    ¡°No matter what, remember not to act alone, especially in the evening! Am I clear?¡±


    Zhang Tie nodded while chewing.


    ¡°Additionally, don¡¯t try to show off,¡± his mom added aside.


    ¡°Mom, look at your son¡¯s slim limbs. What do I have to show off?¡± Zhang Tie raised his voice. Hearing his words, his dad flicked his forehead with a chopstick.


    ¡°Your mom, of course, knows that you have nothing to show off. What she meant was that you should think twice before taking action. Out there is not like here where we¡¯re inside the city walls. There are many things out there that can take the lives of men!¡±


    ¡°I know!¡± Thinking back to how his mom looked when she gazed at the picture of his dead eldest brother, Zhang Tie swore that he would survive and return safely no matter what.


    At supper, like a nodding chick, Zhang Tie constantly lowered his head to eat rice under the lecturing of his mom and dad


    ¡­¡­


    After supper was finished, Zhang Tie brought out 3 gold coins from his pocket and pulled over his mom''s hand before placing them in her hands. The three heavy and brilliant locomotives on the gold coins almost frightened both his dad and mom. Even his sister-in-law widely opened her eyes.


    His dad became mouth gaped as he stared at the 3 gold coins before turning over to Zhang Tie. He even held one up and glanced over it carefully. ¡°Where¡­ where did you get so much money?¡±


    With a face full of pride, Zhang Tie replied, ¡°Your son, of course, earned it at the Iron Thorns Fighting Club. There are many rich people there, so when I serve them well, those rich boys would reward me with 1 gold coin as a tip!¡± Zhang Tie was not telling a lie. In reality, just as he said, training partners and the waiters would usually earn tips at the Iron Thorns Fighting Club. The tips would always vary from several silver coins to several gold coins. For example, girls like Mary would earn an amazing amount from tips each month. Although Zhang Tie had never received any tips, this lie of his could never be revealed. Even the fighting club wouldn¡¯t ask the guests on the sixth floor whether they had given Zhang Tie a tip.


    ¡°This¡­ this is really too much!¡± His mom still couldn¡¯t believe it. 3 gold coins were equivalent to a season¡¯s worth of salary for his dad. To his family, this was still a lot of money.


    ¡°Mom, those rich boys would spend over 10 gold coins just to buy a single pair of leather shoes. You should take a look at the prices on Bright Avenue. What there isn¡¯t astronomically priced? Although the stuff there is expensive for us, but for people like them, it isn¡¯t much. Why else do you think there are so many rich people practicing in the fighting clubs? Your son has grown up. In the future, I¡¯ll earn even more money. For the next few days, I¡¯ll be participating in the survival training. During this time, you shouldn¡¯t worry about money and should buy something good to eat. You should also buy more nutritious food for sister-in-law so that my niece or nephew will grow well in the future. You should also look after yourselves and just enjoy the benefits brought back by your sons.¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, his dad and mom finally believed him. At the very least, they had heard of such things about the fighting clubs. They also knew that there were many rich people who would casually spend money in such a way that commoners like the Zhang Family would definitely never be able to afford.


    Seeing that his mom had finally received the 3 gold coins, Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh inwardly. From now on, he could always bring back some ¡°tip¡± and relieve the burden on his dad and mom. Since the sales of rice brew had declined this week, they had less money to spend to improve their quality of life. Because of this, his mom and dad have also been unhappy. When his sister-in-law was going to give birth to a baby, Zhang Tie knew clearly that the increasing expenditures would add more burden to his dad and mom. Seeing his mom receive the money and the smiles on their face as if they had relieved a burden, Zhang Tie was also filled with warmth.


    The next day, every family member started to become busy to make preparations for Zhang Tie¡¯s survival training. The Zhang Family¡¯s rice brew store was also closed on that day.


    A sleeping bag, portable protective leather armor, a raincoat, a helmet, an aluminum kettle, a leather belt, a knapsack, and a multi-purpose military shovel. All the things could be found at home, as they were used by Zhang Yang when he participated in the survival training, which had then been put away by his mom. Now that it was Zhang Tie¡¯s turn to participate in the survival training, his mom brought them out of the boxes, giving them to Zhang Tie to use. Many things were shared between the generations. After it was used by the elder brother, the younger brother would use it. After the younger brother, then the son. They would never be abandoned until they couldn¡¯t be used anymore. Although these goods have shown wear and tear over the years, because his mom had stored them well, when she took it out, all of it was still usable. These were also common goods that most families in Blackhot City would prepare for their kids¡¯ participation in the survival training.


    After drying the sleeping bag under the sun for the entire day, Zhang Tie¡¯s mom silently hid one bag of fried rice into the sleeping bag. Although the amount of food allowed to be brought was supposed to be less than 5 kg, as long as they didn¡¯t hide too much, the teachers would not care¡­


    His dad completely polished the leather armor with oil again and sharpened the military shovel. Afterwards, he went out to buy 4 to 5 kgs of compressed biscuits and 1kg of beef jerky for Zhang Tie¡­


    His sister-in-law hurriedly adjusted the soft cushion inside the helmet to match the size of Zhang Tie¡¯s head. She then cleaned the kettle and prepared a set of clean clothes and a needlework bag for Zhang Tie¡­


    ¡­¡­


    After a day of busy work, they had finally well prepared all the necessities for Zhang Tie¡¯s participation in the survival training. The last supper at home before the survival training was also rich. Zhang Tie¡¯s dad and mom became both worried and sad. Excluding his mom, who repeatedly warned him, there were fewer words spoken at the table than before.


    Zhang Tie was also somewhat sad. Survival training was both a test of the ability of an adult to survive and was also the prelude of what¡¯s to come when he struggles for his survival. At the beginning of supper, everything went smoothly. However, as the dinner went on, his mom¡¯s tears began to drop into her bowl as she spoke to him. Seeing that, Zhang Tie felt too sad to eat as well.


    ¡°Mom, trust me. I¡¯ll be ok!¡± Zhang Tie had to comfort his mom. Although he didn¡¯t know how his mom felt as she prepared the equipment for her son¡¯s departure, his mom¡¯s tears immediately aroused the sadness of the entire family that had been repressed and hidden during this period of time. As the youngest son, Zhang Tie would soon leave Blackhot City. Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s mom weeping, his dad¡¯s eyes also turned red and so did Zhang Tie¡¯s. The last supper ended in this way.


    ¡­¡­


    When dusk fell, Zhang Tie went out. After passing several streets, Zhang Tie finally arrived outside a post office near the most boisterous citizens¡¯ square in the center of Blackhot City. He looked around and made sure nobody had noticed him. He then put an envelope into a mailbox outside the post office before going back home as if nothing had happened.


    The envelope had been previously brought back by hs elder brother and was one of the living necessities provided to the City Guard Army of Blackhot City. As a soldier, his elder brother would receive two exclusive envelopes per month, which could be sent out without pasting a stamp. In the past, his elder brother had brought back several envelopes, while the extras had been sold to the black market, which was one of the best sellers. The envelope contained the headcover of the Red-scarf Burglars and a letter that Zhang Tie had written in standard printed font. The letter would be directly sent to the headquarter of the CISF of Blackhot City. On the letter was only one line: The Red-scarf Burglars are colluding with the Niumuen Business Group to attack Blackhot City!


    For Zhang Tie, this was already the most he could do. In this conspiracy, whether it was the Red-scarf Burglars or the Niuemuen Business Group, they were both monsters to Zhang Tie and the Zhang Family. To be involved in such a large-scale war, he would be trampled to death like an ant involved in a battle between a flock of elephants.


    Not to mention, there was still a more terrifying figure behind the two powers, the one Snade and Huck had referred to as ¡°Lord¡±. The word ¡°Lord¡± that had inadvertently escaped from Snade and Huck¡¯s mouth had caused Zhang Tie to feel a chill in his heart. Zhang Tie had to abandon the lucky idea to use this event to seek for maximum benefits.

 66 The Lord and the Big Even

    Chapter 66: The Lord and the Big Event


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    In this age, ¡°Lord¡± was not something to be casually addressed. At the very least, nobody in Blackhot City and even the Andaman Alliance was qualified to enjoy being called as such. Even the president of the Andaman Alliance Parliament¡ª¡ªthe owner of Andaman City and the head of the Andaman family, the richest and most privileged person in the Andaman Alliance, the one who had used their family name as the name of the Alliance¡ªcould only be called ¡°Your Excellency¡± and not ¡°Lord¡±.


    Actually, Zhang Tie dared not to be involved in this event, but due to his disgust towards the Red-scarf Burglars and his commitment to the city after eight years of compulsory education, he finally chose to send a warning to the ruler of this city. That was the best he could do. As for whether the letter would cause an uproar or be thrown into the trash can, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t think it was his concern anymore. In the worst case scenario, the city would change its ruler. The Red-scarf Burglars were only a tool used by a big figure; they would not become the ruler of the city.


    Small figures were better off minding their own business!


    For Zhang Tie, he felt that what he should be most concerned about was the survival training that begins tomorrow. The other matters weren¡¯t a big concern.


    A peaceful night soon passed¡­


    When he got up the next morning, he found out that his mom and dad had already gotten up. Mom¡¯s eyes turned slightly red and swollen. She had long prepared a scrumptious breakfast for Zhang Tie while his dad was checking his belongings again and again.


    ¡°Eat more. Only after eating will you have enough strength to finish the long trip!¡±


    With his head lowered the entire time, Zhang Tie washed his face, brushed his teeth, and ate breakfast. Feeling depressed, he wore his protective leather armor, buckled his belt, and carried his luggage that contained the folded military shovel inside with the help of his dad and mom. Putting on a helmet, he hung the sword gifted by his dad on one side of his waist along with a kettle and hung the spearhead of his pike on the other. Additionally, the dagger gifted by his elder brother was also fixed onto the belt.


    Standing, Zhang Tie shook twice to make sure everything had been prepared well. Although he was carrying more than 20 kg of goods, Zhang Tie could still move freely. Forcing a smile, he said, ¡°Dad, mom, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll be leaving now. You don¡¯t need to worry about me, I¡¯ll be ok!¡±


    ¡°Guoguo, hold on¡­¡± Before Zhang Tie left, his mom stopped him. With tears dropping down, his mom helped him arrange his leather belt and luggage once again. Pulling at the corner of Zhang Tie¡¯s clothes, she said in a low voice, ¡°If you can, remember to come back soon. Don¡¯t try to show off¡­¡±


    ¡°I got it, mom!¡± Zhang Tie felt like he was about to cry. If he did not leave soon, he would lose face in front of his mom and dad. Taking in a deep breath, Zhang Tie forcefully hugged his mom and dad. He then lowered his head and turned around. Pulling open the door, he strode out the house where he had received warmth for the past 15 years.


    The moment he closed the door, Zhang Tie heard the sound of his mom weeping...


    It was still dark outside as several stars hung in the sky. After wiping his tears, Zhang Tie strode towards school. At about 100m away, Zhang Tie suddenly felt something. Turning his head, Zhang Tie saw his mom and dad, hand in hand, watching him under the first rays of the morning sun. Waving his hand at them, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t help but shed some tears.


    ¡­¡­


    On the dawn of this day, such scenes could be seen throughout Blackhot City¡ªa young boy, who would soon be at the age where they would be adults and have to part from home, leaving home with luggage carried on his back and a weapon in hand, and seeing him off would be his parents as they stood by the doorway, crying. Without the protection of the city walls, they alone would encounter many difficulties and challenges in this age.


    Every year, in Blackhot City, there were teenagers that would never be able to return home again. For some, this was a departure that meant life and death.


    On the way, Zhang Tie met many teenagers like him walking towards school as they carried luggage on their backs and weapons in their hands.


    When Zhang Tie arrived at school, he found more than half of the undergraduates had already arrived and were resting on the training grounds. According to the plan, they were to leave at 7:30 am, thus many of the horny students had already been prepared and had arrived at the training ground before 7:00 am. Besides the uniformed luggage, they were each equipped with various equipment. Noisily, those horny students formed into many small groups according to the usual training regions on the training ground. Hearing the noise, Zhang Tie no longer felt sad.


    The moment he arrived, Zhang Tie saw Bagdad and Sharwin, who had arrived earlier than him. Looking at the huge axe hanging on Bagdad¡¯s shoulder, Zhang Tie then glanced at his own sword. He was really shocked from the difference, becoming speechless.


    On the training ground, Bagdad¡¯s style was absolutely masculine and eye-catching. With only a half-body shoulder armor on his naked upper body, the muscles under his dark skin were revealed. The armor was only used to protect his right shoulder and heart, and a shiny axe weighing at least 30 kgs was hung on his shoulder armor, giving off quite a cool appearance. In contrast, like Zhang Tie, Sharwin looked much more average¡ªa luggage, a leather armor, a belt, a kettle, and a sword. Zhang Tie felt something was wrong with Sharwin¡¯s equipment, as they were too old and heavily worn. Take Sharwin¡¯s short sword as an example; the sheath showed signs of cracks and the sword within could even be seen. In addition, that leather armor was obviously smaller than Sharwin¡¯s figure, and as for the aluminum kettle, Zhang Tie swore that he has never seen a padded military kettle like this one before. Although he knew Sharwin¡¯s family was poor, he still could not believe his eyes. That was too excessive! Zhang Tie had already cursed Sharwin¡¯s dad dozens of times inside.


    Standing beside Bagdad, Sharwin felt embarrassed as he lowered his head and cleaned his fingernails. At the same time, Bagdad cursed resentfully.


    ¡°Your dad is too much! How could he give you such poor equipment!? Given the money you have made for your family during the past years, you could already get what you need. Take a look at that so-called ¡°sword¡±. It¡¯s already heavily rusted. It¡¯s only shiny because it had been polished on the knife grinder at the cost of its thickness and length. It won¡¯t function well since both the blade and the body of the sword had been ground too thin. This is too much! When we return, we must go to your house and teach him a lesson¡­¡±


    ¡°Forget it. I still have several younger brothers, so my dad might not have been able to save too much money for me. To already have this, I¡¯m already content¡­¡± Sharwin explained weakly, looking dejected and sad.


    Seeing Sharwin¡¯s sad mood, Zhang Tie gloomily walked towards him. He said nothing as he directly pulled out the sword from Sharwin¡¯s waist. Looking at that sword, Zhang Tie was instantly filled with rage. It really was like what Bagdad had said. Can you really call this a motherf*cking sword? It was simply a thin iron sheet! Holding it, Zhang Tie felt it was very unstable. Pits the size of rice could be seen everywhere on the blade due to it being heavily rusted. After grinding it, although it looked a bit shiny, it became much thinner than before, mostly because it was heavily rusted. It felt extremely light in Zhang Tie¡¯s hand. One would have to slash quickly and fiercely even to kill a chicken, let alone those dangerous living beings outside the city walls.


    Zhang Tie immediately undid his own sword and gave it to Sharwin. ¡°Take mine!¡±


    ¡°No need, no need. I can use this!¡± Sharwin hurriedly refused him, intending to retrieve his sword.


    Saying nothing, Zhang Tie threw Sharwin¡¯s sword onto the ground, directly breaking it into two halves. Seeing the 2 pieces of his broken sword, Sharwin¡¯s face turned pale. Saying nothing else, he bit his own lips tightly and looked even more dejected.


    Zhang Tie patted Sharwin¡¯s shoulder and the dagger on his waist. ¡°Trust me, just use mine. I still have a dagger. In addition, I also have a spear head. Once I find a wooden stick and attach it, I would have a complete spear. With my spear and dagger, us seven brothers will definitely succeed this survival training!¡±


    Sharwin finally nodded. Unknown to what he had seen, his eyes were widely looking at something behind Zhang Tie. Hearing the chaos behind him, Zhang Tie turned back and saw Fatty Barley walking towards them with a huge luggage on his back like a tortoise. The huge luggage and his equipment had caused the commotion. Compared to Sharwin¡¯s poor equipment, Fatty Barley¡¯s equipment was the very definition of nouveau riche¡­

 67 Starting Off

    Chapter 67: Starting Off


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Every undergraduate opened their luggage and placed it before their feet, waiting for the inspection of the coaches and Captain Kerlin. Besides 5kg of food, some undergraduate had also hidden some in their luggage. Using Zhang Tie as an example, his mom had prepared some fried rice for him and had hidden it in the inner layer of his luggage. If wasn¡¯t too excessive, the coaches and teachers would not punish them for it. Of course, if anyone brought too much food, the surplus food had to be handed in, and at the same time, the coach or teacher in front of him would give him a stern look. If such a thing were to occur, it would perhaps not be worth it to bring so much food.


    Based on the experiences of their predecessors, all the horny students understood the bottom line¡ªthey could not secretly bring more than 1kg of food, which was basically one day¡¯s worth of food. If anyone exceeded this amount, then they would be punished.


    Soon after their luggage were checked, Captain Kerlin sent his order, ¡°Set Off.¡± Hearing his order, those horny students shouldered their luggage and walked out of the school in lines in their respective class towards the west gate of Blackhot City.


    It was only when they had walked out the school gates did the students from the lower grades arrive at school. With a complex look in their eyes, they stood on both sides of the school gates as they saw off the undergraduates equipped with weapons!


    For the kids from commoner families in Blackhot City, none of them would be able to avoid participating in the survival training; it was their destiny, and it was the destiny of everyone in this age. For humans to expand their living domain, they relied on sending out young men from the school gates every year despite the fact that some would lose their lives.


    ¡°Little brothers, work hard! Next year, it will be your turn!¡± Some guy at the front loudly shouted. Unfortunately, only a few people responded, as his words had made them depressed.


    Remaining silent, Zhang Tie moved on along with the others. Compared to when he had first arrived at school, his luggage had become heavier. The most obvious change was the black pot covering his luggage. All the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood were shouldering more goods than when they had arrived at school. Everything extra they had been carrying was something that Fatty Barley brought. In regards to the huge pot, Fatty Barley only had one reason: if they could drink soup, they would have ? more choices to choose from for food, and they could also reduce their food consumption by ? while being able to recover their physiques a bit faster. The reason Fatty Barley gave was convincing and persuasive, thus Zhang Tie shook his head and carried the ridiculously huge black pot along with his luggage.


    Ever since the morning, he had been carrying the black pot. For some unknown reason, perhaps due to superstition in the eastern countries[1], Zhang Tie faintly felt that he would encounter troubles during this survival training. Before he had left, he had noticed a vicious glare from Sharon, who was standing beside Glaze. Thinking of how low-key Glaze¡¯s group has been acting these days, Zhang Tie felt as if something bad would happen to him.


    In fact, they actually didn¡¯t need to bring a pot; if they wanted to drink soup, they could simply use their own helmets or food container, which was what most people did. Zhang Tie had also suggested this; however, Fatty Barley gave him a mysterious smile as he told Zhang Tie that he would know the advantages of the pot when they arrived.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie set off with that huge black pot on his back. It was such a big pot that even Captain Kerlin gave it a look a few times.


    However, the black pot paled in comparison to the killing machine known as the ¡°Iron Gate T21¡±, a light, complex pulley-based crossbow used by professionals, that hung on Doug¡¯s shoulder. Although it was lighter than other crossbows, it was 1m in length and weighed 30kg before having been loaded with arrows. As all the important parts of the ¡°Iron Gate T21¡± were made of a special alloy, it looked like a huge steel kite on Doug¡¯s back, making it really eye-catching.


    While carrying the ¡°Iron Gate T21¡± that was not too heavy around his shoulder, Doug gave off an arrogant air, causing Bagdad¡¯s eyes to turn green with envy.


    The ¡°Iron Gate¡± was also brought by Fatty. Compared with Sharwin¡¯s miserable treatment, Barley¡¯s dad had really paid an exorbitant amount for the survival training. From what Zhang Tie knew, an ¡°Iron Gate T21¡± was worth at least 15 gold coins since it had to be made from a special, high-performance alloy. It was not possible to produce the crossbow in Blackhot City; only Kalur of the Andaman Alliance, known as the city of machines, was able to produce the series of long-range weapons which the ¡°Iron Gate¡± belonged to.


    While Doug carried the ¡°Iron Gate T21¡±, Sharwin and Leit carried two arrow containers. Each cross-arrow container contained 80 standard, steel armor-piercing arrows and 2 clips[2]. In addition, Bagdad also helped Fatty carry a steel pike that could be assembled, while Hista was carrying a professional outdoor bag for Fatty. Zhang Tie was really speechless about Barley, as there were still a lot of things on him. This time, Zhang Tie knew clearly how afraid of death Fatty Barley was.


    When they were setting off school, the first morning rays cast down in Blackhot City. Walking on the street, the tidy footsteps arouse the attention of all the passersby. Seeing these young men leaving the city, some kind-hearted, middle-aged women would stop walking and would start to pray with clasped hands. In addition, pastors and priests from the church of the Brilliance God had long prepared to spray holy water over each horny student on the roadside.


    ¡°Children, God will bless you. Use your machetes and spears to deal with those beasts outside the city walls. Go and spray the glorious rays of humankind in those remote places. The believers of God will definitely return safely!¡± shouted the big-bellied nun.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s clothes and face had also been sprayed with several droplets. The Brilliance God was worshiped by the Sun Dynasty, a country that had unified both state and church. The school of the Brilliance God covered every nook and cranny of that country. It was said that all the government officials in that country were assumed by clergymen. In the Sun Dynasty, government officials owned the sovereign powers; however, they didn¡¯t refer to themselves as government officials and had even forbade others from calling them that. Instead, they preferred to be called the most pious servants. In Barley¡¯s words, they were just a group of bastards that wanted to erect memorial archways[3] for themselves.


    ¡°That priest is obviously obsessed with alcohol and women. Those young nuns beside him are not virgins!¡± Passing by that bastard who was spraying holy water, Hista, the obscene guy, lowered his voice and told Zhang Tie, ¡°Seeing the look in the nuns¡¯ eyes and their eyebrows, I can tell that the two nuns had just made love with someone an hour ago and are still fascinated even now. Motherf*ckers, do they really think we¡¯re still virgins?¡±


    ¡°You could even see this?¡± Zhang Tie was really startled.


    ¡°Of course, if you spend as much time as I have on women, you can also easily tell whether they have just made love through looking, tasting, smelling, and touching. Let alone the eyes, I can even tell just by using my tongue¡­¡± Hista replied pleasantly.


    ¡°How do you identify it by tongue?¡± Zhang Tie doubted.


    ¡°If you have kissed them, you will be able to find that women having made love always have a cold tongue tip¡­¡± Hista answered confidently.


    Hearing Hista¡¯s words, Zhang Tie immediately became self-abased and speechless.


    ¡­¡­


    Zhang Tie and the other horny students walked across half of Blackhot City. On the way, they had encountered several groups from other schools. After some greetings, they would head to their own destinations. There were more than 10,000 undergraduates in Blackhot City. Naturally, not all of them would go to Wild Wolf Valley for their survival training; instead, they would scatter to areas 50-80 km away from Blackhot City. After special inspection, the difficulty in those areas used for survival training did not vary too much, thus every year, representatives of the schools would choose the place for survival training by drawing lots. This year, the Seventh National Male Middle School drew the Wild Wolf Valley, which was neither too bad nor too good. Generally speaking, the closer it was to Blackhot City, the less dangerous it would be. As Wild Wolf Valley was 70 km away from Blackhot City, it was neither too dangerous nor too safe.


    When Zhang Tie and his team passed by the municipal square, Zhang Tie glanced at that mailbox one last time before forcing himself to forget about it. 20 minutes later at 8:00 am, the team arrived at the west gate of Blackhot City and soon left Blackhot City through the gate.


    While passing through the dim city gates, Zhang Tie really felt like he was drilling through a mouse den; inside the tunnel of the gate that spanned 50m, it was so dim that lamps had to be lit inside during the day. Leaving Blackhot City, the horny students were really shocked by the magnificent Blackhot Mountain Ranges which were twisting like huge dragons in front of their eyes. The scene made them breathless. On average, the mountains were taller than 10,000m, and at the top of the mountains, were snow white lines. Several huge shadows of eagles hovering in the sky brought them a sense of desolation.


    [1] Carrying a black pot means shouldering the blame for others.


    [2] An arrow has to be put inside a clip before being shot out.


    [3] Memorial Archway is a symbol of humble behaviors and good popularity.

 68 The Beginning of the Survival Training

    Chapter 68: The Beginning of the Survival Training


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Wild Wolf Valley was only about 70 km west of Blackhot City. If they brought nothing with them, it would not be difficult for Zhang Tie and the other students of Seventh National Male Middle School to arrive there during the day, although they would have to expend some effort. However, as each of them was carrying tens of kilograms of luggage on their backs, it was undoubtedly a huge struggle for everyone.


    The scenery outside the city walls was completely different from that within the walls. Within the areas 10km away from the city walls, they were able to see patches of farmlands and the farmers working in the fields. There were watchtowers set at a specific distance between each other. These watchtowers had two functions: the first function was to send warnings, and the second function was to provide refuge for the farmers in the event that they suffer an attack from any dangerous living beings at any point in time.


    One kilometer away from the city, they passed the first farming town. Compared to the high city walls that were about 30m high in Blackhot City, the walls in that farming town were only about 5m in height. It looked extremely easy to destroy, as a height of 5m was not much of an obstacle for many magical beasts and dangerous living beings. The small town covered less than one square kilometer, as the farmlands were outside the walls. In the daytime, many farmers would work in the field. Seeing those students, many of them stopped their work.


    ¡°Which school are you from?¡± an uncle that was about 30 years of age standing in the wheat field asked.


    ¡°Seventh National Male Middle School!¡± someone replied.


    ¡°Ha¡­Ha¡­ I graduated from Tenth National Male Middle School. Guys, kill more beasts for us. Lately, there has been more and more demon beasts outside the city walls¡­¡±


    ¡°We will¡­¡±


    ¡°Come back alive! Remember not to excrete your bowel in the woods¡­¡± the farmer shouted.


    ¡°What¡­¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t expose your bare butts in the air¡­¡±


    ¡°F*cking lunatic!¡± hearing the farmer¡¯s words, that students cursed as he caught up to the team. Seeing that farmer, whose skin had turned black under the sun, Zhang Tie was moved and then kept his words in mind.


    The farther the towns and villages were from Blackhot City, the smaller they would be and the lower the walls would be. Finally, when they were 10 km away from Blackhot City, they saw the last town, which was only surrounded by a wooden fence that was about 3m in height. As they passed this town, they suddenly heard the continuous urgent ringing of bells drifting from a wooden watch tower in the field outside the town. Hearing the ringing of the bells, the farmers hurriedly dropped their tools and ran inside the town. At the same time, a team of fully-armored people mounted on horses rushed out.


    ¡°Defend your positions!¡± Captain Kerlin shouted as he instantly rushed out with a spear in hand like a galloping war horse. It was only at that moment that the students from the Seventh Male Middle School realized how powerful Captain Kerlin was.


    ¡°Oh my god, Captain Kerlin¡¯s speed is at least 20m/s¡­¡± all the horny students shouted as they kept their eyes on Captain Kerlin.


    Only a few breaths had passed, yet Captain Kerlin was already 100m away from the group. Soon, they saw a huge totem of a Bloody Scorpion rising up from behind Captain Kerlin.


    ¡°Battle Qi! That is Captain Kerlin¡¯s Battle Qi! Captain Kerlin is a Bloody-Scorpion Fighter¡­¡± more horny students shouted. At the same time, Captain Kerlin jumped directly from the ground like a hawk as he threw his spear like a bolt of lightning. The heroic gesture of Captain Kerlin made everybody fascinated. Even many years later, Zhang Tie would still be able to remember that man who was flying like an eagle in the air as he threw his spear.


    The moment the spear was thrown, the shrilling sound of breaking wind drifted from far away along with the miserable shriek from a beast. Afterwards, everything returned back to normal¡­


    The group then marched on again.


    After walking 200m, all the horny students were able to see the results of Captain Kerlin¡¯s spear¡ªa Lv 5 mutated magical beast, a colorful leopard, that was almost 2m in length without including its tail was nailed onto one side of the road by the spear when it had drilled out from the woods. About 3 feet of the spear had entered the ground, meaning half of it was buried.


    Captain Kerlin said a few words to the soldiers rushing out from the town, then he turned around and pulled the spear out from the magical beast. Afterwards, he led those horny students back on the way again.


    When Captain Kerlin returned to the group after killing that magical beast, he had already become the hero in the heart of every one of the horny students. No matter how terrible that one-eyed man was at school, he really made people reassured outside the city walls. With its body and its blood, the colorful leopard reminded the passersby that this was just the beginning.


    ¡°Did you guys hear the screeching sound drifting from the air when Captain Kerlin threw his spear?¡± Bagdad asked the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood.


    Zhang Tie and the others nodded.


    ¡°No crap, anyone could hear that!¡± Fatty Barley answered weakly. ¡°I have never expected that one-eyed guy to be that powerful!¡±


    ¡°You guys didn¡¯t understand what I meant!¡± Bagdad scratched his face, as he didn¡¯t know how to express his thoughts. ¡°I meant what¡¯s the reason of that shrieking sound?¡±


    ¡°Very good, very powerful!¡± Doug replied foolishly which directly won him a contemptuous glare from Bagdad.


    ¡°Do you mean that attack was special?¡± Leit rolled his eyes as he asked.


    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m guessing that attack was a sonic boom!¡±


    ¡°What do you mean by sonic boom?¡± Sharwin asked curiously.


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard about sonic boom at the fighting club. It means when the attacks of those great fighters can reach a speed faster than 340m/s, which is the speed of sound transmission. Once they reach that speed, they would break an invisible barrier called the sound barrier. Afterwards, a huge shrieking sound of breaking air could be heard. This is called sonic boom, a symbol of great fighters!¡±


    ¡°You mean¡­¡± Barley stared at Bagdad in a look of amazement.


    ¡°Right! I felt like the moment it left Captain Kerlin¡¯s hand, the spear was already faster than 340m/s. We heard the shrieking sound of air breaking when it moved faster than the sound transmission speed!¡± While explaining, Bagdad, with an admiring look, looked at the huge shadow of the one-eyed man who stood at the forefront of the team. ¡°Captain Kerlin is truly a very powerful man!¡±


    ¡°Is it that difficult to reach the speed of sound?¡± Zhang Tie asked curiously.


    ¡°Yes, very difficult!¡± Bagdad nodded his head. ¡°I have heard that there are powerful bowmen who are able to make use of super heavy war bows that could shoot arrows out at a speed that¡¯s faster than the speed of sound. But! There are less than 50 such people in the entire Blackhot City. Anyone who could reach the speed of sound using a super heavy fighting bow would immediately be awarded the rank of a second lieutenant and would be able to enjoy its respective treatment. The military of Blackhot City had long had a dream to build a ¡°Sonic Boom Matrix¡± that utilized super heavy fighting bows to launch long distance attacks alongside the three top pikemen matrices, but unfortunately, they have failed even after so many years. From this, you should be able to tell how valuable this skill is. Earlier, Captain Kerlin was able to achieve this by throwing his spear, which is even more difficult than using a fighting bow!¡±


    Hearing Bagdad¡¯s explanation, everyone else understood how valuable the sonic boom skill was as they idolized Captain Kerlin.


    After those horny students from the Seventh National Male Middle School had trekked about 30km, they finally arrived at their resting point as they heavily panted, feeling like tortoises with the luggage on their backs. They were at the westernmost railway station that was nearby the Glang Iron Mine northwest of Blackhot City. Passing that railway station, the rails would gradually extend towards the Glang Iron Mine in the north. The trains that commuted between Blackhot City and Glang Iron Mine were responsible for the transportation of goods and as well as commuting between the two locations. As the iron ores from the mines supported the prosperity of Blackhot City, the trains would transport them to the steel-making mills in Blackhot City every day. Glang Iron Mine, which contained more than 6 billion tons of iron ores, was the largest iron mine in the Andaman Alliance and was even ranked 3rd in the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor. Half of Blackhot City was established by this super iron mine.


    Taking a rest nearby the railway station, Zhang Tie and the others saw their companions, those horny students from the Second National Male Middle School, arriving twenty minutes later. Following them, the next to arrive was the Fourth National Female Middle School and the Eleventh National Female Middle School. Seeing the charming female students, all the horny male students turned to stone as they drooled.

 69 A Disgusting and Terrifying Thing

    Chapter 69: A Disgusting and Terrifying Thing


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Zhang Tie was also attracted by those female students as they poured out of the railway station. Ever since he was born, he had never once seen so many enchanting female students. Before those female students drew close, with the help of a breeze, the various fragrances from those girls carried by the breeze had already excited the horny students so much that they began to growl.


    Wherever the female students went, they would always cause those horny male students to jump up from the ground as if they had been possessed by ghosts. Making cool gestures, they raised their chests and gazed at those female students who were passing by.


    Under the gazes of those horny male students, the female students arrogantly raised their heads like peacocks. At the front of the line were several solemn female teachers and coaches who were glancing at those horny male students on the roadside with a stern look. Behind the female teachers and coaches, some of the female students kept looking ahead, while the others bashfully stared at those foolish guys.


    In total, there were more than a thousand female students from those two national female schools, causing Zhang Tie to be dazed¡­


    ¡°So huge¡­¡± Hearing that inharmonious voice, Zhang Tie turned around, only to see Hista drooling uncontrollably as his eyes were fixed on a female student with an excellent figure.


    That girl was tall and plump. She had short red hair and wore a delicate, close-fitting leather armor that made the features of her elegant figure stand out. At the sight of that female student, Zhang Tie was immediately attracted by her plump breasts and forcefully swallowed his saliva.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know whether she had heard Hista¡¯s remark or had noticed Zhang Tie and Hista¡¯s rude gaze, but as she suddenly turned her delicate face around, she shot a furious gaze at the two. Because of that conspicuous black pot on Zhang Tie¡¯s back, she could not help but give him another fierce glare.


    ¡°Kristine, what happened?¡± a slightly petite girl beside the red-haired female student asked her. ¡°Nothing, I just saw a boring guy with a black pot on his back,¡± the sexy red-haired female student replied.


    ¡°Take care of yourself. The teachers have warned us that those male students are dirty rascals. Although we still have to complete our survival training in conjunction with them and may need their help, we still need to keep a distance from them. If they are too close to you, they might do something disgusting and terrifying!¡±


    ¡°I know, Shirley. If anyone dares to do something disgusting to me, I will use this to castrate him!¡± the red-haired female ferociously said as she patted the short sword on her back. In her mind, the image of the guy carrying the black pot flashed through her mind. The distant Zhang Tie suddenly felt an inexplicable chill.


    ¡°I have heard that those male students only need to remember how you look. Even if they¡¯re not near you, they would think about doing disgusting and terrifying things to you!¡±


    ¡°Ah? That is so disgusting!¡± The female student called Kristine was so frightened that she suddenly turned pale. ¡°Shirley, what should we do then?¡±


    ¡°I also don¡¯t know. Let¡¯s hope they don¡¯t remember you¡­¡±


    ¡­¡­


    After meeting those cute female students in the westernmost railway station of Blackhot City, all the horny students immediately became highly spirited. The male students didn¡¯t want to lose face in front of those female students, and neither did the female students want to lose face in front of those horny male students. Hence, during the remaining 40km journey, the male students from the two national male middle schools competed with each other, while the female students from the two national female middle schools gritted their teeth and tried not to give off a weak appearance.


    After leaving that railway station, they saw fewer and fewer people, and the roads became narrower. The roads were covered with weeds, and the nearby trees and plants were much taller and were lusher. In addition, there were more and more sounds of various insects, birds, and other animals. Gradually, they entered the twisting hills neighboring the Blackhot Mountain Range.


    Continuing on this path, after traveling for an hour, they would take a 15 minute break. Finally, before the sun had set, they saw a huge, magnificent castle at the top of a mountain 1km away from them. The setting sun was cast onto the castle, which caused the castle to give off a rose-golden color, making people feel as if it was a kingdom from a fairytale.


    ¡°Wild Wolf Castle! We have arrived!¡± someone shouted. Everyone then began cheering. Plucking up their courage, they surged towards that castle.


    10 minutes later, some of the faster guys had already arrived at the foot of the castle, after which more and more people arrived. Carrying his heavy luggage, Zhang Tie was neither fast nor slow. He entered the Wild Wolf Castle together with the majority of the students from the Seventh National Male Middle School. Afterwards, everyone was shocked by the Wild Wolf Castle and the Wild Wolf Valley which it protected.


    The castle¡¯s appearance was a typical western castle, and it occupied the highest point on the mountain. It comprised of two parts: an internal castle and an external castle. Standing in the granite square outside the castle, Zhang Tie raised his head and could only see the tall wall of the external castle that was 30m in height. Within the wall, there was an arrow tower as well as some other powerful city defense equipment.


    Standing in the square in front of the castle, the instant Zhang Tie moved his gaze from the castle to the Wild Wolf Valley beneath it, he was able to see the entire Wild Wolf Valley.


    At dusk, Wild Wolf Valley was more or less quite dim. It was an irregular, trumpet-shaped valley that was more than 30km in length, and had many intersecting mountain ridges and hills. What left an impression on Zhang Tie the most was the exaggerated number of caves on the hills and mountains that surrounded the entire valley. Some of them looked similar to abandoned mines, while nobody knew how the other caves came into being. There were many of those strange caves everywhere. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know why, but when he looked at those weird caves, Zhang Tie felt that something was weird about Wild Wolf Valley.


    Wild Wolf Castle rightly occupied an important spot on the eastern side of the trumpet-shaped Wild Wolf Valley.


    This was where the numerous horny students would show off their survival skills in the coming two months.


    Standing at the top of the mountain, Zhang Tie sucked in a deep breath and muttered, ¡°At least I can breathe quality air here.¡±


    More than 10 minutes after those male students had arrived, the female students from the two national female middle schools also arrived. Different from those horny students, all the female students entered the castle while chatting with each other. Less than 10 minutes after the female students had entered the castle, a company of soldiers safeguarding the castle orderly departed from the castle as they rode on their war horses, soon disappearing behind the mountain.


    When the teachers and coaches were counting the number of students from each school, Zhang Tie and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood occupied a patch of land in the square outside the castle as they unloaded their luggage. Sitting on the ground in a fatigued manner, they rubbed their swollen shoulders and numb legs.


    ¡°20 years ago, this was the westernmost war castle of Blackhot City. Nowadays, the westernmost war castle of Blackhot City has been pushed to the one that occupied the point 200km west of Blackhot City, thus this Wild Wolf Castle has gradually lost its uses. Only a company worth of soldiers would be dispatched here to perform maintenance on the war castle, and they had just left. Now, the right to use this war castle has been transferred to these schools!¡±


    ¡°If only we could sleep in the castle tonight! There are more than 1000 female students. They must be lonely over there!¡± Hista, the rascal, said admiringly as he stared at those narrow, shiny windows.


    ¡°If you castrate yourself, you might be able to enter. There is not even a single man inside the inner castle of Wild Wolf Castle. Even the male teachers and coaches of the two national male middle schools are forbidden to enter. I heard those female teachers and coaches from the two female national middle schools are old, abnormal virgins. In Blackhot City, once any man made a mistake, they could only f*ck beauties in their dreams for the rest of their lives!¡± Leit said emotionlessly as he shrugged his shoulders.


    Hearing Leit¡¯s words, all the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood felt a chill at their crotches and drew their legs closer.


    ¡°Hadn¡¯t something happened during the past survival trainings?¡± Hista doubted. ¡°I don¡¯t believe that with so many beauties in front of us, that the other men would be gentlemen like us!¡±


    ¡°Yes, there were some incidents; however, those horny guys all died in the end!¡±


    ¡°How could that be possible?¡±


    ¡°During the survival training, the teachers and coaches would act in accordance with the decree that¡¯s sent out during times of war by the Andaman Alliance, so you should know how they would treat people who violate the rules!¡±


    Hearing Leit¡¯s words, Hista started to touch his neck¡­


    Later on, when all the horny students were resting in the square, the teachers and coaches began to tell the rules to the horny students and thus verifying what Barley and Leit had said.


    Firstly, all the horny students were allowed to sleep in the square of Wild Wolf Castle tonight, but none of them were allowed to be sleeping here when the first rays of the sun shone tomorrow. Afterwards, they are expected to stay in Wild Wolf Valley. This square will be used to do trading, form teams, organize activities, and accept missions. The square will be open from 8am to 6pm every day.


    Secondly, from now on, they will have act according to the wartime decree of the Andaman Alliance. Any dispute will be dealt with accordingly. Teachers from the four school have already formed a temporary committee that will supervise them. The committee will ensure the successful completion of the survival training and will also execute the wartime decree during the duration of the survival training.


    Thirdly, the toilets in the external castle are open for all the horny students tonight. Nobody is allowed to casually expel their waste. Anyone who is caught dirtying the areas of Wild Wolf Castle would suffer a miserable punishment once caught¡­


    Two hours later when it became completely dark outside, fires were lit from several huge fire baskets. Those horny students had already spread their own sleeping bags on the square. After eating some food and going to the toilet, they felt too fatigued and soon fell asleep.


    Zhang Tie hid himself in the sleeping bag in the smooth, granite square. Hearing those growls from the wild wolves in the Wild Wolf Valley, he trembled and could not sleep well throughout the night¡­

 70 Wild Wolf Valley

    Chapter 70: Wild Wolf Valley


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    ¡°Wake up, Bighead. We¡¯re setting off¡­¡±


    Due to his poor Qi and blood, Zhang Tie¡¯s biological clock had been delayed for the past couple of days. The next morning, Fatty Barley woke up Zhang Tie by shaking him. Opening his eyes, Zhang Tie realized it was almost dawn, as the last star was still hanging in the eastern parts of the sky. After spending an entire night sleeping on a sturdy stone, Zhang Tie felt a tinge of pain on the back of his head.


    Seeing that both Fatty Barley and Doug had already awoken, Zhang Tie also hurriedly climbed out of his sleeping bag and started to pack his luggage. The day had not broken yet; however, the horny students in the square had already woken up one by one and were preparing for the upcoming survival training.


    ¡°I¡¯ve noticed that more than ten groups have already left. It¡¯s our turn now!¡± Fatty Barley said as he arranged his luggage.


    ¡°Did you wake up early?¡± rolling up his sleeping bag, Zhang Tie asked Barley.


    ¡°Of course, I woke up early. Afterwards, I began to count the number of groups that had left. Those guys will find a path for us, and we will follow them. It won¡¯t be good if we¡¯re too early or too late.¡±


    ¡°This fatty is truly cunning.¡± Zhang Tie admired inwardly. ¡°But it¡¯s really reassuring to have him as a brother.¡±


    Picking himself up from the ground, Zhang Tie glanced at where Glaze¡¯s group had stayed last night. As he predicted, the four people had already disappeared. It seemed that they had already climbed down the mountain a long time ago. As this survival training was the final chance for Glaze, he might be more anxious than anyone else to perform well.


    The seven members of the Hit-Plane Brother arranged their luggage quickly and then followed the over ten groups that had departed earlier from the square outside Wild Wolf Castle. Leading to the valley below was a 200m long path paved with broken stones from the square. Walking along the path that twisted around the mountain, they entered the valley. Two other groups walked alongside the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood before splitting up with them at the bottom of the mountain. From this point on, they had become opponents to the other groups, as there were limited inhabitable places and resources in the valley that could only be gained through luck and fighting.


    On the first day of the survival training, everyone¡¯s first test was to search for a suitable place to stay.


    In the wild, a proper place to stay had to meet the following three conditions: first, it had to be close to a clean water source; second, it had to be sufficiently safe; third, it had to be in a place that was convenient for them to gather enough food in the future.


    Although they could feel safe and would be close to a clean water source if they stayed near the castle, it would be difficult to gather enough food. Based on the experiences of those from the previous years, most people chose to stay about 1-7 km away from the castle, though some arrogant people or groups with many members would choose a place a bit farther to stay.


    With an axe in hand, Bagdad cleared the path before them as Doug, Barley, and Zhang Tie followed. Hista and Sharwin followed behind Zhang Tie, and Leit stayed at the end of the line. Everybody held their weapons and entered the valley cautiously. They couldn¡¯t be careless here because just as they walked down the path, Doug had stepped into a pile of feces from some unknown beast, who seemed to have left it here last night. When Doug cursed loudly, they all felt a chill in their hearts. They once again reminded themselves that this was Wild Wolf Valley and not Blackhot City.


    After walking for 200m in the valley, Sharwin found a water-leaf willow. He then picked up several willow twigs and distributed them to the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. They then chewed the willow twigs for the water inside the twigs, using it to wash their mouths. In the wild, they had to be frugal. As it was early in the morning, the temperature in the valley was still a bit low. The valley was still covered with a thin layer of fog, and dew was still on the leaves of the trees and in the grass. After walking for a while, a small portion of their clothes had gotten wet.


    The ¡°gugugu¡± sound from some unknown birds on the trees reverberated from far away. The valley then gradually became quiet.


    After traveling less than 500m since they entered the valley, they encountered their first wolf. When Bagdad was waving the huge axe to clear the path, a wolf that had been resting in the grass 20m away suddenly stood up. After staring at them, it immediately turned back and disappeared into the woods before they could respond.


    The sight of the wolf naturally made everybody tightly grip their weapons.


    After walking another 1km, they found a crystal stream with a width of more than 5 meters. The river was so translucent that they could even clearly see the cobblestones and the water weeds at the bottom as well as a shoal of small fish that was swimming happily among the water weeds.


    ¡°I suggest we go deep into the valley along the river. It would be great if we could find an inhabitable place along the river!¡± Bagdad uttered.


    ¡°Fine!¡± Everybody agreed. Thus, they descended into the valley along the river. After another 1km, they passed by an abandoned mine. Surrounding that mine were several caves in the mountains nearby. The two groups that had arrived earlier had already occupied two of those caves. Seeing the huge and perfectly round caves in the precipices and the ridges, Doug asked curiously, ¡°How could there be so many strange caves in the precipices?¡±


    ¡°I heard that there used to be Gold-Eating Boas who would twist over there in the past and would bore holes for themselves, but later on, they were exterminated by humans. As a result, those holes were left¡­¡±Sharwin said.


    ¡°Caves of Gold-Eating Boas?¡± Doug asked surprisingly. Seeing those round caves in the precipices and the ridges whose diameters varied from 1m to 3m, Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva. He tried to imagine how large those Gold-Eating Boas would be if those caves were the size of the Gold-Eating Boas. At this thought, Zhang Tie¡¯s legs felt weak, and he felt despair when he looked at those pitch black holes.


    ¡°Of course, you didn¡¯t know that?¡± Sharwin asked curiously.


    ¡°How did you know?¡± turning pale, Leit asked Sharwin.


    ¡°I read about it from the local chronicles of Blackhot City¡­¡± Sharwin said without any hesitation. ¡°I remember that these Gold-Eating Boas from the Wild Wolf Valley were recorded in the local chronicles of Blackhot City more than 30 years ago. It was said that these Gold-Eating Boas were as old as 1000 years. At that time, in order to eliminate them, the whole Blackson Human Clan Corridor had to take action and numerous high-level fighters arrived from all directions. With the cooperation between the armies and the numerous high-level fighters, they were finally able to kill them all. After that, Blackhot City found an iron mine and a high-quality crystal mine. Tens of years later, nowadays, the crystal mine has almost been completely depleted and became useless. In contrast, the iron mine was completely deserted when the Glang Iron Mine was discovered. They had transferred the personnel over to the Glang Iron Mine due to this mine being more costly and producing lower quality iron ores, thus this iron mine was gradually abandoned. After the Gold-Eating Boas were killed, the population of the wild wolves sharply increased. Seeing so many wild wolves here, they named this place as the Wild Wolf Valley¡­¡±


    Naturally, nobody in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, with the exception of Sharwin, would be bored enough to read the local chronicles of Blackhot City. Although this event had happened more than 30 years ago, it was still terrifying to them even now.


    ¡°What if they didn¡¯t kill them all and had left a small one¡­¡± Doug muttered.


    With the sound of ¡°gulu¡±, everybody forcefully swallowed their saliva. Looking at those mountain caves once again, they dared not to live inside them anymore.


    ¡°I think we¡¯re better off not going too deep into the valley. If we can¡¯t find a suitable place to stay after another 2 km, we should turn back¡­¡± Fatty Barley immediately suggested with a solemn look.


    Everybody hurriedly nodded, and even Bagdad didn¡¯t object. Thinking of how this place used to be teething with huge snakes and monsters that were as long as 100m and could even eat the stones before them, everyone had an inexplicable feeling about Wild Wolf Valley.


    After searching for about 4 hours, the seven members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood finally found a place that was about 5 km away from Wild Wolf Castle. There was a Dragon-Claw Tree with a diameter of more than 10m near the small woods. Unknown whether or not this was a mutated species, this Dragon-Claw Tree that was covered in lumps was the largest one they had ever seen. Its height was greater than 50m, and at the top of the tree was a cloud-like crown, which covered several mu of land. Previously, seeing the tree, they had wanted to take a rest over there, but they ended up finding a hollow cave on the tree that was 4m away from the ground. Climbing onto the tree, Bagdad took a peep inside and surprisingly found that the inside of the hollow cave was very spacious and could easily hold three people. What was more marvelous was that someone had once lived inside; this should have been the living place of someone who had previously attended the survival training. Everybody then became excited. Each of them climbed onto the tree to peep inside. Fortunately, they found another natural hollow cave, which was much smaller than the first one and could only hold one person, 7m above the ground on the same tree. Even with the two hollow caves, the Dragon-Claw Tree still looked very green; however, the wood inside the tree had already become completely rotten. It seemed as if it had been struck by lightning, as one could easily grab some wood scraps from the inside of the hollow cave.


    ¡°Why not renovate it into a place that could hold the seven of us?¡± Leit¡¯s words made everybody spirited. It could already hold four people and it did not seem difficult to further renovate it, thus everyone immediately started to work.


    The renovation was composed of two steps. The first step was to expand the space of the two hollow caves as much as possible. The lower cave should be able to hold four people, their equipment, and food, while the upper cave should be expanded as much as possible. If it was expanded to be as large as the lower cave, then it would be able to hold another three people and they would all be able to live inside.


    After expanding the inner space of the two tree caves, they would arrive at the second step of renovation: breaking through the two hollow caves by leaving an ¡°N¡±-shaped path between them. At least two or three people could sleep in the ¡°N¡±-shaped space, so they would not feel cramped inside the caves.


    As they had learned some preliminary carpenter¡¯s skills at school and didn¡¯t need to make it nice-looking and delicate, they could easily do this kind of work.


    Bagdad waved his axe together while Zhang Tie and Leit used their multi-purpose military shovels. With wood scraps flying everywhere, it only took them over two hours to finish the work on the lower hollow cave.


    Seeing those wood scraps inside the hollow caves, Barley shouted, ¡°Ah, don¡¯t throw them away. These dried wood scraps can be used as firewood. We will not have to worry about lacking firewood for the next couple of weeks¡­¡±


    Everybody burst out into laughter¡­

 71 Base and Dreams

    Chapter 71: Base and Dreams


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Using his multipurpose military shovel, Zhang Tie dug in the upper hole in the tree. The military shovel could become a miniature hoe by folding the foldable shovel head vertically into each other. One edge of the head of the hoe was very sharp and could be used as a miniature axe, while the other edge was full of jagged teeth and could be used as a saw. While humming a tune, Zhang Tie flicked the shovel to clean off the rotten woods in the cave. As everyone found it refreshing and interesting to live in tree hollows, they worked really hard.


    Barley and Sharwin were responsible for making a fire to cook supper that would be cooked in the huge black pot on the stone hearth, and Doug and Hista were responsible for sending out warnings for any danger within 50m, while Zhang Tie, Bagdad, and Leit were responsible for the renovation of the holes in the trees.


    After renovating the lower hole, the three of them placed all their attention onto the upper hole. Compared to the lower hole, the upper hole required more work. As the upper hole had a limited amount of space and only had enough space to allow one person to enter for the first time, only when the first person had expanded the size inside could a second person enter. Thus, it was slower to renovate the upper hole. Zhang Tie was the first one to enter the upper hole. One hour later, Zhang Tie exited the hole and replacing him was Leit. After another hour, Leit exited and Bagdad entered. After two more hours, the space inside could already barely hold two people, thus as Bagdad left, Zhang Tie and Leit entered again. After another hour of work, Bagdad could push himself in as well. From then on, the renovation work for the upper hole started to accelerate.


    At noon, several groups of students from the Second National Male Middle School and the Seventh National Male Middle School also noticed the renovated tree hollows. Two groups of guys from the Second National Male Middle School had even intended to chase away the Hit-Plane Brotherhood by relying on their superior numbers, but when Doug held the ¡°Iron Gate T21¡± and aimed it at those malicious fellows, they could only reluctantly leave as the corners of their eyes twitched. They would never have imagined that the Hit-Plane Brotherhood would be so crazy to even bring along the ¡°Iron Gate T21¡±. The ¡°Iron Gate T21¡± was a machine-driven crossbow with two strings, and the two strings could be pulled simultaneously, allowing one to shoot two arrows at the same time. The arrows shot from the ¡°Iron Gate T21¡± could pierce through an armored human body as long as it was within a distance of 50m. Anyone who wanted the tree hollows would suffer a miserable loss once Doug pulled the trigger of the bow twice. Naturally, nobody dared to trespass in their territory. As it was merely a place to stay, casualties were not worth it.


    Working through the entire afternoon, they finally finished renovating the upper hole just as dusk was about to fall. At the time of completion, the upper hole could barely allow two people to lay inside; however, having two people lay inside and having three people stand inside were completely different matters, as the three people standing would all feel a bit exhausted. Finally, Leit couldn¡¯t stand anymore and was replaced by Hista. Bagdad and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brother were really amazed that Zhang Tie could stand as long as Bagdad. They were even in awe at Zhang Tie, who looked as normal as before. For Zhang Tie, he had indirectly showed his strength as a LV 1 fighter and could even surpass Bagdad by a bit at that moment. After igniting his Shrine burning point, Zhang Tie¡¯s physique had already improved greatly, quickly narrowing the gap between the physique of a Chinese and that of another human race. Certainly, if Bagdad had also ignited his Shrine burning point and had gained the same benefits as him, then Zhang Tie knew that he would not be his match. But, how could Bagdad ignite his Shrine burning point as fast as him?


    After thinking through this point, Zhang Tie became more confident of being able to successfully complete the survival training.


    In the evening, the aroma drifting from the hot pot of soup made everyone feel hungry. Naturally, when Barley called them, everybody took their own food container and moved around that pot of hot soup. Compressed dry food plus a bowl of hot meat soup¡ª¡ªit was simply perfect!


    Inside the soup were the dried beef brought by Barley and the wild fiddlehead foraged by Sharwin. After boiling them in lightly salted water, they ended up with the delicious soup.


    Everybody was satisfied with this supper. After supper, they cleaned their dinnerware in the small stream a few dozen meters away. When they all returned, they all sat by the bonfire under the tree as they discussed their next course of action.


    ¡°I think it will take us another day to finish the second stage of the renovation, after which we would be able to completely put the two holes to use. The food that we had brought with us will only last one week. For the remaining two months, we will have to gather food by ourselves. Considering how we all eat from the same big pot, in theory, we should all submit about a kilogram of food each day,¡± Barley said solemnly as he glanced over every member of the brotherhood. ¡°Since this survival training is dangerous, we might lose our lives when searching for food. We have to take this seriously. As we are brothers and will eat together, we have to consider our collective interests as well as our individual interests when it comes to obtaining food and its distribution. We will not force any member of the brotherhood to do something that is inconsistent with the principles of our brotherhood. I¡¯ve already thought up a plan for food allocation. Let¡¯s discuss about that¡­¡±


    Barley then poured out the details of his distribution plan. The food collected through a group effort will be evenly distributed and consumed by all the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. If an individual acquires food by themselves, then it will be dealt according to its weight. For amounts less than 1kg, since they all ate from the same big pot, it should be used to replenish the group¡¯s food supply, so that will belong to the group. For amounts that weighed between 1kg and 3kg, it will belong to the individual¡¯s emergency food supply, which should be safely stored somewhere and would only be used in times of emergency. As everyone has to eat, if someone in the group has an insufficient amount, someone else would have to bail you out. For amounts greater than 3kg, it will depend on the individual who found it. They could send it to others, use it seduce girls, or exchange it for other things at Wild Wolf Castle. That person could also contribute the food to the Hit-Plane Brotherhood in exchange for credits worth the same in the market of Blackhot City. The credits could then be exchanged for a ticket when it accumulated to a certain degree. Using Barley as an example, that fatty had two vote tickets because of his contributions to the Hit-Plane Brotherhood.


    After Barley declared his plan, everybody agreed after a short discussion. It truly considered both their individual interests as well as the collective interests of the group.


    ¡°If I submit more than 1 kg of food every day, can I freely do my own thing for the rest of the time?¡± Zhang Tie asked Barley.


    ¡°You can be free to do your own thing. However, at our tree base, from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm every day, we must have at least one person on duty that will cook. In addition, we will take turns being on duty; one will stay on duty from 6:00 pm to 0:00 am, and someone else will replace him from 0:00 am to 8:00 am. As long as you submit enough food and will not disturb the other members, you are free to do whatever you want during the rest of the time!¡± After explaining, Barley curiously looked at Zhang Tie and gave him a suggestion, ¡°Bighead, it¡¯s dangerous to act alone. As we are brothers, we should work together for the sake of our safety!¡±


    ¡°The thing I want to do is probably something you guys don¡¯t want to do!¡± Zhang Tie smiled.


    Bagdad raised his chest and replied, ¡°There¡¯s nothing to fear. If you want to fight Glaze¡¯s group, we brothers will support you!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± the rest of the people said in unison.


    ¡°I want to dig in the mines. Do you still want to go with me?¡± Zhang Tie said as he stared at those guys. Hearing his words, everyone¡¯s eyes opened widely.


    ¡°Dig in the mines? You want to dig in the mines?¡± with his mouth gaping, Barley asked.


    ¡°I know how you guys see those who aren¡¯t able to find food and have to suffer bitter feelings because they couldn¡¯t find enough food to complete the survival training. But, I really do find mining to be fun!¡± Zhang Tie blinked as he naively looked at them. ¡°I have always felt since I was young that mining was interesting. Since I have the opportunity, I must seize this chance!¡±


    ¡°Brother, you will regret it!¡± Hista sincerely suggested. ¡°This survival training is our test and is also an opportunity arranged by Blackhot City for us to get acquainted with and perhaps even marry those girls. No girl would like a man who isn¡¯t even able to gather sufficient amounts of food through hunting and would rather just make himself dirty in the caves. The people who had dug in the mines there in the past years were just guys with bad luck. Most of them were even single.¡±


    ¡°Since this has been one of my dreams since I was a kid, I would still like to give it a try. If it¡¯s not interesting, then I¡¯ll just come back!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, the corner of everybody¡¯s mouths began to twitch. They became speechless. Even Barley couldn¡¯t think it through. Since Zhang Tie was such a smart kid, why did he want to be a miner when he was a kid? Though, he wasn¡¯t one to speak since he had dreamed to become a prestigious concierge when he was a child.


    Seeing the looks of amazements on their faces, Zhang Tie apologized inwardly, ¡°Sorry, brothers! This survival training means different things for you and I. For you, you are here to gather sufficient food and perhaps even earn the favor of those girls, but I am here to gather enough energy for my Castle of Black Iron. I don¡¯t know where else I could replenish my Castle of Black Iron¡¯s basic energy storage. It would be difficult for me to find an opportunity in a short period of time once we return back to Blackhot City or some other destination.¡±


    Before the survival training had begun, Zhang Tie had already decided that his goal for the survival training was to make the Castle of Black Iron grow stronger. After learning of the effects of the first Leakless Fruit and surviving his first life and death encounter, Zhang Tie obtained a deep understanding of the changes and hopes that the Castle of Black Iron had brought. The Castle of Black Iron and that small tree were his two top-guarded secrets, ones which were closely related to his fate. Because of the Castle of Black Iron and that marvelous tree, Zhang Tie had already stepped onto a road that was completely different from the others. When compared to the Castle of Black Iron and the marvelous tree, a little bit of food, the looks of ridicules, and the mocking from others became nothing significant.


    As Zhang Tie and the others were idly chatting under the tree, Doug, who had run towards the grass to relieve his bowels, suddenly shrieked, causing all the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood to grab their weapons and rush towards him. Bagdad and Zhang Tie rushed forward shoulder in shoulder, causing Bagdad to cast a look of amazement at Zhang Tie. When they drew close to Doug, everybody gaped¡­


    With his trousers off, Doug was crying as he jumped around in the grass while covering his bottom. ¡°Ahh, my ass! These bastards¡­ Can¡¯t they even let me take a sh*t?¡±


    Seeing the members of the brotherhood running towards him, with dripping tears, Doug ran towards them with his bottom exposed as if he had just seen his saviors. ¡°Help! Quick! Help me take a look. My ass was just bitten by something¡­ I think it might be poisonous¡­ I¡¯m going to die¡­ Help!¡±


    Without even having pulled up his trousers, Doug ran towards the group, inevitably tripping on his trousers and falling onto the ground. When Doug fell, Zhang Tie clearly saw a bloody mark on his swollen left butt cheek.


    Bagdad hurriedly helped Doug up as Zhang Tie rushed towards where Doug had just been. That guy had just left a landmine¡ª¡ªthere was a pile of sh*t over there. The moment Zhang Tie arrived there, the odor almost made him vomit; however, compared to the life of his brother, the smell was nothing serious. Zhang Tie wanted to figure out what had bitten Doug, so he could quickly cure him with the right medicine.


    As he ran over there, Zhang Tie casually broke a twig. When he arrived, Zhang Tie held his breath and started to search for the thing that had bitten Doug at the place where he had squatted. Luckily, he soon found a blue-gray scorpion which had its tail raised in the patch of grass beside the ¡°landmine¡±; it was currently preparing to attack Zhang Tie. The instant Zhang Tie saw it, he became relaxed; however, the smelly odor almost made Zhang Tie roll backwards. He hurried broke the twig into two halves and nipped the scorpion as if he was nipping vegetables with a pair of chopsticks.


    ¡°Ah! It¡¯s so painful! I¡¯m going to die¡­ Hurry, brothers! Someone help me suck out the poison. If not, I really will die soon. I already feel numb in half my body. Ah¡­ I feel cold¡­ Hurry up¡­ Ah...¡± Doug cried miserably over there as he glanced at the other members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood, who showed weird expressions. Before Zhang Tie returned, every member of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood looked pale and had a solemn look on their faces; they looked as if they were making a choice of life or death as they stared at the swollen spot on Doug¡¯s butt. The atmosphere was very weird. They looked at each other and became speechless. Sucking out the poison wasn¡¯t a problem, but someone would have to put their mouth on Doug¡¯s butt. That¡­ That...


    As they were drawing lots, at the sight of Zhang Tie, who was walking towards them with the scorpion, everyone hurriedly rushed forward as if they had seen their savior.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s nothing serious. It¡¯s just an ordinary blue-gray scorpion, which isn¡¯t very poisonous. Those who had been bitten will recover after a day of rest...¡± As he said that, Zhang Tie showed the scorpion to the others. Whoop! Everybody became relaxed. At the same time, Doug, who was crying about how that poisonous fluid had flowed into his heart and how half his body had already felt numb, shut his mouth.


    It was just an ordinary blue-gray scorpion which had a little toxicity. Those who were bitten would only feel a little bit of pain, and at most, it would slightly affect their actions temporarily; it was nothing serious. After becoming relaxed, they realized something and then shot Doug, who was still lying on his stomach, a furious glare. What a bastard! Thinking of how Doug said that half his body already felt numb and the poisonous fluid had flowed into his heart, they realized they were almost cheated by him. At this realization, when they had come to terms with what the consequences of being cheated by Doug would have been, everybody became furious inside¡­


    Moving forward with an obscene smile, Barley said, ¡°You said that you felt half your body being numb?¡±


    ¡°Kaka!¡± With a pinch of his fingers, Bagdad also gloomily walked over. ¡°You also said you had started to feel cold¡­¡±


    ¡°Poisonous fluid had already arrived at your heart?¡± Leit asked solemnly with arms crossed.


    ¡°Were you planning to let us suck out the poison from your butt?¡± Hista smiled obscenely.


    ¡°You are a liar!¡± Sharwin pouted.


    Feeling as if something was not right, Doug immediately pulled up his trousers and stood up. Seeing his movement, even Zhang Tie frowned and became speechless. ¡°He seems to have not even cleaned his butt. He¡¯s¡­ really¡­ really¡­ great!¡±


    ¡°I¡­ just now¡­ was too nervous. Right, I was too nervous, so my body had the wrong feelings!¡± Doug stammered.


    ¡°Felt the wrong feelings? We¡¯ll help you correct it. I remember a method. We don¡¯t need to suck out the poisonous fluid for you; there¡¯s a mystical oriental treatment where we just beat your wounds to help the poisonous fluid flow out¡± Saying that, Bagdad kicked Doug¡¯s wound, causing him to cry out miserably. The instant Doug intended to escape, he was caught by Bagdad. Afterwards, with the exception of Zhang Tie, everybody charged at him. In the next three minutes, Doug, who had just been stung by a scorpion, got to experience the ¡°beating treatment¡± and its effects¡­

 72 Setting Traps

    Chapter 72: Setting Traps


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    After a day of rest, Doug was already able to freely move in the next evening. At the sight of his sad and furious face, every member of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood could not help but laugh out loudly. On the first day of the survival training, Doug had been stung by a scorpion on his snow-white butt when he was squatting in the grass to relieve his bowels. Thankfully, that was only an ordinary blue-gray scorpion which had low toxicity, and he was able to freely move only one day after his brothers¡¯ ¡°beating treatment¡±. That incident caused everyone to be alert; they had started to realize what the farmer meant when he said, ¡°Don¡¯t expose your butt in the air.¡± What if it was a mutated scorpion with extremely high toxicity? What if it was a snake with extremely toxic venom or a fatally poisonous insect? If that was the case, Doug might have already become a corpse.


    Nobody wanted to be bitten by something while they squatted on the ground or in the grass relaxedly like Doug had. After realizing the potential dangers, everyone, with the exception of Doug, had built a toilet that was not too far away from the tree hollows on the first evening of the survival training. Barley had even sprayed some medicinal powder used to repel poisonous animals on the ground around the toilet and as well as the area around the Dragon-Claw Tree.


    During the daytime of the second day, with the exception of Doug, who was still lying in the hole to recover, everyone continued to expand the tree hollows using the axe, military shovel, dagger, and machete. They had basically completed the second step of the renovation of their tree hollow, successfully expanding the hollows into three spacious floors, which was sufficient for seven people to sleep inside.


    After eating for two days, the total amount of food had dropped below 30 kg, which would only feed them for four days at most. They had started to feel pressure from the limited basic living necessities, thus on the third day of the survival training, everyone had decided to go and forage for food.


    Due to his Qi, blood, and spiritual energy having recovered, Zhang Tie¡¯s woke him up from his sweet dream at about 6:00 am; he was the one to wake up the earliest. Opening his eyes, he saw the traces of the top of the hole having been chopped. His crystal clear senses had been recovered, as he could easily identify which tools or which weapons had created those marks. Previously, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t do that at all. Could his growing spiritual energy be making him smarter and giving him sharper senses? After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Tie immediately got up. Knowing that the Leakless Fruit will continue to ripen again, he felt much better and felt as if his life was full of hope.


    The one lying in the same upper hole with Zhang Tie was Hista. When Zhang Tie woke up, Hista was still snoring. Those from the hole under them seemed to have not woken up yet either, thus after putting on his clothes and shoes, Zhang Tie equipped his soft armor and fastened his waistband. After checking his personal equipment, he silently climbed out of the tree hollow. For adolescents like Zhang Tie, it was not difficult to climb up and down from the high and twisting, lump-covered Dragon-Claw Tree.


    Since midnight, Leit had been on duty. Hugging the ¡°Iron Gate T21¡±, he sat in a pit that was a meter deep under the lower tree hollow with widely opened eyes. Seeing Zhang Tie climbing down, he was pretty surprised. ¡°So early?¡±


    ¡°Hoho, the early bird gets the worms!¡±


    ¡°The worms that get up early will be eaten by the bird. Do you really want to give it a try?¡±


    Zhang Tie nodded. ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Good luck!¡± Leit stopped trying to persuade Zhang Tie. In his opinion, Zhang Tie would definitely come back after suffering from a couple of setbacks. Mining during the survival training was not that easy.


    Waving his hands towards Leit, Zhang Tie climbed down the tree and quickly disappeared from their camp¡­


    Morning in the valley was different from that in the cities, as there was a fresh fragrance lingering here. Leaving the tree, Zhang Tie greedily inhaled the fresh air that contained the aura of the wild plants. He then ran towards the small stream not far away. Arriving at the small, crystal-clear stream where the members of the brotherhood fetched water, he washed his face. He then broke a water-leaf willow twig and used it to clean his mouth. After drinking two mouths of the mountain spring water and eating a small piece of dried ration, Zhang Tie started to take action.


    Before heading to the mines, another idea popped up in his mind, one which he had always dreamt of but failed in practice. If he was successful, he would not have to be worried about food anymore and would have a lot of time to do what he truly wanted to do. After all, mining was just his excuse to the public; he didn¡¯t really plan to get food from others by mining.


    While he was an assistant at the grocery store, Zhang Tie had learned various skills and knowledge that would help him survive in the wild from Donder and the pioneers who visited the store. The skills and knowledge learned were not things that could be learned in school; this one, in particular, was about setting traps to capture wild animals. After observing the environment of Wild Wolf Valley for the past two days, Zhang Tie realized he could try out some of the skills and use the methods to acquire food.


    Zhang Tie cut off a piece of wild bamboo, dividing them into two parts with each being 1m in length. After bundling them together, he left the area. When he passed by a patch of chestnut trees, Zhang Tie found a chestnut tree which was as wide as a duck¡¯s egg and had a height that was greater than 3m. He then used his multi-purpose military shovel to cut that chestnut tree. After cleaning off the extra twigs and leaves on it, Zhang Tie was left with a rod. He then took out the steel spearhead that hung on his waist and nailed it onto the rod, forming a complete spear with a length that was slightly longer than 2m. With that long spear in hand, Zhang Tie became even more dauntless. He then moved towards a place in his memory that was 500m away from the camp with his long spear and the two parts of bamboo in hand.


    As most of the participants of the survival training chose to stay within 5km of the castle, most of the birds and animals were observed and chased away, while the unlucky ones had already been killed by the participants. Thus, it would be relatively safer within this area, as fewer dangerous beasts were here. Because of this, despite him acting alone, Zhang Tie had nothing to worry about.


    Before he had arrived at his destination, he had already heard the sound of running water from behind the mountain slope. After detouring that mountain slope, a small river that was as wide as seven or eight meters appeared in front of Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes. Patches of weeds, aquatic plants, and reeds could be found along the streamside. Zhang Tie¡¯s arrival had caused several birds to fly away. Although the river was not crystal clear, it was still clean. Squatting down, Zhang Tie observed along the riverside for about five or six minutes, finding that there were always fish the length of chopsticks jumping out of the water and that there were no other fierce aquatic animals like crocodiles. After a while, Zhang Tie got an idea. Clearing the path using his long spear, he walked towards the upper reach of the stream. At that location, he found several small streams which would converge with the river at several different distances. Every time he saw another small stream, Zhang Tie would stop and carefully take a look; however, in the end, he would shake his head and continued to walk to the upper reaches with a disappointed look. After 700-800m later, Zhang Tie had already seen five small streams, yet none of them made him satisfied. However, as he was blocked by a ravine and a cliff, he could no longer continue. If he wanted to pass, he would have to swim across the river or take a detour around it. Fortunately for Zhang Tie, before he took a detour around the river, he heard the trickling sound of a stream.


    ¡°Woah!¡± Zhang Tie stopped. If the sensitivity of his senses were not increased by his spiritual energy which had sharply grown by seven-fold, then Zhang Tie would never have heard the sound that had led him to this extremely hidden place. Clearing the path with his long spear, Zhang Tie walked past the weeds and thorns beside the cliff, heading to the direction where he could hear the trickling sound more clearly. He then continued to search for the origin of that sound along the walls of the cliff and the ravine. After detouring several huge rocks, he saw a 1m wide stream filled with pebbles converging into the river by the cliff and the ravine. The stream could only immerse his feet.


    At the sight of this stream, Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes turned bright.


    After verifying the location, the slope, the depth, and the quality of the small stream, Zhang Tie made some gestures with his hands before finally making a decision. Fortunately, he had found a suitable place¡­


    Inserting the long spear into the ground, Zhang Tie took out his military shovel and removed his shoes as he begun to dig at a place that was not too far from where the small stream led into the river. As he dug, Zhang Tie threw the wet sand and the pebbles to one side of the stream. After digging for more than an hour, he finally built a small pond that was 2m above the point of conversion; it was more than 50 cm deep and was as large as a water vat.


    After creating that small pond, Zhang Tie picked up the nearby pebbles and built a small dam above it. He then started to smoothen out the 2m long water channel from the small pond to the point of convergence. Removing all the stones and pebbles that were larger than the size of an egg from the water channel, Zhang Tie then paved the water channel with fine sand and pebbles which were smaller than the size of a thumb. He then further reduced the slope of the water channel and made it narrower and deeper¡­


    After doing so, Zhang Tie then broke the two parts of bamboo using a dagger and turned them into fine bamboo strips. Using the strips of bamboo and strips of the nearby willow, he weaved them into a funnel-shaped object and placed it at the exit of that pond. By the time he finished doing all of this, it was almost noon¡­


    Zhang Tie then took a rest under a tree beside that stream. Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Zhang Tie was satisfied with what he had achieved with this whole morning. The area within 20m from the point where the stream converged into the river to the upper reaches had been totally changed.


    About 2m onwards from the mouth of the stream, Zhang Tie had slightly changed the slope of the stream, thus the speed of the flowing water was changed and became slower. Zhang Tie had also changed the depth of the stream. Previously, this section of the stream was only 5 to 10 cm in depth, and pebbles were even exposed to the air in some areas, meaning the depth was less than 3 cm. After Zhang Tie had moved the bigger stones and the wet sand away, the depth became more than 20 cm. Above the water channel was a deeper pond, the exit of which was blocked by an ugly, funnel-shaped object created by Zhang Tie; however, although it was rough, it was also the only ¡°entrance¡± to the pond. The opening of that funnel-shaped object was facing the water channel, while its end was in the pond. The simple structure of the funnel-shaped object allowed fish to easily enter, but it would be difficult for it to leave due to the bamboo strips, which did not need to exert any force because of the water flowing against it. However, fish that were wider than 1 inch would not be able to pass through that funnel-shaped object and would be forced back into the pond again.


    The funnel-shaped object was the key to this trap. In addition, Zhang Tie had built 8 dams with those larger pebbles at the area 20m from the pond, each of which was about 2-3m in height.


    Naturally, the dams made of pebbles were not used to block water; they were used to form a natural waterfall to increase the amount of oxygen in the water. After such modification, the water flowing into the stream would definitely contain more oxygen after crashing down eight times. As fish needed oxygen, they would definitely swim upwards from the mouth of the stream and would ultimately fall into that pond. The pond plus that funnel-shaped bamboo formed a natural fish cage; any fish that entered could only stay inside and wait for his arrival.


    This was a hunting skill that was imparted to him by Donder. Using this skill, with some modifications to the area and given the appropriate terrain and conditions, he would be able to force the fish to enter the trap on their own without having to use a fishing net or a fishing spear. Donder had once said that alcohol, sex, and money was to humans as oxygen was to fish. Those clever traps were based on the prey¡¯s natural characteristics and preferences.


    After taking a rest for a while under the tree and eating some dried rations for lunch, Zhang Tie found that the water had gradually become crystal clear. The flowing stream soon cleared the mud at the point of convergence, causing ripples. Before leaving, he cut off a verdant twig and used it to cover the pond. Afterwards, as he made his way to Wild Wolf Castle, taking advantage of the elasticity and weight of the twigs on the side of the road, Zhang Tie made another two traps which could be used on small animals. These were also traps that he had learnt about before.


    He soon arrived at the Wild Wolf Castle, staring with wide open eyes at the sight of the boisterous scene in the castle square.

 73 Becoming a Miner

    Chapter 73: Becoming a Miner


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    The castle square was even more boisterous than the municipal square in Blackhot City. With just a slight glance, Zhang Tie knew that there were at least 800-900 people there. The male students were trading goods, mostly food, with the female students. Some of the male students exchanged the prey they had caught with the female students for various wild vegetables, while the other male students formed small groups with the female students in an attempt to get acquainted with each other. With a simple sweep of his glance, Zhang Tie was able to see dozens of horny male students proudly displaying their strong arms and patting their chests in front of the girls. In order to make their weak bicep muscles stand out, some of the seemingly weak guys had even turned red all over, causing the girls to giggle.


    This was also the most attractive factor in the survival training¡ªonce both parties agree, the male students and the female students could form a group to complete the survival training together. As long as the female students return to the castle before 8:00 pm, nobody would interfere with their movements. After several years of compulsory education, which separated the male students from the female students, the sheer terror of talking to the opposite sex was finally conquered. Unless the female students were forced to do something against their will, they could do whatever they wanted. In the end, love was both a trivial matter and an important matter; it was trivial when it was private, but at the same time, it was also important because it is the foundation of the existence of the human race and was something which could not be easily controlled.


    At the beginning, as female students had the initiative, the horny male students could only try their best to attract girls.


    For the shy guys, they would get familiar with the girls through exchanging goods and food. For the shameless guys, they would rush towards girls and ask, ¡°Beauties, how about joining us? We¡¯re powerful. If you join us, we promise you will have meat to eat every day!¡± Most of the guys from this group would then suffer from glares filled with contempt. In contrast, the lucky and power guys who were more experienced with women would directly bring their hunted prey to the square and would loudly shout, inviting girls to eat supper with them. These guys would always easily succeed.


    A few moments after Zhang Tie arrived at the square, Zhang Tie saw a group of horny students from the Second National Male Middle School carrying a dead boar. Soon after they shouted to invite girls to eat roasted boar in the valley tonight, two groups of girls joined. Feeling spirited, those horny students left together with the two groups of girls. Only at the sight of this scene did Zhang Tie understand why Barley had brought such a huge black pot. Needless to say, he was preparing to attract girls with it, as there was a clear difference between cooking food with a pot and without. Since they had to stay here for two months, no matter how powerful one was, even though one could capture prey every day, one would not be able to find a girl who liked to continuously eat roasted meat for two months¡­


    Zhang Tie seemed to see the cunning smile on Fatty¡¯s face!


    Besides mutual recognition, they could also show off their strength and special abilities in the square. Seeing some of the goods traded by the students, Zhang Tie was amazed. It was only the third day of the survival training, yet someone had already made some practical goods, like bamboo woven mattresses, medicinal herb cages, pillows, wooden stools, bowls, basins, and barrels. Practical application was truly the best way to test one¡¯s talents. Those handmade goods reminded Zhang Tie of the pride of Seventh National Male Middle School, Li Shizhen¡ªthe talented Chinese student who was always average school but showed off his exceptionally high talents in medicine by continuously making several types of potent medicine in order to sell it. Immediately following the survival training, he became well known and obtained an opportunity to be recommended by the school. Thus, at this moment, for the students, this survival training was the most important opportunity for them to win a school recommendation.


    If one had already advanced to become a power fighter, then they would use their strength to kill wild beasts and bring them back¡­


    If one had the talent to become a medicinal master, they would create miraculous medicinal pills and medication¡­


    If one had a pair of delicate hands and special techniques, they would create something special and show them off¡­


    Of course, if one was a good-for-nothing and didn¡¯t even have the confidence to gather food in the wild, then they could only dig in the mines and do laborious work. If one suffered from labor work, then they wouldn¡¯t have to starve to death during the survival training. People who were able to withstand the suffering and do labor work were always needed in human society, as not everyone could be surrounded by glory and fresh flowers.


    Standing before the outer castle, a few guys were reading the notice on the door. Seeing the missions on the notice, some shook their heads and left, while others looked happy and intended to give it a try¡­


    Zhang Tie easily pushed his way through the crowd. Raising his head, he looked at the notice that had just been released.


    The first mission: Wild Wolf Castle was preparing to create coal, which burns through a large amount of wood in a short period of time. The people with strength but have yet to acquire prey can go get an axe and chop some wood. In exchange for the firewood, one can acquire food. For those who have confidence in their ability to make charcoal, they are free to apply to join this team. Since making charcoal was something that had been taught at school, many students would be able to survive in this manner; however, neither of the two jobs were something to be proud of. Those two jobs would only allow them to survive, temporarily avoiding death by starvation.


    The second mission: Charcoal was naturally used to smelt iron, and an iron smelting workshop was opened together with the charcoal kiln in Wild Wolf Castle. Besides needing charcoal, they also needed iron ores and people who were confident in their abilities of smelting iron and striking iron. Although they were also skills, iron smelting and iron striking were much more advanced than making charcoal and digging in the mines. Anyone who was able to smelt and strike iron could directly show off without restraint.


    The third mission: A lot of people are needed to create lime in the lime kiln. As lime was needed to taw numerous hides later, it was a necessity.


    As for the remaining missions, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t feel like reading them anymore¡­


    After scanning the notice, Zhang Tie directly entered Wild Wolf Castle. Entering the gate of the castle, he took a right took and walked for more than 30m. There, he saw a small room in the small square in between the inner castle and the outer castle; it was labeled as ¡°Comprehensive Logistics Management¡±. In front of the door was a desk which was occupied by two girls, who were chatting like a pair of birds, sitting behind it. It was only when Zhang Tie had moved closer to them that they raised their head and glanced over Zhang Tie. At the age of 15, Zhang Tie looked average and was neither tall nor short. His appearance was not particularly pleasing to the eye, but at the very least, he wasn¡¯t irritating to look at. After glancing over Zhang Tie, the girls were not interested. With an official sounding tone, one of the two asked Zhang Tie, ¡°Can I help you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m here to get a shovel and a basket!¡± Zhang Tie calmly answered.


    ¡°You want to dig in the mines?¡± Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, the two girls were startled. They once again glanced over Zhang Tie. The strange look in their eyes had hinted to Zhang Tie that there was some sort of problem.


    ¡°Yes. Although I have not done it before, I find it to be quite interesting, so I want to take this opportunity to experience it¡­¡± Zhang Tie replied with a smile without feeling the least bit of embarrassment. Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s smile, the strange look in the eyes of the two girls lessened as they looked at each other with a look that seemed to say that male students really do like to do strange things.


    ¡°Fine. Fellow classmate, please show me your student number plate, so I can help you register¡­¡±


    After undoing the metal student number plate hanging from his neck, Zhang Tie handed it to her. Each student was given a student number plate when they entered school. It was akin to the identification card used by the students in Blackhot City, but these would not be used during normal times; it was only during the survival training that the schools required the students to bring with them their student number plates. There was a saying among those horny students: the student number plate was used to identify the corpse of any student that had died so miserably that they couldn¡¯t even identify the face.


    After registering the number from his student number plate, that girl gave it back to Zhang Tie. ¡°I need to warn you that you should not damage the shovel or the basket. If you damage them, you will be asked to pay for them at their original prices. From now on, you are expected to hand in at least 100 kg of iron ores a day. You can exchange them for food; the more ores you hand in, the more food you will get. If you are not able to hand in the minimum amount of ores for three consecutive days, then you will lose your qualification to be a miner. At that point, you will be asked to hand back the shovel and the basket.¡±


    ¡°Fine. Is there anything else I need to remember?¡±


    ¡°Do you know where the abandoned mines are in Wild Wolf Valley?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I know. The closest one is less than 200m below the castle!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine. If you don¡¯t know how to identify iron ore, you can go to the iron smelting workshop to learn about it. They have many samples over there!¡± As she said this, the girl pointed at a direction in the small square of the outer castle.


    ¡°Fine!¡±


    Submitting 100 kg of iron ore each day was a pretty low requirement. This made Zhang Tie feel reassured that he would have enough time to do what he wanted. It seemed that only a few people wanted to take this job since it was too easy. Most people felt that it was too shameful to do this job since it was prepared for those who were on the brink of starving to death.


    After telling him about these matters, the girl turned around and entered the warehouse beside her. Less than half a minute later, she returned and brought out a steel shovel as well as a basket. It seemed as if someone had cleaned the two items in the past couple of days; despite not having been used for the past year, it was not dirty at all. Throwing the shovel into the basket, Zhang Tie carried the basket that was higher than a child. Waving his hand to the two girls as he bade them farewell, Zhang Tie awkwardly walked out of Wild Wolf Castle with his spear in hand


    As expected, his equipment caused everyone on the road to glare at him.


    The moment he moved past the gates of the castle, Zhang Tie heard a weird voice full of cynicism. ¡°Wow, who¡¯s that fish? Isn¡¯t that the brave guy from our school?¡±


    Turning his head, Zhang Tie saw Glaze¡¯s group casting a glare full of contempt at him. As the old saying goes¡ªone can not avoid one¡¯s enemy¡­

 74 I Like Women

    Chapter 74: I Like Women


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Although Zhang Tie was pretty eye-catching, Glaze¡¯s group of four was also pretty eye-catching; however, they attracted attention for different reasons. One party was a new, miserable miner, while the other party were warriors who had returned with many felled preys. Sharon carried three wolf hides, Garner and Zuhair carried a sheep that weighed more than 40 kg, and Glaze simply crossed his arms, giving off an arrogant feeling.


    ¡°How could you be so miserable? You already want to be a miner on the third day? Do you want me to share some meat with you? No matter what, we are still schoolmates. We have thrown so many away. If we had known that you were so miserable, we would have left the wolf meat for you!¡± Sharon said as he lifted the wolf hides.


    ¡°Oh, I almost forgot. We will be eating sheep meat tonight. If you kneel down in front of Boss Glaze, we might give you some of the soup¡­¡± Zuhair sneered by the side.


    Seeing this group of idiots, Zhang Tie became speechless. Were their brains stuck in sh*t? They only had a LV 2 fighter and three followers, yet they still dared to be arrogant in front of me? Ever since he had killed Snade and Huck, unbeknownst to himself, Zhang Tie had become entirely different than before. He was becoming more and more powerful, both mentally and physically. Before he had even consumed the first Leakless Fruit, he already dared to fight against several people at once, let alone now.


    ¡°Do you want to be beaten up again?¡± The instant Zhang Tie shouted that out, the arrogant smirks on the four froze. Zhang Tie¡¯s words were like a sharp dagger, directly reopening their scars.


    ¡°**¡­¡± Sharon¡¯s face twisted. Right as he was about to charge forward, the spear in Zhang Tie¡¯s hand was a step faster, arriving right in front of his throat in an instant. With the spear in front of Sharon¡¯s jaw, the icy spearhead forced Sharlon to swallow his words. Sharon instantly turned pale as he became drenched in sweat and stood still as if he was fixed in place, daring not to make even the slightest movement.


    Nobody from Glaze¡¯s group would have imagined that Zhang Tie could move so fast. Just now, Zhang Tie was just standing with the spear in hand; however, in the blink of an eye, much like a magic trick, the spear that had been in Zhang Tie¡¯s hand slid forward, stopped, and was raised. Those three motions were done fluidly like water. Before they had even been able to respond, Zhang Tie¡¯s spear had already appeared before Sharon¡¯s chin. Zhang Tie¡¯s actions were was too fast¡ªit was fast, fierce, and accurate! In an instant, he had frightened all four of them. The moment Zhang Tie shot out his spear, a cold and fierce aura surged around him, and even the other three could feel it. At that moment, they felt as if the aura of the spear had completely pierced through Sharon¡¯s neck, causing them to feel a chill on their backs. ¡°How is this guy so vicious? We didn¡¯t notice this back at school!¡±


    The other three immediately turned pale. Just as Glaze was about to pull out the weapon on his waist, Zhang Tie¡¯s spear, once again, retracted all of a sudden as if nothing had happened. Zhang Tie, like before, once again went on his way, rudely colliding into Sharon as he pushed him away and left with big strides.


    Seven or eight steps away, while Zhang Tie was recalling the casual feeling he had when he shot out his spear, he heard the quick steps of Glaze¡¯s group chasing behind him. His auditory sense had become greatly sensitive since his spiritual energy suddenly surged. Zhang Tie cursed inside and was determined to give them a lesson. He had once been told by Donder that for these kinds of bastards, you must beat them up fiercely when you have the opportunity!


    ¡°Bastards¡­¡± Zhang Tie turned around as he gave a thunder-like roar. His roar had frightened Glaze¡¯s group, who were about to catch up to him. Even the attention of the many people in the square had been attracted at this moment, causing them to turn to their direction. In a split second, everybody in the square, including both the male students and the female students, all turned and stared at them, resulting in the entire square becoming quiet. Earlier when Glaze¡¯s group had blocked Zhang Tie at the gate of the castle, they had already attracted some people¡¯s attention; however, now, because of Zhang Tie¡¯s voice, everyone¡¯s attention was attracted.


    ¡°Do not follow me anymore, and stay away from me. I like women, not men! Even if you take off your trousers and kneel in front of me, I will still not be interested in your disgusting butts. I¡¯ll say it again, I like women¡­¡± Continuing, Zhang Tie exclaimed furiously, ¡°In order to get rid of you, instead of hunting, I have decided to be a miner. Yet, you guys are still trying to give me trouble? You guys want to use that stinky bit of meat in your hands to lure me? I will tell you again¡ªI am a man and I like women! I am not interested in your filthy game where you pretend to be men in public but become eunuchs in private. Stay away from me with that wolf hide that you use in your filthy game. If you keep following me shamelessly, don¡¯t blame me for using my spear to destroy your anus, letting your wish be fulfilled!¡±


    Zhang Tie¡¯s words were fast and sharp, but the information it contained was too great, too terrifying, and too scandalous! After several seconds, the silent square suddenly burst into an uproar. Hundreds of people, regardless of whether they were male or female, released their gossipy souls and immediately surrounded them as they began to stare at Zhang Tie, then the faces of Glaze¡¯s group, then the sheep carried by Garner and Zuhair, and finally the wolf hide used in their filthy game that was carried by Sharon. It was obvious that these four guys were chasing after the guy who was about to go to the mines. Looking at the wolf hides, some guys in the crowd had even thought of something and started to vomit as they bent over.


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, Glaze¡¯s group felt blood rushing to their heads. They were at a loss for words¡­


    ¡°You¡­ you¡­ bastard! Don¡¯t talk nonsense!¡± Zuhair furiously pointed at Zhang Tie. Under the weird look in the eyes of the people around them, Zuhair became upset and could only weakly refute.


    At the same time, the crowd started to murmur to each other.


    ¡°Yes, I am a bastard. If you don¡¯t follow me anymore, then you can call me whatever you want¡­¡± Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh towards the sky. ¡°You just can¡¯t force me to do that. Zuhair, I like women¡­¡± Zhang Tie pointed at the female students surrounding them. ¡°I like to be surrounded by women that are like water fairies with big breasts and plump butts. Ah, they are my babies. What I desire the most is for innocent love between my favorite girl and me. If you promise to me in the public that you will no longer follow me, then I will definitely explain to everyone that what I had just said was nonsense. Then, you can just go and continue doing whatever you want on the wolf hide¡­¡±


    From his surroundings came another sound of vomiting. The gaze of many fell onto the wolf hide held by Sharon. In a split second, instead of wolf hides, Sharon felt like as if he was holding a hot sheet of iron. Especially when he saw the frightened look in the eyes of the girls that surrounded them as they covered their mouths in horror, Sharon trembled all over. It¡¯s all over! We can¡¯t even dream of having beauties anymore!


    ¡°You disgusting bastards! He has already been driven to the point of mining by you! Why are you still here? Piss off right now! Don¡¯t dirty Wild Wolf Castle¡­¡± someone in the crowd started to curse at them loudly. Afterwards, Glaze¡¯s group was immediately buried by curses.


    ¡°Yea, they are too shameless! How could they be this shameless!?¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t know? Some male students in their youth would be very depressed. If they are poorly self-disciplined, they might even do something strange!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s too disgusting¡­ Once I see those wolf hides, I can¡¯t help but want to vomit!¡±


    ¡°I have both heard and seen what happened. Just then, when this student was getting ready to mine and leave the castle, right when he left the gate, these students, who were in ambush, had blocked him. They had even tried to make him succumb to them by using the meat, but the student who was preparing to go mining just ignored them. After pushing away that guy with wolf hide in his hand, he wanted to leave. Unexpectedly, they caught up with him...¡± another voice rose up from among the crowd, explaining what had happened just now.


    ¡°I can also testify! These four bastards are from our Seventh National Male Middle School! Everybody in Seventh National Male Middle School could tell you that after these guys¡¯ bodies started to develop, they formed a small group that did not get along with the others. Every noon, they would go for lunch together, never leaving a single one behind. Normal male students would never do that. In the past, I had always been curious about this, but now I finally understand¡­¡± The explanation was so timely that Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t help but raise his thumb in his mind. This guy was truly good at using words, especially when he said ¡°bodies developed¡±, ¡°together¡±, and ¡°a small group that did not get along with the others¡±. Those words were truly great¡ªtoo realistic and really lets people¡¯s imagination go wild!


    ¡°Right, right, right. It was just like that. I am also from Seventh National Male Middle School. I can also testify¡­¡±


    All the surrounding horny students from Seventh National Male Middle School became spirited. They started to attack Glaze¡¯s group like beating mice in the street, wanting to completely destroy the reputation of Glaze¡¯s group.


    It was too despicable, too shameless, too disgusting! This was the largest scandal of this year¡¯s survival training. Among the crowd, some of the guys who had exchanged their meat for wild vegetables and fruits from the girls couldn¡¯t help but throw the wild vegetables and fruits at the heads of the members of Glaze¡¯s group¡­


    ¡°Piss off!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°Piss off!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°Piss off!¡±


    There were all sorts of curses thrown towards Glaze¡¯s group. Everybody, including both males and females, was glaring at them, and a look of disgust could be seen in their eyes.


    Even now, Glaze was still confused about how he had been humiliated so miserably in such a short period of time. Earlier, he was planning to show off in the castle square in order to attract some female students; however, he had unexpectedly met Zhang Tie, so he wanted to give him a lesson by humiliating him horribly. After being hit by two wild fruits on his head and seeing the resentful and regretful look on Zhang Tie, Glaze was completely infuriated and felt the blood all over his body rushing to his head and boiling like magma.


    With the sound of ¡°Xing¡±, Glaze pulled out the sword from the sheath hanging on his waist, immediately silencing the curses from the people around him. Seeing his actions, everyone in the audience took two steps back.


    Seeing Glaze¡¯s response, Zuhair¡¯s face became twisted. He wanted to stop Glaze, but he was too late. With eyes turning red, Glaze gazed at Zhang Tie and chopped towards Zhang Tie as he howled, ¡°I¡¯ll kill you!¡±


    Seeing Glaze¡¯s actions, the surrounding female students were shocked and screamed out loudly¡­


    Holding his spear tightly, Zhang Tie took a defensive posture; however, Zhang Tie was not nervous in the least, as he had noticed a certain figure in the crowd just now.


    Although Glaze moved fast, that figure moved faster. The instant Glaze charged at Zhang Tie, he had already been forced back and was sent flying backwards faster than when he had just charged, crashing onto the ground with a loud ¡°Bang!¡±¡±. Glaze felt dazed. Before he was able to pick himself up from the ground, he heard an icy voice.


    ¡°According to Andaman Alliance¡¯s wartime decree, anyone who dares to pull out their sword and attack another student in public can, at worst, be punished with the death penalty¡­¡± the figure standing in the ring of students said coldly, causing Glaze¡¯s group to immediately turn pale.


    ¡°Teacher¡­¡± Zuhair wanted to explain, but the figure casually raised her hand as she harrumphed, ¡°Shut up!¡± Hearing the teacher¡¯s order, Zuhair became silent. ¡°Considering that this is your first time making such a mistake, you have not harmed anyone yet, and it was not easy for you to become a LV 2 fighter before the survival training, I will simply give you the punishment of having to stay 10 km away from Wild Wolf Castle for one month. Now, before I change my mind, take your things and immediately get out of here!¡±


    After saying that, the figure flicked her hand, throwing Glaze¡¯s sword, which she had just grabbed, back into the sheath hanging on Glaze¡¯s waist.


    Seeing that sword flying towards him, Glaze¡¯s heart almost stopped. At that moment, the only thing that Glaze could imagine was the scene of the colorful leopard that had been nailed into the ground by Captain Kerlin¡¯s spear. It was only when the sword had entered his sheath did his heart began to beat again. His back had already been drenched with cold sweat. Having realized that what he had done was truly reckless, Glaze did not dare to say anything and only gave Zhang Tie a vicious glare. Saying nothing at all, Glaze left the square of Wild Wolf Castle with his followers under the weird stares and jeers of the audience.


    Zhang Tie realized that, after this incident, he and Glaze could be considered as eternal enemies; however, he wasn¡¯t afraid, the god of time was standing on his side ¡­


    Some of the female students in the crowd started to show their courtesy to that figure who had helped Zhang Tie.


    ¡°Miss Qili¡­¡±


    The audience also started to leave. Zhang Tie also wanted to slip away at this moment; however, unfortunately for him, the basket on his back was truly too conspicuous. The moment he moved, he was noticed by others.


    ¡°As for you¡­¡± Hearing her words, Zhang Tie immediately became still. Turning around, he forced an innocent smile, but unfortunately, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t receive a warm response; instead, slight traces of disgust could be seen in the eyes of Miss Qili. It was as if that woman was staring at a toad who was drooling uncontrollably. ¡°You are also a shameless rascal. You are not a good student either. In the following period of the survival training, if you dare to stay alone with any female student for over three minutes, I will chop off your hands!¡±


    Hearing such a punishment, Zhang Tie became shocked. He could not believe that the boring woman called Qili would force him to be a bachelor in the survival training. What an abnormal punishment! Sh*t¡­


    ¡­¡­


    Seeing as the crowd had left, Zhang Tie, who was just given a punishment, had also intended to leave the square as he gloomily lowered his head. From this incident, Zhang Tie also suffered a great loss. He didn¡¯t know whether he should cry or laugh.


    While walking, Zhang Tie¡¯s head suddenly collided with something soft and springy. Raising his head, Zhang Tie saw a beautiful girl who was covering her magnificent breasts with her hands. The instant Zhang Tie saw that pair of breasts, Zhang Tie sighed inside, ¡°Wow, they are so big!¡±


    At that moment, the girl¡¯s face was as red as her hair. A familiar, beautiful face with willow leaf-like eyebrows looked at him.


    Before Zhang Tie was able to apologize, the girl had already opened her mouth.


    ¡°I have plump breasts and butts, so what? Who¡¯s your baby? I know you bastards have long dreamt of sleeping with me. You didn¡¯t forget me at all and always have me in your mind. These past couple of days, you must have thought about doing terrifying and disgusting things to me numerous times. I¡¯m warning you! Do not those disgusting things to me in your mind anymore. Don¡¯t think about me in your mind! You rascal, you deserve to be f*cked by those perverts!¡± The girl kept talking as if she was shooting bullets from a machine gun that was used before the Catastrophe. After she finished speaking, she kicked Zhang Tie¡¯s leg with her pointy deerskin boots and ran away.


    ¡°Was she talking to me? She wasn¡¯t talking to me, right?¡±


    Zhang Tie became speechless for quite a while. He then looked to his right, his left, and behind him, finding nobody else. Finally, thinking about that girl''s unreasonable kick, Zhang Tie felt a sharp pain on his shin and started to shriek miserably. Hugging his leg, he jumped up from the ground.

 75 You Will Get Nothing From Me

    Chapter 75: You Will Get Nothing From Me


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    ¡°What a bad woman! What a crazy and lecherous woman! Who the f*ck knows you? Who the f*ck is thinking about you? You¡¯d better stay out of my sight. If I see you again, I¡¯ll tie you up and hmph¡­ hmph...¡­¡±


    Continuing on his way, he walked like a cripple as he used his spear as a crutch. Every time he thought back to how that woman had cursed him and kicked his shin, he would curse her. Like the male students from the national male middle schools, the female students from the national female middle schools were taught some fighting skills, and thus they were not as weak as normal women; in contrast, they were much more aggressive. Needless to say, those skills were targeted at men. At the very least, from that kick to his shin alone, Zhang Tie already felt that that red-haired woman with plump breasts had very powerful and fast kicks. Given that she had also targeted a cunning and accurate spot to attack, it seemed that she had always been practicing this skill.


    ¡°First, I framed Glaze¡¯s group, then following that I was framed by another person. Is this karma? Will those framing others always be framed?¡± Zhang Tie started to feel frightened and awe-stricken. In the past, Zhang Tie could almost be considered an atheist, as he held no beliefs; however, ever since he obtained the Castle of Black Iron, his atheist view had gradually begun to collapse. In Zhang Tie¡¯s opinion, both the Manjusaka fruit tree and the space in the Castle of Black Iron had already surpassed the limits that human beings could reach. Besides God, Zhang Tie could not think of another being that could create such things. But, what was a god? Was there truly a god out there that controlled everything, one who spins the wheel of fate?


    Zhang Tie would never have imagined that the resentment between him and Glaze¡¯s group would reach such a stage. Honestly, when Zhang Tie turned around earlier and cursed at Glaze¡¯s group, he was only planning to make a joke, intending to turn them into laughingstocks, but they had instead been dealt a harsh punishment. Zhang Tie finally realized what Donder¡¯s words meant. ¡°A soft tongue can break hard bones¡±¡ªlanguage was an invisible, sharp blade that could kill people.


    After leaving Wild Wolf Castle, Zhang Tie went around the iron mine near the Wild Wolf Castle. Even though it was daytime, he was still not able to see anything a dozen meters ahead of him after entering the cave. As he had no other choice, Zhang Tie turned back, realizing that he needed a torch to mine within.


    After having been ferociously kicked by that damned woman, Zhang Tie¡¯s shin became swollen, thus he couldn¡¯t freely move. As he didn¡¯t have any lighting tools, Zhang Tie decided to turn back. Walking around the pine trees in Wild Wolf Valley, Zhang Tie was hoping to find wood that could be used as a torch and pine resin. As he knew it might be dangerous in the forest, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t dare to venture too deep alone.


    The wood that could be ignited easily were the ones by the trunk that had been soaked in a great amount of pine resin that was secreted from the trees. Compared to the other parts of the pine tree, the wood of the trunk was much easier to burn. Once it had been chopped off the tree, one could, without even drying it, ignite the wood. The wood could burn for a long time because the fire would not be able to be easily extinguished. Having been immersed in pine resin, they were the best natural torch in the wild.


    As there were many wild pine trees in Wild Wolf Valley, one would be able to see many pine trees with diameters greater than 3 m everywhere. Arriving at the forest of pine trees, Zhang Tie saw many people, both male and female, at the edge of the forest. There were many treasures in the forest of pine trees. For example, pine resin had multiple purposes, pine cones could be consumed, and there were even many delicious foods, like wild vegetables and mushrooms that grew quickly during the rainy season between May and August, that could be found on the ground beside the rotting pine needles. Pine needles were even edible if they were fresh and had been placed in boiling water for a while. Even the wood from the pine trees of Wild Wolf Valley could meet many of the people¡¯s basic needs.


    While the female students collected pine resin, pine cones, wild vegetables, and mushrooms in the forest, the male students were doing laborious work. Especially when noticed by the girls, they would work even harder as they madly chopped the pine trees, as the wood from the trees were great firewood for making coal.


    ¡°Brother, can you do me a favor?¡±


    Catching sight of Zhang Tie wandering the forest with an eye-catching basket on his back, a male student who was chopping wood stopped him.


    ¡°What can I do for you?¡± Zhang Tie moved over in a manner akin to a cripple.


    ¡°Brother, are you here to look for a torch to bring with you to the mines?¡±


    Zhang Tie was amazed at that guy¡¯s good observation skills as he nodded.


    ¡°That¡¯s great. This pine tree should have a lot of wood that could be easily ignited. Help me out and we¡¯ll chop this tree together, then we can cut it into three sections. You can take all the easily ignited wood, the pine resin, and half the pine cones. How about it?¡±


    Glancing over at the pine tree that was as broad as a person¡¯s waist, Zhang Tie saw the flowing pine resin and the many places on the body of the tree covered with a thick layer of pine resin. He estimated that the amount of wood that could be used as firewood inside was not little. Even if he couldn¡¯t find any firewood, Zhang Tie would still be able to make a few torches since there was so much pine resin on it.


    ¡°Fine!¡± Zhang Tie immediately put down his basket and took turns with the other male student to chop down the tree. After chopping the tree for a while, Wood directly passed his axe to Zhang Tie, letting him continue with his axe, and threw himself to the ground, resting to the side as he idly chatted with Zhang Tie.


    ¡°I¡¯m Wood, what¡¯s your name?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Zhang Tie. Are you from the Second National Male Middle School?¡±


    ¡°Yea. What¡¯s wrong with your leg?¡±


    ¡°I was kicked by a mad woman!¡± Zhang Tie gloomily answered as he continued to brandish his axe.


    ¡°Haha, brother, you can¡¯t use force against women. My mom once told me that men need to pretend to be gentlemen in front of women. Even though you can¡¯t wait and want to throw them onto the bed, you definitely can¡¯t show it; instead, you must coax them. When you want to sleep with them, you have to ask whether they¡¯d like to take a rest¡­¡± Wood laughed out loudly as he pointed at Zhang Tie¡¯s basket. ¡°Also, if you want to attract women, you shouldn¡¯t be mining. No woman wants their man to be a miner!¡±


    ¡°This guy is really interesting,¡± Zhang Tie said inside; however, he immediately retorted, ¡°Does that mean they prefer their husband to be a charcoal maker?¡±


    ¡°It was my fiance who told me to make coal here. She didn¡¯t want me to attract too much attention and wanted me to pay attention to my own safety. Thinking over it, making charcoal was the best option¡­¡± Wood replied proudly.


    ¡°You already have a wife?¡± Zhang Tie stared at Wood in amazement.


    ¡°Of course, we grew up together in a courtyard since we were young. Two years ago, when we played outside, I asked whether she would take a rest, then I made her my wife. She¡¯s in another school. After this survival training, we will be engaged! Brother, you need to learn from me on this aspect¡­¡±


    Wood¡¯s words struck Zhang Tie once again. Zhang Tie realized that his relationship with the female students has been poor recently. Ever since he left school, he could not see Miss Daina anymore. When he was going to sleep with Miss Anna, he found out he needed to be circumcised. On the third day since the start of the survival training, he was forbidden by that damned Qili to stay with girls for more than three minutes. Afterwards, he was even fiercely kicked by an insane girl. Damn it! Being compared to Wood, he was really envious. That foolish looking guy had already gotten to enjoy the taste of a woman at least two years ago; in contrast, he had not even touched a girl¡¯s hand.


    Feeling as if he had taken a blow, Zhang Tie became speechless. He just lowered his head and kept brandishing the axe, seriously treating the pine tree as an enemy. Zhang Tie¡¯s good strength really startled Wood. Finally, under Zhang Tie¡¯s persistent efforts during the past ten more minutes of brandishing the axe at a high frequency, the pine tree slowly inclined as it fell to the ground accompanied by the sounds of cracking.


    The falling of the pine tree attracted the attention of the three nearby girls who were carrying baskets, causing them to come over. Among the three that came over, one was a blonde beauty, while the other two were more beautiful than the average girl; they were all beautiful girls who were pleasing to the eye.


    ¡°Hello, can you gift us with the pine cones from the tree?¡± The girl speaking was definitely a beauty; she had blonde hair and a slim frame, her face was a snow-white that was akin to milk, her voice was as fair sounding as that of a yellow warbler[1], her smile was as warm as the sunshine, and her attitude was perfectly sincere.


    At the sight of such a perfect beauty, Wood¡¯s face blushed. He then raised his chest and said generously, ¡°No problem! However, half of pine cones on this tree belong to him. If you want the other half, you have to gain his approval!¡± Saying this, Wood pointed to his side at Zhang Tie, who was panting as he held onto the handle of the axe.


    The blonde-haired beauty kept smiling as she moved her eyes onto Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie, who was extremely dejected at that moment, glanced at her. Recalling the abnormal punishment he had received, he finally lost his temper. ¡°Beauty? To me, a beauty is as useful as a fart right now. I can¡¯t eat nor can I touch them. They might even lose their temper and kick me!¡± Zhang Tie thought inside.


    Zhang Tie then immediately refuted her, ¡°No way, I will take away all of my pine cones. I won¡¯t give you even one!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, the sunshine-like smile on that blonde-haired beauty immediately froze. Her face then became cold as if it were covered in frost, and the other girls beside her stared at Zhang Tie with mouths agape. Such a rude guy! Such a rough guy! This was their first time encountering such a person. Even Wood was staring at Zhang Tie in amazement. He started to doubt whether Zhang Tie had felt stimulation before. Afterwards, without caring about the people staring at him, Zhang Tie directly lowered his mining basket and ran over to pick up the pine cones.


    Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s movements, the other girls looked at each other before they also ran over to pick pine cones as fast as possible¡­


    [1] Type of bird.

 76 Achievements

    Chapter 76: Achievements


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Zhang Tie¡¯s actions were fast and had enough strength. He was also the first to act. In contrast, the three girls were weaker and were slower to act. As the difficulty of picking pine cones was higher than peaches, they were on even grounds. There were at least 70-80 pine cones on the tree. Not intending to show even the slightest bit of courtesy, Zhang Tie¡¯s two hands, which were as nimble as a monkey¡¯s, grabbed the bigger ones. Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s attitude, the girls, one by one, began to grit their teeth. Although the pine cones they got were smaller, what irritated them more was this annoying guy, who ignored their charm, as he grabbed the pine cones in front of them, treating it as a big deal.


    Seeing the two parties moving faster and faster and becoming increasingly more ferocious, Wood, who stood to the side, touched his head and became really speechless. It seems that he finally knew why Zhang Tie had been kicked by that girl. He was not like a gentleman in the least when in front of girls¡ªhe completely deserved it!


    After a short while, under their collective efforts, all the pine cones on the tree, with the exception of the last, medium-sized pine cone that hung on a twig, were picked off. At the same time, Zhang Tie and that blonde-haired girl both stretched out their hand, intending to grab it. The instant the girl¡¯s finger touched the pine cone, it suddenly disappeared right in front of her eyes; Zhang Tie had directly broken the twig, snatching the pine cone away.


    Watching Zhang Tie slowly remove the twig from the pine cone and casually throwing it into the ugly mining basket on his back, all three girls stood up and glared at the ruthless guy, Zhang Tie, who lacked any traces of being a gentleman.


    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± The blonde-haired beauty glared at Zhang Tie. ¡°If you offend us, you will be the enemy of us, the Rose Association!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Zhang Tie...¡± Seeing the angered look on the three girls, not knowing why, Zhang Tie felt the discomfort in his heart disappear and arrived a certain conclusion¡ªif one was not feeling well, one could transfer their discomfort onto others, and thus immediately allowing the self to feel better.


    ¡°Good, I¡¯ve remembered you!¡± After she finished speaking, the blonde-haired girl wanted to leave.


    ¡°You better not miss me...¡± Noticing that they were leaving, Zhang Tie hurriedly shouted.


    ¡°Hmph¡­ Hmph¡­¡± A girl with freckles on her face raised her chin and gave a proud smile. ¡°You rude guy, it¡¯s already too late for you to apologize to us. We from the Rose association are not that easily bullied!¡±


    ¡°No, I think you misunderstood. My meaning was you better not miss me, and especially do not dream of doing those disgusting and terrifying things to me in your dreams when you miss me!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, the girls gaped as their faces turned pale. After glaring at Zhang Tie and calling him a bastard, they turned around and immediately left...


    Zhang Tie realized that his heart finally felt refreshed. This depression transfer method was really useful.


    At this time, Wood, who was standing by the side, raised his thumb towards Zhang Tie. ¡°Brother, I think I understand now¡­¡±


    ¡°What have you understood?¡± Zhang Tie curiously asked.


    ¡°My mom had told me that what men were afraid of the most was being unable to leave an impression in the mind of the woman they liked. For a man to succeed, if they could not cause the woman to fall in love with them at first sight, then the best alternative was to make that woman hate them during the first encounter. A woman¡¯s heart is very miraculous. Even though they might hate you at first, they might very well fall in love with you later. Weren¡¯t you using this method?¡± Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s shocked expression, before Zhang Tie was even able to open his mouth, Wood hurriedly stopped him and patted his shoulder. ¡°No need to deny it. We are both men. I understand!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Afterwards, working together with Wood for another two hours, they were finally able to divide the pine tree into three sections. Zhang Tie obtained more than 250g of pine resin and more than 10 kg of firewood, which were enough to make five or six torches. Zhang Tie put them into his awkward mining basket and left the forest of pine trees.


    ¡­¡­


    While Zhang Tie was busy chopping the pine tree, Glaze¡¯ group had stealthily slid back to their base. Since Glaze felt that he was stronger than the others and wanted to show off, the four of them had set base at a location that was 10 km away from Wild Wolf Castle. The four had set base in a natural mountain cave on a cliff that was 6 m above the ground. In order to enter the cave, they would have to climb down a vine of the tree above the cliff. Although it was far from Wild Wolf Castle, they would not be threatened by common beasts here. This could be considered a decent location.


    The atmosphere in the mountain cave was depressing. It was dead silent. This time, Glaze did not lose his temper nor did he shout loudly; instead, he calmed down expressionlessly. However, the more silent Glaze was, the more the other three felt uneasy.


    After being silent for a long time, Glaze finally opened his mouth, ¡°Zuhair, if I stealthily enter Zhang Tie¡¯s base and chop off his head, do you think there¡¯ll be a problem?¡±


    Hearing Glaze¡¯s question, the other three quivered at the same time as they felt a terrifying and cruel air from Glaze¡¯s calm tone.


    ¡°Since the conflict between him and us have been made public today, everyone knows that you want to kill him. So, if you kill him during the survival training, you would be the first to be suspected and would definitely be investigated by the Temporary Inspection Committee. The four leading teachers in the Temporary Inspection Committee are all great and fierce. I also don¡¯t know what means they would use to investigate you. If you go kill him, it would be difficult to ensure that you haven¡¯t left any evidence!¡± Zuhair forcefully swallowed his saliva and glanced at Glaze as he chose his words carefully. ¡°Today¡¯s conflict was completely out of our expectation. If things went according to our original plan this afternoon, then he would be suffering for the next couple of days. We only need to slightly adjust our original plan, and we would be able to kill him. These past few days, we have already found a wolf den. Luckily, Zhang Tie chose to be a miner alone. Not only is Zhang Tie looking for his own death, but the Gods have even gifted us such an opportunity. He¡¯s definitely dead this time. For the next couple of days, I will stealthily follow him and grasp his habits. Afterwards, we can carry out our plans against him!¡±


    ¡°That Burwick should also die. Anyone who blocks my path ahead should die!¡± Glaze ferociously said.


    ¡°That Burwick is more cunning than Zhang Tie. Ever since we arrived at Wild Wolf Valley, he has already made precautions against our revenge. Right now, he has a certain degree of influence and has more than 200 people on his side. These past few days, they have been practicing how to hunt prey. At any time and any place, there would be a large number of people around him, making it hard for us to find an opportunity to kill him. If we really want to deal with him, we will have to think of another way. According to the usual arrangement of survival training in the past years, there would be a competition between students from different schools. If Burwick wants to stand out in the final competition, he has to get a good rank. When the time comes, you just need to find an opportunity to pretend to make a mistake and heavily wound or kill him, but...¡± Zuhair stopped talking...


    ¡°But what?¡±


    ¡°Burwick is already a LV 1 fighter, and he¡¯s not much weaker than you. He is also cunning and good at hiding his real strength. If you fight him in the ring, he might find a way to escape.¡±


    ¡°Not much weaker than me?¡± The corner of Glaze¡¯s mouth raised into a cold smile. Glancing over the three in the cave, Glaze asked, ¡°Do you think only others will improve or hide their strength, and I will stay a LV 2 fighter forever?¡±


    ¡°Glaze, you...¡± Sharon showed a face of surprise...


    ¡°At most, it will take me two weeks to ignite the second burning point on my spine. Once I do that, I will become a LV 3 fighter...¡± Glaze¡¯s eyes seemed to shine with ghost fire. ¡°In the final competition, I will definitely find an opportunity to kill Burwick. The moment I start to control my own fate, you will also start to control your own fates with my favor...¡±


    They no longer talked about Zhang Tie. Previously, when Zhang Tie went against them at school, Zuhair had already thought up of a fierce plan to take revenge on Zhang Tie during the survival training. After today¡¯s incident, they were more determined to take revenge on Zhang Tie. A few of them didn¡¯t even think Zhang Tie would be able to defend against their revenge. In their eyes, Zhang Tie was just a rude and brainless, trivial figure who dared to go against them and sought his own death, while Burwick was the one who could really threaten Glaze¡¯s position at school. At school, there were even rumors that some teachers thought that Burwick was better than Glaze. Once Burwick found an opportunity to stand out in the survival training, he would be able to obtain a recommendation. Certainly, Glaze would not allow for such a thing to happen.


    ¡­¡­


    When Zhang Tie with his awkward mining basket finally returned to the trap that he had set in the hidden stream, it was already afternoon. The afterglow from the setting sun started to scatter off Wild Wolf Valley. Seeing that none of the traps he had set in the forest were able to catch prey, Zhang Tie was slightly disappointed.


    On his way back, Zhang Tie had paid attention to whether he had been followed by the others or not. During this time, he pretended to be wandering about in the forest. Seeing that nobody was following him, he stealthily slid to that stream.


    When he arrived at one side of the stream, Zhang Tie was still somewhat nervous. After all, this was his first attempt. He was not sure that he could capture fish.


    After taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie moved away the twigs that sat above the pond. The scene in front of him immediately surprised him. There were eight fish joyfully swimming in the pond, five of which were grass carps. The other three were much longer than a chopstick, and each weighed at least 2 kg. On their jet black backs, one could see two pale golden lines. Seeing all of this, Zhang Tie became really excited...

 77 Golden Threadfin Bream

    Chapter 77: Golden Threadfin Bream


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    When Zhang Tie came back to the tree with the mining basket on his back, he found that Barley, Doug, Hista, Bagdad, and Sharwin had already returned. As Leit was on duty for the second half of the night, he was tired and was currently resting under the tree.


    Once Zhang Tie saw the listless faces of Doug and Sharwin, he realized that the five must have obtained nothing at all. For several green birds who lacked experience, catching prey for the first time was pretty unlikely.


    Sitting under that Dragon-Claw Tree, they turned around and saw Zhang Tie¡¯s ugly mining basket.


    ¡°You¡¯re really going to be a miner?¡± Barley asked.


    ¡°Of course, look at my equipment. Oh, I encountered Glaze¡¯s group near Wild Wolf Castle today!¡± Zhang Tie said.


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, the rest became nervous.


    ¡°Did they give you trouble?¡± Leit asked.


    ¡°They dare to push around our brother? Let¡¯s go and find them to settle the score right now!¡± Doug directly picked himself up from the ground, intending to go get his weapon.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly pressed down on Doug¡¯s shoulder. ¡°They didn¡¯t bully me. Actually, it was me who bullied them a bit!¡±


    ¡°You bullied them!?¡± Barley cried out. ¡°Did you wound them?¡±


    ¡°No!¡±


    ¡°Then what happened?¡±


    At their request, Zhang Tie told them what had happened between him and Glaze¡¯s group in the square. Hearing that Glaze¡¯s group were chased out of the square as people threw wild vegetables and fruits at them, all the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood laughed out loudly as they rolled here and there on the ground.


    Hista had even laughed so hard he began to tear up. ¡°Haha! That¡¯s too marvelous, truly too marvelous! I really want to see their expressions at that moment!¡±


    ¡°For several men to use wolf hides to make love, that¡¯s too disgusting, too dirty! But, I like it. Hahaha...¡± Bagdad slapped his thigh.


    ¡°Bighead, I really haven¡¯t seen though you. Usually, you look very innocent. I would never have imagined that you would do something like this. This move of yours is truly vicious! I¡¯m afraid Glaze¡¯s group wouldn¡¯t be able to find any girls who would be willing to partner with them for this survival training. Haha! I¡¯ve decided. In the future, if I get into a similar incident, I will use the same trick to deal with those annoying guys! This trick is cooler than slapping their face, and also lets me vent a little!¡± Hista obscenely smiled, causing both his eyes and his mouth to turn into arcs.


    The group of brothers laughed for a long time before they, one by one, stopped smiling and got down to business.


    ¡°Take care of yourself. After this incident, I¡¯m afraid Glaze¡¯s group might take revenge on you more fiercely!¡± Seeing Zhang Tie, Barley seriously said. ¡°Perhaps for you to be working in the mines over there is a good choice. The mines over there are not too far away from Wild Wolf Castle, and there are always people going and coming over there. Glaze¡¯s group of four wouldn¡¯t dare to recklessly look for you to give you trouble. However, whenever you are alone in the wild, they might try to plot against you. That Zuhair guy is definitely a poison snake who can come up with many vicious tricks!¡±


    Zhang Tie casually shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Forget them. Even if today¡¯s incident didn¡¯t happen, their group of four wouldn¡¯t have let me off anyways. Let¡¯s talk about something else. How were your harvests today?¡±


    The ones who went hunting today all spread their hands with the palm side up. ¡°Don¡¯t mention it. We saw some preys, but before we even caught up to them, they had already escaped...¡± Sharwin helplessly said.


    ¡°And those wild wolves¡­ They are too cunning. It won¡¯t be easy at all for us to catch them. Trying to capture a boar, Bagdad almost fell into a ravine...¡±


    ¡°There were too many people hunting over there, so many of the prey were already scared away!¡±


    ¡°Bringing the ¡°Iron Gate T21¡± over there is also a good option, but it¡¯s too heavy. If we bring it with us, it¡¯ll affect our movement. This weapon can only be used at a fixed location!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Today, we met a guy who was very powerful and brought with him a bow. In just an afternoon, he was able to hunt two wild deer. From his looks, he shouldn¡¯t be weaker than Glaze!¡±


    Hearing their words, Zhang Tie could already imagine what they had experienced this afternoon. It was really miserable for them.


    ¡°Oh right, how was your harvest today?¡± Barley asked Zhang Tie as he stared at the mining basket with a slight frown. ¡°Is there something inside?¡±


    Hearing Barley¡¯s words, Zhang Tie patted his head, realizing that he had forgotten that he had not yet put down his mining basket and took out the goods from within.


    ¡°I almost forgot. Tonight, I will invite all of you to drink fish soup!¡± Zhang Tie generously smiled...


    Hearing the word ¡°fish¡±, everybody¡¯s eyes began to shine. Even in Blackhot City, fish was very expensive, and they could only eat it a couple of times a year, let alone here.


    ¡°Although you caught a fish, I¡¯m afraid it might not be enough for the seven of us...¡± As he spoke to this point, his eyes almost popped out because Zhang Tie had put down the mining basket and removed everything inside, revealing three big fish wrapped in water weeds. Although more than twenty minutes had already passed since they were put in the mining basket, they were still alive. The moment they were placed on the ground, two of the fish were taking deep breaths as they flopped on the ground, while the other fish jumped once. Besides Barley, the other horny animals also stared with wide opened eyes, as they realized that the three fish together weighed at least 7-8 kg, which was enough for everyone to eat.


    ¡°Grab them. We¡¯ll clean them in the stream over there. After we remove their scales and innards, we can boil them in the pot...¡± Zhang Tie hurriedly grabbed the most lively fish, while the other two fish were consecutively grabbed by the other two drooling, horny animals.


    Barley had also grabbed one of the fish. When he saw the golden line on the back of the fish, he exclaimed, ¡°No way! It¡¯s a golden threadfin bream!¡±


    ¡°You know this fish? We can¡¯t eat it?¡± Zhang Tie became worried. If these fish couldn¡¯t be consumed by humans, he would be mocked and called a big head by the others.


    ¡°Haha! This is the best freshwater fish we can enjoy in Blackhot City. Brothers, we will have a luxurious supper tonight...¡± Barley laughed out loudly.


    Hearing Barley¡¯s words, everybody cheered up. After realizing that they would have fish to eat tonight, the depressed guys immediately became spirited. Just for a few fish, they began to delicately distribute the work that needed to be done. Some boiled water, others added firewood to the fire, while the others killed the fish. All in a sudden, the tree base was brimming with joy. While cleaning the fish in the stream, Doug made a mistake and let the fish slip out of his hand. The moment the fish into the water, it had tried to swim away. Thankfully, the stream was neither wide nor deep; it was only about 20-30 cm in depth. After the collective, hasty efforts of a few people, they were finally able to capture that fish. Although most of their clothes had been soaked, they all still felt very happy.


    ¡°Don¡¯t throw away the innards. Cover them with tree leaves and leave them to me. I will use them!¡± Seeing that Leit was about to throw them away, Zhang Tie hurriedly stopped him and grabbed some large tree leaves to wrap the innards of the fish.


    ¡°This stuff can¡¯t be eaten. Why do you want to leave them?¡± Doug curiously asked.


    ¡°We can¡¯t eat them, but that doesn¡¯t mean other animals can¡¯t!¡± Zhang Tie showed a mysterious smile...


    ¡­¡­


    After being cleaned, the golden threadfin breams were cut into pieces and placed into the pot with boiling water. Sharwin fetched a hand full of wild pepper and sprayed them inside along with a bit salt. Soon after, when the water in the pot was boiling again, the aroma of fish soup drifted out from the pot, causing everyone to drool. The color of the fish soup had turned into a milky color. When the others saw it, their appetite greatly increased, and they all forcefully swallowed their saliva.


    Everyone greatly enjoyed this supper. Every one of them hated for it to end as they all licked their bowls clean. Three fish were used to cook the pot of soup, and in the end, not a single drop of soup or a single piece of fish was left. That golden threadfin bream was truly delicious. With the exception of Barley, this was the first time the others had eaten something this delicious.


    After eating to their fill, everyone sat around the campfire and chatted. To sate their curiosity, Zhang Tie told them everything about trapping the fish, including the principle behind it and the location. Hearing that Zhang Tie could easily capture fish with such a method, every member¡¯s mouth gaped.


    As he moved the firewood under the huge pot to improve the roasting of the pine cones, he imparted to the others his method of trapping fish. He had buried those pine cones under the ash from the firewood. Once firm pine cones were heated, they would expand and thus expose the pine nuts inside. Zhang Tie picked a well-roasted pine cone and threw it to Doug. Drooling, Doug opened the pine cone and started to chew on the pine nut as he mumbled:


    ¡°Bighead, so to say, does this mean that even if you don¡¯t do anything, you would still be able to easily get 1 kg of food every day?¡±


    ¡°Haha, if I get less than 1 kg of fish a day, then it will belong to me, but if I get more than 1 kg of fish a day, then I will share the rest with you guys. It isn¡¯t just me who has enough food, but everyone!¡± Zhang Tie explained as he smiled. ¡°Actually, I think we should still think over it. There are still many kinds of hunting methods. For example, Glaze has a powerful fighting force, so he directly catches his prey. There¡¯s also that bowman that you guys saw. He¡¯s extraordinary at archery, so he uses his bow to shoot his prey. Then there¡¯s Burwick. I heard that there are many people around him, so he takes advantage of their large numbers to catch prey. We can definitely learn from them. If we want to gather food and catch prey, then we have to use our strengths. None of us brothers could match Glaze when it comes to fighting strength, and neither could we match the number of people by Burwick¡¯s side. Since we are new here, we need to take some time to adapt to the environment and accumulate experience. I think we can take advantage of the time the others are using to adapt to the environment to try out some special methods!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, everybody¡¯s eyes began to shine.


    ¡°What do you think is the best method for us to use to hunt prey?¡± Leit asked.


    ¡°Others are using archery, their fighting strength, and the advantage in numbers. How about we try laying traps?¡± Zhang Tie suggested...

 78 Trap Game

    Chapter 78: Trap Game


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    In any country, region, or time, education would have its natural defects and weaknesses. Education was designed for the interests and demands of the rulers. Since the rulers of Blackhot City required the schools to raise soldiers, farmers, and workers to support the operation of the city, most of the courses at school reflected this; they were related to and taught the basics required for those jobs, thus the students would never have the opportunity to learn to create traps that could capture low-level beasts.


    Even in the eyes of many teachers, creating and setting traps was not a skill that was necessary to be imparted at school, as the beasts that could be trapped were just worthless, low-level beasts like tigers and wolves. People above LV 5 could already easily deal with those low-level beasts, even to the point of just tearing them by hand. Therefore, there was no need to set traps at all. If they had free time, it would be better spent in practicing cultivation, striving to ignite as many burning points in their body as possible. Not to mention that hunting was not a skill that was of importance in the eyes of the rulers of Blackhot City. In this age, personal fighting strength was king, while the other skills were not worth mentioning.


    As a result of their education, almost no student in Blackhot City, perhaps even in the Andaman Alliance, placed much importance to it. In fact, most of them knew nothing about traps. From Zhang Tie¡¯s memories, throughout his entire time at school, it seemed that it was only in last year¡¯s survival class did the teacher casually mention that it was sometimes effective to set traps in the wild; however, this was something that few students would pay attention to.


    Using traps was something used by those low-level pioneers who explored the wild. Naturally, they would not catch too many people¡¯s eyes. Had Zhang Tie not worked at the grocery store, he too would not have learned about traps. Coming to Wild Wolf Valley this time, Zhang Tie realized that he could really put the traps to use here...


    If he had not caught those golden threadfin breams earlier, Zhang Tie wouldn¡¯t have the confidence to encourage the others to set traps. Those golden threadfin breams made Zhang Tie realize that the knowledge imparted unto him by Donder was rather valuable, at the very least during this survival training. Although they could learn a lot from the education provided in Blackhot City, they could learn much more from outside the high walls of Blackhot City.


    In the eyes of the other members of the brotherhood, who had never learned about trapping skills, trapping was a difficult and mysterious skill that would only be used in boring knight novels, where they were all brimming with killing tricks that would frighten people and cause them to be muddleheaded. However, in the end, knight novels were completely fabricated by guys with too much time. After hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s explanation, everybody understood. In fact, everybody could grasp a powerful trapping skill¡ª¡ªdigging a hole! A 5 m deep pit was already able to trap most of the fierce beasts and common animals in Wild Wolf Valley. If any beast falls into the pits, they would become live targets for the brotherhood, as any member of the brotherhood could just use the ¡°Iron Gate T21¡± that Barley had brought to shoot it to death.


    ¡­¡­


    As usual, Zhang Tie woke up a bit later than 6:00 am the next morning. The entire Wild Wolf Valley was still fast asleep, with the exception of a couple chirping birds and insects. Sharwin was still on duty. Zhang Tie climbed off the tree and walked to the stream to wash his face and rinse his mouth. Afterwards, Zhang Tie replaced Sharwin, letting him go sleep. Sitting by the tree hollow, he took the ¡°Iron Gate T21¡± and waited for the other members to wake up.


    It was the fourth day since they had arrived here. Zhang Tie carefully stared at the ¡°Iron Gate T21¡±. Compared to the various portable bows that were created by the people before the Catastrophe, ¡°Iron Gate T21¡± was much more powerful. Zhang Tie had learned that the era before the catastrophe was a time when people used weapons with gunpowder and had too many powerful weapons to choose from, thus they did not pay much attention to the development of weapons that did not utilize gunpowder. However, in this age when weapons that did not use gunpowder became prominent in wars, development that once had nothing to do with weapons with no gunpowder were applied to them, resulting in them gradually becoming extremely powerful.


    Using a light, complex pulley-based bow as an example, when compared to the traditional manual bows, the largest advantage it had was the hydraulic sliding rod, which was used to pull the string back into the proper position. Although it was similar to a jack[1], it was much more complex than it. Using this hydraulic device, a commoner would be able to pull the string back, putting it at the position for launching the arrow; in contrast, without the device, a strong person would have to use more than 200 kg of force to do the same thing. The addition of the hydraulic device and the standard arrow container, which was developed based on the cartridge holder used in gunpowder-driven weapons before the Catastrophe, caused this bow to be about 30 kg, making it much heavier than common machine bows; however, this increase in weight also meant that it was more powerful. Theoretically, if the ¡°Iron Gate T21¡± was in the hands of someone with great strength, he could possibly shoot well over 120 arrows a minute.


    In contrast, people like Zhang Tie and the other members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood could only shoot out at most ten arrows a minute using this bow. In the previous two nights, although he had adjusted the tension to be ? of the original, Sharwin still needed to pull the hydraulic sliding rod eight times for it to succeed. And even Bagdad felt pain in his hand after two attempts when he had adjusted the tension to ? of the maximum. This morning, Zhang Tie had stealthily adjusted the tension to ? of the maximum, and like Bagdad, he only succeeded after two attempts with his left arm and hand feeling pain after.


    After two attempts of using the ¡°Iron Gate T21¡±, Zhang Tie confirmed two things. First, his strength was almost equivalent to the dark-skinned Bagdad. Second, The Iron Gate series of bow were amazing killing machines. As this bow was just a light one, Zhang Tie found it difficult to imagine the strength of a heavy bow of the same series.


    Before the other members woke up, Zhang Tie played with the bow, trying to get used to it as he practicedby visualizing an abacus. Ever since Zhang Tie could visualize an abacus that was capable of doing seven digit calculations, he began to practice visualizing one for eight digits. Recently, whenever he had free time, he would practice eight digit calculation. If he wasn¡¯t disturbed, he would spend two minutes to visualize an eight-column abacus in his mind and would slowly carry out eight digit calculations...


    After Zhang Tie¡¯s spiritual energy surged seven times, all of his senses had become sharper. After each time he practiced , Zhang Tie was able to see a slight increase in spiritual energy that had been brought about by visualizing that golden abacus. Although he didn¡¯t know the reason, it still made him really excited. He had even begun to think about how he should share this method with his elder brother and Donder. After that incident about Huck and Snade, Zhang Tie always felt that he owed Donder. He could probably return the favor by telling him this secret, an effective method to increase spiritual energy. As Zhang Tie had never heard about this before, he believed that this was a great gift to show his sincerity to Donder. Since Donder had told him not to share the abacus skill with foreign clans, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t want to violate Donder¡¯s rule; therefore, he could not temporarily share this method with the other members of the brotherhood.


    About 1 hour after Zhang Tie got up, Barley and the other members climbed out of tree hollows one by one. Having not even washed his face, the moment Barley saw Zhang Tie sitting in that pit, Barley was pretty surprised. ¡°Wasn¡¯t it Sharwin¡¯s turn to keep watch last night? Where¡¯d he go?¡±


    ¡°I got up early and couldn¡¯t go back to sleep, so I let Sharwin go back and get some nice rest!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, Barley became silent and rapidly climbed off the tree. He then went to the stream and washed his face and mouth. Followed by Barley, the other guys also woke up one by one...


    After everyone made preparations, with the exception of Sharwin, who was staying in the base, the others all went to see how Zhang Tie trapped the golden threadfin breams.


    Ensuring that nobody followed them, the group of five carefully followed Zhang Tie up the stream to the place where Zhang Tie had set the traps. Before arriving at the location, they were already stunned by the sight before them¡ªthere was a shoal of fish bigger than the size of an adult¡¯s palm surging in the water 2 m away from the mouth of the stream. This scene was also somewhat out of Zhang Tie¡¯s expectation. Zhang Tie hurriedly approached the pond and silently uncovered the twigs on it...


    Like a bowl of treasure, the number of fish in the pond had increased over the night. Inside the pond, there were at least five golden threadfin breams that were not smaller than the ones from yesterday and at least ten other fish that varied in size. At the sight of the fish, everybody became excited...


    Barley felt that his decision of having Zhang Tie join the Hit-Plane Brotherhood was the best decision he has every made. Although Bighead looked pretty average at school, but at the critical moment, he was reliable and brought many surprises; he really makes people admire him...


    [1] Jack - A device used to lift heavy objects

 79 Being A Bit Famous

    Chapter 79: Being A Bit Famous


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    The first rain of June abruptly came. The sky was still clear two days ago, but on the evening of the same day, the sky became covered with dense clouds as heavy rain fell. It continued to rain until last night.


    Since it rained most of yesterday, most students chose to stay in their bases, and so did the members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood. Barley fetched a set of cards, and those guys spent the entire day playing cards in the tree hollow. That was a marvelous feeling. While it was heavily raining outside the base, they really enjoyed themselves in the tree hollows. Besides the sound that came from the raindrops falling onto tree leaves, no other sounds could be heard, as the insects and the birds had already hidden themselves. They could no longer hear the chirping of cicadas and birds. As the animals had already hidden themselves in such weather, naturally, it was not that easy to hunt them.


    On the eighth day since the start of the survival training, god then allowed them one day of break...


    In the past eight days, the tree base had been further renovated. When they had free time or had no firewood to burn, they further expanded the previous three levels of space, resulting in each of them having more space to sleep. They also hung a bamboo curtain, which they obtained by exchanging it for food with the girls, outside each of the tree holes. In addition, they also gathered several old vines, and in one night, wove them into a simple vine ladder for them to climb up and down. On the third floor, they expanded several pits and moved in some soil, wildflowers, and green plants from the valley to make the tree base more pleasant.


    In the area under the tree, they dug a pond that was about 2 m2 and filled the bottom of the pond with pebbles and broken stones. They then dug a small ditch that was longer than 30m and cut several pieces of bamboo. Using the bamboo, they split the ditch from the middle and placed the pieces of bamboo inside, effectively creating a miniature water diversion system, which they used to start cultivating fish in the pond.


    Although the water in the pond could easily seep into the ground, with the fresh water constantly flowing in, the depth of the water in the pond remained above 50 cm at all times, which was sufficient for the shoal of fish to survive.


    After such renovation, the tree base had become completely different than before. A couple of days ago, they successfully invited a group of female students to visit their tree base and ate roasted fish together. As expected, with such an appealing tree base, those girls were greatly amazed, so much that they even entered the tree base to have a look. After those girls returned to Wild Wolf Castle, they began to tell the other girls at Wild Wolf Castle, thus causing their tree base to be well known among girls. Many girls started to learn of the male students who lived in a huge tree base and farmed fish inside a pond under the tree, and they knew if they were to visit, they would be able to drink delicious fish soup and eat roasted fish. Besides, it seemed that those male students worked hard and were able to hunt other beasts. Generally speaking, those boys were always able to obtain a sufficient amount of food. Once they set out to hunt, they would always return with something...


    In order to allow the brothers of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood to not leave empty handed, Zhang Tie taught them how to dig those traps. In the recent days, under the collective hard work of the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, Barley and the rest had dug two traps that were deeper than 6m at a location about 5 km away from the tree base. These two traps, in addition to the fish trap that Zhang Tie made and the other traps made from twigs and stones to create small preys, greatly improved the living standard of the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. On the sixth day since the start of the survival training, they had successfully captured a wolf by placing the fish innards that oozed a fishy and terrible odor in the first pit. It was finally miserably shot to death by ¡°Iron Gate T21¡±. On the same day, the members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood also enjoyed roasted wolf meat for the first time and acquired their first wolf hide in this survival training. After experiencing the success of the traps, every one of them thoroughly enjoyed setting traps. If it were not for the rain, they would have already made a third deep pit.


    After they succeeded with their first trap, their tree base gradually became more and more famous. After feeling satisfied physically, the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood started to dream about women. In the past couple of days, they had often frequented Wild Wolf Castle to pick up girls. Some of them had even successfully convinced some girls to work together to get through the survival training. For the girls, aside from having to return to Wild Wolf Castle each evening, they were free to do whatever they wanted. Realizing this, those male students worked harder. Many teams had gradually entered deeper into Wild Wolf Valley, as it was truly a paradise for beasts there. Naturally, they would be able to capture more difficult preys there.


    Wild Wolf Valley was naturally the paradise of wolves. In this age, even the species of wolves are categorized differently than the most universal categorization of animals. Wild wolves were the most common type, which did not differ to the wolves before the Catastrophe. According to the most universal classification of animals, wild wolves were categorized as Level 0 living beings, whose fighting force was equivalent to a common human soldier. A Huge Wolf was a Level 1 living being that had physically evolved and mutated after the Catastrophe and was much larger than the normal wolf. The Huge Wolf was much more fiercer, stronger, and more agile. A Golden Wolf was a Level 2 living being which had further evolved and mutated from a Huge Wolf. A Golden Wolf looked brilliant as it shone with gold all over and was also larger than a Huge Wolf. It was said that a matured Golden Wolf could easily kill three LV 1 human fighters. Above the Golden Wolf were the Level 3 Bloody Wolf and the rarely seen Level 4 Shadow Wolf, which was said to be the top of all the beasts and magical beasts that had been seen in Wild Wolf Valley in the past few decades. Actually, people had rarely seen beasts above Level 2 in the past decade, which was why Wild Wolf Valley was selected as the location for the survival training of the students of Blackhot City.


    Zhang Tie heard that no beasts above Level 4 were found in Wild Wolf Valley because there were once many Gold-Eating Boas here. Although those Gold-Eating Boas had been exterminated, their high-level Qi still lingered in this valley. The more advanced the beast or magical beast were, the more sensitive their Qi would be and the farther the beasts would stay away from them.


    On the sixth day since the start of this survival training and also the day before it started to rain, the team headed by Burwick from Seventh National Male Middle School besieged and killed four Huge Wolves. That was the first time for students to have hunted four Level 1 magical beasts at once. Burwick greatly shocked Wild Wolf Castle this time. A large number of female communities and teams requested to cooperate with Burwick. Compared to Glaze, who was hapless these days, Burwick really obtained a good reputation this time.


    One week after the survival training started, the excellent figures from the different schools also gradually stood out.


    When Burwick¡¯s group gained the four Huge Wolves, a male student from the another school who excelled in archery, the one Barley had mentioned to Zhang Tie, became well known as ¡°Bowman Blues¡±. In contrast to the achievements acquired by Burwick, which was obtained through a group effort, ¡°Bowman Blues¡± from Second National Male Middle School¡± climbed atop a tree alone and shot two Huge Wolves to death. Compared to Burwick, Blues was an individual with more heroism and easily aroused the adoration from the girls. As a result, ¡°Bowman Blues¡± also became Mr. Perfect for every girl.


    Of course, there were more excellent figures among the four schools...


    The blacksmith workshop in Wild Wolf Castle gave off black smoke around the clock. The cutleries and the swords as well as some of the productive tools made in the workshop had already been placed on the square for sale. In the same workshop, it was said that someone had already started to build the model of the first steam machine.


    There were also two female students who were excellent characters. It was rumored that there was a girl who showed her superb skills of identifying and finding plants, as she had already easily found a 100 kg root of a kudzu vine buried in the soil. Another girl displayed her amazing ability of implementing administrative management, as she well organized all the items in the inner castle of Wild Wolf Castle. There was even one girl who was a LV 1 fighter, was even braver than most boys, and had already gone hunting with several friends, causing the other male students to be embarrassed.


    Those elites gradually showed off their talents, leading to this survival training becoming more and more boisterous.


    Compared to those glamorous figures, Zhang Tie¡¯s miserable life as a miner had seemingly just started. Two days ago, he went to dig traps with the other members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood. Yesterday, he took a break due to the rain. According to the regulations, if Zhang Tie wasn¡¯t able to submit more than 300 kg of iron ore today, then he would not be permitted to be a miner anymore.


    Therefore, the morning after the rain stopped, under the blessings and condolences of his brothers, Zhang Tie, once again, looked like a miner that was destined for the job. After checking his equipment, he silently carried that ugly mining basket and set off on his trip alone.


    ¡°That is too miserable!¡± The other members of Brotherhood sighed at the sight of Zhang Tie¡¯s back...

 80 Skyrocketing Basic Energy Storage

    Chapter 80: Skyrocketing Basic Energy Storage


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    The rain finally stopped last night. As a result, the morning air in the valley was pretty good. Zhang Tie seemingly could even smell the fragrance of the roadside grass. However, the path in the valley became very muddy and slippery this morning as a result of the rain, thus one may easily slip if they didn¡¯t pay attention to the condition of the path. Zhang Tie had no choice but to slow down his walking speed towards the mine that was several kilometers away.


    Soon after Zhang Tie left the tree base, he had already encountered two groups of students hunting for food, with each group consisting of more than ten people. When Zhang Tie passed them, those guys, at first, gave a look of amazement at his mining basket, but soon after, they cast a glare of contempt at Zhang Tie before raising their heads and striding away proudly...


    In the past couple of days, Zhang Tie had already become immune to those contemptuous glares. Unknown when he had read it, Zhang Tie remembered a certain sentence¡ªa man who couldn¡¯t stand being alone would never grow up. In his current situation, for Zhang Tie, the current situation allowed him to grow alone.


    Growing along with Zhang Tie¡¯s heart was the Castle of Black Iron.


    After the past couple days of hard work, Zhang Tie had already accumulated 2000 basic energy storage by throwing baskets full of stones and iron ores into the Pool of Chaos within the Castle of Black Iron. The amount of basic energy storage in the Castle of Black Iron was several hundred times more than that before the start of the survival training. After having been converted into basic energy storage, the stones and mined ores quickly increased the strength of the Castle of Black Iron. With the amount of basic energy storage presently available in the Castle of Black Iron, it could already be used to make some slight changes to the topography of the Castle of Black Iron, for example a small pool However, Zhang Tie was currently not satisfied with just that amount; he wanted to accumulate more basic energy storage and then make a final decision once the survival training was over.


    In addition to the increasing basic energy storage, the aura value in the Castle of Black Iron has also been rapidly increasing. Zhang Tie had found that all the seeds gifted by Grandma Teresa had already sprouted and were growing well. In addition to the seeds from Grandma Teresa, the potatoes, niblets, sweet potatoes, and the pumpkins in his own land were all growing nicely as well.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know why, but in the past few days, he felt as if he was being followed on his way to the mines; however, this morning, the feeling of being followed was gone. This made Zhang Tie curious about whether he was going crazy again, but in the end, he didn¡¯t think too much about it.


    After the first rain in June, the valley had been covered with dandelions overnight. White hairy spheres of dandelions had already broken out from the ground one by one, seemingly waiting for the arrival of a gust of wind. At the sight of the cute dandelions, Zhang Tie felt pretty good. Without hesitation, he casually picked ten of the white hairy spheres from the dandelions and tossed them into his mining basket.


    ¡­¡­


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie arrived at the nearest mining cave, which was only a bit more than 200m away from Wild Wolf Castle. Many people had already been here to mine, and there was a small, rusty half-complete track, which was once used to transport carts, on the ground covered in weeds outside the mining cave, seemingly as if it was telling him that this place was once prosperous. This mining cave might have been very important in the past, but now it was just an abandoned place used by the unlucky students to do labor work in exchange for food.


    As it was too close to Wild Wolf Castle, it was easily noticed by the female students. Not many male students chose this mining cave as their base, as they were afraid of losing face under the gazes from the female students, thus this mining cave was not as lively as the other ones.


    Recently, there has been many new faces entering this mine to work, while many old faces would disappear. Zhang Tie guessed that there were more than ten people, including himself, who constantly came to this mine to work every day. Most likely because this job was not something to feel honor from and all the people who mined here were either introverted or didn¡¯t feel like talking, Zhang Tie had not even made a single bosom friend after working here for a while. However, this truly made Zhang Tie reassured; he could do whatever he wanted alone in the mining cave without having to worry about the others.


    There were many broken stones on the ground outside the mines, making it easier to walk since there was less mud. The entrance to the mines was large, measuring up to dozens of square meters. After arranging his equipment at the entrance of the cave and cleaning off the mud on his shoes using a rock, Zhang Tie took out a torch and a hoe before lighting up the torch as he held it while entering the mine...


    Although it was still daytime, after walking for a dozen meters in the cave and taking two turns, it was hard to see anything in front of him. If Zhang Tie didn¡¯t have a torch, he would not be able to venture deeper at all. Thankfully, the road ahead was flat without too many obstacles, thus Zhang Tie continued to venture deeper on the jet black path.


    The illuminating torch and Zhang Tie¡¯s footsteps shocked several bats inside the cave, leading to the bats flapping their wings and making a loud noise. This would always frighten people entering the cave for the first time, and Zhang Tie was no exception. However, after having accessed the mine several times, Zhang Tie had become accustomed to it.


    The illuminating torch cast Zhang Tie¡¯s shadow onto the mining walls. As he walked forward, his shadow on the walls also accompanied him. Each time Zhang Tie entered, he could not help but peek at the jumping shadows on the walls of the mine that were brought about by the shaking of the illuminating rays from the torch. Besides his shadow, there were also many strange marks that were circular and similar to tire marks on the yellowish walls and the ground of the mine. Zhang Tie was sure those marks were not left by humans. Every time he saw those marks, Zhang Tie would think back to the legend of the Gold-Eating Boas told by Sharwin that happened at this place three decades ago. Walking down the hole that stretched underground with walls covered in weird marks and had a diameter of three to four meters, whenever Zhang Tie thought about how the exaggeratedly terrifying boas that could engulf everything it met that used to climb in this tunnel, he would always feel terrified, feeling as if there were monsters in the pitch darkness staring at him. Although he knew it was just his imagination, Zhang Tie would always accelerate his footsteps whenever he passed by those strange tunnels.


    Faintly hearing the sounds of hoes knocking at ores in front of him, Zhang Tie slightly calmed down. After walking several hundred meters in the cave, he finally arrived at the other end of this tunnel, revealing a spacious area in front of him. This area was even larger than the city square of Blackhot City and looked like a natural karst cave. Zhang Tie only saw a few dim lights in the entire underground space. , which came from the torches of the people who had arrived before him; however, in this pitch darkness, the burning torches were just like dim oil lamps and could only brighten a small area. The sounds of knocking at ores constantly reverberated in this space. The sounds that reverberated inside this huge mine seemed to spread both far away and close. For people who had walked through the meandering tunnel, they would definitely let out a sigh of relief and would feel happy at the sight of the lights in the pitch darkness and upon hearing the reverberating knocking sounds¡ªwell, at least that held true for Zhang Tie...


    As usual, Zhang Tie chose a place that was more isolated and subtle to do his mining work; the place he chose to work in was in another tunnel that was artificially made in the underground space. Even if he were to light his torch, he would not be easily noticed by others within that tunnel. In addition, there were several other intersections and turns inside this tunnel that seemingly led deeper underground. Therefore, that was a pretty ideal place for Zhang Tie to do whatever he wanted.


    Arriving at where he usually worked, he set up a small trick at the entrance of the tunnel using several broken stones. This small trick would alert him if anyone entered the tunnel. After placing the stones at the entrance, Zhang Tie was able to completely relax.


    Fixing the torch into a crack on the wall of the mine, dozens of square meters of space before him were illuminated. He placed his mining basket on the ground and poured out the spare torches and dandelions from within. He then removed the dagger, the kettle, and the dried ration from his waist. After drinking some water, he took up his hoe and began to work hard to gather the required amount of ores, joining the other sounds of knocking and forming a chorus in the underground karst cave!


    Unknownst to Zhang Tie, who was mining in the cave underground, a messenger falcon had brought the latest news from Blackhot City to Wild Wolf Castle. The news it brought was a big event that had happened in Blackhot City yesterday, and that big event was rightly related to the letter Zhang Tie had sent. After a week of brewing, the storm in Blackhot City shook the entire Andaman Alliance, while the storm from yesterday seemed to symbolize the arrival of a greater storm...

 81 The Storm in Blackhot City

    Chapter 81: The Storm in Blackhot City


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Under the highest tower in the outer castle of Wild Wolf Castle was a conference room, which was where the members of the Temporary Supervision Committee worked. As there was still an army residing within Wild Wolf Castle, every three days, the Blackhot City Military would use a messenger falcon to send a military notice to the castle, so the army stationed in the castle would be up-to-date with the current events in Blackhot City. After Wild Wolf Castle became the base for the students participating in the survival training, the recipients of the notice changed from the army to the members of the Temporary Supervision Committee and the students who were attending the survival training.


    Today, after having received and read the letter from Blackhot City that was brought by the messenger falcon, the teacher¡¯s face instantly turned pale. He then immediately summoned all the teachers and directors from every school attending the survival training in Wild Wolf Castle and loudly read the notice presented by the military of Blackhot City in the conference room...


    Before listening to the contents of the letter, the people in the conference room were all relaxed; however, upon hearing the contents, all their faces turned blue. As a result, the conference room was filled with a solemn air and sound was no longer heard anymore. At that moment, if a needle were to fall onto the ground, the sound would be clearly heard by everyone...


    The day before yesterday, Wild Wolf Castle welcomed the first rain of June. On that very day, a big event also occurred in Blackhot City¡ªthe military of Blackhot City abruptly dispatched a large amount of soldiers to besiege the residence of the Niumuen Business Group on Bright Avenue of Blackhot City and forcefully carried out an investigation, using the excuse of searching for criminals. However, the forced investigation was met with a counterattack from the guards of the Niumuen Business Group. As expected, the guards of the Niumuen Business Group were completely cracked down and was completely purged by the iron first of Blackhot City¡¯s military. However, not only did the following investigation of the Niumuen Business Group¡¯s residence reveal that the fleeing fugitives were not there, but it also revealed something much more frightening. From the indisputable evidence and the interrogation of the director of the Niumuen Business Group of Blackhot City, a huge conspiracy was revealed¡ªthe Niumuen Business Group had colluded with the Red-scarf Burglars in an attempt to look for an opportunity for the bandit group to wipe out the major clans that controlled the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation of Blackhot City.


    Blackhot City officials had already delivered the news of this event to the Andaman Alliance last night, greatly shocking them. In the same evening after having received the notice, using its name, the Andaman Alliance submitted its strongest protest to the Norman Empire¡¯s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in hopes to receive a reasonable explanation for the event that transpired in Blackhot City and the Andaman Alliance. However, as the Norman Empire chose to remain quiet even until this morning, Blackhot City started to shut down all the industries and business groups of the Norman Empire within its territory, effectively stopping all business with the Norman Empire...


    The arrival of the Red-scarf Burglars once again increased the tension in the atmosphere and caused the Blackhot City Military to raise its alertness to Level 1: Preparation for war...


    The conference room in Wild Wolf Castle was filled with a weird and solemn air, as the actions of the Norman Empire made everyone breathless. In the eyes of Blackhot City and the Andaman Alliance, the Norman Empire was truly a strong force. There was truly a great gap between the military forces of the two parties: Blackhot City had a military consisting of 50,000 and the Andaman Alliance had an army of 400,000 soldiers, while just the common soldiers on the northern border of the Norman Empire numbered 3 million. If the two parties were to start a war, just the army stationed at the northern border of the Norman Alliance alone could already wipe out the Andaman Alliance. Over the past few years, the major reason that the Andaman Alliance could stay in a peaceful state with the Norman Empire was not because the Andaman Alliance was strong, but rather because of the conflicts and contradictions between the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire. The Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty were both crazy, and when two crazy men stared at each other with the Andaman Alliance sitting between them, neither party would want to make the first move that would start the war. This situation remained unchanged for dozens of years. Blackhot City, who benefitted from this situation, was able to develop well in the past few decades. Now, it seems that one of the two crazy guys had become impatient...


    ¡°Do we need to release this news to the students?¡± one of the teachers sitting at the round desk made of pine wood thought for a while before finally proposing the question.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s unnecessary to tell them, as they will naturally know of it when they finish the survival training. Let ¡¯em enjoy this temporary time of happiness...¡± Hearing his words, everyone else in the conference room stared at the kind-looking teacher. The teacher who just spoke gave a casual smile. ¡°Everyone, there has been peace in Blackhot City and the Andaman Alliance for dozens of years, so why would the Norman Empire decide to start a war at this point in time? As we all know, since several weeks ago, the prices of strategic materials in all the countries of the Blackson Human Clan Corridor has been slowly rising. What does this mean? I think we all know the answer to this. Naturally, Blackhot City and the Andaman Alliance are not worth all the countries in the Blackson Human Clan Corridor launching a war for.¡±


    Hearing his words, Captain Kerlin frowned. Although Captain Kerlin knew that that teacher¡¯s words contained something unusual, as he was neither highly intelligent nor excelled at analysis, he wasn¡¯t able to fully comprehend the meaning behind them. ¡°Gerom, you¡¯re saying¡­ a big war will break out...¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything.¡± After looking around, Gerom gently sighed. ¡°We are all small figures and are not able to make the big decisions. It¡¯s just that I remembered the end of the second holy war between humans and demons. It seems that more than 170 years has already passed¡­¡±


    Holy war!


    As if a -50 degrees celsius breeze had swept the room, the two words instantly froze the conference room. Hearing those two words, even Captain Kerlin¡¯s face turned pale...


    ¡­¡­


    This morning, Zhang Tie was not happy at all; not only was he not happy in the slightest, he was even depressed to death. Nobody would be happy if they spent their entire morning digging 300 kg of ores before carrying them using a mining basket as they walked 1.5 km to submit them in various locations several times. As the amount of iron in the ores varied from 50% and 60%, it was quite heavy for Zhang Tie to carry, as it would contain almost 200 kg of iron ores each time. For the students attending the survival training, it was impossible for them to carry 200 kg while walking a distance of 1.5 km. Let alone 200 kg, it was even difficult for them to carry 100 kg. For those who were able to carry 50 kg of ores while traversing a distance of 1.5kg, being able to return was already considered good enough. Although it was not difficult for one to dig ores and possibly even obtain up to several tons a day, the real test of strength was if they were able to bring the ores to the correct place.


    Zhang Tie kept working for the entire morning. Although he had only finished two-thirds of the mission today, Zhang Tie, as a Level 1 fighter, already felt fatigued all over; his body felt weak. After submitting the batch of ores that weighed over 70 kg, Zhang Tie received two packages of dried rations. Throwing himself onto the ground under the shade of a pine tree, he did not feel like picking himself up from the floor again.


    After this experience, Zhang Tie swore that he would dig in the mines every day regardless of the weather. Since he had to submit a minimum amount of ores each day, he realized he would truly be tortured to death if he had to finish three days worth of work in one day.


    Much like outside, there were small iron tracks which once allowed the usage of mining carts inside the mines; however, there was clear evidence that the iron tracks had been destroyed by some bastards. As a result, all miners had to walk approximately 0.5 km inside the tunnel, which sharply lowered the transportation efficiency.


    Like before, the guys who wanted to try out mining had already decided to leave after just the morning, and many people were reluctant to try it again for the second time.


    Leaning against a tree, Zhang Tie was drinking water and eating the dried ration. With slightly narrowed eyes, Zhang Tie looked up at the two happy squirrels on the tree. These days, the squirrels seemed to have noticed that a group of uninvited guests was stealing their pine cones, thus the two began to move the pine cones into their own tree hollow. They were even more diligent than Zhang Tie. Seeing the two busy squirrels, Zhang Tie became somewhat embarrassed, as he was one of the uninvited guests who had taken their pine cones, yet he was not even as diligent as a squirrel...


    ¡­¡­


    On the first day after the rain stopped, all the students began to be busy once more. It seemed that it was hard to associate the survival training with the word ¡°happiness¡±. At a location 10 km away from mine where Zhang Tie was, as Zhang Tie leaned against a tree as he ate his dried rations, Glaze and his followers were doing something that was even harder to associate with the word ¡°happiness¡±...


    A cave within a mountain had already been filled with blood. After killing several female wolves, who were feeding pups, using his sword, Glaze swept through the 20 odd pups who were barely as big as a newborn dog. As the last pup wanted to bite at his heel, Glaze ferociously stomped down onto its head, smashing it into pieces. Only at this moment did the sad howls within the mountain cave finally stop.


    The instant the growls stopped, Sharon and Zuhair rushed in. They carefully avoided all the blood on the ground. Much like Glaze, Sharon¡¯s and Zuhair¡¯s skin had turned a pale green, seemingly as if a strange fluid had been pasted on them.


    ¡°Hurry up, let¡¯s go. We won¡¯t have time to leave if the other wolves return...¡± Sharon urged.


    ¡°Glaze, your shoes have been dyed with wolf blood. You should throw them away. Otherwise, the wolves would come and look for you. Now, everybody should hurry up and leave this place. We should clean off the mixture of bitter taro roots and blood wolf flowers from our bodies. That way, nobody would know that we were responsible for this...¡± At the sight of the pup who had its head crushed under Glaze¡¯s foot, Zuhair cried out as he awkwardly took out a bag that was sealed in waterproof cloth. Opening the bag, Zuhair picked up a small piece of a towel using his two fingers and threw it on the ground.


    After looking at the blood from the pups that stained his shoes, Glaze cursed and then quickly left the wolf den that reeked of death with Sharon and Zuhair.


    ¡°Have you finished your job?¡± as they left, Glaze asked Zuhair.


    ¡°Trust me, I have already arranged the other pieces of his towel on the way. Those wild wolves will definitely find Zhang Tie on his way back to his base if they follow the odor trail created by the pieces from his towel. Wild wolves are both cunning and good at bearing grudges...¡± Zuhair smirked. ¡°A common soldier has nothing to do with us if he was engulfed by a pack of wild wolves!¡±


    ¡°Hahaha...¡± Glaze and his followers laughed out loudly...


    Two hours later, all the male wolves hunting outside returned to their den. The instant they entered, their low howls started to reverberate throughout the entire valley...

 82 Physical Limit Breakthrough

    Chapter 82: Physical Limit Breakthrough


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    The ore collection center of Wild Wolf Castle was at the foot of a relatively flat hill south of Wild Wolf Castle. There was an iron rail that spanned hundreds of meters long down from the top of the hill to the collection center. The other end of the iron rail was the raw materials field of the iron smelting workshop in Wild Wolf Castle. The steam engine attached to the wheeled vehicle provided it enough energy so that it could pull carts filled with iron ores from the foot of the hill to the top using steel wires that were as thick as a baby¡¯s arm. Thanks to the iron rail and the vehicle that made use of the steam engine, iron ores could be easily brought into Wild Wolf Castle. If not for them, Zhang Tie really wondered whether there would be any person willing to dig in the mines, as they would have to walk a distance of over 1.5 km in order to reach this location while carrying the iron ores. In order to get here, he would have to walk up a slope and would most likely be tired to death after doing so.


    Although some people would be able to accomplish such a feat, others would find it difficult to do the same.


    At noon, after raining for a day, the sun finally rose, and it gradually became hot again. Due to the rain, the valley was still rather damp, but under the scorching sun, the water began to evaporate and rise from the ground. In a short period, the entire valley became a huge steaming cage that made people breathless.


    Under such a high temperature, it became a huge test as to whether Zhang Tie would be able to traverse a distance of over 1.5 km while carrying more than 100 kg of iron ores on his back. On the way there, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth as he oozed sweat all over and felt as if his shoulder was burning because his shoulder constantly rubbed against his mining basket. On average, he would have to take a rest after walking every 200 or 300 meters. Finally arriving at his destination, when Zhang Tie placed his mining basket on the scale, it made a ¡°Kuang!¡± sound. Upon hearing a different sound drifting from the scale, the other male students couldn¡¯t help but stare at the number displayed on the scale.


    118 kg!


    ¡°Brother, nice work. You are the first to carry over 100 kg of iron ores at once. It seems you were born to do this!¡± Hearing his words, Zhang Tie did not feel like uttering a single word; he only rolled his eyes. Right now, he was extremely tired and wanted to take a rest for half an hour. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t have the strength to think about whether that guy was praising him or criticizing him. At the same time, the male student took out a notebook. After peering at the number displayed on the scale and checking the quality of the ores brought by Zhang Tie, he started to record the numbers in the notebook.


    ¡°Along withs this basket¡­ how many kilograms of ores have I carried here today?¡± After panting for a quite while, Zhang Tie asked.


    ¡°Including this time, let me have a look...¡± Taking the notebook, the male student lowered his head and checked the record. ¡°You are Zhang Tie, right? You brought in 76 kg the first time, 78 kg for the second time, and 69 kg for the third time. This time, you¡¯ve brought 118 kg. Let me calculate it...¡±


    ¡°341 kg...¡± The instant the male student told Zhang Tie of the weight of the iron he had brought the third time, Zhang Tie had already visualized a seven column abacus in his mind, from which poured out the final result.


    After calculating it with a pen, that male student got the same result as the one Zhang Tie got. Slightly amazed, he stared at Zhang Tie, but in the end, he didn¡¯t put too much thought into it.


    ¡°Right, it¡¯s 341 kg. This is the record for the most brought in. Since you didn¡¯t come in for the previous two days, you have just finished the amount needed for the past three days of required work...¡±


    ¡°Is there a reward for the highest record?¡± Zhang Tie casually asked.


    ¡°There is!¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°You will be allowed to continue this promising career...¡±


    Hearing this answer, Zhang Tie¡¯s face slightly turned dark before beginning to laugh. He didn¡¯t expect this guy to have a sense of humor.


    Seeing them pouring his iron ores into the mining vehicle, Zhang Tie casually prattled with them and took a rest. Based on the weight of his iron ores, Zhang Tie received 0.35 kg of dried rations. Afterwards, bringing with him the dried rations, Zhang Tie carried the ugly mining basket and climbed to the top of the mountain, arriving at the square outside Wild Wolf Castle.


    After having removed the 100 kg burden and taking a break, Zhang Tie gradually recovered his strength and realized that he was much faster than before. This time, since he successfully surpassed his own physical limit and was able to create a record among the group of unlucky fellows, Zhang Tie was in a good mood and felt a bit pleasant. It seemed that what Donder had said was true¡ªpeople were always forced to conquer difficulties before they were able to succeed. That was really sincere saying that was often seen in Chinese texts.


    As the sun had risen again, the square became more boisterous than before. Compared to the empty and shabby appearance that was here before, there were now some simple trading booths that could also be used as shelter in the square. At these booths, some of the female students would sell the wild fruits and vegetables that they had picked in the valley and would trade them for other food. At the other end of the square, the male students, as usual, grouped together as they showed off their ¡°muscles¡± and the prey they had caught. Over time, they would find an opportunity to chat with girls. These days, more and more female students had begun to form solid teams with the male students. No matter whether they were male or female, after some time and after understanding each other, they became rather bold.


    ¡°Do you need blueberries or hawthorn fruits?¡± A voice from a booth to the side attracted Zhang Tie¡¯s attention. Turning around, Zhang Tie saw a male student shaking his head and walking away, while the owner of the booth, a female student, looked disappointed as she hugged her legs and sat on the ground. In front of the girl was a lotus leaf on which were a pile of unripe wild blueberries and hawthorn fruits that amounted to less than 0.25 kg. Much like the bashful female owner of the booth, the pile of blueberries and hawthorn fruits looked average. Although they were clean, they were not attractive at all and were not able to arouse the ¡°appetite¡± of the horny students.


    As Zhang Tie remembered that he had not spread the seeds of blueberries and hawthorn fruits on the soil in the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie walked over and squatted in front of that poor girl¡¯s booth. ¡°What do you want in exchange for these fruits?¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s voice, the dejected girl raised her head up from her knees. Although she had freckles on her face, she looked clean and had an average figure; however, she had a pair of blue eyes that were crystal clear, much like a stream of water. She was just like an ugly duckling dwarfed by the brilliant beauties around her.


    ¡°0.25 kg of dried rations for both the wild blueberries and the hawthorn fruits. Ah, if you just give me 0.2 kg of dried rations, you can take them away. I¡¯m also willing to trade for 0.1 kg of meat.¡± Feeling that Zhang Tie was slightly glancing over her body, the girl sitting on the ground leaned a bit more forward, hiding her chest behind her knees.


    ¡°Gulugulu¡± Clear growling sounds drifted from the stomach of that girl into Zhang Tie¡¯s ears. At the same time, the girl lowered her head in embarrassment.


    ¡°Fine, I want them all...¡± Zhang Tie casually took out 0.5 kg of dried rations from his food container. After thinking for a short time, he added 0.05 kg of dried beef to the dried rations.


    ¡°This¡­ this¡­ is too much!¡± The girl was surprised; her pair of beautiful blue eyes gazed at Zhang Tie without blinking, seemingly as if she wanted to find something on Zhang Tie¡¯s face.


    ¡°Hmm¡­ I am a disciple of the Guardian God School. During this survival training, I want to collect some seeds from various plants. As you can see from my looks, you should know that I dig in the mines and have no time to do this. If it¡¯s convenient for you and as long as it¡¯s safe, could you please collect some seeds for me? Whatever they are, I¡¯ll exchange food with you. The extra food is paid in advance.¡± Zhang Tie casually said.


    ¡°Really?¡± The girl¡¯s eyes instantly became shiny.


    Smiling, Zhang Tie put away the two piles of slightly unripe fruits and then pushed the dried rations and dried beef in front of the girl. His actions were more persuasive than any words. Seeing his actions, the girl firmly took the food, seemingly as if she feared Zhang Tie would change his mind.


    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±


    ¡°I am Zhang Tie!¡±


    ¡°After I collect seeds, how will I find you?¡±


    ¡°I come here often, so you don¡¯t need to come look for me. I¡¯ll come look for you!¡±


    As he said this, Zhang Tie picked himself up and took away those fruits. After seven or eight steps away, Zhang Tie heard the timid voice from the girl behind him. ¡°I am Pandora...¡±


    Zhang Tie turned around and showed a smile to the girl. He then picked up a hawthorn fruit and stylishly tossed it into the air, letting it fall into his mouth; however, upon biting it, Zhang Tie instantly frowned, as it was really sour. What a failure! Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s expression, Pandora giggled. Almost at the same time, she hurriedly covered her mouth with her hands, as she realized that she was the one who had sold him the hawthorn fruit. Raising her head to look at Zhang Tie again, she realized the black-haired adolescent with the mining basket on his back was waving at her before gradually disappearing among the crowd...


    ¡°Zhang Tie...¡± Pandora muttered this name several times.


    ¡­¡­


    After finishing today¡¯s work, Zhang Tie felt relaxed all over. Whistling, he began to climb down the mountain while eating the sour blueberries and hawthorn fruits. He then returned to the place where he had dug in the mines. As there were still four or five hours before he would leave the mine, he could casually spend them to do whatever he wanted. At this time, the hidden mining tunnel had become the best place for him to practice cultivation. In addition, after working in the morning, there were fewer people inside the mines, and the knocking sounds became sparser.


    Sitting down on the relatively clean ground in the mine as he crossed his legs, Zhang Tie entered the cultivation state. As he had just finished carrying over 100 kg iron ores to the right location, he currently felt that he was in the perfect condition, as he felt relaxed and full of strength all over. Zhang Tie had once heard that every time a person broke through their physical limits, they would see a better effect when cultivating. At this moment, he decided to give it a try for the remaining hours...


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

 83 Attack of the Wild Wolves

    Chapter 83: Attack of the Wild Wolves


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    For the entire afternoon, Zhang Tie was practicing cultivation inside the mines. He felt as if time had flown really fast during the process!


    When he walked out of the mining cave, the afterglow of the setting sun had already covered the entire Wild Wolf Valley with a golden color. With narrowed eyes, Zhang Tie peered over the peaceful and beautiful valley. Only after a while was Zhang Tie¡¯s able to gradually adapt to the scenery before him.


    Currently, he was feeling pretty good, seemingly because of the effects of today¡¯s cultivation, which changed the color of the burning point at his rear end to a slightly red color; he never felt better. If it were not for those sparsely lit torches that reminded Zhang Tie that it was already almost dusk, Zhang Tie would have wanted to stay another several hours inside the mine to increase the amount of basic energy storage in the Castle of Black Iron.


    Before leaving the mine, Zhang Tie sat in the mining tunnel he had dug in and entered the Castle of Black Iron once again. The whole process only lasted less than three minutes. Entering the Castle of Black Iron with Zhang Tie were the seeds of wild blueberries and hawthorn fruits. After rapidly running a lap around the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie had casually spread the seeds onto the ground and checked the second Leakless Fruit before promptly exiting.


    There was another 56 hours left before the second Leakless Fruit would become ripe. Seeing its progress, Zhang Tie felt very satisfied. However, at the same time, he felt a tinge of regret when he looked at the progress bar of the Iron Body Fruit, as it had remained unchanged. The progress of the Iron Body Fruit had probably stalled as he hasn¡¯t been to the fighting club to be a flesh bag for the past couple of days. After gazing at that unripe Iron Body Fruit for a while, Zhang Tie suddenly came to the conclusion that he was really impatient and began to curse himself inwardly.


    At this moment, those horny male students at Wild Wolf Castle were pretending to be gentlemen despite thinking of dirty things as they invited girls to have supper with them. Over the course of a week, some of the horny male students had already become well acquainted with the female students as they climbed down the mountain hand in hand while chatting happily with each other. This truly made Zhang Tie unhappy and uncomfortable. At the sight of such students, he could only touch his nose and forced a self-mocking smile before heading for the tree base.


    On the way back, Zhang Tie was thinking about the achievements of Barley and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, wondering if they had successfully invited a group of girls to visit their tree base. Everything he had learned before the start of the survival training regarding the dangers in this place had already been forgotten by him. Zhang Tie himself was most likely the last person who would encounter any danger as a miner, despite having broken two records since the start of the survival training. Even if he met a wolf, would they really be able to pose any danger to him?


    In the valley, as he thought of wolves, a pleasant smile drifted onto Zhang Tie¡¯s face as a night breeze blew past it. If he were to truly meet a wolf at this moment, he would only regard himself as lucky and treat it as another gift from god. Despite it being a dagger, it was still a weapon; as a LV 1 fighter with a weapon, dealing with a wild wolf was as hard as carrying 100 kg of iron ores and walking a distance of 1.5 km. Although it was somewhat hard work, it still wasn¡¯t dangerous...


    However, danger would always arrive before one has become well-prepared. It would appear before you like a collapsing mountain, and if you were to make a mistake, you might be broken into pieces.


    20 minutes after Zhang Tie left the mining cave, Zhang Tie had already walked several kilometers. Just as he passed by a small patch of grassland and was about to walk through it, Zhang Tie suddenly stopped.


    At that moment, his heart suddenly began to pound heavily while blood all over his body rushed to his head. In a split second, Zhang Tie felt dazed and worried as his face turned pale.


    Blood sense!


    The same blood sense he felt when he encountered Huck and Snade.


    This grassland was only half a person tall and was more than 30 m away from Zhang Tie. Beside that grassland was a path which Zhang Tie used to walk on everyday. Facing the breeze, the grass were swaying in a manner akin to wheat waving in the wind, seemingly as if something was hiding within.


    Zhang Tie instantly became covered in cold sweat, as he had realized that something terrifying was staring at him within the grass. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know whether the thing hidden in the grass was man or animal. At the same time, the first thing Zhang Tie thought about was Glaze¡¯s group, wondering whether they had set an ambush and were waiting to kill him over there.


    Slowly putting down his mining basket, Zhang Tie took out the hoe from within the basket. At the same time, he pulled out the ordinary dagger which his elder brother had gifted to him in hopes that he would protect himself with it. As for that poisonous dagger gifted to him by Donder, Zhang Tie had already placed it in the Castle of Black Iron.


    With two weapons in hand, Zhang Tie slightly recovered his composure. Widening his eyes, he gazed at that patch of grassland, wanting to see through what was hiding inside. If it was Glaze¡¯s group, Zhang Tie swore inwardly that he would definitely beat them fiercely...


    The breeze gradually became heavier while the grass was still swaying. However, at this time, Zhang Tie saw something that were akin to rocks in the grass, which changed the form of the grass as they swayed. Before his spiritual energy had sharply increase, Zhang Tie would never have noticed such minute details; however, after his spiritual energy sharply augmented, he was easily able to capture such a slight change. Forcefully swallowing his saliva, Zhang Tie slowly moved backwards; however, the moment Zhang Tie moved backwards, those hidden rocks also moved forward, splitting the grass as they moved towards Zhang Tie step by step.


    Then, a wolf drilled out from the grass with eyes fixed on Zhang Tie...


    A wolf? Soon after, Zhang Tie slightly became relaxed, but at the sight of the other six wolves who drilled out from the grass, his tension once again intensified...


    With red eyes, all seven wolves only glared at Zhang Tie. After looking straight into the eyes of those wolves, Zhang Tie could already feel their mood. They did not show a greedy expression like the one that would be present when they¡¯re hunting, but instead, they showed hatred¡ªa hatred so deep that they would not let him go even after draining the last drop of his blood.


    Why do these wolves hate me? Zhang Tie was completely dumbfounded. At this moment, the only thing he knew was that he would probably lose his life this time. Seeing them gradually bare their snow-white fangs as they lowered their bodies, when Zhang Tie heard ¡°gulugulu¡± sounds drifting from the inside of their throats, Zhang Tie could feel all the fine hair on his body standing on their ends...


    Zhang Tie instantly turned around and started to run. At that moment, he spent every single bit of effort to stride forward. Zhang Tie¡¯s mind was as clear as a crystal; various information flashed in his mind at the same time...


    Currently, he was no less than 30 m away apart from the wolves. If he didn¡¯t spend every ounce of his effort into escaping, then with his current speed, he would only have a bit more than 20 seconds before they caught him, as he was not their match in terms of speed with his current capabilities...


    Once they caught up, he would have less than 30 seconds to choose between life and death choices. Within those 30 seconds, he could only try his best to kill one or two wolves; however, the time it took him to do that was enough for the remaining wolves to tear through his stomach or crush his throat. The moment he was knocked down against those wolves, he would be doomed ...


    If he wanted to enter the Castle of Black Iron, he needed at least ten seconds¡ªno, nine seconds. In order to enter, he would need to be calm, which meant that he could not be disturbed during the nine seconds before he entered the Castle of Black Iron. Obviously, he did not have enough time at this instance, and the Castle of Black Iron would not be able to help him get out of his current predicament...


    As there was nobody nearby, Zhang Tie realized that nobody would be able to save him within 50 seconds, thus he only had one choice: he had to disappear from the sight of those wolves within the next 20 seconds since he would be killed the moment they caught up...


    He could neither run as fast as the wolves nor could he rely on other people. His last beacon of hope was to take advantage of the topography and trees 200 m behind him.


    The best terrain to take advantage of would be water, assuming it was present. Unfortunately, there was no water nearby; however, luckily, there were many trees behind him. The fact that he was not the least bit good at climbing trees implied that he wouldn¡¯t be able to reach a safe height. At this moment, the last choice appeared in his mind, one which might be his last beacon of hope.


    The train of thoughts almost flashed in Zhang Tie¡¯s mind within 0.1 second. Within such a short period, Zhang Tie had already determined his final plan to escape. If it were the others, 90% of them would choose to escape towards the direction of Wild Wolf Castle, where it was populated, dreaming about a slight chance of surviving against the pursuit of the wolves; however, Zhang Tie realized that this choice would not work for him¡ªif he chose this option, he would die within fifty seconds. The other 10% would just escape without knowing the direction, as they just wanted to stay away from those wolves, resulting in most of them dying even faster than the other 90% who would die within fifty seconds. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t choose this option either. Instead, he chose to rapidly run towards a specific place for the last beacon of hope...


    Certainly, it was not enough to just escape. He would never give up, not even losing a bit of hope. As an adolescent with great ambitions in the new age, he could not follow the masses and just wait for death; therefore, the moment he turned around to escape, Zhang Tie used all his efforts to shriek loudly, creating a really terrifying shriek.


    ¡°Help...¡±


    Such a voice shocked numerous birds in the valley, causing them all to fly away...


    After such a high-pitched shriek, Zhang Tie used all of his strength to run, closely followed by the seven red-eyed wild wolves. They gradually narrowed the distance between them and Zhang Tie.


    ¡­¡­


    As expected, the last ¡°help¡± was heard by more than thirty male and female students who were roasting meat on the top of a hill more than three hundred meters away. In a split second, they hurriedly took up their weapons and ran out of the woods. One of them was that red-haired beauty who had previously kicked Zhang Tie. From the top of the hill, they witnessed the ¡°final seconds¡± of Zhang Tie in this world...


    The wolves had finally caught up with Zhang Tie, and some of them charged at him, yet their attacks were avoided by him. As if he had an eye on the back of his head, the moment a wolf jumped into the air towards him, he would swiftly move to the side while raising his dagger and slashing the stomach of the wolf. Another wolf charged at him, yet its lower jaw was ferociously smashed by a hoe, causing it to give a miserable howl that was even more high-pitched than Zhang Tie¡¯s ¡°help¡± that had drifted to their ears. Meanwhile, another wolf had already fiercely bitten Zhang Tie¡¯s shin, pulling him down onto the ground. As the other wolves pounced towards him, the youth instantly stabbed out his dagger at the wolf that was biting his shin. Pulling away the wolf using one hand, he jumped into a jet black hole beside him...


    The decisiveness and braveness of Zhang Tie¡¯s ¡°final seconds¡± deeply shocked those boys and girls who stood on the top of the hill. Seeing Zhang Tie jumping into that bottomless hole, tears began to drip from the faces of many girls. Among them, only Kristine could recognize that boy who was fighting wolves using his hoe.


    Perhaps I shouldn¡¯t have kicked him while we were in the square even though he had thought about doing that with me in his mind...


    Thinking about this, Kristine slightly felt guilty. As a breeze blew over her face, the girl suddenly felt a slight chill on her face...


    For the commoners, they were in an age where youth was as short as the morning dew, while life was as short as a straw.

 84 A Life and Death Situation

    Chapter 84: A Life and Death Situation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Rolling into that jet-black hole, Zhang Tie quickly pulled out the dagger that had been stabbed in the wolf and stabbed it again. Within a short span of time, he had already stabbed that wolf¡¯s heart and stomach four times before finally feeling the jaw of the wolf who had bit his shin completely lose its strength.


    At this moment, he had completely forgotten the injury on his shin. Raising his head, he kept his eyes fixed on the constantly narrowing space ahead¡­ As one of the deepest cave left by the Gold-Eating Boas in Wild Wolf Valley, this was a bottomless pitch-dark hole with a diameter greater than three meters and was also the only chance for Zhang Tie to survive the attack of the wolves.


    Being closely chased by seven wolves, Zhang Tie could only survive by doing two actions. The first action he had to take was to jump into the hole before being caught by the wolves within 20 seconds, which he finally successfully accomplished despite being injured. The second action depended on luck; if this cave completely led to the ground without any obstructions, then he would fall to the ground and die miserably¡ªthough, that would still be better than turning into wolf sh*t.


    Zhang Tie was betting his life in this wager; however, he did have two assumptions on which he based his actions on. The first assumption was that Gold-Eating Boas would not be that silly to drill a hole like a well, which directly led to the ground, and would always have curved paths, thus Zhang Tie thought that as long as there were any curved sections in the hole that did not lead to the ground, then he would be able to save himself.


    The second assumption was that the wolves would not follow him and jump into this pitch black hollow. Zhang Tie was right with this assumption, though the wolves did linger around the mouth of the hole for quite a while. From this point forward, Zhang Tie would have to rely on his first assumption¡ªwhether the first turn would appear before Zhang Tie fell to the ground and died a miserable death.


    Zhang Tie dropped at a fast speed together with the wolf. By the time he had stabbed the wolf four times, the tunnel had already become completely dark since the sunlight could no longer reach inside.


    Zhang Tie and the wolf continued to fall inside that cave...


    Even Zhang Tie himself didn¡¯t know why he was currently extremely calm despite the critical situation. Although he was also afraid of death, Zhang Tie currently felt no emotions and was precisely like a machine that was calculating and outputting data¡­ Interestingly enough, at that moment, Zhang Tie was not thinking about life or death, but rather right or wrong...


    At this moment, when Zhang Tie raised his head to look at the mouth of the tunnel from within, he had already calculated within 0.1 seconds that he was just 10-15 away from it, meaning that he had already been falling inside the hole for 1-2 seconds. He even thought of the formula he had learned at school: D=D¡¯(2t-1), where D is the distance he had fell in the cave and D¡¯ was the free falling distance within the first second, which was 5m on the Kun¡¯ang Continent. Using this formula, Zhang Tie could easily calculate the time which was safe to land. He would fall 5 meters in the first second, 15 meters in the next second, 25 meters in the third second, and 35 meters in the fourth second. He gave up calculating the falling distance for the fifth second. Even if there was a turn or a slope less than 90¡ã after four seconds, on the premise that his bones were not as hard as stones, he would definitely become heavily wounded or die the moment he hit the ground or the walls inside.


    ¡°Will I be the first person to die during this survival training? I¡¯m still a virgin, f*ck!¡±


    A thought flashed by in his mind. Zhang Tie, who was free falling, used his feet to clamp onto the wild wolf that was under him, using it as a cushion, and tightly clasped the hoe...


    Zhang Tie¡¯s fate depended on the next three seconds. Although three seconds would pass by very fast for someone else, for Zhang Tie, three seconds would feel as long as thirty seconds when he concentrated his spiritual energy.


    As a matter of fact, god didn¡¯t abandon Zhang Tie. Between the third second and the fourth second after he had fallen in¡ªto be precise, right after the third second¡ªthat critical turn finally arrived, and the inclination became about 70 to 80 degrees. Certainly, Zhang Tie had no time to measure the concrete inclination. As he fell, when Zhang Tie felt the wild wolf beneath him hit something, he instinctively stabbed the hoe into the rocks, causing the sparks flying from the friction between the hoe and the rocks to illuminate Zhang Tie¡¯s serious face, one which showed his desire to survive. He felt as if his arms were breaking, but he also felt his speed decreasing. Finally, his legs hit a surface. To soften the impact, he instantly began to roll along the steep walls like a ball of meatball, rolling times within a short span of time.


    Even Zhang Tie himself did not know how long he had been in the darkness. His body continued to roll several times and collided with many things before finally a huge collision came, causing Zhang Tie¡¯s consciousness to fade into darkness.


    ¡­¡­


    When Zhang Tie lost consciousness, the news of a black-haired miner being attacked to death by seven wild wolves 3.5km away from Wild Wolf Castle had already spread and shocked many people.


    The news was first brought back to Wild Wolf Castle by the students who had witnessed Zhang Tie¡¯s ¡°heroic¡± actions before he jumped into the deep hole. Hearing the news, everyone in Wild Wolf Castle was shocked.


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°I heard that a male student was bitten to death by wolves...¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right! But I heard he was really brave and had killed three wolves before being killed!¡±


    ¡°Where were his partners? Which team did he belong to? How could a brave male student like him face those wild beasts alone?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s alone and did not belong to any team. I heard he¡¯s a black-haired miner¡±


    ¡°What a pity...¡±


    In a room with many girls in the inner castle of Wild Wolf Castle, two female students were talking about the event that had transpired. Without paying too much attention to their surroundings, one of the two girls described the guy who was killed by the wolves as a ¡°black-haired miner¡±. Hearing her words, a girl who was quietly eating dried rations in a corner of the room suddenly became stiff all over. Then, along with her pearl-like tears, the dried rations fell from her hands, and she lowered her head as she hugged her knees as tightly as she could before finally hiding in a dark corner in the room.


    ¡°Pandora, could you not stay in the corner all day and scare everyone? If you like that corner that much, why not directly move your quilt over or just move out of this room? That way, we wouldn¡¯t have to stay with a hapless woman like you...¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right! How could we be so unlucky to have been assigned to stay with this unlucky star? These past few days when I went out to search for wild vegetables, I was almost bitten by a poisonous snake...¡± Another two girls entered the room and began to fiercely curse the moment they saw the figure in the corner, not caring in the least about how that girl in the corner felt.


    Hearing their criticism, Pandora, the curled up figure in the corner, didn¡¯t utter a single word. She simply just stretched out her hand from the shadow and picked up the tear-stained dried ration on the ground and continued to eat it silently...


    ¡­¡­


    As for the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, it was time for supper, yet they realized that Zhang Tie had not yet returned. After waiting for him for a while, they started to realize that something bad had happened to Zhang Tie, thus while two of them remained to keep watch of the tree base, Barley, Leit, Doug, and Bagdad left the tree base. Agreeing with Leit¡¯s suggestion, they lit torches and began to search for Zhang Tie along the route he usually took when walking to the mine while Doug, who carried the terrifying machine bow, walked at the front. About halfway to the mine and about several hundred meters from where Zhang Tie had encountered the seven wolves, they saw many jumping lights, as many people were gathered there with burning torches, causing them to stare at each other in confusion. Barley¡¯s group of four rushed over and pulled one of the student¡¯s hand, asking about what was happening.


    ¡°Haven¡¯t you heard the news?¡± that male student even curiously asked Barley.


    ¡°What news?¡±


    ¡°In the evening, a student who did mining work was mauled by seven wild wolves to death. He was a really great guy. It¡¯s said that he had killed three wild wolves before being killed...¡±


    Hearing this news, the faces of the group of Barley instantly turned pale. Thinking that Zhang Tie was not powerful enough to kill three wolves at once, Barley asked in a quivering voice, ¡°Do you know that miner¡¯s name?¡±


    ¡°The castle officials had verified it just now. He¡¯s a Chinese student called Zhang Tie!¡±


    ¡°Bighead...¡± Doug growled like a wolf as he rushed towards the most crowded place with the most burning torches. In his opinion, Zhang Tie¡¯s corpse must have been too horrible to see.


    When the four of them rushed ahead with red eyes, they gaped at the scene as the site was surrounded by a group of on-duty students who were wearing red armbands with torches in hand. Nobody was allowed to get any closer, but through the crowd, they were able to see a terrifying, jet-black hole and the corpse of two wild wolves. Several teachers were standing over there, discussing something, while Zhang Tie¡¯s corpse could not be seen.


    ¡°Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie, he¡¯s our brother. We want to see him!¡± Barley shouted...


    ¡°Quiet, I heard Zhang Tie already rolled into the hole with a wolf. Captain Kerlin and the other teachers were talking about how to scoop him out of there...¡± a student who was responsible for keeping order and protecting the scene warned them.


    ¡°Bighead fell into that hole...¡± Seeing that terrifying hole, a slight bit of hope could be seen shimmering in the eyes of Barley and Doug...


    ¡°Mr. Zerom...¡± Seeing a teacher coming over here, many on-duty students greeted him. Nodding towards them, the teacher entered the site and walked towards several teachers from the Temporary Supervision Committee and Captain Kerlin...

 85 Surviving the Wild Wolves’ Attack

    Chapter 85: Surviving the Wild Wolves¡¯ Attack


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Mr. Zerom passed by the students and walked towards the other teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee. As casualties would happen every year during the survival training, the Temporary Supervision Committee, despite being the ones to organize the survival training, were not responsible for any student casualties; however, they were expected to give a reasonable explanation to the student¡¯s school as well as to the student¡¯s parents. All seven teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee were expected to report on that incident. Although the report was systematic, it was also very necessary. After all, it was a matter of life. Although the teachers and coaches didn¡¯t have to take responsibility for it, they should at the very least clearly explain to the parents how their child had died.


    After receiving the news about Zhang Tie in Wild Wolf Castle, Captain Kerlin, Mr. Zerom, and the other five teachers and coaches soon arrived at where Zhang Tie had encountered the attack; they had come to to investigate what had happened.


    Mr. Zerom was the best among them at drawing information from trivial clues. Walking along the path between where Zhang Tie had dropped his basket and the jet-black hole twice, he had even lowered his body by the patch of grass, the place where the wild wolves had set ambush, for a short while before returning to the other members of the Temporary Supervision Committee with a strange look on his face.


    ¡°How is it, Zerom?¡± Captain Kerlin¡¯s face was slightly dark. He remembered that Zhang Tie was one of the rare students among the undergraduates who were able to impress him. He would never have thought that it would have been Zhang Tie who was attacked by the wolves. This really made him depressed, as what happened to Zhang Tie reminded him of those days when his comrades-in-arms and friends left the mortal world during a battle.


    ¡°That is terrifying, really terrifying...¡± Mr. Zerom looked very solemn.


    ¡°Certainly. For someone to encounter such an incident, it is truly terrifying. These kinds of incidents have not occurred in more than a decade within the area 5 km from Wild Wolf Castle. As the guards from the castle always swept the areas near the castle, the wolves had become too afraid to appear at all. Nobody knows why a group of wolves would suddenly appear in an area so close to the castle.¡± At the sight of the two corpses of wolves on the ground, a female teacher slightly shook her head and sighed. ¡°What a pity! Judging from the wounds on the bodies of the wild wolves and what the students who saw the fight had said, this student called Zhang Tie should be quite formidable if he didn¡¯t die. From his braveness, his decisiveness, and his intelligence, Zhang Tie should already be among the best of those at his age...¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean this incident is terrifying. I meant that the student called Zhang Tie is terrifying...¡± Zerom shook his head. Hearing his comments, all the other teachers looked over at Zerom.


    ¡°What do you mean by that student is terrifying?¡± one teacher asked.


    Zerom replied with a slight smile. Then, he turned around and talked to Captain Kerlin. ¡°How did this student usually perform at school? Was he one of the recommended students from your school?¡±


    ¡°He was pretty normal at school and had no outstanding performance during the past three years. He was only a bit smart and had a good temperament...¡± Slightly frowning, although Captain Kerlin did not like the way Zerom spoke, he still answered truthfully and added, ¡°Oh, I almost forgot. This guy was also good at escaping and bringing benefits to himself. As for the recommended students, everybody at school had a good impression of Glaze and Burwick. Currently, Zhang Tie hasn¡¯t yet been qualified to be recommended. Zerom, why are you asking this? What do you mean by Zhang Tie is terrifying?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s not worth your recommendation?¡± Zerom looked in surprise at Captain Kerlin and smiled. ¡°Such an excellent student, yet you don''t have a favorable impression of him? After surveying the route from the patch of grass over there to this black hole, I have done some mental calculations. Do you guys know what I have discovered?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°In order to save his own life, that student had already decided to jump into this black hole the moment he saw the seven wild wolves drilling out of the grass.¡±


    ¡°Is that very special?¡± a teacher dubiously asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything out of place over there. If he knows he¡¯s weak, isn¡¯t it just a human¡¯s natural instinct to run away from wild wolves?¡±


    ¡°Of course it¡¯s strange...¡± Zerom solemnly replied. ¡°It¡¯s true that it¡¯s human instinct to run when confronted with danger; however, what makes it terrifying is knowing how to escape in face of danger. This black hole is about 200 meters away from where he had encountered the wolves, and it is also the only place within the area where he would have a chance to escape from the wolves. In most cases, people would choose to run towards Wild Wolf Castle or to any other populated areas, but this guy escaped towards this black hole, which is the best path of survival for him. That¡¯s why I said he was terrifying. The moment he began to escape, he had already calculated the various possibilities of survival in every direction and had even calculated the time he had before he would be caught by the wolves and the distance he could run within that time...¡±


    Seeing as how some of the members of the Temporary Supervision Committee were still confused about what he had said, Zerom drew a point on the ground using a twig. ¡°Let¡¯s use this point as the place where Zhang Tie had encountered the wolves...¡± Surrounding that point, Zerom drew a circle. ¡°This circle represents the farthest he can get before he would be caught by the wolves. It¡¯s about 200m...¡± After he finished drawing the circle, Zerom marked a spot on the edge of the circle. ¡°And this is the position of the black hole, which is also where we currently are. The only place he could escape from those wolves is precisely this point. If it were any other point within the circle, that guy would have been torn apart by the wolves. That¡¯s why I said this student called Zhang Tie is terrifying. For him to be able to precisely choose his best route of survival among thousands of choices before the wolves began their chase¡ªthat is truly terrifying!¡±


    This time, everybody understood. Looking at the two points on the ground, everybody became slightly shocked. Like Zerom had said, starting from the center point, there were many places where one could run to escape from the pursuing wolves. Thankfully, the route Zhang Tie had chosen was the only one with a little hope.


    ¡°What if¡­ it was a coincidence?¡± a teacher asked in doubt after hesitating. To make such a precise judgement at such a critical moment, let alone students, even teachers couldn¡¯t do it.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget, the students mentioned that the guy had brought a hoe with him when he was escaping...¡±


    ¡°Is that special? Isn¡¯t it just human instinct to pull out a weapon when chased by wolves?¡±


    ¡°His weapon was a dagger, not a hoe. Using a hoe would slow him down when he¡¯s escaping, so the only reason for the hoe was to look for an opportunity when he jumped into the dark hole. Since the hole was dug by a Gold-Eating Boa, they would not lead straight to the ground. Once he finds a slope that¡¯s not too sleep, he would be able to use the hoe to slow down his falling speed...¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re saying, Zhang Tie might still be alive?¡± Captain Kerlin curiously opened his mouth and looked at the black hole before turning back to Zerom.


    ¡°In my memory, guys like him are hard to kill, and their resilience is usually greater than a cockroach¡¯s!¡±


    ¡°I want to go inside!¡± Captain Kerlin said.


    ¡°I will accompany you when the rope is sent here from the castle...¡± Rubbing his jaw with one hand, Zerom was filled with curiosity about the guy called Zhang Tie. It was rare to see a student be able to calmly make precise decisions in such dire moments.


    Carried by more than twenty students and on-duty teachers, the ropes from Wild Wolf Castle soon arrived. The ropes were all standard reinforced ones purchased from Blackhot City¡¯s military. They were as broad as an adult¡¯s thumb, were resistant to wear and tear, and had a good grip. It was not a problem to use this rope to lift things that were heavier than 2 tons. After tying all the ropes together, it measured to be more than 400 m in length.


    ¡°These are the longest ropes that could be bought in Wild Wolf Castle. However, as no one knows how deep these Gold-Eating Boas¡¯ holes are, if we cannot find him even after using all the rope, then we will have to give up!¡± Zerom looked at Captain Kerlin.


    Captain Kerlin nodded. ¡°If it¡¯s as you say, then we can only blame that guy¡¯s bad luck. We will just have to try out best to find him. If we don¡¯t go inside to take a look, it won¡¯t be good for our conscience either.¡±


    After fastening one end of the rope onto a rock that was as tall as a person and more than 20 meters away from the mouth of the hole, Captain Kerlin and Zerom both tied the other end of the rope on themselves and took a green fluorite bar and jumped into the black hole one after the other...


    Facing a bottomless hole dug by a Gold-Eating Boa, not even Captain Kerlin and Zerom dared to make a mistake.


    Seeing them jumping into the hole one after the other, the onlooking students exclaimed...


    By the time they were 20 meters deep, they could only rely on their fluorite bars. Holding onto the advanced fluorite bar, Zerom gazed at the walls on the interior. At the first turn, Zerom became spirited and pointed at the fresh marks on the wall. Marks created by a hoe could be easily seen among the swirl marks left by the Gold-Eating Boas.


    ¡°This is where the hoes have touched. Look here, these marks were made from falling over here. That guy called Zhang Tie really used a hoe to escape. He¡¯s really smart...¡± After approving of his own deduction, Zerom¡¯s eyes became spirited and he became more interested in Zhang Tie.


    Captain Kerlin was also extremely excited. He could have never thought that Zhang Tie was not only good at talking, but also really good at escaping.


    At the sight of the marks left by Zhang Tie using his hoes, the two continued to slide downwards along the rope. On the way, they had seen the marks left by Zhang Tie many times; some were deep, others were shallow, but they were all as fresh as new road marks. Although there were split paths in the hole, they could still find the right direction by using the fresh marks on the walls...


    People at the mouth of the hole could not clearly see what was happening inside. They could only see the rope gradually disappearing like a strand of noodle in the huge black hole, section by section. 20m, 30m, 50m, 80m, 100m, 120m, 150m, 170m...


    As the rope fell, the people who stood at the mouth of the hole became increasingly worried for Zhang Tie¡¯s life, as he had fallen to such a depth.


    Thankfully, the rope finally stopped after falling 190m. After several minutes, as was agreed in advance, Captain Kerlin and Zerom forcefully tugged the rope three consecutive times. Feeling that, the people at the mouth of the hole started to pull the rope together. Compared to the slow descent of the rope, they were pulled up much faster than before, especially because high-level fighters like Captain Kerlin and Zerom were able to easily climb up by stepping on the protrusions on the walls...


    Several minutes later, before the other end of the rope was pulled out, a long exclamation drifted from within the hollow, followed by Captain Kerlin and Zerom flying out of the hole like two huge birds. The moment Captain Kerlin reached the ground, everybody shot their eyes on the figure bound on Captain Kerlin¡¯s back.


    ¡°Zhang Tie is still alive. He¡¯s just passed out...¡±


    Hearing Captain Kerlin¡¯s thrilled exclamation, the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood in the crowd almost jumped, and every onlooker cheered. For everyone present, this really was a miracle. If they hadn¡¯t witnessed it first hand, they would never believe that a person who fell into the jet-black hole would still be alive. That guy was truly more resilient than a cockroach...


    ¡°Pah!¡± Zerom tossed the corpse of the wild wolf and Zhang Tie¡¯s hoe onto the ground. At the sight of them, the onlookers were really shocked. Not only was that guy more resilient than a cockroach, he seemed to be very strong as well, as he was able to kill three wolves at once ...


    At the sight of that dead wolf that was as soft as a kid¡¯s toy on the ground, Zerom rubbed his chin, realizing that Zhang Tie was even sharper than he had initially thought. Not only did he think of using the hoe to save himself as he fell down the hole, he also thought of using the dead wolf¡¯s body as a cushion to lessen the impact. If it were not for the corpse of the wolf, Zhang Tie would definitely have broken a few bones. Currently, with the exception of a few bruises and wounds on his legs and the other part of his body, there were no other injuries. That was definitely a miracle. It was rare to see such a student...


    As everyone was cheering, the faces of two people who stood at the edge of the crowd turned pale as they stealthily left when they heard that Zhang Tie was fine.


    As Zhang Tie had still suffered from some bruises and wounds and was unconscious, Captain Kerlin decided to take Zhang Tie back to Wild Wolf Castle.


    Everything Captain Kerlin had seen in the hole had given him a favorable impression of Zhang Tie. He realized that if he were the one who jumped into the hole at Zhang Tie¡¯s age, then he would definitely have died. Thankfully, that guy even thought of bringing a hoe with him when he escaped. If it wasn¡¯t for the hoe, which helped him slow down his falling speed, then at the slope 100m deep, all of his bones would most likely have shattered, leaving no complete bone.


    The moment they brought Zhang Tie out of the hole and declared that he was still alive, Zerom had silently observed the people at the edge of the encompassing crowd. Finally, as the other students cheered, he saw two people silently leave the crowd. Narrowing his eyes, Zerom burned the figures of the two individuals into his mind...


    ¡­¡­


    Half an hour later at a place far away from the location of the incident, Glaze¡¯s group were settled in their mountain cave. Upon hearing Zuhair and Garner¡¯s report, everybody became still like wooden chickens.


    ¡°You¡¯re saying that Zhang Tie is still alive? How could that be!? Even if those wild wolves didn¡¯t kill him, he definitely should have died after jumping into that pitch black hole that is several hundred meters in depth! Is he made of iron? How could he still be alive?¡± Sharon uttered.


    ¡°Everyone saw Captain Kerlin and Zerom bring Zhang Tie back and place him on the ground. They had tied a rope on themselves and lowered themselves about 200m before they were able to find Zhang Tie and pull him out of there...¡± As he said this, even Zuhair sighed. ¡°That fellow¡¯s luck is really too good. How could he have survived from falling in such a deep hole?¡±


    ¡°F*ck!¡± Thinking of the vast amount of effort he had spent to set the trap and the fact that Zhang Tie was still alive, Glaze became infuriated. ¡°Zuhair, please tell me, what should I do now? Is there any other way to kill him?¡±


    Hearing Glaze¡¯s words, Zuhair¡¯s face slightly turned pale. ¡°This incident has already gotten the attention of the Temporary Supervision Committee. If what we have done is known by the others, we will all be dealt a severe punishment. Not to mention that I feel like Zerom, the guy who was responsible for investigating the scene, has already noticed something amiss. If we were to continue to set up Zhang Tie again, I¡¯m afraid it would too be too risky...¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re saying we should call it an end?¡± Glaze asked with wide opened eyes. Whenever Glaze thought about how he had been set up by Zhang Tie twice, he would always feel as if that was the greatest shame in his entire life.


    ¡°We will have to temporarily call it an end. Right now, there¡¯s too much attention on Zhang Tie, not to mention we did this to teach him a lesson. When you reach LV 3 and acquire the recommendation from the school, it still won¡¯t be too late. We will think of a way to deal with him when we return to Blackhot City. If we keep trying now, we will be putting ourselves in great danger!¡±


    No matter how unwilling Glaze was, he had no choice but to agree with Zuhair¡¯s suggestion. ¡°Okay, let him alive a few more days. When we return to Blackhot City, we will think of another way to deal with him...¡±


    Realizing that Zhang Tie would not be as easily killed as he thought, Glaze began to feel a little fear towards him.


    ¡°Thankfully, Zhang Tie could never match my strength,¡± Glaze comforted himself. ¡°Dad is right. In the secular world, people are always respected by their strength and fist. If I have an overwhelming strength that can beat him to the point of despair, then I can deal with him with whatever means I want in the future.¡±

 86 Waking Up

    Chapter 86: Waking Up


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Feeling a slight itch on his shin, Zhang Tie finally woke up. Opening his eyes, the first thing Zhang Tie saw was an aged green stone roof. After thinking for a while, he remembered what had happened to him.


    Wolves¡­ black hole¡­ endless rolling inside the hole, and that huge shock that made him lose his consciousness.


    ¡°Am I still alive?¡± Zhang Tie pinched his face and felt pain. He then touched all over his body, from his toes to his head, and had found nothing amiss, even his p*nis was completely fine. With the exception of many bruises and wounds, which were not very severe, he was completely fine.


    ¡°Haha...¡± Sitting on the bed, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter.


    Hearing his laughter in the quiet house, the door to the room was pushed open as a man fiercely rushed in. ¡°Bighead, you¡¯re awake! That¡¯s great! Haha!¡±


    The person who rushed in immediately pressed Zhang Tie back onto the bed, causing Zhang Tie to shriek due to feeling a sharp pain on his shin. ¡°Ah! Scumbag, my leg! You¡¯re pressing down on my leg¡­¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s shriek, Doug hurriedly moved his hand away from Zhang Tie¡¯s leg and stood to the side. Scratching his head like a fool, Doug apologized, ¡°Hey, hey, I¡¯m sorry. I forgot that your shin was injured...¡±


    With just a small amount of effort, Zhang Tie¡¯s forehead was already covered in sweat as his face twitched due to the pain. After taking in two deep breaths, he felt much better. ¡°Where am I? Why am I here?¡±


    ¡°We are in the outer castle of Wild Wolf Castle. That day when you fell into the hole, Captain Kerlin and Mr. Zerom went to get you out of the hole on the same evening. You are really lucky. I heard that 30m deep, there were several long slopes, and there were even some slopes that led people 200m deep in. Only after Captain Kerlin and Zerom went 200m deep were they able to find you. When they found you, you were wounded and in a coma, so they sent you here to receive treatment and to recuperate. Only those who were heavily injured and lost their ability to move could enjoy the treatment you¡¯re receiving right now...¡± Doug couldn¡¯t help pour out what had happened in the past two days.


    Only those heavily injured could enjoy such treatment? Zhang Tie looked around, only to find an extremely large room that had more than 10 beds with clean sheets; it seemed like a ward. There was also the smell of disinfectant in this room. Judging from this, Zhang Tie realized that it truly was a ward, one which was occupied by the wounded people in the outer castle of Wild Wolf Castle.


    ¡°How long have I been in a coma for?¡±


    ¡°Including the evening from two days ago and yesterday, you¡¯ve been asleep for two days!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been in a coma for two days?¡± Zhang Tie was surprised when he heard Doug¡¯s reply. ¡°Oh, who¡¯s that Mr. Zerom guy?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯ve been in a coma for two days already. That Zerom fellow is responsible for Second National Male Middle School. You should have an impression of him. He¡¯s skinny, pale, and looks cunning.¡± As Doug continued to speak, Zhang Tie had already caught sight of a ¡°skinny, pale guy who looks cunning¡± entering through the door.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly signaled Doug with his eyes that someone had entered the room and had even pulled on his clothes in an attempt to signal him; however, as Doug was always stupid in these critical moments, he didn¡¯t understand even a bit of what Zhang Tie was trying to say. Instead, he had even asked:


    ¡°Why are you pulling me? I didn¡¯t say anything wrong. I really mean it. That Zerom guy really does look like cunning, and when he smiles, it gives everyone a creepy feeling...¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re trying to say that I look cunning, then, I can understand that you¡¯re jealous of my handsome face, but if you¡¯re trying to say I¡¯m cunning, then my only understanding is that you¡¯re trying to slander a member of the Temporary Supervision Committee!¡± As he said this, Zerom entered the room.


    Zhang Tie helplessly greeted, ¡°Mr. Zerom!¡±


    Hearing those words, Doug¡¯s face turned pale. After sending Zhang Tie a reprimanding look, he stiffly turned around and staggered, ¡°Mr. Ze¡­ Zerom!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re Doug, right? Can you tell me¡­ when the Andaman Alliance¡¯s wartime decree is active, how are those who slanders the members of the Wartime Management Committee dealt with?¡± Zerom showed a very cunning smile.


    Hearing Zerom¡¯s question. Doug¡¯s body trembled all over. If he was holding a winnowing fan, he would have already finished screening the wheat bran[1]. His jaw was shaking so much that his teeth would often hit each other. In times when the Andaman Alliance¡¯s wartime decree was active, anyone who slandered a member of the Wartime Management Committee would be punished with at least being sent behind bars, with the worst punishment being the death penalty.


    Zhang Tie was also scared to the point where his face turned pale. ¡°Mr Zerom, Doug he¡­¡±


    As he walked towards them, Zerom stopped by Doug and kicked him on the butt, sending him away. ¡°This is my punishment for you¡­¡±


    Doug, at this moment, became docile. After being kicked, he immediately ran out the door and turned his head towards Zhang Tie as he grimaced before escaping as fast as he could and soon disappeared.


    Zerom was not a bad person; that was Zhang Tie¡¯s first impression of him. In general, those teachers who would kick their student¡¯s butt as a joke were always not a bad person inside.


    ¡°Thank you, Mr. Zerom. Doug just told me about what had happened after I fell into a coma. I was just about to go and thank you!¡± Zhang Tie said as he tried getting off the bed.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, you don¡¯t need to move. You still need to rest your leg for another two days. Also, there¡¯s no need to thank me. If too many students die during the survival training, then we teachers will lose face!¡± Zerom casually moved his hand towards Zhang Tie to stop him from getting off the bed before taking a seat beside Zhang Tie. ¡°That¡¯s right, that day, how did you decide to jump into that hole to survive? In that scenario, the choice most people would choose would be different than yours. Not to mention that hole was deep. In order to jump into that hole, the amount of courage needed would be no less than facing the seven wolves alone. Since the unknown makes people terrified, that bottomless hole would be terrifying even for people who are stronger than you. Even they would not dare to jump in.¡±


    Hearing Zerom¡¯s question, Zhang Tie felt a little embarrassed and began to scratch his head as he poured out his thought process during the escape. ¡°I also don¡¯t know why either, but that day when I saw the wolves drill out from the grass and charged at me, that¡¯s what I thought. I knew my only hope of survival was that hole. I knew that my life would be determined in the next 20 seconds. At that time, I knew that if I ran to any other direction, I would have been killed. That¡¯s what I thought, and that¡¯s why I did that. Is there a problem, Mr. Zerom?¡±


    ¡°No, you did pretty well and nobody else could do better than you at that moment...¡± Zerom was at a loss of words. With a smile, he then said, ¡°Earlier, I was just wondering how you were able to think of such an amazing and precise move in such a short period of time. Now I understand. It seems to be one of your talents, one which allows you to remain calm and make precise decisions in face of danger...¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s also considered talent?¡± Zhang Tie became a little embarrassed, as he assumed that it was related to the marvelous tree. Miss Daina had once said that people¡¯s thoughts also consumed the body¡¯s energy, so in that case, he was able to remain calm and didn¡¯t have any other distracting thoughts because all the distracting thoughts at that moment were routed to that small tree. Zhang Tie was also curious at this moment, as he did not realize that he had this talent before.


    Certainly, Zerom didn¡¯t know what Zhang Tie was really thinking at this moment. He simply responded to Zhang Tie¡¯s question in a serious matter, ¡°Of course. More than 99% of people in your situation would not be as calm as you. They wouldn¡¯t be able to make such a precise and sharp decision in face of danger. Earlier, Kerlin had said that you were good at escaping. It seems that you truly are the best at escaping...¡±


    Facing such weird praise, Zhang Tie could only force a smile. Meanwhile, he remembered that guy who was responsible for collecting mining ores. Did all the guys from Second National Male Middle School learn this weird way of talking from Zerom?


    ¡°Oh, have you ignited your Shrine burning point yet?¡±


    ¡°Yea, I have ignited it three days ago!¡±


    Since what he had done to the wolves had surpassed the limit of any Lv 0 fighter, who would not be able to kill three wolves at once, it was no longer a secret. If he continued to tell a lie at this point, he would just be too foolish. Many great guys have already stood out during the survival training, and even several girls have ignited their Shrine burning point. For Zhang Tie to release the news that he has also ignited his Shrine burning point, it wouldn¡¯t catch too much attention.


    Sure enough, hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s response, Zerom showed an expression that seemed to say it was expected. Without asking too many questions, he only encouraged Zhang Tie to diligently continue to cultivate before moving on to the next subject.


    ¡°Wolves are a type of very smart animal. A lone wolf might extend to populated areas to hunt preys or just to wander around, but a pack of wolves would rarely be seen here, as it would be very dangerous for them to do so. It¡¯s also possible for a single wolf to be insane, but it¡¯s impossible for a pack of wolves to be insane. In the past decade or so, after the exterminating operation from the guards of Wild Wolf Castle, packs of wild wolves were rarely seen. In the incident that you encountered, there was no other evidence found, so the Temporary Supervision Committee concluded that it was just an unexpected incident. However, you should understand what I¡¯m trying to tell you!¡± Although Zerom didn¡¯t explicitly say it and only implied it, Zhang Tie was still able to grasp the meaning behind his words.


    ¡°Teacher, are you trying to say someone set me up?¡± The look on Zhang Tie¡¯s face changed again.


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I said. I only said that this attack was very unnatural, and there might be someone behind it. I like smart students and I have a good impression of you, so I wanted to give you a warning. You should take care of yourself and try not to move alone for the remainder of the survival training!¡± Zerom straightforwardly put it.


    ¡°Are there people who could control packs of wolves?¡± Zhang Tie showed an amazed look.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie¡¯s amazed look, Zerom only showed a slight smile. ¡°It¡¯s not difficult to control a pack of wolves. If you can meet an beast tamer or one of the wild guards of the Guardian God School, you will find that it is pretty easy for them to control animals. They could even easily control a pack of wolves and could also determine where they will appear, when they will appear, and which people they will attack. Things like this are not uncommon in this world...¡±


    ¡­¡­


    After Zerom left, Zhang Tie began to deeply reflect over their conversation. Although his last words were an implication, Zhang Tie realized that he was obviously telling Zhang Tie to be careful. After thinking for quite a while, with the exception of Glaze¡¯s group, he couldn¡¯t think of anyone else who would set him up. Were they the culprits?


    After Zerom left, Doug stealthily returned again. From Doug¡¯s tone, Zhang Tie realized that the three wolves he had killed made him greatly valuable in the eyes of the others...


    [1] Winnowing fan was used in processing grains. Specifically, using the winnowing fan, separates the grain from the chaff. More information is available on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnowing

 87 The Most Valuable Thing

    Chapter 87: The Most Valuable Thing


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    After dealing with the corpses of the three wolves, while Zhang Tie recuperated in the ward, the Hit-Plane Brotherhood got to experience the pleasures of being rich. Barley exchanged the 100-odd kg of wolf meat for 40 kg of dried rations and 20 kg of dried meat.


    Wolf meat, fresh wolf meat especially, was very popular among male students. According to the ¡°market price¡± in the square of Wild Wolf Castle, 1 kg of fresh wolf meat could be exchanged for 1 kg of dried rations or 3 kg of dried meat from other people. For those who were able to acquire dried rations and other types of food that were not meat, they were very much willing to do business, as such business could benefit both sides. One side could acquire some fresh meat, while the other side could get dried rations, which could be easily preserved.


    In addition to food, the three wolf hides could, under the evaluation of Barley, be sold. Although one of the wolf hides was in poor condition, the other two could sell for at least 20 silver coins. With this amount of money, they had half of the total amount needed for Zhang Tie¡¯s circumcision.


    60 kg of food and 20 silver coins was the ¡°wealth¡± that Zhang Tie had accidentally acquired almost at the expense of his life. The other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood insisted for Zhang Tie to take it; however, Zhang Tie decided to leave half of the food to be shared among the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s intention, the guys all shook their heads as fast as possible.


    ¡°Bighead, you risked your life to get this food. How could we even be in the mood to eat it...¡± Barley said.


    ¡°Right, if we ate it, it won¡¯t bode well for our conscience!¡± Leit added.


    ¡°Yea, eating it would be like eating your flesh. It would be too miserable!¡± Doug also replied.


    Seeing everybody nod, Zhang Tie decided to not talk about food anymore. Additionally, as he had expected, the fact regarding him already having ignited his Shrine burning point didn¡¯t have too much of an effect.


    After learning that Zhang Tie had ignited his Shrine burning point when he visited Zhang Tie at the hospital, Bagdad ferociously patted Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder before grabbing onto his shoulders and heavily shook him. ¡°This rascal! I never thought that the first person to ignite their Shrine burning point in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood would be you! It should¡¯ve been me who broke that record. You are truly too excessive. Not only did you ignite your Shrine burning point, but you even hid that fact afterwards!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid the shock would hurt your innocent and fragile souls, making you lose hope to continue living. Look, I did this all for you...¡± Zhang Tie said in an arrogant and comedic way.


    ¡°Qie!¡± A row of middle fingers was raised in front of Zhang Tie.


    ¡°Oh right, how did you ignite your Shrine burning point so fast?¡± Leit asked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you know that we Chinese can always ignite the Shrine burning point faster than you?¡± Many Chinese people could truly ignite their Shrine burning point faster than the other human races. Take Zhang Tie¡¯s dead eldest brother, Zhang Yong, and Zhang Tie¡¯s second brother, Zhang Yang, as an example. They had both ignited their Shrine burning point faster than the people from the other human race. Zhang Tie was born a Chinese, which meant that he could ignite his Shrine burning point faster than the other human races; however, nobody knew that Zhang Tie had ignited his Shrine burning point by depending on Karma Fruit Tree, instead of his talent as a Chinese.


    Hearing what Zhang Tie said, everyone understood, as they had heard of a saying which said that the Chinese clan was born with innately higher spiritual energy than the other clans in this age.


    During the time he recuperated in the ward, Zhang Tie was able to enjoy his free time. As he lived in the same ward as two other patients, he felt that there was nothing else to do but to chat with them and walk around Wild Wolf Castle by using a crutch made of a tree branch.


    At almost the same time as the wolf bit onto Zhang Tie¡¯s shin, Zhang Tie had already stabbed the dagger into the wolf, thus the wolf had only left two medium-sized bite marks which were neither deep nor shallow. Although the wound wasn¡¯t fatal and medicinal ointment had been applied, it would still take him at least a week to recover to his previous state.


    During this period, Zhang Tie could only act like a cripple. Thankfully, he didn¡¯t need to worry about eating and clothing, as the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood would send him a container full of fish soup every evening, saying it was good for his recovery. Seeing their actions, the two other guys in the ward began to admire him. They especially admired him because of the trap in the stream used to catch fish, which could catch several fish every day regardless of the weather.


    In that case, Zhang Tie felt very relaxed and felt at ease to recuperate in the castle. Zhang Tie pulled over Barley and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood and inquired about Glaze¡¯s group, yet he didn¡¯t find any special information. With the exception of Glaze still being forbidden to enter Wild Wolf Castle, Zuhair and the other members would occasionally go to Wild Wolf Castle to show off or exchange their prey for other things.


    The attack of the wild wolves was like Zhang Tie¡¯s bruises and wounds. Aside from leaving a mark on his heart, this incident was soon forgotten by the public.


    During the survival training, there was a lot of news circulating, as there were many events happening in Wild Wolf Valley every day¡­


    After going through this life and death situation, Zhang Tie had become more mature. Although the second Leakless Fruit had already ripened three days ago, Zhang Tie remained calm and didn¡¯t eat it. In fact, he didn¡¯t even spare a glance at the Castle of Black Iron, as he was currently in Wild Wolf Castle, making it inconvenient for him to move. Before the survival training had even started, he had considered the Castle of Black Iron to be something extremely important to him; however, after experiencing that life and death situation, the importance he attached to the Castle of Black Iron was not as much as he previously attached. He began to realize that there were many other things that were more important than the Castle of Black Iron. Sunshine, for example, was something that he learned the value of after having entered that pitch black hole. Without sunshine, plants would not be able to grow; without plants, animals would not be able to survive; and without animals and plants, human beings would not be able to survive either.


    Although sunshine was precious and represented hope and life, it was still free.


    Air was very precious, without which people would soon die within a couple minutes, yet air was free.


    Water was very precious, without which most living beings would not be able to live on, yet water was also free in the wild.


    Family bonds were precious; in fact, it was the most precious thing in the world, yet that was also free, as many people had been born with it.


    Friendship was very precious and could spice up your life, making life more substantial, yet friendship was also free.


    Love was very precious. As Hista had told him, love was the most beautiful thing in the world. The moment of ecstasy as a man and a woman seduced each other in order to make love was truly beautiful. As Zhang Tie had never done such a thing, he could only temporarily trust Hista.


    Life was also the most precious thing in the world, and yet it was something given to him by his parents for free.


    Zhang Tie realized that many things that could be bought were not too precious, while things that were truly precious could never be bought with money. Many people had ignored the precious things in their lives and were instead pursuing the things that could be bought with money. Once they found what was truly precious in their daily lives, they could truly be considered ¡°rich¡±. Understanding this, Zhang Tie¡¯s view of the world instantly expanded.


    Every morning, after waking up, he would wash his face and brush his teeth. Afterwards, he could climb atop a small hill with the help of his crutch. Standing atop that small hill, he would inhale the fresh air as he did some simple exercises, pleasantly waiting for the first rays of sunshine to shine upon him. The feeling of being bathed in the first rays of sunshine brought people an euphoric sensation.


    After welcoming the arrival of the first rays of sunshine, Zhang Tie returned using the crutch. He would casually bring some food and pick up some common rocks on the road before using them to occupy a small booth outside the gate of Wild Wolf Castle. Sitting in front of the booth, he would watch the beauties enter and leave the castle. Zhang Tie had discovered that there was a benefit of watching the beauties; it would speed up the circulation of his blood, which was beneficial to his recovery.


    This was good for my recovery¡ªZhang Tie found himself a shameless excuse. Using this shameless excuse, every time he watched the beauties, he would end up using his ¡°Right Hand Shame Covering Technique¡± as he put his right hand into his trouser pocket and pushed down on his restless p*nis while awkwardly escaping.


    After watching the beauties, Zhang Tie would casually eat some lunch before having a luxurious nap. Upon waking up through the help of his biological clock, he would wander about the square filled with vitality and would look for Pandora in order to exchange for some wild fruits, which would be his snacks. With wild fruits in his mouth, he would visit the iron smelting workshop in Wild Wolf Castle to learn about craftsmanship and smelting iron and would watch the fellows there complete assembling a set of steam engines in the simple workshop.


    For using charcoals to melt iron, the biggest problem was that the temperature of the burning charcoal was not high enough to melt iron ores in the crucible, and without sufficient heat, it would not be possible to obtain steel. Block iron smelting was commonly used. After mixing the iron ores and the charcoal together in the iron melting kiln, they would repetitively temper the iron blocks and push out the impurities from within. Due to the low amount of carbon content, wrought iron was soft and could not be directly used to be processed into tools without being carburized[1], which would allow them to obtain low-carbon steel. Although Zhang Tie had learned this knowledge at school, he still needed some time to proficiently put them into practice. These days, he had already been familiar with the group of craftsmen in the iron melting workshop. Sometimes, he even went there to help them wave the bar, which would blow air and thus making the fire more ferocious, or brought them some fruits in exchange for learning something. After a few days of learning, Zhang Tie found that he was now able to proficiently smelt iron and knew how to completely carburize wrought iron. This could be considered an accidental achievement!


    For the past few days, as he was recuperating, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know that his survival from the attack of the wolves had left a good impression on Captain Kerlin, who was planning to give a truly good reward!


    [1] Adding carbon to iron or steel to toughen the material

 88 Iron-Blood Fis

    Chapter 88: Iron-Blood Fist


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    The medicine applied to Zhang Tie¡¯s legs was brought by Captain Kerlin. Every two days, Captain Kerlin would visit Zhang Tie and would drop off a small packet of medicinal powder, which was to be applied to his wounds. Unknown whether it was the effect of the powder or the small tree in the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie discovered that the recovery of the wounds on his legs was truly fast. By the second time he applied the medicinal powder to his wounds, Zhang Tie already did not need to use a crutch to walk. Six days later, when he applied the medicinal powder for the third time, Zhang Tie was already able to run.


    During Captain Kerlin¡¯s third visit of bringing the medicinal powder, at the sight of the one-eyed man nodding as he squatted down to inspect the wounds on his legs, Zhang Tie knew that the number of days left in his vacation in Wild Wolf Castle was few. These past few days, Zhang Tie realized that the one-eyed man had been kinder to him. Sometimes, he would even casually chat with Zhang Tie, causing Zhang Tie to feel extremely flattered.


    ¡°After you apply the medicine on your wounds this time, you should be fine and can leave Wild Wolf Castle tomorrow. Don¡¯t even think about pretending to be sick to stay here. You¡¯re rather resilient, so if you pay a bit of attention and protect the wounds, then they will only scar!¡±


    ¡°Hmm, I know...¡± Zhang Tie sincerely looked at Captain Kerlin. ¡°Captain Kerlin, I really have to thank you for taking care of me during this time. There¡¯s an old Chinese saying¡ªif you are given a drop of water, then you will repay with a spring. You have saved my life this time. This is something that I will definitely never forget!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, Captain Kerlin slightly became stunned before showing a smile. ¡°Boy, how do you think you could help me in your present condition? A LV 1 fighter like you is barely qualified to join the lowest level cannon fodder camps!¡±


    ¡°Although I am not able to help now, but that doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t in the future. Humans strive to keep improving themselves, step by step!¡± Zhang Tie calmly explained.


    ¡°Good, you have ambition!¡± Captain Kerlin encouraged him, ¡°The ¡®escape¡¯ theory you explained in class gave me a good impression of you, but never would I have thought that you were this good at escaping. However, you can¡¯t always just escape. There will be many situations where you would have no choice but to fight. When faced with such a situation, you need real force and real combat capabilities to be able to survive. Suppose the pikemen matrix you¡¯re in was faced with a LV 4 pikemen matrix. At the order of your commander, you would have to charge forward at that matrix, as you have to follow military regulation and the fighting supervision squad was behind you. With your current capabilities, your only option would be to charge forward as cannon fodder, buying time for your commander to think of his plans and deployment. In such a scenario, do you think you could escape?¡±


    Zhang Tie kept silent for a while before dejectedly answering, ¡°No, I don¡¯t!¡±


    ¡°So, even if you were able to escape a hundred times, as long as you encounter this scenario, you will definitely die. As a man, as a fighter, you should not be using your abilities to avoid the enemy¡ªinstead, you should have your abilities to destroy them! If you want to become useful in the future, your current strength is not enough. You will have to further cultivate...¡± As Captain Kerlin said this, he pulled a book out from his clothes and casually threw it into Zhang Tie¡¯s hand. ¡°I obtained this book from a battlefield before. Although it¡¯s not very precious, it¡¯s not ordinary either. At the very least, it¡¯s better than the fighting skills you have learned at school and the ones you would learn in the alliance¡¯s military. This will be my present to you. It will be up to you whether or not you can master it!¡±


    Zhang Tie looked in amazement at the name of the book¡ª. It seemed to be a very great skill.


    Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva. At the same time, thinking of the other guys in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, he asked, ¡°Captain Kerlin, can I share this...this book with others?¡±


    ¡°Yes, you can. However, you¡¯d better not let too many people know about it!¡±


    ¡°Why? Does this book contain secret knowledge?¡±


    ¡°Strictly speaking, this book contains top secret knowledge, but as many people have practiced it, it has become rather common. However, due to some reasons, even though this fighting skill has been learned by many people, you should still not spread it everywhere!¡±


    ¡°Why is it like this?¡±


    ¡°This Iron-Blood Fist is a fighting skill that the first emperor of the Norman Empire had learned from the Oriental Continent when he had traveled to the East to learn at a young age. In the past, only the monarchs of the Norman Empire was qualified to learn it. That is, until the eve of the Second Holy War between humans and magical beasts. At that time, the Iron-Blood Fist made its military debut and became a skill that could be practiced by every fighter of the Norman Empire. After several hundred years, it was no longer exclusive to the Norman Empire. Even in the Blackson Human Corridor, many people practice this skill...¡± Saying this, Captain Kerlin looked at Zhang Tie. ¡°This is a very strange fist skill. Some people can master it well, while others will gain nothing from it. Almost every high-level fighter from the Norman Empire Military and the monarchs excelled at using the Iron-Blood Fist; however, with the exception of the monarchs of the Norman Empire, very few people in the Blackson Human Corridor are able to master it. Many people were only able to strengthen their body or slightly improve their fist skills by practicing this skill. They were not even able to reach the minimum threshold required for this Iron-Blood Fist technique!¡±


    ¡°How come? Did they practice a different version of Iron-Blood Fist?¡±


    ¡°Of course the books are the same; however, there were also many differences. Different people would have different outcomes...¡± The one-eyed man forced a smile of bitterness and dejection. ¡°Have you heard about Battle Qi?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I heard it¡¯s a symbol of high-level fighters above LV 6!¡±


    ¡°Then, do you know where Battle Qi comes from?¡± the one-eyed man continued to ask Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie shook his head.


    ¡°You will definitely know of these kinds of things in the future, but it¡¯s fine for me to tell you now. As you know, the human body is very mysterious. It contains seven forces¡ªthe force of one¡¯s Qi, the force of one¡¯s blood, the force of one¡¯s meridians, the force of one¡¯s channels, the force of one¡¯s bones, the force of one¡¯s marrow, and the force of one¡¯s spiritual energy. When one reaches LV 4, besides the Shrine burning point, he or she would have already ignited three other burning points on the vertebrate. At this time, the force of Qi, the force of blood, and the force of bones would have been activated. After practicing, the above three forces will combine and form a new Hidden Force. In the eyes of many experts, this is when a person could be considered to have a real fighting force. When one reaches LV 5, they will trigger the force of Qi, the force of blood, and the force of bones. After practicing, he or she would be able to combine the six forces together and improve the Hidden Force into a True Force, which is a mark of someone who has become a true fighter. That¡¯s why, a LV 5 soldier could be improved to be a fighter...¡±


    Although what Captain Kerlin had told him was normal in the eyes of many others, it was still a miraculous topic to Zhang Tie, who was learning this for the first time. Only now did Zhang Tie realize that the cultivation system was based on many rigid standards. ¡°Are you saying that Battle Qi is a product of a fighter combining his force of spiritual energy into his True Force?¡±


    ¡°Yes, if you want to form Battle Qi, you will have to combine the seven forces in your body. This is the foundation. Aside from the combination of the seven forces, you will also need a sufficient amount of strong Qi, which would be combined with the seven forces before you are able to form Battle Qi. When it accumulates to a certain degree, such force will appear on your body and this is called Battle Qi appearance. This is also the reason why many people have difficulties in training the Iron-Blood Fist. Most people who practice the Iron-Blood Fist can¡¯t form the Iron-Blood Battle Qi when they reach LV 6. If it wasn¡¯t triggered by the Iron-Blood Battle Qi, then the Iron-Blood Fist would not pose a threat to any of the high-level fighters at all. That¡¯s why many people will give up practicing it after they reach LV 6...¡±


    ¡°What about Hidden Force and True Force? Is it difficult to form them?¡±


    ¡°Of course!¡± Captain Kerlin nodded. ¡°Iron-Blood Hidden Force and Iron-Blood True Force are two barriers you have to break through. Besides the monarchy of the Norman Empire, only one in a hundred people who practice the Iron-Blood Fist skill would be able to form Iron-Blood Hidden Force, and only one in ten of which would be able to form the Iron-Blood True Force. From that one tenth, at most one in twenty or thirty of the people who had formed the Iron-Blood True Force would be able to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi...¡±


    Zhang Tie stood still for a while before dejectedly asking, ¡°So you¡¯re saying that at most 1 out of every 20,000 or 30,000 people who practice the Iron-Blood Fist Skill is able to form their Iron-Blood Battle Qi and become a true high-level fighter?¡±


    With wide opened eyes, Captain Kerlin responded, ¡°Of course. If it wasn¡¯t that difficult, then everyone in the world would become a high-level fighter. If it was that easily mastered, then even if 1/100 of the fighters in the Norman Empire Military could form their Iron-Blood Battle Qi, then the Norman Empire would already be able to sweep through the whole Blackson Human Corridor. Don¡¯t think that this secret fighting skill from the monarchy of the Norman Empire could be that easily mastered. The Iron-Blood Fist is this mighty because of its Hidden Force, True Force, and Battle Qi are much more advanced than any other forms of Hidden Force, True Force, and Battle Qi. Any cultivator who has mastered the Iron-Blood Fist skill would become a top existence within their level. If we were to take two people with different forms of Hidden Force, the person with the Iron-Blood Hidden Force would be at least five times stronger the other person who has a common Hidden Force...¡±


    ¡°That powerful!?¡± Zhang Tie slightly gaped before a question flashed in his mind. ¡°Captain Kerlin, how far have you practiced it? Have you formed Iron-Blood Battle Qi?¡±


    After asking, Zhang Tie felt a bit of regret. As he knew Captain Kerlin had never displayed this fist skill in public, then he must not have formed it.


    Certainly, hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s question, Captain Kerlin¡¯s face turned slightly red. Glaring at Zhang Tie, he furiously replied, ¡°No crap, I¡¯m practicing the Mad Lion Battle Qi. Previously, I almost formed Iron-Blood Hidden Force. If I had mastered the Iron-Blood Fist Skill and had formed Iron-Blood Battle Qi, then the Andaman Alliance would have long invited me over. Currently, I am just a junior captain. If I had mastered the Iron-Blood Fist skill, I would have long been promoted to colonel. Even if it¡¯s not within the Andaman Alliance, I would still have a great chance in the Norman Empire. Because this fist skill is known as the ¡®Fist of the Battle God¡¯ within the Norman Empire military and is revered by them. As long as you could form Iron-Blood Hidden Force, then you would be promoted to second lieutenant at the very least. For others who want to be promoted to second lieutenant, they would have to be at least LV 6, while people who have formed Iron-Blood Hidden Force could already be able to promoted to second lieutenant at LV 4. That is how people who have formed Iron-Blood Fist skill are treated in Norman Empire Military. If you don¡¯t want to practice it, just give it back to me. I will give it to someone else. Even though Iron-Blood Battle Qi probably won¡¯t be formed, this fist skill is still useful to a certain degree...¡± Captain Kerlin pretended to take it back.


    ¡°Don''t do that...¡± Hearing Captain Kerlin¡¯s words, Zhang Tie hurriedly hid thebook in his clothes. With a brilliant smile on his face, Zhang Tie immediately started to flatter him, ¡°Captain Kerlin, you must have gained this book too late, missing the best time to cultivate, which caused you to fail to form the Iron-Blood Battle Qi. In contrast, the people in the Norman Empire must have been lucky because they had already started to practice it since they were very young. If Captain Kerlin had started to practice it at a young age as well, then you would definitely have made it.¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s flattery, Captain Kerlin became a bit delighted. After exchanging a few more words with Zhang Tie, Captain Kerlin left the ward where Zhang Tie was recuperating.


    After Captain Kerlin left, Zhang Tie started to read the first page ofunder the lights from the lamps in the room. However, the aggressive sentence printed in Chinese at the beginning completely shocked Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªFist Skill namely power. When one exerts their utmost effort, one will obtain the essence of the skill!

 89 Secret Knowledge and Angel

    Chapter 89: Secret Knowledge and Angel


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Holding onto the mysterious book, Zhang Tie skimmed through the book of about 200 pages, unable to sleep. The paper was both water resistant and fire resistant and was coated in silver. Zhang Tie knew that silver coated paper was extremely expensive. Only a few very important classical or sacred books would be recorded on silver coated paper. However, as silver coated papers could not be printed, people had to use a special pen and ink in order to leave marks on the paper, thus all books or texts made using silver coated paper, including the book containing theskill, would have to be copied by hand. Even the patterns inside the book were painted by hand. Obviously, the book was copied and written by the hand of a highly skilled man, as the words and pattern inside the book would make people feel happy and looked more appealing than even printed books.


    Originating from an imperial sacred book from the Norman Empire, although its contents had been spread for a long time, the Oriental fist skill contained within has contents which were incomparable to other ordinary sacred books. With the first page alone, Zhang Tie had already been deeply captivated.


    Lots of secret knowledge was recorded in this book. After one night of reading, within his mind, Zhang Tie had basically formed a framework of cultivating the Iron-Blood Fist Skill.


    The cultivation system of the Iron Blood Fist Skill was composed of three parts:


    The first part of the book was stake work cultivation[1]. According to the book, stake work was the basis for cultivating and enhancing the power of the Iron-Blood Fist. There were three types of stake works introduced in the book: Lying Tiger Stake, Coiling Dragon Stake, and Cross Stake. For the Lying Tiger Stake, the cultivator was to lower his body and sprawl on the ground like tiger, keeping still for a period longer than half an hour before moving on to the next stage. For the Coiling Dragon Stake, the cultivator was to cross their legs until their knees touched, much like a coiling snake. They were to keep their spine perfectly straight and raise their head as they squared their shoulders[2]. The cultivator was to also constantly shake themselves by repeating movements like keeping their back straight while squatting up and down, much like a coiled up snake that was about to bite. For the Cross Stake, it was a mixture and a variant of the Lying Tiger Stake and the Coiling Dragon Stake and could only be cultivated after the other two stakes were well-practiced. The Cross Stake required the cultivator¡¯s lower body to act like a coiling snake, while the cultivator¡¯s upper body should act like a tiger who was holding a spear in each hand, using the spears to form a cross...


    The second part of the book was about the combination and derivation of the 36 free hand movements and the 5 basic walking forms of the Iron-Blood Fist Skill...


    The third part of the book detailed an oral formula for the Iron Blood Qi Combination skill, which could not be cultivated until one has become proficient at the Lying Tiger Stake. Using breathing skills to ignite their burning points along with the help of the stakes and the fist skills, a cultivator would be able to combine the six forces within the human body and form the Hidden Force and the True Force. Compared to the previous two parts, this part was a bit hard for Zhang Tie to master, as the most crucial part of the book that made Zhang Tie muddleheaded pertained to the cultivation of Iron Blood Battle Qi. This section contained the least amount of words and was only a single line of Chinese characters¡ª¡±After one¡¯s True Force forms and the six forces have been integrated, use the fire of god to purify the intention of your fist. Iron Blood Battle Qi will sprout after nine deaths and will come into being after a hundred deaths!¡±


    What was the intention of fist? What did ¡°using the fire of god to purify the intention of your fist¡± mean? What did it mean by nine deaths? One hundred deaths? Reading through the characters, Zhang Tie was truly puzzled for quite a while. Thankfully, he was forced by his parent to recite a big Chinese dictionary when he was young, thus learning many characters in the process. Due to this, he was able to figure out the original meaning of the final line of guidance written in Chinese. After translating it into English, Zhang Tie realized why 99 out of 100 people who had formed Iron-Blood True Force could not pass the final hurdle. Motherf*ckers! Foreign people wouldn¡¯t be able to understand its original meaning at all. In the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor, presumably only the monarchs of the Norman Empire would know the meaning of this line of guidance.


    After spending almost the entire night reading over theskill, Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes turned red. At 3am or 4am when he had almost skimmed over the entire book, Zhang Tie, in his heart, saluted all the female monarchs of the Norman Empire and closed the book. Afterwards, he fell asleep. As the current period of time was meant for him to recuperate, there was nothing important to do the next day, thus Zhang Tie didn¡¯t care about when he went to bed.


    On the second day, as expected, Zhang Tie woke up at noon. After getting up, he washed his face and rinsed his mouth before preparing his belongings and leaving.


    In reality, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t have many belongings here. Using the pioneer bag made from calfskin[3], which Barley had used to bring him food, Zhang Tie placed some food, seeds, and the book containing theinto the bag before leaving the ward he had been living for the past week.


    Before leaving the ward, Zhang Tie went to the office of the Temporary Supervision Committee to deal with the relevant departure procedures. He then went to bid farewell to Captain Kerlin and Zerom. Unfortunately, the two had already gone out for a routine inspection early in the morning, thus he had no choice but to leave.


    During the survival training, teachers and coaches both had their own responsibilities. For teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee, they were responsible for sweeping magical beasts and mutated living beings that could endanger the lives of the students in Wild Wolf Valley. Therefore, it became their daily job to make routine inspections over Wild Wolf Valley. For many of the teachers, with such an easy job, it was as if they were out for vacation.


    After being told that Captain Kerlin and Mr. Zerom had left, Zhang Tie bid farewell to the guys in the iron smelting workshop whom he had gotten familiar with in the past few days. Afterwards, Zhang Tie walked out of Wild Wolf Castle.


    The square of Wild Wolf Castle was already teeming with people at noon. Coincidentally, Zhang Tie saw Pandora once again among the crowd. Pandora had always set her booth in a corner that was not particularly eye-catching. Sitting in a corner, that thin and small girl would hide in the corner as she hugged her knees.


    It was only when Zhang Tie had arrived before Pandora¡¯s booth did the girl with a thin and small frame raise her head and look at Zhang Tie. ¡°I¡¯m really sorry. I wasn¡¯t able to pick any fruits today...¡±


    In front of Pandora was a small pile of ordinary, wild vegetables. Looking at Pandora, Zhang Tie realized that her clothes were soaked from the morning dew and realized that she must have gone foraging for wild vegetables and fruits early in the morning. However, during the survival training, many people would choose to forage for wild vegetables and fruits, thus making them harder to find due to lower quantity. Since this was the case, objectively speaking, the girls were forced to team up with boys to finish the survival training. After all, humans lived in groups. As an individual, unless they were exceptionally powerful, it would be difficult to survive in the wild.


    The pitiful look of that petite girl slightly shocked Zhang Tie...


    ¡°Ah, my wounds are not that serious anymore and I can now freely move. I will be leaving today, so before leaving, I came to say goodbye! Zhang Tie felt bashful as he scratched his head.


    ¡°Oh, I hope you recover soon!¡± Pandora smiled. This was the first time Zhang Tie had seen her smile. With her pair of beautiful blue eyes, she looked pretty nice when she smiled. As he gave Pandora a second look, Zhang Tie mumbled inside, ¡°Hmm, with the exception of her thin and petite figure and the freckles on her face, Pandora is still very beautiful.¡±


    ¡°Are you free tonight?¡± Zhang Tie suddenly asked.


    ¡°What for?¡± Hearing his words, Pandora suddenly became alert as she hid her chest behind her knees.


    ¡°I¡­ wanted to invite you to dinner at our tree base. I realized that you always forage for food by yourself, so if you haven¡¯t joined any team yet, then I wish to sincerely invite you to join us. We have seven male students, all of which are nice guys!¡±


    ¡°Are you inviting me to be your partner during the survival training?¡± Pandora¡¯s eyes started to shine; however, they soon became depressed once again. ¡°No¡­ I can¡¯t agree!¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Zhang Tie was startled.


    ¡°They said that anyone who¡¯s with me will suffer misfortune. I don¡¯t want to bring you troubles. Last time, right after you bought my wild fruits, you were forced to jump into a hole by wolves,¡± Pandora dejectedly said.


    ¡°Nonsense. How could I blame you for that!? Look at me, aren¡¯t I perfectly fine?¡± As he said this, Zhang Tie flexed his muscle in a manner akin to bodybuilders in order to show off the muscles on his arms, causing Pandora to bashfully chuckle.


    ¡°You really don¡¯t care?¡±


    ¡°Of course not. Don¡¯t listen to what they¡¯re saying. I even see you as my lucky angel. If it weren¡¯t for you, I might have already starved to death...¡± Zhang Tie loudly shouted.


    ¡°Then¡­ okay!¡± Pandora finally agreed after thinking for a while.


    Receiving Pandora¡¯s consent, Zhang Tie heaved a sigh of relief inside. Since this was the first time he had invited a girl, if he were to have been refused, then he would really feel like he had lost face. In regards to the attack from the wild wolves, Mr. Zerom had already implied that Zhang Tie might have been set up by someone, so how could he blame Pandora for that incident?. Besides, when Zhang Tie was very young, his mom had told him never to blame others for your own bad luck. A man should be committed. Zhang Tie had always kept that sincere guidance deep in his mind.


    ¡°Then, it¡¯s a set! In the afternoon, I will come here to pick you up. Our tree house is very interesting, and we all live inside tree hollows. We will also have fish soup to drink tonight...¡±


    ¡°Living in tree hollows?¡± Pandora slightly raised her face, which contained an expression of longing. At the sight of Pandora¡¯s curious expression, Zhang Tie immediately affirmed that fish soup and tree houses were both attractive to girls.


    ¡°Oh, right...¡± Zhang Tie took out of several pieces of dried rations and dried meat from his bag and put away all the wild vegetables that had been wrapped with clean tree leaves by Pandora. ¡°I want all the wild vegetables!¡±


    The dried rations and dried meat given by Zhang Tie to Pandora was excessively greater than the value of the wild vegetables, causing Pandora to get up hurriedly. ¡°It¡¯s too much, I don¡¯t need that much...¡±


    ¡°Haha, it¡¯s ok. The extra can be considered your free lunch...¡± Zhang Tie smiled and waved his hands towards Pandora before he strode out of the square...


    Looking at Zhang Tie¡¯s shadow, the girl slightly narrowed her eyes as she mumbled, ¡°Could I really be someone¡¯s lucky angel?¡±


    ¡­¡­


    TL/ED Notes:


    [1] Think of it as like a wooden stake. This is building the foundation of what¡¯s to come.


    [2] To pull back one¡¯s shoulder.


    [3] Leather made from cows.

 90 Sharing Good Things

    Chapter 90: Sharing Good Things


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Ever since Zhang Tie was attacked by the wolves, the other horny students had voluntarily began to sweep the region 5km away from Wild Wolf Castle for wild wolves many times, resulting in the path between Wild Wolf Castle and the tree house to be much safer and not even a single strand of wolf fur could be found. What happened to Zhang Tie reminded everybody of the potential dangers. After all, such an incident could also happen to others. None of the horny students wanted to encounter a pack of wolves alone when they were accompanying girls back to Wild Wolf Castle, thus they all exerted their utmost efforts to clear out the wild wolves. During this process, they had truly encountered several lone wolves; however, they were unable to find the other four wolves who had attacked Zhang Tie that day.


    On the way back to the tree base, especially when he passed by that grassland, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t help but recall the incident that had happened to him that day and the furious gazes of the wolves that were fixed on him. The eternal hatred in their eyes made Zhang Tie feel that he might encounter the four wild wolves once again.


    Currently, it was noon, and only Bagdad was left on-duty at the tree base. Returning to the tree base, Zhang Tie saw Bagdad and his bare arms. In his hands was a spear, which he used to practice a thrusting movement. The moment Zhang Tie came close to the tree base, he had already been noticed by Bagdad.


    ¡°Who?¡± Covered in sweat, Bagdad turned around with the spear in hand.


    ¡°Working hard, youth! I wonder if you were stimulated by me, who has already ignited my Shrine burning point!?¡± Zhang Tie walked over with a smile.


    Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s face, Bagdad, who was surprised at Zhang Tie¡¯s return, instantly froze. As his face twitched, Bagdad cursed, ¡°B*stard!¡± At the same time, dropping his spear, he walked towards Zhang Tie and fiercely embraced him. ¡°Don¡¯t get arrogant. I will surpass you sooner or later!¡±


    ¡°Bagdad, did you know? I have always had a big secret, but I do not have the heart to tell you!¡± Zhang Tie said with a serious expression.


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, as expected, Bagdad asked, ¡°What secret?¡±


    ¡°The secret is¡­ in fact, I am actually a genius among geniuses...¡± When Zhang Tie replied, his solemn look turned into an obscene smile, one which made Bagdad really want to beat him. ¡°In the past, I just wanted to experience the life of you mortals, so in order to not make you feel bad, I have controlled my brilliance and have only shown 5% of my power. After this incident, I have decided to exert my utmost efforts to cultivate, which means that it would be next to impossible for you to surpass me from now on. I suggest you to choose a different target, as it is truly unfortunate for you, a mortal, to treat me as your target!¡±


    ¡°Argh, you b*stard...¡± Realizing that he had been played by Zhang Tie, Bagdad wrapped his arm around Zhang Tie¡¯s neck, almost causing him to suffocate...


    ¡­¡­


    As expected, returning to the tree base, when Barley and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood caught sight of Zhang Tie, they became extremely excited. Although they were not able to achieve too much today and were unable to catch any large preys using the big pits they had dug, using the small traps taught by Zhang Tie, which were made of stones and twigs, they were able to catch two pheasants. Additionally, they got more than ten palm-sized fish from the trap near the stream. Together with the wild vegetables that Zhang Tie had brought, they would be able to enjoy a filling supper tonight.


    As dusk fell, Zhang Tie told them that he would invite a girl for supper. Under the whistles of the horny students, Zhang Tie went to pick up Pandora and brought her back to their tree base. As this was the first time she had been invited for supper by male students, Pandora looked somewhat stiff; however, after seeing the horny students laugh and joke around, she gradually became relaxed.


    After supper, Zhang Tie invited Pandora to take a look at their tree base. Afterwards, Zhang Tie, Bagdad, and Sharwin went together to send Pandora back to Wild Wolf Castle. At the sight of the corner of Pandora¡¯s mouth having been raised, Zhang Tie knew that both his invitation and the supper was a success. it seemed that inviting girls wasn¡¯t particularly hard.


    When they returned to the tree base, a bonfire had been lit under the Dragon-Claw Tree. Barley and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood were bragging as they sat under the tree and were talking about Pandora.


    ¡°Although her breasts and frame aren¡¯t fully developed, she still has a nice face. Bighead really has a strange taste in women!¡± Leit said.


    ¡°Maybe this kind of girl can easily arouse Bighead¡¯s desire to sleep with her. I have heard that there are many impotent men in their thirties who like this kind of girl since they are easily convinced. Hahaha...¡±


    ¡°Haven¡¯t you noticed that Pandora has a pair of watery eyes? According to my observations, all women with beautiful eyes are good at pleasing men...¡± Hista obscenely said.


    ¡°Even Bighead has a girlfriend. We have to work hard too. I remember that there were many beautiful girls among the group of girls that we invited last time. We can have a try tomorrow...¡±


    When it came to girls, the horny students all became thrilled. Seeing Zhang Tie and the other two members return, they moved aside and let them in before continuing with the topic. Under their persistence, Zhang Tie honestly poured out how he had gotten to know Pandora. Although Zhang Tie had claimed repetitively that he didn¡¯t have any evil thoughts about Pandora and had only invited her as a friend to join their team to pass through the survival training, nobody believed him. They simply responded with jeers and doubtful eyes.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have any evil intentions about her because you¡¯re not circumcised. Not to mention that you¡¯re forbidden to stay alone with girls. Heh heh¡­ If it weren¡¯t for these two obstacles, you would have already shown your evil nature!¡±


    ¡°I know you¡¯re planning to sleep with her when you return to Blackhot City. That¡¯s truly a good idea. You have really thought this through. Since that small girl isn¡¯t that attractive and is cautious, you will first get acquainted with her. Once you get acquainted with her, you won¡¯t have to worry about her being snatched by others!¡±


    ¡°Two months later, Pandora will develop a bit more, right?¡±


    ¡°She should be sexier by then. Girls nowadays develop faster and mature earlier than before!¡±


    ¡°Right now, her breasts are truly on the smaller side, so you plan to get acquainted with her first. Later, you won¡¯t have to worry about not having a chance to sleep with her...¡±


    ¡°Heh¡­ heh...¡±


    ¡°These animals!¡± Zhang Tie cursed inside. In order to protect his ears and his innocent soul from being polluted by those dirty words, Zhang Tie decided to change the topic. At this time, he pulled out his ultimate weapon.


    Remaining silent, Zhang Tie took out of thebook from his clothes and started to read it beside the bonfire while the other members were obscenely laughing out loud.


    ¡°Bighead, what are you reading?¡± Sharwin, who liked reading, was the first to ask.


    ¡°Nothing special. It¡¯s just a mysterious book about thefrom the monarchs of the Norman Empire!¡± Zhang Tie nonchalantly explained, describing it as if it was an old knight novel that was purchased at a low price from the waste paper collection station.


    ¡°Oh!¡± Like normal, Sharwin responded normally; however, a second later, his eyes widened and his mouth gaped as his gaze was fixed on the book in Zhang Tie¡¯s hand.


    Zhang Tie continued to nonchalantly read it. Gradually, with the exception of the ¡°gulugulu¡± sounds made when the other members swallowed their saliva, all the noise disappeared. All of them looked at the book in Zhang Tie¡¯s hand with widely opened eyes as they sat beside the bonfire.


    After a long while, only an occasional ¡°shasha¡± sound could be heard when Zhang Tie turned the page. Nobody was talking anymore. At this moment, Zhang Tie surprisingly raised his head and glanced at the other guys with a ¡°strange look¡±. ¡°Hey, how come you guys aren¡¯t talking? Feel free to continue!¡°


    ¡°Hohoho...¡± With a forced smile, Bagdad¡¯s gaze remained fixed on the book in Zhang Tie¡¯s hands. ¡°You¡­ what kind of mysterious martial arts are you reading?¡±


    ¡°Oh, you want to know about this¡­¡± Zhang Tie turned the book and showed them the cover, revealing the four words ¡°Iron-Blood Fist Skill¡±. Suddenly, all their eyes turned red. ¡°It¡¯s nothing special. It¡¯s just the . Although it was secret knowledge among the monarchs of the Norman Empire before, it has long been spread to the military of the Norman Empire since before the Second Holy War between humans and magical clan. It¡¯s not that great since many people have been able to use it. It¡¯s simply a common book, with the exception that its pages are coated in silver and the words within were hand written...¡±


    Zhang Tie continued to feign innocence; however, with thein his hand, his words were reliable.


    ¡°Where did you get this secret knowledge?¡± Even Leit had wide opened eyes as he continued to look at Zhang Tie with a look of amazement. No matter how common it was, it was still secret knowledge. Anything related to ¡°secrets¡± could be considered luxurious for commoners. Among the undergraduates from Seventh National Male Middle School in Blackhot City of the Andaman Alliance, it would be really difficult to find anyone else more common in the Blackson Human Clan Corridor than the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood.


    ¡°I have a good character. I just can¡¯t help it...¡± Zhang Tie spread his palms. ¡°Captain Kerlin had forced me to accept it. He said that he had obtained this in a battlefield and had even said that I had a brave character. He considered me to be pretty resilient and as someone who would probably be able to popularize this fist skill, so he simply forced me to accept it¡±


    To tell the truth, Zhang Tie really hit the mark on Captain Kerlin¡¯s intentions.


    Zhang Tie was then surrounded by the envious eyes and the sound of swallowing saliva.


    ¡°Has¡­ Captain Kerlin said...¡± Hesitantly, Fatty Barley began to ask, causing the heart of everyone else to pound.


    ¡°He said I¡¯m entitled to own this book. As long as I like, I can lend it to anyone else on the premise that it was not spread everywhere. No matter what,is a secret knowledge among the monarchs of Norman Empire. Owners of it had to remain low-key! Look at me, aren¡¯t I remaining low-key? I haven¡¯t casually shown it in front of others at all...¡±


    That was low-key? That was ¡°haven¡¯t casually shown it in front of others¡±? Although they found ridicule in his words, they all hurriedly nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ That¡¯s right...¡±


    Doug, who was sitting beside Zhang Tie, suddenly rolled his eyes and immediately shoved Hista away using his butt. Wrapping his arm around Zhang Tie¡¯s neck, Doug moved his face closer to Zhang Tie¡¯s with a fawning smile. ¡°Bighead, when you were recuperating a few days ago, I had always stayed beside your bed. I did that because I was worried about you. During that time, I have kept my eyes open and had killed hundreds of mosquitoes every night, all for you. Look! You can still see all the mosquito bites on my arm...¡± As he said this, Doug rolled up his sleeve and showed the red spots on his arm to Zhang Tie. However, who really know whether or not he had truly been bitten by mosquitoes...


    After glancing at Doug, Zhang Tie smiled. Under Doug¡¯s incredulous eyes, he dropped theinto Doug¡¯s hands. ¡°Well, thank you for accompanying me. You have one hour to read this secret knowledge!¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Doug was so surprised that he even shouted out loudly.


    ¡°It starts from now on!¡± Zhang Tie warned him.


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, Doug hurriedly skimmed it. Beside him were Hista and Bagdad, whose necks were stretched so far out that they looked like giraffes. However, they felt as if they were losing face when they were indiscreetly drawing near Doug. As it was a big taboo to peer at others¡¯ secret knowledge without permission, they could only admire Doug from afar.


    ¡°Ah, what does the line of words on the first page mean?¡± Doug scratched his head.


    ¡°It¡¯s written in Chinese and is the outline of the Iron-Blood Fist Skill. It reads ¡®Fighting force is power. When the power reaches its maximum, it''ll touch the supreme universal laws!¡± Zhang Tie translated the general meaning of that line. Hearing his interpretation, Barley and the other members were shocked by this book¡¯s high level and began to long for reading it.


    Soon after Doug, the second person to respond was Leit, ¡°Bighead, the fish you ate while you were recuperating were caught by me, do you remember? I have even sent you fish soup twice!¡±


    ¡°Well, you can read it for one hour right after Doug!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s reply, Leit burst out into laughter.


    Barley instantly jumped up from the ground and looked at Zhang Tie with watery eyes. ¡°Do you still remember? Miss Anna...¡±


    ¡°Well, Barley will read for one hour after Leit!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s consent, Barley also burst out into laughter.


    Bagdad, Sharwin, and Hista were hurriedly scratching their heads as they tried to come up with a reason to win an hour of reading.


    ¡°I lent you my notebook on what miss Daina had taught us in class!¡± Sharwin came up with a reason.


    ¡°Well, Sharwin can also read it for one hour after Barley!¡±


    ¡°Bro, you can just come here to ask me if you have any questions about women. No matter who you like, I will help you get her!¡± Hista showed his nature as a lecher as he patted Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder and spoke.


    ¡°Well, you can read one hour after Sharwin!¡±


    Realizing that all the other members had found their reasons, Bagdad thought for quite a while and abandoned the thought of pretending to be a kungfu ¡°master¡±. Forcing a smile, he drew closer and flattered, ¡°This¡­ Bighead, as you¡¯ve not been fully recovered these days, it will be my great honor to serve in your place when you have night duty!¡±


    ¡°Hmm, that is not good. If someone else knew that, they will gossip. As we are brothers, if others mistook me as bullying you, then that would not be good¡± Zhang Tie pretended to dejectedly think about it.


    ¡°Anyone who dares to be gossipy is destroying the bond between us brothers, and I will definitely not let him live well!¡± Bagdad became tense as he waved his fist. ¡°As long as I hear anyone say that, I swear to beat the sh*t out of him!¡± After saying this, he viciously swept his gaze at the other fellows and asked in a threatening tone, ¡°Since Bighead hasn¡¯t fully recovered yet, will you guys gossip if I help him keep watch at night?¡±


    The other people hurriedly shook their heads.


    ¡°Well, Bagdad will have the book for one hour after Leit!¡±


    After heaving a long sigh, Bagdad grinned.


    Everybody then gazed at Doug. Under the jumping flames, Doug seemed to be obsessed with the Iron-Blood Fist Skill. His face was truly rich with expression; his facial expressions constantly changed from a relaxed look to forming a frown. Over time, he would occasionally raise one hand into the air, causing the others to be more curious about the contents of the book.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter inside. He had long prepared to share thebook with the other brothers of Hit-Plane Brotherhood. However, he knew that these people would never treasure what they could obtain easily and would instead always treasure what they had worked hard for. This was something that Donder had taught him. From now on, Zhang Tie planned to motivate these guys and let them spend great efforts to be able to read for one hour. He realized that if did it this way, it would definitely be much more effective than just throwing them the book.


    Thinking that he could ¡°order¡± them in the future, Zhang Tie became pleased...


    From now on, he would finally have a great amount of time to consider how to improve his fighting force. As Zhang Tie had not entered Castle of Black Iron for one week, the second Leakless Fruit must have become completely ripe!


    It was the right time to enter Castle of Black Iron once again. He was curious about what else surprise the small tree could bring him...


    While Zhang Tie was pleasantly thinking about it, the images of Glaze and his lackeys appeared in his mind followed by an image of Captain Kerlin. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know why, but when he recalled Captain Kerlin¡¯s face these days, he could sense a hint of depression¡­ Could it be his imagination? Or¡­ was there something the one-eyed man was worried about?


    ¡­¡­

 91 A Surprise from the Small Tree

    Chapter 91: A Surprise from the Small Tree


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    ¡°Bighead, do you need me to send you a bowl of fish soup at noon?¡± The next morning, seeing that Zhang Tie was preparing to leave the tree base and walk to the mines, Barley looked at Zhang Tie with a look full of desire, causing goosebumps to form all over Zhang Tie¡¯s body.


    ¡°No need. At noon, I will just casually eat a bit when I¡¯m out,¡± Zhang Tie replied as he hurriedly put the mining basket on his back.


    ¡°How about I go mining for you? All of my achievements will belong to you. I swear that the amount will not be less than one ton of ores a day...¡± Bagdad patted his chest, causing ¡°Pa Pa¡± sounds.


    ¡°Really, there¡¯s no need! Mining is my hobby. For the time being, I still find it to be interesting!¡± Zhang Tie had also refused Bagdad. Seeing their pitiful looks, Zhang Tie felt that he needed to show them a bit of hope. For them to be only able to read it for an hour, this was the most painful thing to them. ¡°If I can eat boar meat tonight, my mood might be better!¡±


    ¡°Brothers, did you hear that? Boar meat¡ªwe need to catch a boar today! If we get lucky today, then we can carry one back by noon...¡± Doug shouted out loudly.


    ¡°Fine. Hurry up, guys! If we fail to capture one with our existing traps, then we will dig another one today...¡±


    Leaving one person to keep watch of the tree base, all the other horny students moved on and became a hundred times more active than Zhang Tie. At the sight of these guys, who were acting kind in front of him earlier, leaving him alone, Zhang Tie shook his head and inwardly heaved a deep sigh. It seems the power of thebook was truly unparalleled.


    As Zhang Tie and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood had never learned a high-level fighting skill or a cultivation technique like the , they had definitely taken the contents within the book as the greatest fighting skill that they had ever encountered. After every one of them read it for an hour last night, they were all attracted by this book and had difficulties parting with it. Every member of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood knew that this was a rare opportunity, one which could not be easily obtained, thus they all treasured this opportunity. Although they didn¡¯t say it out loud, within their hearts, they all felt a deep gratitude towards Zhang Tie. They felt that Zhang Tie was a righteous individual and was truly qualified to be their brother, especially since he was even willing to share secret knowledge with them.


    Seeing them disappear before him with an extremely quick speed, Zhang Tie smiled. Afterwards, he suddenly had a weird premonition. It seems that the Castle of Black Iron would bring him a surprise today.


    ¡­¡­


    Half an hour later, with a burning torch in hand, Zhang Tie entered that tunnel where he used to dig in the mine. First, he set up a small trap at the mouth of the tunnel that would warn him if someone entered the tunnel. Afterwards, Zhang Tie removed his mining basket and inserted the torch into a gap between two rocks. Walking into the shadow of another tunnel where the light did not reach, he took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. There appeared the arched door in his mind¡ªlock on¡­ enter!


    ¡ª¡ª


    ¡°Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!¡±


    As it was ¡°sunny and brilliant¡± in the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie narrowed his eyes, and after a short while, he gradually began to adapt to the sunlight. All the light here radiated from the colorful fog that flowed around the surrounding space. The light was soft; it was as if the light had shone through a rainbow or the rays of the sun before shining down, giving Zhang Tie a comfortable feeling. Zhang Tie once wondered whether there were night and day in the Castle of Black Iron and whether it remained the same even after he left; however, he soon gave up this thought.


    Upon stepping on the firm land in the Castle of Black Iron once again, complicated feelings burst forth in Zhang Tie. Due to the attack from the seven wild wolves that almost took his life and had almost forced him to bid farewell to the world forever, Zhang Tie felt as if he had been reborn.


    Through this crisis, Zhang Tie felt again that strength was very important in this age.


    After taking in a deep breath of fresh, aura-filled air, Zhang Tie leisurely opened the basic attributes panel of the Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªLength: Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªWidth: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªAura value: 3968


    ¡ª¡ªMerit value: 2117


    ¡ª¡ªBasic energy storage: 4285


    ¡ª¡ªSpecial output: void


    With the increasing number of plants within the Castle of Black Iron, the aura value had presently skyrocketed over the past two weeks. At the sight of the quickly increasing numbers, Zhang Tie became very excited.


    The moment he closed the basic attributes panel, a dialogue jumped out automatically.


    ¡ª¡ªThe liquid yeast has completed its mutation and evolution for the first time. Please view the changes!


    Soon after the dialogue disappeared, Zhang Tie recalled that he had used several points of basic energy storage on the liquid yeast before the start of the survival training, which would complete its mutation and evolution after 15 days. Therefore, Zhang Tie hurriedly opened the ¡°Microorganisms¡± management panel in ¡°Carbon-based Living Beings and Species Management¡± under the ¡°Living Beings and Population Management¡± to check the results of the mutation and evolution.


    Two messages instantly popped out¡ª¡ª


    ¡ª¡ªNo new liquid yeast variant was formed through the mutation and evolution, thus the mutation and evolution has failed!


    ¡ª¡ªIf you wish to attempt to mutate and evolve the liquid yeast again, the system suggests you to increase the amount of basic energy storage points!


    Thinking of how he had inputted 0.1 basic energy storage points into the liquid yeast last time, Zhang Tie felt embarrassed. After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie attempted for a second time to mutate and evolve the liquid yeast. This time, Zhang Tie decided that he will definitely succeed. Aside from using the maximum amount of basic energy storage possible, Zhang Tie also increased the amount of merit value points by ten-fold and doubled the amount of aura value points.


    After a series of steps, two dialogues popped out again¡ª¡ª


    ¡ª¡ª¡ªOn June 13rd, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord had inputted 600 points of aura value, 50 points of merit value, and 340 points of basic energy storage into the mutation and evolution of a bottle of liquid yeast.


    ¡ª¡ªIt is estimated that the mutation and evolution will take 360 hours. Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, please wait patiently!


    Since the surprise didn¡¯t come from the mutation and evolution of the bottle of liquid yeast, then it could only come from the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree.


    Moving towards the small tree, before he had even been able to stand before it, he had already smelt an unforgettable fragrance; the fragrance was a mix of the Leakless Fruit and a fragrance that contained both the smell of sandalwood and fruits. However, this time, the fragrance coming from the Leakless Fruit contained something special.


    As expected, the tree brought Zhang Tie a huge surprise¡ª¡ª


    On the twig where the first Leakless Fruit had once grown were two Leakless Fruits. Judging from its color, one of the two fruits had already become ripe, while the other one would ripen soon. At the sight of the two hanging Leakless Fruits, Zhang Tie finally recovered his composure. Previously, whether a ripe Leakless Fruit would fall off the tree or whether it would delay the growth of the next Leakless Fruit had always been a concern of Zhang Tie¡¯s. However, at the sight of the two Leakless Fruit hanging closely, Zhang Tie felt at ease.


    ¡ª¡ªThis Leakless Fruit has become ripe. Usage: Pick and direct eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ª31 hours left before this Leakless Fruit becomes ripe!


    Zhang Tie read the above two warnings regarding the two hanging Leakless Fruits.


    Looking at the two Leakless Fruits, Zhang Tie felt really happy. Beside the Leakless Fruit, Zhang Tie found the Iron Body Fruit, though it looked different than last time. He then checked its progress bar; upon finding that it was three-quarters ripe, Zhang Tie burst into laughter. At the sight of the progress bar, Zhang Tie remembered his tumbles within the deep hole dug by the Gold-Eating Boas. Never would he have that the collisions and friction from the tumbles would have such a marvelous effect. It was almost the same as him being beaten! It seemed that he didn¡¯t necessarily need to find people to beat him. As long as he received damage to his body, it would stimulate the growth of the Iron-Body Fruit. With this, this gave Zhang Tie many new ideas, causing the road before him to become much broader than before.


    However, the biggest surprise was neither the Leakless Fruits nor the Iron Body Fruit; instead, it was the strange fruit that hung on the other side of the tree. Ever since his last encounter with Huck and Snade, Zhang Tie realized that this small tree could produce fruits even without his consent. With external stimulation, the tree would be able to produce fruits. Since that incident, Zhang Tie had made it a habit to circle around the small tree to check whether new fruits were hanging somewhere.


    There really was a strange, hexagonal pitch-black fruit that was the size of a plum.


    Stretching out his hand, Zhang Tie instantly got its information.


    ¡ª¡ªThe Trouble-Reappearance Fruit has already become ripe. Usage: Pick and direct eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    The moment the above words disappeared, another paragraph of words appeared.


    ¡­¡­


    ¡ª¡ªThis is the fruit of killing. The laws of the universe continue to circulate between life and death. Among all deaths, deaths through fights between different species are both the most common as well as the most frightening. Let¡¯s be brave and face the inevitable killings and deaths in this virtual space. Let¡¯s be brave and attempt various challenges inside this virtual space. After experience the same killings and deaths again and again, you will lose your fear towards death and killing. You will gain freedom from killing and death, moving onto the top of the chain of evolution! Keep in mind that the body is the container for the soul, and the soul and spirit experience the same sensation as the body. Everything in the virtual space, including every strand of grass or wood, is a reflection of the physical world. With the exception that you will not die inside this virtual space, everything else is the same as that in the physical world outside. The existence of everything inside this virtual space makes the universe treats your well!


    Reading the above words, Zhang Tie came up with a thought, ¡°I¡¯m really rich now! The Trouble-Reappearance Fruit looks really powerful.¡±


    Continually rubbing his palms, he was truly excited...


    ¡­¡­

 92 Trouble-Reappearance Frui

    Chapter 92: Trouble-Reappearance Fruit


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    At the sight of the new fruit hanging on the tree, Zhang Tie¡¯s heart pounded as he reminded himself to keep calm. After taking in a few deep breaths, Zhang Tie finally managed to control his desire to pluck off the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit and instead moved to the other side of the tree before promptly picking off the ripened Leakless Fruit and consuming it in a couple of bites. Following that, he sat under the tree with legs crossed in order to experience the effect from the second ripened Leakless Fruit.


    Because of Huck and Snade and because of the damned wolves, he was delayed by roughly three weeks from enjoying the ripe Leakless Fruit.


    It truly wasn¡¯t easy! Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh inside before closing his eyes and immersing himself in the gradual, obvious effects of the second, ripe Leakless Fruit.


    Before the lingering fragrance from the sweet juice of the second, ripe Leakless Fruit had even disappeared, a familiar sensation could be felt; a strand of hot air could be felt in his chest and continued to swirl upwards. Then, the strand of hot air became a hot wave that turned into a ferocious fire dragon, directly charging towards the burning point on his rear end. The ferocious fire dragon gradually became increasingly more powerful while the red flame by the burning point at his rear end immediately grew brighter; it was as if it was a pile of burning firewood that had just been doused with oil. ¡°Boom!¡± The red flame turned into a dark orange color. As the energy gradually seeped into the flame, the dark orange color also gradually became brighter...


    Zhang Tie had sat there for almost half an hour, during which his body shook slightly three times. Half an hour later when Zhang Tie opened his eyes, his eyes were filled with uncontrollable passion. After a short while, in Zhang Tie¡¯s mind, he could already catch a glimpse at the brilliant yellow flame over the burning point by his rear end. With a single ripe Leakless Fruit, he had consecutively broken through three cultivation barriers on the burning point¡ªtruly an astonishing speed and force! Seeing that silent small tree beside him once again, Zhang Tie¡¯s heart was filled with awe.


    After stretching his limbs and his body, Zhang Tie came before that Trouble-Reappearance Fruit once again.


    ¡°I wonder what this fruit is used for?¡±


    With this question, Zhang Tie carefully plucked the fruit, sat down with crossed legs, and took a large bite.


    Compared to the Leakless Fruit, which had a sweet taste, the moment he had bitten into the flesh of the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit, it was as if he had bitten into smoke-like water which flowed from his mouth through the place which connected his oral cavity and his navel passage and directly rushed towards his brain. When the energy from the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit encountered the small swirl of foggy and golden Qi in his mind, Zhang Tie felt as if someone was fiercely striking a drum within his mind. All of a sudden, the view before his eyes turned pitch black and he entered a space where light could not reach.


    This was a strange feeling. Although Zhang Tie¡¯s body was obviously sitting under the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree, it seemed as if his spirit was in another space, one which even light could not reach.


    Soon after he entered that space, he saw a dim light which gradually became brighter and changed into a hexagon-shaped door, one whose shape resembled the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t move, as that hexagon-shaped door was directly rushing towards him like a train. Surprisingly, right when it was about to collide with Zhang Tie, it enveloped him. Then, Zhang Tie found himself in a place that truly caused him to be extremely shocked...


    It was the familiar path that he walked on when he returned from the mine!


    The familiar uphill road!


    The familiar grassland!


    When the breeze came, even the way the grass swayed was the same.


    Zhang Tie could even hear the ¡°Sha Sha¡± sounds that came when the breeze blew over the grass while the familiar chirping of insects reverberated into his ears from the side of the road. As the afterglow from the setting sun gradually painted the Wild Wolf Valley in a golden color, every pore on Zhang Tie¡¯s body could feel that a kind of warmth filled the air...


    ¡°What¡¯s happening? How could I be here? This feeling¡­ why is it so familiar?¡± Zhang Tie panicked a bit when he realized he was carrying a mining basket on his back.


    However, Zhang Tie was not given too much time to think about what had happened. While Zhang Tie was panicking, several ¡°rocks¡± in the patch of grass beside him were speeding towards Zhang Tie. In a couple of seconds, three wolves had drilled their way out from the grass.


    With eyes fixed on Zhang Tie, even a fool would be able to sense the hatred contained in their eyes. As they grinned, ¡°Gulu Gulu¡± sounds came from their throats in the exact same manner as what Zhang Tie had encountered several days ago. The only difference was that there were only three wolves this time, instead of seven. Additionally, the three wolves were exactly the ones that had been killed by him. Zhang Tie remembered that one of the three wolves had a ring of white fur right above its neck, just like one of the three wolves before him.


    ¡°F*ck, what¡¯s happening?¡± Zhang Tie was really frightened, and the scene was too much for him, causing his mind to be thrown into chaos. Before he was able to clear his mind, the three wolves had already pounced towards him.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly put down his mining basket, but the leader of the three wolves, the fastest one, had already knocked him down onto the ground. Its sharp claws had already pierced through Zhang Tie¡¯s chest, causing him to feel so much pain that he began to growl.


    Panicking, Zhang Tie remembered the dagger that hung on his waist. After fiercely punching the wolf that had pounced on his body, Zhang Tie intended to grab that dagger; however, another wolf had already arrived and had bitten his wrist. The moment its sharp canines pierced through his flesh, Zhang Tie was in so much pain that he almost passed out. The blood vessels at his wrist had also been roughly torn by the wolf, causing his fresh blood to instantly spray out.


    At that moment, Zhang Tie¡¯s mind was filled with the fear of death and the excruciating pain that was present all over his body. Soon after, the third wild wolf reached him and started to bite Zhang Tie¡¯s right leg. Feeling the pain, Zhang Tie miserably screamed out, ¡°Ah, help!¡±


    However, his high-pitched screams didn¡¯t work at all. What was worse, the leader of the wolves that had been pushed away by him earlier had shown its canines again as it bit down on Zhang Tie¡¯s neck. As a result, Zhang Tie wrestled with the three wild wolves; however, his final struggles were all in vain.


    At the last minute when he lost his consciousness, Zhang Tie no longer felt pain; instead, he felt a suffocating sensation, as his blood had filled his air pipes and lungs after his neck and throat were torn apart by the leader of the wolves.


    ¡°Is this what death feels like?¡± This was the last strand of his consciousness...


    Boom...


    Everything broke into fragmented specks of lights before vanishing!


    Under the small tree, Zhang Tie recovered his senses and opened his eyes, recalling what he had just experienced just now. As his chest heaved up and down, Zhang Tie continued to gasp for air. It was only now did Zhang Tie realized how nice it was to be able to breathe for free. Feeling cold all over, he touched his back only to find that it had been covered in cold sweat. If he had a mirror to look into at this moment, he was sure that his face would definitely be pale. Checking all over his body, he wasn¡¯t able to find any wounds at all. What had happened just now was like a dream; however, the dream was extremely realistic. With the exception of not having actually lost his life and not having been injured, what had just happened to him was definitely real. ¡°How could that happen?¡± Zhang Tie started to rack his brain. ¡°It must be the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit.¡± When he thought of the information about the fruit, Zhang Tie suddenly realized something.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s temperament was actually on the persistent and stubborn side. If what had just happened to him was truly related to the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit, then Zhang Tie wouldn¡¯t let this go until he has figured it out. After recovering his composure through half an hour of rest, he clenched his teeth and sat down under the tree with legs crossed once again.


    ¡°Damn it, I swear I¡¯ll figure this out!¡± Zhang Tie fiercely mumbled. ¡°If I can¡¯t figure this out, then I won¡¯t eat supper and neither will I get circumcised in the future! I¡¯ll be a virgin for the rest of my life !¡±


    With this persistence, Zhang Tie entered his mind once again.


    It was different than before; Zhang Tie had found something besides the arched door of the Castle of Black Iron. Floating above the arched door like a looming star was the hexagon-shaped Trouble-Reappearance Fruit that he had eaten earlier.


    Focusing on the hexagon-shaped star, a message came to his mind.


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, because you have already used the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit once, if you wish to use it again, you must inject enough spiritual energy before you can activate the effect of the Trouble-Reappearance Scene within the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit.


    Since the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit was in his mind, Zhang Tie was easily able to quickly inject spiritual energy into it. This hexagon-shaped fruit was like a sponge, as it continued to absorb his spiritual energy. After three minutes of absorption, the fruit became shiny once again.


    ¡ª¡ªThe Trouble-Reappearance Fruit has been activated and is now available to be used again! The method to use the fruit is the same as the one used to access the Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡°The same as accessing the Castle of Black Iron? Heh heh, that will be simple...¡± Zhang Tie mumbled.


    Lock on¡ª¡ªEnter...


    At the beginning, it was still pitch black inside; however, soon after, sparkles appeared in the darkness before finally forming into a hexagon-shaped door which rushed towards Zhang Tie like a train, forcing Zhang Tie to enter. Afterwards, Zhang Tie reappeared on that path, facing the grass that swayed from the breeze. Everything from before had remained unchanged.


    ¡°Is this the effect of Trouble-Reappearance Fruit? Does it recreate killing scenes to allow me to become liberated through killing and death?


    Zhang Tie looked towards the patch of grass, within which three ¡°rocks¡± had already started to move towards him.


    F*ck! Since he didn¡¯t want to suffer the pain from the three wolves again, Zhang Tie hurriedly put down his mining basket and pulled out the dagger from his waist before taking a defensive posture. With eyes widely opened, Zhang Tie stared at the three wild wolves, who had their eyes brimming with hatred fixed on him...


    The wild wolves charged at Zhang Tie as he waved his dagger...


    Five minutes later, sitting on the ground with wounds all over, Zhang Tie looked at the bodies of the three dead wild wolves and burst into laughter. By that time, he finally understood the real effect of this Trouble-Reappearance Fruit...


    Boom...


    Everything in the space smashed into specks of light and disappeared...

 93 Marching Onwards

    Chapter 93: Marching Onwards


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    A fresh breath of air was brought by the breeze in the valley. The scent of nature, grass, and wood carried in the breeze instantly caused Zhang Tie to feel relaxed. The breeze flowed through Zhang Tie¡¯s hair and circled around his collar before moving to his sweaty back. That cool sensation was so pleasant that Zhang Tie almost moaned.


    Today marks the seventh day since Zhang Tie had recovered and left Wild Wolf Castle, and today also marked the seventh day since he resumed his work as a miner. During the past few days, Zhang Tie had gotten accustomed to carrying the mining basket filled with ores and handing it to the delivery point beneath Wild Wolf Castle. In the past, he would usually carry about 50-60 kg of ores at once, and sometimes he would even carry as much as 70 kg; however, over the past seven days, every time, Zhang Tie would carry more than 100 kg of ores. He would hand in the number of ores required for the job in one go, causing the people at the delivery point to be greatly startled. They could have never imagined that Zhang Tie¡¯s average looking frame had such amazing strength, strength that could not be matched with his peers.


    Over the past seven days, Zhang Tie looked tranquil. Currently, nobody knew that Zhang Tie¡¯s strength had crossed over to the next level. Five days ago when Zhang Tie ate the third Leakless Fruit, as expected, Zhang Tie consecutively broke through three cultivation barriers for the burning point at his rear end, causing the burning point at his rear end to radiate a blue light. With one more Leakless Fruit, the burning point would radiate a purple light, which meant that he would have reached the next level and would officially become a LV 2 soldier. Within a month, he would be able to ignite his second burning point and become a LV 2 soldier¡ªthis was truly an astonishing speed. At the very least, Zhang Tie has never heard of someone in Blackhot City who could match his speed in igniting the burning points. Aside from the burning point at his rear end being ignited soon, he also gradually began to see the effects of the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit. Through fighting the three wild wolves several times a day, Zhang Tie could feel an obvious increase in his fighting skills. It was now easier for him to apply the fighting skills he had learned in school, thus allowing him to easily kill the wild wolves.


    With that great magical treasure, Zhang Tie decided to become even more low-key than before. In the eyes of the others, Zhang Tie was working even harder than before, seemingly as if nothing had even happened; it was as if he had forgotten the whole ordeal of having been attacked by the wild wolves.


    Like usual, when Zhang Tie placed his mining basket onto the scale at the delivery point, the students from the Second National Male Middle School who were acquainted with Zhang Tie ran over to take a look at the number on the scale once again.


    ¡°138 kg¡­ F*ck, you broke the record again! Could one¡¯s strength really improve that fast by doing mining work?¡± one of the students complained, ¡°I really have to give it a try as well. Zhang Tie looks at ease whenever he hands in his ores. With just one trip, he can already get his rations!¡±


    ¡°You? You should forget about it. Zhang Tie has already ignited his Shrine burning point and has already become a LV 1 soldier!¡± said the guy beside him as he shook his head and recorded the numbers in his notebook. Then, he gave a glance at Zhang Tie, indicating that he¡¯s asking for a favor of helping them pour the ores from his mining basket into the cart on the rails. In the past, two people were able to finish this task; however, ever since Zhang Tie started to bring more and more ores at once, they would struggle to lift the mining basket of ores, which weighed more than 100 kg, 1m into the air before pouring them into the cart, thus they would always ask Zhang Tie for this favor.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t Tanin also ignite his Shrine burning point a long time ago and become a LV 1 soldier? How come he doesn¡¯t seem as strong as Zhang Tie¡­¡± the fellow who just spoke rebutted as he shot an admiring glance at Zhang Tie. On one side, he helped lift the mining basket, while on the other, he mumbled, ¡°Since he could survive despite falling into a 200 m hole dug by the Gold-Eating Boas, this guy truly is a freak!¡±


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know who this Tanin person was, but he could guess that he was an outstanding student. Listening to their discussion, Zhang Tie just gave a generous smile as he fabricated a lie, ¡°To tell you the truth, doing mining work is really challenging, especially the part where you have to carry the mining basket out from the mine. As you know, I was not able to carry so many ores in the past; however, over the past few days, I had realized that when I chose to challenge my physical limits, once I clenched my teeth and stuck to it, I would always see an explosive growth in my physical strength at that moment. If you don¡¯t believe me, you can have a try!¡±


    Although Zhang Tie¡¯s words were half true and half false and contained a little bit of mischief, Zhang Tie expressed it very seriously. If the two guys truly trusted him and wanted to experience this ¡°very promising vocation¡±, it would have nothing to do with Zhang Tie. Certainly, one could get stronger through doing labor work; however, the amount of physical strength one could gain would depend on their fortune as well as their efforts.


    Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t help but laugh inwardly as he mumbled in his heart, ¡°If you could enjoy a Leakless Fruit every week like me, then you would also see a rapid growth in your strength.¡±


    These past few days, Zhang Tie would dig in the mines early in the morning before transferring the useless ores into the Castle of Black Iron. Afterwards, he would return to the tree base and would spend the entire afternoon cultivating the . When comparing the cultivation of a fighting skill used by the monarchs of the Norman Empire to a bit of food that could only alleviate hunger, everyone knew which was more important, and Zhang Tie was no exception.


    Presently, Barley and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood had managed to dig five deep pits and had set more than 20 small traps made from twigs and stones. They had become increasingly proficient at setting traps. The power of their traps was put on full display as beasts would absolutely succumb to the fishy scent from the fish guts and the deep traps. Because of their traps, the Hit-Plane Brotherhood also gradually became famous among the students attending this survival training while some of the other fellows had begun to learn how to set traps from them.


    After handing over the ores, Zhang Tie had received his rations and was prepared to return to the tree base, but right as he was about to step away, he saw a blue flag that could be seen from miles away hanging at the top of Wild Wolf Castle. A blue flag indicated that a foreign commercial transportation team had reached Wild Wolf Castle, and at the same time, the flag signaled that the students could come to Wild Wolf Castle to exchange items with the commercial team.


    On the 20th day since the start of the survival training, the commercial transportation team that had set off from Blackhot City had finally arrived at Wild Wolf Castle. Their arrival made many people excited, as it meant that they could sell their items to the commercial team as well as purchase necessities.


    As expected, the square of Wild Wolf Castle had already become boisterous, as many people surrounded the three transportation vehicles parked on one side of the square. Even Zhang Tie pushed his way inside the crowd. It was the first time for Zhang Tie to see such a transportation vehicle used in the wild. These vehicles were different than the public transport used in Blackhot City; these transportation vehicles that were used in the wild looked strange, as each of them looked like an ugly grasshopper. The vehicle had two low carriages, and its head was like a miniature, round locomotive that was embedded in a square building block, beside which was a tall chimney that was eye-catching. The wheels under its head were composed of two parts¡ªcontinuous tracks at the front and solid tires in the back. On the second part of its head was a coal bunker. Every one of the wild transportation vehicles was more than 20 m in length. Aside from the onlookers, there were people who were unloading crates one after the other, which quickly occupied the space, turning them into trading platforms. After that, they opened the crates one by one and directly displayed them in front of the public. Most of the things contained in the crates were standard military rations from Blackhot City. Aside from the standard military rations, there were also some dried milk slices, dried meat, and sausages in the crates as well as some biological products used to make experiments.


    An exclamation reverberated from the horny students next to one wild transportation vehicle at the side. Hearing their exclamations, Zhang Tie pushed his way over and became frightened at the sight before him¡ªf*ck! When the crates were opened, shiny knives and pikes were put on display, greatly exciting the horny students so much that they began to immediately drool.


    ¡°Everyone, please take out everything you have, including hides, herbal medicine, crystal sand, and the other strange things that you don¡¯t recognize. As long as you have something good, then you can exchange it with anything here,¡± A manager of the commercial transportation team jumped onto several crates and shouted loudly into a speaker made from a rolled up iron sheet, ¡°Those who want to exchange your hides, move over there! Those who want to exchange you herbal medicines, move to the middle! Those who want to exchange your crystal sand and other eccentric things, come to me. Hurry up, what are you waiting for!?¡±


    Hearing his words, many people became excited. The girls ran towards the inner castle, while the boys ran towards Wild Wolf Valley. When he thought of the wolf hides, Zhang Tie was also a bit moved. Seeing the goods brought by the commercial transportation team, Zhang Tie also prepared to go back to bring those hides acquired by the Hit-Plane Brotherhood to exchange them for some necessities like food. For necessities like food, the more they had, the better...


    Before he left the square of Wild Wolf Castle, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t help but to look back at those shiny weapons. The knives and pikes lined up in rows had already been hung up in very eye-catching places. Zhang Tie became suspicious, as the commercial transportation teams had rarely brought weapons here in the past years.


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°I don¡¯t agree...¡± When the square outside Wild Wolf Castle was noisy, a quarrel was occurring in the office of the Temporary Supervision Committee. Miss Qili, who had given Zhang Tie an unforgettable ¡°punishment¡± in the small square, was angrily glaring at a businessman with a mustache who was as slim as a stick of bamboo and was wearing a bright, silk hat in the office. ¡°Since Goose-neck Grass and golden wolf marrow cannot be found in Wild Wolf Valley, if they want to collect Goose-neck Grass and golden wolf marrows, then the students would have to leave Wild Wolf Valley and enter deeper into the area between Wild Wolf Valley and the Crescent Prairie. However, that place is too far away from Wild Wolf Castle and there are numerous packs of wolves over there that could pose great dangers to the students attending the survival training!¡±

 94 Prelude

    Chapter 94: Prelude


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Facing this quarrel in the conference room of the Temporary Supervision Committee, many of the people inside the room remained silent, while Captain Kerlin looked infuriated as the blue veins on his neck were moving up and down like miserable earthworms. In contrast, Mr. Zerom looked at the two people who were quarreling with a slightly gloomy expression. As for other teachers, some of them remained quiet, while others were whispering with the people beside them. Most of the teachers in the Temporary Supervision Committee protested against this mission.


    ¡°Everyone¡­¡± The slim and tall man with the bright, silky hat swept his gaze over the others and said in a commanding voice, ¡°I am not here to negotiate with you. I am only here to tell you that Goose-neck Grass and golden wolf marrow are materials that Master Abyan needs to refine medication that¡¯s urgently needed by the military of Blackhot City. Currently, the only place where we can acquire these two things is the Crescent Prairie. Coincidently, the teams participating in the survival training happened to be at Wild Wolf Castle, making your group the closest to Crescent Prairie. Thus, the administration of Blackhot City had entrusted me the task of bringing you this order. For these students, this is just more training and a challenge!¡±


    ¡°Do you want the brats to practice by risking their lives?¡± Mr. Zerom sneered.


    ¡°In which year has the survival training been calm and resulted in no one losing their lives!¡± the man with the silky hat rebutted calmly.


    ¡°Crescent Prairie is much more danger than Wild Wolf Valley because the wolves over there move in packs. Aside from that, there are LV 2 golden wolves, which cannot be dealt with by the average student. If the administration of Blackhot City is in need of Goose-neck Grass and golden wolf marrow, then they can send someone else here to collect them. There is no need to make the students do something like this that would make them risk their lives...¡± Captain Kerlin¡¯s single eye glittered with a cold light.


    ¡°I have served in the military of Blackhot City for many years now, so how come I have never heard of Blackhot City¡¯s military being so extravagant that they¡¯re bringing along recovery medication?¡±


    Perhaps it was because he had known about the one-eyed man¡¯s bad temper or because of the one-eyed man¡¯s strength, but the man with the silky hat became a bit reserved; however, he still spoke in a commanding tone, seemingly as if he didn¡¯t care that his lie had been revealed before the people in front of him, ¡°Captain Kerlin, although we are not qualified to meddle in the matters of the management of the Blackhot City military, we clearly know what has been happening these past few days in the outside world. Now that the relationship between the Andaman Alliance, Blackhot City included, and the Sun Dynasty have become increasingly tense, no surplus military people could be spared. At the same time, several of the big figures need to reserve some recovery medication, thus Master Abyan has been busy recently. This is just a small matter, and I will just release some missions in the name of the Temporary Supervision Committee. Since my superior has already agreed to this, I will be responsible for the details, and what you guys need to do is simply to coordinate with me...¡± As he said this, the man with the silky hat sneered, showing a typical face of a villain. ¡°Of course, I know you are respected by the students attending this survival training, and I also know that most of them would follow your instructions. If anyone here wants to give me trouble during this mission, then feel free to do so; however, if I cannot complete this mission, then I will faithfully report what had happened here to Master Abyan and the administration of Blackhot City. Hei hei¡­ at that time, you might not be able to deal with that person like you did with me!¡±


    Hearing of Master Abyan and the current situation in the Andaman Alliance, everyone became silent. Master Abyan was the chief medical pharmacist of Blackhot City. He was a big figure with a great load of power and had a name that could greatly pressure everyone presently here. For the Andaman Alliance, the situation has been deteriorating for the past few days because of the reappearance of the Red-scarf Burglars, who had caused troubles and then disappeared. The Red-scarf Burglars had suddenly appeared and assaulted Lance City, one of the other cities in the Andaman Alliance. After causing a huge number of casualties and damages, they had once again escaped. Although they were chased by the guards of Lance City, they disappeared at the border between the Andaman Alliance and the Sun Dynasty. As for the guards who were chasing them, they were completely surrounded by the border army of the Sun Dynasty and were wiped out. At the sight of the several photos of the corpses of the guards from Lance City in the territory of the Sun Dynasty, the Sun Dynasty was rather furious as they condemned the Andaman Alliance for destroying the peace between the two parties by trespassing the border of the Sun Dynasty and starting a war. In response to this, the Sun Dynasty¡¯s military had already started to gather at the border. Everyone knew that this was a scheme, but so what? This was not something that they could change in the least. Besides the Norman Empire, the Sun Dynasty had also finally revealed its intentions of wanting to occupy the Andaman Alliance. Hearing this news had already caused the entire Andaman Alliance to be frightened...


    ¡°It¡¯s just several golden wolves and a few wolf packs. It isn¡¯t too bad, as it¡¯s possible that the students would have to face the Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty!¡± seeing as how no one had uttered a single word, the man with the silky hat added.


    ¡°Every student is free to make their own decision during the survival training. Nobody is allowed to force them to do anything, not even the administration of Blackhot City and Master Abyan!¡± Captain Kerlin fixed his gaze onto the man with the silky hat. ¡°This is our bottom line.¡±


    ¡°Heh heh¡­ Don¡¯t worry! I believe that there are some students out there that would cooperate with me without me having to force them!¡± The man with the silky hat sneered with confidence...


    ¡­¡­


    Ten minutes later, standing by the windowsill of the outer castle, at the sight of the increasing number of students in front of the mission notice below the outer castle, Captain Kerlin angrily slammed his fist onto the granite windowsill, causing a large piece of stone to fall from the windowsill. Turning his head, Captain Kerlin stared at Mr. Zerom, who looked a bit gloomy. ¡°Zerom, you have the best brain here. You tell me, because of the events that had happened within the month, have all the big figures already prepared to retreat?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to explain how a lion would eat a rabbit¡ªthose were the words Marshal Lin Changjiang, the leader and governor of the northern border army of the Norman Empire, gave when the Foreign Ministry of the Norman Empire inquired him. Marshal Lin Changjiang had ordered the Foreign Ministry of the Norman Empire to pass along his words without missing a single one, and that is what the Foreign Ministry of the Norman Empire did...¡± Mr. Zerom also sneered. ¡°Previously, the lords of the Andaman Alliance thought that they could just curse the Norman Empire as usual as they used the event that had transpired in Blackhot City to finally solve the dispute, while at the same time they would steadily make money; however, nobody could have expected that the Norman Empire didn¡¯t even have the patience to do superficial things and had instead directly shown their intention to attack Blackhot City. Seeing their intentions, it¡¯s within expectations that those fellows who only care about their own business would prepare to escape for their lives. Recovery medication? That¡¯s bullsh*t. Even when others want to chop off their heads, they¡¯re still hurriedly trying to gather some recovery medication. Even when they¡¯re going to lose their lives, they¡¯re still thinking about making money. The reason that Blackhot city could not send out enough people to collect Goose-neck Grass and golden wolf marrow lies in the low compensation. If they could raise the compensation by three to five times, then there would definitely be a great number of pioneers and adventurers who would like to make extra gains in the Crescent Prairie by collecting Goose-neck Grass and golden wolf marrow, both of which are not highly valuable in the least. If they had truly increased the compensation, then the turn to make a profit would never have belonged to Samira, that fellow who¡¯s always looking for an opportunity to be promoted. If they had truly increased the compensation, then they would not cause the students attending the survival training here to have to take on such great risks!¡± Saying this, Mr. Zerom heaved a deep sigh. ¡°Previously, we wanted the students to be able to safely complete the survival training as well as leaving them a good memory, but now, it seems that it is impossible!¡±


    As he said this, Mr. Zerom turned around and solemnly looked at Captain Kerlin. ¡°When this survival training ends, I will resign and leave Blackhot city...¡±


    ¡°You want to leave?¡± Captain Kerlin looked at Zerom with wide opened eyes.


    ¡°I have been thinking it over these past few days. Can¡¯t you see it? Chaos will soon arrive. The big figures in the Sun Dynasty, the Norman Empire, and even in the entire Blackson Human Corridors have already made various preparations for the future. Perhaps in the next three years, five years, or even a decade, the third Holy War between humans and the demons will break out. When that time comes, tens or hundreds of billions of people would turn into corpses as numerous countries and cities will be burned to ruins. However, nobody knows how long the third Holy War would last, and neither do they know whether humans would exist after it. In such troubled times, people will see no bright future by following those who only care about their small business. If I want to find safety, then I will have to find a bigger person since I don¡¯t want to be cannon fodder for those fellows with the silky hats.. What about you? Do you want to go with me? How about leaving together?¡±


    Captain Kerlin frowned as he was currently in an internal struggle. Because of what had happened today, he became frustrated when he connected the events that had happened in Blackhot City and the Andaman Alliance, causing his over ten years of loyalty towards the management of Blackhot City to waver. Given what Zerom had said, Captain Kerlin also sensed the aggression from the words of Lin Changjiang, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Border Army who had infuriated all the soldiers, who were still hot-blooded and wanted to repel the Norman Empire¡¯s invasion, of Blackhot City. But, what was the parliament of the Andaman Alliance doing? What was Blackhot City doing? Neither of them had declared war against the Norman Empire¡¯s invasion nor were they prepared to fight to the death; instead, they were quarreling with each other. In the parliament of the Andaman Alliance, there was a great number of people who were shouting loudly to transfer the testimonies and physical evidence collected from the incident from several days ago when the Niumen Business Group colluded with the Red-scarf Burglars to Andaman City. They had requested to hold a motherf*cking hearing in the parliament, and Blackhot City had become flustered and agreed to their request since they wanted to work together to prolong the amount of time they had to prepare for their fight against the Norman Empire. Such a performance had really made Captain Kerlin disappointed. At the same time, the Andaman Alliance¡¯s timidness was fully exposed. The people who only cared about counting gold coins and making small business might be able to live well in a peaceful age; however, in troubled times such as now, they could only be a piece of fat on the kneading board that would be freely chopped by others.


    ¡°Are you still thinking about Miss Daina? Are you still afraid that that great beauty isn¡¯t ready to go out with you?¡± Zerom put it straightforwardly, completely hitting the mark at what Captain Kerlin was concerned about.


    Hearing him mention Miss Daina, Captain Kerlin¡¯s face instantly blushed. He then rebutted like a kid, ¡°So what!? I have already saved up enough money. I can immediately buy a house near Bright Avenue that¡¯s more than 100 square meters...¡±


    ¡°Wow, how romantic you are! You are truly a god-created couple...¡± Zerom showed a strange smile.


    ¡°B*stard...¡± Captain Kerlin threw a punch towards Zerom. Having long been prepared, Zerom instantly slid to the side and exited through the door, causing Captain Kerlin to fail to hit him.


    ¡°Trust me, Kerlin, you two are not suitable for each other!¡± Before leaving, Zerom told Captain Kerlin seriously.


    ¡°Nonsense. I feel that Miss Daina treats me well!¡± Captain Kerlin stuck to rebut.


    ¡°That¡¯s just your misconception!¡±


    ¡°Why are you saying that?¡±


    ¡°Have you ever heard of a wild goose falling in love with a bear?¡± After saying this, without even glancing at Captain Kerlin¡¯s infuriated face, Zerom quickly escaped. ¡°I have to keep an eye on that man with the silky hat. If he goes too far, then I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll have to give him some trouble. Luckily, my students are all clever. I hope your students are as rational as mine!¡±

 95 Making Trouble

    Chapter 95: Making Trouble


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    When Zhang Tie along with Doug and Barley returned to the small square with a large amount of items, he found that the square was many times more boisterous than when he had left. In front of the several exchange points, there were groups of students standing in lines as they held onto the items they were planning to exchange with the stuff brought by the commercial transportation team.


    Zhang Tie and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood had mainly brought hides; they had brought five wolf hides, three of which were hunted by Zhang Tie, a hedgehog hide, and two rabbit hides. Although these hides were not too valuable, they could still be exchanged for a lot of food. Although the hides had been tanned, they still released a weird smell in the tree base, thus if they were able to sell off these hides this time, then it would allow their tree base to smell a little better.


    ¡°Bighead, what do you want to exchange your three wolf hides for?¡± Barley asked.


    ¡°Just exchange them all for rations.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you need money? These items could easily sell for more than 20 silver coins!¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t need money at the moment. What we need right now is food, which is why I prefer to exchange for food. As long as we pass this survival training, all is well!¡± Zhang Tie smiled.


    Barley glanced at Zhang Tie with a strange look. He didn¡¯t know what had happened to Zhang Tie; Barley felt that Zhang Tie had been more relaxed when dealing with things. His decisions carried a bit of laziness, but it was mixed with braveness and decisiveness. Could this be an effect of the Iron-Blood Fist? No, it¡¯s not like that. Barley couldn¡¯t convince himself at all, as they were all practicing the Iron-Blood Fist using the same book, so how could Zhang Tie improve so much faster than the others? Not to mention that Barley had also noticed that Zhang Tie was changing spiritually, but Barley was confused at how Zhang Tie, a guy who only dug in the mines and practiced the Iron-Blood Fist skill together with them every day, could make a spiritual breakthrough.


    Is doing mining work that effective? Should I give it a try myself?


    ¡°Fine, then do whatever you want. Doug and I are enough to queue up here!¡± Hearing fatty Barley¡¯s words, Doug, who was standing beside him, also patted his chest with a grin. During the past week, Doug had gotten used to flattering Zhang Tie.


    There truly wasn¡¯t a need for three people to line up here, so seeing that Doug and Barley were already standing in line, Zhang Tie then decided to wander around the small square. Seeing that there were many onlookers near the gate of Wild Wolf Castle, Zhang Tie also moved there.


    The moment Zhang Tie drew close, he heard several guys fervently talking about the missions on the notice board.


    ¡°If only I could get some Goose-neck Grass¡­ One stick of Goose-neck Grass is almost worth more than one gold coin! That amount could be exchanged for a good machete or a sword!¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s also the golden wolf. If one kills a golden wolf, then you could acquire the marrow in the spine of the wolf, which is even more valuable than a stick of Goose-neck Grass. Not to mention a good machete or sword, you could even exchange it for 3 kg of meat and 7 kg of rations! If I could kill a golden wolf, then I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about my life for the next couple of weeks...¡±


    ¡°But, it¡¯s not that easy to get those items. Haven¡¯t you read the notice? We can only get them by the border of Wild Wolf Valley and the Crescent Prairie, which is 30 km away. I have heard that there are dozens of times more wolf packs over in the Crescent Prairie when compared to Wild Wolf Valley. Facing dozens or even hundreds of wolves¡­ we could easily be torn apart, leaving not even a single bone behind...¡±


    Hearing their words, Zhang Tie slightly frowned before pushing his way through the crowd and arriving below the notice board. At the top of the notice board were the missions on hunting golden wolves and picking Goose-neck Grass. Aside from the notices, they had especially hung two large pictures, one of the golden wolf and the other the Grass-neck Grass, respectively to the left and right of the notice boards, ensuring that everyone knew what they looked like. A man with a silky hat that was as slim as a stick of bamboo was inciting the onlookers below the notice board as his saliva sprayed everywhere in the air.


    ¡°Master Abyan is the chief medicinal pharmacist of Blackhot City, and he needs golden wolf marrow and Goose-neck Grass since both are raw materials needed to concoct recovery medication. Do you know what recovery medication is? Recovery medication is a marvelous medicine that can allow the fighters of Blackhot City to heal and recover their strength as soon as possible after being wounded on the battlefield...¡± At this moment, the man with the silky hat raised his hands and exclaimed, ¡°Brave, young men! Do you know what¡¯s currently happening in Blackhot City? The evil Norman Empire has already been showing their machetes towards Blackhot City and your family. Soon, Blackhot City could very well end up in a bloody fight with the army of the Norman Empire. For the sake of Blackhot City and your relatives who may join the army of Blackhot City, please go and bring back golden wolf marrows and Goose-neck Grass! Every stick of Goose-neck Grass could possibly save your relative¡¯s life. Master Abyan, the revered chief medicinal pharmacist of Blackhot city, is now in need of these two items. Brave young men, brave men from Blackhot city, take your machetes and swords and march on towards the Crescent Prairie! Use the corpses of the golden wolves and the Golden-neck Grass to display your braveness! Look! Those beauties are watching you present your braveness...¡±


    The words from the man with the silky hat were extremely aggressive. Combined with his passionate voice and the mood, he had created a splendid performance. As a result, many people among the onlookers became excited and were ferociously discussing with each other, as it was the first time for everyone to hear about what was happening between the Norman Empire and Blackhot City.


    ¡°Tell us, what is happening between the Norman Empire and Blackhot City right now?¡± a young man among the onlookers asked loudly.


    ¡°You guys really don¡¯t know? Haven¡¯t your teachers told you about it? Several days ago, a very terrible incident had happened in Blackhot City. The northern border army of the Norman Empire have been grooming their war horses and training their troops in preparations to invade Blackhot City, your hometown. That¡¯s why, Blackhot City is currently in its weakest state. This is the most critical moment for the brave men of Blackhot City to stand out and do something for the sake of their hometown...¡±


    At this moment, the crowd became restless. Since they have stayed here for almost 20 days now, many of them truly did not know what was happening in Blackhot City. Having been incited by Samira, everyone became restless.


    Within the crowd, Zhang Tie frowned, as he instinctively felt that there was something wrong with the words spoken by the man with the silky hat. Although the others didn¡¯t know what recovery medication was, Zhang Tie certainly knew what it was, as he had worked in Donder¡¯s grocery store for a long time and that store even had two of such items. According to Donder, in Blackhot City, even the price of the lowest quality recovery medication would never drop below 10 gold coins. This was simply something that was never meant to be available to the commoners and common soldiers. However, this bastard had lied to them and was inciting them to go get these two items in the Crescent Prairie, causing them to lose their mind. It was obvious that he had bad intentions towards them.


    Sweeping his gaze over the flustered students, Zhang Tie instantly saw Zerom frowning and gloomily glaring at the man who was gritting his teeth and loudly inciting the student. Rolling his eyes, an idea came to Zhang Tie¡¯s mind.


    He silently retreated back into the crowd and lowered his body before shouting loudly.


    ¡°Everyone, don¡¯t listen to him! That guy is telling a lie! He wants us to be cannon fodder in Crescent Prairie. Even the most common of recovery medication would cost more than 10 gold coins per vial and is simply something our relatives cannot afford. We should listen to our teachers. If something has happened in Blackhot City, then our teachers would let us know. Don¡¯t listen to that strange fellow¡¯s provocative words...¡±


    Although these young, horny students were always impulsive, it wasn¡¯t as if there was something wrong with their minds. Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s warning, many of the horny students realized that they didn¡¯t have a reason to trust this strange fellow. At the very least, was there a relationship between a recovery medication that was worth more than ten gold coins and their relatives? Why should they have to risk their lives in the Crescent Prairie?


    Standing below the notice board, Samira was so angry that his face had even begun to twitch. Earlier, he was waiting for a great number of students to help him make money, but unexpectedly, someone had jumped out to give him trouble and had exposed him.


    ¡°Who!? Who said that!? Come out!¡± Samira hysterically growled with a vicious expression while his eyes swept over the crowd of many students before him.


    After stealthily moving to another place, Zhang Tie pinched his nose and shouted again, ¡°That fellow gets exposed and now he¡¯s infuriated. Brothers, look at his terrifying triangular eyes that are in the shape of a poisonous snake¡¯s head. That¡¯s definitely what a sinister person looks like! A kind-hearted person would not have such terrifying, triangular eyes. Tell your friends not to be cheated by that guy! Don¡¯t help him make money by risking your lives! We will stay in Wild Wolf Valley and never go to the Crescent Prairie...¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, the horny students began to fervently discuss and many of them had even begun to study the shape of Samira¡¯s eyes. Descriptive words like ¡°terrifying triangular eyes¡±, ¡°the shape of a poisonous snake¡¯s head¡±, and ¡°how a sinister person looks like¡± were really lethal. At this time, Samira became so furious that he jumped up from the ground and his face had turned purple. However, facing the doubting eyes, he had no other choice but to force a smile...


    As the students were noisily discussing, Zhang Tie silently slid out from the crowd and went to meet up with Barley and Doug. Seeing what was happening in the crowd, Zerom¡¯s expression was really resplendent. Since the moment Zhang Tie had spoken, he had already realized that it was Zhang Tie¡¯s voice. What Zhang Tie had performed just now had really shocked him. He would never have expected that Zhang Tie could see through Samira¡¯s lies and would alert the onlookers by shouting in public, all the while not being caught. Zhang Tie had done everything that Zerom had wanted to and had even done it perfectly. As Zhang Tie was leaving, those excited, horny animals had already begun to discuss Samira¡¯s looks and his terrifying, triangular eyes...


    Zhang Tie had exchanged his three wolf hides for a bit more than 4 kg of rations, though Barley said that Zhang Tie had suffered a loss, as the price of the three wolf hides were more than 20 silver coins and the commercial transportation team had only given Zhang Tie ten silver coins worth of rations. Seeing this, Doug had also become furious.


    Despite this, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t particularly care about it; instead, he placated Barley and Doug. As they were about to leave Wild Wolf Castle, Zhang Tie had caught sight of Burwick. Surrounded by a great number of people, Burwick walked over high-spiritedly, while every person following him was holding onto several wolf hides. With a casual glance, one could see approximately a hundred wolf hides...


    Everybody gave way to Burwick. At that moment, Burwick was extremely eye-catching. However, at the sight of Burwick¡¯s calm face that hid his pride, Zhang Tie suddenly thought of the man with the silky hat.


    ¡°Could Burwick be working with Samira?¡±


    A thought suddenly came to Zhang Tie¡¯s mind!


    ¡°What is happening in Blackhot City? Has the letter I sent to the military of Blackhot been received? Did it catch the eyes of the management of Blackhot City ? Are mom, dad, and elder brother ok?¡±


    What that guy had said still silently shocked Zhang Tie¡¯s mind.


    Soon after Zhang Tie, Barley, and Doug had left Wild Wolf Castle, the Temporary Supervision Committee, who was responsible for this survival training, posted a notice in the square of Wild Wolf Castle, which introduced what had happened between Blackhot City and the Andaman Alliance in the past weeks. All the horny students learned that many big events had happened in Blackhot City and Andaman Alliance within the month they had attended the survival training. Knowing that the Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty were baring their sharp fangs so quickly towards Blackhot City and the Andaman Alliance, everybody was startled.


    Could it be that a war between the Andaman Alliance, the Norman Empire, and the Sun Dynasty was waiting for their graduation?


    A special atmosphere started to cover Wild Wolf Valley!


    ¡­¡­

 96 A Small Figure’s Selfishness

    Chapter 96: A Small Figure¡¯s Selfishness


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    On the highest point of Wild Wolf Castle, besides the blue flag, there was another flag; there was a red flag raised up, which meant that important news or a notice had been released. Even from several kilometers away from Wild Wolf Castle, everyone could see that red flag.


    On the evening when Zhang Tie had sent back Pandora and a group of girls who had wanted to form a team with the Hit-Plane Brotherhood to Wild Wolf Castle, Zhang Tie had already known of the contents of that notice.


    Compared to the amazed expressions of the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, Zhang Tie had already mentally prepared himself for the arrival of this piece of news. While everyone in Wild Wolf Valley was noisily discussing the situation in Blackhot City, not a single one of them knew that Zhang Tie was the one who had accidentally triggered the entire incident in Blackhot City. This event was the hottest topic both in Wild Wolf Valley and Blackhot City. As for the identity of the one that had sent out the letter which started the entire incident in Blackhot City, nobody was able to give an answer; however, the government of Blackhot City did exert all their efforts in an attempt to find this person, but in the end, it was still not enough to reverse the flow of time back to the day when the mysterious person had sent that letter through the mailbox by the post office located in the city square of Blackhot City. It had already turned into a secret that would never be revealed. It was only when this event had broken out in Blackhot City that everyone knew that the Red-scarf Burglars, who were well-prepared and were conspiring with the Niumuen Business Group to take over Blackhot City both internally and externally, had been lurking in a hidden location that was less than 150 km away from Blackhot City. When the Niumuen Business Group was swept out by the army of Blackhot City and had schemes exposed, the Red-scarf Burglars retreated from their hiding spot like a pack of wolves, and when they had reappeared, they caused a disaster in Lance City and involved the Sun Dynasty in this chaos, leading them to confronting the Andaman Alliance.


    ¡°Mysterious Warner¡±¡ªthat was the nickname that Zhang Tie had received when the incident broke out in Blackhot City. Some said that the ¡°Mysterious Warner¡¯, the person who had started the incident in Blackhot City, was a bandit that was part of the Red-scarf Burglars, some said that this ¡°Mysterious Warner¡± was a top fighter who lived in seclusion in Blackhot City, while there were also some who said that this ¡°Mysterious Warner¡± was a political enemy of Marshal Lin Changjiang, the governor of the northern border of the Norman Empire¡­ There were all kinds of speculations about the ¡°Mysterious Warner¡±; however, no one had guessed that the ¡°Mysterious Warner¡± was actually just an ordinary youth from an ordinary national male middle school situated in Blackhot City that was currently attending a survival training in Wild Wolf Valley. Not to mention, the same youth had even almost destroyed an influential figure¡¯s intention to obtain recovery medication in Blackhot City.


    Sometimes, there were rumors that were grounded with strong logic, and there were also various possibilities that seemed true; however, truth was something that was always extremely dramatic, as the people¡¯s daily lives and the earthly world doesn¡¯t give one the opportunity to be rational and logical. This was just like a famous story on the well-known Butterfly Effect[1]. There was once a blacksmith who had dropped a nail on the ground, which later injured a horse¡¯s hoof. Because the horse was wounded, the knight who rode it lost a battle, which directly influenced the war between two nations, finally leading to the destruction of a country.


    Zhang Tie had learned this theory in science class at school. It was only when he had heard of the incident in Blackhot City did Zhang Tie realize that what he had rightly done was drop the nail that wounded the horse¡¯s hoof. After walking into Huck, who had already been killed by Zhang Tie, near the railway station, he had changed so many things.


    The ¡°nail¡± had truly changed some of the details and slowed the development of the situation; however, the Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty were already rolling without stop towards the Andaman Alliance and Blackhot City, much like huge wheels with unstoppable momentum. Just the start of the huge, rolling wheels had already created great waves in Wild Wolf Valley.


    Many of the people here had to serve in the army after graduation, which meant that they would have to directly face these two huge forces, the Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty, and perhaps they may even fight the army of these two countries on the battlefield, thus all the students attending the survival training in Wild Wolf Valley felt as if a huge burden had been placed on their fates. Facing the incoming and uncertain future, many people felt confused and frightened.


    Tonight, with the exception of Zhang Tie, everyone else in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood was trying their best to cultivate the basic skills of Iron-Blood Fist. They continued to do so until they were all extremely fatigued and were gasping as they laid on the grass.


    In truth, Zhang Tie could actually stick to it for a while longer; however, when he saw Bagdad, with eyes fixed on him, practicing the Lying-Tiger Stake as the blue veins on his forehead especially stood out, Zhang Tie could only pretend to be exhausted before throwing himself onto the ground. Ten seconds after Zhang Tie had ¡°given up¡±, Bagdad, who was no longer able to hold on, also heaved a deep sigh and ended his practice. For Bagdad, if he couldn¡¯t remain the strongest fighter in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, then it would be a great strike to his pride.


    Two moons hung in the sky¡ªone was a silver crescent, while the other was a pale blue full moon; one was big, while the other was small. The moonlight cascaded down and enveloped Wild Wolf Valley with a layer of a beautiful, pale blue, and white brilliance. Accompanied by the two moons, the stars in the sky looked particularly splendent, the cicadas on the Dragon-Claw Trees were chirping, the crickets in the grass were tweeting, while the howls of the looming wolves drifted over; the entire Wild Wolf Valley was extremely tranquil.


    The members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood simply laid there and silently looked at the sky for more than ten minutes.


    ¡°If I was killed on the battlefield, someone who is still alive among you must remember to hand over my pension to my family since that amount of money could allow my two younger brothers to live a bit better!¡± Sharwin silently opened his mouth. Sharwin was good in all aspects, except he was too pessimistic sometimes.


    ¡°You¡¯d better stay alive. If you die, we would only use your pension to sleep with women and let your bastard dad and two younger brothers go to hell!¡± Hista cursed.


    ¡°Bastard!¡± Sharwin cursed in a low voice before he laughed out loudly.


    ¡°I heard the Iron-Horn Army Group under the flagship of Lin Changjiang, the governor of the Northern Border Army Group of Norman Empire, and the Brilliant Feathers of the Sun Dynasty are both composed of war maniacs and madmen. Do you think we might encounter them?¡± Doug said dejectedly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be that pessimistic. We should not be that unlucky to have to fight against the armies of the Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty. As for the entire Andaman Alliance, those two countries are two super powers, each of whom is much more powerful than the Andaman Alliance. Because of this great gap in force, if there truly is a battle with any one of the two countries, the Andaman Alliance would definitely lose. Since the wealthy big figures are definitely more afraid of death than us, I think that a war would not break out. For the Andaman Alliance, this is a war that they are doomed to lose, and they would never bet on this war at the risk of their own lives. Two kids with the same strength might fight over a piece of candy, but a tough man would never fight a kid, let alone two tough men fighting a kid at the same time...¡± Lying on the ground, Leit said so.


    ¡°Hmm, I feel that Leit¡¯s words are reasonable. We don¡¯t need to feel that stressed!¡± Barley added.


    ¡°Even if a war doesn¡¯t break out, the Andaman Alliance would still not have a bright future. In the history of Blackson Human Clan Corridor, it has always consisted of at most 70 city-states; however, this number has been gradually decreasing. In the end, every city-state would see one of two outcomes. The first would be the emergence of a talented or mighty figure who would unite them all into a country. The other would be that the city-states would break apart and be annexed by the surrounding powers. For the Andaman Alliance, it doesn¡¯t have a talented or mighty figure, and under their eyes, the Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty would never allow it to become a united country, thus the final outcome for the Andaman Alliance and Blackhot City might be being annexed by either the Norman Empire or the Sun Dynasty. Once annexed, this region would face high coercion for at least the next few dozen years. If this matter cannot be settled through peaceful manners, then even if we don¡¯t die on the battlefields, we would not be able to live well in the future...¡± Sharwin continued to speak in a pessimistic way.


    Hearing Sharwin¡¯s words, everyone became silent once again. No one rebutted, as they all knew that Sharwin was telling the heaviest and undeniable truth.


    ¡°So you¡¯re saying that even if we¡¯re not cannon fodder on the battlefield, we would be slaves after our country dies. Hmm, although the Andaman Alliance and Blackhot City cannot be considered a country, it''s almost the same!¡± Hista said dejectedly.


    ¡°For this event, I feel¡­ it will be settled through peaceful means!¡± Barley said in an unconfident and low voice.


    ¡°But, I have always felt that something is off. The Andaman Alliance, the Sun Dynasty, and the Norman Empire have maintained peace for over half a century, so why are they giving us trouble now at the same time?¡± Doug suddenly hit the key point like an idiot.


    Not knowing the reason, when he heard Doug¡¯s words, Zhang Tie suddenly thought back to the squirrels that were busily storing pine nuts in the trees to survive through the winter.


    ¡°No matter what reason it is, if it is related to us, we will know about it sooner or later. That¡¯s why, we don¡¯t need to rack our brains on that matter...¡± Bagdad gloomily said. ¡°The most important thing for us right now is to improve our own strength. As you know, in this age, people without strength will not have freedom. Only when we have strength could we control our own fate. If we are well-practiced in the Iron-Blood Fist Skill, then why would we need to be concerned about these boring questions?¡±


    ¡°Bighead, why are you silent? Aren¡¯t you worried...¡± Lying on the ground, Barley turned his head and asked Zhang Tie.


    ¡°I think you are all right. But to tell you the truth, I don¡¯t really care about the future of Blackhot City and the Andaman Alliance too much. Perhaps it is because I am Chinese, a minority in Blackhot City of the Andaman Alliance. I am not able to assume any more responsibilities for the fate of the Andaman Alliance and Blackhot City. My family has already sacrificed one life for the Andaman Alliance and Blackhot City. No matter what, I do not want my family to sacrifice another life for them, and neither would I make such a sacrifice. I only have a few desires in my life. As long as my loved ones can live well, as long as I have enough money and beloved women, then I will be satisfied...¡± Looking at the beautiful stars in the sky, Zhang Tie forced a smile. What happened in Blackhot City and the Andaman Alliance really shocked him a lot. Although he had changed the speed of the development to some degree, he realized he couldn¡¯t change the final outcome. At the very least, the fate of his loved ones have not changed at all. This was the cause of the feelings of frustrations and powerlessness that small figures would feel.


    Bagdad¡¯s words were true. Instead of hoping for the world to develop like your imagination, it was better to make yourself stronger, as this was true strength. In contrast, everything else was bullsh*t. For Zhang Tie himself, if he wanted to become powerful, he would have to depend on the Castle of Black Iron and the small tree within.


    Although Zhang Tie had never thought that he was selfish, sometimes, the Castle of Black Iron and the small tree brought Zhang Tie a sense of selfishness. If this age could be seen as a large wheel that was rolling forward, then Zhang Tie felt that, with the exception of himself, who was someone who could jump out of its path and stay in his own world, everyone else could only be chased by the large wheel that surged forth as they oozed sweat all over. The world where Zhang Tie stayed in was also a wheel that only belonged to Zhang Tie. Although it was very small, Zhang Tie could happily push it forward in a speed faster than the others. Soon after, the others would be far behind him and his world. Zhang Tie felt that he was truly a bit heartless; although everyone else was concerned about the future of Blackhot City and the Andaman ALliance, he was just thinking about how many mining baskets filled with ores he should move into the Castle of Black Iron in order to quickly increase the amount of basic energy storage inside. While everyone was worried about turning into slaves in the occupied areas in the future, Zhang Tie was thinking about his circumcision after the completion of the survival training. ¡° Damn it! It truly does not feel good to be a virgin among a group of horny students.¡± Honestly, Zhang Tie really didn¡¯t think that the fate of the Andaman Alliance and Blackhot city was more important than his circumcision surgery. ¡°Am I selfish? If this is being selfish, then I prefer to be selfish. Who f*cking decided that the future of the Andaman Alliance and Blackhot City is more important than my future? Who the f*ck decided that the ¡®sexual pleasures¡¯ of the privileged figures are more important than my ¡®sexual pleasures¡¯? Who the f*ck decided that a small figure like me has to share difficulties with the big figures, but not the pleasures? F*ck, I will do what I can do and I will enjoy myself. So what!?¡±


    In the current situation, it was as if many naked people were struggling to rush forward in the snowfield in order to escape the snowstorm that was chasing them. In contrast, Zhang Tie was sitting inside the train and was eating hot pot, leaving the group of people behind along with the ¡°crack crack¡± sounds made by the moving train. This was another lifestyle that had been brought by the Castle of Black Iron and that small tree. If he didn¡¯t have the small tree and the Castle of Black Iron, then Zhang Tie would have been just like them; he would have been a member of the people rushing forward in the snowfield as they tried to escape from the snowstorm that was chasing them. Fortunately, he had that small tree and the Castle of Black Iron, allowing him to sit in the train to enjoy hot pot. If he could enjoy such a good treatment, then why not enjoy it? Anyone with a normal mind would make this choice!


    ¡­¡­


    It was Zhang Tie¡¯s turn to be on duty for the first half of the evening tonight. Crouching in a pit on the tree, Zhang Tie watched and listened to the surroundings while visualizing an abacus in his mind as he practiced mental arithmetic using the abacus. He practiced various operations. He did addition and subtraction with numbers between 1 to 1000. He did multiplication with any two digit numbers, any two digit numbers with three digit numbers, and any two digit numbers with four digit numbers; he had even done the reverse with division. Over the past few days, Zhang Tie hadn¡¯t give up on practicing mental arithmetics using the abacus, and as a result, he has made steady improvements to his calculation skills. Now, with just a glimpse, he would easily get the answer of any addition or subtraction problem within three digits, and any multiplication or division problem between two digit numbers. Additionally, as a benefit of his boring yet self-gratifying training, his spiritual energy had also gradually increased. Compared to his spiritual energy when he had started the survival training, Zhang Tie¡¯s spiritual energy had already increased by about 2%.


    It was only when Barley had replaced him for the second half of the night did Zhang Tie climb back into his own hole to sleep. At the sight of Zhang Tie, Barley was also curious. While the others always looked extremely tired the morning after their duty, how come this guy becomes even more high-spirited when he finishes his duty? Could it be that he had adapted to the nightlife?


    After he finished practicing mental arithmetic using the abacus, Zhang Tie lied down, but he did not fall asleep; instead, he silently injected his spiritual energy into the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit, leading to him entering another virtual world...


    ¡­¡­


    It was the same dusk, the same valley, the same path, the same grass where the wolves had drilled out and charged towards him. Zhang Tie waved his dagger towards them...


    Several minutes later, the three wolves turned into corpses once again. Looking at that wound on his hand that was left by the sharp fang of one of the wolves, Zhang Tie shook his head¡­


    Boom...


    Everything turned into specks of lights.


    ¡­¡­


    One minute later, after Zhang Tie injected his spiritual energy into that Trouble-Reappearance Fruit to activate the same scene once again, Zhang Tie entered it for the second time tonight.


    It was the same dusk, the same valley, the same path, and the same grass...


    This time, Zhang Tie changed his ¡°trick¡±. Before the wolves had drilled out of the grass, Zhang Tie had already rushed into the grass to fight the three wolves with his dagger. However, after this trial, Zhang Tie realized that grass was more restrictive to humans than it was to wolves. In fact, the latter even had more advantages in the grass. The result of this fight was that Zhang Tie once again became afraid of death and pain...


    ¡­¡­


    Zhang Tie then exited the scene and rushed inside one minute later...


    Zhang Tie repeated this process until his spiritual energy was exhausted. When he could no longer activate the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit, he fell asleep.


    ¡­¡­


    The other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood would never know that this guy sleeping beside them had already experienced eight life-or-death fights with three wolves in a hidden place which only existed in Zhang Tie¡¯s mind within half an hour since he finished his duty. Through fighting many times, Zhang Tie had suffered less wounds than before, and the three wolves had died faster than before...


    Before he fell asleep, one last thought appeared in his mind¡ªmaybe I should jump into that deep hole left by the Gold-Eating Boas again tomorrow and see what kind of feeling it will give...


    [1] Butterfly Effect: A small matter triggers successively bigger events. Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect

 97 Framed

    Chapter 97: Framed


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Today, the news of Burwick leading his ¡°Male Lion Association¡±, which was composed of a group of horny students from the Seventh National Male Middle School, to cooperate with the Samira Business Group from Blackhot City had become the biggest news in Wild Wolf Castle. They had marched towards Crescent Prairie to hunt golden wolves as well as to pick Goose-neck Grass.


    To support them, the Samira Business Group had provided Burwick¡¯s team several crates of rations and had also gifted Burwick a war blade, an entire set of armor, and several sets of equipment used to hunt wolves. With these items in hand, Burwick and his lackeys held a magnificent pledge ceremony in the square of Wild Wolf Castle. After the pledge ceremony, Burwick, like a general, led the group of more than 200 ¡°Male Lion Association¡± members to march towards Crescent Prairie.


    Almost one fifth of the students attending this survival training from the Seventh National Male Middle School followed Burwick to prepare for the march towards Crescent Prairie.


    At this pledge ceremony, in the square, many girls screamed Burwick¡¯s name as their eyes were fixed on Burwick¡¯s fascinating smile and his brilliant blonde hair. Currently, Burwick had been so well known among the students attending this survival training that he was even regarded as the best one among all the students who were attending this survival training.


    Because of the magnificent scene, many of the horny students became hot-blooded, as even they had dreamed of being Burwick, someone who could enjoy the cheers from the girls. The news of Burwick leading his team on their march towards Crescent Valley to hunt the LV 2 golden wolves and to forage for Goose-neck Grass, which were ingredients that could be used to save lives, was publicized in a heroic manner by the Samira¡¯s Business Group as they called it a righteous action, causing Burwick to turn into a hero as well as the most brilliant star in this survival training in the eyes of many girls. .


    While Burwick became the star in the eyes of all the other students, Zhang Tie, who was like a miner, was watching Buwick¡¯s brilliance as he stood on one side of the square. He had been wearing the same mining clothes for three consecutive days. Mining was something which made it hard for people to remain clean and tidy, and as such, Zhang Tie¡¯s clothes and face both looked dirty. After working hard for an entire morning, the sweat covering his forehead and temples would sketch several clear mud marks onto his face. Simply by being close to him, girls with a keen sense of smell would be able to smell his sweat. Compared to the general-like Burwick, who was equipped with an entire set of armor, Zhang Tie was absolutely a peasant; there truly was a sharp contrast between them.


    Zhang Tie looked at those high-spirited, horny students of the ¡°Male Lion Association¡± with eyes that contained a slight gloominess and sympathy as he cursed inwardly¡ªidiots!


    Burwick¡¯s ambitions and his mercilessness had both shocked Zhang Tie as well as made him alert. Because a golden wolf was a LV 2 beast, even Burwick, a LV 1 soldier who had ignited his Shrine burning point, should know that no matter how well the members of the Male Lion Association could cooperate with each other, if they wanted to keep the marrow fresh when they sent it to Blackhot City, then they would have to surround the golden wolves before hunting them. If a group of LV 0 soldiers were to do this, then there would definitely be casualties. Despite this, Burwick was still prepared to use his influence and the trust placed in him by those horny students to go through with this. This meant that those horny students were merely stepping stones in his heart, ones which could be sacrificed at any time. If Glaze was a ferocious wolf who was ready to bare his fangs, then Burwick would be a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing. Burwick was more sinister and more terrifying, as he had hidden his ambitions and mercilessness, pretending to be harmless among a pack of sheep, thus he looked much more dangerous and was able to confuse others.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t intend to be something great nor did he plan to be some motherf*cking righteous messenger. He felt that even if he spoke up at this moment, it would not work on those horny guys, as the blood had already rushed to their head. Anyone who was able to capture a golden wolf or pick a stalk of Goose-neck Grass would be rewarded with an excellent war blade. Although this compensation given by the Samira Business Group was very cheap, for many students, it still made the blood rush to their heads. Exchanging one¡¯s life for a weapon that would be used to serve others at the cost of one¡¯s life¡ªZhang Tie truly looked down on such compensation and felt as if it was an insult to his intelligence. However, facing such compensation, some of the horny students looked extremely excited, which really caused Zhang Tie to be at a loss for words. Perhaps those horny students still dreamt of being referred to Master Abyan by the Samira Business Group if they performed well, letting him know of their name and perhaps allowing them to become his assistant or apprentice. To become an assistant or an apprentice of Master Abyan was a rare opportunity that was akin to taking a step towards heaven. There was no person who didn¡¯t want to become the next Li Shizhen, a student from the Seventh National Male Middle School from many years ago who had been chosen to be an apprentice of the Pharmacists Association. However, because this promise was made by the man with the silky hat named Samira, Zhang Tie completely treated it as bullsh*t. Nevertheless, there were still many people who trusted his words. Those fellows didn¡¯t realize that even if Samira¡¯s words were true, Burwick would be the one to obtain the opportunity to be promoted and not them. The fact was that after a war, there would be piles of corpses from soldiers that were as high as a mountain, yet the only one who would earn reputation and praise would be the general!


    In Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes, this expedition was a trap which used the weaknesses of human nature; this trap was a huge pit which was dug on the basis of trust and greed and was also the most common trap. Clear-minded people would be able to see through it at the first sight; however, there would always be people who would jump in, and Zhang Tie would not be able to stop them. He felt as if he had already done what he should have done. What the others decided to do would be their choice. At any moment, he is not obliged to sacrifice himself for the safety of others.


    ¡°Besides yourself, nobody is responsible for your life. Horny students, I hope that you will learn to understand the motto of our school¡ª¡®Welcome to the Age of Black Iron¡¯. After having stayed at school for three years, it seems that you have yet to understand that line. It seems that it¡¯s just like what Donder had said. In this age, the thing that is the blackest and the most iron-like is the human heart,¡± Zhang Tie mumbled inwardly.


    ¡­¡­


    At the end of the pledge ceremony, standing on that temporary platform, Burwick, who always forced a smile and spoke in a very energetic fashion, looked back several times. When he realized that none of the teachers from the Temporary Supervision Committee were present and were not even watching their performance from the walls of the outer castle, Burwick became a bit disappointed.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be disappointed. A recommendation from your school is not more valuable than being known by Master Abyan...¡± Seemingly as if he had seen through the slight disappointment in Burwick¡¯s eyes, Samira consoled him in a low voice that was only audible to Burwick. ¡°Whether or not the military academy of the Andaman Alliance would still exist in the future is uncertain; however, no matter who rules Blackhot City, Master Abyan would still be able to garner absolute respect. As a smart individual, you should understand what I mean!¡±


    ¡°I know what to do!¡± Burwick replied in low voice.


    ¡°Good luck then. I almost forgot to tell you. There¡¯s a student from your school named Glaze that reached out to me because he also wanted to get this opportunity to be introduced to Master Abyan. As for whether there are more great figures in your school who dream for this opportunity, this is something that I do not know. That¡¯s why, young man, you need to work hard. Only the most excellent people would be able to obtain this opportunity!¡± Samira added.


    ¡°I will try my best!¡± Hearing Samira¡¯s words, Burwick¡¯s face slightly became stiff before catching sight of Zhang Tie, who was not eye-catching, in the distance. Although Zhang Tie was not eye-catching, his mining basket certainly was. At the sight of Zhang Tie, Burwick¡¯s eyes became filled with excitement. He then turned and told Samira with a smile, ¡°Hmm, I forgot to tell you. That person in the crowd who gave you trouble the other day was Zhang Tie, that black-haired brat with the mining basket on his back. I¡¯ve heard that he is already a LV 1 soldier and that Captain Kerlin and Zerom seem to have high hopes for him!¡±


    The corner of Samira¡¯s eyes twitched a couple of times. Even now, Samira still felt that someone in the crowd was cursing him with words like ¡°poisonous snake¡¯s head¡± and ¡°triangular eyes¡±. Samira casually looked at Zhang Tie, who was far away, while forcing a smile on his skinny, horse-like face. ¡°Well, I know what to do!¡±


    ¡°Happy collaboration!¡±


    ¡°Happy collaboration!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    After the pledge ceremony, Burwick and his followers left the small square of Blackhot City in a heroic manner, resulting in the noisy square finally regaining its calm. The moment Burwick¡¯s team left, the Temporary Supervision Committee released a notice to hold a bonfire party in the small square tonight. According to the notice, the girls will be holding performances like singing and dancing during the bonfire party. Hearing that news, many horny students became excited. Unknown why, at the sight of this notice, Zhang Tie knew the intention of the teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee. It seemed that they did not want the students to risk their lives in the Crescent Prairie.


    The square became boisterous at this time. After reading the notice, the moment those horny students, including Zhang Tie, were to leave, a person walked towards Zhang Tie, and as he passed by, he walked into Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder. With his spiritual energy having increased by sevenfold, Zhang Tie¡¯s senses were also sharp. The moment that person¡¯s shoulder bumped it to his, Zhang Tie sensed something new in his mining basket. If he was average like before, then he never would have noticed something new inside his mining basket, as the mining basket itself was already heavy and even had a hoe inside.


    Motherf*cker, how could they be that bored? Who¡¯s still doing childish pranks like opening my mining basket and throwing stuff inside at the sight of the mining basket on my back? I have already stopped playing that prank of throwing trash in other people¡¯s hood when I was eight years old. The moment Zhang Tie turned around to see who that bastard was, he heard someone shout loudly from several steps behind him.


    ¡°My purse! Where¡¯s my purse? It was here just now, so how could it disappear in such a short period of time?¡±


    ¡°Thief! It must have been stolen...¡±


    F*ck! Zhang Tie¡¯s crisis mechanism was launched within 0.1 seconds. Sh*t, I was set up! F*ck those bastards who want to set me up by throwing that item into my mining basket. Since it was his mining basket, even if he had a hundred mouths, he would still not be able to clearly explain his innocence. When yellow mud fell onto one¡¯s crotch, it would still be regarded as sh*t, even if it wasn¡¯t. Once he was caught by those guys, it would be difficult for Zhang Tie to explain himself, thus he had to instantly leave, only then would he be able to gain the initiative of this battle...


    Immediately, Zhang Tie¡¯s instinct to escape was deducted once again. Without even turning back, Zhang Tie had already surged forward with large strides like a leopard at almost the moment he heard the shouts as he ran towards the foot of the mountain with his maximum speed...


    After that guy shouted, he felt spirited from having attracted the attention from those around him and was prepared to make a performance; however, when he raised his head, he realized that the brat in front of him had already disappeared. At the same time, the other helpers who were to surround Zhang Tie and capture him had also become dumbfounded. ¡°Where¡¯s that brat? How did he escape? Weren¡¯t we just supposed to wait here and capture him along with the purse in his mining basket? Wasn¡¯t that what was supposed to happen? This doesn¡¯t make sense!¡±


    ¡°Purse, my purse...¡± This time, the man truly shrieked with a high pitch. Finally, by the time someone noticed Zhang Tie, he had already been over a hundred meters away and was running towards the downward path.


    ¡°That brat is the thief! Hurry up and arrest him! Arrest the thief¡­¡± The square instantly became noisy as a great number of people rushed towards Zhang Tie...


    Standing from afar, the corner of Samira¡¯s eye twitched. He had never expected that such a performance, which should have been very successful, would turn out like this. For commoners like Zhang Tie, if he realized that he was not the thief, encountering such an incident, wouldn¡¯t he simply turn around and have a look out of curiosity? But how could that brat escape even faster than a rabbit when he heard that shout? Was that a reaction a commoner would have? What kind of freak is that brat?


    ¡°Purse, my purse...¡± When he thought of his purse, Samira jumped up. ¡°Bastard, that was my purse...¡±

 98 Smart Argumen

    Chapter 98: Smart Argument


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    No matter whether one was being chased by wolves or a group of people, especially when it included some LV 3 and LV 4 individuals, it would still not be a pleasant feeling. Seeing the distance between him and the other people behind him gradually narrowing, Zhang Tie was forced to use all the strength he could muster as a soon-to-be LV 2 warrior to escape.


    Like a gust of wind, Zhang Tie, while carrying the mining basket, rushed towards the ore collection center below Wild Wolf Castle. At the sight of Zhang Tie dashing forward, a couple of people at the ore collection center hurriedly asked, ¡°Zhang Tie, what are you running for?¡±


    ¡°Washroom!¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s voice reverberated from afar.


    After Zhang Tie was more than 50 meters away from them, several bodyguards who were responsible for the safety of the Samira Business Group arrived and shouted loudly, ¡°Catch that thief! That guy ahead of us is a thief! Hurry up, catch him!¡±


    Closely following the bodyguards of the Samira Business Group was a group of students with a great sense of righteousness. In this fashion, a great number of people rushed by the ore collection center.


    ¡°This is bad! I have to go report to the teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee and tell them that something is happening here!¡± Noticing that something was amiss, a student who was acquainted with Zhang Tie told the others what he had to do before rushing towards Wild Wolf Castle.


    F*ck, is that brat¡¯s zodiac a rabbit? How could he run so fast? The group of LV 3 and LV 4 Samira Business Group warriors who were chasing Zhang Tie became shocked at his speed. Zhang Tie¡¯s speed was nothing like the speed a normal student should have; however, no matter how fast Zhang Tie could run, there was still a sharp difference between him and the other LV 3 and LV 4 bodyguards. The distance between them gradually shrunk from 100 m to 50 m, then 50 m to 20 m...


    Gritting his teeth, Zhang Tie kept dashing forward as he cursed inside, ¡°F*ck, when I am powerful enough, I will definitely stomp you bastards to death one day!¡± Seeing the mining cave in front of him, Zhang Tie became excited as he increased his speed and directly rushed into the mining cave.


    The sinister smile on the faces of the bodyguards of the Samira Business Group, which were becoming more and more pronounced, suddenly froze when they saw Zhang Tie drilling into the mining cave in front of them. Without any hesitation, they also hurriedly followed him in...


    As Zhang Tie had gone inside this mining save several times over the past few days, he was extremely familiar with the paths inside. This time when he rushed inside, he didn¡¯t have time to ignite a torch, so he simply stretched out his right hand to get a feel for the wall and quickly moved based on his memory without showing any signs of having slowed his steps.


    Because the bodyguards of the Samira Business Group who were following him were not able to see in the darkness and were unfamiliar with the topography inside, after traversing a bit more than 20 m inside the cave, the man at the foremost front had already hit his head on the wall in a corner of the cave and made a shrill shriek.


    ¡°Quickly find a torch! Quickly find a torch! It¡¯s too dark inside! We can¡¯t clearly see him. The brat ran into the hole...¡±


    Hearing the shrill shriek and the furious voice behind him, Zhang Tie, who slightly slowed down his steps, showed a trace of a cold sneer. Damn. You guys wanted to set me up, so this father will frame you back!


    The path inside this mining cave was very long and was about 1 km in length. After running for about 100 m, when Zhang Tie no longer heard the voices behind him, he searched for a torch in his mining basket. After igniting it, he continued to run inside to the place where he usually mined ores and was able to hear the ¡°crack crack¡± sounds made by the hoes hitting the walls. When he finally reached the mini cave on the side, he put out the torch and heavily gasped for air.


    At this moment, darkness was truly the color which could protect him the most.


    Zhang Tie heavily panted for roughly two minutes. After recovering his composure, Zhang Tie hurriedly closed his eyes and locked onto the mysterious arched door in his mind before entering the Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡­¡­


    Within the Castle of Black Iron, it was bright and warm everywhere...


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    The same dialogue box with the same greeting appeared, but this time, Zhang Tie was not in the mood to read it in the least and instead poured out all the contents of his mining basket onto the ground. As expected, a delicate purse made from deer hide was found. As he took out the purse, Zhang Tie opened it and gave a casual glance at the contents inside. At the sight of more than 20 shiny gold coins and a handsome amount of silver coins, Zhang Tie laughed out loudly.


    Throwing the purse into the sundry box, Zhang Tie thought about it twice and decided to swap his dagger with the one that Donder had gifted him. Heaving a deep sigh, he exited the Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡­¡­


    More than 10 minutes later, a great number of brilliant flames poured into the underground mines, causing it to turn particularly bright. At the sight of the burning torches, Zhang Tie sneered and began to mine for ores inside his own mining hole in the same rhythm as usual. It was only when the bright group of torches arrived at the mouth of his mining cave several minutes later did Zhang Tie put down his iron hoe. Tightening the grip on the dagger on his waist, he walked out of the hole calmly with a burning torch in hand as if nothing had happened.


    ¡°Ahyaya, what¡¯s going on? Why are there so many people digging in the mines here today?¡± Looking at the burning torches moving inside, Zhang Tie looked pretty shocked and exclaimed.


    ¡°Brat, we finally caught you. Obediently let us arrest you!¡± said a man with a blue nose and a torch in hand. It was as if he had been ferociously punched by another person.


    ¡°What do you mean by ¡®obediently let us arrest you¡¯? Who the f*ck are you? I am mining here as usual, so why are you telling me to ¡®obediently let us arrest you¡¯? Zhang Tie gave a strange look before suddenly cursing loudly and ferociously.


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, the faces of the men with the burning torches in hand suddenly twitched.


    ¡°Brat, you¡¯re still going to argue? Just now, it was obviously that you were the one who had stolen my purse. We chased you from the square of Wild Wolf Castle all the way to here, yet you¡¯re pretending that nothing has happened? Everyone here could testify for us!¡± another guy with a burning torch in hand said. This was exactly the person who had bumped into Zhang Tie in the square of Wild Wolf Castle.


    ¡°I stole your purse?¡± Zhang Tie jumped up from the ground. ¡°I could steal your mom, your grandma, your sister, but I would never steal your purse. Although we are not in Blackhot City now, I could still report you to the Temporary Supervision Committee for slander!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t talk crap with him. Just take him down first!¡± said the guy with the broken nose.


    ¡°Who the hell dares to touch me!?¡± Zhang Tie instantly pulled out the dagger from his waist and ferociously glared at the people who wanted to move forward, causing them to be startled. They never expected Zhang Tie would use his weapon to fight back. After pulling out his dagger, Zhang Tie changed his expression and shouted towards the other horny students who had followed them in, ¡°Fellow students, I am Zhang Tie, a student from Seventh National Male Middle School. Since these guys are disturbing my survival training by framing me for stealing a purse and are trying to forcefully arrest me, a bit later, if I stab them to death, then please be my witness. This is the only thing I can do to protect myself. Is there any brother among you that could help me go fetch the Temporary Supervision Committee!?¡±


    Some students who had followed them in the hole immediately became flustered. ¡°Aren¡¯t we here to capture a thief? Why does he look so confident?¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you steal a purse in the square just now? We heard their shouts to capture a thief, so we followed them in. If you weren¡¯t the one who had stolen the purse, then why did you run?¡±


    ¡°I had a stomachache just now and needed to go to the washroom. That¡¯s why I quickly ran back just now...¡± Zhang Tie explained as if it was true.


    Seeing the ¡°fact¡± having deviated so much from the ¡°script¡±, the group of people from the Samira Business Group became anxious, and one of the men had surged forward towards Zhang Tie and placed his hands onto Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulders, aiming to directly take Zhang Tie down.


    Seeing that guy confidently attacking him, Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes flashed with an icy glint. Instead of retreating backwards, Zhang Tie moved forward and directly stabbed his dagger towards the throat of that person as his blade shone in a shiny, icy light.


    Including all the other miners and the other bodyguards of the Samira Business Group, Zhang Tie¡¯s move had startled everyone. Such a move was truly sharp and ferocious. With his eyes fixed on that person¡¯s throat, Zhang Tie¡¯s move was extremely fast and precise. This simple set of gestures and basic dagger training were something that he had learned at school and was used with a sense full of unspeakable sharpness, braveness, and valor. The series of consistent moves could never be completed by a normal student; it was similar to the moves used by a veteran soldier on the battlefields who have been used to fights where one move would determine life and death.


    The moment Zhang Tie moved, the face of the bodyguard from the Samira Business Group who had tried to take him down twitched. Zhang Tie¡¯s reaction reminded him of the master sergeant that had taught him how to fight when he had just joined the army. Any move and fighting skill used by that master sergeant would be both aggressive and frightening. At this critical moment, that bodyguard had no time to change his move. Reluctantly, he lowered his body with his face facing the sky, resulting in a sharp breeze from Zhang Tie¡¯s dagger closely flying over his forehead...


    Such a series of risky moves made everyone else exclaim...


    ¡°Watch out...¡±


    Soon after the exclamations of the onlookers, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t pull back his right hand and had instead surged forward in front to the center of that person, using his left hand to complete a Hammer Punch, a skill from the Iron-Blood Fist Skill repertoire, onto that person¡¯s stomach.


    Hammer Punch was a very powerful skill that turned the impact of a punch to be one akin to a blow from a hammer.


    With a sound of a ¡°Bang!¡±, the man, who was off balance, was hit and was sent flying three meters back before falling onto the ground at the place where he had started his attack on Zhang Tie.


    All of a sudden, the entire mining cave became extremely silent; at this moment, even the sound of a needle falling onto the ground could be heard. Aside from the ¡°Zi Zi¡± sounds that came from the burning torches, nothing else could be heard. Everyone was staring at Zhang Tie with wide opened eyes as if they had seen a ghost. Among the onlookers, there were even some who couldn¡¯t believe their eyes and began to rub their eyes to make sure that what they had just seen was true. ¡°Was what we saw just now real? How could a student attending the survival training beat a Samira Business Group bodyguard, who¡¯s at least LV 3, and send him flying backwards? Are you kidding me?¡± The onlookers couldn¡¯t believe their eyes., and at the same time, Zhang Tie also became slightly excited, as the moment he fought back against the bodyguard, he had realized that what he had practiced in the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit had finally shown its effects. It seemed that the dagger training he had done at school over the past three years had greatly improved after repetitive practicing in the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit. The moves that could only be described as normal were now ferocious and an applicable fighting skill. Luckily, what he could do in the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit could replicate in reality...

 99 Verbal Defense

    Chapter 99: Verbal Defense


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    In the cave, everybody had their eyes fixed on Zhang Tie...


    Remaining at his current spot, Zhang Tie, who had just hit a bodyguard and had sent him flying, crossed his hands behind his body and coldly stared at the bodyguards of the Samira Business Group. Ignoring the comments from the onlookers, Zhang Tie felt that his current gesture was heroic; however, in the eyes of those who knew fighting skills, they understood that this was the ¡°Hidden Blade Move¡± that was always seen during dagger training. With the dagger behind him, this caused people to not know where the dagger was nor did they know whether the dagger was in his left hand or in his right hand. The dagger could also be put beside his waist, which frightened the others, as this increased the number of possible moves. This was the essence of the ¡°Hidden Blade Move¡±. Sometimes, a sharp, hidden blade could be more frightening than a blade that was exposed in the sun.


    After the short fight, Zhang Tie stood there with this ¡°Hidden Blade Move¡±, causing everyone to be shocked. Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s cool gesture, the eyes of the onlookers all shone. Now, even those who had doubted Zhang Tie¡¯s words had started to trust him. The reason was simple, and that was because Zhang Tie¡¯s Qi field and his status really matched with his ¡°Hidden Blade Move¡±. Instead of showing your purity and heroicness, this move was used to hide your killing intent. Anyone who saw Zhang Tie¡¯s heroicness that was brought from his strong Qi field by his ¡°Hidden Blade Move¡± would not believe that Zhang Tie was a thief. Everyone knew that a rhinoceros would never drill into a mouse¡¯s den. A person¡¯s spiritual energy and Qi field would leave the deepest impression on the hearts of others, and they were more persuasive than any words.


    ¡°So this is the true Hidden Blade Move...¡± Some of the horny students among the onlookers mumbled as they cast their eyes full of admiration and worship onto Zhang Tie. This was the first time they had witnessed someone among the undergraduates attending the survival training applying a fighting skill that had been taught at school so skillfully. At this moment, the fellow named Zhang Tie had caused the eyes of many to shine; it was as if he had opened a gate, allowing them to enter a completely new world.


    All the horny students were startled, while the miners, who moved close to watch what was happening, became even more amazed. Although every one of the miners working here knew Zhang Tie, nobody could have expected that such an excellent ¡°warrior¡± was among their ¡°fellow workers¡±. At the sight of Zhang Tie¡¯s performance, many of the miners instantly became confident and straightened their backs.


    The Samira Business Group bodyguard who had been hit by Zhang Tie quickly recovered his composure. Zhang Tie¡¯s strike just now did not make him lose his will to fight. Having seen the short fight, all the bodyguards of the Samira Business Group realized that Zhang Tie was a tricky fellow and that they would have to expend some effort in order to take him down.


    After exchanging glances, the bodyguards of the Samira Business Group came to a final decision.


    ¡°Brat, since you dare to fight back so ferociously, don¡¯t blame us for retaliating!¡± solemnly warned a bodyguard who took a step towards Zhang Tie.


    ¡°Even now, you¡¯re still trying to frame me so despicably and are still trying to destroy by bright future and reputation. So why should this father treat you politely?¡± Zhang Tie coldly glared at the bodyguards of the Samira Business Group who wanted to charge at him. ¡°Before moving, I suggest you to think over this twice. Do you think it¡¯s worth risking your lives for that small bit of compensation that could barely allow your family to survive? Will the Samira Business Group feed you for the rest of your lives? I am only 15 years old. Have you considered what would happen if you try to create enmity with me over just a bit of compensation? I know you are smart, and we all know how things go. You are all just working for money, so I will warn you once again. Whoever dares to try to frame me as a thief again, this father will definitely kill him. I will see who will be killed first...¡±


    Zhang Tie¡¯s ferocious words were more lethal than his ¡°Hidden Blade Move¡±. Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s warning, the bodyguards who were about to surge forward instantly froze and became clear-minded; it was as if they had just been doused with icy water from head to toe. Right. Was it worth it to create a grievance with that brat just for a bit of compensation? Remembering his ferocious attack, his heroic character, as well as that frightening killing intent hidden within his ¡°Hidden Blade Move¡±, every one of the bodyguards realized one thing¡ªeven if they could take down this brat now, could they take him down in the future? Since this brat was already this sharp at the age of 15, he would definitely be outside of their control in a few years. If they framed him today and ended up destroying his bright future and reputation, what would happen if this guy decides to take revenge on them in the future¡­ The bodyguards, especially the one who had experienced Zhang Tie¡¯s fighting skills just now, were all shocked by his words. If they truly infuriated Zhang Tie, they might really not be able to eat and sleep well from now on.


    It was nothing special to set up an unlucky student in the way arranged by and paid by Samira; however, if that student was so ferocious that it could cause them to not even be able to sleep well whenever they thought of him taking revenge, then everyone involved would have to reconsider it. Although the small bit of compensation from the Samira Business Group was enough to force them to take action, if they had to risk their own lives and bright futures, then the amount of compensation provided was far from enough.


    After exchanging glances with each other, the bodyguards instantly learned what each of them had thought. It seemed that today¡¯s incident would never develop as Samira had planned. From the beginning, this brat had already known how this story would develop. Such a person had really terrifying intelligence and strength, and it would be better for them to not stir trouble with him. They really didn¡¯t know why Samira forced them to breed enmity with such a terrifying person.


    ¡°No matter what, I realized my purse was missing the moment you ran. Since you were the most suspicious one, that¡¯s why we kept chasing you...¡±


    ¡°Are you idiots?¡± Zhang Tie cursed loudly. ¡°You can go to the railway station of Blackhot City to have a look around. Every day, many purses are stolen over there. Which thief would instantly run once they heard the shouts from the owner? If they had truly done that, then they would just be admitting to their actions. If you have low intelligence, then I will forgive you for insulting my personality, but you can not insult my intelligence! If you had truly lost your purse, then I will see which bastard among you will dare to tell the onlookers that I have stolen your purse? Which one of you bastards dare to frame me?¡±


    After being cursed at by Zhang Tie, the bodyguards became less aggressive and could not even utter a single word; instead, they simply looked back at Zhang Tie in the same manner as he looked at them. If Zhang Tie had not displayed his strength, then what he had just said would have made him a laughingstock; however, the fact was Zhang Tie had already shown his terrifying strength and intelligence. Considering what Zhang Tie had said and done, the bodyguards of the Samira Business Group really lost the courage to breed enmity with Zhang Tie just for a bit of compensation from the Samira Business Group.


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°Brother, could you tell me the name of that buddy? How could he be digging in the mines together with you?¡± a horny student asked a miner who was beside him in a low voice.


    ¡°He¡¯s Zhang Tie. He has already worked here with us for about 20 days...¡± As he said this, the miner looked at the person who had asked him the question with eyes full of contempt. Lowering his voice, he said, ¡°His actions are within reason since he had even killed three wolves by himself before jumping into a pitch black hole that was as deep as 200 m in order to survive!¡±


    ¡°What!? You¡¯re saying¡­ he¡¯s that guy who was chased by seven wolves and had jumped into a pitch black hole in order to survive?!¡± That person was really shocked by what he had heard. It turned out that Zhang Tie was not a normal student at all! He had long become a legendary figure.


    ¡°Of course!¡±


    ¡°If he was that sharp, then why did he choose to mine here?¡±


    ¡°This is a top secret!¡± The miner rolled his eyes.


    ¡°What top secret?¡± The horny student¡¯s eyes suddenly started to shine.


    ¡°This secret isn¡¯t something that I would casually tell others!¡±


    The horny student gritted his teeth and pulled out 100 g of dried meat and tossed it to that miner. After receiving the dried meat, that miner whispered to him.


    ¡°What!? You¡¯re saying digging in the mines is the best way to cultivate? You¡¯re saying that Zhang Tie realized all this by digging in the mines? You¡¯re saying that Zhang Tie had, at the very least, improved his strength by a level by just mining in the caves these past few days?¡± Hearing the secret, the horny student was really shocked by that top secret. It was truly too amazing.


    ¡°Huh, quiet. This secret was disclosed by Zhang Tie to the guys at the ores collection center by mistake. Don¡¯t let the others know!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    The horny student hurriedly nodded while the other surrounding horny students had long kept their ears alert by raising them in a manner akin to donkeys...


    At that moment, with burning torches in hand, another group of people entered the mining cave. Seeing what was happening over there, they hurriedly made their way over.


    It was a teacher of the Temporary Supervision Committee and some students who were on duty in Wild Wolf Castle. Seeing the arrival of the teacher of the Temporary Supervision Committee, Zhang Tie and the bodyguards all heaved a deep sigh.


    ¡­¡­


    Half an hour later in the office of the Temporary Supervision Committee, Zhang Tie and the bodyguards of the Samira Business Group were standing in the middle of the room, while Captain Kerlin, Mr. Zerom, and the other teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee were sitting behind a row of desks. Aside from them, Samira was also sitting in a chair. At this moment, outside, the room was surrounded by students who came here to see how the story would develop.


    Miss Qili, who was responsible for the investigation, had inquired all the witnesses. Seeing the wisp of a smile on the corner of Zerom¡¯s mouth, Captain Kerlin became reassured.


    ¡°According to your testimony, the story has developed as follows: Jagla walked around the square of Wild Wolf Castle for more than half an hour before realizing that his purse had been stolen. At that moment, you saw Zhang Tie running away, so you took Zhang Tie as the thief who had stolen your purse. Is that why you called your people to chase Zhang Tie¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­ That¡¯s how it was?¡± The bodyguard from the Samira Business Group named Jagla admitted without any confidence.


    ¡°I will ask this once again. Among all of you present, did any one of you see how Jagla had lost his purse?¡± Miss Qili asked. Everyone remained silent. When Miss Qili raised her voice and asked again, there was still no reply. At this moment, Zhang Tie, who had long been silently observing Samira, found the traces of a cold smile forming at the corner of Samira¡¯s mouth. The moment Samira was about to speak, Zhang Tie raised his hand. ¡°Miss Qili, I have a request. In order to avoid being framed by someone, I beg for your consent to allow me to return to Blackhot City to bring something back in the event that someone wants to testify that I was the thief.¡±

 100 A Complete Success

    Chapter 100: A Complete Success


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Zhang Tie¡¯s words had caused many people to be shocked, as none of them knew the reason behind Zhang Tie¡¯s request.


    ¡°What do you want? Are you trying to stall for time?¡± The guy in silky hat instantly became alert and asked.


    ¡°Of course not. As a pious follower of the Guardian God School, I deserve to be under the protection of the Guarding God School when I am being set up and insulted. I simply wanted to ask Grandma Teresa for one of the Guardian God School¡¯s Soul and Bloodline contract. For those among you that want to testify that I am guilty, please sign the contract and make a Soul and Bloodline oath. If your testimony is true, then would definitely have no reason to fear it and neither would it do you any harm. Using this method, I can avoid from being framed by a despicable person. Am I right, Boss Samira with triangular eyes resembling the head of a poisonous snake?¡±


    ¡°Pft!¡± Miss Qili wasn¡¯t able to hold back from laughing out loud. Realizing her misconduct, Miss Qili hurriedly returned to her solemn look. The other teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee all looked really weird, as it was a challenge for them to hold back their laughter. Everyone turned their gazes to the man with the silky hat. At the same time, the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, who had just arrived outside the office, couldn¡¯t hold back and began to speak in weird voices as they mocked Samira¡¯s pair of triangular eyes.


    Samira¡¯s face turned purple. He stood up and pointed at Zhang Tie. ¡°Brat, who are you trying to scare!? You could never get your hands on the Soul and Bloodline contract. You¡¯re just trying to stall the proceeding!¡±


    ¡°My family has sold rice brew for dozens of years. Back when I was in Blackhot City, every week, I would send food to the orphans in the orphanage opened by Grandma Teresa. At the start, it was my father who sent it, then it was my elder brother, and now, I¡¯m the one who sends it. For pious followers who have pure souls and feel obliged to help others like us, I think that Grandma Teresa and the Guardian God would not like to see us being slandered by others. If you, Boss Samira, would like to try the effect of the Soul and Bloodline contract and do not fear being devoured by your lies, then you can just continue to try setting me up!¡± Zhang Tie looked at Samira in disgust and spat towards him.


    Like colors being mixed on a palette, Samira¡¯s face was changing in color. At this moment, Samira had already long cursed Burwick¡¯s ancestors. Samira realized that Burwick¡¯s simple words, the one that said that Zhang Tie was the one who gave him trouble in public, was definitely a pit that waited for him to jump in by himself. If he had known that Zhang Tie was such a tricky guy, he would have never made such a rash decision; it was like beating a snake with a flyswatter. At this moment, Samira truly was full of regret.


    Earlier, Samira had planned to testify that he had seen Zhang Tie stealing that guy¡¯s purse, but when Zhang Tie mentioned the Guardian God School¡¯s Soul and Bloodline contract, he was startled. The Soul and Bloodline contract was not something that only belonged to the Guardian God School; many other schools also had this contract. The pious followers would cut their fingers and would write the Soul and Bloodline Oath using their fresh blood and their prayers. Based on the constraints of the oath, as long as your name was on the contract, you would be devoured by the mysterious force within the Soul and Bloodline Oath you had taken if you told a lie. In the entire Blackhot City, only during major trials would the Soul and Bloodline contract be used to test whether the witness¡¯ testimony was true or not. Samira could never have imagined that Zhang Tie would be able to get such an item. He had known the name of the grandma who was truly a pious follower of the Guardian God School, but never would he have thought that Zhang Tie was close to Grandma Teresa.


    Of course, Samira did not dare to bet his life on this trivial incident. After cursing inwardly a couple of times, he had no other choice but to sit back down in his chair with a solemn look.


    Seeing Samira staying silent with a solemn expression, Zhang Tie also heaved a deep sigh. Just now, he was just pretending to be confident. He had only heard of the Soul and Bloodline contract from others and was uncertain of whether or not he could get it. However, this was just like what Donder had taught him; when two brave men encountered one another on a narrow path, the braver man would win, but if two liars encountered one another on a narrow path, then the one with less confidence would be the first to retreat. As was expected, Samira was less confident than him. Thinking back to Fatty Donder¡¯s instruction, Zhang Tie sneered inside.


    ¡°I will repeat one more time. Is there anyone who had seen how Jagla¡¯s purse disappeared?¡± Miss Qili asked one more time. After several seconds, there was still no reply.


    ¡°Then, the fact is clear. Jaglar, nobody had seen Zhang Tie stealing your purse nor is there any physical evidence found. At that moment when you realized your purse was missing, you saw Zhang Tie quickly running away, but according to Zhang Tie, he was simply¡­ heading for the washroom...¡± As Miss Qili could not bear to say the words ¡°relieve his bowels¡± described by Zhang Tie, after hesitating for a while, she changed it into another saying. ¡°That¡¯s why you thought it was Zhang Tie who had stolen your purse and finally seeked for help in this office. But as there are no witnesses or any evidence, I declare that Zhang Tie is innocent!¡±


    Hearing the result, all the other members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood cheered outside.


    Rolling his eyes, Samira stood up impatiently. ¡°I object. Your words don¡¯t make any sense. There is a toilet outside of Wild Wolf Castle, so why did Zhang Tie not choose that toilet, which was closer to him, and instead choose the mine that is far away?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s simple. I had left my toilet paper inside the mining cave. If I want to relieve my bowels, of course I would have to go back to the mining cave. If I have taken a sh*t in Wild Wolf Castle, would I ask for your help to clean my butt, Boss Samira? Does your business group has such a service? Are you saying that you never clean your butt after relieving your bowls? Are you saying that you clean your butt using your fingers or just don¡¯t clean it at all like those barbarians? My sh*t is still fresh over there and could be used as physical evidence. Do you want to identify it for yourself, Boss Samira...¡± Zhang Tie sneered.


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s counterattack, all the other horny students outside the door of the room burst out into laughter while Hista whistled crazily. The teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee also held back from laughing out loudly. Captain Kerlin and Mr. Zerom¡¯s face both flushed red and expanded greatly, causing a weird expression to be seen on their faces. Many teachers directly buried their heads below the desk with shoulders heavily shaking. Even Miss Qili, who was responsible for the interrogation of this incidence, had her face become twisted.


    As expected, Samira was so infuriated that he even kept stomping his feet onto the ground. Pointing at Zhang Tie, he cursed, ¡°Bastard! If you weren¡¯t the thief and the purse isn¡¯t with you, then why didn¡¯t you stop and explain it when so many people were chasing you?¡±


    ¡°Bastard¡­ Bastard¡­ Bastard¡­ Son of a b*tch¡­ Your brothers must have been shot onto your wall by your father masturbating and had dried on it, so why are you alive? Bastard, answer me. I¡¯m cursing you, so hurry up and admit that you are a bastard. What are you waiting for?¡± Zhang Tie directly growled towards Samira. As a result, Samira looked pale and instantly sat back down in his chair. Everyone, both the people inside and outside the room, all stared at Zhang Tie with wide opened eyes. As Samira has never been cursed at by others since he was young, he pointed at Zhang Tie with a quivering finger and tried to ascertain what Zhang Tie had said. ¡°You¡­ You¡­ What did you curse me as?¡±


    ¡°I cursed you?¡± Zhang Tie innocently pointed at his own nose with wide opened eyes. Blinking his eyes, he asked ¡°Did I curse you? I was just cursing that a bastard¡¯s brothers were shot onto the wall when his father masturbated and were sacrificed, all the while he was left alive. Are you saying that you are that bastard?¡±


    ¡°Bastard, of course I¡¯m not!¡± Samira furiously replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Since you¡¯re not that bastard, then my cursing has nothing to do with you, right? There isn¡¯t any need for you to respond in such a way. Look, there are so many people in the room, so why are you the only one who looks so excited and is jumping from the ground. Unless¡­ you are that bastard? That would explain your response just now. Have I mention your name just now?¡±


    ¡°Nonsense. I was not excited at all. I didn¡¯t make any response just now!¡± Feeling that Zhang Tie was a tricky person, under the dubious eyes, Samira gritted his teeth and sat down, trying his best to be innocent as his eyes remained looking forward with confidence.


    Zhang Tie forced a smile. ¡°So, Boss Samira, do you understand why I didn¡¯t stop running when those people were chasing me? It¡¯s because I am not the thief. There was no need for me to stop and give them a response because I had thought that they were chasing after someone else at that moment. I didn¡¯t give a response since I am innocent. If I truly gave any response, I would truly have been in trouble! Bastard, bastard, bastard, Boss Samira, why aren¡¯t you replying? Just reply. See? Since you aren¡¯t the bastard, you didn¡¯t reply and no one else here gave a response either. Do you understand now? What would I explain?¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, Samira¡¯s face was as black as ink. Glaring at Zhang Tie, he knew that this time, Zhang Tie had set him up in return and had realized that Zhang Tie was unexpectedly tricky. Thinking of his purse, Samira felt pain once again, as there were more than 20 gold coins inside the purse! My gold coins! Zhang Tie, you bastard! Just you wait!


    ¡°Leave!¡± Followed by several bodyguards, Samira furiously stood up from his chair and prepared to leave, as he constantly felt restless here.


    ¡°Hold on, Boss Samira?¡± Zhang Tie stopped Samira in a slow voice.


    ¡°Since you are already fine now, what else do you want!?¡± Samira loudly shouted at Zhang Tie.


    ¡°Thanks for your pardon. Since Boss Samira has said that I¡¯m fine now, then next, there¡¯s something you need to do!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s confident smile, Samira suddenly felt as if something bad was about to happen...

 101 A Tongue Can Break Bones

    Chapter 101: A Tongue Can Break Bones


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Ignoring Samira, Zhang Tie turned around and asked Miss Qili, ¡°Miss Qili, could you tell me whether the Temporary Supervision Committee represents the officials of Blackhot City within Wild Wolf Castle? And could you tell me whether the Temporary Supervision Committee is entitled to supervise and manage everything related to this survival training?¡±


    ¡°Yes, as long as it is related to the students attending this survival training, the Temporary Supervision Committee will be responsible for the supervision and management. The Temporary Supervision Committee¡¯s power is recorded in Blackhot City, and it states that the Temporary Supervision Committee has the power to manage everything that happens here and that it has also been granted the authority related to law enforcement and judicial related issues! Unless we receive an official notice from Blackhot City which details changes, then the rights and liabilities of the Temporary Supervision Committee will never change.¡± Not knowing what Zhang Tie was planning, Miss Qili could only solemnly and faithfully answer him.


    ¡°Fine! Since I have proven that I am innocent and not a thief, I would like to officially file a lawsuit against the Samira Business Group with the help of the Temporary Supervision Committee. During this incident, the Samira Business Group had treated me as a thief and had even disturbed my survival training. They had chased after me in public and had even attacked me, which has damaged my reputation and even my bright future. Based on the fact that the laws of Blackhot City will protect its citizens, I request the Samira Business Group to, for this misunderstanding and my losses, compensate me!¡± Zhang Tie righteously said.


    ¡°Bastard, are you still crazy about making money? This time, you got off easy, yet you still want compensation? Are you dreaming?¡± Samira shouted out loudly. Because he had lost his purse, Samira had already felt as if his heart was bleeding, but at this moment when Zhang Tie had even dared to ask for compensation, he felt as if a handsome amount of salt was thrown onto his wounded heart.


    ¡°Of course, I am not crazy. If what I have requested goes against Blackhot City laws, then please tell me, Boss Samira. If you can tell me, then I will definitely modestly correct it and eat my words!¡± As if he was looking at a pile of gold coins, Zhang Tie looked at Samira with an obscene smile.


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, Samira instantly became silent, as what Zhang Tie had said truly did not violate Blackhot City laws.


    Looking at the horny students outside the door, Zhang Tie shouted, ¡°I know Blackhot City is now facing an unprecedented crisis, under which even Blackhot City might be at the edge of death. However, in my eyes, the laws of Blackhot City are still sacred and its authority is without a doubt. Nevertheless, at this critical moment, someone had actually treated the laws and the authority of Blackhot City as bullsh*t!¡± Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, the horny students outside the door started to whisper to one another. Leit, using a weird voice, shouted among the crowd, ¡°Is the Samira Business Group planning to stomp on the authority of Blackhot City? Is the Samira Business Group planning to go and seek refuge with its new owner?¡± The students continued to whisper amongst themselves as Samira¡¯s face turned pale. Since there were so many people here right now, what would happen if this scandal were to spread to Blackhot City?


    ¡°You¡­ That¡¯s nonsense! Since when did the Samira Business Group belittle the authority and laws of Blackhot City!?¡± Samira pointed at Zhang Tie and furiously cursed.


    ¡°Was I talking nonsense?¡± Zhang Tie said with a smile as he suddenly turned solemn and pointed at the students outside the door. ¡°The other students all respect the laws and authority of Blackhot City and have taken the initiative to stand outside the room. You, Boss Samira, are not the plaintiff, the defendant, nor are you a member of the Temporary Supervision Committee in this investigation. Is an outsider allowed to sit within a temporary court, jumping here and there while muttering whatever you want and causing a disturbance in the Temporary Supervision Committee¡¯s investigation? Please tell me, you being here¡­ aren¡¯t you trampling on the laws and authority of Blackhot City?¡±


    Zhang Tie pointed and shouted at Samira as his magnificence directly forced Samira a couple of steps backwards. He had come in, sat down, and casually spoke during this investigation because he had Master Abyan as his backer. Like Zhang Tie had mentioned, compared to his master, he truly did not attach much worth to the Temporary Supervision Committee. In Samira¡¯s eyes, this was a trivial matter. He had never thought that Zhang Tie would find loopholes from such a trivial matter to give him trouble. During normal times, this matter could be laughed off, but Blackhot City is currently under threats from the Norman Empire. Someone could turn this affair into a bigger matter. No matter what, the Temporary Supervision Committee was an official facet of Blackhot City, while Samira was just a businessman with no official status. Thinking of some of the terrible consequences, Samira¡¯s face instantly turned pale as he was covered in cold sweat all over. In truth, Samira was just a small figure who knew clearly that the big figures would not mind giving him some benefits and face if he proved to be useful; however, if he had a poor reputation, then those big figures would prefer to stay away from him as far as possible. If he brought them trouble, they would definitely dig a pit and bury him, feeling no pity for him at all.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s words, like a sharp axe, directly chopped at Samira¡¯s weakness and the place he feared the most.


    ¡°Besides, do you know how arrogant you have been? The survival training for the students from Blackhot City is something that has always been officially protected and endorsed by Blackhot City. During the survival training, the students attending it will be managed in a semi-militarized manner and will comply with the war-time management decree of Andaman Alliance. The entire Wild Wolf Valley is similar to a military camp. Despite this, the Samira Business Group had dared to ignore the laws and traditions of the Andaman Alliance. You had dared to trespass Wild Wolf Valley and casually tried to capture a student who was attending this survival training. Aren¡¯t you violating the laws and dignity of Blackhot City? Aren¡¯t you treating the wartime decree of the Andaman Alliance as bullsh*t? I have already begun to doubt whether or not you are a mole from the Norman Empire whose aim is to disturb this survival training by using the excuse of arresting me in an attempt to cause the confidence in Blackhot City and the Andaman Alliance to waver...¡±


    Saying this, Zhang Tie heroically strode towards Samira, while the latter kept moving backwards with a forehead covered in sweat and a face that gradually turned pale. Although Samira opened his mouth, he wasn¡¯t able to say a single word; what Zhang Tie had argued was all true, leaving no loopholes for him to refute. Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s argument, the horny students outside became increasingly noisy. Many of them had begun to curse at Samira with words like ¡°traitor¡± and ¡°mole¡±, which began to spread everywhere. Stimulated by the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, the atmosphere gradually lost control.


    Earlier, the teachers from the Temporary Supervision Committee were forcing back their laughter, but upon hearing Zhang TIe¡¯s testimony, they realized that Zhang Tie had worsened the situation. Every one of them looked solemn.


    At this moment, Samira had already started to feel regret deep in his heart. ¡°Why did I mess with Zhang Tie?¡± Earlier, Samira had already felt that Zhang Tie was similar to a poisonous snake, but now, he felt as if Zhang Tie¡¯s mouth, like the bloody mouth of a magical beast, could completely engulf him.


    ¡°You are talking nonsense¡­ They¡­ they chased you because¡­ because you stole their purse?¡± Samira made an emergency counterattack. Having lived so long, Samira was truly quick-witted. ¡°Based on the laws of Blackhot City, when one has found a person committing a crime, they have the right to stop the crime for the purpose of protecting one¡¯s interests. This right is even superior to the immunity conduct given to the members of the parliament of the Andaman Alliance. That¡¯s why, your intention of setting me up has failed!¡±


    ¡°Hahaha...¡± Zhang Tie burst out into laughter. He had finally led Samira right into the trap he had set. ¡°You¡¯re right. The right to stop a crime when it happens is truly superior to the immunity given to the members of the parliament of the Andaman Alliance. If I had truly stolen your purse, then this law could truly be applicable to me and the title of being a mole of the Norman Empire would not have fallen on your head, but the problem is¡­ I did not steal your purse!¡±


    ¡°Now that you have proven that you had not stolen the purse, then this could only mean that it was a misunderstanding and that you are innocent. But, this misunderstanding isn¡¯t something for you to slander me with!¡± Samira said as he pretended to calm down.


    ¡°What if it¡¯s not a misunderstanding this time? What if it was you who wanted to slander me? What if you were trying to stir up trouble during this survival training by slandering me, aiming to weaken the authority of Blackhot City among this group of thousands of students, who will be soldiers of Blackhot City in the future, and make us disappointed about Blackhot City? If it¡¯s like that, then do you dare to still say that you are not a mole from the Norman Empire? Do you still dare to say that you are not a traitor who¡¯s trying to destroy Blackhot City?¡° When Zhang Tie said these words, not only did the expression on Samira¡¯s face change, but even the faces of the Samira Business Group bodyguards and the teachers from the Temporary Supervision Committee became twisted, and the horny students beyond the door all became silent.


    As he said this, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t turn to Samira, whose face had long turned white; instead, he glanced at the bodyguards, whose faces had also turned white, and Jagla, the one who had thrown Samira¡¯s purse inside Zhang Tie¡¯s mining basket. Revealing his white teeth, Zhang Tie smiled. ¡°Do you know how Blackhot City and the Andaman Alliance would deal with them if they were arrested for being traitors and moles? Their entire families would be hung!¡± At this moment, in the eyes of the bodyguards, Zhang Tie¡¯s smile looked more terrifying than that of a demon. ¡°Not to mention, they wouldn¡¯t let you have an easy death. Before dying, you will be dealt with by professionals who, for the sake of interrogation, would not let a single inch of skin on any of your family members remain untouched. I know how they treat spies more clearly than any one of you...¡±


    ¡°No, no, we are not spies or traitors...¡± Several bodyguards had turned pale and stammered.


    ¡°Whether or not you are spies is not something for you to decide, but rather, it will depend on the reason you have purposely slandered and framed me, and it will also depend on whether you were trying to stir up trouble during the survival training by setting me up. For the spies of the Norman Empire, they can¡¯t wait to see the people from Blackhot City be restless...¡± Zhang Tie looked in the eyes of the bodyguards calmly before moving his gaze to Jagla. Under Zhang Tie¡¯s gaze, their legs had already started to shake, and Zhang Tie did not miss this. He then suddenly and loudly shouted, ¡°Your heads are going to be chopped off, but you¡¯re still planning to remain silent? Do you want me to report you to Blackhot City¡¯s Ministry of Internal Affairs? Without needing to take out the Soul and Bloodline contract, the powerful departments of Blackhot City can put your entire family behind bars. Will you only speak the truth then? At this time, Blackhot City is encountering a great danger. For just a bit of compensation from the Samira Business Group and that mole of Norman Empire, the traitor of Blackhot City, do you really think it¡¯s worth it for you to sacrifice the lives of all your family members for him?¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s further persuasion, Jagla completely collapsed mentally. At the same time, the plaintiff suddenly pointed at Samira and exclaimed, ¡°I¡¯ll speak! I will say everything! It¡¯s him! It¡¯s Samira who told me to throw a purse into your mining basket. He wanted me to frame you as a thief and then arrest you...¡±


    Jagla, who suffered the most internally, suddenly collapsed like a broken dam, causing the bodyguards¡¯ mental fortitude to immediately be destroyed. At the same time, all the teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee and all the horny students outside the door were shocked. Afterwards, it turned into a great chaos.


    ¡°I¡¯ll speak, I¡¯ll speak! It was Samira who had wanted us to arrest you after having Jagla pretend that his purse was stolen by you. And it was also Samira who wanted us to do this in public in order to let as many people know as possible...¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s Samira, It¡¯s Samira who wanted to disturb this survival training. It has nothing to do with us. We are just bodyguards who are trying to earn an ordinary living wage. We are not moles and traitors of the Norman Empire...¡±


    ¡°Samira told us that he would reward us as long as we were able to complete this task well. We really don¡¯t know whether he¡¯s a mole who wants to disturb this survival training...¡±


    The bodyguards instantly shrieked one by one, fearing that their chance to prove their innocence would be taken away.


    Hearing their testimonies, everything before Samira¡¯s eyes turned pitch black as he passed out and hit his head on the ground.


    For a while, after the great commotion from the shock, both the people inside and outside of the office suddenly became silent. In face of such a quick change and unbelievable outcome, they all felt their minds go blank.


    At this moment, Captain Kerlin, Mr. Zerom, Miss Qili, all the teachers, and the horny students outside the door were gazing at Zhang Tie as if they were looking at a ghost. Everyone had witnessed how this miner had used his mouth to complete an amazing reversal, step by step revealing Samira¡¯s ¡°hidden status¡± as a mole of the Norman Empire.


    This is too terrifying! Too exciting! Too motherf*cking dramatic! For many people, since young, they had never seen such a huge incident.


    Mr. Zerom was the first to respond. Like a bird, Mr. Zerom jumped out from behind the line of desks and chairs and walked before Samira with just one step. Samira, who had just awoken and was shaking his head, passed out once again from Zerom¡¯s ferocious kick.


    ¡°Emergency situation! Samira might be a mole from the Norman Empire. Since we don¡¯t know whether there are other dangerous individuals within the Samira Business Group, all students outside, listen to my order! Take your weapons and follow me! We will go and disarm the people from the Samira Business Group...¡± After he finished saying that, Mr. Zerom turned to Miss Qili and solemnly said, ¡°Miss Qili, please immediately report what had happened here to Blackhot City on behalf of the Temporary Supervision Committee and invite experts over to take over for the following proceedings, including Samira¡¯s interrogations.


    After taking another glance at Zhang Tie, Miss Qili seemed to have recovered her composure a bit. She then nodded. ¡°I will faithfully report what has happened here to Blackhot City!¡±


    At this moment, many of the horny students who had witnessed the entire interrogation started to shout outside, ¡°Samira is a mole from the Norman Empire!¡± ¡°Samira is a traitor of Blackhot City...¡± Such loud screams and shouts gradually caused turmoil in Wild Wolf Castle...


    Seeing the matter deteriorate to this degree, everybody knew that even if Samira¡¯s life could be saved, his future had been completely destroyed...

 102 A Crazy Campaign

    Chapter 102: A Crazy Campaign


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    ¡°Samira is a mole from the Norman Empire! All students, attention! Take your weapons! Together with Temporary Supervision Committee, we will disarm everyone who belongs to the Samira Business Group. Do not let any of them escape...¡±


    That was Bagdad¡¯s shout. The shout could be heard through almost the entire Wild Wolf Castle.


    Seeing the affair developing to such a degree, Zhang Tie also felt that he was wasting time by standing here. As for the teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee, their eyes filled with terror were fixed on Zhang Tie; it was as if they were gazing at a prehistoric animal. The office turned into chaos. The moment Zhang Tie bent down and was planning to stealthily slip away, Mr. Zerom grabbed ahold of him.


    ¡°Zhang Tie, since you are the one who made this contribution, follow me to disarm the other people from the Samira Business Group. Before they are able to slip away, you should take a careful look at them and see whether there are any among them who tried to stir up trouble with you by arresting you.¡± Saying this in a righteous manner, Zerom winked at Zhang Tie.


    Although Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know Zerom¡¯s plan, he knew that it was the right moment for him to leave, thus he hurriedly nodded.


    ¡­¡­


    With weapons in hand, Zerom led a great number of students attending this survival training and rushed outside Wild Wolf Castle with killing intent. Before they had even realized what was happening, the Samira Business Group employees in the square of Wild Wolf Castle had already been surrounded by the students, who were now pointing their spears at them. If they showed an intent to move, then they might be stabbed by a dozen spears simultaneously. The expression on the faces of every one of the Samira Business Group employees changed, as they did not know what was happening in the least. Facing such a great matrix of spears, even the LV 3 and LV 4 bodyguards of the Samira Business Group dared not to move.


    Seeing Zerom and a group of students walking towards them, a small director of the Samira Business Group, who was confused about what was happening, shouted furiously, ¡°Mr. Zerom, what¡¯s going on? You guys need to give us an explanation! Where¡¯s our boss, Samira?¡±


    Aside from the Samira Business Group, standing by the side as they watched with wide opened eyes, there were many other students in the square that were just as confused about what was happening.


    ¡°To all the employees of the Samira Business Group, may I please have your attention. Your boss, Samira, has been revealed to be a mole of the Norman Empire. The Temporary Supervision Committee has already taken the necessary measures against him. If you do not wish to be implicated by Samira, put down your weapons at once and follow our instructions. The officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be arriving to take care of this incident. Before their arrival, although the Temporary Supervision Committee will be restricting your personal freedom, we will also guarantee your safety. Anyone who resists or does not cooperate with the Temporary Supervision Committee¡¯s disposal measures will be punished with espionage!¡± Zerom shouted loudly in the square, causing everyone from the Samira Business Group to be shocked. The accusation that Samira was a mole of the Norman Empire had shocked them all and had even caused some to drop their weapons onto the ground. As the employees of Samira Business Group were just normal workers working for an ordinary wage, they all knew what they had to do to protect themselves at this moment. If any one of them dared to stir up trouble at this moment, they would be obviously seeking death.


    As expected, the seven Samira Business Group employees all surrendered in the square and complied with the disposal measures of the Temporary Supervision Committee, calmly leaving the square with Zerom and a group of on-duty students ¡­


    When Zerom took away the seven people from the Samira Business Group, he patted Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder and glanced at the large amount of items in the square brought by the Samira Business Group. Without saying a word, Zerom just winked towards Zhang Tie before leaving. Zhang Tie wasn¡¯t able to figure out Zerom¡¯s intention. It was only when Zerom had left and he had taken a second look at the items in the square did he realize what Zerom had meant. ¡°This Zerom guy is really cunning, but¡­ Hehehe, I like him!¡± All of a sudden, Zhang Tie became extremely excited.


    While the other students in the square were still discussing what had just happened, Zhang Tie had already waved towards the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s glance, they instantly rushed over to him with expressions of excitement. Right as Barley opened his mouth, Zhang Tie had covered his mouth.


    ¡°Listen, have you seen this stuff yet?¡± Zhang Tie pointed towards the items in the square that had been piled up by the Samira Business Group as he spoke in a low voice, ¡°Hurry up and take whatever you want and as much as you can. Remember, move quickly, steadily, and confidently! No matter how many items you take, it will just be considered compensation from the Samira Business Group for ruining my reputation.¡±


    ¡°Is¡­ is that allowed?¡± Swallowing his saliva, Leit¡¯s eyes were shining.


    Zhang Tie grinned. Saying not another word, he took his mining basket from Shawin. For Sharwin and Doug, he pointed at where the Samira Business Group had piled up their weapons, and for the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, he had pointed at where the Samira Business Group had piled up their food.


    Sharwin was really a considerate man; he had brought along Zhang Tie¡¯s mining basket and mining tools, which were left outside the office just now. Since they belonged to Zhang Tie, he had brought them over for him.


    While Barley and the other members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood were still dumbfounded, Zhang Tie had already walked towards the place where the Samira Business Group had piled up their food. At this place, a great number of students were still discussing, as they had not realized why the Samira Business Group members were taken away.


    Zhang Tie confidently entered the trading circle surrounded by the crates of the Samira Business Group. Taking in a deep breath, Zhang Tie glanced over the items and flipped his mining basket upside down before knocking it on the ground so as to shake off the dust inside. Then, he began to load the items into his mining basket.


    Dried milk slices, good item...


    Sausages, good item...


    Dried beef, good item...


    Dried rations, Heh heh¡­ due to the limited space in the mining basket, I have to leave you alone.


    After Zhang Tie loaded up about half of his mining basket with dried milk slices and sausages, Barley and the other members had already ran over. After exchanging a glance, they said nothing, and with red eyes, began to look for what they needed. Every one of them brought a sack and began to load the items into it, keeping in mind what Zhang Tie had told them¡ªmove quickly, steadily, and confidently.


    After a short while, they had already completely filled their sacks, and Zhang Tie had also completely loaded his mining basket and carried it on his back. The mining basket was only a bit more than 80 kg in weight and was even lighter than when it was usually filled with ores. After putting the mining basket on his back, Zhang Tie took a glance at the other items beside him and picked up a huge piece of ham with one hand and two pieces of dried beef, which weighed more than 20 kg, with the other.


    While Zhang Tie and his brothers were calmly loading the items into their mining basket and sacks, all the other guys who were standing in line to exchange for food became silent as they watched the members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood with wide opened eyes. Exchanging glances, they were completely confused as to what was happening.


    ¡°What are they doing? Are they employees of the Samira Business Group? They don¡¯t seem like it. What the hell are they doing?¡±


    Finally, at the sight of Zhang Tie, who was preparing to leave with a mining basket filled with items and hands carrying a piece of ham and two dried pieces of beef, and the others who were carrying sacks so heavy that it caused their faces to be twisted, seemingly as if it almost broke their backs, a guy who stood to the side forcefully swallowed his saliva and asked, ¡°Brothers, what¡­ what are you doing?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. The Samira Business Group owed me, so I am just taking some items as compensation!¡± Zhang Tie replied confidently before glancing at Barley and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. Seeing that they had also completely loaded their sacks, Zhang Tie then walked out of the trading circle.


    ¡°Excuse me, please give way...¡± Zhang Tie and his brothers moved out from the pile of goods from the Samira Business Group. Zhang Tie then saw that Sharwin and Doug, who were both carrying a sack and held a box in hand, were ready to leave as well. Zhang Tie, Barley, and the other members immediately went to converge with Sharwin and Doug. After glancing at each other, they all became so excited that their faces had turned red.


    Although the items on their backs were heavy, nobody felt that they were heavy. Every one of them burst out with great force and hated the fact that they only had two hands.


    ¡°Hurry up, go to the tree base. It¡¯s going to get chaotic here!¡± Zhang Tie murmured. All the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood exchanged glances before lowering their heads and quickly disappearing from the square of Wild Wolf Castle with the items on their backs and ones in their hands.


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°Oh, I remember that Samira Business Group owed me something too...¡± Seeing Zhang Tie and the other guys disappearing from the square of Wild Wolf Castle, the guy who had just talked with Zhang Tie glanced over the piled items that were supervised by no one and suddenly figured out what had just happened. He then rushed inside the trading circle, and after picking up two pieces of dried beef, he quickly left.


    Seeing the second guy taking two huge pieces of dried beef, many more people among the onlookers realized what was going on and started to act.


    ¡°I also remember. I haven¡¯t taken the food that I had deposited here!¡± Another guy rushed forward and took away some items.


    ¡°I also remember. The Samira Business Group owes me some food from the exchange last time...¡±


    ¡°I also remember...¡±


    More and more people rushed forward, while the others were still hesitating...


    ¡°Brothers, Samira is a mole of the Norman Empire. During the survival training, we follow the wartime decree of the Andaman Alliance. Have you forgotten? These items belong to the Samira Business Group. That is to say, since Samira is our enemy, these items are our war trophies. What are you still looking at? Whoever grabs them will own them. Go grab...¡±


    In the square, a great number of horny students were stimulated by these words. As a result, almost one thousand people attended the crazy campaign. At first, only the horny male students rushed forward to grab the items; however, after seeing their actions, even the girls rolled up their sleeves to join them. At this moment, they didn¡¯t need to be polite at all. Since they had realized that Samira was a mole of the Norman Empire, why would they be polite to their enemy?


    ¡­¡­

 103 A Big Harves

    Chapter 103: A Big Harvest


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Boom! The entire square of Wild Wolf Castle was thrown into chaos. For the boys, they would have to spend some time to bring the items back to their base or camp, which were nearby Wild Wolf Castle, while the girls would, like ants, bring the items back into the inner castle before rushing out and getting more.


    ¡°Sisters, come on! These are our trophies...¡± an elder sister-like female student commanded outside Wild Wolf Castle as she supported her hands on her waist. ¡°If any bastard dares to grab our items, then we will go beat him to death!¡± Seeing the suddenly chaotic situation in the square of Wild Wolf Castle, Zerom smiled. ¡°That fellow named Zhang Tie is truly smart. He actually understood my intentions. At least one thousand people have taken the items of the Samira Business Group, meaning that at least one thousand people believe that Samira is a mole of the Norman Empire. This time, Samira will definitely not be able to explain his way out of his crimes. Even though Samira has a great backer, considering Samira¡¯s notorious reputation, who would be willing to have a connection with this guy...¡±


    At this moment, Samira and his employees had already been put behind bars. Seeing the on-duty students gazing at him with desires, Zerom smiled. ¡°Move quickly. I had promised you an hour of break. Remember to call your fellow students since you all deserve a share of the war trophies...¡±


    Hearing Zerom¡¯s words, all the on-duty students became spirited, and one by one, they immediately disappeared before him.


    After the on-duty students left, Captain Kerlin walked towards Zerom as he rubbed his chin. Together with Zerom, the two stood on the high walls of the outer castle of Wild Wolf Castle with eyes fixed on the plunder carnival.


    ¡°Did you send someone to tell the idiots of the Male Lion Association about the event with Samira?¡± Zerom showed an evil smile. ¡°I don¡¯t know how those fellows would feel when they find out the person they had made a promise with and was cooperating with was a mole of the Norman Empire. Right after they left, this was revealed. This time, the expression on the face of that brat by the name of Burwick is definitely going to be a sight to behold!¡±


    ¡°I have already sent some of the faster guys to give them this information. They should not have gone too far yet. I really hope those idiots with blood rushing to their heads could be a little more rational and give up on the idea of capturing golden wolves. This way, there would be fewer casualties!¡± Captain Kerlin softly sighed, ¡°Burwick has truly made me disappointed. I did not expect that he would cooperate with Samira and lead the Male Lion Association to the Crescent Prairie for the sake of making his ambitions come true at the risk of the lives of the other students!¡±


    ¡°Although Burwick is smart, he is too ambitious and too selfish. Such a person is very dangerous, as he will feel no hesitation to sacrifice others for the sake of his own benefits. In contrast, I feel that Zhang Tie is much better and can give you a surprise at any moment. Oh, I almost forgot, have you heard how he fought the Samira Business Group bodyguards? Those brats have praised his fighting skills so much!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve already heard of it, but I still don¡¯t believe it. No matter how careless a LV 3 warrior is, he would never be beaten and sent flying within just a single round!¡± Captain Kerlin rubbed his steel-needle-like mustache as he pondered over it. ¡°I have not seen him perform this well at school. Could what the other students said be true? For him, is mining the most rigid and mysterious method of cultivation?¡±


    ¡°Perhaps!¡± Zerom shrugged his shoulders casually. ¡°The Chinese clan is the most mysterious and the strongest of all the clans on the Kun¡¯ang Continent and has its own time-honored and honorable mysterious cultivation system. I have heard that even the Catastrophe could not stop the succession of their cultivation system, let alone the fact that the Chinese Clan had also dug out many legacies from the underground world, thus obtaining numerous mysterious knowledge. That brat is Chinese and might have obtained some mysterious knowledge. People who have not been to the Oriental Continent would not be truly powerful. Perhaps I will visit the Oriental Continent one day. I have heard that it was pretty splendid over there and is filled with many powerful figures and numerous beauties...¡±


    Zerom showed an expression of longing.


    ¡°Stop talking about the future. What should we do now? Is it really fine to treat Samira that way?¡± Captain Kerlin pointed at the noisy square below.


    ¡°This is just a small turmoil caused by Samira, a mole of the Norman Empire, and has nothing to do with us!¡± Zerom yawned, feeling as if it had nothing to do with him. He casually added, ¡°Although there seems to be a great number of items, in the eyes of the big figures, they are worth nothing. The guy with bad luck in this is only Samira. Who would blame us for treating a mole of the Norman Empire, especially one who had tried to frame a student in such a despicable manner and had incited the anger of the public? Wouldn¡¯t they be afraid of being treated as an accomplice of the mole?¡± Zerom showed an evil and cunning smile. ¡°We will just treat these items as gifts from the Samira Business Group to the brats during tonight¡¯s bonfire.¡±


    ¡°Although I couldn¡¯t wait to pinch and break his eggs, who would have thought that Samira would be finished in such a way? Why did he set up Zhang Tie? I really can¡¯t think it through!¡± Captain Kerlin heaved a deep sigh.


    ¡°Hahahaha, stop thinking about that unlucky fellow. If Samira has any bitterness left to pour out, then just let him explain it to the guys from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Blackhot City, who always suspect everything...¡± As he finished saying this, Zerom looked right and left before whispering to Captain Kerlin in a mysterious tone, ¡°I heard that Zhang Tie was given a strange punishment by Miss Qili. He probably doesn¡¯t know that in the eyes of the girls, he has already become a hero...¡±


    ¡°What punishment?¡± Zerom¡¯s strange behavior made Captain Kerlin unconsciously move back.


    ¡°I heard that girls nowadays mature early and are good at picking men. Heh heh heh¡­ Don¡¯t you think this survival training is becoming more and more interesting?¡±


    ¡°Yes, this survival training is becoming more and more interesting.¡± Captain Kerlin remembered the students who he had just inquired about Zhang Tie¡¯s fight with the Samira Business Group bodyguards. Based on the descriptions and the imitations of the actions from the students, Captain Kerlin realized that the fist skill Zhang Tie had used to strike back at that bodyguard was the exact same Hammer Fist skill that was part of the Iron-Blood Fist, causing Captain Kerlin to be amazed. Within such a short period of time, is that brat already able to apply the fighting skills within the Iron-Blood Fist into practical fights? That was a lot of progress; Captain Kerlin knew that even if it was the simplest move, there was still a huge gap between theory in a book and applying it to a fight. In order to cross over this gap, you would have to fight others with real machetes and spears, you would have to bleed and sweat before instinctively mastering these fighting skills and moves and being able to respond quickly at the most critical junctures during a fight. With the exception of this method, there were no other methods available. However, that brat had received the Iron-Blood Fist for less than a week, within which, according to the description given by the other students, he had spent half a day every day digging in the mines, meaning that he had less time to cultivate. ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be the case. Could it be true that digging in the mines is a mysterious cultivation method in the Chinese clan? Should I give it a try myself?¡± Captain Kerlin mumbled inwardly.


    He himself was really startled by his idea of digging in the mines...


    ¡­¡­


    Two hours later, every one of the Samira Business Group¡¯s items piled up in the square of Wild Wolf Castle, including the items that they had purchased from and exchanged with the students, like wolf hides, medicinal herbs, and crystal sands, were taken away with nothing left behind. It was as if a pack of wolves had licked clean the entire square of Wild Wolf Castle. When the students who were still restless after plundering Samira¡¯s items heard that Samira was trying to despicably stir up trouble during the survival training by setting up students who attended it, they immediately became reassured and furious. Every one of them reaffirmed that a guy like Samira, who used such dirty tricks to stir up trouble during the survival training, was definitely a mole of the Norman Empire who was lurking in Blackhot City. There were definitely reasons behind his disgusting behavior.


    ¡­¡­


    When the chaos in the square of Wild Wolf Castle came to an end, Zhang Tie and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood had already arrived at their tree base and were covered in sweat. Although they moved as slowly as snails, they had already won the game since they were able to carry back so many items. Usually, they would not be able to stand carrying so many items at once, but for them to use such a righteous way to become rich through robbery, they wanted to obtain as much as they could carry at once; therefore, every one of them exerted their utmost efforts to do so.


    Out of them all, the weight of the items carried by Sharwin was the least; including the items in his hands, it totaled to roughly 50 kg. In contrast, Zhang Tie had carried the most; with the mining basket on his back being fully loaded as well as his hands holding items, Zhang Tie alone carried more than 100 kg of items. As for the others, Barley, Leit, Hista, Doug, and Bagdad, each respectively carried 50-80 kg of items. Bagdad directly carried a huge sack of dried meat that weighed at least 60 kg and had not even been opened, though the sack was slightly smaller than Zhang Tie¡¯s mining basket. Additionally, Bagdad had also clamped two bags of sausages under his armpits. Altogether, the items carried by Bagdad would weigh more than 80 kg.


    Carrying these items, everybody became exceptionally excited. They only rested for a couple of times on the journey back and all spent all their efforts to bring back the items that they had plundered to their tree base.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Pandora ran over with slightly red eyes. Hugging Zhang Tie tightly, she burst out into tears. ¡°It¡¯s all my fault. Because of me, you met troubles...¡±


    At the sight of the other guys¡¯ lustful eyes, Zhang Tie became both slightly embarrassed and moved. Ever since he was young, it was the first time for a girl to hug him while crying. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know what to say to make the situation better. This Pandora¡­ whenever others encountered misfortune, she would always think the bad luck was related to her.


    ¡°Don¡¯t cry¡­ Look, aren¡¯t I perfectly fine? Today, we have such a big harvest, and I have even brought you a gift!¡±

 104 A Great Shock

    Chapter 104: A Great Shock


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    As expected, the moment Pandora heard the word ¡°gift¡±, she loosened her arms that were wrapped around Zhang Tie before looking around at the others. Feeling a bit embarrassed, her face immediately turned red.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t care about Pandora¡¯s response and directly passed the pieces of dried beef that weighed about 30 kg to her. As it was very heavy, Pandora almost failed to steadily hold them even with two arms.


    ¡°This¡­ this is my gift?¡± Pandora stared in amazement with wide opened eyes. This amount of dried beef was worth a lot, not only in the survival training but in Blackhot City as well. For other girls, everyday, they would only be able to exchange items for at most 0.05 kg to 0.2 kg of dried meat. Pandora had never thought that she would one day obtain such a large amount of dried beef at once.


    ¡°Hmm, this amount of food is enough for you to live through the survival training and perhaps even longer than that...¡± In the end, Zhang Tie had stolen it from the Samira Business Group and did not feel reluctant to give it as a present to Pandora. With the other food he had brought back this time, the amount of food he had stored would be enough for him to survive for half a year. Since he couldn¡¯t finish it all even by the end of this survival training and neither could he bring the extra food back home to Blackhot City, at this moment, he decided to be a rich and generous man in front of Pandora.


    ¡°I¡¯ve never met anyone who treats me so well. Why do you treat me so well?¡± With eyes fixed on Zhang Tie, Pandora¡¯s nose was slightly shaking and her pair of beautiful blue eyes began to become glossy and watery once again.


    ¡°You are my lucky angel, so I will bring you up...¡± Zhang Tie made such a joke to stop Pandora from crying, but soon after saying it, he realized he went too far and his words were ambiguous. Thus, he hurriedly added, ¡°We are partners, so of course I will make you full!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, Hista made an obscene smile. ¡°Stop, stop your love talk, please. Hurry up and go back to the tree base. We can¡¯t stand it anymore. Pandora, what Zhang Tie means is that you should eat more meat, so you develop well. Heh¡­ heh¡­ you should know what Zhang Tie means!¡± To the side, Hista grinned.


    For an unknown reason, as long as Hista opened his mouth, he always gave others a sense of obscenity. Hearing his words, Pandora¡¯s face turned even redder. Furiously glancing at Hista and Zhang Tie, she slightly bit her lip before hugging the dried meat and returned to the tree base.


    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go back to count our achievements!¡± Barley also urged to the side.


    The moment Barley urged them, Zhang Tie recovered his composure from Pandora¡¯s embarrassed and sexy glance, which had caused him to be captivated. It was not an exaggeration in the least; he was truly captivated by that glance. At the sight of Pandora¡¯s eyes, Zhang Tie felt as if a nerve in his head had become slightly numb before a wisp of excitement trembled and instantly flashed across his whole body like a current of electricity. This time, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t help but keep his eyes on Pandora¡¯s butt and started to feel an exceptional charm from Pandora¡¯s butt. While his p*nis that was swollen and full of blood, an evil thought flashed in his mind¡ªalthough Pandora was thin, she was also sexy!


    ¡­¡­


    After returning to their tree base, when counting the achievements they brought back, even the girls who worked with the Hit-Plane Brotherhood stared with wide opened eyes at Zhang Tie, Barley, and the other three people who carried back goods that were more than 300 kg in weight. All the items were of high calorie and best sellers like dried milk slices, pieces of dried meat, sausages, ham, etc.. In addition to the food brought back, Sharwin and Doug had brought back several crates. Opening the crates, the gleaming long swords and the portable spare parts, which could be assembled into a spear, that laid on the grass caused the horny students to exclaim. There were two crates of spears with four spears in each, and two crates of long swords with eight swords in each, totaling to eight spears and sixteen long swords. They were all military weapons produced in Blackhot City and were even of higher quality than what they usually used in the survival training.


    After jubilantly asking the girls to take some of the food to cook supper, every member of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood started to discuss how they were to deal with these items in the tree house.


    In the tree hollow, all the horny members stared at Zhang Tie with no one speaking a single word. Under their gazes, Zhang Tie became a bit baffled. Scratching his head, he then said, ¡°Why are you staring at me?¡±


    The other horny members then moved their gazes onto Barley, who then smiled. ¡°These items could be considered compensation from the Samira Business Group for damaging your reputation, so you have the right to deal with them. We have only brought them back for you .¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m the one deciding?¡± Zhang Tie pointed at his nose as all the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood nodded.


    Seeing these items, Zhang Tie thought for a while before uttering, ¡°Well, since Sharwin and Doug were the ones who brought back the weapons, then they can each pick two weapons, one long weapon and one short weapon. After that, there will be six spears and fourteen long swords left, which will be considered as items to be shared by the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. As for the food we brought back today, we will share them equally. Do you agree with this distribution?¡±


    Looking at Zhang Tie, the other members of the Hit-Plan Brotherhood all burst out into laughter, as they all thought Bighead was truly generous in this affair.


    ¡°I agree with equal distribution of food and the weapons given to Sharwin and Doug; however, if the remaining weapons belong to the brotherhood, I think it will be pretty unfair to you. This solution is also not in compliance with the principles of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. After all, you are the one who had spent a lot of efforts this time and are the one who has made the most contribution in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood...¡± Barley looked very shrewd at this moment. ¡°How about this? We will distribute the remaining twenty weapons based on the number of shares. Since Zhang Tie has contributed the most, he will own forty percent of the weapons. The remaining sixty percent will belong to the six of us. As for the personal weapons we have with us, if we don¡¯t need them, then we can exchange them for shares. After this survival training ends, we will sell this batch of weapons in Blackhot City, and the money we get will be used as our first team fund. What do you think about my suggestion?¡±


    ¡°Great!¡± Everybody agreed as they all felt Barley¡¯s opinion was much better and more reasonable. Seeing the others nodding, Zhang Tie nodded as well.


    At this moment, none of the youths could have imagined that the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, starting as a trivial group that used spears and swords as shares, would become brilliant in the future...


    ¡­¡­


    The event of Samira being a ¡°mole of the Norman Empire¡± was gradually developing...


    On a side of a hill more than 10 miles away from Wild Wolf Castle, the on-duty students who had set off from Wild Wolf Castle finally caught up with the horny students of the Male Lion Association, who were ready to capture golden wolves and pick goose-neck grass. After all, a team of more than 200 members could not move as fast as a squad of only seven or eight people.


    After catching up with them, when the on-duty students told Burwick the news that Samira might be a mole of the Norman Empire, Burwick¡¯s face immediately turned pale. The Male Lion Association was thrown into chaos, and in confusion, they began to look at each other one by one.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening? How could Samira suddenly become a mole of the Norman Empire?¡± Burwick doubted. Of course, he didn¡¯t know what had happened in Wild Wolf Castle in the past several hours. He would never imagine that his casual exposing of Zhang Tie to Samira, which was due to fear of being surpassed, would, in the end, bury Samira.


    ¡°We won¡¯t know the results until the officials from Blackhot City¡¯s Ministry of Internal Affairs take over the follow-up investigation of Samira¡¯s case. Except for you, the fact that Samira had intended to stir up trouble in this survival training is already known by everyone in Wild Wolf Castle!¡± The on-duty students who came to inform the Male Lion Association looked shrewd and had eyes that contained a wisp of contempt and mockery. Any smart person could see through Burwick¡¯s ambition. As students of Mr. Zerom, the teacher of the Second National Male Middle School, many of them were smart. ¡°The teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee feared that you were being framed by the mole of the Norman Empire. That is why they sent us to inform you. Samira can not even protect himself now, so the promises that he had made in front of you might never be realized. Additionally, nobody knows whether or not Samira intended to harm you by instigating you to march towards Crescent Prairie. It¡¯s estimated that the officials of Blackhot City¡¯s Ministry of Internal Affairs will be interested in those who have cooperated with Samira!¡±


    Before leaving, one of the on-duty students turned around and shouted loudly, ¡°Brothers of the Male Lion Association, Samira is finished. You¡¯d better not be the cannon fodder of some insidious person. Oh, I almost forgot. There¡¯s a bonfire party tonight in Wild Wolf Castle!¡±


    No matter how cunning Burwick was, he also became restless at this moment. If he continued to march towards Crescent Prairie, then he would truly be an idiot. Burwick even started to doubt whether there would even be someone who would want to go with him to experience such an adventure which was teeming with dangers and could even put him in a load of trouble. However, if they went back to the Wild Wolf Castle, every member of the Male Lion Association, who had generously sworn to complete this great mission, might become a huge laughing stock in this survival training¡ªno, it was not might become, but rather, they had already become one. As the instigator of this huge farce, how could his school recommend such a figure?


    How did it come to this? Burwick was also confused. He then converted this confusion into hatred and anger¡ª¡¯Who!? Who was the one who had made me lose everything and turn me into a public laughingstock when I was so close to success?¡¯


    Burwick¡¯s expressions changed quickly while thinking it over. He was so concentrated that he even failed to notice the people beside him who had called to him several times. When Burwick recovered his composure, he found that all the other members of the Male Lion Association were giving him strange looks.


    ¡°We¡­ we better return to our base first!¡± Burwick forced a smile.


    After returning to their base, Burwick sent someone to investigate what had happened to Samira. However, the news from Wild Wolf Castle shocked Burwick for a long time¡ªZhang Tie¡­ it was Zhang Tie...

 105 Becoming More and More Handsome

    Chapter 105: Becoming More and More Handsome


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    By the time the sun had set, large pieces of wood had been piled up two meters high in the middle of the square of Wild Wolf Castle, and to the side of the tall pile of wood were scattered smaller pieces of woods that were covered in pine resin. With burning torches in hand, the on-duty students waited to the side with eyes fixed on the highest point of the inner castle tower of Wild Wolf Castle where the lightning rods were installed.


    As the last wisp of sunlight slipped behind the highest point of the inner castle tower of Wild Wolf Castle, every pile of wood was set ablaze and the bonfire party started.


    At every place and at every night party, women were always the protagonists as well as the hosts of the party, and this included the bonfire party in Wild Wolf Castle. The moment the piles of wood were ignited, those women had already successively walked out of the castle in groups.


    Every one of the girls had delicately dressed up, and many of them wore a beautiful skirt. Seeing the groups of girls surging out from the gate of the inner castle, many horny students who had already waited to the side of the gates of Wild Wolf Castle took heavy breaths, and with wide opened eyes, they gazed at the girls passing by, completely captivated by what they were seeing. Along with the flying skirts that brought along with it a fragrant breeze came the various enchanting figures, plump or slim, and various adorable smiles. Compared to when they had first seen those girls at the railway station, this time, they saw real girls, perhaps even goddesses.


    Some of the horny students even choked on their own saliva and began to loudly cough...


    Much like the tradition in Blackhot City, the bonfire party during the survival training was also considered a tradition. During the survival training, the male students would always show their own abilities and worth, while the female students showed their value for reproduction.


    The girls came out of the castle in teams of two. Once they came out, they would begin to separate, with one to the left and the other to the right. After respectively occupying a place in the square, they would sit down by the bonfire, seemingly as if they were competing with each other for the attention of the boys. However, while the boys would use their preys to show their value, the girls, in a similar manner, would use their own values; they would use their beauty, elegance, charm, and other abilities to conquer the boys.


    Tonight, the girls were the protagonists!


    It was only when all the girls had come out from the castle, sat by the bonfire, and had displayed the attitudes of hosts were the boys, who had long been waiting to the side, allowed to join them.


    When all the girls sat beside the bonfires, the animals, who had long been drooling, drew close to the circles of girls that surrounded the bonfire as they pretended to be gentlemen. The square of Wild Wolf Castle then started to be boisterous.


    ¡­¡­


    Facing the first night party ever since they were born, all the horny students in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood also paid a great deal of attention to this chance. As someone had to stay in the tree base to keep an eye on it, they drew lots to decide who would stay. Unexpectedly, it was Bagdad who was to stay back, resulting in him being silent and depressed. However, after Zhang Tie took out of theand told him that he had several hours to read this book if he stayed in the tree base, Bagdad grinned. For guys like Bagdad, who treated fighting skills as their lives, he had truly made a huge gain this time.


    As they had to participate in such a night party, they would certainly treat it seriously. After supper, they then started to take a bath in that stream that was not far from the tree base. Afterwards, they returned to the tree base and searched their luggage for a set of clean clothes.


    For this survival training, Zhang Tie had only brought a total of three sets of clothes and a pair of spare shoes. One of the three sets of clothes was the uniform of Blackhot City¡¯s city guard army, which was left by his elder brother. This uniform was the favorite amongst the adolescents in Blackhot City and was the most popular fashion item in the black market. Although it was much larger than Zhang Tie¡¯s frame, his mom had tailored it and made it barely suitable to Zhang Tie¡¯s frame. His mom was very considerate, and in consideration of Zhang Tie¡¯s fast growth, she had specifically made it a bit larger than Zhang Tie¡¯s current frame. During the last new year when Zhang Tie wore it as a set of new clothes, he had to roll up his sleeves and trousers a bit, but today when he wore it again, he felt that it was only a bit loose and fit him quite well. This time, he didn¡¯t need to roll up his sleeves and trousers.


    After changing into a set of new clothes and wearing that pair of leather boots that were gifted to him by his elder brother, Zhang Tie, with the exception of the collar insignia and shoulder strap on his hat and clothes, completely became a member of the city guard army in Blackhot City. Among the adolescents in Blackhot City, this was their favorite way to dress.


    Fastening a leather belt around his waist, he hung the new sword that he obtained today in the buckle of the leather belt around his waist. After doing all of this, he felt spirited.


    The long sword on his waist was exchanged with Sharwin. As that sword was the one engraved with Zhang Tie¡¯s name and was lent to him by Zhang Tie, Sharwin wanted to take it as a momento, thus he used the new sword that he had obtained today and exchanged it for the sword which had Zhang Tie¡¯s name engraved upon it.


    Since Zhang Tie was the last person to finish cleaning himself up, he was certainly the last one to finish changing into a set of clean clothes and walk out from the tree hollow. By the time Zhang Tie had jumped out of the tree hollow, Barley and the others had already been waiting for him below it. At the sight of Zhang Tie, all the other members looked at him with wide opened eyes and instantly stopped talking.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Zhang Tie touched all over his body and lowered his head to check his crotch but found nothing was amiss.


    ¡°That¡¯s really strange. After dressing up, I suddenly feel that Bighead is much more handsome than before!¡± Barley opened his mouth.


    ¡°Am I handsome?¡± Zhang Tie giggled as he touched his head. Since he was born, this was the first time that he was praised by others as handsome.


    ¡°Really, I feel that Bighead could already survive by using just his face!¡± Hista showed an obscene smile.


    ¡°Bastard, you go survive yourself by just using your face!¡± Zhang Tie rebutted.


    ¡°Haha, thanks for your praise. To be able to survive using my face is my lifelong dream!¡±


    ¡°Bighead, I feel that you are really different from before...¡± Leit, with two fingers caressing his chin like an old man, glanced at Zhang Tie from top to bottom. ¡°I can¡¯t tell the specifics, but I can feel that you are really something and have a big Qi field!¡± Bagdad said.


    ¡°I also feel that Bighead seems more handsome than before!¡± Sharwin added.


    ¡°Ha...ha...¡± Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, as his vanity was somewhat satisfied at this moment. ¡°Well, we are all very handsome. Let¡¯s go!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    In truth, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know that every since he had obtained the Castle of Black Iron, his body and spirit had undergone a tremendous change.


    The effects of the Leakless Fruit gradually improved Zhang Tie¡¯s body. At this moment, Zhang Tie looked magnificent yet reserved. The largest change was Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes, followed by his hair and skin. The health of a person¡¯s eyes, hair, and skin was closely related to the energy within his body, his secretion glands, and the functioning and vitality of organs like the liver and the kidney. One effect of the Leakless Fruit was exactly reflected in the improvements of human energy and the functioning and vitality of human organs and glands.


    At the age of 15, his eyes should only be brilliant, but after obtaining the Castle of Black Iron and especially after eating three Leakless Fruits, Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes looked more than brilliant and even shone a bit, making him look very vibrant.


    Besides his eyes, his hair had also improved a lot. His hair was neither good nor bad before, but after washing it, his black hair looked as if it had been carefully maintained like that of those honorable ladies. Deep in his eyes was a sort of magnificent spirit which showed his vigorous vitality. As for his skin, it was just as average as the others. Ever since he had entered puberty, his skin was troubled with acne every once in awhile, but since a bit more than a month ago, Zhang Tie hadn¡¯t noticed that the couple of acne on his face had long disappeared. Not only that, his skin was gradually becoming more and more delicate, brighter, and cleaner than before.


    The only side effect of the Leakless Fruit is that it made Zhang Tie look more and more handsome. Although Zhang Tie was not considered ugly before and could even rank in the upper middle areas among the Chinese adolescents, after experiencing such a great change, Zhang Tie instantly became outstanding.


    Continually mining and doing high-intensity labor work gradually caused Zhang Tie¡¯s muscles to become prominent and sturdy, while his body and shoulders gradually became broader. After the continuous cultivation and repetitively experiencing life and death situations in the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit, Zhang Tie looked more and more mysterious and profound.


    With all these advantages, even Zhang Tie himself had not realized that he was gradually becoming more and more excellent and attractive among his peers. As Hista had said, Zhang Tie could already survive by just using his face in front of girls.


    These days, since Zhang Tie had been busy digging in the mines, he looked dirty every day with that ugly mining basket on his back, thus few people had noticed his change. However, after taking a simple bath, combing his hair, and changing into a set of clean clothes, Zhang Tie immediately looked different in the eyes of the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, who had stayed with him for a long time. Because of their lack of experience, they had failed to identify the small changes to Zhang Tie. The moment they saw him, they only felt that Zhang Tie had become much more handsome.

 106 Being A Bestseller

    Chapter 106: Being A Bestseller


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    When the six members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood arrived at Wild Wolf Castle, It was already completely dark, and the square with the bonfires was becoming increasingly boisterous. Looking from a distance, the red flames from the bonfires in the square looked like bundles of flower blossoms that attracted crazy bees and romantic butterflies to fly over. In addition to that, the music played on the accordions, and over time, the aroma of the roasted meat drifted far away along with the cheers of the horny students. The pleasant atmosphere could even be felt by the other people at the foot of the mountain.


    The moment they paced up to ascend the mountain, they heard the exclamations and whistles of the animals who were sitting around two girls with masks on their faces who were performing a belly dance, which had many chaotic movements as they twisted their waists and bellies.


    ¡°After the party, we will meet up here before heading back to the tree base together. Brothers, seducing girls is a personal fight. I will go first, good luck!¡± After saying this with an obscene smile, Hista spat out the two tea leaves that were brought by Barley and immediately drilled into the crowd before disappearing.


    Barley and the other members also cleansed their mouths before spitting out the tea leaves used to refresh their mouths. After exchanging glances, they said ¡°good luck¡± to each other before drilling into the crowd and disappearing, leaving Zhang Tie standing on the ground alone, confused as to where to go.


    Zhang Tie was not aware that what had happened to him at noon today, especially his fight with the bodyguard of the Samira Business Group, which was even described as marvelous, had caused his name to be well known among the girls in Wild Wolf Castle. They all knew how he forced back a LV 3 bodyguard of the Samira Business Group within a round and had used the ¡°Hidden Blade Move¡± to deter the people who tried to set him up. Winning the fight using his intelligence and verbal prowess, he finally revealed Samira¡¯s status as a ¡°mole of the empire¡±. He was able to beat Samira, who had intended to frame him and put him in a hellish state, in such a short period of time. Such a reversal did not only shock the onlooking students but also the teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee. How could such a talented person just be silently digging in the mines before? Wasn¡¯t that strange? Well, there was no need to be curious about that, as it was a profound mysterious cultivation method of the Chinese clan in the Oriental Continent...


    When some of the gossipy students asked about that amazing, black-haired miner, they realized that he was exactly the Zhang Tie who was known everywhere in Wild Wolf Castle since a few days ago for his heroic feat of killing three wild wolves before jumping into a 200-m deep cave in order to survive. Realizing this, they felt that Zhang Tie was even more mysterious.


    Powerful and mysterious were how many girls felt about Zhang Tie when they heard this name.


    As there were only a few Chinese students attending this survival training, the moment Zhang Tie appeared in the square of Wild Wolf Castle, he was instantly recognized by many people who paid attention to him. Unexpectedly, Zhang Tie was also handsome and robust, which had caused many girls who were stealthily paying attention to him to become exceptionally spirited at the sight of this key person. In truth, Zhang Tie¡¯s figure and his personalities definitely made him attractive in the eyes of others.


    Standing in pace, Zhang Tie swallowed his saliva as he stealthily glanced at the two hot girls beside him. Out of his expectation, a beauty had suddenly appeared in front him.


    Almost as tall as Zhang Tie, that beauty had amber-colored hair, white skin, and a delicate face. She was wearing an elegant longuette while her two plump breasts were exposed from her V-shaped collar.


    Wow, so huge!


    Zhang Tie exclaimed inwardly. Regardless of sex, white people had the advantage over Chinese people when it came to physical development. Taking this beauty as an example, although she looked no more than 16 years old, her hot figure could even match those Chinese women in their thirties. She was the perfect example of a woman with an angel¡¯s face and a terrific figure.


    Seeing the beauty gazing at him with a big smile, Zhang Tie looked left and right before ascertaining she was here for him.


    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Alice, can I invite you to be my playmate in this bonfire party?¡±


    ¡®Being invited by a beauty to be her playmate? Oh my god!¡¯ Zhang Tie exclaimed inwardly. ¡®Is today April Fool¡¯s Day? Or I am just lucky enough to encounter beauties?¡¯


    ¡°Are¡­ are you talking to me?¡± As it had only been a single day, Zhang Tie had not fully completed his transition from a poor adolescent to the focus of the girls, thus hearing the beauty¡¯s invitation, Zhang Tie became unconfident as he pointed at his own nose and asked the girl.


    ¡°Of course, do you think I am talking to someone else?¡± Alice winked.


    A man, at such a moment and on such an occasion, unless there was something wrong with his mind, would never refuse the invitation of enchanting girls like Alice.


    Having satisfied his vanity, Zhang Tie recovered his composure as he forced a smile. ¡°I¡¯m Zhang Tie, it¡¯s my pleasure to be your playmate!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, Alice also showed a smile as she seized Zhang Tie¡¯s arm and hugged it between her breasts. While she did this, Alice looked proud as she glanced over the onlooking girls who had been focusing on Zhang Tie, sending them a special signal¡ªhe¡¯s mine! This method of showing off was perhaps something that only girls could understand.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie¡¯s left hand was being hugged by Alice while his arm was tightly glued to Alice¡¯s plump breasts and was sandwiched between them. Although Alice did not see this as something serious, Zhang Tie¡¯s face immediately blushed. That sensation transmitted from his arm to his brain made him exceptionally excited and Tie felt his d*ck instantly pop up like a beast capturing a prey. Zhang Tie immediately foisted his right hand into a pocket of his trousers before firmly pressing down on that thing.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± Unknown whether or not she had noticed Zhang Tie¡¯s abnormal movement, Alice innocently asked Zhang Tie as she silently rubbed Zhang Tie¡¯s arm onto her breasts a couple of times.


    Feeling the mischievousness and craftiness hidden in Alice¡¯s naive face and her innocent tone, Zhang Tie immediately converted his embarrassment into a braveness that even surprised himself. Pretending to be ferociously staring at Alice, he kissed her under her surprised look. Moving his mouth to Alice¡¯s ear, he whispered, ¡°Earlier, I realized that thing was not tamed, so I just made it tamed!¡±


    ¡°How are you so bold? You want to kiss me, but you don¡¯t ask whether I¡¯m willing?¡± Alice, with wide opened eyes, looked at Zhang Tie in amazement.


    ¡°Well, if you felt that you suffered a loss, you can kiss me as compensation. Then, we will be even!¡± Zhang Tie shamelessly said.


    ¡°You bastard!¡± Alice smiled again as she tightly hugged Zhang Tie¡¯s arm.


    Zhang Tie slightly heaved a sigh inwardly.


    After kissing Alice, Zhang Tie was also worried about what would happen next. He also felt that he was too bold just now, but then he remembered what his elder brother had told him. In fact, women really hated those gentlemen who dared not to be aggressive to them. If you bravely kissed a girl and she didn¡¯t slap you, then it meant that she had not lost interest in you; at the very least, she did not lose interest in you because of this kiss. You then have to stand the upcoming test. The biggest loser was those who instantly apologized after kissing a girl. Many girls didn¡¯t plan to slap you after being kissed; however, after you apologized, you might be slapped by them, and they would even add you into a list of bastards and would never form a good opinion of you¡ªgirls were born to wait for a man with a whip to conquer them!


    Zhang Tie thought he was really lucky enough to meet such a beauty tonight, but never would he expected that this was not his only luck tonight. After walking a few steps forward with Alice, another beauty appeared in front of them. This was a blonde beauty who wore a skintight red mini-vest, which caused her huge breasts to almost burst out, skintight trousers, and a pair of boots. She was as hot as Alice, and in a single sentence, she was really pleasant to Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes.


    With eyes fixed on Zhang Tie and a sweet and confident smile, that beauty directly walked towards Zhang Tie and Alice. When that beauty walked towards them, Zhang Tie felt Alice¡¯s tension and her hostility towards this women.


    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Beverly. Could I invite you to be my playmate tonight?¡± that beauty directly and boldly said to Zhang Tie.


    After receiving the same invitation from the two beauties, Zhang Tie felt as if his popularity was skyrocketing.


    ¡°Sorry, I have already promised Alice to be her playmate tonight!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s explanation, Alice made a sweet smile and directly kissed Zhang Tie before glaring at Beverly.


    The smile on Beverly''s face remained unchanged. ¡°Would you mind changing your playmate by choosing me?¡±


    After a stealthy glance at this blonde girl¡¯s breasts and Alice, who was looking at him with a sweet smile, Zhang Tie replied, ¡°Hmm¡­ I.. I do mind!¡±


    ¡°Do you mind having one more playmate?¡± Beverly proudly stood straight, causing her frame to be even more pronounced. ¡°I think that as a gentleman, you should not refuse the invitation from a beauty like me for consecutive three times at a party!¡±


    ¡°Then, fine!¡± Zhang Tie had long been extremely excited inside. Who would refuse the invitation from a beauty like Beverly if there was nothing wrong with his mind? They were just playmates at a night party, the more the better.


    When Beverly walked beside Zhang Tie and hugged his other arm, putting it between her breasts, Zhang Tie really felt a bit dazzled while his d*ck greatly expanded and became erect.


    ¡®Happiness arrives so fast that this father has not even been circumcised yet.¡¯ Zhang Tie sighed inwardly.When he was glued by their breasts at the same time, Zhang Tie immediately felt something was wrong between Alice and Beverly as there was a sense of animosity on them like what other female animals would do in front of their enemies.


    ¡°You two¡­ do you two know each other?¡± Zhang Tie asked them out of curiosity.


    ¡°Of course...¡± Before Alice opened her mouth, Beverly had already spoken, ¡° Alice is a member of the Rose Association, while I am a member of the Lilac Association. We usually make exchanges with each other!¡± After recovering her composure, Alice raised her chin and proudly said, ¡°Men fight to conquer the world, while we women fight to conquer men. Since this man is my target, Beverly, I will never lose this fight!¡±


    ¡°Alice, I have never doubted my charm!¡± Beverly also defiantly said before hugging Zhang Tie¡¯s arm even more tightly, ¡°I also won¡¯t let this man go in front of me!¡±


    ¡°Just wait for that!¡±


    ¡°Fine, I hope you won¡¯t cry!¡±


    After fiercely glaring at each other, the girls both ¡°harrumphed¡± and turned their heads away.


    What the f*ck? What Rose Association and Lilac Association? Zhang Tie became really confused about what the two girls had talked about. Relationships between girls were much more complex than that between boys. Zhang Tie was not interested in interfering with the conflict between these girls.


    ¡°Stop, you two...¡± Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t stand it anymore as he glanced at Alice and Beverly. ¡°I¡¯m really flattered by your adoration, but now that we are playmates for tonight¡¯s party, we should just be happy. There¡¯s no need to destroy the happy atmosphere!¡±


    ¡°Of course, we will definitely make you happy. Alice and I are not only your best playmates but also your best partners, aren¡¯t we, Alice?¡±


    ¡°Of course!¡± Alice replied quickly as she returned a smile to Beverly. ¡°This man belongs to us. We won¡¯t let any more in, agreed?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    The bold behaviors of these two girls almost made Zhang Tie pass out, but he had to admit that he really enjoyed being hugged by the two beauties with huge breasts. It felt cool both psychologically and physiologically. Seeing the envious eyes of the other male animals, Zhang Tie felt an extremely sweet sensation inside. It¡¯s pretty cool, and it¡¯s exciting!


    ¡­¡­


    ¡®In the past, I thought that I would be very happy as long as I was surrounded by beauties, but it was only today when I am tightly hugged by two hot girls with huge breasts did I realize¡­ this was true. Yeah! Hahaha...''


    ¡®Well, I have to admit that I am a just a secular man who likes beauties and big boobs. The more beauties around me, the happier I will be and the more sense of achievement I will have!¡¯


    Zhang Tie said to himself in his heart!


    Feeling as if he was being watched by a pair of eyes, Zhang Tie realized it was Miss Qili who was solemnly staring at him. In the past, Zhang Tie had felt that Miss Qili looked at him as if she were looking at a big, drooling toad; however, now that her opinion of Zhang Tie had improved, Miss Qili looked at him as if she were looking at a wolf disguised in human skin who would walk straight on the ground. Her eyes were teeming with alert and warning. Thinking of the strange punishment that woman had given him, Zhang Tie became pretty infuriated inside. ¡®You don¡¯t want any girls to stay with this father alone for three minutes¡­ Heh heh, as you can see, I have two girls with me right now. Your motherf*cking punishment doesn¡¯t work on me anymore.¡¯


    Facing Miss Qili¡¯s stare, under the slight cry of Alice and Beverly, Zhang Tie pulled his arms away from the two girls¡¯ breasts before directly hugging their slim waists and kissing the two girls¡¯ faces right in front of Miss Qili. Then, he pointed at his own face, letting the two girls kiss him before finally grinning towards Miss Qili, exposing two rows of white teeth...


    Zhang Tie felt really refreshed at the sight of Miss Qili being really infuriated as her willow-leaf-like eyes raising upwards.


    In the distance, Hista and Barley encountered each other. When they thought that Zhang Tie was still a virgin and had no experience in seducing girls, their repulsive attitudes drove them to look for Zhang Tie. They wanted to see how Zhang Tie would lose face in front girls. Out of expectation, they caught sight of Zhang Tie ferociously hugging and kissing two beauties with huge breasts, causing their eyes to almost pop out of their sockets. And it even went further; he even let the two beauties kiss him back and the two beauties just did as he told them to.


    Hista and Fatty Barley, who had thought they had rich experiences in seducing girls, were really shocked by what they saw. They became mouth agape.


    ¡°Beast!¡± Hista shouted. ¡°Could he have been born with seducing skills? My god, he even let two girls kiss him at the same time. It¡¯s two girls, not one! He has two girls accompanying him at once. God! Are you kidding me? Am I dreaming? Could digging in the mines really help people seduce girls? F*ck!¡±


    ¡°Beast!¡± Fatty Barley also cursed loudly. However, Zhang Tie instantly became much greater in his mind. In such a short period, a guy who had not yet even been circumcised was able to successfully seduce two beauties at the same time. Which other drooling guy was capable of this? Is digging in the mines really a super mysterious knowledge? At this moment, even Barley, who had heard of those rumor, started to feel his mind waver.


    At the same time, it was not only Hista and Barley who were loudly cursing Zhang Tie but Miss Qili and Mr. Zerom as well...


    But each of them was in a different mood when cursing him.


    Kristine and Pandora were also cursing him. Zhang Tie never knew that his move was seen by so many people at the same time.


    After cursing Zhang Tie, Kristine and Pandora, who were far from each other in the crowd, made the same movement¡ªlowering their heads, they looked at their own breasts and both felt infuriated and unconvinced.


    Bastard¡ªthey added one more word at the same time!

 107 Secret Exposed

    Chapter 107: Secret Exposed


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    At dawn, a cavalry squad who all wore light uniforms covered by a black cloak arrived at Wild Wolf Castle. The sudden arrival of the clattering hoofs broke the tranquility at dawn and surprised a flock of birds, causing them fly away. The overnight howls and curses of Samira, who had already been put behind the bars of an underground cell in the Wild Wolf Castle, would soon become desperate weeps!


    ¡­¡­


    While dreaming, Zhang Tie slept very well last night and even had a foolish smile on his face. As for the bonfire party last night, it made Zhang Tie very happy. In that night party, he had hugged two beauties with huge breasts and walked here and there to show off. He had even kissed and touched the two beauties at his will and let them fight for his favor. What he had done had truly stimulated the other animals, causing their eyes to turn green, and had even caused Miss Qili¡¯s eyes to turn red. To do such a deed in such a manner, in truth, it was motherf*cking cool! Zhang Tie thought that he had never been so cool since he was born.


    Through last night¡¯s party, Zhang Tie was able to understand three things, or rather, three truths.


    The first truth was that beauty was the source of happiness.


    The second truth was that the main driving force behind a man¡¯s will to improve his strength and abilities was to possess more sources of happiness. Zhang Tie remembered that a teacher once said that before the Catastrophe, a famous human psychologist attributed the basic driving force of human society to human¡¯s sexual impulses. At that time, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t understand what that meant, but after what happened last night, he finally realized that it was truly a damn wise opinion. Over a single night, Zhang Tie felt that he started to desire more in his future. He had more opinions and more desires than before, and although Zhang Tie also felt that he longed for the future even more than before, after what happened last night, he realized that he could long for it even more. For example, he realized that Iron-Body Fruit might accelerate its speed to become ripe...


    As for the third truth, Zhang Tie realized that he was still a commoner and a mortal. While the Castle of Black Iron and that small tree had neither made him greater, more honorable, nor more tasteful, he had not been able to live without being vulgar. When a beauty showed him her adoration, he would always feel excited inwardly as he hugged her waist. At that moment, both his vanity and his naughty d*ck would expand a lot from the excitement. All these showed that he was still as vulgar as before.


    ¡­¡­


    As usual, Zhang Tie¡¯s biological clock woke him up at a bit past 6:00 am.


    Waking up, Zhang Tie felt highly spirited and full of vitality. After putting on that set of mining clothes, Zhang Tie slipped out of the tree hollow. For the second half of last night, it was Doug¡¯s turn to be on duty. Doug was currently hugging the machine bow as he squatted in the small pit of the tree with eyes half closed. Seeing Zhang Tie getting up so early, Doug, who had been familiar with Zhang Tie¡¯s style, grinned and passed his machine bow to Zhang Tie before yawning and returning to his hole to sleep. Zhang Tie then hugged that machine bow and squatted in the tree pit to start his first homework¡ªvisualizing an abacus and practicing mental arithmetic using the abacus. Aside from improving the prowess of one¡¯s mental calculations, it could also improve one¡¯s spiritual energy. Currently, this secret was only known by Zhang Tie. If Donder had not told him to not casually impart how to use an abacus to others, Zhang Tie would have long been practicing it together with the other guys of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood.


    After Zhang Tie practiced for more than an hour, Barley also got up, followed by the other guys. Seeing all the other members having gotten up, Zhang Tie ended his cultivation. After simply cleaning himself, he casually gnawed on a small piece of dried meat before carrying his mining basket and starting a new day of work.


    On the way to his mining cave, Zhang Tie was highly spirited, as another Leakless Fruit would be ripe today. After eating this fruit, the burning point on his rear end would be ignited and he himself would also be officially promoted to a LV 2 warrior. After that, he would definitely be an elite among all the students attending this survival training. Starting from the burning point on one¡¯s rear end, each additional ignited burning point would obviously help improve one¡¯s physical qualities, especially strength. According to Captain Kerlin, this was because Strength of Blood, Strength of Channel, Strength of Vein, Strength of Bone, and Strength of Marrow were gradually activated in addition to the Strength of Qi.


    Zhang Tie estimated that after the ignition of the Shrine Burning Point, his strength was only a bit lower than Glaze¡¯s. This trivial difference laid in Glaze¡¯s physique, but if he truly fought with Glaze, then Zhang Tie felt that he would not necessarily be defeated by Glaze. Although Glaze held the advantage in strength, he could not match Zhang Tie¡¯s speed and battle experience. Zhang Tie refused to believe that Glaze would also have a Trouble-Reappearance Fruit to eat, in which he could experience life and death situation seven to eight times in that mysterious space.


    Additionally, based on the speed that the leakless fruit would help him ignite his burning points, Zhang Tie estimated that he could ignite two more burning points before the end of the survival training. No matter what, with his recent cultivation speed, Zhang Tie felt that he would soon catch up with Glaze. Glaze would not be ahead of him for much longer; within a short period, he would completely surpass Glaze in all aspects.


    What would a man whose strength is gradually increasing obtain? Heh heh¡­ Of course, more and more sources of happiness. Thinking of those two enchanting vixens, Alice and Beverly, and their huge boobs, Zhang Tie grinned. Last night, he couldn¡¯t help but do many ¡°terrible and disgusting¡± things to those two girls in his mind. After what had happened last night, Zhang Tie found that he actually had a strong sense of possessiveness when it came to women, especially beautiful women. Although his desire had not reached levels of insanity, it was still pretty strong. If he spoke out his desires, he would definitely be constantly cursed at by those apologists and hypocrites both in writing and verbally.


    Zhang Tie felt that his ideal life was to lay on a bed covered in money as he was surrounded by many beautiful virgins and young married women that had already drawn close to him last night!


    ¡®Come on!¡¯ Zhang Tie encouraged himself as he picked up the pace...


    ¡­¡­


    However, before he had reached the mining cave, Zhang Tie was intercepted by an on-duty student who was attending the survival training. As the officials of Blackhot City¡¯s Ministry of Internal Affairs had already arrived at Wild Wolf Castle this morning, they asked Zhang Tie to go there to cooperate with their investigation since, after all, Zhang Tie was the person who was directly related to that incident.


    ... ¡°You¡¯re saying that you felt someone drop something inside your mining basket, which was when Jagla had silently thrown that purse into your mining basket?¡± Within a dark room, Zhang Tie was cooperating with the investigation of some guys in black cloaks. As the investigation proceeded, several strange guys were standing in the corridor outside the room, allowing no one to move close by or gossip. Compared to the how the Temporary Supervision Committee interrogated Zhang Tie yesterday, these guys from Blackhot City¡¯s Ministry of Internal Affairs were more meticulous.


    ¡°Yes, my senses are quite sharp, so I noticed it when he threw it into my mining basket, especially because my mining basket was empty. They might not think that I could notice that, but I was able to!¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯s your mining basket? Did you bring it?¡±


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s outside in the corridor...¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, they asked Zhang Tie to bring in his mining basket. One of them then weighed it on his hand as he showed his suspicion towards Zhang Tie. ¡°Was there a mining hoe and a torch inside the mining basket when you were in the square yesterday?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°With these items inside along with the weight of the mining basket, in total, they would weigh up to more than 10 kg. You were able to sense it when someone silently put the purse inside?¡± The interrogators felt amazed as they fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie¡¯s expression.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Zhang Tie calmly replied.


    ¡°Where¡¯s that purse then?¡±


    ¡°When I was escaping to the mining cave, in order to avoid being framed by them, I had thrown it away. Later on, I had returned to search for it, but unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to find it!¡± Zhang Tie told a reasonable lie. At that time, not only was it pitch black inside that mining cave, but there were also many people who had rushed into it. Zhang Tie doesn¡¯t believe that these guys would investigate each and every student in an attempt to find out who had picked up the purse. Unless they were an idiot, if someone picked up the purse, no one would hand it in; if it were Zhang Tie, he would never hand it in either. Thus, it would be next to impossible to find that purse.


    After interrogating Zhang Tie about the details, they drew close to each other and whispered amongst themselves before one of them said to Zhang Tie, ¡°What you have told us is almost consistent with what we have learned about yesterday¡¯s event, but I have another question. How did you ascertain that they were trying to set you up the moment you heard someone loudly shout that his purse was gone and urged others to capture the thief?¡±


    ¡°If someone throws something into your mining basket when passing by you before loudly shouting that his item is gone, then that¡¯s definitely a trap. In such an event, unless one was an idiot, who would stay to be framed?¡± Zhang Tie stared at the interrogators with eyes wide opened, making them a bit embarrassed.


    ¡°Well, take you mining basket. You may leave now!¡±


    Carrying his mining basket once again, one guy accompanied Zhang Tie to the door. The moment they arrived at the door, Zhang Tie suddenly turned his head and looked at that interrogator. ¡°I feel that there is something new in my mining basket!¡± Stopping his footsteps, Zhang Tie put down his mining basket and opened its cover. Unknowing when a purse had been placed inside, Zhang Tie took out the purse and handed it to the guy who was pretending to accompany him to the door. ¡°Can I leave now?¡±


    That guy looked back to the other interrogators while they slightly nodded. ¡°We just wanted to test your senses. You didn¡¯t tell a lie. You may leave now!¡±


    Zhang Tie carried his mining basket once again and left the room.


    ¡­¡­


    After Zhang Tie left, the interrogators closed the door and whispered to each other once again.


    ¡°Is there any problems with this brat named Zhang Tie?¡±


    ¡°No problem. Last night, we investigated his records. His family background is clean. His father and mother are average people, and he has two elder brothers, one who had died for Blackhot City and the other is still serving in the city guard army of Blackhot City. He is 15 years old and has not left Blackhot City since he was born...¡±


    ¡°Then, Samira¡¯s going to have some bad luck!¡±


    ¡°No one asked him to set up an average student in such a despicable manner. For such a huge problem, we, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, are not here to clean his butt!¡±


    ¡°We all know that Samira might not be a mole of the Norman Empire!¡±


    ¡°That isn¡¯t the most important thing. The most important thing is the fact that at least one to two thousand people here believe that Samira is a mole of the Norman Empire. After they return to Blackhot City, they will definitely spread this news everywhere, consequently causing more and more people to believe that Samira is a mole of the Norman Empire!¡±


    ¡°Samira is really an idiot. He can¡¯t even deal with a normal student. I am really confused as to how such an idiot could gain the favor of Master Abyan!¡±


    ¡°This student named Zhang Tie is too cunning!¡±


    ¡°Chinese guys are always cunning...¡±


    ¡°Report the truth to the superiors. Let the big figures decide Samira¡¯s fate. We have done what we should do!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s for the best. We still don¡¯t know whether Blackhot City and the Andaman Alliance will be included in the new map of Norman Empire. We¡¯d better not work too hard during this period...¡± One guy heaved a deep sigh.


    ¡­¡­


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t care about what had happened in the room after he left. For him, the result had already made him happy. Samira wanted to destroy his reputation and his bright future by framing him, but instead, it was his reputation that had been irreparably damaged. He did not care about Samira¡¯s life or death. Even if Samira was punished with death, Zhang Tie would not feel any guilt towards him, as he thought that Samira deserved it.


    After walking around Wild Wolf Castle for a while, Zhang Tie descended the mountain and arrived at that mining cave where he used to work. Surprisingly, compared to the usual calm scene, at this moment, the mouth of the mining cave was brimming with at least fifty to sixty people despite it being early in the morning. They all carried their mining baskets and gathered at the mouth of the mining cave. At the sight of the boisterous scene, Zhang Tie was greatly shocked.


    Why did so many people come here to mine today?


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, that group of noisy people immediately became quiet. After exchanging glances, they then fixed their eyes onto Zhang Tie¡¯s face, causing Zhang Tie¡¯s heart to pound. ¡®Are they Alice and Beverly¡¯s pursuers? Are they blocking the entrance to beat me up? No, it doesn¡¯t seem that way! Even though they are here to beat me up, they don¡¯t have to be miners. Do they want to enter the mining cave together with me before beating me up?¡¯


    Zhang Tie racked his mind. Unexpectedly, a person whom he was acquainted with suddenly pushed out from that group of people.


    ¡°Since the others are reluctant to say it, I will say it!¡± as he said this, Wood walked towards Zhang Tie. Generously patting Zhang Tie on the shoulder, Wood said, ¡°Brother, we all know about your secret...¡± Hearing Wood¡¯s words, Zhang Tie¡¯s expression immediately changed, as he mistook that his Castle of Black Iron had been exposed to the public.


    ¡°My secret? What secret?¡± Zhang Tie pretended to be calm.


    ¡°Hahaha, brother, no need to continue pretending...¡± Wood burst out into laughter. ¡°We all already know that digging in the mines is a great cultivation method and a mysterious knowledge among the Chinese in the East, right?¡±


    Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes immediately widened, Wood felt happy inwardly, yet he pretended to be solemn. ¡°We are all here to follow you. Do you agree with it? We all know that mysterious knowledge and cultivation methods are very precious, so no one would give up an opportunity to learn it. Since we are classmates, if you feel reluctant to teach us, you can just say something to enlighten us. If you can do that, then we will appreciate it a lot!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Seeing the horny students¡¯ eyes filled with desire, Zhang Tie immediately thought about hundreds of ideas.

 108 Barbarian Lifestyle in the Mining Cave

    Chapter 108: Barbarian Lifestyle in the Mining Cave


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Zhang Tie remembered a story that Donder had told him when he was still working in the grocery store. The protagonists of that story were a group of barbarians who had been living in a cave ever since they were born. One day, the group of barbarians found a new area in the cave, one where there was a huge human shadow shaking on the wall. The human shadow was so big that those barbarians had even taken it as a god and deity. Every year and every day, all of them would kowtow in front of that shadow as every one of them showed their respect to that huge shaking human shadow. Many years later, a young barbarian also noticed that huge shaking shadow on the wall; however, unlike the others, who worshiped the shadow in awe, this young barbarian was smart. At the sight of that shadow, he wanted to figure out how the shadow was formed in order to explain it to the others. Later on, after many difficulties, that young barbarian became the first person to leave the cave. Leaving the cave, he realized how the ¡°deity¡± was formed¡ªa bunch of rays shone upon a stone by the entrance of the cave, causing the shadow of that stone to be projected on the wall of the cave in the shape of a human figure. Because of the movement of the sun, the human-like shadow also became longer.


    Having found the reason, the young barbarian excitedly returned to the cave and told the other barbarians what he had seen outside. However, rather than being shocked, those barbarians were infuriated. Tying up that young barbarian, for the reason of blasphemy, they had killed that young barbarian right in front of the ¡°deity¡± and continued to happily kowtow in front of that human-like shadow.


    There were two truths within this story that Donder had wanted to impart unto Zhang Tie. The first: when everyone else believed in one thing, even if it was wrong, you should not reveal the truth and you should not put yourself in the opposition of these people, as they all took it as the truth. This was a rule of survival in human society. The second: truth was mastered by only a few people. For most people, they wouldn¡¯t know what the truth really was and instead only believed in the illusions created by their emotions, thus emotions were more important than the truth.


    It was truly out of Zhang Tie¡¯s expectation that his casual joke could impact them in such a grand way.


    Mining¡­ a mysterious cultivation method? F*ck! That went too far.


    Seeing the desire in their eyes, Zhang Tie realized that if he told the truth, he would quickly be buried in their saliva and condemnation, turning into the enemy of 50 to 60 people.


    ¡®Should I tell the truth?¡¯


    ¡®Of course not, this father is not an idiot!¡¯


    ¡®It seems that I have to use my killing move¡­¡¯


    ''Three¡­ Two¡­ One. I got it. ¡°Barbarian Lifestyle in the Mining Cave¡±...


    Within only a second, trains of thoughts had already flashed past Zhang Tie¡¯s mind. Under the looks of amazements of all the horny students, Zhang Tie¡¯s expression changed from one of shock and amazement into an expression of endless solemnity.


    Zhang Tie looked very serious at this moment.


    ¡°I really can not imagine that my secret has actually been discovered¡­ Ugh!¡± Zhang Tie helplessly heaved a deep sigh.


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s sigh, everyone became excited. It was truly a secret! Earlier, many of the animals only wanted to give it a try; they did not imagine that they could have obtained such a great fortune.


    ¡°It¡¯s truly a mysterious knowledge?¡± Wood became extremely excited as he rubbed his hands and asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s not convenient to talk about that here. Let¡¯s enter the mining cave!¡± Pretending to be cautious, Zhang Tie turned his head left and right before turning his gaze towards those animals. ¡°From now on, please don¡¯t act on your own. Keep quiet and follow my orders. Those who can¡¯t follow this, please leave. As for those who will listen to me, follow me in!¡±


    As he said this, Zhang Tie had already taken out the torch from his mining basket and had already ignited it. Waving his hand towards Wood, he whispered to him:


    ¡°After a while, when we enter the mining cave, you should stay at the back. Remember not to ignite your torch. After we have entered roughly 100 m, you should just lurk at the end of the team for five minutes to check whether someone is silently following us. We will wait for you at the front of the tunnel!¡± Zhang Tie told Wood in a low voice.


    ¡°But I have no watch, how could I tell how much time has passed in the dark?¡± Wood restlessly scratched his head.


    Unexpectedly, that guy named Wood had really treated this thing seriously. Zhang Tie had no choice but to teach him how to calculate time. ¡°When you start lurking at the back, press down on your pulse and count to 300 before you leave...¡±


    ¡°Fine!¡± Wood¡¯s eyes shone. It was secret knowledge, the most mysterious and powerful Oriental secret knowledge! At this moment, not only Wood but also all the other animals¡¯ heart had started to heavily pound.


    Wood then silently stood to the side and stared at Zhang Tie, who had ignited his torch. At this moment, Zhang Tie carefully glanced over the thirsty faces of the 50 to 60 animals. Zhang Tie noticed several familiar faces among the animals. They were the unlucky fellows who had been digging in the mines with him over the past few days. They were the truly unlucky fellows who had moderate strength and were not able to capture any prey. Adding on the fact that they were introverted and had few friends, they had no choice but to dig in the mines in order to survive.


    When Zhang Tie glanced over those unlucky fellows who had always been digging in the mines here, they all tried their best to raise their chests. Even Zhang Tie himself had not realized that he was already the pride and idol of all the miners here. Besides Zhang Tie¡¯s amazing display of intelligence and fighting prowess yesterday, even just what he had done last night¡ªhugging two beauties with huge boobs and swaggering in public¡ªhad already made those guys sincerely respect him.


    ¡°Brothers who have always been mining here, please move forward!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, those guys restlessly walked out of the crowd. They exchanged glances, fearing that they would be driven out of the crowd by Zhang Tie. For these guys, over the more than ten years, they have already gotten used to being unlucky and ignored by others, both at school and anywhere else, thus when Zhang Tie had called them out, they all looked pretty nervous. Some of the more pessimistic guys among them had even instantly become visibly depressed as they furrowed their eyebrows.


    ¡°We¡­ we want to follow you in!¡± a guy plucked his courage and shouted to Zhang Tie with a red face.


    ¡°Of course, when that holy gate is opened, nobody would be left alone!¡± Thinking of the barbarian lifestyle in the mining cave, Zhang Tie forced an easy going and warm smile, one that would be seen on those damn lecherous priests when they stood in front of their followers. ¡°Since you are more familiar with the terrain of the tunnel than the others, I want you to walk ahead with your torches to light the path ahead as our guides in case your fellow brothers enter the wrong path. Can you complete this mission?¡±


    ¡°Yes, of course, we can!¡± Those guys, who were just slouching, stuck out their chests excitedly.


    ¡°Then, you can go now. Use your torch to light up the path for your fellow brothers!¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s thought became increasingly clearer at this moment. He had been able to cleverly apply the barbarian lifestyle in the mining cave, and his words were gradually becoming mysterious as well. ¡°When you begin to light up the path filled with darkness for others and not yourself, your future path will also be brightened!¡±


    Hearing his enlightenment, the highly spirited, unlucky guys immediately became solemn. One of them even blushed, expressed that he wanted to follow Zhang Tie, and had even bowed in front of Zhang Tie. Afterwards, raising their chests and heads, they entered the pitch black cave with their burning torches in hand.


    ¡°Everyone, let¡¯s follow...¡± Following those unlucky guys, Zhang Tie shouted to the other people behind him. Some of them had torches in hand, while the others didn¡¯t. Although there were only a bit more than 30 people among the group that had torches, it was already enough for them to march onwards. After having received militarized education and training for several years, it had caused them to have high discipline. Nobody talked and nobody wanted to be left alone. All of them just calmly followed Zhang Tie in. Assuming a great responsibility, Wood slowly moved to the end of the team, as Zhang Tie had ordered him to do so...


    For those animals who followed Zhang Tie in, this was their first time to enter a mining cave. The circular marks left by the Gold-Eating Boas on the walls were seen every once in awhile in the darkness. Everyone seemed to be walking in an endless tunnel that had a sense of mysteriousness and solemnity.


    Nobody talked. In the entire mining cave, the only sounds that could be heard were the sound of footsteps and the occasional ¡°Zi La¡± sound that came from the torches every now and then.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s walking speed remained unchanged, and so did his followers¡¯. Walking in the tunnel, although Zhang Tie looked calm, he was quickly racking his mind as all the stories and events concerning liars told by Donder flashed across his mind. Since the moment they had entered this mining cave, Zhang Tie was using this time to work out a good plan. Thankfully, roughly 300 m away from the mouth of the mining cave, an audacious idea that was very suitable for the current situation came to mind. Then, Zhang Tie gradually started to work out a plan with a bit of mischief and playfulness.


    No matter what, even if they found out that this had been a ruse after the survival training, this would not have harmed them in any way. They can just consider it as playing the mouse meeting[1]. Zhang Tie then started to think about the next step. Although he laughed loudly inwardly to the point that it caused his intestines to be twisted, his expression became increasingly serious.


    ¡°Stop!¡± Zhang Tie¡¯s voice reverberated far in the cave as he stopped his footsteps. All the others also stopped, not knowing what Zhang Tie¡¯s intentions were.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t give an explanation. He only remained silent. Since Zhang Tie had told them to stay silent, everyone else also kept silent, fearing that they would lose this opportunity to learn about mysterious knowledge the moment they opened their mouth. In such a weird silence, the atmosphere in the pitch black mining cave became increasingly mysterious and serious.


    Five minutes later when Zhang Tie had thought over his plan again and improved some of its details, Wood¡¯s footsteps became gradually clearer as he caught up with them with a torch in hand.


    ¡°Nobody has followed us!¡± Although Wood didn¡¯t specifically raise his voice, his words could still be clearly heard by all the others in the tunnel. Seeing Zhang Tie treating this thing so seriously, everybody gradually confirmed that the mysterious knowledge about mining that they were about to learn was true...


    This method was usually used by liars to control people¡¯s mind. No matter how absurd and no matter how much of a sham the thing was, as long as you treated it seriously, carefully, and faithfully, that thing would gradually become true and important in eyes of others. As Donder had once said, for most normal people, one¡¯s thoughts and attitude towards something was not determined by one¡¯s own judgment and observations, but rather, it was based on the attitude and judgment of others that could be seen with the eyes. Therefore, in public, even if there was nothing in the sky, as long as you raised your head and stared at the sky, you will soon have more and more people that would stare at the sky together with you. Even if there was nothing in the sky, they would continue to try their best to find something in the sky, trying to convince themselves. If they couldn¡¯t see anything, instead of others, they would first doubt themselves. Thus, a liar, if he could even cheat himself, had already succeeded half of the way¡­


    [1] Mouse Meeting refers to Pyramid Scheme, namely an illegal multi-level viral marketing that originated in the United States. Read more in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_scheme

 109 Big Blessing Skill

    Chapter 109: Big Blessing Skill


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    When Zhang Tie took everybody out of that long tunnel and arrived at the spacious underground mining field, he knew that all his followers had already confirmed that he wanted to share that great secret with them.


    This was able to be seen from the look of desire in their eyes and their attitudes towards him.


    Of course, what he wanted to share with them was a great, great mysterious knowledge. Hehhehhehheh...


    In the dark mining field, there were only two burning torches with flickering flames. The dim sound of mining hoes knocking at a mining bed reverberated in the space. Among his fellow miners, some of them believed that Zhang Tie had a great, hidden cultivation secret related to mining, while the others didn¡¯t believe that as they continued working hard in their usual place.


    As for these guys who continued to work hard inside, Zhang Tie had to say sorry to them¡ªnow that it has become a great and outstanding mysterious knowledge, people who were not related would never be allowed to eavesdrop; otherwise, it would not be qualified to be called mysterious knowledge.


    Arriving at the mining field, everybody, including those miners that had walked ahead, cast their eyes filled with desire onto Zhang Tie.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie¡¯s face showed a significantly serious expression.


    ¡°All brothers with food, please move one step forward...¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s instruction, over 30 people immediately moved out of the group and one step forward. Although nobody knew what Zhang Tie¡¯s next instruction would be, nobody asked.


    ¡°If I want you to offer half of your food, would you be willing?¡±


    ¡°I will!¡± After exchanging glances, everybody then loudly shouted in unison.


    Does Zhang Tie want to take food as tuition? Some of the animals started to be suspicious. Facing the slightly suspicious looks, Zhang Tie sneered inwardly, ¡®This father doesn¡¯t even feel reluctant to gift dozens of dried meat to Pandora, so who cares about your dried rations? If you could learn this ¡®great mysterious knowledge¡¯ in exchange for just a bit of dried rations, then mysterious knowledge would be worthless.¡¯


    At this moment, hearing their footsteps and seeing the flames, the guys who were just mining here also walked towards them out of curiosity.


    Waving his hand, Zhang Tie called over the miner who had just been in awe at Zhang Tie and had guided them in the tunnel.


    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±


    ¡°I am Potter!¡± that guy replied slightly tensed.


    ¡°Okay, Potter, I have a mission for you. Bring some brothers with you and distribute half of the donated rations to the students who have been mining here. Tell them that we will be using the mines for a day and that the dried rations will be their compensation!¡± Zhang Tie slightly raised his voice that was full of emotions, allowing all the other animals to hear it. ¡°This is god¡¯s will. Since they did not wait for me outside the cave like you all had, they have lost their chance to participate in our next course of action. Just have them leave for a day!¡±


    Such a simple sentence caused two effects¡ªthose who thought Zhang Tie was going to take their food as ¡°tuition¡± felt embarrassed, while all the others, especially the miners who had been guiding them, immediately became highly spirited.


    ¡°What if¡­ what if¡­ there¡¯s someone that doesn¡¯t want to leave?¡± The moment Potter opened his mouth, from his pessimism and the way he thought about a poor outcome, Zhang Tie realized that Potter must have been frequently bullied by others.


    ¡°Don¡¯t feel like leaving?¡± Zhang Tie smiled and turned to face Wood.


    Wood then patted his chest: ¡°Trust me, they will leave after taking the food!¡±


    After making that promise, Wood directly spoke to the crowd, ¡°Which brothers would like to go with me to persuade those guys to leave!?¡±


    Immediately, five or six tough guys with robust shoulders and thick waists walked out of the crowd.


    A few minutes later, several miners left the mining cave with more food than they could have earned by mining. Some of them were happy since they were able to obtain a large amount of food without doing any work, while others felt reluctant to leave since they wanted to stay and join them. Of course, it was impossible to join them at this moment. After Wood and the other tough guys ¡°persuaded¡± these guys to leave, those who had followed Zhang Tie all felt that this was a precious chance.


    Zhang Tie let them compare themselves to the others, allowing a sense of excellence and identity to come out.


    When Potter and Wood used their food and ¡°fist¡± to clear out the mining field, Zhang Tie let the miners who were acting as guides take these animals to search the areas where people could easily hide, ensuring that there was nobody hiding here.


    At this time, the more serious and cautious Zhang Tie was, the happier and more excited the animals were and the harder they worked.


    Ten minutes later, the entire mining field was cleared. Everybody then gathered in front of Zhang Tie with their eyes full of desire fixed on Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie pointed at the mouth of the cave in the distance and glanced at those animals in a profound way. ¡°After a while when the inheritance ceremony begins, it cannot be disturbed by anyone, thus four of you have to defend that area over there and prevent others from coming in. Unfortunately, those four people would not be able to attend the inheritance ceremony, and since the inheritance ceremony will not be held for a second time during this survival training, it would be unfair for whoever has been arranged to defend that area. Thus, the people who defend that area must do so voluntarily. The four people will need to sacrifice their own chance for others!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, everybody¡¯s face turned pale. Everybody looked at the entrance of the mining cave and then looked at Zhang Tie, who showed the traces of a mysterious smile on his face. As they all did not want to miss the chance presented at this moment, they all became worried.


    ¡°Then, will the four people who come out have another chance to accept the same inheritance ceremony?¡± someone among the silent crowd plucked up his courage and asked.


    ¡°Maybe there is, maybe there isn¡¯t. That is the meaning of sacrifice!¡± Zhang Tie swept a glance over all the animals. Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s reply, everybody felt a holy and solemn feeling filling this quiet mining field.


    ¡°What if¡­ what if nobody wants to defend the entrance?¡±


    ¡°If you cannot find four people among you who would voluntarily sacrifice their own chance, then all I have to say is that you are a group of selfish people. Such a group of selfish people is not qualified to accept the inheritance of such a great Oriental mysterious knowledge like the Big Blessing Skill!¡± Zhang Tie coldly said.


    Big Blessing Skill!


    Hearing these words, all the animals were shocked. Judging from its name, it was a highly valuable mysterious knowledge. The name of the mysterious knowledge coming out of Zhang Tie¡¯s mouth made everybody¡¯s heart pound.


    At this time, someone suddenly thought about something and exclaimed, ¡°Last time when you were chased by the wild wolves and had chosen to jump into a 200 m deep hole in order to survive, you were able to be as lively as normal several days later. Is that the effect of the Big Blessing Skill...¡±


    Although Zhang Tie had long burst into laughter in his heart, he kept silent...


    All of a sudden, everybody felt that it was hard to breathe. With Zhang Tie, a living person who had benefitted from the Big Blessing skill, in front of them, nobody doubted the mysterious knowledge anymore.


    This moment was a true test of the human heart. People would have to sacrifice their chance to learn the Big Blessing Skill in order to defend the entrance. These people could perhaps lose the chance to learn the Big Blessing Skill for the rest of their lives. It was the Big Blessing skill¡ªa mysterious knowledge that enabled a guy to jump into a 200 m deep pitch black hole in order to survive! It might even have other effects. Who would want to give up on this chance?


    Every person had a different expression on their face as they all struggled within their hearts. They had realized that if nobody sacrifices their own opportunity, then they would all lose this chance; however, if someone decides to sacrifice their own opportunity, then it meant that they wouldn¡¯t have such an opportunity for the rest of their lives.


    ¡°I¡¯m willing to make this sacrifice for everyone!¡± Potter stood out. With his lips pressed together, the youth was nervous; however, his face looked quite holy while the bright flames from the torch were reflected in his eyes, moving Zhang Tie. Looking at that somewhat serious face of Potter and the firm confidence in his eyes, Zhang Tie suddenly realized that after starting off with the ¡°barbarian lifestyle in the mining cave¡±, he had gone too far with his act. Zhang Tie silently swallowed his saliva. At this moment, he had no other choice but to continue with the act. He will seriously continue the act in order to not let those guys be disappointed.


    ¡°Potter, as a fire-bearer, in this inheritance ceremony, you are not eligible to be a sacrifice for the others!¡± Zhang Tie solemnly told Potter.


    Seeing Potter somewhat confused, Zhang Tie decided to make the act more convincing.


    ¡°Potter, do you think what had happened today was a coincidence?¡± Zhang Tie put one hand onto that youth¡¯s thin shoulder. ¡°Do you think it was a coincidence for you and I to be gathered here today? Do you think it was a coincidence for me to survive after jumping into a 200 m deep hole? Do you think it was a coincidence for me to beat back the bodyguards of the Samira Business Group yesterday? Do you think it was a coincidence for me to reveal Samira¡¯s scheme in the office? Do you think it was a coincidence for me to let you fire-bearers guide us? Do you think it was a coincidence that you are a fire-bearer? No, these were are all arranged by God and destiny¡­¡±


    ¡°Fire-bearer!¡± Potter murmured the name filled with religiousness and mysteriousness as his eyes began to shine with a different kind of brilliance.


    ¡°Yes, fire-bearer. It is also a part of today¡¯s holy inheritance ceremony. Everything that has happened today is arranged by God and destiny. Without the presence of you fire-bearers among the crowd, then the conditions for today¡¯s holy inheritance ceremony would not be met¡­¡± Zhang Tie looked more serious than before as he started to hum an aria like the ones from the church choirs: ¡°Those who walk in darkness¡­ your face is covered in dirt, your footsteps are staggering, your hands are tainted with filth, and you walk in the dark and dirty land, yet the light and flames within your heart will never die out. One day, the light and flames within your heart will become a torch within the darkness. The ferocious, burning torch will light up the path for your brothers, enabling them to see the troubles and difficulties on the road ahead. For the people who take the responsibility of sacrificing their own opportunity, the burning torches in your hands will be the best blessings in the world. This is the blessing from light, which lights up the road towards the ultimate holy gate!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s fabrications based on the religious books and the Bible that he had read, led by Potter, all the miners began to cry as tears began to drop down from their eyes. Since they were born, they had never thought that their humble bodies were holy and dignified.


    ¡­¡­

 110 Inheritance of Mysterious Knowledge

    Chapter 110: Inheritance of Mysterious Knowledge


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Zhang Tie¡¯s words did not only affect the group of guiding miners led by Potter but everyone else as well. At this moment, even if Zhang Tie told them that everything that was set up by him has been a lie, most likely, none of them would believe him. They could not imagine Zhang Tie fabricating this whole ordeal so perfectly. If he could fabricate things this well, then Zhang Tie was definitely a genius!


    Zhang Tie also suddenly realized that he truly had the talent to be a damn clergyman, as he almost believed in his own fabrications.


    At this moment, Wood, whose face had turned red from excitement, took in a deep breath before stepping out as the first person who would sacrifice his chance to see the Big Blessing Skill.


    ¡°I am willing to sacrifice my chance!¡±


    Another person then walked out from the crowd...


    ¡°I am willing to sacrifice my chance!¡±


    Followed by a third person...


    ¡°I am willing to sacrifice my chance!¡±


    And a fourth...


    ¡°I am willing to sacrifice my chance!¡±


    Seeing the four faces that had the same serious expression as the one previously seen on Potter¡¯s face, Zhang Tie immediately thought back to Donder¡¯s comment on young people¡ªsimple, naive, blood-boiled, and impulsive.


    Seeing himself in these guys, Zhang Tie felt that he was obliged to see this performance through the end no matter what happens.


    ¡°All sacrifices have the most profound blessing and are the sturdiest of guardians. Those who sacrifice their own opportunity will be our guardians and the key to this holy gate. You are truly brave men. With your selflessness, you have shown your own worth as well as allowing the dreams of your brothers to come true!¡± Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s praise, everybody else extended their gratitude to the group of four headed by Wood with complex expressions. Zhang Tie was also solemnly looking at the four people. ¡°Before you become the strongest guardians, please loudly speak out your names in front of your brothers so that your brothers will remember all you have done for them!¡±


    ¡°I, Haren Wood...¡± Wood moved one step forward with his chest raised as he loudly said out his full name.


    ¡°I, Jack Jones...¡± the second person also raised his chest and his chin as he loudly spoke.


    ¡°I, Nadili Gandhi...¡± the third person raised his chest and his chin as he shouted.


    ¡°I, son of a common gardener in Blackhot City, Francis Franca!¡± The fourth person¡¯s introduction was a bit special, winning him a couple of glances from Zhang Tie.


    ¡°Ah you brave men who have willingly sacrificed yourself, for you to sacrifice yourselves for the sake of your brothers, this is the most righteous of deeds...¡± Zhang Tie continued to hum the aria of the church choir, ¡°Your names will forever be engraved upon the holy arched door. When you treat your brothers as extensions of yourself, you will have already arrived at the level of true knowledge. Although time will stop, the seas will dry up, and the mountains will collapse, your name will never fade away. The sacrifices you have made for your brothers will bring you immortality. One day, when we all gather in the holy land of immortals, everything that you have done for your brothers will return to you. Your brothers will never leave you alone. You should know that the light is in your body, and everything that you have created will stay with you, just like how are one with holiness.¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s aria, which was even more shocking than what the clergymen say, Wood, Jones, Gandhi, and Franca felt as if they were filled with a sense of sacredness. In response, they were all moved to the point where their eyes were turning red and the sides of their nose were expanding and shrinking. Finally, they could not help but burst out into tears. The four people felt as if their souls had ascended, and everything else they had done for the others was worth it.


    Seeing them crying again, Zhang Tie could only inwardly sigh at the prowess of words!


    ¡°Wood, Jones, Gandhi, and Franca, as the guardians for this holy inheritance ceremony, please loudly tell everybody that before you fall, you will not let anyone else disturb our upcoming holy inheritance ceremony,¡± Zhang Tie told the four. By then, Zhang Tie felt that he could already control the way these people thought, which was also what all those liars and motherf*cking lecherous clergymen liked and pursued.


    ¡°We promise! Before we fall, nobody else is allowed to enter the cave!¡± After sniffing in their mucus, they raised their fist and glued it to their chest before proudly and loudly swore.


    Zhang Tie turned around and glanced over the other animals with an unprecedented solemn look, intending to frighten them again. ¡°Before the sturdiest of guardians, who have sacrificed their own opportunity to see the Big Blessing Skill, stand at the entrance, you will have one last chance to leave. Once the ceremony begins and after you swear on the oath and obtain the mysterious knowledge of the Big Blessing Skill, you will be obliged to take responsibility for this mysterious knowledge. If you cannot do that, then you may have to pay the price with your life. Try to think about it again. Are you ready to obtain the mysterious knowledge?¡±


    Everyone firmed their gazes and shook their head. Nobody left. At this moment, even if Zhang Tie used a stick to drive them away, they wouldn¡¯t leave.


    ¡°Since everyone has decided, then¡­ Wood, Jones, Gandhi, Franca, the cave is in your hands now. When we begin the inheritance ceremony of the Big Blessing Skill, please keep out anyone who want to pass the entrance!¡± Zhang Tie told the four guys.


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s instructions, they bowed in front of Zhang Tie. Afterwards, each of them held a torch and pulled out their short sword or dagger from their waists. They stood in a row facing the entrance with a resolute expression on their face, completely blocking the entrance.


    ¡°As for the others, follow me...¡± Holding onto his torch, Zhang Tie walked towards a dark place in the mining field as everyone else silently followed him.


    After walking in this mining field for a bit less than three minutes, Zhang Tie had led all the others to a relatively hidden yet spacious area.


    ¡°Everyone, find a place to put your torch and then stand in front of me!¡± Zhang Tie instructed. Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s instruction, all the animals hurriedly found a place to put their torches. Since there were many rocks in the mining cave, they could either insert their torches into the walls or have them stand up by using the ground and the support of two rocks. After a few minutes when they had all put down their torches, they all came back in front of Zhang Tie.


    Under the illumination of the surrounding torch light, in such a dark underground space, the expression of longing and seriousness on the faces of these animals looked more real than before. After experiencing the two incidents with Potter and Wood, everybody had been filled with a sacred feeling. At this moment, Zhang Tie¡¯s figure looked rather big and holy in the eyes of the other animals., especially Potter and the other miners, who had guided the other guys. Their eyes were already filled with true worship and admiration that was not restrained in the least. As long as Zhang Tie glanced over at them, Zhang Tie would feel his face hot. Zhang Tie then tried his best not to glance over them again. However, Zhang Tie¡¯s attitude at this moment made many people think that he was unconventional and mysterious.


    When the barbarian lifestyle in mining cave proceeded to this moment, Zhang Tie started to feel that everything had gone smoothly.


    ¡°The Big Blessing Skill could be dated back to the far ancient age of 5000 years before the Catastrophe. It is a top mysterious knowledge within Chinese clan, and the lengths of which I had to go through to get this Big Blessing Skill was extraordinary. As the person who will now pass this mysterious knowledge onto you, from now on, you can call me the Enlightener. Only the Enlightener is qualified to complete the inheritance of the Big Blessing Skill...¡± After naming Potter and the other torch holders as ¡°fire-bearer¡± and Wood and the other miners as ¡°sacrifices¡±, in order to make this game and ceremony more holy and more mysterious like he had implied to them, Zhang Tie thought that he should also give himself a title. As the old Chinese saying goes, ¡°If you don¡¯t have an official title, you would not be accepted by the public.¡± Therefore, Zhang Tie decided to make a title for himself. With this title, his words would have more weight. After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie finally decided on the title ¡°Enlightener¡± for himself.


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s introduction, all the other animals were shocked. None of them could have imagined that the Big Blessing Skill had such a great background, and even Zhang Tie¡¯s title, ¡°Enlightener¡±, also made many people feel respect.


    ¡°Now, please take out the daggers at your waists and cut your fingers before dripping your fresh blood into the stone pit in front of me to mix your blood with that of your brothers. This is the holy symbol of the beginning of the inheritance ceremony. When your blood has mixed with that of your brothers, it symbolizes that from then on, you will not feel alone even after vicissitudes and you will not depart from your brothers as the fresh blood in your blood vessels will be the one and the same!¡± After saying that, Zhang Tie took out his own dagger, and gritting his teeth, he devoutly made a small cut on his left index finger before dripping a bit of blood into that stone pit.


    A dagger was a necessity for all the students attending the survival training used to protect themselves. Seeing Zhang Tie doing that, all the other animals became excited. After seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s demonstration, nobody hesitated as they all pulled out their daggers and made a cut on their fingers. Seeing how fiercely those animals cut their fingers, even Zhang Tie frowned. ¡®Motherf*ckers, you¡¯d better not cut off your finger and give me trouble in the future.¡¯ All the animals then silently cut their fingers before standing in line in front of Zhang Tie to drip their blood into that stone pit by squeezing the finger with the cut.


    ¡°When you prepare to mix your fresh blood with that of your brothers, please let go of your soul. The fresh blood that you have dropped is you. At this critical, holy moment, when you stay together with your brothers, please let go of your hypocritical moods. You don¡¯t need to feel the need to be humble, as you are incomparable majestic in the eyes of your brothers. You don¡¯t have to pursue perfections, as all your brothers are your perfections. Just like a drop of water when converging into the ocean, it will never feel humble. Just like a drop of water when converging into the ocean, it will become perfect by having the true strength and finding its true identity. Your brothers will lift you up. Their strength is your strength, and their existence is your existence. From then on, we will be in unity and will never feel alone in this dangerous age...¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, all the animals burst out into tears...

 111 The Enlightener

    Chapter 111: The Enlightener


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    As more and more people, with faces covered in tears, were affected by the sacred and holy atmosphere and dripped their fresh blood into the stone pit in front of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie knew that he had succeeded. Yes, he had made it. Later on, whatever he would say, these people would no longer doubt his words.


    Zhang Tie clearly knew how these animals were feeling. In the past, he was also like these guys whose emaciated shoulders were overwhelmed by this age. In the past, when he was alone, he would always feel lonely and anxious deep into the nights. Facing this world, he would usually feel as if he were a trivial figure, and thinking of the future, he would always be filled with an irrational fear. He also had a lot of dreams which he knew may very well never come true in his entire life. That was actually a kind of torturing despair.


    Today, under the fabricated sacred and holy atmosphere in the mysterious mining cave, which continuously moved and shocked the animals because of their desire for the illusory mysterious knowledge, these guys couldn¡¯t control their feelings anymore and finally burst out into tears.


    As a drop of water could converge into the ocean, then why couldn¡¯t a youth¡¯s desire to be great? Such a realization suddenly flashed across Zhang Tie¡¯s mind, completing forcing him to give up on the attitude of treating this as a joke. He started to seriously take on the responsibilities of the ¡°Enlightener¡±.


    Even if were just simply a dream for those guys, Zhang Tie had to assume the responsibility of building the dream which they have imagined. ¡®Zhang Tie, you must exert your utmost efforts to give them hope, even if that hope may never be realized. For those guys who might join the army and lose their lives on the battlefields after this survival training, a life without hope since the day they were born is the most tragic.¡¯


    ¡®If they want mysterious knowledge, then just give them one! Use all your wisdom, all your strength, all your mysterious knowledge! Even at the risk of your life, you have to give them hope! At this moment, you have to make them happy and show them the hope for a bright future. Just this one time, even if it¡¯s only this one time, please!¡¯


    Zhang Tie shouted to himself inwardly. When he glanced over those devout expressions, Zhang Tie felt as if he were looking at himself through a mirror. Suddenly, his face felt slightly cold. Not knowing when, Zhang TIe¡¯s face had already been covered in tears. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know whether he cried for others or for himself; he only knew that he was suddenly moved and felt extremely sad, and he even felt an impulse to sacrifice everything for those guys who placed their trust in him...


    The stone in front of him had been covered with fresh blood and tears, and a puddle of fresh blood had already formed in the stone pit, though it was not completely filled yet. Because of the texture of the stone, some of the fresh blood had already seeped into it, causing it to look dimmer. Seeing this, although Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes were filled with tears, he smiled.


    ¡°This is the blood of your brothers. Before the completion of the inheritance ceremony of the Big Blessing Skill, how could you dry up?¡± As he said this, Zhang Tie turned over his dagger, and with the flash of an edge of the dagger, Zhang Tie made a cut on the blood vessel on his wrist, causing his blood to spray over the stone.


    ¡°Ah, don¡¯t do that...¡±


    ¡°Use mine, use my blood...¡±


    ¡°Bastard...¡±


    For those youths whose faces have already been covered in tears, at the sight of Zhang Tie cutting the blood vessel on his wrist with a smile in order to completely fill that stone pit, everyone rushed forward, as they had realized Zhang Tie was sacrificing himself in order to complete the inheritance ceremony of the Big Blessing Skill. As for those who only had their eyes turn red, at this moment, tears also began to drop from their eyes. Meanwhile, a scarce number of smart guys who had remained sensible among the crowd were also shocked at the sight of Zhang Tie¡¯s action. Seeing that Zhang Tie cut his wrist, causing his fresh blood to spray over the stone like water, they were deeply shocked. They then confirmed that everything had been true, as no one would slit their own wrist just for a prank. Zhang Tie was obviously completing the ceremony at the risk of his own life.


    The Big Blessing Skill is real! At that moment, everybody was convinced. Like what Donder had told him, even Zhang Tie had already been cheated by himself, completely absorbed into this role, so who else would doubt him?


    Like raising a wall, Zhang Tie raised his hand, instantly stopping those animals with tear-filled eyes who wanted to rush forward to stop him.


    ¡°It¡¯s my responsibility and my honor to do this as the Enlightener. Please do not stop me...¡± Zhang Tie smiled, radiating a brilliance that came from the soul. Everybody then witnessed Zhang Tie¡¯s wrist constantly bleeding until it completely filled that stone pit, splattering everywhere. After experiencing that incident with Huck and Snade, Zhang Tie had already become well-versed as to how to deal with such wounds as well as controlling the bleeding. Although it seemed like he had bled a lot, in reality, it was not that much; it was merely between 200 ml and 300 ml, an amount he could still stand.


    The moment Zhang Tie moved his hand away, Potter and the other two guys who were not far from him immediately rushed forward. Using his dagger to make a cut on his sleeve, Potter fiercely tore off a piece of cloth from the sleeve, while the other two guys took out some medicine and applied the medicinal powder over Zhang Tie¡¯s wounds before wrapping it with the cloth.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s wounded hand naturally hung down as the other three people kneeled on one knee as they started to treat his wounds with eyes filled with tears.


    ¡°Please kneel together with them. Follow me and make the Blood Oath of Brothers and accept the inheritance of the Big Blessing Skill. You can swear after me. When I say the word ¡°Oath-taker¡±, you need to say out your own name! Afterwards, I will read the sutra of the Big Blessing Skill and the relevant passages that you need to recite. You need to listen with the most sincere attitude while kneeling on the ground. After that, you need to draw three horizontal lines that are like wrinkles on your forehead using your own fresh blood before coming in front of me to complete the final step of the Big Blessing Skill. I will then execute the Big Blessing Skill on your body by drawing a vertical line on your forehead. That¡¯s what we need to do, am I clear...¡± Zhang Tie solemnly said.


    ¡°Clear!¡±


    ¡°Well then, please kneel down!¡±


    At this very moment, nobody hesitated. They all knelt down in front of Zhang Tie on one knee, while the other three who were tending to Zhang Tie¡¯s wound simply knelt down in front of him as closely as they could to Zhang Tie...


    ¡°The Lord who controls everything, the karma which predominates everything...¡± After saying each sentence, Zhang Tie would slightly pause...


    Everybody then repeated after Zhang Tie. ¡°The Lord who controls everything, the karma which predominates everything...¡±


    ¡°Today, in the name of the bloodline of my brothers, I will make this sacred oath and agreement...¡±


    ¡°Today, in the name of the bloodline of my brothers, I will make this sacred oath and agreement...¡±


    ¡°Today, everything that I have seen in this cave will not be released to anyone, not even my parents, my wife, nor my children. Even when facing blades, swords, and cruel torture...¡±


    ¡°Today, everything that I have seen in this cave will not be released to anyone, not even my parents, my wife, nor my children. Even when facing blades, swords, and cruel torture...¡±


    ¡°The acceptance of the blessing of the Big Blessing Skill is a top secret of my brothers, who have mixed their blood with mine. I swear to protect this secret, even at the cost of my life...¡±


    ¡°The acceptance of the blessing of the Big Blessing Skill is a top secret of my brothers, who have mixed their blood with mine. I swear to protect this secret, even at the cost of my life...¡±


    ¡°If I violate today¡¯s oath and agreement, please turn this blessing into a curse. Please kill me with the blades of my brothers who have mixed their blood with me, the Oath-taker...¡±


    ¡°If I violate today¡¯s oath and agreement, please turn this blessing into a curse. Please kill me with the blades of my brothers who have mixed their blood with me, the Oath-taker...¡± Everybody then said out their names. Afterwards, they continued to listen to Zhang Tie¡¯s sutra of the Big Blessing Skill...


    ¡°Shun became outstanding among the farmers, Fu Yue became famous among the plasterers, Jiao Ge became well-known among the fish and salt sellers, Guan Zhong became a prime minister after he was set free as a prisoner, Sunshu Ao lived alone beside the ocean before being introduced into the imperial court, Baili Xi was also promoted to be a prime minister from a common citizen. Thus, when the gods wanted to deliver a major mission to a person, he would definitely make him suffer pain inwardly, make both his veins and blood fatigued, make him starve, make him lack money, and make him unsuccessful. The gods would use these methods to enable him to be diligent inwardly, to make him stubborn, and to increase the abilities that he has never had before.¡±¡ªZhang Tie was forced to recite a paragraph of ancient Chinese warnings by his parents since he was young. He said it extremely quickly and had even changed the way the words were enunciated, causing some of the words to sound longer, while others sounded shorter. He also read some words in the form of short voice or lingual voice, even in the form of vibrato or changing the pronunciation of the words after translation. The people in front of him didn¡¯t know Chinese, and even if they did, they would never be able to figure out what Zhang Tie was talking about. This was the ¡°Sutra of the Big Blessing Skill¡± fabricated by Zhang Tie. After all the others finished reciting that strange sutra, Zhang Tie immediately changed his tune and started to hum the words for praying, which were words they could understand.


    ¡°The Lord who controls everything, the karma which predominates everything, the innocent and foolish humans are usually puzzled by the outward forms of things and take the blessings of God as sutra and bitterness. Only those with true wisdom and perseverance can figure out the truth and be puzzled by the outward forms of things. Only those with true wisdom and perseverance are qualified to accept the best blessing in this secular world. Those people will extend their gratitude to this blessing, embrace bitterness, and finally complete your undertakings.¡±

 112 Natural-born, Damn Pries

    Chapter 112: Natural-born, Damn Priest


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    In the pitch-black hinterland of the mining cave, everybody was immersed in the mysterious atmosphere built by Zhang Tie. The entire mining cave was so quiet that even the sound of a needle dropping onto the ground could be heard. In this place, only Zhang Tie¡¯s words were reverberating in the air in a singing voice, which resonated in the ear of every person, shocking them down to their souls...


    By then, Zhang Tie had already gained control over everything in his presence...


    ¡°When God wants to give you resilience, he will bring pain to your soul. The innocent and foolish humans are like those farmers who only know how to sow yet not knowing how to reap. They experience pain, yet they forget to reap resilience!¡±


    ¡°When God wants to give you strength, he will make you work hard. The innocent and foolish humans are like those farmers who only know how to sow, yet not knowing how to reap. They experience hard work, yet they forget to reap strength!¡±


    ¡°When God wants to give you intelligence, he will make you experience difficulties. The innocent and foolish humans are like those farmers who only know how to sow, yet not knowing how to reap. They experience hard work, yet they forget to reap intelligence!¡±


    ¡°The blessing of the God is always displayed in some other outward form. This is the top secret in the world. For the people who are familiar with this top secret, all the difficulties are the sweetest of fruits given to you, as they are God¡¯s blessings. Show your gratitude and welcome all of the blessings from God. Take the King¡¯s Mark on your forehead as your contract, and you finally will gain the freedom!¡±


    Although the sutra Zhang Tie had said earlier was puzzling, everyone was able to understand the latter paragraph. Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s benediction, everybody suddenly realized and was shocked to their souls. It turned out that such a huge secret was hiding behind the guise of just digging in the mines. While others saw this job as difficult labor, the Enlightener has been constantly receiving the blessing of the Gods in this mining cave. In loneliness, he received resilience, and through hard work, he received strength. He might even have been practicing his fighting skills by repetitively waving his mining hoe...


    Zhang Tie used his finger to draw three horizontal lines in the air above his forehead. Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s actions, those guys thought about the next move as they also piously drew three horizontal lines on their own foreheads using the blood on their finger.


    ¡°This is the King¡¯s Mark. The first horizontal line symbolizes the difficulties of the sky, the second horizontal line symbolizes the difficulties of the land, and the third horizontal line symbolizes the difficulties of human beings. After receiving the blessing of the Big Blessing Skill, you will learn how to show your gratitude to the blessings hidden behind difficulties. I will break through the King¡¯s Mark by drawing a vertical line using the fresh blood of your brothers. This represents that all your difficulties will be broken through. In the future, each of you will have an unusual achievement. You will gain freedom through experiencing all types of difficulties, as these difficulties will be the source of your strength...¡± As he said this, Zhang Tie dipped his finger into the fresh blood in the stone pit and drew a vertical line on the forehead of Potter, who was kneeling in front of him very devoutly, forming the Chinese character ¡°Íõ¡±[1] on his forehead


    When Zhang Tie¡¯s finger touched Potter¡¯s forehead, that young person became so excited that his body began to tremble all over.


    ¡°From now on, the King¡¯s Mark has been engraved in your mind. Every time you encounter difficulties, it will remind you that you should think like a king and that you should face all difficulties, as they are simply just outward forms. Only those who have truly acquired the King¡¯s Mark could receive the blessing from the Gods that have been hidden behind these outward forms. As a fire-bearer, you will also gain the Mark of Light, which will enable your mind to be filled with light. Even in the darkest of places, the light in your mind will never die out...¡± As Zhang Tie solemnly and seriously said that, he dipped his finger into a bit of the fresh blood and used his finger to draw a painting on Potter¡¯s head, one which was in the shape of the Chinese character ¡°»ð¡±. After drawing it on the left side of Potter¡¯s forehead, Zhang Tie found that it was not symmetrical, thus he drew another one on the right side of his forehead, making the two symmetrical with each other. Together, the three Chinese characters truly seemed to be full of mystery.


    Others stared at Potter with eyes full of admiration.


    Following Potter was the second person, the third person, the fourth person¡­ Every one of the youths knelt down in front of Zhang Tie on one knee, letting Zhang Tie, who was pretending to be mysterious, draw a vertical line on their foreheads using their fresh blood, leaving behind the Chinese character ¡°Íõ¡± on their foreheads.


    The ¡°fire-bearers¡± then became the object of admiration for everyone. Aside from the commonly shared ¡°Íõ¡± on their foreheads, there were also the two ¡°»ð¡± characters, which Zhang Tie had said was the Mark of Light, something that could fill even the darkest places in one¡¯s mind with light.


    After doing such a series of steps, although Zhang Tie had tortured himself a lot and had even used his own blood, upon seeing the expressions of happiness and hope and the special, shining brilliance in their eyes, which was completely different from before they had entered the cave, he realized that what he had done for them was worth it.


    It was not important whether or not it was true. After such a long prank, as long as these guys could live happily while filled with hope, Zhang Tie would have already achieved his goal. However, in the case of emergencies, Zhang Tie added the following explanations.


    ¡°Remember, the key factor of the Big Blessing Skill is that you must remain grateful and filled with joy in your heart when facing any difficulties or challenges. If you don¡¯t want to face them, you can choose to leave and come back when you are ready. However, you should never complain and doubt your belief. If you begin to complain and doubt your own beliefs, then you will lose the power of belief and the effects of the Big Blessing Skill will never appear. The Gods will not give any blessings to a person who frequently complains about everything. If you complain, then you will truly encounter difficulties. Remember this in your minds! Complaining and doubting are blasphemous to the Big Blessing Skill!¡±


    Everybody nodded.


    ¡°Revered Enlightener, if we are lucky enough to hear it, could you please tell us as to which party or school does such a perfect Big Blessing Skill come from? After receiving such an inheritance, do we have to assume some obligations?¡± A guy walked out of the crowd and bowed in front of Zhang Tie before respectfully asking. At this moment, Zhang Tie looked both tall and mysterious in the eyes of the public.


    The Age of Black Iron was brimming with a mysticism. Hidden groups and schools emerged one by one everywhere as many people even considered it to be an honor to be able to join those groups or schools. The guy walking out of the crowd had aroused the curiosity of the others as all their eyes were shining and remained fixed on Zhang Tie.


    At this moment, even if Zhang Tie had told them that everything that has happened so far had been fabricated, the others would only regard it as a joke and nobody would believe him. Thankfully, Zhang Tie had long been prepared for this problem.


    ¡°The Big Blessing Skill is a mysterious knowledge from the Ancient Gods Church. For those who have received the Big Blessing Skill, aside from keeping this confidential, having mutual affection with your brothers, and providing assistance to your brothers when in need, you have no other obligations. You are all free now. The Ancient Gods Church will not request you to do anything!¡± Zhang Tie calmly explained. At this time, even Zhang Tie started to admire himself. ¡®Zhang Tie, you are truly a natural-born, damn priest! Just by opening and closing your mouth, you have already built the Ancient Gods Church.¡¯


    ¡°Revered Enlightener, can we join the Ancient Gods Church?¡± This question was really what many other people had wanted to ask. Many people then cast their eyes full of desire onto Zhang Tie. Ancient Gods Church¡ªits name sounded great, and it seemed to contain a great amount of mysterious knowledge. ¡°We, the Ancient Gods Church, only allow the most devoted of followers who have the firmest of beliefs and have obtained the blessing from the Gods to join us. In truth, the Big Blessing Skill was a standard used to select followers for the Ancient Gods Church. Everyone who has obtained the blessing of the Big blessing Skill has received the favor of the Gods. In the future, some among you will deeply sense the majesty of the Big Blessing Skill and will absorb the great strength from all difficulties and troubles. When this great strength combines with your awe, your devotion will come into being. Only the most devoted people can join the Ancient Gods Church after obtaining the consent of the Enlightener!¡± Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, many people became slightly disappointed; however, after thinking for a short while, they looked more decisive and held more expectations. Just like what Donder had said, Zhang Tie was very clear that only things that could not be gained or could be gained only through hard work were the best. If he became soft hearted and let those guys feel as if it was easy to join the Ancient Gods Church, then the church would have no future, thus Zhang Tie decided to not waste any time.


    ¡­¡­


    After completing the inheritance ceremony of the Big Blessing Skill, when Zhang Tie and the group of people reappeared in front of Wood, Jones, Gandhi, and Franca, the ¡°sacrifices¡± who stood at the entrance of the cave, the four people immediately felt a great change in the people behind Zhang Tie. Since they all had a water bottle, the blood stain on their foreheads had already been cleaned off, but after undergoing that ¡°baptism¡±, everyone looked completely different than before, both in spirit and in bearing. In the eyes of Wood and the other three ¡°sacrifices¡±, the motley crew who were noisy when they entered this entrance now looked mysteriously calm, decisive, and very devoted.


    Zhang Tie walked ahead of them and the calm people followed behind him. In this way, a group of people walked out from the darkness, much like a scene where a priest had led his followers out of the abyss of hell. It was truly a shocking scene.


    Walking beside Zhang Tie was still Potter, who was holding a torch for Zhang Tie. Wood remembered that Potter, before entering the cave, was someone who was self-abased and didn¡¯t even dare to look straight into the eyes of others. Amazingly, after such a short period, Potter had already had an exceptional bearing that it even amazed him. That was a firm and unspeakable crazy personality. At this moment, Potter did not only look straight into Wood¡¯s eyes, but he had also calmly smiled.


    With a sound of ¡°Ding¡±, Wood, who had fixed his eyes on Zhang Tie and his followers, unconsciously loosened his grip, causing his dagger to fall onto the ground.


    Was this because of the Big Blessing Skill? The four sacrifices exchanged glances as they saw the burning flames and shock in the eyes of the others. This was truly a great mysterious knowledge...


    ---


    [1] Íõ Chinese character for King.


    [2] »ð Chinese character for Fire.

 113 A Personal Decision

    Chapter 113: A Personal Decision


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    Because it was forbidden to reveal what had happened in the mining cave to the public, no trouble arose. After reaching an agreement, they just told the others outside the cave that Zhang Tie was sharing his mining experience with them in the cave.


    Unexpectedly, on the same day, the group of more than 64 zealots who were as close as blood brothers kept their oaths and the mysterious agreement in mind, aiming to join the Ancient God Church.


    This was the result of Zhang Tie¡¯s trick. With the exception of Zhang Tie, all the others were deeply moved by the inheritance ceremony of the mysterious and sacred Big Blessing Skill. For Zhang Tie, although this Big Blessing Skill was purely fictitious, it was not completely meaningless, as what Zhang Tie had recited was the Chinese Sutra ¡°no cross, no crown¡±. Additionally, the reason that Zhang Tie dared to fabricate the illusory ¡°Big Blessing Skill¡± was because of his experiences as a flesh-bag in the Iron Thorns Fighting Club. Zhang Tie knew that it was very painful when one was ferociously beaten yet not allowed to fight back. Similarly, when you learn to accept and understand it with a new point of view for a new perspective, after receiving benefits from the most unlikely of places, Zhang Tie felt it was very cool, as he could feel a happiness within his heart.


    What happened was not truly the most important, but rather, what was most important was how you view and understand what was happening. Everything had two sides; the good side and the bad side. It completely determined how you viewed it. If you felt it was good, then it would be good and could make you feel happy. If you felt it was bad, it would be bad and could cause your mood to be bad. When he opened his soul, abandoned the constraints from traditional perspectives, and focused on those good aspects, Zhang Tie found that he would feel refreshed. Just like a water faucet being opened, the moment you opened it, water would flow across your body. This was what Zhang Tie¡¯s experiences had summed up to and was what the ultimate meaning of the Big blessing Skill was¡ªwhenever and whatever you were facing, if one pays attention to the positives, then you would feel joy and that would be your biggest blessing!


    Zhang Tie had completely made up the Ancient Gods Church. He felt that nobody would keep such an illusory thing in their minds after the survival training, as they would have their own things to deal with then. To turn the fabricated Big Blessing Skill¡¯s effects into reality, to help them form devoted beliefs, and to allow them to reach the lowest requirement of the Ancient Gods Church¡­ all of these things were just small tricks that Zhang Tie had made up in order to get himself out of his situation. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t believe that the trick could be exposed by others, and since it was something that was fabricated, besides allowing the followers to positively face the difficulties in their lives, the Big Blessing Skill was not considered, even by Zhang Tie, to be able to awe people and make them devoted.


    ¡®What happened in the cave could be considered a white lie and a blessing to those guys,¡¯ Zhang Tie told to himself.


    Before, there were only a bit more than ten people in the cave; however, after that day, 50 to 60 new miners joined, causing the cave to be noisier than before. Even the tunnel where Zhang Tie worked was crowded with several more people.


    Completely different than those who had submitted to their fate and were just dejectedly working hard here, those guys who had been successfully brainwashed by Zhang Tie declared to the public that they had learned the mining experience from Zhang Tie, and the way they acted caused them to be seen as a group of lunatics in the eyes of others.


    Different than those who would immediately begin to mine the moment they arrived with their mining basket, these guys would always first kneel down on the hard and cold mining bed and ores with hands folded to recite a prayer filled with devotion and gratitude.


    ¡°I thank the Gods for bringing you to me. I know you are not just cold ores, but rather, the biggest blessing from the Gods. Every time I devoutly wave my mining hoe and carry you through that long tunnel as I am full of gratitude, I was receiving your great blessing and gift. You have made my veins and bones exhausted and ache, but you have also given me excellent strength and decisiveness. You have created ores that were hard to break in order to temper my decisiveness and braveness when breaking through difficulties. Because of you, I am able to obtain food. Because of you, I am able to obtain strength. Because of you, I am able to be resolute. Because of you, I have the decisiveness to break through all difficulties. I know that top quality wine always tastes bitter at first taste. I also know that the outward forms of the biggest blessings are always difficulties and troubles. From today onward, all the complaints will leave me, and I will see through all the troubles and difficulties and never be puzzled by their outward forms. Like enjoying wine, I will open my heart to accept this blessing. The troubles and difficulties are the blessings the Gods have given to me. I receive this blessing out of my devotion and gratitude. I will definitely constantly absorb the powerful strength from this blessing! May the Ancient Gods be with me!¡±


    After praying, those guys even touched and kissed those cold stones in a very kind way before waving their mining hoe to mine. As if they were digging for gold, they mined with a very satisfied and pious expression.


    Potter was the first one who did this. Gradually, his actions were followed by several ¡°fire-bearers¡±, and then before they would begin to mine, everybody would start to silently pray for the blessing of the Big Blessing Skill. Even the four ¡°sacrifices¡± led by Wood, who had not experienced the ¡°sacred¡± ceremony, began to pray and said these words. Through praying, Wood and the other three ¡°sacrifices¡± also faintly felt the essence of the Big Blessing Skill and became gradually resolute and pious.


    Throughout the whole night, Potter was thinking about how to pray. After he thought it through, on the second day, he even devoutly asked Zhang Tie, the Enlightener, for suggestions. After reading the words of the prayer, Zhang Tie was immediately shocked and felt perturbed.


    ¡°Did you think it out by yourself?¡± Zhang Tie curiously stared at Potter, confused as to how such an unlucky fellow who submitted to his fate of digging in the mines yesterday had suddenly become so talented. Zhang Tie was truly shocked by the prayer, especially the part that talked about the wine. That was truly f*cking meaningful.


    ¡°Yes!¡± As he said the words of the prayer, Potter became slightly excited and his face started to turn red. ¡°I don¡¯t know either. I was so excited last night that I couldn¡¯t sleep well, and these words just came to mind one by one!¡±


    ¡°It seems that the Big Blessing Skill has already started to take effect on you...¡± Zhang Tie solemnly said to Potter. ¡°Your words of prayer are very good, as it completely combines the Big Blessing Skill with your inner feelings; however, there is one flaw. If you add one more sentence to the end, then the prayer would be perfect!¡±


    ¡°Where do I need to improve?¡± Potter nervously asked.


    ¡°If you add ¡®May the Ancient God be with me¡¯ at the end of the prayer, then it would be more powerful and effective!¡± Zhang Tie ¡°suggested¡± like an expert.


    Thus, in the next afternoon when someone found Potter, the ¡°fire-bearer¡±, kneeling down on the ground as he prayed after his ¡°exchange¡± with Zhang Tie, in merely one morning, the prayer had already silently spread among the 64 people. Every one of them treasured the prayer a lot, especially the last sentence that was added by Zhang Tie, ¡°May the Ancient God be with me¡±, making them more firmly convinced that the mysterious deities of the Ancient Gods Church were the Ancient Gods.


    In Age of Black Iron, human beliefs exploded greatly. In this world, although nobody has seen a true god, people who worshiped various deities could be seen everywhere. Regardless of other places, Zhang Tie knew that merely in Andaman Alliance, even if under the covetous eyes of the Sun Dynasty, there were more than seven sects and groups using the sun as the totem and the source of their belief. There were also numerous other sects and groups, each of which claimed that they were the followers of the true deity. However, in the end, more of these groups and sects turned out to be controlled by liars in order to make money and sleep with women, and they became bankrupt and failed more frequently than registered business groups and companies. The deities also came and went with the sects and groups, making people dazed and easily forget them. In this case, Zhang Tie felt that it was also reasonable and acceptable for him to fabricate Ancient Gods.


    In Andaman Alliance, people who fabricated a deity would be less guilty than fabricating a corporate legal person. The latter might be given trouble by the officials of the tax bureau, while the former would not even arouse the attention of others.


    After trying his best to mine together with the guys who had received the blessing of the ¡°Big Blessing Skill¡± in the mining cave for three days, Zhang Tie had almost collapsed. Although the Leakless Fruit had already been ripe for three days, during the past three days, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t even find one chance to enter the Castle of Black Iron and complete the promotion to LV 2 warrior. The moment he entered the mining cave, he would always be the most eye-catching guy. Compared to before, the amount of miners in the mining cave now was four or five times more. The mining cave could no longer act as a hidden location for Zhang Tie to enter the Castle of Black Iron, and neither could he add any more basic energy storage to the Castle of Black Iron.


    Almost half of this survival training had already elapsed, and Zhang Tie knew that if he remained in the mining cave like this, then he truly might stay with these guys and mine for another month. This was definitely not what Zhang Tie longed for.


    Thus, after he finished mining on the third day since these guys joined him, Zhang Tie declared his righteous decision towards those guys who were mining in the cave¡ªhe wanted to leave the mining cave and complete the remainder of the survival training alone in the harshest of environments. He wanted to obtain greater strength from more adventurous and harsher environments...

 114 Loner

    Chapter 114: Loner


    Translator: WQLEditor: Geoffrey


    When Zhang Tie returned to the cabin that was marked with the words ¡°Logistics administration¡±, despite his clothes being the same as before and him still looking as rugged as before, he felt as if he was treated completely differently than before.


    At the same office desk that was placed in front of the cabin, the same two girls from before were sitting there. At the sight of Zhang Tie walking towards them, they both showed a big smile with great warmth, causing Zhang Tie stunned.


    ¡°I¡¯m Emily, what can I do for you?¡± One girl took hold of this chance to introduce herself. As for the other girl, who was about to stand up, Zhang Tie saw her pouting in dissatisfaction.


    ¡°I¡¯m here to hand in the mining basket and the mining hoe...¡± When Zhang Tie said this, he glanced over their breasts. Feeling Zhang Tie¡¯s absent-minded eyes, the two girls sitting behind the desk consciously raised their chests. ¡®Hmm¡­ although they are not as extravagant as Alice¡¯s or Beverly¡¯s, their breasts are big enough. At least, they¡¯re much bigger than Pandora¡¯s.¡¯ When he thought of Pandora, Zhang Tie felt a slight headache. Not knowing why, Zhang Tie felt that Pandora has been acting weirdly lately, especially when he asked Pandora to ¡°pound¡± him using her fists to help form the Iron-Body Fruit. Whenever he asked Pandora to do this, Pandora, while gritting her teeth, would pound him so fiercely that it was as if she wanted to beat him to death, causing Zhang Tie to be a bit frightened.


    ¡°Are you Zhang Tie? Hmm, please sign your name here!¡± The other girl also seized the opportunity to stand up. With a big smile on her face, she passed a notebook to Zhang Tie.


    ¡°You know me?¡± Being called by name by a girl who he didn¡¯t know, Zhang Tie was slightly surprised.


    ¡°Of course, everybody knows you. You are the hero student who had exposed Samira¡¯s status as a mole of the Norman Empire and had defeated a LV 3 warrior!¡± As she said this, the girl cast a sheepish glance at Zhang Tie, causing Zhang Tie to be a bit dazzled as his vanity was satisfied once again.


    Finding the student number he had registered with in the notebook, he then signed beside it before handing it back to that girl.


    ¡°Can I leave now?¡±


    ¡°Yes, you can!¡± This girl kept staring at Zhang Tie with eyes wide opened. After taking the notebook, she slightly hesitated before bravely asking Zhang Tie, ¡°Do you still need a partner for the survival training?¡±


    ¡°A partner for survival training?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Emily and I have not formed a team with the boys yet!¡±


    For such an obvious and bold intent, Zhang Tie could naturally understand what she meant. Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva as he looked at the two big and beautiful smiles that hung on their face and their half-matured figure and breasts. The untamed thing in his crotch became like an animal. Over the past few days, Zhang Tie had realized he really couldn¡¯t withstand the flirting from girls. Every time, that untamed thing would turn hard in the face of any sex appeal. Was this the boredom in the puberty ?


    ¡°I¡­ I already have a partner in this survival training!¡± When he told a lie, Zhang Tie hurriedly used his ¡°right hand covering method¡± to press down on that untamed thing.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. Excellent boys usually have many partners in the survival training,¡± Emily replied as she lovingly blinked her beautiful eyes a few times.


    Seeing the two beauties, Zhang Tie had already burst out into tears inwardly. ¡®My god! Is this punishment for not having accepted the circumcision surgery? This is too much torture. After this survival training, when I return to Blackhot City, I will immediately get a surgery. I can¡¯t stand it anymore!¡¯


    ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t. I have to accept the toughest of challenges alone. During that kind of survival training, I may encounter many dangers, and under these cases, I can¡¯t take care of you. That¡¯s why I¡¯m really sorry. I can¡¯t bring you into danger just because of my selfishness!¡± Although he couldn¡¯t eat[1], he still pretended to be righteous and gentle in front of them.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s excuse had truly increased the favor the two girls had towards him. Hearing that Zhang Tie was going to challenge the harshest environment alone, the two girls¡¯ eyes immediately began to shine, much like shiny stars. In such training, anyone who dared to face troubles alone would usually receive the nickname ¡°Loner¡±. Those who received this nickname were considered to be one of the most able students by the public. Currently, there was only one person who was awarded the title of ¡°Loner¡± and that was the boy who excelled in archery. Unfortunately, Zhang Tie had not seen him before.


    ¡°I¡¯m Sharapova, and I live in No.198, Musan Avenue in Blackhot City. Remember to find me when you come back!¡± As she said that, that girl took out a notebook and wrote down her name and address in the notebook before tearing off a piece of the paper and handing it to Zhang Tie.


    ¡°I live in Iron Vine Alley, and my family owns a small hotel. Once you come to Iron Vine Valley, you will immediately be able to see it!¡± Not willing to be defeated, Emily also told her home address to Zhang Tie before adding a sentence full of implications and seduction: ¡°I have a lot of free time during the holidays!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Seeing Zhang Tie leaving, they even waved their hands towards him, feeling reluctant to part from him. Zhang Tie had to say it¡ªhaving the favor of a lot of girls felt really cool.


    As for the reason why he was favored by so many girls, Zhang Tie thought back to Hista¡¯s, that obscene guy¡¯s, conclusion¡ªall women liked excellent men; however, a man who is already favored by excellent women would be even more appealing. Seeing this kind of man, all women would have the impulse and instinct to snatch him away from the other woman¡¯s hands, thus in that night party when he was grabbed by Alice and Beverly, other girls had begun to favor him even more.


    ¡®Heh¡­ heh¡­ I like it!¡¯ Zhang Tie became a bit happy as he put away the notes from Sharapova and Emily.


    Walking out of Wild Wolf Castle, since he wasn¡¯t planning to mine anymore, Zhang Tie felt pretty relaxed. Standing in that small square outside Wild Wolf Castle, Zhang Tie felt completely different than when he had just arrived here less than a month ago. Not knowing why, Zhang Tie felt that his real life had just begun.


    ¡°Wild Wolf Valley, here I am!¡±


    After howling, regardless of how many people had been scared, Zhang Tie took long steps and trotted down the mountain from the small square outside Wild Wolf Castle towards the tree base in a very deft way.


    When he arrived at the tree base, Zhang Tie found the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood practicing the Lying Tiger Move, one of the basic skills from the Iron Blood Fist Skill. Crawling on the ground like a tiger, they all panted as they were covered in sweat as their faces were turning red and their arms were shaking like strands of noodles.


    When the boys were practicing the fighting skills, the girls were happily watching them from the side and pointed to them as they made comments every once in awhile. How the boys practiced fighting skills was very attractive to the girls. Girls watched boys practice fighting skills and sports in the same manner as guys watched girls dance. This was something that they would never get bored of.


    Seeing that Zhang Tie has returned, Barley immediately found that Zhang Tie was not carrying his mining basket this time. After raising his head, Barley¡¯s Qi dissipated, causing his hands to feel soft before throwing himself onto the ground like a ball of twisted noodles, causing a sound of ¡®Pa Ta¡¯. He then started to pant heavily.


    ¡°This time¡­ how long was I able to hold on?¡± Lying on the ground, Fatty Barley barely raised his head and asked the girls who were watching them.


    ¡°Less than one section!¡± One girl replied.


    Since they had no tools to calculate time, whenever they practiced fighting skills, they would fill several sections of bamboo with water. With this bamboo, they would open a small hole, causing water to drip out one droplet after the other. It would roughly take five minutes for one section of the bamboo to clear out all the water. According to , they had to hold on to the Lying Tiger Move for half an hour to meet the basic requirement of the Lying Tiger Move. After meeting this requirement, they were to increase the weight on themselves. With each additional load of weight on their back, if they were able to hold on for half an hour while doing the Lying Tiger Move, then they would have reached that threshold. If they were able to remain for half an hour while having 200 kg weight on them, they could be considered to have basic mastery; if they were able to remain for half an hour while having 500 kg on them, then they could be considered to have mastered most of the skill; and if they could remain for half an hour while having 1000 kg on them, then they could be considered to have successfully mastered the skill.


    Currently, among the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, with the exception of Bagdad and Zhang Tie, everyone else could only hold on for enough time to have the water in one section of the bamboo be drained. Bagdad was barely able to hold on for enough time to have two sections of water from the bamboo be drained off, which was almost the same as Zhang Tie. None of them had even met the basic requirement of this move. From this, they could see how difficult it was to practice Iron-Blood Fist. During the past days, they could only keep the contents and moves from the book in mind. As to which level they could reach in the future, it would depend on their own talent and efforts.


    Soon after Barley collapsed, the next was Hista, Sharwin, and Leit, while Doug was able to last a minute longer than them. The only person remaining in the posture of the Lying Tiger Move was Bagdad, whose sweat had covered all over his robust muscles, causing them to glisten.


    After looking around, Zhang Tie found that the three girls who gave him headaches were not in the tree house.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Pandora, Alice, and Beverly? Where did they go?¡± Zhang Tie asked Barley...


    ¡°Heh¡­ heh...¡± Picking himself up from the ground, Barley made an obscene smile. ¡°They are over at that stream washing your clothes. For a man to be cared about by women, that is true happiness. They even fought over washing your clothes...¡±


    Before Barley finishing talking, a high-pitched scream suddenly drifted over from the stream in the distance¡ªit was Alice! Hearing the scream, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t hesitate and immediately grabbed a spear and darted towards that stream...


    ¡°Girls, climb onto the tree. Sharwin and Leit, you two stay here to protect the girls. The others, follow me...¡± Fatty Barley didn¡¯t even put on his clothes. Holding onto a spear, he also rushed forward. Springing up from the ground, Bagdad also instantly grabbed a long sword beside him and dashed forward...


    [1] He can¡¯t have sex with them.

 115 Awakening

    Chapter 115: Awakening


    Translator:Editor:


    Although it was more than 50 m away, it only took Zhang Tie several seconds to get there.


    As he darted through the bamboo grove with the fastest speed he could muster, the scene Zhang Tie saw almost made his eyes pop out from fury.


    Alice and Beverly were hurriedly rushing towards Zhang Tie, and closely following behind was the thin Pandora. In addition to them, there were four wolves closely chasing after Pandora, and the wolf closest to Pandora was only 2.5 to 3 m away from her.


    Pandora¡¯s face was covered with fear. The wolf chasing after her had already jumped into the air and widely opened its mouth in preparation to bite Pandora¡¯s neck.


    Time seemed to stop at this moment. If her neck was bitten by the wolf and torn apart by the sharp canines, her artery and trachea would likely be injured within a second, which may prove to be a fatal injury.


    ¡°Pandora!¡± Zhang Tie roared.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie, who was rushing towards them, was still more than 20 steps away from Pandora.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, although she did not know the reason, all the fear that was on Pandora¡¯s face disappeared and was instead replaced with a tranquility.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie started his counterattack. He had never thought that he would one day start an attack from more than 20 steps away from the target.


    In Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes, time seemed to have stopped...


    He saw the wisp of tranquility on Pandora¡¯s face...


    He saw the dripping saliva at the corner of the midair, wild wolf¡¯s mouth...


    He even saw the mud and broken stones that were dispersed into the air as he dashed forward and the slight waving movements of the weeds due to the breeze.


    Glaring at the wolf that had jumped into the air, each strand of fur on that wolf became clear in Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes.


    With eyes fixed on the fatal point of the wolf¡¯s neck, Zhang Tie felt as if something had lit up in his mind. At the same time, he felt a weird connection between the spear in his hand and the fatal point on that wolf¡¯s neck. A channel that was invisible yet could be sensed seemed to come into being at that moment. The channel was funnel-shaped and the most pointed spot was on the neck of that wolf.


    It was a mysterious feeling. At that moment, Zhang Tie thought that even if his eyes were closed, as long as he threw his spear, he would definitely hit that wolf. This was not confidence but certainty. It was much like how a naughty kid could casually take glass beads and flick them into a large, upright funnel. No matter how the glass beads move, it would, in the end, arrive at the most pointed exit of the funnel.


    Thus, Zhang Tie exerted all his strength and threw his spear along with the huge momentum of him dashing forward...


    The moment Zhang Tie threw his spear, everyone, including Alice, Beverly, and even the people following Zhang Tie like Barley, felt their hearts pounding. At that critical moment, Barley and the others had even thought that Zhang Tie had lost his mind. Although they had learned how to use the spear at school, the throwing skills that they had learned required team work. In special occasions, they could defeat their enemy using a high density of spears; however, given its precision, no single student in the entire school dared to show off their throwing skill alone. Unexpectedly, the spear that Zhang Tie had thrown was directly flying towards the three girls rushing towards him and the wolf closely chasing after the three girls. Even if there was a throwing angle and Zhang Tie didn¡¯t actually target at the girls, it was still too dangerous to launch an attack in such a manner...


    Considering that it was an emergency, nobody had time to think about the outcome if Zhang Tie failed to hit the wolf precisely. However, in a split second, the situation was reversed.


    The spear flew over a distance of 20 steps as a sharp wind blew past Alice and Beverly¡¯s panic stricken faces and passed Pandora¡¯s ear by the width of a hair. Previously, the wolf had opened its bloody mouth, intending to bite Pandora¡¯s neck; however, the spear directly pierced through its neck and nailed it to the ground five steps away, causing the wolf to instantly die.


    Following that, Zhang Tie flew over to Alice, Beverly, and Pandora and rushed towards the second wolf, which had jumped into the air and charged towards his arm.


    The moment the second wolf had jumped up, Barley and the others who were closely following Zhang Tie had already surrounded the three girls in order to protect them before Bagdad and Doug rushed towards Zhang Tie to help him. After slightly recovering their composure, the three panting women, whose faces had turned pale, looked back at Zhang Tie.


    The moment they saw the wild wolf charging at Zhang Tie¡¯s arm, the three girls cried out in unison once again. They wanted to warn Zhang Tie to be careful, but what they saw next had seriously shocked them.


    Although that wolf moved extremely fast, Zhang Tie was faster. The moment that wolf opened its mouth as wide as it could, Zhang Tie¡¯s two hands had already grabbed hold of its mouth, and using his hands, he was stretching its mouth. With one hand clasping onto its upper jaw and the other clasping its lower jaw, Zhang Tie exerted all his strength to tear them apart.


    Everyone then heard the high-pitched cry of the wolf, who had its jaw opened so wide that its upper jaw and lower jaw was forced opened beyond 180 degrees. Zhang Tie ferociously threw the wolf onto the ground before kicking the wolf¡¯s neck, breaking the neck bone and causing a ¡°Ka Cha¡± sound, causing the short yet high-pitched cry to stop.


    Not even just the people, but even the two other wolves in front of Zhang Tie was shocked by such a bloody scene.


    ¡°Come on...¡± As he stepped on the corpse of the wolf, Zhang Tie, with red eyes, shouted towards the other two wolves.


    Bagdad and Doug, who were rushing forward, soon arrived by Zhang Tie¡¯s side. At the sight of this, the two remaining wolves had no choice but to turn around and escape. After dozens of steps, one of them even turned its head and glanced at Zhang Tie once again before drilling into the bushes beside the stream, causing Bagdad and Doug to have come in vain.


    Seeing the two wolves escape, Zhang Tie then turned around, wanting to check if Pandora and girls had suffered any injuries.


    ¡°Are you guys okay?¡± Zhang Tie said as he nervously circled the girls a few times, checking them from head to toe. Even though the others were looking at him weirdly, with his eyes fixed only on the girls, he didn¡¯t realize. When he saw several drops of fresh blood on Pandora¡¯s neck, Zhang Tie was so frightened that he almost jumped up. Within a split second, using his sleeve, he helped Pandora wipe off the blood, and thankfully, he found no injuries after wiping it off. He figured that the blood was probably left behind by the wolf he had killed using his spear. Letting out a sigh, it seemed as if he was relieved of a heavy burden.


    The three girls didn¡¯t say anything as Zhang Tie checked them for injuries; instead, they all seriously watched Zhang Tie¡¯s performance. The anxiety and concern on Zhang Tie¡¯s face and the funny look when he looked around them to check for injuries were all out of sincerity. Despite this, the three girls didn¡¯t laugh out loudly. They all kept in mind Zhang Tie¡¯s series of actions, including the suddenly anxious expression on Zhang Tie¡¯s face when he saw a couple drops of fresh blood on Pandora¡¯ neck. When he had seen that, he had hurriedly used the sleeve of his coat to wipe it off, but when he realized that his sleeves were not clean, he hurriedly pulled out the sleeves of his shirt to wipe it off.


    ¡°It¡¯s great that you guys are fine!¡± Soon after, when Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh, he was tightly embraced by the three girls. This feeling of being hugged by three girls at the same time was really stimulating, especially because Alice and Beverly had such hot bodies. In a split second, Zhang Tie felt his armpits and the two sides of his arms were glued onto four soft yet firm balls of flesh. Although there were several layers of clothes between them, Zhang Tie still turned weak all over from feeling an electric current course through his body at the touch of those balls of flesh. That untamed thing in his crotch had also become as hard as a stick, immediately poking Pandora¡¯s stomach.


    Lifting his hands, Zhang Tie became a bit embarrassed, as he did not know where to put his hands. He then looked at Barley and the other guys, who were staring at him with envy and admiration. Hista had even thrust his waist forward and silently pointed at the three girls as he raised his thumb towards Zhang Tie.


    Even now, he didn¡¯t know where to put his hands and decided to directly embrace all of them. His two hands almost couldn¡¯t deal with so many girls at the same time. ¡°Okay, okay, it¡¯s fine now, it¡¯s fine now...¡±


    Pandora felt something hard poking at her stomach. Mistaking it for a dagger, she stretched out a hand and touched it, aiming to put it back to its rightful place; however, upon touching that ¡°dagger¡±, she realized that Zhang Tie had become stiff all over. At the same time, the feeling through her hand had allowed Pandora to figure out what was happening. Like a frightened rabbit, Pandora, who had been hugging Zhang Tie, instantly jumped back as her face turned red all over.


    The moment Pandora jumped back, Zhang Tie shouted inwardly, ¡®That¡¯s too bad!¡¯ As Alice and Beverly hugged him on both sides, causing him to not have a chance to even cover his embarrassment, it resulted in that troublesome thing supporting a high tent in his trousers being displayed right in front of everyone.


    Everybody was shocked by Zhang Tie both inside and outside.


    ¡°Wow, Zhang Tie! What¡¯s that thing hiding in your crotch? It looks like it wants to jump out of there!¡± Hista weirdly shouted to the side.


    Hearing his weird shout, Alice and Beverly both turned their heads and took a look at Zhang Tie¡¯s trousers. Even if they were fearless, they still felt very shy when they were under the gazes of the other people, and within a split second, they had loosened their arms and had taken several steps backwards. Before Alice stepped back, she even ferociously pinched Zhang Tie¡¯s arm.


    Seeing the three girls watching him with mixed expressions, Zhang Tie, who was heroic just now, immediately became so embarrassed that he hurriedly used his ¡°Right Hand Covering Method¡± to press down on that untamed thing in his crotch. Although it was his instinctual reaction to use his ¡°Right Hand Covering Method¡±, at the sight of Zhang Tie doing this move, the three girls¡¯ eyes became widely opened as they covered their mouths with their hands and took two more steps back in fright.


    Zhang Tie faintly felt that he had made another mistake and felt exceptionally embarrassed with his right hand on that untamed thing. Finally, Bagdad, who walked over, changed the topic with one sentence, which also instantly relieved Zhang Tie of his embarrassment. With one hand on Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder, Bagdad curiously stared at Zhang Tie. ¡°Since when have you mastered the spear throwing skill so perfectly? You should know that what you have done just now almost scared me to death...¡±


    Seeing that everyone was staring at him, Zhang Tie also found it hard to answer. ¡®That¡¯s right, since when did I master spear throwing skills so perfectly? What was that mysterious feeling just now...¡¯ Zhang Tie doubted himself inwardly.

 116 Getting Equipped with Lances

    Chapter 116: Getting Equipped with Lances


    Translator:Editor:


    After more than an hour since he left the Wild Wolf Castle, Zhang Tie returned, holding the spear that he had used to kill the wolf.


    The three girls were definitely attacked not without any reason.


    According to Alice, the four wolves had attacked them without any provocation. When the three of them were washing clothes for Zhang Tie along the stream, all of a sudden, a wolf rushed out of the brushes which were at the lower reach of the stream.


    She was very scared at the sight of it, and they all turned to run. After getting a bit farther away, Alice had looked back and found that it wasn¡¯t a single wolf, but four of them chasing after their trio.


    Since the beginning of the survival training, packs of wolves had been rarely seen within five kilometers of the Wild Wolf Castle. The whole ordeal became even stranger when Zhang Tie realized that the four wolves this time were the ones from the seven that had chased after him last time.


    He could remember it clearly that one of the escaping two wolves was slightly bigger and had a circle of red-brown fur on its neck while one of its ears had a defect. These features were identical to the head wolf¡¯s that had attacked him last time.


    That wolf also had the same animosity in its eyes when it glared at Zhang Tie which he could never mistake.


    Why would such a pack of wolves appear twice in his surroundings, seemingly targeting him? It was weird. What was most unbearable was that this time the four wolves had almost killed his three beloved girls. Therefore, Zhang Tie made a decision to kill all the wolves. He swore to not stop until he had killed the two escaped that escaped and figured out the reason as to why they had attacked him and his beloved ones.


    Previously, Zhang Tie had also intended to start the survival training alone, but out of his desire for a quick increase in strength due to Castle of Black Iron; however, now, Zhang Tie found another reason that forced him to do that. His individual survival training seemed to be just be beginning.


    When the other members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood and the girls were preparing for tonight¡¯s wolf meat barbecue with vicious glee, Zhang Tie carried off one dead wolf to the Wild Wolf Castle.


    He didn¡¯t stay in the small square outside the Wild Wolf Castle for a long time. Instead, he directly carried that wolf into the Iron Melting Workshop.


    It was as boisterous inside the Workshop as before. Since there were four or five times more ores supplied in the past couple of days than usual, the guys in there who had complained about insufficient materials became very excited.


    After a casual glance, Zhang Tie saw that a steam machine had almost been completed. ¡®That¡¯s really a hard job for these guys,¡¯ he mumbled inwardly


    Upon entering the Iron Melting Workshop, but before he could open his mouth, a guy called Peter, who was familiar with him, shouted out, ¡°Ah, here comes our great hot person of the bonfire night party...¡±


    Peter walked out of the Iron Melting Workshop and hammered onto Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I heard you¡¯ve become very eye-catching in the bonfire night party by having too big-boob beauties! How did they feel?¡±


    ¡°Their embraces felt great!¡±Zhang Tie also laughed out loudly.


    ¡°Just embracing?¡± Peter lecherously asked.


    ¡°What else do you want?¡±


    ¡°Have you...¡± Peter made a hand gesture that was understandable to every man.


    ¡°We¡¯ve not reached that level yet!¡±


    Oozing sweat all over his forehead, Zhang Tie found that men were all the same when they talked about women no matter how socially reclusive they were, even if they were those guys staying in the Iron Melting Workshop all day long.


    ¡°Come on, brother, in case of regretting it later!¡± Peter seriously said before he noticed the wolf tied to Zhang Tie¡¯s back with ropes.


    Zhang Tie then found him forcefully swallowing his saliva with eyes fixed onto the wolf. The guys working in the Iron Melting Workshop, they could only get a bit more dried rations than the miners. They might have a chance to eat meat, but less than once a week. Therefore, at the sight of that wolf on Zhang Tie¡¯s back, all of their eyes turned green. People who had eaten wolf meat knew that it tasted almost the same as dog meat. If you were good at cooking, you could also cook it with various seasonings and in different ways, like how you would cook dog meat.


    Under Peter¡¯s amazed gaze, Zhang Tie threw the wolf from his back directly at him. ¡°I¡¯ve just slaughtered it one hour ago, so it¡¯s still fresh. If you deal with it now, the brothers here will have meat to eat tonight. There is also enough of it for tomorrow!¡±


    ¡°This¡­ this is for us?¡± Peter asked with surprise.


    ¡°Of course, I took care of it just now and brought it for the brothers here to ask them for a favor!¡±


    ¡°Brothers, we have meat to eat tonight!¡± Peter burst out into laughter as he shouted towards the inside of the Workshop. Hearing his exclamation, a group of guys rushed out with gleaming eyes.


    ¡°Meat? Where...¡±


    ¡°Where is the meat?¡±


    Seeing the thirsty looks, Zhang Tie realized that these guys in the Workshop were truly wolves themselves.


    Seeing the wolf in Peter¡¯s hands, a few guys immediately rushed forward and grabbed it. They were closely followed by another group.


    ¡°Remember to take some meat to exchange for some wild vegetables from the girls. We need to stew a pot of soup!¡±


    ¡°We need some wild pepper and spices, we will roast a wolf¡¯s leg...¡±


    ¡°The wolf¡¯s penis, remember to keep it...¡±


    Hearing it, Zhang Tie sweated all over again...


    Knowing that they were going to eat fresh wolf meat tonight, the whole Iron Melting Workshop cheered up.


    ¡°Brother, what favor do you want? Just say it!¡±


    Peter had feared that Zhang Tie might regret his decision, so he let the others take away the wolf before patting his chest and asking what Zhang Tie needed.


    After Zhang Tie finished saying his request, Peter let out a sigh. ¡°Just that? Okay, follow me in, I promise to satisfy you!¡±


    After gifting them the wolf, undoubtedly, Zhang Tie had become the most popular person in the whole Workshop. Many guys greeted him.


    Peter took him directly to the area where a pile of finished goods were placed. Pointing at those goods carried over from the Iron Melting Workshop, he said, ¡° These are all made of low-carbon steel. They¡¯re much better than the first batch of goods. Despite the fact that we cannot control the carburization technique to a high degree, there is still a difference between these weapons and those from the factories in Blackhot City; despite our products having some defects, they¡¯re qualified enough to be used as short spears for throwing!¡±


    In the finished products area there were mainly goods like cutlery, swords, and protective equipment produced by the guys from the Workshop. The weapons had both poor looks and poor quality, causing few people to be interested in them.


    Lying about, there were also several lances. Because of their simple processing method, the group of long lances really looked like something; however, it was estimated that few people would like to exchange for lances anymore here. Therefore, these products were just piled up here in great quantities like scattered straws to be bundled.


    Here was exactly where Zhang Tie¡¯s target lay¡ªhe sought a throwing lance.


    The lances were most easily produced, and the most popular products in this Iron Melting Workshop during the survival training. For commoners, when they were alone, these lances weren¡¯t too powerful; however, when going hunting in groups, especially in groups of dozens of people or more than one hundred, these lances could be very effective and aggressive. Based on the chance that even a blind cat could meet a dead mouse, these lances could play a great role in sieges.


    Peter pulled out of one of the lances from the pile and put it into Zhang Tie¡¯s hand.


    Holding it, Zhang Tie felt that it was truly much better than the long spear that he had used to throw at the wolf. Besides, this lance was only 1.3 m in length. In hand, it would be much easier to control.


    The entire lance was mainly just an amplified embroidery needle. Its streamlined pointed head was directly connected to a wooden rod without any decorations. The only confusing point was that the wooden rod connected to the lance head was not completely straight, instead, it was composed of four sections of different thickness: thicker, slimmer, thicker, slimmer. Glancing over the other lance rods, Zhang Tie found that they were all in the same shape. It made him a bit confused.


    ¡°Why do your lance rods look like this? Shouldn¡¯t they be as straight as those of long spears?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve not used a lance before?¡±


    ¡°Not yet!¡±


    ¡°You should know that this design method had been accepted by people before the Catastrophe. Based on aerodynamics, this kind of rod with sections of different thicknesses would suffer less from air resistance when sent flying and so will fly stabler. Besides, it will fly farther and be more powerful than one whose rod was of the same thickness. More than that, not only are lance rods produced this way, but even the arrow rods that require the strictest processing method would be produced in this way!¡±


    Zhang Tie had never expected that the production of a lance rod could require so much knowledge. However, hearing it had existed before the Catastrophe and was related to aerodynamics that he had never heard about, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t pay much attention to it any longer so as to avoid being called illiterate. These guys who were good at smelting and producing weapons in the Iron Melting Workshop truly had some talents in some aspects.


    ¡°How about that? Do you want to have a try in the field behind the Workshop...¡±


    ¡°No need. Just select some good ones for me!¡± Zhang Tie said, shaking his head. He didn¡¯t want to expose his real strength in front of the public.


    Holding the lance, he suddenly thought about something and silently fixed his eyes onto a lamp cover forty steps away from the gate of the Iron Melting Workshop. Then he sensed that mysterious connection between him and the lamp cover forty steps away like the one some time ago between him and the wolf¡¯s neck.


    He was not confident about it, but he surely knew that he could immediately hit that lamp cover using his lance. As long as he had enough strength, he could then precisely throw the weapon in his hand at the target. This skill seemed to have become instinctual, as simple as taking a breath or walking.


    Even Zhang Tie himself was confused about the reason behind it. He only knew that some weird changes had happened to his body. If he considered his own body as a machine for a moment, he felt that one hour ago, a switch on his body was suddenly turned on, causing him to become instinctually aware of how to throw lances. It seemed that with any item in hand, after a simple estimation of its weight, he could throw it wherever he wanted...


    God knew what had happened to him!


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°Is one bundle of them enough?¡± Peter asked generously.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s too much, I only need six of them!¡± Hearing Peter¡¯s words, Zhang Tie was almost frightened as a bundle would contain 12 lances at the least. He didn¡¯t need that many at all.


    ¡°Well, it depends on you. The heads are easily produced. They need very little steel. The wooden rods are also easily made. We have tools here. If they don¡¯t work, just take them here; I¡¯ll exchange them for new ones for you...¡±


    ¡°Fine, next time when I get some more meat, I¡¯ll share it with you guys too!¡±.


    ¡°Okay!¡± Peter smiled widely. ¡°Brothers, did you hear that? We will always have meat to eat from today on. This black-haired tough man could easily kill three wolves!¡±


    Hearing Peter¡¯s praise, Zhang Tie also smiled. He felt that although these guys were introverted and not talkative, they were really easy-going. If you treated them well, they would treat your well too. He felt very comfortable getting along with them since, in a way, he was a similar person.


    When he left the Iron Melting Workshop, he carried six lances with him. Peter had even gifted a container for him to hold his lances. With this lance container on his back, he could move with ease.


    However, when he returned to the tree base, Zhang Tie saw an uninvited person - Burwick.

 117 A Fierce Counterattack

    Chapter 117: A Fierce Counterattack


    Translator:Editor:


    The arrival of Burwick startled all the members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood. However, his goal for coming here made them even more surprised as was here to invite all the guys of Hit-Plane Brotherhood to join the ¡°Male Lion Association¡±, including Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie arrived, Burwick, with sun-like brilliant blonde hair, was bragging about the bright future of the Male Lion Association to the members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood.


    ¡°We, the Male Lion Association, have almost 200 people now and are already the biggest team in this survival training. The achievements of Male Lion Association can also be seen by all of you. This time, I¡¯m here with sincerity, hoping that you will join us. You might not know that Glaze¡¯s fighting force has improved very quickly. Someone noticed him killing three huge wolves at once. He might have already gone to the marginal region between the Wild Wolf Valley and the Crescent Prairie to continue his survival training...¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t Samira gone? Doesn¡¯t Glaze know that?¡± Doug curiously asked.


    Burwick replied with a brilliant smile, ¡°Thankfully, Zhang Tie has exposed that guy¡¯s true status, causing him to leave. That guy was both cunning and mean, even we, the Male Lion Association, were almost set up by him. However, although Samira is gone, the demands for golden wolf marrow and Goose-neck Grass in Blackhot City will never change. After all, these are necessities for Master Abyan to refine recovery medicament which is urgently needed in Blackhot City. Therefore, Glaze will stick to hunting golden wolves and picking Goose-neck Grass. Maybe in a few days, new missions and rewards will be delivered from Blackhot City. As long as the city will be willing to raise its rewards for the missions a bit, many people will try the Crescent Prairie. We, the Male Lion Association, are also preparing for that moment!¡±


    ¡°Haven¡¯t you prepared well last time? Why do you want to prepare for it again?¡± Leit, who was tricky, asked.


    ¡°What happened to Samira greatly influenced our morality. As you know, morality is very important in battle. These couple of days, we were waiting for the news from Blackhot City. Once the new missions and rewards are delivered, we will set off again! Even if Glaze dares to set off with his lackeys, we, the Male Lion Association, have no reason to be timid. I heard there was a resentment between you and Glaze. There is also a resentment between Glaze and us. This is the right moment for us to unite to fight against Glaze and press him down. He¡¯s narrow-minded and won¡¯t let anyone get away even for a hostile look. If he gains the chance to be recommended in this survival training, we might have to be very meticulous from then on for a long while to escape his revenge...¡± Burwick righteously said. ¡°However, if we can unite, we will be able to fight him!¡±


    ¡°We will never join the Male Lion Association!¡± Zhang Tie exclaimed, reaching them from the path before Barley and the other guys could even open their mouths.


    ¡°Zhang Tie!¡±


    Many guys turned back and greeted him, even Alice and Beverly immediately rushed over without caring about the gossip that it might cause. They hugged Zhang Tie¡¯s arms on both sides, letting him enjoy the feeling again. Seeing this, Pandora made a cold harrumph and turned her head.


    Discovering that Zhang Tie had already returned, Burwick kept the smile on his face, but the corners of his eyes twisted slightly. Before the arrival of Zhang Tie, he felt that he was the center of attention. However, after Zhang Tie arrived, he found that everyone¡¯s focus had immediately transferred to him, causing Burwick to feel like he was being poked inwardly.


    ¡°How about you, the Male Lion Association, joining our Hit-Plane Brotherhood? We feel that the structure of Male Lion Association is too loose, far less cohesive than our Hit-Plane Brotherhood¡¯s. Like what you said, if we want to fight Glaze, we have to unite to raise our fighting force. How about that? Think about it...¡±


    Zhang Tie strode towards him.


    Taking off the lances from his back, he threw them to Doug. Afterwards, Zhang Tie threw himself onto a tree stump beside Burwick, accompanied by two girls on his sides. Hearing what Zhang Tie had said, the other guys in the Brotherhood all smirked.


    ¡°You¡¯re a bit hilarious, I have intended to have you in the Male Lion Association and let you be our vice head!¡± Burwick replied with gleaming eyes and a smile, still acting like a gentleman.


    With surprise on his face, Zhang Tie pointed at his own nose. ¡°Once our brotherhood joins your Male Lion Association, you will let me be the vice head of your Male Lion Association?¡±


    ¡°Of course, I mean it!¡± Burwick said with a sincere expression.


    ¡°Have you considered the outcome?¡± Zhang Tie looked solemn and seriously stared at Burwick.


    ¡°I feel the other members of Male Lion Association will agree to be led by one more able person!¡±


    Burwick thought that Zhang Tie was a bit moved. At the same time, he glanced over to notice the disappearing smiles on the other members of the Brotherhood headed by Barley. He felt that he had already reached his target.


    ¡°I don¡¯t mean this...¡± Zhang Tie smiled as widely as Burwick had. ¡°I mean, you come to the tree base of our Brotherhood, wanting to devour us and let us be your stepping stone so as to maintain your authority in the Male Lion Association. After realizing that we don¡¯t agree with you, you keep using your tricks in front of us to destroy the affinity between us brothers, aiming to isolate me from them. I mean, have you considered the outcome of setting me up in front of everyone? Have you considered the outcome of treating me as a dead person, as well as an idiot?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know what you mean!¡± Burwick, who always had a wide smile, started to be a bit anxious.


    Just now, when the other guys heard that Burwick would like to provide Zhang Tie with the position of vice head of Male Lion Association, their faces had all turned blue, and they started to feel uncomfortable, which caused the smiles on their faces to disappear. However, after Zhang Tie¡¯s explanation, everybody suddenly realized that Burwick had isolated Zhang Tie from the other members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood just by using that one sentence. As a result, they all cast their glares towards Burwick.


    Still smiling, Zhang Tie, who had not made any prior moves, directly jumped up from the tree stump and punched Burwick in the face. As a result, Burwick¡¯s nose immediately started bleeding, and he fell backwards. Zhang Tie then quickly charged at him like a cheetah, without saying any words. Before Burwick could respond due to his dizziness, Zhang Tie fiercely kicked his stomach, which rolled him two meters away like a football ball. Curling up on the ground like a shrimp, Burwick could not even pick himself up from the ground.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t stop there, instead, he surged forward. Lifting his big foot, he ferociously stamped onto Burwick for quite a while.


    At the beginning, Burwick could hold it back using his hands or rolling himself to avoid Zhang Tie¡¯s attacks, however, in 30 seconds, he had completely lost all his ability to resist. He then gritted his teeth and gave a choked cry. Later on, he simply shrieked miserably. Finally, he rolled here and there on the ground like a mouse being toyed with by a cat.


    Before the ignition of the second burning point, Zhang Tie and Burwick were both LV 1 warriors, being close to each other in aspects like actual strength and physical qualities. Even if Zhang Tie had greatly improved his fighting skills in recent days, he would not be that advantageous against Burwick in a real fight. What caught Burwick unprepared though was that Zhang Tie dared to assault him in front of so many people without even a warning. With that fist, Zhang Tie did a preemptive move. With that kick, he made Burwick temporarily lose all his fighting force.


    One lay on the ground, the other stood and kept ferociously kicking his opponent. The result was evident.


    During those two minutes from when Zhang Tie had jumped up from the stump to make Burwick roll here and there on the ground like a mouse being played with, not only those girls in the surroundings, but also the animals of Brotherhood had their eyes and mouths wide open, even drooling without knowing.


    Zhang Tie kept stamping on Burwick, throwing him, who already looked like a broken sand bag, into convulsions as he shrieked louder and louder. Such a scene was really shocking. Could it be an illusion?


    Barley shook his head and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he found that Zhang Tie was still ferociously kicking Burwick. He then realized that what was happening was not illusory, still, the roles played by the two really made it hard for him to accept it.


    ¡°In school, when you used the conflict between my brothers and Glaze to set up Glaze, I let it go since it was your true ability. You then instigated those idiots who believed you to be your stepping stone by accompanying you to Crescent Prairie, I let it go then too. This father has assumed my own responsibility and what happened to those idiots has nothing to do with me...¡±


    Zhang Tie kept ferociously kicking Burwick as he cursed, ¡°You think I don¡¯t know you sold me to Samira...¡± He stomped directly on Burwick¡¯s face. ¡°When the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Blackhot City arrived here, Samira poured out everything. Without your cursed instigation, Samira would have never known who I was. I let it go too since I destroyed his plan. But you dare to come here to set up my brothers and frame me in front of my women by isolating me from my brothers? You treat me as an idiot and a dead person, and still want me to ignore it? How could I do that? Aren¡¯t you good at deceptions? I¡¯ll let you deceive! I¡¯ll let you deceive! I¡¯ll let you deceive! I¡¯ll let you deceive...¡±


    After each ¡°I¡¯ll let you deceive¡±, Zhang Tie would ferociously kick Burwick. After each of these kicks, the guys of Hit-Plane Brotherhood all heard the sound of ribs being broken. At this moment, Burwick could not even shriek, instead, he coughed out blood...


    Everybody in the Brotherhood was startled. If Bighead beat Burwick to death, that wouldn¡¯t end well...

 118 Wisdom and Determination

    Chapter 118: Wisdom and Determination


    Translator:Editor:


    ¡°It¡¯s enough, Bighead. If you keep kicking him like that, he might be beaten to death!¡± After realizing the severity of the event, Barley hurriedly moved forward to pull Zhang Tie away.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he won¡¯t die. I know he just has several broken ribs, which aren¡¯t even poking into his guts...¡±


    After another glance at Burwick, who was groaning on the ground, Zhang Tie took a deep breath and started to suggest to Barley and the other guys, ¡°Do you want to kick him for a bit more? I found it¡¯s really cool and funny to kick this guy. He really deserves to be kicked!¡±


    Seeing Burwick¡¯s miserable look as he lay on the ground, the other brothers hurriedly shook their heads. At this moment, if they kept kicking him, it would be akin to bullying a handicapped person. They didn¡¯t feel like losing face. However, seeing that Zhang Tie fiercely kicked Burwick, who had been arrogant to a high degree, everybody felt exceptionally excited.


    ¡°Then¡­ that guy¡­ how do we deal with him?¡± Barley pointed at Burwick lying on the ground.


    ¡°It¡¯s him who came to our base to frame, instigate, and irritate me. However, he could not match me in fighting force, and so was ferociously beaten by me alone. You didn¡¯t beat him, but you all saw what happened. Whatever, just let him roll back to where he came from. If he can¡¯t do that, let members of the Male Lion Association carry him back!¡±


    Zhang Tie winked at Barley. For mean people like Burwick and Samira, you should never let them climb onto your head and be insatiable. He felt that once he got a chance, he should beat them all to death without any hesitation. If you could kill them, you should never let them breath. Thus, if he could kick them to the 18th hell, he would never just kick them to the 17th hell; if he could break their bones, he would never just hurt their veins.


    The above was imparted by Donder, and also what Zhang Tie had realized in the past few days. In this age, once you became enemies with someone, you should be ferocious enough to kill them and make them tamed. If you were polite to those people, you would suffer from their aggression every time since they would know that even if they lost, the outcome would not be serious.


    So if a person wanted to live comfortably with the mean guys detouring him, he had to let them know that it would be very dangerous to find trouble with him. The outcome would be so severe that they could not even imagine it.


    The effect of this rule had been seen on Samira and Burwick.


    Seeing Zhang Tie wink, Barley immediately understood that he wanted to directly stop Burwick from having the chance to be outstanding in this survival training. According to Zhang Tie, even if Burwick appealed to the Temporary Supervision Committee, he would not get any advantages as the law would stay on Zhang Tie¡¯s side.


    Since all the teachers of Temporary Supervision Committee were shrewd, they would clearly know what had happened. Additionally, there were many witnesses on the site, so Zhang Tie didn¡¯t fear it at all.


    In contrast, Burwick didn¡¯t have enough face to appeal, nor could he dare to let anyone else know. He also was aware that the only result of letting the Temporary Supervision Committee deal with this event would be making Zhang Tie even more well known while making himself infamous.


    The main problem was that Zhang Tie had beaten him so ferociously. Burwick was a LV 1 warrior like Zhang Tie, so being this outmatched in fighting skills without any third party¡¯s assistance - he could blame nobody else but himself. If this thing was exposed to the public, he would lose his face too.


    More than that, Zhang Tie would never suffer any blame since the winners were never put at fault. When Burwick had completely lost his ability to fight back, Zhang Tie had even left him alive, which represented his generosity.


    As for his miserable look, and him being ferociously beaten by Zhang Tie, Burwick could never keep it a secret as the girls at present were all gossipy. Therefore, it meant that the tall and heroic image Burwick had built for himself since the school would collapse.


    Perhaps even Burwick himself hadn¡¯t expected that he would suffer from such an outcome in his trip to the tree base.


    Seeing Zhang Tie, the good brother¡¯s face, Barley became startled. Did it mean that he had already expected this result before even jumping up from the ground and starting the attack? Did Zhang Tie just pull Burwick from the supreme point with such a perfect yet unexpected fight?


    As for the fight itself, if Zhang Tie had lost it, he would only suffer from some bruises as he had his brothers by his side who would help him at the critical moment. Burwick, who always kept his perfect image, would not hurt him too severely either, at least, he wouldn¡¯t beat him so miserably. However, if Zhang Tie was the winner like now, Burwick would lose everything he owned.


    Zhang Tie then smiled at Barley. After exchanging glances, they both knew what the other person was thinking about.


    ¡°Leit, brother, I have to bother you to visit the base of the Male Lion Association, letting the guys there know to carry away Burwick. As we have to eat supper after a while, seeing him lying on the ground this way, it would really decrease our appetite. But it wouldn¡¯t be proper for me to go there by myself...¡± Zhang Tie told Leit with one arm around his neck.


    Rolling his eyes, Leit smiled and nodded. At this moment, a good brother like Zhang Tie made him very proud.


    ¡°I will go with Leit for the sake of safety!¡± Bagdad said, standing up.


    ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll wait for you to have supper!¡± Barley also smiled before turning his head to those girls who had not waken up from the reality that their idol had collapsed and deteriorated from a prince to a frog. ¡°Beauties, hurry up and prepare the supper now, we need to celebrate tonight!¡±


    This time, all the girls moved at an unexpectedly fast speed. They all strove to take a part. No matter what, the one who could stomp an idol with his feet was naturally a greater idol, which was rightly the game rule of men world in the eyes of women. After this event, Zhang Tie¡¯s image became taller in the hearts of all the other guys of Hit-Plane Brotherhood and all the girls present.


    Nobody would care about Burwick who was already in a coma. Several minutes ago, the girls felt that he was covered with a brilliant golden sunshine. However, this moment, the brilliant sunshine was transferred to Zhang Tie. Girls were smart. Even if they were confused at the beginning, after seeing it for a while, they could also realize something through the fight between Zhang Tie and Burwick.


    ¡°What did you say when you beat Burwick just now?¡± Alice and Beverly asked after drawing close to Zhang Tie.


    ¡°Who¡¯s your woman?¡± Beverly opened her red mouth with a wisp of a smile on her face.


    Although Pandora didn¡¯t come here, she was standing nearby with ears erect, clearly listening to the conversation.


    Scratching his head, Zhang Tie replied in a foolish way, ¡°Have I said that? But I can¡¯t remember that!¡±


    ¡°Bastard!¡±


    They all burst into laughter...


    ¡­¡­


    Within an hour, the aroma started to drift off from that big pot under the Dragon-Claw Tree. When the wolf meat kebab on bamboo prods started to drip oil, Leit and Bagdad came back with six students behind them. Compared to the relaxed expressions of Leit and Bagdad, the six guys all had their heads lowered. With faces turning blue, they looked like refugees and felt that they were losing face so much that they almost put their heads next to their crotches.


    As the boss of Male Lion Association, Burwick had come to others¡¯ base to persuade them to serve him by isolating one of the brothers. But unexpectedly, he fought against Zhang Tie due to improper words. It would¡¯ve been still okay if he had won¡ªhe would¡¯ve keep the honor of Male Lion Association.


    However, he was beaten like a dog, even having to wait for others to carry him back and clean his butt. What the hell was he doing. That was too shameful, really losing face. They had never imagined that Burwick could lose face in such a foolish way.


    When the guys of Brotherhood were cheerfully chatting and talking with the group of girls, Burwick was lying on the ground to the side like a dead dog. Such an obvious comparison was really expressive, and the six guys following Leit and Bagdad didn¡¯t even dare to raise their heads. After taking out a portable stretcher, they put the unconscious Burwick onto it and hurried to leave.


    Taking out six pieces of barbecued wolf meat, Barley covered them with tree leaves and handed them to each of the six people. ¡°Brothers should have not eaten supper yet, take it and eat on the way back. Alas, as we are all schoolmates, we didn¡¯t want this happen, however, Burwick is really good at playing tricks. The Male Lion Association has really been just a stepping stone for him to climb up. Watch out, brothers!¡±


    ¡°Zhang Tie, have you beaten Burwick so ferociously just by yourself?¡± one of the six guys asked loudly.


    Sitting by the bonfire, Zhang Tie nodded. He then stood up. ¡°As for this question, you can ask Burwick when he wakes up. By the way, also tell him that if he wasn¡¯t convinced and wants to avenge himself, he can come for me at any time in any place, even a public fight agreed in the Wild Wolf Castle. However, if he dares to use any other mean methods to set me up, or the people beside me, I¡¯ll beat him up ten times as badly as now. I¡¯m not as smart as him, so if I want to kill him, I¡¯ll go directly at him with a dagger! You¡¯d better not let him disguise himself as a savior while stealthily doing dirty things. It¡¯s really tiresome doing that...¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, the six guys didn¡¯t doubt any more. After exchanging glances, they lowered their heads and carried Burwick away.


    When supper came under the Dragon-Claw Tree, everybody cheered up.


    While eating, Barley suddenly thought of something. He then asked Zhang Tie, ¡°You¡¯ve not carried the mining basket back, does it mean you don¡¯t want to dig mines any longer?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll stop mining from tomorrow!¡±


    Zhang Tie smiled, then turned his head and bit into the fish that was put in front of him by Alice.


    ¡°You should¡¯ve done that long ago!¡± Doug patted his thigh, and all the other brothers nodded.


    ¡°I decided to continue the survival training alone from tomorrow onward. Do you remember the two wolves that had escaped in front of us this noon? They were from the same pack that had almost killed me last time. They would have never escaped if I had not jumped into that black hole. Therefore, I will always feel unsuccessful in this survival training if I don¡¯t deal with them and figure out this thing...¡±


    After Zhang Tie stated his plan, it became so quiet that even a needle dropping on the ground could be heard.

 119 You are All My Babies

    Chapter 119: You are All My Babies


    Translator:Editor:


    The last sentence of Zhang Tie¡¯s gave away a lot of information. First, he was prepared to start a loner¡¯s survival training, and second, the three girls being suddenly attacked by the four wolves today was an unexpected event, which shocked the public a lot.


    Therefore, in the second half of the supper, the atmosphere became a bit depressed. Although Zhang Tie would have liked to make it more relaxed, none of them was in a good mood.


    Dusk fell soon, and it was time to accompany the girls back to the Wild Wolf Castle.


    When they arrived at the castle, the other brothers were keeping a distance from Zhang Tie to give him some space to talk with the three girls.


    Zhang Tie prepared himself to undo the makeshift package that he was carrying on his back. It looked really large and heavy. As Zhang Tie was not good at packaging items, he just wrapped each one of them with some tarpaulin and kraft paper. All bundled on his back, the items looked pretty cumbersome and were akin to a mining basket full of ores inside.


    Since they left the tree base, Zhang Tie had been carrying this huge load. On the way to the Wild Wolf Castle, the three girls didn¡¯t care about it at all. In the depressed atmosphere, they all kept silent, including Zhang Tie. Once he started his loner¡¯s survival training, it meant that the relationship between him and the three girls would come to an end.


    After carrying a big load of items from the tree base to the Wild Wolf Castle, even if Zhang Tie had greater strength than before due to mining, he was still sweating all over his forehead.


    Before departing, Alice finally opened her mouth to break the silence. ¡°Do you find us boring?¡± she asked.


    ¡°What are you talking about? Hurry up, help me undo the load. I¡¯m so tired, almost dea...¡±


    ¡°If we¡¯re not that boring, why do you prefer to attend the loner¡¯s survival training?¡± Beverly asked, full of complaints. ¡°No boy would choose a loner¡¯s survival training when he has girlfriends, no matter how great he is!¡±


    Scratching his head, Zhang Tie realized that girls really thought differently than boys. How could they have such weird thoughts? How could he explain this to them?


    Seeing Zhang Tie being silent, Alice seemed to become even more angry. Looking pretty cold, instead of having her usual sweet expression, Alice continued, ¡°I know, you think Beverly and I are bad girls because we initially accosted you? You also complained about Pandora¡¯s bad figure. You want to find a girl with as good a frame as that of Beverly and I¡¯s and as good a temperament as that of Pandora¡¯s, am I right?¡±


    ¡°Wench, what are you talking about!¡± Seeing tears filling their eyes, Zhang Tie, who didn¡¯t know what to say, lost his temper and cursed. ¡°Alice, Beverly, do you know how worried I was about you when I saw wolves chasing after you? The fear on your faces at that moment were deeply engraved into my heart. And you, Pandora, do you know what I was thinking about when I saw a wolf was going to bite your neck? Do you know why I dared to throw my spear towards the wolf at that critical moment? Have you thought about why I was not afraid of hurting you by mistake? Is my throwing skill so perfect?


    ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, you can go ask Barley and the other guys how I¡¯ve performed in throwing before. Pandora, at that moment, I was thinking that if the wolf really bit you, you would definitely lose your life. So I had no other choice but to bet with your life and my own as the wager. If I killed you by mistake, I would also commit a suicide after killing the wolves. However, no matter what, I would never let those beasts just kill you. I could even sacrifice my own life at the critical moment for you, so how can you say that I find you boring?¡±


    ¡°Really? Did you really think that?¡± Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s explanation, tears in Pandora¡¯s eyes flowed down like a collapsed river bank. She was really moved. ¡°Did you really want to sacrifice your own life at that moment for me?¡±


    ¡°Really, in my eyes, you are the best. At that moment, I preferred to be bitten by wild wolves instead of you. I would never allow you to be hurt, even slightly. You are all my babies!¡±


    Seeing the three girls full of tears, Zhang Tie embraced them like what he had done at noon. He loudly poured out his genuine thoughts, ¡°Alice, do you know, with you on my side, I felt that it was my happiest night in that bonfire night party. You let me realize that I could be that happy in my life.


    ¡°And Beverly, I feel so lucky to have you. I like your nifty and sexy short hair, your smooth skin, and your cute large breasts. Do you know how sexy you are when you show the whites of yours eyes in front of me? Alice and you are the most sacred goddesses in my dreams. These days, I could not help but do many disgusting and terrifying things to you in my mind. I feel too bashful to pour out what I have dreamed to do with you.


    ¡°I like how you treat me. Really, I really like your exceedingly fascinating and charming behaviors. I like you flirting with me. You are not only my goddesses, but also the most fascinating and alluring women in my dreams.


    ¡°Pandora, you are the angel of luck gifted to me by the God. I swear that you were the first woman whom I had a crush on ever since I was born. Do you remember that day when Hista made a joke about you and me when we were bringing our items back. You peered at me and left. At that moment, I was really enamored by you, and that thing below instantly became hard. No other women could do that to me, and what Hista that bastard said was really what I wanted to say. I even wanted to make love with you at that moment. I didn¡¯t feel like your frame was not good at all, I felt like there was a special charm to you...¡±


    Embracing the three girls, Zhang Tie kept pouring out what he wanted to say. He didn¡¯t know how to say sugared words. In his mind, men¡¯s sugared words should be their true emotions about their beloved women. Men should express their admiration and adoration to their beloved women. Only when they were expressing their true emotions were they using sugared words, which were rightly what women liked. All the other words were crap and untrue.


    Slightly farther back, the other boys who had accompanied them here were all standing shocked. They kept stealthily glancing at Zhang Tie like watching a god. They had seen tough men, but they had never seen one like Zhang Tie. How could a man embrace three girls and express his love to them one by one? That was too great! That was so great that it could never be matched by anyone else. They really had witnessed a miracle and a legend today!


    The move that Zhang Tie had used to embrace the three women was not the most powerful. What was truly powerful were the words that he used to express his love for them.


    All the guys who heard what Zhang Tie was saying were shocked so much that they even twisted their mouths and eye corners and spat white foam. They could never believe that a man could express his love to three girls at the same time...


    ¡­¡­


    That night, Kristine and her sisters were also accompanied back to the Castle by a group of boys with whom they had formed a team. In the past few days, these girls had formed a good relationship with these boys. They had grown closer to each other. When they arrived at the small square outside the Wild Wolf Castle, many boys and girls automatically separated into groups of two, looking for a place in the square to say something.


    The boy who was walking together with Kristine looked handsome, elegant, and kind. He also had a good fighting force as he would soon become a LV 1 warrior. From the first sight of Kristine, this man had already been fascinated by her. He took care of her in all aspects.


    Kristine also knew the boy¡¯s intentions. To tell the truth, she also had a good feeling about him. However, not knowing the reason, it was just a feeling which could not develop further. She always felt that there was something lacking between them. No matter what, she didn¡¯t feel that expected pounding of the heart.


    It was that black-haired boy that she had met in the railway station that had made her heart pound in the past couple of days. She always thought back on how she had kicked him, and that person¡¯s shocking decisiveness when he jumped into the black hole after killing the three wolves. What made her impressed and resentful was that bastard¡¯s pleased look when he had embraced two sexy girls during the bonfire night party.


    Unconsciously, Kristine started to grit her teeth, feeling regret about not having kicked him more ferociously back then. She thought that she should have just broken that bastard¡¯s shin so that she wouldn¡¯t need to see his pleased look now.


    ¡°Kristine, do you know, since the first time I saw you, your beautiful frame has already fallen into my soft heart like rose seeds. Gradually, they rooted and sprouted, causing each of my spontaneous thoughts of you to smell fragrant...¡±


    The boy who pursued Kristine finally plucked his courage to express his love for her. As for these words, the boy had thought about them for many days, considering them for hundreds of times. At this moment, he felt they would be powerful enough to move her. Unexpectedly, after waiting for quite a while, he still had not received any response. He then glanced at her only to find her recalling something and gritting her teeth.


    ¡°Kristine...¡± The boy hesitated before waking her up.


    ¡°Ah, what? What were you saying...¡± Kristine seemed to have immediately returned from the dream. ¡°Did you talk to me just now? Said anything?¡±


    Seeing the response, the boy immediately stepped back and cried internally. He felt completely wordless, and that sprouted rose seed in his heart withered away...


    Right then, they found numerous people gathering in front of them, seemingly watching something...

 120 One Arrow for Three Birds

    Chapter 120: One Arrow for Three Birds


    Translator:Editor:


    Many people were quietly watching something in front of them. The moment Kristine and that boy walked over there, these guys even put their index fingers onto their mouths, requesting them to keep quiet. Lowering his voice, one guy uttered, ¡°No noise, a brother is so great, he could flirt with three girls at the same time. He¡¯s not a person, definitely a god. Don¡¯t disturb us so we can learn from him...¡±


    Flirt with three girls at the same time? Not only that boy, even Kristine was shocked. The two people could only think of two words - ¡®No Way!¡¯. After exchanging glances, they reached a tacit agreement for the first time. Therefore, they both slowed down their steps and moved forward.


    They then heard Zhang Tie¡¯s most shameless words to the three girls, ¡°Really, you are all the best in my eyes...¡±


    ¡­¡­


    For some reason, his words made the three girls begin crying even harder. As he was embracing them with his hands, he could only kiss their tears away. At this moment, Zhang Tie swore inwardly that he truly treasured and loved them.


    When he was kissing their tears, he felt that he was kissing flowers with dew on them. Those flowers were so beautiful, tender, and lovely. Like a gardener who loved flowers so much that he would even turn himself into sh*t to fertilize them, Zhang Tie was also using his most humble fashion to treasure them.


    The salty and hot tears became an icy small fish, which started to stiffly swim in his mouth. At some point, Beverly had already bravely kissed Zhang Tie. She stretched her tongue into Zhang Tie¡¯s mouth which really shocked him and made him stiff. He couldn¡¯t do anything but start to suck on her tongue. All in a sudden, Zhang Tie felt Beverly in his right hand became soft all over, followed by her gradually heating up face.


    Such an enchanting taste made Zhang Tie so intoxicated that he even closed his eyes. Beverly¡¯s long eyebrows then niftily rubbed Zhang Tie¡¯s face, causing him to feel itchy and become lost in her tenderness.


    ¡°I want it too...¡± Alice, who was on the side, expressed her dissatisfaction by a cold harrumph. Closely followed that, the first small fish swam away, and the second small fish swam in niftily. Being different from the first fish, Alice¡¯s small fish clumsily swam across Zhang Tie¡¯s gingiva, causing him to become numb all over as if an electric current had flown through his body. Then, Zhang Tie turned his own tongue into a small fish too. As a result, the two small fishes started to play in their mouths.


    Beverly¡¯s small fish and hot lips just stayed at Zhang Tie¡¯s ear, slightly playing with his earlobe. Her hot breath fanned his face. All of a sudden, Zhang Tie felt that he was going to explode, and that hand around Beverly unconsciously fell onto her sexy buttocks, starting to rub them.


    That untamed thing in Zhang Tie¡¯s crotch had long poked onto Pandora¡¯s soft abdomen like an infuriated dragon when Beverly started to kiss him. After knowing that thing was not Zhang Tie¡¯s ¡°dagger¡±, Pandora also became soft all over. Gluing onto Zhang Tie¡¯s chest, she started to quiver all over and became slightly hotter.


    Young boys and girls being seduced by sex would all be fascinated by the pleasures brought by such fascinating swirls and senses. They would forget where they were. They were each other¡¯s only world.


    At least Zhang Tie felt like this. At this moment, he had forgotten that he was in the Wild Wolf Square. Although dusk had gradually fallen, there was still a large audience near the square.


    At this moment, many male animals and girls were not simply viewing Zhang Tie as a common god; they viewed him as the great creator and the only God. They had never expected to see such a great person like him.


    It was really quiet in the surroundings!


    It really felt great to kiss them!


    Zhang Tie almost forgot time!


    ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    Only when the solemn and angry shout reverberated in their ears did the four wake up from that dreaming swirl, faces turning red. Hearing the shout, Zhang Tie was startled all over. He then looked around and found Miss Qili glaring at him with eyes wide open.


    If it was anyone else, Zhang Tie might have felt shameful; however, at the sight of this f*cking woman, Zhang Tie immediately became annoyed.


    ¡°Miss Qili, we are kissing, haven¡¯t you seen such an obvious fact...¡± The moment the three girls became restless and wanted to move, they were tightly embraced by Zhang Tie. He raised his head and looked at Miss Qili full of aggression. ¡°You¡¯re a teacher, not a queen; if you want to punish me, you¡¯d better have a proper reason. I don¡¯t remember any law of Blackhot City, any school regulations, or any wartime decree of Andaman Alliance that forbids kissing!¡±


    After saying this, Zhang Tie ignored Miss Qili and said to the three girls, ¡°Come on, babies, let¡¯s continue; let me see, who¡¯s turn now...¡±


    Face turning as red as an apple, Alice was not as brave as Zhang Tie. Seeing Miss Qili staring at him, she immediately pinched Zhang Tie¡¯s waist. Beverly also hurriedly stomped on his foot before moving his hand from her butt.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t mean to kiss them; instead, he just disguised the kissing by pouting his mouth. He did this to make Miss Qili angry.


    Unexpectedly, Pandora became braver than him at this moment. The moment he moved his pouted mouth in front of Pandora, she truly started to kiss him. Putting her arms tightly around him, she stood up on her tiptoes. As a result, another small fish drilled into Zhang Tie¡¯s mouth without any hesitation while her saliva flowed down from her mouth¡¯s corner.


    The two of them were so devoted that a ¡°Zi Za¡± sound could even be heard. The scene really made Alice and Beverly stunned.


    So did it make the audience.


    Zhang Tie was really shocked at that moment as well. ¡®Is this the same bashful Pandora? Her small fish is both shameful and brave, much braver than that of Alice¡¯s and Beverly¡¯s.¡±


    ¡°Pandora?¡± Like a cat who¡¯s tale been stepped on, Miss Qili immediately raised her voice.


    Even hearing her shriek, Pandora¡¯s small fish felt reluctant to leave Zhang Tie¡¯s lips. Finally, in front of all the others, she even cleaned all the saliva around his mouth using her tongue. After that, she smiled at him before using her sleeve to kindly dry his mouth¡¯s corners and kissed his face. Only after doing this did she turn back and calmly faced that woman who had been driven mad. She then politely greeted, ¡°Miss Qili!¡±


    ¡°What were you doing?¡± Miss Qili angrily shrieked.


    ¡°I was kissing my beloved man with all my heart. Isn¡¯t it one of the goals for each girl to find her beloved man in this survival training?¡± she answered, looking very calm.


    ¡°He?¡±Miss Qili pointed at Zhang Tie and angrily said, ¡°He¡¯s just a shameless, lecherous guy!¡±


    ¡°Miss Qili, you¡¯re wrong. In my heart, he¡¯s a true tough man. He¡¯s kind, responsible, brave, sincere, and not hypocritical. To save my life, he was even ready sacrifice his own. I feel most happy with him. I, Pandora, have never felt that happy before! I could do anything for him!¡±


    ¡°You girls are really muddle-headed. He¡¯s just playing you. Look at the other girls, you¡¯d better not be cheated by him!¡±


    Miss Qili stared at Pandora full of pain, like looking at a lost sheep.


    The skinny Pandora revealed a smile. ¡°What if you¡¯re right?


    ¡°Even if he has 100 girls, or 1000 girls, I still would like to be played by him and to please him. He¡¯s my beloved man. If he¡¯s happy, I¡¯m then happy too! Alice, Beverly, don¡¯t you agree?¡±


    After exchanging glances with Beverly, Alice also moved her face closer to Zhang Tie¡¯s and started another long kiss. When her mouth left his, a shiny wisp of saliva was even pulled out.


    Then, like how Pandora had done, Alice also used her tongue to clean the saliva around Zhang Tie¡¯s mouth. Closely after Alice was Beverly. Being different from the earlier two, this beauty even niftily bit his nose tip after kissing him.


    Hearing Pandora¡¯s words, Zhang Tie almost teared up. Alice and Beverly¡¯s braveness also made moed him, causing his tears to come finally come out. Ignoring Miss Qili¡¯s attitude, he bent over Pandora¡¯s body in his arm and fiercely kissed her face after laughing out loudly. The same scene happened with the other two women.


    Driven mad, Miss Qili turned back and left without saying anything.


    ¡°We were completely on your side, are you satisfied now?¡±


    Beverly the enchanting girl, who had been fully relaxed, lightly bit his face.


    ¡°Let us go now, my waist is almost broken!¡±


    Alice also gave him a white eye.


    Laughing loudly, Zhang Tie loosened his arms. ¡°At most one month. Wait for me for that time. The next time when you see me, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be greatly startled. Believe me, your man will never let you down!¡±


    After saying this, Zhang Tie ignored the surrounding whispers and took out three packages wrapped in oil paper, one for each girl. They were so heavy that the girls could not even hold them without using two hands.


    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Alice curiously asked.


    ¡°This is the food I¡¯ve prepared for you. It¡¯s enough for one month¡¯s time. Even if I¡¯m going to leave, I won¡¯t let you be hungry!¡±


    ¡°Since they were for us, why didn¡¯t you give them when we were at the tree base. You don¡¯t need to carry such heavy things alone!¡± Beverly said.


    ¡°It¡¯s too heavy, I¡¯ve prepared about 20-30 kg of food for each of you. How could you bear such a load during that long path? Of course, I would carry them for you...¡±


    ¡°Idiot!¡±


    Thinking of Zhang Tie¡¯s sweating look on the way here, Alice¡¯s eyes were filled with tears once again. This man had silently carried 80-90 kg of packaged meat for 5 km of mountainous path only to give them that food. Yet they had thought that the items in the package were prepared for his loner¡¯s survival training and needed to be processed here in the Wild Wolf Castle.


    ¡°Oh, yea, and this...¡±


    Saying this, Zhang Tie pulled out three well-polished wolf canines.


    ¡°In Chinese belief, the canines from a wild wolf killed by a man using his own hands and worn on that man¡¯s woman¡¯s body would prevent evil from happening. I¡¯ve prepared them for you. I killed that wolf today using only my hands to prepare a canine for each of you...¡±


    Recalling the risky scene whre Zhang Tie had killed the wild wolf using only his hands at noon to prepare a canine for them, the three girls were really moved.


    After carefully putting away the canines that Zhang Tie had delicately prepared for them, they hugged him once again, kissing him crazily.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s getting late now, I¡¯ll accompany you in!¡± Zhang Tie patted the three girls¡¯ shoulders as he accompany them to the outer castle. Standing outside the gate of the inner castle, he confided in them various things before bidding farewell and seeing them off to the inner castle with a great amount of items.


    Seeing Pandora¡¯s thin frame disappearing last, Zhang Tie recalled something and shouted loudly, ¡°Pandora...¡±


    She turned back and stared at him.


    Zhang Tie only opened his mouth, yet did not say anything¡ªeat more, wait for me to come back!


    Pandora seemed to understand it. She then also moved her mouth and replied with no voice¡ªbastard!


    Beauty was really the source of happiness!


    Zhang Tie became very excited. Humming a tune, he left the Wild Wolf Castle. The moment he walked out of the outer castle, planning to converge with Barley and the other members of the Brotherhood, he suddenly found himself surrounded by many animals. With shiny eyes and excited expressions, these animals stared at him which really startled him.


    ¡®What¡¯s happening, are they going to beat me?¡¯ Zhang Tie wondered inwardly.


    ¡°What do you want?¡± Zhang Tie he asked with a raised voice.


    ¡°Master, save me...¡± An animal rushed forward with cries, hugging Zhang Tie¡¯s leg. He raised his head with tears welling up in his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve not have a chance to touch a girl¡¯s hand since the start of this survival training. Woe is me, please give me even a single instruction, I don¡¯t want to be alone...¡±


    Wordless, Zhang Tie scratched his head. ¡°Do you want to know why the three girls can love me at the same time?¡±


    Everybody then crazily nodded.


    ¡°As men, we should not ask why a girl doesn¡¯t love us; instead, we should ask ourselves, which aspect of us is worth their love.¡±


    Saying this, Zhang Tie felt that his expression was akin to that of Burwick¡¯s.


    He hadn¡¯t come up with this phrase himself; instead, he had learned it from Donder. Zhang Tie felt it was proper to use it at this moment. He couldn¡¯t even explain why. He only remembered that he had given away his first kiss to the three girls tonight. Until now, he still didn¡¯t understand how it had developed to this degree.

 121 Disbandment of Male Lion Association

    Chapter 121: Disbandment of Male Lion Association


    Translator:Editor:


    Leaving the group of gaping animals, Zhang Tie met up with the other members of the Brotherhood. At the sight of the admiration in the eyes of the other members of the Brotherhood on him, Zhang Tie felt pretty cool once again.


    ¡°How did you do that?¡± Hista seriously asked Zhang Tie on the way back. ¡°Do you know that you¡¯ve opened a wholly new school tonight in flirting with girls? That is really a great invention!¡±


    ¡°What school have I opened?¡±


    Zhang Tie became amazed.


    ¡°Beast school...¡±


    F*ck!


    He didn¡¯t know that among the onlookers were some people who had been blessed by the fabricated Ancient Gods Church.


    On the second day, the Wild Wolf Castle was filled with various gossip that a tough guy had successfully expressed his love to three girls at the same time.


    However, in the mining cave, when the 64 brainwashed guys learnt that Zhang Tie was that tough man, they all became highly spirited. Really, really, that must really be so! That was definitely the effect of Big Blessing Skill. Only Big Blessing Skill could allow an enlightener to successfully express his love to three women at the same time in the same place by using those terrifying words. Besides Zhang Tie, nobody else could do this. That was really a miracle!


    Even Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know that what had happened between him and the three girls last night enabled the brainwashed guys to be more certain about the effect of the Big Blessing Skill. They became more pious to the fabricated belief of Ancient Gods Church.


    ¡­¡­


    On the second morning, when the guys in the mining cave were spreading the ¡®miracle¡¯ of the enlightener, many things happened across the Wild Wolf Castle and the Wild Wolf Valley.


    In the tree base, Zhang Tie had long prepared his package to start his loner¡¯s trip in the early morning. His first target for this loner¡¯s survival training was to find and kill the two wild wolves that had escaped him yesterday.


    When he left, he was not held back by Barley and the other members of the Brotherhood; instead, they all stood in front of the Dragon-Claw Tree and stared blankly at the six small holes made in a straight line on the trunk. Besides the members of the Brotherhood, nobody else knew how the six small holes came into being.


    In Wild Wolf Castle, when Pandora woke up, she found the other girls¡¯ eyes on her were different than before. Previously, all the other girls¡¯ eyes were filled with indifference. However, now Pandora saw a wisp of admiration and envy mixed in with that indifference. Yes, it was admiration and envy. Ever since she was born, she had never seen anyone staring at her with such an expression.


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°I heard Pandora became the first partner of Zhang Tie in this survival training...¡±


    ¡°Yes, I heard that Zhang Tie expressed his love to her on the Wild Wolf Square!¡±


    ¡°I really cannot understand it, why did Zhang Tie choose Pandora. She cannot match me in any aspect, including figure and looks. Why not choose me?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget it, Zhang Tie is also accompanied by Alice and Beverly!¡±


    ¡°What else do the two b*tches have besides their faces. I also have a good figure. I can also do what they can!¡±


    ¡°But they¡¯re braver than us. I heard those naive boys all like such coquettish girls.¡±


    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s still timely for me to be coquettish now?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid now...¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because those women of Rose Association have already occupied the positions in front of you. Can you match those b*tches who pretend to be innocent...¡±


    In the washroom, Pandora closed the door and supported her lovely face with her hands. Sitting on the lid of the washing bowl, she silently listened to the discussion of the girls outside the door. After they left, she took out of the wolf canine that had been gifted by Zhang Tie. Holding it, she carefully looked at it with a wisp of a smile on her face.


    ¡­¡­


    Coming out of the washroom, Pandora encountered Alice and Beverly.


    ¡°Pandora, we might have made that guy too great last night!¡±


    Alice looked a bit worried.


    ¡°We made him well-known!¡±


    ¡°We stirred up big trouble for ourselves. The more well-known he is, the more popular he¡¯ll be among other girls. This is a war between girls, we¡¯d better not lose it!¡±


    Beverly also frowned slightly.


    ¡°Whatever, I¡¯ve said that even if he has 100 women, I¡¯ll never mind it!¡±


    Pandora gave them a smile.


    ¡°You really aren¡¯t worried about that?¡±


    Both Alice and Beverly stared at Pandora with a bit amazement.


    ¡°Do you think other girls still have any chance to be close to him?¡± she asked them.


    Alice and Beverly exchanged glances. ¡°Humph, that guy belongs to us. If he dares to have other thoughts when he comes back, we¡¯ll deal with him together!¡±


    The three girls then giggled...


    ¡­¡­


    Being different from the three girls, there were two women who felt bad in the early morning. One was Kristine, and the other Miss Qili. The moment they thought back on how Zhang Tie had shamelessly expressed his love to the three girls last night in the Wild Wolf Square, they would feel blood rush to their heads.


    Kristine regretted that she had not kicked Zhang Tie more ferociously, while Miss Qili regretted that she didn¡¯t throw this guy behind the bars in the underground prison of Wild Wolf Castle when she saw this villainous act in the square and kept him there until the end of this survival training.


    ¡®How could there be such a villain in this world!¡¯


    Two women started to curse Zhang Tie inwardly. How did he dare to do this? One of the two women believed that this villain must have silently done many more ¡®terrifying and disgusting things¡¯ to her in his mind in these days; the other became worried about him doing ¡®terrifying and disgusting things¡¯ to more girls. They then both became infuriated about him at the same time.


    Seeing Miss Qili¡¯s extremely icy face, all the teachers of Temporary Supervision Committee chose to stay away from her. However, careless Captain Kerlin seemed to know nothing at all. In the early morning, when he saw Miss Qili, he even initially greeted her.


    Unexpectedly, he was rewarded with a ferocious glare from Miss Qili. She then turned her face and left, ignoring him, which really made Captain Kerlin dejected.


    ¡°What happened to that women?¡±


    He innocently rubbed his mane-covered head with his hand. Everybody then shrugged their shoulders. Right then, at the sight of Zerom walking towards him with a weird expression, Captain Kerlin immediately knew that something must have happened.


    ¡°Male Lion Association had been disbanded...¡± As teachers of Temporary Supervision Committee, they naturally knew well about the situation of greater teams among the students. ¡°You would never guess how it came to be!¡±


    ¡°Hahaha, they¡¯d better be disbanded in case they go to die by themselves in the Crescent Prairie, and I have to clean their butts...¡± Captain Kerlin laughed out loudly before asking out of curiosity, ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°Burwick went for Zhang Tie yesterday. Then, something happened to them, and the Male Lion Association was disbanded this morning!¡±


    Zerom then told Captain Kerlin about what had happened last night between Zhang Tie and Burwick. Hearing Zerom¡¯s description, let alone Captain Kerlin, even the other teachers beside them, became amazed and started to exchange glances with each other.


    ¡°Samira first, then Burwick. Is this Zhang Tie really the natural-born enemy of mean people? How could those guys who wanted to set him up are all being beaten back to their original form? Captain Kerlin, there¡¯s really a sharp one in your school this year!¡±


    ¡°Of course! Back in school, I¡¯ve already found this Zhang Tie outstanding. He could always surprise me. From then on, I¡¯ve meant to cultivate him!¡± Captain Kerlin calmly replied. ¡°Unexpectedly, he really didn¡¯t let me down! Zerom, where¡¯s that brat? As he has solved the problem of the Male Lion Association and let them calm down, I really want to give him a reward!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that you won¡¯t find him now!¡± Zerom said, shaking his head.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because that guy has already started the loner¡¯s survival training!¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Everybody became shocked once again, including Captain Kerlin. ¡°A LV 1 warrior was brave enough to start a loner¡¯s survival training? Does it mean that there will be another loner among the students besides Blues?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know why he is that confident, either!¡± Zerom shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Maybe he¡¯ll come back in a couple of days when he can no longer suffer it. Otherwise, he might create another miracle this time. It¡¯s really hard to say...¡± Zerom casually explained with a wisp of cunningness in his eyes.


    ¡°How about betting on the time of Zhang Tie¡¯s arrival?¡± a teacher suddenly proposed.


    When there were no students near them, teachers of Temporary Supervision Committee actually didn¡¯t pretend to be solemn at all. Hearing this suggestion, Zerom smiled.


    ¡°Fine, what''s the wager?¡± someone immediately asked.


    ¡°Two gold coins for each person, for whether he comes back in one week, two weeks, three weeks or after three...¡±


    ¡°Fine!¡±


    More than ten teachers agreed immediately. After closing the door, they started to sign and put their thumbs¡¯ prints. After that, they took out the gold coins and left the receipts. Most teachers bet that Zhang Tie would come back in around 1-2 weeks. Only two teachers bet that he would stand 3 weeks, recalling his performance against Samira.


    ¡°Zerom, how long do you think that Zhang Tie can stand outside alone?¡±


    ¡°Even if most of you think that brat won¡¯t be able to stand three weeks, I¡¯ll choose more than three weeks!¡± Saying this, Zerom dropped two gold coins.


    ¡°What about you, Captain Kerlin?¡±


    Seeing the more than 20 brilliant gold coins, the one-eyed man rolled his eyes before glancing at Zerom. ¡°I will also choose more than three weeks!¡±


    Seeing Zerom¡¯s mouth corner twitch slightly, Captain Kerlin was even more certain that Zerom was really cunning. ¡®But I, the Captain Kerlin, am not an idiot either. This time, I¡¯ll follow that cunning guy and may enjoy another surprise from this brat. Heh¡­ heh...¡¯


    ¡­¡­


    When a group of laughing teachers were betting in the office of the Wild Wolf Castle, several other events happened in the Wild Wolf Valley.


    Less than two hours after Zhang Tie had left the tree base, a group of girls from Rose Association arrived. Their arrival made the girls who had already formed a team with the Brotherhood feel like they faced a great enemy.


    When they arrived, Doug was left alone in the tree base while the other members were off to collect their prey from the traps. Seeing those girls from Rose Association, Doug¡¯s saliva poured like a stream.


    Of course, they were here for Zhang Tie. After a casual talk, they learned that he had left. Hearing that he had started a loner¡¯s survival training, they became both shocked and disappointed.


    Before leaving, a beautiful girl in Rose Association told Doug, ¡°When Zhang Tie comes back, please tell him that Angel, who had picked pine nuts together with him, had come here for him!¡±


    Doug nodded like an idiot.


    Therefore, by noon, the whole Wild Wolf Castle teemed with gossip that Zhang Tie would be the second loner, next to Archer Blues. By then, Zhang Tie¡¯s name had started to become brilliant among all the students attending this survival training.


    However, when Zhang Tie¡¯s name became begun to shine, Burwick¡¯s name was gradually forgotten...


    In the base of Male Lion Association.


    Although the broken ribs had been wrapped and dealt with once again, the marks on Burwick¡¯s face from the ferocious beating could not be eliminated in a short time, after just one night¡¯s rest.


    Burwick who had panda eyes¡ªone big, one small¡ªnumbly stood at the entrance of the mountain cave, hoping that the last members of Male Lion Association would stay. Perhaps because he looked too miserable at this moment as he completely looked like a pig head, any words coming out of his mouth sounded funny.


    This time, his eloquence was useless.


    The Male Lion Association, which seemed to lack morality after being shocked by Samira¡¯s event, fully collapsed. Ignoring Burwick¡¯s meanness by targeting the members of Brotherhood to join the Male Lion Association in front of the girls and inviting Zhang Tie to be the vice head of the Male Lion Association, it was an indisputable fact that Burwick had been ferociously beaten by Zhang Tie like a dead dog. Such a miserable fact was enough to completely destroy the small halo on Burwick¡¯s head since nobody wanted to follow loser¡¯s orders.


    The Male Lion Association didn¡¯t completely disband and disappear as many members spontaneously gathered together to hunt prey like before. But this time, Burwick was excluded.


    Standing in the base of the Male Lion Association alone for awhile, Burwick finally chuckled like a lunatic. He chuckled in a low voice at first, but then it turned to laughter, and finally wolf cries. Hearing those cries, people would definitely feel creeped out...


    ¡°Zhang Tie...¡±


    A miserable wolf howl reverberated from the base of the Male Lion Association.

 122 Getting Rid of the Shackles

    Chapter 122: Getting Rid of the Shackles


    Translator:Editor:


    Like what had happened the first time, the Leakless Fruit¡¯s fire-dragon-shaped energy polished the burning point on his rear end. Zhang Tie felt that that burning point was suddenly radiating stronger purple light while the purple swirl was gradually becoming larger than before.


    Later on, without any obstacles, when the purple light reached its maximum, another ¡®boom¡¯ resounded in Zhang Tie¡¯s mind. The purple light ball exploded and became a light purple rain. After a transient darkness and silence, a dim flame appeared on the burning point on his rear end. After that, the flame gradually enlarged, constantly transferring its light and heat to the surrounding darkness and coldness, making Zhang Tie comfortable all over.


    When the first burning point on his rear end was lit, Zhang Tie felt like he had suddenly opened a huge iron lock that weighed several hundred kilograms. Previously, the huge iron lock hung on his rear end. Today, after suddenly opening that heavy lock and taking it away, Zhang Tie instantly felt relaxed.


    This moment was anticipated for a long time. He felt relaxed by unloading such a heavy burden. He felt so light that he could almost fly in the air.


    This feeling was pretty cool!


    As backbones were connected in a line, so were those burning points on the backbones. Almost the moment the burning point was lit on the rear end, Zhang Tie felt that the second burning point on the first bone of his backbone above his rear end started to be connected with that burning point he¡¯d just ignited. The Leakless Fruit, which had just started to exert its effect on his body, immediately charged at that second burning point above his rear end like a gundog or a huge boa who had found its target.


    Then, the second burning point above Zhang Tie¡¯s rear end started to radiate light...


    More than 20 minutes had passed, during which Zhang Tie¡¯s body slightly shook twice. When this Leakless Fruit was fully consumed, Zhang Tie had not only lit the burning point on his rear end, but also had been successfully promoted to a LV 2 warrior. Even the second burning point above that one on his rear end started to radiate bright orange light.


    Sitting under the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree, Zhang Tie finally opened his eyes full of pleasure. Picking himself up from the ground under the small tree, Zhang Tie slightly moved his limbs. Accompanied by crispy sounds arisen from bones was a sense full of energy from both inside and outside, causing Zhang Tie so much excitement that he even shouted out loudly.


    Captain Kerlin said that when the burning points on one¡¯s backbones were lit, Strength of Qi, Strength of Blood, Strength of Vein, Strength of Channel, Strength of Bone, Strength of Marrow and Strength of God within one¡¯s body would gradually come into being. Afterwards, one would gradually experience that sense of relaxation full of strength. Now, Zhang Tie finally understood why Glaze¡¯s physique was so much greater than the others¡¯ when he was a LV 2 warrior.


    After slightly moving his limbs, Zhang Tie started to run in the spacious field of Castle of Black Iron. He kept running to familiarise himself with this new-born energy in his body.


    He learned it at school that after one burning point on your backbone was lit, you should run and move for half an hour to adapt to this new-born energy within your body as fast as possible. Teachers called this ¡®commissioning¡¯. This was akin to the situation where after new machines like steam engines left factory, you were advised to operate them several times so that the gears and oil cylinders could fully polish each other. This was beneficial to its successful continued operating.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t run too fast. However, after running for a while, he felt his bones and muscles were undergoing slight adjustments, accompanied by that gradually obvious relaxation and increasing strength. Therefore, Zhang Tie in time quickened his pace in Castle of Black Iron.


    The perimeter of the land in Castle of Black Iron was about 3000 m. It was the first time for Zhang Tie to find running interesting. After alighting the burning point on his rear end, he felt like he had lost a heavy lock that held his strength which now kept flowing out like a delicate gurgling spring through his body. That spring seemed to be under his feet, making him feel so agile.


    After running one lap, Zhang Tie increased his pace a bit. Within the Castle of Black Iron, he kept running fast, like a child who had just learned how to run.


    In Castle of Black Iron, many sparse green patches could already be seen. The cornstalks of the niblets that Zhang Tie had sowed before had already grown higher than 1 m, while the corncobs looked pretty well. Additionally, the stems and leaves of soybeans, sweet tomatoes, turnips, and pumpkins could also be seen.


    From the seeds that had been gifted by Grandma Teresa, the hygrophila polysperma seeds grew best as they had already formed several green carpets in Castle of Black Iron. Seeds like those of morning glory, olive, ligustrum obtusifolium, photinia frase, honey pear, walnuts, and other kinds of plants that Zhang Tie had collected during the survival training were also growing very well.


    Even the tender sprouts of pine seeds that Zhang Tie had sowed several days ago had already drilled out as high as the thickness of one¡¯s index finger. The entire Castle of Black Iron was gradually becoming a world full of vitality. At the same time, the aura value points in Castle of Black Iron also surged along with the growth of these plants.


    After running for more than 20 minutes, Zhang Tie gradually adapted to the new strength. After a short rest, he started to practice ¡®Lying Tiger Move¡¯, a basic skill of Iron-Blood Fist, by lying on the ground like a tiger.


    This time, Zhang Tie exerted all of his effort as he gritted his teeth and kept that position until each muscle on his body started to quiver, and he could no longer hold on. He estimated that this time he had lasted for about 17-20 minutes¡ªa great improvement compared to before. An increase of persistent time when using ¡®Lying Tiger Move¡¯ indicated that his strength and endurance had also improved a lot after lighting the burning point on his rear end.


    After practicing, Zhang Tie stood up. Merely after half a minute¡¯s rest, the ¡®Lying Tiger Move¡¯ had already started to show its mysterious effect. Each time after he practiced it, he would feel as energetic as a tiger, including this time. This was how strange the ¡®Lying Tiger Move¡¯ was.


    Before learning Iron-Blood Fist, Zhang Tie had never imagined that only by sticking to such a simple move could he gain such an amazing effect. As he had heard that the Iron-Blood Fist was passed from Oriental Continent, Zhang Tie started longing for that mysterious place.


    Soon after finishing his practice of ¡®Lying Tiger Move¡¯, Zhang Tie started to practice 36 free hand moves of Iron-Blood Fist in Castle of Black Iron. After reaching LV 2, his moves looked much more similar to the descriptions on the book.


    After his spiritual energy had increased by seven times, Zhang Tie found that his memory had also greatly improved, since he found out that he could completely remember the contents on theafter only skimming through them once. Therefore, Zhang Tie left the book to Barley and the other members of the Brotherhood as he set off for a loner¡¯s survival training.


    After practicing the 36 free hand moves of Iron-Blood Fist Skill, Zhang Tie felt that he had completed the ¡®commissioning¡¯ and was already familiar with the new-born strength in his body.


    At the sight of the lances that he had brought and put under the tree, Zhang Tie thought up an idea. Walking over there, he held a lance in his hand. Soon he felt the strange feeling once again. This time, Zhang Tie tried his best to extend the strange cone-shaped throwing point as far as possible. Right now, that throwing point reached 30-40 m away. Compared to the 30-40 steps of a LV 1 warrior, this distance indicated that Zhang Tie had already improved a lot after reaching LV 2.


    With a sound of ¡®Sou¡¯, before Zhang Tie¡¯s body had even moved, the lance had already been thrown out and precisely nailed into the location marked by the cone-shaped throwing point, 1 feet into the ground.


    ¡°Hahaha...¡±


    Zhang Tie burst out laughing. Walking over there, he pulled that lance out of the ground, cleaned it, and put it back into the capsule. After that, he put the capsule on his back, putting the long sword on his waist, and arranged his package.


    Afterwards, he looked at the mysterious small tree in centre of Castle of Black Iron once again. This time, two fruits were already hanging from the tree¡¯s limbs; one was a Leakless Fruit that had already grown for four days, the other was a ripe Iron-Body Fruit. As for the Iron-Body Fruit, Zhang Tie had stimulated it to ripen using a certain method.


    A couple of days ago, when he was still at the tree base, Zhang Tie made a drumstick-like thing using a log, some dried grass, and a rabbit hide that he had exchanged from others. Everyday, he would request Pandora to hit him using that drumstick. With the exception of head, face, and key parts of his body, Zhang Tie had truly been ferociously hit many times all over.


    Great pains finally led to the ripe Iron-Body Fruit. When he entered Castle of Black Iron just now, Zhang Tie had already noticed it. Previously, he planned to engulf that ripe Iron-Body Fruit along with the Leakless Fruit; however, he was unsure whether he would also suffer from a stomachache several hours after he eating it like last time. If it was the same, it would be inconvenient. Therefore, he decided to wait temporarily. When he found his new base in the evening, he would eat the Iron-Body Fruit.


    No matter what, it belonged to him. It would never fly away during those few hours.


    Thinking about his, Zhang Tie showed a smile. After locking that strange arch door in his mind, in a few seconds, he disappeared from Castle of Black Iron


    ¡­¡­


    Two minutes later, Zhang Tie drilled out of an entrance of a mountain cave, the greater part of which had been covered by vines. With the hot sun in the sky, he narrowed his eyes to glance over the surroundings. Giggling, he jumped off the two meter high mountain cave and fell to the ground. Afterwards, he went deeper into the Wild Wolf Valley.


    This mountain cave was about 5-6 km away from the tree base. As it was too far away from the Wild Wolf Castle, few people would make it their base. Thus, this mountain cave seemed not to have been lived in. When Zhang Tie had passed by it earlier today, he had slightly looked around before deciding to take the final step towards being a LV 2 warrior here.


    When he left the mountain cave, people near the Wild Wolf Castle more than 10 km away were still discussing about how a LV 1 warrior would like to accomplish a loner¡¯s survival training. They could never imagine that Zhang Tie, who had left the tree base five or six hours ago, had already become a LV 2 warrior. What was more, this LV 2 warrior had even mastered a mysterious talent that could not be explained even by him...


    After leaving the mountain cave, Zhang Tie started to wander around the Wild Wolf Valley, a stream nearby the tree base. He felt that the two wild wolves were also in the Wild Wolf Valley, and it was the right time for them to deal with their resentment.


    ¡­¡­


    Almost at the same moment when Zhang Tie had walked out of the mountain cave, several white-bearded old men who were sitting in meditation in a magnificent palace in a mysterious land near the sea more than 20,000 km away to the south of Blackhot City opened their eyes at the same time.


    The magnificent palace where the elders sat in meditation showed a time-honored and vigorous atmosphere. Huge pillars and dome beams as high as dozens of meters and as thick as several meters could be seen everywhere. These huge pillars and dome beams were not decorated.


    The ground in the palace was paved with a kind of strange dark stones. Four over three meter high gold and violet tripods were put in the four corners of the palace. Whale oil filled those gold and violet tripods which after being lit would lighten up the palace.


    Under the flames, two powerful words ¡®Huaiyuan Palace¡¯ written on a huge horizontal board on the topmost place belittled the whole palace. Under the two words were a 20-m high metal statue. The metal figure was holding a 10-m high large bow and looking far away. It was set to shoot an arrow whose head was pointing at the central axis of the palace, namely the entrance.


    The entire statue looked unprecedentedly brave. For people entering the palace, the moment they caught sight of it, they would be shocked both inwardly and outwardly and feel an impulsion to kneel down under the long bow.


    In front of the feet of the huge figure, rows of temporary memorial tablets were placed, each row lower than the previous one. In total, there were more than 10,000 memorial tablets in more than 20 rows erected under the feet of the huge statue.


    There was an altar beneath these tablets, in the center of which was a one meter high black yet translucent crystal without any impurities in it. If Zhang Tie was here and caught a sight of that huge black crystal, he would definitely be amazed.


    At this moment, what was happening on the huge black crystal caused all the elders sitting around it to open their eyes.


    A fist-sized blood ball seemed to be rolling over in the huge black crystal. The blood ball radiated bright red lights which kept rolling together with tadpole-like runes. In time, the runes finally gathered and rolled to the top of the black crystal, aiming to turn into a pattern.


    ¡°It seems that another young apprentice in our clan has awakened an ancestral bloodline...¡±


    All the elders were looking at that scene with smiles. At their age, it had already become their biggest interest to enjoy such scenes. For a group of elders, nothing could be happier than to see their posterity grow up.


    Under their smiles and loving gazes, only after the time it takes for a person to inhale a couple times did the pattern gathered by those rolling red runes finally become a red lance and stopped changing.


    ¡°That¡¯s not bad...¡± A senior nodded with a smile. ¡°Although what he has awakened is not one of the most powerful bloodlines among our Zhang ancestral bloodline, if he can apply this ¡®precise throwing¡¯ bloodline pretty well, he can also gain unexpected achievements...¡±


    Saying this, that senior seriously gazed at the lance which was composed of numerous red runes before nodding once again. ¡°That¡¯s not bad, he¡¯s only 15 years old, has just lit the burning point on his rear end, and triggered his Strength of Qi and Strength of Blood, causing the Blood-Soul Crystal to sense his situation. Although he lit his burning points a bit slowly, he has not awakened this bloodline too late. All in all, he was average and can be shaped. Brother Mu An, what do you think?¡±


    ¡°Of course my younger brother Mu En¡¯s words are right...¡± Another senior laughed out loudly, filled with pride. ¡°Our ancestor Duke Huaiyuan was a descendant of Zhang clan¡¯s direct line in the Oriental Continent. Of course his bloodline would be good enough. Let¡¯s bring this brat here to check his mentality. If there are no problems with him, we will let this brat enter the Huaiyuan Palace to worship our ancestors. If we make an effort to cultivate him, he might be able to make great contributions in the future!¡±


    ¡°Fine!¡±


    Other elders nodded, smiling. Then, that senior who had posed the suggestion took out of a jade clip and tenderly flicked it, causing a clear sound to reverberate through the palace.


    Before the sound caused by the flicking of the jade clip disappeared, a person came out of nowhere and knelt down in front of the cattail hassocks where the elders were sitting.


    ¡°Zhang Shun greets elders, what can I do for you?¡±


    ¡°A 15-year-old apprentice in our clan has lit the burning point on his rear end. The Blood-Soul Crystal sensed that he had already awakened an ancestral bloodline. This is a happy event for Huaiyuan Palace. Go and bring him here. We will have a look at him...¡± that senior who had flicked on the jade clip calmly ordered.


    ¡°Got it...¡± Standing up, that man crossed his fists and leveled them above his head. Still half-bowed, he exited the palace.


    In the magnificent palace, all the elders stared at that gradually disappearing red lance in the Blood-Soul Crystal before closing their eyes one by one.


    ¡­¡­


    Barely two hours later, that man who had exited came back again and piously knelt down in front of the old men like before.


    ¡°Respected elders, across Huaiyuan Palace¡¯s 8 cities, there are 1761 apprentices at the age of 15 in the family tree of Zhang¡¯s clan, including the nine people who were exiled far away. Recently there were 23 people who had lit the burning point on their rear end. However, after investigation, it was seen that nobody among them has awakened their ancestral bloodline!¡±


    Zhang Shun¡¯s reply drifted through the palace, causing the elders to open their eyes once again. After exchanging glances, they found a wisp of amazement and anger in each others¡¯ eyes when they heard that a direct descendent of Duke Huaiyuan neither lived in cities of Huaiyuan Palace nor was recorded in the family tree of Zhang¡¯s clan. That shouldn¡¯t be true!


    Even the names of children of criminals being punished or sentenced to a death penalty due to great crimes would still be recorded on the family tree by Clan Shrine. For those people¡¯s family tree, there were even exclusive archives in the Clan Shrine, which were named as Criminal Record. It was strictly managed that even marriage, funeral ceremony, and delivery would be exclusively recorded by people in Clan Shrine.


    However, a direct descendent of Duke Huaiyuan could not be found on the family tree! That would make them a great laughing stock. The human line was the root of the clan line. If anything happened to the human line, it would be very serious. As a palace of four tripods which represented the stable development of Huaiyuan Palace, hearing the report, the elders of Huaiyuan Palace naturally became infuriated as they felt like they were being slapped by others.


    ¡°Check it, check it out...¡±


    An angry order reverberated in the palace. As a result, an invisible heavy wind seemed to blow over the entire magnificent palace, causing the flames in the four huge tripods to waver and flicker like a burning match that was about to be snuffed out by an invisible hand every now and then...


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know that the moment he had lit the burning point on his rear end, a huge storm arose in a remote place...


    ¡­¡­

 123 An Accidental Encounter

    Chapter 123: An Accidental Encounter


    Translator:Editor:


    God would never allow for all to be well. The second rain in June also arrived very abruptly. On the next morning after Zhang Tie left the tree base, at 4-5 am, the rolling thunder in the sky awoke him. But before he could finish packing up his sleeping bag, the heavy storm started to pour down with a sound of ¡®Huala Huala¡¯.


    In Wild Wolf Valley, one could not easily find a proper mountain cave or tree hole to take a rest in. Zhang Tie was now about 15 km away from Wild Wolf Castle itself. In order to seek for the two beasts, he had kept trekking through weeds, shrubs, and over stones.


    Last night, he had slept on a pile of stones. Between two huge ones there was a slightly higher place where he could lie on. Zhang Tie used his long sword to cut off a pile of weeds and put them over the ground. After that, he cut off some lush shrubs to cover the space between the two stones at the top to shelter him from wind. Finally, he sprayed some powder around himself to drive away insects and snakes. Afterwards, he laid down his sleeping bag on the ground, got in, and went to sleep.


    Although lying on the ground, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t actually sleep well at night. Even if the powder could prevent the snakes and insects from approaching him, it could never hold back ferocious carnivores like wild wolves. And because he didn¡¯t want to become food for wild beasts, he always remained alert.


    This was his first time experiencing camping alone. When midnight came, it was not only cold, but also filled with weird sounds that always caused Zhang Tie to overreact by pulling out his long sword and jumping up from the ground as each time he would think it was a ferocious beast drawing near.


    As a result, he was almost driven mad by the huge consumption of his spiritual energy and physical strength. When he was in Donder¡¯s grocery store, Zhang Tie had learned from some pioneers that a mutated army ant¡¯s feces could be used to shock most of ferocious beasts. However, it could only be gotten from a deserted anthill of army ants.


    Therefore, sometimes, even if you knew what stuff could be used to hold back ferocious beasts, it would still be useless as God would not coincidentally provide you the right thing at the critical moment. In contrast, when you slept in the wild and needed help, God might even bring you more trouble by starting a pouring rain.


    Last night, Zhang Tie, who regarded Castle of Black Iron as his top secret, would naturally not access it in the wild as his secret might be exposed. Therefore, the second ripe Iron-Body Fruit was still hanging on that small tree in Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡°F*ck!¡±


    Before he was finished with packing up his sleeping bag, rain drops had already fallen onto Zhang Tie¡¯s face. He had to hurry up. Soon after he packed up, the heavy rain poured down.


    By the time he put on his raincoat, some of his clothes were already wet. He then hurriedly rushed towards the foot of a precipice farther away. But after several steps, he remembered that he had left his long sword on the ground where he had slept last night. He had put it beside himself before going to sleep last night so that he could more easily attack any ferocious beasts that might chance upon him.


    Due to weariness and slight darkness, he had almost forgotten it. So he ran back to pick it up. Finally, he walked towards that place at the foot of the precipice where he could avoid being wet like an escaping mouse driven by raindrops.


    That foot of the precipice was about 1 km away from where Zhang Tie had slept. The path was also rugged and muddy in the valley. Therefore, it took Zhang Tie about five minutes to arrive there. By then, half of his trousers and coat were soaked.


    Staring at the dim sky from under the precipice, Zhang Tie pulled out of a bit of dried meat to supplement his physical strength. This time, he only took about five kilograms of dried meat. As to the other food, he gift it all to Pandora, Beverly, and Alice.


    He did this to test whether he had the ability to complete the loners¡¯ survival training. Although he could avoid being drenched by rain under the precipice, the scattered rain drops could still blow into his face. Itchy, it felt like how Beverly had niftily brushed his face using her eyelashes. He then thought back to Alice and Pandora, and the small golden fishes of the three girls in his mouth, and Pandora¡¯s unexpected kiss that night. She was the one who moved him most that night.


    Unknown when, that restless thing in his crotch had already become as hard as iron.


    ¡®I really wonder how they are today¡¯, Zhang Tie mumbled in the direction of Wild Wolf Castle behind a pitch-dark heavy rain curtain in front of him.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know whether this was his desire or love for them since there was no essential difference between them. The alleged love and desire were fabricated by those bored literate men and noble Mrs.¡¯ and girls.


    Zhang Tie hoped his girls would live well and be happy; he didn¡¯t want to see them suffer from any harm. He wanted to treat them well, but he was also impulsive and desired to do ¡®terrifying and disgusting¡¯ things to them. This was how he truly felt, whatever it was called.


    It rained heavily and lasted for about four to five hours before easing off not long before dawn. Rainwater rushed into the river of the Wild Wolf Valley along with streams and water in the ravine, causing the river in the valley to rise greatly. Then, the murky river rushed downwards to the lower reach, picking up some dried twigs and leaves. The road in the valley became very muddy and rugged; some places were even slippery while puddles could be seen everywhere.


    When the rain slightly eased off, seeing day had broken, Zhang Tie, who had been stomping for two hours and squatting for another two under the precipice immediately ran out of it with a raincoat on his body. The dense clouds in the sky didn¡¯t seem like they would dissipate soon.


    Not knowing when it would stop, in case of encountering another heavier rain, Zhang Tie became keen to find a dry place to sleep at night. It would be better if it was a mountain cave or a tree hole like that tree house near the Wild Wolf Castle. However, such places were hard to be found.


    After walking for more than an hour in the rain, during which the drizzle gradually developed into a mizzle and then heavy rain again, Zhang Tie finally found a deserted mining hole at the foot of a mountain more than three kilometers away from where he had stayed. Someone seemed to have tried to open a mine here; however, after digging for less than 10 m, they could not find what they needed and stopped, leaving a shallow mining cave which could be easily seen from outside. But although it was not a hidden place, it was already a paradise for Zhang Tie, who was hurriedly looking for a base.


    When he entered, he found someone had once lived in here as there were some scattered dried wood and grass, and traces of ashes on the ground. At the sight of dried wood, Zhang Tie immediately became spirited. He had never imagined that he could be that happy at the sight of dried wood.


    After taking off the raincoat and spreading it over a stone to dry it, Zhang Tie put down his package and luggage on a dry place and put his lance container close to the entrance where he could easily reach in an emergency. After that, he pulled out a flint lighter and gathered a pile of dried grass and wood. Soon after, he set a fire in the cave. Due to its heat, water on his wet coat and trousers started to vaporize.


    Seeing the heavy rain pouring down again outside the mountain cave, Zhang Tie suddenly felt happy. Sometimes, one could feel happy so easily. If it was heavily raining outside, and you were not drenched by the rain but could sit around a fire, you would feel happy.


    Zhang Tie baked a dried meat slice above the fire. After a short while, the whole mountain cave started to be filled with the fragrance of meat.


    ¡®If only Pandora, Beverly, and Alice were here.¡¯ An ¡®obscene¡¯ idea flashed across his mind. ¡®In such a bad weather and inside an uninhabited mountain cave, besides warming ourselves around a fire, we could also do something more meaningful, hehhehhehheh...¡¯


    While various weird ideas were flashing in Zhang Tie¡¯s mind, a person in a kelly raincoat rushed into the cave along with wind and rainwater. When he rushed in, he had never expected that there would be someone else inside. So did Zhang Tie.


    After exchanging glances, the two became slightly stunned. They then made the similar response - Zhang Tie grabbed his long sword while that man swung the raincoat out of his way and put an arrow on his longbow¡¯s string.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t pull out his sword out of its sheath while that person didn¡¯t pull back his long bow, either. With sword sheath¡¯s tip and an arrowhead facing each other, they stared at one another with eyes wide open.


    At the sight of that longbow and his age, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled a name. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ Blues?¡±


    That person became slightly stunned, but his face remained relaxed, although he hadn¡¯t put away his bow. ¡°You¡¯re a student attending this survival training?¡±


    ¡°Of course, otherwise, how could I know your name. The Archer Blues, you are well known across the Wild Wolf Castle!¡± Zhang Tie laughed out loudly as he put his long sword to one side of his foot.


    Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s response, Blues also let out a breath and put away his longbow.


    ¡°How could you be here?¡±


    They asked the same question in unison. Realizing that, they glanced at each other and found that both of them were scratching their heads. They burst out laughing and the atmosphere in the cave immediately became relaxed.


    ¡°I- I¡¯m chasing two wolves and trying to challenge the loner¡¯s survival training!¡±


    Seeing Blues being a bit introverted, Zhang Tie opened his mouth and poured out the true reason without any hesitation. He thought it was not necessary to hide the truth as he estimated that his deed must have already been spread everywhere across the Wild Wolf Castle. ¡°What about you?¡±


    ¡°I prepared these dried grass and wood for myself...¡±


    ¡°Well, I owe you this time, then. Here you are, this is my rent...¡±


    Zhang Tie passed that roasted dried meat slice to Blues.


    Seeing Zhang Tie stretching out his hand towards him, Blues accepted the fragrant golden-roasted dried meat slice. ¡°Thanks, but what will you eat if I take this...¡±


    ¡°Never mind, I have more...¡±


    Saying this, Zhang Tie pulled out another slice from his package, and holding it with two wooden sticks, put it close to the fire. Seeing Zhang Tie pulling out another piece, Blues started to nibble on the slice in his hand...


    After determining his personality, Zhang Tie mumbled inwardly, ¡®Although this guy is a bit introverted, he doesn¡¯t seem bad!¡¯


    ¡°Could you tell me about the two wolves that you¡¯re hunting for? Maybe I can help you!¡± Blues said sincerely after eating that dried meat slice given by Zhang Tie


    So Zhang Tie poured out all the information about those wolves without any hesitation, including the event where he almost lost his life when he encountered them for the first time and the one where the wolves almost hurt Pandora, Beverly, and Alice a couple of days ago.


    ¡°Does one wolf among them have a circle of brownish red fur and a defected ear?¡± Blues asked after thinking for a while.


    ¡°You¡¯ve seen the two wolves?¡±


    ¡°I saw them yesterday, when they passed by dozens of meters in front of me. I was on a tree, aiming to hunt huge wolves. As I was afraid of scaring away the huge wolves, I let them go in front of my eyes. They disappear behind a hillside not far away and never reappeared after, so I estimate that their den might be there...¡±


    Hearing Blues¡¯ words, Zhang Tie became highly spirited.

 124 What You Heard Might Not Be True

    Chapter 124: What You Heard Might Not Be True


    Translator:Editor:


    It was always heard across the Wild Wolf Castle that Archer Blues had an eccentric personality and liked to move alone. Before encountering him, Zhang Tie also thought that the gossip was true; however, after encountering him, he found out that Blues was just a bit more introverted and was not good at human relationships, yet he was not bad. Although he was not good at speaking, as long as the topic was what he liked or knew, he would always feel pleasant to communicate with. One of such topics, for example, was how to face a loner¡¯s survival training.


    Blues imparted many experiences about loner¡¯s survival training to Zhang Tie. For example, many people thought that people who completed loner¡¯s survival training would drift around casually like the wind. But actually, it wasn¡¯t true. Real loners always had fixed bases. Especially 20 km away from Wild Wolf Castle, loners¡¯ moving radius would not be over 5 km away from their base.


    During survival training, loners should firstly find a safe base instead of prey. Especially for students attending this survival training who had poor strength, it was of great significance for them to find a safe base where they could have a good night¡¯s sleep. This was almost the key point for a person to complete his loner¡¯s survival training.


    After fixing the base, the loner should find a few more bases based on this one. This way, the loner could constantly expand his moving radius. Therefore, the public opinion that loners all chose to stay wherever they wanted was actually a misunderstanding.


    ¡°If we casually chose bases like what the public thought, we, Lv 2 or Lv 3 warriors, at most would hardly stick to three days in the wild. If you didn¡¯t fix a base before you moved, even if you were lucky enough not to meet any high-level beasts who might kill you, how would you sleep at night?


    ¡°You have to be alert when you sleep, however if you cannot sleep well for three consecutive days, your spiritual energy will be exhausted, and your physical strength and ability to respond would decline. If you continued your loner¡¯s survival training in this state, you would commit a chronic suicide. If you didn¡¯t have a fixed base before moving, you would definitely become sick overnight in such a heavy rain. You could not stand that state for a long time...¡±


    After hearing Blues¡¯ experiences, Zhang Tie realized how stupid he was to sleep on the stones in the wild. He thought all loners acted like that, but it wasn¡¯t so. According to Blues, he should have firstly went to find a base after he started the loner¡¯s survival training yesterday, instead of seeking the two beasts which had caused him to have no place to stay in the evening.


    What he did yesterday was mostly dangerous and stupid. At the beginning, Zhang Tie had thought that it was a bit of a waste of time to seek for a base so meticulously, but he soon realized that it was actually the most time-saving and efficient way to seek for a base before moving. The more safe bases he could found, the freer he would be. No matter where he was, he should in one hour be able to reach a safe place to take a rest and recover physical strength as well as escape from such a bad weather. Only in this way could he constantly proceed with his loner¡¯s survival training.


    When he spoke, Blues even used a twig to draw a map on the ground and told of all the proper bases that he had found in the Wild Wolf Valley to Zhang Tie, enabling him to take a rest in the nearest one. Blues had prepared dried grass and wood in all the above bases. If Zhang Tie had to take a rest in these bases, he was only requested to supplement the dried grass and wood after consuming them in case Blues needed to use it later.


    ¡°Do you usually go to the Crescent Prairie alone?¡±


    Given Blues¡¯ tone, Zhang Tie became curious.


    ¡°These days, I¡¯ve been wandering in the area between Crescent Prairie and Wild Wolf Valley. Compared to Wild Wolf Valley, Crescent Prairie is more dangerous because it has more wild and magical beasts. Additionally, wild wolves there are always in packs of dozens, or even hundreds of individuals. There are also huge wolves, golden wolves, huge boas, sword-teeth lizards, horn crocodiles, man-eating vultures, and various LV 3, LV 4, and even above LV 5 mutated magical beasts in the Crescent Prairie. Do you know gold-eating boas?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I do!¡± Zhang Tie nodded.


    ¡°Due to the remaining smell of the super magical beasts like gold-eating boas in Wild Wolf Valley, magical beasts above LV 2 don¡¯t dare to draw near to it. When you are in the area between Wild Wolf Valley and the Crescent Prairie, if you meet some beasts that you cannot deal with, you just run into Wild Wolf Valley as fast as possible. Without any special reason, those magical beasts above LV 3 would never follow you in. When you arrive at the Crescent Prairie, you will find that the entire Wild Wolf Valley is our safe area...¡±


    ¡°So why did you come back today?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but yesterday, many people flowed into the Crescent Prairie, many of which were low-level pioneers seeking golden wolves and goose-neck grass. I heard that Blackhot City released a mission, and someone was purchasing the two items at a high price. Six gold coins for one grown-up golden wolf and 80 silver coins to two gold coins for one goose-neck grass. I went to supplement some necessities back in Wild Wolf Castle before returning to the Crescent Prairie to take a chance!¡±


    Golden wolf was a LV 2 living being which was more valuable than other LV 2 living beings. It was valuable because of the following three reasons: first, capturing one alive would be many times more difficult than killing one. The most valuable part on a dead golden wolf would be its fur, which was about dozens of silver coins. Second, there were other higher level magical beasts in the Crescent Prairie which meant other potential dangers when you tried capturing golden wolves there. And third, the lords in Blackhot city became anxious since Samira had messed it up.


    They needed these items. Realizing that they could not save their gold coins anymore, they released missions again and let those people who wanted to make money to make their way there at the risk of losing their own lives. The prices weren¡¯t high, only average.


    From this, it could be seen how bad Samira was. He had only provided one gold coin to those idiots for one golden wolf and one goose-neck grass, ignoring the life or death situations they migh encounter. That was really a dark-minded man...


    Zhang Tie estimated that Blues had not been back in Wild Wolf Castle for many days and might not know what had happened around it, so he told him all about it, including the crisis facing Blackhot City and what had happened to Samira¡¯s Business Group. The latter had not surprised Blues a lot, however, the sudden crisis facing Blackhot City and the sharp deteriorating situation in Andaman Alliance really shocked him for quite a while. It was similar to how the others had responded upon hearings this particular news.


    After learning about it, Blues became a bit lost. He then became silent, seemingly thinking about something.


    ¡°Sometimes, personal strength is limited and cannot solve all the problems. I have several good brothers back in Wild Wolf Castle. If you have any trouble and need any help, you can go to them. Just tell them you¡¯re my friend, and they¡¯ll definitely help you...¡±


    Zhang Tie then told Blues of where the tree house was situated and the names of the other members of the Brotherhood. He even told him the name of Peter who was working in the Iron Melting Workshop.


    He did all this because he liked this guy named Blues and felt that he was a good man. That was karma between people. As for Burwick, no matter how good he was described or how well he did, Zhang Tie just could not feel comfortable around him, instead being unable to wait to stomp on his head ferociously.


    In contrast, Zhang Tie felt that Blues was similar to the other members of the Brotherhood and those guys in the Iron Melting Workshop like Peter who were easy to get along with even if they had only met for a short time. At least he was not afraid of being set up by him.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie concluded that most people admired by others were not good. Look at Burwick for an example, he was sunny, handsome, open-minded, generous, and had leadership in others¡¯ eyes. However, in truth, he was just a person who only wanted to climb upwards by playing tricks and stepping on others¡¯ heads. In fact, he usually thought about making profit of sacrificing others.


    On the other hand, Blues was known as a guy who was arrogant and an indifferent loner. However, he was actually just a social recluse who had few friends and was a bit introverted. He didn¡¯t shut himself off at home but in the wild. Zhang Tie guessed that this guy must have used that to practice his archery to this level.


    As for Zhang Tie himself, how was he known in the Wild Wolf Castle? Love Saint or Accosting Expert? Or a scumbag and beast in Miss Qili¡¯s eyes. But God blessed him. When the other students attending this survival training had bid farewell to their status as virgins one by one, Zhang Tie himself was still one. He had not even circumcised. If he was called beast and scumbag, Grandma Teresa would be the first person to disagree. So would the brats in the Orphanage.


    Maybe the only one who was similar to how he was described in gossip was Glaze.


    Therefore, when he hid in this mountain cave, Zhang Tie came to a conclusion that could influence the rest of his life - before you testify it by yourself, you should not easily trust in others¡¯ gossip about someone. Some gossip might be true, however, some others might be completely opposite.


    A man kind-hearted in people¡¯s eyes might be an extremely vicious villain in reality, a god¡¯s pious servant in gossip might be extremely lecherous in reality, an arrogant man might merely be introverted, while a bad guy who was known to indulge in making love to many women might be a coy virgin and an able youth who sent rice soup to an orphanage by tricycle each week.


    If so, then what if well-known terrifying old virgins like Miss Qili were thirsty women who deep in their inner hearts extremely desired for a man¡¯s love, concern, the battle and conquest? What if they truly hated men, being afraid of them and awed at the same time? What if they were truly jealous about boys being kind and intimate to girls?


    Or they might only be a group of poor women who didn¡¯t know how to seduce men or express their desires. Being icy might be their disguise to test out their man¡¯s dedication and give vent to their inner dissatisfaction? What if someone praised them as beautiful and enchanting women or bravely gave them a Pandora-type hot kiss when seeing them next time?


    Zhang Tie was suddenly startled by that thought...


    But to tell the truth, Miss Qili did really have a pair of long and sexy legs!


    It didn¡¯t stop raining until late night. Because it was already so late when the rain stopped, Zhang Tie gave up on his plan to find the two beasts during the night. Instead, he patiently waited for daybreak.


    On the second morning, after putting on the dried clothes and his package, Zhang Tie asked Blues to lead him to the place where he had seen the two beasts.


    It was time to end the resentment between him and those beasts...

 125 End of the Resentmen

    Chapter 125: End of the Resentment


    Translator:Editor:


    ¡°You really don¡¯t need my help?¡± Blues seriously asked Zhang Tie after they arrived at the target place. Only after one day and eating Zhang Tie¡¯s dried meat slices two times, Blues had already started treating Zhang Tie as his friend.


    ¡°This is the resentment between the two beasts and I, so I have to kill them by myself!¡± Zhang Tie revealed a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they were just two fish escaping from the net!¡±


    Seeing that only six lances were left in the container, Blues nodded aware that Zhang Tie had already killed five wild wolves before. He didn¡¯t say anything more. After all, people who dared to try the loner¡¯s survival training should never be afraid of two common wild wolves even if they could not stand such a living environment for a long time.


    Even if a LV 1 warrior would never be afraid of two wild wolves. After chatting with Zhang Tie yesterday, Blues had learned that he had already been a LV 1 warrior when he was in Wild Wolf Castle. Judging from his real strength, Blues felt that Zhang Tie was much more powerful than a LV 1 warrior. Therefore, he didn¡¯t ask too much. Neither did Zhang Tie explain anything. After all, people all had their own secrets. Even if they were friends, they didn¡¯t have to pour out everything.


    ¡°Watch out for yourself!¡±


    ¡°Fine, we¡¯ill separate here, hope to see you again!¡± Zhang Tie smiled at him.


    ¡°Will you go to the Crescent Prairie after dealing with your things here?¡±


    ¡°Maybe!¡±


    ¡°I met four students from your school in the area between Wild Wolf Valley and Crescent Prairie. One tall guy among them was very sharp. If you want to compete for that recommendation chance with him, you need to do something!¡± Blues warned Zhang Tie out of kindness after a moment¡¯s consideration.


    In Blues¡¯ school, as he was already a LV 2 warrior who excelled in archery, Blues was the most powerful and well-known person who nobody could match. Naturally, any recommendation chance would fall to him.


    However, the situation in Zhang Tie¡¯s school was much more sophisticated. In Blues¡¯ eyes, that guy he had met in the area between the Crescent Prairie and the Wild Wolf Valley might be more powerful than him, which meant that that guy would be a most terrifying opponent for Zhang Tie.


    Hearing Blues¡¯ words, Zhang Tie¡¯s heart pounded. He was almost certain that it was Glaze¡¯s group. He had never expected them, who had disappeared about one month ago, to be brave enough to try the Crescent Prairie.


    He asked some more information about their group, and earing Blues¡¯ description, Zhang Tie was really shocked since he said that he had seen them fight a LV 3 sword-teeth lizard and even win.


    Did it mean that Glaze had improved a lot in the past month? This was not good news to Zhang Tie. Thinking of Glaze¡¯s vicious eyes, his heart sped up its beating.


    ¡°The sharp guy you had seen is Glaze. There¡¯s a resentment between him and me. The three lackeys of his are Zuhair, Garner, and Sharlon. If you meet them again, be careful. They¡¯re both selfish and vicious!¡±


    ¡°Fine, I will!¡±


    After several more words, the two departed their own ways. Blues walked towards Wild Wolf Castle while Zhang Tie went to find the two beasts.


    The place where Blues had led him to was less than 2 km away from the mountain cave where they had hidden in last night. It was a hillside covered with pine trees and cypresses in Wild Wolf Valley. Zhang Tie had already noticed this place yesterday from afar, yet he had never imagined that the two wolves could be here. The hillside was less than 13 km away from Wild Wolf Castle, a bit closer to the mountain cave than where Zhang Tie had taken shelter from rain. That day, Blues had seen the two wolves move behind the hillside and disappear. So he guessed that the two beasts lived there.


    Holding a lance, Zhang Tie started to search over the hillside.


    Because of yesterday¡¯s heavy rain, the land near the hillside was muddy. Everything looked refreshed. Plants became more verdant, and the air became unprecedentedly fresh.


    When Zhang Tie arrived here in the early morning, the rain drops on the weeds were yet to dry. Using the lance, he swept the weeds to clear a path while glancing over the wolf-den like mountain caves and soil caves in the woods and the hillsides. Less than 10 minutes later, Zhang Tie¡¯s trousers had almost been fully soaked by the raindrops on the weeds and other vegetation.


    He felt that the two wolves were right here, and he could definitely find them today. Besides, from the two wolves¡¯ eyes, he also believed that the two beasts were looking for him.


    It wasn¡¯t a big hillside. After less than 20 minutes, Zhang Tie suddenly smelt a faint odor of rotten meat which was completely different from the surrounding fresh air of the woods. The smell disgusted him. Driven by curiosity, he moved to where the smell was coming from. More than ten steps later, he found the origin of the smell of rotten meat - a hidden mountain cave behind several cypresses 30 m away from him.


    It was unknown whether because of the loud noise of his footsteps or some other reason, the moment Zhang Tie saw that mountain cave, a wolf with a circle of brownish red fur and a defected ear walked out of the mountain cave. Being alert, it glanced in the direction where Zhang Tie stood. Soon after, their eyes met and turned red with resentment.


    Making a terrifying sound in its throat, the wolf crouched down and exposed its sharp canines. When that wolf released a terrifying growl, its companion rapidly ran out of the mountain cave. They both became alert. After glancing over the surroundings, they confirmed that nobody else but Zhang Tie was here. In a split second, they fixed their glares on him, eyes turning red.


    ¡®F*ck¡¯, Zhang Tie swore inwardly.


    He was still confused as to why they glared at him so. He could never think make it out when had he angered them. A doubt was born in his mind that the wolves here were mad. Were there mad ones even among wild wolves? Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know if it was true, but he knew that the two wild wolves had to die today.


    ¡°This father is the victim, don¡¯t you know...¡± Zhang Tie angrily shouted out at the top of his lungs. Before the two wolves could charge at him, he had already surged forward, towards them.


    The great disparity between Zhang Tie, a LV 2 warrior, and the two wild wolves, which had not even reached LV 1, determined that the battle of life or death would come to an end in an extremely short moment no matter how big the resentment between them was.


    Seeing Zhang Tie surge towards them, the two wolves also rushed forward. However, that moment, Zhang Tie threw his lance. As a result, as fast as a lightning bolt, it directly penetrated through the heart of the second wild wolf and nailed it to the ground, the arrowhead burying itself one foot into the ground.


    The front wolf, which had a defected ear, didn¡¯t stop due to its partner¡¯s death. It didn¡¯t escape either, instead, it sped up towards Zhang Tie without any hesitation. Jumping up from the ground, it stretched its claws towards his chest while its sharp canines aiming to bit his neck. That wolf was trying his utmost to do harm to Zhang Tie.


    Nevertheless, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t even dodge. He just stretched out his hands and caught the wolf¡¯s claws. With a sound of ¡®Ka Cha¡¯, the pair of forelimbs of the wolf were broken, causing it to whimper in pain. Closely after that came another sound of ¡®Ka Cha¡¯, which instantly stopped the transient yet painful whimper. This was because after breaking its claws, Zhang Tie pushed its jaw upwards, breaking the neck.


    He completed that series of movements fast and without any mistakes. If Captain Kerlin had seen this, he would have raised his thumb to praise him.


    Zhang Tie was successful this time because he had fought against the three wild wolves numerous times in the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit during the past days. Countless deaths and constant pain had made his skills of fighting wild wolves to be practical and ferocious.


    He loosened his grip, and the last dead wolf fell onto the ground with a sound of ¡®Pa Ta¡¯.


    The whole process took less than four seconds.


    After the last wolf was killed, Zhang Tie felt that the stone suspended in his heart was finally removed. He became fully relaxed and would never have to worry about the two beasts finding trouble with people beside him anymore.


    After doing this, Zhang Tie intended to leave. However, the stimulative smell from inside the mountain cave triggered his curiosity again, making him confused as to why the two wolves would live in here.


    After thinking for awhile, Zhang Tie covered his mouth using his sleeve and pulled the lance that had nailed the other wild wolf out of the ground. With lance in hand, he bravely entered the mountain cave, aiming to check out what had happened inside.


    It was full of dead wolves, big and small. The corpses had already rotten, and were covered with worms. After a quick glance, Zhang Tie judged that they were killed by people. One puppy¡¯s head was even stomped on. After checking the place where the puppy was killed, Zhang Tie found a clear footstep which was half an inch in the ground. It was a huge. He compared it to his own and found that the footprint was at least three sizes larger than his.


    The inside of the cave was very disgusting, so after glancing over it as fast as possible, Zhang Tie intended to exit. However, before he exited, his eyes became solemn. He bent over to pick up a rag. Holding it, he immediately walked out of the cave.


    After he was far enough away from the disgusting wolf den, Zhang Tie took several deep breaths. However, when his eyes fell onto that rag, his face gradually turned solemn...

 126 Scheme Exposed

    Chapter 126: Scheme Exposed


    Translator:Editor:


    This was not a rag, but a palm-sized part of a towel which was torn off by a person on purpose. What was weird was that when holding that extremely dirty rag, Zhang Tie felt a sense of familiarity. How could he be familiar with a rag found in a wolf den?


    Something flashed across his mind. Zhang Tie became slightly stunned as he remembered that he had lost an old towel he¡¯d used to clean sweat in the locker room at school. He hurriedly turned the rag over. The decorative patterns with loose lines on the back of the rag soon aligned with the decorative patterns of that towel in his memory.


    A mountain cave full of dead wolves; a wolf family killed by people; his own towel rag found in the mountain cave; a towel that he had lost at school; Sharlon¡¯s sneer; Glaze¡¯s huge feet; the wolves¡¯ hatred towards him...


    All of a sudden, Zhang Tie knew everything, he knew how Glaze¡¯s group had taken their revenge on him. They had stolen his towel in school, then found this wolf den in Wild Wolf Valley and killed all the female wolves and puppies before leaving this rag full of his odor. And since wolves had sensitive smell, they could find him based on the odor of the rag and the road marks set by Glaze¡¯s group using the rest of his towel.


    No wonder he always felt like he was being followed those days. It was because Glaze had arranged someone to spy on his movements. That wild wolves¡¯ attack on him was not an accident at all, but a scheme, a deliberate murder using wild wolves. If it was another person, such as a common warrior who had not improved to LV 1 or even just a normal LV 1 warrior, he would definitely have lost his life when facing an attack from seven wolves at the same time.


    Zerom¡¯s warning had been right. That attack was truly a scheme against Zhang Tie. These wild wolves had first found him based on the odor on the rags of his towel and chased into the deep hole. Then, they had mistaken him for a dead man and left the hole.


    However, when Pandora and the other two girls were washing his clothes over the stream, the remaining four wolves, who were drinking water in the stream, smelt his odor. Otherwise, it was because of other reasons, that they had found his odor and laid an ambush near the tree house, almost hurting the three girls.


    After thinking it through, Zhang Tie gradually recovered his composure. He had never imagined that his refusal to be insulted by Glaze¡¯s group, which brought them some bitterness, could lead to such a scheme against him. They were driven so crazy that they had almost succeeded.


    They were truly beasts. He had mistaken them for people before. Now Zhang Tie immediately realized his mistake. As Donder had said, he should have never imagined his enemy being as kind as he was.


    Zhang Tie threw away that rag and left. He knew that this rag would never work if brought to the Temporary Supervision Committee. First, he could not prove that this rag was a part of his lost towel. Neither could he prove that this rag was picked up in this wolf den, or that it was planted by Glaze¡¯s group.


    Additionally, he could not prove that the wolves were killed by Glaze¡¯s group. There were too many things that could not be proved. It would look just like a man holding a rag of his lost old towel going to the Temporary Supervision Committee to charge someone with wanting to kill him. This accusation looked really stupid. Zhang Tie naturally didn¡¯t want to be called an idiot. Evidence was needed in court. If he wanted to seek revenge, he needed to provide evidence.


    After leaving that hillside, Zhang Tie cast his eyes far off the Wild Wolf Valley. It was the cross area between the valley and the Crescent Prairie. According to Blues, Glaze¡¯s group was right over there.


    ¡°Glaze, you just wait for for me!¡± Zhang Tie mumbled. After that, he glanced at that hillside where he had revealed the scheme before walking towards the Crescent Prairie.


    According to Blues, for a loner who was not powerful, the most important thing was to become familiar with the terrain and find a safe base where he could have a rest. As a loner who had the Castle of Black Iron and Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree, Zhang Tie concluded that his base should be hidden, besides being able to let him have a safe rest! It should make it convenient for him to access Castle of Black Iron who¡¯s secret should never be exposed to the public.


    Because of Glaze, Zhang Tie became more set on improving his own strength. Now, he really wanted to find a place where he could eat the second Iron-Body Fruit. Additionally, after digging in the mine for so many days, he had restored a lot of basic energy. He thought that it was time to make slight adjustments and renovate the space and terrain in Castle of Black Iron, which would provide greater assistance to the forthcoming loner¡¯s survival training.


    What greater assistance? What did you need most in the wild? Of course it was water! Clean water! If he could have a clean water source in Castle of Black Iron, he would be able to greatly enhance his survivability in the wild. As a result, he would be able to do many things more conveniently.


    As the entire Wild Wolf Valley looked like a trumpet, the farther it was from the the Wild Wolf Castle, the bigger and broader the valley would be. Walking towards the Crescent Prairie, Zhang Tie felt the surroundings grow gradually more and more spacious. When he passed by that mountain cave where he had hid from the rain, Zhang Tie felt like he was in a small basin.


    According to Blues¡¯ suggestion, he explored the valley in an ¡®s¡¯-shaped route. Although this would consume more time, on the premise that he had enough time, it would help him to get familiar with the terrain as fast as possible and find all the available resources or any proper bases.


    Once he found a proper base, he then could slowly explore the area within a 5 km radius around the base. As a loner, he should be familiar with the terrain like it was his own backyard.


    The strength of being able to easily kill a LV 2 beast and familiarity with the terrain enabled a loner to move in Wild Wolf Castle as free as wind.


    It was truly worth it to explore the Wild Wolf Valley using an ¡®s¡¯-shaped route. At noon, biting a ripe and yummy wild apple with three more in hand, Zhang Tie had already arrived in front of a mountain cave...

 127 Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Frui

    Chapter 127: Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit


    Translator:Editor:


    In Wild Wolf Valley, you could see mountain caves left everywhere by gold-eating boas which had occupied the valley before, just like the one in front of Zhang Tie.


    This cave was at the top of a hill in the middle of Wild Wolf Valley, the entrance of which was almost 3 m in width. In its surroundings, there were some huge grooves that looked to have been ploughed through. Given the terrain, the hill seemed to have been destructed by external forces. He could see obvious marks left by human beings.


    However, the most important part was that Zhang Tie found some tunnels in the cave left by gold-eating boas. Since the cave was almost horizontal to the ground like how a mouse drills its den, he could easily walk inside with the sun¡¯s light. The weather had turned for the better today, so sunlight could reach dozens of meters inside the cave. Under it, Zhang Tie immediately saw two tunnels inside.


    With the help of the sunlight, he didn¡¯t hesitate any longer. He swallowed the apple in his hand and put away the other apples into his pockets. After that, he pulled out a long sword and entered the cave.


    Many people would be afraid of grain circles on the walls in the cave when they entered gold-eating boa¡¯s cave. However, Zhang Tie felt nothing since he was familiar with the situation in the cave and had already accepted it inwardly. As for the mountain caves drilled by gold-eating boas, he had already become immune to them since the time he dug in the mines.


    At that time, all the miners had realized that no beasts seemed to like staying in gold-eating boas¡¯ caves. Let alone beasts, even insects could not be seen inside those caves. In the evening, although Wild Wolf Valley was filled with swarms of insects and mosquitoes, not one dared to enter a cave made by gold-eating boas.


    Even the bats in the place where he¡¯d dug mines dared only to hang themselves outside the cave marked by grain circles. They never dared to fly inside. The circles of grains on the walls inside gold-eating-boas¡¯ caves posed both a magical and natural threat to any spiritual animals. So none dared to enter, except for human beings.


    There were some withered twigs and fallen leaves, some stones and puddles on the ground near the entrance. After passing 5-6 meters, the entire cave became clean. About 20 m away from the entrance, Zhang Tie arrived at the tunnels which he had seen before.


    It was somewhat different from what he had seen outside, instead of two tunnels, there were three. One faced underground, one left, while the last one was hidden and could be easily missed since it faced upward. That pit really made Zhang Tie excited since it was so hidden that he had not even seen it from outside.


    The entrance of this pit was obviously blocked by collapsed stones and soil. It was all piled up so high that it was even slightly higher than Zhang Tie. Of course, he could easily climb onto the stones.


    When he reached the top, he found the pit was less than 10 m deep. The pit contained a medium-sized space and was pretty dry. The sunlight could not reach here at daytime. Of course, it would be even more difficult to be found in the evening.


    ¡®That¡¯s it. I¡¯m really lucky today. It only took me several hours to find such a pleasant base,¡¯ Zhang Tie mumbled.


    ¡°I¡¯ve decided to make it my No.1 base!¡± he loudly declared before laughing out loudly.


    After laughing, he couldn¡¯t wait to put down his luggage and sleeping bag onto the ground. He then threw the apples from his pockets onto the luggage and jumped out of the pit. Afterwards, he rushed to the entrance of the cave and silently looked around. After ensuring that nobody was outside, he became reassured.


    When he returned to the upward pit, it took him several seconds to enter Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    The scene in front of him changed quickly. Seeing the rolling colorful cloud in the Castle of Black Iron, he revealed a smile of one coming back home. In the Castle of Black Iron, he fully relaxed.


    He then walked towards that small tree.


    The diamond Iron-Body Fruit, which was slightly bigger than a walnut, was hanging on that familiar twig. The last time he had entered, this Iron-Body Fruit had already been ripe. This time, there were two days left before the latest Leakless Fruit would became ripe. The to-be-ripe Leakless Fruit already looked full as a wisp of luster could be already seen on it.


    Seeing this, Zhang Tie became excited. ¡®It¡¯s really great to eat fruits everyday. Mom is really intelligent to call me Guoguo. Hahahaha¡­¡¯


    Zhang Tie then continued to circle around the small tree. He was used to doing that. He didn¡¯t know whether it was just an illusion or not, but he felt that this small tree had grown up a bit during the past month. It looked more lush and higher than before.


    According to his experiences, it was necessary to circle around the small tree each time he entered because the small tree could bring you a huge surprise at any time.


    On the other side of the small tree, he saw two more fruits - one was a Trouble-Reappearance Fruit which impressed Zhang Tie a lot. It was pitch dark all over, in the shape of a hexagon, and as large as a plum


    --Trouble-Reappearance Fruit has become ripe. Usage: Pick and direct eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    Reading the familiar words, Zhang Tie knew that the fruit was ripe. Scratching his head, he became puzzled.


    ¡®Does it mean that killing wolves can lead to new killing fruits?¡¯


    Although this new ripe Trouble-Reappearance Fruit pleased him, what surprised him to the point of leaving him with his mouth wide open was another fruit. It was a sitting white wolf which was as high a finger. It looked as delicate as a miniature wax statue carved by a sculpting master. On its head there were two eccentric leaves of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree. It was cute, like a kid¡¯s toy.


    --Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit, the Strength of Qi has been formed, six more strengths need to be formed; not ripe yet.


    --Strength of Qi, Strength of Blood, Strength of Vein, Strength of Channel, Strength of Bone, Strength of Marrow, and Strength of God. These are the seven strengths of living beings. For each 50 changes, 49 of them can be available while the remaining one belongs to people. Seven-Strength Fruit is a spare fruit¡ªone can spare one force from seven Seven-Strength Fruits. After eating 49 Seven-Strength Fruits, one can gain seven strengths. As for one Seven-Strength Fruit, it cannot become ripe without gathering seven strengths, the spare strength also included in the fruit. Each ripe Seven-Strength Fruit will contain all the strengths of an individual in its heyday. After eating it, one can gain all that strength. These strengths are awarded to brave men and are beneficial in becoming more powerful.


    The latter sentences were a bit difficult to understand. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t get them until reading it for the second time. After that, he felt hot blood rushing to his head.


    ¡®I¡¯m rich, I¡¯m really rich this time! I¡¯ve killed seven wild wolves and gathered the Strength of Qi of the Seven-Strength Fruit. According to this paragraph, as long as I can kill seven more wild wolves, I can then gather their strength of Blood for Seven-Strength Fruit. If I can kill 49 or 50 wild wolves, I¡¯ll make this Wild Wolf Seven-Strength ripe.


    ¡®Then the Seventh-Strength Fruit will contain the full strength of an adult wild wolf. Undoubtedly, after eating this fruit, I¡¯ll obtain the strength of an adult wild wolf.¡¯


    Thinking of the strong endurance, dashing speed, and the sensitiveness of wild wolves, Zhang Tie started to drool. Although Leakless Fruit had been a great surprise to him, he had never imagined that one day he could obtain a wholly new fruit from that small tree which could greatly improve his strength. This was really exciting.


    ¡°Zi¡­ Zi...¡±


    Being so excited, Zhang Tie started to kiss the trunk of the small tree. Then he burst out laughing. As long as he could obtain a wolf¡¯s full strength, he felt that he could completely eliminate the natural-born disparity between Chinese clan and other human races, like Bagdad¡¯s or Glaze¡¯s who had greater physical strength.


    After the disparity was eliminated, he would never be defeated by them on the premise that they were of the same level. Additionally, they could never match him on igniting burning points. Seeing the Leakless Fruit that was going to be ripe on the other side of small tree, Zhang Tie revealed a smile...


    At this moment, he felt great!


    Smirking, he picked off the ripe Iron-Body Fruit and Trouble-Reappearance Fruit. Holding the two fruits of different shapes and colors, he curiously touched and sniffed them. With satisfaction on his face, he crossed his legs and sat under the small tree, starting to eat.


    Based on his experiences, Zhang Tie ate Iron-Body Fruit first. The silver fruit tasted crispy and fragrant. After eating it like a peach, he waited for awhile and found no response at all. Therefore, he estimated that it would be the same as like last time.


    He then directly engulfed the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit in his hand. It was as fresh as last one. After eating it, a similar energy directly rushed to his brain and converged with that spiritual swirl in his mind. Seeing darkness before his eyes, he immediately came to a pitch black place. However, compared to the first time, this situation was different...

 128 First Space and Terrain Creation

    Chapter 128: First Space and Terrain Creation


    Translator:Editor:


    It was the same dark space before Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes. However, after a while, two light spots instead of one gradually enlarged and rapidly became two illuminating hexagon doors similar to the shape of Trouble-Reappearance Fruit. The two doors arrived and stopped in front of Zhang Tie like a train. Seven wolves¡¯ shadows casually accessed the two hexagon-shaped doors.


    Such a scene hadn¡¯t happened when he had eaten the first Trouble-Reappearance Fruit.


    --Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, you have killed seven wolves in three scenes, leading to two wild wolf Trouble Reappearance Fruits, which can be joined. After combining them, you would face seven wild wolves at the same time each time you activate it. Would you like them to be joined?


    Zhang Tie carefully checked the two illuminated hexagon doors, which were like two windows through which he could view the world inside. Through the door on the left, he saw the same grassland where he had encountered the attack from the seven wolves, while through the door on the right, he saw two scenes: one of the bamboo woods near the tree house where he had killed two wolves, and the other on the hillside today.


    For Zhang Tie, two-three wolves could no longer pose any challenge. He could hardly improve himself by fighting only two. But seven might be a bit more interesting.


    ¡°Join!¡±


    Zhang Tie made his decision without any extra considerations.


    Soon after he sent the command, the two illuminated hexagon doors joined. Through the now single door, he could see three backgrounds¡ªgrassland, bamboo woods, and the hillside!


    --Please trigger the scene you want!


    In the past days, Zhang Tie had fought the three wild wolves on the grassland for almost one hundred times. Therefore, he was bored of it. Besides, he had become familiar with the terrain near the tree house and no longer found it stimulating. Seeing the hillside which had a slightly more sophisticated terrain, he felt it would be more difficult to fight the wild wolves in.


    There was no need to point at the hillside scenery in the illuminated door.


    After that, the other two scenes slowly disappeared while the hillside scene slowly enlarged and finally occupied the entire door.


    ¡ªTrouble-Reappearance Joining Completed!


    Afterwards, the illuminated door enlarged, encompassing Zhang Tie, too. In a split of a second, he returned on that hillside where he had been in the morning. Everything in his surroundings, even the tree leaves on the hillside and the water drops hanging on the grass, were unchanged. Neither did his lance container and luggage change even a bit. He smelt the same disgusting odor as before.


    Motherf*cker, that¡¯s too smelly!


    While Zhang Tie was complaining about the disgusting smell, seven wolves came out of the cave. With eyes full of hatred fixed on him, these wolves reminded Zhang Tie of the first time when he had encountered them on the grassland. The same moment, the seven wolves begun their attack.


    Zhang Tie immediately threw one lance and killed the wolf rushing first. When he killed the second wolf using the same method, the other five wolves had already closed in on him, taking away his ability to use his lances to eliminate the other wild wolves.


    Swearing inwardly, Zhang Tie punched in their direction. When he was practicing it in the first Trouble-Reappearance Fruit, Zhe had already found out that the more difficult and easily interrupted patterns he used to fight the wild wolves, the faster he would improve his strength and fighting skills, as well as strengthening his weaknesses. If he could punch a wolf to death, he would found it even easier to kill it using a dagger or any other weapon.


    What was the most difficult way for Zhang Tie to kill these wild wolves? It wasn¡¯t only by using his naked fists, but also the Iron-Blood Fist Skill that he wasn¡¯t familiar enough with to fight against these wild wolves. For a low level warrior, a set of fist techniques that he had not fully mastered wouldn¡¯t even match up counterattacking by instinct. However, Zhang Tie still insisted on using Iron-Blood Fist Skill to fight the wild wolves, as he thought that the best method to cultivate a fighting skill was by using in the fights for one¡¯s own life. Thankfully, the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit would be the best battlefield! This was a God-given chance.


    Real battle was truly the best method for a person to grow up. When the remaining five wild wolves charged at him, after Zhang Tie had killed one and wounded another with his kicks, a piece of his flesh was bitten off. That sharp pain immediately caused Zhang Tie to ooze sweat. Soon after that, the rhythm of Iron-Blood Fist Skill was disturbed.


    Not until now had Zhang Tie realized how terrifying a pack of wolves was. When they moved in a pack, their fighting strength would never be as simple as an addition of each wolf¡¯s strength. Although he was facing five wolves¡¯ attacks, Zhang Tie felt like it was twice as difficult for him to deal with them than with the three wolves before. This was because a wolf pack attacked so fast that he might suffer an attack at any second. Under the guidance of the head wolf, the rest could even adjust their attacking frequency through mutual coordination, causing them to be harder to deal with.


    By the time Zhang Tie had killed another wolf, he had suffered two more wounds.


    Finally, due to the slippery and muddy land after rain, Zhang Tie lost his balance out of carelessness and fell down. He then rolled down the hillside, closely chased by four wolves. They quickly caught up with him.


    Lying on the ground, Zhang Tie used a wrestling hand¡ªa fighting skill of Iron-Blood Fist Skill¡ªto break a wolf¡¯s neck. At the same time while he struggled to hold back a wolf¡¯s attack, his throat was torn open. Besides a sharp pain, he felt a sense of fresh blood pouring into his windpipe once again. He could see nothing then.


    After the entire Trouble-Reappearance Scene broke apart and disappeared, Zhang Tie returned to the place under the small tree...


    Thinking back to his struggle under the wild wolf¡¯s bite, Zhang Tie, who had already opened his eyes, was still afraid. Not until that moment had he truly realize just how lucky he was to escape from his first fight with the seven wolves.


    Recalling the fight that had just happened, Zhang Tie found his weaknesses. Previously, he thought that his throwing skills were already great so he could, at least, survive the entire Wild Wolf Valley with them. However, because of the fight just now, he understood that there was still a great space for improvement for his throwing skills.


    Just now, he had only thrown out two lances before being killed by the rest of the wild wolves. However, if he could throw two more lances before the rest of the wild wolves drew close to him, the outcome would be totally different.


    Although he had numerous chances to try out the same scene in the Trouble-Reappearance Scene, if he was surrounded by more than ten wild wolves in reality,, he would definitely lose his life.


    Although he could throw a lance with great precision, his throwing speed could still be improved. Even more important was to learn to pull out lances from his lance container at the fastest speed possible. Additionally, he might also try throwing lances using both hands at the same time¡­


    Besides, he should pay more attention to the surrounding terrain and environment where he was fighting against the wild wolves. He should adapt to any kind of environment. On a hillside after rain, the slippery surface could indirectly cause him to lose his life. If that truly happened and he lost his life, which of the two would he complain about: the God who had poured out rain, or the muddy and slippery land?


    After such a serious evaluation, Zhang Tie let out a heavy sigh. Picking himself up from the ground, he walked a lap to observe the terrain of the Castle of Black Iron. After forming a general impression of it in his mind, Zhang Tie opened the Ground Layer button under the ¡®Space and Terrain Creation¡¯ function to start one thing that he had planned for a long time.


    Soon after he pressed that button, a three-dimensional image of Castle of Black Iron appeared before his eyes. Everything in this space was displayed there, including each stalk of grass and tree.


    Having experience with it, Zhang Tie wasn¡¯t too surprised. Holding it in hand, he carefully enlarged and reduced the three-dimensional image. Putting the image before him, he fixed his attention and cast the water source in his mind onto that three-dimensional image.


    Zhang Tie imagined a two meter high rockery while a clear spring flew down it, forming a two meter waterfall. The spring fell into a pond on the ground. Benefitting from his previous experience, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t make the pond too large in case of insufficient energy. The entire pond was only as large as a small bath pool.


    Everything was the same as the last time when he had used this function. The three-dimensional map was a dim shadow, which he could roughly recognize.


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord. The details of the terrain that you have imagined are lower than 5%. Do you agree with using optional natural creation law to construct the rest of your image? After the system completes the construction using natural creation law, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord will be able to adjust it!


    ¡ª¡ªAgree/Disagree


    Zhang Tie chose Agree.


    Soon after he made his choice, the dim shadow on the three-dimensional map gradually became clearer which was really more natural and vivid than the image in his mind. Even the pebbles and fine sand were created in the pond. Besides, there was a circle of white stone stages along the pond.


    In addition, the terrain surrounding the clear spring also looked nature-born as it had been unexpectedly undulated and changed. Everything looked harmonious like natural. It was several hundred times more real-life like than Zhang Tie¡¯s own clumsy image. Compared to this masterpiece, his image could only be called a scrawl of an infant.


    After the terrain adjustment, the entire Castle of Black Iron became more vital.


    Zhang Tie inspected this adjusted terrain several times but found no defects. Everything was better than he had imagined. After he confirmed the terrain adjustment plan, a new dialogue box popped out.


    ¡ª¡ªA spring is going to form in the new terrain, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, please choose the level of the live spring.


    ¡®What? I can choose the level of the spring?¡¯


    Zhang Tie was stunned once again. Then, another page appeared before him.


    --Natural Mountain Spring


    --Spring of Aura


    --Spring of Recovery


    --Spring of Life


    Besides the ¡®Natural Mountain Spring¡¯, which was available, the other three options were all gray and not available. Even though it was like that, Zhang Tie was still amazed. After recovering his composure, he pointed at ¡®Natural Mountain Spring¡¯ before another new sub-branch appeared.


    ¡ª¡ªCommon Mountain Spring: clear and abundant with some mineral materials and micro elements!


    ¡ª¡ªQuality Mountain Spring: clear and abundant with many kinds of mineral materials and microelements; active to a certain degree!


    ¡ª¡ªHigh Quality Mountain Spring: clear and sweet, abundant with a great number of mineral materials and micro elements; considerably active!


    --Top Quality Mountain Spring: clear and sweet, abundant with all kinds of mineral materials and microelements; quite active and contains some aura.


    The option ¡®Top Quality Mountain Spring¡¯ was gray which warned Zhang Tie that he lacked values of the basic items. However, even so, he was already very satisfied.


    After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Tie chose the option ¡®High Quality Mountain Spring¡¯.


    ¡ª¡ªThis terrain creation requires the following resources:


    Basic energy storage¡ª3517; Aura value¡ª4129; Merit value¡ª1272


    ¡ª¡ªCreate or not?


    ¡ª¡ªYes/No


    Zhang Tie had never imagined that such a small live spring would cost him so many value points, especially the merit ones. He remembered that last time it would only have taken him a bit over 900 merit value points to create a big water pool. Could live water consume more?


    ¡°Just do it, if there¡¯s a lack of merit value points, I will make them...¡± Zhang Tie said loudly and clicked ¡®Yes¡¯ without any hesitation.


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, after you leave the Castle of Black Iron, the system will start this terrain creation. This will take 18 seconds, during which you won¡¯t be able to enter the Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡®What? It will only take 18 seconds to complete all this? That will be solved within several winks! I was afraid it would take much longer before I could enter the Castle of Black Iron again.¡¯


    Seeing the rolling colorful clouds above, Zhang Tie revealed his awe of this mysterious space once again. Was creation here as easy as how the God had created the world by only moving a hand? What great force did it have to be able to perform such a miracle? Is it truly the God¡¯s force...¡¯


    Zhang Tie could not answer this question for the time being.


    He decided to try whether it was true. After fixing his attention, he locked on that great arch door before leaving the Castle of Black Iron and reappearing in the mountain cave. However, he didn¡¯t waste time, only taking in two deep breaths. After counting inwardly to 18 seconds, he hurriedly locked that strange arch door in his mind and re-entered the Castle of Black Iron. Such a short period of time was akin to a person pulling open the door and leaving, only to come back as if having forgotten something.


    The terrain creation was already completed in the Castle of Black Iron.


    Reappearing inside, Zhang Tie was astonished upon noticing the pond full of water from the spring 20 m away from it. He then walked over there like an idiot, stretching out his hands and touching here and there, even scooping two pebbles from one side of the pond. After bumping the two pebbles, he heard the crispy sounds of ¡®Guang¡­ guang...¡¯.


    The spring was as crystal clear as a mirror, so Zhang Tie could almost see his own shadow on the water. After washing his face in there, he stretched out his neck and widely opened his mouth to drink from the spring flying down the rockery.


    After that he smirked, holding the two pebbles, and locked the arch door in his mind again, returning to the mountain cave. When he came back, he found the two pebbles were still in his hands. He then bumped them again, causing a sound of ¡°Guang¡­ guang...¡±.


    Then he touched his face and collar that were still wet and recalled that sweet and tender spring in the Castle of Black Iron. After doing all this, he confirmed that everything in the Castle of Black Iron was real¡­


    Well, he finally admitted that he, who had poor knowledge, could barely understand how could something like this happen! He then had no other choice but to accept the fact that it did.


    Right then, Zhang Tie¡¯s abdomen made a sound of ¡®Gulu gulu¡¯, indicating that the second Iron-Body Fruit was about to start working...

 129 A Life or Death Situation

    Chapter 129: A Life or Death Situation


    Translator:Editor:


    ¡°Habbie, watch out...¡± Bonder shouted out loudly with eyes turning red.


    However, it was too late. A huge black wolf, which was larger and more aggressive than common wild


    Wolves, nimbly escaped from the three youths¡¯ long spears before bringing one to the


    ground. With only one bite, a huge gaping hole was opened in the youth¡¯s neck. But before daggers and spears could descend onto its body, the cunning wolf had already succeeded in its attack and jumped off. After that, it exposed its bloody canines and took a few steps to the side, its eyes fixed on the group of youths whose faces had turned pale.


    Soon, another shrill shriek drifted from another place. At the same time, the abdomen of another youth wearing leather chest armor and holding a long spear was broken by the huge wolf¡¯s sharp claw. Immediately, the young man fell to the ground and screamed painfully. It didn¡¯t take long for his intestines to flow out with him rolling miserably on the ground, which deeply impressed everybody.


    It became bloodier as they watched. But what was worse was the fear filling the youths¡¯ hearts¡ªthe fear of death!


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to die here. I want to go back. I want to go back to the Wild Wolf Castle. I¡¯ll never hunt for golden wolves ever again...¡±


    Facing the constant deaths of his companions, a youth among a team of students attending this survival training collapsed spiritually. With a loud scream, he threw away his long spear, broke out of the defensive circle of the crowd, and dashed towards the Wild Wolf Castle without a thought in his head.


    ¡°Scumbag, come back¡­¡±


    ¡°Pino, you¡¯ll lose your life, come back...¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t run away...¡±


    The escaping youth was followed by the screams of his crying companions. However, the youth seemed not to have heard them. He just wanted to leave this place.


    When he was more than 20 steps away, a huge wolf suddenly turned around and chased after him. Before he could make another 10 steps, the agile wolf had already caught up with him. Then all the other youths saw their companion being hit by that huge wolf.


    After several shrill shrieks from Pino and terrifying sounds from the huge wolf¡¯s canines tearing off his skin and crunching bones, everything returned to tranquility. With a bloody mouth, the huge wolf returned and continued to attack the rest of the youths with the other huge wolves.


    Huge wolves were far more cunning and ferocious than common wild wolves, which was also the disparity between common living beings and LV 1 living beings.


    The two long spear defense circles formed by the youths had already been extremely narrowed. They dared not to casually move as the circles that had been broken by the huge wolves immediately lost two members before filling up the breach once again.


    There was also one more companion still rolling on the ground and screaming miserably, but his voice was becoming weaker and weaker.


    Outside the two defensive circles formed by the youths¡¯ long spears there was fresh blood everywhere. Some of it was from huge wolves, yet most belonged to human beings. One dead huge wolf was lying between the two circles with several bloody holes in its body made by long spears. However, lying beside this dead huge wolf was a youth¡¯s corpse, not far from which was Habbie who had just been killed, the youth who was still rolling on the ground and crying in a gradually weakening voice, and Pino who had lost his breath around 30 steps away.


    One dead huge wolf for almost four humans. The rest of the youths of the two defensive circles were tearing up. Some hands and feet had already started quivering. At this moment, fear and hatred was biting the youths¡¯ hearts like poisonous snakes.


    During the earlier month¡¯s survival training, they had become proud inwardly. After successfully hunting common wild wolves and various other prey in the Wild Wolf Valley, they gradually forgot to be careful. Thus, after several days ago hearing the news that Blackhot City wanted to purchase goose-neck grass and golden wolves at a high price, they became spirited, as they were not satisfied with only hunting common wild wolves.


    They also wanted to have a try, chance it. In their opinion, since they had more than 20 people who could cooperate well with each other using their long spears, even if they encountered a LV 2 golden wolf, they could at least safeguard themselves. If they were lucky enough, they might even be able to catch it live or pick some goose-neck grasses¡­


    However, they didn¡¯t understand the many tragedies in this world born from ¡®if¡¯.


    Full of confidence, the youths set off today. Leaving the Wild Wolf Castle, they marched towards the Crescent Prairie.


    After walking for an entire morning, they were over 20 km away from the Wild Wolf Castle and already could see the Crescent Prairie. However, at this moment, they were abruptly attacked by a pack of huge wolves hiding in bushes beside a hillside.


    When the youths passed by, six huge wolves suddenly appeared, catching them unprepared, which resulted in wounds and casualties at almost the same moment. The youths¡¯ teams were cut off from each other by the huge wolves so that they could only fight for themselves. As expected, after a ferocious fight, the tides of battle started to favor the huge wolves.


    Not until then did the youths recall the simple rules that had been imparted by their teachers at school.


    First, you opponents and enemies will never appear in front of you after you have prepared well. But if they do appear after you¡®ve prepared, they might be greater in number than what you originally imagined. More than that, even if there¡¯s little chance to encounter huge wolves, you might also encounter a pack of them.


    Second, for any living beings, even if there was only one level difference between them, their fighting forces would greatly differentiate from each other. Therefore, after successfully dealing with some LV 0 living beings, never regard fighting the force of one LV 1 living being as simple as the addition of that of three LV 0 individuals; after dealing with some LV 1 living beings, never consider it too easy to deal with any LV 2 living beings. Being different from the simple increase of level, their fighting force would increase geometrically by each higher level.


    Third, as for battle, time is very important so ten seconds might change everything.


    Sometimes, the simpler the rule was, the more miserable price one would pay before fully understanding it. The miserable result of these youths today was the price of fresh blood and lives. Due to the sudden appearance of the huge wolves, they were given even less than ten seconds to gather their long spear matrix.


    If they had had those ten seconds to gather, even if they had encountered six LV 1 huge wolves, they would have never suffer such miserable casualties. The youths thought too much of ¡®ifs¡¯ when there are few of them in reality.


    After prowling around the two circles of youths for a couple of times, the remaining five huge wolves increased their tentative attacks¡ªthey pretended to charge at them outside the killing distance of the long spears. Therefore, not until poking out their long spears did the youths realize that they were doing fake movements.


    The cunning huge wolves constantly circled them while making pretend attacks. Being extremely tense, the youths would always poke out their long spears everytime the huge wolves made fake movements.


    After constantly waving and poking with their long spears to drive away the huge wolves, all the youths felt more and more tired.


    ¡°Try to keep your strength and attacking rhythm, the huge wolves are consuming our strength...¡± Seeing through the scheme of the huge wolves, Bonder shouted loudly.


    However, Bonder¡¯s warning didn¡¯t work anymore. In the other circle, seeing a youth Gradually have grown weaker, a huge wolf suddenly launched a real attack. Before the arrival of the next round of long spears, it had already seized the opportunity¡ªlowering its body, the huge wolf immediately rushed to one side of the circle and bit that youth¡¯s shin. Along with forcing out a miserable cry, it caused that youth to fall to the ground.


    ¡°Abu...¡±


    Seeing this, the other youths became very anxious, thrusting their long spears together towards that huge wolf which was biting their companion¡¯s shin. Threatened, that huge wolf loosened its grip and moved back.


    However, when the other youths had moved their attention onto that huge wolf near the unfortunate youth, a wide loophole was opened in the defense of the entire circle. So another huge wolf seized the chance and suddenly pounced, biting another youth¡¯s leg, causing him to fall to the ground too.


    Scared, the other youths then moved their long spears together towards that huge wolf. As expected, it also rapidly moved back. And so a defense circle composed of seven people immediately lost two, causing a huge opening to appear. At the same time, the other three huge wolves surrounding Bonder¡¯s circle suddenly moved back and charged at the other youths whose defensive circle was destroyed.


    ¡°No!¡± Bonder screamed.


    Seeing the other three huge wolves charging towards them, the five youths in that circle went completely pale. It was over. It was so hard for them to fight against the two huge wolves, let alone three more...


    Five huge wolves attacked seven youths, five of which were standing while the other two were lying. Due to the huge opening in their defensive circle, within seconds, nobody would be standing anymore. After this circle was fully destroyed, the other one would not stand much longer, either. This was the huge wolves¡¯ fighting tactic.


    ¡°We will fight them to death...¡±


    Eyes turning red, Bonder tightly held onto his long spear and rushed towards the five huge wolves, regardless of any matrix or defensive circle. Compared to being miserably killed by these beasts¡¯ sharp claws after being tricked, he preferred to fight his last fight, even at the risk of losing his life faster.


    Everybody had already understood that they had almost no chance to survive and return to the Wild Wolf Castle.


    That youth called Abu, who had been attacked by a huge wolf and then fell down, was trying his best to turn back, picking himself up by kneeling down first. He threw down his long spear, but the moment he wanted to pull out the dagger from his waist, another huge wolf had already moved to his side and opened its bloody mouth, ready to close it around his neck...


    ¡°Abu, watch out...¡±


    Seeing that huge wolf¡¯s intention, Abu¡¯s companions shouted loudly, but the sharp canines of the huge wolf were already so close to the youth¡¯s neck.


    Yet when everybody thought it was no longer possible for Abu to escape this time, a loud swear drifted from afar.


    ¡°Beast...¡±

 130 Being Highly Appreciated

    Chapter 130: Being Highly Appreciated


    Translator:Editor:


    Together with the angry swear was a sharp wind that nobody could clearly see. Soon after that, that huge wolf close to Abu abruptly uttered a miserable scream, its neck pierced through by a throwing lance that got nailed to the ground. After piercing through the huge wolf¡¯s neck, it even entered the ground one foot deep while its handle looked so excited that it kept quivering...


    Not until then did that youth called Abu pull out his dagger. Unexpectedly, he found that the wolf was already nailed beside him.


    Soon after the scream of this huge wolf came to an end, another huge wolf¡¯s miserable howl drifted over. Apparently, at almost the same time, another throwing lance fell onto a huge wolf whose eyes were fixed on the five youths.


    This time, not only Bonder and the rest of the youths, but even the remaining three huge wolves were stunned.


    Everybody clearly saw a black-haired youth dashing towards them from a hillside 40 m away. But the three huge wolves didn¡¯t slow down their speed. After slightly adjusting their aim, they rushed towards that youth.


    ¡°Watch out...¡± Bonder shouted again and chased after the three huge wolves along with the rest of the youths. In their eyes, that youth coming out from behind the hillside was in danger.


    Yet everything seemed to happen in a split second. The youths chasing after the three huge wolves couldn¡¯t even believe in their own eyes.


    That guy dashing towards them suddenly took out two throwing lances and immediately threw them towards two of the three huge wolves. Almost at the same moment the lances flew out, the two huge wolves were tightly nailed to the ground with less than one meter between them, leaving only one huge wolf. Seeing this, the last one quickened its pace and charged at that youth. However, the youth avoided its attack by tilting his body to the side.


    Everything happened so fast that Bonder and the other students hadn¡¯t even grasped all that was happening before it was over. After flying another few steps due to momentum, the last huge wolf fell to the ground.


    But, the youth kept moving forward without slowing down his speed or glancing back, seemingly already knowing that the huge wolf had died.


    ¡°Hurry up, go check your companions, save them first!¡±


    Not until then did everybody realize what had happened. They then hurriedly turned back and went to check on their companions.


    That youth who had abruptly appeared was naturally Zhang Tie!


    Ten minutes later, four youths¡¯ corpses and six dead huge wolves were put in a row on the grassland, surrounded by weeping youths with red eyes. Seeing those faces as young as his, Zhang Tie was filled with a slight sadness.


    It was the first time he saw his peers¡¯ bodies before him. The four dead youths looked different, the most miserable among those who¡¯d left this mortal world being the one with eyes wide open and a face twisted after his abdomen was clawed open. He had died in unspeakable agony.


    No matter whether it was in the east or the west, no culture or traditions would allow a person to leave this mortal world with eyes wide open. From Donder, Zhang Tie also knew how to pay tribute to a dead person.


    ¡°Let me have a try!¡±


    Zhang Tie walked forward. Seeing his move, Bonder quietly stepped back.


    Silently taking off the water bottle from his waist, Zhang Tie opened its lid and pulled open Billy¡¯s clothes. He started to clean the filth off his abdomen. The things flowing out of the intestines were smelly, but Zhang Tie was not afraid of that at all, neither did he feel disgusted. He only felt dejection, a dejection stemming from a fact that a small figure would helplessly have to die in this struggling world.


    He thought back to his mom. Seeing Billy¡¯s tender face with a few freckles, Zhang Tie then thought about the youth¡¯s mom. He felt that Billy was another himself, a commoner who neither had obtained Castle of Black Iron nor had a chance to eat strange fruits.


    The water in Zhang Tie¡¯s water bottle was soon used up.


    ¡°Anymore?¡± Zhang Tie asked.


    Hearing his request, the other youths beside him silently passed him several more water bottles. Zhang Tie continued to clean Billy¡¯s wounds. After that, he washed off the filth from the lower hem of Billy¡¯s coat. After doing all this, he pulled out a sewing kit and started to sew up Billy¡¯s wounds.


    ¡°Brother, stand it, I do this for the first time, but I have to sew it well for you as the holes on your abdomen don¡¯t look good!¡± Zhang Tie told Billy under the silent gazes of the surrounding youths, whose tears were flowing down their faces.


    As Zhang Tie was not afraid of doing this, his hand didn¡¯t quiver at all. He closed Billy¡¯s wound on the abdomen like he would have sown up his own clothes. After that, he washed his own hands and repaired Billy¡¯s broken clothes. Finally he had closed his wound and dressed him up.


    ¡°Brother, I¡¯ve already sewed and cleaned your wounds and clothes. You look much more handsome now. Don¡¯t show your painful expression to your mom and the other family members. Just be reassured and leave. Remember to be careful in your next survival training!¡±


    Saying that, Zhang Tie slightly covered his hands over Billy¡¯s eyes. What made everybody else amazed was that after Zhang Tie moved away his hands from Billy¡¯s face, Billy had already closed his eyes and looked much more relaxed. Seeing this, all the surrounding youths couldn¡¯t not smile.


    After tranquilly putting Billy¡¯s hands onto his abdomen, hands crossed, Zhang Tie stood up.


    ¡°Here is your throwing lance!¡±


    Red-eyed, Bonder passed a clean throwing lance to Zhang Tie. This was the last lance that Zhang Tie had used in the battle. It had been completely hidden inside the last huge wolf¡¯s mouth, including its handle. Just then, when he shifted his body, Zhang Tie had already pulled out another lance and thrust it directly into the mouth of that huge wolf.


    Bonder and the other youths had finally understood the cause of the last huge wolf¡¯s death when Zhang Tie was cleaning wounds for Billy. After that, they started to pay more tribute to him. This loner who had saved everybody¡¯s lives was really great, especially his lance skills, which really startled all the other youths.


    ¡°Brother, could you tell me your name?¡± Bonder asked, seeing Zhang Tie taking back his lance. ¡°Without you, all of us might have already been killed!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Zhang Tie!¡±


    ¡°You are that Zhang Tie!¡± Many of the surrounding youths seemed to have heard his name before. They then became surprised. ¡°You¡¯re that Zhang Tie, who had revealed Samira¡¯s status as a mole of the Norman Empire!¡±


    Zhang Tie slightly nodded before glancing over everybody else. ¡°What¡¯s your plan now, will you still want to remain in the Crescent Prairie?¡±


    ¡°Never, we¡¯ve already decided to go back...¡± Bonder looked dejected. ¡°We already learned our faults!¡±


    ¡°If you want to go back, I can accompany you back for a range in case of any more accidents!¡±


    ¡°Thanks!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Although having decided to go back, everybody remained for a time while working together to chop off some branches and make simple stretchers, including Zhang Tie. They then put the youths¡¯ corpses onto the stretchers and prepared to take them back to the Wild Wolf Castle. The two wounded youths had also dealt with their wounds and made two crutches using some branches so they could follow the others.


    Now, there were fourteen people who could move freely. They would be able to carry the four youths¡¯ corpses and six dead wild wolves by turns.


    According to the rules, Zhang Tie had the right to deal with the five dead huge wolves. Nobody had a different opinion. What was more, Zhang Tie had even saved all their lives. After thinking for a while, he let them bring the dead huge wolves back to Wild Wolf Castle: one to the Brotherhood in the tree base, one to Peter in Iron Melting Workshop, one to Alice, Pandora, and Beverly, and the other two would be left to Bonder and his group.


    Huge wolves were much more valuable than wild wolves. They were black all over, except for the circle of white fur over their necks which was much more valuable. Their meat tasted more fresh and delicious, not as fishy as that of common wild wolves.


    As one of the best meats in Wild Wolf Castle, huge wolf meat was even more expensive than that of boars. It was even said that huge wolf meat was very beneficial to people¡¯s physiques, including Qi and blood. Therefore, it had become the brand dish in some high-end hotels and become a favorite of some rich men.


    So Zhang Tie¡¯s gift was very valuable in Wild Wolf Castle. But under his insistence, Bonder¡¯s group accepted the gift out of good willingness, and started to show their awe to him.


    Zhang Tie kept accompanying Bonder¡¯s group until they were about 10 km away from Wild Wolf Castle and met similar teams attending this survival training. Seeing Bonder¡¯s group¡¯s miserable situation, the other teams all came close to them to ask what had happened to them. A team of less than 30 people had also planned to have a try in the Crescent Prairie; however, after encountering Bonder¡¯s group and learning about what had happened to them, they immediately gave up their plan.


    ¡°Brother, what do you want me to say to the Brotherhood for you?¡±


    ¡°You just tell them, I¡¯m fine. Tell Peter, if I obtain any more wild meat, I¡¯ll bring it back to them. Their lances are very useful. And tell Pandora, Beverly, and Alice that I¡¯m fine and miss them very much!¡± Zhang Tie poured out all the words he wanted to say.


    ¡°Fine, I will!¡±


    ¡°Then, brothers, take care of yourselves!¡±


    ¡°Take care of yourself too. I¡¯ll never forget what happened today!¡± Bonder solemnly said while all the other youths surrounding Zhang Tie nodded and stared at him full of appreciation. Without experiencing the life or death situation, they would have never have known how valuable the savior¡¯s favor would be.


    Zhang Tie smiled and waved at them before trotting away.


    In the evening, Bonder¡¯s group returned to Wild Wolf Castle. Then, the entire Wild Wolf Castle became chaotic. Although four deaths made people sad and alert, compared to it, what Zhang Tie had done startled people more. An individual that could easily kill five huge wolves and save more than ten people¡¯s lives, how powerful did that man have to be? Zhang Tie¡¯s marvelous lance skills had made Bonder¡¯s group absolutely stunned.


    Receiving the dead huge wolf, Barley and the other members of Brotherhood didn¡¯t look too startled. They then just continued to practice fighting skills much harder.


    In contrast, after receiving the dead huge wolf, Peter and the other recluses howled for quite awhile as they were extremely excited that they could eat huge wolf meat for two consecutive days. They all expressed that they¡¯ll use all their effort to build several better lances for Zhang Tie.


    After receiving Zhang Tie¡¯s gift brought by Bonder, Pandora, Alice, and Beverly became the objectives of admiration of all the other girls.


    Probably even Zhang Tie had not imagined that after this event, his name would become outstanding in Wild Wolf Castle. He was beginning to be matched with Blues and Glaze, who were the most powerful people among all the students attending this survival training.


    However, two days before Zhang Tie became well known across Wild Wolf Castle, Glaze had returned with a live LV 2 golden wolf. It was the first day after Miss Qili¡¯s one-month punishment to him terminated. His move shocked many people. At the beginning of the second month of this survival training, Glaze had already displayed his strength as a LV 3 warrior and became the most powerful person among all the students.


    ¡°Killing several huge wolves is nothing but bullsh*t. If Zhang Tie dares to fight Glaze, Glaze will definitely beat him ferociously in one minute, and he¡¯ll only be able to search for his teeth on the ground...¡± Sharlon, one of Glaze¡¯s lackeys, bragged.


    Being a loner, Zhang Tie naturally couldn¡¯t hear Sharlon¡¯s instigation in Wild Wolf Castle. But even if he could hear that, Zhang Tie would do nothing but sneer Although LV 3 seemed unreachable in other students¡¯ eyes, in Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes, Glaze and his heyday would soon be a past tense...


    Four days ago, after eating the Leakless Fruit, Zhang Tie had improved the light over the second burning point of his spine into cyan. Three days later, after eating another Leakless Fruit, Zhang Tie would light that burning point and become an official LV 3 warrior.


    In the past week, after killing almost 15 wild wolves, Zhang Tie had condensed the Strength of Blood and the Strength of Vein in the Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit, causing the first Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit to be 3/7 ripe!


    Becoming a loner, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know that Glaze had already become a LV 3 warrior. After one week¡¯s loner¡¯s survival training, he had already fully immersed himself in that wind-like freedom...

 131 A Wind-Like Youth

    Chapter 131: A Wind-Like Youth


    Translator:Editor:


    After departing from Bonder¡¯s group, Zhang Tie ended up today¡¯s plan for hunting wild wolves. Although he had looked very calm before Bonder¡¯s group, actually, he was not that calm inwardly. It was also Zhang Tie¡¯s first time to seeing his peers die in front of him. Or maybe they were also the first casualties in this survival training.


    It was told by teachers at school that above 70% of casualties in survival training happened on the second month after it started. This was because after one a month¡¯s time in survival training, the horny students became much braver than before, although their fighting force didn¡¯t improve that fast, easily causing tragedies.


    Zhang Tie wandered on the path of the Wild Wolf Valley while thinking about the bloody wounds, which reminded him of the survival rules in this world¡ªeven the lowest level disparity would lead to a life or death situation and further cause mixed emotions in the weaker party¡¯s family members. Four families, four mothers and many relatives of the four youths would feel extremely dejected due to the huge wolves this noon.


    Zhang Tie could imagine how grieved the families would be after learning what had happened to their kids. His own family members had experienced the same grievance. Although his eldest brother had died on the battlefield many years ago, its impact on his parents was ever lasting.


    ¡®Fist skill is namely power. When one exerts their utmost effort, one will obtain the essence of the skill!¡¯¡ªthe general outline of Iron-Blood Fist flashed across Zhang Tie¡¯s mind. He had a new understanding of this sentence. The route the Fibonacci Golden Numerical Array pointed at was not a path of evolution, but a path of power based on real force. The greatest and ultimate power in this world was the power to determine others¡¯ life or death, and the power to beat others into hell.


    ¡®The second Snade and Huck will never be allowed in my life¡¯, Zhang Tie told himself. ¡®Besides myself, nobody else is allowed to determine my destiny.¡¯ Thinking this, he quickened his pace...


    Ten minutes later when Zhang Tie passed by a river, a red-eyed wild wolf abruptly jumped out of the reeds and rushed Zhang Tie. Almost the moment the wild wolf left the reeds, a lance had already fallen from the sky and nailed it to the ground. Zhang Tie dashed past it without even a bit of deceleration. Without even glancing at his victim, he passed the wild wolf, just pulling out his lance and putting it back into this lance container before continuing on his way...


    ¡°Who¡¯s that guy?¡±


    A hunting team composed of eight or nine students widely opened their eyes at the sight of what Zhang Tie had done. Just now, when the wild wolf had jumped out, they even wanted to shout out to warn him. Unexpectedly, before they could scream out, everything had come to an end.


    Not until Zhang Tie had long disappeared did that group of people arrive at the wild wolf that had been nailed to the ground. After checking it carefully, they all took a deep breath. Judging from the wound on the wild wolf, they realized that the lance must have entered its body from beneath the neck and exited from the back of its heart, causing a sec-kill. It was really great. Was that a coincidence? They felt really lucky today as they put away the dead wild wolf.


    ¡°Can we just do this?¡± one of the people in the group of students asked.


    ¡°If he felt this wild wolf was valuable, he would have stayed. Do you think a man who can easily kill a wild wolf would treasure a dead wild wolf?¡±


    Hearing his words, everybody else nodded.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, brothers, it¡¯s not early today, this wolf is enough for us to eat for two days...¡± the leader said, waving his hand.


    ¡°Who¡¯s that man? I¡¯ve never heard of him before!¡±


    ¡°Trust me, such a sharp guy would never be unknown. We will know who he is if we casually inquire about other people in Wild Wolf Castle!¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Zhang Tie kept running at a medium speed. He had already learned how to run in the first week when the survival training started. If he ran too fast, he could not continue it for long. Besides high consumption of physical strength, if he ran too fast, he might also miss something, especially changing terrains in hills, which might hurt him later by preventing him to make the most correct response to some incoming crisis.


    In contrast, if he ran too slowly, his moving range would be extremely limited, which might also cause him to miss something. Especially for loners who needed to hunt for prey by themselves like Zhang Tie, if he always stayed in a small area, he might do nothing but wait for starvation as he would have fewer chances to find any prey.


    Therefore, for a loner, the most proper running pattern was at a medium speed which would enable one to keep running for one to two hours without feeling fatigued, and enable one to get familiar with the surrounding environment and terrain by running as well as expanding the moving range. In other words, running at a medium speed could help to exert the utmost fighting force every time and then respond to some emergencies without feeling too tense.


    Besides running speed, Zhang Tie also learned how to breath while running. It took him one week to master this medium-speed moving skill at his most proper rhythm. Now, Zhang Tie could keep running at such a speed for one hour on rugged mountain roads while retaining his maximal fighting force.


    He felt that this kind of running was like a vocabulary ¡®cruising speed¡¯ that was used to evaluate the performance of an aerocraft called plane taught by science teachers at school. Zhang Tie had already mastered the skill of ¡®cruise control¡¯ during the first week upon starting the loner¡¯s survival training. His ¡®cruising speed¡¯ was about 15 km per hour. He could kept running at this speed for about 1 hour while still maintaining his maximal fighting force.


    Ha! Wasn¡¯t it interesting? He had become a plane himself!


    He was lucky just now and killed one more wild wolf, indicating that the wild wolf seven-strength fruit was that much closer to becoming ripe. Thinking of this, Zhang Tie accelerated.


    He really enjoyed the feeling of free running in the valley. During his previous fifteen years, Zhang Tie had lived a boring life in Blackhot city. Besides going to school, he would be either at Donder¡¯s grocery store or home. During that period, he had not experienced such a freestyle.


    Simply by running like this, Zhang Tie felt pretty happy. If he could stick to it, he would prefer to keep running like the wind for the rest of his life. This way, he could go wherever he wanted, letting the motherland move under his feet. He would prefer to keep running freely like this without caring about anything else so that he could view the scenery of the whole world.


    By free running in the valley alone, Zhang Tie felt that he had fallen in love with the loner¡¯s survival training.


    When the fiery sun¡¯s glow appeared in the west sky, Zhang Tie finally arrived at the place which he had named as his ¡®No.2 base¡¯ after over one hour¡¯s running.


    This was a natural mountain cave, over 10 meters above the ground. Its inclination downwards was about 80-90 degrees. A pile of vines hung down from the top, allowing one to climb onto the mountain cave along the stones and bulges by holding onto them.


    The mountain cave was more than 20 km away from the Wild Wolf Castle. This place was a bit farther than where he had met Bonder¡¯s group yesterday. More than 10 km away from the other side of the cave was the Crescent Prairie. The space between the ranges on both sides of the Wild Wolf Valley abruptly expanded greatly here, like an opening door.


    One week after he started his loner¡¯s survival training, Zhang Tie¡¯s moving range gradually increased and grew closer and closer to the Crescent Prairie.


    When he arrived beneath the mountain cave, Zhang Tie looked around, seeing no one. He then pulled the vines and climbed onto the entrance of the mountain cave. When he reached the entrance, Zhang Tie squatted to carefully check those scattered leaves from the vines and some broken stones on the ground for roughly 20 seconds. After that, he stood on tiptoes and carefully walked in by stepping only in specific locations


    Those items on the ground were not traps, but a ¡®wild mark system¡¯ used by pioneers. Once anybody had entered the entrance after Zhang Tie left, through that ¡®wild mark system¡¯ that seemed a disorderly scattering, Zhang Tie would know of it. This was a trick that pioneers usually used in the wild. A set of ¡®wild mark system¡¯ could reveal a lot of information.


    Many pioneer teams added secret languages and signals in the ¡®wild mark system¡¯ that could only be understood by their own. Sometimes, a withered twig, several leaves, and broken stones scattered casually on the ground¡ªin insiders¡¯ eyes¡ªwould contain dozens of messages based on their location and the direction they were facing. They might also be used as an early warning device like how Zhang Tie was using them. As long as anyone had entered, he would know.


    After checking it, Zhang Tie did nothing else but sat down on a stone at the entrance of the mountain cave. In the breeze, he stared at the sunset far in the distance The setting sun was really beautiful. Before this loner¡¯s survival training, Zhang Tie had not seriously watched it. However, these days, he would always sit calmly somewhere and watch the sunset in the skyline until it fell behind the mountain and disappeared.


    This was another reason for why Zhang Tie came to like the loner¡¯s survival training. Besides free running, he could also calmly sit anywhere he wanted and enjoy the beautiful sunset without worrying about being pointed at and called an idiot by surrounding horny students.


    ¡®The world has its own beautiful scenery!¡¯¡ªthis was Zhang Tie¡¯s feeling when he was enjoying the sunset.


    ¡®I wonder how long dad and mom haven¡¯t enjoyed such a beautiful sunset.¡¯


    Thinking of their increasingly white hair due to hard work every day, Zhang Tie vowed that when he was rich he would definitely buy a big house just for them. That big house will contain two huge balconies, one to the east so that his parents could enjoy the first wisp of sunlight when they woke up; the other to the west so that they could enjoy the beautiful sunset sitting on a very comfortable huge chair on sunny days.


    Previously, Zhang Tie might not have been able to make this dream come true even if he used up the rest of his life. However, now he understood that once he had enough power, he will definitely let his parents live such a pleasant life.


    Although he could not make it at LV 2, what about LV 3? LV 4? LV 5? LV 6? LV 7? LV 8? LV 9? LV 10? His elder brother had told him a LV 10 military official in Blackhot city was qualified to be allocated with an independent villa...


    Oh, and that appointment with Miss Daina!


    ¡­¡­


    When the sun finally set, the afterglow in the skyline also gradually dissipated. Several aboriginal residents of the mountain cave¡ªbats¡ªflew out and started their nightlife.


    Zhang Tie then entered into the deep of the mountain cave where he could access the Castle of Black Iron and improve his strength using another method. As he had killed five huge wolves today, Zhang Tie knew that a new Trouble-reappearance Fruit would have formed on the small tree. He had concluded in the past few days that once he could kill more than three wild wolves or huge wolves, he could get a new Trouble-Reappearance Fruit on that very day.


    He had eaten four Trouble-Reappearance Fruits these days, enabling him to choose eight Trouble-reappearance scenes and activating over 23 wolf souls [1] at once, 22 of which had wild wolves and one a huge wolf. Little by little he started to discover more and more secrets about the Trouble-reappearance Fruit...


    After eating the third and the fourth Trouble-reappearance Fruits, Zhang Tie had found that the fruits actually contained two elements, namely Trouble-reappearance scene and wolf souls. He could allocate the wolf souls at his own will and arrange them in his designated Trouble-reappearance scene.


    After activating them, they would fight him. The two elements of Trouble-reappearance Fruit could be joined or separated at his will. Each Trouble-reappearance Fruit would bring him two more elements that could be used to further improve his fighting skills, namely fighting environment and fighting objectives.


    The Trouble-reappearance Fruit was really great. It was simply amazing. After practicing in Trouble-reappearance Fruit, Zhang Tie felt his fighting and killing skills were rapidly improving.


    After killing five huge wolves today, he couldn¡¯t wait to try fighting six huge wolves and 22 wild wolves at the same time in the Trouble-reappearance Fruit¡­


    ---


    [1] Zhang Tie named it himself.

 132 An Unexpected Accident in The Trouble-reappearance Scene

    Chapter 132: An Unexpected Accident in The Trouble-reappearance Scene


    Translator:Editor:


    After entering the Trouble-reappearance Scene, at the sight of roughly 30 wolves, including 6 huge wolves and 23 common, at least 2 of which were head wolves, Zhang Tie became somewhat regretful. He knew that he would definitely die miserably this time.


    Before entering, Zhang Tie had chosen the riverside where he had killed the latest wild wolf. Almost the second Zhang Tie entered the Trouble-reappearance Scene, the 30 wolves rushed out of the reeds, exposing their canines at Zhang Tie.


    While the pack of wolves rushed towards him, Zhang Tie threw six lances with both hands, like a lightning bolt. In a split second, two huge wolves and four wild wolves were pierced through by his lances and fell down.


    Originally, Zhang Tie intended to aim for the six huge wolves. Of course, it didn¡¯t precisely mean that he had failed to hit them. Unexpectedly, when he threw out his lances towards the six huge wolves, the surrounding wild wolves dashed ahead and stopped the lances for the huge wolves using their own bodies. So he only hit two huge wolves, while the other four lances were caught by the four wild wolves.


    Seeing such an emergency, Zhang Tie was really startled. He then instantly realized that the wild wolves which he had been fighting with these days were becoming smarter and trickier. It seemed that he was not the only one who could improve his fighting and killing skills. The wolf souls inside the Trouble-reappearance Scene had also improved, which was finally shown today.


    The only thing in the wolves that remained unchanged was the endless hatred in their eyes.


    After throwing the six lances, Zhang Tie immediately turned back and exerted his utmost efforts to escape. He wanted to try whether a LV 2 warrior could gain a beacon of hope from the remaining pack of wolves. If he only fought them at the risk of his life, he would definitely die. This time, being akin to the scene when he was chased by the seven wolves on the grassland, the only factors that he could use were environment and terrain.


    Zhang Tie then escaped closely followed by the pack of wolves. He ran so fast, yet the huge wolves could run faster. He didn¡¯t move more than 50 m by the riverside when he felt wind behind his head. Twisting his body, Zhang Tie immediately pulled out his dagger from his waist and thrust it towards the abdomen of the huge wolf charging at him from behind.


    Huge wolves¡¯ strength and aggressiveness could never by matched by common wild wolves. If it was a common wild wolf, Zhang Tie could have easily finished this counterattack without even decelerating. However, it was a huge wolf whose strength and speed caused him to stagger.


    After falling onto the ground, the huge wolf even rushed two steps forward due to the huge inertia. After that, he turned back and glared at Zhang Tie, seemingly wanting to charge at him once again. However, he soon fell to the ground as Zhang Tie¡¯s thrust had completely opened his abdomen.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie realized that he could not escape anymore. He understood that even if he was one level higher than the huge wolves, he could still not match speed with them. Maybe it could be feasible when he reached LV 3, but he could definitely not match them for the time being.


    Although he could not really die in the Trouble-reappearance Scene, he could feel pain. So not wanting to die miserably, Zhang Tie immediately made the same choice that he would have done in the real situation if he was chased by so many wolves¡ªhe jumped into the river.


    Water along the riverside was only as deep as his knees. It was muddy under his feet, so it was very difficult to walk inside. Only after two steps after jumping into the river, Zhang Tie¡¯s shoes were already stuck to the mud. Two steps more, and he could only escape on barefoot.


    The wild wolves closely following him all rushed into the river without any hesitation. Zhang Tie had already predicted that. Because after he had eaten the first Trouble-reappearance Fruit, Zhang Tie had attempted to jump into the black hole many times, however, he found out that soon after he jumped inside, the wild wolves also followed him in. They would not stop chasing him until either they, or he, died. They dared to jump into a black hole, let alone a river.


    Less than 10 m from the river¡¯s shore, the water level had already reached his thighs. The river was not turbulent. It flowed calmly, and so did the part which would be drowned in flood while showing itself when the water receded.


    Zhang Tie turned back and found a huge wolf 1.7-2 m away from him.


    Not until then had he realized that wolves could swim well.


    Wolves swam using dog paddle. Zhang Tie also learned to dog paddle at school. Judging from swimming gestures, he could not even match wolves in swimming skills.


    In the Trouble-reappearance Scene, a battle between human and wolves that could never be seen in reality would happen in the river.


    As most of Zhang Tie¡¯s legs below his knees were in the mud, he could barely move his feet, let alone using them to attack wolves. Similarly, the pack of wolves swimming towards him were also slower due to the resistance in the water. So their largest threat to Zhang Tie became their sharp canines.


    When in water, the matrix of the wolves became disordered. Seeing this, Zhang Tie burst out laughing and threw the dagger in his hand. Using a Wrestle-Hand Move from Iron-Blood Fist, he wrestled the neck of the huge wolf. As a response, the huge wolf prepared to bite Zhang Tie¡¯s wrist. At this time, Zhang Tie¡¯s two hands ferociously punched its ears like hammers, causing blood to burst out from its eyes. Even though this hurt it badly, the front paws of the huge wolf also scratched Zhang Tie¡¯s arms, leaving some bloody marks.


    In only one round, both parties were bleeding.


    However, the fact was that Zhang Tie acted faster. The disparity between a LV 2 warrior and a LV 1 wolf could not be easily ignored either. The moment the huge wolf lowered his head due to Zhang Tie¡¯s hammer-like punches, Zhang Tie grabbed it around its neck once again. With a sound of ¡®Ka cha¡¯, the huge wolf¡¯s neck was broken.


    Zhang Tie loosened his grip before sinking the huge wolf into the river. Behind this huge wolf were more wolves with eyes shining red. Zhang Tie had no way to escape once again.


    ¡°Ha¡­ ha¡­ cool!¡± Zhang Tie burst out laughing. ¡°Come on, you beasts, since I could kill you all before, I can also kill you all now. Do you want revenge? Come on!¡±


    A battle between a human and wolves started...


    In the shallow river, a pack of wolves launched a war on a person. In muddy water, Zhang Tie surged left and right using his Hammer-like Punch Move and Wrestle-Hand Move, causing bloody ripples.


    Without fighting in water, Zhang Tie would have never known the difficulties of it. He felt his physical strength dissipating so fast that each move in water would consume strength numerous times greater than that required fighting on the bank. The faster he moved, the more strength he would consume due to the greater resistance in water. Each step in the deep river mud would also bring him more difficulty.


    Only after 10 minutes, over 10 dead wild wolves were floating in the river. Zhang Tie had also suffered more than 20 wounds. At this time, he understood another law, even if his level was higher than that of wild wolves, his endurance could never match theirs. Each wild wolf had amazing endurance.


    Gradually, he felt his hands becoming more and more clumsy, causing weaker attacking strength and speed. However, the wild wolves kept surging forward without even knowing what tiredness was, only wanting to bite him.


    Seeing them so tenacious, Zhang Tie¡¯s morality and cruelty were also triggered. Gritting his teeth, he continued to fight the wolves, seemingly having fully forgotten about the increasing wounds on his body.


    After staying in the Trouble-reappearance Scene for so long time, Zhang Tie found he had also gained more endurance, being able to ignore more of his pain and wounds.


    Five minutes later, a few more wild wolves were killed, causing more wounds on Zhang Tie¡¯s body. Thankfully, the wounds were not fatal. By then, their battlefield had already stretched to dozens of meters along the shallow river.


    Zhang Tie started to feel his hammer-like punches becoming weaker and weaker. It would take him longer to break a wolf¡¯s neck. Just now, it had taken him too long, and he couldn¡¯t respond to the wolf¡¯s counterattack timely, causing a bite on his arm from another wolf.


    Pained, Zhang Tie became more ferocious. Although another wolf was hanging on his arm, he still chose to break the neck of the wolf in his hand¡¯s first before breaking the neck of the wolf on his arm.


    The last ferocious attack seemed like the last bright look of a person who was going to die soon after. After taking care of the wolf hanging on his arm, Zhang Tie felt his hands becoming soft, which could not even break a noodle. At this time, another wolf launched its attack. To respond, Zhang Tie immediately lurched aside.


    However, for some reason at this critical moment, Zhang Tie suddenly became stunned for a short time, during which the wolf bit Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder, pushing him into the water, closely followed by the remaining wolves...


    Half a minute later, with a sound of ¡®Boom¡¯, the entire Trouble-reappearance Scene dissipated into light rain before disappeared...


    This was the most bloody and miserable battle with wild wolves that Zhang Tie had experienced, and it ended up with wild wolves as the winners.


    Sitting under the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree, Zhang Tie opened his eyes like when he had entered the Trouble-reappearance Scene just now. He then raised his head and looked at the rolling colorful fog in the sky within the Castle of Black Iron with a bit of confusion, puzzlement, and even shock in his eyes!


    ¡®How could that happen...¡¯ Zhang Tie mumbled. ¡®How could I feel like having stepped onto a sharp thing just now? How could such a sharp thing appear in the mud of the shallow river in the Trouble-reappearance Scene? That was not necessary. Did it want to test my responsiveness?¡±


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t figure it out even after thinking about it for awhile. Just now, when he prepared to escape from the wolf¡¯s attack, he stepped onto a sharp thing in the mud. Because of this, he became stunned, causing him to be killed by the wolves.


    What if there really was such a sharp thing in the real river? A thought flashed across Zhang Tie¡¯s mind like a lightning bolt...

 133 Searching for the Sharp Item

    Chapter 133: Searching for the Sharp Item


    Translator:Editor:


    ¡°Damn, I must be mad...¡± On the way, Zhang Tie mumbled this sentence for more than 50 times. However, he was driven by that idea to run towards that riverside where he had killed the wild wolf yesterday.


    It was the second morning, and Zhang Tie had gotten up earlier than before. Not until he had arrived at the riverside where he had killed that wild wolf yesterday did the skyline start looking a bit white. However, the valley was still a bit dim. The two moons in the sky were like two silver plates, completely round: one big, the other small. Using them as well as the stubborn stars that felt reluctant to disappear, Zhang Tie could approximately judge the paths in the valley.


    At this hour, most other students attending this survival training wouldn¡¯t have even gotten up, or had just done that. With the exception of Zhang Tie, no one else would appear in this place more than 10 km away from the Wild Wolf Castle for no reason.


    Zhang Tie ran over here from ¡®No. 2 base¡¯, getting the lower part of his trousers wet from the dew on grasses and leaves in the process.


    He came here with his lance container on his back and dagger and long sword on his waist. Upon arriving, he squatted down at the riverside and carefully observed his surroundings to make sure that nobody else was around and that no dangerous aquatic beasts like crocodiles were in the river.


    After that, he came to the red willow which was close to the place where he was killed by the wild wolves yesterday in the Trouble-reappearance Scene. Next to the red willow, Zhang Tie put away his lance container and hung it onto the willow. Then he undid his long sword and took off his shoes, trousers, and other clothes. With a dagger in hand, he jumped into the river, nude.


    The river felt icy in the early morning. The moment Zhang Tie¡¯s feet touched the water, his whole body quivered, and goose bumps rose all over his skin.


    ¡°Damn, I must be mad...¡± Zhang Tie mumbled and waded towards that place where he was killed by that wild wolf in the Trouble-reappearance Scene.


    As the riverbed was covered with mud, when water level reached Zhang Tie¡¯s thighs, it became very difficult to move, especially for him who waded through while searching for something in the mud using his feet.


    That place was only 10 m away from the riverside. When he arrived there, Zhang Tie slowed his pace and slowly searched for that sharp item in the area. Five minutes later, he finally felt the same thing that he had encountered in the mud yesterday.


    He tried to move it using his feet, but unexpectedly, it was very heavy. A part of it seemed to be buried in the mud. Zhang Tie carefully explored it using his feet and felt that is shaped like an ox-horn. However, it had to be heavier than that since he could not grab it out of the water using his feet.


    Zhang Tie threw his dagger onto the bank, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath before lowering himself into the muddy water. After touching that thing using his hands, he exerted his utmost effort to pull it out.


    It was very heavy, at least more than 20 kg in weight. It was a bit lighter in water, but after taking it out, the weight increased for Zhang Tie.


    There was truly something in the river; and it really seemed like an ox horn! Zhang Tie¡¯s heart pounded. Before carefully observing the item in his hand, he first washed that thing in the water to make it a bit cleaner. After that, he waded back towards the bank.


    When he was about to get ashore, Zhang Tie put it beneath the red willow. After landing, he found a puddle with cleaner water beside the red willow and started to clean the mud off his body. While doing so, he found two pieces of ¡®mud¡¯ tightly stuck to this skin, which could not be washed off. Touching them, Zhang Tie was startled by their softness. It wasn¡¯t mud at all!


    He hurriedly beat them. However, he could not beat them off. He then pinched one, aiming to pull it off his skin. Unexpectedly, that thing kept sucking his skin even when Zhang Tie had extended its body to 10 cm long.


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    Zhang Tie became restless and started to shout loudly. After increasing his pulling force, he immediately tore that soft thing off and threw it onto the ground, then did the same to the other one. Seeing them still moving on the ground while the places where he was stung had small wounds and were bleeding, Zhang Tie felt goose bumps rise all over once again.


    He then instantly checked his body, especially his bottom and the surroundings of his p*nis. Thankfully, no more were found. He then hurriedly put on his clothes, finally recalling that the soft thing must be a leech. Damn, it felt more horrible being stung by leeches than being bitten by two huge wolves. These mollusks were really terrifying.


    With face turning a bit pale, Zhang Tie hurriedly put on his clothes, and carrying his lance container, long sword, and dagger, took up the ox-horn-like thing from near the tree root. After confirming that nobody was around, he took a better hold of it and accelerated towards his No. 1 base.


    Zhang Tie moved so fast that before dawn fell, he had already arrived at his No. 1 base. It was a mountain cave drilled by a gold-eating boa. From the natural mark system at the entrance, he knew that neither people nor animals had entered since he had left.


    Reassured, Zhang Tie arrived at a hidden place inside the cave according to his memory and feeling instead of using a torch. After fixing on that marvelous arched door in his mind, Zhang Tie entered the Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    This was the same greetings that Zhang Tie could hear everyday whenever he entered the Castle of Black Iron. By the time the words started to disappear, Zhang Tie had already put down his equipment. Holding a strange ox-horn-like thing, he came to the side of the pond and squatted down. He then grabbed a handful of grass and started to clean the item using them.


    After cleaning off the mud using crystal spring water and grass, Zhang Tie could finally see its original look.


    It was an aqua blue horn as long as 40 cm, with metal texture and luster, and circles of flowing cloud-shaped floral grains. Although similar to a part of a broken spearhead, Zhang Tie could confirm that it was not an ox horn.


    It was both beautiful and heavy, radiating unusual charm from its bright color and its texture or natural-born mysterious floral grains. Playing with the item in his hand for quite a while, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t figure out what it was.


    ¡®Maybe, when I become rich and can buy a big house for my parents, I¡¯ll place it at home. Judging from its color and floral grains, it could be used as a nice ornament. Mom will love it!¡¯ Thinking of this, Zhang Tie casually threw it aside.


    That was Zhang Tie¡¯s personality. If he couldn¡¯t figure it out now, he would never waste time on it as he could use this time to improve his current strength.


    Thinking of how to improve his strength, Zhang Tie thought back to what had happened in the Trouble-reappearance Fruit. He could finally confirm that everything in there was real. Maybe Trouble-reappearance Scene was a mirror that could reflect everything in the real world.


    And for a mirror, a tree was no different from a gold mountain as it was not creating but reflecting. Anything inside the mirror was just a projection from the real world. As such, since a weird item was in the mud in the real world, it also exited in the Trouble-reappearance Scene. That was how it went. Perhaps such a weird item was nothing different from a roadside stone or a tree in the Trouble-reappearance Scene. It just exited there, like everything else in the real world.


    Thinking back to the leeches sucking his blood just now, Zhang Tie suddenly thought it through. He finally understood how Trouble-reappearance Scene worked¡ªbesides spiritual creatures, everything inside it was no different from the real world. In the Trouble-reappearance Scene, even if a single ant or leech doesn¡¯t appear, it¡¯s only because they weren¡¯t killed. Except for spiritual creatures, everything else that exists in the real world also appear in inside, even if it had not been sensed or seen by Zhang Tie.


    Therefore, besides allowing Zhang Tie to fight various living beings, Trouble-reappearance Fruit also presented him with each detail of the real world, enabling him to be familiar with the ¡®battlefield¡¯ where he had fought the other living beings before. Thinking about it, if an item buried in the mud could be presented, then what couldn¡¯t?


    Something related to the Trouble-reappearance Scene flashed across Zhang Tie¡¯s mind, yet he didn¡¯t catch it. He only felt a trembling inside for a split second. Scratching his head, Zhang Tie tried to remember it for a quite while, but failed. After that, he stopped bothering himself about it. The sudden discovery of the delicate link between Trouble-reappearance Scene and the real world was already a great achievement today, so Zhang Tie was really satisfied.


    Therefore, he felt really excited and highly spirited. Before leaving the Castle of Black Iron, he realized that his body still smelt of mud and fish. He must have not cleaned it off well at the riverside. So he took off his clothes again and took another cool bath in the pond.


    After cleaning himself, Zhang Tie sensed a sharp smell. Picking up his clothes, he smelled sweat on them. After counting carefully, he realized that he had not changed his clothes for over a week. Although a loner, he was still a man who had to eat, sweat, empty his bowels, and sleep. No matter how handsome the loner was, he would not look clean after wearing his clothes for over one week and would smell weird.


    So if a loner didn¡¯t wash his clothes for over a month, he then wouldn¡¯t need to hunt any more as prey would have already been scared away by his weird odor from several hundreds meters away. Let alone prey, even people would prefer to stay at least five meters away from him as his weird odor would kill everything.


    Zhang Tie really didn¡¯t want to be a ¡®loner¡¯ that smelled weird. He didn¡¯t like that, and thought that no girl would like that, either...


    Thankfully, Zhang Tie had prepared more than one set of clothes and shoes for this survival training. The clean clothes were in the Castle of Black Iron at this time. Being naked, Zhang Tie lowered his head and stared at his ¡®fully-fledged little bird[1]¡¯. ¡®Trust me, there are a great amount of girls waiting for you. For your sexy happiness, I will try my best to keep clean and cool. We will not go anywhere else this morning before washing clothes and cleaning ourselves, how about that?¡¯


    After saying that, Zhang Tie held his little bird and shook it in a lecherous way. At the same time, he changed his voice to a younger brother¡¯s. ¡®Fine! But I really miss Alice and Beverly these days, I want to do disgusting and terrifying things with them. I want to play with their small golden fishes[2], what should I do then?¡¯


    Zhang Tie changed to his own voice. ¡°Trust me, as long as I grow stronger and more powerful, they will not leave me. So they¡¯ll belong to you sooner or later; their small golden fishes will also belong to you sooner or later!¡±


    Thinking of their small golden fishes, Zhang Tie¡¯s small bird expanded immediately, seemingly waking up in a split second.


    ¡®Come on, then!¡¯ Zhang Tie changed to the same tender voice. ¡®I will, beauty is the source of happiness!¡¯


    After living alone for one week, Zhang Tie gradually got used to talking to himself. As long as nobody was around, he would not mind talking to his ¡®weird bird¡¯ to improve his own mood and relieve his tension. If he was noticed doing this kind of weird behavior by other hypocrites, Zhang Tie¡¯s pervert¡¯s and leecher¡¯s status would never be wiped off for the rest of his life. However, in the Castle of Black Iron, he did not have to worry about that at all...


    [1] Fully-fledged little bird refers to his genital covered with pubic hair.


    [2]Small golden fishes refer to the tongues of the girls.

 134 Marching to the Crescent Prairie

    Chapter 134: Marching to the Crescent Prairie


    Translator:Editor:


    In the next couple of days, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t obtain anything else, neither from that small tree nor the Wild Wolf Valley. His luck seemed to have been used up.


    Since saving Bonder¡¯s group by killing five huge wolves, and one common wild wolf, Zhang Tie had not met even one wolf in the Wild Wolf Valley for two consecutive days. Though he met other kinds of animals, such as boars, hares, pheasants, argalis, and pangolins. He even saw a fat water badger swaggering not far from him. However, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t kill them as he was focusing on the Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit, which was not even half ripe. Besides, since he had sufficient food supplies, there was no need to kill them.


    Zhang Tie would never kill animals for no reason. Even if it was very easy for him to kill them¡ªas told by his mom¡ªhe would not kill them because it was not necessary.


    He could improve his strength by killing wild wolves; however, he could get nothing from killing the weak animals, even if that boar could pose a threat to him.


    Several days ago, Zhang Tie had killed a huge wolf. As told by Donder, Zhang Tie had shredded its leg meat. After smoking the pieces on a pile of burning half-dried pine twigs for an entire afternoon, he hung them at the entrance of the mountain cave to dry them up.


    Donder had told him that if he had no sufficient salt and spice to deal with meat, he could keep it fresh longer by smoking and drying it. Zhang Tie then tried it and testified that it was true. To tell the truth, that smoked meat of the huge wolf tasted special really and nice. Like dried meat that had been dealt with, Zhang Tie could eat these pieces directly by cutting them off. Therefore, he had enough food. What he really needed were wild wolves.


    One month since the survival training started, in order to obtain more food, the other teams were becoming braver than before and were gradually venturing farther away from the Wild Wolf Castle. As a result, wild wolves¡¯ living space narrowed step by step. The number of wild wolves was also decreasing. So it became more and more difficult to hunt them. From the beginning of the survival training to now, Zhang Tie estimated that over 1000 wild wolves had been killed by people. Even if Will Wolf Castle was filled with them before, people could hardly see any now.


    Because it was more and more difficult to hunt prey, the second month of the survival training was the most testing period to the students. Thankfully, Zhang Tie had left enough food for his friends to survive the rest of the training.


    Compared to food, Zhang Tie feared more about Glaze¡¯s group since they might find Barley and Pandora trouble. Such a mean, vicious, and powerful guy was the most dangerous one.


    Blues said Glaze was even more powerful than a golden wolf. Zhang Tie assumed that perhaps Glaze had hidden his real strength to a certain degree at school. Otherwise, he must have broken through in this survival training. Generally, he preferred to regard Glaze as LV 3 warrior. He should not view him as a LV 2 warrior any more.


    Zhang Tie knew that others would also make progress, not only he alone. Nobody would remain unchanged. Even if Sharlon, Zuhair, and Garner, the lackeys of Glaze had ignited their Shrine burning point one day, Zhang Tie would not be surprised about it either.


    Never imagine your enemy as kind as you; never imagine your enemy as the same one that you have always known. If you violated that law, it would be very dangerous for you.


    Similarly, whether Glaze¡¯s group had known that one day after he would ignite the second burning point on his spine and became a LV 3 warrior?


    Therefore, after staying in the No.2 base for another two days, namely one day before the latest Leakless Fruit became ripe, Zhang Tie made an important decision¡ªmarching to the Crescent Prairie.


    This morning, after the sun set up, Zhang Tie carried his luggage and arranged his equipment before leaving that mountain cave on the cliff.


    It was a sunny day with white clouds all over the sky. Based on his meticulousness as a loner and the experience that had been imparted by Blues, Zhang Tie had already explored the road last afternoon and had found a new base for himself in the border between the Wild Wolf Valley and the Crescent Prairie.


    As he walked forward, the terrain of the valley became increasingly broader. At the same time, the hills inside the valley gradually became sparse, the highland in the valley also became lower. As if pressed down by an invisible hand over the valley, the shrubs and arbors that Zhang Tie could see also became increasingly lower and fewer.


    In contrast, the amount of herbal plants gradually increased. Later, with the exception of a few shrubs among great patches of grasslands and hills, and the two high ranges extending from the valley, he could not even see a single tall arbor in the valley anymore. All this reminded Zhang Tie that he was still in the Wild Wolf Valley. However, the increasingly lower mountain ranges told him that he would exit Wild Wolf Valley not in the not too distant time.


    Such broad terrain was most dangerous to birdies who were still warriors [1]. They could hardly escape from beast attacks since the surroundings provided little to no places to aid in escaping or hiding.


    Because of this, Zhang Tie mainly chose to march along the mountain slope in the southeast of the Wild Wolf Valley. Road on the mountain slope was bad. Compared to the road in the valley, it would take him more time and strength to finish the same distance, but here one could easily find dangers in advance.


    When in dangers, one could have more terrain to make use of. What made one most reassured in the simplest way was that although no tall arbors could be seen in the valley, there were still some on the mountain slopes, which could work as the best shelter for one to escape from dangerous beast attacks.


    Zhang Tie had practiced climbing trees many times these days.


    On the way, Zhang Tie also saw some caves made by gold-eating boas. However, compared to the amount of them surrounding the Wild Wolf Castle, the closer it was to Crescent Prairie, the fewer caves of gold-eating boas there were, indicating that they posed weaker threat to other wild beasts and various mutated living beings. In other words, more dangerous living beings would exist outside. Not only dangerous living beings, even if the amount of common wild wolves would gradually increase.


    Naturally, the prairie was the hunting field of wolf packs!


    On the way, due to perfect vision angle from the mountain slope, Zhang Tie saw more and more wild wolf packs in the valley far in the distance, 2-3 at least, 10 at most. This made him highly spirited. He felt that the first ripe Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit was greeting him.


    ¡®All the strength of a wild wolf!¡¯ Zhang Tie already heavily drooled inwardly.


    ¡°Help...ah...¡±


    When Zhang Tie was less than 1 km away from the base that he had chosen after trekking for an entire morning, a wind from Crescent Prairie brought a shout for helps and groans into Zhang Tie¡¯s ears. In the beginning, he thought it was just his imagination since he had not met a person the entire morning. But several steps further, Zhang Tie heard the voice once again. This time he realized that it was not his mind playing tricks on him, but a real voice coming from up ahead.


    ¡°Hel...p...¡±


    Zhang Tie immediately pulled out of a lance from his lance container. Bowing his body, he became careful and walked forward stealthily. Less than 20 m ahead, he saw the guy who was seeking help in a weak voice.


    At first sight, that guy was lying on the ground, but Zhang Tie didn¡¯t go there. Instead, he squatted down and carefully searched the surroundings to confirm that there were no traps or ambushes set, and that the guy was not pretending to be wounded. Only then did Zhang Tie stood up and ran towards him.


    Since he was born, Zhang Tie had seen many unlucky guys. However, this one today must have the worst luck of them all. Even Doug was not this unlucky. How bad did one¡¯s luck have to be that he would step onto a bear trap set by another person.


    On the grassland at the foot of the mountain ahead, a pioneer was lying on the ground while a basin-sized bear trap was gripping his left shin. As a result, bloodstains could be seen everywhere on the ground and his trousers. Some of them being from that unlucky guy, while the rest were from two wolves lying dead on the ground.


    Zhang Tie walked over and found that guy was still with closed eyes, face as white as paper. He was at the edge of spiritual collapse, only having the last breath to say ¡®help...¡¯ using all his efforts and groan once in awhile.


    Firstly, Zhang Tie checked the blood stains on the beast clip and his wounds. Judging from the dark blood stains and gore, Zhang Tie knew that it had happened more than ten hours ago. That unlucky guy¡¯s shin was directly broken by the bear trap, while the two rows of saw teeth were tightly biting into his flesh. At the sight of the wounds, Zhang Tie was really shocked.


    After checking his wounds, Zhang Tie moved his eyes onto the two dead wild wolves. After simply touching their stiffness, Zhang Tie only gained more proof for his initial thought¡ªthis unlucky guy was lying here since last night.


    Zhang Tie could even imagine what had happened here at that time¡ªthat guy must have wandered into the Wild Wolf Valley last night out of some reason and absent-mindedly stepped onto such a disgusting bear trap. As a result, he fell down and screamed miserably, which attracted the two wild wolves. Thankfully, he killed them. After that, he just lay on the ground overnight. Fortunately, he was still alive until now, although only with the last wisp of breath.


    Zhang Tie looked around and found nobody else. That guy just lay there alone. At the same time, some black points were flying high in the sky, eagles or vultures.


    If he didn¡¯t save him today, this guy would hardly live through tonight. He might be eaten before dusk. On the way here, Zhang Tie had seen more than one wild wolf wandering around. Judging from this guy¡¯s current situation, he would definitely be killed by another attacker, whoever it was.


    ¡°Hel...p...¡± almost in a coma, that guy mumbled once again. Wordless, Zhang Tie scratched his head and glanced at that 20 or so years old face again. He then thought back to how his mom had cried at the sight of the photo of his eldest brother and sighed. ¡®I will help you...¡¯


    After taking off his luggage and lance container, Zhang Tie put them on the grass to the side and carefully helped that guy sit up. He kept the stranger¡¯s upper body straight and let him sit close to his legs. After that, he carefully took away the dagger from the guy¡¯s hand. He didn¡¯t want to be scratched by accident when the guy regained consciousness. If that happened, he himself would be the most unlucky guy.


    After one night¡¯s struggle and losing a great amount of blood, that guy looked like white paper, and his lips were covered with white rips like crops that had not been watered for several years. Lifting him up with one hand, Zhang Tie took off his kettle from his waist and opened its lid. He then moved that kettle close to that guy¡¯s mouth and let him sip a mouthful of water.


    The water inside the kettle originated from the quality mountain spring in the Castle of Black Iron. This was the best water that Zhang Tie had ever drunk since he was born. It was crystal clear, sweet, and smooth. From the moment he drank a mouthful of this kind of water, he had kept drinking it the past few days.


    Only ten seconds after sipping a mouthful of water, that guy¡¯s vitality and instincts seemed to have been reawoken. He started to murmur out of consciousness, ¡°Water¡­ water¡­ water...¡±


    Zhang Tie then slowly fed him more, afraid of him suffocating if he took too much. After drinking several mouthfuls of water, the guy¡¯s throat started to quiver. Then, he started to drink faster. Not until he finished drinking half of the water in the kettle did Zhang Tie move it away from his lips, waiting for him to recover his physical strength and consciousness.


    Only after one minute, did this guy finally open his eyes. After glancing at Zhang Tie, he immediately closed his eyes. More than 10 seconds later, he opened his eyes once again. Meeting Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes once again, he slowly uttered in a hoarse voice, ¡°Thank you...¡±


    Seeing that guy recovering his consciousness a bit and already knowing that Zhang Tie had helped him, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh. If he could wake up, everything could be easily dealt with. Besides opening his eyes, judging from his raising chest, this guy could also breathe a bit more smoothly now. So his life might have been saved.


    Like teachers had said, water was really the source of life which could never be replaced. Without water, no living beings could survive.


    Letting him sit against his leg, Zhang Tie planned to let him recover his physical strength for a bit.


    Only after two minutes, the guy seemed to have recovered some more.


    ¡°Do you have some more water...¡±


    Zhang Tie then passed his kettle. This time, the guy could already hold the kettle by himself. While he was gulping down the water, Zhang Tie flicked the kettle at the guy¡¯s waist over. The empty sound drifted in his ears, making him speechless again¡ªwhat an unlucky guy! After finishing drinking his water, he then stepped onto a bear trap, and had struggled for the whole night. No wonder he was so thirsty.


    [1] One is a warrior until LV 6. After that, he would be a fighter, then a knight.

 135 Saving People

    Chapter 135: Saving People


    Translator:Editor:


    Sitting on the ground, the guy soon bottomed up Zhang Tie¡¯s kettle. He didn¡¯t mind that. While the guy was heavily breathing after drinking up the water, Zhang Tie found he was even a bit younger than he had speculated before. The dirt covering his face and the mustache that had not been shaved for many days caused him to look several years older. Actually, he was just a bit older than 20 years old.


    After taking his empty kettle back, Zhang Tie asked, ¡°Can you eat something now? I think it would help you recover as soon as possible!¡±


    Hearing this, the guy nodded and started to reach for something at his waist. Seeing him taking out compressed dried rations from his small leather bag, Zhang Tie stopped him. ¡°Eat mine. Compressed dried rations cannot provide you enough heat. It could never match meat. Can you sit up by yourself now?¡±


    The guy nodded and struggled to sit up, supporting himself by placing his hands on the ground. During this movement, he slightly moved the bear trap that had bitten onto his shin, and cold sweat could be seen once again forming on his forehead. However, he gritted his teeth and remained silent.


    Seeing him gritting his teeth and sitting up alone, Zhang Tie nodded inwardly. One who dared to wander in the Wild Wolf Valley at midnight truly was a tough man.


    ¡°Sit here, I will give some food for you!¡±


    After saying this, Zhang Tie walked towards the bamboo-woven cage that contained the dried meat of the huge wolf.


    When Zhang Tie turned away, the eyes of the guy sitting on the ground immediately became sharp. He rapidly peered at the dagger that had been thrown aside by Zhang Tie and glanced over Zhang Tie with alert eyes. During this process, he took in every details about Zhang Tie, including his age, height, physique, clothes, weapons, and his luggage that contained his sleeping bag. Nothing on Zhang Tie could escape from his eyes. After doing this, the guy winked, seemingly thinking about something. After that, he slumped down while the alertness in his eyes disappeared.


    Zhang Tie, who had turned away to get food for him, didn¡¯t know the thoughts that had flashed across the man behind him.


    The dried meat of the huge wolf was put into a bamboo-woven schoolbag-sized food container that could be fixed on his waist, which was a necessity in survival training in the wild. The cages were woven by girls in the Wild Wolf Castle using bamboo and reeds, which worked the best. Although Zhang Tie could access the Castle of Black Iron at any time, he didn¡¯t want himself to look too special. So for basic belongings and food, he preferred to carry them on his person. Even in the wild, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t like to casually access Castle of Black Iron without necessity, since it would increase the risk of exposing his biggest secret. Additionally, his strength could increase by carrying these items with him.


    Zhang Tie took out a smoked jerky of the huge wolf. The guy didn¡¯t pick at the food, nor did he say polite words. Instead, he directly took it and engulfed it. After that, he rested for another several minutes, during which he greatly improved both spiritually and physically.


    ¡°Thank you for saving my life. If not for you, I would have hardly survive this night!¡± Although still weak, the guy still seriously stared at Zhang Tie with his cyan eyes. ¡°Please let me know my savior¡¯s name!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Zhang Tie!¡±


    ¡°Are you a student attending survival training in the Wild Wolf Valley?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± Zhang Tie looked at him, not feeling it improper to tell him his status as a student attending the survival training. Since there were many students attending the training all over the Wild Wolf Valley, it was no secret. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Salvey!¡±


    ¡°Few people are as unlucky as you!¡± Zhang Tie looked at the bear trap on Salvey¡¯s shin. ¡°How do you feel now? Have you recovered a bit? I cannot open it by myself. I¡¯m afraid if I can¡¯t open it and let it close up again, you will suffer a greater pain. It seems like you¡¯ve already tried it by yourself...¡±


    Salvey¡¯s pale face looked a bit embarrassed. ¡°It would take a LV 5 strength to open it alone, my strength is not big enough...¡±


    Last night, Salvey had already tried twice to open it by himself. However, the result was the one that Zhang Tie had mentioned. He could not open it and had no choice but to let it close up again, only causing him to suffer more pain.


    ¡°There are too many pioneers coming to the Crescent Prairie to hunt for golden wolves and pick Goose-neck Grass. There¡¯s no way to know who had set the bear trap here!¡± Zhang Tie looked at Salvey full of sympathy. ¡°Are you here to hunt golden wolves and Pick up Goose-neck Grass too? Why did you come over here to the Wild Wolf Valley? There are no golden wolves or Goose-neck Grasses here...¡±


    After going blank for seconds, Salvey replied to eliminate Zhang Tie¡¯s doubt, ¡°It was dark, and I wasn¡¯t familiar with the terrain...¡±


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t doubt it after hearing the explanation. If it was not for the two items, why else would anyone wander into the Wild Wolf Valley and the Crescent Prairie? Picking up wolves¡¯ sh*t? Blues said many pioneers had arrived at the Crescent Prairie these days and Salvey must be one of them.


    Based on his own life experiences, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t realize that Salvey was escaping from his doubt. So he thought that Salvey had just admitted his purpose here.


    After resting for a couple of minutes, Salvey¡¯s face regained some color. He nodded towards Zhang Tie to indicate that he was ready to open it together with Zhang Tie.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to rest more?¡± Zhang Tie asked, a bit worried about him.


    ¡°No more, this time, we two might be able to deal with it...¡±


    ¡°Fine, hope we can succeed...¡±


    On the steel bars with saw teeth on both sides were a row of round holes. Such a design was to relieve the weight of the bear trap, and was convenient for one to open it. Since Salvey had expressed that he could do it, Zhang Tie said nothing more.


    He then held the bear trap using his hands, allowing Salvey to move his foot to another direction and lift up his knee so that they could use their efforts to open it together. After inserting their fingers into the round holes, they exchanged glances and nodded at the same time.


    ¡°After I count to three, let¡¯s do it together...¡± Zhang Tie said.


    Salvey nodded and took a deep breath.


    ¡°One¡­ two¡­ three¡­ Go!¡±


    The two used all their strength to pull the bear trap open, and the saw teeth started to leave Salvey¡¯s shin.


    When the saw teeth were pulled out of Salvey¡¯s wounds, Zhang Tie felt Salvey¡¯s body quiver all over. At the same time, Salvey¡¯s strength became weaker, causing the bear trap¡¯s force on his side to increase abruptly.


    Zhang Tie instantly shouted, ¡°Stand it, come on...¡±


    Zhang Tie¡¯s face turned red while Salvey¡¯s face increasingly turned paler. Sweat drops formed on their foreheads at the same time. Soon after that, the huge mouth of the bear trap slowly opened again.


    ¡°Right now...¡±


    When Salvey¡¯s shin could be fully pulled out of the beast clip, without Zhang Tie prompting, Salvey used his last energy to pull his leg back and get it out of the huge mouth of the bear trap. After that, they loosened their hands at the same time. With a sound of ¡®Ka¡¯, the bear trap closed once again.


    Just after such a short exercise, the two were so tired that they sat on the ground, breathing heavily. The jaws of this bear trap were really powerful...


    The moment the trap left Salvey¡¯s shin, the wounds torn open by the saw teeth bled once again. However, this time, the blood looked a bit dark. After tearing off the part of trousers covering Salvey¡¯s shin, Zhang Tie found that the lower part of Salvey¡¯s shin was swollen like a turnip and looked black and shiny due to the gore. After poking it using his finger, Zhang Tie found that the pioneer didn¡¯t feel it at all.


    Salvey also noticed this. He tried it by himself and realized that he could feel no pain on the shin beneath the wounds. Naturally he knew what this meant; his face twitched once again.


    ¡°If we don¡¯t deal with it at once, your shin might have to be cut off then...¡± Zhang Tie solemnly said to Salvey.


    Salvey¡¯s eyes became brighter hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, and he hurriedly asked, ¡°You could deal with it..?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard about it from others. As it will touch your broken bones and wounds, it might be very painful. I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll be able to stand it or not...¡±


    ¡°Come on...¡±


    Salvey gritted his teeth.


    ¡°Fine, you have to stand it. In your case, it¡¯s more important to make your blood near the wounds flow smoothly than wrapping them. I have to let the dead blood flow out in case of further damaging your shin...¡±


    Zhang Tie couldn''t be sure of success, but Donder had told him that this was the only method at this time. Yet, it was really his first time attempting something like this.


    Salvey nodded seriously.


    Zhang Tie pitched the part beneath Salvey¡¯s knee using his hands and pushed downwards along the wounds like pushing out milk...


    The moment Zhang Tie increased his strength, Salvey¡¯s eyes popped out. After a loud scream, he stopped Zhang Tie. ¡°Wait for a moment, please..¡±


    Zhang Tie looked at him and stopped...


    Salvey heavily gasped for air, a bit embarrassed. ¡°Can you fetch me a stick so that I can bite into it...¡±


    30 seconds later, Salvey bit into a stick fetched by Zhang Tie. Seeing Salvey having prepared, and nodding, Zhang Tie continued.


    This time, Salvey didn¡¯t scream, instead, his whole body started to tremble repetitively and twist like a fish thrown onto a stone to dry under the sunshine.


    No matter what, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t stop, since his actions wouldn¡¯t kill the pioneer. So although he was a bit hesitant at the beginning, he moved faster and more ferociously as time went by. Several minutes later, the blood in Salvey¡¯s shin could finally, smoothly flow downwards, and looked normal. However, Salvey looked as if he was scooped out of water¡ªwet all over.


    ¡°Is it done?¡± Salvey asked when he felt Zhang Tie stop. He felt like he¡¯d just survived hell itself.


    ¡°It¡¯s done...¡±


    Zhang Tie patted his hands.


    Hearing the words, Salvey revealed a brilliant smile of one who had survived a great trouble.


    ¡°I¡¯ve finished the preparations. Now we¡¯ll officially start it...¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, Salvey rolled up his eyes and fell backwards.


    ¡°Ah, why did you pass out...¡±


    ¡®You really have poor willpower!¡¯


    Zhang Tie shook his head and started to recover Salvey¡¯s senses in his shin. First, he still needed to eliminate the dirty blood in the shin, only then could the fresh blood flow in, and Salvey¡¯s shin start recovering. Together with fresh blood would be fresh energy and nutrients that could recover vitality in the muscles and nerves.


    He could push away the dirty blood like how he pushed milk. However, Salvey¡¯s wounds were above his shin. Therefore, the dirty blood could not flow out by itself¡ªjust like a dead pond. Over one night, it might have already conglomerated in the vessels of his shin, causing it to be more difficult to push it upwards.


    Thinking of Donder¡¯s guidance, Zhang Tie then took out his dagger and opened two wounds of medium depth along the direction of muscle fibre in Salvey¡¯s shin before starting to push hard on his shin. With his efforts, the black, dirty blood started to constantly flow out of the wounds on Salvey¡¯s shin.


    At first, the dirty blood being pushed out was black, then it turned purple-black, purple-red, and finally recovered to normal red. At that time, the black, bright swollen shin also gradually recovered to normal due to Zhang Tie¡¯s hard work.


    After all this, Zhang Tie pulled out some his medicine for healing wounds and pasted it onto Salvey¡¯s injuries.


    Stimulated by the medicine, Salvey gradually woke up. Opening his eyes, he saw Zhang Tie still working on his wounds; while the lower part of his shin felt a bit painful. Salvey almost started crying. It was the first time he thought that it was very nice to feel pain.


    ¡­¡­


    Twenty minutes later, Zhang Tie re-embarked on his path. However, this time, compared to that one hour ago, he had a companion¡ªbad luck Salvey.


    Salvey was both weak and embarrassed. Jumping on one foot, he supported himself with a branch fetched by Zhang Tie with one hand while the other was wrapped around Zhang Tie¡¯s neck.


    The two slowly walked towards the border between the Wild Wolf Valley and the Crescent Prairie. Salvey said he had several more companions in the border, so he only requested Zhang Tie to accompany him back to his base.


    Now that Zhang Tie had saved his life, he naturally would not just leave him alone, especially since the man could not even move freely. With the belief to be a good man and help people for as long as it was necessary, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth and carried his luggage once again. He promised Salvey to send him back to his base to meet his companions. According to him, they were just 3-5 km away from Zhang Tie¡¯s base.


    ¡®It won¡¯t take me too long time to come back after sending him back to his base.¡¯ Thinking this, Zhang Tie agreed and considered it a good way to become more familiar with the surrounding terrain.


    ¡­¡­

 136 An Almost Death

    Chapter 136: An Almost Death


    Translator:Editor:


    They started during noon and finally completed the less than 10 km journey right before sunset.


    Due to Salvey¡¯s weakness, they had to rest several times on the way. If it wasn¡¯t for the items Zhang Tie had to carry, he would have taken Salvey on his back. He still considered it for a couple of times.


    Besides Salvey, Zhang Tie had without hesitation taken that bear trap. He had put it onto his package which added more than 5 kg to the already sizable weight on his back. Seeing the metal contraption, Salvey kept gritting his teeth.


    Zhang Tie asked Salvey whether he would take the bear trap himself. Naturally, Salvey was not able to take it, so, Zhang Tie owned it. Facing the pioneer¡¯s dubious eyes, he had explained that he could obtain about 20 silver coins by selling it in Blackhot City. Hearing his words, Salvey didn¡¯t doubt him but felt speechless.


    In truth, Zhang Tie admitted it only to himself but he was actually thinking about setting up Glaze and his lackeys using this bear trap. Salvey¡¯s poor look brought an evil scene to his mind¡ªGlaze or one of his lackeys gripped by those metal jaws like Salvey had been, and rolling around on the ground. If it happened, Zhang Tie would feel much better. So he decided to carry it on his back.


    The distance they had to travel tested Zhang Tie¡¯s endurance more than his physical strength.


    When they reached the foot of the mountain, they moved only a bit faster than a tortoise. Thankfully Salvey expected to soon meet his companions around here, so except for necessary short rests, he had no mood to do anything else. Additionally, they weren¡¯t unfortunate enough to meet any beasts on the way, enabling them to arrive at the base where Salvey¡¯s companions stayed before sunset.


    The base was on the other side of the range which extended out of the Wild Wolf Valley. If this range of dozens of kilometers in length was regarded as a bitter gourd, on the top of this bitter gourd would be the border between the Wild Wolf Valley and the Crescent Prairie. Zhang Tie stayed on the left side atop this bitter gourd while Salvey¡¯s companions stayed on the right top-side of this bitter gourd. Once passing through the top of the bitter gourd, the two places were not far from each other.


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°The birch forest in front is where we should meet up...¡±


    Pointing at the birch forest on the hillside ahead, Salvey increased his pace with one arm over Zhang Tie¡¯s neck. Seeing the target, Zhang Tie also let out a sigh, thinking about being able to come back to his own base before dusk.


    After entering the birch forest with Salvey for less than 50 m, Zhang Tie abruptly felt goose bumps all over his neck. Without hesitation, he immediately rolled away.


    The moment Zhang Tie rolled away, a blade flashed through the air, passing the place where he had stood moments before. There was a shadow sliding down from a birch. Realizing that he had not hit Zhang Tie, he chased after him, aiming to attack him once again.


    ¡°Stop, Miller..!¡± Salvey shouted out loudly.


    With the luggage on his back, Zhang Tie¡¯s flexibility was restricted. That shadow moved faster than him.


    So overburdened, Zhang Tie moved like a tortoise. After two rolls on the ground, he pulled out his lance, but that guy¡¯s blade had already come close to his neck. If it wasn¡¯t for Salvey who had shouted ¡°Stop..!¡±, Zhang Tie believed he would have definitely had his neck sliced. Looking at his lance, he found that he could at most pierce through his opponent¡¯s abdomen. The outcome would be that the shadow guy would be heavily wounded, yet he himself would have kicked the bucket.


    That guy called Miller had never imagined that Zhang Tie could respond so fast. He didn¡¯t consider that Zhang Tie might be able to pull out his lance and prepare to pierce through his abdomen by the time he moved his blade close to his neck.


    The moment Salvey shouted, the two people stopped at the same time. The tense atmosphere eased down somewhat. However, Zhang Tie and Miller goggled at each other without putting their weapons down.


    Only after a few seconds, Zhang Tie¡¯s back was drenched with sweat. After Huck and Snade, this was his second time coming this close to dying.


    ¡°Brat, I will count to three. If you don¡¯t put down your weapon, my bow will definitely open a big hole in your neck, cooling you off...¡±


    20 m away, another person in a gray cloak stood up from the shrubs with a bow in hand, an arrow nocked and ready to go. The sharp triangular arrowhead was targeted at Zhang Tie¡¯s neck from 20 m away.


    Zhang Tie felt goose bumps all over his neck once again.


    ¡°Harley, put down your bow. He saved me, so I let him accompany me back. Without him, I might not have even been able to return...¡± After saying that, Salvey shouted at Miller again, ¡°Miller, you motherf*cker, before you chop people, won¡¯t you tell me first!¡±


    After exchanging glances, Miller and Harley seemed to notice the wounds on Salvey¡¯s shin and that crutch made of a branch. They then moved away their weapons.


    ¡°Hey, brat, it¡¯s really surprising how fast you moved!¡±


    Miller laughed out loudly without caring about what he had almost done to Zhang Tie just now. Putting the long machete back into its holder, he then stretched out his hands towards Zhang Tie who was still lying on the ground. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t pull on his hands but picked himself up from the ground without saying anything. Seeing this, Miller just shrugged his shoulders.


    During the short time of their confrontation, more than ten people rushed out of the birch forest with weapons in hands. Supported by his clutch, Salvey immediately moved forward and murmured something to one of the group of people while pointing at Zhang Tie. Hearing his explanation, they then put their weapons back and walked peacefully towards Zhang Tie.


    Since the group of people had rushed out of the birch forest, Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes jumped. Although they looked like pioneers, he felt that it wasn¡¯t true. He didn¡¯t know how, but he felt that these people were dangerous as their alert and wondering eyes made him uncomfortable.


    ¡°You saved Salvey?¡±


    A 30-odd years man walked towards Zhang Tie, as he put away his weapon. The newcomer looked thin, with an unclean beard. He had a pair of sharp, eagle-like eyes. They reminded Zhang Tie of the magistrates squatting in the corners of the walls near the railway station of Blackhot city, fixating their eyes on those orphans who only focused on passers-by¡¯s purses on their waists.


    This made Zhang Tie uncomfortable too.


    ¡°Yes, I saved Salvey.¡± Saying this, he put away his lance.


    ¡°Few students dare to come to the Crescent Prairie for survival training!¡± the man noted, trying to figure out who Zhang Tie really was.


    ¡°There are three students from the Wild Wolf Castle who dare to attend the loner¡¯s survival training here, and I am one of them!¡± Zhang Tie replied with some pride.


    At the same time, he noticed that the man walking towards him exchanged glances with Miller, who slightly nodded, seemingly admitting Zhang Tie¡¯s strength.


    ¡°No matter what, since you saved Salvey, we should thank you!¡± The man slightly changed his attitude. ¡°What do you need? If you have any wishes, just tell us, we will try our best to satisfy you!¡±


    The man spoke so directly.


    ¡°No need. Salvey has returned to your place, so I will leave then!¡± Zhang Tie refused his proposal and looked at Salvey again. ¡°See you next time!¡±


    Knowing Zhang Tie was going to leave, Salvey opened his mouth, yet didn¡¯t utter a sound.


    Waving his hands, Zhang Tie then strode out of the birch forest. Under the other people¡¯s gaze, he started to trot along the path he had come from. Those people just silently watched him disappear before moving away their eyes.


    ¡°Trust me, as long as he¡¯s in Blackhot city, you¡¯ll have a chance to thank him...¡± the archer Harley, who was standing nearby, comforted Salvey by patting his shoulder.


    After moving back his eyes, Salvey revealed a smile.


    ¡°Head, this brat is not bad; he responded so fast. But he¡¯s narrow-minded...¡±


    Hearing Miller¡¯s judgment, Salvey glared at him once again. ¡°If he hadn¡¯t responded fast, he¡¯d be long ago chopped down by you!¡±


    That man with a pair of sharp eyes like those of an eagle kept watching Zhang Tie until he disappeared in the distance. He then turned back and asked, ¡°Salvey, how about it now?¡±


    Salvey knew that the man was not concerning about his wounds. Hearing his words, he said nothing else but pulled out a metal cylinder from his coat and passed it over.


    ¡°I¡¯ve already mapped the terrain of the Wild Wolf Valley and figured out the situation there. The team of soldiers residing in the Wild Wolf Castle have already left one month ago. Therefore, the Wild Wolf Castle is the base of a group of boy scouts. There are less than ten people above LV 6 in the castle. The highest fighting force is below LV 9. The fighters are all teachers and instructors from the schools in Blackhot City.


    Additionally, the city-defense equipment in the Castle can only perform to 40 percent of its maximal force under the manipulation of the students. The predominant boiler in the castle has not been used...¡±


    Hearing Salvey¡¯s information, that man opened the metal cylinder and took out the map inside. He nodded slightly, then put the map back and immediately declared several orders without in the blink of an eye.


    ¡°You have five minutes to prepare, we¡¯ll move at once...¡±


    Hearing his order, everybody hurriedly moved.


    ¡°Doge, prepare the message falcon to connect with the headquarters. Zola, check horses...¡± After saying that, the man remembered Salvey¡¯s wounds. He glanced at the injured leg roughly bound by twig-made splints and asked Salvey, ¡°Can you still ride?¡±


    ¡°Yes...¡± Salvey replied with gritted teeth.


    The man nodded.


    Five minutes after Zhang Tie had left the birch forest, more than ten horses galloped out of the place. After a short while, they had already disappeared in the horizon northeast the border of the Crescent Prairie...

 137 You are Cute

    Chapter 137: You are Cute


    Translator:Editor:


    Not until roughly three kilometers away from Salvey and his companions did Zhang Tie find them abnormal. If you saw a shoal of golden fish swimming in order in the pond, you would also feel it abnormal.


    Similarly, compared to the other pioneers that Zhang Tie had met before, he felt these were too disciplined and good at teamwork. He knew from experience that all pioneers were free-willed. They would form teams sometimes for common benefits, but if you made a comparison between a real pioneers¡¯ team with Salvey¡¯s group, you would see the difference at once. No matter how many real pioneers gathered together, they were just a pile of sand; however, Zhang Tie felt that Salvey¡¯s group was a brick, a shoal of golden fish that could swim in order. This made him feel strange.


    Although they looked unusual, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t think too much; he didn¡¯t have that strong of a curiosity to try figuring it out. He believed that everyone had their own secrets. If it had nothing to do with him, he would prefer to ignore them. Who were those guys had nothing to do with Zhang Tie. What really concerned him was that swift attack from Miller the moment he had entered the birch woods.


    What if Salvey didn¡¯t shout out at that time...


    What if that guy in the shrubs had also followed up Miller by shooting him with an arrow...


    Then...


    At that moment..!


    He might have become a corpse!


    Zhang Tie really couldn¡¯t accept this. What made him most offended was that he had survived these ¡®ifs¡¯. What if the ¡®if¡¯ came true one day? Would he then be killed in such an easy way? Would he then become a corpse? Would he then let his parents suffer like what his eldest brother had done?


    After that event of Huck and Snade, Zhang Tie became afraid of death. What was death? Was it endless darkness? Every time he thought of this, the fear would arise from his inner heart.


    Did his own fate have to be determined by so many ¡®ifs¡¯ concerning others?


    Never! Zhang Tie looked calm while running, but he was screaming inside.


    ¡®No one can determine my fate except for me, no¡­ one! If only those really powerful can determine their own fate in this world, then I will choose to be that powerful. I will choose to be more and more powerful..!¡¯


    That misunderstanding in the birch forest just now was nothing serious to Salvey¡¯s group, after all, Zhang Tie had left there safely. However, Salvey¡¯s group didn¡¯t know that just because of that ¡®trivial thing¡¯ in their eyes, Zhang Tie swore to become a really powerful man so that he would have the ability to control his own fate and life or death. The 15-year old youth finally awakened at this moment, with his heart pounding fiercely.


    Only by becoming a really powerful man could he let his parents live a comfortable life.


    Only by becoming a really powerful man could he stop his beloved woman from leaving him.


    Only by becoming a really powerful man could he master his own fate and prevent others from killing him like a dog.


    This was why Zhang Tie wanted to be powerful. It was neither ground-breaking nor great. It was even a bit selfish. However, that was how Zhang Tie really thought. Additionally, these selfish thoughts gradually made him highly spirited. He started to feel really energetic to strive forward...


    Zhang Tie then quickened his pace!


    ¡­¡­


    There were only 4-5 km¡¯s from that birch woods to Zhang Tie¡¯s own base. It only took him a bit more than ten minutes to arrive there by running.


    However, Zhang Tie had never imagined that he would meet a friend there. When he arrived at the mountain cave, both him and that guy in the mountain cave became stunned.


    ¡°Is that you?¡± two voices shouted out in unison before bursting out laughing.


    It was Blues. Similar to their last meeting, they just exchanged their roles this time. Blues had already used the firewood and grasses fetched by Zhang Tie to burn a fire, and was roasting a savory hare while Zhang Tie was the one to rush in from outside.


    ¡°Is this your base?¡± Blues asked.


    ¡°Of course!¡± Zhang Tie put down his luggage. ¡°That¡¯s my firewood and grasses, haha!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re really brave to choose your base here! This place is already very close to the Crescent Prairie...¡± Blues said in awe. ¡°I didn¡¯t dare to choose such a close place my first time here!¡±


    ¡°Crescent Prairie? I¡¯ve just come back from the border over there!¡±


    Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t wait to sit near Blues, since he could smell a thick aroma of the roasted hare. He never imagined that Blues was this good at cooking.


    ¡°What were you doing there?¡± Blues asked out of curiosity.


    He then noticed that huge bear trap on his luggage. Blues then picked himself up from the ground near the fire and walked over. Taking up the trap, he took a careful look.


    ¡°There are blood stains on it, how did you get this stuff?¡±


    Zhang Tie then told Blues about what had happened to Salvey. Of course, he just briefed it¡ªat noon, when he was coming towards here, he met a pioneer caught in a bear trap. He the sent the pioneer back to his base to converge with his partners before coming back. As for others, Zhang Tie ignored them all as he felt that it was not necessary to share his own boredom and mental experiences with Blues.


    Blues really enjoyed Zhang Tie¡¯s story.


    The hare was almost cooked as well, and fat enough for two people to enjoy it. Neither of them hesitated. They just both took out their daggers and started to cut off the meat and enjoy it. At the same time, they started to talk about what had happened in the past couple of days. What Blues revealed finally confirmed Zhang Tie¡¯s presumption¡ªGlaze had already become a LV 3 warrior and the first one among all the horny students. He became very well known all over the Wild Wolf Castle.


    Hearing this news, Zhang Tie was not too amazed. When Blues told him Glaze was the only student who had entered LV 3 among all the students attending this survival training, he just mumbled inwardly, ¡®He won¡¯t be the only one by tomorrow!¡¯


    Another Leakless Fruit on the small tree would become ripe by next day.


    ¡°What about you? Have you prepared your tools?¡±


    Last time when Zhang Tie had met Blues, the other had expressed that he would like to go back to the Wild Wolf Castle to prepare some items so as to pick up Goose-neck Grass. Blues felt that it was very difficult to capture a live golden wolf and take it to the Wild Wolf Castle 30 km away as an archer, so he targeted the Goose-neck Grass, which was also very valuable.


    However, if one wanted to pick up Goose-neck Grass, he had to own a plant-storage container or a special herbal container. Goose-neck Grass was very tender, its neck and roots very fragile and easily broken. If one was careless, he would break or damage it, and once broken or damaged, its effects would greatly reduce, resulting in a low price. So one should never put it casually among luggage.


    One had to pull this stuff out of the soil together with its root. The better preserve it was from its root to its neck, the more valuable it was.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t see any container on Blues or in the mountain cave that could be used to hold Goose-neck Grass.


    ¡°I¡¯m looking for someone to make the containers. Speaking of this, I have to thank you. When I went to the Iron Melting Workshop to look for someone to make a medicinal spade for me. Hearing that I was invited by you, the guys didn¡¯t even want my compensation!¡± Blues said with a big smile.


    No matter what, such a feeling of being cared by friends everywhere would be a great feeling for anyone, especially a weird recluse like Blues. This might have even been his first time experiencing this kind of care by others.


    ¡°Pleasure, those guys in the Iron Melting Workshop are easy to get along with. If you feel embarrassed, you can just let someone take a wild wolf back to those guys for you if you have any surplus. Seeing the wolf, they¡¯ll definitely treat you as their bosom brother...¡±


    ¡°Fine, got it!¡± Blues nodded seriously.


    ¡°So why did you come back before preparing well...¡± After saying this, Zhang Tie felt Blues was staring at him weirdly. Scratching his own face, he asked again, ¡°What? Was my question weird?¡±


    ¡°Have you not heard it?¡± Blues asked weirdly.


    ¡°Hear what?¡±


    ¡°Wolves¡¯ Canival!¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Zhang Tie felt like he was becoming rustic.


    ¡°The two moons in the sky control the mating time of the wolves. When the two become full moons, the wolves¡¯ mating time begins, lasting one month; three times a year. When the first night of the full moons arrives, a large amount of wolves will gather together and howl up at them like holding a ceremony. So this day was called Wolves¡¯ Carnival!¡±


    Blues didn¡¯t notice that when he explained it, Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes became brighter at once.


    ¡°There are two full moons tonight?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Will there be a lot of wolves?¡±


    ¡°Many, I heard someone saying he saw thousands of wild wolves howling up to the full moons. But our strength doesn¡¯t allow us to venture deep into the Crescent Prairie. Last time when I wandered around here, I found a safe place near where a large group of wild wolves would gather together at night. If my assumption is right, we could enjoy the scene of the wild wolves¡¯ howling to the full moons!¡± Blues said with a delighted look.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes were not just bright this time. Instead, they had become extremely brilliant, like two burning lanterns.


    ¡°Blues...¡±


    ¡°What!¡± Feeling Zhang Tie¡¯s voice becoming strange, he, who was tearing off a hare¡¯s leg, turned his head and found Zhang Tie with his eyes fixated on him, causing him to be startled.


    ¡°Did someone say you were cute?¡± After saying this, Zhang Tie heard a sound of ¡®Pi pa¡¯ from the burning firewood.


    Blues¡¯ hand shook, and he almost dropped his hare¡¯s leg onto the ground.


    ¡°No!¡± Blues forcefully swallowed his saliva and replied before moving a bit farther away from Zhang Tie out of self-preservation. His were looked weird, and Blues started to wonder if Zhang Tie had a special hobby related to soap![1]


    In the mountain cave where only two men were inside, Blues abruptly felt goose bumps rise all over his skin!


    ¡°You are cute!¡± Zhang Tie said seriously.


    In the mountain cave where only two men were inside, seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s gleaming eyes, Blues¡¯ face immediately turned white, and he dropped his hare¡¯s leg onto the ground¡­


    [1] A special hobby related to soap refers to homosexuality. When two men fall in love with each other and prepare to make love, one would bend over like picking up a soap...

 138 Wolf Pack Howling at the Full Moons

    Chapter 138: Wolf Pack Howling at the Full Moons


    Translator:Editor:


    In the sky, the two moons were as round as wheels: one big, one small. Their brilliance scattered all over the ground, causing numerous stars to lose their shine. Even everything on the ground seemed like it was covered with silver.


    The Crescent Prairie at this moment looked magnificent: vast, mysterious, and endless. Under the moonlight, the swaying grass in the distance was changing its shape, bringing Zhang Tie a sense of a sea wave moving across the land.


    At the sight of the two full moons in the sky and a vast prairie on the ground, most people would abruptly feel broad minded and lose all their distracting thoughts.


    Since he was born¡ªas full moons appeared every four months¡ªZhang Tie had already watched them dozens of times. He thought them very beautiful, and he would have appreciated the view over a windowsill, however, today he felt that it was more beautiful than ever before.


    Of course, what was the most beautiful was the increasing number of wild wolves in the valley. When it reached 30, Zhang Tie knew that his Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit will get ripe tonight. Perhaps because of the nice scenery, the ferocious look of the wild wolves became cute in Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes as he thought the wolves¡¯ carnival was a grand party themed for mating. He heard some rich people in Blackhot City usually held these kind of parties at home; it was unknown whether they had learned it from wolves.


    Thinking of mating, unknowingly, with his eyes fixed onto the two moons of different sizes, a bashful thought flashed across Zhang Tie¡¯s mind. Such plump, round, and bright moons reminded him of the breasts of Miss Daina and Alice. The bigger one belonged to Miss Daina while the smaller one was Alice¡¯s. After an estimation using his eyes, Zhang Tie found that they were truly similar in size. Although Alice¡¯s and Beverley¡¯s boobs were comparatively large among girls, compared to that of Miss Daina¡¯s, they were still smaller.


    Seeing Zhang Tie stretch out his hands and pinched his fingers towards the two moons with a weird smile, Blues¡ªlying on the ground nearby¡ªimmediately quivered and silently moved a bit farther away from Zhang Tie.


    When the moons rose above their heads, the number of wild wolves in the valley gradually increased to roughly 70, which greatly surpassed Zhang Tie¡¯s ability to deal with in one go. If he just jumped into a pack of rutting wild wolves, Zhang Tie was certain that he would definitely be killed miserably.


    The night wind from the prairie also brought the smell of wild wolves in the valley. With the increasing numbers, howls could gradually be heard one by one and the entire valley became their meeting place.


    ¡®There must be a way. There must be a way!¡¯


    When some wild wolves started to growl, Zhang Tie rapidly racked his mind, glancing over the valley beneath, not letting any detail go. If he was surrounded by 70 wild wolves at the same time, he would definitely lose his life.


    ¡®What method can I use to avoid being besieged by so many wild wolves at the same time?¡¯


    He could only use terrain, allowing wild wolves to not be able to besiege him.


    Finally, at the sight of a crack extending from the ravine at the bottom to the cliff upwards 70 m away, Zhang Tie shouted inwardly, ¡®Gold help me.¡¯


    That crack was more than 10 m in height, the top of which was on the cliff where Zhang Tie and Blues were lying. Like it was split by a huge axe, the entire crack was about 20 m deep and in the shape of a wedge. The wider place outside was 5-6 m, while the deeper it went inside, the narrower it got before closing off entirely. Noticing this, a thought flashed across Zhang Tie¡¯s mind. He then thought up a brave plan.


    He hit Blues¡¯s shoulder.


    Blues felt uneasy, and in response, slowly moved aside.


    ¡°Blues...¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I need your help tonight. I owe you one for tonight!¡± Zhang Tie lowered his voice.


    ¡°I will not do weird things!¡± Blues hurriedly replied.


    Not knowing why, Zhang Tie felt that Blues was a bit nervous tonight, but he didn¡¯t think too much on it.


    ¡°Have you seen the crack that extends downwards along the cliff¡± Zhang Tie pointed at the place.


    ¡°Yea!¡±


    ¡°How do you feel about that crack? Whether it is stubborn and sexy?¡±


    Blues felt goose bumps all over. Widely opening his eyes, he asked Zhang Tie, ¡°What do you want?¡±


    ¡°I have a plan, a very interesting plan; I need your help!¡±


    ¡°What plan?¡±


    Blues swallowed his saliva. At this time, he had already determined that once Zhang Tie said something disgusting, he would leave, and the farther the better.


    Zhang Tie licked his lips, causing Blues to quiver once again.


    ¡°After a while, I will go down from there and enjoy the carnival together with the wild wolves. You can keep an eye on the scene. If I cannot stand it any more, you need to hold the wolves back so that I can climb up once again. As long as I can stand it, you just watch...¡± Zhang Tie revealed his plan, which was actually not a plan at all since he was planning to just fight the wild wolves by force. If he couldn¡¯t stand it and would like to escape, he would ask for Blues¡¯ help who¡¯d cover him with his bow and arrows.


    Such a sharp unexpected reply stunned Blues for quite a while. He couldn¡¯t understand why Zhang Tie would do this crazy thing at all. Why would Zhang Tie celebrate the Carnival together with the wild wolves? The word Carnival caught Blues imagination. A people with 70 rutting wolves? Happy? Did it mean that he would even f*ck wolves? That was too terrible! Blues was slightly shocked, feeling that Zhang Tie was already as terrible as prehistoric beasts.


    Seeing Blues¡¯ silence, Zhang Tie mistook it , especially that bit of shock in Blues¡¯ eyes, as his consent, which pleased him.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt that he should be slightly modest. ¡°After exploding some of their anus, the wild wolves will definitely be driven crazy. I hope they can come in a queue. If they want to come for me at the same time, I will not deal with them!¡±


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, Blues¡¯ face turned whiter under the moonlight. Seeing the sweat oozing over Blues¡¯ forehead, Zhang Tie thought Blues was worrying about him.


    ¡°Trust me, I¡¯ve done this kind of thing many times. As long as they come for me in turns, even 7-8 wolves a time, I can still deal with them!¡± Saying this, Zhang Tie patted Blues¡¯ shoulder and lowered his body, running towards that crack.


    Have done this kind of thing many times? With wolves?


    Blues was so scared that he almost escaped. What kept him was his curiosity. He really wanted to see what would happen between a person and 60-70 wild wolves. This was too terrifying.


    At this moment, if Zhang Tie knew what Blues was really thinking about, he would have definitely spat blood for a couple of liters.


    He arrived at a place about one meter away from the two sides of the crack, then squatted down and supported himself on the ground using his hands, leaning half of his body inside the crack to explore.


    The walls on both sides of the crack were like two horizontal high walls for Zhang Tie. Once stepping against both walls inside, he could easily climb down from the top. Actually, the rugged walls were much easier for him to use his strength on than smooth walls .


    Zhang Tie climbed down over ten meters in half a minute.


    The ravine was brimming with howling wild wolves.


    With six lances, Zhang Tie could kill six wild wolves. Before the other wild wolves besieged him, he could retreat into this wedge crack, during which he could kill several more wolves in the front. By then, he would have roughly killed 10 wolves. After that, he could kill ten more wild wolves in the crack. By then, he would have successfully completed tonight¡¯s mission and could safely retreat. There were only two items that he should keep in mind: first, move fast; second, don¡¯t get surrounded by wild wolves.


    Almost the moment he reached the ground, Zhang Tie was very calm, and started to calculate precisely. After thinking carefully and feeling that no unexpected problems could exist, Zhang Tie pulled out two lances as he took a deep breath and rushed out of the hidden place inside the crack.


    Seeing Zhang Tie rush out of that crack with lances in hand, Blues eyes widened once again. ¡°What is he doing?¡± Closely after that, Blues saw Zhang Tie¡¯s marvelous lance skill...


    Zhang Tie¡¯s first target was a head wolf standing on a huge rock. It was a comparatively large wolf, who was occupying the best place. No other wolves dared to fight for that place with him.


    The head wolf kept raising its head and howling at the moons.


    Since pack of wolves with a head wolf¡¯s guidance would be more difficult to deal with, Zhang Tie would naturally take eliminating the head wolf as his first task.


    The lance fell from the sky and pierced straight through the head wolf¡¯s body, causing it to fly off the rock. But before the pack of wolves could respond, another lance arrived, nailing a wild wolf to the ground.


    Within the next two-three seconds, sprays of spurting blood could be seen coming from a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth wolves after their bodies were pierced through by lances, causing miserable howls to echo around the place before death silenced them.


    At this time, Zhang Tie was like a thug¡ªhe abruptly intruded into the wild wolves¡¯ party and started his massacre.


    The lance containers were soon cleared. After that, Zhang Tie pulled out his long sword with his right hand and took the dagger into his left as he rushed towards the two wolves that were also charging at him. Two sprays blood spurted out, caused by the long sword and the dagger at the same time.


    In a split second, several wolves pounced at Zhang Tie. He adroitly escaped from their attacks, using his long sword and dagger to kill several more wolves in the short period of time that a person needs to take a couple breaths, causing blood of the wild wolves to spray everywhere.


    More wolves rushed forward. Seeing this, Zhang Tie immediately turned back and started to escape. The fastest two wolves rushed out of the pack, aiming to bite him, howling. However, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t even slow down. He just changed his footwork and wove his dagger two times, causing the two wolves to fall down to the ground.


    Standing at the entrance of the mountain cave on the cliff, Blues was really stunned by what he was seeing. What shocked him the most was Zhang Tie¡¯s marvelous lance skills, followed by his brave act of challenging the wolf pack. This time, in his eyes, Zhang Tie was not committing a massacre at all; instead, he was dancing. The wild wolves were absolutely dancing in pre-prepared moves. They all jumped onto Zhang Tie¡¯s dagger and long sword one by one, causing sprays of blood to spurt out one after another.


    Under that silvery moonlight, everything turned cruelly beautiful...


    Not until the remaining wolves had besieged Zhang Tie and force him into that crack did Blues quiver under the night chilly wind. Thinking of what Zhang Tie had told him, he hurriedly took his bow and ran over there.


    Before Blues arrived, several more wolves were laid on the ground in the wedge-shaped crack. Zhang Tie kept fighting as he retreated deeper into the crack. Soon, he had reached half the depth of the 20 m deep crack. At this position, the width between the two walls was less than two meters.


    Although many wild wolves were outside, few of them could rush in and attack Zhang Tie. Like a rock battered by constant sea waves, Zhang Tie just stayed there and constantly cracked down the wild wolves¡¯ attacks, causing them to fall one after another with miserable howls.


    In front of Zhang Tie, a pile of dead wild wolves soon came into being...


    In Blues¡¯ eyes, both the long sword and the dagger in Zhang Tie¡¯s hands were like wild wolf grinders. Zhang Tie moved so fast, with both ferociousness and viciousness. It seemed as if he had practiced each move he used to kill the wild wolves for hundreds of times, since they were unimaginably precise and simple.


    Once hit by Zhang Tie¡¯s long sword or dagger, those wild wolves would completely lose their fighting force and fall down. They would never pick themselves up from the ground again.


    When Zhang Tie chopped at a wild wolf¡¯s head using his long sword, reaching only midway, so that half of the head was still hanging on the wolf¡¯s neck, blood sprayed all over his face.


    After this wild wolf fell down, other wolves retreated at the same time, leaving the wedge-shaped crack. Because of their intelligence, the wild wolves understood that they won¡¯t win anything by fighting Zhang Tie here in this way.


    Although leaving the crack, the wild wolves surrounded the entrance and kept watch. Their ferocious eyes were locked onto Zhang Tie as they growled in low voices. After exposing their sharp canines, they scratched the stones and soil on the ground, their bodies lowered. But even though they felt like surging forward, they dared not to do that!


    Unexpectedly, the beasts were this smart. After wiping off the blood from his face, Zhang Tie burst out laughing.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Blues shouted from above him.


    ¡°I¡¯m okay! I can still stand it...¡± Saying this, Zhang Tie rushed forward again with the long sword in hand. He killed those wild wolves which had completely lost their moving ability but haven¡¯t died yet.


    The moment he rushed out of the crack, the surrounding wild wolves charged at him once again. Seeing that, Zhang Tie retreated for the second time. When he reached his previous place, the wild wolves exited too. During the whole rush, another three wild wolves had fallen outside.


    The two parties kept repeating this process.


    When Zhang Tie rushed out, the wild wolves besieged; after Zhang Tie retreated, leaving several more dead wild wolves, they would fall back too. After repeating this process several times, more wild wolves were killed outside the wedge-shaped crack, causing the pile to grow higher...


    Even Zhang Tie himself couldn¡¯t remember how many times he had launched the seesaw battles with the wild wolves. Finally, seeing him rush out of the crack again, the wild wolves outside immediately turned back and escaped with their tails between their legs. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t retreat any more, instead he kept chasing behind them with loud laughter. Although the remaining wild wolves ran fast, Zhang Tie kept close behind them. After picking up the lances from the ground, he killed two more wild wolves that ran slower than the rest.


    When no more wild wolves could be seen in the ravine, Zhang Tie looked around and found over 40 dead bodies lying about...


    Under the bright and clear moonlight, the entire ravine was covered with wild wolves¡¯ fresh blood and dead bodies.


    Everything turned tranquil again...


    He really did it: chasing away all the wild wolves by himself. Seeing his achievement, Zhang Tie became stunned!


    Previously, he thought that it would be him who would have to escape. Unimaginably, the wild wolves were the ones to run away. Seeing the thrilling scene before his eyes, something flashed across Zhang Tie¡¯ mind for a split second, which filled his heart, making him generous.


    ¡®It seems that I could make it. I could really make it. Even facing 70 wild wolves, I could still commit a massacre and scare the sh*t out of them...¡¯


    ¡°I can make it!¡± Zhang Tie mumbled...


    ¡°I can make it!¡± Zhang Tie raised his voice, reaffirming it.


    Raising his head, he glanced at the dead wild wolves all over the grounds. At the same time, something new appeared in his eyes...


    ¡°I can make it!: Zhang Tie shouted out loudly with eyes turning extremely stubborn.


    ¡°Ao wu...¡± Zhang Tie raised his head towards the sky and howled like a wolf, which could be heard in the surroundings...


    At this time, Blues, calmly standing on the cliff, gazed at that youth covered with blood who had made the miracle in the ravine...


    Under the moonlight, the youth wore a layer of silver frost like silver armor. It was covered with bloody marks, streaks of beasts¡¯ blood, like heraldry.


    Pitch-dark night!


    Full moons!


    Ravine!


    Dead wolves!


    Youth!


    Fresh blood!


    What a visually shocking scene!


    Moved, Blues felt that the scene before his eyes seemed to predict something. It became distant; sadly, he was not an authoritative expert on occultism and wasn¡¯t good at predicting. So he didn¡¯t know what future was behind that distant scene.


    ¡°That guy is really handsome!¡± Blues mumbled...

 139 Relaxing

    Chapter 139: Relaxing


    Translator:Editor:


    Being dreamless, last night was Zhang Tie¡¯s best sleep during the past days. Especially since together with Blues he had set up that bear trap on the path people had to take if they wanted to enter where the two people were sleeping.


    The whole night wolves¡¯ howls drifted into the mountain cave from the Prairie outside. Some howls seemed like they were coming from not that far off. If it was before, Zhang Tie would have definitely not been able to sleep well; he would have definitely checked outside again and again with lance in hand to reassure himself that there was nothing there. However, last night, Zhang Tie had slept unexpectedly well.


    The never-ending wolf howls outside the mountain cave reminded him of dog barks and the sound of raindrops falling onto the roof of his own attic at home in Blackhot City. It seemed to be a rainy night as raindrops and dog barks drifted into his ears from outside. Everything combined into a sort of tranquility. Hearing those common noises, Zhang Tie felt reassured and easily fell asleep.


    Zhang Tie knew that it was not raining outside the mountain cave. The wolf howls were still wolf howls; where he lay was a mountain cave on the border of the Crescent Prairie instead of his own attic. Nothing had changed except for his inner heart and his own feelings.


    Like how he had felt being a flesh bag in the Iron Thorns Fighting Club. When he changed his attitude and emotions towards it, everything changed!


    Last night, Zhang Tie had experienced a wholly new change inside himself.


    ¡­¡­


    Not knowing why. Perhaps because he came back late last night, his biological clock didn¡¯t wake him up a bit after 6 am the next morning as usual.


    When Zhang Tie woke up, the sun had already risen high. He felt so comfortable that the moment reminded him of the feel of waking up late in the morning at home. His parents spoiled him like that sometimes. During the holidays, when he didn¡¯t need to go to school, his mom always liked to see him wake up late morning like a pig and get up when the sun was hanging so high in the sky, it shone on his face.


    Before Zhang Tie was twelve, his mom would take away his quilt and pat his fat bottom to wake him up in the late morning. When Zhang Tie would open his dizzy eyes, he could always see the happy smile on his mom¡¯s face and that assumed solemnity after the smile.


    That was his mom¡¯s most beautiful smile in Zhang Tie¡¯s memory!


    ¡­¡­


    When Zhang Tie woke up, Blues had already left, leaving Zhang Tie alone. Last night, after Zhang Tie had returned, Blues seemed to have been stimulated, feeling like he was seeing a weird monster with three heads and six arms when he looked at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie had felt it even in sleep. Blues got up very early this morning and left after picking up his bow and arrows...


    After waking up, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t get up immediately; instead, he just stayed in his sleeping bag and listened to the various sounds drifting in from outside the mountain cave, including tweets of birds and insects and the sound of ¡®Bi bi¡¯ produced by tree leaves in the wind.


    It really felt like sleeping in late at home! Zhang Tie stretched his body with satisfaction, then slowly got up.


    Although it was his big day today, Zhang Tie felt very relaxed. Filled to the brim with the comfortable feeling, he really felt like living a weekend at home.


    Donder said that whatever you did, you should learn to be relaxed after busy work. The law of being relaxed after busy work was the law of Yin and Yang in the east.


    Since he was tense the whole day before, Zhang Tie decided to have a good rest today. After a good rest, he would then choose a place to eat fruits. That was Zhang Tie¡¯s full plan for today.


    The clothes that he wore last night were put aside. If there was anything unsatisfactory last night, it would be the wolves¡¯ blood that covered his body from top to bottom. With the exception of his inner clothes, all that he had worn last night had to be changed and washed at once. Blues had said he was very cool and handsome last night. However, no matter how cool and handsome he was last night, his clothes would never get clean themselves.


    After getting up, Zhang Tie changed to a clean set of clothes. He then slowly cleaned his face and mouth at a pond outside the mountain cave before swaggering back. After grabbing the pile of dirty clothes, he moved back onto a stone beside the pond and started to wash them carefully.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s coat and trousers were both ordinary and jet black, made of Kalan cloth, which was a machine-woven cloth. The most evident features of Kalan cloth were low price and abrasion-resistance. Because it was made of cotton, despite not being water-proof and not having the greatest look, it could maintain warmth.


    Most of the students at school wore this, which was also the most favorite cloth of civilians in Blackhot City. As for that costume of City Guard Army left by his elder brother, unless it was an evening party, Zhang Tie would never wear it daily during survival training.


    As for the bloody places on his pitch black Kalan cloth, he could not see the red stains after a simple washing. Unless carefully looking for them, he could not even discover the delicate difference between the cleaned bloody places and their surroundings. However, the wolf blood on his white coarse linen shirt could not be cleaned no matter how hard he washed it, especially from the collar. So he couldn¡¯t wear the white shirt anymore as compensation for last night¡¯s crazy massacre.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s vest was also sprayed with some wolf blood, one stain remaining even after being washed. Since the vest was worn close to his body, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t fear about the stain being noticed by others.


    One thing though, he couldn¡¯t take the white shirt back home. If the beast blood was seen on the shirt, his mom would definitely flick his forehead fiercely, causing it to swell, when she thought of the danger at that time.


    ¡®Don¡¯t show off your talent in front of the public.¡¯ This was what his mom had confided to him for over several hundred times. Of course, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t want to let his mom worry about him.


    The Wild Wolf Valley and the Crescent Prairie didn¡¯t lack water sources. The pond he was using was only 100 m away from his base. Previously, if Zhang Tie wanted to wash his clothes here, he would have taken a weapon to be reassured; however, this time he took nothing except his dirty clothes.


    After washing his coat and trousers, when Zhang Tie was washing his socks, two wild wolves came to the pond. They drank by one side of the pond. After drinking, one of them raised its head and caught sight of Zhang Tie on the other side.


    At this time, Zhang Tie also raised his head and peered at the two wild wolves, then he lowered his head and returned to washing his socks again. Strangely, when he saw common wild wolves in a group of 3-5 now, Zhang Tie felt nothing. Let alone fear, he didn¡¯t even feel his heart pound faster.


    Glaring at Zhang Tie, the two wild wolves exposed their sharp canines, seeming a bit hesitant.


    After washing a sock, Zhang Tie raised his head again and found the two wolves were still there. He then became impatient. Picking up a small cobble, Zhang Tie casually threw it at them like chasing away a cat slipping into his home to steal fish, ¡°Piss off¡­¡±


    After falling into the water, the cobble produced ripples. Seeming to be scared, the two wild wolves put their tails between their legs and disappeared into the grasses, never reappearing again.


    Zhang Tie felt good today and didn¡¯t want to kill anymore.


    It was just a small episode.


    By the time he had finished washing the clothes and putting them to dry on a branch beside a bonfire in the mountain cave, it was noon. Missing Blues¡¯ yummy roasted hare, Zhang Tie took a lance and walked out.


    Half an hour later, he returned and started to roast a hare over the bonfire in the mountain cave. Although the clothes beside the bonfire dried up very quickly, they didn¡¯t smell as good as those dried under the sun¡¯s light; he could smell a faint tinge of smoke on them. However, since he was a loner, nobody would care about it.


    Soon, the aroma of the hare being cooked over the fire drifted through the air. Imitating Blues¡¯ method, Zhang Tie left some openings in the hare using his dagger and sprayed some salt and powder of wild pepper that he had collected in the Wild Wolf Valley when the hare was dropping off golden oil.


    Perhaps, Blues had some special treatment method as Zhang Tie could not make it as yummy as that of Blues. But he was already very satisfied. After eating half of the hare, he burped, then went to find a huge tree beside the mountain cave. Climbing up, Zhang Tie found a place and sat there. He then enjoyed the breeze under the shadow of the tree¡¯s crown, watching the endless gorgeous scenery of the Crescent Prairie in the distance.


    White clouds were slowly moving through the crystal blue sky. Several huge birds were hovering in the sky. The prairie seemed endless as the land was as straight as a blanket.


    Some wild wolves were chasing after a pack of antelopes. As one was isolated from its pack, the wild wolves locked onto it. The antelope kept dashing forward like a long jump expert. It kept jumping forward in its escape. Each time it would jump very far. However, the wild wolves chased closely after it. Due to the wild wolves¡¯ terrifying endurance and speed, that antelope didn¡¯t pick itself up again after the last jump...


    Zhang Tie then took a nap on the tree!


    When he opened his eyes again, the sun had moved to the west, and the wind felt a bit chilly.


    Feeling fully energy, Zhang Tie jumped off the tree and entered the mountain cave. After heating up the remaining half of the hare on the fire, Zhang Tie arranged his clothes and luggage and left with the lance container and his weapons.


    The moment he left the mountain cave, Zhang Tie had sped up. He soon entered the ¡°cruising condition¡± as a loner...


    His condition now was unprecedented¡ªgood both physically and spiritually. Zhang Tie could feel that he had reached his peak condition ever since he was born 15 years ago.


    It was the right moment for him to improve to LV 3 and experience the effect of the Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit. Since Blues had already visited this place, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t be certain that he would not come back. Additionally, the mountain cave was not very deep and hidden, so of course Zhang Tie would not choose to complete his most important improvement here.


    The safest place that he could find was still that No.1 base: the mountain cave created by gold-eating boas.


    ¡®It¡¯s unknown when I¡¯ll be able to casually access the Castle of Black Iron, not afraid of being known by others,¡¯ Zhang Tie though while running.


    However, he didn¡¯t know that when he left the mountain cave, Glaze had been close to him.


    When Zhang Tie passed by the grass on the hillside, he was less than 400 m away from Glaze. Although Zhang Tie had not seen him, in the woods nearby, Glaze had caught sight of him.


    Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s back, Glaze revealed a shadow of a grin in the corner of his mouth...

 140 The Booming of the Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Frui

    Chapter 140: The Booming of the Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit


    Translator:Editor:


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know that after he became a loner, Glaze had searched for him in the Wild Wolf Valley for several days.


    In Glaze¡¯s eyes, Zhang Tie was still that trivial LV 1 warrior, LV 2 at most. As a LV 3 warrior, he thought that he would still have the absolute advantage. So his purpose for coming to Zhang Tie was obvious.


    However, Zhang Tie¡¯s speed of growth or some hidden force was surprising to everybody, causing Glaze to have a hard time sleeping and eating well.


    Loner was the role with the highest casualty chance during the survival training! After silently negotiating with Zuhair, Glaze also declared to the public that he would start a loner¡¯s survival training.


    ¡­¡­


    Zhang Tie moved at a medium speed. Since Glaze did not dare to get too close to him, he stayed far behind, at the distance farthest he could without letting Zhang Tie disappear from his vision. The best thing for Glaze was to find Zhang Tie¡¯s base. When the night fell, heh¡­ heh¡­ everything would be easily solved.


    ¡­¡­


    Zhang Tie was not able to notice that someone was following him yet. After one day¡¯s rest, the only things in his mind were the gorgeous fruits on that small tree in Castle of Black Iron!


    The ripe Leakless Fruit and the Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit.


    One hour later, Zhang Tie arrived at the woods on the hillside near where the gold-eating boa¡¯s cave was hidden.


    After several rounds of fights with Zhang Tie, Glaze was afraid of him due to his numerous tricks. He didn¡¯t know whether Zhang Tie had already noticed him and just wanted to lure him into the woods. Anyone who had a bit experience would know that it was the most dangerous to follow a person into the woods. Once surrounded by the trees, the roles of the two people could easily change¡ªthe latter one might encounter the earlier one¡¯s ambush and be trapped.


    So Glaze was hesitant. He wanted to see whether Zhang Tie would come out of there...


    After waiting outside the woods for half an hour, Glaze still didn¡¯t see Zhang Tie leave. At this time, the sun had already went down, and the Wild Wolf Valley started to be covered by the night colors.


    Did Zhang Tie live in that hillside? Realizing that, Glaze bravely ventured inside.


    After one hour, it became completely dark. Feeling very dejected, Glaze walked out of the woods. By then, he had confirmed that Zhang Tie had noticed him and slipped away during the period when he hesitated whether to enter or not. After carefully searching the entire hillside and woods, Glaze couldn¡¯t find Zhang Tie nor any trace of human beings¡¯ settlement. So Zhang Tie became more cunning in Glaze¡¯s mind.


    ¡°F*ck, you have good luck today...¡± Glaze swore as he left the hillside.


    Almost the moment Glaze left the hillside, in the Castle of Black Iron, like what had happened after eating the first Leakless Fruit, the second burning point on Zhang Tie¡¯s spine that radiated cyan lights consecutively broke through the blue light pass and the purple light pass.


    Boom!


    The purple light on the burning point was broken into light points that resembled rain. After that, the burning point turned pitch black. Soon after, a red sparkle appeared in the darkness. The sparkle then started to grow into an eternal flame, lightening up the whole burning point.


    After the second burning point on his spine was ignited, Zhang Tie felt that his entire spine had become transparent. The places surrounding the burning point warmed up. Zhang Tie felt so relaxed, like having unloaded a heavy burden or opening a heavy lock inside his body. At the same time, a great new strength rose up in him.


    After opening his eyes, Zhang Tie screamed loudly and jumped up from the ground. He then started to rush around the grounds of the Castle of Black Iron. He kept running for half an hour before stopping. Faster speed, longer time, greater endurance, and more ease! This was how Zhang Tie felt while running.


    After running, he only rested a few minutes before lying on the ground to practice the Lying-Tiger Move. This time, it lasted for roughly 30 minutes. After practicing the Lying-Tiger Move, Zhang Tie practiced 36 Free-Hand Moves¡ªthe whole set of Iron-Blood Fist Skill once. This time, he could make it more like how tiger attacked.


    After becoming a LV 3 warrior, Zhang Tie felt that his strength had increased by at least 30 percent. Along with the increasing strength was his endurance, responsiveness, and coordination of all physical aspects. This feeling of growing stronger was really fascinating.


    ¡°Zhang Tie, congratulations. You¡¯ve become a LV 3 warrior!¡± Zhang Tie shouted out loudly in another voice. ¡°What else do you want to say?¡±


    ¡°Ha¡­ ha¡­ I have a Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit to eat, I cannot wait to experience the feel of a wild wolf¡¯s strength in my body!¡±


    Saying this, Zhang Tie walked towards the small tree. He then took a deep breath. The rich fragrance surrounding the small tree was radiating from the ripe Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit. Although ripe, with the exception of its purely white body having become translucent like crystal, the Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit¡¯s remained unchanged¡ªit was still a cute wolf cub with two leaves on its head.


    ¡ª¡ªWild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit has gathered the Strength of Qi, the Strength of Blood, the Strength of Vein, the Strength of Channel, the Strength of Bone, the Strength of Marrow, and the Strength of God of a Wild Wolf. Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    Beside the ripe Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit was another Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit, which was Zhang Tie¡¯s latest achievement. After last night¡¯s massacre, besides the first one becoming absolutely ripe, a second one also came into being.


    ¡ª¡ªWild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit has gathered the Strength of Qi and the Strength of Blood of a wild wolf. Five more strengths need to be formed. This Fruit has not become ripe yet.


    This was the message about the second Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit. It reminded Zhang Tie that he had killed at least 14 wild wolves more than the number he had predicted last night, driving two more strengths of the latest Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit to be formed.


    At this time, Zhang Tie had already understood the tip¡ªfor each 50 changes, 49 of them are available while the remaining one belongs to people. If it was anyone else, after they killed 50 wolves, all of their energy, Qi, and blood, including the seven strengths in each wolf¡¯s body would dissipate and return to mother nature.


    However, since Zhang Tie had obtained the small tree, if he killed 50 wolves, the seven strengths of the 50 wolves would not completely dissipate, instead, only 49 wolves¡¯ seven strengths would be returned to mother nature. The remaining one wolf¡¯s seven strengths would be transferred into the small tree like how people digested food, finally forming a Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit.


    Each wolf would contribute 1/50 of their strengths to one Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit. One could eat wolf meat to gain strength. Similarly, the small tree was like an invisible mouth which could eat the seven strengths of wolves that could not be seen by people and form a Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit.


    The small tree named ¡°Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree¡± was really too powerful, unable to be predicted by Gods and Demons.


    Zhang Tie was awed by the small tree once again. At the same time, he started to be filled with gratitude for being favored by the God of Destiny.


    Compared to the Leakless Fruit, the Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit was what Zhang Tie was looking forward to most today.


    After digesting that Leakless Fruit, Zhang Tie successfully improved to a LV 3 warrior. Now, it was the right time for him to try the effects of the ripe Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit.


    After picking off that wolf cub from the tree, Zhang Tie carefully put it onto his palm. As if enjoying an art work, Zhang Tie watched it for quite a while. The fruit was really vivid. Zhang Tie even felt regretful for having to eat it. However, after enjoying it for a while, he finally made the decision. With eyes closed, he quickly threw the wolf cub into his mouth and swallowed it after a couple of bites.


    ¡­¡­


    Almost ten seconds after he swallowed it, the effect of the Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit begun to show up. With eyes closed, Zhang Tie sat on the ground with crossed legs, only feeling a wisp of energy and heat slowly gathering up in his chest. The energy and heat finally formed seven strengths in his chest which kept swirling in a clock-wise manner like seven fish. At this moment, Zhang Tie felt his chest was like a swollen balloon, close to exploding from the energy within.


    Of course, those energies did not burst his chest because the seven strengths soon found their own directions to go.


    The first strength swam across Zhang Tie¡¯s chest and abdomen and finally entered the Qi sea two inches below his navel. Closely after that, Zhang Tie felt his Qi sea expanding in his mind and could almost hear the sound of a heavy wind blowing by...


    The second strength swam to Zhang Tie¡¯s heart and flew into his blood from his heart before spreading through the rest of his body. Then, Zhang Tie was almost certain he heard the sound of strength flowing in his vessels...


    The third strength swam to Zhang Tie¡¯s brain and entered his muscles by thousands of individual strengths. After that, Zhang Tie thought he heard his muscles resonating like the strings of a lyre...


    The fourth strength swam across Zhang Tie¡¯s whole body along a weird path that Zhang Tie had never heard of before and disappeared. Closely after that, he was sure he heard the sound from his body like that produced when a huge tree is knocked at. It was powerful and low, and full of the feel of wood.


    The fifth strength swam to the top of Zhang Tie¡¯s head before flowing downwards like water and entered his skeleton. Later on, it sounded as if metals and stones were knocked against his bones.


    The sixth strength swam to Zhang Tie¡¯s rear end before entering his spine from there. After that, it spread to the middle of the spine and entered the marrow of all the bones. Zhang Tie could almost hear a drumming sound in his bones akin to a booming of the land.


    The final strength swam into that pale golden Qi swirl that represented Zhang Tie¡¯s spiritual energy. Zhang Tie thought he heard a distant wolf howl. At the same time, the Qi swirl that represented his spiritual energy abruptly expanded a lot. As a result, his spiritual energy suddenly rose by 5%, causing Zhang Tie to tremble all over as he opened his eyes...


    This was a very strange feeling. Although his look remained unchanged, Zhang Tie felt like he had ¡®grown up¡¯ a lot. He felt a strong sense of existence, strength, and coordination. This was a metamorphosis physically and spiritually from inside to outside, and a real ¡®growing up¡¯ instead of mere development of his muscles, bones, and height.


    At this moment, if Zhang Tie had to describe his feeling using one word, it would be ¡®Great¡¯! Really great! He felt a sense of rebirth!


    After igniting the new burning point, Zhang Tie felt like having unloaded a heavy burden and opening a shackle. But this time he felt that he had changed to a better body that was more suitable for him. He had completed an update and improved all over, bringing him a fresher and more shocking feeling.


    This was how it felt after one wolf¡¯s strength formed in his body.


    At the sight of another Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit, Zhang Tie revealed a smile...


    ¡°Wild Wolves in the Crescent Prairie, don¡¯t run away, you¡¯re all mine...¡± Zhang Tie uttered in a weird voice before leaving the Castle of Black Iron.


    When Zhang Tie moved to the entrance of the gold-eating boa¡¯s cave, he was stunned by the fact that it was already late morning!


    ¡®Does it mean that it took me one night to digest that Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit?¡¯ Zhang Tie was shocked. Since he was in deep meditation, he could have never imagined that over ten hours could pass so fast.


    However, it was all worthwhile.


    The moment Zhang Tie wanted to exit, he was shocked by noticing something different on the ground from when he had entered.


    After entering, Zhang Tie had grabbed a handful of soil from the ground near the cave and evenly sprayed it over the ground near the entrance. This was the simplest and easiest form of ¡®natural trace system¡¯ used as an early warning.


    Now he saw several new footprints on the ground where he had sprayed the soil...


    They were large footprints, at least larger than those of Zhang Tie¡¯s. Seeing them, Zhang Tie had a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. He thought back to the bloody footprints in the wild wolf den and immediately knew what had happened.


    It had to be Glaze. Glaze must have visited here...


    Zhang Tie then carefully checked the dew on the weeds near the mountain cave. The dew was still there which meant that Glaze had not come this morning. Neither did he leave this place in the morning.


    It was last night. Soon after Zhang Tie had entered the cave, Glaze had also went in. Perhaps he had been following him.


    Did it mean that Glaze had discovered his secret? Thinking of this, Zhang Tie became tense. No way! Even if Glace had entered the cave, he could not see him enter the Castle of Black Iron. The cave was very deep. If Glaze couldn¡¯t find him, he would only think that he had hidden somewhere.


    ¡®Why would he follow me then?¡¯


    Thinking of how Glaze had glared at him, Zhang Tie understood it. His heart started to pound from the other¡¯s killing intent.

 141 Fishing

    Chapter 141: Fishing


    Translator:Editor:


    Zhang Tie kept running on the most open hill of the Wild Wolf Valley at a medium speed. Once someone was in the surroundings, he would notice Zhang Tie running in the Wild Wolf Valley even if he was far away from him.


    In the past couple of days, Zhang Tie had run like this several times. He fixed his running range within 10 km of the border between the Crescent Prairie and the Wild Wolf Valley. In others¡¯ eyes, Zhang Tie was no different from other students attending this survival training, seeking for the chance to hunt wild wolves.


    Actually, the number of wild wolves in this range was much greater than in the Wild Wolf Valley. Additionally, besides more wild wolves, there were also more other kinds of wild beasts.


    Surrounding a lake on the border, Zhang Tie saw two hazardous living beings that Blues had mentioned to him: huge varanid and horn crocodile. Varanid was a LV 3 living being while horn crocodile was LV 4.


    Seeing the two of them, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t wait to fight them at once. However, he controlled his impulse and pretended to be amazed. Every time he met them, he would choose to hurriedly run away. In the past couple of days, once he met any living beings above LV 3, he would hide his real strength and pretend to retreat.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s main targets were still low level wild wolves and huge wolves that he would meet occasionally. There was only one time that Zhang Tie had met a golden wolf, but after throwing two lances at it, the nimble golden wolf still ¡®escaped¡¯ from Zhang Tie¡¯s hand. Zhang Tie pretended to chase after it for a while before returning dejectedly with no achievement.


    In others¡¯ eyes, Zhang¡¯s performance was close to that of a LV 2 warrior. As for Zhang Tie¡¯s lance skills and precision, they might be able to threaten living beings below LV 2. Even when he dealt with the wild wolves with his lances, he would occasionally miss them.


    In the past couple of days, Zhang Tie had controlled his performance to look below but close to that of a LV 2 warrior, which was a bit higher than when he had left the tree base. His lance throwing skills looked nice, yet he lacked physical strength and reaction speed.


    After performing this for two days, on the third day, Zhang Tie felt that he was being spied on. He knew that after two days Glaze would have definitely jubilantly found him in the Wild Wolf Valley ¡®once again¡¯.


    Knowing that Zhang Tie was tricky, Glaze observed him for a couple of days, during which he saw all of Zhang Tie¡¯s skills. From it, he knew that the only threat that Zhang Tie could pose to him was with his throwing skills. However, it was only a threat which would be in effect when the distance between them was between 10-30 steps. If he was farther away from Zhang Tie, or closer to him, the lance wouldn¡¯t pose him any danger.


    Still, Zhang Tie¡¯s performance greatly amazed Glaze. He became increasingly more certain that the reason Zhang Tie had dared to go against him those couple of times, embarrassing him, was because he was aiming at him from the beginning. With such a competitive level of strength, Zhang Tie would definitely want to obtain the school¡¯s recommendation too. So of course he became Zhang Tie¡¯s biggest opponent.


    ¡®This guy is more vicious than Burwick and better at hiding his real strength.¡¯


    Glaze became increasingly more resolved to kill Zhang Tie.


    In contrast, during the past couple of days, no matter how awkward he felt his performance was and how dejected he looked when he failed to catch up with his prey, Zhang Tie was actually jubilant inside.


    The ignition of the second burning point on his spine and the increase of one wild wolf¡¯s full strength had brought him more surprises. Especially that one wolf¡¯s full strength made Zhang Tie feel completely different from before.


    He realized that he had fallen in love with running. For him, running was an easy and pleasant thing. If it was before, Zhang Tie would feel very tired after running 10 km or for half an hour. However, now, after either of the two, he no longer felt that weary. Besides that, he felt a seemingly endless energy supporting him in his body, causing him to move with more agility and telling him that he could keep running like this forever.


    Because he had experienced the effect of running after igniting a burning point, Zhang Tie clearly knew that this feel didn¡¯t originate from the ignition of his burning point, but instead from the Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit. After eating that fruit, wild wolf¡¯s terrifying endurance and running instincts seemed to have been activated in him. Zhang Tie became as good at running as wild wolves besides also gaining a super great endurance.


    An adult wild wolf, when moving at its maximal speed, could keep running for half an hour at the speed of 60 km/h. If aiming to chase after a prey, even if it was an icy and snowy day, it could still keep following its prey for above 10 hours. Most prey weren¡¯t directly hunted down by the wild wolves, but instead simply couldn¡¯t keep up with the wild wolves¡¯ amazing endurance. After being chased for a long time, most prey became exhausted, and had no strength to keep running anymore. Therefore, they slowed and were killed.


    When he started his survival training in the Wild Wolf Valley, Zhang Tie mostly admired the wild wolves¡¯ running speed and super great endurance. They were just like the wind.


    At that time, he had never imagined that he could be as good at running as them. Although he still couldn¡¯t match a wild wolf¡¯s running speed and endurance, Zhang Tie was already very satisfied. This was the effect of the first Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit; who knew what the effects of the second one would be?


    In the past couple of days, although Zhang Tie was ¡®fishing¡¯ and had not completely showed his real strength, he had killed ten more wild wolves, forming two more strengths in the second Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit on the small tree. As four strengths of the total seven had been formed, the ripening wasn¡¯t far off.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie felt pretty good; he had no reason to feel dejected. Today, he had even felt a killing intent in his surroundings. After being spied on for the third day in a row, Zhang Tie knew that Glaze would launch an attack against him tonight.


    ¡­¡­


    When the sun started to go down, Glaze gritted his teeth, silently following Zhang Tie. After the past two days¡¯ observation, he had found a new reason to kill his rival: that guy was really good at running.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s running ability filled Glaze with both admiration and jealousy. In the end, this admiration and jealousy changed into a desire to destroy something. If it wasn¡¯t daytime, Glaze would have probably launched his attack long ago. But if he attacked during daytime, he would have to suffer a much greater risk of being seen by someone, and according to the wartime decree of the Andaman Alliance, the teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee will immediately punish him with a death sentence for the crime of murder. They wouldn¡¯t even have to send him back to Blackhot City for a trial in court.


    What Glaze was worried about was also Zhang Tie¡¯s concern. Zhang Tie was also scheming carefully and thinking over the details of his plan for many times. After confirming that no flaws could be discovered, Zhang Tie became reassured.


    At this time, both of the two people wanted to kill the other.


    This was the first time Zhang Tie had wanted to kill someone since he was born. To tell the truth, the reason for them going against each other was kind of funny¡ªit was several motherf*cking dining plates. This was really a bloody case arisen from several dining plates.


    Zhang Tie felt that this was really f*cking absurd. When you sat alone under a tree, some bastards threw several dining plates before you to have you wash them. You refused and got hated in return. Later, the other side even decided to kill you, setting you up for a couple of times. Even forcing you to kill to escape the constant threats.


    ¡®Even if this was for a woman, this ordeal is really ludicrous!¡¯ Zhang Tie mumbled in his head while running into the ravine where he had chosen to end this thing.


    After that, not knowing why, Zhang Tie remembered a funny story. It was about a person having to kill another, and had been spread in Chinese clan for roughly one thousand years.


    Donder had told Zhang Tie the story. Someone, once met, would always force the event to develop to the last step. If that story about buying menu was changed into washing plates, Zhang Tie felt that he could say that he had already encountered the same thing.


    The story started as this: two classmates ate together in a canteen. If one strove to wash the dining plates, the other would consider that he was showing off and would kill him. If one didn¡¯t strive to wash them, the other would consider that he was forced to wash everyone¡¯s and would kill his classmate. If they went dutch and washed their own plates, the other classmate would consider that his humble friend wanted to be on an equal footing with him and would kill him. If they didn¡¯t eat, the other one would consider that his classmate refused to eat together with him in the canteen, meaning he didn¡¯t like him, and so would kill him!¡±


    ¡°Damn!¡± Zhang Tie swore while running...


    ¡­¡­


    Seeing that Zhang Tie was not returning to his base, but to a strange ravine, Glaze became surprised instead of alert. This place was really remote and hidden. There was nobody here during daytime, let alone at night.


    Whether it were students who attended the survival training or the pioneers who appeared in the Crescent Prairie, none of them wanted to be here. Students found it too dangerous here since it was too close to the Crescent Prairie, while pioneers had no interest in it because it wasn¡¯t the Crescent Prairie, and they could not find golden wolves or goose-neck grass here.


    Before rushing inside the ravine behind Zhang Tie, Glaze paused outside and looked around. When he ascertained that the dusk had almost fallen down and nobody was close-by, he revealed a shadow of a grin, then rushed in. At the same time, he silently pulled out the long sword from its sheath at his waist.


    ¡®One minute, in only one minute, that disgusting guy will disappear forever!¡¯ Glaze mumbled inwardly.


    At this time, the sun had gone down, causing the ravine that was surrounded by dense woods to become even darker. Glaze could only hear the tweets of insects, instead of the sounds made by a person. When Zhang Tie¡¯s back had disappeared from Glaze¡¯s vision, in order to prevent him from slipping away again, Glaze had increased his speed.


    It was easy for a person to hide himself in a ravine. After searching around it for roughly five minutes, Glaze still couldn¡¯t see Zhang Tie¡¯s shadow. When he became dejected, thinking that Zhang Tie had slipped away again, he suddenly heard a strange sound. It almost sounded like someone was digging something.


    Glaze then searched for where the sound was coming from.


    It was getting increasingly clearer, and easier to locate. Someone was truly digging something in the ground, making the sound of ¡®Cha cha cha cha¡¯ of the spade entering the soil.


    After detouring through the woods, Glaze finally saw Zhang Tie, digging something using a military shovel.


    ¡°What are you digging here for?¡±


    With a shadow of a gloomy and cold smile, Glaze walked out of the woods, a shiny weapon in hand...

 142 Burying You

    Chapter 142: Burying You


    Translator:Editor:


    ¡°Glaze!¡±


    Raising his head from near the pit, Zhang Tie looked very plain, at least not as terrifying as Glaze had imagined that he would look like. Zhang Tie had even called his name like greeting a common student at school.


    Without seeing the expression Glaze had expected to see on Zhang Tie¡¯s face, he felt like had a lost a bit of pleasure from what was to come next.


    ¡®Perhaps that guy doesn¡¯t know what it means to encounter me here, I should give him some tips,¡¯ Glaze thought.


    ¡°As we were classmates, I¡¯ll give you several seconds to tell me your last words...¡±


    Glaze walked forward while glancing over the surrounding environment. When he saw Zhang Tie¡¯s lance container thrown onto the ground at least 7-8 steps away from the guy himself, Glaze¡¯s last concern disappeared. It was then replaced by a winner¡¯s smile.


    ¡°You want to kill me?¡±


    Zhang Tie slightly frowned.


    ¡°Of course, what else do you think I would come here for? To chat or for an outing?¡± Glaze revealed a shadow of a smile on his face. At the same time, he licked his lips in a manner full of tyranny and cruelty. ¡°I heard you have three girlfriends in the Wild Wolf Castle. Trust me, after your death, I will definitely f*ck them well. I will definitely tame them into the most lecherous b*tches! And after I get bored of playing with them, I¡®ll award them to Sharlon and the others.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure you can kill me today?¡±


    Noticing Zhang Tie¡¯s calm tone, Glaze stopped. After being tricked twice,, Glaze had formed an unavoidable psychological uneasy in his heart.


    When Glaze stopped walking, his pupils shrunk. He then carefully glanced at Zhang Tie and the surroundings, only to find nothing different in his opposition nor the surrounding environment. There should be nobody to ambush him.


    ¡°Are you trying to scare me?¡±


    Glaze revealed a sinister smile, although he kept still.


    ¡°If you would stop and turn back, swearing never to find trouble for me and my bosom friends, our previous resentment could be cleaned. I had let you lose face twice, while you set me up once, almost causing me to die in the beasts¡¯ mouths, so we¡¯re even now! To tell the truth, we don¡¯t have any resentment that couldn¡¯t be ended. It arose from a trivial thing, but it was your fault at the beginning. I didn¡¯t mean to stir you up!¡±


    Zhang Tie¡¯s calm, especially his words, made Glaze¡¯s heart quicken its pace. Zhang Tie seemed to know what they had done to him some time ago. This really shocked Glaze. He even became hesitant for several seconds. But after that, Glaze cast his sharp eyes on Zhang Tie. This time, he found that the other¡¯s left hand¡¯s fingers were slightly trembling seemingly due to tension and fear.


    Glaze suddenly burst out laughing. ¡°Your performance was really successful, almost scaring me off. But today whatever you say, it will be useless...¡±


    Glaze kept moving forward with a cruel smile on his face.


    ¡°You will regret!¡±


    Zhang Tie gazed at Glaze. He clearly knew what the other had seen just now. He did it especially so that Glaze would make the wrong judgment, think that he was very tense and scared. If he could turn back even after knowing that he was tense and scared, Zhang Tie planned to forget the resentment between them.


    However, obviously, Glaze chose the other way. Zhang Tie showing weakness didn¡¯t obtain Glaze¡¯s sympathy and hesitation, instead, it brought about a more stubborn decision.


    This was something that Donder had taught Zhang Tie. If not through this way, how could you see though one¡¯s inner heart.


    ¡®Let¡¯s call an end to it then.¡¯


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t go for his lances. Instead, he let go of his military spade and pulled out his long sword. Yet his left hand was still trembling, seemingly heavier than before.


    Seeing Glaze moving closer to him, Zhang Tie pointed at him with his long sword. ¡°This is your last chance. If you keep moving forward, I will not show you politeness any more!¡±


    ¡°You want to show me you impoliteness?¡± Glaze revealed a carefree smile on his face, not slowing down at all. He kept moving towards Zhang Tie. ¡°I really would like to see how a guy at most LV 2 will deal with me...¡±


    Before Glaze could finish speaking his sentence, he had already stepped onto something. It was put beneath the ground which was covered by leaves and fine soil. Before Glaze could respond, that something took effect with ferociousness, causing a sound of ¡°Ka...¡±.


    The sawteeth with powerful biting force cut into Glaze¡¯s shin without any sound. The ¡®Ka¡¯ was produced by his shin being broken by the powerful bite of the bear trap.


    Being five-to-seven steps away, Zhang Tie could attack using his long sword. Therefore, his ambush was set seven steps away from Glaze, and that¡¯s how after snaring Salvey, the bear trap was put to use again.


    Trapped, Glaze released a miserable scream as he fell to the ground...


    Zhang Tie immediately moved to slash at him¡­ But even having fallen down, Glaze could still respond extremely quickly. Before Zhang Tie¡¯s long sword could land on him, he had already brought out his own long sword to stay its advance.


    Without any more tricks, the two long swords directly hit against each other. At the same time, Glaze¡¯s ferocious expression turned into amazement as Zhang Tie¡¯s hand was far more powerful than his. Soon after the collision, Glaze felt that he could not even tightly hold his long sword anymore.


    ¡°No way!¡± he screamed out loudly. At this moment, he even forgot the pain of his shin and the awkward look of lying on the ground. ¡°I am a LV 3...¡±


    Without waiting for him to finish expressing his disbelief, Zhang Tie sliced at him once again. This time, their swords directly crashed into each other. The moment they did so, Zhang Tie kicked at Glaze¡¯s abdomen.


    After suffering such a heavy kick, Glaze¡¯s face turned pale. His grip loosened, and the long sword that fell off was picked and sent flying through the air¡­ This battle clearly portrayed how a man lying on the ground was disadvantageous. No matter how intelligent a swordman was, few of them could exert their real fighting force in this kind of position.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s long sword then stopped at Glaze¡¯s neck...


    Glaze stopped his miserable screams at this moment. With eyes wide, he stared at Zhang Tie pitifully. ¡°You cannot kill me, my dad will not let you go. The Temporary Supervision Committee will not let you go!¡± he started to shout out loudly.


    ¡°Do you want to know what I was digging? You asked about it just moment before...¡± Zhang tie said solemnly.


    Lying on the ground, Glaze turned his head and stared at that pit ten steps away from him, becoming faintly dazzled.


    ¡°What for?¡±


    ¡°Burying you!¡±


    After saying this, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t hesitate to cut through Glaze¡¯s neck with his long sword.


    Tightly grabbing onto his neck, Glaze¡¯s eyes widened even more, and he glared at Zhang Tie, seemingly not believing that he would dare to kill him. If Zhang Tie had really not held back from slicing his neck open, what he did by blocking the places where blood was gurgling out and air leaking out would be in vain.


    ¡°I told you that I will show my impoliteness to you. But you thought I was kidding. So don¡¯t blame me for that! You brought it upon yourself!¡±


    These were the last words Zhang Tie said to Glaze. After that, he no longer cared about Glaze¡¯s situation, instead walking directly to the pit and resuming his digging.


    Deep in the ravine, Glaze¡ªin vain¡ª was doing his best to struggle to live. At the same time several meters away, Zhang Tie was still digging the pit. Couple minutes later, Glaze didn¡¯t move anymore, his eyes wide-open. Zhang Tie kept digging. After roughly 20 minutes, he finally finished.


    It was a deep pit of two meters in length, half a meter in width and over one meter in depth.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t feel any difficulty in digging through the soft soil. He only sweated a bit during the last few minutes. After finishing, Zhang Tie inserted the military space into the ground.


    Walking over to the motionless body, he pulled Glaze by his feet and moved him into the pit. After that, he fetched Glaze¡¯s long sword and threw it into the pit too. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t even take off the bear trap from Glaze¡¯s foot.


    He had already lost his interest to search over Glaze¡¯s body.


    After that, Zhang Tie picked up the military shovel once again and started to fill the pit. When shoveling the first handful of dirt onto Glaze¡¯s body, Zhang Tie remembered his name and his records in the playground at school.


    The god of destiny made fools of people! Who would have imagined that Glaze would end up buried by him. However, he had deserved it.


    Zhang Tie finished filling the pit in three minutes. After leveling the ground, he stamped onto it to make it firm. Then he recovered the original look above the soil by covering it with some rotten leaves and mud. With such a simple treatment, Glaze completely disappeared from the world.


    In the next few minutes, Zhang Tie cleaned up the site using his military shovel. Even the patch of soil that had soaked up Glaze¡¯s blood was cleaned. After dealing with all of it, Zhang Tie checked it all over again. No evidence seemed to be in the open, up for discovery, so Zhang Tie collected his equipment and quickly disappeared from this small, unknown ravine under the gloom of dusk.


    From then on, unless God willed it, nobody would know that Glaze had already fallen asleep beneath the ground.


    Glaze had disappeared from this world. Previously, he had planned to do this to Zhang Tie, never imagining that Zhang Tie would end up doing it to him.


    Zhang Tie felt very relaxed and didn¡¯t feel any guilt about what he had done to Glaze.


    One kilometer away from that ravine, under the moonlight, a pack of wild wolves stopped Zhang Tie in his tracks. There were 17-18 wolves with their green eyes fixed on him.


    Zhang Tie burst out laughing as it reminded him of a Chinese proverb¡ªgood things always come together!


    In a split second, six lances were thrown, nailing the farthest wolves to the ground. Even if the wolves would have wanted to escape at this moment, it was already too late.


    Zhang Tie surged forward with a long sword in his right hand and a dagger in his left¡­ Soon after that, wild wolves¡¯ miserable howls reverberated through the night!


    Two minutes later, the last two wild wolves woofed with tails between their legs as they escaped, followed by Zhang Tie¡¯s gaze. He didn¡¯t chase after them, knowing that two more strengths had been formed in the second Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit.


    After putting his lances back into his lance container, Zhang Tie ran towards his base once again...


    ¡®If I¡¯m lucky enough tomorrow, the second Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit will become ripe¡­ Perhaps, with several more Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits in my stomach, I¡¯ll be able to run even faster than the wild wolves!¡¯


    Running in the moonlight, an absurd thought came to the youth¡¯s mind...

 143 Before the Arrival of Turmoil

    Chapter 143: Before the Arrival of Turmoil


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Each Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit was a wholly new life experience for Zhang Tie. In the ten days after burying Glaze, he had eaten another three of them, which helped him to improve three more times. Now, Zhang Tie had the full strength of four wild wolves. With the fruits, his strength, endurance, and explosiveness all had reached an amazing level.


    Zhang Tie made tested himself. He found that his running ability had increased to an unbelievable level. After eating the first Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit, he, who had learned how to run in the state of exerting all of his force, could keep running for more than an hour at a cruising speed of 15 km/h while keeping his effective fighting force.


    Now, after eating three more Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits, Zhang Tie found that he could keep running for two hours at a cruising speed a bit higher than 15 km/h while still remaining full of energy. If he ran at his greatest speed like in a 100 m sprint¡ªalthough Zhang Tie hadn''t calculated his maximum speed¡ªhe knew that he could continue at it for roughly 30 minutes.


    Zhang Tie remembered that Glaze¡¯s endurance was 13 at school, which indicated that he would still have more than half of his fighting force after marching rapidly for 13 km with standard military equipment. At that time, based on Glaze¡¯s physical data, half of his fighting force meant thrusting out an armor-breaking spear 69 times or punching with above 255 kg¡¯s force behind it...


    Now¡ªalthough Zhang Tie had not made concrete tests on himself¡ªhe felt that his endurance might have surpassed 20. He remembered that his endurance value at school was only 4, which was why he had admired Glaze with his 13. At that time, he thought that the disparity between the two of them was really huge. Unexpectedly, within two months, his own force had experienced an earthshaking change.


    Of course, he had benefited from igniting his burning points which could improve his physique. But the most direct effect was from Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits. They could update and reinforce the human body in an all round manner. With each Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit, Zhang Tie ¡®s Strength of Qi, Strength of Blood, Strength of Vein, Strength of Channel, Strength of Bone, Strength of Marrow, and Strength of Spirit would increase accordingly.


    The increased data could not be precisely calculated or expressed. However, given his endurance value, Zhang Tie estimated that a Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit might be able to add 2 points to his endurance value. Therefore, four Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits would at least increase 8 points, bringing him an obvious advantage in endurance over Glaze who was LV 2 at school, and even when he turned LV 3 here.


    Besides Wild Wolf Seventh-Strength Fruits, Zhang Tie had a new Seven-Strength Fruit on the small tree after killing two huge wolves. The Strength of Qi had already formed in this Huge Wolf Seventh-Strength Fruit.


    Zhang Tie estimated that the number of Seven-Strength Fruits of a certain living being on this small tree should be limited. The fruit was based on a certain spare "number" law, and there could not be endless spares as they had to be restricted by a certain "number" law. This was the rule of the universe and mother nature¡ªeverything should proceed within a balanced framework.


    If not, the fruit''s strengths would be ferociously "grabbed" instead of being spares. If Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit could really keep growing endlessly, Zhang Tie estimated that after killing the tens of thousands, maybe even the hundreds of thousands of wild wolves on the Crescent Prairie and eating all the Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits, he would be the No. 1 fighter in the world. However, the rule of the universe and mother nature would not allow for such a brutal event that felt off to happen.


    Therefore, after eating three Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits, Zhang Tie became worried, not knowing how many more could be produced by the small tree.


    Although the appearance of the Huge Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit brought Zhang Tie a surprise, he knew that LV 1 living beings like huge wolves were not as populous as wild wolves even in the Crescent Prairie. Huge wolves were as rarely seen as golden wolves. The scene where Bonder¡¯s group was attacked by six huge wolves was pretty rarely seen. Unless being very unlucky¡ªor lucky¡ªpeople could rarely see huge wolves or golden wolves move in packs.


    After mutating and evolving, these living beings¡¯ habits changed from those of common wild wolves. This also agreed with the law of mother nature: the more powerful the species was, the less populous it would be. So even knowing that killing huge wolves could bring him Huge Wolf Seventh-Strength Fruits, Zhang Tie mainly paid his attention to the wild wolves in the past couple days.


    He told himself that he should eat one bite after another, and walk one step after another. As the wild wolves were numerous in the Crescent Prairie and could be easily dealt with, he should focus on them instead of wasting time dreaming of hunting huge wolves. Most likely the time it took him to find a huge wolf would be enough for him to kill dozens of wild wolves.


    Additionally, he also wanted to see the maximum amount of Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits that could be produced on the small tree if he kept hunting the wild wolves. If he could eat 99 of those fruits, he would greatly improve himself. Though, it would also be okay to enjoy 49 Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits.


    ...


    He was already in the Crescent Prairie. The huge opening of the Wild Wolf Valley was more than 10 km away from this place.


    Several wild wolves which were caught by Zhang Tie and tied onto a crown-like trunk that had been struck by a lightning bolt encircled a hill. Their mouths covered, the wild wolves could only yelp pitifully.


    With several bamboo tubes on his body, Zhang Tie pinched his nose and carefully sprayed a smelly liquid over the grassland under the small hill as if he was spraying water. After ten more minutes, when Zhang Tie had sprayed all the liquid from the bamboo tubes onto the surrounding grassland, a strong smelly odor permeated the air.


    The hot sun at noon accelerate the volatile speed of the liquid and made it more stimulative.


    After spraying the strange liquid, Zhang Tie threw off all the bamboo tubes. He didn¡¯t dare to freely breathe until he ran onto the top of the hill where there was ventilation.


    "Damn! That was too f*cking smelly!"


    Even though Zhang Tie had kind of gotten used to this in the past couple of days, the smelly odor still had forced him to pour out his last dinner.


    After heavily breathing in the fresh air, Zhang Tie smelt his hands as he had gotten used to doing these days. When he sprayed the liquid just now, he noticed that some of it had splashed onto his hands. After smelling them, a disgusting odor rushed directly into his head. So Zhang Tie hurriedly ran to a nearby pond and washed his hands before returning.


    The liquid that Zhang Tie had sprayed the grassland with was the wild wolves¡¯ urine, more accurately, female wild wolves¡¯ urine. During the mating season, adult female wolves¡¯ urine could drive all the wild wolves mad.


    This was a trick that Zhang Tie had thought up when he saw a pioneer using some strange smelly liquid to trap golden wolves. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie had patted his forehead.


    ¡®How could I forget this? After the full moons would be the wolves¡¯ mating season.¡¯


    So Zhang Tie started his plan by catching several live female wild wolves in a short period of time and collecting their urine.


    It was very filthy when he collected it. If Alice¡¯s group was with him, Zhang Tie would have never done this. However, now that nobody could see it, he didn''t mind doing this filthy thing several more times.


    Whether it was waiting under a tree for prey to come close, or running around to hunt one down, no approach could match this method. This was the simplest way that Zhang Tie had discovered to hunt wild wolves.


    The sun was hanging high in the sky at noon. After a short while, the female wolves¡¯ urine that Zhang Tie had sprayed had become even more smelly under the scorching sun. Added with the heavy wind in the Crescent Prairie, the strange smell was blown everywhere.


    According to Zhang Tie¡¯s experience, the smell of female wolves¡¯ urine could remain for at least more than half a day. Perhaps to male wolves it smelled good, but humans really couldn''t stand it.


    Zhang Tie put a triangular face-cloth on his face, which was tailored from the shirt stained by wolf blood. After covering his mouth and nose, he inserted his lances on the ground under the tree. After that, he leisurely and casually did some warm-up movements like twisting his waist, stretching his hands, and kicking his legs.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt that he was a fisherman who had flung his fishing net into the water.


    Five minutes later, two wild wolves with red eyes arrived. They noticed Zhang Tie and the female wolves.


    ''He dared to take five beauties,'' the wolves must''ve been thinking, judging from their animosity.


    The two wild wolves then rushed towards Zhang Tie. At the same time, Zhang Tie also ended his warm-up movements and dashed forward. He didn¡¯t use any weapons like a sword or a dagger because they would cause bleeding. Wild wolves had a sensitive nose and high intelligence. After smelling the blood of their companions, they would not be easily fooled.


    The first wild wolf wanted to bite Zhang Tie¡¯s shin. However, it was hit by the Spade-Kick, one of the skills from Iron-Blood Fist. Closely after that, the wild wolf¡¯s shin cracked, and it was sent flying for over 10 m in the air. It fell to the ground, never to climb up again.


    The second wild wolf charged at Zhang Tie¡¯s neck. Seeing that, Zhang Tie stretched his hand and easily broke its neck using the Wrestling Hand move.


    The battle soon came to an end without any blood being spilled.


    Some vultures were swirling in the sky, somehow feeling the approaching death and knowing that they will enjoy a grand lunch after a while.


    The wind above the Crescent Prairie blew away the dandelions on the hill into the air, and they flew off like white clouds. Among the cute dandelions, Zhang Tie saw the vultures in the sky. Although other people didn¡¯t like them, he burst out laughing at the sight of them since he had predicted that he would achieve a lot today...


    However, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know that what would happen today would change the destiny of a lot of people in the Andaman Alliance...

 144 Iron Flow

    Chapter 144: Iron Flow


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Only after four hours, the sky above Zhang Tie brimmed with dozens of vultures. The scavengers of prairie were hovering in the sky and crying happily in terrifying voices, their eyes fixed on the yummy food on the ground. Some brave ones had even already landed on the ground, gawking with their gleaming eyes at the wolf corpses all over the grass. At the same time, they swaggered their fat bodies and stealthily fluttered their wings while gradually jumping towards the corpses.


    By now, the one hundred square meters over the hill where Zhang Tie was standing were covered with dead wolves. There were roughly 70 corpses sparsely lying on the ground.


    Compared to the past few days, Zhang Tie had achieved most today. But if more than 70 wild wolves had rushed towards him altogether, he feared that he would have been forced to escape to the vast prairie. Thankfully, they arrived in batches, which granted Zhang Tie the chance to destroy them one group by another.


    This also explained how delicate this trap was. The moment the male wild wolves smelt the odor of female wolves, they would definitely rush towards them immediately. They would never choose teamwork in such a situation.


    ''Probably even male wild wolves would not accost female wolves or make piston-like movements together,'' Zhang Tie decided.


    Looking at it that way, wild wolves were actually akin to human beings. Since humans, even if they wanted to spend money to f*ck girls, they would never go there in groups. Take Zhang Tie himself for an instance, besides the guys of Hit-Plane Brotherhood, he would hardly go to such a place with anybody else.


    He kept waiting, expecting more wild wolves...


    The last wave was composed of roughly 20 wild wolves. At the beginning, Zhang Tie only used his hands to kill them. In the end, seeing that some of them were about to escape, he had to use his lance.


    Currently, his lance¡¯s attacking range had reached as far as 80 steps with his increasingly growing physical strength and spiritual energy. In this range, Zhang Tie was confident to hit a fly with his lance.


    This was a horrifying and strange talent. And Zhang Tie still didn¡¯t know how he could master such a terrifying skill so abruptly. He had no idea where that weird funnel-shaped locking state between him and the target would come from whenever he wanted to throw out his lance.


    Having common sense, of course Zhang Tie knew that it was not a common thing. At least, in his surroundings or at school, although having heard a lot of weird things, he had never heard that anyone could suddenly get such an ability. But for him now it was less of a skill to pierce through his target and more of something as instinctive as taking a breath or walking. It was as if he had been born with the ability.


    ¡®Donder knows a lot, perhaps he''ll know something about this.¡¯


    Zhang Tie decided to ask Donder after the survival training. Although that guy was a bit narrow-minded, he was the still the most reliable person Zhang Tie knew besides his parents and elder brother.


    Female wolves¡¯ urine spread through the air, mixing with the increasingly stimulative odor of wild wolves¡¯ fresh blood. Smelling this, more and more vultures hovered above, many of which landed, uttering ¡®Gu wo...¡¯. They were carefully observing the dead wild wolves lying on the ground, checking whether they were completely dead or not.


    In the past days, these guys had already enjoyed food several times. If they were requested to rate who was the most welcome person on the prairie, Zhang Tie felt that he was definitely qualified to be the No. 1.


    While vultures were observing the dead wolves, Zhang Tie was observing them. These days he had found that these guys weren''t actually not that disgusting. Although they had a bad reputation, they were the real peace-keepers as they only ate rotten meat and rarely killed other live beings.


    Additionally, before eating, they would confirm that the target was really dead. If it was still alive or had one last breath in them, they would then stay aside and wait patiently. They only carefully observed their target, never attacking the almost dead animals.


    "Hey, buddy, don¡¯t be afraid, we are good people. We will not attack you while you''re still alive. We''re waiting to eat your dead body. I think you''ll agree to that, right? If not, you''ll definitely chase us away. And since you didn¡¯t, it means that you''ve agreed."


    This was how these guys greeted the other animals on the prairie.


    Because of these vultures, Zhang Tie reconfirmed his previous belief that a person¡¯s reputation and what was said about him rarely represented the kind of person he really was. Someone with good reputation was not definitely a good person; conversely, a person with a poor reputation was not definitely a bad person.


    Although vultures had a bad reputation, none of them had ever hurt other animals in their whole lives. They hadn''t even ever hurt a stalk of grass. Even though they were ferocious beasts, they actually chose the loneliest and most misunderstood way of living, and also the most kind.


    In contrast, the wild wolves would always attack human beings. Each year, there would be students attending the survival training and people living outside the city getting killed by these wild wolves. However, vultures never attacked people. Although they looked ugly with pitch-dark feathers all over and curved yet long necks which would even drop feathers, Zhang Tie truly liked these guys who never hurt others.


    Landing on the ground, the vultures kept uttering ¡®Gu wo...¡¯, seemingly warning the lying wild wolves about their arrival. After doing that for awhile, they noticed that the wild wolves didn¡¯t make any response. Finally, a brave vulture just moved forward and tried to give one wolf a peck as the last warning and confirmation.


    After that, it fluttered its wings and jumped off. However, the wild wolf remained still. Then another vulture moved forward to give the same wolf a peck and jumped off as the first one had. The wild wolf still didn¡¯t move. With this, the vultures finally confirmed that the wild wolves were dead and had already agreed to being eaten by them.


    Therefore, the two vultures fluttered their wings and uttered ¡®Gu wo...¡¯ to announce it to the others. Hearing their signal, all the other vultures charged at the dead wild wolf and started to enjoy the yummy food.


    When the vultures started to enjoy their meal, Zhang Tie had already prepared to leave. By then, he had also finally confirmed that no more wild wolves would be attracted here today.


    Today¡¯s achievements made Zhang Tie very satisfied. He knew that the latest Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit on the small tree would be ripe by now and would be waiting for him to enjoy it tonight. Tomorrow, Zhang Tie would have five wild wolves¡¯ strength in his body and would have improved his fighting force greatly.


    A lance''s handle was covered with wolf blood. The polished handle had become dark after several weeks¡¯ fighting, the color coming from the wood soaking up blood.


    Zhang Tie put all of his lances back into their container and went to a nearby pond. He wanted to clean them. Since because of all that blood, if it wasn''t cleaned, he would always smell gory. Although not being obsessively tidy, Zhang Tie still preferred to be clean.


    The lances felt fitting before, but recently they''ve come to feel as light as straw sticks. It made them harder and harder to use. Zhang Tie shook his head. It seemed that he would have to go back to the Wild Wolf Castle tomorrow and ask Peter and his colleagues to build a new set of heavier lances. These ones were starting to feel just too light.


    He reached a small pond. When he arrived there and squatted down with lances in hand, Zhang Tie became stunned as the water in the pond was rippling in a certain rhythm.


    ¡®Is this an earthquake?¡¯ Zhang Tie became slightly puzzled.


    Additionally, the ripples in the pond seemed to be coming into being faster and faster, while small water drops directly jumped out of the pond. At this moment, Zhang Tie thought he heard thunder from afar. His face immediately turned pale, and he threw down his lances, rushing towards the tree on the hill.


    The several female wolves tied to the tree became really scared when they saw Zhang Tie running towards them.


    Zhang Tie climbed onto the crown of the tree at his fastest speed and started to look northwest of the prairie. Far off, there seemed to be thousands of rolling thunders rocking the earth.


    Several minutes later, the sounds gradually became louder, and the whole earth started to heavily rock like a big drum. At the same time, numerous birds were scared off and took flight, covering half of the sky, and moving away from the black cloud in the northwest. Even the vultures in front of Zhang Tie seemed to have sensed danger and rose into the air one by one!


    Several minutes later, that sound of thousands of rolling thunders grew louder. From the northwest of the prairie, packs of animals¡ªincluding wild wolves, huge wolves, antelopes, rhinos, magical leopards, hares, lions, jackals, and wild ox¡ªstarted to rush away in all directions to get as far away from the booming noise.


    Several golden wolves and huge wolves and even a lion were escaping, passing by the tree in a panic. However, Zhang Tie had no mood to hunt them at this moment. He just fixed his eyes on the northwest of the prairie.


    Soon after these animals disappeared in the distance, several pioneers on horses came in their tracks. Although some of these pioneers were very powerful, they looked like hares in a panic. With their bodies low, close to the horses¡¯ backs, they rode without daring to raise their heads...


    "Hurry up, escape, the Iron-Horn Army of Norman Empire is coming..." a pioneer screamed in a panic, his voice shrill, as he passed 50 m of Zhang Tie...

 145 The War Broke Ou

    Chapter 145: The War Broke Out


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Iron-Horn Army of the Norman Empire?


    ''F*ck!''


    Hearing his voice, Zhang Tie didn''t hesitate before directly jumping off from the 3 m high tree. After landing, he intended to escape right away; however, at the sight of the poor watery-eyed female wolves tied to the tree, Zhang Tie stayed and pulled out his dagger, quickly cutting off the ropes and letting them escape.


    After obtaining freedom, the female wolves didn''t even dare to glance at Zhang Tie. Once the ropes on their mouths and necks became loose, they escaped right away with tails between legs.


    In the past days, Zhang Tie had gotten used to killing wolves, however, he still felt reluctant to kill those female wolves which had provided him with the urine to hunt male wild wolves for no reason. Donder had said that thieves also have their own principles. So Zhang Tie cut off the ropes and let them go. After all, the female wolves had helped him a lot.


    After setting the female wolves free, Zhang Tie didn''t even pick up his lances. Instead, he directly dashed towards the Wild Wolf Valley. At this time, he immediately accelerated to his maximal speed...


    In less than one minute, his speed had already surpassed that of the horse''s that the previous guy, who had shouted at him loudly, was riding, and he gradually enlarged the distance between himself and the rider. Seeing someone running faster than his horse, that guy was really shocked, his mouth hanging wide open. He became stunned behind Zhang Tie''s back...


    It was not strange that some good fighters above LV 6 could easily run faster than a galloping horse when they exerted their utmost effort. However, those fighters could only last several minutes. What made the pioneer stunned was that the one in front of him was only over ten years old. He had never heard of someone who would''ve reach LV 6 at such a young age in Blackhot City.


    But what made him even more surprised was that the boy kept sprinting forward at this speed without even feeling exhausted. After surpassing his horse, the young boy kept rushing toward the Wild Wolf Valley without any deceleration. In a short while, the distance between him and that boy had increased greatly. The rider could see his gradually growing smaller back. He checked his own horse which was sweating all over. In a split second, he felt sad and started to shriek in a shrill voice once again.


    "Hurry up, escape, the Iron-Horn Army of the Norman Empire is coming..!"


    A common horse could run 40 km/h with a person on its back, but Zhang Tie could run above 50 km/h at this time, causing the distance to increase between him and that guy on horse.


    He kept running, running, and running, using up all his power...


    He moved across the Crescent Prairie like a heavy wind. Seeing his shadow, many pioneers were shocked.


    It only took Zhang Tie roughly 20 minutes to rush onto the range that was extended from the Wild Wolf Valley. He then rushed onto the hillside, passing the woods and stayed behind a very hidden rock on a high place on the hill. He heavily breathed while looking at the northwest of the Crescent Prairie.


    This time, Zhang Tie was pretty shocked by what he saw.


    Far off in the prairie, a red-iron tide surged out like great flooding rivers and lakes.


    It was striking the ground, causing thousands of booming sounds over the entire Crescent Prairie. Those sounds rolled towards Blackhot City in an overwhelming way.


    That iron tide moved really fast. Just moments ago it was only a red line, but after several winks the front line had already become clear.


    That tide was a cavalry battalion dressed in red, advancing at an extremely fast speed. The ridden beasts were not common horses, but weird animals with a horn on their foreheads. Although looking akin to rhinos, they were taller and stronger than rhinos, and had longer legs. They galloped like horses, but were faster than them.


    On the backs of the ferocious beasts were knights wholly dressed in red armor. They looked like gloomy iron fortress with a row of air holes for their mouths and another for their eyes, making them pretty terrifying.


    Common people would be terrified by seeing even a single one of those ferocious beasts standing in front of them. But right now, this many knights had appeared on the Crescent Prairie, advancing forward like huge dragons in an overwhelming manner.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was deeply impressed by the cavalry''s handsome looks.


    The front knight was firmly holding a banner in his hand, on which was the icon of the head of the iron-horned beast that they were riding on. This icon was the very symbol of the North Border Iron-Horn of the Norman Empire.


    Those slower pioneers were caught up with by the knights from behind. Standing on the hill, Zhang Tie thought a massacre would come. Unexpectedly, the knights on the iron-horned beasts didn''t care about the pioneers at all. They didn''t even glance at those running people who had already jumped off the horses as they were afraid of running in front of the Iron-Horn Army. The Army kept rushing towards Blackhot City.


    A lion in hunting would never feel like glancing at the ants on the roadside!


    The red-iron tide divided into two in front of the Wild Wolf Valley. Half marched to one side of it, while the other went to the other.


    It was really an endless iron tide. When it passed by, the leaves on the hill started to quiver. The sounds of tens of thousands galloping iron-horned beasts were really like rolling thunder that passed by under your feet.


    Under Zhang Tie''s gaze, the iron tide divided into two on the border of the Wild Wolf Valley and the Crescent Prairie, then kept galloping for one hour like a red flood, without stop.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s face completely turned pale.


    After the iron-horn cavalry came endless iron war-chariots. The steam chariots were following in a very grand way. Upon dividing into two at the entrance of the Wild Wolf Valley, they also rolled towards Blackhot City.


    After the steaming tanks were numerous steaming trucks with infantries inside.


    One hour later...


    Suddenly the birds hovering in the sky were scared and flew away again as a terrifying giant moved out of the clouds and showed itself in the sky.


    With his mouth slightly opened, Zhang Tie fixed his eyes on that giant thing in the sky, recognizing it as an airship 500 m long. Just like a cloud''s, its huge shadow was cast onto the ground which then slowly moved over the valley and the hills below.


    It took the airship roughly one minute to fly over Zhang Tie''s head. During that time, its huge shadow kept covering him.


    His head raised, Zhang Tie was awed by that giant thing.


    Soon after, huge airships closely drilled threw the clouds one by one. They were like a huge centipede that lasted dozens of kilometers in the sky. Such a scene deeply shocked Zhang Tie.


    He knew that Blackhot City would be over soon. Not only Blackhot City, but even all the armies of the entire Andaman Alliance if they moved out. There was just no way for them to resist the North Border Army of the Norman Empire in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    Only in an hour, at least 100,000 soldiers had passed in front of him. Zhang Tie then cast his eyes onto the Crescent Prairie and found an endless iron tide coming towards him like the flood of great rivers and lakes. Iron cavalry, armored vehicles, soldier-transporting vehicles, material-transporting vehicles, and airships of the Norman Empire above his head, all pushed forward like locusts and floods that knew no exhaustion. Such a scene kept Zhang Tie in shock, even making his nerves go numb...


    Not only was Blackhot City over, even Andaman Alliance might be so. Such a large-scale army was definitely not here for merely Blackhot City.


    Sometimes, c''est la vie.


    When sitting under a tree, someone might throw their dining plates before you and find you endless trouble; sometimes, when you were jubilantly hunting and doing survival training,thinking about eating fruits soon, the huge wheels of history would not care about whether you had eaten dinner yet. They would just roll by you instead, changing the destiny of you and your beloved people.


    The Crescent Prairie still brimmed with the iron tide...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie thought back to his parents in Blackhot City, his elder brother who was serving in the army in Blackhot City, and the girls and his brothers of Hit-Plane Brotherhood. Then he rushed down the hill and continued running to the Wild Wolf Castle.


    The moment he reached the foot of the hill, he had already seen a wisp of red smoke rising from the Wild Wolf Castle. That was the decree of greatest emergency which was used to summon all the students attending the survival training back to the Wild Wolf Castle at once. It could be seen for dozens of kilometers.


    Actually, before seeing the rising red smoke, all the other students had already stopped what they were doing and started to run back to the Wild Wolf Castle.


    A huge war-time airship of the Norman Empire had already flown by the Wild Wolf Valley, moving towards the Wild Wolf Castle. Unless blind, everybody would see it. At the sight of that huge airship marked with the Norman Empire''s icon, all the students only had one thought in their minds: ''That''s not good, something really bad is going to happen.'' Of course nobody would have the mood to continue their survival training after seeing such a thing.


    That huge war-time airship didn''t fly very fast. So before it had reached the Wild Wolf Castle, such a giant moving thing was noticed by all the people in the castle. In the watch tower at the top of the Wild Wolf Castle, if you used a telescope, you could see more airships appearing in the sky above the Crescent Prairie.


    "It''s the Crazy-Shark war-time airship of the Iron-Horn Army of the Norman Empire. Attention, please, the war between the Norman Empire and the Andaman Alliance is breaking out!"


    Captain Kerlin put down his telescope and calmly said as a complicated expression flashed across his eyes...

 146 Arrival of the Turmoil

    Chapter 146: Arrival of the Turmoil


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee used the telescope to observe the sky above the Crescent Prairie in turns from the watch tower. After seeing the sights, their faces all turned pale. Being different from students, most of the teachers could surmise how many soldiers were in the Iron-Horn Army of the Norman Empire''s airships by merely identifying the number and level of the airships in the air via the telescope.


    "How long will it take for us to start the main boiler of the Wild Wolf Castle? Do we have enough time?" some teachers asked helplessly.


    "If we rely on the students, it will take us at least three hours to start it, and only then will we be able to trigger the air-defense weapons of the castle using the pressure in the main boiler. However, during the time we increase the pressure, the enemy airships could just throw a heavy, white, phosphorous bomb to destroy the entire Wild Wolf Castle into debris. We have no chance to fight back at all..." another teacher replied calmly.


    Hearing that, all the other teachers became quiet.


    "I suggest to lift the blue-green flag as we have no right to sacrifice these innocent students! We all know how many soldiers are in the airships. In a saying of the Eastern Continent, is it necessary for us to be a mantis that intends to hold back a train by lying itself under the wheel of the train? To be honest, those students are still commoners. They''re neither qualified nor bound to get involved with this upcoming war..." Saying this, Mr. Zerom fixed his eyes on Captain Kerlin. "Let''s raise our hands to vote!"


    After saying that, Mr. Zerom raised his hand. Soon after him many other teachers did the same. Finally, Captain Kerlin also raised his hand. Seeing that, the remaining teachers raised their hands too.


    Several minutes later, along with a red smoke, a blue-green flag was raised on the top of the castle. This was a more graceful way to avoid war compared to raising a white flag. According to the Conventions of Human Clan Wars in this age, blue-green flag indicated that the Wild Wolf Castle was a non-military target and not fortified.


    As was expected, after raising the blue-green flag, the airships flying towards the Wild Wolf Castle slightly changed their course and shifted their attention to Blackhot City.


    Looking in the direction of the city, Captain Kerlin looked a bit dejected. At this moment, Mr. Zerom pushed open the door and entered with two glasses and a bottle of wine in his hands.


    Captain Kerlin looked at him, amazed. "Where did you get this?"


    "Castle Commander''s Office!"


    "That place is locked. You''d be sent to military court if you entered without permission..."


    "I unlocked it!" Mr. Zerom carelessly replied. "Do you think the room''s owner still has a chance to come back to open the door? Or do you want to leave these items to the bastards who will come here to take over the Castle..."


    During his speech, Zerom opened the bottle of wine and put the glasses on the table. He filled the two glasses with wine. After the sanguine liquid became level, the two teachers observed it quivering slightly.


    "At least 200,000. Not only the iron-horn cavalry, even the armored troops have set out this time. Otherwise, it would never be this overwhelming!" Zerom sighed like what he was talking about had nothing to do with him. "The Iron-Horn Army has left the Kachiton defense line that had been managed by the Andaman Alliance for two dozens of years and appeared at the back of Blackhot City. They directly cut into the abdomen of the Alliance from the Crescent Prairie. This is really a nice and ferocious left hook..."


    Captain Kerlin cast a fierce glare to Zerom and swore, "Bastard!" It was hard to say whether he was cursing the Iron-Horn Army of the Norman Empire or Zerom. After that, Captain Kerlin didn''t take his glass but, rather, directly grabbed the wine bottle and started to swallow deep, making a sound of ''Gulu gulu''.


    "Even now the Norman Empire dares to do this so blatantly! They''ve definitely made a compromise with the Sun Dynasty. Perhaps at this moment the Sun Dynasty''s army is also marching on Cilanca City!" After sipping a mouthful of wine, Zerom slightly narrowed his eyes. "Even if they gather together by hundreds, the guys doing business in Andaman Alliance are still rabbits; even if small businessmen gather together by tens, they would still do small business!"


    "The city wall of Blackhot City will not be that easily broken. The Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation has done a lot of work to strengthen it. If the Norman Empire really wants to launch a war, it will not be able to take down the Blackhot City without paying a miserable price!" Captain Kerlin said in a low voice.


    "Kerlin, don''t you know that this is not a matter of can or cannot, but a matter of dare or dare not for those people in the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation. Forget your honor as a soldier!" Zerom started to be incisive. "Trust me, those guys doing small business would never think about any damn respect or honor at this moment, but instead how to negotiate with the representatives from the Norman Empire, striving to guarantee the safety of their own property to the utmost degree.


    "They would never dare to fight the Norman Empire at this time. With only one excuse, the commander of the North Border Army of the Norman Empire would deliver an order to break them into pieces and take over all of their private properties that they had used dozens of years to accumulate. Just wait, once the Norman Empire besieges Blackhot City, we''ll soon see many citizens of the Norman Empire in a few days..."


    "Damned!" Captain Kerlin turned gloomy. After swallowing a couple more mouthfuls of wine, he stared at Zerom. "How many have you got?"


    "What?"


    It was Zerom''s turn to be confused this time.


    "No matter how many bottles of wine you''ve pilfered from the Office, I want half of them!" the one-eyed man said arbitrarily...


    Not until the vanguard of the iron cavalry of the Iron-Horn Army had come to only 15 km from Blackhot City did the only airship in the sky above the city notice the iron tide and those huge airships rolling closer at a rapid pace.


    The shrill war alerts and air-defense alerts immediately resonated through Blackhot City. At the same time, several city gates of Blackhot City closed up.


    On the city wall, all the soldiers and officers, including Zhang Tie''s elder brother, who had rushed into the defense posts turned pale when they caught sight of the cavalry flooding towards.


    "The army from the Norman Empire is coming! The Iron-Horn Army of the Norman Empire is coming!"


    When the war alerts rung, Zhang Tie''s father was still working in the factory while his mom and elder sister-in-law were at home. Many citizens were standing and gawking in the street.


    The moment Zhang Tie''s dad heard the alerts, he immediately left his work and ran outside the factory. Seeing two confused youths within the building, he pulled them out by their arms.


    "What happened?"


    "Those are the war and air-defense alerts. Come on, leave the factory..." Zhang Tie''s dad shouted out loudly.


    Hearing that, everybody else turned pale and rushed outside the factory. If the air attack started, the plant areas would be the first targets. At this moment, they would be safer in a spacious area.


    Recognizing the alerts, Zhang Tie''s mom and elder sister-in-law immediately hid in their family''s refuge chamber.


    Everybody in the street became flurried, so did the Blackhot City as a whole...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was darting back to the Wild Wolf Castle...

 147 Prelude to a Chaotic World

    Chapter 147: Prelude to a Chaotic World


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    When Zhang Tie came back to the Wild Wolf Castle, it was already in chaos.


    Before returning here, he had passed by the tree house. Seeing the line: ''We are in the Wild Wolf Castle!'', Zhang Tie knew that Barley''s group had already went back.


    The words were of course written for Zhang Tie. Since Barley''s group had predicted that Zhang Tie would definitely come back to the tree house to check on them after seeing the signal, they left this line for him.


    At this time, many students'' faces were covered with helplessness and fear. When the huge war machines of the Norman Empire came to fly above their heads, all those who had never seen them before were really shocked. Everyone felt dwarfed.


    Although Blackhot City had its own airships, they were just dozens of meters in length. Floating above the city, they were mainly used as watch towers by the City Guard. However, compared to the airships of the Norman Empire, they were just rabbits in front of lions. And of course a rabbit and a lion would bring completely different emotions in people.


    It was noisy in the Wild Wolf Square as students had already gathered to discuss about what was happening. Although many people could see the huge airships, they hadn''t yet figured out what was happening right now.


    Before coming to the Wild Wolf Valley, they were taught military education for many years at school, so although they were afraid, they still remained disciplined.


    Additionally, the flying blue-green flag on the top of the castle also relieved their tension. So even though the sudden appearance of the Norman Empire''s army was terrifying, they all kept calm, knowing that they wouldn''t be attacked. So what worried them right now were not themselves but their family members in Blackhot City.


    The moment Zhang Tie came to the Wild Wolf Castle, he was noticed by Leit who was waiting on the path leading to the valley from the square.


    "Bighead..." Leit rushed toward him through the noisy crowd. Hugging him, he said, "Nice to see you back, we were worried that you might not be back in time!" Saying this, Leit looked around carefully and drew slightly closer to Zhang Tie. With his voice lowered, he said, "Glaze also started a loner''s survival training several days ago. Learning about it, everybody started to worry for you..."


    Leit''s concerned expression and his excitement at the sight of him made Zhang Tie warm inside. Facing Leit''s concern, he patted his shoulder.


    "Trust me, I''m okay. How about you guys?"


    "Fine, Pandora, Alice, and Beverly are fine too. Oh, have you met Glaze?"


    "Glaze? I''ve not seen him for a long time. He might have disappeared from this world!" Zhang Tie replied straightforwardly with a big smile.


    Somehow, Leit could sense that Zhang Tie was obviously different from before, even though not that many days had passed. His friend''s appearance hadn''t changed, but his temperaments was quite different compared to earlier. He had become more confident, calm, and mysterious. Besides that, he presented a certain feeling of hidden sharpness to others.


    ''Could a loner''s survival training really bring about such great changes to a person in a short time?''


    Leit became suspicious.


    There were many people in the square. Not only were the other members of the Brotherhood waiting for Zhang Tie, but even his mining brothers were paying attention to him.


    Potter, Wood, Gandhi, Jones, Franca, and other mining brothers had gathered together and formed a small group. Seeing Zhang Tie, they all revealed smiles and were a bit moved. Compared to other groups in the square, the small group composed of the mining brothers became less chaotic. Many of them frankly sat on the ground with calm expressions.


    Zhang Tie greeted Potter''s group by nodding his head instead of going towards them.


    They looked understanding: the Ancient Gods Church was still a huge secret.


    "You know those guys?" Leit asked with a bit of curiosity after seeing Zhang Tie greet those guys.


    "Yea, we''re mining friends!"


    "Oh, I thought you''ve joined the Gods'' Bliss Association."


    "Gods'' Bliss Association? Gods'' Bliss Association?"


    Zhang Tie was confused.


    "It''s an association organized by those mad guys. They treat mining as cultivation. I heard they even implement a mysterious prayer before mining by kissing the icy mining bed. So the previous miners in the mine were scared off by them.


    "A couple of days after you left, the Gods'' Bliss Association had taken completely control of the mine. They''re very united with a powerful fighting force and are really good at mining, just as if they were born-to-be miners. As long as one of them meets with some trouble, the others will rush to him in aid.


    "One week ago, when a small association of more than twenty people was bullying one of their members, the other more than sixty members of Gods'' Bliss Association all rushed forward regardless of their own lives.


    "As a result, on the side of the Wild Wolf Square, they beat over ten guys so ferociously that those guys even knelt down in front of them to beg for forgiveness. After Glaze''s Male Lion Association was disbanded, these guys of Gods'' Bliss Association have become a popular emerging association in the Wild Wolf Castle."


    Leit explained it to Zhang Tie as they walked, not even noticing that Zhang Tie''s eyes had almost popped out while listening.


    Zhang Tie had never imagined that after confounding them with his "Cave Barbarian Living Style", these guys would unite, bursting with creativity like having found the direction of their futures. Several bad luck miners had started to play the game of associations too. Additionally, Zhang Tie felt that Gods'' Bliss Association was somewhat related to that Ancient Gods'' Church which he had fabricated.


    Barley and the other members of the Brotherhood were gathered in the square. Seeing Leit accompanying Zhang Tie back, their spirits rose, and they all heaved a deep sigh of relief.


    "You wait here for me, I have an emergency to report to Captain Kerlin and the other teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee!"


    After greeting the other members of the Brotherhood, Zhang Tie intended to leave for Captain Kelrin.


    "What''s the matter? Bighead, why are you in such a hurry?" Barley asked.


    After glancing over these guys who were still confused, Zhang Tie greeted and motioned for them to get closer. "I met the Iron-Horn Army of the Norman Empire in the Crescent Prairie!"


    "What?"


    The others almost jumped up from the ground.


    "The Iron-Horn Army divided into two at the border between the Crescent Prairie and the Wild Wolf Valley, avoiding going through. They chose a route that''s more suitable for the great numbers of their troops to charge at Blackhot City. Their routes were almost horizontal to the Wild Wolf Valley with two ranges of the Wild Wolf Valley between them. They were at least 10 km away from each other."


    Those who attended the survival training in the Wild Wolf Valley wouldn''t know that. And even if some of them had felt something, they could never imagine how truly terrifying were the troops of the Norman Empire when they moved together.


    "How many people?" Barley asked in a low voice.


    "The troops that passed before me consisted of more than 100,000 people. The amount of cavalry on the iron-horn beasts would surpass 50,000. There were also large batches of armored troops. Before I came back, the other troops of the Norman Empire were still marching endlessly to this place from the Crescent Prairie. I have to report this situation to the Temporary Supervision Committee now..."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s description, every member of the Brotherhood turned pale. Facing such a dire change in their situation, everybody became worried, and felt weak. What could a few youths do in front of such great power?


    The moment Zhang Tie separated from the other members of the Brotherhood, he darted into the Wild Wolf Castle. Coincidentally, he almost hit Captain Kerlin and Zerom.


    Seeing them, Zhang Tie hurriedly drew close and reported what he had seen about the Norman Empire''s army. He was then surprised that both Zerom and Captain Kerlin showed no excessive surprise during his report. They only asked him for some extra details on a few parts.


    "You''ve long known about it?"


    "No, we didn''t know it but assumed such. When we saw the war-time airships of the Norman Empire, we counted their numbers using a telescope and knew that the Iron-Horn Army had dispatched a great number of soldiers this time!"


    Zerom forced a faint smile.


    "Mr. Zerom, do you think that the Blackhot City will be in trouble? My elder brother is still serving in the City Guard!" Zhang Tie urgently asked Zerom about what he was concerned most. "Can I go back to have a look now?


    "I''m afraid that Blackhot City has been besieged by the Iron-Horn Army of the Norman Empire. Do you think you could break through its blockade? The city gates of Blackhot City must be closed shut by now. Even if you could get close to the city''s wall, do you think the City Guard would open the gates for you?" Zerom rebutted.


    Thinking back to all those troops of the Norman Empire and the critical situation facing Blackhot City, Zhang Tie shook his head.


    "Don''t worry, I estimate that the war will hardly break out in Blackhot City. Your elder brother should be safe!"


    Zerom''s admiration of this youth in front of him rose as he watched him.


    Zhang Tie had dared to attend the loner''s survival training in the Crescent Prairie, which meant that he had a powerful fighting force. Then after discovering the Norman Empire''s army, he immediately rushed back to report the critical situation to the teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee, proving his loyalty to Blackhot City. Of course teachers would favor such an excellent student.


    Hearing Zerom''s words, Zhang Tie was reassured. He asked then, "Mr. Zerom, is the war coming?"


    "It has already come. However, it will probably end very fast..." Zerom sighed. He then patted Zhang Tie''s shoulder and told him solemnly, "In this war, the two parties'' military force is very different. It''s like a fight between a lion and a rabbit. Tell me, if Captain Kerlin took a knife to rob an elementary student of his candy bar, dare the elementary student not submit to him? What''s more, that elementary student is an orphan which has no one to rely on..."


    Zhang Tie peered at Captain Kerlin and noticed this one-eyed man''s extreme dissatisfaction with the metaphor. Captain Kerlin then glared at Zerom. "Dare he not!"


    "That''s it! This is how war goes. The Norman Empire aims to rob, instead of to eliminate. But do you know what it means when a powerful guy like Captain Kerlin starts robbing kids of their candy bars or old men of their wine bottles that they had spent great effort to get, regardless of losing his face?"


    "What does this mean?"


    "It means the world is gonna turn chaotic..." Zerom let out a deep sigh as he shifted his eyes to stare in the distance. "This war is just an appetizer of the bloody and chaotic banquet that''s begun in this world..."


    Zhang Tie was stunned by the words. Chaotic world? This was his first time hearing such words so close together...

 148 Being Ready

    Chapter 148: Being Ready


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The outer castle of the Wild Wolf Castle was in chaos. When the Temporary Supervision Committee declared that they would open the barracks and allow the students to live in there, many people became busy moving their belongings.


    This was an emergency countermeasure. Besides opening the barracks to the students, the Temporary Supervision Committee even opened the reserve materials'' warehouse and allocated the war reserves to students. Every student would obtain an emergency rescue kit and two days'' worth of standard military dried rations. The Temporary Supervision Committee declared that from today on, the Wild Wolf Castle would implement food allotment system. All students attending this survival training would be able to obtain some rations each day at a certain time.


    In order to respond to emergencies, the Temporary Supervision Committee soon issued a series of measures that brought tension to the entire Wild Wolf Castle.


    From today on, female students could only move in the Wild Wolf Castle. They could freely access the inner castle and the outer castle. However, without the approval of the teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee, no female student was allowed to leave the Wild Wolf Castle. Realizing this was a protective measure for the female students, nobody protested it.


    Everyone knew that when the war truly broke out, women that had less power to protect themselves would be easily hurt and violated. This was especially so when the surroundings of the castle were brimming with 100,000-200,000 soldiers of the Norman Empire.


    Nobody dared to be careless at this moment. If female students were still allowed to go out of the Wild Wolf Castle at this moment, even if a small squad of soldiers were patrolling or executing missions nearby, they would bring disaster to them. Nobody would allow the girls to risk something like that happening.


    When girls were restricted to moving only in the Wild Wolf Castle, many boys begun to strive to join the contingent of on-duty students which had expanded more than 10 times. Previously, there were less than 40 on-duty students under the direct guidance of the Temporary Supervision Committee. But right now, the contingent had been expanded to 500 people, who took charge of the defense of the Wild Wolf Castle under the guidance of the Temporary Supervision Committee.


    After joining the on-duty contingent, the animals all became highly spirited. Especially since everybody received a whole new set of protective equipment, armor, and weapons from the reserves of the Wild Wolf Castle. Soon after that happened, people in new light armor, which was produced in Blackhot City, could be seen everywhere around the castle.


    For some reason, Zhang Tie always felt that the guys wandering around with their new weapons looked like they were sharing booty before facing an incoming disaster.


    ''Hopefully it''s just my imagining,'' Zhang Tie mumbled inwardly.


    Besides the main boiler in the Castle, all the six sub-steam-boilers that were responsible for ground defense of the Wild Wolf Castle had been heated. The social recluses in the iron-melting workshop also became busy. Peter''s group were assigned with a heavy task. They were ordered to supervise the normal running of the sub-boilers. Many animals were recruited to the boiler room.


    Unexpectedly, those guys of Gods'' Bliss Association asked to do all the most dirty and tiresome coal shoveling work in the boiler room, winning themselves the Temporary Supervision Committee''s great praise.


    Half an hour after the sub-boilers were heated up, the first steam ballista platform started running. Captain Kerlin then carried out the first trial shot. It was an over 2-m long metal bolt shot directly out of the mouth of the ballista, which hit a big tree as thick as a girl''s waist 300 m away. The tree broke and fell on impact.


    When Captain Kerlin was trying out the steam ballista, all the boys were standing on the walls of the outer castle while all the girls stood on raised platforms and next to high windows of the inner castle. They all stretched their necks, intending to enjoy the effect of the heavy steam-drive city-defense weapon which represented the highest level of human ingenuity in this age.


    Seeing that great bolt fly for several hundreds of meters, directly hit the big tree, and break it, everybody cheered up and felt somewhat reassured.


    It was also Zhang Tie''s first time seeing the power of these city-defense weapons. Like others, he was convinced by the amazing power it possessed.


    When Captain Kerlin finished testing the steam ballista, the sun had almost set down. Head count started then. Seeing the rising red smoke from the Wild Wolf Castle, all the students came back including Blues whose whereabouts were unknown to everyone.


    However, Glaze still hadn''t come back yet.


    When Zhang Tie came back in the morning, besides the members of the Brotherhood and the guys of the Gods'' Bliss Association, Glaze''s three lackeys¡ªSharon, Zuhair, and Garner¡ª had also noticed his arrival. That sight made the three people a bit surprised and agitated.


    Zhang Tie noticed their expressions at that moment. Only after glancing over them briefly, he knew that they had known about Glaze''s plans. After waiting for so long and yet seeing Zhang Tie come back instead of their leader, they had to be thinking of all possibilities.


    When the head count finished and Glaze still hadn''t shown up, the three people''s faces filled with fear when they saw Zhang Tie once again. However, the latter looked as calm as before, not paying them a single glance.


    Since Zhang Tie came back to the Wild Wolf Castle, he had not seen any girls walking out of the inner castle. He heard that all of them were forbidden to leave the inner castle once the red smoke had risen up. Teachers from the several national female middle schools were comforting them inside and imparting them some necessary knowledge and matters needing attention during war.


    When he was standing on the wall of the outer castle, Zhang Tie thought he saw the shadows of Pandora, Alice, and Beverly standing on the platform of the inner castle. This led to Zhang Tie missing them more by the second, like how male wolves had missed the female wolves on the Crescent Prairie the past few days.


    If you had no experienced with life or death situations, you would never know how precious life is!


    After seeing the trial shooting, when the girls were still standing on the high platforms or next to windows, Zhang Tie suddenly decided to do something impulsive. He ran downward the wall at his fastest speed, passed the space between the outer castle and the inner castle, and finally arrived below the towers of where the girls lived.


    When an old virgin standing at the entrance of the inner castle saw Zhang Tie rushing inside jubilantly, she stared at him icily. But before she could open her mouth, intending to scold Zhang Tie, unexpectedly, he stopped by her side and raised his head towards the towers above them.


    "Pandora, Alice, and Beverly, I''m back..."


    Zhang Tie''s voice was much louder than a normal person''s. Although it wasn''t akin to a thunder, his exclamation was at least as loud as a pack of wolves howling; it shocked the entire Wild Wolf Castle.


    After hearing the call, all the girls inside the inner castle bustled, moving to stretch their heads out of the windows and high platforms to see who was shouting so loudly below. Not only girls, even boys cast amazed looks at Zhang Tie; they had never seen such a blatant guy before.


    "Pandora, Alice, Beverly, I miss you everyday, I miss you all everyday..."


    Seeing the three girls show their heads from the high platforms of the inner castle, Zhang Tie became more excited.


    The three girls had never imagined that Zhang Tie could express his longing for them in front of so many people below the building of the inner castle. They then waved at him, wishing they could say something in reply. However, since they were too high up, Zhang Tie could never hear them, so they didn''t utter a sound.


    The moment the aged woman with an icy expression stood up, ready to scold Zhang Tie, she was immediately stunned by what he was saying...


    "I found some wild mulberry seeds in the Crescent Prairie..." Zhang Tie exclaimed, continuing to shout loudly. "My mom said that wild mulberry seeds can make girls'' hair more beautiful. Therefore, I brought them here for you. I will throw them up to you..."


    After saying that, Zhang Tie retreated several steps back. He then pulled out a small cloth bag and tried his best to throw it up to the girls with his eyes fixed on where they were.


    Nobody could imagine that Zhang Tie would be able throw a bag to such a high place. Under the gazes of numerous girls and boys, he positioned the pouch in his hand and then with great precision threw it up to the 40 m high windowsill from which Pandora, Alice, and Beverly were looking down.


    This was too precise!


    After throwing the bag to them, Zhang Tie waved at them and quickly ran away with jubilation evident in his steps...


    At this moment, seeing Zhang Tie''s happy look, all the girls, including that woman with an icy expression at the entrance of the gate were silent. All of them were thinking about an identical scene: a youth attending a loner''s survival training, seeing a patch of wild mulberry seeds, which reminded him of their hair. So that youth packed those black mulberry seeds and put the bag close to his chest in his coat. When he saw them, he would hand it to them. Even if he could not see them, the youth would still feel no fear of being stared at by thousands of eyes as he stood in front of the tall tower where they were in and expressed his longing for them loudly...


    From a windowsill of a tall tower in the inner castle, Miss Qili suddenly thought back to something when she saw Zhang Tie and slowly let out a sigh.


    In the tall tower, Pandora, Alice, and Beverly were deeply moved, their eyes fixed on the roughly sewn cloth bag and the heavy black mulberry seeds inside.


    The cloth bag was made from Zhang Tie''s shirt. The three girls noticed it immediately when they saw the bag. There were even obvious blood stains on the threads of the white linen. Seeing that, they imagined how Zhang Tie had clumsily injured his fingers when he sew the cloth bag.


    "Pandora, Beverly, I beg you, please give him to me!"


    Alice raised her watery eyes and stared at Pandora and Beverly seriously.


    "I''ve told you, he''s mine. No matter how many women he would have, he''s mine..."


    Pandora shook her head.


    "We''re still young, why not be absurd and share him at this time. Maybe when we''re old, our actions now could be reminiscent about for the rest of our lives!" Moving the cloth bag with the black mulberry seeds inside close to her nose, Beverly took a deep breath. "There''s his smell on it!"


    At this time, Blackhot City was in an extreme fear as the Norman Empire''s army was arriving in endless numbers in an overwhelming manner. Before the people in Blackhot City realized what was happening, the four city walls had already been tightly besieged by the Norman Empire''s army.


    Soon after, Blackhot City became an isolated island. Several representatives ruling the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation immediately came to the Norman Empire''s commanding barrack to ask for an audience with the commander. However, the person who met them was not the commander of the Norman Empire''s army, but a young lieutenant.


    Those representatives didn''t even get to come close to the commanding vehicle of the Norman Empire''s Army. Instead, they were held back outside that iron wall built in the wild. Standing on the ground under the sky, they met a solemn military officer of the enemy army.


    "Commander Schneider ordered me to tell you three things: first, you still have the chance to surrender yourselves. If you surrender during the period from now to the time when the first ray of sunlight shines onto Blackhot City, all the members of the seven clans dominating the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation will survive. You will also preserve your own properties; second, if you don''t surrender during this period, after the sunrise tomorrow, we will break into Blackhot City.


    "When the city walls are broken, all 1139 people of your seven clans will be killed, not one will be left alive. And third, the first clan to open the city gates to welcome the arrival of the Norman Empire''s army will be seen as our friend.


    "After toppling all the other clans, this clan then could choose to inherit the properties of any one of the other clans in the city." Saying this, the solemn lieutenant glanced over the representatives of Blackhot City. "Although commander Schneider would always like to fight ferociously, as we are all humans, I can tell you the news that several hours ago the Brilliant Feathers Army of Sun Dynasty have already passed the borderline between it and the Andaman Alliance..."


    Hearing the three requests, and especially the latest news, the two representatives of Blackhot City immediately turned pale and returned into their vehicles, rushing back to the City.


    Eventually, while the Wild Wolf Castle was still concerned about the situation in Blackhot City, the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation had already told everybody using their own actions that an isolated city like Blackhot City could only stand for four hours under the lightning-fast attack of the Norman Empire''s army. They didn''t resist even for a night.


    Four hours after Blackhot City was besieged, it surrendered. At the same time, the news that Lance City, another city of Andaman Alliance, was taken over by the Brilliant Feathers drifted over.


    In one day, the great Andaman Alliance had been split into two pieces: one in the south and one in north, by the Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty who were now in the middle...

 149 Growing Up

    Chapter 149: Growing Up


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    On the second day, before dawn, people in the Wild Wolf Castle already knew that Blackhot City had surrendered to the Norman Empire. To be precise, they hadn''t surrendered, but joined it.


    The message falcon had brought the latest news from Blackhot City to the Wild Wolf Castle: the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation that ruled Blackhot City had declared that from today on Blackhot City would separate from the Andaman Alliance and would join the Norman Empire as a LV 4 city of Brunswick Province under the management of the governor of the Norman Empire''s North Border.


    After delivering this declaration, the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation that ruled Blackhot City for dozens of years officially declared its disbandment.


    In this age, when chaos arrived to the world by the way of war, big fishes started to eat those smaller than them, and lions begun to hunt down hares. It was hard to say whether it was a tragedy or a comedy for small figures with little force behind them, but many would find that they had already changed their nationality between going to sleep and waking up next morning...


    As citizens of the Andaman Alliance, everyone in the Wild Wolf Castle became citizens of the Norman Empire when the sun rose up the next morning.


    After realizing that his destiny was casually toyed with by a huge hand, and learning of what had happened to Blackhot City, Zhang Tie just calmly left the Wild Wolf Castle, and ran off at his full strength. He didn''t stop until reaching the highest point of the mountain in the border between the Wild Wolf Valley and the Crescent Prairie. With his eyes fixed on that vast Crescent Prairie, he stood still until the the sun set off.


    Nobody knew what he was thinking about at that moment.


    When the sun set off, Zhang Tie returned to the Wild Wolf Castle.


    From today on, people in the castle started to eat from the same big pot. After opening the barracks to the public yesterday, the canteen in the castle was also opened up.


    It was much larger than the one at school. Everybody received their dining plates and food in the castle''s canteen like soldiers. After eating, they would wash their own dining plates and hand them back.


    The atmosphere in the castle was really gloomy.


    After eating, when the members of the Brotherhood intended to wash their own dining plates, Zhang Tie collected them all and said he would deal with them.


    "What''s wrong, Bighead?" Doug asked like a dumb ass.


    "I feel like that guy was a bit weird today. He''s not that diligent before!"


    Barley shook his head.


    Everyone in the Brotherhood then cast their eyes on Zhang Tie who was lifting a pile of dining plates and walking towards another side instead of the water faucets.


    He was walking directly towards where Sharon, Zuhair, and Garner were sitting.


    Bang!


    Loudly, Zhang Tie threw the seven metal dining plates in front of Sharon. The noise caused by the dining plates crashing onto the wooden table, startling everybody else. They all turned their heads and watched what was happening over here. As a result, the gloomy canteen became even quieter.


    Zhang Tie had thrown the dining plates directly onto Sharon''s own, causing the soup in his plate to splash all over his body.


    Seeing this, Sharon, Zuhair, and Garner immediately turned pale and stood up.


    With such an obvious aggression being displayed, all the other students sitting on the same table with the three guys hurriedly stood up and moved away.


    Zhang Tie was definitely one of the most famous people in the Wild Wolf Castle. At the same time, Barley and the other members of the Brotherhood had quickly rushed over, rolling up their sleeves. Knowing that Zhang Tie was going to beat up Sharon and the other two lackeys of Glaze, all the other members of the Brotherhood had prepared to fight.


    "Wash the dining plates and hand them back to the kitchen!" Zhang Tie ordered with an icy expression. "I think you don''t need me to tell you how to do that. You try it by yourselves for once, having bullied others so long at school by asking them to wash your dining plates!"


    Those people who felt that Zhang Tie was being too aggressive before, immediately knew what was happening after hearing his words. They then remained quiet. Especially since many animals in the canteen were from the Seventh National Male Middle School.


    After some quiet murmuring at first, there was no more sympathy in the onlookers'' eyes for Sharon, Garner, and Zuhair.


    "Zhang Tie, you... you... Don''t go too far!" Zuhair pointed at Zhang Tie, his face turning pale. He had never imagined that Zhang Tie would dare to be so aggressive against them. "After Glaze comes back, you''ll be in great trouble!"


    "After Glaze comes back, just point him to in my direction. I''ll be waiting!" Zhang Tie revealed a cold smile. "Now, answer me, are you going to wash them or not?"


    "F*c¡ª"


    Pa!


    Zhang Tie moved so swiftly that Zuhair hadn''t even finished swearing when he was slapped in the face. He then wanted to withstand it, only to feel like he was crashed into by a running rhino. His movements and wishes didn''t influence Zhang Tie''s attack whatsoever. With the feeling of one''s bones fracturing, Zuhair was slapped by Zhang Tie''s ferocious move and sent flying. After several rolls in the air, he fell heavily onto the ground.


    Almost at the same time, Zhang Tie kicked Garner''s, who was sitting in the middle, abdomen, and sent him flying as well.


    Sharon was too weak. The moment he punched at Zhang Tie, his fist was patted away like a fly, which, however, felt like an iron plate slapping his hand back. In a split second, Sharon was in so much pain that he almost teared up. But before he could utter a sound, Zhang Tie had already grabbed his hair and driven his face down onto his dining plate with great ferocity. The newly born shrill shriek was cut off short, and Sharon''s face was turned into a bloody pulp.


    Before the other members of the Brotherhood could rush in to help, the fight was already over. In front of Zhang Tie, the three guys hadn''t even stood for three seconds. They were all beaten up and were now lying on the ground, unable to pick themselves up.


    All the onlookers were shocked by Zhang Tie''s fighting force. A LV 1, even a LV 2 warrior could never do this as easy as Zhang Tie had done it. This was definitely how an adult would beat up a toddler, leaving the latter in no position to fight back.


    "Washing, or not?"


    Gripping Sharon''s hair, Zhang Tie pulled his bloody and dirty face out of his dining plate and asked with an icy expression.


    Sharon kept silent, his fierce glare a clear enough answer!


    Zhang Tie hit his head onto the dining plate once again, causing another shrill shriek.


    "Washing or not?"


    Zhang Tie tightened his grip onto Sharon''s hair and pulled his face out of the plate again.


    Sharon looked a bit scared as he sensed something calm, emotionless coming from Zhang Tie''s voice.


    But he didn''t answer. And thus, his head was brought into close contact with the dining plate for the third time.


    "Washing or not?" Zhang Tie''s voice was heard once again. Before Sharlon uttered a voice, Zhang Tie had ferociously crashed his head onto the plate for the fourth time...


    ...


    When Zhang Tie smashed Sharon''s head for the sixth time, a furious voice finally reverberated through the quiet canteen.


    "Zhang Tie, what are you doing?"


    Miss Qili appeared behind Zhang Tie, glaring at his ''atrocious behavior''. She couldn''t understand how such a soppy youth who had run to the bottom of the tall tower to send black mulberry seeds to his beloved girls last night could turn into a thug in such a short period of time.


    "Miss Qili!"


    Zhang Tie put down Sharon''s head and turned back calmly.


    The moment Zhang Tie loosened his grip, Sharon slipped off the dining table and straight to the floor. Seeing the three groaning guys lying on the ground, Miss Qili looked even more infuriated.


    "What were you doing here? Why did you beat up your classmates?"


    "I wanted them to wash my dining plates for me. They didn''t agree, and swore at me, so I beat them up!" Zhang Tie explained straightforwardly.


    At his words, Miss Qili frowned, but the other onlookers, including the other members of the Brotherhood, felt that Zhang Tie was really great. This was their first time seeing a person who considered bullying others as reasonable.


    Upon noticing the teacher, Zuhair, who had lain on the ground for quite a while, immediately moved towards Miss Qili and complained, "Miss F*...Li, I... want to appeal to the Temporary Supervision Committee..."


    The fierce slap had sent Zuhair''s three teeth flying along with him before. The moment he opened his mouth, he found that air was leaking in through where his teeth had previously been. It drove him even more furious at Zhang Tie.


    At this critical moment, Miss Qili was definitely the savior of Glaze''s three lackeys. However, clearly, Zuhair felt happy too early. The moment he moved towards Miss Qili, a bench fell from the sky and hit him straight on the head, forcing out a miserable scream.


    Of course, it was a bench thrown by Zhang Tie. When he threw it, he was also stamping onto Sharon''s back, producing another shrill shriek.


    Seeing Zhang Tie daring to beat up others before her, Miss Qili was driven mad. At the same time, the onlookers'' eyes on him widened in amazement.


    "You..." Miss Qili couldn''t stand it anymore and wanted to stop him. For some reason, each time she saw Zhang Tie, she would feel like losing her temper. "From now on, if you dare to make any more aggressive moves, I''ll break your limbs!"


    She walked toward him and said in an icy voice, "You leave with me, or I''ll force you to come with me."


    "Miss Qili, although I respect you very much, sadly, I''m afraid that you cannot force me to do anything!"


    "What did you say?" Miss Qili glared at Zhang Tie. "Do you think that you can go rampant in the Wild Wolf Castle?"


    "Miss Qili, don''t you understand it?" Zhang Tie looked with pity at this woman who was still confused. "Now, the Wild Wolf Castle is following the survival training rules of the Norman Empire instead of the war-time decrees of the Andaman Alliance or Blackhot City''s survival training rules.


    "From last night, when Blackhot City declared to join the Norman Empire, the game rules have changed. As a traditional monarchical nation which still preserves its slavery, it has laws that are greatly different from those in Blackhot City. As a teacher of the Norman Empire, I think you should know the rules followed by students who attend survival training!"


    When Zhang Tie said that, Miss Qili immediately stopped walking forward, casting her sharp eyes onto him...

 150 To Take Revenge

    Chapter 150: To Take Revenge


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie started to argue with Miss Qili...


    "Miss Qili, I didn''t mean to challenge your authority. But if you want to interfere with the affair between them and I by punishing me, you would then challenge the authority of the Norman Empire and the barbarous survival training rules that it had persisted with for more than 600 years, as well as its dominion over Blackhot City.


    "Since Blackhot City is already the territory of the Norman Empire, of course all the laws and regulations of the Norman Empire are applicable here, including the barbarous survival training rules. Do you know what is the barbarous survival training of the Norman Empire? Do you need me to interpret it for you..."


    With her eyes fixed on Zhang Tie, Miss Qili took a deep breath.


    Zhang Tie also stared at her straightforwardly. For some reason, Zhang Tie''s eyes fell directly onto her undulating breasts. He then forcefully swallowed his saliva and licked his lips.


    Seeing Zhang Tie moving his eyes to her breasts, Miss Qili, whose face had turned pale due to irritation, became a bit red. She then cast her glare at Zhang Tie once again. After that, she turned back and left the canteen without saying another word.


    Upon turning back, Miss Qili even felt Zhang Tie''s blatant eyes fall onto her bottoms, causing a part in her lower body a bit dumb. It was almost like there was a current flowing inside her body, and Miss Qili became a bit flustered...


    Eventually, under the gaze of all the onlookers, she clumsily stumbled out of the canteen...


    At this moment, all the students in the canteen only had one phrase in their minds: ''barbarous survival training''! Why would Miss Qili leave when she heard this phrase? What was this barbarous survival training of the Norman Empire?


    Stepping on Sharon''s back, Zhang Tie didn''t care about the guy''s miserable scream. Instead, he just grabbed one of Sharon''s hands and twisted it to his back. After that, he took hold of one finger and said, "Do you know what is the barbarous survival training of the Norman Empire?


    "In it, whatever happens, even killing in revenge between students, regardless of casualties, would be allowed. The Norman Empire''s laws would never look into who''s responsible during the barbarous survival training. Of course, as for the family members of the person killed, any of them have the right to ask for a duel with the killer in the name of revenge for the clan and the kin. More importantly, anyone who has killed a person in the barbarous survival training is forbidden to forfeit such a duel.


    "This is the barbarous survival training of the Norman Empire. Based on this rule, even if I kill you three now, I won''t face the interrogation of the laws of Blackhot City, but will duel with your family members that come forth. Do you want to have a try?"


    Saying this, Zhang Tie tightened his grip on the other''s hair.


    Sharon started to scream loudly.


    "I''m asking you one more time, will you wash the dining plates? If I hear no again, I''ll break your fingers one by one here!"


    "Washing, or not?"


    "I''ll wash, I''ll wash, I''ll wash..."


    Howling and crying, Sharon beat against the ground using his free hand.


    Zhang Tie then let go Sharon and walked towards Zuhair. Hit by a bench, Zuhair was still groaning on the ground. Seeing Zhang Tie come to Zuhair, all the other animals in the canteen gave way to him willingly.


    When everybody thought that Zhang Tie would deal with Zuhair using the same method he did to Sharon, they saw him squat in front of Zuhair and grab his head with his hands: one above, one below. Seeing his actions, everybody turned pale, including the other members of the Brotherhood.


    "I''ve been to the mountain cave where you killed the den of the female wolves and their cubs. I also found the rags of the towel that I lost at school. Everybody said you''re the most poisonous snake beside Glaze.


    "When I was attacked by the seven wild wolves, I was almost killed. That plot was definitely conceived in you head.


    "First, you stole my old towel. Second, you found a wolf den. When the male wolves went out to hunt, you hid your body odor and killed all the female wolves and cubs inside the den. Third, you threw one of my towel rags into the wolf den, leaving my smell there. Fourth, you used other towel rags as landmarks to lure the male wolves onto the path which I used to take when coming back after mining to take revenge on me. Am I right?


    "But I am still alive, it''s your turn to die now..."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zuhair''s face twisted. He wanted to argue with him, however, Zhang Tie didn''t even give him a chance to explain. Then, under the gazes of over 1000 people, he increased his strength and broke Zuhair''s neck like breaking a cucumber, causing the head to turn upwards after moving half a circle with a sound of ''Ka cha''.


    "These f*cking laws of the Norman Empire are really adorable. If there is a resentment, you just go and kill the other; no need to go through any tedious procedures!"


    After putting down the head of the dead Zuhair to the ground, Zhang Tie then walked towards Garner.


    The sight of him killing Zuhair had left Garner dumbfounded. Before Zhang Tie could even draw close to him, he had already collapsed inwardly. He burst out crying.


    "Don''t come here, I''ll tell you... I''ll tell you everything... since you stirred up Glaze at school, he was irritated by you. He wanted to get back at you. It was Zuhair and Glaze who wanted to kill you. It was Zuhair''s idea! It was Zuhair''s idea! Because Glaze wanted to kill you, he set the wild wolves on you. It really had nothing to do with me. At the beginning, I even didn''t agree with them as I felt it went too far. However, Glaze threatened me by pinching my neck... wooh wooh... mom, I want mom..."


    Having lost it, Garner poured out everything. Such a scene made everybody else quiet down. They then became irritated after hearing Garner pour out how they''ve stolen Zhang Tie''s towel, found a wolf den, and set the plan to let the wild wolves kill Zhang Tie in motion. They had set such a meticulous plan to kill their own classmate just because he had refused to be bullied and made them lose face in public. This kind of an evil deed surpassed everybody''s tolerance.


    "Kill them, kill them!" all the onlookers shouted out loudly.


    Their voices could be heard in the entire Wild Wolf Castle. Hearing such a loud noise, the teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee also came over. Seven or eight of them arrived including Captain Kerlin and Mr. Zerom. After figuring out what was happening, the teachers also fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie without saying anything. The moment Captain Kerlin wanted to move forward, he was pulled back by Zerom. He slightly shook his head when meeting eyes with Captain Kerlin, then narrowed them to observe Zhang Tie.


    At this time, under the groundbreaking calls of "Kill them, kill them...", all the onlookers fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie.


    Gazing at Garner who was now a crying a mess and Sharon who was scared into dumb shock, Zhang Tie slightly raised his hands. Seeing his hand gesture, the surrounding calls died down in a bit.


    Zhang Tie walked to stand before Garner. Facing his quivering body, Zhang Tie pulled out a piece of paper and threw it onto Garner''s hand. "Clean your tears first. If you promise me one thing today, I won''t kill you!"


    Crying so heavily that tears and nasal mucus flowed down his face together, Garner took Zhang Tie''s paper and hurriedly wiped it. "What''s that?"


    "Can you promise me, even if only for your mom''s sake, that you won''t continue doing bad things? Can you promise me to be a good man from now on? Can you do that?"


    "Yes, I can, I promise you..."


    Seeing a chance to survive, Garner almost burst into laughter instead of tears. He hurriedly nodded.


    "Fine, then let''s call it an end. As long as you don''t find me trouble, I will not find you trouble from now on!"


    "Yes, yes! I promise to be a good man!"


    Zhang Tie then nodded and stood up. He then walked to Sharon, who was already as weak as a sand worm. If there was a crack on the ground, he wouldn''t hesitate for a heartbeat before going into it.


    "Sharon!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie calling his name, Sharon, for the first time, felt that his voice was terrifying, and he started to quiver all over. Glaze was terrifying; however, no matter how terrifying he was, Sharon still didn''t feel that he could match Zhang Tie. He simply couldn''t understand how this classmate of theirs could be this horrifying.


    "Are you still going to kill me?"


    "No... no, I was wrong. I dare not do that again..."


    Sharon almost burst out into tears. It would be a nightmare to go against Zhang Tie as this guy was even more terrifying than Glaze.


    Zhang Tie carefully looked into Sharon''s eyes. "I don''t want to kill anyone else today as I don''t want my hands to be drenched in my classmates'' fresh blood. So you''ve got good luck. I won''t kill you! Do you remember which classmates you''ve bullied at school by letting them wash your dining plates..."


    Sharon raised his head and stared at Zhang Tie, not knowing why he would ask this.


    "From today on, until the end of the survival training, your task is to wash dining plates. You should wash all the dining plates in this canteen. Will you do that?"


    "I will, I will..."


    After peering at the dead Zuhair, Sharon hurriedly nodded. Compared to having his neck broken, washing dining plates was really not a severe punishment at all.


    When the confrontation in the canteen finally came to an end, Zhang Tie found that wherever he walked in the castle, he would always receive many gazes filled with admiration.


    He had killed Zuhair, gaining the reverence of many students. Glaze was dead, and Zhang Tie had almost died himself. As for Zuhair, who always played the role of a poisonous snake setting up vicious plots, why would he be alive? Therefore, Zuhair had to die.


    Letting go of Garner was to express Zhang Tie''s mercy. Among the three lackeys of Glaze, Garner''s reputation was not that bad. He at most had the role of banging the drum for Glaze while standing behind him. When he cried mom, Zhang Tie was especially moved. So he let Garner go since he didn''t want to be regarded as a butcher in the eyes of teachers and students.


    In contrast, he punished Sharon as he didn''t want to kill any one else in public. Another reason was that if he treated Sharon and Garner in different ways, it would draw a line between them, and the two would never gather together like before to set any plots. After Glaze and Zuhair were dead, if there was a misunderstanding between Sharon and Garner due to different treatments, if Sharon was put on the opposite side of all the other students attending this survival training, he would definitely become a stray dog. And if he ever dared to bite Zhang Tie alone, the latter would have hundreds of methods to play him to death.


    As Glaze had a great dad and Zuhair had an elder brother who was already a LV 4 warrior, after the survival training ended and they all returned to Blackhot City, Zhang Tie would definitely face unavoidable duels.


    This was the road he had chosen. Now that he had made the decision, he had to walk on it bravely.


    Although everything in Blackhot City had changed, a notice came from it to the Wild Wolf Castle


    saying that the survival training here would continue...


    On the next morning, Zhang Tie left the Wild Wolf Castle once again...


    Under the admiration filled gazes of the animals of the Brotherhood, Pandora, Alice, and Beverly hugged Zhang Tie and kissed him one by one, letting him enjoy the enchanting taste of several golden fishes once again.


    When kissing the three girls, Zhang Tie thought about Miss Qili''s undulating breasts and the weird feeling when her bottoms slightly quivered under her skirt. That was how a mature woman felt, completely different from girls.


    "When we return to Blackhot City, come to my home, I''ll leave you full!" Beverly mumbled in Zhang Tie''s ear, forcefully pinching that thing as hard as iron below, and slightly licking his ear after.


    "Watch yourself!" Alice also confided in Zhang Tie''s other ear.


    Pandora then twisted her waist to show her protest. Pushing away Alice''s roaming hands, she tightly embraced Zhang Tie with her hot face on Zhang Tie''s chest. "I''ll wait for your return!"


    If he kept staying with these three girls, Zhang Tie really feared that he would soon be unable to stand it and would just f*ck them right here. So with a wolf-like howl, Zhang Tie strode away and left the Wild Wolf Castle...


    This time, Zhang Tie decided that he wouldn''t come back until breaking through LV 4 by eating enough Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits.


    In a room in the Wild Wolf Castle, Zerom and Captain Kerlin were standing before a window with their eyes on Zhang Tie, who was leaving the castle again. He had just come back yesterday and was now leaving once more. Only after one day, everything seemed to have changed in Blackhot City. Same as Zhang Tie''s impression on them.


    "Kerlin, I feel that Zhang Tie might become a person that you and me cannot even imagine now!"


    The one-eyed man had not yet recovered his composure from how Zhang Tie was accosted by the three beauties at the same time. Thinking back to how he himself pursued Miss Daina, he even started to be a bit jealous . Hearing Zerom''s praise for Zhang Tie, the one-eyed man rebutted, "How so?"


    "For how this guy was accosted by the beauties, he would never be unknown in the future..."


    Hearing Zerom''s words, Captain Kerlin realized that he could not even find an excuse to rebut any more...


    "That guy ran so fast..." Zerom murmured after seeing Zhan Tie''s swiftly disappearing back.

 151 Returning to Blackhot City

    Chapter 151: Returning to Blackhot City


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    At dusk, Blackhot City was both the same and different than before.


    Zhang Tie stood among others returning from the survival training before the gates to Blackhot City, through which he had left two months ago. With his eyes narrowed, he started glanced over the city. The walls were still tall and firm while the powerful city-defense machinery and equipment were still grand and magnificent under the light of the sun. Everything seemed to not have changed; yet everything had changed.


    The seventeen-star flag of the Andaman Alliance, representing its authority by hanging on top of a high wall, was replaced by a scarlet-dragon flag that represented the ruling authority of the Norman Empire.


    Flying in the heavy wind, that scarlet-dragon flag brought a solemn atmosphere to the entire city.


    That dragon was a holy animal of the Chinese clan. It was said that after the founding emperor of the Norman Empire returned from his travels to the East, he raised this flag and punched down the territory of the Norman Empire using his own fists. Therefore, this scarlet-dragon flag with rich eastern features became the symbol of the imperial household, even the Norman Empire as a whole.


    What was known by all the people in the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor was that until now the imperial household of the Norman Empire was still closely related to the mysterious and powerful eastern continent as it had already mixed blood with the eastern Chinese clan.


    Thinking back to how the animals in the survival training, including Zhang Tie himself, were worried about a war breaking out between the Andaman Alliance, Norman Empire, and Sun Dynasty, he mocked himself inwardly. When they left Blackhot City, who could have imagined that two months later upon their return they would have already become citizens of an imperial nation, the Norman Empire.


    In the past month, under the ''lightning attack'' of the armies of the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty, the Andaman Alliance, which had existed for over one century, was about to die in the span of five days. It was cut into half like a piece of meat, and then was engulfed by the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty.


    As for the seventeen cities that had formed the Andaman Alliance, the Norman Empire had gained eight and a large territory in the north, while Sun Dynasty had also gained eight and a large territory in the south. With the exception of the City of Machine Kalur, all the cities of the Andaman Alliance had been occupied by the two powers.


    The southern cities were more prosperous with more advanced commerce. The Andaman City, which was previously the capital of the Andaman Alliance, was also in the south. In contrast, the northern cities like Blackhot City, had abundant resource reserves and advanced manufacturing industry.


    Based on the results, the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty''s move was more akin to robbery than a war. As early as before the move, they had already decided on how to share their booty.


    Compared to when they left the Blackhot City, when the animals came back, they were all obviously much quieter, mostly because they became uncertain and lost about their future. Unless deciding to leave Blackhot City, everybody had to swear to be loyal to the supreme emperor. This made the animals perplexed since they were used to being ruled by businessmen and factory and mine owners from birth.


    Zhang Tie was not as shocked as others about this change. Perhaps others didn''t have this feel, but the moment he saw the scarlet-dragon flag that represented the authority of the Norman Empire, he had already accepted the new rulers of Blackhot City inwardly. Since dragon was the totem of the Chinese clan, with dragon as the national symbol, of course the Norman Empire could obtain Zhang Tie''s consent.


    In the Norman Empire, the proportion of Chinese people was also much higher than in the Andaman Alliance and Blackhot City. It was said that almost 1/20 of more than 200 million population of the Norman Empire were Chinese.


    At this time, the standing posts at the entrance of the city gate were manned not by the City Guard of Blackhot City but the soldiers of the Norman Empire. These soldiers were taller, stronger, and looked more stubborn compared to their predecessors. Many people''s armors were even with slash marks of daggers and swords. After comparing them with the City Guardof Blackhot City, even Zhang Tie had to admit that these soldiers of the Norman Empire looked even more dauntless and aggressive.


    Perhaps this explained how different it was between the army ruled by businessmen and the army ruled by an emperor. People could clearly sense that solemn atmosphere of the imperial nation through the comparison between the two armies.


    Without any obstacles, the students who had attended the survival training entered Blackhot City. However, the moment they entered, many girls burst out with exclamations as a row of high gibbets were erected in a place not far away from the city gate. A row of bodies hung from those gibbets, flying in the air like cloth puppets.


    In taking over Blackhot City, the Norman Empire hadn''t killed anyone. However, after gaining control, it started to kill people who preyed upon others, fattening themselves, or were ambitious, ready to take chances at gaining power in the new situation. After the Norman Empire''s army entered the city and took over the ruling power of Blackhot City, the latter had their heads chopped off or were hung on the gibbets not far away from the city gates as examples.


    With long swords and the fresh blood of insurgents, the Norman Empire''s army taught everybody in Blackhot City a lesson of being under the rule of the Norman Emperor: ''Be docile!''


    The streets in Blackhot City looked a bit sluggish. Fewer walkers and vehicles could be seen on streets. Many stores had not opened their business yet. Patrolling soldiers could be seen everywhere on the streets. Some tanks and armored vehicles of the Norman Empire''s Iron-Horn Army were parked at several junctions.


    In sharp contrast to the sluggish scene, in front of the doors and windows of each household, red flags could be seen flying in the air, including the scarlet-dragon flag and Iron-Horn Army''s military flag. At the first sight of them, you would know that they were made by the commoners themselves. Even slogans that could rarely be seen before had appeared over the streets which would make young people''s faces turn red: ¡®We Welcome the Norman Empire''s Army in the City'', ''Congratulations to Blackhot City Becoming a LV 4 City of Brunswick Under the Administration of the Norman Empire'', ¡¯Long Live Norman Empire'', and ''Long Live Iron-Horn Army''.


    Without being told how to, after the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation''s surrender of the city, the residents had quickly learned how to please their new urban ruler.


    At this moment, Blackhot City had become strange to everybody.


    After entering, the teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee chose a route most convenient for sending all the girls back home; girls from two female middles schools all lived in the neighboring two blocks. As for boys, although they were tired after walking for an entire day and craved to go back to their own homes, in order to send back all the girls safely, they instantly agreed to change the route.


    It seemed that the discipline in the Norman Empire''s army was strict. At least none of the soldiers whistled at the girls. However, nobody wanted to imagine what would happen if the girls were going back home alone.


    On the way, the girls were constantly leaving the large group when they came close to their homes and trotted over. At the same time, parents were standing in front of their house door''s for a long time now, waiting for their children to come back.


    Although having not seen each other only for two months, many students burst into tears together with their parents...


    From the morning till now, Zhang Tie had carried the three girls'' luggage along with his own the whole walk of almost 60 km. Although many students were exhausted by this point, Zhang Tie was still highly spirited and felt no tiredness at all.


    He was not the same boy that had left Blackhot City.


    When Alice, Beverly, and Pandora arrived at their homes one by one, Zhang Tie gave them back their luggage while making sure to remember their addresses.


    "You have to come here for me!" Alice said to Zhang Tie in her farewell.


    "I''ll be waiting for you at home! My mom will definitely like you!" Beverly said to Zhang Tie in her farewell.


    "I seem... to have grown up a bit..." Pandora said to Zhang Tie in her farewell.


    He almost wanted to howl towards the sky...


    When the last girl returned home, all the remaining animals immediately scattered towards their own homes.


    After agreeing with Barley and other members of the Brotherhood on the next meeting time, Zhang Tie ran back to his own place.


    Seeing Zhang Tie darting so fast even now, Barley''s and the other members''s of the Brotherhood eyes almost popped out.


    "F*ck, is he a human or not? Zhang Tie is definitely a human-like magic beast!" Hista exclaimed with only one breath left in his lungs.


    "That guy really treasures his women. He carried their luggage for the entire day. The three women''s luggage plus his own would weigh over 100 kg, and he carried such a heavy load throughout the whole day. And he can still run. Am I dreaming?"


    Leit also became dumbfounded when he saw Zhang Tie disappear in the corner of the street.


    Zhang Tie was really not tired. In case of being too terrifying and bringing trouble to himself, he couldn''t dash at his fastest speed back home no matter how much he wanted to do so. Thus, he controlled his speed to be almost the same as his sprinting speed at school.


    Only after five or six minutes, he had already passed by several streets and caught sight of his home.


    At the sight of his parents'' shadows standing on the roadside waiting for him, Zhang Tie was moved and almost broke down.


    When he noticed the happy smiles on their faces, his tense heart finally eased off. Thankfully, nothing had happened to his family members.


    "Mom, dad, I''m back!" Zhang Tie greeted his parents from far away like before. As his parents liked to see his naughtiness, Zhang Tie performed before them.


    After reaching home, he kissed his mom first. Then, he directly hugged his dad, lifting him up in the air and twirling for a circle.


    "Hurry up, let me off..." Scared by Zhang Tie''s move, his dad fiercely flicked his forehead with a finger. "It''s not good if we''re seen by others."


    Zhang Tie then put his dad onto the ground. "Dad, how about that? Have you noticed that I am stronger than before?"


    "Ye, it feels true. You really have become much stronger!"


    Hearing the question, his dad also noticed the difference.


    "I seem to have grown taller too! Look, my clothes had become smaller..."


    Zhang Tie stretched his sleeve''s end. When he left home, it could reach over his wrist. However, now, it stopped before it. This meant that Zhang Tie had grown 3-4 cm during the past three months.


    "Remember, don''t lift me in the air in the street anymore!" dad told him solemnly.


    "Okay! How about when nobody is around?"


    Zhang Tie got one more flick on his forehead...


    He was really a bit different from when he left. After three months, his parents thought that he had changed because of the survival training.


    When he played jokes with his dad, his mom revealed a happy smile.


    "All right, all right, don''t play jokes anymore. Come on, go back home and eat dinner!"


    "Is my elder brother home?"


    "He''s making dinner, having been on vacation for a long time. It''s unknown when he''ll received the notice to go back to work!" his dad answered.


    Zhang Tie nodded and thought inside, ''Since the Iron-Horn Army of the Norman Empire entered the city, the City Guard of Blackhot City was ordered to put down their weapons and take a vacation at home. As there is still no notice of when to go back to work, it seems that the disarmament of the City Guard will definitely happen. However, it''s nothing serious. It''s better to disarm the City Guard. Additionally, my elder brother has almost finished his service term. Now that my elder sister-in-law is pregnant, he should stay to look after her.''


    When he walked inside the house together with his parents, Zhang Tie saw two book-sized flags attached to their door: one was a scarlet-dragon flag of the Norman Empire, and the other was the military flag of the Iron-Horn Army. Compared to those flags he''d seen on the way, Zhang Tie found that the two here were much more delicate.


    "Mom, did you make these flags?"


    "Your elder sister-in-law and I made them together. She''s really good at needle work. We even sold some of them!" his mom replied, from which Zhang Tie knew that his mom was very satisfied with his elder sister-in-law. Of course, every mom-in-law would be satisfied with such a woman that was frugal.


    When Zhang Tie wanted to praise his mom, he caught sight of a person that should not have been here: Samira.


    In a silk hat, Samira looked as spirited as before. He was followed by a squad of armored soldiers of the Iron-Horn Army.


    "That''s him!" Samira pointed at Zhang Tie and screamed. "This person is the enemy of the Norman Empire, a potential insurrectionist who''s hostile to Iron-Horn Army!"


    Hearing what Samira said, the squad of soldiers of the Norman Empire all fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie with their hands on sword handles...


    What happened really made Zhang Tie''s parents'' face turn pale!

 152 Murdering People with Otherss Hands

    Chapter 152: Murdering People with Others'' Hands


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    "Samira..."


    His eyes fixed on the villain, Zhang Tie was really startled that Samira could jump out at this time. Previously Zhang Tie had set him up as ''a spy of the Norman Empire''. However, he had never imagined that this guy would end up so well off that he would even bring soldiers of the Norman Empire''s army to find him trouble at his home.


    "Hey hey, you would have never imagined this. To tell the truth, I have to appreciate you..."


    Samira glared fiercely at Zhang Tie. He could never forget about what had happened in the Wild Wolf Castle. It was this youth who had used his mouth to beat him into hell.


    At that time, Samira thought that he was over. Unexpectedly, after being put behind bars in Blackhot City for a few days, the Norman Empire''s army came knocking. By a stroke of luck, Samira had obtained a chance. Before, he was a rat beat up everywhere in Blackhot Ciy; now, he became a good citizen of the Norman Empire.


    "You must have made a mistake. How could my son be the enemy of the Norman Empire. He''s just a student!" Zhang Tie''s mom exclaimed in terror. "Look, we have our flags of the Norman Empire and the Iron-Horn Army before our door..."


    After glancing over the flags before Zhang family''s door, the soldiers of the Norman Empire looked a bit better.


    "Yea, my son has just completed his survival training in his last year at school, so how could he have become an enemy of the Iron-Horn Army?" Zhang Tie''s dad also argued loudly, his face turning pale.


    In the past few days, the Norman Empire had killed so many people in Blackhot City that everybody else were left terrified. All the insurgents and robbers that went against the Norman Empire''s army had become corpses.


    Of course, all parents were afraid of their children being involved in these two groups the most: the ''enemy of the Norman Empire'' and ''potential insurrectionists who are hostile to the Iron-Horn Army''. Either of them would easily make the children lose their lives.


    Seeing his parents becoming anxious, Zhang Tie was pained inside.


    "I believe that the Norman Empire''s soldiers are greatly different from thugs who only know how to set fires. I also believe that no matter how others frame me, I, as a loyal citizen of the emperor of the Norman Empire, will deserve a fair treatment..." After glancing over the soldiers beside him, Zhang Tie said calmly, "I know you are taking orders, therefore, I don''t want to argue with you here. However, before you take me away, please give me some time to talk with my parents. I''ve just completed the survival training and have not even entered my own home yet!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, a guy with the rank of sergeant cast another glance over Zhang Tie, who looked calm at this moment, and his anxious parents before giving a slight nod. "You have only two minutes."


    "Thanks!" After saying this, Zhang Tie turned back and faced his parents. "Dad and mom, don''t worry about me. I''ll be okay. I have three huge wolves'' hides in my luggage, which are my gifts for you. One for each of you and my elder sister-in-law..."


    "Who dares to bully my younger brother!"


    With a loud scream, a shadow rushed out of the room inside.


    When Zhang Tie was talking with his parents, his elder brother Zhang Yang ran out the house. Seeing so many people surrounding them through the window, he had immediately grabbed his sword and rushed outside. At the sight of Zhang Yang''s move, the soldiers of the Norman Empire also pulled out their long swords in a split second, holding him from moving away from the door. As a result, the present situation abruptly escalated.


    Along with Zhang Yang was his wife, whose belly was swollen due to pregnancy. At the sight of the scene in the courtyard, the woman''s face immediately turned pale from fear.


    Due to the weapons being pulled out, not only those people passing by Zhang house, even the neighbors and onlookers hurriedly scurried away. Samira sneered and silently hid behind the soldiers.


    In an informal dress, Zhang Yang rushed out and put his long sword in front of his chest, aiming to protect Zhang Tie and their parents behind him. After that, he glared at those soldiers of the Norman Empire. "What do you want to do here?"


    "Elder brother!" Zhang Tie called as he put his hand on Zhang Yang''s shoulder. He then forced a smile like this was nothing serious. "Have you noticed that guy with a poisonous snake''s head and triangular eyes? He''s Samira. We bear grudges against each other.


    "Now, he has seized the chance to frame me as the enemy of the Norman Empire. So these soldiers came here by orders of their superior, intending to take me away for an investigation. Don''t worry. You know the best what kind of person I am. I''ll be okay. Come on, put down your weapon. Look, you almost scared my elder sister-in-law!"


    Zhang Tie looked relaxed as he moved his hand down along his elder brother''s shoulder. Then he patted Zhang Yang''s hand to comfort him before separating his fingers one by one like making pieces of rolled iron straight.


    Zhang Yang, as a LV 5 warrior, was really shocked by how Zhang Tie forcefully took his long sword away from his hand, then handed it to the elder sister-in-law, who was standing by the door in fear, a twitchy smile on her lips.


    "Elder sister-in-law, bring the weapon away. You, elder brother, and our parents should just go back inside. I''ll come back in a couple of days..."


    After saying this, Zhang Tie exchanged a serious look with his surprised elder brother, telling him his words through that look that could only be understood by brothers, "I''ll be okay, elder sister-in-law and our parents all need your care. It is not the right time for you and me to use force..."


    "Fine..."


    After glancing over his family members and the surrounding soldiers of the Norman Empire, Zhang Yang gritted his teeth and gave a forced nod.


    "Dad and mom, trust me, I''ll be okay. I''ll be back in a few days..." After comforting his dad and mom, Zhang Tie turned back to the soldiers and said, "We can go now!"


    Zhang Tie was not concerned about his safety at all as he had his own trump card. He believed that if he used that card, even if the soldiers of the Iron-Horn Army wouldn''t know how to deal with him.


    This time, Samira had really driven Zhang Tie mad...


    Pleased with himself, Samira followed Zhang Tie and the soldiers of the Norman Empire. He looked at the youth in a commanding and gloating sneer, ''Brat, I''ll let you know the outcome of going against me.''


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about Samira at all. Instead, he just shared the whole story about how the enmity between him and Samira came to be in the Wild Wolf Castle.


    At the beginning, Samira was complacent; however, by the end, his face was becoming increasingly worse. In contrast, at the beginning, the soldiers of the Norman Empire didn''t care about him at all and looked solemn, but by the end, some of them had been deeply attracted by the plot.


    A youth revealed Samira''s conspiracy to cheat his classmates to go to the Crescent Prairie at the risk of their own lives. Framed by the bodyguards of Samira''s Business Group, the youth used the darkness in the mining tunnel and escaped at a critical moment.


    Going against the bodyguards of Samira''s Business Group. Being interrogated in the court and righting the blame put on him.


    Finally, a miraculous reversal. Samira was accused of being a spy of the Norman Empire and sent behind bars.


    Although it was a short story, after being described in an emotional way, it became pretty attractive; especially the part where he argued with Samira in the court. The story even had a happy end. Anyone who heard it would be intrigued by it.


    "Don''t believe in his nonsense, that brat is full of bullsh*t. He''s just an insidious, poisonous snake and the enemy of the Norman Empire. When he was at school, he was extremely hostile to the Norman Empire. He''s now become a terrorist!" Samira shouted loudly, jumping up in the air behind them.


    "Everybody could identify who''s more like a poisonous snake. There are more than 20 teachers and thousands of students from the four schools who could be my witness. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Blackhot City should have also preserved the detailed investigation result about this event. It cannot be changed by just moving your mouth," Zhang Tie replied calmly.


    "Since this person went to the Military Administration to report you, it is the organization that wants to interrogate you. As Blackhot City is still under military administration, the guilty are interrogated by the criminal court of the Iron-Horn Army. You will be brought there as well. Just remember you have the right to defend yourself. And we''re just following the orders of our superior."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s story, the squad leader who was quiet the whole way opened his mouth and broke the rules to tell Zhang Tie why they had come to take him away. Because of the story, most of the soldiers turned more sympathetic and appreciative towards Zhang Tie instead of Samira. At the same time, they loosened their alertness and showed their contempt to Samira by ignoring him.


    However, they were ordered to catch Zhang Tie; no matter what they thought, they had no choice but to follow the order.


    After knowing how Samira had set him up, Zhang Tie started to plan inside.


    Right now, he feared most that Samira had someone backing him. But Samira had appealed to the Military Administration of the Norman Empire, which at least indicated that he didn''t have a strong backing. Not in the affair to set Zhang Tie up, anyway. Since if he had it, he would not have gone through all of these procedures, instead, just greeted his backer.


    This time, Samira planned to kill him using the hands of others. Son of a b*tch!


    Soon after Zhang Tie was taken away, his elder brother Zhang Yang had hurriedly put on his formal clothes and went to find help: of course, he had his own friends and acquaintances.


    In a short while, Zhang Yang had learned about what had happened between Zhang Tie and Samira, and learned the status of Samira: a LV 3 material supplier of the Military Administration of Blackhot City.


    After Blackhot City was ''liberated'', Samira was set free. With the fault of being ''a spy of the Norman Empire'', he used his talent in socialising and obtained the trust of the Military Administration. Later, he won a license of a LV 3 material supplier and slowly expanded his popularity.


    Hearing that Zhang Tie was escorted away by soldiers of the Norman Empire, Zhang Yang''s friend immediately turned pale. "Well, sh*t. I understand what that guy called Samira is planning to do. He doesn''t want for Zhang Tie to be interrogated in the criminal court at all; instead, he just wants to put him behind bars..."


    "What?"


    Zhang Yang also became tense.


    "Now, the prison of Blackhot City is brimming with people. There are all sorts of murderers and major criminal offenders in there. If a 15-old youth put inside such a cell..."


    Zhang Yang''s friend stopped talking.


    Hearing his friend''s explanation, Zhang Yang''s face also turned pale. He also knew how dark the prison was. And right now, it was definitely the darkest one in the past dozens of years. All the rapists, murders, major criminal offenders, and a batch of criminals awaiting death penalty that had been caught by the Norman Empire''s army were put together.


    Casualties happened everyday in the prison of Blackhot City these days. The Military Administration of the Norman Empire would never care about what the criminals did inside. If a chubby boy like Zhang Tie was put inside with those...


    Zhang Yang almost passed out from the image in his head.

 153 Dark Prison

    Chapter 153: Dark Prison


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The prison of Blackhot City was located outside the city. The prison''s high walls were of course not used to protect those criminals. The prison was close to the west city gate, and was also within the coverage of the city-defense weapons.


    Samira seemed to require more reassurance as he kept following Zhang Tie and the squad of soldiers past the west city gate. After seeing the soldiers complete the hand-over procedures with the prison guards at the entrance, he then let out a sigh and sneered.


    Before arriving, Zhang Tie was led as he was, however, after the completion of the hand-over procedures, he was forced to put on handcuffs and anklets.


    The icy anklets kept making the sound of ''Huala huala'' while being drawn through the ground when Zhang Tie moved. Besides that, Zhang Tie''s anklets were uncomfortable. He had roughly 20 kgs'' load due to the anklets and handcuffs.


    The prison of Blackhot City didn''t seem to have changed a lot due to the end of the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation''s rule. Zhang Tie thought so since he found the guards wearing their old uniforms.


    "How long will I stay here?" Zhang Tie asked the sergeant who''d brought him here.


    "Three days. When the cases before you are dealt with, the Military Administration of the Norman Empire will arrange the Criminal Court to bring light to your case!" the sergeant gave a patient reply.


    After that, Zhang Tie was pushed into the tall wall of the prison of Blackhot City. He turned back to see Samira sneering at him, from which he understood the man''s delight in seeing his revenge plot succeed.


    The interrogation would start in three days. Why would Samira reveal such a smirk right now? Zhang Tie couldn''t find the reason for it, so he calmed his heart and put it away.


    "What''s up with him?"


    Entering through the iron gate of the gloomy and lofty wall, Zhang Tie saw a 40-old man in a dark red military uniform of the Norman Empire; he was the one asking the question. He wore the rank of a captain and stood on the stairs of a tower building near the iron gate. Although guards in the prison didn''t change, one more military officer from the Norman Empire''s military was dispatched here. That man was the real head of the entire prison.


    "This guy was accused of being hostile to the Norman Empire. He''s a potential security risk. The criminal court of the Military Administration is predicted to deal with his case in three days!"


    Explaining this, one of the guards that escorted Zhang Tie in handed over a document to this man in a very pious way.


    "He''s accused of being hostile to the great Norman Empire? Is he a hot-blooded youth that still has a good memories about the Andaman Alliance''s rule?" With these words, that middle-aged man glanced over Zhang Tie while revealing a shadow of a grin in the corner of his mouth. He then calmly ordered, "Take him to the largest room on Floor 3, put him together with the murderers!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    The paths inside the prison were maze-like. On both sides of the 2-m wide path was a tall wall higher than 10 m, on the top of which was a wire net. The lofty tower buildings and watch towers were connected with the tall walls. Like small fortresses, these buildings tightly surrounded the prison.


    Since the entire prison was in the leeward area of the industrial area of Blackhot City, Zhang Tie could smell coal ash with each breath. Nobody was doing exercises in the prison as no place was set for them to move about freely. The entire prison felt chilly, like a piece of stone that had been thrown here and weathered for dozens of years.


    After walking for less than 100 m inside, Zhang Tie had passed three iron gates. Each one was guarded by soldiers. After passing them, Zhang Tie would always feel the place get darker and becoming harder to breathe in due to the increasingly dingier smell.


    As Zhang Tie moved forward, the friction between his anklets and the chilly cement ground caused the sound of ''Huala huala'' to reverberate through the maze-like aisles.


    Not until Zhang Tie was pushed into the underground paths that could barely be seen clearly without the help of the gas lamps on the walls did he realize that ''floor 3'' was not above the ground, but below.


    "What''s the crime of this brat?" asked a 60-odd year man with completely gray hair guarding an iron gate. He stood up to open the gates with his key and wondered about Zhang Tie''s circumstances when he saw him being pushed in


    "He was accused of being hostile to the Norman Empire. He''s a potential saboteur. Captain Eugen ordered to put him in the club on floor 3."


    Hearing the words, that old man didn''t say anything but gave Zhang Tie a sympathetic look as he opened the iron gate. After Zhang Tie was pushed in, the old man drew a cross in front of his own chest.


    Zhang Tie walked for a long time in the underground path. After passing three more iron gates and an ''s-shaped'' downward route, he was finally pushed into the underground floor 3.


    He walked the underground path with no natural light, and the sound produced by his anklets grew louder. The stink here could almost make people breathless. Beside Zhang Tie was a narrow cell. Hearing the sound of the anklets, all the prisoners inside the cell moved closer to the bars to have a look at the newcomer.


    The prisoners in the cell were more like monsters than humans. They all wore shabby clothes and looked dirty while also being extremely smelly. With their eyes wide open like wolves'', they stretched out their thin hands through the iron bars, trying to scratch Zhang Tie.


    His arrival had made the place bustle with activity.


    "Give him to me... give him to me..." Someone started to crazily rock the iron bars with his hands. "I will promise you anything if you want. Give the brat to me..."


    "Give him to me..."


    "Give him to me..."


    "Give him to me..."


    "Just one day, give this savory brat to me, just one day..."


    Many prisoners stretched out their hands, trying to grab Zhang Tie. With eyes like those of hungry wolves fixed on Zhang Tie, the prisoners drooled while swearing. Some even growled like wild beasts, making Zhang Tie''s face twist.


    There were no humans locked here; instead, there were mad animals with pus flowing out, or at least that''s how Zhang Tie felt about this place. By now, he had faintly realized Samira''s plot: Samira truly wanted to kill him with others'' hands. The hands that Samira wanted to use were not those of the criminal court of the Norman Empire, but the damn prison''s. Samira seemed to have predicted the outcome of sending him here, which cell he would end up in.


    Bored by the prisoners, the guards pulled out thin iron sticks from their waists and started to fiercely slash onto the hands stretching out through the iron bars.


    "This brat is going to be sent to the club. You want to go with him?" a guard exclaimed as he slashed at the hands.


    After what the guard said, the cell quickly regained its previous calm; it was weird. At the same time, the hands were also pulled back.


    The long underground path was over 100 m. At the end of the path was a cell. The guards stopped before its entrance, ordering Zhang Tie to stand still so they could open his anklets and handcuffs.


    "Brat, don''t blame us. We just follow the orders. If you want to blame someone, just blame the one who set you up to end up here!" One of guards sighed when he opened Zhang Tie''s anklets. "My son is also as old as you!"


    With a calm expression, Zhang Tie replied as if he knew that he would be killed inside. "What if someone dies in there?"


    "Those locked here are the worst of the worst. No matter how many people would die on floor 3, nobody would care!" A guard seemed to want to warn Zhang Tie. "Brat, if you can leave here alive, from then on, you might be able to go sideways in Blackhot City!"


    "I''m not a crab to prefer going sideways..." Zhang Tie moved his limbs as he said.


    When Zhang Tie spoke, the guard had already opened the iron gate, allowing him to walk in. There was a second iron gate behind it; it seemed that this cell had stricter security measures. The switch of the second iron gate was set outside the first iron gate. It seemed that this cell called ''club'' was dangerous enough that even the guards did not like to draw too close to it.


    After Zhang Tie walked through the first iron gate, the guards closed it before opening the second gate.


    "You''d better go inside by yourself. If you don''t do so in half a minute by yourself, those people inside the cell will force you in. If that happens, you''ll be even more miserable!" A guard standing outside the second gate warned Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie walked inside with a calm expression. This cell was much larger than the other cells outside. It was at least as large as two classrooms at school. Over 20 people were scattered inside, sitting or lying.


    After passing through the first iron gate, but before entering through the second one, Zhang Tie took note of the situation inside the cell. Because of his arrival, the calm cell slowly started to reverberate from beast-like heavy breaths.


    After Zhang Tie entered through the second iron gate, it was locked by the guards outside. Soon after that, the guards left at an obviously faster pace than they had come.


    A gas lamp was on the wall of the aisle between the two gates, which was the the only light source in the cell.


    Dark, gloomy, stinky - this was how this big cell called ''club'' revealed itself to Zhang Tie.


    When the prisoners inside the cell could no longer hear the footsteps of the guards any more, they slowly surrounded Zhang Tie from all corners of the dark cell. With red, twisted faces, they looked like wild wolves that had caught sight of a lamb.

 154 A Dragon Driven Mad

    Chapter 154: A Dragon Driven Mad


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    From the wild beasts that surrounded Zhang Tie, breathing heavy, one shadow rushed towards him...


    Bang!


    Another faster shadow grabbed the first man''s arm and punched him, sending him flying back through the air.


    "That brat is mine..."


    The latter shadow was taller and stronger with a feel of tyranny. Behind him was a looming huge black spider, which indicated that this man was already a LV 6 fighter with battle Qi.


    The moment this man stood up, all the other shadows that surrounded Zhang Tie stopped moving forward and lost their aggressive stances.


    "This brat is mine..." That huge shadow pointed at Zhang Tie, who remained unchanged beside the entrance, and growled like pointing at a piece of food, "This chubby boy is mine, nobody else can steal him away from me!"


    "Ma Long, this will not depend on you..." A humpbacked guy sneered with the voice ''Jajajaja'' as he slowly walked one step forward. He had scattered hair like a big mouse''s and walked trying to keep its shoulders square. "You''re truly powerful, but if we attack you together, you won''t be our opponent either!"


    "Long time no see such an interesting toy..." Another man with an ugly look whose nose seemed have been cut off, leaving two flat bloody holes, walked a step forward. There was another huge black spider behind him. "I really want to smell this brat..."


    "This boy is not yours alone, he''s ours..." With these words, another person walked out of the crowd, his feet and hands dirty like a wild dog''s, while his thirsty eyes fixed on Zhang Tie like a wolf''s which had been hungry for several months. At the same time, he licked his lips. "The blood of this kind of young man tastes the best. I don''t care how you will play him. But you have to hand him to me before his last breath. If he dies, his blood would be hard to drink..."


    "I need five hours..." Ma Long firmly said, giving a concession after thinking for a while.


    "The last guy was played by you to death in merely three hours. This young man seems not that strong..."


    The other people moved closer to Zhang Tie.


    "At most one hour. Additionally, you have to guarantee that this brat is still be alive in that time. You have only one hour!" the humpbacked old man fiercely argued. "If you don''t agree, after a while, when the others hold you back, I''ll break this brat''s neck first so that he can easily die. If that happens, nobody will get to enjoy him!"


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to be seen as a piece of meat. While arguing about how to share him, no one even glance at him, most likely seeing him as already dead. Zhang Tie just gazed at these guys with an icy expression and gradually understood what kind of people they were.


    Even the worms on rotten corpses of the animals in the Crescent Prairie were cleaner than these guys!


    Those put behind the bars of this cell were not qualified to be called humans; instead, they were stinky walking-dead which could breathe in the darkest corners of the cell. They should have long been buried and turned into fertilizer. They should have never been allowed to continue living in this world.


    Zhang Tie''s eyes over them gradually became icy and emotionless.


    Just now, these beasts had already reached an agreement: in the first hour, Zhang Tie belonged to that guy called Ma Long, who had to ensure that Zhang Tie would still be alive at the end of the first hour, and major organs should not be damaged. Once that hour would be over, the other guys decided on who had the right to use Zhang Tie, as well as to whom belonged each of his organs, even his blood as precisely as each second before he was tortured to death.


    After Zhang Tie was shared, besides Ma Long, all the others stood back to 7-8 m away from Zhang Tie and formed a circle of glittering eyes on him. At the same time, they forcefully swallowed their saliva, gasping from excitement. They prepared to watch Ma Long''s performance for the next hour. This was a program that they had negotiated to spice up their daily lives.


    Ma Long was taller than 2 m. His developed muscles all over his body made him look like a small mountain. Being nude like all the other people in this cell, Ma Long just strode towards Zhang Tie. This length of time was aplenty for Zhang Tie to see that Ma Long had been castrated and was not a man any more...


    "Heh heh, what have you seen? Are you weird out by it?" Seemingly having realized that Zhang Tie had noticed that he was castrated, Ma Long''s face twisted abnormally. "That f*cking woman was very beautiful. In order to f*ck her, I killed her man, threw her kid onto the ground to death. After that, I bundled her at her home and f*cked her for one month. One month later, she became docile. There was a time when I took a rest after f*cking her, and she expressed her desire to clean my d*ck using her tongue. I trusted her. She then bit off my p*nis. In revenge, I twisted off her neck and scooped my thing from her mouth. Pitifully, I couldn''t reconnect it as she had not only bit off my thing but also chewed it into pieces..."


    "So why are you still alive, why didn''t they hang you when you were arrested?" Zhang Tie calmly asked.


    "They didn''t know about it. The women who were f*cked and killed by me were not able to appeal to the court..." Ma Long revealed a weird smirk. "I was put inside because of another case. They just took me as a common major criminal offender. So they let me live by sentencing me to life imprisonment. You know what? When I came here, I found that even if I had no penis, I could still do a lot of interesting things. As long as you''re docile, I''ll let you survive for a couple more days..."


    Saying this, Ma Long stretched out his hand as wide as Zhang Tie''s thigh, intending to grab Zhang Tie''s head.


    Seeing Ma Long being ready to start his performance, all the other walking dead revealed various weird smirks.


    There was a sharp difference between the figures of Zhang Tie and Ma Long as the latter would roughly be three times the size of the other.


    Zhang Tie then gripped Ma Long''s wrists to stop it from moving forward even a bit. Sensing that, Ma Long''s face immediately turned pale, and he started to intensify his strength with a shadowy black spider behind him. However, Zhang Tie''s hand remained still. Gradually, Ma Long''s face started to twist, and sweat begun forming on his forehead...


    As Ma Long increased his strength, he also started to trigger his battle Qi. Since he felt no battle Qi on Zhang Tie, he thought that once his battle Qi invaded Zhang Tie''s body, the boy''s life or death would be at his discretion. However, Ma Long found that the moment his battle Qi reached Zhang Tie''s hand, it would immediately evaporate like when rain and fog met magma.


    Ma Long''s face greatly distorted as he found a hidden strength, instead of battle Qi or transformed strength in Zhang Tie''s body. That hidden strength formed into a string in Zhang Tie''s hand. Akin to having hit an iron wall, Ma Long''s battle Qi could barely enter an inch.


    How could there be such a hidden strength...


    "How could this be?" Ma Long exclaimed as if having been slashed by a machete.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie''s hand was also gradually gripping more tightly, increasing its force.


    All the onlookers in the cell saw that something was not right. "No way, how could Ma Long be weaker than the brat..."


    "Ah..."


    Ma Long finally could not stand it anymore and used his another hand to punch at Zhang Tie''s head.


    "Go die!"


    With glittering eyes, Zhang Tie kicked Ma Long''s lower body using his right leg before the others punch had reached his head. This kick was rightly named Cannon Leg in Iron-Blood Fist skillbook. It moved upward from Ma Long''s crotch. The moment Zhang Tie hit there, his Iron-Blood hidden strength on the foot broke out...


    Hit by Zhang Tie''s amazing kicking force, the 2-m tall Ma Long was sent flying back like a balloon, with a terrifying sound of breaking bones. His head hit the 3-m high ceiling of the cell, making the sound of ''Kacha''. Spraying fresh blood everywhere, Ma Long fell down to the ground.


    After falling, he was as soft as a piece of mud that had no breath of life anymore.


    Zhang Tie''s kick was really terrifying.


    Like having been pinched on their necks, the wild beasts in the cell stopped all the weird voices and gasps in a split second.


    Ma Long just died like this? The LV 6 Ma Long had been kicked to death by this youth just like that? Since they all knew Ma Long''s real fighting force, the wild beasts were scared and started to move back...


    It was hard to say what Zhang Tie was thinking about¡ªhe just gazed at Ma Long''s dead body before shaking his head.


    Zhang Tie then raised his head and glanced over the other beasts in the cell. Was it more frightening to be surrounded by these scumbags than by more than 300 wild wolves?


    He walked towards these guys...


    "Since Ma Long has died, nobody can hurt you in this cell..." the humpbacked old man said, moving back.


    Zhang Tie ignored his words, just walking towards him...


    "You can do whatever you want here..."


    The humpbacked man continued to move back...


    Zhang Tie ignored his words, just walking towards him...


    "We can all follow your orders..."


    Zhang Tie ignored his words, just walking towards him...


    "Go!"


    The moment the humpbacked old man shouted, four shadows charged at Zhang Tie, the humpbacked old man''s shadowy black spider appearing almost at the same time.


    Zhang Tie consecutively punched out four fists in a split second. At the same time, four shadows were sent flying back in the air and fell to the ground. Three of the four did not pick themselves up again, while the humpbacked man was bleeding and staring at Zhang Tie in an astonished kind of way. He felt his guts being broken into pieces by a surging strength.


    Before death, he growled, "Hidden strength, how could that be..."


    At the same time, a mouthful of blood mixed with his broken guts sprayed out from his mouth, leaving no breath anymore.


    A LV 4 warrior could form hidden strength, but not every LV 4 warrior. Even some higher level warriors could not form it. Level represented the number of burning points ignited and how a person''s physical potential was tapped.


    Hidden strength represented how a person''s strength and physical potential tapped chose to act. Although steel and iron could be used to produce weapons, not all the steel and iron was used to for weapons. Many people who owned the materials could not use them to produce weapons. Likewise, people who had formed hidden strength indicated that they had produced their physical potential and strength into cutlery and swords and other fighting tools.


    Zhang Tie had already formed hidden strength, which was not the common kind but Iron-Blood hidden strength. Somehow, even if Captain Kerlin had said that less than one out of one hundred people can form hidden strength, on the first day Zhang Tie reached LV 4, he had already sensed this wholly new strength hidden in his body. Of course, he could easily master the Iron-Blood hidden strength.


    Zhang Tie had learned that the largest amount of Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits that could be produced on the small tree was nine.


    When the three-month survival training came to an end, Zhang Tie had already become a LV 4 warrior. Besides, he had formed hidden strength of Iron-Blood Fist skill and had the full strength of nine wild wolves in his body.


    At this time, the power of the Iron-Blood Fist skill in his hand had also startled Zhang Tie himself. From now on, the imperial battle skill of the Norman Empire started to radiate its brilliance in a wholly new way.


    Besides Zhang Tie, nobody knew that he was no longer the same person as three months ago.


    "We can all follow your orders!" someone shouted from the back of the cell.


    "You parasitic worms in the darkness, you all have to die today!" Zhang Tie''s killing intent immediately exploded. "If I let your survive, it''ll definitely be the biggest blasphemy to the human clan!"


    In the dark cell, more shadows charged at Zhang Tie with weird screams. Using Iron-Blood Fist skill with ease, Zhang Tie punched again and again, the growls of a tiger resounding after his every more...


    Two minutes later, the growling punches stopped. The cell regained its peace. After patting his sleeves, Zhang Tie found a semi-clean place beside the iron gate and took a seat. With eyes closed, he started to polish the fourth burning point on his spine...


    1,1,2,3...


    On the Fibonacci''s golden spiral that represented the path of evolution, Zhang Tie had moved four steps forward. He was going to take the fifth step. In the future, each step forward would be many times harder than before. However, Zhang Tie was not afraid. For him, everything was just a matter of time as he had the Castle of Black Iron and that small tree inside...


    5,8,13,21,34...


    A question flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind.


    ''I wonder what the world after LV 9 is like?''

 155 Reversal

    Chapter 155: Reversal


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    It was the longest evening that Zhang family had ever lived through, even without Zhang Tie''s elder brother daring to tell his parents about the dark message he received from outside. The lofty walls of the prison of Blackhot City were definitely like a formidable natural chasm for Zhang Tie''s family.


    Three days. Zhang Yang had learned that Zhang Tie could not get out of the prison for three days. It was unknown whether he could hold on for such a long time inside. Zhang Yang''s last beacon of hope came from the amazing strength Zhang Tie revealed when forcefully taking his sword away from his hand.


    Zhang Yang didn''t know how Zhang Tie could become so powerful. However, this amazing strength became his sole hope for Zhang Tie''s survival. In this age, strength was the real power; a powerful man could survive the prison of Blackhot City.


    Early the next morning, before Zhang Yang had left home, his dad gave him a heavy purse. "This is our savings. Take it, to make sure you bring Zhang Tie back home safe!"


    Taking the purse, Zhang Yang knew that it contained all of his parents'' savings. So he carefully put it in his bag, nodding.


    The moment Zhang Yang walked out the door, he saw several soldiers of the Norman Empire in dark red military uniforms. They were looking at Zhang''s door plate, seemingly intending to knock at the door.


    "Hello, is this Zhang Tie''s home?" one of them asked, seeing a man similar to Zhang Tie walk out, .


    In a very bad mood at the sight of the ''red-skinned dogs'', Zhang Yang became infuriated and shouted loudly, "Wasn''t Zhang Tie caught and taken away by you yesterday? What are you here for today?"


    "Who dared to catch Zhang Tie?" After hearing Zhang Yang''s exclamation, the soldier looked very startled, his expression turning gloomy. "Could you tell me what happened to Zhang Tie? I''m his friend, Salvey..."


    "You''re Zhang Tie''s friend?" Zhang Yang stared at this ''red-skinned dog''... no, the person who claimed to be Zhang Tie''s friend and became confused. When had Zhang Tie become acquainted with the soldiers of the Norman Empire?


    "Yea, Zhang Tie once saved my life. I knew he would come back home yesterday after the survival training, so, I especially come here today to thank him. Considering the special case when he saved me, I had no chance to thank him at the time!"


    At the sight of the soldier of the Norman Empire saying words like that, Zhang Yang immediately became spirited. Seizing Salvey''s hand, he explained, "Zhang Tie was arrested, hurry up, go to the Military Administration together with me. If it''s too late, he might have already been killed..."


    "What happened?"


    "Someone framed him, wanting to kill him!"


    At Zhang Yang''s words, not only Salvey, even all the other surrounding soldiers became irritated. If the savior of a glorious soldier of the Iron-Horn Army was set up in Blackhot City, it was definitely an aggressive maneuver that humiliated the honor of the entire Iron-Horn Army...


    "Let''s go, we will go to the bastards of the Military Administration!"


    It was truly not a good experience being in the dark cell. After only one evening inside, Zhang Tie already felt like he''d lost his nose since he could no longer smell anything. Besides, there really were too many fleas inside the cell, all of which would never care how many wolves'' strength you had.


    Zhang Tie had managed last night''s time very well. Besides polishing his burning points, he had spent the remaining time in the Trouble-Reappearance Fruits. Last night, he had ''died'' four times in inside. Each time, he would be besieged by more than 500 wild wolves, over 20 huge wolves, 10-odd human eating varanids, and several lions.


    Zhang Tie would always used the Iron-Blood Fist skills to kill them. Each time, he would exert his full hidden strength. However, he couldn''t yet kill an enemy with one punch.


    Under constant fighting and killing, Zhang Tie''s wounds also gradually increased while his strength declined. At the lowest point of his physical strength, he would always be torn to shreds by the remaining wild beasts.


    The practice in the Trouble-Reappearance Fruits was both painful and happy. Besides not really dying in the Trouble-reappearance Fruits, all the pains that Zhang Tie experienced in there were the same as the ones he would feel in reality.


    He had ''died'' four times inside, and each time he felt like suffering from a cruel punishment. He would bear over 100 wounds all over his body before being torn to shreds by the wild beasts. What made Zhang Tie reassured, though, was that after leaving the Trouble-Reappearance scenes, he would not suffer from the pains anymore. They would disperse immediately, like tides and dreams. If not, Zhang Tie wouldn''t really be able to brave experiencing the pains time after another.


    The happiness of cultivating in the Trouble-Reappearance Fruits could only be understood by people who had experienced it. The several hours in the Trouble-Reappearance scenes last night¡ªmany people would have wasted them by having dinner. However, Zhang Tie had experienced the tough challenges that many people might not encounter for their whole lives. Through such challenges, he had rapidly improved himself in all aspects.


    In the past days, as Zhang Tie had increased his frequency of cultivation in the Trouble-Reappearance Fruits, he had also found many new features.


    For example: an activated Trouble-Reappearance Scene could only last three hours at most. After this time, the energy that supports the entire Trouble-Reappearance Scene would weaken which would lead to the collapse of the entire Trouble-Reappearance Scene. Zhang Tie had found this when he tried to match speed and endurance with the wild wolves.


    He activated the Trouble-Reappearance Scene of Crescent Prairie. After that, he dashed away, followed by several hundreds of wild wolves. Zhang Tie kept running for three hours. However, the wild wolves still failed to catch up with him. Then Zhang Tie received a notice before the Trouble-Reappearance Scene broke into light spots and disappeared.


    This was the first rule of the Trouble-Reappearance Fruits that Zhang Tie had found. The second thing was that the more living beings he placed in the scenes and the higher level they were, the more spiritual energy he needed to inject into the Trouble-Reappearance Scene to activate it.


    Additionally, during the activation, what consumed the largest amount of spiritual energy was not the living beings that needed to be activated, but the scene.


    Zhang Tie had tried and found the following facts: when he activated one or two wolves, he could activate the Trouble-Reappearance Fruits 23 times at most. When he activated roughly 50-100 wolves, he could activate the Trouble-Reappearance Fruits for roughly 8-10 times. Like now, when he activated over 500 wolves and other species inside, he could only activate it four times.


    The abundant spiritual energy that had surged by seven times felt a bit awkward now.


    As sunlights or moonlight could not be seen in the dark cell, what reminded Zhang Tie of the arrival of the next morning was his biological clock.


    It was not a good feeling to sleep with a lot of corpses in the same cell. However, Zhang Tie felt that these guys could not even match beasts. He preferred to see the corpses as the bodies of wild wolves, or something even more disgusting.


    After waking up, he casually circled around the room before starting to cultivate a kungfu that he had created these days: Bear Back Iron-Body skill. He had created it when he saw a wild bear hitting a big tree using his back so as to pick the fruits that dropped off from the tree.


    Since Iron-body Fruit required constant strikes on his body¡ªand he could not serve as a flesh bag in the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club¡ªenlightened by wild bears, Zhang Tie had considered to hit something hard using his back to stimulate Iron-body Fruits to ripening. To tell the truth, this method really worked. With this kungfu, Zhang Tie turned the negative strikes into positive strikes, the latter having a miraculous effect.


    Zhang Tie had practiced this kungfu for two weeks, and had stimulated three Iron-body Fruits to becoming ripe. Similar to how his body responded after eating the previous Iron-body Fruits, when he ate the latest ones, he would still have a stomachache and would also excrete some black things.


    However, the last two times, Zhang Tie found that the black things were becoming fewer. Besides, a wisp of icy energy from the Iron-body Fruits penetrated through his muscles which felt pretty comfortable.


    Zhang Tie now found a plain cement wall that was vertical to the ground. Standing with his back against the wall, he kept his shoulders square and his feet open like the Chinese character ¡®°Ë¡¯. He kept his heels roughly 40 cm away from the wall.


    Once the preparations were done, he started to lean back and used his back to strike against the wall. After each ''strike'', he would stand still and wait for the dust on the wall to fall down to the ground...


    Like this, Zhang Tie struck against the wall at 2 second frequency. This resulted in the entire underground floor 3 starting to reverberate with the loud ''bang'' ''bang'' ''bang'' sounds. As Zhang Tie had nine wolves'' strengths in his body and the strength as a LV 4 warrior, he was definitely more powerful than a huge bear.


    The sound was so surprising that many criminals were woken up. When they found that the origin of the sound was the terrifying ''club'' where the brat had been thrown into last day, all the criminals became quiet. If this sound originated from there, it would not be strange, since nobody knew what perverted things were carried out in that cell.


    The guards who had sent Zhang Tie in last night came here very early this morning. Usually, they would never come back so early. They did it because of Zhang Tie.


    There was an unwritten rule in the prison: it''s normal to see dead people in the prison, and nobody would care about that. However, if the people die too miserably¡ªlike being torn to pieces¡ªthat might bring a lot of trouble to the officers there.


    This was a tacit agreement between the prisoners and the prison officers. But since the ''club'' in floor 3 was too special¡ªthose perverts inside wouldn''t even let go of corpses¡ªthe guards didn''t dare to keep Zhang Tie inside for too long.


    After one night''s torture, the boy would have been killed for certain. So before his corpse was made too disgusting, which might bring some trouble to the prison officers, they should get it out of the cell and report what had happened last night to the warden.


    The moment the guards arrived at the dark floor 3, they heard the terrifying striking sounds that were reverberating from the end of the underground tunnel. It felt like the entire floor 3 was quaking.


    The sound came from the ''club''. Hearing it, the guards'' face immediately turned pale, and they hurriedly ran towards the end of the tunnel.


    When they saw the scene in that ''club'', they were all dumbfounded: the youth that should have been a corpse last night was casually striking the wall with his back. After seeing them, that youth halted, stopping the sound, .


    "Morning!" he even greeted them.


    "You''re not dead?" one of the guard''s cried out, like having seen a ghost.


    "My life''s so good, why would I die?" Holding the bars of the iron gate, the youth then added, "Oh, could you please get me out of here first? It doesn''t feel good to stay with a pile of corpses..."

 156 Those Looked upon by the Battle God

    Chapter 156: Those Looked upon by the Battle God


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The criminals in floor 3 were showed a good performance for free this morning: soon after the guards came intending to take away Zhang Tie''s corpse, they hurriedly rushed outside, faces pale...


    Ten minutes after the guards hurried up to the outside, more people rushed down. This time, not only the guards, even the armored soldiers of the Norman Empire that resided in the prison arrived with long pikes in hands. They all looked pretty solemn. The booming tidy footsteps reverberating through the ground of the tunnel of floor 3 forced all the criminals to not even take a deeper breath. Everybody knew that a big event had happened in that ''club'' where the most terrifying and perverted scumbags resided.


    The warden who was appointed by the Norman Empire arrived to the floor 3, too. He was a captain of the Norman Empire with a rigid expression. Since taking over this prison, the warden had only been to floor 3 once. When he left here last time, he looked like so disgusted, like having stepped on a pile of bull''s sh*t with his expensive crocodile-hide shoes. From then onward, he didn''t come here again.


    However, today, that warden came here.


    Given the flustered guards who had hurriedly rushed upwards just now, the criminals knew something very severe had happened.


    All the criminals in floor 3 then kept quiet with their heads stretched in the direction of the ''club''.


    Zhang Tie just waited in the cell calmly, listening to the booming footsteps of soldiers, produced by the anti-riot fighting boots. Soon after, he saw a squad of soldiers of the Norman Empire in dark red military uniforms rushing inside, closely followed by the guards and the middle-aged man with the rank of captain of the Norman Empire whom he had met when he entered the prison.


    Coming to the front of the iron gate outside the ''club'', the captain of the Norman Empire ordered with a cold expression, "Open it!"


    "Warden Quin, this person is very dangerous, you don''t have to..."


    The guards nearby wanted to persuade him not to enter the cell. Unexpectedly, this drove the warden even more infuriated.


    "Open it..." The growl made the entire underground tunnel of floor 3 boom. "No soldier of the Norman Empire is afraid of death. This is my prison, my place. Nowhere will I dare not to enter!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    The guards were really shocked, and their faces turned pale. They hurriedly pulled out of the key to open the iron gate outside the ''club''.


    At this time, the warden kept glancing at Zhang Tie while Zhang Tie was also glancing back at him. Zhang Tie looked very calm, instead of being irritable or arrogant.


    When the door was opened, the warden entered with his head raised. He stood still before the second iron gate, closely followed by several soldiers who held up lamps for him.


    When the lamps crowded in the partition between the two doors, the cell brightened up. Under the lamplight, everybody could see the scene in the ''club'', which forced them to take a deep breath. Besides Zhang Tie, the entire cell was covered with corpses fallen in weird ways.


    This scene was extremely shocking.


    For guards who were familiar with what kind of people were put in here, what they saw was akin to an innocent lamb standing safe among a pile of dead wild wolves. It was really subversive.


    When the second iron gate was opened, the warden entered, followed by more soldiers of the Norman Empire. They surrounded Zhang Tie with their weapons aimed at him. At this moment, nobody would care about the air quality anymore.


    "What happened here last night?" the warden asked, looking Zhang Tie in the eyes.


    "They discussed how to kill me, the process of which sounded very painful and disgraceful. I didn''t want to die that way. So when they attacked me, in order to survive, I had to kill them all!"


    "You?"


    The Warden looked more solemn.


    "If you don''t believe me, you can also think that they committed a suicide. No matter what, these guys were perverts and lunatics. I don''t care about your opinion!" Zhang Tie stretched out his palms and shrugged. "I felt that as a good civilian who follows the laws of the Norman Empire, I don''t have to tell a lie to the military officer!"


    The Warden didn''t speak anymore. Instead, he took a lamp from one soldier''s hand and walked closer to Ma Long''s corpse. Before him, the Warden squatted down and started to carefully check him.


    Zhang Tie had kicked Ma long''s crotch, breaking the latter''s hipbone and pelvis into pieces. Besides that, Ma Long''s head was also crushed into pieces. These wounds could easily be identified. After merely a simple look, the warden had understood how Ma Long was killed last night.


    The youth really had an amazing strength. He could kick Ma Long and send him flying in the air, crashing his head into the concrete ceiling of the cell. What great strength would it take for him to complete this?


    However, what caught the warden''s attention was not the amazing strength but how Ma Long''s guts were thrown into disarray by a terrifying hidden strength. There were some weird mulberry and chrysanthemum-like spirals on Ma Long''s abdomen.


    After taking notice of those spirals, the warden was stunned. He seemed to not believe it as he kept blinking in hopes to see something else when he opened his eyes next time. He even took off his pair of gloves and touched the skin of Ma Long''s abdomen to ensure that it was not a tattoo or something else.


    His face twisted, the warden picked himself up from the ground and quickly moved to another corpse with the lamp in hand. He took a careful look over the second corpse and found the same mulberry and chrysanthemum-like spirals on the neck, smaller than the ones on Ma Long''s abdomen.


    On the third corpse, the humpbacked man, the warden found the same weird spirals on the chest.


    After that, he didn''t continue since his heart was full of fury. Not at Zhang Tie but the Military Administration of the Blackhot City. He was furious at the bastards of the Military Administration for having sent a person who was gazed at and had received a potential favor from the Battle God, forming hidden strength into the prison.


    Any person who had gained the attention of the Battle God should not suffer from such a mistreatment. This kind of mistreatment was definitely profaning the glory of the Battle God and challenging the authority of the imperial household of the Norman Empire.


    The emperor was also the pope of the Battle God Cult which was the national religion of the Norman Empire and the only belief of its army.


    In the Norman Empire, those who could catch the attention of the Battle God should not be tried in the secular courts but in the judging palace of the Battle God Cult of the Norman Empire. Even in war time, judgment on this kind of person could also only be dealt by the judging priests in the judging palace.


    In the entire Blackhot City now, there wasn''t a single judging priest from the judging palace. There were only five of them in entirety. Of course, they would not casually appear in poor cities like Blackhot City.


    The hidden strength of Iron-Blood Fist skill was very ferocious and aggressive so when it hit a person, it could almost force the Qi and blood out in some parts and small areas of their body, leaving such weird mulberry and chrysanthemum-like spirals. This was why it was the symbol of the hidden strength. Those spirals could never be imitated as they formed from inside to outside.


    When the Battle God caught sight of someone, he would present the ''bloody chrysanthemum'' to that person. This was the doctrine of the Battle God Cult.


    Realizing that he had almost made a big mistake, the warden also felt very terrified. Even if Zhang Tie could not threaten him with his current power, his real force represented the deep-rooted traditions and systems of the entire Norman Empire and the Battle God Cult, which was most respected.


    Under the amazed gazes of the pile of soldiers and guards, the warden, who was checking the dead bodies, suddenly knelt down and pulled out his emblem of the Battle God on a necklace and kissed it. After that, he put his palms together devoutly and started to mumble.


    "Almighty Battle God, please forgive me for my careless mistake. I have thrown a person under your gaze into such a dirty place. The only thing that made me lucky was that your glory had prevented even such a dirty place from being profaned by those dirty bastards--Abhibhavana!"


    Although the guards didn''t know captain Quin''s intention by praying, the moment the soldiers of the Norman Empire heard it, their faces immediately turned pale. At the same time, they all moved one step backs and cast curious eyes to Zhang Tie.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie understand that no matter how paramount he had considered the position of the Iron-Blood Fist skill in the Norman Empire, his thoughts were still not great enough.


    Captain Kerlin had told him that Iron-Blood Fist was called Battle God''s Fist in the army of the Norman Empire and any one who could master it would be powerful and rich, gaining everyone''s respect. It seemed that what Captain Kerlin had told him was true.


    The warden who had intended to throw Zhang Tie into the pile of perverts and corpse maniacs with an icy expression last night had completely changed his attitude now.


    "According to the laws of the Norman Empire, any citizen who cand form hidden strength of the Battle God''s Fist cannot be judged by the secular courts anymore. So please forgive me for my rudeness yesterday. You are not suitable to stay here anymore.


    However, it was the Military Administration of Blackhot City which sent your here. It means that you have committed a severe crime. So I can only hand you over to colonel Leibniz, the supreme commander of Uni-Horn Army in Blackhot City. He will determine your destiny!" the warden Quin explained to Zhang Tie before ordering his soldiers to put away their weapons.


    "I warn you, although the Norman Empire grants some privileges to those who have mastered the Battle God''s Fist, if you want to escape, I won''t mind showing you some bitterness!"


    "I am an innocent citizen of the Norman Empire, the first able youth who practiced and embraced the barbarous survival training system of the Norman Empire, ending up set up. Of course I won''t escape!" After saying that, Zhang Tie revealed a smile and two rows of glittering white teeth. " Then, can we go out of here now? It really smells bad here!"


    Zhang Tie walked onto the tunnel in floor 3 once again. The other criminals on both sides of the tunnel became really dumbfounded as if having seen a ghost as they saw Zhang Tie walk out of the ''club'' where he had stayed the night without even losing a hair.


    "What had happened? Did those scumbags become innocent or what?"


    Several minutes after Zhang Tie had left the underground floor 3, the guards started to take the corpses out of the ''club'' using barrows, one after another. Everybody then knew what had happened.


    Magic beast Ma Long''s corpse was on the barrow...


    Crazy dog''s corpse was on the barrow...


    Humpback''s corpse was on the barrow...


    Vampire Jack''s corpse was on the barrow...


    ...


    All the corpses were carried out of the ''club'' by a barrow. Thinking of that youth who had not even lost one hair, all the other criminals started to feel chilly.


    Undoubtedly, the one who could turn these scumbags into corpses was greater than them. Many had even thought of this youth as a defenseless fatty yesterday. They would have never imagined that he was a human-sized magic beast who could engulf humans without even spitting out their bones...

 157 Yousve Been Recruited

    Chapter 157: You''ve Been Recruited


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Previously, Zhang Tie had dreamed of sitting in a car numerous times, however, he had never imagined that the first car he sat in would belong to the Norman Empire''s Iron-Horn Army.


    As the head of the prison of Blackhot City, Captain Quin owned a private car - a ''Mountain Cat'' SUV produced by the Norman Empire. Compared to the common steam-driven vehicles in the market, ''Mountain Cat'' SUV had a higher chassis, stronger off-road performance, and stronger driving force.


    Although also being driven by steam power, military vehicles had better configurations and performances than common civilian vehicles. The steam power units equipped on this ''Mountain Cat'' could allow this vehicle to maintain a speed of 80 km/h even in the wild.


    Previously, Captain Quin was worried that Zhang Tie would seek a chance to escape or to bring him trouble, however, after entering the SUV, he found that Zhang Tie''s whole attention was put on the vehicle to the point of even ignoring him.


    As time passed by, the two people in the car got more acquainted with each other. Captain Quin even swore at Zhang Tie ''Blackhot City''s being rustic numerous times, gradually loosening his alert.


    ''How can such a guy be an enemy and a potential insurrectionist?" Captain Quin started to doubt the crime laid at Zhang Tie''s feet. ''This guy doesn''t look like he''s hostile to the Norman Empire.''


    Though based on Zhang Tie''s age and looks, Captain Quin was really confused as why Battle God would choose him.


    ''Iron-Blood Hidden Strength! Less than 1 out of 100 elite soldiers of the Iron-Horn Army can form it. How could this rusty Blackhot City form it?''


    Captain Quin started to sigh inside as he really couldn''t understand it.


    Could it be the favor of the Battle God?


    Captain Quin was at a loss.


    ...


    Zhang Tie was driven directly to the place where the headquarters of No. 39 Division under the flagship of the Iron-Horn Army was located in Blackhot City. Two months ago, this place was the general headquarters of the City Guard.


    The military residence was strictly defended. There were dozens of various vehicles parked outside. Besides these iron and steel beasts, there were many iron-horn beasts that Zhang Tie had witnessed several week ago in the Crescent Prairie. Of course, the most numerous guardians here were soldiers of the Norman Empire in dark red military uniforms.


    Captain Quin parked his vehicle directly outside the entrance of the headquarters'' building. He then jumped off and greeted a second lieutenant who was standing next to the building. After exchanging for a short while in quiet voices, the lieutenant cast a glance at Zhang Tie and quickly left. In less than half a minute, that second lieutenant came back together with four tough looking soldiers. After handing Zhang Tie over to them, Captain Quin left.


    Soon after, Zhang Tie was escorted by the four tough looking soldiers and the second lieutenant into a cell marked with words Interrogation Room on floor one of a building beside the headquarters.


    After closing the iron gate of the Interrogation Room, the four soldiers stood outside, leaving Zhang Tie alone in the cell.


    No matter what, the environment here was a hundred times better than in the black cell of that smelly underground floor 3.


    The sunlightt came in through a narrow window two meters off the ground. Standing under it, Zhang Tie kept his eyes closed and head raised up. He seemed to be enjoying calmly basking in the warm rays of the sun.


    If everything went well, the mixed division of 25 thousand people led by Colonel Leibniz under the flagship of the Norman Empire''s Iron-Horn Army would be stationed in Blackhot City. Was that the prelude to the chaotic world that Zerom had mentioned?


    Thinking of his parents'' terrified expressions when he was taken away yesterday, Zhang Tie felt painful inside once again.


    ...


    When Captain Quin returned to the prison of Blackhot City, he found several new faces, one among which was a bastard of the Military Administration of Blackhot City, while the others were from the Scouts Camp. The bastard from the Military Administration looked embarrassed while the guys from the Scouts Camp looked infuriated.


    At the sight of Captain Quin, the newcomers hurriedly saluted him.


    ''What are they doing in my place?''


    Because of Zhang Tie''s affair, Captain Quin didn''t look good. So he asked without any emotion, "What''s up?"


    "Sorry to bother you, Captain Quin, yesterday, the Military Administration had someone escort a Chinese youth called Zhang Tie here. There might be a misunderstanding, so we come here to take him away!"


    Saying this, the second lieutenant took out the authorization certificate signed by the Military Administration and gave it to Captain Quin.


    "Sorry, this person is not in the prison any more!" Captain Quin said without any mood to be bothered anymore.


    "What? Is he dead?"


    A young soldier of Scouts Camp moved one step forward, almost falling down onto the ground. Talking with a superior at such a short distance was forbidden under normal circumstances. However, this time, looking at this emotional young soldier who even had a wound on his leg, Captain Quin didn''t care about his move and asked out of curiosity, "Do you know each other?"


    Seemingly having realized his rudeness, Salvey became a bit more clear-minded. "Sir, that youth saved my life several days ago. Because I was carrying out a task at that time, I didn''t have a chance to thank him. However, when I visited his home today, I was told he was set up and sent to the prison..." Salvey briefly explained what had happened.

 158 Iron-Blood Second Lieutenan

    Chapter 158: Iron-Blood Second Lieutenant


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    In the next ten minutes, with the guidance of the adviser left by Colonel Leibniz, Zhang Tie took a round of the offices of the Headquarters of No. 39 Division. He also filled out some forms so all the staff in the Headquarter''s learned that Colonel Leibniz had recruited a birdie officer today: it was a birdie born and grown in Blackhot City and a lucky dog who was struck by lightning bolts, which resulted in him suffering from Post-Lightning Stroke Savant Syndrome at the age of 15.


    Since Blackhot City now belonged to the Norman Empire and Zhang Tie was a citizen of the Norman Empire who was over 15, according to the laws and traditions, Colonel Leibniz had the right to recruit him to the army. Additionally, across the entire Norman Empire, anyone who had formed the Iron-Blood hidden strength would at least gain the rank of second lieutenant if they joined the army. So Zhang Tie became the first birdie soldier that No. 39 Division had recruited in Blackhot City, and the youngest second lieutenant in the entire division.


    As was expected, Zhang Tie''s affair became a hot topic for military officers in the Headquarter of No. 39 Division. The thing that he had saved a soldier of the Norman Empire was known by all in here, by which alone many had good impressions of him.


    In addition, people who knew Colonel Leibniz''s temperament and habits assumed that the brat Zhang Tie had become a funny ''toy'' to the man. This then could bring the colonel some funny short stories and topics to talk about when he returns, consolidating Colonel Leibniz image of a funny and informed person in the eyes of the noble women in the wine parties and salons held in Nordinburg. Those topics might even bring Colonel Leibniz some good nights. Everything was very simple.


    After handling the formalities in the Headquarters, Second Lieutenant Vessie, the adviser of Colonel Leibniz bought a car, stopping it before the gates of the Headquarters'' building and inviting Zhang Tie in.


    "Where are we going?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "The Logistics Department first. After that, I''ll take you to the Iron-Blood Camp to register..." adviser Vessie answered.


    Zhang Tie then sat in the convertible military SUV before it drove away.


    The moment they drove outside the gates, Zhang Tie caught sight of several familiar faces out the window.


    "Stop!" he hurriedly exclaimed.


    With a sound of ''Zhi...", adviser Vessie parked the car.


    "I''m sorry, I just saw some friends and my elder brother. They might still be worried about me and are waiting for me outside the gates of the Headquarters. I''ll go greet them and tell them what is going on!"


    While being in the Headquarters, Zhang Tie had learned that a scout of the Norman Empire called Salvey, whom he had saved before, was running around trying to locate him since he was arrested.


    Zhang Tie left the car and ran towards the familiar faces. Salvey, Zhang Yang, and some other soldiers were squatting under a tree in a parterre beside the gate, seemingly waiting for Zhang Tie to be released.


    Of course, places like the Headquarters would not allow several common soldiers and civilians in for free. Even knowing that Zhang Tie was inside, they could still only wait outside. No matter what, for them, it would okay if Zhang Tie was safe.


    They were chatting under the tree, not having the slightest inkling that Zhang Tie might abruptly run at them from another direction.


    "Elder brother!" Zhang Tie exclaimed, running towards them.


    Zhang Yang''s head swiveled to the side, and he saw his brother running over to him. He immediately jumped up from the ground and strode towards Zhang Tie. Pulling the boy into his hands, Zhang Yang was full of excitement and concern. "Are you okay?"


    "I''m okay, of course I''m okay!"


    Zhang Tie smiled and patted his elder brother''s hands so as to comfort him.


    Not until then did Zhang Yang''s constricted heart finally relax.


    Salvey also walked towards them in an impaired way, followed by Miller, Harley, and two other strange faces.


    Letting go of his elder brother''s hands, Zhang Tie gave Salvey an embrace. After that, he lightly punched Salvey''s chest. "I was cheated by you."


    Salvey smirked. "If I wore this military uniform, would you have saved me?"


    "I would''ve, of course I would''ve saved you! After striking you and making you pass out, I would''ve sent you back to the Wild Wolf Castle. Then I would have become a hero..."


    Zhang Tie burst out laughing, then greeted Miller, Harley, and some other people whom he had seen once before. At that time, he had only felt these guys weird, but unexpectedly, they were scouts of the Norman Empire, who were there cleaning path for the army.


    In merely one month, Blackhot City had experienced a groundbreaking change. Every resident became the citizen of the Norman Empire. Therefore, their previous estrangement due to different nationalities did not exist anymore, not even considering that Zhang Tie having saved Salvey''s life.


    Happy about Zhang Tie''s open character, everybody burst out laughing; they all felt like having had a worthwhile morning.


    "Let''s go home, dad and mom will definitely be very happy to know you''re safe..." Zhang Tie''s elder brother said. "Let''s go back home together, I''ll get bottles of good alcohol, let''s enjoy it tonight!"


    "Elder brother, you go back first and tell our parents that I''m safe. Don''t let them worry about me. I''ll come back later!"


    "What? What else?"


    Zhang Yang was stunned.


    "You''ll know about it after I come back..."


    Since adviser Vessie had pressed on the signal twice already, Zhang Tie was better off ending his conversation. After bidding a farewell to everyone, he ran over and jumped into the SUV. Soon after, the vehicle left, leaving a curtain of dust rising up from the ground.


    Seeing his younger brother, who was taken away by the Military Administration staff outside their home yesterday, sit in the SUV and leave Blackhot City at such speed, Zhang Yang started to feel strange about him. He stayed still for quite a while.


    "Your younger brother should have really good luck!" Miller smirked.


    ...


    Zhang Tie truly was going to have good luck.


    Adviser Vessie drove him directly to the Logistics Base of the No. 39 Division, which was previously a camp of the City Guard but was expropriated now.


    Compared to the Headquarters, there were more people in the Norman Empire''s military uniforms here, causing it to be more lively. The spacious land in the camp was piled with various large and small dark green crates, marked with Norman Empire''s Army''s signal, many of which were covered with water-proof tarpaulin.


    Adviser Vessie guided Zhang Tie directly into a room marked as Equipment Management Office and submitted a form to a military officer wearing glasses. After peering over it, the officer immediately picked himself up from behind the table.


    "Follow me, please..."


    After that, he guided Zhang Tie and adviser Vessie into a warehouse on the other side of the camp. Inside, they saw piles of materials and crates.


    "Calvin!" the officer shouted out.


    Soon after, a fat and oily guy ran out from behind a pile of crates.


    Pointing at Zhang Tie, the officer said, "Iron-Blood Camp, second lieutenant, he''s been favored by Colonel Leibniz, match him with a suitable set of military uniforms."


    After glancing over Zhang Tie, that fat and oily guy looked slightly amazed before saying a series of data, "Height, 178; Weight, 73; well-balanced; a bigger head, 61; shoes'' size, 40. Wait a minute please..."


    Zhang Tie was dumbfounded. What a pair of sharp eyes! He could figure out the concrete sizes of a person''s body only with one glance. That was really great!


    Only after two minutes, that guy called Calvin came back to them with two heavy military cases and several crates in hands. After putting them onto the table, he left for another two minutes before returning with several cases and boxes. He then started to introduce these items to Zhang Tie.


    "I could only match you with the summer uniforms, informal clothes, and combat training suits along with leather waistbands. Three suits for each. As to underwear and shirts, you have five for each. Second lieutenant is also provided with a pair of leather boots and three pairs of gaiters for combat training.


    "Other living necessities are all standard provisions. Here is a list for you. The winter uniforms will be delivered this October. As to your lieutenant''s full dress, we''re short on it now. You should wait for a couple of days. When it arrives, we''ll deliver it together with the next month''s living necessities. This package includes your epaulets, collar insignia, and the chest card of Iron-Blood Camp. This box includes the lieutenant-level Sharp-Arrow Type-B Light Defense Armor..."


    Calvin reported the items in the luggage and various of crates and boxes like recounting a menu.


    ''Are these items the provisions for a lieutenant?''


    Zhang Tie was dumbfounded. He finally understood how expensive it was to keep an army. What a great amount of expenditure it would take to purchase so many items! Additionally, he learned that the treatment for the second lieutenant of the Norman Empire was much better than that of the second lieutenant of Blackhot City.


    It even contained informal dresses, full dresses, and combat training suits; three of each. Besides, it included boots.


    Zhang Tie realized that soldiers had a pretty high status in the Norman Empire, which could never be matched by the soldiers in the Andaman Alliance. Compared to the soldiers of the Norman Empire, those of the Andaman Alliance were more like a group of bodyguards and courtyard guardians for rich men.


    "After a while, we will go to the Iron-Blood Camp. You can put on an set of informal clothes..." adviser Vessie suggested.


    "Here?"


    "Yes, here!"


    "Can I take a bath? You know I stayed in the prison last night. That was a not a clean place!" Zhang Tie explained in an embarrassed way.


    Captain Vessie didn''t speak but looked at the officer of the Logistics Base with a pair of inquiring eyes.


    "Calvin, take him for a bath..."


    Hearing the order, Calvin took Zhang Tie to the bathroom of this Camp, where Zhang Tie took a good bath.


    His clothes were were still the same with which he returned from the survival training. So after last night''s experience in the dark ''club'' on the underground floor 3, besides being dirty, they even had numerous fleas, making them not only itchy but also have bad luck of those in the cell.


    Zhang Tie of course would not bring these bad items back home.


    So he threw that entire set of clothes from top to feet, including a pair of socks with two holes in them along with the pair of heavily worn shoes into the trash bin in the bathroom. After finishing the bath, he put on the new uniform of a soldier of the Norman Empire, which included socks, underwear, vest, informal dress and boots.


    ...

 159 Clothes Make a Man

    Chapter 159: Clothes Make a Man


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Men usually took baths very fast. Only a bit over ten minutes later, Zhang Tie already stood in front of Second Lieutenant Vessie in a set of fresh new clothes and shiny sheepskin boots. At the sight of him, everybody was stunned. Not only them, even Zhang Tie himself could never believe that the handsome youth in the mirror was him.


    That youth in the mirror had white and smooth skin, tender yet distinct features. The black and silky hair indicated his abundant nutrition and great vitality. Although he was not tall not too tough looking, he was very balanced. All the lines and proportions of his body displayed the special adolescence and perfection of the young. But despite that youthful look, there was a certain air of maturity about him.


    To tell the truth, since the start of the survival training, Zhang Tie had not used a mirror. So he had no idea that he was absolutely different from that poor youth from several months ago after eating a pile of Leakless Fruits, Iron-body Fruits, Trouble-Reappearance Fruits, and Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits.


    He looked very reserved now. Besides that, he was distant and noble. And those qualities seemed as if they had been with him since he was born.


    It was especially made to look so by that set of dark red informal dress of the Norman Empire''s lieutenant, as well as the pair of boots. The former was made of a good material, while the latter was something that Zhang Tie had never worn before, and the two together made him shine as brilliant as a polished jewel.


    Honestly, when he caught sight of that image in the mirror, the first thought that came to his mind was not delight, but jealousy. After realizing that he was envying himself, his heart then filled to the brim with a sense of excitement.


    Zhang Tie turned round and round before the mirror for at least two minutes before finally confirming that the guy with a pretty nice look in the mirror was truly him. He then grimaced to himself in the mirror and left the bathroom.


    The moment Zhang Tie came out, he attracted all the other soldiers'' attention, who were were also wearing dark red military uniforms of the Norman Empire.


    When he stopped before adviser Vessie, Calvin, and that military officer of the Logistics Base, the three guys who were smoking and chatting immediately popped out their eyes with mouths wide-open. At the same time, adviser Vessie''s tobacco fell to the ground. Neither of them had imagined that the previous dirty person would turn into a handsome youth that now stood in front of them.


    "You''re... Zhang Tie?" adviser Vessie asked to confirm it.


    "I also realize that I''m very handsome in military uniforms, this set looks like it was specially customized to suit me! No envy!" Zhang Tie spoke in a witty way like before.


    Adviser Vessie''s eyes glittered, and it was hard to say what he was thinking about.


    Calvin ran to Zhang Tie and buckled everything to his uniform: the collar insignia, epaulets, and chest badges. He then helped Zhang Tie put on his military cap that was specially designed for second lieutenants and buckled his cap badge before fastening the waistband around Zhang Tie''s waist.


    When he was done, Zhang Tie was like a brilliant person that had walked out of a painting.


    Calvin burst out laughing and said, "Brat, since I''ve begun doing this earlier, I could sense that this would end in a great achievement!"


    "Colonel Leibniz really has special vision!" After watching Zhang Tie for awhile, the military officer of the Logistics Base also praised with his eyes on adviser Vessie, "This man is born to wear military uniforms! I''ve never seen anyone so suited to them..."


    Previously, this military officer was just taking Zhang Tie''s affair as a public affair, therefore, he treated him solemnly; however, now, he treated Zhang Tie much more enthusiastically. Perhaps, as Calvin had said, it could truly bring a sense of achievement to a person when he saw a poor youth becoming brilliant right in front of him.


    "Have you chosen your weapon?" that military officer asked Zhang Tie.


    "No!"


    "Then, let''s go to the arsenal to select a proper weapon for you!"


    Soon after, the four people entered the arsenal of the Logistics Base.


    A lieutenant of the Norman Empire could own three weapons: a uniformed dagger, an imperial long sword, and one another. The long sword was a ceremonial requirement for attending special occasions for every military officer.


    Besides the two aforementioned weapons, the last one was determined by the troop the lieutenant was in and his concrete position. The third weapon was called the main battle weapon. For instance, besides the two previous weapons, a commander of a pike matrix would always own a customized long pike as his main battle weapon; the military officers of the Iron-Horn Cavalries would choose a heavy saber or a long pike; while soldiers and military officers who were carrying out special tasks would even choose machine bows or common bows.


    The types of dagger and long sword were singular, but when selecting his next one, Zhang Tie became dumbfounded.


    The arsenal of No. 39 Division widely broadened his vision since besides crates of uniformed weapons, there were also various long and short cold weapons that Zhang Tie had never seen before. They dazzled him.


    Unexpectedly, when he scanned over the weapons, he just passed by the light weapons without even giving them a second look, he instead became obsessed with the heavy and large ones. Looking at Zhang Tie''s figure, the other three people started to doubt whether he could even move them or not.


    Finally, after circling half of the colossal arsenal, Zhang Tie saw an item on the shelf. Eyes turning shiny, he hurriedly walked towards it.


    It was a set of lances, similar to the ones he''d used in the survival training, placed in a cylinder which was longer than one meter. However, the first difference was that this set of javelins were completely made of metal, instead of being composed of a wooden handle and steel head. The second difference was that the heads of the lances that he used in survival training were as sharp as needles, but the heads of these ones were triangular and much larger.


    Zhang Tie pulled one out and weighed it. He felt that it was at least 13 kg and was roughly 10 cm longer than the ones he''d used before. It felt much more suitable.


    To him, the previous lances were akin to straws. Those light sticks did not match his present strength or help him exert his maximal fighting force anymore.


    These javelins'' bodies were composed of different sections, each section of different width due to the principles of aerodynamics. The sections with different widths felt much more coherent. Holding the lance, Zhang Tie even sensed a fighting spirit from it. Besides, he could feel the delicate anti-slippery patterns on its body.


    All in all, if the previous lances were regarded as the previous Zhang Tie, these lances were like the present him; the latter version was much better than the earlier one.


    "Do these items belong to one set?" Zhang Tie pointed at the cylinder and asked.


    Whether looking at the modeling, the workmanship, or the texture, this cylinder used to contain the lances was dozens of times better than the one he''d used during the survival training.


    "Yes, these items belong to one set, but..."


    "Can''t I select them?" Zhang Tie immediately asked.


    "No, precisely, these items were not made for individuals but for the Iron-Horn cavalry. Several years ago, the imperial weapons manufacturing department produced these items, planning to use them to arm the Iron-Horn cavalry. They wanted to see the power of the Iron-Horn cavalry when it had the help of these javelins. However, after giving them out to the troop, the end result was really poor..."


    "How could that be? I feel that they''re great!"


    "The Iron-Horn cavalry felt that these items were too heavy. If they were equipped on the Iron-Horn beasts, it would slow the speed and weaken the endurance of the animal as well as the agility of the whole troop.


    "In addition, if these javelins were to display their true power, they would have to be thrown with a great power, yet could not reach too far. This would pose extremely high requirements to the personal strength of the cavalrymen.


    "If only a few of them could do that, they could hardly threaten their opponents. Additionally, it was much more difficult for them to throw javelins as precisely as shooting arrows from a common or machine bow.


    "If throwing weapons were needed, most of the Iron-Horn Cavalry would prefer axes instead of javelins. Therefore, several days later, as the troop didn''t have a high evaluation of these javelins, the plan to equip the Iron-Horn beasts with javelins was aborted. The remainder was left here several years ago!" the military officer of the Logistics Base patiently explained to Zhang Tie.


    "Fine, I''ll take it!"


    Saying this, Zhang Tie took the cylinder which contained nine identical javelins. He didn''t know that such as simple move stimulated the eyelids of the other people beside him to jump crazily.


    There was a total of nine javelins inside the container, each of which weighted 12.6 kg. That, added with the weight of the container which was made of aluminum alloy, steel wire, and leather, weighed roughly 120 kg in total. Many people would hardly even lift it using two hands, while this youth took them with only one hand. That was really an amazing strength he possessed.


    Zhang Tie didn''t realize that after eating nine Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits, he had gained nine wild wolves'' strengths in his body. That meant that the total weight of this equipment was shared by nine wild wolves, over 10 kg for each. And for a wild wolf, was this a heavy weight?


    Additionally, Zhang Tie was already a LV 4 warrior. Although the container felt a bit heavy in his hand, it was not too difficult for him to hold it.


    After exchanging glances with each other, both adviser Vessie and that military officer of the Logistics Base saw great amazement in the others'' eyes.


    Recruited by Colonel Leibniz, the youngest lieutenant in the entire division, part of the Iron-Blood Camp, having extremely great strength, excellent looks, elusive fighting force¡ªwhen all these conditions were combined into one person, Zhang Tie, that military officer of the Logistics Base immediately realized that this youth before him might be a successful and worthy investment.


    "Strictly, these lances are like arrows and easily worn away, so they''re not main battle weapons. I can present them to you if you like..." The military officer''s of the Logistics Base eyes became warmer. "You seem to have a great strength, perhaps you can try a special lieutenant-level item that others could not use..."


    Zhang Tie''s curiosity was immediately piqued.

 160 The Super-Heavy Battle Sword

    Chapter 160: The Super-Heavy Battle Sword


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    When the military officer fetched the item that had been placed here for a long time, he introduced himself to Zhang Tie. "Karak, first lieutenant of the Logistics Base of No. 39 Division. My position is medium-ranked. Since I neither had any contacts among big figures nor could be promoted by battle experience, so I ended up as a bad luck civil official who can only defend the warehouse and deal with the chores in the Logistics Base."


    As for his kind hint, of course Zhang Tie could hear it. So he also made an official introduction to first lieutenant Karak and that slippery Calvin , expressing his thanks for their help today.


    Afterwards, the atmosphere became more harmonious.


    Standing aside, adviser Vessie changed his opinion of Zhang Tie as the boy''s quick-mind completely overthrew the advisers notion of those who had formed Blood-Iron hidden strength. Across No. 39 Division, all the guys who had formed it were violent maniacs with cruel personalities. They were either bad-tempered or as hard and icy as stones. People who had formed Iron-Blood Fist skill yet were as kind as Zhang Tie were rarely seen¡ªhow could the Battle God favor such people?


    Adviser Vessie couldn''t understand it, however, this didn''t prevent him from having a good impression of Zhang Tie. Perhaps such a guy could really become famous in No. 39 Division.


    Calvin finally fetched something out of the piles of items using a hand-pushed forklift that was used to transport items in the warehouse. He pulled it in front of them.


    At the sight of this item, Zhang Tie''s eyes also popped out as this weapon was way too exaggerated.


    It was a truly huge sword in a terrifying shape. Compared with it, all the long swords that Zhang Tie had seen, even the largest one that he had seen, were like toothpicks before a chopstick.


    This sword was as large as a weapon used by giants. Lying on the forklift, it was definitely longer than 2 m, which meant if it was put down point first on the ground, it''d be taller than Zhang Tie.


    "This super-heavy battle sword is a non-uniformed lieutenant-level main battle weapon made by weapon craftsmen when blood rushed to their heads. It weighs 358 kg. Nobody can wave it among all the lieutenants of No. 39 Division!" First Lieutenant Karak introduced the weapon.


    "If lieutenants can have it, then higher ranked military officers can definitely have it too?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "Field officers'' weapons would be made of superior materials. When you are promoted to a field officer, if you like this kind of heavy main battle weapon, you can definitely have one made using better materials. This is the privilege of imperial field officers. This weapon is mainly made of LV 2 tungsten-manganese alloy steel, while imperial field officers are entitled to use LV 3 special alloy!" Adviser Vessie explained. "When you enter the army, you will gradually understand these things!"


    Staring at that battle sword of 358 kg, Zhang Tie felt his blood boiling. If Karak and Vessie knew why it did so, they would pass out right away.


    ''Donder said that if there''s a benefit to be gained, and you didn''t take it, you''d be a bastard. As for such a special weapon, even if I don''t use it, it''s still worth a lot of money if I sell it in an emergency! LV 2 tungsten-manganese alloy steel shouldn''t be average!


    This was what Zhang Tie really considered at this moment. Such a super-heavy battle sword was a great benefit waiting for him to pick it up. If he did that, he would own it.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie felt his blood boiling in his body. He then put the cylinder of lances to the side. After taking a deep breath, he walked in front of the hand-pushed forklift. With his hands, he took hold of the handle of the 358 kgs'' battle sword.


    The handle was like a stout stick composed of compressed dough-like ducks'' eggs. As the four sides of the handle were covered with wavy grains, it was definitely anti-slippery. It was roughly 40 cm in length which could be grasped by two hands.


    The blade part was designed much simpler. The armguard that connected the handle and the blade of the sword was a square steel alloy board which was as large as a small shield. It alone would weigh at least 30 kg, having over 20 cm of blade inside.


    One side of the blade was plain and sharp-edged, undergone anti-rust treatment, while the other was saw-toothed and glittering with icy lights. Besides that, the blood grooves on the blade were as wide as a person''s thumb. If one was slashed by such a fierce weapon, it was easy to imagine the outcome.


    The only problem now was who could use it.


    When Zhang Tie took hold of that super-heavy battle sword, Karak, Vessie, and Calvin''s hearts started pounding.


    One reason that Karak had fetched this super-heavy battle sword was to check Zhang Tie''s real strength.


    With the handle in his hands, Zhang Tie gradually increased the output of his strength...


    When those 358 kg of the battle sword started leaving the forklift with the sound of ''Ge zhi'' from the spring and hydraulic supporting the rod beneath the forklift, Karak, Vessie, and Calvin''s eyes immediately popped out.


    It was heavy, very heavy, but it was still within Zhang Tie''s physical limit. If he tried to hold it only using one hand, that would be too presumptuous. So he brought it up with both hands and wove it in the air as if slashing someone. Right, slashing someone.


    Seeing Zhang Tie slashing with the super-heavy battle sword, the three guys were really scared, hurriedly jumping away.


    Zhang Tie moved so fast that a killing wind could even be felt when he raised it to the top of his head and slashed down before steadily stopping it half a feet above the ground, causing the dust on the ground to be blown away by the air flow produced by the blade.


    He burst out laughing. Since he ate the nine Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits, he had not been as cool as today.


    This battle sword was heavy, able to completely make use of the nine wild wolves'' strengths in Zhang Tie''s body. Slashing with, Zhang Tie felt like doing a very interesting physical exercise. Although it was a bit hard, he found it very fun and pretty cool, especially when he saw the other three people''s faces turn pale.


    All men longed for great strength. With the powerful sword in his hands, Zhang Tie found it very interesting to exert his strength. It brought him a sense of achievement.


    "Hu...hu...hu..."


    Zhang Tie slashed with the huge sword of 358 kg, causing continual weird sounds. The other people hurriedly moved a couple more steps back.


    After slashing for about half a minute, Zhang Tie intended to put down that battle sword. After loosening his grip, it fell to the ground, making a small pit and several cracks on the cement ground.


    "I feel this battle sword is very proper!"


    When Zhang Tie hefted the battle sword of 358 kg and walked out of the arsenal, he attracted the attention of all the passers-by in the Logistics Base. Adviser Vessie helped him by carrying the container of the lances which weighed more than 100 kg, while Karak and Calvin aided in loading the packages and that crate with the set of Sharp-Arrow Type-B Light Armor on the the back seats of the vehicle.


    These items, in total, would weigh more than half a ton. After putting them in the vehicle, the chassis seemed even lower than before.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt like he''d robbed several stores on the street. The sense of free selection was really cool.


    He started to feel really well about being a citizen of the Norman Empire...


    After thanking Karak and Calvin, Zhang Tie bid farewell to them and got on the vehicle. Afterwards, he left the Logistics Base along with adviser Vessie.


    "Officer, I feel that this brat will become someone great one day!" the short and slippery Calvin said to Karak after seeing off Zhang Tie.


    Karak nodded, feeling that what he did today would bring him great returns. As for freaks like Zhang Tie, it would be weirder for them not to become outstanding.


    "Where are we going?" Zhang Tie asked adviser Vessie, who was driving.


    "To register in the Iron-Blood Camp, then coming back to the Headquarters. I''m sure Colonel Leibniz will want to know how you look in an imperial military uniform.


    "Can you tell me something about the Iron-Blood Camp?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Have you seen those idiot senior fighters who just stand still with arms crossed behind big gang-like brothers, exposing their tattooed and developed muscles to others?" Adviser Vessie turned his head and asked Zhang Tie. "There should also be gangs like this in Blackhot City."


    "Yes, I''ve seen them?"


    "Iron-Blood Camp is full of those kind of fighters, those who would even perform as part-time dare-to-die corps..."


    Zhang Tie became speechless...


    Most of the barracks left by the City Guard, who''d been given a holiday to wait for updates at home, had been occupied by the No. 39 Division. The barracks of Iron-Blood Camp were in the east of Blackhot City. Coincidentally, it was where Zhang Tie''s elder brother''s regiment had been stationed.


    Besides the soldiers standing guard outside the entrance, when Zhang Tie arrived at the headquarters of Iron-Blood Camp, he saw few people walking about. Those he did see inside presented two extremes.


    One pile of careless-looking people were lazily lying around the grassland with sunglasses on. Some of them had even fastened soft beds between trees; sleeping in them, they stretched their hairy legs outside the hammocks.While others were playing cards and exclaiming under trees, seemingly gambling. They were like playboys from rich families enjoying a holiday.


    In contrast to these scenes, some guys were training extremely hard on the training ground. Zhang Tie saw dozens of tough guys practicing Lying-Tiger Move with sweat running down their backs in torrents; the skin on their backs had also peeled off from the scorching rays of the sun and must have felt like it was on fire.


    The guys here didn''t seem to care about anything as the arrival of Zhang Tie and adviser Vessie didn''t attract their attention whatsoever.


    Adviser Vessie seemed to have seen this scene numerous times, so he didn''t find anything weird about it. Taking Zhang Tie into an office, he briefly explained his reason for coming to an on-duty military officer and gave Zhang Tie''s file to him. After that, he introduced Zhang Tie to that officer before giving the youth two keys for his officer''s dorm and a pass card. By then, Zhang Tie had finished his registration in the Iron-Blood Camp.


    "The holiday of Iron-Blood Camp will end in five days. You have to come here then to greet boss Reinhardt. During these days, you can do whatever you want. You can also stir up trouble if you''re not afraid of being caught by those bastards of the military police or being remembered by others who''ll find you here!"


    Here, even the on-duty officer looked lazy.


    The lieutenants'' dorm was not bad. It was located in a six floor building beside the training ground. There was a small garden underneath it. Outside the entrance of the officers'' dorm building was sentry box with soldiers watching inside.


    Each floor was matched with a service platform and servicewomen. Zhang Tie''s dorm was in Room No. 508, floor 5. It was a single room with less than 30 square meters, wooden floor, and matched with an independent washing room where he could take a bath. There was also a steam-heated system, a bed, a table, a wardrobe, a shoe rack, a safe, and a weapon and helmet hanger.


    Zhang Tie had place enough to leave all of his luggage in here; it was surely like a hotel. As for the two keys, one was for the door, the other was for the safe inside the room.


    The status of a military officer of the Norman Empire was fully displayed here.


    Adviser Vessie and Zhang Tie ran two rounds before taking up all of his belongings upstairs and placing them inside the room.


    When leaving the Iron-Blood Camp together with adviser Vessie, Zhang Tie suddenly felt that there was something weird with the service platform. He remembered that no female workers could be seen in the military officers'' dorms of the City Guard of Blackhot City. If women were thrown into the pile of tough guys, it would be no different from throwing a lamb into a pack of wolves.


    "What are the servicewomen there for?"


    "Servicewomen?"


    Vessie stared at Zhang Tie with a puzzled look, not sure what he had meant.


    "I mean those women standing behind the service platforms on each floor!" Zhang Tie explained himself.


    Adviser Vessie then finally understood.


    "I was confused there for a moment. Those women are not servicewomen. They''re guilty slaves that stay with the army. The Norman Empire gave them a chance to reduce their guilt by providing manual labor and other services!"


    After saying that, adviser Vessie glanced at Zhang Tie. "As a military officer of the Norman Empire, if you do not wish to play them to death, you can order them to do everything you want. Remember, everything. This is also welfare for the Norman Empire''s military officers."


    Zhang Tie was not a kid any more, so he immediately understood adviser Vessie''s words. These guilty slaves that lived with the army were playing two roles: living servants and military prostitutes. They had no dignity at all.


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he thought of the women. Today''s fantastic experience almost made him forget that the Norman Empire was a hierarchical monarchy which had its icy and hard side...


    Just moment ago, he had become a member of the huge and hard system of this empire.


    Adviser Vessie seemed to understand that Zhang Tie would have trouble adapting to some aspects of the Norman Empire''s system. After all, there was a great difference between the one he had lived his whole life with and the one he found himself in now.


    "I wonder, have you heard a proverb of Emperor Felix?" adviser Vessie asked Zhang Tie while driving the car.


    "What proverb?"


    "Hierarchy is order, order is beauty!"


    The steam-driven car drove Zhang Tie away through the streets of Blackhot City, leaving dust flying in the air...

 161 Returning Home

    Chapter 161: Returning Home


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    With a sound of ''Zhi...'', a military SUV painted dark green parked in front of Zhang Tie''s home. The parking sound was very harsh and loud, and the solid rubber tires left a 2 m long black mark. Hearing that screeching sound, all the passers-by who were walking on the sidewalks with parasol trees were startled.


    When they turned their heads and caught sight of the two Norman Empire''s military officers in the car, they did not dare to have another look at them; instead, lowering their heads, they hurriedly turned and left. Several gentlemen in tall hats even took off their hats and gave a salute to the two military officers.


    In a wholly new pair of military boots, Zhang Tie opened the door of the vehicle and with agility jumped off the car.


    Although it was only a day since he had returned home last, he felt like having a dream: when he left yesterday, he was a suspect; now, he came back as a Norman Empire''s military officer.


    "Remember, you have five days of holidays left. You have to greet battalion commander Reinhardt in Iron-Blood Camp in five days. The commander is not kind man, he alone in the entire No. 39 Division dares to butt heads with Colonel Leibniz. If you commit a crime and get caught by him, even Colonel Leibniz won''t help you out!" Adviser Vessie warned Zhang Tie.


    "Thanks for the warning!" Zhang Tie expressed his appreciation to adviser Vessie.


    He was about to leave, when he suddenly thought of something. He then asked adviser Vessie straightforwardly, "You should know about my affair. I want to seek for an opportunity to deal with Samira these days as there''s discontent between us; if I want to get back at him, what should I do?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, adviser Vessie was a bit stunned. However, realizing that Zhang Tie dared to ask him something like this in such a straightforward manner, he suddenly felt very happy inside as Zhang Tie hadn''t treated him as an outsider. At least he hadn''t set a mental defense against him nor was afraid of him reporting this thing to Colonel Leibniz.


    After accompanying Zhang Tie for an entire afternoon, especially taking him back to Colonel Leibniz with the new uniform, from the surprised expression of Colonel Leibniz, he immediately understood that Zhang Tie will have a very bright future. Perhaps Colonel Leibniz was already thinking about promoting Zhang Tie to a higher position just now, although he hadn''t opened his mouth.


    In army, where friendship between comrades in arms was very important, nobody would be unhappy with having one more brother.


    "Do you know the only principle that is followed in the military management system of the Norman Empire in the newly occupied zones?" Adviser Vessie inquired.


    This question made the fresh second lieutenant of Norman Empire shake his head.


    "In the occupied zone, the soldiers of the Norman Empire are always right. The truth is always in the hands of the Norman Empire''s soldiers. This is the only principle that is followed in the military management system of the Norman Empire! If a bright and brave youth, a potential elite military officer who had been looked upon by the Battle God was framed as the enemy and potential insurrectionist, it would be regarded as the greatest insult to the entire empire, all the soldiers across the empire, and even the Battle God himself," Adviser Vessie told Zhang Tie in a very serious way.


    Hearing this answer, Zhang Tie smiled. ''Who was the motherf*cker that said Norman Empire''s soldiers are all barbarians and butchers, who was the motherf*cker that said Norman Empire''s hierarchy system is inhumane. Norman Empire is so cute, and so are its troops. I look so handsome in this military uniforms of the Norman Empire, heh... heh... heh...''


    After bidding farewell to adviser Vessie, Zhang Tie checked himself over from head to toe. Finished, he arranged his military hat and the walking sword over his waist before knocking on the door in a passionate way.


    Beside the door of his house, Zhang Tie found that the rice brew store had not been opened for a few days as some dust had fallen onto its door. If it was opened everyday, mom would have certainly cleaned it up.


    Today, after circling a small half of Blackhot City, Zhang Tie felt that the atmosphere in Blackhot City was much more tense compared to before. The market also looked depressed.


    According to Vessie, the army of Iron-Horn Army of 300,000-odd soldiers was in a stalemate with the Brilliant Feathers of Sun Dynasty which contained roughly the same amount of soldiers in City of Machine Kalur. After gaining eight cities of the Andaman Alliance each, the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty ended their temporary ''honeymoon''. They were not fighting against the City of Machine, the real fat, one that owned above 30% of the overall manufacturing capability of the entire Andaman Alliance.


    The Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty both felt confident about occupying it. Compared to the lightning war before, the two armies'' ferocious confrontation now became the true reason for why Blackhot City was tensed.


    As for the lightning war against the Andaman Alliance, adviser Vessie described it as a rapid march and armed travel since the Norman Empire''s army had met almost no resistance. The Andaman Alliance was simply not in the same level as the Norman Empire. So as long as the Norman Empire''s army came close to a city''s walls, everybody inside would make the wisest decision.


    By contrast, the confrontation with the Sun Dynasty''s Brilliant Feathers was a true battle.


    However, all these things had nothing to do with Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie then knocked on the door of his house, awaiting, both tensed and excited. His parents would certainly be very happy to see him come back home safe. But he was not sure of what they would think when they saw him wearing a set of the Norman Empire''s military uniforms.


    In this age, soldiers died early in all lands. After Zhang Tie''s eldest brother Zhang Yong had turned himself into a crate of bone ash, he knew that his parents could not stand another event like this. In their eyes, if he could serve in the army while staying safe for several years before returning to Blackhot City, and then sought out a stable job, marrying a woman to deliver his kids, that would be perfect.


    So Zhang Tie didn''t know whether they could accept his current status.


    The moment he knocked, he could hear footsteps hurriedly moving towards him from inside¡ªthe door was soon opened.


    His elder brother Zhang Yang stood behind it.


    As Zhang Tie has guessed, at the sight of him standing in a military uniform of the Norman Empire, Zhang Yang''s eyes and mouth opened wide, and he froze on the spot for some time.


    Seemingly realizing what Zhang Tie was doing, Zhang Yang made a move that was really outside Zhang Tie expectations.


    He forcefully grabbed Zhang Tie inside before stretching out his head to look around outside the door. After that, he hurriedly closed the door.


    "Do you want to die? Don''t you know that you''ll be killed if you pretend to be a soldier of the Norman Empire? Several days ago, it was a bit chaotic in Blackhot City. Some bastards got their hands on several sets of the Norman Empire''s uniforms from a makeup room of a theater.


    "They then put them on and plundered the city. In the end, they were caught and hung to death!" Zhang Yang''s face paled, and he lowered his voice to urge Zhang Tie, "Hurry up, take it off in case someone notices. Ah... you''ve taken a whole set of a second lieutenant, including the boots and the walking sword. You''re too audacious! Hope you didn''t cause any trouble... Hurry up, take it off and hide everything! It''s not funny at all!"


    After glancing over Zhang Tie''s clothes for a while, Zhang Yang''s face turned even more white. He even wanted to peel them off his brother''s body by himself.


    Moved, Zhang Tie hurriedly stopped his elder brother, looking at him with an unexpectedly serious expression. "Elder brother, there''s nothing wrong with my clothes, I''m now a second lieutenant of the No. 39 Division of the Norman Empire''s Iron-Horn Army. I came back in the car of the No. 39 Division''s headquarters.


    "What? You''ve become a second lieutenant of the Norman Empire?"


    Zhang Yang was stunned. Based on their mutual understanding of over ten years, and judging from the tone and expression, he realized that Zhang Tie was not cheating him. His mind then became a mess. His little brother was just taken away by the soldiers of the Norman Empire on charges of treason, so how could he return as a military officer of that same empire a day later? What a joke!


    "I will explain it to you after a while, where are dad and mom?"


    "Inside!"


    There were voices coming from further in house, so Zhang Tie patted his elder brother''s hand and walked inside. Before entering the room, he heard a familiar voice shouting loudly.


    "... Who knows why Zhang Tie was caught by the red-hide dogs of the Norman Empire this time! I heard he has committed a great crime. If it''s really like what you''ve said, it would be good for him to come back today. If he doesn''t, I''ll take my daughter back tonight, in case she''ll get involved with whatever might happen to your family.


    "My daughter has not enjoyed anything since she married your son. If she would have to suffer bitterness together with your family also, we could never allow it as her parents. It''s so chaotic outside, the ruling power changes so rapidly, even the Andaman Alliance was over in such a short period of time. Who knows what will happen tomorrow?


    "So I''ll tell your the truth, even if Zhang Tie returns, as you have only one house in Blackhot City, the rights to it should be clarified at this moment. Zhang Tie and his wife in the future should not live here too. This house cannot accommodate two families. I heard that the Norman Empire also follows the eldest son succession system. So we have to clarify this thing..."


    "Dad..!" elder sister-in-law shouted out with embarrassment inside the room.


    "Shut up, you''re forbidden to interrupt your seniors, us. We should clarify this thing as early as possible. As your belly is growing larger, Zhang Tie has also grown up. We have to clarify this thing now. Otherwise, we might even quarrel with each other more fiercely because of this thing in the future. Additionally, the engagement between you and Zhang Yang should be fixed at this time. No more wait..."


    The familiar voice belonged to elder sister-in-law''s father. Hearing all this, Zhang Yang looked pretty embarrassed, face becoming all red. The moment he wanted to rush in, he was held back by his brother.


    Zhang Tie gave a smile, expressing that he didn''t mind what he was hearing. After that, he coughed while opening the curtain and walked inside the room.

 162 Essential-Energy Reiki Yeas

    Many people were sitting inside the room, including Zhang Tie''s dad and mom, elder sister-in-law, and a man who looked like her but was several years older. At the sight of him, Zhang Tie knew that he was her elder brother.


    ''Elder sister-in-law''s family members might have come here to pour out their true thoughts when they heard about what happened to me. Its somewhat impulsive. In contrast, dad and mom are silent.''


    When such an event had happened to Zhang Tie, although the relatives by marriage put it a bit straightforwardly, it was not completely unjustifiable.


    While they were talking inside the room, Zhang Tie opened the curtain and entered. At the sight of him wearing a dark red military uniform of a second lieutenant, everybody was startled. Only dad and mom, hearing Zhang Tie''s cough, became spirited and stood up from the chairs. Of course, as his parents, they could identify Zhang Tie''s voice very well.


    Elder sister-in-law''s family members were given a fright, and their faces paled, especially her dad''s, who was just swearing at the red-hide dogs. At the sight of one orthodox ''red-hide dog'' in the room, he almost slid off his chair.


    "Dad, mom, I''m back!"


    Facing his excited mom and dad, Zhang Tie hurriedly moved forward and hugged both of them. Unlike others, his parents had first noticed Zhang Tie himself before having their eyes fall to his military uniform. Seeing it, his parents reacted similar to his elder brother¡ªthey immediately became worried.


    "Where did you get this set of clothes from? Take them off right now. It''s not funny at all..."


    His dad''s face also turned pale at once.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly moved a step back with his heels close to each other. ''Pa!'', he stood at attention and gave a solemn salute to his dad and mom with his right hand at the level of his eyebrows.


    "Newly promoted platoon leader of Iron-Blood Camp, the No. 39 Division of the Iron-Horn Army from the Northern Border Military Region Zhang Tie is here to report to you, dad and mom! Your son has become a glorious military officer of the Norman Empire!"


    "Stop kidding!"


    Zhang Tie''s dad glared at him, looking a bit infuriated.


    It was clear to Zhang Tie that he could not make himself understood quickly, so he directly pulled out a Norman Empire''s Military Officer Certificate that he had received today and put it into dad''s palm.


    "Here''s the Military Officer''s Certificate that I''ve received in the No.39''s Division''s headquarters this noon. If it''s fake, I will replace it for a true one. Waiting for your check, dad and mom."


    In the Norman Empire, soldiers'' position was superior to all the other people. All of soldiers'' utilities were very fine. As for military officers of the Norman Empire, one could identify their social positions from the fine-making of Military Officer Certificate in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    His certificate was a dark green mini book, in the center of which was a dragon-shaped relief of the Norman Empire made of silver. The dragon-shaped relief was very delicate, and under it were two crisscrossing long swords which were surrounded by leaf-like patterns.


    Soon after taking the booklet, Zhang Tie''s dad identified that it was true. The cover was mainly composed of a special animal''s bone glue, several special plant fibers, and some minerals. Although looking trivial, it contained very advanced technology. Its craftsmanship was a top secret, which could not be easily obtained by common small nations.


    Across the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor, there were less than five nations which had this technology. Thankfully, the Norman Empire was one of them. The technology called ''all-purpose plasticity in Black Iron Age'' originated from the Eastern Continent. The technology adopted by the Norman Empire was more advanced than that adoptedby other nations, making it outstanding in the Blackson Human Clan Corridor.


    Zhang Tie''s dad knew how it was produced, so the moment he touched the Military Officer Certificate, he knew that it was true.


    Opening it, he saw the same ''all-purpose plasticity material in Black Iron Age'', although being a bit different in color and texture from the one on the cover. The texture inside was more like that of paper. But it was smoother.


    The page contained Zhang Tie''s photo, his name, detailed descriptions of his looks and physical features, his job responsibilities, and rank. Above the photo was an embossed stamp, and under the photo was a double-layered watermark. Zhang Tie''s official rank was clearly written on it: Second Lieutenant, platoon leader of Third Platoon, Fifth Company, Iron-Blood Camp, No. 39 Division of the Iron-Horn Army, Northern Border Military Region, Norman Empire.


    The Military Officer Certificate couldn''t be more real. Zhang Tie''s dad then became dumbfounded by how his son could become a military officer of the Norman Empire after being taken away by soldiers for treason. That reversal was really too quick!


    Zhang Tie''s mom also grabbed the Military Officer Certificate out of curiosity and took a serious look at it.


    When his mom was looking, Zhang Tie turned back and smiled at the elder sister-in-law''s family members who had long been standing up at a loss of what to do next.


    "Uncle, aunt, elder brother, don''t be that polite, just take a seat."


    "You... you... you... you''re Zhang Tie?" elder sister-in-law''s father, who had been very talkative moments ago, barely stammered out.


    "We''ve met the last time when you''ve come here. Uncle we''ve talked to each other at that time!"


    When Zhang Tie met his elder sister-in-law''s father last time, he was losing temper and shouted at him, "None of your Zhang Family is good!". Reminded of it, the man immediately remembered it. When he came to Zhang''s family to ask for engagement, he truly had met Zhang Tie. Gradually, he connected that Zhang Tie to this one in the Norman Empire''s second lieutenant''s military uniform.


    The moment he remembered the boy, he felt his legs go soft, and he almost sat onto the ground. Everybody knew that what he had just said now had been heard by Zhang Tie, including that sentence of ''red-hide dogs''. The first one who had used this sentence in Blackhot City had been hung on the gibbet by those same red-hide dogs. After hanging for several days, the corpses of those people could not even be found anymore.


    "Zhang Tie..." The elder sister-in-law with her constantly bigger abdomen hurriedly moved two steps forward. "My dad was raving just now, please don''t care about that..."


    "What did uncle say?" Zhang Tie shrugged his shoulder like knowing nothing. "Because I was talking with elder brother outside the door just now, I heard nothing at all. I''ve came back to tell dad and mom that I''m okay, and to tell you all that I''ve been given a military officer''s dorm. It has good conditions, much better than those of the attic. Two days later, I''ll move away from home. Additionally, elder brother and elder sister-in-law, your wedding ceremony should not be prolonged anymore..."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, everybody stared at him with complex expressions. At this moment, even his dad and mom could feel that their son seemed to have grown up.


    Afterwards, in about an hour, the atmosphere became more harmonious, and everyone sat around, listening to Zhang Tie''s ''story''.


    In survival training, he was favored by Captain Kerlin and was presented with a book called Iron-Blood Fist. In the loner''s survival training, he was struck by a lightning bolt. Not only surviving it, he could also cultivate at a faster speed after that. Additionally, he could form Iron-Blood hidden strength without encountering any obstacles.


    With Iron-Blood Fist and Iron-Blood hidden strength, he obtained the nice treatment of the Norman Empire''s army after being caught. After the misunderstanding that he was framed was solved, he was recruited by Colonel Leibniz, the head of No. 39 Division, and joined the army. According to the laws and traditions of the Norman Empire, he immediately became a second lieutenant...


    This process was simply a strange adventure. Everybody was struck dumb with astonishment. As to the dangers that he had met in the survival training and the event in the ''club'' last night, Zhang Tie didn''t mention them in case of his parents'' concern.


    Finally Zhang family had a dinner with elder sister-in-law''s family members and arranged the marriage on the table. After that, elder sister-in-law''s family members left with satisfaction.


    Afterwards, Zhang Tie was immediately grabbed by his mom, and she started to ask him with all seriousness about how he was struck by the lightning bolt and his present physical condition. Only after confirming that he was really okay, did she and his dad become completely reassured.


    Once the supper was done, Zhang Tie pretended to be jubilant when he talked about the whole military officers'' dorm thing in the Iron-Blood Camp.


    "Dad and mom, I''m telling you, I can even take hot water baths in the military officers'' dorm. That''s just too convenient. There are all sorts of services in there for me. Even special people who will wash clothes for me. A few days later, I''ll move there to register in the Camp..."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, his dad and mom forced out their smiles.


    "Dad and mom, give me a smile..." Zhang Tie used the old method of hugging his dad and mom as he kissed them on their faces. "Aren''t you happy about your son''s bright future?"


    "Happy, of course, I''m happy. But..."


    His dad felt reluctant to say it, yet he couldn''t hide it either.


    "I know what you''re worried about. Trust me, your son''s life is most valued. Wherever I go, I won''t show off. Additionally, the No. 39 Division is stationed in Blackhot City. Even if I move away, I can still come back to see you at any time.


    "Your son has grown up now. It''s time for me to go out. I have an objective. When I save enough money, I''ll certainly buy a big house for you both. You''ll be able to sit in the balcony and watch the sunset everyday..."


    Before going to bed, Zhang Tie kept performing as a cute kid at home, trying to make his dad and mom happy. In that solemn Norman Empire''s military uniform, he looked very attractive, especially when he vividly talked about the funny things in the survival training.


    From his performance, his dad and mom, who had been frowning, finally relaxed. Especially when they heard that Zhang Tie had enticed three girls at the same time. His mom then finally burst out laughing and flicked at his forehead.


    "You? I will thank the god if you''re not alone. If you''re that able, you should bring the three girls back home one day!"


    "Fine, I estimate that, not counting elder brother''s, I alone will bring 50-60 women home to call you mom. Then your daughters-in-law will give birth to more than 100 kids for you. After that, you and dad will do nothing but manage Zhang''s kindergarten!"


    Just from how far he went with his joke, his dad himself wanted to kick his butt...


    With Zhang Tie''s gag, Zhang house was filled with laughter once again.


    After washing himself, Zhang Tie still returned to sleep in his attic. In the three months he attended the survival training, the room was well-kept by his mom. Knowing that Zhang Tie would come back today, she had even placed a new set of quilt and cotton-padded mattress for him. Having been dried under the sun''s light during daytime, they still smelt like sunshine and warmth.


    After removing his disguise that he had made for mom and dad, Zhang Tie stood still in this familiar attic for ten minutes. He carefully glanced over everything in this room. Not until then did he finally understand what he could not take with him to the dorms. Once he left this place, his parents'' home, he would still be missing its every inch.


    After standing still for quite a while, Zhang Tie took a deep breath. He then comforted himself inside that no matter what, one had to face reality.


    Reminded of reality, Zhang Tie locked on the arched door in his mind and disappeared from the room.


    ...


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    ¡ª¡ªThe fourth evolution and mutation of the yeast fluid has been completed. The process has succeeded and you have obtained the essential-energy reiki yeast. Please check it!


    The moment he entered the Castle of Black Iron, the second tip almost made Zhang Tie jump up. After failing three times in the past three months, that bottle of yeast fluid he had brought had finally completed its first evolution and mutation, resulting in a wholly new bottle of yeast fluid...

 163 Fruit of the Creator

    Chapter 163: Fruit of the Creator


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to open the Living Beings and Communities Management Panel of the Castle of Black Iron. He selected the Micro-organisms Management Projects under Carbon-Based Living Beings and Communities Management Item and further checked the latest mutation and evolution process of yeast fluid.


    The familiar semi-translucent dialogue box appeared in front of him. Besides that bottle with yeast fluid inside, there were several photo samples of the control groups.


    The photo samples of the first comparative group were about the yeast individuals under microscopes before and after evolution and mutation.


    Before mutation, the microorganisms looked as common as water drops or beans of oval or irregular round shapes. They were semi-translucent and different-sized. However, after mutation, they looked greatly different in shape. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the microorganisms after the mutation were like miniature gourds which looked pale emerald and brought one a sense of vitality.


    The comparative samples were the sample comparisons about the gene and DNA between two yeasts. The vertical photo samples of genes and DNAs of the two yeasts were revolving in the dialogue box in a very vivid way. However, Zhang Tie had a headache since he didn''t know what the hell were those photos at all. Intuitively, he only felt that the DNA sequence of the yeast after mutation was longer than before.


    Under this comparative group of photos were several more comparative groups. Those samples were more micro, seemingly having went deeper into the differences between the internal sections and chromosomes of the two yeasts'' DNA. Only a slight glance was enough for Zhang Tie to feel like he was reading an alien language; he couldn''t understanding anything in the photo samples or what was written next to them.


    Almost at the end of the entire text, he finally saw several paragraphs that he could almost make sense of.


    ¡ª¡ªBasic aura yeast is a wholly new yeast species after mutation and evolution. The viability of this yeast in oxygen-deficient environment is 25% higher than that of the original yeast. In common environment, this yeast''s fermentation time is 8% less than that of the original one. Besides, it can produce 27% more kinds of enzymes and 18% more of them quantitatively with 31% higher activity.


    ¡ª¡ªNote: Higher energy and aura affinity means that the yeast can extract and convert more life energy and aura of the leavening during fermentation. The yeast''s energy and aura affinity value is 1, which indicates that the amount of energy and aura that can be extracted and converted in fermentation accounts for 1% of the total content of the leavening.


    ¡ª¡ªBased on its super high energy and aura affinity value, the system named it as basic aura yeast. As the creator, you, the castle lord can also rename it in the management panel.


    ¡ª¡ªThe life template of this yeast has been recorded by the system. If you need, the system can present it at any time.


    ...


    After reading this, Zhang Tie started to have a more concrete understanding of this new yeast, especially the part that the yeast could extract and convert life energy and aura from the fermented food.


    Zhang Tie remembered that when he was suffering from minor illnesses or bruises, his mom would always feed him some yeast fluid made of fruits and vegetables. He would then recover very fast. He didn''t need to eat other medicines anymore.


    Previously, he didn''t understand why, but now, reading that paragraph, he immediately understood the reason. It must be the life energy and aura that was extracted and converted from various enzymes that were formed from the fermentation of the shattered fruits and vegetables mixed with sugar and yeast.


    If Miss Daina was beside him, Zhang Tie was sure that she could explain it to him better. In his eyes, any question concerning living beings could be solved by her.


    Zhang Tie didn''t think too much at this moment, neither did he feel how great this new yeast was. After all, yeasts were trivial and could be easily obtained. He had only input a few aura and merit values and energy into a vial of common yeast fluid for four times during the past three months. After failing three times, he had finally succeeded.


    When he thought of the yeasts, the only thing that Zhang Tie was concerned about was whether he could use this new yeast to make better rice brew and improve his family''s business.


    After chatting with mom and dad, he knew that in the past three months, because of the sudden change in the situation and the arrival of the war, the prices of grains in Blackhot City had almost risen to twice their size. Now, although the market had slightly recovered, the highest prices of grains were still roughly three times what they were before.


    Before Zhang Tie attended the survival training, his dad had used the money given by Zhang Tie to buy several bags of rice and some raw materials for rice brewing. Soon after the prices of grains surged, the sales volume of rice brew declined. So the rice were left, thankfully, because of which his family members did not have to starve.


    No matter what, although it was trivial, the new yeast might be helpful to the rice brew business of his family, so Zhang Tie felt a bit pleased with himself.


    Having not checked the basic attributes of the Castle of Black Iron for a long time, he then opened the basic attributes panel.


    ¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªLength: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªWidth: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªAura value: 31637


    ¡ª¡ªMerit value: 6338


    ¡ª¡ªBasic energy storage: 712


    ¡ª¡ªSpecial output: basic aura yeast


    The aura value and basic energy storage were still within Zhang Tie''s expectations. The basic energy storage had remained unchanged for a long time after completing one time''s topographic transformation and the last two times'' evolution and mutation of yeasts. These were the remaining points out of the 4000-odd basic energy value that he had accumulated through mining. It delighted him that the aura values in the Castle of Black Iron increased over 1000 per day now.


    However, the surging merit value greatly startled him. He remembered that after several times'' consumption, the last time he checked, it was only a bit more than 1000, which even included him saving Salvey. How could it have become over 6000 so quickly? The sudden increase of more than 5000 merit points was greater than what he had obtained after killing Snade and Huck. What was happening?


    Zhang Tie hurriedly opened the log of merit value and checked it with great care.


    ¡ª¡ªDo the righteous thing for the Gods. You have ended the evil souls in the cell on the underground floor 3 in Blackhot City prison. By spreading the Gods'' mercy in the secular world and punishing the evil people, you have obtained 5179 merit points as a compensation.


    Zhang Tie was so happy that he almost jumped into the air. After shutting off the log''s and attributes'' window, he rushed towards the small tree jubilantly.


    On the same twig where the last Fruit of Brilliance had grown up was hanging another golden and round Fruit of Brilliance.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Brilliance has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ''Is this the award for killing those scumbags that day? It''s too cool!''


    Zhang Tie burst out laughing before touching a button on the top of the dialogue box. He then saw the familiar words, seemingly telling him about how the Fruit of Brilliance was formed.


    ¡ª¡ªThe deteriorating glorious rays will definitely be used after the death of the sinners. The soul of the sinners shall return to the Dark Land, while the glorious rays of the soul shall remain. The glorious rays are a force that is granted to the soul by the Creator and should not be desecrated. The glorious rays belong to the brave men who spread the righteousness of the Gods. As a brave fighter who brandished your blade against evil, you will earn glorious rays as you judge evil. The glorious rays of the soul will coexist within you, making you stronger.


    ''It must be because of that.''


    Zhang Tie shut off this dialogue box with satisfaction and picked the Fruit of Brilliance without any hesitation. After sitting down with legs crossed, he threw this fruit into his mouth and broke it with one bite.


    What happened next was the same as when he ate the first Fruit of Brilliance. Zhang Tie felt his body become completely translucent while the gold fog from the Fruit of Brilliance constantly rose up from his mouth and the inside of his body. Afterwards, they converged by wisps into a swirling golden fog in his mind. It gradually became denser and much brighter as it expanded.


    ''Yeah, yeah, yeah!''


    Zhang Tie''s soul was cheering, expressing an inexpressible delight.


    Finally, when the wisps of golden fog completely converged into that golden radiance in Zhang Tie''s mind, his spiritual energy surged to thrice its size at once.


    If Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy was a slim bamboo before, that bamboo had become a thick and stout tree now. With the addition of the spiritual energy of the scumbags in the dark cell, Zhang Tie increased his spiritual energy by three times. Along with the one brought by the nine Wild Wolf Seven-strength Fruits, his present spiritual energy was at least 30-40 times greater than the one he had before having the small tree.


    Zhang Tie''s hidden strength surged once more.


    Opening his eyes, Zhang Tie felt that the world had become much more vivid and real, like a layer of thin silk had been torn from in front of his eyes.


    After picking himself up from the ground, Zhang Tie felt more energetic while a powerful strength flowed across his body. That powerful strength brought him a lot of confidence; He felt like there was nothing that could not be made by him in this world.


    Such a fruit was really great. Even if that bastard Samira suddenly became adorable in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    ''Without being screwed by that guy, how could I have gotten this Fruit of Brilliance?''


    After a surge of his spiritual energy, Zhang Tie abruptly felt that there one more fruit on the tree. He somehow knew it through an uncertain and indescribable spiritual sense without even having to look at it.


    It was a whole new fruit in the shape of a tiny emerald green gourd. It reminded Zhang Tie of the yeast that he had created just now.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of the Creator. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªAll the creations are related to infinite karma. Because of you, the basic aura yeast microorganisms appeared in this world from nowhere. They were created by you. Therefore, they belong to you. You are the father and god of this creation. The Fruit of the Creator will allow you to control all the basic aura yeast microorganisms in this world based on the material existence rule that the microorganisms follow. From now on then, your will and orders will decide their existence.


    Although Zhang Tie had experienced so many surprises today, he still couldn''t have imagined that the greatest surprise would appear last. This Fruit of the Creator was Zhang Tie''s biggest achievement today. Because he had created the new species¡ªbasic aura yeast¡ªhe was the father and god of this basic aura yeast.


    From today on, after eating this Fruit of the Creator, all the basic aura yeasts would listen to his orders. This was the most powerful control, based on the material existence rule that was followed by this kind of micro-organism.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what was the most powerful control based on the material existence rule; however, he would control a new species which was also a great and a magnificent thing for him.


    With curiosity and piety, Zhang Tie picked the tiny gourd-like emerald green fruit from the small tree and ate it.


    After that, the moment he closed his eyes, numerous messages from the tiny gourd impressed themselves into Zhang Tie''s mind by patches, while that special energy in the tiny gourd also converged with Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy.


    After ten minutes, Zhang Tie opened his eyes. This time, his spiritual energy hadn''t increased anymore. Instead, his eyes were ravished with joy. He finally understood what was the most powerful control as he felt that he was the God, the God of the trivial yeasts of only several micrometers in diameter that he had created.


    Merely with his pure spiritual energy and thoughts, he could completely control those yeasts.


    ''If it was not a vial of yeast fluid but a different species such as a pack of smart wild wolves or other advanced magical beasts, would I become the inherent deity of the new species which would have been created through mutation and evolution in the Castle of Black Iron..?''


    When this thought suddenly flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind, even he himself didn''t notice that a new emotion budded in his heart. It was an emotion called - Ambition!

 164 Circumcision

    Chapter 164: Circumcision


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie''s revenge plan had been aborted on the next day of his release. When he prepared to aggressively seek revenge against Samira, he found out that despite him locating Samira''s Business Group''s base, the man had already hidden himself away.


    When Zhang Tie was set free and promoted to be a second lieutenant yesterday, Samira learned of it the same evening; the Military Administration of Blackhot City had canceled his business group''s supplier certificate. Scared by such an abrupt change, Samira had rolled away all the money of the Business Group and disappeared on the same evening without even giving notice to his employees.


    When Zhang Tie arrived there, he found those employees were seeking for their boss, no one able to locate him. There were also many people who were bustling outside, asking for payment and goods from Samira''s Business Group. The moment they found out that Samira''s Business Group''s supplier certificate was suddenly canceled by the Military Administration of Blackhot City, the partners rushed here; pitifully, they were still one step late.


    Seeing this scene, Zhang Tie could only sigh that Samira was too cunning. Merely over one night, this guy had already slipped away.


    Failing to catch Samira, Zhang Tie had to leave the base of Samira''s Business Group.


    Unexpectedly, only after a few days of his return, he had already managed to scare Samira away. Thinking of this, Zhang Tie became a bit arrogant.


    A couple of days later, he would leave home and go to register in the Iron-Blood Camp, so the days left at home became precious. He had to hurriedly arrange and deal with his previous affairs: Donder, Iron-Thorns Fighting Club, Hit-Plane Brotherhood, and the three girls, Pandora, Alice, and Beverly, in the short period of time left to him.


    Additionally, that damned circumcision operation concerning his ¡®sex happiness'' should also be dealt with. Otherwise, after registering in the Iron-Blood Camp, Zhang Tie was afraid that he would have less time to do that.


    From adviser Vessie, Zhang Tie had learned some information about the situation outside. Besides that confrontation between the Norman Empire''s army and Sun Dynasty''s army in Kalur, the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor seemed to be being pushed to be chaotic by a dark force.


    Many places had broken out in small-scale wars. Some small forces were annexed by bigger forces. Blackhot City was lucky enough to get included into the map of the Norman Empire, as in other places, there were many casualties everyday in the wars, and such a chaotic situation in general.


    The next day, Zhang Tie found an abacus at home. He spent an afternoon to impart the oral skills of the ''mental arithmetic by abacus'' to his elder brother and asked him to copy all the content in the book.


    After learning that the ''mental arithmetic by abacus'' could improve his spiritual energy and accelerate its recovery, Zhang Yang opened his mouth so widely that it could even hold a chicken egg inside.


    After trying it, Zhang Yang could immediately sense how ''mental arithmetic by abacus'' improved and helped to recover one''s spiritual energy.


    With his experiences and insights in the past years, of course Zhang Yang understood how precious this ''mental arithmetic by abacus'' was. In this age, any method that could be used to improve one''s spiritual energy would be regarded as the top secret which could not even be purchased by money.


    On the third day, Zhang Tie put away that handsome military uniform, and instead put on a proper set of plain clothes. He left home in the early morning, slid into a hospital introduced by Hista, and completed the circumcision operation at the cost of 54 silver coins.


    After taking off his pants together with his underwear and lying down on the operation table, a 30-odd plump and tall nurse lifted Zhang Tie''s ''bird'' with two fingers and cleaned off the fresh pubic hair under it. The shaving knife was very sharp. When it touched under Zhang Tie''s abdomen, he felt all chilly. Having not made this operation before, Zhang Tie was scared that the aunt would directly cut off his ''bird''. He really did not know how this operation would go.


    "Hehe, that''s fresh!" When shaving his pubic hair, the aunt ridiculed him with a smile. "Many kids have already taken this operation when they were just born. This is called capistration. What''s pitiful boy is that you did not discover this problem before. But when you wanted to be a man, you realized it cannot work!"


    The aunt hit it directly, leaving Zhang Tie, whose pants and underwear had been taken off, lying on the operation table, feeling embarrassed all over. He had not been that embarrassed since he was born.


    After shaving his pubic hair, the aunt brought a basin of water before washing it. Zhang Tie was overly embarrassed during the entire process. When she moved his ''bird'' back and forth, the relentless guy abruptly became as hard as iron. Seeing that, the nurse kept giggling while washing it.


    "I did not imagine that you''ve got such a great ''root''" Saying this, the aunt forcefully flicked his ''bird'' using two hands, leaving an unexpected stimulative to Zhang Tie, whose face turned red all over in a split second.


    ''I''ve been played by an aunt?'' After experiencing it for the first time, Zhang Tie felt hot blood rushing downside, making the thing below as hard as iron.


    When a man''s hot blood rushed down, he would find every part of the woman before him beautiful. Like now, this 30-something nurse in Zhang Tie''s eyes became a bit enchanting. All in a sudden, the nurse''s chest, waist, and bottom were full of an alluring sense of mature and sexy woman.


    Instinctively, Zhang Tie moved his hand to her bottom.


    It was very huge and soft. Although scared by his own audacious move, Zhang Tie truly felt it very stimulative.


    The nurse only cast a glance at him with a smile. She then continued to help him clean it. During the process, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he felt very stimulated by touching the nurse''s butt using one hand with a layer of white nurse uniform in the middle.


    Soon after, she cleaned it up. The nurse then forcefully patted Zhang Tie''s untamed thing like punishing it down. "Wait a moment, the doctor will come soon!"


    Then, she took the water away. Lying on the operation table, Zhang Tie was still recalling that nice feeling in his hand. This was his first time touching such a mature woman. Compared to Alice, Beverly, and Pandora, a mature woman seemed to have another special taste.


    The wait passed by quickly. After lying on the table for a few minutes, a doctor came in.


    It was a male doctor in a mask and hat. Zhang Tie couldn''t clearly see his face. After sterilization and anesthesia, in less than ten minutes, Zhang Tie became senseless. He could only feel a bit of icyness on that thing. After a circle cut, the entire operation was completed.


    Once the doctor left, the nurse carefully daubed medicine onto his wound before bundling it using gauze. Afterwards, she told Zhang Tie that he could put on his pants and underwear after getting off the table.


    When he sat up, Zhang Tie looked at his thing, which was as ugly as a mummy bundled in a gauze with only the head exposed. The red-white scene was really dazzling¡ª¡ªit was really too ugly! Additionally, covered in gauze, it felt heavy and uncomfortable, at least not as free as usual.


    "Here is the gauze and medicine. Three days later, you can change medicine and the gauze by yourself. If you recover fast, it''ll be okay in a week or so. Before it recovers, you should not do too many excessive activities. Watch your health. Wear loose pants so as to lessen the rubbing against it. Before going to bed, drink less. Additionally, don''t think about doing bad things; otherwise you will suffer a lot!"


    After telling him about the taboos, she handed a small roll of gauze and a vial of medicine to Zhang Tie. "The anesthetic effect will disappear after a while, so it''ll be a bit painful for the next few days. Stand it!"


    "Thanks!" Thinking of his aggressive move not long ago, Zhang Tie abruptly felt embarrassed. "Er... back then... sorry about that!"


    "No need..." The nurse smiled carelessly. "Once stimulated, you kids will always be curious about doing something. That''s very normal. However, at least that indicates that I''m still enchanting..."


    Looking at the smiling nurse, Zhang Tie learned it that mature women would become beautiful by smiling.


    "Er... will it be very painful after the anesthetic effect disappears?"


    "It will feel painful for a few days. But it''s still bearable. It will be okay if you don''t let blood rush towards it and make it hard." Saying that, the nurse touched Zhang Tie''s head. "Today, one more bad brat was made capable of bullying girls. Remember to treat well your beloved girl!"


    "I know!"


    Zhang Tie felt embarrassed, and scratched his head before smiling awkwardly.


    After chatting with Zhang Tie for awhile and telling him about the taboos, the nurse arranged the items on the operation table and twisted her waist away.


    Walking out of the operation room, Zhang Tie suddenly realized that he could be a man like others in a few days. He then felt his life being filled with sunshine and wonderful things...


    ...


    The anesthetic effect started to disappear five minutes after Zhang Tie had left the hospital. The wound started to feel painful. But after surviving through the countless agonizing experiences in the numerous miserable practices in the Trouble-Reappearance Scenes, Zhang Tie cared nothing for this bit of pain.


    During the last hour, he had removed the biggest obstacle in his path of becoming a man and bravely flirted with a nurse. Such an experience made Zhang Tie feel unbelievably proud of himself.


    He felt so good, knowing that his spring will come soon. In one more week, he would be a real man, a man who could defeat women.


    After leaving the hospital, Zhang Tie walked straight towards Doner''s grocery store near the railway station of Blackhot City.


    Under the military control, many places in Blackhot City became somewhat depressed since soldiers in dark-red military uniforms of No. 39 Division could be seen patrolling everywhere around the city. However, unexpectedly, that flea market beside the railway station was more bustling than before. The population flow there was at least 30% greater than before.


    Donder remained unchanged the past three months. When Zhang Tie entered the grocery store, he found the man with his head lowered, calculating on an abacus before an account book.

 165 A Gift to Donder

    Chapter 165: A Gift to Donder


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s cough, Donder raised his head from behind the counter. However, he didn''t show any surprise, just revealed his teeth.


    "Brat, you''ve come back here. Do you want me to invite you for a lunch?"


    "Yea!"


    Zhang Tie revealed an innocent smile and honestly nodded.


    "No way!"


    Donder''s face immediately looked as hard as the door plank of the grocery store.


    "If so, I will go then. Previously I thought that if you invited me for a lunch, I''ll give you something as a payment for your care for me in the past years..."


    After saying that, Zhang Tie pretended to leave.


    "Heh heh. You want to cheat me with this trick. Brat, don''t forget that I taught it to you. I''ve already played and become tired of this trick dozens of years ago..."


    Donder smirked behind the counter, seemingly having seen through Zhang Tie''s lie.


    Without saying anything else, Zhang Tie just pulled out of the original bookfrom one pocket inside his coat and waved it before Donder. With only one wave, he was sure that Donder must have already clearly seen the capitalized Chinese characters on the cover.


    As was expected, when Zhang Tie pretended to leave again, Donder stopped him from behind the counter. "Wait a moment..."


    Zhang Tie then turned back and stared at Donder with a smile. "How about that, you''ve changed your mind?"


    "Wait a moment, I''ll have somebody send the alcohol and dishes to our store. We''ll talk here then. After two months, you look changed. You''re taller now..."


    Donder revealed a big smile.


    Waving his head, Zhang Tie said, "Immortals Gathering Hotel!"


    "What?" Although with that same smile on his face, Donder jumped up from like having been poked. He became infuriated and swore, "Bastard, do you know how much it would cost me to have a meal in Immortals Gathering Hotel? That is the most expensive Chinese hotel in Blackhot City. As it''s chaotic now, the price of a meal there would be at least twice of one before!"


    Zhang Tie didn''t care one bit what Donder was talking about. Turning away, he went through the door.


    "How about Delicacies House? That''s also a nearby Chinese hotel. The dishes there are also good!"


    Donder hurriedly rushed out from behind the counter.


    Zhang Tie turned back and repeated for Donder''s benefit, "Immortals Gathering Hotel!"


    Donder gritted his teeth and glared at Zhang Tie, intending to find something in the latter''s expression, but Zhang Tie looked calm, that''s all. After struggling for quite a while, Donder finally compromised, "Brat, you win! If you dare to cheat me, I''ll beat the sh*t out of you!"


    Zhang Tie laughed loudly and pulled Donder away.


    "Wait a moment, I''ve got a few pages not calculated yet!"


    Zhang Tie walked over there. He took up the grocery''s account book, and only after a simple glance, he started to jostle down numbers on the result column. Then he turned to another page, and with another glance, he wrote down a couple more numbers, after which he turned to the third page and scrawled down the rest of the results.


    In less than ten seconds, he had calculated all the three pages which would have taken Donder ten minutes to finish it.


    "It''s done!"


    Putting down the pencil, Zhang Tie patted his hands.


    "Bad*ss, what are you scrawling on my account book..."


    Dumbfounded for a while by what Zhang Tie was doing, Donder rushed over there, glaring at Zhang Tie with the solemnity of a funeral ceremony. After tthat, he hurriedly took up the abacus and started to calculate the numbers.


    In less than three minutes, Donder''s expression had changed. On the first page, none of the numbers written down by Zhang Tie were wrong.


    ''How could he be that fast? Even with mental arithmetic, one could not know all the results with merely one glance.''


    Donder had no idea that Zhang Tie''s mental arithmetic by abacus had reached a level that could not even be imagined by the boy himself after surging three more times. With merely one glance over the numbers, the answers appeared in his mind, which was one hundred times sharper than the common mental arithmetic in modern times.


    "Do you believe me now?" Zhang Tie waited to the side until Donder twisted his face and looked at him with a doubtful expression. "Don''t worry about the other calculations. Don''t waste anymore time!"


    "When did you learn such sharp mental arithmetic?"


    "That¡¯s not mental arithmetic, but a side effect of Mental Arithmetic by Abacus..."


    "Side effect?" Donder asked with disbelief.


    "Side effect!" Zhang Tie confirmed, nodding his head.


    Donder finally revealed a big smile on his face. "Well, Immortals Gathering Hotel!"


    ...


    Immortals Gathering Hotel was the most advanced Chinese hotel in Blackhot City. Before everything, eating here for Zhang Tie was almost as difficult as climbing into the sky. The lowest per capita consumption here was never less than one gold coin.


    Before the entrance to the Immortals Gathering Hotel were a pair of stony lions with Chinese characters. It was heard that the architectural style of the entire hotel was Chinese classical style: gray tiles, cornices, verdant trees, and red windows. The architectural style was unique in Blackhot City.


    On the Horizontal Board were three Chinese characters ''Immortals Gathering Hotel'' and two huge vertical columns with two Chinese couplets on them:


    ¡ª¡ªUnder a half burned oil lamp, one holds half a cup of alcohol and enjoys a fraction of happiness in the human world, though half-drunk.


    ¡ª¡ªWith immortal pals, friends, dishes, and alcohol, one invites fairy maidens to share the drink in the immortal house.


    These couplets surrounded the three Capitalized Chinese characters in the middle: Immortals Gathering Hotel!


    There was only one hotel like this in the whole of Blackhot City.


    After entering through the gate of the Immortals Gathering Hotel, they saw a rock garden with rivulets flowing down and across. Two rows of blondes with plump breasts greeted them in skintight cheongsam[1] with openings reaching their thigh.


    The moment Donder and Zhang Tie entered, the two rows of blondes bowed together towards them, saying in an orthodox Chinese ''Welcome'', which really shocked Zhang Tie.


    Ever since he was born, it was his first time seeing so many foreign girls speak Chinese in unison.


    The pale yet elegant skintight cheongsom, black high-heel shoes, snow white legs, and the plump breasts that were exposed through their ''V-shaped'' collar when the blondes lowered their heads almost made Zhang Tie''s head spin.


    Donder walking in front did not pay attention to the bowing women since he was used to it. However, Zhang Tie abruptly felt his legs go soft and almost fell down.


    "What''s wrong?" Donder glanced at Zhang Tie with uncertainty. "Weird, what''s wrong with you today?"


    At this time, cold sweat had already covered Zhang Tie''s forehead. Just now, when he caught sight of the lined pairs of plump breasts, his untamed thing reacted, causing a sharp pain between his legs. Just having been circumcised, that spirited thing pained Zhang Tie so much that he almost went down and squatted on the ground.


    "It''s okay, it''s okay!" Zhang Tie said with a trace of fear and wiped off the cold sweat from his forehead.


    After, he slowly picked himself up.


    ''I forgot about this!''


    Zhang Tie swore inside. His original plan was to let Donder bleed by spending a lot to invite him to the Immortals Gathering Hotel, the most expensive hotel in Blackhot City, which Zhang Tie had no chance to have ever visited before. Unexpectedly, he was almost killed by the cheongsam blondes outside the hotel.


    With narrowed eyes, Donder glanced at Zhang Tie, then the beautiful and sexy greeting girls. Immediately, he revealed a shadow of obscene smile at the corner of his mouth.


    Straightening, Zhang Tie didn''t dare to look around anymore, just followed Donder inside.


    "I want a quiet chartered room. Two more waiters to help lift my younger fellow who has something wrong with his body!" Donder ordered. For some reason, he emphasized the words ''younger fellow''.


    With a blow of fragrant wind, two blondes arrived and started to lift Zhang Tie''s arms enthusiastically.


    Before refusing them, the moment he smelt the fragrance, Zhang Tie was greatly pained again and squatted down. It was his turn to glare at Donder this time.


    "You''re doing this on purpose, aren''t you?"


    "What are you talking about? What am I doing on purpose? "Donder rebutted with an innocent expression, shrugging his shoulders.


    "You must have known about my thing. You dare to say that you don''t know what I''m talking about? You''re just playing with me!"


    The blondes standing aside stared at the two people quarreling at the entrance of the Immortals Gathering Hotel with eyes wide-open.


    "Do you mean you''ve had circumcision today?" Donder pretended to think about it for a quite while before he shouted it out. It was so loud that even people from 30 m away could hear it.


    After his scream, many blondes standing nearby burst out laughing when they caught sight of Zhang Tie''s awkward look squatting down on the ground. Afterwards, they realized that it was impolite to do that, so they forcefully stood it. However, they started to glance at that place under his abdomen.


    ''Revenge, this was definitely revenge. Donder the bastard loudly revealed my secret in public to shame me, forcing me to change to another place. I''ll make him pay for it!''


    Zhang Tie gritted his teeth and picked himself up from the ground without peering at the beauties nearby anymore, instead, he shouted out loudly, "Where''s your most expensive chartered room? Take me in, I''m hungry!"


    This time, it was Donder''s turn to twist his face.


    Several minutes later, in a luxurious chartered room of Immortals Gathering Hotel, Zhang Tie started to order dishes. Each dish he ordered would make Donder''s fat face painfully quiver. When he ordered the eighth dish, Donder started to gaze at him with fury.


    "Bad *ss, can you even eat so many dishes?" he painfully screamed out.


    Zhang Tie didn''t ignore him but asked a waiter standing next to him, "Can I take them away if I can''t eat them all?"


    "No. The food and dishes in Immortals Gathering Hotel can only be taken away in your stomach," the waiter politely answered.


    "Alright. I''ll then just taste some more..."


    Zhang Tie laughed loudly and ordered eight more dishes before stopping with satisfaction.


    By the time he did so, Donder was already gasping with red eyes on the other side of the table.


    The older man asked, "Have you finished then?"


    "Yes, I have!" Zhang Tie gave him a big smile.


    "Well, it''s my turn now!" After saying that, Donder turned to the waiter. "Please send me two blondes. I want the coquettish ones with little clothing."


    After saying that, Donder glared at Zhang Tie who was also ferociously glowering at him.


    "I''ve forgotten, I want lark-dragoon soup!"


    Zhang Tie gritted his teeth and added one more dish.


    "Two blondes are too few, I want two more: one on our right side, and the other on our left side. That would be more interesting!"


    Donder gnashed his teeth.


    "We have to drink alcohol. I want one bottle of Cloud-Immortal Alcohol!"


    Zhang Tie clenched his teeth.


    "We have to have dancers for alcohol. Go fetch me one voluptuous dancer here, the sexier, the better!"


    Donder added one more dish for Zhang Tie.


    The two then furiously glared at each other while panting like fighting roosters, killing intent filling their eyes, the reason for which could only be understood by them alone.


    Feeling not right in the room, the waiter silently slid out...


    Several minutes later, along with dozens of yummy dishes came a group of charming and plump blondes, accompanied by two qin [2] and drum musicians.


    This meal was very painful for both Zhang Tie and Donder. Donder''s heart bled for the high costs while Zhang Tie felt real pain in his wounded flesh.


    It took them over an hour to finish this meal; they both looked pretty rigid by its end. Donder''s fat face twitched every now and then while Zhang Tie''s sweat kept rolling down his forehead. This meal almost made the two of them faint.


    In the end, looking at the awkward expression of the opponent, one of them forced a smile and then the two of them burst out laughing at the same time.


    Donder waved his hand to let all the dancers and musicians move away.


    "Brat, you win. I''ve not been madder at anyone in the past dozens of years. I feel that many years younger being around you. How about that? Do you still hurt now?" Donder asked.


    "Thankfully, I found that drinking alcohol can relieve pain and transfer one''s attention! Later on, if anyone dares to say that you''re mean, I''ll spit all over his face. This meal will cost you at least 5-6 gold coins."


    Zhang Tie also relaxed and leaned against the chair. The past hour was really a torture for him. It was no different from suffering a criminal penalty and more torturous than staying in the dark cell.


    "5-6 gold coins? Rustic. It''s not enough to even pay the women. Plus the dishes and two gold coins'' chartering fee, it will at least cost me 15 gold coins!" Donder widely opened his eyes as he shouted loudly.


    Zhang Tie sighed inside as 15 gold coins were even higher than his dad''s one-year salary. When he was driven angry just now, he hadn''t realized that, but after recovering his composure, he started to realize that it was a really great harm to Donder. It would take his grocery store at least two months to make 15 gold coins at a normal speed.


    So after hearing that, Zhang Tie felt embarrassed and scratched his head. After thinking for a while, he directly pulled out of the bookfrom inside his coat and threw it to Donder, who was sitting on the opposite end of the table.


    Donder solemnly took it and seriously skimmed it from beginning to end. As a person who excelled at making calculations on a real abacus, of course, he understood the basic principles of Mental Arithmetic by Abacus.


    "Hmm, this is a mental arithmetic based on virtual abacus. It''s fashionable and one level superior to directly calculating on a real abacus. You didn''t cheat me, brat. This meal is worthwhile!"


    After reading the entire book, Donder satisfactorily nodded before putting it into his coat.


    Hearing Donder''s reply, Zhang Tie smiled, shaking his head.


    Donder was stunned.


    "What? Am I not right?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t speak but pointed at his own mouth, shaping his mouth in silent words ''spiritual energy''.


    Since Donder had taught him the lip reading skill, which was a communicative skill used by many pioneers, Zhang Tie was sure that the older men could clearly understand what he was saying.


    They were in a chartered room in a hotel, so Zhang Tie had to be careful. Now even if someone was eavesdropping, he could not hear anything about the secret.


    As expected, seeing Zhang Tie''s mouth shapes, Donder was dumbfounded. His eyes popped out with disbelief.


    So Zhang Tie continued by moving his lips, "By practicing mental arithmetic by abacus, you can improve your spiritual energy. I''ve tried it. This might be the easiest way for everybody to grasp the secret to improve one''s spiritual energy..."


    Shocked, Donder picked himself up from the ground where he had crashed next to the table. He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to shout out from amazement, but he knew better and covered his mouth with a hand.


    In any place, any method that could be used to raise one''s spiritual energy would be very important.


    He then just gazed at Zhang Tie without even winking.


    Zhang Tie nodded seriously.


    ...


    After departing from Donder and returning home, it was almost dark. On the way back home, Zhang Tie took a look at the grains store. He found that the price of 25 kg of rice had truly risen to 10 silver coins, which was twice as high as three months ago. Such a high price would definitely lay a heavy burden on many commoners. Although it was not very severe, not to the point of the sky collapsing anyway, such a high rise had already greatly influenced many families'' daily lives. They started to live in a more frugal way.


    In the afternoon, Zhang Tie had also went to the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club. What made him disappointed was that the gate of the fighting club was tightly closed this time. It seemed to have been suspended for a few days.


    In the past month, many things in Blackhot City had changed.


    Avenue Bright, the most prosperous place in Blackhot City seemed to have lost its original brilliance. Almost one third of the stores had been closed. As to the rest, although they opened, they weren''t as sought out as before.


    In the entire Avenue Bright, many roadside stores and houses were marked with transfer and for sale.


    The prices of fixed assets in Blackhot City like real estates started to sharply decline; many people were dumping them. In contrast, the prices of daily necessities like food, weapons, and medicine materials had started to surge. Even prices of resources like coal, iron, and steel had started to slowly raise. This was the current condition of Blackhot City that Zhang Tie saw after circling around for half a day. It did not look like a promising sign.


    When Zhang Tie slowly returned home, he found that the door of his house was encircled by a great many people, making the outside of his house noisy. It seemed that someone was stirring up trouble there...


    ...


    [1]¡®The cheongsam is a body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women, also known as qipao.


    [2] ''Qin'' is a classical Chinese seven-stringed plucked musical instrument in someways similar to a zither.

 166 Duel

    Chapter 166: Duel


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Bagdad looked outstanding among the crowd because of his height. Besides him, Zhang Tie also caught sight of Barley, Hista, Leit, and Doug. With the exception of Sharwin, all the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood had gathered here.


    There were more than 30 people circling the door of his house, making it noisy over there. Besides the members of the Brotherhood and the group of Gods Bliss Association, Zhang Tie also saw Captain Kerlin and Mr. Zerom along with the other two teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee. As for the other people, some of them were onlookers while the rest were loudly shouting.


    After taking in that scene, Zhang Tie knew that the event of when he had broken Zuhair''s neck in the canteen of Wild Wolf Castle had finally broken out after a few days'' development.


    Judging by how much time had passed since everyone returned to now, the duel was about to start. Zuhair''s family would have had enough time after receiving the notice of their boy''s death to figure out Zhang Tie''s background, and most likely, prepare well to start a duel with him.


    A bunch of people were surrounding the house. Someone wanted to rush inside, but Zhang Tie''s elder brother forcefully held them back with an excuse that Zhang Tie was not home. However, there were still someone who didn''t believe that and tried to use force to enter the house to find him.


    A person jumped at Zhang Tie''s elder brother, shouting out loudly, "Call Zhang Tie out. He killed my younger brother. Now, according to the rules of the Norman Empire, I would like to challenge him to a duel. Don''t be as timid as a rabbit!"


    "Come out, come out, call the killer out! If Zhang Tie doesn''t come out, we will go in!"


    Many people started to clamor.


    "Zhang Tie is definitely not at home. Wait a moment, don''t be impulsive..." Barley tried to reason with the crowd.


    Several teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee in the survival training stood a bit farther away with neutral stances. They didn''t take sides with either of the two parties. According to the rules of the Norman Empire, their role now was only act as witnesses of a fair duel between Zuhair''s family members and Zhang Tie. This was also one of the aftermath tasks of survival training.


    "Zhang Tie must have hidden himself. He wants to escape from the duel. Let''s rush inside to catch him!" someone started to loudly shout from the crowd, inciting others to break through.


    "Who dare to come in, this father will slay him here!" Zhang Tie''s elder brother roared, immediately pulling out the long sword on his waist and pointing it at those who wanted to rush into the house.


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s elder brother pulling out his long sword, the one who was jumping up in the crowd did not hesitate to pull out his own long sword too. At the same time, the sounds of ''ceng'', ''ceng'', ''ceng'' could be heard everywhere. Many people had already pulled out their long swords, bringing a dense smell of iron in the air. Seeing this, some onlookers hurriedly ran away.


    "Who said I was hiding?"


    At the most dangerous moment, Zhang Tie''s voice could be heard. Everybody turned their heads to see him slowly walk towards them on the sidewalk.


    At the sight of him, his elder brother looked a bit worried, while the eyes of the members of the Brotherhood were filled with concern. In contrast, the inciters'' eyes were filled with pleasure at his misfortune.


    The crowd separated, allowing Zhang Tie to calmly walk through.


    "You''re Zhang Tie?"


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, that person who had been in confrontation with his elder brother turned back and ferociously glared at him.


    Judging from that person''s face, which was a bit similar to Zuhair''s, Zhang Tie guessed who that person was.


    "You''re Zuhair''s elder brother?"


    "Right, was it you who killed Zuhair in the survival training?"


    "Right, he deserved to die, so I killed him!" Zhang Tie calmly admitted it.


    Hearing that, the person walked towards Zhang Tie, a long sword in his hand...


    At that moment, a hand stopped him. Zerom had moved to stand between the two.


    "It is your right to start a duel with Zhang Tie; Zhang Tie cannot refuse it. However, the duel has to proceed with fairness. Private killing in revenge is definitely forbidden, unless you want to be a murderer who is wanted across the Norman Empire. "


    That person then stopped and glared at Zhang Tie with a death-filled look before forcefully returning his long sword into the sheath on his waist.


    During this period, Zhang Tie greeted the surrounding friends and relatives with a smile, including Captain Kerlin and the teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee. His careless look made the guys who were casting furious glare at him gnash their teeth.


    "Zhang Tie, in the survival training, based on the rules of barbarous survival training of the Norman Empire, you killed Zuhair in public, so you should face any request for a duel from anyone of Zuhair''s blood-tied relatives within three generations. You cannot refuse it. I have to warn you that in the duel, like how when you killed Zuhair, Zuhair''s family members will not assume any responsibility if they kill you!" Zerom warned Zhang Tie once more with a solemn expression.


    "Thanks for you warning, Mr. Zerom. I accept the request for a duel from Zuhair''s family at any time and any place!" he calmly said, his expression not changing at all. Since the day he had killed Zuhair, he was waiting for today.


    Zhang Tie''s calm made even Mr. Zerom and Captain Kerlin, who had been staring at him, a bit startled. With the exception of Zhang Tie''s elder brother, nobody at the present, including Zerom and Captain Kerlin, knew that Zhang Tie had encountered many things since he returned home two days ago. Now, he was not the same boy of before.


    "According to the dueling rules of the Norman Empire, long-ranged weapons like bows and arrows, javelins, hidden weapons, and crossbow bolts, as well as pets, riding, and poisonous substances are prohibited. Each dueler can only bring two weapons at most. I have to warn you of this in advance; it was especially requested by Zuhair''s family members!" a teacher standing nearby warned Zhang Tie once again.


    "I know!"


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Now that you''ve agreed, here is the duel certificate. You two sign on it. According to the laws of the Norman Empire, the duel will start seven days after the signing of this certificate. It will be held at your school, the Seventh National Male Middle School. You two have one week to prepare for it. During the period, according to laws of the Norman Empire, if either of you runs away from this duel, he will become a wanted man across the whole Norman Empire. After being caught, the one that had escaped would be lowered to become a guilty slave while his family members'' status would also be degraded. "


    After saying this, the teacher pulled out a drafted duel certificate from his pocket and let Zhang Tie and Zuhair''s elder brother sign on it.


    After a ferocious glare at Zhang Tie, Zuhair''s elder brother took the pencil and signed his name without any hesitation.


    When Zhang Tie took the pen, his elder brother rushed and shouted loudly, "I will participate in this duel on behalf of my younger brother!"


    "No, this duel can only be accepted by Zhang Tie himself. No one else can represent him!"


    With a shake of his head, Captain Kerlin stretched out his arm to stop Zhang Yang who was driven to a bout of impulsiveness.


    "Bighead..!" the members of the Brotherhood started to shout in unison.


    Zhang Tie just smiled at them, who cared about his well-being, before signing his name on the duel certificate without any hesitation. When he did so, he learned that Zuhair''s elder brother was named Sodor.


    After Zhang Tie signed his name, Sodor burst out laughing. Glaring at Zhang Tie, he sniggered, "Brat, you''ve seven days left, pray for yourself. Seven days later, I''ll break your bones before chopping off your head to make you pay for Zuhair!"


    "Idiot!"


    Zhang Tie showed the whites of his eyes, not caring about the man before him at all.


    ''What''s Sodor''s level, LV 4, LV5, or LV 6? Ma Long in the dark cell looked much more powerful than him. I don''t need to worry about the duel with him at all!''


    After achieving their goal here, Sodor and his men left. They were no longer afraid that Zhang Tie would escape anymore. If he ran now, they would be even happier as a guilty slave and the family that contained a guilty slave would suffer a lot.


    As Sodor and his men left, Captain Kerlin and the other teachers who had witnessed and arranged the signing of the duel also left in case of gossip.


    When Captain Kerlin was about to leave, Zhang Tie called him, "Captain Kerlin!"


    "I''m not captain anymore, call me Instructor Kerlin!"


    The one-eyed man forced out a helpless smile. The City Guard had already ceased to exist except in name. The one-eyed man felt shamed by letting others call him captain anymore. The appellation that he liked before sounded a bit jarring now.


    "Thank you!"


    Zhang Tie sincerely bowed in front of the one-eyed man. If this person hadn''t presented him the book of Iron-Blood Fist skill, although alive, Zhang Tie would have never been set up this well.


    Scratching his head, the one-eyed man asked, "What for?"


    "Do you remember what you told me on that night when I was recuperating in the Wild Wolf Castle? Because of a couple reasons, I''ve become that one in a hundred now!"


    Zhang Tie believed that the one-eyed man could understand what he was talking about.


    As expected, upon hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the one-eyed man became stunned for awhile before widely opening his eyes and staring at Zhang Tie, like having seen a ghost.


    Finally, the one-eyed man took a deep breath to recover his composure. "Perhaps this was the best decision that I''ve made in my life. I''ll be expecting to see your performance seven days later!"


    After saying this, he glanced at Zhang Tie again before leaving. Most of the onlookers already left by now.


    This left only the members of the Brotherhood outside Zhang Tie''s house.


    As soon as they heard that Sodor was here to request a duel with Zhang Tie, Barley and the other members of the Brotherhood had rushed over. In the past two days, the news that Zhang Tie had killed Zuhair spread like wildfire. It went not only through their school, but others, too. The event became the biggest news among the students that had attended this survival training in Blackhot City.


    The Brotherhood always kept an eye on how this event was developing. Previously, they had set to gather tomorrow, but unexpectedly, Sodor, the elder brother of Zuhair, had decided to find Zhang Tie trouble today. In case their friend might suffer a big loss when he met Sodor, they hurriedly followed the mass here to boost their companion''s morale.


    Knowing that Zhang Tie had something to explain to his family members, Barley and the other members of the Brotherhood also left after warning Zhang Tie to be careful.


    But before Barley could leave, Zhang Tie had pulled him close to whisper something in his ear. Upon hearing the words, Barley popped out his eyes.


    Zhang Tie had told him two things: first, he was already LV 4 now and had formed Iron-Blood hidden strength; second, he was a second lieutenant of No. 39 Division of Iron-Horn Army of the Norman Empire.


    ...


    Even after leaving the Zhang house several hundreds meters behind, Barley still felt his head humming. At the same time, his legs felt soft, like stepping onto cotton. While Hista and Bagdad were concerned and discussed the duel in seven days, only Leit found that Barley was a bit absent-minded.


    On a path with fewer people, Leit asked, "Barley, what did Bighead tell you just now. You don''t look good."


    Woken up by Leit, Barley shook his head before looking around and realizing that they were already far away from Zhang''s family.


    "It''s not convenient to talk about it just now. Bighead told me two things, he wanted me to tell you not to worry about his duel!"


    "What?"


    Everybody curiously stared at Barley .


    Barley made a hand gesture for the four people move closer to him. Afterwards, he repeated the two things that Zhang Tie had told him which made all the other animals dumbfounded...


    ...


    The moment Zhang Tie returned home, he saw his mom''s worrisome look. Without any hesitation, he directly knelt down in front of her when he entered the house.


    "Mom, sorry, you son made you worried once again..."


    Previously, as Sodor and his men were shouting outside the door by requesting a duel with Zhang Tie, his mom had heard them all, including how Zhang Tie had killed Zuhair in the survival training. Touching Zhang Tie''s face and seeing him kneeling down in front of her, his mom immediately burst into tears.


    Although he had described the survival training life as simple and interesting as living in the suburbs, nobody knew how much bitterness and how many dangers he had experienced. What happened today broke the white lie that Zhang Tie had fabricated before his dad and mom, exposing the troubles that he had experienced in the survival training to them.


    "Tell me how you''ve suffered a lot and encountered many dangers in this survival training, even almost losing your life! Mom knows your temperament. If not being forced to that degree, you would never kill anyone!"


    Zhang Tie nodded and tears slipped down his cheeks. "They didn''t want me to come back alive. I didn''t want to be set up or see mom cry holding my ash case everyday. So I killed him. Will you forgive me, mom?"


    "It''s all my fault, I couldn''t even protect my own younger brother, leaving you to be bullied by others..." Zhang Yang''s tears also fell down his face, and he knelt down in front of mom. "Mom, just condemn me!"


    "I will not condemn either of you. Zhang Tie, well done..." Touching her sons'' faces, their mom also started crying as she spoke in a tone as hard as iron and steel. "Remember, from today on, no matter who wants to kill you brothers, even if the emperor, kill them all! Your dad and I are very satisfied with you two. As long as you two can survive, your dad and I will feel like we''ve not lived in vain. If there''s something wrong with you brothers'' lives, your dad and I will not feel like living on either.


    "So if you meet something that endangers your lives, don''t care about your dad and I, just look after yourselves and live on well. This is what we would like to see most. Remember, you''re from Zhang family, and you are Chinese. We Chinese is one most honorable human race, and the reincarnation of the Heaven''s Dao. As a big family, Zhang is an honorable family name. We Chinese Zhang prefer to fight to death instead of kneeling down to seek for survival, in the sky or under the ground. Nobody can bully our Zhang family in this world..."

 167 Its Yours

    Chapter 167: It''s Yours


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The day after circumcision was most insufferable. Before the untamed thing''s head was completely exposed, as long as he put on his pants and took a walk, the friction between its head and the underwear would stimulate Zhang Tie so his body quivered all over. So he had to be meticulous even for a walk.


    Besides, the wounds also started to hurt.


    It was estimated that the anesthetic effect wouldn''t completely wear off instantly, so he didn''t feel very painful on that very day. However, on the second day, after all the senses had absolutely recovered, the impact of the operation was fully displayed. Thinking back to that he and Donder had even got in a fight in the Immortals Gathering Hotel, which left him to be tortured by several women fetched by Donder, Zhang Tie''s sweat beaded all over his forehead. If it was today, he would never do it as it was too foolish.


    Two days later, he would have to leave home and register in the Iron-Blood Camp. Six days later, he would face the first duel in his life.


    Considering that it was not comfortable to move, Zhang Tie had to stay at home honestly.


    In the eyes of dad and mom, he had truly grown up this time.


    Zhang Tie''s dad was also taking a rest today. Due to various reasons, the factory that he worked in suffered from an inefficient capacity utilization rate this last month.


    Dad said that some Norman Empire''s engineers were employed in their factory. They were commissioning several new installation modules on the assembly line of the factory. After the installation of the modules, the factory would produce uniformed steel components. The Norman Empire''s engineers said the components were the composite modules of a battle castle. After that, half of the production capacity in his dad''s steel mill would be used to produce the composite modules of battle castles.


    After devouring Blackhot City, the Norman Empire had started to digest the production of Blackhot City on all aspects. The output of those overtaken productions had only one target - preparing for the war.


    This made Zhang Tie slightly muddle-headed. Did it mean that the decision makers of the Norman Empire were preparing for an incoming even bigger war? Zhang Tie recalled Zerom''s words from the survival training, ''the chaotic world is coming'', and his heart pounded swifter with a feeling of urgency.


    Sometimes, what was known by big figures would not be known by small figures. This was small figures'' grief. The science teacher called this information asymmetry, which indicated the asymmetry between real forces, benefits, and people''s rights.


    It was said that before the Catastrophe there was a miraculous tool called the Internet. It could help people to keep in touch with each other even hundreds of millions miles away. Everyone could share their news with other people. The Internet could connect everybody on the entire continent. People could easily acquire large amounts of knowledge from the Internet and also learn what happened across the entire continent, even in the most remote areas.


    That was humanity''s first time using magic called science and technologies to construct an information sharing platform that covered all the human kind. The largest advantage of this kind of platform was the reduction of the information asymmetry between benefits and real forces due to different knowledge levels between people of different standing, greatly advancing social fairness. Commoners all liked this Internet and used their every effort to develop this Internet. However, some big figures who wanted to use information asymmetry to maintain their ruling position and vested interests hated it very much and did all they good to destroy it.


    This battle didn''t end until the appearance of the Catastrophe and the Star of the God, which grabbed away the marvelous Internet from human beings forever, sending them back to the age of extreme information asymmetry...


    After the operation, Zhang Tie stayed at home for two days, during which he calmly lived with his family members and recuperated.


    He didn''t plan to go outside these days if there was nothing urgent to deal with. Every second at home was precious for him. However, on the early morning of the third day after he took the circumcision, a little boy brought a letter to Zhang Tie''s house. Reading it, Zhang Tie had to put on informal clothes and go out again.


    It was Donder who had written the letter, asking Zhang Tie to come to the grocery store today no matter what.


    The calligraphy of the letter was very familiar. There was even a very hard to locate hidden mark that Donder had taught him to identify whether the letter was true or not.


    The little boy said that the boss of the grocery store had given him one silver coin to deliver the letter here.


    Zhang Tie didn''t doubt the little boy''s words, but he became somewhat curious about when Donder had become this generous. A silver coin? If it was a normal day, that mean guy would not even pay ten copper coins.


    After telling his family members, Zhang Tie went out. He spent several copper coins for a trolleybus and arrived at Donder''s grocery store in less than 20 minutes.


    The grocery store had not opened today, leaving only one door half opened, seemingly waiting for Zhang Tie. He entered and saw Donder counting something with another person over the counter.


    "Wait a moment, I''ll soon be free!" Donder told Zhang Tie after turning a head to see his entrance. He then continuing counting the items in the store.


    Zhang Tie knew the person who was working together with Donder. He was Faires, a guy as thin as a monkey and the boss of another, bigger grocery store near the flea market of the railway station. In the past two years, as he had looked with interest at Donder''s grocery store''s location, he had tried many times to buy it, but previously, Donder had never agreed. Yet judging from the present scene, Donder must have sold his grocery store to him this time.


    For some reason, Zhang Tie felt that Donder''s personality was totally different from before.


    Zhang Tie then calmly waited for more than ten minutes before the two shop owners finished counting the goods.


    After that, Faires satisfactorily covered his account book and said in a tentative way, "Mr. Donder, the records on your account book well match the items in your grocery store. You know, as Blackhot City is suffering from a depressed economy and many stores have already closed, many rich men have also left. Therefore I might not give you as much as before!"


    "What''s your price!" Donder calmly asked.


    "60% of the previous price; plus your store and the goods inside, 300 gold coins in all; how about that?" Faires''s eyes glittered with a shadow of cunning as he observed Donder''s expression.


    Hearing this price, Donder still kept silent while Zhang Tie almost jumped up. Even though the Blackhot City had experienced the crisis, the business of this grocery store was not influenced that much.


    On the contrary, its business even improved in the past three months. Due to the large amount of human flow near the railway station, this place was even more bustling than before. Even if the Blackhot City''s properties were a bit devalued, the items in this store were already worth a lot by themselves. For instance, that powerful rat poison and those crystals. 300 gold coins were really too low.


    Donder opened his mouth. "400 gold coins!"


    For some reason, Donder, who was always complaining normally, only reported his quotation, nothing more.


    Faires tried his best to calmly observe Donder''s face with a pair of brown eyes for over ten seconds, seemingly wanting to see through something. In the end, he didn''t even bargain anymore, just nodded. "Fine, 400 gold coins!"


    After that, Faires called the notary who brought the transaction text. Donder then took out the certificate of the store while Faires took out 400 gold coins, the notary fee, and other taxes. Soon after, they completed the trade.


    "I need a lad who knows this place. The first year, I''ll pay you 35 silver coins a month; the second year, you''ll receive a trading bonus. If you can do it well, I''ll promote you to a manager. How about coming over to help me?"


    Out of Zhang Tie''s expectation, after the trading, Faires thought about employing him to continue working here for him.


    "Thanks, I''ve got another job!" Zhang Tie politely refused.


    Faires felt pity as he stared at Zhang Tie. "Never mind, if you want to work here, I''ll welcome you at any time! It''s really difficult to foster a lad who knows what he''s doing!"


    "Let''s go then!" Donder told Zhang Tie after putting away his purse. They then left the grocery store.


    Donder looked strange today. Zhang Tie felt like saying something the whole time, but he had forgotten how to open his mouth. Although Donder selling his grocery store had nothing to do with him, not knowing the reason for it, still left Zhang Tie unsatisfied.


    After walking roughly 50 m with Donder, Zhang Tie finally couldn''t stand it anymore. "Why did you sell the grocery store?"


    Donder turned his head and peered at Zhang Tie. He then shook his head. "I thought that you could hold it a bit longer, but it seems that you''re still not that stable!¡¯


    ''Bastard!'' Zhang Tie swore in his mind.


    However, since he had already asked the question, he didn''t need to pretend anymore, so he immediately argued, "Do you mean that I''ve made you go bankrupt by that meal? If it''s true, I''m very sorry!"


    "You can make me go bankrupt by one meal of over 10 gold coins?" Donder cast a contemptuous eye onto Zhang Tie. "That consumption yesterday is normal, you''re really a rustic from the remote area of Blackhot City. I''ve even been to a place where a cup of water would cost 100 gold coins!"


    A cup of water would cost you 100 gold coins? Zhang Tie''s mouth twitched as he felt that Donder was boosting. "There has never been such a place in this world. 100 coins would be equal to my dad''s 89 years'' salary!"


    Zhang Tie had an expression of clear disbelief.


    Donder kept silent, walking on ahead of Zhang Tie. After 10 more minutes, he guided Zhang Tie before a six-story apartment building that occupied over 200 square meters on the Avenue Monet in the east of Blackhot City.


    "How about this building?" Donder asked Zhang Tie.


    "Not bad!" Zhang Tie casually answered.


    "Then it''s yours from now on!" Donder also casually said.


    Zhang Tie stared dumbfounded.

 168 Ugly Stone

    Chapter 168: Ugly Stone


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The exterior wall of the entire apartment was made of dark red bricks and gray stones, which looked pretty cool and clean. In the balcony of each floor, there was a flaxen windowsill. On the rails of the windowsills, many potted plants were placed. The gate of the apartment building was facing Avenue Monet. Walking out of the gate, you needed to go down over ten stairs before reaching the sidewalk. On both sides of the stairs, one could see a part of the first floor apartment close to the avenue. Besides, there were two parterres filled with red maples and Chinese roses.


    The pitch-black wrought iron gate of the apartment looked pretty firm and delicate. The brass handle was very clean. Generally, everything in this apartment building matched a man of good standing who had received a good education and had a nice income in Blackhot City: clean, fresh, graceful, the surrounding environment was neither dirty and chaotic nor brilliant.


    In Zhang Tie''s mind, the traders that went about soliciting business deals in bulk commodity exchanges, doctors that carried out circumcision operations for him, teachers like Zerom and Captain Kerlin at school, the graceful businessmen who had small business in Blackhot City and that notary he met today should live in such an apartment.


    There were numerous apartment buildings like this one in Blackhot City, tall or low. They were mostly favored by renters. That bastard Hista dreamed of having such an apartment one day so that he could collect rents every month. With the money, he could then indulge with women everyday.


    Seeing Zhang Tie dumbfounded, Donder added, "What? You''re scared to be seen an idiot with only such a small apartment building?"


    Zhang Tie stared at Donder with disbelief. "Are you kidding me? Have you eaten something wrong or what? I knew that you were not right when I caught sight of you today. I''ll check if you''ve caught a fever or something..."


    Saying this, Zhang Tie pretended to touch Donder''s forehead, only to get a ''Pa'' sound from Donder who slapped his hand away.


    Donder then cast a ferocious glare at him. "Bastard, as I''ve said, you''re really rustic. This apartment only cost me several thousand gold coins when I bought it several years ago. It''s cheaper now. Someone would spend it by a few meals. It''s nothing at all. You really think it''s something that big?"


    When Donder mocked Zhang Tie, he walked up the stairs of the apartment building with a sound of ''dong dong dong''. After taking out a key, he inserted it into the lock and rotated it two circles before opening that gate.


    "Come on in, I need you for something!"


    Scratching his head, Zhang Tie followed Donder in.


    Behind the gate was a thick door mat. The apartment was paved with a clean gray wooden floor. Entering it, Zhang Tie raised his head up and caught sight of a beautiful layer of triangular glass ceiling, from where sufficient sunlight could reach inside the room. The spiral stairs inside could directly lead to the roof. From the second floor upwards, each floor would contain two apartments, face to face with each other with an aisle between them.


    Donder didn''t go upstairs, instead, he passed by some tall green plants on the left of the stairs before opening a door of a residence.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered, Donder locked the door from inside.


    This was a residence on floor 1. Its furniture: sofa and various other things inside the room were well prepared. All the furniture gave a fresh wooden fragrance.


    Before Zhang Tie could enjoy them carefully for a bit longer, Donder had already led him into a tranquil study after passing by an aisle. The moment Donder pressed a hidden switch, a bookcase had slid way, revealing a door behind it. After opening this door, Zhang Tie saw stone stairs stretching down towards a basement.


    On the walls of the staircase hung expensive ten thousands-year fluorite lamps which rendered the entire basement pale green.


    "After entering here, remember to close the door of the basement. After doing so from inside, the bookcase outside will automatically slid back to its original place and all the safety settings will be triggered on. Even if someone wants to break it from outside using force, it would cost them a long time..." Donder explained, turning back his head while walking first.


    ''Bang!''


    After closing the door, Zhang Tie heard a heavy and dreary sound made by the door of this basement, like a safe being closed. He had not imagined that the thick room door was made of steel, its surface only brushed with a layer of wood paint.


    The basement was very large, covering more than 100 square meters. It had a look of a temporary asylum. There was a table, several lockers, big and small, and some other items. What was out of Zhang Tie''s expectation was that there were no less than four wardrobes of different sizes here, and a huge mirror. What did Donder prepare so many clothes here for? To enjoy them in front of the mirror by himself?


    Donder walked towards a chair and told Zhang Tie to sit down as well.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was completely filled with curiosity. Everything that the mean boss of the grocery store did today was filled with a sense of mystery.


    "I know you must have a lot of questions now!" Donder said, staring at Zhang Tie.


    With a sense of depression, Zhang Tie scratched his head. "What are you doing this for today? I feel like you''ve become stranger!"


    "Because I have to leave the Blackhot City soon. I have to deal with the things here!"


    "You want to go?" Shocked, Zhang Tie stared at Donder. "Why?"


    "Because of you!" Donder looked at Zhang Tie with a smile. "Previously, I didn''t know when I could leave Blackhot City. But because of you, I will do so soon. Do you know that I''ve not been back home for three decades? Previously, I thought that I could only have a chance to go back home when I was old enough. But because of you, I can do so several decades in advance. So I have to thank you!"


    "Because of me?"


    Zhang Tie became even more surprised.


    "Can you not widely open your eyes and point at your own nose? This looks is too rustic!" Donder smiled. "Do you remember thatthat you have given me? Do you know its real value?"


    "Hmm, this book can improve one''s spiritual energy. It should be very precious!"


    "It''s not just precious!" Donder shook his head. "Do you remember that story about an ugly stone that I''ve told you before. Thatis an ugly store."


    Zhang Tie could still clearly remember the story about an ugly stone. It was one of the stories that Donder had told him. Once upon a time, an ugly stone was found by a stonemason in a mountain village. Because that stone was very hard, the stonemason then used it as a stone anvil. He found it was very useful and kept using it for dozens of years.


    One day, a greater blacksmith came to the village and found that stone too. He felt that the stone might be an iron ore. Therefore, he cut off a small piece of it and took it back. When he returned home, he made it into a horseshoe and sold it for dozens of copper coins. The blacksmith was very satisfied about it.


    After the blacksmith left, another, even greater master swordsmith felt that the stone might be an aerosiderite. Therefore, he also cut off a piece of it and took it back home. He then built it into a precious sharp sword and sold it for several hundreds of gold coins.


    Later, an even greater master clockmaker found that aerosiderite and cut off a piece of it. He used the metal inside it to create several pocket watches in the series of aerosiderite. He finally sold them for thousands of gold coins.


    After the arrival of the master clockmaker, a carving master found that piece of stone and directly took away the remainder of it. After a delicate carving, he got tens of thousands of gold coins from it.


    Finally, the value of the stone was identified by an emperor. After smelting the stone again, the emperor extracted the metal from inside the stone and made it into the seal of the empire, which was worth hundreds of millions of gold coins...


    This story told that the same thing would have different value in different people''s eyes.


    Zhang Tie understood it, but he also became confused at the same time.


    "Like how human exercise their muscles, one''s spiritual energy is mainly carried out through visualization. The things being visualized to exercise one''s spiritual energy are top secret knowledge. Additionally, all the visualizations are a deep conscious activity which demands ardor and need extremely high spiritual stability and sustainability, which pose a very high requirement for one''s willingness and endurance.


    "Previously, I''ve never seen anybody who could exercise spiritual energy before twelve years old. Neither have I heard of any method of cultivation that could improve kids and youths'' spiritual energy. Although ''Mental Arithmetic by Abacus'' looks simple, it can help a person start exercising spiritual energy from six years old, or even from five.


    "Besides, its threshold is very low, making it available for almost everybody. Although the effects of the ''Mental Arithmetic by Abacus'' is weak, through visualizations and improvement of one''s spiritual energy, people could lay a solid foundation for the further exercise requiring superior spiritual energy. This is the true value of ''Mental Arithmetic by Abacus'', a method that could be learned even at a very young age to improve one''s spiritual energy. Additionally, it''s a beginner''s textbook for improving one''s spiritual energy. Do you understand it''s value now?"


    "Hmm... it really seems a bit useful to improve one''s spiritual energy since young!"


    Zhang Tie smirked.


    "A bit useful?" Donder gaped at Zhang Tie, his voice high.


    Infuriated as if having been insulted, he jumped up from the chair and fiercely flicked Zhang Tie''s forehead with a finger.


    "Bad *ss, are you an idiot or what? For idiots like you, it''s a bit useful. However, have you ever imagined its effect if 10 million people, 100 million people, 0.1 billion people, or several billions of people, even tens of billions of Chinese people could learn it?


    "It could help many people who could not improve their spiritual energy any more to easily exercise it so that they could easily improve themselves and break through the bottlenecks in their cultivation. It could enable many Chinese youths to lay a solid foundation for a good spiritual energy, which could help them a lot in their future development.


    "Do you know how many genius'' and powerful men would be seen among Chinese in the future, you idiot!"


    Donder flicked Zhang Tie''s forehead once again before sitting down, heavily panting.

 169 News about the Holy War

    Chapter 169: News about the Holy War


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Looking at Donder who was so excited, Zhang Tie became stunned as he had not imagined that such righteous words could come from that mean guy. What made him even more amazed was that the book that he had picked up from the roadside stall could play such a huge role.


    Everything that had happened today made Zhang Tie muddle-headed. Soon after, he recovered his composure, realizing a lot of useful information from Donder''s words.


    First, the cultivation of spiritual energy mainly relied on visualizations. However, before the secret of ''Mental Arithmetic by Abacus'' was discovered, it seemed that the greater part of methods being used to cultivate one''s spiritual energy were very sophisticated and hard to master. It was an especially tough challenge for young people and kids not yet twelve years old as they didn''t have a stable temperament.


    Second, for a common boss of a grocery store in Blackhot City, it was not his place to care about the survival and development of Chinese. Their rise and fall were several millions of miles away from his daily life.


    "Does me giving you the book mean so much?" Zhang Tie asked.


    As for Donder''s explanation, if it was heard by someone in Blackhot City or the Norman Empire, that guy would join the list of missing people in less than two days with nothing of his presence remaining. How could he brag in such an exaggerated way by using hundreds of millions, even billions, of Chinese people?


    "F*ck, of course I cannot, but the organization behind my back can!" Donder calmly replied.


    "The organization behind your back?"


    Zhang Tie was surprised. He finally understood that everybody had their own secrets, including him and even Donder, that mean guy.


    "Of course!" Donder answered full of pride. There was a strange brilliance to him, almost a sense of honor, that Zhang Tie had not seen before. "My status is very trivial in my organization, and I''m just an eye and an ear of my organization in Blackhot City. Do you understand it?"


    Zhang Tie finally understood that Donder was a spy of his organization responsible for collecting intelligence in Blackhot City .


    "How is your organization when compared to the Norman Empire?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "Have you seen those ten thousand year fluorite lamps hanging on the wall?"


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    "If the Norman Empire was one ten thousand year fluorite lamp, my organization would be the shiny sun in the sky!" Donder solemnly said.


    Zhang Tie was shocked once again.


    "No doubt about that. If we can encounter each other in the future, you will know that I have not cheated you! Because of ''Mental Arithmetic by Abacus'', I''ve made great contribution to my organization. As a result, my organization dispatched me back to the Eastern Continent. My mission in Blackhot City has been completed in advance, and I finally have the chance to go back home!"


    "Aren''t your organization in Blackson Human Clan Corridor?"


    Donder smirked. "Blackson Human Clan Corridor is a Hebrew expression. Among Chinese, it is called Waii Peninsula or Waii Subcontinent. It is only a small area on the entire Kun''ang Continent, an uncivilized area which is far away from the axis of the world and revolves around it. Do you know what is an uncivilized area to Chinese? You should understand that a really huge dragoon will not play with water in a shallow pond. As for me who is just dreaming of not having to starve to death, I was dispatched here to just watch the weather change!"


    Zhang Tie stared at Donder, feeling uncomfortable about what he had said about the uncivilized thing.


    "As for Chinese like you who have long been dispatched to an uncivilized area, when you''re alive, if you don''t come for a pilgrimage in the east or visit the place where gathers the most Chinese, if you don''t go to have a look in the area where your bloodline roots in so as to experience the honor and brilliance of the Chinese clan that you have not tasted before, you will have spent your life in vain!"


    What Donder said made Zhang Tie long for that unknown glory. He asked, "Are you leaving here for the Eastern Continent?"


    "Yea, tonight I will leave Blackhot City for Kalur by train. When I arrive at Kalur, someone will pick me up over there. I will then take an airship. During the trip, I''ll transfer several stations by other vehicles. If I don''t get stuck somewhere in the middle, I''ll see the Eastern Continent in one and a half months."


    Zhang Tie''s face fell slightly. "Will I see you again?"


    Since Donder was almost a master to him, realizing that guy was going to leave soon, Zhang Tie felt a bit reluctant to part with him. In a split second, every memory that he had with this guy flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind. Instinctively, he felt like crying.


    "This is the most important thing that I want to talk with you about, today!" Donder looked solemn. "You should remember what I''ve told you today. No matter what, you have to leave Blackhot City along with your family members in two years, though the sooner, the better. You must move to settle down among Chinese nations in the southeast of Waii Peninsula first.


    "Afterwards, you should seek for a chance to move all of your family members to the Eastern Continent. The entire world is going to be in great chaos. Hundreds of millions of lives will soon be burned into ashes. Waii Peninsula is not a long lasting area. For the sake of you and your family members'' lives, you have to leave as soon as possible!"


    "Why?"


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded.


    "Because the holy war between human beings and demons will start soon!" Donder gloomily said.


    "A holy war?"


    Zhang Tie was startled. Soon after he understood what Donder was talking about, his face immediately twitched.


    Holy war? That phrase was able to startle everybody.


    Given the history and relevant knowledge that Zhang Tie had learned about the holy wars, there was only one word that could be used to describe those two previous holy wars: Destroy!


    Terrifying demons poured out of the underground world like locusts which could immediately sweep over human cities and nations one by one. Every place that demons passed by would become mountains and seas of bloody bodies, no single person left alive.


    The first holy war broke out about 600 years ago. At that time, the human race, which had just recovered a bit, was almost completely destroyed by demons. At school, when giving an introduction to the first holy war, the science teacher only said several things: the amount of human casualties was 27 billion and over 600 human nations and regions were destroyed by demons.


    The first holy war lasted roughly 70 years, over three generations. After this holy war, the total amount of human beings was only over 10 billions, which indicated that two thirds of people had died in the first holy war.


    The second one broke out about 300 years ago, which was also called the one hundred years holy war. It lasted for over 110 years. The amount of casualties of human beings in this holy war was 48 billion. Over 1000 human nations and regions were destroyed by demons. Compared to the first holy war, the second one was much more miserable as many human races were completely eliminated by demons. Numerous human families were broken apart.


    Each holy war between the human race and the demons would be a catastrophe of the entire human race.


    When the respected science teacher was talking about the previous two holy wars, he even choked several times in class. Compared to any other kinds of wars, in holy wars between the two races, people had to save themselves. As for demons, humankind was their most delicious food whose fresh blood, muscles, and brains were the favorite food of all demons.


    After each holy war, each black-and-white photo taken by historians and war correspondents about any place that once was occupied by demons was like vivid hell for those still alive.


    Zhang Tie once saw the black-and-white photos that were brought to the classroom by the science teacher. That cruel scenes in them made Zhang Tie and all the other animals in his classroom sick. They had all lost appetite for lunch...


    Holy war was a nightmare for each person, lasting over 100 years!


    According to the previous two holy wars, the third holy war would probably be even more tragic than the previous ones. It would last longer while many more areas would be involved. As a result, more people would die in the third long lasting holy war.


    "Go to the east. The most powerful Chinese clan is where the hope of the humans lies in. Even if all the humans on the Kun''ang Continent died in this holy war, the Eastern Continent could still support the last few people!" Donder said.


    The dialogue with Donder before he left Blackhot City unlocked many puzzles in Zhang Tie''s mind. He abruptly understood why so many things happened in Blackhot City in the past two months: why the Andaman Alliance would be destroyed over night, why the prices of the grains on the market had started to surge since months ago, why Zerom said that the chaotic world would arrive.


    It was because privileged big figures who had the right to write the history of Blackson Human Clan Corridor had accelerated their preparations for the incoming holy war. Before the arrival of the holy war, the alleged emperors and chancellors were nothing different from squirrels who were busy trying to save up for the winter.


    How long was left before the third holy war between the human beings and demons would break out? According to Donder''s judgment, it would at least take five or twenty years at most before it finally broke out. But this short period before it began was for big figures to accomplish the warm-up mobilization which concerned the lives of the human clan.


    Donder told Zhang Tie that many nations and families on the continents had already prepared for over 100 years for the third holy war between the human beings and the demons. However, no matter how well they had prepared. When the third holy war really broke out, all the preparations might not be enough.


    Before the arrival of the overwhelming demons, nobody knew whether the steel and iron fortresses that they had built would be as weak as a piece of paper which would be easily broken by demons. Nobody dared to firmly say that the strategic materials that they had prepared could help them stick till the end of this holy war.


    Before leaving, Donder gave Zhang Tie the following things: the real property transfer certificate of this apartment building, a lot of key belonging to it, several deeds of house property, 400 gold coins, and a strange resin card with many small holes on it. The older men told Zhang Tie that if he arrived at the Eastern Continent, he would definitely be able to find him using this card.


    Besides these items, Donder also left Zhang Tie with a book about ¡¯cross-dressing''. Everything in this basement was for ''cross-dressing'', including various props, materials, and clothes. There was even a hidden tunnel in the basement which led to a perennial chartered room of an underground bar.


    That underground bar ran around the clock. As many people went there, nobody would notice him even if he accessed that chartered room from here.


    As the third holy war would not break out soon, Donder hoped that Zhang Tie could well prepare and gain enough money to move his family members to the Eastern Continent, using the things provided by him.


    This was the expenditure left for Zhangs'' escape. This amount of expenditure would allow a poor student like Zhang Tie to be one of the possessing class.


    Donder didn''t care about this wealth at all. He said this was only a bit money, which was just a trivial compensation for him to thank for Zhang Tie''s gift of ''Mental Arithmetic by Abacus''. The organization that he was serving had awarded him many times more than this amount of wealth for his discovery of the ''Mental Arithmetic by Abacus''. Therefore, Donder told Zhang Tie not to feel reluctant for receiving such a bit of wealth.


    After leaving the apartment building, Zhang Tie walked on the Avenue Monet for a long time. He felt muddled-headed as he hadn''t yet recovered his composure from everything that he had experienced today. Not until he turned to the avenue where his house was located and a little boy ran the bells on a bike, happily passing by, did Zhang Tie become clear-minded.


    Seeing the innocent and joyful smile of that little boy and hearing the crispy rings of the bell, Zhang Tie almost immediately broke through a translucent glass wall that was before him, since he could finally see the entire vivid and free world again.


    The holy war thing should not be a concern to a trivial person like him. No matter what, when he realized something bad was going to happen, he would run away along with his family members. This amount of wealth would even be enough for him to move his beloved girls like Pandora and the members of the Brotherhood away to the Eastern Continent.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile when he thought of the wealth left by Donder and felt very good.


    ''I''m rich, I''m rich! As a charter man of an apartment building, I''ll get a gold coin per month. Hista cannot imagine that I''ve made his dream come true, hahahaha...''


    The entire Blackhot City suddenly became brilliant!


    Humming all the way, Zhang Tie returned home. The moment he entered, he saw three guests: Alice, Beverly, and Pandora. They looked as beautiful as wax dolls and were chatting with his mom. Seeing Zhang Tie come in and his mouth falling open at the sight of them, the girls smiled at the same time.


    Zhang Tie''s mom glared at him with mixed moods. "My idiot son told me that he had found three girlfriends in the survival training, I didn''t believe that until the three beautiful girls came here for him now."


    With such a son, his mom felt both happy and worried. She became upset although being a bit excited: Zhang Tie was not that fickle in love and adorable in girls'' eyes. How could he bring back three girls merely in the survival training?


    "Guoguo[1] has really grown up!"


    His mom became gratified and dejectedly sighed inside...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that the news that he would start a duel with Sodor in two days had spread wide through many schools of Blackhot City. Few people knew that he had become a second lieutenant of the Norman Empire; it had only spread in a small circle. In many people''s eyes, a show between a fresh graduate and a LV 4 warrior was truly attractive.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t really have this thing on his mind. For him, the beginning of the life in Iron-Blood Camp was the most important thing in his future...


    Not until Donder had left did Zhang Tie realize that he had forgotten to ask about his ability to throw lances so precisely, because the news that the third holy war between the human beings and the demons would soon break out was too appalling.


    [1] Zhang Tie''s nickname at home. It means Little Fruit

 170 Preparations

    Chapter 170: Preparations


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Five days passed quickly. Although Zhang Tie''s wound after the circumcision had not recovered yet, and he had only changed fresh dressing for his wound only once, his holiday would soon be over.


    The last few days, the good news was that Zhang Tie''s untamed thing was not that sensitive any more. It had become accustomed to the contact with his underwear and pants.


    The bad news was that Zhang Tie found out that he had become famous among the animals of Blackhot City. In the eyes of many people who didn''t understand him, Zhang Tie seemed to be an evil and terrifying thug, a homicidal maniac who could break his classmate''s neck in front of over one thousand people in the canteen of the Wild Wolf Castle.


    Those people didn''t care about what Zuhair and Glaze had done to him, they just spread what he had done to Zuhair in all schools across Blackhot City.


    On the first day when Blackhot City was included into the territory of the Norman Empire, Zhang Tie had already utilized the game rules of the Norman Empire''s barbarous training to kill his own classmate in front of the public. Such an impression would not be good in the eyes of the gossipers.


    Besides, there was gossip that the disappeared Glaze was also killed by Zhang Tie. Although they had gotten it right, Zhang Tie didn''t plan to admit to it, just leaving them to guess. No matter what, he would not lose even a hair.


    On the evening of the day when Donder left, after sending Pandora, Alice, and Beverly back home respectively, on the way back, Zhang Tie considered how to tell what he had experienced today to his family members.


    When he came back home, he found his elder sister-in-law had went to bed as she was pregnant and had easily fallen asleep. Zhang Tie then called his parents and his elder brother and explained why Donder had presented him with the apartment building and the amount of gold coins to him.


    Seeing Zhang Tie pull out a purse which contained 400 ''locomotive'' gold coins, the other three people of Zhang family were shocked for quite a while.


    "You mean that Donder gave you this money?" Zhang Tie''s dad asked Zhang Tie with eyes wide open.


    "Yea, and a six-story apartment building in Avenue Monet. That building was bought by Donder several years ago. He was always living there. Today he transferred it to me. The formalities had been dealt with. Donder said this was a trivial compensation for my gift of , which helped him render great meritorious service to his super great organization.


    "He was ears and eyes of that organization in Blackhot City. As he was now dispatched back as a part of the compensation that his organization awarded him with, he then left these items to me!" Zhang Tie honestly explained, putting his hands on his knees.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, his parents and elder brother became silent. Although Zhang Yang knew that could improve one''s spiritual energy was a very precious mysterious knowledge, he had not imagined that this book could play such a great role.


    Through Donder, everybody learned the value of , which was simply a beginner''s book for everybody to practice their spiritual energy, greatly lowering the threshold for them to cultivate and improve their spiritual energy. It could even help many people who could not cultivate or improve their spiritual energy any more to improve their spiritual energy once again. It was a book of great value that could not be underestimated.


    "What else did he leave or say to you besides these things?"


    After being silent for several seconds, his dad stared at Zhang Tie in an unprecedentedly solemn way.


    "He said that the secret of should not be revealed to anyone else besides our family members in case of bringing disaster to our family. Oh, he also gave me one card that I could use to contact him if I came to the Eastern Continent in the future!"


    Saying this, Zhang Tie took out that resin card with many irregular small holes on it. He was still confused about how to use this name card.


    His dad took a careful look at it after taking it into his hands. His frown then slowly disappeared. Finally, he became completely relaxed and let out a long sigh before nodding to Zhang Tie''s mom.


    "Dad, you know this item? What''s it used for?" Zhang Tie asked, looking at his dad''s changing expression.


    "This is a name card!"


    His dad smiled.


    "A name card?"


    Not only Zhang Tie, even Zhang Yang who was gazing at that strange card became startled. He took that card from his dad''s hand and carefully observed it for quite a while. Zhang Yang couldn''t find even one word on it. How could this be a name card?


    Both brothers became suspicious.


    "Of course. This is the most advanced name card, which is not for people, but for large-scale steam-driven calculators. The round holes on this card are a machine language that can only be identified by a large-scale crystal steam-driven calculator. This is an ID card that is used in long-distance remote communications requiring decoding by Xuan Yuan-6 steam-driven calculator in Eastern Continent.


    "If you insert this card into any long-distance crystal remote communication equipment in any city of the Eastern Continent, you will be able to contact Donder..."


    His dad took back the card from Zhang Yang''s hand, carefully checking it even with a yearning expression.


    Large-scale steam-driven calculator? It was Zhang Tie''s turn to be dumbfounded. This thing was too advanced so he''d only heard about it at school. Even the teacher who had introduced it to them hadn''t seen it before.


    According to the teacher''s comment, steam-driven calculator was based on steam-driven difference engine, which was used two generations of calculation inventions ago. The steam-driven calculator was the greatest machine that humanity had created so far.


    Zhang Tie knew that a difference engine was a machine that could carry out sophisticated difference calculations and was invented by mathematician Babbage during the first industrial revolution before the Catastrophe. The mathematician gained his inspiration from a steam-driven jacquard engine, inventing the steam-driven difference engine, which could calculate through movements of gears. Sadly, after it was invented, the difference engine didn''t catch too many people''s attention. Due to some unknown reasons, it was then refrigerated by people.


    In the second industrial revolution before the Catastrophe, electricity-driven computers that calculated by transistors instead of gears with the same calculating function were invented. Therefore, the steam-based difference engine was completely forgotten.


    Closely followed by the invention of the computer came the Catastrophe. After it, those still alive realized that if they wanted to survive for longer, they had to own a calculating tool which could calculate faster and more precisely than human brains. Therefore, the steam-based difference engine that had been refrigerated for over 10,00 years was discovered again.


    Among the previous 17 cities of the entire Andaman Alliance, there was only Kalur, the city of machine, who could use steam-based difference engines. There were only two steam-based difference engines across the Andaman Alliance. One was put in Kalur, serving as the most powerful calculating core that supported the manufacturing industry across Kalur, while the smaller one was put in the Andaman City, the capital of the Andaman Alliance. It was said that it was used by the Andaman Alliance to manage its huge family business.


    Between steam-driven calculator and steam-driven difference engine, there was a steam-driven analytic engine, which was a much more powerful machine based on steam-driven difference engine. Accordingly, steam-driven calculator was more powerful than a steam-driven analytic engine. It was the representative of the greatest manufacturing capability of human beings. Across the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor, not only large-scale steam-driven calculator, even a large-scale steam-driven analytic engine could not be produced.


    "Dad, how do you know so much about it?"


    Zhang Tie stared at his dad with doubt. This card was not even seen by Zhang Tie''s teachers at school. How could his dad explain its usage so clearly? Besides, his dad looked too strange. Why did he let out a deep sigh after seeing the card when he looked worried about Donder''s status before!


    "Hmm... hmm... your dad has heard about it from others before!"


    Zhang Tie felt that his dad was really not good at telling a lie. At such an age, when he was telling a lie, he would always scratch his head, which was known to all the other members of Zhang family.


    Zhang Tie looked at him with doubt once again. The moment he wanted to open his mouth, his mom interrupted him.


    "Guoguo, what do you plan to do with that apartment building and that money left by Donder?"


    Mom''s words directly caught Zhang Tie''s attention.


    "Needless to say, of course, I will hand them all to you too, letting you to be renters and enjoy it for the rest of your lives..." Saying this, Zhang Tie immediately became highly spirited. "As my elder brother is going to get married, he and my elder sister-in-law should have a new residence. Even if I live in another residence in the apartment building, there are still 9 residences in the apartment building, which could bring you over 10 gold coins a month. This income is much higher than dad''s salary.


    "The rice brew business at home is lacking, while my elder sister-in-law is going to give birth to a baby for our family, so this apartment building is very necessary. As for the money, I will give it to my elder brother. Since he is going to retire from the military service, with that amount of money, he can do some business, which would be much better than working for other people!"


    In order to not worry his dad and much too much, Zhang Tie didn''t talk about the incoming holy war. The moment Zhang Yang opened his mouth, he caught sight of Zhang Tie''s shake of the head. Due to the tacit agreement between the two brothers in the past decade, Zhang Yang immediately shut up as he knew that Zhang Tie would tell him something alone later.


    After thinking for a while, his dad and mom exchanged glances with each other, then nodded.


    "The apartment building is yours, we will look after it for you, since I''m afraid that you won''t have enough time to deal with it. As your dad and me have been used to living here for the past dozens of years, we don''t want to move anymore. If you want, you can move there. If you have a residence to stay in Blackhot City instead of having to rent outside, your dad and me are reassured..."


    His mom revealed a benign smile. "As for this money, I will put it away for you. When your elder brother needs it in the future, I''ll give it to him as a loan from you!"


    Knowing his dad and mom''s intention, Zhang Tie didn''t say anything. However, he insisted to give the rents to them as part of his filial piety. In the end, they nodded and agreed to take one third of the rents, leaving the rest to Zhang Tie himself.


    Everybody then became satisfied with the distribution of the wealth.


    After his dad and mom went to bed, Zhang Tie silently pulled Zhang Yang aside and whispered to him about the incoming third holy war. Hearing this news, Zhang Yang''s face immediately twitched as he finally understood why the Blackhot City and Andaman Alliance became chaotic in the past two months.


    "Elder brother, I will leave the 400 gold coins to you. This is a critical moment for you and me to pass through the incoming difficulties. We don''t need to discuss how to distribute it anymore. I have little time left at home as I have to serve in the Iron-Blood Camp; the City Guard of Blackhot City will soon be revoked, the Iron-Horn Army only considers to keep several military officers. Adviser Vessie told me that the rest of the military staff as well as the soldiers will have to retire.


    The Iron-Horn Army will recruit and train a new batch of soldiers their own way. So you''ill surely have to retire in a few days. After that, you can use the money to get a business and gradually mediate relationships for our family. You should seek for a path for our family to survive in the Chinese nations in the south; otherwise, if anything urgent really happens, although we two can directly escape, how about our dad, mom, elder sister-in-law and that incoming baby?


    "So we should prepare for what''s coming as early as possible. Elder brother, as long as you can find a path for our family out of here, we can move our dad, mom, elder sister-in-law and the incoming baby first..."


    The brothers'' hands tightly clasped each other, and Zhang Yang gloomily nodded.


    ...


    Time flew past, and it was time for Zhang Tie to register in the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division...

 171 Rules of the Iron-Blood Camp

    Chapter 171: Rules of the Iron-Blood Camp


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    August 6th, 889th year of Black Iron Calendar, Iron-Blood Camp''s station, Blackhot City.


    Compared to the scene when he came here five days ago, this time, the entire Iron-Blood Camp''s station was over ten times more boisterous.


    Zhang Tie had put on the handsome dark red military uniform of a second lieutenant. After foisting the bottom of the trousers'' legs into the shiny boots and lowering the brim of his military hat, he looked sharper. With a long sword at his waist, Zhang Tie presented his certificate to the sentry and entered the station of the Iron-Blood Camp, gaining the attention of all the soldiers passing by him in the station.


    This morning, adviser Vessie had driven Zhang Tie here. After that, the adviser drove away, unable not to mumble to himself, "After merely five days, how can he feel much sharper than before..."


    Of course, adviser Vessie didn''t know that in the past five days since he parted with Zhang Tie, the latter had already eaten a Fruit of Brilliance, which surged his spiritual energy by three times. Also, last night, Zhang Tie had eaten another Leakless Fruit, which stimulated the fourth burning point on his spine to radiate yellow light. If nothing unexpected happened, next month on this day, Zhang Tie would become a LV 5 warrior after igniting two more burning points.


    The Leakless Fruit increased his burning points at a frightening speed. So Zhang Tie was considering whether he should be low-key, leaving several ripe Leakless Fruits on the small tree, when he entered the Iron-Blood Camp. If he encountered any situation where he would be bled or something damaged his vigor, each Leakless Fruit on the small tree could act as an emergency first-aid kit.


    Zhang Tie thought it over for awhile and gradually considered it''s usefulness. In the end, when he almost reached the Division''s Building of the Iron-Blood Camp, he decided to temporarily not pick ripe Leakless Fruits anymore in the following four weeks so that he could save up several emergency first-aid kits for himself. As he was not familiar with the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division, it was not bad to hide his real force.


    Donder said that each army in any region had their own unwritten special regulations which influenced and were followed by each soldier. Sometimes, even the superior''s words were not as important as these unwritten regulations. You could not acquire the agreement of the colleagues in the army with only a position appointed by the superior.


    When adviser Vessie left just now, he also warned Zhang Tie to be careful about those army ruffians. If they continuously filed suits about you to Colonel Leibniz for trivial things, it would not be very glorious.


    Knowing that there must be someone who detested him, the newly promoted second lieutenant, head of Platoon Three, Company Five of the Iron-Blood Camp, Zhang Tie had well prepared to face the challenges. However, he had not imagined that the challenges would come so fast.


    ...


    "Are you that boy toy struck by the lightning bolt?"


    Unexpectedly, Zhang Tie saw three tough guys snigger at him with arms crossed, standing in front of him on the way to the office area of the Division''s Building.


    Zhang Tie glanced over their ranks first¡ªthey were all sergeants. Among the Iron-Horn Army, sergeants were all LV 5 warriors with rich battle experience. These guys usually performed as team leaders under platoon heads. They were the backbones of teams under the platoon head.


    These alleged backbones was a role that you needed to crack down on. If you could not do so, they were then called - trouble makers or army ruffians!


    "Don''t you need show respect when you see your superior?" Zhang Tie calmly asked.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the three guys, the shortest among whom was half a head taller than Zhang Tie, exchanged glances among themselves before bursting out laughing, as if having heard a good joke.


    "Brat, you know where you are? Here is the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division, the casualties of which could rank top five in the entire Iron-Horn Army. According to the rules here, the only one who deserves our respect is boss Reinhardt. You want us to show respect to you? Have you even completely grown your pubic hair yet?"


    They then burst out laughing again, casting contemptuous eyes at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie felt embarrassed. He rubbed his face and stared at these arrogant guys. "Fine, since it is the rule of the Iron-Blood Camp, I will then follow that rule here. Additionally, since you asked, I will tell you that I''ve completely grown my pubic hair. However, as you are not women, I''m sorry, I won''t show them to you. Even if you were three women, I would still not show you my pubic hair, either, considering your looks!"


    ...


    Many bored military officers were leaning against the windowsills of the Division''s Building of the Iron-Blood Camp, watching Zhang Tie''s confrontation with the three army ruffians. With sounds of "Puchi...", they guffawed, unable to stand it anymore.


    "Boss, this brat is very interesting..."


    "It''s really my first time seeing anyone in the entire No. 39 Division dare to declare that the three guys look ugly!"


    "I''ve read this brat''s records in Blackhot City. I found that this brat was very talkative, able to even confuse the truth. Additionally, his temperament is not bad. I like him. If this brat cannot stay in the company anymore, just dispatch him to us, the department of general affairs. I''ll arrange for him to argue with the bastards in the logistics department and the headquarters to prevent him from losing his life..."


    Zhang Tie didn''t know who was saying this upstairs, but with that person''s words, many people upstairs started to have a good feeling about him and came to his side.


    The relationships between people were that marvelous. Sometimes, someone would like you only by your words instead of having to look at you. Of course, sometimes it was the exactly opposite...


    Standing before the window was a tough man with golden hair of around 40 years. With the beard covering most of his face, the person in the lieutenant colonel uniform was biting a big cigar. None of the buttons on his coat were buckled, and even some on his shirt were left unbuckled too.


    If he was another commoner, people would consider him a drunk with untidy clothes. However, now this person revealed his natural fierce and heroic aura by dressing this way. This man was Reinhardt, the head of the Iron-Blood Camp.


    Seeing Zhang Tie downstairs, Reinhardt revealed a shadow of a smile¡ª¡ªat least this brat assigned by colonel Leibniz was much more interesting than those bastards who came to the Iron-Blood Camp to make money...


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s joke, all the unscrupulous military officers upstairs burst out laughing loudly while the three guys who were holding Zhang Tie back turned purple.


    "Brat, do you know the outcome of insulting the three of us?"


    The three men walked one step forward at the same time, immediately surrounding Zhang Tie while making sounds of ''Pa pa'' by pinching their fingers.


    "If I treat your honestly, does it mean I''m insulting you?" Zhang Tie said with amazement, staring at them seriously. "Then, I''m sorry about what I''ve said, actually you look very beautiful. I mean it, you look very beautiful. There is really few man as beautiful as you three. If you were b*tches, I would definitely show you my pubic hair..."


    The scrupulous military officers upstairs laughed so heavily that they started holding their their bellies with their hands as they squatted down to the ground, tears almost running down their cheeks. Even Commander Reinhardt''s face continually twitched...


    "F*ck, Beckham, I cannot stand it anymore! Even if I''ll be put into confinement, I have to beat this brat up today!"


    A man on the left of Zhang Tie became infuriated and shouted loudly before punching with his fist towards Zhang Tie''s head without any hesitation.


    "Beat him!" Another guy also screamed and attacked Zhang Tie almost at the same time. "It''s fine as long as we don''t beat him to death or cripple him!"


    Zhang Tie didn''t use his hidden strength at all, instead, he only used his barbarous strength to catch an incoming fist before kicking at the other guy''s, who was trying ferociously to kick at him, leg away.


    The latter one was immediately kicked two meters away while the first attacker''s face immediately twisted as he felt an irresistible strength take hold of his arm.


    At the same time Zhang Tie pulled the third person''s arm and crashed him onto the first attacker. In a split second, the first attacker and the third attacker crashed into each other and fell to the ground, dazzled.


    The battle was over almost in a heartbeat. Seeing what happened, the onlookers upstairs immediately became quiet and turned solemn with their eyes on the three people under the control of Zhang Tie.


    "He didn''t use his hidden strength!" a military officer said.


    "He controlled his strength well!" another added, nodding.


    "He has great physical strength!"


    A tough military officer became spirited with his eyes on Zhang Tie.


    "He has rich battle experience. The kick that he used to send Beckham flying backwards through the air was highly skilled!"


    Another military officer nodded.


    "Based on his power alone he could win the position of the second lieutenant of Platoon Three under our company!"


    Another military officer nodded towards Reinhardt.


    "It seems that colonel Leibniz got the right person for us this time!" Reinhardt smiled as he flicked his cigar. "Guderian, go downstairs to call him here, no more playing."


    A first lieutenant then walked downstairs.


    When Guderian walked downstairs, Reinhardt turned back from the window and seriously glanced over those in the conference room. He then said in a very, very solemn tone, "Who among you would like to try being struck by a lighting bolt? If you''re lucky enough, you might form Iron-Blood battle Qi like this brat. I will then transfer my position to you!"


    Reinhardt''s expression was filled with instigation and amusement, his eyes glittering. If it was anyone else who had said this, everybody would understand that he was joking. However, as it was from the head of the Iron-Blood Camp, everybody knew it to be true. If anyone dared to nod, he would definitely be bundled onto a kite and sent flying in the sky or be directly tied onto a cable and suspended under a cloud with the most lightning bolts.


    Battalion commander could definitely do this thing!


    Seeing his eyes full with expectation, all the military officers hurriedly lowered their own heads, preferring to hide them closer to their crotches...


    After glancing over the conference room, Reinhardt found nobody daring to be that brave, therefore, he let out a deep sigh of disappointment.


    Downstairs, the moment Zhang Tie beat the three bad *sses off, he felt being locked on by many killing intents. The previously boisterous Iron-Blood Camp abruptly recovered its quiet. Soon after, many more guys ran towards him with their weapons while those guys who were lining up, training, or wandering cast their icy eyes onto Zhang Tie all of a sudden.


    Seeing 70-80 more guys with bad looks surrounding him and the increasing amount of people running towards him, Zhang Tie finally knew that he had stirred up trouble.


    The moment Zhang Tie started to prepare for a ferocious battle, a first lieutenant running downstairs shouted out an explanation. "This is the second lieutenant platoon commander of Platoon Three, Company Five of the Iron-Blood Camp assigned by Colonel Leibniz..." .


    "Ha... he''s one of us..."


    Hearing his words, those guys who had intended to beat Zhang Tie stopped moving forward. Instead, they smiled and departed.


    "The three guys dared to provoke a superior; they deserved to be beaten up, hahaha!"


    A group of people who had planned to take revenge for Beckham and the other guys who had been beaten up by Zhang Tie started to mock the three awkward guys.


    With such a sudden reversal, Zhang Tie immediately felt the collaborative atmosphere of the Iron-Blood Camp. This was an extremely united team that didn''t allow their members to be bullied by outsiders.


    The military officer who had helped Zhang Tie out of trouble greeted him.


    "Follow me up, boss Reinhardt is upstairs!"

 172 Acceptance

    Zhang Tie knew that it was almost like a dream to have such tough guys who were older than him, had been serving in the army for longer than him, and had much more battle experience than him to show their respect to him. To tell the truth, these guys looked like tools of violence. ''Do I need to fight them?'' Zhang Tie asked himself before a surge of pain distracted him. His d*ck''s wound was acting up again since after circumcision it was still in recovery. If he moved too heavily, it would be ripped again. If that happened, Zhang Tie was uncertain as to when that thing would stop being a mummy. Between his sexual happiness and those tough guys'' obedience, Zhang Tie had to think only for two seconds before choosing the first option.He was suffering from the wound after circumcision for the time being, while there was still a long time for him to begin getting along with those guys, so he didn''t need to show his real force at once. This was the intelligence of the Chinese clan¡ªtime tries all."When I was coming here just now, first lieutenant Freo suggested for me to stay with you guys. He said that this way we could deepen mutual understanding and get along with each other later. I feel like First Lieutenant Freo was right..." The moment Zhang Tie opened his mouth, many guys surrounded him with grim smiles. After the three bad *sses of Beckham''s group had suffered a loss, they started to describe how this toy boy was great. Hearing that, many people didn''t believe it and wanted to have a try themselves.However, Zhang Tie''s words didn''t come to an end."First Lieutenant Freo was right, but I don''t plan to greet your guys and deepen the mutual understanding between you and me in this way. When I was in the division''s conference room, Major Guderian told me that there was a rule in the Iron-Blood Camp: we have to talk the truth. "I feel that this rule is very great as honest exchanges between people are better than fights. So firstly I want to make an honest exchange with you today!"With a smile, Zhang Tie glanced over those tough sneering guys that were not used to such an exchange pattern and were now exchanging glances with each other. "I will introduce myself to you. I''m Zhang Tie, native of Blackhot City. 15 years old, almost 16. I''ve just completed the survival training of my graduate year. Since I had formed the Iron-Blood hidden strength, I was recruited by colonel Leibniz. "Before putting on this military uniform, I had never imagined that I could be a soldier of the Norman Empire one day. Previously, I only dreamed that I could stay in Blackhot City instead of being dispatched to the farms outside the city walls where I would have to depend on my petty shrewdness and luck after serving the army. Then I would find a way to do business and make a lot of money so that I could play with women everyday and wait for death. This has always been my biggest dream which remains unchanged even now!"Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, some guys even from among onlookers unconsciously smirked. Zhang Tie''s dream was similar to that of most men. So the moment he mentioned it, he obtained appreciation from many people.A person who could talk honestly would always be interesting wherever he went. Some tough guys already felt that Zhang Tie was a bit interesting, at least being different from the toy boys who were arranged for the Iron-Blood Camp only for glory and money before. "To tell the truth, until the survival training was half done, I still felt that the Norman Empire was the enemy of Blackhot City, or might be the biggest enemy that I''ll have to face after graduation. After the Blackhot City event happened, I was even very panicked for a period of time, fearing that I''ll have to encounter you on the battle field after coming to serve in the City Guard of Blackhot City where I would get killed by you. "When I was at school, the Iron-Horn Army of the Norman Empire was described as a very terrifying organization by the animals at school. I though that way until the next morning after the Iron-Horn Army appeared in Blackhot City when I learned that the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation of Blackhot City that I planned to die protecting had surrendered unconditionally only after being surrounded by you for several hours. "Upon hearing the news, I only had one thought in my mind: I felt that I was simply a motherf*cking idiot. Those bad *sses of the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation of Blackhot City who had controlled the most wealth and the most powerful army here didn''t even dare to fight before declaring their surrender. I even had thought about sacrificing myself for the timid guys and fighting you for their Blackhot City!"One pair of leather shoes that those guys wore was more expensive than my dad''s one-year salary. In the stores along the Avenue Bright of Blackhot City, a pair of leather shoes that was provided for them would cost 16 gold coins. However, my dad could only make 12-13 gold coins a year. Even if my mom and I sold rice brew at home, we could only make a couple of gold coins a year. "The price of a bowl of rice brew was only three copper coins. When the price had to be increased by a copper coin because of rising rice prices, our business declined and mom worried about that very much. Before survival training, my dad gave me the most pocket money in my life¡ªthree silver coins out of his private money, letting me go to get a woman and bid farewell to the virgin status." By now, all the soldiers before Zhang Tie had stopped walking forward."Guys like me who took three silver coins of their dads'' private money to f*ck a women and even felt reluctant to drink one more bowl of rice brew at home which would cost three copper coins had thought about protecting those guys who would spend more than my dad''s one-year salary to buy a pair of leather shoes. I planned to sacrifice myself to protect the guys who could not even stand one night in front of the enemy and would not notice a person before they sold them. Then I finally understood that I was the biggest idiot in the world!¡®By then, all the dozens of people before Zhang Tie had become quiet. Since this story was very sincere, it could move them. When Zhang Tie talked about how his dad had given him three silver coins out of his private money to let him go for a woman and that he could only earn three copper coins for a bowl of rice brew, those onlookers all thought back to their own parents. Even those people who were training on the playground beside moved closer and started to listen to Zhang Tie''s story.There was not another second lieutenant in the Iron-Blood Camp like this."Therefore, on that morning when Blackhot City surrendered, I finally understood it faster than anyone else by accepting this fact. I didn''t even pity myself for that, instead, I felt lucky. Since my elder brother was serving in the City Guard of Blackhot City, thinking of that he won''t have to fight you guys on the battlefield, I felt very lucky. As for such an Andaman Alliance and such Blackhot City, I preferred them to be over. No reason to feel sad for their end. It had nothing to do with me.""Although we lived in the city, my dad worked hard everyday. He had to hand in taxes. My mom diligently worked at home while the rice brew business at home also was levied taxes. My elder brother had enjoyed several years'' compulsory trading by serving in the City Guard. I''ve even an eldest brother that had become a martyr while serving in the army. Nobody in our family owed anything to Blackhot City and the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation. "As for those businessmen, everything in Blackhot City was based on trades, as if doing business. Since it was a trade, I don''t need do anything for it, like sacrificing myself. "It was not bad to become a citizen of the Norman Empire. After realizing that I had become a one, the first thing I did was to use barbarous survival training rules regulated by the Norman Empire to break the neck of a vicious guy who had tried to kill me several times, before one thousand people. He was a true beast. Besides, I beat up the other members of his group by stomping on them. At that moment, I felt so cool that I really wanted to shout loudly ''Long live Norman Empire!'' "After I returned home after the survival training, I was screwed by a villain, who sent me behind bars, claiming that I was an enemy of the Norman Empire. Thankfully, when I was in the survival training, due to special karma, I formed the Iron-Blood hidden strength, so I was not killed in the prison of Blackhot City. "Also a brother from the scout camp of No. 39 Division whom I had saved in the survival training had positively mediated relationships for me after learning that I was sent behind bars, so as to clear my name. Finally, I had the chance to see colonel Leibniz, who, after learning about my experiences, immediately recruited me into the Iron-Blood Camp and awarded me with the rank of second lieutenant, according to the rules of the Norman Empire. "I didn''t refuse it, instead, I even felt excited about that because this promotion was very cool and indicated a brilliant future ahead. Additionally, even if I had to sacrifice myself, I felt that I''d have a brighter future by serving the emperor of the Norman Empire than serving a bunch of guys who only care about their business. As for the last point, I have a deep understanding..."With a smile, Zhang Tie patted his own clothes and pointed at his boots. "Second lieutenant of the Andaman Alliance would not have such a good treatment. Additionally, I find that this second lieutenant military uniform is very handsome, and I even feel reluctant to take it off. I heard treatment in the Iron-Blood Camp was even higher than that in normal battalions. Therefore, I happily registered in today..."At this time, many people had lost the hostility and alertness from their eyes. Nobody felt like to fighting Zhang Tie anymore. He was just chatting with them like friends. In their hearts, they had already decided that he was reliable, or at least not annoying."I know what you''re all thinking about. I told you this to explain that I''m just a commoner and am no different from you with exception of being a bit younger. I put on this military uniform completely out of karma. I didn''t have anyone above at all. Neither did I lick shoes nor have any reliance on anyone. I''m here because of my own luck and power. "I don''t expect to obtain your welcome, nor did I plan to punch you down. There is an old Chinese saying, ''Only by long-distance travel will one know the real strength of his horse; only by passed time will one clearly see the person beside him.'' "I don''t mean to show off anything today. All of me will be tested by time. As your platoon leader, I promise you that I''ll try my best to protect you on the battlefield and strive for the chance to help all of you survive. If any of you don''t believe in my real strength, you''re welcome to fight me in two days'' time!""Why not today?" a tough man of Third Platoon asked out of curiosity."Because I''ve just taken the circumcision a few days ago, it''s not well recovered yet. If I beat you up, the wound will not recover soon, which would make me feel unwell. Nobody would like his d*ck being wrapped like a mummy all day long, right? Unless a person has no d*ck at all, only then he would not know the pain of being cut on your d*ck..."Hearing such a reply, many onlookers were startled while more of them laughed their *sses off. Some scrupulous guys even whistled.After seeing that Zhang Tie wasn''t fighting the guys of Third Platoon, but was instead being jeered by a great amount of animals, the three guys of Beckham''s group immediately took off their pants and tried their best to swing that thing in their crotches to show off around. Everybody then burst out laughing. Under the great laughter and the weird calls of ''mummy, mummy, mummy'', Zhang Tie pulled off the zipper of his pants, which really startled the great amount of bastards, and they howled.Zhang Tie didn''t fight the guys in Third Platoon, still, he was well accepted by them.Freo, Guderian, and several military officers then stared at each other, standing far away from those animals. In the Iron-Blood Camp, no new second lieutenant could be agreed on and accepted by the rest in such a short period. What magic had Zhang Tie used?

 173 Hierarchy Exists Everywhere

    Chapter 173: Hierarchy Exists Everywhere


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The hierarchical differences of the Norman Empire existed everywhere. At lunch, the canteen of the camp was divided into seven parts: common soldiers, corporals, sergeants, first sergeants, second lieutenants, first lieutenants and Major Guderian and lieutenant colonel Reinhardt. Everybody ate in their own area.


    Food and dishes were also different for people of different ranks. From first lieutenant onward, each person could get some fruits before lunch. As for captains, they could have a cup of aperitif. Major Guderian and lieutenant colonel were directly serviced by the chief cook of the canteen.


    Zhang Tie really broadened his vision.


    "They even follow such a strict hierarchical system at lunch, aren''t they afraid of mutual estrangement in the troop?" Zhang Tie asked a second lieutenant who was having lunch together with him.


    "No way!" The second lieutenant who was having lunch with him cast a strange look at Zhang Tie. "Tell me, what the hell are you thinking about?"


    "I''m thinking that if only I had some fruits before lunch!" Zhang Tie honestly answered.


    "That''s right. Because I''m thinking this too. Those first lieutenant company commanders who are eating fruits must be thinking about having a cup of aperitif. Those drinking that cup of aperitif must be admiring the treatment that the boss enjoys. So do the common soldiers.


    "The corporals all dream about having as much meat as the sergeants. Sergeants all dream about having as much soup as the first sergeants. First sergeants all dream about having a military officer''s dorm and a beautiful guilty slave to warm up the bed for them.


    "We all have our pursuits. In the troop, one can only expect better treatment by rendering meritorious services and improving his own real strength. Therefore, it is stimulative for everybody!"


    After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie found that it was true. The hierarchical system that existed everywhere was encouraging everyone to work hard and reminding them of their own status. The Norman Empire was really terrifying.


    Hierarchy is order! Order is beauty!


    Zhang Tie remembered the dictum that was held in the mind of every Norman soldier that adviser Vessie had told him.


    A country which would even divide military weapons into different classes for military officers with different ranks was really amazing.


    Zhang Tie racked his mind.


    ''Perhaps the residents of the Norman Empire have been put into different classes, resulting in different treatment since they were born. Many people might have been working hard to improve their social status and rank since they were young.''


    The strict hierarchical system of the Norman Empire was well known across the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor. Everything in this country, including cities and people, was divided into different classes. The cities of the Norman Empire were divided into nine classes, while its people were also divided into different classes and ranks.


    The lowest class was guilty slave, closely followed by guilty citizen, then the average citizen, soldier, meritorious class, nobleman, and imperial class. Among the imperial class, the most honorable was imperial household. The emperor of the Norman Empire stood atop of the pyramid of rights across the country.


    This was the most rough division. To be concrete, guilty slaves were also further divided into different ranks.


    In the Norman Empire, the lowest class was LV 3 guilty slave. If LV 3 guilty slaves didn''t violate the laws their whole lives, their children would be promoted to LV 2 guilty slaves. LV 3 guilty slaves could not be promoted any time in their lives. However, if a LV 3 guilty slave could render meritorious service, his or her children could then be directly promoted to LV 1 guilty slaves.


    Similarly, LV 2 guilty slaves had one more privilege than LV 3 guilty slaves. Once LV 2 guilty slaves rendered meritorious service, they could be promoted to LV 1 guilty slaves. After that, once they didn''t violate the laws, their children could get rid of the status as a slave and be promoted to guilty citizens.


    At that rank, they started to have some social rights. If they could render meritorious services to the country, they and their children could become average citizens, who would then enjoy more social rights and means of promotion.


    In the Norman Empire, a person or a family, if lowered to be LV 3 guilty slaves, they had to experience at least three generations'' efforts before being allowed to enter the main-stream society once again.


    Zhang Tie, for example, after being promoted to be a second lieutenant, had become a low-rank soldier.


    In the Norman Empire, only people coming from families above the level of soldiers could be made into military officers. Colonel Leibniz was a high-ranking soldier. Only after being promoted to be a major general could he become a member of the meritorious class.


    The pyramid structure of the social classes across the Norman Empire was as precise as a difference engine.


    If a person wanted to be a member of a noble class, not only in the Norman Empire but also in other human countries, there was only one requirement¡ªonly those people who have rendered great meritorious services to human beings in battles against demons by killing them can gain the respect of everybody and become part of the nobility.


    After the first holy war between the humanity and the demons, it was clarified in the "Human Clan Brilliant Magna Carta" formulated by countries, armed forces, and religious groups on all continents that ''only people who kill demons can be awarded with the title of nobility''. This rule had gained the the approval of all the people, countries, and armed forces.


    As having not killed any demons, even Lin Changjiang, the governor of the Northern Border Military Zone of the Norman Empire was only a member of the meritorious class, instead of a member of the noble class.


    Human noble class in Black Iron Age was the representative of real elites and heroes, which was in complete opposition to the nobles that appeared in the history before the Catastrophe.


    ...


    After staying in the Iron-Blood Camp for merely one morning, Zhang Tie realized that he already had a good impression about this place. Even average soldiers of the Norman Empire could enjoy a good treatment. However, as the "Iron-Blood Camp" was more special in the Army of the Norman Empire, the military officers here could enjoy an alluring treatment.


    In non-war time, everybody in the Iron-Blood Camp could enjoy a salary 1.5 times higher than that of soldiers with the same rank in other regiments. In war-time, everybody in Iron-Blood Camp enjoyed a salary two times higher than that of soldiers with the same rank in other regiments. That was to say, Zhang Tie could get eight gold coins a month here. Before this, he had not imagined that he could possibly get this much gold coins per month.


    This was only one privilege of the military officers in the Iron-Blood Camp. Additionally, each military officer here could get some fixed items which were mainly cigarettes and sugar bars and some other small items which were all hard-to-get in any other place.


    Besides abundant material treatment, the experience as a soldier or military officer in the Iron-Blood Camp was also a huge plus in the eyes of superiors. In the Iron-Horn Army, any main battle officer of regimental level had served in the Iron-Blood Camp fore more than three years. Therefore, Zhang Tie understood the expression "gold-plating" which was used to describe those who served in the Iron-Blood Camp.


    There was another name for the Iron-Blood Camp across the Norman Empire - Double High Camp. One of them referred to the high casualty rate, while the other to high possibilities in breaking through bottlenecks in each level of the Iron-Blood Fist. Because of "Double High", there were generally two kinds of soldiers here.


    First were the trouble-makers, bastards, and army ruffians. Troublesome and untamed guys whom their superiors disliked would be thrown into the Iron-Blood Camp. They would then grow or die inside.


    The second were people who were truly violent. They were war maniacs who dreamed about breaking through their bottlenecks in training the Iron-Blood Fist skill through tough exercises and battles here.


    This was also what Zhang Tie had seen when he entered the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division for the first time. Some people were lazily lying and sleeping under the trees in the hot day while the others were practicing Lying Tiger Move in the training ground under the hot sun, their skin being heavily scorched to the point that even a layer of it had cracked and rolled up.


    In the Iron-Blood Camp, besides one hour''s drill in the morning, no other training would be arranged for average soldiers. Everybody could do whatever they liked such as training or sleeping. Nobody would care what you were doing because the battles that Iron-Blood Camp experienced screened off those unqualified for it. If you were powerful enough, you would survive the battles. If not, it would be normal for you to be eliminated. By then, you should not blame anyone else.


    Soldiers were relaxed. As a low military officer, of course, Zhang Tie would be even more relaxed. It had nothing to do with him, big or small. On the first day he registered in the Iron-Blood Camp, he had found out that he had nothing to do at all in the afternoon.


    No. 39 Division of Blackhot City was now in LV 2 combat readiness which meant that none of the common soldiers were allowed to leave the camp without receiving an order.


    The military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp, though, followed the rule of ''register thrice: in the morning, noon, and evening''.


    In the morning, military officers had to attend morning exercises together with soldiers for one hour. At noon, they had to have lunch in the station. In the evening, it was time to go back to their own dorms and go to sleep before 12:00 pm. Military officers were forbidden to sleep outside. Besides these, the Iron-Blood Camp had no more constraints on Zhang Tie.


    This way Zhang Tie found out that it was actually not as boring as he had imagined in the Iron-Blood Camp.


    Before he would be driven to Kalur for the incoming battles, he had roughly two weeks to stay in Blackhot City, during which he could do a lot of things...

 174 Mummys Prowess

    Chapter 174: Mummy''s Prowess


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    August 9, 889th year of Black Iron Calendar...


    As usual, Zhang Tie was woken up from deep sleep a bit after 6:00 am by his biological clock. The moment he opened his eyes, he felt his physical strength and spirit surging like early sunrise. That was a marvelous feeling.


    This was the third day since Zhang Tie had registered in the Iron-Blood Camp.


    Unexpectedly, when he put on his pants, he found that the thing which had not erected for six days had finally become grim again. At the beginning, Zhang Tie didn''t realize what it meant, however, the moment he put on his pants, he understood that it was not painful anymore.


    ''Has the wound recovered?''


    Zhang Tie then immediately took off his pants and undid the gauze over his dick. He carefully checked it and found it was truly recovered as a narrow scar now marked it, leaving fresh flesh!


    "Hahahaha..."


    Zhang Tie burst out laughing as he took off all of his clothes and rushed into the washroom. With the sound of ''Huala huala'', he turned on the hot water and took a long-welcomed bath. After that, he watched that wholly new thing, which was not as ugly as it had been in the past few days.


    During these couple days, Zhang Tie had already won a nickname - Mummy!


    Although many guys in the Iron-Blood Camp had nicknames, Zhang Tie''s was absolutely the loudest. After learning the reason for this nickname, all the other guys would laugh out loudly...


    Nevertheless, Zhang Tie didn''t care about it as he felt it was nothing shameful at all. Since they were all tough men, there was no need to care about that. No matter what, he would not lose even a hair.


    The benefit brought by that nickname was that in a few days everybody in the Iron-Blood Camp knew the fresh new guy - Second Lieutenant Mummy! Of course, many people were still calling him boy toy behind his back.


    But Zhang Tie didn''t care what they called him. Like what Zerom had said, if other people called him this, he could only take it as their jealousy for his handsome looks and excellent personality. It was definitely a jealousy, an undisguised one at that. Those guys were jealous about him being more handsome than them in military uniforms.


    Hahahaha...


    There was another thing to deal with today. It was the day of his duel with Sodor.


    Zhang Tie knew that it was time to show his prowess. He was too low key in the past few days, so now it was time for him to show his real strength to those bastards.


    In the past two days here, Zhang Tie''s biggest achievement was that he had learned how to drive a car. He could already drive a car to fly around the camp, which made his days way less boring than they would''ve been otherwise.


    Zhang Tie found it very interesting to drive a car. Like running, anything that could bring him a sense of freedom akin to that of the wind would catch his heart.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought about going out in an average vest and pants, however, after thinking about the duel, he directly put on the lieutenant''s combat suit of the Norman Empire.


    Compared to informal dress and ceremonial dress, Norman Empire''s combat suit was more close-fitting, compact, and more flexible. The main material on the outside was leather with reinforced yarn cloth, which had a strong sense of texture, spun in a stone-mill.


    Additionally, the suit had defensive capabilities up to a certain degree. It was said that there was a layer of fine wire-working close to the heart and abdomen within the inner layer, which could effectively resist the harm brought by arrows.


    The treatment of the Norman Empire''s soldiers could also be seen by this combat suit.


    Although this combat suit could not match real armor, Zhang Tie could wear it in his fight with Sodor without having to worry about being harmed.


    For a weak person like Sodor, of course Zhang Tie didn''t need to wear any armor.


    He put on his combat suit, a pair of high, leather combat boots, and a pair of combat gloves and looked at himself in the mirror. The whole set included two colors, red and black, which matched well with each other and made him more valiant.


    "Zhang Tie, you look really handsome!" Zhang Tie mumbled before the mirror before revealing a smile.


    He then took up that terrifying, huge battle sword of 358 kg hung on the weapons rack and easily hefted it on his shoulder before walking out of the dorm.


    When he left, the morning horn of the Iron-Blood Camp had just been blown.


    It was hard to say whether it was because he had well recovered or had greatly improved his strength after eating the two fruits from the small tree, but after only one week, Zhang Tie already felt that the heavy sword was a bit lighter than before, and he could move it much more easily.


    When Zhang Tie went downstairs, he met another second lieutenant who had just gotten up. At the sight of the over two meter long heavy sword on Zhang Tie''s shoulder, that second lieutenant was so surprised that his mouth open wide enough to hold a chicken egg.


    "Morning, Second Lieutenant Goethe!" Zhang Tie enthusiastically greeted the second lieutenant of the second company of the Iron-Blood Camp who lived on floor three.


    "Is the big thing on your shoulder... is it painted wood?"


    The second lieutenant stared at Zhang Tie with disbelief. When Zhang Tie greeted him, he could easily and steadily hold it by only one hand. His performance formed a sharp contrast between his average figure and that huge thing on his shoulder which arouse second lieutenant''s suspicion.


    Zhang Tie just gave him a smile. Second lieutenant Goethe then walked over and flicked at the blade of the huge sword with his finger. Hearing no sound at all due to its heavy weight, Second Lieutenant Goethe''s face immediately twitched. He forcefully swallowed his saliva and stared at Zhang Tie with surprise.


    "How heavy it is?"


    "358 kg!"


    "Is this your main battle weapon?"


    "Yes, when adviser Vessie took me to select my weapons in the arsenal, I felt that this heavy sword was convenient, so I chose it!" Zhang Tie answered in an innocent way.


    ''What the f*ck is this thing?''


    At the sight of the huge saw teeth on the other side of the huge battle sword, Second Lieutenant Goethe felt cold sweat go down his neck. ''Dear god! Why not strike me with that lightning bolt? I also want to get a Post-Lightning Stroke Savant Syndrome!''


    Zhang Tie then went downstairs together with Goethe. The latter was really scared. When they parted at the entrance of the dorm building, Zhang Tie came directly to the place where Third Platoon was doing its morning drill.


    He then forcefully stuck the blade of the heavy sword into the ground, leaving it leaning there. Zhang Tie himself then waited for those guys of Third Platoon to come out.


    Five minutes after the morning horn was blown, fifty tough men of Fifth Company''s Third Platoon of the Iron-Blood Camp quickly collected in the place of assemblage. Of course, everybody noticed Zhang Tie in his combat suit and that terrifying battle sword before him. Not only them, even half of the people on the training ground had taken notice of it.


    As a platoon leader, Zhang Tie''s mission was to lead these guys to complete the two hours'' basic training in the morning. Besides that, he could also formulate training content.


    "This morning, we will carry out strength training. Have you noticed this sword? If you want to show me you''re real men, go pull out of this sword from the ground and insert it back into the ground like how you f*ck women. If you can''t even do these simple movements, from today on, you should better not say that you''re men in front of me..."


    With a smile on his face, Zhang Tie said words as venomous as snake''s bite which stimulated those guys'' pitiful self-esteem of male animals.


    Similar to Second Lieutenant Goethe, at the sight of this sword, some of the men also thought that it was just a mischievous trick of Second Lieutenant Mummy¡ªpainting a wooden sword to cheat others.


    Many people were exchanging glances.


    "Who''d like to try and prove that they''re a man?"


    "I would!"


    Beckham, who was roughly two meters in height, walked out of the group and stopped before Zhang Tie. Stretching out his two hands, Beckham took hold of the sword''s handle. The moment he did so, his face immediately changed as his sense of touch told him that the sword was not made of wood.


    "Arghh!"


    Beckham growled like a beast. He then made a Ma Bu [1]. Muscles and veins popped out all over him, face turned completely red as he tried to pull the huge sword out of the ground.


    After the 358 kgs'' huge sword was thrust into the ground, one needed much more than that the force of that weight to pull it out. Likewise, it was not difficult for one to punch out 358 kgs'' force, but it was much more difficult for one to pick up a 358 kgs'' item.


    Finally, when Beckham''s forehead oozed out sweat, he could pull it out less than 10 cm.


    After growling like a beast for three minutes, Beckham finally felt soft on his feet, like becoming exhausted all at once, and threw himself onto the ground. After clumsily standing up, shame was written all over his face.


    "Who''s next!"


    Everybody then stared at each other.


    "You don''t even have courage to prove yourself?" Zhang Tie mocked.


    "How will you prove us that you''ve inserted it into the ground yourself? How will you prove us that you''re a real man?" a trouble-maker in the platoon rebutted in a weird tone.


    "That''s very simple!"


    Zhang Tie smiled as he started to use his Qi. Then, he merely used one hand to pull that huge sword out of the ground. After that, he inserted it back in front of everybody; it entered two feet into the ground. He then pulled it out once again and inserted it back.


    Seeing Zhang Tie do that twice in a row, everybody became silent, even the trouble-makers shut their mouths...


    With his hands crossed behind his back, Zhang Tie looked like a highly skilled fighter. However, his muscles and veins on the hand that he had used to pull out the sword had already started to quiver. Zhang Tie then held it using his another hand.


    Although he looked calm in others'' eyes, he felt that he had already used up his most of his energy. Only after two-three slashes, the muscles on his right hand had begun to shake like strings of a harp, sending out a protest to Zhang Tie.


    A though flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind, ''If I could''ve killed a pile of huge wolves and eaten several Huge Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits, it would be much easier for me to do this.''


    After seeing the demonstration done twice, everybody started to queue up so as to try whether they could pull it out of the ground and insert it back. Everybody wanted to see how powerful Zhang Tie was.


    After all the 50 plus guys tried it, their eyes started to fill with awe towards Zhang Tie. Seeing such a great power in front of them, nobody wanted to speak ill of him anymore.


    In the end, not only the soldiers of Third Platoon, even other soldiers and military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp had queued up to have a try. They all wanted to test ''whether they were men or not''...


    In the end, the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp formulated a ranking.


    Those who could not move the sword at all were women; those who could pull part of it out of the ground were half-women; those who could completely pull it out of the ground, yet failed to insert it in were half-men; those who could pull it out and reluctantly insert into the ground, yet couldn''t ensure that it stood steadily were impotent men. Only those who could pull it out of the ground and ferociously insert it in, letting it stand steady were real men.


    What is a real man? A real man can pull it out and insert it back in!


    The entire morning, groups of soldiers and military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp were drawn in by Zhang Tie to growl all over the training ground. Tough guys competed with each other with sweat pouring down their shoulders to gain the reputation of a real man. Those who called Zhang Tie a boy toy immediately found that they could not even match a boy toy. Therefore, they all felt very shameful.


    When it was close to lunch time, even Colonel Reinhardt was attracted.


    Under the adoring gazes of a pile of animals, the heavy sword was easily pulled out of the ground by Colonel Reinhardt. After several leisurely waves, he slashed with it downwards. At the same time, an invincible strength surged forward from his sword like a lightning bolt and directly plowed a gap in the ground which was one foot in depth and ten meters in length.


    Everybody was shocked by such a lightning bolt, including Zhang Tie.


    "Hahahaha, this sword feels really great. I''ll get one to play with one day..." Colonel Reinhardt burst out laughing loudly. "Let all the bastards have a try today. All those called women are forbidden to eat today. From now on, I''d like one competition like this every week, with those who end up called women not allowed to eat on that day. Half-women can only eat one meal. Those who make progress will enjoy an extra meal. As to those real men, this father will award them with a pack of cigars..."


    Saying this, Colonel Reinhardt pulled out a pack of cigars and threw it to Zhang Tie. At the sight of it the pile of animals all drooled.


    After reaching his goal, Zhang Tie scratched his head. "Colonel, I''ll need to use this sword in the afternoon. There might not be enough time for everybody to have a try. If so, I''m afraid that it could not come to an end until night!"


    "What are you using the sword for in the afternoon?"


    "Someone wants to duel me, I have to be there!" Zhang Tie honestly replied.


    After saying that, Zhang Tie found that it had suddenly become quiet around. Soon after, including Reinhardt, everybody became infuriated.


    "What?! Which bastard dared to call for a duel with a military officer of us, the Iron-Blood Camp?"


    Like a lion instigated by an insect, Reinhardt''s angry voice was so loud that it shocked the entire Iron-Blood Camp.


    "F*ck him, f*ck him..."


    "Call the brothers of the Armored Vehicle Camp to start the war chariots..."


    "Get your weapons!"


    Everybody then became highly spirited, especially Zhang Tie''s men of Third Platoon who had been conquered by him. They were so excited that they ran around jumping like madmen.


    ''Why are they so excited? It''s just a duel. No need to make a fuss.''


    Zhang Tie felt muddled-headed...


    [1] Ma Bu is a basic skill for Kungfu learners. When practicing Ma Bu, they have to steadily stand on the ground with their knees bent like how a horse stands on the ground. After they pass the Ma Bu pass, they could steadily stand on the ground instead of falling down when they fight others.

 175 The Secret of the Sain

    This day, the Seventh National Male Middle School was much more boisterous than ever before. Although it was still summer holidays, the amount of people who poured into school today was several times larger than normally. Upon hearing the rumors about the duel, everybody surged into the school in the afternoon, including Zhang Tie''s classmates, male and female students from other schools who had attended the survival training, and others from all walks of lives. The Seventh National Male Middle School in Blackhot City was a sea of people. Not only the playgrounds where Zhang Tie would duel with Sodor, even the corridors in the teaching buildings were crowded. Barley and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood had come, as well as 64 brothers of Gods Bliss Association whom Zhang Tie had cheated in the mine, Pandora, Alice, Beverly, and roughly 1000 female students from two female middle schools and teachers from several schools.This duel was the first public duel in Blackhot City in the last dozens of years, also the first duel after Blackhot City was incorporated into the Norman Empire.Events like duels could arise many people''s curiosities, let alone it happening so close to them. So nobody wanted to miss it.Because the school was too populous, the Military Administration of Blackhot City dispatched several groups of soldiers here to preserve the order in case of riots.As for the duel itself, even the Military Administration of Blackhot City had no right to interfere with it. Additionally, they had to ensure that it went on under the premise of openness and justice. Compared to the Andaman Alliance which forbade duels, they were a very sacred and solemn ceremony in the Norman Empire. All the legitimate duels would be protected by the laws of the empire. As for duels for revenge between blood-tied members of two families based on barbarous survival training''s rules, they were forbidden to be interfered by others. From the school gate inward, the soldiers in dark red military uniforms and armors, with weapons in hands, stood in every corner of the campus, which gave this duel an air of solemness and dignity.Although many people had gathered in the campus, nobody shouted loudly. They were just sharing their opinions about its outcome and how it would proceed. As for the cause of this duel, over 1000 people had heard it when Garner and Sharon poured out the whole story when they saw that Zhang Tie had broken Zuhair''s neck in the canteen¡ªZuhair was the one who had thought up the conspiracy to kill Zhang Tie. The latter then killed Zuhair to repay him with the same. As to killing a person that planned to dispose of you by sick means, there was nothing wrong with getting back at him without kindness. Since Zuhair''s death was not worth pity at all, when his elder brother Sodor appeared at school, what waited for him were whispers and hisses.The only thing that made people curious was how could Glaze disappear in the survival training. Many people speculated that he had encountered Zhang Tie somewhere, and then was killed. As Zhang Tie had not admitted to this particular murder, this speculation lacked good foundations. Additionally, Zhang Tie was only a LV 2 warrior in many people''s eyes, so how could he kill Glaze who was already LV 3? Someone then thought of Zhang Tie''s legendary lance throwing skills. If he used them, it was possible that he might have killed Glaze.If Zhang Tie''s lance throwing was truly as great as rumored, then even if he was only a LV 2 warrior, he could still easily kill a LV 3 one. If a lance fell from the sky, making a hole in his chest, Glaze would also have been killed, even if he was as strong and agile as a LV 3 warrior. Before such a powerful throwing weapon, there was no chance for him to be resist.However, in today''s duel, Zhang Tie was forbidden to use lances or any other throwing weapons. Zuhair''s elder brother was already a LV 4 warrior. If Zhang Tie, a fresh graduate who was LV 2¡ªat most LV 3¡ªwho had just completed the survival training had to fight against him, was there a chance for him to win?When Sodor appeared, he was holding his weapon - an upgraded standard-issue spear produced in Blackhot City. It was over two meters in length and made completely out of steel. Its head was heavier in weight and greater in diameter than of average standard spears. It weighted more than 30 kg. A LV 4 warrior not using a long sword but such a heavy long-handled weapon to fight a fresh graduate¡ªit seemed that Sodor planned to be extremely shameless. As for a LV 2, even a LV 3 graduate, no matter what weapon he chose, long or short, if he had to face a LV 4 warrior with long-handled weapon in hand, he would be killed before even getting close to his opponent. This was the advantage of weapons with long handles. Even if the weapon was one inch longer, it would be more powerful. On the premise that there was a great gap in fighting force between the two parties, the advantage of long-handled weapons was very decisive.Many people saw through Sodor''s plans. So when he took his long spear and stood on the high platform with his arms crossed, the hisses from the surroundings became louder.The two brothers of Zuhair''s family were each more shameless than the other. Not influenced by the crowd''s reaction, Sodor revealed a shadow of a cold smile on his face. He raised his head and looked at the sun, waiting for the beginning of the duel.The duels of the Norman Empire were usually fixed at 2:00 pm. It shouldn''t be too early or too late. This was the decree of the Norman Empire which was said to have been borrowed from eastern wisdom. Because the sun was hanging high in the sky at this time of day, and was also the brightest, it had the most abundant yang Qi of the day. Additionally, people killed at this time would not form wronged ghosts while the killer would not get entangled with wronged ghosts. Therefore, this time was suitable for duels and executing criminals.Seeing Sodor''s confident look, many people who cared about Zhang Tie started to worry about him, such as those members of Gods Bliss Association who didn''t know about Zhang Tie''s recent change in status."Do you think Zhang Tie will be okay this time?" Potter the fire holder asked Francis in a low voice with an expression of full concerns. They were both standing on a high platform occupied by the members of Gods Bliss Association, "The enlightened one will be okay. Don''t forget that he has been blessed by the Big Blessing Skill!" Francis replied in a low voice too. They then whispered to each other among the crowd of Gods Bliss Association, not afraid of being overhead by the surrounding people. "It''s said that many brothers have already sensed a bit of the effect of the Big Blessing Skill. What''s that feeling?""I don''t know whether it''s the effect of Big Blessing Skill or not, but many brothers have felt increasingly more relaxed recently. They always feel like they''re filled with a sense of pleasure. I''ve two similar experiences too!" Potter whispered."That''s right. We should have confidence in the one that has enlightened us!" The son of a gardener in Blackhot City nodded with great force, a sense of sacredness in his eyes. Saint, as his appellation, had brought him an unprecedented sense of holiness. Other people couldn''t sense it. However, Francis could. Seemingly after obtaining this appellation, he had gradually lost his feeling of inferiority and narrow-mindedness. He started to treat the misfortunes and bitterness of daily life in a different way. Having benefited from this, he became even more positive and compromising.Only after being back home for several days, his family members had already felt his changes. After returning, whether being beaten or sworn at by his drunken father, Francis didn''t rebut anymore. Neither did he glare at his father. Instead, he silently bore it all, exerting all his efforts to be a responsible son. An unprecedented sensation had arisen in Francis''s heart. He found that when one decided to be a ''saint'', he would not consider himself anymore, instead, he would only consider others. In his heart, a wholly new and glamorous self gradually appeared. On the evening four days ago, his dad had come back home very late after drinking a lot of alcohol. If it was before, Francis would have quarreled with his dad, loudly. However, this time he didn''t. He just calmly stayed at home like an ''innocent son''. When his dad knocked on the door, Francis opened it and helped his dad walk in. He then started to clean off the vomit from his dad''s clothes. After that, he washed his dad''s face and cleaned his body before feeding him with the sobering soup. Afterwards, he took the supper back to the dining table. Although he was repaid by his drunk dad punching him in the face, Francis didn''t have any response, instead, he continued to be that ''innocent son without any private thoughts''.Finally, when he started to wash his dad''s feet, a tear suddenly rolled down his father''s cheek, his eyes fixated on him. From that day onward, his dad seemed like a completely different person. He didn''t even drink a drop of alcohol anymore. Each time he wanted to drink, he would sip a mouthful of vinegar. As a result, Francis'' family had already started to change. He owed all the changes to the effect of becoming a sacred ''saint'' upon joining that divine ceremony. Francis felt that he had already understood a bit about the secret of being a ''saint''...Sodor, on the duel platform urged those teachers who acted as notaries to call Zhang Tie out. However, Zhang Tie didn''t show himself.About ten minutes before the duel was to start, when the masses had already decided that Zhang Tie did not dare not to come and were whispering to each other about it, Zhang Tie finally arrived. Nobody could have imagined the way he would present himself...Hiss arrival caused chaos to break out in the campus...In a valiant second lieutenant''s combat suit of the Norman Empire, Zhang Tie appeared outside the school gate on the top of a wheeled armored vehicle, followed by dozens of military vehicles full of soldiers from the Iron-Blood Camp. These military vehicles drove directly through the school''s gate and stopped in front of the duel platform in the playgrounds. Many people immediately recognized that the arrogant person dressed as a second lieutenant sitting on top of an armored vehicle of the Norman Empire was the protagonist of today''s duel - Zhang Tie!Then, all the onlookers became dumbfounded, and the entire campus became quiet at once...

 176 Sodors Tragedy

    Chapter 176: Sodor''s Tragedy


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Everybody became dumbfounded and kept quiet when Zhang Tie jumped off the armored vehicle.


    Zhang Tie knew that this went too far. However, he hadn''t imagined that after the guys of the Iron-Blood Camp learned that someone would challenge him to a duel, they would treat this as a provocation towards the whole Iron-Blood Camp itself, a spit on on their name.


    Because the Iron-Blood Camp was known to have the highest casualty rate in the Norman Empire, in the hearts of the soldiers who believed in the Battle God, if a person wanted to duel with one from that camp, it indicated that he swore to those guys of the Iron-Blood Camp to die as soon as possible on the battlefields.


    Zhang Tie was speechless when he heard about this. Thankfully, after hearing the cause of this duel, not all the guys of the Iron-Blood Camp rushed out. Under the order of boss Reinhardt, only a small portion were allowed to set out.


    Over one hundred people surged out of the camp in armored or military vehicles. Extremely infuriated, those tough men from the Iron-Blood Camp wanted to have a look at what kind of an able bastard dared to duel with the No. 1 real man in the Iron-Blood Camp.


    The moment Zhang Tie jumped off the armored vehicle, two leaders of small teams dispatched by the Military Administration of the Norman Empire to maintain order ran towards him. Standing at attention, they made military salutes towards Zhang Tie.


    "Sir, we''ve received the order of the Military Administration of the Norman Empire to maintain order here. We wonder why would brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp would come here, and whether you need our coordination so as to unify the command!"


    In the Norman Empire which had a strict hierarchical system, without any special occasion, in any place full of soldiers, especially in executing tasks, the person who had the highest rank at present would have the highest authority.


    Now at school, Zhang Tie had the highest military rank, that of second lieutenant''s, therefore, the two team leaders which were dispatched to ensure that everything went well ran towards him of their own initiative to ask whether he wanted to guide their movements or not. This indicated the self-consciousness of a soldier of the Norman Empire.


    "No need, I''m here for a private thing. You just execute your tasks, maintain the order well!"


    "Yes sir!"


    Although curious, the two team leaders didn''t dare to ask more.


    At this time, the order at school couldn''t be better, especially when a batch of tough men jumped off the armored vehicles one by one; none of the onlookers dared to make a noise. Many people who came to watch the fun even had started to regret their decision. They all started to pray inside, wishing not to get involved with any kind of troubles. As citizens of an occupied city, many people here were naturally awed by the Norman Empire''s soldiers in their dark red military uniforms.


    Watched by these many people, Zhang Tie felt his skin under the combat clothes start to heat up. Those familiar with him all cast amazed and disbelieving eyes at him.


    At the sight of Captain Kerlin, Zerom, and the other teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee that was set in the Wild Wolf Castle, Zhang Tie walked over to them and saluted those teachers on his own.


    "I''m sorry about what I did in the Wild Wolf Castle, sorry to bring you trouble..."


    Because Captain Kerlin and Zerom had long known Zhang Tie''s status because he had revealed it to them before, although they were still shocked at the sight of him, they could understand what had happened. However, the other teachers were so shocked that they didn''t even know what to say.


    A fresh graduate had immediately become a second lieutenant of the Norman Empire. This was rarely seen even across the Norman Empire itself, let alone Blackhot City, which had been occupied by for less than one month.


    In many people''s eyes, Zhang Tie was simply as shiny as a sun.


    Was this Zhang Tie a love child of a big figure in the Norman Empire left in Blackhot City? such a thought flashed across many people''s mind at once.


    Captain Kerlin recovered his composure and walked onto the dueling platform before loudly declaring, "Since Zhang Tie has arrived, we shall start the duel!" .


    After walking onto the dueling platform, at the sight of Sodor whose face had turned completely white, Zhang Tie grinned.


    Many people who didn''t know him before screamed at the sight of Zhang Tie walking onto the dueling platform. Those voices were closely followed by gasps and coughs.


    "Weapons are allowed to be used in this duel. Sodor chose a long spear, you can also choose the same weapon!" Captain Kerlin reminded Zhang Tie.


    "Get out of the way, get out of the way, here''s our platoon leader''s weapon..."


    The moment Captain Kerlin finished talking, Beckham and Moos, two ''half-women'' of Third Platoon, brought Zhang Tie''s terrifying battle sword onto platform. Stretching out one hand, Zhang Tie picked up the 358 kgs'' battle sword.


    Another batch of onlookers were shocked into silence now. Motherf*cker, was that terrifying battle sword the size of a door used to fight?


    Seeing Zhang Tie holding that terrifying battle sword in his hand, Sodor was really scared, his long spear even slid down to the ground from his hand, causing a loud ''dong'' sound. Face gone completely pale, Sodor hurriedly bent over to pick it up.


    Looking at Sodor''s stupefied look, those soldiers surrounding the duel platform became really infuriated. Such a timid guy dared to seek a duel with a military officer of the Iron-Blood Camp, and even one that had a weird strength while also being favored by the Battle God. That timid guy was really not afraid of death!


    Beckham and Moos who had carried in Zhang Tie''s weapon immediately grinned. "Platoon Leader, is that stupid guy the one who wants to duel with you?"


    "Yea!"


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Don''t let that guy die too fast. That would humiliate your nickname Mummy. It''s not interesting to directly cut him in two halves. Like how you pat cucumbers, you should pat him all over from his feet to his head with this ''Man''s Certification''!"


    "Piss off!"


    Hearing Beckham call his nickname on this occasion, Zhang Tie was driven so mad that he even wanted to kick this guy off the platform.


    ''Man''s Certification'' was the name the soldiers gave to Zhang Tie''s battle sword. They knew that the battle sword had been in the division''s arsenal for a very long time since no lieutenant could use it. When they learned that Zhang Tie could attack with it, everybody felt a sense of honor. No matter what, the guy who could use this ''Man''s Certification'' was a military officer of the Iron-Blood Camp, which could certify again that the Iron-Blood Camp was the most powerful troop in the entire division. That was enough.


    "Can we start?" Zhang Tie asked the one-eyed man who had walked down the dueling platform. At present, there were only two people on the platform - Zhang Tie and Sodor, who was quivering all over.


    "Yes, you can start!"


    ...


    It was hard to say whether it was because he was too afraid or for some other reason, the moment the one-eyed man declared the start of the duel, Sodor howled like a ghost, cried like his parents had died, and darted towards Zhang Tie with a long spear in hand.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, Sodor''s attack was pretty naive whatever you looked at: strength, speed, moves, or conviction. He looked like a toddler who had just learned how to walk and now with a wooden stick in hand rushed towards Zhang Tie, eyes closed.


    When his long spear was about to reach Zhang Tie, Sodor really closed his eyes.


    Zhang Tie was left speechless. With just a slight wave of his ''Man''s Certification'', he hit Sodor and sent him flying back to fall onto the ground ten meters away. He went back at a speed three-five times greater than when he had rushed towards Zhang Tie, and upon landing was unable to pick himself up from the ground.


    At the same time, Sodor''s long spear also flew high into the air, falling back to the platform along with Sodor, and causing a crisp sound as it bounced off the ground for a couple of times, its shaft curving.


    Seeing this duel, the onlookers under the platform were all greatly shocked. With merely one hit, the middle part of Sodor''s additionally weighted steel long spear had formed a curve of 60 degrees. What great strength would it take for Zhang Tie to bend the steel handle of a long spear?


    All the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood widely opened their eyes like seeing Zhang Tie for the first time. A LV 4 warrior was driven mad and destroyed like a turd under Zhang Tie''s nonchalant counterattack. Was this person their good brother or not? Barley and the other members were all left muddle-headed.


    Pandora and Alice immediately covered their mouths. Was this person that susceptible youth who had embraced them to justify himself, and the one that would think about them when he saw black mulberry seeds in the wild? The jealous eyes of the women of the Rose Association fell onto Pandora, Alice, and Beverly.


    Seeing the scene on the platform, the eyes of the brothers of the Gods Bliss Association became shiny. Tightly grasping their fists, they all felt like they were being scorched inside. From then on, everybody''s belief in the Big Blessing Skill and the mysterious ancient gods became as firm as iron. In their eyes, Zhang Tie became as lofty as the gods.


    Everybody cast their eyes on Zhang Tie in different moods!


    Zhang Tie himself was patting Sodor right now! If he cut him by placing his sword horizontally, four halves would be seen on the platform: two halves of Sodor, two halves of his long spear. Then everything would come to an end, but Zhang Tie did not do that.


    Merely by this counterattack, all the teachers with high fighting skills could judge that Zhang Tie was powerful, very powerful, especially his weird strength, which was far out of the public''s imagination. Merely because of that pure physical strength, Zhang Tie''s fighting strength had already reached the level of a LV 7 warrior.


    Would Zhang Tie really pat Sodor to death like how one patted a cucumber? The teachers of the Temporary Supervision Committee all had strange faces. Miss Qili''s turned completely blue, Zerom frowned as he looked at Kerlin, who then slightly shook his head¡ªbased on Kerlin''s understanding about the youth, he didn''t believe that he was that cruel.


    With one hand dragging his huge sword behind himself, Zhang Tie walked towards Sodor step by step, leaving a groove of medium depth on the cement ground of the platform...

 177 Assassination

    Chapter 177: Assassination


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The entire playground became quiet. Everybody cast their eyes onto Zhang Tie. They could only hear his calm footsteps and the friction between that terrifying battle sword and the cement ground.


    Zhang Tie''s strike convinced all the onlookers. At the sight of his huge strength and skills, all the soldiers of Third Platoon, Fifth Company of the Iron-Blood Camp shrunk their necks. With such a powerful man as their platoon leader, nobody would have any different opinions about it. At this time, when they recalled that Zhang Tie had sworn to protect them on the battlefield the first time he saw them, many people felt a warm flow in their hearts.


    Although Zhang Tie sincerely said it in the past, those guys didn''t believe in those words because none had sensed Zhang Tie''s real strength. However, now, when they had all witnessed his real capabilities, they started to feel warm about his sincerity.


    Zhang Tie''s strike against Sodor shocked the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp more than when he had taken up the ''Man''s Certification'' by one hand in the morning. The latter simply indicated Zhang Tie''s huge strength while the formed revealed his ability to be depended on and trusted in a battlefield. They were very different from each other!


    At this moment, Sodor was miserably lying on the ground, the part between his thumbs and index fingers bleeding, torn open, wrists and forearms broken and twisted. Sodor looked as white as a piece of paper, spitting fresh blood out of his mouth.


    Although clear-minded, he had completely lost his ability to move. Widely opening his empty and frightened eyes, he looked at Zhang Tie who was dragging that terrifying sword of death towards him.


    Lifting his sword with one hand, Zhang Tie put the blade onto Sodor''s neck. At this moment, if he loosened his grip, without even having to use his strength, he could cut off Sodor''s head with this ''Man''s Certification''.


    "Do you know why I killed Zuhair?" Zhang Tie asked Sodor.


    "I know!" After being silent for two seconds, Sodor replied in a hoarse and quivering voice.


    "If you were me and someone wanted to kill you in that way, when you could kill him, would you kill him?"


    "Yes, I would!" Sodor squeezed out hard. "But Zuhair is my younger brother..."


    "If you had said no and wanted to reason this out with me by using your small tricks, I would have cut off your head right away. But as you said yes, I will not kill you today!"


    When Zhang Tie declared that, everybody was stunned. Even Sodor who was lying on the ground didn''t believe that, his eyes widening even more than before.


    Zhang Tie immediately took away his sword from Sodor''s neck and hefted it onto his shoulder.


    "The reason I killed Zuhair was that there was an animosity between us, while you seek revenge because you''re Zuhair''s elder brother. As your younger brother was killed by me, no matter for what reason, you have to take revenge for him, otherwise you''ll have no face to stay in Blackhot City anymore. Nor would you have the face to see your family members, relatives, and friends.


    "Everyone would then regard you as a loser and a wimp. You would not raise your head up in public anymore.


    "As you''re committed to take revenge for your younger brother through this duel, I agree and respect your choice to seek for a duel with me as I have an elder brother too. Now that the result of this duel has come out, and you''ve tried your best stand stand behind your choice, everything will be over then."


    "You... really won''t kill me?" Sodor stammered out.


    "You should feel lucky that as a person who grew up in Blackhot City, I don''t want for the first person I kill in this military uniform to be one who is also from Blackhot City like me. Therefore, I won''t kill you today. However, you have to remember that you only have one chance to survive. If you dare to seek revenge again or will try to do harm to me for Zuhair''s death in the future, once I hear of it, I''ll kill you without any hesitation!" Zhang Tie explained to Sodor in an icy tone.


    Looking at Zhang Tie''s icy eyes, Sodor quivered all over. He lowered his gaze, not daring to meet that freezing look of the other anymore.


    Zhang Tie then walked off the platform, leaving Sodor lying there alone. After exchanging glances with each other, Zerom and Kerlin both saw a shadow of gratification in the other''s eyes.


    Many teachers let out a sigh inside. After experiencing this frustration and being taught a lesson, if Sodor wanted to find Zhang Tie trouble later on, he would definitely be seeking death. Zhang Tie''s real strength, status, or the Norman Empire''s laws, Sodor could not face any of them.


    Once he considered to do harm to Zhang Tie, whatever he did, success or not, what awaited him would only be death. There would never be a second chance. Judging from his expression, Sodor was not that righteous man who dared to take death calmly, like going home. As for ones who treasured their own lives very much, few of them would do something when they knew that the only outcome of it would be death.


    Zhang Tie''s reason for not killing Sodor showed others his inner brilliance and kindness. Including those soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp, everybody showed their sincere respect to Zhang Tie for his choice of not killing Sodor.


    At this moment, Sodor was given support to leave the dueling platform by several of his men, all of their heads lowered down. As for Sodor''s fair-weather friends who had come here together with him, they had already slipped away the moment Zhang Tie stepped onto the platform. It was not a wise choice for them to get involved in a duel with a military officer of the Norman Empire in the city which had just been incorporated into that particular empire''s territory.


    They were scared of trouble.


    ...


    This moment, the most brilliant existence in the entire school campus was Zhang Tie. He was surrounded by soldiers of the Norman Empire, who were maintaining order. Many of the onlookers wanted to push close to have a look at Zhang Tie, however, they didn''t dare to push through the soldiers.


    Zhang Tie caught sight of the brothers of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, Blues, Peter, Pandora, Alice, and Beverly among the crowd. They were all very thrilled, faces red.


    After waving his hand towards those people, Zhang Tie then handed his huge sword to Beckham and Moos. "You go back first, as Ive studied here, I have a lot of friends to meet. I will go back in the evening!"


    Although the duel was not splendid, all the brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp felt that they had not arrived here in vain. Through this duel, they had learned more about Zhang Tie and felt more awe towards him. Everybody started to treat Zhang Tie as a reliable partner.


    After a loud shout, all the brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp started to get back into their vehicles. At the same time, the two team leaders on duty here also came over to report to Zhang Tie that they would collect their teams too. After that, students and the other onlookers all drew closer.


    As it was not suitable to talk here, without saying anything, Zhang Tie just stretched out his arms to embrace Barley and the other brothers.


    Seeing that Zhang Tie was still as enthusiastic with them as before even at this moment, Barley, Bagdad, Hista, Leit, Sharwin, Doug, Blues, Peter, and Bonder all laughed out loudly, feeling highly spirited.


    "You liar, you''ve really tricked us! How could you become so great this quickly?" Blues asked when they were embracing, patting Zhang Tie''s shoulder.


    "It''s a long story. I''ll invite you all tonight. We''ll find a place to eat and chat. I will then introduce some of my good brothers to you!"


    "Fine, I heard Norman Empire''s soldiers enjoy a good treatment, so we''ll not worry about eating all of your coins!¡®


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    ...


    Although Pandora, Alice, and Beverly had intended to come over, the other girls in the crowd quickly pushed them aside, not caring for who they were.


    They were just Zhang Tie''s girl friends. Additionally, they weren''t acquainted with Zhang Tie for a long time, and might not even have slept on the same bed. On top of that, even though he already had three girls, for such an impressive man who was extremely excellent, he must not mind having several more.


    Driven more mad by the second, the three girls could only watch Zhang Tie get surrounded by a bunch of girls at once.


    "They''re all bitches of the Rose Association!" With her hair turned into a mess by those girls, Alice swore. She then rearranged her hair and nervously exclaimed, "Hurry up, help me look at my hair. I really don''t want to be seen by him like a mad grandma with untidy hair!"


    "No need, he''s already seen that!"


    Beverly smiled.


    "If he''s our man, nobody can grab him away from us!"


    Pandora also smiled.


    With eyes fixed on them, Zhang Tie walked directly towards them. At this moment, he was filled with a sharpness and attentiveness. The surrounding girls didn''t dare to hold him back. Seeing him walking over to the three girls instead of themselves, they all hurriedly gave way.


    As a result, the three girls who had been pushed behind the crowd immediately became outstanding again.


    Stopping before the three girls, Zhang Tie stretched out his arms and smiled. "I''ve not told you that day because I really wanted to give you a surprise in this military uniform! Alice, actually your hair looks nice no matter how they look!"


    The three girls were moved and found it hilarious at the time.


    When Zhang Tie intended to embrace the three girls, his smile suddenly froze. All the onlookers and their voices seemed to disappear in a strange point in time that could not be described by words.


    With a surging spiritual energy, in a split second, Zhang Tie felt a sharp killing intent that covered him and the three girls. All of a sudden, he felt like he was about to step into a thorn bush, a sharp item about to break his clothes and thrust into his body.


    There was only one phrase that could be used to describe Zhang Tie''s feeling - on tenterhooks.


    Actually, at this moment, due to an early warning by his high spiritual energy, Zhang Tie had several methods to avoid such an abrupt attack. However, if he escaped by himself, the three girls in front of him would hardly survive as they had no preparations at all.


    So in the period that was much shorter than one second, Zhang Tie did two things: forcefully pushed the three girls aside, and turned back...


    Two sprays of spurting blood came out of Zhang Tie''s body almost at the same time while the third bolt shot towards the place where Alice had stood just moment ago.


    Zhang Tie didn''t fall down, but instead watched the person who had suddenly thrown down the quiver and jumped out of the crowd in an extremely calm way that could not be understood.


    "Pay me back for my son Glaze''s life!"


    The person rushed towards Zhang Tie with a dagger in hand, like a fierce tiger with a huge black spider''s totem of battle Qi behind him.


    ''F*ck!''


    Zhang Tie knew who that person was...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt like he was in a trouble-reappearance situation. It didn''t feel like this was his own body.


    When that person was less than two meters away from him, Zhang Tie pulled out the bolt from his left shoulder with his right hand. At the same time, he threw it back with great force. As a result, that bolt penetrated through that person''s left eye socket and directly entered his brain. Closely after that, the huge black spider behind him dispersed. Although he still came surging forward, he fell down in front of Zhang Tie''s feet.


    Nobody else had realized what was happening. Only now did the girls nearby start to scream loudly...


    The two wounds on Zhang Tie''s body immediately started to feel numb and stiff. Additionally, the sense of stiffness started to spread all over his body. The last image in Zhang Tie''s eyes was a group of soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp darting over like furious tigers while he seemed to be hearing Alice''s cries.


    ''That bastard dared to daub quick-acting poison on the bolts!''


    ''I really suffered a great loss in this life. This father is still a virgin before death!''


    ''Mom, dad, sorry...''


    Face starting to turn blue, Zhang Tie''d body turned numb and he fell to the ground, causing a great chaos across the campus.

 178 Alive

    Chapter 178: Alive


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Evening of August 9th, Holy Brilliance Hospital, the best hospital in Blackhot City...


    When Colonel Leibniz came to the hospital, it was already past 8:00 pm. By the time he came, full-armored soldiers of the No. 39 Division occupied each corner of the hospital. Not only the atmosphere in the hospital, even the entire Blackhot City became tense.


    The one who assassinated Zhang Tie was a classmate''s father whose son got lost during the survival training. That person firmly believed that Zhang Tie had killed his son. Therefore, he wanted him to pay for his son''s life with his own.


    If you ignored Zhang Tie''s and Glaze''s dad''s statuses, it would be a trivial matter, but if their statuses were to be considered, this thing would become complicated.


    Zhang Tie was a military officer of the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division of the Iron-Horn Army of the Norman Empire, while Glaze''s dad, who was already dead, was the guard leader of Gregorian family, which was once one of the greatest families that ruled the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation of Blackhot City. Almost one seventh of the entire wealth across Blackhot City was occupied by Gregorian family.


    If on the land that had been newly incorporated into the territory of the Norman Empire, a guard leader of a ruling family that had already lost its power dared to assassinate a military officer of the empire in public, the outcome would be very severe. Who knew whether there was a plot against the empire behind the killing?


    Especially since the bolt container and the poison in which the bolts were quenched both originated from Gregorian family. Therefore, Gregorian family could not make this thing clear anymore.


    The violent Iron-Blood Camp had already surrounded Gregorian family''s fortress in Blackhot City, preparing to surge inside and eliminate every single person inside.


    The other families in Blackhot City were so scared that they became as quiet as cicadas in late autumn. In case of repeated occurrence, Colonel Leibniz declared a curfew in Blackhot City. Now, on the avenue outside the hospital, soldiers in full-armor were patrolling with heavy killing intent.


    As for these soldiers, they only needed to know one reason about this curfew¡ªa military officer of the Iron-Blood Camp was assassinated by a guard of a rich family in Blackhot City.


    ...


    Previously, Colonel Leibniz hadn''t planned to go to the hospital as he had heard that Zhang Tie was dead. Upon hearing this message, he just signed inside. He could still remember the boy who was looked upon by the Battle God and was very energetic in the military uniform of the Norman Empire.


    Colonel Leibniz had planned to build this youth into a main character of an interesting story in the cocktail party and salon of Nordinburg. Unexpectedly, he had died this way. It made Colonel Leibniz feel like he''d lost an interesting toy. The message brought him a similar sense as when an oak-root tobacco pipe was pushed off his writing desk by his cat.


    Zhang Tie was poisoned by blue frost which was usually daubed on the blades or bolts by assassins. It was a rare poison with amazing killing effect. Commoners could not get this poison at all. In Blackhot City, only rich families like Gregorian might have some of it. The weapon and poison used to assassinate Zhang Tie were also from the arsenal of Gregorian family.


    Upon touching blood, blue frost would be fatal in one minute. Mostly, it could not be cured. That was not to say that there was no antidote to deal with its toxicity, but the antidote for blue frost was hundreds of times more expensive and rarer than the blue frost itself. It could not be found in Blackhot City at all. Therefore, upon hearing his adviser''s report about Zhang Tie''s situation and confirmation that the youth was poisoned by blue frost, Colonel Leibniz treated him as a dead man.


    Knowing that Zhang Tie was poisoned by blue frost, the entire Iron-Blood Camp was like a gunpowder barrel being ignited, with heavy killing intents, they all became infuriated and wanted to seek revenge from Gregorian family.


    Previously, Colonel Leibniz didn''t blame his cat for making his oak-root tobacco pipe fall to the ground, however, today, he had to pay great attention to this incident. He was the head of No. 39 division and the one assassinated was his man. At this moment, each soldier of the Norman Empire in Blackhot City represented the dignity and honor of the Norman Empire itself, especially when political intents were involved in this accident, he should not regard it as unimportant anymore.


    In the entire afternoon, honorable lobbyists in Blackhot City who interceded for Gregorian family against those furious military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp, completely holding colonel back in the office. He couldn''t leave his office at all. One party of high-ranking people defended the Gregorian family while the other wanted Leibniz to give orders to his soldiers to sweep over Gregorian family''s fortress.


    The Gregorian family had dispatched an assassin to kill a military officer of the Norman Empire in public. Once this guilt was verified, Gregorian family would be in great chaos.


    Facing such an event, even the strong Gregorian family became restless. So at supper time, a head of another family which had ruled Blackhot City invited Colonel Leibniz to have supper in a private mansion in Blackhot City. On the table, Gregorian family expressed their ''sincerity'' for complete settlement of this misunderstanding through an intermediator, which greatly moved Leibniz.


    Although these ''dirty money'' families which had dug mines for dozens of years in Blackhot City didn''t have deep-rooted family histories nor great fighting force, by wealth, they even dwarfed the nobles of the Norman Empire. God knew how much wealth these families had accumulated by digging mines for dozens of years.


    On one hand, Gregorian family''s ''sincerity'' made Colonel Leibniz''s heart pound, but, on the other hand, this event was truly tricky, and it was rather difficult to satisfy both parties. Therefore, Colonel Leibniz was left scratching his head.


    At this moment, he heard shocking news¡ªthat Zhang Tie, who had been poisoned by blue frost, was still alive.


    Because of this, Colonel Leibniz saw a beacon of hope for the complete settlement of this event. Full of curiosity, he came to the hospital where Zhang Tie was brought.


    ...


    The youth lay with his shoulders and abdomen wrapped with gauze. His face and skin looked terribly blue, making him a blue eggplant. So far, he was still in a comma. However, he was still breathing as people could see his chest and abdomen slightly rise and fall every couple of seconds.


    Although Colonel Leibniz had seen a great amount of weird things in his life, he had to admit that the one happening to Zhang Tie would definitely rank in top three¡ªa person poisoned by blue frost at least seven hours ago was still alive without taking in any antidote? With the toxicity of blue frost, even a magical beast would have been killed.


    "Are you sure he''s been poisoned by blue frost?" Leibniz asked a doctor.


    Seemingly having expected that she would be asked this question, the doctor took a vial of blue liquid and a white rat. After that, before Colonel Leibniz eyes, she lowered the needle of the syringe into the vial before thrusting it into the white rat.


    Under the gaze of Colonel Leibniz, that white rat only jumped twice before gradually becoming still. Ten seconds later, it started to convulse. After ten more seconds, that pitiful white rat''s skin started to become blue. One minute later, its body became as stiff as a frozen piece of meat.


    Colonel Leibniz didn''t doubt it any more.


    "This vial of blood was retrieved from him! We''re sure that he had been poisoned by blue frost! As there is no antidote in the hospital, we don''t have the treatment either. Therefore, we can only wrap and deal with his wounds. Compared to the toxicity of blue frost, his wounds were not fatal.


    "Previously we thought that he would surely die this time. However, for some special reason, his physical condition is different from that of commoners. Under this event, others would have died hundreds of times by now. Nevertheless, the harm the blue frost brought to him is not as severe as what we''ve imagined. Therefore, he''s still alive for now. This is definitely a miracle!"


    A thought suddenly flashed across Colonel Leibniz''s mind. He abruptly remembered that Zhang Tie had been struck by a lightning bolt. Was this a special ability that the youth had obtained after being struck by a lightning bolt?


    "He''s was struck by a lightning bolt and suffered Post-Lightning Stroke Savant Syndrome. He has extremely great strength. Besides, he can cultivate very fast. Is it possible for him to be able to resist blue frost after being struck by a lightning bolt?"


    "This person is suffering from Post-Lightning Stroke Savant Syndrome?" The doctor was startled. After thinking for a while, she nodded. "It''s very possible. Human body has countless secrets, just like a treasure bank. Nobody can say how much his body changed after being struck by lightning!"


    "Will he wake up then?"


    "Because his combat suit has good defense against bolts, the wound on his abdomen is very shallow. Although the wound on his shoulder is deeper, it isn''t fatal. Judging by his breath frequency, blue frost''s harm has been controlled by him. Although I cannot tell you that he will surely wake up, it is truly possible for him to wake up!"


    "Fine, please give him the best treatment. This person is the most excellent military officer of the Norman Empire. He has an endless bright future!" Colonel Leibniz told the doctor.


    "We will try our best!"


    Before Colonel Leibniz left Zhang Tie''s ward, he ordered a team of soldiers to stay in the hospital to stop anyone from disturbing the treatment. Meanwhile, he ordered them to keep secret about the current situation. If Zhang Tie woke up, they should bring him the news immediately.


    Additionally, before getting into his exclusive vehicle, Colonel Leibniz allowed his adviser to go to the Iron-Blood Camp to tell those violent maniacs that Zhang Tie was not dead yet.


    He also canceled the curfew in Blackhot City at once. Colonel Leibniz didn''t want to make a big thing out of event today. Therefore, he sent a relief signal to someone in Blackhot City right away.


    Soon after colonel Leibniz left, a large group of military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp headed by battalion commander Reinhardt rushed into the hospital like the wind and entered Zhang Tie''s ward.


    Seeing that Zhang Tie was still breathing after being poisoned by blue frost for such a long time, the military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp were somewhat dumbfounded.


    After knowing the possible side effects of Post-Lightning Stroke Savant Syndrome, Reinhardt seriously asked Guderian, "I will have a try, how about that..."


    "If you were struck by a lightning bolt to death, there would be no person who has formed Iron-Blood battle Qi across the entire No. 39 Division. Without anyone who has formed Iron-Blood battle Qi to succeed your position, the No. 39 Division''s Iron-Blood Camp will get canceled! That would be a huge shock to the entire No. 39 Division. If so, No. 39 Division would be the only division abandoned by the Battle God in the Iron-Horn Army. Not only us, even colonel Leibniz would not allow you to do this..." Guderian calmly replied.


    Reinhardt only let out a deep sigh. Everybody then cast admiring eyes onto Zhang Tie who was lying on the bed. Then everybody noticed that the patch of blue on his forehead had gradually become lighter...


    In Zhang Tie''s mind that could not be overheard or spied on by others, a message appeared...


    ¡ª¡ªManjusaka Karma Fruit tree has completed the judging and recombination of the toxin in your body; it is being cleared. Your physical functions are gradually recovering. Poison-Resistance Fruit can be formed,


    Yes or No?"


    "Yes!"

 179 Fish in Turmoil

    Chapter 179: Fish in Turmoil


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The chirping of birds outside the window woke Zhang Tie up. When he opened his eyes, he saw a cozy beige ceiling. A snow white quilt was covering him. Smelling the familiarly sterile environment, Zhang Tie immediately understood where he was.


    He was lying in a hospital!


    The moment Zhang Tie wanted to sit up by supporting himself with his hands, the pain on his left shoulder and abdomen made him grit his teeth at once, which reminded him of the two bolts before he fell to the ground at school.


    ''F*ck!''


    Zhang Tie winced as he swore.


    The wound on his abdomen was not very painful. In contrast, he was much more pained by the hollow where his chest connected with his shoulder.


    Opening his quilt, Zhang Tie took a look at his body. Previously he felt excited about not having to be a mummy anymore, unexpectedly, he was now wrapped in even more gauze than last time.


    ''Is this the aftermath of the nickname Mummy?''


    It was sunny outside the room. Hearing birds twittering and smelling flowers'' fragrance, Zhang Tie got off the bed and walked close to the windowsill. Opening the window, he watched the scenery outside and took a deep breath.


    Below was the hospital''s garden. The scenery there was very good. Standing by the window, Zhang Tie judged the shapes of the buildings outside the garden and immediately knew where he was in¡ªthe Holy Brilliance Hospital of Blackhot City.


    He had not imagined that he could ever stay in the best hospital of Blackhot City, seemingly placed in the senior individuals'' ICU ward.


    Zhang Tie mocked himself, ''The treatment of a military officer of the Norman Empire is really not bad.''


    Seeing sunshine outside the window, while he was wrapped with gauze and bandages, Zhang Tie stretched out his hand to touch the warm sun''s light. Feeling very happy, he closed his eyes.


    Not until now when he sensed the warmth of the sunshine outside the window did he get rid of the last remnants of the terrifying poison.


    It was a very horrible feeling, being stiff and cold. He had felt his blood and muscles freezing into ice from the toes to his tongue. It felt like his body no longer belonged to him. His physical body seemed to disappear, turning into ashes that scattered away, and left him no feeling anymore.


    During that period, Zhang Tie thought that he would definitely die. A poison with such a quick-acting effect was obviously numerous times stronger than the greater rat poison in Donder''s grocery store. It had taken less than five seconds for him to lose his senses after being shot by the bolts.


    Thinking back to that feeling, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded even now.


    ...


    After standing close to the windowsill for less than two minutes, the door of the ward was pushed open, and a nurse entered. She seemed to have come to change fresh dressing for his wounds.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie standing close to the window, she was really shocked and screamed out, ''Aaahh!''


    The moment the nurse screamed, four soldiers in dark-red military uniforms rushed in.


    "You woke up, sir?" a soldier asked with his eyes popping out.


    "Did I sleep very long? What''s the date today?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Today is August 11th, you''ve slept for two days, sir!"


    ...


    Only a bit more than ten minutes later, Colonel Leibniz and a large group of military officers from the Iron-Blood Camp got the news. Everybody then hurriedly arrived at the hospital and poured into Zhang Tie''s ward.


    Seeing Zhang Tie awake, everybody let out a sigh.


    By now, Zhang Tie had already learned the name of the poison - blue frost. In addition, he found out about some of the things that had happened in Blackhot City during the past two days.


    The Iron-Blood Camp had set out to surround the fortress of Gregorian family because of the assassination. They wanted to take revenge for him, which greatly moved Zhang Tie.


    A manager and a guard leader of Gregorian family in Blackhot City were arrested. The manager was responsible for watching the family''s arsenal while the guard leader was the superior of Glaze''s dad. Glaze''s dad had stolen the crossbow and the bolts out of Gregorian family''s arsenal to assassinate Zhang Tie, yet, those two people didn''t even know about it.


    Therefore, the two people were taken as scapegoats so as to relieve the fury of the Iron-Blood Camp.


    Sodor was also arrested along with the two people. He had requested a duel with Zhang Tie, who was then assassinated at school. Nobody knew whether Sodor and Glaze''s dad were accomplices or not; one in the open, the other hidden. So after Zhang Tie was attacked by Glaze''s dad, Sodor was immediately put behind bars. Through interrogations, Sodor ''finally admitted'' that he had ''contacted'' Glaze''s dad after hearing that Glaze had not returned, and they then discussed ways to kill Zhang Tie.


    After admitting his conspiracy with Glaze''s dad, Sodor died in prison due to severe wounds, and all the details concerning Zhang Tie''s assassination were revealed to the public.


    After ''admitting'' his guilt, Sodor helped Gregorian family out of the name of ''main instigator of the assassination''. Of course, nobody cared whether this small figure was alive or dead at this time.


    Zhang Tie sighed inside. No matter whether Sodor was involved in this event or not, it had already came to an end. Since Sodor had died, it wasn''t necessary to look further for guilty parties.


    In this case, Zhang Tie didn''t feel wronged for being shot by the two bolts. Although there was no evidence that he had killed Glaze, Glaze''s dad was sure that Zhang Tie had done it. Then how to deal with it?


    He could only blame himself for being careless as he had regarded the Glaze thing way too simple. He had thought that nobody would find him trouble if there was no evidence. However, he had not realized that in this world, sometimes, someone would not need any evidence to do something once they had made up their mind.


    ''Glaze''s dad must have thought it would not be a loss for him even if he and me both died in this fight. It''s right for him to take revenge for his son.''


    Even now, Zhang Tie didn''t hate Glaze''s dad at all, even if he had killed him. He might have been a good father, but he had brought up a bastard son.


    The only ones wronged in this case were Sodor and the Gregorian family. They were the ''two pitiful fish involved after the city gate caught on fire''. But one was a crocodile while the other was not even a tadpole, merely a plankton. Since the crocodile was in trouble, that plankton then became the scapegoat.


    This was the game rule of this world. Like Donder had said, there were always similar cases in this world: when the rich were in trouble, the poor would be screwed.


    The cause of the entire thing was Glaze, though. Zhang Tie reflected on the innocent method he had used to deal with with Glaze. Only the underprivileged side required evidence to comfort themselves and seek for sympathy and support, while for the privileged it was actually bullsh*t and needless.


    What evidence was used for the Norman Empire to incorporate Blackhot City? What evidence was used for a lion to eat a hare? What evidence was used for a dauntless man to seek revenge? What evidence was used for big figures to decide the life and death of tens of millions of people?


    The mindset that Zhang Tie had formed as an underprivileged person had almost killed him this time.


    What a really powerful man would have done if they had been in the same situation? They would have definitely come back to Blackhot City and sought for a chance to kill Glaze''s dad so as to eliminate this threat in its sprouting stage in case of being further screwed.


    Naive, naive, too naive! Because of this event, Zhang Tie immediately became more broad-minded, and his mentality greatly improved. He grew up a bit more.


    The other benefit of this event was that the others finally believed that he was suffering from Post-Lightning Stroke Savant Syndrome. Previously, they had still doubted whether Zhang Tie was struck by a lighting bolt or not, but now everybody were assured of it as they had all witnessed Zhang Tie surviving the blue frost without receiving any antidote.


    If it was revealed to the public, everyone would be very shocked. If it was not for the lightning strike that had changed his physical structure and tapped his mysterious physical potential, how could he have picked his life back up?


    The first batch of people who poured in to visit Zhang Tie started to be interested in the lightning bolt around the end of the conversation. They asked questions including when he was struck by that lightning bolt, at which place, the size of the lightning bolt, his physical condition at that moment, which part of him was struck, and all sorts of other weird questions. Everyone was asking it very seriously, and even Colonel Leibniz started to show his interest in it.


    Having been well prepared for this, of course Zhang Tie could reply to all of them well. If anybody wanted to verify it, they could definitely find the evidence of a lightning bolt strike beside a big tree on the hillside not too long ago, of which Zhang Tie told them about. Unless someone was able to date back to the previous strike, nobody would find any leakage in Zhang Tie''s lies.


    ...


    "You can take a good rest now. The doctor said that you''ll need a month to recover. So I''ll give you one month''s holiday, during which you don''t need to go back to the camp. You can return when you completely recover!"


    Colonel Leibniz straight away gave Zhang Tie a long holiday.


    He had been in a very good mood the last couple of days. After perfectly solving this event, he would even laugh out loudly to himself in the evening whenever he thought of Gregorian family''s sincerity. Because of this event, Colonel Leibniz found that Zhang Tie was certainly his lucky angel, and so he started to pay more attention to him. The boy could not only bring him continual good luck in Nordinburg, but also in Blackhot City.


    Colonel Leibniz started to feel that it was his wisest decision to recruit Zhang Tie into his division.


    Seeing Zhang Tie awake, Colonel Leibniz finally ordered the security guards to leave. After the military officers of No. 39 Division left, those guys who had been waiting outside the ward, forbidden to enter, now started to pour inside.


    All of them were waiting outside the ward by turns for news about Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie noticed that Leit, Doug, his elder brother, Beverly, and Wood all looked a bit fatigued. It seemed that they hadn''t rested well the past two days, especially his elder brother. Although he strove to act lively, his fatigue was immediately caught by Zhang Tie''s eyes. Though, it was more a spiritual fatigue than a physical one.


    After seeing Zhang Yang''s red eyes, Zhang Tie asked first, "Does dad and mom know about what happened to me?"


    Zhang Tie was most worried about his dad and mom, if they had learned about what had happened to him a couple days ago.


    "At the beginning, I didn''t dare to tell them. I just said that after you left that man alive, you returned to the military camp. Because of the great amount of people at school, there was turmoil, but you didn''t even lose a hair. Later on, when I found out that you had a chance to recover, I didn''t dare to tell them either.


    "So they still don''t know about it. Although dad heard some uncertain gossip outside and asked about you last night out of suspicion, mom also starting to become dubious, I pacified both of them. If you''re feeling better, you''d better go back home to comfort them. Even if you don''t come inside, it will also work if you just greet mom from outside the door!"


    Hearing that his elder brother had lied to their parents for two days, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh. Since few people had witnessed him getting assassinated, and soon after the school campus had turned into chaos, there were all sorts of gossip flying about. It quickly spread outside the school gate, and because the Gregorian family was involved, it further evolved into more varieties.


    Due to his elder brother intentionally hiding it, Zhang Tie hadn''t made his parents worry about him. This was the most lucky thing out of the great misfortune.


    ...


    No matter what, as he had a great amount of time left, Zhang Tie first chatted with Leit and Wood and comforted the others. Then he let them go back and have a good rest. He also asked them to tell the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood that he was fine. After that, Zhang Tie cast his eyes onto Alice, who kept watching him without saying anything since she entered the room.


    Seeing this, others voluntarily walked out of the ward. At the sight of Alice''s red and swollen eyes, Zhang Tie smiled and showed his muscles using his right arm that could still freely move.


    Alice''s eyes immediately teared up. She walked over and carefully embraced Zhang Tie for two whole minutes, afraid of hurting him. She kept dropping tears on Zhang Tie''s undulating chest without saying anything.


    Zhang Tie was really scared by this and hurriedly helped Alice to wipe off her tears. "I''m sorry to have frightened you that day. I know it wasn''t good to kill a person in front of you. It was a bit bloody..."


    Seeing her man still worrying about frightening her that day, Alice just shook her head, tears coming down her cheeks in a greater torrent.


    "What are you crying for?" Zhang Tie was pained by her sorrowful visage and started to kiss away her tears. "You must have not slept well these two days!"


    "They all say that you had realized it at that time. If you had chosen to avoid the bolts, they would have never hit you. But because we were standing in front of you, you decided to protect us by pushing us away at the cost of your life. You then used your own body to face the bolts, didn''t you?" Alice held Zhang Tie''s face between her hands, her tearful eyes filled with deep love fixed on him. "Why were you so foolish?"


    Zhang Tie giggled, not knowing what to say. It had been just his instinctive response at that moment; he hadn''t thought that much about it. He only felt that it was not right for Alice, Beverly, and Pandora to face danger when he was still standing alive. This was especially so now, when he knew that the bolts had been quenched in blue frost.


    Zhang Tie started to really feel that he had made the right choice. Thankfully, the two bolts were shot at him...


    "To tell the truth, I only feel very happy now; thankfully, the two bolts were shot at me! If they had hit you, I wouldn''t know how to face that. I cannot imagine what I would do if you lay there and would never wake up again because of me. I might have been driven mad by it..."


    Right now, they actually didn''t need to say anything. Alice moved her lips closer to Zhang Tie and started to kiss him. Today, she even wanted to engulf him whole.

 180 A Performance and Orphanages Troubles

    Chapter 180: A Performance and Orphanage''s Troubles


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    On the same evening Zhang Tie woke up, he gave a performance together with his elder brother.


    In the evening, Zhang Tie put on his clothes and drove a military vehicle that was left by the Iron-Blood Camp out of the hospital. Because his left hand did not work well yet, Zhang Tie only used his right hand to control the steering wheel. Since he was fully-dressed, nobody could see his wounds.


    This car, powered by a steam engine, was very easy to control. It only had a neutral position, a former block, an after stall, a brake, and an accelerator. Of course, accelerator was an old word


    from before the Catastrophe. According to the present professional terms, it was a pressure-variable pedal connected to the car''s boiler. Through this pedal, the output power of the steam engine at the head of the car could be adjusted.


    Steam-driven cars drove easily. They could reach above 100 km/h in the city. The only shortage of this car was that it would take at least half an hour to ignite every day. Only after the boiler had been heated and the pressure inside the boiler rose to a certain degree could the car be used. But the car needed ignition only once a day. After it was ignited, what the driver needed to do was to feed coal into the charging bin, add water in the water container, and clean the ashes out of the automatic ash discharging container every day.


    Iron-Blood Camp was the most mechanized camp in No. 39 Division. There were five cars available in Third Platoon alone, in which Zhang Tie served. Three of the five cars were half-covered armored vehicles used to transport soldiers, while the other two were five-seat military convertible SUVs. As the head of Third Platoon, Zhang Tie had an SUV exclusively to himself. As he was recuperating in the hospital, the Iron-Blood Camp just left the vehicle there for the convenience of Zhang Tie''s travel.


    With the pile of gold coins that he had gotten from Samira''s purse, Zhang Tie drove the car directly towards a rice store. After buying two bags of rice, he let the lad working there to put the rice onto his back seats. After that, he paid and drove his car towards his parents'' place.


    On the way back home, Zhang Tie felt pretty cool sitting in the car. His vanity was satisfied once again.


    Zhang Tie estimated that his family members were eating supper now. After pressing the horn twice, he didn''t get off the car, instead, he directly shouted loudly, "Elder brother, open the door!"


    As they''ve agreed on in the morning, the moment Zhang Yang heard Zhang Tie''s scream, he opened the door and walked outside. With a surprised expression on his face, he said, "Aya, you''ve learned how to drive a car. Come on in, we''re eating supper now!"


    "No, I''ve already finished supper. As I have something to deal with today, I brought you two bags of rice in case you need to buy them again. You can just take them out of the car. I won''t go inside today!"


    "Fine!"


    While the two brothers performed, they grimaced to each other. While Zhang Yang was taking out the two bags of rice off the car, Zhang Tie''s dad and mom walked out the door.


    With a big smile on his face, Zhang Tie enthusiastically waved his right hand towards his parents. "Dad, Mom, I''m here to bring your some rice! How about my car? Is your son great? I''ve learned how to drive a car!"


    Seeing Zhang Tie outside the door of their home, as was expected, their parents revealed smiles, as if a heavy burden was taken off their shoulders.


    "Hurry up, go home and eat supper!"


    "No, dad, I''ll take you out for a ride one day. As I''ve just finished supper, I''m here to bring you two bags of rice by the way!"


    "Guoguo, are you okay?" Saying this, his mom prepared to walk towards Zhang Tie. "I heard that something happened to you during the duel!"


    Placing his left hand on the steering wheel, Zhang Tie hammered his chest with great vigor using his right hand. "I''m very good. As there were a lot of people at school that day, some chaos arose. Your son is fine, although having been almost eaten by a pile of girls. There was someone who had a conflict with soldiers sent there by the Military Administration to maintain order, but they were arrested. Mom, you just go back home. I have something urgent to deal with today, so I''ll go back to see you another day!"


    After saying this, since he was afraid that his mom would notice something wrong if she drew close to him, Zhang Tie waved his hand towards her and stepped on the pressure-variable pedal, driving away.


    Now certain that his son was okay, Zhang Tie''s mom finally let out a long breath. She stayed at home the past two days, so when Zhang Yang told her that Zhang Tie was okay, she believed it. But when she went out to buy vegetables today, she heard that Zhang Tie was assassinated. She was really startled by such news.


    As few people had witnessed what had happened to Zhang Tie that day, there were many versions of the event spread around. Some said that the military officer of the Norman Empire picked a fight with the onlookers of the duel; some said that he was assassinated during the duel; others even said that the soldiers of No. 39 Division started a massacre in the Seventh National Male Middle School.


    There was also a gossip that the Gregorian family schemed some plot, but it was found out, and so the fortress of Gregorian family was surrounded by the soldiers of No. 39 Division, which led to curfew across the whole Blackhot City.


    Zhang Tie''s dad and mom had heard a lot of different versions the past two days, and they couldn''t judge which one was true at all. Therefore, they were really worried about Zhang Tie.


    After seeing him drive over in a good condition, they finally became reassured.


    Zhang Tie really didn''t want his dad and mom to worry about him.


    After the performance, Zhang Tie prepared to go back to the hospital as he had to change fresh dressing for his wounds tonight.


    ...


    Because it was supper time, there were only a few passers-by on the road, so Zhang Tie found it extremely pleasant to drive. The landscapes on two sides of the road kept moving backwards rapidly, and he seemed to have that feeling of running in the wind again. While driving with this great pleasure, Zhang Tie caught sight of Grandma Teresa, who was standing on the roadside in green nun''s clothing. Beside her were a group of kids. Zhang Tie''s car passed by them by 20 meters in a split second.


    With a sound of ''Zhi'', Zhang Tie pushed on the brake, leaving a 7-8 m long tire mark on the cement ground. He drove back to the old woman.


    ''She''s really Grandma Teresa!''


    More than ten kids were standing on the roadside. One was holding a box for donations in his hand, while another held high a paper board on which was written - ''We''re very hungry!''


    The rest of the kids were holding pots of flowers and grasses.


    Standing among them, Grandma Teresa collected donations together with these kids from kind-heart passers-by, who would get a pot of flowers or grasses as a payment.


    It was late, and the lamplighters were about to come out; few people were still walking on the road. Therefore, those people who were collecting donations on the roadside looked pretty desolate.


    Zhang Tie immediately jumped off the car and walked towards them. Although in a military uniform, all the kids could still recognize him.


    It was the elder brother Rice Soup who would send yummy rice soup to the orphanage every week before.


    "Elder brother Rice Soup..."


    Zhang Tie was immediately surrounded by the kids. At the sight of the dejected faces of these kids between 4-9 years old and that board ''We are very hungry'', Zhang Tie felt like crying. After the price of grains had surged up across the entire Blackhot City, even his home''s rice brew business became depressed. Zhang Tie could definitely imagine how bad a situation Grandma Teresa''s orphanage was in now.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Grandma Teresa smiled like before, however, after three months, she looked more haggard than before.


    "Elder brother Rice Soup, will you send us rice soup like before? We''ve not drunk yummy rice soup for over a month!" asked a 6-7-year-old-girl in a timid way while pulling on the corner of Zhang Tie''s military coat.


    Hearing the words ''rice soup'', all the other kids started to forcefully swallow their saliva at the same time, their shiny eyes fixed on Zhang Tie.


    "Good girl, elder brother will send you yummy food after a while!"


    Saying this, Zhang Tie slightly touched the little girl''s head.


    Grandma Teresa then walked towards him. Being different from those kids, she clearly knew what it meant him wearing this military uniform. After three months, the coy youth who had sent rice soup to the orphanage had become a second lieutenant of the Norman Empire. Even Zhang Tie''s personality had greatly changed.


    "Grandma Teresa!" Zhang Tie greeted the old woman who was walking towards him.


    "It seems that the god''s willingness has been displayed on you!"


    Grandma Teresa embraced Zhang Tie warmly after coming over.


    "How many days have these kids been starved?"


    "Over the past month, these kids could only eat till they were half-full at each meal. Additionally, three meals a day have been reduced to two meals a day. I had no other method but to take them out and collect donations on the road. If it continues like this, the kids will definitely have health problems. These kids I take out are healthier than those being left in the orphanage who don''t even have the strength to walk!" Grandma Teresa said dejectedly.


    "What do you need most now?"


    "Food, salt, it would be better if there was some sugar and alcohol!"


    "Grandma, do you believe in me?"


    Zhang Tie stared at Grandma Teresa with a serious expression.


    "Of course, my son!"


    "Then go back to the orphanage together with these kids, boil water and clean the warehouse, I''ll bring the items there soon!"


    After deeply staring at Zhang Tie and then kissing his forehead once again, Grandma Teresa said nothing more. She felt tears filling her eyes. She knew that these kids of the orphanage would finally be saved...


    Touching the hears of the kids surrounding him, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. "You first go back to the orphanage together with grandma and tell your friends in the orphanage to prepare for the yummy food your elder brother will bring to you. How about that?"


    "Fine!"


    The small kids all nodded with shiny eyes fixed on Zhang Tie.


    Without saying anything more, Zhang Tie waved his hands to those people as he immediately jumped into the car and sped away...


    Not until Zhang Tie disappeared at the end of the road did grandma Teresa let those kids who had been standing outside for almost a day to return to the orphanage.

 181 Relief

    Chapter 181: Relief


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie then immediately drove his car into the trading center where he bought things.


    He was still using Samira''s purse. When Samira failed his plot to screw Zhang Tie in the Wild Wolf Castle by losing his purse, Zhang Tie found that this purse was very fashionable and comfortable, so he decided to keep it with him. Not afraid that Samira will find him trouble for it.


    The two bags of rice cost only a small half of the silver coins in the purse. There were still more than 20 gold coins that were still untouched.


    The amount of money inside the purse was equal to more than his dad''s two years'' salary. It was not a small amount of money for Zhang Tie. Previously, he had felt reluctant to spend it, however, when he thought back to those small kids who rose high the board ''We are very hungry'' with wide-open eyes fixed on him, Zhang Tie couldn''t hold onto it any longer.


    Zhang Tie felt that it might really be the god''s willingness. In the beginning, in the name of the phantom ''contract of soul and bloodline promise'' of Grandma Teresa and that Guardian God School, he prevented Samira from winning against him in the court and finally gained a complete victory. Therefore, today, he would use this money for the orphanage of the Guardian God School.


    Most average people in Blackhot City would have time to buy things only after they finished their work in the evening. This was especially so after the prices of food sharply surged, compared to before, and people could buy fewer things at a time, though the purchase frequency increased. Therefore, many shops and firms in the trading center would not close up until 10:00 pm.


    Being very familiar with this trading center, Zhang Tie had a clear route in his mind. He directly drove to a comprehensive firm opened by a Chinese.


    The moment Zhang Tie got off his car to look around, the boss of the firm was already enthusiastically greeting him in front of the gate. Zhang Tie saw a shrewd personality in this boss that could be seen on all Chinese businessmen who did business in foreign countries.


    Looking around the various commodities that had been piled as high as small hills in the warehouse beside this firm, Zhang Tie nodded his head internally.


    "What can I do for you?"


    The Chinese boss was very enthusiastic about his new customer because of Zhang Tie''s Chinese appearance and the good reputation of the Norman Empire''s soldiers when they shopped in Blackhot City.


    The boss spoke Chinese. In this age, all the Chinese were very united. In the eyes of other human kinds, the they were people who could become partners from a group of two, form a team from a group of three, and a gang from a group of five. In any place, once the number of Chinese exceeded ten, nobody would then dare to find them trouble.


    Without saying anything, Zhang Tie directly threw that purse to the Chinese boss, who easily caught it.


    "I will spend all this money in your firm, how many benefits can you give me?" Zhang Tie asked in Chinese.


    Simply after weighing it in hand, the boss already revealed a smile. "You can enjoy 30% off in our firm if the cost exceeds 20 gold coins, once. As you are a Chinese, I''ll give you an extra 10% off, totaling in 40% off. Besides, I can help you send the commodities to your home. Due to low profits in grains, this is the largest benefit that I can give you!"


    "Fine, give me the list of commodities, I want to have a look!"


    Of course little deals would not need a list of commodities, however, as for transactions above ten gold coins like this, the boss would present a list of commodities for the guest to choose from. The list included everything that was stored in the warehouse and what the boss could get for the guest.


    Glancing over the list, Zhang Tie started the shopping spree like ordering dishes in a hotel.


    50 bags of rice, 25 kgs in each bag...


    34 bags of corn, 30 kgs in each bag...


    50 bags of flour, 25 kgs in each bag...


    140 kgs of dried meat slices...


    98 kgs of white sugar...


    127 kgs of salt...


    23 bottles of plume oil, 5 kgs a bottle...


    17 bottles of alcohol, 2 kgs a bottle...


    Zhang Tie ordered all the items one by one while the Chinese boss scribbled it down on a notebook with a pen. After noting it all, he hurriedly started to calculate on the abacus. After deducting 40% of the total price, he got the final result - 26 gold coins, 18 silver coins, and 33 copper coins. He then opened Zhang Tie''s purse and counted the coins inside. After he finished counting, he was really dumbfounded. There were 26 gold coins, 18 silver coins and 33 copper coins inside.


    They were precisely equal to the total amount of these commodities.


    "What? Isn''t it enough?"


    "Enough, enough, the money inside is precisely enough. Not even one coin less. I just had planned to reduce 33 copper coins for you before!"


    Sweat formed on Chinese boss'' forehead.


    ''It took this military officer less than 30 seconds to order all the items. Most of the prices were different, and were not even integers. Besides, I even gave him a 40% off. Had he calculated them all in his mind when he ordered? How could that happen? It takes me, a highly skilled abacus manipulator with dozens of years'' experience, over one minute to calculate them all, how could this person know the answer only after one glance.''


    This could never be a coincidence.


    At once, the Chinese boss started to feel that this young military officer of the Norman Empire was unpredictable. He could never know that Zhang Tie''s ''Mental Arithmetic by Abacus'' had reached a level that could not even be described by himself. When Zhang Tie took the list of commodities, only after one glance over it, he already knew how many items could be purchased using the money in the purse. After two seconds'' consideration he had already determined what he could purchase.


    "Can you load them up now?"


    "Oh, yea, right away! These items will be directly taken from the warehouse, though the alcohol will take some extra time as it has to be sent from elsewhere..."


    "Fine, please hurry up, someone is waiting for these items to cook supper!"


    "Alright, I''ll arrange it in ten minutes. Please come in and have a drink!"


    The boss looked more affable after the sale.


    Ten minutes later, a truck full of commodities and four carriers drove to the west side of Blackhot City following Zhang Tie''s car. After a short while, they arrived at the orphanage in the civilians'' area, which was not far from the west city wall.


    Like what Zhang Tie saw when he came here bringing rice soup before, Grandma Teresa and a group of kids from the orphanage stood at the entrance with raised heads, waiting for Zhang Tie''s arrival as they all knew that he would bring them some food today. However, nobody could have imagined that what followed Zhang Tie would be a truck full of all kinds of food and materials that the orphanage needed most.


    Rice, flour, corn, sugar, dried meat, oil, salt, and alcohol.


    A truckload of items! Since Grandma Teresa founded this orphanage, this was the largest donation that the orphanage had received till now.


    Seeing the truck, all the kids cheered up, and their small faces revealed jubilant smiles at once. The desolate orphanage immediately became joyful, like welcoming a grand festival.


    Although Zhang Tie felt reluctant to spend all of this money at the beginning, the moment he saw the brilliance and hope on the faces of those kids and Grandma Teresa, he also felt warm and very happy inside.


    ¡®Everything I did for the orphanage is worth it,'' Zhang Tie murmured inside. He felt truly rich, which originated from how many people he could use his money to please and satisfy.


    A mean guy with countless gold coins was definitely not as satisfied as him; if he had kept the money in his purse, he would still not have tasted this sense of satisfaction and pleasure.


    It was really happy to have money, however, he would feel happier, more satisfied, and more brilliant inside if he could spend that money to make his beloved people happy!


    Filled with such great pleasure and satisfaction, Zhang Tie almost forgot his wounds, joining the army of carriers, helping them to bring the items into the orphanage from the truck.


    However, after he placed two bags of rice under his left armpit and used his strength to carry it, the wounds on his abdomen and shoulder started to pulse with pain.


    He gritted his teeth and went ahead, but after carrying only one round of items, Zhang Tie''s face had already turned sallow, a patch of fine sweat drops forming on his forehead. Worse, the two wounds seemed to have started bleeding again.


    A little girl with a bag of salt in hand happily rushed over and hit Zhang Tie''s abdomen carelessly. She hurriedly apologized when she saw his face immediately turning pale.


    "Doesn''t matter, go ahead and bring inside what you''re carrying!"


    Zhang Tie forced a smile as he saw off that little girl, then panted for breath.


    Grandma Teresa walked over with her eyes fixed on Zhang Tie''s face.


    "You''ve been wounded?"


    "Yea, a bit, doesn''t matter. These items should help the orphanage pass through this period!"


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    "Can you show me your wounds?" Grandma Teresa asked carefully.


    "You can deal with injuries?" Zhang Tie joked in a relaxed manner.


    "God''s brilliance exists everywhere!"


    ...


    When the kids and female servants of the orphanage were jubilantly preparing for a grand supper, under the persistent suggestion, Zhang Tie took off his upper clothes and laid down on a hard bed in Grandma Teresa''s prayer room.


    Guardian God School''s pious believers would regularly lock themselves inside such prayer rooms where they can isolate themselves from the outside for seven days, during which they would pray, meditate, and clean their own inner heart and body.


    After undoing Zhang Tie''s bandage and gauze, Grandma Teresa noticed that the wounds on his abdomen and the hollow that connected his left arm and his chest had already started to ooze blood. After checking the wounds carefully, she told Zhang Tie to lie on the bed and wait for her to come back; she would get a bottle of medicine.


    Under Grandma Teresa''s strong persistence, Zhang Tie couldn''t refuse her anymore. Therefore, he just stayed in the prayer room.


    Two minutes later, she walked in with an old-fashioned small box, the material of which he did not recognize...


    On its outside was a silver olive branch pattern of the Guardian God School. At the sight of this small box, Zhang Tie instantly knew that the item inside was definitely not common.

 182 A Kind Heart is Most Precious

    Chapter 182: A Kind Heart is Most Precious


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    After putting that small box onto the table at the head of the bed, Grandma Teresa first used gauze and alcohol to clean off the blood stains from Zhang Tie''s wounds before meticulously opening the box and taking out a crystal vial with a narrow mouth.


    The moment Zhang Tie caught sight of that delicate crystal vial in Grandma Teresa''s hand, his eyelids jumped. This natural-born crystal vial was of great value; the lesser half of it was filled with a green liquid. The moment Grandma Teresa opened the lid, the entire prayer room was filled with an exceptional fragrance; Zhang Tie had not smelt such a good fragrance before.


    Even the vial was of great value, let alone the value of the liquid inside it.


    "Grandma, is the liquid in this vial very precious? If it is, it''s not necessary to use it on me. My wounds will recover in a few more days. Additionally, I''m living in the hospital now!"


    Saying this, Zhang Tie wanted to sit up.


    But Grandma Teresa put her hand on his right shoulder, telling him to lie down again.


    "Son, nothing is more precious than a kind heart!"


    With these words, Grandma Teresa poured out the green liquid onto both of Zhang Tie''s wounds.


    The moment the liquid touched Zhang Tie''s skin, it immediately soaked in, like water dropped onto a sponge. After a slight feeling of cold, he found himself comfortable and refreshed. It was too comfortable...


    The wounds on his left shoulder and abdomen felt slightly itchy. After that, under Zhang Tie''s amazed gaze, the two wounds started to mend at a fast, visible to the eye speed...


    With eyes wide-open, Zhang Tie stared at this unbelievable scene. Feeling cool and refreshed, he watched as the wounds slowly mended. In only 2-3 minutes, they completely disappeared. Besides the newly-grown skin, which looked a bit fresh, the wounds could not even be located.


    It was too amazing!


    Touching his wounds twice, Zhang Tie confirmed that his wounds had really recovered. They had truly healed, just like in a dream!


    Zhang Tie then immediately sat up on the bed.


    "Grandma Teresa, what is this?"


    "It''s an advanced recovery medicament produced by the Guardian God School, which is more effective than any other advanced recovery medicament! As I''ve served the School for many years, due to a chance, I obtained this one..." Grandma Teresa revealed a smile. "Put on your clothes, the small kids outside are waiting for you to join in supper. If it wasn''t for you, two days later, I would''ve been forced to sell this vial of advanced recovery medicament for those small kids.


    After saying this, Grandma Teresa put back the crystal, narrow-mouthed vial, however, the green liquid inside it had been all used up.


    Zhang Tie knew that he really owed a lot to the Orphanage now. Advanced recovery medicament was an almost legendary item in Blackhot City. The greatest alchemist in the city could only produce medium-level recovery medicaments. For commoners, even the preliminary recovery medicaments were rarely seen, let alone advanced ones. Maybe only Gregorian family would have this kind of item.


    However, the advanced recovery medicament of Guardian God School seemed to be more precious than average advanced recovery medicaments. The price of this vial had to be more than ten times higher compared to how much he''d spent for these kids today.


    Unexpectedly, he could gain such a great payment for his kind heart.


    ...


    The ''grand supper'' in the orphanage was just a pot of gruel boiled with rice and corn that could make everyone full. A spoon of white sugar was put in each kid''s bowl. For these kids who had been starved for over one month, this supper was exceptional, and out of their expectations.


    Grandma Teresa told Zhang Tie that as they had been starved for many days, it was not suitable for them to eat too much at once, so drinking porridge was the best choice.


    Zhang Tie also drunk a small bowl of porridge together with the kids of the orphanage.


    When he was going to leave, all the kids felt reluctant to see him off.


    When Zhang Tie came back to the hospital, nobody knew that his wounds had already recovered after a single outing. More than that, due to the marvelous effect of that special vial of advanced recovery medicament, he even felt much better than before the duel.


    The unexpected recovery told Zhang Tie another fact: he was really a rustic who knew little about this world. Besides that vial of advanced recovery medicament, how many other things were there that he didn''t know about? Didn''t even imagine?


    Blackhot City was very small, yet the world was very big!


    For the first time, Zhang Tie started to long for the vacant world outside Blackhot City.


    ...


    He stayed another night in the hospital.


    Early the next morning, Zhang Tie''s ward was filled with many visitors, including all the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, Pandora, Alice, Beverly, Bonder, Abu, Salvey, Potter, Francis, Wood, Blues, Peter, Kerlin, Zerom, and some beautiful girls whom he didn''t even know.


    After being told the address of his apartment in Avenue Monet in a low voice, the members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, Peter, and Blues all left rapidly. After greeting Zhang Tie, Bonder and Abu also left. Seeing a great amount of enchanting girls in the ward, after chatting with Zhang Tie for a while, Salvey also left.


    With Pandora, Alice, Beverly, and those girls of the Rose Association, the atmosphere in the ward was exceptionally weird which many men could not stand. Even Kerlin and Zerom, after visiting Zhang Tie on behalf of the school, and hearing Zhang Tie rave about being struck by a lightning bolt, also hurriedly escaped.


    However, the news that Potter, Francis, and Wood brought to Zhang Tie made him dumbfounded: in the coming holiday, the members of the Gods Bliss School were determined to dig out a mine outside the Blackhot City.


    These guys had really gotten addicted to digging mines.


    It was not too unexpected that the members of Gods Bliss School would appear in Zhang Tie''s ward. Everybody else treated them as those ''poor relatives of the rich'' who came to strike up an acquaintance with Zhang Tie after he became famous. Even Zerom thought so.


    However, actually, nobody knew that Potter, Francis, and Wood only came to the hospital to tell Zhang Tie the ''enlightener'' that they would continue to cultivate ''Big Blessing Skill'' through mining. They were here to show their decisiveness to Zhang Tie on behalf of the other members of Gods Bliss School.


    At this time, each member of Gods Bliss School started to worship Zhang Tie, crazily and blindly. After experiencing so many things since the time when they worked together in the mines to the present, Zhang Tie, the ''enlightener'' had become a teacher and a guide in the eyes of the 64 brothers of the Gods Bliss School. He truly became a real ''enlightener'' in everybody''s eyes.


    Even Zhang Tie hadn''t imagined that the ''Big Blessing Skill'' that he had fabricated on a mischievous mood in the mines could gather such a great amount of people to him. In Zhang Tie''s original plan, after the survival training, almost all of these guys would depart their own ways. Everything that had happened in the mines during the survival training would just leave them a hopeful life philosophy.


    The persistence of the members of Gods Bliss School also brought Zhang Tie a bit of pressure. He didn''t know what would happen to these persistent guys if the truth about the ''Big Blessing Skill'' was revealed.


    ''I''ll never tell them that the Big Blessing Skill was faked!'' Zhang Tie mumbled seriously after Wood, Blues, and Peter left.


    ''Later on, facing Wood and the other members of the Gods Bliss School, I can only continue the ''barbarous miners'' survival model. Hopefully, after digging in a mine for another two months and seeing no effects, these guys will not persist in it any more, for I''ll feel guilty of making them so obsessive otherwise.''


    When all the other men left, Alice''s disguised smile and politeness immediately disappeared. She then glanced over the other women with a pair of icy eyes.


    From among the other girls in the ward, Zhang Tie only knew one¡ªthat blonde who had taken his pine nuts in the survival training.


    However, judging from the girls'' attitudes, they had to think that it was not important whether he knew them or not. What was important was that they knew him. Additionally, they all knew each other now.


    That blonde who had taken Zhang Tie''s pine nuts was Angel, while the other girls were Sharapova, Sushan, and Fiona. Their figures could even match those of Alice and Beverly, especially Fiona''s; her name meant ''little woman'' in Hebrew language.


    Really like a little woman, at a young age, Fiona had a innocent Lolita face and the sexy figure of a mature woman. Her pair of boobs were even bigger than Alice''s. At the sight of that, Zhang Tie had to admit that such a woman could trigger most men''s desire to ravage her.


    At the sight of Fiona, Zhang Tie''s untamed thing really moved, but since he was still pretending to be sick and lying on the bed without even undoing his bandages, others couldn''t see it.


    "What are you doing here?"


    With her hands on her waist, Alice stared at those sexy girls who dared to come wishing to steal her man with a cold expression.


    "It''s very simple, We, Rose Association, are just here to invite Zhang Tie to be the guardian knight of the girls of Rose Association!" Angel answered with a smile.


    Hearing this, both Alice''s and Beverly''s expressions twisted. Alice was driven mad, Beverly was startled at first, then a winsome smile came onto her face. Only Pandora just ignored them, remaining in her position beside Zhang Tie with a smile. She peeled a fruit and put it into Zhang Tie''s mouth, seemingly not having heard Angel''s words at all.


    Zhang Tie was confused. Guardian knight? What was that? What the hell were these girls doing here?


    "What guardian knight?" Zhang Tie asked, still trying to figure it out.


    "You cannot say it!" Alice shouted to Angel, face turning red.


    At the same time, smiles appeared on the faces of Angel and the other girls of the Rose Association. As if raising Zhang Tie''s appetite, they truly didn''t say it. With this trick, the girls of the Rose Association felt that they had taken the wind.


    Since they didn''t say it, Pandora, who was always quiet, opened her mouth.


    "The alleged guardian knight of the Rose Association refers to a person that needs to protect them from all danger. If you accept, as payment, from then on, each girl of the Rose Association can be rode by you for free. You can plunder any virgin''s crown at any time. Until marriage, all the girls of the Rose Association will be your lovers."


    "Puff..."


    Zhang Tie sprayed out a mouthful of tangerine juice.

 183 Alices Tears

    Chapter 183: Alice''s Tears


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie told his doctor that he was going home to convalesce. Given his current status and reputation, after prescribing some medicine, the doctor seriously told him about the matters that need attention before straightforwardly arranging the hospital discharge formalities for him.


    Actually, in an occupied city facing such a military officer of the conqueror, the hospital had long wished for Zhang Tie to leave as early as possible. If something wrong happened to him, nobody knew what kind of big trouble would be brought to their hospital.


    In the afternoon, Zhang Tie returned to his apartment in the Avenue Monet together with Pandora, Alice, and Beverly. This was the first time the three girls came to visit Zhang Tie''s private settlement.


    The residence left by Donder was very clean. He seemed to have had people send in all the furniture and daily utilities here a day before he brought Zhang Tie. Therefore, everything inside was new, and the air was filled with an aroma of fresh wooden furniture.


    For some reason, when they all went inside, Zhang Tie locked the door from inside. Seeing this, the three girls all became slightly nervous.


    Zhang Tie toured them around his residence. In each room they entered, Zhang Tie would pull down the curtains of the windows to make the light inside dimmer and blurrier. Therefore, outsiders would not be able to see what was happening in the room.


    Each time Zhang Tie pulled down the curtains, the three girls pretended not to have seen his movements. After the curtains were pulled down one by one with the continual sound of ''shua'', the atmosphere in the current room became ambiguous, and they started to breathe heavy.


    On the way back from the hospital, after Angel and the other girls had left, Zhang Tie felt hot all over. His heart pounded heavily. With each beat, it would make him feel warmer, and like there was something untamed inside him.


    Especially after the last near-death experience, Zhang Tie started to treasure his life.


    He really wanted to do something...


    The three girls all felt the scorching feeling coming off Zhang Tie.


    On the way back , he had only spoken a few words. He drove so fast that everyone could predict that something was going to happen today.


    After guiding them around his residence, Zhang Tie finally took them to his bedroom.


    The bedroom was a suite close to the inside of the residence. The only window in the bedroom opened to a sitting room.


    After opening the door of the bedroom, a big bed covered with a beige bed sheet appeared in front of them. As no natural lights were in the bedroom, even though it was day time outside, it was somewhat dim inside, especially when Zhang Tie pulled down the curtains to the sitting room. The entire bedroom seemed to be at twilight, giving a feeling of blurriness.


    By then, the three girls were not able to move anymore. Zhang Tie embraced Alice with one hand and Beverly with the other. After that, he thrust his body against Pandora and took the three girls into the bedroom under their slightly symbolic resistance.


    With a ''bang'', Zhang Tie shut the door with a forceful kick before locking it from inside. The room then was isolated and became a more independent space.


    "You bad boy, you''ve not recovered yet!"


    Beverly bit her lip with a giggle.


    "I used a miraculous advanced recovery medicament last night, so I''m completely recovered!"


    The moment Alice became bashful and reserved, she was thrown onto the bed in a rude way by Zhang Tie, causing a scream.


    Pandora, who had long been thrust into the room and was red in her face and ears, turned back and started kissing him hotly. Zhang Tie''s free hand, in the meantime, undid the buttons of Beverly''s clothes. He then embraced her and Pandora with both hands, and pushed them onto the bed.


    ...


    The room was soon filled with gasps.


    ...


    After losing their minds for over twenty minutes, the four people on the bed finally came to the last step. Pandora and Beverly hugged Alice on two sides to make preparation for her to become Zhang Tie''s first woman. Zhang Tie''s face blushed, and his breathing quickened.


    At the most critical moment, he saw sad tears in Alice''s eyes. She didn''t resist, nor did she struggle, but her tears and sadness immediately shocked Zhang Tie. Close to the city wall, his mummy stopped all of a sudden.


    "What''s wrong?" he asked Alice.


    Without saying anything, Alice just shook here head while tears continuing running down her cheeks...


    Zhang Tie gazed at her for half a minute before lightly kissing away the tears at the corners of her eyes. He then covered her beautiful body with a quilt. After that, Zhang Tie threw himself onto the bed, panting heavily, and started to stare at the ceiling blankly.


    "What''s up?"


    Pandora lightly kissed Zhang Tie''s cheek. Beverly also drew close and laid down on his chest. Feeling hot, their cheeks red, they didn''t know why Zhang Tie would stop at this moment.


    "I thought back to what my mom had told me. She said, if you really love a girl, you should never let her cry for you. A man who lets his woman cry for him is not a good man!"


    "I''m sorry..." Alice put on her inner clothes and buckled on her corsage again, lowering her head. She explained in a low voice, "I just... just cannot get used to it. I had a dream since I was very young, I wished to give away my most precious thing to the man who would only love me in his whole life!"


    "Do you want Zhang Tie to choose you along from among us?¡® Beverly asked, turning her head.


    "Sorry, Beverly and Pandora, I''ve tried hard just now; although I could persuade myself to not resist, I could not persuade myself to not be sad..."


    After putting on her pants, coats, and shoes, Alice got off the bed. "Maybe I''m really not suitable to this game. My mom fell in love with a man who loved many women, and so she suffered her whole life. I don''t want to be like my mom, neither do I want to fight everyday for a man with other woman..."


    Hugging Zhang Tie''s head, Alice let her tears drop down once again. "I only want a man who will only belong to me. I know you won''t belong to me alone, so I''m sad. Do you understand..."


    After explaining it, Alice gave Zhang Tie a deep and hot kiss. Then, she opened the door and, glancing one last time at Zhang Tie, left the room, going farther and farther away. After a bit over ten seconds, Zhang Tie heard Alice opening and closing the gate of the apartment.


    Upon hearing this sound, Zhang Tie felt that the apartment''s gate was like Alice''s heart, it opened but then was quickly closed, disconnecting them.


    Zhang Tie knew that Alice had truly left him, which made him vacant and dejected inside. Unavoidably, the scene of when he got acquainted with her flashed across his mind.


    He had not imagined that Alice would leave him at this moment. It was really a heavy strike, leaving him empty inside.


    "Can you only love one woman in your life?" Beverly asked, eyes wide-open.


    Pandora''s ears also stood up sharper, and she fixed her eyes on him.


    Zhang Tie''s mom had also told him not to cheat or lie to women who loved him.


    Thinking of those words, Zhang Tie sat up in the bed and started to think about this question very seriously, ''Can I only love one woman in my life?''


    During the past fifteen years, Zhang Tie had rarely thought about a single question this much dedication. He kept considering it for more than ten minutes. He thought back to Miss Daina and that nurse who had cleaned his d*ck in the hospital; he even recalled that boring Mary, as well as the cute girl named Fiona from the Rose Association and Miss Qili...


    Zhang Tie considered almost all the women who had impressed him since he was born. Finally, he came to a conclusion - he would not love a single woman in his life. He might fall in love with many women, finding the cute and attractive personalities in each one beside him had, which always drove him to do something to them.


    Was this the aftermath of increased secretion of hormones in one''s youth? Else one was born to be sentimental or an animal?


    Under Pandora''s and Beverly''s longing eyes, Zhang Tie really wanted to tell them lies like ''I''ll only love you'' or just shake his head and answer, ''I really don''t know, please do not ask me anymore,'' in a deep, dejected, and empty voice like that of a lost youth.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t choose either, instead, he just poured out his deepest thoughts.


    "In my life, I cannot fall in love with only one woman. Many women are attractive to me. I''m still crushing on Miss Daina from my school. I don''t know how many women I will love in the rest of my life, however, I''m sure that I''m not that single-minded person who will only love one person till the sea dries and the stones rot away. Additionally, I have a strong sense of possession toward the women I love, I cannot stand my women falling in love with other men. In conclusion, I might fall in love with many women at the same time, however I cannot accept my women loving other men, not even thinking about that!"


    "You mean you''re a fickle and chauvinist guy who''s honest to his women and treasure them yet is very narrow-minded!" Beverly said in a witty way while poking Zhang Tie''s chest with a finger. "If any girl falls in love with you, it''ll be a great test to their patience and understanding."


    "You idiot!" Pandora also poked Zhang Tie using her finger with a smile.


    "But since he''s honest to us, should we give him a reward?" Beverly said to Pandora.


    "What reward?" Pandora asked.


    "Do you remember what I told you about last time?"


    Beverly winked her cute eyes towards Pandora.


    Pandora''s face instantly blushed. "I only heard it from those girls, I''ve not tried it yet!"


    "I''ve not tried it either, we can have a try on this guy!"


    "What are you two talking about?"


    Zhang Tie was lost in their conversation, having no clue what they were talking about.


    "We want you to be tamed. In the following game, you should not use your hands. If you use your hands, Pandora and I will stop! We can only punish you for your fickleness by this method today..." Beverly teased Zhang Tie with her slim eyes as she instantly pushed him onto the bed once again.


    "Stand it, baby!" she told Zhang Tie, turning to face him.


    Instantly, Zhang Tie became stiff.

 184 Sincerity and Toxin-Resistance Frui

    Chapter 184: Sincerity and Toxin-Resistance Fruit


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Not until deep night did Beverly and Pandora leave. As they didn''t ask Zhang Tie to send them back home, he feeling cool and refreshed just sent them to the bus station in Avenue Monet. After seeing them get on the bus, Zhang Tie returned to his apartment with an obscene smile.


    Alice''s departure was a strike to Zhang Tie. What he couldn''t understand was why would a man have to tell lies when he slept with a woman. If that was his true self, why would he have to tell her a lie. If a woman loved him, why would she not love the real him?


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what love was, he only knew that if he loved a girl, he would treat her good and make her happy. He would try to prevent the girl from getting hurt. Additionally, he would hope to do a lot of happy things with her. Were those high requirements?


    Was the truth not right or were humans to used to being hypocritical?


    Was he too foolish or were the other men too smart?


    Even at the most dangerous moment, Zhang Tie would face death for his beloved women without any hesitation and never feel regretful about that. However, even if one lie could let her voluntarily take off her pants, Zhang Tie would not do that as he didn''t want to make them feel any reluctance in sleeping with him.


    Because that was not the real him!


    Thankfully, Pandora and Beverly were still accompanying him.


    This was the happiest afternoon Zhang Tie had had. After only several hours, he became obsessed with the game ''little golden fish and a mummy''.


    Women were truly the source of happiness.


    In the end, Zhang Tie made fouls twice and almost drowned the two little golden fish of Pandora and Beverly...


    When he returned to the apartment, a car, a really luxurious limo, was parked outside the gate. A fat guy that Zhang Tie was very familiar with was standing outside the gate and glancing over the environment here out of curiosity.


    He was manager Hance from Iron-Thorns Fighting Club, whose weight was at least two times that of adviser Vessie.


    "Manager Hance!"


    The moment he saw that fat guy, Zhang Tie already knew his intentions for coming here.


    "Judging from your energetic look, you don''t seem like having been wounded at all!"


    Manager Hance cast an amazed glance at Zhang Tie.


    "That''s because I have good luck!"


    Revealing a smile, Zhang Tie took out his key and opened the gate of the apartment, inviting manager Hance to talk inside.


    Entering the room, Zhang Tie pulled up the curtain and the entire parlor recovered its bright appearance once again.


    "Boss Donder is really generous!" After visiting the apartment, manager Hance joked.


    "He''s my teacher, manager Hance should understand that the relationship between teacher and apprentice is almost like the relationship between father and son! It''s normal for him to gift me something..."


    "Of course, the entire Blackhot City knows that you have good luck!"


    "Take a seat, do you drink?"


    "No, thanks. I''m here for you at someone''s request so as to eliminate the misunderstanding between you and them. Actually, I should''ve been here since I heard you were awake yesterday. However, considering that you needed a good rest, I came here a day later!"


    Saying this, manager Hance pulled out two items from the inside of his coat and put them on the table. One of them was a small delicate box, while the other was a crystal gold note.


    "Gregorian family?"


    "Yes!" Manager Hance nodded. "Mr. Fiiq, the head of Gregorian family expresses his deepest apologies to you for there being an attempt at your life. This is Gregorian family''s compensation for you!"


    Looking at the items that manager Hance put on the table, Zhang Tie felt muddle-headed before accepting the fact. It seemed that he was already powerful enough that the ruling families of Blackhot City had to treat him seriously.


    "Please tell Mr. Fiiq that this event was because of me, I clearly understand that Gregorian family had nothing to do with this event. I feel deeply sorry for the bad name that has been brought to Gregorian family by this event!"


    Manager Hance smiled, very satisfied with Zhang Tie''s reply. Previously, he was still worried that a small figure like Zhang Tie who had suddenly climbed up from the bottom would be very arrogant and difficult to deal with. So hearing Zhang Tie''s words, he found this youth to be far more intelligent than he had imagined. No wonder Kerlin had a good opinion of him.


    Additionally, this youth was lucky enough to even arise others'' jealousy. After being struck by a lightning bolt, he could develop so fast: form the Iron-Blood hidden strength in a short period of time, and even survive the quick-acting poison blue frost. Such a good physique was really worth admiration.


    "Are you still interested in playing in the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club?" Manager Hance changed the topic and started to chat about the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club with Zhang Tie. "The fighting clubs in Blackhot City would open again the next week!"


    "Still the flesh-bag?¡® Zhang Tie asked.


    Manager Hance burst out laughing as if having heard the funniest joke. "Of course not, who would dare to find a military officer of the Norman Empire as the flesh bag; even if you wanted, you would not find anyone who would dare to beat you!"


    Zhang Tie also started to laugh.


    Manager Hance then pulled out a document from inside his coat. "This is the letter of appointment for you to be the senior adviser of the Club. If you agree, you become a senior adviser of the club as of now!"


    "What privileges and obligations would I have as a senior adviser in your club?"


    "Senior advisers are like our platinum customers, you can give your suggestions to the development and management of the club. The salary of a senior adviser is twenty gold coins per week. Your only obligation is to play in the Blackhot City when you are free."


    "Fine!"


    Thinking of Mary, Zhang Tie agreed without any hesitation. For such a good thing, if he didn''t accept it, there would be something wrong with him.


    Manager Hance left satisfied.


    ...


    After sending manager Hance out the gate of the apartment, Zhang Tie came back and took a look at the crystal gold note on the table. The words ''50000 gold coins, cash at sight, Golden Roc Bank'' made Zhang Tie''s heart stop beating for a moment.


    Although he had predicted that Gregorian family''s sincerity wouldn''t be small, he hadn''t imagined that they would give him 5000 gold coins, which would be equal to his dad''s salary of a hundred years.


    Big families were truly generous.


    Golden Roc Bank was the largest and most powerful bank across the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor. People could see the branches of this bank in almost every city of the Blackson Human Clan Corridor. Almost all the Chinese wanted to deposit their money in this bank. No matter how chaotic the Blackson region was, how regime changed and how time flew, this bank would not be influenced.


    The ad words of this bank could explain everything, ''One millennium''s reputation guarantees''.


    This bank had existed before the catastrophe. The catastrophe had changed everything except for this bank. The fact could already indicate its terrifying and not abysmal background.


    After putting down this crystal gold note, Zhang Tie opened the small box. A familiar scent wafted


    out¡ªit was a delicate, crystal, narrow-mouthed vial with green liquid inside.


    The only difference between this one and that vial of Grandma Teresa''s was that a line of bronze words on the vial, which looked pretty luxurious - advanced recovery medicament!


    It was really as the old Chinese saying went, ''If you survive a big trouble, you will definitely have great happiness later''. Looking at the two items, Zhang Tie burst out laughing loudly...


    After seeing off manager Hance, he was alone in the entire apartment. So he immediately went to the hidden cell in the study from where he entered the Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    Having not seen the greeting for a few days, Zhang Tie was put in a good mood upon seeing it again.


    Because the plants in the Castle of Black Iron were growing everyday, only after a few days, he felt the space in the Castle of Black Iron having become more vigorous and verdant.


    Zhang Tie then walked towards the small tree. As expected, he saw two Leakless Fruits on the small tree: one already ripe, the other soon to be. As these Leakless Fruits worked as emergency blood bags, Zhang Tie didn''t pick them off.


    On another twig of the small tree, he saw the fresh Toxin-Resistance Fruit. It was a blue, similar to a strawberry both in size and shape. The blue color of the fruit reminded Zhang Tie of the quick-acting poison blue frost. The moment he recalled the toxicity of it, he quivered all over. That poison was really terrifying. Without this small tree, Zhang Tie was well-aware that he would have definitely died that time.


    After looking at that Toxin-Resistance Fruit carefully, Zhang Tie stretched out his hand and started to check the attributes of the fruit.


    ¡ª¡ªToxin-Resistance Fruit has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªAll the tests on life will promote the life to the perfect trip of evolution.


    ¡ª¡ªToxin-Resistance Fruit from blue frost. Its effects are as follows:


    1. Immunity to all minor-poisonous toxins.


    2. Increased resistance to all toxins by 3%.


    3. Increased resistance to nerve paralytic poisons by 7%.


    4. Increased resistance to the poison of blue frost by 18%; you can remain unharmed for twenty minutes after being attacked by the blue frost.


    ''That''s great.''


    Zhang Tie almost jumped off the ground. He had heard that people who often touched poisonous substances would naturally become resistant to them. Unexpectedly, after being poisoned by blue frost, he could also complete a physical evolution against toxins. This feeling was really cool.


    From the classification of poisons, many substances in our daily lives had minor toxicity. Minor toxicity was the slightest degree. Generally speaking, only after taking in above 100 grams of pure minor toxins an average person might be killed. They were rarely contained in certain substances, but went in great amount of varieties and quantities, for instance, waste gases that were emitted from some factories in Blackhot City, mosquitoes that could make your skin swell after biting you, may plants'' juices or fruits, unripe tomatoes, especially herbal medicines that Chinese always used.


    All the things above contained very light toxins, however, as they posed almost no harm to the human body, people didn''t pay much attention to them. After all, nobody would let tens of thousands of mosquitoes to bite him at the same time or eat unripe tomatoes all day long for several months. Therefore, there were no cases of people being killed by minor toxins since ancient times till now. It was definitely 100 times more difficult for a person to collect above 100 grams of minor toxins than collecting 100 grams of quick-acting toxins.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that after being poisoned by blue frost, he could become completely immune to minor toxins. This would definitely make him healthier, and he would not have to worry about bumps on the skin after being bitten by mosquitoes anymore.


    The other effects of this Toxin-Resistance Fruit also made Zhang Tie very happy. Since it greatly improved his toxin resistance, making it much greater than that of most average people, how could he not be happy?


    Laughing loudly, Zhang Tie instantly picked off the Toxin-Resistance Fruit and engulfed it like how he ate strawberries...

 185 Remodeling Plan for the

    Chapter 185: Remodeling Plan for the Castle of Black Iron


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    On the second day after recovering from his wounds, Zhang Tie felt free for the first time since returning from the Wild Wolf Castle.


    Last night, he had met Miss Daina in his dream once again. In a sexy miniskirt, Miss Daina was playing the game of small golden fish and mummy with him. What a sweet dream!


    When Zhang Tie was woken up by his biological clock, he lay still a for a time before jumping out of bed. After putting on his clothes and cleansing himself, he hurriedly started to formulate a plan.


    Zerom had said that the prelude to a chaotic world has already started.


    Donder had said that the holy war between humans and demons was coming.


    Guderian had said that the Iron-Blood Camp would soon move to Kalur, the City of Machine.


    After a dozens years'' peace, the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty might have another heavy collision at Kalur.


    Although Blackhot City looked peaceful now, nobody knew when it would be involved in even greater turmoil. The catastrophe of the entire human clan was drawing increasingly closer. The rulers of the Andaman Alliance, the Norman Empire, Sun Dynasty, and the Blackson Human Clan Corridor had long known what would happen in the future. Thus, they''ve long ago started making preparations for that in various ways. Only the countless small figures were still puzzled.


    This explained how sad the small figures were. Not until the moment the event happened would they know what was coming to destroy their world.


    ¡®But now that I know, I have to prepare for it. Even squirrels know how to store food to tide over the winter. Of course I should behave better than squirrels. But what''s my last point of defense? Undoubtedly, the Castle of Black Iron and that small tree are things that I can rely on to help me survive,'' Zhang Tie thought


    The scene of Grandma Teresa and those kids of the orphanage standing in the street, raising high the board, had deeply affected Zhang Tie. He saw it as a warning to himself. Facing more dangers and crises from now on, he had to make better preparations.


    Yesterday, Zhang Tie felt that he had become half a man. While being obsessed with that, he also realized that he had a deep sense of responsibility. When the crisis arrived, he had to save his women from it.


    After eating the Toxin-Resistance Fruit, Zhang Tie had walked two circles around the Castle of Black Iron while a thought gradually formed in his mind. He felt that it was the right time for him to remodel the Castle of Black Iron.


    When the Castle of Black Iron had no sufficient basic energy storage and merit values, how could he remodel it to make that marvelous space his most solid fortress, a place where his beloved ones and himself could be protected?


    There was only one answer¡ªmake a plan by himself! Human beings had the strongest manipulative ability, which could even match that space and terrain remodeling function of the Castle of Black Iron.


    After considering it for several hours last night by drawing and noting in the study room of his apartment, Zhang Tie finally confirmed three objectives for remodeling the Castle of Black Iron.


    Firs, he wanted to build several standard food and material warehouses in the Castle of Black Iron so that on special occasions he could prevent his loved ones from having to starve. In the chaotic world, having enough food came first.


    Second, he needed to build a house in the Castle of Black Iron which could satisfy people''s basic requirements for living and rest. Zhang Tie considered that in some special cases he might need to bring his parents and Pandora, Alice, and Beverly into the Castle of Black Iron. For instance, if he wanted to escape a disaster, after bring them inside, he could have a thousand times more chances to escape alone by himself, without having to carry so many people outside.


    For the second objective, Zhang Tie didn''t know whether he could bring big live animals or people into the Castle of Black Iron and what would happen after they were inside, so he needed to make an experiment. This was also what Zhang Tie prepared to do today.


    Third, he wanted to build a simple ''biological evolution and mutation lab'' in the Castle of Black Iron as the successful evolution of the yeast brought a lot of ideas to him. Some of which were abosolutely crazy. Additionally, Zhang Tie wanted to see what other functions that vial of ''Basic Aura Yeast'' had. The best way to test this was to make a big jar of yeast fluid and have a drink, like how he made rice brew at home.


    However, the items Zhang Tie had placed in the Castle of Black Iron so far were too simple, even less than a beggar''s belongings. There was just a broken storage box, which contained a pile of items. Thinking about it, Zhang Tie felt embarrassed.


    It was time to add some items into the Castle of Black Iron. As he was still enjoying a sick leave these days, he was free to do it. If not, he didn''t know when would have found the time to do this.


    Additionally, the gold note brought by manager Hance yesterday made him very rich, and he didn''t need to worry about the prices of what he bought.


    After thinking about the details of remodeling the Castle of Black Iron in his mind, Zhang Tie came to his study room and pulled open the bookshelf using the method that Donder had taught him. He then opened the door to the underground hidden cell.


    This was Zhang Tie''s second time entering this underground hidden cell. After closing the door from inside and feeling that the bookshelf outside had moved to its original place, Zhang Tie instantly became exceptionally thrilled.


    Before Donder had left, he taught Zhang Tie another skill¡ªDisguise.


    The ten thousands lamps on the walls of the underground hidden cell brightened the entire room, making Zhang Tie''s adrenaline soar. Donder had bragged that he was the greatest expert in changing looks. After seeing him changing himself into another person only after a short while, Zhang Tie believed it. Thinking that he could change his look too, like Donder had done, and appear in the Blackhot City with another status and look, Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to try it out.


    All the items in the cabinets and the storage boxes in that hidden cell were used to change one''s look. According to Donder, the most expensive among them was the disguise mask.


    The disguise mark was put in a small box on the dresser. Zhang Tie then directly went to the dresser and opened that box. There were six compartments inside, each containing a face module on which a face mark would be placed. Donder had only left one disguise look to Zhang Tie while he took away five.


    Looking at the five face models with no disguise marks on them, Zhang Tie started to swear inside. ''This guy didn''t even forget to take away five face marks when he left. Judging by his obscene looks after changing his image, he must have done a lot of bad things in Blackhot City these years.''


    As Zhang Tie was still a birdie whose figure and looks were still young, Donder only left him a 20-odd year Chinese youth''s face mask which looked not too different from Zhang Tie.


    Based on how Donder taught him, Zhang Tie took up that 20 or so year looking face mask and put it onto his own face. He then slightly patted it for a minute. After that, he took up a vial of sprayer from the dresser and sprayed it onto his face twice. then continued patting it. After a short while, he felt his skin becoming slightly heavier. At this time, he took another look at the mirror and saw a 20-odd Chinese youth.


    Zhang Tie smiled. In response, the 20-odd year youth in the mirror smiled as well.


    This face mask was really marvelous. Putting it on, one would have a wholly new face. Just after after patting it for a bit after putting it on, it would adapt to your face''s shape. With some water, it would tightly combine with the skin on the face, and no one would be able to see anything wrong with it. It would no be possible to even see any difference between the colors of the mask and the skin of the user''s face.


    Donder had said that these face masks were made of two very expensive materials: one was biological memory protein, while the other was the solidified active gene of a deformed octopus of the deep sea which had an adjustability many times greater than that of chameleon.


    This face mask could not be easily gotten by average people in Blackson Human Clan Corridor, even in the whole Eastern Continent. Even though Donder was a hard-core disguise user, he had only collected six face masks in total. Therefore, he felt pained by even leaving one to Zhang Tie.


    After changing his look, Zhang Tie picked up two vials and drank a small mouthful from each one. He then mixed them in his mouth and swallowed.


    At first, he felt a bit itchy in his throat. After coughing twice, he realized that his voice had become much lower, even a bit hoarse.


    "Hello!" Zhang Tie tried saying, and a different person''s voice reached his ears.


    The next steps were be much easier. Since it was his first disguise, Zhang Tie didn''t want to make it too sophisticated. It would be okay simply to not be recognised as himself.


    He then opened another cabinet. From among the dozens of wigs inside, he chose one which was yellow and longer than his original hair. After putting it on, he saw a completely unfamiliar man in the mirror.


    Donder was very careful. Before he left, he had prepared more than ten sets of various clothes for Zhang Tie, fitted to his figure. He then chose gray, mid-level clothes which made him look like a small clerk from the firms in Blackhot City.


    By now Zhang Tie looked completely different.


    Finally, he checked all the details before the mirror for a while. After confirming that even his elder brother would not recognize him, he revealed a smile and walked to a stone wall next to the room''s corner. After forcefully pushing on it, a one meter high underground tunnel opened up in front of Zhang Tie.


    Lowering his body, he crawled inside...

 186 Purchasing Materials

    Chapter 186: Purchasing Materials


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The underground tunnel was dim and low, forcing Zhang Tie to lower his head. Thankfully, the tunnel was broad enough. Several ten thousand years illuminating lamps like those in the hidden cell were hanging above the tunnel which brightened the entire place.


    Although reluctant to admit it, Zhang Tie felt like a rat crawling through an underground tunnel.


    The two sides and the ceiling of the underground tunnel were made of stone. In order to eliminate the echoes being produced when people walked inside, a layer of soft carpet was paved on it. Walking on it, Zhang Tie thought about the scenes of Donder walking down this tunnel numerous times¡ªwas that guy using this tunnel to gather information? According to Donder, the organization behind his back had already given him a big face by kicking him here to the small Blackhot City. He might have not needed to do anything at all here.


    Zhang Tie''s question was solved when he reached the middle part of the tunnel. He felt something soft against his foot. Out of curiosity, he bent over to pick up it and brought it in front of his eyes.


    It was a black corsage with lace which contained a layer of soft sponge inside. It was larger than that of Alice and Beverly. It was still emitting a rich fragrance, and looked pretty new, as if it was just left here.


    F*ck!


    Zhang Tie instantly threw it onto the ground. He thought he finally understood what the disguise skill and this underground tunnel were truly used for. No wonder Donder had always disappeared after closing up his grocery store.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie could easily imagine what that guy would usually do in the evening. Although being as lazy as a dead dog lying in a chair, he turned into a timber wolf in the evening! This guy really had a special hobby. However, after thinking carefully about it, even Zhang Tie had to admit that this deed was exceptionally interesting. He had heard that some ancient emperors also liked to do this: after disguising themselves, they would always escape outside to accost women and play games of mummy and small golden fish in various patterns.


    After a short while, Zhang Tie had already walked to the end of this tunnel. Close to a hidden observation window at the end of the tunnel, he saw the scene inside the chartered room of this underground bar.


    It was not large, covering less than 20 square meters. The entire chartered room was much dimmer than the underground tunnel where Zhang Tie was standing in. There were a set of dark red sofa, a bed, a table, and two water-pipe like stainless steel pipes standing in the chartered room, whose function was uncertain. Besides them, there were some odd decorations. Although this wasn''t a high-class place, it had a very ambiguous atmosphere.


    Seeing nobody in the chartered room, Zhang Tie walked out of the tunnel after pressing a hidden switch. He then looked back and saw the entrance of the hidden tunnel behind a decorative pillar on the wall of the chartered room.


    Zhang Tie then put the pillar to its original place.


    The key of the room was put on the table, the place having been locked inside. Taking up the key, Zhang Tie took a deep breath, then opened the door of the chartered room and walked out.


    The underground bar was very dim around the clock. The sparse lights in the bar caused many shadowy areas. Some places even seemed to have been especially arranged to be in the darkness.


    Previously, Zhang Tie had heard of the ''brilliance'' of this kind of underground bars in Blackhot City from Hista''s mouth. However, it was his first time visiting a place like that today.


    The underground bars of Blackhot City ran around the clock. They were the favorite places of workers, firm clerks, small bosses of grocery stores like Donder, soldiers of the City Guard who had put off their military uniforms and got the salary, and lewd guys like Hista.


    They could drink, dance, and even rent a room. Like their lighting policy, these kind of bars took ''ambiguous'' as their operating philosophy! They were neither as direct as those roadside prostitutes nor as hypocritical as those women in the rich clubs and mansions. Everything here proceeded under the dim lamp lights and shadowy ambiguity.


    Women here varied from small girls at 15-16 years old, lonely young married women at 20-30 years, and sexy middle-aged women at 40-50 years. Some roadside prostitutes even came here to solicit trades. Nominally, the women here would only accompany you for paid dance or drink, however, often enough, after dancing or drinking, if the atmosphere was harmonious enough and you didn''t feel reluctant to spend 2-3 extra silver coins, you would end up sleeping with them. Sometimes, if you met any thirsty young married women, you wouldn''t even need to spend money except for paying for the room.


    While if you didn''t want to sleep with women overnight, you could solve your psychological problem on the dancing floor, at the dark corners of sofas, or on the cassette. This was what Hista, that lewd guy, had concluded.


    The underground bars of Blackhot City were a treasure land where lonely men and women came for pleasures and part-time jobs.


    The moment Zhang Tie came out of the chartered room, before he had even figured out the directions, he had already heard some weird voices and sounds, which were coming from inside the chartered room beside his one. That was a rhythmic sound like of clapping hands alongside a woman''s groans.


    In the early morning, there were men and women walking out of the chartered rooms, intending to leave the bar, while new ones were coming in to replace them.


    This underground bar was very large, consisting of two floors. Each floor covered at least as large an area as ten-thousand square meters. There were at least one hundred chartered rooms in total, all of which were arranged in a clockwise manner.


    There were people accessing here all day long. On that huge dancing floor and in each dark corner surrounding the dancing floor, there were men and women entangling with and embracing each other.


    Several bandsmen were playing lewd music. The sounds from the Saxophone were like caterwauls.


    Donder was really a bad ass!


    This place was really ambiguous, lecherous, and lacked taste.


    He had no idea what deals were made between Donder and the boss of this bar, but since Donder had told him that there was no problem with it and the chartered room was very safe, Zhang Tie didn''t consider it anymore.


    Coming out of the chartered rooms area, Zhang Tie walked through the dancing floor and hurriedly got rid of several women, dressed in exposing clothes, that wished to tangle with him on the side of the dancefloor. He then followed several pairs of men and women upward, towards the entrance of this underground bar. The light at the entrance brought him a sense of seeing the light of the day after staying in the darkness for a long time.


    The entrance of the bar was located in the intersection between Avenue Monet and Avenue Starlight. Looking from outside, it was like an underground shopping mall, though in truth the inside was totally different. Several tough, tattooed men were standing at the entrance to check the tickets.


    In the early morning, there were already men and women who wanted to enter the bar and were buying tickets at the entrance; 20 copper coins per person. At the same time, those coming out of the entrance would kiss each other and depart at the entrance. Seeing this, Zhang Tie became more understanding about the game rules among adults.


    As he had many things to deal with today, Zhang Tie didn''t waste any time. The moment he walked out of the entrance, he saw a trolleybus driving past. Zhang Tie then trotted forward, caught up with it, and jumped on it...


    Ten minutes later, he got off in a stop near the railway station of Blackhot City. He then walked directly to the most boisterous warehouse and material distribution area in Blackhot City.


    This was a true boisterous business area. No matter who was ruling Blackhot City, the various trucks didn''t decrease in this area at all. Both sides of the avenues were filled with all sorts of brand logos and service windows of firms and business groups.


    Just after wandering on the avenue for a bit, Zhang Tie had already seen a sign ''warehouse for rent''. He then walked inside. The place belonged to an agency that was responsible for warehouse rent near the railway station. There was only one 40-odd year thin man in glasses inside.


    "What can I do for you, sir?"


    After taking notice of Zhang Tie, who looked like a young man come here to handle affairs for some business group, that middle-aged man walked over enthusiastically.


    "I want a warehouse!" Zhang Tie instantly exclaimed.


    "You''re in the right place. I swear to you nobody would be more familiar than me with the warehouses across the Blackhot City! Once you need, I will find it for you!" the middle-aged man in glasses said enthusiastically. "Can you tell me the size and renting period?"


    "I need a standard warehouse of about 400 square meters, short rent, only two weeks!" Zhang Tie explained it simply.


    "Do you have any special demands for the floor?"


    "First floor would be better, that would be convenient for moving goods!"


    "Do you need the warehouse to present you with the insurance policies for goods?¡®


    "No need!"


    "Well, please take a sit and wait for a moment!"


    The middle-aged man walked behind a desk and took up a notebook. After checking it for 30 seconds, he put it down and smiled at Zhang Tie. "We have one here. If you only rent it for two weeks, the rent is 4 gold coins and 40 silver coins. You know, the rent is comparatively expensive for short rent. Plus the agency fee, you need to pay 4 gold coins and 64 silver coins. If you agree, I can take you to have a look at the warehouse right now!¡¯


    "Fine!"


    Zhang Tie''s arrival brought this man a business deal in the early morning. So he was somewhat happy as he took out of a key from the drawer and brought Zhang Tie to a storage logistics area which was not far from here.


    The standard warehouses were tightly built, based on the patterns of containers. This kind of warehouse only had a gate for truck access and a small door for people. Besides that, there weren''t any windows to allow the light getting inside. Additionally, the warehouse¡ªas usual¡ªwas built with high-intensity steel tiles, which were extremely hard to break from outside.


    The man showed Zhang a standard warehouse, sized more than 400 square meters with 10 m in height and more than 40 m in length.


    Holding the key, the man opened the gate of this warehouse and showed Zhang Tie in. Zhang Tie entered and walked around. Finding it was very clean inside, meeting his requirements very well, he right away rented it out.


    After returning to the man''s office, Zhang Tie gave him five gold coins. The man then gave Zhang Tie back 26 silver coins and a 10-silver coins'' receipt for the key and the lock of the warehouse. Two weeks later, when Zhang Tie came back to return the key, that man would give him the 10 silver coins back.


    After walking out of the office, Zhang Tie had two warehouse keys with him.


    Coming to a nearby traffic stop, he got on another trolleybus. Twenty minutes later, he arrived at a place on Avenue Bright where the well-known Golden Roc Bank was located in.


    Previously, when Zhang Tie came to the Avenue Bright, he always felt self-abased. However, this time, touching the 5000 gold coins'' note in his pocket, he became braver than ever before...

 187 Golden Roc Bank

    Chapter 187: Golden Roc Bank


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Being located in Avenue Bright, the Golden Roc Bank was the grandest architecture in the whole avenue. At the entrance of the bank were twelve stone pillars, each a diameter of one meter. In the middle of the building, between two stone pillars, was a huge relief of a four-winged golden roc which was over ten meters in length. This huge bird with four wings was the symbol of Golden Roc Bank and the ruler of the heavens, the land and the sea, the one who ate dragons in Chinese myths and legends.


    Entering the hall, Zhang Tie felt like coming into a palace. The black marble floor was akin to a mirror. No service desks were set in the hall like in other banks, instead, there were two rows of service rooms for customers to enter. Each service room could only service one customer a time, thus guaranteeing absolute privacy.


    Customers who were waiting in line just stayed in the sofa area outside the service rooms for a rest. Only once the current people inside the small rooms left could the bank clerks open the doors and invited the next customers in.


    Although the ruler of Blackhot City had changed, the business of the Golden Roc Bank was not influenced at all; on the contrary, it became even hotter than before. No matter who ruled the city, Andaman Alliance or the Norman Empire, the Golden Roc Bank would not be influenced at all.


    Chinese people could enjoy some privileged services in Golden Roc Bank such as not having to queue up!


    Under jealous gazes of many pot-bellied gentlemen in tidy clothes, Zhang Tie with an average face mask came to the door of a service room. This room was exclusive for Chinese people in the Golden Roc Bank. Differently from other service rooms, the door of this one was not dark red, but golden yellow which Chinese people favored.


    The bank clerk standing at the entrance of this service room was a 20-odd Chinese youth. At the sight of Zhang Tie coming here, he made a hand gesture in greeting before walking inside together with Zhang Tie. He then closed the door of the service room.


    The inside was not large, less than 20 square meters, but it was well arranged. Each part of furniture inside was delicate. There was only one desk, two chairs, and a group of sofas. Behind the desk was a trading window which was similar to other bank counters.


    After motioning for Zhang Tie to sit down on a chair near the desk, the young clerk spoke in Mandarin Chinese.


    "Pleasure to serve you, what can I do for you, sir?"


    Zhang Tie pulled out the 5000 gold coins'' crystal note from his pocket and gave it to him.


    "I want to withdraw cash!"


    The 20-odd bank clerk took the gold note. Not amazed by the amount, he carefully checked the anti-counterfeit label, the hidden grains and a series of special identification code on it, then finally nodded.


    "All of them?¡®


    "All of them!"


    "Well, wait for a moment then please!"


    Taking the gold note, the young men turned back and came to a trading window behind the desk and slightly pressed the bell button on the window. After a ''ding'' sound, the window opened. The clerk then passed Zhang Tie''s note inside.


    "The customer wants to withdraw all the cash!¡®


    In the short seconds until he came back, Zhang Tie felt bored and took up a service card which introduced the scope of business of the Golden Roc Bank. Besides usual businesses like bank storage and credit loan, the Golden Roc Bank''s business included all kinds of other things such as financial investment, asset entrustment management, auctioning and pawning, creditors'' right handling, business group financing, armored transportation, stock raising, pioneering, special personnel employment, information inquiry and release...


    All this made Zhang Tie, who had come to the Golden Roc Bank for the first time, widely open his eyes. This was not a bank at all; this was obviously a monster combined of many super business groups!


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s amazement, that young bank clerk walked towards him. "Are you interested in our other services, sir?"


    "You can provide all the services on the card?"


    Out of suspicion, Zhang Tie pointed at the content on card.


    "Yes! We can provide all the services on it. Our bank has numerous powerful cooperative business groups and partners which passed rigid authentications. We can satisfy all your requirements!"


    "Does Golden Roc Bank provide pioneering service?"


    "The most powerful business group Home of the Wild in Blackhot City is our partner. They have a business representative here in our bank. If you need, I can call him here to negotiate with you!"


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could find a business group that provided pioneering services in Golden Roc Bank which really saved him a lot of time. Previously, he had planned to find a business group which provided pioneering services and purchase the materials needed for building houses there. Now, it would be much easier to deal with this.


    "Fine! Thanks, I''m seeking for a business group that could provide pioneering services!"


    "Wait for a moment then please!"


    The 20-odd bank clerk left through another door in the room. Only one minute later, a 40-odd bald man came in with a pile of papers in his hands. Sitting down in front of Zhang Tie, he showed his exceptional respect, seemingly in-the-know of Zhang Tie''s paying ability from the Golden Roc Bank.


    "Nice to meet you, sir. I''m Longe, the business representative of the business group Home of the Wild in Blackhot City, I heard you are very interested in what we can offer you."


    "Yes, my friends and me have chosen a place in the wild and are planning to reclaim wasteland and settle down there. I heard you could help pioneers quickly build houses in the wild. Therefore, I want to have a consultation on that!"


    Hearing this, Longe became more lively. "You''ve found the right man, sir, this is our business group''s advantage. If you want to settle and reclaim wasteland from the wild, you have to have a safe and comfortable base. Our business group can customize any house according to your requirements in the shortest time. Can you tell me your requirements?¡¯


    As it was very difficult to temporarily find raw materials in the wild to build a house, many pioneers who prepared to settle down wanted to customize their house in advance before bringign the components to where they had chosen to build their base. There were many business groups and commercial organizations in Blackhot City which could provide this service. Home of the Wild was the best among them as their services almost covered all the problems that pioneers would face when they tried to reclaim wasteland and settled down in the wild.


    "Hmm, I need a house that could accommodate 20-odd people and a super huge food warehouse. The construction of the house should not be too sophisticated. It''d be better if it could be assembled by only one tough man..."


    "Do you need the house to have great defense against wild beasts? If you need, we can provide special house building materials and externally-mounted movable residence'' armor."


    While they were discussing it, Longe started to record everything they talked about with a pen.


    "No need, there are few wild beasts over there. Even if there are, they''re just our meals. The only concern is that there are few natural resources there that we could use to quickly build a house!"


    "If so, we suggest you choose the No. 3 Wild House!"


    Saying this, Longe pulled out a paper and gave it to Zhang Tie. Picking it, Zhang Tie saw two refreshing log cabins with triangular roofs: one was one story high, the other two. Below them were several photos of the structures and perspective drawings of the two log cabins.


    "Can this No. 3 log cabin satisfy all of our demands?¡®


    "Of course not. This is just a sample which tells you the general look and structure of this wild log cabin. No. 3 log cabin has two types: one and two stories high. For each of them, we could provide six sizes for you to choose from. The house sizes would variate from 30 square meters to 380 square meters. You can choose your specifications..."


    "Can one person finish building this log cabin?"


    "It won''t be more difficult than stacking blocks for you to build this log cabin!" Longe revealed a smile. "This log cabin was especially designed for pioneers who settle in the wild. It consists of modules, and all the building materials are standard steel and wood. We will classify all the items. If you build it according to the instructions, you will easily be able to manage it."


    "How much will it cost?"


    Zhang Tie''s heart was hooked.


    "Based on floor area, it would cost you 23 silver coins per square meter for the single-story log cabin. The fee rises to 34 silver coins per square meter for the two-story log cabin. As the two-story log cabin features a higher efficiency on using space and materials, it would be more cost-efficient.


    "As you understand, this is just the price for the building materials themselves. If you need, we can also help you build it, or at least pull the materials to the place outside the Blackhot City, but for that we''ll ask for extra labor and transportation fees.


    "The longest transportation distance that we can provide right now is within the region of Blackhot City that has been explored on the map. You need to pay 1% of the building price of the log cabin for each 5 km."


    "I can deal with the transportation. I''ve rented out a warehouse in Blackhot City. You only need to transport the items there!"


    "If we just need to deliver the items within Blackhot City, you don''t need to pay extra for transportation fees at all!"


    Zhang Tie was already imagining the remodeling of the Castle of Black Iron, yet at the same time, he was calculating the price of these lob cabins in his mind. Two-story log cabin looked much more cost-efficient with a higher space utilization rate. However, the single-story log cabin seemed to be easier to build.


    After considering it for several seconds, Zhang Tie formed an image in his mind: in the Castle of Black Iron, north of the small tree that stood in the center, was a two-story log cabin that covered more than 200 square meters and was mainly used for living; in the west were two single-story log cabins which served as food warehouses; and to the east of the small tree was a slightly smaller two-story log cabin which performed as his lab.


    The four log cabins surrounded the small tree and the spring, making it a small wild manor.

 188 Trading

    Chapter 188: Trading


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The two-story log cabin, number 3B210, for the north covering 210 square meters cost 71 gold coins and 40 silver coins...


    The two single-story log cabins, number 3A80, for the west covering 80 square meters each cost 36 gold coins and 80 silver coins...


    The two-story log cabin for his lab, number 3B90, for the east cost 30 gold coins and 60 silver coins...


    Besides them, Zhang Tie ordered many other items from Longe, which indicated that he was certainly planning to reclaim wasteland and settle down in the wild.


    Zhang Tie ordered whole sets of simple modular furniture, various living utilities, and all sorts of bottles and jars. Many items in that list made Longe confused as to what Zhang Tie planned to use them for. However, now that the youth had officialy made an order, Longe would be happy to note everything else down. Big customers like Zhang Tie were rarely seen, but when pioneers were in need, his business group would satisfy them.


    In addition, Zhang Tie ordered four wild seeds planting bags, two sets of toolkits, one LV 2 metal processing platform, two tons of rice, two tons of flour, one ton of dried meat and milk slices, and one ton of various foods, such as preserved fruits and cans that could stay edible for a long time


    All the items that Zhang Tie ordered finally became codes like those of the log cabins on a form in Longe''s hand. After saving over 10 silver coins, Zhang Tie needed to pay 237 gold coins to purchase those items.


    "Do you have any special requirements?"


    Seeing Zhang Tie paying for the items without any hesitation, Mr. Longe showed a more enthusiastic smile.


    "One single package of these items should not be heavier than 500 kgs!" Zhang Tie requested. "The heaviest materials should be able to be moved by 2-3 people! We don''t have enough people to build the log cabins."


    "No problem, don''t worry about this. For the convenience of wild transportation, the maximal weight of a single package is 418 kg. As long as you have enough time, any house can be assembled by a single person. Do you have any more questions?"


    "How long will it take for you to prepare all of these items and send them to my warehouse?"


    "We will deliver the first batch in an hour!"


    "Fine, I''ll wait for you in the warehouse!"


    ...


    With a smile on his face, Mr. Longe took away the order and Zhang Tie''s gold coins. In this age, all the gold coins circulating among humans were unified. Each gold coin weighed 25 grams and was made of pure gold. Therefore, the weight of 40 gold coins was 1 kg. The total amount of gold coins that Zhang Tie had paid weighed almost 6 kgs. No wonder Mr. Longe kept smiling. This was really a great business.


    This was also the largest trade that Zhang Tie had experienced ever since he was born. Thinking that he had spent over 200 gold coins with a golden roc on them which were delivered by the Golden Roc Bank, Zhang Tie was so thrilled that even started sweating.


    Mr. Longe walked out and the bank clerk, who had received Zhang Tie just now, came with a handbag. "Besides the 237 gold coins that you''ve requested to pay, there''re 4763 gold coins. You can count it here!"


    It was not difficult to count the rest of the money as these gold coins were well sealed and packaged in columns, 40 gold coins for one column. Zhang Tie counted and found that there were 119 columns and 3 gold coins inside which weighted about 120 kg in hand. This much wasn''t heavy to him at all.


    "This handbag is our gift. Also, as you have withdrawn a great amount of cash from our bank, if you need, we can have a car escort you to where you want in the Blackhot City!"


    Zhang Tie looked at that average handbag in his hand. Although 120 kgs'' gold coins looked very heavy, they actually only occupied a small part of the bag which could not be easily identified. He shook his head.


    "No need, thanks..."


    The Golden Roc Bank arranged for all the customers who came here to deal with businesses and withdraw cash with great consideration, especially paying attention to details. For instance, that handbag gifted by the bank to Zhang Tie was an average handbag without any label on it, which could easily hold 120 kgs inside. When one lifted it in hand, nobody would know it contained 4763 gold coins inside.


    When Zhang Tie about to leave, that young bank clerk arranged for him to leave through another door in the service room. This way, the people who saw Zhang Tie enter the service room with nothing in hand would not able to see him leave with a handbag. It indirectly guaranteed his safety.


    Leaving the Golden Roc Bank, Zhang Tie carried over 120 kgs'' handbag on his shoulder; he left Avenue Bright on agile steps. After reaching a bus stop and getting on a trolleybus, he arrived at another boisterous place in Blackhot City 20 minutes later.


    Usually, those figures who were born in the upper class in Avenue Bright rarely came here because any set of clothes or leather boots in the stores there were luxuries that would cost people selling here their one years'' salary, without eating or drinking.


    This place was animal trading market outside the south gate of Blackhot City. It was spontaneously organized by citizens to trade various livestock some dozens of years ago.


    Compared to the flea market beside the railway station, this animal market was a boisterous scene on another level.


    This place for trading various animals was located in a banyan forest beside the south city wall of Blackhot City. On the empty land many cages and boxes were placed, containing all sorts of animals. Simple booths stood connected to each other. Animal sounds, especially dogs'' barking could be heard everywhere in this street. In opposition to Avenue Bright which was filled with the fragrance of Chinese rose and lilac, this place was filled with the smell of animals'' urine and sh*t.


    Big figures would never come to this dirty place, however, Zhang Tie really enjoyed wandering around here.


    As human pets, cats and dogs were the most common animals here. As to others, there were various birds, some weird animals that had been caught outside the Blackhot City such as raccoons, monkeys, wolf cubs. Some other animals were brought here to purely satisfy a small amount of people''s curiosity and hobby to care for weird pets such as snakes, lizards, spiders, rats, beetles, and various mutated living beings.


    There were also many kinds of horses and cattle here, occupying a relatively large trading area.


    The greater part of farmers and pioneers outside Blackhot City were living on this animals trading market.


    The golden wolves caught in the Prairie Crescent would also be sold here. On some notice boards in this market, there were rewards for bringing in special animals. No matter what beast you wanted, or what goods you had, it would only cost one silver coin to release a notice here. If anyone met your requirement, they would come here for you.


    Several local snakes [1] were maintaining market order here and managing several information notice boards to survive themselves.


    As no zoo was set in Blackhot City, this place was the closest thing. Before Zhang Tie had went to work in Donder''s grocery store, he had usually wandered around here. His dream as a child was to have a dog. However, his dad complained that a dog would dirty their home and influence the rice brewing business, therefore, that dream had not been fulfilled.


    Even if Zhang Tie was carrying over 100 kgs'' of gold, he realized that this dream of his childhood could still not be realized even now. It was easy to buy a dog, but he might not have enough time to look after it. No matter where he left the animal to stay alone, the apartment or somewhere else, it would still be irresponsible of him, and unfair to the dog.


    After circling around the market, Zhang Tie came to a place in the banyan forest. This place was the favorite place of many pioneers and farmers who settled down in the wild because the things sold here would always bring people pleasure and sweetness. With only a disposable investment of a few coins, you would get endless sweetness in the future without having to take care of it.


    They sold bees here.


    Because many plants in the Castle of Black Iron had bloomed or would bloom, they needed insects'' pollination to bear fruits.


    Zhang Tie wanted to try whether he could bring many animals in the Castle of Black Iron at once. Besides that, he also had a small ambition to succeed in mutating and evolving an animal...


    After some considerations, Zhang Tie found that the three requirements could all be satisfied if he brought a hive of bees in the Castle of Black Iron.


    The bees sold here were greatly different from those raised by professionals. They would always use relatively sophisticated movable-frame beehives while the beehives here were cylinder ones, suitable for lazy people. These cylinder beehives were made completely of sawed-off pine trees whose diameter were about 0.5 m or so.


    After sawing the trunks to right sizes and cleaning off the insides, they did some simple processing and treatment by fixing a couple solid wooden bars in the hollow part of the trunk, thus turning them into the simplest cylinder lattice beehives.


    From their looks, they were absolutely like tree stools or wine barrels which could be casually put in the wild or hung under the eaves. In blooming seasons, people could collect honey for several months or half a year. Although the honey collection was much more irregular and lower in frequency, it was very convenient.


    As for those farmers or pioneers who lived in Blackhot City, as long as they hung one beehive like this under their eave and raised a hive of bees, their whole family would not worry about having no sweet food. With two more beehives, they could even make some money from it.


    Each beehive contained a hive of bees, a honeycomb which was as large as a bowl mouth, and a queen bee. Only after a couple of looks, Zhang Tie bought a beehive which was even bigger than a wine barrel. Together with bees, it cost him 16 silver coins in total. After paying 17 silver coins, Zhang Tie asked the seller to send this beehive along with the bees into that warehouse which he had rented out.


    The seller only needed to rent a three-wheeler to carry this beehive through the Blackhot City, which would cost him less than 30 copper coins. So seeing Zhang Tie give him a whole extra silver coin, he was very happy. Therefore, he even gifted Zhang Tie a set of tools used for cutting honey and a screened hat that could prevent people''s faces from being stung by bees.


    After finishing his arrangements, the moment Zhang Tie wanted to leave here and return downtown, he saw a familiar person - Samira.


    [1] Local snakes: influental gangsters in the area

 189 Samiras Backer

    Chapter 189: Samira''s Backer


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie noticed that Samira was bargaining before a booth with a businessman who sold scaly anteaters. As it was noisy here, Zhang Tie hadn''t noticed him before at all; additionally, there was a small patch of person-high plants between the two of them. Zhang Tie wasn''t able to see through the plants, so of course he didn''t know that Samira was standing right behind them.


    It was Samira''s voice that had attracted his attention.


    "What? It''s just a mutated cuprine scaly anteater, not even a LV 1 living being. You want 30 silver coins for it? Why not go rob? At most 10 silver coins. Additionally, I will take this iron cage..."


    Hearing Samira''s voice, Zhang Tie, who was preparing to leave, became dumbfounded. What a coincidence!


    That was true!


    He turned and took a detour around that small patch of strawberry trees.


    It was really Samira!


    Probably afraid of being caught by Zhang Tie, after disappearing for over ten days, Samira looked more low-key. At least he didn''t wear that expensive silk hat anymore. Besides, his clothes were much more average. He looked like a small steward of a rich family. However, his expression and voice didn''t change even a bit.


    Standing on bot of Samira''s sides were two tough men who were currently lifting several iron cages. All the animals inside them were cuprine scaly anteaters.


    Cuprine scaly anteater was a mutated living being which was not very aggressive. It was dark red in color with a metallic luster like that of red copper. Its flesh was very yummy, making it a very great meal.


    The most special items on the scaly anteater were those scales with the metallic luster. It was said that besides being used as a medicine, they had a very powerful defensive ability which could even match that of copper sheets. Additionally, they were very light. After perforation, they became good raw materials for making scale-armor. The scale-armor of cuprine scaly anteaters had nice defence, making it the favorite of many hunters and pioneers who didn''t have enough money.


    The place where Zhang Tie stood was still several meters away from Samira. He pretended to watch those small animals on the booth beside him while fixing his pupils on Samira from the corners of his eyes.


    ...


    The ten silver coins Samira counter-offered with were obviously much lower than what the hunter selling them had expected. He didn''t want to sell his goods at such a low price at all. Finally, they started to bargain.


    "Do you know who I am? I''m a franchised LV 3 supplier of the Military Administration of Blackhot City for the Norman Empire. These cuprine scaly anteaters would be used for entertaining the VIPs of the Norman Empire. Do you know where you live and whose rules you''re following? You dare to offer such a high price to me?"


    Hearing how Samira was shamelessly screaming to frighten that hunter, Zhang Tie started to swear at his shamelessness. His status as a LV 3 supplier had long been canceled. Almost all the people in the Iron-Blood Camp knew this guy had screwed Zhang Tie and were planning to find him trouble.


    As for his current situation, he was in-hiding, not even daring to return to Blackhot City. What VIPs of the Norman Empire needed him to entertain them? What were those privileged families of the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation of Blackhot City being used for?


    Hearing Samira''s explanation, the seller hesitated. After seeing the two tough men nearby, he finally agreed to sell the animal at the price of 15 silver coins.


    Samira was pleased somewhat. After paying, he let the two tough men carry the iron cage of the cuprine scaly anteater while he looked around the banyan forest and then left.


    Zhang Tie followed them at a distance of 50 m.


    The south of Blackhot City was much more prosperous than the north or the west. There was a lake and a small town outside the south city wall. As there were so many passers-by on the way, Zhang Tie was not noticed by them.


    After walking more than ten minutes, Samira and the other two men came to a place next to the lake and walked directly inside.


    It was an exceptionally beautiful castle-type manor covering over 33000 square meters. There were several lofty and grandiose buildings inside it; all the rich men in Blackhot City had their own manors and castles.


    Looking at the ten meter high wall and the team of guards in bright clothes outside the gate, Zhang Tie frowned and stopped.


    Seeing a person passing by, Zhang Tie asked with admiration evident in his expression.


    "This manor is really magnificent. Do you know who the owner is?"


    That person stared at Zhang Tie like looking at a rustic before answering with pride, "This manor belongs to the greatest alchemist in Blackhot City, Master Abyan!"


    Master Abyan! Zhang Tie understood it well now. No wonder he could not find Samira anywhere in city. This guy had hidden here. He had really found a powerful back to hide behind!


    After estimating the time, Zhang Tie cast a deep look at that magnificent manor before turning back to return to Blackhot City.


    ...


    Half an hour later, he returned to the storage area near the railway station. It was the most boisterous time of the day as cargo trucks accessed the warehouses one after another.


    Taking out of his key, Zhang Tie opened the small door and entered. One minute later, he walked out again. In that short period of time he had already sent the gold coins into the Castle of Black Iron.


    Less than five minutes after he walked out, the first truck from Home of the Wild arrived. Longe was also here along with the truck. Seeing Zhang Tie waiting at the entrance of the warehouse, he jumped off the truck.


    "Sir, is this your warehouse?"


    Longe pointed at the gate of the warehouse behind Zhang Tie.


    "Yes!"


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    Longe waved his hands, and several workers got off the vehicle and opened the gate of the warehouse. Then, the truck drove right inside. Zhang Tie and Longe then walked in and guided the workers in discharging the cargo.


    All the cargo in the truck was packaged in cartons or portable wooden cases. Therefore, they were easily moved.


    While the workers were removing the boxes from the truck, Longe gave Zhang Tie three manuals.


    "These are assembly manuals for the three log cabins. This batch of cargo is for the two customized single-story log cabins, each of which occupies 80 square meters. Once you transport it to the right place, based on the steps in the manuals, you''ll easily build up the houses. There''s an adroit worker in our business group who only needs ten hours to build a No. 3 single-story log cabin which covers 80 square meters. Each standard component has a code. You can see them on the package crates. This is just like using building blocks to build a house, as you only need strength, it''ll be easy!"


    Skimming over the manual for the single-story log cabin which covered 80 square meters, Zhang Tie found that the assemblage steps on it were very detailed. The instructions were also easily understood. After only several glances, he was already attempting to build that 3A80 log cabin in his mind.


    After his spiritual energy upsurged again, Zhang Tie gradually found some advantages of high spiritual energy. He realized that with the greatly increased visualization, he could easily remember all the steps only by visualizing them once in his mind.


    The single-story log cabin 3A80 weighed 14.5 tons in total. It consisted of 954 wooden components and laminates of various types of four major categories and 226 standard steel and iron components of seven major categories. There were 398 places in the entire house that required to be fixed by bolts and buckles. The whole building process only needed four tools: a heavy hammer, a light hammer, a wrench, and a portable standing ladder.


    There were more than ten workers discharging cargo, all of them tough men. So the cargo that was only slightly less than 30 tons were soon emptied out of the truck and placed in the corners of the warehouse in two tidy piles.


    The moment the truck was empty, it was driven out and another one went in.


    On the second truck was a portable two-story log cabin 3B90 that covered 90 square meters, some parts, packaged furniture, and a pioneering toolkit. This truck carried almost 20 tons of cargo.


    After all of it was taken out and tidily arranged in the warehouse, the truck drove out and the third one went in¡ª it contained the grains ordered by Zhang Tie.


    When the third truck was discharged, the beehive arrived.


    By the afternoon, after several hours'' of transportation, all the cargo ordered in the Home of the Wild had been brought in. The total weight of it all were over 100 tons. As a result, three quarters of the over 400 square meters'' warehouse were filled.


    After the people from the Home of the Wild left, Zhang Tie closed the warehouse''s gate from inside. As a result, no sunlight could penetrate in. Only with the faint light of illuminating stones could Zhang Tie see the scene in the warehouse.


    Looking at the materials piled as high as hills, he scratched his head. It seemed that he had bought too many items this time. But it felt really cool to spend money.


    Zhang Tie smiled and walked in front of the cargo. Carrying over a 200 kgs'' package crate, he immediately disappeared from the warehouse. Several seconds later, he reappeared. He then carried another crate of cargo and disappeared once more...


    Zhang Tie became a carrier himself and started to move the cargo from here into the Castle of Black Iron one package or crate after another...

 190 Hard Work

    Chapter 190: Hard Work


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The cargo inside the warehouse were decreasing by crates and cartons. Each time Zhang Tie appeared, the cargo would be reduced by 400-500 kgs, at least in the warehouse.


    With nine wolves'' strength in his body, Zhang Tie had super strong endurance and strength. He just kept carrying the cargo from the warehouse into the Castle of Black Iron without even knowing what fatigue was.


    Two hours later, a greater part of the cargo in the warehouse had ''disappeared''. Sitting on a box, Zhang Tie started to enter meditation of ''Mental Arithmetic by Abacus'' with his legs crossed so as to recover his spiritual energy. Right now, although Zhang Tie felt a bit tired, he still had enough strength to continue. However, after 100-200 times of carrying the heavy boxes into Castle of Black Iron in a short period of time, even with his increased spiritual energy Zhang Tie could still not stand it spiritually.


    The meditation took him over an hour. During this time, he attempted to visualize the two 13-column abacuses in his mind at the same time before using the two abacuses to carry out sophisticated four arithmetic operations.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie found that the two abacuses would present the same result. For instance, if he multiplied 3659 by 49631, the two abacus would present 181599829 at the same time. But after practicing it for a while, his heart suddenly pounded as he decided he wanted to attempt how to calculate four arithmetic operations on two abacuses at the same time. The moment this thought flashed across his mind, he couldn''t wait to have a try.


    However, he found it was very difficult to do two different arithmetic operations on two abacuses at the same time. After the two abacuses in his mind broke apart many times, he felt reluctant to carry out two-digit arithmetic operations on two abacuses at the same time like how preliminary students did. But even that he couldn''t do smoothly. Zhang Tie felt like having returned to the time when he just started to clumsily learn to use an abacus.


    The fact was that there was a common ground between practicing spiritual energy and exercising physical muscles¡ªthe harder you exercised, the better the effect would be. After practicing ''Mental Arithmetic by Two Abacuses'' for over an hour, Zhang Tie found that his spiritual energy had recovered much faster than before, along with a more obvious effect. Additionally, his mindset had become clearer.


    There was really one reason for it. After discovering the potential of ''Mental Arithmetic by Two Abacuses'', Zhang Tie was in a good mood. Previously, according to the book, after the increase in spiritual energy, his ''Mental Arithmetic by Abacus'' skill had reached a bottleneck and could hardly improve even a bit. He hadn''t imagined that he could play with ''Mental Arithmetic by Abacus'' this way after deciding to do it on a whim. This might not even have been expected by the author of this book.


    ''I''m now the first person who knows ''Mental Arithmetic by Abacus'' in this world. Is it easy to rank first on something among the billions of people and other living beings across the continent?''


    Thinking of this, Zhang Tie became pleased and started to work harder.


    In the next two hours, the cargo in the warehouse were quickly reduced by crates and cartons. When even Zhang Tie didn''t remember how many times he had accessed the Castle of Black Iron, the entire warehouse became empty again, leaving the stump-like beehive alone.


    Hugging that beehive, Zhang Tie then disappeared from the warehouse...


    ...


    "The system has detected that Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord has brought a great amount of carbon-based smart lives in the Castle of Black Iron. The animal system of the Castle of Black Iron starts!"


    Seeing this line of words gradually disappearing before his eyes, Zhang Tie, burst out laughing.


    ''That''s awesome. I can truly bring living beings inside!''


    This time, within the radius of 50 m around the small tree, the ground in the Castle of Black Iron was piled with cargo. Ignoring those items, Zhang Tie hugged his beehive and ran towards the private plot.


    After over two months, the corn sowed by Zhang Tie at the beginning had already grown as high a person. Additionally, the inside of the Castle of Black Iron was becoming increasingly more lively. Many plants that Zhang Tie had sowed before had bloomed.


    After meticulously putting the beehive on the ground beside that plot, Zhang Tie squatted down and pulled the zigzag-patterned ventilation iron out of the entrance of the beehive. He then squatted down with interest and looked at what would happen next.


    The moment the door was opened, some bees climbed out of that opening. After being locked in the beehive for a long time, these cute guys must have been sick of it so much that after looking around, they immediately flew off into the air.


    They circled around the beehive for two rounds, then flew directly towards that blooming cornfield. After that, more bees climbed out and started to fly around. Even Zhang Tie could feel that these cute guys were very excited about this new environment.


    Everything in the Castle of Black Iron made these cute guys pleased, especially the patches of various blossoms. No other bees would grab nectar from them anymore. As a result, the bees immediately felt like having entered heaven.


    There were over 1000 bees in the beehive. The seller told Zhang Tie that once in the wild, the queen bee in the beehive would lay eggs. If the environment was proper, this swarm of bees could soon increase their numbers. The wine-barrel like big beehive that Zhang Tie had bought could contain over 70,000 bees.


    Feeling the bees'' excitement, Zhang Tie also felt very happy!


    After that, he opened the management panel of living beings and species of the Castle of Black Iron. Selecting the whole swarm along with the queen bee, Zhang Tie input 5000 aura value points at once and started the first mutation and evolution for these cute guys in the Castle of Black Iron.


    As the aura value points in the Castle of Black Iron greatly increased everyday, Zhang Tie wanted to see what result he could get after inputting enough aura value points. It didn''t matter if it worked or not: if it didn''t, he would try another time and then again after that. If it still didn''t work, he would try ten times, even 100 times. It was just a consumption of some aura value points. He wound''t feel pained by using them at all. However, if he made it, that would be a great pleasure for him. This was a reasonable business...


    The evolution cycle of the swarm of bees seemed closely related to the life cycle of worker bees who were responsible for collecting nectar. The time of the first round of mutation and evolution would roughly be the life cycle of worker bees - 56 days.


    After glancing over those piled cartons and crates, Zhang Tie immediately exited the Castle of Black Iron. As it was late today, he had to leave here and could only assemble those items tomorrow.


    ...


    Several minutes later, he opened the person-sized door a small crack from inside and looked around. He found it was already dark outside and nobody was near the warehouse. He then opened the door slightly more and flashed outside. After locking it behind himself, as well as the gate of the warehouse, Zhang Tie quickly left this storage area.


    He was very satisfied with today''s achievements. He brought a great amount of materials into the Castle of Black Iron and found the whereabouts of Samira. Additionally, when he practiced ''Mental Arithmetic by Abacus'', he had some unexpected achievements. He also verified that he could bring living beings into the Castle of Black Iron.


    After today''s work, Zhang Tie had more confidence in his future. No matter what would happen, he could ensure a comfortable life for his beloved people.


    Two weeks later, if he didn''t return those keys of the warehouse, his ten silver coins'' deposit would be wasted. By then, when other people opened the warehouse, they would see an empty warehouse. In this storage area where cargo trucks accessed it every hour of the day, the person seeing this would only think that he had taken away the cargo and had no time to return the keys. He would never imagine that the cargo had disappeared after entering the warehouse.


    What lunatic person would it require him to just squat before Zhang Tie''s warehouse for two weeks when there were several hundreds of warehouses in this storage area? Would he be staying here just to witness that nothing was inside the warehouse when it was opened?


    Even though there were truly these kind of lunatics around, nobody would believe in them. The warehouse could engulf all the cargo? Referring to this disguised face, who could find the real one. After 15 days, Zhang Tie was not sure whether he would still be wearing it or not. Therefore, although it seemed careless for him to do this, it had been well considered.


    Next, he needed to open those packages in the Castle of Black Iron and quickly built the log cabins. Besides, he had to find a chance to deal with that bastard Samira. Additionally, as the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club was going to open, he would also need find time to visit there to see how Mary would react when she caught sight of him again.


    Since he had not eaten for the whole day, Zhang Tie bought a loaf of bread from a roadside bakery.


    He gnawed at that bread of dried meat floss and milk that he would not have afforded before and slowly walked back. Imagining the shocked and terrified expression on Mary''s face when she saw him again in the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club, Zhang Tie suddenly felt very cool inside.


    This world belonged to the powerful men!


    ...


    After going back to the Avenue Monet, Zhang Tie spent dozens of copper coins to buy a ticket to enter the underground bar.


    The underground bar in the evening was ten times more boisterous than when Zhang Tie had left in the morning. Merely beside the faint dancefloor, there were already several hundreds of people embracing and twisting their bodies. The band''s music also became louder. In contrast, fewer people came here to drink at this time.


    Several bald tough men in tight black T-shirts had their arms crossed as they stood in the tunnel and beside the dancefloor. In the changing shadows caused by lamp lights, they were standing still, radiating an extremely great threat to those ruffians who might have wanted to stir up trouble here.


    The business in the bar was very good. There were always men and women coming out of the dancefloor and moving to the bar part of the room to drink. Some just straight away rented out a room. The price of a chartered room here was one silver coins per two hours. If they wanted to stay overnight, they needed to pay five silver coins. Zhang Tie was really confused how Donder could have changed a chartered room into a private room for sleeping with women in a bar.


    Several minutes later, Zhang Tie returned to the apartment in Avenue Monet through the hidden door in the chartered room and recovered his original look in the hidden room.


    Through this outing in disguise, Zhang Tie felt the advantage of hiding his status. Seeing those wardrobes and a pile of items used to change his look, he immediately moved all of them into the Castle of Black Iron.


    After several rounds, he finally emptied the whole hidden room.


    After a whole day''s hard work, Zhang Tie started to feel tired both physically and mentally. Once he left the hidden room, he went back to the above residence and took a bath before throwinng himself onto the bed. He mentally prepared to build up all the log cabins in the Castle of Black Iron tomorrow...


    However, there would always be too many unforeseen things in one''s life.


    The next morning, what woke him up was not his biological clock but the doorbell in the room. Someone was pulling the rope outside the apartment. The doorbell kept ringing, which told Zhang Tie that someone wished to find him.


    Still dizzy from sleep, he got up. A look at the sky outside told him that it was not even six o''clock in the morning. Who would get up so early to find him? Even for brats'' mischief this would be too early as no brat would get up so early.


    However, the doorbell kept ringing, which reminded Zhang Tie of that person''s urgency. Therefore, he hurriedly put on his clothes and came to the door. He then opened the gate of the apartment.


    When he did so, he saw Barley and Doug standing outside the gate with anxious expressions.


    "Something''s wrong with Sharwin''s home!"


    That first sentence of Barley''s immediately chased away all sleepiness out of Zhang Tie.

 191 Sharwins Home Affairs

    Chapter 191: Sharwin''s Home Affairs


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Sharwin''s family members didn''t live very well. His family didn''t share any warmth with him. Given this, people could judge it from those broken armor and sword how his family members had prepared for him to attend the survival training.


    Sharwin was also very frugal at school. Zhang Tie had also heard that Sharwin was doing part-time jobs outside to subsidy his family members. However, he had never heard that Sharwin''s parents had given him a copper coin for pocket money.


    In the survival training, when the members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood discussed beating Sharwin''s father up for his mistreatment, they were stopped by Sharwin himself.


    Later on, Zhang Tie learned that Sharwin''s home situation was somewhat complex. Sharwin had lost his biological father when he was young. His mom then married his current stepfather and gave birth to two younger brothers. As his family''s economic condition was not good, his stepfather was a hard*ss, so it could be imagined how hard Sharwin had to live.


    Zhang Tie didn''t consider that only after several days since their return, Sharwin''s home would encountered a great accident.


    Last night, as Sharwin''s hard*ss stepfather started beating his mom at home due to a trivial thing, although having suffered for so long, Sharwin finally couldn''t stand it. He started to quarrel with that man. That man then lifted a bench and started to attack Sharwin. Zhang Tie''s friend had no other way but to escape by running around the room. In an emergency, he had grabbed a fruit knife from the table and thrust into that man''s thigh.


    Seeing that man getting thrust and falling to the ground, Sharwin, whose head was still bleeding, rushed out and didn''t return home last night. However, that bastard was shouting everywhere that he would go to the Military Administration to appeal for an attempted murder.


    Once this crime was testified, Sharwin would be punished by a death sentence according to the law of the Norman Empire.


    Doug lived not far from Sharwin, but not until last night when he went visit Sharwin''s home to find him did he learn of what had happened through Sharwin''s mom. She was sitting at home, very anxious about what would happen next.


    That hard*ss stepfather was still determined to kill Sharwin this time as he kept screaming in the neighborhood that he would appeal for the murder attempt to the Military Administration...


    After finding this out, Doug hurriedly went to Barley last night. They then thought of the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood for the first time, but knowing that Zhang Tie was still in recuperation, they didn''t come for him last night.


    However, after searching the whole night, they didn''t find Sharwin. Yet his bastard stepfather was still screaming everywhere about his plans to appeal to the Military Administration. And since they didn''t know how to deal with it, Barley and Doug finally came here to Zhang Tie.


    "Where is Leit and the other brothers?"


    After entering the lobby of the apartment, Zhang Tie hurriedly put on his clothes as he asked Barley.


    "Leit and the other bros are still looking for Sharwin. Doug and I are here to inform you. We wanted to know whether you have any method to deal with this!"


    "What about Sharwin''s stepfather, where''s he?"


    "After being bandaged in the hospital, he has already returned home!"


    "I know what to do!"


    Saying this, Zhang Tie rapidly and carefully put on his second lieutenant''s military uniform.


    At the beginning, Barley and Doug didn''t notice that Zhang Tie''s wounds had fully recovered. However, seeing Zhang Tie move so quickly and not like one who''s been wounded, they gradually became startled.


    "Have your wounds recovered?"


    Barley popped out his eyes.


    "Yes, they''ve recovered yesterday, but keep it a secret for me!" Seeing Barley and Doug''s surprised eyes which contained other speculations, Zhang Tie hurriedly added, "Grandma Teresa cured it with esoteric medicine. No matter how perverted my physique is, I could never recover so fast myself!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Barley and Doug exchanged glances with each other before letting out a breath. If lightning strike could really lead to such a marvelous self-curing effect, allowing people to recover from such heavy wounds in only two days, Barley and Doug would probably want to have a try as well.


    Zhang Tie was simply another pride of the Seventh National Male Middle School of Blackhot City after Li Shizhen. Almost everybody was talking about his story, especially those animals from all the other male schools that had graduated the same year as him. The event where he could insta-kill a LV 6 black spider man during an assassination that day was even described as a legend.


    At the fastest speed, Zhang Tie finished cleaning himself and putting on his clothes. The moment he wanted to leave with the car''s key in hand, he stopped. His car was parked under the tree outside the apartment, which although could be easily driven, would take at least half an hour to start since he would need to heat up the boiler.


    "How did you come here?"


    "Of course by running! Since it''s still early, the public buses aren''t driving around yet! We''ve run for over an hour!"


    "Can you continue to run?"


    Doug and Barley patted their chests!


    "Well then, we will go to Sharwin''s home and solve Sharwin''s hard*ss stepfather!"


    "Do you mean you want to kill that bastard?"


    Doug was really startled, while Barley showed the whites of his eyes. With such a stupid guy as his brother, even Barley felt shamed by it.


    Zhang Tie felt both angry and amused. "I''m a regular officer of the Norman Empire instead of a bandit and robber like Red-scarf burglars. I mean we will deal with the event that Sharwin''s stepfather wants to appeal to the Military Administration. In the military uniform of the Norman Empire, although I cannot be a tyrant in the Blackhot City, I can at least frighten people!"


    Scratching his head, Doug smirked. "Pity, actually, if we could actually kill that hard*ss, I would feel much easier!"


    Barley could stand it no more and smacked Doug on his head with his hand.


    After leaving Zhang Tie''s apartment, the three of them started to run past the avenues of Blackhot City, as if they were jogging.


    Seeing a young military officer of the Norman Empire jogging with two people in the early morning, many people became curious. On the way, Zhang Tie, Barley and Doug were stopped by patrolling soldiers of No. 39 Division at least three times. Each time they were stopped, after glancing over Zhang Tie, those patrolling soldiers would ask him whether he needed help or not.


    ...


    Although Zhang Tie tried to control his running speed to be slow, Barley and Doug were already sweating all over.


    After jogging for twenty minutes, they finally got on a trolley bus and arrived at Sharwin''s home one hour later.


    Compared to Zhang Tie''s home, Sharwin''s was in a worse economic condition. His house was in the residential area called ''brick building'' since the entire residential quarter looked like it was combined of four standing bricks.


    Besides the middleground of the area, the rest of the places were dark and narrow. The aisles and passages were piled with all sorts of sundry and waste. The walls on all sides were scrawled with various doodles and words, pasted with illegal ads by old and ugly prostitutes and road marks for guiding pimps.


    This was the true slums of Blackhot City where people doing the cheapest labor lived.


    When Zhang Tie, Barley, and Doug arrived, most of people in this slum had just gotten up. Many were lazily queuing up outside the public toilet in the mezzanine.


    Zhang Tie''s arrival aroused a slight turmoil. The moment they saw him, many people who were going to leave hurriedly returned home and closed the door. If any of their kids were outside, they would hug them and take them back home, then stare at this military officer through the cracks in their door and window frames with their eyes wide-open, wanting to know what this military officer of the Norman Empire was here for.


    In the past month, some tramps and jobless people, as well as some low-level gangs in the slum, wanted to make some money when the Blackhot City was changing its ruler. In the end, all of their bodies were hung on the gibbets as specimen for a long time. Those soldiers of the Norman Empire in dark red military uniforms usually came here to catch and kill someone. Therefore, the residents here had formed an instinctive fear of the dark red military uniform.


    When Barley and Doug came before a room No.816 on the side of floor 8 of this ''brick building'', Zhang Tie exchanged glances with Barley and Doug, and the latter two nodded.


    Currently, the room was still filled with a man''s furious screams and a woman''s weeps.


    Zhang Tie raised his hand and lightly knocked on the door.


    A 11-12 kid with a fat face opened the door. At the sight of Zhang Tie standing outside, he was so scared that he even began to quiver all over.


    Zhang Tie pushed open the door and saw another 8-9 kid beside that 11-12 one. They looked a bit like Sharwin, but not as comely. Thinking of Sharwin''s thin figure and the two rude, fat kids, Zhang Tie immediately understood their status¡ªSharwin''s two younger brothers who had the same mother but different father.


    Zhang Tie looked at the two boys, but he neither liked nor disliked them. Since they opened the door, he walked in and went directly towards the room where the man''s growls and the woman''s weeps drifted from.


    ...


    "Please don''t appeal to the ministry. He didn''t mean it yesterday. If you do this, he will surely die. Do you really want to see him die? He''s called you dad for more than ten years..."


    The woman in the room wept as she begged the man.


    "You dare to beg for my forgiveness! Do you know what he wanted to do yesterday? Do you understand what that bastard had really wanted to do? He wanted to kill me with a knife! He''s not my son, just your and your dead former husband''s bastard..." the man growled in the room.


    "No, not like that. He just had no way out because you wanted to beat him bloody! He just took the knife to poke you! It was just a small wound..."


    ''Pah!'', a loud slapping sound stopped the woman''s argument.


    "A small wound, do you know how painful this father''s thigh is? You still dare to ask for my forgiveness! Well, I know your former dead husband has left a deposit for you and that bastard before he died. You must have hidden that deposit receipt. If you take it out, I will not appeal then..."


    "There''s nothing left! Really! All the money at home has been used up by you to sleep with the women outside. Where do you want me to find the deposit..."


    That woman burst out laughing loudly.


    "If you don''t take it out, just wait for your son to be caught and hung dead in the gibbets!" the man started to viciously threat.


    "Please, I really have no money left..."


    "With no money, you want to save that bastard? Heh... heh... just wait to collect his corpse. That bastard with tender skin and flesh will definitely look good when he''s hung dead..."


    Hearing those words, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand it any longer. Infuriated, he kicked open the door of the room and quickly picked up that man by his neck, then ferociously slapped his face more than ten times in a breath.

 192 Growing up in Suffering

    Chapter 192: Growing up in Suffering


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    After being ferociously slapped over ten times, that man in the room almost passed out, his mouth full of blood. The woman next to him had become dumbfounded. At this time, Barley and Doug rushed in.


    After ferociously slapping the man, Zhang Tie pushed him onto the ground, causing this man to scream. However, when he clearly saw Zhang Tie''s second lieutenant military uniform, he instantly stopped screaming as if someone choked him. With eyes full of fear fixed on Zhang Tie, he was confused as to why this military officer of the Norman Empire had broken into his house.


    Since Barley and Doug knew Sharwin''s mom, they came to whisper to her. After a concerned look at Zhang Tie, she then nodded, walking out of the room while cleaning her tears.


    Doug then closed the door behind her.


    Sharwin''s hard*ss stepfather was over 50 years old, half bald. As a rude and wretched guy, he didn''t even shave himself. The moment one looked at his eyes as furtive as those of a rat, one would like to beat him up ferociously.


    Lying on the ground, at the sight of the three young men who were surrounding him with malicious intentions, that guy cried in fear at once.


    "You... what do you want... Doug, Barley, I know you... what do you want to do?"


    "F*ck you!"


    Irritated, Doug directly kicked his lower abdomen. Lying on the ground, the man shrieked painfully once again.


    Their hearts filled with rage, Barley and Doug had both heard that man''s words. They simply couldn''t believe there was such a scumbag in the world. He couldn''t even match a beast. They couldn''t imagine how Sharwin had lived in this home for this long.


    Barley and Doug then beat him up for the second time until this man could only wail on the ground.


    "I... I''ll appeal to the Military Administration of Blackhot City!"


    The man kept repeating it while wailing.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie smiled at him.


    "Barley and Doug, stop, if you keep beating him in this way, he will be dead. For scumbags and insurgents like him who have malicious intents toward the Norman Empire and dare to attack aa military officer of the Norman Empire, it is all too easy to end up dead. I want to see how he is hung in the gibbet. It must look good!"


    Looking at Zhang Tie in fear, that man asked, "What... what did you say?"


    Zhang Tie ignored him, instead looking at Barley. "Have you heard how this man swore at the Norman Empire and the Iron-Horn Army just now?"


    Based on the tacit understanding between brothers, the moment he heard Zhang Tie''s words, Barley knew what he wanted them to do.


    "This man cursed the Norman Empire, saying its citizens are bastards. He also said that all the members of the Iron-Horn Army should be hung!"


    The moment Barley opened his mouth he added a death penalty to this man. After saying that, he slightly touched Doug, who was dumbfounded, using his elbow. The last member present then responded at once and hurriedly nodded.


    "Yes, yes, I also heard him saying that!"


    Zhang Tie sighed. "Alas, previously I came here to chat with my classmate; I had not imagined that I would find a person who was so hostile to the Norman Empire. As a military officer of the Norman Empire, I rushed into this room, but this man started to attack me once he caught sight of me. I had no other choice but to beat him up!"


    "I... did I?"


    As he lay on the ground, that man''s face had turned pale.


    Squatting down before him, under Barley''s and Doug''s eyes, Zhang Tie picked up one of his hands and used it to pat his own chest like how he might pat a mosquito before letting go of it and standing up.


    After that, Zhang Tie asked Barley, "Have you seen this man attack me?"


    "Yes, we saw him give you a punch!" Barley instantly answered.


    "If so, I will keep an eye on him in case he escapes. You two go outside to fetch a team of patrolling soldiers of the Norman Empire. Just tell them that I''ve caught an insurgent who''s hostile to the Norman Empire. Lead them to catch him here!"


    After saying this, Zhang Tie pulled out his military officer''s certificate from his pocket and said, "Take this, at the sight of it, those soldiers will definitely follow you here. If this kind of hostile person isn''t hung to death, Blackhot City won''t be peaceful! Additionally, this guy dared to attack a military officer of the Norman Empire. He really commits the most heinous crimes..."


    When Barley took that military officer''s certificate from Zhang Tie''s hand, the man lying on the ground completely collapsed. By then, no mater how foolish he was, he would know that they were determined to play him to death. For a small figure living at the bottom of Blackhot City like Sharwin''s stepfather, if they wanted to kill him using the military uniforms, it was as easy as stomping a bug to death. Even if Zhang Tie killed him now, nobody would said no.


    What made this man still confused though was why would a young Norman Empire''s military officer suddenly break into his home when he had not offended any people of the Norman Empire, let alone any military officers.


    Seeing Barley leaving after taking Zhang Tie''s certificate, that man made all the effort to hug Barley''s thigh. Heh cried loudly, "Barley... Barley... spare my life please. I know that I''m wrong. But I''m Sharwin''s father. Do you really want to kill your friend''s father? I''m just a poor guy and a small figure. Please let me go. I can do whatever you want me to do..."


    Seeing this man kneeling down and hugging Barley''s thigh, even Zhang Tie became sad for Sharwin. For such a hard*ss as his stepfather, it was even better to dig a pit and directly bury him inside.


    At this moment, Barley really wanted to kill him. How could his brother have such a scumbag stepfather. It was really a shame! Barley looked at Zhang Tie, who sighed and shook his head.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t stand that coward look anymore. So he picked that man''s collar and lifted him up like a broken bag before throwing him onto the bed.


    With his terrified eyes fixed on Zhang Tie, the man shrunk to a corner of the bed.


    "Do you know who I am?"


    The man shook his head.


    "I''m Zhang Tie, a military officer of the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division of the Iron-Horn Army. I''m Sharwin''s brother. I heard you wanted to kill Sharwin. So here I am. I want to see who dares to mistreat my brother that way!"


    That man stared at Zhang Tie like seeing a ghost as he had not imagined that Sharwin, who could only succumb to his beatings and swearing at home, had such a brother.


    "I... I..."


    Looking at Zhang Tie''s icy eyes, that man couldn''t even utter a word.


    "Do you know why you are still alive now?"


    The man swallowed his saliva as he kept shaking his head.


    "I left you alive because of Sharwin, do you understand? No matter what, no matter how a scumbag like you deserves to die, you''re Sharwin''s stepfather. So I let you live. If you lose this status of his stepfather, I will hardly let you alive, am I clear?"


    The man nodded.


    "Are you still preparing to appeal to the Military Administration because of what Sharwin did?"


    The man nodded. Soon after, he found it was not right, therefore, he hurriedly shook his head.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie, Barley, and Doug walked out of the messy and narrow room, they saw Sharwin''s mother hugging two kids outside the door, watching them. Living tough as part of the bottom class in the past years, Sharwin''s mom looked aged and haggard despite not being that old. There was even an obvious bruise and a palm mark on her face.


    Looking at the messy arrangement of Sharwin''s home and the wooden door that had been broken by him, Zhang Tie sighed inside as he took out five gold coins from his pocket and stealthily foisted them into the hands of Sharwin''s mom.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie, Barley, and Doug left this ''bricks building'', Sharwin''s mom caught up with them with tears filling their eyes. "If you see Sharwin, tell him to not let him worry about me. I cannot separate from this home anymore. I feel sorry for him, for being unable to give him a warm home. In the past years, he''s paid too much for this home and suffered a lot. Please, tell him not to come back anymore. He''s already grown up and has the right to pursue his own life..."


    "We''ve not found Sharwin yet!"


    Barley scratched his head.


    "I know where he is. Barley, when you see him, please give this to him. This is what his real father had left to him. He will understand it!"


    Saying this, Sharwin''s mom tore off the lower hem of her gown, and from the cotton cloth inside, pulled out a golden ring with the abbreviation of Sharwin''s family name carved on it; the ring was not delicate.


    ...


    Not until afternoon did Barley, Doug, Zhang Tie, Leit, Hista, and Bagdad found Sharwin.


    He wasn''t downtown, but in a cemetery outside the city. He sat before his dad''s graveyard the whole last night. Seeing their arrival, Sharwin raised his head with tear stains on his face and forced a smile for them.


    Everybody felt Sharwin had become much mature over the night!


    Pain was the catalyzer that drove men to become mature!


    ...


    For the whole day, Zhang Tie and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood stayed together. After dinner, they drunk in the chartered room from to laty evening. Not until they all became dead drunk did they leave.


    After putting on his real father''s ring, Sharwin told them that he would not go back home from now on. He needed to work outside to survive by himself. When he made enough money, he would get his mom out of that place.


    As for all sorts of offers to help from his brothers, Sharwin refused them all. He said if he got accustomed to his brothers'' help now, he was afraid that they might not be brothers anymore from then on. Afterwards, Sharwin cried. Everybody else kept silent. They then started to drink again.


    The weapons brought back by them from the survival training had been sold by Barley. The total amount of compensation was less than eight gold coins. The last month, the prices of various common weapons in Blackhot City had dropped. They didn''t understand why that would be so when the holy war was coming.


    Except for Zhang Tie who had figured out the reason¡ªone of the signs of the coming chaotic world was that those common weapons used to kill people started to be cheaper while the prices of high-end materials like crystals or grains that could allow people to survive greatly surged up. So did the prices of advanced weapons.


    Zhang Tie told them that he might soon leave Blackhot City and go to fight in Kalur.


    Facing the booming huge wheels of the age, all of them became silent, empty inside. So they continued to drink and talk about what had happened at school, Miss Daina, the tree house in the survival training, that lightning bolt which had struck Zhang Tie, and what others would do if they died in the future...


    When they talked about Miss Daina, Zhang Tie told them that he was the only one among them who had not ''hit the plane'' towards Miss Daina. Nobody else believed that!


    The youths then laughed and played before crying loudly.


    While they were highly spirited, Zhang Tie''s second lieutenant military uniform was stripped off him by the others, including his pants. The other animals started to strip off their own clothes and put on that second lieutenant military uniform one by one so as to feel its domineering influence.


    Finally, lewd Hista jumped onto the table in that second lieutenant''s military uniform and started to imitate those coquettish women who gave strip shows by twisting his butt, which made everybody else vomit.


    ...


    Not knowing whether he benefited from the small tree, when he departed from them, Zhang Tie was still dizzy, however, several minutes later, he felt himself sweating the alcohol off. He then instantly became clear-minded.


    This time, the Blackhot City was illuminated by roadside lamps.


    After becoming clear-minded, Zhang Tie almost immediately figured out what Alice desired and worried about. Sharwin''s event had shown him what a bad family meant. Alice''s tears and sadness in her eye corners reappeared in his mind.


    Before he could recover his composure, he found that he was already standing on the stairs of Alice''s home.


    There were still lights in her house. Zhang Tie could faintly hear Alice talking with her mom.


    Standing there, next to Alice''s home for almost an hour, Zhang Tie recalled every moment since he had met her.


    When Alice did not mind him, they could stay with each other without any considerations, but once she started to truly care for him, she chose to leave.


    Caring or not determined utterly different attitudes.


    Sometimes, the alleged life was that motherf*cking!


    Several times Zhang Tie thought to knock at the door of Alice''s home, but he resisted it. He didn''t know what he could say to her at this moment and what kind of commitment he could make. He didn''t want to hurt her, just like how Alice had preferred to stay alone in case of hurting him even a bit...


    Alice was actually a good girl!


    Zhang Tie finally chose to turn away and leave!


    ...


    On the way back, he found that Blackhot City tonight was more solemn than before as there were obviously greater number of patrolling soldiers on the avenues. When he passed near the railway station, a great batch of military vehicles and ambulances drove out of the station in each direction of Blackhot City.


    At first, he was confused about that, but when he passed by a hospital, he found many military vehicles and ambulances parked outside the entrance while more and more wounded soldiers were carried off and sent into the hospital.


    Zhang Tie then walked closer.


    "Stop..."


    Seeing Zhang Tie draw close, a soldier stopped him. Not until Zhang Tie had walked under the lamp lights did the soldiers get a clear look of his military uniform and hurriedly gave a salute to him.


    A first class sergeant with a small team of soldiers was dispatched here to preserve the security.


    "First class sergeant, where did these wounded soldiers come from?"


    "They''re from Kalur. The front-line troops are encountering greater conflicts with Brilliant Feathers these days. The quantity of wounded brothers has started to increase. As the front-line field hospitals can no longer hold them all, we have to carry those most heavily wounded brothers to the rear areas by trains so that they can receive medical treatment and recuperate..."


    ...


    Hearing the latest news, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded slightly. It seemed that Kalur''s situation deteriorated faster than he had imagined. Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty were both skirmishing more frequently in Kalur''s region, which meant that the Iron-Blood Camp might have to leave Blackhot City and drive towards Kalur as soon as possible.


    As Zhang Tie was not a war maniac, this was not good news for him. The rapid deterioration of the situation brought an increasingly greater sense of urgency to him.


    With a heavy mood, Zhang Tie returned to his apartment in Avenue Monet. A wagon was parked outside the gate of the apartment. Horse-driven vehicles were people''s favorite traffic tools in this world. Compared to steam-driven cars, sometimes horse-driven vehicles were much more convenient to use. Additionally, they were the most commonly seen vehicle in Blackhot City, so Zhang Tie didn''t notice it at all.


    But the moment Zhang Tie pulled out his key and prepared to open the gate, the four girls Angel, Sharapova, Susan, and Fiona, whom he had met in the hospital, got off the carriage.


    The four of them looked pretty beautiful today, all wearing thick amices. Zhang Tie couldn''t see what were under the amices, but he could at least see their delicate hairstyles and dressed looks.


    The moment the four girls got off the carriage, it drove away. Turning back his head, that driver glared at Zhang Tie with admiration.


    "Are you here for me?" Zhang Tie asked after seeing the four girls standing before him as he felt that they had been waiting here for him for a long time .


    "We''ve been waiting for you for two hours. As a gentleman, don''t you plan to invite us in?" Angel, the on with blonde hair, said in an alluring tone.


    Forcing a smile, Zhang Tie scratched his head and entered the apartment, followed by the four girls.

 193 Tempted by Beauties

    Chapter 193: Tempted by Beauties


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The special fragrance of the four girls was drifting in the air, containing the breath of youth and health. Although it could also be smelt on Alice, Beverly, and Pandora, it was very light on them. Each time he smelt this odor, Zhang Tie would feel his blood start boiling up, like a knee jerk. This was especially so after playing the game of mummy and small golden fish with Pandora and Beverly. Now he found that he had become more sensitive to women.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether it was intentional or not, but when he was standing outside the open gate of the apartment building to invite the girls in, they all touched his body with their owns while passing by him. Especially that girl named Fiona with a well-toned ass under her skirt. When she was passing by, she pushed against his lower abdomen.


    Being pushed, Zhang Tie''s mummy instantly became grim.


    Zhang Tie took a deep breath and smelt the faint fragrance from their bodies. For a hot-blooded boy, this smell was irresistible, just like how female wolves became attractive to rutting male wolves. It seemed that these goblins knew well how to lure a man.


    Zhang Tie gently stroked his jaw while closing the gate of the apartment building. Trying to move his eyes away from the girls'' butts, he led them inside and opened his own residence in floor 1.


    When Zhang Tie closed the door of his residence once again, he abruptly thought back to the scene of when he took Alice, Beverly, and Pandora here. Since the curtains inside were tightly closed, an ambiguous atmosphere rose up in the room again.


    ''Will something happen today?''


    Zhang Tie felt strange since the relationship between these girls and him was different from his relationship with Alice, Beverly, and Pandora. Right now, he couldn''t bear his longing for Alice and became faintly vacant.


    He ignited the lamps in the room, opened the steaming heat units, and pulled open the curtains.


    After the room became bright, he turned back and found that the girls had already taken off their amices and fixed their eyes on him, smiling.


    Under the amices were four different beautiful skirts with low-cut dress, half-cut dress, or a deep-v collar. They all wore nice ball gowns like attending a party. The four pairs of snow-white plump balls were looming in the dresses. The four girls were standing gracefully straight, like displaying their figures.


    After a single glance over the four exotic girls, Zhang Tie was dizzy.


    His mummy became really restless this time.


    ''Calm, you have to be calm!'' Zhang Tie told himself.


    Looking at Zhang Tie''s dull eyes, the girls all giggled inwardly.


    "How about that, are we beautiful? Which are more beautiful, us or Alice, Beverly, and Pandora?"


    When Angel asked her question, they all moved from their original positions, displaying cute or attractive poses and winking their beautiful eyes towards Zhang Tie.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie felt his blood pressure surge up. He coughed twice before moving his eyes away from these girls. "Hmm... take a seat here, I will go get some drinks for you!"


    After exchanging glances with each other, the four girls all revealed smiled before gracefully sitting on the sofa in the parlor, waiting for Zhang Tie to bring them drinks.


    There was a gradevin in the parlor with the glasses inside left by Donder. Zhang Tie hurriedly searched inside it. He took a bottle of brandy, however, after thinking about it twice, he put it down. After excluding spirits that would easily cause people to become giddy, Zhang Tie found a bottle of delicious fruit wine. He poured it into four glasses and carried them over to the room where he put them on the tea table next to the sofa.


    "Thanks!"


    Angel lowered her body and took a glass of wine, exposing her nice figure to Zhang Tie.


    When Angel lowered her body, Zhang Tie, who sat opposite the girls, stared at her breasts involuntarily. Seeing the nice scene, he became restless.


    Only after a small sip of the wine, the four girls felt Zhang Tie''s consideration. This wine tasted nice and had a low alcohol content. After drinking it, one might feel warm all over.


    After a single sip, the girls all felt very warm and comfortable. Soon after that, the chilliness of waiting for almost two hours in the wagon outside was driven off them.


    This was a powerful man who had a great future and was very considerate to girls!


    This was how the girls of Rose Association evaluated Zhang Tie. After a sip, the girls'' faces had flushed slightly, making them more adorable. They then exchanged glances that could only be understood by themselves. Although they had already mustered up their determination when they arrived here, at this time, they reconfirmed their decisions because of Zhang Tie''s consideration and carefulness.


    Drinking wine, the girls exchanged glances with each other. It seemed the room was filled with a thin rose-colored ambiguous atmosphere. Sitting on the sofa beside the girls, Zhang Tie felt restless, as if he was sitting on needles.


    "You take a seat first, as I''ve drunk a lot today and feel sticky all over, I will take a bath..."


    Seeing the girls'' eyes becoming as blurred as water ripples, Zhang Tie hurriedly stood up and left the parlor with the excuse of taking a bath.


    Taking note of Zhang Tie escaping the parlor in such an awkward way, the girls all giggled.


    "Angel, I heard it is very painful the first time, isn''t it?" Fiona, that sexy young mature lady lowered her voice and asked Angel. She was slightly nervous. "I''ve read the notebooks and guidance left by former graduates of Rose Association. It said that when girls did this with men for the first time, they would feel very painful and would bleed a lot..."


    "It''s okay, Fiona, I will be the first. You just help me from the side. It will soon come to an end. Do you remember what the book ''Guidance on How to Guide a Man'' writes? When we do this for the first time, if we have enough foreplay, we might not feel very painful. Additionally, we have four people which means we can share the pain..."


    Face flushed, blonde Angel added, "Seniors said that once we do this, we will feel much better doing this again. We women are nature-born rulers in the bed. We should not fear him in the bed. Whores outside can easily deal even with dozens of men a day. We are not whores, therefore, it''s enough for us to deal with him, even for the first time..."


    "I heard some men will have a lot of weird requirements in the bed..." Susan, the one with a nice watermelon-seed shaped face and a pair of enchanting eyes, lowered her voice. "I don''t know whether you''ve made enough preparations..."


    The one with a sexy mouth and a figure more on the plump side Sharapova smiled. "Don''t worry, Susan. Haven''t you seen it, Zhang Tie is still a boy, I''m sure he will not be that mad!"


    "What if he will?"


    The other girls cast their curious eyes on Sharapova at the same time.


    "I''ve practiced at home alone for a long time. If he wants to act recklessly with me, I will not fear that..."


    Sharapova just revealed a mysterious smile before moving closer to the other girls and whispering to them. After a slight amazement, the other girls all chuckled...


    ...


    After being drenched in completely icy water, Zhang Tie''s boiling head and that grim mummy which couldn''t wait to have a great fight outside gradually recovered its composure.


    Over ten minutes later, after taking the bath, Zhang Tie put on a clean set of clothes and reappeared in the parlor.


    By now, the girls had already lazily leaned against the sofa. Fiona even had taken off her leather shoes and sat on the sofa with bent legs, showing a small part of her thigh. The wine that Zhang Tie had brought for them had been drunk up. Their flushed faces were the color of roses. At the same time, their watery eyes were narrowing like a pond of spring water.


    Zhang Tie had no idea what these girls had mumbled about while he was taking the bath, but when he reappeared in the parlor, he felt that these girls who had looked bashful just now became brave and provocative in his eyes. Additionally, the curtain that he had pulled open was closed once again.


    The moment Zhang Tie sat down on the sofa, before he could open his mouth, Angel and Fiona had already swam close to him like two snakes...


    "You..."


    The moment Zhang Tie opened his mouth, Angel''s glowing face moved closer to him. She sat on his thigh, and her small golden fish with the fragrance of fruit wine instantly swam into his mouth. At the same time, he felt itchy on his left ear. It was Fiona, that young mature woman, who had already pasted her scorching face onto his. Her small golden fish then immediately drilled into his ear.


    After that, Susan also sat closer to him and started to bite his other ear.


    All in a split second, being stimulated, Zhang Tie was so excited that he almost died. However, this was not the most fatal move. When he had just struggled out of Angel''s mouth, his whole body suddenly quivered as Sharapova, who was more piquant and brave, had put her hand into his night-robe...


    Facing such a great temptation, for a moment, Zhang Tie almost gave up and took a cool enjoyment of the feeling, however, in the end, he kept his unwavering bottom line and took Angel off his thigh, then leaned to one side to set his ears free from Fiona''s and Susan''s small golden fish.


    Sharapova''s small golden fish, however, almost killed him. As he took a deep breath, he patted her lowering head, indicating her to stop. However, Sharapova was still shaking her head in a piquant way. Withher hair moving, the small golden fish in the fishbowl started to swim more forcefully. Finally, Zhang Tie had to use his hand to move Sharapova''s head away and push this woman onto the opposite sofa before liberating himself.


    Only after one minute, the five people in the room were heavily flushed. All of them were slumping against the sofa''s back, gasping heavily.


    "Listen..." With a blushed face, Zhang Tie panted twice. " We cannot do this!"


    "We''ve already told our family members that we won''t come home tonight..." Angel moved closer to Zhang Tie once again. Catching his hand, she put it between her exposed breasts. "We four all belong to you tonight. You can do whatever you want to us!"


    Seeing Fiona and Susan wanting to lure him in once again as well, Zhang Tie picked himself up from the sofa and pressed the four women back down, forcing them to sit well. After that, he walked towards another sofa and sat down there.


    "Listen, I''m afraid that I can''t be the Guardian Knight of your Rose Association!"


    After Zhang Tie''s words, all the four girls became quiet.

 194 I Donst Cheat Women

    Chapter 194: I Don''t Cheat Women


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    "Why?" Angel sat up straight. "Why not be the Guardian Knight of Rose Association? Is it because of Pandora, Alice, and Beverly?"


    The other three girls also stared at Zhang Tie with wide-open eyes.


    Zhang Tie shook his head.


    "Aren''t we beautiful enough? But I don''t think we''re worse than Alice and Beverly!" Susan doubted.


    "No, you are all very beautiful, you''re the most beautiful girls that I''ve ever met!"


    "Since you fell in love with a girl, you will only choose to stay with her without even looking at the other girls?" Fiona asked, head inclined.


    "No, I don''t think so; actually, I will love many women and will have a lot of fantasies!" Zhang Tie honestly replied.


    "Then tell us why." Sharapova who had been as enthusiastic as fire became infuriated as she picked herself up from the sofa with an icy expression. "Do you dislike that we''e not pure physically? Before now, we''ve not even been touched by any man. When I was at home, I only used bananas to practice how to please men. Do you want to see how pure our bodies are? Let''s show him, Fiona, Angel, he''s already treated us as whores. Then, we should show this man how pure our bodies are..."


    Saying this, Sharapova undid the buckles on the back of her skirt using her own hands. Her actions were closely followed by her golden skirt sliding off to the ground. The other three girls also imitated her and started to slide off their skirts one after another. In a split second, four youthful and perfect female figures with only underwear and corsages appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    Sharapova kept on until nothing was left on her. She then turned around before Zhang Tie and sat back onto the sofa, naked. After that, she displayed her most secret place to Zhang Tie in a gesture which might make others too ashamed.


    Zhang Tie was really startled by this scene. He had not imagined that the girls of Rose Association would also care about their reputation so much.


    "Come on, check whether our virgin crowns are still there or not and see whether we are whores or not!" Sharapova shouted out in agitation with her red eyes fixed on Zhang Tie, tears filling her eyes. Her tears were swelling over her eye sockets like a dam that was about to break at any time.


    At this moment, all the other three girls imitated Sharapova one by one. After undressing all of their clothes, they all leaned against the sofa''s back and displayed their rose-like virginity to Zhang Tie in a gesture that would make other girls too ashamed.


    As this was Zhang Tie''s first time meeting this kind of scene, he became bewildered. Previously, he had heard that these non-Chinese girls were very adventurous and enthusiastic. Now, he finally witnessed it...


    "Come on, go test whether I''m a whore..."


    Urging in a crying voice, Sharapova started to drop pearl-like tears.


    All the four girls started to drop tears as they threw off their self-respect after having boldly served a man their virginity, only to be doubted about its existence The man even disdained to f*ck them. This was a huge shock to the girls. Under such a great shock, shame or not was not important at all.


    "It''s not what you think, you don''t need to display your virginity to me in this way!"


    Zhang Tie picked himself up and walked over there. He carefully wiped off the tears from Sharapova''s face and helped her sit up normally, telling her to not keep that embarassing pose anymore.


    Then he did the same to Angel sitting beside Sharapova.


    Followed by Fiona and Susan.


    Seeing them acting this way, not knowing the reason, Zhang Tie felt pained inside.


    After doing this, Zhang Tie picked up their underwear and corsages from the ground and walked over. Without a word, he knelt down on one knee and lifted up Sharapova''s leg. After slightly kissing her nice shin, he helped her put on her underwear and the corsage.


    To be honest, although the atmosphere was hot just now, at this moment, Zhang Tie was putting on close-fitting clothes for the girls. Unavoidably, he sometimes touched sensitive places. However, he looked very calm and didn''t have profane thoughts at all.


    Each girl was an angel. Zhang Tie felt it was too cruel and unnecessary to have several angels display their virginity in front of him in this way.


    At this moment, the girls in the room were like wooden models that were used to display clothes in a couture. Zhang Tie slightly kissed their shins, clumsily lifted them from the sofa and gently helped them put on their underwear and the corsages.


    He acted both gently and delicately with a pious attitude. Although he did the most intimate thing for the girls, and they didn''t cover their private body parts at all, Zhang Tie''s eyes were filled with pity instead of love, desire, or greed.


    His pious kisses on their clean shins made every girl tremble, especially when he knelt down on one knee in front of them to put on underwear for them. It made them feel cherished and loved. The girls burst into tears once again, but they were different tears from those last time.


    After Zhang Tie lifted Fiona from the sofa, helped her stand up, and put on that black lace corsage for this sexy girl who looked like a young mature lady, she forcefully hugged Zhang Tie. At the same time, she quivered all over and dropped tears, which made Zhang Tie fail to buckle up the back of her corsage several times.


    "Dear, don''t move!" Zhang Tie slightly patted Fiona''s perfectly round butt. "Woooh, it''s bigger than I''ve imagined. You''re really a beautiful young lady!"


    Like being drowned in the river, Fiona tightly hugged Zhang Tie as if hugging a floating log. Her tears poured out, even making Zhang Tie''s night robe wet.


    "Why? Tell me why?"


    Angel raised her tearful eyes and stared at Zhang Tie.


    "Because I will soon leave Blackhot City. The Iron-Horn Army of the Norman Empire is having more and more skirmishes with the Brilliant Feathers in Kalur region, making the situation escalate over there. Probably in two weeks, I will leave Blackhot City and attend to the war in Kalur region. Once I go to the battlefield, I won''t be sure whether I''ll be able to survive or not, let alone make any promises to you!"


    Zhang Tie lightly patted the girls'' butts.


    "Do you know what kind of people I hate most? It''s those bastards that would escape soon after they sleep with girl, having lured her in with a glib tongue. Those bastards are ten thousand times more immoral than those who run away after eating dinner in a hotel or those who leave with goods without paying in the stores.


    "I know what privileges and obligations your Guardian Knight would have. I didn''t mean to look down upon you. I also cannot wait to sleep with you. Thinking of that alone, I will wake up with laughter even in the dream.


    "However, I cannot do that. I should not cheat you saying I can protect you as your Guardian Knight without even knowing whether I can come back from the battlefield after I leave Blackhot City. I cannot just leave after playing you by just saying sorry. If I did so, I would despise myself. My principle is that I can cheat everyone except for the women I sleep with.


    "If I cheat a women I''ve slept with, I will feel very shameless, useless, and not qualified to be a man. Can you understand it?"


    "You''re a real knight!" Sharapova muttered, hugging Zhang Tie from his back.


    "No, I''m not a knight. You just want to exchange for my promise with what can be carried out with your most precious thing. But I''m just a poor guy who has not what you want!" Zhang Tie mocked himself with a smile. "Well, don''t hug me anymore. Fiona, put on your skirt. I will make some more fruit wine for you to warm you up! If you push me like this for a longer time, I''m afraid that you will suffer a great loss!"


    The girls wiped off their tears and exchanged glances with each other. They then all burst into laughter before loosening their hands that were hugging Zhang Tie. Only Fiona was acting like a spoiled child.


    "No, as you have taken off my skirt, you also need to put it on for me!"


    ...


    Several minutes later, drinking fruit wine again, the five people were sitting comfortably on the sofa in the parlor once again. This time, Zhang Tie sat alone on one side while the four girls sat on the opposite side, having recovered their composure.


    After realizing this women-favored fruit wine tasted nice, Zhang Tie also made a glass of it for himself.


    "Do you feel we women from Rose Association are very realistic?"


    Angel glanced at Zhang Tie who was sitting on the opposite with enchanting eyes. This time, she lacked the alluring expression but had a more amorous feeling to her.


    "Of course, you almost made me die just now, like having tasted viagra. Hearing that I won''t protect you as I have to go to the battlefield, you then became goddesses and sit far away from me. I cannot even take advantage of you..."


    Taking the glass, Zhang Tie sighed. "When you posed, showing your virginity like what Sharapova had done, I should have made the decision and tried one by another. Additionally, I can also tell you, if other girls of Rose Association want to certify their virginity with this weird method, just come for me. I will definitely help them test that for free. After that, I can give them a certificate of virginity, which will date the time until which they were still virgins, etc..."


    After Zhang Tie''s words, the four girls all chuckled.


    After what had happened just now, Zhang Tie found the estrangement between him and the girls become less. So hearing his words, they threw four bolsters at him almost at the same time, which almost spilled over the wine in Zhang Tie''s glass.


    He burst out laughing. For some reason if he had encountered this event two days ago, he would have looked down upon those women. However, after experiencing what had happened in Sharwin''s home, Zhang Tie found that women were too weak in this age.


    If not being realistic, these women wouldn''t even be able to protect themselves whatsoever. It was not wrong for women to be a bit realistic. What was wrong was that there were too many hard*ss men in this age and human''s living environment was also becoming tougher.


    "You bastard, we were almost cheated by you!"


    With faces turning red, the four girls pretended to glare at Zhang Tie.


    "Hey, hey, hey, I''m the victim, right? When I walked out of the washroom, before I could tell you the truth, I was almost raped by you four..."


    "You took advantage of us, yet you want to be innocent. You know this is the first time for all of us..."


    Somewhat bashful, Sharapova threw another bolster towards Zhang Tie.


    "You wouldn''t have suffered a loss either, I''m a virgin too!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the girls cast their dubious eyes on him.


    "Don''t cheat us anymore. Don''t tell us Pandora, Alice, and Beverly have not been here before. I''ve already smelt the odor of other women in this room!"


    Fiona winkled her nose.


    After drinking the fruit wine, Zhang Tie picked himself up in a sad way. He then tore off his upper garment and just wore a pair of pajamas trousers while repeating the bashful gesture made by the four girls just recently.


    "Come on, have a try if you want to know..."


    He even imitated the crying tone of Sharapova.


    Seeing this, the girls almost burst out into tears.


    Emboldened, Sharapova engulfed the rest of the wine and directly rushed towards Zhang Tie...

 195 Able to Stand It and No

    Chapter 195: Able to Stand It and Not


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Seeing Sharapova rushing towards him with a flushed face, Zhang Tie was really startled. He hurriedly wanted to sit up, but Sharapova charged directly at him and forced him to lie on the sofa. Being a bit wild, Sharapova quickly bit Zhang Tie''s nude chest.


    He instantly shrieked loudly.


    After his miserable scream, Sharapova had already moved on to his lips and started kissing him once again. The raptured taste of the small golden fish that Zhang Tie had enjoyed before swam in again. Tempted by her actions, Zhang Tie also hugged Sharapova and started to roll with her on the sofa.


    Zhang Tie felt that he really had the potential to be a lascivious guy. Under the gazes of the other three girls, he didn''t even feel shameless to hug and kiss Sharapova on the sofa at all, rather feeling extremely excited.


    Like this, the two rolled on the sofa for about five minutes. Not only Zhang Tie, even the three girls on the side gasped in the end.


    This was a long and hot kiss. When Sharapova moved her lips away from Zhang Tie''s, emboldened, she intended to directly pull off his pants. Realizing that if she kept going with this, he would not be able to stand it any longer, Zhang Tie hurriedly grabbed her wrist and shook his head. If they went on like this, Zhang Tie felt that his previous words would be ineffective.


    Heavily panting, Sharapova felt Zhang Tie''s hands were as unwavering as a mountain. So she bit her lower lip and looked at him. "Did you treat Alice, Pandora, and Beverly the same way as me?"


    "No, of course not!"


    Zhang Tie sat straight up as he found that Sharapova was half-kneeling, half-sitting on his lower abdomen in a very ambiguous pose. As long as he lowered his head, his face would almost be buried in her plump breasts.


    He patted Sharapova''s butt, telling her to get off him. However, Sharapova firmly kept shaking her head. "Why not me! Alice, Beverly, and Pandora can do that, so can I!"


    "Because I was not only exchanging bodily fluids with them but also emotions. Everything between them and I happened naturally! Additionally, if we did this here, for some reason, I''d feel guilty..."


    "Sharapova, it''s enough, stop..." Angel who sat on the other sofa also uttered.


    After gnashing her teeth and staring at Zhang Tie with a complicated expression for awhile, Sharapova felt reluctant to get off him.


    ''I was not only exchanging bodily fluids with them but also emotions''¡ªthe four girls tasted Zhang Tie''s words at the same time.


    Sharapova''s eyes made Zhang Tie''s heart pound. So he stood up from the sofa, looking at that teeth mark Sharapova left on his chest. He then put on his clothes and looked at the four beautiful girls in the room.


    "Aren''t you going back home?"


    "It''s so late and no vehicles are outside. How can you have the heart to drive us out at this time?"


    Pouting, Fiona looked at Zhang Tie with a pitiful expression. For some reason, the moment he saw this young mature lady, he would feel that she was acting in a pettishly charming manner.


    The atmosphere in the apartment now was becoming a bit dangerous as the girls were talking with him more casually, while their eyes made his heart pound. Zhang Tie felt that it was time to end this.


    "Well, I have two extra bedrooms. You four can sleep in them, two per room. But you have to go back home tomorrow!"


    "What? Aren''t we going to sleep in the same room with you?" goblin Susan exclaimed as she stared at Zhang Tie in a coquettish way.


    Staring at the four girls who looked like a section of bamboo that could be peeled off at any time, Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva.


    "Of course not, I will sleep in a bedroom by myself! It''s late now and I''m a bit tired. You should also go for a rest!"


    After saying this, Zhang Tie guided the four girls to the two bedrooms and arranged two quilts for them before escaping into his own bedroom like a refugee. Closing his door, he instantly threw himself on the bed and covered his head using his hands before falling asleep.


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s awkward escape, all the girls revealed smiles after exchanging glances.


    "Which one do you think is more reliable: a man who would like to exchange both bodily fluids and emotions with you, or a man who''s thinking about exchanging other things when he''s exchanging bodily fluids with you?" Angel asked while glancing over the other girls.


    "What do you want to say, Angel?"


    Throwing herself on the soft bed, Susan supported her delicate jaw.


    "I mean, maybe we''ve made a mistake when we came here today. This man is different from those guys that our seniors had encountered. Therefore, the seniors'' experiences are not applicable to this man. I finally understand why Pandora, Alice, and Beverly could fall in love with him at the same time!"


    Angel sighed. Thinking back to how she got acquainted with Zhang Tie, she sighed again. At that time, she was too arrogant and superficial, therefore, she missed the most excellent man among the peers in Blackhot City. If that day she had been as adorable as today, she could definitely be the most admirable one among all the girls in Blackhot City. Thinking back to the scene when she collected pine cones with Zhang Tie, Angel smiled inside.


    ...


    At midnight, rolling thunders drifted over and a sudden heavy rain covered the entire Blackhot City.


    Zhang Tie rolled here and there in his room, unable to fall asleep. The enchanting faces of Pandora, Alice, Beverly, and Miss Daina flashed across his mind one by another. Recalling what had happened between him and the three girls in this room that day, the 15-year youth felt his blood boiling up and became pretty hot.


    What was more, Zhang Tie''s bed had been covered with the body odor of Alice, Beverly, and Pandora. Lying here, his nose was heavily stimulated by the faint fragrance on the bedding left by the girls, and he felt like he was burning all over his body.


    Seemingly protesting that Zhang Tie had let go some yummy flesh, even though he was now lying alone on the bed, his mummy was still grim like a tough man.


    It was asking Zhang Tie, "Why? Why? Why did you pull me out of the warm fishbowl. Didn''t you know I was very thrilled at that time? You selfish guy. Don''t you know how I''ve lived alone for the past 15 years? Others could hit the plane, yet this father was standing everyday, which could even make my tadpoles into frogs. You treated me like this when Alice came here last time, you did the same to me today too. Is there any personal grudge between you and me? They''re just in your neighborhood, what are you waiting for!"


    "Shut up!" Zhang Tie swore inside out of boredom.


    Hearing the heavy rain outside, he became even more upset. Rolling on the bed here and there for quite a while, Zhang Tie climbed off the bed and rushed into the washroom where he took a cold bath.


    Icy water changed into water mist when it dropped onto Zhang Tie''s hot body. After the second cold bath, Zhang Tie felt much better. Standing before the mirror in the washroom, he saw a completely boiled shrimp, since his whole skin was already red and hot, stimulated by the boiling Qi and blood in his body.


    Finally, Zhang Tie started practising Lying-Tiger Move in his own room. However, Lying-Tiger Move couldn''t help him recover his composure. After practicing it for over ten minutes, Zhang Tie screamed out loudly and jumped onto the bed. Using two pillows to cover his head, he started to sleep once again.


    After a while, being still awake, Zhang Tie heard slight footsteps from outside. Soon after, someone was pushing the door of Zhang Tie''s bedroom. After realizing the door was locked from inside, the person knocked on it; without receiving any response, she knocked at the door once again after several seconds.


    For some reason, although Zhang Tie couldn''t see through the door, he knew it was Sharapova who was standing outside. Thinking of her enchanting lips, Zhang Tie jumped off the bed and rushed into the washroom once again for the third cold bath.


    After standing outside for a while, the girl finally left.


    From midnight to daybreak, Zhang Tie''s bedroom was knocked on by three more people. Each time someone did this, he would know who the person was. It was Fiona after Sharapova, while Susan was the last one.


    Zhang Tie then rushed into the washroom time and time again. With the help of cold water, he calm down again and again. Although he had lain on the bed, Zhang Tie hadn''t fallen asleep last night at all. Feeling muddle-headed, he held it for almost the whole night. Not until the day almost broke did he have a nap.


    ...


    The next morning, it was still raining outside, and the heavy downpour was only becoming heavier. After waking up, Zhang Tie went to the washroom and looked at his embarrassed look in the mirror. With red eyes which radiated with green light, he was panting with his nostrils flared like a wild wolf that had been thrown into a cage for several years after being fed with philter.


    After cleansing himself, Zhang Tie opened the door of his bedroom. When he came to the parlor, he found the four girls already up and well dressed, sitting in the sofa. Seeing him walking out, the girls immediately turned their heads and fixed their eyes on him. Zhang Tie''s red eyes instantly amused Angel, while the other three girls showed their whites to him with haunting eyes. Zhang Tie seemed to hear them swear¡ªyou deserve it.


    Angel glanced over Zhang Tie and the other girls before casting an ambiguous look at him.


    Zhang Tie remembered Donder''s words¡ªafter serving in the army for three years, even sows could match Diaochan [1]. Zhang Tie didn''t understand it at that time, however, after one night''s torture, he finally understood.


    This morning, these four girls became tens of times more charming than they were last night. They were so beautiful that it could not even be portrayed in words. Their snow white skin, beautiful eyes, lips, breasts, slim waists, and raised buttocks were so attractive.


    "Didn''t you... leave?"


    After utering these words, Zhang Tie felt that his throat was a bit hoarse, like burning up. Although he said that, Zhang Tie couldn''t stop glancing over their breasts with his blue eyes.


    "It''s raining so heavily outside, where do you want us to go?"


    Angel glanced at Zhang Tie with dissatisfaction.


    "It''s really like exchanging bodily fluids between the heavens and the land. The sound ¡®Pa pa'' of thunder is really like the crashing sound between a man and a woman..." With wide-open eyes, Fiona stared at Zhang Tie in an innocent way. "Do you want us to be sprayed wet with so much bodily fluid?"


    "Hearing Fiona''s explanation, I also realize that..."¡ªAngel cast her coquettish eyes at Zhang Tie¡ª"I don''t know whether someone can have so much bodily fluid as to insist on spraying the whole day!"


    "Rain is drinkable, I heard bodily fluid is also drinkable, they really look similar!"


    Susan licked her sexy lips.


    Being seduced by the girls, Zhang Tie almost charged at them that same instant.


    Seeing his breathing growing gradually heavier as well as the increasingly more vigorous green lights in his eyes, the girls all burst out laughing, their bodies quivering.


    Zhang Tie''s eyes were instantly seized by the shaking meatballs in their dresses.


    The atmosphere in the parlor became ambiguous once again.


    Fiona and the other three girls started to seduce Zhang Tie by their moves and words. He couldn''t stand it any more and wanted to go back to his bedroom, but if he did that, he would be defeated by these women. Thus, he could only continue to stand it in the parlor.


    The girls'' topics became more and more limitless. They started to talk about private things among girls. Only after staying in the parlor for a short while, Zhang Tie felt that he had stayed there as long as a whole year.


    When he felt that he needed to take another cold bath, the doorbell rang. Hearing this, Zhang Tie instantly sprung up from the sofa and rushed to open the door in an unprecedentedly fast speed.


    When he opened the gate of the apartment building, he saw Beverly and Pandora standing outside in a coquettish way under umbrellas. He almost burst into tears. The saving-fire angels finally arrived.


    After Beverly and Pandora put away their umbrellas and cleaned off the water drops on their boots by stomping on the ground, they found that Zhang Tie had already opened the gate. Without even saying a word, he hurriedly hugged them while bringing them into the room, one in each hand. They could only let out soft cries of astonishment.


    Pandora and Beverly both sensed Zhang Tie''s urgency and glow, and felt a bit weird about that. When he dragged them inside, past the parlor, they saw Angel and the other three girls.


    "Why are they here?" Beverly asked out of curiosity.


    "Come to my room, I will explain it to you!"


    Zhang Tie hurriedly raced through the parlor.


    ...


    After bringing Pandora and Beverly back to his room, Zhang Tie threw them directly onto the bed and stripped off their clothes and pants immediately. Under their screams of astonishment, he instantly charged at them.


    ...


    Angel sighed and picked herself up from the sofa, intending to help Zhang Tie close the gate of the apartment building.


    When she returned to the parlor, some weird voices were already drifting over from his room.


    The next hour was like revenge to the four girls sitting in the parlor as various sounds, including the heavy ''pa pa'' sound, the continual groans and gasps of Pandora and Beverly, and mice squeaks of the bedstead, were drifting over from Zhang Tie''s room, making their faces grow red.


    The rain outside seemed to not be easing off, however, the rain in Zhang Tie''s bedroom was becoming heavier.


    When the four girls couldn''t stand it to sit elegantly on the sofa anymore, Zhang Tie''s bedroom''s door was pushed open from inside. Hearing this, the four girls turned their heads at the same time and caught sight of Beverly, whose hair was messy, half of the body exposed, and who was blushing heavily, from inside the room.


    Beverly''s head and upper body were exposed. At this moment, Beverly was still wearing her corsage. From this, they could see how rash the man was.


    While panting heavily, Beverly talked to the girls sitting in the parlor, "Who of you... would like to exchange bodily fluids and emotions with this man... we can... cannot stand it any more..."


    After saying this, Beverly, who was standing in the doorway, immediately stooped down and held the door open with her two hands.


    As to what was happening in the room, none of the girls in the parlor could see, but under their gazes, Beverly''s every inch of skin outside the door started to quiver like how lemna minor is patted by sea waves.


    It was still booming inside the room.


    Only after a few minutes, Beverly, who had almost lost her consciousness, couldn''t keep that standing pose anymore. She started to kneel down with her face on the floor. She was so weak that she even lied down on the thick and soft carpet inside the room. Behind the wall where nobody else could see, the fierce crashing was still making waves on Beverly''s body...


    After another a few minutes, Beverly, who had almost passed out at the door of the room, was hugged by two weird hands. She looked like she was being pulled inside by a man-eating beast. Gradually, beautiful Beverly disappeared from the door.


    At this time, the four girls couldn''t sit anymore.


    Sharapova stood up and walked towards Zhang Tie''s bedroom. The moment she moved close to the door, that pair of weird hands stretched out of the room once again and hugged her. Sharapova disappeared too, closely followed by a scream of astonishment...


    In the thunders now were Sharapova''s screams and weeps...


    Twenty minutes later, Fiona walked in...


    Twenty more minutes later, Susan entered...


    After one hour, Angel sighed as she slid off her clothes and walked in...


    When she bit her lip and came inside Zhang Tie''s bedroom with hands covering her breasts, what she saw made her legs go soft. She almost fell down to the ground...


    The room was in a mess. Beverly was lying on the bed, while Pandora lay next to her covered with bodily fluids all over. With only the strength to pant, Susan''s one foot was put on the bed while half of a quilt was strewn under her body lying on the carpet. With her eyes narrowed, she had her cherry mouth half-open while her body and face were covered with lecherous sweat stains, because of which, her hair was pasted onto her face.


    In contrast, the goblin Fiona was lying on the bed like a puppy. Swinging her hair freely, she had started to rave, whereas that man was still revealing an obscene smile on his face, seemingly enjoying convincing Fiona very much.


    At this time, Sharapova was using a very astonishing skill that could not even be described by words to stimulate that man who was sprinting on Fiona...


    Walking inside, Angel closed her eyes and hugged Zhang Tie...


    [1] Diaochan is one of the ancient four Chinese beauties who was born in Shannxi Province.

 196 An Industrious Gardener

    Chapter 196: An Industrious Gardener


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    For the whole day, Zhang Tie felt like an industrious gardener who held a hoe in one hand while holding a kettle to water flowers on the other hand. He was industriously looking after a beautiful garden. When he noticed which patch of land in the garden was becoming hard, he would take the hoe there to loosen soil before watering it using his pot.


    There were six beautiful flowers in the garden, and he was the owner of these fresh flowers.


    Each gardener was clumsy in the beginning. So was Zhang Tie. Pandora was his first teacher, then Beverly. The two girls taught him how to reclaim the hard land and water the coquettish flowers.


    Zhang Tie learned very fast, even mastered the skills without being taught later on. He used all the skills told by that lewd guy Hista.


    Seeing the pot make all the buds of fresh flowers wet and beautiful like having been baptized by morning dew, Zhang Tie was very happy.


    He affirmed that this was the happiest thing in the world.


    Zhang Tie liked to see how his bodily fluids poured into the girls'' bodies and flowed out from their insides, since this brought him a cool sense of conquest.


    Hista said that the capacity of the pot used to water flowers was limited. Average men could only water 3-5 times a day, however Zhang Tie felt that there was an endless life spring in his pot that would never dry up.


    This was probably because he had eaten nine Wild Wolves'' Seven-strength Fruits which had granted him the full strength of nine wild wolves, including all their abilities. And it was said that when wild wolves were in estrus, they could keep doing that thing many times a month without knowing what fatigue was.


    Like today, even Zhang Tie himself couldn''t remember how many times he had used his Mr. Mummy to water the flowers, maybe over 20 times. Take the fresh flower Sharapova for an instance, this woman''s small golden fish brought Zhang Tie a great surprise as it usually liked to drill into the place which was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. Being extremely stimulated, he had to water her more times.


    Speaking of Fiona, he really liked to see this young mature lady''s mad look, while as for Angel, who was always lofty, Zhang Tie was fascinated by her weak and imploring looks when in pain.


    Seeing those fresh flowers being watered with his own dew, a sense of satisfaction and achievement that Zhang Tie had not experienced before rose up inside him.


    He was very, very happy! Any man would be very happy at this moment!


    He brought all the fresh flowers back onto the bed in a row and covered them with a quilt, After that, he fetched a chair and sat on it beside the bed. Supporting his jaw with his hand, Zhang Tie enjoyed seeing them fall asleep with dew. Each of them had their special beauty. They were all his angels.


    ''I wonder what it would feel if he could water Miss Daina, Miss Qili, and that aunt nurse in the hospital.'' Zhang Tie couldn''t resist imaging it. As a result, his mummy, which had achieved a great victory, instantly raised up once again. ''That might be another beauty.''


    The torture of last night had long eased off by now. If Pandora and Beverly didn''t care about how many women he would have, if Angel and the other three girls of Rose Association didn''t care about the false name of Guardian Knight and only wanted a carnival with him, why did he have to care about that? Would any man feel unhappy to have more women?


    Zhang Tie kept calmly watching those women sleeping for half an hour.


    Sharapova the tallest, the plumpest, and the healthiest one woke up first. After that, she rose slightly from her side of the bed and looked at Zhang Tie, who was sitting on the chair beside the bed, with narrowed eyes.


    Zhang Tie then walked over to her and ducked down, giving a slight kiss on her wet and shiny forehead.


    "Have a good rest, when you wake up, I''ll make some yummy food for you!"


    Because of great fatigue, Sharapova closed her eyes and fell asleep once again.


    Seeing someone waking up, Zhang Tie didn''t wait anymore. After a glance over the beautiful scene on the bed, he hurriedly put on his clothes and left the bedroom.


    It was still pouring heavily outside.


    After putting on clothes, Zhang Tie quickly grabbed an umbrella and left the apartment building. He soon disappeared in the rain. After half an hour, he ran back in again with several big bags of ingredients and other items. He then became busy in the kitchen.


    Donder said that after making love for the first time, women needed to mend their Qi and blood. Therefore, based on his memory, Zhang Tie brought back a pile of items and started to prepare supper for the women in his bedroom.


    As it was not his first time cooking dinner, Zhang Tie busily worked in the kitchen with great care. After a short while, the whole room was filled with the aroma of chicken soup.


    ...


    After the women woke up, it was already late night. Zhang Tie lighted candles in the dining room and tried to make the atmosphere as romantic as he imagined in his mind.


    Once they woke up, the women started to take baths and put on clothes. After that, they moved slowly and weirdly and appeared in the dining room, frowning.


    Zhang Tie was moving here and there in the kitchen, while the women all watched him very seriously. At this moment, he was like an average youth who was doing housework, however, who knew that this man was actually a human-shaped magic beast.


    Next to the table in the dining room, attracted by Zhang Tie''s food and dishes, the women who had not eaten for a whole day instantly moved all of their fingers and started to eat. As Chinese food was well known all over the world, even if Zhang Tie had only learned a bit how to cook from his mom at home, his careful work could still conquer the women.


    Fiona stealthily scooped a small spoon of chicken soup which was stewed with ginseng, red beans, and two more medicinal materials. After blowing on it and silently sipping, she immediately widely opened her eyes from surprise.


    "It tastes really good! It''s much yummier than the things he forced us to drink at daytime!" brainless Fiona, who had a huge breasts, said it straightforwardly.


    "Fiona, shut up, can you not mention what happened at daytime while we''re eating!"


    Angel became irritated and glared at Fiona, while all the others did the same, even Pandora and Beverly became bashful.


    "You also drank it. Why glare at me!" Fiona whispered while Susan silently kicked her underneath the table.


    "Susan, why did you kick me! You drunk most, even twice. One of them should have been Sharapova''s, yet you drunk it too. You little bitch licked everything..."


    "Fiona..!" Susan shrieked.


    Fiona stuck her tongue out and didn''t say anything more.


    At this time, Zhang Tie carried in a small pot of steaming food out of the kitchen. The food''s weird aroma immediately attracted the girls'' attention.


    "What''s inside the pot?"


    The moment Pandora opened her mouth, she had scattered the embarrassed atmosphere at the table.


    "The soup of donkey hide''s gelatin stewed with red jujubes, this is a very good food to Chinese women..." Saying this, Zhang Tie picked up the small bowls from the table and filled one for each of them. "After drinking it, you will know its advantages. This is from the second pot as I burnt the first one..."


    "Donkey hide''s gelatin, is that a medicinal material?" Sharapova asked.


    "Hmm, I went out and bought them back when you fell asleep!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, the girls felt warm inside and cast milder eyes at Zhang Tie.


    After filling the bowls for them, Zhang Tie stared at the girls with hopeful eyes. "Have a try!"


    After cooling down the soup of donkey hide''s gelatin stewed with red jujubes in their bowls by blowing, they drunk it one after another. The soup tasted sweet yet a bit weird. However, after drinking it for a short while, a warm sense rose up from their insides which felt very comfortable. Even the discomforts of their bodies had greatly eased off.


    During this meal, the girls learnt more about Zhang Tie...


    After the supper, he hurriedly cleaned the bowls and chopsticks in the kitchen while the girls all returned to the parlor.


    ...


    There, Pandora talked with Angel.


    "Bring here all the women of your Rose Association!" Pandora told Angel. "I feel that he''ll like that!"


    "He will leave in a few days. Don''t you and Beverly know about it?" Angel asked Pandora.


    "I know, yesterday many wounded soldiers were carried back from Kalur, filling all the hospitals in Blackhot City in just one day. Now, everybody in Blackhot City knows that the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty will fight in Kalur. The Iron-Blood Camp where Zhang Tie serves might be the first to drive to Kalur!"


    "So now that you know that, do you think the other girls of Rose Association will still come?"


    "Why not?" Pandora stared at Angel. "If he can come back alive, he will definitely have a bright future. This man is your favorite, the one who can give you a sense of safety and let you feel admired. Isn''t it the life philosophy of Rose Association to struggle to encounter such a man, occupy a place in his life, and leave your marks there, even if only for a short period?


    "If he cannot come back, as he''s your first man, don''t you want him to make him happy before he leaves Blackhot City? Why not treat him as a kid and satisfy him with all the happiness he wants? How many men who can stew a soup of donkey hide''s gelatin stewed with red jujubes for you after f*cking you can you meet in the rest of your life?


    Angel became quiet.


    "Beverly and I will not leave tonight. We will accompany him here and await your news. As you came here yesterday, I know that many girls of Rose Association have prepared to come here today. When boys tried to turn themselves into men before the survival training, girls try to turn themselves into women after the survival training.


    "Whether he will come back or not, it would be much more interesting to choose such a brilliant man to turn you into a woman than choosing other men. Additionally, this investment will not be fully ineffective as it might bring you a huge return in the future. You should know that a man who really knows how to treasure a woman and prefers to take a cold bath many times like last night instead of opening the door of his bedroom is much more reliable than one who has the name of a Guardian Knight.


    "He only needs simple and innocent happiness. So does he love and treat women in a simple and innocent way. If he cannot do it, he will leave himself. Like how he treated Alice and you when you wanted to sacrifice yourselves last night, when we stay with him, we only need to show ourselves in a simple and innocent way. Aren''t you happy to be with him? Tell them what a man Zhang Tie is and leave them the choice to come here or not..."


    Angel was then absolutely convinced.


    ...


    After supper, she, Fiona, Susan, and Sharapova all left.


    After sending them away, Zhang Tie returned to his apartment and lay on a sofa. Hugging Pandora and Beverly, he started together with them to read a book "A Journey to the Eastern Continent" that he had pulled out from Donder''s bookcase.


    The heating units in the room had been turned on and the whole parlor became as warm as spring.


    Since they knew that Zhang Tie would soon go to the battlefield, Pandora and Beverly simply became as adorable and well-behaved as cats in front of him.


    The book was written in Chinese. Zhang Tie knew that the two girls didn''t know its characters, so he interpreted them for them while he read it.


    The Eastern Continent portrayed in the book was a world that Zhang Tie had never imagined before. Over there, human scientific civilization represented by steam had already reached its peak. Pre-historical civilizations unearthed from underground world were as resplendent as stars. Sects in the Eastern Continent that had existed for tens of thousands of years were both mysterious and powerful. Those powerful people who had learned numerous mysterious knowledges were as many as the sands in the river.


    "In many cities of the Eastern Continent, the sky was covered with airboats and aeroships. In one place, all the territory of a nation was only a huge tree that reached into the clouds. In the Eastern Continent, Chinese didn''t call themselves the Chinese clan; the name was usually used by foreigners. Instead, all the Chinese there called themselves the Immortal clan!


    "This was because Chinese believed that they were blood-tied descendants of long gone ancient gods and the incarnation of the great truth of the universe. All the blood flowing in their bodies was not mortal, but immortal. Defeating demons and bringing human beings back under the glorious light of gods was the only reason for them to drop from their galaxy onto this star and this continent..."


    Zhang Tie was really hooked by that travelogue. How confident and proud could that clan be to call itself immortal!


    When Zhang Tie was interpreting the travelogue, Pandora and Beverly lay on his chest, listening attentively. The two women didn''t seem too interested in the content on the travelogue. Feeling bored, they undid the buttons of Zhang Tie''s shirt and started to suck his nipples using their small golden fish.


    Zhang Tie''s blood started to boil once again. Throwing the book away, he turned his body and charged at Beverly and Pandora with his eyes glaring at the two kitties.


    "Can you even take it anymore?"


    "We cannot and need to have a rest. But those who can will soon arrive!" Pandora said with coquettish eyes while swimming her small golden fish over Zhang Tie''s chest.


    "Who''s coming?"


    Zhang Tie became curious. Didn''t Angel just leave?


    "The other women of Rose Association!"


    "What for?"


    Zhang Tie became dumbfounded.


    "To let you turn them into women," Beverly replied in a tender voice. "Wouldn''t you enjoy watering those beautiful fresh flowers?¡®


    "Haven''t I told Angel I will leave soon? I cannot be their Guardian Knight!"


    "What if they didn''t care about that and only wanted you to be their first man? Girls of the Rose Association choose their men in the survival training. After the survival training, they will let those men turn them into women. The more excellent the men are, the more girls would like them. Have you heard of Li Shizhen at your school? He had picked the crowns of all the members of the Rose Association! Woudn''t you like that?"


    Knowing the behavior styles of the girls in the Rose Association, Zhang Tie burst out laughing loudly.


    " Only idiots would not like that!"


    At this very moment, the doorbell of the room rang...


    "Here are our doers!"


    Pandora sat up from the sofa and revealed a smile at Zhang Tie. She whispered something to him, and his eyes immediately popped out. Pandora ran off to open the door. Half a minute later, she brought in eight girls of the Rose Association wearing amices.


    "Well, it''s your turn now. Pandora and I are really tired today and need to take a rest..."


    Beverly winked at the eight girls before pulling Pandora into another bedroom, leaving the parlor to Zhang Tie and the eight new girls.


    After exchanging glances with each other, the eight girls slid off their amices at the same time... revealing their young bodies, beautiful dresses, and faces...


    Zhang Tie felt slightly dizzy...


    "I''m Helena, I simply want to do it today..."


    A beautiful girl with brownish-red wavy hair walked towards Zhang Tie, giving him a smile before lowering her head and starting a hot kiss with him.


    More and more girls walked towards him...


    The entire apartment became unprecedentedly amorous once again...

 197 A Mad Youthhood

    Chapter 197: A Mad Youthhood


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie couldn''t even believe that his sex happiness would arrive so fast. From today onward, for the next seven days, he almost didn''t leave the apartment at all. Each day, fresh, delicate, and charming faces would appear in his room, 7-8 at least, 10-odd at most. They came and left in batches.


    Zhang Tie felt that he was a gardener and a wolf king. In the valley, while the pack of wolves were howling towards the moon, he was standing on the high platform and occupied all the female wolves of the entire valley.


    Angel, Susan, Fiona, Sharapova, Helena, Doris, Anna, Ijssel, Garbo, Jennifer, Issabel, Julia, Lucy, Mary, Barbara, Caroline, Wendy, Lily...


    Eighty two girls of Rose Association came here in batches. During these days, under Zhang Tie''s watering, they all turned from girls into women. There were a couple of days during this period that Zhang Tie didn''t even wear clothes for the whole day. Besides going to the toilet, each second was spent convincing, convincing, and constantly convincing...


    The bedding and bed sheets in Zhang Tie''s bedroom would be changed each day.


    During these days, each day, he would feel like he was in paradise. This small apartment was simply his palace. The Rose Association composed of beautiful girls from those female middle schools in Blackhot City really helped him experience the feeling of being a king this week.


    On the third day since this king''s travel started, Angel and the other three girls became the first batch of devoted customers in his palace. After that, there were more and more devoted customers who started to come together with those fresh faces. The ways that those girls of the Rose Association used to please Zhang Tie really broadened his vision.


    He was extremely favored by these girls. Even the exclusive skills of Sharapova and Susan, who used them on Zhang Tie on the first day, were soon learned by a great number of girls. On the fourth day, in the bathroom, Zhang Tie broke his record¡ªover twelve small golden fish swam across him at the same time.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie felt that he was a gardener, but later on, he felt that he was a traveler who was feeding pigeons in the square. Pigeons liked the traveler who had endless food and that food itself sprayed by the traveler.


    Girls were both fresh flowers and pigeons!


    Girls who were new here were fresh flowers while those who came here for the second time became pigeons.


    The fresh flowers were very coy, needing him to water them, while pigeons were very brave, not afraid of being sprayed, instead, they kept uttering ''gu gu''. After that, they would fly up and down beside him by fluttering their wings, opening their mouths to chase after him, wanting him to feed them more food.


    This was an extremely absurd, charming, and mad week of only happiness which Zhang Tie would never forget for the rest of his life.


    Many girls were absolutely convinced by Zhang Tie and started to crazily worship him. This was an original worship related to reproduction. The powerful men would all receive this worship.


    For some reason, Zhang Tie really didn''t feel tired. At most in several minutes, his mummy would be grim once again and start to water flowers everywhere or feed the pigeons which chased after him until they were full enough and lay on the ground, unable to jump anymore.


    Among the girls of Rose Association, Zhang Tie had a wholly new name or nickname¡ªLord Magic Beast.


    Not Knight but a Lord, Lord Magic Beast. If the Lord that he named himself in the Castle of Black Iron was not included, this would be the first time for Zhang Tie to be called Lord - Lord Magic Beast. Although only being called this on the bed, Zhang Tie was still exceptionally satisfied.


    The first girl that called Zhang Tie Lord Magic Beast was Hiltina, who could be seen as Zhang Tie''s first worshiper. It would take others at least two days to turn from fresh flowers to pigeons, however, Hiltina, after being in a coma for several times after the first day, had already become the very pigeon that chased after Zhang Tie most closely.


    Because of Hiltina, Zhang Tie''s palace became more dissolute in an all round manner. Usually, what one girl did successfully would soon be imitated by the other girls, who could even make some innovations.


    Hiltina stuck even more to Zhang Tie than Pandora.


    Never underestimate woman''s braveness and creativity - this was what Zhang Tie had concluded in these days.


    However, happy times would always come to an end.


    ...


    Today, Zhang Tie''s mom who had not seen her youngest son for more than one week felt bored and came to the apartment on Avenue Monet.


    In the recent days, Zhang Tie''s mom had heard some more gossip about him. People said that her son was assassinated at school, poisoned, and almost died. Everybody said so. Therefore, she became dubious. Recalling the scene of him outside the home, she realized that he didn''t even get off the car. Besides, his voice and expression hadn''t seemed right. She then became worried about him again.


    Because of Kalur''s war affair, the atmosphere in Blackhot City was a bit tense. Missing her son so much, Zhang Tie''s mom firstly went to the battalion headquarters of Iron-Blood Camp to ask about him. After learning that he was recuperating these couple of days, she hurriedly rushed into the hospital only to get the answer that he had left. Therefore, she rushed to Avenue Monet.


    In the eyes of Zhang Tie''s mom, now that he was neither in the military camp nor at home, he must be hiding in here.


    Previously, Zhang Tie had given a copy of the keys for this apartment building to his parents. Therefore, his mom could easily open the gate of the apartment building and start walking closer.


    Before opening the door of the residence, she was still worried about Zhang Tie''s wounds. If her son was really recuperating in his residence, what should she do then? As it was such a critical event for the Zhang family, he shouldn''t lie to his parents. Should she blame him for not telling her about that?


    After hesitating for quite awhile, she finally opened the door of Zhang Tie''s residence. Before opening it, two scenes had flashed across her mind: one was that Zhang Tie was not in the apartment but hiding somewhere else¡ªif so, she decided to ferociously beat him up when she saw him next time,¡ªand the other one was of Zhang Tie lying alone in the room¡ªif so, she would comfort him first before sending him back home. After he was well recovered, she would deal with him about this.


    Even though she had imagined tens of thousands of scenes in her mind, she could never imagine what was going on with her son...


    There was a fountain in the city square of Blackhot City, On the fountain there was a sculpture¡ªa nude 8-9 old boy supporting his waist with two hands and having a pee with his hand holding his d*ck in an arrogant way. The water was flowing out of that boy''s d*ck and falling into the pond below. There were some more sculptures in the pond¡ªa shoal of golden-threadfin breams who were opening their mouths towards the water flowing out of the boy''s d*ck.


    The sculptures of this fountain were delicate, beautiful, and poetic. They were also featuring childish and fairytale things, and were one of the landmarks of Blackhot City. Many people liked to take photos of the fountain. Certainly, at the sight of such a cute boy, even if nude, nobody would connect it to any embarrassing scene. Because children were always naive and innocent.


    When Zhang Tie''s mom opened the door, it was like she saw the live version of the sculptures in the fountain on the city square of Blackhot City.


    Zhang Tie was standing in the middle of the parlor just like the nude boy-sculpture . With the exception of his silly and obscene smile, and being surrounded by a great number of girls, he looked almost the same as that boy sculpture from feet to his head, with hands supporting his waist.


    It was all messy in the apartment. Over ten girls were disorderly lying in the room in a raptured way, messiness both on and off their bodies. The clutter stretched from the parlor to Zhang Tie''s bedroom. Girls'' clothes, underwear, skirts, and dresses were thrown everywhere. The entire room was like a dressing room in the back of the theater of Blackhot City that had been swept by bandits.


    "Guoguo..."


    Zhang Tie''s mom stood there for as long as five minutes, dumbfounded. After affirming that what she saw was not her hallucination, she screamed loudly, which startled everyone in the room.


    While busy feeding a pigeon, Zhang Tie turned his head. When he saw his mom watching him with wide-open eyes, because of shock and provocation, his d*ck almost became impotent.


    Quivering all over, Zhang Tie immediately turned pale. He then covered his lower abdomen using his hand and squatted down. Embarrassed, he asked, "Mom, why are you here?"


    The girls who had turned into small golden fish hurriedly fetched their clothes, causing a great chaos in the apartment.


    The present scene was really too embarrassing to see for parents. Zhang Tie''s mom closed her eyes and walked out of the gate to wait...


    Not until more than ten minutes later did girls, who were now well dressed, rapidly left the apartment building, heads lowered.


    Some girls weren''t even able to walk, so they were supported on their away by others.


    At the beginning, when the first two girls left, Zhang Tie''s mom was very irritated inside. However, after the number grew to six, she became worried about Zhang Tie. When it became nine, she became surprised. Then she saw more walking out and became shocked. With several more, even she didn''t know how she felt.


    The rich lecherous look was still on the girls'' eyebrows. As a woman who had experienced love affairs, Zhang Tie''s mom certainly could notice that. As a mother, even with her eyes closed, she could still smell her son''s odor from those girls only with a single sniff.


    In total, 17 girls left Zhang Tie''s apartment. Counting them, Zhang Tie''s mom became a bit numb. Was this her natural son? How could he be so great?


    Not until 20 minutes later did Zhang Tie put on his clothes and walk out of the apartment, head lowered. He opened the gate of the apartment building and found his mom standing outside. Then, he silently moved over there and smiled brightly.


    "Mom!"


    She turned back and stared at him with a strict expression.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s face looked white and red with firm and bright eyes, shiny pitch-black hair, healthy and plump lips. He looked very energetic and excellent, as good as a fresh steamed bun that had been just made, far different from being sick, fatigued, and weak. Without being able to find any fault in him, his mom finally flicked his forehead fiercely with her finger. After that, she turned and left.


    Knowing that mom was not that angry any more, Zhang Tie hurriedly smiled even brighter.


    After his mom''s check-up, his mad life finally came to an end. When he came back home in the afternoon, certainly he was interrogated by his family members. Of course, they just pretended to blame him. After Zhang Tie lowered his head and promised that he would never do this again later on, they let him go. As his parents felt too embarrassed to ask much, they didn''t continue; no matter what, the boy didn''t suffer a loss in this event.


    While back home, Zhang Tie went back to his attic where he entered the Castle of Black Iron and took out 4000 gold coins. He then put the gold coins into the handbag and left them under the bed.


    He then silently told his elder brother Zhang Yang that he had left something under the bed in the attic for him and told him to take it out alone in the evening...


    Finally, Zhang Tie ate supper and left under his mom''s repetitive advises and grumbles.


    ...


    Zhang Tie had indulged in the crazily happy times during the past several days, so he hadn''t seen sunlight during this period. He was like a human-shaped steam engine which only knew ignition and filling in water as he kept making piston movements from the morning to the evening. He hadn''t walked out of the gate of the apartment building for many days. So now, he suddenly felt that the atmosphere in Blackhot City seemed have become more tense.


    The most obvious was that there were more military cars running on the avenues of Blackhot City. The faces of the patrolling soldiers looked more solemn. The military vehicles that were pulling various military materials out of the railway station passed by the water-logged road and sprayed water from the puddles so high that passers-by had to pay attention to avoid them. Even Zhang Tie''s dark red military pants were sprayed with some gray mud stains.


    Walking on the avenues of Blackhot City, Zhang Tie breathed the air after rain which contained a wisp of the coldness of autumn. He gradually struggled out of the mountains of butts and seas of female flesh and started to recover composure.


    As he was busy being a gardener these days, he had not finished a lot of things: the movable houses in the Castle of Black Iron had not been assembled, the new yeast fluid had not been fabricated, the bastard Samira was still free out there, he hadn''t gone to the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club, or seen the old hag Mary.


    There were many things that had to be solved before he left Blackhot City.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie was walking on the avenue, a car parked over ten meters ahead him. A brat with smooth and shiny hair stretched out his head from the window. Slightly hesitant, he was thought about whether to greet Zhang Tie or not.


    Before the brat could open his mouth, Zhang Tie shook his hands towards him, "Come on, baby!"


    Benet then revealed a smile as he pushed open the door and got off the car, followed by a muscled bodyguard. Being somewhat alert, the bodyguard stared at Zhang Tie; his military uniform had an extremely great deterrent force in Blackhot City.


    At the sight of the dark red military uniform of the Norman Empire, commoners had to be careful. It was said that because the Gregory family had offended a second lieutenant in this military uniform, it was almost exterminated. In the end, Gregory family had paid a lot to deal with this event.


    So now, which rich person in Blackhot City would dare to be arrogant before the Iron-Blood Army of Norman Empire?


    "Zhang Tie!"


    Walking towards him, Benet seemed to be a bit nervous. He had also heard about Zhang Tie''s affair and knew that he was not the flesh-bag that was used to be beaten up anymore. After learning of what had happened between him and Zhang Tie, Benet''s family had already considered how to relieve the relationship between the two of them.


    Although others didn''t know which second lieutenant of the Nroman Empire the Gregory family had offended, Benet knew it very well. Compared to Gregory family, Benet''s family was much poorer. Therefore, they did not have enough money to offend Zhang Tie.


    From the moment Blackhot City was incorporated into the territory of Norman Empire, Zhang Tie was the only native commoner who joined the army of the Norman Empire and became a military officer. In the circle of Blackhot City, Zhang Tie was even more well-known than he could imagine.


    This explained why the smart girls of Rose Association had poured into Zhang Tie''s apartment like how moths flew towards fire. Many smart ones among the girls knew it much clearer than Zhang Tie how important he was at this moment. In the eyes of Angel and some other innocent girls, the sense of crisis deep in their hearts told them that he might not even be able to protect himself in the coming battlefield. However, those smart and realistic girls of Rose Association who were more politically savvy than Zhang Tie saw a handsome military officer who had a bright future with a powerful military background of the Norman Empire and could even influence the vicissitudes of the rich families in Blackhot City.


    It was just rolling on bed sheets. If they could sleep with such a man and form a kind karma with him, there might be some good legends about them in the future. Why not? This was how many girls of Rose Association truly thought.


    "Your hairstyle is really bad, mosquitoes would slip down on it!"


    After Zhang Tie casually commented about Benet''s hairstyle, Benet immediately became relaxed. He found that Zhang Tie was still the same as before, and they were not estranged at all.


    "I don''t feel it''s good either, but my mom told me this would look more solemn. With this look, I will not be treated as a kid by touching my head anymore. It''s good for me since I''ll be taking over the Benet family in the future!"


    Benet revealed a smile.


    "You have a wise mother. She''s right!" Zhang Tie smiled. "Well, where are you going, Mr. Benet?"


    Benet felt very happy to talk with Zhang Tie as his words were not as boring as ones of those big figure beside him who would always give him a lesson or show an obsequious expression. In Benet''s eyes, Zhang Tie was like his friend, a friend that could ignore his status and respect him.


    "I will go to the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club!"


    "Can I take a ride then? I also want to have a look inside the Club. Manager Hance invited me to have a look there when I was free!"


    "Fine, my honor!"


    Zhang Tie then got into Benet''s car. Only after a short while, they had already arrived at the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club...


    What Zhang Tie didn''t know was that after they entered the fighting club, the car that drove Benet here was not parked in the parking lot but drove back to Benet''s home at a much faster speed. That home was a castle-like manor in the south of Blackhot City.


    ...


    In a spacious and luxurious study room in the manor, Benet''s bodyguard and driver were reporting to a woman.


    "Mrs, young master encountered Zhang Tie on the way to the fighting club. Zhang Tie took a ride there..."


    "Tell me all the details about the encounter!"


    An emotionless yet attractive female voice drifted through the room.

 198 Back in the Fighting Club

    Chapter 198: Back in the Fighting Club


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The Iron-Thorns Fighting Club remained unchanged, at least from outside.


    Unlike last time when he had walked in carefully, uncertain of himself, this time, he directly entered it from the VIP tunnel of the parking lot of the fighting club before taking the VIP elevator and reached the VIP service area on the first floor of the fighting club.


    Previously, Zhang Tie didn''t even have the qualifications to enter the VIP area at all.


    While Benet was changing his clothes in the VIP area on the first floor, Zhang Tie walked out of the room and prepared to greet manager Hance.


    No matter what, now that he had promised manager Hance to be the counselor of the fighting club and had come here, he should go greet him, if purely for a good reputation. Although it was just a reputation, the compensation paid by the fighting club was true. Twenty gold coins a week was definitely a high compensation in Blackhot City. According to Zhang Tie''s acknowledge, only those top traders of bulk commodity exchanges or managers of business groups in Blackhot City might get such high compensation.


    Twenty gold coins a week meant at least 1000 gold coins a year. This was a huge amount of money.


    The business in the fighting club was so good that it was almost out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. It seemed even more boisterous than when he had worked here before. After the Blackhot City encountered a huge change, it seemed that more people had become clear-minded and started to realize how important fighting strength was.


    In this age, money was both a strength and a power, however, only fighting strength was the true strength and true power. Although money could usually turn into fighting strength, the latter could become money at any time. Over the past month, what Andaman Alliance had encountered had fully portrayed this point.


    Andaman Alliance, the alliance of cities full of business atmosphere could never match Norman Empire''s custom for worshiping fighting strength. Soon after the Blackhot City became a LV 4 city in the administrative region of Brunswick Province under the jurisdiction of the governor of the Northern Border Army of the Norman Empire, people soon experienced this difference and rapidly adapted to the new model.


    In the strictly hierarchical system of the Norman Empire, owning powerful fighting strength was definitely a shortcut towards heaven. Additionally, Zhang Tie became the representative for stepping onto this shortcut in Blackhot City.


    On the way from the VIP service area to manager Hance''s office, he encountered several friends in the fighting club. They all knew Zhang Tie''s current status, which was far more noble than before, especially after seeing his handsome military uniform; they all treated him one hundred times better than before.


    Those brilliant smiles and considerate greetings and sincerity really made Zhang Tie comfortable and brought him a cool sense of returning to the hometown as a rich and well-known person.


    After refusing several familiar workers'' sincere guidance, Zhang Tie directly came to manager Hance''s office, the door of which was half open. Although he could directly push in, he still behaved politely by standing outside the door and knocking on it.


    His mom had taught him to not lose ambition when in trouble and politeness in success. Zhang Tie usually bore it in mind and warned himself.


    "Come in!" Manager Hance''s voice drifted from inside.


    Hearing his voice, Zhang Tie pushed in.


    It seemed some people in his office were talking about something with manager Hance. Hearing someone pushing in, they all turned their heads and stared at Zhang Tie. Manager Hance seemed to not have imagined that Zhang Tie could come to the fighting club at this moment, neither did other people who were talking with manager him could have imagined that the incomer was a military officer of the Norman Empire. Therefore, they all became slightly dumbfounded.


    Manager Hance was the first ti recognise Zhang Tie, and his fat body instantly stood up from the chair behind the desk at an unprecedentedly fast speed. He then strode towards Zhang Tie. Pulling his hands, manager Hance told the others with a proud look, "Do you believe that this is Zhang Tie, the most excellent youth in Blackhot City. The senior counselor of the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club and second lieutenant of the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division of the Norman Empire.


    "The genius among millions of people in Blackhot City who has mastered Iron-Blood Fist Skill, the secret imperial knowledge of the Norman Empire at the age of 15. Before becoming our counselor, he was our member. He always accepted the strictest tests in our fighting club. If you don''t believe me, you can ask him. Which fighting club among those across Blackhot City could cultivate such a talent. If you choose Iron-Thorns Fighting Club, we will never let you down! Our objective is to let you feel that each coin that you spend here is worth it..."


    Hearing manager Hance''s words, Zhang Tie''s face blushed.


    The people sitting in the office seemed to be from the same family: a forty-old man dressed in extravagant clothes with an out-thrust big belly, a noble woman adorned with many jewels and pearls, her eyes very discerning, and two 10-year-old boys with blonde hair, twins.


    Listening to manager Hance''s introduction, all family members cast their eyes onto Zhang Tie. So he also gave a smile and nodded his head to show his respect to them.


    "Can he teach our little Victor and little Peter about the secret imperial fighting skills of the Norman Empire?" The lady dressed like a noblewoman, uttered the words that almost choked Zhang Tie and manager Hance. "Once he teaches our little Victor and little Peter about the secret imperial knowledge of the Norman Empire and allow our babies to become military officers of the Norman Empire when they grow up, letting our family members become soldiers of the Norman Empire, we will pay for that, regardless of the amount of gold coins. Right, darling!"


    Feeling embarrassed, the man coughed twice, seemingly also realizing that his woman was too rash. The woman seemed not to understand what Iron-Blood Fist Skill was. In contrast, the man seemed to know a bit more. Therefore, he looked a bit embarrassed by what his woman thought about the secret imperial knowledge of the Norman Empire. In her eyes, the Iron-Blood Fist Skill was just like a cheap cabbage on the roadside of the market that could be authorized for dispatch.


    Inviting Zhang Tie to take a seat for a second, manager Hance returned to his chair. "Mrs, your requirement is too special. There''s only one place across the Blackson Human Clan Corridor where one could barely meet your requirement!"


    "Where, can you tell me?"


    The woman became interested in that.


    "I''m afraid that only half of the imperial members of the Norman Empire could meet your requirement!"


    After hearing that even imperial members of the Norman Empire could only meet half of her requirement, the woman became quiet, fixing her widely opened eyes on manager Hance.


    Shrugging his shoulders, manager Hance said, "Here, I could only promise you we will give your babies the best training and treatment. We will not let you pay for it in vain. If they can perform well in the future, they may be able to accept the guidance of a senior of our fighting club and witness what is Iron-Blood Fist Skill."


    Seeing his short-sighted woman wanting to say something else, that man hurriedly opened his mouth to stop her further talk before the military officer of the Norman Empire. "Manager Hance, that''s a deal, we''re very satisfied with everything here and have determined to send our kids here for training!"


    ...


    Manager Hance saw off this family to the door of his office and let a person guide them to deal with the membership formalities. When the man left, Hance nodded towards Zhang Tie with a wisp of apology, wanting to say something. Seeing his slight apology and carefulness, Zhang Tie, who was sitting on the sofa, shook his head, expressing his forgiveness.


    It was not good to treat Iron-Blood Fist Skill as a cheap cabbage that could be exchanged with several gold coins before a military officer of the Norman Empire. That man hurriedly took his woman away in case she would say something else that might get them in trouble.


    ...


    "For families like theirs which became rich by digging mines, the most adorable thing is their gold coins. The most boring thing is also their gold coins!"


    Returning to the side of his office, manager Hance opened a cigar box that was put on his desk and made a pose to share one with Zhang Tie, asking whether he needed one. Zhang Tie shook his head, so manager Hance enjoyed it by himself.


    "Business here seemes not bad!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile. "Much better than before!"


    "Rules in Blackhot City have changed. Therefore, everybody else needed to change as well. In the Norman Empire, the supreme status of a businessman is soldier, while soldiers who have fighting contributions can be then promoted to the meritorious clan, ot even noble clan. After becoming a meritorious clan or a noble clan, if you can marry an imperial girl, you may be able to join the company of the imperial clan. In the recent days, the best seller in the bookstores here was "The Charter of Orders" which introduced the hierarchical system of the Norman Empire..."


    Sucking a mouth of the burning cigar, manager Hance said, "I heard the Military Administration of Blackhot City has already sarted counting and dividing social classes for people from all walks of life across Blackhot City. Once this work is completed, the Blackhot City will officially end military control and enter the ruling system of the Norman Empire.


    "As for guys like me who only know how to make money, if we could submit tax a bit more frequently so that we could reach a certain amount or directly bring a huge amount of donation to the empire in the future, we can reluctantly be promoted to the soldier class.


    "Without being a soldier, according to the rules of the Norman Empire, I would be forbidden to even take a private car out in the future, instead, I could only take a carriage. Besides, the color and the adornments of the carriage should not be golden, red, white, or black.


    "The quantity of horses used to pull the carriage should not be more than two. I could not use above LV 2 mutated horses, other magical beasts, or other thoroughbred horses regulated by the Norman Empire that can only be used by meritorious clan and other classes above meritorious clan. There are also regulations on the size of the carriage.


    "Oh, I almost forgot it, I would be forbidden to smoke cigars in the public, instead, I could only smoke it at home or in the office..." Manager Hance then sighed with a dejected expression. "The good days of the new rich in Blackhot City will soon come to an end!"


    Seeing manager Hance¡¯s sorrowful face, at first Zhang Tie intended to express his sympathy about him, however, after thinking that there would be more guys who "could only do small businesses", who, in Zerom¡¯s words, could only sit in small carriages with weird colors and run across Blackhot City, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t take it and burst out laughing loudly. From another perspective, the hierarchical system of the Norman Empire was also lovely.


    "Horseshit and horse fart don¡¯t smell good!" Zhang Tie burst out laughing loudly as he mocked.


    Taking the cigar, manager Hance became dumbfounded before burst out laughing too.


    "You are free today?"


    "I¡¯m here to look around and get the salary. By the way, the military uniform¡¯s largest benefit is to show off my power and prestige and satisfy my vanity!" Zhang Tie replied honestly.


    Manager Hance laughed out louder, feeling that Zhang Tie was very interesting. He felt very relaxed and happy talking with him. "Fine, you¡¯re our logo, many people are here for you. I will prepare money for you and pay you a year¡¯s salary. You go out to show off your power and prestige first, I''ll give you your money when you leave!"


    "That¡¯s fine!"


    Saying this, Zhang Tie stood up.


    "Which do you want, gold notes or gold coins!" manager Hance asked.


    "Gold coins! I like that heavy feeling of gold coins in hand!"


    "The same for me!"


    Manager Hance smiled once again.


    ...


    Walking out of manager Hance¡¯s office, Zhang Tie came directly to the VIP area and started to enjoy the VIP treatment in the fighting club. As he had said he was leaving for greetings, Benet was still waiting for him here.


    "Fetch me those female assistants here, I want to choose one!"


    After entering the VIP area, Zhang Tie directly ordered the service manager of this area. Receiving his order, the service manager left.


    Seemingly knowing what Zhang Tie wanted to do, Benet opened his mouth and wanted to say something; however, he didn¡¯t uttered it. Mary was just a common female assistant in the fighting club. After Zhang Tie left, Benet in the end didn¡¯t convince Mary to become his woman. Additionally, after knowing what happened between him and Zhang Tie, his mom had already strictly warned him to not get along with Mary anymore. In Benet¡¯s mom¡¯s words, foolish and self-important women like Mary could only bring disasters to men beside them.


    After a while, dozens of young beauties arrived at the VIP area. They started to tempt Zhang Tie with their eyes.


    Mary was also among them. Zhang Tie immediately caught sight of her. Meanwhile, she also caught sight of him. Although there were many legends about Zhang Tie, the moment she saw him, Mary¡¯s face turned pale and her whole body quivered.


    Pointing at Mary, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t speak, but revealed a smile. Everybody realized that he was gazing at Mary, so the surrounding female assistants also cast their eyes onto her too.


    Under the complex, jealous, or gloating eyes, Mary walked out of the crowd, quivering all over.


    "That¡¯s her, I want Mary!" An abrupt voice drifted from the side with a rich, aggressive atmosphere.


    Zhang Tie turned back and saw a familiar brat who was walking here accompanied by two bodyguards. The moment he walked over, he raised his eyebrows towards Zhang Tie in a defiant manner. However, at the sight of Zhang Tie¡¯s military uniform, one of the two bodyguards hurriedly changed his face and lowered his head to whisper to the brat. Unexpectedly, he was ferociously glared at by the brat.


    "Shut up!"


    After watching the defiant brat for a while, Zhang Tie finally recognized who he was¡ªthe brat who had kicked him so abruptly and ferociously that he had passed out the first time he came to the fighting club. His name might have been Gregory...

 199 After Visiting the Fighting Club

    Chapter 199: After visiting the Fighting Club


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The moment Zhang Tie walked out through the gate of the jewelry store, he let out a deep breath without knowing the reason for it. Besides the sprayed liquid, this was the best item that he could give them, since he might soon go to the battlefield and could not be sure that he''ll manage to survive there.


    If he was killed, this jewelry will work as the memory for those adorable girls. As their first man who indulged with them in pleasure for one week, he should leave something to them. Maybe he could not treat them all like how he treated Pandora and Beverly, but he could at least give them the best he could give.


    Those sets of jewelry that Zhang Tie had chosen were very heavy. There was also another reason for him to do this besides them serving as a memory of him¡ªwhen in emergency, that jewelry could also be sold to save them.


    After leaving the jewelry store, Zhang Tie went to a women''s underclothes store on Avenue Bright. The underclothes sold here were of the best brands in Blackhot City. Previously, he didn''t know which brand was best, but now he had learnt from the girls of the Rose Association that the most favorite female underclothes brand in Blackhot City was Mrs. Diss.


    At the sight of such a handsome military officer of the Norman Empire, the beautiful female clerks inside the store all surrounded him out of curiosity.


    "Give me a piece of paper and a pen, then prepare what I will write down!"


    They had never imagined that such a handsome military officer of the Norman Empire might want a piece of paper and a pen. Under suspicion, one clerk presented him with what he asked for.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie left the store, he became a god again. All the clerks in the underwear store saw him off out the gate. Although men who could buy underclothes for women were not gods, a man who could buy 85 sets of underclothes at once and able to tell the size and style of each woman''s underclothes was definitely a god.


    For the first time, Zhang Tie applied his improved memory after the upsurge of his spiritual energy in this place.


    The 85 sets of underclothes cost Zhang Tie over 30 gold coins in total. Some sizes and styles were in short, so he would have to come here to get them three days later. Although it was not a great consumption for Zhang Tie, he just wanted to tell those girls who had brought him great happiness that he had borne each one of them in his mind, including their looks and their figures, because they had given him the most important thing they had.


    ...


    After leaving the underclothes shop, Zhang Tie came to a boutique gift shop and a fresh flower shop. After spending 20 more gold coins there, he finally arranged everything so he could leave Blackhot City.


    From this evening onward, the "great thing" that a young military officer of the Norman Empire had done in the three stores on Avenue Bright became legends which were always mentioned by the clerks in the three stores to their customers even a few years later.


    ...


    After dealing with these things, Zhang Tie suddenly felt much more relaxed.


    Walking through the streets of Blackhot City alone, Zhang Tie thought about Samira.


    It was time to deal with that shameless villain. However, the grudge between Samira and him was private. Therefore, he could not find the evidence of Samira''s fault on a greater event. Additionally, Samira had found a strong backer - Alchemist Abyan. This made it more difficult for Zhang Tie to deal with him. Even if the ruler of Blackhot City changed, that alchemist called Abyan still enjoyed a far greater status than him, a trivial second lieutenant of the Norman Empire.


    If he wanted to deal with Samira, he should not involve that backer. Therefore, he needed to make a good plan...


    Without killing Samira, who had offended him and set him up several times, Zhang Tie didn''t feel comfortable leaving Blackhot City. If he left that villain who was as vicious as a snake and as crafty as a fox alive in this world, it would be a risk for his family members and himself.


    Zhang Tie was determined to kill Samira before he left Blackhot City. It was his first decision to kill a person ever since he was born.


    ...


    He had spent too mcuh time in the three stores. When he walked back to the apartment on Avenue Monet, it was already so late that few pedestrians were still on the road, leaving lamps radiating faint lights in pitch-dark night.


    There was already a vehicle and a person waiting outside the gate of Zhang Tie''s apartment.


    It was a 60-odd man in black swallowtail suit, whose hair was fully gray. Although having stood outside the gate of Zhang Tie''s apartment for a long time, he still behaved perfectly.


    "I''m Pavano, the butler of Gregory family. On behalf of the Gregory family, I''m very sorry for what happened in the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club today. That innocent kid will not appear there ever again. Here is the sincerity of Gregory family. Hopefully, you''ll like it!"


    The 60-odd man with pale hair flicked his hand towards his car. Then Mary, who was dressed well, got off the vehicle and came in front of Zhang Tie. She looked more beautiful but paler as well.


    At this time, she wore a beautiful and expensive evening dress adorned with crystals that could only be worn when women attended banquets. She seemed like a gift that had been well decorated. However, her look was of one going to the gibbets.


    The old man cast a warm eye at Mary, who immediately quivered all over.


    "Please... please f*ck me!"


    It was really hard to say such a filthy sentence, especially for a girl. After saying this sentence, Mary started crying¡ªthis was an ''appointment'' that had been made between Zhang Tie and Mary at the beginning.


    As for Gregory family, they had 1000 methods to make common girls like Mary to succumb. Zhang Tie had long predicted that. Therefore, he was not surprised by it at all.


    Smiling, he told the butler of Gregory family, "I will not care about what happened in the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club today. It was just mischief of a kid..."


    "Wish you have a good night!"


    After making an elegant bow to Zhang Tie, Pavano left.


    This was how big families behaved, Zhang Tie mumbled with a sigh inside.


    Facing Zhang Tie alone, not knowing whether it was because of cold or fear, Mary started to shiver all over.


    After casting a glance at her, Zhang Tie pulled out a key to open the gate of the apartment building. Mary then also lowered her head and followed him in.


    Zhang Tie''s residence was filled with a strange smell. The moment Mary entered, she smelled a weird odor, and her face turned paler. That odor was like the smell of blood near the gibbet for her.


    Zhang Tie also smelled it. While staying in the residence for the past days, he did not sense it, but now, after going out for a round and coming back, he realized that the whole residence was filled with a lascivious smell.


    After entering the parlor, Mary became stiff all over. Hearing the sound of Zhang Tie closing the door, she got scared and quivered once again.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about her, neither did he talk to her. Instead, he just did things alone. After taking off his clothes in the bedroom, he went to the washroom to take a bath. It took him ten minutes to finish it. Then he walked out of the washroom in a pair of boxer shorts and bare feet while wiping off the water droplets off his face.


    During this period, Mary, in her evening dress, just stood stiffly and nervously in the parlor with alluring shoulders. She slightly quivered.


    Zhang Tie took a small cup of fruit liqueur from the gradevin in the parlor before walking over and giving it to her.


    "Drink it, you may warm up a bit!"


    Mary seemed yo listen to his words for after taking the cup with two hands, she raised up her head and drunk all the liquor, almost choking on it. She then started to cough.


    "Take a seat!"


    Zhang Tie pointed at the sofa. Mary then sat down there stiffly while bean-sized tears dropped down her brittle looking face. At the beginning, she had never imagined this situation. Even several hours before when she was grabbed away from Zhang Tie by the young master of Gregory family, he was still slightly pleasant.


    However, Gregory family''s changed attitude towards her made her wake up and understand how innocent she had been. In the eyes of those families of Blackhot City, women like her were nothing different from commodities displayed in the counters of stores on Avenue Bright. For Gregory family, she was even a cheap commodity that nobody would want even with a discount, an item produced by a small plant or a small workshop that was not even qualified to be displayed in official sites.


    What happened tonight awakened Mary from her nice dream and made her realize the cruelty of reality.


    Zhang Tie found that he really could not stand crying women. Seeing her poor look, his misunderstanding with her due to his personal feelings and vanity quickly dissipated.


    After having indulged with the girls of the Rose Association for one week, Zhang Tie found that he had grown a bit more mature, as he seemed to be more compromising to women. Many times he would think about the problem from point of view of the women.


    After fully releasing his desires that had been accumulated for many years on a group of girls, he found that many thorny edges inside of him seemed to have been polished by the endless piston movements. Women''s tender figures and bodily fluids that he had exchanged with them seemed to also make his inner heart more comfortable.


    Several months ago, he was just a miserable ugly duckling. As for Mary who usually looked at those beautiful swans and felt qualified to be one of them, at that time, Zhang Tie truly had nothing to make her respect him by lowering her status to satisfy his dream of sleeping with a beauty.


    In the rude mockery of Donder, the badass, "Did you have a big d*ck or what?"


    "I also made mistakes in the fighting club, hmm, I was a bit rude to you at that time, so I''ll apologize to you about that. Through this incident, we''re even!"


    Dropping tears, Mary raised her head. She then looked at Zhang Tie with eyes wide-open. When she thought that she would drop into hell, she heard his apology.


    Sitting on the opposite sofa, Zhang Tie just gazed at her without teasing.


    After taking off the military uniform, he looked just like an innocent youth or a lackey of a gangster.


    "You mean... we''re even?" Mary asked out of suspicion.


    "Yes, I don''t know what the Gregory family told you and what trade has been made between you and them, it seemed that you only need to stay here for one night. If it was true, you just do that and leave the next morning. There are two guestrooms over there, you can choose one at your will. I''ve already told manager Hance, so that they won''t find you trouble in the future, so you''re free as usual from tomorrow onward..."


    "Don... don''t... don''t you want me?"


    Mary was shocked, then changed her wording to express her thought.


    Scratching his head, Zhang Tie replied, "Isn''t it interesting to do that on the base of our mutual willingness? I feel that the two of us are not on the same page, and I don''t like to force others to do anything, neither do I like women feeling sorrow and weeping because of me. Do you want me to want you?"


    "Of course not!" Mary instantly denied as her face slightly blushed.


    "That''s it, go to sleep then. I''m a bit tired these days, so I''ll also go to bed now. I won''t chat with you anymore! When you go back to your room, remember to turn off the light in the parlor..."


    After saying this, Zhang Tie stood up and yawned, then returned to his own bedroom. He habitually locked the door from inside by pressing the button.


    Despite hearing the sound of Zhang Tie pressing the button in his bedroom, Mary sat in the parlor for quite awhile. After that, she lowered her head down and looked at her infinitely beautiful figure and the extravagant evening dress. She should have let out a deep breath, however, she didn''t know why but she felt dejected...


    After eight days'' fight, Zhang Tie finally could have a good sleep.


    Tonight, he felt that sometimes it was also very comfortable for a man to sleep alone.


    On the second day, when Zhang Tie woke up, Mary had already left. He did not know when she''d done that, but he didn''t care about it at all. Though on the mirror in the parlor, he saw a line left by that woman using her lipstick.


    ¡ª¡ªThank you! But I hate you!


    "F*ck, is the woman sick?"


    Zhang Tie swore inside. He could never understand why that woman would still hate him when he had been so kind to her. F*ck!


    After leaving this incident alone, Zhang Tie came into the study room and entered the underground hidden room.


    ...


    Over ten minutes later, he walked out of that underground bar in Avenue Monet in a new set of clothes and a new face. After passing by a short half a block, he got on a trolleybus that went towards the southern downtown. Half an hour later, he appeared in the animal trading market in the south of Blackhot City. Standing on the hill, he looked at that beautiful and magnificent castle-like manor of Master Abyan, which was located beside the lake in the distance.


    Zhang Tie spent two silver coins to get news about Samira from a local snake of the market.


    In these couple of days, Samira had come to the animal trading market to purchase golden uangs at a very low price. It seemed that Master Abyan wanted to use these mutated golden uangs to make some medicament...

 200 Thank You, But I Hate You

    Chapter 200: Thank You, But I Hate You


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The moment Zhang Tie walked out through the gate of the jewelry store, he let out a deep breath without knowing the reason for it. Besides the sprayed liquid, this was the best item that he could give them, since he might soon go to the battlefield and could not be sure that he''ll manage to survive there.


    If he was killed, this jewelry will work as the memory for those adorable girls. As their first man who indulged with them in pleasure for one week, he should leave something to them. Maybe he could not treat them all like how he treated Pandora and Beverly, but he could at least give them the best he could give.


    Those sets of jewelry that Zhang Tie had chosen were very heavy. There was also another reason for him to do this besides them serving as a memory of him¡ªwhen in emergency, that jewelry could also be sold to save them.


    After leaving the jewelry store, Zhang Tie went to a women''s underclothes store on Avenue Bright. The underclothes sold here were of the best brands in Blackhot City. Previously, he didn''t know which brand was best, but now he had learnt from the girls of the Rose Association that the most favorite female underclothes brand in Blackhot City was Mrs. Diss.


    At the sight of such a handsome military officer of the Norman Empire, the beautiful female clerks inside the store all surrounded him out of curiosity.


    "Give me a piece of paper and a pen, then prepare what I will write down!"


    They had never imagined that such a handsome military officer of the Norman Empire might want a piece of paper and a pen. Under suspicion, one clerk presented him with what he asked for.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie left the store, he became a god again. All the clerks in the underwear store saw him off out the gate. Although men who could buy underclothes for women were not gods, a man who could buy 85 sets of underclothes at once and able to tell the size and style of each woman''s underclothes was definitely a god.


    For the first time, Zhang Tie applied his improved memory after the upsurge of his spiritual energy in this place.


    The 85 sets of underclothes cost Zhang Tie over 30 gold coins in total. Some sizes and styles were in short, so he would have to come here to get them three days later. Although it was not a great consumption for Zhang Tie, he just wanted to tell those girls who had brought him great happiness that he had borne each one of them in his mind, including their looks and their figures, because they had given him the most important thing they had.


    ...


    After leaving the underclothes shop, Zhang Tie came to a boutique gift shop and a fresh flower shop. After spending 20 more gold coins there, he finally arranged everything so he could leave Blackhot City.


    From this evening onward, the "great thing" that a young military officer of the Norman Empire had done in the three stores on Avenue Bright became legends which were always mentioned by the clerks in the three stores to their customers even a few years later.


    ...


    After dealing with these things, Zhang Tie suddenly felt much more relaxed.


    Walking through the streets of Blackhot City alone, Zhang Tie thought about Samira.


    It was time to deal with that shameless villain. However, the grudge between Samira and him was private. Therefore, he could not find the evidence of Samira''s fault on a greater event. Additionally, Samira had found a strong backer - Alchemist Abyan. This made it more difficult for Zhang Tie to deal with him. Even if the ruler of Blackhot City changed, that alchemist called Abyan still enjoyed a far greater status than him, a trivial second lieutenant of the Norman Empire.


    If he wanted to deal with Samira, he should not involve that backer. Therefore, he needed to make a good plan...


    Without killing Samira, who had offended him and set him up several times, Zhang Tie didn''t feel comfortable leaving Blackhot City. If he left that villain who was as vicious as a snake and as crafty as a fox alive in this world, it would be a risk for his family members and himself.


    Zhang Tie was determined to kill Samira before he left Blackhot City. It was his first decision to kill a person ever since he was born.


    ...


    He had spent too mcuh time in the three stores. When he walked back to the apartment on Avenue Monet, it was already so late that few pedestrians were still on the road, leaving lamps radiating faint lights in pitch-dark night.


    There was already a vehicle and a person waiting outside the gate of Zhang Tie''s apartment.


    It was a 60-odd man in black swallowtail suit, whose hair was fully gray. Although having stood outside the gate of Zhang Tie''s apartment for a long time, he still behaved perfectly.


    "I''m Pavano, the butler of Gregory family. On behalf of the Gregory family, I''m very sorry for what happened in the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club today. That innocent kid will not appear there ever again. Here is the sincerity of Gregory family. Hopefully, you''ll like it!"


    The 60-odd man with pale hair flicked his hand towards his car. Then Mary, who was dressed well, got off the vehicle and came in front of Zhang Tie. She looked more beautiful but paler as well.


    At this time, she wore a beautiful and expensive evening dress adorned with crystals that could only be worn when women attended banquets. She seemed like a gift that had been well decorated. However, her look was of one going to the gibbets.


    The old man cast a warm eye at Mary, who immediately quivered all over.


    "Please... please f*ck me!"


    It was really hard to say such a filthy sentence, especially for a girl. After saying this sentence, Mary started crying¡ªthis was an ''appointment'' that had been made between Zhang Tie and Mary at the beginning.


    As for Gregory family, they had 1000 methods to make common girls like Mary to succumb. Zhang Tie had long predicted that. Therefore, he was not surprised by it at all.


    Smiling, he told the butler of Gregory family, "I will not care about what happened in the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club today. It was just mischief of a kid..."


    "Wish you have a good night!"


    After making an elegant bow to Zhang Tie, Pavano left.


    This was how big families behaved, Zhang Tie mumbled with a sigh inside.


    Facing Zhang Tie alone, not knowing whether it was because of cold or fear, Mary started to shiver all over.


    After casting a glance at her, Zhang Tie pulled out a key to open the gate of the apartment building. Mary then also lowered her head and followed him in.


    Zhang Tie''s residence was filled with a strange smell. The moment Mary entered, she smelled a weird odor, and her face turned paler. That odor was like the smell of blood near the gibbet for her.


    Zhang Tie also smelled it. While staying in the residence for the past days, he did not sense it, but now, after going out for a round and coming back, he realized that the whole residence was filled with a lascivious smell.


    After entering the parlor, Mary became stiff all over. Hearing the sound of Zhang Tie closing the door, she got scared and quivered once again.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about her, neither did he talk to her. Instead, he just did things alone. After taking off his clothes in the bedroom, he went to the washroom to take a bath. It took him ten minutes to finish it. Then he walked out of the washroom in a pair of boxer shorts and bare feet while wiping off the water droplets off his face.


    During this period, Mary, in her evening dress, just stood stiffly and nervously in the parlor with alluring shoulders. She slightly quivered.


    Zhang Tie took a small cup of fruit liqueur from the gradevin in the parlor before walking over and giving it to her.


    "Drink it, you may warm up a bit!"


    Mary seemed yo listen to his words for after taking the cup with two hands, she raised up her head and drunk all the liquor, almost choking on it. She then started to cough.


    "Take a seat!"


    Zhang Tie pointed at the sofa. Mary then sat down there stiffly while bean-sized tears dropped down her brittle looking face. At the beginning, she had never imagined this situation. Even several hours before when she was grabbed away from Zhang Tie by the young master of Gregory family, he was still slightly pleasant.


    However, Gregory family''s changed attitude towards her made her wake up and understand how innocent she had been. In the eyes of those families of Blackhot City, women like her were nothing different from commodities displayed in the counters of stores on Avenue Bright. For Gregory family, she was even a cheap commodity that nobody would want even with a discount, an item produced by a small plant or a small workshop that was not even qualified to be displayed in official sites.


    What happened tonight awakened Mary from her nice dream and made her realize the cruelty of reality.


    Zhang Tie found that he really could not stand crying women. Seeing her poor look, his misunderstanding with her due to his personal feelings and vanity quickly dissipated.


    After having indulged with the girls of the Rose Association for one week, Zhang Tie found that he had grown a bit more mature, as he seemed to be more compromising to women. Many times he would think about the problem from point of view of the women.


    After fully releasing his desires that had been accumulated for many years on a group of girls, he found that many thorny edges inside of him seemed to have been polished by the endless piston movements. Women''s tender figures and bodily fluids that he had exchanged with them seemed to also make his inner heart more comfortable.


    Several months ago, he was just a miserable ugly duckling. As for Mary who usually looked at those beautiful swans and felt qualified to be one of them, at that time, Zhang Tie truly had nothing to make her respect him by lowering her status to satisfy his dream of sleeping with a beauty.


    In the rude mockery of Donder, the badass, "Did you have a big d*ck or what?"


    "I also made mistakes in the fighting club, hmm, I was a bit rude to you at that time, so I''ll apologize to you about that. Through this incident, we''re even!"


    Dropping tears, Mary raised her head. She then looked at Zhang Tie with eyes wide-open. When she thought that she would drop into hell, she heard his apology.


    Sitting on the opposite sofa, Zhang Tie just gazed at her without teasing.


    After taking off the military uniform, he looked just like an innocent youth or a lackey of a gangster.


    "You mean... we''re even?" Mary asked out of suspicion.


    "Yes, I don''t know what the Gregory family told you and what trade has been made between you and them, it seemed that you only need to stay here for one night. If it was true, you just do that and leave the next morning. There are two guestrooms over there, you can choose one at your will. I''ve already told manager Hance, so that they won''t find you trouble in the future, so you''re free as usual from tomorrow onward..."


    "Don... don''t... don''t you want me?"


    Mary was shocked, then changed her wording to express her thought.


    Scratching his head, Zhang Tie replied, "Isn''t it interesting to do that on the base of our mutual willingness? I feel that the two of us are not on the same page, and I don''t like to force others to do anything, neither do I like women feeling sorrow and weeping because of me. Do you want me to want you?"


    "Of course not!" Mary instantly denied as her face slightly blushed.


    "That''s it, go to sleep then. I''m a bit tired these days, so I''ll also go to bed now. I won''t chat with you anymore! When you go back to your room, remember to turn off the light in the parlor..."


    After saying this, Zhang Tie stood up and yawned, then returned to his own bedroom. He habitually locked the door from inside by pressing the button.


    Despite hearing the sound of Zhang Tie pressing the button in his bedroom, Mary sat in the parlor for quite awhile. After that, she lowered her head down and looked at her infinitely beautiful figure and the extravagant evening dress. She should have let out a deep breath, however, she didn''t know why but she felt dejected...


    After eight days'' fight, Zhang Tie finally could have a good sleep.


    Tonight, he felt that sometimes it was also very comfortable for a man to sleep alone.


    On the second day, when Zhang Tie woke up, Mary had already left. He did not know when she''d done that, but he didn''t care about it at all. Though on the mirror in the parlor, he saw a line left by that woman using her lipstick.


    ¡ª¡ªThank you! But I hate you!


    "F*ck, is the woman sick?"


    Zhang Tie swore inside. He could never understand why that woman would still hate him when he had been so kind to her. F*ck!


    After leaving this incident alone, Zhang Tie came into the study room and entered the underground hidden room.


    ...


    Over ten minutes later, he walked out of that underground bar in Avenue Monet in a new set of clothes and a new face. After passing by a short half a block, he got on a trolleybus that went towards the southern downtown. Half an hour later, he appeared in the animal trading market in the south of Blackhot City. Standing on the hill, he looked at that beautiful and magnificent castle-like manor of Master Abyan, which was located beside the lake in the distance.


    Zhang Tie spent two silver coins to get news about Samira from a local snake of the market.


    In these couple of days, Samira had come to the animal trading market to purchase golden uangs at a very low price. It seemed that Master Abyan wanted to use these mutated golden uangs to make some medicament...

 201 Revenge

    Chapter 201: Revenge


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Recently, the animal trading market in the south of Blackhot City had become more boisterous. Compared to before when only the places which sold pets were lively, nowadays, the horse trading area became more bustling as many people in Blackhot City started to consider their private carriages. Besides, the Norman Empire''s hierarchical system became increasingly more accepted and started to influence people''s daily lives from all aspects.


    In this animal trading market, recently a news spread that the horse trading area would be separated from the animal trading market. This was because someone waned to invest into a bigger and more senior horse trading market to satisfy the demands of some people in Blackhot City in the future.


    In the Norman Empire, with the exception of army and public traffic, only soldiers could be allowed to use private vehicles in public areas. As many rich people and businessmen in Blackhot City were only commoners, once the military control came to an end, they could only put away their private cars at home.


    Some were sorrowful and sighed while stud-farm bosses and farmers who bred a bit some horses in the surrounding farms all looked very satisfied.


    There were several stud-farms in Blackhot City, which all had a booming business these days. At the same time, those farmers who knew how to breed horses, drive carriages, and take care of horses became in demand. This meant that many farmers who could only do farm work in the farmland would get an opportunity to work downtown.


    If those rich commoners who could only have carriages wanted to have a carriage, they had to hire at least two workers, one driver, and one hostler. Besides, they had to buy at least two strong horses and customize a carriage that met the requirements of the Norman Empire. Additionally, they had to build a horse stable at home and spend money on taking care of the horses everyday.


    Driving a carriage is more complicated than driving a car. Therefore, many people who prepared to change their method of transportation became resentful. However, even if they were unwilling, they could only do it as they dared not show their dissatisfaction at all.


    That indicated just how strict the hierarchical system of the Norman Empire was. Even all the businessmen in the entire Norman Empire dared not oppose it, not to mention some independent businessmen. So even if there were people who were dissatisfied with this change in Blackhot City, more people were happy about it. Actually, the amount of the latter far surpassed that of the former.


    If you wanted to use a private car, the solution was simple and transparent. Once you made enough contributions to the Norman Empire and became a soldier, you might have a chance to get a private car. If a businessman wanted to be a soldier of the Norman Empire, even the lowest rank¡ªparasol-leaf soldier¡ªthe lowest threshold would also take you at least 1600 gold coins'' taxation or donation.


    The soldiers of the Norman Empire were divided into seven ranks. The lowest rank was parasol-leaf soldier, above which were respectively oak-leaf soldier, maple-leaf soldier, pine-needle soldier, and three senior soldier ranks¡ªlilac soldier, rosebush soldier, and rose soldier. Each soldier rank enjoyed different rights on all aspects.


    The oak leaves on Zhang Tie''s military officer certificate indicated that he was in the oak-leaf rank, which brought him a treatment of a second lieutenant. In the Norman Empire, soldiers who sacrificed themselves for their country could always win more respect than those who only donated gold coins.


    If a businessman who had become a parasol-leaf soldier, the lowest soldier rank, through legal taxation or donation wanted to be further promoted, besides several times higher taxation and donations, he had to meet several stricter requirements. For instance, he should not have a criminal record; additionally, he had to be a model of high morality in the society; he should be enthusiastic about doing social benefit activities and be generous in helping others.


    After reaching these rigidly quantitative requirements, he should also collect the signatures of at least 300 commoners of the Norman Empire and pass the investigation of the Imperial Order Investigation Committee before became an oak-leaf soldier.


    Oak-leaf soldiers had more rights than parasol-leaf soldiers.


    The lowest-level officials of the Norman Empire would be chosen at least from oak-leaf soldiers or direct-line descendants of families composed of oak-leaf soldiers. Commoners and parasol-leaf soldiers were not qualified to be officials of the Norman Empire.


    The hierarchical system was a set of rigid fundamental laws for ruling a country. Through hundreds of years'' practice, this foundation of the Norman Empire was becoming more powerful and firm.


    The book "The Charter of Orders" was published by the Imperial Order Investigation Committee of the Norman Empire which was the legal document on introducing the ruling foundation of the Norman Empire. This book was most discussed in Blackhot City these days as it had become the bestseller in bookstores.


    Sitting before his own stall, Zhang Tie heard some guys who were also selling items nearby discussing this hottest topic. After it came the speculations about the escalating friction and battles between the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty in Kalur region.


    From those guys'' discussion, Zhang Tie learned that it was the seven families of the Coal, Iron, and Steal Federation who had coordinated with the Norman Empire to realize a "peaceful liberation" of Blackhot City. As a reward, the clan elders of the seven families would be rewarded the status of rosebush soldiers of the Norman Empire.


    As for Zhang Tie himself, because he had formed the Iron-Blood hidden strength, he was recruited by Colonel Leibniz to join the Iron-Blood Camp and luckily became one of the first eight natives who were rewarded with soldier rank in Blackhot City during the military control period. Although he was only a low-rank oak-leaf soldier, it was already great enough.


    On the carpet before Zhang Tie were several bamboo cages which contained golden uangs. He had bought them from some kids in the early morning when he came here. There were more than 30 uangs, which had cost Zhang Tie 12 silver coins.


    Golden uang was a very cute beetle. Male uangs had a huge horn on their heads, which made them adorable. Zhang Tie had also caught two in a tree he used to play when he was young. This kind of beetle was not expensive. However, it was not easy to catch a live one. It would take you some time to catch them. Those 11-12 old kids living in the farms outside Blackhot City were very excited about catching them as a part-time job.


    Zhang Tie sat in front of his stall with his eyes on the uangs in the cages before him while waiting for the arrival of Samira, that bastard.


    This time, Zhang Tie looked like a 20-odd pioneer in common clothes which looked a bit old. Besides them, he wore a summer hat and was leaning lazily against a banyan tree with a grass stem in his mouth. At the sight of him, people would know that he was just a sorehead.


    ...


    At noon, Samira finally arrived, followed by two tough bodyguards.


    Samira circled around the market with only over 30 golden uangs collected. This quantity could not meet today''s mission, so he became a bit anxious. Each time he would get benefits from buying these live creatures. Once he could accomplish the task, Master Abyan would not mind giving him a bit of reward. However, if he could not accomplish the task, he was not brave enough to face Master Abyan''s fury. What Samira feared most was to make Master Abyan think he was useless and start to become dissatisfied with him.


    While his anxiousness continued to grow, he caught sight of that 20-odd youth¡ªZhang Tie''s disguise¡ªand the golden uangs that were put in a bamboo cage on the ground.


    When he arrived in front of Zhang Tie, he didn''t even ask him about the price before ordering a tough guy to take that cage containing uangs and throw the beetles into a larger cage in that tough man''s hand.


    "What are you doing?" Zhang Tie asked in a low-pitch voice with a furious expression, spitting off his grass stem.


    "I want all of your golden uangs!"


    Casting a glance at Zhang Tie''s clothes, Samira showed a contemptuous expression.


    "You want to take it away without even asking the price?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Ha!" Samira gave a cold harrumph and stared at Zhang Tie like seeing a rustic. "Are you here for the first time? Don''t you know who I am?"


    "I don''t care who you are, if you want my commodities, you have to pay!"


    "Of course I will pay!"


    Saying this, Samira took out several silver coins from the inside of his coat and threw them to Zhang Tie. After that, he turned back and walked away, followed by two tough guys.


    Only after a few steps, Zhang Tie had already caught up with them. "You only paid me eight silver coins, that''s not enough. My golden uangs deserve at least 16 silver coins..."


    Hearing this, Samira and the two tough men turned back at the same time.


    "Brat, I''ve given you face and you should take it. Only I am collecting golden uangs in Blackhot City. Only kids would play with these animals, I''ve already given you face by paying you eight silver coins!"


    Samira''s face instantly became solemn.


    Zhang Tie threw the eight silver coins back to Samira. "Here are your silver coins, give me back my golden uangs, 23 in total, I will not sell them!"


    Samira didn''t catch Zhang Tie''s silver coins but cast a glance at a tough guy beside him. When Zhang Tie stretched out his hand to grab that cage in Samira''s cage, the tough men directly pushed him several steps back, forcing him down on the ground.


    "Brat, if you keep being this stupid, I will beat you up. Hurriedly take the silver coins and roll out of here!" Samira swore. After that, he turned back and left while the two tough men gesticulated with their fists at Zhang Tie.


    Seeing the argument, many people moved close to Zhang Tie.


    "Brat, never mind it, those people are collecting uangs for Master Abyan. You can not offend him. Take the silver coins from the ground and leave as soon as possible!" some kind-heart man started to persuade him.


    Dumbfounded, Zhang Tie sat on the ground for a while, seemingly having been greatly wronged. After that, he suddenly shouted loudly and jumped up from the ground. He then chased after Samira. On the way there, he pulled out of a shiny dagger from inside his coat which really scared the surrounding people. They had never imagined that Zhang Tie was that righteous.


    What happened next was too fast.


    The moment Samira heard Zhang Tie''s shout did he saw Zhang Tie rushing towards him with a dagger in hand. In a split second, Zhang Tie thrust his dagger directly into Samira''s heart. Afterwards, he grabbed his cage and escaped immediately...


    Not until Zhang Tie was more than ten meters away did the two muscled men following Samira understand what had happened. At the sight of Samira''s fallen body in this quick manner, they immediately rushed after Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie kept running towards a hill in the south of Blackhot City. He ran so fast that after chasing him for less than 50 m. , the two tough men, running with gritted teeth, saw his shadow far off in the distance, which then quickly disappeared in the woods...


    The two tough men also entered the woods and searched for quite awhile, but were not able to find even a hair of Zhang Tie. They could only dejectedly return to that place where Samira had been assassinated. After such a long period, Samira no longer had any signs of life on him.


    When they rushed off to chase after Zhang Tie, the onlookers immediately left, not even casting a second glance at Samira who was lying on the ground.


    Everybody felt that he had deserved that. Seeing the two tough guys coming backwith disgruntled looks, many people in the market even became happy.


    "Samira that bastard should have long died!"


    "That''s it, that Chinese youth runs so fast and has such a righteous morality..."


    "I heard that none of the Chinese of the Norman Empire are easily offended."


    "Of course, some bastards would behave better than that!"


    Among all the onlookers in the market, only a local snake''s face turned pale when he caught sight of the dead Samira lying on the ground. From the onlookers'' discussions, he already knew that the one who had killed Samira was the very Chinese youth who had asked him where Samira was in the morning by paying him several silver coins. However, at this moment, he would never admit that someone had asked him about Samira''s whereabouts.


    ''This was just a fight arisen from an unfair deal. That''s it! I haven''t seen that Chinese youth before, never have seen him before! It''s so pathetic to see such a murder in this market!'' That man told him himself this twice inside.


    Soon, a sheriff came to the market to investigate the present scene. He recorded the cause of Samira''s death and how the murder had happened. Murder was a great case. It took the sheriff over one hour to finish this. Finally, he let the two muscled men carry away Samira'' body.


    According to witnesses'' descriptions, the murderer was a 20-odd Chinese pioneer. Nobody knew his name, where he came from, where he lived, or whether he had some partners or friends. From the descriptions of the onlookers, even that killer''s look became weird.


    Additionally, the moment that killer murdered Samira, he ran away. Nobody knew whether he would come back to Blackhot City or not. For such a case, nobody would be interested in investigating it. Actually, they didn''t even have time to search for him in the wild. At most, the sheriffs would warn their counterparts in Blackhot City to pay attention to whether there were 20-odd Chinese pioneers who met these descriptions.


    Soon after Samira''s body was carried back into the luxurious castle-like manor beside the Lvyin Lake, Master Abyan, who enjoyed a great reputation in Blackhot City, learned that Samira was killed...

 202 Master Abyan

    Chapter 202: Master Abyan


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    As the only gray-robe alchemist in a small area like Blackhot City, of course Master Abyan was qualified to be called a master.


    Being different from the senile image that many people had about masters, although Master Abyan was over 50 years old, because of good maintenance, he looked much younger than his real age. With a 30-odd man''s look, Master Abyan featured the charms of a mature man.


    Younger appearance seemed to be a common feature among alchemists. All them tended to look much younger than their real age.


    Master Abyan was such a person who would be recognized as an alchemist the moment you saw him.


    A 50-odd gray-robe alchemist was already excellent achievement although not a genius in the world of alchemists. Similar to the hierarchical system of the Norman Empire, alchemists also had many ranks like herbal medicine apprentice, knapsack physician, suspended-gourd alchemist, girdling alchemist, and gray-robe alchemist.


    Master Abyan was on the brilliant fifth stage in the alchemists'' world. Although there were many more brilliant stages after the fifth stage, this status was already enough for him to obtain the respect and good treatment from the rulers of any country across Blackson Human Clan Corridor.


    In Alchemists'' world, everything could only be accumulated through time and experience. There was no shortcut to success in the alchemists'' world. Additionally, because all alchemists could live longer than commoners, a 50-odd alchemist was like a 20-odd fighter who was rightly in his heyday with a bright future.


    In the castle-style manor of Master Abyan, he would most commonly stay in two places: one was his pharmacy, and the other was his medical pills room.


    These days, Master Abyan spent most of his time in his medical pills room as he was trying his best in studying a magical medicament that could help him rise to the next stage. It was a LV 4 magical medicament - primary strength medicament.


    Based on his abilities as a gray-robe alchemist, he didn''t dream about making such a great medicament at once, but a further study of it had benefited him a lot. He was ready to climb to the peak step by step. His status as a gray-robe alchemist and his deep relationships that had been built in the past years made his influence deep rooted in Blackhot City. However, if he could make further progress, his influence would not be limited to the Blackhot City but spread to the entire Brunswick Province of the Norman Empire. This would be of great help to his further plans.


    Master Abyan was bored by making low-level medicaments in a remote area like Blackhot City all day long so as to get acquainted with those rustic land owners who only knew how to get gold coins by digging mines and make woman pregnant.


    Because of a reason that he would not expose to anyone, Master Abyan felt that his physical strength was increasing right now along with his spirit. This brought him great confidence to challenge a higher and more brilliant stage in the alchemists'' world.


    The direction he chose to study and break through was primary strength medicament, the most attractive medicament among those of LV 4.


    As a gray-robe alchemist, Master Abyan had mastered many secret knowledge systems that could only be known by alchemists. Therefore, he knew many secrets that other commoners didn''t know, including the secret of the attractive ''primary strength medicament'', which was related to golden uangs. This was alchemists'' secret knowledge.


    Common uangs could only lift objects that were more than 1200 times heavier than its own weight at most, however, after mutation, they could lift objects that were more than 1800 times heavier than their own weight. They were well-known kings of strength among the mother nature''s creations.


    Even before the catastrophe when human beings'' science and technology were very developed and some crazy guys even clamored to enter the universe, people could only decipher less than 3% of their own genes.


    However, the 3% of human genes that had been deciphered were over 95% similar to that of uangs and over 99% similar to that of other mammals. This knowledge had been grasped by people before the catastrophe. Today, this knowledge was still of great use to alchemists.


    The alleged ''primary strength medicament'' was a kind of medice that contained a certain strength from uangs'' genes that granted uangs great strength. It could also work a bit on human body by activating a small part of some human genes which were related to strength, which drove people mad.


    It didn''t increase people''s physical strength by over 1000 times; that would be too crazy and could only be made by god. If a vial of primary strength medicament made by alchemists could allow a person to increase his lifting strength by 3-5 times that of his own strength, namely adding 300-400 kgs'' strength, and help the person ratain it for several hours, that would already be enough to drive people mad.


    ''Primary strength medicament'' was very expensive which also drove people very mad. However, the most critical materials required by this kind of medicament were only those common golden uangs, a mutated beetle that could be seen everywhere. Although common uangs could also be used to make this kind of medicament, that could only be done by alchemists of higher rank.


    As an alchemist who was expecting a further promotion, Master Abyan had a greater chance to succeed by using mutated golden uangs to study the ''primary strength medicament''.


    These days, Master Abyan had used up hundreds of golden uangs in his medical pills room. Those uangs had struggled and disappeared in weird bubbling liquids of different colors.


    Today, Master Abyan made some interesting experiments in his medical pills room and gained a further understanding on how to make ''Primary strength medicament''. This made him very happy.


    However, Master Abyan started to become gloomy when he heard that there was no more golden uangs in the medical pills room.


    "Are you saying that Samira who was responsible for collecting golden uangs for me was murdered? Are you saying that there''s no golden uangs for my experiments anymore?" Master Abyan asked with an emotionless face, looking at a terrified steward of his castle.


    The steward''s face immediately turned pale and he almost lowered his head to the ground. "After learning of this news, I''ve dispatched three groups of people to collect golden uangs in emergency. I''m sure they will soon come back!"


    After closing his eyes for several seconds, Master Abyan opened his eyes.


    "Is that killer a Chinese youth called Zhang Tie?"


    "No, I heard it was a 20-odd Chinese youth!"


    "Did anyone know him?"


    "No!"


    "Was this 20-odd Chinese youth acting alone? Was he a strange face in Blackhot City? Had he appeared in the animal trading area before?" Master Abyan asked.


    "Yes!"


    The steward looked at Master Abyan with a pair of amazed eyes, expressing great awe to this man.


    Seeing the steward''s eyes, Master Abyan revealed a wisp of smile on his lip corner. "Do you think it''s very difficult for a person to change his face?"


    "Do I need to report this to colonel Leibniz with a letter signed by you?" the steward asked, his voice lowered.


    "No need, I will not care whether Samira died or not. Even if the killer was Zhang Tie, as he has considered to change his look before dealing with his personal grudge with Samira, it means that he doesn''t want to offend me. No need to find more trouble. Arrange a new manager for purchasing medicinal materials for me!"


    After saying this, Master Abyan slightly flicked his hands towards the steward. For Master Abyan, this was just a trivial thing and it was unnecessary for him to take revenge for a small figure like Samira.


    The steward then received the order.


    "I don''t want to be interrupted!" Master Abyan said.


    "As you wish, I will make so, but Ms. Gina who wants to buy youth water had been here waiting for you for half an hour in the parlor. She was invited by the young miss from Gregory family. Will you go to the parlor or..."


    "If so, no need to be that complicated, I can also gain tranquility in the parlor!"


    "Yes sir!"


    ...


    Under the guidance castle''s steward, Master Abyan went to the parlor in the side hall of the second floor after a short while. After opening the gate for Master Abyan, the steward then closed it respectfully and exited.


    In a baroque skirt, a beautiful 30-odd woman was lazily sitting on the sofa. She was holding a white folding fan while a great part of her plump breasts exposed. Her figure was enchanting, while her skin was as white as snow.


    "Do you want to buy youth water?" Master Abyan asked as he walked over to her.


    "Yes, the young Ms of Gregory introduced me to here. She says you have a very special youth water which can be directly injected into women''s bodies. Besides keeping beauty, it can also cure loneliness!" Ms Gina said, face blushed. Afterwards, she sat up slightly straighter, exposing the curves of her breasts in a more perfect way.


    Master Abyan revealed a smile while his eyes radiated shiny lights. "Then please stand up, I will inject the youth water for you now!"


    Ms Gina stood up from the sofa.


    "Beautiful Ms, please turn back and lie down on the sofa with your hands supporting your body. Meanwhile, remember to raise you butt, this pose should not be difficult for you!"


    Ms Gina then obediently turned back and made the pose; it was an very alluring pose for any man.


    "The first time I inject youth water for you might make you uncomfortable. It might be a bit painful! Afterwards, when you get used to it, you might want an injection or two every week!"


    "The young Ms of Gregory family said that your injector is very huge!" Ms. Gina gasped out.


    "Yes, Ms, you will soon enjoy it! Please take off your skirt. Yea, like this, hmm, show me your butt. There''s another obstacle on you. If you can take off your sling underwear or push it away and show me the place where I need to inject you, I would be very happy to do that! This would help me inject youth water into your body in a much smoother way."


    Master Abyan had already pulled away his robe and taken out his grim and huge injector that was used to inject youth water.


    Ms. Gina did it according to Master Abyan''s requirements. When she took off her underwear and touched that huge and hard injector of Master Abyan behind her, she exclaimed immediately. She had seen so many injectors, however, that was definitely the biggest one that she had seen. She would not even be able to hold it with one hand. Such a huge injector might be more suitable to a mare.


    "Ms, the injector is ready!" Master Abyan had already put it next to the place where he wanted to inject the youth water in. He started to slightly rub it on the place. Ms Gina felt so stimulated that she started to quiver all over. "When the needle of the injector enters your body, you might feel a bit painful the first time. When I inject it for you, please don''t struggle or move. Can I press your waist with one of my hands? I know, as a medic, if I touch your beautiful body without your prior consent, it will be impolite and a bit profane to you!"


    "Fine!" Ms Gina panted.


    Receiving her consent, Master Abyan placed his powerful left hand on the hipbone of Ms Gina''s waist.


    "Ms, if you are ready, please treat yourself as a rutting female dog and bark twice when I can inject it for you. During the process , if it is too painful, you can also bark twice. This way, you can feel less scared. I will also make it less painful by pushing in the injector a bit slower and gentler. I''ve already checked it just now. If you want to be cured, you have to receive injections in two places. During the first time, I can tap your potential while the second time, I will complete the real deep treatment for you..." Master Abyan righteously said.


    "Woof... woof...", Ms Gina, who looked very noble, barked twice, face blushed. It was then soon followed by a distant and sharp bark.


    In the next hour, the barks drifted in the parlor one after another at different rhythms.


    The moment Master Abyan pushed in the injector, he raised his head and looked at the ceiling. He didn''t focus on Ms Gina who was quivering all over and could not even stand steadily, instead, he was gazing at a grain on the ceiling, seemingly wanting to see through the ceiling of the parlor.


    At this moment, Master Abyan was very tranquil inside as he was seriously thinking about something...


    Could a person really be able to resist the toxicity of Blue Frost after being struck by a lightning bolt...


    Could a person, really, easily form Iron-Blood hidden strength after being struck by a lightning bolt...


    That person was really more interesting than golden uangs...


    ...


    At such a solemn and critical moment, if Zhang Tie knew that Master Abyan was still silently thinking of him, he would have definitely been left dumb while cramping and spitting white foam. He might have even crashed himself into the wall, losing his mind.


    Thankfully, Zhang Tie didn''t know...

 203 Improvements in the

    Chapter 203: Improvements in the Castle of Black Iron


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    After leaving home, Zhang Tie went to the orphanage founded by Grandma Teresa. He donated 200 gold coins to the orphanage. This was the largest amount of donation that the orphanage had ever gained since it was founded. When Zhang Tie left, all the kids in the orphanage sang the hymn of the Guardian God School and saw Zhang Tie off, while Grandma Teresa kissed his forehead.


    In the eyes of the kids of the orphanage, Zhang Tie was absolutely the only sage besides Grandma Teresa.


    After this donation, Zhang Tie became penniless again with only several gold coins left.


    ...


    Tonight, the eighty four girls in Blackhot City all received well-packaged exquisite gift boxes that Zhang Tie had the boutique stores send to them.


    Each of them received a beautiful fresh flower, a set of Miss Diss'' underclothes, and a set of jewelry from Milan Jewelry Store. On each greeting card, Zhang Tie wrote down a line of words.


    "XXX, I will leave Blackhot City tomorrow, thanks for bringing me pleasure. I will remember you forever. Please forgive me for being not able to give you more¡ª¡ªZhang Tie!"


    During this period, in the 7-8 days'' edification and education by the beauties of the Rose Association, Zhang Tie finally became a half-fashionable man who started to know about various fashionable and interesting places in Blackhot City from a rustic who didn''t know how to enjoy himself at all.


    From those beauties, Zhang Tie learned the name of the best jewelry store in Blackhot City, the name of the best underclothes store, the location of the best coffee bar, the best tailor''s store, the best hair salon, and the best hotel, as well as how to make the most delicious chocolate, etc..


    The beauties in the Rose Association could easily tell the best places and the best items in Blackhot City as if they describing how much jewelry they had at home.


    Many of these beautiful girls were from common families like Zhang Tie. A few of them had slightly better family conditions, none of which could match that of Benet''s family. Because of differences in family statuses, it was not possible for each of these girls to have a set of Miss Diss''s underclothes, neither was it possible for each of them to have a set of jewelry from Milan Jewelry Store.


    To be able to wear a set of Miss Diss''s underclothes and jewelry from Milan Jewelry Store while they were young and beautiful had become the dream of many girls of the Rose Association.


    For many people, such a dream was over superficial and utilitarian, however, Zhang Tie didn''t think so. He just felt lucky that before leaving Blackhot City, he could do one more thing to make the adorable girls happy.


    This might be the last memory that he could leave them.


    ...


    There were no greeting cards in the gift boxes that he gave to Pandora, Alice, and Beverly, because Zhang Tie had carved all the words that he wanted to say on their finger rings.


    As nobody was at Alice''s home, the gift carrier brought back the gift. If necessary, she would send it there again tomorrow.


    ...


    After doing all of these things, Zhang Tie felt absolutely relaxed. Before leaving Blackhot City, he had exerted all his effort to do everything he could do. Even if he was killed on the battlefield, he would not feel sorry for them all.


    He killed the one who deserved to be killed and appreciated the ones who deserved to be appreciated...


    Zhang Tie felt that he had loaded off a heavy burden.


    ...


    Under the dim roadside lamps, he walked through the streets, from the gate of Seventh National Male Middle School all the way to the station where he had watched Miss Daina many times from afar.


    It was where Miss Daina always waited for the bus to go home everyday. Previously, Zhang Tie could only hide in the alley behind the station to peep at her beautiful figure; he had already stealthily enjoyed her figure near this station for three years. Tonight, Zhang Tie bravely walked onto the platform for the first time, silently standing on that place where the beautiful figure always stood.


    It was already deep in the night, few pedestrians were on the streets. All the urban buses had stopped running. Nobody was in the station except for Zhang Tie. The dim road lamp near the station radiated a looming light in the dark, elongating Zhang Tie''s shadow. It looked like a road that extended into the endless darkness.


    Standing on the platform alone, Zhang Tie closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He seemed to smell a wisp of the familiar fragrance left here while that beautiful figure got on the bus and left.


    Donder said that in this age, if a man wanted to be mature, he should have done four things - f*cked a prostitute, killed someone, was sent to prison, and became a soldier.


    In the past couple of months, Zhang Tie had experienced all of the above four things that Donder had mentioned. He was mature then now. And so he understood that lie which had brought him endless hope.


    ...


    "My greatest wish is that one of my students will become a powerful fighter or a powerful man who can safeguard human beings. Then, I will well dress myself to marry him...


    ...


    "The appointment between me and all of you is that when you are powerful enough to protect me, let me marry you, okay?"


    ...


    "Would you like to make this kind of agreement with me?"


    ...


    The beautiful voice of yesterday''s classroom was still drifting in Zhang Tie''s ears, the agreement which had thrilled him so much. Not until this moment did he understand that it was the most beautiful lie that he had ever heard.


    Miss Daina was his teacher, the best teacher in his heart. She had her own life and would never belong to him. Neither would she marry him. Before Miss Daina, Zhang Tie was forever a student who could only silently follow her and hide in an alley beside the station to kiss her in his mind with his humble eyes.


    In this small station, that poor, small figure was sacrificed and buried forever.


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how long he stood in that station. He did his best to recall everything he could about Miss Daina. Actually, he was so scared that after he left Blackhot City tomorrow, this would became his eternal farewell. He was afraid that one day he won''t be able remember that beautiful figure anymore. He was afraid that one day he would forget her looks.


    Maybe, on the day he left school, he should have collected his courage to take a photo with Miss Daina.


    Zhang Tie became a bit regretful inside.


    He wasn''t certain from when there was already nobody on the streets...


    He wasn''t certain from when the fine rain had become so heavy...


    He wasn''t certain from when he was no longer alone in this station as Pandora was standing in front of him.


    Looking at her weak body and pale face that had been wetted by heavy rain, Zhang Tie felt pained. He then embraced her while taking off his military jacket. After cleaning the water off Pandora''s head, he hurriedly put his jacket over her head before taking her icy hands and forcefully rubbing them.


    "How did you know I''m here?" he asked.


    Looking at Zhang Tie''s nervous expression, Pandora chuckled. "You told me about what you always did previously, I guess you''d be here tonight. So here I am!"


    Zhang Tie was slightly abashed, feeling like a kid who had been caught while stealing candy bars in a relative''s home. He then pretended to glare at Pandora as he lifted her. "What about you, why are you here alone then, it''s so late!"


    Revealing a smile to him, Pandora lifted her hand and took out that box which contained the ring. Although she had gotten soaked by the heavy rain, that box was still dry with not even a water drop on it.


    "I''ve just received your gift, learning that you''ll need to leave Blackhot City tomorrow, so I want you to put this ring on for me !"


    For some reason, at the sight of Pandora'' smile, Zhang Tie felt like crying. He didn''t say anything but instantly caught that box and took out that black ring. After that, he took hold of Pandora''s hand that she stretched out before him.


    Pandora''s right hand was tender and elegant. When she opened her palm, Zhang Tie wanted to put the ring onto her right hand''s middle finger, but the moment he moved to do so, he saw Pandora shaking her head and stretching out her fourth finger. After that, she looked at Zhang Tie full of expectations, her eyes seeming to contain endless words.


    There was a great difference in meanings depending on which woman''s finger the man put the ring on.


    Zhang Tie and Pandora gazed at each other, the whole world quieting down around them.


    Seeing Pandora''s open snow white fingers in front of him, Zhang Tie felt as if seeing Pandora lying on the bed and showing her open snow white legs, waiting for him to crash inside.


    Identical to that day, at this moment, Pandora didn''t say anything more, instead, she just looked at Zhang Tie with a pair of shiny eyes which contained all words: both of encouragement and expectation.


    Whether Pandora opened her legs or palm in front of him, Zhang Tie felt that she was especially beautiful, which made his heart pound.


    "I will die!" Zhang Tie solemnly promised Pandora.


    "I know!" Pandora watched Zhang Tie with tears flowing out of her tears. "One day, I will die too. I just want to make an agreement with you while I''m still alive. When I''m as beautiful as Miss Daina, if you''re still alive, can I take her place and marry you?"


    Zhang Tie immediately burst into tears.


    He pulled Pandora''s hand toward himself and kissed it. After that, he put that ring onto fourth finger with great seriousness.


    Both of them then smiled. After that, they embraced tightly and began to crazily kiss each other in this silent station, trying to lick all the tears off the other''s face.


    ...


    It kept raining for the first half of the night, and Zhang Tie hugged Pandora as they sat on the platform of the station. He told Miss Daina''s story to her. Pandora also hugged Zhang Tie as she leaned against his chest with her head, listening seriously.


    At the second half of the night, the rain stopped. Zhang Tie then lifted Pandora up and brought her to his apartment. After that, they started to crazily make love without a stop.

 204 Agreemen

    Chapter 204: Agreement


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    After leaving home, Zhang Tie went to the orphanage founded by Grandma Teresa. He donated 200 gold coins to the orphanage. This was the largest amount of donation that the orphanage had ever gained since it was founded. When Zhang Tie left, all the kids in the orphanage sang the hymn of the Guardian God School and saw Zhang Tie off, while Grandma Teresa kissed his forehead.


    In the eyes of the kids of the orphanage, Zhang Tie was absolutely the only sage besides Grandma Teresa.


    After this donation, Zhang Tie became penniless again with only several gold coins left.


    ...


    Tonight, the eighty four girls in Blackhot City all received well-packaged exquisite gift boxes that Zhang Tie had the boutique stores send to them.


    Each of them received a beautiful fresh flower, a set of Miss Diss'' underclothes, and a set of jewelry from Milan Jewelry Store. On each greeting card, Zhang Tie wrote down a line of words.


    "XXX, I will leave Blackhot City tomorrow, thanks for bringing me pleasure. I will remember you forever. Please forgive me for being not able to give you more¡ª¡ªZhang Tie!"


    During this period, in the 7-8 days'' edification and education by the beauties of the Rose Association, Zhang Tie finally became a half-fashionable man who started to know about various fashionable and interesting places in Blackhot City from a rustic who didn''t know how to enjoy himself at all.


    From those beauties, Zhang Tie learned the name of the best jewelry store in Blackhot City, the name of the best underclothes store, the location of the best coffee bar, the best tailor''s store, the best hair salon, and the best hotel, as well as how to make the most delicious chocolate, etc..


    The beauties in the Rose Association could easily tell the best places and the best items in Blackhot City as if they describing how much jewelry they had at home.


    Many of these beautiful girls were from common families like Zhang Tie. A few of them had slightly better family conditions, none of which could match that of Benet''s family. Because of differences in family statuses, it was not possible for each of these girls to have a set of Miss Diss''s underclothes, neither was it possible for each of them to have a set of jewelry from Milan Jewelry Store.


    To be able to wear a set of Miss Diss''s underclothes and jewelry from Milan Jewelry Store while they were young and beautiful had become the dream of many girls of the Rose Association.


    For many people, such a dream was over superficial and utilitarian, however, Zhang Tie didn''t think so. He just felt lucky that before leaving Blackhot City, he could do one more thing to make the adorable girls happy.


    This might be the last memory that he could leave them.


    ...


    There were no greeting cards in the gift boxes that he gave to Pandora, Alice, and Beverly, because Zhang Tie had carved all the words that he wanted to say on their finger rings.


    As nobody was at Alice''s home, the gift carrier brought back the gift. If necessary, she would send it there again tomorrow.


    ...


    After doing all of these things, Zhang Tie felt absolutely relaxed. Before leaving Blackhot City, he had exerted all his effort to do everything he could do. Even if he was killed on the battlefield, he would not feel sorry for them all.


    He killed the one who deserved to be killed and appreciated the ones who deserved to be appreciated...


    Zhang Tie felt that he had loaded off a heavy burden.


    ...


    Under the dim roadside lamps, he walked through the streets, from the gate of Seventh National Male Middle School all the way to the station where he had watched Miss Daina many times from afar.


    It was where Miss Daina always waited for the bus to go home everyday. Previously, Zhang Tie could only hide in the alley behind the station to peep at her beautiful figure; he had already stealthily enjoyed her figure near this station for three years. Tonight, Zhang Tie bravely walked onto the platform for the first time, silently standing on that place where the beautiful figure always stood.


    It was already deep in the night, few pedestrians were on the streets. All the urban buses had stopped running. Nobody was in the station except for Zhang Tie. The dim road lamp near the station radiated a looming light in the dark, elongating Zhang Tie''s shadow. It looked like a road that extended into the endless darkness.


    Standing on the platform alone, Zhang Tie closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He seemed to smell a wisp of the familiar fragrance left here while that beautiful figure got on the bus and left.


    Donder said that in this age, if a man wanted to be mature, he should have done four things - f*cked a prostitute, killed someone, was sent to prison, and became a soldier.


    In the past couple of months, Zhang Tie had experienced all of the above four things that Donder had mentioned. He was mature then now. And so he understood that lie which had brought him endless hope.


    ...


    "My greatest wish is that one of my students will become a powerful fighter or a powerful man who can safeguard human beings. Then, I will well dress myself to marry him...


    ...


    "The appointment between me and all of you is that when you are powerful enough to protect me, let me marry you, okay?"


    ...


    "Would you like to make this kind of agreement with me?"


    ...


    The beautiful voice of yesterday''s classroom was still drifting in Zhang Tie''s ears, the agreement which had thrilled him so much. Not until this moment did he understand that it was the most beautiful lie that he had ever heard.


    Miss Daina was his teacher, the best teacher in his heart. She had her own life and would never belong to him. Neither would she marry him. Before Miss Daina, Zhang Tie was forever a student who could only silently follow her and hide in an alley beside the station to kiss her in his mind with his humble eyes.


    In this small station, that poor, small figure was sacrificed and buried forever.


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how long he stood in that station. He did his best to recall everything he could about Miss Daina. Actually, he was so scared that after he left Blackhot City tomorrow, this would became his eternal farewell. He was afraid that one day he won''t be able remember that beautiful figure anymore. He was afraid that one day he would forget her looks.


    Maybe, on the day he left school, he should have collected his courage to take a photo with Miss Daina.


    Zhang Tie became a bit regretful inside.


    He wasn''t certain from when there was already nobody on the streets...


    He wasn''t certain from when the fine rain had become so heavy...


    He wasn''t certain from when he was no longer alone in this station as Pandora was standing in front of him.


    Looking at her weak body and pale face that had been wetted by heavy rain, Zhang Tie felt pained. He then embraced her while taking off his military jacket. After cleaning the water off Pandora''s head, he hurriedly put his jacket over her head before taking her icy hands and forcefully rubbing them.


    "How did you know I''m here?" he asked.


    Looking at Zhang Tie''s nervous expression, Pandora chuckled. "You told me about what you always did previously, I guess you''d be here tonight. So here I am!"


    Zhang Tie was slightly abashed, feeling like a kid who had been caught while stealing candy bars in a relative''s home. He then pretended to glare at Pandora as he lifted her. "What about you, why are you here alone then, it''s so late!"


    Revealing a smile to him, Pandora lifted her hand and took out that box which contained the ring. Although she had gotten soaked by the heavy rain, that box was still dry with not even a water drop on it.


    "I''ve just received your gift, learning that you''ll need to leave Blackhot City tomorrow, so I want you to put this ring on for me !"


    For some reason, at the sight of Pandora'' smile, Zhang Tie felt like crying. He didn''t say anything but instantly caught that box and took out that black ring. After that, he took hold of Pandora''s hand that she stretched out before him.


    Pandora''s right hand was tender and elegant. When she opened her palm, Zhang Tie wanted to put the ring onto her right hand''s middle finger, but the moment he moved to do so, he saw Pandora shaking her head and stretching out her fourth finger. After that, she looked at Zhang Tie full of expectations, her eyes seeming to contain endless words.


    There was a great difference in meanings depending on which woman''s finger the man put the ring on.


    Zhang Tie and Pandora gazed at each other, the whole world quieting down around them.


    Seeing Pandora''s open snow white fingers in front of him, Zhang Tie felt as if seeing Pandora lying on the bed and showing her open snow white legs, waiting for him to crash inside.


    Identical to that day, at this moment, Pandora didn''t say anything more, instead, she just looked at Zhang Tie with a pair of shiny eyes which contained all words: both of encouragement and expectation.


    Whether Pandora opened her legs or palm in front of him, Zhang Tie felt that she was especially beautiful, which made his heart pound.


    "I will die!" Zhang Tie solemnly promised Pandora.


    "I know!" Pandora watched Zhang Tie with tears flowing out of her tears. "One day, I will die too. I just want to make an agreement with you while I''m still alive. When I''m as beautiful as Miss Daina, if you''re still alive, can I take her place and marry you?"


    Zhang Tie immediately burst into tears.


    He pulled Pandora''s hand toward himself and kissed it. After that, he put that ring onto fourth finger with great seriousness.


    Both of them then smiled. After that, they embraced tightly and began to crazily kiss each other in this silent station, trying to lick all the tears off the other''s face.


    ...


    It kept raining for the first half of the night, and Zhang Tie hugged Pandora as they sat on the platform of the station. He told Miss Daina''s story to her. Pandora also hugged Zhang Tie as she leaned against his chest with her head, listening seriously.


    At the second half of the night, the rain stopped. Zhang Tie then lifted Pandora up and brought her to his apartment. After that, they started to crazily make love without a stop.

 205 Leaving Blackhot City

    Chapter 205: Leaving Blackhot City


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The next noon, in the railway station of Blackhot City, the military train that was going to leave had already blown its first whistle, which indicated urgency and that the train was about to set off.


    "Is everyone ready?" Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt asked, looking out the carriage for the last time. By then, the last soldiers of Iron-Blood Camp had jumped onto the train from the platform.


    "Everybody is in!" Major Guderian cleaned his glasses. "Everybody and all the equipment is on the train! Besides one wounded soldier, everybody of Iron-Blood Camp is already in."


    "Fine, set off!" Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt ordered. At the same time, he thought back to Zhang Tie''s young face and felt slightly regretful inside.


    After blowing the third whistle, the military train started to move slowly.


    "What a pity!"


    Major Guderian took off his golden-frame glasses and slowly cleaned them with a piece of cloth. In the Iron-Blood Camp as a whole, only major Guderian and Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt knew that Gregory family had given Zhang Tie a vial of advanced recovery medicament once he left the hospital. If Zhang Tie had used that vial of medicament, he should have been able to follow in the steps of the Iron-Blood Camp. However, Zhang Tie was not here; therefore, major Guderian let out a sigh.


    The carriage was filled with military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp. For Guderian''s slight sigh, nobody made any response, instead, they all kept quiet.


    "Nothing to feel regretful about. This might be karma between people as was said by marshal Lin Changjiang!" Reinhardt stated, hitting the point.


    ...


    The train sped up. Right then, people in the carriage of military officers seemed to hear increasingly louder voices shouting ''come on'' from carriages that carried common soldiers behind them.


    Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt and many military officers were curious, and they looked out the windows once again. Everybody saw an SUV rushing out of the tunnel near the platform. Soon, that SUV caught up with a carriage between the middle part and the end of the train. The soldiers of Iron-Blood Camp in the carriage had opened the door and were shouting loudly to encourage the black-haired guy who was standing on the seat behind the driver.


    With a large military pack on his back, he was holding a huge sword. With the encouragements, that man first threw in his luggage into the carriage before following it with his terrifying sword, letting some soldiers hold it for a moment. Finally, he jumped out of the SUV like a fierce tiger and rolled into the train''s carriage. Hit by this flesh-bomb, several soldiers screamed miserably...


    Hearing the screams, all the soldiers who were encouraging him from the other carriages burst out laughing loudly.


    At the last minute, Zhang Tie had arrived...


    ...


    Five minutes later, somewhat embarrassed, Zhang Tie appeared in the military officers'' carriage where Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt was in.


    "Boss, Zhang Tie, second lieutenant, platoon leader of Third Platoon, Fifth Company has recovered, I''m requesting to return to my troop!" Standing in front of Reinhardt, Zhang Tie gave a military salute to the boss of the Iron-Blood Camp.


    "Agreed!" Reinhardt revealed a wisp of a smile at the corner of his mouth. Looking at this young man before him, he suddenly felt very happy. "Have you recovered?"


    "Yea!" Zhang Tie patted his chest. "It''s already been a couple of days, but due to something, I''ve came back a few days later!"


    "What thing?" Being a bit serious, Chief of Staff Guderian asked.


    "Chief of Staff... uhm... you know that I''ve just had the circumcision... I''ve held back for over ten years and my girlfriends could not wait any more. But it was not convenient to do that in the camp..."


    Zhang Tie became a bit bashful.


    "Badass!" After swearing at Zhang Tie, Major Guderian couldn''t stop himself from laughing. Of course he knew how Zhang Tie had gotten his nickname ''Second Lieutenant Mummy''.


    At the same time, all the other military officers in the carriage burst out laughing as well...


    Zhang Tie then took a seat. As he saw Blackhot City grow smaller, many thoughts flashed across his mind.


    ...


    At this time, at home, Alice was holding the delicate gift box packed in blue package paper, which was brought by Pandora and Beverly at Zhang Tie''s request. She was looking at the two of them with a curious expression.


    "What''s inside?" she asked Pandora.


    "Just open it!" Pandora smiled, encouraging her.


    Alice then opened the outer blue gift box. Like all the other girls, the moment she saw the logos of Mrs. Diss and Milan as well as the flower, she also exclaimed.


    When these items were put together, every girl would like it.


    Alice then opened the two boxes inside, the bigger box contained a set of beautiful blue underclothes while the smaller box contained an expensive ring with a huge sapphire on it.


    During the past week, Alice was in a low mood. However, filled with such a great pleasure, she immediately burst into a smile which was as fresh as a flower.


    "Was it Zhang Tie who requested you to bring it here?"


    Alice''s eyes were fixed on the two items in her hands, she loved them so much.


    "Who else except him?"


    "Why didn''t he come here himself?" Face blushed, Alice put the set of blue underclothes close to herself and found it well-matching. "That badass, lady-killer, who only knows how to make girls happy..."


    "He didn''t know how to face you; therefore he asked us to send it to you..." Pandora calmly said.


    "Where''s he?"


    Alice''s movements became slightly stiff.


    "Went to Kalur. He should be on the military train by now. The Iron-Blood Camp, which he''s in, was dispatched to join the war between the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty in Kalur as the vanguard of No. 39 Division..." Beverly said dejectedly.


    Alice''s face immediately turned pale.


    "Did he say something for me before he left?" Alice''s voice trembled slightly.


    "He had carved what he wanted to say on your ring!" Thinking of the words on that finger ring with a ruby on it that Zhang Tie had gifted her, Beverly started to drop off tears. So many people had sworn her as a bitch, male or female; however, only Zhang Tie knew she was as pure as ruby. With a good man like Zhang Tie, Beverly had been satisfied, no matter whether she could stay with Zhang Tie in the future.


    "Wish you''ll be happier than a sea¡ª¡ªZhang Tie"


    Taking the ring, Alice finally saw such a line of words on its back. She thought she could see Zhang Tie''s smile again...


    That was a man who truly treated her well, a man who would be enraged at the sight of her being chased by a group of wild wolves, a man who would use his own body to shield her from a bolt at the most dangerous moment! When she dropped off tears before that man for the first time, that man controlled his greed at the most critical moment and silently put on his pants for her, leaving her her most precious thing.


    Alice had not imagined that it might be her last meeting with Zhang Tie. When he was going to leave, he had people send this ring full of bliss to her along with a set of suitable underclothes chosen by him.


    Alice then burst into tears, loudly, before rushing out of her home and running towards the railway station. She wanted to to have a look at that man for the last time, however, she failed to catch up with that military train in the end...


    ...


    At this moment, in another place of Blackhot City, Barley, Hista, Doug, Bagdad, and Leit had taken out what Zhang Tie had left for them.


    That was a leather case containing 600 gold coins and Zhang Tie''s letter to them.


    The letter read as follows:


    ''Brothers, I will set off for Kalur. You''re my brothers. So are those brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp. They were ready to sacrifice themselves for me, so I can only sacrifice myself for them. I don''t want to make this like a will. But sometimes, I have to tell you the truth. Because I''m not god, there''s also a chance for me to not come back. Additionally, the casualty rate of the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division is the highest in the Iron-Horn Army.


    ''If I give each of you 100 gold coins just like that, I know none of you will take it just like Sharwin. Because our friendship is worth more than this amount. Here, I want you to take them all. The reason is very simple. If I cannot come back, I just want to try my best to do something for my brothers. Why? Because the holy war between human beings and the demons will soon come.


    ''I was told this by the most reliable person when he left Blackhot City. I trust him. Maybe in the next few years, the situation of the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor will see a great change. Since Blackhot City won''t be safe then, you should plan to leave here as soon as possible. If I had the ability, I would''ve done more for you, but please forgive me, I can only do this. This money will be my compensation for the amount of coins that I''ve plundered from you at the beginning.


    ''Previously, I had a lot of words to say, but I don''t know how to say it all, so that''s it!


    ''If I survive and come back to find that none of you received my good intentions, I will be very angry. I swear to beat the sh*t out of any who does that.


    ''Hista, you bastard should better not take this money for women. You should think more about how to escape together with your women.


    ''Doug, you don''t look like that person who excels at making money or spending money. If you have trouble, don''t forget to negotiate with Barley that bastard. He will not let you suffer a loss.


    Bagdad, when I left the Iron-Thorns Fighting Club, I told manager Hance that if you would like to go there, they should arrange a very proper location for you, which is definitely better than being a serviceman in the fighting club where you are working at.


    ''Sharwin, no matter what happens in the future, don''t face it alone, remember that you''ve got so many good brothers.


    ''Barley, I know you cute Fatty are the most righteous one. I''m very happy to be brothers with you.


    ''Well, that''s all. Finally, I want to say, I''ve already done the circumcision and am not a virgin any more. You''d better not be curious about the process since if you knew, you''d be very jealous of me. I don''t want to wound your confidence as men and make you feel reluctant to raise up your head when you see me next time, ha... ha...


    ''Yours sincerely!''


    Reading Zhang Tie''s letter, the group was on the verge of tears, but by the end, they all burst out laughing.


    "Zhang Tie, this bastard!"


    When Doug wanted to cry, he couldn''t stand but laugh, leaving a green snot bubble out on his nostril. Without thinking too much, he directly twitched it off and smear it onto the clothes of a person beside him. He even cleaned his hand on that person''s clothes...


    Not until they finished reading did Hista realize that Doug seemed to have rubbed on his clothes twice just now. ''What does that mean?'' Feeling something not right, he lowered his head, and then immediately jumped up!


    "Ah, Doug, you bastard! What disgusting thing have you smeared on my clothes? I''ll kill you, ah..."


    ...


    In the distance, the military train that contained all the soldiers and equipment of the Iron-Blood Camp was driving towards the far off south. Looking at the disappearing outline of Blackhot City in the horizon, Zhang Tie mumbled inside, "See you, Blackhot City!"

 206 Arrival at Kalur

    Chapter 206: Arrival at Kalur


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    After they set off from Blackhot City, they drove for two days until the military train carrying all the equipment and members of the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division finally arrived at Kalur region on the third morning.


    Zhang Tie was woken up by a dream. From the moment he got onto the train, he had only done three things: first, sleep; second, kill wild beasts in the Trouble-Reappearance situations; third, visualize two abacuses at the same time to practice ''Mental Arithmetic by Abacus''. Compared to those fragrant and adorable girls, it was really boring to stay with a lot of smelly old men on the train.


    The ruffians were playing cards with tobacco in their mouths. The violent maniacs who wanted to have a breakthrough in the Iron-Blood Fist skill were silently practicing the movements in the carriage. In contrast, most of the veterans had their eyes closed or were calmly polishing their weapons to prepare for the coming war.


    During the past day and two nights, the train only stopped three times in some small stations on the way so as to add coal and water; one hour each time. Being strictly disciplined, none of the soldiers and military officers took even half a step from the carriages.


    The carriages with common soldiers were filled with smoke while the carriage with military officers felt so still that they could not even break wind.


    Under this situation, Zhang Tie went to the sleeping compartment and threw himself onto the bed. With the exception of eating meals, he didn''t come out at all.


    ...


    "Wake up, Second Lieutenant Zhang Tie, we''ve arrived at Kalur..."


    Still in a sweet dream, Zhang Tie was rocked awake by a second lieutenant above him. Opening his eyes, he found that the train had already stopped. It was noisy outside. Pushing his head out the window, Zhang Tie looked outside and found that the day was about to break. The whole station was filled with people in dark-red military uniforms and mountains of military items.


    Zhang Tie immediately got up and put on his clothes and shoes. After slightly grooming himself, he came to the canteen carriage, which was now the temporary conference room of Iron-Blood Camp.


    When Zhang Tie came to the canteen, a military officer ranked first lieutenant who was not of the Iron-Blood Camp was hurriedly leaving from the next carriage.


    In the next minute, the first military conference was held in the canteen carriage when Iron-Blood Camp came to Kalur.


    ...


    A map of Kalur region was hung on the wall. The center of the map was a city, the south and north of which were occupied by obvious blue or red marks. Between the red and the blue plates, there was a huge gray region which just surrounded Kalur. Holding a command pen, Major Guderian was introducing the present situation about the regions surrounding Kalur in a very concise language.


    "Now, both our troops and the Brilliant Feathers are gathering in the expanse region fifty kilometers away from Kalur. The city remains neutral. On its south, namely the blue region on the map, are the Brilliant Feathers, while on the north side, namely the red region on the map, is our Iron-Horn Army. The station we are in is 87 km away from Kalur. We are here..."


    Major Guderian pointed his command pen on a town called Karic in the frontier of the red region on the map.


    "This narrow gray region surrounding Kalur on the map is 75 km in length, 124 km in width. It is the mountainous area of Kalur and where the most fierce fighting happens between our troops and the Brilliant Feathers. Now, many troops of both parties have been dispatched in this region. Encounters happen everyday here. Just now, I''ve received an order from the Division''s headquarter that we have to be there as soon as possible and grab this area.


    "We had another battalion there before, however, before last night, this troop had lost contact with its superior. Usually, this means that that battalion''s brothers all been lost..."


    Guderian then drew a direct line from Karic to that place called Solanet in the gray region. As they could all understood the contour line, they knew that Solanet was a town built on a half-hill.


    Guderian then drew lines and circles on the map using his command pen and told others what to do next.


    "Our first task is to grab this place again. Additionally, we have to continue to move for two weeks in this demanding region which covers at least 100 sq km and clean three enemy bases. In the next two weeks, we will give the biggest strike to the troops of Sun Dynasty in this region.


    "In this task, we can only consume our own provisions and will get no relief. Fourteen days later, we can go back to the No. 4 Fighting Castle of the Iron-Horn Army near Kalur to recondition. Any questions?"


    Everybody shook their heads, except Zhang Tie who felt his heard pounding as this was his first war. Unexpectedly, the moment they arrived at Kalur, without even sipping a mouthful of water, they were assigned with a task, leaving no time for a buffering at all.


    "Fine, the battle maps will be delivered to each company. If there are no problems, you have five minutes to prepare. After that, we should get off the train and assemble the teams to set out!"


    All the military officers then suddenly stood up and went to deliver the task to their own companies.


    In the next five minutes, Zhang Tie put on that set of Sharp-Arrow Type-B lieutenant light armor produced by the Norman Empire for the first time; its alloy sheets could cover most of the key areas on his body.


    Besides putting on this set of armor and taking the same equipment and provisions as other military officers, Zhang Tie also brought a container of javelins that weighed over 100 kg and held that "Man''s Certificate'' in his hand.


    Not only military officers, even the common soldiers had completed all the pre-war preparations in the five minutes.


    Wartime was the right time to display the high efficiency of the Iron-Blood Camp. From the first soldier who received the order to open the door of a carriage and jumped off the train to all the 1000-odd members of the Iron-Blood Camp, they all quietly assembled into teams in the railway station. All of this was finished in two minutes.


    At this time, the Iron-Blood Camp which had assembled before the war expedition was like a fierce beast which had finally revealed its killing nature. Everybody was holding their weapons and wearing armor. They all were quiet while a heavy killing Qi rolled in their bodies.


    ...


    "Ah, Iron-Blood Camp, here''s our Iron-Blood Camp..."


    When the Iron-Blood Camp was assembling in the station, the soldiers and military officers of the Norman Empire in the station couldn''t resist looking with amazement at this assembling ferocious troop.


    "Which division?"


    "I heard it''s the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division!"


    "Ah! Is that the Iron-Blood Camp led by that mad Reinhardt?" someone exclaimed.


    "That''s great, that Iron-Blood Camp will definitely give those bastards a fierce lesson!"


    Someone became excited.


    Hearing the discussions, Zhang Tie learned that boss Reinhardt was well known in the entire Iron-Horn Army.


    "Who''s the guy holding that terrifying thing and carrying a pile of heavy javelins?"


    "I don''t know, but he seems very sharp!"


    Zhang Tie didn''t imagine that by just standing among the soldiers he would attract the attention of many people. However, as it was his first time participating in a war, Zhang Tie only felt nervous inside, not feeling like showing off at all.


    "Set off!"


    Soon after Boss Reinhardt''s roar, all the brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp started to move and trotted out of the station.


    The moment they left the station, Zhang Tie understood why they were ordered to walk towards Solanet. In this frontier town where they got off the train, almost half of the buildings were destroyed in the war. Broken tiles and walls could be seen everywhere.


    Buildings had been burnt to pieces while roads were seriously destroyed. As a result, the steaming armored vehicles that could only play their biggest role in plains and group assaults became useless in mountainous areas that surrounded Kalur region.


    The town was covered with soldiers in dark red military uniforms of the Norman Empire. It was not strange for the 1000-odd people of the Iron-Blood Camp which rushed out of the railway station. After the troop of the Iron-Blood Camp trotted away from the railway station, they soon ran out of the town and entered the wild in only several minutes.


    Solanet was at least 25 km away from here.


    Only now Zhang Tie realised that it was very foolish to take this heavy sword as his main fighting weapon. That heavy sword along with the javelin container on his back, as well as some other equipment, made it that Zhang Tie carried half a ton of equipment with him. And all of that had to be carried while needing to run 25 km before participating in a war. Even if Zhang Tie had nine wolves'' strength, he still felt a bit tired with this high intensity. After all, carrying loads was not wild wolfs'' advantage.


    However, at this time, Zhang Tie had to grit his teeth to stand it and collect his courage for himself.


    Before the troop entered the mountainous area, a cavalry riding iron-horn beasts darted out from behind the troop and gave a metal cylinder that contained an order to Battalion Commander Reinhardt, who was at the front of the troop. After that, the cavalry rapidly rode away.


    "According to the report of our scout brothers, those bastards of Sun Dynasty chopped off the heads of all of our battalion brothers in Solanet and piled them all on a granary''s floor. Nobody survived, including the wounded and refugees. According to the latest order of the division''s headquarters, also the latest task to us the Iron-Blood Camp, we will kill all the bastards of Sun Dynasty that are occupying Solanet. Do not let any one of them escape..." Battalion Commander Reinhardt growled full of killing Qi.


    "Kill them all!"


    "Kill them all!"


    Everybody''s blood in the Iron-Blood Camp boiled...

 207 The First Battle

    Chapter 207: The First Battle


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    To occupy Solanet and to kill all the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty in Solanet were two tasks with totally different difficulties. In the eyes of the decision makers of the army, there was no question whether the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division could complete this task, or what price it would have to pay for achieving it.


    As a whole battalion of the Iron-Horn Army was killed by the troops of Sun Dynasty in Solanet, their heads chopped off and piled on to a granary''s floor nearby, the Iron-Horn Army had to also chop off the heads of all the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty who occupied this area and pile them on a granary''s floor.


    That was simple, no matter how many people would be sacrificed, they had to complete this task.


    Generally, rulers of the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty were wrestling hands in Kalur region, It was displayed by conflicts between colonels and the close fights between numerous soldiers.


    This was the first time that all of the battalion''s soldiers of the Iron-Horn Army were killed by Sun Dynasty in the combat zone. To accomplish this deployment, the amount of soldiers that Sun Dynasty had to have used to surround and attack had to have been at least twice as large when compared to the Iron-Horn Army''s strength.


    At this time, the advantage that the Sun Dynasty''s soldiers had by outnumbering the Norman Empire in Kalur region started to be outstanding. Even if it was only a small-scale encounter or a skirmish between two battalions, the party with more soldiers could easily gain a small advantage and take the initiative.


    What happened in Solanet was just the epitome of the problem that the Norman Empire faced in Kalur region.


    Therefore, the Iron-Blood Camp had to fiercely beat up the soldiers of the Brilliant Feathers. This way, they had to boost the morale of the entire division.


    As annihilation was totally different from occupation, the fighting plan had to also be adjusted.


    Major Guderian decided to have the Iron-Blood Camp attack from the south of Solanet instead of the north. After making a circle, the Iron-Blood Camp would launch an attack from the back of its enemy to cut off the escape road for those bastards of the Sun Dynasty who occupied Solanet.


    This adjustment was simple, fierce, and decisive. Facing the attack from the south, the troops of Sun Dynasty in Solanet could only fight the Iron-Bloody Camp desperately. There would be no chance for them to escape to the north. Because of terrain, they would also have a great difficulty in escaping to the east and the west.


    However, if this strategy was adopted, the Iron-Blood Camp would also face a great threat. Once it entered a stalemate with the troops of the Sun Dynasty in Solanet, unable to kill those guys at once, if one more enemy troop showed up behind them, the Iron-Blood Camp would be surrounded by its enemy and could only react passively.


    Of course, the appearance of the Iron-Blood Camp in the south of Solanet would shock the enemy, however, at the same time, the Iron-Blood Camp would put itself into the ring of encirclement which could be easily closed down by the enemy.


    This plan seemed a tad crazy because few commanders would jump into the enemy''s ring of encirclement to fight, however, Battalion Commander Reinhardt was one of the crazy ones. The moment Major Guderian proposed it, Reinhardt immediately adopted it without a moment''s hesitation.


    Because they had to take a detour, when the Iron-Blood Camp arrived in its designated place, they had walked more than 10 km''s on mountainous road.


    Finally, when the first ray of sunshine cast onto Solanet at dawn, the 1000-odd members of the Iron-Blood Camp had already arrived at a place near a mountain slope to the north of Solanet and quietly lurked there.


    This place was less than 1 km away from Solanet. After making a rapid march of over 30 km, the Iron-Blood Camp quietly lurked at the entrance of Solanet.


    They hid in an elm forest. Although they had over 1000 people, they made no noise at all. Everybody half squatted on the ground, resting, drinking, and eating, so as to supplement physical strength as soon as possible.


    They had 20 minutes to recover their physical strength.


    Finally able to take a deep breath, Zhang Tie pulled out some dried meat from the inside of his coat and started to wolf it down. Meanwhile, with eyes open wide, he stared at the small village on the small hillside, which was Solanet.


    At this time, several wisps of heavy smoke rose up from that village, seeming like the final breaths of several buildings that had burned over the night and now were about to die. After occupying Solanet, the bastards of Sun Dynasty burned down several houses in the village in case of being raided in the evening, so the houses kept burning through the night like several huge flaming torches.


    By then, there were no local residents in Solanet any more. Before the troops of both parties started to confront each other, the residents surrounding Kalur had escaped in all directions, whether to Kalur, to the south, or to the north. Nobody wanted to stay between the two armies.


    It was said that Kalur had already gathered hundreds of thousands of refugees.


    The small village was filled with moving soldiers of Brilliant Feathers who wore blue military uniforms. Many of them seemed to have just woken up as they were washing their faces at the riverside in the distance.


    Although having no fighting experience, Zhang Tie could estimate that there were around 2500-3000 soldiers of the Brilliant Feathers in Solanet.


    As there was only one main road leading to the village, the attack plan also became very simple. The Iron-Blood Camp only needed to rush into the village up the main road and kill all the guys in blue military uniforms on the way. The key to this manouver was speed. They had better not leave enough time for the troops of the Sun Dynasty to assemble.


    After eating two slices of dried meat and drinking two mouthfuls of water, Zhang Tie rested for five minutes. He felt that his physical strength was gradually recovering. They all didn''t eat much, for if they did, it would influence the upcoming fight.


    The rapid march with half a ton''s equipment was also an all-around test for Zhang Tie''s physical strength. If there were ten more km, Zhang Tie knew that he would really not be able to take it. With the half a ton''s equipment, it was not funny at all. Thankfully, Solanet was in sight, and Zhang Tie let out a deep breath.


    Although this ''Man''s Certificate'' was the number one weapon for him to show off himself, in the battle field, Zhang Tie felt it was like making a cocoon around himself.


    Two weeks later, when the Iron-Blood Camp was going to re-supply itself, he considered changing his main fighting weapon. If he had to escape or make a long-distance raid, this heavy sword would really put a heavy load on him.


    Zhang Tie then made a decision inside. He felt this was the first law that he understood since he jumped off the train¡ªnever slap your face until it''s swollen in an effort to look fat. If not, you will suffer a great loss.


    In less than two minutes after Zhang Tie made such a realisation inside, he soon learned the second law¡ªno one would wait until you''ve prepared well.


    The promised time for a rest before the attack was 20 minutes. However, less than 10 minutes after they started to rest, a team of soldiers rushed out of the village towards this area where the Iron-Blood Camp had hidden itself.


    About 50-600 people were moving towards them. Of course, they did this not because they had discovered the Iron-Blood Camp lurking but because they were ready to leave Solanet.


    When Zhang Tie thought that Reinhardt would let these soldiers leave in case of exposing their camp to the greater troop of Sun Dynasty, Reinhardt delivered his order, "Prepare for battle, kill them all!"


    Because the division''s headquarters'' order was to kill all the bastards of the Sun Dynasty that had occupied Solanet, Battalion Commander Reinhardt didn''t plan to let any of them leave alive.


    After receiving the order, the two companies'' brothers that had been equipped with light crossbows silently moved to both sides of the mountain path with their bolts notched and their narrowed eyes on the team of soldiers and horses.


    Because this was Zhang Tie''s first battle, he became a bit nervous and forcefully swallowed his saliva twice.


    At this time, a powerful hand fell on Zhang Tie''s shoulder. He turned to see Freo half squatting behind him.


    "When the battle breaks out, all the brothers of Third Platoon will follow you and you just follow me. Don''t be afraid..."


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    The team of soldiers and horses kept marching on, swiftly shortening that distance of 1 km between them and Zhang Tie.


    They were really a team of soldiers of the Brilliant Feathers. At the front rode the cavalry, holding wing-like banners. Armored soldiers came after with weapons in hand, four people per row. Lastly were another batch of riders like those at the front, however these wore relatively more brilliant armor; they looked like the military officers of this troop.


    The army of the Sun Dynasty took three hundred as a unit while the army of Norman Empire took five as a unit. The two troops were different in many aspects. The 500-600 soldiers and horsesmight be a battalion of Brilliant Feathers.


    The team of soldiers had not imagined that they would be ambushed not long after leaving Solanet. When bolts were shot from the elm forest on both sides of the road, instantly, half the soldiers were wounded, causing howls and cries to rise up in an instant.


    "Kill them all!"


    Battalion Commander Reinhardt was the first to rush out of the elm forest like a fierce tiger. With only one fist, he punched a cavalryman who had been left unstable by his flurried horse into flesh and iron pieces, and sent him flying back through the air, causing a great amount of soldiers of the Sun Dynasty to fall to the ground.


    The soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp all jumped out of the elm forest like fierce tigers and instantly cut the team of 500-600 people into several sections.


    The main fighting weapons of First Lieutenant Freo were two huge double-bladed axes which were like wheels. When the robust, tough, bald man wove his huge axes, he looked like a humanoid meat grinder which would grind all the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty once he touched them.


    In the timeframe of a wink, First Lieutenant Freo had already torn open an over 10-m long bloody path before Zhang Tie...

 208 The Figh

    Chapter 208: The Fight


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    In such a raid with absolute number advantage on his side, facing a team whose fighting force had been weakened by one third by the first wave of bolts, the moment Zhang Tie rushed out of the elm forest together with his brothers, even before he had killed anyone, the war had almost come to an end...


    This was not a fight at all, it was more like a massacre!


    Noticing what was happening over here, the army of the Sun Dynasty stationed in Solanet had already blown the fighting horn in emergency. Soon after that, the entire Solanet started to boil with action.


    "Kill them..."


    Hearing some soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp shouting loudly, Zhang Tie turned and looked at the distance. He then caught sight of two military officers at the end of the column. Realizing that they were in a bad scenario, the two military officers were forcefully striking their horses to escape towards Solanet.


    Some soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp were chasing after them. However, the distance between them was becoming greater. Some soldiers even raised their light crossbows and shot towards them, but the bolts crashed into the steel armor on their backs and just fell to the ground with a sound of ''ding ding''. As the horses were also wearing armor, due to the large distance, the light bolts could not even wound them.


    In a blink of an eye, the two military officers of the Sun Dynasty were over 100 steps ahead of everyone. Even Battalion Commander Reinhardt could not deal with them.


    When everybody thought that the two fish were going to escape after all, Zhang Tie showed off.


    Since he had joined the Iron-Blood Camp till now, this was the first time for all the members to witness how this legendary Second Lieutenant Mummy launched an attack.


    A spear shadow flashed across the others'' eyes. Almost at the same time, a military officer of the Sun Dynasty who was one hundred steps away made a shrill shriek. Even if he was wearing a set of thick steel armor, he was still penetrated through by a heavy javelin. As a result, he immediately fell off the horse.


    Hearing his shrill shriek, the other man in front of him was shocked. He then looked back while another javelin descended upon him from the sky. Without even a groan, his whole body was penetrated through by Zhang Tie''s missile and he fell off the horse too.


    "Yah!"


    All the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp boomed, immediately raising the morale once again.


    "Kill them all!"


    After a growl, everybody rushed into Solanet which was less than 0.5 km away.


    After making meritorious deeds in the battlefield for the first time, Zhang Tie''s blood started boiling. Seeing Battalion Commander Reinhardt and other military officers rushing to the front of the soldiers, Zhang Tie also collected his courage. After shouting ''kill them all'', he pulled out his 300-odd kgs fighting sword while still carrying his container which lacked two javelins on the back, and rushed towards Solanet together with the rest of the camp.


    The military troops of Brilliant Feathers also responded very fast. The moment the more than 1000 people and horses of the Iron-Blood Camp rushed into the village, more than 1000 people had been already assembled inside. The opponent commander also led the 1000-odd people to rush out, aiming to have a fierce clash with the Iron-Blood Camp.


    At this moment, only the assembled troops could use their biggest fighting force. As the opponent commander also knew this principle, the moment the Iron-Blood Camp rushed inside, he had already seen clearly the number of soldiers and horses of the Iron-Blood Camp. This number was a bit higher than the one they had eliminated yesterday.


    But the moment he managed to assemble the troops of Brilliant Feathers in this village, he would outnumber the Norman Empire. Even if his side was raided, the opponent commander still had the confidence to be the last one smiling.


    The opponent commander''s confidence was turned panic-stricken when he saw the huge and bloody battle-qi totem behind Battalion Commander Reinhardt when the two troops were about to crash into each other.


    This was also Zhang Tie''s first time seeing Reinhardt''s battle-qi totem. It was a bloody python which was spreading hell-like flames all over the place.


    Generally speaking, after a person entered LV 6 and became a fighter, others could know his personal fighting strength and level only from his battle-qi totem. LV 6 fighters had a black spider, LV 7 fighters a centipede, LV 8 fighters a python, while LV 9 fighters had a bloody scorpion. These battle-qi totems were the symbols of fighters'' fighting strength and level in the human world.


    Zhang Tie had seen battle-qi totems many times. He firstly saw that on Captain Kerlin''s body. Recently, he had also seen Glaze''s dead dad''s battle-qi totem. Although the two totems had different patterns, they were of the same color - black. In Blackhot City, Zhang Tie hadn''t seen any battle-qi totem of another color. This was so until he saw Reinhardt''s.


    Reinhardt''s battle-qi totem was not only as fresh as blood, but also looked pretty commanding. Additionally, that huge python was spreading flames in all directions.


    This was the most direct manifestation of Iron-Blood battle qi. Besides the totem changing from black of common battle-qi to red, the whole totem was spreading rolling flames like those of hell.


    This was definitely the exclusive symbol of Iron-Blood battle-qi.


    A troop of about 1000 people led by a person who had formed the Iron-Blood battle qi was definitely the brand troop of Norman Empire''s division.


    The opponent commander finally understood whom he was facing. He also responded at once.


    Therefore, when Reinhardt burst out his flaming Iron-Blood battle-qi totem, a huge and icy-blue bloody-scorpion battle-qi totem also erupted almost at the same time, which was also not a common battle qi.


    Soon after that, a great amount of battle-qi totems rose up from behind, big and small. All them were black or gray, so in the whole battlefield, the most attractive battle-qi totems were that bloody flaring python and that huge icy-blue bloody scorpion.


    There were a bit more totems in the Sun Dynasty''s troop than in the Norman Empire''s one.


    At the sight of that huge icy-blue scorpion, Reinhardt seemed to come to a realisation why that battalion of the Norman Empire was annihilated by the opponents. Icy blue battle-qi totems were the result after those bastards of the Sun Dynasty had formed their sky battle-qi, which was the best battle-qi in their country. Therefore, the leader of the Brilliant Feathers of Sun Dynasty was not a commoner either.


    The icy-blue bloody scorpion and the flaring python immediately sped up and left their own troops. Before the rest of their troops crashed against each other, they made a fierce crash first.


    "Boom!"


    A huge crack sped forth from where the two met like trains smashing into each other after reaching the highest speed, exploding a big pit with the diameter of more than 2 m on the grassland under their feet.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie felt a fierce wind blowing towards him. He felt the land under his feet shudder twice and saw two figures fly back bleeding through the air. When the two landed, they charged at the opponents and crashed for the second time.


    "Kill them all!"


    The two troops were all in a rage now, eyes red.


    When they were over 50 m away from each other, Zhang Tie launched his attack.


    The javelins in the container on his back appeared in his hand one by one and were thrown out.


    Almost at the same time, seven military officers of the Sun Dynasty who had burst out battle-qi totems and were rushing ahead were struck by Zhang Tie. Five of them had black-spider totems while the other two had centipede totems.


    Zhang Tie moved too quickly but his throwing speed was faster. For the LV 6 or LV 7 guys, their eyes couldn''t even catch the javelins that flew towards them. Their movement could not match the speed of flying javelins at all. Therefore, they were all shot to death immediately.


    Some javelins could even penetrate two people at once.


    Seeing this, the Iron-Blood Camp''s morale rose up once again.


    In contrast, the morale of the opponent became lower.


    Before the two troops crashed, Zhang Tie had already cleared his container by killing seven enemy military officers. He then undid the javelin container and threw it onto the ground.


    ''That''s better!'' he mumbled inside. After relieving the over 100 kgs'' burden, Zhang Tie became more agile immediately.


    The two troops, totaling more than 2000 people, immediately crashed into each other on a patch of grassland at the hillside.


    In a split second, numerous sounds of blades clashing against each other and cutting into human flesh resounded.


    "Kill him!"


    A black-spider man of Sun Dynasty who had set his hatred filled sight on Zhang Tie rushed towards him. Without hesitation, he quickly raised his broad sword and chopped at his victim''s head. However, he seemed to have not noticed that ''Man''s Certificate'' behind Zhang Tie.


    "F*ck you!"


    Zhang Tie''s eyes also turned red. With two hands on the handle, he immediately picked up his huge sword from the ground and sliced towards that man with a black-spider totem.


    Based on facts, before ''Man''s Certificate'' in Zhang Tie''s hand, few weapons deserved the descriptive word ''huge''¡ªthat thing in his hand was simply an over 2-m long huge guillotine used to cut fodder in the barn. With the strength of nine wild wolves'' seven-strength fruits, Zhang Tie exploded with amazing strength. In a split second, the broad sword in that man''s hand broke in to two halves like a chopstick forcefully broken when it smashed against the guillotine, instead of being slowly cut off like fodder in the barn.


    After that, Zhang Tie''s huge sword smoothly sketched through the part above that man''s waist.


    The man then instantly became two halves...


    From the time he killed this man, Zhang Tie calm down inside as he immediately entered the absolutely calm and shrewd state, like that of a spectator.


    He then hefted up his huge sword. With a simple horizontal sweep, six grim soldiers rushing towards him in a fan-like formation more than 2-m away from him instantly froze. At the same time, six blood columns sprouted upward out of their waists right in front of Zhang Tie when their upper bodies slid off.


    At the sight of this scene, not only the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty, even the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp behind Zhang Tie became scared. The power of this ''Man''s Certificate'' in the hands of Second Lieutenant Mummy was too terrifying!

 209 I Am Shameless

    Chapter 209: I Am Shameless


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    At some point, neither the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty nor those of the Iron-Blood Camp dared to be close to a 2 m. circle around Zhang Tie.


    The fight kept going. After the aborted raid, the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty who rushed out of Solanet in teams continued to join the battle.


    Zhang Tie was still trying his best to kill his enemies while the battle between the man with a battle-qi totem of flaring python and the man with a battle-qi totem of icy blue scorpion continued.


    That was the collision between a LV 8 fighter''s Iron-Blood battle qi and a LV 9 fighter''s sky battle qi. Compared to Zhang Tie, that collision scared off any other persons in a circle of 10 m. After each fierce clash, Reinhardt would growl because of inexhaustible excitement.


    On this battlefield, Reinhardt''s growls could completely overshadow others'' battle cries.


    "One more..."


    "One more..."


    "One more..."


    The whole battlefield echoed with Battalion Commander Reinhardt''s lion-like growls.


    Hearing such growls, all the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp gained strength while the faces of the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty started to turn pale. By now, needless to say, the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty already knew what kind of troop they were facing.


    This troop was more than twice as powerful as the one they had annihilated.


    Most of the soldiers in common battalions were LV 1-LV 5 warriors, but in the Iron-Blood Camp, the soldiers were at least LV 3 veterans. This was a very sharp difference in fighting force.


    ...


    Some more spears thrust towards Zhang Tie. He swept his huge sword once again, breaking several spears at once. Before the flustered soldiers could move backwards, Zhang Tie rushed forward and swept at them with his huge sword. The four soldiers of the Sun Dynasty in front of him immediately spurted blood from their waists and fell to the ground.


    Zhang Tie himself didn''t know how many times he''d swung his huge sword, but slowly he started to change his fighting tactic in his mind. Although it was cool to slash the enemies into two halves, that required greater strength to break armor. However, usually, based on the size and sharpness of the huge sword''s blade, once someone got hit by it, a 3.5 cm-5 cm deep wound would be fatal enough. As long as this wound was made by the huge sword, it would be very long. Once such a wound was made on any part of a person''s upper body, it would be fatal, regardless of being horizontal or vertical.


    It was wasteful to slash a person into two halves. Only 1/5-1/3 of the strength that he used to slash a person in two was already enough to kill an enemy.


    After changing Zhang Tie changed his fighting tactic, few people could be seen being slashed into two in front of him. However, his fighting efficiency accelerated with less strength used up.


    As Zhang Tie had not learned any sword skills, he just instinctively used that huge sword as the extension of his palm. He kept waving it like using the movement ''sword palm'' in the free-hand movements of Iron-Blood Fist skill.


    Besides having the super great endurance of wild wolves to run, Zhang Tie also had the wild wolves'' endurance to fight.


    It was hard to say whether it was because of his increased spiritual energy, but Zhang Tie felt that the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty didn''t move fast enough. He could clearly see the movement trajectory of their weapons. When facing them, Zhang Tie had enough time to consider his response, whether to hold back, counterattack, or jump away. Previously, he didn''t feel this way, but for some reason it became obvious in the battlefield.


    These soldiers had greater speed and strength than Glaze. They were more experienced in fighting. However, in Zhang Tie''s mind, these soldiers were not as shocking as Glaze to him in the training ground at school.


    He didn''t know that in the whole battlefield, with the exception of Reinhardt, his performance was almost the best.


    Young age, handsome figure, huge fighting sword, terrifying strength, fierce and sharp fighting skills as well as amazing javelin throwing skills¡ªall these features easily made him eye-catching. He was like a rainbow after rain.


    When Zhang Tie killed another man with a battle-qi totem of black spider and three common soldiers in front of him, a tall figure appeared before him.


    It was a military officer of Sun Dynasty taller than 2 m. He was as strong as an iron tower and held a mace whose spikes resembled wolf''s fangs and whose rod was as high as he was tall while the battle-qi totem of centipede was rolling behind him, revealing him as a LV 7 fighter.


    This man was covered in fresh blood while that terrifying mace in his hand was almost wholly painted in red, pieces of flesh hanging off it. Needless to say, all that was from the soldiers of the Norman Empire.


    The huge sword and the wolf-fanged mace then collided against each other. After grunting, they both moved backwards.


    "You''ll be the 116th red-hide dog of the Norman Empire that died under my wolf-fanged mace. I will enjoy peeling off your hides and burying you into the soil. After that, I will smash your heads into pieces like how I hit tomatoes on the ground when I was young..."


    Saying that, the terrifying tough man licked the blood off that horrible wolf-fanged mace.


    "Do you want to match strength with me? You fat freak, I''m the king of strength!" Zhang Tie became infuriated. "Come here then, the one who drops his weapon first will be the real idiot!"


    Zhang Tie rushed forward. Hefting his huge sword, he slashed towards the giant''s head. At the sight of this, the giant revealed a grim smile. With a growl, he also wove his wolf-fanged mace to collide with Zhang Tie''s huge sword.


    Once...


    Twice...


    Thrice...


    ...


    Ten times...


    ...


    The sound produced by the collision of the two heavy weapons rocked the whole battlefield...


    This was Zhang Tie''s first time seeing such a guy who was born with great strength that could match his own. The battle qi this man practiced seemed to also be able to greatly improve his strength. This guy was really tricky.


    After colliding with his opponent numerous times, Zhang Tie pretended to spit out blood while gritting his teeth to continue fighting the giant.


    Besides strength, this terrifying giant had fighting skills that were no worse than those of Zhang Tie. Seeing Zhang Tie becoming a bit ''weaker'' but still striving to fight him, the giant looked grimmer.


    ...


    Finally, when the iron-tower like giant was slashing down with his wolf-fanged mace towards the huge sword, he found that the huge sword had already left Zhang Tie''s hand. As a result, the great weapon was sent flying far away by the wind produced by the giant''s wolf-fanged mace''s swing.


    But before the giant could become excited, Zhang Tie punched his waist with a move from the Iron-Blood Fists. The moment the giant sent the huge sword flying backwards, the Iron-Blood hidden strength immediately exploded in his body. Almost in a second, Zhang Tie punched over ten fists on to this giant using his Iron-Blood hidden strength.


    Face turning pale, the giant felt his hands losing strength. The moment the wolf-fanged mace dropped to the ground, he spurted a mouthful of fresh blood, like a high-pressure water pipe.


    The giant immediately knelt on the ground. He glared at Zhang Tie, but the moment the Iron-Blood hidden strength exploded in his body, his eyes turned red like those of a rabbit. Fresh blood flowing from his mouth corner, the giant seemed to want to say something.


    "I know what you want to say; well, I''m shameless, I''m the idiot..."


    While still talking, Zhang Tie swiftly pulled out a dagger from his waist and thrust it in the giant''s neck without any hesitation, then forcefully rotated it.


    The giant unwillingly fell down with his eyes wide-open. Zhang Tie then ferociously spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto him.


    "Idiot! I''ve not played this trick with my pals, like throwing a ball to attract a puppy, since I was seven years old..."


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to encounter such a man born with great strength which was even greater than that granted by the nine Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit. But this time, Zhang Tie concluded that those who were smarter than him could not match his strength while those who had greater strength than him could not match his intelligence. After ''training'' this giant to get used to clashing against his huge sword, Zhang Tie only played a small trick to solve this tricky opponent.


    Due to his great spiritual energy, Zhang Tie felt a sudden threat. He then slightly leaned to his side to avoid a spear which was thrust at his back. He grabbed it so fast, making a sound of ''sou'', that the guy who wanted to ambush him couldn''t even keep his balance as he tumbled forward, towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie then kicked at him, his attack imbued with the Iron-Blood hidden strength, sending that person flying 10 m away. After that, he held the spear and gave a sweep, slashing another opponent away. He then threw the spear, penetrating through some guy who had intended to assault the awkward tall man Beckham from the back.


    After doing all that, Zhang Tie picked up that great wolf-fanged mace, which weighed almost the same as his own huge sword. He then glanced over the surrounding soldiers of the Sun Dynasty. At the sight of Zhang Tie rushing towards them with the giant''s wolf-fanged mace, all of their faces turned pale and they immediately turned back and escaped.


    ...


    This time, Battalion Commander Reinhardt also took the wind. Hearing Reinhardt''s growl "Go to hell!", Zhang Tie turned and saw Battalion Commander Reinhardt''s Iron-Blood fist breaking through the defense of the man with the battle-qi totem of an icy-blue bloody scorpion and landing directly on his head. In a split second, colorful brains and guts exploded out of his head and body.


    Seeing this scene, everybody in the Iron-Blood Camp became highly spirited.


    However, at the sight of this, even more soldiers of the Sun Dynasty started to turn and run. Many of them didn''t even care where they were going. They only wanted to stay as far away as possible from these gods of killing from Iron-Blood Camp.


    "Kill them all!" the brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp exclaimed and chased after them.


    Ten minutes later, the established resistance of the Brilliant Feathers Army of the Sun Dynasty in Solanet didn''t exist any more. All the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty started to run. Like chasing after rabbits, the Iron-Blood Camp spread a net from the south to the north and started to chase after those soldiers who only thought about escape through the main roads of Solanet.


    The entire village resounded with the shrill shrieks of the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty and the sounds blades slashed people''s necks.


    Under the leadership of Battalion Commander Reinhardt, some people and horses of the Iron-Blood Camp moved out at a speed faster than the fleeing soldiers could escape in. After that, he led his troop back in an ever closing net. The Iron-Blood Camp had surrounded the whole Solanet.


    "Kill them all! Take revenge for our brothers!" Reinhardt''s emotionless order drifted across the village.


    In a split second, the whole Solanet was covered with human heads rolling on the ground...

 210 Muling

    Chapter 210: Muling


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    At some point, neither the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty nor those of the Iron-Blood Camp dared to be close to a 2 m. circle around Zhang Tie.


    The fight kept going. After the aborted raid, the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty who rushed out of Solanet in teams continued to join the battle.


    Zhang Tie was still trying his best to kill his enemies while the battle between the man with a battle-qi totem of flaring python and the man with a battle-qi totem of icy blue scorpion continued.


    That was the collision between a LV 8 fighter''s Iron-Blood battle qi and a LV 9 fighter''s sky battle qi. Compared to Zhang Tie, that collision scared off any other persons in a circle of 10 m. After each fierce clash, Reinhardt would growl because of inexhaustible excitement.


    On this battlefield, Reinhardt''s growls could completely overshadow others'' battle cries.


    "One more..."


    "One more..."


    "One more..."


    The whole battlefield echoed with Battalion Commander Reinhardt''s lion-like growls.


    Hearing such growls, all the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp gained strength while the faces of the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty started to turn pale. By now, needless to say, the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty already knew what kind of troop they were facing.


    This troop was more than twice as powerful as the one they had annihilated.


    Most of the soldiers in common battalions were LV 1-LV 5 warriors, but in the Iron-Blood Camp, the soldiers were at least LV 3 veterans. This was a very sharp difference in fighting force.


    ...


    Some more spears thrust towards Zhang Tie. He swept his huge sword once again, breaking several spears at once. Before the flustered soldiers could move backwards, Zhang Tie rushed forward and swept at them with his huge sword. The four soldiers of the Sun Dynasty in front of him immediately spurted blood from their waists and fell to the ground.


    Zhang Tie himself didn''t know how many times he''d swung his huge sword, but slowly he started to change his fighting tactic in his mind. Although it was cool to slash the enemies into two halves, that required greater strength to break armor. However, usually, based on the size and sharpness of the huge sword''s blade, once someone got hit by it, a 3.5 cm-5 cm deep wound would be fatal enough. As long as this wound was made by the huge sword, it would be very long. Once such a wound was made on any part of a person''s upper body, it would be fatal, regardless of being horizontal or vertical.


    It was wasteful to slash a person into two halves. Only 1/5-1/3 of the strength that he used to slash a person in two was already enough to kill an enemy.


    After changing Zhang Tie changed his fighting tactic, few people could be seen being slashed into two in front of him. However, his fighting efficiency accelerated with less strength used up.


    As Zhang Tie had not learned any sword skills, he just instinctively used that huge sword as the extension of his palm. He kept waving it like using the movement ''sword palm'' in the free-hand movements of Iron-Blood Fist skill.


    Besides having the super great endurance of wild wolves to run, Zhang Tie also had the wild wolves'' endurance to fight.


    It was hard to say whether it was because of his increased spiritual energy, but Zhang Tie felt that the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty didn''t move fast enough. He could clearly see the movement trajectory of their weapons. When facing them, Zhang Tie had enough time to consider his response, whether to hold back, counterattack, or jump away. Previously, he didn''t feel this way, but for some reason it became obvious in the battlefield.


    These soldiers had greater speed and strength than Glaze. They were more experienced in fighting. However, in Zhang Tie''s mind, these soldiers were not as shocking as Glaze to him in the training ground at school.


    He didn''t know that in the whole battlefield, with the exception of Reinhardt, his performance was almost the best.


    Young age, handsome figure, huge fighting sword, terrifying strength, fierce and sharp fighting skills as well as amazing javelin throwing skills¡ªall these features easily made him eye-catching. He was like a rainbow after rain.


    When Zhang Tie killed another man with a battle-qi totem of black spider and three common soldiers in front of him, a tall figure appeared before him.


    It was a military officer of Sun Dynasty taller than 2 m. He was as strong as an iron tower and held a mace whose spikes resembled wolf''s fangs and whose rod was as high as he was tall while the battle-qi totem of centipede was rolling behind him, revealing him as a LV 7 fighter.


    This man was covered in fresh blood while that terrifying mace in his hand was almost wholly painted in red, pieces of flesh hanging off it. Needless to say, all that was from the soldiers of the Norman Empire.


    The huge sword and the wolf-fanged mace then collided against each other. After grunting, they both moved backwards.


    "You''ll be the 116th red-hide dog of the Norman Empire that died under my wolf-fanged mace. I will enjoy peeling off your hides and burying you into the soil. After that, I will smash your heads into pieces like how I hit tomatoes on the ground when I was young..."


    Saying that, the terrifying tough man licked the blood off that horrible wolf-fanged mace.


    "Do you want to match strength with me? You fat freak, I''m the king of strength!" Zhang Tie became infuriated. "Come here then, the one who drops his weapon first will be the real idiot!"


    Zhang Tie rushed forward. Hefting his huge sword, he slashed towards the giant''s head. At the sight of this, the giant revealed a grim smile. With a growl, he also wove his wolf-fanged mace to collide with Zhang Tie''s huge sword.


    Once...


    Twice...


    Thrice...


    ...


    Ten times...


    ...


    The sound produced by the collision of the two heavy weapons rocked the whole battlefield...


    This was Zhang Tie''s first time seeing such a guy who was born with great strength that could match his own. The battle qi this man practiced seemed to also be able to greatly improve his strength. This guy was really tricky.


    After colliding with his opponent numerous times, Zhang Tie pretended to spit out blood while gritting his teeth to continue fighting the giant.


    Besides strength, this terrifying giant had fighting skills that were no worse than those of Zhang Tie. Seeing Zhang Tie becoming a bit ''weaker'' but still striving to fight him, the giant looked grimmer.


    ...


    Finally, when the iron-tower like giant was slashing down with his wolf-fanged mace towards the huge sword, he found that the huge sword had already left Zhang Tie''s hand. As a result, the great weapon was sent flying far away by the wind produced by the giant''s wolf-fanged mace''s swing.


    But before the giant could become excited, Zhang Tie punched his waist with a move from the Iron-Blood Fists. The moment the giant sent the huge sword flying backwards, the Iron-Blood hidden strength immediately exploded in his body. Almost in a second, Zhang Tie punched over ten fists on to this giant using his Iron-Blood hidden strength.


    Face turning pale, the giant felt his hands losing strength. The moment the wolf-fanged mace dropped to the ground, he spurted a mouthful of fresh blood, like a high-pressure water pipe.


    The giant immediately knelt on the ground. He glared at Zhang Tie, but the moment the Iron-Blood hidden strength exploded in his body, his eyes turned red like those of a rabbit. Fresh blood flowing from his mouth corner, the giant seemed to want to say something.


    "I know what you want to say; well, I''m shameless, I''m the idiot..."


    While still talking, Zhang Tie swiftly pulled out a dagger from his waist and thrust it in the giant''s neck without any hesitation, then forcefully rotated it.


    The giant unwillingly fell down with his eyes wide-open. Zhang Tie then ferociously spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto him.


    "Idiot! I''ve not played this trick with my pals, like throwing a ball to attract a puppy, since I was seven years old..."


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to encounter such a man born with great strength which was even greater than that granted by the nine Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit. But this time, Zhang Tie concluded that those who were smarter than him could not match his strength while those who had greater strength than him could not match his intelligence. After ''training'' this giant to get used to clashing against his huge sword, Zhang Tie only played a small trick to solve this tricky opponent.


    Due to his great spiritual energy, Zhang Tie felt a sudden threat. He then slightly leaned to his side to avoid a spear which was thrust at his back. He grabbed it so fast, making a sound of ''sou'', that the guy who wanted to ambush him couldn''t even keep his balance as he tumbled forward, towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie then kicked at him, his attack imbued with the Iron-Blood hidden strength, sending that person flying 10 m away. After that, he held the spear and gave a sweep, slashing another opponent away. He then threw the spear, penetrating through some guy who had intended to assault the awkward tall man Beckham from the back.


    After doing all that, Zhang Tie picked up that great wolf-fanged mace, which weighed almost the same as his own huge sword. He then glanced over the surrounding soldiers of the Sun Dynasty. At the sight of Zhang Tie rushing towards them with the giant''s wolf-fanged mace, all of their faces turned pale and they immediately turned back and escaped.


    ...


    This time, Battalion Commander Reinhardt also took the wind. Hearing Reinhardt''s growl "Go to hell!", Zhang Tie turned and saw Battalion Commander Reinhardt''s Iron-Blood fist breaking through the defense of the man with the battle-qi totem of an icy-blue bloody scorpion and landing directly on his head. In a split second, colorful brains and guts exploded out of his head and body.


    Seeing this scene, everybody in the Iron-Blood Camp became highly spirited.


    However, at the sight of this, even more soldiers of the Sun Dynasty started to turn and run. Many of them didn''t even care where they were going. They only wanted to stay as far away as possible from these gods of killing from Iron-Blood Camp.


    "Kill them all!" the brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp exclaimed and chased after them.


    Ten minutes later, the established resistance of the Brilliant Feathers Army of the Sun Dynasty in Solanet didn''t exist any more. All the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty started to run. Like chasing after rabbits, the Iron-Blood Camp spread a net from the south to the north and started to chase after those soldiers who only thought about escape through the main roads of Solanet.


    The entire village resounded with the shrill shrieks of the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty and the sounds blades slashed people''s necks.


    Under the leadership of Battalion Commander Reinhardt, some people and horses of the Iron-Blood Camp moved out at a speed faster than the fleeing soldiers could escape in. After that, he led his troop back in an ever closing net. The Iron-Blood Camp had surrounded the whole Solanet.


    "Kill them all! Take revenge for our brothers!" Reinhardt''s emotionless order drifted across the village.


    In a split second, the whole Solanet was covered with human heads rolling on the ground...

 211 Revenge and Booty

    Chapter 211: Revenge and Booty


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    "There are good people among bandits and robbers; there are psychic and intelligent ones among magical beasts and domestic animals. However, if there is a population in the world that would not find it wrong to chop off the heads of a whole battalion, it must be the Mulings of the Brilliant God Cult!


    This is because the first condition for joining the priesthood and clergy of Brilliant God, for becoming Muling, is to sacrifice an innocent kid below 10-years-old with his fresh blood and life to the Brilliant God. The higher rank the Muling is, the more times he would have had to sacrifice innocent lives and on the larger scale.


    Only the real evil and ugly people can do this. Although the name Brilliant God Cult sounds good, actually, it¡¯s an absolutely a heresy."


    This was how Donder had described it to Zhang Tie.


    Maybe because the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp hadn¡¯t chopped off his head immediately, it birthed some weird hopes in his brain that was drowning in kilograms of fat. He dared to talk about the Human Race¡¯s Brilliant Charter with the military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp, expecting to survive.


    However, everybody just watched his final performance with icy expressions. Although they couldn''t wait to just chop off his head or stomp him to death, if that truly happened, it would be too easy an end for him.


    After a short while, five horses were led into the drying field by several soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp.


    Seeing this, that Muling''s face turned completely pale while his shrieks became more shrill. At the same time, he quickly changed his pleas.


    "Ah¡­ no¡­ please, let me die fast..."


    "Because of your order, do you know how many people have died here in the last two days? Do you know how many people of the Iron-Blood Camp were killed? Do you know how many people had their heads chopped off? And right now you still expect an easy death?" Battalion Commander Reinhardt watched him with an emotionless expression. "I can only assure you that it¡¯s very painful, as to whether it is fast or not, it¡¯ll depend on you!"


    After saying this, Battalion Commander Reinhardt motioned with his hand and said with an icy face, "Fix him..."


    Receiving the order, some soldiers instantly fastened that guy''s head and four limbs to the ropes that were tied to the horses.


    This was Zhang Tie''s first time seeing someone being torn apart by five horses. This cruel death penalty was rarely used on the crime-ridden people even in the Norman Empire. This was a horrible death penalty with rich oriental features.


    The head of the Iron-Blood Camp had given this order to tear apart the Muling who had decided to chop off the heads of all the soldiers of the Norman Empire so as to send a warning to those guys who wanted to challenge the authority of the Norman Empire and the honor its army¡ªsoldiers of the Norman Empire could be killed, but not insulted!


    In this village, it was not possible to kill all of the 2000-odd people with a troop of 1000-odd people. Before the Iron-Blood Camp had rounded everyone up, there were 70-80 soldiers of Brilliant Feathers that had escaped when they realized the situation was not going well for their side. After returning to their base, they would definitely report what had happened here to the superiors of Brilliant Feathers Army. Therefore, the Iron-Blood Camp was sure that the Brilliant Feathers Army understood what they wanted to express.


    ...


    After being tightened to five horses for under a minute, that fat figure finally became five separate parts. After that, the five parts were left in Solanet together with their ropes.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie thought that he would vomit at the sight of such a scene, since it was more vicious than just slashing a person into two. The bloody scenes on the battlefield had truly made him uncomfortable; however, watching this guy painfully struggle and shriek miserably until he was separated into five, Zhang Tie only felt cold inside.


    ''For such a scumbag, we should do this!'' Zhang Tie told himself inside, ''more than 200 soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp were wounded or killed in the first battle today, which means that the total amount of the Iron-Blood Camp was reduced by one sixth. Half of this loss should be owed by that guy who had been quartered. If this guy hadn¡¯t taunted the Iron-Horn Army and infuriated the marshals, how could I be dispatched here.''


    After this final warning ceremony, Major Guderian glanced at his watch. "We have 40 minutes to clean the battlefield and collect our booty; we''ll leave here in 40..."


    ...


    Everybody rapidly scattered while First Lieutenant Liu Xing pulled Zhang Tie''s arm and ran with him towards the battlefield.


    "What are we going to do?" Zhang Tie asked him.


    "Go collect our booty?"


    "Shouldn''t this be done by soldiers? Shouldn''t the booty be collected before being submitted?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity, thinking of the army rules told by his elder brother.


    "Who told you that?" First Lieutenant Liu Xing kept striding forward as he explained to Zhang Tie, "In the Iron-Horn Army, even the entire Norman Empire, all the booty from Iron-Blood Camp''s independent fights don''t need to be submitted. Didn''t you know that?"


    "Is that true?"


    Zhang Tie was really shocked.


    "Of course, the Iron-Blood Camp, which shoulders the toughest fights and suffers the highest casualty rate, should enjoy some special treatment!" First Lieutenant Liu Xing said, starting to run. "The booty of the Iron-Blood Camp is divided into two parts: the collective one, and the personal. The collective booty is distributed by the Iron-Blood Camp in a unified way while personal booty fully belongs to individuals. Even the colonel could not share that!


    "Collective booty belongs to the collective wealth of the troops eliminated by us such as ordnance and the government and public materials in the enemy occupied zone. After each battle, a part of the captured collective booty would be taken as extra pension for the casualties in that battle.


    "If there were no collective booty, extra pensions for casualties would be allocated from the personal booties which are all the wealth on the enemy that you¡¯ve killed. This time, we should submit all the cash that we collect as extra pension for the wounded and dead soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp."


    "What about the personal booty of our Boss Reinhardt after he exploded his opponent into parts?"


    First Lieutenant Liu Xing burst out laughing loudly. "In this case, unless boss goes to fetch the corpse one piece by another, if you find that guy''s personal belongings, they will belong to you. Boss Reinhardt doesn''t tend to do that, have you seen those bastards running faster than hares? That guy who had formed the sky battle qi is not common. He''s already a LV 9 fighter. There might be something good with him. Anyone who can find it will have it!"


    ¡®F*ck!¡¯ Zhang Tie also hurriedly ran towards that battlefield...


    ...


    First Lieutenant Liu Xing explained the rules on distributing booty in the Iron-Blood Camp while they ran. After several hundred years'' experience, the Iron-Blood Camp of the Norman Empire had long formed a strict distribution system. Every member would follow it self-consciously.


    Take this time for an instance, besides killing more than ten military officers, Zhang Tie had also killed a great amount of soldiers. According to this distribution system, the personal property of those soldiers that Zhang Tie had killed didn''t belong to him any more, instead, they were going to be allocated among the soldiers of Third Platoon. As a military officer, Zhang Tie could only collect the personal belongings of other military officers that he had killed.


    First Lieutenant Liu Xing said this was the gesture that military officers of the Norman Empire should have. Boss Reinhardt executed this gesture very well as he didn''t even feel like searching for his booty from the guy that had been torn to pieces by his punch.


    Boss Reinhardt, he looked down upon the personal belongings of all the guys who were weaker than him. If boss really liked something on that person, his final fist would definitely be tender. For instance, he only needed to explode the guy''s head, instead of his whole body, like how a fairy spread open a flower.


    A military officer who could kill a great amount of enemies on the battlefield, thus increasing the survival rate and gaining more booty and wealth for his subordinates would definitely gain their favor and reliance. Undoubtedly, at the critical moment, a lot of them would be ready to sacrifice themselves to protect their officer


    Real brothers were an indestructible community combining righteousness and benefits.


    It was partnership between businessmen that shared benefits but was not righteous. When the catastrophe arrived, the partners would flee by themselves like birds.


    It was empty talk and dreams of nerds to be righteous without sharing benefits. It would take scholars ten years to fail a revolt.


    From the distribution of booty in the Iron-Blood Camp, Zhang Tie had gained some insights. It was said that such a distribution pattern originated from the emperor who had founded the Norman Empire.


    At this time, after the corpses across Solanet were dealt with, each member of the Iron-Blood Camp was collecting their own booty. The armors, weapons, property, and special equipment on those corpses were all valuable. Some experienced guys even forcefully opened the enemies'' mouths to check whether they had gold teeth inside. Nobody would mind prying them off.


    Zhang Tie noticed that personal belongings of the enemy corpses that had been killed by brothers that had sacrificed themselves would also be collected by special people. As these were the booties of the brothers that had sacrificed themselves, they would be converted into wealth and delivered to the family members of the dead soldiers in the name of extra pension.


    The whole process was so meticulous that nothing valuable would be left.


    When Zhang Tie arrived at the battlefield, that guy who had been exploded by Boss Reinhardt had long been cleaned, leaving nothing at all, even a hair. After letting out a sigh, Zhang Tie realized that he was late. Therefore, he could only collect and count his own booty.


    The first thing Zhang Tie gained were the two horses of the military officers who had been struck down by his javelins. The two horses were expropriated by Major Guderian to carry some properties and wounded soldiers back first.


    Besides that, the rest of Zhang Tie''s booty were all the properties of the twelve military officers of Sun Dynasty who had been killed by him.


    Armor, weapons, and purses were all Zhang Tie''s personal achievements. His subordinates helped him collect all the good stuff from the dead bodies. As these items neither could be carried away temporarily nor be left for Sun Dynasty to arm their soldiers, based on the formalities on dealing with this in the Iron-Blood Camp, after collecting these items, they had to be registered first before finding a place to bury them.


    The benefit of doing things this way was that when the conditions became better in the future, they could dig the items out and use them again. They then could be sold, used, or left as a hidden equipment supplement point.


    All the members of the Iron-Blood Camp were very smooth in doing this. They divided the labor work orderly and cleaned the battlefield in a very fast way, like plowing land.


    No matter where they were, the military officers were definitely richer than common soldiers. They would have more good items with them.


    After searching over several bodies, with exception of some purses that contained cash, Zhang Tie finally saw a very beautiful gold pocket watch embedded with two circles of fine gemstones. There was a wild compass on the skull of the watch. The dial even contained a monthly calendar and ephemeris and a waving rotating wheel which could be wound up automatically. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie knew it was an advanced item, which put him in a good mood.


    When he saw this pocket watch, Zhang Tie realized that he had not even had a watch since he was born. Therefore, he took it without any hesitation.


    Because all the cash being collected should be handed in as the pension of dead and wounded soldiers, at the sight of the purses, Zhang Tie he didn''t even glance at them but directly threw them to a soldier beside him, asking him to hand them in an adviser of Iron-Blood Camp who was especially responsible for collecting cash. Zhang Tie roughly estimated there were at least dozens of gold coins inside the purses through weight. This amount of money also represented Zhang Tie''s condolence to those dead and wounded soldiers. Because it was on the battle field, even if it was a military officer of Sun Dynasty, he would not take too much money with him.


    Besides that above, the military rations of the dead military officers of the Sun Dynasty should also be left. In the near future, the Iron-Blood Camp would have no supplies at all. Only taking two rations with them which afforded a single week of food, Zhang Tie threw the rest to the soldiers of Third Platoon, solving the problem of several soldiers'' rations.


    On the dead second-lieutenant military officer of the Sun Dynasty, Zhang Tie found a nice dagger which was black all over. Although having no luster at all, it was very sharp, and much easier to use than his own. This one was truly a bad-luck guy, being killed by Zhang Tie''s javelin before the two troops had even clashed. His dagger was still hanging on his waist, not even having been pulled out yet.


    Noticing this good item, of course Zhang Tie took it as his own without any hesitation.


    Besides these items, Zhang Tie also found some amulets of Brilliant God Cult from those military officers and a book "Holy Decree of My Lord" which was used to wash people''s brains by the Sun Dynasty. As these items were fabricated by these hardass priests, of course Zhang Tie would not take them.


    On a 20-odd body, Zhang Tie found a heart-shaped gold pendant necklace. He opened it and saw a photo of a beautiful lady who was also a bit over 20 years old. That lady smiled brilliantly. Watching the photo for a short while, Zhang Tie sighed inside and silently foisted it back, letting it rest close to the icy chest of that military officer.


    For that giant Zhang Tie killed, besides that huge wolf-fanged mace and the half-body armor, he was absolutely poor as he didn''t even have a copper coin with him. Glancing at his thrusting belly, Zhang Tie had a feeling that this guy might have eaten all of his wage.


    This guy kept staring at the sky with a grievous expression until now.


    "Well, don''t think about it any more. At worst, until next we encounter each other, you can learn to be a bit smarter. How about letting you be shameless next time..."


    Saying this, Zhang Tie felt vacant as he moved his palm over the giant''s face to close his eyes. After receiving Zhang Tie''s promise, that giant''s face also seemed to have relaxed somewhat.


    The moment Zhang Tie wanted to stand up, he noticed a small something on the ground under the giant''s armpit. It was a finger with a metal half-active fingerstall. Not knowing whether it was a middle finger or an index finger, the moment Zhang Tie caught sight of that fingerstall, he recalled that fighter with a huge icy-blue bloody scorpion as his battle-qi totem who was exploded by Boss Reinhardt.


    Feeling something on the finger, Zhang Tie picked it up.


    Under the fingerstall was a ring covered by the half-motive of the fingerstall. It was a common silver ring. Zhang Tie''s heart suddenly pounded as he quietly moved off the ring from that broken finger.


    Holding the ring in his hand, Zhang Tie confirmed it was not made of silver, but a matter that was two times heavier than gold and of the same volume. Silver''s density was smaller than that. As to the two green stones the size of nails of a little finger, Zhang Tie was also confused about them.


    This ring felt both expensive and mysterious...


    There were some special geometric patterns on the silver ring. It seemed to be runes, but Zhang Tie was not sure. Watching the rune-like floral patterns, his heart pounded as he injected his spiritual energy in that ring like polishing his burning points.


    ¡ª¡ªRing of Energy. It can recover your physical strength 4% faster after you use it up, enabling the wearer to be more energetic. This item was made by rune master Andariel.


    This was a fragment of the message fixed in the ring like the label of commodity. When you inject your spiritual energy inside, this message would be activated and appear in the mind of the one who activated it like the legendary tape recorder before the catastrophe.


    ''F*ck!''


    Zhang Tie almost jumped up. ''Is this a rune equipment that is usually out of small figures'' reach in Donder''s words?''


    ''I''m rich...''


    A vulgar thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind...


    Twenty minutes later, the Iron-Blood Camp started to leave Solanet. When they moved out, Zhang Tie had one more dagger on his waist, an extra, delicate, advanced pocket watch, and a silver ring on his left middle finger. With the exception of this, nothing else had changed on Zhang Tie. The huge sword and javelin container were still heavier than half a ton. With such heavy items, each step forward meant a great consumption of his physical strength.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie put almost all his spiritual energy on himself. He found that although the weight on his back didn''t become lighter even a bit, his physical strength obviously recovered faster than before. If he made a serious comparison, he would know it truly recovered almost 4% faster than before. Benefiting from this, he felt less fatigued.


    No matter what, this ring could give him a greater chance to survive these kind of battles.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could receive such an achievement in such a battle. He couldn''t help thinking that if he could get more attribute-improving equipment like this, he would become stronger and have a greater chance to return back to Blackhot City.


    Through today''s battle, Zhang Tie had also gained some improvements in his sword skills as he had found that some gestures of sword palm of the Iron-Blood Fist skill seemed really feasible for this huge sword of his. In the battlefield, if you use this huge sword as a huge and sharp palm, you can then exert greater force by those open movements.


    Additionally, when he used those more delicate and heavier javelins made by the Norman Empire in the battlefield, Zhang Tie faintly felt that they could fly faster than before, however they seemed to have reached a limit in speed as they met an invisible barrier.


    That barrier was a sound barrier that all flying objects in the air would meet when they reached the velocity of sound...


    ...

 212 One-Hundred People Down

    Chapter 212: One-Hundred People Down


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie and his subordinates were calmly lying in the grass while a team of about 100 soldiers of the Sun Dynasty were walking towards them with a bit of tension on the hillside below them.


    As this was a mountainous area, the mountain pass below was very narrow. On both sides of the pass were shrubs or large rocks, so even if the team of soldiers wanted to pass this region as soon as possible, the over 100 people could not move fast at all.


    This was already the 12th day since the Iron-Blood Camp had executed the "enmity task" here in this mountainous area. In the first week, based on the statistics of the Iron-Blood Camp, Zhang Tie had already won the nickname of "One-Hundred People Down", which was an honor in the army, an honor that was gifted to real warriors. However, Zhang Tie didn''t like this honor, neither did he like being called "One-Hundred People Down" by others.


    In his opinion, he was forced to kill people in the battlefield. As a small figure, he could not change the willingness to fight between the two powers at Kalur region. Because he wanted to survive himself, as well as help his subordinates do so, he chose to kill. Although they were enemies, there was no animosity between him and the soldiers of the Brilliant Feathers. In the enmity between two powers, they were just trivial components, tools and iron filings...


    Perhaps someone truly deserved death such as that bastard who was quartered by the five horses of the Iron-Blood Camp, but even if the opponents were members of the Sun Dynasty, Zhang Tie still felt that most of them were no different from him and his friends in Blackhot City. They were all small figures who had their own parents.


    Since they were all human beings, one should be reluctant and aggrieved to kill people. For if this action was taken as an honor, it would be grievous.


    Such a though might be seen as too merciful, fitting more for women. Especially in the army, few people would agree with Zhang Tie, however, he felt that there was nothing to be proud about in being called "One-Hundred People Down". He only felt jarred. He preferred to be called "One-Hundred People Down" for convincing one hundred women into his bed instead of killing one hundred men in a battlefield.


    The two events were totally different as one could bring people happiness and new birth while the other could only bring pain and death.


    Zhang Tie preferred the former one.


    Including those adorable girls of the Rose Association, Pandora, Alice, and Beverly, only 16 girls were left before Zhang Tie would gain the honor "One-Hundred People Down" which he could be proud of. He had never dared to imagine something this before, which gave him a sense of pride when he was alone.


    In Zhang Tie''s opinion, there was nothing to be proud in killing commoners who had no way to fight back against him.


    When at school, it was said that before the catastrophe, for a period of at least 2000 years, human beings were actually ruled by those demons who disguised themselves as humans. When demons ruled, people''s values were twisted so many people took ugly as beauty and wrong as right: a group of people killed another group of people; people of one profession killed others of another profession; people of one skin color killed others of another skin color; people of one country killed others of another country; people with one belief killed others with another belief. The above killings became as usual as cooking dinner.


    Demons told people how to make distinctions. When people were born, they would learn how to separate themselves by language, skin color, blood ties, religion, country, wealth, educational background, looks, hobbies, social status, moral standards, even food... Everything could be used to split them apart.


    After that, people learned of animosity and how to take revenge and kill each other. They learned how to eliminate things that were different from themselves. As each newborn was labeled to distinguish it, these labels then taught them who to kill based on the differencess of those labels when they grew up. As a result, each one became isolated in their soul islands and turned into the most senior wild beasts.


    When demons encouraged people to take revenge on and kill each other, the love affairs between men and women that were the most beautiful and pleasurable emotions, allowing people to grow in numberes, were twisted to become shameless and lewd. Expressing love to a person became something shameful, condemning and humiliating.


    After being confined for thousands of years, people''s love flowers in their hearts gradually withered away as if they were locked in dark rooms. Many people no longer knew how to express their love the right way, instead, they learned how to vent their resulting emotions through violence, hypocrisy, and deception. People had turned love into harm, greed, and fear. Even to this day, people still couldn''t remember how to express the most beautiful side of their human nature with pure love and pleasure.


    Zhang Tie loved to wonder whether this world would be better if all men would feel shamed for killing or hurting other people but would feel proud for bringing an orgasm and pleasure to a woman.


    He might never get the answer. However, Zhang Tie believed that if he could make a choice, he preferred to be a man who was not proud of killing people.


    Because Zhang Tie didn''t like to be called "One-Hundred People Down", all the members of the Iron-Blood Camp still called him Second Lieutenant Mummy. Right now, he was well-known in the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division. As Zhang Tie had made outstanding military exploits, Second Lieutenant Mummy gradually gained another meaning that Zhang Tie didn''t like¡ªany enemy that caught sight of Zhang Tie would soon be a mummy.


    Even Battalion Commander Reinhardt kept speaking highly of the excellent javelin throwing skills of the Second Lieutenant Mummy, "Few people below LV 8 would escape from Second Lieutenant Mummy''s javelins once he catches sight of them." Actually, none of the LV 6-LV 7 platoon leaders of Brilliant Feathers'' troops caught in his sights could survive.


    As they had to stay in this mountainous area for two weeks, smart Major Guderian chose a place where it was very difficult to walk on and impossible to assemble greater numbers of troops for the Iron-Blood Camp in this broad friction zone.


    He said that the first benefit of such a place was avoiding the chance of being surrounded by superior enemy forces when the Iron-Blood Army moved alone; the second benefit was enabling the camp to be more mobile, exerting the wolf pack tactic to the utmost. In a simpler manner, greater enemy troops could not enter this area while those who entered could not match the Iron-Blood Camp.


    Those tycoons of the division''s headquarters might have presumed that the Iron-Blood Camp would adopt this tactic, so that''s why they delivered an order to dispatch it to this barren land without even providing them provisions. Probably those military officers also knew that if a wolf pack was moved into the wild, they would seek food by themselves.


    These days, Zhang Tie also rapidly learned about everything regarding war from others...


    ...


    At this moment, in Zhang Tie''s eyes, there seemed was a team of "lunch" sending themselves here voluntarily. After lying in an ambush in the brushwood for an entire morning, the sudden appearance of a team of Sun Dynasty''s soldiers made everybody highly spirited.


    "Head, will we f*ck them?"


    Two team leaders had stealthily moved close to Zhang Tie. Now, all the soldiers of Third Platoon, Fifth Company of the Iron-Blood Camp didn''t call Zhang Tie "sir" or "platoon leader" anymore as the two appellations sounded a bit jerky, instead, they all called him "head".


    Zhang Tie slightly narrowed his eyes to observe the troop below. From the formation, he found no difference between this one and other troops that they had met these days. It was composed of more than 100 people, which might be the population of Sun Dynasty''s company of. Based on his experiences these days, Zhang Tie along with about 50 other soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp that followed him could kill them all in several minutes. However, for some reason, at the sight of that troop, Zhang Tie felt a faint restlessness.


    He wanted to let them go, however, he could not find a single reason to let them go.


    ''Am I really as merciful as a woman?'' Zhang Tie asked himself.


    Nobody in Third Platoon moved. They all waited for Zhang Tie''s signal. These past days, they all learned that if Second Lieutenant Mummy wanted to clean these people and horses, the javelin that was thrown by him would signal the start of the attack. So before Second Lieutenant Mummy launched an attack, nobody in the entire Third Platoon dared to move.


    Seeing that the people below were going to soon leave the attack range, Zhang Tie reaffirmed that no ambush was around them and, gritting his teeth and forcing away the thoughts which had nothing to do with war, he launched the attack without any more hesitation.


    This was one solution that Zhang Tie had learned in the Iron-Blood Camp¡ªon the battlefield, you would not never know the answer for any doubts or questions unless you chopped down with your saber.


    Action was always more persuasive than doubts.


    The moment Zhang Tie moved, one of the main military officers from among that troop was struck by a spear and let out a shrill shriek.


    This was the signal!


    The people in Third Platoon with light crossbows then immediately shot their bolts, causing people and horses off their feet on the road below.


    Zhang Tie jumped down first. After shooting a few more volleys of bolts, the other people of Third Platoon also followed after Zhang Tie and rushed down the slope.


    When rushing downward, the javelins in the container on Zhang Tie''s back were constantly thrown out, striking the other three military officers in that troop before they could make any response. For the rest of the javelins, Zhang Tie just glanced over the tallest and toughest guys in that troop before stroke them all down.


    After all, once the backbone of military officers were killed by Zhang Tie, that troop collapsed immediately.


    "Kill them all!"


    Zhang Tie dashed forward like a fierce tiger jumping out of a narrow place and rushed first into the enemy troop; he became calm and emotionless once again.


    Although it was not glorious to kill people, he had to do that right now since he wore the military uniform.


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t hold that 300-odd kgs'' huge sword any more, instead, he put it back in the base of Iron-Blood Camp. He realized that if he kept carrying that huge sword in this mountainous area, he would be a true idiot.


    Zhang Tie was holding a relatively smaller two-handed sword, which weighed more than 70 kgs. This double-handed sword was Zhang Tie''s personal booty that he had collected recently. It came from a LV 7 military officer of the Sun Dynasty.


    This sword was very delicate with fish-scale like sword body and snow white and mirror-like blade that seemed to have a very great texture. The handle was a pair of praying nude virgins. Their wings formed the armguard. From the craftsmanship, this sword was much better than that "Man''s Certificate" in both weight and visual effect.


    The double-handed sword that weighted more than 70 kgs was only one fifth of Zhang Tie''s huge sword. Holding it in one hand,he felt like holding a wooden stick. It was too light. With a casual flick, the blade would cut through the air and cause a sharp sound along with ghost cries and wolf howls...


    Zhang Tie named it with another f*cking name that aroused the ridicule of everybody in the Iron-Blood Camp - "Woman''s Excellence".


    Although this sword was used for killing, Zhang Tie wanted to warn himself with it that it was not greater to let a man die easily on the battle field than letting a woman live happily.


    It was not great to kill people, but Zhang Tie wouldn''t leave any chance for a single enemy to survive.


    Although this sword was a bit smaller, its power could even match that of the huge sword in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    The second thing was "Woman''s Excellence" warned Zhang Tie that the most suitable weapon would be the most powerful one. For Zhang Tie, that huge sword was really a bit heavy.


    ...


    The moment Zhang Tie rushed into the enemy troop, he wove his double-handed sword and sent four heads flying in the air. After another swing, his great strength granted the blade with a terrifying cutting force so several spears thrusting towards him were easily broken.


    Zhang Tie then rapidly moved inside. After another sweep, some more soldiers of the Sun Dynasty lied down to the ground while sprouting blood out from their bodies.


    In the terrified eyes of a soldier, Zhang Tie clashed into him like a furious bear. With the horrible sound of broken bones, that soldier was sent rolling directly down the hill.


    Zhang Tie then thrust out his sword once again which penetrated through two soldiers of the Sun Dynasty at once. Using their bodies as a shield, Zhang Tie lifted the two bodies and threw them towards the most populated place. As a result, more than twenty people lost their balance. Many of them even rolled down the narrow pass from Zhang Tie''s barbarous force while screaming miserably.


    The rest of Third Platoon''s soldiers moved in only several seconds later than Zhang Tie, but in that little time, he had already cleaned 1/5 of Sun Dynasty''s soldiers. including those he had taken care of with his javelins before.


    Seeing such a dauntless military officer, all the soldiers of Third Platoon became highly spirited while the surviving soldiers of the enemy troop tried to awkwardly escape.


    "Kill them all..."


    After another growl, fifty more fierce tigers charged at the chaotic troop. In a split second, the mountain pass was filled with blade lights and miserable shrieks...


    Greetings, guys, the battle between Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty is just a prelude. The real war is between human beings and demons~~

 213 Restlessness

    Chapter 213: Restlessness


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The battle ended faster than Zhang Tie had expected. Besides that more than ten soldiers of the Sun Dynasty had escaped and some had been hit by Zhang Tie and rolled off the hillside, while the rest of the troop had laid down in the mountain pass.


    In sharp contrast, only five members of the Iron-Blood Camp were slightly wounded. None of theirs were heavily wounded or sacrificed.


    Zhang Tie was very satisfied by this. After other similar raids, he found that the soldiers of the Sun Dynasty relied extremely on the orders of their commander in the battle. For these common soldiers of companies or platoons, once their military officers were killed, they would immediately be lost and hardly organize any effective resistance.


    Zhang Tie presumed that this might be related to some system of the Sun Dynasty. These days, he heard many things about the Sun Dynasty''s troops, which followed a strict hierarchical system and many rigid regulations. As a result, soldiers'' creativity and personal willingness were under very great control. One very perverted regulation was that unless in the military camp or executing orders, more than three common soldiers were forbidden to join in a group at any time.


    In Sun Dynasty''s army, common soldiers were not allowed to have their own thoughts at any time as the commander''s will was their will. The benefit of such a troop was that even if there was a fiery pit in front of them, the common soldiers would choose to jump inside without any hesitation. Such an army was actually very terrifying.


    However, if taking into account the ambushes these days as an example, when Zhang Tie killed all the military officers first with his javelins, most of the common soldiers lost their commanding people; they then did not know what to do next, like flies with no heads. In this case, their fighting force was greatly weakened.


    Although his group had won another battle by eliminating all the enemies, for some reason, Zhang Tie felt even more restless than before.


    ...


    After taking out of that pocket watch that he had collected from the battlefield, Zhang Tie gave an order with an icy expression, "You have three minutes to clean the battlefield. Three minutes later, we have to evacuate!"


    They usually had at least ten minutes to clean the battlefield; the soldiers of the Third Platoon didn''t understand why their boss had only given them three minutes today. However, at the sight of Zhang Tie''s icy face, nobody asked why, instead, they all rapidly moved.


    This time, everybody had a great harvest. Zhang Tie gained more than 20 Sun Dynasty''s gold coins from the military officers that he had killed, which was a bit more than usual. Additionally, he got some nice weapons, two senior leather belts, and some useful widgets.


    Zhang Tie only kept the gold coins. Besides them, he selected a beautiful silver lighter. After that, he allocated the rest to his subordinates who had fought together with him.


    Three minutes later, after cleaning the battlefield, over fifty people quickly left under the leadership of Zhang Tie. Until they left, nothing special happened, so Zhang Tie started to mumble inside, ''Am I thinking too much?''


    ...


    The wolf den of Iron-Blood Camp was in a weird lava zone in the karst region in this mountainous area. A battle between two troops of more than 2000 soldiers in total would hardly break out here. Even if it did, the weird topography would separate the troops into different groups, which would hardly form any formation with powerful fighting force.


    If they fought in this terrain, the personal fighting force of the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp could be exerted to the utmost. Even the most common member of the Iron-Blood Camp were ranked as corporals, namely warriors who had not formed Iron-Blood hidden strength; however the most common members of Brilliant Feathers'' troops ranked LV 2-5. This indicated that Iron-Blood Camp had an overwhelming advantage over common troops in fighting force.


    This also explained why Iron-Blood Camp could be the king troop in each division of the Iron-Horn Army.


    According to Major Guderian''s judgment, after the Solanet event and three small bases of Brilliant Feathers in this region were cleared by Iron-Blood Camp, if the Sun Dynasty knew their existence in this region, they would definitely come to take a revenge. Therefore, Major Guderian chose a hidden place as the wolf den of the Iron-Blood Camp in case of being surrounded by the enemy. Each day, Iron-Blood Camp would move and hunt the local troops of Brilliant Feathers in the surrounding mountainous area of dozens of square meters in platoons by taking turns...


    Before the final battle, both marshals of the two armies seemed to have the intention of dispatching their own troops here to fight by turns so as to test the opponents and train their own troops. The casualties and achievements of their soldiers at the cost of numerous lives and rivers of fresh blood would only turn into emotionless data on the tables of the decision-makers, but whether that data would influence the decision-makers'' decisions, only god knew.


    When Zhang Tie led his troop back into this weird lava zone, most of the other wolf packs hunting outside had already returned. Most of them had gained some booty, more or less. However, compared to Zhang Tie''s Third Platoon, other troops had less booty yet had sacrificed more.


    Since they entered this war zone, the were casualties in the Iron-Blood Camp everyday, more or less.


    The moment Zhang Tie came back to the wolf den, he entered the command tent. Many military officers who had led their troops out today were gathering there. They reported their troops'' achievements and the situations on how they had encountered their enemies today to Major Guderian one by one. Hearing their reports, Major Guderian lowered his body and continually marked something on the map spread on the table while asking one or two questions every now and then.


    When it was Zhang Tie''s turn, he reported the achievements of the Third Platoon while pulling out the certificates of his achievements¡ªthe ID plates of the military officers of the Sun Dynasty that he had taken off them.


    When he submitted the ID plates, the surrounding military officers all admired him. In the entire Iron-Blood Camp, only Zhang Tie''s troop could easily gain a great harvest each time.


    "After going back, you will definitely gain a warrior''s medal!" Second Lieutenant Moosa told Zhang Tie.


    These days, Zhang Tie had already killed dozens of military officers of the Sun Dynasty. For a person who came to the battlefield for the first time, this was really a very great achievement.


    Hearing Moosa''s praise, the surrounding military officers all nodded.


    "Zhang Tie is simply a nut too hard to crack for the low-ranked military officers of the Sun Dynasty. Those LV 6-LV 7 guys are almost like target practice for Zhang Tie."


    Hearing the surrounding military officers'' words, Zhang Tie just revealed a smile. However, that restlessness inside him didn''t fully disappear even now. He hesitated whether he should express his doubt so that Major Guderian could make a judgment on whether there was truly a problem somewhere.


    Lowering his body to the map, Major Guderian instantly noticed Zhang Tie''s shadow of hesitation. Raising his head, he lifted his golden-rimmed glasses with his hand.


    "Second Lieutenant Zhang Tie, do you have anything to add?"


    "Major, I just feel something is not right today!" After taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie decided to pour out what he wanted to say. "Although we''ve been very successful in today''s ambush, for some reason, from the start of the ambush to the present, I still feel that something was not right!"


    "Something not right?" Major Guderian looked a bit solemn while the surrounding military officers became quiet too. They all stared at Zhang Tie. "Can you describe it more clearly? What is not right?"


    "I cannot say it clearly, but I keep feeling that there''s a problem somewhere. But I don''t know where. After the ambush to coming back here, I felt someone was following us. Therefore, I especially led my troop to take two circuitous routes and set a pocket trick. However after more than an hour, I still couldn''t find that hidden person!" Seeing the amazed expressions of the surrounding military officers, Zhang Tie could only continue, "Previously, when I encountered dangers, I would also have this kind of sense of restlessness!"


    If it was not Zhang Tie''s excellent military exploits and braveness in battles, someone at present would have definitely bursted out laughing. However, because it was Second Lieutenant Mummy who said this, nobody laughed.


    Major Guderian even revealed a thoughtful expression. He carefully gazed at the map on the table. Boss Reinhardt also walked over to take a better look at the map together with Major Guderian.


    "Is there any problem?"


    "Everything looks normal, there are also no problems with the encounters and ambushes!" Major Guderian frowned. "However, as is mentioned in the school motto of the Imperial Ground Force College, when you cannot find problems on the battlefield, that is the true problem! After Zhang Tie''s warning, I also feel somewhat uneasy, as if something is not right..."


    Major Guderian pointed at the places with special marks on the map with his finger. "These battles broke out four days ago, these three days ago, these yesterday, these today. These days, our troops would fight Sun Dynasty''s troops four or five times a day, six at most. This frequency remains unchanged. That''s the problem! If you''re the commander of Sun Dynasty''s troops, through previous days'' fights, you must have already confirmed that there is a troop of the Iron-Blood Camp in this zone, what will you do then?"


    "Temporarily shrink their manpower in this zone. Then, they will find another chance to annihilate us!" Reinhardt answered calmly.


    "That''s it; however, the zone where we operate hasn''t changed since the beginning. That''s the problem!"


    "But..."


    The moment a military officer standing nearby opened his mouth, he was interrupted by Major Guderian.


    "The survival of Iron-Blood Camp should not be established on the presumption that our enemies are idiots!" he explained solemnly.


    Hearing his words, everyone went quiet.


    Reinhardt then frowned. "Has any troop found that they were being tailed on the way back today?"


    "No, we''re all very careful. Since we''re veterans, we''ve set some tricks on the way back, but did not find any trickery!" Guderian shook his head. "I''m really confused by this. If our opponents have some traps or plans, they have to firstl confirm our location. However, they don''t seem anxious. Since no spy airships have flown above us these days, the location of the wolf den should not have been exposed!"


    "Have all the troops returned today?"


    "Still missing two!"


    After a consideration, Reinhardt gave a decisive order, "When the two troops come back, we''ll transfer tomorrow early morning!"


    Saying this, Reinhardt pointed at a place on the map closer on the north side of this mountainous area. Major Guderian examined the place and nodded.


    After the decision was made, everyone left the command tent. On their way out, many military officers glanced at Zhang Tie aimlessly. Before leaving the tent, First Lieutenant Freo even patted his shoulders.


    When Zhang Tie left, he still felt a bit worried. If he was excessively meticulous this time, he would have made a fuss. Then, he would be a real laughing stock.


    After Zhang Tie left the tent, First Lieutenant Liu Xing walked towards him and comforted him.


    "No need to be that tense. Each major decision of the Iron-Blood Camp has its own reasons. Without genuine consideration, Major Guderian and Boss Reinhardt would not decide to have us transfer just because of a military officer''s baseless concern. As we are isolated here, we should always be meticulous!"


    Zhang Tie smiled at him.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie came back to his own tent, many soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp were attempting to pull that "Man''s Certificate" from the empty land outside Zhang Tie''s tent. Although that huge sword was nominally his weapon, most of the time these days it was more like a public one.


    When Zhang Tie didn''t use it, he would insert it into the soil. Anyone then could have a go at it. Actually, that "Man''s Certificate" had gradually become a standard for the common soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp to test their own ability. It was also like a big toy. Many guys who were free after supper would have a try here. Because of this huge sword, many people practiced harder than usual. Even those dandyish ruffians didn''t want to be called women. Out of basic self-respect, they still cared it very much.


    Before Zhang Tie came back, many guys were shouting loudly beside the huge sword. However, seeing him returning and entering his own tent for rest, all the guys lowered their voices in case of bothering him.


    After entering his tent, Zhang Tie ate a piece of dried meat and had some water. After that, he started today''s cultivation. Even in war-time, once he had free time, Zhang Tie would never lessen his requirements for personal cultivation. Cultivation time was like women''s cleavage, as long as you squeezed it, you would have it...


    He polished his burning point first before practicing the visualization of two abacuses and carrying out four different arithmetic operations on the two abacuses at the same time. After that, Zhang Tie activated a Trouble-Reappearance Fruit and entered the situation within where the terrain was almost like that of the present mountainous area.


    Waving his huge sword, he started to fight wild wolves, huge wolves, and various other wild beasts of different quantities all over the mountain. Through the fights, the wild beasts seem to also be becoming increasingly more tricky. As Zhang Tie grew, those wild beasts seemed to also be growing and becoming smarter.


    After realizing that it would consume a lot of Zhang Tie''s strength to wave the huge sword, those wild beasts constantly changed their tactics against him these days. They didn''t rush forward at the same time, instead, they started to attempt various attacks with differing quantities and combinations.


    In the end, those wild beasts found the most effective tactic¡ªafter surrounding Zhang Tie, they would keep a distance from him. Once that was done, they would attack Zhang Tie from three different directions at the same time in groups of three.


    They kept attacking Zhang Tie in turns ceaselessly, and here started his miserable days in the trouble-reappearance situation...


    Each time, Zhang Tie would run through the mountainous land with his huge sword as he fought those wild beasts. He attempted to break through the wild wolves'' siege. However, each time, Zhang Tie would be so exhausted that he could not even raise his hand in the end. As a result, he would be torn into pieces by the rest of the wild wolves and huge wolves.


    Each time in the trouble-reappearance situation, Zhang Tie would exert his fighting capability to the utmost and break through his fighting limit, as well as experiencing various painful ways to be killed. He would constantly analyse and improve himself by finding his own problems and shortcomings, and then would continue to fight and die in the trouble-reappearance situations...


    Nobody in the Iron-Blood Camp knew what Zhang Tie was experiencing when he was alone everyday. Actually, by the time Zhang Tie won the reputation of "One-Hundred People Down", he had died almost 100 times in the mysterious space.


    Each day, Zhang Tie would learn and improve through "death".


    ...


    After Zhang Tie finished his cultivation, almost six hours had passed. He then walked out of his tent. At this time, numerous stars were hanging in the sky while the two moons were as crystal as water.


    Zhang Tie asked a person nearby and learned that the other two troops had already come back several hours ago. He then became reassured.


    At this hour, many people had already fallen asleep.


    Due to still being restless, after going to the toilet, Zhang Tie especially went around the wolf den of the Iron-Blood Camp. Finding no problem with the sentry posts, he returned to his tent and slept in armor.


    According to the rules of the Iron-Blood Camp, when camping outdoors, everybody should wear armor. In the beginning, he didn''t feel comfortable sleeping in armor, so he could only lie on the side. But, several days later, he started to get used to it.


    ''The Iron-Blood Camp will move tomorrow morning; maybe I''m a bit too tense today,'' Zhang Tie thought before falling asleep. ''It''s just a warning, I prefer to be mocked than seeing people getting killed!''


    Zhang Tie soon fell asleep.


    ...


    At midnight, Zhang Tie suddenly woke up from a sweet dream, his heart pounding heavily. This time, it was like that time when he had met Huck and Snade for the first time.


    Zhang Tie felt that his mouth was dry. After drinking a mouthful of water, he put on his battle boots and picked up his "Woman''s Excellence". Carrying his container of javelins, he left his tent. As it was just an instinctive movement to bring his container of javelins, Zhang Tie didn''t find anything wrong with it.


    At this moment, the encampment of the Iron-Blood Camp was in an absolute quiet state. Everybody was in deep sleep besides the lone chirping insects and weirdly shaped rocks under the starlight.


    Because his restlessness was growing sharper, Zhang Tie decided to have a peep at the hidden sentry posts on the borders of the encampment.


    The nearest hidden sentry post was only 70 m away from the border of the encampment, which was the shortest safe distance.


    As it was midnight, Zhang Tie''s footsteps were very light. He didn''t want to shock anyone else. After arriving behind a lava zone in this karst terrain, Zhang Tie froze when he caught sight of the hidden sentry post.


    The sentry post was covered in a weird lilac fog. It looked really weird under the starlight, but what caught Zhang Tie''s attention were the numerous silhouettes walking in that fog. They came from all directions like ghosts and quietly moved towards the encampment of the Iron-Blood Camp.


    Since the hidden sentry hadn''t given any warning, obviously he had been killed.


    In the end, what woke everybody in the encampment was the sonic boom caused by Zhang Tie''s javelin that flashed so fast through the air.


    In a wink, four growls had already made the whole Iron-Blood Camp boil up.


    Soon after that, the military officers who were the first to rush out of their tents with weapons in hands heard Zhang Tie''s furious growls like thunders from afar.

 214 Black Feathers Regimen

    Chapter 214: Black Feathers Regiment


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie moved so fast that his following three javelins flew closely after the first one.


    Because it was too urgent, even Zhang Tie had not noticed the shrill sonic booms until his javelins hit the targets.


    At this time, he didn''t have time to choose his targets at all. Soon after he pierced the front four people, the fifth person had already rushed in front of him like a ghost.


    The enemy moved fast, very fast.


    The shrill booms of javelins not only rose the whole Iron-Blood Camp, but also stimulated all the ghost-like figures to roll towards the encampment of the Iron-Blood Camp like wildfire in the darkness.


    "Kill them all!"


    After a loud scream, Zhang Tie gazed at that figure before him and slashed at it with his sword in his right hand. Noticing the attack, that person pulled out his weapon to block the sword. The moment Zhang Tie broke his opponent''s weapon, he immediately slashed that person into two, causing a fresh blood to splash all over him.


    At this time, another person rushed towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then struck directly through his heart with his sword.


    For an instant, Zhang Tie thought that person had been killed,however, he could have never imagined that the man would still rush towards him. Even though was pierced by Zhang Tie''s sword, he still slashed towards Zhang Tie''s head with his saber, his expression grim.


    That person''s whole head was covered by a skeleton-like helmet, only exposing a pair of bloody and crazy eyes.


    If Zhang Tie had not experienced numerous deaths in trouble-reappearance situations, which had given him strong fighting skills and great mental capability, he might have died.


    It was really Zhang Tie''s first time seeing a guy who could continue slashing towards your head even when he had his heart pierced.


    Seriously scared, Zhang Tie used a cannon kick, a movement from the Iron-Blood Fist skill, and kicked at that person''s lower abdomen, sending him flying backward. As a result, several more people were knocked down, though at the same time, that saber went close past Zhang Tie''s nose.


    He immediately oozed cold sweat.


    In a split second, Battalion Commander Reinhardt with his flaring battle-qi totem rushed over. Passing by, Reinhardt punched the front guys into pieces and they flew backwards.


    "This is Black Feathers Regiment of the Brilliant Feathers Army. Take care. Only by chopping off their heads and destroying their central nerve system on their spines can we kill them..." Battalion Commander Reinhardt shouted loudly, his voice drifting through the whole battlefield.


    Black Feathers Regiment? F*ck! Zhang Tie had also heard about these monsters of the Sun Dynasty. They were also the brand troop of Sun Dynasty. However, unlike the Iron-Blood Camp, they mainly cultivated themselves based on a secret medicine which could make them into killing machines which forgot pain and death. These people became very terrifying on the battlefield.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that the Brilliant Feathers Army would use Black Feathers Regiment to deal with the Iron-Blood Camp. He was also still confused about how these people had found the wolf den in the first place.


    Seeing at least 3000 soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment rushing towards him from all directions, Zhang Tie felt somewhat hopeless inside. His enemies were war golems who only glared through the slits in their helmets with their bloody eyes and killed others quietly. Even if when they rushed forward many were killed, they would not make a sound.


    The eyes of these soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment looked crazy. Additionally, their armor was also terrifying. Unlike common armor, theirs was totally skeleton-like, only protecting their heads, necks, spines and other major joints and bones, not caring about the rest of their bodies being exposed. They straight up ignored the penetrative and fragmentary harms which common soldiers were afraid of most.


    The function of the skeletal armor was to protect the completeness of their physical structure and increase the difficulty in breaking their key joints and the central nervous system of their spines. For these soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment who didn''t know what pain was, as long as their physical structures were complete, they could continue to kill people.


    After Zhang Tie chopped off some more enemy heads, the other military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp finally arrived and held back those monsters who had almost broken into the encampment of the Iron-Blood Camp.


    After that, the rest of the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp arrived too. A raid then became a field operation under the stars'' light.


    It was at least twice more difficult to kill a soldier of Black Feathers Regiment than killing a common one. Thus, those solders of Black Feathers Regiment who didn''t fear pain or death were even with the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp.


    The moment both parties clashed, the Iron-Blood Camp suffered casualties. Black Feathers Regiment was an existence which was not weaker than the Iron-Blood Camp, and even more terrifying than the latter on the battlefield. They didn''t fear pain or death at all, and had no instinctive hesitation of killing enemies at the cost of their own lives. In the Iron-Blood Camp though, even the tough guys would hesitate at this critical moment.


    This was the most brutal battle since Zhang Tie had joined the Iron-Blood Camp. He didn''t even know how many people he had killed. He only knew that the soldiers in skeleton-like armor just endlessly poured in from all directions.


    The easiest way to kill the monsters was to directly chop off their heads. However, after chopping their heads, Zhang Tie was covered all over with their blood like a blood man that was scooped out of the blood pond.


    Zhang Tie had gained some non-lethal wounds and felt like he was in a mire composed of those terrifying soldiers.


    Compared to Iron-Blood Camp, there were so many opponents...


    Only after 20 minutes'' fight, Zhang Tie''s "Woman''s Excellence" had become a corncob gnawed on by mice as a lot of scratches and nicks had already been made on it. This was because before he could chop off the heads, he had to break the skeletal helmet on the soldiers'' heads that even covered their necks. Although "Woman''s Excellence" was elegant, facing numerous face-to-face slashes, it finally revealed its fragile side.


    Finally, after chopping off half of a soldier''s neck, the "Woman''s Excellence" broke into two and became useless.


    With half of his neck still linked to his shoulder, that guy was slashed towards Zhang Tie with his saber.


    Zhang Tie held it back using the remainder of his sword. After that, he grabbed that person''s wrist. With a sound of ''kacha'', he broke it, then grabbed hat man''s head between his hands and forcefully twisted the rest half of the neck.


    Other soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment darted towards Zhang Tie. At the same time, First Lieutenant Freo killed all the way and drew close to Zhang Tie. He swept his huge axe towards the soldiers. As a result, each soldier was slashed into two and sent flying backwards.


    "Hahaha, your woman will not able to deal with these guys. Go bring your man here..."


    ''F*ck, what do you mean by my man?''


    Although knowing that that bad, tough man was referring to "Man''s Certificate", Zhang Tie still felt dejected. Seeing the bald tough man weave his huge axe, sweeping it past the most populated place of Black Feathers Regiment, Zhang Tie stomped and ran towards his own tent.


    Only after ten more seconds, Zhang Tie, with "Man''s Certificate" in his hand, killed his way back. The dejected mood inside him then turned into the howling killing intent of his sword.


    To deal with these soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment in metal skeletal armor, "Man''s Certificate" seemed to be the best weapon.


    At this time, Battalion Commander Reinhardt had already broken through the encirclement of the soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment. Like a flaring lion''s swipes, each of his moves would lead to flaming blood rain and fragmented corpses.


    After glancing at Reinhardt who was deep in the mire, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth and immediately threw his remaining javelins in that direction, striking through the necks of some monsters surrounding Reinhardt. When the sharp heads of the javelins penetrated through their necks, they also broke a big hole in their cervical spines.


    After clearing the javelins in the container, Zhang Tie took down the container. After discharging his load, he burst out into a tiger-like howl. Waving his huge sword with two hands, he killed all the way to the place with the most enemies where Battalion Commander Reinhardt was in.


    The Ring of Energy on his finger had long played its role as Zhang Tie''s physical strength was recovering faster than ever. Although the recovering speed only increased by 4%, on this battlefield, it could obviously improve Zhang Tie''s strength.


    With the two meter long "Man''s Certificate", Zhang Tie weaved through the enemies and quickly cleared an empty land. This time, he didn''t spare any effort. Elegance did not matter here, only by chopping them in two would he kill them. Without any calculations like before, Zhang Tie forcefully slashed with his huge sword everywhere. These surrounding dauntless guys were much easier than cunning wild wolves.


    Holding the huge sword, Zhang Tie''s lethality to those soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment was really unrivaled. With a casual sweep, he would immediately clear an area of 7-10 square meters, causing broken limbs to fly everywhere.


    Zhang Tie then became the most terrifying flesh grinder on the battlefield.


    Seeing their Second Lieutenant Mummy performing as bravely as before, the morale of the Iron-Blood Camp rose up again.


    Zhang Tie killed on the way towards the guys that were surrounding Battalion Commander Reinhardt like a road roller.


    Seeing Zhang Tie, Reinhardt burst out laughing loudly. Back to back, they heavily clashed against the soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment.


    However, this time, many opponents rushed towards their encampment, the amount of which was 2-3 times greater than the manpower of the entire Iron-Blood Camp. Although Zhang Tie and Reinhardt could easily deal with those surrounding them, the common soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp would suffer a great difficulty dealing with them. And if the common soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp couldn''t last, no matter how dauntless Reinhardt and Zhang Tie were, they would also finally be overrun by the countless soldiers of the Black Feathers Regiment who didn''t fear pain and death at all.


    "It seems that the marshals of the Brilliant Feathers hate us very much. They must have been outraged that we''ve quartered their bastard Muling. The Black Feathers Regiment rarely dispatches so many of theirs troops at once..."


    As he constantly punched the monsters into pieces, Battalion Commander Reinhardt could even talk with Zhang Tie.


    Sweat dripping down his forehead, Zhang Tie almost rolled up his eyes.


    ''No crap, judging from the number of opponents which is several times greater than that of Iron-Blood Camp''s, you can clearly see that they''re definitely determined to clear the Iron-Blood Camp this time, for Black Feathers troops are not as cheap as white cabbage which is always available. ''


    They could only blame Iron-Blood Camp for being too hateful.


    Zhang Tie just slashed without saying anything.


    Several seconds later, hearing no reply, Battalion Commander Reinhardt finally revealed his fox'' tail [1]. "Look at your 7 o''clock, 150 m away, there are some people..."


    After slashing some opponents into two, Zhang Tie hurriedly exchanged locations with Reinhardt. After that, he cast a glance at that place mentioned previously. Behind a great density of soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment, under the looming stars'' light, Zhang Tie could faintly see some people in different clothes on a hillside. They seemed to be the military officers of Black Feathers Regiment. Among them was an old man in a weird robe whose hair had grizzled. He seemed to be blowing on a weird item in his mouth while watching over the battlefield.


    It was too weird. That person seemed to be blowing a musical instrument, yet making no sound. All the soldiers of Black Feather Regiment including that weird guy were so quiet, revealing their terrifying madness and weirdness.


    "I see!"


    Zhang Tie brandished his huge sword and slashed two monsters into pieces again.


    "Can you f*ck that old man in the middle with your javelin?" Reinhardt asked.


    "It''s too far. If I was 50 m closer, it''d be possible!" Zhang Tie kept slashing as he exchanged opinions with Reinhardt. "In this case, I think we''re unable to move 50 m closer in that direction."


    After being quiet for a while, Reinhardt said, "What if I can send you 50 m away from here?"


    "Then I can kill that old guy! But how would you send me there?"


    "I''ll throw you there! Though after throwing your javelin, you''ll be surrounded by the common soldiers, and even some of the high-level fighters of the Black Feathers Regiment and might lose your life! So I won''t force you to do that. You make the decision..."


    Zhang Tie became quiet.


    "Will the Black Feathers Regiment retreat after I kill that old guy?"


    "They will. All the soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment are commanded by that man. The weird musical instrument that man is blowing is to command these soldiers. As it is of a very high frequency, we cannot hear it. However, these soldiers who had been changed by some secret medicine can hear it. They''re fighting according to the sound from the musical instrument!"


    "What if the soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment don''t retreat tonight?"


    "Then everybody in the Iron-Blood Camp will die here before dawn. They obviously outnumber us. Some brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp are barely holding on already. The Brilliant Feathers Army is determined to kill us all!"


    They kept talking with each other in low voices while they fought.


    Zhang Tie then struggled inside for as long as a minute. Being surrounded, they didn''t exchanged any more words...


    "I will do it!"


    Zhang Tie was clear that after saying this, he had completely given up on his own life.


    He had to do that.


    The brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp once fought for him in the Blackhot City, therefore, he should not retreat now. If he retreated, nobody in the entire Iron-Blood Camp would survive. To kill that man was the only chance to help the Iron-Blood Camp survive this night.


    "Fine!"


    "I''ve got many women in Blackhot City. If I die and the brothers of Iron-Blood Camp survive, tell them to protect my women when they return to the Blackhot City!"


    "Fine!"


    Reinhardt said nothing but two "Fine".


    After quickly telling his will, Zhang Tie didn''t speak any more but gritted his teeth to fight... After ten more seconds, he grabbed a javelin that he had thrown out into a soldier of Black Feathers Regiment. After a horizontal sweep, he broke another soldier''s body with his blade.


    The moment he dropped his huge sword, Zhang Tie held the javelin in his right hand which he usually used for throwing. With a tiger-like howl, Reinhardt punched with a brilliant fighting move, cracking down a great amount of surrounding soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment. After that, he seized Zhang Tie''s waist band and threw him out like throwing a javelin.


    Nobody could imagine what trick the two surrounded by many soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment thought to play.


    Zhang Tie was a javelin thrown out by Reinhardt while he himself also held a javelin. In a blink of an eye, he had already flown over 50 m while the guys in the distance were frozen from shock and amazement.


    Zhang Tie locked that cone-shaped funnel onto the old guy in weird robe standing in the middle and threw his javelin while still in the air.


    This time, the distance of over 100 m was like it didn''t exist at all. The moment the javelin left Zhang Tie''s hand, it had already penetrated that guy''s chest, followed by a shrill sonic boom.


    In disbelief, the old guy lowered his head to stare at that wide bloody hole in his chest. The flute-like thing dropped from his mouth. Soon after that, he fell to the ground...


    Right then, all the soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment became still for a short while...


    "Kill him!"


    Some of the people standing on that hillside who had so far looked calm furiously growled, their voices drifting through the whole battlefield. The icy blue battle-qi totems on them immediately burst out...


    Zhang Tie only had time to protect his head before smashing down against a great amount of soldiers with a loud boom. After rolling dozens of circles and striking down many people, he became dizzy.


    At this moment, he remembered that feeling of when he had jumped into that bottomless cave of gold-eating boas...


    The whole battlefield froze for a short while before heating up once again...


    All the military officers of the Brilliant Feathers Army who had looked calm, all the surrounding soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp and Battalion Commander Reinhardt all surged towards Zhang Tie at the same time...


    ''F*ck!''


    Zhang Tie realized that the real moment where his life would be on the line would soon arrive. Compared to the present, the bloody fight just now was totally a warm-up campaign...


    At this time, lying on the ground, Zhang Tie had no other weapons except for a dagger. However, a dagger seemed useless when fighting the soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment.


    At the sight of some ankles of some soldiers of the Black Feathers Regiment, Zhang Tie blindly captured two of them of two different people one in each hand. Not caring whether the two were dead or not, he just swung them like sticks, smashing the surrounding people away.


    Zhang Tie''s braveness shocked the entire battlefield once again...


    At the same time, a formation of icy blue battle qi and more than ten weapons were thrusting towards him...


    [1] In ancient Chinese fantasies, fox could turn into human beings except for its tail. The fox'' tail here is used to depict that Battalion Commander Reinhardt is very smart, able to find the people behind this raid.

 215 Heavily Wounded

    Chapter 215: Heavily Wounded


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    When Zhang Tie recovered his awareness, he recalled the last scene in his mind¡ªa formation of icy blue battle qi burst out before him. Soon after that, he was hit by people. His armor was broken to pieces. After spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood and almost losing his awareness, Zhang Tie faintly heard Reinhardt''s furious growls. After seeing mountain-like sabers and spears thrusting towards him, Zhang Tie was in pitch darkness...


    ''Am I dead?


    How are my brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp?


    In the following minutes after he killed that old guy of Black Feathers Regiment, Zhang Tie clearly felt that the undying monsters were becoming restless. Their attacks were not as sharp as before.


    ''My brothers should be safe!''


    After he recovered his awareness for the first time, Zhang Tie only faintly recalled what had happened that night. He then felt very fatigued. His body seemed to disappear as he was dragged into a bottomless pitch-black mire. Zhang Tie gradually lost all his senses.


    ...


    When he came to the second time, he felt that his body had been foisted into a can. It was heavy and squeezed tight, as if there was no space around him. His body also felt like it was inserted with numerous pipes. Many people were beside him while the sound of leather shoes landing against the floor constantly drifted into his ears.


    Someone was talking nearby...


    "Miracle? Don''t tell me miracle or not. Doc, I want him alive. He''s the most excellent military officer of the Norman Empire and the hero of the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division... Here''s an advanced recovery medicament that I collected personally. You have to make him survive this regardless of any price. This is my order. Am I clear..."


    "Yes, sir, general..."


    The sound of leather shoes on the floor gradually faded away. The deep darkness attacked him once again. Zhang Tie tried his best to get rid of the oncoming darkness, but after only several seconds, his awareness sunk into the mire once again.


    ...


    When he floated up above the mire for the third time, Zhang Tie felt as if he was set free from the can. However, he still didn''t have any sense of his surroundings.


    It was very quiet wherever he was. He wanted to open his eyes, but failed. After trying for quite a while, he didn''t see any light at all. Finally, after endless effort, a part of his hand moved, and soon after that, he heard a scream of a woman with a great pair of lungs...


    "His finger moved, his finger moved!"


    Her scream was filled with great surprise. As she repeated the words, the woman ran off.


    Only after ten seconds, many sounds of leather boots on the floor poured in to the room once again.


    "Blood pressure is starting to rise again..."


    "Pulse has already recovered to about 40 times a minute and is becoming more and more powerful..."


    "Battle God bless, Second Lieutenant Javelin finally lives!"


    "Thank god..."


    Someone started to weep from delight. Everybody in the room suddenly let out relief filled breaths, immediately turning the room into a huge bellows. The huge bellows seemed have been pulled by someone as the entire room sounded "Hu"...


    "Hurry up, go report to General Schwartz. We can''t wait to announce this. The bravest military officer of the Iron-Horn Army has been saved by us..."


    This voice rang with faint relief.


    This time, Zhang Tie didn''t sink into the mire any more, instead, he floated above like duckweed. After a while, he felt a strong desire to sleep as weakness took over him. Therefore, he fell asleep.


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know for how long he''d slept, but when he woke up again, the body that had disappeared for many days returned to him once again along with the pain that had sunk into his marrow.


    Sometimes, pain was also a gift as it could at least tell you that you were still alive.


    Previously, Zhang Tie had experienced this pain many times in the trouble-reappearance situations. It was similar to the feeling of being torn to pieces by numerous wild wolves after you failed during the fight.


    Now, Zhang Tie felt like he once again was torn to shreds.


    Because of this extreme pain, he couldn''t help but groan.


    Then, more sounds of leather boots hitting the floor poured in.


    In other words, even more people came.


    "He recovered his senses, that''s a good sign..."


    "All indicators of his body begun to rise..."


    "I suggest to inject micro SPC medicament in him..."


    "I agree!"


    Some seconds later, Zhang Tie''s arm became cold, as if inserted with a needle. After that, he felt a cold sense gradually spread all through his body. His all-consuming pain was immediately relieved.


    So Zhang Tie opened his eyes and saw a great many people in white coats in the room with solemn expressions. Almost everybody was staring at him with concerned eyes.


    To tell the truth, it was Zhang Tie''s first time being watched by so many stranger''s concerned eyes ever since he was born.


    A doctor was giving Zhang Tie''s arm an injection. When he raised his head and saw Zhang Tie''s opening eyes, his hand quivered, almost dropping the needle to the ground.


    It was a bit disordered in the ward. All the doctors became excited. However, nobody talked. They only exchanged excitement filed glances.


    Only a fifty-odd man standing in front of Zhang Tie''s bed took a deep breath before carefully lowering his body. He then asked in a quiet voice, "Can you talk, how do you feel?"


    "Than...thanks!" Zhang Tie forcefully poured out one word.


    He knew that if it was not for these doctors, he would''ve been dead by now. Therefore, the first word he wanted to say when he woke up was a sincere thanks to everybody in the ward.


    After straightening, the doctor took a deep breath and turned back, telling the other colleagues in the ward, "Thanks, he said thanks to all of us!"


    All the doctors and nurses in the ward revealed smiles.


    Zhang Tie continued to move his lips and poured out the second sentence. "How... how about the bro... brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp... how... how many of them survived?"


    As Zhang Tie had recovered a bit, his words were heard by everybody in the ward.


    "562 people of the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division came back. They are in recuperation now..."


    Hearing this reply, Zhang Tie''s eyes immediately became wet. Another meaning of this data was that 657 people of the Iron-Blood Camp had died that night. Most of the soldiers who came back would probably also be wounded. Such an iron-like troop was almost disabled in that night''s bloody fight. Numerous young lives were torn to pieces and fell to the ground along with iron filings. This was the cruelty of war.


    Because he did not know how many familiar faces he would no longer be able to see again, Zhang Tie''s eyes became wet. He just cried to himself, without making any sound.


    Hero''s tears could move people most. Sincere emotion could move one''s heart most. Therefore, at this moment, many pairs of eyes of the doctors and nurses became red too.


    ...


    On the first afternoon after waking up, Zhang Tie learned a lot of what had happened during the period of his unconsciousness. Many things were very unexpected to him.


    The first was that since he was carried back from the battlefield, he was in a coma for two weeks. Today, he had opened his eyes for the first time.


    The second unexpected thing was that during the period, Second Lieutenant Javelin Zhang Tie became well known in the Seventh Regiment of the Iron-Horn Army under the affiliation of Thirty Ninth Division. Even Shwartz, the regimental commander and major general knew of what had happened to him.


    During the period Zhang Tie was in a coma, Major General Shwartz had even come here to visit him. In order to cure his wound, Major General Shwartz had also brought a private advanced recovery medicament for him.


    The third unexpected thing was that he didn''t even have a chance to visit Kalur City before he was forced to leave the frontier battle zone. The hospital he lied in was situated in Blapei, a small city over 120 km behind the battle zone of Kalur. Blapei was previously one of the seventeen cities of the Andaman Alliance, known for its grains and black beer.


    The Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division was resting and reorganizing in a battle castle in the frontier. Due to his heavy wounds, there was little chance for him to return to the Iron-Blood Camp any more.


    As to his wounds, although the doctors didn''t tell Zhang Tie anything about them, he could feel that he was in a very poor condition. Although he had woken up, he still could not move. With a catheter on his p*nis, he felt very uncomfortable. Especially since his hand was still injected with some medical fluid coming down from bottles hanging on a rack. The fluid just entered his body and left through his p*nis, making Zhang Tie feel like a rusted and abandoned part that was being cleaned by engine oil.


    Everyday, a young nurse who was responsible for taking care of Zhang Tie would help him turn onto one side so as to massage him. She said this could help dredge up the blood veins in Zhang Tie''s back.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time enjoying a massage since he was born. However, Zhang Tie didn''t feel happy at all, instead, the premonition that there was a big problem with his health became stronger than before.


    Zhang Tie was very dejected. The people who could bounce and jump wildly everywhere and could run even faster than wild wolves were most afraid of being sick and just lying on the bed.


    The only thing that made Zhang Tie comfortable was that although he was wounded, he could still access that marvelous arched door of the Castle of Black Iron in his mind. Additionally, that golden swirl of spiritual energy in his mind was gradually recovering to its original appearance.


    Five days after Zhang Tie woke up, the catheter on his p*nis was finally taken off. At this time, although he still had no strength, he could already support himself against the wall with his hands and get off the bed to take a walk.


    On the same day, Zhang Tie finally learn about his condition. It was not a doctor who told him, but a major adjutant of Major General Shwartz who had come here specifically to visit him.


    The major adjutant of Major General Shwartz brought an Iron-Blood medal for Zhang Tie, an order of commendation promoting him to the rank of first lieutenant, and news that Zhang Tie was most afraid of hearing.


    "I''m sorry, First Lieutenant Zhang Tie, by the diagnosis of the best doctors in our army, you will most likely be unable to return to the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division anymore. General Shwartz appreciates your dauntless performance on the battlefield very much. As you cannot go to the battlefield anymore due to your health problems, major general has dispatched you to the logistics department of our army and arranged an easy clerical work for you. After your wounds recover, you can go report to the logistics department of the Iron-Horn Army in Blapei."


    Zhang Tie''s face turned totally pale.

 216 The Alleged Life or Death

    Chapter 216: The Alleged Life or Death


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Anyone else with Zhang Tie''s wounds would have been long dead. By the time Zhang Tie was hurriedly sent to a field hospital on the frontier by military officers and common soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp, he had 186 wounds and 47 fractures. After being hit by the LV 8 sky battle qi, his guts were all heavily wounded. Even the amount of blood he lost on the way would have brought two lives to an end.


    The moment a doctor of the field hospital caught sight of Zhang Tie, he didn''t even give him a second glance. After single one at his thoroughly broken imperial Sharp-Arrow Type-B light lieutenant armor, he had just shaken his head and told those military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp who had sent Zhang Tie here, "This person is dead, no need to save him any more."


    Finally, once a great amount of field doctors were threatened by the military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp with sabers to their necks they started working on Zhang Tie.


    It was a miracle that he was still not dead. After that, he was transferred to Blapei behind the frontier.


    However, there were no more miracles for Zhang Tie. A broken earthen jar would never regain its original look, even if it was repaired. Would be unable to hold the items that it had once contained.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s body was like that earthen jar which was fixed. His bones, guts, muscles, channels, and veins had suffered irreversible wounds. In the future, even though no scars were left on his skin, Zhang Tie would never be the same as before, as that invisible damage not only completely destroyed his cultivation but also would left a lot of painful aftermath.


    Zhang Tie''s attending doctor told him that he might feel very uncomfortable and greatly pained in many places when the season changed in the future. He told him to pay more attention to his health. When he grew older, after 40 years old, these aftermath would show even more.


    ''Am I good for nothing now?''


    It was actually very easy to test this conclusion. When Zhang Tie could walk, he attempted to sense and polish his burning points.


    His head and p*nis were not heavily wounded while the golden swirl of spiritual energy still existed in his mind, the fact which made Zhang Tie feel very lucky.


    The Shrine burning point and the three burning points on his spine were as if they had not been ignited at all. Zhang Tie couldn''t feel them at all. When he forcefully moved his spiritual energy down towards the burning points in his body, that wisp of spiritual energy dispersed in his body the moment it left his head. No matter how many times he tried, compared to the past when he polished his burning points, this sense of dispersing spiritual energy made him so uncomfortable that he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.


    In the past, Zhang Tie felt like his body was a water pipe. The spiritual energy was the water flowing in the water pipe while the burning points were the land to be irrigated. During cultivation, you needed to introduce the water to the burning points through the water pipe. However, this time, Zhang Tie felt that his body was not a water pipe any more, but instead a bamboo-woven basket. It was covered with holes. No matter how much water was poured into this basket, all of it would leak out. You could not use a bamboo basket to irrigate the land at all.


    For several days, Zhang Tie dried all of his spiritual energy, but failed to turn the bamboo basket into a water pipe. He could not bring even a drop of his spiritual energy onto his burning points.


    He gradually lost hope. The huge and proud spiritual energy in his mind could only be used to practice "Mental Arithmetic by Abacus" now. Even after activating the Trouble-Reappearance Fruits, he was give an alert that his health couldn''t bear the spiritual impact from Trouble-Reappearance Fruits. Therefore, they could not be used either.


    Zhang Tie felt that he had suddenly become a penniless beggar from a billionaire. If his spiritual energy could not even be used to ignite his Shrine burning point, what could it be used for?


    ''Is there truly no other way?'' Zhang Tie asked himself.


    ''No, it''s not the moment to despair yet.''


    A bright light flashed across his mind. He still had the Castle of Black Iron and that marvelous small tree.


    At this time, the two items were his final hope that kept him from collapsing spiritually.


    After many experts'' diagnosis, the hospital''s conclusion was that Zhang Tie could only be a commoner who had not ignited Shrine burning points at all. In this age, this conclusion meant that Zhang Tie was a disabled man from then on.


    A commoner who hadn''t even ignited his Shrine burning point. He would not be able to cultivate, fight, or run as fast as wind with endless strength, neither would he be able to wave that "Man''s Certificate" and "Woman''s Excellence". He could not even do heavy labor work. Any LV 2 warrior could easily take care of ten Zhang Tie. In the Iron-Horn Army, to tell the truth, Zhang Tie was not even qualified to be the lowest-ranked cannon fodder.


    Therefore, Major General Shwartz dispatched Zhang Tie into the Logistics Department and arranged a civilian''s post for him.


    On the fifth day since Zhang Tie could use a crutch to walk, he was out walking in the garden supported by a nurse. When he returned to his ward, he saw Reinhardt, Guderian, Liu Xing, and some other military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp waiting for him.


    "Boss!"


    At the sight of them, Zhang Tie became very excited.


    Seeing Zhang Tie coming back, all the military officers waiting in the ward revealed a smile and surrounded Zhang Tie.


    "How''s your body?" Reinhardt patted Zhang Tie''s shoulders with a wisp of tiredness at his eye corners.


    "Not bad, I can walk now." Saying this, Zhang Tie looked around the military officers in the ward as he failed to see some familiar faces, especially that generous bald tough guy. Zhang Tie''s heart suddenly pounded, "Where''s First Lieutenant Freo?"


    After asking this, Zhang Tie cast a glance over them and noticed that their smiles lacked the generosity and passion that they always had in the usual time. The moment they heard the name Freo, everybody''s smile faded away.


    "Freo sacrificed that night!" Major Guderian answered Zhang Tie in a low voice.


    "How could be that?" Zhang Tie disbelieved that. How could that first lieutenant waving his double axes as fierce as a tiger sacrificed? Zhang Tie remembered that after he threw out his last spear to kill the flute-blowing guy, he could still hear Freo''s tiger-like howls on the battle field. At that moment, the Black Feathers Regiment had already present a chaotic situation. As Freo was alive before this chaos, how could he died after that.


    "After you were heavily wounded and fell on the ground, in order to save you, First Lieutenant Freo rushed into the encirclement of Black Feathers Regiment. Because our enemy greatly outnumbered us and Freo wanted to protect you, when he picked you up and prepared to retreat, he held back many attacks for you..." In a hoarse voice, First Lieutenant told Zhang Tie about what happened then. At that moment, Reinhardt who wanted to save Zhang Tie was stopped by some high-rank fighters of the enemy while being surrounding by a great number of common soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment. Therefore, he could not break in the encirclement for the time being. As Black Feathers Regiment had determined to kill Zhang Tie, the other members of Iron-Blood Camp could not break in either. Without Freo, Zhang Tie had definitely been slashed into flesh paste.


    Freo sacrificed himself for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s tears dropped off in lines...


    "Don''t be sad, since the moment you caught up with the train in the Blackhot City, everybody in Iron-Blood Camp would like to sacrifice themselves for you like how you would like to sacrifice yourself for everybody of Iron-Blood Camp!"


    Hearing Reinhardt''s words, Zhang Tie burst out tears like a kid.


    ...


    After the military officers of Iron-Blood Camp came here to visit him, Zhang Tie understood the plot designed by the enemy. That day, all the booty of the Iron-Blood Camp had been sprayed with a strange medicament by the Sun Dynasty, including weapons, armors and coins. People could neither smell nor see that medicament; however, an animal called black fox fed by Sun Dynasty could smell it. With a lot of common soldiers as a bait, Sun Dynasty let Iron-Blood Camp expose the location of its wolf den when they gained a great amount of booty. After knowing their encampment, the enemy dispatched the most terrifying Black Feathers Regiment and gathered superior force that many times more outnumbered than that of Iron-Blood Camp, wanting to totally clear Iron-Blood Camp from that battle zone through a raid in the midnight.


    However, the raid failed which gradually turned into an attack by force and finally evolved into a deep-night bloody battle between the elites of Iron-Horn Army and Brilliant Feathers. In this bloody battle, Iron-Blood Camp lost more than 600 people while over 1700 people of Black Feathers Regiment were killed after being chased by Iron-Blood Camp over 20 km.


    Given number, the last winner of that battle was Iron-Blood Camp. The total number of the soldiers of Black Feathers Regiment who were fed and trained with secret medicament and other special patterns was less than 10,000 people in the Brilliant Feathers Army. However, Iron-Blood Camp killed 1/5 of the total amount of soldiers of the undying regiment of the Brilliant Feathers Army in that night. From wars between two regiments as a whole, this was a huge victory for Iron-Blood Camp.


    If Zhang Tie didn''t kill that Double-Moon Muling in black robe who commanded the Black Feathers Regiment by blowing the flute, the final outcome could definitely be that Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division didn''t exist any more although over 1700 people of Black Feathers Regiment were killed.


    Judging from his military exploits, Zhang Tie was absolutely qualified to be promoted to be a first lieutenant. Nobody would speak ill of him about this promotion.


    If Zhang Tie was the youngest second lieutenant of No. 39 Division before, he was already the youngest first lieutenant of Iron-Horn Army at the present.


    Now, the Iron-Blood Camp was almost paralyzed, suffering a great fundamental loss. It would take at least 3-4 months'' rest and reorganization for Iron-Blood Camp to return to the battle field. For such an elite troop, it was not as easy as just piling up a number of people to recover its combat effectiveness.


    "No matter what, you have to live well. Even if you could not go back to the battle field, you have to live well for Freo!" Reinhardt told Zhang Tie before he left.


    Zhang Tie knew that his life was not only his own but also Freo''s. Therefore, no matter what, even if he was disabled, he had to live well and brilliantly, not only for himself but also for Freo...


    In the first month since Zhang Tie came to Kalur battle zone, Zhang Tie experienced four things: becoming the "One-Hundred People Down"; being promoted to be a first lieutenant; being disabled; being dispatched away from the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division...


    In this month, Zhang Tie, at the age of 15, firstly understood the truth of life¡ª¡ªMen should be born as summer flowers and die as spring thunders...

 217 First Lieutenant Director

    Chapter 217: First Lieutenant Director


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    When the skirmishes in Kalur escalated, Blapei, which was only over 100 km away from Kalur, became a huge frontier material transfer station. The logistics headquarter of the entire Iron-Horn Army was also set in here.


    On the ninth day since Zhang Tie woke up on the sickbed, he finally left the hospital. At this moment, half a month had passed since he had left Blackhot City. During this period, Zhang Tie had experienced a life or death situation.


    When he left the hospital, if not for his luggage brought by Reinhardt and the other military officers when they came to visit him, he might not have been able to find even a set of clothes after taking off his hospital gown.


    Because he had not gone to report to the logistics department, when Zhang Tie left the hospital, he was still wearing the old dark red military uniform of second lieutenant. As he had just recovered from his wounds, he still looked a bit pale and thin. Previously, for the convenience of treatment, his hair had been shaved as well. It had just sprouted out some fresh hair these days. Without the military uniform, Zhang Tie looked like a malnourished adolescent.


    Touching his bald head, Zhang Tie gave a bitter smile. He then recalled something and immediately felt dejected.


    After standing outside the hospital alone for a long time, Zhang Tie stopped a carriage.


    "Where are you going, sir?"


    The carter glanced over Zhang Tie with a pair of uncertain eyes as Zhang Tie''s age was really not in line with his military uniform.


    "Do you know the logistics headquarters of the Iron-Horn Army?"


    Zhang Tie threw his luggage onto the carriage. As to the 10 kg-odd luggage, Zhang Tie had held it like holding a hair before, however, now, Zhang Tie found it heavy after barely carrying it from the hospital ward to here. He felt that he was even weaker than a common 15-year-old adolescent.


    "Got it! It''s the previous parliament building in Blapei!"


    After replying, the carter shook the rein sand started the carriage.


    The carriage was half-open. Sitting inside, Zhang Tie watched the city out of curiosity.


    Although the fighting was just over 100 km away from Blapei, he could see no intense atmosphere here at all, instead, this city was filled with sense of relaxation. Besides the soldiers in military uniforms, commoners were walking at medium speed through the streets.


    What impressed Zhang Tie were the alehouses on both sides of the streets. On the way, every dozen of meters or so, he would see an alehouse''s brand waving in the air on the roadside. Although the beer business sharply declined due to the war between the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty, he could still see people sitting inside even in daytime.


    As it was located in the plains, there were no sharp magical beasts around the city. Additionally, because Blapei was in the middle of some cities, he had no city walls; neither did it have any army. The moment the Iron-Horn Army drove in here, Blapei''s parliament had already raised its blue-green flag, soon after which, they declared disbandment. The only vigilante group of this city followed the in the same path.


    After that, the parliamentary and the vigilante group''s members pretended that the parliament had never existed before and all went back home to find their own moms. Therefore, when the Iron-Horn Army occupied this city, they could not find a single person responsible it.


    Residents here seemed to only do two things in their whole lives¡ªfarming and drinking beer. Even if the Iron-Horn Army arrived, their rhythm still remained unchanged. They felt that the war between the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty had nothing to do with them, just as if it was happening on another galaxy.


    When Zhang Tie was in Blackhot City, he had heard of such a bizarre city in the Andaman Alliance. This time, after a small circle around the city, Zhang Tie realized that the legends about Blapei were not exaggerated at all.


    While the carter was driving the carriage, he took out his flagon to drink beer. Sitting behind the carter, Zhang Tie could also smell the fragrance of wheat drifting from the beer.


    "Sir, do you want a try? This is brewed by my wife!"


    The carter passed the flagon to Zhang Tie very enthusiastically.


    The moment Zhang Tie wanted to refuse, for some reason he suddenly recalled Freo. Beer, cigars, and women were the favorites of that iron-tower like bald tough man. Zhang Tie then felt a faint stab inside...


    Taking the flagon, he started to mindlessly gulp it down. Seeing this, the carter revealed a big smile.


    When the carriage arrived at the former parliament building of Blapei, Zhang Tie was already covered with the taste of beer. The price was only 20 copper coins; however after Zhang Tie praised his beer, the carter felt very proud and didn''t even intend to take his cash. But Zhang Tie pulled out a silver coin and said it was for his beer. The carter then happily took it and drove away.


    In Blapei, if you praised the beer brewed by a person''s family members and wanted to pay for it, you were expressing your largest compliment to that person.


    Besides some rich people who were sparsely spread through the the various castles in the city, there were few skyscrapers in Blapei. All buildings were lower than ten floors. The alleged former parliament building of Blapei was only a 6-floor building. Standing before it, Zhang took a good look at it. He felt that the exceptional dome in the middle of the roof was really like a huge beer barrel.


    Compared to the sluggish pedestrians on the streets, the outside of the former parliament building, which was now the logistics headquarter of Iron-Horn Army, brought him an intense sense of war.


    Lifting his luggage, Zhang Tie presented his former military officer''s certificate to the entrance guard before entered the building. A young second lieutenant was really trivial in the logistics headquarters of Iron-Horn Army. Few of the to-and-fro walking soldiers would cast a second glance over Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie asked a soldier in the building about the location of the personnel affairs department. He then came to the office on the third floor of the building.


    The door was open while someone was working inside, so Zhang Tie walked directly in.


    "Hello, can I help you?"


    The moment Zhang Tie entered, a 20-odd female military officer ranked second lieutenant had walked towards him as she asked.


    "I''m here to report for duty; here''s my certificate! "


    Zhang Tie gave his military officer certificate to her.


    Taking the certificate, the female military officer glanced at it and immediately revealed a faint expression of amazement.


    "Are you that military officer from the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division?"


    "If there was nobody else dispatched here, I think so!"


    "Fine, take a seat for a moment please. Your personnel affairs archives have been transferred here several days ago. I''ll go report to Colonel Scharto as he had told me that if you came here to report, he wanted to see you!"


    "Fine, thanks!"


    After saying that, the female second lieutenant immediately left.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t help but focus on her butt. Seeing that tightening and raising butt under the dark red military officer dress, Zhang Tie''s heart slightly pounded twice.


    He had not tasted a woman for over a month. Now, as he had just recovered a bit, he instinctively started to pay attention to women beside him. However, thinking of his physical condition, Zhang Tie could only give a bitter smile. Donder said, as a man, unless you''re dead, you would take conquering women as the undertaking of your whole life.


    Zhang Tie also realized his own change. After becoming a real man, Zhang Tie had started to pay attention to different parts on women. Even if facing the same woman, he seemed to also have a very different sense of her now.


    He didn''t know whether each man would experience the same process on the way to maturity, but these couple of days, he usually thought about those crazy days with the girls in Blackhot City and the enchanting night with Pandora before he left.


    In the following half an hour, Zhang Tie completed all the report formalities and saw Colonel Scharto, who was responsible for personnel affairs in the logistics headquarters of the Iron-Horn Army. Colonel Scharto, who was already over 60 years old, treated Zhang Tie in a very mild way.


    During their conversation, he put it straight that he already knew of Zhang Tie''s heroic actions in the Iron-Blood Camp. For his bravery and military exploits, he appreciated him very much. No matter how poor his health was at present, as a military officer of the Norman Empire who had been awarded with the Iron-Blood medal, he would never be allowed to suffer from any injustice in both the Iron-Horn Army and the Norman Empire.


    In the end, Colonel Scharto told Zhang Tie that there were some positions that were suitable to him in this division''s logistics headquarters. Zhang Tie could choose the one that he liked the most.


    Zhang Tie knew that he must be receiving the special treatment from Colonel Scharto so as to give face to General Schwartz, the regimental commander of the Seventh Regiment and the whole Iron-Blood Camp.


    "Colonel, for the concrete work schedule, I have no other opinions and requirements. I know General Schwartz dispatched me here to let the logistics department take care of me, but I''m not qualified to assume any important position based on my physical condition and abilities. If it''s alright, please arrange an easier position for me so that I won''t make too many mistakes, regardless of the job or the treatment!"


    Zhang Tie''s calm and modesty left a good impression on Colonel Scharto. Generally speaking, soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp who left the battlefield due to wounds would always have a bad temper. According to Colonel Scharto''s experience, all the military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp who had killed numerous enemy soldiers on the battlefields were arrogant and unyielding.


    It was also not Colonel Scharto''s first time having contact with military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp; however, few young military officers made him comfortable like Zhang Tie when talking with them. As the logistics department was the most profitable one, many retired military officers tried everything to grab the position with the most profit and power. In contrast, Zhang Tie''s attitude for retirement was highly praised by Colonel Scharto.


    ''I will not let such an innocent person suffer a loss!'' he mumbled inside.


    Therefore, after thinking for a few seconds, Colonel Scharto arranged a position for Zhang Tie, the full title of which was the Director of No. 9 Equipment Administration, Comprehensive Logistics Relief Branch of the Logistics Department of the Iron-Horn Army.

 218 Re-entering the

    Chapter 218: Re-entering the Castle of Black Iron


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    When Zhang Tie left the logistics headquarters, he had received a new military officer¡¯s certificate. One more star was on the epaulet of his military uniform, indicating that Second Lieutenant Zhang Tie had been officially promoted to First Lieutenant Zhang Tie. Additionally, he got two months'' pay and provisions. Along with various subsidies for his battle wounds, he received as much as 71 gold coins. Plus his private booty from the battlefield, Zhang Tie''s purse, which had shrunk when he left Blackhot City, slightly bulged again this time as he had more than 100 gold coins in total.


    As an old Chinese saying went, "Real men should not have no power while average men should not have no money", Zhang Tie felt that he was born to be an average man as he didn''t care about power at all. Who knows why that was so, maybe because he was used to being poor. But once alive and having some gold coins in his pockets, he would felt reassured.


    Colonel Scharto assigned a major from the Personnel Affairs Department to drive Zhang Tie around the place where he would work so as to help him recognize the road.


    The alleged "No. 9 Equipment Administration, Comprehensive Logistics Relief Branch of the Logistics Department of the Iron-Horn Army" was actually a maintenance plant in the logistics base in the east of Blapei City. As Blapei had no city wall, Zhang Tie didn''t know whether this logistics base was in Blapei or outside it.


    This plant was not desolate for Zhang Tie could see a wide area of cornfields surrounding it and a neighboring village. Strictly speaking, this plant seemed to be in the the suburbs. Close to this plant was a large-scale, airship landing field and several material warehouses.


    There were many soldiers walking to-and-fro, as well as military vehicles, on the surrounding roads.


    The major task of No. 9 Equipment Administration, Comprehensive Logistics Relief Branch of the Logistics Department of Iron-Horn Army was the maintenance of Logistics Department¡¯s vehicles, so the plant occupied at least 10 mu [1]. Half of it was made up of semi-closed sheds and garages temporarily built using steel frame and steel tiles.Many vehicles were parked inside them for maintenance.


    Besides Zhang Tie, there were in total 136 people in the No. 9 Equipment Administration, Comprehensive Logistics Relief Branch of the Logistics Department of the Iron-Horn Army, most of whom were non-commissioned technical officers. Before Zhang Tie arrived here, the position of the director had already been vacant for more than five months, however, everything here was in normal operation, leaving no fault at all.


    As the former director suffered from some health problems and had reached the age of retirement, he had retired before the Iron-Horn Army had attacked the Andaman Alliance.


    After acquiring the relevant information, Zhang Tie understood that this position was especially provided for the aged. A first lieutenant would not be requested to repair vehicles. Additionally, no big problems would happen in this plant as it was related to repairs.


    Colonel Scharto had really arranged a good position for Zhang Tie.


    The major from the Personnel Affairs Department directly summoned all the 136 people in the maintenance shop to greet Zhang Tie. Among them, the one with the highest rank was second lieutenant, namely the vice director. Of course, he became Zhang Tie''s assistant here. Hearing the major introducing Zhang Tie''s current status, the second lieutenant looked a bit weird.


    "First Lieutenant Zhang Tie was previously a military officer of the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division. Because of excellent military exploits, he has been awarded with the Iron-Blood medal only half a month after arriving to the Kalur battle zone!"


    Noticing the weird expressions, the major only added one sentence that immediately made all the 136 people look solemn. Upon hearing that last sentence, many people were shocked and silently swallowed their saliva. At the same time, their eyes filled with respect.


    Everybody in the Iron-Horn Army understood that there were only one kind of people in the Iron-Blood Camp who were awarded with the Iron-Blood medals¡ªterrifying butchers who killed numerous enemies on the battlefield. However, this person had received an Iron-Blood medal only half a month after he came to the Kalur battle zone, which meant that this person had killed no less than the number of people standing right here in only half a month.


    Thinking of this, many people started to feel a shocking, icy killing intent coming from this young first lieutenant who had a poor face. This killing intent was the qi as fierce as tigers and wolves which had been accumulated through killing numerous people. All the tough Iron-Blood fighters would reveal such a killing intent.


    After introducing Zhang Tie to them, that major turned to Zhang Tie and asked him,"First Lieutenant Zhang Tie, what do you want to say to them?"


    Zhang Tie glanced at that second lieutenant with a bulging abdomen whose eyes were still filled with awe.


    "Since everything has run well before I came here, I hope it will continue do so from now on as well. You can do your own work now..."


    Seeing them all leaving, that major smiled and talked to Zhang Tie. "First Lieutenant Zhang Tie, I can see it, Colonel Scharto appreciates you very much, that''s why he arranged this position for you. Once you stay longer, you will find this position very interesting!"


    The major''s words were full of hints, which moved Zhang Tie a bit. However, it was not the right time to ask for the details now. He had to first find settlement.


    ...


    Seeing that major driving away, the 30-odd second lieutenant officer with a bulging abdomen revealed a big smile towards Zhang Tie. At the sight of the luggage in Zhang Tie''s hand, he hurriedly stretched out his hand, intending to take it for him.


    At first glance, Zhang Tie recalled the booth owners in the railway station¡¯s flea market in Blackhot City.


    Noticing that the guy wanted to flatter him, Zhang Tie didn''t refuse him, instead, he straight away threw his luggage into the man¡¯s hand. Never be too polite to this kind of person; if this kind of person flattered you, you should be polite to him. Otherwise it¡¯d be similar to a gentleman showing his courtesy to you and you spitting saliva in his face.


    As expected, seeing Zhang Tie directly throwing his luggage to him, that person''s smile became even more enthusiastic than before, and even the oily gleam on his drunkard''s nose became brighter.


    "Second lieutenant, what''s your name?"


    "Director, I''m Pi Ping!" After giving Zhang Tie a careful look, he added, "Would you want to take a round or go to the office to check the files and account books?"


    "No need, I''m very satisfied with everything here. As I''ve just left the hospital today, I have no place to live. You find a vehicle and show me around to seek for a residence first!"


    After staying in the hospital for such a long time, taken care of by people all the time, Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to check the Castle of Black Iron.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s order, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping became happier and hurriedly took Zhang Tie''s luggage, walking away. "Wait a minute please, I will go get a car!"


    As the whole Blapei had almost no military camps, all the available places and public facilities across the city had been occupied by the Iron-Horn Army for free. Except for No. 21 Division which occupied a military camp in Blapei and had some military officers allocated with a dorm, most of the other military officers of the Logistics Department had to rent a house by themselves. As Blapei was already the territory of the Norman Empire, of course, the soldiers of the Norman Empire could not disturb civilians and plunder their properties.


    In less than half a minute, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping had already parked a Mountain Cat SUV before Zhang Tie. Opening the car''s door, Zhang Tie sat down on the passenger seat. After that, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping drove out of the plant.


    "Later, I will not usually come here; everything in No. 9 Equipment Administration runs like before. The major who just left here told me that the director position is very interesting. So you shall continue to deal with everything here for me. I don''t want to make you lose your fun. Neither do I want to be treated as an idiot. The moment I saw you, I knew you were clear. Don''t let me down!"


    Sitting in the car, Zhang Tie put it straight to Second Lieutenant Pi Ping. After staying in the Iron-Blood Camp for a while, he had no mood to waste time on such trivial things. Only people who had experienced life or death situation understood that for a soldier, with the exception of life or death situations, everything else was bullsh*t.


    Not having imagined that Zhang Tie would be that straightforward, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping''s hand slightly quivered before recovering its composure. He even became a bit thrilled.


    "Trust me, director, I won''t let you down!"


    "That''s fine!"


    "Director, what kind of residence do you want? I''ve stayed here for several months and have become very familiar with all the streets and alleys!" Second Lieutenant Pi Ping continued enthusiastically.


    "As I''m not well, I need to stay tranquil during this period. Therefore, the place should not be too noisy..."


    "Oh, I know a place that you may like..."


    ...


    More than ten minutes later, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping brought Zhang Tie to a riverside in the north of Blapei, to a block with a relaxed atmosphere to it. That block''s roads were paved with fine pebbles. On both sides of the roads stood many 3-4 story civilian houses and buildings. These houses and buildings were totally different from those in Blackhot City.


    This place was truly much more tranquil than the downtown, and with a nice environment.


    The moment Zhang Tie''s car drove into the block and started to slow down, some 8-9 old kids started to chase after the SUV without any fear of strangers.


    Because there had been no casualties in Blapei when it was occupied by the Iron-Horn Army and the good deeds of soldiers of the Norman Empire had won them good reputation, the civilians in Blapei didn''t fear the figures in dark red military uniforms.


    "Sir, you only need to give Rabby some copper coins, I will tell you everything you want to know!" A 8-9 old boy with freckles on his face ran close to Zhang Tie, chasing after the SUV while he introduced himself.


    Zhang Tie told Pi Ping to park the car. Soon after the car was parked, Rabby also stopped running.


    "I want to rent a house, do you know where can I get a proper one?" Zhang Tie asked the boy.


    "Sir, I know everything here. Besides some beer hotels, there are more than 20 houses for rent in the neighboring blocks. Everyone would be very happy to rent their house to a generous military officer of the Norman Empire..."


    Zhang Tie pulled out a silver coin and flicked it towards the boy. The boy called Rabby had a nice catch.


    "Get in the car!"


    Zhang Tie glanced at the back seat. The boy called Rabby then jubilantly jumped inside under the admiration filled eyes of his pals.


    ...


    As Zhang Tie thought that beer hotels would be filled with people from all walks of life, he finally chose a rather tranquil house whose owners were also of a simple family background.


    It was a four-story house. The owners were an old couple of more than 60 years old. They had no offspring and lived on the first floor. The second one was rented out to a couple with a 4-5 old son. It was said that on the third floor lived a woman, and the fourth one was vacant, therefore, Zhang Tie lived in the fourth floor.


    The rooms on there were well cleaned by the owners. Everything was well matched: two bedrooms, one parlor, one kitchen, and a washroom. As the house was made of bricks and stones, there was also a fireplace in the parlor where you could light a fire on cold days.


    The rent for the fourth floor was 16 silver coins per month, not including the water rate. Second Lieutenant Pi Ping strove to spend two gold coins for Zhang Tie at once for one year''s rent and the water rate. After Zhang Tie decided to live in here, the vice-president drove the car and bought many daily-use goods for him. He was as solicitous as an order.


    The entire afternoon after he left the hospital, Zhang Tie was always busy: reporting for duty, arranging work for his subordinates, and renting a house. When it was the time for supper, he ate a roasted beefsteak with Second Lieutenant Pi Ping in a hotel nearby. When Zhang Tie came back to the house he had rented, it was already dark.


    A melodious sound of violin drifted from the owners'' room. There was no way to know who was playing it. A kid''s cries drifted from the second floor while the tenant on the third floor was not there.


    Going back to his residence on the fourth floor, Zhang Tie didn''t lit up the lamps. After locking the door and pulling the curtains down, he sat down on the sofa besides the fireplace alone in the parlor.


    It had been a very long time since Zhang Tie had felt this tired. He was very weak, to the point where he would even gasp when he climbed on to the fourth floor. When he finally reached it, Zhang Tie already felt a bit tired. His physical situation was even worse than he had imagined. Even worse than a commoner''s. He was not even able to resist the wind, the idiom of not being able to bind a chicken being very proper to describe him.


    As he had not entered the Castle of Black Iron for more than one month, even if he was able to enter it right now, Zhang Tie became slightly hesitant and afraid. He was a bit contradictory inside. For him at this moment, the small tree in the Castle of Black Iron carried all of his hopes.


    Zhang Tie knew that it was very hilarious to count on the hope for solution on that small tree whenever he met a problem. It was almost visionary and foolish to solve problems that way. Because it was karma on what fruit the small tree would bear. It would never bear a fruit according to his own demand for no reason.


    Zhang Tie only hoped that the small tree could give him a chance to recover.


    After sitting in the pitch-dark house for a long time, Zhang Tie finally gritted his teeth. ''I''ve already died one time, nothing is more terrifying than death.''


    After locking on that marvelous arch door in his mind, with a slight shake, Zhang Tie disappeared from the dark parlor.


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    [1] Mu is an ancient Chinese unit of land. It translates to around 1 mu = 666.67 square meters, so the plant is around 6666.7 square meters in size.

 219 Fruit of Judgmen

    Chapter 219: Fruit of Judgment


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    By now, the inside of the Castle of Black Iron had become verdant. Entering it after a month and a half, Zhang Tie felt like he was in the suburban area of Blackhot City. The feeling was especially brought out by the two buildings that he had built near the small tree. They really gave him a sense of wasteland reclamation in the wild.


    After loading off his burden inside, Zhang Tie treated himself as a bachelor with a cheap life. He took a deep breath and immediately thought it through. No matter what, as long as he was still alive and could enter the Castle of Black Iron, he could still use it to do a lot of things such as helping his beloved people, even if his cultivation had been completely disabled.


    With this mentality, the following dialog boxes that popped out didn''t shock him too much.


    ¡ª¡ªBecause the energy maintenance system of Castle Lord had been severely damaged, the Leakless Fruit could not collect energy. The Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree will terminate the bearing of Leakless Fruits.


    ¡ª¡ªCastle Lord, because your bones, muscles, veins, channels, as well as your guts, had been heavily wounded and have not yet recovered, your automatic recovery function was at the edge of collapse. Your physical condition didn''t even meet the minimum conditions to form Iron-Body Fruit. The Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree will terminate the bearing of Iron-Body Fruit.


    ¡ª¡ªBased on the above reasons, because your body could not bear the renewal and the expansion of your life energy from Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit, Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree will terminate the bearing of Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruit. Based on the same reasons, the Trouble-Reappearance Fruits will also be unavailable.


    ¡ª¡ªSpecial alert: Castle Lord, until your health and life energy completely recover, the effects of the first Toxin-Resistance Fruit that you ate will be reduced by 92%.


    The continual dialog boxes and the content inside them brought Zhang Tie a sense of being peeled off and turning from a rich man to a beggar. The price for joining the Kalur battle was so huge that he couldn''t stand it.


    After slightly recovering his composure, Zhang Tie touched the management panel of Castle of Black Iron to check the current basic attributes.


    ¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªLength: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªWidth: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª¡ªAura value: 89713


    ¡ª¡ªMerit value: 32135


    ¡ª¡ªBasic energy storage: 712


    ¡ª¡ªSpecial output: basic aura yeast.


    The growth of aura value points was within Zhang Tie''s expectation. The basic energy storage of 712 remained unchanged since he had come back from the survival training. What really startled Zhang Tie though were the merit value points. He remembered that when he checked them last time, they were just a bit over 6000. How could they increase by so much?


    Zhang Tie opened the log on merit value points to check inside carefully. When the first evolved and mutated living beings "Basic Aura Yeast" formed in the Castle of Black Iron, because he killed a number of scumbags in the prison of Blackhot City, Zhang Tie''s merit value points had surged to more than 6000. After that, he didn''t check the merit value points any more. Based on his experiences, after he donated to the orphanage twice, his merit value points should have grown.


    But he hadn''t made a point to check it for a long time.


    For the first donation, he spent more than 20 gold coins to buy a truck of food which won him 876 merit value points; for the second donation, he directly gave the orphanage 200 gold coins and won himself 3617 merit value points. Additionally, when he sent rice soup to the orphanage and donated 10 copper coins at the beginning, he had won more than 30 merit value points.


    According to the exchange ratio, it seemed that the merit value points could not be equally exchanged by the items or money he donated to the orphanage. There was a sophisticated karma between his donations and the merit value points as payment. Based on the exchange ratio, the 10 copper coins and that rice soup he had donated when he was in the poorest situation brought him more merit value points.


    Since he had no idea how that worked, Zhang Tie didn''t bother to think about this question any more. What really caught his attention were the two messages after.


    "On August 22, 889th year of Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord saved 61 golden uangs who were going to be killed and helped them regain freedom and a new chance at life. As a result, merit value was increased by 286 points."


    ...


    "...Do the righteous thing for the heavens. You killed the Double-Moon Muling of the Sun Dynasty and ended his evil life, sending his evil soul into the darkness, which allowed the mercy of gods to reappear in the world. As a result, merit value was increased by 21018 points in total..."


    The first log was really unexpected. Zhang Tie had not imagined that when he killed Samira in the Blackhot City and casually grabbed Master Abyan''s uangs which were going to be killed for tests and set them free in mother nature, he would gain some merit value points as payment.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was very pleased with these unexpected merit value points.


    However, what he hadn''t imagined even more was were that the merit value points he gained after killed a muling of the Sun Dynasty would be almost equal to killing 20 of the heinous red-scarf burglars like Huck and Snade. From this, Zhang Tie learned how many bad things those bastard priests and mulings who believed in the Brilliant God of the Sun Dynasty had done.


    At the sight of this, Zhang Tie let out a long breath. It was worth it to kill such a scumbag and give a chance to survive for his brothers of the Iron-Blood Camp in this battle even if his cultivation base had been fully disabled for it.


    Thinking of this, Zhang Tie relaxed.


    After shutting off the log windows, Zhang Tie walked towards that small tree. He felt that after killing that scumbag, he would not have only gained merit value points, but also at least a Fruit of Brilliance. According to the tip just now, the Fruit of Brilliance was not included in the fruits that could not be produced on the small tree, which meant that he could still enjoy one kind of fruit.


    Before Zhang Tie drew close to the twig where which used to produce the Fruit of Brilliance, he saw a round fruit. It was dark golden with wisps of golden luster on it.


    What else if it was not a Fruit of Brilliance?


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Brilliance has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    Reading this message, Zhang Tie revealed a wisp of a smile.


    He didn''t immediately eat it, instead, he moved to the other side of the small tree.


    Compared to the twig that bore Fruit of Brilliance, the twigs that bore Leakless Fruits and Iron-Body Fruits were cleared. Additionally, the ripe Leakless Fruits and the unripe Iron-Body Fruit had all disappeared.


    Ah!


    When Zhang Tie moved to the Fruit of Brilliance to check how much spiritual energy it could bring him, he was stunned. Behind the weird tree leaves of a twig beside the one that used to bear Leakless Fruits, a fruit that Zhang Tie had never seen before was hanging.


    It was a weird fruit in the shape of a cross dart. It was all dark, containing a weird tadpole-like rune swimming inside like gathered starlight.


    Greatly shocked inside, Zhang Tie stretched his hand toward it.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Judgment has become ripe. This Fruit of Judgment contains a god''s rune, the effect of which is to "bind". Usage: Pick and paste it between your eyebrows, then activate with your spiritual energy. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. This fruit can only be activated and integrated by Castle Lord. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    As he read that paragraph, Zhang Tie''s hands started to tremble. However, it was not the end.


    ¡ª¡ªThe people who profaned celestial beings in the name of celestial beings and those people who did evil things in the name of celestial beings are doomed to be judged. Their existence is the greatest harm to all the beautiful and kind things, and the greatest profanity to gods. Their dirty lives and deeds shall be ended by sabers and swords. This is the condition for bearing a Fruit of Judgment, and the biggest award from gods to a dauntless man who dares to wave his saber towards dark forces. Ah! The brave man who spreads the gods'' glorious light over his mother land. Please take this reward and use the strength gifted by it to judge those who profane the gods so as to relieve people''s fear about celestial beings. Gods don''t need their fear as fear is the food of ghosts. According to the law of creation, the more judgments you make, the more power you will have to judge with.


    After reading this paragraph, Zhang Tie immediately understood that, the Brilliant God School was carrying out a very terrifying coercion in the entire Sun Dynasty in terms of people''s belief in celestial beings. This coercion was profaning celestial beings in the name of celestial beings. They were doing evil things in the name of celestial beings. In this case, since he killed that Double-Moon Muling in the black robe of the Brilliant God School that night, the Fruit of Judgment''s condition was triggered.


    Looking at that cross-dart like weird fruit and that weird group of runes composed of tadpoles inside it, a thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind. Hie instantly raised his right hand and took off the ring on his right hand.


    ¡ª¡ªRing of Energy. It can recover your physical strength 4% faster after you use it up, enabling the wearer to be more energetic. This item was made by rune master Andariel.


    Although Zhang Tie had not seen a rune item before, the Ring of Energy and that Fruit of Judgment on the twig let him know that all rune items were exceptional, especially the god''s rune that fruit on the twig contained; it seemed greater.


    There was always a way to survive. In this case, he could still gain such a marvelous fruit, which meant that the small tree considered that he could use this fruit even now. The effect of the god''s rune was to "bind", which seemed simple, yet its usage would be unknown until it was used.


    When Zhang Tie prepared to pick off this Fruit of Judgment to activate and integrate it, he was stunned when his eyes caught onto a twig in the middle of the small tree. He was immediately overcome with great surprise...

 220 Redemption

    Chapter 220: Redemption


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    More than a month had passed since the last time he''d entered the Castle of Black Iron. Soon after he did so this time, Zhang Tie found that his cardiac function was facing a severe challenge.


    At this moment, his heart kept on fiercely pounding because right on this small tree he found a new fruit. He slightly recovered his composure as he put on his ring of energy onto his right index finger again.


    He hadn''t noticed the fruit until now because it was really well hidden. Compared to the various fruits that Zhang Tie had gained and seen on the outside twigs, right in the open, this one was more hidden as it was growing on in the middle of the small tree, close to the trunk. If one wasn''t observing carefully, it would be almost impossible to see this fruit for it was covered by overlapped tree leaves.


    It was a thumb-sized fruit in the shape of a heart, pale green of color, really like a cute peach.


    Zhang Tie had never seen this fruit before.


    The moment he saw this new fruit, Zhang Tie stretched his hand out to check its attributes like usual.


    After slightly moving the two twigs beside the fruit, Zhang Tie put his hand on it.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Redemption. It comes from the strength of golden uangs. Not ripe yet.


    Before Zhang Tie could get depressed from what he saw, his heart pounded so heavily that it almost jumped out of his throat when he read the following paragraphs.


    ¡ª¡ªOnce this fruit becomes ripe, after eating it, Castle Lord will gain 71.5 kg''s strength, namely the weight of your body.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Redemption. It comes from intellectual living beings'' appreciation to the one who gave them new life and saved them out from their death situation. Each living being''s mood and awareness full of this kind of appreciation will contain great energy, especially when owned by this kind of living being. This great energy will be projected onto the savior through an infinite net and become the key to opening the sealed, precious gene bank of the savior''s body. The fire of intelligence, the most remarkable trait of any intellectual beings, can light up and brighten the genes with the same properties on the savior''s body and grant the savior with the same ability.


    ¡ª¡ªThe one who has benevolence and kindness, you are the existence standing at the peak of intellectual living beings. The God created you based on his own image. Therefore, your body contains everything like the God''s. Although you have forgotten that you were great, please don''t despise your trivial being now. The karma is absolutely true. If you want to get something, go pay for it as what you had paid will return to you and more. The greatest secret of life is love, which is the answer to everything. Love can open the sealed shackles in your body and liberate you from your trivial consciousness. Finally, you would enter the divine being.


    ...


    Actually, this Fruit of Redemption should have long existed, since after he killed Samira and set free those golden uangs in Blackhot City. However, after killing Samira that day, Zhang Tie had immediately returned to his apartment and entered the Castle of Black Iron to build the two houses. Previously, because he had felt that nothing special had happened in that period, he didn''t pay attention to this small tree.


    Of course, he had never imagined that that small tree would have produced a marvelous fruit at that time. Therefore, this marvelous Fruit of Redemption had kept growing under the overlapped leaves of the small tree until he found it now.


    Fruit of Redemption was not ripe yet. It was not edible now. For some reason, when Zhang Tie read the above paragraphs, his eyes turned wet and he wanted to cry. He had not imagined that such a minor benevolent move of setting those golden uangs free could bring him such a miracle.


    Zhang Tie didn''t fully understand the above words. However, after he read them, he still bore in mind two key points.


    First, because the golden uangs had super great power, after he saved dozens of them, this small tree bore a fruit that could increase his strength.


    Second, as many genes inside his body were not activated yet and the key to activating them was redemption, if he saved any living beings, the life trait of that living being might be passed on to him.


    Zhang Tie faintly saw a beacon of hope that might help his body recover. However, he felt a thin curtain between him and this beacon of hope which stopped it from manifesting.


    Zhang Tie knew that the thin curtain was his shortage of biology. Even though he knew something, even some secrets, he still could not turn what he had learned into useful knowledge. This was also the weakness of the preliminary education of Blackhot City. People learning there might know something of all common knowledge, yet they would not be deep versed in any of the fields. Sometimes, when he faced some slightly deeper knowledge, Zhang Tie would feel semi-illiterate.


    The Fruit of Redemption today simply pushed open a wholly new gate open for Zhang Tie''s life. He was filled with appreciation now. This space of the Castle of Black Iron and the small tree showed him the hope to move forward.


    Leaving the Fruit of Redemption alone for now, Zhang Tie became a bit thrilled as he circled around the small tree twice. After consideration, he decided to pick Fruit of Brilliance before eating the Fruit of Judgment. The Fruit of Brilliance could still improve his spiritual energy which was still useful for him even now. No matter what, after he increased his spiritual energy, he could always gain a greater strength. After this, he could eat the ripe Fruit of Redemption more easily.


    Zhang Tie became a bit curious about the spiritual energy of the black-robed Double-Moon Muling of the Black Feathers Regiment. Thinking of that person who had blow that weird musical instrument to control those undying monsters, Zhang Tie thought that he might have cultivated his spiritual energy.


    After picking the Fruit of Brilliance, Zhang Tie sat down under the tree with legs crossed. He then threw the Fruit of Brilliance into his mouth and broke it with his teeth at once...


    Because his health was not as good as before, only after sitting there for more than 20 minutes with his legs crossed, Zhang Tie felt his legs and waist starting to ache. Thankfully, by then, all the spiritual energy in the Fruit of Brilliance had been absorbed by the golden spiritual energy swirl in Zhang Tie''s mind. After a rough estimation, Zhang Tie became very excited.


    If his spiritual energy was regarded as one before he got the Castle of Black Iron, after the fight in the hidden cell in the prison of Blackhot City along with his cultivation these days, yesterday, his spiritual energy had almost reached 40. However, after eating the Fruit of Brilliance that contained all the spiritual energy of the Double-Moon Muling of the Sun Dynasty, his spiritual energy had immediately surged to 58, an increase of almost a half. As expected, that old guy truly had had a much more powerful spiritual energy than that of commoners.


    After eating the Fruit of Brilliance, Zhang Tie slightly moved his numb and stiff body. When he glanced at the ring of energy on his right hand, he became slightly disappointed. As this was a rune item that could help him recover from fatigue 4% faster than before, without it his health would be worse.


    Zhang Tie thought of it, unable to wait to pick the small cross-dart like Fruit of Judgment. According to the instructions he had read before, he had to paste that fruit in-between his eyebrows. After that, he would have to slowly inject his spiritual energy that had increased a lot into this bizarre Fruit of Judgment.


    For some reason, after he inserted his spiritual energy into the Fruit of Judgment, Zhang Tie only felt that the fruit pasted on his skin of normal temperature was becoming increasingly cooler. Soon after that, the entire fruit seemed become fluid as it started to enter in to his mind, making his entire brain and head feel very comfortable and refreshed. During this period, Zhang Tie felt as if his head had become a sponge that could absorb water as that fruit''s juices pushed inside without encountering any obstacles.


    Finally, his hand that was put on the fruit started to touch the skin of his forehead. At the same time, that golden spiritual energy swirl in Zhang Tie''s mind started to boil up. Its most middle point suddenly formed a weird symbol that Zhang Tie had seen before on the fruit. When that weird symbol appeared there, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy in his mind seemed to cheer up and started to push into that rune with all it had.


    While Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy was making its way into that weird rune, some information appeared in his mind. He immediately understood everything about that rune.


    He knew that rune meant "bind"...


    He also knew how to use this god rune.


    He knew that the "bind" function of this god rune would directly work on the target person''s spirit and awareness. It could temporarily shield and cut the connection between the target''s brain and his body. After this connection was cut off, that target''s body would remain still, like a machine not yet started or something bound by a rope.


    When one third of Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy entered that mysterious rune, the god rune suddenly radiated golden rays. As if having been laid like an egg, after the devouring of the spiritual energy, an item in the shape of a chain appeared beside that rune radiating golden rays. After that, it started to rotate around that rune like a snake swimming in water...


    ¡ª¡ªThe first binding chain has been formed!


    ¡ª¡ªStarting to form the god rune''s binding skill for Castle Lord.

 221 The Binding Skill

    Chapter 221: The Binding Skill


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    In this age, knowledge was very expensive, which led to the spread of mysterious knowledge from individuals to individuals, and the appearance of private libraries. It was said that before the catastrophe, there were large-scale public library in many cities and regions. Those libraries would always contain tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of books, or even millions of books. At that time, people could absorb the knowledge that they needed from the sea of knowledge at the cost of little money or none at all. However, in this age, that kind of scene was completely unimaginable.


    As far as Zhang Tie knew, there wasn¡¯t a single public library in the entire Andaman Alliance, even across the whole Blackson Human Clan Corridor. In this age, all the libraries were private, while all the books were very important personal assets. To manage a private library was the same to managing a plant or a shop as they could all bring you profit.


    There were two private libraries in Blackhot City. They were all operated by the families that had once predominated the Coal, Steel, and Iron Federation. Although Zhang Tie stayed in Blackhot City for over ten years, he had not entered them even once. When he had time to visit there, he had no money, while when he had money, he had no time to visit.


    For Zhang Tie, the position of the director of No. 9 Equipment Administration could almost be ignored. After seeing the hope of recovery in the Fruit of Redemption, he left his tenement early the next morning. He had a lot of questions and some unclear thoughts in his mind, which all needed to be solved and clearly formed by knowledge.


    If this was Blackhot City and the guy Donder was still there, Zhang Tie would have definitely asked him about all of his questions. However, in Blapei, he knew no one and nobody could solve his problems or enlighten his unclear thoughts.


    What could solve his problems and enlighten his unclear thoughts was only knowledge. If he wanted to obtain it, the simplest way was to go to a library. After all, he had enough time to spend there now. Like what was said before the catastrophe, he was going to "charge himself".


    Although he had not recovered yet, the ripe Fruit of Brilliance and the unripe Fruit of Judgment made Zhang Tie¡¯s spirits rise in the morning once more. He looked energetic as he finally didn''t feel like he was too weak to even catch a bound chicken. The god rune''s "bind" effect implied that Zhang Tie could protect himself without even relying on his own hands.


    After putting on his clothes and cleaning his face and teeth, Zhang Tie left the room. At this moment, he used his spiritual energy to present the list of binding skill''s attributes in his mind.


    God rune''s binding skill!


    Rank - preliminary.


    The current number/maximum storage number of binding chain - 2/18.


    Attack Radius - 17 inch.


    Attack Effect - Spiritual attack. It can temporarily cut and terminate the nerve chain of the opponent''s brain, putting a screen between the opponent''s brain and its body. The one hit will be stiff all over and unable to move at all.


    Applicable Targets - LV 7 fighters and those below, who have the same brain structure as Castle Lord.


    The sustainable attacking time of preliminary binding chain is calculated as follows: the spiritual energy attack strength of Castle Lord minus the spiritual attack immunity effect of the opponent. After that, multiply the previous result by ten seconds, namely the basic sustainable time of one preliminary binding chain.


    The maximal superposed number of binding chains that can be born by an individual being attacked is three.


    These were the attributes of the binding skill after the god rune formed its first binding chain. This skill seemed to be able upgrade.


    After Zhang Tie had almost exhausted his spiritual energy last night, the god rune formed two binding chains. Now, the two binding chains were swimming around that god rune like two small snakes in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    Zhang Tie planned to exert his utmost effort to form all the 18 binding chains in the next few days. That god rune was like a finished factory. As long as Zhang Tie constantly injected his spiritual energy into it, it could process his spiritual energy into binding chains.He estimated that the distance of 17 inches was equal to 7-8 m or so. Needless to say, the target of binding chains should have similar brain structure as Zhang Tie.


    For the duration of the attack, after thinking for a while, Zhang Tie finally decided that if the target had not been blessed by some spiritual defense skill or had no similar equipment, its spiritual defense effect would be basically equal to zero. Therefore, this formula was almost simplified to Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy divided by the target''s spiritual energy and multiplied by ten seconds.


    If Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy was twice that of the opponent¡¯s, the opponent would not move for twenty seconds after being attacked by the binding chain. If Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy was thrice that of the opponent, the opponent would not move for 30 seconds after being hit. Similarly, if Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy was four times that of the opponent, the opponent would not move for 40 seconds.


    For this preliminary binding skill, if Zhang Tie''s opponent with the same spiritual energy had not reached LV 8, after being attacked with three binding chains consecutively, that guy would also not move for about half a minute. In this time, even if Zhang Tie''s health was in a very poor condition, he could still stab that guy to death with his dagger.


    In contrast, if he met a commoner who had almost the same spiritual energy as him at school, with only one binding chain, he would be able to keep him still for 9-10 minutes. Even if the target was Huck or Snade, after being attacked by the binding chain, they would also not be able to move for three minutes.


    For spiritual defense, it had to be a rare mysterious knowledge that Zhang Tie had not heard of before. It could never be seen on commoners.


    When Zhang Tie wanted to launch the binding skill, once he gazed at someone, he would be able to do a long-distance attack in a pattern that he couldn''t understand. For his current physical condition, this was simply a hidden sharp weapon.


    Although this preliminary binding skill only worked on people below LV 7, had very short range, and was far off of he could do with his power and combat effectiveness of when he was healthy, at least this binding skill enabled Zhang Tie to protect himself when he couldn''t fight at all.


    Feeling like he was "useful" again, Zhang Tie was in a pretty good mood today.


    In the early morning, the tenant of the third floor was still not back as her door was still closed. When Zhang Tie came to the second floor, the 20-odd man of the couple was readying himself to leave, seemingly wanting to go to work while the 20-odd women was seeing him off outside the room while pulling a kid. They were bidding farewell to each other.


    Right then, as the couple caught sight of Zhang Tie walking downstairs, both of them became slightly amazed. Not until then did they know that the new tenant who had moved in upstairs yesterday was a young military officer of the Norman Empire. Although he looked young, he was already a first lieutenant.


    Seeing Zhang Tie coming downstairs, that young woman silently pulled her kid closer to herself.


    Zhang Tie forced out a smile while slightly nodding to them before walking downstairs.


    In the early morning, the owners Mr and Mrs Green were watering flowers, grasses, onions, and fiddleheads that they grew for entertainment in the garden outside their residence.


    "Good morning..." Zhang Tie greeted the owners of the house.


    Mr. Green raised his grass hat to show his courtesy.


    ...


    Leaving the house of Mr and Mrs Green, Zhang Tie came to a tranquil street. After walking through the one meter wide street paved with pebbles for dozens of meters, Zhang Tie arrived at the avenue.


    Similar to Blackhot City, when people could not take public transport, most of the commoners in Blapei would then choose carriages to travel around the downtown. This transport, which could provide convenience for people in downtown areas, had an universal name across the Blackson Human Clan Corridor - Horse Taxi.


    Seeing a green horse taxi driving past, Zhang Tie hurriedly waved his hand towards the driver before jumping inside.


    "Where''s the best private library in Blapei?"


    "Sir, there''s only one private library in Blapei; therefore, no matter what, it is the best one!"


    Zhang Tie was somewhat stunned.


    "Well, let''s go there then!"


    "It''s not cheap there!" The driver kept driving the carriage while shaking his head. "I really don''t understand why people like reading books. Aren''t beer and women more interesting than paper that could neither speak nor be eaten?


    Hearing his words, Zhang Tie didn''t say anything. This must be different personal pursuits.


    ...


    After more than half an hour, the carriage finally brought Zhang Tie to his destination. After learning about the function of his spiritual energy, he had visualized two 13-column abacuses in his mind at the same time during the journey. He practiced different operations on two abacuses at the same time.


    It was hard to say whether it was because of his sharply increased spiritual energy, but when he carried out different operations on two visualized abacuses, Zhang Tie felt that it went much smoother. The sense of the two abacuses'' independence became more clear. Additionally, "interconnected faults" obviously decreased a lot during the calculations.


    "Here we are, sir, here is the best private library that five generations of Grant Family has operated in Blapei!"


    The horse taxi that carried Zhang Tie parked before a place which looked more luxurious than this city''s parliament building.


    After paying fifty copper coins, Zhang Tie jumped off the carriage. With his eyes fixed on this seven-story building, Zhang Tie took a deep breath.


    ''This private library is very large. It should contain a lot of books. I hope it won''t disappoint me.''


    Like high-end hotels, this private library had a very gorgeous gate. Outside it stood two rows of doormen and armored guards. The entrance was marked with the name of this library¡ªGrant''s Library.


    This was a library named after its owner''s family name.


    The library''s first floor was an elegant hall with several rest zones. In them stood dozens of rows of cabinets which looked like lockers. Zhang Tie didn''t know what they were used for.


    The moment he entered through the gate, he saw several plates placed in the most eye-catching place, on which were the terms of service. Besides them there was a board with reading instructions and another with instructions on using bibliographic retrieval. After carefully reviewing the two, Zhang Tie understood what the dozens of cabinets in the rest zones beside the hall were used for¡ªthey contained the list with all the books in the library and where each one is placed.


    After swearing himself a rustic inside, Zhang Tie came to the bibliographic retrieval zone and started to look for books that he wanted to read. Time reading would be charged, but looking through the list was free.


    The bibliographic retrieval in the library contained very sophisticated classifications. Zhang Tie spent a whole hour searching through the complex retrieval catalog cards.


    After searching there for quite a while, he took the paper on which he''d copied down a couple retrieval numbers of books that interested him and came to the library''s service table. The one standing behind it was a 60-odd man.


    After receiving the retrieval numbers, the old man lowered his head and looked behind the counter for a while. Then, some time later, he raised turned back.


    "Sir, the books you chose are available now. With the exception of the book ''Initial Exploration of Human Beings'' Special Professions in Black Iron Age'', ''Gods'' Codes'', ''Oriental Occultism Phenomena'', and ''Water Knows the Answer'' are all rare books that our library purchased from the ruins of the prehistorical human cities. As they''re human publications of before the catastrophe, they are in the Human Ruins'' Reading Area on the fourth floor.


    "The charge of reading on the fourth floor is two gold coins per day. Besides the books on the fourth floor, you can also read the books on the third and second floors. The charge of books on the third floor is sixty silver coins a day. If you want to read books on the third floor, you can not read the books that you chose on the fourth floor today. Can you tell me which floor''s books you''d like to read?"


    The old man spoke in an inflexible manner.


    Hearing his explanation, Zhang Tie almost wanted to swear at him. Although he was much richer than before, he hadn''t imagined that it would cost him two gold coins a day to read books on the fourth floor.


    ''F*ck, this is almost equal to my dad''s two-month salary.''


    It had cost him only two gold coins to rent Mr and Mrs Green''s house for a whole year. Although, Zhang Tie knew that the price of entering private libraries was very expensive, he had never imagined it could be this expensive.


    In this age, the price of knowledge was absolutely out of most people''s imaginations. With two gold coins, Zhang Tie could only read books for one day in the private library. However, the business time of the library was from 9 am. to 9 pm., which meant that he could at most read for twelve hours. During the process, he could neither copy nor take photos. He should also wear a pair of gloves and pay for the damages according to preset prices if he made any.


    ''F*ck!'' Zhang Tie swore inside.


    He then took out two gold coins. After signing a service contract, he was led into the Human Ruins'' Readings Area on the fourth floor.


    Zhang Tie had not seen the alleged human ruins of before the catastrophe in his life. He had only heard that most of the ruins were of cities and other regions where many humans lived, crashed by the fragments of the God''s Star. They were in a special force field and existence brought about by the fragments of the God''s Star. As a result, all the inanimate objects in the ruins still remained unchanged even after one thousand years, as if the catastrophe had happened yesterday.


    Driven by a dream of becoming rich overnight after discovering some human ruins of before the catastrophe, numerous pioneers were heading everyday for remote areas on all the continents to explore the wastelands.


    Glancing over the books on the shelves in the room that covered less than 500 square meters, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth, swearing to read as much as was the value of two gold coins.

 222 The Value of Knowledge

    Chapter 222: The Value of Knowledge


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Most of publications before the catastrophe were easy to be identified. The printing skills of people before the catastrophe could not be surpassed by people of today at all. Many books in that age contained delicate images or photos, at the sight of which, people would know which age those particular books belonged to. What concerned that roughly printed book "Mental Arithmetic by Abacus" that Zhang Tie had bought from a roadside booth in the railway station which only had a few pages with no pictures except for an abacus on its cover, Zhang Tie was definitely very lucky to own it.


    Consumers who were able to read on the fourth floor were matched with a personal reading room, like a chartered room. When one read on the fourth floor, one should wear a pair of white gloves. In each reading room, there was a serviceman who just watched from the side in case you tried to copy or damage one of these books as valuable as cultural relics. Of course, you could also ask the serviceman to bring you books that you wanted to read.


    As a "high-end customer" who paid two gold coins in the library at once, Zhang Tie was also provided with two sumptuous meals, a lunch and a supper. If he was tired, he could also take a rest in the reading room. You could even take a nap on the sofa. The serviceman would also prepare a woolen blanket for you.


    However, nobody would feel like sleeping here at the cost of two gold coins which would leave only several hours to read. At least, Zhang Tie would feel great regret if he did that. With the exception of eating lunch and going to the toilet, he was immersed in reading for the entire day. He grit his teeth, wanting to make the two gold coins cost-efficient.


    With sharper spiritual energy, Zhang Tie found that he could read much faster than before. Additionally, his memory had also become very terrifying. He skimmed through the pages. He could read ten lines with only one glance, and it would take him only a bit more than ten seconds to finish reading a page.


    Even with such an amazing speed, Zhang Tie found that he could still clearly remember all the content on the pages. This time he found found another usage for his sharp spiritual energy besides remembering the sizes of the girls of the Rose Association.


    The fact was that Zhang Tie''s two gold coins were very cost-efficient. In over ten hours, he gained a lot of knowledge and information from the books.


    From the book "Gods'' Codes" written by a geneticist before the catastrophe, Zhang Tie learned what human DNA was and the differences between human DNA and other living beings'' DNAs. Additionally, he came to understand that millions of his gene fragments were not activated yet, which accounted for above 98% of his total gene fragments. During the very long period before the catastrophe, as no discovery was made on these gene fragments, they were taken as useless "waste genes". However, the author of "Gods'' Codes" firmly believed that the creator would not just put so many "wastes" into human body for no reason.


    As a geneticist, after dozens of years'' research, the author found that the alleged "waste genes" in human body were not useless; instead, as their coded structures were too weird, they were not activated yet. After many years'' research, the author also discovered that among the gene fragments that were not activated yet, there seemed to be weird codes that enabled people to survive in more special and extreme environments...


    In the end of the book, the author of "Gods'' Codes" also posed a puzzling presumption and prediction that if all the gene fragments in human body were activated, humans'' DNA structure would totally change from double-spiral structure to 12-spiral structure. Maybe the alleged God''s DNA was in a 12-spiral structure.


    Why not in 11-spiral structure or 13-spiral structure or other spiral structures? Because basically everything was composed of energy of different frequencies. The whole universe is a huge acoustic generator that can perform all the the sounds with different frequencies. The frequencies and sounds performed by this acoustic generator can not be perfectly harmonious and balanced without being evolved from the twelve tone equal temperament of the music theory. Therefore, according to the author''s presumption, the 12-spiral DNA structure is in line with the essence of the universe. This is a structure that can satisfy one''s will at any place in this universe.


    After reading this book, Zhang Tie recalled a human body''s description that he had read in the Castle of Black Iron last night¡ª"your body contains everything like the God''s". Zhang Tie felt like he understood something now. Although the 12-spiral DNA was just a brave presumption of the author of the book "Gods'' Codes", its entirety instantly broadened his vision and horizons. He saw something very exciting from the book.


    By this point already, Zhang Tie felt that the two gold coins had been valuable.


    In the book "Oriental Occultism Phenomena", Zhang Tie had some more surprising discoveries. The author of this book mentioned that in the east, since the ancient times, monks and masters from mysterious schools had been guiding their believers to set free various animals to cure their diseases and health problems. Many tricky diseases that puzzled doctors in hospitals could see amazing treatment effects after the patients set free live animals. The author of the book also recorded how he accompanied a businessman who had a long-term eye disease to visit a master to cure that person''s eyes. The occultism master told the patient that if he wanted to cure his eye disease, he only needed to set free crabs.


    After hearing the master''s enlightenment, that person truly went to the crab sales center, tasked this by the mast, to buy some crabs and then set them free in the sea. He insisted on doing that twice a week. Each time he would buy several bamboo baskets of crabs. Several months later, the miracle happened. His eyes were cured without even taking any medicine.


    That person then went to the temple to extend his thanks to that master and asked him about the karma. The master told that person that as those crabs on the market were supposed to be cooked by people, before they were killed, all of them would become blind first. Since the man had saved those crabs and gave them a new life and sight, as payment, they gave him their sight too.


    The author of this book was a scholar in the western continent. He attributed this phenomenon to intricate oriental occultism. However, Zhang Tie knew this was not occultism at all; it was true karma. All the crabs''s appreciation to that person for saving their lives converged into spiritual energy which could help that person recover his health.


    The spiritual energy could not be seen by naked eye. However, water could sense it. The author of "Water Knows the Answer" was a scientist before the catastrophe. Through studying water, he found that the awareness energy of human and all other living beings could be projected onto places outside their bodies. This energy projected onto places outside their bodies then could influence the surrounding environment on macro substance level.


    When this energy was projected into a cup of water, it could make water form various crystals. The more love and positive emotions were included in the energy, the more regular and beautiful the water crystals would be. The more hatred, fear, and greed were included in the energy, the more disordered and ugly the water crystals would be.


    When he read this, Zhang Tie was suddenly enlightened. He understood the source of the Fruit of Redemption. Each Fruit of Redemption came from condensed positive awareness energy of some organisms projected onto Zhang Tie because of their appreciation for his act of saving them.


    As Zhang Tie had that marvelous small tree, it could gather all the positive energy and present it in the form of the Fruit of Redemption. Since others had no such marvelous small trees, although the same energy worked on them and could also bring great benefits to them, they could not see it nor know the method of extracting and converting this energy into a precious item.


    When he read this, Zhang Tie felt that the two gold coins were very valuable. He recalled the "story of an ugly stone" told by Donder¡ªthe same thing had different values for different people.


    For a cart driver, if you wanted him to spend two gold coins to read some books, he would regard it as a waste of money. He wouldn''t understand how the content in these books could benefit him either. In contrast, for Zhang Tie, the knowledge and information in these books performed as a pair of super clear glasses, enabling him to see farther and think of many things that he had not thought of before.


    The alleged cultivation could be carried out in a more special pattern.


    Zhang Tie was filled with pleasure.


    In the book "Initial Exploration of Human Beings'' Special Professions in Black Iron Age", Zhang Tie saw the introduction to that mysterious profession of rune master for the first time. In that age, due to studies and the development of mysterious runes, some mysterious and powerful professions had come into being, among which, rune master was the top one.


    What concerned rune origin and their principles, the author didn''t know them either. He only knew that the application of runes was related to people''s spiritual energy, which might be one of the top secrets in the world. From the time when the runes appeared, they could be categorized into two kinds.


    Before the catastrophe, there were many mysterious knowledges about various runes in various religions and mysterious groups in all the ancient civilized countries headed by China in the eastern continent. After the catastrophe, people discovered some runes in the earth core world and some prehistoric civilized ruins.


    After one-thousand years'' integration, the two rune systems formed the universal runes usage pattern in the world today.


    In this book, the author only gave a brief introduction to various knowledges and mysterious professions dealing with runes. From it, Zhang Tie could see that the author didn''t know much about the runes. After reading this book, besides confirming that his binding skill was a rare kind of rune skill, Zhang Tie got nothing new.


    Since he read the books very fast, after finishing the previous books, he had a lot of time left. He then hurriedly read some more. As the books on the fourth floor were all relatively expensive, Zhang Tie chose to read the publications off before the catastrophe here first.


    That''s how he ended up reading two books on the Internet, which was a miracle before the catastrophe.


    Zhang Tie was really puzzled by that marvelous Internet world. There, what Zhang Tie did in this private library was really inconceivable. With that Internet, anybody could do a lot of things: obtain mountains of information, interact with other people, make friends, write letters, talk with others, entertain themselves, make money, hold conferences, find wives, pilfer, monitor and follow-up that news, etc.. That Internet could even manipulate various machines and weapons to launch wars.


    That world was really too unimaginable for modern people.


    After reading the books on the marvelous Internet, Zhang Tie searched for books about organisms, especially weird animals.


    In a book "Animals Galaxy", when Zhang Tie saw the introduction about some earth worms on a colorful photo, he was shocked as if struck by a lightning bolt. His body started to quiver all over. The paragraph of words and the photo finally cleared up his inspiration that had flashed across his mind last night like a light that broke the darkness.


    Earth worms, as trivial annelids, had strong vitality. They could grow new parts no matter how severe their injuries were, even if they were slashed into several fragments. Because of this strong vitality property, small earth worms became one of the most powerful organisms in this galaxy.


    Compared to the earth worm''s super strong recovery ability, Zhang Tie''s wounds were trivial.


    Zhang Tie finally caught that inspiration that had flashed across his mind...


    ...


    He ate his supper in the library too. Not until the place was going to be closed did Zhang Tie leave this private library. After that, he stopped a horse taxi and told the cart driver to drive him to a neighboring cheap adults'' clothing shop. After buying several sets of average clothes for changing, Zhang Tie returned to his rental estate.


    When he came back, Zhang Tie took out his pocket watch to check the time. It was already later than 10 pm. . Mr and Mrs Green on the first floor and the young couple on the second floor had long fallen asleep. With common fluorite lamps hanging above the passageway, it was neither too dark nor too bright.


    In order not to wake them up with his footsteps, Zhang Tie stealthily moved upstairs with many bags of clothes, big and small. The room on the third floor was also dark, but Zhang Tie didn''t pay much attention to it. However, when he came to the fourth floor, he saw a person pulling his door handle, trying to use the key in her hand to insert in to the lock, yet continuing to fail.

 223 Female Tenant and Earthworms

    Chapter 223: Female Tenant and Earthworms


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    From the person''s back, Zhang Tie realized that it was a woman as she wore a pair of high-heeled shoes and a short skirt, the bottom of which reached her knees. She seemed drunk. She kept swaying right and left as she tried to pull the door handle.


    "Hmm... it''s so strange, how can this lock have so... many holes... which one is real... are you cheating me too..." the woman murmured as if in sleep. At the same time, she repetitively attempted to insert the key into the lock, yet failed again and again...


    Standing behind that woman, Zhang Tie fixed his eyes on her. After confirming that this was not a trap, he finally walked close to her and patted her shoulder.


    The woman slowly turned back. She was a 30-odd mature woman with wavy maroon hair. With a fair face, she would''ve been very enchanting, but her face was all red from drinking too much.


    Because she wore a pair of high-heeled shoes, when the woman turned back, she was even a bit taller than Zhang Tie.


    "Lady, this is my residence. I think you''ve come to the wrong place. You must live downstairs!"


    Zhang Tie tried to behave like a gentleman.


    "Even you... a kid.. .is also trying to cheat me?"


    The woman lowered her head and watched Zhang Tie with drunk eyes before starting to cry.


    Hearing the woman''s drunk words, Zhang Tie was really startled.


    The moment he took out his key, ready to say something more, he did not expect that the woman would quiver as she bent in her waist and made a sound, "Wu...". At the same time, she covered her mouth with his hand.


    When Zhang Tie felt that something was not right, the woman had already vomited something wet onto him, splattering most of his shirt. After that, the woman felt weak and went directly to the ground where she instantly fell asleep right outside the door''s of Zhang Tie''s residence.


    Dumbfounded, Zhang Tie just stood there. He felt a bit dizzy from the wet and weird odor of drunkenness below his neck.


    "Ah..!"


    After realizing what had happened, Zhang Tie burst in to shrill shrieks. He then opened the door and rushed into the residence as soon as possible. After throwing away the paper bags, he immediately rushed into the washroom. Peeling off all the clothes, he turned on the shower head and hurriedly washed himself.


    Even if the cold water made him quiver all over, Zhang Tie couldn''t wait a moment. He just gritted his teeth and soaped himself. After scrubbing himself clean under the shower head for ten minutes, he finally walked out of the washroom in a clean bathrobe, his mouth and face turned green.


    When he walked out of the washroom, Zhang Tie was still quivering all over due to coldness. But he was furious inside. After hurriedly putting on two sets of slightly warmer underwear, he opened the door once again, aiming to find the woman trouble. Unexpectedly, when he walked out, she was still lying on the floor outside.


    Squatting down, Zhang Tie patted her face and got no response, instead, his hands got wet with her tears. He then pushed her, but still got no response. Zhang Tie then became dumbfounded as he scratched his head, not knowing what to do.


    Should he just leave this woman who had vomited all over him here alone?


    Zhang Tie intended to ignore her, however, at the sight of her lying on the ground like this, he started to pity her.


    ''Well, I will send her downstairs.''


    Zhang Tie''s plan was not bad, however, the moment he wanted to pull the woman up, he remembered that his physical condition didn''t allow him to pick that woman up. He could not even move such a heavy person by dragging her.


    In the end, Zhang Tie could only sigh. Squatting behind the woman, he lifted her upper body. After that, he pushed his hands below her armpits. With his hands crossed before the woman''s breasts, he intended to drag her into his residence.


    Zhang Tie almost forgot that it was a woman instead of Huck or Snade. Although there was a layer of cloth between them, the soft and super plump touch of the woman''s breasts made his heart pound. Zhang Tie hurriedly moved his hand lower and put them below her breasts, exerting his utmost effort to drag the woman beside the sofa in the parlor.


    Previously, he could carry half a ton of items for dozens of kilometers, but right now, he felt tired even after dragging a woman for a few steps.


    After getting her into the parlor and pushing hard with his hands and shoulders to place her onto the sofa, Zhang Tie was already oozing sweat all over from such a short exercise.


    Sitting down on the ground, he panted for a while. After that, he took off the woman''s high-heeled shoes and closed the door. Deciding that the woman will not wake up any time soon, Zhang Tie went back to the washroom to clean his military uniform which was dirtied by the woman and hung it on the rack.


    It was almost 12 pm. by the time Zhang Tie finished washing his clothes. When he came back to the parlor, the woman was still sleeping soundly, so soundly that she even looked like she''d lost her consciousness.


    Zhang Tie carefully glanced over her¡ªat the age of about 30 years, she was plump and tall, and worse a short skirt, shirt and a black ceremonial robe. With concave and convex parts, her figure was very charming. Additionally, she had a good features. Sleeping on the sofa, the woman was filled with a mature woman''s lure, especially that pair of beautiful and glamorous breasts beneath a thin shirt which were really like those of Miss Daina.


    Zhang Tie''s heart started to pound for no reason.


    At this time, it was a bit cold outside. Seemingly feeling the chill in the air, the woman started to tightly hug herself around the waist. Because of this instinctive movement, she almost popped her breasts out of the collar of her shirt.


    Zhang Tie then took a deep breath and moved his eyes away from the woman''s sexy parts. After that, he returned to his bedroom and fetched a thick blanket to cover the woman''s body. A bit later, her also threw some firewood into the fireplace in the parlor. He then poured pine oil on to the firewood and lit them. After a short while, the entire parlor warmed up.


    Zhang Tie had no experience in looking after drunk women. After checking everything in the parlor, he felt it was okay and returned to his bedroom, closing the door of his bedroom as he was used to. After the whole day long torture, Zhang Tie felt tired. He threw himself onto the bed and fell asleep.


    ...


    The next morning, he was woken up by a shrill scream. Hearing it, Zhang Tie quickly rushed out of his bedroom. When he came to the parlor, he found the woman kneeling down on the sofa, using his blanket to cover her crotch with an expression full of fear.


    "Who are you? Where am I? What did you do to me last night?"


    Seeing Zhang Tie coming out, the woman instantly became nervous and asked Zhang Tie the top three questions in her head.


    "I''m the tenant of Mr. and Mrs. Green''s house of the fourth floor. This is my residence..." Zhang Tie felt his teeth aching. "I covered you with that blanket, so please don''t respond like you''ve been raped. Don''t cover there using my blanket as you''re still wearing knickers. When you were drunk last night, you lay outside my door, even vomited on me. I dragged you inside. Don''t you remember it?"


    With a sound of "Ah!", the woman immediately covered her mouth with her hand. She seemed to have recalled something. Although she was drunk last night, she didn''t lose her memory. Putting down the blanket, she found that she was still wearing her clothes, including her knickers. The shrill scream and the movement of grabbing the blanket to cover her lower part were just an instinctive response of a woman who woke up to find herself in an unfamiliar place.


    "Sorry, sorry, I drunk too much last night. I''m afraid that I went one more floor upstairs by mistake last night..."


    After saying that, the woman''s face blushed and she hurriedly escaped towards the door, having no face to stay here any more.


    The moment she opened the door of Zhang Tie''s residence, she realized that she was bare-footed. With a "sorry", she hurriedly ran back to the sofa and lifted her shoes before running out.


    The moment she ran out, she found that her handbag was still on the table beside the sofa. With another "sorry", she hurriedly returned to take her handbag before leaving as fast as possible.


    With the third "sorry", she returned and got her key from the sofa.


    Zhang Tie was standing in pajamas in the parlor. Without saying anything, he just watched the woman going back and forth several times with her "sorry". It was his first time seeing a beautiful and mature woman in such an embarrassed state, therefore, he found it very interesting. In the end, he couldn''t take it any more and burst out laughing. As a result, the misunderstanding due to being vomited all over by that woman last night immediately dispersed.


    Now that he had already gotten up, Zhang Tie didn''t plan to go back to sleep again. It was his big day today.


    After he finished cleaning his face and teeth, he put on a set of average clothes and went out.


    He ate breakfast in a roadside restaurant. When he walked out of it, he saw Rabby, who had made a silver coin yesterday, playing with several kids in a nearby garden.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he took a silver coin from his pocket; tossing it in his hand, he walked towards them.


    The boy called Rabby noticed Zhang Tie walking towards them first, as well as the silver coin in his hand. Although seeing him in different clothes, the little boy could still remember Zhang Tie''s appearance.


    "Sir, what can I do for you?" Rabby asked with his eyes fixed on Zhang Tie''s shiny silver coin. A silver coin meant a great amount of money for a little boy.


    The other kids also ran over. With raised heads, they kept their eyes on that silver coin in Zhang Tie''s hand as they forcefully swallowed their saliva.


    "I have some questions, the one whose answer satisfies me will have this silver coin!"


    The little boys nodded their heads repeatedly like chicks eating rice.


    "Do you know earthworms?"


    Everybody hurriedly nodded.


    "Do you know where can I buy earthworms?"


    All the little boys exchanged glances with each other while frowning their foreheads. They started to carefully think about it.


    "Earthworms? Does anyone sell such little things? I''ve never heard of it before!"


    "Sir..." After hesitating for a while, the little boy finally opened his mouth under the allure of the silver coin. "I''ve not heard about anyone selling earthworms in the whole of Blapei, but I know a place with a lot of earthworms!"


    "Where?"


    Zhang Tie revealed an interested expression.


    "Last time when I went to my grandma''s home with my mom, I saw a lot of earthworms. As my grandma lives in a rural area, many residents there tend to raise earthworms.


    ''Someone raises earthworms!'' This was really a surprise for Zhang Tie. Heart pounding, he calmly asked, "Is that true? What do they raise them for?"


    "They raise earthworms to feed chickens and ducks. My grandma told me that chickens and ducks grow very fast and lay better eggs after they eat earthworms!"


    "Where''s your grandma''s home?"


    "Right in the village called Chevli beside the small town Tonikas outside the city..."


    "Here''s one silver coin!"


    Zhang Tie tossed that silver coin to that little boy who caught it with excitement.


    Zhang Tie had never imagined that he could be that thrilled when he heard the news that someone raised earthworms.


    He howled inside, ''Earthworms of Blapei, your savior''s coming!''

 224 Chevli

    Chapter 224: Chevli


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    In the north of Blapei, Tonikas was a somewhat prosperous small town located in the suburbs. Beside it were vast, unoccupied lands. In an area of several square kilometers, there were some sparse farm villages. Zhang Tie estimated that the little boy''s grandma was living in one of them.


    By a horse taxi, Zhang Tie came to the small town Tonikas. When he arrived there, the elegant four-wheeled carriage that was only suitable to be driven on flat city roads could not continue moving forward in the wild as the path here was covered with pits, which was only suitable to oxcarts, which moved slowly, or directly riding a horse.


    After paying a few dozens of copper coins, Zhang Tie got off the carriage at the small town Tonikas. He first inquired about the location of Chevli from someone in the small town, then walked directly towards it as it was only 2-3 km away from where he was now.


    People in Blapei were honest and kind; additionally, Zhang Tie had his first lieutenant officer''s certificate in his pocket. He was not afraid of troubles even moving alone.


    The surrounding farming land was verdant and vigorous. Many farmers were working in their fields. At this time, the farmers in the farming areas surrounding Blapei had just finished sowing autumn wheat.


    With wheat seeds, they could produce beer. Therefore, sowing wheat seeds became a great event in Blapei. By next summer, when they had to reap them, the people here would hold a grand wheat reaping festival.


    Zhang Tie had heard from the driver that in order to celebrate the good harvest of the past year and that the wheat seeds were sowed, the beer festival, the most boisterous festival in Blapei every year, would be held next month. In it, all the girls in Blapei would present the beer which was brewed by them. The single girls who could brew the best beer would be the stars pursued by all the lads in the city. In the eyes of all men in Blapei, it was the happiest thing to marry such an excellent girl.


    Zhang Tie kept walking on the path as he enjoyed the surrounding landscape. At the same time, he was considering all the details of saving those earthworms. This was the first but would not be the last deal that''ll require him to set free earthworms. In order to make the Fruit of Redemption ripen and his body recover as soon as possible, Zhang Tie was well prepared to keep doing this for a long term.


    A person from another place suddenly wishing to buy earthworms that were usually taken as fodder for chickens and ducks, this would arise others'' suspicions in any place. If he did not want to become their focus and be held back, he had better find a proper reason to persuade them.


    Should he tell them that it was the secret to cure a disease in the east? He was afraid that everybody then would take him for a lunatic. What about other excuses then that would make others not to be curious about why he constantly set earthworms free?


    Zhang Tie recalled Guardian God School which was a school that worshiped mother nature. The doctrine of this school included caring for everything of the mother nature''s and letting her recover balance. The worshipers of that school loved flowers and grasses; of course, they also loved small animals. He might be able to use this point. Grandma Teresa had told him that some believers of this school truly had set free some animals that were locked up, enslaved, or going to be killed.


    ''Maybe I have to launch the Cave Barbarian Survival Mode once again this time'' Zhang Tie mumbled inside.


    After walking on the path beside a field for about one kilometer, creaks of wheels rotating around the axles drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears. He looked back and saw an oxcart slowly driving towards him, carrying half a cart of dried wheat straws. The driver of the oxcart was a 60-odd man in a grass hat and coarse white linen clothes. Because the path beside the field was very narrow, at the sight of the oxcart driving here, Zhang Tie hurriedly stood aside, giving way.


    "Lad, where are you going?" the old man asked enthusiastically, seeing Zhang Tie walking alone.


    "Chevli!"


    "Hoho, if you like, get on the cart, I''m going to Chevli too!"


    The old man then stopped the ox.


    Giving a smile, Zhang Tie climbed onto the oxcart and sat on the pile of wheat straws. Together with the old man, he headed for Chevli.


    "Lad, you don''t look like a resident of Chevli, what are you going there for, friends or relatives?" the old man asked.


    "Hmm, I''ve just been in Blapei for a short time. I was told many families in Chevli were raising earthworms. Therefore, I want to have a look there!" Realizing that the old man might be a local resident, Zhang Tie immediately launched his "Cave Barbarian Survival Mode".


    "Earthworms? Why?" the old man asked out of curiosity. "Shouldn''t they be interesting only the the chickens and ducks?"


    "The biggest function of earthworms is not animals'' fodder!" Zhang Tie revealed a pious and innocent expression. "If I set them free in a wild field, they could make the soil more fertile when the spring arrives. Benefiting from this, the land will be more vigorous and everything will flourish. Those trivial organisms are the gifts from Gaya, the Mother of Land!"


    As he heard Zhang Tie''s explanation, amazement flashed across the old man''s face. He then glanced over him once again. "Are you a believer of Guardian God School?"


    "Yes, I lived in Blackhot City before where I made contact with the Guardian God School. I''m a pious believer of the Guardian God School!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    The old man then hesitated for a while. "There are truly many people raising earthworms in Chevli village and its surrounding villages. You''re right. However, it might be very difficult to persuade them to gift their earthworms to you because of what you say, but you should go and try. Maybe someone really would like to do that!"


    "Of course I will not let others gift their earthworms to me for nothing. No matter what, the earthworms were their private properties. Therefore, I plan to buy the earthworms that they raised before setting them free!"


    "Buy them, you mean you want to buy the useless organisms?"


    The old man became even more startled.


    "Of course, even if I''m a pious believer of the Guardian God School, none of the doctrines tell us to plunder others'' properties or support ourselves by letting others suffer from a loss for a right thing!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, after several seconds, the old man felt a bit a bit shameful as he asked Zhang Tie in a low voice, "Uhm... if you want to buy, how much do you want? I raise a pond of earthworms too!"


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could meet an earthworm raiser in such a short time. It was really as lucky as having a pillow whenever you want to have a sleep.


    "How much do you feel I should pay for the earthworms they raise there?" Zhang Tie asked the old man.


    "If you can pay 20... no, only 18 silver coins for a pond of earthworms, I guess most people will want to let you have those useless organisms!"


    The old man''s face slightly blushed as he felt uncomfortable about bargaining with a kind young man for those little things that nobody would buy at all before.


    ''He''s really an adorable old man.'' Zhang Tie smiled inside.


    "Then I will pay you 21 silver coins for one pond of earthworms..." Zhang Tie looked solemn and merciful. "As long as I can send these adorable little things back to Gaya, the Mother of Land, and enable this land to be more vigorous, I won''t mind spending a bit more."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the old man became even more bashful.


    The oxcart kept rocking on the path as it drove forward. After leaving the path, the road became a bit broader so two oxcarts could pass at the same time. However, the road situation was still not good. Sitting on the oxcart, Zhang Tie chatted with the old man and gradually learned many new things.


    The old man was named Harley, a local farmer of Chevli. Many people in the village were truly raising earthworms, even many families in the surrounding villages were raising earthworms too. People raised them here for two reasons: first, it was convenient to raise earthworms; second, if earthworms were used as fodder for chickens and ducks, they could save a lot of grains.


    After rocking for over ten minutes, Zhang Tie finally arrived at Chevli village, which only included more than a hundred households. Few outsiders would visit this small village normally. Especially, people like Zhang Tie, who was a Chinese youth. Sitting on the oxcart, once he entered the village together with Harley, he had caught many people''s attention.


    "Hey, Harley, who''s that Chinese youth sitting on your cart? Is he Hanna''s man..." someone started to ask standing beside the road.


    "Go away..." Harley became impatient as he wove his whip. He didn''t explain what Zhang Tie was here for at all. When there were fewer people around them, he became nervous as he turned back and said, "Uhm... my earthworms..."


    "Don''t worry, I will definitely buy your earthworms before considering others''!"


    After working in the grocery store for several years, Zhang Tie owned a pair of sharp eyes. Certainly he knew what Harley was concerned about. Although Blapei''s people were simple and honest, they were still not hostile to money. Especially in rural areas, like in other such places, besides selling some grains in harvest seasons, people normally would have few chances to make extra money.


    Zhang Tie soon caught sight of the place where Harley raised his earthworms.


    It was a small pond built of bricks and cement which was deeper than 30 cm, while covering 7-8 square meters. The small pond was surrounded by hedges in case chickens and ducks came inside to eat them. It was covered with straws to prevent sunshine from reaching it as well Beneath the straws were a pile of cow and fowl dung, duck feces, and soil.


    This was how people raised earthworms. After piling up the dung of livestock together with wastes and covering them with straws, they didn''t need to care about the fodder for chickens and ducks any more.


    Zhang Tie knew that his last hope and the holy miracle of redemption lay in the dirty dung and wastes.


    For the first time, Zhang Tie was filled with awe with the creator''s arrangement for each life.

 225 Setting Free Earthworms

    Chapter 225: Setting Free Earthworms


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    "Who''s he, grandpa?"


    When Zhang Tie and Harley were looking at that pile of dung and soil beside that earthworm pond, a maiden came towards them from the grassland behind Harley''s house with a milk jug in her hand.


    With sleeves rolled up, she wore a white shirt with patterns on it and a pale blue skirt. Outside the shirt was a blue skintight vest which covered her skirt with an apron. This was the favorite dressing of peasant maidens in Blapei and the Andaman Alliance as a whole.


    The maiden was 18-19 years old and looked a bit older than Zhang Tie. She was very beautiful. With a string binding her hair, she had two golden braids hanging on either side, while her red face and shiny eyes were filled with vitality. Additionally, her skintight vest outlined the elegant curves of her waist and breasts.


    These rural maidens'' bodies were even more amazing that of those girls of Rose Association due to better development. In addition, they were exceptionally beautiful.


    Only with one glance at this maiden, Zhang Tie had become slightly ashamed. The maiden carrying a milk jug looked both energetic and capable. She was simply a heifer. Coincidentally, all the heifers were extremely attractive to Zhang Tie.


    "Hanna, this is our guest, he''s here to buy our earthworms!" Harley explained.


    "Buy earthworms?" Having just milked the cow, Hanna carried a milk jug as she walked towards them. At the same time, she peered at Zhang Tie several times before said straightforwardly, "You must be a liar!"


    "Of course not. I''ve negotiated with your grandpa, cash on delivery!" Zhang Tie smiled while peering at that girl''s breasts that were G cup size, which were even bigger than those of Sharapova and Alice. Based on his sharp eyes formed by the girls of the Rose Association, Zhang Tie instantly judged the size of Hanna''s breasts.


    ''That''s really a heifer.''


    Zhang Tie silently swallowed his saliva.


    "Are you that rich? Why do you buy these things that nobody would buy at all?"


    "Dream and belief can not be measured by money!"


    In the cave barbarian survival mode, Zhang Tie''s words and behavior were so perfect that nobody could find any fault with him at all.


    The maiden glanced at Zhang Tie with a pair of dubious eyes.


    "Hanna, this young man is a pious believer of Guardian God School..."


    Standing nearby, old Harley repeated what Zhang Tie had fabricated to him.


    This lie was truly believable. After all, these small things that existed everywhere, almost no other idiot would buy them at all.


    Hearing old Harley''s explanation, Hanna''s eyes revealed a bit of interest towards Zhang Tie. At the sight of his granddaughter being interested in this black-haired lad, old Harley who had experienced love affairs hurriedly assigned Hanna with a job.


    "Hanna, have you milked the cows just now? Hurry up and take the milk to the kitchen to filter it before boiling. If it keeps still too long, it will not be yummy."


    Old Harley didn''t want to sell his granddaughter at the price of only several silver coins. Before being f*cked by a man, the female had to be interested in that man at the beginning. Nobody knew how long an outsider like Zhang Tie would stay in Blapei. Therefore, old Harley didn''t want to assume the risk of allowing the lad to make Hanna pregnant before fleeing. Even though this lad was a pious believer of Guardian God School, there was no doctrine there on forbidding a believer to make a female pregnant.


    Hanna then carried the milk jug away while turning back on her way to cast another glance at Zhang Tie.


    Seeing Hanna going away, Zhang Tie continued to talk about earthworms with old Harley. Old Harley moved away a part of the straws covering the pile of dung and soil, then thrust a small wooden stick inside to open the dung. Zhang Tie then saw more than ten earthworms twisting under the dung, hurriedly worming and shrinking into the soil.


    These earthworms were all fat and strong. If Zhang Tie didn''t came here to buy them, they were destined to become the fodder of chickens and ducks.


    "How many earthworms are in this pit?" Zhang Tie asked old Harley.


    "At least one hundred thousand. No one can count them. To tell the truth, this organism reproduces very fast, having a very strong reproductive capability. Each earthworm will lay eggs three-four times a year, giving birth to dozens of babies each time. So one earthworm can give birth to more than one hundred new ones a year. I usually take some from here as fodder for chickens and ducks. As long as you add some wastes and cow dung, they will give birth to some babies in a few days. So I''ve never seen their numbers decrease!"


    "Do you have a vehicle? I cannot carry a pond of earthworms and dung in to the wild and bury them just by hand!"


    "Of course I have, I have a wooden handcart used for carrying cow dung and a spade. If you can not do it by yourself, I can find two helpers for you if you can pay me another two silver coins a day!"


    "Fine!" After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie directly pulled out his purse and counted out 25 silver coins before handing them to old Harley. "21 silver coins are for earthworms, one silver coin is for renting your handcart and tools while the remaining three are for the helper you''ll find for me from the village!"


    Taking the silver coins, old Harley instantly revealed a smile. After a short while, a human-driven wooden handcart smelling of cow dung, two spades, and a strong male youth appeared before Zhang Tie. That male youth was old Harley''s grandson, Hanna''s elder brother.


    He hadn''t imagined that the pond of earthworms was worth 21 silver coins. Additionally he could also make three silver coins today. Even lending two spades would bring them a silver coin. Hanna''s elder brother and the other family members of old Harley became very happy.


    Generous people would gain a warm welcome everywhere they went.


    The moment the tools were brought over, Zhang Tie and Hanna''s elder brother started to work hard. They firstly moved away the straws off the earthworms; after that, they directly spaded the earthworms out of the pond and moved them onto the wooden handcart.


    Zhang Tie was filled with excitement. He had never imagined it would go so smooth today.


    With his physical condition much worse than before, Zhang Tie only worked for less than three minutes before starting to pant heavily. Supporting himself on the handle of his spade, Zhang Tie took a rest nearby while Hanna''s elder brother became more and more energetic.


    "Hehe, you''d better take a rest. I can finish this work alone!"


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s weak look, Hanna''s elder brother burst out laughing as he moved his spade faster. In only a few minutes, the wooden handcart was already fully loaded with cow dung and soil. It at least contained ten thousand earthworms.


    Seeing those earthworms rolling on the vehicle, Zhang Tie hurriedly covered it with some straws to avoid the adorable earthworms from being shined on by the sun.


    "Where are we heading to?" Hanna''s elder brother asked Zhang Tie.


    "I''m not familiar with the neighboring topography. If you feel that there''s a suitable place somewhere around for these earthworms to settle down, you can guide me there!"


    Finally, Hanna''s elder brother guided Zhang Tie to a riverside south of Chevli village. The river was dug a couple of years ago. Below its banks was silt which had been carried out of the river. Many trees were planted on the riverside. A bit farther away from there were vegetable fields. Many people piled the rotten vegetable leaves onto a concave land near the river, which had been covered with weeds. Zhang Tie decided that the environment here was really suitable for the earthworms to survive.


    He opened the soil near the concave land using his spade and checked it. He found that the soil here was soft and had many earthworms. The moment Zhang Tie broke the earth, the earthworms had tried to hide into the soil from the sun''s light.


    For the earthworms who lived in the small pond before and were destined to be fodder for chickens and ducks, this place, although not being paradise, was almost like a Shangri-la.


    Now that Zhang Tie was determined to set free his earthworms here, the following steps were easy. He worked together with Hanna''s elder brother as they dug out a pit of 30-40 cm in depth. They then moved the dung along with earthworms into the pit with their spades. After that, they covered some fine land on it, making it ready for the earthworms to settle down here.


    The process of setting free these earthworms was simply an engineering work. It took Zhang Tie and Hanna''s elder brother almost a whole day only to clean 95% of all the earthworms and dung from that pond at old Harley''s house. Finally, only a part of dung and soil the size of a dustpan in that pond which covered 7-8 square meters was left. According to old Harley''s explanation, they were left to reproduce. Only by adding some dung and wastes, the pond would be fully filled with earthworms again in less than a year.


    For the whole day, Zhang Tie and Hanna''s elder brother pulled the wooden handcart and walked to-and-fro many times. At the same time, the message that Zhang Tie was buying earthworms also spread across the village. As a result, all the farmers in Chevli knew that a pious believer of Guardian God School came to Chevli, who wanted to set free their raised earthworms in to the wild. This person was not only pious, but also generous as he paid 25 silver coins to old Harley''s family today. It was admirable for local residents to make so much extra money in one day. How could those earthworms value so much?


    Because of his generosity, Zhang Tie received a passionate treatment in old Harley''s house. He enjoyed a free lunch and a free supper. But because he was in too much hurry to go back to check his Fruit of Redemption, after supper, he didn''t stay in old Harley''s home any more, instead, he directly returned to his residence.


    "Do you want more earthworms? I raise some too..."


    "My earthworm pond is larger than that of old Harley. It contains more earthworms than his as well. I only want 20 silver coins for all of them..."


    "I only need 19 silver coins!"


    Seeing people arguing around him, Zhang Tie felt dizzy and shouted out loudly standing on the oxcart, "Be quiet!"


    Everybody then became quiet with their eyes fixed on Zhang Tie, who was standing on the oxcart. As Zhang Tie was a military officer of the Iron-Blood Camp, since he left the battlefield, he had a special, firm personality, which could definitely help him control the situation at this moment.


    "Please go back home, I will return in a couple of days. I want all your earthworms. Don''t worry, I will come back to buy earthworms one house by another. I only buy those raised by you in your own pond. For the wild ones, I don''t buy them. The price of your earthworms will be the same as that in old Harley''s house today!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, everybody left satisfied.


    Standing outside her home, Hanna watched Zhang Tie standing on the oxcart, persuading all the other people to leave with only a couple of sentences. Her eyes then became shiny.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that as a handsome Chinese youth, who was utterly different from those muscled youths in the village, in many girls'' eyes in this village, he was filled with an exceptionally "exotic" aura. What he did in this normal village aroused many girls'' interests, like Hanna''s.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie returned to his rental estate, it was already dark outside. The sound of a violin still drifted from Mr. and Mrs. Green''s residence on the first floor; the noise of the kid still came from the residence of the young couple on the second floor; and it was still empty on the third floor, while on the door of Zhang Tie''s residence was a taped paper.


    "I''m sorry for what happened last night. Thanks for your care. If I contaminated your clothes, you can take them downstairs and put outside my door. I will help you wash them all¡ª¡ªLinda"


    ''It seems that woman is called Linda, and she came here to find me!''


    Zhang Tie had almost forgotten this trivial thing. As she was just drunk, it was not necessary for him to be angry about her. Revealing a smile, he tore off the paper as he opened the door and walked inside.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s heart had long been pounded like boiling water. He was just trying to recover his composure.


    ''Patience is virtue!'' he warned himself once again.


    Because he had sweated too much today and the work today was not clean, Zhang Tie was still full of smell of dung and wastes. Before he entered the Castle of Black Iron, he spent ten minutes taking a bath and changing his clothes.


    ...


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    When this line of words slowly disappeared, Zhang Tie took a deep breath as he walked towards the small tree.


    The small tree or the true karma rule didn''t let Zhang Tie down. At this moment, on the twig in the middle of the small tree were quietly hanging two fruits.


    The two fruits were both Fruits of Redemption: one was pale green while the other had become pink. They were like two peaches, one was already ripe while the other was not ripe yet.


    The pale green one was "golden uangs'' strength" which was not ripe yet. Zhang Tie didn''t pay much attention to it, instead, he directly stretched out his hand towards the pink heart-shaped peach.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Redemption, from earthworms'' appreciation, has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªThis fruit can recover your wounds by 1.3%.


    With more than twenty silver coins, Zhang Tie could improve his physical condition by 1.3%. After reading this, he became dumbfounded, then burst out laughing loudly. At this moment, Zhang Tie understood that money was very important, though it was not the standard to measure the value of everything. Without those earthworms, no matter how much he spent, he could not recover his body at all.


    Maybe similar to the human kind before the catastrophe, people in this age were used to measuring the value of everything with money. He set free at least 70,000-80,000 earthworms today. Although those lives were only worth some silver coins in someone''s eyes, they didn''t knew that all the lives were the manifestation of the creator, whose value could not be measured by money. In the eyes of the creator, a live grass and a small earthworm might be more valuable than a magnificent palace.


    Should the alleged wealth of a person be measured by the eyes of human kind or the eyes of the creator? In other words, a real rich man should be rich from the perspectives of both human kind and the creator!


    The above enlightenment flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind.


    The heart-shaped Fruit of Redemption brought people an exotic sense that made their pores expanded due to excitement. After picking the fruit and eating it, it started to worm through Zhang Tie''s body by creeping like an earthworm. Zhang Tie could obviously feel that the places where he felt uncomfortable before became comfortable after the warm flow crept through.


    It was too nice eating this fruit. During the whole process, Zhang Tie felt like numerous small hands were giving him a massage both inside and outside. He was so immersed in that process that even after the fruit''s effect had long ended, he was still sitting on the ground and enjoying it''s memory for a long time before standing up.


    After getting up, Zhang Tie made some movements to feel his current physical condition. Although it only recovered 1.3%, Zhang Tie could still feel a bit better than before. Because his physical condition was very bad, even with 1.3%''s recovery, he could still feel a very obvious improvement.


    As long as he could insist on setting free earthworms, he would fully recover to a normal person in several months.


    Zhang Tie let out a long breath inside...


    At this speed, he knew that he would fully recover, as if by a miracle, in only 3-4 months. Perhaps when he had fully recovered, the reconditioning of the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division would have not completed yet. After all, the loss for the Iron-Blood Camp was really big this time.


    If he could fully recover, would he go back to the Iron-Blood Camp? When he thought of this question, Zhang Tie became hesitant inside. He knew that if he just went back like nothing had happened after being judged a disabled man by a lot of doctors due to his terrifying experience, he would then be truly "well-known" in the entire Iron-Horn Army. He was afraid that if he did that, many people would start to doubt his lie about being struck by a lightning bolt. No matter how sharp a man with the Post-Lightning Stroke Savant Syndrome was, he could not do something like that.


    Iron-Horn Army was not Blackhot City. If he aroused someone''s suspicions, Zhang Tie wasn''t sure whether he could keep the secret of the Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie was really puzzled by this question. However, only after several seconds, he pushed it out of his mind. No matter what, whether he would recover or the Iron-Blood Camp would finish its reconditioning and reorganization, it would be at least 3-4 months later. He didn''t need to think about this question now.


    Thinking this way, Zhang Tie relaxed.


    Because he had enough free time tonight, he firstly cultivated in the Castle of Black Iron for a while, then continued to produce two more binding chains using his spiritual energy. After that, he practiced mental arithmetic by two abacuses at the same time so as to recover his spiritual energy a bit. After doing all the above things, he felt very satisfied and fell asleep.


    Later on, Zhang Tie became the most popular person in the whole Chevli village...

 226 The Most Popular Person in Chevli

    Chapter 226: The Most Popular Person in Chevli


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    On an empty land outside the Chevli village were stacks of dried wheat straw. Many households¡¯ wheat straw stacks were piled here in bundles. They were like rolling mountains. Additionally, the sparse wheat straws covering the land looked like a thick carpet. Even if people jumped off from the top of the stacks, they would not get hurt. Therefore, this place also became the most natural and enjoyable children¡¯s playground in the Chevli village as a whole.


    In order to hide themselves well when they played the hide and seek game, the kids had emptied the bottoms of many tall wheat straw stacks. After blocking the entrances of the caves in them, one could sleep inside overnight.


    The insides of the wheat straw stacks were ventilated, warm, and very soft.


    The place where the wheat straws were piled was really a mini-maze in Chevli village.


    Certainly, not only kids liked it there, even Zhang Tie liked it too.


    At this moment, the sky was covered with stars. The kids in Chevly had just had supper after being called back home by their parents before dusk. They were preparing to play in groups outside.


    In the period between the kids being called back home to eat supper and them returning to play outside, the whole wheat straw drying field was vacant. During this over 2-h period, people could do a lot of things here.


    From the day before yesterday, Zhang Tie had fallen in love with this place.


    After setting free earthworms the first time, he passed by this wheat straws drying field. He saw Hanna with her two golden braids on his way. She was hiding behind a wheat straw stack, peeking out only with her head and silently waving her hand towards him, who was walking after her elder brother and another helper in the village.


    As the work today had been finished, Zhang Tie told the two helpers to go back first. He then found an excuse to take a rest around here. When they were far away, Zhang Tie stealthily moved to that wheat straws stack where Hanna was hiding.


    Pulling Zhang Tie¡¯s hand, she said nothing but walked around the field in circles before guiding him in front of a wheat straw stack. She then pulled away a bundle of wheat straws from below, revealing a hole. Pulling her skirt up, she gave him a smile as she lowered her body and crawled inside, followed by Zhang Tie.


    The moment Zhang Tie came in, Hanna¡¯s hot lips pasted onto his while her hands reached for his leather belt.


    As a man, of course, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t wait at all. The following thing was needless to mention.


    One lad and one maiden, staying alone, soon wrestled with each other.


    It was Zhang Tie¡¯s first time doing this in a wheat straw stack. He felt it very stimulative and full of fun.


    From that day onward, Zhang Tie also started to like these wheat straw stacks. At each dusk, Hanna would wait for him there. After he finished work each day, Zhang Tie would find an excuse to meet Hanna here like what he did that day.


    Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t remember how many times had Hanna started her contractive spasm, but he could remember that after each time they made love, the greater part of the undid and padded apron under her body would be wet. He was really amazed when he learned that a woman¡¯s apron had such a function.


    Each time when Hanna started to spasm, she would make shrill shrieks unconscioussly. Therefore, each time at this moment Zhang Tie would hurriedly kiss her lips.


    Zhang Tie also enjoyed this sense of spasm as he felt a sense of achievement both physically and mentally.


    This time, Hanna¡¯s spasm lasted as long as 3-4 minutes. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t move this time, instead, he just lay on Hanna¡¯s body and kissed her. Sucking Hanna¡¯s tongue, he could sense the coldness on her tongue¡¯s tip. Occasionally, he would move his d*ck which was in her body to make her quiver from excitement.


    Zhang Tie liked to see a woman losing her mind under him.


    Coming back from the paradise to the human world, Hanna could still feel the hardness of Zhang Tie¡¯s d*ck inside her body. At this moment, she was still soft all over. She had no more strength left while the apron under her was all wet and a bit swollen.


    She had not experienced this crazy thing before. From the first time, she had felt that Zhang Tie was like a weird beast who grew up more and more powerful in a crazy way as days passed. Each time she felt like she was torn to pieces by him. Whenever she thought of Zhang Tie¡¯s panting after he had used the spade while working for only two minutes, she would be certain that that bad guy must be pretending at that time.


    "Ha¡­ have you ejected it?" Hanna gasped, face turning completely red.


    "You guess."


    Zhang Tie gave an obscene smile while moving his d*ck inside her body again, making Hanna¡¯s body quiver heavily.


    "Ah¡­ could you stop? I know what you¡¯re waiting for. I knew it when you saw me for the first time. Don¡¯t lift my legs any more, put them down, please, they are already sore..."


    At this time, Hanna¡¯s skirt had been undid and been circled around her waist while her underwear were moved onto her knees. She was still wearing fine-heeled leather shoes, revealing a pair of snow-white legs. Her plump thighs were pressed by Zhang Tie to curl up close to each other. Zhang Tie then separated her legs and brought her knees against his chest.


    After that, Zhang Tie put down Hanna¡¯s legs.


    She then undid her skintight vest and moved it lower from her body. After that, she undid the buttons of the shirt under the vest and the front-button type corsage, exposing her huge and snow-white G-sized cup at once.


    Hanna pushed them using her hands and forced a deep plump a and soft ravine. After that, she cast an enchanting glance at Zhang Tie and bit his ear.


    "Come on, you scumbag, my sister-in-law taught me yesterday..."


    With shiny eyes, Zhang Tie then did more funny gestures...


    ...


    After twenty minutes, Zhang Tie was the first to walk out of the wheat straw stack with a refreshed look. Looking at the sky, he realized that they had played longer than yesterday. Like how she looked after milking the cow, this heifer was really gratified and was really good at milking.


    Face blushed, Hanna drilled out of the wheat straw stack too while arranging her dress.


    Zhang Tie then helped her to arrange her clothes and fastened the ropes on her vest.


    After picking the straws from the other¡¯s clothes and hair, they smield at each other.


    "Will you come here tomorrow?" Hanna asked, staring at Zhang Tie full of affection.


    "I have something to deal with in Blapei tomorrow, so I will come here the day after tomorrow!" Zhang Tie explained.


    Even though he was the Director of the No. 9 Equipment Administration of the Comprehensive Relief Branch of the Logistics Department of Iron-Horn Army, Zhang Tie had not went over to the plant for almost two weeks, since the first day after he had left the hospital. Additionally, the war was continuing on the frontline. Even if this was a leisurely position for retired officers, Zhang Tie still felt bashful being that lazy. He should go there and greet them at least.


    "Then I will wait for you here the day after tomorrow!"


    "Great!" Saying this, Zhang Tie suddenly thought of something. "What gift do you want, I¡¯ll bring it back for you from Blapei!"


    Inclining her head, Hanna thought for a moment. "Bring me a packet of beer yeast then. As the beer festival will arrive in a few days, by then, each girl in the village will display the beer they brewed themselves, but there didn¡¯t seem to be enough beer yeast at home, so just buy one packet for me!"


    "Okay!"


    They then kissed before the wheat straw stack and stealthily departed from each other in different directions.


    Now that it was a clandestine love affair, they were both very careful.


    ...


    Only a few minutes after Zhang Tie left the wheat straw stack, before he walked out of the Chevli village, he encountered old Harley who was looking for Hanna.


    The moment he caught sight of Zhang Tie, old Harley became stunned. "Zhang Tie, have you seen Hanna..."


    "No¡­ no!" Zhang Tie stammered out, unconfident like a thief.


    "Why do you leave so late?" Old Harley gazed at Zhang Tie with a dubious look.


    "Uhm¡­ I was a bit tired today¡­ after the work, I took a rest. When I woke up, it was already somewhat late! Hanna should be in the village or with her friends. No more chit-chat, it¡¯s hard to walk in the night. I have to go back!"


    Zhang Tie hurriedly escaped.


    Looking at Zhang Tie¡¯s anxious look, old Harley had a feeling of something wrong...


    ...


    After setting the earthworms free, Zhang Tie had lingered with Hanna for more than two hours before returning to Tonikas town alone in the evening. After a casual supper in some hotel, he finally found a horse taxi to drive him back to the rental estate.


    Today, Zhang Tie came back after 11 o¡¯clock pm, later than usual. By now, all the people on the first and the second floor had fallen asleep. In order to not disturb them, Zhang Tie quietly moved upstairs.


    ...


    "Linda, as I sent you back, why not invite me in to have a cup of coffee?"


    The moment Zhang Tie moved on to the second floor, he heard the voice of a middle-aged man from the third floor.


    ¡®F*ck, you want to drink a cup of coffee in her residence at such a late time, I think you motherf*cker want her to drink your milk!¡¯


    Hearing that voice, Zhang Tie immediately understood what was happening. It was very normal and had nothing to do with Zhang Tie. He only felt that the man was a bit hypocritical.


    "No¡­ it¡¯s a bit too late, thanks for sending me back. I¡¯m a bit uncomfortable. See you!"


    The woman, who lived on the third floor, obviously knew what the man was thinking about. So after a slight hesitation, she refused his wish to "drink a cup of coffee".


    "Are you uncomfortable? What¡¯s wrong? Let me see!" the man asked in an anxious voice.


    "No need, I drank too much. I¡¯ll be okay after a rest¡­ ah!"


    When Zhang Tie arrived at the third floor, he saw a man in tidy clothes hugging the woman who lived in the residence on the third floor in the dim stairwell. The woman was struggling in resistance, grabbing that man¡¯s hand to stop him from fumbling all over her body. At the same time, she inclined her head to avoid being kissed by him as well.


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s footsteps, the man and the woman both stopped. At the sight of him, that woman seemed to become a bit embarrassed while the man older than forty frowned.


    As it had nothing to do with him, Zhang Tie just pretended to ignore them. After a casual glance over them, he went directly upstairs.


    The man stared at Zhang Tie, but after realizing that he just lived up the stairs, he relaxed and started to fumble again.


    When Zhang Tie arrived at the fourth floor and prepared to open the door of his own residence, the man downstairs became more presumptuous.


    "Ah¡­ no¡­ let me go, if not, I¡¯ll call the police..." the woman older than thirty exclaimed.


    "Linda, I love you. Once you promise to be my woman, I can delay the debt of your distillery..."


    The man started to gasp.


    "Ah¡­ haven¡¯t you agreed to delay it for me at the table!"


    The woman still struggled to get out of his grasp.


    "It depends on your performance tonight. Don¡¯t pretend to be a goddess any more. I know that women like you only want more benefits at the critical moment. Once you promise to be my mistress and make me comfortable on the bed later on, then, nothing is a problem..."


    The man¡¯s voice became increasingly more anxious while the sound of their clothes moving about became louder. "Do¡­ do you know, Linda, since the first time I saw you, I wanted to crazily f*ck you. At the sight of your little mouth, I wanted to make you kneel down in front of me and lick my pole. If you make me comfortable tonight, nothing is a problem later on..."


    Besides more crazy movements, the man¡¯s words became more foul...


    "Pah..."


    The woman smacked the man. Soon after, her mouth was blocked by something, and she started weepign. With a sound of "Hua...", her clothes were torn to pieces.


    Previously, as Zhang Tie had felt it had nothing to do with him, he planned to ignore it. However, at this moment when he inserted his key into the door, he couldn¡¯t stand it any more. He turned and rapidly went downstairs to the third floor.


    When Zhang Tie arrived at the third floor, the man had already forced the woman to a corner of the stairwell. With one hand covering her mouth, he pinched her neck with his other hand. Part of her clothes had been torn open. Evidently, the man was going to use force to conquer her.


    Zhang Tie instantly rushed forward and pinched the vein on the man¡¯s neck, dragging him off from the woman¡¯s body. Being pinched in a certain location on his neck, the man immediately felt dizzy and unconscioussly let go of the woman.


    After setting the earthworms free for one week, Zhang Tie had already become as healthy as a normal person and had some strength. Plus, with his rich experience in killing people on the battlefield, the man wasn¡¯t even able to resist before being thrown to the ground.


    He instantly became dizzy and didn¡¯t realize what had happened until ten more seconds passed. Before he could open his mouth, Zhang Tie, who had killed numerous people when he was in the Iron-Blood Camp, smacked him, having no wish to waste time talking to such a man. He then kept smacking the two sides of his face for more than ten times. The 40-odd man¡¯s face was soon turned into a pig-head covered with blood.


    "If I see you again, I¡¯ll chop you to pieces and feed the dogs on the street."


    Flustered, the man looked at Zhang Tie, who was filled with killing intent formed by killing numerous people on the battlefield. Even if he was not as sharp as before, once with a solemn face, he could still present a terrifying strength to others.


    The man couldn¡¯t speak any more, so instead he just nodded.


    Zhang Tie then gave him a fierce kick. "Piss off!".


    The man then tumbled downstairs in a very embarrassed way. He even fell down on as it was dark there. Like a ball, he kept rolling to the second floor before escaping outside. He didn¡¯t even dare to look back.


    Not until the man escaped away did Zhang Tie turn back and look at the woman who was standing outside her door on the third floor, hands on her corsage that had been torn open.


    "Are you okay?" Zhang Tie mildly asked.


    "Thank you!" the woman replied in a low voice, half of her body in the shadow.


    Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t see clearly her expression, but the curve below her waist under the fluorite lamp was really seductive, to the point that he even wanted to commit a crime.


    The woman was wearing a super short skintight skirt with scattered small flowers and plants, under which was a pair of slim legs. Additionally, she was wearing a pair of high-heeled shoes. All this exposed her mature and sexy figure at once.


    ¡®No wonder that man became a beast!¡¯ Zhang Tie mumbled inside. If it was him who had sent such a woman home at the midnight, he might not have been able to stop himself from being impulsive outside her door either.


    "Have a good rest then! If he comes here to find you trouble later, just call me!"


    After casting another glance at her, Zhang Tie went upstairs.


    Not until she heard Zhang Tie opening his own door and entering his residence that the woman who was curling in the shadow pulled out her key and open her own door.


    On that day, because she was drunk and the fluorite lamp in the stairwell was a bit dim, after vomiting on Zhang Tie¡¯s clothes, she could not remember how he looked in a military uniform. She thought of him as a kid, but at this moment, his brutality, real strength and righteousness that were far greater than that of an average 15-16 youth totally subverted his image in her mind.


    When she thought back to that scene of her sleeping in Zhang Tie¡¯s residence and escaping from his parlor with embarassment, as well as his taunting loud laugh as he stood wearing a night robe, the woman had a weird feelign towards Zhang Tie.


    When he entered his residence, Zhang Tie took a bath first before entering the Castle of Black Iron. After eating today¡¯s Fruit of Redemption from earthworms¡¯ appreciation, his total recovery was 15.8%, a bit more than yesterday. Now, Zhang Tie had finally reached the healthy state of a 15-old youth he was before he gained the Castle of Black Iron. Although he had no great strength, thankfully, he was a normal person at least.


    ¡ª¡ªThe system has detected that the physical condition of Castle Lord has recovered to the minimal physical condition that can bear the impact of Trouble-Reappearance Fruit. Therefore, the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit is available now.


    This news was definitely the best gift Zhang Tie had received today. He burst out into loud laughter.


    After that, he cultivated his spiritual energy in the Castle of Black Iron for awhile and formed another "binding chain". He then felt a bit tired, so he went back to his bedroom and had a good night¡¯s sleep.


    ...


    At midnight, Zhang Tie was woken up by a loud sound that could shock the entire Blapei. He hurriedly came to the parlor and pulled away the curtain, catching sight of a place in the south of Blapei. Over there, flames were leaping to the sky, half of it already dyed red. Zhang Tie could barely remember that that place was an important logistics warehouse of Blapei...


    Later on, a shrill air-defense alert started to reverberate across Blapei.


    Dumbfounded, Zhang Tie gazed at the flaring flames in the horizon and that looming airship above the flames. A question flashed across his mind, ¡®Was that loud sound the legendary explosion?¡¯


    Ever since he was born, this was Zhang Tie¡¯s first time seeing an explosion.

 227 The Fall of the Curtain of Science

    Chapter 227: The Fall of the Curtain of Science


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    It was said that it was very simple to make explosives before the catastrophe. In that age, people had grasped a lot of methods to explode substances. They could also make bombs with terrifying power. With only one bomb, they could even destroy a city, killing millions of people. Many people could even easily make a lot of explosives at home.


    With the arrival of the catastrophe and the God''s star, every rule in the world had changed, which caused people to lose their ability to make explosives for hundreds years after the catastrophe. This lasted until the time before the second holy war between humans and demons, when during an excavation of underground relics and under the enlightenment of far-east civilization, people gained this ability once again. It was said that this ability was related to crystals. However, compared to before the catastrophe, the number of people who were able to make explosives was even less than the number of rare animals in the zoo before the catastrophe.


    Many people were still attempting to find the mystery of why the substances that could explode before the catastrophe failed to do so after it. They posed many explanations, the most famous two being: first, the string change theory based on the opinion of the string science of universe; second, the God''s particles theory based on the God''s star.


    According to the string change school, the catastrophe and the God''s star changed the string state of materials, the basic constitution state of substances in this galaxy. As a result, many basic rules in this galaxy changed.


    This opinion had a lot of supporters. The string theory was still disputable before the catastrophe. Although the opinion of string change theory seemed able to explain everything after the catastrophe¡ªit was meaningless. Because average people could not understand it.


    Besides the string theory, there was a theory about mysterious particles brought by the God''s star. This theory also had a lot of basis and supporters. According to the God''s particles theory, the God''s star brought a kind of mysterious particles. After they were cast in this galaxy, every rule in this galaxy changed.


    Besides always mentioning people''s successful researches on the macro world before the catastrophe, people who supported the God''s particles theory favored the "one vacant chair theory"¡ªin a classroom with 50 chairs, even if 49 of them were occupied, with one chair vacant, all the other 49 people could change their locations for free. Because no matter how they changed, there was always a vacant chair.


    This was the scientific rule worshiped by the world before the catastrophe. The foundation of this rule was that vacant chair in the classroom. With that vacant seat, everybody in the classroom could remain mobile and active to a certain degree.


    However, after the catastrophe, the God''s star occupied the vacant chair in the classroom. As a result, the mobility and activeness that was in the classroom suddenly disappeared. Although there was no vacant chair any more, with the brilliant rays of the God''s star, the people in the classroom could now see the outside world. They started to realize the limit of their original living space. At the same time, they also begun to enjoy the colors of the outside space where they thought was nothing but darkness before.


    This was the most popular opinion. The science teacher at Zhang Tie''s school was also a supporter of this opinion. According to the current study and understanding of the human world before the catastrophe, humans before the catastrophe had already collapsed into an alleged "scientific trap" under the seduction of the demons and extreme self-consciousness.


    In that age, people blindly thought that the science they grasped was the only and ultimate truth in this universe. However, the truth was that people''s crazy worshiping of science was just a game of blind people touching the elephant [1] that most people played under the guidance of others. The elephant was the overall existence and truth of the universe while human science was not even a finger in front of the overall existence and truth. Even if it was a finger, the moment it touched the skin of the elephant, people would mistake the universe as a rough and flexible wall that could confine people''s living space.


    The largest myth of science was rooted in the limits of people''s senses and awareness. What people could see, hear, smell and touch was actually an existing form of a substance within the range of a narrow frequency of visible light. The frequency within that range that people could perceive was only a bowl of water in the water vat or a key on the entire keyboard of the piano. When the hand of science pressed that key, people heard the sound and took that single key as the whole piano.


    The alleged science was just an extension of people''s five senses and awareness in exploring the universe. The limits of people''s five senses and awareness led to the limits of science. At the beginning, the science that people grasped truly had played a positive role in their development. But after that, especially in the hundreds of years before the catastrophe, the alleged science became the shackles of confinement and the tool that demons used to destroy human beings.


    At that time, the "science spokesman" told people that humans were the only smart life on this galaxy, even the entire universe...


    At that time, the "science spokesman" told people that the galaxy was solid. Besides magma and rocks, nothing was inside...


    At that time, the "science spokesman" told people that the full potential of people was to run faster, jump higher, and be more intelligent...


    At that time, the "science spokesman" told people that the ancestors of human beings was a kind of carbon-based protein existence formed by a lightning bolt hitting water. After many years'' evolution, the carbon-based protein finally became a kind of single-cell organism. After another long period of evolution, it became another kind of living being... In the end, apes became human beings. Human beings had no history at all. As long as you walked around a zoo and a geological fossil museum, you would understand it.


    Oh, at that time, "science" told people that above 98% of human genes were wastes.


    People trusted it. As a result, demons hiding among them became very happy.


    At that time, humans were actually a lamb led to slaughter, its eyes covered with a black cloth by the demons. Humans were killed by demons in great batches in various ways, however, they didn''t know who did it. In the human world, when unprecedented progress was made in science, the biggest role of science was actually to weld the cage that contained human beings more closely, to tighten people with ropes, to kill them in more terrifying ways, and to bring forth something new from the old to play the people.


    Many people before the catastrophe were inserted with chips controlled by the demons the moment they were born. They were then tightly monitored by the demons.


    In the name of injecting vaccines, some viruses would be injected in their bodies so as to completely destroy people''s immune system. Those viruses could even restrict people''s potential, as well as further improving and liberating people''s DNA. After that, everybody was thrown into that terrifying world full of terrors, enmity, and violence designed by the demons.


    In that world, people were killed in wars, chaos, environment that people had damaged and polluted. Besides, people were killed by the food that had been renovated by demons, the animosity, the gap between the rich and the poor and the oppressive system... Everybody was serving a set of terrifying orders that would finally eliminate all the people knowingly or not.


    Many people in this age believed that the God''s star had set people free from that terrifying, internecine trap. Most of people attributed all the changes that happened in this world to that God''s star, expecting to find the answer to explain everything in it.


    The arrival of the God''s star indicated that the human science''s curtain fell and the Black Iron Age started. Therefore, the God''s particles theory became more influential.


    Besides the above two explanations, Zhang Tie had heard another explanation from Donder¡ªstarting from the catastrophe and the arrival of the God''s star, the galaxy in which the people were living in had entered another time and space density in the position of the universe. In a different time and space density, all the substances had different properties and performance. This theory of different time and space had already existed before the catastrophe, spread around in some mysterious associations. It was the most aged theory.


    Based on Zhang Tie''s knowledge and intelligence, he could not identify whether these theories were true or not. He only focused on the facts before him. These theories and hypotheses only stated one fact¡ªin this age when the curtain of science had fallen, substances that could explode and the producers of explosives were both jewels.


    Average people could not even have a chance to see a single explosion in their whole lives. Even in wars, explosives were rarely used. It didn''t mean that they were useless, but the opposite - too useful. Few people could afford them. Using explosives in wars was akin to hitting people with gold bricks. Without above ten times'' return, nobody would like to hit people with gold bricks.


    Explosives came with thunder-like loud sounds and flames, which were two important features in identifying explosions, or so Donder had said. Because Zhang Tie had not seen explosions before, he was not absolutely sure whether it was an explosion or not. He only felt that the flames in the sky outside the window were very amazing at the midnight.


    After that loud sound, the whole Blapei turned chaotic for the rest of the night.


    ...


    The next day, when Zhang Tie prepared to leave his residence in his first lieutenant''s military uniform, he found the streets in Blapei covered with soldiers in dark red military uniforms. They were interrogating passers-by. The atmosphere in the whole Blapei became ten times more intense compared to yesterday.


    Since Blapei was only over 100 km or one hour''s drive away from the frontline, the smoke and destruction due to gradually escalating battles between the two countries unavoidably extended toward it from the frontline after two weeks since Zhang Tie had come to the logistics department...


    The tranquility of Blapei was broken.


    The troubled times were coming. Where was peaceful?


    A sense of crisis rose in Zhang Tie''s heart once again.


    [1] In ancient China, a king told a chancellor to present an elephant to a group of blind people. The blind people then touched the elephant with their hands. One touched its ear and said it was a winnowing fan; one touched its head and said it was a rock; one touched its nose and said it was a round wooden bar, bigger on one end and smaller on the other end, which was used to grind rice in ancient China; one touched its foot and said it was a mortar; one touched its back and said it was a bed; one touched its abdomen and said it was a jar; one touched its tail and said it was a rope.

 228 Alchemists and Secret Police

    Chapter 228: Alchemists and Secret Police


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    "It''s so nice to know you''re all right, sir!"


    Whether it was true or not, when Zhang Tie caught sight of Pi Ping''s slippery expression, he really felt warm inside and not hostile toward him. Zhang Tie was very good at making contact with these kind of people when he was in Donder''s grocery store, so when he saw Second Lieutenant Pi Ping, he was not modest to him either. He instead hooked his hand around Second Lieutenant Pi Ping''s shoulders and brought him into his office.


    Since he became the director of the logistics administration two weeks ago, it was Zhang Tie''s first time entering the director''s office of this vehicle maintenance plant.


    The office featured a military style¡ªa desk, a sofa, a filing cabinet, some drawings on the structures of steam-driven engines and vehicles hanging on the wall. No more decoration besides these items. However, although Zhang Tie hadn''t come here these days, the office was still well cleaned.


    Entering the office, Zhang Tie instantly threw himself onto the sofa with eyes fixed on Second Lieutenant Pi Ping.


    "Well, no crap, I know you''re well-informed. Tell me what happened last night..."


    Second Lieutenant Pi Ping had already realized that this military officer retired from the Iron-Blood Camp was different from others as he was more easygoing. However, actually, he was more complicated. As his subordinate, Pi Ping actually liked this kind of military officer. What Second Lieutenant Pi Ping feared most were those eccentric guys who didn''t know anything but wanted to manage everything. If such a director came to the No. 9 Equipment Administration, that would be the nightmare of everybody here.


    What Zhang Tie didn''t know was that during the past two weeks, his indifferent attitude was even praised by people here. They all felt that he was a good officer and a good director.


    Before telling Zhang Tie the news, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping glanced outside the office. After ensuring that nobody was there, he closed the door himself before moving close to Zhang Tie like a thief.


    "I have a friend in the air-defense camp. He said many people were killed last night. One important warehouse of our Logistics Department was exploded by the airship of the Brilliant Feathers!" Second Lieutenant Pi Ping said, his voice low.


    Zhang Tie became curious. "Was that really an explosive?"


    "Really!" Second Lieutenant Pi Ping nodded. "It''s said that this was Sun Dynasty''s revenge. Because a couple of days ago, our Mad Shark Airship threw some heavy-type white phosphorous gel combustion bombs at the battle castle where their headquarters was located in the evening. Many people were killed there. The morale of Sun Dynasty was also weakened. Therefore, their move last night was to avenge themselves!"


    Zhang Tie only felt frustrated. More revenge?


    Sometimes, wars between two countries and between two armies were no different from brawls between 3-5 year old kids. When you give me a fist, I will give you a kick. No one wanted to suffer a loss. However, compared to brawls between kids, this revenge was more terrifying and bloody and would cause more people to lose their lives.


    After the heads of the people of the Iron-Horn Army were chopped off, the people of the Iron-Blood Camp had to chop off their enemy''s heads in revenge. As the Iron-Horn Army''s air troop threw heavy-type white phosphorous gel combustion bombs towards the battle castle where the opponent''s headquarters was located, the opponent drove an airship into the air territory of Blapei and threw off explosives onto a logistics base of the Iron-Horn Army,


    Zhang Tie felt that perhaps, the battle castle in the frontline had long prepared for the sneak attack from the Brilliant Feathers. Then, since they couldn''t find a chance to launch a sneak attack in there, the Brilliant Feathers extended the battle line to the back of the Iron-Horn Army and directly hit the most important part Due to the limited transportation capabilities, the logistics guarantee was truly one of the most essential parts of the Iron-Horn Army.


    "Have their airship been brought down?"


    After asking this question, Zhang Tie felt like an idiot. If the opponent''s airship could casually drop off bombs onto the Iron-Horn Army''s logistics base in Blapei which was more than 100 km away from the frontline and leave without sustaining any damage, the war would not have lasted this long.


    "Done, that''s what the trouble is!"


    "Why?"


    "It''s said that our air-defense troop had truly hit their airship, so it crashed in a location over 20 km away to the south of Blapei. However, when our troop arrived there, with the exception of some dead people in the airship, all the rest had disappeared. This is the biggest trouble. Now, nobody knows where the rest people from the airship had gone."


    Second Lieutenant Pi Ping let out a sigh.


    "We didn''t find many corpses on the airship, which means that all the others had left. This is big trouble since nobody knows whether those guys escaped back to their zone or are staying here. If some intelligence agents of the opponent who were lurking in Blapei take action together with those people who had fled, nobody can know what may happen next. If those guys have another bomb, they might even directly rush into the parliament house of Blapei as suicide bombers!"


    Hearing Pi Ping''s words, Zhang Tie understood why the atmosphere in Blapei suddenly became tense. This was not only because of the explosion that occurred last night but that it had been confirmed that the dangerous opponents were lurking somewhere in Blapei. Even in his military uniform, Zhang Tie had still been requested to present his military officer''s certificate three times on the way from his residence to the maintenance plant of the Ninth Equipment Administration of the Comprehensive Logistics Relief Department.


    In order to catch those fleeing people, all the soldiers of the division stationed in Blapei walked through the streets. They started to set checking points to investigate all the passers-by. By doing this, although they could not immediately catch those potential dangerous people, they could at least limit their movements to a degree. Before finally catching or killing them, this was the only method to deal with those people.


    "Does the Iron-Horn Army have explosives?"


    The word bomb reminded Zhang Tie of a question that he was interested in.


    "Yes, they have. But the explosives of the army are the most important strategic material. Because they''re very rare and precious, all the explosives''s assignments and use had to be approved and signed by the commander of the Iron-Horn Army. In the entire Norman Empire, all the explosives are controlled by the imperial households. The only two alchemist masters who can produce explosives in the Norman Empire are both members of the royal seniors cabinet!"


    Zhang Tie had only heard of the alchemist profession in legends. It was mentioned in the book "Initial Exploration about the Special Professions of Human Beings in the Black Iron Age" a couple of days ago. Whether in legends or reality, alchemists were ten times more rare than medicinal pharmacists. It was regarded as the most mysterious, wealthy, and terrifying profession in the Black Iron Age.


    Although many cities of the former Andaman Alliance had medicinal pharmacists like Abyan, in the entire Andaman Alliance, there were no alchemists at all. Alchemists would spend their whole lives dealing with various weird stones and crystals. As long as they had a stone or a crystal, they would be able to turn it into a treasure that could be used to fight, cultivate, cure diseases, even to improve the attributes of a number of metals and machines.


    After being processed by alchemists, many common crystals and stones could become ten thousand times more valuable, even more expensive than gold. As these people were truly able to touch a stone and turn it into gold, they were called alchemists. It was not only a description of their profession but people''s obvious admiration for it.


    Alchemists were the only group of people who could produce explosives. A person, once he became an alchemist, would never care about money any more. If one took the Norman Empire as an example, once any alchemist in this country was found to be able to produce explosives, he could instantly marry a royal offspring. Through kinship, that person would then benefit the Norman Empire on a military aspect.


    Alchemists had many nicknames like "treasure producers", "mobile vaults", "human bombs", and "thermal weapon time-travelers in cold weapons era". It seemed that because of the last nickname which mentioned both science and technology before the catastrophe, many countries in the Blackson Human Clan Corridor would take owning an alchemist who could produce explosives as the symbol of powerful national strength and status.


    The former Andaman Alliance had once intended to attract an alchemist with the chief position and a great amount of benefits. Unluckily, they failed.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie arrived at the logistics base in the wild, over 30 km south of Blapei, the airship which had caused great turmoil and damage was scattered on the ground in pieces. This airship which was used to launch the sneak attack was painted dark.


    Its pod was over 15 m in height. At this moment, the airship originally longer than 50 m had become a transformed rigid skeleton. For the coated fabric of the airship''s air sac, besides a few remains, all the other parts were burned into solid pitch-dark carbides and were scattered around the pod and the airship''s skeleton. Some corpses in aqua blue military uniforms were lying inside the wrecked pod in various shapes.


    A group of soldiers in dark red military uniform of the Norman Empire had already blocked the scene. A group of people in black windbreakers were looking for something among the dead soldiers of Sun Dynasty, accompanied by some military officers of the Norman Empire. The surrounding soldiers were glancing at the sanguine gloves of those people in black windbreakers with weird eyes.


    Those people in sanguine gloves were the main characters in all the darkest stories of the Norman Empire. They were the representatives of the cold and bloody side of the Norman Empire. If its soldiers were a group of fierce tigers, the group of people in sanguine gloves were a weird hybrid of jackals that lived on rotten meat and vipers that sprouted venom.


    These people came from another powerful department of the Norman Empire besides the army¡ªOrder Review Committee. These people were "national secret police on order maintenance" under the affiliation of the Order Review Committee.


    In Nordinburg, everybody knew that the viscount Nordinton, the head of secret police, and marshal Lin Changjiang didn''t like each other.


    Besides their superior, nobody else liked them in the entire Norman Empire.


    Because of the explosion last night, these people appeared in Blapei like flies that had smelt a stink. This event was within the governing category of the Iron-Horn Army, however, these people in sanguine gloves wanted to get involve due to two reasons.


    First, the explosion was a special event threatening national security. With the exception of explosions on the battlefield, the investigation of all the other explosions in the Norman Empire was carried out by the Order Review Committee.


    Second, according to the laws of the Norman Empire, the Iron-Horn Army could only govern the area within 100 km of the frontline of Kalur''s battle zone. Since Blapei was out of this area, although the victim of this explosion case was the Iron-Horn Army, the Order Review Committee still had the right to investigate this case.


    Because the Order Review Committee of Nordinburg had sent a notice to the Iron-Horn Army, they expected that it would coordinate with the secret police to investigate this explosion case. So once they came to Blapei, even though unwilling, the military officers of the Iron-Horn Army were dispatched here to assist these people who accomplished their own tasks with cold expressions. Additionally, they should report the latest events and discoveries of the Iron-Horn Army to those in sanguine gloves when the latter inquired about what had happened last night.


    The head of these people in red sanguine gloves and black windbreakers was a major, a 30-odd man with white hair and a pair of eyes as cruel as those of a wolf.


    "Major, after our troop arrived here, we blocked the scene and it had remained unchanged. On the ground over 500 m away from the site where the airship crashed, our soldiers discovered truck tire marks which extended to the south. It''s estimated that those fleeing had been picked up. We..."


    The man in gray hair who was carefully checking the corpses revealed a wisp of an icy smile. At the same time, he raised his hand and interrupted the military officer who was reporting what had happened last night.


    "No need to say it, I''ve already guessed what happened next. Your people found that truck over 10 km away with nobody inside. Then you investigated the source of that truck and learned that the truck has been stolen in Blapei several days ago. After that, you judged that those people had escaped to the south, right captain?"


    Revealing a surprised expression, the captain asked, "How do you know?"


    "Congratulations, captain, you''ve successfully let go of a group of dangerous Sun Dynasty''s people. When your were attracted by that truck driving to the south, the remaining saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty had escaped to the north. If you had changed your direction and chased after them at once, we might not be here. Those spies of the Sun Dynasty who hid in Blapei clearly knew how to trick you..."


    That gray-haired major put it straightforwardly. The captain''s face blushed so much that he could not even say a word, while a major who belonged to the same No. 21 Division as the captain wanted to argue more.


    "Major Franca, our soldiers tried our best last night. With only one glance, how could you confirm those people on the airship had fled to the north, instead of the south?"


    "Of course I can!" Major Franca from the the Order Review Committee of Norman Empire said with an icy expression.


    He took off his gloves and stretched hi index finger. In front of the military officers of No. 21 Division, he squatted down and thrust his index finger into the hard skull of a corpse like he was thrusting it into a bean curd.


    He then moved up his index finger into the cranial cavity of that corpse before pulling it out with red and white brains juice. He then directly put it into his mouth and started to carefully taste it, eyes closed, as if he was tasting a yummy food.


    Although the military officers of No. 21 Division standing nearby were used to seeing corpses, at the sight of this behavior of tasting dead people''s brains, their faces turned pale at once. They felt a bit disgusted and chilled, especially by that weird smile on major Franca''s face when he tasted the brains.


    After a long while, Major Franca opened his eyes and licked his lips as if he had enjoyed the taste of the brains.


    "These people''s brains taste like bitter Parmelia saxatilis. It''s the aftereffect of Sun Dynasty''s secret medicine when it was applied on people. Those who take it would trigger their physical potential for a short time. They also become very clear-minded, although they don''t live too long.


    "Only dare-to-die corps would take this secret medicine. After taking it, in the troops of the Sun Dynasty, they had only one target¡ªdeath instead of fleeing. These people would also face a death penalty even if they fled back.


    "Before they arrived here, all of them had prepared not to go back alive. Therefore, they escaped to the north instead of to the south. If they escaped to the south, they would be held back by your frontline troops, however, if they escaped to the north, they could deal their damage to the greatest extent. In Blapei, they were picked up by spies of the Sun Dynasty. Additionally, their airship crashed in the south in order to cause an illusion for you that they were escaping to the south..."


    "This is still your presumption!" the major of No. 21 Division kept arguing, face turning a bit pale.


    "These people on the airship had died when the airship crashed. Those fleeing had to have been wounded, some even heavily. As they could not get medical treatment when escaping, even if they had strong vitality, their wounds must be deteriorating, which led to inconvenient movement. They would encumber the whole team. Based on the style of the Sun Dynasty, in this case, those heavily wounded people would be killed.


    "Once we search all the way to the north while avoiding major routes, we will discover something..." Major Franca gazed at the officers of No. 21 Division with wolf-like sharp eyes, revealing a contemptuous smile. "You''re good at fighting on the battlefield, but I''m not here to be your counter-intelligence enlightening teacher. I only hope that if what I said is true, before finding those potential saboteurs, yo won''t interfere with my moves in Blapei. As my time is very precious, I don''t want to waste too much time in Blapei for some trivial roles."


    Forcefully holding back their fury, the military officers of No. 21 Division exchanged glances with each other before nodding.


    "Fuck, if not assigned here, nobody would want to stay with these guys in red gloves," they mumbled inside.


    Twenty minutes later, in a wild ditch 5 km to the north of the crashing site, they found the first corpse. It was buried underground. However, as it had not been buried too long ago and was hurriedly dealt with in the evening, even though the people of the Sun Dynasty had covered it up, it was still discovered by Major Franca.


    In another place less than 2 km away from the first one, the second corpse was discovered...

 229 Learning

    Chapter 229: Learning


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie only stayed in the maintenance plant for one morning. By afternoon, the notice from the logistics department of the Iron-Horn Army about that sneak attack had been delivered to various subordinate organs and departments. The No. 9 Equipment Administration had already received one formal notice.


    It arrived in time. When many people in the entire Blapei became restless due to that loud sound and the flames last night, this notice made most of them recover their composure at once.


    In all times, people were not afraid of fact or truth, instead, they were afraid of having it concealed or getting cheated.


    The notice that Zhang Tie saw contained the details of the attack last night.


    The airship that launched the sneak attack on Blapei was a disguised paradise-level war-time airship of the Sun Dynasty. This airship detoured around the air-defense frontline in Kalur and dropped off an explosive in Blapei, which destroyed an important logistics warehouse. The explosion and the following big fire caused 116 casualties in the Iron-Horn Army. Soon after that, the war-time airship of the Sun Dynasty was shot down. Twenty-seven corpses were found on the wrecked airship.


    Additionally, 11-15 saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty had fled after the airship crashed. With the help of Sun Dynasty¡¯s moles in Blapei, they might have already entered the city and were preparing to implement destructive activities. Now, the soldiers of the Norman Empire stationed in Blapei were chasing after these saboteurs. If anyone could provide any clues on these people, once the information was verified, they would gain a reward of 2000 gold coins from the logistics department of the Iron-Horn Army...


    The reward of 2000 gold coins was alluring, but speaking of gold coins, Zhang Tie realized that the No. 9 Equipment Administration under his management, a small first lieutenant director, had so many hidden profits that they were even out of his imagination. After Second Lieutenant Pi Ping brought old account books of the Equipment Administration and explained the mysteries inside, Zhang Tie finally understood why this position was a lot of fun.


    The mysteries of No. 9 Equipment Administration was in the treatment of the wasted equipment here. Based on the rules on the management of military logistics equipment of the Norman Empire, in order to guarantee the quality and capability of the logistics transportation of the troops, besides normal wear, many parts and large-scale components like engines of the vehicles also had service limits. Once they were reached, the workers would be forced to discard them as useless and replace them with new parts and components.


    The hidden profits and gray income of the No. 9 Equipment Department lay in the vehicles and various parts and components of vehicles that were to be discarded as useless when they reached their service limits.


    Although those parts and components had reached their service limits, it didn''t mean that they didn''t work. If one took automobiles'' engines for an instance, the service limit of a steam-driven engine regulated by the troops was ten years. However, if they were in good maintenance, many steam-based engines were still working even after fifteen years.


    That¡¯s why due to strict requirements on the quality of military products, the one¡¯s discard as useless were very popular among commoners. This also brought a huge profit for the No. 9 Equipment Department.


    After an overhaul and assemblage of the parts and components of automobiles, even whole vehicles might be discarded as useless iron when they reached their service limits. But they could be seen again and then sold, which was the largest legal income of the No. 9 Equipment Department.


    The people of No. 9 Equipment Department weren¡¯t the only ones who knew this, even some major officers of the logistics department of the army knew it too. But this deed got the acquiescence of the superiors. Why? Because if the No. 9 Equipment Department wanted to gain this part of revenue, they had to do a good job on the maintenance of all the vehicles of the logistics department. Those whole automobiles and the parts and components of automobiles couldn''t be sold and bring hidden profits until they were forced to be discard as useless.


    This was also an acquiesced reward and a means used to stimulate the subordinate departments to work seriously by the officers of the logistics administration of the army. The better the subordinate worked, the more they would gain.


    There were mainly three parties on this interest chain: the No. 9 Equipment Department; the Comprehensive Logistics Relief Branch of the Logistics Administration of the Iron-Horn Army which was the direct superior of No. 9 Equipment Department; a business group of the Norman Empire which had long cooperated with the Logistics Administration of the Iron-Horn Army.


    No. 9 Equipment Department was responsible for renovation, recovery, and assemblage of whole vehicles as well as parts and components of vehicles that were discarded as useless. Some officers of the Comprehensive Logistics Relief Branch were responsible for selling these whole vehicles as well as parts and components of vehicles which were still available after renovation. The business group which had cooperated with the army''s Logistics Administration was responsible for receiving deliveries. In this whole process, a set of stream-like profit distribution and working mode was formed from which all three parties could gain benefits.


    After learning of the "mysteries" inside it, Zhang Tie had a better image of the Norman Empire. Besides the strict hierarchical system, its other aspects were actually flexible. Certainly, people''s nature for profit remained unchanged no matter which country they were in.


    The No. 9 Equipment Department that fought in the frontline could share 60% of the profits while the rest 40% of profits were taken away. For the 60% of profits, based on the current distribution mode of No. 9 Equipment Department, all the soldiers received half of the profits, namely 30% of the total profits. Second Lieutenant Pi Ping, the vice director of No. 9 Equipment Administration who was mainly responsible for managing the maintenance plant and solving various concrete problems could gain 10% of the total profits, while the director of No. 9 Equipment Department could gain 20% of the total profits.


    After practicing for many years, the 4-3-2-1 distribution mode could satisfy everybody on this interest chain.


    Only two weeks after he became the director of No. 9 Equipment Department, Zhang Tie had already gained 21 gold coins from profit sharing, which was many times higher than his salary as a first lieutenant. Additionally, it was legal. Zhang Tie knew that Colonel Scharto had really found a good position for him given his contribution to the Iron-Blood Camp.


    After staying in the plant for a whole day, Zhang Tie found that he could learn a lot from the Iron-Horn Army. When in the Iron-Blood Camp, he learned how to fight and kill. While in the No. 9 Equipment Department in the back, he could still learn a lot.


    Through the attitude of Logistics Administration to the No. 9 Equipment Department, he learned how to manage his subordinates. Although the system was fixed, the management was flexible. Everything was determined by the decision-maker''s choices and attitude. Of course, the officers of the Logistics Administration could choose another way such as forcing the No. 9 Equipment Department to submit all the whole vehicles as well as parts and components of the vehicles that were discarded as useless.


    However, if they truly did so, what they submitted might truly be useless. Additionally, in the Logistics Administration of the entire Iron-Horn Army, the number of accidents that arose due to improper maintenance would increase greatly. No matter what, once problems were found, they only needed to apply for new parts, components, or equipment and request for a superior''s assignment. Nobody wanted to smell engine oil by lying under the vehicles everyday.


    From that gray interest chain, Zhang Tie learned a secret on long-term development¡ªteamwork and profit distribution. If a person could not finish it, then, you could gather a group of people, enabling them to share benefits from their contributions.


    Besides, he also learned the most solid and practicable knowledge from the No. 9 Equipment Department¡ªmaintenance!


    After taking off his first lieutenant''s uniform, Zhang Tie put on work clothes and stayed with those technical sergeants in the maintenance workshop for an afternoon. He felt that he had learned more of maintenance here than that he had at school after three years. During this afternoon, he was taught how to change vehicles'' tires and main driving axle and gained a general idea of vehicle maintenance.


    Even Zhang Tie himself didn''t know how his nickname "Second Lieutenant Mummy" had spread to the No. 9 Equipment Department. With this special nickname, he was not like an officer at all.


    Besides, he was also kind to others. When he was confused about something, he would modestly ask the soldiers to explain it to him. Like when he came to the Iron-Blood Camp at the beginning, Zhang Tie quickly integrated himself with the people in the No. 9 Equipment Department in only one day. Everybody here now knew that the new first lieutenant was a funny guy.


    After staying in the logistics base for a day, Zhang Tie left at dusk. This was a harvest day for him as he had come here with empty hands but left with gold coins and a lot of knowledge.


    Zhang Tie wanted to buy some beer yeast and prepare some gifts for Hanna and see what other animals he could set free, so he didn''t take a car. Instead, he got ready to look around Blapei after he walked out of the logistics base.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that two farmers in grass hats who were bending over to do farming work on the roadside field close to the logistics base had their eyes fixed onto him from the moment he walked out of the base.


    "A first lieutenant at a young age who can freely access this place..."


    "From his walking pattern and strength, he seems to be lacking physical strength..."


    "In the Norman Empire, officers in the logistics base don''t need to have great strength..."


    "Will we do it..."


    "We need to test his real strength. Nowadays, these red-hide dogs are more anxious than us. Since we''ve lurked in Blapei for so long, we have to do a big one this time..."


    The two farmers didn''t say anything else, instead, they just exchanged glances which contained a lot of information.


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that he had been watched by others.


    After hiring a horse taxi, he looked around Blapei for a while. In one shop, he bought a packet of beer yeast. The moment he held it, Zhang Tie recalled something. ¡¯Oh, I almost forgot about the mutated yeast in the Castle of Black Iron. Mom said that that kind of yeast can be used to brew some light drinks. Why not let Hanna have a try?''

 230 Crisis in Paradise

    Chapter 230: Crisis in Paradise


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    In the next few days, Zhang Tie lived a tranquil life. Although the atmosphere was still intense in Blapei, he felt that it had basically nothing to do with him. He was almost a "disabled man" now who was just doing nothing on a post in the Logistics Department while that job of chasing after fleeing saboteurs had nothing to do with him.


    With this mentality, Zhang Tie didn''t feel restless at all. However, he didn''t know that since he had not completely recovered, his sense for danger being close to him was not as sharp as before.


    Zhang Tie didn''t perceive any danger drawing close to him. In Chevli, he was still the most popular person. Each day, after setting the earthworms free, he would go to the wheat straws drying site to have a hot kiss with Hanna before returning to his rental estate downtown.


    Using the special output function of the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie only spent a bit of basic energy storage, aura value points, and merit value points before producing a packet of aura value yeast powder and gifting it to Hanna. The content of each indicator in that packet of yeast powder was only one third of the original content. Because Zhang Tie didn''t know whether it would bring trouble if he took out the complete yeast, he only took out an abridged version. But even though he did that, it was still unique.


    With the exception of yeast powder, Zhang Tie also sent a small gift to Hanna. Based on his style, like how he had sent gifts to the girls of the Rose Association, this small gift also worked well at the critical moment, which could also capture girl''s heart.


    He gifted Hanna with a pair of beautiful gold bracelets heavier than 200 grams that he bought in a jewelry store in Blapei. Hanna''s skin was white and smooth, additionally, she was more plump than average girls. Zhang Tie felt that she should be more beautiful in this pair of bracelets as there was a sharp color difference between the gold and her skin, so he bought it. No matter what, Zhang Tie didn''t lack money. If he was killed in a battle like that night''s bloody fight one day, what would his remaining money be used for? For buying himself a cemetery?


    Only by spending all the money he had to satisfy his beloved ones could it be meaningful. Otherwise, there was no difference between a kilogram of gold coins and a kilogram of iron sheets.


    When Hanna received that pair of gold bracelets in that secret space under the wheat straw stack, she cried. Seeing such a sunny girl crying for the first time, Zhang Tie was so scared that he hurriedly comforted her for quite a while before managing to stop her tears. Hanna told Zhang Tie that even if she married someone later, she would not receive such expensive betrothal presents. This pair of bracelets could already be her family heirloom in the future.


    "If you take this pair of bracelets to propose to me in my home, I''m sure, my parents would very willingly take you as a son-in-law to bear the bride''s family name, although you don''t seem like able to work harder than my elder brother in the fields..." Hanna said.


    However, after saying this, before Zhang Tie could open his mouth, she had already giggled as she supported his face and kissed him, putting it straightforwardly and honestly, "However, I know you won''t stay too long in Blapei. From the first day I saw you, I already knew that you were not meant for this kind of farming work.


    "But I am doomed to live here. It''s impossible for you and me to stay together forever. Since the first time when we started carrying on with this clandestine love affair, I''ve know that you must have a lot of women. Perhaps your women are waiting for you back home or maybe you like to thrust your bad thing into different women''s bodies to conquer them. You want to let them beg forgiveness in front of you and heavily f*ck them so that they can obediently kneel down before you to drink your milk like me. Is it true or not, my little man?"


    Hearing the words "little man", Zhang Tie''s d*ck became so hard that it instantly became crazy. When he entered Hanna''s body, he hadn''t even taken off his pants. He just raised her skirt violently and pressed her onto the wheat straw stack. The next moment he pushed away her underwear and revealed her vagina. With Hanna''s exclamations, a crazy storm arrived...


    That day, Hanna cried twice: once for her soul being moved and once for having collapsed physically.


    However, since that day onward, Hanna and Zhang Tie had carried out their clandestine love affair in a braver way. She usually stimulated Zhang Tie with the words like "little man", after which he always became rude and violent.


    Zhang Tie liked that stimulation and excitement brought by the clandestine love affair between him and Hanna. He usually immersed in the limitless pleasure brought by her body. Additionally, when Hanna brought him pleasure, she also touched the most hidden side of their love affair.


    Since he heard the appellation "little man" which triggered his passion on that day, each time they stayed with each other, Hanna would always stimulate Zhang Tie''s nerves and tap the hidden source of excitement in his inner heart. From this, Hanna seemed to obtain the greatest pleasure and an unspeakable satisfaction.


    If the girls of the Rose Association and Pandora, Beverly, and Alice had slightly opened one door inside Zhang Tie''s body, Hanna had completely pushed it open.


    In this average village, Zhang Tie felt that he was living in an absolute paradise these days. When he set the earthworms free, saw them drill into the soil and avoid becoming fodder, he really felt energy converging in his body. It immediately made him feel like he was filled with pleasure and lightness both mentally and physically. He felt like he was taking a bath in a river of pleasure, which made each of his cells cheer up, bringing him a sense of new birth.


    That was the pleasure from the earthworms which was transferred to him, making him cheer up through a mysterious link pattern.


    Whether it was a pleasure from setting the earthworms free or from staying with Hanna, Zhang Tie felt cool physically and mentally and had an impulse to immerse himself into it and never change.


    Everyday, he would try his best to set free earthworms, take off his pants to f*ck a woman, and go back home to eat fruits. Such a life made Zhang Tie feel like living in a paradise. He thought that this might be the right lifestyle that people should have¡ªredemption, pleasure, recovery and growth everyday. To please both oneself and others and to not harm anyone, isn''t such a life better than the life full of intrigues and plots?


    Go to hell, motherf*cking Kalur; go to hell, motherf*cking war!


    In this happiness, Zhang Tie''s wounds were rapidly recovering. Soon, his wounds had recovered by about one fifth, reaching 21.8% of his original physical condition. Although the strength of his burning points and his hidden strength of the Iron-Blood Fist skill were still not available, the effects of the numerous Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits that he had eaten could already slightly be seen. At this moment, Zhang Tie''s strength had almost reached that of LV 2 Glaze...


    "Is there a mature woman who''s much older than you in your heart? She''s tall with plump breasts and buttocks. She''s very womanly and might be the senior in your life. She''s your teacher, right?"


    Today, after making love, when the two put on clothes in the wheat straw stack, Hanna who was buttoning on her bras suddenly asked Zhang Tie.


    Hearing Hanna''s presumption, Zhang Tie became abruptly dumbfounded, stopping midway putting on his pants. With an amazed expression, he stared at Hanna.


    "How did you know?"


    "Each time I treat you as a kid these days, you want to prove yourself to me. At that time, you would always use more strength when grabbing my breasts and butt. You would try to grab me as a whole and would f*ck me forcefully. Today you wanted to prove it more than before..."


    Hanna pointed at several marks left by Zhang Tie''s hands on her plump breasts, which were caused soon after she said, "little man, come for your teacher",so today, Zhang Tie had become more barbarous than before.


    ''Are women born to be psychologists? How could she think of this?''


    After being dumbfounded for quite a while, Zhang Tie became bashful and forced a smile. "I''m sorry, I don''t know how could I become like this, is it painful now?"


    Hanna shook her head and smiled.


    "It doesn''t matter, you''re just taking me as that woman in your sub-consciousness. I also like this..." Hanna replied, squatting on the straws.


    When she finished putting on her corsage, she grabbed Zhang Tie''s mummy and swam her little golden fish around it. After that, she put it in her mouth, forcefully sucking and spitting several times. After that, she helped Zhang Tie put his pants back with a giggle and pulled up the zipper. She then slightly patted it.


    "You bad thing, you most like to f*ck those mature women, right? I''ll show you something next time!"


    Being stimulated like this by Hanna, Zhang Tie almost could not stand it. However, as it was a bit late now, he held it in. Besides, Zhang Tie remembered something.


    "Oh, I almost forgot it, do any people in your village want to lease their house?"


    "What? Do you want to rent a house in our village?"


    Hanna cast a weird eye at Zhang Tie before she quickly put away the apron that was spread on the ground.


    "Yes, I feel like I''m wasting so much time on the way from the downtown to your village. I want to buy all the earthworms in your village and since there''re many households queuing up, I have to come to your village everyday, which is too troublesome. I''d better just live here and go back to the downtown once a week from then on!"


    After coming and going many times, Zhang Tie decided that he was a bit foolish. Why make it this troublesome? Why not just rent a room here in Chevli? Given the recovery of his body, Zhang Tie felt that he had to come here quite often. If he rented out a room here, it would not be necessary for him to spent a couple hours each day traveling back and forth. More so, it would not even cost him a gold coin to rent a house for a year here.


    Hanna rolled her eyes in a witty way. "I can find you a house, but what''s your reward?"


    "Isn''t this enough?"


    Not knowing what Hanna was thinking, Zhang Tie felt very funny and forcefully pinched her butt twice.


    "Of course not enough, I want you to give me a gift!" she said like a spoiled child.


    "What gift?"


    Zhang Tie became a bit curious. He knew that Hanna was not a greedy woman. As long as they''ve been staying together, unless he took the initiative, she had never asked for anything before; it was Hanna''s first time asking him for a gift.


    "You can buy me a set of clothes that your favorite woman always liked to wear," she whispered in his ear, exhaling.


    Hearing her words, Zhang Tie was dumbfounded. He had never imagined that she might want this.


    "All right!"


    ...


    When he left Chevli once again, Zhang Tie was still recalling Hanna''s requirement. After Hanna let him know that he likes most those mature and much older sexy women, Zhang Tie also realized that she had some weird hobbies of her own these days. When she made love with Zhang Tie, she seemed to treat him as any other person while fantasizing some scenes. The more rude he became, the happier she would be.


    Hanna let Zhang Tie understand that perhaps everybody had a bit weird and utterly different thoughts about sex. He liked mature women while Hanna liked weird fantasies. Zhang Tie wondered whether those sanctimonious people liked some even weirder things or not.


    ...


    Zhang Tie walked alone on the country lane from Chevli to Tonikas this time. Although he hadn''t been familiar with the route when he came here some time ago, now, he could already return even in darkness.


    As there were not many plants and chimneys, the sky of Blapei in the evening was more resplendent than that in Blackhot City. In a nice mood, Zhang Tie whistled as he walked on the country lane alone, thinking some weird thoughts inside. He was trying to recall in which set of clothes Miss Daina looked most beautiful. After carefully thinking it over a couple times, Zhang Tie still couldn''t decide as Miss Daina was always the most beautiful no matter what she wore.


    ''What kind of clothes should I gift Hanna?''


    Zhang Tie was puzzled by this problem. That goblin must be thinking of playing some tricks. However, thinking of the pleasures that Hanna brought him, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded. No matter whether it was sprinting by embracing her butt or riding on her to enjoy a special tenderness, Zhang Tie would always feel that Hanna made him more comfortable and excited with her more mature tenderness than the girls of the Rose Association or Alice, Beverly, and Pandora.


    While he was considering what kind of clothes he could send to Hanna, an image of a woman in a skintight skirt and high-heeled boots, full of temptation, suddenly appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind. She was feeling helpless, and was covering her breasts while standing in the shadow.


    It was the female tenant who had vomited on Zhang Tie the first time she saw him. She lived on the third floor of Mr. and Mrs. Green''s house.


    The moment he thought back to that mature and alluring woman, the 15-year old mummy suddenly became hard again. Hanna was right. He liked most those mature women who were much older than him as they were extremely attractive to him. He didn''t know whether all male adolescents thought so or not.


    A person seemed to be sitting on the roadside up ahead. That person who looked like a farmer was groaning, hugging his feet. He seemed to be suffering from a wound on his feet.


    Walking closer, Zhang Tie didn''t think too much about it. He just paused for a second before directly walking towards him, squatting down. "Hi, do you need help?"


    That person then turned and stared at Zhang Tie with no pain in his expression. When Zhang Tie felt that something was not right, that person suddenly revealed a thin pipe in his mouth. Soon after that, a needle blew out from that fine pipe. Before Zhang Tie could make any response, he felt that his neck was stung. Moments later, heavy sense of dizziness attacked him like a huge wave. Squatting on the ground, Zhang Tie swayed twice before falling down.


    "Come on, we got him!" that farmer said in a low voice.


    A moment before he passed out, Zhang Tie saw people rushing out of the reeds next to the roadside and walking towards him.


    Motherf*ckers, I did nothing these days, whom have I offended...


    An irresistible darkness suddenly attacked him.


    Zhang Tie was put into a bag and hefted up. The group of people then quickly disappeared from the country lane.


    ...

 231 Abducted

    Chapter 231: Abducted


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie was woken up by a basin of cold water. He quivered at once. The moment he wanted to move, he realized that his hands could not move. When he opened his eyes, a brilliant fluorite lamp was lifted before his face. Affected by the strong light, Zhang Tie instinctively closed his eyes again while turning his head in the direction the light wasn¡¯t as strong.


    When Zhang Tie''s eyes adapted to the light, he turned and checked his current situation.


    It seemed like he was inside a warehouse where many barrels were piled. This place seemed to be used to store beer. The moment he saw those beer barrels, Zhang Tie knew that he was still near Blapei because these beer barrels were the forever symbol of Blapei.


    Right in this warehouse, Zhang Tie could even smell the fragrance of beer in those barrels.


    Zhang Tie was sitting on a chair while two people were pressing his hands with much greater strength than he had now. Although his own current strength was almost like that of a LV 2 warrior, he felt that the two people on his sides were much stronger than him as they seemed to be suppressing him very easily.


    Given their strength that was close to that of LV 4-5 warriors, Zhang Tie knew that at this moment if he wanted to fight these people with his trivial fighting strength, any one of them could casually beat him up. Perhaps he could have dealt with them all before he was wounded, but he was not able to do that at the moment.


    Before him were a lot of people who were gazing at him with icy eyes, in which, Zhang Tie saw a bloody madness that he could hardly understand.


    What was really out of his imagination was that these people, including the two people who held him on his sides were in the military uniforms of the Norman Empire.


    ''What the hell!''


    Zhang Tie became slightly muddle-headed as he had not offended anybody in the Iron-Horn Army.


    "Who are you, what do you want?"


    After experiencing the life or death situations on the battlefield, Zhang Tie recovered his composure at once, fixing his icy eyes on these people without any fear on his face.


    Zhang Tie knew that he had only one chance for a comeback. Once it was missed, he would really be in danger tonight.


    "You are truly an officer retired from the Iron-Blood Camp. It''s said you''ve even gotten an Iron-Blood medal. How many people have you killed to get that..."


    One of the soldiers walked towards Zhang Tie. His face was a bit familiar, as if Zhang Tie had seen him before. But before he could recall where he had seen this person, that person punched with his fist at Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen. Zhang Tie quivered all over, the blue veins on his neck raising. In a split second, sweat covered his forehead.


    Gritting his teeth, Zhang Tie didn''t utter even a sound.


    "Hoho, I''ve not realized that although young, you are a tough man!"


    Saying this, that man punched another fist into Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen. If not being held down by others, Zhang Tie might have been sent flying through the air. After the second fist, Zhang Tie''s face suddenly turned pale while a wisp of blood appeared at his mouth corners.


    "Red-hide dog, it''s said that you were very great on the battlefield. Are you good at killing? Show me!"


    With these words, that guy suddenly became grim and took a fierce hold on Zhang Tie''s neck. Zhang Tie instantly felt it hard to breathe.


    Ten seconds later, Zhang Tie started to feel dizzy.


    "It''s enough. Keep him alive. We need him to coordinate with us in the follow-up actions!"


    Another person from the crowd opened his mouth. Hearing his words, the first person moved his hand away from Zhang Tie''s neck.


    After coughing twice, Zhang Tie heavily panted. Facing these people, after hearing that appellation "red-hide dog", Zhang Tie immediately understood something.


    "You¡­ are not soldiers of the Norman Empire!"


    "Of course, we are descendants of the Brilliant God!"


    Another person, who was that farmer lying on the roadside, walked closer. At the sight of him, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled why that person who punched him just now looked familiar. Several days ago, when he was in Tonikas town, he had met that person. He had crashed into him on the road and almost pulled him down.


    Zhang Tie finally realized that the man had crashed into him on purpose as he wanted to test his real strength. In that simple way, they knew that his real strength was almost like a LV 2 warrior¡¯s. It seemed that these guys had noticed him at least a few days ago.


    "You are the fleeing soldiers of the Brilliant Feathers Army from that airship?"


    Zhang Tie immediately understood their status.


    "Hoho, you¡¯re not foolish. I like dealing with smart guys. Now that you know our status, you should understand your own situation!"


    "As you didn''t kill me, you must want to reach your target with my help, right?¡®


    "Right, if you¡¯ll cooperate with us, we¡¯ll consider letting you go!"


    ''Letting me go?'' Zhang Tie sneered inside.


    These people truly took him for an idiot! He had seen them and now knew where they lurked. Some of them might even be Sun Dynasty¡¯s spies in Blapei. In such a case, how could these people let him go?


    Seeing Zhang Tie become silent, that guy who had crashed into Zhang Tie slightly smiled as the brilliance in his eyes weirdly flashed. "I know what you¡¯re thinking. Once you help us escape from Blapei, we won¡¯t kill you. I know your experience in the Iron-Horn Army. You might not know that, but since you killed the Double-Moon Muling in a black robe of the Brilliant Feathers Army, if we could bring you back, we would make a meritorious deed. Therefore, it''s more meaningful to keep you alive than killing you."


    Zhang Tie sneered inside as he pretended to be dumbfounded. He understood that these people wanted to give him a beacon of hope by saying that so that he would obediently cooperate with them. They must be thinking that if he clearly knew that he was doomed to be killed, he would never be obedient.


    This was a psywar, aimed to soften his willingness to resist. Additionally, Zhang Tie was just a small role¡ªa disabled first lieutenant. Of course he was not worth for Brilliant Feathers¡¯ Army to send an airship and so many people to arrest him here. That would be ridiculous!


    "Will I stay alive if I¡¯m taken to the Sun Dynasty?" Zhang Tie sneered. "Now that I¡¯m destined to be killed sooner or later, why would I choose to be killed after being taken to the Sun Dynasty by you?"


    "You will definitely not die if we bring you back. You might be more useful to the Sun Dynasty if you''re alive. Here''s one chance. As you¡¯re only 15-16 years old, you have a lot of time left. You can experience many splendid things and have a lot of women. As you were a resident of Blackhot City before and had joined Norman Empire only for a few months, you should think twice whether it deserves you to sacrifice your life for it. If you cooperate with us, you can at least live a bit longer; however, if you refuse, you will die at once!"


    Once he said this, the man took out a dagger and put the icy blade to Zhang Tie''s neck.


    Hearing his words, Zhang Tie exclaimed inside, ''Sharp!''.


    Although the truth of those words were doubtful, each sentence was persuasive. To tell the truth, besides really stubborn people, anyone hearing them would dream of living for at least a few days more by cooperating with them.


    This person was too shrewd and good at persuading people. He could never be one of those dare-to-die soldiers of the Brilliant Feathers Army on the airship, but instead could only be a spy of the Sun Dynasty in Blapei.


    All the others in the warehouse had their eyes fixed on Zhang Tie. His life or death would be determined in one split second.


    Through the questioning, Zhang Tie had already counted how many people were in the warehouse. Besides himself, there were twelve with none of them being farther than four meters away from him.


    ''I only have one chance. I should double-check it as I don''t want to die together with these guys,'' Zhang Tie told to himself inside.


    Pretending to struggle, Zhang Tie considered it for several seconds while the dagger on his neck was being pressed with greater strength.


    Zhang Tie then looked down, and his shoulders seemed to collapse at once. "What do you want me to do? I know that Blapei is under strict investigation now. Do you want me to send you out of Blapei directly?"


    At his words, the dagger on his neck became loose.


    "We truly want you to send us out of Blapei, but before that, we should make a chaos in Blapei to attract others'' attention, which would be beneficial for us when leaving here!"


    "What chaos?"


    I know you can freely access the Comprehensive Logistics Relief Base, so before leaving Blapei, we need you to bring us in. If some material warehouses catch on fire tonight, the whole of Blapei would be in chaos. If that happens, we can leave much more easily!"


    They man looked sincere when he said this, his eyes shiny with an exceptional brilliance.


    Zhang Tie knew that the true reason that they abducted him and took him here was that they wanted him to bring them into the Comprehensive Logistics Relief Base in Blapei. They would then destroy things inside, as well as him, instead of taking him back for some reward. His life might come to an end when he took these guys into the base.


    ''Damn, these bitches really found a cowardly lion to deal with. F*ck!''


    "If we¡¯re going to the base, I have to change my clothes. I need to get my officer¡¯s uniform from my residence!" Zhang Tie replied after thinking for a while.


    "Don''t worry, we''ve already prepared your clothes. You can change here. Since you have your officer certificate with you as well, you¡¯ve saved us a lot of time!"


    Ridicule flashed on his face He then waved his hand while another man in a soldier''s clothes of the Norman Empire threw a military uniform in front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how these people had gotten these military uniforms, but this problem was trivial right now, so he just ignored it. As spies of the Sun Dynasty in Blapei, if they couldn''t do this, they would be too stupid.


    Zhang Tie then pretended to change into the military uniform, but he noticed that his hands couldn''t move at all. He then glanced at the person who had talked to him. That man then looked at the two men on Zhang Tie''s sides, who then let go his arms.


    No matter what, a great amount of people were watching Zhang Tie. Additionally he had been searched all over, so they didn''t fear such a simple guy playing any trick.


    Zhang Tie rubbed his wrists that had been heavily pinched by the two guys and had turned purple. Standing up from the chair, he bent over to pick up the military uniform. Under the others'' gazes, he obediently took off his clothes and put on that first lieutenant¡¯s military uniform, including the military boots.


    After putting on this the military uniform, Zhang Tie naturally moved the length of his height. He faced the twelve people in the warehouse. Everybody was then in his vision and within four meters of him.


    Seeing Zhang Tie cooperating with them so well, these people who were gazing tightly at him became slightly relaxed. At the same time, a wisp of a sneer and contempt appeared on their faces.


    ''Red-hide dog, you want to live, humph humph... It seems that the one who has gained the Iron-


    Blood Medal of the Norman Empire was not as sharp as in the legend!'' they thought to themselves.


    Not until Zhang Tie put on that military uniform and fasten his belt, when he found them most relaxed, did he ask a casual question .


    "How many people do you have? If you have too many, I cannot bring all of you in to the base!"


    "We have fifteen!" Seeing Zhang Tie wanting to cooperate, the first man also slightly relaxed. He didn''t know what Zhang Tie had truly meant by asking him about their numbers, so he immediately added, "Besides the twelve here, we''ve got three guards outside the warehouse. We''ve already got a military SUV. You and me will sit in the cab. When we drive in, you just tell them we''re here to repair vehicles."


    "Fifteen?" Zhang Tie double-checked.


    "Fifteen!"


    That man nodded while he giving Zhang Tie a weird look. Unexpectedly, he found an intricate expression on Zhang Tie''s face.


    "Then..." Zhang Tie took a deep breath as the smile on his face disappeared. At the same time, his two eyes radiated killing intent. "You can go die now!"


    Soon after he said this, the twelve binding chains that swam around the mysterious rune in his mind flew out of the middle of his eyebrows and immediately hit the twelve people in the warehouse like invincible lightning bolts and chains...

 232 Unexpected

    Chapter 232: Unexpected


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The second Zhang Tie activated the binding skill in the warehouse like an invisible storm, he knew that he had succeeded because the effect of the chains hitting all the twelve people was brought to his mind at once.


    Among these people, the highest rank was LV 6 while the lowest was LV 2. The effect of binding skill ranged from over three to over eight minutes, which depended on the ratio of their spiritual energy to that of Zhang Tie.


    Before releasing the binding skill, Zhang Tie had bet that no figure above LV 7 was in this warehouse. As spies of the Sun Dynasty, they should have high intelligence instead of high fighting strength, so their levels should not be too high.


    What Zhang Tie was most concerned about were those fleeing guys from the airship. He was not sure about the highest level among the figures sent from the Sun Dynasty.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that those people had taken the secret medicine of the Sun Dynasty before coming here and didn''t plan to come back alive, so he presumed based on usual rules. But in reality, since those people were doomed to die in this mission, the Sun Dynasty would not have assigned officers with high levels. After all, fighters above LV 6 were not cheap white cabbages.


    He was right. The highest level of the people in the warehouse was that person''s who had punched him just now, a LV 6 fighter whose battle-qi totem was black spider.


    The whole warehouse immediately froze up. With the exception of Zhang Tie, the rest could only move their eyes. Nobody understood what was happening. The moment they were hit by the binding chains, everybody lost control of their body. They could still see, sense, and think, but not move.


    What was happening?


    Zhang Tie then moved his wrist and grabbed the dagger from that guy who had wanted to trick him just now. In a split second, that guy''s eyes were full of fear and shock. He wanted to say something, but he could not even open his mouth. As if posed with an immobilization skill, he just stood there like an idiot with eyes widely opened, watching Zhang Tie taking the dagger from his hand.


    After taking the dagger, Zhang Tie cast a smile at that person. "Unexpected, right? What you wanted to do had nothing to do with me, so I didn''t want to kill you, but now that you want to kill me, I have to say sorry..."


    Putting his left arm on that person''s shoulder, Zhang Tie fiercely thrust the dagger into hischest, directly hitting his heart. Once the man''s eyes lost their spirit, Zhang Tie then carefully put him on the ground without making any sound.


    Due to his experience in the Iron-Blood Camp, Zhang Tie didn''t hesitate to kill a person. He did it fast, like killing a chicken.


    After killing this one, Zhang Tie walked towards the person who had beat him just now. It was the only LV 6 fighter among them. Putting his arm around that person''s shoulder like how he did to the first one, Zhang Tie thrust the dagger into his chests and slowly lowered him to the ground.


    In a minute, Zhang Tie quickly ended the lives of all the twelve people in the warehouse the same way.


    He had not imagined that he would have to kill so many people when he used his binding skill for the first time. Actually, he didn''t want to kill them. He had killed too many people on the battlefields. Previously, he thought that he could remain peaceful in Blapei, but unexpectedly, he had to kill people again. In this age, many things were out of one''s control!


    After killing the twelve people in the warehouse, Zhang Tie sighed inside. He cleaned the dagger on the last person''s military uniform, then silently walked around the wooden barrels, towards the exit of the warehouse. When he reached it, he saw clearly that this warehouse was on the second floor of a building, so, he walked downstairs to the first floor.


    In the "hide the blade" move, he put the blade against his wrist and slowly walked downstairs, leaning against the wall.


    A pile of sundries were piled under the stairs, while a truck marked with the symbol of the logistics department of the Iron-Horn Army parked nearby.


    ...


    Two people in the military uniform of the Norman Empire''s soldiers were guarding that truck with their eyes fixed on the entrance of the building. If that person didn''t lie to him, with the exception of the two near the truck, there should be another sentry in the courtyard outside the distillery to make them fifteen people in total.


    The distance between the entrance of the building and the truck was over ten meters. The gate of the distillery was right in front of the truck. If he wanted to leave, he had to kill the two people next to the truck without catching the attention of the sentry outside. After thinking for a while in the entrance, Zhang Tie came up with an idea.


    Making some noise on purpose, he walked out of the shadow at the entrance of the building towards the two people at a medium speed, moving towards the truck.


    The moment the two people caught sight of Zhang Tie casually walking out of the entrance in military uniform, they became stunned.


    "Is it that truck? It looks nice. But something''s not right with it. I agree to take you into the logistics base, but if you want to pretend this truck needs to be repaired, you have to make it look dirty..."


    As if not seeing the two people at all, Zhang Tie walked towards them and started to judge the truck.


    "Stop, where are the others?"


    The two soldiers immediately became alert.


    "They''re arranging their uniforms upstairs. For average soldiers, their military uniforms are too clean. If they want to pretend to be soldiers coming back from the battlefield or the transportation team, this would bring them trouble, so they told me to come downstairs first. Your clothes should be a bit dirty too..."


    Ignoring their suspicions, Zhang Tie still moved closer toward them. Soon, he was less than eight meters away.


    Zhang Tie''s leisurely attitude and his familiarity with tonight''s plan stunned the two for a bit more. They felt that what he said was reasonable, and he could not have killed all the people upstairs alone, so they instantly loosened their vigilance around him.


    When he was seven meters away from them, Zhang Tie let out a breath and immediately froze the two people with binding chins. As a result, they could only stare at him with fearful eyes.


    "Where''s another one? Hurry up, call him in. We''re going to set off. If it''s too late, the investigation on the vehicles accessing the base would be stricter..." Zhang Tie shouted loudly on purpose as he passed by the two soldiers and opened the side door of the warehouse. He then exclaimed towards outside impatiently, "Hurry up, come on in, after preparations we''ll have to go!"


    After saying this, although his heart pounded, Zhang Tie still pretended to sit down calmly at a desk in front of the two frozen soldiers, seemingly waiting for that person outside to come in.


    Through the open side door of the warehouse, the sentry outside could easily see the two soldiers standing beside Zhang Tie, safe and sound.


    Zhang Tie just sat there and waited for that one to come in. Based on the effect of the binding chains on the two soldiers, he had eight minutes left. He didn''t believe that the sentry outside would not come inside to have a look when he saw the side door opened and was called inside for preparations.


    Generally speaking, sentries outside would always stay in a very hidden place. Compared to finding that person out at the risk of his life, it was wiser for Zhang Tie to let that sentry come in by himself.


    Certainly, after less than half a minute, a head popped out from the side door of the distillery. Although a bit suspicious, at the sight of Zhang Tie sitting well on the chair while the two soldiers were standing beside him that sentry immediately loosened his vigilance and walked in.


    When he came, that sentry was still holding a crossbow with a bolt on it. At the sight it in that person''s hands, Zhang Tie was drenched in cold sweat all over. If he had hurriedly slipped out of the distillery just now, he might have already been a corpse.


    Zhang Tie''s decision was right. Binding skill was not an all-purpose skill, especially in crisis when a calm mindset, courage, and insight counted most. Although risky, his decision had saved his life tonight again.


    Zhang Tie then let out a long breath inside.


    "Where are Victor and the others?" asked the sentry in a very meticulous way, becoming doubtful as he came in.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know who was Victor, but he knew he must me a partner of this guy.


    "They''re dressing upstairs..."


    Right then, the sentry caught sight of the two frozen people beside Zhang Tie. As Zhang Tie was paying full attention to the sentry''s expressions, the moment he saw his face suddenly changing, Zhang Tie immediately threw the desk before himself. Almost in a split second, with a sound of "duo", Zhang Tie felt was shocked as a half of a sharp arrowhead with icy light penetrated through the thick desk and stopped right before his forehead.


    Zhang Tie then rolled on the ground. At the same time, that person pulled out his dagger and rushed towards Zhang tie. As a result, the distance between the two of them was immediately reduced to seven meters.


    Zhang Tie felt a bit cold between his eyebrows...


    A binding chain flew out like an invisible lightning bolt...


    While that person rushing forward fell to the ground...


    The whole distillery became calm once again.


    Zhang Tie panted heavily. The past two seconds were as adventurous as that bloody fight that night. If he was a bit slower or the desk was a bit thinner, it would have been a totally different outcome.


    After gasping a couple times, Zhang Tie stood up from the ground. He then walked towards that person fallen on the ground. Ignoring the vacancy and shock in that person''s eyes, Zhang Tie immediately pulled out his dagger and directly thrust it into his chest. With eyes popped out, that person then sprouted blood from his mouth corner before finally tilting his head to one side and moving no more.


    Zhang Tie then walked before the two soldiers who had been struck by binding chains and carefully stared at their faces for awhile. After staring for a short time, he finally discovered the problem. They had their eye popped out and weren''t blinking at all! Additionally, there was a wisp of panic in their eyes. Once having watched it for several seconds, careful people would find that there was something wrong with their faces.


    ''Thank God.''


    Zhang Tie let out a long breath...


    Several seconds later, nobody was alive except for Zhang Tie inside the distillery. After dressing up, he stealthily slipped away.


    Although 2000 gold coins'' reward was a huge sum of money, Zhang Tie was not mad enough to make money by exposing his secret. At this time, he didn''t lack money at all. If he was questioned how he could kill so many people alone as a disabled person who had not even recovered yet, how would he reply? Telling them that he ate a Fruit of Judgment or that the saboteurs and spies of the Sun Dynasty suddenly became idiots and just stood still to be thrust to death by him?


    Zhang Tie didn''t want to be notice, so he silently left this place!


    After leaving the warehouse, Zhang Tie didn''t know that in a building on the opposite side of the road, a person with wholly gray hair, black coat, and sanguine gloves was standing in a dark room with his eyes fixed on him who was slipping away from the courtyard of the warehouse. All of a sudden, the man''s eyes as sharp as that of wolves radiated faint lights...


    Fifteen minutes after Zhang Tie left the distillery, the man who was standing before the windowsill waved his hand and a group of people in black coats suddenly rushed into that distillery like ghosts that appeared in the darkness.


    ...


    Nobody in this world could grasp and predict everything. Zhang Tie had not predicted that he could be abducted by others; those people who abducted him had not predicted that the first lieutenant of the logistics department who had been almost disabled had such a terrifying trump card. Additionally, Zhang Tie had not predicted that when he left the distillery, all his movements had been watched by other people as this warehouse had been monitored for several days.


    That person with gray hair and sanguine gloves had not predicted that the good play that he had been expecting for tonight would cease all of a sudden. According to his plan, those saboteurs and spies of the Sun Dynasty were just a tool which could be used to smack someone''s face while making others pleased. From the start, he fully understood what these people''s plan was. Since the third day he arrived at Blapei, they had been completely under his control.


    The Iron-Horn Army might be very sharp on the battle field, but speaking of the ways used to deal with these mice, the elephant Iron-Horn Army didn''t enjoy a good reputation. Although they could turn cities into battlefields by building wire meshes and moats, they didn''t know that those mice were exceptionally good at accessing wire meshes and moats.


    The most perfect plot was that when the saboteurs and spies of the Sun Dynasty made the whole Blapei chaotic, the dark robed guys would catch the boring mice and send them to Nordinburg, which could make these guys in red gloves more attractive in some big figures'' eyes, just like cockroaches on a cake or mice in a ball!


    This was how this world went. No matter whether you liked it or not, many people would encounter each other due to various emergencies like two trains driving on the same rail from opposite directions, which, after crashing into each other, would change their directions out of control...


    Whether they would derail or fly out of the precipice and cause damage and casualties, only God knew...

 233 Chop You to Feed Dogs

    Chapter 233: Chop You to Feed Dogs


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel good. Nobody would feel good after experiencing what happened tonight¡ªbeing plotted against, abducted, lied to walk into a deathtrap, used by others like a tool; he had almost lost his life. Additionally, he had to even use his trump card to escape...


    He had no other choice but to kill fifteen people in total.


    Because it was not too late yet, after leaving that distillery, Zhang Tie stopped a horse taxi and arrived at the block where his residence was located in only a bit more than twenty minutes.


    Not until his belly uttered ''gulu gulu'' after he got off the horse taxi did Zhang Tie realize that he had not eaten supper.


    Damned.


    After hurriedly eating supper in a roadside hotel, Zhang Tie came back to his residence with a gloomy expression.


    He intended to leave here two days later. After that, he intended to come back at most once a week. In wartime, Blapei was not a peaceful land any more. If he put on his military uniform, he would stir up many troubles downtown, such as this time. In contrast, the Chevli village was like a paradise where he could set free earthworms and f*ck women, bringing himself power and happiness. Although Chevli was a small village, Zhang Tie only wanted to completely recover in that small village.


    After experiencing another fatal danger, he sincerely felt the importance of real strength required to live in this world. This time, if he had been a bit weaker or didn''t have that binding skill brought by the god rune, he might have been killed in the rear instead of a battlefield.


    ''Real strength, real strength, real strength...'' Zhang Tie mumbled inside several times as he walked out of the hotel, even more strongly wishing to move to Chevli. If he moved there and made good use of his time, he could set free earthworms several times faster than before.


    Zhang Tie had already made his decision.


    Nevertheless, he had not expected that his bad luck tonight hadn''t yet ended.


    Mr. Green was silently waiting for him at the end of the lane. The moment he caught sight of Zhang Tie, the landowner ran out at once.


    "More than ten people are looking for you. They look ferocious and are waiting for you to return..." Mr. Green told Zhang Tie, full of concern.


    ''More than ten people are waiting for me? Ferocious?'' Zhang Tie frowned. ''After killing so many people in the battlefield with the other members of the Iron-Blood Camp, even breaking my "Woman''s Excellence" and "Man''s Certificate" and killing fifteen people just now, how could anyone still dare to find me trouble? Vicious? They dare to play this role in front of me...''


    "Do they wear military uniforms?" Zhang only asked Mr. Green one question.


    "No, but many of them are holding steel pipes and iron chains..."


    Saying this, Mr. Green glanced at Zhang Tie''s weak body.


    Since Blapei had been peaceful for a long time, everybody had become too relaxed. When the Iron-Horn Army arrived here, no casualties were caused, so most people here, including the innocent Mr. and Mrs. Green, might have forgotten what the military uniform he wore meant. Did they consider the Iron-Horn Army as the vigilante group in Blapei composed of volunteers?


    ''Someone dares to find trouble for military officers of the Norman Empire on a newly occupied land?''


    Zhang Tie was so annoyed that he almost became thrilled. They really didn''t know what death meant.


    "Mr. Green, thanks for your warning. You go back first and close your gate. Forget about them. I will solve this trouble!"


    After comforting Mr. Green for a while, Zhang Tie then asked him to go back first before leaving this lane.


    As those spies and saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty in Blapei had not been caught, there were many patrols and sentries of No. 21 Division on the streets.


    Only after less than 100 m, Zhang Tie had already found a team of patrolling soldiers of the No. 21 Division. He casually showed his military officer''s certificate to them and explained was happening. All the soldiers then pulled out their sabers and followed Zhang Tie back full of killing intent.


    Before Mr. and Mrs. Green''s house, more than ten people were lazily standing in the shadow under the tree.


    "Mr. Beise, don''t forget the benefits you''ve promised us after we deal with that lad for you..."


    A ruffian with a ring hanging off his nose and legs full of tattoos was talking to a 40-odd man who had been ferociously beaten up by Zhang Tie last time and driven away from the female tenant''s on the third floor door.


    After a week, most of that middle-aged man''s wounds had recovered, except for a plaster on his forehead. The moment he heard someone beside him mention that lad who had beaten him up that day, he gritted his teeth. That day, Zhang Tie had not only ruined his happiness but also deeply impressed him with the ferocious beating.


    What he couldn''t understand and felt a bit humiliated by was that he was scared away by a brat of 15-16 years old. This really annoyed him. So the moment his wounds were almost all recovered, he immediately fetched some helpers to find Zhang Tie trouble.


    On that day, when Zhang Tie had beaten him, he was wearing plain clothes, so, he had not imagined that the kid would be an officer of the Iron-Horn Army. Additionally, Zhang Tie was truly much younger than him. Due to such simple negligence, Mr. Beise would encounter a great tragedy.


    "Besides that brat, I''ll definitely get that woman tonight!" After those words, the man thought of Linda''s hot figure and charming face and felt his lower body becoming slightly hot. "Linda, bitch, you really thought that the brat could help you refuse me? I''ll show you something tonight..."


    "I''ve heard that the woman is very beautiful!" The guy with a ring in his nose said, revealing an obscene smile. "I think Mr. Beise will not mind me receiving some benefits from her!"


    Hearing this, all the other guys with iron rods, sabers, and iron chains burst into laughter.


    However, that middle-aged man became a bit uncomfortable. Nevertheless, knowing that he had to rely on them to deal with Zhang Tie, he responded with a ''Hmm''. It was just a woman. After he enjoyed Linda himself, it would be good to punish her in this way so that she would be a bit more obedient from then on.


    While they were talking about how to distribute the rewards, Zhang Tie slowly showed himself in the lane near Mr. Green''s house. As there was no lamplight on the two sides of this lane and outside Mr. Green''s house, they could only see Zhang Tie''s figure when he walked out of the darkness. They could not see clearly what he was wearing, neither did they notice that he was not alone but followed by a team of soldiers.


    "That''s him..." Zhang Tie''s figure and height were deeply impressed in Mr. Beise''s mind, so the moment Zhang Tie appeared, Mr. Beise caught sight of him. Afraid of the boy escaping, he pointed at him and shouted loudly, "Don''t let him escape, beat him to death!"


    After waiting there for quite a while, over ten "ferocious" ruffians and rogues rushed out with various weapons. That guy with a ring on his nose and an iron chain in his hand ran fastest. Not until he rushed in front of Zhang Tie did he clearly see Zhang Tie''s military uniform. The brim of the hat covered a small half of his face, while Zhang Tie was followed by a team of soldiers of the Iron-Horn Army who had long pulled out their sabers. They were all full of killing intent.


    In a split second, that guy froze as if struck by a lightning bolt. His face immediately turned pale while the other ruffians followed up with exclamations and grim expressions...


    "Keep them alive..."


    After delivering the order, Zhang Tie waved his hand, and all the soldiers of No. 21 Division behind him growled and rushed out of the darkness.


    Before the soldiers of the Iron-Horn Army who were as ferocious as wolves and tigers, those ruffians didn''t have a chance to make any response before being beaten up and left sprawled on the ground, wailing like ghosts and howling like wolves. After a single round, in less than five seconds, all of them were already lying. If it was not Zhang Tie''s order, none of these people would''ve been still alive tonight.


    The ruffians were instantly shocked. Until then, they still hadn''t thought it through. Weren''t they here to deal with a brat? How could so many soldiers of the Iron-Horn Army have rushed out? At the sight of Zhang Tie''s icy expression, they were more spiritually afraid than physically pained.


    However, as Blapei had been peaceful for such a long time, even now, not everyone had understood their situation. Some muddle-headed person from among the ruffians was used to being brutal. He still thought that there was no difference between these guys in dark red military uniforms and the former vigilante groups.


    "Bastard, you bastards, do you know who I am. You dare to tramp me. You''re doomed to death. I''m..."


    "Kill him!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s emotionless order, one of the soldiers instantly slashed with his saber. Almost at the same time, a head with a mouth still opening to swear rolled to Zhang Tie''s feet. Without even an extra blink, Zhang Tie casually kicked it to one side.


    In a split second, all the ruffians lying on the ground peed from fright. When that soldier flicked his saber, Zhang Tie heard an exclamation from the residence on the second floor and a hurried closing of a window. He guessed that the young couple must have been terrified when they saw the scene here, same as Mr. and Mrs. Green''s whose residence''s curtains were also drawn at the same time.


    Zhang Tie didn''t see those ruffians lying on the ground at all, instead, he just pulled out the saber from the waist of one soldier standing beside him and walked directly to that man who had been ferociously beaten up that day.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie walking toward him with a saber in hand, Mr. Beise quivered how a mandarin duck did to shake off water from its feathers and immediately knelt down on to the ground.


    Patting Mr. Beise''s forehead with the blade of the saber, Zhang Tie said, "Do you remember what I said last time. If I see you again, I''ll chop you to feed dogs. Now, I will count from 1 to 10. If you cannot give me a reason to forgive you, I will chop off your head to feed dogs..."

 234 Mercy and Tactics

    Chapter 234: Mercy and Tactics


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    "One..."


    Zhang Tie opened his mouth without any mood.


    "Ah, it''s my fault, it''s my fault..."


    That middle-aged man''s face turned pale.


    "Two..."


    "I didn''t know you were a military officer of the Norman Empire..."


    The man started to ooze cold sweat.


    "Three..."


    "I just wanted to give you a lesson. I didn''t want to kill you, ah..." that man cried out.


    "Four..."


    "I didn''t mean it..."


    He became soft all over.


    "Five..."


    "I will never think about Linda any more! That woman is yours, she''s yours! You can do whatever you want..."


    The man''s mind entered a confused state.


    "Six..."


    "Linda owes me 187 gold coins. I won''t ask her for any of it any more... I won''t want it any more. Here''s the contract between us..."


    The man pulled out a paper from the inside of his coat and put it before Zhang Tie in his quivering hand...


    "Seven..."


    Zhang Tie''s voice remained unchanged at all.


    "I''m just an average businessman. Forgive me please..."


    Fart and pee were almost scared out of the man...


    "Eight..."


    Zhang Tie raised his shiny long saber...


    "It''s my fault... it''s really my fault..."


    The man was in such despair that he started to weep...


    "Nine..."


    Zhang Tie raised his long saber high, readying himself to slash down to kill this guy. He would never feel reluctant in killing someone who had been exclaiming to attack an officer of the Norman Empire and beat him to death. If he did that, he would not have any trouble at all. When that person shouted to beat Zhang Tie to death, all the others'' lives had come in possession of Zhang Tie.


    "...I have three kids to feed at home, I''m sorry for them..."


    By now, the man''s face was covered with nasal mucus and saliva. At the last moment, he just sat down on the ground, losing all hope and started to mumble whatever came to his mind.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie slightly lowered his saber, then raised it up again, intending to slash down. However, after thinking for a while, he let out a sigh. He then put down his saber again. Given this guy''s age, his three kids might be at a young age. For some reason, the moment he heard this guy caring about his kids at home at the critical moment of life or death, he grew soft-hearted and stopped his slash.


    After throwing the saber to the soldier beside him, Zhang Tie grabbed the contract from Mr. Beise''s hand and glanced at it twice. The alleged contract was just a delivery contract between that guy and a distillery which was signed several months ago. In Blapei, these kind of contracts could often be seen. Since Blapei''s beer was sold to the whole former Andaman Alliance, many dealers had similar agreements with distilleries on delivering: how much beer, at what price, in which period, and how to deal with it if one party could not fulfill this agreement.


    After a single glance at the contract Zhang Tie understood what was happening. Obviously, this time, the distillery didn''t fulfill the agreement. This agreement was signed before the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty encountered the former Andaman Alliance, and the the delivery should have been fulfilled two weeks ago. The price of beer on the contract was also calculated based on the market price before the war.


    Previously, there was no problem with this contract. However, after the war broke out, the market price of grains soared while the cost of beer brewed with wheat had risen more than once. If they continued to delivery goods based on the contracted price, the distillers would need a lot of money to fulfill this contract. The liquidated damages were 187 gold coins, which was twice the contracted trading volume of beer. This was not a small amount of money for a small distillery.


    Did this man then use the debt which was due to force that woman on the third floor to be his mattress? Zhang Tie immediately understood what had happened. That distillery might have been opened by that woman''s family members.


    Zhang Tie then threw the contract to the man. "Remember what you said just now. Eat this contract, then I will forgive you!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, that man hurriedly tore the contract and put it into his mouth before forcefully chewing on it. He then directly swallowed it. Finally, he opened his mouth and let Zhang Tie check it.


    Zhang Tie then left this man alive before looking around at all the other ruffians of Blapei. When one of them had his head chopped off, all the others had become so scared that they almost lost their minds. Seeing Zhang Tie coming towards them, they all quivered like screening rice chaff.


    Zhang Tie then glanced at the weapons left by these craps on the ground. He then pointed at one iron rod and casually stared at one of those guys on the ground being trampled by soldiers.


    "You have one minute to break others'' legs using this iron rod. If you can do that, I will not chop off your head!" After saying this, Zhang Tie ordered two soldiers standing on two sides of this guy, "You check the time. From this moment if he cannot do it in one minute, you will chop off his head!"


    "Ah..."


    At Zhang Tie''s words, that guy became stunned for a second before screaming like a lunatic and jumping up from the ground. Without any hesitation, he hefted up that iron rod and started to knock at his partners'' legs.


    Among the continual sounds of breaking bones and miserable screams, all the other ruffians had their legs broken. That person truly completely his mission in one minute. However, the fear of those ruffians towards Zhang Tie and the soldiers of the Norman Empire had already become animosity. They all stared at him with flaring eyes. The survival law of ruffians was very simple. As they wanted to find Zhang Tie trouble, they found him trouble due to his lack of any background. Therefore, they should owe their bad luck to Mr. Beise, but facing their partner''s betrayal, all them started to swear...


    "Pah... Bilis, you bastard, we''re really cheated by you..."


    "...Don''t fall in our hands from now on..."


    "Ah... you bastard, you really broke my knee..."


    "...I will kill you..."


    Zhang Tie then glanced at them with an icy expression. From then on, these ruffians became as uncooperative as a plate of sparse sand. The guy called Bilis was also over. If he didn''t want to be thrust with something to death by others, he''d better bury his name and hide far away in an alien area. If he still wanted to stay in Blapei, he would soon become a corpse thrown into a dark ditch. Otherwise, if he was smart enough, he had another choice...


    He did not know since when, but Zhang Tie perceived that he could use tactics. Perhaps, this was the alleged growth.


    "Take away your partner''s corpse and clean up here. You''re not allowed to leave even half a drop of blood before Mr. Green''s house. Then, you can roll out of here!"


    ...


    In the next ten minutes, after arranging the corpse who had its head chopped off, all the other ruffians including Mr. Beise left as if they''d lost heir souls, except for one who had his head lowered, not even daring to look at Zhang Tie. From all the people, Bilis was the only guy who was safe and sound. Before all the other ruffians left, they cast dagger-like eyes towards him, which really made him tremble.


    When Bilis was going to leave, not knowing what to do next, Zhang Tie glanced at him. Whether he lived or not, it depended on his choice tonight.


    ...


    "Brothers, thanks for solving such trivial trouble!"


    After those bastards left, Zhang Tie extended his appreciation to those soldiers that had followed him here.


    "It''s our honor to solve such a little thing for an officer who has gained an Iron-Blood Medal! Sir, what you have done in the battlefield can reduce a lot of casualties of brothers like us."


    A first class sergeant and all the other soldiers then gave a military salute to Zhang Tie.


    On Zhang Tie''s military officer''s certificate were the records of his retirement due to his wounds, and the honors in the Iron-Blood Camp. Each soldier of the Norman Empire clearly knew the extremely low possibility for an officer of the Iron-Blood Camp gaining an Iron-Blood Medal in a battlefield. They knew that Zhang Tie might have killed more officers of the Sun Dynasty than there was of them.


    After reading the records on Zhang Tie''s retirement and what honors he had gained, those soldiers paid more tribute to him. This explained how a tiger still looked ferocious although sick. Any soldier who had won the Iron-Blood Medal could gain respect in any place across the Norman Empire, let alone in the army.


    After seeing them off, Zhang Tie returned to his residence on the fourth floor. When he walked upstairs, the couple on the second floor immediately turned off their lamps. Zhang Tie guessed that they must be too flustered as they toppled over something on the ground and caused some noise. Hearing no footsteps from the inside of their residence, Zhang Tie knew that they were probably holding their breath and waiting for him to go upstairs before dealing with the broken item.


    Shaking his head, Zhang Tie forced a smile. Because he had killed so many people today, he didn''t want to kill anyone else. He had been too merciful to those bastards by only killing one of them. Although for him it was too soft, this kind of event might be too bloody for average people. Zhang Tie knew that he had changed a lot compared to himself several months ago. If it was back then, facing this affair, he might respond similarly to the young couple on the second floor.


    Returning to his residence, Zhang Tie took a bath, ate a fruit, and cultivated his spiritual energy.


    The Fruit of Redemption today helped him recover 1.2% more. However, he only had three binding chains left. These items which could save his life, Zhang Tie certainly could not ignore them. He then hurriedly consumed his spiritual energy to process two more binding chains, using that god rune in his mind sea. After that, he slightly recovered his composure. No matter what, five binding chains were more powerful than three.


    Finally, after processing the binding chains, Zhang Tie cultivated "Mental Arithmetic by Abacus" for more than an hour to slightly recover his spiritual energy before sinking in to sleep.


    Previously, "Mental Arithmetic by Abacus" was very effective in recovering his spiritual energy, but after his spiritual energy had surged dozens of times, that recovery effect was becoming increasing more trivial, however, it was better than nothing at all.


    The next morning, after he got up and cleaned himself, Zhang Tie went downstairs to see someone already waiting for him outside Mr. and Mrs. Green house¡ªBilis.

 235 Hatchet Men and Lackeys

    Chapter 235: Hatchet Men and Lackeys


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Bilis squatted on the side of Mr. and Mrs. Green house''s parterre, eyes red, face blue. He was quivering all over with some dew on his clothes. Given his look, this ruffian might have waited next to the stairs through the whole night. Since it was already autumn, even if he was a 30-odd youth, it was still not easy for Bilis to stay overnight outside.


    The moment he caught sight of Zhang Tie going downstairs, Bilis picked himself up and walked towards him. He then immediately knelt down before him with tearful eyes.


    "I will follow your orders from now on, and will do whatever you want me to do!"


    Last night, Bilis didn''t even dare to return home; instead, he hid here for the night. Previously, he considered to leaving at once, but if he left this familiar place, he didn''t know where he could go and what he could do in the chaotic world.


    If he stayed in Blapei, though, Bilis knew that once those people whom he had crippled recovered, what awaited him was a pain-to-death outcome. After thinking it over carefully, Bilis found that his means of livelihood was that place where he picked up the iron rod last night. That young officer who could beat him into the hell with only one word was his last hope.


    Even now that person could kill him at any time, but he could also make him live at any time. He had no other choice but this.


    Of Zhang Tie, after experiencing what had happened last night, he had an instinctive fear¡ªthose ruffians would use weapons to kill people, but Zhang Tie only needed to move his lips. Certainly, Bilis knew who was sharper.


    "It seems that you''re not that foolish. Have you thought it through?" Zhang Tie asked him.


    The moment Zhang Tie opened his mouth, Bilis showed more awe to him. It turned out that this man already knew what was his next step. Forcefully swallowing his saliva, Bilis nodded.


    "Then, follow me!"


    Zhang Tie walked in to the lane, closely followed by Bilis.


    ...


    He went to eat breakfast in a hotel on the block. He also ordered one for Bilis along with a glass of brandy to help him warm up. This made Bilis feel really flattered. Although they sat on the same table, Bilis was as obedient as a primary school student. He dared not make a noise when he drank and ate.


    Zhang Tie kept eating his own breakfast without a word. He didn''t even glance at Bilis. After breakfast, he cleaned his mouth with a napkin and put down his knife and fork.


    Seeing Zhang Tie putting down his knife and fork, Bilis, who kept gnawing at food, not daring to make a noise, hurriedly swallowed and put down his own knife and fork. With hands on his knees, he obediently listened to Zhang Tie''s words.


    Zhang Tie was less than half his age, but before him Bilis was as obedient as a rabbit in front of a tiger.


    "Your name is..."


    "My name is Bilis..."


    The moment Zhang Tie opened his mouth, Bilis hurriedly answered, afraid of offending him.


    "Hmm!" Zhang Tie cast a glance at him. "How much did that guy pay you to beat me last night?"


    "Two... two gold coins!"


    When the conversation shifted to what had happened last night, Bilis started to restlessly twist on his chair. He knew that the scumbags led by Beise would never dare to offend an officer of the Norman Empire. Beise was really a bad-luck scumbag, who didn''t even figure out Zhang Tie''s status before moving against the latter. The outcome was that everybody got a miserable lesson.


    ''Two gold coins?'' Zhang Tie became slightly dumbfounded. ''There were at least ten ruffians last night. Would they risk their lives for only two gold coins?''


    Thinking of this, he found that his attitude was now different from before, especially on money.


    Two gold coins was a small amount of money to Zhang Tie now, but it was a great sum of money for small figures living at the bottom of society. Of course they would agree to beat him up for over ten silver coins per person, as this amount of money were not a small figure for both villagers of Chevli and those ruffians.


    Wasn''t he himself very jubilant after gaining two silver coins after being beaten up by fatty and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood several months ago? At that time, he even begrudged spending several copper coins to go to school by a public vehicle.


    As he started to recall his previous living, Zhang Tie became slightly dumbfounded. When he spoke up again, it was already half a minute later.


    Bilis was nervously watching him, afraid of him being annoyed.


    "Don''t worry, I just recalled something before!" Zhang Tie smiled as he comforted Bilis. "Do you know what I want you to do now?"


    "No... I don''t know!" After saying this, Bilis flattered Zhang Tie once again, "I''ll do whatever you want me to do!"


    "Go to Beise and get back your compensation!"


    "Ah..."


    Bilis widely opened his mouth. He really had not imagined that Zhang Tie would order him to do this.


    "However, the amount is not two gold coins, but twenty gold coins. You go to Beise and tell him this is the price for him finding people to beat me. I dispatch you there, so he''ll definitely give you the money!"


    Zhang Tie leisurely sipped a mouthful of juice.


    Bilis tried his best to remain calm as he forcefully swallowed his saliva. "Do you want me to bring this money back to you?"


    Zhang Tie forced a smile as he joyfully looked at Bilis. "Do you think I''m that kind of person who would rip someone off using this affair, or that I urgently need twenty gold coins?"


    "Oh, no, of course not, I just, I just..."


    Since he was a bit nervous, a lot of sweat oozed out on Bilis'' forehead at once.


    Zhang Tie then interrupted his speech. "No more explanations, I know what you want to say. I don''t need that money. It''s for you. You will arrange this amount of money, then take it and go find your partners whose legs you''ve broken last night. This amount of money will be for their medical treatment and settling-in allowance during this period. Tell them that you''re working for me and let them follow your orders. Do you need me to teach you about such a simple thing!"


    Face blushed, Bilis thought of something before his face turned gloomy once again. "Then, how should I deal with my bo... boss then?"


    "Boss?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t understand what Bilis meant for a second as the moment he heard the appellation, he immediately thought of Reinhardt.


    "I mean that guy who rushed towards you, the guy with a nose ring. He''s our boss. His name is..."


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s narrowed eyes, Bilis lowered his voice. Finally, he didn''t even dare to look straight into at those eyes...


    Saying nothing, Zhang Tie just calmly looked at Bilis, who then became as restless as if he was sitting on a needle. Under the silent gaze for more than seconds, Bilis gritted his teeth and bottomed up the cup of brandy in front him.


    "I know what to do next..."


    Several minutes later, Bilis left the hotel. Before which, Zhang Tie told him their secret way of contacting each other and then told him to collect recent news about the spies and saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty in Blapei.


    After experiencing what had happened last night, Zhang Tie found that his power was too weak in Blapei. This place was not like Blackhot City where he had a lot of friends and brothers who could look after each other in an emergency. If it was not Mr. Green who had stealthily warned him, he might have suffered a lot from those ruffians.


    Given their performance last night, among the ruffians, two of them were LV 2, one of them was LV 3 while others were all LV 1. On the premise that he had not enough binding chains and based on his current situation, he might have been wounded if he got surrounded by them.


    Feeling the crisis, Zhang Tie made the arrangement last night. These guys might not help him too much, but if they could be his lackeys, they could also help him a lot. In emergencies, these lackeys could also be dispatched at any time so as to prevent a similar situation.


    They were all jobless people who usually hung round with those scumbags in the entertainment venues and beer hotels at the bottom in Blapei and survived on casually solving small troubles for others. Their lives were in the poorest situation as they could only keep themselves from starving to death. They were scumbags who would fight others for only dozens of copper coins and and get killed.


    What had happened last night, this kind of business paying two gold coins was the biggest one that they received for the past half a year. Their monthly compensation might not be enough for Zhang Tie to buy a pond of earthworms in Chevli village.


    He only needed to throw 2-3 gold coins to these people per month to make them obediently follow all his orders. Even if they were ten lowest-level hatchet men, they would definitely work for him for only 2-3 gold coins. No matter what, he didn''t lack money now.


    ...


    The atmosphere in Blapei wasn''t at ease yet. The amount of sentries and patrolling soldiers across the city were no less than yesterday. Zhang Tie thought that maybe what he had done to those spies of the Sun Dynasty last night had not been discovered.


    He took a round in the Equipment Administration today again. Whether he was talking with Second Lieutenant Pi Ping or learning vehicle repairing after taking off his military uniform and lying on the ground, Zhang Tie felt that he was really learning a lot.


    Facing such an officer who liked learning without lording over others and could get along well with other people, all the experienced technical sergeants in the Equipment Administration surrounded Zhang Tie to impart all their experiences and technologies on repairing vehicles to him. In this way, with experienced teachers'' hand-to-hand teaching and a great number of vehicles suffering from various problems, Zhang Tie today learned more than many people could learn in a month at school. .

 236 An Encounter

    Chapter 236: An Encounter


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The leisurely atmosphere in Blapei could not be completely felt until night.


    Even if there was war... even if the atmosphere in the city was a bit tense because of the spies and the escaped saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty... even if the price of beer was already twice of what it was before, the businesses of beer hotels and bars in Blapei were not influenced at all. For those who didn''t forget to have a glass of beer in the evening even in this situation, what they should do was to only take their ID certificate with them.


    Men in Blapei didn''t have to smoke, eat too much, even dress too good, but they had to drink beer. Even if the most prosperous streets here lacked a bit of magnificence compared to the Avenue Bright in "rural areas" like Blackhot City, even if there were fewer gentlemen and fair ladies in high-consumption places here than in Blackhot City, after supper, men here always left home with a casual coat to head to their favorite beer bars or hotels. So did women here. Without having to dress in delicate and expensive clothes, they displayed their own beauty.


    Men and women drank beer, talked, and laughed, and flirted with each other in the beer hotels or bars, which became one of the most important parts of people''s lives in Blapei. In the former Andaman Alliance, with the exception of its beer, Blapei was also famous for its uninhibited life.


    Even if people here got married, they could still have their own dalliances. The significant other just ignored that as long as their partner didn''t break the bottom line, such as bringing his or her paramour back home in the presence of the other one.


    The marriage here lacked that sacred sense of marriages in other places. It was more like a certificate for two people to willingly live together for a period of time. For many couples that had gotten married, the roles of wife and husband were just another appellation of "main lover".


    Men had their favorite places to drink beer, while women had their favorite places to drink beer too. As one of the weird phenomena in the downtown of Blapei, except for some specific societal activities with family as the unit, few couples would drink in the same place. Couples here had their own pleasures. They treated each other very good. What made someone in the former Andaman Alliance puzzled was that the divorce rate in this "indulgent place" was the lowest across Andaman Alliance, even across the Blackson Human Clan Corridor. Why? Perhaps only anthropologists or sociologists could answer it.


    When he went to "strike a bell[1]" in the Equipment Administration today, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping of No. 9 Equipment Administration proudly told Zhang Tie that he had two mistresses in Blapei. Women in Blapei all liked officers of the Iron-Horn Army. Therefore, many officers of the Logistics Department had mistresses in Blapei. In order to strike up an acquaintance with Zhang Tie, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping didn''t even mind being a "pimp". He told Zhang Tie that if there was a need, he could introduce some mistresses to him.


    Walking on the most prosperous street of this city and listening to the laughter of men and women and the music drifting from the beer hotels and bars, Zhang Tie suddenly had an absurd thought¡ªwith the exception of the geographic location of Blapei, one reason that the officers and marshals of the logistics department of the Iron-Horn Army had set their headquarters here was for the convenience of finding willing women here. This was not impossible; sometimes, the most absurd and unspoken reason might also be the most important one.


    In this city, men were dissolute and women were audacious. Actually, compared to Blackhot City, Zhang Tie liked here more as this place was very close to his dream of being surrounded by a great number of gold coins and women.


    Just now, walking on the road, Zhang Tie even experienced "flirting" for the first time¡ªsome beautiful girls, older than 20 years old, in short skirts saw him outside a beer bar. Then, one of them started to whistle towards him, and all of them laughed. They then entered the boisterous beer bar beside him. Before entering the bar, that girl who had whistled towards Zhang Tie even looked back and smiled at him...


    Zhang Tie seemed to see Hanna stealthily waving her hands towards him from behind the wheat straw stack.


    Seeing that 20-odd girl''s smile, Zhang Tie''s mummy became grim like a wolf again. As a 15-year old juvenile, his hormone content was always at a high level all day long. After the flirting, the reading jumped up like the mercury in the mercury column...


    Perhaps Hanna was right. He truly liked to thrust into different women''s body so as to conquer them using his d*ck, enjoying the delight of conquering them. If one took that 20-odd beautiful girl for an instance, wasn''t it nice to conquer such a girl and make both him and her happy by irrigating her like how he irrigated Hanna.


    Although he thought so inside and his heart started to pound, Zhang Tie didn''t follow the girls into the boisterous beer bar, instead, he still wandered through the street. He still remembered his promise to bring a gift for Hanna tomorrow¡ªa gift that could make Miss Daina, the goddess in his dream, most beautiful and sexy.


    By the time he finished supper, Zhang Tie had already wandered through many women''s clothing stores in the streets of Blapei. However, he didn''t see any proper clothes. Generally, few people would visit these stores, so the moment Zhang Tie entered, he would always gain some weird gazes. However, having long gotten used to it when he was in Blackhot City, he didn''t care about it at all. He had even bought whole sets of underclothes for 85 women at once, not to mention now.


    There was one average women''s clothing store in front of him. In the glass showcase outside the store some wooden models were standing in beautiful skirts along with some pairs of leather boots, sandals, and some accessories on two small counters. This store sold solely women''s items, although it was evening, under the special lamp lights, the decorations of the store still looked very ambient and stylish.


    This was a clothing store full of womanly style.


    With a casual attitude, Zhang Tie pushed in to the store and walked inside. What he had not imagined was that after wandering through the streets for a long while, he would encounter two familiar people here¡ªBlapei was really too small.


    Hearing the bell rings when Zhang Tie pushed in, the two people in the store both turned around. In a split second, three of them became dumbfounded.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie coming in, Mr. Beise''s face turned pale once again. Looking at Zhang Tie, he stammered, "You... you... don''t misunderstand, I... I''m here to give the real... real estate contract of this store that Linda had pledged to me back to her... our debts have been cleared last night... I didn''t know that you would come here to pick her up; I will not be here from this moment on then... wish you a good night!"


    After saying this, before Zhang Tie had even uttered a word, Mr. Beise quickly escaped without even having the courage to look back at Zhang Tie.


    This store only occupied over forty square meters. After Mr. Beise hurriedly escaped, there were only two people in the store¡ªZhang Tie and that female tenant on the third floor of Mr. and Mrs. Green house.


    The atmosphere in the store was a bit embarrassing and ambiguous. Neither of them knew how to start the topic, especially after hearing the last sentence of Mr. Beise before he left. The 30-odd female boss looked quite bashful.


    Zhang Tie became embarrassed too. God knew that he was here only to buy clothes. He had never imagined that he would meet the two people here. However, if he explained this now, will she trust him? This woman seemed to know what had happened last night. However, he appeared at this moment when she was going to go off job, which seemed to contain something special. How to say... it seemed... seemed that he was threatening her to get some reward...


    "I... I didn''t know you were here.. .I''m just... just... here to buy a set of clothes!"


    For some reason, seeing this 30-odd mature and delicate woman who was as old as Miss Daina standing behind the cashier of the store and looking at him with intricate eyes, Zhang Tie also became flurried like Mr. Beise.


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s embarrassment, Linda''s intricate eyes became tender at once.


    After biting her lips, the female boss moved away from the cashier. "No matter what, thank you very much. When I have enough money, I''ll pay you back!"


    "Really no need, I just beat him up last night as I didn''t like him... uhm, I''m really here to buy clothes!" Zhang Tie kept explaining with his eyes fixed on the body of the beautiful female boss.


    She was wearing an overskirt that looked great on a mature woman. The black overskirt with floral patterns was skintight while a circle of lace was exposed from the deep, upturned V type collar of the overskirt, making her very womanly. Additionally, the lotus leaf decoration over her waist made her upper body and her lower curve more outstanding and plump. When she moved close to Zhang Tie, he smelt a special perfume that almost immediately made his mummy expand and become hard.


    Zhang Tie finally understood the difference between mature women and female students, namely mature women would be more sensitive and insightful to the man next to them. When the female boss''s expression became weird, Zhang Tie then looked along her eyes before noticing that a high tent was rose up in his pants. A bit bashful, Zhang Tie hurriedly used his "Right Hand Covering Skill". In a split second, the two people both felt their faces becoming hot while pretending that nothing had happened...

 237 Choices

    Chapter 237: Choices


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Mature women were both sensitive and compromising. Although Zhang Tie felt a bit embarrassed, the female boss seemed to not mind it at all. After a loud laughter, she started to introduce her products to Zhang Tie like a warm-hearted guide, easily settling his embarrassment. Zhang Tie then finally let out a long breath, making the atmosphere in the store more relaxed.


    In the end, he bought a skirt, a pair of leather shoes, and a set of inner wear for Hanna. In total, these only cost him over ten silver coins.


    "No need to pay. Just take it as my appreciation for dirtying your clothes and that you took care of me for the night. If you don''t feel comfortable doing that, you can invite me for a tankard of beer a bit later! After all, I''m going to close my store soon; let''s go back together!"


    The female boss looked calm yet seemed to be indicating something, which made Zhang Tie''s heart pound.


    Zhang Tie was truly the last guest in her store tonight. After packing the items for him, she closed the door with his assistance, and they then left together.


    When they left, Linda naturally held Zhang Tie''s arm. In a split second, his arm had a sense of a plump and soft side of her breast, making his heart race like a beating drum.


    Walking on the streets, they encountered a lot of people''s ambiguous glances.


    Zhang Tie spent the next hour in a nearby, tranquil beer bar, where he learned of what had happened to this female tenant.


    It started when the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty dispatched their troops towards the Andaman Alliance. Such a huge change truly changed numerous people''s fates, including this women''s fate.


    Previously, she had a happy family. She had a father and a fiancee. Her father managed a family beer distillery in Blapei with her fiancee as an assistant; she had a women''s clothing store. Although the distillery was not large, it was well reputed in this area. Her family was well-off. If everything had remained unchanged, this December, she and her fiancee would have gotten married as they had been engaged.


    However, everything changed due to this war.


    Before the war, her father''s beer distillery received many transactions like usual. However, the sudden arrival of the war turned those transaction contracts into terrifying bills. With the exception of the contract that he had signed with Mr. Beise, there were ten more contracts which meant over 1000 gold coins of debt. This amount of debt could completely destroy a well-off family.


    On the second day since the Norman Empire dispatched troops towards the Andaman Alliance, the price of grains across Blapei surged several times at once, which immediately led to her father''s heart disease. As a result, her dad passed away.


    The moment her father''s funeral ceremony ended, a group of businessmen heard the news and came to her house to ask for explanations with contracts in hand. She then was forced to sell her real estate and distillery to pay for the debt. Linda even sold her matrimonial house that she had bought using her own money as well as her wedding jewelry.


    In the end, she still owed Beise some liquidated damages. However, she only had her one-story store left, which was worth less than 100 gold coins. Even if she sold her store, she would still owe Beise a lot of money, which was a huge sum that a lone woman could not pay off without many years'' hard work.


    After that, when the woman needed someone''s support and comfort, her fiancee declared that he''s canceling off his engagement with her. When the man left her, he put it straight that he had not planned to marry her for love but for her distillery. Because he didn''t want to live always paying off debts after marriage, he left her.


    Linda then moved into that residence on the third floor of Mr. and Mrs. Green house, trying her best to pay off debts while carefully managing her store. At the same time, she had to deal with Beise, who was obsessed with her beauty and had the contract in his hand for an excuse.


    The story was very simple, containing no adventurous or stimulative plot. The whole story was about how over 1000 gold coins changed an average woman''s daily life and some familiar or obscure faces that appeared in her life. When he brought this mature woman to drink beer for the first time, Zhang Tie was a bit thrilled; he even started to indulge in fantasy. However, after hearing her story, all the fantasies in his mind disappeared, only leaving sympathy...


    ...


    After drinking beer, they went back to Mr. and Mrs. Green''s house. The most challenging period was when Linda went upstairs, followed by Zhang Tie. Because of her twisting plump and sexy butt and that pair of beautiful legs below her skirt, the short passage became the most challenging thing that Zhang Tie had experienced tonight. He took a deep breath.


    Soon after, they arrived at the third floor.


    Linda took out her key and inserted it into the lock of her door. After that, she looked back at Zhang Tie with something special in her eyes. "Do you want to... come in and drink something?"


    To tell the truth, Zhang Tie''s heart really raced uncontrollably at once.


    "No, thanks, it''s too late, you need to have a rest!" Zhang Tie smiled as he looked at this beautiful and weak woman who had to be firm. He was then moved. "Don''t consider Beise''s affair any more.


    You don''t owe me anything, so don''t feel stressed inside. I don''t lack money. Additionally, I won''t stay in Blapei for too long. I''ll move to the rural area tomorrow and come back here only once a week. If you have any problems and need my help, you can leave a slip of paper or a letter through the space under my door, I will see it when I''m back!"


    Linda just gazed at Zhang Tie with intricate eyes, not knowing what to say...


    "Good night!" Zhang Tie smiled as he waved his hand and went upstairs.


    As a mature woman, Linda had an irresistible allure. For Zhang Tie, it was happiness to conquer a woman; however, he didn''t want to find a chance for happiness from a woman''s bad luck. Neither would he like to turn it into a threat and exchange for his assistance. Therefore, he left.


    Several minutes later, Zhang Tie and Linda almost simultaneously walked in to their own washrooms and took a bath. As the residences on the third and fourth floor had the same structure, the two washrooms were only separated by a floor. So, Zhang Tie heard the sound of Linda taking a bath downstairs. At the same time, Linda heard Zhang Tie taking a bath upstairs too. Right then, both of them started to imagine how the other one was taking a bath without wearing any clothes. They then both had a weird feeling...


    This night, both tenants on the third and fourth floor couldn''t sleep well.


    ...


    The same night, in Blapei, when someone found it hard to sleep by rolling left and right on the bed, someone else didn''t sleep at all.


    Major Franca was one of those people who didn''t sleep at all.


    If you had to use a word to describe the efficiency of secret police in the Norman Empire, it was "terrifying". After barely a bit more than twenty hours, a complete personal record of Zhang Tie was put on the desk of Major Franca. It was so detailed that even Zhang Tie didn''t know some of it. At least he had not seen his original birth certificate in Blackhot City.


    There was a thick pile of documents about him. Besides those, there was another pile of documents in front of Major Franca¡ªall the studies about "Post-Lightning Strike Savant Syndrome" that he could collect from the difference engine in the National Archives of the Norman Empire using his own privilege.


    Would people become extremely powerful after being struck by a lightning bolt? Would one form the Iron-Blood hidden strength after being struck by lightning bolt? Would one not be afraid of the toxicity of blue frost after being struck by a lightning bolt? Would one master excellent spear throwing skills after being struck by a lightning bolt? All the above questions might belong to a mysterious region that nobody could figure out.


    However, could one be able to kill people by letting them remain still after being struck by a lightning bolt? Obviously not possible! However, according to the autopsy report and the on-site survey, Major Franca was clearly told what had happened. With the exception of one person who had shown resistance before being killed, all the other spies and saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty had been standing still, waiting for someone to thrust his dagger into their hearts with eyes wide-open. They didn''t resist nor struggle at all. Neither had they been poisoned.


    How could that person do that? How could a first lieutenant who was almost as weak as an average person after recovering from his heavy wounds force them to stand still and wait for him to kill them after being abducted by them? What was more, he was afraid of being recognized by others and chose to slip away while giving up on honor and reward.


    The only reason was that the person didn''t want to tell others of what he had done so as to protect his cover for it was far more important than the reward he would win. Now that he could force others to stand still and wait for him to kill them, the question to be asked should be whether his other talents were from a different cause as well, the ones such as not being afraid of the toxicity of blue frost, suddenly forming Iron-Blood hidden strength, and suddenly becoming extremely powerful...


    ''Being struck by a lightning bolt was only a lie that he used to bury his own secret. What if I can get his secret...''


    ...


    Major France didn''t sleep the whole night as he immersed himself in the piles of documents and words. Once dawn arrived, his sharp eyes like those of a wolf radiated a wisp of bloody brilliance because of excitement, as if he''d discovered a treasure.


    After reading those documents through the night, he burned them all in a fireplace. Additionally, he mashed those ashes with tongs before leaving the room.


    The only problem was that they were in Blapei and under the control of the Iron-Horn Army while that person was a small first lieutenant of the Iron-Horn Army who had won an iron-blood medal.


    This would be a bit troublesome...

 238 A New Attemp

    Chapter 238: A New Attempt


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    After putting some clothes into a bag, Zhang Tie came to Chevli. Knowing that he was going to be here today, Hanna was waiting for him at the entrance of the village. At the sight of him walking towards her, she started running towards him with two cute golden braids.


    If one didn''t see how Hanna ran, they would never know what were the true roaring waves.


    Even though Zhang Tie had ridden this girl who was three years older than him many times, at the sight of her running towards him, he still forcefully swallowed his saliva. After a careful comparison, he realized that after being irrigated by him these days, Hanna already looked more brilliant and alluring than when he saw her for the first time.


    Hanna never minded holding Zhang Tie''s hand, and he didn''t mind that either. After staying in Blapei for many days, Zhang Tie found that the residents in Chevli were very bold and unrestrained. They were very compromising with the love affairs between men and women. As long as you didn''t do something too excessively in public, nobody would care about you.


    Certainly, in front of Hanna''s family members, they had better not be too casual. Her grandpa seemed to worry that Zhang Tie might escape after making Hanna pregnant. In this village, abortion was almost like murder; it was one hundred times more serious than having a stealthy love affair. Women who had abortion would have a bad reputation here because residents here thought that they had bad luck, were unable to marry others.


    Hand in hand, the two of them walked inside the village with jokes and laughter. On the way, besides some people teasing them, all the others thought it was normal.


    "Zhang Tie, will you come to my house today?"


    The one who was even more eager for Zhang Tie''s arrival than Hanna was another peasant household in the village who raised earthworms. As Zhang Tie was here to purchase earthworms home by home, they all queued up. Whichever household he came to, the family members of that household would be very happy; while those households which he hadn''t come to yet would always worry that he, the pious believer of the Motherland Goddess, would not come to their households. After all, such an idiot who would buy earthworms could not be easily encountered every year.


    Zhang Tie remembered that the farmer who was waiting for him to buy his earthworms was called Billy. The 30-odd man raised four sons, the eldest among which was 11-12 years old. His economic status was not very good, so he was very eager to sell his earthworms. Besides Hanna, this person also squatted at the entrance of the village, waiting for Zhang Tie''s arrival.


    "Okay, you can go back home and prepare for it, I will come to your house soon!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, that man became happy and hurriedly wanted to leave. However, Zhang Tie stopped him.


    "Are there any laborers in the village these days?


    "Yes, there are. As it''s already autumn, after sowing wheat seeds, men in the village are free!"


    "Fine, besides you, I want you to find five more people for me. Take your own tools and wooden handcarts, I will pay you three silver coins a day per person!"


    Billy then happily left. Hanna became curious and looked at Zhang Tie.


    "Why would you hire so many people?"


    "Because I want to accelerate my speed of setting the earthworms free!"


    After experiencing the abduction that day, Zhang Tie was stimulated. Due to this crisis, he felt that he was recovering a bit too slowly, so he wanted to speed up his recovery. Previously, he thought that he had to free the earthworms by himself, so as to gather their appreciation onto himself. However, these days, he had thought about it for a while and wanted to test it whether he could speed up his redemption and increase the amount of earthworms being set free so as to increase the effects of the Fruit of Redemption only by paying and performing as a commander. If this method worked, he had already made a plan inside which could definitely accelerate his recovery greatly.


    "Have you found a place for me to settle in?" Zhang Tie asked Hanna.


    "Of course!"


    "Where?"


    "Guess?"


    Hanna then peered at Zhang Tie in exceedingly fascinating and charming way, like how she looked back at him when he hugged her butt and heavily crashed into her.


    At the sight of Hanna''s alluring look, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded and he abruptly thought of one possibility. "In your home?"


    "Right!" Hanna giggled as her enchanting figure shivered. "I didn''t expect that you could hit it."


    "Aren''t you afraid?" Zhang Tie asked her.


    "Afraid of what?" Hanna asked in reply.


    "Will your grandpa like me?"


    "You''ll rent his house, why won''t he like you. In addition, won''t he be more reassured if he can keep you and me under his vision!"


    ''Sounds right.'' Zhang Tie scratched his head speechlessly. ''However, if so, it won''t be that convenient to do that stimulative thing with Hanna.''


    Even if they could still date in the hay like before, even idiots could figure it out what happened if they always appeared and disappeared from the house at the same time.


    "What were you thinking about just now?"


    Hanna seemed to guess that Zhang Tie was thinking about something, so she threw another alluring glance at him.


    "Nothing!" Zhang Tie replied, pretending that he was thinking about nothing.


    "Really?"


    Looking at Hanna''s teasing smile, Zhang Tie then looked around and found nobody els, so he drew his head close to her ear while thrusting one finger into her butt. He pressed his finger onto her skirt and directly hit a part in the deep groove of her butt. After that, he even kneaded that place.


    "I''m thinking that if I live in your home, it might become inconvenient if I want to thrust you with this bad thing!"


    Zhang Tie''s brave stimulation slightly disturbed Hanna''s walking frequency. Face blushed, she hurriedly beat off Zhang Tie''s weird hand.


    "You little rascal!"


    ...


    There was truly a vacant room in Hanna''s home. It was above the room piled with farming tools, grains, and some random items. Hanna''s elder brother had lived there before. After Hanna''s elder brother got married, that room was left vacant. Hanna had already cleaned it yesterday, so Zhang Tie could move in straight away.


    AT first, old Harley didn''t like Zhang Tie living in their home, but it quickly changed once Zhang Tie used gold coins to satisfy him along with Hanna''s parents, elder brother, and elder sister-in-law.


    Three gold coins for living in Hanna''s home for three months, three meals a day. This payment could enable Zhang Tie to live in high-end beer hotels in Blapei or Tonikas, let alone in a peasant household of Chevli, though the first choice might even cost him less.


    Thus, Zhang Tie lived in Hanna''s home.


    ...


    Including Hanna''s elder brother, Zhang Tie hired seven people that day in Chevli village to set free earthworms together with him. This way, he could accelerate his redemption speed by three times.


    Through paying and commanding other people to work for him, he emptied three earthworm ponds in Chevli in one day, which contained over 300,000 earthworms in total.


    Zhang Tie estimated that if what they did today was effective, he could at least recover 4% today. If this method didn''t work, he would just take this as a lesson and would honestly do it by himself from then on.


    In others'' eyes, Zhang Tie performed very calmly today, but he himself knew that he was not calm inside at all. He was waiting for the small tree''s judgment.


    ...


    Seemingly to greet Zhang Tie''s arrival and appreciate his generosity, Hanna''s family made bumper lunch and supper today. At supper, at the sight of the chicken on the table, Zhang Tie knew that this must be much better than what they usually eat. In rural areas, few households would eat fish and meat every meal, especially chickens. Because many households raised chickens to lay eggs instead of eating them.


    "The supper is too hearty, I know you want to show your appreciation to me, but you''d better not treat me so solemnly. I''ll eat what you usually eat from today on. I wasn''t used to eating so good before!" Zhang Tie sincerely explained to Hanna''s family members.


    Seeing this juvenile being so polite, Hanna''s family members were all very happy. Even old Harley, who had always been dubious, felt that Zhang Tie was a good person.


    "Where''s Hanna?" Zhang Tie asked as he didn''t see her at the table.


    "She''s heading for the Tonikas town to have a perm with the other girls in the village. She''s coming back late tonight!" Hanna''s elder sister-in-law answered.


    ...


    Not until Zhang Tie finished supper and took a bath in the washroom of old Harley''s home did Hanna, who had had a perm in the Tonikas town, came back home.


    Before the catastrophe, people had already invented a bathing equipment heated by solar energy. It was very convenient wherever it was. There was also one set of this kind of bathing equipment in old Harley''s home. They built a small bath room beside the courtyard. When Hanna came back, the dusk had just fallen. After taking a bath, Zhang Tie walked out of the bath room with a basin and a towel in hand and instantly noticed Hanna.


    Her two long braids had disappeared and become golden wavy hair. This hairstyle seemed to match her face better, making her more womanly and alluring.


    Hanna then revealed a smile to Zhang Tie, making him slightly dizzy.


    After the bath, Zhang Tie came to his own room in the small building. After closing his door, he calmly sat inside for awhile to recover his composure. He was used to doing this as he needed to recover composure before anything important.


    After sitting quietly for ten minutes, Zhang Tie took a deep breath and entered the Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    Zhang Tie walked towards the small tree. Like a couple of days ago, on the twig in the middle of the small tree, there seemed to be hanging a ripe Fruit of Redemption.


    He stretched out his hand...


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Redemption, from earthworms'' appreciation, has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªThis fruit can recover your wounds by 4.6%.


    Zhang Tie rubbed his eyes and then lowered his hand back. He then stretch out his hand again. It was still 4.6%.


    ''No change... no change... no change...''


    "Hahahaha..."


    Thrilled, Zhang Tie burst out laughing.


    ''That''s too great! It turns out that my wounds can recover faster!''


    Without saying anything, Zhang Tie immediately picked the Fruit of Redemption and put it in front of his nose. After taking a deep and intoxicating breath, he then swallowed it at once...


    After a long while, Zhang Tie opened his eyes while a powerful sense that had not appeared for a long time reappeared in him.


    His wounds had recovered by over 25%...


    ...


    At midnight, when Zhang Tie was sleeping soundly, he heard someone lightly knocking at his door. He then got off his bed to open the door.


    In an alluring pose, Hanna was standing outside the door. Under the dim light, Zhang Tie recognized her look. Right now, Hanna had already put on those clothes and that pair of high-heeled leather shoes that Zhang Tie had gifted her.


    It had a super short hip skirt, its side only a palm''s distance away from Hanna''s bottom. In this set of clothes, her curves became outstanding, putting on display her huge and plump breasts, while that place between her pair of snow white thighs and her raising butt was looming.


    Along with her beautiful wavy blond hair, Hanna became full of womanly charm that could not even be described in words.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie realize that those clothes that he had gifted to Hanna were the same as those of the female tenant on the third floor that he''d seen in the passage. No wonder the female boss'' expression became slightly weird when he bought these clothes. As he bought them unconsciously, Zhang Tie didn''t think too much, neither did he know what he was thinking at that time.


    "Little boy, your teacher will follow your orders tonight. You should be kind to your teacher."


    Hanna lightly entered the room and closed the door. After a short while, various weird sounds and voices could be heard from the room...


    As he was going to completely recover very soon and a beauty in a sexy skirt had entered his room at midnight, who was very obedient and tempted him in various ways, Zhang Tie felt very cool during the night...


    This night, Zhang Tie found that he truly could not resist in front of a hip length skirt...

 239 Preliminary Recovery Body

    Chapter 239: Preliminary Recovery Body


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    In the next few days, those farmers who were queuing up, worried that Zhang Tie won''t purchase their earthworms finally became reassured. Zhang Tie, living in Chevli village, not only continued to purchase their earthworms, but also accelerated his purchasing frequency. He hired many men who were free at home to help him purchase and set the earthworms free.


    He paid each person three silver coins a day which was enough for many people in Chevli village to long for that.


    After moving into the Chevli village, on the first day, Zhang Tie hired seven people and bought three households'' earthworms.


    On the second day, he hired eighteen people and bought ten households'' earthworms.


    On the third day, he hired over forty people. A lot of the men were working for Zhang Tie that day and helped him buy twenty households'' earthworms.


    On the fourth day, he hired over sixty people to buy another thirty households'' earthworms.


    On the fifth day, he hired over one hundred people. All the men who were free in the village started to work, and on that day, all the earthworms in Chevli village returned to mother nature. Because he set many earthworms free that day, for the whole day long, Zhang Tie could feel a weird pleasant energy from it. The energy brought him a sense of lightness and pleasure.


    That day, although they finished working very late, many people in Chevli village were very happy. Because Zhang Tie had paid each of them an extra silver coin. Additionally, no one had to worry anymore about when this idiot would leave and had finally sold their own earthworms. All those who did so today were also very happy.


    And so were Hanna''s family members. Zhang Tie had paid them ten silver coins yesterday to let them prepare a bumper supper tonight to celebrate it. Although they didn''t know why this tenant would celebrate, now that Zhang Tie had paid for that, they would celebrate it. In places like Chevli village, it might not even take them seven silver coins to prepare for a bumper meal. Zhang Tie''s generosity made old Harley reveal a big smile.


    After living in old Harley''s home for less than a week, all the family members there found that Zhang Tie was actually a very easygoing person. Even when Harley''s dog tore his nice clothes that he had washed and hung over the rope, Zhang Tie still replied with a loud laugh and didn''t order for someone to take responsibility.


    He didn''t blame the dog either. What was more, after supper these days, whenever Zhang Tie saw that dog, he would always play with it by throwing a bone to it, touching its head, scratching its stomach, making the dog so comfortable that it rolled over on the ground.


    Therefore, the moment the dog saw Zhang Tie these days, it would always wave its tail like a windmill. A person who could even please a dog would also easily please people.


    After he gave the last silver coin to a villager who had a big smile, it was already full dark. Taking today''s compensation, all the villagers in Chevli smiled and greeted Zhang Tie before returning to their own homes and eating supper. Zhang Tie also felt as if he''d relieved a 500-kg burden inside, feeling very relaxed.


    He knew that he would fully recover today. Yesterday, his inner wounds were already recovered by 93.6%, so after cleaning all the earthworms of the last over seventy households, the Fruit of Redemption on the small tree should definitely make him completely recover. It might even bring him some other surprises, because the biggest function of these Fruits of Redemption was to activate some DNA and genes of his which were related to the recovery ability of earthworms.


    Zhang Tie really respected the strong vitality of the earthworms.


    Today, something special might really happen. From the early morning to now, Zhang Tie kept feeling a stream of pleasure flowing inside him. Like an underground spring, that stream of pleasure gurgled out of each of his cell, bringing an unexpected pleasant state to his body and spirit.


    Benefiting from this, Zhang Tie found everything as tender as a refreshing breeze and bright moon, even that dirty dung and those strange laborers. It was very marvelous. This was the effect of setting the earthworms free. The effect seemed especially strong today, dozens of times stronger than that several days a go.


    ''Is this the feeling after some of my genes and DNA is activated?''


    Walking on the path, Zhang Tie thought about it with a bit excitement. Right then, he found that it was bright everywhere. It was already evening now, so how could it suddenly become as bright as in the daytime? He could see everything clearly, including the path, the plants in the fields, even that hay field not far away from him.


    Zhang Tie was stunned and stopped. Raising his head, he saw two moons in the sky.


    ''How could that be? The sun has not risen yet. ''


    Such a feeling lasted for over ten seconds before everything surrounding Zhang Tie recovered. It was still evening, not daytime at all!


    Seeing Zhang Tie stop walking and raising his head towards the sky with mouth wide-open, Hanna''s elder brother who was walking together with him also stopped.


    "What''s wrong?" he asked Zhang Tie.


    "Didn''t you seen that just now?" Zhang Tie asked him with a dumbfounded look.


    "What?"


    Having made four silver coins, Hanna''s elder brother, who was very excited, scratched his head and looked at Zhang Tie with a weird expression.


    "Didn''t you see daybreak?" Zhang Tie asked the others beside him as well.


    All the others exchanged glances at before saying, "Daybreak? How could that be? The sun has just set. It would be at least ten hours before daybreak!"


    "You didn''t see light either?" Zhang Tie asked another person.


    "No!"


    Realizing that their expressions became a bit weird, Zhang Tie didn''t ask any more; instead, he just fabricated a reason while still being curious about the ten-odd seconds just now. He didn''t think that he was dizzy. How could one feel that the evening was as bright as daytime? Additionally... after such a short while, Zhang Tie felt that his mind seemed to have become more active.


    He could only bury this question in his mind and walk towards Hanna''s home together with her elder brother.


    This was the outcome without the guidance a famous teacher. If Zhang Tie had a famous teacher from the Eastern Continent beside him at this moment, he would know that what he had felt was not an illusion, but the situation of "seeing everything bright when having no distracting thoughts inside", namely a weird and innocent situation that one immersed in both physically and spiritually.


    It was a phenomenon that one could sense when one opened the gate of the treasure bank of one''s physical potential. That brilliance was radiated from inside the treasure bank of one''s physical potential, like what one would see after pushing open the gate of a brilliant palace. That brilliance originated from one''s inner existence instead of one''s outside.


    Many people would not even have a chance to feel this after having cultivated their whole lives. However, Zhang Tie sensed it at such a young age yet didn''t know what it meant, so he could only keep the question in his mind.


    When Zhang Tie and Hanna''s elder brother returned home together, the home had already prepared a table of bumper supper, which contained roasted goose, sausage, cheese. Hanna''s elder sister-in-law even took out the beer that she had brewed.


    When everybody sat down before the table, Hanna''s family members all looked at Zhang Tie. Because it was Zhang Tie who paid for this supper, certainly, he needed to say something before it.


    ''Is this supper used to celebrate his complete recovery?'' Of course not...


    Raising his glass, Zhang Tie became a scumbag priest once again. In sacred and genial expression, he uttered, "This supper is to celebrate that tens of millions of earthworms in Chevli that have been set free to the Gaia, the mother of the land. Hopefully, the land under our feet can be forever fertile and full of vitality and provide endless grains and output for everybody. For Gaia!"


    "For Gaia!"


    Hanna''s family members also raised their glasses respectfully and followed Zhang Tie. Even old Harley and Hanna''s father looked sanctimonious too.


    Although Zhang Tie was trying to remain as a scumbag priest for a long while, only after less than two minutes, he already couldn''t stand it any more. At first, everybody at the table was eating supper regularly. When they talked about the beer festival in Blapei that would be held one week later, Hanna and Zhang Tie interrupted them from time, making it a happy meal.


    Under the table, a beautiful foot of Hanna, who was sitting opposite Zhang Tie, was stretched toward him. Being covered with the table cloth, she constantly tempted Zhang Tie by slightly rubbing his sensitive part between the shin and the thigh using her instep.


    Of course, superficially, Hanna was still eating supper at the table. Only Zhang Tie knew that since the start of the meal, she had not stopped her temptation all.


    Not only below the table, even above, Hanna tempted Zhang Tie by some detailed movements that could not easily arise others'' suspicions. For instance, when Hanna ate a sausage, she inserted the sausage using her fork and moved it over her mouth. When she was tilting her head and talking with the one beside her, she carelessly rubbed her lips using the top of the sausage. Finally, she carelessly opened her lips with the sausage on her fork before opening her mouth.


    After rapidly licking the top of the sausage twice, she put it into her mouth before slowly chewing and swallowing it. However, even though she put in more, she ate less. She just rubbed the sausage between her lips, in and out. Hanna moved so fluently that with the exception of Zhang Tie, nobody else could identify so many familiar, special details from her movements.


    After this meal, Zhang Tie felt hot and extremely stimulated. He could only keep drinking beer. Midway through the meal, after exchanging glances with each other, Zhang Tie, who had just drunk a mouthful of beer, dropped the napkin onto the ground on purpose. By the chance picking up the napkin, he peered at Hanna''s legs on the opposite side of below the table.


    "Puff!"


    Only after one glance, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand it any more. He then spat out the whole mouthful of beer onto the ground the moment he bent over.


    "Ah, what''s wrong? Are you choked?"


    Sitting beside Zhang Tie, Hanna''s elder brother patted his back with concern.


    "Cough... cough..." Zhang Tie kept coughing as he sat up straight. "Yes, yes, I choked..."


    "Hahahaha..." Hanna''s elder brother burst out laughing. "My wife''s beer is very famous in Chevli village. Drink slowly, we have more!"


    "Yes, I drunk too fast just now!" Zhang Tie answered as he sat up well.


    After glancing at Hanna, who was also looking over with concern like all the other members of her family, on the opposite side Zhang Tie immediately captured a wisp of temptation in her eyes.


    Among all the people at the table, only Zhang Tie knew that the damned girl was wearing nothing under her apron and skirt, sitting regularly before him. When Zhang Tie lowered his head just now, he caught sight of Hanna slightly opening her legs, exposing everything below her skirt to him. The grass land last night had already become an adorable bald glen now...


    ...


    As usual, after supper, Zhang Tie took a bath and returned to his own room. Because Hanna would stealthily come here in the deep night, Zhang Tie was free now, so after closing the door, he entered the Castle of Black Iron at once.


    ¡ª¡ªHandsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!


    When the familiar dialog box disappeared. Zhang Tie walked towards the small tree.


    As usual, in the middle of the small tree hung a ripe Fruit of Redemption. However, compared to the ones before, this one was not bronze, but close to golden.


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced. Fruits of Redemption of different colors would definitely have different effects.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Redemption, from the appreciation of earthworms, has become ripe. Usage: Pick and direct eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªThis fruit can recover your wounds by 6.4%, helping you completely recover.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter Castle Lord completely recovers, some DNA and genes concerning physical recovery and healing ability will be completely activated.


    ¡ª¡ªThrough this activation, Castle Lord''s body will be advanced to preliminary recovery body.


    ¡ª¡ªThe effect of preliminary recovery body is as follows:


    1. The healing and recovery ability of all Castle Lord''s wounds will increase by 215%. In the evening and underground, this ability will double.


    2. Castle Lord''s ability to bear fatal trauma will increase by 31%.


    3. Smooth and clean skin. All wounds on your body will not leave any scars after recovery.


    4. Castle Lord''s immunity to all toxins will increase by 5%.


    5. Castle Lord''s digestive and absorptive ability of various food will increase by 18%.


    ¡ª¡ªCastle Lord needs to set 160,000,000 earthworms free to advance to medium recovery body.


    ¡ª¡ªCurrent progress towards medium recovery body: 0/160,000,000.


    When he read this, Zhang Tie almost screamed. The preliminary recovery body had already turned him into a powerhouse as vigorous as a cockroach. All the wounds on him could recover and heal by 215% in the same period of time. That meant that he could recover from the same wounds in one day that would have required three previously. Additionally, similar to earthworms, this ability would double in the evening or underground.


    The second function could also greatly increase his survivability. Some wounds that might be fatal to others might be survived by him. The third function was also good for him as at least he didn''t need to worry about his face being ruined. The fourth and the fifty functions were also very powerful which could help him reinforce his digestive ability and his resistance to toxins. They would be very useful at a critical moment. Especially the fifth function which indicated that he could gain more energy from various foods and be more energetic and adaptive.


    Generally speaking, this preliminary recovery body reflected earthworms'' traits and abilities in special environment.


    What made Zhang Tie excited was the last function. As long as the number of earthworms that he set free could reach 160,000,000, his preliminary recovery body could be advanced to a sharper medium recovery body. As a preliminary version had already made Zhang Tie so excited, the advancement would be even more shocking.


    The moment he thought of the medium recovery body, the even a greater advanced recovery body, Zhang Tie was very fascinated. He dreamed that one day he could have the ability to regenerate broken limbs like earthworms.


    At this moment, he didn''t wait but carefully picked this Fruit of Redemption and swallowed it.


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie picked himself up from where he had been sitting, legs crossed. After slightly stretching his body, loud cracking sounds came from his muscles and bones. A familiar and wholly new physical experience rose in Zhang Tie.


    Words started to show up in front of him one line after another...


    ¡ª¡ªCongratulations, Castle Lord, you have completely recovered and advanced to the preliminary recovery body.


    ¡ª¡ªLeakless Fruit has started to collect your physical energy and would start to grow...


    ¡ª¡ªIron-Body Fruit''s growth conditions were satisfied, it will begin growing again...


    ¡ª¡ªSeven-Strength Fruit''s growth conditions were satisfied, it will begin growing again...


    ¡ª¡ªAll the effects of the first Toxin-Resistance Fruit have been recovered...


    Zhang Tie howled for a long while...

 240 Weird

    Chapter 240: Weird


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie only stayed in the Castle of Black Iron for less than two hours. The first thing he did after leaving was to find a dagger and cut a 2-cm long shallow wound on his left index finger like how he might get hurt when carelessly peeling a fruit. When he moved his dagger away, crimson blood started to flow out his finger.


    Having long gotten used to being torn into pieces by a pack of wild wolves in the Trouble-Reappearance Situations, Zhang Tie certainly didn''t fear this little pain. He put the bleeding finger under the lamplight in the room to carefully watch it without even blinking.


    If it was under normal circumstances, such a small wound would stop bleeding in at least ten minutes. Zhang Tie wanted to see the effect of his preliminary recovery body. Because earthworms didn''t like light, in the evening, preliminary recovery body could bring him a double effect, namely 430%. Zhang Tie couldn''t control his inner excitement as he waited to have an actual experience of this preliminary recovery body.


    After cutting a wound on his finger, Zhang Tie specially checked his pocket watch - 23:14:36.


    In the beginning, blood drops rolled down his finger. Slowly, under the lamp light in the room, Zhang Tie found that the rolling blood drops on his finger were shrinking at a recognizable speed. Gradually, they even turned into a crimson string. Finally, when the wound didn''t bleed any more, Zhang Tie had another look at the watch - 23:16: 54.


    It took him two minutes and eighteen seconds to stop bleeding, which was truly about four times faster than the normal speed. Additionally, Zhang Tie felt that the pain also disappeared much faster.


    If he had not exclaimed quite a while in the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie might have been shouting loudly now.


    Right then, a familiar rat-a-tat drifted from the door.


    These couple of days, Hanna had become increasingly more audacious. When she came to his room the first time, it was midnight; after that, she came here earlier day by day. In rural areas, people went to bed at an early time. Most of them would go to bed between 9-10 pm. so these couple of days, this mad girl even slipped into Zhang Tie''s room at 12:00 pm. Today, she came here earlier, when it was not even 12:00 pm yet.


    Zhang Tie estimated that old Harley and Hanna''s elder sister-in-law might already know about the clandestine affair between Hanna and him, although they pretended not to know about it. After all, Hanna was an adult and nobody suffered a loss in such an affair.


    Especially at the table today, Hanna''s elder sister-in-law seemed to have found something. When they finished supper, she stealthily pinched Hanna''s butt while Hanna made a grimace by sticking her tongue out. All these had been noticed by Zhang Tie.


    As expected, when he opened the door, Hanna embraced him while her hot lips were put onto his and a fragrant tongue immediately broke into his mouth and started to crazily and bravely wrestle with his own tongue, making him breathless.


    Zhang Tie felt that Hanna was a bit hotter and more enthusiastic than before.


    After a long while, the two separated and Hanna noticed Zhang Tie''s wounded finger.


    "Ah, what''s happening to your finger?"


    "I was playing with a dagger just now and carelessly cut it!"


    "Let me have a look!"


    Saying this, Hanna put Zhang Tie''s wounded index finger into her mouth and started to suck on it. Undoubtedly, this was another temptation.


    When he saw Hanna holding his finger and making it touch her lips on purpose while she licked his finger with a pair of big eyes watching him full of emotions, although Zhang Tie''s finger didn''t bleed, a part of him started to expand and become grim.


    When Zhang Tie was prepared to deal with her, Hanna giggled and immediately held Zhang Tie''s mummy and avoided his first invasion.


    "Easy, follow me to my room. I''ll show you something interesting..." Hanna told Zhang Tie with narrowed, alluring eyes as she continued to move her hand on Zhang Tie''s mummy.


    "In your room?"


    Zhang Tie was a bit shocked.


    "Don''t you dare, little man?"


    Hanna threw a contemptuous glance at Zhang Tie on purpose.


    "Never..."


    Few people would admit that they were timid at this moment. So was Zhang Tie. After saying this, he blew out the lamp before stealthily leaving his room together with Hanna.


    Holding Zhang Tie''s hand, she walked ahead. They both softened their footsteps. Not until now did Zhang Tie noticed that Hanna was wearing a skirt that he had never seen before yet one that looked a bit familiar.


    "Is this your skirt? I''ve not seen it before."


    "My elder sister-in-law gave it to me. It''s a skirt for a young mature woman. Is it familiar?"


    Hanna lowered her voice in the darkness while her eyes filled with excitement. Her lips almost touched Zhang Tie''s ear, making it itchy.


    The two of them then silently went downstairs and went through the passageway there. In the darkness, they went upstairs. Seeing that raised, plump butt waving in front of him, Zhang Tie immediately recalled the sight under her skirt at supper. Heavily stimulated, he was almost driven berserk.


    The moment they reached the end of the staircase on the second floor, they were really startled by old Harley''s cough in a room beside them. In the darkness, they both stopped and held their breath. At this moment, Zhang Tie became even more nervous than when he had launched a sneak attack on the base of the Brilliant Feathers Army for the first time.


    After waiting for several seconds, they heard no other sounds from that room. They then once again begun to quietly move towards Hanna''s room. Although it was risky, they finally reached their goal. Zhang Tie silently closed the door and let out a breath.


    Hanna then lighted up her room, adjusting the luminescence to make it dim. The room was filled with a special fragrance that always existed in women''s bedrooms.


    Hanna didn''t say anything, just pulled Zhang Tie''s hand and came in front of a mirror hanging on the wall of her room. After removing the mirror from the wall, Hanna pulled out a small bar, revealing a narrow crevice.


    "Come on, have a look inside!¡¯ she called to Zhang Tie full of excitement.


    Zhang Tie had already heard something weird, but he still couldn''t help but move his head there.


    Through the crevice they could see the room of Hanna''s elder brother and her elder sister-in-law. They were showing a big play. Hanna''s elder sister-in-law had her open legs slightly bent as they were bound to the pillars at the head of the bed. The woman''s mouth was bound with a towel. Hanna''s elder brother was lying on her body and forcefully invading her by holding her snow-white butt, causing her breasts and butt to move like waves.


    It was very bright in that room while the crevice was beside a cabinet not far from them. Under the reflection of the lamp lights in the opposite room, Zhang Tie and Hanna could even see clearly the oozing sweat on Hanna''s elder brother and hear clearly those weird noises and sounds.


    After watching for several seconds, Zhang Tie felt his face turning red and mouth becoming dry. It turned out that this was the "interesting thing" that Hanna wanted to show him...


    ...


    Until way pat midnight, after staying in Hanna''s room for over four hours, Zhang Tie slipped out of of there and returned to his own room. In that time, nobody knew what were they doing in Hanna''s room except for themselves.


    ...


    The next day, Zhang Tie woke up naturally. After that, lying on the bed, he started to carefully sense the crystal clear feeling in his mind and the energetic feeling after he had completely recovered. He was so happy that he broke into a big smile. Then he immediately got up and found it was over 8 am, which was not too late.


    He then glanced at the wound on his left index finger. Only in one night, that small wound had almost healed, leaving only a fine line as if had been wounded several days ago. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie became merry and felt full of drive.


    The breakfast was milk and oat bread. When he ate the breakfast, Zhang Tie peered at Hanna''s elder brother and elder sister-in-law once again. He then felt weird inside. Hanna''s elder brother and elder sister-in-law both looked frank and normal. Zhang Tie could never imagine that they had such a heavy taste.


    Perhaps that was just like an interesting game that they both enjoyed, so it had nothing to do with others whatever they wished to play. However, they might not have imagined that ever since they got married, there was a hole in their wall. So under their gradual daily influence, several years later, an innocent heifer was ruined.


    As Zhang Tie was thinking this, he didn''t hear what the others were talking at the table.


    "Have you heard what my elder brother asked you just now?"


    Sitting on the opposite of Zhang Tie, Hanna slightly kicked him below the table.


    "Ah, sorry, I was thinking about something just now!"


    "My elder brother asked you whether you need assistants today. Villagers are relatively free these days!"


    Hanna rolled up her eyes at Zhang Tie.


    "Oh, are there any more households neighboring Chevli raising earthworms?" Zhang Tie asked Hanna''s elder brother.


    "Most of households that raise earthworms were in Chevli, but there are also households in the nearby villages that raise them. 20-30 households in total!" Hanna''s elder brother answered after thinking for a moment.


    "Are you familiar with those villages?"


    "Of course, as I grew up here since I was born, how could I not be familiar with them!"


    "Do you think those people who raise earthworms would sell them like you?"


    "As long as you can pay as much as what you paid in Chevli, I think nobody would refuse!¡®


    "Well, how about this, I''ll pay you six silver coins. Can you help me buy those earthworms in the neighboring villages and set free those earthworms in the wild like what what we did in Chevli?"


    "Six silver coins a day?"


    Hanna''s elder brother widely opened his eyes and his hand holding the bread started to quiver.


    "Hmm, six silver coins a day, and you''re my agent!"


    "What about the money for buying earthworms and hiring helpers?"


    "I''ll pay you 25 silver coins for a pond of earthworms and the helpers! Additionally, I''ll pay you six silver coins a day as an agency fee!" Zhang Tie replied.


    "Fine!" Hanna''s elder brother immediately agreed. He then felt a bit bashful as he scratched his head, "Isn''t six silver coins a day too much?"


    "Not that much. This time, as you''ll be the commander, you deserve that amount!"


    Based on the principle that locusts were also meat, of course Zhang Tie would not let go those earthworms in the nearby villages. Additionally, this time, he wanted to try and see whether he could get the benefits from setting the earthworms free only by paying the money and doing the overall coordination.


    If that truly worked, he would have a broader source for Fruit of Redemption. Sometimes, even if he was far away, he could still control and guide others to do this for him. Otherwise, it would not be that easy to reach the next target of advancing to the medium recovery body by gathering the appreciative energy of 160,000,000 earthworms.


    After staying in Chevli for so long, he had only set free over 10,000,000 earthworms. Besides money, he might hardly find a second Chevli across the former Andaman Alliance, even the whole Blackson Human Clan Corridor.


    If he had to come to Chevli once a year, it would take him at least sixteen years to reach this target. And since the holy war between humans and demons was coming, god only knew how the world would be in a few years, let alone sixteen years later.


    Perhaps just like what Donder had told him, many things in this world were not determined by you but by chance, without which, even if you had great talent, you could still not reach the target. Zhang Tie had met this chance in Chevli which would make him appreciate it for the rest of his life. As to whether there will be another chance like this, that really depended.


    After negotiating the details at the table, Zhang Tie pulled out one gold coin and gave it to Hanna''s elder brother, letting him use it for the following days.


    After that, Zhang Tie recalled another thing, "Does anyone sell golden uangs in Blapei?"


    "Golden uangs?" Startled, Hanna''s elder brother and old Harley glanced at Zhang Tie. "It''s just an insect that kids usually play with by chance. Who would sell this? If you need, you can pay someone to find them for you. I think you can get some!"


    "I''m just wondering!"


    Hearing that explanation, Zhang Tie completely gave up on that idea. What Hanna''s elder brother said was true. Besides being useful for a few people, who would raise them and wait for others to buy them? Additionally, if he paid others to catch them and then set them free, based on the rules on forming the Fruit of Redemption, it would be useless.


    As he had already completed the evolution of the preliminary recovery body in Blapei, he should not be too greedy. Later on, if there was a chance, he would see whether he could set free a batch of golden uangs. If he gained too many benefits in the same way, he thought even god would not stand it.


    ...


    After eating breakfast at Hanna''s home, Zhang Tie caught a chance to tell Hanna that he needed to go back to the city and stay there for a couple of days.


    "Do you have a mistress downtown?"


    Hanna stared at Zhang Tie with a weird expression.


    "No!"


    Zhang Tie didn''t know why she would Hanna ask this.


    "Liar!" Hanna pouted. "Why would you leave today, right after I told you that I''ll start menstruating last night? Do you think that I can not satisfy you these days?"


    Zhang Tie became speechless at once. He didn''t know how to explain to Hanna that he had completely recovered. After recovery, he had to deal with something back in Blapei.


    Hanna was so hot yesterday with high, rising desires. Last night, after Zhang Tie conquered her several times, she told him that she would especially want to make love several days before and after the menstruation every month. It seemed that many women were like that and would have a greater desire for making love before and after their menstruation, including Hanna''s elder sister-in-law.


    Hanna told Zhang Tie that her menstruation was coming today. Zhang Tie then told her that he was going to leave today; no wonder Hanna would misunderstand it.


    ...


    Finally, after comforting Hanna, Zhang Tie left Chevli and came to Tonikas town. He then came to Blapei by a horse taxi.


    For some reason, the atmosphere in Blapei hadn''t become relaxed but rather even more intense. The moment Zhang Tie left Tonikas, he met two sentries on the way. He was then stopped and investigated. The carter told Zhang Tie that this was because the group of saboteurs and spies of the Sun Dynasty had not been caught by the Iron-Horn Army yet. Since that explosion two weeks ago, these people were as if they had disappeared, making the whole Blapei feel tense.


    ''Weren''t those people killed by me? Haven''t their corpses and that warehouse been discovered by others? How could that be...''


    Sitting in the horse taxi, Zhang Tie looked through the window at those solemn soldiers of the Norman Empire moving in teams.


    ''If those corpses have not been discovered, should I send an anonymous letter to the headquarters of the logistics department to end the intense atmosphere in Blapei?''


    Thinking of this, Zhang Tie directly told the carter to turn a direction...


    Half an hour later, they passed by a suburban street. Sitting in the horse taxi, Zhang Tie noticed that the warehouse which he had left that night was burned into ruins. Like that charred charcoal in the ruins, Zhang Tie''s face turned black...

 241 Mis

    Chapter 241: Mist


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    For some reason, since he caught sight of that warehouse burned to ruins, Zhang Tie, sitting on the horse taxi, had a bad premonition. He couldn''t figure out the reason but felt a burden of a heavy stone in his heart, making him a bit uncomfortable.


    ''Who burnt the warehouse to destroy the scene?''


    ''Were they accomplices of those spies of the Sun Dynasty?''


    That was possible. The fifteen people that he had killed that night might not have been all of the spies. There might be others in this city who might know that this warehouse was one of their secret bases in Blapei.


    However, why would they ruin this place? To destroy the evidence? That was possible. But wouldn''t it be too attention-seeking to set a fire? If there were truly other spies alive, what would they do after finding that all of their partners had been killed?


    ''If it were me, in that case, I would definitely escape at once. I would never stay in Blapei any more, let alone set a fire.


    ''I wonder whether those corpses were still in the fire. In that was the case, someone should have come here to investigate the fire accident. If more than ten corpses were suddenly found in a fire accident, it would never be ignored no matter where it was.


    ''In the Norman Empire, according to the rules, any scene of fire would be surrounded with a yellow cordon once it was found. That cordon would remain for a very long time. However, just now, Zhang Tie had not seen any cordon around the scene of the fire accident. Did that mean that those corpses had been moved away by the time the investigators arrived...''


    It was a good day, but the previous questions made Zhang Tie feel like he was surrounded by mist.


    Because this event involved him and his top secret, Zhang Tie couldn''t just ignore it. He had a weird and startling feeling about the place being burnt to ruins.


    In the horse taxi, Zhang Tie arrived at the block where Mr. and Mr. Green house was located. He then got off the vehicle and made a mark on a roadside lamp before returning to his residence.


    As usual, in the early morning, Mr. and Mrs. Green were still looking after their vegetables in the garden before their building. Perhaps what Zhang Tie had done on that night one week before had greatly shocked them, for at the sight of Zhang Tie this time, although Mr. Green still took off his hat to greet him, Zhang Tie saw a wisp of fear and hesitation on the faces of this old couple.


    For two seniors who had peacefully lived in Blapei for dozens of years, Zhang Tie''s cold-blooded deed of ordering a soldier to chop off a person''s head without any hesitation that night made them very frightened of this military officer of Norman Empire, even if Zhang Tie felt that he was 100% merciful at that time.


    Zhang Tie went upstairs. At the entrance of the stairs of the first floor, he saw the woman of the young couple living on the second floor preparing to go off to buy vegetables with a basket. At the sight of him, her face immediately turned pale.


    Previously, she was walking in the middle of the stairs, but when she caught sight of Zhang Tie, she immediately became still and leaned against the guardrail of the stairs, forcing a smile and waiting for him to go upstairs first.


    Zhang Tie felt speechless, let out a sigh inside, and rapidly strode upstairs, arriving at his own residence on the fourth floor.


    Several minutes later, after putting on his military uniform, Zhang Tie left the residence. On the roadside, he stopped a horse taxi before directly driving towards the base of the No. 9 Equipment Administration of the Comprehensive Logistics Relief Center.


    Upon Zhang Tie''s arrival, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping still expressed his passionate greetings like before; however, he obviously misunderstood the intention of Zhang Tie''s arrival. Soon after Zhang Tie arrived in the office, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping gave him an account book and a purse. As the gray income of the 9th Equipment Center was once per two weeks, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping thought that Zhang Tie was here for the money.


    The top and bottom of standard gold coins of the Norman Empire were respectively spinulose tree fern and two crossed spears of the Battle God. The first one was the national flower of the Norman Empire while the second was the symbol of the national church of the Norman Empire.


    Rubbing that delicate gold coin in his hand, Zhang Tie sighed inside. This life was rightly what he had dreamed of before. He could have a lot of money without doing anything each day. Although not being fabulously rich, he was already well-off. With this amount of money, he could purchase real estate or have a great number of women. After that, he could just be accompanied by a lot of women and gold coins like a pig.


    This kind of life seemed being so close to him. However, Zhang Tie knew that if he didn''t try his best to run forward, he might not able to live this way for too many days before everything that he owned might turn to nothing.


    For instance, there seemed to be a thing that might bring him a great trouble at the present.


    Seeing Zhang Tie holding a gold coin and sighing, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping, who had been watching his face, thought that Zhang Tie might not be satisfied with his share.


    "Although this share is not too much, it''s a tradition of No. 9 Equipment Administration that has been formed for many years. If you want to break this tradition, you might offend many people.


    Previously there were some people in your position who wanted a bigger share, but in the end, none of them could stay long in this position!" Second Lieutenant Pi Ping carefully explained to Zhang Tie.


    After all, people were usually moved by money. When one could receive a share of 10% of the profits, one would consider gaining a share of 20% percent. Second Lieutenant thought that new first lieutenant administrator might want to receive more than what he was receiving, that 20%.


    After glancing at Second Lieutenant Pi Ping, who was sitting in front of him, Zhang Tie forced a smile as he put the purse inside his coat. He weighed it and felt that there were at least 22 gold coins inside, which was about the amount of his father''s two-year salary. For commoners, this was not a small amount of money.


    "Second lieutenant, I''m very satisfied with the current situation and don''t have any intention to change anything, so you don''t need to worry about that!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping let out a sigh inside.


    After drinking a mouth of water, Zhang Tie casually asked, "I''ve been in the rural area to recuperate during the past week, so why do I feel that the atmosphere in Blapei has become even more intense than last week. Haven''t those saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty been caught?"


    "On Wednesday, two soldiers of the No. 21 Division got lost in Blapei. Because of this, the atmosphere in Blapei became intense again this couple of days!" Second Lieutenant Pi Ping lowered his voice. "Because the Iron-Blood Army didn''t want to cause any more tenseness in Blapei, they didn''t release this news to the public!"


    Zhang Tie became dumbfounded. "Was that done by the spies and saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty?"


    "It''s very possible. But I don''t know the details either. It''s those red gloves of the Norman Empire who are responsible for catching those people. Pitifully, they didn''t make any achievements since they came here for two weeks ago. It seems that those guys only enjoy an undeserved fame..."


    As he said this, a sarcastic smile appeared on Second Lieutenant Pi Ping''s face.


    "Red gloves?" Hearing the name for the first time, Zhang Tie became confused and he glanced at Second Lieutenant Pi Ping. "What are red gloves?"


    Not until then did Second Lieutenant Pi Ping realize that this new officer from Blackhot City might not know who were those "red gloves", so he carefully explained it to Zhang Tie. Even if he was very talkative, speaking of those people, he still couldn''t keep from showing a disgusted expression. Nobody across the Iron-Horn Army would like those guys in red gloves.


    "You mean it''s the secret police under the affiliation of the Order Review Committee of the Norman Empire who''s responsible for catching those saboteurs and spies in Blapei?"


    Learning of this news, Zhang Tie was shocked inside.


    "Right, those guys might be involved with the conflicts between big figures above them. It''s said that there were contradictions between marshal Lin Changjiang and some big figures of Order Review Committee of the Norman Empire..."


    Second Lieutenant Pi Ping then explained Zhang Tie the inside story about those red gloves who came to Blapei to investigate the explosion case.


    "Because two soldiers of the No. 21 Division disappeared, everybody doubted that it was done by those spies of the Sun Dynasty, but nobody knew what to do next. The higher officers were very irritated, so the atmosphere in Blapei became a bit tense these days. Additionally, many more red gloves were dispatched to Blapei this week..."


    ''Does that mean that there is another batch of spies in Blapei besides those who were killed by me?''


    Thinking of this, Zhang Tie let out a small breath inside. Perhaps the warehouse was truly burnt by them. They really didn''t fear death and didn''t escape at once after the event was revealed. There might even be some unknown secret in that warehouse that they didn''t want to expose to the public. After all, he was too hurried at that time and didn''t make any careful check around the warehouse.


    Zhang Tie then thought about several "proper reasons" inside for everything that had happened.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t feel that there was any connection between those "red gloves'' mentioned by Second Lieutenant Pi Ping and him. "Red gloves" were just a fighting tool that was thrown into Blapei by a big figure, targeting those spies and saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty. How could he be involved with those small figures?


    Thinking this, although being still a bit confused, Zhang Tie just ignored it.


    "Do you have an acquaintance in the Equipment Center of the Army?" Zhang Tie asked Pi Ping.


    "I know every military officer in the Logistics Department of the Iron-Horn Army!" Second Lieutenant Pi Ping proudly said.


    People like Second Lieutenant Pi Ping were always well-informed. Additionally, he could help you get acquainted with a lot of friends. Although people like Leinhardt were very awe-inspiring on a battlefield, people like Second Lieutenant Pi Ping could also be very helpful in some aspects.


    "Then go to drive a car, I will go to the Equipment Center of the Army."


    "What are you going to... sir"


    "I was told that the one who earns the Iron-Blood Medal can receive a special weapon in the Equipment Center of the Army."


    Zhang Tie smiled. Since he was almost disabled several days ago, he didn''t think about the reward at the time. After all, he would not able to use it, however, he had completely recovered now, so of course he would go to get such a benefit. He didn''t have a proper weapon either, so it sounded reasonable to select a weapon in the Equipment Center.


    Since it was the Equipment Center of the entire army, it should have many items that were better than those in the arsenal in Blackhot City.

 242 In the Arsenal

    Chapter 242: In the Arsenal


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    In the Norman Empire, which is strictly hierarchical, of course weapons for soldiers were also divided into many classes and ranks. A proper weapon was almost equal to a second life for those who usually fought in battlefields. So the more remarkable contributions soldiers made to the army on the battlefields, the higher their ranks would be, and certainly, the more excellent their weapons would be. Both the craftsmanship and the materials used could never be matched by common, standard equipment.


    The super heavy "Man''s Certificate" that Zhang Tie had once used was made of LV 2 tungsten manganese alloy while the weapons used by common soldiers of the Norman Empire were usually made of some average LV 1 alloy. For field officers, their weapons and equipment would be made of LV 3 special alloy, the value of which was greater than that of the the same weight of gold.


    As a reward, warriors who won the Iron-Blood Medal could select non-standard equipment which was made of at least LV 3 special alloy in the arsenal of the Iron-Horn Army.


    Now that there was such a great benefit, Zhang Tie, who had completely recovered, of course would not miss that.


    Second Lieutenant Pi Ping then drove Zhang Tie into the base of the Equipment Center of the Logistics Department of the Iron-Horn Army in less than half an hour.


    Because they were all officers of the Logistics Department, they could easily talk with each other. Additionally, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping had someone familiar here, so after learning of their purpose, a first lieutenant of the Logistics Department verified Zhang Tie''s status before directly taking the two of them to the arsenal.


    Compared to the arsenal of No. 39 Division, the weapons and equipment here were over ten times more numerous. Entering the army''s arsenal for the first time, Zhang Tie really broadened his vision. Weapons and equipment that were even more exaggerated than the "Man''s Certificate" were put everywhere, and all of them were well maintained.


    As all the standard equipment was put into cases, Zhang Tie could only see non-standard weapons and equipment which could only be used by officers above lieutenant. Among those weapons and equipment, there were a terrifying shield covered with dense barbed nails the size of a gate, a person-high wheel axe, a horrible battle hammer weighing more than 500 kgs, a super heavy, grim flail with nine thorny hammers, a double-bladed spear longer than 5 m, and a super heavy knapsack crossbow which when fully loaded would weigh 1.2 tons. Zhang Tie wondered what tough man could carry such a great weapon to a battlefield.


    Besides those, there were many other weapons and equipment, some of which, Zhang Tie didn''t even know.


    If he was to put his "Man''s Certificate" in here, it would look trivial.


    Zhang Tie smelt the richest breath of war across Blapei in this arsenal.


    When he caught sight of several terrifying battle bows hung on the hangers in a row, for some reason, Zhang Tie remembered something special. Although he had never touched a battle bow before, at the sight of these battle bows, he suddenly felt very interested.


    "Is there any troop that''s equipped with battle bows in the army?" Zhang Tie asked that first lieutenant in the Equipment Center.


    "As it would cost too much to curtain a bowman than a crossbowman, all the battle bows in the Norman Empire are non-standard. These battle bows were purchased from foreign countries for some powerhouses who are good at using bows!"


    "Purchased from foreign countries?¡® Zhang Tie became curious and glanced at the first lieutenant. "Does it mean that the Norman Empire could not afford making battle bows?"


    "There''s a strict manufacturing process required for battle bows, as well as special materials. Of course the Norman Empire could also produce battle bows, but the most excellent ones in the Blackson Human Clan Corridor are produced by Jinyun country in the east of the corridor..."


    Saying this, the first lieutenant glanced at Zhang Tie.


    "Jinyun country is a human country predominated by Chinese. Those who can use bows in battlefields are all powerhouses who are highly praised by high-ranked officers. However, they have very bigoted, high requirements on the manufacturing process and materials of battle bows. Therefore..."


    After that, that first lieutenant didn''t continue. However, Zhang Tie understood what he meant, namely, none of those who were talented and confident in using bows in battlefields would want to use second-class battle bows produced by the Norman Empire. Instead, they all liked the battle bows produced in Jinyun country.


    So the Norman Empire didn''t want to produce any which would lose them face. Additionally, they were just non-standard equipment. The Iron-Horn Army didn''t prepare too many of them, just directly purchased some from foreign countries to meet the demands of those powerhouses.


    At the sight of these battle bows, Zhang Tie recalled Blues. Based on Zhang Tie''s understanding of him, if that guy could make a choice, he would definitely choose the best battle bow. It was estimated that bowmen all had weird temperaments.


    Jinyun country. Zhang Tie remembered this country''s name. As a Chinese, he was a bit proud, but as two officers of the Norman Empire were standing in front of him, he hid his sense of pride from his face; instead, he just took a battle bow and had a look at it.


    It was very heavy, over 20 kg. The handle of the battle bow was made of a weird material, which was neither gold nor wood. Zhang Tie didn''t know what it was. The entire battle bow was well made. Holding it, Zhang Tie felt a sense of sharpness and killing intent.


    After putting it back, he noticed two seal Chinese characters "Huai Yuan" on the handle of the bow.


    ...


    Because weapons and equipment made of LV 3 special alloy were only available to field officers, the warehouse for these weapons was a bit smaller, only occupying less than 100 sq m. The weapons were put in a room deep inside the arsenal. They needed to pass another door before entering it.


    Under the guidance of that first lieutenant, Zhang Tie and Second Lieutenant Pi Ping came to this room with more advanced weapons.


    Compared to those weapons with terrifying looks and volumes outside, perhaps due to the precious materials, the weapons inside this room looked much more "normal". None of them weighed several kgs or even close to 1 ton like those before. Instead, the most numerous weapons in this room were sabers, spears, and swords as well as some weird items, less than 200 in total. Because they were all non-standard weapons, each weapon here looked unique.


    Looking at these shiny, excellent weapons on the hangers, Zhang Tie''s eyes were even brighter than ten thousand years'' fluorite lamps.


    Undoubtedly, these were the most valuable and excellent weapons that Zhang Tie had ever seen since he was born.


    After taking Zhang Tie in, the officer casually pulled out a shiny long sword with fish scale-like grains and took an average finger-thick steel rod. Without using any strength, he put the steel rod horizontally in front of him while flicking the sword towards it.


    With a sound of "clang", that steel rod was cut in two, part of it falling to the ground, rolling towards Zhang Tie''s foot. Lowering his body, he picked it up and saw that the section was as smooth as a mirror.


    Such a weapon really deserved the description¡ªslashing iron as easily as slashing mud. Average weapons would be easily broken by it. The first lieutenant then brought the sword to Zhang Tie. Although it had cut the steel rod, Zhang Tie found that the blade did not even have a mark¡ªit was as shiny as before.


    Second Lieutenant Pi Ping also forcefully swallowed his saliva. These weapons meant a pile of gold coins in his eyes.


    "Do all the weapons here reach this standard?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Almost like that. But they''re different from each other. LV 3 special alloy have some weird attributes. Take this one for an example..." Taking a specially designed shield, the first lieutenant explained, "This shield is made of LV 3 memory alloy. No matter how you pound it, it would never lose its shape. As long as you heat it up above fire, it would soon recover its original look. "


    After putting down that shield, that first lieutenant took up a heavy crossbow. Noticing him taking a heavy crossbow by one hand, both Zhang Tie and Second Lieutenant Pi Ping were startled.


    The first lieutenant gave them a smile. "It looks to be very heavy, but actually, because it''s made of special alloy, it''s much lighter than a light cross bow; however, its power remains unchanged! Look at the weapons carefully, you can select one as you will..."


    Zhang Tie then started to wander through the excellent weapons. Because most of the field officers in the army would select a long saber or a long sword here while brigade officers preferred long spears, the place was filled with the three weapons. However, there were also many other items in this room. Zhang Tie even saw two advanced battle bows.


    Second Lieutenant Pi Ping suggested Zhang Tie to select a long sword. However, Zhang Tie shook his head. Although long swords were nice, they were too eye-catching. So were those sabers and spears. Actually, Zhang Tie wanted to select an item that he could use to fight at any time, so it had to be not that attention grabbing. If he had had such a weapon, it would have undoubtedly been much easier for him to respond to that abduction.


    Finally, what caught his attention was a weird item. Unlike other weapons that were hung on the hangers, this item was put in a dark red tray. It was rolled up there like a waist band. Among all the other shiny and eccentric weapons, it was as humble as an ugly duckling...

 243 Red-Snake Sword

    Chapter 243: Red-Snake Sword


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie picked that rolled up item and took a careful look at it. F*ck, it was truly a leather waistband. Although it looked nice and was worth dozens of silver coins, it was still a bit weird to see it put together with the advanced weapons that were only available to field officers.


    Hold on...


    Zhang Tie found something eccentric as the buckle of the leather waistband was a bit special. It was much bigger than that of average waistbands; besides, it was two snakes that wrestled with each other. Although grungy, it was also gorgeous. The space formed by the two wrestling snakes seemed like it could be used hold the waistband.


    Zhang Tie noticed a raised button under the waistband buckle. The moment he pressed it, the metal buckle jumped upward and was tightly held in his hand.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie thought that this leather waistband was a soft sword that could be fastened around his waist. Donder once sold similar items in his grocery store. However, when the handle-like snake-shaped metal item jumped out, Zhang Tie thought this was a hidden dagger. However, when he held it, he became dumbfounded as this was neither a soft sword nor a dagger but purely just a sword handle without a blade at all.


    Zhang Tie took a careful look at it. It was truly a handle with a 2-cm wide gap in the hand-guard where the two snakes were opening their mouths. It was so small, just like the wound that Zhang Tie had cut on his own hand last night.


    ''What''s this? A hidden weapon? Although it holds good, there''s no hidden button or switch on the snake-shaped handle at all. ''


    "What''s this?"


    Before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, Second Lieutenant Pi Ping who was standing beside him, asked.


    "It''s a very special sword!" first lieutenant said and took the item from Zhang Tie''s hand.


    "Keep away from me, I will display to you how to use this sword!"


    Zhang Tie and Pi Ping moved several steps back.


    "You''d better keep two meters away. This sword is a bit special, I cannot well control it..."


    Zhang Tie and Pi Ping then moved several more steps back until they were two meters away from the first lieutenant. At the same time, they were wondering what kind of sword it was.


    "Keep your eyes on it!"


    Soon after he finished talking, the officer took a deep breath and flicked that sword in his hand. With a light sound of "cha", a sharp and thin sword blade popped out of that snake-shaped handle. A sharp, chilly light flashed and a steel rod on a hanger one meter ahead of the first lieutenant was cut into two parts.


    And the chilly light kept sweeping over and striking in another direction disorderly for several times like a disobedient spring. Two times it even struck towards Zhang Tie and Pi Ping, who were so scared that they moved two steps back at once. That first lieutenant then forcefully controlled that sword handle to calm the freely jumping blade.


    "The blade of this sword is completely hidden in the handle. You need to use your hidden strength, invisible strength, or battle qi to force it out. Because the blade of this sword is soft, thin, and flexible, it''s hard to control. If one makes a mistake, one might easily hurt himself. That''s why it has been here for a very long time,no officers wanting to select it..."


    After the officer said his piece, Zhang Tie walked towards that sword. He pinched the blade which was as thick as cicada''s wings and a bit wider than two centimeters with his two fingers and took a careful look at it. At this moment, the blade was not longer than 1 m. However, he had felt before that the blade was over longer than that.


    "Watch out, I''m using my hidden strength to push the blade. If I collect my hidden strength, the blade would draw back and wound your hand..."


    "What''s the full length of the blade?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "About 3 m. You can pull the blade by hand. I will slowly push it out using my hidden strength to show you its full length!"


    Thus, Zhang Tie pinched the tip of the blade with his two fingers and moved back. Being slowly pushed by the first lieutenant officer''s hidden strength, the blade was slowly pulled out. It was truly about 3 m in full length.


    F*ck! Gazing at such an exaggeratedly thin and narrow blade, Zhang Tie immediately understood the source of the creator''s inspiration.


    Metallic tape!


    The source of the inspiration for inventing this sword was such a common item in people''s daily life. Zhang Tie could still remember that when he was very young, he took out his dad''s metallic tape to play. In the end, because the tape drew back too fast, it wounded his face and hand at the same time. For this, he was even beaten by his mom, which really left a deep impression in his mind.


    The blade of this sword was like the metallic tape which was rolled and hidden in the sword handle. One had to use special strength to push it out. Once that strength disappeared, it would draw back itself. With the exception of the materials, the craftsmanship, and that gorgeous handle, was there any difference between this special long sword and a metallic tape that cost only dozens of copper coins on principle and originality?


    Was it because the inventor of this sword was once wounded by a metallic tape when he was young at home that he had such an idea when he grew up¡ªit was definitely like that.


    For powerhouses, plain clothes could be taken as rags, let alone such a delicate and sharp weapon. Besides hard control, the reason that the weapon had not been selected by others was mainly that it was designed a bit womanly in both style and usage, which was a bit inconsistent with the masculine, gorgeous, and magnificent weapons that were pursued by the soldiers who followed the Battle God.


    Although others didn''t like this weapon, for Zhang Tie, it was very proper.


    That waistband was basically a portable hanger for that weapon. This portable and unattractive item was mot suitable to Zhang Tie''s current situation.


    As for its usage in actual combat, the Trouble-Reappearance Fruits could solve this problem very soon.


    This special sword had a very proper name¡ªRed-Snake Sword!


    Red snakes were poisonous. According to the first lieutenant, there were some special red decorative patterns on the blade that had undergone special treatment. When one used his hidden strength to push it out, one would see a shiny, swimming red snake. Additionally, based on one''s strength to push it out, the colors and the quantity of red snakes displayed would also be different.


    Undoubtedly, although a bit weird, this red snake sword was definitely qualified to be put in here.


    Without any hesitation, Zhang Tie chose it straight away.


    Because he could not easily try it here, nor did he want to reveal the truth that he had completely recovered, he chose this sword without even trying it once. Instead, he signed a document of taking it away before leaving with Pi Ping. By the time they arrived at the gate of the Equipment Center, Zhang Tie had undone his own average waistband and thrown it into a dustbin. Soon after that, he fastened the red-snake sword around his waist.


    He was in a very good mood.


    ...


    In the evening, Zhang Tie ate supper in the same hotel where he ate with Bilis last time. This time, he felt that his appetite had increased by almost 20%. It seemed like an effect brought by his preliminary recovery body. After eating the same amount of food as usual, Zhang Tie ordered one more steak, after eating which, he felt almost full.


    After this meal, Zhang Tie felt that after digesting the food, the nutrients and energy in the food were making him more energetic, both spiritually and physically at a faster speed. There seemed to be one more warm qi inside him when he ate the food, which made him very comfortable.


    Zhang Tie was certain since when Bilis was standing in front of him respectfully. After eating supper, Zhang Tie glanced at Bilis. After one week, the man had changed his clothes. He was wearing a casquette and looked good, at least much more decent than the last time.


    "Take a seat..."


    After being allowed to sit, Bilis carefully sat opposite of Zhang Tie and reported about what had happened this week.


    As was expected, after the allocation of the twenty gold coins that Zhang Tie had blackmailed from Mr. Beise to those ruffians whose legs were broken by him, none of them hesitated. They all received the treatment fee and started to work for Bilis. For those ruffians, it was one hundred times more honorable to rely on Zhang Tie than that guy who had a ring on his nose.


    Zhang Tie felt a bit pleasant inside as he experienced the effect of compliments and warnings for the first time. It also brought him a sense of achievement to have tamed some ruffians into his lackeys.


    "I told you to collect information about those spies and saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty. How about that?"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Bilis became a bit nervous. "It''s said that those people who were responsible for capturing those people were the secret police of the Norman Empire. As they work very secretly, I could not get any relevant news!"


    This answer was also within Zhang Tie''s expectations. As Bilis could tell him who were responsible for catching those spies and saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty, it seemed that he had done a lot However, people like him could only collect some gossip instead of secret news.


    After the report, Bilis became a bit nervous and glanced at Zhang Tie. "Uhm... I''ve got one problem!"


    "What''s that?"


    "Those people... still don''t trust that I''m working for you. They... they want to see you, their true boss before being certain!"


    Zhang Tie slightly frowned at first, but soon calmed down. This was also within his expectations.


    "Have they recovered?"


    "Not yet, but after receiving treatment, many of them can walk now!"


    "Someday next week I''ll meet them!"


    "Okay!"


    Bilis then lowered his head...


    ...


    Now, Zhang Tie didn''t have time to care about this trivial affair at all. What he mostly wanted to do was to return to his residence and enter the Trouble-Reappearance Situation to try his Red-Snake Sword...

 244 Carnival

    Chapter 244: Carnival


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    All the average wild wolves and huge wolves in the surrounding mountains and plains surged towards Zhang Tie in waves...


    At this time, the red-snake sword had become a flexible, spiritual snake that was swimming in the space 1 m-3 m in front of Zhang Tie. All the wild wolves that rushed into this space would be lose their heads or receiving terrifying wounds on their bodies, spattering blood; they wailed mournfully and rolled on the ground before dying.


    Another three wild wolves charged at Zhang Tie with one in the front and two behind. Zhang Tie waved his red-snake sword and chopped off the head of the first wild wolf which was over 1 m away from him. Right after that, the blade elongated once again and reached 3 m away. After drawing an elegant "S" curve, it cut two terrifying two-feet long wounds on the wild wolves behind. Those wounds went from their heads to their tails, causing them to scream miserably.


    The wild wolves attacked Zhang Tie like an endless tide. The moment he killed the three wild wolves, another one charged at him. When the wild wolf was about to open its bloody mouth and bite at Zhang Tie''s shin, the blade that had been reaching 3 m away immediately drew back like a lightning bolt. Before Zhang Tie moved, that blade bounced back and flew past that wild wolf. As a result, the moment the wild wolf moved close to Zhang Tie, it spattered a great amount of fresh blood, then mournfully wailed and rolled away.


    The blade was almost completely drawn back, only revealing a small section of less than 20 cm from the handle. Zhang Tie rapidly moved aside and avoided a huge wolf that had silently sneaked close and then fiercely charged at the most critical moment. However, while it was still in the air, Zhang Tie had used his dagger-like sword to thrust at it several times...


    As a result, the moment the huge wolf fell on to the ground, it tilted down.


    More wild wolves charged at him and just after a wave of his hand, an over 2-m long blade cut through the wild wolves like how it had dealt with the others before...


    Then the blade drew back once again and turned into a 1-m long sword, like an average sword. Holding it, Zhang Tie felt as if he was using an average long sword. He then rushed into the wolf pack and brought a foul wind and a rain of blood...


    Ten minutes later, Zhang Tie thrust his long sword into the last huge wolf''s mouth. The rapidly elongating blade directly cut through the huge wolf''s body and drilled out from its bottom before drawing back. Holding the sword, Zhang Tie glanced over the shiny blade with no fresh blood on it since the beginning of this massacre. He burst out laughing...


    If Second Lieutenant Pi Ping and that first lieutenant of the Equipment Center would have caught sight of him using this red-snake sword so adroitly, they would''ve been greatly amazed, so much that their mouths could even hold a big duck egg.


    The Trouble-Reappearance Situation broke into light dots once again.


    ...


    Today was the third day after Zhang Tie got his red-snake sword. The fact was that if you wanted to adapt to a weapon, you had to practice it on a battlefield.


    These days, holding this sword, Zhang Tie had experienced many battles and deaths in the Trouble-Reappearance Situations. He had been wounded by the sword many times due to his improper use.


    After experiencing so many battles and deaths at the cost of his life and fresh blood, after being attacked by thousands of wild wolves and huge wolves in total, Zhang Tie sensed the secret of red-snake sword for the first time. Holding the sword, he finally understood how to flexibly use this sword from his inner heart.


    Zhang Tie realized that he had truly gotten a treasure. This red-snake sword was definitely a top weapon in the arsenal. If Zhang Tie would''ve been asked to name it, the name he would grant would definitely give people a feeling of coarseness - Man''s D*ck.


    The whole sword could change length and hardness at his will. What else was it if not a man''s d*ck.


    The secret to manipulating the red-snake sword so adroitly lay in the frequently changing hidden strength that was poured into the blade. With hidden strength, the sword''s blade could become hard and elongate. If it was too long, the blade would be a bit flexible which would make it hard to control.


    At this time, the swordsman should make adjustments to the hidden strength that he had injected into the blade for the sake of performance so that the hidden strength that in the blade could keep in a mobile balance with the weird performance of the blade. This way, the swordsman would be able to freely manipulate this sword and exert its power to its largest extent.


    For a warrior, when he used a weapon, the strength he injected into the weapon was relatively stable, so it was a huge challenge for many people to inject a changing hidden strength into the weapon they used. When one used this weapon, he needed to calculate and frequently change the amount of the hidden strength that was injected based on different situations, which meant a heavy burden on one''s mentality and physical strength. Especially in combat, this burden could not be born by many people. However, for Zhang Tie, who had terrifying spiritual energy and the extremely great mental arithmetic by abacus, it was even simpler than drinking cold water in this case.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie had not adapted to this sword well, but after figuring out the know-how of changing the amount of the hidden strength according to the blade''s performance and the actual situation when the blade was pushed out to a certain length through numerous times of practice, he was able to exert its power to the utmost.


    Sometimes, Zhang Tie felt that the item in his hand was a mix a sophisticated weapon instead of being just a sword. It might be more fitting to see it as a cross-disciplinary weapon.


    When the blade only reached a bit longer than 20 cm, this sword could be used as a dagger or a short saber.


    When the blade reached a bit longer than 1 m, it could retain its largest rigidity and have a proper tenacity after being injected with hidden strength. This sword then could be used as a delicate long sword that could easily cut iron like cutting mud.


    When the 3 m blade was fully extended, this sword could be used as a terrifying battle sword that could even match the "Man''s Certificate". Its attack radius could reach over 4 m if counting Zhang Tie''s arms and steps. Additionally, the super thin blade made of unknown metal was definitely more effective than that of the "Man''s Certificate". Used with enough strength, this red-snake sword could definitely be used as a whip and a spear.


    When one used it as a whip, its blade could whip the opponent. After using it adroitly, one could bundle something using the sword and bring it in front of him. When one used it as a spear, the sharp sword tip, it could easily cut through a huge sword or a varanid within 2-4 m. After being injected with hidden strength, the triangular-shaped sword tip could rapidly stretch out like a hidden weapon to reinforce the piercing effect.


    The guy who invented this sword was definitely a genius. However, a genius'' work would always be isolated and buried among a great amount of fierce weapons that shone with icy lights. Even if someone didn''t complain about its feminine look and took a casual look at it, how could one immediately know the design''s essence and usage of this weapon. They would only feel it was not easily controlled. Due to various reasons, the red-snake sword was in the end discovered by Zhang Tie.


    In truth, if not because Zhang Tie didn''t want to expose his real strength and was not in the frontier, he would not have chosen this weird weapon as the reward for him winning the Iron-Blood Medal. However, based on the weapon''s capabilities, he made the right choice this time. He was filled with surprise inside.


    ...


    The next few days were Zhang Tie''s most relaxed and pleasant days in Blapei.


    Being in the weird state where she bled yet wasn''t wounded, Hanna became obedient and didn''t come to Zhang Tie at midnight like before, giving him more time to immerse himself in the Trouble-Reappearance Situations to constantly improve his fighting skills.


    In contrast, Hanna''s elder brother always got up early and returned home late each day as the "agent" for setting free earthworms for Zhang Tie. The farming households in the neighboring villages of Chevli eagerly sold their earthworms to Hanna''s elder brother, whom then had all the earthworms set free in the wild.


    Although Zhang Tie wasn''t set the earthworms free himself, the merit value points of having Hanna''s elder brother do it were still making the Fruit of Redemption grow, the effect of which was still on Zhang Tie.


    He could check the effect of having Hanna''s elder brother set the earthworms free, which really surprised him. Learning that it was truly feasible, Zhang Tie estimated that even if he didn''t have to go to Blapei, he could still have an agent like Hanna''s elder brother to set the earthworms free for him. Perhaps in a few years, even before the holy war, he would have achieved the medium recovery body. He was really happy from eating fruits at such a stable frequency.


    Additionally, the affair of Zhang Tie buying earthworms in Chevli village had not only spread across Chevli but also the neighboring villages. Tempted by the silver coins, some households in Chevli and some in neighboring villages started to raise earthworms. Although they didn''t know whether that idiot would come here to purchase their earthworms a year later, it was not bad to just have a try.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was happy they thought of doing it.


    During the most leisurely and relaxed days, many people across Blapei and even in the Chevli village were actually busy in a nervous and joyful state, because a few days later, the most important and grandest annual beer festival in Blapei would arrive.


    On the day of the beer festival, villages like Chevli would organize several festooned vehicles to travel to downtown in Blapei. The strongest men and the most beautiful women and the most delicious beer in Chevli would go together with the festooned vehicles to celebrate the carnival for one day in downtown. It was a big event for the entire village.


    With such a hot atmosphere, the carnival of the beer festival in Blapei was coming...

 245 An Elder from Zhang Clan

    Chapter 245: An Elder from Zhang Clan


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    At dusk, an airship appeared above the civic square of Blackhot City. It arrived so abruptly as if it was emerging out of the void. Before most people in Blackhot City noticed, it had already appeared.


    For most average citizens in Blackhot City, airships were a rarity. That¡¯s why when some people with sharp eyes noticed the sudden appearance of an airship above the civic square of Blackhot City, many people nearby raised their heads and stared at that it hovering over 200 m above the ground.


    Nobody had seen that airship before. The flat, smooth, and streamlined airship had two stable flaps like a bird¡¯s wings. It¡¯s light shone silver. Looking from the ground, it was like a flying silver fish floating in the sky.


    Because it wasn¡¯t too high up, people on the ground could clearly see the propellers on the tail and the two flaps of the airship.


    Generally speaking, this was an elegant and domineering airship. The moment people saw it, they would know it was definitely an advanced airship.


    The arrival of the airship excited the photographers who were soliciting trades on the civic square. They adjusted the right angles and supporting their photographic equipment, saved the citizens of Blackhot City from missing such a chance to take a photo with such a beautiful airship. Certainly, there were many citizens who wanted to take photos.


    The airship kept hovering above the civic square. Nobody knew what it was going to do. Many people in Blackhot City speculated that it came from the Norman Empire. There might be a big figure inside.


    Such a peaceful ambience remained unchanged for over ten minutes until a great amount of fully-armored soldiers and vehicles of the Norman Empire arrived as if to face a formidable enemy. An officer of the Norman Empire ordered the soldiers to evacuate the population from the civic square. Not until then did the citizens realized that something was not right and hurriedly left.


    Looking at that airship, an officer of the land-to-air defense camp of No. 39 Division oozed fine sweat over his forehead. This airship moved so fast. The moment the air-defense troop in Blackhot City noticed it flying towards the air territory of Blackhot City without any symbol of the Norman Empire on it while its patterns and specifics didn''t meet any airship in service or produced by the Norman Empire, the air-defense troop had delivered an air-defense warning to the land troop here.


    Since the main stream-driven boiler of the air-defense weapons on the city wall of Blackhot City was in active state, after receiving the warning, the well-trained soldiers of the No. 39 Division pressurized the main boiler and prepared the air-defense weapons. During this process, the soldiers of the No. 39 Division really performed perfectly. However, this airship flew so fast that before the air-defense weapons were ready, it had already rushed into the LV 1 air territory within the city walls.


    Because this airship hadn¡¯t come from the Norman Empire, if not for the officers of the air-defense camp who were absolutely sure that there was no such airship in the Sun Dynasty, the air-defense warning would have long been rung throughout the city.


    However, the officers of air-defense camp were still oozing cold sweat all over.


    "Sir, the lamp message vehicle of air-defense camp is already in place!"


    "Contact those people on the airship using plain codes, inquire their status and purpose here!" the on-site officer delivered the order.


    ...


    On the ground of the civic square, a professional land-to-air communications vehicle was already ready. On the vehicle was a group of special optical communications equipment. After receiving the order, the soldier rapidly peeled off the cover off the equipment and sent the same lamplight message twice towards the airship.


    The airship soon replied as its lamplight signal equipment also started to twinkle towards the land.


    Seeing the airship contacting the land, the officer of the air-defense camp finally let out a breath.


    ...


    In only a few minutes, Colonel Leibniz, who had received the news, arrived at the civic square in a vehicle. The people in the airship wanted to talk directly to him and Colonel Leibniz didn''t find it improper at all, because no matter whether in the Norman Empire or elsewhere, any people who could take such a luxurious airship were undoubtedly big figures who had both great status and background. At least Colonel Leibniz was not qualified to take such an air traffic tool.


    When he arrived at the civic square, Colonel Leibniz raised his head and looked at that beautiful airship. He then re-confirmed that none of the generals¡¯ airships in the entire Iron-Horn Army could match this airship. In the entire North Border Army of the Norman Empire, perhaps only the personal airship of marshal Lin Changjiang which was customized from the east could match this airship.


    Colonel Leibniz wondered why any big figure would be interested in this remote, small city.


    After receiving the news that the supreme commander of Blackhot City had arrived, the people inside the airship started to get off.


    Yes, get off. They directly got off from hundreds meters high in the air.


    The moment the soldiers and officers of the air-defense camp of the Norman Empire caught sight of the black spots that jumped out of the airship in a tidy formation, everybody became dumbfounded as they widely opened their mouths. The black spots jumping out of the airship were people.


    Those people rapidly jumped off the airship like dumplings diving into the water. They quickly narrowed the distance between them and the ground and reached the height of less than 50 m above the ground in a wink.


    When everybody on the land thought those lunatics jumping out of the airship were going to become meat paste, they all felt that the sky had turned dark for a short while since all the lunatics had opened a helical rotor in hand which kept rotating. As a result, all the lunatics slowed down. Soon after that, they collected their parachutes before directly hitting the ground like meteors falling from the sky.


    "Boom!"


    All the soldiers standing around the square felt the ground tremble a bit. In a split second, many bricks on the ground broke into pieces like spider web stretching through the square.


    All of a sudden, all the Chinese soldiers with black hair and eyes were standing straight like javelins, revealing a killing intent.


    Seeing those people falling to the ground from several hundred meters high in a split second, everybody forcefully swallowed their saliva, including Colonel Leibniz. These people were powerful, very powerful, which could never be matched by the average troops of the No. 39 Division, or so the soldiers of No. 39 felt about them.


    Face pale, the officer of the air-defense camp had watched those terrifying Chinese soldiers dropping from the airship to the ground at that fast speed, and he immediately recognized that the items they used just now were foldable rotachutes. What the most elite imperial airborne troops of the Norman Empire used were these rotachutes which were more advanced than common parachutes. This was not amazing. What made the face of the officer of the air-defense camp turn pale was their speed of decent, which was almost half of that needed by the imperial air troops.


    This meant that if his troop was defending here, before all the land-to-air weapons were launched and a series of tactic movements such as locking on and aiming at those people were completed, they would have already fallen to the ground. In front of those people, the air-defense camp of the No. 39 Camp became absolutely useless. That was to say that those soldiers might face the overwhelming massacre next.


    ''Who are they? The Norman Empire cannot have such an elite troop!¡¯ the officer of the air-defense camp asked himself inside.


    Not only the officer of the air-defense camp, even all the soldiers and the other officers of the No. 39 Division had the same question. Everybody was shocked by such a sudden appearance as the moment they caught sight of these people, they knew that they could never match them.


    Even though those powerful soldiers jumping off the airship shocked everybody who saw it, the next scene almost popped out their eyes.


    Soon after those powerful Chinese soldiers landed, another person jumped off the airship. He moved as fast as an arrow shot downwards from the airship. Almost in a blink, he had already drawn close to the ground from several hundreds meters in the air. Compared to those powerful soldiers who jumped off the airship and decelerated using rotachutes, this person didn''t even use any equipment to decelerate at all. When he was close to the ground, he just suddenly stilled like a feather before lightly landing on the ground like stepping off the last step on a staircase, not even arising any dust.


    Many soldiers and officers of the Norman Empire below were forcefully rubbing their eyes repetitively. They couldn¡¯t believe their own eyes. Among them, only the hearts of a few officers including Colonel Leibniz kept racing fiercely as they knew what the last person''s amazing ability meant¡ªhe was a knight, a real knight. Only people above LV 15 could display such an immortal ability.


    In this age, those talents who reached knight ranks were the real back bone of human beings¡¯ survival on this continent.


    In the Norman Empire, a knight undoubtedly meant an army. All the armies of the Norman Empire were battle groups centered on knights. Any knight was qualified to be an army leader. The army leader of the Iron-Horn Army was a knight, a well-reputed knight in the Norman Empire¡ªBlack Iron Knight Lord Clausewitz. The Iron-Horn Army was an army centered around Lord Clausewitz.


    Among all the countries and powers of Blackson Human Clan Corridor, the quantity of knights was the most direct and important standard of a country''s national strength.


    So undoubtedly, the last person getting off the airship would be able to match Lord Clausewitz''s status regardless of his nationality. Of course Colonel Leibniz dared not neglect him.


    Seeing that person focusing on him, Colonel Leibniz kept his shoulders square and walked towards him in a dignified way, giving him a military salute.


    "I''m the highest ranking officer in Blackhot City, Colonel Leibniz, your excellency. Your airship has entered the LV 1 air territory of Blackhot City, may you tell me your purpose here?"


    Because the opposite was a Chinese, Colonel Leibniz spoke in Chinese. In the Norman Empire, Chinese was a necessary language that had to be learned by everyone in the top class. It was also the standard language in all the top class receptions and salons. Chinese symbolized dignity. If Zhang Tie had heard Colonel Leibniz speaking Chinese so fluently, he would definitely have been stunned.


    Hearing Colonel Leibniz''s words, that old man who had gotten off the airship slightly nodded towards him before waving his hand to let another soldier beside him present Colonel Leibniz with a document.


    The moment Colonel Leibniz caught sight of the bloody dragon of the Norman Empire, his spirits rose and he carefully took that document, getting a look inside. There was a special communications certificate and an action memo in all the air territories of the Norman Empire jointly presented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Military Department of Norman Empire, based on which, that airship coming from Jinyun Country could legally enter the LV 1 air territory of any city in the Norman Empire.


    Additionally, no matter what they did, they could still freely leave while the outcome should be charged on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Military Department of Norman Empire. When necessary, at the sight of this document, any local officers and stationed army were obligated to assist and coordinate with the possessor of this document to carry out required actions.


    Certainly, Colonel Leibniz could see through the truth of this document; however, the content made him muddle-headed¡ªwhat for would a big figure ranked knight from Jinyun country come here with such a document? What was worth them traveling such a long distance?"


    ...


    Of course, that airship hovering above the civic square of Blackhot City was very eye-catching. Not only the people in the civic square could see it, actually, as long as they raised their heads, almost all the people in the city could see the huge airship that shone with silver lights.


    Already promoted to the manager of the workshop, Zhang Tie''s dad was walking back home after leaving work. When he noticed that people beside him were pointing and looking far into the sky, he raised his head. The moment he caught sight of that huge airship, he became stunned andh is lips slightly trembled. He quickly returned home, face turning pale.


    Zhang Tie''s home had remained unchanged. As his parents had to look after elder sister-in-law who was pregnant and was going to deliver a baby, Zhang family''s rice brew store had not been opened for a long time. Each day, Zhang Tie''s mom would spend most of the time on her daughter-in-law. These days, Zhang family''s kitchen was filled with the aroma of various foods and soups, making passers-by drool. For this, Zhang family''s relatives by marriage were very satisfied.


    When Zhang Tie''s dad returned home, he found that his wife was still stewing soup in the kitchen but looked not as energetic and spirited as usual. The moment she saw him, she bit her lips and wanted to say something.


    "I know, I already saw it on the way back, it''s the silver-wind level airship of the Huaiyuan Palace of Zhang Family..."


    "Can they be here for other things?" Zhang Tie''s mom hopefully asked.


    "There''s a mark of the Clansman Pavilion of Huaiyuan Palace. I''m sure!" Zhang Tie''s dad gave a bitter smile. "This time, it must be the elders of the Clansman Pavilion who came here for our affair. If not, the elders of the Clansman Pavilion would have never come to this small city no matter what happened here!"


    "We''ve been here for dozens of years. How could they find us?"


    "I''m just a trivial figure in Huaiyuan Palace. At that time, I pretended to die to escape. Dozens of years soon passed with us being safe and sound. The fake corpse must have rotten away and been found by others recently. I guess that it must be Guoguo, he must have awakened his ancestral blood ties and exposed his trace..." Zhang Tie''s dad smiled. "I didn''t imagine that although I was average my whole life, but by marrying a good wife I''ll have a son who will awaken the ancestral blood. I have no pity any more..."


    Zhang Tie''s mom stretched out her hands and took a tight hold of his, tears rolling down from her eyes while he comforted her by patting her hands.


    "Don''t worry, I just pretended to die and escaped together with you. It''s not a big mistake. The worst that can happen is that I''ll be recorded on the "Guilty Deeds Record" and be punished to do labor work for a few years back in the Huaiyuan Palace. As the recent years have been becoming less and less peaceful, perhaps with Huaiyuan Palace at my side, it''ll be a good thing for me!"


    "It''s my mistake. You could have..."


    Zhang Tie''s mom''s tears fell like rain...


    "I wouldn''t be qualified to be a man if I hadn''t been brave enough to escape with you. Compared to you, that real estate was nothing at all. "


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s dad became very masculine and fascinating.


    ...


    At supper, Zhang Yang, Zhang Tie''s elder brother returned home after a day''s work. Dad pulled him in to a room. Ten minutes later, Zhang Yang came out with a shocked expression. He then looked at his mom and his dad. He felt like seeing a fairytale, a real life love fairytale which had always been beside him during the past dozens of years. It was featured by daily firewood, rice, oil, and salt...


    After supper, Zhang family was covered with a restless ambiance. About an hour later, when it became completely dark, the barks along the whole street outside suddenly stopped, replaced by the sound of "Kaka" caused by heavy and tidy footsteps.


    Hearing the footsteps stopping outside their house, Zhang Tie''s dad, mom, Zhang Yang, and elder sister-in-law all held their breath.


    The gate of Zhang house opened by itself and a figure with crossed hands behind its back slowly walked inside.


    The moment he saw that figure, Zhang Tie''s dad trembled all over and hurriedly pulled his wife to kneel in front of him. Seeing their parents kneeling down, Zhang Tie''s elder brother also hurriedly knelt down together with his wife.


    "Zhang Ping, the unworthy descendant of Huaiyuan Palace of Zhang Clan welcomes Sixth Uncle..."


    That one was rightly the last person who had jumped off the airship. Looking emotionless, that person didn''t say anything. After glancing over everyone, he took a look at the rice brew store, the the kitchen, and finally the main hall. When he caught sight of the incense tablets that were placed respectively on the incense burner table in the middle of the main hall, his expression became a bit better.


    The elder gave a cold harrumph through his nostrils. After glancing at the people kneeling on the ground, he pointed at the elder sister-in-law. "As you''ve married a member of the Zhang clan and are pregnant with a blood-tied descendant of Zhang clan, you don''t have to do this, stand up!"


    "Zhang Ping, do you know your fault?"


    The elder''s voice immediately became solemn...


    At this time, when the dusk fell in Blackhot City and a group of people got off the airship and came to Zhang Tie''s home, everybody in Blapei was making the final preparations for tomorrow''s beer festival and carnival. The entire Chevli village was filled with a rich atmosphere of of the upcoming festival.


    As a girl who would travel along with tomorrow''s festooned vehicle downtown, Hanna stayed with the girls in the village for almost the whole day. They were decorating the festooned vehicles, preparing new clothes, and dressing their hair. Of course, they would load their own beer into the barrels when they came back in the evening to sell them in Blapei tomorrow.


    From unmarried girls in Blapei, the girl whose beer was the most delicious in tomorrow''s competition, she would have the honor to win the title of "Beer Queen". For girls in Blapei, that was sovereign praise and agreement. What it meant to the girls of Blapei was what for an average soldier of the Iron-Horn Army would mean to suddenly become an army leader.


    There was a "Beer Queen" from Chevli before, but it was over 30 years ago. Yet it was still often mentioned with pride by the villagers¡ªChevli was a treasure land which once had a Beer Queen! Additionally, this honor was not awarded every year. Only the girl who could brew the truly delicious beer that won everybody''s praise had the chance to win this special honor. In the last four years, nobody had won this special honor in Blapei


    Although Hanna also had the ambition to become the "Beer Queen" in the beer festival like all the other girls in Blapei, she knew that it was almost impossible. She had learned brewing beer from her elder sister-in-law and her mom. Although it was not the worst, it could only reach an average level in Chevli village. It was really hard to make her craftsmanship outstanding among all the other girls. Even her family members didn''t think that she could win such a special honor.


    But no matter what, happiness counted most in the beer festival.


    Hanna''s family members thought this as they helped her pour the fermented beer into wooden barrels from the beer fermenter...


    But the moment they opened the lid of the fermenter, old Harley was the first to smell the special fragrance which was utterly different from before. The moment he smelled it, old Harley loudly exclaimed.

 246 The Effect of the Mutated Yeas

    Chapter 246: The Effect of the Mutated Yeast


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie came back a bit late tonight. In the past few days, once he was free at daytime, he would take a round in the neighboring villages and the wild for two purposes: first, to look for the animals raised in the neighboring farming households that could be set free and lead to the corresponding Fruit of Redemption; second, to cultivate by himself.


    On a huge, bald rock on top of a hill several kilometers away from Chevli village, Zhang Tie found a good place that was suitable for him to cultivate the "Bear Back Iron Body Skill". Over there, no matter how he would hit that rock using his back, that huge rock weighing several thousands tons would remain unchanged. This brought Zhang Tie another chance to strengthen his body and promote the growth of Iron-Body Fruit.


    Based on his current strength, if he practiced "Bear Back Iron Body Skill" against the wall of Hanna''s house, once he exerted his full strength, he might collapse the wall. However, if he used less strength, he might not be able to achieve the ideal effect. That¡¯s why he had to find a proper place to practice this skill. If he could not find a stout tree, he had to find a huge rock or a cliff that could stand his thousands of kgs'' force.


    Zhang Tie guessed that one of the reasons why he wasn¡¯t killed during that bloody fight with the undying army of the Sun Dynasty might also lie in the Iron-Body Fruit. Although he had not eaten too many Iron-Body Fruits, the effect of those he had eaten must have been utilised at the most critical moment and saved his life. Because of this, Zhang Tie started to pay more attention to the Iron-Body Fruits after his body fully recovered.


    Especially now that his body had mutated to a preliminary recovery body, Zhang Tie had super great wound recovery and healing capability which suggested much more special ideas about his future cultivation road. The effect of the Iron-Body Fruit reinforced his physical defense and anti-striking capability. If he could further exert this effect together with the effect of his preliminary recovery body, he would definitely have a greater chance to survive and be as robust as a cockroach which had a super strong vitality.


    Zhang Tie was actually very afraid of death, so after gaining the preliminary recovery body, he immediately became extremely concerned about the Iron-Body Fruit. That¡¯s why these days, he definitely spent more time practicing "Bear Back Iron-Body Skill" than ever before.


    At daytime, he would ram his back against that huge rock. When he had to stop due to pain, he would forcefully pat his lower abdomen, chests, neck, thighs, and shins. After that, the pain on his back would have relieve somewhat and he would start to ram his back against the huge rock again.


    He kept doing that all day long. Even though it were lunch or supper time, he would hurriedly eat some dried rations before returning to his practice.


    Zhang Tie really regarded himself as a red iron plate that needed to be hammered. Each time he was hammered and rammed, he would enjoy great happiness. Sometimes, as long as one''s mentality changed, arduous and boring cultivation could also be filled with pleasure. For Zhang Tie, this cultivation process was actually a special individual game.


    Since he constantly practiced like this, four days ago, the first Iron-Body Fruit after his complete recovery became mature. After eating it, Zhang Tie finally felt its sweet juices. It didn''t make him suffer from diarrhea, just turned into a wisp of icy energy that penetrated into his skin and muscles from inside to the outside.


    In the following two days, when Zhang Tie constantly patted and rammed himself, he had a different feeling as he felt a wisp of comfortable, warm qi and energy that started to fuse with his skin and muscles. In the process of alternatively warm cultivation and eating icy fruits, Zhang Tie really felt like a hot, red iron plate being quenched after being hammered.


    After recovery, the second Iron-Body Fruit was 82% ripe yesterday. After today''s practice, Zhang Tie estimated that it would have become completely ripe. Besides this Iron-Body Fruit, the first Leakless Fruit after recovery should also have ripened today. The moment he thought that he could engulf two fruits tonight, Zhang Tie became highly spirited.


    After igniting two more burning points, he would be able to be promoted to a LV 5 warrior. As Blapei was peaceful now, and he had gained a preliminary recovery body, Zhang Tie was thinking about completing this promotion in the next month or two. Although this promotion was twice as difficult as the one before, it was of great significance to Zhang Tie at this moment.


    If there was no emergency, he felt that his Iron-Blood hidden strength could be promoted to Iron-Blood invisible strength when he reached level 5. Controlled by the invisible strength, his Iron-Blood Fist and red-snake sword would be even more powerful. Additionally, when he reached level 5, his physical strength and potential would be further tapped, which meant that his javelin attacks would be more horrifying.


    Actually, on that night when he fought with the undying army of the Sun Dynasty, the speed of the javelin that Zhang Tie had freely thrown had already reached the speed of sound. However, Zhang Tie clearly knew that the sonic boom skill that he could grasp had just passed the sound barrier. He could not fully play the role of the sonic boom yet as the effect of his sonic boom was not stable yet. But when he reached level 5, none of the above problems would exist. Perhaps by then, the javelins could fully exert their power in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie came back to Chevli, it was already night. However, the village was ten times more boisterous than usual. As the beer carnival was tomorrow, many people in Chevli village had started to make torches and festival lanterns. Additionally, many kids couldn''t wait to ignite the torches and the festival lanterns and played with them. Looking from afar, the Chevli village was brightly lit and filled with people''s laughter and joyful words.


    People here enjoyed eating roasted gooses in festivals. Tonight, from many houses in Chevli village drifted the aroma of roasted gooses.


    Speaking of them, Zhang Tie had made a new discovery these days¡ªin Blapei, actually, he could set free some more animals, namely those chickens, ducks, and gooses that were raised in many houses in the villages neighboring Blapei. It wouldn¡¯t even cost him too much money to set free those animals. To tell the truth, Zhang Tie was really curious what would the Fruit of Redemption look like after he set free those average livestocks.


    Although this idea was very good, Zhang Tie couldn''t find any proper reason to do this. He was afraid that the moment he set those livestocks in the wild, they would be caught back by others. It wouldn¡¯t work at all.


    Although he could set them free in the Castle of Black Iron, where he didn''t need to worry about them being caught back by others, it wasn¡¯t exactly the beset solution. He had brought some earthworms inside the Castle of Black Iron several days ago and made earthworms the second animal that settled ithere after the bees, but the livestock were much bigger than earthworms.


    It would work if he brought a couple of into the Castle of Black Iron, but it would be too eye-catching if he brought too many of them inside. Additionally, since he was living in Hanna''s home, if he often brought chickens and ducks back in to his room which would then disappear the next day, leaving nothing at all, how could he explain that to them. Even an idiot would notice something wrong. Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t want to be the target of the public.


    ...


    When he returned to Hanna''s home, Hanna instantly pulled him back into the dining room. What made him surprised was that all of Hanna''s family members were staring at a glass of beer on the table in the middle of the dining room. Old Harley, Hanna''s dad, and Hanna''s elder brother were piously gazing at that glass of beer on the table without even blinking. Hanna''s mom and elder sister-in-law also were pretty nervous.


    ''Why are they staring at that glass of beer? What''s happening? Is it a traditional ceremony that is going to be held before the beer festival?''


    But before Zhang Tie could open his mouth, he saw Hanna silently glance at him, and so he swallowed his words back.


    After a long while, old Harley who was staring at that glass of beer let out a sigh.


    "Already six minutes!"


    "The bubbles are still there!" Hanna''s elder brother said, his eyes shining bright.


    "The bubbles in the beginning definitely reached over three centimeters!" Hanna''s dad added in an obviously trembling voice.


    After that, the three men exchanged glances with evident uncontrollable excitement and ecstasy.


    Zhang Tie saw nothing special. After silently asking Hanna what was happening, she told him that for men who treated beer as their lives in Blapei, during the past hundreds of years, they had already concluded a series of methods to appraise the quality of beer. Besides tasting it, they could also judge it with their eyes. Take the bubbles of the beer for an instance, many people could judge the quality only by the bubbles and luster¡ªthe standard of top-class beer was that the bubbles could rise three centimeters above the mouth of the glass and remain unchanged for at least four-five minutes.


    After smelling its odor, checking its luster and tasting it, its lasting time was the final procedure to appraise its quality. The result was super excellent like the other aspects, so all Hanna''s family members became really excited by that.


    ...


    "It looks perfect too. I drunk too fast just now and failed to appraise it''s real taste. I will try it again..."


    Licking his lips, Hanna''s elder brother stretched out his hand to take that glass of beer on the table.


    "Bastard, you''ve drunk one glass before!"


    Hanna''s dad pushed away the reaching hand of Hanna''s elder brother with a cold expression while stretching his own hand towards that glass of beer.


    "Cough...cough..." Old Harley coughed twice.


    Hearing that, Hanna''s dad''s hand froze in the air.


    When old Harley was about to take that glass with a big smile, Hanna took the initiative and picked that glass of beer from the table. She then brought it in front of Zhang Tie. Old Harley gave an embarrassed smile as he drew back his hand.


    "Try it!"


    Hanna stared at Zhang Tie, full of expectations.


    Zhang Tie held the glass and took a careful look. Given its luster, the glass of beer seemed to be more translucent and pure than those he had drunk before. Although it was under the lamp light in the evening, holding the glass, Zhang Tie felt like holding a big piece of excellent yellow crystal which had a very strong texture visually.


    When he moved the beer close to his mouth, a unique fragrance brought a sense of liveliness. To tell the truth, Zhang Tie had not smelt such a good odor from beer ever since he was born.


    The moment the golden liquid entered his mouth, it tasted both fine, smooth, and refreshing, seeming not to have that bitterness and astringency of other beer. Instead, it was fully energetic. It seemed like every wisp of sunlight''s essence had been absorbed by the raw materials that then were turned into alcohol.


    With just a sip, Zhang Tie had become addicted to it.


    Although he was not an expert in tasting beer, he clearly knew that the beer in his hand was definitely the most excellent one.


    While the other three men in the room were forcefully swallowing their saliva, Zhang Tie bottomed that glass of beer.


    After that, he glanced at Hanna with an expression of inquiry. Hanna slightly nodded. Zhang Tie then understood it at once.


    This beer was brewed by Hanna using the mutated yeast that he had given to her!


    At this moment Zhang Tie was so shocked that he became speechless.


    This beer was brewed with the yeast that only contained one third of the properties of the original basic aura yeast. What if the original basic aura yeast was used?


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he suddenly remembered that what he had brewed in the Castle of Black Iron with those mutated yeast could be drinkable too.


    His heart raced fiercely.


    ...


    "Does the God bless our Hanna to be be this year''s Beer Queen?"


    Hanna''s mom was so excited that she even dropped tears.


    "It cannot be that. The beer that Hanna brewed before had not been this tasty. Since she brewed it like always, how could she make such special beer?" Hanna''s elder brother became dubious. "No way, I will try another glass to check whether it was an illusion just now!"


    "Nobody is allowed to taste Hanna''s beer any more!" Old Harley solemnly glanced at Hanna''s elder brother as he had immediately seen through his plot. "Tomorrow, the beer will conquer every man in Blapei; Hanna will definitely be the Beer Queen of Blapei!" Saying this, old Harley glanced at Zhang Tie and forced a smile. "Can you temporarily keep the secret of what happened tonight for Hanna?"


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    "You know, we''ve got one more thing to negotiate at home..."


    Zhang Tie felt embarrassed at once. The moment he was going to leave, his arm was grabbed by Hanna. Being straightforward, she directly revealed the secret to the other family members.


    "Grandpa, you don''t need to feel strange about that anymore. The reason that my beer is different from before is that Zhang Tie gifted me a packet of very special powder of beer yeast before..."


    After being slightly stunned, Hanna'' dad instantly sprung up from beside the table. He didn''t let Zhang Tie leave, instead, he rushed outside and looked around. After finding no people there, he hurriedly closed the door.


    Besides Hanna, everybody in the room focused their gleaming eyes on Zhang Tie, causing him to feel like he was surrounded by a pack of wolves...

 247 The Start of the Carnival

    Chapter 247: The Start of the Carnival


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The annual beer festival in Blapei would be fixed on the first weekend of each November. Because the beer festival originated from the festivity of farmers in the most leisurely time of Blapei, even though the month chosen was not as hot as June and July, people''s passion for their favorite beer was enough to ignite the whole Blapei on the same day each year.


    Even if facing the danger of war and just having suffered a bomb attack from the Sun Dynasty several weeks before, each house in Blapei today still became boisterous like flaring fire.


    It seemed that because of having been oppressed by the upcoming war, people here became really mad and decided to give full vent to their inner emotions.


    Old Harley said that the quantity of festooned vehicles from Chevli village this year was the largest in recent years. The festooned vehicles were also more beautiful than before.


    For this festival, Zhang Tie also showed great interest. Since last night, old Harley had been ten times more enthusiastic about him than ever before. After learning that Zhang Tie had not prepared a traditional costume for the beer festival, in the early morning, he sent a whole new, decent costume to Zhang Tie.


    This proper and decent costume included a jazz hat decorated with beautiful feathers, an average and good-looking jujube-wood walking stick, a black woolen coat without lapels, a small black vest, a round, woolen half-body cloak, a pair of black leather jazz pants, a pair of stockings, and a pair of brown, round-head brogues.


    Once he dressed in these clothes, Zhang Tie found himself very funny. Looking at himself in the mirror, he felt like he was much more mature. If a mustache was put on his mouth corner, he would look like a mature gentleman. Since he was almost 16 years old, Zhang Tie''s lips were covered with fine cyan hair, making him as tender as a Chinese onion.


    Zhang Tie estimated that this costume had cost old Harley at least 20-30 silver coins. When old Harley sent it here, he was even worried that Zhang Tie wouldn''t receive it.


    After Zhang Tie generously received the clothes, all the family members of old Harley became excited. After all, these items were really trivial compared to what Zhang Tie had promised them last night.


    After what happened last night, he had turned from an ostentatious outsider to a respected guest of old Harley''s family.


    Hanna also changed to a set of beautiful clothes today. She wore a beautiful dress with corset and an open collar whose neckline was decorated with a circle of delicate folded lace. Her shoulders and breasts were decorated with a rectangular purple silky cloth of beautiful lace, on which was a bow knot and some beautiful bibelots. The sleeves of the skirt were bulging puff sleeves. The lower part of the skirt which was also decorated with many delicate ornaments reached her feet.


    Of course, on the lower part of the skirt was an apron that greatly impressed Zhang Tie. It was said that an apron represented that the working woman was diligent.


    As an unmarried woman, Hanna wore a beautiful garland woven of camellia.


    In this costume, Hanna became more fascinating and beautiful. Zhang Tie liked it very much as it revealed her womanly figure and displayed her plump breasts and butt that attracted men''s attention.


    ...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was standing near the windowsill in his room, revealing a weird expression. He seemed to be enjoying the scene, gasping, and watching the courtyard of Hanna''s home.


    Besides Zhang Tie, everybody in Hanna''s home were wearing new clothes. Even old Harley had changed to a set of clean and decent clothes.


    "Zhang Tie, have you seen Hanna?"


    Seeing Zhang Tie standing next to the windowsill in his room and facing the courtyard, old Harley who was seeking for Hanna raised his head and asked.


    "I saw her down there in the courtyard just now!" Zhang Tie answered loudly from upstairs.


    "Where has that wicked girl gone..." Old Harley mumbled downstairs in the courtyard before turning back and leaving.


    What Zhang Tie said just now was true. A moment ago, he truly had seen Hanna in the courtyard. but now...


    Hearing Zhang Tie talking with old Harley, Hanna who was squatting down and working hard became more excited. After forcefully swallowing and spitting several times, Hanna''s apex nasi had almost reached Zhang Tie''s pubis on the lower abdomen. With eyes half closed, Hanna became slightly intoxicated. At a rhythm, she would slightly groan besides the "zi zi" sound made by her lips


    getting in contact with Zhang Tie''s d*ck. It seemed that this state could bring her a certain pleasure.


    Zhang Tie was very pleased as he liked to do this very much, spiritually, physically, and even visually.


    Because she was squatting in front of Zhang Tie in a dress with an open collar, her slightly raised head, revealed the beautiful curve of her neck and the part above her clavicle. Zhang Tie felt that Hanna was like a beautiful swan at this moment.


    A beautiful swan singing a song for him...


    Zhang Tie felt very lucky.


    Around ten minutes later, Zhang Tie started to violently tremble. Out of consciousness, he hugged Hanna''s hand with his own while Hanna also accelerated the frequency tacitly. Her blond hair started to crazily weave under the camellia corolla. Finally, Hanna''s whole face almost lay on Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen as she tightly held Zhang Tie''s d*ck in her mouth and remained still. At the same time, Zhang Tie completed a thorough ejection in the deepest part of Hanna''s mouth...


    ...


    Hanna swallowed everything before extracting the last drop of body fluid of Zhang Tie with her lips and tongue and put that tamed thing into his jazz pants.


    "Your waistband is very beautiful. Is it new? I''ve not seen it before..."


    After arranging Zhang Tie''s pants, Hanna noticed his new waistband.


    "Yea, It''s new!" Zhang Tie could only reply in this way.


    Already having stood up, Hanna touched the red snakes which were embedded in the buckle of the waistband. "That''s weird, it''s two snakes; isn''t it be a bit large for a buckle of a waistband? But it''s very beautiful and gorgeous. Plus that weird snake, you have three snakes now, one big and two small, hey hey..."


    "You coquettish woman!"


    Zhang Tie became slightly dumbfounded as he found that this woman was even more lewd than him.


    "What? Don''t you like it?"


    Hanna stared at Zhang Tie in an enchanting way.


    "I do like it!¡¯ Zhang Tie honestly answered.


    "Many times last month you''ve forcefully ejected into my body by pressing me down, I was worried about being pregnant; unexpectedly, my menstruation still arrived last month on time!"


    "Haven''t I told you that if I don''t want you to get pregnant, you wont'' get pregnant!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile as this was a mysterious function brought by the small tree.


    Only when he wanted to have babies could the essence ejected from him contain the most important energy that could breed new lives. Normally, although the essence looked no different from usual, it would never make a woman pregnant.


    When he made love with Pandora in Blackhot City for the first time, the selective dialog box had popped out in his mind at the most critical moment, making Zhang Tie more relaxed and happier to make love with those girls of the Rose Association later on. This truly saved a lot of trouble for him by preventing the women from getting pregnant. Besides the fruits, Zhang Tie felt that this function of the small tree was the most considerate.


    "You know what, I''ve already recovered today. Little boy, don''t forget to wait for your teacher at night! Now, I have to go to the festooned vehicles..."


    After stealthily glancing at the courtyard, Hanna kissed Zhang Tie''s face, then rearranged her dress, and, walking on her tiptoes, quietly ran down the stairs from Zhang Tie''s room.


    ...


    Five minutes after Hanna had left, Zhang Tie also went downstairs like a thief.


    Today, most of the people in Chevli village wanted to go along with the festooned vehicles to see the flower parade and the evening carnival in Blapei. Previously, old Harley and Hanna''s dad had also wanted to be there; however, after what had happened last night, the two men of Hanna''s family decided to stay at home.


    Last night, when Hanna explained that the reason for the beer being so delicious lay in the special yeast powder gifted by Zhang Tie, all the other family members became thrilled. Of course, the quality of the yeast used to ferment the beer could not be judged by one''s eyes or mouth. However, people in Blapei who had several hundred years'' traditions in brewing beer truly had their own method to test the quality of the yeast gifted so as to check the truth of Hanna''s words.


    Old Harley only took a small half glass of beer zymotic fluid from the fermenter. After that he fetched a vial and sprayed a bit of weird powder from the vial into it. He then slightly shook the bottle. After a short while, at the sight of the small half glass of zymotic fluid, old Harley became so thrilled that his words started to be disordered.


    "Oh, my god, it''s true; how could it be? There''s no other anaerobia except for yeast in the zymotic fluid. This was really a wholly new yeast that I''ve never seen before..."


    After Hanna explained it to Zhang Tie, he finally understood why old Harley was so excited.


    In Chevli village, all the zymotic fluid left from brewed beer was recyclable. However, the recycling times were limited to 4-5 times. It would be ineffective after being recycled 6-7 times. The reason was as follows: during the process of beer fermentation, besides yeast, there would be other anaerobia. After each fermentation, the quantity of these anaerobia would increase. When the quantity and proportion of other anaerobia became greater than 20% of the total amount of yeast in the zymotic fluid, the beer brewed would taste bad.


    For a long time, people in Blapei had concluded a series of methods to test the proportion of other anaerobia in zymotic fluid to determine the zymotic fluid''s availability. Zhang Tie didn''t know what old Harley had sprayed into the zymotic fluid, but Hanna told him that if there were anaerobia inside, after spraying the powders inside, the color of the zymotic fluid would change accordingly. Experienced people could identify the proportion of anaerobia inside from the changing color.


    After spraying the powders inside, old Harley was shocked by the result as there was almost no anaerobia inside the zymotic fluid. However, this phenomenon had never been seen during the past hundreds of years in Blapei. After being brewed for the first time, the content of anaerobia inside the zymotic fluid would usually increase by 3-5%. Old Harley''s family members had not even heard about any zymotic fluid that would contain no anaerobia after being used once. Of course, the reason was the special yeast spices in the zymotic fluid.


    Hanna''s words were verified at once.


    All the family members clearly knew what this meant.


    Such zymotic fluid could be recycled forever. However, this wasn''t the real deal. What was most important was that as long as they were not afraid of trouble, after some filtering procedures, they could use the yeast in the zymotic fluid to cultivate more of the same yeast, which could be used to brew more top-quality beer. And top-quality beer symbolized great honor and a great amount of money in Blapei...


    A bright road suddenly appeared in front of Hanna''s family members!


    However, Hanna''s family members didn''t know that the yeast was fully under the control of Zhang Tie. As it was a mutated species from his Castle of Black Iron, if Zhang Tie didn''t like something, he could lock and change some of the yeast''s gene functions to stop its reproduction. After eating the Fruit of Creator which could control the yeast, once Zhang Tie sent an order in his mind, he could kill all the yeasts which had been carried out of the Castle of Black Iron at once.


    Facing the eyes of Hanna''s family members that were full of desire, Zhang Tie had made an agreement with them last night which almost drove them mad.


    ...


    The beer brewing workshop in Hanna'' home was locked for today while the remaining zymotic fluid was carefully stored away. But even so, they were still not reassured, so two men stayed to keep an eye on the treasure.


    In Blapei, the value of yeast that could improve beer''s quality could almost drive everybody mad.


    From last night, the affair of Zhang Tie gifting his mutated yeast to Hanna had become the top secret in old Harley''s home.


    ...


    Because he planned to go back downtown today, Zhang Tie followed the festooned vehicles and the teams to head for Blapei after taking a very roundabout way.


    Hanna took her beer and sat on the predominant festooned vehicle while everybody in Chevli village including the village head surrounded her like numerous stars circling around the shiny moon. Last night, old Harley had silently called the village head into his home. After drinking a glass of Hanna''s beer, the village head decided to let Hanna represent Chevli village to compete for this year''s Beer Queen...


    The news that Hanna was going to compete for the title of Beer Queen immediately shocked the whole Chevli village.


    As Hanna hadn''t brewed too much beer using the yeast given by Zhang Tie, not everyone could have a chance to taste her beer to verify her qualification. But after the village head shown the same "bubble certificate" in the public like what Zhang Tie had seen last night, all the villagers in Chevli were conquered.


    For people in Blapei, the quality of beer could be identified by eyes.


    The moment they opened Hanna''s barrel, the fragrance of the beer almost caused a chaos among the team that had entered Blapei.


    After the chaos, the team of festooned vehicles of Chevli village no longer looked like going for a parade in Blapei any more, instead, they looked more like an army heading for a battle as everybody was highly spirited and with a high morale. If there was truly a Beer Queen in Chevli village, it would be a huge pride and honor for all the villagers in Chevli.


    In this atmosphere, Zhang Tie was ignored by others and was pushed to the end of the team. Nevertheless, he didn''t mind it at all.


    Seeing Hanna''s happiness while being surrounded by the people as if she was a queen, Zhang Tie also felt glad for her.


    He was truly in a good mood today!


    At least good at this moment!


    ...


    After the arrival of the teams of festooned vehicles from surrounding villages, the grand beer carnival in Blapei officially kicked off at noon.


    Today, every place in Blapei was well decorated. Roadside stores, houses, and lamp poles¡ªall were covered with colored ribbons, flags, and various joyful symbols.


    The first news that Zhang Tie heard after arriving to the downtown area was not about the beer festival but about the war. Last night, in revenge, a brave airship of the Iron-Horn Army had dashed into the air territory of the Sun Dynasty and dropped two bombs on to an important logistics base of the Brilliant Feathers in Lazian City which was 160 km away from the frontier of the two armies, which greatly shocked the Sun Dynasty and its predominant army¡ª¡ªthe Brilliant Feathers.


    Zhang Tie read the news in the official newspaper of Blapei. Although it made him speechless, it was still very inspiring. Certainly, it might also be a propaganda act to deliver such news to a city which had been attacked by the Brilliant Feathers of the Sun Dynasty on the same day of the beer festival.


    After all, the spies and saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty had not been caught yet. However, it seemed that the rare patrolling soldiers of the No. 21 Division could be seen on the streets in such a festival atmosphere because of the arrival of such a grand festival and the two bombs last night.


    Previously, Zhang Tie had wanted to follow the festooned vehicles of Chevli to watch how Hanna competed for the title of the Beer Queen, but sadly soon after he entered the downtown area, he lost contact with the team of the festooned vehicles...

 248 Trap and Honor

    Chapter 248: Trap and Honor


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    The boisterous atmosphere in Blapei because of the beer festival was almost out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. Walking through the streets, he could see many people in holiday clothes surrounding the teams of festooned vehicles which were heading downtown. Those festooned vehicles came from all the suburban areas around Blapei. Additionally, many communities and business groups downtown also organized festooned vehicles to parade through the streets. Some were even matched with bands and dressed clowns walking on stilts. The festooned vehicles passed by with flying colorful ribbons and flags.


    When Zhang Tie came to a populated place, he saw beautiful women displaying themselves by constantly sending air kisses in all directions and tossing great amounts of petals. Some of them were even tossing small trinkets like locusts woven from wheat straws, which made the surrounding kids reach to grab them.


    Beer brewing workshops, roadside bars, and beer hotels in Blapei pushed out many competitions. As a result, the whole city became extremely boisterous.


    Among the various competitions, the most common one was beer drinking in a limited amount of time that anyone could participate in at the cost of only one silver coin. The final winner would have a chance to win a bonus besides tasting many kinds of beer for free.


    Zhang Tie had intended to push into the civic square to watch the Competition for the title of Beer Queen. However, because the area around the civic square was the most boisterous place today, when Zhang Tie was two blocks away from the civic square, the road became so crowded that he could not even move. Even if he tried for the two other directions, the dense population still held him back like a flesh wall. After pushing for ten minutes, Zhang Tie still had not moved even ten meters forward.


    In the crowded streets, women screams could be heard from time to time, someone having stealthily touched their bodies.


    Seeing what was happening around him, Zhang Tie had no other choice but to stop. If Hanna became this year''s Beer Queen, he would learn of it at night. Each year, after the Beer Queen was selected, she would gain a great bonus and an imperial crown. The Beer Queen would sit on a special festooned vehicle and travel across Blapei.


    For women in Blapei, Beer Queen was almost the highest praise and the most brilliant honor that they could gain in their whole lives. The selection of the Beer Queen was the start of the climax of the entire beer festival and carnival of Blapei. However, according to the customs, the Beer Queen could not be selected until the dusk fell and torches were ignited.


    Zhang Tie really wanted to see how Hanna looked when she was selected as the Beer Queen. Since that cute girl had brought him so much happiness these days. he hoped that today could be the happiest day in her life. Zhang Tie didn''t know the quality of the other women''s beers as he was a layman about beer, but seeing her family members, the village head, the villagers of Chevli village becoming so confident about her, he also became confident of her success.


    Old Harley casually mentioned that he slept very well after drinking two glasses of beer that Hanna had brewed using that marvelous yeast. These years, as he was growing old, he usually coughed at night. However, it was very strange last night as he didn''t cough at all. Until this morning, he was still highly spirited.


    Although others didn''t put much weight on what old Harley had said, Zhang Tie bore it in mind as he remembered that when he had health problems or felt uncomfortable at a young age such as coughing or catching cold, his mom would always feed him the fruit yeast solution which was used to make the rice brew. It was very marvelous. Each time he drunk that, his health would become much better, so Zhang Tie had not gone for a doctor since he was young, neither did he suffer from any big disease while those small problems could be solved at home.


    Perhaps the yeast could extract the substances from plants that were beneficial to people''s health. Benefiting from this, old Harley slept quite well last night. Thinking this, after Zhang Tie came back to his residence last night, he ate two fruits to enhance his real strength. Additionally, he also took a look at those vats of fruit yeast solution that he had brewed in the lab of the Castle of Black Iron.


    He had brewed too much, and the craftsmanship that he used to brew the fruit yeast fluid was obviously different from one used to brew beer. After a month, the fruits in the solution had not been completely decomposed. It meant that it would take a longer time for the yeast fluid to complete its final fermentation. However, the fragrance from the vats of yeast fluid had already filled the air, making him intoxicated.


    The beer brewed from the yeast that only had one third of the properties of the basic aura yeast was great to drink, so the original basic aura yeast should be even more outstanding.


    As for why the fluid fermented by yeast would have so many marvelous functions, Zhang Tie could not figure it out due to the limited knowledge that he had received since he was born.


    Zhang Tie was thinking that perhaps he should go to the private library once again today to read a few more books and have a good study on the functions of yeast as the beer that Hanna had brewed using his yeast had made him realize that such trivial things might be very useful in the future.


    ...


    The parading festooned vehicles parked in the afternoon in every street of Blapei. They became mobile stalls for selling beer and roasted meat. Zhang Tie then spent three silver coins to drink a few glasses of beer and eat some roasted meat in a festooned vehicle, accompanied by beautiful and passionate girls of Blapei who danced happily in the melodious music of a violin.


    In such a boisterous and happy atmosphere, Zhang Tie really didn''t want to wear his military uniform and return to the No. 9 Equipment Center and face a pile of worn-out machines. Right now he might as well do something else.


    So after leaving the secret signal in the rendezvous point to Bilis, Zhang Tie came to the Grant''s Library once again. He stayed in the retrieval area for two hours. Finally, he grew disappointed and left. Although there were some books on yeast, all of them were only related to beer brewing. No other aspects about yeast were mentioned in those books.


    In such a private library, due to limited quantity of books, one could not usually find the knowledge that he truly needed. Perhaps he truly had really good luck last time.


    After leaving the library, Zhang Tie soon arrived at the rendezvous point where he usually met Bilis.


    As was expected, Bilis was already there.


    "You''re really responsive today, I thought you might not see my secret signal until night!" Zhang Tie leisurely told Bilis.


    "I... I''ve been waiting for your news these days, so those guys even started to doubt the words that I told them several days ago!" Bilis seemed to be a bit nervous. "If you don''t show up in a couple of days, I might not even dare to see them anymore!"


    "Ho...ho..." Zhang Tie gave a smile. He also felt that Bilis was nervous. However, he didn''t care about that as he guessed that he was nervous because he couldn''t control those guys. "Don''t worry, I will go see them with you today. I hope they can recognize me in this costume!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bilis let out a breath. "That''s great! If you can show up in front of them, it will be more convenient for me to serve you from then on!"


    "Where are they?"


    "Some of them are at home; but as we often kill time in a billiard room in Xicheng District, many of them are also there today!"


    "Well, I will go meet them then!"


    Because of traffic control in Blapei today, with the exception of parading festooned vehicles and military vehicles, all other vehicles were forbidden to move on the roads downtown, so the two people could only go to that place on foot.


    Compared to other places in Blapei, there seemed to be more poor people in Xicheng District. Buildings here were old. There were many slums and some factories. The coke-oven plants and the only steel plant in Blapei were also located in this district, so as one could imagine, the environment here was very bad.


    Bilis guided Zhang Tie through the roads in the downtown area. Seeing the narrow and dirty lanes that he was walking through and the exceptionally less wealthy population which formed a sharp contrast with the boisterous atmosphere that he had seen, Zhang Tie slightly frowned. Many people here looked dumb, indifferent, grim and fierce, making him very uncomfortable.


    "Do you usually stay here?"


    "Yea, most of us do. This is the most chaotic area, this Xicheng District of Blapei. About two thirds of thieves, liars, rogues, rapists, prostitutes, jobless workers, low-level hatchet men, and drug addicts of the city live here. Previously, many criminals who were wanted by the Andaman Alliance also stayed here!" Bilis carefully answered.


    Thinking of that night when Bilis and the other guys came to find him trouble for only two gold coins, Zhang Tie shook his head inside.


    "Once you follow me, I promise you that you will soon leave this place and get to live a decent life!" Zhang Tie told Bilis very seriously.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bilis suddenly slowed his speed, his shoulders and neck becoming stiff.


    For some reason, since he entered this region, Zhang Tie felt like he was being watched. He glanced over all sorts of people who were silently looking at him from behind dim windows and doors and the prostitutes who had started to solicit trades under roadside lamps by leaning against dim wall corners at dusk. He then shook his head and forced a self-mocking smile. His clothes were truly not congruous with this place, so no wonder he would attract others'' attention.


    Bilis guided Zhang Tie into a beer hotel in a dim lane. The hotel had a very poor business with only a couple of people drinking beer inside. Zhang Tie glanced over the hotel and found nothing special.


    "The billiard room is behind the hotel..."


    Zhang Tie then followed Bilis into the billiard room which was made to entertain the guests of the hotel.


    The size of the billiard room here was medium with 4-5 billiard tables inside, but for some reason, nobody was inside at all.


    "Where are they? Can you wait here for a minute, please? Those guys might be hugging women upstairs. As they don''t know you are here, I will call them downstairs!" Bilis said, lowering his head.


    Zhang Tie nodded and Bilis left the billiard room. For some reason, Zhang Tie felt that the man was a bit flustered when he left.


    After ten more seconds, Zhang Tie frowned as he felt that something was not right. Additionally, he smelt something bloody...


    When Zhang Tie''s face turned pale, with a loud "boom", a wall on the hotel''s side was suddenly pushed down. The entire wall collapsed outward. Before Zhang Tie could make any response, a pile of people "flew" inside from the direction of the collapsed wall.


    In this case, of course Zhang Tie instinctively avoided them. However, these people seemed weird as they all lay on the ground after "flying" inside...


    They were not "flying" inside but being "thrown" inside. They were not live people but a pile of corpses in dark red military uniforms of the Norman Empire with various wounds on them. Strangely their faces felt familiar to Zhang Tie.


    The fifteen corpses filled the whole billiard room at once. The nearest corpse was one meter away from Zhang Tie, face turned upward. Zhang Tie immediately recognized him¡ªit was the guy who had beaten him and whom he had killed that night two week ago .


    "We found the saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty!" someone loudly screamed outside.


    Soon after that, many guys in red gloves rushed inside from the collapsed wall. With weapons in hands, they immediately surrounded Zhang Tie. Many red gloves then slashed towards the corpses on the ground and the surrounding walls and worn-out billiard tables. Some of them even slashed on themselves, none of the wounds fatal.


    All of a sudden, the billiard room in the beer hotel seemed to have witnessed a fierce battle.


    A red glove with silver hair then slowly walked out of the crowd gazing at Zhang Tie like how a wolf gazes at its prey.


    "Major Franca, the remaining forces of the Sun Dynasty refused to be caught, so we''ve killed them all except for one person. When we rushed inside just now, this person was negotiating with these saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty. He was submitting an item to the saboteurs."


    After his words, a red glove ranked first lieutenant searched out an item from a corpse lying on the ground and gave it to Major Franca.


    That major then carefully unfolded that item with blood stains on it. He took a glance at it before facing Zhang Tie with a smile. "This item is the map containing the defenses of the Comprehensive Logistics Relief Base of Blapei and all the material warehouses. Who are you? How could you have this item?"


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie knew that he was set up once again. The pit that he was in was bottomless...


    "You bastard, motherf*cker!" Zhang Tie fiercely swore...


    ...


    When Zhang Tie was surrounded by a group of red gloves, on the civic square of Blapei, after the afternoon''s competition, the final result of the competition for the title of the Beer Queen was revealed: the winner today overwhelmed all her competitors and conquered all the 21 beer tasters from the Blapei Beer Industry Association.


    Today, the civic square witnessed a miracle, a miracle that could make all the 21 beer tasters to vote for the same person without any hesitation. This had never happened in the history of Blapei. In the recent years, there was not even one woman who could gain more than half the votes from all the beer tasters and put on the crown of the Beer Queen of Blapei.


    At this moment, in the center of the civic square, a single name gradually resonated. "Hanna... Hanna... Hanna..."


    In the beginning, only a few people were shouting, but as time passed all the population in the square started repeating it while some of them even shouted loudly...


    "Citizens of Blapei, please shout as you will, Blapei has its Beer Queen this year once again. This year''s Beer Queen is Hanna. Hanna here brew the greatest beer in the history of Blapei. She conquered all the 21 honorable beer tasters..."


    Tens of thousands of people started to cheer while many people from Chevli village were so excited that they even started to drop tears...

 249 Pulling out the Sword

    Chapter 249: Pulling out the Sword


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Zhang Tie knew that he had already fallen into a delicately designed trap. At the sight of those corpses that he had killed two weeks ago, although being very infuriated, Zhang Tie still remained extremely calm.


    Facing these strictly hierarchical and terrifying secret police of the Norman Empire, as long as he made one mistake, he would disappear from this world.


    Although these people had died two weeks ago, they were still well preserved like having been killed just now. Zhang Tie was not that foolish to ask how they could have preserved these corpses so well as it was just a trivial problem. Donder had told him many methods to preserve corpses such as the most commonly seen freezing or if something slightly more complex - ointment or paste. There were many methods that could be used to keep corpses "fresh", allowing the others to set him up.


    The moment he saw those corpses, Zhang Tie immediately figured out a couple things. First, these were the people who had burned the warehouse. They did this to destroy the scene and prevent him from noticing that the corpses had disappeared when he went back to check on them. Zhang Tie had then believed that the fire was set by other saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty.


    Second, when he killed those people from the Sun Dynasty, the process was definitely under these people''s monitoring. They had to have been hiding in the darkness. They must have witnessed how he killed those people or discovered it through investigation.


    After understanding those two things, Zhang Tie became more clear-minded.


    "You must be responsible for the two missing soldiers of the No. 21 Division. You did that to make me trust that Sun Dynasty''s saboteurs were still in Blapei and make me believe that the fire was set by the saboteurs to destroy evidence inside and eliminate my doubts?" Zhang Tie asked icily, staring at the silver-haired Major Franca.


    Major Franca then flicked his hand to let all the other red gloves surrounding Zhang Tie exit, leaving only him, Zhang Tie, and the corpses all over the ground in this messy billiard room of the beer hotel.


    Zhang Tie''s pupils immediately shrunk from his actions. At this moment, this one still dared to face him alone. This meant that this guy was at least a fighter above LV 8 and was very confident in defeating him. Zhang Tie didn''t believe that this person who had been thinking about setting him up for such a long time didn''t know his performance in the Iron-Blood Camp. Although being a LV 4 warrior, he could easily deal with LV 6-7 fighters.


    "You''re right. I assume the responsibility for the two missing soldiers of No. 21 Division to make everybody believe that the spies and saboteurs of the Sun Dynasty were still in Blapei. Given the effect, it worked!" Major Franca casually said as if chatting with Zhang Tie. Meanwhile, he took off his red gloves and slapped them onto one palm.


    "It''s said that there''s a disagreement between members of the Order Committee of the Norman Empire and Marshal Lin Changjiang. Could that difference in views between the top-class figures truly make you so frenzied that you''d kill soldiers and frame military officers of the Norman Empire?"


    Zhang Tie stared at Major Franca with sharp and fierce eyes.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Major Franca started to laugh like a lunatic.


    "Now that you know what we''ve done, you must know our role in Blapei. Hehehehe, in the eyes of the big figures, small figures like us can only make someone disgusting. We are like a pile of rotten meat covered with worms or vomit, a number of beggars or dirty shit. We were dispatched here to make someone frown, lose appetite, or better lose temper several times at the sight of us. Do you know how we feel being treated as worms, rotten meat, shit and vomit? You could never know..." Major Franca''s face twisted slightly. "In order to get rid of such life and easily throw out a pile of people like me as if cleaning up vomit, it''s nothing serious to kill two soldiers and set up a military officer."


    Under the laughter and wolf-like eyes of Major Franca, Zhang Tie saw an oppressed ambition, madness, and a terrifying man.


    "That is to say, from the beginning, those spies of the Sun Dynasty had been under your monitoring."


    "Hehe, smart!" Major Franca rubbed his thumb and his third finger, making a crispy sound, before pointed at those corpses lying on the ground. "Soon after coming to Blapei, I had clear trace of these mice and scumbags. Previously, I was just waiting for them to cause enough damage before catching them to satisfy the superior who had dispatched me to Blapei.


    "These mice and scumbags were very far-sighted as they caught a disabled first lieutenant of the logistics department to force you to bring them into the logistics base of Blapei to cause great damage there. This was really a great idea. I actually hoped they would succeed there; sadly, against my expectations, you killed them all and completely destroyed my plan. Nevertheless, this was also a good thing as I found something more valuable from you!"


    Major Franca licked his lips as he greedily stared at Zhang Tie.


    "What do you want from me?" Zhang Tie asked icily.


    "Not get, but trade!" Major Franca said, full of confidence. "As long as you tell me your secret, I will forget what happened here today. Nobody will have seen you here. You will continue to be a first lieutenant of the Iron-Horn Army and enjoy your life by making love with your mistress in Blapei and continue to enjoy your ''Woman''s Excellence''."


    Major Franca even told the name of a weapon that Zhang had Tie once used on battlefields.


    "What secret?"


    Zhang Tie''s heart suddenly raced.


    "Ho... ho... don''t be nervous. I know you''re very nervous. You''ve got too many secrets. For instance, how did you kill those people before they could react? How did you suddenly form Iron-Blood hidden strength? Why weren''t you afraid of blue frost? How could you become a terrifying, powerful soldier from an average student in Blackhot City in only several months?" Major Franca then let out a sigh while his voice and eyes became tender. "Actually, I also want to be like you. If I can have your abilities, I can get rid of my life being regarded as vomit. Can you help me?"


    Zhang Tie knew that it was useless to explain that he was struck by a lightning bolt any more. This man had set him up for the secret that could make him so powerful. Everything that happened today originated from this man''s ambition and greed.


    "What if I don''t tell you?"


    "Hehe, those people who sent me here would be interested in a young military officer from the Iron-Horn Army who would betray the Norman Empire!" Major Franca seriously looked at Zhang Tie. "I bet you don''t know how the Order Review Committee and the secret police of the Norman Empire deal with traitors.


    "You, your family members, even your friends will regret having come to this world. Even if you''ve formed the Iron-Blood Battle Qi, nobody will be able to save you. Even the Iron-Horn Army, Lin Changjiang, and the special protection tradition of the Battle God Church will not be able save you. Besides, you''re just a trivial first lieutenant who has only formed the Iron-Blood Hidden Strength..."


    Zhang Tie lowered his head. It was very weird that he didn''t feel infuriated at all. For some reason, hearing Major Franca''s words, he only recalled the scene at school several months ago. That day he had been leisurely sitting under a tree. Then some guys walked in front of him and threw down some dining plates, ignoring whether he would refuse or not...


    Sometimes life was like this. You leisurely sat under a tree and watched the sky when some bastards decided that you were easily bullied and threw some dining plates in front of you, letting you make a choice between humiliation and pain.


    Today, that person who threw a pile of dirty dining plates in front of him became someone from the secret police of the Norman Empire, the silver-haired Major Franca.


    The same choice was put in front of Zhang Tie.


    Franca thought it was a choice; however, it was not a choice for Zhang Tie at all as the two paths were both dead.


    Raising his head, Zhang Tie glanced at Major Franca. "Although you''ve talked much just now, only one sentence is right!"


    "Which sentence?"


    "You''re really disgusting. It was really proper to send you here to Blapei!" Zhang Tie calmly said.


    Major Franca'' face immediately turned blue...


    "Have you made the decision? Do you know the outcome of refusing me at this moment..."


    Major Franca fiercely gazed at Zhang Tie with his eyes needle-like. He wanted to continue...


    But Zhang Tie smiled.


    "Outcome? There''s no outcome. You''re just a small major, a small figure in the eyes of big figures. Perhaps I truly have some secrets, but who are you? You''re not qualified to trade with me. Do you feel that it''s your turn to be unrivaled across the Northern Border Army of the Norman Empire? Do you think that secret police could easily frame an officer of the Norman Empire who had won the Iron-Blood Medal by only talking?"


    "Do you think to negotiate with me?" Major Franca asked, gazing at Zhang Tie as he revealed a scornful smile on his blue face, which also had a wisp of alertness mixed in it.


    "There''s no choice but I have another way to go!"


    "Which way?"


    "The bloody way!"


    Zhang Tie pulled out his sword.

 250 The Bloody Way

    Chapter 250: The Bloody Way


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Everyone''s life was usually composed of accidents. Take the accident of Bilis setting him up for an instance, Zhang Tie had not imagined that he would encounter something like this today. After delicately arranging this trap, Major Franca had not imagined that Zhang Tie would dare and have the strength to fight back.


    Previously, Franca had made a survey on Zhang Tie. He had made a lot of preparations to respond to Zhang Tie''s ability that made fifteen people lose their strength to resist. However, what Major Franca had not imagined was that Zhang Tie had completely recovered.


    Zhang Tie was attacking him not by poison, mysterious knowledge, but pure fighting skills.


    The moment Zhang Tie started his attack, Major Franca''s face slightly turned pale. Although with a pair of sharp eyes like that of a wolf, this major of secret police started to feel that what happened today was jumping away from his expectations and becoming uncontrollable.


    According to his plan, Zhang Tie only had two choices: first, being compromised; second, being stubborn and getting caught. After arresting Zhang Tie, he would take him away from Blapei at the fastest speed to fix the fact that he had committed the crime. As long as Zhang Tie was in his hands, of course Franca had his way to make Zhang Tie obedient.


    After all, Zhang Tie was just a 15-year old juvenile, a juvenile who was akin to a cripple. If not, why would those mice and scumbags of the Sun Dynasty target him?


    Major Franca knew that Zhang Tie was setting free earthworms these days. He also knew his excuse for it. Although he found it weird, the excuse itself was reasonable. However, he had not imagined that Zhang Tie had completely recovered his combat effectiveness.


    Besides, Zhang Tie even had been promoted to the preliminary recovery body as well as eaten two Iron-Body Fruits and one Leakless Fruit. At this moment, Zhang Tie not only had completely recovered his combat effectiveness, but his performance would have definitely surpass that of when he was in the Iron-Blood Camp.


    Major Franca was more than two meters away from Zhang Tie, a billiard table between the two of them. The moment Zhang Tie popped out his red-snake sword, the sharp sword qi and the sword¡¯s tip had already went past the over two meter space like a long spear and rushed towards Major Franca''s throat.


    Now that he had launched the attack, Zhang Tie would never keep him alive. He would never care about his status, even being part of the secret police. Like on a battlefield, he would definitely be cold-blooded and waste no time...


    ''If I''m alive, I will kill you...''


    However, as a major of the secret police, Franca was definitely not average. Having long been alert, he also responded instantly. Almost the moment he saw the sword qi, he had already moved back by tilting his body backwards.


    Of course the red-snake sword moved faster than him. When Major Franca felt a sharp qi attacking his throat, he had no other choice but to incline his head to one side.


    A wisp of silver hair fell off at once.


    Major Franca''s face immediately turned pale. If he had moved slower just now, he would have been struck through his throat just now.


    Zhang Tie''s combat effectiveness was really terrifying.


    However, in that split second, Major Franca had already taken out his weapon, a pair of steel claws.


    Major Franca caught the thin sword blade of the red-snake sword with his steel claw. However, the moment he caught it, he felt like having caught a twisting and smooth neck of a snake.


    It bounced towards him and Major Franca then caught it with another steel claw. At the same time, the super long sword¡¯s body twisted towards him too. With no more hands, Major Franca could only let go and move back once again. This time the sword blade touched his face when he felt a cold breeze pass his face.


    When he moved about five meters away from Zhang Tie, Major Franca felt wetness on his face. He touched it and found a finger-long wound cut on his face. In a split second, his sharp eyes became bloody.


    The red gloves then rushed in like a tide once again.


    "Kill him!"


    Major Franca pointed at Zhang Tie as he delivered his order without any hesitation. By then, he clearly knew that if he could not kill Zhang Tie here and now, he would rush out. And if that happened, the whole thing would be totally out of his control.


    From the moment Zhang Tie started to attack, Major Franca had a bad feeling. Zhang Tie''s last words were very right. Whether it was in the Northern Border Army or in the Norman Empire, although sometimes he might have advantages, it was never his turn to be number one. Zhang Tie was a military officer while he was part of the secret police. If the secret police wanted to frame a military officer who had won the Iron-Blood Medal as traitor, unless he was caught in the scene...


    Seeing Major Franca only suffering from a small wound facing his two fatal moves, Zhang Tie felt a bit pitiful as those moved were what he had comprehended after practicing the red-snake sword these days. The first fatal move was a sword thrust while the second one was a three-section attack. They were both indefensible fatal moves.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie understood that Major Franca''s real strength was definitely above his own. As his best moves could only cause small wounds on him, it wouldn''t be that easy to wound him again.


    Seeing the two of them starting to fight, the other red gloves rushed in once again with the front ones holding a pitch-black cylinder. After hearing Major Franca''s order, one of the red gloves standing at the front immediately put the cylinder facing Zhang Tie.


    After a loud "boom", there was a huge net blown out towards Zhang Tie.


    ''Dammit!''


    It was Zhang Tie''s turn to show surprise. With a roll, he moved beneath a billiard table. Almost at the same time, the huge net covered the place where Zhang Tie had been standing before while some steel nails on the net''s sides fixed to the ground at once...


    Before the other people could shoot out their nets, the red gloves''s eyes popped out as a 300-400 kg billiard table was lifted from the ground and flying towards them like Mountain Tai. Hurriedly they avoided it.


    Soon after that Zhang Tie jumped out from behind the billiard table. With a sound of "chiliu", the sword qi of red-snake sword radiated from his hand and immediately flew through the narrow space like a spiritual snake...


    Almost at the same time, some red gloves'' heads flew away, fresh blood spurting out one meter high. In the meantime, Zhang Tie rushed towards the door.


    "Stop him..." Major Franca shouted loudly while rushing towards him.


    Hearing the order, some more red gloves surged towards Zhang Tie. However, before their weapons touched his shadow, the three meter long red-snake sword''s blade slid through their bodies and hands. Almost at the same time, the red gloves released miserable screams; two more hands were now lying on the ground and several red gloves whose wounds were now longer than one meter in total were rolling on the floor.


    When Zhang Tie was about to rush out through the door, another batch of red gloves rushed in. In a blink of an eye, the "s-shaped" snake-like sword qi swam across the narrow passageway, and it immediately became a bloody lane.


    At this time, Major Franca rushed close to Zhang Tie.


    After withdrawing the sword qi, the red-snake sword turned into a short sword at once. The moment Zhang Tie clashed his short sword with Major Franca''s weird steel claw, he felt a weird yet familiar strength being passed from his red-snake sword into his arm. In a split second, Zhang Tie''s hand was wounded.


    It seemed like Iron-Blood hidden strength, yet it contained greater strength than Iron-Blood hidden strength as it had a feminine sense and was more aggressive.


    ''Iron-Blood invincible strength'', a thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind.


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s shocked expression, Major Franca sneered. "Did you think that only those guys of the Iron-Blood Camp can use Iron-Blood Fist Skill?"


    Saying this, Major Franca didn''t stop attacking and the two people experienced two rounds of fighting in a split second. Finally, Major Franca''s steel claws broke through Zhang Tie''s defense and he was punched by Major Franca and flew back in the air. Spurting out a mouth of fresh blood on his way, Zhang Tie was wounded once again.


    ''Dammit, this guy has also practiced the Iron-Blood Fist Skill. He even has formed Iron-Blood invincible strength. Perhaps this guy failed to form the Iron-Blood Battle Qi and turned to practice other battle qi. Still, he is still a powerful opponent. What''s worse is that this guy is already LV 8, which makes him overwhelming...''


    Zhang Tie knew that although the other red gloves might not defeat him, he could not defeat major Franca at this moment at least, especially in this narrow space where he could not use the full power of his strong points.


    The moment Zhang Tie fell to the ground, he grabbed a billiard table from his side and threw it towards major Franca. Nevertheless, before the billiard table made of granite and covered with a faded green cloth reached Major Franca, it was punched to pieces.


    Still, Zhang Tie had already won the precious time to escape.


    He quickly moved back and forcefully slashed an "X-shaped" mark deep in the wall behind him using his red-snake sword. After that, Zhang Tie used his full strength to fiercely hit the wall, like how he practiced the "Bear Back Iron Body Skill".


    As Major Franca''s howled and his expression shifted to fury, Zhang Tie broke through the wall.


    The rest of the secret police who were surrounding this beer hotel seemed to not have imagined that someone might break outside through the wall.


    When Zhang Tie broke out, the nearest red glove was two meters away from him. By the time he turned his head, Zhang Tie had already rushed forward like a mad tiger. Before he even arrived in front of him and the rest of the secret police outside, the sword qi of his red-snake sword had reached more than ten people. In a blink of an eye, over ten heads were sent flying in the air. As a result, the red gloves were greatly weakened.


    The highest combat effectiveness of these common secret police was merely equal to the common soldiers of the Brilliant Feathers. How could they hold back Zhang Tie who had been driven mad? In a split second, he had already broken the first encirclement.


    Although the secret police standing at higher points shot a round of bolts towards him from their crossbows, Zhang Tie caught a man nearby and used him as a shield. Then before the second round of bolts could be shot and Major Franca rushed out of the beer hotel, Zhang tie was more than twenty meters away.


    When he left, Zhang Tie saw Bilis''s corpse lying on the ground outside the beer hotel and swore inside, ''You idiot, did you think you could survive when you''ve got yourself involved in framing a military officer of the Norman Empire?''


    "Catch up with him!"


    All the secret police ran after Zhang Tie together with Major Franca, who was gritting his teeth.


    Not until then did Major Franca realize that he had forgotten one of the most important factors about Zhang Tie - his running speed. Although Major Franca obviously ran faster than most of the secret police, Zhang Tie''s running speed was amazing. Even though he had been wounded, the distance between Major Franca and him was still becoming greater.


    However, this was not what Major Franca was most concerned about, what worried him most happened when Zhang Tie ran several hundreds of meters and came to the area of downtown.


    He didn''t run towards the less populated place; instead, he ran towards the most populated place.


    There were many people in the area who were celebrating the beer carnival. At this time, most folk had already ignited their torches. Because the Beer Queen of this year had been selected, when the dusk arrived, the grand carnival would start. Many people were waiting for the passing of the Beer Queen''s festooned vehicle.


    "Secret police Major Franca is a traitor; he killed the two missing soldiers of No.21 Division and framed a military officer of the logistics department of the Iron-Horn Army..."


    ...


    "Secret police Major Franca is a traitor; he killed the two missing soldiers of No. 21 Division and framed a military officer of the logistics department of the Iron-Horn Army..."


    ...


    "Secret police Major Franca is a traitor; he killed the two missing soldiers of No. 21 Division and framed a military officer of the logistics department of the Iron-Horn Army..."


    Zhang Tie kept running as he shouted loudly like a super great trumpet which could be heard by everybody on the avenue. Major Franca who was closely chasing after him was so infuriated that he almost spurted a mouthful of blood. This method was definitely more lethal than the slash on his face. At this moment, even though he could kill Zhang Tie at once, after those words had been shouted out, it would be impossible for the Iron-Horn Army not to make any response to this event.


    When the people in the avenue heard Zhang Tie''s appalling words, they all became stunned. But before they could make any response, a great amount of secret police with weapons in hand followed Major Franca out and the whole avenue became in chaos.


    ...


    Watching Zhang Tie disappearing in the flurried crowd, Major Franca immediately stopped, his face turning extremely pale and ugly-looking. This had been absolutely out of his expectations.


    At this moment, not only Major Franca, even the other secret police following him had twisted expressions. They knew what the outcome was. What they did was now known by the public.


    Nobody noticed that Major Franca''s fingers couldn''t help but tremble slightly.


    A person behind him forcefully swallowed his saliva as he lowered his voice to ask., "Major Franca..."


    Major Franca gritted his teeth. "Contact the headquarters right away. When we carried out the mission in Blapei, we found First Lieutenant Zhang Tie of the Logistics Department of the Iron-Horn Army to be a traitor. After being revealed, he refused to be arrested by our forces. He even killed officers of the secret police and incited the Iron-Horn Army in Blapei to hate the secret police of the Norman Empire by spreading rumors.


    "Now, Zhang Tie is escaping. I''ll request the headquarters to deliver the class A order for arresting Zhang Tie. As Blapei is in extreme danger, in case of unnecessary conflict with the local soldiers of the Iron-Horn Army, we have to leave here right now!"


    ...


    One hour later, in the minister''s office of the headquarters of the Logistics Department of the Iron-Horn Army in Blapei, General Goethe smacked the desk, causing a loud sound in the office.


    "Where are those bastards? Where''s Major Franca? Where are they?"


    The news made General Goethe so infuriated that his face turned red and his mustache rose.


    "When Colonel Bach of No. 21 Division received the news and took soldiers to the airship base to stop the secret police from leaving, Major Franca had already flown away from Blapei along with the other secret police, giving a feeling as if they were escaping. Now, the soldiers of No. 21 Division are very furious..."


    "Where''s that first lieutenant?"


    "We''ve not found First Lieutenant Zhang Tie. Based on the witnesses, he might have been wounded. At that moment, he was being chased by the secret police. It was said that he was a traitor."


    "Nonsense! Could an officer who has been granted an Iron-Blood Medal be a traitor? Go fetch First Lieutenant Zhang Tie right now. Ask him to explain it. Meanwhile, contact the headquarters to warn the airship troop of the Iron-Horn Army to intercept those bastards in the air. I want them all under arrest and interrogated one by one. If those bastards truly dared to do this in Blapei, I will peel off their skin this time!"


    "Yes sir!"


    ...


    This night, it was not peaceful in Blapei. Through the whole night, Zhang Tie was not found, but Major Franca''s airship was found 190 km away from Blapei in a valley in the northeast. It had been heavily destroyed with all the secret police having died except for Major Franca. According to the investigation, before the airship crashed, all the victims had been poisoned...


    On the same day, in Nordinburg, the capital of Norman Empire''s northern border, two orders for arrest were delivered at the same time: one was from the Northern Border Army of the Norman Empire; the other was from the Northern Border Order Review Committee of the Norman Empire.


    The image of Major Franca appeared on the first order for arrest while the image of First Lieutenant Zhang Tie appeared on the second order for arrest. They were wanted at the same time.


    Coincidentally, the crimes on the two orders for arrest were also the same - murder! One murdered the two missing soldiers of the Norman Empire and escaped while the other murdered the secret police of the Norman Empire and escaped. However, the charge of traitor didn''t appear on either order for arrest.


    Although big figures quarreled in Nordinburg, they made compromises too...


    On the same day, a fish-like silver airship arrived at Blapei and hovered in the air for two days before silently leaving.

 251 Junkmen in the War Zone

    Chapter 251: Junkmen in the War Zone


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    It was winter. Forgue town was covered by dense fog before the sunrise for quite a long time due to being close to a river.


    Zhang Tie woke up after another long sleep in the morning to find that all the wounds caused by Major Franca when he escaped Blapei had completely recovered. Because of the double recovery effect of his preliminary recovery body, although he felt a bit uncomfortable when he went to bed last night, this morning, he felt that his body was as spry as usual.


    For the first time, Zhang Tie realized that his preliminary recovery body was extremely great.


    It was the fourth day since Zhang Tie left Blapei. Each morning, this small town called Forgue would be covered by a dense fog. It was located over 120 km to the south of Blapei and was part of the Kalur war zone where the Iron-Horn Army fought the Brilliant Feathers Army.


    One fourth of the buildings in the small town had been destroyed in the war. Many places revealed marks of being charred by white phosphorous gel bombs. Although the remaining three fourths of the buildings were well preserved, all the town''s residents had long escaped, leaving nobody at all. It was as desolate as a ghost town now.


    It then became a proper place for Zhang Tie to recover.


    Today, a great amount of soldiers of the Iron-Horn Army were looking for Zhang Tie all across Blapei, but nobody could imagine that at that night, Zhang Tie had kept running for three hours and had hidden himself in the barren mountains and hills of Kalur war zone.


    On the second day, having slightly recovered, Zhang Tie found the small empty town on the riverside. He then found a house there and settled down before taking a good rest to recover like a wild wolf.


    In four days, only four days, the wounds caused by Major Franca had completely disappeared.


    During these days, Zhang Tie didn''t have any contact with the outside, so of course he didn''t know what had happened. He could never imagine that the day after he left Blapei, the airship from Huaiyuan Palace of Zhang clan had arrived at Blapei. Nor could he guess that on the same day, Major Franca, who had set him up became a wanted man by the military party of the Norman Empire and became a criminal like Zhang Tie.


    From the moment he pulled out his sword in the beer hotel, Zhang Tie had prepared for this situation. Back then, he could choose only one thing between being slaughtered and slaughtering others. Unfortunately, the people after him were neither average guys nor soldiers of the Sun Dynasty whose death could help him gain an Iron-Blood Medal. They were from the most powerful agency in the Norman Empire and worked as law enforcers.


    Although there were always numerous law enforcers in humanity''s history, even though law enforcers themselves were heinous criminals and scumbags, when something like this happened to him, Zhang Tie finally started to understand why those heroes were forced to be bandits on Liangshan Mountain[1].


    Additionally, even if he was an officer of the Norman Empire, he was still not able to explain himself to others. This event originated from the greed of someone who had discovered a bit of his secret. Unless he revealed the secret of the Castle of Black Iron to the public, he could not explain it at all.


    So he could only escape as a murderer. The only other thing he could do before escaping was to muddle the waters.


    If the Iron-Horn Army was not that easily bullied, they would ensure the safety of his family members in Blackhot City before the secret police caught him and confirmed that he was a traitor. If he was safe, his family members would be safe. If his secret was not revealed to the public, his family members would be safe. That was why Zhang Tie decided to fight the secret police to the end in the beer hotel. He knew that besides himself, anyone who learned of or got his Castle of Black Iron might immediately kill his family members in case of potential dangers.


    These couple of days, as he didn''t know what happened outside, Zhang Tie was very concerned about the safety of his family members in Blackhot City.


    Although being in recovery these days, Zhang Tie was always worried about his family members. The only thing that comforted him was that he gained a new Fruit of Brilliance these days. Although not all of the dozens of secret police killed by him were bad guys as they were just following orders, there were truly some big scumbags among them who undoubtedly were the best nourishment for the Fruit of Brilliance.


    After eating the new Fruit of Brilliance, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy increased by 4 points. Compared to before, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy had reached about 62-63 now.


    If such a speed was revealed to the public, it would definitely be amazed.


    After another increase of his spiritual energy, Zhang Tie felt that his senses became even sharper than before as he could carry on four arithmetic operations on two abacuses in his mind at the same time in a faster and more flexible way.


    ...


    Because he had completely recovered, Zhang Tie quickly took action after waking up.He was more alert this time. Before leaving that room he was in, he first accessed the Castle of Black Iron and changed his look and clothes inside.


    Several minutes later, an average-looking 20-odd Chinese youth who had killed Samira stealthily flashed out of a deserted room in Forgue town.


    For Zhang Tie, the most urgent thing was to ask for news. After that, he would find an opportunity to go back to Blackhot City and transfer his family members away in advance. They could not stay in the Norman Empire any more. He had to move his family members to a country predominated by Chinese in the southeast of Blackson Human Clan Corridor. He would have to transfer his family members to the Eastern Continent before the third holy war between humans and demons anyway.


    Zhang Tie was carefully walking through the small town which was covered by a dense fog. It smelt refreshing, cold and clean. With each mouthful of breath, Zhang Tie would feel that his lungs and chest had been washed.


    These days, according to his observations, besides two teams of scouts from both parties, no troop of above 100 people had been here. However, as this place was in the war zone, Zhang Tie had to be careful. Having experience in fighting here, he knew well that the safer the place you were in felt, the more dangerous it probably was because a great number of people might be hiding in a dark place, aiming at you with their crossbows. At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t want to fight anyone for no reason any more.


    But before he could walk out of the small town, a series of footsteps drifted over from up ahead. From the sounds, Zhang Tie judged that there were at least ten people. At the sight of an open door on the side, he flashed inside the room while pulling out his dagger at the same time.


    Zhang Tie came to the kitchen of this deserted house and stood close to the window while listening and observing what was happening outside. The disordered footsteps sounded as if they belonged to a group of escaping soldiers who were moving closer to him.


    Because there was a small door in the kitchen connected to the courtyard of this house, Zhang Tie chose to hide here. In an emergency, he could avoid being surrounded and escape through that small door.


    The kitchen was covered with dust while some millets and utensils like colanders were scattered on the ground.


    The strangers soon arrived in front of this house in the dense fog. What amazed Zhang Tie was that they were not escaping soldiers but a group of figures with all sorts of luggage and sundries. They were not beggars, refugees, or roving bandits.


    "Austa, Beane, you take someone to search this house. Gaer, Gerry, you take someone to search that house. Keep your eyes opened, don''t miss good items. Many houses here belonged to rich lords from downtown who came to the mountains to hunt in the autumn. When they returned home, they would always leave some items that they felt not valuable, especially those in the kitchen and cellar. If someone finds food, we might get full this morning..."


    After this order, a number of people poured into the houses on two sides of the road. Around seven to eight people rushed inside the house that Zhang Tie was hiding in. The moment they entered, they started to turn all the items over. After a short moment, the empty house looked if it had suffered from a plague of locusts, having been cleaned by those people.


    "Ha, look what I''ve got? A silver-gilt candlestick..." someone started to happily shout in the parlor outside the kitchen.


    "I bet the former owner of this house was a miser. Only those guys who were niggards yet pretended to be rich would buy this cheap fake item..."


    "This item is worth at least 10 copper coins in Kalur, someone would like it..." The former voice still sounded happy. "At least we can change it for a loaf of brown bread!"


    "You two, go check in the kitchen..." another voice said.


    Hearing the gradually getting closer footsteps, Zhang Tie''s heart raced and he put his dagger back, making two coughs on purpose in the kitchen...


    The moment he coughed, the whole house became quiet.


    Zhang Tie walked out of the kitchen and caught sight of seven people in the parlor who were glancing at the kitchen. When they saw Zhang Tie, they all let out a breath.


    "Ha... You''ve got here earlier than we did, you''re really brave, what did boss say..."


    "The early birds get the worms!¡® A guy who was holding the candlestick wove it in front of Zhang Tie with a pleased expression, "Sorry about this, although you came here first, I found it first, so it''s mine!"


    When this person talked, all the others guys clenched their fists, making the sounds of "gazhi, gazhi", At the same time, they cast fierce looks at Zhang Tie, seemingly indicating that if he dared to have any questions about who the candlestick covered with dust belonged to, they would never mind punching him and telling him what was ''strength in numbers''.

 252 Return to Kalur

    Chapter 252: Return to Kalur


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    In the afternoon, Zhang Tie followed the team of junkmen and entered Kalur City''s control area.


    It was a bit ironical that when Zhang Tie arrived at the Kalur war zone last time as a military officer of the Norman Empire, he hadn''t even had a chance to enjoy the city''s view before having to leave. This time, only after a short period, he came here again as a criminal.


    What Zhang Tie saw along the road from the deserted Forgue town to the actual control area of Kalur brought him a more concrete sense of the war between the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire.


    The closer he got to Kalur City, the more serious the confrontations between the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire were. Judging from the bases, fortresses, and fortifications the two forces had built around Kalur, it was clear that this war which involved hundreds of thousands of soldiers was doomed to be a long lasting competition. Zhang Tie understood this current situation of the Kalur region based on the news he''d received from the junkmen and what he had seen and heard in the military,


    Besides the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire, there was another party in the Kalur region that had a say about this war¡ªKalur, the city of machine, the manufacturing center of Andaman Alliance and the fat which brought about the war between the fierce tiger and the hungry wolf.


    The reason that it could become a fat in the eyes of the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire was that it was qualified and had the benefits to be a piece of fat. Compared to Blackhot City, an emerging city which only had a history of dozens of years, Kalur had over 200 years'' history which meant a rich accumulation of resources in all aspects. Population, prosperity, manufacturing force, army establishment, actual power and control area of this city all ranked number one in the Andaman Alliance.


    Even now Kalur still had a regular army of almost 80,000 soldiers plus the tall city wall and the terrifying city-defense weapons that the city had carefully managed the past 200 years. Such a force was capable of determining the result of this war.


    The moment Zhang Tie came to the actual control area of Kalur City, he was shocked by the prosperity here. He even failed to see the city wall within 10-odd km. His eyes were blocked by the huge chimneys that were as dense as woods.


    Those chimneys originated from the plants in the controlled area which had already formed a wide industrial zone. Many plants were even connected by pathways hanging up in the air and various tunnels of different sizes. Under the winter sunlight, the black smoke erupting from the chimneys almost dyed the whole sky dark gray. The plants were still producing various items, revealing no sign of depression at all.


    Compared to the plants here, the ones in Blackhot City, besides them being on scale, they were as simple and crude as rustic workshops of country moneybags.


    What Zhang Tie was seeing right now was just a corner of the actual control area as he was standing in the north.


    A single smoking chimney reminded people of pollution while hundreds of tall, smoking chimneys made people feel trivial.


    Here, Zhang Tie felt the power of industrial development.


    Although people inside those plants were still busy working, outside the plants, hundreds of thousands of refuges poured in from the surrounding areas because of war, causing the whole area to become a bit chaotic.


    Walking through the streets, Zhang Tie could see shabby and exhausted refugees queuing up outside plant recruitment points while more men and women were raising boards on the roadside on which were written: ''I''m a tailor; I want to work for food.''


    In relatively vacant places on the roadside, refugees had built their tents. Kids'' cries drifted over from the insides of many tents.


    On the relatively better and cleaner wall next to the roadside were plastered various paper tapes and photos seeking for relatives.


    Since this was Zhang Tie''s first time being here, he didn''t want to attract attention to himself and so insisted in seeing more and speaking less. He kept his head lowered and carried his items while following the other junkmen. Not until the team arrived at the control area of Kalur City did head Fred let out a breath and put back his blue-green flag.


    On the way here, Zhang Tie heard many legends. In the past months, many junkmen had not come back after entering the war zone.


    There were junkmen who truly made a fortune by discovering some items that had not been taken away by others in some deserted towns or villages. Some even picked up some valuable booty such as excellent weapons or gold coins from corpses in the fields of battle where the two armies had clashed. And some unlucky guys also lost their lives.


    It might be very exciting to search for forgotten treasures in the deserted villages and towns surrounding Kalur City, but this was at the risk of one''s life. This profession born from war was really akin to licking blood from the blade of a saber for commoners.


    ...


    "Have you seen my daughter? My daughter is Selena. Here''s her photo. She said that she was going to school in the morning, but she still hasn''t come back yet..."


    ...


    "Have you seen my daughter? My daughter is Selena. Here''s her photo. She said that she was going to school in the morning, but she still hasn''t come back yet..."


    On the roadside, a 50-odd woman was holding a photo of a girl and pulled at every passer-by to ask the same question. Although she was asking, her eyes were as hollow as if she''d already lost her soul.


    Zhang Tie followed the other junkmen and silently passed her.


    "This woman is done for. She comes from the south. It''s better in the north. It''s said that in some southern places, those beasts of the Sun Dynasty would rape every woman they see, aging from small girls to grandmas. Any men who dare to resist would lose their heads. Many of them would even be caught to do labor works, repair roads, and carry items..."


    Walking beside Zhang Tie, Gerry let out a sigh. "The tide of refugees coming to Kalur started from the south, but hearing what was happening in the south, the northern people also escaped. They all wanted to escape to Kalur for protection. However, they did not know that with the increasing number of refugees pouring in here, nobody would live well..."


    Zhang Tie became silent as he was shocked inside. This was the true, cruel side of war. War would cause the greatest harm to commoners. The war between two countries where hundreds of thousands of soldiers fought had caused such a great disaster, how miserable would it be if the third holy war between humans and demons broke out?


    ...


    After walking through the control area of Kalur for less than 20 minutes, Zhang Tie arrived at the junkmen''s base. It was inside a large landfill behind the plant district. It was covered with deserted black coal gangue, so Zhang Tie could not tolerate the environment here.


    More than one hundred years'' wastes like coal gangue were piled up here, so one could imagine the scene here.


    In this landfill of coal gangue, there were thousands of tents. At least 10,000-20,000 people lived here. When Zhang Tie followed the team here, he still saw many steam-based trucks that carried coal gangue and poured it inside this place.


    The moment the trucks arrived, a great number of kids started running after them. They didn''t care about the possible dangers at all. When the coal gangue with low combustion efficiency was poured out, the kids then rushed forward with small kegs and pack baskets and started to dig for the little coal in this coal gangue that could still be used.


    The whole refugee camp was covered with dust due to the vehicles and running kids. All of the refugees were huddling together, men, women, old, and young, like ingredients in a pot of porridge.


    Soon after they entered the tent area, a 60-odd man came toward them. "Fred, what did you bring this time..."


    "So... We went to Forgue and brought back some tableware and something to live through the winter. Quote us a proper price..."


    "Something to live through the winter? Many people don''t even know how to live through this!" After appraising the items on their backs, the 60-odd man nodded. "Follow me..."


    Zhang Tie also followed the others and arrived in front of the old man''s tent. He was only carrying several dirty quilts that he had fetched in Forgue town. Besides, he was wearing a half new wool-like coat which didn''t seem to match his image well, making him look like a refugee. Seeing him walking with the team, that old man only cast a glance at him before moved his eyes away.


    The tent was very large, filled with many items while strong hatchet men were patrolling around. This seemed like a hub of this tent area.


    Many people were standing in front of a notice board on the roadside next to this tent. When Zhang Tie passed by that notice board, he saw images of him and Major Franca. They were two orders for arrest under which there were some other orders for arrest. However, because the bonus of the two were the highest-3000 gold coins, they were put on the top.


    With just one glance, Zhang Tie memorized the contents on the orders for arrest in his mind.


    His heart raced. It was not too shocking to see orders for arrest in the refugee camp as it was close to the Norman Empire; this was just a slum that had not been destroyed by war. What made Zhang Tie really confused though was that Major Franca was wanted by the Northern Border Army while he was wanted by the Orders Review Committee.


    This was good news for Zhang Tie. At the sight of this, he recovered his composure and no longer worried about his family members any more. His family members would be protected by the Northern Border Army and would never have to suffer from any danger from the secret police. If not, the Northern Border Army and the Iron-Horn Army would be smacked on their faces.


    As Zhang Tie''s current age and looks were both far different from that image on the arrest order, nobody guessed that one of the junkmen was the guy on the poster worth 3000 gold coins.


    ...


    Zhang Tie sold the items that he brought from Forgue town for 4 silver coins and 37 copper coins.


    Each one in the team had to pay a tribute. According to the rule, every person should submit 30% of their income as the protection fee. After submitting 30% of his income, Zhang Tie won a more genial look from Fred.


    "How about that? You are brave enough. How about joining us. We can work together!" Fred invited him with in an enthusiastic voice that promised ''great undertakings together''...


    ...


    Of course Zhang Tie did accept this "promising profession". With the excuse that he wanted to find stable work in the plant, he refused Fred''s "invitation". After that, he touched the silver and copper coins in his pocket and left the refugee camp.


    Although the secret police''s power had not reached Kalur City yet, it didn''t mean that he was safe now. Many people would risk their lives here for 3000 gold coins. Generous rewards birthed heroism. If he was caught here, the people could definitely transfer him out of Kalur''s war zone. Even the huge airship of the Sun Dynasty could arrive here, let alone a person getting transferred only over 100 km away.


    When he was walking through the streets, he kept thinking about that. Even if he was not wanted by the army of the Norman Empire, he could not go back to the troop either. He could not explain the conflict between him and the secret police. Such a great event could never be covered by saying he was struck by a lightning bolt. Then how could he go back to Blackhot City and contact his family members?


    Zhang Tie kept walking as he thought.


    He did not know for how long he walked. When a building appeared in his vision, he was suddenly shocked.


    On the front door of that building was a relief of a mighty four-winged golden roc...


    Yes, Golden Roc Bank!


    Recalling the services that the Golden Roc Bank in Blackhot City provided, Zhang Tie''s eyes brightened up...

 253 Shocking News I

    Identical to what he had seen in the Golden Roc Bank in Blackhot City, when Zhang Tie went inside this one, he also saw many people waiting in the rest zone. The bank guaranteed all the guests'' privacy by providing services for each guest in a private room.


    The number of people waiting in the rest zone was at least 5-6 times higher than in Blackhot City.


    When he passed by the rest zone, Zhang Tie heard a male and a female whispering in the rest zone.


    "Darling, will we leave Kalur this time?"


    "We will, don''t worry, all of our properties and businesses in Angoula have been disposed of, we will move to a more peaceful place this time. We will go to a Chinese country first before moving to the Eastern Continent!"


    "Do we have to leave? Our kids are only four years old, I''m afraid that they won''t be able to adapt to the outside environment! This long-distance migration would take us a long time..."


    "Although I don''t know the reason, I know that after this war, the top clans in Angoula who are richer and smarter than us and can see through the situation more clearly are preparing to move their families and businesses. Their family members have been learning Chinese for a while now.


    "Everybody sees the Eastern Continent as the ultimate target of this movement. Why would we stay in Angoula? Small fish like us have to follow big fish to avoid dangerous torrents. Additionally, sometimes, if we know the direction, we can even swim faster than them! This is our advantage. We have to take good advantage of it!''


    "No wonder you wanted our kids to learn Chinese..."


    "To prepare for the movement in the future, you should learn it too..."


    Due to them being close by, what the couple from Angoula said was all heard by Zhang Tie, shocking him greatly. Angoula was also a city of the Andaman Alliance and was added to the map of the Norman Empire. If some of the top clans in Angoula were preparing to transfer their family members and wealth, they must have felt something. Based on their deep background and social relationships, they might have smelt the upcoming holy war between humans and demons.


    It was definitely possible. After all, there were many smart men in the world. If Donder and the big figures who had launched this war knew it, then others might also know or could speculate it. Before the catastrophe, able men would always try their best to stay in the safest place just like how people used to hide in fortresses and cities with tall walls before wars broke out.


    Since the Eastern Continent was very safe, it became everyone''s first choice. Donder had also urged Zhang Tie to move to the Eastern Continent as soon as possible. Perhaps even clans like Gregory clan from Blackhot City were also preparing to move. If this holy war would last another 100 years, nobody could know whether the Blackson Human Clan Corridor could survive or not.


    Under the jealous eyes of a great amount of people, Zhang Tie, who was dressed as shabby as other refugees, enjoyed the privilege of the Chinese clan once again. He walked directly to the entrance of a golden room, which was set exclusively for Chinese clan, where he was respectfully invited into the room by a 30-odd man in glasses.


    The room was similar to the one he''d seen in Blackhot City. It was simple yet delicately designed. After closing the door, the 30-odd man came to the sofa in the room and sat before Zhang Tie.


    "Sir, what can I do for you?"


    Before opening his mouth, Zhang Tie took a deep breath. Although it would arise the suspicion of the bank staff about his status, Zhang Tie didn''t think that the bank which had enjoyed a great reputation among Chinese and had almost 1000 years'' history would betray him for only 3000 gold coins. Even Donder the scumbbag had praised the Golden Roc Bank for its reliability.


    "I need to contact my family members that are far away and gain some information. I remember that you can provide this information for me!"


    The 30-odd man then took a deep look at Zhang Tie. "Our bank truly provides such services. If the city where your family members are in have a branch of the Golden Roc Bank, we can start remote communications to help you get in contact with your family members. If there''s no branch of the Golden Roc Bank over there, as long as you can provide us the address, we can also transfer your message to them. Additionally, we also provide various information. Based on the situation, the prices for the two services also change, it might be a bit more expensive than other channels outside. Are you sure you require these services?"


    "I''m sure!"


    In this age, the remote communications was akin to the wireless telegraph before the catastrophe. However, compared to the wireless telegraph, remote communications were carried out by a pair of twin mirror crystals. Its service fee was calculated by words. It was said that it could be used to transfer codes in terms of long and short signals. After deciphering the codes, people would get the message.


    It was almost the same as the wireless telegraph before the catastrophe and could not be popularized at all due to its limits, so people who used this communication means were not average. They were all groups with special powers and background. Only division-level troops in the Iron-Horn Army were qualified to contact their superiors by this crystal remote equipment.


    "Well then, please show me the certificate of your payment capacity. The basic amount is 1000 gold coins. After ensuring that you have the capacity to pay, we will provide you with the services!"


    Because Zhang Tie had only taken some gold coins when he escaped that day, he didn''t have much money or gold checks now. Without any hesitation, he right away took off the Ring of Energy from his finger and put it into the 30-odd man''s hand.


    "This item should be qualified as the certificate for my payment capacity!"


    The man didn''t cast any contemptuous look when seeing the average looking ring; instead, he carefully put the ring into a tray covered with flannelette.


    "Wait a moment, please, we need to authenticate it!"


    Zhang Tie nodded. That man then carried the tray and left the service room through another door.


    Zhang Tie patiently waited on the sofa. It would be funny if that rune equipment which even Colonel Reinhardt didn''t have was not worth 1000 gold coins. Zhang Tie estimated that this item should not be worth less than 5000 gold coins that Gregory clan had compensated him with.


    Several minutes later, another door of the service room was pushed open. This time, it was not that 30-odd man, but a 60-odd man who had a pair of extremely bright eyes. The old man was carrying the tray on which peacefully lay Zhang Tie''s ring of energy.


    "Young man, can you tell me where you got this ring?"


    "Is there any problem with it?"


    Zhang Tie slightly frowned.


    "There''s no problem with this secret-silver ring. It''s clean. I''m just curious. It doesn''t matter if you don''t want to tell me as it won''t influence the Golden Roc Bank''s services for you!"


    The old man smiled as he spoke genially.


    ''Secret-silver?'' Zhang Tie''s heart pounded. Not until then did he know that the material of this ring which was heavier than gold was called secret-silver. He had never heard about this material before.


    "It''s a trophy that I collected from a military officer of the Sun Dynasty on a battlefield!" Zhang Tie honestly replied.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, the old man nodded. After that, he put the tray in front of Zhang Tie and let him check whether the ring was complete as he sat down opposite.


    "You want to contact your family members and want to inquire about something here?"


    "Yes!"


    "What''s the address of your family members and the name of contact?"


    Zhang Tie then told him the his home''s address and his dad''s name. After saying this, he saw that the old man sitting opposite him instantly looked weird. The old man then glanced over Zhang Tie with a weird expression. Finally, he looked like he was ascertained something in his mind.


    "You are... Zhang Tie?"


    ''F*ck!''


    The moment the old man opened his mouth, Zhang Tie was so amazed that he directly sprung up from the sofa. How could this man know his name when he told him his home address and his dad''s name?


    Although Zhang Tie was prepared to expose his status before entering, he had not imagined that his status would be identified before he had even contacted his family members.


    ''How could that be? Is the old man a humanoid difference machine that manages population data? How could he be that sharp...''


    "Don''t be that amazed, I could guess your status not only due from the address of your home and your father''s name or that you''re famous now but also because your home is well known across Blackhot City. As the information manager of the bank, of course I know a lot about the recent big events in Blackhot City and Blapei. Even many average people would know it, so how could I not know!"


    The old man smiled as he tried to soothe Zhang Tie''s tension.

 254 Shocking News II

    Chapter 254: Shocking News II


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    "Big events?¡® Zhang Tie''s face turned pale. "Has something big happened at my home?"


    "Yea, your home truly had a big event which shocked the whole Blackhot City!"


    "Could it be the secret police..."


    Zhang Tie was drenched in sweat when he thought of this possibility.


    "No, it has nothing to do with the secret police. What surprised people was that your family members are descendants of the Huaiyuan Palace. Several days ago, someone from Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace came to Blackhot City by an airship and carried away your family members!"


    Zhang Tie felt as if he was struck by a lightning bolt, leaving him dumbfounded. What he had not imagined was that his family members were descendants of the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace.


    His dad and mom had never mentioned it before. How could they suddenly have so many relatives? It sounded so great. The clan which could directly fly to Blackhot City from Jinyun Country by airship was definitely not average.


    But what was weird was that his dad and mom had not mentioned it to him since he was born. Zhang Tie wondered what was the real reason for it.


    After learning that his family members had been safely carried away by Zhang clan, Zhang Tie was really surprised. The greatest concern that was held in his heart these days finally fell down. He felt relaxed and comfortable all over as if he had ignited another burning point.


    Zhang Tie, he would not complain no matter how hard and how numerous hardships he had to experience as long as his family members were safe and sound. Being a member of Zhang clan, of course it was 1000 times better than staying in Blackhot City. Previously, Zhang Tie had been racking his mind how to transfer his family members away. Now, all the problems were solved.


    The old man kept observing Zhang Tie''s face. Once he heard the news, Zhang Tie''s expression shifted and changed, just like a big dye vat. When his face finally recovered its composure, the old man told him the other message.


    "On the second day of the beer festival, the airship of Huaiyuan Palace was seen in Blapei. They planned to pick you up too, but you were a wanted criminal at the time and nobody knew where you were hiding. Your family members and the people of Huaiyuan Palace stayed for two days but found no clues whatsoever. Finally, they had to leave. Based on the speed of the airship, they might reach Jinyun Country in one week!"


    ''It turns out that my family members looked for me! They must be very worried after learning that I¡¯m wanted.''


    Zhang Tie became a bit worried again.


    "Can the Golden Roc Bank contact my family members now?"


    "No! At least not now" The old man shook his head. "There are branches of Golden Roc Bank in the territory of Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace. If you want to contact your family members, we can first send the news to Jinyun Country and tell them to pay attention to the news of your family members. When your family members land there, we can then send your message to them!"


    "Fine, that''s great!" Zhang Tie immediately made a decision. "Please tell my family members that I''m fine; I will soon go to them. They shouldn¡¯t worry about me!"


    The old man smiled as he drew out a standard form from a drawer on a side of the desk. "For long-distance remote communications, you should pay by words, including the punctuation. Write down what you want to say. We will pass all the content that you write to your family members!"


    Seeing the standard form, Zhang Tie revealed a bashful smile. He then picked up a pen and wrote down the names of his dad, his mom, and his elder brother in the top three columns of contact people. After a thinking for a while, he scribbled down the following lines:


    ¡ªDad, mom, elder brother, and elder sister-in-law, I''m fine; don''t worry about me. I know that you''ve been taken away by Huaiyuan Palace''s airship. Especially mom, don''t worry about me. Your son is safe and sound, haven¡¯t even lost a hair. I can eat and jump as usual. Elder brother, remember to look after our parents well. If there''s any need, what I''ve told to Donder could be your final reliance. They should know its value. Elder sister-in-law is going to deliver a baby, watch for her body. No need to concern yourself about me, I will come back as soon as possible!


    After writing those words, Zhang Tie took another careful look at it to ensure that the message contained all that he wanted to express. He then gave the paper to the old man.


    "Hmm, I will have a look. Since you want to send this message to your family members and let our staff pay attention to their whereabouts, it will cost you 36 gold coins!"


    "No problem!"


    This amount was equal to his dad''s three years'' salary in the past. If it were before, Zhang Tie would definitely be scared by this figure. But now, although being high, it was still within his capacity. As long as he could relieve his parents'' concern, everything he did was worth it.


    Such long-distance remote communications tool was really not affordable to average people. Zhang Tie remembered the advanced level of human communications before the catastrophe when human beings had network technologies that he had read of in books in the private library. He then started to sigh inside. If it were sent before the catastrophe, such a message might be worth less than 1/10 of the price of a steamed bun. But times had changed.


    "What other problems do you have?" the old man asked Zhang Tie.


    "I want to know why Major Franca is wanted."


    The old man then told him how the Iron-Horn Army intercepted the airship of Major Franca on the day of the beer festival and discovered that he was missing." The Northern Border Army of the Norman Empire firmly believe that Major Franca and his subordinates are related to the two missing soldiers of the No. 21 Division, so they delivered the order for arrest!"


    ¡¯Vicious, really vicious!'' This was Zhang Tie¡¯s comment inside on Major Franca when he heard that the secret police who had followed him were poisoned to death. ''That guy must¡¯ve known that if he was intercepted by the Norman-Horn Army¡¯s airship, what awaited him would definitely be death. His subordinates were part of what he had done in Blapei, and under the harsh interrogation of the troop even an iron man would tell the truth, let alone those secret police!''


    Additionally, the big conflict that he had set off in Blapei by his selfishness directly pushed the secret police in opposition of the Iron-Horn Army. This was definitely not what the big figures of Blapei wanted to see. Even if Franca returned, the higher ups of the secret police would also make a detailed investigation on this event. What waited for him there was also a severe punishment.


    ¡®He¡¯s too vicious! Perhaps when he was framing me, he had already sought for an opportunity to kill all of his subordinates for the sake of his safety.¡¯


    For an unknown secret that could make him unrivaled, for that possible outcome, that man had dared to be that decisive and vicious. Was it worth it?


    The viciousness of that man chilled Zhang Tie. He knew that if he was in the position of Major Franca, he could definitely not be as vicious and decisive as the man had been..


    That was the difference between people.


    "I also want to know whether you can help me go to the Huaiyuan Palace in Jinyun Country. Do you provide this service?"


    "Kalur is the most important traffic hub in this region. There''s an airship moving from here to Jinyun Country every two months. At the moment, because of the war, many people are choosing to leave this region, so there''s always no vacancy. The latest airship left Kalur yesterday. If you want a seat in an airship heading for Jinyun Country two months later, we can book it for you. You can first go to Jinyun Country by airship before transferring to the territory of Zhang clan by other airships."


    "It takes two months to order a ticket?"


    Zhang Tie was speechless. He didn''t want to stay here for two more months. Perhaps before he left, he could stealthily go back to Blackhot City. He had some people he was worried about there. However, it would never take him two months to deal with his concerns in there. Even if he went there by train, it would only take him one week at most.


    "Do you have any faster traffic means?"


    "Yes, we have. You can rent an airship to Jinyun Country. But at the moment we cannot provide you such a service!"


    "Why?" Zhang Tie asked, stunned.


    "Because all the airships that were available in Kalur have been rented out by others. Although Golden Roc Bank could dispatch one airship here from another place, we only provide this service for our VIPs. As you are not our VIP, we cannot provide you with such a service!"


    "What''s the minimum standard to be your bank''s VIP?"


    "The minimum standard of yellow-level VIP is that you have to deposit over 500,000 gold coins in Golden Roc Bank!" the old man genially answered.


    ''500,000 gold coins? The minimum standard?''


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh. This amount of money was equal to a hundred of his lives based on the compensation from Gregory clan on his value even at a premium. For most average people, one had to work for at least 40,000 years to make 500,000 golden coins.


    ''F*ck, this is the minimum standard for yellow-level VIP of Golden Roc Bank that only the nouveau riche like Gregory clan in Blackhot City might able to reach.''


    Zhang Tie then instantly stopped his illusion of renting out an airship. Perhaps he could afford an airship flying from here to the Jinyun Country, but at this critical moment when the traffic resources were in urgent need, he was not qualified to request the Golden Roc Bank to dispatch an airship here just for him. The highest service the bank could provide for him was to order a ticket in an airship heading for Jinyun Country two months later.


    Zhang Tie was considering whether to order such a ticket.


    "Young man, would you like a suggestion from me?"


    The information manager of the Golden Roc Bank stared at Zhang Tie with a pair of wise eyes.


    "Go ahead please!"


    "I feel that you don''t need to be in such a hurry to go back at this moment!"


    "Why?"


    "Hehe, while you¡¯re trying to go back, your relatives of Zhang clan in Jinyun Country might be trying to get you back. Although you look isolated now, actually, the situation is not as bad as you think. You''ve forgotten the most important point."


    "What have I forgotten?"


    "You forgot that although you are wanted, your back is an unrivaled clan. The Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace is not only a noble clan in Jinyun Country, but also a noble clan among all humans. For all generations, the heads of Huaiyuan Palace have inherited the noble peerage of humanity. The name of Count Changfeng is known across the Waii Sub-continent.


    "If you are really a descendant of the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace, then the Zhang clan will never allow you to be wanted in a foreign country. If you were really caught, Huaiyuan Palace would lose its face!"


    Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes popped out as he had not imagined that Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace was so great. The head of Huaiyuan Palace was Count Changfeng, who enjoyed a high reputation among other humans. Thinking of this, Zhang Tie immediately understood that all of his concerns were actually based on his former status and social standing. If he was a member of Huaiyuan Palace now...


    "You mean..."


    "The head of the secret police is Baron Pompeii, who''s also a hereditary noble of the Norman Empire. There are contradictions between Baron Pompeii of Secret Police and Lin Changjiang, the general of the Northern Border Army. Do you think that a baron would fight a count who''s also a noble in order to arrest a small figure? If you haven''t killed dozens of secret police in Blapei, you would not be wanted at all.


    "The secret police did this to save their face. Otherwise, even the imperial households of the Norman Empire would not offend a count for a trivial affair, let alone a viscount of the Norman Empire. I dare to bet with you, as long as you don''t run before the headquarters of the secret police to shout loudly that you are Zhang Tie, no secret police in the Norman Empire will dare to find you trouble!


    Additionally, as you''ve left the Iron-Horn Army, perhaps the Iron-Horn Army will deal with your affair in a low-key manner. As long as you don''t exclaim your wish to return to the Iron-Horn Army, there would be no problem."


    Hearing the old man''s words, Zhang Tie suddenly thought it through. It turned out that what he had been most concerned about was just a laughing matter as it was just what the big figures had arranged to the public for their own faces.


    If he didn''t have the sudden background of Huaiyuan Palace, that order for arrest would be true. With this background plus the conflict between him and the secret police being just a plot designed by Major Franca, it was more a polite eviction order to prevent him from staying in the Norman Empire than an order for arrest.


    The Iron-Horn Army had acquiesced that this was the best compromise for the three parties after the order for arrest was released. At this moment, Zhang Tie was actually a transparent person in the Norman Empire that nobody dared to offend even if he was seen by others.


    A person would usually experience many unexpected affairs in his life, but the worst case scenario that many people were most concerned with in their lives actually happened at a very low frequency. Zhang Tie''s encounter verified this sentence once again. What he had never imagined happened, yet what he was most concerned about was just a dark joke.


    Poor Major Franca!


    Although Zhang Tie''s order for arrest was fake, the one for Major Franca might be very true. Not only the military party of the Norman Empire, even the secret police system was silently searching for him. The trouble he had made in Blapei was really big this time.


    ''It was really a wise choice to enter the Golden Roc Bank this time,'' Zhang Tie mumbled inside.


    "I think as long as your parents receive your message, the people in Huaiyuan Palace will know that you are in Kalur; they will definitely contact you and ascertain the details of your pick with you!"


    "How will they contact me?"


    "Now that you can contact your family members through the Golden Roc Bank, you only need to stay in Kalur for a few more days. They can contact you through the Golden Roc Bank too!"


    Zhang Tie suddenly felt bright inside and let out a long breath. He watched the old man sincerely and seriously said, "Thank you!"


    "You''re welcome, young man. According to the regulations of the bank, you need to pay for talking with me!" the old man said with a wink.


    Zhang Tie burst out laughing loudly, "No problem, it''s worth!"


    "Then, how about 100 gold coins including the 36 gold coins for the message and my inquiry fee?"


    "That''s fine!


    "What else can I help you with?"


    Zhang Tie scratched his head as he glanced at the ring of energy once again. "As I don''t have that much money now, can I just mortgage my ring of energy here?"


    "No problem!" The old man glanced at Zhang Tie. "If you want to mortgage this ring in our bank, we can present you with credit of 8000 gold coins. This time, the 100 gold coins would be included in your line of credit while its interest in our bank would be calculated by day until you redeem it.


    "If you need money, there''s a large-scale auction in the Sauls Auction House in Kalur City two days later. You can entrust us to give your ring to the Sauls Auction House for the upcoming auction. If it was sold by auction, the starting price would be above 10000 gold coins. It would be sold at a high price. To mortgage it or sell it by auction, it depends on you!"


    "Auction?"


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced.


    "Yes, auction. The annual winter auction held by Sauls Auction House in Kalur is very famous across the Andaman Alliance!"


    ...


    Ten minutes later, Zhang Tie left Golden Roc Bank. Unlike when he entered, when he left Golden Roc Bank, the bank arranged a vehicle to send him to Kalur City as Zhang Tie had decided to sell the ring of energy in an auction.


    Although that rune equipment made of secret silver was rarely seen, for Zhang Tie, it was not as effective as simple and heavy gold coins. At this moment, seeing the numerous refugees in Kalur, hey realized that it was hard to even move without money.


    As long as he had money in his pocket, even if the people in Huaiyuan Palace could not pick him up from here, he still had great resources and freedom of movement. He could go to Jinyun Country by himself. Additionally, Zhang Tie even prepared to slide back to Blackhot City after attending the auction in Kalur.


    What was more, besides some eccentric items, there were some items that Zhang Tie was especially interested in, for instance, the large number of golden uangs which were prepared for alchemists...

 255 Spiritual Being

    Chapter 255: Spiritual Being


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Sitting in the vehicle, Zhang Tie carefully watched the weird city wall of Kalur.


    Unlike Blackhot City which had tall city wall, Kalur had no smooth city wall like what people usually saw. If the city wall of Blackhot City was regarded as the city''s skin, Kalur had a protective coating of steel and iron which was composed of various pipes and bending components like the muscles and fiber tissues under the skin.


    Kalur''s city wall was composed of overlapping, bending, steaming pipes. All the city-defense equipment of Kalur were also built on these exposed steaming pipes. People standing outside the city wall could easily see the various exposed city-defense equipment linked by steaming pipes¡ªgears, operating arms, various transmission tools, pressure valves, and steaming batteries.


    They were weapons of destruction.


    The core of Kalur region was Kalur City, which was a huge city built on an extinct volcano. The endless geothermal energy underground brought the city endless power, which was transmitted to the necessary places to support the prosperity of Kalur.


    The whole Kalur City was a huge, round and orderly spider web. Circling the volcano, it spread layer by layer, occupying the best area that covered several hundreds of kilometers of the entire Kalur region.


    Each place, each road, and each building in the spider web was very orderly arranged. All the farmlands, plants, and residential districts were well divided by roads. Compared to this, Blackhot City was too disordered. The dense and tall chimneys as well as the plants with blue roofs impressed Zhang Tie a lot.


    This city felt like a huge machine, each part of which was closely linked by different gears.


    Given the prosperity of manufacturing industry, Kalur City was ten times greater than Blackhot City. It was not only the manufacturing hub of the former Andaman Alliance, but also one of the two most important air traffic hubs in Andaman Alliance. When Donder left, his first station was also Kalur where he took an airship and left.


    Now, Kalur City felt overpopulated since refugees were pouring in from all directions. Although there was no big trouble, there were always small troubles. From the Golden Roc Bank to all the way to the city control zone and the core zone of Kalur City, job seekers stood with raised boards. Refugee relief points set by Kalur''s managers could also be seen everywhere. In airships bases, there were airships constantly landing and setting off, carrying people in and out.


    Nowadays, although it was the most chaotic period in Kalur''s past dozens of years, the airship companies had the highest trading volume. There were many spies, intelligence agents, and people who had special missions from the Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty, let alone the refugees.


    Recently, Kalur had become another battlefield for someone; dagger, crossbow, and poison their weapons. Each day, unknown corpses would be found in shadowy corners of the city. Besides police, city-guard also joined in the security management of this spider-web-like city, even the militia of Kalur had been mobilized.


    This was a civilized and barbarous city full of order and chaos.


    As a guest of the Sauls winter auction, Zhang Tie entered the Kalur City. He lived directly in the Sauls Hotel where the auction was going to be held in. Because of the numerous refugees, the accommodation cost in Kalur City was very expensive. The price of a common room in Sauls Hotel had already soared to one gold coin a day. This price was almost five times that of the normal one.


    Sauls Business Group was a partner of Golden Roc Bank in Kalur. It managed many businesses, including arsenals, hotels, auction houses, and airship companies. The hotel Zhang Tie lived in was also part of Sauls Business Group.


    Zhang Tie lived on the 17th floor. Additionally, this hotel was built on a mountain, so Zhang Tie was able to see the whole Kalur. There was a telescope in the hotel''s balcony through which Zhang Tie could see far away.


    The original intention of a desktop telescope in the balcony of the hotel would have been for the guests'' convenience, to enjoy the beautiful view in Kalur. However, now it made Zhang Tie clearly see the cruelty of war.


    On the first day in the hotel, he saw an air battle between the airships of the Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty at dusk dozens of kilometers away through the telescope. During this air battle, the four airships turned into fire balls, dropped from the sky and crashed in the mountainous area surrounding Kalur.


    Recently, the fight for Kalur between the two large countries was becoming more and more fierce. Although Zhang Tie could clearly see the air battle, he didn''t know how many soldiers were wounded and killed in the mountains everyday. The columns of smoke constantly rising from distant places and the flaring flames that brightened up the skyline at night every day were a warning to Zhang Tie of what was happening outside.


    He let out a deep sigh inside.


    Because he didn''t want to stir up any trouble and wasn''t in the mood to wander outside, Zhang Tie stayed in his room for two days. He even ate in the room. During that time, he kept calmly cultivating, polishing his burning points, strengthening his spiritual energy, and constantly killing wild animals in the Trouble-Reappearance Situations in his room. He immersed himself in his own world and very soon two days passed.


    On the evening before the auction, when Zhang Tie finished practicing his spiritual energy and the two visualized abacus'' dissipated, he felt his spiritual energy increase a bit. At this moment, a rolling message abruptly appeared in his mind.


    ¡ª¡ªThe system detected that Castle Lord''s spiritual energy has reached the lowest standard required to form a space spiritual being in the Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡ª¡ªSpace spiritual beings can assist Castle Lord in managing the Castle of Black Iron, complete orders left by Castle Lord, and answer any of Castle Lord''s questions about the Castle of Black Iron and Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree.


    ¡ª¡ªThe following resources are to be consumed to form a space spiritual being:


    Basic energy storage: 300


    Aura value: 9000


    Merit value:60000


    ¡ª¡ªDo you wish to form it?


    ¡ª¡ªYes or No.


    Such an abrupt message stunned Zhang Tie. Soon after that he became excited.


    ''It seems that the Castle of Black Iron is going to form a spiritual manager for me. But this time, it might require a bit more resources, especially the merit value points. After setting free so many earthworms, I''ve only accumulated over 62000 merit value points. If I want to form the spiritual being, almost all of the merit value points would be used up along with half of the basic energy storage. Is it worthwhile?''


    After thinking it for awhile, Zhang Tie fixed his eyes on the last half of the sentence introducing the function of the space spiritual being, "...answer any of Castle Lord''s questions about the Castle of Black Iron and Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree. "


    ''Any questions about the small tree and the space?''


    Thinking back of when he had found no information on the yeast in the private library last time, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth and clicked "Yes" in his mind. Even if just for solving his questions about the small tree and the space, he felt it would be very worthwhile. After all, these days he''d had a lot of questions about the small tree''s fruits.


    ¡ª¡ªAscertaining the forming of the space spiritual being!


    ¡ª¡ªPlease choose the species of the space spiritual being.


    ¡ª¡ªHuman or another?


    ¡ª¡ªHuman.


    ¡ª¡ªPlease choose the gender of the space spiritual being.


    ¡ª¡ªMale or female.


    ¡ª¡ªMale.


    ¡ª¡ªPlease choose the major personality trait of the space spiritual being.


    ¡ª¡ª1. Perfectionist. 2. Affectionate. 3. Ambitious. 4. Artistic. 5. Smart. 6. Honest. 7. Active. 8. Leader. 9. Peaceful.


    (Introductions on the nine personalities followed after)


    Zhang Tie carefully read the introductions.


    ''Perfectionist, I''m not a picky man. I don''t want this kind of personality. Pass...


    ''Affectionate. Uhm, it seems a bit nagging. It''s enough to have one mom. Pass...


    ''Ambitious. This one seems nice. I will take a look later...


    ''Artistic. Uhm, this one seems a bit sentimental, not that smart...


    ''Smart. Uhm, this one seems good, I will take a look later...


    ''Honest. This one seems a bit boring. I don''t want a stiff guy in such a vacant space. It''s not good, pass...


    ''Active. No need to be that active in the Castle of Black Iron. Pass...


    ''Leadership. I don''t have a hobby of being mistreated. Pass...


    ''Peaceful. It seems a bit self-constrained. Pass...''


    After gazing at Ambitious and Smart for a while, Zhang Tie finally chose Ambitious as the personality of the space spiritual being.


    ¡ª¡ªThe features of the Ambition-based space spiritual being:


    ¡ª¡ªHe''s eager to prove himself at any time. He''s very confident. He needs your agreement and praise. He''s afraid of being not accepted by Castle Lord. His basic mentality is¡ªif I have no achievements, my life is worthless. He has a strong ambition and likes comparisons. He also likes authority. Additionally, he''s also a workaholic who''s not good at expressing his inner feelings, also he''s very narcissistic and arrogant.


    This achievement-based space spiritual being is over energetic. He seeks to prevail over others! He likes to accept your challenges and connect his values and achievements with yours. He will sincerely help you pursue the targets. He firmly believes that he can do everything in this world.


    ¡ª¡ªDo you wish to form it? Yes or No?


    ¡ª¡ªYes!


    ¡ª¡ªThe space spiritual being is going to form!


    ¡ª¡ªIt will take twelve hours to form the space spiritual being. During the forming, Castle Lord will not be able to access the Castle of Black Iron.


    A night soon passed.

 256 A Familiar Person

    Chapter 256: A Familiar Person


    Translator: WQLEditor: DarkGem


    Early the next morning, soon after Zhang Tie got up and ate the breakfast, he heard knocking on the door.


    Opening it, he saw a 20-odd blond girl standing outside.


    "Nice to see you, sir; I''m from Sauls Auction House. Here is your costume and mask for attending the auction. It will start at 8:00 am. It''s best if you can enter 5-10 minutes in advance. After 8:00 am, the underground gate accessing the auction will be closed!"


    Watching Zhang Tie, the blond revealed a coquettish smile. "You have 40 minutes before the auction starts. In this period of time, if you have any requirements, I can accompany you. You can call me if you have any problems!"


    "No, thanks!"


    Zhang Tie took the items from her tray and closed the door. The moment he closed the door, the girl outside looked a bit frustrated.


    The old man in the Golden Roc Bank had told Zhang Tie that as long as he lived there, Sauls Auction House would send a person to invite him in. What Zhang Tie had not imagined was that this auction would start so early.


    People who were qualified to attend Sauls winter auction were all rich and noble both in the former Andaman Alliance and now.


    Zhang Tie himself entered the auction due to the rune ring. Many girls working in the auctions and hotels were like Mary. They were not bad, but only liked rich and powerful men. They dreamed everyday to become a phoenix. After experiencing the "Mary" event in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie felt nothing weird about these women any more.


    The clothes consisted of a black burnoose and a delicate brass mask which could cover one''s whole face. The eye part of the mask had two pieces of yellow glass, so people could not even identify the mask-wearer''s color of the eye. Zhang Tie tried the mask on and found that the two pieces of yellow glass didn''t influence his vision.


    There was a number in German Script which was used to identify the status of the mask-wearer on the forehead of the mask. Zhang Tie''s number was "E26". In this auction, all the activities that Zhang Tie carried out would be recorded by the number. After the auction, the Sauls Auction House would clear his properties and transfer them back to the Golden Roc Bank. It was a one-stop service.


    Sauls winter auction was very secretive which meant that none of the people attending this auction should expose their status. They had to cover themselves tightly before entering the auction. This made the atmosphere very mysterious and excited Zhang Tie. After all, it was his first time attending an auction.


    Besides the cloak and mask brought by the girl, Zhang Tie prepared a high-end costume for himself in the shopping mall of the hotel under the suggestion of the Golden Roc Bank. He didn''t wear his refugee clothes that he had used to cover his status.


    The clothes he wore now were the most expensive ones that Zhang Tie had worn since he was born. The seven-eight pieces including leather shoes and socks cost him over six gold coins in total. Their materials and workmanship were all very good. Although they were not the best, at least they made Zhang Tie look like a rich man.


    Actually, Zhang Tie still owed more than 100 gold coins'' service fee to the Golden Roc Bank. Along with the interest, they would finally be deducted from the final price of the rune ring today. The auction commission of the Sauls Auction House was 2% of the final auction price. As to whether the Golden Roc Bank would share a bit more profit from the auction commission of this ring, Zhang Tie didn''t know.


    After putting on the mask and the cloak which could even cover his hair, Zhang Tie looked in the mirror and couldn''t recognize the person in the mirror at all.


    The space spiritual being would form into being after 11 am, which was still over three hours away from now.


    On the 17th floor of the hotel, besides Zhang Tie, there were other people who would attend the auction. Soon after he walked out to the corridor, under the leadership of the staff of the auction house, Zhang Tie took an exclusive elevator and descended one floor by another.


    When he arrived at the 12th floor, the elevator stopped and two more people like Zhang Tie entered. They were also going to attend the auction. Besides a beautiful girl who was operating the elevator, the other three just exchanged glances with each other. They didn''t even greet one another, causing the atmosphere to be a bit weird.


    "Ding!"


    The elevator stopped and its doors opened. There was a deep, luxurious underground tunnel in front of Zhang Tie. The ground was covered with a red carpet and on both sides of the tunnel bright lamp lights were lit. Two rows of ceremonial usherettes were standing at the entrance of the elevator.


    "Welcome to the underground facility of Sauls Auction House, the auction will start in the underground house here. Wish you great achievements!"


    When the three of them walked out of the elevator, three ceremonial usherettes walked towards them and guided them to the entrance of the auction house one by one. The entrance was like the lobby of the hotel. It was magnificent with several steam-driven ventilating fans leisurely running at the top of the auction house, refreshing the air inside.


    Two teams of warriors in gorgeous armors stood guard, making it look very mighty. Zhang Tie carefully sensed it and found that all the warriors were above LV 6. This made his heart pound and he gave a high evaluation for Sauls Business Group''s power. He thought inside, as the partner of Golden Roc Bank, this business group was really special.


    "Sir, do you need a voice-changing pill?" the ceremonial usherette asked Zhang Tie after guiding him in. "If you use the voice-changing pill, your voice will be unable to be identified by others for twelve hours!"


    "Fine, give me one, please!"


    Voice-changing pills were put at the entrance of the auction house. The other two people who had descended together with Zhang Tie also received one.


    After opening the wax sealed package by pinching it, Zhang Tie saw a white bean-sized pill. Since the other two people directly ate it, considering that pill was provided for all the attendees for free, Zhang Tie ate it too.


    The pill instantly dissolved in his mouth with a biter taste. After swallowing the liquid of the pill with his saliva, Zhang Tie felt that his throat was a bit cold. He then coughed and found that his voice had become much lower.


    There was a main auction hall and some mini auction halls in the auction house. This auction would be held in the main auction hall. When he arrived, Zhang Tie received a brochure on the items that were going to be sold in this auction.


    There were already some people in the main auction hall who were sitting in their seats according to their numbers. Zhang Tie glanced over the main auction hall and found it was like a mini opera stage as all the seats were surrounding the stage in a fan-like pattern. There were over 300 seats in total, above which were more advanced and hidden rooms which allowed more special figures to attend the auction.


    Coming to the seat marked E26, Zhang Tie sat down and took a careful look at the brochure with the items to be sold. There were many classifications on the brochure. Zhang Tie soon found his target from the item "animals/pets".


    ¡ª¡ªNumber MC 1368


    ¡ª¡ªName: Golden uangs.


    ¡ª¡ªQuantity: 20 groups, 2000 in a group.


    ¡ª¡ªThe starting price of each group is 300 gold coins.


    ¡ª¡ªPoint of Delivery: Kalur City.


    Zhang Tie''s ring of energy was part of special equipment.


    ¡ª¡ªNumber B136.


    ¡ª¡ªName: Ring of Energy.


    ¡ª¡ªIntroduction of the equipment: made of secret-silver. As a rune equipment, it can increase the recovery of the wearer''s physical strength by 4%.


    ¡ª¡ªQuantity: 1.


    ¡ª¡ªStarting price: 12000 gold coins.


    ¡ª¡ªPoint of delivery: Sauls Auction House.


    ''I''ve not imagined that such a small rune ring could be that valuable.''


    Zhang Tie was stunned inside.


    While Zhang Tie was broadening his vision by studying the brochure, the auction''s starting time drew closer and more and more guests entered and took their seats. Then, the entire house became boisterous. All the guests were wearing masks. Besides their partners, nobody else knew who others were.


    When there were only five minutes left till the start of the auction, a noise drifted over. Zhang Tie turned his head in the direction the noise had come from and looked at the entrance of the auction hall. He then became slightly shocked.


    A 50-odd man with a gloomy face walked inside. He was holding a golden mace and wore a red pastor-like robe of the Sun Dynasty. There was a pattern of three moons on his red robe, reminding everyone of his status¡ª he was a three-moon muling of the Sun Dynasty.


    He didn''t wear a mask or a cloak, and so did the two powerful military officers of the Sun Dynasty behind him. Entering the auction house, the three of them glanced at the noisy population with a cold expression before turning towards a rented room.


    The guests were shocked by the first VIP; however, two minutes later, when a general of the Norman Empire who was wearing a mustache entered with two military officers , nobody was shocked any more.


    Except for Zhang Tie.


    He saw Reinhardt following that general. In a mask, Zhang Tie opened his mouth, but he uttered no word.


    A general of the Norman Empire, Reinhardt, and the other military officer went to a rented room upstairs too.


    The auction then started...

 257 The Prelude of the Climax

    Chapter 257: The Prelude of the Climax


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Entering the auction house in such a high-key and straight forward manner, the representatives of the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire immediately made the atmosphere of the house a bit tense. Although the guests on the seats below the chartered rooms didn''t whisper to each other, under their brass masks, many people exchanged glances with each other and had special thoughts inside.


    Wondering whether the representatives of the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire were here to display their existence or for the items on the brochure or just a small episode of fighting for Kalur, many people had made the decision inside that as long as the items were wanted by the figures in the two chartered rooms upstairs, they would give them up.


    Among them, perhaps what Zhang Tie was thinking would scare everybody else. It was out of expectation to see Reinhardt here, but what Zhang Tie was thinking about at this moment was that red-robe muling who was holding a gold mace.


    For others, this red-robe muling might symbolize authority, power, terror or make some feel like flattering him. The old man was totally a walking treasure trove.


    F*ck him...f*ck him...f*ck him...


    A voice kept shouting inside him. The moment Zhang Tie thought of the benefits of killing the red-robe muling, his heart would beat heavily. What were the benefits to killing this old guy? At least tens of thousands of merit points; a Fruit of Brilliance that could make his spiritual energy surge or a Fruit of Judgment.


    The introduction of the Fruit of Judgment reappeared in Zhang Tie''s mind immediately, leaving him deep in thought.


    "¡ª¡ªThe people who profaned celestial beings in the name of other celestial beings and those who did evil acts in the name of celestial beings are doomed to be judged. Their existence does the greatest harm to everything beautiful and kind, they were the greatest profanity to gods. Their dirty lives and deeds shall be ended by sabers and swords. This is the condition for bearing a Fruit of Judgment, and the biggest award from gods to a dauntless man who dares to wave his saber towards the forces of darkness. Ah! The brave man who spread the glorious light of the gods'' over his mother land. Please take this reward and use the strength gifted by it to judge those who profane the gods so as to relieve the people''s fear of celestial beings. Gods don''t need their fear as fear is the food of ghosts. According to the law of creation, the more judgments you make, the more power you will have to judge with."


    ¡¯F*ck him!'' Zhang Tie made the decision at once. He decided to find a chance to kill that old man after the auction. He would have a higher possibility to kill a red-robe muling in Kalur City than on the battle field. It was difficult to kill him while accompanied by two powerhouses of the Sun Dynasty. Zhang Tie might even encounter many unpredictable dangers. But how could he succeed if he didn''t even try? How could he have raised big achievements without being willing to risking his life?


    The binding skill brought by the Fruit of Judgment saved Zhang Tie''s life at the critical moment and helped him reverse the situation. Zhang Tie would never feel that it was too much to have such powerful items.


    Having formed the killing intent inside, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand to look back at the red-robe muling of the Sun Dynasty. He then slowly took a deep breath...


    ...


    "Thank you all for attending this Sauls Auction House''s annual winter auction." When it was 8 am, the auctioneer, in a set of black ceremonial robe immediately appeared. Perhaps he also knew that these figures didn''t have the patience to listen to his crap, after greeting them, he directly started the auction''s procedures.


    "The first lot today is a crystal pyramid..." Soon after his voice faded, the image of this crystal pyramid had been displayed on the screen in the back by the projector on the auction block, "This crystal pyramid is a nature-born treasure that forms in class-5 water. After opening and polishing the class-5 crystal, you will get the most essential core of this class-5 crystal pyramid. The direct coverage range of its crystal energy field is 1.8 m. I''ll not mention its function on polishing burning points as you all know. The starting price of this item is 500 gold coins. The lowest increase of each bid is 10 gold coins. Now, start!"


    Soon the price of the crystal pyramid broke through 1000 gold coins and was finally fixed at 1250 gold coins.


    Zhang Tie took a deep breath. It was his first time seeing money spent like flowing water. Additionally, it was also his first time to see such an advanced crystal pyramid. Previously, the most advanced crystal that he had seen was "class-4 electric generator crystal." He saw it in the office of manager Hance of the Iron-Thorn Fighting Club. A class-5 crystal was at least 10 times more valuable than that of a class-4 crystal and rarely seen.


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded. Even though he had not sold his ring at this moment, he could still make bids at the auction. His largest bidding limit was the starting price of his ring¡ª¡ª12000 gold coins.


    From the brochure, he knew that there were a total of 11 class-5 crystal pyramids. Therefore, he was not hurry. He just waited there to see the final prices of the other class-5 crystal pyramids.


    Based on final price of the first class-5 crystal pyramid, the final prices of the other class-5 crystal pyramids all varied from 1000-1300 gold coins according to their sizes and qualities. They were auctioned in a fast an efficient manner. When it came to the 8th one, Zhang Tie also quoted and finally got one weighing 5.7 kgs at the price of 1280 gold coins.


    As it was his first time to spend over 1000 gold coins for one item, Zhang Tie''s hand even sweated when he raised the board. Meanwhile, his adrenaline heavily secreted. When his final price was fixed, Zhang Tie felt relaxed inside and a bit exhausted.


    This time, I spend dad''s total salary after 100 years Zhang Tie mocked himself while feeling extremely excited.


    In this age, among all the auctions, crystals and stones would always cost the most. This group of class-5 crystal pyramids was just used to warm up the auction. Later, the other crystals and stones would be constantly auctioned.


    Even though by scanning through the brochure and listening to the auctioneer''s brief introduction on those items, Zhang Tie had already learned a lot and widely broadened his vision.


    Previously, the guests downstairs were worrying that the representatives of Sun Dynasty and Norman Empire would butt in; unexpectedly, after 2 hours, when a great amount of items had been auctioned, neither of the two people in the chartered rooms upstairs had opened their mouths. They just silently watched. Therefore, the guests downstairs became reassured and started to frequently quote price, making the whole auction house more and more boisterous.


    Now, Zhang Tie realized that he was totally an outsider of the auction house as the prices of those crystals and stones would always be worth thousands even tens of thousands gold coins. The crystal pyramid that he had got was just the cheapest one.


    The first small climax broke out on the first alchemical object. The moment it was displayed, most of the bidders kept their wits about them.


    "This is a sun-stone necklace created by a master alchemist. Its marvelous effect had been completely activated by the master alchemist. This necklace had two attributes: first, courage, which could make the wearer immune to the negativity and despair caused by some spiritual control skills and cure and alleviate the symptoms of melancholia patients second, crits, which could recover in 7 days. Every 7 days, this necklace could bring a 120% of battle qi crits for wears below LV 10. The starting price of this necklace was 21000 gold coins. At least 100 gold coins for each bid. Bidding starts now."


    The moment the auctioneer stopped talking, the first person shouted a price of 25000 gold coins. Closely followed by other offers. The final price was fixed at 58000 gold coins, breaking the record of the highest value item in this auction.


    During the process, while masked, Zhang Tie''s mouth was agape in shock while staring at those auctioneers who treated gold coins like nothing as that golden, shiny sun-stone necklace on the auction block went to its new owner. Zhang Tie seemed to become petrified.


    Sun stones were not expensive as it was just a semi-gemstone. Judging from the price, it could not even match the pure rubies and sapphires that he had gifted to Beverly, Alice and Pandora. Many jewelry stores in Blackhot City sold various ornaments made of sun stones. By comparison, those ornaments were very cheap. Even being made of the best sun stones and pure gold, most of their prices were only several or several dozens of gold coins. The sun-stone hairpins, necklaces and rings worn by the girls in the rose association were even cheaper, which only cost them several even 10-odd silver coins.


    However, the starting price of this sun-stone necklace was 25000 gold coins!


    Its final price was 58000 gold coins!


    Even if they were both sun-stone ornaments. Why were the price differences so sharp. The only reason was that the sun-stone necklace came from a master alchemist. The mysterious attributes and energy of that sun stone had been activated, making it so amazing. Therefore, although they were all made of sun stones, one was average while the other was top tier.


    This was really magic. Even calling it the Midas touch which turns all to gold couldn''t describe an alchemist''s ability.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time being shocked by an alchemist''s achievement. A huge wave raised in the youth''s heart. Faintly, Zhang Tie heard a voice from the depths of his inner heart, an aspiration that he had never experienced before...


    This sun-stone necklace only pulled open the prelude of the hidden climax in this auction.

 258 Dreaming to be an Alchemis

    Chapter 258: Dreaming to be an Alchemist


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    None of the guests sitting downstairs had noticed that since the first product of a master alchemist was displayed, the red-robe muling of them Sun Dynasty and the general of the Norman Empire expressions had became increasingly grim. It seemed that they were becoming a bit nervous and paying more attention to the following items being auctioned today, especially to that product from a master alchemist.


    Not only the people in the chartered rooms, even many guests downstairs were startled. For some reason, the number of products from master alchemists seemed to be a bit more than usual today. They knew that the products of master alchemists were rarely seen in the auction house in the past years. What happened this year? Who was that generous?


    Zhang Tie skimmed through the brochure and found that introductions on the products of a master alchemist were the simplest.


    ¡ª¡ªThere were several more products of master alchemists to be auctioned today. At the request of the client, we have to keep these items a secret before the official procedures start. Therefore we won''t tell you the details here. Thank you for your attention.


    After the sun-stone necklace, there were some more products of a master alchemist to be auctioned.


    The second product of a master alchemist was a Pato-stone ring which was used to make people calm and more quick-witted. As the favorite of all the field commanders and other professions concerning intelligence, this ring was fixed at the final price of 49,000 gold coins.


    The third product of a master alchemist was a pair of earrings made of nickel-iron meteorite, which were used to increase focus and rapidly enter a meditative state. This product could reduce one''s chance to be affected by a devil when in meditation by 50%. Therefore, it was also a treasure of cultivators and was finally taken away at the price of 52,600 gold coins.


    The fourth product of a master alchemist was a forehead ornament made of lazurite. Its effect was to nourish and mobilize one''s spiritual energy as well as increase one''s perception. Therefore, it broke a new record¡ª¡ª62,800 gold coins.


    When the lazurite forehead ornament was displayed, the atmosphere in the house became heated as nobody would have imagined that four pieces of a master alchemist would appear in this annual Sauls winter auction. In the past, there were only one or two pieces. What happened today? What was even stranger was that all the patterns of these items were for women. They seemed to be one set of ornaments for a woman.


    ''That''s impossible! Even the queen of the Norman Empire would not be that exaggerating by having such set of priceless ornaments made by a master alchemist'' Many attendees mumbled inside.


    Even if Zhang Tie had felt something wrong with this auction as a hidden flow and restlessness was silently in an upsurge. As a result, when they heard that there was another product from a master alchemist, many people were shocked as they sprung up from their seats. At the same time, the sound of someone taking a deep breath had drifted throughout the auction house.


    "The following item also comes from a master alchemist. It''s a pair of bracelets made of garnet with its special properties completely activated. It is definitely the favorite of all the women as it could maintain one''s beauty and keep one''s youth. Additionally, it could improve one''s skin, increase one''s vitality of qi and blood as well as the health of the organs that are concerned with the female reproductive system..."


    Zhang Tie''s eyes then fixed on the projection wall behind the auction block with the auctioneer''s gesture. The photo of that pair of garnet bracelets had been enlarged by many times, allowing people to see its details.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, it was not a pair of average garnet bracelets. It looked purple among the garnet red, making it completely like the average ones. However, what was weird was that on the surface of the garnet were some mysterious fine grains that penetrated from the inside. Zhang Tie had not seen the same grains on other average garnets. If this pair of bracelets were not large enough, those mysterious, fine grains could almost not be noticed by Zhang Tie from his position.


    Could it be the mark left by the master alchemist after tapping and activating the abilities of the stones? This seemed to be the only difference between them and those average garnet bracelets which could be bought at the price of 10-odd silver coins besides that this pair of garnet bracelets looked more brilliant than average ones.


    He was right.


    "As you can see, these three stone flowers have been activated by the master alchemist on the pair of garnet bracelets, which represents that the three special properties and abilities of the garnet stones had been activated. As the first lot that has three attributes in this auction, it could not help you fight or cultivate; but it could make a woman more beautiful and healthier. Therefore, the starting price of this pair of bracelets was 38000 gold coins. Each mark-up should not be lower than..."


    Before the auctioneer finished talking, a person on the 2nd row in front of Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to open his mouth, "50,000 gold coins!"


    "You''d like to take away this pair of bracelets with only 50,000 gold coins!"


    "56,000 gold coins!"


    "58,000 gold coins..."


    "60,000 gold coins..."


    In a short while, the price of that pair of garnet bracelets had surged over 70,000 gold coins, which price had scared off many people who had offered at the beginning. But there were still some rich and powerful guests were bidding for that.


    As a classical Chinese allusion went¡ª¡ªtouch a stone and turn it into gold. Only immortal beings in the the Chinese myths and legends could make that. However, at this moment, seeing the average-looking garnet stone turning into an item which was tens of thousands more expensive than the gold of the same weight, Zhang Tie felt it was never too exaggerating to describe it using the above classical Chinese allusion.


    Sitting on his own seat, Zhang Tie kept trembling at each mark-up. It was not because of fright, but because of his own excitement.


    "100,000 gold coins!" A person sitting on the first row of the auction house abruptly stoop up. After this offer, that person moved away her cloak and hood. Meanwhile, she took off the brass mask on her face. When she turned back, everybody saw a 40-odd woman''s face who looked still enchanting. She had rosy cheeks, bending and long eyes. Beside this, she also looked sharp and had a killing intent. She glared at all the guests behind her and aggressively said with a smile, "This mother will have this pair of bracelets. Who dares to grab it from me?"


    "Black widow!" Some guests behind him took a breath of air while someone mumbled.


    The auction soon restored quiet.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t know her true status, judging from her look, it seemed that many people knew her status. Additionally, this woman seemed also terrifying. At least nobody wished to offer more than 100,000 gold coins to buy a pair of bracelets at the cost of offending this woman.


    Seeing nobody else uttering any voice, the woman turned back and fixed her eyes on the auctioneer without saying anything more. Taking the small hammer, the auctioneer forcefully swallowed her saliva, "Someone offers 100,000 gold coins. Is there any higher offer? No? 3, 2, 1, sold!"


    As the small hammer smashed down, that woman called black widow took a seat again. By then, the auctioneer''s forehead had been covered in drops of sweat.


    "The next item is the last product of a master alchemist in this auction..."


    Hearing the auctioneer''s words, all the guests became startled, causing an uproar.


    "What? One more product from a master alchemist? Is this Sauls winter auction the exclusive one for master alchemists?"


    "That''s impossible. It''s been the 6th one. Even in greater auctions, people could also hardly see so many products from master alchemists in one auction!¡®


    "If we were notified earlier that so many products from master alchemists would be auctioned this time, we would have been more prepared. The Sauls auction house should notify us at least 1 month in advance so that we could have prepared an appropriate amount of funds. What''s your purpose of not notifying us before the auction?" Many people started to complain about the Sauls auction house.


    "If I was notified one month in advance, I would never have given up that pair of Pato-stone rings!"


    "The Sauls auction house has to give a proper accounting!"


    "We need justice!"


    Zhang Tie looked around the auction house in an interested way. Even the two people beside him became so excited as they stood up and loudly complained. These people were blaming the Sauls Auction House for not having fulfilled its obligation to provide them with accurate details. As each of the product from the master alchemist would cost tens of thousands gold coins, even 100, 000 gold coins. It was not a small amount of money for anyone at present. For some people at the present, if they didn''t have it prepared well in advance, it would be hard for them to even afford one product.


    The auctioneer in the stage became pretty embarrassed as she could not respond to so many complaints at the same time. When the crowd became increasingly more furious, causing the auction to be unable to continue, a 60-odd man abruptly appeared in the stage.


    When the old man appeared, the auctioneer hurriedly retreated to the backstage. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie also noticed that even though the auction became a bit disorder, from the beginning, the representatives of the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire sitting in the chartered rooms upstairs hadn''t make any expressions at all.


    "May I have your attention please..." The old man looked around the house. Hearing his words, the furious and complaining crowd instantly became quiet. Many people seemed knowing the status of this old man, "As the director of Sauls Business Group, I''m very regretful about your troubles in this auction. But I have to honestly tell you that as the sponsor of this auction, we were only made aware that a batch of alchemical products would be auctioned here one day ago. Therefore, we didn''t have time to share that information with all of you. Additionally, until 10 minutes before the start of this auction when this batch of alchemical products were escorted to this auction house did we didn''t know what they were. We''re also shocked by them. However, we cannot refuse the owner''s request for keeping these alchemical products a secret.


    "Who?" A low voice drifted from a brass mask, "Who''s the commissioned auctioneer of this batch of alchemical products? Such a request and attitude was rude for Sauls auction house. We want to know whose request is it that the Sauls Business Group could not refuse!"


    Standing in the stage, the old man took a deep breath, "It''s the Selindor Clan which entrusted the Sauls auction house to auction the former alchemical products, including the final pair of alchemical products!"


    Hearing his reply, the whole house became quiet. The Selindor Clan was also the famous Iron-Gate Clan, the ruling clan of Kalur City. The development of the entire Kalur region greatly benefited from the painstaking effort of the whole Iron-Gate Clan for many generations. Zhang Tie remembered that when they attended the survival training, the "Iron-Gate T21" crossbow carried by Fatty Barley was produced by the Selindor Clan. Magnificently situated in Kalur City, this clan was also the most powerful military supplier and machines manufacturer in the former Andaman Alliance. Compared to this clan, the Gregory Clan in Blackhot City was just a rural nouveau riche.


    For some reason, Zhang Tie faintly felt that something big would happen in this auction today.


    "If you have no more questions, we''ll come to the last alchemical product today. Because this alchemical product is very special and has not been auctioned in the history of Sauls auction house, perhaps you have not really seen such an alchemical product from such a short distance, therefore, when it is displayed after a while, please keep calm and not attempt to move closer to watch or touch it in case of unnecessary troubles and dangers. For this, we will take steps, sorry for that!" After saying this, the old man clapped. Instantly, a team of full-armored soldiers walked out from the backstage as they surrounded the stage and basically isolating the auction block from the guests.


    After this team of soldiers formed a perimeter, two people in white gloves lifting one silver metal suitcase respectively walked onto the stage from backstage. After that, they carefully put the suitcases onto the display case of the auction block. They then opened the suitcases and adjusted the items in the suitcases from a horizontal position to a vertical position for convenience so that everyone could see them clearly. Meanwhile, the projector on the auction block had magnified the two items'' images in a clearer way.


    Given from the look, the two items were like two huge "ostrich eggs" made of special material. Their hulls were covered with black and white spiral grains. Nobody knew what they were. At least Zhang Tie became completely muddle-headed when he saw the two "ostrich eggs". He wondered what precious items they were that could arise the auction house''s attention so much.


    Among them, only the two military officers of the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire in the chartered rooms upstairs changed their faces at the sight of the two "ostrich eggs". They then lowered heads to talk with their own general or red-robe muling.


    "You should have heard about the two items. Especially in recent days, the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire respectively threw 1 or 2 of these items into the opposite cities!" The old man obscurely explained. After a short quiet, the house suddenly became noisy.


    "What? You mean they were alchemical bombs¡ª¡ªthe only thermal weapon in the Black Iron Age?"


    A high-pitched voice sounded while everyone else was shocked. Even Zhang Tie eyes popped out of their sockets.


    "Right, the two items are alchemical bombs¡ª¡ªthe only thermal weapon in the Black Iron Age, also the last alchemical items today. By now, the explosive equivalent of the most powerful alchemical bombs made by alchemists in the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire were respectively 350 kgs 500 kgs of TNT. However, the explosive equivalent of each of the two alchemical bombs you can see here are 1 ton of TNT."


    Saying this, the director of Sauls Business Group in the stage forced a bitter smile as he stretched out his hand, "Don''t ask me what does it mean by explosive equivalent and TNT as I don''t know them either. These words were technical terms used by alchemists to measure the power of alchemical bombs. They came from the age before the catastrophe which were strictly regulated. I''m just echoing what the books say. I asked a professional about the power of a 1 ton TNT explosive equivalent before I was here. I was told that such a bomb could destroy the whole auction house, the Sauls hotel above it and all the people inside!"


    Hearing such an explanation, everybody including Zhang Tie were shocked.


    After looking around, the director of Sauls Business Group continued, "The starting price of each bomb is 1 gold coin. Two persons'' bidding are available at the same time . Bidding starts now..."


    1 gold coin for 1 alchemical bomb with terrifying power?


    Are you kidding me? You might not be able to buy such terrifying weapons at the price of 100,000 gold coins. Because all bombs are strategical weapons in the hands of the country and big powers. Nobody would actually sell them at all, let alone buying one at the price of 1 gold coin. Alchemists were both terrifying and awesome because in this age only they could produce this kind of terrifying killing weapons that almost didn''t belong to this age.


    None of those at the present were idiots, almost in a split second, they understood why they could see the representatives of the Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty here and why two alchemical bombs to be auctioned at once?


    "1 gold coin!"


    "1 gold coin!"


    When the whole house became so quiet that even a needle dropped onto the ground could be heard, two voices drifted from the two chartered rooms upstairs. Besides, nobody else dared to bid. Even those people who had complained loudly that they had not prepared enough money and missed the possibility to buy an alchemical product also became as quiet as a stone. They seemed not having seen the "great bargain" at all.


    "1 gold coin, 1 gold coin, two people had bidden. Is there any higher offer? No? Well, that''s the deal!"


    The hammer hit down, making a sound that was more crispy than any time before like a lonely applause after a performer finished a lonely performance on the stage of the theater.


    At this time, the people inside the chartered room upstairs had already walked downstairs, "We need to check the item" The red-robe muling who was holding his gold mace in a distant expression just now looked as black as charcoal. Observant people could even see that red-robe muling was holding his gold mace for forcefully that his finger even looked white.


    "Sure!" The director of Sauls Business Group nodded while the soldiers left a path for him.


    Seeing one military officer of the Sun Dynasty walking over there, the general of the Norman Empire also nodded to that military officer beside him. Therefore, the military officer of Norman Empire also arrived there in a short moment.


    Under the gaze of the crowd, the two military officers started to check the items in the silver suitcases. In less than half a minute, the two military officers in solemn expressions nodded to the red-robe muling of the Sun Dynasty and the general of the Norman Empire respectively. After leaving 1 gold coin respectively, they arranged well the bombs and left the auction block with suitcases.


    After that, the representatives of the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire left.


    At this time, all the guests cast their eyes onto the director of Sauls Business Group. Even Zhang Tie understood that this auction was just a tool that the Selindor Clan used to send a message and demonstrate its strength.


    It was not a simple auction, but a big event that could influence the situation of the Kalur region and the process of the war between the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire. There were two key information points on this big event: first, the Selindor Clan had gained the support of a master alchemist, whose ability was far greater than that of the top alchemists in Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty.


    Everybody was watching that person on the auction block and waiting for him to say something. Even as a silent prop and a witness, they all had the right to know something.


    As was expected, under their expecting eyes, the director of the Sauls Business Group finally revealed a message.


    "The Iron-Gate Clan will announce today that their next clan head is ¡ª¡ª Alexia Selindor. Alexia Selindor had married a master alchemist when she was learning in the Oriental Continent. Everything of Iron-Gate Clan including Kalur City would be under the protection of that master alchemist. Those alchemical products auctioned today were small gifts sent from that master alchemist to the Iron-Gate Clan"


    The whole auction house became silent once again.


    After a long while, someone among the guests sighed, "Then, the war between the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire on Kalur would almost come to an end!


    ...


    At this moment, that voice and that aspiration in Zhang Tie''s mind became clearer than ever.


    This was a dream that Zhang Tie had been striving for since he was born for the first time, a dream that made Zhang Tie''s blood boil.


    In the dream, Zhang Tie was greater than having the Midas touch which could tun stone to gold.


    He could save the whole city...


    He could change a war...


    He could be the largest reliance and honor of everybody beside him...


    ...


    The auction continued. Finally, Zhang Tie ring of energy was sold at the fixed price of 21600 gold coins, making Zhang Tie''s purse bulging once again.


    Soon after Zhang Tie''s ring was sold, a line appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    ¡ª¡ªThe space spiritual being of Castle of Black Iron has formed into being. The management panel of Castle of Black Iron has completed the first intelligence upgradation. Spiritual connection and interaction between Castle Lord and the Castle of Black Iron through the space door has been established...


    Soon after this line disappeared, Zhang Tie had felt that his spiritual energy in his mind was shocked as a great amount of spiritual energy started to pour into that strange arch door in his mind. At this moment, that arch door was completely like sponge, it constantly absorbed his spiritual energy inside. In less than 1 minute, there was only a wisp of spiritual energy left in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    When Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy was almost completely dried, that marvelous arch door slightly trembled as its color suddenly became verdant and full of vitality.


    It was not comfortable as his spiritual energy was drained in a fast way. In the past short minute, Zhang Tie had a splitting headache. He even felt frustrated. However, after that marvelous arc door changed its color, Zhang Tie felt that he had established a deeper and closer contact with the Castle of Black Iron.


    Previously, he felt that he and the Castle of Black Iron were in two different worlds separated by the arch door. Only after he pushed open the door could he feel the inside of the Castle of Black Iron. However, now, that arch door seemed having disappeared as the entire Castle of Black Iron had integrated with him on the perceptions.

 259 Heller and His Subordinates

    Chapter 259: Heller and His Subordinates


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    The primary auction in Sauls auction house lasted 4 hours in the morning. According to the arrangement, the subordinate auctions would start at 2:00 pm, each of which would last half an hour. There was a 15 minutes'' break between each of the two subordinate auctions so that all the guests could easily choose their own subordinate auctions to attend at their will.


    The subordinate auction for animals and pets would start at 2:45 pm. Therefore, Zhang Tie had almost 3 hours before it started.


    Until he left the auction house at 12 pm, Zhang Tie was still thinking about what had happened in the auction house previously.


    This time, the Iron Gate Clan really had silently reversed the situation of Kalur. By then, the fat calf that was Kalur had become a ripe for the taking. Although the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire both had the strength to engulf it, in this age, even the greatest lunatic would not choose to blatantly plunder a master alchemist''s family property as spoils of war.


    Because the revenge of a master alchemist who could produce alchemical bombs that was equal to 1 ton of TNT explosive equivalents would definitely be 10 times more severe than that suffered from the average people in Kalur City if they engulfed the whole Kalur City. No idiot would do that. In this age, each alchemist was a hornet''s nest, especially this guy who could casually make a pile of alchemical items and seemed to have countless reserves money and a great amount of followers. Sometimes, this kind of person was even more destructive and terrifying than an army.


    Perhaps the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire would still investigate whether the Selindor clan had really found a master alchemist as to be its backer through other intelligence channels. Even only for face, the war between the Iron-Horn Army and the Brilliant Feathers on Kalur would not instantly come to an end. They had to find a proper reason. Whereas, this primary auction brought a wisp of hope for peace to Kalur which had been clouded due to the war. From today onwards, the two powers'' skirmishes in Kalur region would sharply reduce before this war finally came to an end.


    Zhang Tie felt this was a good matter. Because most of the people that died on the battle field were commoners from two countries, while the party that suffered the most in this war was the hundreds of thousands of refugees in Kalur. The earlier this war came to an end, the fewer people would die. Perhaps some big figures would feel not happy, but in this world, when rich ones encountered something, the ones suffered a loss would always be the poor; when big figures fought, the small figures would always be beaten up.


    Zhang Tie thought about it for quite a while and found it was a bit interesting. From finding the army of the Norman Empire attacking the Blackhot City on the New Crescent Prairie to attending the fight between the Iron-Blood Camp and the army of the Sun Dynasty and witnessing the Iron-Gate Clan reversed the situation of Kalur, Zhang Tie found that he had witnessed and experienced each important stage of this war since he attended the survival training in the Wild Wolf Valley. During this process, he matured.


    ...


    After returning to the room, the moment Zhang Tie took off his clothes and mask, the serviceman of the hotel had pushed in the dining car.


    "Sir, please enjoy yourself. Is there anything else I can do for you?"


    After sending in Zhang Tie''s lunch, that serviceman stood well in the room.


    "What''s your monthly payment here?" Zhang Tie asked the serviceman.


    "Plus tips, almost 1 gold coin!" The 20-odd year old serviceman honestly answered.


    Zhang Tie then took out his last gold coin, after weighing it in hand, he flicked it to that serviceman, who instantly grabbed it with an ecstatic expression, "Thanks, sir, you''re too generous!"


    "I want to ask about something from you"


    The serviceman instantly changed his face while he hurriedly put the gold coin onto the dining car like having touched something hot, "Sir, we have regulations. We can''t reveal the information on the guests in the hotel. Once discovered I might lose my life!"


    "Not for information on the guests in the hotel, but any information on the representatives of the Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty who had just left the auction house. You help me ask about whether they were still in Kalur City now. I think it''s not too difficult of a task"


    The serviceman the looked relaxed as he hurriedly grabbed that gold coin from the dining car again and put it into his own pocket, "It will take me some time!"


    "It doesn''t matter, you have 1 hour, when you come back to tidy up the tableware, I think you''ve already dealt with it!"


    The serviceman then left...


    In the primary auction, Zhang Tie had thought twice before making the final decision to kill the representatives of the Sun Dynasty by rushing into danger. However, he had not imagined that the auction would be full of climaxes. After getting one alchemical bomb, the representatives of the Sun Dynasty had left, reminding Zhang Tie that his first hunting plan might have failed. Although he knew that the red-robe muling had a low possibility of staying in Kalur City now, Zhang still wanted to verify it and see whether the gods would give him this chance to kill them.


    After finishing lunch in less than 10 minutes, Zhang Tie closed the door and pulled down the windows before going to the bathroom. According to Zhang Tie''s observations, the bathroom would be the last place under the surveillance. Even though there were hidden surveillance channels, they were arranged in the parlors and bedrooms; In a contrast, with such a narrow space, a bathroom where everything inside was easily seen was safer and more secret. Having been very careful, Zhang Tie had been accessing the Castle of Black Iron in the bathroom these days. Since experiencing that event with Major Franca, Zhang Tie had become more cautious.


    ...


    "What does the space spirit being look like?''


    Before entering the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie became curious.


    ...


    "Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron. I''m the spirit being of Castle of Black Iron. My name is Heller!"


    This time, Zhang Tie entered the Castle of Black Iron in a much easier way. Almost the moment he focused his attention he entered. When he entered the Castle of Black, Zhang Tie saw a 40-odd year old man in a set of delicate black ceremonial dress and bow like a steward standing in front of him.


    This man respectfully bowed to Zhang Tie.


    At the sight of this man, Zhang Tie didn''t feel genial but jealous.


    Zhang Tie swore that he had not imagined a man could be that handsome and beautiful. He deserved all the descriptive words possible to describe a handsome man. Each line and detail on his face and body seemed having been delicately carved by the creator. This man had the face and temperament like that of Apollo. At the sight of this man, the first word in Zhang Tie''s mind was not handsome but challenging. This guy was simply challenging everyones imagination to their limits on perfect and handsome men. From his appearance and temperament, this man was definitely perfect. If this man was moved outside, Zhang Tie confirmed that wherever he went, he would be surrounded by a great amount of women and their screams. If any woman passed out at the sight of this man, Zhang Tie wouldn''t feel it strange at all.


    This guy was absolutely the enemy of all the men!


    ''F*ck, how could a man be that handsome?'' As it was his first time to feeling bashful since he was born, Zhang Tie started faintly complaining about that to himself.


    "You say you are...Heller?"


    "Yes, my lord!"


    "Uhm...are you a man?" Zhang Tie asked such an abnormal question.


    "I''m the life created in this space. I''m the manifestation of the space functions. To be strict, my full name should be smart spiritual being control unit of the Castle of Black Iron. My DNA was 99.97% similar to that of human beings. You can treat me as humanoid life. My task is to assist Castle Lord and to manage the Castle of Black Iron as well as solve all of your questions about the Castle of Black Iron!" Heller respectfully answered.


    "Then, can I bring you into the real world?"


    "No, because the laws of space and creation that grant me with life are different from that of your world. My entire life and all the basic energy particles that form my body are part of this space''s laws and are closely related to this space; therefore, I cannot leave this space independently!"


    Good! Hearing this answer, Zhang Tie let out a sigh unconsciously. If this handsome guy wandered everywhere in the world, other men would not have women any more.


    During the process of chatting with Heller, Zhang casually looked around, what amazed him were the 3 people digging the earth beside the vegetable field.


    "Erm... what about those 3 people?" Zhang Tie became surprised as he pointed at the 3 persons doing farming work.


    "They are the spirit servants being created in this space together with me. They are my subordinates and completely follow my orders!" Heller explained.


    "Your subordinates?"


    "Of course, there are so many things to do in the Castle of Black Iron. Do you think I alone could finish all the things, my lord?" Heller asked.


    "Haha, buy 1 get 3 for free!" Zhang Tie felt pretty good all of a sudden.


    Having not met them previously, Heller called the 3 people over. They immediately stopped what they were doing and rapidly ran over here. When they came in front of Zhang Tie, they directly knelt down in front of Zhang Tie and started to his shoes in the most humble way, which startled Zhang Tie.


    "Lord, I''m your loyal slave servant A''gan!"


    "Lord, I''m your loyal slave servant Edward!"


    "Lord, I''m your loyal slave servant Aziz!"

 260 Clearing Up Doubts

    Chapter 260: Clearing Up Doubts


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Zhang Tie carefully watched A''gan, Edward and Aziz who were kneeling down in front of him. The three people all appeared to be between the ages of 20 and 30 years old. Among human beings, with the exception of the Chinese, men of other races would look older when they became mature. In the words of Donder, they would age faster than those of the Chinese race. Therefore, A''gan, Edward and Aziz looked older than their actual ages.


    A''gan was black with thick lips. Even his hair was black. Edward was white with stout limbs, giving him a strong build and appearance. Azia was a bit delicate with curled hair, who looked a bit younger than the other two people. They all wore common linen undershirts and looked like farming servants in manors. [1]


    Compared to Heller whose look made others bashful, the three people looked a bit more like commoners. Therefore, Zhang Tie slightly released a sigh of relief.


    "What were you doing just now?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "We were hoeing. Steward Heller instructed us to reclaim a good field of 60 mu [2] in the Castle of Black Iron." The three replied in unison showing that they have been well trained.


    "Can you till the land?"


    "Of course!" The three answered in unison once again.


    "With the exception of this, what else can you do?"


    "We''ve have many skills that can be used!" The three answered in unison for the third time.


    "I''m also a carpenter and manson. I''m good at building houses!" A''gan answered firstly.


    "I''m also blacksmith and cook. I can make delicious food and create items!" Edward answered.


    "I can look after flowers, grasses and livestock. I can also brew various alcohols!" Aziz answered.


    Well, I''m a land lord now. Hearing the three spirit servants'' answers, Zhang Tie felt that the Castle of Black Iron was becoming more like a manor. He was the lord; Heller was the steward. He also had his spirit servants. But this was also great, at least he didn''t have to till land any more.


    He waved his hand towards A''gan, Edward and Aziz. They then obediently went back to till the land.


    "Can I take three of them into my world?" Another question suddenly flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "No, like me, all the lives formed in this space can''t leave here as we are a part of the Castle of Black Iron!" Heller shook his head.


    "Erm...do you need to eat?"


    "We also need to consume food and have proper rest. Our living and energy receiving patterns are no different from those of people in your world. Therefore, I hope Castle Lord could allow us to use the houses that you have built and all the materials inside. I''ve got a plan. If you agree to my plan, I will greatly change the Castle of Black Iron. It''s really too simple and crude." Heller said with great ambition while his eyes radiating shrew lights, dreaming of a beautiful future in the Castle of Black Iron.


    "No problem. You can allocate all the items here at your will!" Zhang Tie wove his hand.


    "I will definitely not let Castle Lord down!" Because of Zhang Tie''s trust, Heller showed a smile for the first time.


    "Will my fruits on the small tree be safe?" Glancing at the small tree beside him, Zhang Tie thought of an important problem. If the ripe fruits on the small tree were picked and eaten by the 3 guys in advance, that would be a great loss.


    "Don''t worry. For all the lives in this space, the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree is a top existence in this space, which enjoyed the strongest protection from the space rules. Except for Castle Lord, nobody else could pick the fruits. Any living beings that are hostile to the small tree will be excluded by the laws of this space and turned into ashes!"


    Speaking of the small tree, Zhang Tie thought back to the trip into the Castle of Black Iron before Heller was formed. He was told that Heller might able to answer some questions about the small tree. In a split second, Zhang Tie questions about the small tree reappeared.


    "Can you answer my questions about that small tree?"


    "It''s my honor and the meaning of my existence!"


    "Well, my first question is that why can I not get the Fruit of Brilliance until I kill those heinous people. Why can''t I receive such a fruit by killing others, even on the battlefield?"


    "According to one of the universal laws, gathering the lives of sentient species cannot make an individual grow stronger by promoting self-destruction and fighting against each other. If any one killed by you could lead to a Fruit of Brilliance or other fruits, the foundation and universal law to balance the survival of this race would be broken. Therefore, you could only get a Fruit of Brilliance by eliminating the ones whose souls have been corrupted and would influence the survivability of your race. This reflects the universal law."


    "What about the Fruit of Judgment?"


    "Those people''s souls have been corrupted. Additionally, they were still profaning the gods in the name of celestials and doing evil things in the name of gods. Such actions are seen as horrendously evil. Therefore, you can get both the Fruit of Brilliance and the Fruit of Judgment by eliminating those people! They are also the only two fruits that you can get from killing human beings"


    Zhang Tie''s eyes suddenly brightened up as he thought about a possibility, "Do you mean that the I can get more fruits from those species which pose a greater threat to human beings?"


    "Not quite. It''s not that you could get more fruits from them, but you could get more from them. You could get the halo of their souls, namely their spiritual energy from those people who have corrupted souls; you could also get the seven strengths from wild wolves while the Seven-Strength Fruit formed by the seven strengths also include the spiritual energy of those wild wolves!"


    Zhang Tie suddenly became enlightened.


    "Speaking of the Seven-Strength Fruit, I''ve got one more question. What are the conditions to form Seven-Strength Fruit? I can get this kind of fruit from other animals except for wolves?"


    "The animals that could bring you Seven-Strength Fruit have to meet the following conditions: first, this animal must be mammal. Only a mammal''s seven strength could integrate with yours. Secondly, this animal must be hostile to human beings. Third, it has to be free both physically and spiritually when it''s killed. Only when the above three conditions are satisfied could you get the Seven-Strength Fruit!"


    "What do you mean by ''this animal is hostile to human beings''? How could I judge whether an animal is hostile to human beings?"


    "That''s very simple. There will be many records on this species killing and eating people!"


    Heller''s explanation immediately solved Zhang Tie''s many questions on the wild wolf Seven-Strength Fruit. Previously, he thought that he could get Seven-Strength Fruit from killing many kinds of animals. There were even a lot of weird thoughts in his mind, such as buy a great number of livestock and kill them to get Seven-Strength Fruit accordingly. Now, he knew that the Seven-Strength Fruit could only be formed by killing animals which met the above three conditions. Only a few animals could meet these conditions. It was really a matter of luck to gain Seven-Strength Fruit.


    Zhang Tie had already been thinking about heading for the New Crescent Prairie again. If he could get some huge wolf Seven-Strength Fruits, it would definitely improve his real strength a lot. However, based on the current situation, he might not have such a chance in a short period.


    "I will participate in the subordinate auction for selling golden uangs in the afternoon. Can you tell me how many golden uangs I need to set free before I gain a Fruit of Redemption?


    "2584!" Heller answered.


    Hearing Heller''s reply, Zhang Tie''s heart raced as 2584 was just the number on the 18th place of the Fibonacci Numerical Array. "Is there any relationship between the forming of Fruit of Redemption and the Fibonacci Numerical Array?" Thinking of this, Zhang Tie spoke it out.


    "Of course, the number of lives to be saved to form Fruit of Redemption accordingly changes with the species. It''s related to many factors!"


    "What about people? If I save people, will I also get the Fruit of Redemption accordingly?"


    "Yes, you will!"


    "What kind of Fruit of Redemption would I get if I save people?"


    "I cannot answer this question, because it belongs to the most mysterious domain. With the exception of you, nobody could give you the answer!" Heller watched Zhang Tie in an interested way.


    "I remember that I''ve saved a person when I attended the survival training in the Wild Wolf Valley. Why is there no Fruit of Redemption on the small tree? Even if it''s not ripe, it should have formed at least!"


    "Because all the fruits have to meet the lowest conditions to manifest. The more advanced the fruit is, the stricter conditions it will require. As the conditions to manifest the Fruit of Redemption have not been reached at all, therefore, you''ve not seen it."


    "Can you tell me how many people should I save to manifest a Fruit of Redemption accordingly?"


    "1346269!"


    Zhang Tie was dumbfounded. A fruit that could not be manifested before saving more than 1,300,000 people. What the hell! Additionally, it''s just the standard to manifest it. How many more people should he save to make it ripe?


    ''All right, just forget this question!''


    With his current ability, if he continued to ask, it was nothing different than seeking for insult and reducing his own enthusiasm. A guy who was still wanted had to be careful at all times so he should better forget this great undertaking by saving millions of people. Would this be considered by the emperor of the Norman Empire as a reason to pardon him?


    "Fine, the last question. Are there really gods?"


    "I can not answer this question!"


    "Why?"


    "Because I don''t know either!"


    Zhang Tie became speechless...

 261 A New Ability

    Chapter 261: A New Ability


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    After only staying with this spiritual being for half an hour, Zhang Tie had understood this person''s general character and temperament and what was behind his ambitious personality.


    Although Zhang Tie felt that he had done well, Heller was still not satisfied with the current situation in the Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, the ambitious steward had formulated a plan. The first step was to create a self-sufficient supply of food in the Castle of Black Iron and reclaim 60 mu of farmable field.


    The second was to develop the all-round forestry in the Castle of Black Iron. He wanted to the Castle of Black Iron to produce at least 5000 points of aura value a day, several times more than before.


    The third step was to form a fresh water lake of more than 100 mu and a wetland of above 100 mu, aiming to build a three-dimensional ecosystem that was more suitable to the survival of species inside.


    The fourth step was to build a real castle inside which matched Zhang Tie''s status¡ª¡ªthe Castle Lord as Heller found the current log cabins were too embarrassing.


    The above four steps were just Heller''s short-term objective to make the Castle of Black Iron more like a manor and more inhabitable.


    Hearing Heller''s plan, Zhang Tie felt his shin cramping; especially when he heard the third step¡ª¡ªa fresh water lake of 100 m and a wetland of the same size, Zhang Tie almost frothed at the mouth. God knew how much basic energy storage it would take to accomplish such a topographic creation. He was wondering whether he could collect enough basic energy storage to complete the topographic creation even by carrying mining ores for another six months.


    However, as the Castle Lord, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like disappointing Heller. To tell the truth, Zhang Tie found Heller was very useful. Therefore, he could only ask the question in an obscure way.


    "Erm...your plan is very good. But have you considered as to whether the basic energy storage inside the Castle of Black Iron could support your plan!"


    Heller watched Zhang Tie with an amazed look. "Won''t Castle Lord solve the the problem of basic energy storage for the development of the Castle of Black Iron? Besides aura value points that could be produced by the plants inside the Castle of Black Iron, won''t other basic energy storage and merit points come from Castle Lord''s achievement from the outside?"


    Heller''s amazed eyes made Zhang Tie bashful once again. With the exception of his looks and personality, Heller was also very enterprising, which, in contrast, made Zhang Tie feel that he was just a rich second generation.


    "I mean that although I could acquire some basic energy storage from outside, that could only be done on the premise that the Castle of Black Iron was not exposed. Actually, each time I carried those materials into the Castle of Black Iron to throw them into the pool of chaos, I was taking a risk. With my current ability, I cannot ensure that anyone wouldn''t hurt me and my loved ones once they know my secret. Am I clear?" Zhang Tie put it in a straightforward manner.


    "This is truly a problem!" Heller thought it for a while before revealed another fascinating smile, "But I don''t know whether Castle Lord has noticed that with trips after the Castle of Black Iron had completed it''s upgrade¡ª¡ªthe interactive mode between the Castle Lord and the Castle of Black Iron through the space door has been established! At this moment, has the color of that space door in your mind has become verdant?"


    "Yes, it has!" Zhang Tie recalled that information in his mind when he was in the auction before nodding, "You reminded me, I still don''t know it means by ''Spiritual connection and interaction between Castle Lord and the Castle of Black Iron through the space door has been established'' even now.


    "It means that from now on, Castle Lord can directly send the items from outside to the inside of Castle of Black Iron or take the items inside out of the Castle of Black Iron. You don''t have to access the arc door any more. You only need to hold an item and interact with space door of the Castle of Black Iron using your spirit. That item would then be automatically absorbed in or spat out. Items that are absorbed into the Castle of Black Iron would fall into your designated place or directly into the pool of chaos while the items that are spat out of the Castle of Black Iron through the space door would appear in your hand!"


    Zhang Tie eyes seemed to have popped from their sockets.


    "Castle Lord, don''t be that amazed. It''s just the most basic, portable storage function of the Castle of Black Iron. Previously, when you integrated with the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree, this function had already been started. However, at that time, the creator of this space hadn''t expected that your spiritual energy would be that low. Therefore, this function was always unavailable until your spiritual energy reached the minimum requirements for activating this function!"


    Zhang Tie finally understood, but he still couldn''t fully accept it. Previously, he was wondering why he had to add basic energy storage into such an advanced space equipment by doing labor work like accessing the Castle of Black Iron in such a time-consuming and labor-intensive way. It turned out that that was because his low spiritual energy could not start these basic functions of the Castle of Black Iron at all just like how a weak kid could not even rotate the wheel and engage the gear of a car. This was really the most aspiring news today, "You mean I don''t have to access the Castle of Black Iron to move in the items in and out?"


    "Right, that''s the basic space storage function of Castle of Black Iron. Based on your current spiritual energy, any item that you could move could be freely moved in and out of the Castle of Black Iron. Although this process would also consume your spiritual energy, compared to the former situation that you took items in and out by yourself, in this way, you could reduce the consumption of spiritual energy by 50%!"


    ...


    Several minutes later, after Zhang Tie left the Castle of Black Iron, Heller officially took over the management on the mutation and evolution of the three living beings in the Castle of Black Iron¡ª¡ªbees, earthworms and the basic aura yeast that has experienced mutation and evolution once.


    Of course, the first round of mutation and evolution of the bees had failed. For the second round, Heller suggested to increase the input of aura value points in the queen bee. For earthworms, if they could succeed in one round of mutation and evolution, in Heller''s words, the task of fertilizing the fields in the Castle of Black Iron would be their job. To realize this, Heller also changed the evolutionary pattern on earthworms from that of a collective pattern to an individual pattern. He would choose three earthworms and input 3 merit value points and 300 aura value points into each of them several times. The possibility of success would be higher in this way. Once it succeeded, the earthworms would gain greater reproductive abilities and reproduce a large amount of earthworms in the Castle of Black Iron.


    For the evolution of the basic aura yeast, Zhang Tie didn''t pay too much attention to it. After the yeast successfully evolved, it would be 100 times more difficult for them to complete the second evolution. Therefore, in a short period, Zhang Tie could almost ignore them.


    As a space spirit being, Heller had great freedom to manage the Castle of Black Iron. But all the usage on the basic energy storage, merit value points and aura value points of Castle of Black Iron had to be approved by Zhang Tie in advance. Therefore, the Castle of Black Iron was still under the control of Zhang Tie.


    The moment he thought there would be some people working for him in the Castle of Black Iron form today on, Zhang Tie really felt like being a landlord. The best part, Heller and his three subordinates didn''t need compensation...ha...ha...ha


    ...


    Zhang Tie then reappeared in the bathroom in the hotel.


    Standing there, he looked around the bath covered with beautiful Mosaic tiles. After rolling his eyes, he took up soap from the sink of the bathroom before connecting his spiritual energy with the space door. At this time, the space door felt like a mirror. After casting his spiritual energy onto the space door, it would "project" a weird and unstable wave onto Zhang Tie''s hand. After adjusting it several times, that weird wave became stable and fully "locked" onto the soap in Zhang Tie''s hand. Zhang Tie felt like he had put his hand into a storage compartment. Once he loosened his grip, the soap in his hand would drop off.


    Several seconds later, the soap in Zhang Tie''s hand suddenly disappeared like performing conjuring tricks and appeared on the table of the lab in the Castle of Black Iron. Several seconds later, the soap reappeared. After that, it disappeared and reappeared once again. Zhang Tie was so excited that he tried this for many times like a kid. He found that the spiritual energy that he would consume to carry a small soap in or out of the Castle of Black Iron was so low that it could even be directly ignored. Finally when that soap disappeared from Zhang Tie''s hand, it directly fell into the pool of chaos in the Castle of Black Iron and served as a bit of basic energy storage for the Castle of Black Iron.


    Seeing a mouth-rinsing glass in the bathroom, Zhang Tie took up the glass as he started to focus his spiritual energy onto that spring in the Castle of Black Iron through the marvelous arc door. Gradually, something amazing happened as a lot of water directly poured in the glass from the air which even flowed out, causing Zhang Tie''s hand and sleeve to become wet.


    The water then stopped pouring in, leaving the water level at the mouth of the glass waving back and forth. "Bottoms up!", Zhang Tie burst out laughing loudly.


    This basic storage function of Castle of Black Iron was marvelous. Truly marvelous!


    Leaving the bathroom, Zhang Tie whistled and returned to the parlor. He glanced at the clock hanging on the wall of the parlor and found it was almost 1:00 pm. Therefore, Zhang Tie pulled down one end of the service rope of the parlor, the other end of which was connected to the information desk on the same floor by a fine copper pipe.


    2 minutes later, that serviceman who had received Zhang Tie''s "tip" pushed open Zhang Tie''s door with a dining car and entered.


    "How about the news?"


    "The representatives of the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire had hurriedly left Kalur City in cars after they left the auction house, one to the north gate of Kalur, the other to the south gate of Kalur."


    "Well, it''s okay. You can take away the tableware on the table and leave" Zhang Tie wove his hand.


    After gaining 1 gold coins so easily, the serviceman happily cleaned up the dining table and left politely.


    "It seems that the plan to hunt the red-muling of the Sun Dynasty would fail. But, I''ve achieved too much today. I''d better be not get too greedy."


    "Before returning to Jinyun Country, I''d better not make any trouble."


    Thinking of it in this way, Zhang Tie instantly felt relieved.


    As there was a subordinate auction in the afternoon, after looking at the time, Zhang Tie took a seat in the room quietly and started to recover his spiritual energy by practicing mental arithmetic by abacus.


    After what happened today, Zhang Tie realized that his spiritual energy was far more important than he had imagined as spiritual energy was required to polish burning points, activate the Trouble-Reappearance Situation, form the binding chain, and even to use the basic space storage function of Castle of Black Iron. Perhaps, there were many more functions of spiritual energy to be used for...

 262 News

    Chapter 262: News


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    The man who travels far knows more¡ª¡ªthis was what Donder always said before. After attending the auction in the morning, Zhang Tie truly understood the meaning of those words. Therefore, he was determined to attend that subordinate auction in the afternoon even if they didn''t auction anything else except for golden uangs.


    For Zhang Tie, an average juvenile who had grown up in Blackhot City since he was born, this auction was definitely a good opportunity to broaden his horizons. If not for selling that rune ring, it might take Zhang Tie many years to attend such an auction.


    The first subordinate auction at 2:00 pm was exclusively for medicament and medical pills. In this auction, Zhang Tie caught sight of the low-level and medium recovery medicament. The low-level recovery medicament was auctioned in terms of batches. Each batch of low-level recovery medicament contained 50 vials. The bottom price for each batch of low-level recovery medicament was 1200 gold coins. The selling price for most low-level recovery medicament was about 1800 gold coins. In this subordinate auction, there were 86 batches of low-level recovery medicament that would be sold. After the bidding for the first group, the following offers and auctions went by very quickly. Most of the first offers in the following rounds would be close to the transaction price. Therefore, the 86 groups of low-level recovery medicament were soon sold.


    Low-level recovery medicament could cure most bruises. As Zhang Tie had the preliminary recovery body, he didn''t need these low-level recovery medicament. However, he was concerned about his friends in Blackhot City, therefore, Zhang Tie bought one batch of low-level recovery medicament in the price of 1860 gold coins.


    Medium recovery medicament was also sold in terms of batches with ten vials in each. The starting price was 1400 gold coins for each batch. The final transaction price was about 2100 gold coins.


    What made Zhang Tie curious was that he had not seen advanced recovery medicament in the auction.


    "Grandpa, why is there there no advanced recovery medicament at this auction?" A person in a brass mask sitting in front of him turned his head and asked a person dressed in the same way sitting beside him. Obviously, Zhang Tie was not the only one who was in doubt.


    "Perhaps, this grandpa and grandson also here to broaden their horizons." Zhang Tie thought inside.


    "Only a few alchemists can produce advanced recovery medicament. which would have long been ordered by those big powers the moment they went to the market. These items could rapidly cure one''s wounds and save people''s lives. Last year, a few advanced recovery medicament were still auctioned here, yet no more this year. At the same time, the price of low-level recovery medicament and medium recovery medicament also rose by 30% and 50% respectively in the last year and fewer flew into the market, alas..." The old man finally let out a sigh.


    "How could that be?"


    "Because winter is coming." The old man said in a low voice.


    When the old man said this, the others beside also heard it. However, they all kept silent.


    After the golden uangs, Zhang Tie saw some more marvelous medicament, among which, he caught sight of a set of concealment agents. A set of concealment medicament was composed of pupil-dying medicament, skin-changing medicament, hair-dying medicament and bleaching medicament. After dropping the pupil-dying medicament into eyes, the color of one''s pupil would change. After drinking a skin-changing medicament, one''s skin color would change. Hair-dying medicament was more convenient. You only needed to comb it onto your hair. Compared to that face-changing mask left by Donder, this seemed to be another way of disguising oneself. Especially the pupil-dying agent and hair-dying medicament, which looked more like woman''s cosmetics. Only the skin-changing agent was the true drinkable medicament. The effect of this set of concealment medicament could last 2 months. If you wanted to recover your original look before the concealment medicament lost its effect, you only needed to drink the bleaching medicament. This made it very convenient.


    Compared to the former expensive items, this set of concealment medicament was not expensive as its starting price was only a bit more than 100 gold coins. Few people would like to bid for it as they felt it was useless. Therefore, Zhang Tie successfully bought 3 sets of cross-dressing medicament at the cost of less than 400 gold coins in total.


    In the next auction, Zhang Tie successfully bought 4 batches of golden uangs. It seemed that many alchemists attended this auction. Therefore, according to the rules of the Sauls auction house, each attendee could only bid for 4 batches of the same items. This made Zhang Tie''s plan to buy over 10 batches of golden uangs to raise his real strength all at once in a short period fail.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie found that when he raised his board to bid for the third batch of golden uangs, everybody focused their eyes on him. Almost nobody would compete with him as they all turned their heads to watch him, seemingly wanting to see through his brass mask. This made Zhang Tie''s heart race as he didn''t know that he had stood out so much. When Zhang Tie raised his board for the 4th batch of golden uangs, even wearing two masks, Zhang Tie still felt his face was itchy as the others'' gazes made his face feel hot. In addition, even the auctioneer became more respectful to him. Like before, the 4th batch of golden uangs were also bought by Zhang Tie without any competitor.


    It wasn''t until this auction ended did Zhang Tie know why he became so eye-catching.


    ...


    "Master!" When Zhang Tie wanted to leave, some people in the same house walked towards Zhang Tie and held him back. After that, Zhang Tie was surrounded by a great amount of people.


    "Master? When did I become a master?" Zhang Tie felt strange as he asked, "What do you hold me back for?"


    Because Zhang Tie had eaten a voice-changing pill, nobody could judge his age from his low voice. Additionally, Zhang Tie was not tall. All this made people mistake Zhang Tie as an old man. In this case, they would always feel that Zhang Tie was a master in their heart¡ª¡ªold age, aloof, arrogant and lonely.


    "We are all alchemists who have attended the auction. We all come from the cities of the former Andaman Alliance. As there''s a party of alchemists in the mansion at the top of the hotel, whether we have the honor to invite you there..."


    "I''m not a master!" Although Zhang Tie didn''t know why they mistook him for a master, but Zhang Tie still told them the truth. Although Zhang Tie was curious about the alchemists'' party, he also knew that if he directly went there, he would definitely be revealed by others to the public. He didn''t want to have so many enemies who were alchemists and felt they were being made fun of. Looking around the brass masks, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as a thought popped into his head¡ª¡ªthe master Abyan of Blackhot City might be among them. As he had killed Samira, he must have offended master Abyan. In this case, Zhang Tie didn''t dare to attend that party at all.


    Zhang Tie was right as Abyan was really among the alchemists, not only that, he was among the crowd before him.


    Under the brass mask, master Abyan shone with a weird brilliance. With eyes fixed on Zhang Tie who was also wearing the mask, Abyan was planning something.


    "As this master could buy 4 groups of golden uangs in the auction at once, they must be used to make strength-enhancing medicament. If you only wanted to study them, you don''t have to buy so many golden uangs at once. Although some red-robe alchemists among us have mastered some secret about some strength-enhancing medicament using golden uangs, only real yellow-robe alchemists could master the full secret to absorb true strength from golden uangs. It would be our great honor if we could receive even a bit of your guidance!" Saying this, that person bowed towards Zhang Tie once again, while all the other alchemists bowed towards Zhang Tie.


    In the world of alchemists, the powerful ones would always be respected. As a red-robe alchemist, Abyan could be called master in Blackhot City, then, as a yellow-robe alchemist who could stand on the brilliant stage of the 7th level of alchemists in the world was qualified to be called master in more places. Additionally, even among the entire circle of alchemists, a yellow-robe alchemist could still garner respect.


    Zhang Tie silently swallowed his saliva as he considered how to solve this problem. He couldn''t have imagined that only by bidding for some batches of golden uangs would he be brought so much trouble. "How should I deal with this? I shouldn''t attend the party." He knew he could not offend so many alchemists at the moment as it could bring him many troubles. If he wasn''t bidding for the 4 batches of golden uangs for making strength-enhancing medicament, what did he bid on so many for? If there''s truly someone who was able ask him thoroughly on this affair, he would cause quite a stir.


    As he could not think out other methods, Zhang Tie could only start the "Cave Barbarian Survival Mode" once again.


    "I will not attend your party, I like to stay alone!" Zhang Tie answered without any mood.


    "If so, where do you live, master? Whether do we have a chance to visit your mansion to learn from you!"


    "I''ve told you. I don''t like to be bothered!"


    At this moment, many people had looked disappointed and unsatisfied. In their eyes, they''ve already been too polite; however, this weird yellow-robe alchemist was really rude.


    Having worked in Donder''s grocery store for so long, Zhang Tie sensed the dissatisfaction in the air.


    "However, as I have met all of you here today, I will not let you down. I''ve got some experiences which might help you save a bit time on your way ahead!¡® Zhang Tie said in a solemn way.


    "Please!" The other people bowed towards Zhang Tie for a third time.


    Thinking of the paragraphs on the Fruit of Redemption that he saw for the first time, Zhang Tie slowly pulled out a sentence, "The secret of the strength-enhancing medicament is not in the genes of the golden uangs but in the extraction of the spiritual fire from golden uangs!"


    The moment Zhang Tie said this, the red-robe alchemists including master Abyan were shocked as they bowed towards Zhang Tie for the 4th time in a way 10 times more respectful than last time.


    Most of the alchemists in the surroundings were familiar with each other. At the sight of these red-robe alchemists'' attitude, they would definitely understand the value of Zhang Tie''s tip. Therefore, they also hurriedly bowed towards Zhang Tie. Meanwhile, they firmly bore Zhang Tie''s words in mind. "May I have your name, master?" In a brass mask, Abyan moved one step forward as he asked respectfully.


    "I won''t stay in Kalur City for too long. Therefore, my name is not that important!" Zhang Tie wove his hand like a real powerhouse and didn''t ignore these people any more. He then directly walked towards the gate. As a result, all the other alchemists gave a way to him and saw him off in the most respectful attitude.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that the words that he extracted from the the paragraph on the Fruit of Redemption could really frighten these people. Therefore, Zhang Tie silently let out a sigh.


    "Never be that eye-catching any more." Zhang Tie seriously warned himself.


    ...


    Soon after he returned to his room, he had received what he had bid for in the auctions¡ª¡ª1 crystal pyramid, 1 group of low-level recovery medicament and 3 sets of concealment medicament. The staff of the Sauls auction house who had sent those items here told Zhang Tie that after deducting the price of the three items from the final price of that rune ring, all the rest money money had been transferred to the Golden Roc Bank. Zhang Tie could withdraw the cash over there.


    "Where are the four batches of golden uangs?" Zhang Tie asked him, which was also what he was concerned about the most.


    "All the golden uangs in this auction come from the exclusive farm of an elder of the Alchemists Association in Carlow Federal. According to the conventions, after the auction ended, the Alchemists Association would carry those golden uangs into Kalur City by airship. It would take 5 days. Therefore, the delivery time of the golden uangs is 5 days later!" The staff answered.


    "5 days? That''s alright." The seller was that generous, even though it seemed to be a convention. Zhang Tie then agreed. Additionally, he would also wait for the news about his family members in Kalur City during this period.


    Zhang Tie then continued to live in the hotel. He only did three things a day¡ª¡ªEat, sleep and cultivate.


    On the second day, when Zhang Tie watched the view from afar using a telescope on the balcony of the hotel, he really didn''t see the airships of the Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty fight any more while the columns of smoke in the distance also reduced a lot.


    On the third day, no column of smoke could be seen in the mountainous area. At the same time, he heard the news that the Sun Dynasty and the Norman Empire would cease the war.


    During this short period, through practice everyday, Zhang Tie had adapted to the storage function of the Castle of Black Iron. Now, Zhang Tie could fill a glass with water from the spring in the Castle of Black Iron in a very smooth manner. He wouldn''t let even a drop of water flow out of the glass.


    After being completely familiar with this new function, Zhang Tie found that function was limited to a certain degree. For instance, Zhang Tie could not bring living beings into the Castle of Black Iron. Similarly, he could not bring out living beings out of Castle of Black Iron, even a mosquito.


    Thankfully, he could teleport plants into Castle of Black Iron through this function and order A''gan, Aziz and Edward to sow them in the field. But he could not move even a grass out of Castle of Black Iron though this function, unless that grass had been pulled out of the soil.


    Heller told Zhang Tie that this was the biggest feature of the space storage function. Because the space door in Zhang Tie''s mind could only open due to the soul waves of Zhang Tie as a carbon-based life form, Zhang Tie was the only spiritual life form who could access Castle of Black Iron for free. Other spiritual lives could not be brought in until that space door was opened for Zhang Tie.


    On the 4th day, Zhang Tie finally received the news from his family members and the Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace.

 263 Home Affair

    Chapter 263: Home Affair


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Even if sending messages was expensive, Zhang Tie''s family members still kept him up to date on all happenings within the family through remote communications.


    Thirty years ago, Zhang Tie''s father, Zhang Ping, was just an average member of the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace in Jinhai City. Zhang Ping was simply an unknown youth amongst the young talents of the Zhang clan in Jinhai City, let alone across Huaiyuan Palace. He was a commoners in all aspects.


    Zhang Ping''s father, also Zhang Tie''s grandfather, managed a large-scale shipyard in Jinhai City. Therefore, his family was rich and pretty reputable in Jinhai City. Zhang Ping''s mother, also Zhang Tie''s grandmother, was just the 4th wife. Zhang Tie''s father wasn''t even the eldest son, but the 3rd son of the 4th wife. Additionally, Zhang Tie''s grandmother passed away early on. Zhang Tie''s father became less influential. Although Zhang Ping didn''t have to worry about living, in a big family with fierce competition, if you lost the concern of an important elder, sometimes you might have to face dangers one would never face before.


    Zhang Ping''s father was born with a mild temperament. Although his family conditions were not bad, he was average and he possessed no special talents. If he was born in an average household, he might able to live as he wished. However, he was born in a major power like the Huaiyuan Palace. Therefore, it became Zhang Ping''s illusion to live as he wished.


    For people like Zhang Tie''s father, even though he was average, he was still a descendant of the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace, which meant that he was doomed to be involved in various matters.


    That year, Zhang Ping was forced to get married. He was selected by the Clansman Pavilion of Huaiyuan Palace. Together with the other 7 male descendants of Zhang clan, he would marry into and live with the bride''s family, another big clan in Jinyun Country.


    In this day and age, amongst big clans, especially big Chinese clans in countries like Jinyun Country which was under the control of some big Chinese clans, connections through marriage became extremely common yet very important.


    It was common because in this age, besides connecting with big Chinese clans through marrying daughters, marrying sons was also commonly seen. For Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace, each year, many male and female youths with other family names would marry in. Meanwhile, many female and male youths with the family name of Zhang would marry into other big clans.


    These connections through marriage were very important because it was closely related to how many people among the descendants of Zhang family would awaken their ancestral bloodlines¡ª¡ªa great, unique talent of Chinese people. Generally speaking, the descendants of people who had awakened their ancestral bloodlines would also have a very high probability of awakening their ancestral bloodlines. Even other ancestral bloodlines that their forefathers hadn''t awoken the possibility of being awakened. The more descendants of a Chinese clan that could awaken an ancestral bloodline, the greater the clan would become.


    Count Changfeng Zhang Huaiyuan, the founder of Huiayuan Palace of the Zhang clan had awakened a very powerful ancestral bloodline. Therefore, even though the direct line of descendants of Zhang clan were average, they still had the blood of Count Huaiyuan. If they could carry on the family line, they would be very useful.


    Any big clan could not be sustained without fresh blood. Therefore, connections between big clans of the equal social position by marriage had also became the important occurrences in order to maintain the vitality of clans and absorb the the bloodline capabilities of other clans.


    It was more like bloodline exchange between big clans.


    Those who could connect with Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace through marriage were also powerful clans in Jinyun Country.


    During this process, those male youths being married in other clans basically met the following requirements: first, they had not awakened the ancestral bloodline as the direct descendant of the clan and had no special talent nor position in the clan; second, they were healthy; third, they looked good and were well-behaved.


    Each year, men coming of age among clans who could meet the above three conditions would marry into other clans through drawing lots. This had almost become the tradition of each clan, not being exclusive to Zhang clan.


    Unfortunately, Zhang Tie''s father met the above conditions when he came of age and was selected through the drawing of lots. Therefore, he was going to marry in another clan on behalf of Zhang clan in a glorious way.


    However, Zhang Ping didn''t wish to allow this to come to pass as he had already fallen in love with a Chinese girl in Jinhai City. Although the girl was born into an average family, she was diligent, kind and good at making rice brew. The first time they saw each other, they fell in love and pledged to marry each other with parental permission. At that time, the two of them had already agreed to get married in one year. However, hearing the result of drawing lots, Zhang Ping immediately fell into abyss.


    Almost no man would like marrying into another clan. Therefore, the process of drawing lots was totally open and fair; the result also became the authoritative order of the clan that nobody could resist. In the early years, even the grandson of an elder of the Huaiyuan Palace could not avoid being selected through drawing lots. He could only leave Huaiyuan Palace with tears in his eyes. let alone Zhang Ping.


    As Huaiyuan Palace had very strict family regulations, in front of such a fact, Zhang Tie''s father had no chance to struggle or resist.


    Having been average for so long, Zhang Ping struggled in front of the decision of Zhang clan and made the bravest decision in his life¡ª¡ªeloping with Zhang Tie''s mother. Before elopement, in order to escape from Huaiyuan Palace''s arrest, Zhang Ping even faked his own death.


    Zhang Ping succeeded. Nobody could have imagined that Zhang Ping who was always average before could do this.


    Zhang Ping then eloped with Zhang Tie''s mother and settled in Blackhot City, which was over 10,000 km away from Huaiyuan Palace. Although they suffered a hard life, they were still happy.


    They could have lived on like this except for the accident in which Zhang Tie had awakened his ancestral blood tie during the period that he attended survival training. What Zhang Tie awakened was "precise throw". One the day he ignited his rear end burning point and activated his Strength of Qi and Strength of Blood, Zhang Tie''s situation had been sensed by the blood-soul crystal of Zhang clan. Zhang clan searched for him for a long time yet didn''t find him on the pedigree of Zhang clan, the Family Elders Association of Zhang clan were infuriated and delivered the order to figure it out. Finally, with the help of the huge family machine of Huaiyuan Palace, the fact of Zhang Ping''s false death was figured out. Through some secret channels and clan relationships, Huaiyuan Palace found Zhang Tie''s household in Blackhot City.


    This time, Zhang Ping really committed a felony.


    He refused Zhang clan''s order and failed to fulfill his responsibility as a descendant of the Zhang clan. Then, he eloped with a girl by making a false death scene to cheat the Clansman Pavilion of Zhang clan. Although he would not be punished with death, he would suffer an extremely heavy punishment.


    After being directly taken away by the elders of Clansman Pavilion from the Blackhot City, the moment Zhang Ping arrived at the territory of Zhang clan, he was immediately taken away by the law-enforcement team of Zhang clan and beaten in the prison of Zhang clan. Thankfully, Zhang Tie''s mother, Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie''s elder sister-in-law were safe and sound.


    Right then, Golden Roc Bank brought Zhang Tie''s message to Zhang Tie''s family members.


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s news, Zhang Yang hurriedly went to see the elders of the Clansman Pavilion of Zhang clan and would like to exonerate Zhang Tie''s father in the secret of "mental arithmetic by abacus" that Zhang Tie had discovered. When Zhang Yang sent a message to Zhang Tie in Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Ping was still in the prison as the elders of Zhang clan were still arguing about Zhang Yang''s position.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s family were really experiencing hardships in Huaiyuan Palace.


    ¡ª¡ªDad is in a great trouble now. Huaiyuan Palace had strict, unwavering family regulations. Two uncles have helped us to settle down in Jinhai City and looked after us a lot. Because we haven''t gotten your news and father was taken away by others, your mother has been sick and bed ridden. She even called your name in her sleep.


    Wishing you a fast return!


    By the end of the letter, Zhang Tie burst out tears. He couldn''t wait to fly to Huaiyuan Palace to stay with his family and save his father from prison.


    Zhang Tie thought that nobody was wrong on the elopement between his mother and father. It was just a matter of stance. Zhang Tie unconditionally supported and cared about his own parents. But he also knew that big clans always had strict family regulations. What his dad had done truly had violated the family regulations. It would not be possible for the Huaiyuan Palace to just ignore it. Such actions would risk the stability of the clan and prevent its continued longevity. What was the most important for Zhang Tie now was to leave here at once and stay with his family. If he stayed with his family, nothing could not be overcome.


    Huaiyuan Palace had also sent a message to Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªAn airship of the Changfeng Business Group under the affiliation of Huaiyuan Palace would arrive at Kalur in 9 days. After it arrived at Kalur, Zhang Tie could return to the Huaiyuan Palace on it.


    Before the airship arrived at Kalur, Zhang Tie estimated that he had enough time to go back to Blackhot City to bid farewell to his friends. This time, Zhang Tie didn''t know when he would have a chance to come back to Blackhot City in the future.


    The third holy war between humans and demons would soon start, which was gradually beginning to show on many different fronts. Zhang Tie didn''t know what would happen in a few years or even tomorrow.


    Zhang Tie''s premonition was right. When the chaotic world arrived, nobody could tell him what would happen tomorrow. The golden uangs that he had bought in the auction should have arrived at Kalur City on the next morning; yet, they didn''t. On the same day, many people heard a more shocking news than that the Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty waging war towards the former Andaman Alliance several months ago.


    ¡ª¡ªThe whole clan of an elder of the Alchemists Association in Carol Commonwealth of the Blackson Human Clan Corridor which was consisted of 1876 people was culled over night. All the clan members had been killed.


    The clan of this elder of Alchemists Association was the only one which mastered the skills necessary to breed golden uangs and other mutated animals which could be used to produce important medicament. Its disappearance was a disaster to all the alchemists. Without the key raw materials, alchemists across the Blackson Human Clan Corridor would not able to produce some marvelous medicament, including low-level recovery medicament, medium recovery medicament and advanced recovery medicament and some other medicament that could be used to increase personal strength.


    It required an extremely amazing strength to exterminate such a clan with so many powerhouses over night. Even the an entire division of an army could not do this over night. However, what was strange was that the killers didn''t leave any mark, it was like they simply evaporated into nothing. The elder''s clan along with its breeding farms in Carol Commonwealth were directly burned into ashes. The killer''s methods was really terrifying.


    Since the second holy war between human beings and demons, there had been no elder of Alchemists Association being killed for over 200 years. What was more, this elder''s entire clan was eradicated. This was like throwing a bomb into water that already had ripples. Its effect was evident. Even Zhang Tie who was far away in Kalur City also became the victim of this event. As a result, Zhang Tie''s Fruit of Redemption based on golden uangs became history.


    Hearing this news, all the alchemists in Kalur City became dumbfounded.


    The Kalor Commonwealth and the Alchemists Association were infuriated. Two orders for arrest with the highest reward amount of 500,000 gold coins respectively spread over the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor in one day.


    "Is this the prelude of a chaotic world?" Zhang Tie was truly shocked.


    On the same day, with the help of the Golden Roc Bank, Zhang Tie stepped onto the train heading for Blackhot City from Kalur City.


    7 days later, Zhang Tie returned to Kalur safely. Before he came back from Blackhot City, he even went to Blapei. After leaving Blapei, Zhang Tie went to the base of the Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division. When he left the Iron-Blood Camp, Colonel Reinhardt and Major Guderian even drove Zhang Tie to the Kalur City where they bade each other farewell.


    "Hopefully, we will have a chance to see each other again!" Major Guderian tightly hugged Zhang Tie.


    "Hopefully, we''ll be alive to see you next time!" Zhang Tie took out a caddy from his pocket and gave it to Guderian, "If there''s a chance, give this to the Freo''s family for me!"


    Guderian opened the caddy. It was Zhang Tie''s Iron-Blood Medal. Major Guderian nodded as he solemnly took it.


    Zhang Tie then tightly hugged with Reinhardt.


    "Come on, boy, I feel you might able to form Iron-Blood battle qi!"


    "It''s not a possibility, it''ll happen!" Zhang Tie smiled, "I can tell you for sure that when we meet each other next time, you will not defeat me!"


    Reinhardt then burst out laughing loudly...


    ...


    On the 2nd day since Zhang Tie returned to Kalur City, the airship of Changfeng Business Group had arrived. It carried many expensive commodities, tea leaves and silk from the Eastern Continent to trade with some business groups in Kalur City.


    On a morning with chilly wind, Zhang Tie boarded the airship for the first time. Then, the airship rose into the air and flew away along the wind...


    Zhang Tie, who was going back to Huaiyuan Palace was almost a LV 5 warrior.

 264 On the Way Back

    Chapter 264: On the Way Back


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    After his interest in the airship faded during the first two days of flight, the following days gradually became boring. Even above Blackson Human Clan Corridor, Zhang Tie still could not easily see human cities through the porthole.


    When he looked down through the porthole of the airship he saw many of the same scenes. Continuous hills, rippling ranges, grasslands and endless forests. Everywhere he experienced was deserted and sparsely populated. He could not even see big towns or villages, let alone cities. After all, compared to the area of the whole Blackson Human Clan Corridor, the population here was too small. Due to people gathering in the cities in order to be protected by city walls, the chance to see a large-scaled human settlement outside of city walls would be very low.


    Boarding the airship, Zhang Tie was placed in a berth cabin. After being bored with the tedious scenery outside the porthole, with the exception of eating and sleeping, Zhang Tie would always stay in his own berth cabin and quietly carried out his cultivation that could never be imagined by commoners.


    He took out of the Class-5 crystal pyramid and put it under his bed. When he cultivated, he would sit on the top of the pyramid with a thin bed plate in between. The top of the pyramid was rightly facing towards the surge point on his rear end. Compared to the crystals that he used before, this Class-5 crystal pyramid''s effect was much more powerful. With this Class-5 crystal pyramid, he could obviously polish his surge points faster using his spiritual energy.


    Even when he didn''t cultivate, the special effect of the crystal pyramid still made his cabin full of a comfortable energy and allowed him a clear mind.


    The airship that Zhang Tie took was a large-scale hard-type airship which was longer than 200 m and almost as high as 70 m. The normal navigation speed of this airship was 110 km/h, which was a medium speed. Besides Zhang Tie whose status was special, there were 50 more passengers who left Kalur for Jinyun Country, including old, young, male and female. Many of them seemed like a family. At least from their clothing and personalities, Zhang Tie knew that they were the upper class who had received good education.


    Zhang Tie was able to guess as to the reason why these people would leave Kalur. These people were all figures with sensitive judgment in the former Andaman Alliance. They had already noticed the potential dangers from this sudden war and many other signals. Therefore, they had started to leave the cities in the former Andaman Alliance and headed for the safer and more ideal places in their minds.


    Jinyun Country would probably be the better place in their minds.


    On the 4th day after the airship left Kalur, it landed to replenish coal, water and some other materials in a strange city. After rearranging for several hours on the ground, it continued its journey.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought it would be safe by airship. However, the fact was that, in this age, any trip outside the city walls would not be very safe.


    On the 6th day, the airship encountered its first attack in the air.


    At that time, Zhang Tie was in meditation. The urgent and short steam whistles woke him up. Zhang Tie then heard someone shouting loudly outside the berth cabin, "We are encountering attacks from dangerous creatures. We are encountering attacks from dangerous creatures. Everybody in place. Everybody in place. Passengers are to stay in their cabins!"


    After that, Zhang Tie heard urgent footsteps outside the cabin.


    If it was before, Zhang Tie would definitely stay in the berth cabin just like other passengers. However, the experience in Iron-Blood Camp had changed him. Zhang Tie hurriedly jumped off his bed and opened the door of his cabin before he ran out with the other people.


    As the capsule was 20 m in width, the passageway outside the cabin was not narrow. When Zhang Tie ran out, much of the crew who were in uniform were busy. Some of them rushed to the deck, some rushed to the engine room and the weapon module. At the same time, those passengers who were enjoying the scenery below and taking breath of the fresh air on the opening deck hurried back inside. People who rushed outside like Zhang Tie were only the crew in uniforms.


    "What are you here for?" When Zhang Tie reached the entrance to the deck, a 30-odd year old man immediately widely opened his eyes and stared at Zhang Tie. He was the first mate. When he boarded on the airship, he met him. Therefore, they just knew the opposite one''s surname was Zhang.


    "I was a soldier!" Zhang Tie answered in a low voice, "Perhaps I can help you!"


    The first mate then took a careful look at Zhang Tie. Since this airship set off from Jinyun Country, Huaiyuan Palace sent a message to them to pick a person called Zhang Tie back from Kalur City. The first mate and the captain were the only ones on the whole airship that knew Zhang Tie might be a descendant of Zhang clan living on the outside, who was even wanted by the secret police of the Norman Empire.


    A person who could be wanted by the secret police of Norman Empire was definitely not an incompetent man. Hearing that Zhang Tie was a soldier, the first mate then nodded only after one second, "Okay, the descendants of Huaiyuan Palace truly should not hide from danger!"


    Zhang Tie then rushed onto the deck of the airship together with the first mate. At this time, the covers of the cross bows on the deck had been exposed. Rushing onto the deck, the crew rapidly sat back in their own launching positions to prepare to fire bolts.


    Because this airship was mainly used for cargo instead of military purposes, all the cross bows on the deck were manual. The steam-driven power equipment was only used to provide a driving force for the propellers of the airship.


    Each launch position was matched with three crewman. The one sitting on the launch position put his feet onto an actuator like the pedal of a bike. Then, he started to rapidly move his feet by stepping downward one after another. Driven by the chains and mechanic gears, he completed the first round of actions including winding up and launching preparations. The whole process took him less than 20 seconds.


    "A1 in place..."


    "A2 in place..."


    "A3 in place..."


    "A4 in place..."


    After being prepped for firing, all the launchers started to number off loudly. Zhang Tie looked at them from aside. He found this crew had very high military accomplishments. They could even match the regular army airships of the Norman Empire.


    After the crew prepared well, the two rows of crewmen on both sides of the deck were on their marks, cross bows and bolts in hand.


    "Take it, put it on and buckle up!" The first mate then threw a set of special equipment to Zhang Tie along with a cross bow.


    It was a set of leather equipment, which was akin to an armor. After putting it on, he could fasten the safety buckle onto the two metal sliders fixed on the shipboard. Zhang Tie noticed that all the crewmen on the deck were wearing this equipment including the first mate. They all had fastened their safety buckles onto the metal sliders. Zhang Tie then imitated them. After rapidly putting on his clothes, he also fastened his safety buckle onto it.


    The moment Zhang Tie fastened it well, the airship which was flying ahead immediately accelerated and turned right by greatly inclining rightward, causing the level of the deck incline almost 30 degrees towards right. Zhang Tie felt a strong wind. At the same time, his feet slid as he hurriedly held a metal handle on the deck to stand stably.


    The whole airship drew a huge half arc and adjusted in a direction towards the right. After that, all the crew on the deck saw the dangerous creatures that were attacking the airship.


    They were a flock of huge birds dashing downwards from the cloud in the distance. Zhang Tie focused his eyes and found a flock of black birds were flying towards the airship. They were so huge that each of them would be close to 3 m in width when they extended their wings. There were at least 40-50 huge birds.


    When they drew closer, Zhang Tie could even see the long beaks of those huge birds.


    Standing aside Zhang Tie, the first mate looked solemn as he started to say loudly, "They are Iron-beak Ibis, a LV 4 mutated magical beast. Watch out!"


    The airship avoided their attacks consecutive two times. But these huge birds were closely following the airship.


    Looking at their beaks that were as sharp as swords, then to the gasbags on the top of the airship, Zhang Tie understood that these Iron-beak Ibis might cause huge damages to this airship.


    Although there was a layer of special light-metal protective armor over the gasbags, nobody knew how long that layer of protective armor would stay safe under the continuous attack of those huge birds.


    When these Iron-beak Ibis moved about 200 m away from the airship, the cross bows on the deck and inside the airship fired at the same time.


    After hearing a light "weng" sound, Zhang Tie saw 6 of the dozens of Iron-beak Ibis spurting blood with feathers flying everywhere. Meanwhile, they dropped out of the sky. The other Iron-beak Ibis then fanned their huge wings and accelerated towards the airship.


    In a split second, bolts rained down from the deck. The huge birds were very agile in the air. Though the bolts continued firing, only three Iron-beak Ibis were shot down.


    When those Iron-beak Ibis rushed forward, Zhang Tie didn''t pull the trigger at once. Instead, he just fixed his eyes on one of them. When it had just avoided from a bolt and was close to 80 m away from the airship, Zhang Tie pulled the trigger.


    "Gua!" Among the bird cries, that Iron-beak Ibis was penetrated by Zhang Tie''s bolt and dropped out of the sky.


    Almost the moment the Iron-beak Ibis fell, Zhang Tie heard a weird chatter. He then turned his head and found the first mate was holding a crossbow and shot down another Iron-beak Ibis by making use of the cover given by the spurting blood.


    The first mate seemed not having noticed Zhang Tie''s gaze. He then drew the bow and pulled trigger three consecutive times. One second for one bolt. After three bolts, three sprays of spurts of blood appeared in the sky again.


    The remaining Iron-beak Ibis didn''t rush towards the deck, instead, towards the gasbags. All of a sudden, the jarring sound of rubbing metal drifted above Zhang Tie''s head.


    The airship was under attack!

 265 Fight in the Air I

    Zhang Tie didn''t understand that each time the airship passed by the depopulated zone, it would encounter an attack from some dangerous creatures. However, this attack had obviously brought big trouble to the airship.


    The Iron-beak Ibis had very clear target¡ª¡ªthe gasbag covered with a thin layer of light metal armor. This made Zhang Tie fairly apprehensive. These Iron-beak Ibises were like clear-minded killers, who knew where to attack to make the crew the most terrified.


    The crew on the deck and all the weapons inside were encountering a problem due to the maximum elevation. Once the Iron-beak Ibises reached above the gasbags of the airship, all the weapons would lose their effects. Therefore, the airship was always doing sophisticated maneuvers in the air and exposed those Iron-beak Ibises which were attacking the airship within the shooting angles of the weapons in the cockpits and on the deck.


    The Iron-beak Ibises moved very fast with very clear targets. The airship was like a fierce horse who was harassed and attacked by a flock of gadflies and was dashing and jumping in all directions.


    By then, Zhang Tie finally experienced the function of the deck fighting costume which was connected to the airship through safety buckle and fine steel wires. When the airship was finishing those rapid turns in the sky at the speed of above 100 km/h, if, without this safety equipment, everybody could only tightly hold something, let alone fight against those Iron-beak Ibises with weapons.


    However, all the fighting became harder less than five minutes later.


    Besides the nice combat gains of the first wave of attack, in the later mutual attacks, most of the time, they could not get the proper shooting angles. Most of the crew had poor combat gains. The total combat gains of the four ballista on the deck could not match that of the first mate who used a cross bow. However, the first mate could only hit down less than 8 Iron-beak Ibises.


    Besides the first mate, the most eye-catching one on the deck was Zhang Tie. He had hit down 2 Iron-beak Ibises less than the first mate with his cross bow.


    Each time when the airship created shooting opportunities for the bolt shooting points on both sides of the airship by maneuvering at the maximum efficiency, Zhang Tie would calmly stand on one side of the shipboard. He would use one hand to firmly hold the hydraulic booster slider weighing over 40 kgs to put it on his belt while the other hand would hold the metal handrail beside him to fix himself. He just kept still like a rock and triggered the bow the moment the Iron-beak Ibises flashed across the board of the airship.


    Each time the airship maneuvered towards, left, right, up and down, it could only provide one shooting opportunity for the crew on the deck. The first mate was very proficient when using a cross bow. Therefore, he could send two bolts in one second when the airship turned directions and hit down two more Iron-beak Ibises than Zhang Tie.


    Both the airship and the Iron-beak Ibises were moving very fast. Additionally, those Iron-beak Ibises were very smart. Once the airship changed the direction, all the Iron-beak Ibises then kept close to the gasbag of the airship in the fastest speed, leaving only one second for all the crew to shoot each time.


    For others, seizing the one-second interval and shoot down the Iron-beak Ibises which were flashing by them at the speed of over 200 km/h, was really too difficult. For most of the people, soon after they caught sight of the Iron-beak Ibises would they lose their opportunities to shoot it.


    However, right then, Zhang Tie found that he had adapted to the situation as he could always shoot down an Iron-beak Ibis which was flashing by him each time the airship changed its route. Almost at the same time, when the airship became transiently stable, he then loosed another hand and instantly held the hydraulic booster slider. With a sound of "Kacha", he would have put the next bolt in its place, making the cross bow ready for shooting for the second time.


    On the entire deck, Zhang Tie might not be the one with the most battle gains, he was definitely the most relaxed. Much of the crew couldn''t stand to glance at this juvenile who was only 15-16 years old.


    Zhang Tie was not pretending to be relaxed. He was truly relaxed. With the upsurging spiritual energy, Zhang Tie felt that the speed of the Iron-beak Ibises flying by him was not that fast. In the same period, Zhang Tie even felt like time was slowing down around him. Due to this slowing effect, Zhang Tie could clearly see the flight path of the Iron-beak Ibises. When the others were in a hurry, Zhang Tie triggered his bolt and would always hit the birds down.


    Zhang Tie kept shooting down the Iron-beak Ibises one by one just like how he shot rabbits. Besides Zhang Tie, the first mate who was guiding the others on the deck was dripping in sweat.


    In the soaring wind, a silver light metal armor with the size of 1 square meters slid off one of the gasbags from the airship. With a sound of "Hu", it flew by the crew on the deck at a very fast speed. When it passed by one arm of a crew on the left of the deck, the edge of that thin metal armor cut it, spraying a spurt of blood.


    The crew being wounded kept silent as he still firmly held the cross bow. This time, not only the first mate, everybody else on the deck changed their faces.


    Once the protective armor on the gas bags was torn off by the Iron-beak Ibises, the worst situation would arrive. Although the compartment-patterned gas bags were used, when the first piece of protective armor was torn off, the second protective armor would appear. The moment the protective armor was torn off, some gasbag would definitely leak gas. Although they didn''t feel the impact of leaking gas, if it continued to leak gas like that, after a short while, the speed and maneuverability of the airship would definitely decline, which would be the true start of the disaster for everyone.


    Once the airship lost its floating ability and was forced to land in the wild where was over 1000 km away from the nearest city. The cost that the Huaiyuan palace from 10,000 km away would spend for completing the relief of this damaged airship would even be able to build a new airship like this, let alone whether they could return to cities alive.


    "Zhang Zhitian, Liu Yu, Qian Xitong, you three go upward with your men..." The first mate immediately sent the order.


    Soon after he sent the order, ten more people rushed outside when the airship was going to be stable. They were all carrying their cross bows and started to climb up by pulling the rope ladder that was hanging down from the gasbags in three teams.


    The moment they climbed up, the airship changed its direction once again. Due to its centrifugal force, the teams on the rope ladders started swinging. As they were several thousand meters high, if they fell off, they would break into pieces. At the sight of this, even Zhang Tie''s heart raced.


    The moment the rope ladder was thrown out, the crew on the rope ladders tightly held the ropes. When the rope ladders returned, they then started to climb up once again.


    Zhang Tie recalled the tales of how sailors would fight in the sea as was told by Donder. He had not imagined that the crew on the airship were almost like those sailors. Sometimes, they were in more dangerous situations.


    The sailors fought the sea while the crew of airship fought the sky.


    "Cover them!" The first mate loudly shouted.


    The Iron-beak Ibises swirling around the airship seemed to have discovered some people climbing upward towards the gas bags from the outside of the deck.


    Zhang Tie had not seen Iron-beak Ibises before. However, at this moment, he felt those Iron-beak Ibises were really smart and strange.


    The first mate then shot out two more bolts while Zhang Tie also shot out one bolt. At the same time, all the ballista and cross bowmen shoot bolts towards those Iron-beak Ibises which were attacking the teams of crew climbing on the rope ladders.


    Five more Iron-beak Ibises were killed.


    Under the cover of the others, the crew soon climbed onto the top of the airship through the rope ladders and disappeared within people''s vision. After a short while, when the crew on the deck didn''t shoot anymore, some Iron-beak Ibises started to fall off from the top of the airship. They had already started the counterattack on the top of the airship.


    The Iron-beak Ibises on the top of the airship kept uttering "GUA GUA GUA" while the jarring sound of rubbing metal became less. After another a few Iron-beak Ibises were shot off, fewer Iron-beak Ibises could be killed. Zhang Tie heard those people were growling when they fought Iron-beak Ibises on the top of the airship. At the same time, he heard people and Iron-beak Ibises wailing due to wounds.


    The second piece of metal protective armor fell off. Even Zhang Tie could feel that the airship couldn''t move as fast as before.


    The first mate face grew increasingly gloomy. When he wanted to send the second team of people up, Zhang Tie calmly stood out.


    "Let me try!"


    "You?" The first mate fixed his eyes onto Zhang Tie''s calm face while the others'' eyes also fell onto Zhang Tie, "You might lose your life!"


    "I once served the Iron-Blood Camp of Norman Empire before!" Zhang Tie calmly said.


    Iron-Blood Camp of Norman Empire? The first mate''s eyebrows jumped a bit and made the decision in a split second, "What do you need?"


    Zhang Tie pulled out of a huge steel triangular-headed bolt which was over 1 m in length and 5-6 kg in weight and was specially designed for ballista. It completely mirrored a javelin.


    "Give me two boxes of this kind of bolts!" Each box would contain 25 bolts which weighed over 100 kgs...

 266 Fight in the Air II

    Chapter 266: Fight in the Air II


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Only after serious consideration did the first mate decide to let Zhang Tie have a try because what Zhang Tie had just done represented his true strength.


    The two boxes of bolts were soon taken out. At the head and the end of the Jasper box containing huge bolts, there were movable metal buckles that people could hold.


    Four crewmen of the airship carried the two boxes of bolts onto the deck at their fastest speed.


    "Do you need me to accompany you there?" The first mate asked Zhang Tie.


    "No need, but thanks!" Zhang Tie replied as he fastened the movable metal buckles on the top of the two boxes with a part of the iron chain on the deck so that he could lift them up. Under everyone''s amazing eyes, Zhang Tie lifted the two boxes weighing above 200 kgs by his left hand as he slightly nodded.


    The airship then made another rapid upward rush. After another wave of shooting, two more Iron-beak Ibises were shot down. Before the airship stabilized, Zhang Tie had already started rushing onto one rope ladder from the deck with two boxes in hand and climbed upward.


    When he was on the deck, he didn''t feel it was cold. However, when he climbed several meters upward, Zhang Tie felt that it was very chilly at the 2000-odd m altitude. His face even felt like it was being stung by the chilly wind. When he lowered his head, he found that everything on the land became much smaller. At this moment, what was under his feet was endless marsh and grassland.


    As it was his first time being at such a high altitude, Zhang Tie felt a bit dizzy.


    The animals in the marshland and the grassland seemed to not have noticed the fighting above them at all. Zhang Tie peered at the marshland and found an unknown creature which was much taller and bigger than an elephant was drinking at the waterside. In a split second, it was engulfed by a huge mouth from within the water. After that, the terrifying head which was even bigger than two trains sunk in the water once again, leaving the suddenly flying birds and the ripples on the water.


    If the two animals were not large enough, Zhang Tie could never have noticed them from such a high altitude. At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie directly oozed a cold sweat as he started to understand just how horrifying it was in such a depopulated zone so far away from a city.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what the hell the animal beneath the water was or its level. Even though that creature had already lurked under the water, Zhang Tie could still feel the two huge icy eyes of that animal were gazing at him. It was watching the airship in the air like watching a prey, making Zhang Tie feel cold inside.


    Compared to those unknown living beings in the marshland, undoubtedly the Iron-beak Ibises who were crazily attacking the airship became charming in comparison.


    Even though two boxes of bolts hanging on his arm weighed over 200 kgs, Zhang Tie could still easily climb the rope ladder. In the eyes of those crew and the first mate, the two boxes being tied with an iron chain were absolutely like two empty cardboard boxes. Only the tightening rope ladder that was bearing Zhang Tie''s weight told everybody else that the weight on the rope ladder had already been over 300 kgs. Each step Zhang Tie made would make an extremely forceful deformation on the rope ladder.


    "Cover!" With a loud exclamation from the first mate, the airship turned around again and threw Zhang Tie outward like a swing. At the same time, a wave of bolts flew off the deck and shot towards the Iron-beak Ibises which were rushing towards Zhang Tie. The first mate seized the opportunity and shot twice, shooting down the two Iron-beak Ibises who entered the shooting angles on the deck and wanted to attack Zhang Tie.


    "Sh*t!" Zhang Tie swore inside, feeling that these Iron-beak Ibises were too cunning. After seeing the first three teams of crew climbing upward by the rope ladder, they had already known how to hold Zhang Tie back this time.


    Was each navigation mission of the airship this dangerous? Zhang Tie wondered. This was also Zhang Tie''s first time venturing so far away from a populated area. Previously, both the survival training in the Wild Wolf Valley and the war in Kalur where the Iron-blood Camp fought the Sun Dynasty were not far away from cities. Zhang Tie didn''t have an intuitive feeling about dangers in the wild. However, this time, Zhang Tie truly felt why people in this age would like to stay in the cities with high walls.


    "Watch out!" Someone below shouted loudly.


    This time, there were a total of six Iron-beak Ibises attacking Zhang Tie. Even though three were shot down, there were still another three rushing towards Zhang Tie from different directions. The Iron-beak Ibises'' long bills were thrusting towards Zhang Tie like spears. Besides the bills, if he was scratched by the sharp claws of Iron-beak Ibises, it would be more dangerous than being scratched by the sharp claws of tigers and black bears. After all, they were LV 5 creatures.


    Zhang Tie then swung back again and stayed close to the metal armor over the gas bag. With two boxes hanging over his left arm, his left hand tightly held the rope on the rope ladder. Seeing the two Iron-beak Ibises drawing close to him in a split second and intending to attack him, Zhang Tie narrowed his eyes.


    When the hearts of the crew on the deck raced, a silver light like a swimming snake suddenly appeared in the air.


    When this silver light like a swimming snake appeared, the distance between the sharp bill of the Iron-beak Ibis which was closest to Zhang Tie and the latter was only 50 cm while the distance between the other two Iron-beak Ibises and Zhang Tie was respectively 2 m away and 3 m away.


    Zhang Tie was like a live target hanging in the air.


    "It''s over! If this brat didn''t show off and just stayed on the deck, he might be able to shoot off several more Iron-beak Ibises..." Many crewmen who were gazing at Zhang Tie suddenly thought up this.


    However, after that, the silver light like a swimming snake appeared.


    In a split second, it was raining blood while three Iron-beak Ibises turned into 6 pieces of corpses and dropped off the air. Due to wind direction, that blood rain even sprayed and dyed the faces of the row of the crew who were holding cross bows and were close to the shipboard on Zhang Tie''s side.


    With the exception of the first mate, nobody else had seen clearly how had Zhang Tie launched the attack.


    After this round of attack, Zhang Tie accelerated his climbing speed. Moving faster with his feet and hands, Zhang Tie arrived at the top of the airship which was dozens of meters higher than the deck in a short while.


    The first batch of the crew which had landed on the top of the airship were all suffering from wounds. About more than 10 Iron-beak Ibises were surrounding these crew and attacking them. Among the wounded crew, two of them had already laid on the metal armors. Buckling up their protective clothing onto the rope ladder, the crew were divided into two groups and were protecting the two lying wounded soldiers from being attacked further by Iron-beak Ibises.


    The present fighting scene was very fierce while the fresh blood from both men and birds were spraying everywhere.


    As this location was so close to the port side of the airship at the top, Zhang Tie found one protective armor of a gas bag had slid off. Even in the heavy wind, he could still hear the sound of "si...si..." from that place, where the gas was constantly leaking outside of the gas bag. However, being not far from this damaged gasbag, other metal armors that were being attacked by Iron-beak Ibises were also tottering.


    "Go to hell!" The moment he climbed onto the top of the airship, Zhang Tie had witnessed a crew member whose face was covered with fresh blood jumping up from the airship. When the sharp bill penetrated the location between his shoulder and his chest, he fiercely twisted the Iron-beak Ibis''s neck before thrusting his dagger into the neck of the Iron-beak Ibis like killing a pig, slicing off its neck by thrusting several times.


    The Iron-beak Ibis uttered a wail while flapping his wings crazily and being pulled down from the air. As a result, one person and one bird rolled over and dropped off the airship while spurting blood.


    "Zhitian!", the other crewmen screamed loudly, eyes almost popped out of their eye sockets due to grief. His body would definitely break into pieces by dropping off from such a high altitude.


    That person and that bird then rolled over towards Zhang Tie, who seized that person using his right hand. That Iron-beak Ibis then dropped off weakly and was blown away by the heavy wind.


    After that, Zhang Tie seized the person with his right hand while the 200-odd kgs'' bolts boxes were hanging over his left wrist. He then kept climbing upside with his left hand and two feet. When he reached the top of the airship where the slope had gradually become mild, Zhang Tie put that person onto a protective armor before rapidly buckling up the crewman''s clothing onto the rope ladder.


    At this moment, the other crew at the top of the airship were struck dumb with astonishment by Zhang Tie''s sudden appearance and the person and the two bolts boxes in Zhang Tie''s hands.


    The airship then changed direction once again. A huge inertia almost threw everybody out from the top of the airship.


    During this process, Zhang Tie rapidly laid down. He then calmly buckled up his protective clothing onto the rope ladder before twisting his two feet to move over the knots and firmly stepped on them like what the other crew members did.


    After fixing his body, Zhang Tie opened the first box hanging on his left arm and held the first javelin-like bolt before throwing it out...


    For Zhang Tie, during this bloody fight between him and the Iron-beak Ibises, the most dangerous and challenging period was the dozens of meters from the deck to the top of the airship along the rope ladder. If those Iron-beak Ibises didn''t stop him during this distance, after he climbed onto the top of the airship with enough huge bolts, fixed himself and gained a good viewpoint, everything would have been fixed.


    One minute after Zhang Tie climbed onto the top of the deck, the first Iron-beak Ibis was penetrated by a spear and dropped off.


    "Ah, it''s been shot down by the bolt. That kid made it to the top!" Someone shouted loudly while everyone else was shocked.


    "I wonder how many Iron-beak Ibises this young man can kill this time?" Thinking of this question, the first mate had already ordered the second team of crew to prepare for climbing onto the top.


    Then, everyone looked up in astonishment...


    Soon after the first Iron-beak Ibis dropped off, the other Iron-beak Ibises constantly dropped down like dumplings being put in the pot with boiling water.


    The airship changed its direction once again.


    This enabled people on the deck to have a chance to see what happened to the last two Iron-beak Ibises, which had been scared of being killed and wanted to escape far away. However, before they flew 100 m away, two huge bolts from the top of the airship caught up with them at once.


    With two final wails, the world became tranquil.


    The whole process since he climbed onto the top of the airship to the end of the fight was less than 3 minutes...

 267 Loulan City

    Chapter 267: Loulan City


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Three days later, the airship of Huaiyuan Palace landed in the airship base of a strange city in the desert to finish the second replenishment and the first maintenance for the airship after being attacked by the Iron-beak Ibises.


    Although the Iron-beak Ibises'' attack only paralyzed one gas bag, in order to maintain balance and stability during flight, the helium in the other gas bag being opposite to the paralyzed one was deflated. Additionally, the other gas bag''s pressure was adjusted, causing the airship''s flying speed sharply reduce by 1/3 from above 100 km/h to 70-80 km/h.


    Driving the airship required exemplary skill and technique. Zhang Tie knew how to adjust the airship to maintain stable flight after being attacked by Iron-beak Ibises.


    During the past three days, Zhang Tie''s status in the airship experienced a subtle change due to that fight with the Iron-beak Ibises. Although he was still a special guest living in the passenger module, most of the crew on the airship had been familiar with him.


    When the airship prepared to land in the airship base of this city, Zhang Tie also walked out of his bedroom like the other travelers and arrived on the broad deck of the airship before enjoying the exotic city below.


    What was most impressive to Zhang Tie was the 40-50 m high terrifying cacti surrounding the city, which formed the city wall. Looking down from the air, the contour of this city was like that of a green clover. The middle of this clover was filled with strange domed architectures. In the middle of the city, there was a lake of medium size.


    The airship base that could allow this airship to land was located beside that lake.


    When he left Kalur City, it was winter when the chilly wind blew his face. However, when he arrived here, it was already spring as he saw a warm sun hanging in the sky. Standing on the deck, the passengers had already taken off their clumsy winter clothing.


    "We are in Loulan City, the city of the desert. The total population in this city and its surrounding cities was 4,100,000!" When Zhang Tie was glancing over this city below, Zhang Zhitian had already appeared beside him and started to introduce this city for Zhang Tie.


    After being saved by Zhang Tie on that day, Zhang Zhitian, who was two years older than Zhang Tie, had already befriended him.


    "How are your wounds?" Zhang Tie looked at this young crew member whose skin had become tan due to being exposed to the sun for a long time. Zhang Zhitian had narrow and long eyes. Perhaps because he and Zhang Tie shared the same bloodline, Zhang Zhitian was a bit similar to Zhang Yang, Zhang Tie''s elder brother. This guy looked gentle but had unimaginably straight-forward personality.


    The moment he remembered how this guy fought that Iron-beak Ibis at the risk of his life on the gas bag, Zhang Tie silently shook his head. A book truly couldn''t be judged by its cover.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s inquiry, Zhang Zhitian showed a smile as he slightly raised his arm, "After using one low-level recovery medicament and daubing some wound gelatin, I''m much better now!"


    "Ah, have you been met with this situation many times before?" Zhang Tie casually asked.


    "How could that be? If each flight was that dangerous, the freight airship would be the target of those advanced mutated creatures."


    "You mean this situation is rarely seen?" Zhang Tie became slightly dumbfounded.


    "Not rarely seen, but extremely rarely seen. I''ve been in this airship for 3 years. However, I''ve never been in that situation before. Although I have encountered attacks of some mutated creatures and magical beasts before, I''ve never experienced such a scenario at all..." Zhang Tie explained to Zhang Tie patiently, "Although in your eyes, this airship could freely fly in the air, actually, the routes of the large-scale freight airships like this one are always fixed. On this route, the airships would not encounter the attack of advanced mutated creatures that could directly threaten the safety of the airship. This was an important consideration when we choose the route. If there were many mutated creatures or magical beasts on one route, the airship would always choose to detour to this route. It''s similar to navigation on the sea. Although the sea is vast, you can''t go wherever you want."


    Zhang Tie suddenly understood, "I also feel strange as those Iron-beak Ibises were so smart. They seemed to know how to avoid being shot from the deck. They especially choose the weakest places on the airship where our weapons could not reach!"


    Zhang Zhitian looked at both sides and found that nobody was listening to them. He then lowered his voice and told Zhang Tie, "I heard the discussion between the captain and the first mate. They also felt this attack was weird. In the past years'' navigation, we''ve never seen a trace of Iron-beak Ibises at all. However, we encountered so many of them at once, it was a bit weird."


    "You mean someone was manipulating the Iron-beak Ibises?" Zhang Tie also felt a bit amazed.


    At this time, after receiving the confirmation signal from the ground, this airship had already lowered its height above the landing platform in the base. When it was several hundred meters above the ground, the airship had already thrown down some huge ropes. After getting the ropes, the vehicles and personnel on the ground became busy. The airship, which was swaying back and forth due to the wind, instantly became stable and started to accelerate its descent.


    Soon after looking down, Zhang Zhitian had moved his eyes away, "The Iron-beak Ibis have a sharp and long bill, therefore, their threat to airships could rank top 3 among all the mutated creatures below LV6. As they suddenly appeared in the previously safe route in large numbers all the officers on the airship judged that someone was behind this event. If we had used a soft-type airship instead of the hard-type airship with an advanced gasbag-compartment design, all of us might not have been able to come back this time."


    Zhang Tie took a deep breath. Although he had his suspicions about the event, when his doubt was verified, Zhang Tie still felt shocked inside, "Someone is targeting Huaiyuan Palace?"


    "I don''t know!" Zhang Zhitian shook his head, "But we will know soon enough. Loulan City, the city of the desert is the most important air hub within 2000 km. After landing in Loulan City, as long as they asked from other airships whether they had encountered something similar, the officers might able to make a final conclusion."


    "If there''s really someone targeting the Huaiyuan Palace?"


    Zhang Zhitian showed a proud smiled, "As long as we return to the territory of Huaiyuan Palace, someone would definitely deal with those offenders! No one could escape crossing Huaiyuan Palace without paying the price!"


    Zhang Zhitian''s pride that didn''t match his age also affected Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then also showed a smile. This was the confidence when one had a powerful clan on its back. With this confidence, even a young man on an airship of the business group under the affiliation of Huaiyuan Palace was as proud as Reinhardt when he faced enemy. When he thought of Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace and the current situation facing his dad and his own family, Zhang Tie slightly sighed inside.


    "Speaking of Huaiyuan Palace, I still don''t know it well, could you tell me about it?"


    "Sure, I think we will get at least rest 1 day after this replenishment and maintenance. As I''m recuperating, I can talk about Huaiyuan Palace with you!" Hearing Zhang Tie asked him about Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Zhitian showed a wisp of a smile on his tan face.


    "Jinyun Country is a human country mainly composed of Chinese. We, Huaiyuan Palace, have been one of the six major clans in Jinyun Country for many generations. It has 8 cities, covering 500 miles and occupies one prefecture of Jinyun Country. The name of our prefecture is Huaiyuan Prefecture. Each master of Huaiyuan Palace who inherits the title of count Changfeng would be respected by all the members of Zhang clan. The master of Huaiyuan Palace is recommended by the elders of Zhang clan. However, in the past over 200 years, the masters of Zhang clan have been chosen from Donghai City..."


    Zhang Zhitian carefully explained it as Zhang Tie started to clearly know about Huaiyuan Palace.


    ...


    After the airship landed at the base, many people on the airship moved about busily. Because the Loulan City was lacking mining resources, they sold the advanced alloys and weapons that they brought from Kalur City, bringing rich profits to the Changfeng Business Group.


    After selling those commodities they brought from Kalur, Zhang Tie saw them purchasing a lot of items here. With the introduction of Zhang Zhitian, Zhang Tie knew that there were mainly three kinds of items they would purchase here: ruby; something in a mutated lizard which was used to make crossbows and bolts; and secretion from a special cactus which was used to close wounds.


    When various commodities were entering the freight houses below the airship, all the items needed by the airship like water, coal, and food were also replenished.


    After landing on the base, the maintenance of the gas bag''s compartments were also underway.


    After staying in the airship for many days, the moment the airship landed on the base, Zhang Tie could not even walk stably. Under the leadership of a group of familiar crew members, Zhang Tie wandered around the Loulan City as the scorpions and mutated cacti which protected the city deeply impressed Zhang Tie.


    In the evening, the temperature suddenly dropped, causing it even colder than in Kalur. The passengers on the airship immediately felt the alternation between ice and fire.


    On the same night, the captain, the first mate, and some major figures frowned and sat in the control room of the airship.


    "Have you asked about the news?¡¯ The captain asked a man sitting beside the desk.


    "Yeah, except for us, five airships among the ones that came to Loulan City for replenishment and maintenance in the past three days have encountered the same situation. They were all hard-type airships being fitted with protective armors. After paying great prices, they reluctantly landed in Loulan City. Additionally, some other airships which had appointed by some business groups in Loulan City for delivery didn''t arrive on time. All these missing airships were relatively old single-gasbag soft-type airships!"


    Sucking his tobacco pipe, the captain narrowed his eyes and asked after a while, "Have you got the latest news about the clan of the elder of Carol Federal Alchemists Association being exterminated?"


    "Not yet, although Carol Federal Alchemists Association''s arrest warrant has been spread across the whole Waii Sub-Continent, those murderers seemed to have vanished into thin air." Saying this, the man glanced at the captain, "Is there any relation between the two events?"


    "I don''t know whether there''s any relation between the two events but I do know that the world and the routes of airships have become dangerous once again!" The captain relaxed his eyes and spoke in a calm and solemn way, "Repair our airship as fast as possible; contact with those financial groups that have suffered from the attacks from those dangerous creatures and are headed to the same station as us, we will form a group to leave Loulan City!"


    "Yes, sir!"

 268 Promotion and Arrival

    Chapter 268: Promotion and Arrival


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    The heavy winds were still turbulent at a thousand meters in the air which caused Zhang Tie¡¯s clothes to make rustling noises. At this moment, Zhang Tie was running back and forth at the top of the gas bags as if running on the ground without any protective gear.


    At this time, the red-snake sword in Zhang Tie¡¯s hand seemed like it had truly become a red snake. Each time Zhang Tie slashed out, there was a twisting snake shadow along with a silver light in the air.


    Each time the snake shadow in Zhang Tie¡¯s hand twisted, there would be a spray of fresh blood in the air, which drove the remaining Iron-beak Ibises into a frenzy.


    Being different from the last time when those Iron-beak Ibises would attack the airship, this time, Zhang Tie became the sole target of all the Iron-beak Ibises. Each Iron-beak Ibis in the air seemed to have great hatred towards Zhang Tie as they surged towards him one after the other.


    The airship penetrated through the clouds at a speed of above 120 km/h¡­


    The fight between Zhang Tie and Iron-beak Ibises was still underway¡­


    "Is this the feeling of being a level 5 warrior? Is this how Invisible Iron-blood strength feels?


    One hour ago, Zhang Tie had eaten the latest Leakless Fruit, which directly helped him to ignite the 5th surge point on his vertebrate, sending him into the realm of level 5 warriors.


    When he was promoted to a level 5 warrior, Zhang Tie felt his bones itch all over like numerous ants were crawling inside. However, he could not reach them by scratching. It was itchy to the extreme and after all his bones cracked, a wholly new sensation appeared.


    Zhang Tie felt great strength flowing through each bone, promoting Zhang Tie¡¯s Hidden Iron-blood Strength to an entirely new level.


    Invisible Iron-blood Strength! The new-born strengths were Strength of Bone and Strength of Marrow.


    The number of people who could be promoted from Hidden Iron-Blood Strength to Invisible Iron-Blood Strength counted for less than one tenth in number, even in the entire Iron-Blood Camp of Noman Empire. However, Zhang Tie felt it was as easy as drinking water during the process like he had been well prepared and expectant of it. Even Zhang Tie was confused as to how that could be.


    The red-snake sword driven by Invisible Iron-blood Strength started to present an utterly different strength than before. With the exception of a great force, each time Zhang Tie launched an attack, there would be an agile, virtual snake shadow mixed with the sword qi.


    Zhang Tie hadn''t experienced this feeling of "one with the sword, one with the world" for a long time.


    At a thousand meters in the sky, Zhang Tie jumped up almost 3 m from the top of a gasbag while the Red-snake Sword in his hand suddenly opened its bloody mouth like a dragon and engulfed the 5 Iron-beak Ibises in the air at once.


    Only one Iron-beak Ibis was left¡­


    The moment Zhang¡¯s feet left the ground, the last Iron-beak Ibis had already thrust his javelin-like bill in front of Zhang Tie¡¯s chests, aiming to fight Zhang Tie to the death.


    During the past days in flight, Zhang Tie had grown very experienced in fighting Iron-beak Ibises. At the sight of the Iron-beak Ibis, he smirked inside as he just slightly tilted his body. In the meantime, the long bill of the Iron-beak Ibis was pinched under Zhang Tie¡¯s armpit.


    When it stretched its sharp claws towards Zhang Tie, the latter also stretched his five fingers towards the Iron-beak Ibis¡¯s sharp claws.


    When the bird¡¯s claws clashed with the man¡¯s hands, the claws immediately broke off, making a ¡®kacha kacha¡¯ sound.


    With its bill being pinched, the Iron-beak Ibis couldn¡¯t wail but instead quivered all over.


    "Heh heh, sorry, as you are the last one today, stay a while!" Saying this, Zhang Tie rapidly clipped the other foot and the remaining wings of the Iron-beak Ibis, causing them to completely break apart.


    Being too weak to struggle, the Iron-beak Ibis stared at Zhang Tie with extreme grief and fury. Zhang Tie didn¡¯t show any mercy at all. After doing this, he rudely grabbed its bill. Pulling the half-dead Iron-beak Ibis, Zhang Tie ran two steps towards one side of the airship as he seized one rope and jumped off the gas bag of the airship, seemingly ignoring his own life.


    Within several seconds, Zhang Tie had already fallen dozens of meters. When that rope automatically returned to the middle part of the gas bag, Zhang Tie lightly landed on the airship for a second as he swung outside once again. After that, the rope returned once again, this time, Zhang Tie loosened his grip while he was thrown onto the deck of the airship and steadily stood on it. The whole process was as graceful as an acrobat in high altitude without any protective measures. Additionally, during the process, the airship was rapidly moving.


    What was even more amazing was that Zhang Tie was holding a crippled yet heavy Iron-beak Ibis.


    There was nobody on the deck. Zhang Tie directly held the anguished Iron-beak Ibis and entered the cabin. After that, he casually opened a door. Without even taking a look inside, he had already thrown the completely crippled Iron-beak Ibis inside.


    No one was on the airship.


    Haha, free time!


    Zhang Tie trotted onto the third floor from the second floor. The third floor was mainly where the bridge was located. Zhang Tie then entered the bridge.


    The bridge of the airship was at the highest position at the head of the airship below the gas bags. The bridge characteristically allowed for a broad vision with the nearly 1m-high and 270-degree circular, translucent and high-intensity glass windows, the driver would almost have no dead angles of vision.


    Outside of the bridge were floating white clouds. As nobody was inside the bridge, the airship was moving forward in a straight line.


    The door of the bridge was locked from inside. Because of the large-piece of translucent glass on the door of the bridge, Zhang Tie could clearly see the inside. Thinking of how he entered violently every time, Zhang Tie forced a smile.


    ''Bang¡¯, Zhang Tie directly kicked through the wooden door and made a big hole on it. After that, he put his hand inside the hole and opened the door from inside.


    Since he entered the bridge, this airship had become Zhang Tie¡¯s personal toy.


    In the middle of the bridge was a good-quality rudder that could be held with two hands. On both sides of the rudder were a great number of operating levers of different heights and lengths. Below the rudder were two pedals that could be controlled by feet.


    These days, after causing this airship to crash over 10 times, Zhang Tie finally understood the functions of these operating levers. Additionally, he learned how to pilot an airship. During these accidents, the most miserable one was when Zhang Tie pulled down the operating lever with a red handle at the very of the rudder, the airship fell down at a free fall speed, causing Zhang Tie¡¯s face to turn blue.


    After this accident, Zhang Tie knew that the red operating lever was the emergency landing lever. As long as the lever was pulled down, the 12 gas bags of the airship would start to deflate at the same time. As a result, the airship would lose its buoyancy in the shortest time. When Zhang Tie pulled down this lever, he even hurriedly stepped down the steam-driven output pedal, pushing the propeller of the airship to rotate at a greater speed, causing the airship to rush towards the ground at a higher speed. As a result, Zhang Tie lost his life miserably.


    This accident left a deep impression on Zhang Tie.


    The fact was that as long as a person didn¡¯t fear death and had more lives, he could learn anything very quickly.


    Zhang Tie drove the airship for over 2 hours and enjoyed it very much. After feeling that time was almost up, Zhang Tie left the bridge. Inside an equipment room beside the bridge, Zhang Tie skillfully carried a parachute bag before rushing onto the deck on the second floor. With a strange yell, he jumped off the deck¡­


    "I¡¯m here, hooah¡­hooah¡­ah¡­ah¡­"


    After several seconds, a small white flower blossomed in the air¡­


    After several seconds, the white flower landed on the ground smoothly¡­


    After another few minutes, the whole world broke into motes of light.


    ...


    Within a bedroom in the airship, Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he lay on the bed comfortably, revealing a wisp of a smile.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know whether what he had done was a petty trick, but he had some more feelings regarding the use of Trouble-reappearance Fruit.


    The latest Trouble-reappearance Fruit was from Iron-beak Ibises. The first scene was on the airship. After fighting Iron-beak Ibises many times in the Trouble-reappearance world, Zhang Tie found that if didn¡¯t want to stop if the effective time of the Trouble-reappearance world, he had to make sure the last Iron-beak Ibis didn¡¯t die. Under those conditions, the Trouble-reappearance world would not break into motes of light. With the exception of spiritual beings, nothing else was different than that in the real world.


    As this Trouble-reappearance world was situated in the air, which was a opportunity rarely seen, of course, Zhang Tie wouldn''t want to give up such an opportunity. After dying many times, Zhang Tie learned how to use parachutes and drive the airship. Additionally, he became more experienced in fighting with Iron-beak Ibises in the air.


    Since they left the Loulan City, on the way, they didn¡¯t encounter any other dangers. The airship kept moving southward smoothly. Due to always being in a state of cultivation, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know where the airship was currently located.


    Today, the moment Zhang Tie exited the Trouble-reappearance world, he heard someone knocking on his door.


    Zhang Tie opened the door and found that Zhang Zhitian was outside.


    "What¡¯s up?"


    "We''ve arrived!"


    "What! We''ve arrived?"


    "Huaiyuan Prefecture, we''ve arrived!"


    Zhang Tie was inwardly shocked as he went to the deck together with Zhang Zhitian. On the ground below the airship was a great river that Zhang Tie had not seen before, the width of which might be over 20 km. The whole river twisted for as far as the eye could see and seemed to flow like a huge dragon below the airship. There were many steamers on the river, forming a very boisterous scene. Black smoke columns rose up from the chimneys of the steamers. On the sides of the river, Zhang Tie saw vast golden wheat fields dotted with several lofty castles erected on the plains on one side of the great river.


    This initial image of the Huaiyuan Prefecture Zhang Tie imprinted within him the magnificence and richness of Huaiyuan Palace.


    "This is Yuanjiang River, which belongs to Huaiyuan Palace. Tonight, our airship will arrive at the Yiyang City, where the headquarters of Changfeng Business Group is located, namely where the Clan Shrine of Huaiyuan Palace and the Head Palace of Huaiyuan Palace are!


    "Huaiyuan Palace, I''ve finally arrived!"


    Thinking that he could rapidly unite with his family members in this strange place, Zhang Tie took a deep breath, "No matter what, as I¡¯m here, I will rescue my father from prison!"

 269 Zhang Clan

    Chapter 269: Zhang Clan


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    In the evening, after two weeks of flight, the airship that set off from Kalur finally arrived at Yiyang City, Huaiyuan Prefecture of Jinyun Country. Huaiyuan Palace of the Zhang clan shared the same name with the Huaiyuan Prefecture as the whole prefecture was the Zhang clan¡¯s territory.


    For the first time, Zhang Tie felt the power of the Zhang clan. Through Zhang Zhitian¡¯s introduction, Zhang Tie knew that over 200,000 members of the Zhang clan were of direct blood relation to Lord Huaiyuan. Strictly speaking, among the crew of the airship, captain, first mate, technicians in the engine room, Zhang Zhitian, and Zhang Tie were definitely related to each other. Because they were all of the same bloodlines as Lord Huaiyuan, although from different branches of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Lord Huaiyuan had eight wives and over 40 sons and daughters. Each of his wife¡¯s relatives had a city. The first wife¡¯s relatives had Yiyang City, the second had Xince City, the third had Guanxing City, the fourth had Qihai City, the fifth had Fubo City, the sixth had Yunzhou City, the seventh had Jinhai City while the eighth had Taian City. After several hundred years, the eight cities developed to today¡¯s scale.


    Among the eight cities, Yiyang City was not only the capital city of Huaiyuan Prefecture but also the political, economic and cultural center of the Zhang clan in the entire Huaiyuan Palace.


    Yiyang City was a coastal city, the prosperity and scale of which was 10 times that of the Blackhot City. Twenty-one million people were living in this city and its surroundings. Yiyang City was not only the largest port in Jinyun Country, even if it was in the entire Waii Sub-continent, the annual trading throughout Yiyang City could also rank within the top three.


    Zhang Tie only learned about the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace through the introductions of others before; however, when the airship drew close to Yiyang City, the power and accumulation of the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace instantly impressed Zhang Tie, making him feel trivial in front of his clan.


    The dense steamers in the port far away and on the sea and those various airships coming and going in the air were like scenes in the drawings for Zhang Tie.


    At the sight of this, the passengers who came together with Zhang Tie from Kalur City were also excited as many of them loudly shouted in poor Chinese, "Yiyang¡­Yiyang¡­"


    "Do you plan to settle down here in Yiyang City?" Zhang Zhitian asked Zhang Tie.


    "I might go back to Jinhai City firstly. I¡¯m not sure whether or not I will stay in Jinhai City later." After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie told Zhang Zhitian.


    "This time, I¡¯ve built up enough accumulate points as I¡¯ve been on the airship for three years. Therefore, I plan to apply to join the airship troop of the Zhang clan. I want to be a real soldier and a captain in the future!" Zhang Zhitian replied, full of ambition.


    "I hope that you''re successful in your endeavors." Zhang Tie smiled.


    During this period, Zhang Tie had learned about something on the airship. Many young men below 18 years old on the airship were interns. They had to follow the talent training system of Zhang clan. For most juveniles of Huaiyuan Palace, between the ages of 15-18 were the most treacherous period for members of the Zhang clan as the greater part of them didn¡¯t finish school but instead entered various industries to as interns. During this period, they would enter society in order to accumulate experiences and qualifications so as to confirm their later developmental orientation. After undergoing the coming of age ceremony at 18, they would become adults when they could enjoy numerous social rights and officially join the clan army as well as being entrusted with official titles and jobs.


    Compared to the assembly-line talent education system in Blackhot City, the Chinese educational system in this age was much stricter. Juveniles like Zhang Tie who would be 16 in the new year were unable to join the clan army officially, let alone to be a military officer.


    "I heard from the first mate that the talent that you used to shoot down those Iron-beak Ibises with bolts was an awakening of an ancestral bloodline, some sort of throwing skill?" Zhang Zhitian stared at Zhang Tie with sparkling and admiring eyes.


    Zhang Tie forced a smile as he realized the difference in cultural backgrounds. This problem had long been puzzling him. However, in Huaiyuan Palace, it seemed that many people knew the reason. Only after performing it once, his talent had already been identified, "It might be that. At the beginning, I didn¡¯t know what was going on, as my throwing ability became very precise immediately. I didn¡¯t know this was the awakening of Chinese ancestral bloodline before I came back to Huaiyuan Palace. Do any of your friends have the same talent as me?"


    "Yes. He¡¯s was a classmate at school. When he attended the sports meeting, he suddenly awakened his ancestral bloodline. Although being average in archery, he won the archery competition that year!"


    "The ancestral bloodline that he awakened was in archery?"


    "Yes!" Zhang Zhitian glanced at Zhang Tie with a weird expression, "Don¡¯t you know that one of the two main ancestral bloodlines in the Zhang clan is in archery?"


    Zhang Tie felt embarrassed as he revealed a smile, "I really didn''t know about that..."


    ...


    The airship finally landed in a base of Changfeng Business Group.


    After bidding farewell to some friends that he had made on the airship, Zhang Tie took his luggage and got off the airship with the other passengers who came to Yiyang City for the first time. When Zhang Tie was considering whether he would first buy a ticket to Jinhai City, he had already caught sight of his elder brother Zhang Yang, who was accompanied by two men in black uniforms. Behind them was a sedan.


    "Elder brother!" Zhang Tie was thrilled as he hurriedly walked forward. The two brothers then forcefully hugged each other. Zhang Yang was also excited as the last time they met was several months ago. They felt like they had departed with each other during a life or death situation. Whether it was Zhang Tie or his family members, they had experienced too many troubles during this period.


    "How¡¯s father? Has mother recovered?" The moment the two stopped hugging each other, Zhang Tie had asked two questions.


    Zhang Yang firstly looked over Zhang Tie before revealed a smile, "Dad has been back home. Knowing that you¡¯re going to come back safe and sound, mom has also recovered!"


    Zhang Tie became so happy as his greatest concern had been solved during this period. This was the greatest happiness, "Has dad come back?"


    "Hmm, we will talk about the details when we get back home!" Zhang Yang looked at Zhang Tie as he started to introduce the two uniformed men to Zhang Tie, "They are personnel of the Clansmen Pavilion of Huaiyuan Palace!"


    The two men nodded towards Zhang Tie in a kind way.


    Through Zhang Zhitian¡¯s introduction on the airship, Zhang Tie had already known the role of Clansmen Pavilion. This time, he would first declare himself innocent and mend things through the Zhang clan. Otherwise, he would definitely still be a murderer wanted by the secret police of Norman Empire in Jinyun Country.


    After introductions, the four people got on the car. Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang sat in the back while the two personnel of Clansmen Pavilion sat in the front. After that, the sedan drove out of the airship base.


    Sitting in the sedan, Zhang Tie told his elder brother about what had happened in the Kalur battle zone after he left Blackhot City as he widened his eyes to watch the scenery outside the sedan and exclaimed about the prosperity of this city.


    There were so many vehicles on the road while passers-by were walking on the sidewalks and the high-rises were erected right next to each other. The two sides of the road were filled with Chinese ad boards. Additionally, the passers-by had various skin colors, although above 95% of them were Chinese with black hair and eyes. The frolic voices of Chinese kids drifted from the passersby. Seeing such a scene, Zhang Tie who had grown up in Blackhot City became relaxed as he suddenly felt a sense of belonging which originated from his bloodline.


    Of course, the alleged Clansmen Pavilion was not that simple. It was the clan management headquarters of the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace. Actually, it was a square plaza of more than 20 floors. The entrance of the plaza was safeguarded by guards. The reason that the two personnel of Clansmen Palace brought Zhang Tie here was to finish the final confirmation about his status. The process was so simple that Zhang Tie couldn''t have imagined it going so smoothly in his wildest dreams.


    He was taken into a room in the plaza. On the table in the middle of the room was a weird black crystal, which was embedded on a silver base with strange runes. After that, under the supervision of the others of the Clansmen Pavilion, one personnel who had taken him here poked Zhang Tie¡¯s finger using a needle, causing Zhang Tie¡¯s blood to drop onto the crystal. Soon after that, the black crystal started to glow which symbolized the end of the authentication.


    After finishing this process, Zhang Tie took a photo and filled in out two forms. Sitting in the lounge with his elder brother for less than 10 minutes, one personnel who had taken Zhang Tie in gave him a rectangular plate which was carved with sophisticated grains.


    The greater part of this plate was made of metal, in the middle of its positive side was inlaid with a piece of translucent crystal, beneath which was the photo that Zhang Tie had taken just now. Below the crystal image was Zhang Tie¡¯s name which looked very delicate and special. On the back of the plate were the characters¡ª¡ªZhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace.


    "This item is your ID certificate. You have it preserve it well. If you lost it, the results would be very serious!"


    "How?"


    "You will be fined 100 gold coins and be punished to do labor work for half a year. Besides, 20 clan donation points would be deducted!"


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh. 100 gold coins meant 2500 grams of gold. The 20 clan donation points seemed also to be hardly gained.


    "Do you mean this item is more valuable than gold?" Zhang Tie asked.


    That personnel who had given the plate to Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "Your status plate contains 7 rare alloys, among which, Hailan iron and peacock copper are 10 times more valuable than gold. This status plate also contained several secret craftsmanships which could not be made anywhere except for within the Zhang clan. You can hardly destroy it. If you destroy it, you would hardly restore it. At least in Waii Sub-continent, nobody could imitate it. The secret grains on the status plate contain the metal identification bar code formed by the steam analyzer in the Clansmen Pavilion, which is the symbol of your unique status and access. Do you think it¡¯s important or not?"


    Hearing these words, Zhang Tie was so scared that he even became dumbfounded, "What are clan donation points?"

 270 Hidden Dragon Palace

    Chapter 270: Hidden Dragon Palace


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    "Clan contribution points are used to measure the family members¡¯ contribution to the Zhang clan¡¯s undertakings. To put it simply, you can regard clan contribution points as a special currency that could be circulated among the Zhang clan¡¯s subsidiaries and the Zhang families of Huaiyuan Palace.


    When you make a contribution to a clan undertaking, you will gain clan contribution points. You can exchange these points for corresponding clan resources, which are only open to clan members. Generally, you can''t even buy them with gold coins on the outside!" The personnel of the Clansmen Pavilion briefly answered Zhang Tie¡¯s questions.


    "Can I exchange contribution points for secret fighting skills" This was what Zhang Tie was most interested in.


    "Of course, this is just a single usage of clan contribution points. As you have arrived at Huaiyuan Palace for the first time, you might not know the importance of clan contribution points. You will know soon enough."


    "How can I gain points then?"


    "I can''t explain it to you in one word. There are strict rules and regulations on achieving contribution points. For example, I am serving the clan as a member of the Clansmen Pavilion. Besides a daily salary, I can also gain three contribution points monthly! Those women who could give birth to kids after marrying Zhang clan could gain an eight gold coins¡¯ subsidiary and 15 clan contribution points for each kid!"


    Women can gain clan contribution points and a gold coins¡¯ subsidiary by having children? Zhang Tie finally understood how the clan developed over 200,000 direct bloodline descendants in only hundreds of years.


    "I wonder if there is anything else?" Thinking of his parents that were still in Jinhai City, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t wait to go back.


    "There¡¯s another thing that I have to inform you of. Since you have not come in contact with the clan''s orthodox education before and always stayed out of the clan system; the clan has not provided any help for you in your earlier life, even if you¡¯ve come back to Zhang clan, you still have great freedom!"


    "What do you mean?"


    "It means that the Zhang clan and you are on equal footing with rights and obligations. Across Huaiyuan Prefecture, most of the members of the Zhang clan at your age were practicing everywhere after graduation. When serving the clan, they are also learning to improve their own talents and abilities. Those young men who have awakened ancestral bloodlines have all gathered in the Hidden Dragon Palace of the Zhang clan due to the regulations. However, you are free to choose whether you enter or not!"


    Huaiyuan Palace was the official name of the Zhang clan to the public while Hidden Dragon Palace was an agency of the Zhang clan, which was like the Clansmen Pavilion. Given the name, people would know the property of the agency, Hidden Dragon Palace.


    "Do people entering the Hidden Dragon Palace need to strictly follow the clan¡¯s orders and lose many personal freedoms?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Yes, those gathering in the Hiden Dragon Palace are all elites of the Zhang clan. Hidden Dragon Palace is almost like a military agency, in which, you will lose many personal freedoms and will have to carry out many dangerous assignments that average people at your age could not accomplish. The casualty rate of clan members who enter the Hidden Dragon Palace to cultivate themselves is 20%, namely, only 8 out of 10 people entering this place come out alive."


    When the Clansmen Pavilion personnel said this, Zhang Tie¡¯s elder brother looked at Zhang Tie twice with concern, being afraid that Zhang Tie would promise to enter Hidden Dragon Palace.


    "What benefits are there in Hidden Dragon Palace?" Zhang Tie casually asked.


    The Clansmen Pavillion personnel smiled as he nodded. He seemed to be very satisfied with Zhang Tie¡¯s response after hearing his words¡ª¡ªHe didn¡¯t shake his head, instead, he calmly answered the question, "In Hidden Dragon Palace, you will get the most opportunities to gain clan contribution points, where, you could enjoy numerous quality resources of the clan and learn various secret clan knowledge and fighting skills. In the Hidden Dragon Palace, you can also broaden your horizons. Those who could come out of Hidden Dragon Palace alive would basically become talents and elites of the Zhang clan who would assume great responsibilities alone!"


    Zhang Tie smiled, "I choose to join the Hidden Dragon Palace of the Zhang clan."


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s reply, Zhang Yang instantly stood up from his chair to object as he wanted to say something. However, after looking at that personnel of Clansmen Pavilion, he suppressed his desire.


    "The headquarters of Hidden Dragon Palace is located on Hidden Dragon Island. If you want to go there, you can go to register next Monday, namely December 5th. If you don''t arrive there on time, it will be assumed that you''ve given up."


    "What certification do I need to take"


    "None needed, you only need to take this plate over there."


    ...


    When Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang left the building of Clansmen Pavilion, Zhang Yang who had always remained silent couldn¡¯t stand it as he started to ask Zhang Tie, "Do you know how much mom and dad worried about you when you were in Iron-Blood Camp? They were really afraid of you being in danger. This time, you could''ve obviously chosen to not join the Hidden Dragon Palace, why did you choose to join?"


    Zhang Tie watched Zhang Yang seriously, "Elder brother, if the holy war between humans and demons break out in the future, in which way do you think it''ll be easier for us to survive? Would it be by the power of our family or by the power of Huaiyuan Palace? For our family, you and I could neither get rid of Huaiyuan Palace¡¯s clan system nor collapse in at the same time. If I join the Hidden Dragon Palace, it would be for the best as we could respond to any situation!" Zhang Tie patted his elder brother¡¯s shoulder, "Don¡¯t worry elder brother, since I was alright in Iron-blood Camp, I''ll also be alright in Hidden Dragon Palace!"


    After considering it for a while, Zhang Yang finally nodded, "If so, you¡¯d better not mention this at home in case of our parents¡¯ concerns. You can tell them about this before you leave home two days later."


    "Fine." Zhang Tie nodded as he looked at the two sides of the road, "How do we go back home, by train?"


    "There¡¯s something more convenient than the train!" Zhang Yang wove his hands towards one side of the road. Soon after that, Zhang Tie saw a green car driving from afar and parked in front of them. Zhang Yang told Zhang Tie to get in the car which really startled Zhang Tie as he had not imagined that the car would directly park after being greeted like the carriages in Blapei and Blackhot City.


    "Where are you going? The driver in uniform asked the two people in the back seats of the car.


    "Jinhai City!"


    "Jinhai City is 240 km away from Yiyang City. It will take you 3 hours to get there and 3 more hours for me to come back to Yiyang City, you need to pay 12 silver coins!"


    "No problem!" Zhang Yang directly gave the money to the driver.


    After receiving the silver coins, the driver immediately drove away.


    "What kind of car it is?" Sitting inside, Zhang Tie asked Zhang Yang out of curiosity.


    "A rental car, it¡¯s convenient, right?"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he thought that this was really a prosperous land. Even cars could be rented¡­


    "Knowing that you¡¯re going back tonight, mom even made your favorite food for you!"


    Zhang Tie felt like crying, "Fine, let¡¯s go back then!"


    ...


    Less than 10 minutes after Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang left the Clansmen Pavilion, all the elders who were sitting in the Shrine of Huaiyuan Palace¡ª¡ªthe forbidden land of Zhang clan had known of Zhang Tie¡¯s choice.


    "I wouldn''t have imagined that this kid¡¯s mentality was not bad. As he chose to enter the Hidden Dragon Palace, he has the potential to be an elite!" One of the elders opened his mouth as he slightly nodded.


    "According to the intelligence of clan, this brat was also a powerhouse in the Iron-Blood Camp of Norman Empire. He has even been awarded the Iron-Blood Medal in the Iron-Blood Camp. He must have killed numerous people on the battlefield!" Another elder said, "Although the opponents were all common soldiers of Sun Dynasty, he¡¯s still not an average person. He has the potential to be an elite!"


    "But he¡¯s too lecherous. This brat slept with over 80 girls of the Rose Association within one week. That¡¯s too cock-and-bull. Thankfully, he didn¡¯t make them pregnant, otherwise, it would bring a great trouble to the Clansmen Pavilion!"


    "That''s trivial. No one can say they weren''t romantic in their youth." Another elder smiled, "Hoho, if he¡¯s energetic and has awakened an ancestral bloodline, in the worst case scenario, we can gift him some more concubines, letting him make some contributions to extend the clan¡¯s bloodline."


    "Great!" The other elders touched their snow-white beards as they seriously nodded.


    If Zhang Tie knew that he would be a breeding machine in the eyes of the elders of Huaiyuan Palace in the worst case scenario, he wouldn''t know whether to laugh or cry.


    "It seems that his father, Zhang Ping, is suffering some light punishment this time. If he was set free, someone might imitate him in the future!" Some elder seemed to still be worrying about his father¡¯s affair.


    "Zhang Ping pretended to be dead as he escaped with a girl. Although this violates the clan regulations, it¡¯s not as severe as being harmful to the other people or being unforgivable. Its impact is trivial. Even if we put him into the prison for 100 years, will it benefit the clan? There were also exceptions of which punishments were reduced by performing meritorious deeds. We deal with this affair not especially for the sake of him. As we¡¯ve deeply learned about the secrets of Mental Arithmetic by Abacus in these days, we all know that this method is very effective in increasing the cultivation of spiritual energy and is of great benefit to the development of the clan. If someone imitated Zhang Ping by pretending to be dead and escaping with a girl from a destined marriage, as long as he could present the item of the same value as Mental Arithmetic by Abacus, it¡¯s reasonable to even exempt from his crime. If there are some more people like Zhang Ping, our Huaiyuan Palace will definitely be more prosperous!" The one who said this was the sixth uncle of Zhang Ping who had brought Zhang Tie''s family back from Blackhot City. Sixth uncle was the head of Clansmen Pavilion, which was also one branch of Jinhai City of Huaiyuan Palace.


    "As all the elders have made the decision. Let¡¯s call it an end. Don¡¯t mention it from now on!" another elder looked at the two elders who had spoken just now and genially relieved the atmosphere, "Two elders¡¯ intentions are all for the sake of the long-term development of Zhang clan. At this critical moment, we should make the sustainability and growth of the clan our largest priority!"


    Hearing this elder¡¯s words, the two previous elders looked at each other and nodded.


    "Recently, there was a number of abnormal turmoil in the Waii Sub-continent. Therefore, we should prepare for the incoming war as soon as possible¡­"


    "Before each holy war, the demons¡¯ puppets amongst humans would raise turmoil so as to eliminate the people''s overall strength to the largest extent by increasing their mutual suspicion and breaking their unity. This time, many more people would be the sacrifice of demons before the holy war arrives, alas¡­" Another elder sighed.

 271 It Sounds Grea

    Chapter 271: It Sounds Great


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    In previous years, it always snowed in Blackhot City in December. However, 5000 miles away in Jinhai City, it had rained. Due to the rain, the air in the early morning seemed very nice.


    This was the third day since Zhang Tie came to Jinhai City to reunite with his family members.


    Although his father had suffered in prison for over 10 days, thankfully, the decision-makers of the Zhang clan still set Zhang Ping free due to the Mental Arithmetic by Abacus. Zhang Tie was told by Zhang Yang that it was mainly because of the sixth uncle of their father.


    Because of sixth uncle''s help, this tragedy, which might have caused their father to suffer in prison the rest of his life was finally cleared off.


    Based on the generations, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang should refer to their father''s sixth uncle as sixth great-uncle as he was an elder of the Zhang clan who was three generations higher than them. It was said that he was a cousin of Zhang Tie''s grandfather. Their sixth great-uncle was very famous in Jinhai City as he ruled the Clansmen Pavilion and was the only member of Jinhai City''s bloodline in the Zhang clan''s elders association. He was evidently the Jinhai City''s representative in the Zhang clan''s elders association.


    Hearing this news, Zhang Tie bore it in mind and must repay this sixth great-uncle whom he had never met.


    The Jinhai City bloodline of Zhang clan originated from the seventh wife of Lord Huaiyuan. Today, there was a total of 20,000-30,000 members of the Zhang clan in Jinhai City of Huaiyuan Palace. Although this number ranked near the last amongst the 8 cities of Huaiyuan Palace, the Zhang clan was really the number one clan and the most powerful ruler of Jinhai City.


    As Zhang Tie''s family had lived alone in Blackhot City for dozens of years, it really seemed like a dream to Zhang Tie''s that he could be a member of such a great clan.


    This morning, Zhang Tie''s mom boiled a pot eight-treasures porridge[1]. She had started to prepare it since last night. In the early morning, Zhang Tie devoured the sweet eight-treasures porridge. He saw his mom''s genial smile with fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, which reminded Zhang Tie of the time when his mom would watch him eat breakfast before going to school each morning when they were in Blackhot City.


    All the risks that Zhang Tie had experienced, the fights and struggles in the outside during the past several months had all disappeared in front of his mom''s eight-treasures porridge. Instead, Zhang Tie only felt a warm sense of home flowing inside.


    "Eat as much as you''d like, we''ve got more in the pot!"Seeing Zhang Tie''s spoon moving slower, Zhang Tie''s mom added another big spoon of porridge into Zhang Tie''s bowl.


    "Save a spoon for elder-sister in law, she needs the nutrition more than me!" Eating it, Zhang Tie mumbled.


    "You know that your mom knows what do to!" Zhang Tie''s father flicked at his forehead.


    Although he had stayed in prison for more than 10 days, Zhang Ping seemed to not be suffering from any mental or physical troubles. At the sight of his father at this time, Zhang Tie felt his father had become more relaxed and revealed more smiles.


    Zhang Tie had never imagined that the Mental Arithmetic by Abacus that he had bought at the cost of several silver coins from a roadside booth was so influential. The moment he thought of the benefits that the book had brought him, Zhang Tie felt that he hadn''t fully learned its secrets.


    In the past two days, Zhang Tie found that he could calculate the four operations on two 13-column abacuses at the same time more fluently. He felt his mindset was becoming more and more flexible after each visualization of the abacuses. He seemed to be gradually able to focus on two totally different things at the same time which was a marvelous sensation.


    "Mom, last night, I went to that building on Xinhe Street that you told me about. My grandparents and eldest uncle''s family don''t live there anymore. I inquired about it from others and was told that they had moved away ten years ago. It seems that they moved to Xince City. Since you had already fallen asleep when I came back, I didn''t bother you." Zhang Yang reported to his parents about the news while he was eating the eight-treasures porridge.


    Hearing this news, Zhang Tie''s mom let out a sigh.


    "Mom, don''t worry, if you want to find them as soon as possible, we can release wanted posters in the newspaper. As they are still living in the Huaiyuan Prefecture, we will definitely find them!" Seeing his mother a bit sad, Zhang Tie hurriedly comforted her.


    "Release it in the newspaper?" Zhang Tie''s mom blinked, seemingly interested in this idea.


    "Since we know they''ve been to Xince City, I will go to there with your mom when we''re free. It''s only several hours from here. We can hire people to find them too. If neither of these methods works, we will release it in the newspaper. As we are new here, it''s better for us to be low key" Zhang Tie''s father explained in a calm way.


    Since they came back to Huaiyuan Prefecture, Zhang Tie also found that his dad became calmer in lieu of recent events.


    Hearing dad''s words, all the others nodded after thinking awhile.


    After eating breakfast, the whole family was busy as they all started to clean up after themselves and put on the new clothes that they had recently purchased. Especially his father as it was Zhang Tie''s first time seeing him put on a double-breasted suit with a tie.


    After putting on this suit, Zhang Tie''s dad looked completely different from before.


    "Dad, you really look like a dandy in that costume!" Zhang Tie kidded.


    "Alas, I''ve not worn it for dozens of years. I don''t even know how to prepare my tie anymore." Zhang Tie''s dad sighed.


    Thinking back to the period when Zhang Tie''s dad usually wore a set of somewhat white working uniform and struggled for the whole family''s livelihood by getting up early and going back home late in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie would feel like crying. Thinking of this, he increased his resolve to join Hidden Dragon Palace. As he had grown up, it was the right time for him to assume the responsibility for his family.


    When it was almost half past nine in the morning, Zhang Ping''s brother, Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle, came to pick them up.


    Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle was over 50 years old, who looked 60% similar to Zhang Tie''s father. Besides, he looked a bit gentle in a pair of glasses. Nevertheless, he was a bit fatter than Zhang Tie''s father and looked like he had been used to a noble''s lifestyle.


    Because Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle usually came here during this period, they had been familiar with each other. Therefore, they got straight to the point.


    Zhang Tie''s family then got into a black three-row sedan and left their current residence.


    Jinhai City was also a coastal city. It was not as prosperous as Yiyang City but was still a large city. Jinhai City contained 3.4 million people. As the manufacturing center of Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace, its manufacturing accomplishments were even above that of Kalur. Half of Jinyun Country''s steamers and one-fifth of its airships came from the manufacturing factories in Jinhai City.


    When the car drove onto the coastal avenue of Jinhai City, Zhang Tie saw numerous docks of different sizes on the sea and the harbors in the far.


    "Let''s go to visit our shipyard first, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang have not seen it yet." Sitting in the front row, the eldest uncle turned back and spoke to Zhang Ping.


    Zhang Ping nodded, "Fine, let''s go to have a look then. I''ve not been there for a long time. I''m also wondering how it looks now."


    "Dad has merged two more shipyards in past years. Now, the Milkyway Shipyard could rank top three in shipbuilding in terms of scale and strength in Jinhai City and top five in Jinyun Country. Now, our shipyard mainly builds off-shore fishing boats weighing from 500 tons to 2000 tons, Yuanjiang-class passenger liners and rapid destroyers that we''ve bid for from the navy of Jinyun Country. Dad is full of ambition that he prepares to start the program of 10,000-ton pelagic fishing ships next year and officially push the Milkyway Shipyard into the ranks of 10,000-ton ships manufacturers!"


    "Our former shipyard didn''t have the ability to produce 10,000-ton pelagic fishing ships. Is the new shipyard under construction?"


    "It will be completed in two months. As our former shipyard started from building fishing ships, we''ve got many assets in the past years, we could also be able to build 10,000-ton pelagic fishing ships!"


    "As pelagic shipping is an industry of high risk and high return, ships that are adapted to pelagic shipping are produced in accordance with orders, which pose very strict requirements on various aspects. Our new shipyard has not been completed, how have we received orders?" Zhang Tie''s dad became slightly startled.


    "The orders come from our Zhang clan. I also feel strange about that. Last year, the Changfeng Business Group, the Pelagic Fishing Company and the Pelagic Steamers Company under the affiliation of the Zhang clan almost tossed some development plans at the same time, which increased the demands for 10,000-ton pelagic fishing ships, pelagic passenger liners and pelagic freighters by several times. It looks very rash and a bit absurd. I don''t know how could they be that confident. What is more absurd is that their plans had been approved by the council of the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace. the first set of capital to renovate the Milkyway Shipyard is interest-free loan provided by Huaiyuan Bank. As for the orders sent by the Pelagic Fishing Company, as long as the first 10,000-ton pelagic fishing ship is paved with its keel, the Huaiyuan Bank will prepay 40% of the shipbuilding cost for Pelagic Shipping Company. It''s great preferential treatment. In Jinhai City, besides our shipyard, all the other shipyards have received similar orders."


    Hearing the discussion between dad and eldest uncle, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang sitting in the back of the car exchanged glances with each other with astonishment. Neither of them had ever imagined that their dad was born into such a great clan, who''s shipyard ranked top three in Jinhai City and top five in Jinyun Country. It sounded great.

 272 Relatives

    Chapter 272: Relatives


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Milkyway Shipyard was located in the cove of Jinhai City. It occupied 1.16 million square meters of land area and 1.28 million square meters of the sea. The dock''s shoreline lasted 1400 m. Including the soon to be completed 10,000-ton dock, there were six docks and berths of different sizes. Recently, the Milkyway Shipyard could produce various fishing boats, passenger liners, and freighters as well as medium and small-sized naval vessels. It employed over 4000 workers. With assets of about 7.5 million gold coins, the Milkyway Shipyard could rank top three in Jinhai City in terms of scale and manufacturing strength.


    Such a great undertaking had been accumulated by five generations after over 100 years of development. Since the beginning of Zhang Tie''s great-grandfather''s grandfather to Zhang Tie''s grandpa, the Milkyway Shipyard of Jinhai City completely changed its status from a tiny rough berth which was opened to repair small fishing boats to a large-scale shipyard which enjoyed a high rank in Jinhai City, even in Jinyun Country.


    Zhang Tie''s grandfather played an extremely influential role. Since Zhang Ping''s father took over the family business, its assets were less than 100,000 gold coins. Through his dozens of years of management, the scale of the shipyard increased ten times over.


    Hearing his eldest uncle''s introduction, Zhang Tie started to admire the elder whom he had never met.


    After paying a visit to the Zhang clan''s shipyard, in addition to Zhang Tie''s newfound understanding about the circumstances of his father''s family, Zhang Tie was able to develop a picture of the overall situation.


    Zhang family''s old home was a beautiful estate which occupied over 20 mu, namely about 13340 square meters. From the outside, although it didn''t appear very magnificent, it was every bit that of rich and powerful family''s home. In the old house, Zhang Tie finally experienced this family''s background.


    Zhang Tie''s grandfather had four wives. Including Zhang Tie''s father, Zhang Tie''s grandfather had 11 children, five of which were daughters, with the remaining six being sons. Among the five daughters, two were married away from Huaiyuan Prefecture and didn''t come back today, the other three daughters were in the Huaiyuan Prefecture and had all comeback today. Among the 11 children, Zhang Tie''s father ranked eighth. Therefore, besides two younger uncles and one younger aunt, Zhang Tie had four elder aunts and three elder uncles. After the introduction, Zhang Tie could still remember his uncles and aunts'' faces and names. However, when his uncles and aunts'' spouses had gathered here, making Zhang Tie feel dazzled.


    Zhang Tie finally understood why Huaiyuan Palace would create a Clansmen Pavilion. Since there were so many relatives, if such a professional agency wasn''t created to manage personnel affairs, nobody would know the relationships between clan members anymore.


    When Zhang Tie came back to the old family home, he had 20-30 more elders. Additionally, Zhang Tie had over 20 cousins, some of which didn''t join the family party due to various reasons. Additionally, many of Zhang Tie''s cousins had children. Therefore, Zhang Tie also had 10 nieces and nephews.


    Among Zhang Tie''s nieces and nephews, the eldest had been 12 years old, only 3-4 years younger than Zhang Tie. As they were still too naughty, they didn''t even feel like calling Zhang Tie uncle.


    Amongst all the relatives and elders, only the members of Zhang Tie''s father''s blood brothers'' families felt more genial. Others, although being also very passionate, looked slightly curious but mostly indifferent towards Zhang Tie''s family.


    Zhang Tie didn''t mind this either. After all, they hadn''t been in contact for dozens of years, it was impossible to have no estrangement among the brothers and sisters with the same father and different mothers. Let alone, there were many underhanded plots like struggling for family properties in such rich family. Zhang Tie''s father might be viewed as a competitor who would share the properties of the family in the future in someone''s eyes.


    ...


    "Zhang Ping, where does your family live?" At supper, when Zhang Haitian, Zhang Ping''s father, asked him in a calm way, all the other people at the 5 tables in the dining hall instantly became quiet. Even the servants who were serving dishes in the dining hall stood aside and didn''t move anymore.


    "Papa, Zhang Ping''s family came back too abruptly, I arranged for them an average apartment on Xinhai Road." One of Zhang Tie''s elder uncles spoke out.


    The Zhang Haitan slightly nodded.


    "Papa, I fail to consider it properly, when eighth younger brother and sister-in-law came back. I''ve didn''t prepared well, causing them to suffer discomfort." At the sight of their father being silent, another elder uncle of Zhang Tie''s sitting at the main table hurriedly opened his mouth. He was the eldest son of the first wife and was called Zhang Lin. He was also the designated successor of the of Zhang Haitan and the future head of the family.


    Of course, Zhang Lin should be meticulous at this moment.


    "As we came back too suddenly and didn''t want to bring trouble to the home, I didn''t notify eldest brother. I beg for eldest brother''s forgiveness. We feel right at home in the apartment. With three bedrooms, one parlor and one dining room, it''s enough for us." Zhang Tie''s father hurriedly explained.


    All the elders of Zhang clan knew the details surrounding Zhang Tie''s return. However, nobody mentioned the affair about Zhang Ping escaping marriage by faking death. They all knew what was happening yet didn''t reveal it, making it seem as though Zhang Tie''s dad had wandered in the outside for a personal undertaking for dozens of years.


    Looking at Zhang Ping''s face which seemed older than that of the other brothers, the Zhang Haitan went quiet. No one knew what he was thinking. "Previously, we didn''t treat you well, causing you suffer a lot of bitterness outside for all these years. This time, as you''ve come back, you can share 5% of the shipyard of the family. With this share, you could only participate in sharing profits of the shipyard instead of daily management."


    Hearing Zhang Haitan''s words, Zhang Tie''s father directly stood up from his chair. Look him in the eyes, he firmly told his father, "Papa, the scale of Zhang''s shipyard is due to the efforts of you and my elder brothers. As I was not at home all these years and had not made any contribution to this home, I''ve always felt shameful about what I''ve done. Therefore, I will not accept this share. If you insist on that, you are forcing me and my family to leave Jinhai City!"


    Zhang Tie had not realized that his dad was so strong-willed. Seeing his father looking back at him and his elder brother, Zhang Tie didn''t speak but revealed a brilliant smile as he silently raised his thumb towards his father below the table. Zhang Tie''s elder brother also nodded towards Zhang Ping with a smile. Looking at the two sons'' expressions, Zhang Ping felt warm inside and released tears.


    Zhang Tie saw that his mother was also smiling as she grasped Zhang Ping''s hands under the table. At the same time, Zhang Tie''s elder brother silently patted on his wife''s thigh twice.


    After looking over Zhang Ping for half a minute, Zhang Haitan felt uncomfortable as he also let out a sigh of disappointment.


    "Dear, even though Zhang Ping doesn''t want a share off the shipyard, why not directly give him the manor in Changman, letting them settle down in Jinhai City. As Zhang Ping''s two children have grown up, it''s time for them to get married and have their own undertakings. If you''re concerned about them, it''s not too late for you to take care of your grandsons." Sitting beside Zhang Haitan, his first wife slowly said.


    The elderly person moved his eyebrows as he glanced at Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang and slowly nodded.


    "Eighth younger brother, if you aren''t even prepared to accept one manor, you''ll really make us uncomfortable then." Zhang Lin opened his mouth once again.


    "Thank you, dad, I will accept the manor. We will move there tomorrow!" After thinking for awhile, Zhang Tie''s father made the decision as he sat at the table once again. Seeing this, Zhang Ping''s elder brothers sitting on the same table nodded too.


    Not knowing whether it was an illusion, Zhang Tie felt that when his dad accepted the manor, many people present let out a breath as the atmosphere became lively once again.


    "Zhang Yang, it''s said you''ve just retired. What''s your plan?"Zhang Haitan turned to Zhang Yang and asked him seriously out of concern.


    On hearing this question, Zhang Yang was relived as he had discussed it with Zhang Tie in the morning. Zhang Yang had long made the decision, "As Huaiyuan Prefecture has a well-developed trading industry and gathers numerous commodities from both east and west continents, I''m preparing to start a trading firm!"


    "Is there any problem with capital?"Zhang Haitan went straight to the point.


    "No, I will start small. I plan to buy a storefront in Jinhai City. After slowly developing the skills, I believe that I can succeed!" Zhang Yang proudly answered.


    Zhang Haitan nodded. No one present derided Zhang Yang''s low threshold. This was due to Zhang Haitan usually repeating on phrase.¡ª¡ªAs long as a person could steadfastly push forward, sooner or later, he would succeed.


    "What about you Zhang Tie, what''s your plan?" The Zhang Haitan now focused on Zhang Tie.


    "I will report in Hidden Dragon Palace next Monday!"


    When Zhang Tie uttered this, the whole room became quiet once again as everyone cast their eyes onto Zhang Tie with mixed expressions of amazement, surprise, admiration and shock. Everyone present knew what Hidden Dragon Palace was. From its name it''s meaning could be derived. It was the gathering of the elites of the Zhang clan. Everyone who joins Hiding Dragon Palace and survives would be the elites of the Zhang clan. Almost all the members of the Zhang clan''s elders association and those big figures who ruled the crucial agencies of Huaiyuan Palace had undergone training at Hidden Dragon Palace.


    Because Zhang Tie had told his parents about his plan yesterday, his family members were not stunned about this. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that his parents would disagree with his plan. Zhang Tie had not imagined that both of them would support his decision.


    "Fine, fine, fine..." The Zhang Haitan started to laugh loudly, "I wouldn''t have imagined that two of my progeny would awaken ancestral bloodlines and enter Hidden Dragon Palace, hahaha..."


    "Your cousin is also in Hidden Dragon Palace. He''s not back today. When you arrive there, you can contact him..." Zhang Lin also smiled as he said this. However, Zhang Tie saw something else in the eyes of his eldest uncle...

 273 A Trip at Sea

    Chapter 273: A Trip at Sea


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    The steam-driven engine of the small passenger liner had been in operation for almost five hours. Sharply contrasting to the jarring and monotonous sounds were the tweets of the seagulls that flew over the sky and the sounds of the sea waves surrounded the liner.


    The passenger liner broke through the winds and the waves, creating snow white water droplets which flew high into the air and sparkled under the sunlight like silver beads, causing Zhang Tie to slightly narrow his eyes as he was standing on the deck of the second floor and gazing at the sea in the front.


    Today was Monday, December 5th, the day when Zhang Tie was going to register at Hidden Dragon Palace.


    It was a good day today. Thinking of when he was attending the beer festival in Blapei last month and was heading for his new life on the sea at this moment, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but sigh the miracle of fate.


    Thinking of those affairs, a girl with black eyes reappeared in Zhang Tie''s mind¡ª¡ªPandora! Before he left Kalur, this was the very name that Zhang Tie concerned the most.


    Pandora''s family had suddenly left Blackhot City. Nobody knew where she had gone. It seemed as though she was never there in the first place. She was like a drop of water jumping and falling back into the sea without warning. She disappeared, leaving no signal at all. Even her neighbors didn''t know when they had moved away.


    Alice''s family also left Blackhot City. When they left there, Alice left a letter and told Barley to hand it to Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªAlice''s father took her and her mother to Nordinburg, the capital city on the North Border of the Norman Empire.


    Beverly worked as a nurse at a hospital in Blackhot City. The girls of Rose Association also lived their own lives like before. That absurd affair seemed having been a distant memory.


    The former City Guard Army of Blackhot City had completely disbanded. The No. 39 Division that defended Blackhot City had started the official expansion of its establishment. Most of his partners and friends at school had joined the army. Only a few of them didn''t pass the physical examination for joining the army.


    Fatty Barley didn''t pass the physical examination due to his asthma. Sharwin didn''t pass because he was too weak to reach the minimum standard to be a new recruit of the Norman Empire. The other one left was Potter¡ª¡ªthe juvenile who was cheated into being a fire holder in the mining cave because of his flatfoot.


    Compared to that of the former Andaman Alliance, the conditions for joining the army of the Norman Empire became much stricter.


    Zhang Tie had always been sorry for Potter. Only Potter was digging in the mines when the others of the Gods Bliss Association had joined the army when Zhang Tie left the Blackhot City. He was still trying to improve the "Big Bliss Skill" through mining. Besides expecting for Potter to give it up by himself and letting Barley take care of him when necessary, Zhang Tie had no other ideas to aid him. Facing the weak Potter''s eyes which were as firm as fire, Zhang Tie couldn''t even stand to tell him that as a joke.


    "Argh, look, dolphins..."


    Hearing the surprise, Zhang Tie was instantly drawn back into the reality. Zhang Tie then shook his head and drove everything about Blackhot City out of his mind. What counted most now was to improve his own strength. If he had strength, it would be no problem for him to bring everybody that he knew in Blackhot City along with his family member to the East Continent when the holy war between human and demons started. However, for the time being, he was just a tiny shrimp in the torrents of destiny, who could only jump at the bottom of the water and could not even see the direction ahead.


    On the sea in the distance, some dolphins were jumping out of the sea and played alongside the steamer. Zhang Tie looked back and five more people were standing beside him on the deck.


    Three of them were male, while two were female. They were all older than Zhang Tie and carried weapons. The three males all had tiger-like shoulders and bear-like waists. The moment Zhang Tie caught sight of them, he knew that they were warriors. One of the two females was over 30 years old while the other one was 17-18 years old. The older women had a slim waist and thrusting breasts while still looking valiant and heroic. Although looking a bit experienced, she was still very enchanting and as mature as a ripe honey peach. The younger lady had almond-like eyes, peachy cheeks and a pair of long legs. She also looked very beautiful. Although being younger, she was taller than that 30-odd-year-old woman.


    The exclamation just now was from this young lady. She was looking at the dolphins in the distance and clapped her hands out of excitement.


    "Even now sister Fu likes dolphins so much, why not let junior brother Yu catch two for you after you''ve advanced to level 6 and form battle qi. I think once you make a request, junior brother Yu will never refuse no matter what trouble he will encounter. Right, younger brother Yu?" The 30-odd-year-old woman casually joked.


    "Senior sister Fang, don''t tease me!" The 17-18 old girl stomped her feet as she sneered at the man who was most handsome among the three male.


    The male looked even more bashful than the woman as his face had already blushed the moment he heard the joke. He then stuttered, "If...if junior sister...Fu likes it, we can go see the dol...dolphins!"


    Junior sister Fu...junior brother...senior sister...Hearing those official appellations with Chinese features, Zhang Tie could almost guess their status. They must belong to a certain Chinese sect as was usually mentioned by Donder.


    A Chinese sect was a fresh concept for Zhang Tie. In his mind, a sect was an organization that was a melting pot that had clans, business groups, academies, churches, guilds, and even an army. It was a group that was tied together through similar interests and personal attachments.


    A sect was rarely seen in other places except for Chinese countries. Zhang Tie had not heard about any sects in the Andaman Alliance. Although he had seen many churches, academies, fighting clubs and various secret teams even the relations between teachers and apprentices, he knew they were all scattered traditional inheritance systems.


    In Hebrew-spoken areas, sects were most close to schools. Compared to schools, the greatest difference between sects and schools was that all the sects were involved with beliefs and idolatry, yet beliefs or idolatry might or might not exist in schools. Schools were more flexible on management. Sects focused on belief yet schools focused on secret knowledge. They all had their own features.


    Because it was his first time to contact the people in a certain sect, Zhang Tie kept enjoying the scene as he paid attention to their chat. Seeing Zhang Tie was just a 15-16-year-old juvenile, they didn''t care about him either as they started to chat for free.


    Their topics soon shifted to their target on this trip from "junior sister Fu" and "junior brother Yu".


    "It''s too expensive. It takes each of us 15 silver coins for only several hours of travel on the sea. This is no different than robbery. In other places, it might not take 5 silver coins for even one day''s trip on the sea!" A person complained.


    "Junior brother Feng, no more complaints about that. As it''s the first time for you and Junior brother Yu to come out to form battle qi, there are things you don''t know. If you were in other places in Jinyun Country, you might not able to enter the underground world even if you spent 10 times the amount. Recently, five entrances towards the underground world have been discovered in Jinyun Country. Besides this one on Hidden Dragon Island where you could enter for free, three of the others have been occupied by the big clans of Jinyun Country and you''re not allowed in unless you pay 5 gold coins each time. The last entrance is in the Yangui Mountain Range. That entrance was over 1000 km away from Yangui City. You can also access their at your will; however, besides a few great fighters, nobody could arrive there."


    "Senior brother An, you mean Huaiyuan Palace has done a good thing?" Junior brother Feng questioned.


    "Heh heh, the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace is so rich that it occupies 8 cities and enjoys the benefit by being adjacent to the sea. Even if the gold coins gained from trades between east continent and west continent were many times more than the benefits gained through this entrance to the underground world. This Hidden Dragon Island is far away from the coast. It''s wiser to open it to us than building a new city and dispatching soldiers here for a good reputation. Additionally, people will gain various useful items by hunting magical beasts in the underground world which will be inconvenient to take away. Therefore, most of them will choose to trade the items directly on Hidden Dragon Island, which will definitely bring great benefit to the Changfeng Business Group under the affiliation of Huaiyuan Palace!" Senior brother An explained.


    "That''s really shrewd!" Junior brother Yu sighed.


    "It doesn''t only rely on fortune for Huaiyuan Palace to reach such a scale. Based on their means, of course, they will carry out their plan very well so that they could gain others'' praise and benefit others." senior sister Fang answered.


    "Senior sister Fang, I heard the magical beasts in the underground world are very large and fierce. Even the black spider of the lowest level is as big as an ox."


    "Don''t worry, junior sister Fu. Although those black spiders are very fierce, your senior brother An and I have encountered them before. This time, it won''t be difficult for us to deal with those black spiders at all. Your senior brother An and I will definitely help you three form wind-breaking battle qi safe and sound. We will not start advancing to level 7 until you three reach level 6. By then, you can just stand aside and observe what it''s like to assail to level 7 from us.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie turned back and prepared to leave the deck. At the same time, a glimpse of a land could be seen from afar. Looking at the passenger liner driving towards that big island. Zhang Tie knew that must be Hidden Dragon island.


    The moment he left the deck, Zhang Tie had heard the sound of splashing from under the liner. Zhang Tie felt the sound of the water was a bit strange. Before he turned back had he heard an exclamation behind him and the powerful clashes between weapons accompanied by some furious growls and muffles.


    Zhang Tie turned back and saw one more person on the deck.


    A person in watertight clothing with scattered hair was standing in the middle of the deck, his hair dripping water. That man''s eyes were incredibly alert as he continued to scan the deck. However, his weird fingers were tightly grasping the throat of "junior sister Fu", who looked to be in quite the amount of pain and had completely lost her ability to fight back. The people who had been together with "junior sister Fu" had been thrown away and lying far away on the deck. Junior brother Yu and junior brother Feng were struggling to climb up from the deck while senior brother An and senior sister Fang were standing several steps away with an ugly look in their eyes. Senior sister Fang''s hands were quivering. She looked pale. The corners of senior brother An''s mouth revealed a wisp of blood. The moment they fought the mysterious man, they had been wounded.


    Behind the man was a rolling fighting qi, presenting the image of a serpent.


    After another splash, one more young man, less than 20 years old, suddenly appeared on the deck, who had a naked upper body and was barefoot. He was casually wearing a pair of underpants and was rotating a water-breaking dagger[1] in hand. He looked at that man in a distant way, "Let her go, as you''ve been reduced to such, why do you have to involve in an innocent girl to make you more guilty?"


    "Bull****!" Holding her throat, that man loudly shouted. As he looked at this young man, he drew the girl closer to his side and carefully hid behind her, "You jump off the boat and let the boat turn back to send me back to the mainland!" That man had been raving loudly.


    "You''ve violated the laws of Huaiyuan Prefecture on Hidden Dragon Island, do you think that you can still escape?" Even if you can get to shore, do you think that you can escape from Huaiyuan Prefecture? Don''t be that naive." Playing with his water-breaking dagger, the youth became more cordial, "As I''ve chased you for three days, we''ve gotten familiar with each other. Save me some face. I will give you a quick death so that you can go to hell as soon as possible and I can go onto submit my mission as soon as possible. From then on, we will not interfere with each other, how about that?"


    "F***" Before the man loudly swore just before a shiny long sword had penetrated his throat. His eyes popped out of their sockets as he tried to look back who had stabbed him but failed.


    His battle qi totem and shortly after, his life, were both now gone.


    The man fell down as junior sister Fu who was under his abduction also hurriedly ran away from the man with a terrified look.


    At this time, a handsome male youth in white clothes was holding a long sword and standing behind that man. Nobody on the deck had noticed from when had this youth appeared behind that man, including Zhang Tie.


    Seeing the man lying on the deck, the youth in white clothes shook his head, "I really wonder how could you reach level 8; after being chased for three days, you didn''t even know how many people were chasing after you. With such a poor aptitude, you dare to do business at any cost? Your intelligence is really..." The youth flicked the long sword in a cool way so as to clean off the blood dripping from it. After that, he raised his head and looked into the sky, "What a tragedy."


    The moment he finished the word "tragedy", the youth in white clothes had already jumped up from the deck and spun twice in the air while putting his sword back into the sheath before he threw himself into the sea like a dolphin. He directly disappeared into the sea without making any splash.


    "Why do you always act cool ahead of me and then leave me deal with the remains?" The other youth with the bare torso who was playing the water-breaking dagger muttered as he walked towards the corpse and searched it thoroughly. He then got a bag from the corpse and opened it in front of everyone. He then took out of a round red bead from the bag. After looking at it for a while, he nodded before put it back into the bag and took it away.


    "When the ship arrives at the port, someone will come to deal with this corpse." After saying this, the youth playing the water-breaking dagger instantly jumped into the sea from the deck.


    At this moment, the deck had been surrounded by a lot of passengers. Most of the people who came to the Hidden Dragon Island would be fighters who had been used to battles. Therefore, after noticing what happened on the deck, many people didn''t feel afraid at all, instead, they all ran out of their rooms to watch.


    It was really a splendid fight.


    "This dead guy looks familiar!" One onlooker said.


    "He''s Deng Tong, the Monster of the Sea. He''s the head of the pirates wanted by the Qilan Country. I didn''t imagine that he could be killed today!" As there were hundreds of passengers on the deck coming from all walks of life, the moment someone felt the one lying on the deck was familiar, someone else had already recognized his status.


    "I heard Deng Tong excelled at swimming in the sea and had some secret techniques. He''s known for not drowning to death after staying in the sea for seven days. He''s escaped pursuit many times in Qilan Country due to this excellent talent. He even reversed the situation in the sea and killed pursuers twice while at sea. I didn''t think that he could be killed near Hidden Dragon Island. He was chased after by others and jumped onto the ship. Alas, his luck finally ran out."


    "If he had behaved well and hadn''t stolen items while killing people over on Hidden Dragon Island, why would he have been killed. It''s said that Deng Tong was just level 7. I think he was here to promote himself. However, he had never imagined that he could lose his life right after promoting to level 8!"


    "Who are the two youths chasing after and killing Deng Tong just now?"


    "They must come from the Hidden Dragon Palace of the Zhang clan. Hidden Dragon Palace is the place where the elites of Zhang clan cultivate themselves. It''s said that people who cultivate here have all awakened their ancestral bloodlines."


    After letting out a few sighs, the onlookers left. However, after looking at the corpse on the deck, many people warned themselves that they should never perform any questionable activities on Hidden Dragon Island based on their own strength.


    ...


    "Junior sister Fu, are you okay?" Junior brother Yu looked at his junior sister Fu nervously. His junior sister Fu didn''t recover her composure until he repeated this question many times.


    "Argh...I''m okay!"


    "Thankfully, you''re okay, I was really worried about you!" Junior brother Yu let out a sigh and smiled. However, he had not noticed that his junior sister Fu was absent-minded at this moment.


    Only senior sister Fang sighed inside after looking at younger sister Fu''s face, The two young men are too handsome and talented, especially that youth in white who had saved junior sister Fu. After seeing that person, junior sister Fu''s eyes didn''t even move away from him. What''s that person''s last sentence? Sigh! Junior brother Yu, what a tragedy!''


    ...


    "Hidden Dragon Palace..." Zhang Tie muttered this name twice inside as his eyes began to shine. After glancing at the three males and two females on the deck as well that Monster of the Sea''s corpse, he returned to the cabin together with the rest people.


    ...


    Twenty minutes later, the shadow of Hidden Dragon Island grew increasingly larger on the horizon.


    Hidden Dragon Island was a big island under the affiliation of Huaiyuan Prefecture. It was 190 km away from the continent and covered 340 sq km. It was densely covered with woods and surrounded by mountains.


    Being on the same island together with Hidden Dragon palace was the "Dragon Hole on the Island" which was known as 1 of the 5 entrances to the underground world...

 274 Newbie

    Chapter 274: Newbie


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Hidden Dragon Island was surrounded by mountains. Its coast was covered with dense rapids. Under the surging waves were strange and jagged rocks. The only wharf on the island was to the north, which was located between two steep leeward ranges which extended into the sea. The terrain was pretty precipitous.


    The waterway entering the wharf was a winding path. The mountains on both sides of the waterway were covered with karst caves of different sizes which were formed due to weathering, water erosion or special geological composition. Half of the karst caves were immersed in seawater. As a response to the crashing of the waves, weird and chilling noises drifted from the inside of the karst caves like the growls of monsters.


    Not until the passenger liner moved forward in the narrow and twisting waterway for about 500-600m did Zhang Tie see a large space and caught sight of the 100m long small wharf and some buildings on Hidden Dragon Island.


    After anchoring the liner, everyone started to go ashore. Zhang was left alone on the deck. When almost everybody left the deck, two 16-17 years old youths in black uniforms came onto the deck with the other three men in multicolored outfits.


    "That''s him..." The moment they arrived onto the deck, one of the three people in the multicolored outfits pointed at the corpse on the deck and loudly shouted, "That''s the one who killed my elder brother and my eldest uncle as well as robbed two centipede''s cores from them...", saying this, that person couldn''t wait to burst into tears. Finally, he couldn''t stand still before proceeding to take out his long saber and fiercely hacked into the corpse, "Elder brother, eldest uncle, you died so miserably, I will use this evil person''s head as a sacrifice for your death!"


    "I''ve given you the centipedes'' cores, here''s his corpse. You are free to deal with it even by grinding his bones into ashes and throwing them away or directly peeling his skin."


    "On behalf of the 659 people in Ma Village of Qingshan Prefecture, I thank the Zhang clan for your righteous deed!" Another old man among them forcefully withstood his lament and bowed towards the two youths by a holding fist salute.


    "As they are already dead, please restrain your grief."


    Being grieved, the other men in multicolored clothing extended their thanks to the two youths before directly carrying the corpse away from the liner.


    While standing on the deck, Zhang Tie saw this scene and had been able to guess the status of the two youths. They were at least members of Zhang clan on the island, if not, from Hidden Dragon Palace.


    "Wait a moment, please!" When the two youths walked onto the wharf, Zhang Tie stopped them.


    "What''s up?" The two youths turned back and stared at Zhang Tie who suddenly came out.


    "Do you know how to get to Hidden Dragon Palace?"


    "Hidden Dragon Palace?" One of the two youths started to seriously glance over Zhang Tie when he heard that Zhang Tie was going to the Hidden Dragon Palace.


    "Yes, I want to go to the Hidden Dragon Palace." Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    "What are you going to do in Hidden Dragon Palace?"


    "To apply to join!"


    "Show me your clan plate!"


    Zhang Tie then took out his clan plate and gave it to the two youths. After a serious look, the two youths exchanged glances with each other and nodded together.


    "You''re Zhang Tie?" One of the youths returned the clan plate to Zhang Tie.


    "Yes!"


    "I''m Xu Lang; he''s Zhang Houyu. We are all from Hidden Dragon Palace!" Saying this, Xu Lang instantly became enthusiastic. After saying this, Xu Lang looked at Zhang Houyu and asked, "Who will send him to Hidden Dragon Palace, you or me?"


    "Hoho, after all, we''re both surnamed Zhang, I will send him over there! You continue to patrol around the island, I will first send him to Hidden Dragon Palace. Then we will meet in Blackdragon Town." The youth called Zhang Houyu replied.


    "Fine."


    "Follow me!" Zhang Houyu greeted Zhang Tie and turned back to leave. Of course, Zhang Tie followed him away from the wharf.


    There was a narrow street on the side of the wharf, on both sides of which were some buildings. Zhang Tie took a look and found a warehouse, a hotel, a fish market and two stores that posses items he wasn''t aware of. There was one restaurant too. Most of the passengers got off from the liner poured into the restaurant. After taking a trip on the liner for 4-5 hours, they had eaten nothing at all. Therefore, the moment the saw the restaurant, they all went in at once.


    Zhang Tie''s stomach was still growling. Nevertheless, as someone was guiding him, he felt it improper to let him wait for him to finish a meal before continuing to walk.


    "Do you want to eat something?" Although Zhang Tie didn''t speak, Zhang Houyu was sentimental as he asked, "If you''re hungry, you''d better eat a bit, as this place is more than 20 km away from Hidden Dragon Palace. If you''re too hungry, I''m afraid that you won''t be able to keep up with me."


    "It doesn''t matter, it''s okay to eat at Hidden Dragon Palace!"


    "Fine, follow me then. We can run over there. It will be faster." Saying this, Zhang Houyu started to run as Zhang Tie hurriedly followed behind him.


    Thinking of Xu Lang that he had met just now, Zhang Tie suddenly thought of a question as he asked Zhang Houyu, "Hidden Dragon Palace also takes in apprentices with different surnames?"


    "Besides Zhang clan''s direct line of descendants, if anyone among the relatives of Zhang clan across Huaiyuan Prefecture have awakened the ancestral bloodline, they can also enter Hidden Dragon Palace. As you''re new to Hidden Dragon Palace, you should bear in mind the primary rule that you should not casually ask for others'' ancestral bloodlines or how many times they have awakened. You should not casually reveal to others about what ancestral bloodline have you awakened. Although you feel this information are not important, they are very important clan secrets. When you awaken your ancestral bloodline for the first time, someone might know about that. Once you have awakened your ancestral bloodline for the second time, no matter what great ability do you have, you''d better reveal it to others as little as possible. This is a card in your hand, it might save your life a critical moment!" Zhang Houyu explained as he found Zhang Tie could keep up with him. Therefore, he increased his pace.


    "Ancestral bloodlines can be awakened a second time?" As it was Zhang Tie''s first time hearing this, he was a bit amazed as he thought he could only awaken his throwing skill once.


    "Of course! There''s no limit to the amount times one can awaken their ancestral bloodline. Different ancestral bloodlines could grant you different talents and gifts. As for how many times can you awaken, it will depend on your ability and luck. Many people who have awakened their ancestral bloodlines for the first time could awaken them twice, then thrice, even more. It takes time to improve and intensify the same ancestral bloodline that they''ve awakened!"


    Zhang Tie slightly sighed inside, "Hidden Dragon Palace is really great. Although I''ve just arrived, I have received two surprises, one on the passenger liner, the other here. I wonder how it would feel if I awaken my throwing skill for the second time. Only after thinking about this question did Zhang Tie''s heart begin to race and long for the future.


    After leaving the wharf, the two people started up the mountainous path. At the beginning, Zhang Houyu wanted to take care of Zhang Tie by slowing down his speed on purpose. Gradually, he realized that Zhang Tie could still easily chat with him when running, Zhang Houyu started to speed up. However, no matter how he accelerated his speed, Zhang Tie could still closely follow him up in an easy manner. Zhang Houyu became really amazed about that as he grew increasingly aggressive and started to use his full strength.


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel tired at all while the guide''s forehead had been oozing sweat. For Zhang Tie who had eaten nine Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits, Zhang Tie only felt very relaxed by trotting as this speed which was even a bit slower than his "cruising speed". If he liked, he could even keep running at this speed for the whole day long.


    After running 5 km over one mountain, Zhang Tie found another large-scale town on Hidden Dragon Island. The town was in a small basin on the Island, which was surrounded by forest. Its prosperity was not worse than those on the mainland. They then ran across the town from the hillside in the east of the town.


    "Argh, I didn''t imagine that there could be such great towns on Hidden Dragon Island!" Zhang Tie sighed.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s sigh, Zhang Houyu who kept running by lowering his head almost gasped as he could not even speak fluently at this moment. He had never imagined that Zhang Tie could still speak without even panting.


    "This is...White Dragon Town...there are... a total of five towns...on...Hidden Dragon Island...Besides White Dragon Town...there are Cyan Dragon Town...Yellow Dragon Town...Black Dragon Town...and Blue Dragon Town." Gritting his teeth, Zhang Houyu kept muttering intermittently. The oncoming wind filled into his mouth, almost causing him to cough.


    At this moment, Zhang Houyu had inwardly confirmed that the ancestral bloodline that Zhang Tie had awakened must be related to running. If not, he could never have such amazing stamina and running ability as a youth who looked 1-2 years younger than him.


    After following Zhang Houyu running for less than less than half an hour, they finally arrived at Hidden Dragon Palace. It was a combination of three castles built on a steep location with beautiful scenery, which extended to the top of the mountain. The castles were connected with each other by various types of villas and pavilions that hid in the woods. It looked pretty magnificent. With only a glance at these buildings, Zhang Tie could tell that Huaiyuan Palace was truly rich.


    A 20m high memorial archway marked with "Hidden Dragon Palace" was erected in front of Zhang Tie. Under the memorial archway were two huge and magnificent stone lions.


    "This...this is Hidden Dragon Palace. When you enter there...you will see someone greeting you inside!"


    After saying this, Zhang Houyu had already left before Zhang Tie said thanks.


    Zhang Tie scratched his head as he felt Zhang Houyu''s attitude was a bit weird. He didn''t know that this "elder" who brought him to the Hidden Dragon Palace had been so embarrassed on the way due to Zhang Tie''s great endurance. Therefore, the moment he arrived at the destination, he hurriedly escaped.


    ...


    After taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie touched his clan plate as he entered the memorial archway. He walked towards the first castle at the foot of the mountain. The guardians outside the castle were all young. At the sight of Zhang Tie, a young man less than 20 years old moved forward on his own. After seeing Zhang Tie''s clan plate and understanding Zhang Tie''s intention, the young man took Zhang Tie inside the castle.


    ...


    Several minutes later...


    "Zhang Tie, 15, level 5 warrior. Having awakened a bloodline for the first time. It''s your first time entering Hidden Dragon Palace. Here''s the key to your room, No. 73 of Xingzhi Department. Here''s the map of Hidden Dragon Island. You can go to register in Xingzhi Department today. Before you leave, you can reconfirm whether you''ve already handed in all your money. We''ve recorded your money, 8 gold coins and 13 silver coins in total. Before you leave Hidden Dragon Palace, we will return it back to you. If you are found to have hidden money privately, even one copper coin, the result would be very severe!" A 60-year old man with an obscene look and a goatee stood behind a high counter like an owner of a pawnshop. He pushed a key, a map and something else in front of Zhang Tie as he raised his head to warn Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that the first step was to hand in all of his money when he entered the Hidden Dragon Palace. Besides this money, he had 5000 gold coins and 5000 gold coin notes in the Castle of Black Iron, which was his reserve funds. There were the remains of the returns by auctioning the ring of energy after Zhang Tie went to the Blackhot City and gave a part of them to his elder brother.


    "Excuse me. Don''t I have to pay for buying items on Hidden Dragon Island and in Hidden Dragon Palace? Why should I have to hand in my private money?"


    "Of course, it requires money on Hidden Dragon Island and in Hidden Dragon Palace. It even requires a lot of money. Money is required everywhere. But for we apprentices of Hidden Dragon Palace, we have to make each copper coin on the Island, instead of from home!" This voice came from Zhang Tie''s back. Zhang Tie looked back and found four youths at this age walked towards him, each carrying a wire sack.


    The four youths only wore a simple coarse-cloth velvet. They were oozing sweat. It seemed that the items on their back were very heavy. The taller youth in the front was better while the skin of the faces and arms of other three youths behind him were as dry as bark and were cracking in places. Zhang Tie could imagine their former tender look.


    Because their forehead corners sweated too heavily, fine white salt granules could be seen over there. Their cracking skins were dipping in their sweat, causing their eye corners twitch out of control.


    The moment they drew close to him, Zhang Tie could smell the sea odor on them. Zhang Tie took a look at the fine wounds on their arms and hands. If they were not here, they would definitely be taken as being mistreated in other places.


    "Newbie?" That youth in the front asked Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Follow us then, we''re also from the Zhixing Department!" The front youth replied.


    "Hahahaha, welcome to Hidden Dragon Palace!" Another youth whose face was like the crust of cooked rice seemed as though he wanted to laugh as he saw Zhang Tie''s dumbfounded look. However, the moment he forced a smile, he controlled it...


    This Hidden Dragon Palace seems to be different than what it was in my imagination.

 275 The First Hurdle of the Secular World

    Walking behind the juveniles and observing them teetering and gritting teeth with wire sacks on their back, Zhang Tie started to feel a bit weird about Hidden Dragon Palace.


    Before coming toHidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie also imagined the scene when he entered it for the first time. In his imagination, an immortal old man with wholly white hair and a beard was holding a pile of secret books to teach students; a perverted one-eyed coach was strictly training plenty of juveniles under the hot sun; great piles of various marvelous weapons and fighting skills books were put in front of him which made it hard to even choose. Zhang Tie had fantasized all kinds of scenes with the exception of that where some mistreated slave laborers were teasing him¡ª¡ªwelcome to Hidden Dragon Palace


    Among the four juveniles in front of Zhang Tie, the weakest one was in the back with a wire sack on his back. He was also the shortest one. The moment he walked out of the castle and stepped onto the steps of the mountain pass, this juvenile suddenly felt soft on his feet as he continued forward. Thankfully, Zhang Tie, who was behind him, had a pair of sharp eyes and caught the wire sack on his back to keep his balance.


    "Can I help you?" Zhang Tie smiled as he directly took over the sack from the juvenile''s back. The weight of the wire sack was less than 150 kgs, which was trivial for Zhang Tie. After taking over the sack, Zhang Tie found the skin on his shoulder had been broken, exposing a bloody skin.


    "Argh, no need, I will be alright soon..." With tears rolling in the juvenile''s eye sockets, the juvenile kept it from dropping off.


    "Yunfei, are you okay?" The stronger juvenile in the front stopped as he turned back to ask.


    "It''s okay, I lost my footing just now and almost fell down."


    "Hold on a little longer, we''ll soon arrive at the Items Center."


    "That''s fine!" The juvenile called Yunfei responded as he looked at Zhang Tie, "Thank you, but I have to carry the sack over there by myself. If you help me carry them there, they will not pay me. This is the rule of Hidden Dragon Palace¡ª¡ªno other''s assistance is allowed when one performs labor."


    Seeing the juvenile called Yunfei being so persistent and learning the rules here, Zhang Tie then returned the sack back to this juvenile as he became increasingly curious about the rules of Hidden Dragon Palace.


    They then kept walking upward. Thankfully, less than 100 m away on the stone steps, Zhang Tie had heard a bell ringing.


    Walking through the bamboo woods and the shallow stream, Zhang Tie saw the smoking chimney and the blast furnace outside the tall wall while a house with a courtyard marked with "Items Center" appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie and some juveniles then entered the courtyard. On the left of the first door was a warehouse. Zhang Tie followed the juveniles into the warehouse and pulled the items out of the sacks. After that, they weighed them on the scale. Zhang Tie found all the items inside their sacks were ores that radiated a pale blue metallic luster.


    The housekeeper was also a 15-16 juvenile. As he weighed them, he told them the weight. After that, he would take money out of the drawer beside him and gave it to the juveniles one by one, making them very happy.


    "The total price of 241 kg of navy-blue iron ore is 24 silver coins..."


    ...


    "The total price of 203 kg of navy-blue iron ore is 20 silver coins..."


    ...


    "The total price of 195 kg of navy-blue iron ore is 19 silver coins..."


    ...


    "The total price of 148 kg of navy-blue iron ore is 14 silver coins..."


    "Argh, it''s too pitiful. With 2kg more, Yunfei would get 15 silver coins!" Another guy sighed. Hearing their words, Zhang Tie found that juvenile called Yunfei was slightly clenching his fists. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie understood the terms of payment¡ª¡ª10 kg of navy-blue iron ore for 1 silver coin. Those less than 10 kg would not be included inside.


    "You will also come here later on." That stronger juvenile put his money in his pocket as he told Zhang Tie.


    "Does everyone entering Hidden Dragon Palace have to do these things?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Yes, everyone entering the Hidden Dragon Palace should at least submit 30000 kg of navy-blue iron ore at first so as to gain 30 gold coins as your personal property on the island. It''s mandatory." The juvenile turned back as he recalled something, "Oh, I''m Zhang Keliang, what''s your name?"


    "I''m Zhang Tie!"


    "I''m Wei Wei!" That juvenile who told Zhang Tie "Welcome to Hidden Dragon Palace" also introduced himself.


    "I''m Zhang Hongsheng!"


    "I''m Zhang Yunfei!"


    After introductions, they all felt more familiar with each other.


    "Come on, let''s go back to take a good rest. In order to bring these ores back, we''ve been staying outside for almost 2 days. We will take a rest today to recover before going back there tomorrow." Zhang Keliang wove his hand and said while the others nodded.


    After that, Zhang Tie and the others left the Items Center.


    The Zhixing Department was not far from the Items Center. Walking out of the gate of the Items Center, they walked 200 m towards the east of the hillside along the stone path in the bamboo woods before arriving there. On the way there, through their introductions, Zhang Tie gradually understood many things.


    People had to face the most important first hurdle of the secular world¡ª¡ªmaking money!


    In regards to money, you can despise it by treating it as dung, but you could need it at any time. Therefore, you have to accept its importance.


    All the juveniles entering the Hidden Dragon Palace should first learn how to survive on their own on the island instead of mastering great fighting skills, secret knowledge, poems and ancient Chinese classics or the laws on ruling the country.


    Each new arrival lived in the Zhixing Department. They were given 3 days to adapt to the living environment here, during which period, you can eat and live for free. After 3 days, you had to think about how to survive on the island as by then the Zhixing Department would not provide you food or accommodation for free.


    One had to pay 5 silver coins for the lodging and 2 silver coins for food, namely 7 silver coins each day in the Zhixing Department. Credit was allowed, but an interest of 5% a day was also required. It would be calculated as compound interest. When your credit was as high as 1 gold coin, if you couldn''t pay it off, sorry, you had to roll out of the Hidden Dragon Palace and stay wherever you had to stay.


    "Do you mean one can leave the Hidden Dragon Island then?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Leave Hidden Dragon Island?" Wei Wu gritted his mouth and mocked, "No more than dream of it, those driven out of Hidden Dragon Palace are not allowed to leave the island at all. Instead, they have to make money to pay off their credit on the island. If one owed 1 gold coin to Hidden Dragon Palace when he was driven out of it, he had to pay off 2 gold coins in 2 weeks at the compound interest of 5% a day. After 1 month, one had to pay off 4 gold coins. The longer one lasted, the more one would owe. Those people being driven out of the Hidden Dragon Palace might not able to pay off in the rest of their lives if they could not pay off the debt in half a year and have to stay on the island for the rest of their lives..."


    "Stay on the island for the rest of their lives?" Zhang Tie felt very chilly inside, "Is there anyone like that?"


    "There is!" Zhang Keliang replied, "Those people who could not pay off 1 gold coin and could not even survive alone on the island could only be regarded as trash by their clans. It''s better to keep them on Hidden Dragon Island safe and sound than letting them out to be killed or stir up troubles."


    "There are rules on Hidden Dragon Palace in the Zhixing Department. If you go there, you would know that you need money in many places..." Zhang Yunfei added.


    As they chatted, they had arrived at the Xingzhi Department.


    The Xingzhi Department as a whole was like a huge triple-layer quadrangle. There were all sorts of pavilions, terraces and fish ponds and a martial-arts arena that covered 1334-2001 square meters. On the martial-arts arena, there are all kinds of drill weapons. When they arrived, Zhang Tie saw nobody else except for an old man in green clothes sitting under a persimmon tree outside the gate of the Zhixing Department who was staring blankly at a stone desk under the tree. He could only hear chirps of birds and insects in the courtyard, which made it very tranquil.


    "Have you seen that old man? He has been staying on the island for more than 50 years as he could not make enough money to pay off his debts when he was young. Because he''s old now and is a member of Zhang clan, he was brought back by Hidden Dragon Palace and is responsible for watching the gate for Zhixing Department!" Zhang Hongsheng murmured to Zhang Tie.


    "Argh!" Zhang Tie became really startled.


    "What are you shouting loudly over there for? I''ve just thought up a marvelous play step, yet was driven away by your noise. Look at your disheveled hair and dirty face, where are your elders? I will definitely let them teach you well!" It seemed that their words had disturbed the old man as he raised his head to blame Zhang Tie and the others. After that, he took out of a black player from the side of the desk and lowered his head again with frowning eyebrows to consider the next step on the desk like before.


    Zhang Tie and the others exchanged glances at each other and stuck out their tongues as they hurriedly walked inside.


    "Room No. 73 is over there. The rules and instructions of Hidden Dragon Place are on the stele in the pavilion beside the pond." Zhang Keliang pointed at the two places in the Xingzhi Department, "We will eat supper at 6 pm in that canteen over there. We need to go back to our rooms to take a rest first!"


    "Fine." Zhang Tie nodded as he departed from the others.


    Zhang Tie held his key and came in front of No. 73 room. When he opened the door, Zhang Tie stared blankly at the empty room for quite a while.


    Nothing was inside the room except for a bald wooden board bed.


    "F*ck!"


    ...


    10 minutes later, after recognizing the reality of his situation, Zhang Tie went to the pavilion which held the rules and instructions of Hidden Dragon Palace and read them carefully. He then gradually understood the situation of the Hidden Dragon Palace.


    Those who came to the Xingzhi Department were all new arrivals of Hidden Dragon Palace. All the newbies had to meet two minimum standards before left Xingzhi Department: first, reach level 6 to become a fighter and form battle qi; second, submit 30000 kg of navy-blue iron ores.


    After leaving the Xingzhi Department and entering Lingtian Department which was 1 level higher, one would start his or her life within Hidden Dragon Palace. Entering the Lingtian Department, one could enjoy more of the resources belonging to Hidden Dragon Palace. Accordingly, one should pay more there. Although one needed to pay at least 7 silver coins for lodging and food each day in the Zhixing Department, the fee would become at least 30 gold coins per month, almost 1 gold coin a day.


    The 30 gold coins that one gained by submitting 30000 kg of navy-blue iron ores in the Xingzhi Department could only afford one''s first month''s living in Lingtian Department.


    Reading this, Zhang Tie almost swore out loud, "1 gold a day, for a presidential suite?"


    However, another paragraph on the stele made Zhang Tie calm down at once.


    ¡ª¡ªMoney was an influential power. It was one''s basis for freedom. If one could not make enough money, freedom would be an illusion.


    Zhang Tie gradually understood the real meaning of those rules in the Hidden Dragon Palace¡ª¡ªto force each one here to strive for "freedom with money". The best attitude to money was to step on it ferociously instead of spitting towards it and being stepped on by it. The former attitude belonged to the powerful ones while the latter one belonged to the weak ones...


    Those who could survive on their own on Hidden Dragon Island which was covered with powerful creatures and dangerous environment, could definitely make money to survive when they were back on the mainland. What the Hidden Dragon Palace would like to train were not those "powerhouses" who could not even survive by themselves by doing hard labor and finally had to be restricted by others.


    After knowing that, Zhang Tie instantly accepted the rules on money inside Hidden Dragon Palace, instead of being disgusted by them like before.


    ''It''s just making money, I don''t think that I will lose out to anyone else on this aspect. If others can do it, I can do it too, even by imitating them!'' Zhang Tie mumbled.


    When he read the rest of the rules and instructions of Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie finally found a benefit to entering Hidden Dragon Palace.


    All the people who had awakened their ancestral bloodlines could gain 100 clan donation points automatically, which, for those people who had no foundations in martial arts, could be exchanged for some simple and fundamental secret techniques or fighting skills to help them form battle qi, breakthrough level 6 and finish the initial task of submitting 30000 kg of navy-blue iron ores.


    Those navy-blue iron ores were not on the land, instead, in the sea. Before one carried those navy-blue iron ores from under sea level, one needed to master a secret technique that allowed them to stay underwater and move freely.


    Preliminary Fish-like Diving Skill¡ª¡ª


    Exchange price: 50 clan contribution points.


    Exchange site: Secret Technique Pavilion of Hidden Dragon Palace.


    When he read this news, Zhang suddenly came up with an idea, "I wonder what kind of fruit can I gain by setting free fishes..."

 276 The Secret of Battle Qi

    Chapter 276: The Secret of Battle Qi


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Early on the second morning, before the sun rose, Zhang Tie had already fumbled around and arrived at the Secret Technique Pavilion of Hidden Dragon Palace.


    The Secret Technique Pavilion of Hidden Dragon Palace was a 7-floor octagon. It was a traditional Chinese building like a pagoda. He had already caught sight of it when he was at the foot of the mountain.


    The Secret Technique Pavilion of Hidden Dragon Palace opened 3 days a week, from 7 am to 3 pm. Zhang Tie had planned to arrive here at 8 am.


    The moment he entered the gate of the Secret Knowledge Pavilion, Zhang Tie saw a 60-odd-year-old man sitting before a large tea table in the middle of the lobby on the first floor. He was leisurely tasting tea over there. The moment Zhang Tie entered the gate, he smelt the dense fragrance of tea.


    Noticing Zhang Tie enter, the old man cast a glance at Zhang Tie as he put down the teacup and politely asked, "Young man, what do you want to learn, the preliminary fish-like diving skill or a battle qi technique?"


    Zhang Tie estimated that the old man must have known that he was new here. That was why the old man directly asked upon seeing him.


    Zhang Tie wanted to learn the preliminary fish-like diving skill; however, when he heard the old man mentioning the battle qi, Zhang Tie''s heart had raced, "Can you tell me about battle qi?"


    The old man cast another look at Zhang Tie, "You can exchange for one of the five battle qi techniques with 50 clan contribution points here; they are Fury-Wave Battle Qi, Robust-Ox Battle Qi, Raging-Flame Battle Qi, New-Crescent Battle Qi and Iron-Blood Battle Qi!"


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could also learn Iron-Blood Battle Qi at the Secret Technique Pavilion. He was a bit amazed about that. However, after thinking for a second, he had already thought it through. For the battle qi and secret fighting skill that was widely spread in the Waii Subcontinent, even the entire Blackson Human Clan Corridor, how could it not exist in Hidden Dragon Palace?


    "Can you explain the features of the different battle qi?" As he had no teacher, Zhang Tie had not been familiar with much fundamental knowledge till now.


    "Fury-Wave Battle Qi is powerful when one fights in the water; Robust-Ox Battle Qi could greatly improve one''s strength; Raging-Flame Battle Qi could scorch enemy''s skin; New-Crescent Battle Qi could improve the cultivator''s fighting strength in the darkness and at night; Iron-Blood Battle Qi is extremely overbearing and unrivaled which could overcome many other battle qis. It was a secret technique of the imperial household of Norman Empire. Iron-Blood Battle Qi was a high-end battle qi, which would not be easily provided for you; however, it had been widely spread and could be hardly formed as less than 1 out of 10000 people could form Iron-Blood Battle Qi. Therefore, we put it here together with other basic battle qi. If you have just started your cultivation, I suggest you to choose one of the previous battle qis to cultivate to avoid wasting time." The old man patiently explained.


    Zhang Tie became a bit pleased inside as he had not imagined that the Iron-Blood Battle Qi that he was cultivating could win such a high praise in Hidden Dragon Palace.


    "If I choose a battle qi now, do I have to give it up when I meet other better battle qis in the future? Will it waste my time?"


    Zhang Tie thought about it as he asked. Zhang Tie believed that there must be many collections of high-end battle qi techniques and fighting skills if so many battle qis are provided for newbies. If those people cultivating these basic battle qis at the beginning met any high-end battle qi techniques due to chance, will they give up cultivating them?


    After asking this question, Zhang Tie found the old man becoming a bit stunned as he stared at him for quite a while like looking something strange. Zhang Tie remembered that it was like how some residents of Blackhot City saw those people who had been living in the wild.


    "Hasn''t anyone taught you about the properties and relevant theories on basic battle qi?"


    Zhang Tie smirked as he scratched his head.


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s behaviors, the old man understood instantly, "No one is born with battle qi. Upon final analysis, battle qi is just a tool, which could be produced due to each one''s potential and hard work. Because of different manufacturing methods, the tools also became different in terms of looks and effects. The functions of these tools would also be different for the same people. You can understand the alleged high-end battle qi as a tool being made of more sophisticated materials in more complex patterns with more powerful functions. Although these tools have more functions than that of the low-level tools, there was no essential difference between them. These surplus functions could be regarded as an upgrade of the previous tools. Am I clear?"


    Zhang Tie nodded. He seemed to understand a bit, but he was still confused.


    "Battle qi is a tool; however, the greatest difference between it and those tools that we usually see is that battle qi is born to be shaped. Its shape is not fixed when it is produced just like other tools in our daily life. The flexibility of battle qi is like plasticine. As long as you constantly add materials to it, you will gradually make a breakthrough and add new abilities to its original foundation. You can also directly use more plasticine with more functions to completely cover the smaller one. It will not be wasteful."


    "You mean, if I practice Raging-Wave Battle Qi, I could also practice high-end battle qi in the future. In that way, my high-end battle qi not only has a higher starting point than others but also might have the feature of Raging-Wave Battle Qi¡ª¡ªbeing powerful in water?"


    "That''s true. Different battle qis could be integrated with each other like how different tools could be combined. After the combination, the power of the battle qi would be much greater!"


    Hearing such words, Zhang Tie instantly became thrilled, "According to you, the more battle qis a person practices, the greater he will be?"


    The old man revealed a smile, "Young man, if you weld a pair of pliers with a screwdriver, you can truly turn them into a new tool with more functions. However, if you weld a pair of pliers that weighs 1 kg with the head of a steamer that weighs 2000 tons, what will you get? Can the pair of pliers still play its role? If you want to exert the functions of each battle qi after combining them, you have to follow the Equivalence Principle. If the two battle qi are greatly different in content, the functions of the battle qi with less content might not be exerted."


    "What''s the Equivalence Principle?"


    "The Equivalence Principle is the most important principle in cultivating battle qi. You will know about it in the later. As you have not yet formed battle qi, you don''t know the situation and feeling after level 6. Each one''s battle qi could be measured by quantity and quality. The world of battle qi is very mysterious which can''t be thoroughly explained in a short while. You should keep in mind that you reap where you sow. Especially on the road of cultivation, you have to practice hard. A person who''s absent-minded in practicing Raging-Wave Battle Qi for 3 years and a higher-end battle qi for 4 years might not be able to defeat a person who had tried his full efforts to practice Raging-Wave Battle Qi for 10 years. Neither might he defeat a person who has practiced hard a high-end battle qi for 6 years!"


    Zhang Tie was suddenly enlightened...


    "Of course, there are also powerhouses who could combine different kinds of battle qi very well. Those who could do that have always been exceptions. However, among the three roads of upgrading and expanding battle qi, the combination of battle qi is more difficult. It can''t be easily achieved. Comparatively, if someone has the chance and ability to form high-end battle qi, it would be better to use high-end battle qi to swallow low-end battle qi. In that way, although the attributes and functions of high-end battle qi could not be extended, one could increase the accumulation of high-end battle qi on absolute quantity at once. For the third road...", the old man shook his head as he picked up the teacup and slightly blew over it...


    "What about the third road?"


    "Fewer people can succeed on the third road. After forming battle qi, one might have a very small chance to promote his or her battle qi to another level and gain some more attributes and abilities. It''s accidental and hardly duplicated. It''s as rare as winning the lottery. After explaining so much to you, have you made your decision?"


    "I''ve decided!"


    "Which battle qi will you choose?" The old man solemnly asked as he picked up his teacup.


    Zhang Tie seriously said, "I''ve decided to choose the preliminary fish-like diving skill..."


    "Pfft..." The old man instantly spit out his tea. Seemingly choking, he coughed for quite awhile before recovering his composure.


    The old man glared at Zhang Tie while the latter spread his arms in an innocent way, "We have to learn it."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, the old man almost coughed again...


    ...


    1 hour later, Zhang Tie touched his head which was in pain due to the old man''s flick and left the Secret Technique Pavilion. He kept walking as he was recalling the preliminary fish-like diving skill that he had learned for the first time. The alleged great truths were the simplest; however, Zhang Tie had not imagined that the preliminary fish-like diving skill could be that simple. He just needed to constantly practice in order to master it.


    According to the old man, as long as one mastered the preliminary fish-like diving skill, after practice, one could be able to dive longer than 15 minutes in water. Additionally, this secret technique is related to a person''s spirit energy. The higher a person''s spirit energy is, the longer they could he stay in the water.


    When he returned to the Xingzhi Department, Zhang Tie saw that Zhang Kejie and the other guys had already prepared everything well and were waiting for him to head over in order to carry more navy-blue iron ores.


    "Have you learned it?" Zhang Yunfei asked Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Let''s go make money then!" Wei Wu made a weird noise as the others burst out loud laughing and left...

 277 A Good Practice in the Sea I

    There was a beach covered with dense reefs to the west of Hidden Dragon Island. Only one tortuous path was accessible from the beach to the 100-m high steep cliff. The reefs on this beach were different from those in other places as these reefs slightly radiated a blue metallic luster. The beach was called Iron Ore Beach, where people on Hidden Dragon Island got the navy-blue iron ores from.


    It was noon when the hot sun was like fire in the sky. Over the sea, near the Iron Ore Beach, more than 20 juveniles were working hard to get navy-blue iron ores out of the sea.


    The exposed reefs in the sea stopped ships from drawing close but became the best bases for those juveniles who were getting navy-blue iron ores out of the sea.


    With the rippling of the water, Zhang Tie exposed his head beside a reef as large as a house. He heavily breathed in the fresh air over the sea and spat out all the dirty air out from his body as he slightly rose and fell along with the waves.


    "Zhang Tie...will you take a rest? As it''s already noon, come here to eat something..." Zhang Hongsheng, who had been tired and was lying on the reef greeted Zhang Tie with a faint smile.


    Beside Zhang Hongsheng was Wei Wuying, lying in the shape of the Chinese character "´ó" like a salty fish, who was too tired to utter a sound


    With another ripple of the waves, Zhang Yunfei whose face turned a bit white revealed his head out of the water beside the reef and forcefully swam and climbed onto the reef before faintly laying down.


    "I have a bit strength left. I can dive again." After talking loudly to Zhang Hongsheng, Zhang Tie made another dive by kicking the water by his feet.


    "How...how long has Zhang Tie dived for this time?" Zhang Yunfei gasped as he asked Zhang Hongsheng.


    "It''s been almost 20 minutes. Damn, what a freak!" Wei Wu sat on the reef as he gritted his teeth and said, "This guy only knew how to swim like a dog yesterday and didn''t even know how to dive. He couldn''t even hold himself underwater. In order to learn how to dive, he had to foolishly hug a huge stone and jump into the sea, causing the other guys laugh loudly. I''d never have imagined that he could really learn how to dive in such a stupid way. Only after practicing for one day, this guy has already been impatient to make money here..."


    "Alas, don''t mention it anymore. If you keep talking about him, I''ll lose face. Having been here for over a month, I could only stay underwater for 15 minutes. However, this guy has already been able to stay underwater longer than me on his second day. Comparisons are just..." Zhang Hongsheng sighed, "The ancestral bloodline that this guy has awakened might be related to water. I''ve heard about this bloodline in the Palace before."


    The juveniles chatted on the reef while they heard movement in the water. It was Zhang Keliang who popped his head out beside the reef. After gasping for quite awhile, Zhang Keliang looked over the reef and asked, "Where''s Zhang Tie? Has he come up?"


    "Yes, he''s already come up, but he dived in again..." Zhang Yunfei replied.


    "This guy is really..." Zhang Keliang forced a bitter smile as he took two breaths and dived in again.


    ...


    There were beautiful coral reefs beside him. Cute little fish were swimming across the coral reefs. The sea water near Iron Ore Beach was as translucent as a mirror. The sunlight cast on the sea caused large patches of fish-scale-like light shadows. It was an enchanting sight.


    It was a brilliant world under the sea, which could never be matched on land.


    Zhang Tie was like a clumsy yet curious little fish. With his eyes widely opened, Zhang Tie enjoyed the unprecedented fantastic submarine world as he tried his best to swim towards the nearest oceanic trench.


    The topography in the sea was very weird as there were all sorts of deep trenches whose width varied from 10 plus meters to dozens of meters. The deep trenches became wider and deeper. The drop between the two trenches would be over 10 m. Those navy-blue iron ores were buried in the sands in the deep trenches.


    These deep trenches were really like they had been carved due to the movements of glaciers several million years ago. Zhang Tie didn''t know why these special navy-blue iron ores were buried here. However, now that there were exposed iron ores on the land, it was not weird to see such things in the sea.


    Of course, all the navy-blue iron ores near Hidden Dragon Island belonged to Huaiyuan Palace.


    As Zhang Tie had just learned how to dive, he was not adept at diving. Although he could hold his breath for a long while, he could only look for navy-blue iron ores in the oceanic trenches at the depth of over 30 m.


    However, those juveniles in Zhixing Department who were better at diving could reach 50 m or deeper into the sea to look for navy-blue iron ores. The deeper they could dive, the more navy-blue iron ores could they find.


    There were green marine plants that looked like water weeds in the oceanic trenches. Under these plants were a layer of soft silver-like fine sands. The navy-blue iron ores were buried under these fine sands. A part of some bigger ones could be seen above the sands, radiating a faint blue luster. There was a sharp comparison between these ores and the surrounding environment in color.


    The moment Zhang Tie found two fist-sized navy-blue iron ores from the sands of a sea trench and was preparing to put them into the wire sack no far away, Zhang Keliang had already swum towards him and made some hand gestures to Zhang Tie, telling him to pay attention to his surroundings.


    Zhang Tie then nodded in the water. It was not absolutely safe in these waters. It was said that there were guardians of Lingtian Department in the distant waters who were arranged to kill those dangerous and mutated marine creatures near the Iron Ore Beach, such as mutated magical sharks.


    However, there were also many dangerous creatures below the water within 1 square kilometer of Iron Ore Beach such as poisonous sea serpents, which once bit, their poison would kill a person in five minutes if one didn''t take the antidote.


    The price of the antidote per vial against sea serpents was 20 silver coins, which would be taken by everyone here besides dried rations, except for Zhang Tie who had not yet made even one silver coin.


    This time, Zhang Tie stayed under water for less than 20 minutes. After collecting ten more kg of navy-blue iron ores, Zhang Tie gradually felt it hard to breathe. He then insisted on another 1-2 minutes. When he felt that he had stayed a bit longer than last time, Zhang Tie returned once again and revealed his head above the water. After gasping twice, he swam back to the reef and climbed onto it.


    The Preliminary fish-like diving skill was also a skill that required increasing amounts of practice before one was adept in its use.


    However, Zhang Tie had already reached this in two days, which already surprised many people. Nevertheless, Zhang Tie still didn''t feel pleased about it. Zhang Tie felt that he was still not adept at holding his breath while moving flexibly in the water and had not fully exerted the essence of the Preliminary fish-like diving skill.


    "I should make it better!" Zhang Tie mumbled. However, when he looked at Zhang Yunfei and the other pals when they watched him, Zhang Tie knew that he should not be too anxious about that and could only slowly improve it like how he practiced the Iron-Blood Fist Skill.


    Although he could still dive many times due to his strong body, Zhang Tie didn''t want to stand out too much. Therefore, he also climbed onto the reef to eat his dried rations and took a rest under the sun.


    Several minutes later, Zhang Keliang also swam onto the reef. Sitting on the reef, he took a rest while drinking water and eating dried rations.


    From the early morning to now, the five people had worked for 4-5 hours underwater. With the exception of Zhang Tie, all the others felt very tired.


    Looking at the vast sea and eating the dried meat and preserved fruits in his hand, Zhang Tie felt like returning to the New Crescent Prairie as the water waves were like the grass waves across the prairie.


    Thinking of the New Crescent Prairie and those wild wolves, Zhang Tie forcefully slapped his forehead as he swore inside, "Zhang Tie, how stupid you are?! How could you forget such a thing? It''s just a Preliminary fish-like diving skill, would it be as sophisticated as the Iron-Blood Fist Skill? Have you forgotten how you practiced your Iron-Blood Fist Skill? Have you forgotten your Trouble-Reappearance Fruit?''


    "Hahahaha..." Zhang Tie suddenly burst out laughing loudly, causing Wei Wu and Zhang Keliang glance at him.


    "What''s wrong with you?" Wei Wu asked.


    "I was thinking of a funny thing..." Zhang Tie said mysterious manner.


    "What''s that?"


    "I realized that I haven''t seen sea serpents!"


    "Argh? Lunatic..." Wei Wu twitched his mouth as the others showed the whites of their eyes to Zhang Tie.


    "Where can we find sea serpents?" Zhang Tie asked Wei Wu.


    "Are you seeking death or have you made enough money? A vial of antidote for sea serpents would cost you 20 silver coins. That''s one day''s work!" Zhang Hongsheng urged.


    "It doesn''t matter. I want to see how sea serpents look so as to prepare for their attack in case I''m ever bitten. Even if I was bitten, I could borrow your antidote first and pay you back when I get enough money!" Zhang Tie explained innocently.


    "Do you really want to see what sea serpents look like?" Zhang Keliang seriously looked at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Over there..." Zhang Keliang pointed at the sea with some desk-sized reefs exposed out of the water 100 m away to the left, "They are over there. There is a wide area of red kelp forest in the water over there. I was bitten by sea serpents over there last month. These sea serpents like to hide in seaweed. There are black and white circular grains on them."


    "I will take a look over there..." After saying this, Zhang Tie stood up from the reef and dived into the sea once again before rapidly swimming towards the sea serpents.

 278 A Good Practice in the Sea II

    Chapter 278: A Good Practice in the Sea II


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Within one day, Zhang Tie had upgraded his swimming from a doggy paddle to a freestyle.


    The kelp forest was over 100 m away; however, it took Zhang Tie less than two minutes to reach the place where Zhang Keliang had pointed to by easily moving his arms in the water. He then took a deep breath before diving into the sea.


    After diving deeper than 10 meters, Zhang Tie had already seen a great area of red seaweed at the bottom of the sea. They were as tall as a person and were slowly waving along with the surging seawater. The bottom of the forest was like a fire while a great shoal of finger-long silverfish was swimming around there like changing clouds, making it very beautiful.


    Because there were sea serpents and not too many navy-blue iron ores here, few people would like to pick up navy-blue iron ores here. Only Zhang Tie who had a special purpose would be here.


    When he drew close to the seaweeds, Zhang Tie had become very careful and started to look for his target.


    Within three minutes, before Zhang Tie noticed one, a sea serpent had already found him. When Zhang Tie swam across the red seaweeds, a fierce sea serpent instantly launched out of the reefs, intending to bite Zhang Tie''s shin.


    Thankfully, the sea serpent didn''t swim very fast in the sea. The moment it drilled out, its black-and-white grains had already formed a sharp contrast with the surrounding colors and was noticed by Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie immediately pulled back his feet and rapidly turned around. He slightly moved his hands to remain balanced in the sea while directly facing the sea serpent.


    It was a 2-m long sea serpent with a terrifying head. Its tail was flat, making it look like an eel.


    Even though sea serpents were not good swimmers, it could definitely swim faster than Zhang Tie. It was impossible to outrun the sea serpent. Therefore, Zhang Tie just stayed to wait for its attack.


    Although failing to hit Zhang Tie, the sea serpent didn''t leave; instead, it swam around Zhang Tie once before launching another attack towards Zhang Tie''s arm, as was expected by Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie didn''t move until it almost bit his arm when he instantly stretched out another hand and seized the place where its heart was. All in a sudden, the sea serpent tightly wrapped Zhang Tie''s arm. Feeling its great strength, Zhang Tie became a bit amazed. He was wondering whether this sea serpent was mutated or not as he felt it was very powerful. Ordinary people might not be able to deal with it when being wrapped by this 2-m long sea serpent, no matter where it was.


    However, for Zhang Tie, the fight between him and the sea serpent had already ended the moment he touched its body. After calmly assessing its strength, Zhang Tie had already infused his iron-blood untouchable strength into its body. If he used iron-blood hidden strength, the sea serpent must have become a bloody fog; however, with iron-blood untouchable strength, Zhang Tie could display his greater controlling force and destructive power.


    In a split second, under the impact of iron-blood untouchable strength, each bone of this sea serpent became a fine powder. However, no wound was found on the sea serpent at all.


    The sea serpent was like a lifeless soft rope which slid into the seaweeds from Zhang Tie''s arm.


    "Two more!" Zhang Tie told himself before he continued to search for them among the seaweeds more carefully.


    After 20 minutes, Zhang Tie exposed his head out of the water and took two breaths before diving again.


    After 10 more minutes, Zhang Tie swam back.


    "Have you seen the sea serpents?" The others who were resting on the reef asked Zhang Tie.


    "Yes, I''ve seen them."


    "How do you feel about them?"


    "They''re cute." Zhang Tie smiled. They are truly cute. Without them, how could he form Trouble-Reappearance Fruit?


    Zhang Tie made it!


    After taking a rest at noon, everyone was busy as they entered the sea one by one to pick up navy-blue iron ores. After working for almost two hours, before the dusk arrived, the juveniles were already preparing to leave. As they had to walk over 10 km of a treacherous mountain path before arriving at the Palace, everybody could only carry a limited number of ores back.


    Although it was Zhang Tie''s first time to here, Zhang Tie also had some achievements as he almost lifted over 50 kg of navy-blue iron ores today. After practicing for several hours, Zhang Tie felt that he had greatly improved his diving abilities.


    When they finished work, the juveniles dived into the sea again with wires in hand. They buckled one end of a wire onto a sack before returning back to the reef. They then pulled their sacks up and carried them back onto the bank using a canoe. It was a painstakingly tedious process.


    After arriving at the bank, everybody started to climb the mountain while carrying the sacks full of navy-blue iron ores and walked over 10 km of a mountainous path before arriving at Hidden Dragon Palace.


    Actually, Zhang Tie felt nothing by carrying over 50 kg of navy-blue iron ores as he didn''t feel tired at all. However, Zhang Keliang, Zhang Yunfei, Zhang Hongsheng and Wei Wu looked pretty exhausted as their foreheads were already sweating when they arrived at the top of the mountain.


    Actually, Zhang Tie really wanted to help them; however, as he had gradually realized the intention of Hidden Dragon Palace to force them to do this, he didn''t do that; instead, he just watched them carrying the navy-blue iron ores up with their own strength.


    Besides teaching the juveniles of Hidden Dragon Palace to learn to survive on their own, this mandatory task had other two functions: first, letting them adapt to diving as it was another survival skill. If the people on the island drowned, that would be the greatest joke and an insult to the Hidden Dragon Palace; second, during this period, the juveniles would become stronger, temper their will and develop hardworking mindsets.


    No matter how weak the person was, after carrying 30000 kg of navy-blue iron ores to Hidden Dragon Palace from the sea, he would become strong. Take Zhang Yunfei as an example. He was living like a young master since he was young as his family had a steamer in Yiyang City. After he came to the Hidden Dragon Palace for one month, the young master had already learned to disregard his dignity using his weak shoulders. He started to survive on his own by working hard.


    None of them had suffered this before. At this moment, everyone could only persist. No matter how well you lived before and what kind of great family you born into and what reason you had, everyone had to grit their teeth and tough it out. No one dared to show off their status and family background to seek special treatment¡ª¡ªbecause¡ª¡ªthe one who held the record for weight of navy-blue iron ores when he entered the Hidden Dragon Palace was Zhang Taixuan, the head of Zhang clan, who had carried 760000 kg.


    Even the head of Zhang clan had worked so hard here without any complaints like a willing ox, nobody else dared to seek any special treatment with their great family background and status.


    The record was carved on the 100-m high cliff near Iron Ore Beach in scarlet letters so that each juvenile who came to Iron Ore Beach to finish task could catch sight of it the first time they arrived here. No matter how unpleased they were with the task, after reading the record, they would have to lower their heads and start working hard.


    The first day Zhang came here, he was also shocked by the record and the status of the record holder.


    It was an over 10 km mountainous path. It took them over one hour to go back to the Palace to submit their achievements. When they were on the way back, they kept encouraging each other although they moved slowly.


    Compared to the weight two days before, they all got more ores. Zhang Yunfei carried back 152 kg'' navy-blue iron ores and gained 15 silver coins. Holding the 15 silver coins, the juvenile who was a young master in the Yiyang City stared at them and cried.


    "I can finally survive by myself. I can finally make above 7 silver coins a day, wu...wu...I can finally survive by myself..."


    After crying, Zhang Yunfei started to laugh. From today on, his debt to Hidden Dragon Palace could be gradually paid off. Before today, Zhang Yunfei''s debt to Hidden Dragon Palace had already reached 34 silver coins. As he could make 15 silver coins today, it meant that his debt would not keep growing if he kept carrying so many ores a day; instead, it would gradually decrease. For this 15-year old juvenile, it was his first time surviving on his own since he had arrived at the island for more than a half month.


    Zhang Tie carried 56 kg'' navy-blue iron ores today, which brought Zhang Tie 5 silver coins.


    "It''s really not easy. From tomorrow onward, I have to make at least 7 silver coins a day to survive on my own." After weighing the silver coins marked with a huge scale issued by Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie felt it was becoming more and more interesting here. For Zhang Tie, it was of course not difficult for him to make 7 silver coins a day.


    After getting their payment, everyone became very happy and returned to the Xingzhi Department together. This time, Zhang Tie found that the girls living in the Xingzhi Department also came back. Compared to the male students'' task, the female students'' task became relatively simpler yet not easier. When male students picked up ores, the female students had to pick up pearls in the sea. Although not requiring great labor, this task also meant great exercise for them.


    There were totally 43 people in Zhixing Department, among which 31 were male students and only 12 were female students. The ratio between male and female was close to 3:1. Among the 31 male students, 23 of them were still finishing the first task at Iron Ore Beach while the other 8 male students and 2 female students had already reached level 6 and had accumulated enough money to go to Dragon Cave to form their battle qi.


    Amongst peers, once there were girls, male students would always care about their own images. The other juveniles who had come back together with Zhang Tie all hurriedly returned to their own rooms to take a bath and put on new clothes so that they didn''t look that awkward when eating supper together with the girls in the canteen.


    Zhang Tie also returned to his room. After taking a bath, he put on his clean clothes and washed his dirty clothes before drying them in his room.


    After doing all this, it was almost supper time. Therefore, Zhang Tie left his room for the canteen.


    When it was supper time, almost everybody in the Zhixing Department had come back. Therefore, it looked very boisterous in the canteen. After picking up their own supper, the male and female students obviously sat on two sides of the canteen as they murmured to each other. Among them, there was a short boy whose voice was so loud. Zhang Tie glanced at those male students in that circle and realized that they were of his age had all reached level 6 and were preparing to form battle qi in the Dragon Cave.


    They were talking about fighting level 6 magical beasts¡ª¡ªthe huge black spiders in Dragon Cave.


    "As long as I could kill some more black spiders, I would be able to form the New Crescent Battle Qi and officially enter the Lingtian Department!" The juvenile said proudly.


    "We will be there soon too. Wanjie and I killed 1 black spider. After practicing over 2 years in the Zhixing Department, it''s time to show off our real strength!"


    His voice gained the approval of the group.


    Seeing them loudly talking about their strength while listening for the girls'' responses on the other side, Zhang Tie shook his head inside, "You want to attract the girls'' attention in this way? You are really innocent."


    Zhang Tie had not realized that he had been utterly different from those juveniles of the same age with him after experiencing the dense "intoxication" of the girls of Rose Association.


    ...


    "Who''s Zhang Tie?"


    When Zhang Tie took his supper and arrived at the table where Zhang Keliang and the other pals sat, a loud voice at the entrance of the canteen instantly arouse everybody''s attention as everybody looked at that direction.


    A tall, robust and handsome youth who was over 20 years old and wearing a set of black warrior clothes were standing at the entrance of the canteen and looked around the people in the canteen with his gleaming eyes.


    This 20-year old youth had a pair of dense eyebrows which were as sharp as a sword and looked very powerful. His eyes presented an unknown sense of oppression, making nobody dare to look directly into his eyes.


    Given that look which was a bit similar to his, Zhang Tie identified his status¡ª¡ªhis cousin!

 279 Gamble

    Chapter 279: Gamble


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    It was very quiet in the canteen. Nobody knew why this person was asking for Zhang Tie. Therefore, nobody spoke but fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie.


    Under many strange stares, Zhang Tie naturally stood up and walked towards the newly arrived juvenile. The moment he stood up, the juvenile had already fixed his sharp eyes on Zhang Tie''s face. After seeing that Zhang Tie gazing straightly at him without any timidity, that person showed a faint smile.


    Walking in front of the juvenile, Zhang Tie obediently greeted, "Cousin!"


    "Good, very good! That juvenile nodded as he heavily put his hands onto Zhang Tie''s shoulders,"Let''s talk outside."


    They then went out of the canteen.


    "I didn''t know that you were in Hidden Dragon Palace until I received a letter from home. How about that? Have you adapted to the living style here?"


    "It''s alright, I went to pick up navy-blue iron ores and made 5 silver coins today." Zhang Tie touched his nose.


    "Don''t ignore this task. Keep practicing your diving skills. When you enter the Lingtian Department, you will find that there are many more ways to make money. For newbies, it''s not that easy to make 1 gold coin a day. If you are to excel at diving, you will have more chances to make money after entering the Lingtian Department."


    "What other tasks are there in the Lingtian Department?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "When you enter the Lingtian Department, you will not be forced to perform tasks to make money. But you will have to perform some fixed tasks to gain clan contribution points. By then, if you want to make money, it will depend on your ability as there are many chances for you to make money in the sea. However, they require great diving skills. Therefore, you have to practice your diving skills well!" Zhang Tie''s cousin seriously admonished.


    "Thanks, cousin, I got it!"


    "You are my brother, don''t be so polite." Zhang Tie''s cousin smiled, "Oh, what battle qi do you practice? When you reach level 6, I can take you to Dragon Cave in order to form battle qi."


    "I''m practicing Iron-Blood Battle Qi."


    "What?!" Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, his cousin became slightly shocked, "You''re ambitious; even in the Palace, there are still very few people who have formed Iron-Blood Battle Qi during the past dozens of years. This battle qi is very hard to form. So, you''d better make a plan for yourself. If you cannot form it, you''d better change to another battle qi. If you have other chances in the future, you can continue to practice advanced battle qi! Otherwise, it might take you a lot of time to reach level 6 which would be disadvantageous to you."


    After feeling this cousin''s good intentions, Zhang Tie modestly nodded and received his suggestion without mentioning that he almost had met no obstacle when he practiced the Iron-Blood Fist Skill, "Got it!"


    Zhang Tie''s cousin then continued, "There are sky-reaching stages and many opportunities that could change your fate in the Hidden Dragon Palace. However, these items are all for the truly powerful people of the Palace. You could only gain these opportunities by yourself. Nobody else can help you. It''s rarely seen that two brothers of the same generation in a clan like you and me could enter Hidden Dragon Palace at the same time. It means that our clan''s bloodline is very excellent and eye-catching. The relationship between you and me might be known to the public, therefore, you will catch a lot of attention here. I have two opponents in Lingtian Department, they are also cousins. I ferociously beat them down before. As you are now in the Xingzhi Department, you don''t need to worry about them as they will not find trouble for you. However, when you enter Lingtian Department, they might come looking for you. You should be prepared for that."


    Zhang Tie became dumbfounded, "Do you mean they will set me up?"


    "Not that bad, but they could ferociously beat you up in the public according to some rules of Lingtian Department!"


    "Argh..." Zhang Tie became stunned. He had never imagined that he could gain this cousin''s troubles in such a way.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s expression, his cousin became bashful as he forced a smile, "At the beginning when the two brothers entered Hidden Dragon Palace, they were also very eye-catching and arrogant. I didn''t like them. I had not imagined that someone else in Zhang clan could enter Hidden Dragon Palace, therefore, I thought they were from other clans and beat them up according to the rules of Lingtian Department.


    Zhang Tie finally understood it. Because his cousin always beat up others, now, it was his turn to be beaten up.


    When they talked, Zhang Tie saw two men entering the Zhixing Department, one was 18-19 years old while the other was as old as Zhang Tie''s cousin. The two men looked similar. The moment the two entered the Zhixing Department, they had walked directly towards Zhang Tie and his cousin.


    "Zhang Su, I heard you''ve got a brother entering the Zhixing Department. Is this the one?"


    Walking over here, the two guys fixed their eyes onto Zhang Tie at once.


    Zhang Tie''s cousin then turned back and peered at the two men walking towards them, "This is my brother Zhang Tie. How about that? Do you want to see how you are beaten up by my brother?"


    Zhang Tie realized that his cousin''s mouth really drove him mad. Even if he was in such a disadvantageous position, his mouth was still unyielding.


    Hearing Zhang Su''s words, the two guys'' smiles instantly became stiff. At the same time, their faces blushed.


    "Trust me, when your brother Zhang Tie enters Lingtian Department, we will definitely ''guide" him!" That person of 18-19 years old gritted his teeth.


    "I''ve forgotten to tell you that my brother is practicing Iron-Blood Battle Qi, you''d better not be afraid of that by then!" Zhang Tie''s cousin still urged.


    "Ha..." As if having heard a joke, that person who was as old as Zhang Su glanced at Zhang Tie in a contemptuous way," Do you mean to stay in Zhixing Department longer this way? This trick is too low, don''t you think so?"


    "You can''t form Iron-Blood Battle Qi, it doesn''t mean that others can''t. Additionally, how would you know without having a tried?" Zhang Tie''s cousin said in a calm way.


    "Hahahaha...it seems that you are very confident about your brother!" The one as old as Zhang Su ridiculed as he rolled his eyes, "Zhang Su, dare you bet with me?"


    "What''s the wager?"


    "The wager is on whether your brother could form the Iron-Blood Battle Qi."


    Zhang Su slightly hesitated...


    "Are you afraid? Were you not just talking about your confidence in your brother? If not, I''ve guessed it, your brother just wants to stay longer in Zhixing Department for this reason?" That person further urged, "If your brother can form Iron-Blood Battle Qi, I will pay you 300 gold coins. How about that? Dare you wager 300 gold coins to bet that your brother will definitely form the Iron-Blood Battle Qi?"


    "300 gold coins?" Zhang Su looked at the two people as he frowned his forehead. Although this figure was not too much outside the Hidden Dragon Island, it was already a lot for people in Hidden Dragon Palace. It''s not that easy to make so much money on the Hidden Dragon Island. Even though they were in Lingtian Department, many people could not make that much money in half a year. Now, Zhang Su only had a bit more than 200 gold coins. He knew that it was a trick, sending him in the dilemma by using his own words.


    "Argh, I almost forgot it. As Iron-Blood Battle Qi is very hard to form, how can I profit at your expense? I remember that you don''t have that much money. If you are confident about your brother, I can give you a concession. Once you can pay 200...no, once you can pay 100 gold coins, we will reach the agreement. 1 for 3, how about that?" That person pretended to be serious.


    "300 gold coins, that''s a deal. I don''t need others to make a concession for me. I will bet with you!" Saying this, Zhang Su raised his head. He could lose a fight, but he could not lose his personality. This was what Zhang Su firmly believed.


    "Fine, how long will you give your brother to form his Iron-Blood Battle Qi?"


    "2 years. Before we leave the Hidden Dragon Palace, if he still couldn''t form his Iron-Blood Battle Qi, you win then!"


    "That''s settled then!"


    "It''s settled!"


    Zhang Su then clapped that person to settle it.


    After that, the two people peered at Zhang Tie and sneered in a contempt way before left.


    "Wait a moment!" Zhang Tie who was always being silent suddenly opened his mouth.


    The two people then turned back and glanced at Zhang Tie.


    "I will also participate in this bet. I bet that I will form Iron-Blood Battle Qi by then!"


    "You? Bet what?" One of the two glanced over Zhang Tie from his head to his feet.


    "I will also bet with 300 gold coins." Zhang Tie calmly said.


    "Hahahaha. You''re just a newbie. You won''t have that much money. You''d better not cry while asking for your parents to pay for you. According to the rules in Hidden Dragon Palace, each cent you spend here, even the wager should be made by yourself on the island. How much have you made now? By what dare you bet 300 gold coins with us? No debt is allowed by then!" That person continued to look at Zhang Tie in a contempt way, "Young man, it''s easy to boast, but you should concern your real ability before you bet. Do you want to say that you prepare to pick up 300 tons of navy-blue iron ores for me if you lose it, ha...ha...ha..."


    "That''s what I''m thinking about! I bet that if I lose it, I will go pick up 300 tons of navy-blue iron ores for you. If I cannot fulfill this bet, I will never walk out of the Hidden Dragon Island in the rest of my life" Zhang Tie faintly said.


    That person''s laughs suddenly ceased. At this moment, the three people fixed all of their eyes onto Zhang Tie. Even Zhang Su, the cousin of Zhang Tie seriously watched Zhang Tie, seemingly having never recognized him.


    "Do you dare to take my wager?" Zhang Tie gazed at that person.


    "What a joke, of course I dare. But if you lose it, I will have no time to wait for you to pick up navy-blue iron ores to exchange for 18 silver coins each day. By then, the money you exchanged for with the navy-blue iron ores might not even match the interest of the 300 gold coins. If you pick up navy-blue iron ores on the island for 20 years, do you want me to wait for your debt on the island that long? What if you cannot pay it off in the rest of your life? Who will pay it off for you? If we bet, of course, we will bet with real gold and silver coins. There''s no reason for you to bet just by saying! Do you think it is that easy to make 300 gold coins on the Hidden Dragon Island?" That person sneered.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that this guy was that shrewd, "What do you want then?"


    "It''s very simple. Now that you want to play, certainly, it has to count when you show us your wager. Before you reach level 6 and try to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi, I will regard all the money that you make through picking up navy-blue iron ores as your wager..."


    "Fine, that''s settled then."


    "Zhang Tie..." Zhang Su wanted to stop him.


    "Cousin, as you dared to bet 300 gold coins for me to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi, dare I not bet for myself? It''s nothing serious even if I lose it. Additionally, I''m thinking about picking up more navy-blue iron ores so as to practice my swimming skills and built my body. As it''s our first time to meet with each other today. We will bet with them. According to a traditional Chinese phrase, father and son will go to battle hand in hand while brothers will beat tiger shoulder to shoulder. I also want to be on your side when betting."


    "Fine!" Zhang Su''s eyes gleamed as he loudly shouted. He had not imagined that his cousin was that manly. He felt very interesting to be a friend of Zhang Tie.


    "Heh...heh, this time, we will make you brothers lose everything!" After that, he clapped with Zhang Tie''s hands to show his consent to Zhang Tie''s participation.


    "Everybody knows that Iron-Blood Battle Qi could be hardly formed. The odds between you and my cousin is unfair. My cousin is forced to accept 1: 1 with you. For me, as I''m younger than you and don''t like to suffer from a loss, how about 1: 3 between you and me? If I win, how about paying me 3 times the wager?" Zhang Tie smiled as he set a trap for that person at once.


    That person had not imagined that Zhang Tie was that shrewd either who wouldn''t suffer any loss at all. ''But, 3 times...'' That person quickly racked his mind. "Even though the comprehensive ratio between him and Zhang Tie and Zhang Su is 1: 2, as the opponent is practicing Iron-Blood Battle Qi which was hard to accomplish even in Hidden Dragon Palace. Actually, this ratio is also quite reasonable for me. If it were others, they would never bet with me on this. But this brat looks too calm. It seems that something is wrong with him..."


    "What, you don''t dare to? With the exception of the imperial households of Norman Empire, across the Waii Sub-continent, the chance to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi is even less than 1 out of 10000. The rate should be at least 1:1000 to make it fair. Considering that we are all in the Hidden Dragon Palace, I set the odds between you and me at 1: 3, I''ve already made a concession for you by over 300 times. Do you want me to take another step back for you? How about 400 times then. Even though I''m new here and have not reached level 6, even though I have no money, I should at least show my respect to seniors. Do you want more? How about 500 times?" Zhang Tie glanced at that person with contempt. He treated that person in the same way that he treated him. With the same tone, he instantly took advantage of them. Just like how he dealt with Samira, Zhang Tie would never be polite with them.


    That person then gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, 1 for 3. I will see how many navy-blue iron ores can you pick up from the sea!"


    After clapping with Zhang Tie to fix the bet, the two people then left. After walking a few steps away, that person turned back and sneered, "Iron-Blood Battle Qi is not that easy to form. I hope your boast today will not become a joke across the Palace!"


    After the two people walked away, Zhang Su patted Zhang Tie''s shoulders, "Well done! Be a man! Don''t care about the bet. Even though we may lose the bet, we will not lose face! I can still afford the several hundred gold coins. You should treat this bet as a rare experience!"


    Although what Zhang Su said was to encourage Zhang Tie, he was still not confident about whether Zhang Tie could form Iron-Blood Battle Qi. What faced Zhang Tie were two tasks: to pick up navy-blue iron ores; to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi if he wanted to win. Each one of the two tasks is very difficult to achieve. Zhang Tie had no other choice now.


    "Cousin, trust me, we will win." Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "I''m worried about whether that guy can pay off the wager or not."


    "That guy is called Zhang Haige, who''s one of the figures who are very good at finding ways to make to make money in the Lingtian Department. He has about 2000 gold coins now. But he''s also known as a mean guy. If he dares to repudiate the debt, I will peel off his skin!"


    "That''s fine."


    "Additionally, based on my acknowledgment to him, he must have thought that he''s set to win this time. So, he will definitely spread the news on the bet across Hidden Dragon Palace in case we repudiate when we lose it."


    "Hoho, I will let them know how it feels when they lift one rock only to drop it on their own feet..."


    After chatting with Zhang Tie for awhile, Zhang Tie''s cousin left.


    After Zhang Tie returned to the canteen, Wei Wu and the other pals started to be very curious about that person who came here for Zhang Tie just now.


    "He''s my cousin." Zhang Tie briefly introduced Zhang Su without even mentioning the bet at all.


    As was expected, hearing that two of Zhang Tie''s family entered Hidden Dragon Palace at the same time, the other guys sitting together with Zhang Tie all became very surprised as their eyes showed a sense of curiosity.


    After eating supper, the girls in Zhixing Department set up a booth in the pavilion of the courtyard. They were beautiful pairs of seashells. In the seashells was oil extracted from seashells. This kind of oil, when being pasted on face and body, could be used to protect people from being scorched by sun. It could also help recover skin after being scorched.


    The cost of seashell oil was 1 silver coin a box. A great amount of boys were surrounding their booths. God knew whether they were there to buy commodities or to get acquainted with girls. Even Zhang Keliang and Wei Wu were moving there along with the masses.


    After glancing at the sky and touching his 5 silver coins in his pocket, Zhang Tie left Zhixing Department.


    "Zhang Tie..." Zhang Yunfei caught sight of Zhang Tie''s shadow as he hurriedly shouted, "The seashell oil is nice, will you want one?"


    "No need, that item is useless to me. It''s purely wasting money to buy them. I''m heading for the wharf!" Zhang Tie waved his hands as he left, "Are you kidding me? As I have preliminary recovery body, do I need any seashell oil at all? The tiny problem of being scorched in the daytime will be healed overnight. With such money, it''s better for me to buy a great amount of seashells and set them free in the sea and check what kind of fruits will I get.''


    Zhang Tie left while some girls who were selling seashell oil started to glare at his shadow. "This bastard is really disgusting! His words are really jarring!"


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that because of his honest words, he had been drawn into the blacklist by the girls.


    After leaving the Palace, thinking of that wharf where he first came, Zhang Tie started to increase his pace.


    "As I''ve made the bet with them, of course, I will win. My expenditure on Hidden Dragon Island will depend on this bet."


    In the breeze, Zhang Tie felt that he was a bit sinister...


    "It''s all because of that disgusting bastard!"

 280 To be the Public Enemy of Girls

    Chapter 280: To be the Public Enemy of Girls


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Because Zhang Tie had been there before, he was familiar with the path. Therefore, after speeding up, he arrived at White Dragon Town in a short while. After running across White Dragon Town, it took Zhang Tie less than 10 minutes to arrive at the wharf on Hidden Dragon Island from where he had landed on Hidden Dragon Island several days ago.


    Zhang Tie remembered that when he landed on the wharf last time, he saw some fishing vessels next to the wharf. Close to the hotel was a fish market. Therefore, Zhang Tie directly rushed towards that fish market.


    As the only fish market on Hidden Dragon island, most of the booths had already sold out when Zhang Tie arrived, except one, the owner of which was also preparing to leave although he had some fish left.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly ran in front of that booth. For the god''s sake, there was still a barrel of fish which had not been sold out! All the fish inside the barrel were finger-long small fish with silver scales. The head of the fish had a fine needle-like spine. As there were so many kinds of fish in the sea, Zhang Tie could not identify its name.


    "Will you sell them?"


    Zhang Tie asked the booth owner, who was over 40 years old with an experienced face. Hearing Zhang Tie''swords, that man stopped and cast a glance at Zhang Tie.


    "You want to buy these sand-scale fish?"


    "These are sand-scale fish?" Zhang Tie realized at once, "Yea, I want to buy them all!"


    "How many do you want? They are not sold in small quantities!"


    Zhang Tie pinched the five silver coins in his pocket and further asked, "How much is one barrel of sand-scale fish?"


    "A barrel weighs about 20 kg. As I''m going to leave, you only need to pay 1 silver coin for them."


    "1 silver coin?" Zhang Tie instantly let out a sigh as he had not imagined that they were so cheap.


    That man thought that Zhang Tie felt it was too expensive, so he gave a further explanation, "Sand-scale fish have less meat and more bones. Although they are not that valuable, they can be used for making fish sauce. If you like it, you can dry them before frying them with oil. Then you can eat them while drinking alcohol. They''re tastier than peanuts. If you really want to buy them, you can pay me 90 copper coins for 1 barrel of them."


    Zhang Tie directly pulled out of a silver coin and put it in the hand of the booth owner, "1 silver coin is okay. I will come here every day in the future. You can leave all the sand-scale fish for me!"


    Having not imagined that Zhang Tie was that generous, that man took over the silver coin and revealed a smile, "Fine, I will leave all these sand-scale fish for you from then on."


    "Can I borrow your barrel? I will be back in 5 minutes."


    Zhang Tie didn''t bring any containers to load those sand-scale fish which were all put in the iron-sheet barrel in front of the booth.


    The booth owner nodded at once. Therefore, Zhang Tie lifted the barrel of sand-scale fish before heading directly for the wharf.


    The sand-scale fish might have realized what Zhang Tie was going to do as many of them started to jump happily when Zhang Tie lifted the barrel. Two of them even jumped out of the barrel and fell to the ground. Zhang Tie then hurriedly picked them up and put them back into the barrel.


    "Little fish, little fish, I will send you back to the sea and set you free..." Zhang Tie mumbled to those little fish.


    Zhang Tie came to the seaside very soon. He chose a place with crystal clear water and poured all the little sand-scale fish out of the barrel into the sea. Watching them return to the sea happily, Zhang Tie also felt a sincere pleasure.


    Nobody would catch fish here, let alone these worthless little fish. Even if they wanted, they could not easily catch them. Therefore, after setting them free, Zhang Tie won''t worry about them being caught by others.


    The sun was setting, creating a golden hue over the horizon. Some little sand-scale fish jumped out of the sea, seemingly greeting Zhang Tie.


    "Watch out next time, don''t be caught again!"


    When setting free earthworms, Zhang Tie had already understood a law¡ª¡ªno life in this world was humble. Zhang Tie felt very happy about setting free a barrel of sand-scale fish with only 1 silver coin.


    When he returned that barrel to the booth owner in the fish market, that 40-odd-year-ol-man gazed at Zhang Tie with a strange expression, "You put them back in the sea?"


    What Zhang Tie was doing had all been observed by this man. He felt it difficult to understand that someone would buy fish to set them free. "Is there anything wrong with his mind?"


    However, Zhang Tie had long prepared for that question.


    "Erm, I met an old man before, who told me that by setting lives free, I could accumulate good karma from God. He urged me to set free more animals if I was able to do that!"


    "Setting free animals to accumulate karma?" Hearing this theory for the first time, the booth owner became stunned. Obviously, he could not accept this. However, Zhang Tie won''t discuss that with him. After giving back the barrel and agreeing with him to buy sand-scale fish here at the same time tomorrow, Zhang Tie left the wharf.


    After walking for a short while, Zhang Tie had already returned to the Zhixing Department of Hidden Dragon Department at night.


    Sparkling light radiated from each building of Hidden Dragon Palace and extended from the memorial archways at the foot of the mountain all the way to the top of the mountain, making it pretty beautiful.


    Outside the gate of the Zhixing Department, the old man who played the game of Go by himself under the tree all day long was still mediating at this moment. Because people were all very tired in the daytime, when the dusk arrived, many people had returned to their own room for a rest or practicing fighting skills. Therefore, Zhang Tie could barely see any people in the courtyard of Zhixing Department at this time.


    ...


    "Sister Yuhan, I really want to go home, I miss mom, wu...wu..."


    "Don''t cry. Staying here isn''t so bad. We have a lot of friends."


    "But it''s too difficult to make money here, wu...wh...I only picked three very common pearls for 6 silver coins and sold two boxes of seashell oil for 2 silver coins today. My hand was lacerated in the sea yesterday. If it touched the seawater, it would ache. I want to go home, wuwuwu..."


    "You''re just not used to it yet. When you are used to it and have better diving skills, you would reach deeper into the sea. If you are lucky, you could even pick up colorful pearls, each one of which would at least worth 1 gold coin. We girls could make money easier than the badass boys as they have to pick up iron ores in the sea. They are not afraid of that, what would we be afraid of? You will definitely make it, Shasha..."


    The moment Zhang Tie drew close to the front corner of the corridor, he had heard two girls'' voices. In order to avoid misunderstanding, when he drew close to them, Zhang Tie coughed twice and made his footsteps heavier on purpose. As was expected, the moment they heard about someone coming, the two girls became silent.


    When Zhang Tie moved to the corner, he saw two girls who were also watching him. One of them was 15 or while the other seemed a bit older, about 17-18 years old. The younger girl had a good-looking round face whose eyes were like red peaches. Seeing Zhang Tie coming here, her face blushed as she hurriedly mopped off her tears. The other girl seemed to be comforting her.


    Zhang Tie had formed a sharp instinct that the moment he saw a girl, he would know her key sizes. He didn''t mean to, but he would know naturally. After a glance over the two girls'' faces, his eyes had already scanned across their breasts, waists, butts, and thighs which had outstanding curves.


    "Erm, compared to Alice, Hanna and the other girls, Chinese girls truly have a smaller figure at this age."


    "Humph!" The moment she saw Zhang Tie, the girl called Yuhan cast the whites of her eyes at Zhang Tie. Even the weeping girl was glaring at him and turned her head to the other direction.


    Zhang Tie felt a bit strange about that...


    When he walked a few steps away, he heard the two girls'' voices through his acute auditory sense.


    "Humph, he''s that disgusting guy called Zhang Tie..." The girl called Yuhan said.


    "His eyes were so terrifying. After being glanced by him, I felt uncomfortable all over!"


    "I wouldn''t have imagined that this person is so lecherous. His eyes were too lecherous. Shasha, you have to warn other sisters to be careful about this boring guy who kept looking at your body under the neck. He''s not only boring but also dangerous to girls. Remember to not be tangled with this kind of person alone!"


    Zhang Tie became depressed as he almost wanted to return to argue with them. "Damn, I''ve been here for only two days innocently, how could I have been hateful?"


    ...


    Returning to his own room, Zhang Tie recovered his composure and constrained his impulse to enter the Castle of Black Iron to see what fruit did the sand-scale fish bring him. Instead, he took out the crystal pyramid which was put on the windowsill to refill its energy. After putting it under his bed, he calmly and patiently sat on the bed to start cultivating.


    He started to polish the 6th surge point on his spine. Within 2 hours of cultivation, the 6th surge point started to radiate very bright orange lights. When it almost broke through to radiate yellow light, Zhang Tie stopped. He then started to practice mental arithmetic by two abacuses. He kept making sophisticated divisions and multiplications on the two abacuses respectively at the same time. After a while, he started to do multiplications and additions on the two abacuses at the same time.


    After finishing mental arithmetic by two abacuses, Zhang Tie''s mind felt highly spirited and flexible. He was in an unusually vigorous and pure condition.


    At this moment, he could only hear insects chirps in the Zhixing Department. The two exotic moons were hanging high in the sky. Along with the sound of the wind blowing through the window was the sound of the waves in the distance. Zhang Tie stood still at the windowsill and looked outside at the bright moons. He felt everything was so fantastic that it couldn''t be described.


    Standing still over there for quite awhile, when the fantastic sense in his mind gradually faded away, with a sound of "Zhi", Zhang Tie pulled off the curtain, leaving a great darkness in the room at once.


    The darkness in his eyes soon disappeared; instead, a vigorous manor appeared in front of his eyes.


    In a black swallowtail, Heller whose handsome face made Zhang Tie so envious that he even wanted to ruin Heller''s face walked towards Zhang Tie.


    "Handsome and magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!" After bowing towards Zhang Tie, Heller looked at Zhang Tie, "Castle Lord, as the basic energy storage in Castle of Black Iron is going to be used up, I have to stop much work. You seemed having forgotten about our appointment."

 281 A Discovery

    Chapter 281: A Discovery


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    "Appointment? An appointment with Heller?" Zhang Tie racked his mind. After a short while, he patted his forehead and looked at Heller with a sorry expression, "I truly had forgotten about bringing basic energy into this space. But I didn''t have a chance to bring things in. You know that once I''m found having such an ability, I might be abducted by others to be sliced up for tests. Therefore, I have to be careful about it."


    "I know the environment you''re in and your meticulous attitude. On increasing the basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron, I have a suggestion."


    "Just say it."


    "I know that Castle Lord is here for the two new fruits on the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree.," Heller revealed a smile, "So we can talk about this after you''ve had the fruits!"


    Zhang Tie hadn''t imagined that Heller could be that "considerate". Hearing Heller''s words and watching the small tree in front of him, Zhang Tie nodded, "Fine, we''ll talk about it after I eat the fruits."


    At this time, the Castle of Black Iron had already completely changed. Previously, Zhang Tie had no time to assemble the 2-story log cabin that covered 210 sq meters which he ordered from Blackhot City, but now, the house had already been erected in front of Zhang Tie. The assembled houses had been surrounded by one-person high wooden boards. The small tree was in the courtyard surrounded by a barrier and the assembled houses.


    The topography of the courtyard seemed to have been renovated by Heller. The location of the small tree was obviously 2 m higher than its surroundings. It was on a huge and tidy mortar-like mound. The small tree was even surrounded by white stone stages.


    Zhang Tie admitted that after Heller''s renovation, everything truly made him feel more comfortable and at ease.


    "From now on, except Castle Lord, no other living beings are allowed to get close to the stages heading to the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree!" Walking together with Zhang Tie, Heller stopped in front of it and explained as he stood aside.


    Zhang Tie delightfully nodded as he walked upwards.


    The small tree was still growing. This time, Zhang Tie felt it was more verdant than last time. Each time he came here, the moment he saw those raw and ripe fruits on the small tree, Zhang Tie would be in a very good mood.


    One leakless fruit had already been ripe and hanging over the tree while the second one would be ripe within three days. After knowing that the leakless fruit could work as alternative blood bags and save his life in an emergency, Zhang Tie kept all the leakless fruits on the tree these days.


    Besides leakless fruits, there was an Iron-Body Fruit, a Trouble-Reappearance Fruit and a Fruit of Redemption.


    Zhang Tie firstly cast his look on the pitch black hexagonal Trouble-Reappearance Fruit.


    ¡ª¡ªTrouble-Reappearance Fruit has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly consume. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually fade.


    After injecting his spiritual energy into the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit, Zhang Tie saw three sea serpents and the sea around Iron Ore Beach.


    Zhang Tie then burst out loud laughing. After killing three sea serpents, he saw the scene using Trouble-Reappearance Fruit as expected. This time, Zhang Tie had a place to practice diving.


    In the middle of the twigs was a Fruit of Redemption which contained the strength of golden uangs which was still raw. On the side of that fruit was another heart-shaped fruit.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Redemption¡ª¡ªcoming from the gratitude of the sand-scale fish. It has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly consume. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually fade.


    ¡ª¡ªWith this fruit, Castle Lord could increase resistance against cold environments by 1% and increase sensitivity to water flow by 1%.


    Because fish breathe with gills while people breathe using their lungs, this Fruit of Redemption didn''t bring Zhang Tie an abnormal underwater breathing ability. Due to physical constraints, Zhang Tie could not be a weird animal with gills. However, the two abilities provided by this fruit truly shocked Zhang Tie.


    Many fish in the water had a powerful resistance to cold. Zhang Tie had read in a book that some fish, after being frozen for many days, once thawed, could still happily swim in the water. Zhang Tie had not imagined that the sand-scale fish was a type of the cold-resistant fish.


    When in water, besides being unable to breathe, people were also largely limited on time by the low temperature, which made people rapidly lose body heat in the sea and become stiff while shivering. Finally, they would lose their consciousness and suffer from cardiopulmonary failure, etc.


    1 silver coin for a 1% increase of cold-resistance and 1% increase of increase in water flow sensitivity. Zhang Tie had truly gained quite a bit.


    Life was priceless! This ability brought by saving lives was priceless!


    In a sophisticated manner, Zhang Tie picked off this Fruit of Redemption and engulfed it. The moment he bit into the fruit, its juice had already flown into his stomach and created a warm sensation which spread across Zhang Tie''s skin and subcutaneous tissues. In only several minutes, Zhang Tie had absorbed it all.


    After eating the Fruit of Redemption, Zhang Tie picked the Trouble-Reappearance Fruit and ate it. Closing his eyes, Zhang Tie then felt one more six-pointed star on the marvelous arch door in his mind. This six-pointed star was already activated, which indicated that Zhang Tie could enter the Trouble-Reappearance Situation at any time.


    Because Heller was still waiting to talk with him, Zhang Tie didn''t go inside the Trouble-Reappearance Situation. After all, he had a lot of free time in the future.


    When Zhang Tie was going to leave the small tree, he saw the Iron-Body Fruit on the small tree. However, this time, Zhang Tie felt the color of the Iron-Body Fruit became different from that last time. Therefore, Zhang Tie stretched out his hand to check.


    "Yi? That''s so strange!" Zhang Tie remembered that when he came here last time, this Iron-Body Fruit was only one-third ripe, how could it be almost half ripe this time?


    "Did I make a mistake? It shouldn''t be that ripe." Since his spiritual energy surged, Zhang Tie''s memory had grown increasingly better. He didn''t think that he would make any mistake remembering things. "I haven''t been practicing the Bear-Shoulder Iron-Body Skill these days, neither have I been beaten up by others. How could this Iron-Body Fruit be developing further?"


    "I will ask Heller."


    ...


    Heller was still waiting for Zhang Tie outside the stone stage under the small tree.


    "Heller, what''s your suggestion for increasing basic energy storage of the Castle of Black Iron?" Zhang Tie asked bluntly.


    "I suggest Castle Lord seize the opportunities right around you. You could have seized many chances to increase the basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron, but I haven''t seen you taking any action!"


    "You mean those iron ores in the sea? I''m practicing my diving skills. After a couple of days, when I can dive deeper, I will take action." After thinking for awhile, Zhang Tie had understood Heller''s meaning. It was truly a nice environmental condition in the sea just like that in the mine. If he chose a place with few people and act in a secret way, he could bring something into the Castle of Black Iron using the direct-transportation function that he had just mastered without being noticed by others.


    "I''m happy that Castle Lord could consider moving the iron ores in the sea. But I didn''t mean that..."


    "What is it then?"


    "Have you thought about it, Castle Lord?" Heller became quite thrilled as he continued, "When you swim in the sea, you are surrounded by seawater, once you use the direct-transportation function that you have mastered and steadily open the space channels on your two hands, won''t the seawater constantly be absorbed into the Pool of Chaos in the Castle of Black Iron? Is there any other easier method that could be used to increase the basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron?"


    Zhang Tie became stunned as he felt an explosion go off in his mind. "That''s it, how could I have not have thought about that. Once I dive in the sea, who could notice that the seawater is decreasing? Additionally, now that I could use the direct-transportation function of Castle of Black Iron to absorb seawater into the Castle of Black Iron, won''t I be able to transport air from the Castle of Black Iron to the outside through the arch door in my mind?"


    "Of course you can. Castle Lord has tried to move water from the Castle of Black Iron into the cup outside. Once you lock any space in the Castle of Black Iron, you can move the air in that space! If you are in the water, once you try several times, you will be able to freely breathe underwater."


    Zhang Tie covered his mouth using one hand as he asked in a low voice,"You mean that as long as I do this in the water, I can directly move the air from the Castle of Black onto my hand and freely breathe through by hand?"


    "It looks like you get it!" Heller nodded, "But this is one of the direct-transportation functions of Castle of Black Iron, there''s a simpler method. If you want to take a breath in the water, you can try to directly send the air from the Castle of Black Iron into your mouth through the arch door in your mind!"


    The moment he heard the words, Zhang Tie almost sprung up. "That direct-transportation function is simply marvelous. It''s definitely a portable oxygen tank. However, compared to an oxygen tank, Castle of Black Iron is invisible. Additionally, the air in Castle of Black Iron is definitely much fresher than that in an oxygen tank.


    Zhang Tie was so excited that he almost wanted to rush into the sea and have a try now. However, before he left, he had another question, "I''ve got another question. I remember that Iron-Body Fruit was only one-third ripe, how could it grow these days without being stimulated?"


    "Castle Lord, when you are diving in the sea, the constantly changing water pressure would impose itself upon you. During this process, it was akin to be beaten or hit with something hard. The only difference between the two is that the force that you sustain in water is constant, which could be adjusted by the diving depth. As long as the force on you constantly changes, it will stimulate the Iron-Body Fruit to ripen. During this process, you could treat the sea as a still iron hammer, while you are..."


    Before Heller finished, Zhang Tie had already disappeared...

 282 Tes

    Chapter 282: Test


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    On the second morning, on the way from the Hidden Dragon Palace to Iron Ore Beach...


    "Zhang Tie, how did you manage to stir up all the girls in Zhixing Department? Why did I see all the girls show you the whites of their eyes at breakfast?" Wei Wu walked as he asked Zhang Tie who was walking in front of him.


    Speaking of this, Zhang Tie was also a bit depressed, "Who knows, since I came to Hidden Dragon Palace, I''ve haven''t talked with any girls. Damn, girls are really born to be narrow-minded and crazy!"


    Zhang Keliang burst out laughing, "Brother, nobody in Hidden Dragon Palace dares to say that girls are born to be narrow-minded and crazy. According to your words, I don''t think you''ll have a girlfriend in the Palace anytime soon."


    Zhang Keliang''s laugh roused everybody''s attention on Zhang Tie. Many people were surprised by Zhang Tie''s boldness¡ª¡ª"Born to be narrow-minded and crazy", "This guy is really a dead mouse that feels no cold. He''s so careless that he dares to stir up all the girls in the Hidden Dragon Palace by saying this!"


    Many people mumbled.


    "When I was new here, I also heard from others that girls in Hidden Dragon Palace were tricky. Zhang Tie, you''d better watch your words. If the girls heard your words, they might come to find trouble for you." Zhang Yunfei reminded Zhang Tie.


    "So what? You think I''m a kind man? Those girls are born crazy. This father has not stirred up them at all. Why would they show me the whites of their eyes? I admit that I said that, I want to see whether they can bite off my butt or not!" Zhang Tie said in a casual way. Zhang Tie finally understood the proverb that one can be austere if he has no selfish desires. As he didn''t expect to establish any relationship with those girls, he didn''t care about whether they were happy or not.


    "Brother, based on your distant attitude towards girls, you might be alone for the rest of your life. No girls would like you!" Zhang Hongsheng controlled his laugh as pretended to tell Zhang Tie in a serious way.


    "I will be alone?" Zhang Tie pointed at his own nose as he seemed having heard the most interesting joke. "If the girls of the Rose Association and Pandora, Alice and Beverly heard this, they would definitely not agree. Even if I want to be alone, I don''t think that they would agree to that... cough...cough...but I don''t have to show off in front of these guys, Heh...heh..." Zhang Tie smiled as he lowered his head and kept walking without saying anything else.


    "Zhang Tie, try to recall what did you stir up those girls. You''d better spare some time to apologize to them. Otherwise, you might not be able to live well on the island in the future." Zhang Yunfei seriously suggested.


    Zhang Tie patted Zhang Yunfei''s shoulders, "Trust me, never think that you will leave a good impression on those girls by pretending to be a considerate gentleman. All those girls are crazy. When they lose their mind, you should never try to explain logic to them. You should ignore them. If they dare to stir up you, you should treat them as spinning tops in front of your feet and ferociously whip them. The more ferociously you whip them, the more docile they would be. Although men have 12 zodiacs, girls only have 1¡ª¡ªspinning top!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the boys aside were stunned. This guy really dared to say anything. Hearing Zhang Tie''s unusual talk, all the juveniles cast weird eyes on him. None of them made any response.


    When they arrived at the Iron Ore Beach, the sun had just risen up. Everyone then started to undress by the sea. After putting their clothes by the rocks on the bank, they started to walk into the sea with wire sacks while gritting their teeth.


    "Argh, it''s too cold..." Only after walking several steps into the sea, before the seawater reached his knee, Wei Wu''s teeth had already started to clatter. For all the juveniles, the most painstaking moment was when they entered the sea each morning. The icy seawater''s test to people could even match that of the scorching sun.


    "Ocean, I''m here..." Zhang Tie made a weird utterance as he rushed into the sea, splattering icy seawater onto Wei Wu and Zhang Hongsheng on his side, causing them to utter strange cries.


    "Bastard!" The boys uttered as they chased after Zhang Tie''s shadow and directly dived into the sea to end the stimulation.


    After swimming 50 m away from the shoal area, he took a deep breath as he lowered his head and instantly dived into the seawater. Although still being stimulated by the icy seawater, Zhang Tie felt it wasn''t as cold as yesterday. Zhang Tie knew that it was because of the 1% cold-resistance granted by that Fruit of Redemption that he had eaten last night.


    Compared to yesterday, Zhang Tie could swim better today. After all, Zhang Tie had practiced swimming for 4-5 hours in the Trouble-Reappearance Situation last night before went to bed. Therefore, Zhang Tie realized rapid progress due to his sharper sensitivity towards water flow and constant practice.


    When practicing swimming in the Trouble-Reappearance Situation, the only weakness that made him pitiful was that he could not simulate the direct-transportation function of the Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, the moment he arrived here today, Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to have a try.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether he would make a loud noise when he used the special functions of Castle of Black Iron for the first time. Therefore, after diving into the sea, he didn''t swim towards those oceanic trenches; instead, he silently changed his direction and swam to a hidden place that contained more reefs and fewer navy-blue iron ores over 300 m away to the east of the Iron Ore Beach.


    Few people would usually come here.


    Zhang Tie found a place deeper than 30 m between two reefs where he could hide well before he started to test his direct transportation ability.


    Like several times before, when Zhang Tie focused his spiritual energy onto the arch door, the arch door started to radiate a strange, unsteady wave onto Zhang Tie''s right palm. In a split second, Zhang Tie felt a great suction from inside his palm. At the same time, Zhang Tie''s right hand felt like they were fastened by a rope and a force in the opposite of the suction force instantly pulled Zhang Tie 2 m forward in the seawater.


    Zhang Tie was really stunned by such a great change. As a result, he was chocked by a mouthful of seawater. The moment the qi between his chest and his abdomen disappeared, Zhang Tie hurriedly swam upwards.


    Behind a reef above the sea...


    With a bustling sound, Zhang Tie showed his head above water, "Cough...cough...cough", he coughed out the seawater in his mouth. Zhang Tie was so surprised as his face slightly turned pale. He didn''t know what was going just now. How could his body lose control the moment he opened the channel between his Castle of Black Iron and the seawater? How could he be pulled forward by a force which was opposite to the suction?


    Zhang Tie carefully thought about that as he gradually understood it. Could it be the counter force of the suction?


    After taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie dived to the same place and prepared to make a second attempt.


    This time, Zhang Tie became more careful. He carefully controlled the size of the space transportation channel and fixed it as one-fifth of its original size before trying again.


    As was expected, the moment he opened the channel, the counterforce reappeared, pulling Zhang Tie''s body forward along the direction that his fingers pointed at. Zhang Tie immediately held a reef using his left hand to stop the movement.


    As he had experienced this before, this time, Zhang Tie was not overly surprised; instead, he carefully felt the sense and the situation inside the Castle of Black Iron.


    Above the Pool of Chaos in the Castle of Black Iron, a torrent shot down like a completely opened faucet. The moment it fell into the Pool of Chaos, it instantly disappeared like a drop of water falling into the sea.


    When the torrent of seawater fell into the Pool of Chaos, Zhang Tie''s hand was like a bottomless hole which was constantly sucking in seawater. The force that pulled his body forward was truly the counter force of the suction. After he opened the invisible door on his hand to suck in seawater, he was also pulled forward by the counter force.


    Zhang Tie instantly understood what was going on.


    At the bottom of the sea, Zhang Tie slowly observed his palm. After a short while, a small swirl with a diameter of 10 cm started to form. The swirl was like a funny twisting spirit in Zhang Tie''s palm.


    Zhang Then used his spiritual energy to adjust the size of the torrent in his space channel. When he enlarged the size of the space channel, more water would enter the Pool of Chaos and a greater counterforce would act on his body. Similarly, when he narrowed the size of the space channel, less water would enter the Pool of Chaos and a smaller force would act on his body.


    After trying over 10 minutes underwater, Zhang Tie gradually discovered how things worked and became more adept at increasing his basic energy storage by transporting seawater into the Castle of Black Iron.


    If he wanted to increase his basic energy storage in the Castle of Black Iron in a short period, Zhang Tie had to expand the "caliber" of the space channel; however, if he wanted to expand the "caliber" of the space channel, the counterforce acting on him would be very great. In such a case, it would be very difficult for him to maintain balance underwater. As he watched that small swirl on his palm, Zhang Tie started to rack his mind, "I have to find a way to maintain balance in the sea. If I kept doing like this, I''d have to hug a huge reef with my other hand the maintain balance."


    When Zhang Tie was racking his mind, a colorful little fish flexibly swam across Zhang Tie 20 cm away from him. The moment he saw that flexible little fish, Zhang Tie was shocked as he came across an unprecedented thought.


    "Why do I have to fix my body and stay still in the sea? Why not move in the seawater using the counterforce? Couldn''t the size and the direction of that counterforce be casually adjusted by myself? Doesn''t it mean that I could increase my movement speed in the sea to a horrible level that nobody else could imagine..."


    The swirl on Zhang Tie''s right hand disappeared. Zhang Tie then raised his two hands in front of him. After looking at his hands seriously and recovering his composure, Zhang Tie started to swim in the sea. At the same time, he opened his space channel a bit on his hands. In a split second, his swimming speed increased by at least 30%...

 283 Being Eye-Catching

    Chapter 283: Being Eye-Catching


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    After one day of work, Zhang Tie had only gathered 150 kg of navy-blue iron ores, which seemed to be almost the same weight as that of Zhang Yunfei.


    What made Zhang Tie so eye-catching was that there was a swollen bump on his forehead.


    All the other guys were surprised about the bump on Zhang Tie''s forehead. They had seen people being cramped, drowned, beaten by sea serpents, and being stung by sea urchins which caused their legs to be swollen to the size of their waists, but they had not seen a single person coming out of the sea with a bump on their forehead.


    "What''s up with that bump?" Wei Wu asked Zhang Tie out of curiosity when he saw Zhang Tie smirking from time to time although having a bump on his forehead.


    "I swam too fast and hit a rock at the bottom of the sea." Zhang Tie answered honestly.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, everybody else exchanged glances with each other and burst out laughing. Wei Wu laughed so heavily that his belly even cramped, "Aiyo[1], I wouldn''t have imagined that you are that funny..."


    How fast would a person have to swim to hit a rock in the sea? The reason was really awkward despite being very humorous.


    Everybody thought that Zhang Tie didn''t feel like telling the truth and therefore fabricated a reason. After laughing for a while, the other guys didn''t ask him anymore.


    Zhang Tie then also laughed as their responses were within his expectations.


    After exchanging the navy-blue iron ores for 15 silver coins in the Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie immediately left the Palace without eating supper.


    If he went to the fish market after supper, it would be too late for him to buy sand-scale fish as many booths would have been closed by then. Therefore, Zhang Tie directly went to the fish market.


    Today, Zhang Tie came to the fish market in the wharf several hours earlier than that yesterday. The fish market was several dozens of times more boisterous than the day before.


    All the booths were still in business in the fish market. Many people were trading near the places where the fishing boats were anchored on the wharf. There were so many passers-by over the wharf, making it very lively.


    Dozens of sea products were sold in the fish market, such as marine fish, sea cucumbers, sea shrimps, sea crabs and sea snails. There were 7-8 kinds of shrimp in different shapes and sizes. Zhang Tie could only identify 5-6 kinds of sea products among them, even including sand-scale fish that he learned of yesterday.


    For Zhang Tie who was born in Blackhot City and had been familiar with markets from a young age, of course, the boisterous atmosphere of the fish market brought him a sense of nostalgia.


    Zhang Tie walked through the fish market in an agile manner as he glanced at the booths on both sides one after the other. After a rough circle around the fish market, he became thrilled as he found 10 more booths that sold sand-scale fish. Each booth would sell this kind of worthless fish more or less in barrel or basin.


    At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie didn''t hesitate anymore as he rapidly walked to the booth where he bought the sand-scale fish yesterday.


    "Boss Zhu, here are the stone-tiger fish today, I''ve prepared them all for your hotel...ha, as we''re familiar with each other, I will just take 20 silver coins from you for 1.75 kg of them..."


    The moment that booth owner fished a trade, he had found Zhang Tie standing in front of him.


    "Argh, I''ve got fewer sand-scale fish today, you only need to pay me 85 copper coins for them!"


    "No change, 1 silver coin is alright. If you can provide me more next time, I can pay you less." Zhang Tie smiled as he took out of 1 silver coin and passed it to him.


    "Ha, little brother, you are so generous. Okay, If I get more, I ''ll only ask for 1 silver coin from you next time!" The booth owner took the money as he replied happily.


    "Okay, as usual, I will use your barrel for awhile!" Saying this, Zhang Tie had already taken the barrel which contained sand-scale fish.


    "No problem, just take it and bring it back to me before I leave."


    Zhang Tie nodded as he lifted the barrel with sand-scale fish and ran towards the seaside in the distance. A short while later, after setting free those sand-scale fish, he returned to the booth with an empty barrel. He then bought all the sand-scale fish on the other booths and put them all in the barrel before running towards the seaside and once again set free the sand-scale fish.


    Sand-scale fish were really cheap. It took Zhang Tie only 12 silver coins to buy all the sand-scale fish in the booths.


    Today, he had set free almost 10 times more sand-scale fish than yesterday. Zhang Tie was filled with pleasure inside. He had not imagined that he could practice in such way.


    As so many people were in the fish market, almost nobody noticed a juvenile who lifted a barrel of sand-scale fish and ran here and there. Therefore, Zhang Tie finished his job in public.


    After sweeping all the sand-scale fish in the fish market, Zhang Tie sent the borrowed barrel back before heading back to Hidden Dragon Palace. It took him over 1 hour to finish the job. When he returned to the Hidden Dragon Palace, it was supper time in the Zhixing Department.


    In the following days, Zhang Tie kept practicing the same way. In the daytime, he would go pick up navy-blue iron ores. After that, he would run to the fish market to buy sand-scale fish and set them free. Each day, he would improve. In the evening, he would practice the movements of Iron-Blood Fish Skill back in the Zhixing Department so as to prepare for forming Iron-Blood Battle Qi.


    After setting free sand-scale fish, the Fruits of Redemption improved Zhang Tie''s ability day by day as his cold-resistance and sensitivity towards water flow increased day by day...


    1%¡ª¡ª11%¡ª¡ª18%¡ª¡ª36%¡ª¡ª45%¡ª¡ª57%¡ª¡ª65%¡ª¡ª72%¡ª¡ª81%¡ª¡ª


    When his physical abilities increased, Zhang Tie became more adept at using the direct transportation ability of the Castle of Black Iron in the sea. It was becoming increasingly simpler for Zhang Tie to take a breath in the sea. Additionally, he could better use the counterforce as a driving force to swiftly move in water. Especially the second skill, Zhang Tie had almost forgotten the original intention of this skill was to increase the basic energy storage of the Castle of Black Iron. He started to practice this skill purely by regarding it as one of his abilities.


    When Zhang Tie swam through the deep sea every day, the Iron-Body Fruit on the small tree in the Castle of Black Iron riped rapidly. After eating this Iron-Body Fruit, Zhang Tie obviously felt the effect of the Iron-Body Fruit¡ª¡ªbefore eating it, Zhang Tie could already dive to a depth of almost 100 m; after eating it, Zhang Tie could easily break through 120 m in the sea on the second day.


    The deeper he dived, the greater the pressure from the seawater he would have to endure, which increased the tempering of Zhang Tie''s body and a faster growth speed of the Iron-Body Fruit. As a result, the newly growing Iron-Body Fruit could allow Zhang Tie to challenge deep seas.


    Zhang Tie''s cultivation then started to enter a benign circulation.


    Taking the sea as a hammer and taking himself as iron. Zhang Tie formed a generous mood in his mind. Each night when he practiced in a Trouble-Reappearance Situation in his room, Zhang Tie would set a target for himself to challenge the life limit in the ocean by losing his life once. After Zhang Tie experienced the endless coldness, darkness, pressure and finally lost his mind due to "death" in the sea each day, he would feel as though he was being reborn the next day he woke up. By then, he would gain a wholly new self, who would have less fear about the ocean.


    During these days, the news on his bet with the others had spread in the Hidden Dragon Palace. They were all wondering who dare to bet with 300 gold coins that he could definitely form the Iron-Blood Battle Qi, which was the secret fighting skill of the imperial households of Norman Empire.


    Everybody, after hearing this news, would feel that Zhang Tie must be mad. But Zhang Tie was not mad; instead, he performed as normal as usual. Therefore, the eyes of the surrounding people became strange.


    Along with the bet was Zhang Tie''s two comments on girls in Hidden Dragon Palace. The first comment was¡ª¡ªall the girls were born to be narrow-minded and crazy. The second comment was¡ª¡ªboys had 12 zodiacs while girls only had 1, their zodiac is a spinning top. With the two comments and Zhang Tie''s previous performance which was exaggerated among girls mouth by mouth, Zhang Tie had completely become the public enemy of the girls of the Hidden Dragon Palace in less than two weeks.


    These days, when he ate in the canteen, Zhang Tie had already felt girls in the Zhixing Department were showing the whites of their eyes in a killing intent. When Zhang Tie poured out the two "famous comments", many boys who went to pick up navy-blue iron ores in the Iron Ores Beach had heard them. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t know which bastard had spread his comments into the girls'' ears to make the situation worse.


    ''F*ck!'' Zhang Tie could only swear inside.


    This morning, when Zhang Tie cleaned his mouth and washed his face and headed for eating breakfast, he was blocked by a great number of girls by the entrance of the canteen.


    They looked so furious. The moment he saw them holding him back on the way and glaring at him with eyes as sharp as knives and arrows, Zhang Tie''s heart instantly pounded as he knew that they must come here to find him trouble.


    "Zhang Tie, we have something to you about. Are you brave to answer us!" A level 6 elder sister who looked 1-2 years elder than Zhang Tie walked towards Zhang Tie and put it straightly in a cold manner.


    Zhang Tie carefully glanced over that plump girl and estimated that the size of his breasts was 34D. He then forcefully swallowed his saliva and showed a righteous expression.


    "I''m sorry, I''ve not accepted so many girls'' proposal for very long time. I''ve not imagined that although being that low-key, I am still that eye-catching. As I''m paying all my attention to cultivation and learning, I have no time to care about love affairs. Please bury your words in your mind like burying a beautiful and fragrant seed. Don''t say it out loud. Please take it as a beautiful memory of your youth, how about that?"


    In a split second, the girls became really dumbfounded by Zhang Tie''s words. Soon after that, their cherry faces turned pale...


    [1] Aiyo, when one''s belly cramps, he will utter that sound, "aiyo".

 284 Being Outstanding

    Chapter 284: Being Outstanding


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    "Sorry, give way please; I haven''t eaten breakfast yet. Can you allow me in..." Zhang Tie wanted to detour from those girls like he hadn''t seen their faces at all.


    "Bastard, stop!" Those girls who were still blocking Zhang Tie''s path directly surrounded him.


    "What are you talking about just now? Who wants to propose to you?"


    "That''s it! Are you dreaming? This sister could fall in love with you?"


    "This guy is really lecherous, narrow-minded and presumptuous!"


    "He''s more like a lunatic!"


    ...


    Zhang Tie was instantly drowning in the girls'' curses.


    "Listen, now that you don''t want to propose to me, why are you surrounding me?" Zhang Tie looked around at the girls who were condemning him on purpose while crossing his hands in front of the chest like being afraid of being violated, "If you dare to attack me in public, I will shout loudly to ask for help from others!"


    The girls were so infuriated that they almost passed out.


    The girl who initiated the interaction with Zhang Tie really wanted to smack his face which pretended to be in a panic. However, given her purpose here, she restrained her impulse.


    "We are looking for you, not for any other reason than to bet with you!"


    Bet? Zhang Tie suspiciously looked at those girls, "What will they bet with me?"


    "I heard you have bet with a senior brother in Breaking-Heavens Department for 300 gold coins that you can form Iron-Blood Battle Qi. All the girls in Zhixing Department also want to bet with you for that. Dare you bet with us?"


    "Ha, your zodiac is truly a spinning top. If I don''t ferociously whip you, you might not be happy. Look, you''re coming for me."


    After thinking for awhile inside, Zhang Tie stopped to be cynic as he seriously looked at this girl, "I have nothing but boldness, go ahead, bet what?"


    "Each of us girls will bet with you for 30 gold coins. We think you can''t form Iron-Blood Battle Qi in 2 years. If you lose, you should pay each of us 30 gold coins, how about that?"


    "These girls are here to rob me when I am in trouble. This must be the treatment as the public enemy of girls. Look at the 12 girls who were surrounding him, Zhang Tie smiled, "You are here to add 360 gold coins'' debt to me. let''s see it..."


    "You are really good at scheming. The odds between others and I is always 1:3. I want 1080 gold coins if I win. Why do I have to make a concession to you by 3 times the odds? Are we familiar with each other?" Zhang Tie refused them at once.


    "What do you want then?"


    "It''s very simple, the odds will be 1:3 as usual. Don''t think that I will make a concession for you because you''re female. I will not make a concession for you with even 1 copper coin!" Zhang Tie glared at them.


    The girls gritted their teeth as they looked at Zhang Tie,"This bastard is really narrow-minded. Didn''t his cousin bet with the other one for 1:1?"


    After short whispers to each other, the girls instantly reached an agreement.


    "Fine, we''ll bet 1:3. Each of us will pay you 90 gold coins if you win. We don''t think you can form Iron-Blood Battle Qi in 2 years!"


    The girls then believed that Zhang Tie would definitely fail to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi. If they don''t fear that the total amount would scare Zhang Tie away, they might pay more.


    "As we have no money now, how will we deal with the wager then?" Zhang Tie pretended to be serious.


    The girls seemed having long prepared for this question.


    "We can sign an agreement at first. When the result comes out, if one doesn''t have the money to pay it off, one could use an IOU, but one has to pay off the interest first!"


    "Do we need to sign an agreement. I think it''s needless as my words always count." Zhang Tie pretended to be serious.


    "Humph...we''d better sign an agreement. What if you repudiate the debt at a critical moment?" The girl who was talking with Zhang Tie seriously looked at him.


    "Fine, I will sign it." Although acting like he was helpless, Zhang Tie had actually long been very happy.


    ...


    As Zhang Tie was surrounded by the girls of Zhixing Department, it arose the attention of many boys. When they heard that these girls were going to bet with Zhang Tie, they all cast their sympathetic eyes on Zhang Tie. When the girls mentioned signing the agreement, the sympathy in the boys'' eyes almost turned into condolence.


    Nobody felt that Zhang Tie could form Iron-Blood Battle Qi.


    Ten minutes later, in the canteen of Zhixing Department, under the gaze of the onlookers, Zhang Tie signed an agreement with each of the 12 girls, each party had one copy, totaling 24 copies.


    If the girls won, Zhang Tie had to pay 30 gold coins to each girl. If Zhang Tie couldn''t afford that, he had to calculate the interest in terms of a compound interest of 10% monthly.


    However, if Zhang Tie won, each girl would pay him 90 gold coins. If they weren''t able to pay it off, they would also pay off the same compound interest.


    At the end of each agreement was a paragraph¡ª¡ªThese wagers and the interests accrued from them could only be paid by the personal income gain on Hidden Dragon Island. If the losing party could not complete the payment, they could choose to reduce the debt by finishing tasks appointed by the creditor.


    When he read the last paragraph of the agreement, Zhang Tie shook his head as he could almost imagine the group of girls'' excited look when they were discussing the last item. In their opinions, he would definitely not win this bet and would finally be their slave. This was how those girls treated their public enemy. They really were narrow-minded!


    After taking these signed agreements, those girls started to look at Zhang Tie pleasantly. They looked so high-spirited and seemed as though they had won a battle. It was like to they could see Zhang Tie''s poor air when he lost the bet and begged for their forgiveness.


    Zhang Tie also revealed a sinister smile as he carefully took the 12 copies of agreements, on which were the graceful names of the girls¡ª¡ªDu Yuhan, Li Shasha, Zhang Shaoyun, Zhang Wanjun, Li Yurou, Zhang Caiwei, Zhang Ya, Guo Miaolu, Zhang Li, Zhao Shihua, Qu Liangying and Dong Yan.


    Among those girls, there were only five coming from Zhang clan while the other seven came from other clans. That girl who looked like an elder sister called Guo Miaolu. It was also Zhang Tie''s first time finding out the names of the girls who lived in the same department with him.


    The first battle between Zhang Tie, the public enemy of all girls, and the other girls in Zhixing Department started to become the hot topic in Zhixing Department during breakfast.


    ...


    "Zhang Tie, aren''t we brothers?" While eating breakfast, Wei Wu righteously asked Zhang Tie.


    "Of course!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Shouldn''t brothers should help each other?"


    "Yea!"


    "Shouldn''t brothers share profits with each other?"


    "Certainly!" Zhang Tie watched Wei Wu as he didn''t understand what Wei Wu wanted to say, "Just say what you want."


    "Okay, I will then put it straight..." After taking a deep breath, Wei Wu''s righteous face instantly turned into a big obsequious smile as he rubbed his hand, "I also want to bet with you. Just like what''s written on the agreement between you and the girls, but I''m not as greedy as those girls. I only bet for 10 gold coins. If you lose it, you can pay it for me at any time. I will not ask for interest from you. How about that?"


    Zhang Tie...


    ...


    When he left Zhixing Department and headed for Iron Ore Beach, Zhang Tie encountered Zhang Haige and his younger brother Zhang Haixin outside the memorial archway of the Hidden Dragon Palace.


    "Zhang Tie, I heard you could only carry 100-200 kg of navy-blue iron ores a day. At your speed, you couldn''t even pick up 300 tons in 2 years, let alone 300 gold coins. Young man, you know it ''s hard to make money in Hidden Dragon Island now. Remember that before you want to boast, you''d better acknowledge your own strength. You''d better not let me win too easily, otherwise, I will have no sense of achievement, hahaha..."


    After teasing Zhang Tie for awhile, Zhang Haige burst out laughing loudly and walked away in front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie then shook his head. As he was always being familiar with diving skills and the special ability of the Castle of Black Iron, he didn''t pay too much attention to picking up navy-blue iron ores; however, he hadn''t imagined that he was despised by others because of this. Fortunately, he had been familiar with diving and could move more flexibly underwater. Additionally, he just took an Iron-Body Fruit yesterday and could dive deeper than 150 m now. It was the right time for him to become outstanding in Hidden Dragon Palace...


    "Zhang Tie, don''t be concerned about his words. As you''ve only been the Palace for 10 days, you''ve done pretty well." Zhang Keliang comforted Zhang Tie.


    "It doesn''t matter, I won''t care about his words." Zhang Tie revealed a sunny smile...


    ...


    One hour later, after staying in the water for less than 20 minutes near Iron Ore Beach, Zhang Tie had shown his head above the seawater. After taking another breath, he took the wire, one end of which was fastened onto the reef, and dived into the water once again. After Zhang Tie dived for two minutes, Zhang Yunfei showed his head above the seawater. The moment he prepared to dive once again, Zhang Yunfei caught sight of that wire which was fastened onto the reef, "Who''s that fast? How could he be that fast? It''s only been 20 minutes since we came here, yet he''s fully loaded a sack with navy-blue iron ores."


    In the sea...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was no different than a fish. Being upside down, he was twisting his body with a wire in hand. Like a javelin that was thrown into the sea, he kept diving deep into the sea.


    He passed by the first layer of the oceanic trench...


    He passed by the second layer of the oceanic trench...


    He passed by the third layer of the oceanic trench...


    Zhang Tie kept diving deep into the sea until the sixth layer of the oceanic trench. With the exception of Zhang Tie, no one else could reach such a deep place. In this oceanic trench, there were iron ores whose sizes changed from as big as head to as big as a millstone. They radiated faint blue light in the seawater and irradiated the undersea world, making it very mysterious.


    Zhang Tie found the wire sack that he had filled with navy-blue iron ores and buckled up the wire onto the sack. He then lifted it up in water. At this moment, he was already able to move rapidly upward while carrying a sack. But, it would be too amazing if he did that. Therefore, Zhang Tie still chose the old method to lift the sack out of the water.


    Zhang Tie directly surged upward from the oceanic trench at a speed twice that of what he dived in with.


    With a bustling sound, Zhang Tie showed his head above the seawater near the reef.


    On the reef, Zhang Keliang and the other guys had stopped their work as they were waiting for someone to come out of the water.


    "How could you be that fast? We just started, yet you''ve already got enough navy-blue iron ores?" Zhang Hongsheng watched Zhang Tie with an amazed expression.


    "Hoho, it''s truly faster than usual!" Zhang Tie smiled as he started to climb onto the reef.


    "That''s really him!" After exchanging glances with each other, the other guys started to move and help Zhang Tie pull the wire. They were excited to see how many navy-blue iron ores did Zhang Tie get today. They all didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could find a sack of navy-blue iron ores at such a fast speed.


    "Wow, it''s too heavy..."


    "Almost half of 300-m long wire has been put in the water. Zhang Tie, did you really dive deeper than 100 m? My god! How many days have you been here? How could you have such a great diving skill!" Wei Wu signed.


    Zhang Tie smiled and kept silent. He kept forcefully pulling the items out of the sea.


    2-3 minutes later, that wire sack that was buckled with the wire was pulled out of the seawater. Soon after Zhang Tie put the sack onto the reef, Zhang Yunfei and the other guys had already surrounded up and directly opened the sack.


    There were only 2 smooth navy-blue iron ores in the sack which were radiating faint blue light.


    "Wow, what huge navy-blue iron ores! Each of them will weigh 200-300 kg. This sack will at least weight 500-600 kg..." Zhang Yunfei exclaimed, "Zhang Tie, where have you got such huge iron ores?"


    "You can see such iron ores everywhere in the sixth layer of the oceanic trench!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he said this.


    "Sixth layer?" Everybody watched Zhang Tie like watching ghost, "You mean you got these iron ores in the sixth layer of the oceanic trench?"


    "Of course. The deeper you reach, the easier it is to find larger navy-blue iron ores you will find. Don''t you know about that?"


    "Oh, my god, I''m going to go die now. Comparisons are just..." Wei Wu uttered a weird voice, "I could only reach the second layer of the oceanic trench to find some small navy-blue iron ores to survive myself. How could anybody reach the sixth layer?"


    "People who could reach the sixth layer of oceanic trench have not been seen for many years!" Zhang Keliang slightly touched that huge navy-blue iron ore and let out a long sigh.


    The sixth layer of the oceanic trench is deeper than 140 m, which was almost like an abyss for the other students of Zhixing Department. The most of the people in Zhixing Department could only reach the third layer of the oceanic trench. Only very few of them could reach the fourth layer of the oceanic trench. The fifth oceanic trench was already 100 m deep, which was like a natural chasm that could not be stridden over for the juveniles in Zhixing Department. However, this chasm was like a paper that could be easily broken through by Zhang Tie.


    "You gain such abilities later on. I''m just lucky right now. Well, I have to carry them back. After that, I will come back to carry some more today..."


    After carrying the navy-blue iron ores to the bank, Zhang Tie carried the entire 600 kg sack and started to head up on the mountainous path, which stunned all the other guys once again.


    On that very day, Zhang Tie submitted 3.2 tons of navy-blue iron ores, which shocked the entire Zhixing Department. They hadn''t seen such a great figure for many years in Zhixing Department...


    After 10 days since his arrival on Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie started to be outstanding on Hidden Dragon Island in such a manner that was unheard of at the age of 16...


    ...

 285 A New Year

    Chapter 285: A New Year


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    After the catastrophe, the Chinese calendar became the universal calendar for human beings in the Black Iron Age. Each year, when the Faerie-Dragon Star rose up from the east, a new year would start which also symbolized the beginning of the spring festival.


    Accordingly, the day before the Faerie-Dragon Star rose up, namely December 31st each year, it would be New Years''s Eve, namely the Eve before Nian Pass Day.


    "Nian" was a monster that could destroy human beings in the legends. It was said that on that very day, numerous brave Chinese forefathers pulled out of their swords with the exciting will to fight along drumbeats of war to face the "Nian" and finally killed it. Therefore, from that day on, beating a drum became a Chinese tradition.


    Previously when he was in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie would always have a great fun in beating a drum on the Nian Pass Day. On that very day, the Zhang family would always set a beating drum in the house, allowing Zhang Tie great fun all day long.


    Zhang Tie''s father told him that people beat drums on that day was to remember the bravery and glory of the Chinese forefathers. Chinese people beat drums on the New Year''s Eve in order to carry forward the bravery and glory of Chinese bloodline. In this way, the moment Chinese descendants heard the drumbeats, they would have the bravery to pull out of their swords to face any difficulty or enemy.


    On the New Year''s Eve, drumbeats could be heard across Hidden Dragon Island while the drumbeats of Hidden Dragon Palace drifted from the top of the mountain, which everybody in the Hidden Dragon Palace could hear.


    "Bang bang bang bang", the drumbeats that drifted from the top of the mountain of Hidden Dragon Palace became as restful as a gentle breeze at one moment and as ferocious as lightning at another. All sorts of drumbeats on the island started to beat in accordance with the drumbeats that drifted from the top of the mountain of Hidden Dragon Palace. Under such rhythmed drumbeats, the entire Hidden Dragon island was like a distant ancient battlefield while a solemn and majestic momentum reverberated from the drumbeats.


    When the drumbeats were restful, Zhang Tie didn''t hear the drumbeats at all; instead, he heard the heavy and depressive footsteps of a giant. The giant''s feet stomped on the land one step after another. It seemed that each step contained sadness, blood, and tears that had existed for a thousand years. When the drumbeats gradually sped up and became more and more exciting, Zhang Tie seemed to hear numerous ancient Chinese spirits'' soars. The drumbeats resonated with the mountain, the sea, the sky and each heart on Hidden Dragon Island. It wasn''t purely drumbeats anymore, but the roars of armored fighters and horses that spread everywhere.


    Zhang Tie was really shocked, ever since he was born, he had not known that Chinese people celebrate their most important festival in this way. Comparatively, when in Blackhot City, the drumbeats from only from a few Chinese households were more like a program for kids; however, at this time, he understood that the drumbeats were more like the spirits of each Chinese descendent. What they woke up was the glory and bravery that slept in the bloodline of the Chinese people.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how he passed New Year''s Eve. He didn''t sleep overnight due to his habit in Blackhot City as he needed to stay up to see the new year. Instead, he just quietly sat on his bed and immersed in the drumbeats one after the other both mentally and physically.


    Zhang Tie forgot time and everything else. His mentality and spirituality kept rising and falling along with the drumbeats. In the end, when the drumbeats stopped, Zhang Tie left his room and appeared in the courtyard of the Zhixing Department. He faced the east and watched the Faerie-Dragon Star, the brightest star in the sky. Before sunrise, it had been slowly rising up from the sky in the east.


    Not only Zhang Tie, all the others in Zhixing Department had walked out and appeared in the courtyard. Nobody talked; instead, they all stood there silently and gazed at the Faerie-Dragon Star rising from the east. At this moment, all the other people in the Palace had walked out of their rooms and stood on empty land or at high locations and watched the Faerie-Dragon Star rising from east.


    The year 890 of Black Iron Calendar silently arrived along with the rising Faerie-Dragon Star...


    From now on, Zhang Tie was 16 years old...


    Seeing the Faerie-Dragon Star rising from the east, Zhang Tie sighed a lot inside. He really had experienced too much in the past half year. Comparatively, his earlier 15 years were as blank as white paper.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what would happen in the year 890 of Black Iron Calendar. He only knew that if Donder was right, the 3rd holy war between human and demons would be closer.


    Of course, the so-called holy war would have no omen at all and occur in one day. Holy war was just a general concept. Historically, the symbolic events at the beginning of the first two holy wars between human and demons were that a certain country was completely destroyed by demons, billions of the living were killed and most of the human countries were involved in the holy war between human and demons. Actually, before each holy war, the chaos of human society and increasingly frequent skirmishes between human and demons had arisen in number one after the other.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie knew that he really didn''t have much time left. He should make the most out of each day when he was in Hidden Dragon Palace. When the Waii Sub-continent was in turmoil, the greater ability he had, the more protection could he provide to the people he cared about.


    It wasn''t until the dawn arrived when the first light of sun appeared in the east and the Faerie-Dragon Star in the sky gradually disappeared did the boys and girls standing in the courtyard return to their own rooms.


    On the way back to his own room, Zhang Tie won numerous eye rolls from the girls and cold harrumphs once again. Two weeks ago, on the same day when Zhang Tie signed the agreement with those girls, he had already exploded with unusual power and ability, becoming the most eye-catching person in the Zhixing Department.


    Before this, nobody in the Hidden Dragon Palace thought that Zhang Tie could form Iron-Blood Battle Qi; however, after that, Zhang Tie became increasingly eye-catching. He started to pick up more and more navy-blue iron ores from the oceanic trench day by day. The weight of navy-blue iron ores also gradually increased from over 3000 kg a day to over 5000 kg a day. Many people had changed their opinions on Zhang Tie and started to think that Zhang Tie might be able to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi.


    Unusual people could do unusual things. There was no doubt about that.


    In Hidden Dragon Palace, some senior brothers in Lingtian Department had also bet on whether Zhang Tie could form Iron-Blood Battle Qi. As a result, the odds had declined from 1:3 a week ago to 1:2.7 now. However, those stewards in the Hidden Dragon Palace seemed to not about this. By contrast, the face of the girls in Zhixing Department started to be increasingly gloomy when the odds of Zhang Tie''s success were increased.


    In those girls'' eyes, Zhang Tie was not only narrow-minded, lecherous, and arrogant but also cunning and sinister. They thought that Zhang Tie being low-key before was to lure them into a trap. Soon after they were in the trap, Zhang Tie immediately showed his real strength.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about the girls'' opinions and glares at all. In his opinion, it was not the right moment to deal with the girls, not until he formed Iron-Blood Battle Qi. For a newbie, 90 gold coins could not be easily paid off, let alone interest.


    As he didn''t sleep last night, after dawn, Zhang Tie became a bit sleepy. However, soon after he returned to his own room and prepared to sit on the bed with his eyes closed, Zhang Tie heard knocks from the door.


    The knocks were very light, which only sounded, "duo...duo...".


    Zhang Tie opened the door and saw a girl rubbing her skirt corner and standing outside the door. This girl was Lv Shasha, the same one who was crying in the corridor of Zhixing Department that Zhang Tie had seen before.


    "What''s up?" Zhang Tie calmly asked as he was confused about the girl''s intention here.


    Lv Shasha was almost as old as him. She was a bit shorter, slightly fat while having breasts and bottoms that were sensual and appealing. She had a round delicate face, despite having a bit of baby fat. Besides being womanly, she was also naive, making her similar to Fiona''s taste and flavor. When he asked her, Zhang Tie started to glance at this girl. Her skin was even better than that of Fiona''s as it was white as snow. Although her breasts were a bit small, they also looked plump. The size must be a ''C'' cup, which could already match that of some mature Chinese women. With the shoulder-length hair, she looked more energetic and more shameful.


    Thinking of the little woman Fiona who was raising her snow-white butt in the air while on the bed and was f**ked so heavily by him that she even begged him to stop while wailing, Zhang Tie became slightly mind-absent.


    "I...I have something to negotiate with you." Lv Shasha bit her lip.


    "Negotiate what?" Zhang Tie''s eyes fell onto her butt, which was as plump as Fiona''s. "I wonder how it feels to f**k the butt." A thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "Can we...call off the bet...? Feeling Zhang Tie''s eyes unscrupulously glancing over her body, Lv Shasha''s face blushed as she said, "I...I don''t want to bet anymore!"


    "Cancel? It''s okay since we haven''t seen the result."


    "What...that''s great!" The girl was so happy that she almost jumped up from the ground with gleaming eyes.


    "The odds are now is 1:2.7. When we signed the agreement, the odds were 1:3. As your wager is 90 gold coins. If you want to call off the bet, you only need to pay me 9 gold coins."


    "Argh..." The girl''s smile suddenly froze while she looked at Zhang Tie with a pair of widening eyes, "How could that be? Why do I need to pay you?"


    Zhang Tie smiled as he crossed his arms and acted like dealing with an official business, "How couldn''t it be? Based on the odds 1: 2.7, if anyone wants to win 30 gold coins from me, one only need to pay 81 gold coins. While your wager is 90 golds coins as it is written on the agreement. If I sign the agreement with another instead of you, I have already made 9 gold coins due to changing odds. If you want to tear off the agreement, of course, you have to compensate for my loss!"


    "Nine gold coins..." Lv Shasha mumbled. It was definitely a huge amount of money for her. She could only make over 10 silver coins a day. Tears already filled her eyes. Therefore, she looked at Zhang Tie in a poor way, "Is there any alternative method?"


    "Any alternative method?" Zhang Tie rubbed his jaw as he considered. He then glanced over that girl and thought about how to tease her. To tell the truth, Zhang Tie really didn''t pay any attention to the gold coins at all. Especially when he noticed her poor look, Zhang Tie really didn''t feel like asking for gold coins from her at all. After a short while, Zhang Tie then came up with an idea to tease her.


    "Heh...heh..." Zhang Tie smiled like a douchebag, "Once you promise me one thing, I will not let you pay the 9 gold coins!"


    "What thing?" Under Zhang Tie''s gleaming eyes, the girl bashfully looked down.


    "Nothing serious, you just need to move your mouth to..."


    "Argh..." Before Zhang Tie finished talking, Lv Shasha had already exclaimed while covering her mouth with one hand and gazing at Zhang Tie with a fearful look. With a pale face, she moved several steps back, "No...no, I won''t promise you that. You douchebag, you lady-killer, bastard..."


    After saying this, Lv Shasha escaped like a flustered rabbit.


    Standing outside the door for quite awhile, Zhang Tie became dumbfounded about what she had done as he only wanted her to call him "good brother" twice. How could she be scared that way? She even cried. Was there any relation between that and a douchebag? To call him "good brother" was equal to that he was a lady-killer?


    Wait. When she moved back, she seemed to be fixing her eyes on his crotch. Zhang Tie then lowered his head and found a firm tent raising high there. His mummy had been so grim inside, which seemed to be the natural response when he thought of Fiona just now...


    "Damn!" Zhang Tie instantly understood why Lv Shasha was scared off. When a virgin lowered her head and watched his grim mummy, he told her¡ª¡ª"Nothing serious, you just need to move your mouth to..."


    "F*ck, I didn''t mean that. Listen to my explanation. Now, even if I had numerous mouths, I couldn''t explain!


    "F*ck!"


    "Girls are really sophisticated!"


    Zhang Tie became extremely depressed.


    ...


    In the next 2 months, no other "episodes" happened to Zhang Tie, nobody else came to disturb him either. Zhang Tie put all his efforts into cultivation. Each day it was like a gear for him as he was mechanically repeating the same thing between Iron Ore Beach and fish market on the wharf.


    Pick up navy-blue iron ores¡ª¡ªfree fish¡ª¡ªeating¡ª¡ªcultivation¡ª¡ªsleep¡ª¡ªpicking up navy-blue iron ores...


    Zhang Tie was single-minded. He didn''t know that his real strength had gradually improved through such boring exercises.


    Over the two months, Zhang Tie had gradually ignited 3 surge points on his spine was coming close to level 6. After he formed Iron-Blood Battle Qi, he would officially become a fighter.


    After setting free sand-scale fish for over two months, Zhang Tie''s cold-resistance and sensitivity to water flow had improved by 612%. During the same period, Zhang Tie had also eaten 5 iron-body fruits. He didn''t know exactly how his diving skills had been improved. One day, Zhang Tie wanted to see how deep could he dive near Iron Ore Beach; therefore, he kept diving. When he reached deeper than 300 m, he noticed several big words on a huge reef.


    ¡ª¡ªZhang Taixuan arrived here at 17!


    When he saw this line, Zhang Tie also became excited as he focused his Iron-Blood Untouchable Strength onto his finger and left a similar line beside it on the same reef.


    ¡ª¡ªHaha, Zhang Tie also arrived here at 16!>_>¡­v


    However, the first line of words were all unusually robust and beautiful; comparatively, Zhang Tie''s words were absolute chicken scratch.


    The previous words carved on the huge reef were pretty magnificent; however, after Zhang Tie scrawled down his words, all the magnificence on the huge reef was destroyed. Besides, Zhang Tie also drew a funny ''smile'' and a rustic ''v''. When the two lines of words were put together with Zhang Tie''s ''drawing'', it looked pretty weird.


    In the past two months, four people in the Zhixing Department had formed their battle qi and entered the Lingtian Department. At the same time, five more newbies entered Zhixing Department. On February 24, when Zhang Tie submitted the navy-blue iron ores in the Item Department, Zhang Tie knew that it was the right time for him to form his Iron-Blood Battle Qi.


    On that day, Zhang Tie had in total, submitted 317643 kg of navy-blue iron ores to the Hidden Dragon Palace. He not only had 300 gold coins but also had prepared to form his Iron-Blood Battle Qi. His mentality and physicality were at their best condition.


    Coming out of the Item Department, Zhang Tie came to the Middle Castle of Hidden Dragon Palace and left an oral message to his cousin Zhang Su by telling him that he had prepared to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi in the Dragon Cave.


    The Hidden Dragon Palace was built against the mountain. There were a few castles and adventurous locations. The Lingtian Department was behind the Middle Castle. As Zhang Tie was not qualified to enter the Middle Castle, he could only contact his cousin by leaving an oral message.


    At supper, Zhang Tie''s cousin Zhang Su truly appeared in the Zhixing Department.


    "You''ve reached level 6?"


    "Yes, I''ve ignited the eighth surge point a few days ago and reached level 6!"


    "Have you prepared enough money?"


    "I''ve prepared 300 gold coins!"


    "Great, that''s my brother, I will take you into the Dragon Cave tomorrow to form battle qi. You give me your 300 gold coins. I will show them to the two guys. After they saw your wager, the agreement between you and them would officially take effect. As long as you defeat them, they will have to pay you 900 gold coins!"


    "Fine."


    Zhang Tie returned to his own room and handed all the gold coins to Zhang Su. After negotiating


    the details on setting out tomorrow with Zhang Tie, Zhang Su took away the gold coins.


    Zhang Tie then returned to his residence. On the way, he encountered some girls. Lv Shasha was saying something with some other girls. Once they caught sight of Zhang Tie walking towards them, they all stopped talking; instead, they glared at him. Only Lv Shasha looked weak and dared not to look at Zhang Tie.


    In the past two months, Lv Shasha didn''t seem to have told other girls about that she had come to Zhang Tie. Neither had she revealed Zhang Tie''s weird request¡ª¡ªletting her "use her mouth" to...It was estimated that she felt to it too shameful to talk about. Thanks to this, Zhang Tie didn''t become notorious among the girls of Hidden Dragon Palace.


    Zhang Tie then slightly let out a sigh.


    However, since that day, each time Zhang Tie saw Lv Shasha, he would feel a weird sense between them as an ambiguous atmosphere existed between them.


    The moment Lv Shasha raised her head and glanced at Zhang Tie, she had already found Zhang Tie''s eyes stealthily fixing on her. Zhang Tie was even gazing at her small mouth. The moment they moved their eyes away, Lv Shasha''s heart had raced while her face blushed. She then dared not to look at Zhang Tie anymore.


    "This lady-killer, he wants me to do such a disgusting thing for him with my mouth. That''s bastard. However, this lady-killer is really great. He could pick up so many navy-blue iron ores alone. He even dares to face the challenge of forming Iron-Blood Battle Qi which was hardest to practice. Additionally, after a careful look at him, I find this lady-killer and douchebag is really handsome..." Some ideas flew by Lv Shasha''s mind. In the mind of the young lady, although Zhang Tie was dangerous, lecherous and disgusting, he was exceptionally attractive.


    At the sight of Lv Shasha''s bashful look, Zhang Tie felt very happy inside. He also had a special feeling about her. "That''s the joy of teasing young ladies. It really feels great making her face blush and her heart pound with only a glance." Zhang Tie thought.


    "What are you looking at? If you keep looking at me, I will dig out of your eyes!" Du Yuhan on the side of Lv Shasha ferociously waved her fist towards Zhang Tie.


    "I''ll give you some news. I''ll be going to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi tomorrow. I want to know whether you have prepared your gold coins. Don''t regret by then..." Crossing his arms, Zhang Tie "sneered".


    Hearing this news, all the girls'' faces slightly changed.


    "Humph, don''t be that arrogant; I don''t believe that you can form Iron-Blood Battle Qi!" A girl called Dong Yan said.


    "By now, actually I can tell you my secret." Zhang Tie lied in order to tease the girls.


    "What secret?" Zhang Wanjun could wait but ask. Although the other girls didn''t speak, they all looked very interested about it. Even Lv Shasha couldn''t help but raise her head and look at Zhang Tie out of curiosity.


    Zhang Tie then looked at Lv Shasha''s small mouth once again, scaring her so much that she instantly lowered her head again.


    "My secret is related to the Iron-Blood Fist that I''m practicing. I was struck by lightning bolts and suffered from the Post Lightning Strike Savant Syndrome. I know you haven''t heard of it. But it doesn''t matter. You only need to know that this syndrome could help me cultivate Iron-Blood Fist without any obstacles. So, go back and get the gold coins as soon as possible. Compound interest increase so fast...wa...ha...ha..."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s fake sneer, the girls'' faces turned slightly pale. After glaring at Zhang Tie''s pleasant look, Du Yuhan instantly turned her head, "Humph, let''s go..."


    The girls then walked by Zhang Tie. Seeing Lv Shasha moving close to him and rubbing his shoulder, Zhang Tie''s left fingers casually drew on Lv Shasha''s palm.


    Zhang Tie only felt the girl slightly quivering as her free-waving hand instantly shrunk back like touching a hot item. In a split second, Lv Shasha''s ears turned pretty red.


    "Hahahaha..." Zhang Tie burst out laughing loudly as he felt being like a douchebag playboy.


    Zhang Tie felt really happy to tease those cute girls when he was free.


    ...

 286 Dragon Cave

    Chapter 286: Dragon Cave


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    The famous Dragon Cave of Jinyun Country was at the center of Hidden Dragon Island. If one looked down from an airship, one would see the entrance of Dragon Cave was an underground cave that had an area of over 10 sq km.


    Although there were already various pieces of evidence that there was nothing beyond the stars before the Catastrophe, humans during that age were basically under the rule of demons who masqueraded as humans. In order to better manage the people, the ruling demons influenced them to focus on mutual destruction. Therefore, people were forbidden to be too curious and explore this world. The ruling demons fabricated various lies about the world to firmly constrain people''s thoughts and free will. Each person who entered school would be constantly brainwashed by all kinds of lies fabricated by the demons since they accepted education.


    Among the lies that were beneficial for demon''s rule, the most fundamental one was to answer a question that everybody was born with¡ª¡ªWhere are we? How''s the world that we''re in?


    For the galaxy and the world that humans were living in, the ruling demons wanted to describe it as an isolated island in the universe and a cage on the ground. It was a wasteland among the beautiful and vast stars where no other sentient beings existed except for humans.


    During the last several hundred years, this talk fabricated by demons firmly restrained people''s thoughts. During the same period, mutual killing amongst humans escalated. In this lie, every resource in this world was scarce. In order to strive for these scarce and limited resources, in order to survive, humans constrained to the world started killing each other.


    Among those lies was the basic composition of this world. The planet humans lived on was described as a large onion with a solid core and layers around it. Those layers were the crust and mantle with earth''s core inside. Deep underground was magma that prevented all life from existing.


    When the demons created these lies, they also started to use the huge resources that they controlled to stop those who didn''t believe this theory from exploring the depths of their world. They blocked all facts and truths that could reveal their lies.


    Based on the knowledge that Zhang Tie had learned at school, before the Catastrophe, many people had already realized the lies that demons fabricated about this world. Many people had already known that this world was actually not a large layered onion. Actually, the inside of this world was hollow. There were many independent and interconnected spaces inside this world. Even above the ground, there were many natural entrances that could lead to other worlds in their galaxy.


    These natural entrances spread across the world. But the largest entrances were near the north and south poles. Almost 100 years before the catastrophe, because of advancements in science and technology, many people had expensive private airborne means of travel¡ª¡ªplanes. By plane, some brave private explorers investigated the north and south poles of this world. They had already discovered the huge entrances to the underground world near the north and south poles. Looking down at them from the sky, they were so huge that they could not be covered at all.


    Not only these explorers, actually most of the countries that could launch artificial satellites during that age had already discovered this secret as they could easily capture images of these underground entrances when the satellites flew across the south and north polar points. However, because of various reasons, people who had discovered them kept it a secret.


    Not until the Catastrophe arrived, with the reversal of the magnetic poles of this world and its intense geological movements, many monsters and magical beasts poured out of the underground entrances did people know that there were many secrets hidden in their world.


    Since the first holy war between humans and demons, people started putting more effort into exploring the mysteries hidden beneath the world''s surface and the entrances leading to other worlds. Many more entrances then started to be discovered across the world From then on, the vast underground world started to gradually reveal its secrets to humans.


    The Dragon Cave on Hidden Dragon Island was also discovered as one of the entrances that led to the underground world after the first holy war. This entrance was actually a stream converging into the ocean. Although the entrance of the stream was here, nobody knew where it led to.


    During the several hundred years since the Dragon Cave was discovered, each day, many people were ventured in. Among them, most were warriors who were here to form battle qi while others were adventurers who were here to look for opportunities, historical relics, and treasures in the underground worlds.


    There were totally over 300,000 people in the 5 towns of Hidden Dragon Island, over 60% of them belonged to the above two kinds of people. They were all conceited and arrogant. Some had real strength, some had ambitions, and others had both. They came from all the human countries. Most of them were very experienced. Before they came to Hidden Dragon Island, they were not common figures. The lowest level among them would be like Zhang Tie who had just been promoted to level 6 and were preparing to form battle qi.


    There were all sorts of powerful and talented people on Hidden Dragon Island.


    With the exception of White Dragon Town which was close to the only wharf of the island, all the other 4 towns were located around Dragon Cave. Therefore, anyone willing to enter the Dragon Cave has to have permission from at least one of the four towns.


    Early the next morning, Zhang Tie''s cousin had brought Zhang Tie to Black Dragon Town.


    After being on the island for almost three months, this was Zhang Tie''s first time entering a town on the island. Previously, when he bought and set free fish every day, although he would pass by the mountainous path next to the White Dragon Town, Zhang Tie hadn''t ventured into White Dragon Town even once.


    Black Dragon Town was 10 times more prosperous than that in Zhang Tie had imagined. In the early morning, there were already so many people on the streets. On both sides of the street, there were all sorts of hotels, restaurants, and stores. It was so boisterous that Zhang Tie even doubted he was still in a town on the island.


    However, compared to cities, most people accessing the streets here were carrying weapons like sabers and swords. Most of their weapons were so weird that Zhang Tie hadn''t even seen them before. Besides people, there were no vehicles or any carriages on the streets.


    Most of them were Chinese with black hair and eyes, except for a few blond white men and black men. They were all going about their own business and felt nothing strange about the scene.


    On the Waii Sub-continent, Chinese and white people shared the human corridor. They established their own countries. Among those countries, white people who spoke Hebrew were mainly in the west and the north of human corridor while Chinese countries were mainly in the east and the south of the human corridor. After the first holy war, although there were still some wars and conflicts between countries and regions, as a whole, there was no animosity and opposition between human races. Besides, large-scale wars between allied nations had been forbidden.


    Being threatened by demons, human beings realized their first era spanning peace in history, which was definitely a large step forward.


    Watching some black tough men who were carrying terrifying zigzag sabers bargaining with the shop owners in fluent Chinese, Zhang Tie was really shocked as he ha never witnessed such a scene Blackhot City.


    ...


    "Bang..." With a loud sound, the glass window on the second floor of a hotel more than 10 m ahead of them was broken when Zhang Tie and Zhang Su were walking on a street of Black Dragon Street. At the same time, a person flew out of the window with a miserable cry and heavily fell onto the street. Seeing this, all the passers-by kept away from him.


    Less than 5 seconds after that person fell onto the ground, another person flew out of the same window with his butt coming out first and heavily fell on the ground.


    When the first person flew out of the glass window, Zhang Tie had already stopped. When the second person flew out, Zhang Tie saw that the latter one was kicked out of the window.


    Before the two people picked themselves up, a young man in the uniform of Hidden Dragon Palace had already walked out of the gate on the first floor while patting off dirt from his hands. He then came in front of the two people lying on the ground and lifted them up by seizing their necks like lifting two chickens.


    "You are only level 7 fighters, how dare you dine and dash on Hidden Dragon Island..." The youth sneered as he turned back to ask, "Lad, how much should they pay?"


    A 20-over agile lad had already run out of the gate of the hotel, "They consumed 2 gold coins and 36 silver coins worth of food. The expense of the broken windows, desks, and tables is 5 gold coins. They should pay 7 gold coins and 36 silver coins to the Treasure Gathering Building!"


    "Do you have the money?" The young man asked the two tough men who had been beaten fiercely and been lifted in his hands.


    "Yes, yes, we have..." A tough man pulled out of his money bag while gritting his mouth. Without even counting, he hurriedly threw the money bag to the lad. Taking the money bag, the lad counted 7 gold coins and 36 silver coins from it in the public before throwing it back.


    "Can...can we leave now?" The other tough man who had recovered a bit lowered his voice.


    "As you two dared to stir up trouble here on Hidden Dragon Island, although you''ve paid for your damages, you should still follow me..."


    "To...to where?" The tough man''s heart quivered as he asked.


    "According to the regulations of Huaiyuan Prefecture, besides compensating for their damages, all the trouble-makers here should perform hard labor for two weeks. Follow me, after doing hard labor in the quarry for two weeks, you will be free."


    "Ha, these two idiots really thought they could do whatever they want on Hidden Dragon Island..." A spectator on the roadside shook his head.


    "These douchebags are definitely country bumpkins who have stayed in small places for too long. As only level 7 fighters, they dared be that presumptuous? Damn, if they dare to stir up trouble in my place, this father will definitely pinch their eggs into pieces and spread some salt on it before letting them swallow it. F*ck, this daddy is a level 8 fighter, yet I still dared not be rampant when I came to Hidden Dragon Island a half year ago..." A grim tough man who was hefting a big saber cast a contemptuous glance at the two guys and fiercely spat a mouth of saliva onto the ground before walked away. Judging from his look, he must be a robber or a hero who occupied a mountain to be a king in the past.


    Seeing that the episode was over, the onlookers all left. They seemed to be used to such things.


    After hearing the onlookers'' discussions, the two people looked more depressed as they lowered their heads and were escorted away by the young man.


    ...


    "Brother Zhang..." When the young man was escorting the two tough men passed by Zhang Tie and Zhang Su, he caught sight of Zhang Su. Therefore, that young man hurriedly greeted Zhang Su with one clenched fist in another hand.


    "Liu Xu? Are you here on duty in Black Dragon Town today?"Zhang Tie''s cousin didn''t even glance over the two bad-luck guys being escorted; he only slightly nodded towards the young man.


    "Heh heh, I''ve got few family donation points left, so I come out to do some tasks..." The young man then moved his eyes onto Zhang Tie, "This must be your cousin?"


    "Yes, this is Zhang Tie, my cousin. I''m going to take him to form battle qi!"


    "Come on, junior brother, I''ve put 30 gold coins on you a couple of days ago. Hope you form Iron-Blood Battle Qi in 2 years..." That person then revealed a smile towards Zhang Tie to encourage him.


    "Thanks, senior brother, if you lose the bet, I will invite you to drink alcohol!" Zhang Tie also smiled as he said, "If you win, how about inviting me to drink alcohol?"


    "Hahahaha..." Liu Xi burst out laughing loudly. He felt that this junior brother was very interesting, "It''s a deal!"


    ...


    After departing from Liu Xi, Zhang Su kept talking about the warnings in Dragon Cave as he took Zhang Tie into a special medicament store in Black Dragon Town and bought 4 small vials of medicament for Zhang Tie at the cost of 4 gold coins.


    "What''s this, cousin?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "This is night viewing medicament. After arriving at Dragon Cave, you can drip this medicament into your eyes. It could grant you with night vision and help you move underground." Saying this, Zhang Su looked a bit bashful, "I should have sent you more, but my money has been borrowed by a friend to invest in a processing workshop in Green Dragon Town, so..."


    "So if we can''t make 2 gold coins in the underground world, we will suffer a loss..." Zhang Tie smiled as he continued his cousin''s words to make Zhang Su not that shameful. Whereas, with Zhang Su''s words, Zhang Tie understood more about the rules in Hidden Dragon Palace, "Cousin, do many cousins in the Breaking Heaven Department make money this way on the Island?"


    "Yes, when you enter the Breaking Heaven Department, you will know that it''s not that easy to live for free in the Palace!" Zhang Tie signed, "In order to make money, those in the Breaking Heaven Department will have to exert their own talents. Besides some tasks through which they could gain payment, some able men even invest in industries in the towns of Hidden Dragon Island. Look at the hotels and shops in Black Dragon Town, 80% of them were invested in by the forefathers who had practiced on Hidden Dragon Island before. After they left the Hidden Dragon Island, their invested industries could be taken over by their family members. Hidden Dragon Palace was not a Shangri-La where you could practice fighting skills while ignoring everything else. If one wants to mature, one has to learn to make money. This is a very important lesson for people the Breaking Heaven Department! Previously, when I was at home, I didn''t know how to make money at all. I only felt that I had lots of it. However, since I came here, I found out how hard it was for the forefathers to make money. It was really hard for our grandpas to develop such a great business..."


    Zhang Tie nodded as he had a deep empathy for it. Previously when his mom sold rice brew, the price of each bowl of rice brew was only several copper coins. His family members even felt it pitiful to eat it themselves. It was really hard to live if one didn''t know how to make money.


    After leaving Black Dragon Town, it only took them several minutes to reach Dragon Cave.


    Dragon Cave was in the cove of some mountains. When he stood on the hillside of Dragon Cave and looked at this huge underground abyss, the area of which was even more than that of a town, Zhang Tie was slightly shocked.


    A small amount of sunlight was cast into such the huge cave, enabling the entrance of the cave to be slightly visible. However, even during the day, the inside of the cave was a place where light couldn''t reach.


    Many people''s furious growls and some animals'' jarring cries seemed to drift from deep inside of the cave, making this huge pitch-black cave more terrifying.


    Zhang Su then brought out the night-viewing medicament and dripped a bit into his eyes. Zhang Tie then imitated from him. The moment the medicament entered his eyes, Zhang Tie had already felt an icy sense that was very comfortable. After squinting his eyes for a short amount of time, Zhang Tie opened his eyes and felt that whole world had changed. His vision of the surrounding scenes like looking through a layer of a yellow-green glass.


    "Don''t be surprised about it. That''s the effect of the night vision medicament. Let''s go inside. Those mutated huge black spiders are in the first layer of caves, which is over 1.5 km away from the entrance..."


    ...

 287 Mamma Mia

    Chapter 287: Mamma Mia


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    After heading deeper than 300 m, Zhang Tie found that the whole cave became dimmer. The night vision medicament started to work. What Zhang Tie saw was a faint yellowish-green world, in which, everything became very clear. This made Zhang Tie let out a sigh.


    Besides Zhang Tie and his cousin Zhang Su, there was a total of 20-30 people who entered the Dragon Cave together. The team lasted about 100 m. People who were familiar with each other would stay together while those who didn''t know each other would keep their distance and be cautious of those around them. Those people who were experienced with the underground world clearly knew that besides those terrifying magical beasts and monsters that could kill people, many would be killed by others due to various reasons each year. What was more gloomy and dangerous than this underground world was a person''s heart.


    As Zhang Su entered the Dragon Cave in the uniform of the Breaking Heaven Department of Hidden Dragon Palace, soon after he and Zhang Tie entered the underground cave, three other teams of people had already joined them.


    Hidden Dragon Palace was the law enforcer and peacekeeper of Hidden Dragon Island. During the past several hundred years, it had accumulated a very good reputation on the Island. Therefore, Zhang Su''s uniform made him a reliable symbol for those on Hidden Dragon Island.


    The cave was full of strange, jagged rocks. Stalactites could be seen everywhere. Some stalactites suspended from the top of the cave while others were erected from the ground. Besides footsteps, people could also hear the crisp sound of the water dripping from the top of the cave.


    It was the paradise of swallows within several hundred meters from the entrance. There were numerous swallows flying in the cave. When those swallows flew into the sky and covered the sunlight, the whole cave would become bit dimmer.


    When Zhang Tie noticed that there were many stands and ladders built of bamboo and ropes were located at critical positions on the walls, he became quite curious.


    "Cousin, what are those? How could anyone build these things here?"


    "Hoho, there are millions of golden swallows in various caves on the Island. Their nests are extremely expensive tonics, which are worth more than their weight in gold. When they need money, those in the Breaking Heaven Department would come here to dig out the nests of the golden swallows. When I entered the Breaking Heaven Department, I also needed money and came here to dig out the swallows'' nests. One day, I dropped from a height of 30 m and almost died!" Zhang Su sighed, "Previously, I used to eat golden swallow nests at home. I always felt that everything was so easy. However, not until I almost lost my life for one swallow''s nest did I know that nothing in this world was easy. When you enjoy it, someone is bleeding and perhaps even losing their life for you. Everything has a price. Why could you drink lotus congee with swallows'' nests in the morning while others have to dig swallows'' nests for you from dozens of meters high in a cave at the risk of their own lives? For what? Anyone who wanted to leave the Hidden Dragon Palace has to figure it out!"


    When Zhang Su talked with Zhang Tie, he didn''t lower his voice. Therefore, what Zhang Su said was not only heard by Zhang Tie, but also heard by those people who followed them in.


    "I''ve long heard about the good reputation of the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace. Hereditary clans are truly great!" After hearing Zhang Su''s words, a 40-odd-year old man who was walking along with Zhang Tie and Zhang Su sincerely praised.


    "Thanks, Hidden Dragon Island is the place where the Zhang clan''s apprentices have to cultivate. If we don''t endure hardships, how could it be called cultivation?" Zhang Su politely answered.


    "Fucheng, Tianlin, have you heard that? Even the apprentices of Zhang clan, the hereditary clan of Huaiyuan Palace would prioritize enduring hardships and dangers during cultivation. Our Lu clan''s apprentices have no qualification to be pleased with ourselves in the small Jun''an City as our clan is much weaker than the Zhang clan. You should not complain about hardships when you cultivate. After you form your battle qi and leave here, you have to tell what you have learned here with your juniors. Tell them how the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace trains their clan apprentices to make them feel shameful!" That middle-aged man warned two 20-odd-year old young men next to him in a solemn expression.


    "Yes, sir, uncle Qi!" The two 20-odd young men answered seriously.


    Hearing those words, the other people who walked together with Zhang Su and Zhang Tie also hurriedly nodded as what they heard just now was truly a good example to educate the young apprentices in their own clans. It was fortunate for the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace to gain such a great honor.


    Everybody nodded, except for a juvenile who looked younger than Zhang Su yet older than Zhang Tie who made a cold harrumph. He seemed to disagree. Hearing the young man''s cold harrumph, another middle-aged man who was walking together with him cast a stern gaze at him to make him quiet.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s cousin Zhang Su looked like he was unaffected by the honor or disgrace. He seemed not care about the others'' praise or that faint cold harrumph. However, Zhang Tie noticed a wisp of an ignorant smile flashing by his cousin''s mouth corner. Zhang Su didn''t even look back; instead, he directly ignored it.


    "Besides being kind to him and talking with him, this cousin is really proud!" Zhang Tie gradually understood his cousin''s personality.


    Zhang Su kept silent. In contrast, Zhang Tie was different, he started to chat with the others. When they noticed that Zhang Tie was from Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace and a member of Hidden Dragon Palace, they didn''t dare to freely talk with him before. However, when they chatted with Zhang Tie, they found that this juvenile was very humorous and honest. He neither placed himself above others nor made others embarrassed. They didn''t feel the usual sense of arrogance the elites from hereditary clans at all. After a short while, Zhang Tie became familiar with some of the young men.


    Zhang Su just listened to their talk on one side as he started to sigh over Zhang Tie''s talent. He hadn''t imagined that Zhang Tie could be so sociable. But after recalling the letter from home on Zhang Tie''s previous life, Zhang Su finally figured it out. As Zhang Tie was living in the secular world since he was young, he usually worked in the grocery store after school, so he must have come in contact with people from all walks of life. Of course, Zhang Tie was good at interacting with others.


    When they reached all the way to the underground, the scene in the cave also kept changing. Zhang Tie could see more and more lichens on the ground. At the same time, Zhang Tie could already smell the bloody flavor that drifted from ahead.


    When Zhang Tie had estimated that they had already traveled several miles underground, all of a sudden, an unexpected scene appeared before his eyes. A huge underground karst cave which was dozens of kilometers wide and several hundred meters high. The topography inside the karst cave was strange¡ª¡ªstones crisscrossed, while some huge lichens that Zhang Tie had never seen before grew amongst the stones. On the ground and among the surrounding massifs, there were various, weird caves of different sizes, making this place a strange maze.


    The jarring howls of monsters and growls of people could be heard often. There was also the appearance of all sorts of battle qi in the darkness in this huge underground space.


    Zhang Tie knew that they finally arrived at their destination. By then, they should also separate with each other.


    "Brother, if you come to Jun''an City in Jiangtang Prefecture, remember to visit us at the Lu clan. We will definitely invite you to eat all the yummy food across the Jun''an City!" Lu Fucheng patted Zhang Tie''s shoulders as he said.


    "It''s a shame that I can''t bet on you in the Hidden Dragon Palace. Otherwise, I would withdraw my entire 100 gold coins savings in the bank to encourage you!" Lu Tianlin laughed out generously, "It usually takes commoners about 1-2 months to gather common battle qi. Firstly, Soul Fire enters one''s body; secondly, one is washed by Soul Fire, seven strengths would combine into one to form battle qi. For some advanced battle qi, it requires anywhere from a few months to half a year for a person to form. As you have 2 years, don''t worry, the gods always help those who help themselves. As long as you work hard, you will definitely make it!"


    "Haha, thanks for your encouragement, brother Lu. When I arrive at Jun''an City, I will definitely come to Lujiabao for you!"


    "Fine, that''s a deal!"


    After separating with Zhang Tie and Zhang Su, Lu''s group firstly entered the huge underground space.


    "Brother, come on, if you are free, come to Iron Saber Gate to discuss fighting skills with us!"


    "Fine!"


    Another group separated with Zhang Tie and Zhang Su.


    Finally, the team that separated with Zhang Tie and Zhang Su was the one that contained the youth who had made a cold harrumph. Among them, an elder even cast two more glances at Zhang Tie before he left, seemingly wanting to keep Zhang Tie in mind.


    "Let''s go." Zhang Su headed for the other direction with Zhang Tie following behind.


    ...


    The major attacking parts of level 6 Hell-black spiders were the two pairs of sharp teeth in front of their mouth and the pair of forelimbs. However, their attack range was limited. What you had to watch out for was the webs spat out from their mouths. Once the webs stuck to your body, it would restrict your movement!" After entering the karst cave, Zhang Su told Zhang Tie how to deal with those Hell-black spiders.


    "What''s the effective range of its web?"


    "5-10 m. When it is going to spit out a web, its two pairs of teeth will completely open. Additionally, its abdomen will produce a sound of a "drumbeat". You can dodge its attack or keep your distance. Its two sides, abdomen and back were all weak points that can be attacked. Its weakest point is on its head. You can directly kill it by destroying its head!"


    ...


    Less than 10 minutes after they entered the underground space, Zhang Tie saw the first Hell-black spider. It was a huge terrifying spider that was taller than 2 m and bigger than an ox. When Zhang Su and Zhang Tie passed by a weird dark-red umbrella-shaped lichen zone, this spider suddenly jumped out of the foot of the plants and bit at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Su didn''t move. As it was his first time to see such a huge spider, Zhang Tie was so scared that he almost jumped up. When he realized that this ugly animal treated him as a target, Zhang Tie became furious.


    The longer pair of teeth of the Hell-black spider was almost as long as Zhang Tie''s arm. They were as wide as a javelin. Before the longer pair of teeth bit onto Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie had already firmly held them. With a sound of "kacha", he had broken them and torn them out of the Hell-black spider''s mouth. Along with its jarring, painful howl, Zhang Tie inserted the two teeth onto the huge spider''s head.


    The terrifying spider''s jarring sound immediately stopped.


    After being so scared that he even screamed by such a level 6 insect in front of his cousin, Zhang Tie really felt that he had lost face.


    "F*ck, who let you jump out and scare me, who let you jump out and scare me..." While swearing at it, Zhang Tie didn''t stay still. After turning its head into a bloody mess out of fury, Zhang Tie directly kicked it and sent the several hundred kilogram body flying into the air. The corpse of the spider then rolled over 10 m away with its legs pointing to the sky.


    After doing that, Zhang Tie even spat towards its corpse, "Pah...damn, who let you jump out to scare me; thankfully, I don''t have heart problems. If not, I''d have been scared to death by you instead of being bitten to death..."


    After killing the spider, Zhang Tie felt bashful as he smiled towards Zhang Su and scratched his head in an honest way, "Erm...As this is my first time to see such a huge spider, I was really scared by it, heh...heh...don''t laugh at me, cousin..."


    The corner of Zhang Su''s eyes slightly twitched as he was inwardly startled. "A level 6 hell black spider was beaten by Zhang Tie in the same manner he beat and killed chickens and dogs. What insane strength!"


    Zhang Su knew that Zhang Tie was abnormal, but he had never imagined that Zhang Tie was that abnormal. When the Hell-black spider jumped out of the plants to bite Zhang Tie, what Zhang Tie had performed in terms of speed, strength, and reflexes to catch that Hell-black spider was definitely akin to having experienced the same scene thousands of times. What mattered most was that at the critical moment, Zhang Tie could still act that easily. Only after experiencing numerous life and death situations could one gain such fast responsive instinct. Even for Zhang Su, he still could not deal with that Hell-black spider that easily and fluently as if drinking water.


    Zhang Tie''s strength was too terrifying. To tell the truth, Zhang Su hadn''t seen anyone who had just reached level 6 explode with such strength.


    After glancing at the corpse of the spider, Zhang Su took a deep breath, "Let''s go. It''s said that even the imperial households of Norman Empire had to spend half a month to one month to have Soul Fire enter their body when they were cultivating their Iron-Blood Battle Qi. After absorbing enough Soul Fire and combining seven strengths into one, one could finally form the unrivaled Iron-Blood Battle Qi!"


    "Cousin, what''s Soul Fire?" This was the weakness of poor cultural deposits. The common sense for many people was strange to Zhang Tie.


    "You don''t know what Soul Fire is?" Zhang Su was dumbfounded.


    Good god, nobody had talked about Soul Fire with him¡ª¡ªZhang Tie made a bitter smile. Zhang Tie had heard this term twice today. As he felt it shameful to ask outsiders, he couldn''t but ask Zhang Su.


    "The so-called Soul Fire refers to the fire of the souls of the underground monsters killed by you. They are stimulated by your killing intent. Soul Fire is a mysterious strength that resonates with your killing intent and invisible qi field. This strength can purify your seven common strengths and aid in converting them to battle qi. Usually, only those whose level and conditions have reached the critical point form battle qi are able to produce Soul Fire inside magical beasts after killing them..."


    "How does Soul Fire enter one''s body?" Zhang Tie kept asking like a curious child.


    "Soul Fire resonates with your killing intent and qi field. Therefore, it can automatically enter your body after being formed. This is called Soul Fire entering one''s body. Iron-Blood Battle Qi is very amazing and the last step is the most difficult to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi. Besides the imperial households of Norman Empire, almost nobody can form it. Even the imperial households of Norman Empire are hardly able to break through the last step. Additionally, not every dead magical beast can form Soul Fire. Iron-Blood Battle Qi requires too much Soul Fire, at least five times that of common battle qi..."


    Zhang Su walked as he explained. Only after walking a few steps forward, he had noticed that Zhang Tie suddenly stopped.


    "Cousin..."Zhang Tie''s voice faintly quivered, "Loo...look, what''s that?"


    Zhang Su turned back and was also dumbfounded by what he saw...


    Not far away, in the place where the corpse of the Hell-black spider lay, a firefly-like golden light started to gradually appear above its dead body. In a short period, the golden light had gathered and formed into a ball of golden light as large as a fist. Soon after, the ball of gold light started to burn like a wildfire. Of course, it wasn''t truly burning but had the appearance of doing so.


    The burning ball of golden light then swiftly flew towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Su tried to grab it with hand, yet it directly penetrated his palm like a zero-weight ball of air and a shadow and fell onto Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen and disappeared...


    No matter how surprised he was, how unimaginable what happened was, Zhang Su still had to admit that¡ª¡ªthe ball of golden light was true Soul Fire. Because only true Soul Fire could have such strange properties. As long as it was not far from the person who caused it to form, within several hundred meters, that ball of Soul Fire could always penetrate through all the obstacles and fly into the qi ocean of that person''s dantian elixir field[1]¡ª¡ªThis is Soul Fire entering one''s body.


    Golden Soul Fire can only be formed by the resonating of a few top grade battle qis with magical beasts in the entire Waii Sub-continent. Iron-Blood Battle Qi was one of them.


    Even though the imperial households of Norman Empire could not form Soul Fire after they killed the first Hell-black spider. How could his cousin...


    At this moment, Zhang Su was watching Zhang Tie like he had found gold.


    "¡ª¡ªMamma Mia, wife, come out to see God!" [2] A joke that originated from the age before the Catastrophe flashed across Zhang Su''s mind. Thankfully, he was not married. If he truly had a wife, Zhang Su would definitely shout out loudly.


    After taking a deep breath, Zhang Su still felt his heart racing. He constrained his pounding heart and asked Zhang Tie in a calm voice,"How do you feel now?"


    "I felt...felt a bit strange in my lower abdomen. But it soon disappeared!" Zhang Tie scratched his head as he said. Zhang Tie also saw how the Soul Fire penetrating through Zhang Su''s palm and felt it pretty marvelous.


    "That''s because you haven''t absorbed enough Soul Fire!" After taking another breath, Zhang Su stared at Zhang Tie in with an unprecedented look, "Do you know that you''ve broken a record today?"


    "Is it that difficult?" Zhang Tie dubiously stared at Zhang Su with a blank expression, "I don''t feel like I''ve done anything special! I just hastily killed a Hell-black spider..."


    Hastily killed? Zhang Su was so shocked much that he almost spat out blood. He decided to not discuss this with Zhang Tie anymore. If he kept discussing this, his self-esteem would collapse.


    ...


    "Argh, I just saw golden Soul Fire flying from here, was I imagining it? Where''s it now?"


    "I saw it too, is someone gathering battle qi here?"


    "Let''s take a look over there! Battle qis that can stimulate golden Soul Fire are all top grade battle qi. It''s rare to have the chance to see it. I''ve been in the Dragon Cave many times, but I''ve never seen golden Soul Fire! If we take a look we might learn something..."


    ...


    Hearing the voices not far from them, Zhang Su glanced at Zhang Tie, "If you don''t want to be surrounded by country bumpkins hurry up and leave here!"


    Saying this, Zhang Su paced up towards far, closely followed by Zhang Tie.


    "Cousin, why are we rushing?"


    "Golden Soul Fire is too obvious here. Since you can''t hide it, it''s better to display it in a more opening place. As you are from Hidden Dragon Palace, what you do represents the Zhang clan''s apprentices of Huaiyuan Palace. The news that a level 6 apprentice of Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace can easily gather golden Soul Fire will definitely shock other clans and make our clan more majestic..." Zhang Su explained.


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    In the next several minutes, they didn''t meet any Hell-black spiders.


    Zhang Su directly brought Zhang Tie into a huge canyon in the karst cave. In the canyon, there were already 200-300 people. What was more amazing was that Hell-black spiders constantly climbed out of the crevices and the abyss of the canyon...


    Guo Miaolu and some girls from Zhixing Department were also here...


    ...


    [1] Dantian elixir field refers to the pubic region of a person.


    [2] This joke is used to express one''s curiosity.

 288 Freak

    Chapter 288: Freak


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    After killing a Hell-black spider and gathering a green ball of Soul Fire, Guo Miaolu caught sight of some hell black spiders rushing towards her. She dared not to stay still; instead, she hurriedly ran upward from the foot of the canyon. When she arrived at a safer place, before this elder sister from Zhixing Department gasped twice, she had already noticed that Zhang Tie, the common enemy of the girls in Zhixing Department was standing not far from her and was watching the fight between human and spiders in the 100-m deep canyon.


    Last night, Guo Miaolu had already found out from other girls that Zhang Tie would go to the Dragon Cave to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi; however, she could never imagine she would see Zhang Tie here. This Dark Canyon was not like other places as it gathered most the Hell-black spiders and was much more dangerous than other places. Almost no newbie who had reached level 6 dared to gather battle qi here before being fully familiar with the fighting skills of these Hell-black spiders. The girls in Zhixing Department and the others had already fought the hell black spiders for over a month in other places. Many of them had already been able to feel Soul Fire entering their body. Therefore, they tried to challenge more Hell-black spiders in the Dark Canyon.


    "Not bad. Soul Fire already entered your body." Having just found what was Soul Fire entering one''s body, Zhang Tie instantly praised her like an experienced old man when he found Guo Miaolu was staring at him with enlarged eyes.


    Guo Miaolu then slightly frowned. After glancing at Zhang Su at Zhang Tie''s side, she immediately looked gloomy and asked in a bad mood, "What are you here for?"


    "There are so many Hell-black spiders here, I''m here to form my battle qi!" Zhang Tie said bluntly.


    "You are here to form battle qi?" Guo Miaolu became slightly dumbfounded, "You''re going to die. How dare you come here? You are new here! Do you know how many level 6 newbies have been killed in the Dark Canyon? Over 100. Yesterday, one more died here. With so many Hell -black spiders here, once you enter the canyon, you might lose your life while being ambushed by them!"


    "I didn''t think that Miaolu cared about me so much!" Zhang Tie gave a bashful smile.


    The moment Zhang Tie uttered her name, Guo Miaolu quivered all over, closely followed by a burning fury. With eyebrows raising up, she swore, "F*rt, I just don''t want you to die here while owing a debt to the girls of Zhixing Department!"


    "Trust me, I won''t die. Besides being disgusting, these insects don''t look like that sharp." Zhang Tie teased.


    Before Guo Miaolu was able to say anything else, Zhang Tie had already jumped down onto the bulging rocks on the walls as swift as a goat and arrived at the bottom of the Dark Canyon in a short while.


    "Senior brother!" Guo Miaolu looked at Zhang Su, "Is it...okay for Zhang Tie?" Although Zhang Tie was annoying, Guo Miaolu didn''t want to see him die here.


    "Don''t worry, he''ll be safe. He''s a freak!" Zhang Su shook his head while added inside, "Hope you''re not too shocked when you see for yourself."


    Looking at the shadow of Zhang Tie at the foot of the canyon, Guo Miaolu became slightly curious, "What''s his talent?" How could he make his cousin so reassured? He didn''t even take a weapon."


    There were huge bottomless seams on the ground of the Dark Canyon. It was bloody everywhere due to the bleeding corpses of the Hell-black spiders. Being stimulated by this bloody scene, more and more Hell-black spiders constantly climbed out of the seams. Zhang Tie saw these disgusting Hell-black spiders didn''t even spare their partner''s bodies. Once they found that their partners were killed, some hell black spiders would soon drag the dead bodies into hidden and gloomy places. Soon after that, Zhang Tie would hear terrifying chewing sounds from there.


    In comparison to Zhang Tie, the other people in the canyon were all in groups of 2-3. For many level 6 newbies who had not formed their battle qi, their partners could help them out while being attacked by a group of Hell-black spiders.


    Of course, some people who had greater fighting skills could take advantage of the topography in the canyon to deal with the Hell-black spiders. As a result, those dead hell black spiders would produce colorful Soul Fire, which would then automatically float towards those people who killed the spiders.


    "Haha...I got one more Soul Fire!"


    Along with the growls of people were exclamations which could be heard every so often.


    Zhang Tie took a careful look around and found that most Soul Fires were grey and white; with a few of them being green, cyan, faint blue and red. According to his cousin, these Soul Fires came from resonance between the mysterious energy from the spiders and each person. Different colors represented different ranks and kinds of battle qi.


    What a marvelous thing!


    As they were all busy fighting Hell-black spiders, nobody paid attention to Zhang Tie. With the exception of Guo Miaolu, the other boys and girls from Zhixing Department didn''t know that Zhang Tie was there yet.


    The first Hell-black spider had already appeared in front of Zhang Tie less than one minute after Zhang Tie arrived at the foot of the canyon. Seeing that spider piercing its sharp forelimbs towards him, Zhang Tie instantly hacked towards its forelimbs using "Sword-like Palm", which was one of the free movements of Iron-Blood Fist Skill.


    The forelimbs of Hell-black spiders collided with Zhang Tie''s "Sword-like Palm...


    Zhang Tie then cleanly cut off a forelimb of the Hell-black spider as if he had used a kitchen knife to slice bean curd. The moment the spider lost its balance and tilted towards him, Zhang Tie had kicked on the bottom of its head. After exploding his Iron-Blood Untouchable Strength, he instantly shocked its brain into a mess.


    The fight ended in 2 seconds.


    After killing this Hell-black spider, Zhang Tie continued to move forward. Soon after that, three hell black spiders appeared in front of Zhang Tie, one in the front, two in the back. This time, Zhang Tie suddenly paced up and surged forward before they attacked him, "Bang" "Bang" "Bang", with three sounds, their brains flew a second later...


    Zhang Tie kept going.


    Standing on top of the Dark Canyon, Guo Miaolu was shocked by Zhang Tie''s swift movements. Those Hell-black spiders which frightened all the newbies didn''t have the ability to even respond to Zhang Tie. However, she didn''t know that Zhang Tie had already been able to kill those level 6 military officers of Sun Dynasty who had formed battle qi like chopping melons and vegetables when he was only level 4, let alone these hell black spiders which were used to form battle qi.


    Guo Miaolu was really surprised by Zhang Tie''s movements. However, she had never imagined that there were more surprises to come. When he swiftly killed the fifth Hell-black spider, a golden light had already started to gather from the corpses of the previous spiders. They became balls of golden Soul Fire and floated towards Zhang Tie.


    In that pitch-dark valley, the golden Soul Fires were unique as they were as dazzling as sunlight.


    "Golden...Soul Fire? That must be an illusion!" Guo Miaolu rubbed her eyes as she didn''t believe what happened at the foot of the canyon...


    When the first ball of Soul Fire entered his body, Zhang Tie had already killed six Hell-black spiders. When the second ball of Soul Fire entered his body, Zhang Tie had already killed eight spiders while the third ball of Soul Fire entered his body, Zhang Tie had already killed 11 spiders.


    Obviously, Zhang Tie killed those Hell-black spiders faster than the Soul Fires could form. Later, the scene was as follows¡ª¡ªWhen Zhang Tie was swiftly eliminating the Hell-black spiders which were rushing towards him, the golden balls of Soul Fire started to gather, rise and float towards Zhang Tie like golden comets. As a result, the gloomy canyon was filled with brilliant golden flying lights of different lengths.


    Standing at the top of the canyon and watching those traces of golden light constantly flying towards Zhang Tie, Guo Miaolu suddenly felt they were exceptionally beautiful. She felt the golden lights were as beautiful as the feathers on the tail of the legendary phoenix...


    Guo Miaolu was confused about how such a mean, lecherous, greedy and sinister guy could create such a beautiful and shocking scene. Compared to the constantly rising Soul Fire behind Zhang Tie, all the other sparse Soul Fires behind other people became ornaments.


    Gradually, Zhang Tie arouse the public''s attention as more and more people in the canyon started to pay attention to him. After noticing the increasing number of golden Soul Fire behind Zhang Tie, the others all became dumbfounded. "Who''s that guy? How can he gather golden Soul Fire? That only belongs to top grade battle qis!"


    ...


    When more and more golden Soul Fire automatically flew into Zhang Tie''s dantian elixir field, Zhang Tie had already entered a wonderful state. He felt the Iron-Blood Untouchable Strength in his body had slowly changed in a strange way after integrating with the Soul Fire.


    Being immersed in fighting Hell-black spiders, Zhang Tie completely forgot time...


    Not knowing how long had passed, with a sound of "Paka...", Zhang Tie seemed to hear the sound of breaking eggs. At the same time, the golden swirl of spiritual energy in Zhang Tie''s mind exploded, followed by a widespread golden brilliance. It started to completely integrate with the exceptional strength in his body. A wholly new strength then started to rise from the inside of Zhang Tie''s body. Like a lion that suddenly broke out of its cage, he entered a new realm.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie felt that each of his cells was filled with a huge strength.


    Zhang Tie started to radiate a Soul Fire-like blurry shadow. An obscure, huge Hell-black spider started to grow bigger and clearer behind Zhang Tie which gradually turned into a real totem of a grim golden spider of 30-40 m in height. Behind this terrifying golden spider totem, bloody waves rolled in like banners...


    ...


    In the Dark Canyon, at the sight of that huge golden totem and the rolling banner-like bloody waves behind him, that "cold-harrumph" youth who came here together with Zhang Tie and Zhang Su had completely changed his face as he mumbled, "Iron-Blood Battle Qi...Bloody Banners...Iron-Blood Battle Qi...Bloody Banners, that''s not possible, that''s not possible..."


    At this time, the "cold-harrumph" youth was also attempting to form his battle qi. However, compared to that 30-40 m oppressive totem behind Zhang Tie, the battle qi totem of that "cold-harrumph" youth was only 2-3 m in height. In front of Zhang Tie''s battle qi totem, it was as funny as a toy at the foot of the giant...


    "Sister Fu", "Junior brother Yu", "Junior brother Feng", "Senior brother An" and "Senior sister Fang" who came to Hidden Dragon Island together with Zhang Tie on the same passenger liner were also in the Dark Canyon. As they were 4-5 km away from Zhang Tie, they didn''t see the shocking image when the golden Soul Fire entered Zhang Tie''s body. However, at this moment, when that terrifying huge battle qi totem behind Zhang Tie appeared, the five people naturally noticed it.


    "Senior sister Fang, what...what''s that?" Junior brother Feng pointed at the battle qi totem behind Zhang Tie and stammered.


    "It looks like the battle qi totem of Iron-Blood Battle Qi, Bloody Banner...but how could it be that huge, that terrifying. Is there any from the imperial household of Norman Empire forming battle-qi?" Seeing that unprecedented battle qi totem, senior sister Fang became stunned for quite awhile before replied in an unimaginable look.


    "Let''s go have a look..." Senior brother An responded as he too was excited. Therefore he suggested taking a look there to see who was forming such a terrifying battle qi totem to broaden their horizons.


    The moment senior brother An finished, they then started to run towards where Zhang Tie''s location.


    Only after running several hundred meters, a thunder-like long wail had drifted from the place where the huge battle qi totem rose. Being affected, all the Hell-black spiders close to the howl started to wail as they lay on the ground like shaking lambs waiting to be slaughtered. At the same time, all the other Hell-black spiders hurriedly retreated into the seams...


    The whole Dark Canyon then became quiet.


    This was a side effect and the most remarkable symbol and name card of all the top battle qi¡ª¡ªtotem shock! Those who could form these top battle qi were naturally threatening to those magical beasts and monsters that appeared on the battle qi totems. At this moment, Zhang Tie''s long howl was due to the energy contained the totem shock of Iron-Blood Battle Qi.


    ...


    "F*ck!" Even always being calm, Zhang Tie''s cousin Zhang Su still couldn''t help but swear...


    All the people in the entire Dark Canyon started to run towards Zhang Tie. Looking at this boy who walked through those shaking Hell-black spiders towards her, Guo Miaolu almost couldn''t connect this man with that guy in her mind.


    The terrifying battle qi totem behind this person was as majestic as that of a God, which covered the entire Dark Canyon. However, in her memory, that bastard was a miser and lady-killer who didn''t even spare 1 silver coin to support the girls'' business. There was a great contrast...


    "Am I dreaming?" Guo Miaolu couldn''t help but ask herself...


    "Ha...ha...Junior sister Miaolu, you have to call me senior brother from today on. Don''t forget about our bet! You owe me 90 gold coins now. Erm. I''m always generous. Let''s start calculating its interest from tomorrow!" Zhang Tie walked towards her with a smile!


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Su''s eye corner twitched once again, while Guo Miaolu started to grind her teeth. "I''m not dreaming! That''s the douchebag..."

 289 Entering the Breaking Heaven Departmen

    Chapter 289: Entering the Breaking Heaven Department


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    If you don''t enter the Breaking Heaven Department, you can''t say that you''ve cultivated in Hidden Dragon Palace¡ª¡ªThis was what Zhang Su told Zhang Tie when they left Dragon Cave last night.


    After coming back yesterday, Zhang Tie couldn''t clearly remember the chaotic scene at supper anymore. When he appeared in the canteen last night, all the boys and girls who knew that Zhang Tie had formed Iron-Blood Battle Qi in one day had become dumbfounded. What made it more chaotic were the many senior brothers who rushed in from the Breaking Heaven Department as they were exclaiming loudly ¡ª¡ª "Where''s Zhang Tie? Where''s the Zhang Tie who formed Iron-Blood Battle Qi with a battle qi totem as high as dozens of meters in one day? Where''s the Zhang Tie who shocked the entire Hidden Dragon Island?"


    When so many people poured into the Zhixing Department, it instantly became as noisy as a vegetable market. However, this was not the end. Closely after, there was another group of guys from the Breaking Heaven Department who rushed down the mountain. The latter ones shouted loudly¡ª¡ª "Where''s Zhang Tie? Where''s that liar? How could he form Iron-Blood Battle Qi in one day? Is he trying to cheat us out of our money? No way! We have to confirm it..."


    To end this farce, Zhang Tie released his battle qi totem in the Zhixing Department¡ª¡ªBloody Banner once again!


    When the huge spider of the horrific battle qi totem that was 40-50 m tall emerged which was over 10 times larger than that of common battle qi totems appeared behind Zhang Tie, it covered the entire Zhixing Department and the whole world seemed to stand still...


    Everybody then raised their heads and watched the battle qi totem behind Zhang Tie with obsessed, admiring, envious, fearful, shocked, and confused expressions¡ª¡ªDamn, what a freak!


    Although being suspected of showing off, Zhang Tie found it was beneficial to his physical and mental health by doing this occasionally, especially when he looked at the girls'' expressions, Zhang Tie felt pretty comfortable inside. "Guess how this senior brother will deal with you little girls..."


    This was the last night that Zhang Tie slept in the Zhixing Department.


    The next morning, although being only a short distance from the Breaking Heaven Department, as Zhang Tie''s friends in Zhixing Department, Zhang Keliang, Wei Wu and the other guys still insisted on accompanying Zhang Tie there.


    "If we knew that you''d have done it so easily, we would have put more gold coins as the wager!" When they bid farewell to Zhang Tie, Wei Wu said regretfully, "Who could have imagined that you were such a freak! How could you form Iron-Blood Battle Qi as easily as drinking water!"


    "I really want to know, how much did you put on me?" Zhang Tie asked Zhang Keliang.


    "I put 28 gold coins. Yunfei put 2 gold coins and 36 silver coins. Hongsheng put 13 gold coins and 79 silver coins. Wei Wu only put 11 gold coins, hahaha..." Zhang Keliang laughed heartily. After winning money, everybody became very happy.


    Hearing those words, Zhang Tie didn''t say anything, but he felt a bit moved. After staying with them for several months, of course, Zhang Tie knew that this time, Zhang Keliang, Zhang Yunfei and Zhang Hongsheng had used all their savings to support him. Although being a bit slippery, Wei Wu could only put 13 or 14 gold coins by then. Thinking of how his brothers picked up navy-blue iron ores in the ocean together with him and their sincere support, Zhang Tie felt warm inside.


    Zhang Tie didn''t say nothing; instead, he just tightly embraced them, "I''m waiting for you in the Breaking Heaven Department!"


    "I will reach level 6 in two months. Then I will go form battle qi..." Zhang Keliang smiled, "Hongsheng and Xiaowu are still level 5, Yunfei will soon be level 5 too. We will soon meet each other in the Breaking Heaven Department!"


    "After entering the Breaking Heaven Department, I''ve already got a plan to help us make a lot of money. I''m sure that we''ll have enough money every day without having to do hard work anymore..." Wei Wu stealthily said.


    "Wuh, what''s that?" Zhang Yunfei asked out of curiosity. Even Zhang Tie moved his eyes onto Wei Wu. "This guy always has eccentric ideas. He might really have a way to make money in the Breaking Heaven Department." After hearing Zhang Su''s introduction about Breaking Heaven Department last night, Zhang Tie had already considered how to make money.


    "This is a very simple plan. We can rent a big tent like that of a circus that could hold several hundred people. The ticket price is 10 silver coins a person. Only by performing three times a day will we earn enough money!"


    "You want to perform? If you were there, I''m afraid that you have to reduce the ticket price to 1 copper coin!" Zhang Hongsheng mocked him aside.


    "Of course not me, heh..heh...who has ever seen the battle qi totem of Iron-Blood Battle Qi of 40-50 m in height? Once we drag Zhang Tie out and parade him around in a circle while releasing his battle qi totem to broaden the crowd''s horizons, would the people on Hidden Dragon Island care about 10 silver coins? No matter what, if it was me, I would definitely pay to have a look. This is would definitely be a travel program on Hidden Dragon Island..." Wei Wu giggled, "Last night, I even thought about advertisements. Cough... dear elders and brethren, as you pass by, don''t miss it. You only need to pay 10 silver coins, with only 10 silver coins, you will see a battle qi totem 40-50 m in height of the top grade Iron-Blood Battle Qi up close. Come on and have a look..."


    Watching Wei Wu''s hilarious performance, Zhang Tie pretended to kick his butts while Wei Wu smirked and jumped off. In this way, they departed from each other.


    Watching the shadows of his friends, Zhang Tie really started to consider the feasibility of Wei Wu''s joke. He then revealed a smile and shook his head. If he would really do this, Zhang Tie was sure that in a short while, he would definitely be killed by the assassins dispatched by Norman Empire¡ª¡ªif one dared to take the secret knowledge of Norman Empire''s imperial household as a joke, he must want to die.


    After taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie turned and walked towards the Middle Castle of Hidden Dragon Palace.


    The Middle Castle of Hidden Dragon Palace was in the middle of the mountain. The whole castle was over 70 m high and was completely composed of hard black steel rocks. It was much larger than the Lower Castle. The Middle Castle looked more magnificent than Wild Wolf Castle. It was the entrance to the Breaking Heaven Department. Only after entering Middle Castle could he make it to his destination. Standing at the gate of the Middle Castle, Zhang Tie raised his head and looked at various powerful defense facilities that faintly revealed a grim killing intent.


    Previously, Zhang Tie was not even qualified to enter the Middle Castle. Now, Zhang Tie finally gained this qualification. After taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie lifted his luggage and walked towards the gate of this huge castle.


    After arriving at the gate of the Middle Castle, under the gaze of two rows of fully-armored soldiers, Zhang Tie pulled out of his clan plate and inserted it into a card slot in a one person high metal machine as was told by his cousin Zhang Su. After doing that, Zhang Tie heard the sound of moving gears drifting from the inside the machine. Only after several seconds was Zhang Tie''s clan plate spat out of the machine. At the same time, an iron gate that held access to the inside of Middle Castle also automatically open. After that, the two rows of fully-armored soldiers moved their eyes away from Zhang Tie.


    Ever since he was born, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to contact such a hi-tech machine. According to Zhang Su, Middle Castle was not only the entrance to the Breaking Heaven Department but also to the management point. Under the ground of Middle Castle, there was a steam-driven machine that could identify the special metal grains on the clan plates of Zhang Tie''s family. Once Zhang Tie gained access to the Breaking Heaven Department, the gate of Middle Castle would be open for him.


    After entering the Castle, what Zhang Tie first saw was a magnificent hall, in which, there was a counter while some youths in the uniform of the Breaking Heaven Department were queuing up. Having been told what to do by Zhang Su, Zhang Tie instantly joined them. Behind the counter were some scholars in rigorous uniforms.


    Some in front of Zhang Tie were submitting gold coins over the counter while the others passed their paper tapes over the counter. Along with the gold coins and the paper tapes, were their clan plates. After receiving the gold coins and the paper tapes, the people behind the counter took a serious look at them before inserting each clan plate into a huge machine with more operating buttons and sophisticated keys which was similar to the machine outside the gate. After that, they pressed the buttons and the drawbars to withdraw the clan plate out of the machine.


    "Ouyang Guang has submitted 30 gold coins as the monthly payment for March in the Breaking Heaven Department..."


    ...


    "Zhang Zhenyue has submitted 30 gold coins as the monthly payment for March in Breaking Heaven Department..."


    ...


    "Zhang Wei has finished clan task No. Z125 and gained 120 clan contribution points..."


    ...


    "Qi Fei has submitted 30 gold coins as the monthly payment for March in Breaking Heaven Department..."


    ...


    "Zhang Guowei has finished clan task No. T14 and gained 50 clan contribution points."


    The person in front of Zhang Tie who looked 2 years older was Zhang Guowei. After confirming that he had gained 50 clan contribution points, Zhang Tie heard him let out a sigh, "Can you check how many clan contribution points I have now please..."


    After this person asked, Zhang Tie had noticed the people''s movements behind the counter. After hearing Zhang Guowei''s request, the people who operated that weird machine just pulled down a drawbar on that machine to run some gears. After that, a series of numbers showed up from an odometer-like visible window on the side of that person.


    Of course, this machine was not a steam-based machine. Instead, it was a machine application terminal that was connected to the steam-based machine. Zhang Su said the steam-based machine that was underground was about three floors tall. With a steam turbine as the driving force, the perimeter of those gears in the machine, after being connected could circle around the Hidden Dragon Island several times.


    "Along with the 50 clan contribution points by finishing this clan task, you have 176 clan donation points in total. Anything else do you want to know?"


    "No, thanks!" Feeling a bit agonized, that one called Zhang Guowei shook his head.


    After returning the clan plate from the machine, that operator gave it back to Zhang Guowei. When he left, Zhang Tie heard him mumbling while looking at the ceiling, "Alas, I still need 24 clan contribution points to learn Iron Elephant Skill..."


    After he left, it was Zhang Tie''s turn...


    ...

 290 Dreaming of Becoming an Alchemis

    Chapter 290: Dreaming of Becoming an Alchemist


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    When he came to the front of the counter, Zhang Tie handed in his clan plate and the 360 gold coins that he had long prepared.


    "If you have enough money, you''d better hand in 1 year''s worth of expenses in advance."


    This was what Zhang Tie''s cousin suggested to him when he handed Zhang Tie''s principal of 300 gold coins and the 900 gold coins from Zhang Haige to him.


    It was said that Zhang Haige and his cousin really suffered a great loss this time. They lost both face and money. After paying the wager, the two people went out to do tasks for money on the same day. What poor brothers.


    Because of this, Zhang Tie carried over 1200 gold coins at this moment. Plus with the debts from the girls in Zhixing Department, Zhang Tie was definitely the richest newbie in Breaking-Heavens Department now.


    "I''m new here, today I want to make 1 year''s worth of payment in advance..."


    "Are you Zhang Tie?" That old scholar behind the counter took Zhang Tie''s item as he lowered his head down, lowered his glasses and took a serious look at Zhang Tie.


    After what happened yesterday, Zhang Tie knew that he was not a trivial person in Hidden Dragon Palace any more. Many people should have heard about Zhang Tie. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not startled by that old scholar''s response. Instead, he just calmly nodded.


    "Wait a moment, I have to check the source of this money since you entered the Hidden Dragon Palace!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as that old scholar stood up from behind the counter and moved into another room that Zhang Tie could not see. After 1 minute, he returned.


    Zhang Tie thought that the managers of Hidden Dragon Palace could easily find the source of a large amount of money from certain students based on their acknowledgement about the intelligence of clan apprentices. If they could not even figure out whether their students were carrying illegal money in, the Hidden Dragon Palace would lose face.


    "The source of your money is legal. 1 year''s payment in advance, are you sure..."


    "I''m sure!"


    "Fine!" After counting the gold coins, the man inserted the clan plate into the slot of that machine and made some operations.


    "Zhang Tie, submit a year''s payment, 360 gold coins..." The old scholar returned the status plate and 2 keys to Zhang Tie, "Your room is No. 7, the room headed by Xuan in Songtao Pavilion. Here are the keys for Songtao Pavilion and your room!"


    "Thanks!" Zhang Tie took these items and glanced at that machine out of curiosity, "I wonder if I could ask, since you don''t give me a receipt after I''ve paid 360 gold coins, what do I do if you dispute me later on?"


    The moment he heard Zhang Tie''s words, the old scholar widened his eyes and glared at Zhang Tie, "Dispute you? Unless Hidden Dragon Palace was broken into by force and the difference machine system in the Middle Castle was completely destroyed, your information in the database of the difference machine in Hidden Dragon Palace would never be mistaken, don''t you know?" Saying this, the old scholar turned his head and loudly shouted to the other staff members in the room behind the counter, "Listen, the brat is doubting our machine saying it could make a mistake, what the f*ck..."


    In a split second, all the other old guys wearing oversleeves in the room started to glare at Zhang Tie just like some pious believers whose religion had just been insulted.


    Noticing that he''d stirred up big trouble, Zhang Tie hurriedly apologized and escaped.


    After leaving the Middle Castle from the back door, Zhang Tie had officially entered the Lingtian Department. Not until he entered did Zhang Tie realize the magnificence of this place which was set off by the mountain scenery. Compared to the Breaking-Heavens Department, that courtyard of Zhixing Department was more like a preschool and kindergarten.


    The Breaking-Heavens Department occupied a wide area of valley and woods in the hillside. The architectural style combined both Chinese and western features. Zhang Tie could see pavilions, terraces and open halls everywhere. It was like a palace here. Twisting corridors and raised eaves spread over the terrain. There was a waterfall among the mountains, forming a silver, heavenly waterfall in the Breaking-Heavens Department. Gurgling water could be seen everywhere in the courtyard while fish were swimming leisurely in the water. Exotic flowers and grasses were evergreen all year round. It was really Zhang Tie''s first time seeing such beautiful scenery.


    After looking around, Zhang Tie realized that the scale of Breaking-Heavens Department was only a bit smaller than those towns on the Hidden Dragon Island.


    Being different from Zhixing Department where it was quiet in the daytime, the Breaking-Heavens Department was full of people and pretty vigorous. Under the heavenly waterfall, a large number of people were practicing swordsmanship. On the top of a cliff, many people were sitting there with legs crossed and were practicing breathing skills. In contrast, a lot of people were reading books and talking by the sides of the stream and in the pavilions.


    Everyone here was busy doing something, except for someone who was walking fast on their way.


    Because the residential area of Breaking-Heavens Department was centralized, Zhang Tie could easily find the Songtao Pavilion. It was a huge traditional Chinese building of five floors being close to a pinewood forest.


    After entering the Songtao Pavilion using the key, Zhang Tie found that each floor of Songtao Pavilion had 8 rooms, each of which occupied a corner of the pavilion. The No. 7 room headed by Xuan was on the 4th floor of Songtao Pavilion, which faced southwest. On that early morning, Zhang Tie didn''t meet anybody in the Songtao Pavilion before he arrived in front of his room. He thought they all must have gone out.


    After opening the door, Zhang Tie put down his luggage as he finally let out a sigh. 1 gold coin a day, with the exception of the hard, wooden board bed, which remained the toughest feature of Hidden Dragon Palace, the other things were much better than that in Zhixing Department.


    Besides the bedroom, there was also a toilet, a study room, a metal processing workshop and a cultivation room that faced directly towards the balcony. There were some thick crystal pillars at the corners of the room, each of which weighed heavier than 10 kg. Once he entered the room, being influenced by the powerful qi field of the "crystal generator", Zhang Tie had already felt his battle qi becoming a bit flexible and energetic.


    Only after spending several minutes roughly arranging his luggage, did Zhang Tie leave the Songtao Pavilion.


    Over 10 minutes later, Zhang Tie finally found the right place after asking many people along the way here.


    This was a small building, which was located in the pinewood forest. It looked pretty trivial among the numerous tall and magnificent buildings in the Breaking-Heavens Department. In front of the small building, there was a horizontal board, on which was written¡ª¡ª"Juveniles should have breaking-heaven ambitions!"


    When Zhang Tie arrived here, there was a juvenile who had just walked out of the small building full of ambitions. Outside the small building, that juvenile made a big bow towards it before he left.


    It was a great person who lived in the Breaking-Heavens Department. Zhang Su''s cousin called this man the Bamboo Woods Man. Each person who was new here in the Breaking-Heavens Department should visit the Bamboo Woods Man before officially starting their lives in the Breaking-Heavens Department.


    There was a strange rule for visiting the Bamboo Woods Man. It was free for all the newbies who came to visit him the first time. However, they had to pay him 100 gold coins and 100 clan donation points for the second time, then 1000 gold coins and 1000 clan donation points for the 3rd time. Everybody could only visit him 3 times in total.


    As Zhang Tie was new here today, it was free.


    Zhang Su told Zhang Tie that each person who came to visit the Bamboo Woods Man would have a great achievement. Therefore, he emphasized that Zhang Tie had to respect him.


    Zhang Su also let Zhang Tie carefully consider his ambitions and suggested that Zhang Tie don''t go to visit the Bamboo Woods Man before figuring out what he wanted to do and what person he wanted to be, in case he wasted the first chance.


    Of course, Zhang Tie wouldn''t waste this chance. His cousin''s suggestion was acceptable, but Zhang Tie had long found the orientation of his soul and the target he dreamed of for in the rest of his life.


    With a very dubious attitude, Zhang Tie arranged his clothes outside the small building and cleaned the mud on his shoes before he entered the small building.


    An old man with an infant-like red and smooth face and white-snow hair was inclining his body against a soft bed on one side of a desk. The moment he saw Zhang Tie, he mumbled, which really stunned Zhang Tie.


    "Another nuisance surnamed Zhang, alas..."


    "Sorry to trouble you!" According to his cousin''s directions, Zhang Tie smiled as he bowed towards the Bamboo Woods Man before standing in front of the desk with hands crossed modestly.


    After glancing at Zhang Tie, the Bamboo Woods Man closed his eyes for quite a while. When he opened his eyes, he let out another sigh, "The path for you is too difficult. I''m afraid that nobody in Hidden Dragon Palace and Zhang clan can help you, even though they are powerful in this region!"


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced, thinking, ''I''ve not even opened my mouth, how could he know that? That''s impossible! I''ve not mentioned my ambition to anyone else. Nobody could know.''


    "The 2 most exclusive top ancestral blood lines had been awakened in the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace. Any of the two blood lines could lead to rune manufacturing, which was also the top profession among human beings. Most of the Zhang apprentices who come to Hidden Dragon Palace desire to be rune manufactures. The professional rune manufacturers from Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace could rank first in the entire Waii Sub-Continent. Do you know how many people in the entire Waii Sub-Continent want to learn how to manufacture rune products? However, you..." tilting against the soft bed, the Bamboo Woods Man glanced at Zhang Tie with a bitter smile, "As a direct descendant of the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace, you obviously meet the top requirements needed to be a rune manufacturer, which the others could never dream of, how could you dream of becoming an alchemist? I don''t know whether to swear at you for your stupidity or praise you for being ambitious?"


    Zhang Tie was instantly shocked, ''F*ck, he really knows that...''

 291 Lay a Solid Foundation

    Chapter 291: Lay a Solid Foundation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Looking at the shock in Zhang Tie''s eyes, the Bamboo Woods Man revealed a faint smile, "Don''t be curious about how I know that you are dreaming of becoming an alchemist. It''s not telepathy, but a round of calculation by the skill of yi. It''s just a small trick; no need to be curious about that!"


    Hearing his words, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he recalled a mysterious oriental profession¡ª¡ªaugur. It was said that people in this profession could use a calculation skill called "yi", by which they could predict many things. It was truly a marvelous profession.


    "You...you''re an augur?"


    "I''m not an augur. He...he...as I''ve studied the law of yi for dozens of years, I just know a bit of it!" The Bamboo Woods Man gave a smile as he touched his beard.


    Hearing his words, Zhang Tie relaxed a bit. If the old man could really see through him and know everything about him at the first sight of him, Zhang Tie might have already been scared away.


    Since he attended that auction in Kalur City, when he witnessed the power of the alchemists, Zhang Tie had already been greatly moved and thoroughly believed that "true heroes should act like alchemists". Having entered the Breaking-Heavens Department, of course Zhang Tie would not give up on his dream due to only one person''s suggestion. Perhaps the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace could really cultivate powerful rune manufacturers, but compared to the talent of "touching a stone to turn it into a piece of gold", the great deterrence that an alchemist could bring to a country was more attractive to Zhang Tie.


    A guy who could produce horrific "thermal bombs" and casually change common stones into priceless items was far more than "cool"¡ª¡ª"Treasure Manufacturer", "Walking Vault", "All-Purpose Stone Speaker", "Thermal Weapon Converter in Cold Weapons Age", "Humanoid Bomb"¡ª¡ªWhen he thought about the reputations of alchemists; Zhang Tie would feel his blood boiling.


    To be an alchemist was Zhang Tie''s greatest dream that he had found since he was born 15 years ago.


    "My dream will not change. What can I learn from you?" Zhang Tie looked at that Bamboo Woods Man with expecting eyes.


    "I can only teach you one sentence¡ª¡ªlay a solid foundation!" After saying this, the Bamboo Woods Man glanced at Zhang Tie before adding, "Alchemy is the most powerful profession among human beings. Only 1 or 2 out of 100 million people have the ability to stride over the threshold to become an alchemist. Each alchemist is one of the most excellent human beings or has a very exceptional aptitude. If you want to learn from an alchemist, you have to be at least a powerful fighter above LV 9. Igniting 34 surge points and becoming a LV 9 fighter is the lowest condition to come into contact with alchemy. As you are just LV 6, you could not even touch the lowest threshold to be an apprentice of an alchemist, even if there are chances in front of you, you will be not qualified to touch them!"


    "The lowest threshold to be the apprentice of an alchemist is LV 9 fighter?" Zhang Tie widened his eyes and asked.


    "Of course, each alchemist would always go to the underground world. They have to explore and cultivate in places that are out of commoners'' imagination, how could they not even protect themselves? Even though they are LV 9 fighters, they could still barely protect themselves, as they are just fighters! The more powerful the profession is, the higher the threshold would be. If you can not break through the surge points on your spine, your cultivation would be useless. In many powerhouses'' eyes, to be a LV 9 fighter is just the beginning on the road of cultivation!" After saying this, the Bamboo Woods Man revealed a faint smile to Zhang Tie while lying on the soft bed, head inclined, "Do you think that LV 9 fighters are powerful?"


    Zhang Tie forced a bashful smile. Ever since he was born, he had never encountered a fighter above LV 9. When in school, Miss Daina had promised them if any one could be a LV 9 Bloody-Scorpion fighter, she would marry him. Therefore, Zhang Tie always thought that a LV 9 fighter was pretty powerful. LV 9 was once Zhang Tie''s target. As for the ranks after LV 9, he really didn''t know. This was determined by the knowledge, background, and experience of Zhang Tie. However, according to the Fibonacci Number Series, there are definitely more powerful ranks after LV 9.


    "Can you talk about the ranks after LV 9? I''m still confused about the ranks after LV 9. When I was in school, we learned that it was related to Fibonacci Number Series." As the Bamboo Woods Man was in front of him and this lesson was free, Zhang Tie seized this chance and asked in a respectful way.


    The old man smiled, "Most commoners might not be able to reach LV 9 in their whole lives. But in the eyes of the truly powerful men, a LV 9 fighter is just someone who has ignited 34 surge points on their spine. He or she has only just entered the ranks of cultivators."


    "When you ignite 55 surge points, you will be a strong fighter."


    ...


    "When you ignite 89 surge points, you will be a fighting master."


    ...


    "When you ignite 144 surge points, you will be a great fighting master."


    ...


    "When you ignite 233 surge points, you will be a fighting spirit."


    ...


    "When you ignite 377 surge points, you will be a fighting monster."


    ...


    "When you ignite 610 surge points, namely when you have ignited all the surge points, you will be a fighting general."


    The Bamboo Woods Man patiently explained.


    "It turns out that with the exception of the shrine surge point, there are 610 more surge points!" Zhang Tie mumbled. As he realized that he had just ignited 20 surge points out of the 610, Zhang Tie started to ooze cold sweat. Even if he was a LV 9 fighter and had ignited 34 surge points on his spine, he would still have 576 surge points to ignite. Yesterday, when he reached LV 6, Zhang Tie was very pleased about that. However, now, Zhang Tie finally knew that compared to those surge points that he had not ignited, his current achievement was just the first step for a long march.


    "Precisely, in the eyes of many powerful men, in the stage of igniting surge points, namely during the process that you ignite all the surge points before you reach LV 15. To a greater extent, the 15 levels could be divided into fighter, strong fighter, fighting master, great fighting master, fighting spirit, fighting monster and fighting general. Of course, each rank could be further divided. Do you understand why a LV 9 fighter is only the lowest threshold to be an alchemist?"


    "I know. My current strength does not even reach the lowest threshold to be an alchemist!" Hearing his words, Zhang Tie didn''t feel frustrated at all; instead, he just calmed down with a great ambition rising up from inside him once again, "Is there any greater existence after the fighting general?"


    "Of course, it will come to knights after the fighting ranks. You don''t need to know about knights now. Sometimes, it might be not good for a young man to know too many things as you might lose your motivation!" The Bamboo Woods Man stared at Zhang Tie with wise eyes, "I could only tell you that many top alchemists are above knights themselves!"


    "You said nobody in Hidden Dragon Palace and Zhang clan could help me to become an alchemist. What about the entire Waii Sub-Continent? Will I be able to find someone who can help me become an alchemist there?" Zhang Tie still didn''t give up.


    "No!"


    "Why?" Zhang Tie became surprised.


    "Because the inheritance of alchemists is different from common inheritance as the first one involves abhiseca, which is a sophisticated and deep inheritance ceremonial pattern that can only be mastered by alchemists who have reached a certain level. As there are few alchemists, let alone those master alchemists. Although there are some alchemists in the entire Waii Sub-Continent, not one of them would be able to carry out abhiseca!"


    Abhiseca? It was Zhang Tie''s first time to hear this word. He had not imagined that the inheritance pattern of alchemists was so rarely seen.


    "You mean that the alchemists in the entire Waii Sub-Continent basically adopted abhiseca in other areas?"


    "Almost. According to my knowledge, including the alchemists of Jinyun Country, none of the alchemists in Waii Sub-Continent adopted abhiseca in Waii Sub-Continent! There are too few alchemists who can carry out abhiseca in human beings!"


    "How can I gain the abhiseca inheritance of alchemists then?"


    "It depends on two things: fortune and real strength. Fortune is uncontrollable, yet real strength is under your control!" The Bamboo Woods Man smiled, "Although you cannot gain such a fortune in Hidden Dragon Palace, it could grant you the real strength to be close to fortune. Am I clear?"


    "Thanks, I''m clear!" Zhang Tie nodded as he made the decision inside.


    "You can ask me another question!" The old man reminded him.


    "As I''ve awakened the precise throwing skill, I would like to know how I can further improve it so as to gain a new ability!"


    Besides gaining the old man''s guidance on the direction one should develop in and their future ambitions, each person who came here could also ask him about how to improve their ancestral blood line. This was a very precious opportunity, which was almost equal to a gift that Breaking-Heavens Department sent to each newbie. Of course Zhang Tie would not give up such a good opportunity.


    ...


    After several minutes, with the method to further improve his precise throwing, Zhang Tie respectfully left. At the same time, he heard a faint snore from the Bamboo Woods Man lying on the soft bed.


    When Zhang Tie stood outside the small building, he bowed towards it before leaving.


    He had not imagined that he could improve his precise throwing in this way. On the way back, Zhang Tie thought about the method as was told by the old man. He then felt it very inconceivable. The information on alchemists was also precious to Zhang Tie.


    ''If you don''t break through the surge points on your spine, your cultivation would be useless. Lay a solid foundation.'' Zhang Tie mumbled, not realizing that he had been surrounded by some women who did not look kind...

 292 Curriculum

    Chapter 292: Curriculum


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Those who surrounded Zhang Tie were all older than him and between the ages of 18 and 20. In black uniforms, they looked pretty cool. Additionally, as they usually did sports, they all had very hot figures. Of course, if he wasn''t being glared at by them, Zhang Tie would really enjoy being surrounded by so many women.


    "Are you that mean, shameless, lecherous, and sinister Zhang Tie?"


    ''F*ck, is that a greeting?'' Zhang Tie carefully looked at them as he really could not remember whether there was any relation between him and them. However, they looked like they''d caught a person, who owed them several hundred coins, wandering around in a brothel.


    "I''m sorry, you''ve got the wrong person, I''m not the person that you want!"


    After saying this, Zhang Tie immediately walked away.


    Seeing Zhang Tie walking away, they obviously became stunned as they had not imagined that Zhang Tie would deny his identity. Not until Zhang Tie had walked several steps away did those women realize what had happened and surrounded Zhang Tie once again with contemptuous looks.


    "Are you are man or not? Don''t you dare to admit your status?"


    "That''s it, how could such a person enter the Hidden Dragon Palace?"


    "Dare you say that you are not Zhang Tie?"


    The women then started to mock Zhang Tie.


    "As for whether I''m a man, the most qualified one to answer this is my woman. You''re not my women, therefore, you are not qualified to ask that question!" With arms crossed, Zhang Tie remained smiling, "You''re right, I''m Zhang Tie. It''s just a common name as many people are given this name. But I don''t know about that mean, shameless, lecherous, and sinister Zhang Tie you mentioned. You must have found the wrong person. If you are looking for the fair, handsome, kind, and generous Zhang Tie, here I am!"


    "Humph..." A women replied with a cold harrumph, "Truly as said by those sisters in Zhixing Department, you are eloquent. No crap. We are looking for you!"


    "Why are you looking for me, senior sisters?"


    "Do you know the rules for newbies when they enter Breaking-Heavens Department?"


    "What rules?" Zhang Tie asked even though he already knew.


    "Okay, I will tell you. We found you today to notify you that we have applied to be your training guides on two compulsory subjects for fighters, namely the basic moving skills and shield defense skills. When you have enough clan donation points and want to learn the two compulsory subjects, we will spare some time to guide you well!" One of them said as she emphasized the word "guide", indicating a malicious intention.


    "I''m afraid that you have not even skimmed over your curriculum. You will know it when you see it. Humph, don''t beg us for forgiveness then. Let''s go..." Another one of them glared at Zhang Tie before making a cold harrumph and turning her head. Closely following her, the other proud women then turned around and left.


    Twiddling his mustache with his hand, Zhang Tie watched their faintly twisting and rhythmic butts and finally understood a fact. He didn''t know when, but his "good reputation" as the "Public Enemy of Female Students" in Zhixing Department seemed to have spread to the Breaking-Heavens Department, as they had already found him trouble on the first day when he came here to register.


    After knowing that he could easily form Iron-Blood Battle Qi, those LV 7 little girls still dared to find him trouble. It meant that they must have something to back their confidence. There might be something eccentric and mysterious in the two compulsory fighting courses.


    ''Never mind. Just wait. This father doesn''t believe that those little girls could queue up to bite me! If they truly have stirred me up, I will fiercely whip their butts.''


    After glaring at their swaying butts, Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva and returned to his room in the Songtao Pavilion.


    This time, when he came back, there was already a magazine-like book on the top of the message box which was installed on his door. Zhang Tie took a look at it and noticed a line of big words on the cover of it: "A Brief Introduction on the Arrangement of the Compulsory Courses in the Breaking-Heavens Department of Hidden Dragon Palace and Elective Courses".


    In the following hour, Zhang Tie was studying this book during which time he started to have a deeper understanding on the Breaking-Heavens Department.


    With the exception of special situations, newbies had to meet the following conditions before officially leaving the Breaking-Heavens Department.


    Condition 1: One should reach at least LV 9 and ignite 34 surge points on one''s spine.


    ¡ª This was the lowest requirement.


    Condition 2: Males have to reach 20 years old and undergo the capping ceremony. Females have to reach 20 years old and undergo gyerye.


    ¡ª This was the lowest requirement on age.


    Condition 3: One should pass all the compulsory courses and subjects in Breaking-Heavens Department.


    ¡ª This was the lowest requirement on ability.


    The first two requirements were easy for Zhang Tie to meet; however, the last requirement really dumbfounded him. He finally understood why the people in the Breaking-Heavens Department were so busy all day long. Take his cousin for example, besides being busy making money, Zhang Su was also busy earning clan donation points.


    Damn, it turned out that all the compulsory courses and subjects had tuition fees of gold coins and clan donation points. Additionally, so many cultural courses were included in those compulsory subjects besides pure cultivation.


    At the sight of those compulsory cultural courses, Zhang Tie instantly became even more dumbfounded.


    "General History of Human Beings" ¡ª Compulsory Course ¡ª Payment: 10 gold coins.


    "A Study on the Two Holy Wars Between Human Beings and Demons" ¡ª Compulsory Course ¡ª


    Payment: 20 gold coins and 20 clan donation points.


    "A Study on the Political Systems in the Countries across the Waii Sub-Continent" ¡ª Compulsory Course ¡ª Payment: 15 gold coins and 5 clan donation points.


    "General Introduction on the Human Culture of Continents" ¡ª Compulsory Course ¡ª Payment: 10 gold coins.


    "Geography" ¡ª Compulsory Course ¡ª Payment: 10 gold coins.


    "The Science on the Inside of Earth" ¡ª Compulsory Course ¡ª Payment: 20 gold coins and 20 clan donation points.


    "War Geography" ¡ª Compulsory Course ¡ª Payment: 10 gold coins.


    "An Exploration on the Technical Development in Different Industries in the Black Iron Age" ¡ª


    Compulsory Course ¡ª Payment: 10 gold coins and 5 clan donation points.


    "The Great Brilliant Charter" ¡ª Compulsory Course ¡ª Payment: 1 gold coin.


    "Practice on Business Group Management and Trade" ¡ª Compulsory Course ¡ª Payment: 100 gold coins and 100 clan donation points.


    "Clan System and The Wealth of Nations" ¡ª Compulsory Course ¡ª Payment: 5 gold coins.


    "Military Strategies" ¡ª Compulsory Course ¡ª Payment: 50 gold coins and 50 clan donation points.


    "How to be a Qualified Battlefield Commander" ¡ª Compulsory Course ¡ª Payment: 30 gold coins and 30 clan donation points.


    "Survival Skills in Extreme Environments" ¡ª Compulsory Course ¡ª Payment: 15 gold coins and 15 clan donation points.


    "Music" ¡ª Compulsory Course ¡ª Payment: 10 gold coins.


    ...


    Those cultural subjects were basically all the high-end knowledge that Zhang Tie hadn''t touched before, which covered history, politics, geography, culture, and military. There were 20 cultural subjects in total. After taking a serious look, Zhang Tie realized that with the exception of Hebrew that he had already learned, he would need learn all the other cultural courses.


    However, for commoners, too much money was required to learn all these courses. If he referred to the previous income of his family in Blackhot City, his whole family might not be able to pay for those courses even after 30 years of work, if the clan donation points were not included.


    In a contrast, the expense of those compulsory cultivation courses was even more amazing. However, there were only a few cultivation courses, namely: basic moving steps, basic swordsmanship, shield defense skills, preliminary archery, flying skills, and horsemanship.


    Advanced cultivation courses were not included in compulsory courses, but in elective courses. Reading them, Zhang Tie''s eyes radiated a gleaming light. As he turned each page, he would forcefully swallow his saliva.


    31 battle qi ranging from middle-class battle qi to high-end battle qi were available.


    17 swordsmanship were available.


    9 marksmanship were available.


    56 palm skills, fist skills, and finger skills were available.


    8 leg skills were available.


    4 secret methods that could be used to improve spiritual energy were available.


    3 secret methods on polishing surge points by spiritual energy were available.


    Over 100 kinds of secret knowledge, fighting skills, eccentric weapons, and even poisoning skills were available.


    Some of the elective courses made Zhang Tie more stunned ¡ª advanced courses on professions like alchemy, rune manufacturing, tricks master, beast training, fengshui architecture and tactical deployment master.


    The elective courses on alchemy progressed from herbal apprentice, knapsack pharmacist and bottle suspending alchemist, which were also the 3 stages to be an alchemist.


    The elective courses on rune manufacturing progressed from craftsman apprentice, craftsman to copper hammer craftsman, which were also the 3 stages to be a rune manufacturer.


    The elective courses of all the other professions all included the first 2 to 4 stages of them. Of course, one had to pay a lot for these courses. It would take one 2000 gold coins and 1000 clan donation points to choose the craftsman apprentice; the 1st stage to be a rune manufacturer. This was a huge amount of money.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was once again shocked by the great power and background of the Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace.


    The whole Hidden Dragon Palace was like the clan elites school of the Zhang clan, where the Zhang clan could cultivate some special professions. What a great power!


    Scanning this curriculum, Zhang Tie recalled those women who applied to be his "training guides". He then smiled and knew that he would be busy in the Breaking-Heavens Department from then on...

 293 Use the Dead as a Mirror

    Chapter 293: Use the Dead as a Mirror


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    People in Breaking Heaven Department were free to arrange their learning and cultivation courses. Nobody would force you to do anything. As long as you could afford 30 gold coins a month on Hidden Dragon Island, you could even treat Breaking-Heavens Department as a senior island and live here for the rest of your life. But it was not possible for you to casually leave the Hidden Dragon Island before finishing all of your courses.


    In the Breaking Heaven Department, besides learning and cultivation, you had to accomplish some mandatory courses that you had freely chosen. You could make money or clan contribution points through doing these clan tasks. You might also be able to legally leave the Island to finish some tasks on the continent.


    However, all the tasks that required one to leave the Island were of great difficulty. Some of them were even very dangerous. Two-thirds of the clan apprentices who lost their lives when cultivating in the Breaking Heaven Department were killed when they left Hidden Dragon Island to do clan tasks.


    Breaking Heaven Department was a school, an army and a furnace. It had two sides, the free side and the hard side. The temperature here could sublime you or turn you into residue and ashes.


    If you don''t want to be residue and ashes, the only thing you could do was work harder, harder, and even harder. You would have no other choice but to constantly grit your teeth and grow more powerful.


    On the first night when he entered the Breaking Heaven Department, Zhang Tie had received his first mandatory task. When Zhang Tie was still in the room, someone directly push the first task letter under the door to his room.


    It was such a funny task¡ª¡ªto do cleaning for one week, by which he could gain 5 clan contribution points. This was the first tasks for everyone that entered the Breaking Heaven Department.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie felt this task was hilarious. But soon, he changed his mind as he was going to clean the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion in the Breaking Heaven Department.


    Elites Sacrifice Pavilion was a shrine in Breaking-Heavens Pavilion that was used to honor those clan members who sacrificed themselves or died during cultivation in the Breaking Heaven Department.


    At 6 am the next morning, according to regulations, Zhang Tie had already arrived at the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion when the dawn had just arrived. There was only one senior who was guarding the entrance. After Zhang Tie arrived, the old man brought Zhang Tie into the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion.


    As soon as he entered the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion, Zhang Tie had noticed many spirit tablets, which frightened him greatly.


    "The Elites Sacrifice Pavilion will be open from 9 am to 9 pm. Therefore, you''d better come here 3 hours before it opens. it is composed of 3 floors, each floor holds 1183 spirit tablets. You need to clean all the floors, handrails, windows and spirit tablets. After it closes in the evening, you should also clean it one more time! After that, I will check it. If you cannot clean it well, you will have to do it again! During opening hours, if anyone wants to worship here, you should also keep it clean from time to time..." The old man took Zhang Tie around the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion as he told Zhang Tie how to clean and what to take care of.


    Finally, he guided Zhang Tie into the tools room. After explaining to Zhang Tie how to use the tools, the old man let out a sigh, "Alas, the latest spirit tablet was placed 2 months ago. They were all young men..." Saying this, the old man shook his head as he left, leaving the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion to Zhang Tie.


    Trying to recover his composure, Zhang Tie started to clean. Although he had killed people and seen blood before, he was still a bit frightened when he cleaned the spirit tablets and caught sight of the black and white photos on the stony spirit tablets.


    On the positive side of each spirit tablet was a photo and a name. On the back of each spirit tablet was a simple introduction on that person''s life experiences. A person''s life was recorded in only a few lines¡ª¡ªone''s parents; the year one entered Hidden Dragon Palace; one''s events; why one died at an early age.


    Each person had curiosity. After he gradually became less frightened, when he cleaned each spirit tablet, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand but take a look at the life experiences and cause of death of the people on the back of the spirit tablets. Unless one didn''t want to see the words on the spirit tablets, you would always notice them.


    The more he cleaned, the more he saw. Gradually, Zhang Tie started to form an strange mood.


    Although they lived in different ways when they were alive, they all died due to numerous causes.


    Some were born to be talents, who had awakened many kinds of ancestral bloodlines and had reached level 10 at the age of 17-18 were meant to be powerful fighters. Finally, during their cultivation, they didn''t listen to other''s advice and wanted to break through a certain cultivation bottleneck, which caused them to be possessed by a devil and to spit out blood before death.


    Some were average. After entering the Hidden Dragon Palace, he or she couldn''t stand the rapid rhythm here and was gradually lagged far away by others. He or she then complained everyday and finally died due to frustration and grief.


    Some overestimated their real strength when they accepted clan tasks. As a result, they died when they executed their tasks.


    Some became kind and hesitated when they carried out some special tasks. However, after they forgave the enemy, they were killed.


    Some died on some occasions due to carelessness when they were carrying out common tasks.


    Some already had deep enmity with others before they entered the Hidden Dragon Palace. Finally they were killed by their enemy.


    Some had gained great progress after cultivating in the Hidden Dragon Palace for many years. They were so ambitious that when he returned home and gathered with their previous partners, they violently showed off. After being drunk, they were set up and killed by some of their previous partners who were jealous of them.


    Some always bullied their junior brothers and classmates due to their family background and were finally killed purposefully with the excuse of it being a mistake during a sparring exercise.


    Some were innocent. Being lured by the others, they violated the regulations of Hidden Dragon Palace by selling intelligence of Breaking Heaven Department and were finally killed.


    Some were troubled by love affairs in the Breaking-Heavens Department and were finally killed.


    Some directly disappeared when they entered the underground world or dived in the sea for exploration...


    ...


    After cleaning all the spirit tablets, Zhang Tie was so scared that he even oozed a cold sweat. The 1183 spirit tablets were definitely live textbooks which told you how to leave Hidden Dragon Palace alive. Zhang Tie finally knew why there were not too many rules in the Breaking Heaven Department and why his first task in Breaking Heaven Department was to clean the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion. Because all the rules of Breaking Heaven Department were in the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion. Each name and each story on each spirit tablet could work as a mirror for people to reflect themselves.


    During the next week, Zhang Tie almost lived in the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion. He would come here to clean at 6 am and did another round of cleaning after 9 pm when it was closed before returning to his room in the Songtao Pavilion. As no one arrived there during the day, Zhang Tie would always stay in the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion and gaze at the spirit tablets as he thought about the stories on the spirit tablets. He then always asked himself¡ª¡ªIf that was him, would make the same mistake? Why would he make such a mistake? How could he avoid making such a mistake?


    It was a process to constantly ask and reflect on himself. Although the other people considered it pretty boring in this gloomy place, Zhang Tie had different achievements each day. Through constant reflection, Zhang Tie found that he became more mature mentally.


    One week soon passed...


    In that evening, before he left the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion, Zhang Tie seriously cleaned each corner and each spirit tablet in the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion. After that, he arranged his clothes and washed his hands. He then burned three incense sticks and bowed towards the spirit tablets three times on the first floor before inserting the incense sticks into the incense table.


    "Dear senior brothers and sisters, this younger brother has accompanied you for one week. I will not come here tomorrow. Thanks for your lessons. As this place is not big enough, I''m sure that I will not strive for a place here with you. When in festivals and the new year comes, I, Zhang Tie will definitely come here to bring you enough paper notes.


    "This kid is teachable!"


    A sound drifted from behind Zhang Tie as the old gatekeeper who should have long went to bed at this time had already stood behind Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie turned back and saw that haunch-back old man touching his mustache and smiling at him.


    "Kid, you really have a nice consciousness and a good heart. If you have troubles, later on, come here and have a look. Think it over carefully! No disasters could match death in the secular world. Once alive, one will always be able to handle it. If one dies, one wouldn''t able to handle it any longer..." The old man watched Zhang Tie as he satisfactorily nodded and talked to Zhang Tie.


    "Yes, I''ve remembered it!"


    "Hmm, you can leave now. Don''t come here tomorrow. It''s not early, go to bed soon!" The old man said as he patted 3 times on Zhang Tie''s shoulders and left.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie returned to his room in Songtao Pavilion, it was already 12 am. After washing up, Zhang Tie lay on the bed and prepared to sleep. However, only after a while, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled a fairy tale told by Donder. The protagonist of the fairy tale was a monkey. When the monkey went to learn skills, his immortal master knocked three times on his head. The monkey suddenly realized the meaning of his master and silently slid to his immortal master''s room at three am and truly got the true knowledge.


    Did it mean that the old man had the same meaning by patting his shoulders three times¡ª¡ªthinking of it this way, Zhang Tie instantly became awake, "Is that old man a great powerhouse who lives in seclusion in Hidden Dragon Palace. Did he pat me to test whether I''m smarter than a monkey?"


    Therefore, when it was 2:30 am, Zhang Tie got up and put on his clothes. Being a bit thrilled, Zhang Tie fumbled in the darkness and silently arrived in front of the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion several minutes before 3 am.


    However, after standing outside the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion and hearing tweets of insects for quite awhile, Zhang Tie saw nobody at all. Finally, he arrived outside the small room where the old man slept. He heard the old man''s snores from time to time.


    Standing there for quite awhile, Zhang Tie then shook his head and forced a smile before returned to his room in Songtao Pavilion and a had a good sleep. The next morning, when Zhang Tie woke up, he took his clan plate and rushed into the Tasks Center on the second floor of the Middle Castle.


    These days, as this mandatory task had occupied all of his time, Zhang Tie''s plan to further evolve his ancestral bloodline was delayed. After this task was accomplished, Zhang Tie had a decent amount of free time. He felt it was the right time to evolve his ancestral bloodline and was very excited about it.

 294 Yaksha in the Sea

    Chapter 294: Yaksha in the Sea


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    "You''ve already completed the first one-week task in the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion and gained 5 more clan contribution points, making it 55 points in total. Can I do anything else for you?" A beautiful young girl standing behind a service window in the task assignment hall on the second floor of the Middle Castle enthusiastically asked Zhang Tie.


    "No, thanks. I''d like to look around!", as soon as he finished the mandatory LV 6 task, Zhang Tie suddenly felt as free as a bird in the sky and a fish in the ocean. From then on, he could freely manage his time before he reached LV 7. Zhang Tie really liked this feeling.


    "Fine, the task board is over there, if you need any help, just come here and ask me!"


    These young girls on the second floor were much better at talking compared to those stubborn scholars downstairs. Their words sounded much more comfortable. When he took his clan plate back, returned by that beautiful young girl behind the window from that machine''s slot, Zhang Tie saw another cousin of Breaking Heaven Department walking out of a door on one side of the task hall.


    "What''s that small room for?" Zhang Tie casually asked.


    "The clan''s secret tasks are assigned there. They are not opened to the public. Only one person could enter at a time!"


    ''Secret task?'' Zhang Tie was attracted, "Can I enter now?"


    "You need to reach LV 7 at least. Additionally, you have to pass all the compulsory modules before taking on a secret task!"


    "Okay, thanks!"


    It wouldn''t be difficult for Zhang Tie to reach LV 7. However, when he recalled the 6 compulsory courses ¡ª fundamental moves, fundamental swordsmanship, shield defense skill, preliminary archery, flying skills, and horsemanship ¡ª Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh. Based on his current conditions, he had enough gold to buy these compulsory courses; however, he had too few clan contribution points. It turned out that he had to spend a lot of time to gain more clan contribution points.


    ''I will have a look at the open task notice board to see whether I can do some tasks to gain clan contribution points!''


    Thinking of this, Zhang Tie left the reception desk and moved to the the open task notice board to carefully read it.


    ¡ª Island Patrol, 8 hours a day, 15 days for each task. 30 clan contribution points as a reward.


    ...


    ¡ª Security officer around five towns. Be stationed in five towns; being responsible for maintaining order in towns by punishing trouble-makers. 7 days for each task. 50 clan contribution points as a reward. LV 7 and above is required.


    ...


    ¡ª Scouts in Dragon Cave. Explore deep into the inside of Dragon Cave to pay close attention to any abnormal situations and relevant intelligence in the underground world. 7 days for each task. 70 clan contribution points and 7 gold coins as a reward. LV 8 and above is required.


    ...


    Zhang Tie glanced over at the notice board one column after another. He started to frown as he didn''t like most of those tasks or didn''t meet the requirements of those he favored. All of a sudden, Zhang Tie noticed a task on the notice board.


    ¡ª¡ªYaksha in the sea, being responsible for patrolling in the sea near the pearl field of the Hidden Dragon Island by driving away sharks and other dangerous maritime living beings. When huge maritime creatures get too close to the pearl field, Yaksha should promptly send a warning. 7 days for each task. 60 clan contribution points as a reward. Note: task receivers should pass an on-site examination.


    ''Ha, that''s it!'' Zhang Tie became highly spirited. This was the ideal task in his mind. For Zhang Tie, with this task, he could both gain clan contribution points and continue to absorb sea water to increase basic energy storage in the Castle of Black Iron without having to be afraid of being noticed. Besides, he could also stimulate the growth of Iron-Body Fruit. It''s really like killing three birds with one stone.


    Zhang Tie then jubilantly ran towards the task handling counter and officially applied for the task to be a Yaksha.


    "Although this task could also be done by LV 6 people, it requires excellent swimming skills. Even many LV 7 ones could not do it. Are you sure you want to apply for this task?" The young woman behind the counter kindly asked.


    "Yeah, I''m sure!"


    "Fine, you can have a test at the Long Wind Pearl Field to the east of the Hidden Dragon Island in the afternoon. If you are qualified, this task will begin tomorrow."


    "Good, thanks!"


    After completing his application, Zhang Tie turned around and left the task assignment hall on the second floor of Middle Castle. When he went downstairs, he encountered a familiar man.


    "Zhang Tie..."At the sight of Zhang Tie, Liu Xi instantly showed a big smile, "I was completing tasks outside these past few days and was only just told that you had already entered the Breaking Heaven Department a week ago. I was thinking about inviting you for a dinner!"


    Thinking of the meeting between him and Liu Xi when they met in the Black Dragon Town several days ago, Zhang Tie also smiled, "I thought senior brother Liu had already forgotten about it!"


    "Haha, how could I forget about that! Are you free at the moment?"


    Hearing Liu Xi''s words, Zhang Tie realized that he wanted to make friends with him. As Liu Xi left a good impression on Zhang Tie, of course, Zhang Tie was willing to accept his invitation. "I''ve just finished the task in the Elites Sacrifice Pavilion, so I''m free for the next couple of days. I will be there whenever you call me!"


    Seeing that Zhang Tie''s attitude towards him was the same as the first time he met him even after miraculously forming Iron-Blood Battle Qi and shocking the entire Hidden Dragon Palace, Liu Xi started to respect Zhang Tie even more inside. Once Zhang Tie left Hidden Dragon Island, he would definitely be prominent and gain a high position in the Zhang clan.


    "That''s fine. How about having a gathering with some of my friends in the Ocean Hotel in White Dragon Town tomorrow night. We''ll drink until dawn!" Liu Xi happily said.


    "Sure!"


    "Oh, have you got a new task?"


    "Yeah, I got one, Yaksha in the sea. I''m heading for the Long Wind Pearl Field to test my swimming skill!"


    "Haha, brother, you really have a great talent. Few people across the Hidden Dragon Palace could do this task!"


    "I''m just going over to try the test. It depends whether I can pass it!" Zhang Tie modestly said.


    Liu Xi revealed a smile, "Brother, based on your swimming skills when you were picking navy-blue iron ores from the deep oceanic trenches, I definitely believe that you will pass it!"


    After chatting for a while, they agreed to meet to drink alcohol tomorrow night before going their separate ways.


    After leaving the Middle Castle, Zhang Tie didn''t immediately go to the Long Wind Pearl Field to test his swimming skill; instead, he first went to the Secret Knowledge Pavilion in the Hidden Dragon Palace.


    "This brat again!" At the sight of Zhang Tie who was stealthily appearing outside the door of the Secret Knowledge Pavilion, the old man who was drinking tea in a green robe instantly widened his eyes and blew up his beard. Last time, this green-robe old man had said so many words, only to be treated as a no-paid teacher by Zhang Tie and choked by Zhang Tie''s response. Therefore, the old man had a deep impression on Zhang Tie.


    "Haha, you look good, old man!" Seeing his bad look, Zhang Tie hurriedly flattered him.


    The old man lowered his head as he used a spoon to move the tea leaves in the cup and kept his mouth tightly closed.


    Having not imagined that old man was that narrow-minded, Zhang Tie put it straight, "I want to learn medium-level fish-like diving skill!"


    When he came here last time, Zhang Tie knew that medium-level fish-like diving skill required 50 clan contribution points. Unlike the preliminary level, the medium-level fish-like diving skill involved the application of battle qi under water. Therefore, only those who had reached LV 6 could learn it.


    Now that he wanted to take the task, Zhang Tie felt that it was necessary for him to upgrade his diving skill in case others had doubts about him if he performed well as a person who had only just learned the preliminary fish-like diving skill.


    This time, compared to the preliminary fish-like diving skill, Zhang Tie had a much easier time learning the medium-level fish-like diving skill. It only took him less than 40 minutes to master it. What he needed to do was only to practice it adroitly.


    After learning the medium-level fish-like diving skill, Zhang Tie directly walked out of the Hidden Dragon Palace and arrived at the Long Wind Pearl Field which was over 10 km away from Hidden Dragon Palace.


    A castle with a perimeter of more than 500 m was established on the hillside near the sea, which was over 30 m away from the corner of the wall of the castle.


    There were some smaller buildings surrounding the castle. On some of the reefs below the castle, there was a place which was used to anchor boats. Zhang Tie also saw some boats on the sea a bit further away. The girls of the Zhixing Department were constantly jumping off and climbing onto the boats with something in their hands.


    It was an extreme form of training and a test for girls to pick up pearls in the sea.


    Looking at the several big words "Long Wind Pearl Field" above the coastal castle, Zhang Tie didn''t hesitate to enter the castle. After clarifying his intention to the manager of the Long Wind Pearl Field, Zhang Tie was taken to start the test.


    That person took Zhang Tie onto a boat below the castle. With a small triangle sail erected on the boat, they soon arrived at a place on the sea which was about 2 miles away from the castle.


    "It''s deeper than 100 m here. There''s a tiny iron octopus at the bottom of the sea. It swims fast. If you can get one iron octopus in 2 hours, you will pass the test! Then, you can come here to officially join the team of Yakshas!"


    "Erm, how many Yakshas do we have in this sea area? Only me?" Zhang Tie asked as he took off his clothes on the boat.


    "We have four. This sea area requires at least four Yakshas to ensure the safety of those girls from Hidden Dragon Palace and the pearl picking girls in our pearl field. Three of them are from Hidden Dragon Palace, while the other is an old man in our pearl field. If you pass the test, our old man will retire. After all, he''s too old and cannot match you young men!"


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    After taking off his clothes, that person gave Zhang Tie a mask that could cover the greater part of his face, "Here''s the deep-sea diving goggles, once you take it, you will be able to dive as deep as 400 m. This pair of diving goggles might prevent your eyes from being hurt by the octopus'' ink! If you can''t complete the task, return as soon as possible. Don''t force yourself. Do you need diving shoes..."


    "No, thanks!" Zhang Tie shook his head while that person gave him a thumbs up.


    After putting on the diving goggles, Zhang Tie adjusted them before diving into the water with a net in hand.


    After anchoring the boat and lowering the sail, the man sat on the boat quietly. He then took out a stick of tobacco and watched the pearl picking boat in the distance while faintly narrowing his eyes. Iron octopuses liked to stay in the deep water zone. They responded so fast that as soon as any danger drew close to them, they would escape. They swam very quickly under water and could reach as fast as 35 km/h. If one wanted to be a Yaksha, he had to be able to catch iron octopus alive under water!


    Yakshas catch iron octopuses ¡ª this was an old rule on selecting Yaksha that had been used for several hundred years. "Yaksha" was an honor for men with good swimming skills! The alleged water ghost [1] was nothing in front of a Yaksha in the sea!


    ''I really wonder how long could that young man stay under water! It will be a tough challenge for him to catch a live iron octopus in 2 hours!'' Sitting on the boat, the uncle took a mouthful of tobacco as he waited for Zhang Tie to come out of the water to take another breath.


    However, before he finished that stick of tobacco...


    With a sound of "bada", the net that he had given Zhang Tie was thrown into the cabin of the boat. While the boat was slightly swaying, Zhang Tie popped his head out of the water while supporting himself on the side of the boat.


    "These little things are really agile, I only got 3. Look, are these iron octopuses?" Zhang Tie revealed a big, innocent smile.


    The uncle fixed his eyes on the 3 iron octopus with his mouth widely open while his tobacco dropped out of his hand...


    [1] Water ghost is a kind of animal or ghost that lurks in water to hug swimmers or divers and drag them into the water to drown them. It''s always mentioned by old men in China. However, few people has seen it.

 295 Preparations

    Chapter 295: Preparations


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    After smoothly passing the test on Yaksha in the sea, being close to the Long Wind Pearl Field, Zhang Tie returned to Hidden Dragon Palace. After eating lunch in the Breaking-Heavens Department, Zhang Tie returned to his own residence before going to the Items Department with money.


    Previously, when Zhang Tie came to the Items Department, he was here to submit navy-blue iron ores. This time, he was here to prepare for the first evolution of his ancestral bloodline. He needed to order something here.


    It was boisterous in the Items Department. The blast furnace in the department was emitting hot waves. Over 100 people were here. Zhang Tie could hear the sound of knocking iron instruments everywhere. Some of those people were his senior brothers in the Breaking-Heavens Department.


    "It''s not that easy to be a craftsman apprentice. Do you think that it''s like girls'' embroidery?" The moment he entered the second gate of the Items Department, he had already heard a loud,rude shout. "Hold the heavy hammer and maintain your strength and rhythm. Have you seen the steam-driven forging hammer? When you can keep outputting a steady level of strength for twelve hours straight like that machine, I will teach you something new. If you cannot even match a machine, how can you dream to be a rune manufacturer..."


    Although he didn''t know who was being scolded in the courtyard, hearing the acrid words, Zhang Tie was also frightened as he shrugged his shoulders. "It''s so difficult to be a rune manufacturer, what about being an alchemist then? As is expected, each step towards the top professions is pretty difficult."


    After passing the exterior of the Items Department, Zhang Tie directly came to the weapons store in the the core area. It was a 5-floor pavilion. The higher the floor was, the more expensive the items being sold would be. Because Zhang Tie didn''t need very expensive items, he just took a look around the first floor in the weapon store.


    When he was in the Iron Blood Camp, Zhang Tie had visited the arsenal of the Iron Horn Army twice, therefore, he knew weapons well. Only after a look around on the 1st floor, Zhang Tie had been surprised as even the common weapons on the 1st floor were obviously better than those lieutenant-level weapons in the arsenal of the Iron Horn Army of the Norman Empire. Each item here was of top quality in the Iron Horn Army.


    The 1st floor of the weapons store covered several hundred square meters, which was filled with rows of weapon hangers. On the hangers, there were all sorts of weapons like sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, tomahawks, hooks, forks, soft whips, hard (iron) whips , hammers, claws, tangs(a weapon that was composed of a stick handle and a half-moon like head with a pike between the two wings of the half moon), sticks, shuos (a heavy weapon for cavalry, which is the heavy- and elite-type of long spear), maces, iron or wooden crutches and bolas. Zhang Tie didn''t even know some of their names. Perhaps it was a man''s nature, as when Zhang Tie saw the sparkling weapons, he felt his adrenaline surging heavily as his eyes started to shine.


    When Zhang Tie stood in front of a 2-m longer weird, horrible battle sword which was hung on a hanger and recalled his "Man''s Certificate", one person had already walked in front of him.


    "Junior brother, are you choosing weapons?"


    Zhang Tie looked at him and found it was a senior brother in Breaking-Heavens Department, "Yes, I want to buy something here!"


    "Hehe, take a look slowly. If you have enough money, you can choose something better on the 2nd floor. Each weapon over there is more than 100 gold coins. Each item on the 3rd floor is worth more than 500 gold coins. Each on the 4th floor is worth more than 3000 gold coins. As all the items on the 5th floor are rune weapons, I don''t suggest you to take a look there, as they are so expensive they''ll make you lose your passion for life..."


    Hearing the senior brother''s words, Zhang Tie burst out laughing, "Senior brother, are you also here to be a rune manufacturer?"


    "Not that easy..." The youth then forced a bitter smile, "I''m not even a craftsman apprentice now. I''ve just hammered in the ironware processing workshop for half a year. After passing the test, I was dispatched here to be familiar with the quality, duration, material, forging techniques, design ideas and styles of each weapon on the 1st floor. At the same time, I can also look after the store for the manager. Not just being a waste!"


    "You are so modest, senior brother. Many people are not even qualified to look after this store even if they wanted to!"


    "Oh, junior brother, which weapon do you want? I can provide some suggestions for you!"


    "I want to have a look at the long spears or javelins!"


    "Thrown weapons? Come here, I will show you these weapons..." The senior brother then led Zhang Tie to another hanger, on which some javelins were displayed. Zhang Tie casually took one and had a try. That familiar sense reappeared. These javelins were definitely of the best quality that Zhang Tie had ever seen. The body of the javelin was designed in terms of aerodynamics. It consisted of several sections, each of which had different thicknesses, giving it an obscure but beautiful look.


    "Senior brother, what''s the price of these javelins?"


    "The javelins here are all sold by group. Each group contains 9 javelins and is equipped with a backpacked metal container. Each group weighs 116 kg in total. They are very powerful. The price of each group of javelins is 34 gold coins. You can also have a look at this one..." Saying this, the senior brother took out a short javelin. With a casual handshake, the 30-cm javelin instantly became longer than 1 m, "This is the hidden type telescopic javelin. It is more portable. When you don''t use it, you can carry it with you. When you use it, only by shaking the handle, you will see its body. A group contains 42 javelins. They are suitable to fight enemy within short distances!"


    Zhang Tie took it and realized this telescopic javelin is really of a delicate structure. Although being very portable, it was not his target here.


    After putting that hidden telescopic javelin onto the hanger, Zhang Tie asked, "Senior brother, can I customize javelins here?"


    "Of course, the items workshop can produce all the items you require!"


    "That''s great. I want to customize a batch of special javelins. Here''s are the requirements..." Zhang Tie took a common javelin and started to talk about the requirements with this senior brother.


    The javelins required by Zhang Tie were divided into different groups. Those that were normal size were placed in one group; those that were 1 inch smaller than normal size were placed in one group; those that were 2 inches shorter than normal size were placed in one group; and those that were 3 inches shorter than normal size were placed in one group; Likewise, the size of the javelins gradually reduced by 1 inch one group by another. The last group was only 3-5 inches. To tell truth, these items could not be called javelins any more as they were even much shorter than the head of a javelin.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s requests, the senior brother was really shocked as he had never been met with such a request. However, he didn''t ask why, because everyone in the Breaking-Heavens Department had their own secrets. It was not good to be too curious here.


    "Junior brother, as you''ve ordered 40 groups here, it will cost you a lot!"


    "Hmm, I know it will cost me a lot. Therefore, I only need 6 javelins for each group. This way it''ll be much cheaper."


    "Yes, you can save on one-third of the price this way. Follow me, I will calculate the price of these items for you!"


    Zhang Tie and the senior brother came to the counter on the 1st floor. After that, the senior brother took a pen and started to record these items before calculating the price of them on paper.


    "Junior brother, if your requests are met, you need to pay 418 gold coins at least!"


    Hearing the figure, Zhang Tie also became a bit hesitant as it was truly not a small amount of money for a newbie in the Breaking-Heavens Department. He had to save money. When he was picking up navy-blue iron ores from the sea, he could only make a few silver coins for one day''s hard work. Although he had money now, he knew that he should be frugal in preparation of worse scenario.


    "Senior brother, how about a bit cheaper?"


    "The javelins need to be made of special alloy. Plus its material expense, processing fee and other necessary cost and profit, this is the lowest price."


    "Hmm, my items are just consumable. They don''t need a special alloy. Just use some steel with high endurance. Can they be cheaper then?"


    "If so..." The senior brother then started to calculate on the paper once again, "If you use common high-intensity steel, you could truly save a lot. Here it is...you only need to pay 189 gold coins! Are you sure that you only need high-intensity steel? This material could only last a few years!"


    A few years, hehe, that''s enough. It will not take me that long to finish my first round of evolution of my ancestral bloodline.


    "I''m sure!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    "We need to settle the bill here. Have you brought your money junior brother?"


    "Yes, I have!" Zhang Tie directly paid the 189 gold coins.


    The senior brother then opened an order for him, "You can come back for them in 3 days!"


    Zhang Tie hadn''t imagined that he could get these things in only 3 days.


    After exiting the Items Department, Zhang Tie returned to the teaching building of the Breaking-Heavens Department and paid for the compulsory courses during the first year


    Zhang Tie chose the following courses: "General History of Humanity", "Review on Human Culture on the Continents", "Geography", "The Great Charter of Brilliance", "Clan System" and "National Wealth Theory". All the above courses were Zhang Tie''s shortcomings that he might not have been able to learn about when in Blackhot City.


    All the above courses only required gold coin instead of clan contribution points. After submitting the gold coins, Zhang Tie could come to the Breaking Heaven-Department to listen to these courses at any time. Each course would be allocated between 3 teachers in the Breaking-Heavens Department. As the teaching schedules of these teachers were staggered, one could choose the appropriate teacher''s class at their discretion.


    As long as one felt that they could pass the test for a course, one could apply for the examination at any time of the year, even if one didn''t attend the class at all. By contrast, if one failed to pass the test, he had to take the course again to be qualified to attend the exam the next year. That meant that one had to pay for the course again. The resources in the Breaking-Heavens Department could never be used for free.


    After checking the schedule of these courses and his number for the examination, Zhang Tie finally had the feeling that he had truly started learning in the Breaking-Heavens Department and have become a member of the Department.


    After finishing to affairs in the Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie rushed to the wharf to set free fish as per usual. After that, he returned to the canteen of the Breaking-Heavens Department to have supper. When he went back to his residence in the Songtao Pavilion, Zhang Tie received the first letter from home.


    One week prior, Zhang Tie''s elder sister-in-law gave birth to a healthy, fat son for Zhang Tie''s elder brother. It weighed 2.3 kg. The third generation of Zhang Tie''s family finally came into this world. Zhang Tie, although being only 16 years old, had enjoyed the honor of being an uncle. His whole family became so excited that Zhang Tie''s dad named the baby Zhang Cheng''an[1].


    "Cheng''an...Cheng''an...can he really be safe?:" When he thought of the holy war between humans and demons, Zhang Tie suddenly felt a heavy burden on himself.


    Over the next 3 days, Zhang Tie became more diligent as he was trying to improve his real strength and broaden his horizons each day.


    In the morning, as a yaksha in the sea, Zhang Tie had to be in the pearl field 1 hour before those girls arrived at the Long Wind Pearl Field so as to check the situation of the sea near the pearl field and drive away sharks and some other dangerous marine organisms. If he couldn''t drive them away, he had to kill them without letting them bleed.


    After clearing up the dangerous creatures in the pearl field, Zhang Tie started to swim in the sea area around the pearl field with the other yakshas and formed several safety lines and flowing sentry posts underwater near the pearl field. It was a very labor-intensive work as yakshas had to stay in water for over 10 hours a day. Besides taking a breath every so often, they even had to rest under water. It became completely impossible for them to eat and drink.


    Yakshas couldn''t leave the sea until all the pearl divers and girls in the pearl field had left the water and the safe lamp of the lighthouse, which was built on the top of the castle beside the pearl field, was turned on.


    People who were capable of doing this work should have the following qualities: excellent diving skills, good physical strength, and a strong willing with a sense of responsibility.


    On the second day after Zhang Tie met and made the appointment with Liuxi for a drink, on the table, Zhang Tie was introduced to some friends of Liu Xi. As they were all of the same age and had no estrangement, they soon became familiar with each other. Knowing that Zhang Tie was a yaksha in the sea, they began to admire Zhang Tie''s diving skills. Through the new friends'' introduction, Zhang Tie knew more about the rules in the Breaking-Heavens Department.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie know that there was still a Hidden Dragon List in the Breaking-Heavens Department. There were 4 sub-lists under the Hidden Dragon List: Hidden Dragon Wealth List, Hidden Dragon Fighting Force List, Hidden Dragon Clan Contribution Points and Hidden Dragon Craftsmanship List. People who could rank first on the four sub-lists would be instantly arranged in an important position by the clan and became an outstanding person once he left the Hidden Dragon Palace. People whose names could be seen on the 4 sub-lists were definitely remarkable in the Breaking-Heavens Department. Everyone that cultivated in the Breaking-Heavens Department hoped to see their names on the 4 sub-lists.


    Those figures on the 4 sub-lists were all above level 7 and the elites of the Breaking Heaven Department.


    "Where can I see the 4 sub-lists?"


    "Hehe, as you are new here, you might not be familiar with it. You can see the 4 sub-lists in Qinyun Palace. Qinyun Palace is the place where we trade items and exchange intelligence. "Liu Xi replied.


    Zhang Tie then kept the sub-lists and the name of Qinyun Palace in mind and planned to go there to see the excellent figures of the Breaking-Heavens Department.


    Speaking of lists, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled the two senior brothers who chased after Deng Tong, the sea monster above water, and killed him on the passenger liner. The two senior brothers had distinctive styles, which greatly impressed Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie speculated that their names might be on the Hidden Dragon Fighting Force List.


    ...


    On the third day, after Zhang Tie finished his work as a yaksha in the sea and set free the fish, he came to the Items Department for his javelins. They were put in 3 big crates...


    [1] Cheng''an, ³Ð°², which means to be safe forever.

 296 Collision

    Chapter 296: Collision


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    The bamboo woods man told Zhang Tie about a simple way to complete his first evolution in his ancestral bloodline of precise throwing, namely ¡ª keep practicing! Practice precisely throwing with javelins of different sizes!


    Now that he knew he could precisely throw a 1.4 m javelin, how about throwing a 1.3 m javelin? And when he can precisely throw a 1.3 m javelin, how about throwing a 1.29 m one and then try throwing a 1.28 m one...


    As long as he kept practicing by constantly extending the applicable range of precise throwing and shortening the sizes of the javelins, Zhang Tie would definitely be able throw a knife, a bolt, a piece of stone, or a javelin head, which was only several inches in length, as precisely as he threw out a javelin. When he could accomplish this, he would finish his first round of evolution of his ancestral bloodline.


    After learning of this method from the bamboo woods man, Zhang Tie had been thinking about it a lot. For the majority of people, because precise throwing was not a senior ancestral bloodline, its power was completely determined by that person''s strength. However, because people''s strength was limited, when it reached a certain distance, the throwing power could not match that of a strong crossbow. The attack only depended on the sudden explosive force of a person while the power of a crossbow depended on the combination of the strong power of the bow and the human''s power. The two were not even on the same starting line.


    ''Although this is applicable to most people, it is not applicable to me, because I have the seven-strength fruits, which can improve my strength to a level which is out of normal person''s imagination. With only 9 wild wolf seven-strength fruits, I have already become so much more terrifyingly powerful than most people. What if I have 9 more huge wolf seven-strength fruits and 9 more golden wolf seven-strength fruits?


    ''Undoubtedly, that would mean that the power of precise throwing has no upper limit for me as it can constantly increase along with the seven-strength fruits that I eat.


    ''Based on this premise, once I finish the first round of evolution of my ancestral bloodline, besides javelins, I will also be able to use other lighter, smaller, and more portable items to complete throwing attacks. That means that items that are not powerful in others'' eyes will exert a terrifying power with my rising strength. By then, I will not only be like a movable, humanoid artillery battery, but also be the most terrifying king of hidden weapons.''


    When he imagined that once he raised his hands, he would scare off the enemy and make them flee in terror, Zhang Tie felt his blood boiling up throughout his body.


    After forming his Iron-Blood Battle Qi, Zhang Tie''s next target for his fighting skills was to complete the first round of evolution of his ancestral bloodline and apply his precise throwing skill for smaller objects.


    The javelins made by the Items Department for Zhang Tie were divided into 41 groups of different specifications. Each group contained 6 javelins. The lengths ranged from normal size to 5 inch, which looked like a dart. They were put in 3 big crates, weighing more than 1480 kg in total. Even though the 3 big crates were not too heavy, Zhang Tie could only carry them back to his room in the Songtao Pavilion over 3 trips.


    When Zhang Tie was carrying the last crate back, he met those girls who had wanted to take revenge for their junior sisters in the Breaking Heaven Department more than 10 days ago.


    7 or 8 men were behind them. There was total of more than 10 people all together. As they walked towards Zhang Tie while talking and laughing, unavoidably, they clashed with him.


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel like talking with those girls as they acted so strange to Zhang Tie. Additionally, Zhang Tie was very busy and had no time to care about how they felt towards him.


    Zhang Tie really felt that there was nothing to say, but the girls seemed to be very hateful towards him. When Zhang Tie was still over 10 m away from those girls, they had already fixed their eyes full of ''killing intent'' onto him.


    "I heard that you''ve not selected the fundamental moves and shield defense skill?" One of those girls said icily when she was close to Zhang Tie.


    "I''ve not got enough clan contribution points. I''m doing tasks first!" Zhang Tie calmly answered while both of them stopped walking.


    "I hope that you never select those 2 compulsory fighting courses."


    "Never mind, I will not live up to your good intention, senior sisters!"


    ''What a joke! You want me to scare me off?'' Zhang Tie felt that it was a bit ridiculous, ''These girls really take themselves too seriously!''


    "Humph... I hope you don''t eat your own words!"


    After this, Zhang Tie and that girl didn''t talk any more and kept walking on. However, Zhang Tie had not expected that only after a few steps away, he had heard those girls talking with a man which immediately stopped Zhang Tie.


    "Is this brat that Zhang Tie? I lost more than 100 gold coins because of him. He doesn''t look that great..."


    "That''s him. It is really very strange for him to form Iron-Blood Battle Qi in one day. I was told that Iron-Blood Battle Qi could not be formed without being very brave. I really wonder how he could form it so smoothly!"


    "He''s a talent, but he has a poor reputation among the girls in the Zhixing Department. That''s why Ruomei and the other junior sisters requested that we teach him a lesson!"


    "What talent? He''s just fortunate..." A faintly hoarse voice was heard, "I was told that his dad was a crap, who was chosen to marry a woman with a different surname. Finally, his dad stealthily eloped with that woman. As his dad is a douchebag, how could his son be that great..."


    "Senior brother Qiguo, watch out your words, please!"


    After stopping his footsteps, Zhang Tie turned back. With a loud sound, he threw the crate of 500 kg onto the ground. Hearing the killing intent from the falling crate, in a split second, they stopped walking and turned around.


    Zhang Tie faintly narrowed his eyes as he looked at them with a cold expression and said in an icy voice, "The one who mentioned my dad, if you kneel down in front of me and kowtow for my dad three times and slap yourself 10 times to apologize to my dad, I will take it as if nothing has happened!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the others'' faces changed.


    "Zhang Tie, you..."


    Before one of the girls frowned and wanted to say something, she was stopped by Zhang Tie''s reproach.


    "Shut up! It''s got nothing to do with you!"


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was totally like a different person as he was not as calm or happy as before.


    "Junior brother, senior brother just made an indiscreet remark just now, don''t be that aggressive!"


    "An indiscreet remark? If he could about swear about his dad ten times like before, I will trust you!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, that person opened his mouth, yet his voice didn''t come out at all.


    Zhang Tie then fixed his eyes on the male boys among the group of people like a wolf as he growled, "Who said it just now? Where you are?"


    "I said it, so what?" A young man around the age of 20 with a lanky face walked 2 steps forward as he raised his head and looked at Zhang Tie with a cold smile, "Don''t think that you are unrivaled just because you''ve formed your Iron-Blood Battle Qi, as we''re in the Breaking Heaven Department, I want to test your Iron-Blood Battle Qi..."


    Soon after he said this, his face abruptly changed. At the same time, Zhang Tie exploded his Battle-Qi Totem ¡ª Bloody Banner. In the dense roiling Bloody Battle Qi, a golden terrifying hell-black spider gradually rose up from behind Zhang Tie like a giant. Finally the horrible monster which was as tall as a building started to look down at those people with icy eyes while a burning, dense, bloody energy like lively flames enshrouded everyone present.


    Zhang Tie''s battle qi totem was very frightening and shocking even from afar, let alone standing just in front the battle qi totem and being enshrouded by the qi field and frame of the whole battle qi totem.


    The group of people in the opposite of Zhang Tie needed to raise up their heads to be able to see the whole battle qi totem. That hell-black spider was like a burning mountain which carried the fury and will of Zhang Tie; erected in front of everyone. When they looked into the 4 rows of 8 pitch-black icy eyes on the battle qi totem which was dozens of meters high, they would feel like they were gazing into hell. The feeling of darkness and fear was oppressive enough to frighten those timid ones and make them fall onto the ground.


    Being influenced by Zhang Tie''s great oppression and qi field, those people who were enshrouded by Zhang Tie''s battle qi totem all started to roll up their own battle qi totems.


    Most of their battle qi totems were LV 7 centipedes; only a few of them were LV 8 king snakes. Their battle qi totems varied from 2 m to 5 m. These battle qi totems in front of Zhang Tie''s hell-black spider were like infants in front of an adult. When they stood on the opposite side, it felt that Zhang Tie''s hell-black spider was going to eat those centipedes and king snakes like eating dim sum...


    The battle qi totem of that guy with a lanky face was also a LV 8 king snake. Looking at Zhang Tie who was walking towards him, that man''s battle qi totem also started to shake violently while a weird expression flashed across his eyes!


    "Move back..." Noticing the increasingly dangerous atmosphere over the two men, the other guys hurriedly moved back to make some space for them.


    Where there were men, there were collisions. Therefore, it was not strange to have collisions in the Breaking Heaven Department. When those collisions could not be solved orally, in accordance with the current rules, they could only be settled through their fists. When a big problem arose from a fight, for instance one party was killed or one party believed that something was amiss, it would be solved by the Disciplinary Department of Hidden Dragon Palace according to the rules of the Breaking Heaven Department.


    The moment the other people near that person moved back, Zhang Tie had already launched an attack; making the stone slabs under his feet completely shatter into small pieces. In a split second, Zhang Tie shot out like a bolt while launching his fist towards that person''s head, which was accompanied by the tiger''s roar of the wind...

 297 I’m Long

    Chapter 297: I¡¯m Long


    Translator: WQLEditor: - -


    Zhang Tie used the fastest and most aggressive movement of the 36 free hand movements of the Iron-blood Fist¡ª¡ªMountain Collapse Punch.


    He gathered the strength from his legs. The punch contained an unrivaled power and was full of Zhang Tie¡¯s determination, decisiveness and wild-fire like fury.


    Anyone who dared to insult Zhang Tie¡¯s family members had to face Zhang Tie¡¯s fury in the equivalent of a life and death battle.


    Even though this member of the Breaking-Heavens Department had reached level 8, he still dared not to directly face Zhang Tie¡¯s fist with Iron-blood battle qi; instead, he chose to avoid Zhang Tie¡¯s attack.


    The guy moved so fast that when Zhang Tie launched his punch towards him, he immediately flashed away and reached a position 5 steps away from Zhang Tie¡¯s left.


    It was also Zhang Tie¡¯s first time encountering such an opponent. In a split second, he had already avoided his punch. Commoners could only feel that person suddenly disappeared; however, with super high spiritual energy, Zhang could slow down his movement and see clearly what he had done. That person didn¡¯t disappear all of sudden but used strange movements. As a result, he instantly escaped out of Zhang Tie¡¯s attack range.


    "Mountain splitting ax!". After the punch, Zhang Tie instantly tilted his body as he slashed his right leg towards that man like a big ax. That man then escaped away once again. At the same time, Zhang Tie¡¯s leg broke the air and made a sharp sound before touching the ground, leaving a 2 m long and 30 cm deep rift.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s 36 free hand movements of the Iron-blood Fist were so fluent that soon after the Mountain Splitting Ax was used, the moment his feet landed, Zhang Tie instantly surged forward with a bow-like stance and attacked that man¡¯s lower abdomen with a heavy elbow. The man flashed away for the third time. Zhang Tie then used a horizontal sword palm, causing a tearing sound in the air.


    When Zhang Tie hacked onto the ground with the Fierce Mountain Collapse Axe. Every onlooker felt a faint earthquake. Knowing the power of Zhang Tie¡¯s Iron-blood Fist, all of them changed their faces. After exchanging glances, they all saw a wisp of fear and shock in the eyes of the opponent. Although they knew that Iron-blood Fist and Iron-blood battle qi were great, none of them had imagined that it could be that great. Zhang Tie was only level 6. That was too absurd.


    Anyone who directly faced Zhang Tie¡¯s attacks just now would be severely wounded. That was too fierce to stand. What was more amazing was that Zhang Tie kept applying his fierce fist movements as smoothly and rapidly as an untiring machine. He kept launching attacks towards Zhang Guoqing. However, Zhang Guoqing escaped from his attacks each time through weird foot movements.


    "Is Iron-blood fist truly that great?" That man among the onlookers who talked with Zhang Tie just now started to mumble when he watched Zhang Tie¡¯s flexible moving shadow. Of course, he could judge from Zhang Tie¡¯s movements that Zhang Tie had only cultivated Iron-blood Fist and nothing else. Additionally, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t receive any systematic training on fighting skills; for instance, Zhang Tie had not mastered the fundamental movements which was a compulsory course in the Breaking-Heavens Department. He didn¡¯t see any fighting skills in the Secret Knowledge Pavilion from Zhang Tie either. Even though, by only using Iron-blood fist, Zhang Tie had already beaten Zhang Qingguo so fiercely that Zhang Qingguo didn¡¯t even have a chance to fight back; instead, he just escaped here and there.


    During this process, Zhang Qingguo also tried to launch attacks several times; however, Zhang Tie just ignored his attacks. Zhang Tie kept attacking him without any inclination to defend or escape from his attacks at all. Zhang Tie was definitely fighting him at the price of life. In fear of Zhang Tie¡¯s Iron-blood battle qi, Zhang Qingguo didn¡¯t even dare to directly face Zhang Tie. In every instance in which Zhang Qingguo prepared to fight back, he had been forced by Zhang Tie to give up and run away.


    It was okay at the beginning; however, as the battle between them continued, the scene became as follows: Zhang Tie chased after Zhang Qingguo by beating him while Zhang Qingguo kept escaping from his attacks.


    At the beginning, Zhang Qingguo was thinking about looking for a chance to fight back when the latter was tired. However, after being chased after and beaten for more than 10 minutes, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t feel tired at all. Instead, he became more spirited and could use his movements more smoothly. As a result, the roar of a tiger and the breaking-air sound along with his punches became sharper and sharper. Zhang Qingguo¡¯s face then turned black as his forehead started to ooze a cold sweat.


    Hearing the noise, the number of onlookers also increased.


    "Come here and have a look, a level 6 junior brother is chasing after and beating a level 8 senior brother. The level 8 senior brother was beaten so fiercely that he escaped everywhere..."Among the new onlookers, some wicked guys shouted loudly. Hearing that yell, Zhang Qingguo almost spurted out a mouthful of blood.


    Right then, Zhang Tie left an opening on his right ribs to Zhang Qingguo. Immediately, Zhang Qingguo attacked Zhang Tie¡¯s right ribs. When he made it, Zhang Qingguo¡¯s heart pounded. However, before he became excited, he became shocked as Zhang Tie directly clipped his hand with right arm by making a turn.


    Zhang Tie was so powerful that he instantly clipped Zhang Qingguo¡¯s right hand tightly like a pair of pliers. Zhang Qingguo could not draw his right hand out at all. As a result, his right hand instantly became numb.


    When Zhang Qingguo¡¯s right hand was clipped under Zhang Tie¡¯s armpit, his partners were all shocked, "That¡¯s awful!". Nobody had imagined that Zhang Tie who was only level 6 could beat Zhang Qingguo, who was 2 levels higher than him. The chance left by Zhang Tie was made for the purpose of catching Zhang Qingguo.


    "Let¡¯s see how you escape now!" Seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s bloody mouth and grim smile, Zhang Qingguo became greatly shocked as he shouted loudly, "Argh!" When he could not withdraw his right hand, he wanted to stomp onto Zhang Tie¡¯s foot; however, before he raised his foot, Zhang Tie¡¯s left foot had already raised up and stomped his foot. All of a sudden, Zhang Qingguo felt like he was being fixed by a big iron nail into the ground.


    When he could not move his foot, he could only use the left hand. The two men both responded very quickly.


    When Zhang Qingguo smacked Zhang Tie¡¯s chest with a left punch, Zhang Tie directly punched Zhang Qingguo¡¯s lower abdomen.


    At this moment, as they could only move one hand and one foot, the two men were stuck together.


    Zhang Qingguo¡¯s punch and Zhang Tie¡¯s punch were both fierce. As a result, they both spurted out a mouthful of blood and were wounded.


    Plus the last time when he left an opening to Zhang Qingguo, Zhang Tie was beaten twice before spurted out blood; however, the Iron-blood Fist was so fierce that the moment he touched Zhang Qingguo¡¯s lower abdomen, he had made Zhang Qingguo spurt out blood.


    After suffering from a punch from each other and spurting out blood respectively, Zhang Tie and Zhang Qingguo¡¯s eyes both turned red. They gritted their teeth tightly as they stared at each other¡¯s eyes. Using no fighting skills, they just punched each other at the price of blood and wounds. They wanted to know who could have the last laugh.


    All the onlookers had been dumbfounded as none of them had imagined that the two people would fight in such a fierce manner.


    One was level 6 and cultivated the Iron-blood Fist while the other was level 8 and cultivated another high-end battle qi and had been in the Breaking-Heavens Department for a long time. In only several seconds, the two had already attacked each other more than 10 times respectively, causing them spurt blood heavily.


    The one who fell down first was Zhang Qingguo. Zhang Tie kept punching his lower abdomen many times, causing him spurt blood and lose the strength to fight back. Gradually, he bent over and knelt down in front of Zhang Tie. Then, he showed the whites of his eyes as he lay down on the ground and panted like a dead fish.


    Spurting blood, Zhang Tie directly rode on his back and clenched his collar as he asked, "Are you wrong?"


    Receiving no response, Zhang Tie slapped his face...


    "Are you wrong?"... "Pah"...


    "Are you wrong?"... "Pah"...


    "Are you wrong?"... "Pah"...


    "Are you wrong?"... "Pah"...


    "Are you wrong?"... "Pah"...


    Under Zhang Tie¡¯s crotch, after being slapped more than 10 times, that guy¡¯s face had become swollen. At the same time, his eyes were full of fear like looking at a ghost. Staring at Zhang Tie¡¯s firm and cruel expression, he definitely believed that as long as he didn¡¯t reply, he was doomed to be slapped to death here...


    "Are you wrong?"


    "Long..." That person¡¯s mouth had been so swollen that he could not even utter clearly.


    Zhang Tie grinned, "I want your apology!"


    "I...em long...I...em...solly...!"


    Hearing his apology, Zhang Tie finally loosened his grasp and stood up from the ground. He then lowered his head and watched that person, "If you think that you¡¯re not wrong and want to fight me, I¡¯ll wait for you at any time. Duels are also okay. I¡¯ll accompany you anytime! However, if I hear those words from you next time, I¡¯ll kill you!"


    Standing up, Zhang Tie glanced at his partners before wiping off the blood from the corners of his mouth and slowly walked towards his crate.


    Seeing Zhang Tie coming towards them, the onlookers all gave way. Many people even cast admirable glances towards him. Zhang Tie came to the crate as he took a deep breath and forcefully picked it up from the ground before walking away towards the Songtao Pavilion.


    Lying on the ground, that man¡¯s eyes were full of complaints and hatred...


    Looking at Zhang Qingguo¡¯s expression, some of his partners faintly frowned their foreheads...

 298 Demons were Found

    Chapter 298: Demons were Found


    Translator: WQLEditor: - -


    Zhang Tie returned to his room, No. 7, in Songtao Pavilion while taking cold breaths. He was taking cold breaths because of the pain from his wounds; however, at the same time, he revealed a slight smile.


    After eating iron-body fruits for so long, Zhang Tie had not enjoyed the benefit of iron-body fruits in real battle until today. When Zhang Tie fought with that person just now, the benefits of the iron-body fruits truly showed and helped him win the fight. If there were no iron-body fruit, even though he could''ve won the battle, it would never have been that easy. Neither could he carry a crate of 400 to 500 kg back after such a fierce battle.


    When he left a chance to that person and pinned that person''s hand, he was betting that he could stand that person''s strike instead of being heavily wounded, being killed, or being sent flying away. He guessed right. After eliminating that guy''s advantage by fixing his foot, Zhang Tie won the battle. His confidence came from the iron-body fruit which formed when he dove in water in recent days. Now that the iron-body fruit could help him resist against greater pressure from sea water, it could definitely bring him a greater strike-resistant ability.


    If he didn''t beat that guy and prevent him from moving, to tell the truth, Zhang Tie wouldn''t know the outcome of the fight. That guy moved so weirdly. If they were fighting in another place where there were no onlookers, that guy would actually find it impossible to lose the battle because of his weird moving skills.


    That douchebag was first beaten by Zhang Tie''s self-respect, then the iron-body fruit, and finally Zhang Tie.


    Thankfully, Zhang Tie won his bet.


    On the way back to the Songtao Pavilion, Zhang Tie recalled how he fought that guy and summed up the experience.


    ''If that guy had a sword, there might have been a different outcome. I wonder what he used to use. Certainly, if I have a javelin, that douchebag is doomed to die.'' Generally speaking, both people had exerted their full strength. However, they didn''t use all of their fighting skills. If various fighting skills were available, Zhang Tie was confident to finish that person in the shortest period.


    Zhang Tie admired that person''s weird and agile moving skills inside. He had determined to learn fundamental movements soon after he got enough clan contribution points. As he had not received systematic training, he was weak in moving skills. As long as he mastered the fundamental movements, he could definitely increase the power of iron-blood fist many times over.


    After returning to his room, Zhang Tie put down his crate as he felt a sharp pain in his lungs.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t help but cough up some blood...


    ''That guy''s punches are too heavy!'' Zhang Tie knew that he had suffered internal injuries.


    Zhang Tie went to the washroom to spit out the blood. He then cleaned himself up before going to the cultivation room.


    The Xuan No. 7 cultivation room of Songtao Pavilion was not large as it only covered a bit more than 10 square meters. The room was paved with refreshing pine wood floor. As sun light was cast in the cultivation room for most of the daytime, the cultivation room would feel warm and very comfortable at night. Zhang Tie walked towards the cattail hassock and sat on it. Looking at the setting sun in the distance, Zhang Tie slowly adjusted his breathing as he closed his eyes and became relaxed enough to sense inside his body...


    Two hours later, dusk fell. After studying the inside of his body, Zhang Tie felt that his wounds were recovering in way faster as he opened his eyes.


    Benefiting from the effect of preliminary recovery body, after sunset, the healing and recovery ability of Zhang Tie started to accelerate from 215% to 430%. At this moment, Zhang Tie''s recovering speed had reached 4 times that of normal people. That meant, it only took Zhang Tie 1 hour to reach the effect of 4 hours'' recovery of most people.


    Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile as he stood up from the cattail hassock. Finally, he witnessed the powerful combination of the preliminary recovery body and iron-body fruit.


    Feeling a bit hungry, Zhang Tie left the Songtao Pavilion and entered the canteen of the Breaking Heaven Department.


    The conditions in the canteen of the Breaking Heaven Department were better than those of the Zhixing Department. With the payment of 1 gold coin a day, Breaking Heaven Department provided various free buffets around the clock in order to meet different people''s schedule. Therefore, one could enjoy food here at any time. Zhang Tie was very satisfied about this.


    The preliminary recovery body could not only bring Zhang Tie a great physical recovery ability, a higher toxin immune ability, and a fatal wounds endurance ability, but also bring him a better appetite. Especially as he didn''t eat lunch, in the evening Zhang Tie easily ate two men''s worth of food. He didn''t leave until he was almost full.


    After exiting the canteen, Zhang Tie only walked less than 1 minute before he met a person and asked him about the location of the Qinyun Palace.


    Qinyun Palace was definitely more boisterous in the evening than it was in the daytime. From afar, Zhang Tie had already seen the magnificent building. When he was close, he saw many senior brothers of Breaking Heaven Department accessing here. As Zhang Tie was too common, nobody even glanced at him.


    After entering the main entrance of Breaking Heaven Department and passing a porch, Zhang Tie arrived at a brightly-lit hall. The moment he entered the hall, Zhang Tie was attracted by the four 10-m high lists.


    Above the four lists were three golden words "Hidden Dragon List", closely below which were a line of smaller words, "Hidden Dragon Wealth List", "Hidden Dragon Fighting Force List", "Hidden Dragon Clan Contribution List" and "Hidden Dragon Craftsmanship List". Each sub-list contained 50 names.


    After taking a careful look, Zhang Tie found a pattern, namely, 7 of the top 10 in the "Hidden Dragon Wealth List" could be found in the top 10 of the "Hidden Dragon Craftsmanship List" except for a small difference in ranks. Similarly, many people of the top 10 in the "Hidden Dragon Fighting Force List" occupied the top ranks in the "Hidden Dragon Clan Contribution List".


    After a short while, Zhang Tie figured it out. Those who could enter the "Hidden Dragon Craftsmanship List" were definitely elites who cultivated various professions in the Breaking Heaven Department, such as rune manufacturers and alchemists. As long as they had gained some achievements, it would be easy for them to make money. Likewise, those in the "Hidden Dragon Fighting Force List" were definitely able to complete highly difficult clan tasks and gain more clan contribution points.


    What Zhang Tie had not imagined was that his cousin Zhang Su''s name ranked 46 in the "Hidden Dragon Craftsmanship List". No wonder Zhang Tie felt his cousin was a bit arrogant most of the time.


    When Zhang Tie glanced over the 4 lists, the gate was thrown open and a senior brother rushed into the hall while waving something. He shouted so loudly that everybody could hear, "Urgent news, urgent news! Demons were found on the Hurricane Plateau in the west of Golan Empire, demons were found on the Hurricane Plateau in the west of Golan Empire!"


    The moment he shouted out, the noisy hall suddenly became so quiet that even a needle falling onto the ground would''ve been heard.


    10 seconds later, someone asked, "Are you serious?"


    "This is the brief on the intelligence of the continent transmitted by the clan from Yiyang City. Two days ago, when a cavalry unit of a Celtic prefecture in the west of Golan Empire conducted their routine patrol along the border of the Hurricane Plateau, they met a small troop of demons. Finally, less than 1/10 of that cavalry unit returned. Because it was related to demons, Golan Empire has already reported this battle to the Waii Sub-Continent Human Central Countries Alliance. Additionally, yesterday, Golan Empire released the Demons Killing Order and opened the border between the Celtic Prefecture and Hurricane Plateau to all the pioneers, adventurers and fighters across the Waii Sub-continent."


    The hall became quiet once again...


    "This might mean nothing. Since the 2nd holy war between human beings and demons, small demon troops were always found slipping into human territory suddenly. The latest demon troops were found 27 years ago on the Waii Sub-continent..." Someone said loudly.


    "There''s one more possibility. The demons have already broken through the underground channel from the Dark Continent to the Hurricane Plateau. If so..."


    A chilly sense was felt in the hall...


    That person didn''t talk any more while everybody else understood what he meant. If the demons truly had broken through the underground channel from the Dark Continent to the Hurricane Plateau, from now on, there would be more and more demons on the Hurricane Plateau. As soon as the demons prepared well, the demons'' army would gather on the Hurricane Plateau, which meant the 3rd holy war between human beings and demons would arrive.


    Each corps of demons included around 400,000 to 500,000 demon fighters. In each holy war, the demons would send out hundreds, or even thousands of corps while each demon corps was the nightmare of human kind!

 299 Strange Solution

    Chapter 299: Strange Solution


    Translator: WQLEditor: - -


    While many people were still in the hall discussing the news of demons appearing on the Hurricane Plateau in the west of Golan Empire, Zhang Tie had already left the hall after skimming the brief intelligence on Waii Sub-continent sent from the clan in the recent months.


    The brief intelligence could help those in the Breaking Heaven Department stay informed about the events around the continent so that the Breaking Heaven Department was not isolated from the outside world. After all, the Zhang clan was cultivating elites, not hermits, in the Breaking Heaven Department.


    From the brief intelligence in the last month, Zhang Tie found the news that he was truly concerned about ¡ª after half a year, the war between Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty in Kalur Region had ended. After that, the Selindor family which ruled Kalur city officially declared the founding of a new country centered around Kalur city with Alexia Selindor officially became the Queen of Kalur.


    The new country centered around Kalur City was a typical pocket kingdom. On the founding day, Kalur''s Queen officially declared that they would remain neutral.


    Zhang Tie knew that the reason that the Selindor family dared to declare the founding of a new country was because a powerful alchemist was backing their family. Neither Norman Empire nor Sun Dynasty would challenge two powerful enemies at the price of offending an alchemist with terrifying power.


    The war in the Kalur region ceased, which was good news for Zhang Tie. Because, his friends in the Blackhot City and the Iron-Blood Camp didn''t have to go to battle again. In contrast, the news about demons on the Hurricane Plateau in the west of Golan Empire was quite bad for Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie thought that if it was just a small demon troop or the demons had truly found the tunnel towards the underground world of the Hurricane Plateau, it was not a good sign.


    The demons were drawing closer, which means the holy war between humans and demons was drawing ever closer. Those big figures among human beings were also preparing for the coming holy war, making the sense of a coming chaotic world more obvious.


    After skimming over the brief intelligence sent by the Zhang clan from outside, Zhang Tie knew that there was always a hidden flow on the Waii Sub-continent in the latest months. The tragedy case of the whole family of one senior of the Karol Federal Alchemists Association was killed had not been solved, and the King of the Leica Kingdom was assassinated. After that, because of the competition for the throne between the infantes and the princes, Leica Kingdom was instantly divided and troubled by civil war.


    At the same time, some countries along the Niin River, which was known as the granary of the Human Corridor, were suffering from a rare plague of insects. As a result, all grain production suffered a sharp reduction this year.


    Additionally, the previously safe airlines now continuously suffered from dangerous wild beasts'' attacks. Some regular airlines even had to be abandoned. In this case, the airborne traffic connections between countries of the human corridor started to be fragile as many countries even started to dispatch war-time airships to join in the protection of regular airlines...


    Zhang Tie went back to the Songtao Pavilion in a poor mood.


    After entering his room, Zhang Tie didn''t ignite the lamp in his room; instead he just meditated in the dark room for almost 10 minutes before silently entered the Castle of Black Iron.


    When the dreamlike, colorful fog and the tender, bright light of Castle of Black Iron reappeared in front of Zhang Tie''s eyes, Zhang Tie gradually felt better.


    By then, Castle of Black Iron had become more vigorous. Compared to that previous barren land, the inside of Castle of Black Iron had become larger with one more lake of 200,000 square meters. The lake was Zhang Tie''s achievement in the latest months.


    In the latest months, Zhang Tie had absorbed too much sea water into the Castle of Black Iron. After the sea water was converted into basic energy storage, it had become a huge figure that Zhang Tie had never imagined. Because of the sufficient amount of stored basic energy, the ambitious Heller used a part of the energy and built a freshwater lake that he had long planned, using the space and terrain renovation function of Castle of Black Iron.


    At this moment, at the sight of that shimmering lake in the far, Zhang Tie felt a great difference as the whole Castle of Black Iron made him pleasant and opening.


    After all, human beings liked water.


    Zhang Tie then came to the side of the small tree and looked at the fruits on it.


    The latest Leakless Fruit would become ripe in 3 days. With 2 more Leakless Fruits, Zhang Tie would ignite the 9th surge point. It would be more difficult for him to realize that compared to his previous promotions. He needed to ignite 5 more surge points to reach LV 7. It was as difficult as promoting from LV 1 to LV 5. The higher the level was, the more terrifying it would be to promote. Of course, one would also see a substantial growth of their strength and power at each higher level.


    The latest iron-body fruit had become 95% ripe and could be eaten tomorrow. The only fruit that he could eat today was a Fruit of Redemption that formed because of the sand-scale fish that he set free in the fish market of the wharf today.


    ¡ª Fruit of Redemption ¡ª gratitude from sand-scale fish; Fruit of Redemption has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª This fruit will allow Castle Lord to increase your cold-resistance in water and cold environments and sensitivity to water flow by 8% each.


    ¡ª After eating it, Castle Lord will be able to increase your cold-resistance in water and cold environments and your sensitivity to water flow by 702% each in total compared to your earliest condition.


    Zhang Tie picked it off and ate it. When he fully digested the fruit and absorbed its effect, Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he found that Heller had been long standing under the stone stairs of the small tree, waiting for him to open his eyes.


    "Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome back to the Castle of Black Iron!" Opening his eyes, Zhang Tie found that Heller was bowing towards him.


    The words from a person brought Zhang Tie a greater vanity than a line of written words; however, Zhang Tie faintly felt shameless to be called handsome and magnificent in front of Heller as the latter''s face was too handsome that it even made Zhang Tie jealous.


    Zhang Tie rubbed his face as he walked downstairs and said, "Hmm, Heller, from now on, you don''t need to add the prefixes "handsome" and "magnificent", just call me Castle Lord!"


    "As you will!" Heller faintly bent his body and looked pretty perfect while Zhang Tie mumbled, "Where are Edward, Aziz and Agan?"


    "Because it''s quite late, they''ve already gone to bed! I also realize that when Castle Lord entered..."


    Zhang Tie then realized that Edward, Aziz, Agan and Heller were actually like normal people as they also needed food and sleep.


    "As there''s no night here, are you used to the living here?"


    "Because this space is connected with that world outside through you, in order to make you comfortable, the time and environment here is synchronous to that outside. We also have night; but it becomes bright when Castle Lord enters, just like a house automatically turns on its light when its owner comes back!"


    "Is that true?" Zhang Tie suddenly became interested, "Can you show me the night here?"


    Having entering Castle of Black Iron for many times, he always saw daytime here, Zhang Tie didn''t know what the night in Castle of Black Iron look like yet.


    "Castle Lord wants to see the night here?"


    "Yes!"


    The moment Zhang Tie replied, without seeing what Heller did, the whole space in the Castle of Black Iron became as dark as outside. The colorful fog in the Castle of Black Iron suddenly became dark, only leaving a faint brilliance on a ball of fog which was suspended in the sky like the moons outside. Even the visibility was almost identical to outside.


    His mouth slightly agape, Zhang Tie looked around the dark surroundings as he had not imagined that it could change so fast. However, Zhang Tie felt a sense of curiosity in the darkness of Castle of Black Iron.


    "Is the night here always like this?"


    "No, the brightness and visibility here is adjustable in the night. They totally depend on the moving trajectories of the 2 moons outside. When the 2 moons outside are full, the night here would be the brightest. When the double crescents arrive in the outside, the night here would be the darkest. The night here is the same as outside." Heller replied.


    "Just remain synchronous with the world outside from today on. When I enter, no need to adjust it into daytime when it should be night. Just follow the rule of the nature!" Zhang Tie looked around as he said.


    The night in Castle of Black Iron felt especially tranquil and beautiful.


    "Fine! As you will!" Heller revealed a smile as he reminded Zhang Tie, "The variety of plant seeds here are not enough. The more complete the collection of plant seeds is in the Castle of Black Iron; the more aura value will be produced. Increasing aura value would be useful in many aspects in the future. If Castle Lord has any free time, will you bring in some plants or plant seeds. Wetland plants and aquatic plants that are suitable to live in fresh water would be preferred!"


    "I will try my best!" Zhang Tie became a bit bashful as he replied. Heller, the steward was too responsible. Compared to him, Zhang Tie was really like a lazy owner who needed to be reminded all the time.


    The moment Zhang Tie wanted to leave, Heller further reminded him which stopped him.


    "Castle Lord, you must have been too busy recently, you might have forgotten about the vats of solution that you made using essential-energy reiki yeast and fruits. They''ve completed fermented for a while!"


    "Argh!" Zhang Tie slapped his forehead as he''d almost forgotten about this.


    Zhang Tie then rushed to the lab and opened one of the huge porcelain vat with curiosity...


    A strange yet alluring fragrance drifted out of the top of the porcelain vat. In a instant, the whole lab was full of the smell.


    Zhang Tie became stunned ¡ª ''What...what''s this? It smells so good...''

 300 Strange Solution II

    Chapter 300: Strange Solution II


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Last night, Zhang Tie slept very well. When he got up on the next morning, he felt fully energetic and had recovered his vitality again.


    After getting up, Zhang Tie warmed up his body by stretching his limbs and doing some movements. Suddenly, he realized that most of his wounds had recovered overnight.


    "Yi?"


    Zhang Tie tried a few more times and found that the wounds truly had been recovered. Previously, Zhang Tie estimated that it would probably take him a couple of days to completely recover based on his preliminary recovery body, he hadn''t imagined that he had almost fully recovered overnight. To be serious, the effect over last night was at least equal to two days of good rest.


    Zhang Tie felt that he had mainly benefited from the 430% healing and recovery effect of his preliminary recovery body at night, therefore, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t think too much of it.


    When cleaning up in the washroom, Zhang Tie looked at the juvenile with a high color in the mirror as he exposed his two rows of white teeth and grinned. He then encouraged himself loudly, "Come on, come on, come on!"


    Each morning, Zhang Tie would encourage himself loudly in the mirror.


    Until he started brushing teeth when he licked his lips did Zhang Tie feel the fragrance of the residue of the essential-energy Reika yeast that he drunk last night.


    It was so good that Zhang Tie hadn''t drunk such a marvelous thing before. It was like a beverage, but it tasted like alcohol although it wasn''t. It tasted sour, sweet and cool. Although it was fermented by shattered fruits, its luster and taste were utterly different from the same type of yeast solution that he had drunk before at home.


    It tasted more mellow and distant. As long as he had it in his mouth, he could feel the spirit and vitality in the liquid.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t describe how it felt. After drinking it, Zhang Tie only felt that all his pores had opened. He felt comfortable and refreshing all over.


    Additionally, after drinking it, he also slept pretty well.


    After cleaning up, the moment he thought about the taste of the solution, Zhang Tie started to drool. Patting his forehead, Zhang Tie swore, "Stupid, as long as I take a bottle, I can drink it at any time."


    After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie found an aluminum military kettle. He then cleaned it with water. After that, he directly locked his consciousness on the solution in the big vat in the lab of the Castle of Black Iron.


    All of a sudden, a trickle appeared in the kettle. Only after a short while, the whole kettle was full of the special liquid.


    After shaking the kettle full of the solution in his hand, Zhang Tie smiled as he felt that he had the potential to be a magician. If he made a performance with this talent, he could definitely arise others¡¯ attention.


    After doing this, Zhang Tie carried this kettle and lifted one crate that contained various javelins of different sizes before leaving his room. He went to the canteen to have breakfast first before going to the Long Wind Pearl Field.


    "Zhang Tie, what¡¯s that crate for?" Senior Chen walked towards him and asked. As Zhang Tie had been in the Long Wind Pearl Field for several days, he had been familiar with the other workers there.


    Senior Chen was both an old staff and a yaksha in the Pearl Field. He had been working in the Pearl Field for dozens of years. He was the very person who tested Zhang Tie¡¯s diving skills.


    "Nothing serious, these are weapons. I customize them from the Items Department. When we finished work tonight, I will take these javelins to the town for sale. They might worth several gold coins!" Zhang Tie raved. Of course, these javelins were not for sale.


    "Haha, you clever boy..." Senior Chen shook his head as he said, "There was also someone did this in the Breaking-Heavens Department before. They wanted to sell the items from the Items Department in town. However, things didn¡¯t proceed as they expect!"


    "Why?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "Although the items in the Items Department are well produced, they are of high cost. Therefore, it¡¯s impossible for you to sell them at a higher price. Additionally, most of those people have been well prepared for coming to the island. Few people would buy weapons here. Additionally, there are weapon stores on the island. Don¡¯t you know that?"


    "Argh!" Zhang Tie shouted loudly like having been greatly shocked before revealing a sad expression, "Do you mean that I suffer a great loss this time? I¡¯ve spent too much for those items..."


    "Heh heh, such pitfall isn''t too bad, with your wit..." Senior Chen patted Zhang Tie¡¯s shoulder as he said like an experienced man.


    When they talked, the other 3 yakshas from the Breaking-Heavens Department arrived. They were all Zhang Tie¡¯s senior brothers, who were respectively called Yang Yuankang, Zhang Lin, and Zhu Wenqiang. They were all level 7. With good diving skills, they were here to gain clan contribution points.


    Among all the yakshas in the sea here, Zhang Tie¡¯s level was the lowest as he was only level 6. However, Zhang Tie¡¯s performance was really excellent.


    When they saw Zhang Tie¡¯s big crate, they all wondered what it was for. After senior Chen explained what Zhang Tie had told him to them, all the other yakshas laughed.


    "Junior brother, there''s no need to do that. As long as you have good diving skills, there are many opportunities to make money in the sea!"


    "Alright, come on, let¡¯s start work. After a while, those pearl divers and girls would go into the sea!" Senior Chen urged aside, "Just put your crate here. I will keep an eye on it for you!"


    Zhang Tie then put down his crate before following them downstairs to the underground floor of the castle.


    There was a huge underground space over 30 m wide under the castle. A huge dark blue seawater pond was inside, which was connected to the sea. Through this entrance, they could enter the sea.


    After they reached the underground space, senior Chen lifted the steel fence under the water pond. Zhang Tie and the other yakshas started to take off their clothes. As they were all men, they didn¡¯t feel shameful to take off all of their clothes. After that, they started to put on diving trousers made of shark¡¯s skin and carry underwater weapons and equipment.


    Yakshas always used water-shed daggers, common daggers, underwater crossbows and dragon-king forks. Each of these weapons was available. If one was confident in himself, it was also okay if he didn¡¯t carry any weapon, even his webbed feet. However, one must carry the cross-cloud arrow that was used to send a warning.


    The cross-cloud arrow was like a crossbow cylinder, each of which was as long as 30 cm. As long as the one emerged from the water and shot out a loud bolt towards the sky, the bolt would release a ball of red fog when it rose above 70 m in the air. The red fog would last for a long time to remind everyone else to go back onto the bank as soon as possible as some dangerous magical beast or sea monster is coming underwater.


    Although after hundreds of years¡¯ siege and hunting, there was basically no underwater magical beast or sea monster within the area of dozens of miles near the Hidden Dragon Island, they had to be prepared. In senior Chen¡¯s words, if a man-eating magical shark intruded in the Pearl Field, it would be a disaster.


    Zhu Wenqiang got ready, "Brothers, I will go down first!", after saying that, Zhu Wenqiang dove into the water.


    After Zhang Lin and Yang Yuankang, it was Zhang Tie¡¯s turn.


    Before going down, Zhang Tie opened his kettle and drunk two mouths of the solution.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie felt comfortable and refreshing all over.


    "Zhang Tie, don¡¯t drink alcohol before going down. Although alcohol could warm up temporarily, it will harm your lungs if you stay long in water!" Seeing Zhang Tie drinking something, senior Chen hurriedly reminded him aside.


    "It¡¯s not alcohol. I brewed something else!" Zhang Tie smiled as he covered the lid of the kettle.


    Senior Chen took a deep breath and truly smelt no alcohol from Zhang Tie; instead, he smelt a weird fragrance. He then didn¡¯t say anything but cast a glance at Zhang Tie¡¯s aluminum military kettle out of curiosity.


    After hanging his kettle together with his clothes, Zhang Tie didn''t say anything as he directly dove into the seawater.


    After a while, Zhang Tie caught up with the other yakshas. They then sped up underwater like mermaids as fast as running on the bank. In only a few minutes, they had already arrived at the Pearl Field and started to be responsible for the safety of different portions of the Pearl Field.


    It took them more than 40 minutes to finish patrolling he Pearl Field. During this period, all the other 3 yakshas took a breath above water except for Zhang Tie. He kept moving underwater as easily as he did on land which allowed the other yakshas to admire his ability.


    After patrolling in the water area of the Pearl Field, they swam towards the surrounding water areas of the Pearl Field and formed several cordons.


    Arriving at the sea area outside the Pearl Field, Zhang Tie was like a bird in the sky as he had no constraints anymore. He then started to seek his prey.


    After a short while, Zhang Tie had seen an over 4-m long man-eating white shark swimming towards him the moment it caught sight of him. Zhang Tie became 10 times agiler all of a sudden. Before the white shark drew close to him with its huge mouth, Zhang Tie had already reached its head. He stretched out his palm and slightly pressed onto its head while slightly releasing his iron-blood battle qi...


    Without drawing any blood, the white shark had lost its life in a split second before it sunk to the bottom of the sea...


    After an hour, three more white sharks were killed by Zhang Tie.


    Knowing that he had formed the latest ripe trouble-reappearance fruit by killing this shark, Zhang Tie stopped.


    ...


    Not knowing why, after finishing today¡¯s task, Zhang Tie felt that he was not that hungry as before. He felt that he consumed less physical strength today.


    ...


    In the evening, Zhang Tie was sitting quietly with eyes closed in the cultivation cell of the Xuan No. 7 room, Songtao Pavilion, Breaking-Heavens Department.


    In the trouble-reappearance situation of the latest trouble-reappearance fruit, some sharks were closely chasing after Zhang Tie with red eyes. Finally, they could only watch Zhang Tie swimming far away from them.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had already swum faster than sharks underwater even without the help of the Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie dove into the underground entrance of the castle of the Long Wind Pearl Field again. Without caring about the sharks chasing after him, after he opened his crate, he started to practice his javelins from smaller to bigger ones in the unmanned castle...


    In the next 2 days, Zhang Tie carried a big crate to the Long Wind Pearl Field every day and used the javelins in them to kill sea snakes or sharks in the sea to form new trouble-reappearance situations. Finally, he started to practice throwing javelins in the trouble-reappearance situations which were the same as the true environment.


    When Zhang Tie held the javelins with normal size, he could clearly sense the conic locking state between him and the target. However, when he used very small javelins, he didn¡¯t have this sense.


    However, when he held those javelins which were one size smaller than normal ones, the locking state became unstable. At the same time, that mysterious conic sensing form started to shake and transform. If Zhang Tie threw them, he could not ensure the precision.


    Zhang Tie firstly used javelins that were one size smaller than normal javelins. Through constant throwing, the unstable state gradually became stable and finally became the same as that of the normal javelins.


    When he had adapted to a certain size of javelins, he started to train himself with smaller javelins...


    In this way, Zhang Tie made clan contribution points as yaksha while accumulating basic energy storage and stimulating the production of iron-body fruit in the sea in the daytime and practiced throwing javelins of different sizes in the trouble-reappearance situations in the evening to complete his first round of evolution of his ancestral bloodline. If he had free time, he would go to attend classes or learn General History of Human Beings, Overview of Human Culture on the Continents and Geography by himself which were the compulsory cultural courses that he had paid for.


    Since he entered the Breaking-Heavens Department, Zhang Tie had become so busy every day that he didn¡¯t even have time to do other things except for work, practice, and study. However, Zhang Tie thought it was very fulfilling although being very busy and monotonous.


    In this way, Zhang Tie had stayed in the Breaking-Heavens Department for over a month.


    During the past month, Zhang Tie¡¯s cousin Zhang Su came here for Zhang Tie once. They only had a meal. After asking about Zhang Tie¡¯s recent condition and encouraging him, Zhang Su took a new task and left again.


    In the past month, Zhang Tie ignited two more surge points and had already ignited 10 surge points on his spine.


    During the same period, Zhang Tie drunk a kettle of that special solution every day. It was too delicious and he had become used to drinking it. No matter what, he had several hundreds kg of that solution in the Castle of Black Iron and could not drink them up in a short period.


    Besides its taste, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t feel anything special about the solution.


    For all the changes like gradually becoming energetic, not being easily hungry in the sea, his skin gradually becoming bright, clean and tender, his spiritual energy and battle qi naturally growing, his five senses becoming sharper and his saliva becoming sweeter... Zhang Tie owed them to his ignited surge points.


    However, what was doomed to happen finally occurred.


    That day, seeing that Zhang Tie would have a drink of the solution in the military kettle before going down in the sea, Yang Yuankang who had been increasingly familiar with Zhang Tie finally couldn''t control his curiosity as he asked.


    "Zhang Tie, what¡¯s inside? I see you drinking this every day."


    "It¡¯s beverage brewed by myself, have a try?" Saying this, Zhang Tie had thrown the kettle to Yang Yuankang.


    Taking Zhang Tie¡¯s kettle, Yang Yuankang firstly smelt it. In a sudden, a weird yet refreshing fragrance drifted from the opening of the kettle. Yang Yuankang¡¯s eyebrows instantly jumped twice. He hadn''t smelt such a strange fragrance before. The moment he smelt it, he felt cool all over.


    After putting it close to his mouth and engulfed two mouths with a sound of "glug glug", Yang Yuankang exclaimed, "Argh, what¡¯s this? How could it taste so good!"


    "Let me try!" Zhang Lin took the kettle from Yang Yuankang and also engulfed two mouths without any hesitation. After that, Zhang Lin¡¯s eyes radiated shimmering lights.


    Zhu Wenqiang who was beside Zhang Lin raised his nose. As he smelt that refreshing fragrance, he started to drool. Seeing Zhang Lin drink 4 mouthfuls of that solution, he finally couldn¡¯t stand it and grabbed Zhang Tie¡¯s kettle, "Let me have a try..."


    With this taste, even Zhu Wenqiang¡¯s eyebrows raised.


    Looking at senior Chen¡¯s sad look with frowning forehead, Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t stand but said, "senior Chen, would you like to try it?"


    In that period, senior Chen¡¯s rheumatism was showing its effect once again. This disease was due to his long-time stay in the water and the seaside. He had eaten many kinds of medicine, yet none of them took effect. Therefore, he was tortured and looked bad every day. Even now, his knees were still aching heavily. Previously senior Chen didn¡¯t want to drink it; however, hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s suggestion and looking at the other guys¡¯ movements, senior Chen also became a bit curious, "Let me have a try..."


    Zhang Tie¡¯s kettle was then passed to senior Chen. Zhu Wenqiang and the other guys didn¡¯t grab that with senior Chen considering his age. After a mouth, senior Chen was shocked. Then, under the widening eyes of the others who were forcefully their saliva, senior Chen bottomed up the kettle.


    "Hmm, not bad!" Senior Chen smacked his lips while nodding his head.


    Seeing the solution being cleaned, they all went into the seawater one by another. Although they felt it was good, none of them thought too much about that.


    ...


    However, only after an hour, senior Chen found the aches in his knees were gradually disappearing while a wholly new sense of vitality and warmth seemed to spread inside his body. After being tortured by rheumatism all over for many years, it felt like a long-dried land welcoming sweet dew...


    Senior Chen was full of pleasure inside, ¡®What¡¯s happening?¡¯


    ...


    Five hours later, Zhu Wenqiang felt a bit strange as he would definitely feel hungry and tired at this time in usual days, how could he not feel as hungry and as tired as he previously did?

 301 An Idea on Making Money

    Chapter 301: An Idea on Making Money


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    At sunset, the wind blew heavily while waves surged. The sea waves near the Pearl Field were over 3 m high.


    Having stayed in the sea for the whole day, Zhang Tie popped his head out of the sea and moved along the undulating sea waves. Raising his head, Zhang Tie realized the weather today was a bit unusual as the sea waves were like walls in all directions that even blocked his view. After undulating with sea waves twice, Zhang Tie came to the peak of sea wave and could finally see clearly the situation of the castle in the far.


    A tangerine safe lamp had been highly suspended at the top of the castle.


    After seeing that lamp, Zhang Tie leisurely dove into the coming sea wave and slowly swam towards the castle, leaving a splash behind.


    Although it was not tranquil 30 m under water, it was already able to be described as calm compared to that above sea.


    After a short while, Zhang Tie had already sensed an underwater current. He then immediately dove into that underwater current and was carried along by it.


    After increasing his sensitivity 9 times over, Zhang Tie had gradually grasped this underwater skill, which could help him easily sense the underwater currents in the surrounding sea and the general directions of them. Additionally, after entering the underwater current, he could effortlessly utilize the propulsive force of the underwater currents.


    After entering the underwater current, Zhang Tie felt really cool. It was like flying in the sky like a bird.


    With this skill, Zhang Tie could touch a splendid corner of this limitless, vast world.


    There were numerous underwater currents in the sea, which had various causes, such as temperature, moisture and density in the sea, tide, season, submarine relief, weather above sea, geological movements, self-rotation of galaxy and the changing moon phase.


    There were all sizes of underwater currents in the sea. Bigger ones might form ocean currents which could last several hundred thousand miles. There were also numerous smaller underwater currents, some of which were tributary of bigger underwater currents while the others would form and disappear at any time.


    Those underwater currents of different sizes granted the sea with more tiers and mystique and constituted this splendid and mystical submarine world.


    Zhang Tie felt those underwater currents in the sea were like wind on the land. It was like dashing in the wind. Although being in the sea, Zhang Tie who was wandering in the underwater current, felt as if he was a wolf running on the New Crescent Prairie.


    After being sent to the place not far from the castle by this underwater current, Zhang Tie swiftly swam out of it and dove into the underground entrance of the castle after a short while.


    With a sound of splash, after slightly patting the water, Zhang Tie had already jumped onto the bank of the pond.


    When he landed, he found senior Chen, Zhu Wenqiang and the other buddies were all there. They had already put on their clothes. At the sight of Zhang Tie, they glanced at him at the same time with shimmering eyes.


    "Oh, you''ve not left!" Zhang Tie took off his diving clothes as he walked towards the water pipe to clean the muck off his body.


    As sea water had a high content of salt. If he didn''t wash off the sea water, the salt particles would stick to his skin. Additionally, the sea water near the bottom was fishy, therefore, they had to take a bath before leaving every day.


    Not until Zhang Tie finished bathing, washed his diving clothes, and suspend them on the line did Zhang Tie realize that all the others were still gazing at him with an obscure and weird expression. Senior Chen rubbed his beard using one hand without even blinking.


    Although having exposed his naked butt many times in front of them, at the sight of their weird expression, Zhang Tie still felt his asshole being tightened as a layer of goosebumps appeared on his skin all over.


    Zhang Tie then put on his clothes at the fastest speed ever and said, "Argh, won''t you leave? I will leave then!"


    "Wait a moment!" Senior Chen started the topic.


    "What''s up?"


    "Can you bring me more of your brew tomorrow?" Senior Chen said.


    "The more, the better!" Yang Yuankang added.


    Zhang Tie swiftly thought it through in his mind twice before replied, "As there are only a small amount left, if you want, I can make more, but it will take longer. Were you waiting for me just for this?"


    "That''s it!" Senior Chen said as he rubbed his knees with a bashful expression, "I don''t know why, but after drinking the thing you brought this morning, my rheumatism has been much better. Soon after I drink it, the ache on my knees has disappeared. I feel pretty comfortable all day long! Therefore, I was hoping you could bring me more tomorrow..."


    "We felt strange too. After drinking that thing, we were much more energetic than before in the daytime and don''t feel very hungry, even now!" Zhang Lin added with a dubious expression.


    "I thought only I felt this way; however, I would never have imagined that everyone else is also in a much better condition than before!" Zhu Wenqiang said.


    Yang Yuankang also nodded.


    Zhang Tie was shocked by their words inside. Because he had improved very fast these days and had eaten a great amount of wild wolf seven-strength fruits before, he was always exceptionally energetic. Therefore, although he felt good these days, he didn''t think too much about it. It was really out of his imagination that senior Chen, Yang Yuankang and the other guys could feel that good after eating the mutated yeast for the first time.


    Receiving no reply, senior Chen thought Zhang Tie might be considering the cost.


    "Zhang Tie, I don''t know whether that thing is expensive or not. If it''s too much for you, I will pay you for one bottle!" After drinking that thing, senior Chen felt so cool like a dried land finally welcoming sweet dew. He was too impressed by that thing. It felt much better than taking medicine. Therefore, senior Chen even wanted to buy some.


    Senior Chen had spent too much trying to deal with his rheumatism over many years.


    "Hah, senior Chen, what are you talking about, how could I take your money! Go get a bottle, I will bring one bottle for you!" Zhang Tie waved his hand as he said generously.


    Senior Chen instantly revealed a big smile as the winkles on his swarthy face unfolded, "Fine, I will go get a bottle!"


    After saying this, senior Chen immediately went upstairs for bottle.


    "Zhang Tie, what the hell is that drink?" Zhu Wenqiang asked out of curiosity.


    "They are brewed with various fruits in a secret method!"


    Zhang Tie knew that it was the effect of the essential-energy reiki yeast. That brewing process was not sophisticated and had a low cost. Anyone could master it if they were told how.


    However, if he told Zhu Wenqiang that that was yeast solution, they might try to brew it themselves. If they didn''t get the same effect, they would definitely blame him for lying to them on purpose.


    Therefore, he thought that he''d better tell them this was a secret knowledge so that they would know that it was easy to make it. This would save a lot of troubles for him in the future. No matter what, essential-energy reiki yeast was almost like a secret knowledge, neither did Zhang Tie plan to share it with the others.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhu Wenqiang didn''t look strange; instead, they all looked like they''d been expecting it. Because it was a secret knowledge, the other guys then felt embarrassed about asking for the brewing process.


    When they went upstairs, senior Chen had fetched a delicate silver-gilt flagon which could contain over 300 ml.


    After taking that flagon and promising that he would bring more solution for them the next day, Zhang Tie then left the Long Wind Pearl Field.


    As usual, after leaving the Long Wind Pearl Field, Zhang Tie had arrived at the fish market near the wharf and spent less than 10 silver coins to buy all the sand-scale fish in the fish market and set them free in the sea.


    In the recent months, Zhang Tie almost came here every day. As a result, all the fish vendors had become familiar with him. Additionally, as Zhang Tie was generous and didn''t bargain, many vendors would like to keep the sand-scale fish for Zhang Tie every day.


    When Zhang Tie threw the last barrel of sand-scale fish into the sea and watched them returning to the sea jubilantly, Zhang Tie had formed an indescribable pleasure inside. Previously, he set the fish free to eat fruits, now it had gradually become an enjoyment for Zhang Tie to set free fish.


    This was an incomparable enjoyment.


    Each time, Zhang Tie could clearly feel the fish''s cheers of freedom, pleasure of rebirth and affection towards life and the sea when they returned to the sea. Being affected by such a feeling, Zhang Tie felt that each time he set free fish, he was setting free a part of himself in a weird sense.


    Some small sand-scale fish didn''t escape away at once when they returned to the sea; instead, they formed a circle and kept rotating, seemingly expressing their gratitude to Zhang Tie, which really amazed him.


    "Wuh? I never could''ve imagined these small things could circle in the sea!"


    A voice drifted in his ear from aside. Zhang Tie then turned his head and found that an old man had already been squatting beside him.


    The old man seemed like a beggar who was shabbily dressed, with disordered hair, and a beard on a dirty face from which Zhang Tie could not even identify his real age.


    "Brat, why these fish are circling in the sea?" The old beggar fixed his eyes on Zhang Tie and asked seriously.


    Hearing this question, Zhang Tie became stunned as he didn''t know how to answer him. After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie replied, "They might be happy about going back home soon!"


    "Going back home?" Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, the old beggar''s bright eyes became watery.


    "Going back home...going back home...going back home, where''s my home? Argh, why don''t I have a home...fish have a home, why don''t I have a home? How could I not even match...where''s my home? I couldn''t remember my home, argh..." the old beggar started to shriek painfully while hugging his head. After that, he stood up and turned back before ran away like a mad...


    ''There might be something wrong with this old beggar''s mind. What a poor man!'' Zhang Tie shook his head as he went back to the fish market to give the barrel to the vendor.


    After leaving the wharf, Zhang Tie didn''t return to the Hidden Dragon Palace; instead, he wandered towards the White Dragon Town.


    When he arrived at the White Dragon Town, it had been completely dark.


    Compared to the other towns around the Dragon Cave, White Dragon Town looked more boisterous as about half of the people on the island lived here.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that his solution could be noticed by others today. Now that it happened, he needed to deal with the aftermath.


    As he lived in Songtao Pavilion of Breaking Heaven Department, he could not hide too many things in his room. If they went to see his solution in his room, he could not move them out of nothing. If so, the secret of Castle of Black Iron would expose sooner or later.


    As a thoughtful man, of course Zhang Tie would notice and patch up the loophole, now that he brewed the solution himself, he should at least pretend to have done that. No matter what, as he had been in the Hidden Dragon Palace for so long, nobody would know when he brewed a vat of solution.


    After taking a round in the White Dragon Town, Zhang Tie already had a plan.


    He went to the carpenter''s shop in the White Dragon Town and bought a portable wooden case at the price of 2 silver coins before bought a terrine which could contain 20-30 kg of solution in a porcelain store at the price of over 10 copper coins. Then, he came to a remote place and put the terrine into the wooden case before returned to the Hidden Dragon Palace with that wooden case.


    It seemed easier for him to put the terrine into the Castle of Black Iron; however, Zhang Tie didn''t want to expose his real ability in a place full of powerhouses. Therefore, he needed to pay special attention to all details.


    What if it was seen by someone else when he made the terrine disappear?


    As details determine success or failure, it was not bad to be a bit careful. It was also reasonable if he put the terrine into the wooden case. Even if it was noticed by people from Hidden Dragon Palace, they would not see through the wooden case either.


    When Zhang Tie was going to leave the White Dragon Town, the roadside gate was suddenly opened while a person was carried and thrown out by some strong servants.


    "Pah, you jerk beggar, this is the Zhao Mansion in White Dragon Town. It is not your home. Don''t come here to seek for your relatives. I''ve seen so many liars like you. Our lord would never have such a relative. Roll out of here!"


    A steward pointed at that man being thrown out and swore him. After that, the steward glared at those servants, "What were you doing just now? Are you blind? You didn''t even know when this jerk beggar came in. This jerk said Zhao Mansion was his home and swaggered into the west bedroom before being noticed by a servant girl. Half of your salary this month will be deducted!"


    The servants became so depressed. After the steward entered the Mansion, two servants were so furious that they directly rushed towards that old beggar who was lying on the ground and wanted to beat him again before being hurriedly stopped by the other two servants.


    "Easy, this old beggar is already so thin, if he was beaten to death by you outside the gate, it would be unfortunate and troublesome!"


    "Damn, we''ve been here for a whole day, yet we didn''t see how he entered!" A servant kept swearing and finally stopped beating that old beggar.


    "I''ve told you before that the dog door over there is too big; we need to make it smaller!"


    The servants then walked into the gate before shutting it, making a loud sound, "bang".


    Leaving that old beggar sitting alone on the street before the gate of Zhao Mansion. He looked so painful that he pulled his hair and mumbled, "Where''s my home...Isn''t my home Zhao Mansion? How could my family members disappear...argh!"


    Zhang Tie saw what happened in front of his eyes. He had not imagined that he could meet that old beggar here.


    Seeing that old beggar sitting on the street alone, being mad, not knowing where his home was, Zhang Tie felt like crying inside as he walked towards him and pulled out his money purse and gave them to the old man. They were 2 gold coins, dozens of silver coins and over 10 copper coins in total.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie wanted to pull out a part of the spare money; however, seeing his poor air, Zhang Tie directly squatted in front of that old beggar and put his money purse onto the old beggar''s hand.


    Even though the old beggar was holding the money purse, he was still unconscious as he mumbled there. Watching that old beggar, Zhang Tie directly foisted his money purse into his pocket.


    After doing this, Zhang Tie stood up as he sighed inside. With another two glances at him, Zhang Tie returned to the Hidden Dragon Palace.


    After returning to the Xuan No. 7 room of Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie opened the wooden case and took out of the terrine. He washed the terrine with water before he lugged it into the cultivation room. While focusing on his concentration, Zhang Tie soon filled the 2/3 of the terrine through a spring in the air in more than 10 seconds.


    After smelling the refreshing fragrance in the new terrine, Zhang Tie patted his hands as he covered the lid of the terrine. Now he could explain it to his friends that the solution in the terrine was brewed himself since he came to the Hidden Dragon Palace. He had drunk 1/3 and left 2/3 inside.


    After filling the flagon of senior Chen and his own kettle, Zhang Tie fixed his eyes onto the liquid while a thought suddenly flashed across his mind, ''Could I make money with this? If I can make money with this, I would not have to worry about living in the Hidden Dragon Palace from then on! Perhaps...I can have a try... Coincidentally, senior Chen and the other guys could test its effect...''

 302 Storm

    Chapter 302: Storm


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Since midnight, it had been raining heavily. The wind whipped through the pine woods outside the Songtao Pavilion, making a horrible sound.


    The following morning, Zhang Tie got up early. After walking out of the Songtao Pavilion, he found the wind and rain was even heavier than it had been yesterday. The bean-sized rain drops that landed on him were quite painful. Some pine trees in the Breaking Heaven Department were broken while most of them were bent over by heavy wind and fiercely resisting the strong storm.


    He had seen the omen of this storm last night; however, Zhang Tie had not imagined it could be that heavy.


    After eating breakfast, Zhang Tie put on a raincoat and quickly arrived at the Long Wind Pearl Field.


    The waves on the pearl field looked extremely fierce. When the huge waves, greater than 10 m in height, lashed onto the reefs and the precipice on the seaside, they caused loud sounds. The whole world seemed to be shaking from the fury of the sea.


    Arriving at the seaside, Zhang Tie felt that he was almost blown away by the heavy storm like a kite. The sprays caused by the huge waves under the castle of the Long Wind Pearl Field drifted dozens of meters high in the air and fell onto Zhang Tie''s face; the rain tasted weirdly fishy.


    The moment he entered the castle, Zhang Tie saw senior Chen.


    "Come on in, it''s raining heavily outside!" Standing outside the door of a room on the first floor of the castle, senior Chen waved his hand towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then hurriedly walked towards him.


    When Zhang Tie was near the door, senior Chen glanced over Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then patted a place under the raincoat as he nodded towards senior Chen. Senior Chen then revealed a big smile as he pulled Zhang Tie in.


    The moment they entered the room, the other guys in the room instantly cast their glances at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie was also familiar with the other guys as they were all yakshas in the sea of Long Wind Pearl Field. The youngest one among them was over 40 years old while the eldest one was over 60.


    "These old buddies are suffering the same trouble as me. They are all troubled by rheumatism and arthritis at such an age. Especially yakshas in the sea like me, as we have to stay in the water all the year round, once the cold qi enters our body, we''ll have to suffer from diseases when it becomes wet outside! These buddies have not slept well last night." Senior Chen explained to Zhang Tie, "These senior buddies heard that the solution you brew was marvelous, they are especially eager to give it a try!"


    "No problem!" Zhang Tie nodded, "But I''ve not taken too much today, besides the bottle for you, I''ve only got one additional bottle!"


    "No problem, I will share my bottle with buddies and see whether it truly has an effect!" Senior Chen generously said.


    After hanging up his raincoat, Zhang Tie took out his kettle and the flagon. Senior Chen then found several cups and made 100 ml of that solution for each one according to the content that he drunk yesterday.


    Zhang Tie''s aluminum military kettle was just enough for five people''s cups.


    When he poured it out, all the others in the room had surrounded him. Watching the golden and pale green luster of the solution which had a stronger smell than water, they all widened their eyes.


    "Argh, how could it smell so good!"


    Not only the luster which made them excited, when they smelt the fragrance of that solution, they instantly felt cool all over and dripping saliva out of their mouths.


    The moment senior Chen filled the cups, the others had carefully taken the cups and couldn''t wait to bottom up the solution. After that, they sat quietly in the room and tried to sense the feeling of that solution spreading across their body.


    They all took this thing as a medicine; however, it tasted much better than all the other medicines that they had tried. Therefore, they were all shocked about it.


    Senior Chen also had a cup. After that, senior Chen even cleaned his cup with fresh water before drinking the fresh water.


    "The wind and waves are too heavy today. They can''t pick pearls today; so, we can have a day off!"


    When they were waiting for the effect of the solution, senior Chen told Zhang Tie.


    "What about my clan contribution points today?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "Of course, you''ll still earn them!"


    Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh. As long as he stayed here for several more weeks, he would be able to get enough clan contribution points for all the compulsory courses that he needed to learn. Each compulsory course required 70 clan contribution points.


    ¡ª Fundamental movements, fundamental swordsmanship, shield defense skill, preliminary archery, flying skill and horsemanship. The six courses required 420 clan contribution points in total. As he could gain 60 clan contribution points a week here, he planned to work 2 months, namely 9 weeks here for 540 clan contribution points so as to finish these fundamental compulsory courses.


    Zhang Tie had not forgotten those weird movements of Zhang Qingguo.


    Zhang Lin, Zhu Wenqiang and Yang Yuankang also arrived at this moment. When they caught sight of that empty kettle, they became a bit disappointed. However, looking at the others who were waiting for the effect of the solution, they became curious too.


    Yesterday, as only senior Chen drunk that solution, it was uncertain whether it was the effect of the solution that relieved senior Chen''s disease. However, this time, the other 5 people drank the solution. If the effect reappeared on them, it would be great.


    As it was storming heavily outside, they had nothing to do inside. They then started to brag and chat in the room to kill time.


    One hour soon passed...


    "Argh, I seem feel warm inside. It starts to spread across my body..." A yaksha in the sea shouted.


    "I feel it too. It was aching just now. But it''s relieving now!"


    "Argh, me too. Before drinking that, my two shoulders felt being pinched by pliers. But not they are becoming relaxed..."


    "My knees are also recovering. That''s too marvelous, just like what senior Chen said!"


    The room started to be boisterous as the yakshas all cast their glances towards the flagon of senior Chen.


    Zhu Wenqiang, Zhang Lin, and Yang Yuankang then stared at Zhang Tie with shocked expressions. It turned out Zhang Tie''s solution could really relieve diseases, it was even pretty effective. If they had not seen it with their own eyes, they would never have believed it. How could a small cup of solution relieve the diseases that they had suffered many years?


    What the hell? The same thing could cure diseases for someone and make the others feel energetic. How could it be that marvelous? Zhu Wenqiang, Zhang Lin, and Yang Yuankang looked at Zhang Tie in a new light.


    "Senior Chen, come on, give me some more!" A 50 year-old yaksha urged with a bashful expression.


    Hearing his request, senior Chen instantly pulled his flagon back in fear of being stolen, "No more, most of Zhang Tie''s solution has been drunk by all of you; this is mine!"


    After exchanging glances with each other, the yakshas then focused their eyes onto Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie then stretched out his hands, "I only brought this today!"


    "Do you have more?"


    "I have some more in my room, but not too much!"


    "Can... can you sell some to us?" That yaksha previously wanted Zhang Tie to gift some to them, yet he felt bashful to ask for that for free, therefore, he expressed his intention to buy it.


    "Haha, I''ve met these old buddies many times. Don''t talk about money, it would harm our friendship. Each of you can fetch a bottle, I will gift a bottle to each of you!"


    Having not expected that his solution had such a great potential in the market by being that effective in curing diseases, Zhang Tie became really thrilled inside. After working as an assistant in Donder''s grocery store, Zhang Tie knew what public praise meant. He needed them to advertise for his solution, therefore, he became generous.


    "Zhang Tie...can you..." Zhu Wenqiang scratched his head with a bashful expression.


    "Hehe, I live in the Xuan No. 7 room of Songtao Pavilion. When I come back, you can take your bottles and go to find me there. I will gift one bottle to each of you three too!" Zhang said generously.


    Zhu Wenqiang, Zhang Lin and Yang Yuankang all revealed a big smile. Zhang Tie''s solution really deeply impressed them.


    Right then, the girls from Zhixing Department arrived.


    Previously, Zhang Tie arrived earlier than them and stayed in the sea all day round; therefore, these girls had no chance to see him in the Pearl Field at all. They didn''t know that Zhang Tie was a yaksha in the sea either.


    Today, when they came to the Pearl Field, the girls were told that they might face danger if they dove in the sea today due to the heavy storm. Therefore, they didn''t need to pick up pearls today. They then planned to take a rest in the castle and take shelter from rain before returning. They had not expected to encounter Zhang Tie here. After having not seen Zhang Tie for 2 months, the girls were even slightly shocked at the sight of Zhang Tie.


    With a bad temper, the moment Du Yuhan caught sight of Zhang Tie''s smile, she instantly raised her eyebrows and asked straightforwardly, "What are you here for?"


    "Hehe, I''m here to have a look at you. It''s almost been 2 months, the interest of the debt that you owe me almost becomes 18 gold coins. Plus the cost, each of you owe me almost 108 gold coins. I want to see when you will pay up!" Zhang Tie made a grimace as he started a joke with those girls.


    The moment they heard the debt, those girls all looked bitter. The 108 gold coins was simply a huge amount of money for those girls who had only just started to attempt to make money for themselves. Additionally, the interest of these huge amount of money will rise 10% per month. Many of them could not even pay off the interest per month.


    "We will pay off the debt..." Liu Shasha replied in a fragile voice.


    "It''s okay if you cannot pay off the debt. As long as you can accomplish the designated tasks, you can also deduct half of you debt!" Zhang Tie moved his "evil" eyes onto Liu Shasha.


    The moment she recalled the "disgusting task" that should be accomplished by mouth, Liu Shasha''s face suddenly turned pale. She didn''t even dare to look at Zhang Tie; instead, she looked like a flurried rabbit who hurriedly hid behind another girl.


    Not until this moment did those girls who had bet with Zhang Tie know what it meant by lifting a stone and dropping it onto one''s feet. At the beginning, they forced Zhang Tie to sign the agreement with them as they thought they could deal with this jerk in this way. However, they had never expected that they were dealt with by this douchebag.


    After teasing these little girls, Zhang Tie burst out laughter as he returned to the room where senior Chen and the other buddies stayed. As yakshas in the sea, if they wanted to gain the clan contribution points, even though they didn''t need to dive in the sea, they had to stay in the castle on duty in case of emergencies.


    Those girls seemed having not realized why Zhang Tie acted that way in the castle of the Long Wind Pearl Field.


    After 10 minutes, while Zhang Tie was cracking melon seeds in the room and listening to funny stories of the other yakshas, a girl rushed in with a panicked, pale face.


    "Du Yuhan was rolled away by the waves..."


    Hearing the words, Zhang Tie instantly sprung up and dashed outside like a wind...

 303 Yaksha on the Waves

    Chapter 303: Yaksha on the Waves


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    Facing the wuthering wind and rain, Zhang Tie immediately rushed out of the room, exited the castle and swiftly arrived at the Pearl Field.


    Looking at the fierce waves, some girls were hugging each other on a mountainous path beside the Pearl Field. They were shivering while tears were covering their faces. In front of the power of the sea, some girls'' impulsion caused an unexpected result.


    "Where''s she?" Although it was a short distance, Zhang Tie was covered in rain.


    With tears in her eyes, Lyu Shasha pointed at the reef in afar where the waves were most fierce. Zhang Tie then rushed towards where she pointed without any pause. He didn''t even take off his clothes. Before those girls responded, he had already jumped into the sea from the reef.


    The moment Zhang Tie jumped in, a huge wave had arrived, which caused a spray of a few dozen meters high near the reef. When the spray declined, Zhang Tie had disappeared.


    The decisive image of Zhang Tie deeply impressed those girls which will forever remain in the hearts of the girls for the rest of their lives.


    Senior Chen and the other yakshas in the sea also followed closely.


    "Where''s Zhang Tie?" Senior Chen changed his face as Zhang Tie was no where to be found.


    "Zhang Tie...Zhang Tie jumped in!'' A girl pointed at that reef from where Zhang Tie jumped into the sea.


    "Senior Chen, take these girls back. We''ll take a look in the sea!" A yaksha of the Pearl Field told senior Chen at once.


    When senior Chen brought the girls back, a girl suddenly pointed at the sea, "Argh...Zhang Tie!"


    They then looked along the direction the girl pointed and caught sight of Zhang Tie.


    At this very moment, Zhang Tie was really like a yaksha on the waves in the legend as he was stepping on the huge waves of over 10 meters in height. He jumped from one wave peak to another. Sometimes, he would sink in; sometimes, he would fly onto a wave peak in order to see clearly. He continued to jump and strive bravely in huge waves...


    The heaven-breaking waves were like rolling ladder under Zhang Tie''s feet. Zhang Tie stepped on the wave peaks as steadily as rushing on smooth land like a spirit in the sea, causing snow-white sprays.


    Watching Zhang Tie risked his life to seek for Du Yuhan, Lyu Shasha and the other girls all felt a burning heat and started to burst into tears.


    Senior Chen and the other yakshas were really stunned about what they saw.


    "Yaksha on the waves. Each step is so elegant...it''s really yaksha on the waves..." A yaksha in the sea of the Pearl Field had forgotten what to do, while he was watching Zhang Tie who was jumping among the huge waves in afar.


    "Yaksha on the waves, water doesn''t reach knees. It''s true..." Senior Chen was also shocked. In the legend of that the elders told in the Pearl Field, only those yakshas in the sea who had been favored by the sea god could perform such a marvellous skill in the sea.


    The sea with surging and rolling waves was like a shallow small ditch under Zhang Tie''s feet. Before the seawater reached his knees, he would have already stridden one feet out. He kept running among the surging waves...


    Zhang Tie''s image at this moment was definitely a rare painting for the other yakshas in the sea who were going to jump into the sea.


    "Wait for Zhang Tie to come back..." A yaksha took a deep breath, "No matter what, Zhang Tie would get her out of the there!"


    He didn''t mean to give up but reverence¡ª¡ªthe reverence and belief to a yaksha on the waves from a yaksha in the sea who had been working in the sea for many years.


    At this very moment, Zhang Tie didn''t know how amazing he was. He only felt a constantly rolling strength from the seawater. He felt that he was able to move freely on the sea with that strength. Therefore, he did it automatically.


    Among the surging waves in afar, there seemed to be a hand stretched out of the sea. Although it was just a second, Zhang Tie still caught it with his eyes.


    Zhang Tie then jumped off the wave and dived into the sea. The moment he opened his space tunnel, he started to shoot towards there like a bolt.


    That was truly Du Yuhan. She had been wrapped by long seaweeds along with the huge waves. She was dragged underwater by seawater and was in half coma.


    After he arrived, Zhang Tie instantly hugged Du Yuhan and kissed her while transferring air into her mouth from the Castle of Black Iron. After that, he tore off the seaweeds that surrounded Du Yuhan.


    Zhang Tie hugged Du Yuhan with one hand as he transferred air to her, mouth to mouth. Then, he rapidly dived towards the bay of the Pearl Field. After a short while, his presence was seen on the huge waves near the bay.


    "Argh, Zhang Tie is back..."After they saw Zhang Tie''s shadow and the person he was carrying, everybody let out a sigh.


    When they ran to the bay to check the situation of Du Yuhan, they were all dumbfounded.


    All the girls'' faces blushed while senior Chen and the other yashas revealed obscure smirks.


    Du Yuhan was like an octopus, her arms wrapped tightly around Zhang Tie''s neck, while her legs naturally wrapped around Zhang Tie''s waist. Besides, she forcefully sucked onto Zhang Tie''s mouth,as if there was delicious food in his mouth.


    This was just a natural response of a drowning person as if she grabbed a floating stick of straw to take in fresh air. Being unconscious, Du Yuhan didn''t even know what she was doing.


    As Zhang Tie''s mouth and tongue were tightly sucked by Du Yuhan, he could not speak. Therefore, he could only tell the other girls to quickly move Du Yuhan away from him. As she was sucking so forcefully, Zhang Tie even felt a pain on the root of his tongue.


    "Yuhan, Yuhan..." Lyu Shasha and a girl called Qu Liangying walked over. One forcefully patted her back, while the other separated Du Yuhan''s arms from Zhang Tie''s neck.


    For those girls, Zhang Tie and Du Yuhan'' s posture were so embarrassing.


    Because Du Yuhan could pick up pearls in the sea, she excelled in diving in the sea. When Zhang Tie found her, she was just became breathless and fainted. After Zhang Tie passed on some air to her several times and being patted and called by the other girls, she finally woke up.


    After she woke up, Du Yuhan saw Zhang Tie at her first sight who also had his eyes fixed on her. Their eyelashes could almost touch each others. Because they were too close to each other, Du Yuhan could not recognize the person who was in front of her. Meanwhile, she realized that she was still kissing this person while a soft thing was in her mouth, which she was forcefully sucking greedily and didn''t feel like separating with.


    Soon after, Du Yuhan noticed their ambiguous gesture as she was wrapping his neck with her arms and riding his waist.


    Being greatly shocked, Du Yuhan made a shrill shriek as she immediately jumped off Zhang Tie''s body. Because she was too nervous, she even bit Zhang Tie''s tongue before she left.


    Closely followed by Zhang Tie''s shrill shriek, who then sprung up from the ground...


    ...


    "Bullsh*t!" A manager of the Pearl Field was blaming the girls whose clothes had been dried around fire and were standing there, being upset, "Zhang Tie was here for your debt? Then you little girls wanted to pick up pearls in this weather so as to make money instead of apologizing to him? Who told you Zhang Tie was here for your debt?"


    "He told us!" A girl justified softly.


    "Zhang Tie is a yaksha in the sea of the Long Wind Pearl Field. In the past month, he had been here everyday so as to drive away the dangerous living beings under water. When you were picking up pearls, he was vigilant in the outer sea area for your safety. Each day he was here one hour earlier than all of you and left after you!"


    The manager then let out a sign as he looked at those girls from Zhixing Department, "Normally, you could not see him; but due to the heavy storm today, you were unable to pick up pearls, therefore, he was here for a rest in the castle! Coincidentally, you encountered him here! If he wanted you to pay off the debt, he had long asked for that. No need to wait until today!"


    "Argh!" All the girls of Zhixing Department covered their mouths with their hands as they exchanged glances with each other. They had not imagined that the person that they hated most could have protected them for such a long time in the dark.


    "If it was not for Zhang Tie today, you might have been dead. Girls, don''t be that impulsive in the future!" The manager told Du Yuhan in a serious way.


    Du Yuhan had a mixed mood. The moment she thought back of how she kissed Zhang Tie after being saved out of there by him, Du Yuhan felt feverish on her face as she had a strange feeling towards Zhang Tie.


    ''Humph, that bastard. How could I have given him my first kiss...they said that the bastard instantly jumped into the huge waves after knowing that I was drown. Even Shasha and the other girls were too moved that they even cried...'' The girl wanted to blame him yet she didn''t really wanted to. '' ''Did I overly bit him. I wonder whether if he is still hurting...''

 304 Fighters Training

    Chapter 304: Fighter''s Training


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    The storm lasted 2 weeks. 6 days after Zhang Tie saved Du Yuhan, he finally accomplished the first round of advancement of his ancestral bloodline - precise throwing - after 2 months'' practice.


    He accomplished this round of advancement perfectly. When Zhang Tie used a finger-sized javelin to lock onto wild wolves precisely which were over 100 m away, Zhang Tie knew that he had accomplished his advancement.


    From then on, he didn''t have to depend on javelins or the size of the weapon. As long as he locked onto the target, Zhang Tie would accomplish the precise throw.


    After that, Zhang Tie was so excited that he even tried throwing shells, stones, snails, knives and long swords. The fact was that no matter what the item was, as long as they were held by Zhang Tie and was thrown out with a terrifying strength, they would exert a huge destructive force.


    Anything, once reaching a certain speed, would bring a huge destructive force.


    With Zhang Tie''s great strength, those items could fly very fast.


    In order to achieve explosiveness, Zhang Tie even tried to accomplish throwing training in the sea.


    In the same 2 weeks, the situation on the east continent varied fast. More news about the discovery of demons on Hurricane Plateau came into Hidden Dragon Palace. In the task hall of Breaking Heaven Department, the Hidden Dragon Palace had officially released the clan training task about hunting demons on the Hurricane Plateau.


    Everybody who was above LV 6 could attend this clan training task. The only requirement was that everybody who attended this task should at least have passed all the compulsory courses for fighters.


    This task would proceed by batches. Each batch lasted 3 months. Each batch was available for 50 students in the Breaking Heaven Department.


    This task shocked the Breaking Heaven Department. Zhang Tie''s cousin Zhang Su applied to attend the first batch of training. One day, Zhang Su and the other 49 people took an airship sent by the Zhang clan and left from the Hidden Dragon Island for the Hurricane Plateau which neighbored Golan Empire.


    Most of the first batch of trainees were above LV 7. It was said that 1/3 of them were from the Hidden Dragon Fighting Force List.


    By killing each demon, the fighter would gain 100 clan contribution points as a payment. This made many people drip off saliva. However, from the award, everybody knew that this task was very risky. Fighting demons wasn''t funny - at all.


    The reason that demons were terrifying was that all the demons would be equal to LV 6 human fighters when they became adult without having to cultivate themselves.


    That was why people could not be called fighters until they reach LV 6. This standard was set to fight common, mature demons. Those people who could not reach LV 6 could only be called warriors.


    This ability of demons was really terrifying. In contrast, the good news for human beings was that all the demons had to devour the other demons in order to accomplish their rite of passage. That was a genetic plunder. The bad news was that demons could also accomplish their rite of passage through devouring human beings.


    This explained why human beings were demons'' implacable foe. Because all human beings were their supper and dim sum.


    Not all the demons in the demon troops were adults; however, the lowest level of those demons who were about to be adults were already LV 5 warriors. With the arrival of the holy war, more and more demons would accomplish their rite of passage on the battlefield.


    What made the demon corps terrifying was that each corps of demons would grow more powerful through battles. In the later period of the early 2 holy wars between human beings and demons, all the remained corps of demons were terrifying killing machines being composed of adult demons. These killing machines brought huge destruction to human world.


    Finally, what enabled human beings to survive the 2 earlier holy wars between human beings and demons was not human beings'' fighting force but their excellent reproductive ability.


    Such a task was nothing to do with Zhang Tie at all at least for the time being. Therefore, Zhang Tie could only diligently lay a solid foundation on the Hidden Dragon Island.


    Only a few days after the storm, Zhang Tie had already left the Pearl Field and ended his task as a yaksha in the sea.


    This task lasted 9 weeks which brought Zhang Tie 540 clan contribution points.


    With these clan contribution points, Zhang Tie could finally attend the training of compulsory courses for official fighters.


    There were 6 compulsory courses for fighters in the Breaking Heaven Department, namely fundamental movements, fundamental swordsmanship, shield defense skill, preliminary archery, flying skill, and horsemanship.


    Because of lacking foundation, Zhang Tie really lacked the training of these fundamental skills at the present.


    Actually, Zhang Tie was an emulative guy. Although those girls of Breaking Heaven Department wanted to find him trouble when he attended the training of fundamental movements and shield defense skill, Zhang Tie still chose the two courses firstly.


    2 days after paying 140 clan contribution points, Zhang Tie arrived at the training field for fundamental movements and saw the women who were sneering at him.


    It was more like a huge steam-driven machine than a training field.


    What was in front of his eyes were hydraulic metal columns which were rising and falling while being driven by steam in the training field of thousands of square meters.


    Many people were jumping on the hydraulic metal columns and dodging from the high-pressure water flow shooting towards them from all directions. Those being hit by the water cannon would drop off the columns with a shrill shriek and fell into the pond below.


    "Right here?" Zhang Tie pointed at those rising and falling hydraulic metal columns as he asked those women who were sneering at him.


    "That would be too nice for you. That training field is for testing your fundamental movements. Its length is 100 m. Only when you could run through that passage without being wet could you pass the test for fundamental movements. You don''t even know what is fundamental movements. Do you want to attend the test?"


    "No crap. I know you want to deal with me. Just do it, I''m waiting for that!" With arms crossed, Zhang Tie said. As he was here, he didn''t believe that they could mistreat him.


    "Well! Come with us..."


    Zhang Tie then followed them into a room dozens of meters long. One of the women manipulated some switches and handles on the wall. Soon after that, 6 hydraulic metal columns that were as same as those outside rose up from the ground.


    They didn''t stop until they reached about 4 m in the air. The area of the top of each hydraulic metal column was only as large as the mouth of a bowl, which could only hold a foot.


    The moment the columns reached at the highest points, those women then exchanged glances with each other.


    "Ruomei, you first or me?"


    "I''ll go first!"


    Saying this, one woman walked to the foot of a hydraulic metal column. She then easily jumped onto the top of the 4 m high column and stably stood there with only one foot like a rooster which usually stood with one foot. At the same time, she looked at Zhang Tie proudly.


    Even though Zhang Tie didn''t have a good impression of the woman, he still applauded at her performance.


    "It''s your turn!"


    "What for?" Zhang Tie became a bit puzzled.


    "This is the first step for fundamental movements, quincuncial piles. You can only use your feet on the piles, instead of using your battle qi. When you could stand on the piles for 2 minutes and successfully dodged from Ruomei''s kicks, you will pass the first step!"


    "I''m not allowed to kick her? Wouldn''t I suffer a loss then?"


    "If you are that talented, you can also try to kick here. As long as you could kick her down from the quincuncial piles, you would pass this step, too!" A girl said arrogantly.


    "Ok!"


    Zhang Tie then walked to the foot of the piles and took a deep breath before jumped onto the top of a pile with the help of feet and hands.


    If that woman called Ruomei was regarded as a swallow, Zhang Tie was just a bear who only knew how to use his strength stupidly.


    Zhang Tie then stood on the top of a pile with one foot. When he looked around, he started to sway. Realizing that he could not imitate that women, Zhang Tie immediately landed his another foot on the top of another pile. After swaying twice more, he finally stood fast.


    During this process, that woman who was standing on the top of one pile kept sneering over there. After Zhang Tie stood fast, she finally opened her mouth, "Are you ready?"


    "Ready!"


    The moment Zhang Tie finished saying "dy", he had felt dizzy as his right leg had been hooked by her foot, causing him lose his balance. As a result he directly fell off the piles with face towards the sky.


    "Damnit!" Thanks to his iron-body fruits, Zhang Tie picked himself up and jumped onto the piles once again.


    This time, Zhang Tie became smarter. The moment the woman intended to hook his leg, he had hurriedly moved away that foot. However, before he moved the other leg away, that woman had directly kicked onto his butt and directly sent him fly off the pile.


    This time, Zhang Tie became more embarrassed. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s embarrassing look, all the women revealed their sneers but hurriedly hid them.


    When Zhang Tie tried for the 3rd time, he chose to launch an attack preemptively. However, before he touched the woman''s clothes, he had been kicked off.


    In the next 2 hours, the other women fiercely mistreated him in turn.


    During this process, Zhang Tie gradually realized the secret of using quincuncial piles to train fundamental movements


    This was actually a pure match problem. When one stood on one pile, if one wanted to move, one would have 5 different movements. With 6 piles, one would be familiar with 30 movements in all directions and distances.


    After you turned the movements on the top of quincuncial piles into instinct, when you fought others on the land, you would have too much space to dodge.


    Zhang Tie understood this secret at the price of falling onto the ground heavily with a bloody nose and a swollen face.


    "Later on, you should train yourself every day. We could only ''guide'' you 2 hours a day. Our guidance today has ended; we will continue tomorrow!" After saying this, the women left.


    After staying in the room for awhile, Zhang Tie had become familiar with those switches. He then found the columns had been lifted to the highest points; however, their lowest positions were only 50 cm above the ground.


    This was the price for offending women.


    F*ck!

 305 Fermenting

    Chapter 305: Fermenting


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    After two days'' thorough practice, Zhang Tie had gradually adapted to the movements on top of the fine quincuncial piles that was 4 m in height. He then became increasingly flexible and could stand longer on them. From the 3rd day onwards, it had been harder for those women to kick Zhang Tie off the piles.


    Additionally,as he practised movements on the quincuncial piles, Zhang Tie gradually combined the five basic movements of iron-blood fist, which were used to coordinate the 36 free hand movements into the movements on quincuncial piles.


    He was not accustomed to that at the beginning, as he previously practiced it on the ground. Yet he had to practice on the quincuncial piles now. If he were to step on the place several inches away from the right place, he would lose his balance.


    However, Zhang Tie gradually became familiar with the five basic movements of iron-blood fist on the quincuncial piles.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that the five basic movements of iron-blood fist on the quincuncial piles were the orthodox secret knowledge of iron-blood fist. Actually, except for the imperial households of Norman Empire, only a few people knew about this cultivation method. What Zhang Tie did instantly fixed the only shortage of his iron-blood fist.


    Compared to his embarrassing state when he started to learn the fundamental movements, Zhang Tie excelled in learning the shield defense skills. That was a sharp difference.


    Before he started to learn shield defense skills, Zhang Tie only knew that shields were used for defense and collision. After learning it, Zhang Tie only then knew that the three-worded skill of shield use were defense, attack and hide.


    Defense referred to defense, block and protection; attack referred to collision, to move forward and to break the opponent''s attacking rhythm; hide referred to the shielding of one''s attacking intention during the process of the attack and defense.


    Attack, defense and hide co-existed with each other. They could convert into one another and coordinate with each other for the sake of the application.


    After learning shield defense skills systematically, Zhang Tie showed an extremely high talent when he used shield for the first time.


    The women''s alleged guidance towards Zhang Tie were to attack Zhang Tie with storm-like attacks with a short javelin, the head of which was covered with a cloth ball. During this period, Zhang Tie could only defend himself with a shield.


    He was purely there to be beaten. Those women wanted to give him a good lesson; however, it was out of their imagination that Zhang Tie, with a shield in hand, totally changed. Besides the attack at the beginning which made Zhang Tie grit his teeth, towards the end, Zhang Tie resembled an oily iron tortoise that could never be hurt.


    It was the same even though they had changed into other weapons to attack Zhang Tie as the shield in Zhang Tie''s hand was a movable armor for him. No matter how they attacked Zhang Tie, they would be held back by his shield.


    Finally, as they could not punish Zhang Tie when he practiced shield defense skills, those women directly gave up their "guidance" to Zhang Tie on shield defense skills; instead, they transferred gave him guidance on the course of "fundamental movements".


    Zhang Tie remembered a sentence told by Donder¡ª¡ªpeaches and plums do not speak, yet there was a path under them. [1] No matter how, you could not lift one''s morality by praising him; similarly, you could not ruin one''s morality by slander and gossip.


    Time was the realest eyes as it could expose one''s real personality. Only those whose real personality could stand the test of time could gain others'' respect, as they would definitely be more charming than those only with language talent.


    Zhang Tie felt that he was in that situation.


    He never thought that he had high morality; however, at least, he knew that he was not bad as he had never done any bad things like benefited while others were harmed and dropped righteousness or been lecherous at the sight of beauties. He would always respect them kind people; he would always sympathize the underprivileged ones; he would never bully timid guys.


    This was what his mom had taught him since he was very young. Zhang Tie always kept it in mind.


    As Zhang Tie spent more time with those women, they started to change their attitudes towards him even though Zhang Tie didn''t urge for it . They started to realize that Zhang Tie was greatly different from the one described in gossip.


    Zhang Tie was not as mean, shameless and lecherous as that in the gossip; instead, they could even find many good personalities of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie was very strong-willed; no matter how many times he was kicked off from the piles, he said nothing before he jumped back once again.


    Zhang Tie was very generous. Although he would joke around with them, he would never argue about little things. Even though he suffered some braises, he just gave a big laughter and never place it in mind because Zhang Tie didn''t have evil thoughts when he looked at others. After several days, they finally lost their vigilance towards him.


    Speaking of being lecherous, he was only flirting with them. In daily contacts, those women found that Zhang Tie paid special respect to girls. Even on the piles, he wouldn''t attack them excessively as he just narrowed the attacking range on their thighs and below their knees.


    Especially after hearing that Zhang Tie had saved a girl''s life at the risk of his own life when he was a yaksha in the sea and didn''t expect for any payment, those women''s who "educated" Zhang Tie on the piles had gradually changed their attitude towards him.


    Therefore, gradually those women started to call Zhang Tie junior brother. When they stood on the piles together with Zhang Tie, they were no longer finding ways to kick him off, instead, they taught him more.


    Compared to the three-worded skill of the use of the shield, the three-worded skill of the use of fundamental movements was fast, accurate and fierce¡ª¡ªfast referred to high speed, accurate referred to precise judgement while fierce referred to great strength. After reaching the 3 basic requirements, he had to meet the further requirements: landing on the piles as steadily as a a nail being pounded into the wood by an iron hammer; moving as fast as a bolt leaving the string which was as heavy as thousand jun [2] and as light as a goose feather.


    During the days when Zhang Tie were practicing the fundamental movements and shield defense skills, the effect of the solution gradually spread.


    Each man had his own circle of friend, including yakshas in the sea, senior Chen in the Pearl Field, Zhu Wenqiang, Yang Yuankang and Zhang Lin from Breaking Heaven Department. After gifting a bottle of that special solution to each of them, its effect started to spread amongst those guys'' friend circles.


    More and more people would like to try his solution. Within a short period of time, most of the dozens of kg of special solution taken out of the Castle of Black Iron had been taken away by Zhang Tie''s friends and his friends'' friends.


    ...


    On May 18, 890 of Black Iron Calendar, it was definitely a memorial day for Zhang Tie.


    In the morning, it was no different from the other days. After getting up early, Zhang Tie spent 1 hour to read the last chapters of the thick book¡ª¡ª"General History of Human Beings". After breakfast, he started his monotonous and hard learning and practiced about the compulsory courses for fighters.


    Accepting the suggestion of those senior sisters, Zhang Tie included preliminary archery and the fundamental swordsmanship into his daily exercise in the previous 2 days. Now, Zhang Tie needed to practice four courses; instead of two.


    Now, Zhang Tie could only rest less than 5 hours a day. He used to leave his residence at 6 am and came back at 1-2 am in the midnight when he was tired.


    Zhang Tie felt that he had completely changed himself into a machine since he came to the Hidden Dragon Palace.


    When he was in the Zhixing Department, he was a set of machine for picking navy-blue iron ores. When he was in the Breaking Heaven Department, in order to make clan contribution points, he became a diving machine. After making enough clan contribution points to apply for compulsory courses, Zhang Tie became other machines.


    When he was learning the fundamental movements, Zhang Tie became a machine that jumped here and there on the quincuncial piles; when he was learning the shield defense skills, Zhang Tie became a machine which was beaten with a shield; when he learned preliminary archery, Zhang Tie became a machine that had to shoot an arrow; when he learned fundamental swordsmanship, Zhang Tie became a machine that constantly practiced picking, chopping, stabbing, hacking and cutting...


    Besides, he was also a machine which only knew how to sleep, eat and shit.


    He had been in the Hidden Dragon Island for over half a year. Besides monotonous training and tasks, he didn''t do anything else. Compared to such a lifestyle, his survival training in the Wild Wolf Valley was as sweet as lovers who were having a holiday.


    Even when he was in the Iron-Blood Camp, Zhang Tie didn''t lived that hard.


    Zhang Tie knew that he had no other choice. Although he could live a more relaxed life, facing the sense of crisis brought by the third holy war between human beings and demons constantly drove Zhang Tie to run forward while he gritted his teeth. He didn''t even dare to slightly loosen up.


    It was a good day. Before he entered the training field for fundamental movements, Zhang Tie raised his head and looked up at the azure sky.


    The azure sky reminded Zhang Tie of that sapphire ring he gifted Alice. The moment Zhang Tie thought about Alice, he remembered his friends in the Blackhot City.


    ''How are they now?''


    Zhang Tie mumbled as he shook his head to drive all the thoughts out of his mind. He then pushed open the gate of the training field...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that he was going to be rich in this common day.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie entered the training field for fundamental movements, at the entrance of the Dragon Cave, Yang Yuankang and some of Zhang Tie''s friends in Breaking Heaven Department had just ended their tasks as yakshas in the sea and were checking their equipment. They were ready to enter the underground world to hunt the LV 7 centipede.


    Like bezoar in ox, stone of gallbladder, kidney and bladder in dogs, pearls in seashells, there were also some precious items in the magical beasts and the mutated living beings. People could find magical cores from very few centipedes.


    Centipede''s magical core was a treasure which was mainly used to form battle qi and increase the power of battle qi.


    In the latest months, the purchasing price of centipede''s magical core quoted in the Breaking Heaven Department had already reached 1200 gold coins, which was almost two times more compared to last year''s.


    In order to make money, Yang Yuankang and some friends decided to enter the underground world to make money at the risk of their lives.


    "We''d better check our own equipments and medicaments one more time in case of the worst scenario. What was most important was that we should make sure that we''ve taken LV 1 antidote!" As the leader of the team, before going down, Yang Yuankang reminded the others.


    "Don''t worry. We''ve taken them all. But the price of antidote had risen again. Now, each vial of antidote would cost us 5 gold coins and 60 silver coins, while each vial of night viewing medicament had risen to 40 silver coins. Damned! if we cannot obtain a centipede''s magical core, we would suffer a loss this time!" A person said gloomily.


    "Zhang Feng, the antidote will be used in saving your life. Once you were hit by the the venom of the centipede, if you don''t drink the antidote, you would lose your life in a couple of minutes! Although it''s expensive, it could never match your life!"


    "I was just complaining about it. Those alchemists are really good at making money. Many vials of antidote would be sold on the Hidden Dragon Island. Compared to them, we are so stupid. We have to risk our lives to make a bit of money..."


    "You only see the thief eating meat, you''ve not seen them being beaten. Each of the alchemists who could make antidotes on the Hidden Dragon Craftsmanship List and the Hidden Dragon Wealth List had experienced many hardships. Who were born to be able to produce antidotes. Even though antidotes could bring them money, they could not be easily produced!" Yang Yuankang spoke to Zhang Feng with a smile.


    That man called Zhang Feng then gave back a smile as he recalled something. He then patted on the medicament container on his waist, "Yuankang, whether this solution distributed by you is as marvelous as you told us?"


    "Trust me, when we have no weapons and rations, if we drink that solution, we could definitely last longer!" Yang Yuankang replied with confidence. This was discovered by Yang Yuankang, Zhu Wenqiang and Zhang Lin after they concluded their experiences from several occasions.


    Zhang Tie''s solution seemed very nutritious. After 100 ml of that solution was drank, one could remain energetic for another 10 hours.


    For hunting centipede''s magical cores, Yang Yuankang shared some of the solution which was gifted by Zhang Tie with the others. Each team member possessed one vial of the solution for emergency uses.


    In Yang Yuankang''s opinion, Zhang Tie could definitely sell his solution.


    After the confirmation, everybody dripped some night viewing medicament into their eyes. After that, under the leadership of Yang Yuankang, the team of 6 entered the Dragon Cave...


    ...

 306 Fortune Day I

    Soon after Yang Yuankang and his hunting team entered the Dragon Cave, the manager of the Long Wind Pearl Field started to suffer from a stomachache again.


    The manager was called Zhang Heng, who was an elder of Long Wind Business Group under the affiliation of Huaiyuan Palace. He had served Long Wind Business Group for dozens of years. Recently he hadn''t been as healthy as before because of his age; however, he couldn''t stand being lonely, therefore, it was arranged for him to work as a manager of the Pearl Field on Hidden Dragon Island. Because there was little work to do in the Pearl Field, it was an easy job for him. Actually, it was almost like having a vacation.


    In the early morning, soon after he got up, Manager Zhang suffered his stomachache once again.


    He had been troubled with gastric ulcers for many years. Besides paying special attention to his diet, he had also tried many acupuncture therapies and medicine which were all very limited in effect.


    Even while he suffered from that scorching pain which extended like a wildfire in his stomach, manager Zhang still wanted to make a patrol around the Pearl Field.


    In contrast, the yakshas in the sea near the Pearl Field looked so energetic these days. Even though they had not been assigned with the task, they still went in the sea in the early morning to guide the young men to practice diving skills. This made manager Zhang Tie reassured.


    Soon after making an inspection tour, manager Zhang returned to the office. He then covered his mouth with a handkerchief and started to cough heavily.


    However, this time, he tasted blood in his mouth. After coughing, he looked at his handkerchief and was shocked by the red color mixed in with the mucus.


    Is it really that severe? Gazing at the blood on his handkerchief, manager Zhang forced a bitter smile. The doctor had told him that if his gastric ulcer became severe, he would suffer a complication of spitting blood, which indicated that his blood vessels had been influenced. When this truly happened, it would be dangerous.


    Heavy coughing, hemoptysis, plus increasingly scorching pain made manager Zhang weak for quite a while. Sitting on the chair in his office a bit tiredly, manager Zhang touched his upper abdomen and gasped for quite a while before relieved it a bit.


    Hearing manager Zhang''s heavy coughs, senior Chen ran into his office, "Manager Zhang, are you okay? How about calling a doctor for you from White Dragon Town?"


    Senior Chen also knew that manager Zhang had suffered this illness for many years; however, hearing him coughing especially heavily today and seeing his forehead turn blue while the veins on his forehead almost pop out, senior Chen started to concern about him.


    "Hehe, it''s okay, senior Chen. No need to trouble you. I know my disease very much..." Saying this, manager Zhang silently put away his handkerchief, "You''ve been here for many years, after this year, I prepare to recommend you to the superior officer and let you take over my seat as I might not be able to stay longer on this position."


    Hearing this, senior Chen hurriedly wove his hand, face turned blushed, "Manager Zhang, I don''t mean that..."


    "Senior Chen, listen to me. We''ve been working for several years. I know your personality very much. I''ve worked for so many years. In the past, I could not stand being alone; now, I''m old and am not after fame and wealth any more. Therefore, I want to have a good rest at home and accompany my grandsons. As you''ve been very familiar with the affairs in the Pearl Field, it would be most proper for you to take over my position after I leave..."


    Saying this, manager Zhang looked at senior Chen. These days, senior Chen looked very energetic; his face looked better one day after another. Compared to manager Zhang, senior Chen at least could work 10 more years in the Pearl Field according to his current condition.


    "Manager Zhang, I think you''ve not got the proper prescription. Take me and some old buddies in the Pearl Field as an example, after working in the sea for half of our lives, we were always tortured by rheumatism and arthritis and felt that we could not stand any longer. But, now, as we''ve met the most proper prescription, we become fully energetic once again!"


    Manager Zhang heard the news that senior Chen and some yakshas in the sea had greatly recovered from rheumatism and arthritis that they had been suffering for so many years. He didn''t pay more attention to this news. In his opinion, this was because they were just fortunate enough.


    Hearing that they drank a special solution brewed by a young yaksha in the Pearl Field called Zhang Tie using a secret knowledge, manager Zhang then took this as an eccentric medicament. Besides feeling lucky for them and praising Zhang Tie''s talent, manager Zhang didn''t think too much about that.


    For the words that the solution could make ones more energetic and feel not tired, manager Zhang thought that was a bit exaggerating. For him who had seen so many things, it was actually not difficult to reach the same effect. After drinking a bowl of ginseng braised with chicken soup, he could almost realize the same effect.


    "Is that solution given by Zhang Tie truly that good?" Hearing senior Chen mention that thing once again, manager Zhang then casually asked.


    "It''s not good, it''s marvelous. Since drinking that thing, I and the other old buddies didn''t suffer from arthritis any more. What''s more, we all feel healthier these days like having become several years younger!"


    The moment he mentioned the solution gifted by Zhang Tie, senior Chen had become spirited. Because the solution was too effective, senior Chen and his other old buddies asked for some more from him and carefully hid it. These days, they would only drink a small mouth of that solution everyday as they all felt recovering vitality.


    "Hehe, you''re lucky enough to meet the right prescription..."


    "Manager Zhang, that thing could not only cure our diseases, senior Wei told me that yesterday his grandson got a fever and caught a cold. He kept crying. As the boiled decoction of the medicinal ingredients tasted too bitter, his grandson didn''t eat it. As a result, the whole family became so anxious just like ants on the hot pot, including senior Wei, guess what?"


    "What?" Being curious about senior Chen''s words, manager Zhang kept asking.


    "Heh heh, since realizing the marvelous effect of the thing given by Zhang Tie, senior Wei bought a beautiful and delicate silver kettle and put them inside the kettle. In usual time, he would take the kettle with him like treating a treasure. Yesterday, his grandson cried because of catching a cold, senior Wei then teased him with that silver kettle; however, he had not imagined that the moment his grandson smelt the flavor of the solution from the mouth of the kettle, he desperately wanted to eat what was inside. Senior Wei then opened it and let his grandson drink several mouthfuls. The result was that soon after drinking that, his grandson had become calm. In 1 hour, his grandson''s cold and fever had relieved and finally was cured!"


    "It also works on fever?" Hearing this news, manager Zhang became dumbfounded for a while. This folk''s prescription seemed to have too many effects. It didn''t seem possible. But he believed that senior Chen wouldn''t tell a lie. Because there were only several hundred people in the Pearl Field. As long as something happened, it would soon be spread among the rest.


    "That''s why we say it''s marvelous..." senior Chen revealed a big smile, "Senior Wei even told me that he wanted some more from Zhang Tie for his grandson. Hearing senior Wei''s daughter-in-law mentioning about it, some households in the Pearl Field even wanted to ask for some solution from Zhang Tie for their own kids!"


    After chatting with manager Zhang for a while, senior Chen left manager Zhang''s office. Sitting in his office alone, manager Zhang considered about senior Chen''s words as he faintly shook his head. Perhaps, it was a just a coincidence. If that solution was really that effective, it could definitely be sold like the medicament produced by alchemists.


    After senior Chen left, manager Zhang still felt a scorching stomachache. The wildfire like scorching pain was gradually enlarging. After standing it for some more minutes, senior Zhang''s forehead oozed fine sweat drops.


    Senior Chen''s praise and favor about the strange solution kept ringing in manager Zhang''s ears. Manager Zhang then pulled open a drawer under his desk.


    There was also a glass bottle in the drawer, which was containing the solution which was mentioned by senior Chen. This was what Zhang Tie gifted the manager before he left the Pearl Field.


    It was just a common glass. When Zhang Tie gifted it here, manager Zhang just felt that Zhang Tie was sensible. Because he regarded it as a folk prescription for curing rheumatism and arithmetic, he just put it into a drawer.


    At this time, manager Zhang took out of the bottle.


    The color of the solution inside the bottle looked very energetic as the golden color was mixed with a faint green color.


    Remembering that senior Chen said it smelt very good, even kids wanted to eat it. Being driven by curiosity, manager Zhang opened the lid of the bottle and smelt it carefully.


    He smelt a strange and refreshing flavor.


    Only after smelling several times, manager Zhang had started to drool. Having lost appetite from early morning until the present due to the intense pain, manager Zhang suddenly felt hungry and wanting to eat something.


    After taking a careful look at the solution, manager Zhang couldn''t stand to have a sip like drinking alcohol.


    It tasted really good. He then took another sip...


    In only half a minute, manager Zhang had felt a wisp of cold and comfortable sense from his stomach which was suffering from a scorching ache. In a short while, that fire in his stomach had been dying out.


    "Wuh..."


    At the beginning, manager Zhang thought it was an illusion. After sensing it seriously, he realized it was true.


    He then took another big mouth of that solution before rested in the chair with his eyes closed.


    10 minutes later, manager Zhang became so excited that he directly stood up with his eyes shimmering brightly. Fixing his eyes on that bottle of solution, when he wanted to take another mouthful and had an another look at it, manager Zhang found his hand was shivering...

 307 Fortune Day II

    Chapter 307: Fortune Day II


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    The underground world was as vast as the sea. Even though one had reached 5-6 km away from the mouth of the Dragon Cave, it only equaled to coming to the beach, still a distance away from the real sea.


    When manager Zhang carefully asked those who had used Zhang Tie''s solution in his office about the effect of the solution, the centipede hunting team, led by Yang Yuankang, had already delved into Dragon Cave and arrived in an underground space where huge centipedes were always seen.


    The underground karst where most of the Hell-black spiders gathered was more than 3000 m away from the entrance of Dragon Cave. However, huge centipedes lived in a darker place. Only when they reached 5000-6000 m away from the entrance could they see huge centipedes.


    In the ecological system of the underground world, huge centipedes had a very wide range of food. All the rotten animals, the corpses of magical beasts, those mutated underground snails and huge flies that liked to wander among the various underground fungi and plants were the food of huge centipedes. Sometimes, if huge centipedes were too hungry, they could even engulf the Hell-black spiders.


    Compared to Hell-black spiders, centipedes were much larger. Most of them were longer than 10 m. Additionally, centipedes moved more swiftly. Those centipedes hiding in the seams could charge at you at any time and cause a fatal harm on you.


    What made people more worried were that huge centipedes'' shells were much stronger than that of the Hell-black spiders. They were much more difficult to pierce. This was an underground creature with a very powerful vitality. Even if they were broken into halves, they could still stay alive for 1 week before death.


    Most people who ventured into the living area of centipedes were there to attempt advancement to level 7. Compared to the difficulty of forming battle qi at level 6, when they reached level 7, the formed battle qi would be like dried straws; as long as they absorb a ball of soul fire, it would lead to a new battle totem.


    All the members of the huge centipede hunting team were level 7 fighters. Each of them had been here many times. Soon after they entered the underground living area of centipedes, they had met their first prey.


    For level 7 fighters, it wasn''t too hard to deal with a centipede. Through cooperation, it only took them several minutes to kill the centipede.


    After that, a fighter used a huge ax and opened the hardest head.


    Although no magical core was found, they didn''t become disappointed as it would be too lucky for them if they could find a magical core from the first huge centipede. Before coming down, they already prepared to gain nothing.


    Many people from Breaking-Heavens Department were here to hunt for huge centipedes'' magical cores every day; however, above 98% of them might not see one huge centipede''s magical core for 1 week''s work as the possibility for huge centipedes to produce magical cores was less than 1/1000.


    Because there was no magical core inside it, they only took its fist-sized venom container. At least they could sell it for some money. There were some business groups purchasing venom containers of huge centipedes at the price of 2 silver coins each. They could be made into medicines including poison and medicament that could cure venom, relieve inflammation, and sores.


    The huge centipede''s shell could also be made into a special glue. However, as it was cheap and was difficult to deal with, besides special personnel who were dispatched here from business groups above to clean up and collect these things, the other people would feel reluctant to deal with such cumbersome things.


    "Let''s go for the second target. We''re in a persistent war, watch out everyone." After receiving no gains, Yang Yuankang called others to continue walking forward.


    Fortunately, 7 hours later, after they killed the 34th huge centipede in a narrow crack and opened its head, they finally found one magical core.


    It was a grape-sized bead which radiated a faint red light in the dark underground cave.


    At the sight of this bead, everybody was amazed as they hadn''t imagined that they could gain one so easily today. However, dangers always came when people let their guards down. When they were excited about their achievement, another huge centipede suddenly drilled out and charged towards them by springing up its body from 10 m away.


    Two huge centipedes lived in this crack, not one.


    "Watch out!"


    Yang Yuankang was the first one who responded as he immediately shouted loudly and jumped up. At the same time, he broke out his battle qi once again...


    In a split second, a great amount of fine venom was sprouted out of the huge centipede''s mouth and was covering towards them like suddenly sprayed raindrops. Although they all responded quickly, facing such an undifferentiated attack, 3 people of the team were still sprayed by the venom.


    After dozens of seconds, the second huge centipede was also killed in the most violent way by them; however, those guys who were splashed by the venom also started feeling its effects.


    The venom of huge centipede was known for its extremely strong permeability and slight corrosivity. Once sprayed, it would be no different from being bitten by the huge centipede as its venom would permeate into your blood through your skin as soon as possible.


    "Argh, I might have been splashed by its venom..."


    "So was I..."


    "Hurry up, check up yourself. As long as you find being splashed by its venom, drink your antidote as soon as possible!" Yang Yuankang raised his voice.


    Only after 1 minute, Zhang Feng had already felt his pulse and heart racing. Additionally, he started to feel disgusting and a bit dizzy. At the same time, he''s tongue gradually became stiff and numb.


    "F*ck!" Zhang Feng swore as he touched his neck when he felt the location on his neck which was close to the left side of his jaw was a bit hot just like having been burnt by some drops of hot water


    As people''s neck was very close to one''s heart and brain, therefore, the venom of huge centipede would act on one''s neck faster than other places. Zhang Feng became a bit hurried as he opened his medicament capsule and pulled out of a vial of antidote. After opening its lid, he instantly engulfed it, making a sound of "Gulp Gulp"


    In less than 1 minute after he drunk it, he had already felt better. The disgusting feeling gradually disappeared. Then, his tongue also recovered flexibility; he became more conscious; what was more, his pulse and heart beat also recovered.


    "Wait, this antidote doesn''t feel good!"


    After recovering his sense of taste, Zhang Feng sucked his lip as he felt it tasted not as same as those before.


    ...


    "Is everybody okay?"


    "Okay, f*ck, but I wouldn''t have imagined that there were two huge centipedes in the crack. If we''ve didn''t find the magical core, we''ve already suffered a loss now!"


    "If not for that magical core, we might not have been that easily attacked by that bi**h!"


    The members started to discuss.


    "Feng, are you all right?" Seeing Zhang Feng staying still over there after drinking the antidote, Yang Yuankang walked towards him as he started to worry about him. He then patted Zhang Feng''s shoulder and asked.


    The other guys who noticed Zhang Feng''s situation also walked towards him. Some of them instantly noticed those red points on his neck where had been splashed by the venom.


    Thinking that Zhang Feng had been poisoned, Yang Yuankang hurriedly grabbed his hand as he touched Zhang Feng''s pulse. However, he found Zhang Feng''s pulse was steady, no signal of being poisoned at all.


    Everybody then noticed Zhang Feng''s extremely weird expression.


    "What''s wrong?" Yang Yuankang asked out of curiosity.


    "Head, is that solution you gave me is able to help people recover vitality?" Zhang Feng asked Yang Yuankang in a curious expression.


    "That thing is very effective to rheumatism and arithmetic! Some people who had tried it all said it was marvelous!"


    "What else?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "I find... that medicament might also be used to detoxify venom!" Zhang Feng said in a lowered tone.


    "What? How?"


    Facing the other''s dubious eyes, Zhang Feng put his hand into his medicament capsule again and pulled out another vial of medicament. After that, he presented that empty vial, "After being poisoned just now, I made a mistake and took the medicament which was given by the head. However, the real antidote is still here. Soon after I drunk that medicament, the symptoms of being poisoned had disappeared!"


    Looking at the two vials of medicament that were almost the same size, everybody became stunned immediately as it was really out of their imagination.


    The most shocked one was Yang Yuankang. After being dumbfounded for several seconds, Yang Yuankang made one thing that was out of everybody else''s expectation¡ª¡ªHe directly opened his palm skin using his dagger and squeezed a bit venom out of the huge centipede''s venom container onto the wound. After half a minute, he took out of the vial of solution which was given by Zhang Tie and bottomed it up in front of the others.


    Everybody then fixed their eyes on Yang Yuankang without a wink.


    Only after 2 minutes, Yang Yuankang had already shown an uncontrolled expression...


    "It truly works..."


    "In a split second, Yang Yuankang''s head was filled with many thoughts. After thinking for almost 1 minute, Yang Yuankang started to recover his composure.


    "Let''s go back to the Breaking-Heavens Department!"


    Zhang Tie might not know about the true value of that solution that he brewed. As his friend, Yang Yuankang thought he was obligated to tell Zhang Tie that those solutions that he brewed were not only solutions but a real medicament. He should tell Zhang Tie about the true value of the medicament.


    Yang Yuankang then exchanged glances with the other members who went down the underground cave. From then on, the value of Zhang Tie''s solution soon spread in Breaking-Heavens Department.


    ...

 308 Cooperation

    Chapter 308: Cooperation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    When Zhang Tie finished his day''s training and went back to his residence, he saw Yang Yuankang waiting for him on the ground floor of the Songtao Pavilion with some other senior brothers from Breaking-Heavens Department. The moment they saw him, Yang Yuankang hurriedly waved hands towards him while the other guys instantly cast their eyes onto Zhang Tie.


    "Senior Yang, it''s been so late, what''s up?" Zhang Tie revealed a big smile.


    It was truly very late. As the swordsmanship training gym in the Breaking-Heavens Department wasn''t locked up until 11 pm, Zhang Tie always returned Songtao Pavilion after the training gym was closed. Therefore, it was almost 12 pm.


    "Hoho, I''m here to congratulate you, junior brother Zhang Tie!" Yang Yuankang smiled. As they had sold the huge centipede''s magical core the moment they returned and each of them had gained a lot from it, they were all very happy, including Yang Yuankang.


    "Congratulate me?" Zhang Tie stared at Yang Yuankang in a dubious expression, "but why?"


    "Junior brother Zhang Tie would enter the Hidden Dragon Wealth List very soon. Of course, we''re here to congratulate you!"


    "Senior brother Yang, you must be kidding me. I truly have some money now, but I won them from the bet with those in the Zhixing Department. Even including the debts that have not been cleared up, they are just 2000 gold coins in total. I even spent a lot. Each of the guys on the Hidden Dragon Wealth List have above hundreds of thousands of gold coins, compared with them, my small amount is nothing!" Zhang Tie shook his head.


    Yang Yuankang smiled before he told Zhang Tie about the effect of that solution given by Zhang Tie that they found in the Dragon Island.


    After hearing that his solution could detoxify venom very effectively, Zhang Tie was really shocked as he had not imagined that his solution could have that effect, "Senior brother Yang, you mean that solution could detoxify venom?"


    "You didn''t know about that?"


    Zhang Tie tried to recover his composure before he asked, "I really didn''t know about it. When I first gained the secret knowledge, I knew nothing about its effect except for feeling very comfortable after drinking it. I couldn''t have imagined that it could detoxify venom!"


    "The effect of your solution could definitely match that of a LV 1 antidote. Even if you only sell it at the price of an antidote, you could still gain thousands of gold coins a day. It''s just a matter of time before you enter the Hidden Dragon Wealth List. Additionally, that solution has other marvelous effects. It could definitely be very useful in the future! We were wondering, how much of it do you still have?"


    "Only little of the first batch is left. If senior brother Yang wants it, I can gift you some!"


    "Now that we know your solution is very precious, how could we ask for your thing for free!" Yang Yuankang''s eyes radiated shimmering lights as he continued, "We didn''t just come here to tell you all this news but in order to negotiate a business deal with you!"


    "Business?" In an instant, Zhang Tie had almost completely guessed Yang Yuankang''s plan. He then smiled as he cast another glance over them, "Thanks for bringing me such good news, senior brother Yang. As it is almost midnight, it''s not proper to talk about that here. Why not talk about it in my room!"


    Yang Yuankang was also smart. Knowing that Zhang Tie had not refused it and even invited them to talk about it in his room, he knew that the business was doomed to succeed. After exchanging glances with the other guys, Yang Yuankang also saw the excitement from all the others'' eyes.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie invited them to enter his Xuan No.7 room.


    After they sat well on the sofa and in the chairs, Yang Yuankang looked solemn.


    "Junior brother, do you know how many antidotes are required on Hidden Dragon Island every day?"


    Zhang Tie shook his head.


    "As the Dragon Cave of Hidden Dragon Island is one of the entrances towards the underground world, there are at least thousands of warriors, fighters and adventurers deepening into the Dragon Cave to reinforce their battle qi or to seek out treasures every day. They come from all across Jinyun Country. They make the Hidden Dragon Island prosperous and many things become very urgent in demand!"


    "Are antidotes items that are often in urgent demand?"


    "Yes!" Yang Yuankang nodded, "This antidote is necessary for all the people entering the underground world. It could save one''s life. Each people entering underground world would at least carry one vial of this antidote in case of emergency! In this case, they could see at least 500-600 vials of antidote on the Hidden Dragon Island every day. They might even sell over 1000 vials of antidote a day."


    Zhang Tie nodded as he remembered that Zhang Su, his cousin also carried some vials of antidote when he took Zhang Tie to form battle qi in the Dragon Cave.


    Of course, the alleged antidote could not detoxify all the poisons. Take that blue frost that he was poisoned by before as an example. Only a special antidote could detoxify it. There were some lethal poisons that could not be detoxified at all.


    In this age, antidotes were always universal which was mainly targeted at detoxifying venoms possessed by various creatures and magical beasts below LV 9. They were made of special minerals.


    Universal antidotes below LV 9 could be further divided into 3 levels. Those which could detoxify the venom of creatures below LV 7 belonged to LV 1 antidote; those which could detoxify the venom of creatures below LV 8 belonged to LV 2 antidotes; those which could detoxify the venom of creatures below LV 9 belonged to LV 3 antidotes.


    "Although LV 1 antidotes are the most common ones, their sales volume and variety of purposes are much greater than other antidotes. They could be used in many places. Not only warriors, fighters and adventurers are equipped with this medicament, even many common households had them. Because most people are only likely to meet dangerous creatures below LV 7!"


    Zhang Tie nodded once again. It was true. Take sea serpents as an example, they were just LV 0 living beings before mutation; however, for commoners, it was also very severe if being bitten by them. Among all the dangerous creatures, the amount of creatures below LV 7 occupied above 95% of the total amount of these creatures.


    "According to my knowledge, the alchemists on the Hidden Dragon Island can only produce over 200 vials of LV 1 antidotes a day. The shortage in demand is transported by business groups of the Zhang clan from outside the island. Now that we already know that your medicament can detoxify venom, we can definitely make a lot using your solution!" Yang Yuankang said with a spark in his eyes.


    "What''s your plan, senior Yang?"


    "My friends and I have just gained a huge centipede''s magical core and sold it for 1200 gold coins today. We''ll prepare to rent a store on the island in order to sell your medicament exclusively!"


    Gradually, Yang Yuankang had changed the name of Zhang Tie''s solution into "medicament".


    After testing the detoxifying effect of Zhang Tie''s medicament, Yang Yuankang and the others were so confident about it. They''d found a great business opportunity in it. After negotiating for a while, Yang Yuankang and the others decided to make investment using the money they made today. They prepared to make a lot by the relationship with Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie was greatly moved by Yang Yuankang''s idea.


    Speaking of opening a store, Zhang Tie had much more experience than Yang Yuankang and the other guys. After assessing its feasibility, Zhang Tie started to negotiate about the cooperation with them seriously.


    If they wanted to make money with that solution, they still needed to solve a lot of problems.


    The first problem is that few of his solution was left, only a bit more than 10 kg. It was definitely impossible to enter the market using it.


    Zhang Tie then directly took that terrine of solution out of his bed room and put it on the desk in front of them.


    "Junior brother, your stuff is so small now?" A senior sister uttered.


    She didn''t feel anything wrong when she said this; however, after saying it, she found the faces of all the guys in the room turned weird at once. Their face all blushed. Then, she realized the ambiguity in his words. Her face blushed soon, too.


    "This thing...has become so little!" Zhang Tie said with a slightly embarrassed expression.


    "Alas..." Yang Yuankang coughed twice as he recovered composure, "Junior brother Zhang Tie, how long will it take you to make such medicament?"


    "At least 2 months!"


    "Can you be faster?"


    "I can catalyze a batch of them rapidly, it will take me 2 weeks!"


    It was just Zhang Tie''s excuse for catalyzing them. Actually, Zhang Tie prepared to move some of the fermented solution out of the Castle of Black Iron. As long as he made preparations, he would not arise their doubts.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Yang Yuankang and the others all looked very thrilled.


    "That''s too incredible. If we restrict the sales volume of the rest medicament, we can last 2 weeks with them. We can make it popular first. After this is sold out, new batches will be ready!"


    Zhang Tie nodded, "I also mean for it to be like that. If you put the rest into standard vials, you can still make over 100 vials of it. In the next 2 weeks, you can sell it as a trial and check the response of the market. If there''s any problems, we can find them in time; if it works well, it could work like hunger marketing!"


    Hearing that, everybody nodded.


    They then negotiated about the cooperation details before separating.


    After seeing them off to the ground floor of the Songtao Pavilion, Zhang Tie returned to his own room. Staring at that terrine, Zhang Tie still couldn''t believe the solution inside could have that marvelous effect.


    As he had sold rice brew with yeast for over 10 years at home, will he sell yeast again?


    Zhang Tie felt the marvel of destiny. Meanwhile, he also became thrilled as he seemed to see numerous gold coins flying towards him...

 309 The First Transaction

    Chapter 309: The First Transaction


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Since that they had decided to do it, they would do it well.


    As they were all young men and full of passion, after making up their minds, they all started to move enthusiastically.


    Early the next morning, Yang Yuankang had already arrived at the Songtao Pavilion in the appointed place.


    He brought two crates of new crystal vials into Zhang Tie''s room. Yang Yuankang and Zhang Tie then filled all the solution from the terrine into the vials. They got 138 vials of medicament in total.


    "These vials of medicament have no symbols. In the future, we should customize all the vials of medicament!" Yang Yuankang said.


    "Where will we customize them?"


    "It''s available in the Breaking-Heavens Department. The students who cultivate to be alchemists would customize their personal vials for medicaments after being able to produce them. There are private symbols on their vials. You can call them trademarks. All the private symbols on the vials are trademarks. They are registered in the Alchemists Association and are the only private image-text symbols being protected by the Alchemists Association!"


    "I''m not an alchemist. How could I register my private symbol on the vials?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "You can. All the vials with medicament inside could be registered for exclusively private symbol in the Alchemists Association!" Taking a empty crystal vial of medicament, Yang Yuankang pointed at some special designs on it, "This crystal vial includes several unique patents from aspects like ingredients and craftsmanship. These patents are exclusively enjoyed by the Alchemists Association. The Alchemists Association monopolizes the production of all the vials and the right to register and authenticate the symbols on the vials!"


    Zhang Tie nodded. He thought if this batch of solution could really sell well, as long as he could produce it on a large scale, he would definitely customize his own vials.


    After filling the solution inside the vials, Yang Yuankang took away 120 vials. Zhang Tie asked to keep the rest 18 vials. For the 120 vials, Zhang Tie sold them at the price of 4 gold coins for each.


    Zhang Tie decided to set the price of each vial at 5 gold coins, which was 10% lower than the common LV 1 antidote on the market, leaving 20% of gross profit to Yang Yuankang and the other guys.


    Because medicament were usually very expensive. Most of stores and sales terminals would variate from 5% to 8%. As the first dealer of Zhang Tie, Yang Yuankang could enjoy 20% of the gross profit. This was really too profitable.


    As the condition for the cooperation between both parties, if they could sell these products successfully, in the future, regardless of the rising sales price of the terminals, Zhang Tie always provide them at least 10000 vials of medicament at the price of lower than 4 gold coins a vial so as to ensure their investment benefits as the first ones who dared to eat crabs.


    After taking the 120 vials of medicament, Yang Yuankang became so excited that after bidding a farewell with ZhangTie, he hurriedly left.


    Staying in his room, Zhang Tie smirked as he counted the 480 gold coins paid by Yang Yuankang for many times. He was filled with pleasure. This was Zhang Tie''s first time making money with his real talent and ability. Previously, although Zhang Tie had manipulated more money than this, he actually didn''t make it with his own ability.


    When the Gregory family compensated 5000 gold coins for him, they were actually paying for the life of a second lieutenant of the Iron-Blood Camp of Norman Empire.


    When in Blapei, although he took the position as an officer in the logistics department and could gain a lot of gold coins per week, that was due to the concern about him from the big figures of the Iron-Horn Army.


    Even though that rune ring was still picked up from the battlefield, it was due to good luck.


    However, today, with his own ability, he made 480 gold coins. Holding the heavy gold coins which weighed over 10 kg, Zhang Tie felt very satisfied.


    After Yang Yuankang left, Zhang Tie also left Songtao Pavilion with some money.


    ...


    Seeing Zhang Tie falling off the 4 m high quincuncial piles once again, although standing on the ground steadily, Gu Caidie who was responsible for guiding Zhang Tie frowned her forehead with a serious expression at once.


    "Junior brother Zhang Tie, you seem not concentrated today! As you''ve made progress very fast during this period, you shouldn''t slack off!"


    "Yes, senior sister Gu!" Feeling embarrassed, Zhang Tie scratched his head as he slightly jumped up from the ground and stood back onto the piles. After practicing it for several days, although Zhang Tie could still not defeat those girls, his movements had become increasingly more flexible. He could stand longer and longer on the piles now. Even when falling off the piles, Zhang Tie could still stand on the ground safe and sound, instead of being that awkward at the beginning.


    Today, because Zhang Tie was thinking about making money, he became a bit mind-absent on the piles.


    "Although you have great strength on your feet, it was not enough, as you have to feel being both a nail and a spring on the piles, in each second, you should be at the equilibrium point between the nail and the spring. Only when you could fix and move your foot in a split second could you pass the test!"


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    After concentrating, Zhang Tie performed much better. Two hours passed very soon.


    The moment it was finished, after bidding a farewell with Gu Caidie, Zhang Tie had hurriedly left the training field.


    Seeing that Zhang Tie was that anxious, Gu Caidie could only reveal a smile as she shook her head.


    Even though afterTwo hours'' training, when Zhang Tie left the training field for fundamental movements, it was still 9 am..


    After leaving the training field, Zhang Tie directly came to the hall of the Middle Castle and queued up before the counter where he handed in money at the beginning.


    After the front ones handed in the monthly payment, it was finally Zhang Tie''s turn.


    Behind that counter was still those senior scholars who were wearing oversleeves.


    "I want to rent a warehouse!" Zhang Tie directly gave his clan plate to a senior scholar.


    Taking Zhang Tie''s clan plate, the old man inserted it into the slot of the machine. After pulling down a drawbar, he looked at the data on the machine before nodding. "You have good credit. You can rent some facilities of Hidden Dragon Palace. What sort of warehouse do you want?"


    "The area of the warehouse should be above 200 sq meters. It should have good access to water, wind and items. Additionally, the warehouse should be safe. Besides me, nobody else can enter!"


    "The only one that meets your requirements should be the workshop for herbal medicine apprentices in the Hidden Dragon Palace. Each herbal medicine apprentice is equipped with a herbal medicine warehouse which covers 210 sq meters. The warehouse is access to to wind, water. Besides, its illumination and temperature are adjustable!"


    "The workshop of herbal medicine apprentices? It doesn''t sound too bad." Zhang Tie thought inwardly.


    "What about the rate?"


    "The rent for each workshop is 15 gold coins a month! You should pay off one year''s rent before being able to use it."


    This price was still too high for purely renting a room; however, as it was in the Hidden Dragon Palace, it was still acceptable for Zhang Tie.


    "Well, I want to rent a workshop then!" Saying this, Zhang Tie pulled out his purse and counted out 180 gold coins, which were a part of that paid by Yang Yuankang and the other guys. After the payment, only 300 gold coins left.


    "Your workshop is in the Poria Cocos Park in Herb Valley." The old man returned the clan plate to Zhang Tie as he give him a metal plate marked with "Poria Cocos". "This plate is the only secret key to open the Poria Cocos Park. Take it and register in the Administration Center of the Herbs Valley, where someone will guide you to the Poria Cocos Park!"


    After taking a serious look at the metal plate marked with "Poria Cocos", Zhang Tie found it was a bit similar to his clan plate as on the back of each plate was graved with some secret metal grains.


    Holding the secret key, Zhang Tie instantly rushed into Herb Valley.


    Herb Valley was beside the Lower Castle. It was not far from the Secret Knowledge Pavilion and was only over 500 m away from the Zhixing Department. Herb Vallley was in the east while the Zhixing Department was in the west with a ridge between them. This was a more tranquil small valley, which was covered with many herbal fields. The moment Zhang Tie entered this region, he had smelt the fragrance of many kinds of herbal medicines.


    Those independent small parks were scattering in this small valley. On the way, Zhang Tie saw many rooms were named "White Peony Park", "Licorice Park", "Angelica Park", "Red Peony Park" and "Ginseng Park", etc...


    Zhang Tie entered the Administration Center of Herb Valley to register himself. After that, a staff member guided him into Poria Cocos Park.


    There was a firm iron gate outside the Poria Cocos Park. After inserting the secret key into the slot on the iron gate, Zhang Tie twisted the handle on the iron gate to open it.


    Poria Cocos Park covered more than 300 sq meters. It was divided into many small rooms, including a lab, lounge room and herbal medicine warehouse. There were some simple tools for processing herbal medicines.


    Zhang Tie was concerned about the warehouse most. After circling around the warehouse, Zhang Tie found some wooden brackets in the warehouse which almost filled the whole warehouse. He then faintly frowned, "I don''t need these things, can you have someone move them out of here?


    "These items are used to dry and store various herbal medicines. Each herbal medicine apprentice would use them!" The staff explained as he thought Zhang Tie didn''t know their purpose.


    "I won''t use them!"


    "Aren''t you a herbal medicine apprentice?" The staff asked out of curiosity.


    "Who told you I was a herbal medicine apprentice?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "But what do you rent it for..."


    "I have money, I want to pickle vegetables here!" Zhang Tie smirked...

 310 Preparations

    Chapter 310: Preparations


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    It took him an hour to clean up the warehouse of the Poria Cocos Park. After that, Zhang Tie shut its gate and instantly went to White Dragon Town.


    Now that he wanted to make that solution, he had to prepare the necessary tools and raw materials.


    The tools were terrines that were used for fermenting while the raw materials were various fruits and sugars.


    The White Dragon Town was very populated. Zhang Tie soon found the pottery store where he bought that terrine last time.


    The pottery store sold various earthenwares, which were the most common items in regular families. They were not delicate, but very simple and durable. Compared to porcelains, these earthenwares were much cheaper.


    After looking around, Zhang Tie found the items in the store were smaller than those he needed. He then asked the salesman.


    "Buddy, do you have some bigger terrines?" Zhang Tie made a gesture with his hands. As he wanted to produce that solution on a large scale, the terrines should also be big enough, each of which should be able to contain over 100 kg of solution; however, the terrines in the store were all smaller. The largest one could only hold 40-50 kg.


    "Larger ones are in the warehouse!"


    "Can you show me there?"


    The salesman then glanced over Zhang Tie with a dubious expression. Zhang Tie looked very young and didn''t look like making business to survive himself. Given Zhang Tie''s figure, he didn''t look like an islander who always visited this store, the salesman became a bit curious.


    Whereas, now that Zhang Tie wanted to visit there, the salesman could only take him there. As there were two salesmen in the store, after telling the other guy that he was leaving for the warehouse with Zhang Tie, that man then guided Zhang Tie there.


    There were more earthenwares in the warehouse, which were piled up in several layers. After following him into the warehouse, Zhang Tie saw a 1 m high terrine. "That''s it!"


    After checking the patterns and workmanship, Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Buddy, how much is this terrine!"


    "9 silver coins each!"


    After calculating it inside for a second, Zhang Tie instantly got the answer, the whole warehouse could hold 90-100 terrines like this.


    "I want 80 terrines of this kind!" Zhang Tie pointed at that terrine as he said. Although his warehouse could hold more such kind of terrines, he had to leave some space for people to move inside. Therefore 80 terrines were proper.


    "How many do you want?" The salesman thought that he had heard incorrectly.


    "I want 80 terrines of this kind!" Zhang Tie repeated, "Can you deliver them to my door?"


    Realizing that Zhang Tie was not kidding, the salesman became excited at once as he became instantly enthusiastic about Zhang Tie. After guiding Zhang Tie back to the store, the salesman hurriedly made a cup of water for Zhang Tie.


    "As those terrines are of thin profits, if you want us to deliver them to your door, you need to add some transportation fee. As these items are not valuable, yet were cumbersome, we have to pay a lot to ask for help!"


    "How about 9 gold coins in total?"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the salesman became so excited that he hurriedly nodded, "It''s enough, it''s enough..." As Hidden Dragon Palace was not far from the White Dragon Town, it would not cost much by transporting them there.


    As his family was doing such small business before, Zhang Tie knew they were working hard. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t bargain with him as he directly counted out 9 gold coins and gave them to him. The moment the salesman got the money, he became more enthusiastic.


    "When do you need them, sir, I will have someone deliver them to you!"


    "How about today?"


    "No problem, but since few people would buy such huge terrines, we don''t have that much in stock. We have to make them in the kiln!"


    "How many days do you need?"


    "We only need 2 days!"


    "How many do you have now?"


    "A bit more than 20!"


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie replied, "Okay, you can deliver those inventory to Hidden Dragon Palace first, I will go to buy something else. I will wait for you in Hidden Dragon Palace!"


    "May I know your surname, sir?"


    "I''m Zhang Tie. If I''m not there when your goods arrived, just wait for me over there for a while!"


    "No problem!"


    After making the deal, Zhang Tie left the pottery store.


    Later, Zhang Tie bought a lot of items in White Dragon Town. Therefore, he returned to the Hidden Dragon Palace with 2 carriages behind him, which were used to load his items.


    Among them, there were various fruits, over 100 kg of liquor, several hundred kilograms of honey, several hundred kilograms of brown sugar, more than 10 kitchen knives, 10 chopping boards, huge iron-sheet basins, etc..


    When Zhang Tie returned to the Hidden Dragon Palace with the two carriages leisurely, those huge terrines also arrived.


    Because outsiders were forbidden in, Zhang Tie had to carry these items into the Poria Cocos Park in Herb Valley one by one.


    After moving all of them into the park, Zhang Tie was still busy as he had to clean up the over 20 huge terrines with water before sterilizing the inside of them with liquor.


    It was a trifling affair. It took Zhang Tie the whole afternoon to clean up and sterilize those terrines.


    Zhang Tie then directly went to the fish market in the wharf. After setting free fishes today, Zhang Tie came to the Zhixing Department. He firstly chated with Wei Wu and Zhang Liang and the other friends before asking a great number of girls who had just finished their supper to work for him.


    Zhang Tie even paid each of them 1 gold coin for their assistance¡ª¡ªof course, this should be deducted from the debt that they owed him. Considering it was a great compensation, all the girls accepted the task.


    Zhang Tie then brought them to the Poria Cocos Park. At the sight of the fruits and terrines around the park, everybody became dumbfounded.


    "So many items! What do you want us to do?" Du Yuhan showed the white of her eyes as she said in a tender voice.


    After that affair when Zhang Tie saved Du Yuhan at the risk of his own life, the girls'' impression about Zhang Tie had greatly changed. Many of them started to call him senior brother. Zhang Tie realized that his good personality was finally admitted.


    Zhang Tie then cast a glance at Du Yuhan, whose attitude towards him had greatly changed. Previously, she was always furious with him; however, since last time when he saved her, her face always blushed in front of him. Additionally, she became more tender. At the moment, watching Du Yuhan''s look, Zhang Tie suddenly felt his mummy jumped out of no reason.


    "God bless me. I haven''t touched girls in a long time." As a great number of girls were gazing at him, Zhang Tie dared not to lose face this time. Therefore, he put his right hand into a pocket of his trousers in a cool way and started his "Right hand covering method" stealthily. "Your job is very simple. Do you see these fruits? Your task today is to clean up 1/3 of those fruits. After that, you should shatter them into pieces and put them into the terrines!"


    "That''s it?" Du Yuhan winked her eyes as she asked in a dubious way.


    "Of course, your senior brother is always kind and generous with great morals. Previously, you must have misunderstood me. You felt that I was mean. Actually, you can make money from your senior brother very easily. That''s it! It''s much easier than selling 100 packs of sea shell oil!" Zhang Tie winked his eyes towards Du Yuhan.


    The girls then cast their whites of eyes to Zhang Tie at the same time. Seeing Zhang Tie have already prepared all the tools, they then started to work. This job was really very easy. Under Zhang Tie''s guidance on one side, those girls then started to work seriously.


    Having been busy since morning, Zhang Tie suddenly remembered that he had not eaten. His stomach started to coo. Therefore, Zhang Tie casually picked up a banana and started to eat.


    "Senior brother, do you believe that each girl would know your Chinese Zodiac at the sight of you?" Said Qu Liangying, who was washing fruits rolled her eyes when she saw Zhang Tie eating a banana.


    Zhang Tie became stunned as he soon engulfed that banana, "That''s impossible, I don''t believe! Tell me my Chinese Zodiac sign then."


    "Sisters, tell him what our senior brother''s Chinese Zodiac is?" Qu Liangying shouted loudly, "I count 1, 2, 3 and let''s tell him in unison!"


    "Fine!"


    "1...2...3...Sisters, tell him what is his Chinese Zodiac!"


    "Monkey!" After shouting the answer out loudly in unison, the girls then exchanged glances with each other as they could stand to burst out laugh loudly at the same time.


    Zhang Tie looked at his banana as he instantly realized that he was set up. He then burst into laughter too. At the beginning, Zhang Tie said all the girls'' Chinese Zodiac was spinning top. He had not imagined that they finally asked for his compensation. Girls were really born to be narrow-minded.


    "It''s not bad. If I''m a monkey then I''m definitely the monkey king. I can have over 10 female monkeys and let so many female monkeys pick up fruits and wash fruits for me every day. If any female monkey performs well, I will feed her bananas..." Zhang Tie replied with a big smile.


    "Pah..."


    Soon after Zhang Tie said that more than ten fruits were thrown towards him from all directions. Zhang Tie rapidly collected them in the air and hugged them all.


    "Look, the moment you heard that I would feed you bananas, you''ve already become so excited. Don''t be that anxious for being specially favored by me!" Zhang Tie flirted with them all again. Seeing the girls who were shattering fruits pretending to throw kitchen knives towards him, Zhang Tie pretended to be scared and immediately escaped away.


    After exchanging glances with each other, the girls then revealed smiles once again.


    ...


    In less than 3 hours, the girls had cleaned and shattered all the fruits, put them into the terrines, added sugar, water and honey.


    In the later 2 days, the girls worked 2 hours for Zhang Tie at each night after supper so as to deduct 1 gold coin''s debt. In this way, they worked three days for Zhang Tie. After three days, all the 80 huge terrines were filled.


    "Senior brother, what are you fermenting so many enzymes for?" Not until the third day after they finished work did Li Yurou asked Zhang Tie out of curiosity.


    "Enzymes? You mean I''m fermenting enzymes?" Being faintly shocked, Zhang Tie stared at Li Yurou as he had heard this word for the first time.


    "Yes, I always fermented enzyme at home when I was young. I remember that my grandma told me that if one eats enzymes, one would not have health problems! It''s easy to make enzyme; however, this item isn''t worth much money."


    "Hoho, it''s a secret. You will know about it in the future." Zhang Tie said in a mysterious way.


    "Humph, narrow-minded!" Li Yurou then pouted her peach-like mouth.


    "As you''ve helped your senior brother for three days, your senior brother will send each of you a small gift!" Zhang Tie then took out those vials that had been filled with that special solution.


    "What''s this?" The girls took his "gift" as they started to look it around.


    "This thing is as effective as a level 1 antidote. Additionally, it could replenish your energy. Take it and go play!"


    "Argh!" The girls exclaimed. Even with the effect that it equaled to that of a level 1 antidote, this thing would worth no less than 5 gold coins. They had not imagined that Zhang Tie could be that generous.


    "Well, well, don''t be that moved with watery eyes. If you really want to thank me, you can marry me. If we are a family, your senior brother would even clear off your debts!" Zhang Tie made a grimace.


    After showing the whites of their eyes, the girls then left.


    Because it was too late, Zhang Tie didn''t come back to the Poria Cocos Park until he sent the girls into the Zhixing Department. After that, Zhang Tie closed the gate of the Poria Cocos Park before going to the warehouse again. Facing the 80 huge terrines, Zhang Tie was filled with a sense of achievement.


    Later, Zhang Tie took some essential-energy reiki yeast out of Castle of Black Iron and added them into the terrines. The moment he added the essential-energy reiki yeast into the terrines, the items in the terrines had become different from that before. With the exception of Zhang Tie, nobody knew that the items in the terrines had become different.


    After doing all this, Zhang Tie took two huge terrines of well-fermented special solution out of the lab in Castle of Black Iron and exchanged them with another two huge terrines in the warehouse which had just been fermented. By then, he finished all the preparations.


    The 80 huge terrines of solution in the warehouse weighed almost 12 tons in total. If Yang Yuankang''s sales could stimulate its demand, 2 months later, the value of the 12 tons of special solution would at least equal to that of 12 tons of LV 1 antidote.


    It could definitely shock a great number of people if he told it to others. How come such precious detoxification solution could be counted by tons!


    "Perhaps I should go to the library of Breaking-Heavens Department to look up the books about enzyme. I want to figure out the reason why such mysterious solution is so marvelous!" Zhang Tie mumbled.


    Feeling very nice, Zhang Tie then left the Poria Cocos Park. On the way back to his residence, Zhang Tie encountered a woman in Herb Valley who had love affairs with him for the rest of his life...

 311 Audacious

    Chapter 311: Audacious


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    It was a good nightscape with bright moons and sparse stars[1], the moonlight was as tender as flowing water. Walking through Herb Valley, Zhang Tie smelt the refreshing air as he thought about his future life of counting gold coins every day. A wisp of smirk appeared at the corners of his mouth.


    Walking in the moonlight, Zhang Tie heard a mournful flute melody. The melody was otherworldly. Although Zhang Tie didn''t know much about music, he felt pure and free listening to it. Zhang Tie then slowed down his footsteps and walked in the direction of the flute melody''s source.


    Zhang Tie walked along a stream in the valley. He passed through an herbal medicine park and took a detour through a bamboo wood before he caught sight of a scene that he would never forget for the rest of his life.


    A girl in a red skirt was sitting on a huge, cyan stone under the purely white moonlight. She was elegantly playing a dark green jade flute.


    Sitting on the cyan stone, the girl revealed her elegant figure. With snow-white skin and cascading, black hair, she looked like a fairy from a painting. With a pair of snow-white feet, she was playing with the water at the same time.


    By then, although Zhang Tie was not acquainted with many girls, he had met a lot of girls; however, the moment he saw this girl, Zhang Tie felt like being tamped by a hammer as his brain droned and sparkled. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, that girl was perfect all over. She was filled with allure as if her entire body was emitting sparkles.


    The snow-white skin, the delicate fine waist, the elegant gourd-shaped curve of her butt that was sitting on the cyan stone, a pair of beautiful feet, and a pair of slim, charming legs...


    After playing a song, the girl heard a weird sound from aside. She then looked toward there and found a 16-17 old juvenile who was forcefully swallowed his saliva.


    Zhang Tie was as hilarious as an idiot who was stretching his neck so long. At the sight of him, the girl couldn''t stand to titter. After that, she found Zhang Tie was fixing his eyes onto her delicate feet. Her face instantly blushed as she hurriedly hid her feet into her skirt.


    "Hey, brat, have you seen enough?"


    Zhang Tie then looked up and realized that the girl was talking to him. He instantly recovered his composure.


    "Not yet!" Zhang Tie shook his head as he replied very seriously.


    The girl had not imagined that he would be so audacious. Commoners, when being asked in this way, would have long escaped. It was really out of her expectation that Zhang Tie could be that audacious and didn''t fear about her at all.


    The girl then blinked her eyes as she felt a bit curious about Zhang Tie, "Don''t you know who I am?"


    "I''m going to ask for your name, my senior sister."


    This girl was 20-21 years old, who was a few years elder than Zhang Tie; therefore, it was proper for Zhang Tie to call her senior sister.


    "You want to know my name? What''s your name then?" That girl fixed her eyes onto Zhang Tie seriously as she seemed to be wanting to find a trace of deceit from Zhang Tie''s face.


    ''Is this juvenile new here in the Hidden Dragon Palace? He doesn''t even know who I am; otherwise, he would''ve known my status, yet he''s just disguising and wanting to get close with me.'' The girl considered it inside as she had encountered so many men like him these years.


    "I''m Zhang Tie. I''m 16 years old. Single!" Zhang Tie smirked as he started to try his best to introduce himself.


    Zhang Tie had learned from those girls of Rose Association that girls actually didn''t like those gentlemen; unless that man was very handsome, had great power, or literary talent. Men who could not meet any of the former three conditions should not pretend to be cool in front of girls. If not, the outcome could only be that the girl he beloved would sleep with other bad boys.


    Saying that, Zhang Tie walked towards that girl.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s introduction, the girl couldn''t stand to giggle; after watching Zhang Tie''s look, the girl was finally sure that Zhang Tie might truly not know his real status.


    "Are you new here?"


    "How come?" Zhang Tie shouted loudly liking being heavily wronged, "I''ve been here since last year. I was even rated as one of the top excellent youths in Hidden Dragon Palace!"


    "Top excellent youths in Hidden Dragon Palace?" Hearing this, the girl became slightly stunned as she started to frown her forehead and uttered in a tender voice, "Weird, I''ve not heard about that!"


    "Of course you don''t know about that. Because I rate it myself. I''ve not even rated the other 9 yet!"


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had already gotten quite close to her, when the girl realized that Zhang Tie was fabricating lies. She then felt both angry and tittering as she fiercely glared at Zhang Tie; however, she suddenly felt something new inside. She had not seen a man like Zhang Tie who was so audacious in front of her.


    "I''ve told you my name, it''s your turn." Walking close to her, Zhang Tie asked directly.


    "Aren''t you one of the top excellent youths in Hidden Dragon Palace? How come you don''t know even an average person like me?" That girl rolled her eyes as she said smartly.


    "Of course I know your name!" Zhang Tie hid his smirk as he looked at this girl seriously.


    ''Was he disguising all the way? He truly knows who I am?'' A though flashed across the girl''s mind once again.


    "You know who I am?"


    "Of course! You''re Rumeng[2], right? You walk out of my dream. The moment I saw you, I felt like going back to my dream again..." Zhang Tie''s eyes instantly became that audacious. That girl had not seen such a man who dared to bare his heart to her in only a few minutes after seeing her. Additionally, Zhang Tie was a few years younger than her.


    The girl had really not heard such hot words since she was born.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the girl''s eyes widened as she instantly felt goosebumps all over.


    The girl became slightly flurried as she felt Zhang Tie glancing over her body with hot eyes. Those men who knew her real status never dared to be so audacious in front of her.


    At this moment, the girl had already known that Zhang Tie didn''t know her real status.


    "Argh, don''t come here..." The girl hurriedly hid behind the cyan stone.


    "I will not go there..." Zhang Tie continued as he walked 2 steps closer to that girl, "Watch out, don''t fall off!"


    Seeing the girl going to fall off, Zhang Tie hurriedly stretched out his hands to hold her fast. The girl planned to give him a lesson by smacking his face; however, at the sight of Zhang Tie''s sincere look, the girl suddenly gave up her plan.


    Therefore, before Zhang Tie''s hands touched her, the girl had gritted her teeth and flew from the cyan stone like a red cloud. She instantly landed steadily on the bamboo of 7-8 m high beside the stream.


    Standing on the slightly swaying bamboo, the girl was like a fairy on the waves.


    "Rumeng, you''ve not told me your name? Watch out the bamboo leaves, they might hurt your feet..." Zhang Tie shouted loudly.


    As it was the first time for her to be pursued by a man so audaciously, the girl''s face suddenly blushed as her heart raced. She became completely confused about how to face him. Finally, she directly sprung from the bamboo and swiftly flew away on the bamboo leaves, with swaying, loose sleeves, in a blink of eye.


    Gazing at the girl like an idiot, Zhang Tie felt like he''d be extremely frustrated in a second...


    Not until the fresh, red color disappeared into the distance under the moonlight did Zhang Tie feel frustrated as he rubbed his face, ''You couldn''t stand only this much? I''ve not done anything wrong? My mom told me that Chinese girls were all reserved. Was I not reserved just now? But what is ''reserved'', I really don''t know about that!''


    He remained stunned for quite a while, then the moment he wanted to leave, he suddenly noticed something beside that cyan stone near the stream. Zhang Tie''s eyes then lit up.


    There was a pair of delicate embroidered shoes on one side of the cyan stone.


    ...


    Over 10 minutes later, the fairy like a red cloud returned. Falling onto the cyan stone from the twigs, the girl looked around and didn''t see her embroidered shoes. The moment she thought about Zhang Tie''s face, she became both bashful and furious as she stamped onto the stone and swore in a low voice, "Rascal..."


    The moment she wanted to leave, another man had jumped swiftly towards her.


    The man in white clothes soon landed before her. This man was handsome with sword-like eyebrows and sparkling eyes.


    "Senior sister Xi, I saw someone in red clothes jumping over the twigs just now and thought that might be you. It truly was you!"


    "What''s up?" Seeing him, the girl stealthily hid her bare feet into her skirt. At the same time, she recovered her composure like before. Feeling majestic with her calm expression, after a single glance at her, the man became scared and didn''t dare to even look at her.


    "I heard senior sister had just come back from the open waters after completing the task. I''ve not imagined that you''d also heard about the secret medicament. You must be here in Herb Valley to see who produces the new medicament!" The man revealed a big smile.


    "New medicament..." The girl mumbled as she suddenly frowned her slim eyes and stressed, "You mean someone has produced the new medicament in Herb Valley?"


    An alchemist who could develop a wholly new medicament was like a rune manufacturer who had discovered a new rune. This creative achievement was definitely an outstanding event.


    "Right, a couple of days ago, someone in the Qinyun Palace said there was a new LV 1 antidote which could not only detoxify venom, but also reinforce one''s vitality and energy. It has exceptional effects. At the beginning, many people didn''t believe that; however, someone who tried it recently found it was true!"


    "Is that from Master Pure Cloud?" The girl asked.


    "Shouldn''t be that. Because there''s no symbol of Master Pure Cloud on the vials. They use vials with no symbol!"


    "Do you have any of the medicament? Show me!" The girl directly asked.


    "Coincidentally, I bought a vial in Qinyun Palace today!" The man smiled as he took out a vial. The moment he wanted to give it to her, the girl had already made it fly into her hand through the air over a distance of several meters. At the sight of this scene, the man remembered her reputation of being blunt and her impressive power as he was instantly shocked and hurriedly stopped his footsteps.


    "How much? I want this vial?" Looking it over for 2 seconds, the girl then said straightforwardly. She didn''t even ask whether he would refuse or not.


    "Senior sister Xi, no kidding, it''s just a few gold coins. If you want to pay me, you must be looking down upon me!"


    "What''s Master Pure Cloud''s test result on this medicament?"


    "I heard Master Pure Cloud had just got such a vial of medicament today too. He''s testing it. We''re all waiting for the result. If that person who produces this medicament could gain the favor of master Pure Cloud, he would become famous in a second!"


    "Hmm, I will have a look in Master Pure Cloud''s lab!" After saying this, the girl suddenly disappeared. When she reappeared, it was already 10 more meters away. She moved so fast that in a blink of eye, she had already been 100 meters away, more than 10 times faster than when she was "scared away" by Zhang Tie.


    Standing still, after seeing off that girl, the man let out a sigh as he shook his head and jumped away too.


    It was each man''s fortune and misfortune to stay together with such a girl in the Breaking-Heavens Department!

 312 Medicament Tes

    Chapter 312: Medicament Test


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    After only 10 minutes, that girl - in a pair of new shoes - appeared in front of the Heavens-Dependence Pavilion of Master Pure Cloud in the Breaking-Heavens Department.


    Master Pure Cloud was the chief alchemist in Hidden Dragon Palace. As a golden-robe alchemist who enjoyed a high reputation in the entire Waii Sub-Continent, he was LV 9 in the world of alchemists. Besides that, he was also an officer of Zhang clan''s Huaiyuan Palace. As a LV 9 alchemist, he was definitely a master.


    Heavens-Dependence Pavilion was where Master Pure Cloud lived in the Breaking-Heavens Department and where he taught his apprentices and produced medicaments. As an important place in Breaking-Heavens Department, it was protected by three tiers of guardians. With the exception of the students of Master Pure Cloud and those who were allowed in, common students of Breaking-Heavens Department were forbidden entry.


    That girl directly entered without encountering any obstacle. Everybody greeted her respectfully, including the guardians. The girl then slightly nodded towards them with extreme majesty.


    She directly entered the lab of Master Pure Cloud.


    "Argh, Senior Sister Xi, you''ve returned!" It was the workshop of Master Pure Cloud''s apprentices and assistants outside the lab. At the sight of the girl, all of them hurriedly greeted her.


    "Is master inside?"


    "Master is testing the new medicament inside!"


    "I''ll take a look inside!" After saying this, the girl walked in the lab directly with gentle footsteps.


    An old man with snow-white hair and beard in a brilliant golden robe was standing in front of a great pile of sophisticated instruments and vials. Raising his head toward the sky, he was gazing at the ceiling while mumbling.


    "It''s not right. Although it could detoxify venom, I don''t find any element of medicine inside. Am I using the wrong testing method? It''s impossible. Even though I couldn''t detect it through testing, I could at least detect it through taste; unless no medicine is used in this medicament at all. But how could a medicament that contains no medicine detoxify venom and recover one''s vitality and energy, which are the features of compound medicament, it could only be..." The old man shook his head, "It shouldn''t be that! That thing''s effect is progressive, it could never be that strong..."


    With changing looks, he seemed to be a bit confused about it all.


    "Master..." The girl became a bit respectful in front of Master Pure Cloud.


    "Ah, Yunxi..." Turning his head, the master revealed a smile at the sight of the girl in the red skirt, "When did you come back?"


    "I''ve just come back today. I heard that master was testing a new medicament. So, I came here for a look!" Saying that, the girl looked over at the instruments on the test-bed before smelling the familiar scents of the testing reagents, "Master, have you got the testing result?"


    "The last test!"


    While talking with her, Master Pure Cloud had gradually organized his thoughts. Golden-robed alchemists were extremely confident about their own professional knowledge. Instead of doubting his professional knowledge, he preferred to trust that others might create miracles.


    However, it required a last short test.


    Master Pure Cloud was also extremely straightforward. Once he made the decision, he instantly started to do that. He then directly took a silver knife from the test-bed and cut a small wound on his own hand in the red-skirt girl''s shocking eyes.


    "Argh, master..."


    "It''s okay, Yunxi, just a small wound. In order to verify whether that medicament is really what I want, this is a necessary step! If I did this on others'' hands, they might not be as sensitive about the medicament as me. You know, for a medicament, this wound is nothing serious at all, just like being stung by a mosquito..."


    The old man raised his hand to stop the girl who was walking towards him as he revealed a smile and rapidly opened a vial of medicament made by Zhang Tie. He slightly poured a bit of medicament out and daubed it onto the wound. Being really strange, the moment he daubed it onto the wound, he had stopped bleeding while a refreshing feeling started to spread across his hand.


    The old man then kept his eyes closed as his snow-white eyebrows were slightly moving. After that, he opened his eyes and started to manipulate the equipment on the test-bed. In a short while, the old man had fabricated a wholly new vial of green medicament and directly engulfed it.


    The red-skirt girl just looked aside. Of course, she knew that the medicament made by Master Pure Cloud was a simplified advanced recovery medicament using Zhang Tie''s medicament as the ingredients. Usually, although it could rapidly cure his wound, it could not reach the perfect recovery effect of true advanced recovery medicament that would leave no scar on his body at all.


    However, after drinking it, the small wound started to recover in a visible speed. In less than half a minute, the wound had already completely recovered. Master Pure Cloud then rubbed on the place where the wound lay and tore off a thin layer of medicament left by Zhang Tie''s medicament. What really shocked him was that no scar was left over there.


    A perfect recovery!


    The girl called Yunxi just watched aside. When she saw no scar was left on master''s hand, she was also somewhat shocked. Based on her knowledge about medicaments, of course she knew what this meant. That medicament had the effect of perfect recovery. How come?


    Looking at the place where the wound lay, Master Pure Cloud revealed a strange expression, which looked like feeling relieved, being dubious and being very shocked.


    "I''ve not imagined it could be that thing..." Master Pure Cloud faintly signed as he mumbled, "Created things are always unrivaled; great laws are always the simplest!". After saying that, he carefully took that vial of Zhang Tie''s medicament.


    The girl called Yunxi found that although Master Pure Cloud''s voice was calm, his hand was faintly shaking, which, for a golden-robed alchemist was almost impossible.


    When making various medicinal powders and medicament, an alchemists'' hands were required to be precise and stable. Their hands and instruments were not allowed to shake. Actually, even a common suspending-kettle alchemist would not shake their hands when in operation; how could it be seen on a golden-robed alchemist.


    ''If not because of a great shock inside, Master Pure Cloud would never shake his hand.''


    "Master..." Yunxi called him, a bit worried.


    "I''m okay..." Master Pure Cloud revealed a smile as he took a deep breath and looked at her, "From today on, an excellent figure will appear in the Hidden Dragon Palace. You won''t feel lonely from then on!"


    "Master, even though it''s a compound medicament with mixed effects, the producer might not be qualified to be praised in that way!" The girl didn''t agree.


    "Yunxi, you don''t understand. This medicament is not a compound medicament. Precisely, it was an all-purpose medicament, which numerous alchemists are dreaming for!" Master Pure Cloud said seriously.


    "Argh!" Hearing the phrase all-purpose medicament, the girl called Yunxi was extremely shocked as she remembered a presumption of all-purpose medicament and super enzyme that had been spread in the world of alchemists for a long time. In order to verify this presumption, numerous alchemists had been working for it; yet nobody could make any breakthroughs on it.


    The moment she thought about that presumption which was crowned with the most brilliant pearl in the world of alchemists, the girl called Yunxi also became thrilled; however, she still didn''t believe it, "Master, you mean...someone in Hidden Dragon Palace has verified that presumption..."


    "The truth lies in front of you. In this marvelous world, although I could not make it, it doesn''t mean that others could not make it!" Master Pure Cloud gradually recovered his composure, "Now that we know what is this medicament, the following process would be simple. We only need to complete a few more tests! You must have remembered the Felinan grouping contrast test for testing the effect and components of this medicament."


    "I remember it!"


    "Well, go call in those people in the outside. Let''s work it together, hurry up!"


    "Nice!"


    Not much later, all the apprentices and assistants of Master Pure Cloud were called in. After knowing that they were going to make the Felinan grouping contrast test, all of them were shocked; however, at the same time, they became also very thrilled. Had someone really developed the super enzyme? Did the all-purpose medicament really appear in the Breaking-Heavens Department?


    Fact was better than eloquence. As the Felinan grouping contrast test proceeded, contrast data and effects gradually came out after repetitive confirmations.


    ¡ªIts detoxification effect was equal to that of LV 1 antidote. It worked on the venom of all the living beings below 7. Because of the obvious physical absorbing effect, its detoxifying time was 18% faster than common LV 1 antidote. It had no side effect at all!


    ¡ªIts effect on recovering physical wounds equaled to 67% of that of common preliminary recovery medicament. It could be either taken orally or dabbed on the wounds without any side effect!


    ¡ªCompared to common preliminary energy medicament, its effect equaled to 52% of that of the preliminary energy medicament. It could effectively relieve fatigue and provide the energy required by human bodies. According to preliminary estimations, 2 vials of such medicament could provide the physical energy required by a common fighter without any side effect!


    ¡ªAfter drinking it, commoners'' visceral functions and immune system could be activated completely. Their blood could be purified. Additionally, the oxygen content in their red blood cells obviously raised; the devouring ability of their white blood cells reinforced; their intestines crept faster. What was more, their physical metabolic system could exclude foreign bodies much faster...without any side effect!


    ¡ªPathological experiment...without any side effect!


    ...


    It really was an all-purpose medicament and a super enzyme. Seeing the test results one by another, everybody was shocked. Although this medicament could not provide any additional abilities to people like that of night-viewing medicament or strength reinforcing medicament, it could clear off or relieve all the abnormal or unhealthy conditions of the human body, adjusting one''s body to the healthiest, purest and most vital condition...


    Someone in Breaking-Heavens Department really had realized that famous presumption in the world of alchemist by producing the all-purpose medicament!


    Drifting from the Heavens-Dependence Pavilion of Master Pure Cloud, the news suddenly aroused a great shock among all the alchemists in the Breaking-Heavens Department!


    Who, who made that medicament?


    Hearing the news, everybody started to guess who made this all-purpose medicament. Immediately, Yang Yuankang and the other guys who sold the medicament aroused the attention of them...

 313 Being Strong-willed

    Chapter 313: Being Strong-willed


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Early the next morning, when Zhang Tie first woke up, he had forgotten about the look of that girl whom he encountered in the Herb Valley last night.


    What he could only remember was her red skirt, her flute, and her fairy-like figure that flew away above the shadows of the trees.


    He didn''t mean to forget that, but because he kept thinking about her since he came back last night. He kept thinking about her hair, eyebrows, eyes, nose, lips, and the other details of her. As a result, Zhang Tie abruptly felt panic as he could not remember her look any more.


    She became a shadow, a symbol and a frame that was deeply impressed in his mind.


    By then, Zhang Tie found that memory was like an eraser. When he thought too much about one person. The person''s look would be unclear. Each time you tried to think about her, it would be like using an eraser to wipe off the words on the paper. The words on the piece of paper were clear; however, if you often tried to wipe them, they would gradually be unclear. Finally, the piece of paper would be broken, leaving empty holes in his memory.


    Over one night, Zhang Tie had broken the piece of paper. When he woke up in the morning, he found 1 more empty hole in his heart.


    Last night was like 1 year for Zhang Tie. He had never experienced this before.


    ''What if I never see her again? What if I can''t remember her face in the future?'' Zhang Tie became flurried out of no reason.


    After getting up, Zhang Tie finished cleaning up before noticed that pair of beautiful embroidered shoes on the desk beside his bed.


    The shoes were both delicate and clean. Holding them, he even faintly smelt the fragrance and the rouge of her body.


    Of course, Zhang Tie would not do anything perverted with her shoes. After taking the shoes back last night, Zhang Tie saw some dirt on the soles and the sides of the shoes; therefore, he fetched a brush to clean them off. After that, he wrapped them with cotton paper and dried them on the desk.


    At this moment, he took the shoes, opened the cotton paper and found they were already dried; therefore, Zhang Tie fetched a piece of clean, soft cloth and placed the pair of embroidered shoes inside his coat before left.


    Zhang Tie lived very regularly in the Breaking-Heavens Department. He used to get up early in the morning and read books for 1 hour before going to eat breakfast. After that, he would head for the training gyms to practice his fighting skills.


    During this period, Zhang Tie had made rapid progress in the shield defense skill. He was able to pass the test. He was considering learning the flying skill after finishing this course, ''after adopting the flying skill, if he met the situation like that last night, he might choose to chase after his wife in the moonlight. That might also be very funny, ha...ha...''


    At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t know that his solution had shocked the entire Breaking-Heavens Department over last night.


    He kept practicing fundamental footsteps in the entire morning. In the afternoon, when he thought of the "enzymes" mentioned by Li Yurou, Zhang Tie came for the library of Breaking-Heavens Department. He wanted to look up something about enzyme in the library.


    This time, he was really shocked as Zhang Tie had never imagined that that thing he produced was really an enzyme.


    The books in the library of Breaking-Heavens Department were inclusive. Most of them originated from the knowledge left by human beings before the catastrophe. After connecting the knowledge about enzyme, Zhang Tie had a general understanding about the effect of enzyme and finally understood why his solution was so marvelous.


    Chinese people first discovered the great effect of enzymes on physical health. As early as over 2000 years ago before the catastrophe, healthcare and disease treatment had already been popularized among Chinese people.


    In the traditional Chinese medical science, vinegar - which was reputed as the "head of medicines" - had long played a role in curing diseases and healthcare. Vinegar was also an enzyme fermented by provisions. It was the enzyme in vinegar that made vinegar the "head of medicines".


    The reason that enzyme had such an effect was that it was the most fundamental and important energy and material that sustained all important vital activities and health of human cells. Describing enzymes'' roles in the functioning of a human body, a biologist before the catastrophe had made a very important metaphor.


    He described it as "If human body was bulb, enzyme is current!" Although he could not see bulbs now, it didn''t affect Zhang Tie''s understanding.


    Another biologist who had won a top honor in biology made a more critical comment on the effect of enzymes, "Human beings are short lived because they lack enzyme".


    Before the catastrophe, human beings had achieved many major discoveries by studying enzymes. They realized that many physical diseases of human beings were actually due to the shortage of enzymes. It might not be very effective to deal with these diseases; however, when the number of enzymes in the human body reached a level, these diseases would disappear naturally.


    Before the catastrophe, many witches and doctors in remote regions even took fermented enzymes as the only method to deal with diseases and keep healthy.


    Because the library in Breaking-Heavens Department was managed by a difference engine, Zhang Tie could easily search for a lot of books through key words and indexes.


    In the book ''Guerrilla Battlefield Doctor'', the only medicine that battlefield doctor, who was responsible for curing various wounds and relieving various pains for guerrilla members, used was an enzyme fermented by raw gingers, apples, tangerines, and other wild fruits in drinking bottles.


    Among the included data was a great amount of evidence that could verify that long-term use of enzymes could help postpone aging and increase life span.


    In a local, Chinese biography, there was a funny story about "monkey''s wine". The story went as follows: In the wild of Leizhou State, there were a lot of monkeys. It was said that those monkeys were raised by immortals. They could produce immortal wine using various fruits. One day, a woodman who climbed the mountain to chop some wood saved a monkey out of the mouth of a huge snake. After being saved, the monkey guided the woodman into a mountain cave.


    After entering the mountain cave, the woodman found a stone groove. There were various fruits in the stone groove and a yellowish crystal liquid was flowing out of the stone groove, radiating an extremely appetizing fragrance. The woodman then took a sip. He felt it pretty refreshing and fragrant. His heartbeat calmed down and his mind seemed to be clearer. He then fell asleep very comfortably. When he opened his eyes, he felt cozy all over and very energetic. Therefore, he praised the fluid greatly.


    Later on, the woodman would always take a small mouth of it whenever he was in the mountain. As a result, when he was over 100 years old, he still looked rosy and healthy. Finally, he died at 126, which became a legend.


    The story of monkey''s wine was just recorded in the book as a marvelous anecdote. The writer might not know the taste of monkey''s wine; however, after reading this story, Zhang Tie instantly understood that the alleged monkey''s wine was an enzyme drink naturally fermented by various wild fruits in the mountain.


    The monkey''s wine drunk by that woodman was almost exactly the same as that enzyme produced by Zhang Tie. Additionally, because mountains and rivers could gather reiki, the monkey''s wine was more effective than common enzymes. It was regarded as an immortal wine that the fairy taught the monkeys to brew.


    The moment he found the effect of enzyme, Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to leave a huge vat of it to his parents so that they could drink it every day.


    Before the catastrophe, many people already knew a lot about the marvelous effects of enzymes; however, at that moment, the largest tragedy of human beings is that they were misled by some groups to rely on chemical products and science. Many of them formed a false thought and believed in a great lie ¡ª In the fields food and medicine, the more scientific they were, the more that was chemically synthesized something was, the better it was for them, compared to if they used naturally produced food and medicine.


    Because of this great lie, numerous people were eating various food and medicines which included poisonous chemicals as additives. Numerous people were taking chronic suicidality as normal.


    However, after the catastrophe, alchemists understood the effects of enzymes the most, because of enzymes'' positive effects on human health covered almost all aspects; however, compared to medicaments, common enzymes took effect slower and it would take a longer time for enzyme to take effect on the human body. It could not relieve many diseases or health problems in a short period of time; therefore, some alchemists made a mad presumption:


    ¡ª One day, if someone could produce a super enzyme that could take effect on the human body faster than that of common enzymes, this super enzyme would be an all-purpose medicament which was able to cure many diseases and recover many people''s abnormal conditions.


    Zhang Tie finally understood a lot of things about his solution. It turned out to be the 1st generation of super enzyme being made of essential-energy reiki yeast.


    Zhang Tie knew that it was impossible for him to not be famous this time. This time, being different from when he formed his iron-blood battle qi. Although iron-blood battle qi was sharp, after all, there were still many people who had formed it. He was only a special one among those who had formed the iron-blood battle qi. A LV 6 guy who had formed iron-blood battle qi could not raise people''s attention too much on the Hidden Dragon Island.


    However, this time, Zhang Tie casually produced the super enzyme. This was truly an influential, colossal event. Additionally, he could produce the super enzyme by the tons. Such a great ability would soon be known to the public. He could not bury the secret at all. This would definitely make him more popular.


    When in Wild Wolf Castle and Blackhot City, Zhang Tie had already known how it felt when being well-known ¡ª gold, social status, beauties, crises, challenges would arrive closely after him. He had not imagined that he would soon be famous once again, and would be much more well-known than when he was in the Blackhot City.


    ''Have you prepared for it?'' Zhang Tie felt that the hand of destiny was forcefully pushing him from behind after several months'' rest.


    After skimming over those books, Zhang Tie sat in the library for 1 more hour as he started to recall faces one by another, including that of his family members, his friends, those girls of the Rose Association, those comrade-in-arms in the Iron-Blood Camp. Finally, he locked on the bald-headed man, first lieutenant Freo.


    He remembered that first lieutenant Freo was smoking a extra big cigar and was ferociously staring at him while his cigar almost touched onto Zhang Tie''s forehead.


    ¡ª Brat, remember that, you survive on behalf of me. You have to live well in the rest of your life. When you see beauties, you should f*ck them forcefully; when you see enemies, you should kill them all. That''s what a man should do! Look at your coward performance during this period. Are you a man from the Iron-Blood Camp? It''s just some fame. What are you afraid of? Once you become famous, women, money, and enemies will come chasing after you. How cool! For that red-skirt beauty, hurry up and f*ck her. What are you waiting for? Waiting for her to call you uncle?


    ''You said that men should live as splendid as summer flowers and die as cool as spring thunders. Look at you. Since you return to the Huaiyuan Prefecture, you have been living like a green dog-tail grass[1] being hit by the frost. F*ck! Are you hesitating on this? Are you my bro? Are you the man from the Iron-Blood Camp?''


    "Of course, I''m your bro whom you''ve saved at the cost of your own life. Of course, I''m a man from the Iron-Blood Camp..." Zhang Tie mumbled. Then he gradually became strong-willed inside.


    ''F*ck, it''s this father who develop the super enzyme. So what?''

 314 Being Famous

    Chapter 314: Being Famous


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    After leaving the library, it was already dark outside. Zhang Tie then went back to the place where he saw the red-skirt girl yesterday and sat there, waiting for her.


    Zhang Tie was still hoping to see her over there once again; however, after waiting over 3 hours, with the exception of the chirps of insects and the refreshing wind, he didn''t see anything. Finally, Zhang Tie knew that the red-skirt girl would not appear tonight. He then revealed a bitter smile as he stood up from cyan stone and shook dirt off his clothes before left.


    ''What about making a notice on people wanted...'' a thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind. He then remembered what ''Freo'' had told him. Would I really want to wait for her baby to call me uncle?''


    The moment Zhang Tie thought of that red-skirt girl having a kid who called him uncle, Zhang Tie''s face and heart started to twitch irregularly. Finally, he touched that pair of embroidered shoes and gritted his teeth.


    When he returned to his residence in Songtao Pavilion, he confirmed another sentence ¡ª what is not known by only one person is not be a secret at all. That he produced the all-purpose medicament had been known by at least 7 people.


    Although it was already too late, there were still more than 30 people waiting for him outside the Songtao Pavilion, including both male and female. Most of them were dreaming to be apprentices of alchemists. Many of them were here to be on-lookers. As they heard that guy who produced the all-purpose medicament was living in the Songtao Pavilion, everybody wanted to see who he was.


    All-purpose medicament! It was really shocking that someone could produce it. Those apprentices who were striving to be alchemists felt frantic about it. It was as unimaginable for a commoner that an average person who he met every day would suddenly became a super star.


    Because enzyme could be easily manufactured, for those young men who were striving to be alchemists, most of them had attempted to produce super enzyme so as to prove that famous presumption in the world of alchemists when in the herbal medicine apprentice stage.


    Although they all failed, their experiences in attempting to make super enzyme was the start for them to become alchemists. Although enzymes were easily made, it required a wide range of knowledge. Their teachers would require them to be familiar with the attributes of various herbal medicines and plants and gradually know more about the secrets of human body.


    Almost every herbal medicine apprentice had tried to make enzymes at the beginning and had dreamed to create an all-purpose medicament using the super enzyme and become famed overnight.


    However, it was just a dream. When none of them succeeded, everybody just accepted it calmly. But, they had never imagined that one day, the dream that thousands of herbal medicine apprentices could not realize over several hundreds of years was realized by a guy from nowhere.


    How could they not be shocked? How could they not be thrilled? How could they not be curious? They all could not wait to have a look at that guy. They wanted to see if he had some sort of super power.


    Those who were waiting for Zhang Tie had various purposes. As there were no idiots in the Breaking-Heavens Department, almost the moment they knew that someone could produce the all-purpose medicament, everybody smelt gold coins and privilege.


    Compared to other special medicaments, this all-purpose medicament made of super enzyme didn''t have many special effects, it didn''t work too much on very healthy and strong warriors and fighters. They would at most take it as a preliminary compound medicament with many effects. However, for many people suffering from various diseases, this all-purpose medicament was definitely a marvelous medicine that would take effect instantly.


    When Zhang Tie drew close to the Songtao Pavilion, those people only took him as an onlooker. Zhang Tie knew that he finally had to face this; therefore, he didn''t care about that; instead, he just walked in front of the gate and prepared to insert his key inside.


    Not until Zhang Tie took out of his key to open the gate did those people realize something. Because he was almost the last one who come back in Songtao Pavilion, everybody else was waiting for him.


    Those people surrounding the Songtao Pavilion then exchanged glanced with each other. In a second, it became so quiet. Some of them were looking at each other, some took deep breaths while others wanted to surge forward toward Zhang Tie.


    Finally, someone walked forward.


    "Excuse me, are you Zhang Tie, your excellency?" A voice drifted from behind Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie then stopped and looked back. He then found a 20-year old youth standing behind him, who was glancing over him in a serious way.


    "Right, I''m Zhang Tie!" Zhang Tie said frankly as he looked around; he had already prepared for that question mentally.


    "Argh, he''s Zhang Tie..."


    "I did not imagine that he''d be so young!"


    "I thought he was a senior brother. He''s a junior brother!"


    "He''s handsome!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie admitting his status, whispers drifted to him from all directions while their eyes became more sparkly.


    "Sorry to trouble you, but are you the producer of the all-purpose medicament?" That youth made the final confirmation.


    "Yeah, I make the all-purpose medicament!" Zhang Tie revealed a wisp of smile, "I know that you all want to see the look of the guy who produces the all-purpose medicament. Now you''ve seen that. It''s too late and very cold now. You''d better go back, I will not invite you in!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, everybody became dumbfounded while the youth who spoke first didn''t even know what to say now.


    When Zhang Tie turned back and wanted to push open the gate of Songtao Pavilion, another person walked out of the crowd.


    "Hold on, junior brother!"


    Zhang Tie then slightly frowned his forehead as he turned back. Hearing the man''s appellation, Zhang Tie instantly felt being dwarfed and felt this man''s trick.


    It was a youth just over 20 years old, dressed in a white robe with an eye-attracting waist which was embroidered with grasses and gourds. Given from his waist, Zhang Tie could identify his real status ¡ª a waist banded alchemist. A waist banded alchemist was qualified to be proud of himself wherever he was.


    "I''m Gu Bai; have you heard of my name?" Although smiling, this youth revealed a faint arrogance. When he spoke, he glanced at Zhang Tie, waiting for Zhang Tie to say something like ''I''ve heard about your name for a long time.''


    However, after glancing at this guy twice, Zhang Tie shook his head, "Not before now!" Zhang Tie really had not heard about his name. ''Gu Bai'' was nothing to do with him.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Gu Bai''s face became a bit stiff. But it soon recovered. He remained his smile and acted gracefully, "As junior brother has been in Hidden Dragon Palace for a short time, you might not know about me. I just ranked 27 on the Hidden Dragon Craftsmanship List; not too sharp!"


    He showed his modesty by giving an excuse.


    Hearing that he entered the Hidden Dragon Craftsmanship List, Zhang Tie cast 2 more glances at him; however, Zhang Tie''s tone remained very calm, "What do you want?"


    "I heard you''ve worked out the all-purpose medicament. I want to invite you to the Flying Feathers Pavilion in Herb Valley!"


    "Flying Feathers Pavilion?" Zhang Tie mumbled.


    "Yes, after hearing that you''ve worked out the all-purpose medicament, some of my friends in the Herbs Valley are all very curious about this. They want to learn from you!"


    Hearing his words, Zhang Tie then stared at Gu Bai''s gleaming eyes. He then instantly understood it. Actually, they just wanted to steal away his method on producing the all-purpose medicament. At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like talking with them at all.


    "Sorry, I don''t study too much on making medicinal powders. As I use secret knowledge to make the all-purpose medicament, I''m afraid that I will not share it with you!"


    Being directly refused by Zhang Tie, Gu Bai''s smile became stiff at once; he soon looked like bemoaning the universe.


    "All-purpose medicament has numerous effects. As long as it is promoted, it will definitely benefit all living beings. Junior brother, you don''t need to treasure it too much and act that exclusive. With one more people''s effort, our star would be better. I''m offering out of good intentions!"


    Hearing his words, Zhang Tie immediately pretended to be righteous, "As senior brother wants to bring happiness to the living beings on this planet, I will definitely give you a favor. How about this? In front of the public, you take out all of your personal property to buy a batch of my all-purpose medicament at cost. Then you distribute this batch of medicament to those that you want to bring happiness to for free. There are so many poor guys even in the Hidden Dragon Island. How about that? The one who regrets their words and dares not to do that would be a bastard and son of a b*tch!"


    "Heh...heh..." Gu Bai started to cough after hearing Zhang Tie'' words. He could not maintain that sad look any more; instead, his face blushed, "You...you...how could you treat bringing happiness to the rest of the world so frivolously?"


    "It''s a truly great undertaking to bring happiness to the rest of the world. In front of such a great undertaking, personal lives and honors are just trifling matters. We can abandon them if we want. Never care about the money. Senior brother dares not to forego these trifling things?" Zhang Tie asked with a smile.


    "Erm...for this thing, how do I need your favor. If I can produce an all-purpose medicament myself, I will do that myself. No need for your help at all!" Gu Bai didn''t know what to say.


    "Right, senior brother, I also think so. For men, great undertakings like bringing happiness to the rest of the world is like entering the bridal chamber. Even though I am too tired and exhausted, I would always do it myself. I don''t like others'' help!" Zhang Tie stared at Gu Bai with a big smile, "Do you need others to help you with this? If you really need, I feel like doing you a favor..."


    Puh! Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, many onlookers burst out laughter; some girls'' faces blushed as they swore at Zhang Tie inside, ''Rogue!''


    Nobody had imagined that the person who produced the all-purpose medicament in the Breaking-Heavens Department could be like that.


    "Of course, no need!" Gu Bai was choked by Zhang Tie''s words as the blue veins on his forehead started to pop. He could not lose his temper in front of this huge crowd.


    "So, please go back, senior brother, I don''t need your help either..."


    By then, Gu Bai realized that he had fallen into Zhang Tie''s trap as his words were full of contradictions. After looking around at the crowd of the onlookers and glaring at Zhang Tie, Gu Bai couldn''t stay there anymore. He directly left the Songtao Pavilion in an embarrassed manner.


    Everybody knew that Zhang Tie was not a figure that could be cheated logically.


    "Junior brother Zhang Tie, do you still sell all-purpose medicament? We want some! Someone asked loudly among the onlookers.


    "The first batch has been sold out. The latest ones would be in 2 weeks. You can come to me then! Please go back, I''m really going to the bed!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, everybody left.


    After seeing everybody leave, Zhang Tie intended to enter his door. All of a sudden, he raised his nose. He then instantly took out of the cloth-wrapped embroidered shoes from his coat and put them on his hands. After that, he started to touch that pair of shoes like touching a small white rabbit while sighing in an extremely kind way.


    "What poor embroidered shoes! You''ve been deserted by your owner. If your owner still doesn''t come for you tonight, you''ll have to follow me in! But, trust me, I will treasure you very much. If your owner doesn''t appear, I will have to hang you in the hall of Qinyun Palace for your owner."


    "Douchebag!" Soon after his words, Zhang Tie saw that girl who was wearing red skirt in front of him. Whereas, now, she had changed into a moving white skirt.


    At the sight of her, Zhang Tie felt the whole world, including his heart becoming alive. It felt like a rainbow which abruptly appeared in front of him while that blurry hole in his memory was filled with mixed moods in a split second.


    "Give me my shoes!" The girl glared at Zhang Tie with somewhat bashful and furious expression. Her face was faintly covered with an icy frost. Across the entire Hidden Dragon Palace, nobody dared to take her belongings and play tricks with her like that.


    As if he hadn''t heard her words, Zhang Tie just fixed his eyes on her, "I went to the place where we met last night and waited there for 3 hours; knowing that you might not go there, I came back!"


    "Why did you wait me?" The girl''s voice became icy still.


    "Because I couldn''t remember what you looked like any more. Last night, when I came back, I kept missing you too much, even in my dreams. Therefore, I almost forgot your face! As I''m afraid of being unable to remember how you look, I wanted to meet you there to see you again..." Zhang Tie revealed a big smirk jubilantly, "It''s okay now, I know your look once again!"


    The girl had planned to beat Zhang Tie ferociously; however, not knowing why, hearing Zhang Tie''s words, she only felt her face start to get a fever while that layer of icy frost over her face started to fade away.


    She was a bit shocked by Zhang Tie''s words. She didn''t believe that if one thought too much about someone, they could forget that person''s looks. Nevertheless, hearing Zhang Tie''s frank and passionate statement, she knew that Zhang Tie wasn''t lying to her.


    Zhang Tie''s passion was like a fire ball. The girl had not experienced such audacious love words before; she had not even heard about such words before.


    After glancing at Zhang Tie''s bright and honest eyes, her heart suddenly started to race. As a result, she dared not to stare at Zhang Tie''s eyes any more.


    "Argh, stay away from me!" The girl looked very furious at first; however, seeing Zhang Tie taking 2 steps towards her, she immediately became slightly flurried. Even though she was too much more powerful than Zhang Tie, as long as Zhang Tie drew close to her, she started to become stressed. For her, Zhang Tie seemed to be full of aggression.


    "Well, I will not move..." Being afraid of scaring her away like yesterday, Zhang Tie hurriedly stopped.


    "How did you know I was here!" The girl asked Zhang Tie with widened eyes. Seeing Zhang Tie stay still, she finally recovered her composure.


    "Your smell. You smelt very special!" Zhang Tie looked around this girl with greedy and gleaming eyes as he kept sniffing the air forcefully, "You look so nice in any skirts. Oh, you''ve not told me your name?"


    The girl glared at Zhang Tie incredulously, "Why would I tell you my name?"


    "Because you lost your shoes and I picked them up. Additionally, I kept them 1 day for you. You should at least be polite to the one who helped you! Furthermore, you need to give me a photo of you, so that I never forget you again!" Zhang Tie waved his hands as he said loudly.


    "Douchebag. It''s obviously you who stole my shoes!" The girl bit her lips as she added, "It''s already too polite to you that I don''t beat you up!"


    "No crap! How could a talented youth like me steal a woman''s shoes! Are your shoes very expensive? How could I steal away your shoes if they were on your feet?" Zhang Tie replied brutally, "I don''t care. If you don''t tell me your name, you will not get back your shoes!"


    After saying this, Zhang Tie felt empty on his hands as that girl directly grabbed her shoes away from Zhang Tie''s hands in the air.


    Zhang Tie was really frightened by this girl''s power. After taking her shoes, the girl glanced at Zhang Tie pleasantly. Out of her expectation, Zhang Tie directly charged at her like how a starved tiger would chase after its prey...

 315 Being Shameless

    Chapter 315: Being Shameless


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had opened his arms and charged at her. As a result, the girl became really flurried as she dashed away quickly and immediately flew 10 m away. Zhang Tie didn''t stop; he kept surging towards her like a starved tiger.


    The girl kept moving back while Zhang Tie kept moving forward. In the night, the girl flashed 100 m away in a blink of an eye. At the same time, Zhang Tie also exploded at his maximum speed and kept chasing after her.


    "If you keep chasing after me, I''ll beat you up!" The girl became a bit furious.


    "You stole my things, now you want to run away?" Zhang Tie said aggressively.


    "They''re my shoes!" The girl was really infuriated by Zhang Tie.


    "You snatched them away from me. How could they be your shoes? I picked up those shoes from the wild. How can you verify that you''re that owner? Only you have shoes? You can bully your junior brother just because you are the senior sister? You can do whatever you want just because you have high fighting skills? Even though I could not defeat you, I will also have a try. I will see whether you can beat me to death..." Zhang Tie said like being wronged by a villain.


    "What a douchebag!" The girl swore him furiously. When she saw Zhang Tie charging at her like a rascal once again, she instantly flew backward with a blushed face.


    Zhang Tie charged at her with arms completely stretched. He was definitely intending to hug her. Since she was born, she had not been hugged by anyone in such a brutal way. Zhang Tie''s behavior really frightened her.


    The production of all-purpose medicament was a big event in Hidden Dragon Palace. When she heard that the one who produced all-purpose medicament was named Zhang Tie, who was living in the Songtao Pavilion, she wanted to have a look inside.


    As there were people with the same name in the Hidden Dragon Palace, when she heard the name Zhang Tie, who produced the all-purpose medicament, she firstly recalled that douchebag that she met in Herb Valley. Being driven by curiosity, she came to the Songtao Pavilion to have a look and found it was truly the same person.


    The girl hadn''t imagined that Zhang Tie could find her in terms of her smell. Not even this, he even forced her out of there using aggressive words. Furthermore, Zhang Tie''s passionate and honest words and the shameless movements along with his aggressive intention scared her away once again.


    The girl hadn''t seen such a man since she was born. She didn''t know how to deal with him at all. Although she wanted to give Zhang Tie a lesson, the girl couldn''t make the final decision. Therefore, facing Zhang Tie''s straightforward passionate and honest eyes and shameless behavior, the girl felt breathless and dared not even to look directly into Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    At this moment, even she wanted to escape away, Zhang Tie wouldn''t let her go away; instead, he kept chasing after her.


    She had not been chased after like that. Therefore, when being chased after by Zhang Tie, she had a strange feeling that she hadn''t experienced before.


    However, the girl was really much more powerful than Zhang Tie. Even though Zhang Tie had unrivaled endurance as he had eaten 9 wild wolf seven-strength fruits, he still could not match the girl''s speed.


    In a blink of an eye, they had moved 500 m away from Songtao Pavilion. When the girl would soon run out of his vision, Zhang Tie became flurried. This time, he didn''t even hold her tender hands. If she escaped away this time, he didn''t know when he would see her next.


    "Heh, hurry up, stop. If you keep running, I''ll launch an


    attack!" Zhang Tie started to threaten her. Although Zhang Tie couldn¡¯t match that girl on speed, with wild wolf Seven-Strength Fruits, Zhang Tie had lasting endurance. Even when rushing, Zhang Tie could still talk.


    Hearing Zhang Tie shouting loudly in a flurried way, the


    girl in front of him revealed a wisp of a smile.


    Having not imagined that Zhang Tie could still talk normally


    at this moment, the girl became amazed about Zhang Tie¡¯s endurance and running ability inside.


    "You have 3 seconds, no regret!"


    The girl ignored Zhang Tie¡¯s warning. "3...2...1...catch the thief, that female thief stole my shoes. Catch the thief, a female thief steals my shoes..." Zhang Tie shouted loudly behind her, "If you don¡¯t stop, I will report the case to the Qinyun Palace by offering a reward. I¡¯m not frightened by you. I could really do that. You female thief who steals my shoes, just wait for others¡¯ judgment then..."


    The girl became so irritated that she had never imagined that Zhang Tie could be that shameless. As she didn¡¯t want this trifling matter being known by the public, after swearing Zhang Tie "douchebag", she finally stopped.


    When Zhang Tie caught up with her, the girl was so angry that she directly threw that pair of shoes onto Zhang Tie¡¯s head, "Here are you!"


    Zhang Tie burst out loud laugh as he grabbed that pair of


    shoes by hand at once before hugged them into his coat, "That¡¯s it, how could you grab another¡¯s belongings casually? You have to return it to its owner!"


    "You bastard!" The girl swore.


    Zhang Tie then replied with rolling eyes, "You really don¡¯t


    need them?"


    "Yes, I don¡¯t need them!" The girl glared at Zhang Tie with


    gritting teeth. She wondered what else would that douchebag do.


    "Well, now that it is your token of love, I will take it.


    Never mind, I will preserve it well!" Zhang Tie then fixed his eyes onto that


    girl with full of emotions, which really made her quiver for one time.


    "You...you...when have I given you the token of love?" The girl¡¯s face totally blushed as she pointed at Zhang Tie.


    "You said it just now!" Zhang Tie then waved her embroidered


    shoes in front of her before hurriedly hid them in his coat, "You gave me your embroidered shoes and told me you didn¡¯t need them. Isn¡¯t this a token of love?


    I¡¯m not fixing one¡¯s shoes; however, a girl gifted here beloved embroidered shoes to me. Isn¡¯t that a token of love? How about explaining to the public and asking for their judgments. Doesn¡¯t it mean that a girl falls in love with that man by gifting her embroidered shoes to him? Do you dare to say this pair of shoes isn''t yours? You dare to say you didn''t gift it to me?"


    Zhang Tie fabricated as he made a grimace towards that girl.


    "You...you bastard!" The girl was so irritated and bashful


    that she wondered why there was such a shameless man in the world? He was really the rogue of rogues. How could he say that I stole his belonging by taking my own shoes back? If I didn¡¯t need it, it then became his token of love.


    "Now that you could gift me your embroidered shoes, may I


    know your name now?" Zhang Tie replied without knowing what shame was.


    "Give my shoes back!" That girl was driven so mad that she


    almost passed out. Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s reply, she became so bashful and irritated that she directly slapped towards Zhang Tie.


    However, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t even hide from her attack. He just


    watched her and waited for her smack. With a miserable shriek, he directly flew backward and fell down onto the grassland several meters away. He then rolled off the 10-m high grass slope and finally lay at the foot of the grass slope. With one foot cramped twice, he didn¡¯t move anymore.


    The girl was also dumbfounded that she had not imagined that Zhang Tie didn¡¯t even hide just now. It only took him 30% of strength to smack him; but she clearly knew that even with one smack, she could easily kill a tiger or a leopard. Commoners could hardly stand it at all.


    ¡®Is he that weak? I¡¯ve beaten him to death?¡¯ The moment she thought


    about this, the girl suddenly felt very sorry. Seeing Zhang Tie lying there like a corpse, the girl hurriedly flew downwards the grass slope.


    Lying on the grassland, Zhang Tie¡¯s face turned completely


    pale. With eyes closed, he looked a bit frightening. At the sight of Zhang Tie¡¯s look, the girl felt sadder inside as she hurriedly squatted in front of Zhang Tie to take a check.


    The girl stretched her hand under Zhang Tie¡¯s nostrils to


    test his breathing rhythm. Out of her imagination, Zhang Tie directly tilted his head and kissed her hand.


    "Argh..." Feeling like being struck by a lightning bolt, she


    quivered all over. Before she responded, Zhang Tie who was lying on the grassland like a corpse immediately grabbed her two wrists and tightly hugged her. Then, after turning over, he directly pressed her under his body.


    It was really out of her imagination that Zhang Tie was


    playing dead. Without any preparation, she was successfully raided by Zhang Tie. His strength was so big that the girl could not shake herself out. As a result, she could only be pressed under Zhang Tie¡¯s body brutally and barbarously.


    At this moment, it looked like that Zhang Tie was raping


    her. The girl was really irritated; then, she became bashful; finally, she became flurried.


    Although Zhang Tie had pressed many girls before, this time,


    he felt most stimulative. Although pressing this girl, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t do any movement excessively; instead, he just fixed his eyes on her.


    The girl then twisted her body when she found that Zhang Tie


    was like a robust ox who didn¡¯t allow her to exert strength at all. As a


    result, she just stared at Zhang Tie bashfully and furiously and tried to look stern, "What do you want, hurry up, let me off!"


    "I won¡¯t!" Zhang Tie stubbornly shook his head, "If I let you off, you will escape away. If you escape away, I will not be able to catch up with you! As it¡¯s really hard to catch up with you, if I just let you off, I would be an idiot!"


    The moment Zhang Tie said this, the girl felt being filled


    with a strange feeling, which was warm, bashful, a bit sweet and furious. "If I know you are such a bastard, I would have slapped you to death!" While restraining that strange feeling, the girl uttered ferociously...

 316 Roguish Lord

    Chapter 316: Roguish Lord


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    "I will say nothing of being slapped to death by your hand!" Zhang Tie made a grimace as he tilted his head to look at her, "It''s said that beauty would look more beautiful in the lamplight. Actually, you also look more beautiful in the moonlight, especially when you look stern!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s compliment, the girl almost could not keep her stern look. Tilting her head, she dared not to look into Zhang Tie''s hot eyes, "You douchebag, let me off!"


    "If not because of my thick face[1], I would have been heavily wounded just now. You want me to end this by letting you off? At least you need to pay me a bit compensation..."


    "What compensation?"


    Pressing the girl under his body, Zhang Tie felt so stimulative. Seeing the girl could do nothing but lying under his body, Zhang Tie felt a pretty powerful, cool sense rising from inside.


    "Tell me your name first!"


    "I''m Lan Yunxi!" The girl replied as she looked at Zhang Tie''s expression.


    "Hmm, this name sounds nice. But it''s strange, I might have heard about it somewhere before!" Zhang Tie narrowed his eyes and thought for awhile; however, he failed to remember where he had heard it before. Therefore, he didn''t think about it anymore.


    "Can you let me off now?" The girl tried to be calm.


    "No way!"


    "Why?" The girl glared at Zhang Tie.


    "Because as long as I let you off, you will definitely beat me up! Additionally, it''s not enough by only telling me your name!" Zhang Tie seriously explained.


    "B*stard!"


    "You should promise me one more thing, then, I will forgive you for that smack!"


    "What?" The girl asked.


    "Call me husband!" Zhang Tie said shamelessly.


    With widened eyes, Lan Yunxi glared at Zhang Tie as she had not imagined that Zhang Tie could pose such an excessive requirement¡ª¡ªcalling him hu...husband.


    The girl didn''t speak again; instead, she instantly tried to struggle out of Zhang Tie''s control. This time, she was so powerful that she almost turned Zhang Tie over to the ground. Her hand almost broke out of Zhang Tie''s control too. This really shocked Zhang Tie as he hadn''t imagined that this girl was so powerful. He almost lost control.


    Zhang Tie was almost level 7 now. During the period in Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie''s strength surged so fast that even his hands could produce over 1 ton''s strength. "In this case, the girl could still almost break out of my control." Zhang Tie was really shocked about her.


    Although her hand didn''t break out of Zhang Tie''s control, one of her feet gained certain moving space. The girl then moved her foot and directly crashed against Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen, which was really painful for Zhang Tie.


    If not the iron-body fruits that Zhang Tie had eaten during this period, this girl would have long made Zhang Tie pass out.


    Although not passing out, Zhang Tie almost became dizzy by this kick. As a result, he kept taking deep breaths.


    When the girl prepared to kick Zhang Tie for the second time, Zhang Tie immediately stopped her kick by putting his knee against hers. At the same time, he wrestled his feet with hers while he tightly hugged that girl with his hands. When the girl started to struggle, two of them started to roll on the grassland.


    When they stopped, the girl exclaimed once again as she was pressed under Zhang Tie''s body again. Additionally, her legs had been split by Zhang Tie''s legs from the middle. Zhang Tie had cut into the center of her legs like a plug. As a result, she could not even put her legs together. Furthermore, Zhang Tie kept his own lower abdomen close to that of hers, making her not able to attack the places above Zhang Tie''s thigh, almost leaving no moving space for Zhang Tie.


    This gesture made her much more bashful as it felt like Zhang Tie was raping her.


    They both used all their efforts; at this moment, they both had been gasping.


    "B*stard, let me off!" Lan Yunxi glared at Zhang Tie while her cheeks flushed like the rainbow in the skyline due to the previous movements and such a bashful gesture.


    "Call me husband!" Zhang Tie widened his eyes at stared at her.


    "No way!" Lan Yunxi tilted her head.


    "You have one more chance, do it or not?"


    "No way!"


    At the sight of that girl under his body, Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he lowered his head and ferociously kissed her lips.


    "Wuh..." With widened eyes, Lan Yunxi could never believe that Zhang Tie dared to forcefully kiss her.


    With widened eyes, they both stared at each other while their eyelashes almost collided. Zhang Tie kept watching her as her moods changed from shock, fury to shame in a few seconds.


    Zhang Tie kept sucking her tender lips greedily. He had practiced his kissing skills by those girls of Rose Association. He really excelled at kissing. When he kissed her lips, his tongue constantly swam between her lips.


    Soon, Lan Yunxi''s eyes changed from being bashful into half-closed blur.


    "Hmm..." When Lan Yunxi couldn''t wait to utter a raptured nasal sound, Zhang Tie had finally opened her purely-white teeth using his tongue.


    Several minutes later, Zhang Tie had already loosened his clutch; however, the girl had willingly hugged Zhang Tie and started to respond to him enthusiastically...


    Several minutes later, Zhang Tie had been panting while his mummy had been as hard as iron. He then immediately left the girl''s lips and knelt on the grassland in front of her. Being gasping, he instantly took off his trousers and hurriedly started to undo the girl''s skirt.


    When Zhang Tie was undoing his own waistband, that girl suddenly became shocked and became awake. The moment she saw the ugly mummy of Zhang Tie, who was going to pull off her skirt, the girl was driven extremely bashful in a split second.


    "Argh, you...what are you doing?" The girl asked full of panic. Each girl would be a bit flurried when they faced this thing for the first time.


    Zhang Tie raised his head and uttered seriously, "I''m going to occupy the shortcut towards your heart!"


    Soon after he finished this sentence, Zhang Tie had been kicked and sent fly in the air and rolled 5-6 m away on the grassland.


    After that attack, Lan Yunxi instantly jumped up from the grassland. Touching her fevered face, she instantly flashed several dozens of meters away without caring about whether Zhang Tie was live or not.


    Twitching his mouth and touching that footprint on his chest, Zhang Tie climbed up from the grassland. He then saw that shadow 100 m away. Zhang Tie still wanted to chase after her; however, he realized that his butts were still naked.


    Zhang Tie felt it a bit pitiful as she finally escaped away; however, thinking of tonight''s achievement¡ª¡ªHe had already kissed her lips when they met for the second time, Zhang Tie burst out laughing once again, feeling full of an unspeakable sense of achievement.


    For the girl''s coy yet enthusiastic response just now, Zhang Tie felt like having discovered a treasure¡ª¡ªthis is a girl who looks cold yet is hot inside.


    "Lan Yunxi...Lan Yunxi..." Zhang Tie smacked his lips as he mumbled. At this moment, he could still taste the remaining fragrance from the girl''s lips, ''Wuh? That''s so strange, how could I feel this name becoming so familiar!''


    When Zhang Tie muttered this name, he walked towards Songtao Pavilion. He faintly felt having seen this name somewhere before.


    When Zhang Tie returned to the Songtao Pavilion and caught sight of the tall cornice of the Songtao Pavilion, he instantly remembered where he had seen the name.


    Gosh! When he finally remembered where he had seen this name, Zhang Tie instantly stopped. With widened eyes, Zhang Tie finally remembered that he had seen this name on the Hidden Dragon List in the Qinyun Palace.


    Lan Yunxi ranked both first on the Hidden Dragon Fighting Force List and the Hidden Dragon Clan Contribution List.


    "Is that girl, who became so flurried at the sight of him taking off his trousers, the 1st sister, the most famous figure in Breaking-Heavens Department?"


    After thinking for quite awhile, Zhang Tie finally accepted this fact. Tonight, he had completed an earth-quaking reversal!


    At this moment, Zhang Tie also figured it out why he couldn''t remember where he had seen this name. Because when he saw this name in Qinyun Palace, he thought that must be a man.


    ...


    On the second early morning, Yang Yuankang had come for Zhang Tie with an apology.


    "When we got that batch of medicament a couple of days ago, we didn''t know that is all-purpose medicament either. Zhang Feng then told some friends that you made the all-purpose medicament. Therefore, the moment they knew that was an all-purpose medicament, many people knew that you made that. I heard many people came here for you last night. Did they find trouble for you?"


    Zhang Tie really didn''t think too much about this event as he knew that it would happen sooner or later. Therefore, he didn''t blame Yang Yuankang; instead, he comforted him, "Never mind, sooner or later, they would know that. How about the sales these days?"


    Speaking of the sales, Yang Yuankang instantly became thrilled, "Demand totally exceeds supply. If we hadn''t controlled the sales volume, we''d have long sold them all in one day!"


    "He...he...you must have made a lot!"


    "Previously, the selling price of one vial of that medicament was 5 gold coins; these days, it had risen to 9 gold coins!" Feeling embarrassed, Yang Yuankang looked at Zhang Tie, "How should we share the surplus profit..."


    Zhang Tie then waved his hands generously, "It''s yours. In the future, I will still provide your at the cost of 4 gold coins per vial..."


    Yang Yuankang revealed a big smile as he felt Zhang Tie was really a good friend, "We rented a store in the Black Dragon Town. It''s been decorated recently. We will start running it a few days later!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he suddenly recalled something, "Oh, do you know Lan Yunxi?"


    "Senior sister Xi?" Yang Yuankang glanced at Zhang Tie surprisingly, "She''s the most famous person in Hidden Dragon Palace. Many people were pursuing her..."


    "I know, she ranks first in both Hidden Dragon Fighting Force List and Hidden Dragon Clan Contribution List. Those who dare to pursue her is really brave enough!" Saying this, even Zhang Tie didn''t know how he felt. He just gritted his teeth inside and realized that he had a lot of competitors, "Could those guys be as shameless as I?"


    "Hoho, senior sister Xi has an excellent look and great fighting force. What''s more, she''s the daughter of count Long Wind and the princess of Zhang clan in Huaiyuan Palace. It was nothing different than entering the sky with one footstep to get her heart for many people!" Yang Yuankang explained with a smile.


    "What? Lan Yunxi is the daughter of Zhang Taixuan, the count Long Wind?" Zhang Tie widened his eyes, "Why not she surname Zhang?"


    "Senior sister Xi''s mother was born in the Lan clan of Xi''an Palace, who''s a princess of Lan clan, also the first woman who married Lan clan after Lan clan and Zhang clan established connections through marriage. Her first offspring for Zhang clan should also surname Lan; therefore, senior sister Xi followed her mother''s surname!"


    Zhang Tie was really stunned. He finally understood what a holy fairy the woman he loved was! ''F*ck, that''s too bad. If Count Long Wind knew that his daughter was almost raped by me, will he come to the Hidden Dragon Island with a sword to chop off my head...''

 317 Manjusaka

    Chapter 317: Manjusaka


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Zhang Tie was really shocked by the status of the woman he loved.


    Zhang Tie understood that braveness was a necessary requirement for a man to love a woman. But being brave was not enough. He loved her not because of her status and the benefits that she could bring him. He didn''t care about Lan Yunxi''s family background and dad, but Zhang Tie had to admit that if he wanted to marry her, the relation between him and her would definitely be affected by the arguments and everything about her. This was unavoidable.


    After Yang Yuankang left, Zhang Tie became very serious. He started to consider this issue seriously. After thinking for quite a long while, Zhang Tie got a damned and self-abased conclusion¡ª¡ªwith his present social status and position, even though Lan Yunxi agreed to marry him, she would still sustain great stress and contempt due to him. She might even encounter troubles that she could have avoided before.


    If he married Lan Yunxi, the outcome would be similar to that of a princess marrying a wood cutting passer-by.


    Although Zhang Tie felt uncomfortable about this conclusion, Zhang Tie knew that it was the fact. Zhang Tie would definitely not let a woman stand stress from her family and the reality because of his strong self-esteem.


    He would not even frown his forehead a bit if he could stand all the stress for Lan Yunxi; however, all the stress should be carried by Lan Yunxi herself. Therefore, Zhang Tie would never let this happen. If a man could not help his beloved woman out of trouble; instead bring more troubles to the woman, he would not be qualified as a man.


    Zhang Tie then gritted his teeth as his boiling mind started to recover composure and became as firm as heavy and hard granite.


    "Lan Yunxi..." Zhang Tie silently mumbled this name several times before trying his best to recall her image. The girl''s face became looming in his mind. Finally, Zhang Tie sadly found that over one night, with the exception of her clothes, he had forgotten about her look once again. If he told this to others, nobody would trust him; however, it was true.


    ''Is this lovesickness?'' Zhang Tie didn''t know. Shaking his head, Zhang Tie controlled his impulse to find Lan Yunxi and recall her look; instead, he took out of that pair of embroidered shoes from the inside of his coat and took a deep breath before he left.


    Zhang Tie also knew that he was not qualified to mention the sacred word "love" in front of Lan Yunxi; however, he knew that his personal emotion to her was as fiery as fire and as firm as iron.


    This morning, Zhang Tie practiced fundamental moving skills so seriously and painstakingly which greatly shocked his senior sister Ma Aiyun who was "guiding" him on one side.


    After two hours of training, senior sister Ma Aiyun who had just heard the news. She then asked Zhang Tie, "It''s said that there''s a guy called Zhang Tie who had produced the all-purpose medicament, is that you?"


    After throwing the towel used to clean his sweat on one side, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "Haha, that''s me."


    "You''re a hidden alchemist? But you didn''t mention that before." Ma Aiyun asked out of curiosity.


    "I''m not an alchemist. I was just fortunate enough to stumble upon the secret to producing this medicament!"


    "Your medicament is really in urgent demand. Many of my friends want to buy it. But they could not get one even with 10 gold coins!"


    "Your friends want that?"


    "Of course, haven''t heard that enzyme is the best beauty products for girls. Even common enzyme is good for beautifying skin and delaying wrinkles, let alone a super enzyme!" Saying this, Ma Aiyun smiled and asked in a joking way, "How about buying it directly from you at a lower price?"


    ''Using all-purpose medicament to beautify oneself?'' Zhang Tie realized that he really didn''t know about girls. For girls, the biggest role of all-purpose medicament which could save one''s life at the critical moment is to beautify and delay old age. They would even spend all of their money on it.


    Zhang Tie knew that 10 gold coins was not cheap for many girls. The monthly payment of Breaking-Heavens Department was only 30 gold coins, which had troubled many people a lot. However, there were still girls who would like to spend 10 gold coins to beautify themselves.


    Realizing that Zhang Tie became a bit mind-absent, Ma Aiyun thought that it was a bit difficult for Zhang Tie to produce it in a short period; in her opinion, it was hard for professional alchemists to produce that, let alone Zhang Tie who wasn''t an alchemist.


    "Don''t feel sorry about that. If you can''t produce it in a short period, just forget about it." Although saying this, Ma Aiyun still revealed a sense of disappointment.


    Zhang Tie then smiled as he directly took out his medicament container from the clothes rack on his side and took out 6 vials of all-purpose medicament that had been filled recently and gave them to Ma Aiyun, "Haha, if others want it from me, I might not have; but if senior sister Ma wants it, of course I have!"


    At the sight of the vials of medicament, Ma Aiyun revealed a big smile at once as her face lit up. "It really wasn''t expected that would you have some with you. How much? Tell you what, I can never afford more than 10 gold coins!"


    "It''s free. I gift them to you and the other senior sisters, 1 for each of you. Please share them with the other senior sisters. Thanks for your guidance to me during this period. This is just my little gift!" Zhang Tie added generously. "If I wanted money from you because of this little thing, you would look down upon me."


    Ma Aiyun was also a generous person among Zhang Tie''s senior sisters who could identify personal emotions very well. Hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, she didn''t hesitate anymore as she directly put away the vials, "Fine, I will say thank you to you on behalf of them. No matter what, you won''t lack money in the future!"


    Zhang Tie smirked as he suddenly remembered one thing, "Senior sister Ma, how do you usually make money with the other senior sister?"


    "Mainly by doing clan tasks or collecting special items!"


    "Is that hard?"


    Raising her beautiful face, Ma Aiyun peered at Zhang Tie in a contemptuous way, "You think everyone can make money like you¡ª¡ªby betting or producing all-purpose medicament? Any girls coming out of the Breaking-Heavens Department have become tough girls!"


    Zhang Tie became slightly embarrassed as he smiled, "I have an idea. If you and the other senior sisters think it''s feasible, you can open a store to sell all-purpose medicament on the Hidden Dragon Island. All-purpose medicament has a good market now. Later on, I can provide you all-purpose medicament at a lower price and you won''t have to work that hard."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Ma Aiyun fixed her eyes on him as she blinked her eyes and asked seriously, "Do you mean it?"


    "Of course I do!"


    "What''s the price if I take that medicament from you?"


    "Only 4 gold coins per vial for you and the other senior sisters!"


    "4 gold coins?" Ma Aiyun was really shocked by such a low price. She looked at Zhang Tie seriously like watching a flower before puffed, "That''s not bad, tell me, Caidie or Ziyi, which one do you like? I will play matchmaker!"


    "Actually I want you. You really have a nice figure, senior Ma. You''re plump and womanly. Each time I see you I''d feel my heart racing fiercely!" Zhang Tie joked.


    Hearing his words, Ma Aiyun''s cheeks blushed as she punched her tender fists towards Zhang Tie''s head, "Snake-tongued, take my punch."


    Zhang Tie hurriedly jumped away with a big smile...


    ...


    After today''s training, Zhang Tie came to the administration center of Herb Valley in the afternoon and booked his first batch of exclusive vials of all-purpose medicament.


    As many alchemists were gathered in the Breaking-Heavens Department''s Herb Valley, it became Herb Valley''s responsibility to provide various services for alchemists of all levels, including providing customized vials of medicament, which is the most common service. Of course, even one if wasn''t an alchemist, you could also customize vials to hold vinegar as long as you could afford that.


    Considering his later development, Zhang Tie decided to use his private registered symbol on the vials.


    The fee for registering personal symbol for the vials of medicament in the Alchemists Association was 86 gold coins, which was very expensive and far exceeded commoners'' purchasing ability. After this register, the registrant would enjoy the protection of the Alchemists Association and owned all the rights and interests of this symbol.


    Previously, Zhang Tie wanted to register a sapling as his symbol; however, he was told that many alchemists had adopted saplings as symbols which were of great similarity. Therefore, the Alchemists Association had determined to not accept sapling as an exclusive symbol.


    Finally, Zhang Tie used a wholly new symbol!


    It was composed of two elements, a mysterious, bloody, beautiful flower in full bloom and a word under it which could arise unlimited imaginations from people, Manjusaka.


    Manjusaka was also named Higanbana or demon''s kindness. It represented elegance and purity. In some places, it also represented sad memory and mutual miss.


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s symbol, a professional painter would be responsible for designing it. The symbol was featured by aestheticism.


    When the painter finished the manjusaka, it reminded Zhang Tie of Lan Yunxi. Therefore, he directly fixed that.


    Compared to this beautiful symbol, the quantity of the first batch of vials of medicament Zhang Tie booked shocked all the people in the Administration Center¡ª¡ª10.000 vials! For any alchemists, this was a terrible quantity. In the entire Breaking-Heavens Department, no alchemist could produce so much medicament at once.


    After Zhang Tie left Herb Valley, the news about a number of vials of medicament he ordered was heard by someone, which arose a series of changes in the later, which even out of Zhang Tie''s imaginations.


    After leaving Herb Valley, Zhang Tie came to the Wharf to set free fishes again. After that, he had supper before returning to his residence. He then entered the Castle of Black Iron.


    In a few seconds, after entering the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie was really startled as he could see no fruit on the entire Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree...

 318 Free Will

    Chapter 318: Free Will


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Zhang Tie remembered that when he entered the Castle of Black Iron last time, he could still see a lot of fruits hanging from the tree, including 3 ripe Leakless Fruits which were used for spare blood, a Leakless Fruit which should have been ripe today, an Iron-Body Fruit which had been over 80% ripe, a raw huge wolf Seven-Strength Fruit, a raw Fruit of Redemption from golden uangs, a raw Fruit of Redemption from earthworms and those Fruits of Redemption from sand-scale fish that he had set free these days. However, at this moment, all of them had disappeared.


    Watching the small tree, Zhang Tie rubbed his eyes. He moved around the small tree for a circle with disbelief. He could see nothing but tree leaves. "What''s happening?"


    Zhang Tie couldn''t stand being vacant as he stretched his hand towards the small tree while a line of words appeared in front of him.


    ¡ª¡ªThe sacred free will is inviolable. It is the supreme law that all the living beings in this universe should follow. As Lord has violated someone''s free will recently, the aura and energy of all the fruits on the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree would dissipate automatically. Besides, no other fruits would ripen on it in two weeks.


    ''Sacred free will is inviolable? When did I violate someone''s free will?'' Zhang Tie became dumbfounded as he tried to remember, ''Wait, is it because of what happened last night...no...''


    When Zhang Tie became dumbfounded, Heller, the steward of Castle of Black Iron had already stood beside the stages below the small tree and watched Zhang Tie in a frustrated expression.


    Zhang Tie then walked downwards the stages.


    "Castle lord..." Heller bowed in front of Zhang Tie elegantly.


    "Heller, what''s wrong with this? Why are the fruits..."


    "You should ask yourself, my lord. The Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree reflects the law of cause and effect. Your behavior will definitely cause the corresponding result! This is the price for you to violate other''s free will..." Heller said calmly.


    "Free will? Is it because of Lan Yunxi?"


    "Right! You forcefully restricted the girl''s freedom and movement before forcing her to call you husband; finally, you even kissed her. You had violated her free will!" Staring at Zhang Tie with endless interests, Heller added, "Were you really wanting to rape her at that moment? If so, you must have overridden her free will and you might suffer an even more serious consequence!"


    Feeling extremely embarrassed, Zhang Tie scratched his head, "How come, I was just making a joke at the beginning. Although being a bit roguish in the later, I would never do that excessively..."


    "But you''ve even taken off your trousers!" Heller answered with a wisp of smile.


    "Um...I was too concentrated then. At the beginning when I forcefully kissed her, she was truly opposing; however, in the later, I didn''t force her any more; instead, she started to hug me and kiss me. I thought she...she would like to do that with me. However, she was finally scared away!"


    This was what Zhang Tie truly thought. For the girls whom Zhang Tie had encountered, he found that as long as they felt like kissing him in that way, they seemed to be not resistant to do that. That night, although it started with a forceful kiss, in the middle, they both indulged in doing that. Therefore, out of impulsion, Zhang Tie wanted to directly make love with her. However, it was out of his imagination that the moment he took off his trousers, he woke up her who then directly kicked off this awkward, lewd man.


    After doing that, Zhang Tie made a conclusion. He also felt being a bit anxious to do that at that moment. The girls of Breaking-Heavens Department could never be matched by those in the Rose Association, let alone Lan Yunxi. If he only forcefully kissed her like an innocent boy and let her off, the result would be completely different from now.


    Saying this, Zhang Tie suddenly remembered something. How could Heller know what happened last night so clearly? He had not imagined about this question before. He then instantly widened his eyes and gazed at Heller, "Does it mean that you know everything I did outside?"


    "Never mind, castle lord, what I know is only about the affairs between you and the fruits of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree. This is the meaning and reason for my existence!" Heller explained, "As for others unless you told me, I would never know!"


    ''Hush...'' Zhang Tie finally let out a sign. ''It''s good. If Heller knew everything about what I did outside, it would be too awkward. In the future, if I marry a wife and make love with her, Heller could even know when I take off my clothes and break a wind, that would be nothing but live performance.''


    "And...if I make love with women, will it lead to any fruits?" Zhang Tie asked obscurely.


    "No!" Heller answered.


    Zhang Tie finally became reassured. However, looking at the fruitless small tree, Zhang Tie felt painful once again, ''My Leakless Fruits! It''s really a great loss this time. Besides those fruits that have disappeared, the small tree would even stop bearing any fruit in 2 weeks. It seems to be a protest about what I''ve done last night.''


    ''No way, I was just forcefully kissing her. I''ve not even done anything excessively. If some girl forcefully kiss me, I will definitely not protest at all.'' Zhang Tie complained inside.


    "Oh, what do you mean by free will? If someone wants to set me up, will I violate their free will by beating them?"


    "You could counterattack your enemies for free. This would not bring you any punishment!" Heller stared at Zhang Tie, "Free will is the most fundamental right of all the living beings. It is the meaning and foundation for living beings to exist and the right of free choice that every living being own to experience their independent lives and value of existence. The more senior and intelligent the living beings and social existences were, the more they would respect the free will of all the rest living beings. By comparison, the lower, corrupted and darker the living beings and social existences were, the more they would destroy and trample on others'' free will!"


    "Like Sun Dynasty?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Yes, Sun Dynasty is that extremely corrupted and dark social existence. It tramples on everybody''s free will in the name of supreme gods. This is the largest blasphemy to all living beings!"


    "Are there truly gods?" Zhang Tie rolled his eyes as he asked instantly.


    Heller immediately saw through Zhang Tie''s trick as he answered wisely and obscurely, "I''ve told you that I didn''t know about the answer of this question; perhaps, from the perspective of free will, you can call those who own the most unlimited and powerful abilities to completely carry out their own free will as gods."


    "You mean, those deities are always happy. Because a person or living being who could perform his free will to the utmost would never be irritated and frustrated. Neither would he have any negative mood!" A thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind. Heller''s answer immediately reminded Zhang Tie of this question, If so, why are many deities in the legends are very narrow-minded? Why do they have various negative moods like fury, jealousy and always punish others?"


    "They''re just tricks used by those scoundrels, they put their own desires and fears onto real deities and create fake deities to frighten people. In their words, deities are all-mighty. They create everything; however, deities could not control the living beings that they created. They might even create something that they dislike, which make them tired and troubled with mixed moods. This is a self-contradiction. Because there isn''t a deity who''s both all-mighty and incompetent in the universe. This violates the fundamental rule of the universe."


    "What''s the fundamental rule of the universe?" Zhang Tie''s curiosity was arisen once again.


    Heller cast a deep glance at Zhang Tie and put it straightly, "Everything runs as it should be."


    "Everything runs as it should be." This answer was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. It sounded very simple, yet contained many secrets. Zhang Tie mumbled it twice. Although a thought flashed across his mind, he still couldn''t understand it. After thinking twice, Zhang Tie still couldn''t understand anything not catch anything. Zhang Tie then didn''t think about it anymore as what he usually did. He was not that stubborn.


    "You say you know everything about the fruits on the small tree?"


    "Hmm, right..." Zhang Tie changed his focus so fast that even Heller was startled about that. How could a guy who was interested in the fundamental rule of the universe suddenly asked about fruits on the small tree?


    "You must know the causes about those disappeared fruits, right?" Zhang Tie revealed a bit wretched which even Heller could not stand.


    "Yes!"


    "Then, I want to know that...that...whether that is Lan Yunxi''s first kiss?"


    Looking at the wicked guy, Heller became wordless.


    "I refuse to answer you about that question!" Heller remained his principle.


    Zhang Tie then crossed his arms like a rogue, "As long as you told me, I will instantly increase 100,000 of basic energy storage units for Castle of Black Iron!"


    "I have my principle, please don''t insult me, castle lord!" Heller looked very righteous.


    "200,000!"


    "You think I''m that person?"


    "300,000!"


    "As Castle of Black Iron is yours, do you think its useful to lure me with your belongings?"


    "400,000!"


    "It''s not a kind way to talk about a girl''s privacy!"


    "500,000!"


    "That''s not good!"


    "600,000..." Zhang Tie gritted his teeth as it would take him several days to increase so many basic energy storage for Castle of Black Iron.


    Heller still didn''t say anything. Zhang Tie then turned around and intended to leave while Heller hurriedly stopped him by pulling his arm, "Yes, that was her first kiss!"


    Zhang Tie then burst out a big laughter. He suddenly felt that the lost fruits were worthwhile...

 319 Big Wave

    Chapter 319: Big Wave


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    The headquarters of Long Wind Business Group was located in a 300-m skyscraper in a prosperous area of Yiyang City. The entire building was like a sailboat. The building was covered with sparkling reinforced glass walls. It was beautifully shaped and was the landmark of this region.


    Being directly affiliated with the Zhang clan, Long Wind Business Group not only reached each corner of Huaiyuan Prefecture but also in the entire Waii Sub-continent. It was qualified to rank top 20 in Waii Sub-continent.


    The total asset of Long Wind Business Group was 3.8 billion gold coins. It''s business scope covered banking, insurance, industry and mining, shipping, manufacturing, port, overseas trading, munition, daily goods, medicine, traffic, navigation and armed employment.


    The business group employed 870,000 people directly. It owned the largest armed fleet across the Waii Sub-continent. Meanwhile, it was the largest military supplier across Waii Sub-continent. The rune weapons sold by Long Wind Business Group occupied 1/8 of the high-end military products market across the Waii Sub-continent. Additionally, the battle crossbows produced by Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace and sold by Long Wind Business Group monopolized above 70% of the high-end battle crossbows market in Waii Sub-continent.


    Zhang''s crossbows were well-known around the world. All the warriors and fighters who took battle crossbows as weapons knew Huaiyuan Palace''s battle crossbows. Many of them were proud of having a advanced battle crossbow produced by Huaiyuan Palace.


    From some perspective, Long Wind Business Group was an epitome and tentacle of Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace to the outside world.


    To manage such a huge business empire, the headquarter of Long Wind Business Group had to collect and analyze information from everywhere.


    The headquarter of Long Wind Business Group was matched with the largest crystal remote-sensing communication center, which contained over 1000 staff. In each second, messages from across the Waii Sub-continent would be collected here through communication nodes, enabling the headquarters of the Long Wind Business Group to master the latest news from all aspects like a big invisible net.


    The news being collected here included latest prices of commodities, business opportunities, special events, changing ruling powers and all the other economical, political, cultural and social dynamic information from wherever the agencies of Long Wind Business Group were located.


    The news that Zhang Tie customized 10,000 vials of medicament was also received by Long Wind Business Group late on May 23rd.


    The message being received through crystal remote-sensing communication was a series of remote-sensing communication codes composed of signals of different duration. This message was first passed to the communication center of the headquarter. After that, a remote-sensing message receiver on a communication position recorded the signals and sent back a receipt before giving the record paper to the examiner on his side.


    Although it was already in the late night, staff in the Remote-Sensing Communication Center of the headquarter were still very busy. After checking the codes a few seconds, the examiner found no problem with it. He then rapidly took that recording paper to the Decoding Center of the Communication Center.


    "News from Hidden Dragon Island; it''s sent through Fengxin B LV 3 cryptographic codes, please decode it as soon as possible!"


    Soon after taking the recording paper, the staff in the Decoding Center had already translated the information. It was only one common sentence.


    "Zhang Tie, a student of Breaking-Heavens Department registers his exclusive symbol of medicament and orders 10,000 vials of medicament at once. He says that he will purchase another great batch of vials in a short period. He estimates that the further purchase would not be less than 100,000 vials! Given his abnormal order, please pay special attention to him!"


    After decoding this sentence, the staff didn''t waste any time; instead, he directly passed this message to the Information Center. The moment the staff of the Information Center received this information, he had stored this message in the super brain over there.


    The super brain of the information center of Long Wind Business Group was a Xuanyuan 7-type large-scale steam-driven computer from the East Continent. It contained 154,000 computing gears and parts with super high precision, which weighed 513 tons in total. The perimeter of its computing gears could circle twice around Yiyang City. The entire steam-driven computer consisted of three functions, namely computing, storage and input/output. Additionally, it could output message through printing, mapping and card. In this age, undoubtedly, such a set of steam-driven computers represented the top achievement of human beings in machinery manufacturing.


    Only a few minutes after Zhang Tie''s message was input into the storage equipment of this steam-driven computer, a information analyst of the Information Center had discovered 3 intelligence information chains concerning "Zhang Tie" and "All-purpose medicament" that Long Wind Business Group had received in these days from the intelligence associative feedback output from the steam-driven computer.


    The earliest message was sent from manager Zhang of the Long Wind Pearl Field on the Hidden Dragon Island¡ª¡ªZhang Tie, a student from Breaking-Heavens Department can produce a special solution which is of great effect to rheumatism, arthritis and gastric ulcer. It is of great medical function and promotion value. Manager Zhang suggested the business group to dispatch someone to negotiate with Zhang Tie so as to purchase the secret knowledge of Zhang Tie''s special solution or directly cooperate with him. After mass production, the business group will promote the solution to the market through the channels of the business group for mutual benefit.


    The second intelligence arrived a couple of days later than the first one. It was sent from the Hidden Dragon Palace¡ª¡ªZhang Tie, a student from Breaking-Heavens Department had produced the all-purpose medicament which had passed the medical effect test of master Su Yun, it''s medical effect is as follows...


    The third intelligence was just received¡ª¡ªZhang Tie, a student of Breaking-Heavens Department registers his exclusive symbol of medicament and orders 10,000 vials of medicament at once. He says that he will purchase another great batch of vials in a short period. He estimates that the further purchase would not be less than 100,000 vials! Given his abnormal order, please pay special attention to him!"


    When manager Zhang sent the first intelligence, he didn''t know that Zhang Tie was producing the super enzyme, namely the all-purpose medicament. However, the second message from Hidden Dragon Palace justified the real status of Zhang Tie''s solution. Today''s message then indicated that Zhang Tie would push his all-purpose medicament into the market.


    If not the quantity of the vials that Zhang Tie customized, the value of the three messages were not great to the Long Wind Business Group at all.


    For super powers like Long Wind Business Group, it didn''t lack cooperation with alchemists. Even though Long Wind Business Group and Zhang clan cultivated alchemists themselves. These alchemists were all excelled in making various medicaments; some of them could even produce advance medicaments.


    Although Zhang Tie''s all-purpose medicament had various marvelous effects, most of which were based on human beings'' physiological functions. According to the strictest standards on dividing medicaments adopted by the Alchemists'' Association, those all-purpose medicaments produced by Zhang Tie could only rank LV E and LV D. It was more effective than LV 1 antidote; additionally, it owned many other effects which were a bit dwarfed than other professional medicaments. This indicated that the price of one vial of this medicament could hardly reach 7-10 gold coins.


    Many alchemists won''t even wast time on producing such "cheap" items. Those who made money by producing LV 1 antidote were all low-level suspending gourd alchemists. When they reached binding-belt alchemists, they would be able to produce more valuable items.


    However, every change would finally reach a qualitative change.


    If a common suspending gourd alchemist spent all of his efforts and time on producing LV 1 antidote in one year, he could only produce 300-500 vials.


    Even senior alchemists like master Suyun could not produce more than 1000 vials of LV 1 antidote in one year. This explained why many senior alchemists didn''t want to produce low-level medicament¡ª¡ªthey could not gain more profits than producing advanced medicament at the cost of the same time.


    For example, if one used an advanced machine tool which could process steam-driven computer''s precision gears to process spades and iron hammers, one would not gain more profits.


    However, don''t forget the number of vials of medicament that Zhang Tie customized for the first batch!


    10,000 vials, and 100,000 more in the future!


    What did this mean? If this was the speed at which Zhang Tie produced the all-purpose medicament, even though merely taking these all-purpose medicaments as a LV 1 antidote, Zhang Tie had already been more efficient than hundreds of suspending-gourd alchemists at producing a LV 1 antidote by working overtime.


    Although LV 1 antidote was not expensive, it was also a very significant strategical material like crystal, wheat flour, steel & iron and one of the necessary battle materials that were required by a human army.


    In the past half a year, with the gradually intense situation in the Waii Sub-continent, the marketing prices of various medicaments including LV 1 antidote, especially some fundamental strategical materials had grown at least 50%. Many powers had already enlarged and accelerated the storage of "materials for the winter"


    Let alone Huaiyuan Palace, even the entire Jinyun Country had enlarged the purchase of various strategical materials; however, the total quantity of the vials of LV 1 antidote that Jinyun Country stored might not even surpass 100,000.


    When the information analyst caught sight of the last one of the three messages concerning Zhang Tie, he almost couldn''t believe his own eyes. How could someone need so many vials of medicaments? After a confirmation, his face instantly changed as he stood up at once and rushed into the director''s office.


    Only after two minutes, the director of the Information Center had hurriedly left his office.


    Without heading for other managers of the business group, the director directly ascended to floor 99 of the skyscraper using the elevator at the fastest speed and entered the director-on-duty''s office.


    ...


    "You mean that juvenile called Zhang Tie in the Breaking-Heavens Department probably have known how to produce all-purpose medicaments in a large scale?"


    In the office of almost 1000 sq meters, a 50-odd-year-old white man seriously asked him with his eyes fixed on the director of the Information Center in an extremely majestic manner.


    "That''s it. According to the first message that the manager of the Long Wind Pearl on the Hidden Dragon Island sent, Zhang Tie generously gifted at least 10 kg to the yakshas in the sea and the other staff in the Pearl Field, which was equal to over 100 vials of that medicament. If he could not produce it so easily, how could he gift so much at once?"


    "What else?"


    "Before that medicament was verified as an all-purpose medicament, Zhang Tie took this thing as a drinking that he drunk a great amount of such a medicament over a long period of time. Judging from the situations and so many vials of medicament that Zhang Tie ordered this time, we could ensure that Zhang Tie had probably mastered the method to produce this medicament on a large scale!"


    Standing in front of that man''s desk, the director of the Information Center slightly bent over and answered respectfully.


    The 50-odd-year-old man then narrowed his eyes as he tapped the intelligence on the desk slightly while fixing his eyes on the testing data on Zhang Tie''s all-purpose medicament made by master Suyun. He started to be serious.


    "Large-scale..." The on-duty director of Long Wind Business Group mumbled slightly as a shred light flashed across his eyes.


    Large-scale steel & iron manufacturing capability...large-scale grains production capability...large-scale army...large-scale funds...large-scale massacre...large-scale population...even large-scale ants¡ª¡ªAny thing, once being connected with "large-scale" would form a threatening force.


    At this moment, what was behind "large-scale" was a medicament above LV 1¡ª¡ªlarge-scale all-purpose medicament production...


    "It seems that I have to go to the Hidden Dragon Island tomorrow!" The director of Long Wind Business Group replied calmly, "For so many vials of medicaments that Zhang Tie ordered, the business group had to keep secret. Nobody is allowed to look up the intelligence concerning this without the consent of the director of the Business Group!"


    "Yes, sir!" After the reply, the director of the Information Center remembered something, "Hidden Dragon Island has already sent the news that Zhang Tie registers his exclusive symbol and orders 10,000 vials of the medicament for the first batch to the Alchemists Association of Jinyun Country!"


    Hearing this, the director of Long Wind Business Group faintly frowned his forehead...


    ...


    At the same time, two people were talking icily and simply in a gloomy basement.


    "Someone on the Hidden Dragon Island of Huaiyuan Palace''s Zhang clan suddenly orders 10,000 vials of medicament with uniformed symbol!"


    "10,000 vials? Do we know him?"


    "We don''t, a new symbol is used on the vials¡ª¡ªManjusaka!"


    "Go check!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    ...

 320 Enlightenmen

    Chapter 320: Enlightenment


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that the director of Long Wind Business Group intended to see him. Therefore, on the second day, Zhang Tie still did as usual. In the early morning, after breakfast, Zhang Tie had already arrived at the training field and started practicing fundamental movements.


    Zhang Tie had been able to walk on the quincuncial piles as steadily as walking on the ground. He had been familiar with fundamental movements so well. Even if competing with his senior sisters on agility and speed, Zhang Tie could also easily stand several minutes.


    After applying the five fundamental movements like bow step, sliding step, bumping step and the quick short step of Iron-Blood Fist into the movements on quincuncial piles, Zhang Tie felt that he had gained a new insight into the Iron-Blood Fist.


    The five fundamental movements on the 30 positions of quincuncial piles could provide Zhang Tie with 150 kinds of movements. Being accompanied by the 36 styles of freehand movements of Iron-Blood Fist, Zhang Tie could apply 5400 fighting movements. This brought Zhang Tie a cool, limitless feeling like a bird flying into the sky after breaking out of its shell.


    The daily training was not simply on fundamental movements, but on further improving his Iron-Blood Fist. Each move of Iron-Blood Fist was constantly absorbed by Zhang Tie and rearranged by Zhang Tie according to his own demand and will. Although being hard cultivation, Zhang Tie gradually felt free.


    This was a pure cultivation experience which could not be described in words. Not until this moment did Zhang Tie feel that Iron-Blood Fist had gradually become an integral part of his body together with his blood, flesh, veins, and bones.


    In such cultivation, especially today, Zhang Tie experienced no hardships anymore, but freedom; he could experience the vast, limitless freedom on the narrowed quincuncial piles.


    It was like how a bird flew into the sky, a fish jumped into the sea and a wild wolf rushed onto the prairie. Zhang Tie was so excited that he almost wanted to exclaim. It was his first time to experience this pleasant freedom in Iron-Blood Fist.


    By then, Zhang Tie had reached a new level; namely, each hand move or foot movement would bring him a scene in his mind. It felt so pleasant like enjoying the beautiful and unique scenery in a trip.


    The scenery would wash off his fatigue and enable him to be vigorous because he knew that there was always unique scenery waiting for him in the next.


    This morning, Zhang Tie senior sisters all arrived. After "guiding" Zhang Tie one by one for two hours, the girls all stood below the quincuncial piles and watched Zhang Tie practicing Iron-Blood Fist on the piles.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie moved regularly and slowly. He then moved faster and faster on the piles. Finally, he moved so fast that in a blink of an eye, he had already moved 6 steps on the piles. Accompanied by each step, Zhang Tie applied a different move of Iron-Blood Fist. the 6 quincuncial piles were like 6 Zhang Tie. Each of them was performing different moves each second.


    Along with Zhang Tie''s consistent moves were various sounds, like growls of tigers, the sound of breaking the air with a huge ax, the sound of saber and sword chopping off something. Finally, these sounds converged into one and started to reverberate in the room like dull thunder.


    The girls were all dumbfounded as their faces turned pale. At this moment, Zhang Tie had entered a strange state. Standing on the piles, he became a plum blossom. The 6 shadows of Zhang Tie on the quincuncial piles were like flowers that were in full bloom. It was beautiful in a bizarre and brisk pattern.


    The 6 hard and icy quincuncial piles came to life because of Zhang Tie.


    The girls had not even heard about this before, let alone having seen it. Although many people were cultivating fundamental movements on the quincuncial piles in the Breaking-Heavens Department, nobody had ever heard about such a strange scene when in practice.


    The girls knew or heard that some senior brothers or sisters on the Hidden Dragon Fighting Force List looked weird when they cultivated on the piles. They either moved as fast as lightning bolts or as stable as Mountain Tai; they also heard that a senior brother looked still when he moved on the piles; comparatively, the quincuncial piles under his feet seemed moving freely, which even brought people an illusion.


    However, Zhang Tie''s hand moves and foot movements on the quincuncial piles at this moment looked "alive". Zhang Tie was like a plum blossom with 6 petals which could change its shape at any time. Each second, he would present a new scene to the onlookers. To reach this effect, Zhang Tie had to move fast, stable and realize the essence of foot movements or hand moves.


    "I will have a try!" Looking at Zhang Tie''s performance, one of Zhang Tie''s senior sisters became jealous as she wanted to jump onto the piles.


    However, when she was 1 m away from the pile, the wind and qi of Zhang Tie''s movements on the piles had forced this girl to fall back onto the ground. She was even forced to move back two steps awkwardly.


    After exchanging glances with each other, the other girls jumped up at the same time as they all wanted to try Zhang Tie''s fighting force; however, like 6 Zhang Tie on the piles, each girl was forced back by the wind and qi of Zhang Tie''s punches.


    One girl felt envious of him. When she punched against the wind and qi of Zhang Tie''s punches, she instantly felt that the power of the opponent surged 10 more times; as a result, with a sound of "bang", she was blown 3 m away, raising the girls'' exclamations.


    The girl blown off by Zhang Tie''s qi was Gu Caidie. Being unable to exert strength in the air, she shifted into a colorful butterfly and elegantly made some nice backward rolls in the air. By touching the wall of the training room slightly, she had steadily fallen onto the ground.


    Although she had landed stably, her face turned faintly pale. Right now, with the collision, Gu Caidie''s qi and blood started to roll up faintly. Not until gasping heavily several times did she recovered composure.


    "Caidie, are you okay?" Some girls immediately surrounded her.


    "I''m okay!" Gu Caidie slightly shook her head.


    "Zhang Tie, you are too excessive, how could you do that?"


    Gu Caidie became faintly perplexed as she looked at Zhang Tie on the quincuncial piles in the far, "He didn''t mean it. Right now, I found he was closing his eyes. He was counterattacking me in terms of qi. I feel that Zhang Tie is...is immersed in a special condition...he seems...seems to have become enlightened."


    "What?" The other girls became startled at the same time. Enlightenment could not be encountered easily. Some cultivators might experience it once or twice by chance in their whole lives while others might not even experience it once.


    The alleged enlightenment referred to a break-through in mental state after a deep and sudden realization of some advanced fighting skills and battle qis. If the influence of the higher levels and daily cultivation on advanced fighting skills and battle qis were taken as quantitative change, enlightenment was a qualitative change. The first was similar to slowly erecting ladders against the wall in the courtyard or boring a hole on the wall to borrow light from the neighbor while the latter was similar to directly pushing open the door and passing through the hall into the inner chamber.


    "This girl is right. That boy is being enlightened!" Nobody knew that a 50-odd-year-old white, graceful man had stood among them.


    Although Gu Caidie and the other girls didn''t know who he was, they were familiar with the girl beside him. She was the idol of all the girls in Hidden Dragon Palace, Lan Yunxi, who had ranked top in the Hidden Dragon Fighting Force List and the Hidden Dragon Clan Contribution List.


    "Argh, senior sister Xi!" At the sight of Lan Yunxi, the other girls hurriedly bowed to her.


    "Take it easy, junior sisters." Lan Yunxi greeted them with a smile as she stared at a douchebag who was being enlightened on the quincuncial piles.


    Thinking of what the asshole did to her last night, Lan Yunxi gritted her teeth became furious.


    "Occupy the shortcut towards your heart"¡ª¡ªLan Yunxi finally knew the origin of this sentence these days. It was a female scholar before the Catastrophe, which meant that "The shortcut towards woman''s heart is her vagina". She had not imagined that some b*stard applied this line onto her. The moment Lan Yunxi thought about this, she would feel a fever on her face and grit teeth out of fury.


    Lan Yunxi had imagined many scenes on the third encounter with Zhang Tie; however, she had not thought that could come so abruptly. She had not imagined that her 4th uncle could come to Hidden Dragon Palace so suddenly. After encountering her 4th uncle and chatting with him for a short while, her 4th uncle had requested to see Zhang Tie; therefore, she brought him here.


    As she had to be polite to her 4th uncle and didn''t want to reveal the "special thing" between her and Zhang Tie, Lan Yunxi had to grit her teeth and led him here.


    Out of her imagination, that b*stard was undergoing enlightenment at this moment...

 321 One Movement, One Scenery

    Chapter 321: One Movement, One Scenery


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    Not knowing how long he had practised on the quincuncial piles, after being immersed in that bizarre situation, Zhang Tie felt pleased as he opened his eyes. He then knew that a great amount of people in the training room were watching him.


    Among them, besides his senior sisters who guided him in the morning and some men who he didn''t know, he caught sight of Lan Yunxi.


    The moment he saw her, Zhang Tie seemed to notice a halo on her as the entire world became alive. In a split second, the empty land in his memory was fulfilled once again. Only after 1 days since he left Lan Yunxi, Lan Yunxi''s image had been obscure in his mind again. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt that he had not seen her for several years.


    With eyes fixed on Zhang Tie, nobody uttered, especially Zhang Tie''s martial sisters. They looked like they had seen a ghost. Even Lan Yunxi''s eyes became a bit surprised.


    "What a mighty Iron-Blood Fist..." One of those strange men let out a long sigh with a smile on his face.


    ''Mighty?'' glancing over the metal hydraulic columns which fell down like daisies being destroyed by heavy wind, Zhang Tie also became shocked. At the last moment when he was immersed in that situation just now, Zhang Tie even felt that those quincuncial piles under his feet became surplus. They were just like broken stones on the road. He just kicked them away casually and broke them into pieces. When he "woke up", he found that he was already standing on the ground.


    Each of the metal hydraulic columns being connected to the power equipment in the room weighed a few tons. Although they were not completely solid, they were as firm as robust trees. Those metal hydraulic columns twisted and lay down around Zhang Tie in radial patterns, forming a weird scene. As a result, the oil in the broken metal hydraulic columns slowly flowed over the ground.


    Zhang Tie lowered his head and found that some liquid almost reached his feet; he hurriedly jumped away.


    "Zhang Tie, what happened to you just now? Caidie said you found some insights. What have you got?" Ma Aiyun was straightforward. Seeing Zhang Tie walking over there, she opened her mouth first.


    "I don''t know..." said Zhang Tie, scratching his head. Zhang Tie became a bit bashful. Just now, he truly had realized something; however, it was pure subjective experience which could not be described. That was why it could not be easily realized.


    "You don''t know?" Widening her eyes, Ma Aiyun added, "How come?"


    "I really don''t know how to describe it. I only felt something pour out of my inner heart. This brought me a strange experience. I don''t know what I''ve realized!"


    "What experience?" Gu Caidie asked out of curiosity. Some girls who guided Zhang Tie had not received any experience on finding the insight at all. Therefore, they all wondered what Zhang Tie had experienced.


    Not only them, even those beside him were watching Zhang Tie full of curiosity, including Lan Yunxi. Such a sharing on finding the insight and experience would be beneficial to everyone''s cultivation. Even though they could not realize like Zhang Tie, at least they could understand how such insight would change a person and provide a rare, beneficial experience and reference to their cultivation.


    "How to say..." Zhang Tie tried to recall that feeling. Noticing that even Lan Yunxi was interested in this, Zhang Tie thought for awhile before he tried to put it in a clearer way.


    "No need to put your focus on using adjectives, simply tell us about your true feeling!" That man who said just now uttered again.


    Zhang Tie glanced at that man and found he looked a bit similar to Lan Yunxi; he then immediately assumed the status of that man. He should at least be Lan Yunxi''s relative or elder, instead of her dad.


    ''Zhang Taixuan¡ª¡ª the Count Long Wind, Lan Yunxi''s dad was the head of Zhang clan. He was so powerful and busy everyday, he would never waste time to talk with him. Even if he wanted to marry her daughter to Zhang Tie, he didn''t need to be that hurried. Although he was not Zhang Taixuan, this man looked so majestic and gentle which reminded Zhang Tie that he was definitely not an average person.


    ''No crap, Lan Yunxi''s dad and mom are all great figures with powerful family background, how could her relative and elder be average.'' Zhang Tie swore him inside. Seeing the man treating him pretty kindly, Zhang Tie also nodded at him with a friend smile.


    This man''s words truly reminded Zhang Tie that language and vocabulary were not important; what was important was the true insight and feeling. After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie had already understood that feeling.


    "At the beginning, I felt something coming out of my heart. It seemed to be an incessant force which kept pouring out like a spring. Yes, like a spring. I felt that I became a spring myself. The spring gradually converged into a pond. The the spring flowed out of the pond and started to naturally flow among mountains. It then turned into a stream, which felt so jubilant among mountains. Not only this, I even felt pretty free. I enjoyed the scenery that I passed by. The scenery kept changing at all time, which was really impressive!"


    "You say you became a spring and a stream when you practised on quincuncial piles? you felt jubilant while flowing down the mountain and enjoying scenery on the way? What the hell is that?'' Those girls didn''t understand this insight, which made them admirable.


    Although those girls didn''t understand, the 50 year-old man beside Lan Yunxi knew it as a wisp of amazement flashed across his eyes, "If that''s true, it must be the ''one movement, one scenery'' level!"


    ''One movement, one scenery?'' Zhang Tie recalled and found that was similar to his experience. By the end, he felt like enjoying different scenery with each movement.


    "Martial sister Xi, could you introduce this..." Zhang Tie looked at Lan Yunxi as he asked.


    When Zhang Tie turned towards her, Lan Yunxi''s heart truly raced. Based on Zhang Tie''s character, if he called her "Yunxi" in a shameless way, she didn''t even know how to explain to the 4th uncle. When she saw Zhang Tie behaving that politely, she swore him ''b*stard'' inside. She could even feel that Zhang Tie was making grimace towards her inside.


    "This is my 4th uncle. He''s coming for you today!" After slightly recovering composure, Lan Yunxi made a brief introduction.


    "Let''s talk about it outside. It smells bad here!" Zhang Tie looked at Lan Yunxi''s 4th uncle. The odor of the hydraulic oil started to gradually volatilize, which made people uncomfortable.


    They then left the training room together.


    Knowing that Zhang Tie would leave, Ma Aiyun and the other girls could only bid farewell to Zhang Tie.


    "Senior sisters, please wait a minute, thanks for your guidance to me these days. I feel that I could pass the test on fundamental movements. Please accept it now!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    "Are you ready to attend the test now?" When Gu Caidie asked, all the others who were walking out of the training field stopped.


    Without saying anything, Zhang Tie directly rushed to the front of the 100-m test passage. He instantly jumped onto the quincuncial piles which were extending and shrinking and started to jump on them rapidly.


    Right then, there were still many people who were trying to pass the 100-m long passage of quincuncial piles which were constantly changing. In every second, someone would be shot down from the top of the piles into the water pool.


    The moment Zhang Tie stood on a quincuncial pile, a high-pressure water column had shot towards him. Zhang Tie smiled and leisurely walked one step aside to evade it.


    When Zhang Tie first saw this test passage on fundamental movements, Zhang Tie felt that this test was too hard; however, at this moment, the passage was like a plain road for him while each point on the top of each quincuncial pile was a geometrical plane which could be extended without any limit.


    Point is zero-dimensional; moving point would form a line, which was one-dimensional; moving line would form a plane which was two-dimensional; moving plane would form body, which was three-dimensional; moving body would form a four-dimensional universal time, space and the world.


    When in movement, all the solid items could be extended, all the existences would be composed of multiple factors. When you split this multiple-dimensional time and space. To the final analysis, everything could be split into one "point", which was hard to understand. It could be zero, it could be empty, it could be the root of everything in the universe.


    Although this passage was still the same one, Zhang Tie changed; therefore, this passage changed in Zhang Tie''s eyes. As Zhang Tie''s heart changed, his cognition about this world also changed; this indicated a different level.


    "One movement, one scenery" was an advanced level like seeing a plain road out of thorns and a scenery out of fire, which could not be described.


    At this moment, in Zhang Tie''s eyes, the numerous quincuncial piles with different lengths had become different levels of planes which were extended in front of him.


    The road was under his feet. There were numerous roads, which connected one by another. No matter where they reached, there was always a place for Zhang Tie to stand on. He could even make a way out of no way. Everything that he saw on the way were just roadside scenery.


    In a split second, the fierce high-pressure water columns became fine drizzles in the sky with a sort of complaint...


    Including Lan Yunxi and the senior girls who were guiding Zhang Tie, their eyes all radiated gleaming light...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was like a poet. In a white suit, Zhang Tie wandered in a long alley. He held an umbrella in the fine drizzle and seemed wanting to encounter a lady with lilac fragrance...


    The other guys who were gritting their teeth on the test passage were like laborers in the mud. Compared to Zhang Tie who was like a prince, they were like paupers.


    After reading the end of the passage, Zhang Tie raised his eyebrows and revealed his teeth with a sexy smile...


    Zhang Tie''s nice image in the girls'' minds broke apart at once.


    ''Peh, still a rogue!'' Lan Yunxi swore at him inside...

 322 To be a Castle Lord

    Chapter 322: To be a Castle Lord


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    After leaving the training field, Zhang Tie felt pretty good. Knowing that he had something to deal with, Gu Caidie and the other martial girls bade farewell to Zhang Tie before they left too.


    Zhang Tie''s performance in the test passage had justified that he could pass the test on fundamental movements successfully. Zhang Tie didn''t need to come here in the future.


    According to Ma Aiyun and the other martial girls, the course of fundamental movements was the most difficult one among all the compulsory courses. Most of the people in Breaking-Heavens Department had passed the test on fundamental movements in half a year to 1 year. They had not expected that Zhang Tie could pass it in just a bit over 2 months. Although this was not the fastest, it could only be achieved by a minority of people in the Breaking-Heavens Department.


    "Who''s the fastest one to pass the test on fundamental movements?" Zhang Tie asked Ma Aiyun while the latter looked at Lan Yunxi with a smile. Zhang Tie then understood.


    Outside the training field, they separated from each other.


    "Martial sisters, your vials of medicament will arrive in 1 week. Don''t forget to come for me by then!"


    "We might not get enough money by then!" Gu Caidie explained, "We might not take too much from you at the beginning".


    In Breaking-Heavens Department, as each one had to submit 30 gold coins as the monthly fee, most of the girls could not save much; therefore, although they intended to do this business, they felt bashful about that.


    "No problem, you can take away the medicament first and sell them before paying me back!" Zhang Tie put it generously.


    "That''s great!"


    "You can take 200 vials of medicament first. If you can not sell all of them, you can return them back to me. Just have a try. If this works, we can stick to this way in the future; if not, just take it as a joke!"


    Gu Caiyun then exchanged glances with the other girls as they were all moved by Zhang Tie''s words. They knew that although Zhang Tie was careless and shameless sometimes, he was very considerate. Now that Zhang Tie had presented such a condition for them, he had obviously considered their situation quite well. He almost pushed a great opportunity in front of them.


    The girls were very reserved. They were not good at expressing their own emotions, especially when there were strangers present. After deeply gazing at Zhang Tie with a thank-you, the girls then left.


    Lan Yunxi''s 4th uncle didn''t talk. Seeing that Zhang Tie had sold 200 vials of medicament in such a short while, he realized that Zhang Tie had truly mastered the method of producing large-scale all-purpose medicaments.


    After the girls left, Lan Yunxi''s 4th uncle put it straightforwardly to Zhang Tie about his status and his purpose.


    Zhang Taibai¡ªLan Yunxi''s 4th uncle, a younger brother of Zhang Taixuan, the Count Long Wind, a director of Long Wind Business Group, such a status really shocked Zhang Tie.


    "You mean Long Wind Business Group wants to cooperate with me?" Zhang Tie glanced at this 50 year-old man who looked noble and privileged. It was really out of his imagination that all-purpose medicament could attract the attention of such a great organization.


    "Hmm, as all-purpose medicament has many applications. If you could realize mass production, we can cooperate. But if you could only produce a few, I''m afraid that you would not meet the demands of Long Wind Business Group!" Zhang Taibai smiled.


    Of course, Zhang Tie knew this. For such a great organization, whose clients were great powers and countries, even thousands or tens of thousands of vials of all-purpose medicament definitely could not meet its basic demands. A business of only tens of thousands of gold coins was not worth the travel of a director of Long Wind Business Group at all.


    "Wuh? If I can realize mass production, I wonder how Long Wind Business Group will cooperate with me?" When talking, they wandered around the Breaking-Heavens Department, where it was tranquil and full of warbles and the fragrance of flowers, which made the atmosphere most suitable.


    While Zhang Taibai headed with Lan Yunxi and Zhang Tie, his bodyguards were following them at a distance.


    Feeling Zhang Tie''s eyes glancing over her stealthily, Lan Yunxi had to pretend that nothing had happened, as she didn''t want her 4th uncle to know about that "special" thing between her and Zhang Tie.


    "I heard you are using a secret recipe to produce the all-purpose medicament? If you wish, the Long Wind Business Group is prepared to purchase your secret recipe!" Zhang Taibai put it straightly, "The price won''t disappoint you!"


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile. If it was before, he would definitely have been moved by this proposal. Previously, he only wanted to get essential-energy reiki yeast, which had reproductive ability. However, after knowing the value of the all-purpose medicament, of course, he would never do such a stupid thing by killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.


    "I don''t intent to sell the secret recipe!" Zhang Tie took it seriously as he didn''t make any compromise to Zhang Taibai''s status and the relationship between Zhang Taibai and Lan Yunxi.


    This time, Zhang Tie''s shred and crisp attitude caught Lan Yunxi''s attention, who stared at him with amazement, ''This guy is decisive when he''s not being shameless.'' Lan Yunxi mumbled inside.


    "No more consideration?" Zhang Tie''s direct attitude shocked Zhang Taibai a bit. Zhang Tie had refused him even without asking the price. ''This answer indicates that he either doesn''t like money or has a trump card.'' Zhang Taibai thought for a second. However, considering Zhang Tie''s age and his behavior in the Breaking-Heavens Department recently, it would never be the first reason.


    "How about taking a look at the place where I produce the all-purpose medicament?" Zhang Tie didn''t answer Zhang Taibai''s question directly. Instead, he proposed a suggestion which Zhang Taibai would never refuse. Zhang Taibai''s main purpose was to figure out Zhang Tie''s ability to produce all-purpose medicament. If Zhang Tie was really capable of mass-production of all-purpose medicament, Zhang Tie''s value had to be appraised once again.


    Lan Yunxi was also curious about where Zhang Tie produced the all-purpose medicament, so she didn''t refuse this proposal either.


    They soon arrived at the Poria Cocos Park.


    When the girls were here, they didn''t know Zhang Tie was producing all-purpose medicament here. Therefore, strictly, it was Zhang Tie''s first time guiding people to visit his "plant" for producing all-purpose medicament.


    Previously Zhang Taibai and Lan Yunxi thought that Zhang Tie would guide them to the lab. It was really beyond their imagination that Zhang Tie would guide them to a warehouse in the Poria Cocos Park.


    Because it was daytime, with light casting through ground glass and metal protective nets in the windows on one side of the warehouse, the entire warehouse felt clean and refreshing.


    At the beginning, Zhang Taibai and Lan Yunxi didn''t connect the 100 huge, tidily arranged terrines with Zhang Tie''s all-purpose medicament. However, they looked around and saw nothing else but those terrines. Then they became startled.


    Is that all-purpose medicament in these terrines? Not only Lan Yunxi, even Zhang Taibai was stunned. Even Zhang Taibai had not seen such a shocking scene before.


    "Is...the all-purpose medicament in these terrines?" After realizing that, Zhang Taibai asked Zhang Tie, still full of doubts.


    "Hmm, not now, you have to wait 2 months longer!" said Zhang Tie calmly, revealing a smile.


    Zhang Taibai took a deep breath as he stared at Zhang Tie with gleaming eyes. He looked so serious. "Can I have a look?"


    "As you will!"


    Zhang Taibai then casually walked in front of a huge terrine and opened its lid. In a split second, a refreshing fragrance had drifted throughout the warehouse. The moment he smelt it, he became spirited. Although the super enzyme had not been fermented well, it had already started to give off its unique fragrance.


    After observing the solution in one terrine, Zhang Taibai moved to another and started to check inside seriously once again.


    Noticing that Zhang Taibai had been attracted by those terrines, Lan Yunxi felt it unimaginable. Zhang Tie took a look around and found that there were only 3 people in the entire warehouse. Zhang Taibai''s 2 bodyguards didn''t follow them in. Instead, they were guarding outside the gate of the Poria Cocos Park. Therefore, Zhang Tie silently stretched out his hand and held Lan Yunxi''s delicate hand.


    The moment Lan Yunxi realized her hand was held by Zhang Tie, her face blushed at once. She attempted to shake off Zhang Tie''s hand stealthily, and yet she couldn''t. Therefore, she could only wait for Zhang Tie bashfully and told him by mouthing sliently¡ª"B*stard, let go of me!"


    Zhang Tie smiled pleasantly as he continued to firmly hold Lan Yunxi''s hand. Lan Yunxi''s hand was delicate, a bit icy and fragrant. Zhang Tie just did as he pleased and kept holding her hand in this way. As his beloved girl was right in front of him, if he was not even brave enough to hold her hand, how could he marry her?


    Zhang Tie was feeling pleasant too early.


    As Lan Yunxi stomped directly onto his feet.


    "Argh..." Zhang Tie shrieked, while Lan Yunxi hurriedly shook her hand out of his.


    Zhang Taibai turned round from behind the pile of terrines, "What happened?"


    They both pretended nothing had happened.


    "Argh...I just remembered suddenly that 2 terrines had been well fermented. You can have a try. This thing tastes not bad!" Zhang Tie covered that painful expression with a forced smile.


    Lan Yunxi couldn''t help but snigger. Only Zhang Tie could pick up the hint of pleasure in her smile. "Now that junior brother Zhang Tie mentions it, we will have a try then!" she said.


    "Fine, wait a minute please; I will go get some cups!" When turning round, Zhang Tie slightly gritted his teeth towards Lan Yunxi while she rolled her eyes towards him...


    Zhang Tie had soon fetched some cups. He came directly to the 2 terrines that he had filled with the well-fermented super enzyme. The moment he opened one of them, the special and refreshing fragrance in the warehouse instantly increased more than 10 times.


    Zhang Tie lifted two bamboo dippers out of the terrine and filled them into 2 big cups, each of which contained 300 to 400 millilitres. Zhang Tie got one cup for himself too.


    "Have a try, it tastes good!" Zhang Tie gave one cup to Zhang Taibai and Lan Yunxi respectively.


    Actually, Zhang Taibai and Lan Yunxi had not tasted all-purpose medicament before. With only a sniff, they both felt very comfortable. Without any hesitation, Zhang Taibai took a mouthful of it. His eyes gleamed. He then had another mouthful of it.


    "Martial sister, have a try. Super enzyme is a top beauty product. It could beautify your skin and delay aging. As you are so beautiful, you have to maintain yourself well. Your husband would like that!" Zhang Tie pretended to be serious.


    "Yunxi, have a try, it really tastes special!" Zhang Taibai also suggested.


    Lan Yunxi also knew that a filthy mouth could not utter any decent language. After glaring at Zhang Tie, she didn''t couldn''t help but have a sip. In a split second, Lan Yunxi''s furrowed eyebrows stretched out. She had not imagined that a villain like Zhang Tie could produce such a yummy enzyme. This might be the best drink that she had drunk since she was born.


    Zhang Taibai bottomed up and licked his lips. He then looked at Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then got another cup for him while reminding him, "You might be drunk if you drink too much. Take care of it!"


    "Have you been drunk?"


    "Once, but it also feels very comfortable when you''re drunk. When you wake up, you will feel fully energetic and as strong as a tiger!"


    After having another two mouthfuls of it, Zhang Taibai watched Zhang Tie seriously as he sighed, "I finally know why you would not transfer the secret knowledge. Because nobody would see a gold mine for only a few gold coins. How much all-purpose medicament do you have in the warehouse?"


    "About 11-12 tons!" Zhang Tie seriously answered, "They could be filled into more than 110,000 vials of all-purpose medicament!"


    "Do you know their value?"


    "Previously I didn''t know, but now I know a bit!" Zhang Tie smiled as he pointed at those terrines and said in a calm way, "2 months later, their market price would vary from 600,000 to 1 million gold coins!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, even Lan Yunxi couldn''t stand but glance at Zhang Tie. Born in such a great clan, of course she knew more about the value and power of gold coins. 600,000 gold coins was not a small amount of money anywhere. It could even heavily armed infantry. The status of the first place on the Hidden Dragon Wealth List was only more than 200,000 gold coins.


    "How much could you produce? Do you have difficulty in production?"


    Hearing this question, Zhang Tie, who had long prepared for this question, didn''t tell him all the truth. Actually, Zhang Tie could produce as much as possible without any obstacle. In another word, "With sufficient raw materials, namely various fruits, I could probably produce 400-600 tons. As it will consume a lot of energy and physical strength, this amount has reached my physical limit. The two terrines of all-purpose medicament were catalyzed in a special way. I only have these two well fermented..."


    "You can catalyze them as you will?"


    "Theoretically, I can catalyze a few super enzymes first, but I will never do that again as this catalysis almost drove me mad and heavily destroyed my reiki!" Zhang Tie said in a frightening way, which looked like he truly had "catalyzed" the two terrines of all-purpose medicament.


    Actually, "catalysis" is b*llshit. Even if he had Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie would not be able to shorten the fermenting time of essential-energy reiki yeast. He said this to stop this from happening again.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Taibai nodded. With the ability to produce at least 400 tons of all-purpose medicament, Zhang Tie was qualified to cooperate with Long Wind Business Group. It''s a worthwhile travel, Zhang Tie is truly able to produce all-purpose medicament on a large scale.


    "I think we can talk further about cooperation now!" Zhang Taibai smiled.


    "I''m able to produce all-purpose medicament on a large scale while Long Wind Business Group has existing channels and markets, we have both the opponent''s demands. If the conditions are suitable, I would be pleased to collaborate with Long Wind Business Group!" Zhang Tie expressed his intention in a kind way.


    "We need to confirm the quality of your mass-production of all-purpose medicament. As for the first purchase, we might not order too much, only 20,000 vials!"


    "No problem, you can get your products in 2 months. 6 gold coins per vial. You can return them once you find any problem with them!" Zhang Tie was very confident.


    "If there''s no problem with the 20,000 vials and your ability for mass-production of all-purpose medicament is verified, we will order much more in the future."


    "How much?"


    "At least 2 million vials a year!" Zhang Taibai pointed at Zhang Tie''s warehouse, "This site is too small and could not meet the demands of Long Wind Business Group! On the premise of maintaining the quality of all-purpose medicament, we hope that your manufacturing scale could be expanded. Considering its multiple effects, in the end, the market demand of this medicament would be an astronomical figure. Therefore, we need to prepare for mass production in advance!"


    Zhang Tie smiled, "Why not build a base for producing all-purpose medicament on the Hidden Dragon Island?"


    "Okay, the production base will be prepared by the Long Wind Business Group. It will be built on the Hidden Dragon Island. We will cooperate on the mass production. Long Wind Business Group will be responsible for selling the medicament, but we need to have shares!" Zhang Taibai''s eyes radiated shrewd light.


    "I will build the production base by myself and I will not transfer the shares. Although Long Wind Business Group can be a main dealer, you are not exclusive. I can have at most 4 main dealers. But I will not provide Long Wind Business Group with less than 2 million vials of all-purpose medicament. My supply price to you will not be higher than those to other main dealers!"


    Zhang Taibai gazed at Zhang Tie with a frown. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie was that shrewd. He was not like a 16 to 17 year-old teenager at all. Instead, he was more like an experienced businessman, who cared too much on key problems and reacted so fast.


    After thinking for a while, Zhang Taibai said, "A safe and highly efficient production base requires much money. Now that we''ve determined to cooperate with each other, we need to build the production base right now. Otherwise, the supply would not catch up and would cause the loss of so many opportunities!"


    "Right, you can loan me the money. I will take the payment of medicament as the mortgage. I will use your loan and entrust you to build the production base for me. But I have the right of say, that''s my medicament!" Zhang Tie pretended to be very serious. Compared to the Long Wind Business Group''s concern about the quality of the mass production of all-purpose medicament, Zhang Tie was full of confidence and felt nothing to be concerned about.


    "If you don''t like that, you can wait for a while; when I sell out this batch of products, I will have money to build the production base myself. But it will take me several more months! We can talk about the cooperation by then. Given the reputation of Long Wind Business Group, the conditions that we have reached will remain unchanged!"


    "You really don''t want to transfer the shares of the production base?"


    "Will Huaiyuan Palace transfer its shares of the plant where they produce crossbows and rune equipment?" Hearing this, Zhang Tie refuted at once.


    ''How could an emperor allow his opponents to sleep beside him?[1]'' Zhang Tie would definitely master the full right of mass production of all-purpose medicament. Nobody else was allowed to interrupt. He didn''t want to listen to others'' orders on distributing medicament. Especially for powerful cooperators like Long Wind Business Group, if they were responsible for the production and sale of all-purpose medicament, he would lose his real control over it! If Donder knew that Zhang Tie was satisfied with only a few gold coins by being a senior employee of others when he could produce all-purpose medicament by himself, he would definitely jump from the ground and slap him sharply. In terms of tactics, he definitely could not defeat Long Wind Business Group. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t spare any chances for them at the beginning.


    Although stockpiling goods before sale was not a shrewd pattern, it worked at least for rare commodities!


    Zhang Taibai watched Zhang Tie expressionlessly while Zhang Tie looked straight into his eyes without any cowardice. They then stared at each other for half a minute in the warehouse in this way. Zhang Taibai''s qi became stronger. Even Lan Yunxi on the side could feel the repressive, intense atmosphere in the warehouse. Zhang Tie''s performance at this moment was totally different than how he was in Lan Yunxi''s eyes before. Comparing Zhang Tie''s shrewd, experienced and powerful look in front of her 4th uncle to the shameless guy in front of her, Lan Yunxi felt a strange feeling surging her heart.


    "All-purpose medicament is a gold mine. Too many people would have a peep inside. Without the help of Long Wind Business Group, are you sure you can maintain the gold mine?" Zhang Taibai asked calmly after a long while.


    "Right now because of this, for the sake of Huaiyuan Palace''s Zhang clan and the long-term cooperation between us, I don''t agree with Long Wind Business Group having its shares! I don''t like suffering a loss or letting others interfere with my personal affairs!"


    Zhang Taibai understood Zhang Tie''s words at once. He then considered, ''The outcome that Zhang Tie is concerned about might also happen. The more profitable the business is, the more dangerous it would be. Zhang clan is an interesting community, under which, each one has his or her own pursuit for interest.''


    "Besides me and my children, I swear that nobody else would be able to master the secret knowledge of all-purpose medicament in this world!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s second sentence, Zhang Taibai fixed his eyes on Zhang Tie for over 10 seconds. Zhang Taibai then suddenly smiled, "Now that you are sticking to it, as you will, you will be responsible for the production base. I will have someone here to talk about the details on the cooperation. Are you selling this?"


    "Yes!"


    "That''s fine!" Zhang Taibai nodded as he suddenly shouted loudly, "Ada!"


    A bodyguard of Zhang Taibai suddenly appeared at the gate of the warehouse like a spirit. Zhang Taibai pointed at that huge terrine which Zhang Tie had opened and ordered, "Take it away!" That person walked over and instantly grabbed away the huge 100 kilogram terrine.


    Zhang Tie was stunned, "What...what are you doing?"


    Zhang Taibai looked at Zhang Tie in a dignified way as he put his hand onto Zhang Tie''s shoulder, "You told me you were selling this, no kidding in business."


    "But..."


    "But what..."Zhang Taibai pulled out a gold ticket and patted it onto Zhang Tie''s hand, "I bought this terrine!" After saying that, before Zhang Tie made any response, he told his bodyguard, "Ada, hurry up, carry it onto the airship..."


    Hearing his words, Ada disappeared from the warehouse like a spirit once again, of course, together with that huge 100 kilogram terrine.


    Watching that gold ticket of 20,000 gold coins, Zhang Tie felt like crying as he had not imagined that Lan Yunxi''s 4th uncle could play this trick. But his generosity really shocked Zhang Tie as he spent 20,000 gold coins simply like how Zhang Tie spent 2 gold coins. He didn''t even blink his eyes by doing that. ''F*ck, it''s 20,000 gold coins, 20,000 gold coins...Argh''


    ...


    Rich big figures all seemed to be very busy all day. After leaving Zhang Tie''s Poria Cocos Park, Zhang Taibai left by his airship. The moment Zhang Taibai''s airship left, Lan Yunxi didn''t dare to stay 1 more second in front of a lecherous guy like Zhang Tie. Without even sparing Zhang Tie a chance to utter a word, she immediately jumped onto the treetop and disappeared from Zhang Tie''s vision in the blink of an eye.


    Seeing off Lan Yunxi''s shadow, Zhang Tie became so depressed.


    Long Wind Business Group''s work efficiency was seen in the same afternoon. Only several hours after Zhang Taibai left, Long Wind Business Group had assigned a team to build the production base on the Hidden Dragon Island.


    When the director of the team spread out a number of building maps for the production base in front of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie became dumbfounded as those maps were castle''s blue prints which had powerful defense abilities...


    ''I''m going to be a castle lord?'' Now Zhang Tie became hyper...


    [1] AD. 960, Zhao Kuangyin, the first emperor of Song Dynasty applied special tactics to destroy Jingzhou, Hunan, Houshu (Chengdu today) respectively. AD. 974, he summoned Li Yu, the last emperor of South Tang Dynasty to Bianjing (Kaifeng city, Henan Province today). Li Yu was concerned that he would be detained there; therefore, he dispatched Xu Xuan there to sue for peace. The first emperor of Song Dynasty put it straight, "How could I allow my opponent sleep well on my bed?" From then on, this allusion was used to express that one''s sphere of influence or interests should not be violated by others.

 323 Construction

    Chapter 323: Construction


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    The largest difference between Chinese castles and western castles was that western castle buildings usually had spires, while Chinese castles were always featured with flank-corner towers with extended lofty and heavy eaves.


    Of course, in this age, Chinese castles were built with the same architectural materials and armed defense functions. The whole castle was composed of an exterior wall, barbican, battlements, bartizans, entrenchments, suspension bridges and steam-driven power units.


    The entire castle occupied over 30,000 square meters, which included the predominant building of over 10,000 square meters and an airship port of over 20,000 square meters. The building location of the castle was at the foot of the Yunju Mountain, which neighbored the White Dragon Town. The whole castle required 460,000 gold coins which would be loaned to Zhang Tie by the bank affiliated to Long Wind Business Group. Zhang Tie entrusted the professional construction team of Long Wind Business Group to build it.


    Zhang Tie needed to discuss the fundamental functions of the castle with the professional building team and posed his own requirements and opinions on this castle. Thus, the professional team chose 3 locations for Zhang Tie, and he then chose Yunju Mountain as the last location.


    Additionally, he signed 2 official agreements with Long Wind Business Group. One was the Loan Agreement, while the other was the Commissioned Construction Agreement on the Castle. After they signed the 2 agreements, on the same afternoon, the construction team of over 600 people had already arrived at the Yunju Mountain on the Hidden Dragon Island by a huge airship and were quartered there where they started the survey work with a great amount of construction instruments.


    By the way, not until then did Zhang Tie know that not everybody had the right to construct buildings on the Hidden Dragon Island. Besides the permanent residents on the island, who could apply to build houses and some facilities in the towns, only the clan students of Hidden Dragon Palace were allowed to buy land and construct buildings. That was how the Hidden Dragon Island developed.


    The land of over 200,000 square meters on the Yunju Mountain costed Zhang Tie more than 18000 gold coins, which was really expensive. In other places he could have even bought several hundreds of thousands of square meters of mountain forest and land, or even some mountains as a whole with this amount of money.


    In this age, much land outside the city walls was not valuable, especially in some underdeveloped regions. Take Blackhot City as an example, so many black regions on the map surrounding the Blackhot City had no owners. Anyone, if powerful, could build a castle over there, even a city if they wanted.


    However, at this moment, Zhang Tie was immersing himself in the pleasure of having his own castle. Therefore he didn''t care about the land price at all. Additionally, recently whenever Zhang Tie thought that he could have a castle of his own, he would become delusional and feel that everything in front of him was not real.


    Zhang Tie had never imagined that the inconspicuous essential-energy reiki yeast could change his life so greatly. Thinking of the little earthworms, golden uangs and those cheapest sand-scale fish, Zhang Tie was instantly filled with awe about mother nature and its creator.


    In this world, nothing was trivial and worthless. This was what enlightened Zhang Tie these days. With this enlightenment, Zhang Tie now wondered how even a humble yeast or earthworm had a special ability to change the world. What special abilities were human beings, the wisest of all creatures, granted by the creator?


    Zhang Tie wondered whether each person had a super ability, which they were born with. For instance, earthworms were born with super great vitality and anti-toxic ability, golden uangs were born to be able to carry substances which were thousands of times heavier than their own weight, while essential-energy reiki yeasts were born to be able to complete the fermentation of super enzymes. Nobody taught them how to do that, but they knew how. They were their instincts.


    Were human beings born to have some special ability or instinct, which could change the world? Was this instinct a unique symbol of a person who was born to be able to use it like taking breaths, and did that make human beings above the other creatures?


    ''People are always more advanced than small creatures like earthworms, golden uangs and yeasts,'' Zhang Tie speculated. Zhang Tie thought that if people didn''t have such a special ability, this didn''t conform with the universal law. Of course, great creatures should be matched with super talents.


    What if people were granted with this ability? Why had he not heard about it? In this age, even in the age before the Catastrophe, most people learned talents from schools and other places. Nobody had performed any super talent which they were born with. What was the reason for this? Is it that human beings are the exceptions of the universal law or had they forgotten that they had such special talents?''


    Zhang Tie had a great imagination and curiosity, but he didn''t like to get into a dead end. Although he could not get the answer now, Zhang Tie didn''t prepare to make blind and disorderly conjectures all day long. Instead, he just buried it in his mind like a bookmark with a question mark ¡ª¡ªwere human beings born with super talents in a book which was put back into the bookcase?


    Zhang Tie found that his castle was gradually appearing on the Yunju Mountain at a rapid speed with the efforts of a great number of architectural experts.


    On the 3rd day since the construction team arrived at the Yunju Mountain, under the booming sounds of a great number of locomobiles, the land of a simple airship port was cleared out. After that, the construction team paved 2 tracks by 2 railed cranes in different sizes. After that, a great batch of airships flew over there everyday and directly loaded off great loads of building materials.


    When the simple airship port was finished, under the same booms of locomobiles, the foundation of the castle was completed in 4 days. After that, the construction teem paved the prefabricated foundation steel components on the foundation before they poured in professional quick-drying cement concrete. Then, they started to establish the super large building blocks.


    The skeleton of the entire castle was made of standard steel components, which were constantly carried over by Long Wind Business Group''s large-scale airships. The team connected and fixed them before pouring them with quick-drying cement concrete or prefabricated bricks. As a result, the castle was growing like bamboo shoots in the spring after rain.


    Under the constant construction, the team only took 13 days to complete its capping construction.


    After completing the capping construction of its main project, a huge brown cement bulk appeared on the Yunju Mountain, which although it looked ugly, still could present the majesty of a castle.


    On June 15, after the shrine burning point was ignited, Zhang Tie completed the ignition of the 13th burning point on his spine and became a will-be LV 7 fighter. As long as a huge centipede''s soul fire was gathered, Zhang Tie would officially become an LV 7 fighter. As a result, Zhang Tie''s battle-qi totem would also turn from a hell black spider into a fiercer centipede. Additionally, his iron-blood battle qi would be further improved.


    On the same day, Zhang Tie received the notice from the Herbs Valley that his first batch of exclusive crystal vials with his own symbol had arrived.


    When Zhang Tie was noticed by a staff member of Herbs Valley, he was stopped by Yang Yuankang at the gate of the training field on fundamental swordsmanship.


    Compared to the training of fundamental movements, the training of fundamental swordsmanship was more abnormal and nobody could pass its test by chance.


    There were only 8 moves on fundamental swordsmanship, which were splitting, chopping, raising, pricking, lifting up, short-quick poking, stirring and holding-back...


    If one wanted to pass the test on fundamental swordsmanship, one had to practice each move 1 million times. Everybody was practicing on a steam-driven metal robot which could calculate how many times he had hit one point. For instance, if one pricked that robot''s eyes, throat or heart, the data on the "pricking display" would roll up to a higher number.


    Similarly, one stroke on the robot''s neck, hands and feet, and the data on the "splitting and chopping display" would change accordingly. The robot''s 4 metal arms were waving different weapons respectively at a fixed rhythm. The defense or attack of the four arms were in line with the lifting up, short-quick poking, stirring and holding-back respectively.


    There was a counter with 8 columns at the bottom of each metal robot. The minimum standard for passing the test of fundamental swordsmanship was 1 million on each column.


    This was tough training that could not be evaded without reaching the regulated striking points.


    Previously, Zhang Tie was wondering why there was only fundamental swordsmanship in the compulsory courses of Breaking-Heavens Department, instead of fundamental saber skills and fundamental spear skills. Zhang Tie finally understood why Chinese people called swordsmanship the king of weapons, because the 8 sword skills almost covered most of the basic attacking skills of other weapons. Compared to swordsmanship, saber skills were more focused on only splitting up and chopping, while spear skills were more focused on raising and pricking.


    The moment Yang Yuankang caught sight of Zhang Tie, he instantly hugged him and said, "Brother, you have to save me this time!"

 324 Sincerity

    Chapter 324: Sincerity


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    ''He''s ok two days ago, why does he ask for help today?''


    "What happened?" Zhang Tie asked nervously as he thought that Yang Yuankang might have encountered some dangers.


    "Bro, do you have more all-purpose medicament? You have to give me some more today as my happiness in the rest of life fully depends on you!" Yang Yuankang said with watery eyes.


    ''F*ck!'' Zhang Tie swore inside, ''when do I have the ability to determine whether you are happy or not? How could your happiness be related with me?''


    "I''ve already given your 100 vials two days ago and let you to control the delivery speed. You only need to sell 7-8 vials a day. How come you sell them off so fast?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    The day before yesterday, Zhang Tie supplied Yang Yuankang with 100 vials for 2 weeks'' sale. Now, after Zhang Taibai forcefully bought away a huge terrine of well-fermented all-purpose medicament, there was only one terrine of well-fermented all-purpose medicament left useful in 2 months.


    It weighed more than 100 kg, which could fill in over 1000 vials of all-purpose medicament. Besides consuming it by himself, Zhang Tie could only supply a limited amount of vials to the market, at most 20 vials a day.


    "They have been grabbed away by friends in less than 1 day! Yang Yuankang said in a bashful way, "You know, we''re all friends, I feel reluctant to refuse them. Therefore, I failed to control the sales volume. This time, you have to help me, Zhang Tie, I''ve promised to sell another 10 vials to my friend..."


    "Your friend is a woman?" Judging from Yang Yuankang''s face, Zhang Tie probably knew what happened.


    "Yes, I''ve fallen in love with her for a long time. Finally, she asked me for help, if I could not do that..."


    Zhang Tie understood it at once, "Fine, I will give you 20 more vials, don''t forget to control the sales volume this time!"


    Yang Yuankang became greatly jubilant as his face started to radiate brilliant light, "That''s my brother!"


    Right then, a staff in the Administration Center of Herbs Valley of Breaking-Heavens Department found Zhang Tie and told him that the exclusive vials had arrived and urged him to take them away from the Administration Center.


    "You''ve customized a batch of exclusive vials?" Yang Yuankang was really surprised about Zhang Tie''s work efficiency. Previously he thought that it would take Zhang Tie a period before customize his exclusive vials. It was really out of his imagination that Zhang Tie had already customized them.


    Zhang Tie nodded as he asked Yang Yuankang, "Are you free now? Accompany me to the Herbs Valley, I will get you 20 vials of all-purpose medicament!"


    "Great!" Yang Yuankang nodded immediately.


    Zhang Tie then went towards the Herbs Valley together with Yang Yuankang. On the way, he inquired Yang Yuankang about the sales situation of the all-purpose medicament.


    The popularity of all-purpose medicament was completely out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, the most obvious influence of all-purpose medicament was to replace LV 1 antidote. Its price was much cheaper than LV 1 antidote. By contrast, fewer people would like to buy LV 1 antidote at higher price.


    However, this medicament had other functions, its price was not for common consumers. For most of cultivators who came to the Hidden Dragon Island for forming battle qi or reaching a higher level, Zhang Tie''s medicament was still not cheap.


    Perhaps, someone would buy 1 or 2 vials out of curiosity, it was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that over 100 vials of medicament were sold out so fast.


    "Don''t you know that, 90% of the all-purpose medicament had been bought away by girls in the Breaking-Heavens Department. Even thought not, they were finally gifted to girls. Girls of Breaking-Heavens Department were the largest and the ultimate group of consumers!" Yang Yuankang poured out a secret that astounded Zhang Tie pretty much.


    "Girls? What those girls need so many all-purpose medicament for?" Zhang Tie asked in astonishment, "for hairdressing?"


    "Almost like that!" Saying that, Yang Yuankang also became a bit wordless, "You know that the girls of Breaking-Heavens Department need to train hard. Because of this, their hands, knees, elbows, ankles and soles coarsened. Some girls'' faces even turned darker. A few days ago, a girl found that all-purpose medicament could help their coarsened skin become more watery and smooth, like have been newly generated. It could also beautify girls'' skin. Soon after, all the other girls knew these effects. As a result, all-purpose medicament instantly became a best-seller..."


    "Using all-purpose medicament as facial mask and skin membrane?" Zhang Tie was really dumbfounded. He admired the creativity of these women so much. They could spend everything for beautifying themselves. Although he heard from Ma Aiyun about hairdressing several days ago, he thought they were drinking it; he had never thought that they could play so many tricks with the all-purpose medicament.


    "Some of them even use it to wash their hair!" Yang Yuankang added.


    "Wash hair?" Zhang Tie felt those women were really unrivaled. Even though he invented the all-purpose medicament, he had not imagined that it could have so many purposes.


    "After buying the all-purpose medicament, some female herbal medicine apprentices soaked all-purpose medicament together with some polygonum multiflorum and soapberry. After a few days, they could use the solution to wash their hair. It was said that by using the super enzyme as a shampoo, their hair became both black and bright and smelt very fragrant. Besides, the problem like dropping hair is also solved!"


    Certainly, Zhang Tie had not imagined that the all-purpose medicament could have so many effects. Zhang Tie was also shocked inside after hearing all these news. He only had tried to ferment super enzyme with various fruits; perhaps he could also try to mix something else inside, such as, some substances that had cosmetic effect like peach blossoms or roses.


    When they talked with each other, they had already arrived at the Administration Center of the Herbs Valley.


    After checking Zhang Tie''s clan identification plate, a staff in the Administration Center of Herbs Valley directly brought Zhang Tie into a warehouse of the Administration Center as he pointed at a pile of crates marked with Alchemists Association, "These are the 10,000 exclusive vials that you''ve ordered. Here is the Document on the your exclusive symbol that you''ve registered in the Alchemists Association!", the staff in the Administration Center passed another paper document folder to Zhang Tie.


    Being not too hasty to move away the vials, Zhang Tie open the paper document folder and took a serious look.


    That document was an document on the registration of exclusive symbol officially delivered by the Human Alchemists Association. With this document, from then on, Zhang Tie had become the only owner of the exclusive symbol "Manjusaka". Meanwhile, he had the right to use this exclusive symbol on his vials of medicament.


    When Zhang Tie opened that document, Yang Yuankang also drew close his head to him and watched that very delicate and mysterical symbol on the document.


    "Manjusaka?" Yang Yuankang mumbled that word under the symbol in a low voice, "Is this your exclusive symbol?"


    "Right, how do you feel?" Zhang Tie directly showed it to Yang Yuankang in a generous way.


    Yang Yuankang carefully gazed at that symbol as he revealed a big smile, "Very beautiful! How to say! It is a bit mystical!"


    Zhang Tie burst out laughter, "Let''s have a look at the vials!"


    Saying this, Zhang Tie had directly opened a crate of vials in front of him and took out of a vial from inside before took a careful look.


    These vials were totally different from the ones with no symbol before as a square exclusive symbol were carved on the middle of these vials. It was a bloody, mystical blossom, under which was the Chinese character "ÂüÊâɳ»ª", which means ''manjusaka''. With this symbol, the vials instantly reached a higher level.


    "You''re now an alchemist master!" Yang Yuankang praised, "How much is the vials that you''ve customized?"


    "26 copper coins for each vial with no symbol, 30 copper coins for each vial with exclusive symbol!"


    "Hehe, a bit more expensive than those vials with no symbol that I''ve bought before!"


    "No crap, hurry up, help me remove them!"


    "To where?"


    "Poria Cocos Park!" Saying this, Zhang Tie had lifted 2 crates of vials by each hand. Seeing this, Yang Yuankang also hurriedly followed up with some crates of vials.


    The vial was neither huge nor heavy. A crate could contain 500 vials with exclusive symbol. 20 crates for 10,000 vials of medicament. With the help of the workers in the Administration Center, they soon moved all the vials into the Poria Cocos Park.


    With the exception of these vials of medicament, Zhang Tie also ordered a small vial filling machine.


    In the Poria Cocos Park, although Yang Yuankang had long known that it was not difficult for Zhang Tie to produce all-purpose medicament, at the first sight of the almost 100 huge terrines, Yang Yuankang was still shocked for quite a while.


    With the help of the small vial filler and the help of Yang Yuankang, it took Zhang Tie less than 20 minutes to fill all the fermented super enzyme from the huge terrine into 1174 wholly new vials of all-purpose medicament in total.


    Staring at the 1000-odd vials of all-purpose medicament lying in the cases in a tidy way, Yang Yuankang forcefully swallowed his saliva and mumbled, "Am I dreaming? How could I see so many vials of all-purpose medicament in front of me!"


    Zhang Tie then took out 20 vials from them and handed them to Yang Yuankang, "These are all the vials that I could provide in 2 months, you could take 500 vials of them away at any time. As for the rest, I''ve promised to let some senior sisters to sell a part of them for me! 2 months later, I could provide you 1000 vials of all-purpose medicament months."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Yang Yuankang nodded. Although he wanted to take all the all-purpose medicament here away, he knew that it was imposible. For all-purpose medicament, Zhang Tie had his own plan. It was already very fortunate for him to be Zhang Tie''s dealer. Certainly, Zhang Tie won''t entrust him for the sale of all the all-purpose medicament on the Hidden Dragon Island as he didn''t have the ability to do that.


    "From today on, you need to watch out your safety, bro!" Yang Yuankang pointed at a vial marked with the wholly new symbol "manjusaka", "Once this thing enters the market, manjusaka would be an offical brand in the eyes of the public. Although in this way, all-purpose medicament became more expensive and more reliable, you need to know that some bad guys in the Breaking-Heavens Department or on the other places of the Hidden Dragon Island might be jealous about you!"


    "Trust me, I will pay attention to that!" Zhang Tie replied. After enlightening the "One Step, One Scenary" situation, Zhang Tie felt that he had reached a greater improvement in his real strength; besides, his Iron-Body Fist had reached a higher level. Additionally, he was now a "Will-be LV 7 fighter". If he fought Zhang Qingguo now, he was confident to beat that guy who was jumping in front of him here and there to spit out blood.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Yang Yuankang friendly urged again about his safety before jubilantly took away the 20 vials of medicament in order to gift them to some girl.


    ''What an unpromising guy! As long as you got something good, you will gift them to your woman?'' Seeing off Yang Yuankang leaving jubilantly with 20 vials of all-purpose medicament, Zhang Tie sniggerred inside.


    The moment Yang Yuankang disappeared, Zhang Tie instantly fetched a special pot-cover sized box that he had customized in a goldsmith''s shop in the White Dragon Town two days ago from the lab of the Poria Cocos Park and started to be busy in a very meticulous and excited way...


    ...


    When Lan Yunxi returned to his Phoenix-Resting Pavilion in the evening, she received the most sexy gift that she had received since she was born...


    Lan Yunxi was the only person who lived in the Phoenix-Resting Pavilion. This was the privilege the number one student in the Clan''s Donation List could enjoy. In recent decades, Lan Yunxi was the first female student that enjoyed this special treatment in the Hidden Dragon Palace. Previously, this privilege was usually enjoyed by male students.


    As the number one student on the Hidden Dragon Clan Contribution List, she could have one pavilion and 2 exclusive servants. Therefore, there were 2 servant girls arranged for her in the Phoenix-Resting Pavilion.


    "Miss, someone send a gift to you today!" The moment Lan Yunxi returned to the Phoenix-Resting Pavilion, Xiaoqing, one of his servant girl had brought her such a news.


    "Burn it!" Lan Yunxi ordered in a cold way. Since entering the Hidden Dragon Palace, she had received numerous gifts. Those guys who courted her either considered that they were talented or sent her collection of poems, paintings or music books which almost made her apathetic.


    One guy who was excelled at fighting skills yet with a simple head, gifted her a gorgeous, powerful gold-edge saber being blissed with several rune effects. There were rings on its back. The saber weighed more than 80 kg.


    The second day after she received the saber, Lan Yunxi ferociously tamped that guy with his saber, causing him pass out with full of bumps on his forehead. From then on, all the male students in the Breaking-Heavens Department knew that Lan Yunxi didn''t like others to gift her weapon. Therefore, more people tended to gift her poems and music books.


    Besides the above-mentioned guys, Lan Yunxi always saw men talking about national affairs in front of her or doing everything to please her. Some men didn''t even dare to look into her eyes.


    All the guys who talked about national affairs thought they were not like average people and they disdained to please her in those naive tricks. By comparison, those guys who would like to do everything to please Lan Yunxi all had good plans, which made Lan Yunxi directly throw off their gifts. As for those who were not even brave enough to look into her eyes, she thought they were not brave to send gifts to her either.


    "This one is special, not like the previous ones. I cannot easily burn it. Please have a look by youself, Miss!" Xiaoqing revealed a smile.


    Lan Yunxi then glanced at that gift. It was too rustic, sexy and extremely vulgar.


    On the top of the gift was a bundle of vulgar yet beautiful roses which were as large as a pot cover. Under the roses were a more vulgar gold jewelry box, which weighed more than 10 kg. Opening the box, she saw a deep blue mattress made of velvet. On the mattress were standing 99 vials of all-purpose medicament in a tidy way, which formed a heart-shaped pattern.


    On the vials were a message left to Lan Yunxi.


    Taking that notepaper, Lan Yunxi read the extremely awkward words, it was a damn b*llshit doggerel.


    All-purpose medicament is truly good, no matter men, women, old and young, they all need it.


    Beauties with it would grow prettier year by year.


    No matter how much you hate me, I will sent you my sincerity!


    The signature of the doggerel was ¡ª¡ªYou know!


    Reading this doggerel, Lan Yunxi''s face changed every now and then. She looked both happy or furious.


    "Miss, do you need me to throw these things away?" Xiaoqing observed Lan Yunxi''s face carefully as she asked in a faint voice. Although these things were valuable, Lan Yunxi could also easily throw them away if she wanted as she had even thrown away priceless night-luminous pearls without a blink of her eyes.


    "Who sent them here?"


    "A 16-17 student from Hidden Dragon Palace with a grinning face!"


    "Is it a grinning face! It''s a stealthy face!" Lan Yunxi made a cold hurrumph.


    "I will throw it away then..." Saying this, Xiaoqing pretended to throw them away.


    "Stop..." Lan Yunxi stopped Xiaoqing while saying calmly to her with a serious look, "These flowers look really good, it''s a pity to throw them off. Just keep them!"


    "Yes, Miss!" Xiaoqing revealed a wisp of smile at the corner of her mouth.


    ...


    One hour later, lying in a bathtub being covered with petals, Lan Yunxi held a vial of all-purpose medicament. Watching at the exclusive symbol, she became slightly perplexed¡ª¡ªManjusaka, how could that villain come out such a poetic, sad and beautiful name?


    Looking at her naked body in the mirror, Lan Yunxi thought of a b*stard. Not knowing why, Lan Yunxi''s cheeks gradually blushed...

 325 Being Traced

    Chapter 325: Being Traced


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    Standing on the exterior wall of the castle, Zhang Tie watched a constructor operating a railed trailer to push a huge set of steam-driven boilers from a faraway material center to the foot of the gate of castle. The rail crane slowly lifted the set of steam-driven boilers in the air.


    Safety hats on heads, some constructors of Long Wind Business Group fastened some wire cables onto the hanger plate to keep the balance of the huge machine while communicating loudly with the operators of the railed crane on the high platform.


    "Slowly, slowly, a bit left, right, a bit left, okay, keep lifting, keep lifting, right..."


    The construction site was so boisterous. Everybody was busy doing their own work. After the main project of the castle was completed, there were a lot of follow-up projects to carry out, among which, the most important was the installation and commissioning of the steam-driven power units and various defence weapons of the castle as well as the internal and external decoration and greenery of the castle.


    The contour of this castle gradually became clear, but it was really ugly. It was just a concrete lump with exposed cement and various bulky steel components which was far from good-looking.


    Liu Gong, the director of the construction team of Long Wind Business Group and a steward of Long Wind Business Group accompanied Zhang Tie to inspect the progress of the construction with safety hats on heads. Zhang Tie watched as he asked various questions.


    "Is this set of steam-driven boilers the main boiler of the castle?" Looking at that huge machine being lifted in the air by the crane as he asked.


    "Yes, this is the main power boiler of the castle. It''s output power is 9600 horsepower. Normally, this main boiler would be used to provide power to the ground-to-air weapons and 2 crossbow cannons. Being matched with it are 2 regular power boilers with slightly less output power. With 3400 horsepower as the output power of each regular power boiler, regular power boiler was mainly applied to drive some distributed-type attacking systems and small crossbows that were going to be installed on the castle!" Realizing that Zhang Tie''s question was involved with his own profession, Liu Gong replied at once.


    Zhang Tie then pointed at that highest defence bartizan in the castle and asked, "Is this main power boiler going to be installed under that bartizan?"


    "Yes, this main power boiler is going to be installed in the power room of the bartizan. The other 2 boilers would be installed here and there..." Liu Gong pointed at 2 places in the external castle and the internal castle respectively.


    When he remembered how some steam-driven boilers exploded in the past, Zhang Tie became a bit worried. In this age, besides alchemist''s bombs, the only thing that could explode would be steam-driven boilers. However, although the power of steam-driven boilers was very amazing, strictly, it should not be called an explosion. Instead, it was just the result of fast releasing, high-pressure steam energy in an extremely short period, which was different from alchemist''s bombs.


    Whereas, if the boiler truly exploded, the castle would also be heavily destroyed. Zhang Tie always kept an eye on the construction of this castle. Although he still felt unreal when he touched those icy, hard and crude concrete walls of the external castle, undoubtedly, Zhang Tie had spent a lot of time and money in building this castle.


    Besides 400,000-500,000 gold coins''s debt, there was something else that he had put on the castle.


    Because there was a word "Yun" in Lan Yunxi''s name, Zhang Tie then chose the construction site of his castle in Mount Yunju. Additionally, having their own castle was a dream for each boy when they were young; this castle would be the starting point of his undertaking in the future.


    "Will these boilers explode?" Zhang Tie asked seriously.


    "Hehe, the steam-driven boilers which would explode are old-fashioned. This castle adopts new-fashioned water pipe steam-driven boilers with relatively sophisticated structures. Its thermal efficiency and output pressure are both higher than that of average boilers. Additionally, it has automatic protection switches on water level, temperature and pressure. We can definitely reassure you about its safety and service performance!" Liu Gong patted his chest with full confidence.


    Hearing his explanation, Zhang Tie finally became reassured.


    "Now, what we need to consider is actually on the number of guardians and residents inside this castle!" Steward Ou who accompanied by Zhang Tie added, "This castle would be completed in 20 days at most. After then, we can produce all-purpose medicament here. As a result, many people would be attracted here. To support the complete defence and safety system of this castle, 70 guardians are needed in the castle on the Hidden Dragon Island at least; if on the land, the number needs to increase by one time at least due to frequent communication. I wonder about you plan?"


    Zhang Tie thought for a short while before asked in a serious voice, "I wonder about your suggestion, steward Ou?"


    "Of course, the fastest way is to directly employ armed guardians. We Long Wind Business Group could provide the employment service of armed guardians. Considering the long-term development, you can also directly employ clan warriors!"


    "Employ clan warriors!" Zhang Tie was a bit shocked by this suggestion.


    Steward Ou revealed a smile, "As you have a castle, you are qualified to employ clan warriors. As long as you could provide them good benefits, many freelance warriors would actually like to serve you, who has a bright future. Therefore, it''s very difficult to employ clan warriors!"


    "I''m worried about the loyalty of these clan warriors!" Zhang Tie said.


    "Their loyalty needs to be curtained, however, if you directly purchase slaves or those self-selling slaves, as long as you show them hope, you could easily curtain their loyalty."


    Since coming to the Huaiyuan Perfecture, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to hear that slaves could be traded here. The term "self-selling" slave sounded fresh.


    "You mean there are slaves in the Huaiyuan Prefecture? I also want to know what is a self-selling slave?" Zhang Tie became interested.


    "There''s no slave in the Jinyun Country as a whole, or there''s no mechanism to force the production of slaves, but Jinyun Country and Huaiyuan Palace don''t forbid slaves and population trading. Many countries on the Waii Sub-continent admit the existence of slavery. There''re also many countries on other continents that admit the existence of slavery as population and slaves trafficking is a very significant pattern of population flow between continents and countries. The alleged self-selling slave refers to those who feel voluntary to give up and sell their own human rights by selling themselves to others as slaves. They are commonly seen in Huaiyuan Prefecture and Jinyun Country. After all, not everyone in this world could live well or make the most of their life. There is always someone who doesn''t even have food to eat or to survive. If they voluntarily sell themselves for food and sustainable living, of course we will feel pleasant to accept them!"


    Hearing this explanation, Zhang Tie became silent. He remembered the content in the book General History of Human Clan that he kept reading these days. According to the book, farming slavery still existed even before the catastrophe when people considered their science, technology and civilization were the most developed.


    Before the catastrophe, farming slaves existed in many countries. It was typical in some democratic countries which carried out apartheid. Those farming slaves didn''t have productive materials, political rights, right of free migration or property right; sometimes, their corpses didn''t belong to them either.


    They were forced to work on land and stand various unfair events like economic exploitation, political oppression and discrimination on personality for their whole lives. Sometimes, in front of the bulldozers driven by powerful violent machines, their dignity could not even match a dog. In that age, everything was calculated in terms of price. After a farming slave was killed by people casually, his family could only gain 20-30 gold coins as the compensation; however, in that age, the price of many noble dogs was even as high as 1000 gold coins. Dogs that worth above 100 gold coins could be seen everywhere.


    When Zhang Tie recalled the various existences of slaves before the catastrophe, he didn''t feel curious about those slaves in this age.


    Zhang Tie thought it through at once as he felt that reading could truly broaden one''s vision.


    "Hmm...does this exist in Huaiyuan Palace?"


    "Are you kidding me? If people in Huaiyuan Palace have become self-selling slaves, why would we find our Clan Affairs Pavilion and our clan? As the posterity of Huaiyuan Palace, no matter how poor we live, our clan would at least give us a hand. Any posterity of Huaiyuan Palace could easily find a job in Huaiyuan Palace to survive. Those self-selling slaves are under strict management in all Chinese countries. There''s definitely no self-selling slaves from big clans. Even if there is, nobody would dare to buy them!"


    "Where can I buy slaves in Huaiyuan Prefecture?"


    "The largest population trading market in Huaiyuan Prefecture is in Stars Viewing City. They are under the management of Zhang clan. Average slaves and self-selling slaves worth about 50 gold coins each. Kids would be cheaper while beautiful women and male technicians would be a bit expensive. The price of slave warriors above LV 6 would be higher than 600 gold coins." Steward Ou explained.


    "Is slaves trading normally seen in Huaiyuan Palace?"


    "Hehe, rich people would always have some slaves."


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie made the decision at once. He smiled, "Now that Long Wind Business Group can provide armed guardians, I will employ 80 armed guardians from Huaiyuan Palace first to run the castle. Then I will take a look in Yunzhou City!"


    Steward Ou also revealed a smile, "Now that you want to employ armed guardians from Long Wind Business Group, I will bring you the agreement tomorrow!"


    "Is it expensive?"


    "It might be expensive for others, but for you, it''s too cheap!" Steward Ou said.


    Zhang Tie burst out in laughter. He really enjoyed this compliment. He found that as long as male had money, they would gain more respect.


    ''It really feels nice to have money!'' Zhang Tie mumbled.


    In the next half an hour, Zhang Tie made a round in the castle with curiosity. He inspected project progress of the castle, especially fixed his eyes on the various pipes that were to be used to connect some steam-driven power units. Finally, he came to the Black Dragon Town satisfactorily and prepared to enter the Dragon Cave to form his LV 7 battle totem¡ª¡ªA huge centipede.


    It was good weather today with bright sunshine. After knowing that his gift was not thrown away by Lan Yunxi from the Phoenix Resting Pavilion, Zhng Tie became very happy. He felt that both his love and undertaking were developing towards a good direction. After inspecting his castle, he became more excited...


    It was more populated than before in the Black Dragon Town. Zhang Tie first came to the drugstore opened by Yang Yuankang and the other senior brothers, only to find that the drugstore had been closed by noon with a plate on the door¡ª¡ªThe all-purpose medicament today has been sold out. We will open 9:00 am tomorrow and sell another 6 vials. One vial for each person. Don''t jump the queue please!


    Although the plate had been displayed, including the number of vials to be sold tomorrow, there were still dozens of people sitting on stools and quilts outside the store while chatting with each other.


    Seeing Zhang Tie peeping inside, some of them shouted, "Brat, if you want to buy the all-purpose medicament, move to the end of the line, haven''t you seen so many people waiting outside here..."


    "I want to know why do you wait here for? Isn''t it said that there are only 6 vials of all-purpose medicament to be sold here tomorrow?" Zhang Tie glanced at that line with a dubious expression.


    "Ha, if we cann''t get one tomorrow, we will get one the day after tomorrow or two days later. If we wait here for 3-5 days, we will definitely get one. As long as we get one vial here at the cost of 8 gold coins, we can sell it at the price of 10 gold coins so easily. As we are all commoners on the island, we would never make money so easily by doing other jobs!" That man who stopped Zhang Tie explained.


    "Yea, I heard these all-purpose medicament is produced by an alchemist master. It only takes him a short while to produce some vials of medicament a day to survive us a year!" Another one added.


    ''Alchemist master, when do I become an alchemist master. I''m not even a herbal medicine apprentice.'' Zhang Tie felt a bit hilarious. Message had been distorted when it came out of the Hidden Dragon Palace.


    "I have another question. Who will you sell the medicament to?"


    "Of course, those women on the island!" Those guys stared at Zhang Tie like looking at an idiot, "You don''t know that? Although those women on the island are good at fighting, when they talked about the effect of all-purpose medicament, they always use words like skin beautifying and regeneration and anti-aging, which are nothing to do with average women. That day, I met a woman; I offered her 11 gold coins for one vial of manjusaka, she bought it without even a blink of her eyes. She even felt it was too cheap!"


    "Why not ask for more gold coins!" The others started to feel regretful with him.


    "But I don''t know that woman is so rich..."


    When they discussed about that, Zhang Tie had left from that drugstore. ''Women, women again. How could these women act like flies sting smelly chicken eggs when they heard about something that could make them more beautiful and younger? Zhang Tie had not imagined that it was same both in and out the Breaking-Heavens Department. If it kept going like this, he was afraid that all the all-purpose medicament that he produced would be their cosmetics.


    Zhang Tie could imagine how his all-purpose medicament is sold on Ma Aiyun''s side. He heard that his all-purpose medicament had been sold out among the girls of Breaking-Heavens Department even before Ma Aiyun and the other senior sisters opened a drugstore in Blue Dragon Town.


    Zhang Tie estimated that such a situation would last at least 1 month. Not until the latest batch of medicament was well fermented could this situation be slightly improved.


    However, knowing that his medicament becoming so popular among the girls, Zhang Tie also became very thrilled as this indicated that he had more chance to contact Lan Yunxi in the future.


    After leaving the drugstore, Zhang Tie casually made a round in the Black Dragon Town. With his super spiritual energy and sense, Zhang Tie instantly found something abnormal.


    He felt being traced...

 326 Betrayal

    Chapter 326: Betrayal


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    Zhang Tie was a bit shocked about being traced, yet he still pretended to wander in the Black Dragon Town. After that, he saw a lane on the roadside; therefore, he flashed in.


    Zhang Tie rushed into the lane less than 20 seconds, two shadows appeared at the entrance of the lane. After exchanging glances with each other, they also rushed in the lane.


    This lane was less than 2m in width. After moving forward over 30 meters, Zhang Tie turned a corner and stopped. With arms crossed and eyes narrowed, he leaned against the wall and slowed his breath. Meanwhile, he started to hear the footsteps in the lane.


    Over 10 seconds later, the subtle sound of footsteps became clearer. Based on the sound of the footsteps, Zhang Tie knew that he was traced by 2 people. They both moved very swiftly.


    When the sound of footsteps became closer to the corner, Zhang Tie instantly flashed out and launched an attack at once...


    Those 2 people had not imagined that Zhang Tie could attack them first, but they were obviously experts. The moment Zhang Tie punched them, they reacted to it and hurriedly counterattacked him.


    With two muffled sounds, Zhang Tie sent both of them 2 m away.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that he could end the battle at once; he had not imagined that those two had such great fighting abilities.


    "Sto..." Before one guy was able to say something, Zhang Tie had thrown another punch. Zhang Tie''s strength was so huge that the moment they reacted to his another attack, the two guys felt having no other ways but to forcefully hold it back.


    ''F*ck, how can a LV 6 guy have such huge strength?'' The two guys swore inside before held back his attack.


    Feeling the huge strength, they were sent flying several meters away again. Like their shadow, Zhang Tie closely followed them and punched for the fourth time...


    This time, Zhang Tie attacked more ferociously and swiftly. After four moves, he had forced the two people over 10 m back.


    With a sound of "Qing", one guy who could not stand any more. He directly pulled out his long sword from his back.


    When sword qi spread in the lane like spring rain, with only one movement, Zhang Tie had left the attacking range of the sword qi and stood in the pavilion. He then started to appreciate the scenary of the "spring rain" like a tourist on the grassland.


    Compared to Zhang Tie''s attack before, his retreat shocked them too. The two people knew their real fighting abilities. Seeing his partner applied the fighting skill "sword rain" and it did not even touch Zhang Tie''s clothes, one guy was really stunned as he realized that he had encountered the most powerful opponent in his life.


    Although "sword rain" was a defensive move, it was also aggressive like needles in cotton. Whether it could be well applied depended on the person who applied it. However, a LV 9 sword master-hand only forced him one step back. Zhang Tie''s quick judgement, response and easy expression really shocked them.


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s gleaming eyes and the gradually rising battle-qi totem on his back, the guy who used his sword before shouted loudly hurriedly.


    "Stop, we are from Long Wind Business Group!"


    Hearing his explanation, Zhang Tie became slightly surprised as the rising battle-qi totem disappeared at once, "You say you are from Long Wind Business Group, show me your identification certificate!"


    After exchanging glances with each other, they presented their identification plates to Zhang Tie. After checking their identification plates, Zhang Tie completely hid his qi and slightly frowned his forehead, "Why do you trace me then?"


    Whoever being traced would not feel good, including Zhang Tie.


    That guy who pulled out the sword had put it back into the sheath.


    "As Long Wind Business Group is worrying about your safety, they arranged us to protect you stealthily!" Another guy explained with an innocent look. They had not imagined that Zhang Tie was that shrewd. Two LV 9 experts traced a LV 6 man, yet was noticed and being forced to pull out sword in only a few seconds. What a shame! What a shame!


    "Protect me?" Zhang Tie felt a bit hilarious, "Do you mean I will encounter dangers on the island?"


    "If you were the old Zhang Tie, you might be safe; but now, it is hard to say. These days, many alchemists had been killed on the land. It was a bit chaotic out there!" That guy who put his sword back into sheath explained.


    "Many alchemists were killed on the land?" Zhang Tie was shocked, "Do you know who did this?"


    "We don''t know. They moved very fast and leave no clue or people alive. These days, alchemists on all continents were scared of them. The Alchemists Association had released the reward of huge amount of money for hunting them. Being concerned about your safety, the Long Wind Business Group dispatches us to protect you stealthily!" They explained everything straightforwardly.


    After figuring out what happened, Zhang Tie''s bad mood disappeared at once.


    "Big brothers, as I don''t know about your status before, I launched the attack. Wish you didn''t mind that!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile instantly, "How do I address you then?"


    "After exchanging glances with each other, the guy who held the sword burst out in laughter generously, "I''m Liu Xiang, he''s Zhang Haichao, Brother Zhang Tie really has great fighting skills!"


    "Haha, thanks, big brother Liu. I wonder when will your task come to an end?"


    "This is a long-term task. I''m afraid that it will not come to an end until you leave Hidden Dragon Island. You just do whatever you want in the island. We will not interfere with you. We hope you do not mind being traced by us stealthily as we are just following the order!" Zhang Haichao explained.


    "I feel really sorry for that..."


    "That''s our work!" Liu Xiang smiled as he looked at Zhang Tie, "Oh, how did you notice us just now? Old Yang and I have been partners for a long time. We are very confident to not be noticed by the one we trace!"


    "I have a very sharp sense. I only felt being traced on the street. As I could not identify you in the public, I have to force you out by setting a trap!"


    "How smart!" Liu Xiang nodded, "Brother Zhang is only LV 6, right? But your iron-blood fist is really excellent. Old Yang and I could not even able to hold it back!"


    Through a few seconds'' battle, although they didn''t use their full strength, they all had left a deep impression of each other.


    "I''m going to the Dragon Cave to form LV 7 battle-qi totem today!" Zhang Tie explained.


    "That''s great!" Liu Xiang exchanged glances with Zhang Tie. Aftering knowing that Zhang Tie had almost been LV 7, the two felt much better.


    ...


    One minute later, Zhang Tie walked out of the lane and entered a nearby drugstore to buy a vial of night viewing medicament before heading for the Dragon Cave alone.


    Walking out of the other end of the lane, Liu Xiang and Zhang Haichao also bought 1 vial of night viewing medicament respectively. They then encountered Zhang Tie at the entrance of Dragon Cave. With a distance between them and Zhang Tie, they entered the Dragon Cave together.


    There were a lot of people entering the Dragon Cave every day. Soon after Zhang Tie and the two people entered, another batches of people entered too.


    ...


    Two hours later, in the deep, gloomy cave where few people could be seen...


    When Liu Xiang and Zhang Haichao passed a underground area of tall mosses, a lot of bolts were shot out of the plants and flew directly towards the two people...


    Almost the moment the bolts were shot out, Liu Xiang had charged out like a fierce tiger. With bright sword qi, a wide area of tall lotus-leaves mosses and the second wave of bolts were shatterred off by Liu Xiang.


    At this very moment, Zhang Haichao had jumped up from the ground like a furious eagle while wearing a pair of eccentric steel claws and launched a furious attack from the air.


    Being punched by the two LV 9 experts, the group of killers had to drop off their crossbows and jumped out of that area of lotus-leaves mosses; however, almost the moment they drilled out, they had been torn off into pieces by sword qi and shadowing claws.


    Seeing 5-6 corpses lying on the ground, Liu Xiang frowned, "Not right, they look a bit strange..."


    "Yea, they don''t bleed!" Looking at his steel claws where there was not blood, Zhang Haichao''s face also turned gloomy.


    "Hurry up, go find Zhang Tie, he''s in danger..." Liu Xiang''s face changed at once.


    When Zhang Haichao turned, a part of long sword was pierced through his chest. Looking at that part of long sword, Zhang Haichao felt that this was the last thing that he could believe. With eyes turning red, he punched backward, forcing Liu Xiang to draw out of his long sword and move 5 meters back in a split second.


    Zhang Haichao then started to spit out dark blood. Liu Xiang''s attack not only heavily wounded his veins, but also sharply poisoned him. Swaggering his body, he fixed his eyes on Liu Xiang, "Wh...why...do you betray Huaiyuan Palace!"


    Liu Xiang just revealed a smile. With sounds of "shasha" from all directions, a great amount of bowmen surrounded him once again. At the same time, another round of bolts rain were triggered. With a roar, Zhang Haichao kept surging forward and rushed inside the bolts rain...


    In a wink, he tore off 5 more people into pieces. When Zhang Haichao wanted to tore apart the 6 person by his steel claws, his body swayed. At the same time, 10 more bolts were nailed onto his body, closely after which, a sword qi flashed by. As a result, his head flew off his body and dropped onto the ground 10 m away, eyes as wide as copper bells[1]...


    "What a pity..." Cleaning the long sword in his hand, Liu Xiang watched Zhang Haichao''s headless corpse, "If not in this way, I might really not have killed you. If not kill you, in a few years, you might be promoted to LV 10 and become a powerful fighter..."


    "Nothing pitiful at all!" No until then did a man in black robe walked out of the dark corner and glanced at those corpses lying on the ground in a distant way, "Just some dead bodies!"


    "But since then, my status would be exposed!" Liu Xiang let out a sign, "I''ve been lurked in Huaiyuan Palace for over 10 years!"


    "You should appreciate that Huaiyuan Palace dispatches you here as this is a good chance for you to show your loyalty to us. Now that you''ve made it, everything you''ve done is worthwhile!"


    "Hope so!"After saying this, Liu Xiang broke his own long sword and punched himself. After spitting out a mouthful of blood, he made his bun tilt and his hair messy. After that, he ran towards the path where Zhang Tie had passed in a flurried way...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie finally met a huge centipede. After killed it so easily, Zhang Tie widened his eyes and watched that ball of soul fire flying towards him and entering his body. In a split second, he had formed his LV 7 battle-qi totem.


    Soon after, he saw Liu Xiang running towards him in an embarrassed way...

 327 Who Screws Whom?

    Chapter 327: Who Screws Whom?


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    After using a vial of night vision medicament, although the night vision effect in the cave could not match his vision during the day outside the cave, Zhang Tie was still startled by Liu Xiang''s pitiful state.


    With bloodstain on his clothes, Liu Xiang''s face had turned pale as a sheet and he rushed towards Zhang Tie in a flurried way.


    "What happened?" Zhang Tie furrowed his brows as he raced towards Liu Xiang.


    The moment Liu Xiang arrived in front of Zhang Tie, he directly tilted his body and fell onto the ground. Zhang Tie hurriedly held Liu Xiang''s hands. Liu Xiang then spat out a mouthful of blood in a pretty miserable way.


    "We... were attacked. They might target at you...hur...hurry...go..."


    "Where''s Zhang Haichao?"


    "He''s blocking their attack!"


    "Are you able to move now?"


    "Yea, I can. I know a hidden place. They are too powerful and have blocked the passage to the exit. As long as we survive this period, Long Wind Business Group will definitely dispatch someone to pick us up!"


    "Fine!" Zhang Tie frowned his forehead in anxiety as he helped Liu Xiang stand up, "Let''s go there together!"


    "Fine..."


    "Where''s that place?"


    "Right in front of us. You help me stand and I''ll guide you there. Hurry up!" Liu Xiang looked very anxious, but when he said that, a shrewd light flashed across his eyes.


    It seemed that Zhang Tie trusted Liu Xiang so much that he directly put one of his hands under the latter''s shoulder to support him. Under the guidance of Liu Xiang, they ran towards an underground cave.


    The world in the Dragon Cave was a sophisticated three-dimensional maze which was composed of caves, tunnels, and underground space of different sizes. Rugged, weird-looking stones, mountains, subterranean rivers and lakes, various underground plants, and dangerous living beings could be seen everywhere. Magma even flowed through some areas.


    Zhang Tie and Liu Xiang kept moving at a fast pace through the underground area. Zhang Tie asked Liu Xiang who had raided them; but Liu Xiang could not explain it clearly. He only knew that those people attacked him and Zhang Haichao from behind and they used powerful crossbows. Some of them even seemed to be powerhouses.


    When Liu Xiang replied, he silently observed Zhang Tie''s response. Seeing that Zhang Tie was absent-minded, Liu Xiang finally recovered his composure.


    After they''d run for over 10 minutes, they saw an intersection in front of them. On the left of the intersection was a cave while on its right was an underground karst cave.


    "That cave in front of us, hurry in..." Liu Xiang said in a flurried way.


    When they drew close to that cave, Zhang Tie slightly bent is body and prepared to enter. Meanwhile, in the darkness, with a single move, a weird black 12-cm long needle had appeared in Liu Xiang''s hand silently. When Zhang Tie bent over his body, Liu Xiang had put one hand onto Zhang Tie''s shoulder.


    In a split second, a shrewd light flashed across Liu Xiang''s eyes. The moment Liu Xiang prepared to pierce the long needle into Zhang Tie''s brain, he suddenly felt cold and painful in his heart. Lowering his head, he saw Zhang Tie''s hand which was once put under his armpit to support him had already held a dagger which was directly pierced into the place under his left armpit.


    Like how he attacked Zhang Haichao just now. With one move, Zhang Tie had already destroyed his heart veins. With a dubious look, he gazed at Zhang Tie while not knowing how that dagger appeared in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    Zhang Tie turned back and stared at him with an icy ridicule.


    Liu Xiang shouted loudly as he desperately pierced that weird, long needle towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie instantly grabbed his wrist while he pulled out of his dagger from Liu Xiang''s body before stabbed it into other places on Liu Xiang. In under than a second, Zhang Tie had poked 8 times into Liu Xiang''s chest and abdomen.


    "You b*stard..." Zhang Tie stabbed him constantly as he swore with gritting teeth.


    Even though it was a LV 9 powerhouse, he could still not believe that he was stabbed 9 times in a split second. Liu Xiang became extremely frightened.


    In sharp pains and panic, Liu Xiang uttered weird voice as he punched towards Zhang Tie, seemingly wanting to shake out of Zhang Tie''s powerful claws.


    "Bang..." Liu Xiang smacked onto Zhang Tie''s chest; however, Zhang Tie only made a voiceless harrumph and swayed his body a bit.


    Heavily wounded and in a panic, Liu Xiang''s attack was not even 40% of what it would be normally. Zhang Tie directly faced it while gritting his teeth with the help of the Iron-Body Fruits that he had eaten.


    After being smacked, Zhang Tie didn''t even make a voice; instead, he stabbed another 7 or 8 times into Liu Xiang''s body.


    Liu Xiang then smacked for the second time; Zhang Tie just ignored his attack and kept stabbing another 7 or 8 times.


    When Liu Xiang smacked Zhang Tie for the third time, it had been as weak as swatting mosquitoes.


    Zhang Tie glared at him. While grabbing one of Liu Xiang''s hand, he stabbed the latter another 7-8 times.


    In the darkness, Liu Xiang spat out blood while glaring at Zhang Tie''s fiery, firm eyes. He then lowered his head to look at his body which was like a broken bag being spoiled by dozens of mice. Moving his lips, he wanted to say something, yet finally uttered no voice but fell down.


    Liu Xiang had not imagined that he could fight Zhang Tie like a duel between street rascals. With one hand being grabbed, he was forcefully stabbed to death. He didn''t figure it out how Zhang Tie found that he was going to attack him and screwed him over first.


    The whole process from Liu Xiang took out the weird black long needles to his death only lasted about 8 seconds.


    In only 8 seconds, the battle had come to an end. As a result, a LV 9 powerhouse fell like this.


    "Peh!" Zhang Tie spat on Liu Xiang''s dead body whose eyes were still opening. Zhang Tie then squatted to search over Liu Xiang''s body swiftly. Finally, he picked up a weird black long needle from Liu Xiang''s hand. After carefully listening to the surroundings, Zhang Tie glanced at that huge underground karst cave before diving into it without any hesitation.


    This was Zhang Tie''s first time killing a LV 9 powerhouse, however, Zhang Tie was not very happy inside as he knew that there were still some with killing intent towards him underground. ''If the opponent could even buy a LV 9 powerhouse who was dispatched by Long Wind Business Group to protect me, it must be very powerful!'' Given Liu Xiang''s situation, Zhang Tie knew that Zhang Haichao had probably been killed.


    Although he was furious, Zhang Tie did not panic. At the critical moment, Zhang Tie was pretty calm. In a split second, he had connected several clues he''d found.


    ''The most important thing at present is to figure out my enemy! Besides Liu Xiang, how many people else are waiting to attack me? As Long Wind Business Group''s representative is Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace, if my enemy dares to do this, they must not be weaker than the Zhang Clan. They might even be more powerful.


    Although Liu Xiang, whom I killed is a scumbag, the news that he told me before entering the Dragon Cave must be true ¡ª Lately, many alchemists have been assassinated on the mainland.


    No matter whether this move is related to the power that assassinated the alchemists or not, there''s one point that I can verify, the message that I can realize the mass production of all-purpose medicament must have been leaked. By now, few people in the Long Wind Business Group will know that I can do that; therefore, this message shouldn''t have been leaked by Long Wind Business Group. That''s what I''m concerned most.''


    Even the bodyguard being dispatched by Long Wind Business Group to protect Zhang Tie could be bought, Zhang Tie was concerned how many people he could trust on the Hidden Dragon Island.


    ''I will depend on myself then!''


    After leaving where he killed Liu Xiang, Zhang Tie didn''t run far away; instead, he bravely lurked on a hill in the underground karst cave 50 m away. Lowering his body, he hid himself under a lot of umbrella-shaped underground rock mushroom. Staying at a higher location, he narrowed his eyes and silently fixed his eyes on the place where Liu Xiang''s body lay.


    ''If only I had a telescope!'' Zhang Tie mumbled. Thinking of his poor utilization of the space in his Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie decided that after this tricky event was solved, he would find a chance to improve the Castle of Black Iron.


    After Zhang Tie lurked there in less than 5 minutes, with sounds of clothes flying in the air, a group of people had appeared in that place.


    Although they wore different clothes and looked non-uniform, they moved in conformance; additionally, many people were holding crossbows. With only one glance, Zhang Tie had confirmed that these people were on Liu Xiang''s side.


    If they were not on Liu Xiang''s side, they would not have followed his route there so fast. Additionally, they had a clear target. Although people entering Dragon Cave might have temporary combinations, they would not move in such a high level of synergy.


    Stealthy movement with high conformance; a clear target; hiding their real status and number as well as the fact that they were in the same organization. Who would believe it if they told these people were nothing to do with Liu Xiang.


    The head of the group of people was a guy in black clothes.


    "Crap!" At the sight of Liu Xiang''s body, the leader''s face turned blue at once...

 328 Collision

    Chapter 328: Collision


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Lying under the rock mushroom, Zhang Tie silently watched the strange group. He really wanted to kill them all. There were 16 people over there, including that guy in black clothes.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t figure out the level of the man in black clothes, but he estimated that those with crossbows were at most LV 8.


    If that man in black clothes was lower than LV 9, Zhang Tie was confident he''d be able to kill them all. Whereas, the only problem was that if that guy in black clothes was higher than LV 9, he would be a powerful fighter. Additionally, perhaps this batch of people were just a portion of a larger group. Their partners might be hiding in other places underground. If Zhang Tie exposed himself at this moment, it would be nothing different from committing a suicide. If they blocked Zhang Tie from escaping, when their more powerful fighters arrived there, Zhang Tie would be in a great danger.


    Glancing at those guys and thinking about Liu Xiang whom he had killed, Zhang Tie started to make deductions in a split second in a very calm way.


    ''If Liu Xiang was assigned to screw me, it means that they don''t have absolute confidence in killing me.


    ''If they had such a powerhouse, as long as I came into the Dragon Cave, they would have notified that powerhouse of my location to directly kill me. They wouldn''t have dealt with me in this way.


    ''If Liu Xiang wanted to keep me alive, it would be more interesting.


    ''If they wanted me alive, they must have understood the huge value of my manufacturing method of all-purpose medicament. If so, before mastering and verifying the method to produce all-purpose medicament, they won''t let me die easily.


    ''After capturing me, they definitely won''t extract my secrets in here, and they won''t do it on Hidden Dragon Island; instead, they will definitely escort me to a safe place.


    ''As Hidden Dragon Island belongs to the Zhang Clan, with the exception of the Zhang Clan''s airships and ships, no other vehicles were allowed in. Therefore, the only way they bring me away is to disguise me quickly. If I was found lost today, they would have to take me away from the Dragon Cave on the same day. If not, when Zhang Clan and Hidden Dragon Palace realize what happened, those people would be surrounded and have no chance to leave Hidden Dragon Island any more.


    ''However, it would be very difficult to bring a live person away from Hidden Dragon Cave. This could not be done by one person.


    ''If it was the second situation, although more powerful guys might move secretly, Liu Xiang made his move alone as it was the most cost-efficient method. If so, Liu Xiang was their first card, but not the only one. The following cards might be sharper.


    ''Since they''re not afraid of irritating Huaiyuan Palace, they must have made full preparations and considered all the possibilities.


    ''If it was the first situation, they would only assign a LV 9 fighter here at most to deal with me, who''s only LV 6-7 and formed the Iron-Blood Battle Qi.


    ''If it was the second situation. they would have more powerful guys to catch me; but they would not kill me at once.


    ''As for the first situation, I don''t need to be worry about it; as for the second situation, I will have a chance to negotiate conditions with them and figure out their true purpose.''


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had figured out his current situation and determined his next step at once.


    As the Iron-Blood Fist was a fist cultivated by a dauntless person and Zhang Tie was born to be adventurous and dauntless, he really couldn''t stand it by and just watch those guys come and go in front of his eyes.


    Additionally, this was Hidden Dragon Island, the territory of Zhang Clan; it would be especially shameful if he was that timid even on the Hidden Dragon Island!


    With a quick thought, a special equipment from the Castle of Black Iron had already appeared in his hand.


    That was a leathered container of hidden weapons. After completing the advancement of his awakened bloodline, Zhang Tie had built such a weapon in the Items Department. Besides practicing with them in the Trouble-Reappearance Situation, Zhang Tie had not attacked anybody using them.


    What was placed in the container were the extremely common hidden weapons with great power


    ¡ª handbolts.


    It was said that this hidden weapon originated from flying needles which was popular among some warriors or fighters before the Catastrophe. Those powerhouses could even break through thick glasses using flying needles.


    Certainly, handbolts were not flying needles, at least in size. They were much larger than flying needles but similar to mini spears.


    Each handbolt was 26.4 cm in length and 438 grams in weight. They were made of common steel and iron. Each handbolt was both like a mini spear and a super large flying needle. Zhang Tie made special modifications on their tails according to the laws of aerodynamics he''d learned, making them look a bit flat. In this way, these handbolts could fly faster, more stably, and more powerfully.


    When Zhang Tie was LV 6, the effective shooting range of this handbolt was 90 m. The power of this hidden weapon was similar to that of common spears that he''d used before as they could easily pierce through a huge wolf.


    Because of simple design and common materials, these handbolts were excellent low-value consumables. The price of each handbolt was only 2 silver coins in the Items Department of Hidden Dragon Palace. Zhang Tie had customized 2000 bolts in palm. Now, all these handbolts were piled inside Castle of Black Iron, and were available at any time.


    Being fastened on his waist, the container contained 12 handbolts. Certainly, if Zhang Tie liked, the number of handbolts could be 120, or even 1200. With the exception of Zhang Tie himself, nobody else knew that Zhang Tie was a movable arsenal with his Castle of Black Iron.


    Sometimes, the container of hidden weapons were just props. Like now, after securely fastening his container, Zhang Tie instantly had 10 more handbolts in his left hand like holding a handful of chopsticks.


    With gleaming eyes, Zhang Tie held one handbolt in his right hand as he silently changed his position from lying prone into a half squatting stance. In a split second, he had locked onto that leader in black clothes 50 m away.


    ...


    "Leave a small team to clean up the dead body and stay in the area. Any single person you see, whether from the left cave or the right cave, should be killed!" that man in black clothes said in a merciless tone, as he glanced over the surrounding people icily, "The rest of you will accompany me to get Zhang Tie. He only escaped a short while ago; he can''t be far away!"


    After ordering his subordinates, the man carefully looked at the trace left by Zhang Tie on the ground as he led a team towards the open area of the karst cave where they were. At this moment, Zhang Tie narrowed his eyes and forcefully shot a bolt towards the leader...


    His bolt reached the man''s forehead at a speed quicker than sound...


    When the bolt was only 6-7 cm away from that man, Zhang Tie thought that a headshot would definitely happen; betraying his expectations, that man suddenly grabbed that bolt at an amazing speed.


    Not until then did the piercing sound of the bolt drift into the ears of everyone else, shocking them.


    Zhang Tie''s bolt was easily caught by him. Watching that blood stain on his hand, the leader''s eyes shot out gleaming light. Raising his head, he cast his sight towards that hill where Zhang Tie lurked.


    Seeing this, Zhang Tie gradually stood up from underneath the rock mushroom and took a deep breath. Without any fear, he kept fixing his eyes onto that man. It was his first time seeing his hidden weapon, which was flying faster than sound, being grabbed by a hand. Zhang Tie estimated that the leader was at least LV 10. The two people''s furious gazes collided in the air, with a distance of 50 m between them.


    "Zhang Tie..." That man squeezed out Zhang Tie''s name with a cold expression.


    Standing on the hill, Zhang Tie smirked as he stretched out a middle finger towards that man.


    The corners of that man''s eyes then twitched...


    Before the man issued any orders, the other guys had already surged towards Zhang Tie.


    If this man could grab Zhang Tie''s bolt by hand when being ambushed, in face-to-face fight, no matter how many bolts he threw towards that man, it would a waste; but, it would be different if he threw his bolts towards the others...


    Zhang Tie sneered. When those enemies were closer than 30 m, he shot out the second handbolt...


    ''This father doesn''t think that another one of you can grab my sonic-booming bolt by hand. If I saw a second one among you catch it, this father would escape away right now.''


    "Bang...", one guy''s head exploded like a water melon breaking.


    Zhang Tie rapidly moved away to evade some bolts. While he was running, he kept throwing out his handbolts. He had thrown out 5 handbolts in 2 second, "Bang...bang...bang...bang...bang...", the front 5 people''s heads were exploded consecutively 30 - 40 m away from him.


    In a split second, half of those people on that man''s side were cleared. Nobody could have imagined that Zhang Tie''s handbolts would be that terrifying. Compared with Zhang Tie''s handbolts, those guys'' crossbows were really too poor.


    "Retreat..." Realizing that his men could not even evade Zhang Tie''s handbolts, that leader shouted furiously as he accelerated towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then directly rushed towards him from the hill without any fear.


    They then collided in the air. Seeing that man punching him, Zhang Tie soared as he also punched towards that man.


    The moment their fists clashed, Zhang Tie felt an unstoppably powerful strength surging towards him. At the same time, he felt that his Iron-Blood Battle Qi had fallen into a dark mire and was torn, melted, and engulfed by a strange strength...


    With only one move, the opponent''s huge strength had already sent Zhang Tie fly backwards in the air.


    If he hadn''t cultivated any fundamental movements, Zhang Tie would have been very embarrassed. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie made some beautiful rolls backward to counteract a greater part of the opponent''s strength. As a result, he landed steadily 10 m away.


    Although he looked no different than before, Zhang Tie felt his throat warm blood surging upward and his qi roiling; yet the blood was swallowed back down by Zhang Tie.


    Compared to Zhang Tie''s embarrassing appearance, that man just descended onto the ground steadily.


    "A LV 10 powerhouse fighter?" Zhang Tie watched that guy in black clothes in an extremely gloomy way. He had seen LV 9 fighters. He even had fought 2 LV 9 fighters today; however, this man in front of him felt much more powerful than those LV 9 fighters.


    "Good!" That man revealed a distant smiled, "If you surrender now, you can still live!"


    Zhang Tie burst out a laughter. What he said next irritated the opponent so much that the latter almost spat out blood, "Are you daydreaming? So what if you''re a powerful fighter? You are in the Dragon Cave of Hidden Dragon Island. It belongs to Zhang Clan. The powerhouses of Hidden Dragon Palace will arrive soon. By then, they will easily kill you like killing an ant. I urge you to surrender to me and flatter me. Perhaps then, I will save you!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, that man''s face revealed his killing intent. Zhang Tie made him very uncomfortable. With a cold expression, he fixed his eyes on Zhang Tie, "Although my primary objective is to take you away from here; if I can''t, I can also kill you. Personally, I think I''d prefer to kill you!"


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie''s heart raced, ''Truly as I predicted, this guy is much trickier than Liu Xiang. I really wonder which power is willing to take me down by assigning a LV 9 fighter and a powerhouse to me. That''s really a great honor.''


    Thinking of this, Zhang Tie then looked at that man''s back with a surprised expression.


    Noticing Zhang Tie''s surprised expression, that man naturally looked back; yet found nothing. However, at the same time, he felt a sharp qi reaching in front of his chest. Knowing that Zhang Tie''s handbolt was unusual, he didn''t dare to grab it directly by hand; instead, he jumped away while patting Zhang Tie''s bolt, causing it to change its flight path.


    As a result, that bolt hit a guy with crossbow 20 steps away, and penetrated through his chest, causing a shriek.


    When the leader looked back at Zhang Tie, he found Zhang Tie had already dashed dozens of meters away like an arrow.


    "Haha, good shot! You don''t need to put on such a performance if you want to kill your man by my bolt..." Zhang Tie joked as he ran.


    "You are dead!" That man angrily gritted his teeth as he immediately chased after Zhang Tie.


    "Look at my bolt..." Zhang Tie shouted loudly. That man then hurriedly jumped out of the way. After changing direction twice, that man realized that Zhang Tie had not even thrown out a handbolt.


    "Haha, you really are as timid as a rabbit. You actually want to catch me? Wait until your afterlife..." In a short while, Zhang Tie had run dozens of meters away again.


    Being tricked by Zhang Tie twice consecutively, that man was really driven furious as he sped up to chase after Zhang Tie.


    "Look out for my bolt..." Zhang Tie shouted once again.


    Thinking that Zhang Tie was tricking him once again, he didn''t evade at all; however, he suddenly felt a sharp qi close to his lower body. Being frightened a lot, that man realized that Zhang Tie had already shot another bolt towards the location under his left knee. He had no enough time to pat it away by then; instead, he could only change his moving direction by jumping away.


    As a result, Zhang Tie''s handbolt flew by his left shin. Although it didn''t hit the right place, it bruised him, causing a hot pain on his shin.


    In such a short while, Zhang Tie had already gotten 100 m away in the twisting karst cave.


    "I will kill you..." That man growled with bloodshot eyes as he continued chasing after Zhang Tie...

 329 Hunting

    Chapter 329: Hunting


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    If he wasn''t even brave to face the enemy, he would be a coward!


    When he knew that he couldn''t defeat him, if he chose to fight with gritting teeth only to be caught or killed, he would be an idiot.


    With the exception of that time when he chose to sacrifice himself for his brothers in Iron-Blood Camp, he would never be that foolish on dealing with other things.


    Zhang Tie was neither a coward nor an idiot. He was willing to fight, however, if he found that the opponent was far more powerful than he was and he could not get the anticipated result if he kept fighting the opponent, he would definitely turn back and escape without any hesitation, just like now!


    When escaping, Zhang was actually wounded inside due to the first round of fighting with that man in black clothes.


    Zhang Tie had ignited 13 surging points on his spine and officially reached LV 7; however, that person was a LV 10 powerful fighter who had ignited at least 55 surging points.


    That man was truly powerful, at least for Zhang Tie. The distance of 40 surging points between him and Zhang Tie was like an abyss that Zhang Tie could not cross. This was not the right moment to fight him, even though Zhang Tie had formed Iron-Blood Battle Qi and eaten a great number of fruits.


    Actually, Zhang Tie''s performance had greatly shocked that man. Before seeing Zhang Tie, that man had never imagined that he could be wounded by some LV 7 kid. What was more amazing was that Zhang Tie could slip away like a loach, staying out of his grasps for so long after wounding him.


    The super great endurance and speed brought by 9 Wild-Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits...


    The agility and the precise choice of each step after his enlightenment from "One Movement, One Scenery"...


    His physical potential after the ignition of 13 surging points and Iron-Blood Battle Qi as the powerful top battle qi was exerted to the utmost by Zhang Tie at this moment.


    The underground space where the huge centipedes lived was quite cramped and gloomy; in contrast, the karst cave was relatively spacious, the height of this karst cave only varied from just over 10 m to dozens of meters. Weird-looking rigged rocks could be seen everywhere. The karst cave was twisting and winding, which was totally different from the karst cave where he hunted the hell-black spiders last time.


    If the area above the karst cave where hell-black spiders lived could hold a huge city, then the size of this karst cave was as big as an animal''s intestinal tract.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know where this karst cave would lead to; he only felt that the icy killing intent was getting closer to him.


    That man moved much faster than Zhang Tie. The incredible ability of a LV 10 fighter was awe-inspiring. If not for the handbolts, Zhang Tie might have been caught by that man already.


    Each time Zhang Tie felt that man would catch him, Zhang Tie would shout loudly, "Look out for my bolt..."; however, Zhang Tie didn''t really throw out a bolt sometimes, instead, he just frightened that guy. Other times, he actually threw out a handbolt. By then, that man had to change his moving direction or pat away Zhang Tie''s handbolt.


    In this way, Zhang could extend the distance between himself and that man at critical moments.


    Zhang Tie kept running for over 20 minutes. Finally, that man found the right way to deal with Zhang Tie''s trick. As long as Zhang Tie didn''t turn around, that man would keep chasing after him; by comparison, the moment Zhang Tie turned around, if Zhang Tie threw out his handbolt, that man would change his moving direction and moved in the shape of a "Z" so as to evade Zhang Tie''s hidden weapon.


    Seeing this, Zhang Tie also started to be anxious. When he turned around, he would slow down, which slowed him about as much as that man slowed when moving in the shape of a "Z". In this way, the distance between Zhang Tie and that man gradually narrowed.


    Gradually, the distance between them narrowed from 100 m to 50 m.


    After running for over 20 minutes, Zhang Tie finally saw some people hunting huge centipedes in the underground karst cave.


    The 3 people were dissecting a huge centipede that they''ve killed.


    However, all Zhang Tie could only do was to shout loudly towards them, "Hurry up, escape in different directions..."


    As Zhang Tie had flashed over them, the three people were still standing in the same spot. Seeing them still standing over there, Zhang Tie sighed inside as he knew that they''d lost any chance of survival.


    Several seconds later, three shrill shrieks drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears. Zhang Tie turned around to find 3 heads flying in the air amidst a fountain of blood.


    ''As that man dared to hunt me in the Dragon Cave, he would definitely not allow any witness to live, because as long as those witnesses revealed it in the public, this man will not leave Hidden Dragon Island alive. ''


    Zhang Tie could see that man''s cruel, sinister smile as he licked his lips.


    "Motherf*cker!" Zhang Tie was driven furious. Meanwhile, he threw out 2 more handbolts. By moving in a weird way, that man patted away the last two of Zhang Tie''s handbolts from the first batch.


    "No more struggling, I promise you an easy death!" After patting away the 2 handbolts, that man kept speeding up.


    "F*ck, you b*stard; wait, this father will teach you a lesson sooner or later!" Zhang Tie kept his head down and rushing forward.


    "Is that true?" the man ridiculed, "I''m afraid that you will not live to see that day!"


    Zhang Tie had soon rushed hundreds of meters away from where those three were killed, as the distance between him and the man closed to less than 30 m. At the sight of an underground lake which covered more than 6000 square meters, Zhang Tie became thrilled at once as he hurriedly dove inside.


    There were plenty of water resources in the underground world. There were various creatures in the water, some of which were even more ferocious than those on land. However, since Zhang Tie entered Hidden Dragon Palace, he had not heard about any dangerous creatures in the waters of the underground space where huge centipedes lived. That was why he dared to dive into the lake without any hesitation.


    The underground lake was crystal clear. When he dove inside, he could see clearly the shiny little fishes and floating waterseeds.


    The moment Zhang Tie dove into the lake, the man arrived at the water''s edge. Almost the moment the splatters left by Zhang Tie fell onto the water, that man''s skin had turned red as he smacked onto the water with his fierce battle qi, aiming at Zhang Tie''s back in the water.


    When he smacked the water, his battle qi formed into a black palm that had been amplified many times.


    As a result, a 10 m high splatter splashed up like something exploding out of a torpedo. Soon after he dove down 10 m, Zhang Tie felt the surrounding water became frozen while an incredible strength penetrated through the water and struck Zhang Tie on the back.


    "Wua..." Zhang Tie immediately spat out a mouthful of blood in the water, tinting the surrounding water.


    When one reached LV 8, many advanced battle qis would be able to hurt people without having to touch the opponent. When he was in the Iron-Blood Camp, Zhang Tie had seen Captain Reinhardt performed this using "Man''s Certificate". On the training field, Captain Reinhardt released his battle qi and controlled Zhang Tie''s Man''s Certificate to make a several meters long ditch on the ground with sword qi, which really shocked them.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that the guy could be that horrible. If it hadn''t been Zhang Tie, who had eaten a lot of Iron-Body Fruits, any normal LV 6-7 fighter would have been killed.


    Through this strike, Zhang Tie knew that he was too lucky when he collided that man in the air earlier and how smart he was by choosing escape.


    ''If this man had not underestimated my real power, he might have killed me in the first round.''


    However, at this moment, although not having lain down, Zhang Tie knew that he had been wounded and could not move as easy as before.


    With the inertia of this strike, Zhang Tie dove another 20 m. It was already more than 50 m in depth. Zhang Tie soon arrived at the bottom of the water and found a hidden place to recover while gazing at the entrance of the water; meanwhile, he started to think up some countermeasures rapidly.


    That man didn''t follow him in. Realizing this, Zhang Tie slightly let out a sigh. At the same time, Zhang Tie also realized that that man must have learnt about how he was a yaksha in the sea. As he knew that Zhang Tie excelled at diving, he didn''t dare to follow in.


    Zhang Tie admitted that that guy was much trickier than he had imagined. He was powerful, fierce, and cunning. Knowing that Zhang Tie''s movement ability was greatly restricted in the water, he kept striking the water, attempting to seal Zhang Tie''s fate...


    When he figured out the environment under water, Zhang Tie started to cry inside...

 330 Alchemist Lord

    What made Zhang Tie regretful was that there were no subterranean river courses through which he could slip away. It was like a huge bowl had been put underground. Besides some weird shiny aquatic plants and fishes, it was full of icy stones at the bottom of the lake.


    With eyes slightly closed, Zhang Tie started to feel the water flow. Along the flowing water, he found an undercurrent at the bottom of the lake.


    ''That man won''t dive in, I won''t come out of the water, will we just maintain this state?


    ''But I have advantage of time now. As long as I don''t go out, when the Hidden Dragon Palace and Long Wind Business Group realize there''s an abnormal situation, they will definitely send a powerhouse here.'' Zhang Tie comforted himself as he felt a bit worried, not knowing what other methods those guys might apply.


    After staying in the dragon cave for a long while, benefited from setting free earthworms, Zhang Tie started to feel the effect of his preliminary recovery body.


    ''It''s also a good chance to recover myself!


    ''Do I need to hide in Castle of Black Iron for a while? As long as I stay in Castle of Black Iron for 2 days, it would definitely be chaotic outside. By then, that guy should have already escaped. ''


    An idea flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind.


    ''No, that''s my final trump card for a live threatening situation. I should not expose my trump card until the last moment. As long as this trump card is exposed, it would bring me numerous troubles.''


    Zhang Tie then started to recover under water...


    That man on the bank was standing still with his icy, gleaming eyes narrowed and fixed on the water.


    He knew that he had wounded Zhang Tie just now, but he didn''t know whether Zhang Tie had died or not.


    Neither of the 2 men moved.


    Gradually, the lake recovered its tranquility...


    10 minutes later, the man''s lackeys finally arrived at here with gasps. Due to Zhang Tie''s counterattack, only 8 of them were left alive.


    Seeing his lackeys return, that man in black clothes asked coldly, "Have you dealt with those corpses?"


    "Done!"


    "Fine, Zhang Tie has been wounded by my attack. He''s underwater now. I don''t know whether he''s dead or not; you two, go inside and check whether there''s any other subterranean river course or not. If Zhang Tie is dead, get his corpse out of there!"


    After glancing at the underground lake, one of them instantly walked out and dove inside the lake.


    After 2 minutes, the lake was still tranquil while nobody coming out. It seemed that a terrifying monster was hiding under water. That man who had dived inside the lake seemed to have just disappeared. Seeing this, the other 7 people''s faces all turned pale.


    "2 more in..." The man in black robe said in a cold-blooded way.


    2 of the 7 people then gritted their teeth before jumped inside...


    2 more minutes later, after the splatters caused by the 2 men when they jumped inside, the lake became tranquil once again. The 2 men didn''t come out either.


    "You''re still alive; and you have nowhere to go inside. Do you really think that I cannot force you out?" The man in black robe revealed a cold smile before ordered the rest 5 men whose faces had turned completely pale, "Prepare the crossbows and keep an eye on the water. Shoot anyone jumping out of the lake. I only need you to block him a few seconds!"


    After knowing that they didn''t need to go inside the lake, the rest people all let out a sigh, "Yes, sir!".


    When the 5 people stood on five directions over the lake with crossbows, that man in black robe then took out of a pitch-black vial and poured all the liquid from the vial into the lake.


    The moment he poured the liquid into the lake, the water inside had already started to turn black. After a few seconds, fish inside the lake started to die one by another. Finally, the water''s surface was filled with floating, dead fish.


    With a slight sound of "Hula" on the farthest side of the lake, a body suddenly flew out of the water. At the sight of it, the five lackeys who had long waited instantly triggered their crossbows. At the same time, the man in black robe flashed towards that place.


    With a sound of "Pata", that body fell onto the bank after being shot by 5 bolts. When the man in black robe and the other guys ran over there and turned over that body, they were startled as it was their partner who had dived inside. Because it was wearing Zhang Tie''s clothes, they had not recognized it.


    ''Too bad!'' As this thought flashed across the leader''s mind, another splash was heard from the other side of the water as Zhang Tie jumped out of the water and rushed away.


    With a growl, that man in black robe hurriedly started to chase after Zhang Tie. As a LV 10 powerhouse, he had been tricked by Zhang Tie many times. He''d been driven completely furious and had determined to tear Zhang Tie into pieces.


    ...


    Ten minutes later...


    With a sound of "bang", Zhang Tie smacked the black battle qi which was launched towards him in the air; however, a powerful aftershock coursed through him and causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.


    After being struck once again, Zhang Tie lost his balance and rolled down along an inclined slope.


    That was a pretty narrow, long, and smooth slope of a huge underground valley. It was an intersection of two huge quartz deposits. It extended several hundred meters underground. After losing the control of his body, Zhang Tie kept rolling downward along the slope and became disoriented and dizzy.


    This feeling reminded Zhang Tie of that scene that he was forced by some wild wolves to jump into the cave of Gold-eaten boas. What was different was that the man behind him was several times sharper than those b*tches.


    Zhang Tie didn''t stop until 3 minutes later. The moment he stopped, he felt the bone-scorching heat from the ground along with a surrounding rosy light.


    There was a river of magma which was slowly flowing under this seam. With the exception of that slope, he was surrounded by high-temperature lava in three directions.


    The moment Zhang Tie forcefully picked himself up from the ground, he had heard a weird ridicule, "jie...jie...jie...".


    "Keep running, why stop? You''re really good at choosing places. This is a good place to destroy your body!" Like a black cloud, that man jumped off the quartz on the slope and landed several meters away from Zhang Tie. He then started to stare at Zhang Tie with an alert but mocking look.


    After rolling down the slope for so long, Zhang Tie had been further wounded. Besides, he was suffering from slight poisoning. As a result, he spat out another mouthful of blood.


    After wiping off the blood from the corners of his mouth, Zhang Tie didn''t stand up; instead, he kept half-squatting like a wolf and gazed at that man with an unyielding and icy gaze.


    "I swear that if I don''t die today, I will definitely tear up your family members and those people who assigned you here into pieces!" Zhang Tie pointed at him and firmly swore.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, that man''s pupils narrowed slightly as he replied in ridicule, "Do you think that you can survive today?"


    After saying this, that man surged forward like a lightning bolt as he directly smacked towards Zhang Tie''s head, aiming to kill Zhang Tie directly and sparing no chance to survive him...


    Almost at the same time, a gleaming sword qi brightened up over Zhang Tie''s waist like a lightning bolt formed by a red snake...


    The battle of life or death was so transient and fierce that in less than a second, they''d already exchanged more than ten attacks...


    One second later, Zhang Tie was blasted away by that man. Meanwhile, his red-snake sword drew a curving line in the air and dropped into the river of magma dozens of meters away which then slowly sunk inside...


    That man in black robe touched the wound on his left shoulder and the mask on his face; he then looked at Zhang Tie who was spitting out blood and forcefully standing up once again before sighing, "As a LV 10 powerful fighter, I could have ignored most of common fighters under LV 9. I''ve not imagined that I could be wounded by you three times. You''re the first one in the world who could wound me in face-to-face battle. I will never allow you to survive in this world. As we are both Chinese, I''ll give you the chance to tell me your last words!"


    Zhang Tie could feel his chest and abdomen almost being torn off due to pain. Glaring at that man whose mask had been broken by him, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth and asked, "Who are you?"


    "You don''t need to know who I am. If dead people actually get to live in another world, we might have a chance to witness how we are worshipped by all the future generations!" With a wisp of ridicule full of killing intent, that man drew close to Zhang Tie one step by another, "What other trump card do you have. If you don''t use it now, I''m afraid that you won''t have another chance to use it!"


    Zhang Tie slightly narrowed his eyes and showed no panic at all. He truly had a final trump card; however, Zhang Tie was somewhat hesitant.


    ''I should use this chance to escape...


    ''I should use this chance to escape...


    ''I should use this chance to escape...


    ''Give me a bit more time, I should use this chance to escape...''


    Zhang Tie growled inside while that man kept drawing closer to him. Each of that man''s step forward was oppressive and cautious which was especially owned by powerhouse.


    When Zhang Tie was racking his mind to seek for the last chance of survival in this dilemma, Zhang Tie''s eyes were fully filled with amazement that could be rarely seen in this world when he threw his eyes behind that man''s back.


    "Did you think that trick would work on me a second time and earn another 2 seconds of life for you, did you think I would actually believe it this time? Ha...ha...unless it''s an immortal, nobody can save you at this moment..." Throwing a derisive glance towards Zhang Tie, he ridiculed Zhang Tie''s naive and ignorant trick.


    "I''ve never said that I''m an immortal, but I remember that some in the Eastern Continent call me ''Alchemist Lord''!" A faint old man''s voice tinged with fatigue drifted from behind the man in black robe.

 331 Identify People by Their Ears

    Chapter 331: Identify People by Their Ears


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Hearing this abrupt yet aged voice coming from behind him, the man in the black robe reacted as quickly and ferociously as a lightning bolt. Lowering his body, he turned around and punch out at the same time.


    In a split second, the battle qi of the LV 10 fighter rolled up like a dragon. A huge ferocious reptile that Zhang Tie had not seen before had formed. Having been chased after by that man so long, it was Zhang Tie''s first time seeing the battle qi totem of a LV 10 powerful fighter.


    With a dull thunder in the air, the man had smacked his two palms onto the chest of the person behind him.


    Time seemed to stop at that moment...


    That man in the black robe also saw clearly who was behind him.


    It was a beggar-like, old man with broken clothes and messy hair.


    That man was very dumbfounded; but he was not as stunned as Zhang Tie. Because Zhang Tie knew this old man. Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could encounter this old man here.


    Zhang Tie saw this old man walking out of the river of magma like how people walk out of a common river.


    ''Someone was able to stay in magma?'' Zhang Tie was really shocked.


    Zhang Tie even started to wonder if it was an illusion; however, the man in the black robe''s reaction told Zhang Tie that it was real, because the man in the black robe heard and saw it too. As Zhang Tie thought all this, the man''s attacks connected with that old man''s chest.


    ''What would be the result if a person was smacked by a LV 10 powerful fighter who had exerted his utmost strength?'' Zhang Tie knew that if it was him, he would be killed immediately!


    However, that old man didn''t die; instead, he maintained his expression and his messy hairstyle. With only a glance, the man in black robe had started to shriek miserably.


    Zhang Tie also slightly opened his mouth as he watched the guy who had chased after him to shriek horribly like a little girl who''d been raped.


    "Argh, how could this happen; my attack was absorbed by you, what the hell are you, argh..."


    When the man''s hands were 2 cm away from the old man, they had been blocked and sucked in by an invisible wall...


    "Nowadays, young men really don''t know how to respect old..." That old man let out a sigh, "I didn''t mean you any harm; yet, you want to kill me?"


    With the man''s shrill cries and Zhang Tie''s amazement, the LV 10 powerful fighter''s arms started to turn red, they dried up, hardened, blackened, and carbonized like being immersed in magma before scattering like dried ash and fell onto the ground...


    After losing his hands in a few seconds, the LV 10 powerful fighter became handicapped and spat out a mouthful of blood before falling down onto the ground with his face to the sky.


    After that man fell down, the beggar-like old man moved his eyes onto Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie rubbed his eyes as forcefully swallowed his saliva and fixed his eyes onto that old man with a bitter smile, "O... old man, good to see you again..."


    This old man was that same old beggar whom Zhang Tie met in the wharf and White Dragon Town several days ago. When he saw this old man in White Dragon Town, he had been thrown onto the street by some servants of Zhao Mansion and was almost beaten up. Zhang Tie even gave his purse to him at that time.


    Since that day, this old man would occasionally come to the wharf to watch Zhang Tie setting free the sandscale fish. He didn''t say much; like a lunatic, he usually squatted by the seaside for several hours. As long as Zhang Tie asked him about his family, the old man would be driven mad. Therefore, Zhang Tie only took him as a common, poor, old beggar. As Zhang Tie felt very pitiful about him, sometimes, he would bring the old man some food or clothes.


    It was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that such an old beggar could be such a great powerhouse. Without any movement, he had already crippled a LV 10 powerhouse. Zhang Tie could not imagine how powerful such a man was.


    Fixing his eyes on Zhang Tie, the old man didn''t say anything as he started to look over Zhang Tie.


    At the sight of the old man, Zhang Tie''s heart started to race at once, ''You''d better not forget who I am at this time, if you treated me like how you treated him, I would not even have a chance to say help.''


    Looking at the old man''s intense gaze, Zhang Tie hurriedly wiped off the dirt and bloodstain from his face before sorting out his hair to make him look not that embarrassed. After that, he tried to relax his face before forced a smile and slowed his voice, "Don''t you remember me? I''m Zhang Tie. The boy who usually set free the sandscale fish on the wharf with you. I bought you roasted fish and bamboo rice last time. Do you remember that?"


    Looking at Zhang Tie''s hilarious expression, the beggar-like old man revealed a wisp of smile at the corners of his mouth, "Of course I remember you. You are almost the only one who has given a favor to me in my life. You foisted your purse in my coat. It contained 2 gold coins, 38 silver coins and 17 copper coins in total. You even invited me to eat food 6 times and bought me a suit of clothes; besides, you invited me to live in hotel and take a bath..." After saying this, the old man casually kicked that dead guy lying on the ground like trash at the side of the road. "What happened between him and you? It seemed like he wanted to kill you..."


    Zhang Tie didn''t know why this old man appeared here at this moment and still hadn''t recovered his composure even now.


    "Alas, it''s hard to say!" Zhang Tie sighed as he peered at that old man''s clothes which was gifted by Zhang Tie. It was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that the clothes remained unchanged when the old man walked out of the magma. "I intend to officially enter LV 7 by forming my LV 7 battle-qi totem, but I couldn''t have imagined that I would be screwed over by someone. If not for you, I might have..."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the old man could understand Zhang Tie''s feeling very well as he was driven infuriated at once, "There are always numerous shameless guys and villains in this world. Since he wants to kill you, I will solve your problem for you!" With a casual reply, the old man walked towards the guy lying on the ground full of killing intent, which instantly frightened Zhang Tie.


    Looking at that old man raising his foot and intending to stomp that guy to death, Zhang Tie hurriedly shouted, "Wait, please..."


    "What? You want to set free him?" the old man asked, somewhat discontent.


    "I need to ask some questions. I want to see who''s aiming for my life before killing him in case they plan to bring me more troubles in the future!"


    Saying this, Zhang Tie walked over there and wanted to wake up that man. However, he could not wake him up at all. Therefore, Zhang Tie threw his helpless eyes towards that old man.


    The old man then woke up the man by kicking the place under his armpits.


    "Go ahead, he''s not able to move now!" The old man just stood aside with arms crossed.


    Zhang Tie directly tore off that man''s mask.


    It was a 30-40 male''s face which looked narrow, long and a bit gloomy.


    After waking up, that man revealed a mad, hysterical smile. He then glared at Zhang Tie and that old man while saying furiously, "Zhang Tie, I was unlucky this time, but you will get nothing from me!"


    Zhang Tie ridiculed, "I''m sure someone would know your face. Do you really think that Zhang Clan would find no clues with its great ability?"


    "Ha...ha..." That man burst out in crazy laughter as he spat out blood, "You can try; let''s see whether Huaiyuan Palace can get any clues from me. Even if you chop off my head, I tell you, nobody would be able to identify who I am from my face..."


    "Really?" Zhang Tie revealed a wisp of smile. He didn''t gaze at that man''s face; instead, he observed his ears very carefully like appreciating a top-rank painting, "I know organizations that act in the shadows, like yours, usually make their agents hide their true faces. Besides the most common mask, you must have made enough preparations to hide your real identity. You might have accepted cosmetic surgery a long time ago; therefore, in any case, you are not afraid of being identified!"


    That man''s smile turned slightly grim, "Glad you know that. Although Huaiyuan Palace is powerful, it will never know my real identity. As long as I am killed, you just wait for the revenge from my organization!"


    "Do you really think that you would not be recognized by others?" A wisp of mocking flashed by Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    "It''s said that before the catastrophe, human beings could identify one''s real status by testing his or her DNA; but times have changed now. That trick won''t work anymore!" That man gave a cold harrumph.


    "Really pitifully, I knew a mean fat guy previously. Due to the demands of his profession and his eccentric hobbies, he used to cross dress himself. He told me that no matter whether a man had undergone cosmetic surgery, worn a mask, or changed his look with the help of cross-dressing medicament, there''s one place where he could not change at all!" Zhang Tie sneered, "Do you know where it is..."


    "That''s impossible!" that man firmly replied with a sneer.


    "Not impossible, but commoners could not imagine that at all. There''s a place where people could not change!" Saying this, Zhang Tie pulled that man''s ears and pinched it forcefully, "Your ears, to be exact, your auricles did not undergo cosmetic surgery along with your face. Because of its special structure, you could at most slightly change its shape; however, you could not change its structure at all unless you want a obviously defected physical feature due to surgery!"


    "So what?"


    "This question indicates your stupidity..." Zhang Tie let out a sigh, "Don''t you know that one''s auricle is composed of helix, helix tubercle, fossae helices, cristae helix, concha auriculae, tragus, antitragus and fossae triangularis auriculae. The helix is composed of 19 greater identification regions, which were further divided into 34 smaller identification zones. Compared to one''s look, one''s ear contains more typical personal identification features. Among the 19 greater identification regions and the 34 smaller identification zones, there are 12 identification features in overlapping regions which could reflect one''s bloodline and clan heritage traits. Besides those from the same clan, no two people in the world could share the same traits of ears. Ear traits can be more specific than traits of eyes or faces!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, the man lying on the ground instantly changed his face. Even the old man who was always quiet beside Zhang Tie threw his slightly shocking glance towards Zhang Tie. He seemed to be surprised by the depth of Zhang Tie''s knowledge.


    Zhang Tie didn''t look at that man''s expression; instead, he kept mumbling, "Identifying people by one''s ears was taught by that mean fat. It was a secret knowledge which could only be mastered by that pervert. Do you know that I was forced by that fatty to gaze at customers'' ears every day?


    Do you know how long it took me to be able to identify one''s heritage from the moment I see them? Do you know how abnormal the training was?"


    "So what? There are so many people on the Waii Sub-Continent. Do you want to check each person''s ears?" that man asked, pretending to be calm.


    "No need to check everyone across the Waii Sub-Continent. Actually, when I firstly came here to form battle qi, I met a young man who came in here together with our team. When someone praised Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace, I remember that that guy responded with a cold harrumph. As few people dare to speak ill of Zhang clan within the territory of Zhang clan, I then paid special attention to him; besides, after forming battle qi, I have researched his background through the relationship of Hidden Dragon Palace. What a coincidence. After looking at your ears carefully, I found the 12 clan heritage traits on your auricle are absolutely the same as his. Do you want to know which clan the young man came from..." As Zhang Tie said this, his eyes gradually became grim.


    By then, the man''s eyes had revealed his fear about Zhang Tie. Obviously, he had been flurried. He then shouted loudly, "Impossible...impossible, you will never get anything from me!"


    "What else could you idiots do except for screwing people and fiercely bullying those weaker than you in the way that you think''s smart?" Zhang Tie was driven mad as he slapped onto that man''s face; as a result, that man spat out blood as some of his teeth flew away, "Do you think this father is still cheating you, a dead man? That bastard''s surnamed Zhen, and is from Zhen Clan of Heavens Frozen Town, Langye Prefecture, Jinyun Country. You douchebags all come from Zhen Clan, right? You motherf*ckers are still waiting to be worshipped by others. I really wonder how many evil things your clan has done! In only a few days, your Zhen Clan of Heavens Frozen Town will be wiped away. You dared to screw me, f*ck you..." Zhang Tie directly spat his saliva onto that man.


    "No, I''m not from the Zhen Clan of Heavens Frozen Town; I''m not from the Zhen Clan of Heavens Frozen Town..." Lying on the ground, that guy shouted crazily, struggling to pick himself up. Although he denied it, his response and attitude at this moment had confirmed everything.


    "Certainly, whether you are from Zhen Clan or not will be investigated. Do you think that your Zhen Clan can hide anything under the piercing gaze of Huaiyuan Palace?" Zhang Tie sneered, "Do you think that you are the smartest ones in the world? If you dare to stir up trouble with me, you have to be prepared to pay the price!"


    With his eyes fixed on Zhang Tie, that guy stared at Zhang Tie in horror. His eyes were going to pop out. Not until then did he understand how tyrannous Zhang Tie was. Zhang Tie''s mind was more terrifying that his fighting skills, battle qi, and his horrible hidden weapons.


    Any tiny loophole, once noticed by Zhang Tie, would be widened to the size of a mountain. Such a person was too terrible and abnormal. Not until today did that man know such a pervert existed who could identify people not by one''s look, but by one''s ears...


    "You freak... freak, I will not let you go even if I die!" The man shrieked desperately as he spat out a mouthful of black blood. After that, he tilted his head to one side and died. Soon after he died, his body had started to corrode rapidly. In only a few minutes, even a greater part of his bones had been eroded.


    Zhang Tie then pinched his nose as he moved back a few steps, "What a terrifying, corrosive poison! It was hidden in his teeth. Even his body was eroded..."


    After saying this, Zhang Tie heard no response; therefore, he turned around and found the old beggar was fixing his gleaming eyes on him like how a lady-killer watched a beauty and how a dog watched a bone with meat. The old man''s gleaming eyes made Zhang Tie quiver all over.


    "Old man... why... why are you gazing at me?" Feeling a bit nervous, Zhang Tie asked as he was afraid that the old man became lunatic once again.


    "Not bad... not bad... clearly, it seems that you would not be easily screwed over by others!" The old man seemed very happy.


    Zhang Tie then smirked, "Oh, I''ve not thanked you for saving my life...I want to make sure that if you were walking out of the magma just now?"


    "The temperature of the red magma is only 500-600 degrees Celsius!" That old man shook his hands casually, "You will understand in the future that many things that are considered unimaginable are only considered so because people were not able to make it! As long as you make it, you will consider it normal."


    Zhang Tie then thought about Castle of Black Iron which he was still confused about as he nodded.


    "Oh, as I''ve met you so many times, what should I call you?" Zhang Tie asked politely.


    "As I''ve said, they all call me Alchemist Lord!" The old man stared at Zhang Tie with a smile like he''d noticed a gold ingot, "Don''t be so polite, you can call me master!"


    "Master!" Zhang Tie then called him at his request. He then felt the appellation was a bit weird, ''Is this old man surnamed "Shi"? This name is really fitting for him.''


    "Eh..." After Zhang Tie called him "master", the old man then responded seriously.


    At the sight of the old man''s satisfactory expression, Zhang Tie then felt something was not right. He then wanted to explain, "Argh...I didn''t mean..."


    When Zhang Tie was going to explain, the subordinates of the man in black robe had rushed downwards the slope in a flurried way.


    "Don''t make any noise..." Hearing the noise, the old man''s face instantly turned grim. By only flipping his finger, he had already sent a small blue item flying towards them, like a meteor chasing after moon, at a speed much faster than Zhang Tie''s handbolts. Additionally, it was quiet; in a split second, it had fallen in the middle of them after travelling a distance of over 200 m...


    With a earth-shaking explosion, scorching flames and powerful blast wave swept across. Although Zhang Tie was over 200 m away, he could still feel a wave of hot wind after which was chilling in a sense.


    After the explosion and the flames, none of the lackeys had been left. Gazing at that explosion and the flames, Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva, ''motherf*cker, what the hell is this old man?''


    "Oh, what did you want to say to this master just now?" Looking as icy as frost just now, the old beggar turned around at this moment and asked Zhang Tie with a smile.


    ''Explosion...explosion...alchemist lord...alchemist lord...alchemist lord...''


    Zhang Tie instantly understood what happened. Without any hesitation, he knelt down on the ground at once and kowtowed three times forcefully, "Master, it''s my great honor to be your apprentice!"

 332 A Gift from Master

    Chapter 332: A Gift from Master


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Certainly, there were a lot of things and people that were out of Zhang Tie''s imagination, such as the Castle of Black Iron, the Bamboo woods Old Man, and this old man who was safe and sound while walking out of magma of 500-600 degrees Celsius...


    Zhang Tie was always broad-minded; because he could not understand it, he would stop thinking about it for now. What counted at the moment was that Zhang Tie had found a powerful ally, which Zhang Tie had dreamed about having even in his dreams.


    "Master, although we''ve known each other so long, I still don''t know about your name." As they walked through the underground gloomy karst cave, Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity. Now that he had become his apprentice, it would be improper if he didn''t know his master''s real name.


    "My family name is Zhao; my given name is Yuan!" The strange old man walked as he explained. After telling Zhang Tie that, he sighed, "I can''t remember how many years it''s been since I last used that name. As they all call me alchemist lord, few people know my real name..."


    Hearing his sigh, Zhang Tie felt a bit distressed and depressed. Looking at the old man''s weak frame and his messy hair, Zhang Tie then remembered how the old man strayed in Hidden Dragon Island alone before; not knowing why, he instantly felt pitiful about the old man.


    Although walking in darkness and Zhang Tie didn''t utter any voice, Zhao Yuan seemed knowing what Zhang Tie was thinking about; therefore, he turned around and glanced at Zhang Tie with depreciative eyes, "This master was always living a cool and splendid life. The alleged power and wealth pursued by everybody was nothing but dung and weeds. Other people would either fear me or flatter me. You''re the first person who''s thought I was pitiful, he...he..."


    With a bashful smile, Zhang Tie immediately recalled something, "Master, are you really from Zhao Mansion of White Dragon Town?"


    As Zhang Tie remembered that his master was thrown onto the street by the servants of Zhao Mansion, he then asked to verify it. Given this old man''s performance and power, he should not have been thrown out by common servants. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt weird about that.


    "Although this master''s family name is Zhao, I''m not from Zhao Mansion of White Dragon Town..." The old man''s shoulders slightly collapsed while his eyes turned depressed, "This master might be delirious sometimes and would take other''s home as mine; previously, this master''s home in Eastern Continent was also called Zhao Mansion; but now, I have no home anymore..."


    Zhang Tie became silent. From the old man''s words, he could feel many sad things. Although Zhang Tie wanted to ask, at the sight of the old man''s desolate wrinkles when he mentioned Zhao Mansion and his family, Zhang Tie swallowed his words back.


    The old man''s words reminded Zhang Tie that the old man didn''t pretend to test him before; instead, the old man was truly delirious at that time. In this way, Zhang Tie became the old man''s apprentice. Although the old man was almost like a lunatic when he lost his mind; when he recovered his consciousness, he seemed to be able to remember everything that had happened to him. The old man was really sharp with irregular mixed moods.


    "Master, why...why do you want me as your apprentice? Have you''ve long considered it before?"


    "Ha...ha...if I want to do something, I would do it right away. If I want you as my apprentice, I would not have waited until now! It would not be that troublesome even if I wanted to destroy a country or a city!" The old man smiled , "Brat, I found you somewhat smart and innocent just now and had some potential to be a talent. Additionally, I owe you for the these past few days; therefore, I will take you as my apprentice as a payment..."


    "You mean that you were not waiting to save me there?" Zhang Tie widened his eyes.


    "Waiting to save you?"


    "I thought that you know fortune-telling skills like those people on the Eastern Continent and knew that your apprentice is in trouble; therefore, you were here to save me!" Zhang Tie smirked.


    "If I knew fortune-telling skills and wanted to save you, I''d only have to find who wanted to harm you and directly kill him along with his organization and clan. Why do I need to wait here for them to kill you!" The old man threw contemptuous eyes towards Zhang Tie, "When you reach my level, one day, you will know that the most direct and simplest way is the most effective. Everything is determined on life and death situations and your wits, no need to care about the superfluous things!"


    "Everything is determined on life and death situation and your mind?" Zhang Tie was a bit startled by this answer.


    "As life and death situations are big events in this world, you have to pay attention to them; as one''s mind is the source of free will, when you even ignore a life and death situation, you should question your own mind instead trusting everything." the old man replied.


    "Master, your opinion is really good!" Zhang Tie applauded and burst out laughing, feeling pretty cool.


    "If you want to consider things in this way, you have to be powerful!" The old man glanced at Zhang Tie, "If you love an emperor''s wife and want her to warm your bed and give birth to a baby for you, you have to be able to be the enemy of the country and defeat that emperor; otherwise, the rude guy would definitely have his head chopped off instead of having a baby if he shouted before the gate of the imperial palace that he loves the empress"


    "Master, you mean I have to improve my fighting skills?"


    "Among the fighters, although you''re only LV 7, you are already excellent; but in the eyes of real powerhouses, fighters are as weak as ants. Although you are a relatively powerful ant with sharp teeth, you are still an ant. If real powerhouses want to kill you, it would be as easy as stomping an ant to death. Take this time as an example, your opponent assigned a soldier ant who''s more powerful than you; as a result, they almost kill you! You are in danger at any time, that''s why you need to improve your fighting skills. " After saying this, the old man glared at Zhang Tie.


    "Master, who''s qualified as a real powerhouse? Do you mean those fighters above LV 15?"


    "You know fighters?"


    Zhang Tie then scratched his head bashfully, "Previously, I didn''t know it as I thought a LV 9 fighter was already a powerhouse; when I came to Hidden Dragon Island, I knew that there''s a long way to go and there''s a new world after LV 15!"


    "That''s true. The alleged powerhouses are relative. In commoners'' eyes, a LV 9 fighter might be a powerhouse; however, in a LV 9 fighter''s eyes, fighting masters and great fighting masters could be powerhouses; the qualifications of powerhouses are different in each one''s eyes. It''s okay for you to take knights as powerhouses, but in my opinion, only those who have mastered the 3-in-1 power are qualified to be called powerhouses! "The old man replied arrogantly.


    "3-in-1 power?" Hearing this mysterious term, Zhang Tie''s curiosity was piqued once again, "What''s that power? How powerful is it?"


    "The 3-in-1 power forms together with the source of human beings and the source of universe. Some knights can master this power, but not every knight can master it. 3-in-1 power is the most mysterious and supreme domain. Oh, you have to remember that you should not expose the message that you''re my apprentice to the public before you become a knight!" The old man warned Zhang Tie solemnly.


    "Why, Master?"


    "As I can''t protect you all the time, as long as the public know that you''re my apprentice, in only a few days, you will definitely be killed even if Huaiyuan Palace tries to protect you..." With his shrewd eyes fixed onto Zhang Tie, the old man explained, "If my opponents know that this master has an apprentice, they would at least assign a LV 15 knight who excels at assassinations to kill you!"


    ''A LV 15 knight who excels at assassinations?'' Zhang Tie felt as if he''d been struck by a lightning bolt. A LV 10 fighter had almost forced him to use his trump card ¡ª the Castle of Black Iron; if it was a LV 15 guy, Zhang Tie was concerned that he might not even know how he was killed.


    "Master, who are your opponents?" Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva. The word "opponents" really shocked Zhang Tie as he thought inside that those who were qualified to be the old man''s opponents were definitely not commoners.


    "Besides numerous trivial people whom I can''t remember..." The old man shook his hand casually, "There are 2 or 3 sharp figures whom could not harm me; instead, sometimes, they make plans to find trouble from me. You don''t need to know who they are for now, as it might intensify your tension if you knew who they were. If so, your cultivation and mental state would be influenced. I should tell you that if they know the relationship between you and me, they would never let you live!"


    After thinking awhile, Zhang Tie asked, "Master, because of the events today, including the betrayal, when I get back, I will definitely have to explain the details of the matter to Hidden Dragon Palace and Long Wind Business Group. They will definitely assign people here for a thorough investigation. But I can''t explain how that guy was killed and the explosion you killed his lackeys with. What if they asked about it?"


    "It doesn''t matter. Except for the thing that I have you as my apprentice, you just explain all the details to them. I was just walking out of the magma and disliked them, so I killed them!"


    "But, if I do that, you''ll be involved in it!"


    "No problem, I will be leaving Hidden Dragon Island soon, as your level is too low, I cannot pass on my fighting skills to you. I will come back for you when you reach LV 9!" Saying this, the old man pulled out a diamond-shaped, dark-red stone which looked like a crystal and handed it to Zhang Tie, "This is a soul crystal. It contains a bit of my aura; as long as you take it, I will be able to sense your location, wherever you are!"


    Zhang Tie then put it in his pocket carefully.


    "Are you using night viewing medicament?"


    "Yes, if not, I wouldn''t see things clearly!" Zhang Tie replied honestly.


    "Because I''ve been in the cave for several days, I found this. It seems to be something that has been disposed of by the God. As this master doesn''t always carry money around with him, I will gift this thing to you!"


    The old man took out of a purse-sized, silk container and threw it to Zhang Tie.


    The moment Zhang Tie touched that thing, he felt ice cold. The material of the bulging silk container was a bit special. Zhang Tie wondered, "Master, what''s inside?"


    "It''s a lotus seedpod of a fiery-flame red lotus that I picked up in the magma..."


    "Fiery-flame red lotus? It sounds great," Zhang Tie mumbled.

 333 Face Life With a Smile

    Chapter 333: Face Life With a Smile


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    "The fiery-flame red lotus lives in the magma underground. It''s an exotic treasure in this world. Commoners could rarely see it. Even though commoners might find it by chance, they couldn''t harvest it. Even average lotus seeds could brighten one''s eyes and improve one''s spirit, the lotus seeds of fiery-flame red lotus living in magma have much better effects. With only a few of them, you will have a much better visual ability and gain a much better night vision abilities in darkness than night viewing medicament!" The old man smiled.


    "Thanks, master!"


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie was pretty thrilled. It was really awesome to gain the night vision ability. It was like intensifying the effect of night viewing medicament on him. Zhang Tie knew that this item was definitely priceless as it could grant people a new ability¡ª¡ªnight vision. When he thought about it, he was very excited.


    "As the lotus seed in the lotus seedpod is very hard, you can''t directly eat it." The old man urged, "When you go back, remember to take out the lotus seed and soak it in liquor. Three days later, the lotus seed would be softened while the color of the liquor would turn as red as blood. By then, you can eat the lotus seed together with the liquor. This fiery-flame red lotus seed has an excellent effect. After eating it, you would feel hot and dry all over. You''d better soak your whole body in cold water in case your eyes are destroyed by the great effect of the lotus seed!"


    "Master, how many lotus seeds do I need to eat before it takes effect?"


    "Ten seeds is enough for each time. As the fiery-flame red lotus is an exotic treasure, its seeds have numerous effects. You could keep the remaining lotus seeds so that you might use them in the future. If you can stand it, you could also eat them all in batches!"


    I''m rich. This lotus seedpod contains at least 20 seeds. That is to say, after eating 10 seeds, I have another 10 left. Zhang Tie felt very happy, My master is really excellent. This country bumpkin hasn''t even heard about this gift before.


    As they talked, they''ve already gotten close to the entrance of the Dragon Cave as a light beam threw inside.


    "Remember, I will be back for you in a half year to 1 year. As the holy war is coming, dangers exist everywhere, you need to watch out for yourself!"


    "Bon voyage, master!" Zhang Tie became a bit sad.


    "Hehe, I wouldn''t have imagined that I could have an apprentice, see you!" After touching Zhang Tie''s head, Zhao Yuan smiled as he turned around and strode away and disappeared in a few footsteps like a shadow under Zhang Tie curious gaze.


    "Do powerhouses always leave in this way?" Zhang Tie mumbled.


    ...


    After exiting the Dragon Cave, Zhang Tie looked at the sunset and sniffed the air which was much fresher than that underground. Only after an afternoon, Zhang Tie had felt reborn. After being betrayed, almost assassinated, and gaining a master, Zhang Tie started to realize the importance of chance.


    It''s really nice to be alive!


    After experiencing the whole afternoon''s struggle, Zhang Tie''s clothes had become ragged. Additionally, he had suffered a lot of bruises and wounds. At this moment, he looked really embarrassed, especially at the entrance of the Dragon Cave alone, which made him very attractive.


    It was almost close to dusk when many people who had entered Dragon Cave to form battle qis started to exit one by another. For many people, they could not form battle qi at once like Zhang Tie. Additionally, Hell-black spiders would be more active and more hard to be dealt with at night; therefore, those who were not very powerful would come out of Dragon Cave before night fell.


    "Master, that man looks so poor!" The other two people exited as one girl among them started to feel pitiful about Zhang Tie at the sight of his poor look.


    "This is the result of poor fighting skills. This man looks young, he might not have formed battle qi before entering Dragon Cave. He''s lucky to come back alive!" Hand in hand, the girl then left with her master after a glance at Zhang Tie.


    "Senior brother...Zhang...Zhang Tie..." Another amazing sound drifted from Zhang Tie''s back. Zhang Tie turned around and saw Du Yuhan, Lv Shasha, and Qu Liangying coming out of Dragon Cave. It was Qu Liangying who called him just now. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s look, all the girls were stunned, including Guo Miaolu.


    "Argh, junior sisters. Are you forming battle qi here?" Zhang Tie greeted them with a smile.


    "Yea, we''re all LV 6 now. We''re forming battle qi here. When we form our battle qi, we will be able to enter Breaking Heavens Department together like senior brother. These days, senior sister Guo takes us here to form soul fire!" Qu Liangying explained with a pair of blinking eyes fixed on Zhang Tie.


    It seemed that Guo Miaolu still estranged Zhang Tie. She formed her battle qi 1 month later than Zhang Tie did. After entering Breaking Heavens Department, she didn''t meet Zhang Tie. When Zhang Tie asked girls from Zhixing Department to help him last time, Guo Miaolu was not there either. Therefore, at the sight of Zhang Tie and thinking about the debt that she owed to Zhang Tie, she felt a bit embarrassed, not knowing what to say.


    Guo Miaolu didn''t say anything while the other girls became more intimate with Zhang Tie.


    "Senior brother Zhang Tie...what''s wrong with you? Why are you standing here?" Lyu Shasha asked with a bit embarrassed look. The moment Zhang Tie moved his eyes to her, thinking of the disgusting joke that Zhang Tie had made with her, the little girl hurriedly lower her head down and silently hid behind Du Yuhan.


    Seeing this, Du Yuhan brutally threw the white of her eyes towards Zhang Tie.


    "Nothing serious, I just feel very lucky to be alive today; therefore, I stood here to breathe more fresh air! I almost could not get out of Dragon Cave today!" Zhang Tie said with a smile like making a joke. When Lyu Shasha raise her head and stared at Zhang Tie, he even made a grimace towards her. She then became scared and hid behind Du Yuhan once again.


    "You are raving again!" Not knowing why, at the sight of Zhang Tie''s joking look, Guo Miaolu would be unhappy. Therefore, after Zhang Tie joked, Guo Miaolu instantly condemned him.


    "Alas, it''s true!" Zhang Tie looked more exaggerated. With a bitter look, he started to tell them what happened to him this afternoon with exaggerating movements, "I was firstly raided by a LV 9 b*stard. He almost stabbed a chopstick-sized steel needle into my head. Thankfully, I was agile and stopped him..."


    "Keep boasting, what''s next!" Qu Liangying smiled.


    "That b*stard has been killed by me. After that, a LV 10 fighter chased after me along with a great number of lackeys holding crossbows. When I hid in water after being wounded, I was forced out by their poison. Finally, I was almost smacked to death by that guy and threw into magma...


    Still being alive after being chased by LV 9 and LV 10 fighters? None of the girls at present believed it was true.


    "This senior brother can''t leave you alone. If I just leave you in this way, junior sister Guo would be too sad, right?" Zhang Tie joked shamelessly.


    "Harrumph!" Guo Miaolu''s eyebrows raised as she prepared to lose temper, however, at the sight of Zhang Tie''s shameless look, not knowing why she just couldn''t do it. Instead, she just replied with a cold harrumph and looked aside.


    "Liar, if you were truly chased by LV 9 and LV 10 fighters, it would be a big event and you must have saved for help. How could you still joke here?" Lyu Shasha showed her head from Du Yuhan''s back and rebutted Zhang Tie like a timid rabbit.


    Zhang Tie then revealed a smile like nothing had happened, "As I meet junior sisters here, I am too happy; therefore, I forgot that!"


    Saying this, his battle qi started to rise up like a rolling banner. It was a huge bloody banner of a huge terrifying centipede, which seemed to have felt Zhang Tie''s willingness and was roaring towards the heavens. As a result, many people in the neighboring towns caught sight of it and were stunned by it!


    After officially entering LV 7, Zhang Tie''s battle qi totem was more powerful and shocking visually compared to his battle qi when he was LV 6. The terrifying shadow of huge centipede in the bloody banner was as high as 20 floors. Everybody standing on the plains or mountains of the Hidden Dragon Island could see it...


    Zhang Tie''s battle qi totem kept waving crazily above Dragon Cave, which contained a rolling, unparalleled killing intent...


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s bloody banner; those girls'' expressions varified greatly: some of them were shocked, some were dubious while some were crazy about it like Qu Liangying.


    However, Lyu Shasha''s eyes were filled with tears. The moment Zhang Tie''s battle qi totem rolled up, Lyu Shasha had understood at once that those jokes that Zhang made with them were true. Zhang Tie faced life and death situation himself while always presenting his positive side in front of them...


    Du Yuhan also understood it. Glancing over Zhang Tie ragged clothes and wounds, she suddenly felt pity for him...


    With shrill sound booms, the first batch of powerhouses of Long Wind Business Group on Hidden Dragon Island arrived here. When they saw Zhang Tie''s embarrassed look, their faces changed at the same time...


    Zhang Tie then walked in front of Lyu Shasha and helped her wipe off her tears. After that, he twisted her delicate nose, "Don''t cry, this senior brother is alive; that means those who cross me have to go die..."


    ...

 334 Enlightenment and Response

    Chapter 334: Enlightenment and Response


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Zhang was not heavily wounded. Therefore, after leaving Dragon Cave, he didn''t go back to Hidden Dragon Palace at once; instead, with the protection of a great number of powerhouses from the Long Wind Business Group, he came to his own castle which was still in construction.


    The people assigned by Long Wind Business Group to protect Zhang Tie had tried to assassinate him with outsiders. This event was severe enough to cause great waves in Huaiyuan Palace.


    Therefore, the moment Zhang Tie went out of Dragon Cave, he had released his battle-qi totem, because he knew that it was just a beginning and a larger storm would arrive. Even if Long Wind Business Group wanted to end the investigation, he wouldn''t agree.


    Although the Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold Town in Langye Prefecture, Jinyun Country could not match Huaiyuan Palace, it was still powerful. Based on his intuition, Zhang Tie realized that the reason that the Zhen Clan dared to perform such an action must be very shocking.


    As only a few people know that I have the means of mass-producing an all-purpose medicament, how could this message be exposed to the public? Why Liu Xiang, that douchebag was assigned here to protect me? Thinking of the two questions, Zhang Tie started to feel a crisis, which didn''t come from outside, but from Huaiyuan Palace and the Long Wind Business Group.


    Certainly, Huaiyuan Palace would not gain profits at the risk of its direct descendant. However, as it was as huge as a kingdom, there were always some traitors. It was very normal and could not be avoided in any country.


    What happened today influenced Zhang Tie''s mentality more than his health. After today''s event, Zhang Tie realized that he had been trusting and relying on the Zhang Clan too much since he arrived at Huaiyuan Palace. Because of this, he was almost killed.


    After an analysis, Zhang Tie had a clearer recognition on the positioning of Huaiyuan Palace and himself¡ª¡ªZhang Clan was a giant ship while he was only an average passenger on this giant ship. It was true that by taking this giant ship of terrifying magnitude he could overcome some heavy wind and waves and deep water zones safe and sound. However, there were also some bad guys and mice who were gnawing at the boards of the ship.


    If I rely on that sense of safety brought by this giant ship and relax my vigilance, I might step on a place that has been eroded by mice and fall into the sea or be pushed into the sea from back like what happened today.


    The best way is to build a ship for my own. When in an emergency situation, I could save myself from that ship. I could be the captain so that I could go wherever I want instead of having to follow other''s orders.


    After leaving Dragon Cave, Zhang Tie had thought this through after a short while. Although Zhang Tie looked unchanged, he had already made a clear decision on the next plan¡ª¡ªit''s time to gradually turn all-purpose medicament and gold coins into his own power.


    ...


    The group of people soon arrived at the foot of the Yunju Mountain nearby White Dragon Town from Dragon Cave. Because those girls from Zhixing Department wanted to go back to Hidden Dragon Palace, they were headed the same way as Zhang Tie.


    "Junior sisters, we have to say good bye here. Hidden Dragon Island is not safe either. It will be more dangerous in the future. Someone even dared to assassinate me today, I don''t know what else would happen in the future. Junior sisters will have to take care yourselves. Never think that you can be safe and sound as the descendants or relatives by marrying male members of Zhang Clan!" Before separating with those girls, Zhang Tie warned them carefully.


    Sensing Zhang Tie''s concern and good intent, they were all moved a bit.


    "Won''t you go back to Hidden Dragon Palace together with us?" Qu Liangying asked out of curiosity.


    "I won''t..."Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he pointed at that completed main building, "From now on, I will always live here. If you need any help, you can find me here!"


    "Argh..." Watching that magnificent castle, Lyu Shasha stared at Zhang Tie and asked innocently, "You..you''ve got a job here? A guardian?"


    As the cooperation between Zhang Tie and Long Wind Business Group was still half-confidential, before mass production of all-purpose medicament, neither of the two parties had made any declaration; instead, they both maintained silent. Therefore, by then, over 99% of people in Hidden Dragon Palace had not known that the castle that covered over 30,000 square meters on the Yunju Mountain actually belonged to Zhang Tie.


    Hearing Lyu Shasha''s words, Zhang Tie became a bit depressed as he rubbed his bruised and swollen face and seriously stared at Lyu Shasha who looked innocent, "Does this senior brother look like a coolie? Don''t I look like rich man? Why can''t I build a castle for myself?"


    "Do you know how much it would take to build a castle?" Guo Miaolu stared at Zhang Tie with wide-opened eyes and asked without any confidence, "We could only spend the money that we have made on the island. Don''t cheat small girls with this trick anymore. Although you can make a lot of money by selling your all-purpose medicament, you are still not able to build a castle!"


    "Previously, I truly didn''t know how much it would spend to build a castle, but now I know, the total amount of money for building and decorating this castle was 460,000 gold coins!" Zhang Tie smirked as he shrugged his shoulders. At that moment, he didn''t even want to waste time by arguing with those little girls. "Perhaps in a few days, you would see my name in the first place of the Hidden Dragon Wealth List!"


    "Liar!" Du Yuhan twitched her mouth. In this age, 460,000 gold coins was a terrifying amount of money which weighed 11.5 tons. Even those richest senior brothers in Breaking Heavens Department only had 100,000-200,000 gold coins. Therefore, Du Yuhan thought that Zhang Tie was lying to her.


    "Haha, I mean it!" Zhang Tie didn''t explain. He then casually wove his hands towards those girls in a cool way to bid them farewell.


    After leaving those innocent junior girls from Zhixing Department, Zhang Tie''s face turned completely solemn at once. He then entered his castle in Yunju Mountain silently.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s gloomy look and the group of powerhouses from Long Wind Business Group on his side, Liu Gong, who had just seen Zhang Tie several hours ago was startled at once.


    "Argh, what happened?"


    "Nothing serious, I was the target of an assassination attempt." Zhang Tie replied calmly. However, his words were really shocking. "Which room is a bit tranquil, I want to sleep here tonight."


    After what happened today, Zhang Tie knew that even Long Wind Business Group and Hidden Dragon Palace were not safe for him, he only wanted to find a tranquil place so as to make a plan. With this potential sense of crisis, Zhang Tie instinctively felt that he would be safer in his own place.


    "As the steel molds of cement in the hall of the castle has just been moved away this afternoon, it would be tranquil there!" LiuGong replied. At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t look as easy-going as before, instead, he looked more serious and dignified. Therefore, Liu Gong responded instantly.


    "Fine, I will then take a rest in the hall."


    Saying this, Zhang Tie had entered the exterior castle. After passing by 2 city walls, some bartizans and a square which was filled with various building materials and instruments. They had arrived in the hall.


    After the steel mold of cement in the hall was moved away, everywhere was gray, including those pillars and walls. There were even traces of steel molds on the concrete walls. It looked pretty shabby here. However, although it wasn''t completed, it had already presented its noble and magnificent look.


    There were 2 rows of huge pillars in the hall, the diameter of each one was several meters. It occupied over 2000 square meters. On the top of the hall, the shape of a beautiful octagonal dome could already be recognized. The luxury here could be imagined in the near future.


    As the construction workers were removing steel molds of cement here in this afternoon, there were still some racks of steel pipes and a few steel molds on the ground of the hall.


    Zhang Tie casually sat on a pile of steel moulds with fists on knees. In a pretty dignified way, he closed his eyes.


    Seeing this, the powerhouses from Long Wind Business Group then safeguarded around Zhang Tie and the entrance and had people light up the hall.


    As Long Wind Business Group''s people on Hidden Dragon Island had sent the message that Zhang Tie encountered an assassination and the man being assigned to protect him betrayed the organization, Zhang Tie then waited for Long Wind Business Group''s reply¡ª¡ªWhy the people being assigned by the Business Group to protect him would assassinate him? How the news that he could mass-produce an all-purpose medicament was exposed?


    It was a big event that a student in Hidden Dragon Palace encountered an assassination. A director of Hidden Dragon Palace had already hurriedly arrived here with a group of people in 10 minutes after Zhang Tie arrived here. After inquiring Zhang Tie about what happened, they then entered Dragon Cave to verify what Zhang Tie had told them.


    After they left, all the towns and wharfs on Hidden Dragon Island were in a state of siege and the atmosphere of Hidden Dragon Island as a whole started to be tense at once.


    2 hours later, the second group of powerhouses of Long Wind Business Group and the person in charge of this event had finally arrived at Yunju Mountain via huge airships...

 335 Sudden Changes

    Chapter 335: Sudden Changes


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    Benefited from his preliminary recovered body which could help him recover twice the speed in the evening, Zhang Tie felt that he was gradually recovering all over.


    After hearing a series of orderly footsteps from outside the gate of the hall, Zhang Tie opened his eyes.


    With a solemn expression, Zhang Taibai arrived with more than 20 bodyguards in pitch-dark armors in 2 rows. Those bodyguards walked with power and evil spirit.


    The moment Zhang Tie saw Zhan Taibai, he felt that person was obviously in charge of Long Wind Business Group, and he had let out a sigh, which seemed indicating that, "Thank god, you''re safe!"


    Zhang Taibai wore an official black tuxedo. He must be attending a campaign when he was told that Zhang Tie encountered assassination.


    "I want to talk with you alone!" Zhang Tie put it straight.


    After glancing at Zhang Tie, Zhang Taibai nodded as he raised his hand to tell all the powerhouses and bodyguards of Long Wind Business Group to leave the hall except that 2 people stood back-to-back outside the gate to stop anyone else from coming in.


    "This time, these people I bring you are all the Long Wind bodyguards of Huaiyuan Palace. They are all descendants of Zhang Clan, I guarantee that they are loyal to you!" Zhang Taibai promised.


    Zhang Tie just revealed a smile. From the perspective of big figures in Huaiyuan Palace, those people might not betray Huaiyuan Palace. However, after leaving Huaiyuan Palace, they would have no relationship with Huaiyuan palace. ''Even blood brothers might fight and harm each other for benefits, let alone them and I. We were just from the same big clan a long time ago. It''s hard to say everybody in the big Clan has high morality. Additionally, some one doesn''t even know that even if he has been taken advantage of.


    "I''ve been assassinated by the powerhouse assigned by Long Wind Business Group to protect me. Therefore, I become more meticulous in front those people who I don''t even know their names and have few social experience. I really don''t want my talk with you be known by the public in only a couple of days!" Zhang Tie put it straight and didn''t care about Zhang Taibai''s embarrassed expression at all.


    "What happened today?" The moment the message was told, I was in Yiyang City, I had hurriedly set out towards here.


    Zhang Tie then told Zhang Taibai that how he met Liu Xiang and Zhang Haichao and how he was assassinated and chased by Liu Xiang.


    "If Liu Xiang wants to cross you, what about Zhang Haichao then? How did you find that Liu Xiang was strange!" As a person in charge of Long Wind Business Group, of course Zhang Taibai would not directly believe in Zhang Tie''s words for such a big problem. Therefore, he instantly asked two questions.


    "Zhang Haichao might have been killed!" Zhang Tie sighed, "It was obvious that Liu Xiang was strange. Firstly, as Liu Xiang and Zhang Haichao were staying with each other, if they were attacked at the same time, Zhang Haichao should be the one who escaped instead of Liu Xiang; if it was true that Zhang Haichao could hold back those attackers alone as was told by Liu Xiang, Liu Xiang didn''t have to escape with him, the two people were able to kill them all. If the attackers were more powerful than Liu Xiang and Zhang Haichao, it would be Zhang Haichao who escaped first, instead of Liu Xiang; if the attackers were equal to Liu Xiang and Zhang Haichao on fighting strength, Liu Xiang should not come for me at that moment; if the attackers could not match Liu Xiang and Zhang Haichao on fighting strength, Liu Xiang didn''t need to come for Zhang Tie at all. After realizing something was wrong, I started to be vigilant about Liu Xiang."


    Frowning his forehead, Zhang Taibai slowly nodded, "You''re right; but not absolute. Because there are always special situations that are out of our imaginations!"


    "I know that there might be some special situations that is out of my imagination, so I just doubt that and stop moving at the beginning!" Zhang Tie smiled, "I don''t know whether Long Wind Business Group have fixed procedures on dealing with such an emergency. If I were Liu Xiang, I would have warned the protege from afar so that the protege could be prepared for the incoming danger or hide himself; instead of finding the protege with a injured body and bringing him the danger before telling him to escape together with me! However, Liu Xiang didn''t send a signal; instead, he directly came here for me. This made him more dubious!"


    "What else? I think you must have found something before seizing the opportunity to make the preemptive move!"


    "Of course. What made me completely confirm my judgment was what he had done stealthily when we escaped!"


    "What did he do when he ran away with you?"


    "He had left marks that could be followed on the route. It was a very delicate and smart way of marking that commoners could not discover it at all. It was a natural marking system that combined the depths of footprints and distances between footprints and surrounding environment. He thought I could not recognize it, yet, I could!"


    When Zhang Tie was working in Donder''s grocery store, that Fatty had taught him a lot. At the beginning, Zhang Tie felt those knowledge was useless and stupid, such as identifying people by their ears. Whereas, after leaving Blackhot City, Zhang Tie realized that these knowledge became very useful. By comparison, those he learned at school became useless.


    "Even though, it still could not indicate that Liu Xiang is a traitor!" Zhang Taibai stared at Zhang Tie, "Maybe he left those marks to Zhang Haichao and those people of Long Wind Business Group!"


    "It''s possible; but I prefer to think that he wanted to assassinate me compared to this minor possibility..." Zhang Tie revealed a casual smile, "with the above three doubious points, I could almost assure that he was abnormal. I prefer to surviving by myself while being condemned to have made a mistake compared to sacrifice myself for the alleged kindness which would be considered stupid!"


    Whilst Zhang Tie was saying this, he took out that long needle and threw it onto Zhang Taibai''s hand, "He wanted to stab this into my after-brain. Having been prepared for his attack, I directly stabbed my saber into his stomache. There''s poison on the needle, you can check it..."


    Taking that weird, long needle, Zhang Taibai didn''t say anything; instead, his face turned completely blue, "Trust me, Long Wind Business Group will definitely give your an explanation!"


    This was rightly what Zhang Tie wanted to hear. After that, Zhang Tie told him about how he escaped from their chase, except for how he acknowledged the old man as his master.


    After asking Zhang Tie a few key questions, Zhang Taibai narrowed his eyes and considered for a while before signed, "Based on your description, that old man might be an alchemist master who save your life by chance. Only such a kind of people could be able to walk out of magma safe and sound and produce an explosion by hand. It''s really out of my imagination that such a great powerhouse could appear in Dragon Cave. Pitifully, I don;t have a chance to visit him, alas!"


    "Perhaps would appear in the future!"


    "You don''t know, such super powerhouses usually move very irregularly. They could travel as long as thousands of miles by foot in one day, even faser than airship. It was really lucky of you to meet him!" Zhang Taibai seemed being very pitiful for not meeting that old man. He then asked Zhang Tie, "What about the powerful fighter who chased after you? Has he exposed his real status?"


    The moment Zhang Tie wanted to tell Zhang Taibai about the message that those assassinators came from Zhen Clan, Heavens Cold Town, Langye Prefecture, Jinyun Country, he suddenly heard a series of footsteps from those guardians outside the hall.


    "According to the Lord''s order, nobody is allowed in!"


    "Including me?" This was a voice of a female, which sounded a bit lofty. Hearing her voice, the guardians didn''t speak any more. They then entered the hall together and walked towards Zhang Tie.


    At the sight of them coming in, Zhang Tie kept silent as he became infuriated inside. He had determined to build his own "ship". Even though this castle had not been completed, it was already his. However, he could not even talk about something alone with someone. What the f*ck! How could she just enter the castle without my consent? Does she really take this place as the square?


    Although Zhang Tie was irritated inside, he looked nothing had happened; by comparison, hearing that voice, Zhang Taibai revealed a kind yet a bit embarrassed smile.


    "Lady, haven''t I told you to wait a minute in airship? I will come back soon after I deal with the event here!"


    "I saw a castle under the airship. I thought that you''ve hidden young ladies here; therefore, I enter to have a look. If you really like some ladies, just tell me. I will help you marry them. I''m not a narrow-minded madam. Even if you have 8 concubines and want to marry 8 more concubines, I will have no complaint about that!" With this voice, a 30-odd beautiful lady had walked towards them accompanied by 2 female servants.


    This lady was wearing a red bobtail decorated with crystals. With all sorts of jewelries, she looked extremely fascinating, charming and majestic that could never be violated. She was a state-of-art beauty.


    The moment she entered, she had started to look around. When she found the hall was blazing with lights and no other female was inside, she raised her orchid finger and gave a slight smile. A 30-odd woman then looked as shy as a 10-odd maiden, "I thought you were slipping out of the ball to meet your young lover with the excuse of having something emergent to deal with. As you''ve applied this trick for many times before, I have not expected that this time was true. If so, I will not disturb you!"


    The woman came here out of a sudden and left like nothing had happened. She really looked like a wife coming here to check whether there''s a mistress here after. She was also very polite. After saying a couple of words, she looked around before left.


    At this moment, at the sight of that shadow disappearing outside the gate, Zhang Tie felt a bone-reaching chill which had frozen his mind. Zhang Tie knew that he had hit the jackpot today.


    The douchebag Donder once told Zhang Tie pleasantly that according to his observations, 1 of 20 male in Blackhot City was breeding kids for other male. Donder applied his ear-identifying skill into peering at others'' privacy and satisfying his curiosity.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that this secret knowledge could bring him another unexpected message today. If it was a surprise for Zhang Tie for the first time, this time, it had become a fright.


    "Erm...when I receive the message from here, I was attending a dinner party with my wife. Because it was not a too long distance from there to here by airship and my wife was worried about me, therefore, she came here together with me. Women are really jealous and dubious..." Zhang Taibai explained to Zhang Tie in a slightly embarrassed way.


    "Madam looks elegant and dignified. She must be from a reputed clan. I wonder which powerful clan did she come from?" After forcefully recovering his composure, Zhang Tie praised.


    "Haha, you were wrong this time. My wife doesn''t come from powerful clan; instead, she came from a middle-class family. 20 years ago, we encountered each other, then we got married. Oh, you''ve not answered me; whether that powerful fighter that chased you exposed his real status?"


    Seeing Zhang Taibai''s unpredictable expression, Zhang Tie had numerous thoughts. Finally he shook his head, "That was a group of strictly organized killers. Of course they would not expose their status. Although that old man was super powerful, he didn''t spare any time for them to explain where they came from at all. Therefore, I don''t know what their real status was!"


    "Trust me, Huaiyuan Palace would definitely figure out who tried to assassinated you!" Zhang Taibai replied calmly.


    "It would be nice if we could figure out who''s behind them!" Rolling his eyes, Zhang Tie said, "I was told that many pharmacists on the continent had been assassinated. Whether they were killed by the same batch of people who had tried to assassinated me?"


    Frowning his forehead, Zhang Taibai thought a while before slowly nodded, "It''s possible. By the way, you have to take care of yourself recently!"


    "How can I take care of myself?" Zhang Tie responded with a bitter smile, "As long as we didn''t arrest the man behind them, I would have to be vigilant everyday. This time, they assigned a LV 10 powerful fighter, next time, they might assign a person with higher levels. Given the limited territory of Hidden Dragon Island, unless I hide in the castle and Hidden Dragon Palace forever. If not, I would be their target the moment I go out!"


    "I will assign a team of Long Wind Guardians here to protect you. As Long Wind Guardians are all elites of Zhang Clan, they would definitely be loyal to protect you."


    "Even though they are loyal to protect me, what about their fighting strength?" Zhang Tie stared at Zhang Taibai, "If they assign a knight to kill me, how could a team of Long Wind Guardians hold back the attack of a knight? If not, Long Wind Guardians would be useless! They might have a knight kill me as easy as finishing a simple task. I believe that they could afford the cost. However, Huaiyuan Palace and Long Wind Business Group could not assign a knight to protect me forever. Could Huaiyuan Palace and Long Wind Business Group afford this?"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Taibai became silent.


    "I always treasure my life a lot. I would never put my life in any risk. Perhaps my life is not worthwhile for someone, my life is priceless for myself and my family members. If a great amount of people could not protect me in front of the real powerhouse, they would be nothing effective except for marking me as the target!"


    "What do you want then?"


    "It''s very simple¡ª¡ªfreedom!" Zhang Tie fixed his shrewd eyes on Zhang Taibai, "I know those rules in Hidden Dragon Palace. Previously, those rules posed no influence to me; but now, before I reach LV 9, those rules are nothing different than fixing me on the Hidden Dragon Island for other''s assassination. I need freedom, the freedom of accessing to Hidden Dragon Island. As long as the opponent could not figure out my schedule, it would be hard for them to have a person assassinate me!"


    Zhang Taibai knew that Zhang Tie was requiring the real freedom, instead of the simple freedom of accessing to Hidden Dragon Island. Although Zhang Tie mentioned it implicitly, Zhang Taibai could not pretend to be confused. He knew that the severe loophole of Long Wind Business Group brought Zhang Tie the sense of crisis and Zhang Tie had already determined to jump out of the circle that Huaiyuan Palace had drawn for its clan descendants on Hidden Dragon Island.


    "What else do you want?" Zhang Taibai watched Zhang Tie in a wholly new look.


    "As long as I could steadily provide all-purpose medicament for Long Wind Business Group every year, I think it''s not an excessive request for the Clan to give me 5000 clan contribution points a year. Additionally, in order to avoid from the similar event, I should have right to refuse any task or request distributed or allocated to me by Hidden Dragon Palace!"


    "What if I don''t agree?" Zhang Taibai looked somewhat serious.


    Zhang Tie then gave him a smile, "If so, I would exterminate the cooperation with Long Wind Business Group on all-purpose medicament after I pay off the 460,000 gold coins and the interests accrued from it. Although I like money, I don''t have to make money at the risk of my life. You should not make profits from my all-purpose medicament so as to reinforce the power of Zhang Clan at the risk of my life."


    "What if Zhang Clan could really assign a knight to protect you?"


    "If so, I could give up all the requests and our collaboration will keep going. However, the one who''s assigned here must follow my order. You''d better not fetch me a lord. " Zhang Tie put it straightly.


    Zhang Taibai finally sighed, "I could not make decision on critical affairs of Hidden Dragon Palace alone. I need to negotiate it with others!"


    "It doesn''t matter. I will recover here these days. You can notice me when you''ve made the final decision!"


    ...


    When Zhang Taibai was going to leave the hall of the castle accompanied by Zhang Tie, a guardian of Zhang Taibai hurriedly passed him a slip


    After skimming over the slip, Zhang Taibai''s face slightly changed. He then stared at Zhang Tie with a hesitated expression.


    Zhang Tie had a terrible feeling and his heart raced as he instantly grabbed Zhang Taibai''s hand and asked loudly, "Is it about my family?"


    "It''s your older brother, Zhang Yang...he''s been attacked!" Zhang Taibai replied in a grave voice.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie was driven anxious at once as he felt his scalp numb...

 336 Leaving Hidden Dragon Island

    Chapter 336: Leaving Hidden Dragon Island


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    At 6:00 am, June 23rd, after one day''s tense atmosphere due to curfew, the first passenger liner had been fully crowded by passengers who were leaving Hidden Dragon Island. After several hours'' travel on the sea, Zhang Tie finally arrived at a wharf in Jinhai City.


    After more than half a year, when he landed in this city once again. Zhang Tie felt really gloomy and irritated this time.


    He landed in Hidden Dragon Island on Dec 5th last year. After half a year''s practice in the Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie had become totally different.


    As Zhang Tie expected, after one day''s curfew and capture, Hidden Dragon Palace and Long Wind Business Group finally gained nothing at all. All those who tried to assassinate Zhang Tie seemed having been killed by the old man in the Dragon Cave. Even though everybody knew that those people who died underground had accomplices outside the Dragon Cave, nobody could find out their accomplices.


    When those assassins arrived at Hidden Dragon Island, they were scattered and entered Hidden Dragon Island by teams; each team only contained a couple of people. They were so strictly organized that when any part of them was in trouble, the others would automatically leave the control of the organization. It was similar to geckos which would break their tails when they in danger.


    In this case, only by arresting all the outsiders on the island and interrogating them all could Hidden Dragon Palace and Long Wind Business Group find the accomplices of those assassins.


    However, even though Long Wind Business Group was that powerful to arrest all the outsiders in this island, they would not do such a stupid thing. Because there were tens of thousands of outsiders on the Hidden Dragon Island, who came from everywhere, it would be very difficult to arrest them all; additionally, it would definitely cause great turmoil.


    In such a case, after one day''s curfew, Hidden Dragon Island had recovered its original order. Therefore, Zhang Tie finally gained freedom that he had expected for a long time¡ª¡ªthe freedom for him to access Hidden Dragon Island for free.


    After balancing the benefits and shortcomings between gaining large-production of all-purpose medicament and allowing Zhang Tie to access Hidden Dragon Island freely, they decisively chose the prior.


    Of course, big figures always dealt with things very considerably. They had to consider the faces from all sides. They would not directly cross the red tape of Hidden Dragon Palace without any concern. Therefore, if you had access to look up the students archive under the management of that set of differential machine in Hidden Dragon Palace, you would find a new task for Zhang Tie at the bottom of Zhang Tie''s personal archive.


    The information was as follows:


    Name: Zhang Tie!


    Task Acceptance Time: June 22th, 890 of Black Iron Calendar.


    Quality of the Task: Class S, appointed by Zhang Clan.


    Content of the Task: As a partner of Long Wind Business Group, Zhang Tie should provide mass batches of all-purpose medicament for the latter...


    Reward: 3000 clan contribution points each year.


    Duration of the task: Long term...


    Task guarantee measures: As this task is of supreme priority, during the period of this task, the executor could carry out the principles of uniqueness and exclusiveness as are regulated in the task guarantee items and refuse to accept other tasks.


    Special remark: during the completion of the task, for the sake of the completion of this task, responding to various emergencies and guaranteeing the safety of the executor, Hidden Dragon Palace especially grants Zhang Tie with the right to access to Hidden Dragon Island for free. His own traffic tool could freely access the surrounding sea and territorial air space of Hidden Dragon Island.


    ...


    Beside the requested clan contribution points which were only satisfied by 60%, all the other requirements from Zhang Tie had been satisfied by those big figures of Zhang Clan in terms of a simple task appointed by Zhang Clan. Additionally, nobody could find a loophole of it. Zhang Tie became pleasant while Hidden Dragon Palace''s authority was also maintained.


    For this, besides being amazed that those big figures were cunning, Zhang Tie really didn''t know how to comment them.


    By now, Zhang Tie had become the first clan member of Huaiyuan Palace who was able to freely access Hidden Dragon Island before completed all his courses in Hidden Dragon Palace.


    Zhang Tie gained his freedom, the real freedom! It indicated an adjustment of the relationship between Zhang Tie and Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Clan and that Zhang Tie determined to master his own destiny.


    On the way back to Jinhai City, Zhang Tie kept retrospecting himself since he entered Hidden Dragon Cave half a year ago. During the past one and half years, Zhang Tie felt that he had improved rapidly¡ª¡ªfrom a LV 5 warrior to a LV 7 fighter. He had already realized a round of evolution of the throwing skill and formed his Iron-Blood Battle Qi; besides, he had improved greatly on all aspects including diving skill; however, compared to these improvements, Zhang Tie felt that the great improvement that he had made was that he had recognized the road that he needed to walk on in the future with the help of Castle of Black Iron and that miraculous Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree.


    The shortcut to gain privilege and social status was not to seek for a powerful reliance, but to express his own value and ability so that he could turn himself into a giant tree or a robust leg that could be relied on.


    It was not wrong for Zhang Tie to decide to enter Hidden Dragon Palace. The only mistake he had made was that he lacked deep understanding about himself and his real ability. He failed to exert his ability to the utmost. He didn''t realize that with the help of Castle of Black Iron and that small tree he was different from all the other people.


    He didn''t consider the difference between him and the other people seriously before; however, after thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie soon got the answer¡ª¡ªhis difference depends from others depend on how special Castle of Black Iron was and how many kinds of fruits the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree could bear.


    For instance, when he was chased by that LV 10 douchebag, his own threat to that guy was his handbolts. Zhao Yuan, Zhang Tie''s master told him that although his handbolts could realize sonic boom, its speed was only between 1.2 and 1.3 Mach. If he could raise the speed of his handbolts to 2 times of the sound speed, he would have killed that LV 10 powerful fighter with only one handbolt.


    Like the development process of the kinetic energy weapons that were invented before the catastrophe, high speed was the most terrifying weapon. Even though it was just a copper coin, as long as it could fly at the speed above 20 times of the speed of sound, its momentum would be extremely destructive.


    It was almost impossible for others to raise their throwing speed by one time in a short period because one''s strength had to increase gradually; however, for Zhang Tie, there was a shortcut for him to realize 2 times that of sound speed for his handbolts¡ª¡ªto eat 9 huge wolf seven-strength fruits.


    Sitting on the ship, Zhang Tie had determined to make his handbots throwing skill as his trump card before he reached LV 8. By then, he would be able to explode the head of a LV 10 powerful fighter by throwing his handbolt twice or thrice that of sound speed in a split second.


    ...


    "Dear passengers, may I have your attention, please, we will arrive at the harbor right now. Please carry your personal belongings and get off the liner to go through the gangway ladder orderly against the deck!"


    On the passenger liner, the waiter inside the cabin had repeated the same words three times. After arriving at the wharf, with a slight shake of the liner, the engine of the liner powered off before the sirens sounded which indicated that passengers could get off the liner, everybody in the cabin then stood up from their seats and prepared to get off the liner in an order.


    Zhang Tie kept his eyes closed since the liner moved. Not until all the passengers beside him had disembarked did Zhang Tie open his eyes and stand up from his chair. At the end of the line, he followed them off the liner silently.


    The liner was anchored at a wharf of Jinhai City. This wharf lasted several miles where anchored various ships such as passenger liners, cargo ships and fishers. In a relatively elegant place, there were two rows of white private yachts. Although Jinhai City was not as prosperous as Yiyang City, it was also a big city.


    It was noon while the sun was hanging in the sky like a ball of fire. Under the schorching sun, many workers and sailors on the wharf only wore a pair of short pants, sweating all over.


    Fishery was very developed in Jinhai City. There were also many ice plants. When in summer, many people would buy ice from ice plants to do small businesses. On the street outside the platform of the ticket entrance of the wharf, Zhang Tie saw many small booths on triology which sold iced fruit juice and taxis and carriages which were waiting for passengers.


    Most of passengers getting off the liner would buy a cup of iced fruit juice by hand to relieve summer heat.


    Eyes slightly narrowed, Zhang Tie watched those persons exiting the ticket entrance. Accomplices of those assassinators might mix with them. It was impossible if the curfew on Hidden Dragon Island yesterday didn''t pose stress on them. After the curfew was cancelled off, some of the assassinators would definitely leave Hidden Dragon Island today; but Zhang Tie didn''t know whether they were in the first passenger liner.


    If not his life was much more worthwhile than those guys, Zhang Tie really wanted to pick off his mask and have a look at who among these passengers would look disappointed at the sight of him.


    ''According to the Fatty Donder, in this case, no matter how they look at this moment, as long as those whose pupils suddenly contracted at the sight of me, they would have known whom I am. Additionally, for those who are malicious about me, their pupils would expand and contract from time and then which reflected their true moods and feelings.


    "Do you want a cup of iced mango juice? 6 copper coins a cup without ice, 1 copper coin more for some ice..." At the sight of Zhang Tie, an old man who was selling ice water with her wife in tidy clothes on the roadside yelled towards Zhang Tie.


    "2 cups, with ice, please!" Zhang Tie walked towards them and said in a slightly hoarse voice.


    The Mrs. then got 2 cups of iced juice for Zhang Tie rapidly.


    Zhang Tie bottomed them up at once before chewed up the ice cubes and swallowed them, causing a crispy sound.


    After that, Zhang Tie felt a bit cooler. He then put his hand into his pocket. In a split second, a silver coin was taken out of Castle of Black Iron. Zhang Tie then threw that silver coin into the old man''s small barrel which was used to hold money, making a crispy sound, "Keep the changes..."


    "Argh, thank you. Do you want 2 more?" The old man asked passionately. As many people coming back from Hidden Dragon Island were rich, the old couple chose to sell fruit juice here.


    Zhang Tie waved his hands and walked towards those taxis. Seeing Zhang Tie drop a silver coin for 2 cups of juice, a steam-driven taxi hurriedly parked towards him while a 40-odd baldheaded driver put his head ouf of the window, "Buddy, do you need a ride?"


    After glancing at his slippery look, Zhang Tie directly pulled open the door and sat on the back seat without saying anything.


    The driver then gazed at Zhang Tie''s average face of about 20 years old and asked with a smile through the rearview mirror, "Where are you going, buddy?"


    "Are you familiar with Jinhai City?"


    "I''ve lived in Jinhai City over 40 years. Of course, I''m know it well. I''m not bragging, I know every place in Jinhai City, eating, drinking, entertainment, wherever you want!" The baldheaded driver boosted as he slowly started the car.


    "I''ve missed my ID certificate in the Dragon Cave of Hidden Dragon Island. I was told there would be much inconvenience in Huaiyuan Prefecture if you have no legal ID certificate. Therefore, I want to get an ID certificate. Do you know where I can get it?" Zhang Tie asked calmly.


    After hearing this, the driver shrunk his neck as his hands on the steering wheel shook, "I might be sent into the prison, even be chopped off my head if I help you get an ID certificate in Huaiyuan Prefecture. I don''t know about this place; you''d better find someone else!"


    "I''m not from Huaiyuan Prefecture, Jinyun Country, I don''t want a fake ID certificate in Huaiyuan Prefecture; I only want a certificate that could help me live in a hotel!"


    Hearing this, the baldheaded driver looked better as his eyes rolled twice towards the rearview mirror, "If so, I know a place where you could get an ID certificate. But it would be a bit expensive concerning a long distance and the counseling fee; at least...at least 1 gold coin!"


    Zhang Tie puffed inside, ''he really wants to rip me off by taking me as an idiot. It''s just a fake ID certificate. Such ads are pasted everywhere in the railway station of Blackhot City. This industry was one of the oldest for mankind. In Donder''s words, as any old prostitute who could serve you twice for a silver coin could tell you everything that you want to know.


    "Here are 10 silver coins. No crap. If not, you can only get 5 silver coins." Zhang Tie glared at him and swore in a hoarse voice, "f*ck, you really think that I make money so easily? I tell you, it only takes me 2 silver coins to find a woman who will take me there. 1 gold coin? with 1 gold coin, I could get 10 fake ID certificates!"


    The driver ridiculed, "You are really informed. I''m wrong. Just 10 silver coins, take it easy, brother..."


    ...


    Half an hour later, when Zhang Tie thought that driver would take him to a gloomy corner, the taxi parked in front of a 4-floor building which was a bit obsolete.


    Below that building were some average hotels, which were selling stretched noodles with seafood and teppanyaki with squid. Besides, there was a board which was so frightening.


    ¡ª¡ªHoly Golden Orchid Empire''s Embassy in Jinyun Country.


    Sitting on a back seat in the taxi, Zhang Tie looked at that wooden plate marked "Empire", lacquer on which had severely faded away and that board marked "Wang Defu''s Teppanyaki with Squid" which was polished, Zhang Tie started to doubt whether who was playing a joke here.


    ''Is that an empire''s embassy? F*ck! Even the public toilets in Breaking Heavens Department are much more senior than it.''


    Zhang Tie then slightly rubbed his jaw with his hand, ''Is that driver that audacious? How could he play such a joke with me? Or "Come on, cheat me" is written on my face?''


    After noticing that Zhang Tie gradually look gloomy through the rearview mirror, the driver hurriedly explained, "You can really get an ID certificate here. I swear it is true! This is the Holy Golden Orchid Empire''s Embassy in Jinyun Country. I remeber that when I came here last time, there were 2 guardians outside the gate. Where''re they now? They might be taking a nap!"


    When Zhang Tie almost lost his temper, another person suddenly slipped out of the stretched noodles hotel. After sucking a piece of spaghetti inside, he started to look around, "Who wants an ID certificate? Who wants an ID certificate?"


    Thus, he caught sight of the taxi parking outside the gate. He then instantly ran towards here. After wiping off the soup stains over his mouth corners, he pulled open the back door in a very professional way, "Sir, do you need an ID certificate? Philip, the senior commerical counsellor of Holy Golden Orchid Empire''s Embassy in Jinyun Country is glad to serve you!"


    This was Zhang Tie''s first time to be treated so politely by a non-Chinese ever since he was born.

 337 A Declining Empire

    Chapter 337: A Declining Empire


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Zhang Tie didn''t get out of the taxi; instead, he carefully glanced at Philip. He still wasn''t sure if he was being teased by them.


    This kind of parody in public dated back to a time before the Catastrophe. The people who took part in these pranks or special scenes would tease the ''victim'' to make those who were hiding aside laugh out loudly.


    Zhang Tie had read about it before. This kind of parody was very popular before the Catastrophe; however, Zhang Tie had not seen such a thing before. He had not imagined that there was someone so bored in Jinhai City.


    "Listen, my time is very precious; if this is a joke, I hope it comes to an end right now. If not, there will be very serious consequences!" Gazing at Philip, Zhang Tie warned him in very adroit and standard Hebrew.


    Both the baldheaded driver and Philip were slightly shocked by Zhang Tie''s fluent use of Hebrew. Only a few Chinese could speak Hebrew in this age, because Chinese was almost the standard diplomatic language for many countries, especially in Hebrew-spoken regions. In many cases, it had become a symbol of nobility and high social status if one could speak Chinese very fluently.


    "Sir, as a diplomat of Holy Golden Orchid Empire, I truly feel shameful about the embarassing state of the Empire''s Embassy in Jinyun Country. However, there''s a reason for this. If you don''t mind, I would like several minutes of your time to explain the reason. This is a tradegy of the country. Whereas, now that your time is very precious, we can talk about this question after I deal with the ID certificate for you. How do you feel?"


    Gazing at Philip''s embarrassed face, Zhang Tie threw 10 silver coins to that baldheaded driver before getting off the taxi. When he took out the silver coins, Zhang Tie noticed the shrewed light in Philip''s eyes.


    ''It''s only 10 silver coins. Do you need to be that thirsty for it?'' Zhang Tie sighed inside, ''It seems that this embassy is more awful than I imagined. It''s definitely a wonder!"


    Seeing Zhang Tie getting off the car, Philip, the senior commercial counsellor of Holy Golden Orchid Empire''s Embassy in Jinyun Country, became so diligent that he instantly guided Zhang Tie into the Embassy. This Embassy was really like that illegal agency''s office which relied on cheating those foreigners nearby the railway station of Blackhot City.


    "How could your embassy become so awful?" Zhang Tie asked in Chinese.


    "It''s a long story, sir. In the past 15 years, our embassy has not been able to gain even a copper coin for our budget from our country. What''s worse, we have to submit an amount of gold coins to the country. The former embassy in the capital of Jinyun Country was auctioned 7 years ago. Since then, we''ve moved to Huaiyuan Prefecture of Yiyang City; after that, we moved to Stars Viewing City. Finally, with the help of some kind-hearted businessmen of the empire, we settle down here because of the cheap rent!"


    When he explained, Philip looked like a dried bitter gourd.


    "To tell the truth, even the center of any government-in-exile is much better than here!" Zhang Tie put it straightly.


    "That''s true! At least government-in-exile could gain a bit sympathy; not like us, if I leave here, I would even feel embarrassed to tell others that I am a diplomat!"


    When they finished talking, Philip had already guided Zhang Tie in.


    There were various photos, documents, and files in the showcases on two sides of the corridor, which might be used to make this place more imposing.


    From the inside of one cheap glass showcase, Zhang Tie noticed the credentials that Holy Golden Orchid Empire had submitted to Jinyun Country, on which the seal of the state and the seal of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Holy Golden Orchid Empire could be clearly seen.


    At the sight of this, Zhang Tie really widened his eyes. He felt that it was worthwhile even to be cheated by them. ''They''re really f*cking professional! It was really great for them to counterfeit a letter of credence only for a few gold coins.'' Zhang Tie had not seen such a senior document since he was born.


    Noticing Zhang Tie becoming very interested in that letter of credence, Philip hurriedly started to introduce it from aside.


    "Actually, there was another letter of credence submitted from the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Jinyun Country to Holy Golden Orchid Empire here. Later on, under the strict protest and negotiation of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Jinyun Country, we passed that letter of credence back to our country. This one left was brought by the new ambassador when he took office a few years ago. We don''t submit it to the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Jinyun Country; instead, we just keep it here; no matter what, no one cares about it!"


    When Philip introduced that letter of credence in the showcase to Zhang Tie, a sound drifted from a door aside while a man with whiskers and a big stomach in a loose shirt yawned and walked into the room.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, that man blinked his eyes as he became spirited at once, "Yo, you got a business today, Philip. We can have a good dinner tonight!"


    Philip then rubbed his face by hand in an embarrassed way and introduced that guy to Zhang Tie, "Sorry, sir, I will give you an introduction about him; this is Colonel Gucci, the military attache of our embassy!"


    "Where are Belli and Ary? Shouldn''t they on sentry duty outside? Are they working in the wharf as carriers yet again?" Colonel Gucci swore as he rubbed his stomach, "Alas, smelling that food downstairs, I want to have a drink again. Philip, do you have money? Lend me a silver coin; I want a bottle of alcohol!"


    However, hearing his words, Philip just ignored that guy as he directly pulled Zhang Tie away, "I will take you to the office of ambassador Nicolay. All the ID certificates in the embassy are arranged by Mr. Nicolay. This is the main source of income of the embassy!"


    After turning a corner in the corridor, Philip took Zhang Tie in front of an office. He then knocked at the door. Receiving no response, he knocked at the door once again. Still not receiving a response, Philip directly pushed open the door and entered. He woke up a thin old man who was sleeping behind a desk by shaking him. After that, he whispered near the old man''s ears. Hearing this, the old man instantly sat up straight and gazed at Zhang Tie with gleaming eyes.


    "Hello, I''m Nicolay, the ambassador of Holly Golden Orchid Empire in Jinyun Country. Philip told me that you want an ID certificate?"


    Since he entered this ''alleged'' embassy, Zhang Tie had already figured out the existing state of it. Although it sounded great, it was actually a makeshift organization which was nothing different from those poor, small, illegal agencies.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the door, Philip had already pulled over a chair for Zhang Tie. After sitting down, Zhang Tie popped out a gold coin, which fell onto Philip''s hand with a delicate arc, "Your tip!"


    Philip swiftly seized that gold coin and foisted it into his own pocket. With a big smile, he replied, "Thank you, sir, your generosity really makes my effort worthwhile. It''s my great honor to serve you!"


    Seeing this, ambassador Nicolay''s Adam''s apple quivered as he forcefully swallowed his saliva and instantly jumped over here which could be rarely seen at his age. After being in front of Zhang Tie, he bent over with a big smile, "What can I do for you sir?"


    Legs crossed, Zhang Tie patted his hand on the desk and instantly gained the initiative, "Tell me what kind of ID certificates you can deal with here?"


    "We can deal with the official ID certificate of the citizen of Holy Golden Orchid Empire!" After saying this, Nicolay turned his head and ordered Philip, "Go make a cup of tea for this honorable sir. Use the best tea leaves that I''ve collected!"


    Receiving the order, Philip left jubilantly.


    "Is that a fake ID certificate?"


    "It''s real. It''s absolutely a real ID certificate, with which, you could access Holy Golden Orchid Empire for free." Saying this, Nicolay became thrilled, "This is a business of our embassy!"


    "Is it okay even if I''m not a citizen of Holy Golden Orchid Empire?" Zhang Tie wondered.


    "It''s okay. Definitely okay! Because Holy Golden Orchid Empire is an extremely open country which accepts the existence of multiple nationalities. Anyone who wants to join Holy Golden Orchid Empire will be welcomed in our country, regardless of their race, belief, or former nationality. With only a few gold coins and a simple ceremony, we will deal with the relevant procedures for you as soon as possible!"


    ''F*ck, this world is marvelous.'' Zhang Tie mocked himself for being ignorant inside. He had not imagined there was such a bizarre country on Waii Sub-continent. Compared to this embassy, those faking ID certificates were really dwarfed.


    With a cup of hot tea, Philip carefully walked over here and put it onto the teapoy in front of Zhang Tie. The moment Zhang Tie noticed that small defect on one side of the tea cup and a few "good tea" leaves which looked like straws, Zhang Tie instantly lost his appetite.


    "I suddenly become a bit interested in your country. Introduce your Holy Golden Orchid Empire to me, please. Such a country really sounds attractive!"


    With Nicolay and Philip''s introduction, Zhang Tie started to better understand the Holy Golden Orchid Empire.


    "Holy Golden Orchid country was established after the first holy war between human beings and demons. Although it''s not prosperous, it is a second-class country on the continent. It has a population of over 26 million people at that moment and covered 6.8 million square meters. The country was composed of dozens of cities, small and big; it''s also a member of the central state alliance of mankind on Waii Sub-Continent.


    The only reason that caused Holy Golden Orchid Empire decline was the unparalleled, bizarre king of the country¡ª¡ªHeiger VII.


    What if a person who just indulged in wildest fantasy everyday became an emperor? Holy Golden Orchid Empire was the best example.


    Heiger VII took the throne at the age of 16. After that, the first thing he did was to take out half of the national treasury to summon various persons who had excellent workmanship so as to build a weird aircraft which could match the plane created by mankind before the Catastrophe which could fly faster than sound...


    According to his illusion, besides flying much faster than the airships of this age, this kind of aircraft could also transform into machine warriors on the ground, which could destroy everything. Heiger VII dreamed to build the only high-reaching troop in this age.


    The word "high-reaching" was dubbed by Heiger VII himself. For its meaning, nobody understood it, even now. No matter what, based on Heiger VII''s description, as long as Holy Golden Orchid Empire had such a troop, the empire would be able to conquer the whole world easily.


    Heiger VII''s dream shocked everybody; however, due to his pursuit for his dream, this country''s national treasury was used up in only 2 years.


    It was said that the reason Heiger VII was very mad about flying in the air and creating that strange high-reaching troop lay in some military books about the age before the Catastrophe that he had read in the imperial library of the empire. Nobody knew which military books he read; although there were millions of books in the Imperial Library of Holy Golden Orchid Empire, few people could enter it.


    Therefore, Heiger VII''s dream to make a plane became a terrifying bottomless hole, which not only consumed all the national treasury of Holy Golden Orchid Empire like water flow but also caused a crazier idea.


    Heiger VII was not only a mad dreamer, but also a kind man. On the second year after he took the throne, he had abolished the death penalty of Holy Golden Orchid Empire, even though many people didn''t agree.


    On the 3rd year after he took the throne, he performed an inspection in a drought-stricken area of Holy Golden Orchid Empire. After that, he abolished all the taxes that had been levied on average citizens since the founding of the country and added "No Tax Forever" into the "Holy Code" of the empire, which had not been done by any former emperors of Holy Golden Orchid Empire.


    On the 4th year, at the age of 20, he made a crazy decision in order to comfort the officials'' fury about him and gain enough R&D expenditure so as to build the marvelous machine in his dream.


    As long as the officials of the empire vowed to be loyal to the imperial household of Holy Golden Orchid Empire forever, swore to follow the "Holy Code" and paid a great amount of money in terms of their own positions, after signing an agreement and document, they would be able to change their current position into family hereditary positions.


    Receiving this news, all the officials of the empire became mad...


    As a result, numerous hereditary positions were sold by Heiger VII while countless wealth flew into the national treasury of the empire. After that, all the wealth was used to pursue for his exotic dream...


    Heiger VII''s crazy dream lasted 10 years. During that period, the Holy Golden Orchid Empire had almost been ruined by that lunatic. When everybody thought that Heiger VII would return to the normal track by giving up his terrifying dream, Heiger VII got a new dream.


    Heiger VII finally woke up from that high-reaching dream; yet he immersed himself into the deep and profound Chinese culture on the Eastern Continent. He learned that there was a strange secret fist skill on the Eastern Continent which could block 500 kg''s strength with only 0.2 kg''s strength and defeat powerful one with weak body. Additionally, it could be learned by both male and female. Heiger VII was fascinated by this skill. He then took a great number of followers and flew to the Eastern Continent by airship without caring about Holy Golden Orchid Empire at all.


    Heiger VII planned to bring back that marvelous fist skill and let all the citizens of Holy Golden Orchid Empire master it. By then, Holy Golden Orchid Empire would easily conquer the world too.


    It took him another 12 years for him to return.


    When he returned, the country didn''t need an emperor any more as it had run 12 years without an emperor.


    After a deep reflection, Heiger VII finally woke up, enlightened and sublimed...


    High-reaching, fist, power, all this was bullsh*t. Heiger VII found that only light and love were the forever truth in the universe.


    "As long as we have light and love in our hearts, one day, even demons would be moved by our selfless love. I will build Holy Golden Orchid Empire into a Paradise full of love and light. As long as you have love and light, you would be the citizen of Holy Golden Orchid Empire..." Heiger VII declared when he was celebrating his birthday at the age of 40.


    ...


    This year, Heiger VII had reached 58 years old. After ruling Holy Golden Orchid Empire over 40 years, it was really a miracle for the country to still remain complete while the capital Aulis is still in the hands of imperial household.


    Thanks to the resistance of all the imperial members, the taxes of Aulis were not embezzled by that mad emperor to carry out his great undertaking of "light and love" which could move demons. That amount of money could only roughly afford the imperial army of over 20,000 imperial army and the daily expense of the imperial palace.


    ...


    "Previously the position foreign secretary was not profitable; however, after it was bought by Hillary family, people realized that it is really profitable. At least, after selling all the real estates of the country''s embassies and consulates, the Hillary family would get back their investment from this position!" Saying this, Nicolay looked very admirable and regretful.


    Zhang Tie was really dumbfounded by such a bizarre emperor and such a bizarre country, ''What the f*ck...''

 338 News about Pandora

    Chapter 338: News about Pandora


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    "After leaving the capital of Jinyun Country, we moved to Stars Viewing City. The slave trade was very prosperous over there. After buying some slaves, especially some female slaves, some rich people would have some special demands, such as they would like to grant some strange official status to their female slaves. Our embassy could meet their demands. Benefited from them, we could live well for a few days!" Philip sighed as his eyes were filled with infinite desire for that period.


    "Strange status? What kind of status can you provide for those female slaves?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "As long as they have money, they could let their female slaves be official citizens of Holy Golden Orchid Empire. Besides, they could buy some imperial positions for those female slaves, positions which meant nothing but gave them some reputation, such as palace consultant, palace musician, secretary of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, military officer of the art troupe of the imperial army, etc!" Philip replied, "Among these positions, the most popular one was the status sacred, holy goddess of the School of Fraternity which was founded by our emperor!"


    ''F*ck!'' Zhang Tie understood it at once. For some nouveau riches, of course, they bought beautiful female slaves to f*ck them; for some of them, making love with beautiful female slaves felt different compared to making love with female slaves with some exotic status; they wanted to experience something different.


    "You make your living from this?"


    "That''s it. This is the only way that all the embassies of Holy Golden Orchid Empire could make money. What else could we sell except for the status of citizen and those official positions? After selling the position of foreign secretary, our emperor even sold out the positions of ambassadors in all the embassies!" Nicolay frowned his forehead gloomily, "I spent over 100,000 gold coins to buy this official position. Whereas, the only task for all the embassies of Holy Golden Orchid Empire in other countries is to spread the theory about light and love proposed by our emperor. Anyone could be a citizen of Holy Golden Orchid Empire as long as their hearts are full of love and light!"


    Zhang Tie was struck speechless by that. There were truly populations and religions in this world that were bound up in terms of pure theories, values, or standards of conduct; for instance, the Jews, who were as well known as Chinese for their excellent business acumen before the Catastrophe. There was a old saying in the Jews'' Sacred Codes about themselves: ''Anyone who gives up worshipping idols is a Jew.'' There was another example, in Buddhism, which was the largest religion in the world before the Catastrophe, buddhists were defined as those who could insist on the four truths [1] of their belief.


    Zhang Tie learned the above knowledge from the course "General History of Human Race" when he was in Hidden Dragon Palace. Those were all examples of the diversity greater population in terms of values and standards of conduct before the Catastrophe; however, Zhang Tie had not imagined that in a chaotic world like Black Iron Age, someone also wanted to unite people by an empty talk like "light and love".


    A bizarre emperor builds a strange country with weird standards.


    This was Zhang Tie''s feeling at that moment.


    "If you could live well in Stars Viewing City, why are you so pitiful now?"


    "When the emperor knew that some embassies were helping some slaves gain the status of citizens and various other positions so as to satisfy someone''s weird and abnormal requests, he had delivered an order to forbid embassies to gain the status of citizen for slaves. The emperor even said slave should not exist in a country full of light and love!" Nicolay explained while his eyes were full of tears, "My god, but I''d only got half of my investment back by that point!"


    Zhang Tie sighed. Heiger VII was really worth his own novel. But Zhang Tie didn''t plan to dig for further information about him then.


    "I''m applying to join Holy Golden Orchid Empire. What forms do I need? Hurry up!"


    The moment they heard Zhang Tie''s request, Nicolay and Philip exchanged glances with each other as they became busy at once.


    "Philip, call Piaster in. Let him prepare to take a photo for this gentleman along with the metal fingerprint collector. As this gentleman doesn''t have much time, I will prepare the citizenship confirmation procedure for this gentleman!"


    "Yes sir! Mr. Ambassador!" Philip hurriedly ran out of the office and shouted loudly, "Piaster, you lazybones, go get your machine prepared, we have a guest!"


    ...


    Zhang Tie thought that alleged the citizenship confirmation procedures would be very sophisticated; he couldn''t have imagined that it was as simple as a joke.


    Nicolay took out of a book of "Sacred Codes" from his desk and asked Zhang Tie put his hand on it. After that, Nicolay asked Zhang Tie in a very solemn way, "Do you have light and love in your heart?"


    Having been told what to say, Zhang Tie answered, "Yes, I do!" Then the whole confirmation procedure was finished. Zhang Tie was really stunned by this.


    After that, Zhang Tie took a photo and left the fingerprint of his right thumb on a metal mold in a confined room. Piaster was a first secretary of the embassy. However, his work was nothing different than those workers in the workshops.


    Zhang Tie then left the name of his current alias: Fei Yuao (·ÑÓê°Á).


    After receiving 12 gold coins from Zhang Tie, Nicolay told Zhang Tie jubilantly that it would take him only 10 minutes to get his ID certificate as the citizen of Holy Golden Orchid Empire.


    During this period, Philip presented Zhang Tie with a service list which looked like a menu in a hotel as he and Nicolay stood on Zhang Tie''s two sides respectively and started to introduce the other services that the embassy could provide to Zhang Tie.


    At this moment, Fei Yuao was only an average citizen of Holy Golden Orchid Empire; however, as long as Zhang Tie wanted, he could have a very privileged official position at once. Even if Zhang Tie wanted to be a military officer, he could freely choose any of position from ensign to admiral of the fleet.


    The status of ensign was the cheapest as it only required 10 gold coins. As long as Zhang Tie submitted 10 gold coins, he would gain a military officer certificate and two sets of ceremonial dresses of military officers officially issued and allocated by the imperial army headquarter of Holy Golden Orchid Empire. But, that would take one week.


    "The price of the navy marshal of Holy Golden Orchid Empire is 300,000 gold coins. With this position, besides the above official ID certificate and other marshals'' reliance, you could also gain a mace made of pure gold and have the chance to lunch with Heigner VII. In Holy Golden Orchid Empire, with this status, you would be able to enter many places where are limited to upper class talents. Additionally, the military department of the empire would engage you as a lifetime counselor of the military department of the empire and the honorary president of the navy university...briefly, you would enjoy many benefits with this status!"


    Philip kept talking about the benefits of having various official positions in Holy Golden Orchid Empire while Zhang Tie became confused, "Isn''t Holy Golden Orchid Empire a land-locked country? What does it establish navy for?"


    "There''s no regulation on forbidding the establishment of a navy in a land-locked country. No matter what, the navy department is usually a sub-department of the military department of the empire. Except for salary, fleet, and sailors, they could enjoy equal treatment like those of real military officers!" Philip explained in a smart way.


    Zhang Tie then understood it. Because there was no navy in Holy Golden Orchid Empire, they set up a navy department to sell relevant official positions. In this way, they wouldn''t shoulder any responsibility for that. Perhaps, there were truly some nouveau riche fools who liked the feeling of being military officers and big figures.


    Following that, Philip introduced a great number of titles of imperial palace counselors of Holy Golden Orchid Empire. Noticing that Zhang Tie was not interested in those fake status, Philip hurriedly turned over 2 pages.


    "How about this? It would only take you 600 gold coins a year to be authorized to use the badge of golden orchid of the imperial household of the empire and enjoy the royal naming right of the empire. These are successful cases. Take this as an example, after being named as the royal oak club of Holy Golden Orchid Empire, this business group avoided a robbery..."


    "Additionally, after being crowned as the royal club of Holy Golden Orchid Empire, this club''s trading volume surged by one hundred percent..."


    Zhang Tie shook his head as he thought this naming right was a bit useful; however, he didn''t need this status at the present. If back in Blackhot City, those nouveau riche fools in Blackhot City would definitely be mad for royal clubs or fighting clubs of Holy Golden Orchid Empire.


    After that, Philip introduced some other items, such as with only 1 gold coin, one could buy several square kilometers'' remote land, the right to exploit or reclaim wasteland out of the territory of the empire. But Zhang Tie kept shaking his head.


    "Sorry, if you''ve finished my ID certificate, please bring it to me. I''m not interested in the other items here. No more sales pitches, please!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    "One more, one more. I bet you will like it!" Seemingly not feel that Zhang Tie would leave here with only 10-odd gold coins, Philip almost exclaimed, "As long as you are a man, you will definitely be interested in this. As long as you submit 200 gold coins, you will be qualified to attend a grand meeting in Aulis next year when you might have a chance to win the favor of Princess Pandora and become her husband!"


    "What? What''s the name of the princess?" Zhang Tie was dumbfounded as the name Pandora instantly reminded Zhang Tie of those warm memories. Zhang Tie thought the princess must be another girl with the same name.


    "Your Highness princess called Pandora. She''s just 16 years old this year. It''s told that she learned outside when she was young. She came back to Aulis last year. Princess Pandora is the only daughter of Heiger VII and the first heir to the throne of the empire. When she becomes the queen in the future, there would be one more prince in the empire."


    16 years old; learned outside when she was young; came back to Aulis last year. These pieces of message made Zhang Tie''s heart pound.


    "Do you have a photo of Princess Pandora?"


    Nicolay pulled open the sketcher as he took out of a photo and gave it to Zhang Tie, "According to the order from the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the empire, 1 month later, when Princess Pandora is 17 years old, we will publish an ad on a whole page of the each mainstream newspaper of Jinyun Country for Princess Pandora''s husband-selective grand meeting!"


    In the photo, Pandora''s hair and pupils were still. Being different from before, she was wearing a delicate and elegant princess crown and a brilliant set of blue palace dress while her hands were crossed and put before her lower abdomen elegantly. Besides, she was holding a nice-looking gold-made cane.


    Compared to that emaciated look in Blackhot City, Pandora in the photo looked more balanced while her face radiated a wisp of brilliant and healthy light, making her beautiful, elegant and deep-thinking.


    At the sight of this photo, everybody would consider her as a princess.


    Zhang Tie then fixed his eyes on the fourth finger of her right hand which was holding a cane and obscurely saw a black-sealed ring on it.


    Thinking that scene when he put on this ring for Pandora at the railway station when he left Blackhot City, Zhang Tie instantly dropped off tears...


    At the sight of Zhang Tie dropping off tears with his eyes fixed on the photo, Nicolay and Philip were really stunned.


    "I''m sorry. It''s my first time to see such a beautiful princess!" Zhang Tie returned the photo to Nicolay, "You mean Pandora is going to select her husband next year?"


    "Yes, on her 18th birthday! Any single man who can afford to spend 200 gold coins can go there to have a try!"


    "Count me in!" Zhang Tie put his hand in his coat and threw a bag of gold coins onto Nicolay''s desk.


    ...


    Over 10 minutes later, with the ID certificate of "Fei Yuao", Zhang Tie left the Embassy. Outside the gate, he called a taxi and soon disappeared in the street.


    Every 3 months, the Holy Golden Orchid Empire''s embassy in Jinyun Country would have the photos, names and fingerprints of the persons who had joined the emperor registered in the administration of Huaiyuan Prefecture. However, Zhang Tie was not afraid of that; because he was wearing a mask. Nobody across Waii Sub-Continent would know about his true face except for Donder.


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie settled down in a middle-class hotel at the intersection between a boisterous business district and a red-light district in Jinhai City.


    The rent of the hotel was 6 silver coins a day. There was a club under the hotel while on the roof of the hotel was a legal gambling house where were crowded with numerous people all day long.


    Twenty minutes after entering the hotel, Zhang Tie changed into another set of clothes, took off his mask, and left the hotel.


    Nobody cared about how Zhang Tie had entered; similarly, nobody cared about how he left.


    After leaving the hotel, Zhang Tie circled around the area twice. He then walked into a boisterous region of a business district where he called a taxi and drove him to that rich men''s villa area in the Longman Avenue of Jinhai City.


    That was where Zhang Tie''s family members lived.


    Zhang Tie then rang the doorbell of the No. 76 on the Longman Avenue. After a short while, a small window opened and a 40-odd, tough man appeared in the window. At the sight of Zhang Tie, he slightly frowned his forehead.


    "Whom are you looking for?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t know him; but he might be able to guess the man''s status after his elder brother was attacked.


    "I''m Zhang Tie. I was living here. Zhang Yang is my elder brother!" Zhang Tie answered calmly.


    Hearing this answer, that man was pretty shocked. He then glanced over Zhang Tie carefully and spoke politely, "Please wait a second..."


    In less than 30 seconds, with a series of hurried footsteps, the gate was opened while Zhang Tie''s mom''s haggard face appeared in front of Zhang Tie at once.


    "Mom!"


    "Guoguo, is that you?" Zhang Tie''s mom was so excited that she instantly hugged Zhang Tie, "Shouldn''t you be in Hidden Dragon Island? How did you come back? Your eldest uncle was worrying about you last night, your elder brother..." Speaking of Zhang Tie''s elder brother, his mom''s eyes instantly turned wet while tears kept dropping off.


    "Mom, it''s okay. I''m safe. I already know what happened to my elder brother. Let''s talk about it later!" Zhang Tie patted her mom''s back to comfort her before accompanying her into the courtyard.


    There was one more ladder, a small wooden horse and some toys on the grassland of the courtyard. Seeing them, Zhang Tie took a deep breath.


    Although looking calm, Zhang Tie had long developed a powerful killing intent inside and was extremely furious.


    On the same day Zhang Tie was attacked, Zhang Yang was assaulted. If not some emergencies which made the attackers abort their plan, Zhang Yang might have been dead. Even so, Zhang Yang was still injured.


    Those who assaulted Zhang Yang in Jinhai City were the same batch of people as those who attempted to assassinate Zhang Tie. When their plan failed, Zhang Tie was told that they committed a suicide as same as the LV 10 guy ¡ª releasing the terrifying poison in their metal teeth and turning themselves into a pond of blood, leaving nothing else.


    No matter how great the background of the Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City was and what tricks they designed in Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie had determined to sweep off Zhen Clan from Heavens Cold City.


    Zhang Tie realized that his biggest advantage was that Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City didn''t know that he had discovered their secret.

 339 Ambition

    Chapter 339: Ambition


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Zhang Yang looked much better than Zhang Tie had imagined. He was lying on the bed with one foot wrapped in thick gauze bandages; it was held in the air by a rack on one side of the bed. There was a small bandage above his left eye. Besides not being able to easily move about, he didn''t look too bad.


    Zhang Yang was telling Zhang Tie what happened to him 2 days ago. Although he was the one who was abducted, he could only recall some incoherent fragments.


    "It was already late by then. My coworkers at the company had already left, leaving me alone. I was checking over the day''s work. However, 3 people entered the company at that time. At the beginning, I thought they were guests and was not vigilant about them. They then asked whether I was Zhang Yang. I said yes. Then, I lost consciousness..."


    Zhang Yang explained shamefully. Whereas, Zhang Tie could understand his feelings. Because his elder brother was only LV 5 and had not even formed his battle qi. He was like commoners who had no ability to fight those LV 7-8 fighters at all. Therefore, it was pretty easy to knock him out when his elder brother wasn''t expecting it.


    "What then?"


    "When I woke up, I had been taken into a vehicle by the 3 people with my limbs bound and mouth covered. The vehicle felt like it was driving fast; but I didn''t know where it was heading for. It should''ve been near Jinhai City. When they noticed that I was awake, they torn off the adhesive tape from my mouth and asked me a question ¡ª how is all-purpose medicament produced?" Zhang Yang forced a bitter smile, "As it was my first time to hear the name all-purpose medicament, of course I didn''t know how to answer them. Therefore, they tortured me a lot. Receiving no answer, they then asked whether you had me hold onto something for you. I said no. They then covered my mouth with adhesive tape once again."


    While he explained, Zhang Yang was extremely gloomy as he gazed at Zhang Tie who was sitting beside him, "I was so scared at that moment. Although they had covered my mouth with an adhesive tape, I could still clearly hear what they were talking about. After receiving no answer from me, they were negotiating about burying me. I then thought of you, Cheng''an, and our parents. I didn''t know whether I would see you ever again!"


    Hearing his elder brother¡¯s words, Zhang Tie said nothing; he just held Zhang Yang''s hand tightly.


    "When I thought that I would be buried, I heard a sudden braking sound. Then, I felt the vehicle we were in crash into another. As a result, our vehicle was knocked over. At the same time, I flew out of the vehicle due to inertia. As for what happened after that, I don''t remember..."


    Even if Zhang Yang didn''t remember what happened next, Zhang Tie already knew about it. When those abductors drove their car on the highway of Cloud Snake Mountain in the north of Jinhai City, some affluent kids were racing cars illegally over there. Due to a malfunction, one of those cars crashed into the vehicle of those abductors and knocked over the latter''s vehicle, making it roll down the hillside which was higher than 10 m.


    Luckily, Zhang Yang flew out of the window due to inertia. Although one of his legs was broken and his body what quite bruised, Zhang Yang had already got out the control of the abductors.


    When those rich boys and girls parked their cars and prepared to help those people in the vehicle, they caught sight of Zhang Yang with limbs bound and mouth pasted; they immediately knew something was not right.


    Therefore, those bodyguards of the rich boys and girls moved, some of which were even powerhouses. As a result, one of the abductors were killed in an instant while all the rest were caught. However, they all committed a suicide by releasing the poison hidden in their teeth.


    Realizing this accident was unusual, those rich boys and girls hurriedly sent Zhang Yang to the hospital as they called the police.


    That was how it went. When Zhang Tie was told what happened to Zhang Yang on Hidden Dragon Island, the latter was still in coma in the hospital.


    Zhang Tie knew that his elder brother was definitely suffering because of him. The head of this movement in Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City was not sure whether Zhang Tie was the only person who knew about the manufacturing method of all-purpose medicament; therefore, he had contacted his accomplices in Jinhai City and decided to start the movement at the same time.


    From this point, Zhang Tie realized that this organization was very huge and under strict administration. Because they needed to coordinate the two movements on both Hidden Dragon Island and in Jinhai City, they had to use at least 2 sets of crystal remote sensing equipment, which could not be easily bought by average people.


    After listening to Zhang Yang''s experience, Zhang Tie told Zhang Yang everything, including that he mastered the manufacturing method of all-purpose medicament and his attempted assassination.


    After finding out that Zhang Tie encountered huge danger, Zhang Yang was really dumbfounded; however, compared to the assassination, Zhang Tie''s current real strength and ability was more stunning.


    "You''re already LV 7 after entering Hidden Dragon Island for half a year? You can also produce all-purpose medicament?" Zhang Yang asked Zhang Tie doubtfully.


    "Yes!" Zhang Tie nodded, "Don''t tell dad and mom about what happened to me on Hidden Dragon Island; it would make them more worried!"


    "I know. But are you really okay about all this? If you do this, you will have given up the opportunity to be well-known in Zhang Clan through Hidden Dragon Island. After living in Jinhai City for over half a year, I realize that our clan is definitely more powerful than the former Andaman Alliance!"


    "Yay, Huaiyuan Palace is very powerful, but it might not be suitable to me to be an elite of the Clan like others aim to be!" Zhang Tie stared at Zhang Yang seriously, "I''m not completely out of Huaiyuan Palace''s control. I''m still a member of Zhang Clan, but compared to others, I chose an easier way to get along with the Clan. This is good for both me and Huaiyuan Palace, otherwise, I would not have been here now!"


    "I hope so!" Zhang Yang considered, "but I still feel a bit pitiful that you have to stay away from Huaiyuan Palace and become an irregular member of the Clan''s system!"


    "Nothing to feel pitiful about that. Where there is a loss, there is gain. Huaiyuan Palace is a huge ship, which carries so many people. Some of them cannot be easily identified which made me uncomfortable. I''m also not accustomed to letting others determine my own fate and my life direction on such a huge ship. Additionally, I don''t intend to stay away from Huaiyuan Palace, nor do I want to become estranged from it. I chose this only to protect myself. They know it very well! My prospects in Huaiyuan Palace will be determined on my own ability and the value I can bring to this Clan, rather than how docile I am!"


    Zhang Yang glanced over Zhang Tie and felt that Zhang Tie had changed too much over the past half year. Zhang Tie had grown taller and more robust; his eyes were radiating sharp light. What was more important was that Zhang Tie''s heart and spirit had grown more mature and powerful.


    Zhang Yang felt that Zhang Tie had become powerful enough to shoulder the load of the Zhang family and had become more confident and decisive when dealing with major problems.


    At the age of 17, Zhang Tie had become the pillar of this family. Seeing this, Zhang Yang was filled with a sense of comfort.


    "When I was abducted and was waiting to be buried in the vehicle, I was concerned about our parents and our kids. I have always been thinking about this over the past few days. It made me scared. Now, I''ve been reassured at the sight of your change. You have the capability to take care of our family!" Zhang Yang smiled pleasantly.


    "Don''t worry, elder brother. I would definitely take revenge against them!" A cold light flashed across Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    "Do you know who they are?"


    In order to let his family members feel reassured, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t tell Zhang Yang about those terrifying truths that he had learned; instead, he told a lie.


    "Those who can do this are definitely not average ones. As they''ve lost so many people this time, there must be some clues. As long as I am alive and can produce all-purpose medicament, I believe that they would find me sooner or later!"


    "Oh, what''s that all-purpose medicament that you''re talking about?" Zhang Yang asked out of curiosity.


    Zhang Tie then explained the function of all-purpose medicament. Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s explanation, Zhang Yang''s eyes almost popped out, "Isn''t that super enzyme the all-purpose medicine which could cure all the diseases and strengthen one''s body?"


    "Almost like that!"


    "When did you learn to produce this item?"


    "After leaving Blackhot city, I had a chance to master some secret knowledge that cannot be mastered by others. With this secret knowledge, I was able to produce the super enzyme!"


    "You say you are cooperating with Long Wind Business Group on selling it. According to my knowledge, it''s very hard for average business groups to cooperate with super business groups like Long Wind Business Group and become the latter''s suppliers. Additionally, Long Wind Business Group always requires a large quantity of good products. How many vials of all-purpose medicament can you produce a year?"


    "More than 1 million vials!" Zhang Tie replied calmly.


    "What?" Zhang Yang thought he didn¡¯t hear it clearly as he instantly sat straight with eyes as large as copper bells, "How many?"


    "More than 1 million vials!" Zhang Tie looked at his elder brother calmly without considering how his elder brother was shocked, "From then on, our family will have a revenue of at least several millions of gold coins a year by selling all-purpose medicament. With this amount of money, we can do whatever we want. It''s even possible for you and me to build a clan that could match Huaiyuan Palace!"


    "More... than... one million... vials..." Zhang Yang gazed at Zhang Tie like a dead fish. His eyes were not focused on Zhang Tie as he had been completely stunned by that astronomical number. What was even more shocking was Zhang Tie''s ambition to build a clan that could match Huaiyuan Palace.

 340 Home

    Chapter 340: Home


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    "Elder brother, you can never expose this figure to anyone else. Although I am cooperating with Long Wind Business Group and they also know that I can realize the mass production of all-purpose medicament, they are still dubious and uncertain about my ability to produce such a large quantity of all-purpose medicament. This is to be tested by time and mutual cooperation. Additionally, those who want to assassinate me are also fixing their eyes on us. If this message were exposed to the public, it would very troublesome!"


    Looking at his elder brother''s shocked expression, Zhang Tie warned him. After experiencing an assassination attempt, Zhang Tie had become more meticulous than ever.


    Because all the events were caused by the all-purpose medicament, before he was able to protect himself, Zhang Tie felt that he had better be a bit low-key. For the sale of all-purpose medicament on Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie prepared to slightly slow down his productivity and gradually increase it as his power grew so as to keep away those who wanted to kill him until he could deal with them.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that he didn''t need to fear anything with the protection of Huaiyuan palace. Now, he realized that this thought was extremely naive as the biggest danger facing him might come from Huaiyuan Palace. If he was still that high-key, it would be no different than a kid running in a boisterous market with a treasure in hand.


    Zhang Yang nodded. When he wanted to say something, the door was pushed open while Zhang Tie''s elder sister-in-law walked in with Zhang Cheng''an in her arms, who was younger than six months, "Time for dinner, Mom has made it!"


    Zhang Yang then smiled at Zhang Cheng''an as he opened his arms, "Son, come here to your dad!"


    The little guy was sucking on a bottle and waving his small chubby hand, intending to come for Zhang Yang; however, his mom wouldn''t let him go.


    "Wait until your leg is recovered. This little guy is very naughty. He will agitate your wounds!" Zhang Tie''s elder sister-in-law said.


    Hearing this, Zhang Yang didn''t insist.


    Since his elder sister-in-law had entered, Zhang Tie then didn''t say anything about the abduction or assassination attempts; instead, he changed the topic.


    "Elder brother, when will you recover?"


    "The doctor said it would probably take 1-2 months for all my wounds to recover!"


    Zhang Tie then put his hand into his pocket when he utilized the space teleportation function of his Castle of Black Iron and took a vial of medicament from it. Of course, in the eyes of the others, he was taking it out of his own pocket.


    Zhang Tie then gave that vial of medicament to Zhang Yang.


    "What''s this?" Zhang Yang asked.


    "This is a senior recovery medicament. Drink it and your wounds would soon recover!"


    "Argh, that''s marvelous. How much does a vial of this cost?" Having heard this for the first time, Zhang Tie¡¯s elder sister-in-law walked towards him with Zhang Cheng''an; taking it from Zhang Tie''s hand, she took a careful look at it.


    "You might not easily buy this kind of medicament in the market now. It would cost above 600 gold coins in the market!"


    It was a gift from the Gregory Clan as compensation in Blackhot City. Because Zhang Tie had experienced the marvelous effect of senior recovery medicament when in the Orphanage, Zhang Tie knew it was very precious; therefore, he''d kept this one in reserve.


    When Zhang Tie attended the auction in Kalur City, the price of each vial of preliminary recovery medicament had been more than 30 gold coins while the price of each medium recovery medicament was about 200 gold coins. There was no advanced recovery medicament there at all.


    The quality of the items being sold in auction was better than almost anywhere else; however, the price there was also much higher than normal market price. When one buys products at auction, it''s like buying costumes in high-end shopping malls. The same product would be sold at different prices in different places.


    Although the Breaking Heavens Department sold advanced recovery medicament, they were only sold for the students of Zhang Clan. The price of each vial of senior recovery medicament there was 500 gold coins plus 80 clan contribution points, which was equal to more than 600 gold coins.


    Hearing this figure, her hand shook at once as Zhang Cheng''an was grabbing towards that vial; so, she hurriedly passed it back to Zhang Yang.


    600 gold coins? That amount of money was more than the whole net worth of Zhang Tie''s family or Zhang Tie''s elder sister-in-law¡¯s family hen in Blackhot City. Although Zhang Tie''s dad had worked over 30 years in the plant, all of his salaries combined were still less than this. For commoners, this was definitely a huge amount of money. Now, such a small vial of medicament was worth that huge amount of money. Of course, Zhang Tie''s elder sister-in-law became very nervous.


    "Zhang Tie, this...this is too valuable!" Zhang Tie¡¯s elder sister-in-law urged. Born in an average family, she clearly knew the meaning of 600 gold coins.


    "For me, nothing could be more valuable than a family member''s health. Just take it, elder sister-in-law!" Zhang Tie insisted with a smile, as directly hugged Zhang Cheng''an and kissed his tender face, "Sorry, your uncle came back in too much of a hurry this time and forgot to get a gift for you. When you are 1 year old, your uncle will gift you something!"


    Gazing at Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang was moved inside; however, he didn''t say anything; instead, he directly opened the vial and downed it.


    Seeing a small amount of dregs were left in the vial, Zhang Tie''s elder sister-in-law hurriedly took a kettle and made a cup of water. After cooling the water by blowing it, she cleansed the inside of the vial with the water and let Zhang Yang drink it.


    The powerful effects of the senior recovery medicament started to work only 1 minute after Zhang Yang drank it.


    "Argh, that''s strange. The wounds on my legs feel itchy; it''s like a lot of ants are creeping inside. It feels a bit hot!" Zhang Yang twisted on the bed.


    "The wounds are healing. As wounds on bones will recover a bit slower than those bruises, after the recovery, your wounds should feel very cool and comfortable!"


    ...


    10 minutes later, when Zhang Yang laughed loudly with Zhang Cheng''an in his hands and walked downstairs with Zhang Tie to have dinner, their mom and dad were really shocked. After hearing the reason, the whole family enjoyed dinner together even more so than usual.


    This was the first reunion dinner of the family since Zhang Tie left half year ago.


    On the table, when Zhang Tie''s dad asked Zhang Tie about his situation in Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie described it as a vacation which was away from any danger or hardship. Everywhere was pleasant. Zhang Tie''s mom laughed a lot at that. She laughed so much that a few tears rolled down her face. His dad couldn''t stand it anymore as he directly flicked Zhang Tie''s forehead with a chopstick.


    "Fool, you think I don''t know about life on Hidden Dragon Island? Others always have to work hard in Hidden Dragon Palace; how come you only play in the sea water with junior sisters or play on weird machines and toys with senior sisters in Hidden Dragon Palace? How come those magical beasts just lie in the Dragon Cave to be killed by you as long as you release your battle qi? Do you think the Dragon Cave is like one of those ditches where kids catch loaches?"


    Realizing that his dad could not be cheated that easily, Zhang Tie hurriedly smirked, "My dad is smart. But the fact was really like what your son has described. If you don''t believe me, you can ask anyone on Hidden Dragon Island about me. Ask if your son saved a junior sister when he was playing in the sea or whether your son damaged those hydraulic quincuncial piles when he played with his senior sisters at the fundamental footsteps training field! I had even paid for the maintenance fee. Many people know about it!"


    "Have you always been that attractive? How come so many girls surround you every day?" Zhang Tie¡¯s dad pretended to glare at him.


    "I''ve inherited your excellent genes. That''s why I''m so handsome, kind, and sincere. Of course those senior and junior sisters like me," Zhang Tie said shamelessly.


    "That''s it. When I was young..." Hearing Zhang Tie''s praise, Zhang Tie''s dad became proud. When he wanted to say something, he found Zhang Tie''s mom glaring at him. Therefore, he hurriedly coughed twice before shutting up. He didn''t ask Zhang Tie about his situation on Hidden Dragon Island any more.


    Zhang Tie''s mom was feeding her grandson some chicken soup. After that little guy grabbed his own soup spoon, she turned her head and looked at Zhang Tie, "Now that you have so many senior and junior sisters on Hidden Dragon Island, do you have a girlfriend? Bring her back home when you are free. As long as you are in love with each other, you should be engaged as soon as possible!"


    It was Zhang Tie''s time to cough, "Your son truly has fallen in love with a girl on the island; but I¡¯ve not dealt with that. When I make it, I will bring her back home!"


    "The 3 girls who came for you in Blackhot City were nice. Besides that girl called Pandora who hadn''t developed well yet, the other two both looked pretty good with good family backgrounds. Alas, what a pity..." Zhang Tie¡¯s mom then sighed.


    "No need to feel pity about that. We can meet again if we want. This place is only a short flight from Blackhot City. As long as you like them, your son will marry them all in the future. How about that?"


    "What do you mean by ''as long as I like them''. Most importantly, you should love your wives!"


    "Okay, that''s a deal. As your son likes so many girls, I will marry them all in the future; perhaps I will marry a princess. Don''t be frightened then!" Zhang Tie made a grimace.


    "Princess? Are you kidding me? As long as you could marry one as good as your elder sister-in-law and deliver me a grandson, I will thank the goddesses!"


    "You want grandsons? That''s easy. Let my elder brother and my elder sister-in-law deliver another one in a year for you!"


    This time, Zhang Tie''s mom knocked his forehead with a stick of chopstick while Zhang Tie''s elder sister-in-law''s face blushed...

 341 Family Life

    Chapter 341: Family Life


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    After supper, Zhang Tie stayed at home to chat with his family. Meanwhile, he played with that little guy who was trying to climb up everything. The atmosphere was very warm.


    For Zhang Yang''s abduction, Zhang Tie''s parents still didn''t know that it was related to Zhang Tie. Neither did they know that Zhang Tie had encountered an even greater danger than Zhang Yang on that day. As Zhang Tie didn''t want them to worry about him, he just briefly described parts of the event.


    At present, the Zhang family employed a servant introduced by Zhang Tie¡¯s eldest uncle. She was called Aunt Jen. She was honest, diligent, and had a clear background. Besides 56 silver coins a month, she would also be tipped for holidays and festivals. Seeing the Zhang family sitting in the parlor, Aunt Jen made sliced fruits for them.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie''s mom was the last one who wanted to employ a servant. When she thought that it would cost them dozens of silver coins a month, Zhang Tie''s mom was very reluctant about it.


    Having been very diligent in Blackhot City for so many years, Zhang Tie¡¯s mom was not accustomed to being served by others. However, Zhang Tie¡¯s elder sister¡¯s stomach was growing larger while Zhang Tie¡¯s elder brother and dad had their own work and had little time to stay at home. Zhang Tie¡¯s mom could not take care of Zhang Tie¡¯s elder sister-in-law while preparing the whole family¡¯s food; therefore, she agreed to employ a servant.


    Kids at the age of half year were the most torturing. Over the past half year, Zhang Cheng¡¯an was looked after by Zhang Tie¡¯s elder sister-in-law and Zhang Tie¡¯s mom. He was quiet in the daytime; at night, when everybody fell asleep, this kid would be full of energy and he would need to pee or poop. Whereas, it could only be taken care by Zhang Tie¡¯s elder sister-in-law at night. Due to long-term poor sleep, Zhang Tie thought that his elder sister-in-law looked a bit haggard.


    These were the usual, trivial things in their daily lives.


    Before Zhang Tie came back, Zhang Tie¡¯s elder sister-in-law and Zhang Yang had been talking about employing a babysitter. They always tried to persuade Zhang Tie¡¯s mom in a roundabout way.


    When Zhang Tie came back today, seeing Zhang Tie¡¯s mom being very happy, Zhang Tie¡¯s elder sister-in-law mentioned the babysitter thing once again. Surprisingly, this time, Zhang Tie¡¯s mom agreed at once. The whole family then became very joyful.


    "We need to choose the babysitter very carefully. She should be careful and patient. Coincidentally, your dad and I had found your uncle¡¯s home in Xince City several days ago. Your uncle has many children and your aunt lies in bed all year round due to sickness. They have severe financial problems!" Zhang Tie¡¯s mom stared at Zhang Yang and explained, "You and Zhang Tie have an elder female cousin. She is good-looking, over 30 years old and is working as a nursery governess in a kindergarten on street. Although working very hard, she could only make over 40 silver coins a month there. If you want to employ a babysitter, you¡¯d better employ your cousin as we are of the same family!"


    "Good idea!" Zhang Yang agreed at once, "When I am free, I will go to the Xince City to invite my uncle¡¯s family for a reunion!"


    When Zhang Tie intended to ask about his grandparents¡¯ health situation, he saw a wisp of grief in his mom¡¯s eyes; therefore, he knew the answer.


    After leaving Huaiyuan Prefecture 30 years, Zhang Tie knew that his grandparents must have passed away, one after another, before they came back. If not, his mom would not look that sorrowful.


    "Mom, what about uncle¡¯s family members?" Zhang Tie asked then.


    "Your uncle has 4 sons and 3 daughters. 2 of his daughters and 3 of his sons have married, leaving your elder female cousin and your elder male cousin at home. Your elder female cousin is a nursery governess in a kindergarten while your elder male cousin has no official job. Your aunt lies on bed all the year round. Your uncle is a postman. He has to look after his family! If you and your elder brother can, you should help them a lot!"


    "Don¡¯t worry, mom, I believe my uncle¡¯s family will be well off. How could my elder brother and I not help mom¡¯s relatives when they''re in trouble? After figuring out the situation over there, we will help them!" Zhang Tie comforted his mom, "Oh, what disease does aunt suffer?"


    "Your aunt was working in an ice plant; due to her long exposure to cold conditions, she suffers from severe rheumatism and arthritis. She can''t even walk easily now!" Zhang Tie¡¯s mom sighed.


    ''Rheumatism and arthritis?'' Hearing this answer, Zhang Tie smiled. Although he was not sure about dealing with other diseases, he was sure that the two diseases could definitely be cured with only a few vials of all-purpose medicament. ¡®I will send a batch of all-purpose medicament to them for both my uncle¡¯s family and my own family.¡¯


    During the talk, Zhang Tie came to understand the details of what his dad and elder brother had been up to over the past half year.


    After staying at home for a while, Zhang Tie¡¯s dad couldn¡¯t stand doing nothing anymore; so, he got a job as a material engineer of an airship manufacturing company. As he was very familiar with this job, he became passionate once again. In the latter part of the talk, Zhang Tie¡¯s dad started to talk about manufacturing airships of high spirits. In his words, this work was far more interesting than his previous job. Additionally, there were many young men in the company, who made him very energetic.


    Zhang Tie then joked, "Dad, now that you like manufacturing airships so much, how about buying that company for you and let you be the boss?"


    Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, his dad almost flicked his forehead once again, "Although that company produces small airships, it employs over 700 workers. It¡¯s total assets amount to more than 300,000 gold coins. That¡¯s 300,000 gold coins! How could you buy it so easily? Let''s not say empty words!"


    Zhang Tie just responded with a smile.


    Zhang Yang had registered a business group and started to get involved in the food and pharmaceutical trades. After half a year¡¯s practice, he had gradually stabilized his business.


    The name of Zhang Tie¡¯s business group was Jinwu (½ðÎÚ) Business Group. Jinwu meant Sun, which was also a magical beast that lived on the sun in Chinese myths. In this age, Chinese always liked to name their organizations or group from allusions or stories in myths, such as Golden Roc Bank.


    Additionally, "½ð" referred to the radical "îÄ" of "Ìú", which indicated Zhang Tie (ÕÅÌú), while "½ðÎÚ" referred to "Ñô", which indicated "Zhang Yang (ÕÅÑô)". This name included the brothers¡¯ names and represented the brothers¡¯ position in the business group.


    Zhang Yang racked his mind over 2 weeks before he thought this name. He was very pleased with the name. Over the past half year, he also spent a lot of time and energy in the business group. The main scope of the company was food and drug trading. He chose the 2 areas because Zhang Tie told him that the 3rd holy war between humans and demons was nigh!


    Looking back at the two previous holy wars between the human race and demons, the three most important materials were food, medicine, and weapons. In each holy war, companies or business groups in the above three industries would earn uncountable profits.


    Zhang Yang bet that food and drug industries would grow increasingly important in the future and all the food and drugs would be scarce and expensive.


    As would the weapons and munitions industry. However, Jinwu Business Group was not qualified to enter this industry which it required large assets and an established foundation. Therefore, he could only start from food and drugs trading.


    The fish processing industry and marine creatures medicine industry were both very developed in Huaiyuan Prefecture which was located in coastal areas. This created great convenience for Jinwu Business Group to involve itself in the food and pharmaceutical industries.


    Now, Jinwu Business Group was mainly trading canned fish, which had an extremely long shelf life, and a medicament made of a special actiniaria¡¯s biotoxin. The latter one could be widely applied in weapon processing to make weapons more lethal to both demons and human race.


    Jinwu Business Group had already opened the market and established relations with some clients. The next step, according to Zhang Yang¡¯s plan, was for Jinwu Business Group to extend to the upper level of the industrial chain of food and drug processing. When the holy war broke out, the most powerful ones would not purely trade the goods, but also control the resources'' sources.


    Zhang Yang firstly decided to purchase a cannery; then, he would organize a small fishing team. He planned to control each important link of the production of canned fish from fishing, processing, production to sales.


    Time flew, everyone was enjoying the talk with their family members. It was soon 11:00 pm. Considering that Zhang Tie¡¯s dad had to go to work tomorrow, they then went back to their own bedrooms to sleep.


    Before going back to his own bedroom, Zhang Tie asked his mom, "Mom, do we have any liquor?"


    "Yes, it¡¯s in kitchen. Your dad bought it for making medicinal liquor. What do you want that for?"


    "I want a bit!"


    "Are you drinking it now?" Zhang Tie¡¯s mom looked him with a dubious expression.


    "No, I am practicing a fighting skill. Before I start, I have to clean my body with liquor. It¡¯s used to lower the temperature of my body! Although I will stay at home for several days. I won¡¯t drop my cultivation!" Zhang Tie fabricated as he believed that nobody would doubt his words. As for why he would use liquor instead of alcohol, who cared; perhaps liquor was more nutritious than alcohol.


    Hearing that Zhang Tie would stay at home several days, Zhang Tie¡¯s mom revealed a smile of satisfaction at once, "The wine is in the wine cabinet, if there''s not enough, I will buy some for you tomorrow!"


    "1 or 2 bottles are enough!" Zhang Tie smirked. After saying good night to his family members, he went to the kitchen and got 2 average bottles of liquor which were marked 61 degrees from the wine cabinet before heading back to his own bedroom...

 342 Sowing Lotus Seeds I

    After putting out the lamps in the bedroom, Zhang Tie stood before his window on the 3rd floor. He slightly exposed a corner of the curtain and looked at the courtyard. It was already past midnight and the lamps in the courtyard were still on. One bodyguard was sitting quietly in the corridor of the courtyard with his eyes widely opened.


    On the other side of the house was another person who was also on duty. 2 other people were sleeping in the room beside the parlor on 1st floor. The above 4 people were left by Zhang Haitian, the grandpa of Zhang Tie, when he came here for Zhang Yang yesterday. They had worked for Zhang Family for over 10 years.


    As Zhang Yang had experienced the abduction, with these people at home, Zhang family would feel safe.


    Zhang Tie then put down the corner of the curtain and started to consider finding some bodyguards and sentries for his family members. Now that his elder brother had been abducted, it was hard to say whether similar events would happen on other family members. As the world was becoming increasingly chaotic, Zhang Tie thought that he had to pay attention to this issue.


    At this moment, now that his grandpa had assigned bodyguards and sentries here, he didn¡¯t need to find others for the time being. If he went for other bodyguards and sentries at this moment, he would face two problems, namely, the loyalty of the new bodyguards and sentries that he found, and his grandpa would think that Zhang Tie¡¯s family didn¡¯t believe in him, which would raise many doubts and misunderstandings.


    Additionally, according to his elder brother, when Zhang Yang was in hospital, the intelligence department of Huaiyuan Prefecture found him and recorded the details of the abduction. Combining Zhang Yang¡¯s statement and other clues, it would not be difficult for some smart guys to conclude that Zhang Tie was the only person who had mastered the secret knowledge of producing all-purpose medicament.


    Therefore, it would almost be impossible for those people to gain the secret knowledge of producing all-purpose medicament from his family members. Of course, there might be chances that someone would force him to submit the secret knowledge on producing all-purpose medicament by abducting his family members. However, unless Huaiyuan Palace had declined to the worst scenario and lost its ability to protect the Zhang Clan¡¯s posterity, this would not happen in a short period. Even though it truly happened, those people would definitely suffer a great punishment.


    Therefore, whether they wanted to master the method to produce all-purpose medicament or to directly destroy this method, their main target was still Zhang Tie. After the recent events, they should be clearer about this point.


    Zhang Tie realized that his number one priority should be to improve his fighting strength as soon as possible. He needed to find a way to gain seven-strength fruits so as to turn his precise throwing skill into his trump card.


    After all his family members had gone to bed and he ensured that nobody would disturb him, Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron.


    Since he left Dragon Cave, it was Zhang Tie¡¯s first time entering the Castle of Black Iron.


    Before Zhang Tie entered the Castle of Black Iron, he held 2 bottles of liquor as he expected the new fruits on the small tree.


    Although the fight in Dragon Cave 3 days ago was very fierce, Zhang Tie knew that it was time for him to reap the fruits.


    ...


    After unlocking that marvelous arch door in his mind, Zhang Tie disappeared in the bedroom at once and entered Castle of Black Iron.


    After Zhang Tie requested that Heller kept the time in the Castle of Black Iron synchronized with outside, it was also night in the Castle of Black Iron now.


    It was very tranquil in the Castle of Black Iron. Without clamor of the daytime, everything was like a sweet dream. What covered this space now was not a colorful, brilliant rainbow any more, but colorful clouds that covered the bright moon. With the tender light, the whole space became a fairly visible.


    In the dark, each leaf of the small tree was shining. With different shapes, those leaves were radiating lights of many different colors. As a result, hundreds of colors were shining on the small tree.


    Watching that mysterious, small tree, Zhang Tie felt like he was enjoying a fabulous scene. He watched it for one minute before stopping himself from picking off fruits. With the two bottles of liquor, he entered his lab.


    After turning on the lamp, the whole lab became bright.


    On the table was lying that lotus seedpod of the fiery-flame lotus gifted from Zhao Yuan, Zhang Tie¡¯s master. Zhang Tie put down the bottles and found an empty glass flask from a cabinet which could hold over 1 liter of liquid.


    Since he bought these flasks from Blackhot City, Zhang Tie had not used them till now. After checking the flask, Zhang Tie found its inside was even a bit dirty, which might have been like that since it left the factory.


    The air in the Castle of Black Iron was refreshing, natural, and filled of various plants¡¯ reiki. There was almost no dirt or dust in the air. It was around 8 to 9 months ago when he cleaned the table of the lab. Now, it was still as clean as before. After touching it, he saw no dirt at all. If air could be sold, Zhang Tie even wanted to sell the air in cans.


    Zhang Tie then held the flask and went to the stream. After cleaning it completely, he took it back into the lab.


    ¡®If only I could install a waterpipe in the lab!¡¯ However, Zhang Tie knew that he was unable to make something like that for the time being. It would be too boring for him to buy a water tower and water pipes and then bring them into the Castle of Black Iron.


    "Welcome to the Castle of Black Iron, Castle Lord!"


    While Zhang Tie was washing the flask, Heller arrived and met him at the entrance of the lab. He bowed towards Zhang Tie. At Zhang Tie¡¯s behest, Heller finally didn¡¯t add "Handsome and Magnificent" onto Zhang Tie¡¯s title. Zhang Tie knew that he could enjoy it alone, but it would be unwise for him to make others join in with him.


    Zhang Tie greeted Heller and they walked into the lab together.


    After entering the lab, Zhang Tie hurriedly started his work while Heller just stood aside quietly.


    Each bottle contained about 500 liters of liquor. Zhang Tie then opened the lids and poured the all of the liquor into the bigger glass flask.


    The total of liquor filled about 80% of the flask.


    After that, Zhang Tie held that lotus seedpod which was as heavy as a piece of ironwood. He then broke it and took out the lotus seeds from inside one by another.


    Each lotus seed of fiery-flame red lotus was almost as big as a glass ball[1] that Zhang Tie used to play with when he was young. The crimson seeds were as heavy as iron. Zhang Tie pinched one but couldn¡¯t break it at all. Therefore, Zhang Tie put one in mouth and bit it; however, he felt like biting a steel bead.


    After trying it, Zhang Tie knew that his master was right. If he forcefully swallowed it, he would definitely excrete it in the same state as it currently was.


    There was a total of 18 seeds inside the seedpod, which was a bit less than what he had expected. After soaking 10 lotus seeds inside the liquor, Zhang Tie only had 8 left. Glazing at those seeds, Zhang Tie instantly thought up an idea.


    He almost jumped up¡ª¡ªnow that these were lotus seeds, why not sow them in Castle of Black Iron, then...


    "Heller!" Zhang Tie instantly turned his face towards Heller who was standing beside him, "Erm, can we create magma here?"


    "You finally got it, my lord. I was thinking about reminding you. It seems that it¡¯s not necessary!" Heller then revealed a smile, "Of course, you could create an environment full of magma, it was nothing different than creating a surface environment. Your seeds are from silicon-based plants, which are rarely seen. They contain a very special energy. If they were sown, they would definitely be of great use to you and the Castle of Black Iron!"


    "Silicon-based plant? You mean fiery-flame red lotus is a silicon-based plant?" Zhang Tie was amazed by this term. This was his first time seeing a non-carbon-based organism since he was born. He''d thought that he might not even see a non-carbon-based organism in his whole life.


    "Of course, if it''s not a silicon-based plant, how could it grow in such a high-temperature environment like magma? Carbon-based organisms could never do this!"


    "Can we grow fiery-flame red lotus here?"


    "This is where even the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree could grow. There''s no plant cannot be grown here!" Heller replied confidently.


    Hearing this answer, Zhang Tie¡¯s heart almost burst out of his throat...

 343 Sowing Lotus Seeds II

    After being told that he could sow the fiery-flame red lotus seeds in the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie became really excited. That meant he could have one more trump card and one more resource.


    Zhang Tie suddenly thought of a question, "How long will it take a fiery-flame red lotus seed to become ripe?"


    "All the silicon-based plants grow very slowly; it will take a seed of fiery-flame red lotus over 60 years to become ripe!"


    Hearing this answer, Zhang Tie''s smile froze at once; however, Heller hadn''t finished what he was saying.


    "But if you can input a great amount of reiki into it, you could accelerate its growth greatly and make it ripe in half a year. Based on the current reiki provision in Castle of Black Iron, if you put all the reiki into a seed of fiery-flame red lotus, you could make it ripe in about 2 years!"


    Although Zhang Tie knew that the reiki in Castle of Black Iron could accelerate the growth of plants, he had not imagined that reiki could also promote the growth of fiery-flame red lotus.


    "Can we create the proper underground environment for the growth of the seeds of fiery-flame red lotus?"


    "Yes, castle lord, the basic energy storage that you''ve accumulated in Hidden Dragon Island could allow a small area of space and terrain creation!"


    Hearing Heller''s reply, Zhang Tie instantly opened the management panel of Castle of Black Iron. After choosing the button "space and terrain creation" on the menu, three sub-menus appeared.


    ¡ª Surface Layer


    ¡ª Subterranean Layer


    ¡ª Subsurface Layer


    Zhang Tie chose the option "Subterranean Layer". In a split second, a three-dimensional image that included the underground area of the Castle of Black Iron had appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    After gaining the Castle of Black Iron, it was Zhang Tie''s first time seeing the whole subterranean world of the Castle of Black Iron.


    The whole Castle of Black Iron was a cube. The subterranean depth of Castle of Black Iron was about 800 m, the same as its length and width.


    As Heller had added over 200,000 square meters of fresh water to the lake, Zhang Tie could see it in the holographic image of the subterranean structure of Castle of Black Iron. The soil and rock layer under that fresh water lake was only dozens of meters in depth. Compared to other original places of Castle of Black Iron, it looked very thin.


    "What''s wrong with the thickness of the subterranean layer here?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    "This is the default thickness of any new soil and subterranean layer in Castle of Black Iron. You might have not gotten enough basic energy storage to make it as thick as that of the other places!" Heller explained, "For those living on the surface, it''s meaningless to provide them too thick subterranean layer! It would just be wasting basic energy!"


    "Can I make the subterranean layer of this lake as deep as that of the other places?"


    "You can have a try, my lord. As long as you have enough energy storage, you can extend the surface land or the subterranean layer of Castle of Black Iron as much as you can. If you have enough basic energy storage, you can even make the subterranean layer of each place in Castle of Black Iron as thick as 1 million km!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he sighed inside. ''For this function alone, the Castle of Black Iron would require limitless basic energy storage. Even though I am able to absorb all the sea water, Castle of Black Iron can easily consume all the basic energy. It seems to be a long-term job to accumulate basic energy.''


    After inspecting the subterranean structure of the Castle of Black Iron for a while, Zhang Tie directly projected his image of the karst cave and the magma environment of fiery-flame red lotus in Hidden Dragon Cave onto that three-dimensional holographic diagram. After adjusting and measuring the current basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron a few times, Zhang Tie finally got an image of that subterranean layer.


    The entrance of the subterranean layer was close to the south-central part of Castle of Black Iron. It was only 100 m away from Zhang Tie. Being located in a pine wood, the entrance was a hill as high as 10 meters or so. A mountain cave extended 100 m underground like a spiral staircase from this entrance.


    At the other end of the mountain cave, Zhang Tie opened an underground karst cave which was as large as about half an American Football field. There was an irregular magma lake as large as 2 basketball courts and some 2-m wide twisting ditches of magma were connected to that magma lake.


    "The magma lake looks too white; it indicates a high temperature. However, seeds of fiery-flame red lotus are only suitable to grow in magma under 800 Celsius degrees!" Heller explained as he instantly adjusted the temperature on the holographic image. Then, Zhang Tie noticed that the magma turned a bit redder while the temperature stayed at 617 Celsius degrees.


    After doing this, Heller nodded.


    ¡ª As the completeness of your illusion on the details of the subterranean layer is lower than 8%, do you allow the system to start the casual natural creation law to fix up the rest? After the system completes the construction, you can adjust it by hand, my lord!


    ¡ª Agree or disagree?


    Zhang Tie chose "Agree".


    In a split second, all the obscure parts on the three-dimensional holographic image became clear and alive.


    ¡ª As a new subterranean layer has been opened, it can contain minerals. Do you want to have mineral resources in the new subterranean layer, my lord?


    ¡ª Yes...No!


    ''Minerals?'' Zhang Tie was startled by this information, "Argh, if that''s the case, can I form any mineral in the subterranean layer that I want? What if I get a gold mine or crystal mine here?"


    "It''s not that simple!" Heller shook his head, "The varieties of mineral resources that can be created in the subterranean layer of Castle of Black Iron through the space and terrain creation function are only limited to the kinds of minerals that have been absorbed and dissolved by the Pool of Chaos. Additionally, when the system forms special minerals, it will consume a lot of basic energy, merit value points and aura value points. Based on the current situation of Castle of Black Iron, we cannot afford that at all."


    After choosing "Yes", Zhang Tie found that the system could only produce pyrites and crystals of poor quality, which had been thrown into the Pool of Chaos when he attended the survival training in the Wild Wolf Valley.


    After forming a narrow strip of pyrite, the basic energy storage, merit values and aura values of Castle of Black Iron had turned red.


    Compared to forming a pyrite mine, crystal mine required huge amounts of merit value points and aura value points.


    ''F*ck!'' Zhang Tie swore inside as he completely gave up the unrealistic idea of forming rare minerals in the Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie had deepened his understanding of the Castle of Black Iron. Everything that he gained here was due to karma ¡ª as a man sows, so does he reap.


    This round of space and terrain creation requires the following resources:


    Basic energy storage: 713698


    Aura value points: 35190


    Merit value points: 4822


    ¡ª Do you want to create it?


    ¡ª ''Yes'' or ''No''


    ¡ª Yes!


    ''This round of space and terrain creation will start in half a minute. It will take 18 seconds, during which period, you cannot leave Castle of Black Iron, my lord.''


    ¡ª Count down: 30...29...28...27...26...


    "I remember that when I created that spring last time, I was asked to leave Castle of Black Iron. Why not this time?" Zhang Tie asked Heller. The creation of that spring was still shocking him until now. He recalled that when he came back in Castle of Black Iron after half a minute, he saw a sweet and crystal spring, which was dreamlike.


    "Because the Castle of Black Iron and Castle Lord are one. The energy fluctuation frequency, due to the creation of space and terrain in the Castle of Black Iron, would stabilize your spiritual energy. When your spiritual energy was low, it would be very dangerous for you to experience the space and terrain creation in Castle of Black Iron. If your spiritual energy resonates with the energy frequency arisen from space and terrain creation, your head might be exploded!"


    "What about other living beings in the Castle of Black Iron? Won''t they suffer a head explosion then?"


    "No, they won''t. This resonance only exists on you!"


    Zhang Tie understood it. At the same time, he was extremely curious about how this round of space and terrain creation would be completed in Castle of Black Iron. He then walked out of the lab and watched that pine wood 100 m away in the south of the lab.


    ...


    Count down: 5...4...3...2...1.


    Then, the whole Castle of Black Iron became dark at once. Closely following that, the colorful fog surrounding the space of Castle of Black Iron started to brighten up. In just a few seconds, the colorful light had become so dazzling that Zhang Tie had to close his eyes while covering them with a hand.


    With his eyes closed, Zhang Tie could felt that the whole space was filled with light. Meanwhile, his spiritual energy started to surge, causing his ears to ring and experience acousmas.


    When he felt the colorful, dazzling light had disappeared, he opened his eyes ¡ª the terrain of the pine wood 100 m away had changed while one 10-m high hill appeared over there with a pitch-black cave...

 344 Rapid Moving Skill

    Chapter 344: Rapid Moving Skill


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    After 18 seconds later, the creation of the space and terrain were finished; however, it took Zhang Tie quite a while to recover his senses.


    With an illuminating lamp in hand, Heller was standing beside Zhang Tie and waiting for him to recover his composure.


    "Just now..." Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva.


    "Everything is due to the application and manifestation of energy!" Heller answered calmly.


    Knowing that Heller wouldn¡¯t tell him too much about that, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t ask Heller any more. Raising his head, Zhang Tie stared at the colorful fog surrounding the whole Castle of Black Iron. Just now, all this had been created by that fog and manifested in only 18 seconds.


    ¡®There must be a great secret in the colorful fog!¡¯ Zhang Tie thought; however, he was not able to discover the secret at that moment.


    Seeing Heller having prepared to be the guide, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t say anything. They directly walked into the underground cave. With lamp in hand, Heller walked in front, followed by Zhang Tie. They followed the twisting path down into the cave''s depths. After a short while, Zhang Tie had already seen the red glow reflected on the walls of the cave while the air felt a bit hot.


    After turning a corner, Zhang Tie caught sight of the underground karst full of magma. It was exactly as he had imagined. Stalactites were hanging down from the top of the karst cave while below them was a fiery magma lake.


    Of course, Zhang Tie would not throw the fiery-flame red lotus seeds into that magma lake. Even though those seeds could grow into fiery-flame red lotuses, it would be very difficult for him to pick them up. After all, he was not as powerful as his master. Therefore, Zhang Tie dug some ditches beside the magma lake and directly threw the 8 seeds of fiery-flame red lotus into those ditches full of flowing fiery magma.


    In this way, when they grew into fiery-flame red lotuses, he would stand beside the ditches and picked up those seedpods only by reaching out a little.


    ''Oh, although my master didn''t mention it, there should be a lotus root of the fiery-flame red lotus. I really wonder how potent the effects of the lotus flower and the lotus root of fiery-flame red lotus would be.''


    The depth of magma in the ditches was only between 1m to 2m, which was very suitable to the growth of lotus flower.


    Flowing magma had very great density itself. Therefore, the lotus seeds slowly sank into the magma.


    Watching those sinking seeds, Zhang Tie instantly thought up an idea as he opened the basic attributes panel of the Castle of Black Iron.


    Castle of Black Iron


    ¡ª Length: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª Width: 1 Krosa


    ¡ª Aura value: 411,598


    ¡ª Merit value: 71,612


    ¡ª Basic energy storage: 846,520


    ¡ª Special output: basic energy reiki yeast.


    Now, with the increasing varieties of plants and their rapid growth in Castle of Black Iron, the aura values were increasing gradually. More than 3,000 aura values could be produced per day in Castle of Black Iron.


    Recently, the merit values in the Castle of Black Iron had mainly come from the merits that he had gained through setting free sand-scale fish.


    For the basic energy storage in Castle of Black Iron, although it was over 800,000, 600,000 of them had been promised to Heller in order to know if it was Lan Yunxi''s first kiss. Therefore, only 600,000 of them were reserved for Heller.


    That meant Zhang Tie could only use 246,520 basic energy units of them.


    After checking his available resources, Zhang Tie then opened the option "Silicon-based Living Beings and Species Management" under the function "Living Beings and Species Management". He then selected the 8 seeds of fiery-flame red lotus that he had "sown" just now on the panel one by another.


    Zhang Tie then input a certain number of "aura values", "basic energy values", and "merit values" into the seeds. He input one single resource into 3 seeds, 2 resources in the other 3 seeds and 3 resources in the rest 2 seeds.


    Given the marvelous effects of fiery-flame red lotuses, this was largest amount of value points - in this batch mutations and evolutions of the seeds of fiery-flame red lotus - that Zhang Tie had spent ever since he''d gotten the Castle of Black Iron. Any seed being input in aura values or basic energy values would gain at least 20,000 values of a single resource. Additionally, Zhang Tie even input almost 10,000 merit values into the seeds.


    Zhang Tie selected different directions of evolution and mutation for each seed. He didn''t know what those seeds really needed; he just wanted to have a try, like buying lottery. It was almost expected that he wouldn''t win a prize; however, once he succeeded, he would gain a great benefit from them, just like those mutated basic energy reiki yeast.


    After doing all this, Zhang Tie and Heller returned to the surface.


    "Castle Lord, the growth circle of fiery-flame red lotus is very long. If you want to see the result of this round of mutation and evolution as soon as possible, you have to input more aura value points to accelerate its growth. With more land, you will be able to grow more plants; with more plants, you will gain more aura value points."


    "If I want more land, I have to have more basic energy storage first!" Zhang Tie nodded, "Don''t worry about the basic energy storage, I will keep it in mind. I don''t want to gain the result of this round of mutation and evolution for 10 years."


    Heller the nodded, "Well, I will not disturb your cultivation, my lord. Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree has brought you a great surprise, I''m expecting for my lord to become one of the most powerful beings as soon as possible!"


    After that, Heller left. According to Heller, he and the three servants also needed a sleep to maintain their vitality. As it was late in the evening, the other three servants would have already fallen asleep. Alone, Zhang Tie took a walk in the Castle of Black Iron under the moonlight.


    Thinking about Heller''s words, Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he walked towards that small tree. In three days, the latest Leakless Fruit would become ripe tomorrow.


    When he saw the latest "Fruit of Brilliance" on the other side of the small tree, Zhang Tie was not too amazed. As those people who had been killed by him in Dragon Cave were so vicious, Zhang Tie knew that they must have done a lot of evil things; therefore, it was normal for him to gain a fruit of brilliance.


    ''I wonder whether the LV 10 guy who committed a suicide during my questioning has contributed to this Fruit of Brilliance; if he did, the fruit of brilliance will be very nutritious. Even if he didn''t, as I''ve killed a LV 9 guy and 10 more lackeys, this fruit will not be too disappointing either.


    ''Heller''s "surprise" should not be the fruit of brilliance.''


    Zhang Tie then checked all the twigs on small tree very carefully. Finally, he caught sight of a fruit that he had not seen for a long time.


    The fruit was pitch-dark with tadpole-like runes swimming inside while there was a cross on its surface.


    ''Fruit of Judgment!''


    Zhang Tie became so excited that he almost jumped up as it had been so long since he had experienced its effects.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to check the attributes of this fruit of judgment by reaching out his hand.


    Heart pounding, Zhang Tie didn''t know whether this fruit of judgment could update his "binding skill" or bring him a new skill; no matter what, it would definitely stimulate Zhang Tie to howl like a wolf.


    ¡ª Fruit of Judgment; the fruit has become ripe. It contains a god''s rune whose effect is "moving rapidly". Usage: Pick it and paste it on the place between your eyebrows; then, activate it with your spiritual energy to integrate it with your body. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. Twelve hours after being picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ''Moving rapidly? Is it a skill to increase my speed?'' Having experienced the achievement of binding skill, Zhang Tie knew that he needed to integrate with this god''s rune before learned the effect of this god''s rune


    ''How did I gain a fruit of judgment this time?'' Compared to his excitement, Zhang Tie was more curious about this; therefore, he continued to check the instructions on this fruit.


    ¡ª Darkness would cover the mother land. Numerous lives would wail in blood sea and fiery flame; Those followers of demons betray the honor that was born within them; they enjoy pleasant feasts at the cost of the rest of mankind. Their souls have deteriorated while their bodies have become dirty. To those dauntless men who dared to wave your broadswords towards darkness, please hold fast your broadsword and end these dirty lives; please judge their evils by broadsword; according to the rule of creation, the more judgments you''ve made, the more power you will gain to become a judge.


    Zhang Tie really wondered how many evil things the Zhen family of Heavens Cold City had done. ''F*ck! I always thought that this treatment only came from those mulings of Sun Dynasty who do evil things in the name of celestial beings!''


    After thinking that way, Zhang Tie then took a careful look at that instruction. Then, a chilly thought flashed in his mind ¡ª the Zhen family might have relations with demons?


    Zhang Tie was stunned for a while; then, he shook his head, ''I''ve been set up with Zhen clan; therefore, I will kill them all no matter whether they have relations with demons or not.''


    He then picked the fruit of brilliance and sat down on the ground with cross legs to slowly absorb the spirit of the fruit.


    The spirit carried by this fruit was out of Zhang Tie''s expectation. The moment the fruit entered his mouth, the spirit inside had started to enter his mind constantly and integrated with Zhang Tie''s original spiritual energy.


    Before eating this fruit, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy was almost 64 to 65 times greater than that of his base spiritual energy after his practice and ignition of surging points during the past half year; however, after absorbing this fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy surged and became 87-88 times that of his base energy, a one third increase.


    This really surprised Zhang Tie, making him ecstatic.


    After eating the fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie picked that fruit of judgment without any hesitation and pasted it between his eyebrows while penetrating the spiritual energy that he had greatly improved just now into that fruit of judgment.


    The same as the first fruit of judgment that he had experienced, after Zhang Tie triggered it with his spiritual energy, the fruit of judgment gradually became cooler. Eventually, the fruit changed into a weird rune, like water flowing into the sea, and disappeared from his hand; after that, it entered Zhang Tie''s mind and connected to that "binding" rune in his mind.


    At the same time, the information about the attributes of this rune also appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    God''s rune skill ¡ª rapid moving skill!


    Level ¡ª preliminary.


    The current number/maximum stored rapid moving runes ¡ª 0/7.


    The available environment of rapid moving rune ¡ª land and water.


    Effect of the rapid moving skill: increase moving speed by 120% of the original moving speed.


    Lasting time of a triggered rapid moving skill ¡ª 1 hour!


    The condition to terminate the effect of rapid moving skill ¡ª when you exceed your physical strength by 110%, its effect would terminate.


    When in battle, the effect of rapid moving skill would decline by 80%!


    Rapid moving runes can be used constantly as long as your physical strength can sustain it and the runes aren''t all used up.


    ...


    The moment he finished reading them, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy had rolled in the new rune. After swallowing about 40 bases worth of his spiritual energy, the rune of the rapid moving skill suddenly radiated golden rays. With a slight quake, a rune of rapid moving skill appeared beside that god''s rune like a kid''s soap bubbles and started to rotate around that god''s rune where it had been born.


    Like having found their new partners, the swimming snake-like binding chains in the surrounding all swam towards this soap-bubble like guy and greeted it.


    After this soap-bubble like thing came out, an attribute of rapid moving skill also changed:


    ¡ª The current number/maximum stored rapid moving runes ¡ª 1/7.

 345 Stars Viewing City

    Chapter 345: Stars Viewing City


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Stars Viewing City was located in the northwest of Huaiyuan Prefecture where the largest slaves trade center of Huaiyuan Prefecture was situated.


    The slave trade center in Stars Viewing City not only ranked first in Huaiyuan Prefecture, but was also very famous across the entire Waii Sub-Continent. The reason was that, besides the local slaves from Waii Sub-Continent, the slaves from other continents and some small, distant human settlements would also be transported to Huaiyuan Prefecture through overseas trade constantly and be transferred here through ports like Yiyang Port of Huaiyuan Prefecture.


    Slaves were the 4th most popular trading commodity among humans in this age. According to many slave traders, the slave trade was an important system to optimize the general human resources allocation of mankind, maintain the survival of the fittest among people, and keep everyone energetic and enterprising.


    Although the slave trade was not noble, its existence was necessary and reasonable to a certain degree; after all, not only slaves, each person in this age was facing the threat of demons.


    The name ''Stars Viewing City'' was very poetic; however, the city itself was not poetic at all. Besides the mammoth scale slave trade, it also had the biggest gambling houses, most exotic brothels, and the bloodiest fighting arena of Huaiyuan Prefecture.


    Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace presented another image here.


    Many people could imagine how a place with the most slaves, prostitutes, and gamblers looked. If it wasn''t in Huaiyuan Prefecture, Stars Viewing City might be very chaotic; however, due to the most terrifying Hurricane Army of Huaiyuan Palace, the city was in a pretty good order.


    The crime rate of this city was even a bit lower than that of Yiyang City. Its level of public security could rank in the top 3 of the 8 cities within Huaiyuan Prefecture.


    As the iron fist of Huaiyuan Palace, Hurricane Army contained 420,000 people, over two thirds of which were slaves from countries on different continents. After completing the stipulated term of service or performing certain military exploits, they would gain the status of free citizen from Huaiyuan Palace.


    Hurricane Army had existed for over 300 years, during which period, Huaiyuan Palace had already worked out an efficient and stable system on managing this mixed army. Under this management system, each person''s fighting strength and loyalty were exerted to the utmost.


    Many senior brothers served in Hurricane Army as military officers after leaving Hidden Dragon Palace.


    Zhang Tie learned the general information about Stars Viewing City while he was free at home.


    After staying at home for 2 days, Zhang Tie left for Stars Viewing City alone after breakfast at home.


    It was a sunny day. Zhang Tie was wearing a pair of sunglasses and driving his Faerie Dragon T9 sports car which he had bought less than an hour ago on the highway from Jinhai City to Stars Viewing City.


    Over the past hour, Zhang Tie had figured out a few things.


    First, the price of an average car was as high as 1000 gold coins. In this age, the price of most steam-driven cars changed from 100 gold coins to 200 gold coins. The reason that cars in Blackhot City were very expensive was that there were no car manufacturers in Blackhot City; therefore, the cost of those cars being transported to Blackhot City had to include various taxes and the importation policy of Blackhot City.


    Because Huaiyuan Prefecture had its own automobile industry, the price of an average steam-driven automobile was only a bit more than 100 gold coins.


    The price of the sports car that Zhang Tie was driving was only a bit more than 500 gold coins, which almost ranked top among automobiles.


    Second, in this age, although automobiles were driven by stream, different steam-driven units on automobiles would bring completely different driving results.


    There was a set of turbine-steam driven, heat-recollection, external combustion engine installed on Faerie Dragon T9. This kind of engine was in between an internal combustion engine and common steam-driven boiler engine. Compared to common steam-driven engines, this kind of engine featured a higher heat utilization efficiency. Additionally, this engine didn''t consume coal, but pure alcohol, which had a fuel value that was much lower than that of coal. Pure alcohol was several times more expensive than coal.


    This heat-recollection external combustion engine driven by turbine stream contained 9 parallel pistons, which were installed on the chassis in a tilted way. With the movement of pistons, its power output was not transferred by rotating but by swaying; through an inclined shaft, its power output could then be transferred to the axel through an angle transmission device before driving the car to move forward.


    Compared to automobiles with coal as fuel and common steam-driven engines as the power unit, this kind of automobile with pure alcohol as the fuel and a turbine steam-driven, heat-recollection, external combustion engine as the power unit featured a rapid start-up, which could greatly shorten the preheating start time of the steam-driven car.


    However, this car also had extremely high running costs.


    One kg of pure alcohol was made from 10 kgs of fermented grains; one could almost buy one ton of coal in coal-producing area like Blackhot City or hundreds of kgs of coal in other areas for that much grain. Additionally, the fuel value of alcohol as heavy as coal was far lower than that of the latter; therefore, the price of alcohol would almost be 1000 times that of coal for the same amount of fuel value.


    Due to the above factors, alcohol-driven automobiles became an expensive toy that could only be afforded by few people.


    Before the Catastrophe, humans could gain alcohol through chemistry; however, as non-renewable resources like petroleum became exhausted, and after the Catastrophe, mankind could only gain alcohol through the traditional method ¡ª fermenting grains. In this age with resource shortages, many countries even forbad the production and sale of power equipment with alcohol as the fuel.


    A notable exception was the Holy Golden Orchid Empire, whose crazy empire Heiger VII dreamed about manufacturing a powerful, alcohol-driven internal combustion engine to help him fly in the sky.


    It was said that alcohol truly could be used as the fuel of internal combustion engine of automobiles and planes. However, after the Catastrophe, like many other substances whose states and attributes had changed, alcohol''s fuel value also became much lower; therefore, it could not meet the requirement to be the fuel of an efficient internal combustion engine.


    ...


    The Faerie Dragon T9 was flying on the highway at the speed of over 100 km per hour. Zhang Tie was really satisfied by the cool feeling of driving in such a convertible.


    After leaving Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie felt he''d become incredibly rich.


    On Hidden Dragon Island, he''d spent hundreds of thousands of gold coins to build a castle so easily and could gain dozens or hundreds of gold coins a day just by selling a few vials of all-purpose medicament. As he could make money so easily, Zhang Tie almost ignored the notion of money.


    Although this car was even cheaper than that vial of senior recovery medicament that he had given to his elder brother, he was still under the admirable and jealous eyes of the people in the vehicles passing by. At this moment, Zhang Tie strongly felt that ¡ª it''s really good to be rich!


    After leaving Hidden Dragon Island, he could buy a cool sports car only at the cost of several hundreds of gold coins, stay in a city comfortably for one month at the cost of only a couple of gold coins, buy a nice house at the cost of several hundreds of gold coins, buy a villa at the cost of one thousand gold coins, share a grand dinner with his family members at the cost of just over 10 silver coins, and employ an average worker at the cost of dozens of silver coins...


    All this made Zhang Tie enjoy the magic of money.


    The Stars Viewing City that he was heading for was definitely a place that defined the magic of money. In that place, you could even buy people at the cost of dozens of gold coins or hundreds of gold coins.


    With the paper note of 20,000 gold coins that was given by Zhang Taibai for one of his well-fermented terrine of all-purpose medicament, Zhang Tie came to Stars Viewing City to buy slaves.


    After experiencing one crisis, Zhang Tie realized that it was time for him to slowly change money into a power to shock others; otherwise, what was the function of money? Without money, even a few douchebags could chase him like chasing a dog; with money, he could give them a lesson with money.


    After driving for one more hour, Zhang Tie found more and more billboards along the roadside, which were advertising various sexy beauties or gambling devices, available at hotels, gambling houses, and brothels.


    Of course, there was also advertisements for the biggest slave trade center. He saw a line on a billboard with a background of a unique building outline ¡ª Paradise Lost, You Can Find Everything Here.


    Suddenly, with the jarring, booming sound of an engine, a red sports car into the lane on the left of Zhang Tie''s Faerie Dragon T9. The two cars then drove shoulder to shoulder.


    Compared to the Faerie Dragon T9, which had a masculine look, that Red Rabbit sports car looked more elegant and slimmer, whose driver was a 20-odd young beauty with short hair.


    Zhang Tie exchanged glances with that beauty.


    However, Zhang Tie had not imagined that the girl would throw a contemptuous glance towards him with her nose turned up...

 346 Paradise Los

    Chapter 346: Paradise Lost


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    At this moment, Zhang Tie absolutely looked like some rich young master. He was wearing T-shirt and a pair of sunglasses with one arm on the door of the cab while driving the brand new car with one hand in a casual way.


    That girl was also bizarre. Although looking beautiful with smoky eyes, she was wearing a blue cowboy jacket which indicated that she was a tomboy. Additionally, on her ear closest to Zhang Tie, there were more than 5 ear piercings of different colors. Obviously, she was tricky.


    Raising her eyebrows, she threw an aggressive glance at Zhang Tie while pressing down the accelerator, surging ahead of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie then replied with a smiled as he also pressed down on his accelerator; in a split second, the steam-driven valve of the Faerie Dragon T9 opened to release the super powerful torque of 670 Nm from the turbine steam-driven, external combustion engine. In the blink of an eye, he had long passed ahead of that Red Rabbit...


    ...


    When Zhang Tie arrived at Stars Viewing City, he could not even see the shadow of the Red Rabbit that had been chasing after him. Zhang Tie then took a look at the oil gauge and found that he had consumed more than 90 liters of alcohol, leaving less than 1/5 in the oil tank...


    Looking around, he was impressed by the size of the city''s population as all the avenues were crowed with people. 2/3 of them were Chinese while 1/3 of them were of other nationalities.


    On both sides of the streets were various entertainment venues, such as "Fragrances House", "Beauties Department", "Flowers Valley", "Magical Women Palace", and "Paradise". Zhang Tie saw all sorts of brothels with branded beauties in different levels.


    The whole city was so boisterous; yet, the streets were clean and in good order, which formed a sharp contrast to Zhang Tie''s imagination.


    When Zhang Tie caught sight of that "Paradise Lost", it was almost 2 pm.


    That building complex was like a huge playground or a theme park in the city; at least the brand "Paradise Lost" on the tallest building of that building complex would cause such an association. However, this was neither a playground nor a theme park, but the well-know, biggest slave trade center.


    There were some more slave trade markets like this one; but "Paradise Lost" was the most famous and biggest one; therefore, Zhang Tie chose to have a look here first.


    Seeing Zhang Tie walking towards the entrance of Paradise Lost the moment he parked his car, a number of men who were waiting outside Paradise Lost instantly surrounded Zhang Tie. With a casual look, my god! Zhang Tie saw at least 5 different nationalities based on the color of their skin, hair, and eyes.


    After surrounding Zhang Tie, they started to introduce their own businesses.


    "Sir, our business group has a large amount of beauties and virgins; some of them are docile, some are feisty, do you want a look?"


    ...


    "Sir, our Heaven Stars Business Group has just purchased a large batch of conquered people, male or female, young or old. We can definitely meet your demands!


    "Professional slave trafficking manager Marques is willing to serve you, sir"


    ...


    "We are ''Curious'' company. We can provide your follow-up services after you purchase slaves. As long as you hand your slaves to us, we will turn a rustic village girl into a goddess and a tiger into a kitty."


    ...


    "Sir, I''m the Agela Kingdom''s population affairs commissioner in Jinyun Country; if you want a noble and satisfactory status for your slaves, come for me. Our princess is the cheapest!"


    ''What Agela Kingdom?'' Zhang Tie had not heard it before; but this guy''s words reminded Zhang Tie of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire. He remembered that the Holy Golden Orchid Empire was good at doing such business.


    Zhang Tie thought that nobody would sell statuses in Jinhai City since Holy Golden Orchid Empire moved out of the business. He had not imagined that this business would be picked up; what was more, they even improved the business by selling the status of princess. It seemed that such a trick was really profitable here.


    "Can I buy the status of queen?" Zhang Tie joked.


    It was really unexpected that that guy became really excited after hearing this question.


    "Of course, you can, sir, Agela Kingdom is a free and romantic kingdom. Our king can make any women a queen. To tell you the truth, as of now, we have more than 20 queens. It only takes you 1200 gold coins to complete the queen coronation ceremony for the one you like. Queen of Agela Kingdom has her own jade chip and gold broach; she will wear phoenix coronet and robes of rank. Besides, she will receive the guidance of our court etiquette tutor. It only takes you 1200 gold coins to have a queen as your slave and enjoy a king''s treatment!"


    Hearing this answer, Zhang Tie was really startled. ''F*ck! These people really can do whatever they want. They can even coronate a queen. What the f*ck...''


    "Sir, if you really need a mature and noble queen as your slave, I know where she is. She''s a real queen, not that kind that you could buy!"


    With such a voice, a 50-odd half-baldheaded man with swollen brown eyes in brown hair pushed away the crowd and walked towards Zhang Tie. He looked nasty and a bit shrewd. Firstly, he made a slight bow to Zhang Tie; then, he stood straight and said, "Please allow me to introduce myself. I''m Davinci, the slave trafficking agent of Stars Viewing City. It''s my great pleasure to serve you!"


    At the sight of this guy, Zhang Tie was really stunned, "You mean I could buy a real queen here?"


    "Of course, sir, 2 months ago, a war broke out on Mianoki Peninsula while the Tadon Alliance defeated the Misa kingdom and broke through the capital of the latter. This is a war of clan vengeance that had been brewing for over 100 years. According to the rule of Clan vengeance war on Mianoki Peninsula, all the members of imperial household of Misa Kingdom would be sold as slaves by Excellency Belli, the chairman of Tadon Alliance. The former queen of Misa Kingdom is in Stars Viewing City. If you want to buy a real queen, I can arrange an exclusive auction for you!" Davinci said in a confident tone, which formed a sharp contrast with his weird look.


    Zhang Tie glanced over this guy carefully. Since this guy seized the opportunity to step up and attracted his attention, Zhang Tie knew that this guy was sharper than the others.


    "Davinci, I like this name. Show the way, please; I want to take a look in Paradise Lost first!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s request, Davinci instantly showed a smile as he bowed to the others elegantly, "Sorry, this sir has decided to employ me as his slave trade agent, I know what kind of services you can provide; if this sir has any demand that is suitable to you, I will bring him for you!"


    Hearing Davinci''s words, all the rest left.


    "Sir, I will guide you in Paradise Lost first, please!"


    Davinci made a gesture as he slightly bowed with a flattering smile. He then guided Zhang Tie into Paradise Lost.


    "What''s happening in Agela Kingdom? How could they even sell the status of queen?" Zhang Tie asked Davinci.


    Before talking, Davinci looked back at that guy who called himself the Agela Kingdom''s population affairs manager in Jinyun Country. After confirming that that guy could not hear their conversation, Davinci lowered his voice, "Sir, they are liars. Previously, they made and sold various fake certificates in Stars Viewing City. After making a bit money, they bought a remote tiny island which was only 1-2 sq km on the sea 1000 km away from the land and built a kingdom, Agela, on the tiny island!


    "There were only several hundreds of people in Agela Kingdom. They are all liars and liars'' family members and apprentices!


    "The imperial palace over there is only a small castle. With a brand, a thatched house would be Agela National University or Military Department of Agela Kingdom. They have even described a canoe as the naval army of Agela Kingdom, and 2 dogs as Special Operations Command of Agela Kingdom. The military rank of the commander of the Special Operations Command is admiral, which could be bought with 10 gold coins, excluding the uniform. They can fabricate any position and status for you over there."


    ''Two dogs? Special Operations Command?'' Zhang Tie was so dumbfounded that even his eyes and mouth became tilted. What a wonder!


    After a short while, Davinci had guided Zhang Tie into Paradise Lost. The entrance of Paradise Lost was like a hotel lobby as many people were accessing it.


    Zhang Tie presumed that Davinci must have been here often as a female worker directly greeted Zhang Tie when they entered while ignoring Davinci.


    "Sir, if you want to enter Paradise Lost, you need to present your ID certificate and the purchase ability proof of 500 gold coins at the minimum!"


    Saying nothing, Zhang Tie directly pulled out his Clan ID plate and that notepaper of 20,000 gold coins.


    Seeing Zhang Tie taking out the 2 items, the worker immediately revealed a big smile and became much more enthusiastic, "Sir, do you need us to arrange a professional purchase guide for you?"


    "No need, I''ve already got an agent!"


    Being a bit amazed at Zhang Tie''s two items, Davinci made a deep bow to Zhang Tie once again, "Please forgive me for my rudeness, I couldn''t have imagined that Mr. Zhang is from Huaiyuan Palace. Huaiyuan Palace is a great clan. It''s my great honor to serve you!"


    This was also Zhang Tie''s first time experiencing the influence of Huaiyuan Palace''s clan ID plate in Huaiyuan Prefecture. When he was on Hidden Dragon Island, which was full of members of Huaiyuan Palace, this status was average; however, across Huaiyuan Prefecture, the ruling status of Huaiyuan Palace became obviously higher than commoners. With this plate, Zhang Tie seemed like a relative of a royal family in Huaiyuan Prefecture.


    After Zhang Tie''s status and purchase ability were confirmed, Zhang Tie and Davinci entered Paradise Lost.


    There was an old saying in Stars Viewing City ¡ª if you''ve not been to Paradise Lost, you''ve not been to Stars Viewing City. After entering Paradise Lost, Zhang Tie realized that this saying was pretty true.


    Before coming here, Zhang Tie''s impression of slaves were those wounded ones in shabby clothes and restless expressions standing in places like a stable. After entering Paradise Lost, Zhang Tie knew that his impression was ungrounded.


    In front of Zhang Tie was a festive town. People on the streets were so happy.


    Among those happy people were clowns in cosmetics, walking on stilts and riding monocycles. They were performing various shows...


    Bands were playing festive tunes on the roadsides...


    Girls in beautiful clothes were playing on the streets...


    Soldiers were patrolling on the streets in a square matrix.


    Wagoners were driving carriages...


    A beautiful female waiter was walking out of the door with a cup of coffee and placed it onto the table outside the coffee shop while her hand was seized by a guest...


    Blacksmiths and watchmakers were working inside their stores, causing clatters...


    Coquettish, young women in carriages were ogling men on the roadside...


    Tough men were playing a 100 pound broadsword on the streets...


    Kids were rolling iron rings on the roadsides...


    The small town contained people of different ethnicities, from all walks of life, male or female, old or young...


    This was Zhang Tie''s first impression of Paradise Lost.


    Zhang Tie was a bit puzzled as he looked at Davinci, "Don''t you say this is the biggest slaves trade center? Where are the slaves?"


    Davinci then pointed at those people, "All of them that you can see are slaves, including those beautiful girls, clowns, soldiers, wagoners, blacksmiths, musicians, the female waiter in that coffee shop, even those bosses who were checking account books inside stores and tailors. Have you seen those small badges made of enamel on their chests and breasts? The number on the badge is their price!"


    Zhang Tie then took a careful look and truly found everybody had a enamel badge except for that female waiter whose hand had been grabbed by that old man.


    The number on the enamel badge of that clown who was performing on tilts was 65!


    "Slaves are commodities which need to be packed. These are their looks in front of their buyers after being packed!" Davinci explained, "In this age, slaves trade has been a huge industrial chain. After thousands of years'' of slaves trading, those business groups have already figured out how to exploit those slaves to the utmost!


    "Look at that clown!" Davinci pointed at that clown whom Zhang Tie had noticed, "That is a young man without no special talent. His original value was 50 gold coins; after being strictly managed and trained, he mastered some clown skills; then, his value became 65 gold coins!


    "For that female waiter in the coffee shop, if she were in a brothel, that man might only spend dozens of gold coins for her; however, here, that man might spend hundreds of gold coins for a beautiful female waiter of a coffee shop! The same commodities have different values in different packaging; the same principle applies to slaves!"


    Watching this scene, Zhang Tie was really shocked, ''This is anything but slave trade! This is selling the most mysterious and evil desire in people''s heart. As long as one has money, one can buy anything here.''


    In other places, no matter how rich you were, you would not be able to buy whatever you wanted. For instance, you could not buy those beautiful girls in other places as you wanted; but here, everything was different as you could buy beautiful girls on streets as you wished.


    This stimulating feeling of buying girls or female waiters on streets was definitely unparalleled. It was far cooler than the slave trade in his mind.


    Paradise Lost was a supermarket for slave trade!


    Watching those slaves, Zhang Tie then felt a bit sad; however, after thinking for a short while, he recovered his composure.


    No matter what, even though not every slave trade center was like this, it was much better than choosing slaves in gloomy and dirty stables.


    "If you want to buy women, you can take a casual look on streets; if you are not satisifed with those on streets, you can check private residences. Some women like to stay at home, which caters to the exploring desire of some guests; some talented women perform dances and sing songs in operas of the small town..." As he spoke about the women, Davinci''s presented truly wretched expression.


    "How much is a woman here?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "An average one only costs you 50-70 gold coins; those with a better look or some talents would be a bit more expensive; some special ones would be more expensive; the highest ever price of an unrivalled beauty here was over 60,000 gold coins!"


    "I don''t need unrivalled beauty. I don''t care about their looks. I need loyalty; they need to do some daily jobs" Zhang Tie then calculated based on the size of his castle on Hidden Dragon Island, "I need about 30 women like this."

 347 Female Slaves

    Chapter 347: Female Slaves


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    "I need 30 women; they must be loyal to me!"


    Receiving this request, Davinci rolled his eyes, "There are so many women like this, I can find you 300 if you want. What else do you need?"


    "They''d better not be Chinese!" As a Chinese himself, Zhang Tie hated the idea of using Chinese as slaves.


    "It''s okay. Generally speaking, non-Chinese slaves are always loyal to their owners in Chinese communities!" Davinci explained in an experienced way, "If you''d like, follow me, please!"


    Davinci then guided Zhang Tie into the small town.


    Zhang Tie walked as he watched talented and beautiful slaves. Besides those enamel badges that represented that they were slaves, there was nothing different between them and commoners when looking aspects like costumes, speech, and actions.


    "Are they living in this small town?" Zhang Tie asked Davinci.


    "Does it seem strange? The small town is like a clean showcase which is used to exhibit commodities. Of course, the lower quality commodities would be moved away from the showcase and be replaced with new ones! All the slaves here treasure this opportunity very much; because they know that if they get sold at a high price here, they will not live that hard from then on; if they miss this opportunity, they would be dealt with like discounted commodities!"


    "How will they be dealt with if they cannot be sold?" Zhang Tie became curious.


    "Because those business groups in the slave trade will not feed them for their rest of lives, men will have to do dangerous and hard work in mines while females might be sold in low-level brothels where they''d be hard pressed to survive for 10 years. Finally, they would die due to various reasons. Generally speaking, such slaves would be sold at the price of only a couple of gold coins or a bit more than 10 gold coins."


    Hearing this reply, Zhang Tie was shocked inside, ''This just shows how cruel the slave trade is! As slaves, they''ve already lost the ability to control their own fate.''


    "Do we have such poor slaves in Paradise Lost?"


    "As overdue products could not be sold at a high price, nobody would display them in the showcase; instead, they are carried to the other places of Stars Viewing City. I suggest to not go there as they are full of despair and would bring you bad luck!" Davinci persuaded aside.


    "Your words have excited my interest. After leaving here, show me where those cheap slaves are!" Zhang Tie smiled. Although he could not change the current situation of slave trade, Zhang Tie didn''t think that the slave trade was noble. Although slaves were marked with different prices, Zhang Tie knew that no life was humble; even an earthworm had its own magical ability and dignity, let alone humans.


    "I just want to have a look."


    "No problem, as you will, after leaving Paradise Lost, I will take you to have a look over there; but I suggest you don''t choose any of them!"


    ...


    After walking in Paradise Lost several minutes, under the guidance of Davinci, Zhang Tie had already arrived at a place branded with "Karse Business Group Trade Agency".


    Since Paradise Lost was a supermarket for slave trading, there must be sales agency from the manufacturers. This was what Davinci explained to Zhang Tie on the way here. Undoubtedly, Karst Business Group Trade Agency was such an agency.


    "Welcome, honorable guest and my old friend Davinci!"


    The moment they entered Karst Business Group Trade Agency, a swarthy guy with a marvelous handlebar moustache and in a funny and fat hat had walked towards them enthusiastically. He hugged with Davinci first before shaking hands with Zhang Tie politely.


    "Tamir, Mr. Zhang comes from Huaiyuan Palace, the noblest clan among mankind. He wants to choose some docile female servants; therefore, I brought him here for you. I hope you won''t disappoint him!" Davinci told this guy.


    "Of course, it''s the great honor of Karst Business Group to serve Mr. Zhang!" Knowing Zhang Tie''s status, Tamir made a deep bow towards him.


    "Erm, Davinci said your agency... is not bad and that perhaps you can meet my requirements, therefore, he brought me here!"


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt a bit embarrassed, because the moment he and Davinci entered, some young and beauties with swarthy skin had knelt down in front of them, 2 girls cleaned their shoes. After that, another 2 girls moved forward and started to massage their calves.


    Zhang Tie had not enjoyed such a special treatment before; therefore, he was not accustomed to it; however, Davinci and that guy with handlebar moustache had been completely accustomed to this service. He didn''t even glance at that girl kneeling down in front of him.


    After briefing Zhang Tie''s request to Davinci, Tamir became thrilled. 30 female slaves meant thousands of gold coins. It was not a small business for Karst Business Group.


    "We have over 50 female slaves in Paradise Lost, they all have good looks; please wait here for a minute, I will arrange them for you to choose!"


    After inviting Zhang Tie and Davinci into an exotic lounge and serving them some fruit, tea, and pastries, Tamir hurriedly went out jubilantly. After Zhang Tie and Davinci sat down, the same two girls entered and knelt down in front of them like catties and started to massage their calves.


    Davinci then gazed at that girl in front of him with lewd eyes while his swollen eyeballs started to scan across her breasts which were still in development.


    The 2 girls both wore yarn skirts with their collars wide open, showing off their breasts. After kneeling down, they could easily expose their boobs to Davinci and Zhang Tie; additionally, they were very good at massaging. With proper rhythm and power, even though they only massaged calves, it was already very comfortable and relaxing.


    Not only Davinci, even Zhang Tie had already been immersed in that massage. After being relaxed, Zhang Tie gazed at her breasts as he started to feel his mummy becoming restless.


    Since leaving Blapei, Zhang Tie had not made love with women for over 7 months. Due to his rising hormones, Zhang Tie kept recalling the raptured moments between him and Hanna and those girls of Rose Association recently.


    The girls kneeling down in front of them were like a mix of Chinese and White women. They had large, black eyes, high and straight noses and smooth skin. They looked a bit brownish red and were similar to those from a tropical zone. Their hair was black, which was similar to Chinese girls; however, their heads were oval; if they were divided by the shape of skull, they should be standard white women.


    Although the 2 girls didn''t look as hot as Hanna and Alice; their figures were very outstanding...


    Noticing that Zhang Tie was observing her, the girl''s face slightly blushed.


    Knowing that if he kept watching that, his mummy would definitely become stiff and raise a tent on his crotch, Zhang Tie hurriedly moved his eyes away from that girl''s chests. He then took 2 big mouths of tea water and sensed a weird taste of ewe milk. Having not been accustomed to that, Zhang Tie put the cup back onto the table.


    "Ha...ha..." Davinci laughed in a wretched way, "All of Varner''s beautiful female slaves practice "Love Expression" since they were young. They have learned how to please men at a young age; therefore, they are very docile; if you like, you can buy one. It would only take you 100 gold coins for such a beautiful Varner virgin. How about it? Do you want a try?"


    "They all come from the Varner Empire?"


    "Of course, I''m afraid that only Varner women could satisfy your requirements across Paradise Lost; therefore, I bring you here!"


    Zhang Tie thought for a while and agreed.


    Thanks to what he had learned in Hidden Dragon Palace during the past half year, Zhang Tie had learned about this Varner Empire from map and books.


    Varner Empire was a strange hierarchical slave-owner''s state. All the slaves in the country came from a social class ¡ª sotuona which was derived from the caste system of this country.


    In Varner Empire, sotuona meant humble and slave. People coming from this class would be slaves generation after generation.


    Varner Empire was famous for its slaves as its slaves were well known by being loyal to their owners.


    After a few minutes, Tamir had entered with big smiles, "I''ve already arranged it, you can select them now!"


    Under the guidance of Tamir, Zhang Tie and Davinci walked into the courtyard behind the Karst Business Group Agency. The moment he arrived there, Zhang Tie felt like being punched face-to-face as his face turned slightly pale.


    Over 50 women were standing in rows tidily over there. Judging from their looks, their ages changed from 15 to 40 years old.


    However, they were all naked with their hands covering the special place between their legs. They looked like fruits being peeled off.


    In any human country, it would be a humiliation for women to display their naked body in the public, even if they were slaves.


    Those women slightly quivered, their bodies being a bit stiff. With tears in eye sockets, many of them tried their best to lower their heads to cover their private places.


    If it was another scene such as when he stayed with those girls of Rose Association, Zhang Tie would be very pleasant at the sight of so many girls peeling off their clothes in front of him; however, at the present, Zhang Tie felt very uncomfortable and pained at the sight of those naked women.


    "Stand up straight; move away your hands and display your naked bodies..." Tamir instantly changed his smile into a solemn expression. Being scolded, those women shook heavily as they moved away their hands from their private places; meanwhile, many of them started to drop tears.


    After frightening those women, Tamir turned around his head towards Zhang Tie, "You can check them now. They are all B class beauties. Their prices change from 60 gold coins to 80 gold coins; some of them are innocent virgins; each of them would cost you 80 gold coins; for the others, as long as you can find a scar or defect on their bodies, you can have 1 gold coin deducted!"


    "Let...let them put on clothes!" Zhang Tie said in a low voice while trying his best to control his fury.


    "What?" Tamir didn''t hear it clearly as he asked out of curiosity.


    "Are you motherf*cking deaf?" Being driven infuriated, Zhang Tie instantly grabbed Tamir and pulled him in front of him. With one hand on Tamir''s collar, he easily lifted Tamir in the air with his eyes glaring at him as he growled, "Let them put on clothes, right now!"


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s sudden rage, Davinci''s face turned pale while Tamir''s face turned totally bloodless. Zhang Tie''s sharp and powerful eyes shocked Tamir too much.


    "Hurry up...hurry up...put on your clothes right now!" While his collar was grabbed, Tamir shrieked loudly. Hearing Tamir''s order, all the women glanced at Zhang Tie in appreciation; after that, they turned back and hurriedly squatted down to put on their clothes.


    Seeing them putting on their clothes, Zhang Tie gradually recovered his composure. He then loosened his grip on Tamir.


    Davinci then glanced at Zhang Tie with strange eyes, "It''s a rule for the buyer to check the bodies of those female slaves, Tamir didn''t know that you don''t like this!"


    "Argh. Mr. Zhang doesn''t like this rule. I know now. I''m really sorry for that. I promise you nothing similar will happen next time..." Although Tamir was still a bit shocked and still didn''t understand why Zhang Tie lost his temper just now, considering so many weird people here, he presumed that perhaps Zhang Tie saw this as taboo; therefore, he hurriedly apologized to Zhang Tie.


    In this line, the customers were gods, especially those coming from the ruling clan of Huaiyuan Prefecture like Zhang Tie. Although he''d been roared at by Zhang Tie, Tamir still retained his smile.


    "Do they need to do this...every time?" Zhang Tie asked Davinci in a low voice.


    "Yes, every time, until they are bought away. This batch is new here; they are not accustomed to doing it. They will adapt to it in the future..." Davinci explained calmly.


    "Every time..."


    Davinci noticed Zhang Tie mumbling something several times before taking out the papernote of 20,000 gold coins and patted it onto Tamir, "No need to choose, I want them all!"


    ...


    After Zhang Tie determined to buy those female slaves, it was Davinci''s turn to bargain with Tamir. According to the rule, the compensation of the slave trade agent would be 1/10 of the difference between the offer of the seller and the turnover. The greater the difference was, the more compensation Davinci would gain.


    There were 53 female slaves in total and Tamir''s offer was 3756 gold coins. After a sharp bargain between Davinci and Tamir, the final turnover was 3640 gold coins. After it was done, Zhang Tie immediately threw 12 gold coins to Davinci. Davinci became so happy that he instantly broke out into a broad smile.


    Actually, Zhang Tie bought 53 female slaves at the cost of 3652 gold coins.


    After those female slaves followed Zhang Tie out of the Karst Business Group Trade Center, the girl that had massaged Zhang Tie''s calf just now rushed out of the room and hugged another woman among those female slaves. They cried loudly at once like that they would separated forever.


    "What''s happening?" Zhang Tie asked Tamir.


    "They are sisters. After this separation, they might never see each other in the future!" Tamir replied.


    Seeing this scene, many girls started to drop tears while some girls showed their heads out of the rooms far away and looked towards here with pitiful expressions. Hearing their heart-tearing cries, even Zhang Tie felt like crying.


    ''Well, I will always be the good man!'' Zhang Tie sighed inside. ''No matter what, I''ve already bought more than 50, I don''t care to have one more. My castle on Hidden Dragon Island could even hold 300-500 people. I can afford their accommodations and food!''


    "Oh, my castle needs some servants to take care of the flowers and grasses. Call out those little girls who received me just now, I will bring them away together!"


    ''With more than 50 female servants to help me ferment the enzyme and do chores, it will be great! What''s next is to buy some male servants...''

 348 Square Spear Matrix

    Chapter 348: Square Spear Matrix


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    After buying 59 female slaves, Zhang Tie''s following trip in Paradise Lost was smooth. Only after visiting Paradise Lost for half an hour, Zhang Tie spent another 15000 gold coins.


    This time, he bought a small, square spear matrix composed of 100 LV 2 slave soldiers.


    It was a standard spear matrix, which was more powerful than the spear matrix Zhang Tie had been part of when he was at school.


    In Paradise Lost, if you had money, you could buy all sorts of people, including fighting force.


    Although LV 2 fighters could only be cannon fodder in battle fields, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to send them to battlefields; instead, he only wanted them to defend his castle on Hidden Dragon Island. Therefore, even though they had poor fighting force, they could frighten average people; what was more important, there was no mole among them.


    Previously, Zhang Tie planned to employ people from Long Wind Business Group to defend his castle on Hidden Dragon Island; however, after what happened several days ago, Zhang Tie changed his mind. As at least 80 people were needed to defend the castle, Zhang Tie didn''t want anyone who could leak information to the public at any given time and set him up at a critical moment.


    After meeting Zhang Taibai''s wife, Zhang Tie had been too scared about Long Wind Business Group; since then, he had constantly been concerned about being screwed over and betrayed. Therefore, Zhang Tie decided to only use his own followers from now on.


    Zhang Tie didn''t believe that those people could predict what he was going to do and had arranged their moles among these slaves.


    This batch of soldiers were all from the spirits clan. For the other clans, a LV 2 soldier is only worth 120 gold coins; however, spirits soldiers had good physical strength and robust figures. What was more, they were loyal to their owners. They were born to be infantryman; therefore, they were 30 gold coins more expensive than LV 2 soldiers of other clans.


    Through this trade, Zhang Tie came to understand more about the prices of the soldiers and warriors of other levels.


    In Stars Viewing City, a LV 1 slave soldier was worth about 80 gold coins; a LV 2 slave soldier was worth about 120 gold coins; a LV 3 slave soldier was worth 170 gold coins; a LV 4 slave soldier was worth 260 gold coins; a LV 5 slave soldier was worth 400 gold coins and a LV 6 slave soldier was worth 600 gold coins.


    For those soldiers below LV 6, as long as you could afford, those businessmen could easily prepare a division for you.


    LV 6 was the highest one could get a slave soldier relatively cheaply as a LV 7 slave would be worth 1100 gold coins, a LV 8 would be worth 3500 gold coins. For LV 9 slaves, if you were lucky, you could get one at the cost of above 10000 gold coins. Actually, you could only see LV 9 slaves at high-end auctions.


    Slaves above LV 10 could be rarely seen in slave trade centers. Davinci said he saw one before; although that LV 10 guy was a slave, he was a clan warrior cultivated by a big figure. As nobody would sell a LV 10 powerful fighter and few LV 10 powerful fighters were still slaves.


    Those spirits soldiers were all at about 20 years old; they had definitely accepted more military skills training than Zhang Tie had learned in school in Blackhot City. After being bought, those spirits soldiers then knelt down at once and swore to be loyal to Zhang Tie with the solemn promise of their ancestors.


    Glancing over more than 100 pairs of eyes, Zhang Tie made an appointment with all the LV 2 spirits soldiers at once.


    "As long as you are loyal to me and complete your tasks seriously, I swear here in the name of my ancestors, anyone among you, once reaches LV 6, could gain freedom; additionally, I will gift him 200 gold coins as my thanks for his service over the past years!"


    Noticing their faces turning blush and their gleaming eyes, Zhang Tie knew that he had reached his target. Like what Donder said ¡ª it''s easy to win popular support, as long as you give the people what they want.


    What would a LV 2 slave soldier long for most? Freedom and gold coins. With the two items, they would have everything else. You don''t need to talk about philosophy, dreams, or relationships with them at all.


    "Do you mean that?" A two meter tall slave soldier suddenly stood up as he asked with his eyes opened as big as copper bells.


    "Of course I mean it. You will soon witness my power to fulfill this promise!" Zhang Tie then stared at this giant man, "What''s your name?"


    "I''m Lenox!"


    "Well, as you are brave enough to ask such a question on behalf of everybody else, I appoint you as the head of this matrix; but you need to bear it in mind, this is the first time and the last time for you to doubt my words. If you ask such foolish question once again, I will chop off your head, am I clear?"


    Saying this, Zhang Tie''s killing intent instantly covered the matrix of more than 100 LV 2 spirits soldiers. Feeling this, everybody became shocked and frightened. At this moment, everybody felt that as long as Zhang Tie liked, he could easily kill them all.


    Under the sharp gaze of Zhang Tie, Lenox felt cold sweat all over his back. Although being robust in figure, the fighter didn''t even to look straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes; instead, he lowered his head in awe, "Yes, sir!"


    After this transaction, Zhang Tie left Paradise Lost with Davinci. In 24 hours, Paradise Lost would send these soldiers in Zhang Tie''s castle on Hidden Dragon Island.


    Although that castle was not completed yet, the completed section would be able to house the slaves.


    Any customer purchasing more than 5 slaves in Paradise Lost could enjoy a free door-to-door delivery. As Zhang Tie bought 100 LV 2 spirits soldiers, Paradise Lost gifted him 100 long spears as the weapons for those soldiers.


    Zhang Tie entered Paradise Lost with the papernote of 20000 gold coins; however, when he walked out of Paradise Lost, he only had less than 1000 gold coins left; instead, he got 100 LV 2 spirits soldiers and 59 female slaves from Varner Empire.


    This was Zhang Tie first private force. Zhang Tie even appointed 2 heads for them.


    The head of the spirits soldiers was Lenox while the head of those female slaves was Sonia ¡ª that girl who was almost separated from her younger sister. Because of Zhang Tie, a tragedy between the sisters was avoided; what if he hadn''t been there? Therefore, Zhang Tie believed that Sonia would do her job well so as to gain his appreciation.


    Although he spent too much this time, he felt so cool.


    ...


    "Mr. Zhang, do you really want to take a look at the cheapest slave trade center? That place is dirty and disorderly. Slaves there are almost dead!" Davinci tried to persuade Zhang Tie once again.


    "No crap!" Zhang Tie then got on the vehicle. After inserting in the key and rotating it to unlock the steering and the pedal ignition device, Zhang Tie stepped on the ignition pedal before it sprung back up; however, the engine didn''t respond.


    Zhang Tie then stepped down on it eight consecutive times before the car started to slightly shake and the familiar sound of the engine drifted. Then, the engine was ignited. This turbine steam-driven, thermal recollected, external combustion engine was featured by mechanical ignition and alcohol combustion, which could shorten the ignition process to a little over ten seconds.


    When Zhang Tie ignitied the Faerie Dragon T9, Davinci took a look around the car before opened the side door and meticulously sat in with an emotional sigh, "It''s really a good car!"


    Zhang Tie then gazed at the dash board of the car. Half a minute later, when the hand of steam pressure pointed at 2900 psi, Zhang Tie pushed down the hand brake and shifted in reverse; meanwhile, he stepped the accelerator and backed his car out of the parking space smoothly.


    "Which way am I heading?"


    Davinci sighed, "Keep forward and turn right at the second turning..."


    The sports car then instantly dashed out...


    ...


    In less than 10 minutes, Zhang Tie had already arrived at that slave trade center under the guidance of Davinci. This was really like an animal trade center outside Blackhot City. It was in a wood outside the city.


    Compared to Paradise Lost, this place was in alignment with Zhang Tie''s imagination ¡ª disorderly, dirty, and noisy. Under the hot sun, this place was full of weird smells that made people feel like vomiting. Besides, there were all sorts of complaints, bargaining voices, and wails.


    In dirty and shabby clothes, the slaves were like animals as they were gathered in a cramped space surrounded by steel pipes and iron wires. They were looking at the surrounding people with dumb and despairing looks.


    There were some extremely rough platforms which were only 1 m higher than the ground. The platforms were covered with a broken water-proof tarpaulin, on which naked female slaves were exposed and forced to display their own bodies, including their private places for auctioning themselves.


    The moment Zhang Tie arrived here, he had seen a baldheaded tough guy forcefully pat a woman''s butt and yelled loudly, "9 gold coins? Anyone higher? This woman has not given birth to a baby; she''s only 40-odd years old. Except for that scald on her face, she has a nice figure; she''s definitely docile; after turning off the light at night, she could still make you happy. Any one higher? The minimal added price each time is only 10 silver coins..."


    "10 gold coins!" Zhang Tie roared...

 349 Setting the Slaves Free

    Chapter 349: Setting the Slaves Free


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    People are different from each other. Even for humble slaves, when they were told that they could be free, their expressions were also different from each other.


    Some of them became rapturous, some became vacant, while others became perplexed.


    At this moment, on an opening of a wood beside the slave trade center, when Zhang Tie declared to the 50-odd slaves that they were free, those slaves fixed their eyes on him with various expressions.


    Some slaves'' faces even turned completely pale out of fear as they shook all over.


    "No, no, I don''t want freedom. I don''t want to play this game any more..." a slave shouted loudly with his face full of fear as he glanced around at the surrounding woods in a flurried way, "I know that as long as I take a few steps away, you playboys would chase after me like hunting wild dogs. I''ve experienced this before. Those bowmen must be hiding nearby, right?"


    Hearing this man''s doubts, some others also looked panicked; they looked here and there out of fear. They seemed to have heard about similar experiences. In some places, when the playboys set slaves free, they would start a hunting game at the cost of the lives of the slaves. As they were outside the city, this place was suitable for them to play such a game.


    Hearing such comment, Zhang Tie kept rolling his eyes while Davinci stared at Zhang Tie on one side, seemingly telling him ''Look, they''re slaves! What did you expect?''


    Although some slaves looked pretty panicked, Zhang Tie noticed that there were still some looked relatively calm. One of them only had one arm. Being about 50 years old, that man was tough and tall with stubble, making him very attractive. Zhang Tie beckoned him to the front by waving his hand. Seeing Zhang Tie''s gesture, that man then strode towards him.


    "You were a soldier?" Zhang Tie glanced at him and asked.


    "I lost one hand on the battle field. I was a first lieutenant officer of the Macedonian Empire!" That 50-odd man answered calmly.


    This man was a prisoner of war, the most common sort of slave.


    "What''s your name?"


    "Stephen!"


    Zhang Tie glanced at Davinci as the latter instantly pulled out a contract from that pile of contracts and gave it to Zhang Tie. The photo on this contract was Stephen''s.


    "You''re free!" Zhang Tie handed the man''s contract to him. After taking his contract with the only one arm, Stephen gazed at Zhang Tie for 2 seconds as he directly foisted the contract into his mouth, forcefully chewed and swallowed it before revealing a smile...


    "I will bear you in mind!"


    After saying that, the man turned around and left.


    "Wait a second!" Zhang Tie stopped him.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s voice, that man turned back and stared at Zhang Tie with vigilance, "What, do you regret it? Or are you playboys wanting to play some trick?"


    Zhang Tie then popped out a gold coin towards him after drawing a shiny arc in the air. That man seized it by hand at once.


    "For your travel expenses!"


    With that gold coin, the man''s expression became complicated. Without saying anything, that guy just nodded towards Zhang Tie before left.


    With eyes wide open, the other slaves gazed at that leaving man and the calm looking Zhang Tie.


    Another slave then plucked up his courage and walked out of the crowd.


    "What''s your name?"


    "Fite!"


    ...


    After Fite left with his contract and a gold coin like Stephen, more slaves crowded towards Zhang Tie.


    Finally, with their own contracts and gold coins, only 3 out of 50 or so slaves chose to stay.


    One was an old, hunched man in his 70s. One was that woman whom Zhang Tie bought from the auction whose face had some terrifying scalds. The third one was a man in his 30s who looked thin and vacant.


    After the others left, the old man sighed as he gave his contract and one gold coin back to Zhang Tie, which really shocked Zhang Tie.


    "Master, please let me stay with you. I''m still useful; I can be your doorkeeper and feed horses for you; I can also pass message for you. When it''s necessary, I can also kill myself if you want. Just take me as an old dog. Just keep me alive with some leftover soup and food. When I''m dead, just throw me away or chop me into pieces to feed dog or pig; I won''t bring you any trouble


    The old man''s voice became hoarse as his miserable, frowned look slightly moved Zhang Tie. Therefore, after a deep sigh, Zhang Tie put the one gold coin back to his hand once again.


    "Clean yourself and buy some good clothes. Then, you can go to Yunju Mountain on Hidden Dragon Island and be the doorkeeper of my castle. It is currently still under construction!"


    The old man then knelt down and kissed Zhang Tie''s shoes before leaving with that gold coin.


    After the old man left, that woman also left after glancing at Zhang Tie.


    Hearing the word "castle", a shiny light instantly flashed by the eyes of the thin and vacant man.


    "What''s wrong with you?" Zhang Tie then asked him patiently.


    "You have a castle. You''re rich. Therefore, you are able to do that for me. As long as you give me a hand, I... I... will follow you forever..." That man with a vacant look realized something at once as he knelt down and hugged one of Zhang Tie''s feet like it was his last chance. He became so excited.


    Zhang Tie then burst out laughing loudly and felt that this guy must have been kicked in the head by a donkey, "I granted you freedom just now; if I want you to do something for me, I wouldn''t have to give you freedom. If you want me to do something for you, at least show me your value!"


    Feeling like he''d been struck by lightning bolt, that man opened his mouth and stayed still for a while before recovering his despaired and vacant look.


    After glancing at this frustrated man, Zhang Tie shook his head and left right away. ''As each slave had his own miserable experience, I''m not God, it''s impossible for me to meet anyone''s requirements.''


    When Zhang Tie turned back and prepared to leave, that man suddenly burst out laughter loudly.


    "Phili... Gaylen... dad and mom, please forgive me. I''m too useless; I''ve not revenged for you for such a long time...Believe me, this time, I... I will go back and find Keehn... I will stab him even if I get torn to pieces in the process, even though he''s a big muling. After that, we will reunite with each other..."


    That man burst into loud sobs and condemned himself first; then, he prayed and made his determination by mumbling. He spoke Hebrew which could not be understood by most people nearby, except for Zhang Tie. When Zhang Tie heard the word "big muling", he stopped at 20 steps away and walked back.


    Zhang Tie then glanced over this guy once again. "Are you from Sun Dynasty?"


    Kneeling down on the ground, the man raised his red and swollen eyes and looked at Zhang Tie. He then forced a bitter smile, "Yes, I''m from Sun Dynasty; additionally, I''m a clergy who believes in the God of Brilliance piously..."


    Zhang Tie then became interested about that, "How can you be so miserable today?"


    "They chose me as the alternate muling; however, they preferred me to complete the sacrifice ceremony using an innocent kid''s fresh blood and life. I didn''t want to do that; therefore, I set that kid free; finally, I was set up by my best friend and was framed as a heretic and blasphemer. Even my family members were involved; finally, in front of me, my youngest brother was forced to finish his sacrifice ceremony to become a muling. Gaylen was only 6 years old..."


    Speaking of that, that man covered his face with his hands and cried mournfully once again.


    This was a common story in Sun Dynasty as it would happen many times a year. Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could meet a man from Sun Dynasty here.


    "Is that Keehn? What''s his current position?"


    "Yes, it''s him. When I escaped from Sun Dynasty, he was already a 3-star muling. Over 10 years have passed. He might be a moon-level big muling now!" Saying that, the man raised his eyes towards Zhang Tie with the last beacon of hope, "I know you''re rich; it means you can employ assassinator to kill him. If you kill him, I would like to do anything for you..."


    Zhang Tie then shook his head, "Do you know how much it would cost me to employ an assassin to kill such a powerful muling and how much risk I would assume? Do you think you are that valuable to me that I would do that for you?"


    The man kept silent.


    "You have a chance to show me your value. You''ve already heard the words I said to that old man just now. You can also go to Hidden Dragon Island for me. When you have become of sufficient value to me, I will have people bring Keehn''s head in front of you!"


    "I will go to Hidden Dragon Island!"


    Kneeling down on the ground, that man''s eyes radiated gleaming light. He then stood up decisively and left here.


    At that moment, Davinci cried. He finally knew that curiosity killed the cat. He even wanted to slap himself and block his ears with cement. ''I''d already turned to leave just now, why did I turn back with Zhang Tie? What the f*ck am I doing?''


    Zhang Tie then gazed at Davinci with a grin...


    "I didn''t hear anything," Davinci explained to Zhang Tie hurriedly. After accompanying Zhang Tie for the whole afternoon, he hadn''t realised how terrifying Zhang Tie''s grin was until now.


    ''As long as I say didn''t hear anything, what happens between Huaiyuan Palace and Sun Dynasty will have nothing to do with me in the future. If I don''t express my stance, I might be involved in this thing in the future; however, for Huaiyuan Palace and Sun Dynasty, I''m nothing but a bug,'' Davinci thought.


    "Do you know what to do now?" Zhang Tie asked Davinci.


    Davinci then nodded with a bitter smile...

 350 Preparations

    Chapter 350: Preparations


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Sometimes, a person would not do something 100% rationally; for instance, Zhang Tie set free a great number of slaves this afternoon.


    Perhaps it was out of his appreciation towards life, his pity for those slaves, or his selfish desire to earn a fruit of redemption.


    Thus, Zhang Tie spent over 1,000 gold coins to set free a number of "cheap" slaves. In many people''s eyes, at least in the eyes of Davinci, Zhang Tie was a spendthrift who didn''t know it was very hard to make money.


    Upon hearing that Zhang Tie had a castle, Davinci naturally thought it was built by Zhang Tie''s clan for him. As a guy who was qualified to have a castle on Hidden Dragon Island and surnamed Zhang, undoubtedly, Zhang Tie must be a key apprentice from the leading clan of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Davinci believed that he was right. Although Huaiyuan Palace was very large, few young men could buy hundreds of slaves at the price of tens of thousands of gold coins without any hesitation like Zhang Tie.


    ''Perhaps I should find a big backer like Zhang Tie. It wouldn''t be bad to have the backing of a big clan behind me.'' Davinci thought. Additionally, in Davinci''s opinion, he believed that Zhang Tie was not vicious. A person who could be pitiful about those humble slaves, and was respectful to even the most humble ones, could not be bad.


    Zhang Tie drove Davinci into another street nearby Paradise Lost.


    "I''m in a sophisticated environment. Many people want to kill me or don''t want me to grow mature; if they knew that you are working for me, you will almost definitely die. I don''t want to see you lie in a ditch of Stars Viewing City. Am I clear?" Zhang Tie told him seriously, as Davinci got out of the car.


    As Zhang Tie wanted to find someone to work for him in Stars Viewing City secretly, he''d better tell him the truth in case he got involved in any conflict due to Zhang Tie''s business.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s warning, Davinci shrugged his shoulders as he looked aside and forcefully swallowed his saliva, "Don''t worry, I will take care of it!"


    "If I need you, I will have someone come here for you. If you need me, you can also come for me. Do you know where to find me?"


    "Your castle on Yunju Mountain, Hidden Dragon Island!" Davinci replied in a low voice.


    Zhang Tie then nodded, "There''s only one castle over there. You can easily find there. As long as you don''t violate the law of Huaiyuan Prefecture and become wanted by the police, I''m sure you will be safe there!"


    Davinci then felt a bit better, "Hmm, you''ve not named your castle, right?"


    "Right, I''ve not thought about it yet!" Zhang Tie smiled, "Well, see you then!"


    Waving his hand, Zhang Tie stepped on the accelerator. With a light boom, the Faerie Dragon T9 rushed out at once.


    ...


    2 minutes later, Zhang Tie parked outside a pioneering shop in an avenue of Stars Viewing City. He then entered the shop.


    Pioneers were commonly seen everywhere in this age, even in Jinyun Country. Even though it was in the territory of a country''s map, there were still many places yet to be reclaimed. These undiscovered places were as luring as gold mines waiting to be exploited.


    Most of places in Huaiyuan Prefecture were populated. Cities in Huaiyuan Prefecture were situated close to each other; however, in places 800 km away from Huaiyuan Prefecture were increasingly more regions yet to be discovered. Therefore, there were still many pioneers based in Huaiyuan Prefecture.


    For young men with good family backgrounds in developed areas like Huaiyuan Prefecture, wasteland reclamation became a pastime, almost, that combined adventure, travel, and self-improvement. It was not only for gold coins.


    Each shop that sold pioneering products was branded by package, long sword, gold coins, beasts, and similar themes.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie parked beside such an eye-catchingly branded store.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the door, a white, attractive girl walked towards him and asked politely, "What can I do for you, sir?"


    Zhang Tie then glanced over the products in the shop. The shop floor was over 1000 sq meters, filled with various commodities. It included many more commodities compared to the pioneering shops in Blackhot City. Even the weapons here were no less than common weapon stores.


    "Do you have a map?"


    "Yes, what kind of map do you want?"


    "Maps of Stars Viewing City, Huaiyuan Prefecture, and Jinyun Country, one of each!"


    "Well, we have common maps and professional water-proof maps; the latter ones are a bit more expensive. Which kind do you want?" the girl asked.


    "Waterproof maps!"


    The vendor took out three rolled-up, waterproof maps rapidly.


    Being held in slim cylinders covered with copper shells, waterproof maps were made of a special resin. When in need, you could spread the map to check it; when you didn''t need it, you just roll it back up like a tape measure. Although this kind of map was waterproof, it was not fire resistant; aluminum maps that could resist both water and fire were much more expensive.


    "The price of each map of Stars Viewing City and Huaiyuan Prefecture is 3 silver coins. For the latest map of Jinyun Country, as some undiscovered areas were confirmed on it by pioneers at the end of this May, it''s a bit more expensive, 18 silver coins."


    "No problem, I also need a high-powered spyglass!" Zhang Tie pointed at a monocular in the counter over there.


    The salesgirl then took the spyglass for Zhang Tie. After checking its power, Zhang Tie nodded.


    "What else, sir?"


    "What''s the most popular type of armor-breaking bolts?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "The most popular armor-breaking bolts are Breaking-Wind 6 Armor-Breaking Bolts without tail feathers. This kind of armor-breaking bolt was adapted to the latest small and medium-sized metal crossbows made in terms of GM760 on human weapons. With a medium-sized metal crossbow, you could penetrate through a LV 6 pangolin within 80 m. Many troops of the Hurricane Army and Jinyun Country are equipped with this kind of bolt!" the salesgirl explained very smoothly.


    "Show me one, please."


    The salesgirl rapidly took out a black bolt with a grim three-sided head, which looked like a poisonous snake''s head, and handed it to Zhang Tie.


    Holding it, Zhang Tie took a look and felt it; then, the precise data about this armor-breaking bolt appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    Breaking-Wind 6 Armor-Breaking Bolts without tail feathers


    Length: 42.7 cm.


    Width of head: 3.5 cm.


    Total weight: 721 grams.


    With a length of over 40 cm, this bolt was made in terms of the most popular aerodynamics in this age. The body of the bolt was divided into 4 sections of different thicknesses and lengths. It seemed to be made in terms of some strange rules as it felt very comfortable.


    Weighing it in hand, Zhang Tie then glanced outside. In a split second, Zhang Tie had locked his spiritual energy onto a lamp hanging outside a shop 100 m away on the other side of the avenue. Zhang Tie then revealed a smile, ''Although this bolt is not as light as my handbolt, its destructive power is not smaller than my handbolt.''


    Additionally, due to its heavier weight, its destructive power would be a bit greater. Its effective shooting range in Zhang Tie''s hands was about 140 m which was almost equal to that of a small javelin.


    After experiencing the assassination attempt, Zhang Tie knew that for some people, the fact that he had awakened his ancestral bloodline and customized 2000 handbolts in the Items Department of Hidden Dragon Island might not be a secret at all. If he kept killing people with his handbolts, even though he could recollect all the handbolts, the wounds on the victims would still expose a lot of information, which would undoubtedly arise others'' doubts about him.


    Therefore, he decided it would be better to purchase some popular weapons to hide his tracks.


    Zhang Tie then ordered 2 containers of those bolts, making 48 bolts in total. For such weapons that were available in mass production, their cost would be much cheaper than that of Zhang Tie''s handbolts as each kind of bolt only cost him a bit more than 1 silver coins.


    After buying the armor-breaking bolts, Zhang Tie bought another two common heavy swords, a set of military slacks, and a multi-purpose backpack. After putting all the items into his backpack, Zhang Tie left this shop with his backpack.


    Among all the items that Zhang Tie had bought, the most expensive were the 2 heavy swords; however, the total price of the two heavy swords was less than 5 gold coins. Each sword was even lighter than 20 kg. For a man who had used "Man''s Certificate", this kind of heavy sword was really too ridiculous for Zhang Tie in terms of both size and weight.


    However, it wasn''t a matter of whether it was ridiculous or not, as long as it was destructive.


    ...


    1 hour later, Zhang Tie settled down in a luxury suite on Floor 28 of Milkyway Hotel, the most luxurious hotel in Stars Viewing City.


    Pushing a luggage cart, a bellboy guided Zhang Tie into his room and politely asked, "Sir, here''s your room. What else can I do for you?"


    Zhang Tie peered outside the window of the room and revealed a smile.


    "Please bring me my backpack from the luggage cart." After saying that, Zhang Tie gave a silver coin to that bellboy as a tip, "Thanks, there''s nothing else; I want to have a rest."


    "Fine, sir. If you need any room service, just ring the bell here. If you want to relax or try your luck, there''s a gambling house on the floor above; the dining room is on the 2nd floor..." explained the bellboy as he closed the door.


    Putting down his backpack, Zhang Tie walked through the corridor to lock the door from inside before walked back.


    Squatting on the ground, Zhang Tie opened the lock catch and the zipper on the backpack and took out the rectangular package of that high-power spyglass.


    Zhang Tie rapidly assembled the spyglass and inserted the lens. After that, he carried the spyglass to the front window of his bedroom. He firstly adjusted the distance between the blinds to change brightness; he then drew the silk curtains. Finally, Zhang Tie placed the lens of his spyglass between two blinds and aimed at a place one kilometer away from the hotel.


    After slightly adjusting the angle and focus of the spyglass, he could see clearly that place.


    ¡ª Zhen Clan Mansion of Heavens Cold City ¡ª


    A huge sign with golden words appeared in Zhang Tie''s vision. Below that sign were some ferocious entrance guards in black uniforms. As it was only one kilometer away, Zhang Tie could even see clearly the expressions of the guard to the left of the entrance.


    Zhang Tie kept his eyes fixed on that place for about an hour. He moved his eyes away until the dusk fell outside.


    After leaving the window, Zhang Tie turned on the flourite lamp in the bedroom and took out of his map of Stars Viewing City...


    Zhang Tie pointed at the region between the Milkway Hotel and that Zhen Clan Mansion and studied each street and ally, including each building over 10 times. After that, he put it back and took out the map of Huaiyuan Prefecture.


    On the map of Huaiyuan Prefecture, Stars Viewing City only occupied a small area. Due to different scales, details being presented were different.


    "Gulu... gulu..."


    Right then, Zhang Tie heard his stomach sounding. Touching his stomach, Zhang Tie remembered that he''d only eaten breakfast that morning and had missed lunch.


    ...


    Zhang Tie left the room for the dining room on the 2nd floor of the hotel. The moment he walked out of the lift, he had crashed with a person.


    "It''s you?"


    With colorful earrings and in a blue cowboy vest, that girl was pretty amazed at the sight of Zhang Tie. Before Zhang Tie reacted, that girl had already put her arm around his neck and kissed on his face rapidly as she said in a spoiled voice, "Hubby, why are here so late. I really miss you!"


    Hearing those words, Zhang Tie realized that he''d obviously become a scapegoat. Soon after that, he saw some ferocious, tough men walking towards him...

 351 Performance

    Chapter 351: Performance


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Due to Zhang Tie''s personality, he would not deny what she said immediately; neither would he easily be screwed over by a girl. The moment Zhang Tie was going to explain it, one of the guys, who was walking towards him in tidy clothes like an elite, pointed at Zhang Tie with an angry expression.


    "Nana, who''s that brat? Are you hiding from me because of him?"


    "This is my husband. This kind of tender, little man is my dish, so what?"


    Raising her head, that girl called Nana threw a contemptuous glance at that man.


    That man then fixed his eyes onto Nana and revealed a sudden smile, "I know, you must be annoying me on purpose! Why are you still so naive? How could you like some little kid?"


    ''F*ck! This dad doesn''t talk and you take me as a waxwork in the exhibition hall?'' Zhang Tie swore inside as he instantly put his arm around Nana''s slim waist and hugged her into his own chest; meanwhile, he forcefully kissed her face and looked at that man in an aggressive way.


    "Baby, who''s that guy? He''s so talkative; I''ve not heard you talk about him before. I know you only care about driving your Red Rabbit all day long! Why not tell me such an important thing?"


    With a wisp of amazement and shame, that girl then responded with a smile.


    "I''m sorry, honey! I just didn''t want you to worry about me! I won''t do it any more..."


    With a sound of "Pah", Zhang Tie patted on her butt and pretended to glare at her out of fury and rudeness. "That''s my girl!"


    After being smacked on her butt, the girl immediately raised her eyebrows; but in a split second, she recovered her smile and buried her head onto Zhang Tie''s chest as she pretended to be bashful, "Bad man, so many people are watching!"


    "Heh, heh, it depends on whether you could take good care of me tonight!" Zhang Tie rubbed her butt with hand at the same time. ''It feels really great.'' Zhang Tie yelled inside.


    "You big, bad wolf. Don''t talk about it here! We''ll talk about it back in bedroom..." The girl further lowered her head as she twisted her body and moved Zhang Tie''s hand away from her butt. At the same time, she forcefully pinched Zhang Tie''s lower back.


    "What else? Aren''t you women being used to warm up beds and deliver kids? We will talk about delivering kids later. Are you wanting me to treat you like a princess or something? No crap! I will show you my power tonight!" Zhang Tie then glanced at that man, who looked about 27 years old, who had been stunned so much and behaved like a playboy, "Learn more from me, uncle. It''s Black Iron Age! Flowers delivery, wealth show, inviting girls for dinner, or pretending to care about them have become out of date!"


    "You... you... you..." Being heavily insulted, that man pointed at Zhang Tie with a shaking hand and could almost not utter a sound...


    Seeing their owner behaving that way, the 2 tough bodyguards beside that man walked forward and drew close to Zhang Tie.


    "Mr, do you need any help?" Seeing it becoming a bit tense at the entrance of the lift, some security personnel in black uniform of the hotel had already walked towards them.


    The one uttered was a baldheaded black man. He was tall, calm and polite, which forced the 2 bodyguards of the impulsive man to calm down.


    Looking at the security personnel, the guy who had almost gone out of his mind called back his 2 bodyguards.


    "Nana, you really disappoint me too much. How come you like such a kid..."


    With this word, he ferociously glared at Zhang Tie. After that, that man waved at his bodyguards and left.


    Seeing that man and his lackeys leave, the security guard who asked just now glanced at Zhang Tie and that girl called Nana; he then immediately knew it was because of love affairs. Therefore, he left with the other security personnel.


    Not until they all left did that girl who had been hugging Zhang Tie like an innocent girl started to look solemn.


    "You b*stard, let me go!"


    Staring at Zhang Tie, that girl forcefully patted Zhang Tie''s hand off.


    Zhang then sniffed forcefully ''This girl smells really good.''


    "If I didn''t hug you, could you''ve fooled him? I''ve not even asked you for the performance fee!"


    "You''ve taken advantage of me so much, yet you are asking me for a performance fee?"


    "I stirred up an enemy because of your casual words. I might be beaten to death the moment I go out of the hotel. That guy looks like a narrow-minded man! Beauty is dangerous!"


    After staring Zhang Tie several seconds, that girl suddenly burst out a laughter, "Well, we''re even. You have nice driving skills. Where did you learned those skills? We can have a match one day!"


    "Sorry, I''ve not played such a naive game since I was 7; I''m not interested in it! I''m on my way to dinner, make way please..." Zhang Tie directly walked towards the dining hall.


    Looking at Zhang Tie, the girl called Nana became still. Watching Zhang Tie''s shadow, she looked curious and interested...


    ...


    After leisurely eating a grand supper in the dining hall, Zhang Tie returned to his room.


    ''It''s already the 3rd day since I soaked the lotus seeds of fiery-flame red lotus into liquor. According to my master, I could eat them today.''


    After arranging his personal belongings in the room, Zhang Tie carried his backpack by hand and entered Castle of Black Iron as he focused his attention onto the arch door in his mind.


    ...


    At this moment, it was also dark in Castle of Black Iron; but it was not too late. What amazed Zhang Tie was that A''gan, Edward, and Aziz were burning a bonfire in the courtyard beside those houses. They were roasting corncobs, making the aroma fill the air.


    Seeing Zhang Tie coming in, they hurriedly ran towards Zhang Tie and kissed Zhang Tie''s shoes.


    "Castle Lord, your loyal servant A''gan is waiting for your orders!"


    "Castle Lord, your loyal servant Edward is waiting for your orders!"


    "Castle Lord, your loyal servant Aziz is waiting for your orders!"


    The three guys said one after another as if they''d reached an agreement in advance.


    These days, Zhang Tie always entered Castle of Black Iron late at night when the 3 guys had fallen asleep; therefore, he rarely saw them. At the sight of the 3 diligent guys this time, Zhang Tie felt pretty good.


    "What are you doing there?"


    "My lord, we are roasting popcorns. They are very yummy!" A''gan explained honestly.


    When A''gan replied, Aziz had already taken a well-roasted popcorn from the bonfire; after patting off the ash from it, he gave it to Zhang Tie in a flattery way.


    Seeing their expecting eyes, Zhang Tie didn''t hesitate at all; instead, he held the popcorn and peeled off its black skin and corn silk before engulfing it.


    With only one mouthful, Zhang Tie became a bit still, ''Wow, this is really yummy; at least, I''ve not tasted such a great, yummy food before.


    ''Is this the taste of corn from Castle of Black Iron?'' Eating it, Zhang Tie felt a bit shameful as he had not inquired about the grains production in Castle of Black Iron for a long time.


    He could see the good, tidy fields, which were reclaimed by A''gan, Aziz and Edward. Various crops were growing well inside the fields.


    "Nice, very yummy! You guys are doing well; you''re good people and you''ve done nice farming work!" Zhang Tie patted their shoulders which made them quiver all over due to excitement.


    "Argh, Castle Lord praised me..." A''gan was so happy that he danced with joy.


    "Castle Lord patted my shoulder!" Edward looked like having hit the jackpot.


    "I grew that corncob!" Aziz jumped off the ground and turned 2 somersaults in the air.


    ''Is that so exciting?'' Zhang Tie watched his hands, ''Is my hand that magical?''


    "You created them. The meaning of their existence is to please Castle Lord. Any of your praise and admiration would make them very happy as it would lubricate their souls and wisdom and indicate your greatest affirmation to our work!" Heller appeared beside Zhang Tie with a smile.


    ''I know,'' Zhang Tie also became happy as he passed his backpack to Heller, "Put it in the equipment room, I will use it in a few days!"


    "Yes, sir. Speaking of equipment room, I want to remind Castle Lord that our rooms are in short supply as all the grains warehouse have been filled; no more grain is available!"


    "Argh!" Hearing this news, Zhang Tie became a bit amazed, "What should we do then?"


    "There are two methods: first, I accelerate the growth of a batch of woods in Castle of Black Iron using reiki; then, I will have Edward build some rooms using the logs; but pines, parasols are not of good quality. If I accelerate their growth using reiki, it would be a waste; therefore, I hope Castle Lord could bring in some proper woods, such as blueberry, teakwood, nanmu, sanders, Korean pine, and ash trees as houses built of these woods would be more durable and better-looking!"


    "What about the second method?"


    "As long as Castle Lord can accumulate enough basic energy storage, you could directly form a mountain with many caves using the space and terrain creation system; that would cost you less time!"


    Hearing this method, Zhang Tie felt being a poor again; he just forced a smile, "No need to be that hurry, I will bring in some woods; for basic energy, I will increase it. You know, I''ve been a bit busy recently!"


    "I understand, at your will, my lord!"


    Zhang Tie then hurriedly ran into his lab. The color of the liquor inside the glass bottle truly had become bloody, deep red like fire...


    Opening its lid, Zhang Tie forcefully sniffed that special taste from inside and felt his battle qi being ignited...


    ''Is this the function of the seeds of fiery-flame red lotus? That''s too powerful!''

 352 Night Viewing Ability

    Chapter 352: Night Viewing Ability


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    The fiery-flame red lotus seeds in the liquor released an alluring fragrance. Lifting the bottle, Zhang Tie watched the red liquid for a while. He then gritted his teeth and started to drink it forcefully.


    Curiously, the taste of the liquor had been diluted as the liquid tasted extremely bitter, instead of pungent; besides, its taste had a sort of chilliness that almost penetrated in Zhang Tie''s bones.


    At that moment, the seeds which were as hard as steel beads a few days ago had become crispy like Chinese chestnuts. Zhang Tie directly chewed all ten seeds and swallowed them all, causing a sound of "kacha, kacha".


    Soon after he drank the bitter, icy liquid, Zhang Tie felt his stomach burning like the external combustion chamber of the steam-driven external combustion engine. At the same time, he felt his body temperature rising rapidly.


    Remembering his master''s warning, Zhang Tie swallowed all the liquid in the bottle very quickly; then, he yelled and rushed out of the lab.


    In less than half a minute, Zhang Tie had felt his body burning; even his iron-blood battle qi had been triggered and formed a battle-qi totem of a huge centipede.


    As Zhang Tie ran, he kept peeling off his clothes. Like a mad cow whose tail was burned, in a wink of eye, he had rushed 100 m away. Yelling weirdly, he then dove into that fresh water lake inside the Castle of Black Iron naked, like a meteor, causing a 10 m higher spray.


    A''gan, Aziz, and Edward were really stunned. They hurriedly collected Zhang Tie''s clothes and shoes as they rushed towards that lake at the same time.


    When they arrived at the lake, under the gloomy light in darkness, they saw Zhang Tie radiating a crimson light several meters below the water like a piece of red-hot iron. Meanwhile, a wisp of steam was rising above the water.


    "Castle Lord, are you okay?" A''gan asked out of concern.


    Heller''s eyes radiated a gleaming light. After watching Zhang Tie for a while, he waved his head, "He''s fine; Castle Lord has just accomplished a round of fabulous evolution!"


    Hearing Heller''s reply, Agan, Aziz and Edward all let out a sigh.


    ...


    Although the others were worried about him, Zhang Tie was very cozy.


    When the burning heat was absorbed by the icy lake at night, it warmed the surrounding air, which firstly drilled into his heart; after warming Zhang Tie''s heart and making it feel very comfortable, it drilled into Zhang Tie''s spleen, then his kidney. After circling around his kidney twice, it went back to Zhang Tie''s mind and mingled with his spiritual energy.


    After his spiritual energy mingled with that weird strength for a while, Zhang Tie had a weird feeling ¡ª although the total amount of his spiritual energy didn''t increase, it became more stable while that swirl of his spiritual energy in his mind felt a bit tranquil.


    Out of Zhang Tie''s mind, that warm energy started to penetrate into Zhang Tie eyes from inside to the outside.


    When that warmth entered Zhang Tie''s ocular tissue, Zhang Tie didn''t feel warm anymore; but icy, but it still made his eyes very comfortable. The icy feeling came from a mysterious point inside his brain, in line with the middle place between his eyebrows.


    Zhang Tie was immersed in water in this comfortable way for 3 hours.


    3 hours later...


    With a sound of "Huala...", Zhang Tie exposed his head out of the water and heavily panted, breathing in the Castle of Black Iron''s fresh air.


    At this time, Zhang Tie saw the Castle of Black Iron in a completely new light...


    When he jumped into lake, it was dark in Castle of Black Iron while everything in the darkness was obscure; however, at this moment, everything in his eyes was different.


    It was like the sunset scene in Castle of Black Iron. In the background of bright shadows and space that slightly radiated a golden color, everything was clearly presented in Zhang Tie''s eyes, the visual effect of which was much better than that of night viewing medicament.


    When he used a vial of night viewing medicament, he felt like he was wearing a layer of thick yellowish green glass; with that night viewing effect, he could clearly see an object''s shape, yet he could not identify the object''s colors easily. However, now, Zhang Tie could easily and clearly identify the colors of the plants in the Castle of Black Iron.


    What was more, Zhang Tie found that his visual ability had become much better than before as he could see objects clearly at a longer distance.


    Within the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie felt a mysterious connection between the spiritual energy in his mind and his eyes. If his spiritual energy was a lake at this moment, the water in this lake was irrigating his eyes through a fine water pipe.


    Zhang Tie tried to turn off the water pipe of spiritual energy. He then opened his eyes and found everything became dark like before...


    A''gan, Edward and Aziz were holding torches and watching him out of concern.


    "Castle Lord, are you alright?"


    Zhang Tie then turned on that water pipe of spiritual energy once again; this time, darkness disappeared and the whole space was changed into that sunset scene again. Everything then became clear in Zhang Tie''s eyes...


    Turned on... Turned off... Turned on... Turned off...


    Clear... Obscure... Clear... Obscure...


    Sunset scene... Darkness... Sunset scene... Darkness...


    ''That''s really interesting!¡¯ Zhang Tie felt like a big bulb had been installed in his eyes that could light up the whole world. With that bulb, he could easily shift between two different visual effects. Although this night viewing effect would consume a bit of his spiritual energy, it was almost negligible to Zhang Tie. Even if Zhang Tie kept using this night viewing effect for 3 months, it would not cost him 1/5 of his total spiritual energy.


    "Haha... I''m fine!" After knowing the effect of this night viewing ability, Zhang Tie was pretty jubilant. He burst into laughter and swam to the lakeside before putting on his clothes.


    Because Heller and the three servants were all male, Zhang Tie didn''t feel shameful about putting on clothes in the public.


    "Congratulations! Castle Lord, you''ve gained a new ability!" Heller said.


    "You already know about that effect?" Zhang Tie asked Heller as he was putting on his T-shirt.


    "I know everything in this space. The Castle of Black Iron has sensed your change, my lord."


    "Fiery-flame red lotus is really nice. It''s exotic!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    "As a silicon-based plant in magma, fiery-flame red lotus has a great ability to bear and sense high temperature. When those fiery-flame red lotus that you''ve sowed in the Castle of Black Iron grow ripe, Castle Lord can eat some more seeds. Then, your night viewing ability will gradually be intensified!" Heller explained.


    "Intensified?" Hearing that word, Zhang Tie became a bit still as he slowed down the movement to fasten his waist band, "I think this ability is already sharp now, you mean it can become sharper?"


    "Although Castle Lord can see clearly objects'' shapes in darkness, can you see their temperatures clearly? As objects would present different colors and temperatures when in different environments, you will actually be able to identify them!" Heller explained.


    "I can see objects'' temperatures?" After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie further asked, "What''s it for?"


    "He...he...commoners can identify 1 million kinds of rays and colors or so; actually, there are numerous kinds of rays and colors due to different temperatures of objects and energies in the universe. Temperature is a very important ''measure'' in universe; if your eyes could see these temperatures, you would see a much more splendid scene in this world..."


    "You mean people''s eyes could see different temperatures, but for what?" Heller''s words were out of Zhang Tie''s comprehension ability.


    "For instance, a man is hiding behind that big tree. Can you see that man from here, day or night?" Heller pointed at a tree over there.


    "No!" Zhang Tie waved his head.


    "Of course you can''t; because you are watching using your normal visual ability. But if you could see temperatures, even though that man was hiding behind that big tree, you would still see him clearly. The reason lies in the difference between his body temperature and that of the big tree, which was as remarkable as a burning 10,000-year fluorite lamp!"


    Zhang Tie understood it at once. He had not imagined that the seeds of fiery-flame red lotus could have such an effect. Therefore, Zhang Tie burst out laughter.


    ...


    Although what he did to the slaves today didn''t lead to any special fruit, Zhang Tie was not too disappointed about that.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t gain any fruit of redemption, he gained more than 6000 merit values by setting free slaves, which made him very satisfied.


    After eating the latest Leakless Fruit, Zhang Tie left Castle of Black Iron and reappeared in the room of the hotel.


    With a night viewing ability, Zhang Tie continued to observe that building through the spyglass throughout the night. He figured out the personnel arrangements of that building in the evening and kept those arrangements in mind to further improve his plan.


    ...


    On the 2nd morning, after accomplishing this travel to Stars Viewing City, Zhang Tie returned to Jinhai City in his Faerie Dragon T9. After staying with his family members for one day in Jinhai City, Zhang Tie wore Fei Yuao''s face mask once again and made his final preparations on the plan in Jinhai City in the name of Fei Yuao, which cost him his remaining 2000 gold coins or so.


    Later on, Fei Yuao disappeared and Zhang Tie returned to Hidden Dragon Island to accumulate his strength quietly and wait for the coming massacre and revenge!

 353 Jinwu Castle

    Chapter 353: Jinwu Castle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    July 3rd, one week after Zhang Tie returned to Hidden Dragon Island and stayed there without arising any trouble...


    This day, two amazing events happened for all the clan students in Hidden Dragon Palace.


    Firstly, a name Zhang Tie suddenly ranked 1st on the Hidden Dragon Wealth List in Qinyun Palace with 400,000 gold coins. This figure was even double the value of the 2nd place.


    When many people in Hidden Dragon Palace were shocked by this news, the second piece of news arrived.


    That castle on Yunju Mountain of Hidden Dragon Island finally hung out the banner and logo of its owner at its highest place.


    When that castle was under construction, many people in Hidden Dragon Palace thought that was an agency affiliated by Huaiyuan Palace ¡ª another important base of Hidden Dragon Palace or Long Wind Business Group on the island.


    It was also said that as the Zhang Clan was going to expand the territory of the Zhixing Department, the current Zhixing Department was going to move into that new castle on Yunju Mountain. From then on, the minimal standard for students to enter Hidden Dragon Palace would be above LV 6; those clan elites below LV 6 who entered Hidden Dragon Island would be transferred to that castle on Yunju Mountain.


    However, when the banner of the castle of hung out on July 3rd, everybody became dumbfounded as the banner of the castle was nothing to do with Huaiyuan Palace''s subordinate agencies at all. Instead, it was a strange ''private banner'' which represented the status of its owner.


    In Junyun Country which was predominated by Chinese people, there were strict regulations on the styles of banners for various levels of clans, organizations, and individuals. Only national agencies and army could use dragon emblems and patterns.


    None of the 4 classical Chinese beasts like green Chinese dragon, white tiger, Rosefinch, and Xuanwu (a species that combines tortoise and snake) were allowed on the banners and logos of feudal princes and local clans in Jinyun Country. Based on Chinese traditions, only emperors who founded the countries or first-class regimes had the right to use the 4 classical Chinese beasts as their banners or logos.


    Huaiyuan Palace''s banner was Sea and Sky Long Wind Banner.


    Besides, there were many other regulations, such as the bottom color of the banners of business groups and societal organizations should not be red or black, because these 2 colors were the bottom colors of the battle flag of the Chinese army. Take another example, besides following the above regulations, private banners that symbolized private territory, interests, and rights should be triangular instead of being square.


    That banner rising from the highest place of that castle on Yunju Mountain was triangular and blue, on which there was a strange three-foot bird in a golden sun.


    When this triangular banner rose up, its name was exposed under the gate tower ¡ª Jinwu Castle!


    All the students in Hidden Dragon Palace were shocked as this castle was not a part of Huaiyuan Palace, but a private castle.


    Besides the affiliated agencies of Huaiyuan Palace, the only ones that could build house on Hidden Dragon Island were some natives and students of Hidden Dragon Palace. For those natives, even some of them were rich, they could only pay 100,000 gold coins at most. They had no ability to build such a castle at all.


    When they knew that the owner of Jinwu Castle was Zhang Tie, a student in Breaking Heavens Department of Hidden Dragon Palace, the Breaking Heavens Department as a whole seemed to go mad. Zhang Tie had broken the record ¡ª the first student in Breaking Heavens Department to own a castle on Hidden Dragon Island.


    Some curious guys checked the records of the first places on the Hidden Dragon Wealth List and found that before Zhang Tie, the richest student in Hidden Dragon Palace only had 380,000 gold coins, they then became more thrilled. Some careful ones studied Zhang Tie''s experience in Hidden Dragon Palace and found that Zhang Tie had created 4 records; instead of 1.


    The first student who owned a private castle on Hidden Dragon Island since the founding of Hidden Dragon Palace...


    The richest student since the founding of Hidden Dragon Palace...


    The student who had formed Iron-Blood Battle Qi in the shortest period since the founding of Hidden Dragon Palace...


    The first student who had produced all-purpose medicament since the founding of Hidden Dragon Palace...


    In just one day, Zhang Tie had become one of the most famous people in Hidden Dragon Palace as a star student who had produced all-purpose medicament. No matter where it was and which age it was in, any rich people would become attractive, even in Hidden Dragon Palace.


    On the same day, when the girls in Zhixing Department were told this news and felt it was unbelievable, they all received Zhang Tie''s invitation.


    ¡ª As my castle is completed, I''ve prepared some drinks. I now invite you for a carnival at sunset tomorrow!


    ¡ª Zhang Tie.


    All the girls who''d bet with Zhang Tie had received his invitation, including Guo Miaoli and the other girls who had already entered Breaking Heavens Department. At the sight of the scrawls on the letters of invitation, all the girls looked pretty weird.


    "It''s really senior brother Zhang Tie! Only he would send such a letter of invitation..." Liu Shasha sighed as the other girls in Zhixing Department nodded.


    "Will we go there then?" a naive girl asked hesitantly.


    "Of course we will go there. That guy is narrow-minded. If we don''t go there, he might come here to collect our debts!"


    The girls then giggled.


    "If we get along well with senior brother Zhang Tie, we might be helped by this richest person in the future! If so, we wouldn''t have to work so hard to make money!" A girl joked.


    "It''s said that senior brother doesn''t have a girlfriend yet. But this is a good opportunity. If anyone of you have fallen in love with him, you have to seize this chance; otherwise, it might be late!"


    "As Yuhan has already given her first kiss to senior brother Zhang Tie, Yuhan should have a try!"


    "No way..." Du Yuhan''s face slightly blushed, "Forget about that, he was just saving me out of the sea!"


    The girls were all joking with Du Yuhan except for Qu Liangying, who was just smiling. Out of a strange yet powerful instinct, Du Yuhan exchanged glances with Qu Liangying. The two girls instantly knew what that meant...


    Besides the 12 girls who had bet with Zhang Tie, many others received Zhang Tie''s letters of invitation too, including Zhang Tie''s good friends in Zhixing Department ¡ª Zhang Keliang, Zhang Yunfei, Wei Wu, and Zhang Hongsheng, and Yang Yuankang''s group who cooperated with Zhang Tie to sell the all-purpose medicament for the first time, Gu Caidie, Ma Aiyun, who taught Zhang Tie basic movements, Liu Xu, whom Zhang Tie had a drink with, and Zhang Lin, Zhu Wenqiang whom Zhang Tie got acquainted with when he was a yaksha in the sea.


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s invitation, Zhang Keliang, Zhang Yunfei, Wei Wu, and Zhang Hongsheng all felt warm inside. Due to different courses and tasks between Zhixing Department and Breaking Heavens Department, they''d had fewer chances to meet each other since Zhang Tie entered Breaking Heavens Department, especially after Zhang Tie became famous. After receiving Zhang Tie''s invitation, they looked forward to seeing Zhang Tie''s familiar and kind face again...


    Everything was changing, except for the friendship between them.


    When receiving Zhang Tie''s invitation, Zhang Lin and Zhu Wenqiang were also very shocked. After watching the letters of invitation for quite a while, they finally accepted the fact¡ª¡ªthe junior brother who was working as a yaksha in the sea together with them had been unusual in only a few days.


    Zhang Lin and Zhu Wenqiang were not idiots. They both knew the importance to maintain the friendship between them and Zhang Tie.


    Anyone who could rank 1st on any Hidden Dragon List had never been an average figure in the history of Huaiyuan Palace unless they died at a young age. Zhang Tie was only 17 years old. Anyone who was farsighted could see that Zhang Tie had a bright future.


    They got acquainted with Zhang Tie together with Yang Yuankang. Recently, they were told that Yang Yuankang was living pretty well in Breaking Heavens Department. When they were still struggling for a few clan contribution points and the monthly payment of Breaking Heavens Department, Yang Yuankang had already stabilized his business on Hidden Dragon Island.


    Although the relationship between Yang Yuankang and Zhang Tie could not be completely duplicated, this at least indicated that Zhang Tie had already been able to easily influence and decide the destiny and future of people around him.


    Zhang Tie was definitely a reliable and powerful friend. He was the so-called good teacher and helpful friend.


    Liu Xu, who got acquainted with Zhang Tie through Zhang Su, also had the same feeling. After receiving Zhang Tie''s invitation, Liu Xu felt slightly overwhelmed by the special favor. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie still remembered him at this moment. After all, they only met a few times and had a drink together.


    "I wonder how senior brother Zhang Su would feel if he knew that his younger cousin had become a popular person in Hidden Dragon Palace!", a thought flashed across Liu Xu''s mind.


    ...


    "Do we need to buy an expensive gift for Zhang Tie?" Compared to others, Yang Yuankang and Zhang Feng became both excited and touched. As they all made money with the support and preferential treatment of Zhang Tie, the moment they received Zhang Tie''s invitation, they had gathered together and discussed about visiting Zhang Tie''s castle tomorrow.


    The more money they made through Zhang Tie, the more important Zhang Tie was in their heart. Therefore, they became more careful about their relationship with Zhang Tie. The one who asked was Yang Yuankang''s partner. Soon after he asked, the rest had started to discuss about that, except for Yang Yuankang who was gazing at Zhang Tie''s letter of invitation seriously and silently.


    Among them, Yang Yuankang was most dignified; therefore, finally they all waited for Yang Yuankang''s reply.


    "Do you think that Zhang Tie needs our gift?" Yang Yuankang asked. They then exchanged glanced with each other and didn''t say any more.


    "Yuankang, what do you mean?"


    "It''s just a party between friends. We only need to treat him sincerely. No need to bring any gift at all. Just take yourselves to enjoy supper there. Just take your girlfriends or boyfriends there to visit the first student''s castle of Hidden Dragon Palace, if you have one. I will take my girlfriend at least!" Yang Yuankang smiled.


    "Erm...is this proper?"


    "You will know it later on. Not everybody can enjoy this special treatment. Seize this opportunity to enjoy yourselves; if not, you will regret it!" Yang Yuankang said seriously.


    After thinking about Yang Yuankang''s words carefully, they all felt they was reasonable.


    ...


    Lan Yunxi who lived in Phoenix Resting Pavilion also received a letter of invitation. Previously, she was executing a clan task away from the island; when she came back to Hidden Dragon Island, it was already June 28th.


    Not until she returned did Lan Yunxi know what Zhang Tie had experienced during the period when she had been away.


    Lan Yunxi knew that a LV 9 powerhouse assigned by Long Wind Business Group to protect an important figure betrayed Long Wind Business Group and Huaiyuan Palace while cooperating with an unknown power was nothing different than a terrifying earthquake in Long Wind Business Group and Huaiyuan Palace. It contained too much horrible information.


    What was the background of Liu Xiang? Was he a mole assigned by another power before he joined Long Wind Business Group? Was there someone else like Liu Xiang in Long Wind Business Group and Huaiyuan Palace? Was it a coincidence or a planned arrangement to dispatch Liu Xiang to protect Zhang Tie? Wasn''t it a shame for Huaiyuan Palace to let someone assassinate its student on Hidden Dragon Island? Additionally, how was the confidential message that Zhang Tie could realize large-mass production of all-purpose medicament leaked?


    Each of the above questions was fatal. Lan Yunxi became really worried about that.


    At the beginning, someone in Long Wind Business Group still doubted Zhang Tie''s testimony that Liu Xiang betrayed Long Wind Business Group and assassinated Zhang Tie. After all, Zhang Tie was the only witness. Now, Liu Xiang had died and Zhang Tie could only provide simple evidence. In some people''s eyes, these pieces of evidence were not persuasive enough.


    When Long Wind Business Group started to survey Liu Xiang''s background, some key figures who introduced Liu Xiang in the Business Group committed a suicide one after another. After this clue was cut off, those who doubted Zhang Tie''s testimony finally shut up.


    Now, even idiots would know that Liu Xiang was not innocent. However, what was more terrifying was that Long Wind Business Group didn''t know how seriously it had been infiltrated by other powers.


    The Seniors Association of Huaiyuan Palace became furious while Zhang Taibai, Lan Yunxi''s uncle, had been asked to accept the inquiry of Seniors Association.


    At this moment, although outsiders thought Yiyang City and Huaiyuan Palace were as safe and sound as before, the sky had been covered with black clouds and a terrifying and destructive rainstorm was brewing.


    However, the one who aroused this storm still asked his friends for a carnival in his new nest.


    The moment she remembered Zhang Tie''s roguish look, Lan Yunxi was be driven mad.

 354 Secret Tunnel

    Chapter 354: Secret Tunnel


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    "Peh... peh..."


    As the inside of the tunnel had not been smoothed, some areas jutted out from the edges. When Zhang Tie passed one such place, his head against the jut on the ceiling; as a result, some sandy soil dropped off, making Zhang Tie''s head dirty all over. Some of the soil even entered Zhang Tie''s mouth; therefore, Zhang Tie hurriedly spat it out.


    Steel shovel and spade in hand, Zhang Tie moved to the end of this narrow tunnel where he had reached yesterday. With one leg half-knelt down on the ground, he then pulled down his goggles and slightly inserted his steel shovel into the hard and thick soil. As a result, a lot of earth and sand were dug out.


    With his great, mammoth strength, in just a few minutes, Zhang Tie had already dug out a great amount of earth and sand and pushed another meter forward.


    Seeing too much earth and sand being piled in the secret tunnel, Zhang Tie put down his steel shovel; he then held a steel spade whose handle had been cut short. With one spade, he had lifted over 10 kg of earth and sand; Zhang Tie then focused his spiritual energy on them and instantly moved them into the Pool of Chaos in Castle of Black Iron...


    Zhang Tie then kept digging and removing the waste like this...


    After several days'' work, Zhang Tie had become very familiar with this series of movements. The earth and sand blocking the secret tunnel were soon moved away, by something akin to magic, and became the basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie then moved another meter forward. After that, he switched his spade for the shovel and kept digging like a groundhog.


    With the support of Zhang Tie''s terrifying, mammoth strength and physique, and the Pool of Chaos in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie delt with the sand and earth very easily. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s efficiency was very high ¡ª it only took him a couple of minutes to push one or two meters forward.


    Although it was pitch dark in the secret tunnel, this was not a problem for Zhang Tie at all because he had night viewing ability.


    Several hours later, Zhang Tie stopped working. He leaned his ears against the wall of the tunnel as he heard the clear sound of running water from the other side of the tunnel. Zhang Tie was so thrilled that he kept digging faster.


    10 minutes later, with a sound of crash, a lot of sand and earth collapsed. At the same time, Zhang Tie drilled out of his secret tunnel and appeared in a karst cave of a subterranean river in the hinterland of Yunju Mountain.


    This karst cave only covered several ten thousand square meters and was just over 10 meters in height. The inside of the cave was twisted with various odd-looking stalactites and limestones. A five to six meter wide subterranean river bubbled through the cave.


    In most cases, humans'' fears originated from the unknown. Darkness was one such unknown. If one could see clearly his surroundings, one''s fear would be greatly reduced.


    Zhang Tie was such a case. If he didn''t have the night viewing ability, he might be a bit scared in such a strange environment; however, after clearly seeing the karst cave and the subterranean river, Zhang Tie became relaxed at once.


    "It seems that Liu Gong didn''t lie to me. According to their geological survey, there''s a huge enclosed karst cave and a subterranean river leading to the Flying Swallow Lake!" Zhang Tie mumbled.


    After briefly checking this underground karst cave, Zhang Tie found it was really an enclosed space in the hinterland of a mountain. Besides the secret tunnel that he had dug, Zhang Tie didn''t find any other access to this karst cave; therefore, Zhang Tie became completely reassured.


    After checking this karst cave in the hinterland of Yunju Mountain, Zhang Tie investigated that subterranean river, which was only three to four meters deep. After coursing through the karst cave for a distance, it entered the hinterland of the mountain.


    From his brief check of the karst cave and the subterranean river, Zhang Tie estimated where he was and the position of Flying Swallow Lake in the outside; thus, he dove into the subterranean river without any hesitation.


    The river was very crystal. With the help of his night viewing ability, Zhang Tie could still see clearly under water. Zhang Tie had a very sharp sense of the water flow; additionally, he could swim super fast and breath without any limit under water. Therefore, he had no fear when he jumped into the subterranean river.


    If it was another person, even it was a powerhouse who was ten times more powerful than Zhang Tie and had good swimming skills, he wouldn''t just jump into the subterranean river, because he didn''t know the flowing direction and environment of the subterranean river.


    What if you found that this subterranean river lasted over 1,000 km like a water pipe when you jumped in and had no chance to get out for a breath?


    Although you felt the water here flew slowly and indicated no danger at all, what if, after swimming several thousand kilometers, you suddenly found this subterranean river led to a terrifying waterfall which cascaded into an abyss? What if there were subterranean whirlpools with horrible power capable of drowning you? Each of the above situations could easily kill a person.


    Therefore, almost nobody dared to swim in subterranean rivers casually, even though they might have such incredible swimming skills that they could take ocean as their own swimming pool. Compared to the ocean, the dangers in this subterranean river were unpredictable.


    After swimming for a while in the subterranean river, Zhang Tie found the way in front divided into two. One seemed leading to Flying Swallow Lake while the other seemed leading to White Dragon Town.


    Zhang Tie chose the way leading to Flying Swallow Lake. It was only a distance of 500 to 600 meters from there to Flying Swallow Lake. The waterway in front became increasingly narrower from five or six meters to two or three meters wide, resulting in the water''s rate of flow also slowing down. The narrowest place was less than one meter in width as it was between two huge rocks; thankfully, Zhang Tie finally swam across there.


    With a bright light, Zhang Tie raised his head and found that he had already left the subterranean river. Over twenty meters above him was the surface of Flying Swallowing Lake. The connection between the Subterranean River and the Flying Swallow Lake was at the bottom of the lake on the side closest to Yunju Mountain, which was even and water flow slowly out, so it wouldn''t be noticed easily.


    The bottom of Flying Swallow Lake was covered with verdant water weeds and stones. The connecting tunnel between the subterranean river and the Flying Swallow Lake was hidden amongst the water weeds and stones. Unless someone especially waited by the cave, nobody would notice someone swimming out of it.


    A shoal of finger-long fish swam across the water weeds while the water level of the lake was glistening like jumping golden flames. Zhang Tie, who suddenly moved his head out of the water weeds scared those little fish away at once. Zhang Tie then observed the water level for a while and found a ship floating 300 meters away from him.


    Looking up from the bottom, Zhang Tie could see clearly the arched belly of the ship.


    It was not the right moment to expose himself by getting out of the water. After figuring out the surrounding environment, Zhang Tie made a turn like a fish and flowed back into that tunnel at the bottom of Flying Swallow Lake. When he reached that cross 500-600 m away in the upper reach, Zhang Tie thought for a while before swimming along the waterway towards White Dragon Town.


    Several minutes later, Zhang Tie exposed his head out of a shiny water level. After taking two mouthfuls of fresh air, Zhang Tie raised his head and looked up as he felt the entrance of the cave was a bit weird; at that moment, a pitch-black object fell down; thankfully, Zhang Tie jumped away swiftly; otherwise, his head would have been crushed by it.


    After being scared a lot, Zhang Tie watched that object carefully and found it was a bucket; Zhang Tie immediately knew where he was.


    "Wanfu, you asshole, are you napping there again? Have you prepared the water in the water vat in the back garden? Xiaohe and the other servant girls are still waiting for it. Lord''s flowers need to be watered in both the morning and evening; if they were not watered on time because of you, I will break your legs. You b*stard..." A domineering voice came from above.


    "Haha, Steward Zhao, how could I dare sleep here? Look, I''m drawing water from the well!" With the flattery voice, that wooden bucket then tilted and sank in the water; In a few seconds, it had been filled with water and was drawn out of the well.


    "Don''t think that I''ve not seen that. Obviously, you started to move when you saw me. You were obviously indolent in duty. I will dock half of your pay for this month!" With that icy condemnation, Steward Zhao got closer to the well.


    "No, Steward Zhao, if that happens, I will be in a poor mood. Then, I will drink a lot to ease my sorrow; if so, I would hardly be able keep what I saw in the evening a few days ago a secret!"


    "What do you mean?"


    Wanfu then lowered his voice and became mysterious.


    "As I drank too much, I went to the toilet in the night before last. However, because I was drunk and it was very dark then, I could not find the toilet; therefore, I went to the rockery in the back garden to have a pee; coincidently, I caught sight of you and Xiaohong, the servant of madam in the mountain cave, heh...heh...Steward Zhao really had a good physique!"


    "Hmm... hmm..." Steward Zhao started to cough ferociously, "Wanfu, you are too honest and diligent. How can you be left to finish so much work in the Mansion alone? Just fill the water vat in the back garden today; take a rest tomorrow. I will add 5 silver coins for you monthly compensation from then on. Don''t be loaf on the job. Lord will definitely reward your hard work!"


    "Thanks, Steward Zhao!"


    ...


    Hearing that conversation, Zhang Tie swore inside as he dove into the water once again.


    ...


    Several minutes later, Zhang Tie arrived back in the mountain cave in the hinterland of Yunju Mountain. Although nobody else would come here, Zhang Tie still covered this cave with some water weeds and a huge stone before going back to a hidden room along that secret tunnel.


    This hidden room was a bit similar to that one left by Donder in Blackhot City. It covered more than 200 square meters and was connected to the upside through stairs. Additionally, there were some 10,000-year flourite lamps and some simple daily products in the hidden room. This place was used for Zhang Tie to enter meditation and cultivate his fighting skills in Jinwu Castle.


    After climbing out of the secret tunnel, Zhang Tie easily moved the over 300 kilogram slab of bluestone back to its original position. He then placed a desk on the stone floor. In this way, nobody else could identify that secret tunnel at all.


    There was another secret tunnel in the castle which was connected to Zhang Tie''s bedroom and study room, through which, Zhang Tie could silently leave Jinwu Castle and arrived at the place close to the airship port.


    That secret tunnel was built by Long Wind Business Group for Zhang Tie; however, after Liu Xiang''s betrayal, Zhang Tie understood it clearly that the secret tunnel to the airport had become useless to him.


    Any secret known by two people was not a secret anymore. What was more, more than two people knew of the existence of that secret tunnel such as those who attended the designing of the castle''s blueprints and the construction of the secret tunnel. Therefore, those who wanted to screw over Zhang Tie must have already known about its existence.


    Perhaps, at this moment, someone on Hidden Dragon Island was watching that secret tunnel through a telescope.


    Of course, Zhang Tie would not make plans or keep secrets on the basis of a secret tunnel which had been exposed. Therefore, ever since he came back to Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie had remained in his secret room under the guise of meditating and cultivating fighting skills for a long period of time every day; actually, in this period, Zhang Tie had silently broken through a secret tunnel based on the information that he had received which nobody else knew except for him.


    At the beginning, that engineer who was responsible for building Jinwu castle only casually mentioned the geological structure of Yunju Mountain to Zhang Tie; however, he would not have imagined that Zhang Tie had kept his words in mind and truly dug out a secret tunnel leading to the hinterland of Yunju Mountain and found a path in the subterranean river to leave this castle secretly.


    Perhaps, even that engineer could not remember that he had mentioned this to Zhang Tie at this moment. After all, a person spoke a lot every day, especially in casual conversations. Nobody could remember each sentence that they had said.


    Zhang Tie felt good. After circling around the hidden room and placing everything back in its original position, Zhang Tie glanced at his watch and decided to leave; at this moment, he lowered his head and found he was a bit embarrassed; therefore, he directly entered Castle of Black Iron. After changing into a set of clean clothes in Castle of Black Iron, he checked his appearance in a mirror and returned to the hidden room.


    Given Zhang Tie''s current look, nobody would think that he was digging hole like a groundhog these days.


    ''I will take a chance to investigate the situation of that household in White Dragon Town. If possible, I will buy their house under another name. That way, it would be more convenient for me to leave my castle and it would be harder for others to figure out my trace. Damn! Smart rabbits always have three holes. I''m smarter than a rabbit!''


    Thinking that, Zhang Tie had walked upside through the stairs. After passing through a 10 meter long passageway, Zhang Tie opened the alloy-made cypher lock of the hidden room before walked out of the hidden room.


    ...


    A few minutes after Zhang Tie left the hidden room, some guys whom Zhang Tie had invited for a party had already arrived outside Jinwu Castle in advance.


    "Wei Wu, are we here a bit early? Zhang Tie said to get here after the sunset. But it''s still one hour away from sunset..." Walking on the mountain path of Yunju Mountain, Zhang Hongsheng raised his head and looked at that sun which was only a bit in the west and lowered his voice, "Isn''t it a bit embarrassing if we arrive there too early?"


    "Never mind, it would be embarrassing if we are there too late!" Wei Wu waved his hand manly, "We are Zhang Tie''s earliest brothers and friends in Hidden Dragon Palace, of course we need to be there earlier. We can help him prepare for the party. I was told that Zhang Tie has invited twenty to thirty people in total. We are celebrating him moving into a new home; therefore, we need to be there a bit earlier!"


    "There should be some others in the castle, he doesn''t need our help at all. I''m curious about Jinwu Castle; if we can be there a bit earlier, we can have a nosy around his castle; if we are late, Zhang Tie will be too busy to take care of us!" Zhang Yunfei smiled.


    After half a year''s cultivation in Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Yunfei who was delicate before had grown taller, darker, and healthier with a pair of spirited eyes. He was totally different from that person half year ago. Besides Zhang Yunfei, Wei Wu and Zhang Hongsheng also changed greatly. They would soon ignite the 8th surging point on their spine and officially became LV 6 fighters.


    Hearing these words, Zhang Keiliang who always behaved like an elder brother only replied with a smile. He then raised his head and looked at the magnificent Jinwu Castle at the end of the mountain path.


    In this age, every man would like to have his own castle. To have one''s own castle meant the beginning of having one''s own clan. Zhang Keliang had not mentioned his dream to others, which was to found his own clan and have such a castle one day.


    He was not jealous about Zhang Tie''s achievement; instead, he took it as a stimulant. He was proud of having Zhang Tie as his friend as he could gain a powerful, positive energy from Zhang Tie.


    ''I can make it one day too!'' Zhang Keliang mumbled.


    After being decorated, the exterior wall of Jinwu Castle was not that ugly grey concrete wall anymore; instead, it had been covered with a special clouding granite which was a specialty of Yunju Mountain. In this way, the exterior wall became more defensive; besides, it was much more beautiful than before.


    Additionally, the style of Jinwu Castle was also very unique. Compared to those classical castles which looked square, this castle featured more flexible and personalized elements.


    Therefore, Jinwu Castle became the most beautiful castle on Hidden Dragon Island.


    Although they had seen castles many times in Hidden Dragon Island, when they arrived at the foot of Jinwu Castle, they were really shocked by the high exterior wall of the castle and the flying eaves at the top of the bartizans which looked like they were burning in the sunshine. Gazing at it all, the group could only stand there with jaws on the ground.


    On the walls, bartizans and steam-driven battery platforms, some tall Spirits Soldiers in wholly steel armor were standing guard with long spears, which made the castle more magnificent and solemn.


    Outside the castle gate, 2 rows of tall Spirits soldiers were standing on both sides of the suspension bridge.


    Although Jinwu Castle had just been completed, it was already established to a certain degree.


    The moment Wei Wu''s group moved close to the front gate of the castle, a tall Spirits soldier in a full body armor with a long sword on his waist had already walked up to them.


    "Excuse me, are you here for the party tonight?"


    "Yes, we are!" Zhang Yunfei answered.


    "I''m Lenox, the team leader of security guards of Jinwu Castle, may I have a look at your letters of invitation?"


    When they were going to present their letters of invitation, a voice sounded behind Lenox.


    "No need, Lenox, they are my friends!" With a big smile, Zhang Tie had already raced up from inside the gate of the castle.


    The moment they caught sight of Zhang Tie, they all smiled while some Spirits guards outside the gate instantly stood at attention with their long spears.


    Wei Wu, Zhang Keliang, and the other 2 people then punched Zhang Tie''s shoulders with smile. Zhang Tie punched them back too like how they greeted with each other before; they then burst out laughing.


    "Brat, you''re rich now. You are the first one to have a castle in Hidden Dragon Palace. If not for your letter of invitation, I would never have believed that you could''ve become so rich in only half a year!" saying this, Weiwu punched Zhang Tie once again.


    "Haha. God helped me develop all-purpose medicament; don''t be jealous!" Zhang Tie still talked with them in the same way like before.


    "All-purpose medicament is too poor in quality, I will develop something far superior when I become an alchemist" Zhang Hongsheng said loudly. After that, he even threw a contemptuous glance at Zhang Tie.


    "Forget about that! Even if you become a golden-robe alchemist one day, you still won''t be as rich as me!" Zhang Tie also pretended to glance at Zhang Hongsheng contemptuously. "I''m not even a herbal apprentice now, so what?"


    Seeing this, everybody smiled once again. Although Zhang Tie lived in his own castle now, he was still that guy who picked navy-blue iron ores together with them.


    "Are you going out?" Zhang Yunfei asked Zhang Tie.


    "No, I saw you from the wall just now. Therefore, I''m here to welcome you guys. How about having a look at my Jinwu Castle before the party?"


    "Please!" Zhang Keliang answered at once.


    Zhang Tie then guided them in Jinwu Castle and showed them around it.


    To be honest, Zhang Tie really was proud of having a castle at such a young age, even though he tried his best to be modest. At the moment, Zhang Tie found that his dream - to lie on gold coins with the accompany of a lot of beauties - had already come true so early.


    Even the buildings closest to the walls of the barbican could easily hold 1800 soldiers or other people and would be very spacious to hold 600-700 people; however, only 100 Spirits soldiers were stationed in the barbican of Jinwu Castle; therefore, it looked extremely spacious here. Except for those rooms already being utilized, there were still over 300 empty rooms in different sizes.


    There was a circular, broad street, a small fountain square for the performance of fighting skills and a garden between the barbican and the internal castle. The street, the fountain square and the garden were even interlinked with some winding corridors and half-overlay alleys and delicate lanes. On two sides of these alleys and lanes, there were many relatively lower buildings which were as high as 4 floors, namely lower than twenty meters.


    These buildings were built in an extremely tidy and delicate way. At the sight of them, Zhang Yunfei and the other three guys remembered those shops on both sides of the business street in their own hometowns.


    "What are these rooms for?" Zhang Hongsheng asked out of curiosity, "They look like stores."


    "Yes, they are going to be stores. In the future, they could be public houses, hotels, or various workshops. It would be very wasteful if such a huge castle only held a few people!"


    "Are you going to open some areas of Jinwu Castle to the public for commercial purpose?" Zhang Yunfei realized at once.


    Zhang Tie smiled, "Why not? As Hidden Dragon Island is becoming more and more populated, the land available in the towns surrounding Dragon Cave are in short supply. I''ve made an investigation that in the coming years, more than 100,000 square meters of housing area need to increase every year so as to meet various commercial and service demands. Now that, why not take advantage of my current resources? This would bring me money and make Hidden Dragon Island more populated and energetic. My target is to make Jinwu Castle into a small city on Hidden Dragon Island!"


    "Alas, it seems that Zhang Tie''s opinion is feasible. This place is close to White Dragon Town and not far from Dragon Cave; however, it is much more tranquil than those towns surrounding Dragon Cave. Not everyone who comes to Hidden Dragon Island likes the noisy environment in the towns; if this place was really opened to the public for commercial purpose, I think it could work!" Zhang Hongsheng [1] shouted, "Many senior brothers in Breaking Heavens Department of Hidden Dragon Palace are also opening stores and hotels to make money. Why not here?"


    Wei Wu then rubbed his jaw with his hand like an experienced man as he looked at the tidy, elegant and ambient environment on both sides of the street, "How about Jinwu Commercial Area or Jinwu Pedestrian Street? These two names sound great. Oh, are you going to sell or rent them?"


    "Rent, of course!" Zhang Tie smiled. "Are you kidding me? If I want to have the most authority in Jinwu Castle, of course, I will not sell this land. If I just rent them, I will still have the right to decide their use. I don''t need to find trouble for myself."


    After looking around carefully, Zhang Keliang''s heart started to race. Actually, not only Zhang Keliang, even Wei Wu and the other two guys had considered the source of the monthly payment in Breaking Heavens Department in the future.


    Although there were many ways to make money on Hidden Dragon Island, such as making medicament and various tools, exploring and undertaking tasks with high risks and high profits; the fastest and most stable way to make money was actually the popular business route, namely, opening stores to serve people on the island.


    As long as you were not too stupid, if you opened a store on Hidden Dragon Island, you could always make money. The constant flow of people on Hidden Dragon Island was the biggest assurance for your income. Therefore, the price of land and stores in the towns were also very expensive. For Wei Wu, Zhang Keliang, Zhang Yunfei, and Zhang Hongsheng, they had to struggle for a long time to buy a store on Hidden Dragon Island; however, the shotcut was right in front of them.


    Receiving no response, Zhang Tie noticed their hesitated and embarrassed looks and laughed, "All right, no crap; just take where you want, one room for each, you can do your own business respectively or cooperatively. It depends on you. Free rent for the first two years. How about it?"


    Wei Wu uttered a weird sound as he instantly hugged Zhang Tie and intended to kiss Zhang Tie''s face, which really frightened Zhang Tie a lot.


    "F*ck, what do you want? I''m not interested in men!" Zhang Tie directly responded with a shoulder throw.


    "If not this, how else can I express my excitement and pleasure?!"


    "If you dare to kiss me, I will let the hundred Spirits soldiers in the Castle express their excitement and pleasure to you in the same way!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Wei Wu was so scared that he hurriedly jumped away from Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Keiang, Zhang Hongsheng, and Zhang Yunfei all burst out laughing loudly.


    In the internal castle, they visited the production area of all-purpose medicament, which was going to be the core area of internal castle. Watching the 1000-odd huge terrines in the stratified warehouses and those rooms that had been isolated for cleaning, mincing, mixing and canning fruits and the whole set of processing tools in the rooms, they were really stunned.


    "My goddess! Are you making all-purpose medicament or pickled vegetables?" Zhang Hongsheng exclaimed.


    "Almost like that. All-purpose medicament is just a super enzyme. Some processing procedures are same to that of common enzymes!" Zhang Tie explained. No matter what, he could not keep this a secret from them; for some people, they might have already known about this. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t plan to keep this as a secret from his friends.


    Realizing the importance of this place, Zhang Keliang, Zhang Hongsheng, Zhang Yunfei, and Wei Wu didn''t say anything, yet they were all moved inside as they knew that Zhang Tie took them as bosom buddies.


    In the internal castle of Jinwu Castle, besides visiting the production area of all-purpose medicament, they also looked around Zhang Tie''s bedroom. Compared to the former bedroom where Zhang Tie lived in Zhixing Department, this bedroom had been more than 200 square meters, excluding the balcony. This was really awe-inspiring. In Zhang Tie''s words, there were too many empty rooms in internal castle, including more than 30 guest rooms; therefore, he chose the biggest one as the master bedroom.


    During their visit, they also saw those women inside the internal castle, who were those slaves that Zhang Tie had bought. At this moment, they had put on new clothes which were essential for female servants in castle.


    When choosing their costumes, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled Hanna; therefore, he let all the female servants put on costumes like how the local women would wear on beer festival in Blapei. The only difference was that the colors of their costumes were predominated by black and white.


    ¡ª High-heeled leather shoes, foot-reaching skirt, corset, apron, opening collar with delicate lace and tidy puff sleeve.


    Those female servants all thought that with this costume, they could work easily; meanwhile, they could also show their elegant figures; therefore, they were very happy.


    For Zhang Tie, whenever he saw them in this costume, he would feel relaxed like going back to Blapei. The costumes truly made him feel warm inside.


    However, after knowing that there were over fifty female servants in the internal castle in usual time, those guys'' expressions completely changed. After exchanging glances with each other, they swore at Zhang Tie in unison.


    "Beast!"


    Zhang Tie then burst out laughing loudly...


    "Oh, where are those junior sisters from Zhixing Department? Have you seen them on the way here?"


    "You don''t know that? For such a invitation, if they don''t spend one or two hours preparing, they won''t come here. Some girls have long gone to White Dragon Town to dress their hair in the early morning!"


    ...


    An hour after Wei Wu arrived at Jinwu Castle, the girls from Zhixing Department and Breaking Heavens Department finally arrived, at the sight of them, Zhang Tie was really shocked by their incredible looks.


    All of them had gotten ready carefully as each of them was beautiful and enchanting. At the sight of them, Zhang Tie revealed a sorrow look while saying, "


    "You all look like fairies, are you trying to murder me by your incredible looks?!"


    "Peh, liar!" Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, even Guo Miaolu''s face slightly blushed because of being bashful or joy, ''Although Zhang Tie was always nasty most of the time, he could really amuse girls.''


    Seeing Qu Liangying pulling Gu Caidie''s hands intimately and enjoying their talk, Zhang Tie touched his head, "Are you sparing two single men..."


    "Caidie is my senior sister!"


    "Liangying is my junior sister!"


    The two girls smiled as they answered and showed the white of their eyes to Zhang Tie.


    "Heh...heh...welcome to my Jinwu Castle for guidance, it''s my great honor to have you here..."


    Zhang Tie then made a ''welcome'' gesture at the gate of the castle.


    Those girls then walked in the castle with smiles on faces. At the end of the line, Liu Shasha even threw a glance at Zhang Tie when she passed him. At the same time, Zhang Tie also glanced at her and gazed at her little mouth with an obscure smile. As a result, Liu Shasha was so scared that she instantly hid behind Du Yuhan.


    Zhang Tie burst out laughing loudly...


    ...


    Soon after these girls arrived, Yang Yuankang, Zhang Lin, Zhu Wenqiang and Liu Xu also arrived while Yang Yuankang and Liu Xu even brought along their girlfriends.


    Yang Yuankang''s girlfriend was Zhang Zao while Liu Xu''s girlfriend was Yang Meiling. Their were both students of Hidden Dragon Palace.


    ...


    Zhang Tie chose to start their party on a rooftop of the internal castle. There was a swimming pool, a small garden and a room which covered more than 300 square meters. This place was used for entertainment; therefore, it was more cozy than comfortable.


    Zhang Tie provided them with a buffet, a seafood barbecue and limitless drinks. Although they were all acting a bit reserved, when they arrived at the rooftop and noticed the arrangements, they all cheered up, especially girls. Before Zhang Tie said anything, they''ve already ran away towards the buffet table and the grill.


    As they were almost of the same age and came from Hidden Dragon Palace, they had too many things to share. A short while later, after becoming more familiar with each other, they had already begun to get along well with each other and the rooftop had been overwhelmed with cheers from everyone, the laughter of girls, and exclamations from boys...


    ...


    An hour later, it was already totally dark outside. Starting from Wei Wu, who competed to drink the most alcohol with Guo Miaolu and threw up into the swimming pool by some boys, everybody in the party became crazy...


    Seeing that all of his friends on Hidden Dragon Island was there except for Lan Yunxi, Zhang Tie felt a bit regretful and sorrowful.


    "What the hell is love? It makes me want to die. You motherf*cker! I can''t stand it anymore!" Zhang Tie shouted loudly while shaking his head. After that, he took a bottle of liquor and downed it; then, he took another one. After a crude cut through the lid, he sent the lid of the bottle in the air. He then yelled towards those male animals who were still competing with alcohol and showing their muscles, "This alcohol emperor, Zhang Tie, is going to kill people tonight, who''d like to fight me..."


    Hearing this, a number of animals charged at him with roars...


    However, the boys didn''t know that Zhang Tie didn''t mean that he was going to compete drinking alcohol with them...

 355 Wolf and Eagle in the Sea

    Chapter 355: Wolf and Eagle in the Sea


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    The party on the rooftop lasted for more than four hours, during which period, some boys were drunk, even many girls were intoxicated as their faces looked rosier than usual.


    When they were completely indulged in, Zhang Tie took off his upper garment and shouted towards those girls from Zhixing Department, "Girls, here''s your creditor, big sale from your senior brother; with one kiss, your debt would be cleared; now or never!"


    The moment Zhang Tie finished, Guo Miaolu whose face had totally blushed due to drink rushed oved and rapidly hugged Zhang Tie''s head, with a sound of "Bo...", she forcefully kissed Zhang Tie''s face...


    At the sight of that, the other girls all shrieked. A great number of girls then rushed towards him. With a series of sound "Bo...", Zhang Tie''s face had been marked with more than 10 red lips.


    As soon as the debts were cleared, Zhang Tie was instantly thrown into the swimming pool by those girls, causing a high splash. The moment he fell into the swimming pool, Zhang Tie instantly woke.


    The water in the swimming pool was maintained at about 36 degrees Celsius through a steam heat circulation system; therefore, it felt pretty comfortable inside. As the depth of the water was even less than two meters, with a slight movement of his hands, Zhang Tie had already floated back to the water level. He then stared at those girls who were staggering back and forth due to their laughter.


    "Damn, who dared to throw me into the water? You''d better not get caught by me, otherwise, I will force you to be my wife!" Zhang Tie pretended to be vicious as he splashed water towards those girls beside the swimming pool. After that, he charged at them ferociously.


    Seeing this, those girls shrieked as they escaped in all directions. Many girls'' skirts were even splashed wet.


    Zhang Tie burst out laughing as he climbed on the land. At this moment, Zhang Tie found that most of them were completely drunk.


    Wei Wu and Zhang Yunfei were lying on the grass, continuously vomiting. Among the boys, besides Yang Yuankang and Liu Xu who brought their girlfriends along, everybody else was drunk out of their minds.


    It was similar with girls. Among those girls, the ones who were drunk first were Zhang Tie''s generous senior sisters Ma Aiyun and Yuan Ziyi. They were straightforward; if not, they would not have dared to find Zhang Tie trouble in the training field of basic movements. When they started to compete by drinking alcohol, most of the boys could not defeat them at all. Zhang Feng and Zhang Keliang were the typical examples who were lying below the table.


    "It''s... it''s the happiest day since I came to Hidden Dragon Island. Senior brother...come on...let''s have another cup!" Li Yurou, a junior sister from Zhixing Department staggered in front of Zhang Tie. Soon after she finished saying this, she fell into the swimming pool. Seeing this, Zhang Tie hurriedly carried her out of there and summoned some female servants to take her into a bedroom.


    As the master of this castle, of course, Zhang Tie should not just leave or become drunk. He told those female servants to take anyone drunk into a bedroom for a rest. He estimated that they would''ve recovered by the next day. No matter what, he had dozens of guest rooms which were enough to hold them.


    Of course, the boys'' bedrooms and girls'' bedrooms were isolated. Those girls slept together in connected suites; each suite could hold a few girls. In this way, it would be easy for those girls to look after each other in case of any emergencies.


    For Yang Yuankang and Liu Xu, Zhang Tie threw a key to each of them. He would not care whether they would sleep alone or with their girlfriends. Zhang Tie knew that Zhang Zao and Yang Meiling were not drunk, either. They were free to make the choice.


    Zhang Tie then saw Yang Yuankang and Liu Xu leave the rooftop with their girlfriends; however, he had not imagined that they went back to the rooftop in only a few minutes.


    "What happened?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "I was chased out!" Yang Yuankang touched his nose and said in an embarrassed way.


    "Meiling said you are not a good person!" Liu Xu shrugged towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie then burst out laughing before he summoned a female servant to take Yang Yuankang and Liu Xu to their own bedrooms.


    Gradually, people started to leave the rooftop. They came and left happily and felt pretty cool about this party.


    Zhang Tie was the last one remaining on the rooftop.


    In the cold breeze, Zhang Tie watched the tranquil rooftop and the stars all over the sky as he took a deep breath.


    When Zhang Tie wanted to turn back and leave, he saw a girl in red skirt ¡ª Lan Yunxi was standing there.


    "I thought you wouldn''t come!" Zhang Tie walked towards Lan Yunxi with a big smile.


    "If I was here too early, how would you''ve cleared the debts of your junior sisters?" Lan Yunxi showed the white of her eyes towards Zhang Tie. Soon after she moodily said that, not only Zhang Tie became slightly stunned, even Lan Yunxi paused for a moment. ''Am I jealous about those girls?''


    Zhang Tie moved closer to her with a smile, "You miss me, right? If not, you wouldn''t have come and you wouldn''t feel jealous about those girls!"


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s gleaming eyes drawing closer to her, Lan Yunxi became nervous again. Actually she didn''t want to be here; however, she eventually came here.


    "Stop..."Lan Yunxi shrieked out of tension as she moved two steps back.


    However, Zhang Tie kept walking forward like having not heard here words at all. He instantly grabbed Lan Yunxi''s hands. Lan Yunxi struggled for a while, yet she failed to get out of Zhang Tie''s grip. She then bit her lips and glared at Zhang Tie, "Let me go, you b*stard!"


    "You like me, right?" Zhang Tie asked Lan Yunxi with gleaming eyes.


    "How come?" Lan Yunxi''s face slightly blushed.


    "Let''s take a test!"


    "What test...hmm..."


    Zhang Tie then instantly hugged Lan Yunxi tightly and kissed her lips. He started to suck forcefully. In a split second, Lan Yunxi''s lips were broken through by Zhang Tie''s tongue. Zhang Tie opened her purely white teeth with his tongue and mingled with her fragrant tongue at once...


    Since he pressed this girl under his body at the beginning, Zhang Tie had known that this girl was hot inside although looking cold. She looked like an icy tall mountain yet her inside was like a volcano which was going to erupt. Perhaps, the daily environment and those people that she had contact with in daily life made her a bit depressive. She could not easily express her desire for love and to be conquered by a man; actually she wasn''t different from the other girls. In some aspects, she even had stronger desire and demand; the more she was depressive, the stronger the desire would be.


    Those girls of Rose Association told Zhang Tie a rule ¡ª women were only women; they were neither goddesses nor sluts. They could be goddesses in someone''s eyes or sluts in someone else''s eyes, vice versa.


    The moment he caught sight of Lan Yunxi, Zhang Tie''s heart had started to burn. He knew why Lan Yunxi was here. She was here to be conquered, physically or spiritually, nothing else.


    Soon after Zhang Tie put his tongue into Lan Yunxi''s mouth, he had felt a pain on his tongue as it was bit by Lan Yunxi. She wanted to protest in this way as she didn''t want to be defeated so fast by Zhang Tie.


    When Lan Yunxi bit Zhang Tie''s tongue, they gazed at each other face to face, lips on lips, eyes to eyes. They could sense the heat from the other''s breath.


    Lan Yunxi tried to move her head away, yet she failed as Zhang Tie was pressing her head and neck with his left hand; at the sight of the fury and shame in Lan Yunxi''s eyes and sensing the growing biting strength from her teeth, Zhang Tie felt salty from his tongue; he then knew that his tongue was bleeding...


    Lan Yunxi knew it too. Under the firm gaze of Zhang Tie, Lan Yunxi only resisted for a few seconds. Then, her eyes became tender as she slowly loosened her bite and kept her eyes closed. Zhang Tie didn''t do it excessively as he only kissed Lan Yunxi for a minute before left her lips.


    Lan Yunxi opened her eyes and stared at Zhang Tie with a blurred and complicated look. Zhang Tie stared at her too. The two people just stared at each other without saying anything.


    "Those who assassinated you in Dragon Cave have deep-rooted power. Huaiyuan Palace is not as safe as it looks. You should take care of yourself!" Lan Yunxi opened her mouth first. Then, she jumped onto to the wall of the internal castle like a red cloud to evade from the hand that Zhang Tie stretched out towards her.


    Zhang Tie watched Lan Yunxi with a bit regret like watching a cloud in the skyline. He was gripping this cloud just now, however, it had floated away in a blink of eye.


    "Has Huaiyuan Palace found any clues?"


    "Not yet, but the Seniors Association of Huaiyuan Palace doubted that those people were related to demons. They might be demons'' pieces in human race. They were stirring up troubles on continents!"


    ''Demons?'' This answer really shocked Zhang Tie; however, Zhang Tie had considered the possibility of it being like that. So, he just furrowed his brows.


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s considerate look, Lan Yunxi didn''t say anything; instead, she drew out a notebook from her sleeve and threw it to Zhang Tie.


    "What''s this?"


    "It''s the defensive loopholes of Jinwu Castle. Your slaves are too weak and they don''t have any experience in guarding and patrolling castle. There are many problems with guarding and patrolling. You''ve not fully exerted the function of the defensive facilities of the castle yet; in many powerhouses'' eyes, your castle is no different from an empty one!"


    Holding that volume, Zhang Tie felt warm inside. He knew that Lan Yunxi must have been here last night.


    "How about accompanying me tonight?" Zhang Tie put it straight.


    Lan Yunxi''s face blushed at once as she glared at Zhang Tie and jumped off the wall...


    Watching the empty wall of the internal castle, Zhang Tie felt vacant. He then opened that volume and gazed it for quite a while before putting it away.


    Zhang Tie then looked at his watch; it was 11:26 pm...


    He then left the rooftop...


    "Where are those guests?" Zhang Tie called Sonia.


    "Master, your guests have been taken to their own bedrooms!" the female servant answered politely.


    "Hmm, after cleaning up the rooftop, you go to bed too. If someone comes for me, tell them I''m in the cultivation room; if it''s not important, don''t bother me!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    ...


    Two minutes later, Zhang Tie entered his hidden room and locked the door from inside. Before entering the secret tunnel, Zhang looked at his watch again ¡ª 11.29 pm.


    Lowering his body, Zhang Tie walked along the secret tunnel. The moment he went out of the secret tunnel and arrived in the hinterland of Yunju Mountain, Zhang Tie had used his rapid moving skill and dove into the subterranean river...


    With the effect of rapid moving skill in water, Zhang Tie felt that he was covered by an invisible bubble, which didn''t influence his senses underwater at all; instead, with it, Zhang Tie felt that his resistance was close to zero.


    As a result, Zhang Tie raised his moving speed by one times in the subterranean river at once.


    After only six or seven minutes, Zhang Tie had arrived at Iron Stones Beach which he was very familiar with. Without any hesitation, he directly entered the sea from the side of Iron Stones Beach. After identifying the general direction, Zhang Tie arrived at the bottom of sea where he opened the space tunnel that connected the sea water and the Pool of Chaos.


    At the bottom of the sea water, under the bliss of rapid moving skill, Zhang Tie soon raised his moving speed to an amazing degree.


    While absorbing sea water, Zhang Tie obtained a constant driving force. With the bliss of rapid moving skill, Zhang Tie''s resistance in water was reduced to the minimum by that invisible bubble; with the reinforced night viewing ability, Zhang Tie could see very far at the bottom of the sea; with super powerful spiritual energy and sensitive sense towards current, Zhang Tie became more flexible than fish in water.


    All this led to the miraculous speed under water.


    Zhang Tie was shooting forward in the sea like a rocket or a torpedo without causing any sound. Even Zhang Tie was amazed about that speed. He felt driving his Faerie Dragon T9 under water. From the back moving scenes at the bottom of the sea, Zhang Tie could judge his moving speed ¡ª definitely over 160 km per hour, which was almost equal to the fastest speed of Faerie Dragon T9.


    Zhang Tie felt like a wolf in the sea. The ocean was like a vast prairie...


    After less than twenty km away from Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie had felt an ocean current beside him, the direction of which was the same as his movement ¡ª towards Jinhai City; therefore, Zhang Tie cut into the ocean current at once.


    Being pushed by the ocean current, Zhang Tie felt entering an expressway as he sped up once again. He was an eagle now... as he felt flying in the ocean...

 356 On The Way

    Chapter 356: On The Way


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    The last passenger liner leaving the wharf of Hidden Dragon Island each day was 7:00 pm, after which, passengers could only leave at 6:00 am the following morning. Unless there was a special situation causing them to leave by airship, people could only leave Hidden Dragon Island on a passenger liner.


    The alleged special situations referred to the privilege for some members and agencies of the Zhang Clan to access Hidden Dragon Island by airship. Of course, Zhang Clan''s airships could not be taken by commoners; additionally, the airline to Hidden Dragon Island had not been opened, therefore, it was impossible for commoners to leave the island by airship.


    The airline distance between Hidden Dragon Island and Jinhai City was over 140 km. It was a four to five hour journey on a passenger liner. Perhaps there wasn''t only one person who could swim over 100 km in water, such as some senior fighters, whose physique and swimming skills were exceptional.


    However, nobody across Hidden Dragon Island, even Huaiyuan Prefecture, could imagine that someone could swim back to continent from Hidden Dragon Island in less than 1 hour.


    Zhang Tie enjoyed moving super fast in the current. As he could hardly identify the direction he was heading in under water, every few minutes he would leave the ocean current and stick his head out of water to relocate and modify his moving direction based on the positions of stars, the positions of some reefs which were exposed above water, and beacons.


    After moving under water about 40 minutes at an amazing speed, the ocean current slowed down and divided into 2 currents, one towards left, the other toward right. Then, the divided ocean currents were further divided into smaller radioactive subterranean flows and finally became disordered swirling turbulent flows and undercurrents before disappeared.


    Sensing the change of the ocean current, Zhang Tie knew that he almost reached the continent based on his experiences.


    Zhang Tie then exposed his head out of the water and looked forward. In pitch-dark evening, Zhang Tie could see some sparse lamplight and beacons. He knew that the harbor of Jinhai City was right in front of him.


    Zhang Tie then looked at his watch again ¡ª 00:21 am, which meant it had been less than one hour since he left Jinwu Castle. After locking the references and the general direction, Zhang Tie dove in water again and swam towards a coast on the west of the wharf of Jinhai City.


    ...


    At 00:25 am, Zhang Tie finally climbed onto a beach on the west coast of Jinhai City.


    It was still less than an hour since he''d left Hidden Dragon Island.


    Because it was midnight, it was pretty tranquil on the surrounding beach; besides sea waves and the rustling sound of some rows of coconut trees in the sea wind, Zhang Tie could only see some lamplight penetrating from the rooms of coastal villas along with barks.


    This area was the seafront residential quarter.


    Zhang Tie walked straight towards a coastal villa right in front of him, which only occupied less than 200 square meters with a small courtyard and a garage. It was only about 70 m away from the beach. A few days ago, it only took Zhang Tie 1100 gold coins to buy this coastal villa.


    Of course, the name of the owner of this villa was Fei Yuao, instead of Zhang Tie. When he walked on the beach, Zhang Tie was wearing a mask.


    After passing by the beach of dozens of meters in length, Zhang Tie walked on the footpath of the bank; he then walked through a coastal highway which was five to six meters in width and stepped on his own grassland in the courtyard before he arrived in front of the door to the villa.


    Zhang Tie firstly checked the special traces that he left here and found they were not moved; he then dug out the key of the villa from a flowerpot beside the door. After that, he opened the door and walked in.


    With a sound of "Ka...", Zhang Tie closed the door from inside. Without turning on the lamps, he directly walked towards a washroom on the first floor. In the washroom, Zhang Tie rapidly used the soap to clean off the salty smell of sea water. After drying up, he put on the clothes that he had long prepared for tonight and came to the garage of the villa.


    There was also a Faerie Dragon T9 in the garage of the villa. Being different from the first blue Faerie Dragon T9, this one was black and under the name of Fei Yuao, its number plate was "Huai G807T".


    Zhang Tie opened the gate of the garage and jumped onto the car. Only after stepping down on the mechanical ignition pedal four times did he start the car. Half a minute later, when the steam pressure finger of this alcohol-fueled sport car reached the working state, Zhang Tie drove it out of the garage. After that, he parked it outside the garage; after locking the gate of the garage, he returned to the car and drove away from the villa.


    When he drove away from there, Zhang Tie peered at his watch ¡ª 00:32, the effect of the first rapid moving skill had just disappeared.


    Over 10 seconds later, the booming sound of the turbine steam-driven, heat recollected, external combustion engine drifted down the coastal avenue of Jinhai City...


    At 00:37, Zhang Tie drove onto the highway from Jinhai City to Stars Viewing City...


    Few vehicles were on the highway in the evening; additionally, with the help of his night viewing ability, it was no different to daytime. Having become very familiar with the road conditions and the vehicle, Zhang Tie accelerated to the maximal speed, 180 km per hour, in a split second...


    With super high spiritual energy, Zhang Tie felt time and moving objects slowing down; additionally, he felt a weird, super powerful synergy between him and the Faerie Dragon T9, due to which, his driving intention, maneuvers, and the car''s mechanical performances combined into a perfect process.


    In this state, Zhang Tie clearly knew how to completely display his driving intention through special maneuvers. He clearly understood how certain mechanical performances of this car could support him to accomplish specific maneuvers.


    Everything became transparent to Zhang Tie.


    Although in driving, Zhang Tie felt that he was running on foot as everything was at his will.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether those people who liked to race cars also had the same feeling as him. But after thinking for a few seconds, Zhang Tie ascertained that nobody else could have such a feeling except him.


    Because if those racers had the same feeling as him, it would be meaningless for them to race cars. With the same driving intention, the same perfect maneuvers and the same ability to exert mechanical performances to the utmost based on road conditions, it would be a simple data comparison on mechanical performances of the cars. If so, racing cars would be meaningless.


    Zhang Tie liked high speed movement in both water and on the land. Additionally, as he was drawing closer to Stars Viewing City, Zhang Tie''s killing intent also started to boil like wildfire. A cool feeling started to rise from his heart...


    After having a party with his friends on Hidden Dragon Island, he traveled hundreds of kilometers under the moonlight so as to strike his enemy. How cool it was!


    ...


    "Nana, you must be lying to us. These snake-shaped soul-chasing curves are so difficult to pass. I was told that even the car king could only shift 6 curves and had to decelerate at the 7th curve when he was alive. How could that person pass these snake curves perfectly at the speed above 100 km/h in 20 seconds? Do you mean that someone was sharper than the former car king?"


    Besides Zhang Tie, there were really some guys who came out in the evening. At this moment, some young racers were gathering on a slope beside a curve. They were talking about driving skills and that guy Nana had met here several days ago.


    None of them believed Nana''s words. If there was truly such an able man, they would have long heard about him.


    With a "terrifying" makeup, Nana threw a contemptuous glance over them, "I know you cannot do it, but it doesn''t mean that nobody can do it. Was the car king really that great? He died many years ago, yet you still mention him every day. If you are really that ambitious, you should try to surpass him like that guy I met that day. You should not take a dead man as your idol!"


    "Heh...heh..." a 20-odd guy who looked embarrassed revealed an obscene smile as he gazed at Nana''s boobs and butts and licked his lips, "Only you have seen that guy; of course, you can boost him as well as you can. According to you, he has been in Jinhai City for so many days; but you still don''t find him. If you are really that ambitious, do you dare bet with me?"


    "For what?" Nana raised her eyebrows and asked.


    "I give you 2 weeks to find him. If you could find anyone who''s greater than the car king on passing these curves, you will be the winner. If you cannot make it, you are the loser; then..."In pale look, that man forcefully swallowed his saliva...


    "What?"


    "Then, I will f*ck you for a whole night!"


    "Wow..." Hearing such a rude request, the other racers yelled, some of them even whistled. Even those tomboys started to kick up a fuss.


    With her eyes widely opened, Nana glared at that person ferociously, "What if you lose the bet, shar-pei[1]?"


    "I can allow you to f*ck me for the whole night!" That man revealed a wicked smile, "How about it? If you dare not, just admit that you were bragging just now. No matter what, you girls always like to ''blow''."


    Shar-pei''s pun aroused more yelling.


    Nana''s face was instantly covered with a layer of frost, "Do you want to thrust me with that thing in your crotch? Fine, I accept your bet; but if you lose it, this mother will thrust you with this thing, dare you?"


    Saying that, Nana waved a riot stick towards him. At the sight of that 30-cm long riot stick in her hand, many racers felt their anuses tightening. They became scared as Nana would definitely do it based on her temperament.


    Shar-pei''s face also turned pale. However, looking at that delicate face under the "heavy" makeup and her plump figure that had not yet been f*cked by a man, he gritted his teeth, "Fine, that''s the deal. In 2 weeks, if anyone could finish snake movements in the soul-chasing curves, you will be the winner; if not..."


    "The, this mother will be f*cked by you for a whole night!" Nana also gritted her teeth.


    The 2 people then clapped to settle the bet...


    The moment they settled the bet, the booming sound of engine had drifted from afar on the mountain path.


    All the racers then exchanged glances with each other on the roadside slope.


    "What? Is anyone absent?"


    "No, we''re all here. Some fresh guys might join in!"


    "The car came here from Jinhai City. Wow! Listen to the engine, it''s super fast; Fatty, guess what kind of car it is..."


    "It''s Faerie Dragon T9..."


    Listening to the sound of the engine, Nana''s heart started to race. This was really a familiar sound.


    Then, a black shadow flashed by the road under the slope where the racers gathered, causing some tree leaves and weeds fly in the air.


    "Wow, at least 160, is he killing himself? It''s so dark..."


    "Idiot, not 160; listen to the engine carefully, it''s 180..."


    "Argh, look, the T9 is arriving at the soul-chasing curves; yet it hasn''t decelerated..." Those racers fixed their widely opening eyes onto the moving lights of the Faerie Dragon T9 as they held their breaths.


    Sitting on the car, Zhang Tie had long noticed those racers gathered on the roadside slope with their attractive lamplight of cars from afar. For Zhang Tie, he had seen these kinds of people so many times; therefore, he was not curious about them at all and directly passed by them without any hesitation.


    ''It seems to be constantly sudden curves in front.'' Having passed by here one time before, Zhang Tie still remembered it; additionally, there was also a sign on the roadside.


    Zhang Tie slightly decelerated like how a runner would do when he turned a corner. Zhang Tie didn''t think too much. Based on this powerful synergy and instinct for controlling the car, he lowered his driving speed so that he could pass the curves rapidly under control.


    He had been so adapted to the maneuvering skills to reverse his steering wheel constantly and rapidly to shift aside into curves when he passed curves at high speed. It was as easy as tilting his body when he ran by a corner. In the whole process, Zhang Tie maintained his back wheels'' traction at a critical point so that his car could reach a critical point on both flexibility and speed.


    Zhang Tie then chose the simplest and most efficient route based on the critical points and passed through 7 curves at a constant speed before accelerating away...


    ...


    It was pretty silent on the roadside slope at this moment...


    Because it was dark, nobody could see how Zhang Tie''s car passed by those curves; however, Zhang Tie''s lamplight told them the driving route of the car clearly.


    At that moment, everybody had an illusion ¡ª they were not lamps anymore, but a pair of huge eyes of a boa. Behind that pair of eyes, a boa swiftly twisted by the soul-chasing 7 curves in its special way...


    "Those were truly snake-like movements, those were truly snake-like movements..." one guy shouted loudly.


    "The best maneuvers, the best speed and the best route..."Another guy mumbled like he''d been possessed by a ghost; meanwhile, he drew the driving route of that pair of lamps.


    "Jeez, how long did he take?"


    "18.2 seconds!"


    Everybody was shocked...


    Watching the soul-chasing curves below in pale, shar-pei''s bones were quivering all over. Hearing his teeth collision, everybody else turned back. At the sight of shar-pei''s weird expression and Nana who was walking towards him with a grin, a riot stick in hand, all the males present clamped their legs together.


    Nana''s movements looked pretty sexy; but everybody started to tremble at this moment.


    "Nana... ho... how about... ad... adding some oil to it?" Shar-pei revealed a smile which was even uglier than cry, "I... I will take it as a prostatic examination!"


    Nana sniggered, "You''re telling me that? Weren''t you going to f*ck me? I will let you have a taste of how it feels to be f*cked!"


    ...


    Half a minute later, hearing a shrill shriek from shar-pei who was lying on the back of his car and seeing Nana walking out from the back of shar-pei''s car, all the other male hurriedly jumped back into their cars and dared not look at her any more. ''F*ck! This woman is too terrifying. She''s the last person that I want to cause trouble with!''


    When these racers arrived at Stars Viewing City, the T9 that they saw just now was long gone.


    Black Faerie Dragon T9 ¡ª there were at least one or two hundred cars like this in Stars Viewing City; additionally, they had not identified its plate number, of course, they would not be able to find it.

 357 Massacre in the Evening

    Chapter 357: Massacre in the Evening


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Stars Viewing City was a city of light. When most people went to bed, many places in the city started to get boisterous. After entering Stars Viewing City, Zhang Tie decelerated; he could see prostitutes everywhere on the roadside who were attracting customers. Being low-key in the daytime, the red-light district and brothels recovered their vitality at this moment.


    The black Faerie Dragon T9 was quietly passing through the streets like a black spirit. It passed by the uproarious Milkway Hotel and finally parked in front of a high-end restaurant 500 meters away from the Milkway Hotel to the east.


    When he parked the car, Zhang Tie glanced at his watch ¡ª 02:16 am. The odometer of the Faerie Dragon T9 displayed 278 km, which was almost the distance from Jinhai City to Stars Viewing City.


    The moment Zhang Tie parked the car, a waiter outside the restaurant opened the car''s door for him politely. Zhang Tie got out of the car and took the parking service plate from the waiter.


    "Fill the alcohol to the brim, I also need a chartered room!"


    The waiter nodded. He quickly walked around the car to check if there were any scratches on it. After that, the waiter got into the car very carefully, closed the car''s door, and drove Zhang Tie''s car into the parking lot before filling the alcohol to the brim.


    "Sir, follow me please!"


    A waiter guided Zhang Tie into the restaurant.


    This senior restaurant adopted the garden design. All the dining rooms were independent pavilions and chartered rooms in the garden so that guests did not disturb each other. There was some distance between those pavilions and chartered rooms. The landscape design also had guests'' privacy in consideration. Besides the lamplight out of the pavilions and chartered rooms, the whole garden looked very dim. Seeing all this, Zhang Tie nodded inside.


    Such a design not only met some people''s requirements for a tranquil environment but was also convenient for doing something else besides eating food.


    Based on his sharp auditory sense, Zhang Tie heard sounds from some pavilions which were different from eating sounds ¡ª women''s giggles and light groans. This place was perfect for lovers on a date.


    The waiter guided Zhang Tie into an independent, chartered room. After checking the environment there, Zhang Tie nodded inside again.


    "Sir, our minimal consumption for a chartered room is 30 silver coins. If it''s less than 30 silver coins, you should also pay 30 silver coins. The normal dinner time is 2 hours. If you stay here longer, you have to pay 2 more silver coins for an additional hour!"


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    A few minutes later, Zhang Tie ordered his food and a bottle of alcohol. Then, he sat in the chartered room leisurely for a rest.


    Zhang Tie didn''t order too much, which had been brought in within 10 minutes.


    "Enjoy yourself, sir!"


    "Can you tell me where I can select girls?" Zhang Tie revealed a Donder-like wicked smile.


    Having been asked similar questions so many times, the waiter replied, "If you need such a service, you can exit the rear door of the restaurant, then, turn left; after walking 100 m, turn right; there''s a mansion called Fairy Beings. You will like it!"


    Zhang Tie popped out a silver coin. That waiter grabbed it at once; after that, he left with a big smile and closed the door from outside.


    Zhang Tie glanced at his watch again, it was 02:24 am...


    After taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie sat back. Glancing at the food and drinks on the table, Zhang Tie closed his eyes.


    ''If you want to do something big, you have to be calm!'' Zhang Tie reminded himself inside, ''At a critical moment, you have to be patient.''


    After closing his eyes for a while, Zhang Tie opened them. Seeing the food and drinks in front of him, he picked up his chopsticks...


    Ten minutes later, Zhang Tie stood up, took off his wind coat and hung it on a hanger beside the table.


    Asking waiter where to find women ¡ª eating food, yet not opening the bottle of alcohol ¡ª leaving a wind coat ¡ª although being trivial clues, if someone really entered his chartered room after Zhang Tie left, they would definitely reach a conclusion ¡ª Zhang Tie probably had gone out to look for women; he might be back. In this way, Zhang Tie guaranteed the only possible conclusion they could reach.


    After arranging everything in the room, Zhang Tie focused his spiritual energy and triggered the rune effect of rapid moving skill in his mind. After being triggered, one of the 6 god''s runes of rapid moving skill radiated golden light at once. The rune reversed, upside down, and started to pour down inside Zhang Tie''s body like a golden rain of light. As a result, each cell in Zhang Tie cheered up like drinking ice-cold plum syrup in summer days.


    Under the bliss of rapid moving skill, Zhang Tie instantly felt he''d become pretty light while the land became a elastic huge spring. As long as he used a bit strength, he could move himself a great distance.


    Effect of rapid moving skill: increase moving speed by 120% on the basis of the original moving speed; the rune effect of rapid moving skill in battle would weaken by 80%, which means that Zhang Tie could still pace up by 24% in battle.


    Zhang Tie opened the window of the chartered room and looked at the high wall of the restaurant. Putting his hands on the windowsill slightly, he jumped over 4 m out of the window in a way which was much swifter than a leopard. After landing his feet on the wall, he instantly jumped off the wall and entered the endless darkness.


    It was less than 600 m from here to the Zhen Clan Mansion of Heavens Cold City. Based on his memory, Zhang Tie flashed across tranquil alleys in the darkness. One minute later, Zhang Tie had already arrived at the corner of the west wall of Zhen Clan Mansion of Heavens Cold City. In a split second, he had jumped into the courtyard of the Mansion like a roc flapping its wings.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was wearing a black cold-resistant cap which was especially for pioneers, only exposing his gleaming, icy eyes; besides, he was wearing a set of black tights and a tactical vest of pioneers, a heavy pioneer''s sword in hand.


    This sword was long and sharp. It was very destructive. Additionally, its body had gone through matt treatment; therefore, it would not reflect any light in darkness.


    Zhang Tie obviously had turned himself into a killer at that moment.


    The Zhen Clan Mansion of Heavens Cold City could never have imagined such a malefic figure would arrive here.


    The courtyard of the Zhen Clan mansion of Heavens Cold City occupied several thousand square meters. In the middle of the courtyard was a 5-floor traditional Chinese building. At this moment, it was pitch-black inside the mansion, except for some sparse burning lamps.


    With the effect of "One Step, One Scenery" and "Rapid Moving Skill", Zhang Tie flashed across light and darkness like a grey shadow. In a split second, he had already passed by 100 m and arrived beside a fountain in the courtyard.


    In a split second, a binding chain flew out of the place between his eyebrows; meanwhile, Zhang Tie stabbed his sword into that fountain with the help of night viewing ability, causing a great amount of bloody water spray out of the fountain...


    "One solved, there''s another one.'' Zhang Tie mumbled as he flashed away in the darkness; in a few seconds, he had arrived below some high pine trees. Zhang Tie sent out one binding chain again as he jumped up from the ground...


    One second later, Zhang Tie grabbed a rapid wind 6 steel-made armor-breaking bolt with no tail feather and directly penetrated through that person''s heart by the sharp triangular head of his bolt and nailed him onto the trunk.


    Eyes widely opened, that guy being nailed onto the trunk glared at Zhang Tie out of fear, seemingly being curious about how Zhang Tie knew where he was hiding and how Zhang Tie made him still all of a sudden. At the same time, a lot of blood spurted out of his mouth.


    Before that man died, his eyes were filled with curiosity. Zhang Tie then glanced at this man''s ear.


    ''F*ck, as I have predicted, they are the assassinators!'' After swearing inside, Zhang Tie slowly slid down the pine tree and directly darted towards the main building of the Zhen Clan mansion at a terrifying speed.


    ...


    At the entrance of the main building, there was a room still with dim light, where the guards of the mansion were on night duty.


    "Zhen Yi, Zhen Xiong, you need to take a round outside. Recently, we need to be especially careful; Master has delivered the order; we''d better keep trouble out of there.


    The moment Zhang Tie arrived there, he had heard a sound. He then stopped outside the window of that room; although those inside the room could not see him, he could clearly hear their conversation.


    An aroma of boiled meat drifted out of the room. Zhang Tie guessed that they were eating inside.


    "I don''t think anything will happen in Stars Viewing City. Our Zhen Clan has been doing business here for many years, yet we''ve not met trouble at all. There are only bitches and slaves here; additionally we''ve got 2 more people outside. We''ve just checked it 10 minutes ago. It''s pretty safe!" Zhang Tie heard a slightly lazy voice, followed by a series of chewing sound.


    "It''s hard to say. Some days ago, some clan members went to Hidden Dragon Island to form battle-qi, why would they come back so fast? Have they formed battle-qi in such a short period? I was told..."


    "Shut up, Zhen Xiong. Have you forgotten about the master''s ban? Nobody in the mansion is allowed to talk about the affairs of the Zhen Clan!" The same voice sounded, "Master is always in a bad mood these days. If he heard that you were talking about that, you would be in big trouble. Do you want to have a go in the Worm Jail of Heavens Cold City?"


    Hearing this, the other two kept silent. They even stopped eating. The air in the room seemed freezing. A few seconds later, Zhang Tie heard the same man made a hollow laugh, "He... he... I was just saying. Only the three of us know about it; additionally, it''s in the mansion. It''s not a violation strictly; but brother Blade was right. I will watch out. Lao Yi, let''s go out for another check!"


    With the sound of moving chairs, someone seemed to be standing up, but before they came out, Zhang Tie had flashed in; immediately, he had released binding chains and bound them all in a split second.


    As Zhang Tie had predicted, LV 8 powerhouses were not common in any place. Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City was not so luxurious as to use a LV 8 powerhouse as a sentry. It was already a huge consumption for them to employ some LV 6 or LV 7 guys; however, those below LV 8 were nothing more than bound chicks in front of his preliminary binding chain.


    Two people in the room had stood up and were going to walk out of the room; the remaining one was holding a pair of chopsticks. None of them could''ve imagined that they would be attacked. Eyes wide open, they gazed at Zhang Tie who was pitch-black all over; however, they could not move, or even utter any words. They all looked pretty shocked.


    They didn''t even know what happened to their bodies as they became stiff all of a sudden. Besides rolling their eyeballs and blinking their eyes, they could do nothing else.


    Under the mask, Zhang Tie sniggered. After his spiritual energy was reinforced, the power of his binding chains also increased, causing them stiff longer. The moment the binding chains hit them, Zhang Tie knew that even the one with the most powerful spiritual energy had to wait at least 8 minutes before recovering free movement.


    ''This period is enough for me to do a lot of things.''


    "I know you can hear me. You can choose the way to blink your eyes as a reply to my questions. If you wish to answer my question, you can rapidly blink your eyes several times..."


    The 3 people just gazed at him while nobody blinked. Zhang Tie then casually waved his sword towards the neck of the man on the chair, causing his neck spurting blood like a broken water pipe. In only a few seconds, that man had become a bloody man as he lowered his head and died on the chair.


    The other two''s eyes almost popped out of their heads as their eyes were full of fear.


    "I ask you one more time. People who would like to answer my questions can rapidly blink your eyes several times..."


    The one on the left responded a bit slowly, seemingly still being hesitated. Zhang Tie then directly penetrated through his heart with his sword...


    The last one alive was Zhen Xiong...


    "I''ll repeat myself the last time. Anybody who would like to answer my questions can rapidly blink your eyes several times..." Zhang Tie asked leisurely.


    Zhen Xiong rapidly blinked his eyes...

 358 A Bloody Nigh

    Chapter 358: A Bloody Night


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    After being told some pieces of information that he wanted, Zhang Tie stabbed Zhen Xiong to death directly. Looking at Zhen Xiong''s disbelieving expression, Zhang Tie''s eyes radiated an icy light, "I didn''t promise to not kill you after you answered my questions!"


    The blade was covered with blood beads. After wiping the blade on Zhen Xiong''s clothes, Zhang Tie knelt down and took out of a bunch of keys. Then, he left the room quietly.


    What Zhen Xiong had said was not absolutely true, but definitely not fully fake; at least he knew more than Zhang Tie. The key was that Zhang Tie confirmed that piece of information ¡ª When he was attacked on Hidden Dragon Island, a batch of people truly went to Huaiyuan Prefecture from Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City in the name of forming battle qi.


    They only stayed in the Zhen Clan Mansion of Stars Viewing City for one day; then, they went to Hidden Dragon Island. After the assassination, they came back to the Zhen Clan Mansion in batches before leaving Stars Viewing City and Huaiyuan Prefecture immediately after...


    Zhen Xiong was curious that it was not enough for them to form battle qi in such a short period at all.


    Zhang Tie sniggered inside, ''Those members of the Zhen Clan were obviously there to assist those b*stards who were killed by me. After knowing that that their plan failed, those people had to leave Hidden Dragon Island with an excuse.


    ''It seems that the Zhen Clan assigned two powers to act in Hidden Dragon Island, one in public, one in the dark. Those average people in the mansion only knew that power acting in public. For that power in the dark, only the master of the Zhen Clan and a minority knew it. This explained why the master delivered the order to forbid his clan members from talking about this affair.


    ''They even arranged hidden guards. Before this event, they rarely used hidden guards in the evening. Since that event happened, they started to be meticulous. The only reason for this is that they''ve done something bad.''


    The moment he recalled what he and his elder brother encountered that day, Zhang Tie''s killing intent boiled up like magma once again.


    After slightly rotating the key, Zhang Tie quietly pushed open the gate of the main building. He flashed in and locked the gate from inside.


    The main building occupied almost 2,000 square meters. Besides being available for the accommodation of clan members, this building was also the trade base of the Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City in Huaiyuan Prefecture. The Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City had many businesses such as slave trading, weapons trading with Huaiyuan Palace, and ocean transporting to name a few.


    It was pitch-dark in the mansion; however, with his night viewing ability, the moment Zhang Tie entered the gate, he sensed the magnificence of the lobby.


    Zhang Tie didn''t go upstairs; instead, he flashed by the lobby like a shadow and moved dozens meters forward along a corridor on the left of the lobby; then, he arrived at the lounge where the other guards rested.


    Of course, besides the 5 guards outside the mansion, there were more guards inside the mansion.


    Almost as soon as Zhang Tie flashed in, he had crashed with a yawning man who had walked out of the washroom and was pulling on the zipper on his trousers.


    Zhang Tie instantly stretched out his hand from the dark and pinched his neck; before that man could say anything, he had been killed by Zhang Tie''s Iron-Blood Battle Qi and collapsed onto the ground like a piece of spaghetti.


    Several meters away, Zhang Tie noticed the door of a room which was narrowly open; a slight snore drifted out from inside. He then rushed in; ten seconds later, Zhang Tie closed that door quietly, allowing no sounds to escape the room anymore.


    There were some more bedrooms beside this one. Zhang Tie walked inside quietly one by one. By slightly releasing his Iron-Blood Battle Qi onto the locks, Zhang Tie opened the locks without causing any sound...


    Five minutes later, when Zhang Tie left the first floor and arrived at the second floor of the mansion, nobody alive was left on 1st floor any more. That meant all the guards of the Zhen Clan Mansion of Heavens Cold City had been wipe out by Zhang Tie.


    Two little ''emergencies'' happened during this period.


    There was one time when Zhang Tie opened a door, due to lack of lubricating oil, the door slightly creaked. As a result, a very alert guard was woken up. He instantly jumped up from the bed; however, everything stopped by then.


    Although Zhang Tie was still several meters away from that guy who was ready for attack, after releasing his binding chain, he had already ''fixed'' that guy. Before the other guards woke up, Zhang Tie had already swiftly sliced all of their necks.


    The room became quiet at once.


    The second was not an emergency strictly as those guys in a room were not sleeping at all; instead, they were gambling. Zhang Tie had heard the sounds inside the door from outside. This was actually an attack by force in the fastest way. From Zhang Tie darted into the room and sent their heads flying almost at the same time. It only took Zhang Tie less than 2 seconds.


    Besides the residences of these guards on the first floor, there were some warehouses and a basement which stored valuables. As it was not the right moment to collect the treasures in the warehouses, Zhang Tie didn''t do that; instead, after clearing out all the guards on first floor, he rushed onto the second floor.


    There were so many offices, conference rooms and reference rooms on the second floor, which seemed to be used for businesses. Zhang Tie searched each room on the second floor, yet found nobody at all; therefore, he rushed to the third floor.


    Zhang Tie in the dark was like the king of terror as he was bloody wherever he was.


    When he arrived at the third floor, he took a look around all the rooms; the soft and thick carpet silenced his footsteps. When he heard any sound of breath inside a room, he would quietly open the door with his Iron-Blood Battle Qi and walk in, killing the ones inside before he walked out.


    All the members inside the mansion was male; therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t feel any mental burden about killing them; since the Zhen Clan wanted to kill him and his elder brother, the resentment between him and Zhen Clan had been cemented. Additionally, the Zhen Clan acted mysteriously and viciously. According to Lan Yunxi, the powers that carried out assassinations and destructions among mankind always had deep backgrounds and probably had been bought over by demons. For such a clan, of course, Zhang Tie wouldn''t feel merciful about them at all.


    Zhang Tie swept over the third floor very quickly; he then arrived at the fourth floor.


    The management of the mansion lived on the fourth floor and up. After taking a look around the fourth floor, Zhang Tie found nobody in most rooms; he then slightly furrowed his brows. ''Aren''t those guys here today? What a coincidence!''


    When Zhang Tie arrived at the outside of the last bedroom on the 4th floor, he heard some strange sound from inside; he then opened the lock and entered silently.


    The room was radiating crimson light which looked a bit weird. The moment Zhang Tie entered, he had heard the sound clearly. He then passed by the parlor and opened another door; then, he was shocked...


    A woman was naked, mouth clogged with a piece of cloth; her neck, feet and hands were tied onto an iron bed with iron rings while a man was moving up and down on her body; meanwhile, he was stabbing that women with a 30-cm long iron wire.


    "B*tch, is that cool? Is it cool... I''m stabbing you with 2 items...is that cool...oh, right, faster...argh, narrower...this father has long since wanted to f*ck you. Did you think you were that sharp by seducing the master... argh... There''s some places where you cannot go in this mansion... Some things you should not ask... You must not have imagined that you are a gift from the master. It''s really much more comfortable to f*ck you than slaves..."


    The man was talking in a low voice while lying on that woman''s body like a wild beast who was eating...


    The woman struggled due to a great pain. The iron rings had become extremely bloody; however, the woman''s struggle brought greater pleasure to this man.


    Seeing this, Zhang Tie swore furiously, "B*stard!"


    That guy was not weak; he was at least LV 6. The moment he heard Zhang Tie''s voice, he instantly popped away from that woman and flashed several meters away. At the sight of Zhang Tie in pitch black clothes and full of killing intent, his pupils contracted at once.


    He was 20-odd years old and looked handsome with a bluish white face; however, he looked evil and ferocious.


    From Zhang Tie''s look, he knew that Zhang Tie must not be an average person and he definitely could not defeat Zhang Tie; even if he called for help, Zhang Tie would''ve killed him long before others arrived.


    "Did someone hire you to kill me? If you leave here, I will pay you double the amount as compensation. You might not know that, my dad is..." That guy pretended to be calm; however, his head had already flown in the air while his eyes looked amazed, a single thought went through his mind, ''So fast!''


    After chopping off that man''s head, Zhang Tie came to one side of the girl and took out of that piece of cloth from her mouth. She glanced at that headless corpse; then, she moved her eyes on Zhang Tie. With a miserable smile, tears rolled down her face...


    Zhang Tie undid the iron rings on her neck and limbs and put her down. After checking her body rapidly, he sighed inside and stood up.


    This girl would die. Although only minor wounds could be seen on her skin, the b*stard''s iron wire had made her guts like a sieve ...


    Zhang Tie tore off a piece of curtain and covered her naked, bloody body before left...


    "There is... in study room, hidden cell, hidden cell... on the 5th floor..."


    Zhang Tie stopped and turned around his head as he heard the woman uttering those words. He simply nodded and rushed out...


    ''Those sons of b*tches...''

 359 Attack Head On

    Chapter 359: Attack Head On


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    After reaching the fifth floor, Zhang Tie finally understood why he had only met a few people on the fourth floor. It was because most of the people living on the fourth floor were attending a conference on the fifth floor.


    The lamplight and human voices faintly came out of the conference room. In the corridor outside the conference room were two tough men.


    By the time Zhang Tie had reach the conference room on the fifth floor, he had already cleaned up the other places on the floor. This conference room was the last place with living people in the Zhen Clan Mansion of Heavens Cold City.


    As he waited by the corridor, Zhang Tie thought about the saying ''plans change''. His plan had been to break through each area of the mansion under the cover of darkness, however, the plan failed when he reached the fifth floor.


    After glancing down the corridor swiftly, Zhang Tie hurriedly put his head back. Standing behind the wall at the corner of the wall, he started to calculate the distance from where he was standing to the end of this corridor.


    It was longer than fifty meters, over such a distance, his binding chains were ineffective as it was greater than the maximal effective distance of the binding chains.


    The corridor was the only way to get from his current position to where the two tough men stood. The corridor was brightly lit, which meant Zhang Tie could not hide himself at all. The moment he appeared, he would definitely be noticed.


    Even if he darted at his fastest speed, it would still take him two seconds to be there. This period was enough for the two guards to give a warning to those inside the room.


    ''I don''t know how many people were in there. Could there be any powerhouses above LV 10?


    ''There are three options for me to choose from, attack head on, give up, or stay here to wait for a better chance!''


    Zhang Tie peered at his watch ¡ª 02:53 am...


    Zhang Tie only considered it for a second. Then, he arranged his equipment and put his sword back in the Castle of Black Iron. He then took out some rapid-wind six steel armor-breaking bolts with no tail feathers and inserted all the armor-breaking bolts into the slots of his tactical vest. After doing all that, he took a deep breath and dashed out...


    Zhang Tie chose the first option ¡ª attack by force!


    Within a second, Zhang Tie moved forward more than twenty meters; at the same time, he threw out two armor-breaking bolts.


    Without even having a chance to send a warning, the two guards'' heads had exploded like watermelons; a red liquid sprayed out of their heads, forming two fresh flowers on the wall.


    Sonic boom!


    Not until after the two heads were exploded by armor-breaking bolts were air-torn sounds heard in the corridor.


    With Iron-Blood Battle Qi boiling like a dragon in his body, Zhang Tie''s body started to burn like a fire had been lit beneath him; almost as soon as the air-torn sounds were heard, Zhang Tie ferociously patted on the wooden door of the conference room with his hands.


    Compared to the gentle Iron-Blood Battle Qi that he used to open locks earlier, now it had become unrivaled, untamed, and ferocious. After being struck, the oak door instantly shattered into wooden pieces. At the same time, with huge strength and speed, those broken wooden chips were blasted into the conference room.


    This process only took Zhang Tie less than two seconds. After noticing the sounds outside the room, those people inside the room only had, at most, a second to respond.


    In such a short period, most people inside the conference room had not responded before numerous shattered wooden chips had already been blasted in like hidden weapons and bolts accompanied by the ferocious Qi of Iron-Blood Battle Qi.


    In a split second, a shrill shriek was heard in the conference room; meanwhile, those facing the door had been covered with shattered wooden chips and spikes in different sizes, causing great chaos in the room.


    Alongside the numerous wooden chips, Zhang Tie rushed in.


    In a situation like this, every second counted for Zhang Tie. At this critical moment, Zhang Tie''s mind was calm once again as he started to drive his spiritual energy at full speed.


    0.01 seconds after he entered the conference room, Zhang Tie had already clearly observed everything in the room. The scene was like a fixed painting in his mind.


    There were eight people in the conference room; the three of them facing the door had already fallen onto the ground with blood spurting all over. Many wounds had appeared all over one their bodies due to shattered wooden chips. One of the wounds was fatal as it had hit the main artery of his neck. After being cut open, the artery started to spray blood like water coming out of a faucet. That person then covered that wound with one hand.


    The other two were not that heavily wounded. Their wounds were not fatal for the time being ¡ª an eye of one of them was stabbed with a toothpick-long wooden pike; he was lying on the floor with a pained expression while the other one watched on - stunned. Even with a lot of wounds on his body, he was still confused about what had happened, even now.


    Besides the above three, two more people were sitting on the table. They didn''t stand up; instead, they just looked a bit surprised. The other three had already stood up ¡ª one 50-odd year old man had only stood up. The one beside him stood ready to attack; the fastest one was already charging towards Zhang Tie...


    In the next 0.01 seconds, Zhang Tie started his first round of attack ¡ª binding chains.


    He released his binding chains so fast. Almost the moment Zhang Tie locked someone with his eyes, the binding chains had already flown out of the place between Zhang Tie''s two eyebrows.


    Because of what happened previously, tonight could not be settled through peaceful means, Zhang Tie was determined to win the battle at the risk of his life.


    The binding chains instantly hit the eight people in the conference room. Due to the performance of the binding chains, whenever they took effect on someone, Zhang Tie would know how long their effects would last; however, if that person being struck was above LV 7, the binding chain would be ineffective to him.


    The moment the binding chains flew out, Zhang Tie clearly knew the fighting strength of those people in the room. After being struck by binding chains, five of them instantly lost their ability to move; the other three were not influenced at all. That was to say, three of them were at least LV 8.


    Fortunately, among the three people not influenced by the binding chains, one had been wounded ¡ª the one whose eye had been stabbed by a wooden spike. One was charging towards Zhang Tie and the third man was that 50-odd guy who was standing by the seat of the host.


    Zhang Tie had completely figured out the situation in the room within the first 0.02 seconds after rushing into the room and accomplishing his first round of attack with the binding chains.


    Five of the eight people completely lost their fighting strength and couldn''t move at all. The shortest recovery time for one of the five fixed people was four minutes. For the remaining three people, one had lost half of his fighting strength while the other two men''s fighting strengths were unknown.


    After figuring out the current situation, Zhang Tie became clearer on his next objective ¡ª kill that one who had lost half of his fighting strength. For the other two, if either of them were above LV 10 and he could not solve the fight in four minutes, he had to escape. If he kept fighting a real powerhouse here for too long, he might attract the troop; if so, the situation would only get worse.


    ''I hope there''s no LV 10 guys here,'' Zhang Tie thought to himself. Then, he rushed towards that man whose eye had been wounded.


    Time started to run again...


    After Zhang Tie completely figured out the situation in the conference room and completed the first round of attack with binding chains, the three people who could move didn''t know that five of the eight people had lost their ability to fight and were even unable to utter a single word.


    In the first second after Zhang Tie rushed into the conference room, the person charging at Zhang Tie had already punched towards Zhang Tie. Seeing that, Zhang Tie directly kicked onto that person''s palm; meanwhile, he turned around and rushed towards that man with a wounded eye...


    In the next second after Zhang Tie rushed in, "Qihai, watch out!" the man standing by the seat of the host shouted loudly as he charged towards Zhang Tie with a grim look on his face.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was still being aided by the rapid moving skill, ergo Zhang Tie could still move 20% quicker than usual; Zhang Tie was moving at a terrifying speed.


    Receiving that man''s warning, the guy with a wounded eye rolled aside before even looking at Zhang Tie clearly, ignoring the sharp pain in his eye and panic in his heart...


    If it were any of others, when in such a situation, they would hardly attack that escaping guy anymore as they had to face the real powerhouse''s attack. However, Zhang Tie could.


    In the third second after Zhang Tie rushed in, when he faced that 50-odd man''s attack with a punch, Zhang Tie threw an armor-breaking bolt at that escaping man...


    A shrill shriek, a booming crash, and the air-torn sound of that armor-breaking bolt sounded in the third and the fourth second.


    In the fourth second after Zhang Tie rushed in, that man rushing forwards and Zhang Tie were pushed back by each other''s ferocious Qi at the same time.


    When Zhang Tie was sent flying back in the air, two more armor-breaking bolts appeared in his hands...


    The first LV 8 powerhouse whose hand had been kicked by Zhang Tie was instantly sent flying ten meters back and directly hit the wall of the conference room. Soon after, he recovered the boiling qi and blood in his body and prepared to launch the second round of attacks. Suddenly, his head had exploded...


    In the fifth second, after landing on the ground, Zhang Tie sprung out at that 50-odd man.


    In the sixth second, after two rounds of lightning fast fighting, Zhang Tie received that man''s hit with his chest while he smashed his Iron-Blood Fist onto that man''s lower abdomen...


    Zhang Tie spat out a mouthful of blood; comparatively, that man''s eyes, ears, mouth and nose spurted out blood at the same time...


    "Iron-Blood Battle Qi! Who are you..." That man''s hoarse voice suddenly stopped. Lowering his head, he watched his lower abdomen with an incredulous look and found that the blade of a pitch-black sword had already fully entered his body...


    ''How did this happen? Weren''t his hands empty just now? Where did he get the sword from? Iron-Blood Battle Qi? He''s Zhang...'' The 50-odd man had so many questions before his death.


    In the seventh second, Zhang Tie had chopped off his head and sent it flying in the air...


    The head on attack then came to an end...


    Zhang Tie knelt down on the floor at once and spat out another mouthful of blood...

 360 Secret of the Zhen Clan

    Chapter 360: Secret of the Zhen Clan


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Kneeling down on the floor, Zhang Tie coughed out several mouths of blood and panted for about half a minute before picking himself up.


    Although it was a short fight, it was the most dangerous among all the fights that Zhang Tie had experienced. Before breaking open the door of the conference room, he didn''t know if there was a powerhouse above LV 10 in here. He didn''t know the outcome of this battle until he finished the battle at the risk of his own life.


    Fortunately, there were no powerhouses above LV 10 in the conference room. Those who could pose threats to him were two LV 8 powerhouses and one LV 9 powerhouse. It was already a high configuration with two LV 8 powerhouses and one LV 9 powerhouse in a clan mansion. In an army, only troops above regiments could enjoy such a high configuration.


    Over the intense ten seconds, Zhang Tie had used all of his top fighting skills ¡ª rapid moving skill, binding skill, Iron-Blood Fist, precise throwing, space teleportation function of the Castle of Black Iron. Additionally, he had become very strike-resistant as he had eaten a lot of iron-body fruits; plus his fast recovery ability with the help of preliminary recovery body. Therefore, he was able to kill the two LV 8 guys and one LV 9 guy in a short period.


    At this moment, although Zhang Tie won the fight, he had also suffered severe inner wounds as he had chosen to resist the LV 9 powerhouse''s smack face to face despite the great number of iron-body fruits that he had eaten.


    However, compared to the wounds that Zhang Tie had suffered, that LV 9 guy was much more miserable after being hit by Zhang Tie''s unrivaled, ferocious Iron-Blood Battle Qi and Iron-Blood Fist. The fight had come to an end after Zhang Tie''s fist smashed into that man''s body. If that man knew that Zhang Tie was practicing Iron-Blood Fist and had already formed his Iron-Blood Battle Qi, he would have never allowed Zhang Tie''s punch to touch him.


    Due to his blind confidence and lack of intel on Zhang Tie, the LV 9 powerhouse lost the battle in the shortest period.


    Wound for wound, life for life and gain the advantage by the terrifying power of his Iron-Blood Fist and his great strike-resistant body ¡ª that was the best way to kill that LV 9 powerhouse in the shortest period.


    Zhang Tie finally succeeded.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie pick up his sword and walk towards the remaining five people who were still bound.


    Zhang Tie didn''t explain anything; he directly ignored the shocking and fearful looks of the five people who didn''t even know what had happened to their bodies. With one slash per person, Zhang Tie finished the final clean-up of the Zhen Clan Mansion in Heavens Cold City within several seconds just like killing chickens.


    A dense, bloody smell drifted out of the conference room; nobody in the Zhen Clan Mansion of Heavens Cold City was left alive.


    As Zhang Tie had become accustomed to collecting spoils of war since he was in the Iron-Blood Camp; of course, he planned to grab such a great chance.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know why these b*stards held a conference here at midnight. But, obviously, those present were the management of the Zhen Clan, at least with a high status. Because Zhen Clan Mansion was also a trade base, they were definitely rich guys.


    After taking a round in the conference room for a circle leisurely, Zhang Tie had collected a lot of "spoils of war" ¡ª eight purses, six rings, various high-end wristwatches, and pocket watches, etc..


    Although there were a few gold coins in the purses, there were a lot of papernotes, which were worth more than 30,000 gold coins in total. Five of the six finger rings were inlaid with valuable jewelries and diamonds, while the remaining one had an eccentric but simple shape.


    The eccentric one was not made of gold, neither was it laid with glamorous jewelries. Besides, there were not too many grains on it. However, three pieces of a pale blue metal, the size of little finger, were inlaid in three places of the ring. They were on the same level with the ring on the surface. If one did not observe it carefully, one might not easily notice the metal inside.


    Although it looked simple, when Zhang Tie held it, he felt weird.


    This ring was from that LV 9 guy''s finger. Given that guy''s position in the conference room, he should be the master of this Mansion. Of course, his ring was not average.


    Zhang Tie weighed that ring while the same familiar sense reappeared. It reminded Zhang Tie of that rune equipment that he had sold in the auction house of Kalur City ¡ª Ring of Vitality.


    ''What a great fortune!'' Zhang Tie yelled inside as he injected his spiritual energy into the ring.


    ¡ª Ring of Land Protection. With this ring, the wearer can survive greater attacks and possess greater strength. The attributes of this rune equipment were as follows:


    ¡ª Reduce physical harm by 6%.


    ¡ª Increase physical explosive power by 145 kg.


    ¡ª Made by Zhang Dingfang, the rune manufacturer of Huaiyuan Palace.


    ''Hahaha, good item!'' Taking off his mask, Zhang Tie grinned. As this item could not be exposed to the public, he directly threw this ring and the other "spoils" into the Castle of Black Iron.


    For Zhang Tie, the gold coins and papernotes worth more than 30,000 gold coins really helped Zhang Tie a lot at a moment when his disposable income was running low.


    Several days ago, Zhang Tie bought slaves and made preparations for this action; later on, he added some necessary items for his castle on Yunju Mountain. As a result, he''d almost used up all the money from selling all-purpose medicament.


    Those vials of all-purpose medicament that Zhang Tie moved out of the Castle of Black Iron had almost all been sold out. Therefore, he could only sell a very limited number of vials each day. However, the latest all-purpose medicament had not been well-fermented yet; therefore, he''d lacked money recently. He had to wait at least twenty days before he turned the latest all-purpose medicament into gold coins, namely, late July or early August.


    What was more, Zhang Tie still owed 460,000 gold coins to Long Wind Business Group for building the castle. Although the 30,000-odd gold coins were not too much for Zhang Tie, it could still relieve Zhang Tie''s current problem. Actually, for more than 99% of people, they might not be able to make 30,000 gold coins over their whole lives.


    After gaining more than 30,000 gold coins and a rune equipment, Zhang Tie became excited once again; even his wounds were not that painful anymore.


    After circling around the conference room, Zhang Tie collected all the valuable items; he then left.


    There was a door inside the conference room. Being driven by curiosity, Zhang Tie opened that door and found it led to a study room.


    When he remembered that woman downstairs said that there was a hidden room in the study room, Zhang Tie started to look for it carefully in the study room.


    Except for Zhang Tie, nobody else was alive in the whole building; additionally, it was midnight. Zhang Tie didn''t worry about making noises at all; therefore, he started to search the room incautiously.


    Taking apart the sofa, moving away the desk, pushing away the furniture in the study, and pushing off all the books on the bookcase one row by another. When Zhang Tie pushed off the book from the bookcase next to one wall of the study room and was going to push down the bookcase, he finally saw a handle-like switch on the wall behind the books.


    Zhang Tie lightly pulled the handle. As a result, the whole bookcase slid away, exposing a narrow entrance. A sword in hand and an armor-breaking bolt in another hand, Zhang Tie carefully walked in that entrance...


    There was a same narrow and dim passageway inside the entrance which only allowed one person in. It felt like that in the apartment left by Donder to him. On both sides of the passageway were the walls of the building. Hidden between those walls, this passageway was really secret.


    The passageway was paved with a thick carpet. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t make any sound as he walked on it. Green flourite lamps were hanging on the walls every several meters which made the whole passageway extremely gloomy.


    Without encountering any attack, Zhang Tie walked dozens of meters and made two turns before entering a hidden room.


    The area of this hidden room was less than twenty square meters. The moment Zhang Tie entered this hidden room, he had glanced at the statue on the sacrificial altar of the hidden room.


    The major part of that status was a monster covered with crocodile-like scales with a unicorn on its head and a tail. In the middle of its forehead was a slim eye.


    The monster was standing like a person while hugging a naked woman with miserable look; additionally, it entwined that woman tightly using its tail with its huge genital into the vagina of the woman.


    This statue was pretty weird, evil, lascivious, and dark.


    Staring at that statue, Zhang Tie was shocked both physically and mentally. He didn''t understand its meaning, but the unicorn, the tail, and the three eyes indicated its status instantly ¡ª demon! Only evil demons looked like that!


    A faint bloody smell drifted from the sacrificial altar under the statue. Smelling it, Zhang Tie then glanced at the shape of the altar and the brown stains on the altar; he instantly imagined how a live person was killed in the dark manner in front of that statue¡ª


    Zhen Clan truly colluded with demons!


    Besides this sacrificial altar and this statue, there was a cabinet beside the altar. After glancing at that statue, Zhang Tie directly walked in front of the cabinet and opened it.


    At the sight of the items in the cabinet, Zhang Tie''s heart started to pound ferociously at once...

 361 Sweep the Mansion

    Chapter 361: Sweep the Mansion


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    On the top of the cabinet was a pile of golden checks which were placed in the clips of the cabinet.


    Zhang Tie took out a gold checks clip and found each gold check was worth 1000 gold coins; there were thirty gold checks in each clip.


    ''I''m rich.'' Zhang Tie finally knew why some people liked to rob. Because this was a really fast way to make money; additionally, there were always surprises waiting for you.


    On the top layer of the cabinet, there were eight gold checks clips, which included five clips of gold checks worth 1000 gold coins, making a subtotal of 150,000 gold coins. There were two clips of gold checks worth 5000 gold coins, making a subtotal of 210,000 gold coins, and a clip of gold checks worth 10000 gold coins, making a subtotal 260,000 gold coins. The overall value of all the gold checks was 620,000 gold coins.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time seeing so many gold checks in clips. The fund provided by Long Wind Business Group to build his castle on Yunju Mountain didn''t go through Zhang Tie at all.


    Being extremely excited, Zhang Tie moved all the gold check clips into Castle of Black Iron.


    On the second layer of the cabinet were a large number of bonds and stock certificates. Zhang Tie took them out and found those bonds were three year investment bonds delivered by Long Wind Bank in Huaiyuan Prefecture with an annual interest of 5.8%. Those bonds almost occupied the greater part of the second layer of the cabinet.


    Zhang Tie didn''t count how many bonds there were as he directly moved all of them into Castle of Black Iron.


    The five piles of stock certificates were non-tangible stock purchase certificates of various business groups, companies and industrial groups publicly offered by Yiyang Securities Exchange Center. Zhang Tie skimmed them over and found the issuers of the stock certificates were all industries and groups under the name of Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace, such as Deep Sea Fisheries, Yiyang Harbor, Huaiyuan Machinery Company, and Airship Navigation Company.


    As it was Zhang Tie''s first time seeing bonds, he didn''t know about their value and how to turn them into cash; he estimated that since they were placed here, they would be at least worth 100,000 gold coins.


    Without any hesitation, Zhang Tie swept them all into Castle of Black Iron too.


    On the third layer of the cabinet was a nice box made of gold. Considering the material of the box, Zhang Tie realized the value of the item inside it. He then opened it and found a palm-sized porcelain vessel inside. The most attractive part on the vessel was an abstract symbol composed of some triangles being connected with each other.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what this symbol meant when he was in Blackhot City; however, after staying in Huaiyuan Palace for a long time, Zhang Tie knew what it referred to ¡ª dangerous Chemical and Biological Weapon before the Catastrophe. Whereas, in this age, after a slight change, it had become a warning of universal poisonous materials.


    The item in this vessel was definitely a poison. From the back of the vessel, Zhang Tie got its name ¡ª Poison of Black Sand.


    Although Zhang Tie had not heard about this poison, he still put it in the Castle of Black Iron under the excuse that everything had its value, a locust also had meat.


    At the bottom of the cabinet was an eccentric device composed of crystal and metal. After looking at that device carefully, Zhang Tie recognized its function. This was a crystal-driven remote sensing communication equipment, which was very expensive. It was the transmitter in this age. The only difference between this equipment and transmitter before Catastrophe was that this device could only realize remote-sensing communication through twin mirror crystals.


    Although this item was very expensive, it was useless for Zhang Tie. Firstly, he didn''t know how to use it; secondly, he didn''t need this at all. This item might be used as a communication tool between the Zhen Clan Mansion and the home of the Zhen Clan in Heavens Cold City.


    Zhang Tie intended to throw this item into the Pool of Chaos so as to allow Castle of Black Iron to grow one more special mineral; however, after thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie gave up this idea. He just let it lie there.


    ...


    When he left that hidden room, Zhang Tie really felt full. What a worthwhile journey!


    Those bonds and stock certificates might be the property of Zhen Clan Mansion after so many years'' accumulation in investment and business. Zhang Tie didn''t know about their value; however, the total value of the gold checks was more than 600,000 gold coins, which was an astronomical figure in any place.


    ''It''s an unrivaled enjoyment to turn the enemy''s property into my own,'' Zhang Tie sighed with feeling, ''It''s not due to how many items can you plunder, but how cool it feels when you trample on your enemy and plunder them at your will.


    Such a cool feeling was like making love, as it would make you feel like an immortal being. You would feel a part of your body, or even your whole body, burning with fire.


    After returning to the study room, Zhang Tie didn''t move the bookcase back; instead, he kept it exposed so that everybody could see the secrets in this room.


    Zhang Tie then passed by the bloody conference room and went downstairs to the first floor.


    There were some warehouses and basements on the first floor which Zhang Tie would never let go. At this moment, Zhang Tie had realized that plundering an enemy''s property was incredibly enjoyable.


    Zhang Tie visited the warehouses on the first floor at first with the help of force and keys.


    All the items in the warehouses were sealed in crates. The moment he entered there, Zhang Tie had already smelt a fragrance.


    After opening the crates, Zhang Tie saw piles of tea leaves. At the sight of these tea leaves, Zhang Tie burst out laughing. ''These items must be transported from the Eastern Continent. These tea leaves are definitely more expensive than gold in Blackhot City. It''s really out my imagination that Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City are in this line of worth.''


    Looking at those crates of tea leaves, Zhang Tie started the space teleportation function of the Castle of Black Iron. The moment he touched any crate, the crate would be transferred into the Castle of Black Iron in a split second. Zhang Tie''s efficiency was even many times higher than that of ten skilled carriers. It only took Zhang Tie a few minutes to move away all the 200-odd crates of tea leaves in one warehouse.


    Besides tea leaves, Zhang Tie saw some dyes, shark hides, and many mechanical parts in other warehouses. As Zhang Tie was not interested in these items, he didn''t waste his time on them.


    After cleaning up the warehouses on the first floor, Zhang Tie came to the basement of the Mansion.


    The entrance of the basement was beside the lobby on the first floor. After entering the basement, Zhang Tie saw so many weapons. He then realized that the basement was where the Clan members practiced their fighting skills and placed their weapons. All the weapons here were from the weapon manufacturers under the affiliation of Huaiyuan Palace. There were various weapons here including sabers, swords, and bows, each of which was very well manufactured.


    At the sight of them, Zhang Tie instantly transferred all the crates into the Castle of Black Iron without even counting them.


    He took away more than fifty crates of weapons produced by Huaiyuan Palace.


    Besides weapons, there were also crates of high class wine, which, similarly to tea leaves, were transported here from the Western Continent through ocean trade with symbols on the crates.


    Zhang Tie teleported all the 100-odd crates of wine into the Castle of Black Iron without any hesitation.


    After sweeping the basement, Zhang Tie found that nothing valuable was left and he was finally satisfied.


    After exiting the basement, Zhang Tie fetched a piece of cloth and bound it onto an iron stick. After that, Zhang Tie found a barrel of dye. With the two items, Zhang Tie left the main building of the mansion.


    It was already late into the night.


    The four walls of the courtyard outside the main building of the mansion were snowwhite. Zhang Tie came to one wall; he then opened the barrel of dye and put his iron stick into it. After that, he left lines of scrawls on the wall.


    ¡ª Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City colluded with demons; they deserved to die!


    ¡ª Idiots of Huaiyuan Palace. Zhen''s woman married Zhang Taibai! How come you are still confused? What a tragedy!


    He then left his name below the two lines ¡ª Law Executer in the Dark.


    Previously, Zhang Tie planned to write those words only once; however, after painting one wall, he couldn''t help but write on the other three walls. As a result, everyone could see them clearly.


    After painting the inner walls, he was still excited; seeing nobody on the streets, he silently moved to the outside of the mansion and wrote a dazzling word "Dead". After that, he scrawled the above words " Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City colluded with demons; they deserved to die!" all over the exterior walls.


    After doing all of this, Zhang Tie dropped his tools and disappeared into the night...


    Zhang Tie knew that Stars Viewing City would be a mess the next morning.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about the outcome of his deed. As a trivial figure, he could only do what he needed to do on the premise of surviving, as he''d done in Blackhot City. For what the Zhang Clan would face and what the Zhen Clan would do, Zhang Tie didn''t care. An eye for an eye! Zhang felt not regretful about doing that.


    Several minutes later, Zhang Tie flew off the external wall like a huge bird and returned to his own chartered room in the hotel as agile as a cat. Noticing that nobody had been there, Zhang Tie changed his clothes and put away his face mask. He then drank a cup of alcohol and walked out of there.


    When he left his chartered room, Zhang Tie glanced at his watch ¡ª 02:17 am.


    ...


    "Sir, are you leaving? Plus the alcohol for your favorite car, your bill is 1 gold coin and 67 silver coins in total!"


    ''Your favorite car.'' Hearing that, Zhang Tie''s hair quivered all over. It was as awkward as someone saying ''your favorite shoes'' or ''your favorite clothes'' to him.


    Feeling pretty good, Zhang Tie slightly grinned as he took out two gold coins and threw them to the waiter, saying, "Keep the change!"


    ...


    At 5:11 am, Zhang Tie returned to Jinhai City...


    At a bit past 6:00 am, when the sun was about to rise, Zhang Tie walked out of the underground hidden room in Jinwu Castle. He then returned to his own bedroom, throwing himself onto the bed and fell asleep at once...


    When Zhang Tie fell asleep, numerous big figures in Huaiyuan Palace were really startled by the same news.


    The event was exposed an hour earlier than Zhang Tie had predicted. Before dawn, a bin man on the road outside the Zhen Clan Mansion of Heavens Cold City was stunned by the word "Dead" and those "slogans" on the external walls. In a few minutes, the armored vehicles of the Hurricane Army in Stars Viewing City arrived and surrounded the whole mansion...

 362 Gathering of the Elites

    Chapter 362: Gathering of the Elites


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Sometimes, Hidden Dragon Island was too isolated a place as Zhang Tie didn''t hear any news about Stars Viewing City in the whole day. Therefore, he enjoyed a tranquil day and just recovered in Jinwu Castle.


    All-purpose medicament was effective to both interior and exterior wounds; however, it was a bit inferior compared preliminary recovery medicament which was more focused on healing wounds. Two vials of all-purpose medicament would be a bit more effective than one vial of preliminary recovery medicament.


    However, all-purpose medicament had one advantage over the other kinds of medicament ¡ª it had no side effects no matter how much you drank. In contrast, if you drank too much of other kinds of medicament, you might suffer from an ''adverse drug reaction''.


    In the same day, Zhang Tie had drunk more than twenty vials of all-purpose medicament like drinking water. Benefiting from so much all-purpose medicament and his preliminary recovery body, Zhang Tie''s interior wounds were almost completely healed in one day.


    It was tranquil as usual on Hidden Dragon Island on July 5th as no news came from Stars Viewing City. Zhang Tie became a bit amazed, ''It should have been revealed by now, how can it still be so tranquil here?''


    If not afraid of arising others'' doubts, Zhang Tie really wanted to go to Stars Viewing City to see what was going on there.


    For Zhang Tie, it was like not hearing the explosion after igniting the fuse of a bomb, causing Zhang Tie to be anxious.


    ''Could it be that another batch of Zhen Clan members came to that Mansion after I left there and rapidly cleaned the evidence? Or, are those people lurking in Huaiyuan Palace much more powerful than I imagined and they have covered up this event after it broke out? Or Huaiyuan Palace is waiting for something...''


    Zhang Tie thought too much during the daytime of July 6th...


    On the evening of July 6th, after coming back from the wharf after setting free sand scales, Zhang Tie circled around Jinwu Castle to check the defense situation in Jinwu Castle. Lan Yunxi had pointed out many loopholes in the defense and patrols of Jinwu Castle for Zhang Tie. If he wanted to make Jinwu Castle impregnable, he had to fix all the loopholes. Besides raising the strength of the Spirits soldiers to a higher level in a short period, he had another shortcut ¡ª to buy another batch of slaves to be guards.


    Enough people could fix the shortage in fighting strength and experience. For instance, if there were three shifts of guards on the walls of the castle around the clock, even a fly entering the castle would be noticed, let alone a person.


    Zhang Tie estimated that he only needed to purchase 100 LV 2 slaves as guards at most to fix the defense loophole of the castle basically. When at war, at least 1000 guards would be used to defend a castle. Jinwu castle could at least hold another 100 to 200 guards easily.


    When the sun set, Zhang Tie stood on a flat roof of the castle. Drinking alcohol, he watched the sunset glow on the horizon and mumbled inside, ''If there''s still no news tomorrow, I will go to Stars Viewing City in the name of buying slaves.'' With this doubt, Zhang Tie always felt a bit uncomfortable.


    "Lord, supper is ready!" called Sonia, the docile and able head of female servants in the internal castle of Jinwu Castle as she appeared behind Zhang Tie.


    Although this batch of female servants were not superior, they were better than average. At the moment, all the female servants wore new clothes, styled like those of the Blapei women, and looked pretty good and enchanting. Especially Sonia, who looked more mature and attractive.


    "Fine!" said Zhang Tie as he peered at Sonia''s plump breasts. Within a split second, he''d started to imagine like any other man, except for apologists and ascetics.


    Zhang Tie then scanned his eyes over Sonia''s body from her breasts to her waist and bottom. At the same time, the image of Hanna and Linda with tight buttocks and sexy legs instantly flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind.


    ''Perhaps, I should prepare that kind of working uniform for each of them.'' An evil thought appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind, "even if I just watch them walking in front of me with tight buttocks, it would still be very comforting.''


    Under Zhang Tie''s unscrupulous gaze, Sonia''s face slightly blushed. She then lowered down her head bashfully and said in a quivering voice like a buzzing mosquito, "If... if Lord needs, I can arrange two people to serve you in the evening!"


    ''Serve me?'' Zhang Tie cried as he found the coy head of female servants being very funny. Therefore, he directly patted onto her plump buttocks and smiled, "No need! Is this suit of clothes suitable? I thought about another proper suit of working uniform for you!"


    "It''s very suitable. Now, each of us have three suits; we''re already very happy!" Sonia said.


    "Never mind, the tailors on Hidden Dragon Island are not very good; when you come to a couture on the continent, you can choose another beautiful suit of working uniform for them. Oh, and cosmetics. I don''t know much about cosmetics, but it seems that all of you girls like that. You can buy some proper cosmetics tomorrow and deliver them to all the girls. If you need anything else, just tell me..."


    "Thanks, Lord!" Sonia replied happily with her shiny face.


    "Haha... no need for thanks; the more beautiful you look, the happier I will be!" Zhang Tie put it straight as he waved his hand casually.


    When Zhang Tie prepared to leave the flat roof of the internal castle together with Sonia, a blue smoke suddenly exploded in the air. After that, it turned into a blue arrow which hung in the air for a long time. Along with this pattern were seven crisp bell chimes from the Hidden Dragon Palace at the top of the mountain.


    At the sight of this, Zhang Tie was shocked inside. ''This is the urgent order to summon all the students of Hidden Dragon Island to go back to Hidden Dragon Palace. Since Zhang Tie came to Hidden Dragon Island, he had not seen this used at all. He was told that only when big event happened would Hidden Dragon Palace use this method to summon students.


    "I will go to the Hidden Dragon Palace now. No time for supper!" After saying this, Zhang Tie darted outside of the castle.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what happened. He only felt that it must be a big event.


    Before leaving Jinwu Castle, Zhang Tie called Lenox, the head of guards in Jinwu Castle and delivered an order, "Ignite the main defense boiler of the castle and prepare for the coming emergency!"


    On the way from Yunju Mountain to Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie met so many students rushing towards Hidden Dragon Palace. They asked what happened from each other; yet nobody knew.


    "Zhang Tie, you''re here..." When he was close to Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie met Yang Yuankang. After greeting each other, they rushed forward together.


    "What happened?"


    "No idea. The blue arrow order has not appeared for many years! I was in White Dragon Town just now; at the sight of the blue arrow signal, I instantly rushed towards here." Yang Yuankang frowned as the two of them kept running forward.


    When they arrived at the front of the decorated archway below the Hidden Dragon Castle, two rows of fully-armored soldiers were standing over there. The whole Hidden Dragon Palace looked pretty solemn, ready for an incoming enemy. A robust military officer was standing under the decorated archway with his hand on the long sword on his waist and his gleaming eyes gazing at those arriving students.


    When he went through the decorated archway of the Hidden Dragon Palace and came to the lower fort, Zhang Tie raised his head and looked at the position of the main air-defense artillery on the blockhouse of this castle. This time, Zhang Tie was shocked again as the cover of the main air-defense artillery had been opened, revealing a shiny muzzle of the steam-driven ballista tilting towards the sky like a sword pointing at the heavens.


    After showing their clan plates, everybody entered Hidden Dragon Palace.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie saw the girls and fellows like Zhang Keliang leaving Zhixing Department with weird looks and walking towards the Middle Castle.


    "Senior brother Zhang..."


    "Senior brother Zhang is coming..."


    "Senior brother..."


    "Zhang Tie..."


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, a great number of students in Zhixing Department, male and female, greeted him, which surprised the other students walking along with Zhang Tie. They glanced at Zhang Tie several times, curious as to why he was so popular in Zhixing Department.


    "Where are you going?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "I don''t know. When we were eating supper just now, some personnel from Hidden Dragon Palace told us to gather in the Middle Fort and stay there tonight, yet they didn''t tell us why," Zhang Hongsheng explained.


    "Senior brother, do you know what happened?" Li Yurou asked Zhang Tie. Hearing this, all the other junior sisters fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie. After the party with Zhang Tie in Jinwu Castle the day before yesterday, these girls had become more intimate to Zhang Tie. This time, their eyes were full of reliance, respect, and kindness.


    Of course, someone among them were bashful. Every time she thought about how she kissed this douchebag that night and threw him into the swimming pool, Lyu Shasha would feel a fever on her face. Therefore, she silently moved to hide behind a girl next to her. Although that was a crazy night, she was very relaxed as she had released all the stress that had been accumulated in the half year since she came to Hidden Dragon Palace.


    Zhang Tie glanced over those girls who were looking at him with different expressions. Two girls among them were silent; yet their looks made Zhang Tie''s heart pound ¡ª Du Yuhan, being usually open, was a bit bashful now, while Qu Liangying, who was usually shy, looked a bit open now.


    "I don''t know what happened either. Just wait for their orders. If war happens, we''d better stay in the fort, it''s much safer than Zhixing Department!"


    Of course, forts and castles were much safer than open courtyards like the Zhixing Department.


    "You''re right, senior brother!"


    "You''d better practice hard so as to form your battle qis as soon as possible. The more powerful you are, the more chance you will survive in front of enemies. Perhaps, we will know the importance of this very soon!" Zhang Tie said in a solemn way.


    The holy war was coming. Glancing over these young faces, Zhang Tie wondered how many among them could still stand in front of him, alive, in one or two decades.


    ...


    Entering Breaking Heavens Department, Zhang Tie found that, not only students in Zhixing Department, even all the students in Breaking Heavens Department had moved. Zhang Tie saw many strange students one after another. All of the 700-odd students were gathering in the Fight Performance Hall of Breaking Heavens Department.


    Liu Xu, Zhang Feng, Ma Aiyun, Gu Caidie all arrived. At the sight of Zhang Tie and Yang Yuankang, they all gathered there.


    Besides those friends, Zhang Tie caught sight of two familiar people ¡ª Zhang Haige and Zhang Haixin, who had been doing tasks since they lost 900 gold coins to Zhang Tie. It was really out of Zhang Tie''s expectations to see them back.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Zhang Haixin looked a bit ill-affected; he even responded with a cold harrumph; in contrast, Zhang Haige was much more mature than half a year ago as he nodded towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie also greeted him by nodding his head.


    Besides the two guys, Zhang Tie saw another two guys ¡ª Zhang Qingguo, who was beaten so ferociously by Zhang Tie after he insulted Zhang Tie''s dad and Gu Bai, who was taunted by Zhang Tie. What was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination was that these two guys got along well with each other.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Gu Bai looked a bit stiff while Zhang Qingguo lowered his head. They both took a detour around the crowd and disappeared from Zhang Tie''s vision.


    Seeing this, Zhang Tie slightly frowned his forehead as his heart slightly pounded.


    "Argh, here comes senior brother Yu Xiaotian," one girl exclaimed. Zhang Tie then looked at the entrance of the Fight Performance Hall and found a twenty-or-so year old, handsome guy walk inside. He was born to be attractive. The moment he entered the Fight Performance Hall, a lot of girls peered at him with a fascinating look.


    Seeing Ma Aiyun and the familiar girls were all looking over there, Zhang Tie slightly asked Liu Xu, "Who''s that guy?"


    "Yu Xiaotian (TL: Ð¥Ìì means soaring towards the heavens), whose nickname is Xiaotian Sword, ranks third on the Hidden Dragon Clan Fighting Strength Rank and second on the Hidden Dragon Clan Contribution Rank. He''s the Mr. Right in Breaking Heavens Department. It''s said that he''s already LV 9. How haven''t you heard about such a famous person?" Liu Xu asked out of curiosity.


    Zhang Tie thought for a while and finally remembered him.


    "Argh, here''s senior brother Zhang Wumu!" It was Yang Yuankang''s turn to yell.


    A guy who was almost two times the weight and 1.5 times the height of Zhang Tie walked inside. Bare chested, he was carrying a huge and terrifying war bow and a huge and terrifying war ax which was longer than two meters. Like an armored vehicle, he walked in step by step, causing a quake on the floor. Some guys standing outside the entrance were affected and were sent flying through the air due to carelessness.


    Seeing such a guy in, everybody hurriedly moved three meters away from him.


    That guy called Zhang Wumu walked in the Fight Performance Hall; then, he placed his war ax onto the ground, causing a loud noise, "bang"; at the same time, the cracks on the bluestone-made floor started to radiate like a spider web.


    After putting down the war ax, Zhang Wumu crossed his arms and stood there like a wall with his eyes closed.


    At the sight of his war ax, Zhang Tie''s pupils slightly contracted. Based on the experience of using the "Man''s Certificate", Zhang Tie instantly identified that the war ax weighed at least 600 kg.


    ''F*ck! There''s such a freak in Hidden Dragon Palace!"


    "The nickname of senior brother Zhang Wumu is Fiery-Flame King Kong. He ranks second on the Hidden Dragon Clan Fighting Strength Rank and third on the Hidden Dragon Clan Contribution Rank. He''s a brave warrior. His father is the master of Fubo City!" Knowing that Zhang Tie was not familiar with these people, Liu Xu decided to introduce them to Zhang Tie.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie nodded. ''These guys ranking top on Hidden Dragon Ranks are truly special; these guys are the elites of elites.''


    "Why haven''t I seen them before?"


    "These senior brothers all possess high levelled fighting skills. They are always cultivating by themselves or executing clan tasks outside the island. Therefore, we cannot see them easily! Although senior brother Zhang Wumu is still on Hidden Dragon Palace, he has long been settled on by Hurricane Army; as soon as he leaves Hidden Dragon Palace, he will become a head in a division. He has a bright future!" Liu Xu said with an admirable tone.


    Zhang Tie smacked his lips as he sighed with feeling inside, ''If not for that small tree, I would not even be a fart in front of these guys...''


    In the following minutes, more and more people crowded in the Fight Performance Hall. Figures on the Hidden Dragon Ranks arrived one by another, causing bustling sounds one time by another. A greater part of the top ten guys had arrived.


    "Here comes senior sister Xi..." As someone exclaimed outside the entrance, everybody became quiet in the Fight Performance Hall...

 363 Action

    Chapter 363: Action


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Lan Yunxi had a powerful qi field. Regardless of her docile performance when she and Zhang Tie were alone, in the public, such as Hidden Dragon Palace, this woman was like a queen. The moment she arrived, all the great figures in Hidden Dragon Palace were defeated.


    The reason that most people in Hidden Dragon Palace called Lan Yunxi "senior sister Xi" instead of "senior sister Yun or senior sister Yunxi" mostly lay in that everybody respected her. In their eyes, Lan Yunxi was as glamorous as the sun in the early morning, who didn''t feel being oppressive at all. Therefore, they call her senior sister Xi.


    At this moment, Lan Yunxi didn''t wear a skirt; instead, she was wearing an amaranth armor.


    On the back of her armor was a long bow of the same color while a whip-like weapon was circling her waist. It was Zhang Tie''s first time seeing Lan Yunxi''s weapons and armor. She looked pretty heroic. Together with her amaranth armor, snow-white, tender skin, and black hair, she looked pretty beautiful.


    Zhang Tie recalled that he almost occupied the shortcut towards her soul and that raptured kiss on the flat roof of Jinwu Castle, which formed a sharp contrast to the present Lan Yunxi, Zhang Tie''s saliva almost flew out.


    Lan Yunxi did not enter alone as she was followed by a great number of fully-armored soldiers and officials of Hidden Dragon Palace. Because some elites in Hidden Dragon Palace had been involved in various affairs of Zhang Clan in different degrees, it was not strange that Lan Yunxi came here with a batch of people.


    Seeing her enter, all those in front of her gave a way to her. At sight of Lan Yunxi, Yu Xiaotian revealed a smile as he slightly nodded towards Lan Yunxi.


    Zhang Wumu, whose eyes were always closed and arms crossed, also opened his eyes when he heard the arrival of Lan Yunxi. At this moment, his eyes were gleaming like flames. For the other members, especially the men of Hidden Dragon Palace, were all revealing adoring gazes at the sight of Lan Yunxi.


    After glancing over the Fight Performance Hall casually, Zhang Tie felt pretty stressed as his rivals in love spread over there. Additionally, none of those guys were average. Except for some guys, almost half of those male guys who ranked earlier on the Hidden Dragon Ranks had adoringly gazed at Lan Yunxi.


    Not only males, even females had different looks at sight of Lan Yunxi. Ma Aiyun and Gu Caidie beside Zhang Tie were totally worshipping and admiring her; in contrast, some girls looked jealous and envious ¡ª females always got jealous.


    Two women standing not far from Zhang Tie slightly raised their jaws and thrusting their breasts the moment they saw Lan Yunxi coming in. They both came in two minutes ahead of Lan Yunxi. It was said they both ranked highly on the Hidden Dragon Ranks and were well-known in Breaking Heavens Department. When they arrived just now, they even aroused some chaos. However, the moment Lan Yunxi arrived, they became dwarfed at once.


    Lan Yunxi directly walked onto the high platform in Fight Performance Hall with her eyes looking steadily forward. Zhang Tie kept his eyes fixed on her. Although Lan Yunxi had caught sight of him, she moved her eyes again instantly, causing Zhang Tie to be a bit disappointed.


    "Senior sister Xi is really the ideal role model for all the girls in Hidden Dragon Palace. I will become as beautiful and powerful as her in the future!" Ma Aiyun mumbled while the other girls beside her forcefully nodded their heads.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie just rubbed his face with a bitter smile.


    The moment Lan Yunxi stood on the high platform, she looked like a general more than a woman. After glancing over those people at present with a solemn look, she ceased those noises and disturbance instantly.


    "Gu Bai, out of ranks!" Lan Yunxi''s solemn voice sounded in the Fight Performance Hall.


    Hearing Lan Yunxi call Gu Bai, not only Zhang Tie, many people were surprised as they didn''t even know whom Gu Bai was. As a result, they just looked around.


    "Senior sister Xi, what do you look me for?"


    Gu Bai walked out of the crowd with a stiff smile.


    Seeing Gu Bai walking out, Lan Yunxi slightly narrowed her eyes as she ordered, "Take him away!"


    Receiving this order, the two officials who looked serious instantly charged towards Gu Bai; before Gu Bai responded, they had already searched him all over including his jaw, shoulders, elbows, wrists, palms, fingers, waists, knees, and ankles by patting, twisting, pulling, or tearing. Under Zhang Tie''s dumbfounded gaze, Gu Bai''s bones and joints had been dislocated all over like a dismantled toy. At the same time, various vials and a dagger were discovered at once.


    ''Powerhouses,'' a thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind. It was Zhang Tie''s first time seeing people dislocate a person so rapidly.


    As a result, Gu Bai instantly collapsed onto the ground like a sea snake whose bones had been taken out.


    Everybody was startled. After Gu Bai realized what happened, he shouted loudly out of fear, "Senior sister Xi, what are you doing?" Although his jaw had been dislocated, he could still speak.


    Lan Yunxi didn''t look at him at all; instead, she looked at the entrance of the Fight Performance Hall. Two officials of Hidden Dragon Palace then hurriedly walked in with two items.


    "We found this set of crystal remote-sensing communication machine and this code book underground Gu Bai''s courtyard in Blue Dragon Town!"


    Watching the two items, everybody in Fight Performance Hall widened their eyes, "How come Gu Bai had this?"


    However, at sight of the two items, Gu Bai''s face turned really pale, "I... I can... can... can explain!"


    Lan Yunxi gazed at him with an icy look. "Explain? Do you want to explain how you exposed the intelligence of Hidden Dragon Island and Hidden Dragon Palace to the outside? Do you know how may losses Huaiyuan Palace has suffered because of you? Do you know how many people your actions have killed? What do you want to explain? Drag him away..."


    Gu Bai then was pulled out of Hidden Dragon Palace by two officials directly.


    "I want to say something... I want to say something!" Gu Bai shouted loudly as he was pulled away.


    "Gu Bai, student of Hidden Dragon Palace colluded with demons and sold intelligence of the Zhang Clan and Hidden Dragon Palace. On the order of the Seniors Association of the Zhang Clan, we are here to arrest Gu Bai. According to the regulations of Huaiyuan Palace, anyone who colludes with demons will be face death penalty together with all of their family members!" An official beside Lan Yunxi stood forward as he read the decree loudly.


    Hearing this decree, Gu Bai almost passed out while everybody else at present was shocked inside; most people didn''t know what happened, except for Zhang Tie, ''The event in Stars Viewing City finally broke out.''


    After the exceptionally tranquil past two days, Huaiyuan Palace''s response was completely out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. Gu Bai was dug out, which meant that those big figures in Huaiyuan Palace were searching for the mole according to the clues over the past two days. Gu Bai was probably the very person who leaked Zhang Tie''s intelligence about the mass-production of all-purpose medicament in Hidden Dragon Palace to the outside.


    Of course, Hidden Dragon Palace summoned everybody back hurriedly was not only to arrest a rebel in the public. Zhang Tie speculated that something amazing would happen later on.


    Zhang Tie was right.


    "From now on, all the LV 6 junior brothers and sisters from Breaking Heavens Department have to stay in Fight Performance Hall tonight. All the students above LV 7 have the right to join a military operation organized by the Zhang Clan tonight. Anyone who''d like to join this action will gain 200 clan contribution points. If you don''t want to join it, you have to stay in the Fight Performance Hall tonight too!" Lan Yunxi declared.


    "Senior sister Xi, what military action it is?" the handsome Yu Xiaotian asked on behalf of everybody else at present.


    "Zhen Clan in Heavens Cold City, Langye Prefecture colludes with demons. They are remnants of the Three-Eye Association of demons. According to the decision of the Seniors Association of Huaiyuan Palace, we will start a clan war tonight and crush Zhen Clan to pieces! Not only Hidden Dragon Island, even the whole Huaiyuan Prefecture has been cordoned off inside tonight. Students who join the action tonight will attack Heavens Cold City with the other elites of the Zhang Clan by airships. As this action involves demons, you might meet unprecedented dangers. Therefore, only the students above LV 7 can join it voluntarily!"


    The moment Lan Yunxi finished her words, Zhang Wumu had stomped onto the floor of Fight Performance Hall, causing an earthquake at once. Then, that terrifying man laughed like thunders, "Fine, count me in. I finally get a chance to kill those sons of bitches. Previously, I thought that I could not do that until I was in Hurricane Plateau. It''s really out of my imagination that Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City were the remnants of Three-Eye Association of Demons. I will definitely join the massacre tonight!"


    "Students who want to join this action tonight can select weapons in the armory of Fight Performance Hall now. You have ten minutes to prepare. In ten minutes'' time, we will leave Hidden Dragon Island in batches. This action is very important and dangerous. Don''t be reluctant. Your fates are in your own hands!"


    After saying this, the gate of the armory connected to the Fight Performance Hall was opened. Lan Yunxi walked inside first. Seeing this, a great number of people also walked in the armory without any hesitation, including most of those guys who ranked earlier on the Hidden Dragon Ranks.


    After exchanging glances with each other, Zhang Tie and his friends'' hearts started to pound.


    What was war? This was.


    "Go or not?" Zhang Tie asked Liu Xu and Yang Yuankang.


    "Of course, everybody should kill those b*stards of Three-Eye Association like Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City. This time, with elites there, we can definitely destroy them. If we did not go there, it would be a pity!" Liu Xu''s eyes radiated gleaming light.


    "Of course, we should kill those demons'' lackeys!" Yang Yuankang also raised his head and said proudly.


    "What about you?" Liu Xu asked Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie touched his nose. To be honest, he had killed so many guys from the Zhen Clan, Zhang Tie felt that he had committed to his responsibilities. He was not interested in these righteous affairs or honors; however, as Lan Yunxi had joined, of course he could not just hide on Hidden Dragon Island and wait for his woman to fight outside.


    "Then, I will accompany you righteous men!" Zhang Tie revealed a pale smile. Yang Yuankang and Liu Xu exchanged glanced with each other before bursting out laughing.


    "I will be there too!" Ma Aiyun and the other girls looked very excited.


    Hearing those girls'' intention, Zhang Tie stared at them seriously, "You should think carefully, battle is not like competing fighting skills in Breaking Heavens Department. On battle field, blood and flesh would spread over everywhere. Can you really stand it? Someone would spit for several days after only one glance."


    "Since senior sister Xi is going there, we will also go there!" Face turning a bit pale, Yuan Ziyi asked, "Aren''t you going there as well?"


    "Don''t you know what my nickname is?" Zhang Tie smiled, "I was called flesh grinder on battle field. I killed several dozens of military officers and numerous average soldiers in a few days. I have been adapted to these scenes!"


    "You are bragging!" Ma Aiyun smiled.


    "This is not the time to joke. Women should not join wars!" Zhang Tie replied seriously.


    Ma Aiyun and the other girls then exchanged glanced with each other and became a bit hesitant.


    "Zhang Tie, you go select equipment in the armory first, Liu Xu and I will go notify Zhang Zao and Meiling. We will gather outside," Yang Yunkang told Zhang Tie before left with Liu Xu.


    At this moment, many lovers were bidding farewell to each other. Some lovers even entered the armory in pairs. As Liu Xu and Yang Yuankang''s girlfriends were only LV 6, they were not qualified to join the action; before they left, they hurriedly went to notify them.


    Seeing that Ma Aiyun and the other girls were still hesitating, Zhang Tie directly walked into the armory of the Fight Performance Hall.


    The armory had two gates. After entering the gate from the Fight Performance Hall, they chose their equipment and weapons before left from the other gate. After that, they gathered outside the armory and prepared to board the airships. As Lan Yunxi only left them ten minutes to prepare, they quickly selected their equipment and weapons.


    The armory covering over 3,000 square meters was full of armor and weapons. It was enough to arm a troop of thousands of people. Of course, it could easily arm these students from Breaking Heavens Department.


    Considering his sufficient physique, Zhang Tie chose an attractive, heavy, protective plate armor, which boasted super powerful defense ability and flexibility. However, it weighed more than 150 kilograms. The alloy steel on his chest, on his back, and his helmet was thicker than twenty millimeters. The armor extended to his feet. It was definitely like a humanoid tank. Anyone in such a heavy, protective plate armor was freakily muscular guy.


    Having experienced fighting in wars, Zhang Tie clearly knew that individual moving ability was definitely more important than defensive capability; the average person would definitely not choose such terrifying armor. However, it was a waste if Zhang Tie, who had freak huge strength, didn''t choose such armor with high protective capabilities. Additionally, Zhang Tie felt that it would not be a bad thing in the fight with the Zhen Clan which was involved with demons. Because, Zhen Clan might have its trump card which could be very destructive.


    After putting on the equipment, Zhang Tie only exposed his eyes to the public through the grim ox-horn like helmet.


    The moment Zhang Tie prepared to choose a heavy sword which was similar to his "Man''s Certificate", he caught sight of Ma Aiyun and the other girls entering armory, heads raising. Zhang Tie then sighed inside and just chose a 1.7 m high heavy spiked shield which weighed over 100 kg.


    After that, he chose a set of heavy metal container with nine javelins inside and carried them on his back. He then walked towards Ma Aiyun and the other girls, causing a loud sound.


    When those girls were putting on female tight armors, they caught sight of such a monster walking towards them. They were really startled by Zhang Tie''s equipment.


    "When you land and fight them, remember my current look and follow me up. With the heavy shield, I can protect you when necessary!" Zhang Tie''s voice drifted out of the air holes on the helmet in a low, muffled way.


    "Zhang Tie?" Those girls'' eyes almost popped out of their heads.


    "Hmm!" Zhang Tie nodded, "As your fighting strength is limited, try some agile weapons and equipment; additionally, you six should not separate, try to stay in a group of three. As it''s your first time on the battlefield, you should remember that when you see any enemy with their head still attached, stab one more time, regardless of the wounds and blood stains on them. Pay special attention to those who have crossbows, javelins, or put one hand behind their body."


    Zhang Tie gained this knowledge on battlefields at the cost of blood and lives. After saying that, Zhang Tie turned around and left, causing a muffled sound, "Kengchi, kengchi". After exchanging glances with each other, those girls then watched the back of Zhang Tie''s terrifying armor and felt warm inside.


    After leaving the armory, Zhang Tie received one vial of medium recovery medicament and one vial of medium antidote potion at the entrance. He then thought inside, ''This is really a generous treatment from big clans like Huaiyuan Palace!''


    Standing outside, Lan Yunxi fixed her eyes on the entrance of the armory. Having not seen Zhang Tie, she felt a bit reassured and a bit disappointed.


    Right then, one guy who looked like an iron tortoise walked out of the entrance of the armory. At the beginning, Lan Yunxi didn''t pay special attention to him; not until this guy passed by Lan Yunxi did she slightly quiver all over.


    "I will beat your buttocks when I come back!" Zhang Tie murmured.


    Lan Yuni glared at him initially. Then, she revealed a wisp of smile on her tense face ¡ª b*stard.


    Several minutes later, with the arrival of some big war airships, all the students who''d joined the operation boarded on in batches. After that, those airships directly flew away from Hidden Dragon Island towards the north in the dim twilight...

 364 A Destructive Strike

    Chapter 364: A Destructive Strike


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Through the porthole beside him, Zhang Tie saw airships covering the sky, causing a colossal dark shadow; he felt shocked at the scale of the operation.


    These actions further displayed Huaiyuan Palace''s power to Zhang Tie.


    After forming a matrix in the air, two groups of airships covered thousands square meters in the air.


    Thankfully, it was evening. If such a swarm of airships passed by in the daytime, the wide area of black shadow would bring an extreme sense of fear to people on the ground.


    They boarded the war airships which were built for Huaiyuan Prefecture''s troop last year. They were as long as 400 m and weighed more than 300 tons. They could navigate 4500 km at a speed of 160 km/h one time. Therefore, they were qualified to be known as the kings of the skies.


    Being different from the cigar-shaped airships that Zhang Tie took before, the triangular shape of the war airships looked extremely like a ray in the sea while its huge body afforded it a super large capacity.


    At this moment, sitting in the airship, Zhang Tie was watching the elites of Huaiyuan Palace on the other side of the passenger compartment. He felt as if he were sitting in the passenger cabin of a giant passenger liner.


    In flight, it was so stable that passengers couldn''t feel it was flying rapidly at all.


    Soon after Zhang Tie boarded, all the students of Hidden Dragon Palace had found out the cause of this action and the details of action. Zhang Tie''s puzzlement finally was clarified.


    The whole action benefited from the environmental sanitation worker in Stars Viewing City who had discovered what happened to Zhen Clan Mansion of Heavens Cold City before dawn, allowing big figures in Huaiyuan Palace to make necessary preparations before this event was exposed to the public.


    For Huaiyuan Palace, the alleged remedy was to cover what happened in Zhen Clan Mansion in a short period so as to spare time for Huaiyuan Palace to implement the action and let the sleeping dogs lie.


    Before dawn, those earth-shattering words on the exterior wall and the gate of Zhen Clan Mansion had been cleaned up. All the personnel who knew what happened in the Mansion had been isolated temporarily in case they leaked the news; those who had established partnerships with the Mansion had also been controlled as soon as possible. Since the morning after the event in the Zhen Clan Mansion, some elites of Huaiyuan Palace had stood outside the gate of the Mansion in the uniform of guards of the Mansion after changing their appearance.


    Looking from outside, everything inside Zhen Clan Mansion was as normal as usual. Even those business partners of the Zhen Clan accessed the Mansion and dealt with their daily deliveries as usual.


    Nobody across Stars Viewing City had noticed the abnormal situation in Zhen Clan Mansion during the next day after the event happened; in the same day, elites of Huaiyuan Palace had figured out the Zhen Clan''s arrangements with Huaiyuan Palace and the Long Wind Business Group according to the clues left in the Mansion and the words left by Zhang Tie.


    When he found that weird statue being worshipped in the hidden room of the Mansion, Zhang Tie didn''t know what it represented, he only felt it was related to demons; however, that statue had caused a great earthquake in Huaiyuan Palace.


    This was the first time that the Three-Eye Association of demons had reappeared since the second holy war between human beings and demons. It was much more severe than what Zhang Tie had imagined. Historically, any country or clan found to be involved with demons would be cleaned, causing the death of hundreds of millions of living beings.


    Huaiyuan Palace as a whole started to jump like a barbarous ox whose bottom had been slashed.


    Zhang Taibai''s wife had been arrested and interrogated secretly last night.


    The Zhen Clan''s moles in Huaiyuan Palace and Long Wind Business Group had also been arrested when the students from Breaking Heavens Department left Hidden Dragon Island this morning.


    Until the students were up in the air, this action was still an operation that was only known by a minority. Only after the clan elites boarded on the airships and had lost contact with outside could they gain details about this action.


    The same thing happened in Hidden Dragon Palace, all the students who knew that the Zhang Clan was going to raid Heavens Cold City tonight were in airships or forbidden from leaving Heavens Breaking Department. The clan did this to ensure their safety and the secrecy of the operation.


    As this action was related to demons, the clan should be very careful about it. The Seniors Association of Huanyuan Palace were not sure whether demons or demons'' lackeys were hiding in Huaiyuan Prefecture and whether the action would arise other chain reactions or not. If a powerhouse above LV 15 was hiding on Hidden Dragon Island and started a war, it would be a devastating blow for the future of Hidden Dragon Palace.


    Therefore, after most of the students from Breaking Heavens Palace left Hidden Dragon Island by airships, a senior from Seniors Association of the Zhang Clan had already brought a batch of powerhouses to Hidden Dragon Island.


    After covering up what happened in the Zhen Clan Mansion in Stars Viewing City for two days, Huaiyuan Palace chose to raid the nest of the Zhen Clan in Heavens Cold City with its clan elites after travelling a thousand miles and determined to destroy it.


    By then Zhang Tie understood how smart those big figures in Huaiyuan Palace were. Their tactic was always as swift and ferocious as a lightning bolt.


    In the airship, a strange senior military officer of Huaiyuan Prefecture was talking about the situation in Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City and the operation.


    "As the Zhen Clan has settled in Heavens Cold City for over 100 years, it is a local power in Langye Prefecture. Its deep-rooted power has already spread throughout most of Heavens Cold City. After more than 100 years'' development, the total population of the Zhen Clan, including its direct line of descent, branch families, and various relatives, has reached 110,000 people. The city guard army of Heavens Cold City includes over 45,000 people, among which, almost all the military officers are part of the direct lines and branch families of the Zhen Clan. Besides the city guard army of Heavens Cold City, Zhen Clan has another clan army composed of about 3,000 clan elites ¡ª Black Armor Army. Our task is to destroy a fort base of Black Armor Army outside Heavens Cold City!"


    When the senior military officer mentioned Black Armor Army, he pointed at the Bluestone Pass Fort to the northeast of Heavens Cold City on the map with his pen.


    "Bluestone Pass Fort is a station of Black Armor Army and the portal of Heavens Cold City in the northeast. It''s precipitous on terrain. About 1,500 members of Black Armor Army defend here. They are very powerful. After clearing out the guards there, we will control the northeast portal of Heavens Cold City! Thereafter, the Zhen Clan will have no way to retreat. With the help of our airship and mobile enforcement troop, we can destroy and occupy the Zhen Clan''s other forts and passes. We need to eliminate them all. No member of the Zhen Clan is allowed to escape!"


    "Sir, what if someone in the forts surrenders, will... we take them as prisoners?" a girl who''d joined the operation asked. She then felt the others all looking at her; therefore, her voice gradually slowed down.


    After gazing at that girl for a while, the military officer slowly said, "Black Armor Army is an armed force composed of the students of Zhen Clan. As we''ve confirmed that Zhen Clan is colluding with demons and is a member of demons'' Three-Eye Assoiation, we will deal with them according to the order of Seniors Association and the universal rule of human race on this kind of clan. None of them should be kept alive; even if they surrender, keep killing them to eliminate any further dangers!"


    Hearing this, not only the girl who asked this question, even the faces of Ma Aiyun and the other girls beside Zhang Tie turned slightly pale.


    "The only troop that we can allow to surrender are those average soldiers of the city guard army of Heavens Cold City who have put down their weapons and surrendered at their own discretion. For others, we should kill them all, including the direct lines and branch families of the Zhen Clan and those who dare to attack us!" that military officer continued to explain icily.


    Then, he slowly glanced over all the members in the airship, "There''s one point that you should understand that this is a war between demons and their lackeys. If you are merciful and pitiful to any one of them, you might cause hundreds, even thousands, of innocent people to die. If you leave the lackeys of demons alive, anyone among you might die in the future. The decree of the existence of Three-Eye Association is to coordinate demons to eliminate human race or turn them into docile slaves! If we kill them, we are saving innocent people and striving for our right to live freely."


    The airship then became silent...


    The only pitiful thing for Zhang Tie was that he was not assigned in the same group with Lan Yunxi. At this moment, Lan Yunxi was in another airship. According to the operation''s plan, Lan Yunxi was not going to raid the other fort bases of the Zhen Clan like Zhang Tie''s group but probably be assigned to destroy the nest of the Zhen Clan.


    Zhang Tie patted Ma Aiyun''s shoulder to comfort her. Then, he closed his eyes. He imagined two abacuses in his mind and started to practice mental arithmetic by abacus so as to slowly enhance and recover his spiritual energy.


    After sweeping away the Zhen Clan Mansion that night, as he predicted, he gained another Fruit of Brilliance which increased his spiritual energy by more than forty times. It was a big harvest. After eating that fruit, Zhang Tie obviously sensed that his mental arithmetic by abacus had reached a limit as he touched an invisible film. Zhang Tie really expected to tear off the film and checked what was behind it. Faintly, Zhang Tie felt it was a very important bottleneck for his cultivation.


    ...


    Six hours after they boarded the airships, they ate some rations to supplement their physical strength, followed by another long boring wait.


    After almost a full night''s flight, the airships finally parted and headed for their own tasks. At this moment, everybody had been woken up to prepare for the upcoming war.


    The contour of a city with sparse lamplights faintly appeared below the clouds.


    Zhang Tie''s airship directly sped up towards the northeast of this city...


    Several minutes later, a war airship floating above the thin clouds dropped the first white phosphorous gel combustion bomb of 500 kg into a fort in the mountain range...


    Then, the 2nd, the 3rd, the 4th...


    As a result, white light flashed one by another in the fort; white light flashed across the other places almost at the same time, causing great chaos across the land.


    Flames started to spread across the land, making it bright all over. In a split second, the forts below became a sea of flames...

 365 Unrivaled Fighter

    Chapter 365: Unrivaled Fighter


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    It was pretty a long time to wait until the flames in Bluestone Pass Fort were put out. Although it was only a little over twenty minutes, it felt as long as the period from Hidden Dragon Island to here by airships for them, especially those who had not joined any real wars.


    For castles and forts which were mainly made of stones, steel bars, or cement, white phosphorous gel combustion bombs were not used for the purpose of destroying the targeted building structures but to kill live people and destroy some facilities on land.


    After being detonated, white phosphorous gel combustion bombs could hardly be put out; additionally, they would stick to the surfaces of objects in large areas and continued to burn. Their burning temperature was as high as 1000 degrees Celsius, under which temperature, as long as it''s stuck with gel, most of steam-driven defense facilities would be destroyed.


    It''s needless to say what would happen if they were stuck to human bodies or something combustible.


    From the beginning to the end, the air-defense turret in Bluestone Pass Fort only launched their ballista two times before being ineffective in front of white phosphorous gel combustion bombs. Additionally, the two bolts lost their power when they were still far away from the bottom of the airship. As a result, they just fell off after drawing a parabola in the air.


    Soon after being attacked by white phosphorous gel combustion bombs, the steam pipes of the castle or fort would be damaged or meet mechanical obstacles. As a result, the pressure on the turret would drop off, causing the air-defense ballista an adornment.


    In this age, the most effective weapon against an airship was another airship. Pitifully, even after the airships of Huaiyuan Palace completed the first round of attack, the airships of Zhen Clan still didn''t start a counterattack yet.


    This was the advantage of raiding ¡ª it never spared any chance for the opponent to counterattack.


    After the flames below gradually put out and the air-defense armed force of the fort was disarmed, Zhang Tie''s airship started to descend and hovered over a hundred meters above Bluestone Fort. At the same time, they started to fire the ballistas on the airship so as to clean off as many obstacles as possible for the students before they landed.


    The small-caliber rapid fire steam-driven ballista was pretty powerful when shooting downwards. After being shot out, the bolts carried a great inertia which could easily penetrate through two men in armor. Any bolt could easily break one''s foot or hand.


    The terrifying war airship was like an eagle hunting its prey. It constantly launched attacks towards the targets below; as a result, some soldiers who had reluctantly gathered under the attack of combustion bombs were soon shot over by the steam bolts.


    "Open airborne hatch cover No.1 to No...."


    "Put down the wire cable..."


    "Prepare for fire suppression and cover..."


    "Fighters ready for airborne landing..."


    The commanders on the airships were shouting loudly. In only a few seconds, fighters had readied themselves for airborne landing. Because of the low height and requirements on high speed and efficiency, no parachutes were used; instead, a wire cable was used to slide down. By pulling the speed control pulley, everybody could slide onto land in a few seconds.


    They then stood at the entrance of the airborne landing cabin; meanwhile, a chilly wind blew in from the entrance of the airborne landing cabin and constant clear sounds of ''Ding, ding, dang, dang'' drifted from the armor plate at the bottom of the airships while being struck by bolts. Although the guards in the forts below had suffered a blow, they still maintained some fighting strength.


    At this moment, only about 1000 guards were left alive below. Some were moving in all directions; some were reorganizing themselves to launch counterattack. With only air attack, unless dropping powerful alchemical bombs, they could not completely destroy the fort.


    The senior military officer who was interpreting about this action just now glanced over them and asked, "Who will go first?"


    The one going down first would definitely be the main target of the guards below. The first one would face a great danger even on the wire cable.


    However, the reason that Seniors Association of Zhang Clan allowed clan students of Hidden Dragon Palace to join this war was hoping that most clan students of Hidden Dragon Palace could experience a war by themselves as a very important force of Hidden Dragon Palace.


    Huaiyuan Palace had not carried out such a large-scale operation for over two decades.


    Hearing that military officer''s words, before the others stood out, Zhang Tie, whose blood had been boiling, had jumped out and grabbed the speed control pulley on the wire cable.


    The moment he grabbed the speed control pulley by his left hand and jumped out of the cabin, Zhang Tie had figured out the situation below; at this moment, the first rays of the morning sun had just radiated from the skyline.


    Zhang Tie then pulled out one javelin from his back and instantly penetrated through one guy who was aiming at the airship with a crossbow.


    Zhang Tie moved very fast, so was the speed control pulley on the wire cable. He dropped more than ten meters every second. Before he touched the ground, he had already thrown away all nine javelins in the heavy metal container.


    After Zhang Tie cleaned his javelin container, the sounds clashing the bottom of the airship also became sparse. Those being more careful would hear the sonic boom after Zhang Tie threw out each javelin.


    With nine consecutive sonic booms, the nine guys who posed greatest threats to their airborne landing had been cleaned by Zhang Tie. Watching Zhang Tie''s back, a bright light flashed across the senior military officer in the airship.


    "One team down every three seconds, come on!" that military officer shouted. Watching Zhang Tie jumping down, the other male students of Huaiyuan Palace all became very dauntless. In a split second, six more people had jumped down the wire cable.


    After killing nine dangerous bowmen, Zhang Tie had become the very target of the other bowmen. Thankfully, he descended very fast while the airship was moving above the Bluestone Fort. As a result, most bolts had passed by Zhang Tie''s side, except for one bolt which directly flew towards Zhang Tie''s forehead and was blocked by Zhang Tie''s heavy spike shield.


    Although the bolt was blocked, it still made Zhang Tie''s arm numb.


    Zhang Tie took a chance to peer downwards and saw a long-face military officer who was more than 30 years old in black armor aiming at him with a crossbow. That man''s glare then collided with Zhang Tie''s from a hundred meters away.


    A great number of soldiers in black armor, long spears in hands, were rushing towards the estimated arrival place of Zhang Tie while someone shouted, "Kill him, kill him. If you kill one enemy tonight, you will gain one rank higher and a hundred gold coins!"


    That long-face military officer in the far kept shooting at him. However, out of everybody''s imagination, Zhang Tie forcefully swayed the wire cable and loosened his grip when he was still 30-odd m away from land; he then jumped straight down like a meteor.


    Nobody could''ve imagined that Zhang Tie would dare to jump off from such a height in heavy armor, including those military officers and the succeeding students from Hidden Dragon Palace.


    If not for the iron-body fruits that he''d eaten and the deep sea pressure that had granted him such a high endurance, Zhang Tie wouldn''t have dared to jump off with the equipment of several hundred kilograms from such a height either. This was already his limit of endurance.


    Not having imagined that Zhang Tie would jump off from that height, the long-face military officer''s second bolt flew past Zhang Tie, 33.3 cm above his head. Seeing this, those soldiers who had been rushing towards Zhang Tie''s estimated arrival place also turned around in a flurried way.


    Zhang Tie had triggered his rapid moving skill in air.


    With a sound of "Bang", Zhang Tie pounded onto land like a shell. At the same time, he waved his shield, causing five soldiers of Black Armor Army to be heavily injured and fly back through the air while sprouting blood.


    Soon after that, Zhang Tie sprang up like a lightning bolt once again and rushed towards that long-face military officer. During this process, twenty or so soldiers of Black Armor Army who were rushing towards Zhang Tie were smashed by Zhang Tie''s shield and sent flying in the air.


    Looking from upside down, Zhang Tie was a madly darting ox while those soldiers of Black Armor Army were as weak as scarecrows and were overwhelmed.


    With great physical strength and the bliss of God''s rune''s effect, Zhang Tie''s speed was still amazing even though he was in heavy armor.


    Seeing Zhang Tie being that terrifying and directly rushing towards him, that long-face military officer finally became flurried as he shot out the third bolt towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie threw out his shield. The rotating heavy spike shield of over a hundred kilograms then cut some soldiers of Black Armor Army into halves before collided with the third bolt shot out by that long-faced military officer.


    After throwing out the shield, Zhang Tie sped up once again. Before the long-faced military officer shot out the forth bolt, Zhang Tie had already charged towards him.


    "Kill!" Zhang Tie''s voice thundered as he shot out his punch.


    Zhang Tie was voice was as loud as a thunder that all the other battle cries were covered. As a result, some soldiers of Black Armor Army who were a bit closer to Zhang Tie felt their heads humming as they slowed down.


    At the same time, many people in the fort looked towards Zhang Tie.


    That long-face officer faced Zhang Tie''s punch with his own punch...


    However, with only one punch...


    That long-face military''s body had been broken into pieces like a porcelain dropping off from dozens of floors high and turned into a rain of blood.


    "Argh, battalion commander was killed..." Many soldiers of Black Armor Army became flurried...


    Behind Zhang Tie, a hundred meter high battle qi totem of a huge centipede rose up from the burning bloody waves at once and looked down at those soldiers in the fort, full of killing intent. It was like a monster who was going to eat as it covered the whole fort at once. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s terrifying performance and immortal battle qi totem, many people were startled. As a result, the remaining soldiers of Black Armor Army across the fort were dwarfed...


    "Unrivaled fighter, unrivaled fighter..." Standing in the airship, at the sight of Zhang Tie''s excellent performance, that senior military officer was so excited that he shouted loudly, "Who is he? Who is he? Why I''ve not heard about him before?"


    Seeing Zhang Tie in his steel and iron armor, Ma Aiyun and the other students who knew Zhang Tie felt their minds go blank; Zhang Tie was simply a killing machine on the battle field, so ferocious that he seemed like a stranger to them...

 366 Invitation

    Chapter 366: Invitation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    As more and more students landed from the airships, the Black Armor Army finally started to collapse.


    The first batch of people, who followed after Zhang Tie, were all powerful fighters above LV 7 from Hidden Dragon Palace.


    The soldiers of Black Armor Army were elites among the guards in Heavens Cold City; their ability almost matched that of the Iron-Blood Camp''s in Norman Empire in Zhang Tie''s opinion. However, except for only a minority of military officers who could fight the powerhouses from Hidden Dragon Palace for a while, the average soldiers were all easily defeated by the elites of Hidden Dragon Place.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the only thing praiseworthy about the soldiers of Black Armor Army was their desperate fighting spirit. For this troop composed of clan members who would never surrender unless their clan ordered them to put down their weapons. This was also the reason why all the clan forces in this age were reliable ¡ª nobody would betray their own clan and family.


    ...


    After all the male students from Hidden Dragon Palace had landed, the elites of the regular army of the Zhang Clan also started to slide down in batches. The female students from Hidden Dragon Palace were at the end of the line.


    Although Zhang Tie only fought a bit longer than twenty minutes, his heavy chain protective plate armor that radiated metallic luster before had been covered with blood stains like being scooped out of a blood pond. The color of the outside of the armor had become terrifying crimson. Even Zhang Tie had lost count of how many people he had killed. Finally, he could see no enemies around him at all; even if there were enemies, they tried to stay away from him.


    ...


    As more and more reinforcements came down from the airship, Zhang Tie slowed down his killing speed. Instead, he just wandered around the fort and collected his heavy javelins from the bodies of those who''d been nailed to the ground by him.


    In a short while, Zhang Tie had collected seven of the nine heavy javelins.


    When Zhang Tie came to the eighth javelin, a red-eyed military officer in black armor jumped out of the cloister in the fort and slashed towards Zhang Tie''s neck ferociously and swiftly.


    "Who are you?"


    This military officer was very young; he was only about twenty years old, a bit elder than Zhang Tie. With a handsome face, his fighting strength was between LV 6 and LV 7. He was also very brave. When he attacked Zhang Tie, a battle qi totem of huge black spider appeared behind him, displaying his fighting strength.


    If given more time, this young military officer might have a bright future and would rise to LV 7 soon. If he met someone else, he might have killed that one, however, he''d met Zhang Tie which meant everything would come to an end.


    Zhang Tie had exerted the power of the Iron-Blood Fist, which ranked first among the secret fighting skills of the royal household of the Norman Empire in the Waii Sub-Continent, to a terrifying extent.


    Zhang Tie didn''t even glance at him, instead, he just kicked out sharply, ferociously, and directly. His assailant shot him over twenty meters away like a bolt, causing him hit onto the hard wall of the fort. As a result, he was broken into pieces and turned into a pool of blood and flesh before he could even utter a miserable shriek.


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel pity for any of the Zhen Clan members at all. He had sworn to uproot the Zhen Clan. Of course, he would not let this man live.


    After killing him, Zhang Tie pulled out the eighth heavy javelin from a corpse that had been using a heavy crossbow and wiped off the blood stains on his clothes. He then walked towards Ma Aiyun and the other girls.


    The six female students had also killed some average soldiers of Black Armor Army. However, in Zhang Tie''s eyes, perhaps due to being influenced by the miserable, bloody atmosphere or because it was their first time in a war of such a scale, those senior sisters could only exert half of their fighting strength at most.


    The six female students were divided into two groups, three in each group as suggested by Zhang Tie. They were fighting more than ten soldiers about five to six meters apart.


    At the sight of their pale faces due to fear and exhaustion, Zhang Tie slightly shook his head; war was really not suitable for women!


    Carrying his heavy shield and javelin container, Zhang Tie leisurely picked up a long spear and a grim flail of more than 100 kg from two dead bodies and walked at a steady pace.


    Seeing that Gu Caidie and the other two girls were a bit tense while fighting three guys in black armor, Zhang Tie instantly threw out the long spear and penetrated through the 3 guys like a kebab, sending them flying back at the same time. Benefitting from that, those girls breathed a sigh of relief.


    Zhang Tie waved the heavy, three-headed flail and caused a weird ripple in the air. After being accelerated, the spiked steel heads of the flail had a terrifying impact force which could even match that of a steam punching machine. Simply by waving it horizontally, Zhang Tie had easily broken the helmets and armors of four soldiers of Black Armor Army, causing their necks to sprout out blood along with their brains and pieces of flesh.


    With another horizontal sweep, together with the sounds of broken armors and bones as well as miserable shrieks, another three guys twisted with their weapons and fell down like cornstalks being destroyed by hurricane.


    In less than two seconds after Zhang Tie came close to those girls, all their enemies had been cleared away. Seeing this, the girls became startled.


    Zhang Tie then walked towards the remaining soldiers of Black Armor Army who were besieging the group of Gu Caidie. Seeing Zhang Tie walking towards them, those guys then shouted loudly with frightened looks; they turned around to escape. However, after running a few steps, they were caught up by a fighter of the elite troop of Hidden Dragon Palace. One slash, one down; in a wink, they all became corpses.


    Seeing that the remaining opponents had been surrounded and the situation would be resolved in a short while, Zhang Tie stopped.


    From when the first combustion bomb was dropped down until the end of the war, the warfare in Bluestone Pass Fort only lasted less than one hour.


    Seeing Zhang Tie walking towards them in bloody armor, although knowing who was inside, those girls were all scared as they moved back subconsciously and fixed their eyes onto Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile as he picked off his helmet. After seeing Zhang Tie''s familiar face, those girls looked a bit better. At the same time, the group of Ma Aiyun hurriedly moved close to him. Considering the thick blood stains on the ground, they became very cautious as they drew close to Zhang Tie.


    "Sen... senior brother!" They even stammered at sight of Zhang Tie.


    "Are you all right, senior sisters?"


    "Fine!" Ma Aiyun tried to recover his composure. As she was holding her sword too forcefully, her fingers had even become blue, the same to the other girls.


    "Zhang Tie, you''re injured?!" Yuan Ziyi pointed at a location on Zhang Tie''s shoulder and shouted out of surprise.


    "Argh? Where?" Zhang Tie started to check himself.


    "It''s... it''s on your shoulder!"


    Zhang Tie then touched it and picked off a piece of organ from the connection between his left shoulder and his left arm and casually threw it onto the ground, "I''m not injured, it might be a piece of flesh from one of my opponents!"


    A piece of flesh? Hearing this and seeing said piece of flesh lying on the ground, one girl couldn''t stand it at once as she turned around and started to vomit. The rest of girls all looked worse for wear. They couldn''t stomach looking at it any more.


    Zhang Tie knew the reason that those big figures allowed these girls to join this action ¡ª they would probably face more cruel battles in the future, as they were more powerful than average women, they should at least witness and adapt to this bloody environment even though the clan didn''t expect them to be the main fighting force on battlefields.


    "Zhang Tie..." Liu Xu and Yang Yuankang both walked over with their weapons dripping with blood. Seeing the blood stains all over Zhang Tie''s armor, they looked at Zhang Tie in a way which was a bit different than usual.


    "Thank god, we''re all right!" Zhang Tie smiled, "Don''t look at me that way, I''ve told you that I became accustomed to life on the battlefield when I was in the Iron-Blood Camp of the Norman Empire before!"


    "You were in the Iron-Blood Camp of Norman Empire? Are you interested in joining our Breaking-Sun Army after leaving Hidden Dragon Palace?" Saying that, the senior military officer who was explaining and assigning tasks for them on the airship was walking towards them with some elites of the regular troop of Hidden Dragon Palace; he fixed his eagle-like sharp, gleaming eyes onto Zhang Tie like discovering a gold ingot.


    He was wearing a violet golden, flowing cloud armor which was usually worn by lieutenant generals in Jinyun Country. However, there was no military rank and badge of any troop. They only knew that this guy must be a high military officer in Zhang Clan; however, they didn''t know which position he held.


    "Sir!"


    Seeing him walking towards them, those students, including Zhang Tie, hurriedly bowed towards him as a military etiquette.


    "How about that?" continued the officer, with his eyes fixed on Zhang Tie.

 367 Zhang Ties Ambition

    Chapter 367: Zhang Tie''s Ambition


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Liu Xu and Yang Yuankang were admiring Zhang Tie so much as many elite students in Hidden Dragon Palace with high talents or fighting strength were selected by agencies or departments under the affiliation of the Zhang Clan when they were still in Hidden Dragon Palace.


    This was not rarely seen in Hidden Dragon Palace, yet not everybody could enjoy such a good treatment. Most of the guys selected by agencies or departments under the affiliation of the Zhang Clan were elite students above LV 8 who were going to leave Hidden Dragon Palace. Few students were selected at LV 7 like Zhang Tie.


    It was really out of his friends'' imaginations that Zhang Tie would be selected by a senior military officer of Breaking-Sun Army on the battle in Bluestone Pass Fort.


    Compared to Hurricane Army, which was mainly composed of slaves, Breaking-Sun Army was the real powerful armed force composed of excellent students and Zhang descendants of Huaiyuan Palace. It was many students'' dream to be a military officer of Breaking-Sun Army.


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded; however, he recovered composure at once, "Mr... may I know your position in Breaking-Sun Army?"


    That senior military officer was not angered by Zhang Tie''s hesitation and question; instead, he glanced at Zhang Tie with admiration before introducing himself. "I''m Yang Shaoguang, the major general of Division 306, an air assault troop of Breaking-Sun Army!" After glancing at Zhang Tie, he added, "If you want, I can appoint you as a regimental commander!''


    Regimental commander? According to the military establishment of Jinyun Country, this position could lead at least 2000 soldiers. Its military rank was lieutenant colonel which was only two ranks lower than general.


    Many students from Hidden Dragon Palace might not be able to be a military officer in the army even if they reached LV 9. Even though they were appointed as military officers, most of them could only start from major. Due to the specialty of its establishment and fighting tasks, the position of division commander, that could be said to be equal to a colonel in other places, was equivalent to a major general in the Breaking-Sun Army. Many people dreamed about being a lieutenant colonel in the air assault army; most didn''t have a chance at all.


    To be honest, if Zhang Tie was still like before, he might have accepted this position; however, Zhang Tie had just got out of the shackle of the system of Huaiyuan Palace, how could he go back to the past condition so easily and follow others'' orders? He would not even accept being a division commander, let alone a regimental commander.


    ''The holy war between the human race and demons is coming, lackeys of demons such as the Zhen Clan have exposed themselves, indicating the coming chaotic world. I must rely on myself instead of others.


    ''But how can I improve my fighting strength? It comes from that small tree in Castle of Black Iron and my master whose nickname is Alchemist Lord and is known across Eastern Continent. If I have to follow others'' orders at LV 9, I don''t feel it is an interesting life! I don''t dream of being a senior fighter! Regimental commander? As long as I have money, this father can buy thousands of slaves and also be a regimental commander!''


    The above thoughts flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind. After some consideration, Zhang Tie told Yang Shaoguang sincerely, "I appreciate that you like me; but I don''t plan to join any troop temporarily. When I am qualified to leave Hidden Dragon Island after reaching LV 9, I will have a lot of things to deal with. My dream is to be an alchemist; LV 9 is just the minimal threshold in the world of alchemists. I will not easily give up on my dream!"


    "You hope to become an alchemist?" Yang Shaoguang widened his eyes at once with a bit amazement and pity.


    "Yes! I set this target before I entered Hidden Dragon Palace!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s ambition, Zhang Tie''s friends all stared at Zhang Tie with amazed looks. This was Zhang Tie''s first time telling others about his lifelong goal. Of course, this target sounded like a poor brat in a mountain village dreaming to be a king. It was too distant and unrealistic.


    Alchemists were the top professionals in the Black Iron Age and also the most terrifying. Many people didn''t even have a chance to meet an alchemist in their whole lives.


    If they had an alchemist backing them, this battle would have ended in a completely different way; as long as they dropped a destructive alchemical bomb from an airship, what left for them was only to clean the battle field!


    After gazing at Zhang Tie for several seconds, Yang Shaoguang realized that Zhang Tie''s determination was as firm as steel and iron.


    "I also came from Hidden Dragon Palace. According to my knowledge, there are always some students who dream to be alchemist after leaving Hidden Dragon Palace each year. However, none of them have realized their dream in the past past. Young man, I hope you can realize your dream!"


    Knowing Zhang Tie''s choice, although feeling a bit pitiful, Yang Shaoguang didn''t push the matter; instead, he encouraged Zhang Tie before leaving to guide his soldiers who were cleaning the battlefield. After walking two steps, he turned around, "You are Zhang Tie, right? If you change your mind, you can come to me at any time. Breaking-Sun Army will welcome you forever!"


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    "You just gave it up?" Yang Yuankang stared at Zhang Tie out of amazement, "Do you know what does it means to enter Breaking-Sun Army?"


    Zhang Tie shrugged as he replied casually, "I have my own ambition. Compared to becoming a military officer or a general, don''t you think that becoming an alchemist would be much cooler?"


    "Alchemist is a d*mn cool profession, however, the chances of becoming an alchemist are almost as likely winning the lottery. Many people do not realize this dream even in their whole lives. Some senior brothers in Hidden Dragon Palace also had such thoughts before; however, none of them succeed! I was told that it was very difficult to enter the threshold of this profession." Liu Xu also shook his head.


    Zhang Tie touched his nose, "I will try my best. If I don''t have such a talent, at least I will not regret not trying!"


    "I believe you can. If you truly succeed one day, many people will rely on you!" Yang Yuankang burst out laughing.


    ...


    After the battle, the morning sun had just risen up from the horizon in the far and driven away the last wisp of darkness over the land.


    Now, people had already started to clean the battle field in Bluestone Pass Fort. Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t need to worry about that. Looking at the smoking Heavens Cold City in the far, Zhang Tie became slightly worried about Lan Yunxi''s safety, "How about Heavens Cold City now?"


    "They might have finished as well! It''s said that super powerhouses of Zhang Clan are assigned there. Additionally, our people have the advantages of numbers and fighting strength!" Liu Xu answered.


    "But there are tens of thousands of people in Heavens Cold City. It''s hard to suppress them with only a few powerhouses." Zhang Tie slightly frowned.


    Having experience in an army, Zhang Tie knew very clearly that as long as a troop''s morale was plucked up, a couple of super powerhouses could hardly suppress them. Although Huaiyuan Palace assigned over 4,000 clan soldiers there, Zhang Tie was still worried about them.


    "Big figures should have considered such a big event. I wonder about their strategy in Heavens Cold City!" Yang Yuankang said.


    ''I hope they''ve made arrangements.'' Zhang Tie comforted himself inside. Not being a big figure of the Zhang Clan, Zhang Tie could hardly find out all the details of this operation; however, Zhang Tie was still a bit worried.


    This assault towards Bluestone Pass Fort was really successful, but was not challenging at all. However, when Zhang Tie thought about those killers and the LV 10 guys from the Zhen Clan whom he encountered in Dragon Cave, he knew that the Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City would not be easily destroyed. What was more, this clan colluded with demons. They should have trump cards and preparations to counterattack.


    ...


    At this moment, battle calls and black smokes spread throughout Heavens Cold City.


    Above the two great battalions of City Guard Army in Heavens Cold City, some huge war airships locked the exit of the battalions and built a barrier with a fire wall around the battalions; meanwhile, they shot down batches of soldiers rushing out of the battalions with steam bolts in a terrifying fast speed from the airships.


    Some of the air-defenses of the city had long been destroyed. A batch of elites of Huaiyuan Palace occupied the gates in the south and the west of Heavens Cold City. A great number of clan powerhouses and elites were charging towards the inner city of Heavens Cold City, where the Zhen Clan''s nest was located.


    ...


    "The Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City colluded with demons. They are the remnants of the demons'' Three-Eye Association. By the order of Count Changfeng of Jinyun Country, the Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace are here to exterminate the Zhen Clan!


    "Attention! All soldiers and citizens in Heavens Cold City that collude with Zhen Clan and fight us will be seen as enemies of the human race and will be killed. Except for members of the Zhen Clan, anyone who puts down their weapons and doesn''t resist will be seen as innocent and your lives and property will be preserved...


    "All those stir up trouble at this time will be killed!"


    ...


    A loud sound rolled over the city from an airship above the highest place of Heavens Cold City. Following which, more than one million soldiers and citizens in the city were shocked so much that their faces even turned pale...

 368 A Sudden Change at Dawn

    Chapter 368: A Sudden Change at Dawn


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Heavens Cold City suffered a sudden assault. As a result, all the common households had closed their doors tightly. Even stores had been closed. Some brave guys peaked outside through windows; however, at the sight of those war airships firing downwards, they all hid back while drawing in their breath.


    At this moment, those who were still on the streets were all elites from Huaiyuan Palace or Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City.


    Fights could be seen everywhere in the city. However, the most ferocious place was in the inner city of Heavens Cold City where the nest of Zhen Clan was located in.


    The inner city of Heavens Cold City covered 1 square km, which was like an imperial palace being surrounded by courtyard walls and prohibitions. It was guarded by the Zhen Clan¡¯s elite troops. Besides a portion of their forces that were arranged in Bluestone Pass Fort, most of the strength of the Black Armor Army was gathered here.


    At the beginning of the assault, Huaiyuan Palace¡¯s war airships had destroyed the air-defense battery and the peripheral inner city walls.


    Huaiyuan Palace assigned 4000 people to Heavens Cold City, including its elite troop and some elite students from Hidden Dragon Palace. They completed airborne landing in the shortest period. After that, they broke through two inner city walls in an overwhelming manner and drew close to the core of the inner city of the Zhen Clan.


    The core of Zhen¡¯s inner city was the shrine of Zhen Clan, the residence of the central and branch figures of Zhen Clan and the center of authority from where the Zhen Clan ruled Heavens Cold City. This architectural complex occupied about 135000 square meters. After the elite students from Hidden Dragon Palace completed the assault in Bluestone Pass Fort, the elite troop of Huaiyuan Palace also rushed towards the nest of Zhen Clan.


    ...


    Lan Yunxi who ranked first on Hidden Dragon Fighting Strength List really displayed her terrifying power as the "No. 1 Senior Sister" in Hidden Dragon Palace. In amaranth war armor, Lan Yunxi held a exotic long whip. As a result, no enemy could draw within 15 m of her.


    Before Lan Yunxi broke through the last defensive line, a row of soldiers in black armor on the high wall aimed their crossbows towards Lan Yunxi who rushed ahead at the order of a military officer.


    Seeing this, Lan Yunxi sharply slashed her long whip in the air like a flame, cutting 5 soldiers in black armor in half.


    Facing the rain of bolts, Lan Yunxi contracted her long whip. She then swayed it in front of her and formed a defensive circle. Even a drop of water couldn''t break in, let alone those bolts, which were finally shattered and dropped to the ground.


    Lan Yunxi flashed forward like a lightning bolt and reached the foot of the wall in a split second. She slashed her long whip over the row of bowmen on the high wall like cutting wheat straws by sickle, leaving terrifying wounds on them. Finally, they all fell off the wall and died.


    Even though Zhang Tie was here at that moment, at sight of Lan Yunxi''s ferocious move, he also took a deep breath.


    Lan Yunxi then flew onto the wall. Shortly after, the soldiers in black armor uttered miserable shrieks and fell off the wall. In a few seconds, the top of the wall which had a length of dozens meters had been cleared by Lan Yunxi...


    On the other side, the elite troop of Huaiyuan Palace also faced a rain of bolts when they drew close to the same wall of the core area of the Zhen Clen.


    Seeing the bolts rain, Zhang Wumu, who was holding a huge ax was driven durious. After waving his huge age to chop off all the bolts, he put down his huge ax and undid his terrifying crossbow from his back.


    "B*stards, you dare to play archery in front of this grandpa..." Zhang Wumu shouted loudly like roaring tiger.


    Soon after his roar, he had triggered his bolts with a speed equivalent to a strike of lightning. 4 bolts each time, he triggered 6 times in 1 second, namely 24 bolts. Almost nobody could clearly see how he moved. In a split second, before the 3 rows of bowmen triggered their 2nd bolt from dozens of meters away, they had been shot by shell-like bolts. With shrill shrieks, they covered the terrifying bloody holes on their bodies and were sent flying backwards in the air.


    Zhang Wumu''s bolts were so powwerful that all those who stood in a line had been penetrated through by 1 bolt like a sugarcoated haws on a stick. As long as the bolt touched their bodies, it would make a bloody hole like the rim of a bowl.


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Wumu had collapsed the crossbow matrix on the high wall. In contrast, Yu Xiaotian in white had flashed onto the high wall not far from him...


    In a twinkling, a sword light appeared on the high wall which looked like a bright crescent. Along with fresh air, the bright crescent just flew across the high wall, causing enemies fall down one after the other while covering their throats. Anyone, common soldiers or military officers, attacking or defending would be killed instantly by Yu Xiaotian''s sword...


    Seeing Yu Xiaotian jumping onto the high wall first, Zhang Wumu swore inside. After putting his powerful crossbow on his back, Zhang Wumu then lifted his huge ax and rushed towards a gate under the high wall. Being still not there yet, he had raised high his huge ax and threw his terrifying huge ax towards that gate after swirling it in the air, breaking the wind and causing a weird roar.


    Despite being covered with copper nails, the thick gate with delicate adornments was shattered in a split second, causing miserable wails from behind. Zhang Wumu rushed through the gate first...


    A large number of soldiers from Huaiyuan Palace followed him in...


    In a split second, the last barrier of the core area of Zhen''s inner city was broken through.


    "Those who are not Zhen''s clansmen can survive when you kneel down on the ground!" Someone shouted loudly.


    ...


    A senior, some military officers and a batch of powerful fighters were observing the proceeding of the warfare below through that huge crystal optical imaging equipment at the bottom of the airship above the inner city of Heavens Cold City.


    "These clan students who ranked high on Hidden Dragon Fighting Strength List are really superb. After being further guided, they could definitely lead an army in the future!" A senior military officer in the same amaranth flowing-cloud armor nodded as he watched the proceedings below.


    "How many fighters above LV 10 in the Zhen clan?" The senior asked a military officer on his side as he watched the proceeding below.


    "According to our intelligence and the testimony of some Zhen clan moles in Huaiyuan Prefecture, the Zhen Clan have about 12-15 fighters above LV 10. Zhen Quan, the former master of Zhen Clan might have become a knight!" That military officer replied seriously.


    "Zhen Quan? I know him. When he was young, he was also an excellent figure in Jinyun Country. It''s really out of my imagination that he is a member of Three-Year Association. Hopefully, he is a knight so that I could fight him." The senior waved his hand and let out a sigh. After that, he recovered composure, "Zhang Yi, you can go down now. If those fighters above LV 10 in the Zhen Clan are still hiding there, they would have no chance to come out anymore. Don''t let those babies suffer any losses. They are the pillars of our clan in the future. It''s already enough for them!"


    "Yes, sir!" A tough man cringed. He then waved his hand and jumped off the airship followed by 10 more powerful fighters.


    They just jumped off from hundreds meters high like meteors. When they were close to the land, they started to release their battle qis which swayed like dragons dancing in the air. After that, they struck against the land while in the air to buffer their descending speed before landed safely.


    ...


    When they landed, they saw Zhang Wumu was beat forcefully and sent flying back in the air by a person who suddenly appeared in front of him; at the same time, all the figures ranking earlier on Hidden Dragon Fighting Strength List including Lan Yunxi and Yu Xiaotian were held back by a powerhouse in black clothes and gloomy face respectively.


    The moment these powerhouses appeared, those elite students from Hidden Dragon Palace were dwarfed.


    Yu Xiaotian stabbed towards that person''s chest with his longsword. However, that person didn''t even care about it, instead, he directly rushed forward and slashed towards Yu Xiaotian.


    Yu Xiaotian then abandoned his sword and flew backward. Whereas that person kept chasing after him although being stabbed by Yu Xiaotian''s longsword. Amazingly, that person didn''t bleed at all.


    By comparison, that person who held back Lan Yunxi was more powerful. After 3 rounds of fight, that person had already forced Lan Yunxi 10 m away. After 2 more moves, he had already broken through the long whip''s defense of Lan Yunxi; meanwhile, he stretched out his weird pitch-dark palm towards Lan Yunxi''s breasts.


    "Watch out, senior sister Xi. These guys are all powerful fighters and don''t feel pain!" A student from Hidden Dragon Palace looking pretty awkward shouted loudly towards her from several meters away.


    After slightly clashing against his punch, Lan Yunxi had flashed 10 m away along with his attacking force in a split second. Meanwhile, her long whip automatically returned and twisted around her waist like an intelligent animal. Lan Yunxi then undid her amaranth mimi crossbow from her back.


    The crossbow was so small that it looked like a prop for kids. It was only as long as 22 cm. At sight of it, anyone else would doubt about its destructive power.


    Lan Yunxi then pulled open her bow and aimed at that person as fast as a lightning bolt...


    That man then rushed towards Lan Yunxi. In a wink, he had been 3 m away from her when she had just pulled out her bow.


    The moment he found that he was aimed, his face had changed. He then started to retreat in a strange way by flashing left and right so as to evade from Lan Yunxi''s attack. In a twinkling, he had been more than 40 meters away.


    At this moment, Lan Yunxi triggered her mini crossbow...


    Almost when Lan Yunxi triggered her mini bow, that person had already uttered a miserable shriek. All of a sudden, he had become a ball of flame and been burned into ashes in a second.


    This shocked everybody else. However, Lan Yunxi didn''t stop, instead, she pulled open her mini bow again and shot out for the second time...


    That man in black clothes chasing after Yu Xiaotian also turned into a humanoid torch and became ashes in a second. Yu Xiaotian turned arond and glanced at Lan Yunxi. He found Lan Yunxi looked pale as she was shooting out her third bolt. As a result, that man in black clothes chasing after Zhang Wumu turned into the third torch and became a pile of ashes in a second.


    "Nice shot!" Zhang Yi sighed with feeling as he and the other powerhouses from Huaiyuan Palace blocked all the powerhouses above LV 10 of the Zhen Clan and took the advantage at once.


    After shooting out three bolts, Lan Yunxi''s face had turned pretty pale as she swaggered all over. Not only Yu Xiaotian and Zhang Wumu who hurriedly rushed towards her, all those famous figures on the Hidden Dragon Fighting Strength List were trying to protect her.


    The moment Yu Xiaotian supported her using his hand, Lan Yunxi glanced at him without any feeling. He then moved his hand back as he sighed inside.


    "Senior sister Xi, are you okay?" One person asked.


    Lan Yunxi took a deep breath as she tried to stand still and waved her head, "I''m okay..."


    At this moment, all the students from Hidden Dragon Palace were looking at Lan Yunxi with admiring and aweful expressions. The real fighting strength that Lan Yunxi displayed just now made everybody else give up their ambition to rank top on Hidden Dragon Fighting Strength List.


    Zhang Wumu just fixed his eyes on Lan Yunxi with mixed feelings inside. ''Is this the power of the "Breaking-Sun" bolt, the most powerful ancestrial bloodline in the Zhang Clan? Although my "Penetrating Through Cloud" bolt is also one of the most excellent ancestrial bloodlines in archery, it is much weaker than the "Breaking-Sun" bolt...Why, why such a top ancestrial blood line favors a woman, instead of me?''


    In front of the others, Lan Yunxi took out of that vial of all-purpose medicament marked with "Manjusaka" and bottomed it up.


    After drinking it, she only took a short rest, then, her face looked a bit better. Everybody realized that the three bolts had consumed her a lot of physical strength. Although she had recovered, her fighting strength had declined. Therefore, some elite students from Hidden Dragon Palace stayed beside her voluntarily as her guards.


    Holding that vial of medicament, Lan Yunxi gradually recovered her vitality. When she thought of Zhang Tie, she felt especially warm inside.


    ...


    As the last powerhouse above LV 10 in the Zhen Clan was killed, this battle in the core area of the inner city of Heavens Cold City had been settled. As a result, the inner city of Heavens Cold City was surrounded by the elites and powerhouses of Huaiyuan Palace, leaving the remnants of the Zhen Clan inside around the shrine of the Zhen Clan.


    The inside the Zhen Shrine was filled with a terrifying atmosphere. Therefore, nobody dared to launch an attack. Instead, they all stopped 50 m away from the shrine.


    ...


    "Forefather, if you don''t counterattack, the Zhen Clan will be eliminated today!" A Middle-aged man was forcefully kowtowing and shouting exhaustively outside the gate of the Zhen Shrine while the other remnants were crying surround the round stages outside the shrine.


    "Even if I counterattack, the Zhen Clan will still be eliminated today!"


    Along with this powerful, aging voice, the shrine''s gate was opened from inside. An old man with silver hair walked out of there. After glancing over his descendants kneeling down outside, he raised his head and watched the airship above the inner city. "I wonder which senior of Huaiyuan Palace comes, can we have a talk?"


    "After departing from each other in Xiajing City 4 decades ago, I''ve not imagined that I could meet you again, brother Zhen. Alas, what a pity!"


    A voice sounded around the Zhen Shrine from the airship above. It was so normal that everybody could hear it clearly like he was beside each other them.


    Along with this voice, a person walked out of the airship in the air and walked downstairs one step by another like there were truly stairs.


    All the members of Huaiyuan Palace had their spirits raised as they watched the clan senior walking downstairs from the airship. By contrast, all the remnants of the Zhen Clan turned pale, some of which even quiver all over.


    Although they dared to face Huaiyuan Palace, when they faced the powerful oppression of the senior of Huaiyuan Palace, all the people in Zhen Clan were scared.


    "It''s brother Muen!" At sight of that senior of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhen Quan also sighed, "The 100-year undertaking of the Zhen Clan in Heavens Cold City will be destroyed today. What a pity!"


    "If you''ve long known about this? Why did you do that?" Zhang Muen watched Zhenquan and said calmly.


    "Losers are always in the wrong! As the third Holy War between humans and demons is coming, everything became chaotic. Of course, we want to have a try. Pitifully, the Zhen Clan is unlucky and lost the battle! Huaiyuan Palace has four knights, why can''t the Zhen Clan have 9 knights in the future!" Zhen Quan revealed a smile even at this moment.


    "As you are just lackeys of demons. It''s meaningless for the Zhen Clan to have 9 knights!"


    "I don''t agree with you, brother Muen. Before the Catastrophe, humans were ruled by demons. In that age, many people knew the existence of demons, even many Chinese were cooperating with demons and became the agents of demons and ruled the Chinese for countless treasures and great honors. It''s nothing bad even if we live like that before the Catastrophe! To be honest, no matter how this world changes, there would always be poor and rich, masters and slaves, rulers and servants. All the rules remain unchanged."


    "The Chinese still exist now and are very honorable. Some noble Chinese clans have lasted for over 1000 years and become the leaders of human race. What about those Chinese traitors who cooperate with demons? Where are their clan now?" Zhang Muen asked.


    After being silent for a while, Zhen Quan said, "After death, I will not care about others!"


    "That''s why the Zhen Clan has to die today!"


    "There are still tens of thousands soldiers in Heavens Cold City. I can gift them to Huaiyuan Palace together with Heavens Cold City for the lives of these remnants. I guarantee, after we Zhen Clan leave Heavens Cold City, we will definitely change our names in a remote area and live in seclusion forever!"


    Zhang Muen shook his head. "If you commit a suicide now, I promise that I will keep your bodies complete and bury you all. As the Zhen Clan colluded with demons and went against Huaiyuan Palace, you should have long been eliminated! If I wanted to forgive you, Huaiyuan Palace wouldn''t. If Huaiyuan Palace wanted to forgive you, the gold wouldn''t..."


    "The Zhen Clan has tens of thousands soldiers in Heavens Cold City, we could still fight you. Do you think you can easily destroy the troop of tens of thousands soldiers with these people, even if they are all powerhouses?"


    Zhang Muen revealed a smile, "We''ve already occupied Overcloud Pass and Bluestone Pass. Two city gates of Heavens Cold City are also in my hand. I''m afraid that the 40,000 elite cavalries of Taishi Clan in Langye Prefecture might have passed Overcloud Pass and entered Heavens Cold City at this moment. Zhen Clan''s troop in Heavens City could be solved sooner or later. I was told that brother Zhen Quan had been promoted to be a knight. I wonder if you have enlightened the 3-in-1 power. If brother Zhen Quan wants a fight, I want to face him!"


    "It turns out that Huaiyuan Palace has already occupied Heavens Cold City and cooperated with the Taishi Clan. What a good plan! What a good strategy!" Zhen Quan let out a deep sigh as he looked in the sky.


    "Thanks, whether you want to commit a suicide or have the last fight, brother Zhen Quan?"


    "I''ve already known your real fighting strength, brother Muen. Even if I want to fight to death, I still have no chance to win. I have the last question. How does Huaiyuan Palace find our arrangement in Huaiyuan Prefecture? If I don''t find out, I will be regretful even after death!"


    Hearing this question, the senior of Huaiyuan Palace became a bit hesitant. ''If not for that that "Dark Law Executer", I''m afraid that Huaiyuan Palace would still be in the dark. However, who on earth is the "Dark Law Executer"? Is he one person or a group of people? Huaiyuan Palace is still confused about this even now. What Huaiyuan Palace only confirms about the Dark Law Executer is that this man or one of these people have formed Iron-Blood Battle Qi.''


    Huaiyuan Palace was still looking for the "Dark Law Executer".


    Of course, as a senior of Huaiyuan Palace, he would not tell Zhen Quan about this fact. Therefore, Zhang Muen became silent.


    Seeing this, Zhen Quan thought of another reason.


    "I know, but Heavens Cold City belongs to the Zhen Clan. It''s built by the Zhen Clan after generations. Nobody can take it away. Even though Zthe hen Clan is going to die today, Heavens Cold City should be buried together with us. How come it be taken away by others!" Saying this, Zhen Quan revealed a wisp of a grim and crazy smile.


    Hearing this, Zhang Muen became vigilant as his face slightly turned, "What do you mean?"


    Looking gradually made, Zhen Quan took out of a twisting pitch-dark silkworm from his sleeve. Being as wide as a kid''s arm, it was dozens times bigger than common silkworms


    The moment he took it out of his sleeve, that silkworm had started to twist, uttering a very harsh sound. It was as sharp as drawing a piece of glass on the wall, causing people to be irritated instantly.


    The moment the senior caught sight of that twisting and screaming worm, Zhang Muen''s face had completely changed. Being driven furious at once, he roared, "All the members from Huaiyuan Palace withdraw from Heavens Cold City right now!"


    "Let the Heavens Cold City of the Zhen Clan be the gift to welcome the demons'' army into Waii Sub-Continent! Hahaha..." With crazy laughters, he broke the worm by hand.


    The moment the worm was broken, all the remnants of Zhen Clan popped out their eyes as they started to roll on the ground, uttering miserable shrieks. At the same time, numerous miserable shrieks could be heard everywhere across Heavens Cold City, making it a hell-like execution platform.


    With a growl, Zhang Muen rushed towards Zhen Quan. With just a punch which radiating red light, Zhen Shrine and those remnants of the Zhen Clan who were rolling over the ground miserably had been broken in pieces.


    Zhen Quan jumped up and evaded Zhang Muen''s terrifying smack. At the same time, he pulled out his longsword and started a fight with Zhang Muen...


    ...


    After Zhang Muen delivered the order, none of the elite powerhouses of Huaiyuan Palace in the inner city of Heavens Cold City asked why. Instead, they directly left the inner city of Heavens Cold City as soon as possible. Nobody dared to delay.


    Followed by the other elite students from Hidden Dragon Palace, Lan Yunxi also left there rapidly. Few people knew what that worm was, but everybody knew that the senior of Zhang Clan would never deliver such an order if not facing an extreme situation.


    Soon after the powerhouses of Huaiyuan Palace left that core area, the powerful qi had spread from the location of the Zhen Shrine to all directions, causing an earthquake. As a result, the houses and all buildings behind them started to collapse consecutively. All those with a slower response had been injured.


    The fight between two knights was really destructive. When they rushed out of the inner city of Heavens Cold City, the complete core area of inner city had been totally ruined, closely followed by constantly booming sounds.


    ...


    Zhang Tie, who was in Bluestone Pass Fort had also noticed the abnormal situation in Heavens Cold City. Even though it was dozens of miles away, Zhang Tie could still see the two battle qis rising into the sky like two columns of light reaching towards the sky...

 369 The Event in Heavens Cold City

    Chapter 369: The Event in Heavens Cold City


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    For years to come, people would still consider what the Zhen Clan in Heavens Cold City, Jinyun Country of Waii Sub-Continent did on July 7th, 890 of Black Iron Calendar as the symbolic event of the arrival of the Third Holy War between humans and demons by many people.


    The arrival of the previous 2 holy wars between humans and demons were both symbolized by human cities being destroyed or occupied by demons. However, the event in Heavens Cold City was not launched by the demons themselves, but Heavens Cold City still collapsed. Although it was demons'' lackeys and remnants of Three-Eye Association, this event still started the Third Holy War.


    According to the public information, before the event in Heavens Cold City, there were in total, a population of over 1.3 million in Heavens Cold City. After that event, although with the efforts and rescue from all parties, less than 30,000 people survived. From then on, Heavens Cold City had deteriorated into a ghost city.


    The event in Heavens Cold City was a tragedy of the human race. If you wanted to find something positive from this tragedy of 1 million casualties, you might find that those who were still puzzled about holy war became clear-minded at once after that.


    This event was like thunder on a sunny day as it woke up many people who were still not well prepared for the coming holy war. After the information that was only known by a minority of people was released to the public, most of average people had more time to prepare for the coming drastic change.


    It wasn''t only commoners who were stunned. Even those who had prepared for the coming holy war had been shocked by this event. especially for the later. After knowing the details of the event in Heavens Cold City, everybody knew that the Third Holy War would be unprecedented.


    The reason that big figures made this judgment was that worm in Zhen Clan which caused the event in Heavens Cold City.


    The worm being broken was not common. It was the terrifying living being of the demons¡ª¡ªpuppet worm.


    This kind of worm appeared late into the Second Holy War. Because of its appearance, the Second Holy War lasted another 15 years. Billions of people died directly or indirectly because of this kind of worm. Some human historians even asserted that if puppet worm appeared five decades earlier or if the demons realized mass-production of puppet worms, the human race might have disappeared today.


    Puppet worms didn''t have powerful fighting strength or lethality but they were terrifying due to the following 2 reasons.


    First, a mature puppet worm was like a terrifying queen ant or queen bee as it could lay hundreds of thousands of eggs a day. Their eggs were very small as they were only several times larger than common colibacillosis, namely 15-30 microns. People couldn''t see them with the naked eye. We could only see them through a microscope.


    Additionally, eggs of puppet worms had super terrifying survival capability and environmental adaptability like some powerful bacteria¡ª¡ªUnder -50 ¡æ, their eggs could survive for half a year; under 120¡æ, their eggs could survive longer than 48 hours. Most common pesticides and sterilization drugs were ineffective against their eggs.


    Once the egg entered the human body, it could reach people''s brain through blood circulation. After that, it started to grow and incubate in people''s brain. When it matured in people''s brain, its host would die. As a result, the host''s body would become a walking dead under the control of that parent puppet worm. The host would then have no self-awareness, sense of pain or feelings, and liked to kill and swallow the blood and flesh of all the living beings, even more ferocious than wild beasts.


    Even wild beasts had spirituality. The one acting as the host of eggs of a puppet worm was not even a man at all. It was only a zombie with people''s skin, blood and flesh.


    Towards the end of the Second Holy War, demons had built tens of millions of puppet armies in only a few years through a few puppet worms which brought a huge catastrophe to the whole human world.


    It could be said that each puppet worm cultivated by demons had killed many people.


    For the human race, the puppet worm was an almost unrivaled living being. After paying a great price for that, people started to know the properties of this terrifying living being.


    Eggs of puppet worm were very powerful, they were hardly discovered and eliminated. However, they had a weakness¡ª¡ªall the eggs relied on the existence of the parent puppet worm very much. Since their birth, each puppet worm had established a mysterious, permanent contact with the parent puppet worm.


    Although puppet worms could survive many harsh conditions, even after incubation, as long as they left the parent puppet worm about 200 km or longer, they would die without exception. All the eggs relied on the parent puppet worm.


    Although the parent puppet worm could control numerous brains hosted by its eggs, it could not protect itself as it was very weak and needed other puppet worms'' protection, without which, even a dog could kill it by eating it, let alone a person.


    Furthermore, it took eggs 4 years to turn a host into a zombie. During this period, if the parent puppet worm suddenly died, all the eggs would complete incubation in an extremely short period. Eggs that complete incubation in this way would be out of the control of the parent puppet worm. Instead, they started to attack and destroy any living beings, including those who were hosted by eggs from a different parent puppet worm.


    This destructive attack was like revenge for the death of the parent puppet worm. They were driven mad and became irresistible within the effective distance from the place where the parent puppet worm died.


    Although Zhang Quan just broke a parent puppet worm, actually, he killed all the people who were being hosted by the eggs of that parent puppet worm.


    According to the survey and analysis of this event, when the Zhen Clan ruled Heavens Cold City, the Zhen Clan threw the eggs of the parent puppet worm into the running water supply system in Heavens Cold City, letting them easily enter mouths of about 1 million people, including soldiers and common citizens and find their own hosts. Knowing such a grim means they used, everybody was shocked.


    What made someone more frightened and surprised was not puppet worms themselves, but the fact that puppet worm was in the Zhen Clan''s hand.


    A puppet worm was not a cheap cabbage as it was extremely precious for the demons. In the Second Holy War, only very few demon armies were provided with one puppet worm, which could only be managed by the colonel of the army. However, the Zhen Clan had one. What did this mean?


    The Zhen Clan was a member of Three-Eye Association, the remnants of demons while Three-Eye Association was the peripheral force of demons among the human race. However, the extremely precious puppet worm appeared in the hand of the peripheral force of demons. What about demons themselves? How many puppet worms did they truly have? Whether demons had cultivated more powerful puppet worms? How many remnants of Three-Eye Association like the Zhen Clan were hiding across the Waii Sub-Continent?


    These were the most important questions.


    For smart guys who knew the details of this event, now that demons'' lackeys had started to throw the eggs of a parent puppet worm in Heavens Cold City, the Third Holy War would break out in less than 4 years based on the time that eggs of parent puppet worms need to incubate.


    Actually, it should be faster as people didn''t know how long ago the Zhen Clan threw the eggs of the parent puppet worm into Heavens Cold City. If the Zhen Clan had just thrown them into the water supply system of Heavens Cold City yesterday, the Third Holy War would break out in 4 years. But if they had thrown them inside 1 year or 2 years ago, less time was left.


    If not the arrival of Third Holy War, the Zhen Clan would never dare to change so many people into zombies controlled by a parent puppet worm. If they dared to do that, the Zhen Clan would become the public enemy of the human race and be eliminated at once.


    Only at the beginning of the holy war or after it started did Zhen Clan dare to do such a merciless thing in Heavens Cold City with demons as its reliance.


    Therefore, when those eggs in Heavens Cold City would complete their incubation if their parent puppet worm was not killed was very important.


    Certainly, as the participant and witness of the event in Heavens Cold City, Zhang Tie gradually knew about the above information. However, after receiving the first order, all the clan fighters and elites of Huaiyuan Palace in Bluestone Pass Fort felt strange.


    The order was delivered from the airship¡ª¡ªall the elites of Huaiyuan Palace in Bluestone Pass Fort should chop off all the heads of the Zhen clan''s soldiers as fast as possible. What a bloody yet puzzling order!


    When they executed this order, many people were confused, including Zhang Tie. But when the greater part of the corpses'' heads were chopped off and the rest corpses whose heads had not been chopped off started to stand up by twisting their bodies, all the girls present were scared and started to cry...

 370 Demon-Killing Javelin Lord

    Chapter 370: Demon-Killing Javelin Lord


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    In the following days, Zhang Tie felt like he was entering a dark, disgusting nightmare realm. What torture!


    After July 7th, the elites of the Zhang Clan from Huaiyuan Prefecture and the Unrivaled Cavalries of the Taishi Clan from Langye Prefecture withdrew 15 km away from Heavens Cold City and surrounded Heavens Cold City firmly. Any demonized people running out of Heavens Cold City would be struck down by the troops.


    Those demonized people included males, females, the young and the old. Most of them were commoners before the event, therefore, their fighting strength was limited. Even though some of them had fighting skills, they couldn''t match the troops of the Zhang Clan and the Taishi Clan at all.


    Before killing these demonized people, Zhang Tie was struggling inside. The first wave of demonized people came rushing towards him from inside Heavens Cold City and were wearing commoners'' clothes.


    However, these people''s eyes...They looked pretty grim while uttering a strange and meaningless sound. With various weapons in hands such as wooden sticks and kitchen knives, more than 400 demonized people rushed out of Heavens Cold City.


    "These residents in Heavens Cold City had been killed by demons and the Zhen Clan. They weren''t human anymore. They are just demonized creatures and zombies. They had been controlled by puppet worms in their heads!"


    A military officer of Huaiyuan Palace shouted hoarsely. After that, he shot out one bolt and broke the head of a demonized zombie rushing out of Heavens Cold City.


    When that demonized zombie''s head was broken, his brains sprayed in all directions. Zhang Tie then found a disgusting half-palm sized, pink, smooth demon which looked like an octopus with many tentacles.


    When it dropped onto the ground, it started to creep like an octopus going ashore.


    Seeing this, Zhang Tie grit his teeth out of fury and started his massacre from then on.


    For girls from Hidden Dragon Palace, more than 90% of them could only persist for several hours. They then withdrew from this place, leaving male students here.


    For most of them, they would not hesitate at all no matter how cruel the fight was and how ferocious the enemy were. However, facing those commoner''s bodies which had been controlled by puppet worms, many of them could hardly accept it.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how had he carried on these days. When he chopped off the head of a 7-year old girl, Zhang Tie seemed to hear something break in his heart.


    From then on, Zhang Tie became as firm as iron inside and totally turned himself into a machine that reaped the lives of demonized zombies.


    On July 8th, some columns of black smoke rose into the sky outside Heavens Cold City. They were collecting the corpses of the demonized zombies and burning them. From then on, the black smoke columns didn''t disappear for a long time.


    On July 9th, the airships and clan members of the Lan Clan, Ou Clan, Dantai(å£Ì¨, a Chinese surname), Wang Clan and Li Clan arrived at Heavens Cold City consecutively. They were 5 of the 6 clans that ruled Jinyun Country.


    After they arrived at Heavens Cold City, they encamped 15 km away from Heavens Cold City and joined the clean-up of the zombies running out of Heavens Cold City.


    On July 10th, more airships arrived at Heavens Cold City. By then, the sky nearby Heavens Cold City was covered with airships of various countries and powers on the continent. They were here to get first-hand information about the event in Heavens Cold City.


    On the same day, although big figures didn''t want to release the news of the coming Holy War, the event in Heavens Cold City finally spread out and shocked the whole Eastern Continent.


    On July 11th, after knowing about the event in Heavens Cold City, more and more people arrived at Heavens Cold City, including representatives from small clans, wandering warriors, journalists from some famous media outlets, tipsters and those who wanted to make money here.


    For some, Heavens Cold City was a dangerous dead city. However, the wealth in this city still existed. All the wealth in Zhen Clan or those powerful households were still in Heavens Cold City. As long as one was fearless enough, he could go in there and find them.


    Although many people came here for wealth, nobody was brave enough to go inside. At this moment, there were at least 1 million zombies in Heavens Cold City. Meanwhile, tens of thousands elites from 6 influential clans of Jinyun Country and 40,000 unrivaled cavalries were surrounding the city firmly. Nobody was courageous enough to enter.


    At this time, Heavens Cold City was like an alluring prey. Before those ferocious lions ate their fill and left, no wolfhounds dared to draw close. Instead, they could only wander around the prey. Those left by lions might be a grand feast for the wolfhounds.


    ...


    On July 13th...


    On the 6th morning since he came to Heavens Cold City, Zhang Tie woke up after a nice sleep last night. He had not slept for consecutive 3 days. After pulling open his sleeping bag, Zhang Tie walked out of the tent.


    As Zhang Tie slept in clothes last night, he got up directly.


    As the sun had just come out, the moment he walked out of the tent, Zhang Tie could see the columns of black smoke in the distance. Although he was far away from, as he was on a plain, Zhang Tie could still smell the slightly scorched odor from those burning corpses in the breeze.


    After cleaning up at the riverside, Zhang Tie then started to gnaw his compressed high-heat dried meat and drank water. His mind then gradually recovered from the numbness due to the 3-day endless massacre.


    All the provisions for elites and soldiers of Huaiyuan Palace were transported from Huaiyuan Prefecture by Huaiyuan Palace''s airships, because all the food close to Heavens Cold City made people scared.


    Although based on the experience in the Second Holy War, after the death of the parent puppet worm, except for the eggs that had been incubated in a host''s brain, all the other eggs that had no hosts would die. However, after hundreds of years, nobody could guarantee this remained unchanged just like nobody could have imagined that the Zhen Clan had a parent puppet worm one week ago.


    The refugee camp of Heavens Cold City was at the riverside, which occupied hundreds of thousands square meters. Now, the riverside had been covered with new tents.


    From July 7th to now, there were still live people escaping the city. The number of live people escaping Heavens Cold City together with the troops of the Zhang Clan and the Taishi Clan was the most. In the following days, although they were still trying their best to rescue the living and had assigned small batches of elite troops inside the city to search for people as well as cleaned out the demonized zombies near the city gates several times, the number of living being rescued decreased gradually.


    Yesterday, Zhang Tie fought throughout the day near the north gate and killed those demonized near the north gate of Heavens Cold City. However, he only saved 5 live people. Gradually, it became increasingly hopless for people to survive inside.


    ...


    Those in the refugee camp looked numb and dull. Although it was morning, the refugee camp reminded you of the dawn. There was no joy in the refugee camp. It was filled with low sobs and nightmare like screams. Although they had escaped from Heavens Cold City, they had not recovered. Even while they slept, they would still always wake up with a start due to small sounds.


    "Argh, stay away from me, stay away from me, don''t eat me..."


    The door of a tent in front was suddenly opened while the dischevelled man ran out of it. He directly rushed towards Zhang Tie madly followed by some people, "Stop him, he got sick again!"


    When he ran in front of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie stretched out his hand and lifted him up like he was grabbing a chicken. After that, he lightly patted the back of that man''s neck, causing him pass out.


    Those people chasing after that man were in doctors'' working uniform. They were assigned from Huaiyuan Prefecture and Langye Prefecture to cure people in the refugee camp.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, those doctors became a bit scared as Zhang Tie was in a field combat suit covered with an invisible iron-blood killing qi after several days of killing.


    After these days of killing, Zhang Tie didn''t remember how many demonized people he had killed, at least 2000. Like those soldiers who had experienced fights many times, Zhang Tie''s killing qi due to committing massacres was also an invisible threat to others.


    "Argh, thanks, thanks!" Those doctors hurriedly appreciated Zhang Tie.


    "It was a pleasure!" Zhang Tie replied calmly.


    Realizing that Zhang Tie was easy-going, those doctors let out a deep sigh. Two male doctors directly took the man from Zhang Tie''s hands. An elder doctor rapidly checked whether that man was still live. At that moment, even if Zhang Tie killed him, nobody would blame Zhang Tie.


    After checking that man''s situation, the doctor found that he just passed out. He then became reassured as he ordered the other two younger doctors. "This man has been stimulated too much spiritually, feed him more vermilion soul-easing powders today. Carry him back into the tent first!"


    "Yes, sir!" The other two younger doctors then carried the man back into the tent.


    "Alas, what a pitiful man..." The elder doctor sighed deeply as he followed them back into the tent.


    Similar things happened numerous times in the refugee camp these days. Although many people had escaped Heavens Cold City, they were stimulated severely spiritually and were driven mad. Furthermore, some people who could not accept the fact that all of their relatives had died chose to commit suicide. One or two refugees would commit suicide in the refugee camp everyday.


    Walking in the refugee camp and glancing over those refugees who looked numb and rueful, Zhang Tie was filled with mixed feelings inside.


    These days, as long as he was free, Zhang Tie would come to have a look in the refugee camp. After glancing over those numb and resentful faces, he then walked towards the battlefield and killed every demonized person he saw.


    Even Zhang Tie didn''t know how could he become like this. Perhaps, he did this for a bit of comfort and to search for something meaningful.


    Zhang Tie gave all the warm dried beef and rations that he received today to some kids who were gazing at him and desiring his food with fearful looks.


    At this time, most of female students from Hidden Dragon Palace were doing various jobs in the refugee camp so as to normally run the refugee camp.


    Zhang Tie caught sight of Yuan Ziyi. She was very lively in Hidden Dragon Island, however she now looked a bit haggard and sad due to the affairs in the refugee camp these days. She was delivering dried rations and disinfectant to those people in the refugee camp. A lot of people were lining up in front of her for the items looking like they had lost their souls.


    "Only so little today? We''ve got some dried meat yesterday, where''s it today? How could this make us full?" One guy shouted loudly with the dried rations in hand, arising the others'' attention at once.


    "Latest materials are stil under collection in Langye Prefecture. They are on the way now. The road near Overcloud Pass is not convenient for the transport vehicles to pass. These items were transported by airships, therefore, they are limited in quantity!" Yuan Ziyi explained patiently. Having experienced so much these days, this fiery girl also became patient.


    "I don''t care, I want two packs!" Saying that, he directly took one more item away in front of Yuan Ziyi.


    "One pack for one person!" Yuan Ziyi grabbed that man''s hand and continued to explain patiently.


    "If not for you, how could Heavens Cold City become like this? Heavens Cold City was good before; however, after your arrival, it was ruined; therefore, you need to be responsible for what happened in Heavens Cold City!"


    Given that Yuan Ziyi was a young girl, that man became rude instantly as he pointed at Yuan Ziyi''s nose and swore. "Little girl, I tell you, this father had numerous wealth in Heavens Cold City. I dressed and ate well every day. If not for you, how could I lose everything? Do you think that you could drive me away with such little things? No way! You should compensate every copper coin that I lost in Heavens Cold City! This father has determined to take two packs today. You owe me! Let go, if not, I will teach you how to do..."


    Yuan Ziyi was so angry that she quivered all over. Working so hard in refugee camp everyday, she was still sworn in this way, Yuan Ziyi had never suffered this since she was born. Therefore, tears started to fill her eyes.


    With a cold look, Zhang Tie then walked over there. He patted the man''s shoulder first. When that guy looked around, Zhang Tie slapped his face directly, causing some of his teeth to go flying out at once along with a clear sound "Pah".


    "Argh, help, they''re killing me..." That man shouted loudly.


    Zhang Tie then smacked him with the back of his hand, causing another tooth to come flying out. The man wanted to continue to scream, however, at sight of Zhang Tie''s distant look and killing qi all over, he forcefully swallowed his words back.


    Zhang Tie then stared at his hand. Seeing this, that man hurriedly put down the other pack. However, seeing Zhang Tie''s eyes were still fixed on his hand, the man hurriedly put down his own pack.


    "Senior sister, keep working, no need to shed tears for such a person. There are so many bastards like him in this world. No everybody in the refugee camp is pitiful. I heard this man wanted us to compensate his wealth to him, I will send him back to Heavens Cold City and return his wealth back to him right now!" After saying this, Zhang Tie smiled at Yuan Ziyi before directly holding the man''s neck and dragged him out of the refugee camp like dragging a dog. The surrounding people gave way to Zhang Tie automatically.


    The refugee camp was next to the station and defense line of the troops that surrounded Heavens Cold City. Zhang Tie dragged the man and walked towards Heavens Cold City after passing by the defense line easily. With his neck being held, the man could do nothing but pant. Seeing Zhang Tie dragging a person, nobody asked him what for, no matter the Zhang''s troop or Taishi''s unrivaled cavalries. Neither did they glance at that guy at all. After these days, Zhang Tie''s performance in Heavens Cold City had won many people''s respect.


    Even though they didn''t know Zhang Tie''s name, many of them had remembered Zhang Tie''s face and knew that the master of this face had killed and saved the most people in Heavens Cold City these days.


    On the battlefield, those who were powerful and liked to save others at the risk of their own lives would certainly gain the respect from their comrades in arms. Since Zhang Tie''s javelin throwing skill was too attractive and shocking, he became unique among all the Zhang Clan''s powerhouses who excelled at using crossbows. Therefore, Zhang Tie, as a young powerhouse in Hidden Dragon Palace was pretty well-known among the Taishi Clan''s unrivaled cavalries. He started to be considered on the same level as Zhang Wumu and became the most powerful man next to Lan Yunxi.


    Like that of the Zhen Clan in Heavens Cold City, the Taishi Clan in Langye Prefecture also had tens of thousands soldiers and was a local power. Of course, young elites like Zhang Tie who would probably become an influential figure in Zhang Clan were more important in the Taishi Clan''s eyes. Although the Zhang Clan only had 8 cities, the comprehensive strength of Yiyang City alone was at least more powerful than the sum of 10 common cities. Therefore, a clan''s power could not be simply judged by the number of cities it owned.


    The comprehensive strength of a clan with 4 knights was at least 100 times greater than that of a local power which only occupied a remote city. Therefore, only after a few days, not only common soldiers, even the greater part of military officers in the unrivaled cavalries of Taishi Clan had been able to recognize Zhang Tie.


    After passing by the defense line of the Zhang Clan and Taishi Clan, although being still 10 more km away from Heavens Cold City on the plain in the daytime, they could still see a couple demonized people wandering in the wild. The closer they were to Heavens Cold City, the more demonized people they would see.


    Seeing those demonized people in the distance, the man''s face turned completely pale.


    Right then, a team of 100 unrivaled cavalries of Taishi Clan rushed out of their station. It seemed that they were going to complete their daily task¡ª¡ªcleaning the wandering demonized people in the wild. When they passed by Zhang Tie, the head glanced at Zhang Tie. With a voice "Yi?", he raised his head while all the other unrivaled cavalries stopped several meters away from Zhang Tie, indicating their excellent riding skills and fighting strength.


    Zhang Tie looked at them. Although being several meters away from him, the warhorses in armor which were pacing in their places seemed being startled by something. With a low neigh in unison, they moved several steps back at the same time, almost causing the cavalries to fall down. The military officer was stunned inside, ''What a heavy killing qi! Even the warhorses are scared. How many demonized people has he killed to form such a heavy killing qi.''


    "Zhang Tie..." That military officer directly called his name. He then peered at that person in Zhang Tie''s hand and pointed at him, "Who''s he..."


    Zhang Tie then revealed a smile, ''This military officer looks familiar. I have seen him several days ago. We even fought together and killed many demonized people.''


    "This guy wants us to compensate him for his numerous wealth in Heavens Cold City. He even said that we arouse the event in Heavens Cold City and blamed us. I''m taking him into Heavens Cold City and gathering his numerous wealth for him. Now that elder brothers are going to execute your task there, as you are riding horses, you would be faster. Just take him into Heavens Cold City for me and show him whether his numerous wealth was still there or not. By the way, take him to have a look at the running water supply system for our innocence!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    Hearing these words, a gleaming light flashed by his eyes as he also smiled, "We should do that!"


    "Sorry to trouble you, elder brothers!" Saying this, Zhang Tie casually threw that person of more than 100 kg towards that military officer.


    After taking over the man, the military officer directly smacked that person and let him pass out. He then put that guy onto his war horse and laughed out loudly, "Brother Zhang Tie is really straightforward. As you''ve called me elder brother, just tell me if you need my help from then on; I will never hesitate!" After saying this, that military officer shouted towards the other cavalries behind him, "Brothers, this man called us elder brothers is the most excellent young powerhouse in Huaiyuan Palace, the very demon-killing javelin lord we have mentioned and heard these days. As he called us elder brothers, dare you pull out of your sabers for him?"


    "We do!"


    "We do!¡®¡¯


    "We Do!"


    All the cavalries pulled out of their sabers and raised them above heads.


    Feeling this guy was not average, Zhang Tie stared at this 30-odd military officer deeply and clenched one hand into the other in front of his chest before asked solemnly, "What should I call you, elder brother?"


    "I''m Taishi Ci!" That man replied in a righteous way.


    "I will invite elder brother Taishi and the other elder brothers for a drink tonight, how about that?"


    "Fine!" Taishi Ci also pulled out of his saber and waved above his head, "Brothers, go forward and kill our enemies now, after coming back at night, we will drink with brother Zhang, hahaha, jia[1]..."


    100 cavalries then waved their sabers and passed by Zhang Tie. They then rushed towards Heavens Cold City. Zhang Tie could still hear them singing forcefully, "enemies'' heads, brothers'' drink, sexy women and galloping horse..."


    ''That''s what heroes do!'' Zhang Tie nodded inside.


    Not until Taishi Ci[2]and his cavalries disappeared from Zhang Tie''s vision did Zhang Tie return to the refugee camp. Zhang Tie didn''t even asked the name of that guy who was destined to not come back alive. Anyone who dared to say that Huaiyuan Palace aroused the event in Heavens Cold City and puzzled the others might easily lead to a chaos, which was a death penalty. As more than 1 million people had died in Heavens Cold City, why would such a person still be live? Why would he still be live?


    Even Zhang Tie had not discovered that what he did now was totally different from that before. If it was before, he would never make decision on one''s fate so easily.


    Through numb killings these days, at the cost of the lives of over 1 million innocent people in Heavens Cold City, Zhang Tie gradually figured out that there was only one way to ensure the survival of himself, his relatives, and friends in this world while fighting with the demons and their lackeys¡ª¡ªyou have to be more powerful and more merciless than demons.


    What was the Holy War? It was a war on who was more powerful and merciless!


    When Zhang Tie came back to the refugee camp, he saw some senior brothers from Hidden Dragon Palace who were patrolling and maintaining order in the refugee camp caught some guys who sneaked in the camp. They bound those guys and were escorting them out of the camp.


    At sight of one of those guys being bound, Zhang Tie became stunned as he rubbed his eyes, "Zerom? What the hell!"


    Mouth being clogged by a piece of cloth, Zerom looked pretty embarrassed. When he caught sight of Zhang Tie, he widened his eyes at once and started to twist all over...

 371 An Old Friend

    Chapter 371: An Old Friend


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Zerom¡¯s struggles irritated one of the students from Hidden Dragon Palace who was escorting him.


    Therefore, he knocked onto Zerom¡¯s head with the handle of his long sword.


    At sight of this, Zhang Tie sped up and stopped him, "Wait, senior brothers..."


    "Argh, junior brother Zhang Tie!" The two students immediately revealed smiles at the sight of Zhang Tie coming towards them.


    As the two students had assaulted Bluestone Pass together with Zhang Tie several days ago, they had a deep impression of Zhang Tie. Additionally, as Zhang Tie was growing famous as the demon-killing javelin lord, not to mention that Zhang Tie was already well-known when he was in Hidden Dragon Palace and because of his all-purpose medicament, he was ranked first on the Hidden Dragon Wealth List.


    Hidden Dragon Palace was the place where the clan elites of Huaiyuan Palace cultivated themselves. Nobody in Hidden Dragon Palace was an idiot. They all knew the importance of human relationships. Therefore, they were very polite to Zhang Tie and didn¡¯t look like senior brothers at all.


    At sight of Zhang Tie, Zerom looked a bit excited. After recovering his composure, he threw his glances towards his partners to appease them.


    "Senior brothers, may I inquire as to what these people have done?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Due to the event in Heavens Cold City, many peripheral forces and those who dream of money want to sneak into the refugee camp. When they get a chance, they would further slip into Heavens Cold City. We¡¯ve caught a lot of people like these guys!"


    Hearing his words, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh. They truly had caught a lot of people like that these days. Most of them were looking for money in Heavens Cold City. Whereas, as they were not bad guys, after being caught, they would only be punished by doing hard labor or a few days.


    Zhang Tie smiled. Without making any explanation, he directly took off the piece of cloth from Zerom¡¯s mouth in front of 2 senior brothers.


    "Zhang Tie..." Zerom called Zhang Tie¡¯s name at once. After that, he peered at his partners who were also bound.


    The 2 senior brothers then exchanged glances with each other and became a bit surprised, "You know them, junior brother?"


    "They are my friends. Can you let me deal with them?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Haha, now that they are your friends, they are yours now. It¡¯s not a big deal, just deal with them at your will, junior brother!"


    "Thanks, senior brothers!"


    "You¡¯re welcome, junior brother!"


    The 2 students from Hidden Dragon Palace then directly undid their ropes. After chatting with Zhang Tie for awhile, they finally left.


    There were 3 more people that were caught together with Zerom. After being set free, they all hurriedly moved their arms to relax themselves. At the same time, the other 3 guys started to glance over Zhang Tie out of curiosity.


    "Why are you here?" Zhang Tie and Zerom exchanged glances with each other and asked the same question in Hebrew in unison. They then burst out laughing at the same time.


    "It¡¯s not convenient to talk here, come with me!" Zhang Tie looked at them and brought them into his own tent.


    Zerom and the other 3 guys didn¡¯t speak; instead, they just followed Zhang Tie and his arrangement.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s tent was not large and would be a bit crowded with 5 people living in. However, it¡¯s okay for 5 of them to sit inside and talk.


    After entering the tent, they evidently looked relaxed. After looking at the heavy chain-type armor plate and the symbol on it, one partner of Zerom¡¯s eyes brightened up at once as he said in Chinese, "»³Ô¶ÌÃ(Huaiyuan Palace)!"


    Zhang Tie smiled as he let them sit down.


    Zerom¡¯s partners included a thin old man, a tall and muscled tough man and a 40-odd-year-old guy with short brown hair who looked shrewd, who could speak Chinese.


    Because Zhang Tie didn¡¯t know Zerom could speak Chinese, he directly chatted with them in Hebrew in case of trouble.


    "Mr. Zerom, why are you here?"


    Zerom revealed a smile, "I¡¯m not a teacher now. Soon after you left Blackhot City together with Iron-Blood Camp, I had resigned and left Blackhot City. After that, I traveled to Armes, a mercenary empire in the Blackson Human Race Corridor. A few days later, I joined Thor Mercenary Group. This time, we are here in Jinyun Country for 2 tasks. Oh, how about you? Why are you here?"


    ¡®Since Zerom left Blackhot City shortly after me, it indicates that he didn¡¯t know what happened to me since then.¡¯ Therefore, Zhang Tie briefly talked about what happened to him after Blackhot City. Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s experiences, not only Zerom, even the other 3 partners of him kept sighing with feeling.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s experience was really legendary; Rendering meritorious service on the battlefield for Iron-Blood Camp; Fought the secret police in Norman Empire; Having a warrant issued by the Norman Empire; being picked up to Jinyun Country by Huaiyuan Palace; being involved in the event in Heavens Cold City. Given his current look, Zhang Tie seemed living a well-off life. Zerom then recalled that teenager in the survival training in Wild Wolf Valley one year ago and became thrilled inside as he felt that fate was really marvelous.


    "You are in Huaiyuan Palace now?" Zerom asked.


    "Yes, I was here to attend the action of assaulting Heavens Cold City arranged by Huaiyuan Palace!"


    After exchanging glances with the other 3 guys, Zerom looked hesitated.


    At sight of Zerom¡¯s look, Zhang Tie had known that they needed his help.


    "What can I do for you?" Zhang Tie asked straightforwardly.


    "Can you take us to Heavens Cold City. As Heavens Cold City has been surrounded by some big clan¡¯s forces in Jinyun Country, we can not even enter by airship. Commoners like us could hardly enter! Zerom took a deep breath as he looked at Zhang Tie seriously.


    "How long will you stay in Heavens Cold City?"


    "Only a few hours if it¡¯s smooth. We know a batch of city guards of Zhen Clan has been controlled by puppet worms, we need to a couple of demonized guards!"


    "Do you need to take them away?"


    "No need!" Zerom waved his head as he pointed at a thin old man and introduced him to Zhang Tie. "This is professor Simon. He¡¯s a demon biologist and the chief legal examiner and coroner in Thor Mercenary Group. We only need to hand the demonized guards to him and let him finish the anatomy. After gaining the information that we need, we will leave."


    Hearing Zerom¡¯s explanation, Zhang Tie understood at once. During this period, many demonized guards had been taken away by the 6 clans of Jinyun Country and various foreign powers. Zhang Tie had also participated in a task of capturing demonized guards. Commoners could not figure out the function of those demonized guards at all. However, those powers could gather quite a bit of useful information from a demonized guard.


    The most important information was when the eggs of the parent puppet worm started to live in the host¡¯s brain.


    Because the city guards of the Zhen Clan in Heavens Cold City were the most powerful force of the Zhen Clan. Additionally, they always stayed in Heavens Cold City which meant that they would not cause eggs to die due to being a long distance away from the parent puppet worm. Instead, eggs could grow well in their brains. Therefore, by studying these specimens, they could confirm when the Zhen Clan had started to place the eggs of the parent puppet worm in the water supply system of Heavens Cold City.


    As long as they confirmed this time, they would be able to deduce lots of information. For those big powers, this time was of great significance and was the basis for big figures to make major decisions about the Holy War in the future.


    Huaiyuan Palace had also taken away more than 40 demonized guards from Heavens Cold City, many of which were even senior military officers in the city guards of Heavens Cold City. After getting these specimens, Huaiyuan Palace handed them to professionals from Huaiyuan Palace for anatomy. After that, they would be burned directly.


    "How many of you want to go there, only 4 of you or are there more?" The moment he confirmed their target, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t waste time as he asked straightforwardly.


    "We have some more partners, but they are in the airship. Therefore only 4 will be going!"


    "Well, wait for me for a moment, I will prepare something for you." After saying this, Zhang Tie stood up, "What weapons do you need? It¡¯s very dangerous in Heavens Cold City now!"


    "I need a longsword!" Zerom replied.


    "I need a war ax of 50-100 kg!" The tall tough man said.


    "Give me a long spear. I want them to stay away from me!" The one with short brown hair answered.


    "For me?" Professor Simon shrugged his shoulder and gave a bitter smile. "I have no fighting strength. Just give me a lighter one!"


    Hearing their requests and glancing at them, Zhang Tie turned around. After opening the tent, he walked out...

 372 A Tough Task

    Chapter 372: A Tough Task


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    The moment Zhang Tie left the tent, the other 3 guys had thrown weird glances towards Zerom.


    "Zerom, I never would have imagined that you could have such a student! You didn¡¯t mention it before!" That tough man said.


    "But I didn¡¯t even know that he was here Jordan." Zerom shrugged his shoulder. "You heard that just now. When I left Blackhot City, he was in kalur. Several minutes ago, I still thought that he was in the Iron-Horn Army of the Norman Empire. I would never have guessed that I could meet him here."


    "This teenager is not weak!" Narrowing his eyes, professor Simon added, "I smelt something related to death from him!"


    "This set of heavy chain-type plate armor is nice. Zezeze, this is the best heavy chain-type plate armor produced by Huaiyuan Palace in Jinyun Country. Except for its heavyweight, this is definitely a non-rune equipment that combines defensive capability and flexibility in the perfect way. Battleax Mercenary Army tried to counterfeit such a batch of heavy chain-type plate armor for its middle- and senior-level officers. However, their fake goods could never match this original although at almost the same cost. They finally stopped that plan..."


    As the man in short brown hair said that, he touched the chain-type movable metal protective covering over Zhang Tie¡¯s armor which was tightly connected; meanwhile his eyes gleamed, "Zerom, your student might have a high position in Huaiyuan palace now. Otherwise, he couldn''t get such expensive equipment. It is worth at least 100 gold coins. With him, we could easily finish our task in Heavens Cold City! Oh, what about his current fighting strength? I¡¯ve been observing him but I failed to figure it out!"


    "I don¡¯t know either. When I left Blackhot City last year, he was LV 4. I think he might be LV 5 now!" After thinking for awhile, Zerom added, "This youngster is cultivating Iron-Blood Fist and had formed Iron-Blood Hidden Strength[1] easily. He¡¯s the most excellent student that I¡¯ve taught!"


    "LV 5? He might have formed Iron-Blood Converted Strength[2] but he¡¯s 18 years old at most! Jordan said.


    "Perhaps!" Zerom nodded with feelings, "I didn''t know that he was a descendant of Count Long Wind. His parents were all commoners in Blackhot City and didn¡¯t look special at all!"


    "Many clan¡¯s ancestral bloodlines and special genes could be expressed through atavistic heredity. His ancestor is Count Long Wind, who should be at least LV 15. Only very powerful knights would be conferred with titles of nobility. In such clans, some descendants might probably have talents in cultivation." Professor Simon concluded in an authoritative way.


    "We can also ask him about all-purpose medicament. I was told that all-purpose medicament had appeared in Huaiyuan Prefecture. He must know more than us about that. Our boss paid high attention to this matter. Before we set out, he even especially ordered us to contact the alchemist who could produce all-purpose medicament in Huaiyuan Prefecture even though we failed the task in Heavens Cold City!"


    Zerom nodded as he started to frown. After the event in Heavens Cold City broke out, prices of medicament started to surge across Blackson Human Race Corridor. Many people started to stockpile all kinds of medicament. As a result, the source and supply of medicament became tense at once.


    Now, not only Thor Mercenary Army, even super-powerful mercenary armies such as Battleax, Hugesnake, Green Highland and the Steel & Iron Alliance in Armes had started to be short of various medicament. They were all thinking about a solution. If all-purpose medicament that appeared in Huaiyuan Prefecture was really more effective than preliminary antidote potion as was said, it would help Armes a lot.


    Within the territory of Armes, poisonous substances exist almost everywhere. Therefore, people there need a lot of preliminary antidote potion each year. But due to the shortage of supply of various medicament, preliminary antidote potion was in short supply. For the lack of the other medicament, they might find other solutions. For Armes which was located in the long Snake God Mountain and was surrounded by endless smog and marshes. As long as preliminary antidote potion was in short supply, it meant many people would die every day due to various reasons.


    All-purpose medicament was like a bright light in the darkness. For all the mercenary armies in Armes, a medicament that was more effective than preliminary antidote potion and could substitute the other medicament was definitely like a heavy rain after a long drought.


    For those mercenaries who lived in Armes and lived using their sabers and swords, all-purpose medicament was definitely the best choice! More than 98% of functions that common mercenaries needed in preliminary antidote potion or low-rank medicament were contained in such a vial of medicament such as detoxification, curing wounds, intensifying spiritual energy, accelerating the recovery of wounds, improving various physical functions and curing various diseases, including chronic diseases without any side effect.


    Therefore, before they set out for Jinyun Country, the boss of Thor Mercenary Army emphasized that they had to contact the alchemist who produced this all-purpose medicament. It would be better if the alchemist could provide a batch of the all-purpose medicament for Thor Mercenary Army every year.


    The news that all-purpose medicament appeared in Huaiyuan Prefecture was passed from Jinyun Country to Armes by pioneers. When it reached Armes, the message had become obscure. Therefore, hearing this news, everybody there thought it must be an alchemist who could produce all-purpose medicament and probably be a well-known senior alchemist. Because only a well-known senior alchemist might solve the problem that had puzzled the world of alchemist for hundreds of years.


    The news of all-purpose medicament influenced Armes more than any other places. In a few days after Armes received the news of all-purpose medicament, the event in Heavens Cold City broke out. Therefore, the boss of Thor Mercenary Army assigned some reliable fighters to Jinyun Country.


    At that moment, Zerom only joined Thor Mercenary Army for a short period. But his shrewd brain and fighting strength had won the favor of the management of Thor Mercenary Army. Therefore, he also came here as a director of the mission while the other director of this mission was in the airship.


    It was really a surprise for Zerom to meet Zhang Tie here. If he could complete the mission in Heavens Cold City in such a dangerous situation, his position in Thor Mercenary Army would be greatly improved and consolidated. However, thinking of that mission on all-purpose medicament, Zerom became a bit worried.


    As long as they came to Huaiyuan Prefecture, Zerom was confident to contact with the alchemist who could produce all-purpose medicament. Although Thor Mercenary Army was trivial in Jinyun Country, after all, it had more than 60,000 mercenaries which meant it was an influential power in Armes and the northern region of Blackson Human Race Corridor. Therefore, that alchemist could not refuse to meet them.


    However, to tell the truth, Zerom lacked confidence in establishing a trading relationship with that alchemist and persuading him to provide a lot of vials of the all-purpose medicament for Thor Mercenary Army each year. Even though Thor Mercenary Army had been prepared for a very high purchasing price, Zerom was still not sure whether he could make that. After all, it was all-purpose medicament, not stones in mining pits. If medicament could be easily produced on a mass scale, Armes and the whole Blackson Human Race Corridor would not lack medicament at all.


    Additionally, it was said that the other mercenary armies in Armes also assigned people in Jinyun Country with the same goal as Thor. This increased the difficulty of that task for Zerom.


    "Could he really realize mass-production of all-purpose medicament?" Thinking of that tough mission, Zerom asked professor Simon.


    "It¡¯s possible. But I don¡¯t know the exact possibility!" Simon shook his head. "Theoretically, an all-purpose medicament is a super enzyme. According to the forming principle of an enzyme, its fermenting process could realize mass-production. However, as I have no relevant intelligence, I¡¯m confused about the producing process of all-purpose medicament in Huaiyuan Prefecture. It might require something special and precious. Therefore, it depends."


    "Hopefully, the God of mercenaries could bring some good luck to Thor!" Zerom revealed a bitter smile. "We will finish the task in Heavens Cold City first, then, we will think about the all-purpose medicament!"


    "As you say! Now, various medicament started to be in short supply. Only in a couple of days, the prices of various medicament in the market in Armes had risen by at least 20%. Some medicament were even in even shorter supply. We''re not the only party that''s focused on procuring the all-purpose medicament. Even if that alchemist could realize mass-production of the all-purpose medicament, it¡¯s still difficult for us to gain more shares than our opponents."


    For the second mission, old Simon became a bit pessimistic. The influence of Thor Mercenary Army was well reflected here near Heavens Cold City. A mercenary army of fewer than 100,000 people was only a trivial group for many big powers and figures; even though they were here, they were not even qualified to enter Heavens Cold City to have a look, not to mention others...


    ...


    [1]Iron-Blood Hidden Strength. With no movement physically, the fighter could hold back the opponent¡¯s attack through inner strength; however, if the opponent covered the point where the fighter released his hidden strength, the latter would not able to release his hidden strength.


    [2]Iron-Blood Converted Strength. Like Iron-Blood Hidden Strength, with no movement physically, the fighter could hold back the opponent¡¯s attack through inner strength; however, being different from Iron-Blood Hidden Strength, even if the opponent covered the point where the fighter released his hidden strength, the latter could still release his hidden strength facing the opponent¡¯s attack; however, through displacement of skeletons, the fighter could take preemptive while changing the direction of his strength.

 373 A Bloody City

    Chapter 373: A Bloody City


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Zhang Tie came back in only 5 minutes with four suits of field fighting clothes like that he was wearing. Meanwhile, he was carrying the weapons of the 4 people¡ª¡ªa dagger, a longsword, a long spear and a double-edge huge axe of more than 50 kg in one hand.


    "These clothes were chosen in line with your frames. Put them on and take your weapons. Then, we can set out!"


    Zerom and his partners were so surprised as they hadn''t imagined that Zhang Tie could deal with these things in such an efficient way. Without any hesitation, they then took their own clothes and started to change them as soon as possible.


    After professor Simon took off his pants, Zhang Tie found a leather toolkit over this emaciated old man¡¯s calf, which contained various tools like a lance and small hooks. With these items, he could almost finish surgeries. Zhang Tie then knew that his senior brothers must not have meant to search him judging from his emaciated look. Therefore, they didn¡¯t notice the toolkit over his calf.


    When they were changing clothes, Zerom introduced his other 2 partners to Zhang Tie. "The taller guy is Jordan, as a squadron leader of Thor Mercenary Army, he¡¯s LV 8 and the one with the highest fighting strength among us. According to the military establishment of Armes, Jordan is a captain."


    Although mercenary armies were different than regular armies on establishment, it was still clearly divided into fighting units. In Armes, mercenary armies could be divided into team, corp, squad, detachment, group, league and column, which almost equal to that of class, platoon, company, camp, regiment, brigade and division respectively in many human countries¡¯ armies.


    Zerom came here with the other 8 people as a standard team in a mercenary army. However, except for professor Simon, the other 8 were all above LV 6. Such a team was qualified to be called "luxury" in a mercenary army.


    "The guy with brown short hair is Shrek, the only one among us who can speak Chinese. LV 7, a senior scout in Thor Mercenary Army. He has a deep insight and is very agile. He¡¯s excel at spying and street battle in city.


    Gazing at this "luxury" team, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t have any special feeling. By comparison, when he was in Blackhot City, he and his elder brother both dreamed of being LV 6 fighters. However, Zhang Tie abruptly found that he didn¡¯t awe those fighters below LV 10 anymore.


    In Zhang Tie¡¯s eyes, except for some LV 9 guys who might bring him some trouble, most of the fighters were nothing different than soldiers below LV 5 as Zhang Tie could solve them with only one javelin or a punch.


    After these days of fighting against demonized people, Zhang Tie had been able to apply his Iron-Blood Fist in a much more eye-catching way. Gradually, he could use his Iron-Blood Fist as unrivaled as that used by the first emperor of the Norman Empire which shocked the Blackson Human Race Corridor.


    After a short while, the 4 guys had put on their field combat clothes. Additionally, they had put on the hat being connected to the field combat coat and had pulled down the respirator which was filled with soft activated carbon. The respirator could filter fresh air, resist coldness and hide their faces, only exposing their eyes.


    After that, they took their own weapons.


    "Is this okay?" Zerom asked carefully.


    "No problem. Some elites of Hurricane Army are still surrounding Heavens Cold City. As the soldiers of Hurricane Army are from everywhere, including all human races, if you just follow me, nobody would ask anything." Zhang Tie answered confidently.


    Zerom then nodded, "Thor Mercenary Army owes you!"


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile. "Due to various reasons, big figures don¡¯t want to expose too much information to commoners about the coming holy war. However, I feel that the more people know about it in advance, the better. After they know about it, at least they would not be easily pushed to the frontline to be fodder ashes. If not, they might even not know how they were killed!"


    "Your thinking is very special!" Professor Simon glanced at Zhang Tie, "Few people in a big clan would consider it this way."


    Zhang Tie shrugged. "Perhaps it''s because I lived at the bottom of society. I know more about commoners. In holy wars, if the frontline was broken, it would be very dangerous. Rich and powerful people would then escape by airships, leaving those innocent commoners to be killed by demons. Those commoners won¡¯t even have a chance to escape. I feel this is unfair. If commoners could know more about this in advance, they would have more time to prepare for escape."


    "Members in Thor Mercenary Army are all dauntless, instead of cowards who only think about escape. If there¡¯s a chance, I will kill those abominable demons with my ax!" Weighing his axe, Jordan said in a low voice.


    "Although you are fighters, you also have family members and friends, who were not all fighters. If you were told that demons¡¯ army would launch an attack towards Armes 1 year later, would you lead your family members and friends to fight together with you in Armes? If you know that Blackson Human Race Corridor might be covered by demons in 2 years, would you lead your family members and friends to escape to a safe place first? If you know that the holy war would break out in half a year, would you let your family members stockpile food and drinks?"


    Jordan then became quiet. Hearing Zhang Tie¡¯s words, Zerom nodded inside as he seemed seeing the same diligent and tough teenager in the survival training in Wild Wolf Valley and the handsome boy who didn¡¯t slash towards his opponent who had already lain on the duel platform. During the past 1 year, many things and people had changed. However, that teenager was still kind inside.


    ¡®Kerlin might also be proud of having such a student if he knew that!¡¯ Zerom mumbled inside.


    The other guys in the tent started to consider Zhang Tie¡¯s questions.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t talk any more, instead, he carried that heavy metal container of 9 bolts inside which had been used to kill so many people these days and opened the tent, "Let¡¯s go!"


    The other 4 people then followed him out.


    After being several hundred meters away from the camp, they came to the wild, from where they could already see Heavens Cold City in the distance. On the way from the camp to here, although many people had noticed the 4 people after Zhang Tie, nobody asked about them.


    "This place is 15 km away from Heavens Cold City. It would take a long time to get there if we just walk like this. How fast is your marching speed?" Zhang Tie asked professor Simon considering his age.


    "Although I¡¯m not a fighter, at least I¡¯m a LV 5 soldier. I can keep jogging there for 1 hour!" Professor Simon said proudly.


    "That¡¯s fine. Follow me then. In order to save time, I will choose a route with fewer demonized people! Remember, unless you chop off their heads or break their whole body or head in to pieces by destroying their brain tissues can you kill them!"


    Zhang Tie reminded them once again. Everybody else then nodded. After that, with Zhang Tie¡¯s guidance, they started to jog towards Heavens Cold City.


    On the way, they met many other teams, the sizes of which varied from 3-5 people, dozens of people to over 100 people. They came from everywhere. Some of them were the unrivaled cavalries from Taishi Clan, some were elite troops from Huaiyuan Palace, some were some healthy adolescents recruited from the refugee camp. They scattered outside Heavens Cold City to hunt those demonized people that ran out of the city then collect, burn or bury them.


    After encountering so many teams, Zerom¡¯s group started to understand that without Zhang Tie, they could hardly get close to Heavens Cold City even if they were not arrested in the refugee camp.


    At this time, Zhang Tie¡¯s heavy metal container of 9 bolts on his back had almost become his symbol on the battlefield as anyone who caught sight of Zhang Tie dared not to find trouble for him. Instead, many teams even exclaimed out of excitement when they saw him.


    "Mie Mo Shen Mo (ÃðħÉñ죩..."


    "Mie Mo Shen Mo..."


    Except for Shrek, none of Zerom¡¯s group spoke Chinese. Therefore, when they saw a team yelling towards them, they were even a bit nervous and thought they might have trouble. However, after seeing this several times, they started to understand that they were exclaiming towards Zhang Tie.


    "Shrek, what are they yelling?" Jordon asked behind Zhang Tie while panting.


    "They were yelling a slogan!" Shrek then looked at Zhang Tie calmly, "That slogan means marvelous demon-killing javelins. They might be yelling towards Zhang Tie!"


    "Is that a praise or honor for Chinese?" Jordan asked surprisingly.


    Shrek didn¡¯t know how to answer about this question. Because of the cultural difference between Chinese and them, it¡¯s hard to explain. In Chinese, the word "ħ" and "Éñ" always contained dozens of meanings, such as "ħ" referred to demon, ghost, evil, darkness, villain, malice, inhumanity or difficulty in comprehend while "Éñ" referred to marvel, holiness, deity, creator, fantasy, wonder even one¡¯s spiritual awareness.


    In Hebrew-spoken regions, if a fighter was received an honor, it would be very significant. Because people could never gain any honor without any performance. Additionally, according to the conventions in this age, like being conferred with a title of nobility, a fighter has to gain his honor through fighting with demons. Additionally, honors always had fixed patterns, were always composed of the place where one made a meritorious deed plus his performance or feature (noun). Observably, they were not yelling an honor, neither a eulogy; it should be something between two of them that only existed under Chinese cultural background.


    When Shrek scratched his head. Zhang Tie who was ahead of them opened his mouth. "That¡¯s not an honor, neither an official and holy eulogy. You can take it as an appreciation and praise, just like some of your nicknames!"


    "Like I am called Steel Ax in Thor Mercenary Army, right?" Jordan asked out of curiosity.


    "Just like that!"


    "However, only a few people in Thor Mercenary Army know me. Nobody knows my nickname on the outside. But it seems that so many people know your nickname!" Jordan became a bit depressed and admirable.


    ¡®This tough man is cute." Zhang Tie then revealed a smile, "That¡¯s because your nickname is not loud enough or special. If you try harder and go to the extremes when you use your axe on the battlefield such as speed, I will give you a nickname then. I¡¯m sure that more people would know you by then!"


    "Argh? What nickname?"


    "Black Cyclone!" Zhang Tie joked.


    It was really out of Zhang Tie¡¯s imagination that Jordan became spirited after thinking for a while seriously, "Fine, that¡¯s it, Black Cyclone sounds cooler than Steel Ax. "Shrek, Zerom, you can call me Black Cyclone from then on!"


    ...


    1 hour later, they had successfully arrived in the suburban area of Heavens Cold City after only meeting 10 more common demonized people. Before Zhang Tie moved, Jordan who wanted to show his qualification as "Black Cyclone" had chopped them all into pieces in a split second.


    When they arrived at the suburban area of Heavens Cold City, everything became different.


    It was already past 9 am when the sun had already risen up. The temperature over the land was gradually increasing, causing a terrifying, suffocating and disgusting stink to drift from inside Heavens Cold City. When they were about 1 km away from the city, Zerom and the other guys¡¯ faces instantly turned pale when they smelt this.


    Although they were nothing strange about this odor in the morning breeze, they had not met such a heavy odor before.


    Even Zhang Tie who didn¡¯t pull down his breathing mask on the way here had also pulled it down at this moment in order to ease its stimulation.


    "How many people were killed here?" Professor Simon turned and asked.


    "They are not human, they are demonized, people. From July 7th to now, we¡¯ve killed at least 100,000 demonized people within 1 km of the four city gates!" Zhang Tie answered in a low voice. "Now, there are still over 1 million demonized people in Heavens Cold City. We can hardly clean their corpses. Our men only controlled a part of regions near the four city gates. After killing them, we will maintain the city gates so that living could still escape out of there!"


    As long as the over 1 million demonized people continued under the guidance of the parent puppet worm, they could easily shock 2 common human armies. Additionally, as Langye Prefecture was relatively remote, all the local forces only contained less than 400,000 soldiers, how could they fight an over 1 million strong demonized army.


    This also indicated that the Zhen Clan was very vicious. If the Zhen Clan aroused trouble when the holy war broke out, the whole Langye Prefecture would deteriorate heavily in a few days. Langye Prefecture was in the northwest of Jinyun Country and there were no powerful forces and clans within 1000 km of the surroundings. Nobody would know what the Zhen Clan could do in Langye Prefecture with over 1 million demonized people


    In the Second Holy War, the most powerful parent puppet worm controlled by demons could even control over 3 million demonized people at the same time.


    At this moment, unless assigning more than 2 corps from 1000 km away and prepared to pay for a high price, they could only surround Heavens Cold City and annihilate those demonized people in Heavens Cold City with small teams. They could only weaken the force and reduce the number of those demonized people in Heavens Cold City. Thankfully, demonized people could not deliver babies. Otherwise, it would much more troublesome.


    When they were outside a city gate of Heavens Cold City, they would meet some corpses with each step forward. All of them were demonized, over 90% of them had been chopped or cut into pieces. Many corpses had started to rot and grubby¡ª¡ªwhere¡¯s hell? Right here!


    Although the guys from Thor Mercenary Army had been used to death and blood, they all started to vomit after only 100 steps forward.


    Except for Zhang Tie as he had long experienced this period. He also contributed a part to this scene. Those whose heads were still linked to their necks yet had exploded were mostly the work of his javelins. Glancing over corpses, Zhang Tie looked a bit sorrowful while icy flame gleamed in his eyes.


    These corpses were once people like him!


    God-damned demons!


    Zhang Tie had made 2 targets silently since he was born.


    First, he determined to be an alchemist in the auction house in Kalur.


    Second, he made it to Heavens Cold City. Several days ago, standing in a gate tower in Heavens Cold City, Zhang Tie looked at the abstruse night sky. He then determined that he would never close his eyes until he killed 1 million demons and lackeys of Three-Eye Association and covered Heavens Cold City with those corpses.


    From then on, watching all this, Zhang Tie didn¡¯t vomit anymore. Instead, his eyes were filled with grief while a cold flame was burning in his heart...


    Having almost vomited everything that he had eaten, bending his body, Zerom watched Zhang Tie¡¯s back as straight as usual and felt that Zhang Tie was like a steel statue which contained a foreboding and hard strength that should not belong to this age.


    ¡®Although this teenager looks the same as before in some aspects, he¡¯s different in some places.¡¯ A thought flashed through Zerom¡¯s mind.


    Zhang Tie just waited there for them calmly. When they finished vomiting and stood up, their eyes had turned red and tearful. Zhang Tie then nodded, "Let¡¯s go, you will be fine after that. There are more corpses than that inside. But it is more dangerous inside!"


    The 4 people then continued to follow Zhang Tie and walked over to the hell-like place. They soon came to the south gate of Heavens Cold City where they watched a rapid fight.


    A batch of people in the same uniform as them was killing some demonized people gathering over the passage in the city gate. After that, they pulled away those corpses and cleaned up the passage.


    Zhang Tie then walked over there and casually stamped a pink worm two


    "Zhang Tie", one of them walked towards him. Seeing this, Zerom and the other 3 guys shut up.


    "What¡¯s up? Is anyone alive out of there?" Zhang Tie asked as he watched Liu Xu.


    "None!" Liu Xu waved his head while his half-covered face didn¡¯t look good obviously, "It¡¯s been almost 1 week. Fewer people could escape out of there. These are..."


    Liu Xu then turned his eyes to Zerom¡¯s group.


    "Some of my old friends. After hearing the event in Heavens Cold City, they want to have a look inside. Therefore I''m taking them here." Zhang Tie put it straightly and didn¡¯t mean to cover the status of Zerom¡¯s group at all.


    Liu Xu then moved his eyes from them like having not seen them at all. Thus, he lowered his voice and moved closer to Zhang Tie, "I heard our clan seniors were negotiating with some big figures from other clans on dealing with the event in Heavens Cold City. There are always powerhouses lurking in some sensitive places in the inner city and some banks in the outer city. There are also some guerrillas. Take care of yourself!"


    Zhang Tie understood Liu Xu¡¯s good intentions. He also knew what Liu Xu was hinting about. Therefore, he slightly patted on his shoulder, "Don¡¯t worry, they are just figuring out something inside. They would leave in several hours after having a look near the camps of the original city guards!"


    "That¡¯s fine, watch out!" Liu Xu understood it instantly.


    Zhang Tie then nodded before guided Zerom and the other 3 into Heavens Cold City through the bloody passage...

 374 Battle

    Chapter 374: Battle


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    Each of Zhang Tie''s nine javelins in the metal container on his back was close to 130 centimeters in length. Besides being used for throwing, the metal javelins could also be used as short spears in close combat.


    At this moment, noticing that more than twenty demons were rushing towards the five people, Zhang Tie waved his spears, one in each hand. In a wink, he had made ten heads explode.


    Zhang Tie moved so swiftly and directly. Facing those demonized people, he only made one movement¡ª¡ªprick!


    Each time he pricked, his short spear would cause a low, wind-breaking sound, "Sss, sss", which suggested his terrifying speed at close quarters. However, to respond to the power of his short spear moves, the heads of the demonized people being pricked all exploded like broken watermelons, sprouting brains backwards.


    Although those being killed were demonized people, judging from their looks and clothes these demonized people were all once commoners in Heavens Cold City, including common businessmen, citizens, students, housewives, the old and the young.


    The demonized man that Zhang Tie had just exploded was around forty years old and was still wearing a postman''s clothes, with a visible yellow Chinese character, "ÓÊ", on the left breast of his blue uniform. Below that character for "mail", Zhang Tie peered at his official identification photo and his name¡ª¡ªGu Anming£¨¹È°²Ã÷[1]£©.


    Compared to that official identification photo, Gu Anming didn''t look like how he looked one week ago any more. Instead, his bulging eyes were filled with a bloody, killing intent. His face looked grim and twisted and a fishy, stinky liquid was flowing out of the corners of his mouth. Gritting his teeth with fury and evil, he was charging at Zhang Tie while waving his limbs. As was expected, he exploded from the impact of Zhang Tie''s short spear before he drew too close.


    After Zhang Tie made Gu Anming''s head explode, the remaining demonized people in his group cried out with jarring screams. Hearing this, Zhang Tie changed his facial expression immediately as he pricked another head swiftly and told Zerom''s group, "They are calling their partners, we have to get out of here as soon as possible!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s warning, Jordan swung his huge ax and chopped off two demonized people''s heads, sending them flying in the air. Zerom and Shrek also each killed one respectively. After that, they followed Zhang Tie and rushed into an alley on the side.


    While being protected by them in the middle, Professor Simon started to pant. After running less than 100 meters, Zhang Tie saw an opening rice store. He then ran inside at once.


    Followed by the other four guys, the moment Jordan went to shut the door, he was stopped by Zhang Tie, "No need!"


    "What if those demonized people rush inside?"


    "No problem. If we close it, we might arouse their attention. Follow me upstairs, and be quiet!"


    Hearing the screams and disorderly footsteps from outside, they hurriedly followed Zhang Tie up to the second floor of the rice store.


    They were in a small warehouse where someone had lived before. It seemed that chaos had happened here as things were strewn everywhere. Many rice bags were broken. There were even some blood stains on the floor. However, nobody was inside. The moment Zhang Tie had come upstairs, he pulled closed the curtain there. Standing close to the windowsill, he made a gesture to tell the others to be quiet. Therefore, everybody slowed their breathing.


    Shrek was on high alert above the entrance of the stairs and watched the gate downstairs. If any demonized people rushed inside, he would find out first.


    The screams of demonized people were drawing closer and closer. It was really noisy in the alley on one side of the rice store and on the other side from the street outside. Hundreds of demonized people rushed by, followed sparsely by many more. From the source of the sound, they knew that those demonized people were rushing towards the place where they''d fought just now.


    Professor, Jordan, Zerom and Shrek all changed their facial expressions slightly. If they had stayed half a minute longer there, they would have been surrounded by the demonized people. Although normal demonized people had the same fighting strength as a commoner person''s, they were all painless and dauntless. If Zhang Tie''s group were to be surrounded by them, nobody knew what would happen.


    They had been in Heavens Cold City for over two hours, during which period they had experienced six fights. As a result, they gradually came to understand how terrifying those demonized people were.


    Like piranhas or army ants, as long as they locked onto their target, those demonized people would all attack together. Unless they were all killed, they would never stop. When being surrounded by demonized people, as long as one was troubled by a demonized person for over 2 seconds, more of them would take the chance and crowd up. In two seconds...four seconds...six seconds...eight seconds...they would gather until they covered you and gnawed you, leaving nothing at all. Any powerful fighter would be frightened facing such an attack.


    With a sound downstairs, a demonized person walked in. Seeing this, Shrek made a gesture towards them to tell them to hold their breaths.


    Jordan then clenched his ax...


    Zerom narrowed his eyes as he changed the position of his long sword...


    Professor Simon seemed to be praying as he drew something on his chest...


    Zhang Tie gazed at the foot of the stairs...


    Over ten seconds later, the sound downstairs drew farther away, while the screams outside also faded. Several minutes later, after those noises disappeared, everybody finally let out a breath.


    Shrek then jumped from his position at the stairs and walked towards the other people, throwing himself onto a rice bag. Zerom watched outside carefully from the windowsill. "Those demonized people have gone, only leaving a couple of them wandering in the alley!¡®¡¯ he said.


    "Professor Simon, why didn''t they call their partners the moment they saw us instead of doing that when they only had one or two left?" Shrek asked.


    "After losing the guidance of their parent puppet worm, all the demonized people have poor organization. They are not even as smart as spiders or ants. When they caught sight of us, they took us as their food and target. We made them excited, just like how those stupid animals are when they notice their food and mates. Of course, they would not share their food with others!"


    Hearing Professor Simon''s explanation, Jordan quivered all over. "Professor Simon, could you change the metaphor. We are their food, but what motherf*cking mates? Who wants to hug those guys in a bed?"


    Professor Simon then revealed a smile in an embarrassed way. Ignoring Jordan''s qualms, he said "Only when they''ve confirmed that they have no chance of eating us would they then send an SOS to their own kind!"


    "Before coming to Heavens Cold City, I even thought they could speak. It''s really out of my imagination that they could only scream!"


    "Language is a very advanced function in the human brain. It requires a very high level of intelligence. Although those puppet worms can control one''s actions by living in their brains, they cannot control people''s language function. The reason lies in the very low intelligence of puppet worms themselves. They cannot deal with the sophisticated functions of the language area in human brains, not to mention comprehending human language, logic and contents or exchange by language!"


    While they were talking in low voices, Zhang Tie was furrowing among the things in the room. He found some dried fruits and passed them to the other people, saying, "Eat some first to regain your physical strength. We might face more battles like this later on!"


    When they entered Heavens Cold City, it meant they''d entered the battle field. Of course, Zhang Tie would seize any chance to recover his physical strength and spiritual energy, and maintained them in their optimum states. This was a battle field survival skill that he''d learned in Iron-Blood Camp. Besides fighting on the battle field, they needed more strength to persist.


    "How long from here to the nearest camp of the former city guards?" Zerom asked Zhang Tie after a short thought.


    Zhang Tie pointed at a direction outside the window, "We need to pass two streets. It''s about 1000 meters away from here. Now, only a few demonized city guards are wandering in the city, while 90% of the rest of the demonized city guards are gathering around the inner city of Heavens Cold City, where the parent puppet worm was killed..."


    "I don''t think we can continue like this. It''s too dangerous, especially for Professor Simon!" Zerom said as he drew on the floor with his long sword. "How about this? We will find a place within this region to settle down Professor Simon first. Then two of us stay with Professor Simon to protect him while the other two go outside to catch two demonized city guards. The advantage of this method is that we could reduce our chance of exposure. Additionally, those going outside could get out of danger with their own fighting strength more quickly..."

 375 Military Camp

    Chapter 375: Military Camp


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    The moment Zerom posed the plan, everybody else agreed. If they stayed together, it truly would be too eye-catching for those demonized people; additionally, their efficiency would also decline.


    "How about Shrek and I go out and catch two demonized city guards?" Zhang Tie nodded as he said, "Zerom and Jordan are responsible for protecting Professor Simon. If any accidents occur and evacuation becomes necessary, each group can leave Heavens Cold City seperately. We can then gather near the south gate of Heavens Cold City!"


    "I agree!"


    "I agree!"


    "Me too!"


    Everybody nodded. Professor Simon needed to be protected. Therefore, it was safe for him to stay with a powerhouse and a clear guy; Zhang Tie was familiar with Heavens Cold City, Shrek was a senior scout who was good at spying and urban warfare. Therefore, it was proper for the two people to catch demonized people to bring back.


    "Professor Simon, which parts of the demonized people do you need, only their heads?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Although their heads are the most important part, you''d better bring back their complete bodies. As puppet worms can influence one''s internal organs, we can get more precise information through a complete study of their organs.


    "I understand!"


    ...


    After the discussion, they took a short rest in the warehouse before leaving.


    A couple of demonized people were still wandering in the alley outside. The moment Zhang Tie walked out of the door of the rice store, he killed them with his javelins before they made any sound.


    As they had all been fighting the demonized people in close combat until now, it was Zhang Tie''s first time showing his javelin throwing talent to them. Zerom and the other three guys heard the sonic booms when Zhang Tie threw out his javelins!


    None of them had imagined that Zhang Tie''s javelin throwing skill had reached the level of causing a sonic boom. Therefore, they were amazed, especially Zerom. Although he knew Zhang Tie well, it was still of out his imagination that Zhang Tie could realize this in only one year after leaving Blackhot City.


    Most people who excelled at throwing javelins would at least reach LV 8 before they could create a sonic boom because sonic booms required great, explosive physical strength. Take Captain Kerlin as an example, he was able to create a sonic boom in the middle and late period of LV 8.


    "Zhang Tie, what''s your level now?" Zerom asked Zhang Tie as he ran.


    "Just reached LV 7!"


    Considering the sonic booms they heard, Zerom and the other three guys was not surprised about that answer. They were all thinking that Zhang Tie might have learned some secret knowledge after he returned to his Zhang Clan. In some big clans with long histories, it was not difficult for a person at Zhang Tie''s age to reach LV 7.


    Zhang Tie didn''t give any explanation either; instead, he rapidly collected his javelins from the dead bodies and led them towards a camp of former city guards in the distance.


    As there were too many demonized people on the main streets, Zhang Tie especially chose side alleys. Sometimes, he directly entered the buildings on his side and ran on the roofs of the buildings in cases when there were too many demonized people. Even though they were very carefully, it was unavoidable that they still met four teams of demonized people hundreds of meters away.


    After learning from the former experiences, they all moved very fast in these battles, leaving no time for those demonized people to utter any scream.


    Zhang Tie noticed that after Shrek killed those demonized people, he immediately took their purses. Zhang Tie didn''t say any word about that as mercenaries were good at doing that kind of thing.


    The places with great wealth in Heavens Cold City were within the inner city and in the Heavens Cold City Bank opened by the Zhen Clan. Both places had been under the watchful gaze of powerhouses from Huaiyuan Palace. However, people could still find much wealth from the other places in the city.


    ...


    With a jarring scream uttered by a demonized person from afar, all the surrounding demonized people rushed over there. As a result, the streets became instantly empty.


    In a room, Zhang Tie and Zerom''s men heard the disorder footsteps from outside.


    "This is a good chance. Someone else must have attracted those demonized people. We can directly rush over there. Ready..."


    Zhang Tie also became more vigilant; when the footsteps had gone far away, Zhang Tie sped up followed by Jordan, who directly hefted Professor Simon on his shoulder. Zerom and Shrek were at the back of the team.


    Zhang Tie targeted at a hotel with more than ten floors two hundred meters away.


    This was the longest distance for them to run in a breath since they entered Heavens Cold City. It only took them a bit more than 10 seconds to get there.


    Ahead of the team, Zhang Tie rushed before the gate of the hotel and caught sight of 4 demonized waiters of the hotel wandering out of the lobby. Of course, the four demonized people also saw Zhang Tie. Before they uttered any voice, Zhang Tie had already exploded their heads with 4 javelins.


    Closely after that, all of them rushed into the lobby. As being not chased after on the way here, Jordan heavily panted, "F*ck, I couldn''t have imagined that we could run so freely in Heavens Cold City!"


    "Douchebag, hurry up, put me down!" Professor Simon swore.


    Jordan hurriedly put him down.


    ...


    Two minutes later, after killing seven or eight more demonized people in the hotel, they arrived at a conference room at the top of the hotel.


    Standing in the conference room, they were able to see the military camp hundreds of meters away and some demonized people in the uniforms of former city guards wandering outside the camp.


    "Nice spot, we will choose here then!" Zerom looked around before nodded.


    "Fine, if we don''t come back in two hours, we must have encountered some accident or special situation. You should then evacuate without us!" Zhang Tie told Zerom.


    "Okay! Take care of yourselves!" Zerom nodded.


    After reaching an agreement on the details, Zhang Tie and Shrek walked downstairs and left from the rear door. Before separation, they even exchanged glances with each other. After that, they chose a direction respectively and ran towards the military camp.


    Shrek chose an alley while Zhang Tie directly dashed through the streets. Shrek thought that Zhang Tie would choose the roofs of those low buildings; however, it was really out of his imagination that Zhang Tie would choose that way. Therefore, he was stunned. ''What a crazy guy! Isn''t he afraid of being surrounded by demonized people?''


    Of course, Zhang Tie was not afraid of that. Because he didn''t think any of the demonized people inside Heavens Cold City could catch up with him and block him. With his physical strength, he could keep running for a whole day in Heavens Cold City like this, regardless of the quantity of those demonized people.


    Now that most of demonized people above LV 10 in Heavens Cold City had been cleared by the powerhouses of the 6 clans, the remaining demonized people above LV 10 were staying near the inner city of Heavens Cold City. Few of them wandered outside. Even though Zhang Tie had met one of them, he was still confident that he could escape with the bliss of his rapid moving skill.


    When he left the hotel, Zhang Tie triggered his rapid moving skill; therefore, he moved even faster on the streets.


    As he expected, after a few footsteps, Zhang Tie was noticed by some wandering demonized people on the streets. They then chased after Zhang Tie; however, Zhang Tie just ignored them. As a result, more and more demonized people noticed Zhang Tie and started to follow him. In less than 200 m, Zhang Tie had been followed up by hundreds of demonized people.


    As common demonized people ran almost as fast as commoners, they were gradually lagged behind by Zhang Tie.


    For Zhang Tie, with high speed movement, he could keep out of range of all the attacks and harassment of demonized people in Heavens Cold City. Unless he stopped, he would never be surrounded by demonized people.


    Even though more and more demonized people were chasing after him, the distance between them and Zhang Tie was also expanding. As long as Zhang Tie changed a route or made a turn, many of the demonized people following him would lose their target and start to wander in the streets again.


    Zhang Tie chose to stay close to that military camp''s perimeter. After only several minutes, he had already gotten rid of the demonized people chasing after him. After circling around the military camp, Zhang Tie jumped off the three meter high wall in the east.


    The whole camp was ruined by the battle airships of Huaiyuan Palace as a quarter of the ground and a fifth of the buildings in the camp had been attacked by white-phospherous gel combustion bombs while metal bolts shot by the small-caliber, rapid-fire ballista from the battle airships of Huaiyuan Palace spread everywhere; many of them even burrowed deep into the soil.


    Along with those traces left by the war were those incomplete corpses. As those corpses were left a week earlier, nobody cleaned them up; therefore, it was pretty disgusting. Nobody would like to see them at all.


    At this time, the whole camp, which once housed over 10,000 city guards, had become a completely empty zone. Besides some demonized people wandering around like ghosts on the large training field, nobody else was alive, except for Zhang Tie.


    At sight of Zhang Tie, the couple of demonized people rushed towards Zhang Tie at once...

 376 Double-Carp Swords

    Chapter 376: Double-Carp Swords


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    Three demonized city guards were rushing towards Zhang Tie. They all looked pretty disgusting, with the skin of two of them heavily burned. Besides that, one of them had lost an eye, and one''s hair and scalp was burned off. The last one had a bolt in the right side of his chest, while disgusting puss was flowing out of the festering wound. Due to their stink, a lot of flies were circling around them.


    With only one glance at them, Zhang Tie had given up his plan to bring them back to Professor Simon. They were really disgusting!


    With one javelin, Zhang Tie slashed their heads into pieces as fast as he could, like swatting flies. After that, he started to search the military camp. As he didn''t see Shrek inside the camp, Zhang Tie thought that he must''ve been targeting the demonized city guards wandering outside the military camp.


    This was a very large military camp, which covered about 500,000 square meters, including the training field. Many buildings inside the camp had been burned, leaving behind the most common barracks, some training facilities, warehouses, canteens and so on.


    According to the habits of demonized people, some of them preferred to wander where their hosts used to stay. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t believe that there were only three demonized people inside such a large military camp. Although he couldn''t see any on the training field, he might meet some demonized people somewhere else.


    Zhang Tie ran directly towards the nearest barracks.


    The door to the barracks was half closed. When he arrived, Zhang Tie kicked it open at once. After peeping inside, he found no demonized people at all. It was chaotic and nothing could be seen on the bunk beds except for dust.


    Zhang Tie kept kicking open the doors of seven more barracks and found no demonized city guards inside at all. Then Zhang Tie came to the gate of a building with four floors.


    That building was very magnificent. Its exterior was covered with delicate marble bricks. There was also a noticeable copper plate on the wall outside, reading, ''Brigade of City Guards III Headquarters, Heavens Cold City''.


    There were two empty sentry booths outside the gate of the building. Some military vehicles and light wheeled infantry chariots were parked in the parking lot beside the building. Those vehicles were crowded together in a disorderly way and the scene was lifeless. One chariot had even run into a parterre beside the building. After crashing into the parapet guardrail, it tilted over the parterre and was damaged greatly.


    Everything there seemed to reveal how chaotic it was when the airships of Huaiyuan Palace had assaulted this military camp one week ago.


    Zhang Tie didn''t intend to go inside. But then he suddenly heard sounds from upstairs and changed his mind, deciding to search inside.


    After entering the building, the sounds became louder. The sounds, "bang, bang, bang" were drifting down from upstairs every second. With a javelin in hand, Zhang Tie silently went to the stairs of the building before he rushed upstairs.


    Like other similar buildings, the stairs were in the middle. On both sides of each floor were corridors, and lining the corridors were rooms and offices. At a glance, the design was indicative of military camps.


    Nobody was in the corridors on the second and third floors, so the sound had come from the fourth floor, which was more luxurious than the lower floors as it had dark red carpet on the floor. The moment Zhang Tie came to the fourth floor, he caught sight of a man in military uniform at the end of the corridor on the left, who was thumping on a closed door with his fist.


    As that man had his back to Zhang Tie, the latter could not clearly see his face. Therefore, Zhang Tie could not judge whether or not the man was a demonized person.


    All the rooms and offices on this floor were opened, with papers scattered all over the floor, except for the room at the end of the corridor on the left.


    Zhang Tie took a look around and found nobody else on this floor. He walked towards the man in military uniform and stopped ten meters away from him.


    He coughed, "Ahem..."


    Zhang Tie''s cough was extraordinarily loud in the empty corridor. The moment the man heard this, he turned around.


    Bloody eyes, a grim and twisted face, and mucus dripping from the corners of its mouth; all this indicated that it was a demonized city guard. What made Zhang Tie excited was that it was a second lieutenant.


    Zhang Tie then let out a sigh, ''Thankfully, this one doesn''t look that disgusting.''


    The demonized person then charged at Zhang Tie, intending to punch his face. It moved very swiftly, equal to the fighting strength of a level six fighter. Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he faced its attack head on, like how a tough guy would bully a toddler, he ended the fight in the blink of an eye.


    Catching its wrist in one hand, Zhang Tie pushed the demonized person''s head with his other hand. Then, with a "Kacha" sound, he rotated its head 360 degrees and immediately broke its neck like breaking off corn cobs. As a result, the puppet''s head was bent backwards over 180 degrees and lolled down its back while the top of its head was facing the floor.


    No blood was spilled during the whole process.


    Zhang Tie then loosened his grip, letting that demonized second lieutenant fall onto the floor like mud.


    However, Zhang Tie hadn''t expected that the puppet wouldn''t die immediately. Instead it lay on the floor, its limbs still twitching slightly like a machine that was out of control. Meanwhile, its bloody eyes gazed at itself, intending to control its own body once again.


    Although, Zhang Tie had long known that demonized people had a very strong physical endurance, he had not imagined that the puppet could still try to stand up at that moment.


    "Motherf*cker!" Zhang Tie swore as he immediately raised his foot and stomped on its limbs to break them. After that, the puppet didn''t move any more. However, its bloody eyes were still gazing at Zhang Tie. Thankfully, Zhang Tie''s psychological endurance was great and he didn''t care about this "staring salute".


    Previously, Zhang Tie had intended to catch it, However, at the sight of the metal plate on the door, Zhang Tie changed his mind.


    The plate read, ''Brigade Commander''s Office''.


    He thought to take a look inside, as there could be some good items there. A thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind, ''No matter what, they are Zhen Clan''s items. Just take them.''


    It seemed that this was an important place as it had a reinforced metal protective door. At that moment it was obviously locked, otherwise the demonized man would not have thumped on it for so long, leaving only a dent in it.


    "Pah, pah, pah..." Zhang Tie patted the door''s surroundings. From the muffled resonance, Zhang Tie knew that it was a heavy door.


    Zhang Tie then took a deep breath and moved one step back. After that, he ferociously kicked its lock with the "Elephant Stomp" movement of Iron-Blood Fist.


    With a crisp sound, "Bang," the whole door, along with its frame, changed shape greatly, leaving a crack of space between the door and its frame about two fists wide.


    After another "Elephant Stomp", with a boom, the door fell down together with its door frame.


    Soon after that, fine plaster and cement blocks dropped from the ceiling and covered Zhang Tie''s head and face.


    "Peh...peh...peh..." Zhang Tie kept spitting out of the cement and plaster as he patted off the dust in his hair. After that, he walked into the office.


    ''It''ll be a great loss if I find nothing inside.''


    He came to an outer room of the office, which was more than thirty square meters big. There were some filing cabinets, a sofa set and a desk close to the door. Some maps were hanging on the wall. It seemed to be the office of a secretariat or an adviser. After a glance, Zhang Tie could see nothing valuable. Therefore, he didn''t search it any more than that.


    There was a dark red door on the right wall, which was half covered. Stepping on the thick carpet, Zhang Tie walked over there and pushed open the door.


    Compared to the room outside, the room behind the door was like an office of a brigade commander. It covered more than 100 square meters. The moment he walked inside, he saw a huge sand model of the city on a table in the middle of the room, and two nice, crisscrossed, gleaming long swords on the wall facing the door.


    "Ze...ze...Zhen clan is really rich!" Zhang Tie sighed with feeling as he touched the two one meter high crystal columns, each of which weighed hundreds of kilograms.


    The two crystal columns on both sides of the door looked pretty good. They were transparent all over. Additionally, a steamed-bun sized pyramid energy shadow had formed in their cores. The moment Zhang Tie drew close to them, he felt the powerful energy effects of the two super "crystal generators".


    Such large pyramid crystals were close to at least level six. Zhang Tie had not seen such large pyramid crystals before. The value of the two items was definitely worth more than 10,000 gold coins.


    After confirming that nobody was in the room, Zhang Tie teleported the two huge pyramid crystals into Castle of Black Iron without any hesitation.


    This was really a worthwhile trip for Zhang Tie.


    The brigade commander''s office had been arranged in an ambient way. Other than the two huge "crystal generators", there were some oak bookcases which were filled with books. At the sight of the bookcases and the books inside, Zhang Tie''s eyes gleamed. Without a second thought, he collected all of them into his study room in Castle of Black Iron.


    As his study room in Castle of Black Iron was still empty, he would not waste the precious books on those bookcases. Until now, Zhang Tie still remembered his experience while in the Grant family''s Private Library in Prague. In this day and age, books were also a very important treasure.


    When he was in Zhen''s Mansion, Zhang Tie had the chance to move all the books from the Mansion into Castle of Black Iron. However, due to an emergency he''d had no time to collect every book. Additionally, he was afraid of exposing himself to the Zhang Clan. By contrast, he didn''t need to consider any of that at this moment.


    Besides bookcases, there was also a wine cabinet in the office, which was filled with various types of alcohol. However, Zhang Tie wasn''t interested in drinking them as he was not sure what was inside of the bottles.


    Many elite weapons were hanging on a wall. There were also two sets of nice looking armor. However, Zhang Tie didn''t touch them either.


    On one side of the desk, Zhang Tie found a safe which was completely open, leaving nothing inside. It seemed that someone had taken the items away in a frenzy. Only god knew who had those items now.


    After that, Zhang Tie checked the last thing in the office¡ª¡ªthe desk.


    Zhang Tie came to the desk and pulled out the drawer at the bottom. As only some documents had been left inside, Zhang Tie turned them over randomly before pushing the drawer closed.


    Some boxes of cigars and some delicate boxes of medicament were lying in the drawer on the second layer. Zhang Tie picked up one box of medicament and found some sexy women on the package, who had alluring, slim eyes and half-exposed boobs. There were 3 lines of Chinese characters on the package:


    ''Beauties Groan Every Night.''


    ''Tone Your Kidney and Nourish Your Body. With One Piece, You Will be a Real Man Overnight.''


    ''Secret Medicament from Qionglou Pavilion of Taixia in the Eastern Continent.''


    "F*ck!" Zhang Tie swore as he pressed the drawer back in.


    When he pulled open the drawer on the third layer, he found some medals and an exquisite box made of silver and gold, which was about thirty square centimeters wide and more than 10 centimeters high.


    Zhang Tie took the box out of the drawer and opened it.


    A belt, made of gold and silver diamond-shaped pieces of metal, was lying inside. At the sight of this belt, Zhang Tie widened his eyes in amazement¡ª¡ªNo Way!


    Zhang Tie screamed inside, "No Way", repetitively as this belt''s design and its brilliant, noble and slim buckle made him excited.


    It was too familiar for Zhang Tie. This was obviously another Red-Snake Sword. Additionally, compared to the Red-Snake Sword that he''d gained in Iron-Horn Army, this one looked better and more advanced.


    Zhang Tie then pressed the bead in the middle of the buckle. With an extremely low sound, "Tsa", two fish shot out at the same time.


    Zhang Tie took one of the two fish. Feeling the fine, anti-slip scales and the heavy texture on the fish, Zhang Tie instantly recalled the same feeling from when he''d held the Red-Snake Sword.


    Holding the handle of this slim, golden fish, Zhang Tie noticed the small Chinese characters on its back¡ª¡ª''Golden Carp of Double-Carp Swords''


    Zhang Tie slightly release his Iron-Blood Battle Qi.


    A sword ray instantly sprouted out of the golden carp''s mouth and stretched six meters away. Amid the sword light, Zhang Tie seemed to see a flexible golden carp. Just as when he''d used the Red-Snake Sword before, when he pushed it with his sword qi, the secret grains on the blades cast a vivid pattern in the air.


    Zhang Tie took the other fish sword in his left hand. At the same time, he slightly released his Iron-Blood Battle Qi to push out the sword light from the mouth of this other fish. The thin sword blade also reached six meters away. The only difference was that the projection in the air from this sword was a silver carp.


    Zhang Tie waved his hands at the same time. In a split second, the room was filled with crisscrossing sword light. Like performing a magic trick, Zhang Tie unleashed golden and silver carps from his hands, making them swim six meters ahead of him in the air.


    As he was not accustomed to the two weapons and the effective distance of the weapons was a bit long, the two weapons collided with each other every now and then with a splash. Due to an unsteady gesture from his left hand, the silver carp swam over the middle of the wine cabinet, instantly creating a clean cut through the bottles inside. As a result, all the items inside the wine cabinet shattered.


    "Hahahaha," Zhang Tie burst out in laughter. The double-carp swords were definitely one level higher than the Red-Snake Sword that he''d used before. The two swords were greater in various ways, including effective distance, sharpness and craftsmanship.


    Zhang Tie guessed that the weapons had probably been gifted to the master of this office. Zhang Tie sighed with feeling. ''This gift is really much better than those weapons in the warehouse of the Iron-Horn Army.''


    Zhang Tie had been shocked when he''d gained the rare Red-Snake Sword before. However, he had not imagined that he could gain another set of swords of the same quality just one year later.


    Was this his destiny?


    Zhen''s assassin had made him lose his Red-Snake Sword in Dragon Cave. However, now he''d gained a much better set of Double-Carp Swords within Zhen''s territory. This must have been predestined.


    Zhang Tie then instantly tied his Double-Carp Swords to his waist. Being covered by his field combat clothes, nobody would know that Zhang Tie had changed his sword belt.


    By then, Zhang Tie was satisfied.


    After another glance around the office, the corners of Zhang Tie''s mouth were raised as he left the room.


    When he went back through the door of the outer office, Zhang Tie grabbed the demonized person who''s bloody eyes were popping out and was still intending to pick itself up. Zhang Tie then rushed downstairs with it in hand, like he''d caught a small chick, and rushed outside of the camp.


    ...


    Ten minutes later, after shaking off the demonized puppets chasing him by taking a circular detour, Zhang Tie returned to the hotel where Professor Simon and the other two guys were.


    Less than two minutes after Zhang Tie returned, Shrek also came back with a demonized puppet in hand.


    "Well, they are mine now. Please spare me two hours. You can leave now!" said Professor Simon


    After placing the two demonized puppets onto the desk of the conference room in the hotel, qi instantly covered Professor Simon as he chased the other people out of his working place like a chef who was ready to cook two fat fish.


    Zhang Tie, Shrek, Zerom and Jordan were then chased out of the conference room by Professor Simon as well.


    At the entrance of the conference room, Shrek put his arm around Jordan''s neck and murmured something to him. Jordan then forcefully swallowed his saliva and nodded.


    "Zerom, it''s enough if you accompany Professor Simon here. Jordan and I want to make an inspection round inside the hotel to eliminate the other demonized puppets here!" said Shrek as he winked.


    Because he was clever, of course Zerom knew what they were really going to do, but he only exhorted them, "Watch out, don''t bring in those demonized puppets from outside the hotel!"


    "No problem!" Shrek responded with a big smile. Then he glanced at Zhang Tie. "How about inspecting the hotel together with us?"


    "No need. Just do what you want. Except for money and some valuable items, don''t take any items that are too conspicuous with you. Otherwise you will have trouble!" Zhang Tie warned.


    Considering the fact the hotel''s star rating wasn''t too low, there would probably be a lot of money and some valuable items inside the hotel, or left behind from the guests. Whether they could find these things depended on their luck.


    Shrek and Jordan then walked away jubilantly.


    "Aren''t you going?" Zerom asked Zhang Tie with a smile.


    "I have many chances to make money like this, so I''m not in much of a hurry!" said Zhang Tie, having just made a fortune.


    "I almost forgot that. You can come here whenever you want!" Zerom patted his head.


    "Oh, have you gotten a message from Captain Kerlin? Has he left Blackhot City too?"


    Zerom shook his head. "I contacted him a month ago. He was still in the No.7 National Middle School. You might not know yet, but that guy has bought a house near Bright Avenue!"


    "Bought a house?"


    "As a man who wants to protect and be responsible for a woman, of course he needs to prepare a fixed house in Blackhot City!" Zerom mocked, "That guy is rude and rarely falls in love with any women. But since he''s fallen in love with a woman like Miss Daina from your school, he would not leave Blackhot City unless he saw no chance of surviving! In order to buy a house there, that guy almost robbed non-stop these past few years..."


    ''Miss Daina.'' After hearing this familiar and beautiful name, Zhang Tie became slightly absent-minded...


    Two hours later, Shrek and Jordan came back red faced with items fully covering their waists. At this time, Professor Simon also walked out of the conference room as he wiped off the blood stains on hands.


    At the sight of Professor Simon''s slightly pale and frightened face, Zhang Tie was slightly shocked inside.


    Professor Simon trembled, his voice hoarse, "I...I have to go back to Armes...right now!"


    ...

 377 Ahead of Time

    Chapter 377: Ahead of Time


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    When the 5 people went back to the refugee camp, it was almost 2 pm.


    Zerom and his men changed their clothes in Zhang Tie''s tent; Zhang Tie then saw them off.


    "No matter what, Thor Mercenary Army owes you!" the emaciated Professor Simon said as he embraced Zhang Tie to bid him farewell. Although they''d only stayed with each other for one morning, they had become brothers-in-arms.


    "Come to Armes when you are free. I will introduce the hottest girl to you!" Jordan said as he gave a bear hug to Zhang Tie, "Thanks for that nickname, Black Cyclone, I like that!"


    "You can bring me fortune!" Shrek also hugged Zhang Tie and sighed with feelings, "Now, Heavens Cold City is like a vault; to be honest, I don''t even want to leave!"


    Zerom also hugged Zhang Tie, "Take care of yourself!"


    "You too!" Zhang Tie replied.


    "We planned to go to Huaiyuan Prefecture; however, we have to give up on it; Professor Simon said we had to notify the headquarters of Thor Mercenary Army and let them prepare for the coming war!" Zerom appeared to be slightly disappointed.


    "Why were you going to Huaiyuan Prefecture?" Zhang Tie was slightly stunned by this.


    "Hmm, I heard an alchemist in Huaiyuan Prefecture had produced all-purpose medicament. After the event in Heavens Cold City, the various medicaments are in short supply. However, Armes is covered with poisonous things. As long as the antidote is in short supply, it will cause many bad chain reactions. Previously, we intended to seek a solution in Huaiyuan Prefecture; but now..." Zerom waved his head helplessly. As they only had one airship, they had to go back to notice Armes first about the more emergent information.


    "How many vials of all-purpose medicament do you need?"


    "At least 4,000 vials! Zerom replied. The trading volume of 4,000 vials of medicament was huge wherever it was, especially for a mercenary army.


    If Thor Mercenary Army was under the control of Zerom, Zhang Tie would directly promise him by selling or gifting him the all-purpose medicament. Zhang Tie''s life philosophy was influenced by his dad and his mom as he firmly insisted on repaying one''s help. When he attended survival training in Wild Wolf Valley, Zerom and Captain Kerlin saved him in the cave. Of course, as repayment, Zhang Tie would gift his all-purpose medicament to him without any hesitation.


    However, Thor Mercenary Army was not under Zerom''s control. As a member who was though highly of by the management of the mercenary army, he was nothing different than a staff member in a business group. He was not even a shareholder. Therefore, Zhang Tie needed to consider it carefully. If he repaid his thanks to Thor Mercenary Army, it be not proper; instead, he needed to repay his thanks to Zerom and let Thor Mercenary Army know about Zerom''s significance in the Army, which would be advantageous for Zerom''s development in the mercenary army.


    Many thoughts flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind.


    Zhang Tie smiled and pretended to take out of something from the vials container in his tactical vest; actually, he was taking out of 2 vials of all-purpose medicament from Castle of Black Iron and gave them to Zerom.


    "Do you mean this?"


    At the sight of the two vials of medicament in Zhang Tie''s hands, Zerom, Simon, Shrek, and Jordan were stunned.


    Under the sunlight, the crystal vials were radiating rainbow-like brilliance, which made the greenish yet golden medicament pretty mysterious. The unique symbol of Manjusaka on the vials instantly attracted their eyes.


    "Argh, Manjusaka, I heard it was the symbol of the all-purpose medicament..." Shrek screamed before Zerom spoke.


    "Zhang Tie, where do you get this from?"


    "Why wouldn''t members of the Zhang Clan have such good items from Huaiyuan Prefecture?" Zhang Tie casually answered.


    Staring at the two vials of all-purpose medicament, Zerom''s eyes gleamed, "I was told that very little of such medicament could flow out of Huaiyuan Prefecture. Nobody in Armes has even seen it. We just heard about its marvelous functions. Can it really replace preliminary antidote potions?"


    "If you only used to detoxify, you would find it was more effective than preliminary antidote potion. Some of my friends have tried it, this thing could easily detoxify the toxin of a huge centipede!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Professor Simon took one and started to gaze at it carefully. He seemed wanting to open it; however, he felt embarrassed to do that; ergo, he glanced at Zhang Tie, asking for Zhang Tie''s agreement.


    "Just open it, these 2 vials of all-purpose medicament are yours!"


    Hearing this, Professor Simon instantly opened the clasp of the vial and moved it closer to his nose and sniffed. Soon after that, he looked very energetic. Seeing this, Jordan and Shrek also drew close.


    "Argh, how come it smells so good..." Jordan shouted.


    "Is this the smell of a super enzyme?" Professor Simon became a bit stunned.


    "What, Professor? Shrek asked.


    "Alas, I also wanted to be an alchemist when I was young. I studied some knowledge as a herbal apprentice and tried to make a super enzyme; pitifully, I failed it. I even wasted several years on this. At the sight of this vial of all-purpose medicament, I recalled what happened before..." Professor Simon waved his head in a nostalgic look.


    Zerom then looked at Zhang Tie full of inquiries and desires, which could be easily felt.


    "When you go to Huaiyuan Prefecture next time, you can go to Jinwu Company in Jinhai City. You could get all-purpose medicament there!" Zhang Tie told Zerom.


    "Jinwu Company?" Hearing this, Zerom became a bit surprised. Companies were usually small trading organizations; the greater ones would be called commercial associations or business groups. He had not heard a company called Jinwu Company in Jinhai City of Huaiyuan Prefecture could sell all-purpose medicament. Zerom felt it was unbelievable, "Is Jinwu Company selling this?"


    "If it were anyone else, they would not be able to buy all-purpose medicament from Jinwu Company even for a high price, but if it''s you, you will definitely buy it from Jinwu Company. They can get all-purpose medicament for you through special channels!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, not only Zerom understood, even Professor Simon, Shrek and Jordan had understood who then glanced at Zerom with amazed looks. ''When did Zerom become so welcome? No matter whether Zhang Tie was bragging or not, it was very significant for Thor Mercenary Army that Zerom can get all-purpose medicament from Huaiyuan Prefecture.''


    Zerom glanced at Zhang Tie and felt moved inside. Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zerom finally confirmed that this teenager might have grown too powerful, so much so that even Zerom felt strange about him.


    People didn''t need to explain somethings.


    Zerom then embraced Zhang Tie once again, "Take care of yourself, I hope to see you again!"


    "You too!"


    Zerom, Shrek, Jordan and Professor Simon finally departed Zhang Tie. Seeing them disappearing in the distance, Zhang Tie stood still in the wild for a while. He then took a deep breath and looked at the scorching sun before he returned to the refugee camp.


    It was a sunny day; however, Zhang Tie felt chilly inside.


    Watching their backs, Zhang Tie wondered if he would see them again; perhaps, this was the last time they would see each other.


    Last year, Donder told him that the third holy war between human race and demons would break out in five to twenty years. So, according to Donder, the holy war would break out in 4 years; however, based on the information that Professor Simon gained through study and analysis of the demonized puppets, Zhang Tie knew that it would break out much earlier than estimated.


    Zhang Tie only had one year to prepare for the coming war, instead of four years. Based on the analysis of Professor Simon, the puppet worms had lived in their hosts'' brains for over 36 months. If not for the event, those puppet worms would''ve incubated for another six months to one year...


    This was very important and frightening information, which meant that demons and their lackeys in Three-Eye Association planned to launch the war and plunge the whole continent into great chaos next year, next August at the latest ¡ª as was predicted by Professor Simon.


    The world had become chaotic. What happened in Heavens Cold City was just the beginning; in the future, more and more places would become a hell like Heavens Cold City.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether the complete collapse and exposure of the Zhen Clan in Heavens Cold City would let demons and Three-Eye Association''s some plans shift to earlier dates. Now that Professor Simon could gain the information through anatomy and analysis of the puppets, Zhang Tie believed that those big clans in Jinyun Country and the other countries and powers which took away not only one demonized puppet from Heavens Cold City could also work it out.


    As long as they started to accelerate their defense towards the 3rd holy war, actually, they were forcing Three-Eye Association and demons to launch the war. Therefore, Zhang Tie and most of the other average people would have less time to prepare for it!


    No war would start when both parties were well prepared for it. Wars were always competitions on speed.


    Thinking of this shocking information, Zhang Tie walked in the refugee camp with a low mood. Seeing those extremely sorrowful and numb looks, Zhang Tie''s heart gradually became cold.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was like a man running on the prairie; seeing the horizon in the distance, he thought that he could somewhere brilliant if he kept running like that; however, all of a sudden, that man found that the horizon was merely a mirage. Actually, he stood on the edge of an abyss and had no road ahead.


    ...


    At this time, a red leather football rolled towards Zhang Tie and hit his foot, causing him to look around.


    A sunny boy of 5 years old or so was running towards him, "Elder brother, can you kick the football back to me?"


    At the sight of the little boy''s smiling face, Zhang Tie became stunned. After circling around the refugee camp for several days, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to see such a happy smile. It was like a ray of sun light among the black clouds.


    Zhang Tie didn''t react until the little kid repeated what he said. Zhang Tie then slightly picked the football by his foot into the air and held it by hand. After that, Zhang Tie walked towards that little boy and squatted, patted his little head, and passed the football to him, "Are you alone? Where''s your dad?"


    "My dad is catching bad guys in Heavens Cold City!" The little boy answered in a spirited way. "He''s a police officer in Heavens Cold City. My dad also has the same uniform as yours. But my dad''s uniform is blue!"


    "Your dad is catching bad guys in Heavens Cold City?" Zhang Tie failed to understand it at once, Are there any bad guys there at this moment... No, is there anybody alive in Heavens Cold City?''


    "Yes, my mom told me that my dad is very great. He has caught a lot of thieves before. We are camping outside; after my dad catches all the bad guys in Heavens Cold City, we will go back home!"


    ''Camping?'' Zhang Tie looked around at the refugee camp filled with tents. Before he wanted to say something, he saw a 30-odd woman running towards him in a flurried way, "Argh, sorry, sorry, did Xiaoxing''s [1] football hit you?"


    The little boy turned around and told his mom, "Mom, I''m talking about dad with this elder brother!"


    "Ah, Xiaoxing, go play over there, don''t trouble this elder brother. Haven''t I told you to not trouble others when you play?"


    "But I was asking whether this elder brother had seen my dad or not. My dad also has a uniform almost the same as that of this elder brother. This elder brother is also in the police!" The little boy said innocently before asked Zhang Tie, "Elder brother, you are a police officer, right?"


    "Ah...yes...yes!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    "Are you catching bad guys too?"


    "Almost that. But you dad is much sharper. I''ve not caught any thieves yet!"


    "Are you catching bad guys in Heavens Cold City every day? Have you seen my dad there? How about him now? My mom said my dad would write a letter to me in a few days!"


    The little boy didn''t see it; however, when he asked this, his mom who was squatting behind him started crying tears instantly. The woman stared at Zhang Tie with an imploring look.


    "What''s your dad''s name?" Zhang Tie asked patiently.


    "My dad is Fang Weiqiang!"


    "Oh, I met him before. When I went to Heavens Cold City last time, I saw him catch a lot of thieves! He''s great!"


    "Really?" The little boy became excited at once, "When you see him next time, can you tell him that Xingxing misses him so much? It''s really interesting to live in tents here, I want to play together with him!"


    "No problem!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s promise, the little boy threw his football onto the ground and kicked it away. After that, he chuckled and chased after his leather football.


    The woman hurriedly wiped off his tears as she stood up and thanked Zhang Tie.


    For this mother''s consideration, Zhang Tie could only let out a deep sigh, "He will find out about it sooner or later!"


    "Just let him remain happy temporarily. He''s still young now; I don''t want him to know that he has lost his dad at such an age!" The woman looked firm and painful.


    Zhang Tie then glanced at her, "I''m Zhang Tie. I live in the camp of Huaiyuan Palace, if you need my help, come find me!"


    "Thanks..." The women dropped off her tears once again.


    ¡­


    Zhang Tie then left the refugee camp. The woman had given him a lesson just now. From what happened to her and her kid, Zhang Tie learned that no matter how tough the road ahead was, one had to survive on. You might not decide what was going to happen; however, you should at least fix your own attitude.


    ''Even a kid could treat living in refugee camp as a camping trip and found pleasure among it, why wouldn''t I treat the tough and unpredictable future as a gamble of my life?


    ''Although the future didn''t look bright, at least I have taken the preemptive move due to all-purpose medicament. The sudden shortage of medicament materials indicates that the proportion of my all-purpose medicament becomes heavier in the market. What does this mean? It means more money and more chances to gain resources. Then, I will be more influential. Of course, more unpredictable dangers will come towards me.''


    Zhang Tie returned to his base and found two officers of Hidden Dragon Palace waiting for him outside his tent.


    "Are you Zhang Tie? The seniors of the Zhang Clan want to see you!"


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded. "Seniors of the Zhang Clan have summoned me? What''s that for?"


    "Elder brothers, what''s up?" Zhang Tie asked politely, ''Could it be that I screwed up by leading outsiders in Heavens Cold City? No way! How could such a trivial thing arise the attention of the seniors of Zhang Clan.''


    "We don''t know either. Just follow us there!" the two officers also replied very politely, which made Zhang Tie recover his composure at once.


    He then followed the two officers towards the flagship airship in the far...

 378 Never Lower My Head

    Chapter 378: Never Lower My Head


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    The airship parked on the ground was like a giant building dozens of stories high. Thick steel wires were pulled taut from the body of the airship and were firmly nailed onto the wood piles on the ground like those ropes nailed to the ground to hold the tents. If not fixed to the ground, such a colossal thing would cause a very dangerous accident when facing heavy winds.


    To park a huge airship on the ground was as technical as parking a huge ship in the harbor. Zhang Tie learned how to park a huge airship recently. Looking at that airship which brought him a great sense of oppression, Zhang Tie was thinking about something in his mind¡ª


    ''I''ve not entered Castle of Black Iron to eat fruits for many days. I wonder whether new fruits have grown on the small tree after killing so many demonized puppets over the past few days. Hopefully I can get another Trouble-Reappearance Fruit; then, I''d be able to try driving a fury-wind airship in the trouble-reappearance space.''


    The huge airship was parked on a wide, sandy area; many people were accessing the hatch door at the end of the airship. It had observably become a temporary headquarters of Huaiyuan Palace in Heavens Cold City. Personnel only! Two rows of fully armored soldiers from Huaiyuan Palace were standing outside the hatch door. Without permission, no students from Hidden Dragon Palace were allowed to access the airship.


    Under the guidance of the two officers, Zhang Tie smoothly entered this huge airship and came to the outside of a room on the second floor of the airship.


    After lightly knocking at the door, the two officers said respectfully outside the door, "Senior, Zhang Tie has arrived!"


    "Let him in!" a tender voice said from inside the door.


    An officer pushed open the door and made a gesture to let Zhang Tie in. Zhang Tie then entered the room with various questions filling his mind.


    The room was arranged in an elegant and simple way. An old man in plain robes was sitting on his knees and making a kettle of fragrant tea water. He looked both attentive and pious, all of his movement made Zhang Tie very comfortable.


    Zhang Tie looked at his bloody clothes, then looked around the surrounding environment in the room. He instantly felt like a plate of dog meat served in a top-class cocktail party, which formed a sharp contrast.


    Zhang Tie scratched his head, not knowing whether to walk forward to destroy the nice ambience or just stand still. To be honest, it was Zhang Tie''s first time seeing a senior of Huaiyuan Palace. These seniors not only had a terrifyingly great amount of power, but also had a say in Huaiyuan Palace. What was more, this man should be Zhang Tie''s great-grandfather.


    Of course, Zhang Tie became nervous in front of him.


    "Come here, take a seat!" The senior was very kind. He seemed to understand what Zhang Tie was thinking about now. Raising his hand, he beckoned Zhang Tie. "Be at home; people are the noblest creature in the universe; items might not match a man, yet a man is qualified to match all the items!"


    ''Items might not match a man, yet a man is qualified to match all the items?'' Zhang Tie was shocked by this meaningful line. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t hesitate anymore; instead, he walked straight into the room and sat on his knees like that senior before the teapot.


    "Have a try!" The senior pushed a cup of tea in front of Zhang Tie.


    The moment the cup of tea was pushed in front of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie smelt a special odor, which was extremely delicate with a refreshing and rigorous moisture. He then thought about the scene in the mountain after the early spring rain.


    Zhang Tie downed the whole cup of tea, but was shocked; he tasted nothing at all. The tea only tasted a bit sweet, nothing else.


    "How do you feel?" the senior asked Zhang Tie full of expectation.


    "It would be better with a bit of sugar in it!" Zhang Tie answered honestly.


    Hearing this reply, the senior''s eyelids quivered; he then watched his cup with the same kind of tea water for a short while before sighed, "Didn''t you taste such tea before? It''s ''Wild Spring'', the top-class tea in Eastern Continent. How come you want some sugar with it?"


    "I have not tasted any tea like this before; I only tasted tea leaves before!" Zhang Tie said with an embarrassed look.


    Thinking about Zhang Tie''s life in Blackhot City, the senior shook his head as he took his teacup and smelt the fragrance of the tea inside. After that, he took a sip carefully and asked Zhang Tie straightforwardly, "You took outsiders into Heavens Cold City today, correct?"


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie''s heart raced instantly. The old man continued sipping his tea; however, Zhang Tie felt that this old man immediately became taller and unshackable like a mountain, which caused him difficulty breathing.


    This was purely a spiritual feeling. It was an all-round overwhelming state from qi field, spirit, ability, will and other aspects.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt like a trivial ant. No matter how high he jumped, he would always be an ant. In contrast, this old man was a mountain which was hard to pass or compete with. Zhang Tie even felt that on a whim the old man on the opposite could destroy him both spiritually and physically.


    After only a few seconds, Zhang Tie had realized that he was losing control of his body under such a terrifying suppression. He was now in an extremely powerful force field both physically and spiritually. The force field was like mercury spilling over the ground. It penetrated into his body without any obstacle and could even impede his nerve center and brain from sending orders to his body.


    Under such suppression, Zhang Tie''s straight back started to bend towards the ground slowly. At this moment, each of his cells seemed to be forcing him to lower his head with the instinct to kneel down and give up completely.


    The senior was still sipping his tea leisurely with his attention on the teacup. He didn''t glance at Zhang Tie at all.


    ''Is this a knight''s force? Is this the 3-in-1 force mentioned by Master?'' Zhang Tie was shocked too much inside. Although he was clear-minded, he felt helpless as he could only see his body slowly bending towards the floor. His head was closer to the beige floor which he was kneeling on; at the same time, the wooden grains on the floor became larger and clearer.


    ''No, I will not surrender to this... even if I die...'' Zhang Tie screamed inside out of fury. Meanwhile, the veins on his forehead started to bulge. With full of his spirit and strength, he wanted to take back control of his own body...


    Zhang Tie then saw some images in his mind: that teenager who was abducted by Huck and Snade and stomped onto the ground... Glaze throwing a contemptuous sneer towards him... the seven wild wolves who almost killed him... the hidden bolt covered with blue frost which was shot towards him after he walked down from the duel platform... those undead of Black-Feathers Army of the Sun Dynasty who wanted to tear him to pieces... Major Franca''s wolf-like eyes...and the assassination attempt executed by that Zhen douchebag in Dragon Cave...


    ''No... no, I won''t...'' Zhang Tie''s eyes turned red at once.


    The spiritual energy in his mind was boiling up...


    Zhang Tie''s blood started to boil...


    Every one of his muscles started to tense as hard as steel and iron...


    When Zhang Tie''s forehead was only one egg''s distance away from the ground, Zhang Tie''s hands which were put on his knees finally became fists.


    The sweat over his forehead started to drip onto the floor one blob after another. Because of the narrow distance, Zhang Tie could almost hear the sound of his sweat dripping onto the ground.


    Zhang Tie finally controlled his head; after that, he started to raise his head and straighten up his back gradually. Although it was a simple movement, it caused a sound of "Kakakaka" over Zhang Tie''s muscles and skeletons like forcefully opening those fixtures on the metal processing platform which had been rusted for a long time


    It took Zhang Tie two minutes to completely raise his head and straighten his back.


    However, after such a short while, Zhang Tie was fully covered in sweat like he''d just climbed out of water. His combat uniform had become completely drenched. He felt even more tired than after fighting a whole day in Heavens Cold City.


    Not until Zhang Tie raised his head and straightened up his body did the senior raise his head and peer at him with a shrewd light.


    Zhang Tie panted. Even after drinking a cup of tea, he still felt his throat becoming hoarse. He then stared at that person opposite him, "Yes, I took four people into Heavens Cold City today!"


    "Don''t you know about the order?" The senior gazed at Zhang Tie as he put down his tea cup. At the same time, his kind gaze turned into sharp-bolts and shot directly into Zhang Tie''s mind, "Why do you think you are an exception?"

 379 If Not an Ant, Be a Chinese Dragon

    Chapter 379: If Not an Ant, Be a Chinese Dragon


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    Facing the sharp stare of the senior, Zhang Tie replied without any fear, "I just did what I should do!"


    "What you should do?" A forbidding sneer appeared on the senior''s face. "Don''t you know that Huaiyuan Palace is enforcing military laws here? You think that''s what you should do, but you might lose your life according to the military laws. Since its founding, Huaiyuan Palace has been strictly complying with the clan regulations left by Lord Huaiyuan for hundreds of years. Even an heir who once violated the clan regulations was abolished and imprisoned for the rest of his life by the clan. Do you think that you are unaffected by clan regulations just because of your all-purpose medicament? Do you think that Huaiyuan Palace won''t kill you?"


    "I''m just a small figure. I don''t think I am great. If I violate any clan regulations, of course Huaiyuan Palace could kill me!" Zhang Tie raised his head. "But as a man, I have to do something!"


    "Oh? You still have an excuse for your actions?" The senior turned his furious look into a smile. "Is your excuse more important than clan regulations? Tell me about your reason. Do they deserve what you did to them?"


    "One of them saved my life before. I have to return the favour. This is the first reason!"


    "What about the second reason?"


    Zhang Tie kept silent for a short while before he continued with a lower, yet firmer tone, "The information that was gained at the cost of over a million common people''s lives doesn''t belong to a single individual, the six influential clans in Jinyun Country or their privileged lords. Nobody is qualified to hold this information personally. If the news about the holy war was locked, more average people would become cannon fodder as they wouldn''t be able to prepare!¡®¡¯


    "You really think so?" The senior of Huaiyuan Palace narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "Yes!" Zhang Tie replied with a louder voice as he puffed up his chest. "In the last few days, many powerful people have already gained the information they wanted from Heavens Cold City. I don''t think those big figures and influential clans in Central States Union are the only ones who have the right to know that the holy war will arrive next year, or even in six months. Why don''t other people have any right to know about this information, which is so closely related to their lives?"


    The senior fixed his eyes onto Zhang Tie''s face. His sharp gaze almost shot through Zhang Tie''s eyes and entered his mind. "Do you want to know why? Because only these people and clans can deal the greatest damage to the demons and keep more people alive. Because of their great combined power and organizational ability, they are qualified to know more information than commoners!"


    "Therefore commoners are destined to die?"


    With an extremely solemn face, the senior replied, "Have you seen how ants cross a river when it has flooded? Ants cannot swim, so all they can do is hug each other in a ball with tens of thousands of them and roll over the river. During this process, many of the ants on the outer sphere are flushed away by the flood, leaving those in the core alive. This holy war is akin to ants crossing a river. In the end, some ants would be flushed away by flood. However, some would survive. Sacrifice is unavoidable. While we cannot make sure that every ant will cross the river, we have to believe that only those ants who are powerful enough to unite can decide the future of the ants!"


    Zhang Tie knew he was right. When the holy war arrived, most of commoners who were not powerful enough to unite with each other would not organize effective counterattacks towards the demons at all. Instead, they would only think about escape, escape and escape...


    ''At this moment, the big figures and I don''t think the same. They pay more attention to the ants who can unite with each other. However, I want those commoners who cannot unite with each other, who are doomed to be flushed away by the floods, to make preparations ahead of the floods, even just a bit. They might not able to roll over the river like other ants, but at least they could have a chance to find a leaf for themselves.


    ''Is anybody wrong? Nobody is wrong. Each person has his or her own stance. Although my idea is almost perfect, I could actually only help a few "ants". A Thor Mercenary Army of only tens of thousands of people was nothing compared to those big powers. I was just trying my best to help them in case of regret.''


    Before coming to Huaiyuan Palace, his family members in Blackhot City were those ants, doomed to be flushed away by this flood in the eyes of those big figures.


    Thinking of this, Zhang Tie smiled with self-mockery. Until then he didn''t realize that although he was rich and more privileged than before, it was impossible for him to become a person like Lan Yunxi or the elites from other clans, because he could not think like them at all. His life experiences at the bottom of Blackhot City had been deeply impressed in his soul. Deep in his mind, there was a small figure, a poor guy, a flesh bag in the Iron Thorns Fighting Club, who would always do something at the sight of someone like him encountering unfairness or doomed to be cannon fodder.


    Donder told him that according to a discovery made by human psychologists before the Catastrophe, everybody was actually trying to do one thing¡ª¡ªto make their personality formed in childhood more complete.


    ''I can hardly understand the "good intentions" of the big figures. Instead, I only want to do something to make me and my friends feel better. I am both resigned to the coming adversities and rebellious. I expect this world to be a paradise where "everyone is equal". Does this expectation come from the small figure in my soul?''


    "You didn''t have to attend this action. Nobody has forced you to do that. But you came voluntarily in response to the summons of the clan. Additionally, you are very brave on the battle field. I appreciate it very much!" Seeing Zhang Tie stay silent for a while, the senior sipped a mouthful of tea and continued, "As it''s your first mistake taking people inside the city privately, I will punish you according to the military laws of Huaiyuan Palace in the name of playing favoritism. Your clan contribution points for this action will be fully deducted. Furthermore, you should accept one hundred whips. Do you agree?"


    "A country has its national laws, similarly, a clan has its regulations. As I have violated the regulations of Huaiyuan Palace, I accept the punishment voluntarily!" Zhang Tie said in a low voice.


    "Hmm. There''s another thing that you need to know. Someone of the Zhen clan once worked in the Alchemists Association of Jinyun Country. The quantity of vials that you ordered from Alchemists Association was too large and had attracted his attention. Therefore, the Zhen clan arranged for someone to assassinate you on Hidden Dragon Island. Additionally, the Zhen clan are members of the Three-Eye Association, which was developed by demons among the human race. After they heard that you can realize mass-production of all-purpose medicament, the other clans and members in Three-Eye Association probably already knew about it too. Therefore, you are in a very dangerous situation right now!"


    "Three-Eye Association wants to kill me?" Zhang Tie was shocked by this information. He thought that he had solved the problem after sweeping then Zhen Clan. However, he had not imagined that Zhen''s attack on him might only be the beginning, as Three-Eye Association was backing the Zhen Clan and might still be watching him at this moment.


    "Based on Three-Eye Association''s style, when we are on the verge of the third holy war, they will eliminate anyone who can reinforce the overall strength of the human race and help the human race to fight demons. Recently many alchemists have been assassinated, and a senior clan of the Carlo Federal Alchemists Association was swept. According to our investigations, these actions were done by Three-Eye Association. As you are much more valuable than a common senior alchemist, Three-Eye Association will definitely try to find a way to get rid of you!"


    "Thanks for your warning, senior. I will take care of myself!"


    "After the Zhen Clan''s real status is exposed, Three-Eye Association will be in the thick of the storm. They might be lurking for a while more. Therefore, you should still be safe for a short period of time. If you agree, our clan can assign powerhouses to protect you!"


    "I think the best protection is to disappear. I prefer if nobody can find me, or if Three-Eye Association just thinks that getting rid of me is not worth the trouble. I will deal with it myself!" Zhang Tie considered for a short while before he refused the senior''s help.


    One minute later, Zhang Tie left the senior''s room with a calm look.


    To tell the truth, the Zhang Clan''s punishment to him for bringing outsiders into Heavens Cold City was fair. Zhang Tie wasn''t grateful or resentful towards the Zhang Clan for the punishment. Instead, he thought he deserved the punishment. However, through this he felt an invisible chasm between him and those big figures, which also existed between him and Huaiyuan Palace.


    This chasm was not cause by interest disputes, but purely the differences in values and world views. The big figures'' distant attitude towards small figures and average people from the event in Heavens Cold City made Zhang Tie very uncomfortable.


    If the Central States Alliance or Huaiyuan Palace could make a detailed announcement about the coming holy war, they''d spare time for commoners to prepare and they might be able to save the lives of hundreds of millions of people. However, Zhang Tie knew that he was dreaming.


    When he left the senior''s room, Zhang Tie recalled the faces of his friends still in Blackhot City and Bulapei¡ª¡ªBarley, Owen, Doug, Hista, Bagdad, Leit, Alice, Beverly, Hanna, girls of Rose Association and...Miss Daina.


    Zhang Tie knew that these people were the "ants" that would be flushed away by the flood. During the long holy war, their lives had become trivial. If they could survive the holy war it meant they were lucky. However, if not it was nothing strange. Even though the holy war was coming, nobody felt it was necessary to notice them at all.


    This made Zhang Tie uncomfortable and furious.


    After that, Zhang Tie saw Lan Yunxi in the airship. A few days before, Zhang Tie had heard that Lan Yunxi forcefully triggered her ancestral bloodline and killed three powerhouses of the Zhen clan who were above level 10 when she assaulted Heavens Cold City. Because of this, her primordial qi was heavily weakened. She needed to recuperate for a period. Therefore, she left the battle field from then on.


    Zhang Tie had seen many people to inquire about her whereabouts, yet nobody knew where she had gone. He even thought that Lan Yunxi had returned to Huaiyuan Palace for recuperation. Therefore, Zhang Tie was a bit amazed at the sight of Lan Yunxi in the airship.


    She was followed by a man, who was over twenty years old. With sword-like eyebrows and sparkling eyes, the man was as white as jade. He was robust and tall in a blue silk warrior''s robe. A long sword was hanging at his waist. What a handsome guy! Walking together with Lan Yunxi, the man was not overwhelmed by Lan Yunxi''s qi field at all. Instead, he kept laughing and jesting with Lan Yunxi.


    Zhang Tie passed by them calmly without even glancing at them.


    When she brushed past Zhang Tie''s shoulder, Lan Yunxi peered at him and slightly bit her lip instead of saying anything. In contrast, the man completely ignored Zhang Tie.


    "Younger sister Xi, here''s the Jade Marrow Primordial Qi Recovery Ointment. I had my man bring this from Shantai Family in Qinghua Mountain by airship. I hope it can help you recuperate as soon as possible."


    After he''d walked two steps away from them, Zhang Tie heard the man''s voice. He then clenched his fist and felt jealous inside.


    ...


    Five minutes later, Zhang Tie accepted his punishment in the open square of the camp of Hidden Dragon Palace, which aroused the attention of many people.


    "Zhang Tie, student of Hidden Dragon Palace, brought outsiders into Heavens Cold City privately by playing favoritism. As punishment, all the clan contribution points that he gained through joining the action of assaulting Heavens Cold City were cancelled. Additionally, he will suffer one-hundred whips!" A military inspector of Huaiyuan Palace declared Zhang Tie "guilty" after glancing over the onlookers. He then ordered a soldier to execute the punishment on Zhang Tie.


    Hearing this, all the onlookers exchanged glances with each other. Zhang Tie''s performance in Heavens Cold City in the last few days was very outstanding, which brought him a good reputation. However, it was really beyond everyone''s imagination that he could suffer such a punishment. Therefore, everybody just watched silently.


    A two meter high pile of wood was fixed on the ground in front of Zhang Tie. An iron chain was fixed on the wood pile which was used to handcuff the offender''s hands.


    The soldier then walked towards Zhang Tie and wanted to fix Zhang Tie''s hands onto the wood pile.


    "I will stand still right here, just whip!" Zhang Tie took off his shirt, exposing his robust back.


    "The whip in the army is no joke. It''s a dragon whip made of the large tendons of mutated killer whales and steel wires. An average person would pass out with only 3 whips. I suggest you to respect this whip. Otherwise, you might lose your honor in public. I respect you as a tough guy considering your excellent performance in Heavens Cold City recently, therefore, I am warning you about this!" The inspector murmured to Zhang Tie.


    "Thanks, no need. I want to know whether the whips of Huaiyuan Palace can wake me up a bit!" After saying this, Zhang Tie smiled at Ma Aiyun and the other girls who had concerned looks.


    After another glance at Zhang Tie, the inspector moved back as he nodded towards a muscular, barebacked, tough-looking guy who was holding a whip and preparing to execute the punishment. The tough guy then opened a rosewood box on his side and took out a black whip, which was as thick as a kid''s arm. He then raised the whip in the air to show it around to the onlookers. After that, he dipped the whip in the water barrel before he pulled it out. After that, he slapped it towards Zhang Tie''s back...


    With an air-breaking sound, "Si..." he lashed the whip onto Zhang Tie''s back, producing a crispy sound, "Pah..."


    Hearing that sound, all the onlookers felt their hairs stand on end.


    Although he had a blood stain on his back, Zhang Tie was still standing there as firm as an iron pillar with the exception of a slight frown.


    After slashing Zhang Tie with the whip, the tough man found that Zhang Tie didn''t respond at all. He then moved his whip in front of his eyes to check whether or not it was broken. After finding no problem with the whip, he continued.


    "Pah..."


    "Pah..."


    "Pah..."


    In a wink, the tough guy had lashed over twenty whips. Not only did the onlookers change their looks, but even the executor changed his facial expression. Such a whip could even leave a mark on a rock, not to mention a person. However, Zhang Tie just stood there, still as a statue. The muscles on his back didn''t even twitch a bit.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie would slightly frown after each lash. However, after ten lashes, he wouldn''t even frown a bit. Instead, he looked calm after each lash.


    The onlookers had never seen a person who could stand more than twenty dragon whips without even moving a bit. They had not even heard of such a thing before.


    More and more people came to watch, not only those from Hidden Dragon Palace, even many soldiers from Hurricane Army and Breaking Sun Army of Huaiyuan Palace had arrived. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s performance they were all stunned.


    After lashing the whip more than ten times with his full strength, the tough guy started to pant slightly.


    "Harder, have you eaten food? This is no fun! Change to another executor!" Zhang Tie roared.


    The moment he shouted, someone among the crowd instantly yelled, "Tough guy!"


    With a solemn face, the inspector walked over. He took the whip and started to lash it onto Zhang Tie''s back, causing a shrill, air-cutting and cracking sound on his back.


    Then, gradually, all the onlookers started to count for him loudly.


    "58..."


    "59..."


    "60..."


    The sound of counting grew louder and louder, which even aroused the attention of people far away.


    Hearing the increasingly louder yells outside the airship, the senior of Huaiyuan Palace, who was tasting tea calmly in his room, frowned. He walked towards the window and looked outside. Because the body of the airship was very high, the senior noticed Zhang Tie, who was standing still like an iron pillar and suffering from the punishment.


    At this moment another man also walked towards the window in the room and watched.


    "What a pity." Watching Zhang Tie being lashed, he shook his head slightly. "This young man is too merciful. Since he experienced the assassination on Hidden Dragon Island, I feel he''s always estranged himself from Huaiyuan Palace on purpose!"


    "It''s normal. After all, he''s new in Huaiyuan Palace and has no strong background. For a young man who was to be assassinated by a guard arranged by the clan, he is already brave enough to keep the previous partnership with Long Wind Business Group and stay on Hidden Dragon Island!" Although having scolded Zhang Tie just now, the senior started to appreciate him at this moment.


    "I think that Huaiyuan Palace should master the manufacturing method of all-purpose medicament. If this young man encounters a worse situation, I''m afraid that nobody else will be able to produce it any more! For the sake of the Zhang Clan, it''s not a good thing for him or Huaiyuan Palace if all-purpose medicament is under the control of this young man! This is nothing different than a baby holding a treasure passing through the boisterous market!"[1]


    The senior of Huaiyuan Palace then smiled proudly, "The reason Huaiyuan Palace is so powerful is not because of a small bottle of medicament. No matter what, the manufacturing method of all-purpose medicament is in the hands of Lord Huaiyuan''s descendant. That''s enough! If Huaiyuan Palace forces or cheats him into submitting the manufacturing method for all-purpose medicament, it would ruin the cohesiveness of the clan members. If so, do you think that Huaiyuan Palace can survive this holy war, considering the powerful capabilities of those people who cast their greedy eyes on Huaiyuan Palace?"


    "It''s really pitiful..."That man sighed as he watched Zhang Tie from afar, "If this boy could be a bit more docile, he would become another ferocious general in Huaiyuan Palace in a couple of years. But now, I feel this brat is not completely standing in line with Huaiyuan Palace. As he dares to take outsiders into Heavens Cold City privately and violates the rules of Huaiyuan Palace, he might do something more excessive in the future. Additionally, I''m afraid that he will not help Huaiyuan Palace do anything after the one-hundred whips!"


    "No matter who he is, as long as he violates the rules of Huaiyuan Palace, he should be punished! In future, as long as he doesn''t betray Huaiyuan Palace, defame his ancestors or impact the interests of Huaiyuan Palace, just take him as a freak. Oh, what about that investigation?"


    "We''ve confirmed that this brat has nothing to do with that event. First, he''s not able to do that, especially considering the many people in the conference room of the Zhen Clan Mansion. He would not be able to kill them all in a short period before some of them even moved a bit. Second, he was drinking with his friends in Jinwu Castle until midnight that night. On the 2nd day, he was still on Hidden Dragon Island. Unless he could fly, he could not swim over 1000 miles over night to do this. Additionally, no airships or ships were recorded as leaving Hidden Dragon Island that night, neither on the next morning. Last but not least, how could he know about Zhen''s arrangement in Huaiyuan Palace? When the Zhen Clan was scheming about Huaiyuan Palace, he was still in Blackhot City. Therefore, we''ve confirmed that another powerhouse who cultivated Iron-Blood Fist must have been involved with the event in the Zhen Clan Mansion."


    "Who could that guy be?" The senior of Huaiyuan Palace also frowned.


    ...


    In another room of the airship, Lan Yunxi watched Zhang Tie from afar as her face started to turn pale gradually.


    ...


    "97..."


    "98..."


    "99..."


    "100..."


    With the last cracking sound, the yells among the crowd stopped. Then, the onlookers became quiet. Everybody was gazing at Zhang Tie. At this moment, Ma Aiyun and the other girls who got along well with Zhang Tie ran over, full of tears.


    Yuan Ziyi took out wound medicine and started to rub it over Zhang Tie''s back. At the same time, Gu Caidie had brought Zhang Tie''s coat over and put it on for him.


    However, Zhang Tie kept watching the clouds in the sky, which looked like ants and robust dragons. The one-hundred whips really woke him up. Just now, among the ever terrifying pain, his mind was unprecedentedly clear. Watching the clouds in the sky, he thought through many things.


    "Zhang Tie, are you okay?" asked Ma Aiyun. Finding Zhang Tie absent-minded, she touched his forehead out of concern. She was afraid that Zhang Tie was driven mad by the whips.


    "Senior sister Ma, I''m okay!" Zhang Tie grinned with a big smile. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s smile, Ma Aiyun finally felt reassured.


    When he was being lashed just now, Zhang Tie didn''t feel pain at all. However after the punishment was over, when he moved his hand intending to pull out something from his bag, he felt his whole body had been cut into pieces, which made his face twist slightly.


    "What do you want? I''ll help you!" Ma Aiyun pressed Zhang Tie''s hand, "Do you want all-purpose medicament?"


    "No, it''s my purse!" Zhang Tie answered as he gasped, "Senior sister Ma, please take out my purse and help me buy meat and alcohol from the Logistics Division for 150 people!"


    "You still think about eating and drinking?" Ma Aiyun popped her eyes out at once.


    "I''ve promised some cavalry brothers in Taishi Clan I''d drink with them tonight. I cannot eat my words. You come together with me. Don''t forget to call Liu Xu, Wei Wu and Liu Yunfei when they come back, just to see me off!"


    "What? You want to go?"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Yuan Ziyi, who was rubbing medicine over Zhang Tie''s back, suddenly shook her hand, causing Zhang Tie to frown once again.


    Zhang Tie then nodded, "I feel it''s not proper for me to stay here any longer!" After saying this, Zhang Tie saw the girls'' faces turn ashen at the same time. Soon after that, Zhang Tie revealed a sunny smile as he lowered his voice and murmured with a sneaky look, "Are you wanting to see me raising my buttocks on the bed, my senior sisters? I don''t know whether that gesture is sexy or not. If you really want to have a look, come for me in Jinwu Castle silently. I will show it to you for free, either with pants or not..."


    Having felt like crying just before, Yuan Ziyi instantly burst out laughing. As she wasn''t being careful about the force from her hands, Zhang Tie uttered a ground-breaking, miserable shriek at once as he almost jumped up, "Argh, d*mn, lighter please..."


    The onlookers who had intended to move closer to him instantly stopped after hearing Zhang Tie''s shrill shriek like a pig being slaughtered. They then exchanged glances with each other and questioned to themselves, "Where''s that tough guy? How come that tough guy disappeared after being lashed? Was he pretending just now? Why not pretend a bit longer? Why so embarrassing now..."


    ...


    That night, Zhang Tie, Taishi Ci, Liu Xu, Yang Yuankang, Ma Aiyun and some cavalry brothers of Taishi Clan sat around bonfires and drunk until midnight.


    After Zhang Tie returned to his tent in a half-cocked way, a shadow drilled into his tent.


    "Senior sis Ma..."


    Zhang Tie became awake immediately. However, his mouth had been blocked by a hot face...


    What a nice wet dream...

 380 A Strange Place

    Chapter 380: A Strange Place


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    On the tranquil sea with tender waves an old wooden trawler longer than 30 m was wobbling harshly.


    The lacquer on the body of the trawler below the drafting line almost faded away. The earsplitting sound of the steam engines in the engine room also indicated that the working condition of the most important machine in the trawler had been much worse than before, like an old ox who was still pulling an oxcart and climbing the slope.


    A flock of jagers was following after this trawler. Having been living in the sea area for a long time, these jagers knew that when sailors hauled their nets, they would throw small-sized sardines and parwns back into the sea. Those jagers would enjoy their meal at that moment.


    If sailors had a nice mood they would even throw the fish and prawns into the air. Seeing this, those jagers would directly bite them in the air as if performing acrobatic stunts.


    The jagers had already followed after this obsolete trawler for a whole morning, during which periold, the sailors cast their net 6 times, 2 of which had nice gains which the jagers also enjoyed.


    At this moment, a greater part of the fishhold had been filled with fish and prawns. With tons more weight, the old-ox like engine uttered a more jarring sound.


    Besides, even the jagers in the sky started to tweet loudly.


    "Boss, just cast the net. Even those jagers can''t wait any more!" A sailor shouted loudly.


    Beside the shipboard, a middle-aged tough man whose face had been full of wrinkles due to the long-term effect of sea wind was holding a tobacco pipe in the mouth. He was gazing at the seawater attentatively, wanting to see through the sea water.


    After hearing the sailor''s scream, he raised his eyes towards the sky before waving his robust arm forcefully and sent the order loudly, "Cast the net! After hauling this net, we will go back home!"


    Seeing his gesture, all the sailors started to cast the well-arranged net into the sea by sections from the stern of the trawler.


    The man being called boss then came to the cab from the shipboard and told to the helmsman, "Maund, starboard the helm! I feel ocean currents under the sea. Those silver-headed spotted fish always like to follow ocean currents!"


    "Yes, sir!" The helmsman then turned around to check whether those sailors had finished casting their net. The moment they finished doing that, the helmsman had started to starboard the helm to steer the trawler towards the right.


    The boss then came onto the deck to watch the buoys on the net together with the sailors.


    "Boss, Pike[1] is too old. It has almost run for 10 years. Why not get a new one for us..."


    "Yes, it''s such an unprecedented good market recently. Any seafood would be sold out the moment they reach the market. Those purchasers from canning factories in the downtown are squatting in the wharf every day. As long as they see us, they would charge at us like that we were beauties. We begged them before, but now, it''s the complete opposite!"


    "I was told that those canning factories really had good business nowadays. They work overtime every day. There are so many orders that they just can''t deal with them all!"


    "When I was in the tavern, I was told by a sailor that it was pretty chaotic on the continent recently. It seems like war will break out soon. A city might have been destroyed by demons while all the commoners inside had been killed..."


    "So what! We have money to make!"


    "But 2 months later when the sea freezes, we will not able to head out any more, otherwise, we would make more money!"


    The sailors talked before hauling the net. By contrast, the boss still held his tobacco pipe in the mouth with his eyes fixed on the stern. He was imagining a beautiful new steel trawler.


    Of course, he had also thought about buying a new trawler like what those sailors had suggested. He had ordered a new trawler from Minsk Shipyard. He found an old friend who could help him get his new trawler in September without having to queue up.


    Now, shipyards also had a good business. Additionally, the prices of the fishers manufactured by those shipyards also rose up like those canned fish.


    Thinking of the 1800-odd gold coins, the price of the new trawler that he had paid for in advance, the boss felt heartache for a while. 1 month ago, the price of another steel trawler longer than 50 m and weighing 460 tons was only 1500-odd gold coins. He had been considering changing trawlers at that time. However, he hesitated and decided to change next year. Therefore, he missed the best purchasing opportunity.


    As a result, he had to pay 20% more this time.


    ...


    After he finished his smoke, the boss knocked his tobacco pipe which was made of whale''s bone on the shipboard and sent another order, "Now, haul the net!"


    Receiving the order, the sailors immediately started to rotate the capstan at the stern to haul the net out of the sea. This time, the boss''s face turned gloomy.


    The easier the sailors rotate the capstan, the fewer they gained.


    Finally, they got no fish at all, even a prawn. What was more, they found a tidy hole whose diameter was greater than 2 m at the bottom of the net.


    Squatting around the net, the boss and those sailors started to check the mysterious hole carefully.


    "Is it a magical beast in the sea?" A sailor asked while his teeth started to quiver.


    "Impossible. If it''s a magical beast, it would take a great strength for it to make such a hole and we should have sensed that!" Another more experienced sailor waved his head.


    The boss then rubbed the broken net and took the broken fish lines and started to observe them carefully. The end of the lines was tidy just like having been cut by a sharp weapon, making it very mysterious. Not only the boss had noticed that even those sailors had found it.


    What could cause such damage in the sea? What if that thing targets at this trawler...Thinking of this, everybody felt a chill inside while those sailors moved their eyes onto the boss.


    "As we''ve gained a lot today, it''s time to go back!"


    Hearing this, everybody felt they''d been relieved of a heavy burden...


    The Pike then turned around and drove towards the north. After sailing for half a day, the trawler finally drove into a boisterous fish pier on Kaja Island which was filled with fishers at dusk.


    After ensuring they were safe on the wharf, everybody let out a sigh.


    When they landed, their haul was soon sold out. After one day''s work, Pike brought over 90 silver coins to the boss, which was much higher than that 1 month ago. After receving their salaries, those sailors left jubilantly.


    The boss directly called a trailer to carry away that broken net to mend it up overnight; otherwise, they would not able to set sail tomorrow.


    Several hours later, as those fishers had come back consecutively and sold out their fishes and prawns, few people were left on the pier. When the last purchasers from canning factories left after midnight, the whole fish pier became quiet, except for the surging sea waves.


    At this moment, a black figure showed his head above the sea at the stern of the Pike like a legendary water ghost. Without making any sound, he then grabed the shipboard and jumped on board the trawler.


    After that, the shadow came outside the door of the crew modules on the trawler. With a slight twist, he had broken the tiny lock, causing a light sound, "Ka".


    3 minutes later, that shadow changed into a tidy set of sailor''s clothes and left the fish pier quickly.


    Although there were no roadside lamps on the streets in this city, it didn''t influence Zhang Tie''s actions at all as he had night vision. Walking on the streets, Zhang Tie glanced here and there out of curiosity...


    There were no tall buildings in this city. Almost all the buildings were lower than 6 stories with pinnacles or slopes on top. Most of their exterior walls were white, beige or a light wood color. Additionally, the most original textures of the woods and stones which were used to build buildings were preserved, making them natural, concise, firm and massive.


    Almost no tall chimneys like those in Blackhot City could be seen in the city. No traces left by trolley vehicles on the ground either. Only a few buses were parking on two sides of the streets. All this indicated that this was a city with poor industry.


    For Zhang Tie, this was absolutely a strange place...


    After arranging everything in Huaiyuan Prefecture and Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie had left Hidden Dragon Island 3 days ago.


    Nobody knew where he was heading. Even Zhang Tie was not sure where to go. He only had one general target in his mind¡ª¡ªthe sea area in the north of Waii Sub-Continent.

 381 Ewentra Archipelago

    Chapter 381: Ewentra Archipelago


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    Zhang Tie went to the sea area in the north of the Waii Sub-Continent with only one target ¡ª to gain seven-strength fruits that could greatly increase his fighting strength!


    Numerous marine animals and magical beasts were living in the sea area in the north of the Waii Sub-Continent, who were very aggressive and were all mammals. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, it was the best hunting ground for him to gain seven-strength fruits.


    With some more seven-strength fruits, Zhang Tie was confident that he could improve his precise throwing skill to a terrifying level. Although he had already realized sonic boom, it was not the end; instead, it was just the beginning. A javelin which could fly at the speed of sound would have a completely different destructive strength than that at two times the speed of sound transmission or four times the speed of sound transmission.


    If he had eaten some more seven-strength fruits when he was chased by those b*stards from the Zhen Clan in Dragon Cave, he would not have gotten into such a situation; instead, he could''ve easily killed them all with his handbolts.


    Of course, seven-strength fruits could not only improve his precise throwing skill, but also make him more energetic and increase his overall physical strength. Meanwhile, the power of Iron-Blood Fist and Iron-Blood Battle Qi could also be greatly increased by eating seven-strength fruits. The 9 wild wolf seventh-strength fruits not only gave him greater strength, but also gave him wild wolf-like endurance and speed.


    Zhang Tie didn''t travel by ship; instead, he directly dove into the sea and entered an ocean current that flew northwards. Under the propulsion of the ocean current, he crazily absorbed sea water into the Castle of Black Iron. With the effect of the counterforce, he gained an unparalleled speed that could not matched by any traffic tools in this age. He then flew under water for three days like this before finally coming to this wonderful and strange place...


    Over the past three days, Zhang Tie couldn''t tell how many kilometers he had swum under water. He only knew that, without the bliss of rapid moving skill, he also reached a terrifying speed under water by only using his spiritual energy to adjust the diameter of the space tunnel for absorbing sea water into the Castle of Black Iron. He was definitely travelling at double the speed of a T9 on road.


    What restricted his speed under water was not his ability but the pressure and force on his head, shoulders, and the other parts of his body.


    Although he could easily dive into 100-m in the sea, facing the great pressure and impact force, he could still not stand for a long time. Therefore, he could only slightly decelerate for a while to recover. After recovering, he would continue to swim at full speed and test his maximal physical endurance ability.


    For Zhang Tie, the three days travelling under water was a tough cultivation and a good chance for him to increase basic energy storage for castle of black iron.


    The sea arear in the north of Waii Sub-Continent was pretty vast with numerous islands, large or small. In the northernmost part, there was even an unpopulated icy continent. Zhang Tie only headed northward. Without any map or reference, he didn''t know where he was, either.


    The only thing that he could confirm was that he was definitely somewhere in the sea area in the north of Waii Sub-Continent. Temperatures in the sea and in the air at night both told Zhang Tie that he was already in the northern sea area.


    After staying in the sea for three days, he finally arrived at a strange place; Zhang Tie didn''t believe that anyone could find him. At that moment, Zhang Tie changed his look using his set of cross-dressing medicament combination that he''d bought in the auction house in Kalur.


    After crossdressing, Zhang Tie''s hair and eyebrows turned brown; his eyes turned blue while his skin became white. He was like another human race. Not to mention those who had not seen him before, even his mom could not confirm that he was her son.


    For those douchebags of Three-Eye Association, no matter how sharp the killers they assigned were, they definitely couldn''t find him anymore.


    ''This crossdressing medicament combination is really good. It''s really a necessity for one to change his face and escape from assassination after killing people or robbery.'' Zhang Tie felt very lucky to have bought such a set of items with less than 400 gold coins in the auction house in Kalur.


    Zhang Tie walked on the streets in the downtown as he kept looking around. At this moment, all residents across this city had fallen asleep, but there were still some lamplights from bars on the roadsides while tunes and sailors'' banter drifted out of the bars. Occasionally he would meet some drunken guys.


    According to his acknowledge about pioneers, Zhang Tie walked down the streets that were neither too spacious or eye-attractive nor too dark or narrow as he kept an eye on the shops'' signs.


    Eventually, Zhang Tie saw an inn''s sign in less than twenty minutes after he left the pier. Under the lower right corner of the sign was a pattern of crossing sword and shovel. At the sight of that pattern, Zhang Tie knew that he finally arrived.


    This was a three-story inn called ''Wild Home''. Although it was already late at night, there were still lamps on inside.


    Zhang Tie then pushed in and immediately felt a warm sense.


    On the first floor of the inn was a pretty large bar. When Zhang Tie entered, he found it was pretty boisterous in the bar. Although it was late at night, he could still see dozens of people gathering inside under the slightly dim lamplights. The thirty or forty people were all pioneers. They stayed in groups of three to five people and were discussing something in low voices.


    When Zhang Tie entered, the crispy doorbell ring aroused the attention of all the pioneers inside the bar. Seeing that Zhang Tie was just a teenager, after glancing over him for a short while, they moved their attention away from him.


    Zhang Tie felt the atmosphere in the bar was a bit weird; without thinking too much, he directly walked up to the counter.


    "Are there any rooms available?"


    The woman behind the counter was over fifty years old. With a thick makeup, she was holding a cigarette in her mouth while cleaning a glass using a white towel. She looked tall and plump, indicating a threatening, tough temperament.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s question, she peered at him before continued to wipe her glass, "The last small one in the attic on the 3rd floor. 2 silver coins for one night. No bargaining!"


    "Fine! Give me a pioneering map. Oh, have you got anything to eat?"


    That woman then put down her glass before fumbled out a tin-covered metal cylinder and put it in front of Zhang Tie, "Here''s a pioneering map on Ewentra; 15 silver coins. We only have cod soup and caviar bread now!"


    "Okay, sounds good!" Zhang Tie touched his stomach. During the three days'' travel under water, besides drinking two vials of all-purpose medicament, he ate nothing else. At this moment, he really needed some real food.


    "According to our regulation, you need to pay first. A map, a cod soup and a caviar bread comes to 15 silver coins and 70 copper coins in total!"


    Zhang Tie then fumbled in his backpack before directly pulled out 16 silver coins and put them on the counter. After seeing the silver coins, the woman behind the counter shouted towards the kitchen, "Millie, one cod soup and one caviar bread!"


    She then gave 30 copper coins back to Zhang Tie. After putting away his change and map, Zhang Tie chose an available table beside the counter.


    ''Ewentra?'' After sitting down, Zhang Tie immediately recalled the map on the sea area in the north of Waii Sub-Continent and the local customs and practices, political and economic situations on Waii Sub-Continent that he had learned in Hidden Dragon Palace.


    In Zhang Tie''s mind, there was truly a place called Ewentra. Accurately, it should be the Ewentra Archipelago. It was an island chain on the west of the sea area in the north of Waii Sub-Continent, which was composed of hundreds of islands.


    Ewentra Archipelago was one of the accesses to enter Ice and Snow Wilderness in the north from Waii Sub-Continent. If one wanted to enter Ice and Snow Wilderness in the north without going through the Ewentra Archipelago, one had to cross the ice-covered Cauca Mountain which spanned tens of thousands of miles, which would be a nightmare for everybody. Ice and Snow Wilderness was the populated area in the northernmost part of Waii Sub-Continent. If one kept walking towards the north from Ice and Snow Wilderness, one would enter the unpopulated zone of the Ice-Covered Continent.


    Ewentra Archipelago was very loose in its governance structure. It had not a powerful government. Like the Andaman Alliance which Blackhot City once belonged to, but it was much looser than Andaman Alliance. Besides some federations of city-states, some influential clans and great pirate organizations which occupied larger islands also had a say here.


    ''I''ve arrived at Ewentra Archipelago!'' Zhang Tie was a bit stunned inside. ''Ewentra Archipelago was over 11,000 km away from the sea area near Huaiyuan Prefecture in Jinyun Country. Under the thrust of ocean current, I''ve swum over 11,000 km under water in three days! Who would believe me if I told anyone this...''


    Zhang Tie was pretty proud and pleasant inside. Such a free swimming feeling in the sea made Zhang Tie spirited all over.


    ''Now that I''ve arrived here, I will look around then.'' Zhang Tie told himself inside. Ice and Snow Wilderness faced the sea in three directions. In the wilderness and in the neighboring sea areas, there were so many mutated mammal magical beasts and animals such as huge, snow-land wolves, ice and snow great bears, sea dogs, seals and walruses, not to mention those mutated and evolved LV 1 and LV 2 sea creatures.


    How many seven-strength fruits he could gain in Ice and Snow Wilderness completely depended on his fortune.


    The cod soup and caviar bread he ordered was soon served by a fat female waiter. They smelt pretty good and appetizing. The moment they were placed on table, Zhang Tie immediately started to dig in without caring about others'' stares. ''Wuh, this taste really nice!''


    "It seems that the news that pre-catastrophe relics of a human city were found on Ice and Snow Wilderness has been spread out. Even such a hairless brat wants to have a try there..."


    When Zhang Tie was eating his food, one of some pioneers who was sitting on Zhang Tie''s right hand murmured to his partners. Although his sound was very low, Zhang Tie could still hear every of his word clearly.


    "He only ordered cod soup and caviar bread, not even a drink. Besides, he didn''t bring any weapons. And his clothes won''t protect him in the climate of the Ice and Snow Wilderness. That''s definitely a newbie. He must think pioneering is like traveling; one only needs a purse." Another guy sniggered slightly.


    "I bet this newbie will only last one week in Ice and Snow Wilderness before becoming the excrement of those wild beasts!" A third voice sounded.


    "What a pity! He looks handsome and has the potential to be a boy toy. Why would he choose to be a pioneer?"


    "Perhaps, he thinks we pioneers can make money easily. Young men are always naive!"


    "When will the guy assigned by Wild Home to gather news come back? Akurey Island Shipping Association''s long-distance remote sensing system should able to contact Ice and Snow Wilderness. They must have business contacts!"


    ...


    ''I''m on Akurey Island, an island on Ewentra Archipelago. This is a large island covering over 4000 square km.''


    Zhang Tie drank his cod soup as he listened to the others'' discussions. Although those pioneers belittled him, Zhang Tie finally knew why so many pioneers gathered here.


    They were here for the relics of a human city which was discovered on the Ice and Snow Wilderness. They seemed to be waiting for some news. Although Zhang Tie was interested in the relics of human city before catastrophe, he''d rather earn seven-strength fruits. Although relics could bring pioneers wealth, gold coins were not too attractive to Zhang Tie at this time.


    The moment Zhang Tie finished his soup and bread, he heard another crisp ring; meanwhile, the door of the inn was pushed open by someone.


    A person then rushed inside and started to roar even still at the entrance, "The pioneers on Ice and Snow Wilderness have organized themselves. The news is true. They find some relics of a pre-catastrophe city in the Hella glacial crack in the south of Ice and Snow Wilderness. Additionally, there might be an even greater discovery underground in the crack ¡ª pieces of the Star of God..."


    After a short silence, the inn exploded into a clamor.

 382 My Lord Is Coming

    Chapter 382: My Lord Is Coming


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    When Zhang Tie woke up in the attic on the third floor of Wild Home the next morning, he found that all the guests in the inn had disappeared.


    After cleaning himself up, Zhang Tie ate breakfast in the dining room of the bar on the first floor as he looked around. Even though it was early in the morning, he was the only one left in the whole dining room. He could only see empty tables around him.


    Actually, since those pioneers heard about the news on Ice and Snow Wilderness, some of them had already started to leave; most of them had already gone before dawn. Zhang Tie was the only ''lazy'' guy left in the inn at the moment.


    Millie, the female waiter of the inn served him their brand dish pizza with oyster as she asked, "Young man, you are special; they''ve long gone, are you still waiting for your partners?"


    Millie was plump and looked quite pretty. She had big, watery eyes and raised nose, and some freckles on her face. The thick fat over her neck made her look like she had two jaws. When she stooped to put Zhang Tie''s breakfast onto the table, her two white and tender boobs almost popped out of her collar.


    "Oh, I''m not in a hurry. The early bird catches the worm; the early worm gets caught by the bird!" Zhang Tie ate his breakfast as he joked. The pizza with oyster tasted nice, but the seaweed soup with shrimp meat tasted a bit weird.


    The fat girl then giggled as she coquetted by slightly patting him, "You''re really funny!"


    "Can you tell me how those pioneers leave Akurey Island? Is it by airship?"


    "There''s no airship. You can only take ship at the pier. There are ships heading for Saint Herner, where you can take huge steamers for Ice and Snow Wilderness!"


    "Oh, thanks!"


    "My pleasure!" The fat girl turned around and left when she slightly rubbed Zhang Tie''s arm with her plump buttocks under her skirt. Zhang Tie then bravely and slightly patted and pinched them. The fat girl then turned around and threw an enchanting smile towards Zhang Tie.


    There was really a high chance for young and handsome male pioneers to fall in love with amorous female waiters in inns. This was an old romance. After crossdressing, Zhang Tie looked pretty different than before.


    Because of difference between human races, most of the white men on Waii Sub-Continent who mainly spoke Hebrew looked tough and resolute; Zhang Tie, as an east asian man, looked quite handsome before. After crossdressing, he became a white man and looked much more handsome and delicate. Although he was not as handsome as Heller, who made him self-conscious, he was worth the appellation of handsome boy.


    After breakfast, Zhang Tie dropped a silver coin on the table and left. He was only thinking about improving his fighting strength, instead of teasing girls. Therefore, he just ignored Millie''s flirting.


    After leaving Wild Home, Zhang Tie directly stopped a carriage and headed for the pier on Akurey Island.


    Zhang Tie was in a nice mood. During the three days under sea water of challenging his endurance ability towards current, Zhang Tie gained one iron-body fruit in the Castle of Black Iron last night. After eating it, his body had been quenched by that mixed energy of cold and heat once again; as a result, he became resistant to strikes.


    Besides that iron-body fruit, Zhang Tie gained one more leakless fruit last night. After eating it, the 15th surging point on his spine turned purple and was going to be activated very soon.


    Therefore, although only after one night, Zhang Tie''s overall strength had improved a bit. This feeling of gradually improving his overall strength was really awesome.


    ...


    The carriage soon arrived at the pier. Zhang Tie then spent over 20 silver coins for a steamer ticket from Akurey Island to Saint Herner Island.


    Saint Herner Island was the biggest island in the northernmost of Ewentra Archipelago and the interchange station from Ewentra Archipelago to Ice and Snow Wilderness. It would take a steamer to go from Akurey Island to Saint Herner Island only a few hours. After Zhang Tie bought his ticket, he only waited a few minutes before the steamer set out.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie left Akurey Island, the boss and the sailors went aboard the ship and prepared for the day''s work. They soon found that the lock on the hatch door was broken.


    After checking, they found that only two sets of clothes were missing. Besides, that person who took away the clothes even left a gold coin on the desk in the room. They didn''t call the police; instead, this thing was usually taken as a laughing stock among those sailors. Nobody connected that gold coin with that big hole on the net.


    ...


    The distance between Akurey Island and Saint Herner was over 1,000 km. The steamer would arrive at next night, which meant that Zhang Tie had to stay on the steamer for over 30 hours.


    After stepping onto the steamer, Zhang Tie just stood on the deck watching the passenger liners and freighters on the sea. The developed ocean shipping industry and port trade in Ewentra Archipelago left an extremely deep impression on Zhang Tie. When the steamer fully set out of the harbor and started to navigate on the sea, Zhang Tie saw nothing else except for islands in the distant, large and small; although some islands looked nice, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like viewing the scenery anymore; instead, he went straight back to his own cabin. After closing the hatch door, he entered the trouble-reappearance situation.


    ...


    Trouble-reappearance situation ¡ª outside Heavens Cold City...


    The only demonized puppet activated had already charged at Zhang Tie when he appeared in the trouble-reappearance situation. The demonized puppet was the first humanoid living being that appeared in Zhang Tie''s trouble-reappearance situation as an achievement of Zhang Tie in Heavens Cold City.


    Seeing this, Zhang Tie instantly pulled out his double-carps sword from his waist and cut off its legs. But the demonized puppet wouldn''t die; instead, it just crawled along the ground, furiously clawing at the ground, wanting to drag itself towards Zhang Tie...


    After a glance at that demonized puppet, Zhang Tie turned around and ran towards the camp, leaving it far behind him at once.


    Half an hour later, a huge fury-wind war airship crushed a lot of tents on the ground into pieces before it unsteadily flew in the air...


    ...


    In a deep night of July, on Ell Zida Mountain, the highest mountain in the middle of Ice and Snow Wilderness, although it was summer with the highest temperature when everything grew up in other places, this place was covered with ice and snow all the year round. Especially in the evening, the dropping temperature along with the chilly wind from the north tested everybody''s physical endurance.


    Ell Zida Mountain was where the holy grounds of Ice Field Huge-Bear tribe, the biggest tribe on Ice and Snow Wilderness, was located.


    At this moment, the holy grounds of Ice Field Huge-Bear Tribe were surrounded by raging flames. Tens of thousands of the most powerful Cruel Bear Fighters in the tribe were kneeling down on the square with one knee with their hot and pious eyes gazing at that high sacrificial altar where the great sacrifice of the tribe was going on.


    They were holding a sacred ceremony concerning the life or death of the whole tribe. The Ice Land Huge-Bear tribe had been waiting for this ceremony hundreds of years. It could be said that since this tribe migrated into the Ice and Snow Wilderness under the guidance of Ell Zida, the greatest prophet and pontiff of Ice Land Huge-Bear tribe, they had been waiting for this day.


    This mountain was named after the greatest prophet and pontiff of the tribe.


    Even facing the intolerable, chilly wind of the ice and snow land, none of tens of thousands of Cruel Bear fighters, who were as robust as mountains, steel, and iron and in only simple leather clothes with naked arms and chests, uttered any sound. The entire holy ground was so quiet except for the sound of the heavy wind and the cracking sound of the burning oil in the braziers.


    This ceremony held by the pontiff and 18 officiants of the holy ground had undergone more than an hour. Since the start of the ceremony, sparkling starlights had appeared behind the pontiff. The twisting starlights responded to the stars in the sky while shadows as obscure as mirage constantly twisted among the starlights.


    Everybody was holding their breaths and watching that scene with eyes widely opened. However, except for the pontiff of the holy ground, nobody understood what the shadows represented. Because only the pontiff could master that knowledge.


    Each time the shadows of the twisting starlights were about to collapse, everybody on the square became very nervous. In order to finish this ceremony, more and more officiants fell down in front of the altar while the rest had blood dripping from the corners of their mouths. However, nobody spoke. Even those officiants who fell down didn''t make any sound either. Everybody was gritting their teeth and waiting for the end of the ceremony.


    When the twisting starlights finally turned into the image of an Ice Land Huge Bear and disappeared, everybody on the square forgot to breathe.


    They stood still for over ten seconds, which felt as long as a century for many people.


    Finally, the pontiff''s exciting, crisp yet fatigued voice sounded out in the square which could be heard clearly by everybody.


    "My lord, the lord of all lords, has arrived..."


    Hearing this, tens of thousands of Cruel Bear fighters let out a sigh, which was collectively as loud as a thunder.


    Meanwhile, terrifying battle qis surged into the sky one by another in front of the altar.


    "We''ve waited for today for hundreds of years. Now, let''s wait for pontiff Sarin''s instructions. We will welcome our Lord back to Ell Zida. Each warrior of Ice Land Huge Bear Tribe is willing to use their own skin, blood, and flesh as the carpet and their bones as the stage for my Lord to ascend to the throne!" A loud thunder like voice sounded under the altar, which could be heard by everybody clearly too.


    "Aukin, the most dubious and powerful warrior in Ice Land Huge-Bear tribe, in the mysterious maze with crossed time and space, I could only see a part of it. Perhaps, only the great forebears like Ell Zida could see more and guide us to wait for our Lord here and to make the prophecy of rejuvenating our tribe and population come true."


    "How can we find him and know who he is?" Aukin asked as what the others wanted to know.


    Pontiff Sarin then started to hum again like talking in his dream¡ª


    "My Lord, the lord who is destined to conquer all the seas in the world comes here from over 10,000 km away in the sea. The sea with surging and dangerous waves are like plain roads under the Lord''s feet...


    "My Lord, the lord of creatures who founds an immortal undertaking comes from the east and south; now, he''s on the sea and in the sky¡­


    "The most powerful weapon of my Lord is his javelin. The javelin is as terrifying and powerful as bolts and thunders as it will destroy all the enemies on the road before us...


    "My Lord''s look belongs to himself, yet could not be identified by others...


    "When my Lord fights, he erects the banner to summon all of his fighters and all his fighters will see that..."


    "He''s the most sacred god among all the gods. He controls all the other gods. He will bring the brilliance from the paradise to the earthly world and return the original honors of everyone!"


    "Go, all the most powerful and bravest warriors of Ice Land Huge-Bear tribe who''s lucky enough to witness the arrival of my Lord, to fight together with my Lord in the future and to accept my Lord''s most sacred and honorable baptism for you in the future; since your grandpa''s grandpa, they had been waiting for this day, yet they failed. But you are lucky enough to see my Lord. Go, go tell the other tribes on Ice and Snow Wilderness: my Lord is coming. Go, go welcome my Lord to his immortal throne..."


    Several minutes later, teams of sword-teeth beasts broke the tranquility of this land under the starlights with their heavy clops and darted in all directions from the foot of Ell Zida Mountain...

 383 Trouble

    Chapter 383: Trouble


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Zhang Tie arrived at Saint Herner Island the next evening, some hours later than the estimated arrival time because his passenger liner met a heavy wind the previous night which slowed its sailing speed.


    Saint Herner Island was over 1000 km north of Akurey Island. The temperature here was obviously lower than that of Akurey Island.


    The moment the passenger liner arrived at the port, passengers who had stayed on board for dozens of hours had disembarked hurriedly. Many of them were carrying luggage, some even held sabers or swords, except for Zhang Tie whose hands were empty.


    Zhang Tie didn''t notice that his hands were empty until he disembarked. He looked really eye-catching. This look didn''t match a pioneer''s status at all. ''It seems that I have to go to a store for some pioneer products on Saint Herner Island.''


    Albeit there were some pioneer equipment and appliances in the Castle of Black Iron which were bought in Stars Viewing City, they were utterly different than the styles of those items used by those pioneers on the Ewentra Archipelago. If he wore them, he would tell others that he was a newbie coming from afar. That would be stupid!


    Especially due to the climate of the Ewentra Archipelago and the Ice and Snow Wilderness, pioneers here were wearing utterly different outfits than those in Jinyun Country. Of course, Zhang Tie who only wanted to increase his fighting strength calmly would not turn him into a spotlight only for saving a few gold coins.


    There were mountains of products in the port of Saint Herner Island. Those tall tower cranes were constantly discharging goods from those super huge steamers. Zhang Tie found most of the goods were wood, ores, and square linen parcels that contained various animal hides. There were so many warehouses in the port while many workers were loading and moving these goods between warehouses and steamers.


    The wharf was bustling. This place was much more prosperous than Akurey Island. Besides the larger population, the industry and trade here were also obviously more developed.


    Zhang Tie also saw some dockyards near the port. The Zhang Clan was building ships in Jinhai City. Having visited the shipyard of Zhang Clan, Zhang Tie knew a bit about building streamers. At the sight of those docks near the wharf, Zhang Tie instantly judged that all the docks were capable of building huge streamers of tens of thousands of tons with varying sizes and platforms.


    Besides being more prosperous than Akurey Island, this place looked more barbarous as the overseers on the wharf would ferociously lash those carriers with their whips and would shout loudly at any time...


    Zhang Tie also noticed some primitive people with weird tattoos on their faces and bodies barging about among the crowd. Even those pirates who wore skull horns with fierce fat faces also arrived while carrying sabers, sword, and shields.


    Since he left the passenger liner at the ticketing window of the port, Zhang Tie had already witnessed 2 battles. The surrounding people were not even interested in watching the battles at all as they had seen similar scenes so many times. Of course, no sheriffs or policemen would care about them.


    "Give me the latest steamer ticket to the Ice and Snow Wilderness!" As the line in front of the ticketing window was not long, Zhang Tie had gotten a chance to buy his ticket in only 3 minutes.


    An old man with a brandy nose was sitting behind the ticketing window. After glancing at Zhang Tie, the old man slightly and lazily waved his head as he mumbled, "Another pioneer wanting to make a fortune in the Ice and Snow Wilderness? The latest passenger liner will set out in 5 days. There are VIP, first-class, second-class and economy-class cabins, which one do you want?"


    "What''s the difference?"


    "16 gold coins for VIP, 7 gold coins for first-class, 4 gold coins for second-class, one person per cabin. Three free meals available for VIP and first-class. 80 silver coins for economy-class, passengers stay in one big cabin. Which do you want?"


    The ticket prices really startled Zhang Tie. They were too expensive as they could even match that of airship tickets, "How come they''re so expensive?"


    "It has to pass the Devil North Wind Belt of Auro Strait, you tell me why!"


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie gave him 4 gold coins, "Give me a second-class ticket!"


    The old man then manipulated the ticketing machine, causing a series of "dadada" sounds. A few seconds later, he gave Zhang Tie his ticket. Taking the ticket, Zhang Tie took a glance at it and found that the ticket read¡ª¡ª10:00 am, Jul.31st; No. 7 Pier, Saint Herner Harbor, Blue Polar Whale; Second-Class Cabin G614; Boarding with this ticket.


    ''It seems that I have to stay here a few days.'' Thinking about this, Zhang Tie left the ticketing window.


    On the streets outside the harbor, there were many people. Zhang Tie looked around and found various shops on both sides of the streets.


    Zhang Tie didn''t walk too far away. Instead, he chose an average, tidy inn that was less than a 20 minute walk from the harbor.


    The management in the hotel was stricter than the pioneers'' inn as it needed to register the ID number of the guest. Zhang Tie presented his latest ID certificate in front of the counter¡ª¡ªan ID certificate of a countryman of Holy Golden Orchid Empire. A very average name was beside his photo¡ª¡ªPeter Hamplester.


    Zhang Tie estimated that there were at least 10,000 people shared the same name across the Blackson Human Race Corridor. He remembered some guys called Peter at school in Blackhot City.


    Zhang Tie then settled down on Saint Herner Island and waited for boarding. In the blink of an eye, 2 days had passed.


    In the past 2 days, Zhang Tie also learned about the situation in the sea close to Saint Herner Island. On some small isles, there were many seals and walruses. Many people were living on these animals. However, these animals were kind in temperament and rarely attacked people. Although they were mammals living in the sea, their population were not hostile towards humans. Therefore, according to the generation rules of seven-strength fruits, Zhang Tie would not kill those poor animals.


    However, those mutated seals and walruses were different. The bloody seals and huge walruses close to Saint Herner Island were existences that scared sailors a lot as the 2 species both liked to attack people and small fishers, which had caused a lot of disasters in the area.


    However, the 2 species didn''t have a large population near Saint Herner Island. They mostly lived in the Blueedge Strait to the east of the Ice and Snow Wilderness. Therefore, Zhang Tie had to go to Ice and Snow Wilderness to look for bloody seals and huge walruses which wasn''t contradictory to his previous plan.


    Only after slightly changing his route on the map, Zhang Tie settled down in the hotel.


    On the 3rd day, Heller wanted him to collect some special plant seeds on the island. Zhang Tie also wanted to buy some equipment to respond to the climate of the Ice and Snow Wilderness. Therefore, after supper, he left the hotel.


    He soon bought the necessary equipment at cost of less than 4 gold coins. With a hat made of sea dog''s hide on his head, a pair of gloves made of a bear''s hide on his hands, a multi-purpose cloak made of fox''s hide on his back, and a heavy pioneer sword that could be used in the sea and on the land in hand, Zhang Tie looked no different than those pioneers on the streets.


    Although the necessary equipment, Zhang Tie only bought some plant seeds wanted by Heller in a small store of a remote suburban farmers market after wandering for several hours in the downtown area.


    After putting the seeds into his backpack, Zhang Tie found that small stores had closed as it was already past 10 pm.


    Zhang Tie then returned according to the route in his memory...


    ...


    There were a few people on the suburban road in the evening. Two rows of tall birches were standing on both sides of the road. After walking for over 20 minutes, Zhang Tie only met 3-5 people. Of course, Zhang Tie would not be afraid of walking alone in the evening, additionally, he had night vision...


    Seeing lamplights casting from behind, Zhang Tie hurriedly moved aside on the roadside stones. Ten seconds later, 6 cars passed by Zhang Tie, 1 of them passed a small puddle and splattered mud onto Zhang Tie''s pants.


    "F*ck!", Zhang Tie swore loudly. However, the driver didn''t care about his feeling at all; in a wink, the team of 6 cars had gone dozens of meters away.


    Besides swear, Zhang Tie didn''t do anything else. However, the moment Zhang Tie was preparing to wipe the mud off his pants, Zhang Tie saw a birch several meters in diameter falling down in front of him and directly hit the hood of the first car, which forced the whole team to park at once. The last 2 vehicles failed to decelerate on time and directly crashed onto the ends of the front cars.


    "Retreat!" Someone in one of the 6 cars roared. Although it was dozens meters ahead of him, Zhang Tie could still hear it clearly.


    The roar was followed by shiny axes flying out of the pine woods on the roadside like locusts.


    Some axes directly tore off the thin steel plates of the cars and were stuck inside...


    Some directly hacked onto the bullet-proof glass and caused spider-web like cracks...


    The first wave of axes didn''t hurt anyone, except for causing the cars to appear in a sorry state.


    In a split second, besides the first car which was under the big tree, all the other cars started to retreat rapidly as if well trained for the scenario. Meanwhile, 6 men with shields and sharp swords instantly jumped off the first car and rushed towards the roadside pine woods without making any sound...


    The second wave of axes soon arrived. Before the 6 men arrived at the roadside, they had been torn into pieces by those flashing axes...


    Some axes accurately flew into the cars through the cracks of the windows that were caused by the first wave of axes. As a result, balls of bloody mist broke out in 3 of the 5 cars at once. The fresh blood sprouted onto the glass in all directions like that small puddle being pressed by that car just now, causing the glass red all over.


    Over 10 m ahead of Zhang Tie, some more birch trees of several meters in diameter fell down and blocked the 5 remaining cars.


    The doors of the cars all opened, while people inside all rushed out and started to fight those killers in black clothes who were rushing out of the roadsides...


    Miserable shrieks...fierce battles... the spraying fresh blood...the sounds of sabers, swords, and axes cutting into body...and those battle totems which had disappeared before rising up...


    Within several seconds, before Zhang Tie determined whether to save them or to directly turn around and escape, the battle had come to an end.


    Over 30 dead bleeding bodies covered dozens of meters on the road under the wrecked cars'' lamplights. Most of them were those getting off the cars, 7-8 of them were killers in black clothes. Additionally, those killers were still sharply adding hacks on those dead bodies.


    At this moment, a tough man who was covered with blood leaned against a car as he held a long sword and a shield to protect a woman. At the same time, he furiously glanced over those grim and bloody killers who were surrounding them.


    Although some of those killers were killed, there were still over 50 people of them.


    "Who are you?" The tough man asked loudly. "Do you know the consequences of going against the Ballas Clan? You have to pay for it with your blood!"


    Those killers didn''t speak at all, instead, they just moved forward to block that man and the woman behind him.


    "Gitta, no need to ask. Don''t you understand that those people are assigned by those old douchebags of the Ballas Clan?" A calm voice sounded, then the woman slightly let out a sigh. "Because of their absurdness and greed, they have lost their reason and chosen to cooperate with ghosts. They don''t even think about that, even if they killed me, how could the properties of the Ballas Clan fall into their hands?"


    "Papapa..." with a series of slight clapping sounds, a long-face muscled guy walked out of those killers, "Everybody on the Ewentra Archipelago knows that there is a seductive fox on Saint Herner Island, who is the most beautiful widow in the Ballas Clan. A woman who makes the Ballas Clan one of the top clans on Saint Herner Island in only ten-odd years. You look as beautiful as they describe!"


    From Zhang Tie''s viewpoint, he could not see the look of the woman who was facing him with her back over 20 m away, but from her back, Zhang Tie felt she was pretty mature and seductive. Additionally, he could sense the long-face guy''s burning eyes fixed on that woman.


    That long-face guy seemed to have felt Zhang Tie''s gaze. He then glanced at Zhang Tie before waving his hand to a killer beside him. The killer then walked towards Zhang Tie. For those people, a teenager like Zhang Tie was just a small figure with bad luck. Why the f*ck was he still on the road at this time? Of course, they thought Zhang Tie deserved to be killed.


    Seeing a killer walking towards him, all the others killers didn''t care about Zhang Tie at all, including that long-face guy, because in all of their eyes, Zhang Tie was like a salty fish on the chopping board, a common pioneer who might have been scared stiff by what was happening.


    In many people''s eyes, the alleged pioneers were just a number of homeless coolies who dreamed about becoming rich by moving around. They were no more threatening than those farmers who retired from army. Actually, many pioneers were composed of soldiers who retired from army and didn''t feel like living simple lives. Most of them were between LV 1 and LV 5. However, few pioneers were above LV 6. The proportion of pioneers above LV 6 among pioneers was lower than the proportion of military officials among the same amount of soldiers. Therefore, they didn''t need to worry about whether Zhang Tie was a powerhouse or not.


    The tough man and that woman 20 m away also thought that Zhang Tie was just a poor guy who witnessed what was happening by accident.


    Nobody felt that Zhang Tie''s existence would cause any change to the current situation or what would happen next. It seemed that Zhang Tie had become a dead boy lying on the ground at this moment.


    Zhang Tie then glanced at that guy who walked towards him with weapon as he sighed inside. ''I don''t want to find trouble, but the trouble comes to me. Now that those guys want to kill me, unless I leave Saint Herner Island at this moment by directly diving into the sea and swimming to the Ice and Snow Wilderness or change my look once again, these people could easily find me on this island based on their capabilities and background.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t want to stir up trouble, he didn''t want to suffer any injustice for them. He felt it was not worth it for him to do that. Additionally, Zhang Tie confirmed that if he just escaped in this way, he would probably be the scapegoat of those killers and would be wanted badly by the motherf*cking Ballas Clan, dead or not. By doing this, they could stop him from releasing the truth to the public and let him be their scapegoat. One stone, two birds! Even idiots would know that.


    The two men''s talk had arisen Zhang Tie''s interest as Zhang Tie, who always felt being the same as average residents, was also very interested in such revenge between wealthy and influential clans. Therefore, after thinking about leaving for a short while, Zhang Tie gave up this choice.


    This was a nice game, a really nice game.


    "I''ve been disappointed by the Ballas Clan. I don''t know what those old douchebags have promised you, but I know what you want. We can have a trade here. You let me and my chief guard leave Saint Herner Island. We will leave tomorrow without taking any copper coins. I will give you all of my belongings on Saint Herner Island and in the Ballas Clan so that you could get what you want more easily. How about that?"


    Although that woman was at an absolute disadvantage, she still didn''t give it up. She kept talking about conditions with those guys calmly.


    "Before seeing you, I truly wanted to kill you, but now, I''ve changed my mind!" That long-face man gazed at that woman with greedy eyes without covering his inner thoughts at all. He glanced at her body like how a wolf licking its prey. "It would be very nice if I could throw such an intelligent and beautiful woman into my bed! It would be very pitiful if you are just killed in this way!"


    Hearing this, all the other killers started to smirk obscenely...


    The moment the tough man heard this, he roared as his battle qi rolled up, presenting a king snake. He wanted to rush towards that long-face guy, yet he was concerned about the woman behind him. Therefore, he just glanced over those killers with burning eyes. "Unless I''m killed, you would not touch even a hair of Ms. Olina!"


    "Then...go die!" Saying this, the long-faced man shot out his icy eye as he hacked his huge bola towards the tough man. At the same time, a huge battle qi totem of bloody scorpion appeared behind him.


    After 3 loud sounds, Gitta''s shield had been completely broken. meanwhile, he had been sent flying backwards in the air and fell to the ground 10 m away while sprouting out blood.


    Seeing this, the woman let out a sigh...


    The long-faced man then moved forward with a contemptuous smile, intending to hack that man into pieces...


    At this moment, with a sound of breaking bones "Ka...", all men turned around and looked at that place where the sound came from.


    It was where Zhang Tie was standing. He held that killer''s neck like pinching a chick. When everyone turned around, they saw Zhang Tie just moving his hand back while that killer had fallen onto the ground with his twisted neck, completely dead...


    Seeing their gazes, Zhang Tie felt embarrassed as he smirked, "He wanted to kill me, so I have to pinch him to death. You don''t mind, right? Do you?


    The long-face guy with a bola narrowed his eyes instantly...


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the woman also turned around and stared at Zhang Tie who was standing away from them on the roadside.


    When she turned around, Zhang Tie was stunned instantly as he seemed to be seeing Miss Daina in a different set of clothes...


    ...

 384 Saving a Beauty

    Chapter 384: Saving a Beauty


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    That woman looked pretty similar to Miss Daina. At the sight of her, Zhang Tie even thought Miss Daina was standing in front of him.


    However, this woman had something different than Miss Daina. Miss Daina had brown hair and blue eyes, however, this woman had chestnut-red hair and cyan eyes. Additionally, her lips looked plumper. Miss Daina was an intellectual, tender beauty yet this woman looked enchanting and a bit sluggish.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t see too much panic from that woman''s delicate face. Instead, he only saw a bit of grief and an indifference facing trouble. At the sight of Zhang Tie, that woman''s eyes gleamed.


    Zhang Tie was very calm. Albeit he had killed a person, facing dozens of killers with fierce eyes, Zhang Tie didn''t look flustered at all. Instead, he looked like an audience who was watching a performance.


    That woman knew that a person who could still be that calm in such a situation definitely had his talent and had experienced greater troubles, except for Zhang Tie''s look as a pioneer and young age under the hazy lamplights of the cars were out of her imagination.


    With bola in hand, the long-faced man just fixed his eyes on Zhang Tie. He didn''t say anything at all. His eyes were filled with a killing intent. He then waved his hand and 4 killers rushed towards Zhang Tie.


    Seeing this, Zhang Tie, who didn''t want to expose the secret that he had mastered iron-blood fist, pulled out of that slim pioneering sword that he had just bought.


    This sword had not seen any blood yet. but now, it would be used to kill people.


    Nobody could describe how Zhang Tie launched his attack. In front of Zhang Tie, the 4 killers just looked like kids who were leisurely running and jumping in the wild of rural areas. He looked like he was holding a little wooden stick and slapping it over the roadside verdant grass, seemingly wanting to scare the butterfly off from the grass.


    Zhang Tie only moved 4 footsteps in the whole process, 2 footsteps forward and 2 footsteps backward. During this process, he also rapidly stabbed 4 times along with his moving footsteps. When Zhang Tie returned to his original position, he looked as if he had done nothing at all. However, the 4 murderous killers all fell down on the ground and died without even a convulsion.


    They were all attacked at their hearts and died instantly. For Zhang Tie, the 5 people were not even qualified as to be his targets.


    The whole process lasted less than 2 seconds.


    All the killers forcefully swallowed their saliva. Those killers who were closer to Zhang Tie felt a fierce killing qi from Zhang Tie''s tranquil eyes when Zhang Tie raised his eyes and looked at them. As a result, they all moved one step back out of fear.


    The long-faced man also felt that killing qi from Zhang Tie which was formed after killing numerous people. His face also slightly changed.


    In contrast, that woman''s eyes gleamed at this time.


    "It seems that you mind me killing one of your people very much!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    "Who are you?" The long-face man barely opened his mouth.


    "Of course, I''m a pioneer!" Zhang Tie shrugged with a smile as he showed his equipment and clothes to him. "Can''t you see that?"


    "Now that you are a pioneer, it''s nothing to do with you. I''ve not seen what you''ve done. Mind your own business. How about that?" The long-faced man then moved his eyes between Zhang Tie and the woman before finally said while gritting his teeth.


    What Zhang Tie performed just now made the long-faced man very cautious. What was more, the long-faced man couldn''t make his decision as he didn''t know Zhang Tie''s real fighting strength and background. Therefore, he had to choose to give a compromise to Zhang Tie. Based on Zhang Tie''s performance, the long-faced guy realized that it would definitely be more difficult for him to kill Zhang Tie than killing the woman''s 20-odd bodyguards.


    Additionally, if Zhang Tie wanted to escape, the long-faced man estimated that they could not block him at all as Zhang Tie''s mystical movements just now were really shocking. It was definitely a master level.


    "I was just a passerby and want to go back downtown. I don''t care about your thing at all. But you blocked me and even wanted to kill me!" Zhang Tie said in an innocent voice, "If you give way, I will leave right now!"


    The long-face man carefully gazed at Zhang Tie for quite a while before finally forcefully waved his head, "Let him go!"


    Receiving the order, dozens of killers hurriedly gave way to Zhang Tie. Seeing Zhang Tie putting away his long sword and walking towards them leisurely, many people let out a sigh.


    When everybody thought that Zhang Tie would just pass by in this way, he flashed like a lightning bolt, cutting 3 killers'' heads off at once while their blood sprouted out of their necks as high as 1 m. Before the 3 heads fell to the ground, he had stabbed 2 more killers'' hearts, causing them to fly back in the air...


    "B*stard, what are you doing?" With eyes turned red, the long-faced man instantly threw his bola towards Zhang Tie''s head.


    Zhang moved slightly aside as the bola missed him and passed by his shoulder with a strong wind. At the same time, all the other killers charged at him. Zhang Tie launched an attack once again and sent another killer fly in the air.


    "I don''t like suffering losses. Five men of yours wanted to kill me just now. Although I killed them, I have to hack back 5 times like what they did to me. You can also choose to kill me if you can. Attention, please, I am safeguarding myself by killing everyone. I''m not attacking you on purpose!" Zhang Tie kept killing them as he explained. He looked like a tiger among sheep, with each move, he would kill a killer in black clothes by the sword.


    After saying this, he bumped into a man 2 m tall causing him sprout blood. Like a football, that tough guy was sent flying more than 20 m away and even knocked another 2 guys down. With a backhand, Zhang Tie then split open another killer''s stomach...


    At that time, Zhang Tie had been only less than 5 m away from that woman. Additionally, nobody else was near him. The long-faced man also figured out Zhang Tie''s intention at this moment¡ª¡ªZhang Tie didn''t mean to leave at the beginning, instead, he wanted to save this woman. He was cheated by Zhang Tie...


    "Kill them!" The long-faced man then roared as he waved his bola towards that woman instead of Zhang Tie.


    At the critical moment, the long-faced man was also very fierce. Now that he could not kill Zhang Tie, he would kill that woman first to finish his task today.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was not faster than a LV 9 powerhouse''s bola, neither would an average woman escape from a LV 9 powerhouse''s trump card.


    At the sight of that long-faced man''s grim face and his terrifying bola, the woman thought, ''Am I going to die here today? Being stricken by such a terrifying weapon, I must look very disgusting...those Ballas idiots...


    With this thought, she closed her eyes.


    However, she was not stricken by the bola, because Zhang Tie threw out his sword and hit that bola in a split second. Although it could not stop the bola, it changed its flying trace at once, causing it flying aside...


    With a strong wind, the flying bola blew her chestnut-red hair backwards. With a loud sound "boom", it hacked into a car beside the woman, causing a horrible big hole on a door.


    The woman was not able to see clearly what had happened at all. She only felt a chilling wind over her ear. Closely after that, she was hugged by a pair of powerful arms and started to roll rapidly over the ground...


    The long-faced man kept booming his bola onto the ground where the woman and Zhang Tie had just rolled by like their shadows. Being hugged by Zhang Tie, that woman also felt the terrifying power of the bola as she could feel earthquake each time the bola tamped onto the ground...


    At the critical moment, the woman didn''t feel panic any more. Instead, she just gazed at Zhang Tie''s young and handsome face and sensed Zhang Tie''s breath. Zhang Tie hugged her meticulously like hugging a fragile porcelain¡ª¡ªone hand over her waist, the other hand over her neck, resting her head against his shoulder; in this way, no matter how they rolled on the ground, she would not be bruised by stones and bulges.


    Although still being in danger, that woman had already recovered composure as she could feel the unprecedented sense of safety and warmth.


    At this moment, Gitta, her chief guard roared. After a short rest, the tough guy struck by the bola had jumped up again from the ground. Without caring about his wounds at all, he directly picked up his weapon and rushed towards Zhang Tie and that woman.


    "Protect her, I need 1 minute..." After saying this, Zhang Tie threw that woman towards Gitta before catching the iron chain of the bola beside him and flew towards that long-faced man with the help of the strength when the guy pulled his bola back. In a split second, he had been less than 4 m away from that long-face man, making the bola ineffective...


    Taking over the woman, Gitta instantly stood in front of her and split a killer into halves...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie found the advantage of a LV 9 powerhouse. Seeing Zhang Tie being close to him with the help of his iron chain, the long-faced man revealed a sinister smile as he instantly loosened his grip on the bola. Meanwhile, the iron chain of the bola in another hand lashed towards Zhang Tie like a whip...


    With a bola in hand, he could strike the enemy sharply and ferociously, far or not, without any shortcomings...


    At the same time, some killers had picked up their axes from the ground and the cars.


    "Boom him first..." The long-faced man shouted loudly.


    Hearing this, they threw their axes towards Zhang Tie at once...


    After drawing an icy arc in the air, the 4 axes directly chopped towards Zhang Tie as they blocked Zhang Tie''s paths of retreat.


    Seeing so many weapons attacking Zhang Tie, the woman was so scared that she instantly covered her mouth.


    In others'' eyes, Zhang Tie had no way to retreat at this moment. Additionally, he had no weapon, how could he deal with them at the same time?


    Zhang Tie also narrowed his eyes. ''They are so tacit with each other, it seems that I have to use my double-carps sword...''


    Zhang Tie had already reached his hand towards his waist...


    However, at this moment, Zhang Tie felt blank like a hidden drawer in his brain was opened by others.


    Time seemed to slow down at this moment as a weird feeling appeared. Meanwhile, those axes flying towards him instantly became "slow" in Zhang Tie''s eyes¡ª¡ª


    That was true, they were becoming "slow"¡ª¡ªZhang Tie could identify their flight traces, their centers of gravity, strengths, and angles. He was sure that he would not be striken by them. He also sensed an instinct that he was able to allow his hands to follow a marvelous round trace and control those flying axes by changing their flying directions and strengths...


    This sense was pretty similar to that when he awakened his precise throwing skill. The difference was that this time he could force back items flying towards him and take others'' strengths and weapons as his.


    Zhang Tie knew that he had awakened another ancestrial bloodline. This one was more powerful than the precise throwing skill and was more irresistible.


    For Zhang Tie, time seemed to be slowing down too much. Before the long-faced man''s iron chain struck him, the 4 axes had already reached his sides...


    Although in others'' eyes, the 4 axes were thrown out at the same time, in Zhang Tie''s eyes, they were not reaching his sides head by head as the distance between each 2 of them was greater than 1 m.


    Seeing the first axe flying towards him, following that strange feeling, Zhang Tie put his hand over the edge of the axe and forced it to draw a arc in front of him before flying towards the long-faced man''s iron chain...


    When the second one arrived, Zhang Tie also forced it to draw an arc in front of him and sent it flying towards the long-faced man''s head with an arc in the air...


    When controlling the second axe, Zhang Tie had one more enlightenment¡ª¡ªhe didn''t have to keep the article flying in a straight line. He could force it to fly towards the target in terms of curve, arc or twisting patterns.


    He then imposed a force on the 3rd axe and forced it to fly back to the guys who had thrown out their axes in a curve, cutting through the 4 guys'' necks in a line.


    The 4th axe was forced to fly towards that woman and the guard which was crowded with most killers in black clothes.


    For the 4th axe, Zhang Tie had been hard pressed to control it as he almost could not catch its flying speed. Thankfully, there were only 4 axes, with one more, he had to evade.


    Actually, he had finished this process in less than 1 second.


    Being imposed by Zhang Tie, the 4 axes flew towards 4 directions with a great strength.


    Nobody could imagine that the result could be reversed in such a split second. Even the long-faced man didn''t know what had happened until his death. If Zhang Tie directly threw an ax towards him when fighting him face to face, the long-faced man might not even be killed, after all, a LV 9 powerhouse who had prepared to fight might even escape from a sonic boom, except in this case...


    The first ax broke the long-faced man''s iron chain...


    The second ax sent the long-faced man''s head flying in the air...


    The third ax slayed the 4 killers who had thrown their axs towards Zhang Tie, causing them to sprout blood from their necks and fall down instantly...


    The fourth axe cleared a greater part of those killers surrounding Gitta and the woman...


    After hitting the 4 targets, Zhang Tie heard 4-in-1 sonic boom as was expected.


    As a result, almost 1/3 of the killers were killed...


    The sudden loud sonic boom startled everybody who was fighting. Many killers in black clothes even stopped. When all of them realized what happened, they found a great number of people had fallen down including the long-faced man. Zhang Tie, however, who should have fallen down, was still standing where he was, almost without even single a movement. Some of them who had seen what Zhang Tie did just stared at him as if watching a ghost¡ª¡ª


    In those guys'' eyes, Zhang Tie was like a huge spring as all the axs flying towards him were bounced back by a strong force the moment they drew close to him.


    Zhang Tie most so fast that most of people didn''t see that Zhang Tie had changed the directions of the axs with his own hands. Instead, they only felt the axs automatically bounced back the moment they touched Zhang Tie.


    That woman also widened her eyes. ''That was amazing! How could that happen! Those are axes that could even break the steel plates of cars, they are not a kid''s rubber balls. How could they just bounce away?''


    Among all of them, only Gitta could sense Zhang Tie''s movements. If those axes all flew towards him, Gitta felt that he could block 2-3 of them with a shield or a proper weapon and could hardly block the 4th one. However, he could never force axes to bounce back. That was amazing! He had not even heard about that before...


    Whereas, before those shocking killers understood what happened, Zhang Tie, who picked up a long sword with his foot, had rushed into them and chopped off their heads...


    After a few minutes, when Zhang Tie killed the last killer escaping dozens of meters away in the birch forest, he dropped off that long sword which he picked up casually and came to that woman and her chief guard.


    After such a bloody fight, the guard sufferred a few more wounds. Thankfully, they were not fatal. Zhang Tie found that the chief guard was experienced in real battle.


    "Are you all right?"


    He asked both that man and the woman, although, with his eyes fixed on that woman, he sensed a sincere feeling from her.


    "Just some bruises, it''s okay..." Saying this, Gitta coughed out blood. He then took out of vial of medicament and drunk it. Zhang Tie peered at that vial of medicament and found it was a medium-level recovery medicament, therefore, he just nodded and didn''t speak.


    After narrowly escaping from the assassination, the woman''s face looked pretty pale. Besides some blood stains on her skirt when Zhang Tie hugged her to roll over the ground, she was okay.


    The scene was so terrifying, which could almost match a real battlefield. However, seeing 80-90 dead bodies lying on the ground within 100 m, that woman didn''t feel uncomfortable at all. This made Zhang Tie respect her more.


    "Thanks for saving me and my chief guard, but our crisis has not been solved! Additionally, we are not able to defend against any future crisis." That woman then looked at Zhang Tie with a tender and attractive voice with her beautiful eyes deeply fixed on Zhang Tie full of expectations, "I''m Olina, the chairman of the Ballas Business Group on Saint Herner Island. I know it''s a bit much, but can you give me another hand, or, if you wish to be employed by me, I''d like to pay you whatever you want!"

 385 A Conspiracy

    Chapter 385: A Conspiracy


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    There was always a moment when a person did something for some unknown reason in their life.


    Take this moment as an example. Not knowing why, seeing this woman being very similar to Miss Daina and her expecting eyes, Zhang Tie had an impulsion to prevent her from suffering any harm; because of this impulsion, even though Zhang Tie knew that he might cause a lot of trouble if he helped her, he still did that.


    As the woman had told him, although she survived, she was not sure whether more danger were still waiting for her.


    "Well, I accept your proposal; but I have to claim one point that I will only be responsible for your personal safety and I will not kill people on purpose for you. I''m a pioneer, not a killer; additionally, I won''t stay with you for a long time!"


    "I promise you won''t regret your decision today!" That woman stared at Zhang Tie deeply as her seductive red lips opened once again. "Then, what should I call you, young pioneer?"


    "I''m Peter Hamplester, you can call me Peter!" Zhang Tie told her the fake name that he had long prepared well.


    While they talked, Gitta, the chief guard, had already checked all the killers'' corpses.


    "Ma''am, may you have a look here?" Gitta was standing before that long-faced man''s body whose head had been chopped off with a gloomy look. Hearing his words, the woman took out a hand towel and covered his mouth and nose with it; after that, she strode over those corpses and blood stains and arrived at Gitta''s side, followed by Zhang Tie.


    The body''s clothes had been split open by Gitta using his saber; additionally, it had been turned over with its back facing the sky. Zhang Tie saw a strange tattoo on its back. It was a huge and grim snake with a unicorn on its head.


    "Gitta, tell me what does this mean?" the woman asked her chief guard.


    "Ma''am, this person comes from Magical Snake Island; additionally, he should have a high position on the island; otherwise, he wouldn''t have been qualified to have such a tattoo on his back!" Gitta explained solemnly.


    "Those mother-f*cking douchebags, they are truly working with these demons!" As Zhang Tie had expected, the woman looked for just less than two seconds before recovering her composure. "Put his head away, it''s useful! I remember that the heads of those guys from Magical Snake Island are very valuable. They are wanted by many people. The head of Bell Clan on Saint Herner Island likes to see these guys'' heads very much!"


    "Yes, Ma''am!" The chief guard didn''t ask why. He directly peeled off a nearby killer''s coat and wrapped that head with opening eyes using it.


    Zhang Tie just watched from the side. As he didn''t know their situation, he just kept silent.


    "Ma''am, will we go for those motherf*cking douchebags now?" With that head in the coat, Gitta stood up in front of her once again and asked, emanating a strong killing qi while holding his sword.


    "Now? Do we have any evidence to charge them? Or can we directly go kill them?"


    "Of course, we go kill them!" Gitta answered loudly full of fury, "We''ve lost so many people, they even wanted to kill you. Shouldn''t they pay for that? As long as you deliver the order, ma''am, I will go chop off their heads right now!"


    "What then? If you kill them, you would be a murderer and I would be the most infamous vicious woman across Ewentra Archipelagoes!" The woman waved her head as an icy light flashed by her beautiful cyan eyes, "No, this is not the outcome I want. What I want is to let those motherf*cking douchebags drink their poisonous alcohol themselves!"


    "What should we do now?"


    "We will go back to Bluesea Castle first!"


    ...


    In the following couple of minutes, Gitta cleaned up a car which could still run and moved away some birches from the road together with Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie could move those trees away himself; however, at the sight of Gitta coming to help him, Zhang Tie didn''t want to make him look like a tough man or further expose his real fighting strength, therefore, he moved away the trees together with Gitta.


    "Peter, I owe you my life!" After moving away those trees, Gitta patted his hands and told Zhang Tie with a serious look.


    "If you say so, you might be my most valuable mortgagor now. I hope you will have no chance to pay it off!" Zhang Tie smiled. Zhang Tie liked such a tough man as he saw something from him which he sensed from his comrades back in Iron-Blood Camp ¡ª sincerity, passion, frankness, honesty.


    Gitta also showed a big smile. Stretching out his hands, he tightly held Zhang Tie''s hand. They then got on the car. Gitta drove the car; Zhang Tie then sat together with Olina in the back.


    Sitting together with Olina, Zhang Tie smelt that special fragrance which was carried by mature women. Zhang Tie then found she looked really similar to Miss Daina; even their fragrances smelt almost the same which were both alluring and sweet. ''Are they using the same brand of perfume? What a coincidence...'' Zhang Tie sighed inside.


    The car''s glasses had been completely broken while terrifying traces of the axes were left on the plates; thankfully, its engine and lights still worked.


    It was long distance from here to the downtown. Without the windoes, wind poured into the car.


    The night wind on Saint Herner Island felt very cold when it blew by their faces...


    Gitta didn''t feel cold at all. He was driving his car with eyes widely opened as he watched the roadsides vigilantly. Olina only wore a skirt on the back seat. Only two minutes after Gitta started the car, she started to quiver all over slightly with her hands crossed in front of her breasts. Seeing this, Zhang Tie put off his fox hair cloak and covered it onto the woman.


    "Argh, thanks!" Olin revealed a smile as she turned around and told Zhang Tie with a tender voice.


    "My pleasure!"


    After wearing a cloak, Olina adjusted her sitting position. When she sat down again, she moved closer to Zhang Tie to be warmer; as a result, their thighs almost touched each other. With that layer of silky high-end skirt between them, Zhang Tie could feel the nice touch onto her plump and smooth thigh.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie felt okay; however, as the car kept bumping up and down, their thighs started to rub constantly. Gradually, Zhang Tie felt especially stimulative.


    Zhang Tie glanced at Olina when she was also glancing at him. Seemingly because her body gradually warmed up, Olina''s face looked a bit red. The moment they saw each other, they moved their eyes away at once; then, they felt ambiguous and stimulated immediately.


    Gitta was still driving the car like nothing had happened.


    Zhang Tie then slightly twisted his body due to embarrassment. Although he knew she was not Miss Daina, he still displayed his deep feeling about Miss Daina which went through his puberty and his numerous wet dreams to this woman. He felt like he was sat beside Miss Daina. With a bit of tension, he wanted to move closer to her and push her.


    Especially that fragrance, which was too similar to that of Miss Daina. If Zhang Tie didn''t look at her carefully, he would feel that Miss Daina really was sitting beside him.


    "I''m a bit sleepy. Can I lean against your shoulder?" Olina asked. Before Zhang Tie agreed, she had already tilted her head onto Zhang Tie''s shoulder. This intimate movement caused Zhang Tie''s body a bit stiff. Not only this, she even tightly held Zhang Tie''s right hand with her hands from below.


    Being held by her, Zhang Tie felt the icy sweat in her hands. Zhang Tie then realized that this woman was not as calm as she looked when being attacked; instead, she was very scared inside although she didn''t display her inner feelings on her face.


    Gitta only peered at them from the rearview mirror before continuing to drive as usual.


    The woman''s warm and soft nose then touched Zhang Tie''s neck, causing his neck to become a bit itchy. As long as Zhang Tie turned over his head, his face would touch her forehead; therefore, Zhang Tie became a bit stiff all over.


    After several minutes, when Zhang Tie felt this woman''s hands warming up, he glanced at her through his eye corners and found that she had fallen asleep.


    The car soon arrived at the downtown and crossed that road where Zhang Tie''s hotel was on. It drove in another direction. In order to avoid from another ambush, Gitta seemed choosing a remote route with few passers-by. Although some passers-by noticed this car with a miserable look, they didn''t react abnormally besides surprises.


    In this way, the car arrived at a castle in the east of the downtown after twenty more minutes.


    Bluesea Castle was at least double the size of Zhang Tie''s Jinwu Castle. Besides, its walls were much higher than that of most western castles. When they arrived at the castle, it was already deep night as Zhang Tie could see that the walls were brightly lit and heavily-guarded.


    Gitta seemingly wanted to park the car directly in front of the gate; however, at the sight of the brightly lit walls and the defensive weapons on the walls, Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he had a blood sense...


    "Stop the car!" Zhang Tie shouted towards Gitta. Gitta instantly parked it 500 m away from the castle.


    "What''s wrong?" Gitta turned around and asked.


    "Put out the lamplights. 500 m is not a long distance for the defensive weapons on the walls!"


    After the previous battle, Gitta had formed an instinctive trust towards Zhang Tie. He then instantly turned off the lamplights to put them out.


    Olina woke up at this moment as she moved her head away from Zhang Tie''s shoulder. She instantly sat straight and looked outside. "What? Have we arrived at Bluesea Castle?"


    "We almost be there. But Peter told me to park it here and put out the lamplights!" Gitta explained to Olina.


    Olina then immediately looked at Zhang Tie.


    "Where are we?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Ms. Olina used to live here; this is Bluesea Castle!" Gitta explained.


    "Who are those guards? How many people do they have? Who are their leaders?"


    "They are armed guards of Ballas Business Group, totally over 200 people. Their leaders are five chief guards appointed by Ms. Olina. Is there something wrong?"


    "If we directly park this car in front of the gate of the castle, have you calculated the chance of us surviving the ballistas on the wall?" Zhang Tie asked seriously.


    Hearing this, Gitta and Olina turned their faces at the same time. Based on the terrifying power of those defensive weapons on the walls, with a close-range dense shooting, the car would instantly become a hornet''s nest with numerous holes, let alone the people inside.


    "You mean the guards of the business group have been bribed? How come?" Gitta almost screamed. As they were his colleagues, hearing Zhang Tie''s speculation, he instantly doubted.


    "Not all of them are bribed, those people could not bribe everybody; if possible, they would not have ambushed you tonight. But, if one of the chief guards and some guards who were responsible for manipulating the ballistae were bribed, what would happen then?"


    Gitta didn''t speak while Olina tightly bit her lower lip.


    "What should we do now?"


    "Gitta, do you know all the guards over there?"


    "All of them. Many of them are my friends!"


    "Then, are you afraid of death?"


    "I should have died before. Ms. Olina saved my life. I should have died tonight too; thankfully, I meet you. I''m not afraid at all!" Gitta answered honestly.

 386 Reveal the Conspiracy

    Chapter 386: Reveal the Conspiracy


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    According to Zhang Tie''s suggestion, Gitta just parked the car and put out the lamplights. Zhang Tie stayed to protect Olina while Gitta walked towards the castle alone.


    Gitta soon arrived at the suspension bridge in front of the gate.


    The suspension bridge had been raised. A 20-m wide moat surrounded that castle. It was the last warning to the invaders. In the defense system of the castle, guards on the walls had the right to attack any people crossing the moat without prior consent as they had trespassed the private territory.


    After arriving at the riverside of the moat, Gitta raised his head and looked at the steam ballistae on the high walls as he was slightly chocked inside. Although it was already late at night, from the lamplights on the walls, Gitta could still see clearly the shiny mouths of the steam ballistae and the mouth of a honeybomb-fashioned ballista, whose cover had been moved away after lying there for a long time, slightly hanging down towards the place in front of the gate.


    From Gitta''s memory, the mouths of those steam ballistae should have all been positioned horizontally. Thankfully, due to Zhang Tie''s warning, he''d carefully observed these details and sensed a looming killing intent from the wall of the castle.


    "I''m Gitta, the chief guard of Ms. Olina, lower the suspension bridge!" After a deep breath, Gitta stood on the riverside of the moat and shouted loudly towards the castle with his full strength. Normally, the moment those guards on the wall caught sight of the arrival of Ms. Olina''s fleet of cars, they would''ve loweredthe suspension bridge.


    But not today. Gitta shouted loudly twice. At the beginning, no sound was heard from above the walls; after over 10 seconds, an arrogant and lazy voice sounded on a tower.


    "Who''s screaming down there. This is Bluesea Castle. If you don''t belong to this place, piss off right now; otherwise, I will teach you a thing or two!"


    Gitta was not familiar with that voice. Even as the chief guard of Ms. Olina, Gitta could still not be familiar with every guard''s voice. The moment he heard this strange voice, Gitta realized something wrong. Many people up there should have heard his loud voice. The one who responded to him should be a chief guard on duty there. He was very familiar with the other chief guards'' voices and they were familiar with his voice. How come such a small figure came out to drive him away?


    "Periv, Crie, Alexander, Ji Gang and Adeline. Which one of you is up there? Answer me!" Gitta shouted out of fury below, "You b*stards, who''s up there? Come out, don''t you recognize my voice?"


    "Piss off, if you keep screaming there, we will shoot you!"


    The same strange voice was heard again. But this time, it sounded much more furious than the last time but mixed with a bit of timidness.


    "I''m Gitta, the chief guard of Ms. Olina. Many brothers in the castle know me. If anyone dares shoot me, when Ms. Olina comes back, she will peel off your skin! Periv, Crie, Alexander, Ji Gang, and Adeline, which one is upside there? Come out to talk with me!"


    Gitta continued to shout loudly below the castle while some noises could be heard from the top of the walls and the tower.


    Finally, a familiar voice was heard.


    "Who''s down there?"


    "Crie, I''m Gitta, lower the suspension bridge!"


    "Gitta, are you with Ms. Olina? Why are you alone? Where''s she?"


    "Ms Olina is in a safe place. Someone wants to kill her. She let me come back first and want you to pick her up with the guards in the castle!"


    Hearing Gitta''s words, the face of the 40-odd man with a nice handlebar moustache changed slightly while his trusted followers exchanged glances at each other before looked at him, not knowing what to do.


    The current situation was completely out of the expectations of everybody and made their plan void instantly.


    The 40-odd man then gritted his teeth and shouted, "According to the regulation of Bluesea Castle, without the order of Ms. Olina, nobody can open the gate in the evening. Only Ms. Olina has the right to dispatch forces from the castle. Gitta, what you told us was not trustworthy. Before I see Ms. Olina, I will not violate the regulations of the castle even though we are familiar with each other. Unless Ms. Olina arrives, I will not open the gate for you; nor will I allow you to dispatch forces from the castle!"


    "Periv, you b*stard. If you don''t come out soon, you''ll have to pay off the 200-odd gold coins that you owe me tomorrow. Alexander, Ms. Olina needs help now, yet, motherf*cker, you are still sleeping! Ji Gang, you b*stard, besides molesting women, what else can you do? Adeline, if you don''t come out right now, after I die, you will become a widow!"


    Gitta''s voice grew louder. Without considering Crie''s feelings, he just called each chief guard''s name and swore at them from the other side of the moat.


    Hearing this, the people in the tower looked worse.


    A guard beside Crie moved closer to him and murmured, "Head, why not make him shut up? We only need to trigger a ballista..."


    "Shut up, do you want me to die together with him?" Crie swore in a low voice as he felt very agonising. He didn''t know the situation of Ms. Olina. If he killed Gitta at this moment, as long as that woman was not dead, he would be killed at dawn. Additionally, Gitta was safe, that meant that woman might really have been moved to a safe place. If so, it would be meaningless for him to insist on his plan. However, if he just allowed Gitta to shout loudly downside there and dispatch guards from the castle to support her, their plans would really be ruined, which he didn''t wish to see. If so, those people''s promise to him would not be fulfilled.


    While Crie was still thinking about it, the other chief guards had already arrived at the wall of the castle. They had already heard Gitta''s shout.


    "Crie, what''s happening?" Periv, with dense brown hair and beard and a robust frame, rushed into the tower first. "Why is Gitta shouting outside? Why not let him in?"


    Crie forced a smile, "According to the regulation in the castle, without Ms. Olina''s order, nobody is allowed to access to Bluesea Castle for free. Therefore..."


    Periv just ignored Crie; instead, he roared, "Gitta, you b*stard, where''s Ms. Olina? Why you are alone?"


    Hearing this familiar voice, Gitta immediately realized that his shouting had worked. Peter was right, they truly could not bribe every person in the castle.


    "Periv, Ms. Olina encountered an assassination attempt on the way back tonight. Someone wants to murder her. Ms. Olina told me to dispatch guards from the castle to pick her up!" Gitta shouted in a louder voice.


    Not only had Periv heard Gitta''s words, even Alexander, Ji Gang, and Adeline, who had just arrived at the tower, also heard them.


    Alexander was over 50 years old. He was the eldest one among the chief guards. With a fat frame and bald head, he looked more like a cunning businessman. Ji Gang was a young man of over 20 years old. He had blonde and oily hair and a handsome play-boy look; a long sword was hung at his waist. Adeline was a woman, whose left eye and eyebrow had weird flame-like tattoos. Additionally, she had fiery red hair. Carrying a javelin container, she had a barbarian clan''s bloodline.


    Only after a few seconds, the other chief guards had already found out what had happened. Crie was explaining to them why he didn''t allow people to lower the suspension bridge and let Gitta in.


    Alexander looked at Crie while slightly narrowing his eyes, "Crie is reasonable, but Ms. Olina truly has told us that if she was not in the castle, the five of us can make the decision to deal with emergencies. What''s happening tonight is an emergency, let''s vote then!"


    "I agree to dispatch guards to pick up Ms. Olina!" Periv said loudly.


    "I agree too!" Adeline also replied without any hesitation.


    "I agree!" Ji Gang smiled, "I''ve long waited for such a chance to save Ms. Olina!"


    "Count me in!" Alexander also expressed his opinion.


    After a moment of hesitation, Crie saw Periv moving his hand closer to his sword handle while Adeline raise her eyebrows.


    "Now that you agree, I agree too!" Crie hurriedly expressed his instance.


    ...


    After waiting over the moat for a short while, Gitta saw them lowering the suspension bridge. The five chief guards then rushed out of the gate with a great number of guards, many of whom were female fighters in light armor led by Adeline.


    "Gitta, where''s Ms. Olina? How''s her condition?" Periv asked firstly.


    "Ms. Olina is now in a safe place. Adeline, Ms. Olina wants you take over the defense system of the tower of the outer castle!"


    "Okay!" Adeline didn''t doubt Gitta''s message at all; instead, she just glared at him, "What were you raving about just now? I will give you a lesson when I''m free!"


    Adeline then said something to her female fighters. Then all the female fighters returned to the castle and took over the defense systems of the outer castle''s tower at once. The order passed by Gitta amazed everybody else. Alexader then stared at Crie deeply. At this moment, Crie didn''t say anything; he looked pretty bad, even a bit flurried.


    "Do we need to dispatch cars there?" Ji Gang asked.


    "No need, follow me!" Gitta glanced at Crie with an icy expression before said, "Crie, follow me up too!"


    Crie forced a smile as he pushed in front of Gitta in a humble way, "I was just following the rules in Bluesea Castle, hope you don''t care about that!"


    Gitta ignored him and hurriedly checked over his shoulders that he was being followed by everybody else...


    ...


    Wearing Zhang Tie''s fox-hair cloak, Olina just sat under a pine together with Zhang Tie on the roadside. Seeing the team of people holding burning torches walking towards them out of the castle, Zhang Tie knew that his speculation was right. Facing such a situation, he preferred to be derided as an idiot instead of risking his own life to test those strangers'' morality.


    Zhang Tie sensed that the woman let out a sigh slightly.


    "What if Gitta hadn''t come back?" Seeing the swaying flames moving closer to them, Olina who was gazing at the distant asked Zhang Tie suddenly, "You should''ve known that was a possibility. They might not have bribed all of my loyal followers; yet with only a small plot and a vial of poison, they could make nobody be loyal to me anymore. By then, I would be isolated and you would be in an even more dangerous situation. I want to know if you''d leave me alone then!"


    Hearing this question, Zhang Tie was stunned for a short while. Rubbing his face, the moment he wanted to reply, he heard Olina continue, "I want to listen to your true words!"


    "True words?" Zhang Tie kept silent. He would not tell a lie to a woman whenever it was, even on the bed. It was his principle, "If that happened, if we could not fight those guys who want to kill you, I would escape together with you; in the worst scenario, we would leave Saint Herner Island!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s answer, the woman''s eyes gleamed. She then continued to ask out of curiosity, "Why? Aren''t you afraid of the troubles that I might bring to you? I might have lost everything by then and would not be able to pay you at all!"


    This question made Zhang Tie a bit embarrassed. Even if he wanted to tell the truth, he didn''t know what to say, because the truth was a story of a poor teenager''s growth.


    Thankfully, Olina didn''t keep asking him. Seeing Gitta bringing his men over, the woman glanced at Zhang Tie''s embarrassed face while a smile threatened to spread across her face. She then recovered her dignity and calmness again.


    ...


    The group coming out of Bluesea Castle had already seen Olina and Zhang Tie after they left the castle hundreds of meters away. Everybody was then shocked as they hurriedly ran towards Olina...


    At the sight of Olina, besides amazement, the chief guards relaxed at once, except for Crie, whose face turned pale as his body slightly shivered. ''Now that Ms. Olina has already arrived at the outside of the castle, why not enter? Why would she call them over there? Does she already known that...''


    At that moment, not only Crie, even the other chief guards had thought of the same question.


    Gitta walked towards Olina and murmured to her. Olina then instantly fixed her eyes onto Crie and said in a calm voice, "Crie, Gitta has told me what happened just now. I hadn''t imagined that you are that loyal to me. Good, very good!"


    Crie forcefully swallowed his saliva as he said stiffly, "It was merely my duty..."


    "Madam, Gitta said that someone wanted to murder you tonight? Oh, where are the other guards?" Periv walked one step forward and asked loudly.


    "We will talk about it later. Head back to Bluesea Castle first!"


    "Madam, who''s he? I feel a dangerous aura emanating from him!" Adeline had fixed her eyes onto Zhang Tie since she arrived here. Although this young and handsome man looked innocent, he felt very dangerous. At the first sight of Zhang Tie, Adeline who was sensitive to danger, felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up at once. This feeling was similar to when she met the most dangerous beasts in the forest.


    Adeline''s words raised everybody else''s attention onto Zhang Tie.


    "This is Peter. From now on, he''s my bodyguard. He enjoys the same treatment and privileges as Gitta in Bluesea Castle." Olina didn''t explain too much about Zhang Tie''s background; instead, she just declared her decision, which instantly showed her dignity as a lord. After that, she waved her hand. "Go back to Bluesea Castle now!"


    With everybody''s protection, Olina returned to Bluesea Castle. After entering the castle, Zhang Tie found that Adeline always kept her eyes on him while that young chief guard Ji Gang seemed to find him a bit repulsive instead of being hostile toward him. Gitta silently pointed at Crie as he looked at Zhang Tie and nodded solemnly. Zhang Tie then understood what happened...


    Zhang Tie was really curious how would Olina deal with such a situation.


    ...


    The main hall was very luxurious and magnificent. After returning to Bluesea Castle, the five chief guards were called in there by Olina.


    In the hall, Olina sat on the main seat while the five chief guards were standing in front of her. As her bodyguard, Zhang Tie just stood on her left-hand side. Gitta had disappeared the moment he returned to the castle. Nobody knew where he was.


    Olina then described how she was attacked that night in a very calm tone. After hearing that, the five chief guards were all stunned. Before they could ask any questions, Olina had already delivered a series of orders...

 387 Special Treatmen

    Chapter 387: Special Treatment


    Translator: WQLEditor: Millman97


    "Take my visiting card and take some guys to register a case in the City Defense Administration of Saint Herner Island. After that, go to the Ballas Clan''s Greyrock Castle and call Aetna, Cilicis, and Mesa to Bluesea Castle tomorrow morning; tell them that I''ve got something important to negotiate with them. If they want to know the details, tell them about the events that occurred tonight..."


    "Yes, madam!"


    "Crie, I will present a certificate to you after a while. You then take a small team of guards to leave Saint Herner Island now for the Headquarter of Ewentra Bounty Hunters Association and increase the amount of reward by 1 million gold coins for hunting personnel on Magical Snake Island!" Olina''s tone was mixed with a killing intent.


    Crie slightly shivered all over as he lowered his head, "Yes, madam!"


    "Adeline, go contact the seniors of your tribe, tell them that I''ve agreed to their conditions. Ballas Business Group will spare 20% of the airline business of Sinaila Island to you, but the number of barbarians in the Armed Silver Wing Guards of Ballas Business Group should be increased to 30% of its total population; meanwhile, an alternate captain of Silver Wing Guards will be assigned by your men, who will only answer to me!"


    With the strange tattoos around her left eye and eyebrow, Adeline raised her eyebrows once again and forcefully nodded.


    "Periv, you should work hard these days. You will take over the responsibilty for the safety of Bluesea Castle!"


    "Trust me, madam, if any malicious guys slide into the castle, I will chop off my own head!" Periv patted his chest proudly.


    "Ji Gang, go to the training camp of Silver Wing Guards to select two hundred more guards and train them to be qualified guards of the castle. I want to see its effect within two weeks! You will do it yourself first; after a couple of days, I will let Alexander help you!"


    "Yes, madam!" Ji Gang bowed towards Olina elegantly.


    "Well, I''m a bit tired and want to take a rest!"


    In the whole process, Zhang Tie just watched aside silently. When Olina dispatched Crie to the headquarters of Ewentra Bounty Hunters Association to execute that task, Zhang Tie instantly felt that woman was very shrewd. In this way, she cleared the ''dangerous members'' out of Bluesea Castle in a reasonable way and put Crie in a sticky position at once. Zhang Tie felt that Olina had included other deep meanings in this order but he couldn''t figure them out right now.


    After getting their own tasks, the five chief guards left; Gitta then returned to the hall.


    "Madam, I''ve been told that Crie has let his subordinates to take over the extremely powerful defense equipment on the tower tonight; he even checked the running situation of those equipment in the power boiler room and engine room of the castle; at his request, the two main power boilers'' nominal working pressure were both 30% higher than normal..."


    As the lord of Jinwu Castle, Zhang Tie knew clearly what did it meant. It was the standard ready-for-war condition. Albeit higher nominal working pressure of the main boilers meant extremely great power of the defense weapons which were driven by the steam-driven boilers, yet it also meant less life expectancy of the boilers. Therefore, normally, the main power boilers'' nominal working pressure was only maintained at a normally stable value; only in emergencies, or when checking the working condition and running performance of the boilers, would they adjust the main boilers to a heavy-burden running state.


    "Gitta, do you want to revenge for those dead guards?"


    "Of course, I even want to take my brothers to chop off the heads of those old douchebags of the Ballas Clan right now!" Gitta replied in a very righteous and furious way.


    "You know that is impossible. If you want to revenge them, from now on, you have to hide your animosity. You should be happy!"


    "Happy?" Gitta looked unimaginable, "Madam, you want me to be happy at this moment?"


    "Yes, be happy!" Sitting on the main seat, the woman took a deep breath and revealed a brilliant smile as her breasts rose up. Sitting beside her, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but peer at her plump boobs. As a result, his heart raced slightly.


    "We were not ambushed by those guys from Magical Snake Island tonight; instead, we ambushed them. We lost over twenty people, yet they lost fifty to sixty people. We gained a complete victory; we even chopped off the head of an important figure from Magical Snake Island. Shouldn''t we be happy about that?" Olina explained to Gitta.


    "But, why?"


    "Because, as long as we look happy, our enemy, who doesn''t want to see us happy, will not feel safe. They will be curious as to why we are so happy. Thus, they will try their best to figure out the reason. Then, someone will get revenge for you!"


    "Madam, you''re making me confused!"


    "Don''t worry, you will understand it in a few days. Now, you only need to keep my words in mind. If some of your friends invite you for a drink and ask you about this, you just tell them that we long got the message and we prepared our own ambush tonight instead of being ambushed. This is a task for you. Am I clear?"


    "Okay, I understand!" Gitta forcefully nodded.


    "Gitta, take your men to deal with those dead guards. All the personnel who were killed tonight will be rewarded with five times that of the common standard!"


    "Thanks, madam, their deaths are valuable!"


    "I''ve already let Alexander register our case in the City Defense Administration. Given the speed of the City Defense Administration, it would take them at least two hours to arrive there. You and your men will have to arrive there first. After dealing with our men''s dead bodies, you should have enough time to adjust the scene to make it look like we ambushed those killers. Is that ok?"


    "It''s not difficult. Although we were ambushed at the beginning, later, with the help of Peter, those killers looked like they were being ambushed. We only need to do some trivial adjustments to make everything look like we ambushed them!"


    "I hope that only you, me, and Peter know about what Peter has done. As for what happened at that time, just let others guess about it!"


    "Yes, madam!"


    "You can leave now!"


    Gitta then left, leaving only Zhang Tie and Olina in the whole main hall.


    Zhang Tie then looked at her with a curious look, "Why not let others know what I did?"


    "Because you''ve helped me so much; additionally, you will leave here sooner or later. As those guys from Magical Snake Island are all ruffians, I don''t want to bring their hatred to you," Olina explained to Zhang Tie seriously.


    Zhang Tie just watched her and didn''t know what to say. Previously, he wanted to protect her; it was really out of his imagination that she''d start to protect him. As for the revenge from Magical Snake Island, Zhang Tie didn''t consider it at all; Magical Snake Island was at most a killers'' organization in this sea area. He had even dared to offend the Three-Eye Association, which was supported by demons. Of course, he would not care about having one more Magical Snake Island as his enemy. Additionally, if a LV 9 guy could gain a high position on Magical Snake Island, it indicated that the organization was not powerful at all. Furthermore, no matter how fast those people were, nobody could catch him up in the sea, and this place was very close to the sea. Therefore, he was not afraid of them at all.


    Actually, even Zhang Tie had not realized that, with his growing fighting strength during the past year, he had met the greatest powers across the Waii Sub-Continent like the Norman Empire, Huaiyuan Palace, and Three-Eye Association which were far greater than common powers. Even the Zhen Clan in Heavens Cold City, which had a knight, was also a great power.


    Being gradually influenced by this, whenever he met any more powers or organizations, Zhang Tie would compare them with each other; as a result, he thought that some of the local powers were not threatening at all.


    However, what Olina said brought a strange feeling to Zhang Tie.


    "If you say so, I think that I should thank you. It feels a bit strange!" Zhang Tie rubbed his face.


    Olina then revealed a smile as her beautiful cyan eyes started to gleam. "Now that you are going to stay with me and help me so much, I should be a bit considerate for you, right?"


    "It feels like what friends should do!"


    "Don''t you feel that we are not friends now? Or would you prefer to be my savior and want me to treat you with a more respectful attitude? Am I not even qualified to look out for you?"


    "No, I didn''t mean that!" Zhang Tie felt a bit embarrassed then. This woman''s words were too sharp, which really felt like being in Miss Daina''s class.


    "Alas, I know..." The woman showed a sorrowful face and then started to touch her enchanting face. "Do you feel that I''m too much older than you? Although I don''t like to admit it, time flies, I''m 36 years old now. Not like those young girls at all, I''m old and look ugly and could even be your aunt. However, you are at most 18 years old. Do you feel that I''m not suitable to be your friend?"


    "No, you''re very beautiful and are one of the most beautiful and charming women I''ve ever seen. I don''t feel that age is a problem at all!" Saying this, Zhang Tie peered at her plump boobs with an embarrassed look once again.


    "Really?" The woman''s eyes brightened up at once as her face look brilliant.


    "Really, I wouldn''t lie to a woman!"


    "Thanks!" With a smile, Olina stood up from her chair. After that, she turned around and slightly lowered her body before kissing Zhang Tie''s face. "In Ewentra, this is the highest reward from a woman to a man who praises her!"


    At this moment, Zhan Tie watched that familiar yet strange beautiful face which was so close to him before glanced over that snow-white scenery and that black lace around her boobs below the collar of her skirt; meanwhile, he sniffed the nice fragrance from her body. This made Zhang Tie feel entering that same wet dream that he had experienced numerous times where he encountered Miss Daina...


    In the wet dream, Miss Daina was so sexy just like this woman in front of him.


    Not knowing whether it was an illusion or not, Zhang Tie felt that she had started to draw him in on the journey back; however, he finally couldn''t stand such allure as he responded with the direct response that a man should have at this moment.


    That woman then sensitively lowered her head and looked at the raised tent between Zhang Tie''s legs; after that, she straightened up before covered his mouth with her hand and started to giggle...


    Zhang Tie''s face blushed instantly.


    No matter where and what local custom it was, if a man showed such a strong physiological impulsion in front of a woman, it would be a breach of etiquette.


    "Pah... pah... pah..." Olina clapped her hands three times. When the sound was still resonating in the hall, a side door was pushed open and a 50-odd female steward whose hair was tied up entered. In an old-fashioned and conservatory black skirt, although quite old, she still looked like a marble statue with no defects at all; instead, she looked delicate and even a bit merciless.


    "Madam Kate, please take Mr. Peter to the room No. 2 to take a good rest. Prepare a set of proper clothes for him; he''s now my bodyguard and will live in Bluesea Castle for a while!"


    "Yes, madam! Mr. Peter, please come with me!"


    At this moment, Zhang Tie also felt a bit embarrassed in front of Olina. Like a young school student who had been caught doing something bad by teacher, he hurriedly left.


    However, Zhang Tie had not imagined that room No. 2 was not in the outer castle but in the inner castle. From the main hall to the inner castle, Zhang Tie didn''t even find a male servant in the inner castle, even the guards were female. All the women were watching Zhang Tie out of curiosity like


    "Ms. Kate, are there any males here?" Zhang Tie couldn''t help but ask that woman who was leading him with a candlestick in the front.


    "Actually, since Ms. Olina settled into Bluesea Castle, you are the first male to live in the inner castle!" The woman answered icily.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie''s heart started to palpitate at once...

 388 Ballas Clan

    Chapter 388: Ballas Clan


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Despite being the first man sleeping in the inner castle, Zhang Tie still stayed in room No. 2 quietly overnight no matter how heavily his heart pounded. Any young man encountering such a situation would have his fantasies run wild.


    Before going to bed, Kate had some female servants measure Zhang Tie''s body. After that, nobody else came in Zhang Tie''s room over the night.


    There was only a wall between room No. 2 and the room where Olina, the lord of Bluesea Castle lived while a door was opened on the wall. In this way, the two rooms were accessible to each other. It was very suitable for Zhang Tie to live in room No. 2 as Olina''s bodyguard. If any emergencies were to occur, Zhang Tie would be able to enter her room as fast as possible.


    As long as he had no health problems, Zhang Tie was always awake at 6:00 am due to his biological clock.


    Lying on the bed, Zhang Tie stared at the ceiling. He felt it strange and incredibly stupid that he had promised a strange woman to be her bodyguard without any hesitation yesterday.


    Because she looked beautiful or because she looked like Miss Daina?


    If another woman encountered that situation yesterday or that woman looked very ugly or could not leave me any deep impression, I''m not sure as to whether I would accept her request and be involved with so many troubles so easily!


    As this was a very serious question, Zhang Tie tried his best to consider it when he was most clear-minded in the morning. However, even he started to despise himself when he got the answer¡ª¡ªNo!


    If she was not that beautiful or didn''t look like Miss Daina, Zhang Tie would at most save her from her would be killers or accompany her to a safe enough place before left. He would never do such a stupid thing. As a man who always had a plan, he would not choose to be involved in such a dispute which had nothing to do with him as his primary target here was to improve his fighting strength and to gain as more seven-strength fruits as possible.


    After thinking it through, Zhang Tie mocked himself before letting out a deep sigh¡ª¡ªI''m still a mortal, having not reached the level of immortals.


    Donder said it was a male animal''s instinct to display themselves in front of beautiful women. In a man''s subconsciousness, they did this to gain the right to mate with beautiful women so as to keep and optimize their DNA.


    Did I do that to gain the right to mate with Olina last night?''


    With this whim, Zhang Tie felt a bit filthy. At the sight of the ever-firm steel mummy which raised up and caused a small hill on the quilt, Zhang Tie had to admit that that woman was especially lethal to him.


    That woman''s nickname was "hot fox". If a woman could be that influential in the Ewentra Archipelago, she was definitely not an average woman.


    "Are you a bad guy?" Zhang Tie opened his quilt and patted the relentless thing as he mumbled.


    At this moment, that bad guy nodded sometimes. Zhang Tie then revealed an obscene smile...


    After having went to the washroom, the relentless thing finally became docile. The moment Zhang Tie wanted to put on clothes, he remembered that his clothes had been taken away by some female servants last night. What was left in his room were only a double-carps waist and some personal belongings.


    Zhang Tie then pulled down the rope of the bell to call servants in. In only about 20 seconds, he had heard knocks.


    "Come in please!"


    When the door was pushed open, 4 female servants with sweet looks walked in with many things before closing the door of his bedroom.


    The 2 female servants in front were carrying a set of tidy clothes, shoes, and socks. As for the 2 female servants behind, one was holding a basin of hot water while the other was holding a towel and something strange. It was Zhang Tie''s first time seeing them. Each of them looked more than 20 years old. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, they all had top looks and figures.


    "Mr. Peter, here are your new clothes!"


    "Fine." Zhang Tie nodded. Now that he had to stay here for a few days, his look as a pioneer would not be proper. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.


    "Do you want to put it on now?" A female servant asked Zhang Tie.


    "Yes!"


    Soon after Zhang Tie replied, the female servants had surrounded him. One of them started to help him undo his buttons while the plumpy female servant who asked him directly knelt in front of Zhang Tie. She directly peeled off Zhang Tie''s short pants, exposing his naked buttocks.


    "Argh!" Zhang Tie shouted loudly at once. He hadn''t imagined that they were that audacious. He hurriedly covered his mummy and asked in an embarrassed way, "What do you want?"


    "We are helping you change clothes. Madam has told us, as long as you live in the inner castle, we will look after you like how we look after her. We will satisfy all of your demands and make you feel at home." Kneeling down on the ground, that female servant raised her head and smiled at Zhang Tie.


    Seeing that sweet smile and her plump boobs, Zhang Tie felt that bad thing became relentless again. Her gesture of kneeling down in front of him reminded him of those days in Blackhot City when he "fed pigeons" with the girls of the Rose Association.


    Zhang Tie hardly moved his eyes away from that female servant''s alluring lips, "Hmm...hmm...I will do it myself!"


    Even in Jinwu Castle, he didn''t request the female servants to serve him that considerably.


    "How come that be! This is our job. Oh, Mr. Peter, can you lift your right foot so that I can help you take off your pants? If you cannot stand steadily, you can support yourself on my shoulder..." Saying this, the female servant had already moved Zhang Tie underwears to his ankles.


    Zhang Tie could only lift his two feet one by another and allow that female servant to take off his pants. He would never move his hand away from his mummy at this moment. Because in only a few seconds, that relentless thing had already grown pretty grim. As a LV 7 fighter, of course he could stand steadily even for a whole day.


    "Mr. Peter, can you straighten up your hands? I will take off your outer garment." Another charming female servant who was undoing his buttocks asked.


    Hearing this, the 4 female servants glanced at Zhang Tie at the same time while they tried hard to not burst out in laughter.


    Zhang Tie glanced at the 4 female women who were looking at him with strange looks and mumbled inside, ''F*ck, if you are not afraid of that, I won''t fear anything then. You really think that I''ve not seen so many beauties before?'' With this whim, Zhang Tie directly loosened his grip.


    After the pressure on it was released, that relentless thing instantly sprung up like a furious long spear and pointed directly at the beautiful face of the girl who was kneeling down right in front of him while shaking slightly. It was even less than 15 cm away from her face.


    "Argh!"


    This time, the 4 female servants uttered a slight scream in unison. At the same time, their faces blushed slightly at once as they almost forgot what they were doing.


    "Is that okay?" After moving his hands away, Zhang Tie asked. Then, the female servants recovered composure while the female servant hurriedly took off his outer garment. In a split second, Zhang Tie showed his muscles and perfect figure.


    The 2 female servants holding a basin and 2 towels hurriedly started to clean up Zhang Tie''s body. When one servant cleaned up his body with a wet hot towel, another one would instantly dry it with the dry towel. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t feel cold or uncomfortable at all.


    The 2 female servants moved so adroitly and audaciously that they soon cleaned up Zhang Tie all over, including Zhang Tie''s toes and that relentless thing.


    In the end, Zhang Tie directly closed his eyes. After recovering composure, Zhang Tie instantly felt that everything became smooth. Even he was naked, he still didn''t feel embarrassed at all.


    "It''s over!" Several minutes later, Zhang Tie heard a voice before he opened his eyes.


    Zhang Tie then glanced over himself and found he was wholly new. He was wearing a set of black knight''s clothes which had a double line of buttons with golden laces. It looked both dignified and comfortable. His double-carps waist had also been put on by them. Now, he looked as carefree and handsome as a rich dandy.


    The water that the female servants used to clean his body had been mixed with a special essence which smelt like tobacco. Sniffing this fragrance, Zhang Tie felt like steamed bread.


    Watching him, the female servants'' eyes radiated bright lights while their faces blushed.


    "This set of clothes fits me well, thanks!" Zhang Tie nodded towards them.


    "You''re welcome. If madam sees you, she would be very happy!"


    Zhang Tie shrugged. ''These female servants might have taken me as a boy toy who had some talents.'' For such a misunderstanding, Zhang Tie didn''t want to explain at all, instead, he just raised his nose and sniffed his sleeves. "What have you put in water, it smells so good!"


    "That''s a plant essence being extracted from dragon-blood tobacco leaves which only exist in the Ice and Snow Wilderness. It could clean up people''s body and make them energetic. Besides, it could take good care of your skin. It''s the best product for men." The female servant who was kneeling down in front of him answered.


    "Hehe. It''s still early now, I want to warm up in the training field in the castle, can I?"


    "Madam has told us that you can do whatever you want in Bluesea Castle!"


    ...


    Several minutes later, Zhang Tie arrived at the training field inside Bluesea Castle. At this moment, it was only a bit after 6:00 am. The faerie dragon star was still hanging in the eastern sky. According to the timetable of the castle, the guards would not start training until 7:00 am.


    There were so many training instruments and weapons on the training field. Zhang Tie skimmed over the rows of weapons and chose a heavy sword which weighed about 20 kg before he started to practice.


    Zhang Tie''s training was very simple. After standing steadily, he would repeat the eight sword movements that he had learned on Hidden Dragon Island¡ª¡ªsplitting, hacking, poking, pricking, raising, rebounding, stirring up and pushing aside.


    Strictly, Zhang Tie had not completed his compulsory cultivation courses on Hidden Dragon Island at all. In the past one year, even though Zhang Tie was talented and practicing hard, he still only finished the fundamental foot movements and shield defense skills. As for basic swordsmanship and basic archery, he had just started them. He had not accomplished 1 m times for each movement of fundamental swordsmanship. As for basic archery, Zhang Tie was absolutely a newbie¡ª¡ªalthough he knew the concrete movements and strength, yet it would be a question of probability for him to hit the target if it was over 30 m away.


    Thankfully, as he had awakened the ancestral bloodline¡ª¡ªprecise throwing skill, which could help him realize long-distance attack. Otherwise, he even felt shameless to tell others that he came from Hidden Dragon Palace.


    After staying in the Hidden Dragon Palace for so long, although students in Hidden Dragon Palace were forbidden to talk about the ancestral bloodlines that they had awakened, Zhang Tie still had heard about some "half-opened secret"¡ª¡ªover 50% of students in Hidden Dragon Palace had awakened the most popular "archery affinity" as their first ancestral bloodline.


    After awakening this ancestral bloodline, people could have a super high affinity and enlightenment about archery. As a result, they would improve their archery very fast. This ancestral bloodline was the foundation of the other powerful archery-related ancestral bloodlines. It was said that Lan Yunxi awakened the most powerful archery-related ancestral bloodline, which was terrifying as it could help her kill many opponents more powerful than herself.


    As for the other 2 compulsory courses¡ª¡ªflying skill and horsemanship, Zhang Tie had not started them yet.


    Although he had exchanged for the secret knowledge of flying skill before leaving Hidden Dragon Island, he had not yet started to cultivate it. According to the requirement of this secret knowledge, people were not able to cultivate flying skill until LV 8 as this skill required one to release strength through the spine and further development of physical potentials. As for horsemanship, Zhang Tie didn''t think it was necessary to learn it recently. Therefore, as long as he was free, Zhang Tie would cultivate his basic swordsmanship.


    Although the training conditions in Bluesea Castle could not match that of Hidden Dragon Island, the principles and movements were the same. Therefore, Zhang Tie kept repeating the 8 movements of swordsmanship.


    Now, it would take Zhang Tie about 2 seconds to complete the 8 movements. His target was to finish them in 1 second before he reached LV 8. Zhang Tie was told that Yu Xiaotian, whose nickname was Soaring Heavens Sword, who ranked 3rd on the Hidden Dragon Fighting Strength List could complete the 8 movements 4 times in 1 second. However, it was said that the first ancestral bloodline that Yu Xiaotian awakened was also "sword affinity" which had a deep potential for development.


    ''Why haven''t I awakened "spear affinity" at the beginning?'' Zhang Tie didn''t understand it until now. As for the throwing-related ancestral bloodline that he awakened last night, Zhang Tie didn''t remember its name. He only faintly felt that he had awakened all the ancestral bloodlines concerning precise throwing.


    He knew that his precise throwing skill could still be further evolved. However, he didn''t know whether that bloodline that he awakened last night could be further evolved or not. Zhang Tie could not find an expert to guide him after leaving Hidden Dragon Palace. Everything was had its pros and cons. If he wanted freedom, he was doomed to fumble alone on the way of cultivation.


    After Zhang Tie practiced for over 20 minutes alone on the training field, Gitta arrived. Seeing Zhang Tie cultivating himself, Gitta didn''t speak.


    Zhang Tie''s movements looked simple, boring, while being not powerful at all. Albeit knowing those basic swordsmanship movements, Gitta didn''t find anything special from them.


    "Do you usually practice in that way?" After watching for a short while, Gitta finally uttered.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie put away his sword and stopped.


    "Not exactly, but this is a very important training item."


    "Unbelievable, based on your swordsmanship last night, how come you still practice these basic movements?" Gitta looked amazed.


    ''Swordsmanship? I know what motherf*cking swordsmanship? Although there''s a lot of secret knowledge about swordsmanship in the Secret Knowledge Pavilion of Hidden Dragon Palace, he I didn''t exchange for anyone of them. As I''ve not passed the test of basic swordsmanship, I''m not qualified to exchange for that secret knowledge over there. Last night, I was only using some hand gestures of the iron-blood fist with the help of a long sword. That sword was just the extension of my palm and my fingers. Essentially, I was using iron-blood fist. Unless I met a powerhouse who had also enlightened the one step, one scenery situation of iron-blood fist last night, others could not figure out the secret of my movements.''


    Of course, Zhang Tie mumbled inside.


    "The more frequently you practice the basic skills, the better. There''s an old saying in eastern continent, ''the secret of any skill lies in proficiency''" Zhang Tie pretended to be very serious.


    "The secret of any kill lies in proficiency..." Hearing this, Gitta became stunned at once before frowned and mumbled repetitively. After repeating it 3-4 times, his frowns instantly disappeared as he burst out an exciting and enlightening expression, "Thank you, I finally understand what I lack!"


    With a faint smile, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded, ''If you become an idiot by always practicing such basic movements, later on, don''t blame me. There''s another old Chinese saying, ''Don''t attempt to drill a hole on the tip of a hole''. Even if you drill a hole on it, it''s still useless.''


    Seeing Gitta wanting to ask another question, Zhang Tie hurriedly changed the topic. By now, except for iron-blood fist and precise throwing skill, he could rarely show anything more powerful. He was not qualified to teach others at all. Additionally, he didn''t need to explain precise-throwing skill and iron-blood fist to Gitta as the first one was formed by awakening his ancestral bloodline. As for the iron-blood fist, he didn''t know how he had made it even till present. As Gitta was simple and honest, Zhang Tie liked him, so he didn''t want to cheat him.


    "Oh, how about the task that Ms. Olina had let you do last night?"


    Zhang Tie knew that since he went to bed last night, many people in the Bluesea Castle didn''t sleep at all, instead, they were running like machines. As Zhang Tie''s task was to protect that woman, he didn''t care about the other things. Additionally, that woman had her own decisions facing such an event. From the series of decisions that she had made since she came back to Bluesea Castle last night, Zhang Tie had realized this point.


    "We''ve dealt with the dead bodies of our guards according to the order of madam. We lost 22 guards, yet they lost 67 killers. It seems that we''ve ambushed them and gained a complete victory!" Not until then Zhang Tie still didn''t understand why Ms. Gitta would let him do that.


    "Oh, Gitta, can you tell me what happened between the Ballas Clan and madam?" Zhang Tie instinctively felt that there was a sophisticated dispute between that woman and the Ballas Clan. She was the chairman of Ballas Business Group, yet those members of the Ballas Clan wanted to kill her. This felt weird.


    Gitta hesitated for a short while.


    "Is it inconvenient for you to mention it?"


    "No, nothing inconvenient at all. Although the madam doesn''t like us talking about the Ballas Clan, I still want to say it. Those Ballas clansmen are just shameless b*stards. It''s the biggest mistake that madam has made in her life. She treats them too well!" Gitta said furiously as he waved his fist fiercely.


    "If you are free, can you tell me about the details so that I could make an early judgment about the possible coming dangers?"


    "Fine!" Gitta let out a long sigh...


    ...


    18 years ago, the alleged Ballas Bussiness Group and Ballas Clan didn''t exist on Saint Herner Island at all. At that time, there was only one agency called Ballas on Saint Herner Island. It was too small and was hardly managing a wood business.


    The male boss of the company was a young man called Shire who came here to develop his undertaking. He had a beautiful wife called Olina.


    Ballas was lucky because he had such a beautiful wife. He was unlucky as he had died in the 2nd year after getting married to his wife, leaving her wife who had been pregnant 2 months. For the business of the company, Ballas went to the Ice and Snow Wildness. However, he was attacked by bandits. Besides losing all the payment for goods, he was also heavily wounded. Soon after returning to Saint Herner Island, he died.


    Before he died, he still owed a great amount of money. Except for the wood agency called "Ballas Company" which was illiquid, he left not even one copper coin.


    Therefore, the debtees asked his wife who was still pregnant for debts. Olina, whose belly gradually bulged gritted her teeth and started to take over that completely illiquid Ballas Company for her late husband and her baby. She then started to learn all the skills to manage the company and to do the wood business in order to pay off the debts and strive for a bright future for her baby.


    Facing the dilemma, she displayed her exceptional perseverance, wisdom and business talent.


    Only after 4 months, the Ballas Company managed by Olina had paid off the huge amount of debt owed by her ex-husband. Not only this, she made a great sum of money. Right at the same time, because of working overload, she had a miscarriage.


    In only half a year, she had experienced so many difficulties, however, she was not beaten by them. After losing her baby, she became more ambitious and started to manage Ballas Company carefully.


    3 years later, Ballas Company was changed to Ballas Commercial Organization and started to grow rapidly in the commercial world of Saint Herner Island.


    6 years later, Ballas Commercial Organization was changed to Ballas Business Group and started to own its own armed forces and fleet of ships. From then on, it had begun to be famous across the Ewentra Archipelago.


    On the 7th year, some relatives of Olina''s ex-husband''s family came to Saint Herner Island for Olina''s shelter. Olina took them in, causing the recent situation...


    Now, Ballas Business Group had become well-known across Saint Herner Island. Benefited from this, those Ballas Clan''s relatives being taken in by Olina gradually grew arrogant...


    "When they came to Saint Herner Island, madam took them out of kindness and arranged positions for them in the business group at their requests. In the early a couple of years, they were very serious and honest; however, they gradually changed. At the beginning, they considered themselves as madam''s family members and relatives; gradually, madam became their younger generation; then, because they surname Ballas and have stayed in Ballas Business Group for a long time, they felt that they should have shares of this business group; finally, last night, they might think that the whole Ballas Business Group should belong to them while madam became the outsider..." Saying this, Gitta forcefully punched his own palm.


    "Hmm, I understand!" Zhang Tie also sighed with feelings. Because of her mercy and tolerance to her ex-husband''s relatives, she had raised them into fierce wild beasts. Perhaps in those b*stards'' heart, a lonely woman had become their last obstacle to occupy the Ballas Business Group. The woman should have realized that.


    After Gitta said that, the day was going to break. Thus, Zhang Tie and Gitta got the message at the same time¡ª¡ªafter being told that Olina was assassinated last night, those b*stards of Ballas Clan finally arrived at Bluesea Castle after one night.


    ...

 389 Poison or Cheese

    Chapter 389: Poison or Cheese


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Hearing that the Ballas clansmen arrived, Zhang Tie followed Gitta out to have a look at those freak b*stards. Before arriving at the gate of the castle, Zhang Tie had already heard a hoarse voice drifting from outside.


    "B*stard, do you know who I am? These are my guards. Why do you allow them to put down their weapons before entering Bluesea Castle. Who grant you this right. Where''s Olina? Call her out! We need a reason. Why Ballas Clansmen have to face such a rude treatment in the territory of Ballas Business Group?"


    The moment he finished talking, the others outside the castle had started to kick up a row.


    "That''s it. Why do you force us to put down the weapons and don''t allow us in?"


    "Go back to Greyrock Castle! I''ve told you that they don''t like us..."


    "I was told that that woman faced an assassination last night. She sent people to notify us. Therefore, we come here to see her. However, she stopped us from entering the castle! What does she mean?"


    Hearing this, Periv roared, "This is the rule of Bluesea Castle. This father doesn''t care who are you! Have you the motherf*cker seen any castle allow hundreds of fully-armored soldiers in with weapons? If you want to enter the castle, you have to put down your weapons. Additionally, only 10 of you are allowed in at most! The others have to stay outside the castle!"


    Soon after Periv finished his words, he had heard swears outside the castle at once.


    Zhang Tie and Gitta didn''t come to the outside of the castle to have a closer look, instead, they came to the tower of the castle and looked downward through the shooting mouth of a bolt mound.


    The suspension bridge had been put down; however, at this moment, a team of over 200 guards was crowding between the suspension bridge and the gate of the castle. 3 of them in brilliant clothes were riding on 3 exceptionally handsome horses and looked at the guards of Bluesea Castle outside the castle. They didn''t even get off their horses before entering the castle, which showed their arrogant and donomineering looks.


    Standing in the tower of the castle, Zhang Tie could see clearly that the 3 men were all old. One among them had pale hair They had different frames. OIe fat, one thin and the rest was normal in weight yet was evidently baldheaded.


    ...


    "Are they the b*stards of the Ballas Clan?" Zhang Tie turned around and asked Gitta.


    Gitta nodded as he said furiously. "The fat one in the middle is Cilicis, the thin one on his left is Mesa while that baldheaded one is called Aetna. They were Shire''s uncles and small figures on Charthe Island previously. However, after arriving at Saint Herner Island, they gradually forgot who they were."


    "Do they live in Greyrock Castle? Who else does the Ballas Clan have on the island?"


    "Madam was forced to build Greyrock Castle for them 4 years ago. Previously, they directly lived in Bluesea Castle. They had more than 10 people, including their kids and wives; however, some of these d**chebags wanted to take madam''s ruling position, therefore madam let them move away. After that, these people pretended to be pitiful across the Saint Herner City. They even spoke ill of madam. Therefore, madam had to build Greyrock Castle for them and arranged them in!"


    "Did they also take so many people to Bluesea Castle before?"


    "Nope, at most 10!"


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie understood at once, ''The 3 guys had a guilty conscience; otherwise, they didn''t need to take so many people in the daytime. However, they must have thought up a good reason for this¡ª¡ªNow that Olina encountered an assassination, it was reasonable for them to be cautious outside by taking more guards as the relatives of Olina.


    "It would be much more convenient if we could directly deal with them down there!" Zhang Tie sighed as he touched the steam-driven defensive ballista on his side.


    "I also think so, but if we do that, madam''s reputation would be ruined." Gitta answered with a look of agreement.


    After a mess, those b*stards found that Periv had a determined attitude while nobody turned on the defense equipment on the wall and it was peaceful as usual inside the castle, they finally recovered composure. After a short negotiation, the 3 guys on the horses had agreed to take only 7 guards inside the castle.


    ...


    Olina received the 3 people in the Hall of Deliberation of the castle. As her "bodyguard", Zhang Tie just stood behind Olina lazily with Gitta and watched the 3 b*stards walking inside.


    "Olina, we were told that you were attacked last night. Are you all right?"


    The moment they entered the Hall of Deliberation, Cilicis had already shouted loudly in a cunning and exaggerating way like being afraid of not being heard.


    When in Huaiyuan Prefecture, Zhang Tie had seen too many people wearing expensive clothes made of eastern silk. However, he had not seen such tasteless dress collocations. The moment they came in, Zhang Tie almost thought they were 3 colorful showing stands of silk cloth.


    "I''m okay. After what happened last night, I became more clear-minded and thought through many things!" Olina said with a smile so kindly and calmly like she was not influenced by what happened last night at all.


    "Argh, what have you seen through?" Hearing her words, baldheaded Aetna asked nervously. Soon after he asked, Mesa the thinner guy hurriedly pulled his sleeve. Realizing it, Aetna hurriedly coughed several times to cover his previous tension and malpractice. "Oh, I mean what have you thought through? Are you stimulated by that or something else!"


    Seeing such an awkward performance, which almost revealed his true intentions, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but show the white of his eyes. ''Such idiots wanted to rule the Ballas Business Group? Are you motherf*king kidding me? No wonder Olina could tolerate them for such a long time. They had been too foolish that they could even make people loosen their vigilance. Additionally, I thought Olina didn''t expect that these b*stards could be that vicious.¡¯


    Olina then sighed. "I''m thinking that if I was just killed last night, the whole Ballas Business Group would be dangerous. I have no relatives around me anymore, except you. I think that actually, you should help me manage some affairs of Ballas Business Group. These years I''ve been putting so much time on the affairs of Balllas Business Group. I think I should spare some more time to enjoy life. With so much money, if I don''t consume them, it would be a great pity!"


    Hearing this, the 3 men were all stunned. From their expressions, Zhang Tie could see they were surprised that they didn''t meet any dangers but good things.


    Aetna was so happy that he almost jumped up/ "It should have long been that. No matter what, Ballas Business Group should be shared more by Ballas Clansmen!"


    "Cough..cough..." Mesa coughed as he glanced at Cicilis before asking Olina, "Do you mean that?"


    "Yes, I plan to let you 3 enter the board of directors of the business group to see the concrete operations of the top management of the business group. With rich experiences, you can definitely provide necessary opinions for me on the board of directors. There are some positions in vacancy. Cilicis, I want to let your son take the position of the representative of Ballas Business Group''s Continental Agency as you had recommended."


    The suspicious expression of Cilicis instantly disappeared after Cilicis heard Olina''s words. At the same time, he pretened to be modest and hesitated, "This, this is not proper..."


    "I''ve already decided. I called you here to declare this. As I''ve throught it through, therefore, I just let it go." Olina''s pun could only be figured out by Zhang Tie and Gitta. Although Gitta still didn''t understand it too much, Zhang Tie completely understood it at once as he was shocked inside. At this time, he finally understood what Olina said last night. She was really killing people without spilling blood.


    "What else?"


    "Hmm, one more. I planned to visit the head of Bell Clan today and sent him a gift so as to negotiate with Bell Clan on how to establish new settlements in the central part of Saint Herner Island. However, after what happened last night, I want to have a rest in the castle today. When you go back to Greyrock Castle, please visit the head of Bell Clan on my behalf."


    "No problem!" At this moment, the 3 people had been extremely joyful that they even jumped high; Hearing that Olina assigned them such a "brilliant" task, they hurriedly nodded.


    "Alexander!" Olina shouted before Alexander walked into the Hall of Deliberation with a delicate squae box whose length of a side was 33.3 cm and stood beside her seriously.


    With a smile on her face, Olina looked kinder, however, Zhang Tie could sense a merciless intention flashing through her body. "I will let Alexander go with you with the gift. I prepared the gift for the head of Bell Clan, he will like it. There''s also a letter in it. You can leave now if you have nothing else to deal with."


    After Alexander and the 3 people of the Ballas Clan left, Olina made a gesture to let Gitta leave too, leaving Zhang Tie and herself in the Hall of Deliberation. At the sight of this woman, Zhang Tie felt she was very fatigued and had a sense of relief.


    "Is the gift in the box that heads you had Gitta cut off last night?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Hmm, old Bell''s 2 sons were killed by those people on Magical Snake Island. As for all the top managers of Magical Snake Island, he has done a lot of investigating. Additionally, he is offering rewards for their heads. Old Bell definitely know who he was!"


    Zhang Tie then kept silent for a while. Watching that woman in front of him with sophisticated expressions, he realized that this woman was so considerable. Her capabilities were out of his imagination. If those killers on Magical Snake Island were truly hired by the 3 people of Ballas Clan, she did this to make them jump into the fire pit themselves.


    She had Gitta rearrange the battle scene and kept secret what happened last night. After that, she abnormally awarded those guys of the Ballas Clan and let them send this killers'' head to the Bell Clan. After combining the above 3 pieces of information, those people on Magical Snake Island must have reached a conclusion that their people were screwed over by the Ballas Clanmen. On one hand, Ballas Clanmen pretended to assassinate Olina by hiring killers from Magical Snake Island, on the other hand, they notified Olina in advance and saved her at the critical moment. They did this to make Olina set a trap to kill all the killers and to take an important figure''s head as a chip to cooperate with the Bell Clan...


    When a killers organization met this situation, they would not hate Olina. Instead, they would hate the Ballas Clan who hired their men so much. As a result, those on Magical Snake Island would definitely kill them as a result.


    Not to mention those idiots of the Ballas Clan who didn''t understand Olina''s plan. Even if they figured it out, they could not refuse it either, because this woman''s arrangement looked reasonable.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie realized how this woman who looked weak could establish such a great undertaking alone on this island.


    Olina turned around and looked at Zhang Tie. From Zhang Tie''s expression, she realized that Zhang Tie had already understood what she thought. She then asked him, "Am I bad?"


    Zhang Tie waved his head. "Have you thought that what if Ballas Clansmen didn''t really orchestrate the assassination?"


    "If so, everything I''ve promised them today would be their rewards. I will take it as my compensation for them. They would not lose anything then. Additionally, if they were not involved in it, those people on Magical Snake Island would not look to them for vengeance."


    Zhang Tie became dumb at once. For those of the Ballas Clansmen, if they did it, today''s reward would be a poison covered with honey. If not, today''s reward would be cheese covered with honey. It depended on whether they had even a bit good intention towards this woman.


    ''Does such a woman need my protection?'' Zhang Tie started to be suspicious. Thinking of this, he instantly felt relaxed. The alleged weakness might be the woman''s best camouflage.


    "Previously, I thought I might stay for a while on Saint Herner Island. However, given from the current situation, I might leave here soon, because I find that you are more sensitive to your crises than me."


    "Am I that disgusting or men don''t like women with such a train of thought." Olina sighed as she revealed a sorrowful look.


    "I have to go to the Ice and Snow Wildness. Additionally, I find that if I stayed here too long, I might be eaten by you, including my skin and bones."


    Hearing his reply, Olina burst out with charming giggles at once...

 390 A Person From Magical Snake Island

    Chapter 390: A Person From Magical Snake Island


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Obviously, the trip ticket from the Pier No.7 of Saint Herner Harbor to Ice and Snow Wildness was wasted. In order to comply with his promise to Olina, Zhang Tie stayed on Saint Herner Island a few more days.


    These days, after encountering the assassination attempt, Olina spent most of her time in Bluesea Castle, so did Zhang Tie. During this period, Zhang Tie only went out one time to buy a shipping ticket leaving Saint Herner Island on August 5th.


    The reason that Zhang Tie chose to leave on August 5th was because some powerhouses of the barbarians would arrive at Bluesea Castle on August 4th from Sinaira Island. Sinaira Island was the biggest island in the Ewentra Archipelago. It covered over 180,000 square kilometers. With dense forests, it gathered barbarians and pirates in the sea area in the north of Waii Sub-continent.


    Now, Adeline, who was beside Olina and those female fighters in the castle all came from the powerful barbarian tribe on Sinairi Island. The barbarian tribe and Olina always had reliable cooperation. After this event, Olina had Adeline pass a message about an agreement that she had reached with the barbarians tribe previously. According to that agreement, Adra Island to protect Olina.


    Adeline''s tribe would at least assign 2 "truly powerful" fighters and a barbarian shaman to protect Olina.


    According to Adeline, the "truly powerful" fighters assigned by barbarians tribe were at least LV 10 fighters. They might even be a master fighter or a great master fighter. Additionally, barbarian shaman''s powerful sensing ability towards dangers were also well-known across the Ewentra Archipelago.


    With the assistance of such powerhouses, Zhang Tie knew that his status as her "bodyguard" would retire gloriously. What made Zhang Tie more reassured was that the powerhouses and shamen assigned by Adeline''s tribe were all women. Adeline''s tribe was centered on matrilineal society and goddess worship which accounted for a great part of the barbarian tribe. In this tribe, women were the most privileged and powerful ones instead of men.


    Most women were not ambitious. Additionally, they were more loyal to undertakings and work than men. Zhang Tie thought that this might be why Olina trusted them. Of course, Olina, the able woman might have a deep relationship with that barbarians tribe ruled by females like Adeline.


    Olina didn''t leave her castle for a few days. However, there were always people going to Bluesea Castle to visit her. As a result, many affairs regarding the Ballas Business Group were dealt with in Bluesea Castle directly. Zhang Tie also felt free. Besides eating and drinking, he also practiced his fighting skills. Therefore, in only a few days, Zhang Tie, as the bodyguard of Olina, was already getting along well with the chief guards and most of the guards.


    Zhang Tie was very easygoing. When he was free, he used to train together with the guards on the training field and played jokes with them. Therefore, in a short time, everybody in the castle had fallen in love with this handsome teenager.


    Of course, those who liked Zhang Tie most were those female servants who always served him these days. They used to serve Olina, however, after Zhang Tie lived in room No. 2, Olina had assigned them to serve Zhang Tie.


    At the beginning, whether it was changing clothes or taking bath in the evening, those female servants all performed very seriously. Gradually, after a couple of days, they had grown increasingly audacious and started to tease Zhang Tie, always causing Zhang Tie to become very excited.


    Last night, when Zhang Tie was taking a bath, the servants walked into the bathroom naked and expressed that they would help Zhang Tie take the bath. In less than 2 minutes after they started touching Zhang Tie''s body, their naughty little golden fish had already started to swim across Zhang Tie''s body. Everything then happened naturally.


    ...


    Early on the morning of August 4th, Zhang Tie woke up from those women''s crossed limbs. After what happened last night, Zhang Tie now felt pretty refreshed. After slightly moving away the snow-white limbs and thighs from his body, Zhang Tie rubbed the 2 pairs of plumpy flesh balls that he loved so much last night beside his head, Zhang Tie then got off the bed. After putting on a night-robe, Zhang Tie sat on the chair calmly beside his bed and started to appreciate the beautiful scenary on the bed.


    Since that week when he messed with the girls of the Rose Association and Beverly, Pandora, Alice, Zhang Tie had been fascinated by sitting beside the bed calmly and watching a number of women lying on the bed lazily and sluggishly. This feeling intensified Zhang Tie''s sense of achievement. Whenever he watched similar scenary, he would look like a general who had won a battle and was making an inspection tour towards the battlefield to see his captives.


    The inside of the room smelt weird. Under the dim light, this smell felt more extravagant. The delicate curves of those female servants were looming under the thin bed sheet. Because of the fierce battle on bed last night, they were too fatigued and were still in a deep sleep.


    Watching that wall facing the big bed, a thought came to Zhang Tie''s mind. ''Last night, those servants and I were so crazy that their screams and groans might have been heard outside the corridor. Olina who was sleeping in the neighboring room should have heard that! She should have heard it.''


    With this thought, Zhang Tie felt so excited and evil inside. After thinking about for a while on the chair, Zhang Tie watched the 4 women lying on the bed again. He then smiled until he realized that he hadn''t asked their names although having been familiar with them for a few days. Whether it was a bit too dissolute to sleep with some girls whose names were even unknown? Zhang Tie thought that he might have been as lascivious as described by Hista.


    ¡®Is this the payment given by that woman? Hehe, although it was not a great treasure, it truly feels nice although it was a bit too lascivious...


    I will be leaving tomorrow, it doesn''t seem to bad to create such a memory before departing.¡¯


    ...


    After putting on some clothes and cleaning up, Zhang Tie arrived at the training field as usual. Before the first sun light arrived, he had already started to cultivate his fundamental swordsmanship.


    The rapid sound of horse hoofs broke the tranquility of Bluesea Castle at dawn...


    Before he practiced for a while on the training field, Zhang Tie had already heard the sound of horse hoofs outside the castle. Although it was not loud, it was very resonant. Thus, someone started to shout loudly outside the castle with a flurried voice. "Hurry up, put down the suspension bridge, I will to see Mrs. Olina, something happened in Greyrock Castle!"


    ...


    In a few minutes, all the influential figures in Bluesea Castle gathered in the Hall of Deliberation, even Olina had been woken up.


    When Zhang Tie saw Olina, he felt Olina¡¯s eyes turned a bit red. At the sight of Zhang Tie, she stared at him deeply.


    Something truly happened in Greyrock Castle. Last night, 19 members of the Ballas Clan living in Greyrock Castle had their heads chopped off. This assassination happened silently. It wasn''t until this morning that the servants in the castle found something was wrong. The guards in the castle also became as flurried as a fly without head[1]. Finally, someone thought about notifying Bluesea Castle.


    Nominally, the whole Greyrock Castle still belonged to the Ballas Business Group. After the Ballas Clan members were killed, the Greyrock Castle could not even be sustained for 1 day longer without the support of Bluesea Castle.


    Hearing this news, all the people in Bluesea Castle were in a short silence.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was watching the woman with a sophisticated look. He knew that the Ballas Clan was finally buried by this woman due to their own greed and foolish behaviors. After feeling like they had been screwed by the Ballas Clan, Magical Snake Island as a whole was driven mad and finally carried out their revenge in the shortest period.


    Hearing this news, Olina closed her eyes as she looked a bit sorrowful while appearing to carry a sense of relief. After a long while, Olina finally opened her eyes.


    "Do you know how killers infiltrated Greyrock Castle?" Sitting on the main seat, the woman asked the messenger in a calm voice.


    "No...we don¡¯t. All the defense facilities in Greyrock Castle were normal last night!"


    "Was there any guard or someone else missing in Greyrock Castle this morning?"


    Hearing this question, the messenger looked at Olina with a surprised look. "One guard disappeared!"


    Zhang Tie immediately understood what happened. That disappearing guard must be the very killer or the betrayer who let the killers in before escaping. His status as a guard must be fake.


    Right then, a guard entered the Hall of Deliberation and murmured beside Periv¡¯s ears. The moment Periv heard that guard¡¯s words, he instantly raised his eyebrows.


    "Periv, what¡¯s up?" Olina asked.


    "Someone is outside the castle. He said he had a gift for you, my madam. The guard in the castle let him to show the gift so as to check it, yet that man insisted on handing this gift to you himself. Additionally, he has something to tell you."


    "Let him in then. Bring him in the Hall of Deliberation! I want to see what gift he has brought to me." Olina said calmly.


    "Madam!" Gitta stood up at once and wanted to stop that, "It¡¯s too dangerous! I need to take a look outside first!"


    "This is Bluesea Castle. Although that person dares to come here alone, why would I not dare to see him with you on my side?"


    Hearing this, everybody in the Hall of Deliberation raised their chests, including Zhang Tie. At the same time, Zhang Tie sighed inside, ¡®This woman is really sharp!¡¯


    "What if he¡¯s a killer..." Gitta still wanted to argue.


    "If all the killers on Magical Snake Island were that brave, it would not be called Magical Snake Island[2]!"


    Gitta then didn¡¯t speak any more. Olina then made a gesture to let Periv bring in that person.


    That person following Periv in looked tough with a fat face. Raising his head, he looked pretty aggressive. With a case in hand, the moment he entered the Hall of Deliberation, he had glanced over everybody else. As Zhang Tie looked young, that man soon moved his eyes away from Zhang Tie like how he treated a toyboy. In a contrast, he observed Gitta and Adeline for a longer time. When he focused on Olina, a wild wolf-like greedy light and a obscene smile appeared on his face. He then licked his lips.


    This guy had a special personality of fighters. He must have a higher fighting level. Besides Zhang Tie and Olina across the Hall of Deliberation, all the others looked depressive, furious and wanted to charge at him.


    As he dared to glance over Olina so rudely in the public, it fully indicated that he despised the others.


    "You are Olina, the chairman of Ballas Business Group, the charming fox of Saint Herner Island?" Before the others asked him, he had already asked abruptly.


    Right, I¡¯m Olina!" The female owner of the castle answered calmly.


    "Heh...heh...truly nice. You look good, no wonder Phonex could be screwed by you!"


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie instantly knew his status.


    "You are from Magical Snake Island?" Olina asked.


    "Right!" He raised his head and answered.


    The moment he replied, the sound of blades being pulled out of the sheaths drifted across the Hall of Deliberation. Olina raised her hand to stop those people whose eyes had already turned red.


    "I heard you had something for gift me?"


    That man instantly threw that case onto the ground while a head with a pair of widening flurried eyes and a brass cylinder with a document inside rolled out of the case and stopped beside Zhang Tie¡¯s feet.


    The head belonged to Crie, that chief guard who left Bluesea Castle a few days ago while that brass cylinder with a document inside must be the letter of authorization that Olina had Crie to give it to the head of Bell Clan.


    Lowering his head, Zhang Tie watched that head with still a painful look before sighing inside, ¡®This man might be an able man, yet he¡¯s just an idiot.¡¯ Olina was obviously sending him to the hell, yet he truly went there. Did he still want to be awarded an influential position in Bluesea Castle when he came back?


    "I heard you sent Phonex¡¯s head to that old guy in Bell Clan a few days ago. After hearing that, our boss also decided to send you a gift. How about it? Do you like it?"


    ...


    [1] A fly without head truly could still fly for a short while,yet in a flurried way.


    [2]Magical Snake Island indicated that killers there were always as cunning and timid as snakes.

 391 Shoulder the Responsibility

    Chapter 391: Shoulder the Responsibility


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    The alleged Magical Snake Island was not the most powerful one among the numerous powers across Ewentra Archipelago yet it was definitely the most infamous organization. When they boarded a ship, they would be pirates. When they disembarked, they would be bandits. As long as others could afford them, they would always do some part-time jobs as an organization of killers. They might be more adapted to fight other dark powers.


    If in Jinyun Country or Norman Empire, such an organization would have long been swept by the other forces and organizations in 1 day. However, they lived pretty well in the Ewentra Archipelago.


    Before meeting the guys from Magical Snake Island, Zhang Tie had not imagined that an organization of killers and pirates could be that unscrupulous. After killing the opponent¡¯s man, they even dared to send the head back.


    If not being that unscrupulous or ignoring the men in Bluesea Castle to a certain degree, he would never dare to do that.


    Everybody in Bluesea Castle were impulsive to launch an attack, the first one was Adeline.


    With a flash of a red shadow, Adeline had already rushed up, causing a air-breaking sound from her short spears.


    It was Zhang Tie¡¯s first time seeing a female barbarian fighter launch an attack in the castle. The moment she moved Zhang Tie instantly judged that Adeline had already reached LV 8 like Gitta.


    Barbarians¡¯ fighting skills were fierce, direct and swift. Adeline was very good at using her short spears with great power. The moment she moved, the area within 5 meters was filled with her flashing shadows.


    That guy who sent the head here also didn¡¯t look weak. He was not flurried at all. Given his performance, he was even much powerful than Adeline. After 5 or 6 movements, that man punched towards Adeline¡¯s breasts. Adeline put her short spears horizontally to block it. He then directly boomed onto Adeline¡¯s short spears, sending Adeline flying back in the air at once.


    Adeline kept flying back over 10 meters before she touched the wall with her foot tip and rebounded back.


    The moment Adeline was boomed away by that man, the other men all roared and intended to rush forward.


    "Stop!" Olina¡¯s voice sounded timely.


    Hearing this order, even Gitta, Peri widely opened their eyes and gasped like old oxes, they also stopped at once. Adeline, who wanted to charge back also stopped her footsteps. Instead, she pointed at that person with the short spears. Behind Adeline, a great number of female barbarian fighters had already taken out of their short spears and aimed at that man, intending to throw their spears towards him.


    However, with arms crossed, that man just watched the surrounding people with a contemptuous sneer. "Do you want to defeat me using numbers? Go ahead then. But don¡¯t blame me for not giving you a heads up¡ª¡ªI¡¯m not here for killing, but I don¡¯t mind killing some of you!"


    "Even if you are LV 9, do you think that you could survive here?" Adeline also put it bluntly.


    "If I was killed here, all the people in Bluesea Castle have to accompany me in death. Although we Magical Snake Island were not good at other things, we are always good at killing people." That guy added with his nascal holes facing the sky. "You also know about our power. We can easily sweep such a tiny Bluesea Castle!"


    "I think you are not here to show your fighting skills. Just tell us, what do you want? By the way, I¡¯m very satisfied with this gift. Thanks for killing a traitor of Bluesea Castle!" Olina smiled as she glanced at that head on the ground.


    "Traitor?" Hearing this, the guy from Magical Snake Island became stunned for a short while.


    "Don¡¯t you know that? This guy was bribed by someone several days ago and wanted to kill me on my way to Bluesea Castle. Therefore, I sent him away. Alas, I almost forgot this..." Olina fondled her forehead. "Those who employed you might not fully believe in your real strength, therefore, they bribed another person in Bluesea Castle as an alternate. I¡¯m afraid they didn''t tell you about it."


    After gazing at Olina for a while, that guy found she was not telling a lie. The guy being killed by Magical Snake Island seemed to be fully within her expectations. Therefore, he was stunned slightly and became slightly kind.


    "What a charming fox. You are right. I¡¯m here not for showing off my fighting strength, but for negotiating with Bluesea Castle on behalf of Magical Snake Island."


    "Negotiation?" Olina frowned her forehead.


    "Right, negotiation. According to the intentions of our boss Bellus, the debt between Magical Snake Island and Bluesea Castle is cleared off now. At the beginning, those b*stards who hired us to kill you had been swept by us. The employment between us had been canceled off, I will not find you trouble from then on. We will not find trouble with you from now on. You¡¯d better not have your men go to the Headquarter of Rewarded Hunters Association anymore. We believe that even though Ballas Business Group could spend 1 million gold coins, it was still not a small expenditure for you. If you really drive us mad, we would carry out revenge at any price. By then, money won¡¯t work, either."


    After thinking for a short while, Olina nodded. "I agree, please notify your boss. I agree with this condition."


    "But we have one more attached condition."


    "What¡¯s that? Do you want us to compensate you for your loss?"


    "Hehe, Magical Snake Island is not money-centered!" The man casted a contemptuous smile. "Our boss¡¯ condition is to let you tell us who killed Phoenix that night. After you tell us about that, our debt would be cleared up. Don¡¯t tell me that Phoenix was killed by you. Given the strength of Bluesea Castle, even the Bell Clan¡¯s guards could not kill Phoenix easily. Even though Phoenix had fallen in your trap, he could also escape safely. Additionally, according to our investigation, those guards of the Bell Clan didn¡¯t leave at all that night, therefore it must be somebody else who had killed Phoenix. Therefore, our condition is to know that guy who had killed Phoenix."


    Hearing this condition, Gitta even slightly glanced at Zhang Tie while Olina sitting on the main seat didn¡¯t even look at Zhang Tie. She was afraid that her casual movement would arise that guy¡¯s attention; instead, she said mercilessly, "Is this your condition? You want to revenge that guy who had failed to assassinate me and let me to screw over my savior?"


    "Right, this is the condition for we Magical Snake Island to cancel off the debts between you and us. Phoenix is a member of the roundtable warriors on Magical Snake Island. Based on the rules of we Magical Snake Island, we have to get revenge for the death of any member of roundtable warriors. If we are not even that cohesive, our Magical Snake Island would not be Magical Snake Island any more!"


    "If so, you can go back to tell your boss and the other roundtable warriors on Magical Snake Island, I¡¯m in Bluesea Castle and waiting for you to kill me!" Olina refused this condition at once.


    Hearing this reply, that guy on Magical Snake Island instantly looked grim before revealing a wisp of a sneer. "Don¡¯t you need to consider it more? You have to know that if you stir up our Magical Snake Island, you will not like the outcome at all. As our target and our enemy, you would see a completely different outcome!"


    "Have you made a decision? You should also know that you could survive the outcome if you piss off a woman. Although gold coins are not all-purposeful, as long as it reaches a certain scale, it would help a lot of things come true." Olina watched that guest from Magical Snake Island like a proud queen. "I almost forgot to tell you that I¡¯ve already entrusted Golden Roc Bank to audit and keep the properties of the Ballas Business Group. As long as I suffer from an accident, all the properties of Ballas Business Group would be converted into my insurance and fund for revenge. Anyone who could avenge me would gain all the properties of the Ballas Business Group. How much do you think the heads of roundtable warriors on Magical Snake Island are worth? If I was truly killed, I wonder if there are any sharper powerhouses that would like to visit Magical Snake Island?"


    It was that guest¡¯s turn to change face. He had not imagined that such a charming fox could be that vicious¡ª¡ªif you Magical Snake Island want to fight me regardless of your lives, I will accompany you, let¡¯s see who the final winner is?


    Zhang Tie, who didn¡¯t speak at all, just watched Olina. Not until then did he realize that this woman was so sharp. Although she looked weak, she was more responsible than many other men.


    Not until then did Olina glance at Zhang Tie casually and calmly, however, her eyes seemed to hide many things.


    According to Zhang Tie¡¯s temperament, of course he would not let a woman to take the burden for him. Even though he killed Phoenix in order to save her that night, he did it voluntarily. In his eyes, Magical Snake Island and the roundtable warriors were nothing but fart. How could they scare him to hide behind a woman?


    Zhang Tie then revealed a smile towards Olina, which included a bit of relief, moving and more pride.


    Olina understood what Zhang Tie meant. She then slightly changed her face.


    "Periv, see off the guest!" The female owner of Bluesea Castle delivered the order at once.


    "All right, don¡¯t be regretful!" That man glanced at Olina fiercely before turned around and left.


    "Wait a moment!"


    "Kill him!"


    The first voice was made by Zhang Tie while the second was from the female owner of Bluesea Castle. The 2 voices almost sounded at the same time. The latter one sounded pretty resounding and high-pitched.


    Hearing this, the man from Magical Snake Island stopped at once. In comparison, hearing "Kill him", all the female fighters threw their long-prepared short spears towards that man.


    Periv, Gitta and the other fighters on Olina¡¯s side had also charged at that guy at the same time.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie also moved. Although standing on Olina¡¯s side, the moment Zhang Tie moved, he had already stridden in the center of the hall. He then blocked Gitta¡¯s way forward as he punched against Periv¡¯s fist, forcing Periv back. After that, he surged forward again and kicked Adeline¡¯s short spears. In a split second, he had stopped the 3 powerhouses¡¯ attack.


    At the same time, the man from Magical Snake Island rolled over on the ground and instantly escaped from those short spears thrown by those female fighters like a centipede twisting on the ground.


    "Puh, puh, puh, puh..." 10 more short spears flew by that man, some of which hit the wall in the distance causing sparks on the hard wall while others directly inserted into the wooden floor of the Hall of Deliberation and made holes on the floor. All this indicated the great fighting strength of those female fighters.


    All this happened in a split second. The moment the others moved a bit, they had to stop involuntarily in the next. Nobody could imagine that Zhang Tie joined in so abruptly to block away the first round of attack for that guy from Magical Snake Island.


    Gitta seemed to understand something. Pevri just watched Olina full of doubt while Adeline pointed at Zhang Tie with her short spears with a hostile expression. At this moment, that guy from Magical Snake Island was staring at Zhang Tie full of doubt. ¡®What¡¯s wrong? I¡¯ve not heard boss talk about this mole at the woman¡¯s side. Why would this guy help me? It shouldn¡¯t be that!¡¯


    Having been very calm, although this female owner was still sitting on the main seat, her sharply undulant breasts indicated that her inside was not that calm at all.


    "If we kill this guy at this moment, it would be hard to explain what happened then!" Zhang Tie watched Olina and he shrugged.


    "It¡¯s nothing to do with you!" The female owner of Bluesea Castle gritted her teeth and urged.


    "I chopped off Phoenix¡¯s head. How come it was nothing to do with me." Zhang Tie smiled as he turned around towards that guest from Magical Snake Island who was watching Zhang Tie with a dubious look. At the same time, Zhang Tie instantly looked very righteous and sacred like an unrivaled swordsman in Chinese legend, "I¡¯m Peter Hamplester. I¡¯m just a pioneer and have just been in Saint Herner Island for about 1 week. My current status is the guest of Bluesea Island and will leave Saint Herner Island tomorrow. I was born to hate evil things. No dark thing is allowed to exist in my eyes. You can go back to tell your sh*t boss and those sh*t like roundtable warriors that I¡¯m the one who chopped off Phoenix¡¯s head. If you b*stards of Magical Snake Island would like to revenge, just come for me. If you don''t dare to, you tell everybody else on Magical Snake Island to clean their necks and wait for me to come for you over there..."


    "You, you did that? The visitor from Magical Snake Island stared at Zhang Tie in an unimaginable look before glanced over the other guys in the Hall of Deliberation. He was confused whether this was a plot or trap or not. Given his look, he didn¡¯t believe in Zhang Tie¡¯s words at all. He found everything about Zhang Tie was not logical including Zhang Tie¡¯s age, real strength or motive to arise Magical Snake Island¡¯s hatred at this moment.


    "What? You don¡¯t believe in me?" Zhang Tie asked him.


    "Brat, who do you think you are? Phoenix is a LV 9 powerhouse. I persuade to not seek for death yourself." An icy light flashed across that man¡¯s eyes.


    Zhang Tie didn¡¯t speak. Instead, he directly rushed over there. The moment he pulled out his long sword from its sheath, he had already launched his storm-like attack towards that guy, including that guy into sharp sword qi at once.


    As the old saying goes, the moment an expert moved, he would show his proficiency. Similarly, the moment Zhang Tie moved, that guy with a contemptuous look had already jumped up like a cat whose tail was stepped on.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie¡¯s attack, everybody in Bluesea Castle widened their mouths out of amazement. Watching Zhang Tie¡¯s performance, they realized that Zhang Tie¡¯s swordsmanship had long surpassed each of them. At the beginning, they could not see the difference between Zhang Tie and that guy. But as Zhang Tie kept attacking him, he took the preemptive move gradually. As a result, the man from Magical Snake Island gradually moved to the defense-focused side as his face turned red gradually.


    At this moment, even those people who didn¡¯t understand why Olina brought Zhang Tie in the castle had figured it out that Peter was a swordsmanship powerhouse who was even sharper than a LV 9 powerhouse.


    Zhang Tie¡¯s swordsmanship was so fast and fierce which was seen by them for the first time.


    After 5-6 minutes¡¯ fight, with a miserable scream, blood was seen spraying in the air while an arm and an ear flew off the guy coming from Magical Snake Island. At the same time, he was sent flying back in the air before fell to the ground heavily.


    With a clash, Zhang Tie waved a beautiful curve in the air before put his sword back into the sheath. He then watched the man lying on the floor with a proud look.


    "Do you believe in me now? I only leave a mark on you this time. When I see you next time, I will chop off your head!"


    "Argh...brat, you are dead, you are dead...our boss will definitely kill you if you dare to kill anyone from Magical Snake Island!"


    "I will wait! You have one minute to disappear in front of me. Otherwise, I will chop off another hand. Do you want to have a try?"


    After taking out of a vial of medicament from his coat by his shaking hand and eating it, the guy glared at Zhang Tie deeply before turned around and tumbled away.


    "Periv, please see off this guy, keep him alive on the way back. If he dies I''ll have to find the other b*stards from Magical Snake Island to pass along my words!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    Everybody in the Bluesea Castle then watched Zhang Tie with awestruck looks.

 392 Leaving Saint Herner Island

    Chapter 392: Leaving Saint Herner Island


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Zhang Tie already had the same wet dream about Miss Daina numerous times¡ª¡ªluxurious dining table...snow-white tablecloth...burning candles...dim yet ambiguous candlelight...in a sexy skirt, Miss Daina revealed half of her plumpy breasts. Sitting on the opposite of the dining table, she was watching Zhang Tie. Each time she put the food on her knife and fork into her opening cherry lips, she would tease him...


    The dream always started with a dinner yet never ended over the table.


    Zhang Tie once just treated it as a dream which could never be realized. But at this moment, when this familiar dreamland appeared in front of him, he was shocked inside.


    Sitting on the opposite of the dining table was not Miss Daina, instead Olina who looked very similar to Miss Daina.


    At this moment, Olina was absolutely a noblewoman who used to attend to the cocktail party of top-class society. With a brilliant diamond hairpin on her coiled hair, she was wearing a set of beautiful blue bobtails with purple grains. The bobtail was skintight which well revealed her good frame as a mature woman.


    Especially when she stood up, the extremely large yet firm U-shaped collar of her bobtail was like a bottomless canyon which was mysterious and alluring. It could arise people''s endless desire for exploration as it included an unknown danger.


    Olina had well dressed. It was a beautiful and delicate make-up especially for an evening reception, which made her pretty elegant yet sexy and absolutely a noblewoman.


    Zhang Tie had not been that impulsive for a long time. However, when he was brought to the dining room by a beautiful female servant, at the sight of Olina, Zhang Tie felt his heart burning and felt his throat becoming dry.


    At this moment, Olina was completely Miss Daina in his dreamland.


    Being shocked, under the warm yet ambiguous candlelights, Zhang Tie could not identify whether he was in reality or in the dreamland.


    When the fiery candle burned, it smelt pretty good. Smelling this fragrance, Zhang Tie started to have a maggot in his head!


    Zhang Tie felt being a bit dizzy and a strong desire for sprouting something from inside.


    When those beautiful female servants served the dishes on the table, he loosened his shirt''s buttons.


    "Are you feeling hot?"


    Olina was sitting on the opposite of the dining table which was longer than 4 meters which seemed to be an unreachable distance.


    Through the candlelight of the silver candlesticks, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Olina and saw that pretty delicate diamond necklace hanging from her neck to the place between her breasts, which was shining brightly in the candlelight. At this moment, the woman''s half-exposed plumpy breasts seemed to expand greatly.


    Zhang Tie felt his throat almost smoking. He then hurriedly took a cup from aside. Before looking at the liquid, he had already finished his drink.


    It was white wine in the cup. As he drank it too quickly, he almost choked. As a result, he started to cough heavily.


    Seeing this, the woman on the opposite burst of laughter, causing Zhang Tie feel like he lost a bit of face.


    "Cough...cough...I thought it was water." Zhang Tie explained. "But, but I truly feel a bit hot!"


    "Is that hot? I don''t feel that. You are the first one who feels hot at night on Saint Herner Island!"


    "Perhaps...there are too many candles here!"


    "Oh, maybe. Then, we will have a candle moved away..." At this moment, that woman smiled like an aunt who caught small kids in the kindergarten. He looked pretty comprehensive. The woman then waved her hand to let a female servant move away one candle. Soon after that, the room looked a bit dimmer.


    The female servant who moved away the candle was the one of those lying on Zhang Tie''s bed this morning. She glanced at Zhang Tie in a teasing manner, causing Zhang Tie tp become restless.


    "No need to be that solemn, I will leave tomorrow."


    "Do you think this is solemn for a person who saved my life twice?" The woman''s voice sounded a bit sad. "I''ve told you that as long as you could help me that time, I''d like to pay you at any price. I mean it."


    ''Any price?'' thinking of her promise 2 days ago and watching that alluring woman in front of him, Zhang Tie had a maggot in his head at once. However, the moment the whim appeared, Zhang Tie had chased it away in his mind. ''A love affair between a man and a woman is very nice. If you treat it as a condition for something, it would be not right then.''


    "No, of course, I don''t think you are kidding but I really don''t need your reward at all. I''m very happy in Bluesea Castle these days, especially last night. You''ve already made it, no need to feel guilty or that you owe me anything at all."


    Of course, Olina knew what Zhang Tie meant by "especially last night". Zhang Tie''s frankness and generosity was out of Olina''s imagination.


    "Do you know how many things would you lose by saying this? Although the Ballas Business Group doesn''t rank first in Ewentra, it''s still a big business group which owned tens of millions gold coins and could also rank top 20. Don''t you want to reconsider it? All those who are familiar with me know that I rarely promise anything to people."


    "Gold coins and wealth might be very precious but in my eyes, what is truly precious is living creatures. Sometimes a small earthworm or a small grass is far more precious than them. This morning, as you wanted to stop that guy from leaving, you''ve already ceased to owe me anything at all." Zhang Tie sincerely said. "Additionally, I don''t feel that anything could be more precious than the thing that you wished to shoulder for me this morning."


    Hearing this, Olina gazed at Zhang Tie for a while as her eyes sparkled in the candlelight. Not until several seconds later did she recover her composure and let out a deep sigh.


    "You are right. Something between people is truly more precious than gold coins. I have no relatives now, even sons or daughters. As a woman, it is very sad to be alone at this age. If only I could have a relative like you on my side."


    Zhang Tie scratched his head and thought for a short while. Then, he also felt this woman was very miserable. He then asked, "Do you feel I should call you aunt Olina or sister Olina?"


    "You tell me." The woman glanced at Zhang Tie in a charming manner.


    Watching her mature, beautiful face and that pair of boobs which almost jumped out of her bobtail, Zhang Tie then replied, "I will call you sister then!"


    The woman in the opposite then burst out laughing, causing her body quiver and showing her charming look. Watching this, Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva once again.


    "Well, you just call me sister from then on. Actually, based on my age, that''s reasonable. Before you leave Saint Herner Island, let your sister Olina invite you to enjoy some great food."


    The female owner of the castle then clapped as those female servants served the dishes one plate after another.


    The supper was truly the most sumptuous one that Zhang Tie had ever eaten. Olina didn''t mention the compensation for Zhang Tie, neither did Zhang Tie ask about it. They just talked about other topics very tacitly like family members. Gradually, several hours passed.


    Zhang Tie admitted that if he had no maggot in his head, he would feel very comfortable while eating supper together with her both visually and acoustically, even gustatorily. It felt pretty pleasant only watching her putting food in her mouth gracefully.


    After supper, Zhang Tie bad a farewell to her politely before returning to his own room.


    Less than 10 minutes after Zhang Tie returned to his room, the 4 beautiful female servants who had fought over him last night had knocked at his door. The moment they walked in, they had already stripped off their clothes. After that, they climbed onto Zhang Tie''s bed and started to take off clothes for Zhang Tie...


    For Zhang Tie, of course, he started to enjoy the following process. He then totally released his desire that had been oppressed since the beginning of the supper.


    1 hour later, Zhang Tie''s door was pushed open once again as another 4 beautiful female servants walked in.


    "How about playing a game? You are forbidden to look. Just identify while covering your eyes. When you get it right you will get the reward..." A female servant murmured to Zhang Tie as she took out a black blindfold from out of nowhere to cover Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t mind playing this game at this moment, instead, he felt more stimulated...


    However, after a short while, when he entered a hot and tight v*g*n*, he smelt a familiar fragrance. At the same time, he faintly heard an obviously oppressive, strange yet very familiar groan.


    Zhang Tie became slightly stunned, however, he didn''t move away his blindfold. Instead, he was in a pretty violent and excited state...


    Later on, in a period as long as that of the supper, Zhang Tie tightly seized the woman under his body in the darkness to prevent her from escaping. Zhang Tie was so crazy and rude that he injected his bodily fluids into different holes on her body and sprayed it all over her body, including her face, breasts, butts, thighs and lower abdomen...


    After spraying out his bodily fluids one time after another, Zhang Tie felt that he finally returned to an elegant harbor which looked like a mirror that reflected the sun in the autumn after being restless 17 years like a small boat in a terrifying storm.


    ...


    Early the next morning, August 5th, many people from Bluesea Castle gathered at the pier of Saint Herner Harbor to see Zhang Tie off, including Olina, Gitta, Periv and Adeline. Three women with strange tattoos on their faces were at Olina''s side.


    Two of the three women were bald. They were twins. In the same armor with flame grains, they both felt very oppressive, causing Gitta and Periv stand away from them. As for the other woman, she covered herself in a black robe with a circle of colorful bird feathers over her waist and a necklace composed of various animals skulls and odd stones.


    The 3 women arrived at Bluesea Castle last night, who were powerhouses assigned from Adeline''s tribe. Since Zhang Tie caught sight of them yesterday, he had not heard them speak. Instead, they were just like mutes in a cool manner.


    The siren of the passenger liner weighing tens of thousands of tons had sounded twice. The steamer was going to set off while Olina, Gitta, and Periv were all bidding farewell to Zhang Tie.


    As it was a bit cold in the morning in the harbor, Olina wore a white marten, showing a very indolent and charming look. Overnight, everybody found that the female owner looked bright like a bud opened when being watered.


    Periv was touching his beard while thinking about something. Gitta kept his eyes swimming between Zhang Tie and Olina. As for Adeline, she looked hostile about Zhang Tie once again like a warehouse keeper catching a guy who was preparing to dig a hole at the corner of the wall.


    Zhang Tie and Olina then exchanged glances with each other. Olina''s face slightly blushed. Zhang Tie wanted to say something, however, finally, he found that he didn''t know what to say to this woman. It felt very sophisticated.


    "Bon voyage!" After saying this, Zhang Tie directly embraced Olina tightly.


    "Take care of yourself!" Olina kissed Zhang Tie''s cheeks before taking out a delicate box and gave it to Zhang Tie. "This is an item that the Ballas Business Group gained several years ago. I might be helpful to you."


    Zhang Tie didn''t even see inside; instead, he directly put it in his coat.


    "Two LV 5 men 100 m away were gazing at us since our fleet of cars left the castle. I feel they are hostile towards us!" One barbarian shaman who was always silent pointed at Zhang Tie.


    Her special ability gained Zhang Tie''s attention.


    "Gitta..." Olina shouted as Gitta turned around and intended to walk towards them.


    "No need." Zhang Tie stopped Gitta. "They are just some scouts, it doesn''t work even if we kill them. Actually, more people are watching me on board. I bought my ticket a couple of days ago those guys from Magical Snake Island could never know that I would leave today. Just let them find me in the Ice and Snow Wildness."


    After saying this, Zhang Tie shouted towards the two scouts 100 m away. "B*stards from Magical Snake Island, your grandpa Peter is waiting for you in the Ice and Snow Wildness, let''s see how many heads of your motherf*cking roundtable warriors would be chopped off by me, hahaha..."


    Zhang Tie''s voice was so loud that so many people in the surrounding had heard it. As a result, they all exchanged glances at each other and were amazed. Few people dare to provoke people from Magical Snake Island in the public.


    The huge steamer''s siren sounded once again and was preparing to leave the harbor while the bridge stair being placed against the huge steamer started to be moved away.


    With loud laughter, Zhang Tie turned around and ran towards the huge steamer on his side. He ran onto the bridge stair the moment it left the huge steamer and jumped onto the board several meters away. He then waved his hands towards them.


    The 2 scouts who were watching Zhang Tie from afar were stunned at once. Even if there were still powerhouses on Saint Herner Island from Magical Snake Island, they would have no time to embark anymore. Instead, they could only watch Zhang Tie leave...

 393 Firm Decisions

    Chapter 393: Firm Decisions


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    About 1400 km away to the southeast of Saint Herner Island, there was an island which covered about 200 square kilometers. On this island, there was a volcano that kept releasing black smoke into the sky all year round. Besides, a great amount of magma also sprouted out of the seabed near the island. As a result, the vapor made this sea area hot while always being covered by dense fog. This area was full of mystery.


    In the legends shared by sailors of the Ewentra Archipelago, the sea area nearby this island was where demons lived. The magma which poured out of the seabed not only extended this island several square kilometers each year, but also filled the neighboring water with various hidden reefs that were formed by congealed magma. Like this island, those hidden reefs also changed each year. Even the most experienced captains and sailors would not be close to this sea area. Additionally, according to the legend, there was even a terrifying magical snake in this sea area which usually took passing vehicles and numerous living beings as food.


    The legend about the magical snake in this sea area could be dated back to several hundreds years ago. That was why this island was named as Magical Snake Island. Although many people spoke about the magical snake, few of them had ever seen it. However, those living on Magical Snake Island were much more terrifying than that magical snake.


    This was Magical Snake Island, one of the most infamous and frightening places across the Ewentra Archipelago.


    On the evening of August 5th, in a mountain cave that was brightly lit, all the top figures on Magical Snake Island gathered there. Surrounding a stony roundtable They were discussing a person with solemn looks, a person who appeared on Saint Herner Island as a pioneer¡ª¡ªPeter Hamplester.


    "Where does this b*stard come from?"¡ª¡ªA furious sound resonated in the cave. "Did he really dare to speak on the pier of Saint Herner Harbor?"


    "Really, besides our scouts on Saint Herner Island, many people on the pier heard it!"


    Hearing this reply, another round of swears could be heard in the mountain cave.


    At this moment, an icy and hoarse voice sounded when all the other voices disappeared.


    "Bunny, how about that man''s fighting strength according to your battle in Bluesea Castle?"


    The man who asked was over 50 years old with only one eye while his the other eye was wearing a black eyepatch. Sitting on the east of the roundtable, he looked gray and thin. Besides this, he was filled with a brutal sense.


    Bonny was that guy whose hand and ear were chopped off by Zhang Tie in Bluesea Castle. At this moment, he was also sitting beside the stone roundtable with hatred on his face.


    "Boss, he''s only a bit more powerful than me. His swordsmanship is very sharp. I''m not sure about his level. He might be LV 8 or LV 9. If we don''t kill him, how will we on Magical Snake Island live in this sea area?"


    "Only a bit more powerful than you?"


    "Yes, I''m sure!" Bonny replied loudly.


    "If so, brothers, who''d like to bring that man''s head back from the Ice and Snow Wildness? LV 10 is suggested. We need to let him know the outcome of being hostile towards Magical Snake Island! We have to solve this quickly." With one blinded eye, Bellus Ken said while he glanced over all the others sitting around the stone roundtable.


    Over 10 people were sitting around the roundtable. Hearing Bellus Ken''s words, more than half of them kept silent. Instead, they glanced over the other 6-7 people who were also exchanging glances with each other.


    "I will be there. I''ve not tasted such a fresh boy for a long time..." A 40-odd-year-old guy revealed an obscene smile. He looked very righteous like a priest before he smiled. However, the moment he smiled, he instantly showed the gold teeth that covered his mouth, none of them were true teeth. At the sight of this, all the others felt chilly inside, including Bonny who was screaming loudly just now and instantly moved their eyes away from him.


    "Dawson, you just need to bring back that brat''s head, you''d better not do anything excessive. The Ice and Snow Wildness is not like Ewentra Archipelago as it belongs to Slavas. If you do anything excessive, you might not be able to come back alive." Bellus Ken glanced at Dawson seriously before warning him.


    "I know, I can control myself. Besides that brat, I will not stir up any trouble. Oh, on my way back, can I take a trip to Bluesea Castle?" Showing his gold teeth, Dawson ground his gold teeth when he mentioned Bluesea Castle, causing a jarring frictional sound.


    "Let''s call it an end about Saint Herner Island. That woman is a sharp figure. As she has bound Ballas Business Group with her life, if she was in trouble, Golden Roc Bank might directly attack us considering the wealth of the Ballas Business Group. Additionally, 2 barbarian powerhouses above LV 10 were assigned there to protect her, plus a barbarian shaman, we might suffer a great loss if we want to kill her."


    "Then, we just forget about the shame?" Someone asked.


    Bellus Ken glanced over everybody on the stone table while a shrew light flashed by his only one eye. "There''re always chances. It''s not peaceful on the continent recently. Demons have been impatient. Therefore, we only need to wait for a short period. I believe that we will soon leave Magical Snake Island."


    "Boss, I heard that the relics about pre-catastrophe human civilization was found on Ice and Snow Wildness, there might be the fragments of the Star of God; won''t we...?"


    "Do you think that you can touch the fragments of the Star of God?" Bellus Ken shouted loudly out of fury, causing that guy quiver all over, "With out a level above knight or a powerful reliance, you are only going there for death! There''s only one guy across Ewentra Archipelago, who''s reluctantly qualified to compete for that thing¡ª¡ªthe old d**chebag on the Stars and Moon Island!" Saying this, the one-eyed head gritted his teeth while the only left eye turned wholly red, "That old d**chebag made one of my eyes blind, making me hide in this motherf*cking place many years. After hearing the news, the old d**chebag would definitely go there. I hope he was killed over there; that way, I will definitely kill all the clan members of that old d**chebag on Stars and Moon Island."


    "Boss, as long as you can reach one level higher, you will be a knight; by then, you will not be afraid of that old d**chebag any more!" A LV 9 guy who had just reached LV 9 flattered.


    Flattery existed everywhere. Even in Magical Snake Island, such kind of people also existed among the central figures of Magical Snake Island. The alleged round table warriors all had distinctive fighting strengths which caused different positions. Among them, the most powerful and privileged one was definitely Bellus Ken, the boss of Magical Snake Island. Have reached LV 15, he was a standard fighting spirit. As for others, the one with the lowest fighting strength had also reached LV 9.


    (According to the opinions of fans of this book, I slightly adjusted the ranks that mentioned previously; after the adjustment, the ranks would be strong fighter, fighting master, great fighting master, fighting master, fighting demon and fighting spirit¡ª¡ªDrunk Tiger, the author)


    That flatterer didn''t know that he had flattered the wrong man this time.


    "You mean I''m afraid of that old d**chebag?" Bellus Ken glared at that guy on the opposite of him with only one eye as he narrowed his eyes and uttered an icy voice.


    "Boss...I...I don''t mean that!" That guy''s face turned pale at once as he hurriedly explained with a poor look.


    Nobody wanted to hear his own explanation. In an organization composed of pirates and killers, of course, the boss had his own way to preserve his authority.


    From several meters away, Bellus Ken directly punched out a fist with blue battle qi which was as large as one''s head. In a split second, it had striken onto that guy and exploded him into flying blood and broken fleshes, which even splattered onto the others'' bodies and faces; some of them were so scared that they dared not to make any sound at all while someone else looked nothing had happened. Dawson just gritted his gold teeths while stretching out his long tongue to clean off the blood that splattered onto his lower lip. He looked enjoying it very much.


    "A wise person who knows how to stay away from a powerful enemy to preserve his own fighting strength is not equal to be afraid of his enemy!" After easily killing that LV 9 guy, Bellus Ken explained icily. After that he glanced at Dawson who was licking the fresh blood over his face and said, "Dawson, you go to Ice and Snow Wildness tonight..."


    "Yes, sir!"


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that after he left Saint Herner Island by Polar Light Huge Ship for less than 1 day, he had been chased after by a powerhouse assigned from Magical Snake Island. Whereas, this was in Zhang Tie''s expectation. Besides not knowing what kind of person would be assigned to assassinate him by Magical Snake Island, he was not amazed about anything else as he had already taken this crisis brought by Magical Snake Island as a challenge.


    As early as that guy from Magical Snake Island raved in Bluesea Castle to force Olina revealed the one who had killed their man, Zhang Tie had already prepared for this day.


    With his current fighting strength, if he used sword, he was confident to kill that LV 9 guy from Magical Snake Island in 2 minutes. If he used any throwing weapons, he could narrow time into several seconds. However, Zhang Tie kept hiding his real fighting strength.


    The reason was Zhang Tie knew that after he left Bluesea Castle, Magical Snake Island would definitely assign someone to assassinate him. As long as he didn''t perform extremely powerful in Bluesea Castle, the people assigned by Magical Snake Island would not be the most powerful one; instead, they would just assign someone that they estimated to kill Zhang Tie definitely. After all, powerhouses above LV 9 were not easily found anywhere. In Huaiyuan Palace, such people were precious resources, let alone in Ewentra Archipelago! As the old Chinese saying goes, high-quality steel should be used to build high-quality blade.


    Undoubtedly, a LV 10 powerful fighter was actually enough to deal with one person who could reluctantly defeat a common LV 9 fighter.


    After experiencing being chased after by a strong fighter, Zhang Tie knew it clearly that even if the most average strong fighter had already lit over 55 surging points. Compared to a LV 9 fighter, a strong fighter would have lit at least 20 more surging points. On fighting strength, a strong fighter would at least be one time more powerful than a common LV 9 fighter. A strong fighter would cause Zhang Tie very embarrassed; facing fighting master, Zhang Tie could only directly jump into the sea to escape.


    Of course, the killer being assigned by Magical Snake Island to assassinate Zhang Tie depended on Zhang Tie''s performance in Bluesea Castle. Therefore, when Zhang Tie chose to shoulder the threat from Magical Snake Island bravely, he was actually driving himself forward greatly; meanwhile, he was gradually influencing the possible strategies which were taken by Magical Snake Island on dealing with him; additionally, it also spare a chance for him to jump into the sea to escape in the future.


    Zhang Tie would like to see whether he could stand the attack from a possible strong fighter assigned by Magical Snake Island. He wanted to see whether the speed and fighting strength brought by seven-strength fruits could help him defeat that powerful enemy which was always his concern.


    ''If Lan Yunxi could make it, I could make it too. Albeit I could not match her on the most powerful blood line that she has awakened, my castle of black iron and that small tree could not be matched by anyone else either.


    The most ideal result is that¡ª¡ªin order to kill me, Magical Snake would assign all of its round table warriors one by another to assassinate me; finally I killed them all one by one, causing the rest b*stards on Magical Snake Island not bring any trouble to the other people any more.


    Zhang Tie had already made the decision when he embarked¡ª¡ªnow that I''ve left my home, I will change from an ant to a Chinese dragon. The first step was to step this poisonous snake Magical Snake Island under my feet...

 394 Devils North Wind Area

    Chapter 394: Devil''s North Wind Area


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    The Polar Light had entered the devil''s north wind area of the Oro Strait on the second day since it left Saint Herner Island. From then on, it started to cross the sea.


    As a strait in the southernmost part of the Ice and Snow Wildness, the Oro Strait was the only route from the Ewentra Archipelago to the Ice and Snow Wildness in the north. Not until Zhang Tie came to Oro Strait did he understand why they could only enter the Ice and Snow Wildness by sea. The reason was that airships didn''t work in this region at all because of the terrifying devil''s north wind area in the Oro Strait.


    During the past year in Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie had learned a lot. At least, he had read the creation of the devil''s north wind area in Oro Strait from the textbook titled "Continental Geography"¡ª¡ªa powerful air convection and cyclone between the subpolar low pressure area of the Ice and Snow Wildness and subtropical high pressure area of the Ewentra Archipelago.


    The terrifying north wind originated from the air convections between different pressure areas over this star. This convection would not come to an end, neither would the terrifying north wind above Oro Strait. Being pushed by such a powerful north wind, an ocean current with the greatest flowing speed across Waii Sub-Continent formed in the sea of Oro Strait¡ª¡ª"Ocean Current in the Wildness". Because of the same constant north wind, the airspace above Oro Strait also became a forbidden region for airships.


    In that age, no airship could fly across this devil''s north wind area. Perhaps the aircrafts before the catastrophe could do that, however, for an airship, although its huge body and great height, it was nothing different than a kite in the terrifying north wind area. The moment any airship drew close to this place, it would be blown away from the north wind and gradually fly towards the south instead of heading for the Ice and Snow Wildness.


    Because of the devil''s north wind area in Oro Strait, this strait became the forbidden area of all the air traffic vehicles in this age. Additionally, even Zhang Tie''s passenger liner started to move forward slowly. The liner''s normal speed was 18 nautical miles per hour. Since it entered this area on the 2nd day, its speed instantly dropped to 10 nautical miles per hour facing the surging waves over 10 meters in height.


    Zhang Tie was told on board that it would take them 7 days of bumpy travel on the sea to reach Eschyle City in the southernmost part of the Ice and Snow Wildness. Eschyle City was a window for the Ice and Snow Wildness to exchange with the Ewentra Archipelago and the rest of the world as the only city in the Ice and Snow Wildness. Compared to the vast Ice and Snow Wildness, Eschyle City was not even a seasame on a pie on the pionnering map.


    Zhang Tie bought a tourist-class ticket. For people who had to sail across the sea for 7 days, of course, they would not just stay in their own cabins. Instead, they could also enjoy themselves in dining rooms, bars and gambling houses on board.


    It was very boring on the ship. Besides polishing his surge points and cultivation in trouble-reappearance situations, Zhang Tie also went out of his own cabin sometimes and ate something in the dining room. Meanwhile, he would take a look at the Oro Strait.


    During these days of travel over the sea, Zhang Tie had become acquainted with some new friends¡ª¡ªSam, Gerri and Isle.


    Sam and Gerri were pioneers and bosom friends. After being told that pre-catastrophe relics and pieces of the star of god were discovered in the Ice and Snow Wildness, they had been heading for there to seek fortune. Isle was a businessman who specialized in trading furs and food between the Ice and Snow Wildness and the Ewentra Archipelago.


    Zhang Tie''s cabin was linked to the other 3. Besides their own independent space, the 4 cabins shared the same narrow passage and a washroom. It felt like a dorm at school. After staying on board for 2 days, Zhang Tie had already acquainted with the other 3.


    ...


    Under the impact of his powerful spiritual energy, the purple surge point uttered a booming sound in Zhang Tie''s mind like a collaspsing dam. Following that, the purple brilliance flew in all directions and gradually disappeared in Zhang Tie''s body. Then, a red spark started to appear at the surge point before turning into a blazing flame.


    With the warmth radiated from this surging point, Zhang Tie felt that part of the darkness that covered his body had been driven away. At the same time, the joint of the 15th vertebrae uttered a crisp sound like an opened metal lock, causing a numb, cool sense that was similar to that of an orgasm. This sense spread from his nervus centralis all the way to his brain, making Zhang Tie hum out of control due to excitement.


    The 15th surging point on his spine was finally broken through by Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy.


    Not until that numb sense completely faded away did Zhang Tie let out a sigh before standing up from his bed. He stretched out his limbs before put the pyramid-based crystal into Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie then felt that he had greater physical strength. Besides, he felt his limbs becoming more coordinated. Additionally, he felt something agile in the location of the qi sea where the soul fire entered and the shrine surge point as if some stones were moved away from a solid hinterland of a mountain.


    Since the 14th surging point was lit, Zhang Tie had felt that slight changes would happen in the qi sea of his lower abdomen each time he lit a new surge point.


    If it was in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie definitely didn''t know what such changes indicated. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie knew that it was the prelude of opening his qi sea. The greatest difference between a LV 9 fighter who had lit at least 34 surging points and a LV 10 strong fighter who had lit at least 55 surging points lay in the fact that a LV 10 strong fighter had also opened his or her qi sea besides lighting all the surge points on his or her spine.


    Qi sea, sea of battle qi, was the source of the greatness of a fighter.


    The difference between a LV 10 strong fighter who had opened his or her qi sea and a LV 9 fighter was decisive. Their great difference in fighting strength and physical quality could be identified from the different numbers of surge points that they had lit which was even greater than the total fighting strength from LV 1 to LV 8. That was to say, from LV 10, each level higher would be a chasm that could hardly be exceeded by the likes of commoners. At this moment, the value of some top ancestrial bloolines among the Chinese would gradually stand out.


    Zhang Tie knew that he was still far away from opening his qi sea. It would take him about 2 years to open his qi sea.


    He needed to lit another 40 surge points. Each surge point had 7 barriers in different colors which meant 280 barriers in total. Zhang Tie knew that one leakless fruit could break through 3 barriers. In this way, he needed to consume at least 93 leakless fruits before reaching LV 10.


    It took 93 weeks for 93 leakless fruits to grow mature, namely 651 days or 22 months.


    However, at this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t even know how to improve himself to reach LV 9 and LV 10 which were the most important stages. The cultivation knowledge after LV 9, especially the content on lighting surge points was the top secret knowledge. People had to spend a lot of clan contribution points and reach LV 9. Besides this, they had to pass a strict examination before being qualified to learn it. By now, Zhang Tie had not even reached any condition, of course, he was not qualified to learn it.


    To improve from LV 7 to LV 10 in 2 years, which was a rocketing speed for commoners; however, for Zhang Tie, it was still too slow. His master Zhao Yuan told him that in many real powerhouses'' eyes, LV 9 and LV 10 were only the beginning of the cultivation process.


    Zhang Tie knew clearly that in the later stages, each level would require an exponential increase in the number of surge points to be lit. By contrast, the function of the leakless fruit would gradually become less observable. Additionally, the Third Holy War was drawing near. After the event in Heavens Cold City, Zhang Tie faintly felt that this holy war might be more miserable while demons might have greater power than the people could imagine.


    After thinking for a second, Zhang Tie realized that he had not entered the Castle of Black Iron for over 2 weeks. After 2 weeks accumulation, there should be 2 more leakless fruits on the small tree.


    Zhang Tie was slightly stretching his limbs in his cabin and intending to eat the 2 leakless fruits in the Castle of Black Iron so as to break through the 6 barriers of the 16th surge point on the spine when his hatch door boomed.


    "Bang, bang, bang, Peter, are you in there..."


    The moment Zhang Tie heard this voice, he had given up his thoughts of entering the Castle of Black Iron. With a helpless smile, he then opened the hatch door.


    2 pioneers who looked a bit older than Zhang Tie were standing outside the hatch door. The one on the left looked a bit fatter with observable purplish hair while the one on the right looked thinner and taller. Besides brown skin, he had black hair, tall nose and gleaming eyes.


    "Oh, hi, Peter!" At sight of Zhang Tie opening the door, the fatter one shouted.


    "What''s up, Sam?" Zhang Tie still asked kindly. He didn''t feel unhappy about being disturbed at all.


    "I haven''t seen you step foot out of your door since yesterday afternoon. Don''t you feel bored inside? Gerri and I are going for supper, therefore, we are here to call you out to head there together." After saying this, Sam gazed at Zhang Tie. "You look red, are you sick?"


    "Argh, no, I was just sleeping!" Zhang Tie told a lie. Having lit a surge point, his qi and blood were all activated, causing his face to become a bit red in a short period as if he was exercising. However, Zhang Tie didn''t think it necessary to tell the truth.


    Sam was only LV 4 while Gerri was only LV 5. They had been extremely excellent among pioneers of the same age.


    "Were you sleeping?" Gerri stealthily glanced at that narrow room which could only hold a bed and a desk with a weird smile. "Were you there doing something weird? I know, you feel bored all alone. When you do that, you would always be excited. I know, I know, but don''t always do that, it''s not good for your health!"


    "What are you talking about it?" Zhang Tie asked out of doubt.


    Gerri then held nothing in the air with a hand before moved up and down, which was familiar to almost every man. "If you are too bored, why not take a look in the gambling house after supper. I was told that many beauties were inside. Isle had won more than 2 gold coins in the gambling house yesterday, which was almost equal to half of his ticket price. He went there early this morning again and hasn''t come back even now!"


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he scratched his hair. He had not imagined that it had even arisen others'' misunderstanding after cultivating for so long in his room. ''It truly is a bit weird. I will take a walk outside to get some fresh air. No matter what, the leakless fruits will not run away by themselves. I can eat them this evening.''


    "Fine, let''s go!" Saying this, Zhang Tie locked his door before walking out of the narrow passage which was paved with an anti-slip corrugated steel plate.


    "I was told that the VIP cabins upstairs were much better than ours. They are like chartered rooms in high-end hotels. Besides, their passages are paved with carpets. There is also a club in the VIP area. I met a female blonde bartender there yesterday with a pair of ears of a bunny girl..." Sam said with an admirable look/ "When we become rich, we will also try the VIP cabins! If so, we will not feel tired of traveling here and there anymore!"


    Gerri burst into laughter. "When you become rich and can afford 20 gold coins for a shipping ticket, will you still travel here and there for pioneering work?


    "That''s it! When we have money, why would we look for pioneering work?" Sam also realized that as he patted his head. "Gerri, tell me about your ideal life after becoming rich."


    "When I have money, of course I will raise a great number of beauties in my castle. I will create a great clan by sowing seeds everyday like a seeder!"


    Hearing this answer, Zhang Tie also smiled. ''Cut it out guys.''


    "Peter, what about you?"


    "Me?" Zhang Tie pointed at his own nose.


    "Yea, even if we are pioneers, we should also have dreams!"


    ''Dreams?'' Zhang Tie recalled that dream¡ª¡ªLying on a pile of gold coins at an old age and watching a number of beauties dropping off tears in front of him. He then shook his head. Every man wishes for that life but in this motherf*cking age, they should be able to survive first.''


    "If I can live safely and steadily, I almost have the same dream as Gerri!" Zhang Tie told them honestly.


    "Ha, you''re too pessimistic. Do you only want to survive by yourself? The death and injury rate of pioneers are not too high, additionally, if there are truly urban relics in the Ice and Snow Wildness, we will just follow the greater part of people there and share a bit. It should be safe." Sam comforted Zhang Tie.


    "Trust me, you have me!" Gerri patted his own chest.


    "Thanks!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    "We''re friends!"


    ...


    The fact was that Zhang Tie''s thought about "living safely and steadily" was not useless, especially in this age, on this mystical sea.


    Soon after they finished their very average supper in the average dining room, they had heard a specific, rapid and transient frequency which was very jarring like a warning. None of them knew what this indicated.


    However, before they asked others, an extremely terriying sound screamed in the dining room.


    "Class I warning. A super large dangerous creature is drawing close to our ship. Please hold fast to anything that is bolted down and stationary!."


    Right after this voice, the ship quivered heavily, shaking off many tablewares from the tables onto the ground...

 395 A Huge Deep-Sea Monster

    Chapter 395: A Huge Deep-Sea Monster


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Every ship that could freely access the Oro Strait weighed tens of thousands tons.


    So did Polar Light. With a length of 300 m, it could displace over 6000 tons of seawater when it had a full load. This was definitely the biggest ship that Zhang Tie had ever seen. Even in Huaiyuan Prefecture, it would be qualified as a huge ship.


    At this moment, Polar Light was close to having a full load. Besides its over 4000 passengers, it also carried over 30,000 tons of materials.


    Try to imagine the strength required to shock such a huge ship.


    Most people inside the dining room were holding onto anything that was bolted down to secure themselves while Zhang Tie rushed outside at once.


    "Peter, where are you going?" Sam screamed.


    "Don''t worry, I''m just taking a look outside..." Zhang Tie replied as he ran.


    "What a crazy guy!" Saying this, Gerri made a gesture towards Sam, "Let''s have a look at that thing. If something really happens to our ship, it is same both in and out the dining room."


    Sam nodded as the 2 people ran towards the door of the dining room. Only a few stepped away after they moved, they were thrown onto the ground by another huge shock.


    "F*ck..." Sam swore.


    ...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had already rushed out of the dining room. Before the second huge shock, Zhang Tie had jumped off the ground. After stepping onto the wall of the passage, he immediately landed on the corridor outside the cabin.


    Many people rushed out after Zhang Tie.


    About half of the 4000-odd passengers in this ship were pioneers. Some of them didn''t know what happened at all, they only wanted to see what was happening outside. Some of them were very bold. When they were told that Polar Light encountered an attack from some dangerous creature, they also ran out due to the excitement.


    The north wind was whistling outside the cabin while waves were surging high. The moment Zhang Tie rushed out, he had heard a voice, "It''s at the fore..." Zhang Tie then sped up towards the front of the ship before witnessing an extremely shocking scene.


    Zhang Tie saw a terrifying tentacle stretching out of the sea which contained an immense number of suckers. It was dozens of meters in height and was twisting at the fore of the Polar Light. Shortly after that, it started to whip the board, causing the whole ship shake heavily like a fish being lashed.


    Although the metal structure of the ship could not be easily broken, with this whip, Zhang Tie heard the jarring sound of twisting and squeezing iron and steel. At the same time, many buildings and facilities at the fore were broken by such an irresistible attack.


    Broken materials flew in all directions, causing many people to wail mournfully. Some unlucky guys were even broken into pieces by the whip.


    Although Zhang Tie was far away from that tentacle, he also suffered from the attack of some broken pieces flying towards him from the front. Thankfully, he dodged away from them.


    After the tentacle''s attack, another huge tentacle stretched out of the starboard as it swept across the shipboard. As a result, another 5 or 6 onlookers were rolled up by the tentacle. With miserable shrieks, their skeletons were broken at the same time while their innards burst out. With fresh blood spraying in the air, they were pulled into the sea...


    At the sight of such a scene, many people who had just run out immediately turned around and rushed back in. They were outside here only to be the dimsum of the monster. By contrast, it was safer in the cabins.


    Even the thinnest part at the tip of the tentacle was wider than 1 m. It swept across a spot less than 10 m in front of Zhang Tie, breaking a row of windows on the left of the shipboard. After rolling up one person, the huge tentacle instantly made a knot over his body in less than 1 second, causing his eyes pop out of his face.


    "Huge Deep-Sea Monster, Huge Deep-Sea Monster..." Someone shouted loudly on the deck above Zhang Tie when bolts were shot into the sea from huge steam-driven crossbows.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether or not they had hit the huge monster with the bolts. The moment this question flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind, a surging wave had risen into the sky suddenly while another huge tentacle several meters in width stretched out from the bottom of the ship. In a split second, Zhang Tie saw a steam-driven ballista, debris of buildings and more than 10 people were swept into the sea. Meanwhile, a loud sound and some shrill screams drifted from the starboard...


    The monster in the sea seemed having been irritated by the huge bolts.


    After rushing out of the passage after Zhang Tie, Sam and Gerri saw a tentacle as wide as several meters shrinking into the sea along with those pieces and people, their faces turned pale at once. They then instantly turned around and escaped back towards their cabins as they realized that they were only targets by standing by the shipboard...


    Zhang Tie also prepared to run back into this own cabin. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie had realized that it was out of his ability to deal with this huge deep-sea monster. Although he kept moving towards the north in the sea, he had not seen such a terrifying monster before.


    Zhang Tie didn''t think he was a righteous swordsman, neither did he think that he could save others at the risk of his own life. If that huge monster destroyed the ship, Zhang Tie could escape by himself. However, he didn''t know how many people could he save.


    Thinking of this, Zhang Tie really heard ''helps''.


    "Help..." A guy lying on the deck 7-8 m away from Zhang Tie was screaming miserably while a sharp metal strip penetrated his thigh, causing him to unable to move.


    Soon after his scream, another wide tentacle stretched out of the sea and swept over the deck like a mop that was used to clean the deck and the shipboard. As a result, with the cracking sound of metal, the metal guardrails of the shipboard and the deck rolled up like instant noodles.


    In a wink, that huge tentacle had been less than 10 m away from the person. That guy''s face changed as he watched that terrifying black tentacle which rolled towards him like a tank with a despairing look.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie rushed towards the man. He caught his clothes and rolled into a cabin on one side before the tentacle reached them...


    After this round of attack, the door and the window of the cabin had been transformed and broken into pieces while one wall was cleaned. In the blink of an eye, the cabin had been destroyed as if it had been attacked by a tornado.


    The moment Zhang Tie stopped rolling, he saw another surging wave from outside the shipboard while another huge tentacle stretched out of the sea, twisting in the air, and was going to hack downwards...


    "B*stard!" With a furious, grim voice, a blue sun appeared outside the cabin. Being stimulated by that brilliant, blue sword qi, Zhang Tie slightly narrowed his eyes. At the same time, Zhang Tie''s heart palpitated while a powerful pressure rose from outside.


    This powerful pressure reminded Zhang Tie of a familiar sense. Zhang Tie then immediately remembered the scene when he met the senior from Huaiyuan Palace on the airship. However, this person''s powerful pressure was different from that of the senior from Huaiyuan Palace. The latter''s powerful pressure was as steady as Mount Tai while the prior''s powerful pressure felt like being pricked by numerous sharp long swords.


    ¡®Knight! How come a knight on this ship?¡¯ Zhang Tie was a bit shocked as he let out a sigh almost at the same time.


    Before that huge tentacle fell down onto the deck, it had become cut into pieces while its blood sprayed over the sky. Being influenced by this, the rest of the huge tentacles that were surrounding the Polar Light withdrew back into the sea, causing a 100-m high water column at once. Meanwhile, a baby''s high-pitched baby crying drifted from below the sea.


    When that sound was produced, even Zhang Tie covered his ears with hands as he felt like vomiting.


    Eyes widely opened, Zhang Tie watched the man standing in the air being covered with blue sword qi. When the knight shot into the sea like a bolt, Zhang Tie also made a decision and rushed out of his cabin.


    Zhang Tie had never witnessed how a knight fought. As there was a chance, of course, Zhang Tie would not give it up.


    Zhang Tie directly came to the fore of the ship and looked at the sea...


    Huge tentacles stirred up the 100-m high water columns and surging waves, making the Polar Light bumpier. Among those water columns and surging waves, a huge black shadow which was 100 m in width was below the ship. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie felt chilly all over.


    In a split second, the blue sword qi had cut off the tentacles of over 100 m in length which stretched out of the sea like cutting melons and vegetables like lightning bolts. After dropping into the sea, the twisting, broken tentacles also caused high sprays and surging waves. As a result, Zhang Tie was soaking wet.


    At the same time, the monster uttered a shrill shriek.


    There was a steam-driven ballista at the fore of the ship. Whereas, the sailor of this steam-driven ballista had already been hacked away by one tentacle. At this moment, when the blue sword qi was fighting the monster, Zhang Tie noticed that nobody was manipulating the ballista, therefore, he immediately ran towards it.


    After rapily checking the steam-driven ballista, Zhang Tie found that only the defensive armor plate of the steam-driven ballista was dented and twisted. The whole ballista was still in good condition. The steam pressure of the ballista was normal while a 2-m long triangular crossbow had been in place. The ballista was ready for launch at any time.


    Without saying anything, Zhang Tie instantly sat in the seat of the gunner. At the same time, Zhang Tie forcefully rocked the steering driving wheel and aimed at that monster. At the same time, he held the hammer and prepared to trigger the bolt. Narrowing his eyes, Zhang Tie adjusted his shooting angle along with the rocking ship. Through the reticle window of the ballista, Zhang Tie observed the fight as he waited for the right chance.


    Soon the chance arrived. Only after 1 minute, when the monster lost 2 tentacles, the seawater where it stayed instantly became as pitch dark as ink.


    "You want to escape? Go die!" With a loud reproach, he hacked a crescent brilliance higher than 20 m into the sea.


    In a split second, the seawater was frozen. Being split by that crescent brilliance, a 100-m long and deep vacuum groove was produced in the pitch dark water while a hill-like ferocious head of the monster was seen above the water...


    Before being shocked by that knight''s great strength, Zhang Tie had already stricken onto the trigger key with his right hand.


    With a quake, a 2-m long huge bolt was sent flying towards the head of that monster from the ballista along the vacuum groove. When the crescent brilliance struck its head, the bolt also entered the monster''s head.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know about the result, he only felt that his huge bolt directly entered the huge wound on the monster''s head which was caused by that crescent brilliance.


    After that, the seawater refilled the groove. Besides constant wind and waves, everything became quiet again...


    After the blue sword qi disappeared, the person was standing still in the air above the sea where he had fought the monster.


    Dozens of seconds later, an isle-sized body floated above the water while its lifeless tentacles started to bump over the sea.


    It was 20 m higher above the sea although it was only a small part of its body.


    The man standing in the air then flew back to the fore. After lowering his head and glancing at Zhang Tie, he didn''t say anything. Instead, he walked towards the top deck where the VIP zone of the Polar Light was located.


    Watching that man''s back, Zhang Tie found he was an old man whose age was unidentified. That man looked like a bit older than 50 years old. However, he had no wrinkles. He also looked like he was 70-80 years old as he seemed to have experienced a lot. Besides well-combed silver-gray hair, his silver-gray pupils could bring a great pressure to people. Additionally, he had a raised forehead and a tall figure with a long sword in a sheath hung on his waist. All this radiated a great and sharp power.


    When Zhang Tie recalled that old man''s strike with his crescent sword qi which had even split the seawater and reached 100 m under the water, Zhang Tie felt that he was in a dream. If he stood in front of such a powerful person, the strike would have destroyed Zhang Tie 100 times.


    ''Is this the fighting strength of a knight?'' Zhang Tie watched the old man''s back with an admirable look. He didn''t know when he would have such a powerful fighting strength¡ª¡ªwith only one strike, even gods and monsters would run over 100 m away.


    "Star and Moon Sword Sage! Is that Samaranch, the Star and Moon Sword Sage?" Someone shouted on the top deck.


    ''Samaranch, Star and Moon Sword Sage!'' Zhang Tie remembered this name.


    At this moment, Polar Light had already anchored. The moment the crisis was solved, all the others staying in their cabins had run out while the sailors and seamen on the ship started to clean and repair the ship.


    At the sight of the dead body of the terrifying deep-sea huge monster and the damaged parts of the ship, they were all struck dumb with astonishment. The whole fighting process lasted only 3-4 minutes from the deep-sea huge monster''s appearance to its death. However, within such a short period, many people on the ship had experienced life or death situations.


    From the hill-like part above the sea, Zhang Tie thought it was a mutated and evolved huge cuttlefish after observing it for a short while.


    Zhang Tie then left the fore.


    "Castle Lord, could you please collect a bit of its flesh? Just a finger-sized piece of it is enough!"


    A familiar voice sounded in Zhang Tie''s mind directly. It was Heller, the steward of Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie was not used to talk with Heller in this way.


    "Is that you, Heller?" Zhang Tie asked in mind.


    "Yes, it''s me, Castle Lord, I''m talking with you through the teleportation door of Castle of Black Iron. In this way, nobody could hear our conversation except for you. With increasing spiritual energy, you will get used to this way of communication. If you increase your spiritual energy a bit more, you will be able to talk with me directly without having to enter Castle of Black Iron!"


    Hearing this explanation, Zhang Tie was reassured. "What will you use it for?"


    "I will explain it to you when you come back. As the flesh of the huge deep-sea monster contains it''s mutated and evolved gene, which is very valuable. This might be useful to Castle Lord. The gene can only survive for several hours after. Therefore, you have to send it into Castle of Black Iron before it loses its activity!"


    ...


    When the Star and Moon Sword Sage destroyed a tentacle of the deep-sea monster, he cut it into many pieces which scattered everywhere on the ship. Therefore, on his way back into his cabin, Zhang Tie casually picked up a piece of glutinuous flesh which was as size as half a fist and teleported it into Castle of Black Iron by putting it into his pocket.

 396 A Forgotten Option

    Chapter 396: A Forgotten Option


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    "Peter..."


    When Zhang Tie walked across the messy area intending to check the wounds of the guy whom he had saved, he caught sight of Sam and Gerri. At the same time, Sam and Gerri also saw Zhang Tie. With a scream, Sam then walked towards him with Gerri.


    "It''s great to know that you''re safe!" Sam revealed a big smile. However, he also felt a bit embarrassed as he scratched his head. "When we came out just now, we saw the monster''s tentacle right in front of us, so...so..."


    Zhang Tie then smiled as he patted Sam''s shoulder. "I know, it''s okay, I was also out there to watch the fight instead of fighting the monster. Therefore, I didn''t need your help as I could simply dodge the monster''s attacks."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, Sam and Gerri both let out a sigh. No matter what, although Zhang Tie ran out himself, it was not a righteous deed for them to turn around and escape.


    "Oh, where''s the monster?" Gerri looked around out of curiosity...


    Zhang Tie then pointed at the fore. Standing beside the guardrail of a destroyed shipboard, Gerri then pulled a fixed item as he looked outside before he screamed.


    At this moment, more and more people poured out of their cabins and started to look out of the shipboard. At the sight of the dead body of that huge deep-sea monster, they all screamed one after the other. Someone picked up its broken tentacles and watched them carefully.


    Seeing Sam and Gerri being that curious, Zhang Tie didn''t talk with them too much. "Enjoy yourself, I''ve got something to deal with. See you later."


    "Argh, okay!" Saying this, Gerri then ran towards the fore while pulling Sam''s arm.


    Zhang Tie then came to the position where the man he had saved was. Although this area had been completely destroyed, the man could already stand up reluctantly while a sailor and a doctor were dealing with his wounds. At the sight of Zhang Tie, the man immediately struggled to hold Zhang Tie''s arm in an excited manner as he shouted, "That''s him, that''s him, this young man saved my life. If he wasn''t here in time, I would''ve been smashed to pieces..."


    Hearing his voice, all the people in the destroyed cabin glanced at Zhang Tie, including that sailor and that doctor who were tending to his wounds. Although saying nothing, they all looked at him with admiration. What Zhang Tie did at the critical moment was so noble and brave that everybody would praise him if they knew.


    Hearing this praise, Zhang Tie felt a bit shameful. Although it was critical at that moment, before action, Zhang Tie had calculated the movement speeds of himself and the monster''s tentacle. After knowing that he would not encounter any danger, he directly rushed towards the man and saved him. Therefore, although it looked very risky in others'' eyes, Zhang Tie felt being safe.


    However, it was unnecessary for Zhang Tie to clarify this to the public. Although he was not a righteous swordsman who especially did good things for the benefit of the average people, he wasn''t an idiot either. Additionally, he had truly saved the man''s life.


    "Argh, I''m just here to take a look. It''s good to know you''re safe."


    "Young man, do you know that you''ve just saved the life of Gelomof. May I know your name?" That man being saved by Zhang Tie asked solemnly.


    "You can call me Peter."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, Gelomof instantly opened the collar of his coat. After that, he undid that heavy gold necklace and gave it to Zhang Tie.


    "If encounter any difficulty in the Ice and Snow Wilderness, remember to find me in Bearman''s Inn of Eschyle City. If I''ve already died, go to my sons, if my sons have died, go to my grandsons. I will tell them that anyone who presents this gold necklace is the savior of my family. I''m sure that they will exert their utmost efforts to help you!"


    That man was so sincere that even Zhang Tie felt reluctant to refuse his good intentions. After glancing at that gold necklace with a bear head which was almost as heavy as 0.5 kg, Zhang Tie directly took it.


    "I''ll remember it. Bearman''s Inn of Eschyle City. If I meet any difficulty, I will come for your help!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the man burst into waves of laughter.


    ...


    Because of the huge deep-sea monster''s attack, the Polar Light anchored on the sea. At this moment, the sailors were all busy repairing the damaged parts of the ship and treating the wounded.


    As the huge deep-sea monster only attacked them for a few seconds, only the exterior structures and the upper structure which was close to the shipboard were damaged. Therefore, after several hours'' maintenance, all the passengers were told that they only needed to wait for one night before moving ahead.


    Hearing this, all the passengers recovered their composures, especially when everybody was told that Samaranth, the Star and Moon Sword Sage was also on board, they finally felt reassured.


    Besides damaging a part of the hull, the huge deep-sea monster also caused high casualties¡ª¡ªover 70 people were killed or injured. Additionally, 20 more people were missing. Everybody knew that the alleged ''disappeared'' was just a euphemistic way of speaking. Being attacked by that monster, they must have entered its stomache or have dropped into the sea and would not come back.


    Those who lost their friends or relatives were extremely grieved at this moment. In contrast, all those surviving the attack changed the tragedy into a comedy¡ª¡ªafter being told that Samaranth, the Star and Moon Sword Sage was also on the ship, some passengers who thought they were influential then queued up in the VIP area. They wanted to appreciate this legendary figure and dreamed to befriend him.


    In contrast, more average passengers, especially those who lived in economical and average cabins were queuing up at the fore. They were taking photos together with that floating dead body of the huge deep-sea monster on the sea. As a result, the price of a photo soon rose to 30 silver coins from 15 silver coins. Even then there were many people still excited about taking photos.


    The photographer on the ship then benefited the most from this event.


    Sam and Gerri were also posing a charming gesture at the fore.


    Not until Zhang Tie, Sam and Gerri finished taking their photo did Zhang Tie see Isle, the one living next to him, coming back from the gambling house of the Polar Light. What made them speechless was that Isle didn''t even know what happened till now.


    When being asked why the Polar Light anchored, Sam widened his eyes at once. "You don''t know what happened?"


    "I truly heard warnings in the gambling house but nobody cared about that as we were so immersive. Additionally, those guys in the gambling house told us to not go out until the ship sank. What? Did it run on rocks or an iceberg?" The small furrier asked out of curiosity.


    Gerri told Isle what happened briefly. Hearing that, Isle widely opened his mouth before running out. After a short while, he ran back with a pitiful look. "What a pity! Such a huge body would contain tens of thousands tons of flesh. Being similar to that of octopus, its flesh is very good food. Additionally, as the price of food on the continent grows day by day, if we could process this flesh into canned fish or store them, we would make a lot. When food is insufficient, we could even save a lot of people using its flesh."


    Hearing this, Sam and Gerri both felt pitiful while an idea appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind...


    ...


    Although it was already dark, the clamour caused by the dead monster still didn''t fade away. After ensuring that he would not be disturbed by anyone else, Zhang Tie returned to his narrow average cabin. He then closed the steel hatch door before entering the Castle of Black Iron.


    As it was already dark outside, the Castle of Black Iron also became dark inside.


    Some torches were burning around the small tree and the houses. The torches were not too dazzling but could illuminate the surroundings.


    Heller had long waited for Zhang Tie''s arrival respectfully. As per usual, the 3 coolies would go to bed the moment the night fell and got up to work the moment the sun rose.


    "Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron." Heller bowed elegantly.


    "Good work." Zhang Tie nodded.


    "I know Castle Lord has a lot of questions to ask. Let''s talk about them in the house." Heller stretched out his hand to invite Zhang Tie in.


    "Fine."


    Zhang Tie directly followed Heller in the only double-storey log cabin.


    The parlor had been furnished. However, compared to that of Jinwu Castle, this was only a clean place which was suitable for deliberation.


    A plate of strawberries and a plate of other berries were placed on the desk. At the sight of them, Zhang Tie realized that the Castle of Black Iron could provide him more and more materials now.


    "Tell me about the function of the flesh of that huge deep-sea monster." Throwing himself onto a chair beside the desk, Zhang Tie grabbed 2 scarlet strawberries and threw them into his mouth. Tasting the refreshing and sweet strawberries, Zhang Tie instantly felt pretty good all over.


    Hearing this question, Heller only replied with a smile as he put his hands in the air and separated them in a cool manner. Then, Zhang Tie saw a menu in the air.


    ¡ª¡ªBasic Attributes of Castle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªSpace and Terrain Transformation


    ¡ª¡ªLiving Beings and Species Administration


    ¡ª¡ªForming Special Seeds and Fruits of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree


    This was the main menu of the Castle of Black Iron


    "Have you remembered that?" Heller smiled as he watched Zhang Tie. He then moved one hand up in the air, causing the top 3 lines gradually fade away, leaving the last option that Zhang Tie had not used before.


    ¡ª¡ªForming Special Seeds and Fruits of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree.

 397 Flower of Life

    Chapter 397: Flower of Life


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Gazing at the last option for a while, Zhang Tie realized that he hadn''t touched it for over a year. After skimming over this option when he obtained the Castle of Black Iron at the beginning, which almost made him suffer from a heart attack due to excitement, Zhang Tie had not checked this option at all.


    Zhang Tie could still remember the astronomical figures of basic energy storage, merit values and aura values required by those "special seeds and fruits".


    "Am I able to grow some special seeds and fruits now?"


    Zhang Tie asked.


    "The wealth accumulated in Castle of Black Iron has been able to grow a few special seeds on the small tree." Heller confirmed. "Why not give it a look."


    Of course, Zhang Tie knew what the word ''wealth'' meant coming from Heller''s mouth. It actually referred to those basic data. Zhang Tie then pressed the last option in the air before seeing a wholly new interface.


    Being the same same as the first time Zhang Tie opened the option, there were various rotating three-dimensional patterns and descriptions of strange seeds and fruits on the interface. The only difference was that a few of those patterns were bright as they were activated.


    Heller then pointed at one of those activated seeds. Zhang Tie then touched its pattern. In a split second, its three-dimensional pattern became enlarged and clearer.


    ¡ª¡ªSeed of Flower of Life


    ¡ª¡ªAura Values: 530000


    ¡ª¡ªBasic Energy Storage: 1358000


    ¡ª¡ªMerit Values: 90000


    ¡ª¡ªPlanting Area for LV 1 Flower of Life: A Square with a side length of 66 m.


    ¡ª¡ªFlower of Secret, also the flower of taboo which was usually mentioned by some human clans. It figured out the fundamental secrets of the existence of life. With one bioactive cell, the flower of life could clone another living being.


    The seed of this flower of life required astronomical amounts of aura values, basic energy storage and merit values which were out of Zhang Tie''s imagination.


    "What''s clone?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    "Simply put, a clone is a duplicate of another living being."


    "Duplicate a life?" Zhang Tie was shocked by this answer greatly.


    "That''s it. It could duplicate a new life, including flesh and blood. If you have learned a lot about the scientific development of mankind before the catastrophe, you would know that people have already mastered the technology of cloning technique before the catastrophe. It''s one of the most high-end techniques that people have mastered during that age."


    "What do you mean by taboo?"


    "With only one drop of your blood, the flower of life will clone a person who looks the same as you, including all the physical features and genes. If so, can your parents identify which one of you was the original if the both of you stood in front of them at the same time?"


    "Of course I''m the real one!"


    "Yes, you are the real one. But who will be the one who looks the same as you? From bloodline, as he originates from you, he also originates from your parents!"


    Zhang Tie was then confused.


    "As this technique would bring a huge impact to human ethics, it has been treated as a taboo. Actually, for many human races and living beings in the universe, they could not accept this."


    "Wait, you mean a few races and living beings didn''t think it was unacceptable. Don''t they treat this as a taboo?" Zhang Tie figured out something from Heller''s words.


    "The reason lies in the difference in understanding the essence of life among different races and living beings. If you think that this body which contains various elements, blood and fleshes is all of you, you will then take the cloning technique as a taboo. Whereas, if you take this body as a garment, will you treat those people who wear the same garment as you on the streets as taboo?" Heller said meaningfully.


    "You mean it''s nothing to worry about that?"


    "I''ve told you that this depends on your understanding of life. If this body is all of you, then, will you think that you are different from those people with incomplete bodies essentially? When you see them wearing ragged clothes, do you think they are still as same as you? If this body is all of you, then, who''s the one in the trouble-reappearance fruits? Is that just your illusion and conscious activity?"


    Heller stared at Zhang Tie who was slightly frowning his forehead, "Don''t worry about that anymore. Everything in Castle of Black Iron now exists for you. You are the absolute ruler here. Therefore, you don''t need to change your world outlook to adapt to the things here. On the contrary, they will adapt to your existence and viewpoint! If you feel that you could hardly accept them, you can''t choose them. If you feel it is nothing different than a garment worship, it is a garment workshop!"


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie ridiculed it. ''What a bullsh*t taboo! I''ve not planned to do anything weird with it at all. I''d better consider something more realistic.


    "Therefore, you asked me to bring in a piece of flesh of that huge deep-sea monster?"


    "Yes. That powerful mutated living being is very valuable. If you can afford it, with the help of the flower of life, you could constantly produce huge deep-sea monsters in the Castle of Black Iron."


    "I don''t think it is very powerful at all. The Star and Moon Sword Sage killed it in only a few minutes. Additionally, what do I need that disgusting thing for?" Zhang Tie crooked his mouth.


    "Based on my analysis of that piece of flesh, I find that the huge deep-sea monster was going through puberty. Such a creature has a great potential for growth. If it was an adult monster, it would be at least twice the size of the one you saw. If so, it would not be killed by people so easily as an adult deep-sea monster is one of the most powerful lords in the sea. What''s more, as these cloned creatures sustain their lives by consuming your resources, they will be closely related to you and treat you as their owner."


    "You mean I can treat these cloned things as my pets?"


    "As you will, they will definitely be much more docile than average pets." Heller confirmed.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie''s heart raced. With his eyes fixed onto that seed of flower of life, Zhang Tie suddenly thought of something.


    "You mean people have already mastered cloning technique before the catastrophe? Is this flower the product of human science at that age?"


    Heller replied with a smile, "Besides the human race, there were numerous living beings and species in the universe. The flower of life is just a living being. Humans always dreamt of conquering the whole world with high-end science. Did you ever imagine that some other races and living beings could conquer everything by planting various plants? Those plants were born to have all the functions required by the human race, which were more senior than the top achievements of human science."


    "That''s unbelievable!"


    "Fishes are born to swim and dive. However, how many difficulties have humans experienced diving deep into the sea? Birds are born to fly, however, how long had humans spent before being able to fly in the air? Treatment of water and soil pollution was a hot topic of human society even till the catastrophe, however, many plants are born to be able to purify water and revitalize the soil, which is much more powerful than human''s scientific civilization. Humans are always dreaming about eternal prosperity through sunlight, however, plants are born with that ability."


    "When did humans start transmitting messages through electromagnetic signals? All the plants in a forest naturally have the ability to transmit threatening warnings of invaders thousands of kilometers away through electromagnetic signals in a second. Receiving their signals, their partners would respond to it as soon as possible. Do you feel their instincts are strange? Do you feel that human civilization before the catastrophe is really that powerful? Living beings are born to have various strange instincts. Now that plants are born to have unimaginable super instincts, how could there not be a plant that could accomplish duplication and clone of life?"


    Hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie touched his head. ''This steward not only dwarfs me in looks but also has excellent eloquence and wisdom.'' Compared to Heller, Zhang Tie found that he was totally an innocent kid.


    "Wait..." Zhang Tie suddenly recalled that in many Chinese myths and legends, many people and living beings were bred in flowers. Are those myths and legends real?" Zhang Tie then told Heller about these myths and legends.


    "Human myths and legends contain many memories and knowledge from far ancient times. Of course, many of them were fully fabricated by descendants based on their imaginations. As for the myths and legends that you mentioned before, I could only tell you that some of the Chinese might have a flower of life on this star long time ago." Heller explained to Zhang Tie seriously.


    "What? You mean there''s another Castle of Black Iron?" Zhang Tie was slightly stunned.


    "There is only one Castle of Black Iron. But the flower of life is only a single member of a huge special plant population."


    "Why could the small tree bear the seeds and fruits of the flower of life?"


    "Because the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree is the king of that huge special plant population, which carries the life potentials of all the members of this population. When the conditions became mature, the Manjusaka would release all the life potentials of those members. This is its fate and instinct. You can also take the flower of life as a subordinate of the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree."


    "You mean the option ''Forming Special Seeds and Fruits of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree'' is essentially the reproductive channel through which the small tree releases the life potentials of that huge special plant population?" Zhang Tie widened his eyes.


    "You can take it as a contract or an appointment, based on which, you bring them into this world through your own efforts and they serve you as a payment instinctively. The most perfect and harmonious relationship in the universe is established on this reciprocity, cooperation, and interdependence." Heller confirmed.


    "You mean, this space of the Castle of Black Iron might be a big botanical garden at the beginning which would bring various subordinate strange flowers and plants to that small tree while I am that diligent gardener who''s selected to look after this botanical garden?" Zhang Tie pointed at his own nose.


    "I don''t think you are wrong. Because I''m also a subordinate of this space, I could only tell you that as I''ve told you, the most perfect and harmonious relationship in the universe is established on this reciprocity, cooperation, and interdependence. The fundamental rule in the universe is that one party could not casually determine the life or death of the other party, casually harm the other party or pay with no gain, which is applicable anywhere, especially in people''s social life. Any relationship that violates this fundamental principle can''t be sustained. However, relationships that violate this principle exist everywhere, like friends that become enemies, regime changes and the changing relationships between nations." After saying this, Heller asked Zhang Tie, "Do you think that mysterious existence who created the Castle of Black Iron has not considered this simple thing?"


    Zhang Tie was numb...

 398 Making Progress

    Chapter 398: Making Progress


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Of course, the powerful flower of life which could clone a new living being was very useful for Zhang Tie. With the genes of huge deep-sea monster, the moment he realized that he could have such an "assistant" in the sea, Zhang Tie was very excited.


    Certainly, the flower of life''s ability was limited. In order to clone a living being, the flower of life could only clone one time with one gene although it required an astronomical amount of basic energy storage, aura values and merit values. Being similar to most plants, it would not produce 2 flowers that were the exact same. The creature produced by the flower of life was also unique.


    Therefore, with the gene of the deep-sea monster, Zhang Tie could only clone one huge deep-sea monster. If he wanted more, he had to obtain the genes of other huge deep-sea monsters.


    However, Zhang Tie was already very satisfied with this.


    ...


    "To produce a seed of the flower of life, you need 53000 aura values, 1358000 basic energy storage and 90000 merit values. Do you agree to produce the seed of the flower of life on Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree or not?"


    "¡ª¡ªYes or No"


    After seeing the familiar words once again, Zhang Tie instantly chose "Yes". The moment he touched the button, Zhang Tie felt that the small tree started to radiate a faint but colorful light that covered its leaves. Meanwhile, the small tree''s leaves slightly shook and uttered the sound of "Ring ring ring...", which was pleasing to Zhang Tie''s ears.


    Zhang Tie felt that the small tree was very happy at this moment.


    Zhang Tie knew that plants had emotional responses. It was said that the human race gained inspiration from plants'' emotional responses while studying lie detectors. It was really out of his imagination that this small tree''s emotional response could be that intense.


    Feeling that the small tree was happy, Zhang Tie also became happy himself. In the past year, Zhang Tie had picked off so many fruits from it, yet, he didn''t give anything to the small tree at all. Realizing that the small tree was very pleased with his choice, Zhang Tie was secretly overjoyed.


    Although Zhang Tie input the largest amount of basic energy storage, merit values and aura values in producing the seed of flower of life he had ever saved up in the past year, he felt it worthwhile.


    Perhaps in others'' eyes, this was just a marvelous tree, however, for Zhang Tie, the small tree was his best friend and close partner as it had accompanied him throughout his growth.


    "How long will it take the small tree to create the seed of flower of life?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    Enjoying the sound of the small tree, Heller closed his eyes until he heard Zhang Tie''s question. "It would take the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree 1 hour and 40 minutes to breed a seed of flower of life. It''s a seed, a fruit and the first subordinate of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree."


    "Oh, what''s the name of that strange plant species that the flower of life belongs to?"


    "You are familiar with it as you even registered your exclusive label with it." Heller looked serious.


    "You mean that strange plant species is called Manjusaka?" Zhang Tie widened his eyes.


    Heller then nodded, "You got it. It is!"


    "But isn''t it a strange flower of legend?"


    "The Manjusaka flower truly exists. As it is also a member of the strange plant species known as Manjusaka Karma. Just like the flower of life, the Manjusaka flower is born to enable people to seal their memories or memorize what happened. It could enable you to forget your sadness and comfort you."


    If Zhang Tie was told this by others, he probably wouldn''t believe them. But since it was told by Heller, Zhang Tie believed it deeply.


    Before the small tree bred its fruit, Zhang Tie checked his accumulated resources in the Castle of Black Iron by touching the basic attributes panel.


    ¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªLength: 1 Kruso


    ¡ª¡ªWidth: 1 Kruso


    ¡ª¡ªAura Values: 111598


    ¡ª¡ªMerit Values: 45127


    ¡ª¡ªBasic Energy Storage: 1529100


    ¡ª¡ªSpecial Output: Basic Reiki Yeast.


    Only a few aura values were left while only 1/3 of merit values were left. What made Zhang Tie a bit reassured was the basic energy storage. After consuming 1358000 values of basic energy storage, there were still more than a half left in the Castle of Black Iron. This indicated Zhang Tie¡¯s fruitful achievement when he traveled in the sea for consecutive 3 days.


    During the 3 days, Zhang Tie''s basic energy storage surged 3 times. This also indicated indirectly that all the payment was valuable.


    After checking these items, Zhang Tie checked the logs of merit values. He found that the merit values during this period mainly came from those sand scale fish that he employed people on Hidden Dragon Island to set free.


    Nowadays, the slave responsible for setting free sandscale fish on Hidden Dragon Island was Paul, the alternate muling of the Sun Dynasty whom Zhang Tie bought from Stars Viewing City.


    Without explanation, Zhang Tie just told Paul to buy some sandscale fish from the fish market on the wharf of Hidden Dragon Island before pouring them into the sea. Although Zhang Tie left Hidden Dragon Island, he didn''t arrange anyone to supervise Paul''s work every day. However, Zhang Tie could see Paul''s work every day in the Castle of Black Iron.


    If Paul set free sandscale fish, Zhang Tie''s merit values would increase on the same day. As it was Zhang Tie who spent money and employed people to set free the sandscale fish, the merit values all belonged to Zhang Tie like how he arranged people to set free earthworms in Blapei.


    By the way, Zhang Tie would like to test whether that person is reliable in an unconstrained environment. If that person could finish this job very meticulously even in such a scenario, it indicated that he was valuable. As was appointed between Zhang Tie and him, if that person could show his value to Zhang Tie, he will get Zhang Tie''s support for his revenge plan.


    The latest 2000 merit values came from Glomof whom Zhang Tie had just saved from the terrifying tentacle of that huge deep-sea monster. As an old Chinese saying went, "To save a person is better than building a 7-story pagoda[1]"


    The small tree was still gleaming while playing a nice score of music with its shaking leaves. Zhang Tie then left the house together with Heller and walked towards the small tree.


    It would take some time for the seed of flower of life to come into being. Zhang Tie then planned to eat fruits during this period. Before eating fruits, Zhang Tie walked around the small tree. When he caught sight of the trouble-reappearance fruit, Zhang Tie threw his glance at Heller.


    Of course, Heller knew what Zhang Tie wanted to know.


    "Right, this trouble-reappearance fruit contains the scene where Castle Lord fought that huge deep-sea monster. The very living being that could be activated inside is the huge deep-sea monster. You''ve had good fortune today. Closely after Star and Moon Sword Sage opened its head, your bolt directly penetrated through that wound on the monster''s head and gave it a fatal strike. Without your strike, that huge deep-sea monster could still stand for 2 minutes before dying.


    "Ha...ha..." Zhang Tie became excited as he burst out laughing. What a fortune! He only thought about sealing the huge deep-sea monster in the trouble-reappearance fruit at that time. He hadn''t imagined that he was that lucky and had really made it.


    Zhang Tie could not obtain such a precious chance to fight a huge deep-sea monster at sea anymore no matter how much he spent. Although Zhang Tie knew that he had rare chance to fight the huge deep-sea monster with his current ability, he still wanted to strengthen his swimming and fighting skills through fighting such an unrivaled opponent.


    Additionally, after killing that huge deep-sea monster, he saw a huge passenger liner in the trouble-reappearance scene. With this super great toy, Zhang Tie could really enjoy himself.


    Zhang Tie was thinking about removing the huge deep-sea monster and replacing it with some sea serpents.


    Zhang Tie felt that it was his lucky day as so many achievements were waiting to place themselves before him.


    ...


    He then constantly digested 4 fruits under the small tree.


    Being affected by the 2 leakless fruits, the 16th surging point gradually turned from red to blue. With 2 barriers left, it would be ignited.


    After eating the new trouble-reappearance fruit, Zhang Tie gained a new scene and an unrivaled opponent.


    After eating that fruit of redemption¡ª¡ªgratitude from sandscale fish, Zhang Tie''s sensitivity to cold and water flows rose by 8.7% respectively, which was over 12 times greater than that of commoners respectively.


    This made Zhang Tie more curious. After setting free earthworms, he gained the preliminary recovery body. Zhang Tie really wanted to discover how his body had evolved after setting free so many sandscale fish.


    After eating 4 fruits, Zhang Tie went off the stages from that high platform where the small tree was while Heller was waiting for him to the side.


    The fruit of flower of life was still hanging over the small tree. It seemed to be growing fast while the small tree was still gleaming with swaying leaves.


    "How long has it been?"


    "It only took Castle Lord 1 hour and 20 minutes to digest the 4 fruits. 20 minutes are left before the fruit of the flower of life grows ripe." Heller watched that latest fruit with an eager look.


    Zhang Tie then recalled a question that he had considered outside the Castle of Black Iron just now.


    "Do we have a place to store food in here?"


    "Yes, we have. But it''s almost fully loaded. I''m thinking about having Agan to build another warhouse to store food these days. The daily grains supply in Castle of Black Iron could support the daily demands of one hundred. We need to solve the problem of lack of laborers and arable land."


    "That huge deep-sea monster is still floating at sea. What a huge piece of flesh! Its body weighed at least thousands of tons. I was told that its flesh was a top food material. It would be a great waste to leave it floating at sea in this way. Do you have any method to deal with it?"


    Zhang Tie asked this purely out of his sense of crisis. Zhang Tie knew that when the holy war broke out in the future, food would be in urgent demand. Since the event in Heavens Cold City, the prices of grains across Waii Sub-Continent had been surging rapidly. Everybody had a sense of urgency as they increased their stockpiles. Now that Zhang Tie knew that food would be very scarce in the future, he would feel uncomfortable by just leaving it flowing away at sea based on his personality. Given Zhang Tie''s family background in Blackhot City, he would definitely treat it as a great waste if he just watched such a big piece of flesh floated away.


    "You want to bring the flesh of huge deep-sea monster inside?" Heller narrowed his eyes. From his look, Heller seemed to be interested in Zhang Tie''s thought.


    "Right. If it was on land, I might not able to bring it inside; but, as it is at sea, I could bring it in. However, the problem is how to store them?" Zhang Tie scratched his head, "If we just put it in Castle of Black Iron, it would go bad in only a couple of days!"


    "I don''t think it would definitely go bad in Castle of Black Iron. Have you forgotten about the space and topographical transformation function?"


    Being reminded, Zhang Tie instantly thought up something as he looked at Heller in surprise. "You mean..."


    "We can enlarge the northern area of Castle of Black Iron. Why not directly create a huge ice cave underground to store those flesh? Additionally, reproduction and growth of microbes and bacteria which can cause food go bad will be restrained in the icy cave. In this way, we can store the flesh underground as long as possible..."


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie directly jumped up from the ground.


    "You will be responsible for building an underground ice cave and breeding the flower of life. For the ice cave, the larger, the better. I have to go out to get the flesh back now!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie left the Castle of Black Iron immediately...


    [1] Pagoda is a kind of Buddhism tower.

 399 Collect the Booty

    Chapter 399: Collect the Booty


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    In the evening, the wind grew heavier with the surging waves. It became colder outside. Sailors were busy repairing the damaged facilities. As the greater part of the metal guardrail on the left shipboard of Zhang Tie''s floor had been destroyed, sailors were knotting nets with ropes in case that someone fell into the sea.


    Given the low temperature of the sea in the Oro Strait, if commoners were to fall in, even if they could swim, they would be freeze to death in only 5 minutes.


    After being anchored, the Polar Light was bumpier than when it was in motion. Therefore, sailors were very careful on deck.


    Tonight, the stars were sparse while it was pitch dark over the sea. The fluorescent lamps hanging on the shipboards could only illuminate the area within 10-odd meters. The surging waves were blocking people''s vision like the rising and falling of large black mountains.


    Certainly, darkness only affected commoners. For Zhang Tie, after activating his night vision, he found nothing different between the day and night. The only difference was one layer of golden light when he activated his dark vision.


    Now, Zhang Tie could not see the dead body of the huge deep-sea monster and its 100-m long tentacles that were floating not too far from Polar Light several hours ago. Due to the heavy northeast wind and the surging waves, it had been blown away.


    Zhang Tie came downstairs to the bottom deck from the left side of the top deck.


    At this moment, a manager was surrounded by 50-60 infuriated passengers at the entrance of the bottom deck. It took Zhang Tie a lot of effort to push through the crowd.


    It was really noisy over there. Many people were screaming loudly while some were weeping.


    "I''ll say it again. No insurance service is provided for any ship that heading for the Ice and Snow Wildness from Saint Herner Island. No business group or insurance company would be able to guarantee the safety of ships and passengers on this most dangerous route. This custom remains unchanged for hundreds of years. For those passengers who were killed, we can only give our condolences. We can''t compensate them anything they''ve encountered. Your shipping tickets don''t include insurance fee. You can see it at the ticketing center."


    The manager was explaining loudly which was soon drowned by furious voices.


    Zhang Tie could not give any help to the relatives and friends of those victims, neither was it related to him. Therefore, he just kept walking downstairs. Those above floor 3 were common cabins while those below floor 3 were economy class cabins and cargo cabins.


    The hull below floor 3 was also attacked by the huge deep-sea monster. Thankfully, the damage wasn''t as severe as that above floor 3.


    It was the same as above, the bottom area was also very noisy. A great number of sailors were gathering in the center of the ship as they were pulling up a 50-m long tentacle by tower cranes, steel ropes, and pulley blocks.


    Among those tentacles, this one was the shortest as it was only half of its full length even though Zhang Tie found that it still weighed over 100 tons.


    Many people living in economy class cabins were watching them work. Some even gave them a hand. Therefore, over 100 people were busy working over there.


    A fat man in a chief''s uniform was commanding them.


    "Take care, guys. The huge deep-sea monster''s flesh is a top seafood ingredient. It''s much more delicious than any octopus you''ve ever eaten. Those rich people prefer to spend much money on this. What a pity! Our ship is already at full capacity. Even if it wasn''t, it would go bad in a couple of days on the ship. If we can move its body back, we will be rich!"


    "Chief Hegel. Is the flesh of this huge deep-sea monster really as delicious as you''ve said?" A sailor asked loudly.


    "Of course!" The fat chief said proudly. "Although its tentacle is sturdy, it tastes as tender and fresh as a sea cucumber. Additionally, the flesh of this huge deep-sea monster is high in nutritional value. Additionally, its qi and blood are very beneficial to people''s health. If one always eat the flesh of huge deep-sea monster, one could be very robust. I was told that some powerhouses in Slav tribes like Mr. Samaranth would regularly hunt for huge deep-sea monsters and cultivate powerful fighters with the flesh of huge deep-sea monsters!"


    "Haha, we will have yummy food!"


    "Come on boys! I will show you my skills on roasting sea monster, trust me, you will bite off your tongues..." The chief waved his hands. Hearing this, all the sailors cheered up and started to work harder.


    Hearing Hegel''s words, Zhang Tie made up his mind. If he just let the food float away in front of him, it was no different than committing a crime.


    The engine room was under the deck at the stern of the Polar Light. It was so noisy inside the room while the air was filled with stimulating smell of turpentine. Therefore, few people would usually come here, especial in the evening. There were only 2 dim fluorescent lamps at the stern, which reluctantly illuminated a small piece of area, leaving the surroundings shrouded in darkness. Almost no one was close to the deck and shipboards at the stern. Surging waves collided against the stern as sprays flew over the shipboards and fell onto the deck.


    Zhang Tie came to the stern. After checking that nobody was there, he directly jumped into the sea without making a sound.


    The moment Zhang Tie dived into the sea, he had activated a rune of the rapid moving skill. Meanwhile, he felt an undercurrent being pushed by the powerful north wind.


    In a small range, when the undercurrent flew southwards, some other undercurrents were flowing oppositely as compensation.


    Although it was an interesting circulation of water flow in such a small range, Zhang Tie knew that in a wider range, being opposite to the most famous flow driven by north wind was an ocean current that moved northwards.


    The ocean currents here also formed a system. Under big ocean currents, there were medium-sized ocean currents, under these there were also small undercurrents. Under small undercurrents, there were smaller ones. Although of different sizes, these ocean currents formed an organic entity as they were linked with each other. Additionally, they had the same structure. Ocean currents that lasted thousands of miles and small undercurrents behind Zhang Tie both presented the same feature.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had a strange feeling. He thought about the Taichi pattern, which was from traditional Chinese culture. Zhang Tie felt that the circulating ocean currents formed a perfect Taichi pattern. Additionally, such circulation presented weird geometrically fractal laws.


    ''Some secrets seems to be hidden inside.'' some thoughts flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind.


    However, when Zhang Tie wanted to considerate it, he lost his inspirations at once. Therefore, he could only give up temporarily.


    Although Zhang Tie was wearing a thin piece of cloth, he could still freely move like a fish. After slightly sensing the surrounding sea flows, Zhang Tie turned around and dived towards the south.


    The huge deep-sea monster was a territorial creature. Generally, no other sharp monster would be seen within hundreds of miles from a huge deep-sea monster. Therefore, Zhang Tie was brave enough to dive in the sea at this moment.


    Although Zhang Tie was very confident about his great swimming speed in the sea and didn''t think it was possible to see any sea monster swimming faster than him, he didn''t know what surprise this mysterious ocean would bring him. Perhaps, this monster was a male while there was a female near it. Zhang Tie really didn''t want to meet another huge deep-sea monster.


    With this thought, Zhang Tie became alert as he started to look for the dead deep-sea monster.


    He started from the stern and searched towards the south in the shape of a "Z". Based on his intuition, Zhang Tie judged that the dead body was at most dozens of miles away at this moment. Additionally, the huge deep-sea monster and its tentacles were so great in size and length. If Zhang Tie kept searching towards the south along the wind and ocean current, he definitely wouldn''t miss it.


    Zhang Tie moved very fast. After leaving the Polar Light for several minutes, he had already been moving as fast as when he traveled in the sea several days ago. After eating a lot of fruits, his endurance had increased a bit. Gradually, Zhang Tie''s moving speed exceeded the maximum that he reached several days ago.


    Zhang Tie felt like he was driving a supercar in the sea while his body was that supercar. Similarly, the size of the sea flow that he absorbed into Castle of Black Iron with his spiritual energy was like an accelerator. It felt pretty cool. Additionally, with the help of his night vision, he could see this colorful underwater world. The whole ocean was golden while various fishes and shrimps and other marine life passed by him.


    Although there were heavy winds and surging waves over the sea, it was relatively peaceful underwater.


    Only after swimming a couple of minutes in the sea, Zhang Tie had already heard Heller''s voice in his mind¡ª¡ªSpace and Topographical Transformation of Castle of Black Iron is completed.


    After using up the basic energy storage, merit values and aura values of Castle of Black Iron, Heller had already built an ice cave which was about 600 m in length and over 100 m in width and height.


    Because this ice cave was purely for storing food, Heller adopted regular geometrical patterns for this standard building. The whole ice cave was a square warehouse, the inside of which was divided into 21 rooms with different sizes. The temperature inside was kept lower than -18 degrees Celsius while the other indicators like moisture inside the ice cave were most suitable to store food.


    After faintly sensing it through the teleportation gate of the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie had known the situation inside.


    "Oh, do we need lots of energy to sustain this ice cave?" Zhang Tie asked Heller in his mind. After using the Castle of Black Iron so many times, Zhang Tie had learned one law¡ª¡ªthere''s no free lunch in this world.


    "It only requires a bit of energy. Because the Castle of Black Iron has a relatively closed and efficient energy circulating loop, absorption, and release of energy both happen in the Castle of Black Iron. I mean, you only need to throw some bricks into the Pool of Chaos. The energy converted from these bricks would enable this super large underground ice cave to run for hundreds of years with this low temperature. It is similar to the magma cave which was used to plant the fiery-flame red lotus."


    Hearing Heller''s explanation, Zhang Tie finally understood.


    Only after a few minutes, Zhang Tie had noticed a broken tentacle of the monster, half of which was floating on the sea.


    That tentacle was almost 100 m. Its thickest part was even greater than Zhang Tie''s height. With a glance, Zhang Tie knew it weighed at least hundreds of tons.


    Back on the continent, Zhang Tie could never bring such a huge thing into the Castle of Black Iron as he could not carry it at all. However, he had a much easier solution in the sea. After locking onto the huge tentacle with his spiritual energy, Zhang Tie grabbed one end of that huge tentacle. After that, he opened the teleportation channel of Castle of Black Iron and absorbed that huge tentacle in together with a great amount of seawater.


    Zhang Tie obtained this technique when he traveled in the sea several days ago. If an object could float in or on the sea, it meant that its weight equaled to its buoyancy. Although it was there, it was in a special state of zero weight for the Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, Zhang Tie could move it into the Castle of Black Iron using this method.


    When seawater poured into the Pool of Chaos, that huge tentacle was thrown into the largest room in the underground ice cave.


    As it was his first time to move such a long tentacle into the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie felt it a bit difficult to do despite his great physical strength.


    However, everything he did for this was worthwhile. The moment he thought that he could add hundreds of tons of flesh into the warehouse of the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie would be very energetic in doing that.


    In the next half an hour, Zhang Tie found another 2 broken tentacles and teleported them into the Castle using the same method.


    1 hour later, Zhang Tie saw the hill-like body of the huge deep-sea monster 70 km away to the south of the Polar Light.


    Some of its 8 tentacles had been broken while its body was covered with wounds caused by the Star and Moon Sword Sage. Only 5 tentacles of different lengths were left with it. Zhang Tie took a look at the huge deep-sea monster and found that its eyes had been dug out. Zhang Tie didn''t care whether its eyes had special functions, he only cared about its flesh.


    It was so huge. Even with the method that he used before, Zhang Tie could still hardly move it into the Castle of Black Iron. Staying in water, Zhang Tie thought about it for a short while before taking out of his double-carp swords. He firstly chopped off all the tentacles and teleported them into the Castle of Black Iron, leaving a hill of flesh.


    It was the most tiring thing that Zhang Tie had ever done since he was born. It took him 4 hours to dismember the huge deep-sea monster and move them into the Castle of Black Iron.


    After doing this, Zhang Tie was exhausted. It was really a great test for Zhang Tie both spiritually and physically to teleport all of its flesh into the underground ice cave of the Castle of Black Iron.


    Commoners could never make it. During this process, the sharp and long double-carp swords helped Zhang Tie a lot. Holding the swords'' handle, as long as Zhang Tie released sword qi several meters in length, he would leave a huge wound on its body and tentacle. After circling around a tentacle with his double-carp swords, Zhang Tie would soon break it off. If it was a shorter sword, it would be much harder.


    After doing this, Zhang Tie felt pretty satisfied and safe. This time, Zhang Tie finally understood the old Chinese saying, "With grains in hand, one would not be flurried". ''Old Chinese sayings are really wise!'' Zhang Tie sighed inside. He estimated that the flesh as high as a hill in the Castle of Black Iron and would weigh at least 4000 tons. No matter how long the holy war would last, Zhang Tie knew that he wouldn''t worry about meat to eat anymore. This huge deep-sea monster would enable Zhang Tie, his family members, and friends to survive longer than 100 years.


    ''What a worthwhile trip!''


    Thinking of that trouble-reappearance fruit and the flesh as high as a hill, Zhang Tie burst into peals of laughter.


    ...


    After leaving the Polar Light more than 5 hours, Zhang Tie silently climbed back onto the deck of the Polar Light wearily from the gangway ladder. He was wet all over.


    When he was aboard, some passengers on the deck were almost stunned to death. They even took Zhang Tie as a monster in the legend. Otherwise, who could climb on board from the sea in the middle of the night? Pointing at Zhang Tie, one of them even stammered, "Who...who...who are you?"


    "Don''t worry, I''m also a passenger of this ship. I dropped off into the sea just now. Thankfully, I''m good at swimming and survived..." Zhang Tie said with a fearful look as he took off his shoes and poured out the sea water. After that, he lifted his shoes and returned to his own cabin in wet clothes under the amazing looks of those people, leaving them glaring at each other.


    When Zhang Tie was out of his cabin, he found Isle going out to the washroom. At the sight of Zhang Tie, Isle widened his eyes and seemed to be wake up instantly. "Peter, what are you doing?"


    "I dropped into the sea just now when I was sleepwalking, so I swam for a while in the sea." Zhang Tie smiled, revealing his white teeth. Before Isle replied, Zhang Tie had opened his door and entered his room. Closely after that, he shut up his door, making a loud sound, "bang".


    "Dropped into the sea while sleepwalking and swim back?" Looking at Zhang Tie''s door, Isle muttered, "Lunatic!"


    ...


    In the next 5 days, Zhang Tie ate food made of the flesh and tentacles of the huge deep-sea monster in the dining room. To tell the truth, it was really fresh, yummy and tender. Although it was not the staple food, after eating it for 5 days, Zhang Tie still liked it. Especially when it was cooked with spices, Zhang Tie felt it was pretty good.


    Thinking about his storage in the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie almost burst out laughing in his sleep.


    On the 6th day, the scarred Polar Light finally arrived at Eschyle City, the only city on Ice and Snow Wildness, one day later than the estimated time of arrival.


    During these days'' travel by ship, Zhang Tie was told that Eschyle meant "The place where my lord is coming!" in the local language, which was hilarious and strange.


    On August 2nd, 890th year of the Black Iron Calendar, it sprinkled in Eschyle, making the port hazy.


    After taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie left the deck of the Polar Light and landed on the Ice and Snow Wildness on foot after 8 days of bumpy travel on the sea.

 400 Being Tracked

    Chapter 400: Being Tracked


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    At the sight of Eschyle City, Zhang Tie began to recalled Kalur City. As the only city in the Ice and Snow Wildness, Eschyle was qualified to be a magnificent city.


    Eschyle was also a huge city being built against a mountain. Standing at the wharf, Zhang Tie caught sight of the tall grey city wall in the drizzling rain while facing the special wild feeling from the Ice and Snow Wildness.


    Besides being shocked by the size of Eschyle City, Zhang Tie also sensed something tough and wild.


    Those pioneers disembarked and rapidly left the wharf, boosting the taxi industry and animal-driven vehicles industry present in the city. Some high-end black cars were parked by the gangway. The moment some influential figures disembarked, they had rushed into the black cars. With a slight shake, those cars disappeared in the drizzling rain.


    Watching the Star and Moon Sword Sage leaving by car, Zhang Tie narrowed his eyes. "Can pieces of the Star of God truly be found in the underground of Haidela Glacial Cracks in the south of the Ice and Snow Wildness? If not, how come even legendary figures like Samaranth came here from afar?''


    Samaranth¡®s intention here had been spread all over Polar Light these days. Everybody believed that Samaranth was here for the pieces of the Star of God. Additionally, Samaranth didn''t deny it, which made more or less confirmed the speculations.


    Zhang Tie felt the turbulence of the airflow through the fine hair over his neck as he also heard the familiar footsteps. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t dodge, instead, he stood still and waited for the hand being placed on his shoulder.


    "Peter, how about going together with us?"


    Sam and Gerri carried a high pioneering luggage and wearing a waterproof cloak respectively as they walked out from behind Zhang Tie.


    "Are you going to Haidela Glacial Crack?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Of course. Aren''t all the pioneers coming here for the relics and the pieces of the Star of God?" Sam answered confidently.


    "I''m afraid that we cannot share any of the pieces of the Star of God, but if we can find the relics, we might able to earn a bit!" Gerri added.


    "I want to improve my fighting skills in some other places! As Haidela glacial crack is too boisterous now, I might not able to make any gains if I went there." Zhang Tie smiled. As he was already the target of Magical Snake Island, he didn''t want to bring dangers to his new friends.


    Additionally, he was not here for any relics or pieces of the Star of God at all. Although they were very attractive, especially the pieces of the Star of God which had many marvelous effects, Zhang Tie knew that he could not share any part of the pieces of the Star of God with his limited abilities. The moment he watched Samaranth''s great fighting strength, Zhang Tie had known that it was no different than seeking death by competing with Samaranth.


    ''If Samaranth is here, the other powerful ones who are as powerful as Samaranth might also come. If so, it''s not the business of a newbie like me. I''d better focus on forming seven-strength fruits. People can''t always survive on luck.'' Zhang Tie mumbled inside.


    "All right. Hope to see you later. We will go to Haidela Glacial Crack now. When we finish our task there, we will come back to Eschyle City and stay here for a long time. Sam and I both plan to breakthrough to LV 6 before leaving the Ice and Snow Wildness. Therefore we''ll be heading to some entrances in Ice and Snow Wildness leading to the underground world where we can form our battle qi! If you want to look for us, just go to the Pioneers'' Bar in Eschyle City!"


    "Wish you good luck. Oh, here are my gifts for you!" Saying this, Zhang Tie took out 2 vials of all-purpose medicament and gave 1 to each of them. Considering that the all-purpose medicament had been sold across the continent, Zhang Tie was not afraid of exposing his real status by gifting 2 vials of all-purpose medicament.


    "What''s this?" Sam and Gerri looked at them with curious looks.


    "All-purpose medicament gifted by my friend!"


    "All-purpose medicament?"


    The two young pioneers'' faces were filled with doubts. At the sight of their looks, Zhang Tie knew that they must not have heard about all-purpose medicament at all. For most of the pioneers, all-purpose medicament was still a bit far from their daily lives as a new medicament. If not Zhang Tie, they might have to wait several months before knowing this new medicament.


    "You can take it as a preliminary antidote. When you are wounded or need to increase your physical strength or when you catch a cold, you can use it!"


    "Hehe, sounds great. Its package is also not bad. Thanks, buddy!"


    Sam and Gerri then put away the medicament as they were still dubious about Zhang Tie''s words. They felt that Zhang Tie was boasting to a certain degree. However, considering Zhang Tie''s kindness, they extended their thanks to him.


    They then bid farewell at the wharf. Isle was still dealing with his goods and could not disembark at the moment. As Zhang Tie had said goodbye to him just now, he didn''t wait for him anymore.


    Most of the pioneers directly called a car nearby the wharf and left.


    Haidela Glacial Crack was in the south of the Ice and Snow Wildness on the map. It was in the wild 2000 km away to the northwest of Eschyle City. There was a small town called Sciatta about 300 km away to the west of Eschyle City. It was the farthest place that wheeled vehicles could reach in Eschyle City.


    All the pioneers who dreamt of wealth in the Haidela Glacial Crack chose Sciatta as their first destination after they reached the Ice and Snow Wildness. From Sciatta, they would then set out for the Haidela Glacial Crack based on their own abilities. As for whether they could survive their or not, it depended them.


    As it was only 300 km away from the wharf to Sciatta, if everything went smoothly, they would arrive at Sciatta at night.


    Zhang Tie watched Sam and Gerri and 10 more pioneers bargaining with a truck driver and getting on his old truck before disappearing rainwater the rain.


    Soon after Sam and Gerri left, the rain became heavier. The drizzling rainwater flowed down along Zhang Tie''s neck, causing him to shiver. After glancing at that high city wall of Eschyle, Zhang Tie tightened his waterproof cloak and left the wharf...


    ...


    5 minutes later, Zhang Tie queued up outside the south gate of assistance City. After being checked, he paid the entrance fee.


    Despite the heavy rain, all the people were still queuing up orderly outside the city gate because of the 2 lines of fully-armored robust soldiers standing outside the city gate who were all taller than 2.2 m.


    The soldiers were wearing eccentric iron bear-head helmets, making them very terrifying.


    A tall fighter was standing in front of Zhang Tie, who was also carrying a leather container which contained 6 metal javelins.


    The 2 lines of soldiers seemed to pay special attention to this person who was carrying a container of metal javelins. Zhang Tie noticed that many people among the soldiers had already focused on this fighter since the guy queued up.


    Feeling this, the fighter became a bit nervous as he glanced at himself several times to see whether something was not wrong.


    Compared to that fighter who was carrying a container of javelins, Zhang Tie was in a worse situation. The moment he left the Polar Light, Zhang Tie had found that he was watched by someone. The man kept spying on him all the way from the harbor to their present desination. Although hiding among the crowd, the spy still didn''t move his eyes away from Zhang Tie.


    As he was queuing up, Zhang Tie touched the ring with common look on his fourth left finger. If not for this ring, Zhang Tie might not have realized that he was spied on by someone the moment he disembarked.


    The finger ring was gifted by Olina when he left Saint Herner Island. It was a rare rune equipment which was called the "Ring of Awareness".


    2 rune effects were added onto the Ring of Awareness¡ª¡ªan 8% increase of Zhang Tie''s sensing ability, gaze alert. As long as someone looked at Zhang Tie with bad intentions for over 20 seconds from behind, this ring would warn Zhang Tie.


    Few people would gaze at someone from behind for over 20 seconds, strange or not. Additionally, people''s eyesight was a media possesed special spiritual energy which could carry one''s emotions and mentality. With this ability, the ring could receive and sense this spiritual energy thrown from others before warning the one being gazed at.


    This was a very rare effect, which created an invisible security blanket over Zhang Tie. With this effect, Zhang Tie knew that this rune ring must be very precious. Rune equipment like this one which could grant the wearer with some special ability were always rare goods which could even be hardly seen in auction houses.


    When he left the dock, Zhang Tie''s finger with the Ring of Awareness felt numb. He then realized that he was spied on. The person in question was very skilled and knew how to hide in different situations. If not for the ring, Zhang Tie wouldn''t even notice he was being spied on at all.


    However, after being warned by his finger ring, Zhang Tie sped up. When he arrived at the city gate, he finally found out who was following him.


    With a wisp of cold smile over his mouth corners, Zhang Tie realized that the spy must be from Magical Snake Island. If not, how could such a trivial person like him be followed by someone the moment he landed in the Ice and Snow Wildness?


    ''Based on the power of Magical Snake Island, it''s normal for them to arrange some assistance and intelligence centers in Ice and Snow Wildness. When he was on the Polar Light, Magical Snake Island must have notified their people here through long-distance communication means. It''s not difficult for them to find a person who looks like me from the passengers.''


    Those b*stards!


    When it was that fighter''s turn to be checked, one head-like guy walked towards him from the 2 lines of soldiers and glanced at him carefully.


    "Is it your 1st time here?" The man''s voice sounded oppressive yet kind, which was in sharp contrast to his personality. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, this guy should roar as he might always do.


    "Yes!" That fighter replied.


    "What are you here for?"


    "I was told an animal tide occurred somewhere in the Ice and Snow Wildness, therefore, I came here to improve my fighting skills and make some money!"


    "Hmm, you can enter for free!¡® After glancing at the fighter for a short while, the head waved his hands.


    That fighter was stunned for a second. Holding a silver coin, he didn''t know whether he should put it inside the box in front of him, "You mean...I don''t need to pay the entrance fee?"


    "Right. All the warriors with javelins would enter Eschyle City for free from then on. This rule was made several days ago!"


    Receiving the confirmation, the fighter revealed a big smile as he said, "Thanks!". Anyone in any place when receiving such special treatment would be very happy.


    "If you are confident about your throwing skill, you can attend the eagles hunting meeting on Ural Lake a few days later. The winner would win a set of rune javelins made of aerolite!" Before that fighter left, the head added.


    Hearing this, the fighter turned around with his eyes widely opened as he forcefully swallowed his saliva, "What? You mean a set of rune javelins made of aerolite?


    "Right."


    "Anybody could attend it?"


    "Yes, anybody, regardless of age and race. If you think you are able to do that, you can attend it. Additionally, I was told that the winner might even gain the favor of the holy virgins of the tribes in the Ice and Snow Wildness!"


    Hearing this, even Zhang Tie had realized that the head was urging him to attend it. However, that fighter only took a deep breath twice before nodded and left with his container. He seemed to be contemplating participating.


    A set of rune javelins made of aerolite and being favored by holy virgins! The rewards were really attractive. Any man who liked money, women, privilege or sharp weapons would be restless as they heard this news.


    Even Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he was thinking about having a look at the throwing skills of those powerhouses.


    ''He said this special treatment was released a few days ago. But why? Ice and Snow Wildness is really boisterous these days!''


    However, Zhang Tie could never imagine that this might be related to him.


    When it was Zhang Tie''s turn. The head glanced at Zhang Tie with a frown as Zhang Tie''s boy-toy face and pioneering look made him disgusting.


    "You are a pioneer?"


    "Yes!"


    "4 silver coins!" The head replied in a cold voice.


    "What? why do you ask for 2 silver coins from others, someone free, yet 4 from me?" Zhang Tie rebutted loudly.


    "All the pioneers are here to make money. You only want to take away goods away from here without contributing nothing to us. How come that happens! Therefore, all the pioneers need to pay twice the entrance fee!" After saying this, that man waved his head impatiently while those surrounding soldiers were staring at Zhang Tie with malicious looks. It seemed that as long as Zhang Tie dared to jump up, they would beat him up.


    Zhang Tie then threw 4 silver coins into the box silently. After that, he sped into Eschyle City without even looking back.


    When Zhang Tie left the city gate, he heard someone muttering behind him, "Why such a young man prefer to be a pioneer? Are they dreaming of gold coins dropping off the sky, humph!"


    "These pioneers are no different than hyenas. When they find rotten meat, they would rush over there. However, when they meet troubles, they would escape as soon as possible. I should suggested to the lord that he should forbid these pioneers in from then on. These guys are nothing but crap!"


    "I don''t agree with you. These guys contribute to the improvement of maps. As so many remote areas are waiting for them to explore, they are not useless!"


    "If not, I truly think that we should not allow any pioneer to step in Ice and Snow Wildness..."


    "Mind our own business!"


    Zhang Tie then started to run. He looked like seeking a shelter. Therefore, he was far away from those comments very rapidly. After leaving 50 m away from the city gate, he saw another figure hurriedly following in through his eye corners.


    Zhang Tie then narrowed his eyes. At the sight of an alley not far from him, Zhang Tie directly flashed inside...


    In half a minute, another figure arrived and flashed into the same alley without any hesitation...


    It was a very heavy rain while the day turned gloomy!


    Rainwater fell down from the roof and eaves of the buildings on both sides of the alley, forming 2 fine waterfalls. The ground of the alleyway had been covered with 1 cm high rainwater.


    Zhang Tie was standing against the wall under the eaves in the corner. Narrowing his eyes, he watched the waterfalls pouring off the eaves over his head.


    With a lightning bolt across the sky, it turned white in a split second in front of him. After a few seconds, a series of booms drifted from afar. At the same time, with a series of rapid footsteps, a guy flashed in this alley...


    The moment he flashed in, he saw Zhang Tie while the latter was also watching him with a smile. The man''s face instantly changed as Zhang Tie launched his attack...


    Along with spraying raindrops, Zhang Tie moved as fast as lightning bolt...


    That person was also good at fighting. Zhang Tie estimated that he was about LV 6. However, compared to Zhang Tie, he was nothing but crap.


    Zhang Tie moved both in both a quick and fierce manner. Two seconds later, with a muffled harrumph, Zhang Tie had already grabbed his neck and fiercely threw his back onto a stone wall on one side of the alley.


    Feet in the air, that person sprouted a mouthful of blood when he was pounded onto the wall by Zhang Tie. After the blood fell into the rain water on the land, it was soon flushed away into the drainage system with swirls.


    Not until then did the thunder disappeared...


    "Don...don''t kill me, I...I will give you all of my money!" Before Zhang Tie asked, the guy had already started to explain in a flurried look like when a commoner met a bandit.


    Zhang Tie then replied with a smile, ''What a smart guy! He has long thought about fabricating a lie!''


    "Who else is in Eschyle besides you are from Magical Snake Island?" Zhang Tie put it bluntly.


    "I...I don''t know what are you talking about!" That man looked innocent until he heard "Magical Snake Island" when his pupils narrowed out of control.


    Although people could tell a lie through mouth, they could not cover it with their eyes. This was how Donder taught him before. If this guy had nothing to do with Magical Snake Island, when he heard Magical Snake Island, his pupils would remain unchanged or enlarge. Instead, his pupils narrowed, which meant that he was extremely nervous inside.


    "I''ll ask you one last last time. I don''t want to waste time on you. Who''s sent from Magical Snake Island to kill me? Tell me all of their names. Then, I will save your life. After that, you can escape from Eschyle without worrying about MSI''s revenge on you..." Zhang Tie said calmly.


    "I really don''t understand what are you talking about, my money..." Before he finished, he looked extremely anguished. He looked down as he saw Zhang Tie poking a dagger into his body from below his left armpit. He wanted to groan yet he couldn''t as his neck was being held by Zhang Tie. Before he closed his eyes, he glanced at Zhang Tie regretfully and amazingly. He didn''t seem to believe that Zhang Tie had seen through his trick, made up his mind, and mind and was that merciless.


    "I''ve told you that I don''t want to waste time on you!" Zhang Tie loosened his grip while that guy slid onto the ground like a pile of mud. At the same time, a lot of blood flew off his body and dyed the ground.


    Zhang Tie then quickly disappeared in the curtain of the heavy rain...


    Several minutes later, another person flashed into the alley. The moment he flashed in, he had caught sight of that guy being killed.


    "Damn it!" That person swore loudly...

 401 Good News

    Chapter 401: Good News


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    In Eschyle, buildings that were made of rocks or cut into mountains existed everywhere. This city was built on the mountain. As a result, the most common bluish white dolerites became the primary raw material of all the buildings here. Many people even directly chose to build buildings on huge dolerites.


    Those buildings ranged from small roadside stores with a size of 10m high to skyscrapers 100 m in height which rested between the mountain bodies.


    Being different from those made of reinforced bars and cement, these buildings cut from rocks maintained the exterior lines of rocks or mountains. If not for the doors and windows, people would barely be able to distinguish them from common rocks or mountain bodies.


    With these buildings, this city was filled with a wild and exotic ambiance.


    Corresponding to this exotic motif, there was a wild feeling to the heavy business atmosphere and barbaric civilization. On the roadsides, people could see brands of firms and commercial organizations everywhere. Even though it was raining heavily, people carrying various weapons could still be seen all over the streets. Most of the men on the streets would carry a very remarkable weapon. Even women and kids were carrying sabers and swords. It was really Zhang Tie''s first time seeing such a city.


    In the heavy rain, Zhang Tie flashed through the relatively quieter alleys and streets. Being covered by the sound of raindrops, he didn''t catch anyone''s attention. It was too common for a traveler to move hurriedly in the rain to seek shelter in Eschyle City.


    Knowing that he had been tracked by people from Magical Snake Island, of course, Zhang Tie would not simply wander around without any target. Instead, he needed to find a place to change his appearance.


    In about 10 minutes, Zhang Tie had already found a barber shop in a relatively quieter and narrow street.


    Because of the heavy rain, there were few people on the street. As no guest was in the barber shop, the 40-odd-year old year barber was sitting inside the store lazily and watching the lines of raindrops flowing down the eaves with a glass window in front of him.


    When Zhang Tie came to the door of the barber shop, he shook off raindrops from his waterproof raincoat before walked inside.


    "Do you want to take shelter from the rain? Take a seat at your will. If you want to read a newspaper, take it from the table. But be warned, its three days old." At the sight of Zhang Tie coming in, the barber told him casually.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he undid his raincoat and his luggage before putting them behind the door, "I need a haircut!"


    "You need a haircut?" After glancing at Zhang Tie, the barber immediately became spirited. He then asked Zhang Tie to sit in front of the mirror as he covered a cloth over Zhang Tie.


    "Which hairstyle do you want?"


    "Just make it look common. But it should be remarkably different than my current look. I like new things!" Zhang Tie replied casually.


    "Okay!"


    Under the barber''s flying scissors, Zhang Tie''s hair became much shorter than before. Now, Zhang Tie looked much more energetic.


    After looking in the mirror, Zhang Tie nodded then asked, "Can you dye hair?"


    "Yes, I can!"


    "Dye my hair then!"


    "But your blonde hair looks nice!"


    "Hmm, I want a new fresh color." Zhang Tie scratched his head as he explained. People from Magical Snake Island might not have his photo. Additionally, fewer people knew him here. Therefore, it would be very difficult for people from Magical Snake Island to find him based on his look or hairstyle. According to his rich experience, after slightly changing a part of his look, he would easily avoid their spying.


    "You young people really like being distinctive. Tell me, which color do you want? My dye is made of the juice of special colorful peals and rootstocks from the Ice and Snow Wildness. It''ll cost 4 silver coins. Plus the hairdressing fee, you need to pay me 4 silver coins and 50 copper coins!"


    "No problem."


    "Which color do you want? Any color is available here!"


    Zhang Tie remembered that many people had beige hair. Therefore, he answered, "Beige!"


    "It might require 2 hours to dye your hair!"


    "No problem. I have enough time." Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he picked up a newspaper in front of the mirror. At the same time, the barber started to make dye for him.


    When the barber started to dye Zhang Tie''s hair, Zhang Tie saw an alarming title on the 4th page of the newspaper "Eschyle Daily"¡ª¡ª


    ¡ª¡ªAnimal Tide Threatened the Rhizotomists on Grey Hill, Felt Mongers Rubbed their Palms


    It had been a long time since the animal tide broke out last time. Packs of iron-teeth Hyenas also started to wander around the Grey Hill. In the latest 2 weeks, Adelais Business Group which owned the most of the medicine business of Grey Hill had lost 40 more rhizotomists because of the attack of iron-teeth hyenas. Some rhizotomists of other business groups on Grey Plain are also missing. According to the witnesses, people have found the tracks of the iron-teeth hyenas in the regions where those rhizotomists went missing. Some rhizotomists who survived claimed that they had been attacked or followed by iron-teeth hyenas. At the same time, it was also heard that some villages near the Grey Hill also have missing people and domestic animals.


    Because of the animal tide on Grey Hill, the prices of snow ginseng, golden knotweed, red grass, cinnabar and bloody caltrop started to rise in different degrees this week in Eschyle Herbs Trading Center. According to an insider of Eschyle Herbs Trading Center. Because of the changing continental situation recently, herbs trading grew hot in the Ice and Snow Wildness as the demands of various medicines started to increase greatly. If the animal tide on Grey Hill was not curbed, many business groups would suffer losses.


    However, when many people in the Eschyle Herbs Trading Center were worried about the animal tide, the felt mongers became excited. Because the fur of iron-teeth hyenas was always the best raw material of quality leather-armor and lining of senior helmets. In this month, the supply of its fur also surpassed its demand.


    Adelais Business Group was reaching an agreement with the Eschyle Herbs Trading Center and some felt mongers to recruit pioneers and free warriors to deal with the animal tide on Grey Hill. After killing an iron-teeth hyena, a pioneer or a free warrior could not only sell its fur to felt monger but also gained extra 6 silver coins from Eschyle Herbs Trading Center.


    The only condition was above LV 3.


    Those who''d like to apply for it could inquire it from Adelais Business Group on Iron Bear Avenue. The first batch of applicants would set off from Eschyle on August 13th.


    ...


    Zhang Tie skimmed over the news. Even the barber behind him had not noticed that Zhang Tie was reading the newspaper. After reading it, Zhang Tie looked unchanged yet his heart raced. ''Hah, good news from a good place! I''m craving the taste of Iron-teeth hyena seven-strength fruits. Animal tide! Heihei, I love it...''


    ...


    Two hours later, the rain stopped. With a new colorful hairstyle, Zhang Tie dropped 5 silver coins before left the barbershop. When he reached a hidden place, he put his water-proof raincoat, package and sleeping bag into Castle of Black Iron before he took out a common long sword and carried it.


    The status as a pioneer was just a nominal cover for him in the Ice and Snow Wildness. Now that this cover had been identified, if he remained a pioneer, he would put himself in a greater danger. Therefore, Zhang Tie had to change his mind.


    After doing this, Zhang Tie was only carrying a common long sword around his waist and looked like a young free warrior. After asking for the whereabouts of Iron Bear Avenue, he started to walk towards where the Adelais Business Group was located.


    Actually, it was very necessary for Zhang Tie to cover his status in these 2 hours. He had not noticed that it was 2 people who were tracing him, instead of 1. It was safer and more skilled to trace a person by 2 people. One was responsible for gazing at the target while the other was responsible for gazing at his partner. In this way, even if one was exposed, the other one could pass the news.


    After knowing that Zhang Tie had killed 2 LV 9 roundtable warriors of Magical Snake Island, the 2 spy who received the order to trace Zhang Tie chose this safer and more skilled way.


    After the second spy realized that he had lost the target, he became very flurried. Thinking of Magical Snake Island''s punishment to those who failed their tasks, he gritted his teeth and set Zhang Tie into a greater trouble...


    When the rain stopped, a team of policemen of Eschyle Police Office had arrived at the location in the alley where the guy was killed...

 402 Being Wanted Once Again

    Chapter 402: Being Wanted Once Again


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    As the only city in the Ice and Snow Wildness, Eschyle''s ruling system was as established as that of other cities. Additionally, its ruling system was very powerful as this city was also where the civilization collided with savagery in this age.


    Those powerful tribes in the Ice and Snow Wildness were formed by the righteous swordmen who came here for business from the Ewentra Archipelago and people from all walks of life with different ambitions. In order to rule this city, they had to establish a powerful ruling system. However, in the complete ruling system, the most powerful, threatening deterrent was obviously the deterrent of violence.


    As a deterrent to violence, the police station of Eschyle City was different from policemen in other places. Policemen of Eschyle City were also called bounty hunters. Few people who committed crimes in Eschyle City could escape from those bounty hunters. The complete Eschyle City and the port area were under the management of policemen of Eschyle City. After leaving this territory, even if one killed a person, one would have nothing to do with them.


    ...


    After the rain, the alley had been surrounded by yellow cordon while a team of policemen in black uniforms were investigating the spot of the murder. From the scene, they could conclude that the killer was definitely a powerhouse. After realizing that a LV 6 fighter was killed so easily, all the police felt they were facing a powerful enemy.


    "It''s tricky..." After squatting beside the dead body for a short while, a police in black boots finally waved his head as he stood up. "Someone grabbed his neck before stabbing him. The lethal wound was between the 5th and the 6th ribs..." After picking himself up, the police imitated Zhang Tie''s movement precisely. "The dagger was thrust through here, causing a 4 cm-long wound. However, it didn''t touch the bones inside his body. He moved very fast and smooth and almost reached his heart. The killer is experienced who must have killed a lot of people. Given from his fighting strength, he should be at least LV 8, or even LV 9!"


    Hearing these words, the head police frowned. "It''s truly chaotic in Eschyle City recently. As too many foreigners arrive here. Few of them are docile..." After saying this, the head police turned around and asked one person beside him. "You say you''ve seen his look and his name?"


    The guy being asked was that person who followed his partner in the alley.


    "He''s a pioneer that''s about 18 years old. After knowing that a ship would reach the harbor this morning, Perse and I then waited at the harbor. You know, sir, we jewelers like to cooperate with these pioneers who always sell us good things. Additionally, most of those pioneers coming to the Ice and Snow Wilderness these days would not enter Eschyle City. Therefore, Perse and I came here to try our fortune. We waited at the harbor for an entire morning..." As he explained, the person rolled his eyes.


    "Tell me the key part..." The police waved his hand impatiently.


    "Yes, sir; yes, sir..." The guy licked his lips. "That person disembarked the Polar Light. As he caught sight of Perse and me, he went directly towards us..."


    "Did you know each other at the beginning?"


    "Of course not. He had seen our gestures which indicated that we were here to purchase pieces of jewelry and valuables. That''s why he walked towards us. You know those pioneers are very smart. They always communicate with each other through a set of special gestures. After doing business with them for a long time, we also learned a bit."


    "What''s next?"


    "Then, he told Perse that he wanted to sell something. Being afraid of robbery, he requested for the trade to be performed downtown. When he walked towards us, I heard some pioneers call his name, Peter Hamplester."


    "A 17-year old pioneer call Peter?"


    "Right. At the beginning, given his young age, Perse and I didn''t take precautions against him. Therefore, I told Perse to trade with him downtown while I wanted to stay in the harbor for other business. Finally, all the passengers had left in several minutes. By then, the rain grew heavier. Therefore, I hurriedly ran into downtown to seek for Perse and take a look at the new item that he purchased. When I was queuing up outside the city gate, I caught sight of Perse and that person walking into this alley. At the moment, I predicted that something bad would happen. When I came here, I have seen Perse lying here. However, the killer had disappeared together with Perse''s 100-odd gold coins..."


    "You mean you''ve not seen the one killing your partner and you are the only witness?" As the police investigated, he slightly narrowed his eyes.


    "Erm...as you say!"


    "Do you remember what that person looked like?


    "Yes, I remember! If you can arrest him, I''d like to provide 1000 gold coins as a reward!"


    "According to your description, the pioneer called Peter could only be wanted as a criminal suspect. As to whether he had committed a crime, we need a further investigation. You go back to the police station together with police Posse. Remember to describe the suspect''s look carefully so that we could send the order for an arrest..." The head police waved his head as he arranged another person to bring him back to the police station.


    The moment that guy left, the police had moved one step forward, "The guy was lying. I found many problems in his words!"


    "I know, but at least one point was right. This incident is definitely related to that young pioneer called Peter. However, as so many foreigners come to Eschyle, we need time to look for him. No matter what, we can have a reward!"


    "But that guy might be tricky!"


    "Tricky?" The head police revealed a proud smile. "This is the Ice and Snow Wildness, the territory of the Slav bear tribes. Only figures like Samaranth could enjoy the word "tricky". That guy is just a small pioneer. Do you think he''s a knight? I don''t care whether he''s LV 9 or LV 10. As long as he dares to challenge the rules of the Ice and Snow Wildness, a great number of people would like to deal with him!"


    "I heard a news from Elzida Mountain..." After looking around and seeing nobody, that police lowered his voice.


    "I don''t know! At the beginning, Elzida said the man who could reunite our bear tribes would come here first the moment he arrived at Ice and Snow Wildness. Therefore, the IronBear tribe chose to build Eschyle City here. No Slav wanted to present wilderness to him when he arrived here. This legend has been spread in the Ice and Snow Wildness for several hundred years. However, nobody had seen that man at all! Go prepare the order for arrest! Oh, what''s the name of that pioneer being wanted?"


    "Peter Hamplester!"


    "Another one called Peter? What a sh*t name!" The head police tilted his mouth.


    "Yup!"


    ...


    The efficiency of the police station of Eschyle was very high. Only after 1 hour, an order for arrest with the image of "Peter Hamplester" had been distributed to all the other places of the city.


    It was a class 3 arrest order, which was mainly targeted at those criminal suspects whose crimes had not been confirmed. Therefore, the police requested to catch Zhang Tie alive, instead of "dead or alive" on a class 2 arrest order or "kill on sight" on a class 1 arrest order.


    The reward on the order for arrest was 1050 gold coins, 1000 of which were provided by the party of the victim while the remaining 50 were from the fixed subsidy of the security tax for such pernicious cases in Eschyle City. The person who provided a clue could gain 80% of the reward. If anyone who could catch the criminal suspect alive, he could gain 90% of the total reward. If he killed the criminal suspect before sending him to the police station, he could only gain 40% of the total amount.


    1050 gold coins was not the highest reward in the history of Eschyle, yet it was definitely not a small figure. The highest reward in the history of Eschyle was 1,250,000 gold coins on a class 1 arrest order. Rewards on arrest orders usually ranged from dozens of gold coins to hundreds of gold coins. Even seeing the least amount of reward, most of commoners and policemen across Eschyle would be excited with racing hearts and widening eyes.


    The one said he remembered Zhang Tie''s look truly told a lie. When he was in the yard, he only glanced at Zhang Tie once from afar. Although he could remember Zhang Tie''s back and clothes very clearly, he could not remember the details of Zhang Tie''s look at all. As a result, the image on the arrest order drawn by professional in the police station was only 70-80% similar to Zhang Tie''s previous image.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that he was wanted on the same day.


    In order to deal with the animal tide on the Grey Hill, Adelais Business Group employed many low-level warriors. The iron-teeth hyena was a low-level mutated wild beast which was only 1 level higher than a common wild wolf and hyena. Therefore, this wild beast''s attack power was limited. With a weapon, even a LV 3 warrior could deal with several iron-teeth hyenas at the same time. Additionally, as the reward was very low, fighters with higher levels would never do this job at all. Therefore, only those pioneers and warriors who were under LV 6 would do this job for that bit of money.


    Now, almost all the pioneers across the Ice and Snow Wildness were heading for the Hadela Glacial Crack, including some low-level fighters. As a result, the Adelais Business Group could employ fewer people to hunt iron-teeth hyenas on Grey Hill.


    If a person with a high level attended such a task, it would be too attractive. Therefore, in front of the recruitment point, Zhang Tie fabricated a lie.


    "I''m LV 4!"


    "Young man. I have to warn you that, iron-teeth hyenas are not that easily dealt with. We are recruiting people above LV 3. Although we provide you benefits, if you are killed, we will not compensate. Even if you are injured, the Adelais Business Group could only compensate you for some medical expenses"


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie stayed still for a second before revealed a smile, ''Do I look too young to be LV 4? Perhaps, for most commoners, a LV 4 person who looks 17 or 18 years old is truly too outstanding. If I keep staying in Blackhot City, I could at most reach LV 2. I''m afraid that only Glaze could reach LV 3.''


    "But I''m truly LV 4 now. Additionally, I''ve hunted dozens of wild wolves. I''m responsible for my decision!" Zhang Tie explained confidently.


    "Well, here''s the employment agreement. Press your fingerprint here!" After glancing at Zhang Tie for a short while, the director pushed a form in front of Zhang Tie.


    "Do I need to show my ID certificate?"


    "Hah, nobody needs that in the Ice and Snow Wildness!" The director responded with a sinister smile.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie pressed a fingerprint on that form without any hesitation.


    "Oh, what''s your name?"


    "Hoy!" Zhang Tie instantly fabricated another name, ''I''m here for seven-strength fruits. All the other things are not that important. As I don''t need to pay tax for a new name, neither do I want to be found by others, I will change myself completely then...''


    Zhang Tie soon realized his intelligence.


    After application, Zhang Tie was arranged to be placed in a small inn in downtown by the Adelais Business Group. He would set off next morning. Soon after he came to the inn, Zhang Tie had seen some police investigating guests in the inn with orders for arresting "Peter Hamplester"...

 403 The First Destination

    Chapter 403: The First Destination


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    The one standing together with the policemen was a director of the Adelais Business Group at this inn.


    "All the guests living here are warriors who were recruited recently by the Adelais Business Group to deal with the iron-teeth hyenas on Grey Hill, nobody would care about a LV 8 or LV 9 suspect at all." As the director accompanied the policemen to investigate the guests one by another, he kept explaining something to the policemen. When he passed by Zhang Tie, the director glanced at him, "Hoy, your room is No. 4 on the 2nd floor. Don''t run around after supper. The business group will distribute your equipment to you after supper. If you don''t get the proper weapon, don''t complain about others!"


    "Who''s he?" A policeman glanced over at Zhang Tie before he looked at the arrest order in his hand. Zhang Tie still looked a bit similar to the pioneer Peter Hamplester. Thankfully, Zhang Tie had changed his hairstyle and the color of his hair in a short period of time. Additionally, he was a free warrior instead of that pioneer. Therefore, the difference between his current look and that image on the arrest order was greater than the similarities.


    That policeman also looked a bit confused.


    "He''s Hoy, a LV 4 warrior recruited by our business group." The director of the Adelais Business Group at the inn explained. Even he had noticed the order for arrest, he still didn''t connect Zhang Tie who was going to Grey Hill to make money with the guy who was wanted with a reward of 1050 gold coins. "There are some more people upstairs, I will take you there."


    That police glanced over Zhang Tie''s face once again before he followed the director upstairs.


    Although Zhang Tie pretended to be calm, he still glanced at that order for arrest in the policemen''s hands out of curiosity. At the same time, his heart raced. It was really out of Zhang Tie''s wildest imagination that he could get into such trouble the moment he arrived at this place.


    If what he did to that guy in the alley was seen by someone by chance, it wasn''t strange for him to be a wanted man. Although the alley looked hidden, there were buildings on its two sides. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not sure whether someone had witnessed what happened from afar through the windows. If this truly happened, the witness might have reported this to the police.


    ''However, the name Peter Hamplester is on the arrest order, which indicates that the one who reported this to the police was nobody else but a member of Demon Snake Island in Eschyle City. Only these people know my previous name and what I''ve done. Additionally, it must be two people that followed me instead of one. The second spy must have followed the first one out view.


    Since they couldn''t find me themselves, the lackeys of Demon Snake Island finally chose to look for me with the power of the police after judging the current situation.


    Based on the image on the arrest order, it indicates that the lackeys of Demon Snake Island have not figured out my true look. At least for now. However, this situation is temporary. Even the lackeys of Demon Snake Island don''t have my photo at the present, they still have many ways such as inviting a professional artist to fix my image precisely based on others descriptions.


    If they dispatch someone to kill me, they must know how I look. As I''ve already met one guy from Demon Snake Island in Bluesea Castle, it''s very simple for that guy to describe my image. Being limited to communication means in this age, although Demon Snake Island could not pass my image here now, they could change the current situation in a couple of days.''


    Zhang Tie analyzed his current situation calmly and clearly before finally coming to the conclusion, ''I have to leave Eschyle City right now. If I stay here, I might encounter the killers from Demon Snake Island. Additionally, I have to escape from the police''s investigation, which would disrupt my plan.''


    Zhang Tie didn''t think that he was qualified to challenge the ruling orders of such a strange and powerful city despite being able to defeat most of common LV 9 fighters. Especially if he was taken advantage of by those b*stards from Magical Snake Island, it would be a needless sacrifice.


    ''Thankfully, the Adelais Business Group would organize them to leave Eschyle City tomorrow. I only need to stay here for half a day at most. It should be okay. If I set out tomorrow with the others, it would be less suspicious than leaving right now.''


    As he considered it, Zhang Tie entered room No. 4 on the second floor without any concern.


    Of course, the Adelais Business Group only arranged those low-level warriors to live in tidy and clean rooms instead of any high-end rooms. In room No. 4, besides Zhang Tie, there were another five people, who were all low-level warriors recruited by the Adelais Business Group whose ages varied from 20 to 30 years or so.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the room, he had smelt the stimulative odor of sweat and feet. Thankfully, born at the bottom of society in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie had adapted to such a bad environment as he had experienced group living several times.


    More than 80 low-level warriors recruited by the Adelais Business Group these couple of days were living in the inn. As they would set out tomorrow, they all returned to the inn tonight, causing it to be very boisterous.


    Zhang Tie only introduced his name to his partners in the room. He looked very indifferent while the others also replied him with a solemn look or a sinister smile. Therefore, Zhang Tie was soon pushed out by the other five people.


    Zhang Tie only smiled inside as this was exactly what he needed. The moment he arrived at Grey Hill, he would leave the Adelais Business Group as he didn''t want to bring his trouble and possible dangers to these commoners who had nothing to do with him. Zhang Tie knew that these people only wanted to make a few gold coins and it was not necessary for them to be involved in his own business.


    ...


    After supper, the Adelais Business Group finally distributed the equipment to these temporary "mercenaries".


    The alleged equipment was just a light leather armor and a great number of weapons.


    Zhang Tie found that the leather armor was only made of common material covered with iron sheets. It was worth 70-80 silver coins at most. Although there were so many weapons, each of their value was almost as same as that of this light leather armor. They could be used to deal with common wild beasts, however, their endurance and sharpness could not hurt fiercer animals. Huaiyuan Palace would not equip its troops with such weak weapons.


    "Each one could have one set of high-quality leather armor. Additionally, each of you could choose one quality weapon. These are from the Adelais Business Group. When you arrive at the Grey Hill, anyone among you could kill 50 iron-teeth hyenas would have this set of leather armor and the weapon that he has chosen as his best reward!"


    "Finally, those who perform excellently among you will have the chance to join the armored guards of the Adelais Business Group and become a member of the Adelais Business Group officially. Therefore, please don''t just take this task as a job. Instead, you should treat it as an opportunity to change your destiny. As long as you have the chance to be a member of the armored guards of the Adelais Business Group, you will gain a better training and a higher compensation. Besides that, you will have a higher social position. You will not be a small figure anymore. You will be a member of the Adelais Business Group."


    When they distributed weapons, the director of the Adelais Business Group boosted their morale while standing on the freight car being loaded with weapons. Hearing that they could choose weapons freely, a great number of people surged forward at once.


    Everybody rushed towards the heaviest and most valuable weapons. As a result, Zhang Tie was pushed aside. Finally, Zhang Tie only chose a common long spear.


    Early the next morning, Zhang Tie left Eschyle City together with the other warriors who were recruited by the Adelais Business Group in leather armor with a long javelin in hand.


    Seeing the truck exiting the city gate, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh inside.


    The truck kept moving towards the north. After 5-6 hours, it arrived in a small town at noon. The road in front was so poor that wheeled vehicles could not pass. Therefore, after a simple lunch, they started to head north on foot. When most of them could not hold their breath, a grey horizon finally appeared in front of them.


    ''Here''s the Grey Hill...''


    Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh. Watching the grey horizon, Zhang Tie was a bit excited about seeing so many seven-strength fruits from the iron-teeth hyenas. ''After traveling tens of thousands of miles since I left Huaiyuan Prefecture, I finally arrive at the first destination...


    That evening, everybody just camped in the wild.


    Early the next morning, when the director of the Adelais Business Group organized this new force to start hunting for iron-teeth hyenas, he couldn''t find Hoy. However, his leather armor and weapon were lying tidily in his tent. Besides, there was a brief note under a gold coin.


    Thanks for the kind treatment of the Adelais Business Group, this gold coin is for my lodging and travel fee.


    Reading this note, the director of Adelais Business Group scratched his head out of confusion...


    On the same morning, Dawson, the fighter from Demon Snake Island disembarked. After taking a deep breath, he grinned, exposing the gold-capped teeth all over his mouth.

 404 What A Freak!

    Chapter 404: What A Freak!


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    The wind blew over that undulant Grey Hill, creating green waves over the meadow. Everything seemed so quiet and harmonious.


    It was afternoon while the sun was hanging high. Some mature deer were wandering among those low buckthorns on one side of the meadow. Lowering their heads, they were enjoying the sweet and juicy berries on the buckthorns. For all the animals in the Ice and Snow Wilderness, this was the best season in of the year.


    The wind breezing over the meadow, causing the one-man high weeds to rustle. Meanwhile, the wind also brought other sounds and smells.


    Seemingly feeling something, some of the wild adult deer suddenly grew still as they raised their heads to look around. Soon after that, they started to escape out of panic.


    The moment they started to speed up, air-breaking sounds had arrived. In a split second, there were javelins inserted in the deer''s previous location. One of the deer''s neck had been pierced. With a wail, it fell to the ground.


    At this moment, 7-8 teenagers in leather hides rushed out of the meadow and started to chase after the other escaping deer.


    "This one is dead. Go chase the others..." The teenager in the front shouted loudly to guide the other teenagers. Receiving his orders, all the other teenagers passed by the dead deer. At the same time, they pulled out their own javelins from the ground before chasing after the escaping deer.


    These teenagers were only looked to be around 13 years old, however, they had grown very robust. This was especially so in running. In such a short distance, they had shown their amazing explosiveness and speed. As a result, the distance between the escaping adult deer and these teenagers remained unchanged.


    As they ran, those teenagers threw out their javelins. The javelins constantly inserted into the soil closely after those escaping deer, driving the deer to run faster. After throwing all of their javelins, they finally hit another one and caused it fall to the ground.


    However, the teenagers didn''t care about the prey. Instead, they kept chasing after the rest of the deer.


    The teenagers chased after the rest of the deer out of the buckthorns when the land in front became plain and vast at once. Therefore, the deer sped up, leaving the teenagers farther behind.


    However, besides javelins, those teenagers had another weapon¡ª¡ªstumbling stone.


    "Prepare the stumbling stone..." The head teenager shouted while all the rest took out their stumbling stones. As they kept running, they waved their stumbling stones rapidly.


    "Release!" Following after the head teenager''s stumbling stone, all the other teenagers threw out theirs.


    With great centrifugal forces, the stumbling stones flew towards the rest of the deer at speeds that were much faster than the teenager''s running speeds, causing strange sounds "wuh" in the air.


    Most of the stumbling stones failed, except one which wrapped around a deer''s legs, causing the deer fall to the ground.


    With cheers, the teenagers instantly surrounded the deer that was struggling to stand up. As was imagined, the teenagers immediately pressed it on the ground. At the same time, they tied its limbs with the rope of the stumbling stone.


    "Hah, a female one. We can bring it back to the village..." A teenager exclaimed happily, "We will have deer milk to drink!"


    "Choy, you are really my good elder brother. Why not tell your family members to marry Ada to me when she grows up? She''s 6 years old. I will wait for her another 10 years. All the villagers said she would grow up as a great beauty!" A teenager joked.


    "Piss off!" The teenager called Choy waved his fist. "My Ada will at least marry a bear-killing fighter. My dad said that. Don''t mention it until you become a bear-killing fighter!"


    Saying this, the boy called Choy glanced at the head teenager, Evan, the only one who could become a bear-killing fighter in the future in the eyes of the villagers.


    ''Do dad and mom want to marry Ada to Evan?'' The teenager called Choy came across a strange thought. No way! Even Evan and I are friends, I will not allow him to take Ada away from me. I will also practice hard to be a bear-killing fighter so that I could protect Ada!''


    As Ada''s elder brother, the moment Choy thought about that Ada might be taken away by a man, he would feel that something precious was taken away from. Therefore, in a split second, he made up his mind to become a powerful bear-killing fighter.


    "Prepare your things, we need to leave here as soon as possible. It''s too far away from the village." The teenager called Evan prepared his javelin as he looked around vigilantly, "We have to walk a long way before we came back to the village. We have to go back before dusk. We''d better not meet any iron-teeth hyenas on the way back..."


    After gaining a big harvest, they were all very happy. Hearing Evan''s words, they all quickened their movements. The teenager called Choy directly lifted the restrained deer onto his back. Although with over 50 kg on his body, he could still walk easily.


    They then returned the way they came. After rapidly killing the remaining two wounded deer, the teenagers prepared to go back to village jubilantly.


    This place was still over 30 km away from the village. If they sped up, they could return to the village before sunset.


    Because the soil and rocks here looked grey, from afar, this place was wholly grey except for those being covered with plants. Nobody knew why. There was only one old saying that the soil and rocks on the surface were buried underground over hundreds of millions of years. After the catastrophe, they turned upside down because of heavy geological movement.


    Because of this, the soil here contained some rare elements and nutrients. Therefore, some special plants with high value grew here. Although not being suitable for all plants, all the plants here were growing pretty well. Some mutated plants could also be discovered here.


    Additionally, even in winter, the surface temperature here was still higher than that in other places. Some plants that couldn''t grow in other places could still grow here, making it a marvelous place.


    Although this was not the only place in Ice and Snow Wilderness, as this place was only over 300 km away from Eschyle City, it had become the most famous warehouse of medicinal materials across the Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Take the buckthorns that the teenagers had passed when they chased after the deer as an example, even the roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits of common buckthorns were of high medicinal and edible value, not to mention the mutated hockthorns over the Grey Hill, which contained a higher value.


    Especially the buckthorn oil found here which was the best and the most expensive across the whole Waii Subcontinent. Besides being one of the most important exports of Eschyle, the buckthorn oil in the Ice and Snow Wilderness was almost the necessity in each pharmacist''s lab or warehouse of raw materials.


    While taking turns placing the prey on their backs, thee teenagers rapidly moved on the Grey Hill. In only 1 hour, they had walked 7-8 km. Those who didn''t carry the prey would hold weapons and guard the team at the front and the rear.


    Through long-term cooperation, these teenagers had been tacit with each other. They knew when to shift. Only Choy among the teenagers who had made his firm decision to be a bear-killing fighter just now stuck to carrying one deer back to the village independently. He treated it as a chance to train himself.


    As the old Chinese saying went¡ª¡ªWhat you are afraid of always happen. Only after 1 hour, thee teenagers had encountered the thing that they were concerned most¡ª¡ªthey were followed by a pack of iron-teeth hyenas.


    Iron-teeth hyenas were very sensitive to the scent of dead animals. They were known as sharks in the Ice and Snow Wilderness. An iron-teeth hyena could smell the blood of the other animals from 1-2 km away. They would finally find their prey from the source of the scent.


    At the beginning, there were only 5-6 iron-teeth hyenas behind them. Seeing those teenagers who were carrying their prey and their weapons, they kept a distance.


    These iron-teeth hyenas looked like dogs, however, their heads were shorter and rounder than that of common dogs. Besides this, they had wider skulls. Additionally, their forequarters were stronger than their hindquarters. These iron-teeth hyenas had coarser and harder body hair. With the help of brown spots over their bodies, they could easily hide in the background color of this Grey Hill.


    Certainly, if you treated them as common dogs, you would definitely be torn into pieces by them, leaving even not a single bone. It was no joke. Everybody across the Ice and Snow Wilderness knew that iron-teeth hyenas had powerful and sharp teeth are excel at grinding hard bones so that they could lick the marrows inside the bones.


    Marrow was the favorite food of iron-teeth hyenas.


    Each of the iron-teeth hyenas following those teenagers was longer than 1.6 m. They looked smart and fierce.


    After being chased by the iron-teeth hyenas for several minutes, Evan decisively sent an order.


    "Drop a deer!"


    Although they were reluctant, they quickly dropped a deer. This way, they could move faster. Meanwhile, the iron-teeth hyenas would slow down their speed.


    ''We''d better escape from these iron-teeth hyenas in this way.''


    After dropping one deer, each teenager prayed inside. Nobody knew the terrifying iron-teeth hyenas better than them.


    After dropping the deer, the teenagers started to run as another one took over that alive deer from Choy.


    Soon after they sped up, they had heard the terrifying sounds of bones being ground by teeth.


    The teenagers didn''t escape from the iron-teeth hyenas. After less than 5 minutes, more iron-teeth hyenas had appeared behind them. This time, the figure rose to 20-30, instead of 5.


    At the sight of so many iron-teeth hyenas, all the teenagers turned their faces. They knew that they were in big trouble. Iron-teeth hyenas liked to hunt in packs.


    This time, without Evan''s order, all the other teenagers had dropped the remaining two deer. After that, they used all their strength to run. Even Choy didn''t say anything at this moment. They all knew that life was the most important. If they lost the female deer, they could catch another one, but if they died, they would have nothing. The number of iron-teeth hyenas behind them had surpassed their ability to deal with.


    They hadn''t imagined that they would encounter the animal tide. They hadn''t ever seen so many iron-teeth hyenas near their village before. They were still in the regular hunting range of their village. Previously, when animal tide broke out, this area was still threatening to those wild beasts. However, so many iron-teeth hyenas were not only threatening them but the whole village.


    The teenagers tried their best to run towards the village. Being breathless, before they were 2 km away, they had seen those iron-teeth hyenas watching them with ferocious eyes behind them...


    People could never run as fast as iron-teeth hyenas in the wild. If they kept running, they would finally get tired and have their last bit of energy exhausted.


    The iron-teeth hyenas behind them had started to scatter as they intended to surround the teenagers from both sides.


    At the sight of a mountain cliff in front of them, Evan shouted at once, "Gather over there, we have to get into formation"


    Several minutes later, the teenagers stood close to each other as they leaned against the mountain cliff. They were holding their weapons tightly and waiting for the great pack of iron-teeth hyenas to surround them up.


    Watching those iron-teeth hyenas, all the teenagers'' faces turned pale. They knew that they would finally be killed this time. The only concern was that how many iron-teeth hyenas they could kill before death.


    "Choy, you can consider it, I mean it!" The teenager who joked with Choy over 1 hour ago added at this critical moment.


    "F*ck, can you talk about it later?" Choy glared at the b*stard.


    "Sh*t up!" Evan growled.


    When those iron-teeth hyenas moved closer to them, the teenagers'' palms had been full of sweat. At this moment, they heard an obviously surprising voice.


    "Wow, so many babies, you are all mine..."


    This voice with a great surprise was like from a grave robber, who exclaimed as he opened a coffin and watched a great pile of treasures inside or a traveler who had been in a desert so long time finally saw a vital oasis.


    Hearing this voice, Evan and Choy both became stunned. At this scene, this voice was truly dumbfounding. What was more confusing was the word "babies"! ''Where are the babies? The iron-teeth hyenas or something else?''


    As they thought they were suffering from an acousma, they heard another euphonious sound, which was very like a buzz or a faintly jarring sound of friction between grinding gears.


    Along with this sound, a spray of sprouting blood happened to one of the iron-teeth hyenas. At the same time, its body was penetrated through with a metal bolt, causing a huge hole in its body.


    The metal bolt was so powerful. After penetrating through that iron-teeth hyena, it was completely inserted into the ground. Watching such a great strength, the teenagers were dumbfounded.


    From then on, the teenagers started to hear increasingly denser buzzing sounds, about 3-4 times per second. Each buzz would cause a spray of sprouting blood on one of those iron-teeth hyenas. The iron-teeth hyenas then fell to the ground one after the other with blood and flesh exposed all over.


    What happened just now was really too fast. Not to mention these teenagers, even those iron-teeth hyenas hadn''t realized what happened. Before the other iron-teeth hyenas realized what was happening, 17-18 of them had been killed...


    The teenagers watched one guy rushing down the hill from afar, who was holding a huge crossbow. They had not seen such a strange crossbow at all. The eccentric buzzing noises were coming from that crossbow.


    As he rushed towards them, the guy kept shooting those iron-teeth hyenas, one bolt for one head. What he did really scared the teenagers. In a blink of an eye, a few more iron-teeth hyenas had been killed. As a result, the remaining iron-teeth hyenas who were gazing at the teenagers just now instantly turned around to escape. However, the man seemed as if he hadn''t seen the teenagers at all. Without greeting them, he directly chased after the iron-teeth hyenas with the strange crossbow.


    In a wink, some more sprays of blood were seen on the escaping iron-teeth hyenas.


    "Babies, stop..." That man kept shouting at the same time...


    The teenagers then exchanged glanced at each other, "What a strange person..."

 405 Partners

    Chapter 405: Partners


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    A couple of minutes later, Zhang Tie carried that heavy crossbow back to the place of these teenagers with a big smile.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt like a ferocious beast seeing a grand meal or like a whoremaster seeing the brand prostitute in a brothel. He was so happy that he even wanted to hum a song.


    This time, he killed the whole pack of 28 iron-teeth hyenas. Plus those he killed yesterday and this morning, he could get one more ripe iron-teeth hyena''s seven-strength fruit on the small tree. The moment he thought that he could eat another seven-strength fruit, Zhang Tie felt so cold taking a bath in the ice spring in hot summer.


    He made the right choice to be here. Only arriving here after 3 days, he was going to eat the 2nd seven-strength fruit.


    Watching him smile, those teenagers felt very strange. Therefore, as Zhang Tie walked towards them, they all gazed at him nervously instead of being relaxed after the death of those iron-teeth hyenas.


    As they were in the wild, encountering such a weird person, all the teenagers felt flurried inside. Now that he could kill all the 20-30 iron-teeth hyenas in a wink with that terrifying weapon, he could also easily kill them.


    Nobody knew whether he was their enemy or a friend.


    When Zhang Tie was closer to them, he noticed them panic. He then knew what they were concerned about, Zhang Tie was not angry about that. If he was one of those teenagers, he would also be alert in that case. As these teenagers were born in Ice and Snow Wildness, they were used to be hostile against everything. Therefore, it was normal for them to be precocious. This also explained why they came out for hunting at such an earlier age.


    After placing that heavy crossbow on the ground with its muzzle against the ground, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "Are you all right?"


    Watching this, these teenagers finally looked reassured.


    "Yes. Thanks for your help. We are okay! If not for you, we might be in a great danger!" Evan replied.


    "It''s easy. I was just doing that by the way!" After saying this, Zhang Tie lowered his body and pulled one bloody bolt out of the ground. After cleaning off the mud and blood stains, he put the bolt back into one of his bolt containers over his waist.


    When Zhang Tie collected his own metal bolts, those teenagers exchanged glances with each other before came close to help him. In a short while, they had helped Zhang Tie collect all the metal bolts.


    Those metal bolts were very heavy. Although having been used by Zhang Tie, they still looked like new ones after being cleaned as no scratch could be seen on them. All the teenagers were amazed about this.


    "Oh, can we know your name?" After helping him collect all the bolts, Evan courageously asked Zhang Tie, "As you''ve saved us, we will have to pay you back!"


    Finding these teenagers interesting, Zhang Tie then replied, "I''m Peter, what about you?"


    "I''m Evan!"


    "I''m Choy!"


    "I''m Tavnov!"


    "I''m Zoan!"


    ...


    All the 8 teenagers then started to introduce themselves while raising their chests.


    After introducing themselves, everybody then felt harmonious with each other''s atmosphere. At this moment, those teenagers were not cautious about Zhang Tie anymore. After all, seeing Zhang Tie''s fighting strength, if he wanted to kill them, he didn''t even need to talk so much with them. Additionally, they didn''t think that they were valuable to Zhang Tie.


    After taking the crossbow from ground, Zhang Tie looked at the weather and asked, "Evan, where do you live?"


    "Right in the Kurgan village over 10 km away!"


    Zhang Tie knew that the village that they referred to was the smallest tribe on Ice and Snow Wildness which was only surrounded by barriers and a cob wall. Except for Eschyle, above 99% of people on Ice and Snow Wildness were living in the form of tribes. In this place, tribes were divided into different ranks. The tribe with the highest rank had a population of over a million of those tribes that can be hung as the tribal totems. The alleged Kurgan village was actually a small Slav tribe which only contained less than 2000 people.


    "As there are some dangers in the wild, I''m not sure whether you will meet other iron-teeth hyenas on your way back. So I decide to accompany you back in case of emergency!"


    Hearing this, all the teenagers felt that Zhang Tie was a kind person.


    "Erm...do you need these iron-teeth hyenas?" One teenager named Basa hesitated a moment, asked Zhang Tie while pointing at those iron-teeth hyenas on the ground.


    "I don''t need them. If you can take them back home, I will gift them to you!" Zhang Tie replied generously. He truly didn''t need these iron-teeth hyenas. He had tried to eat their meat 2 days ago. Although they were edible, their meat was too fishy and oily that made Zhang Tie disgusted even now.


    As for their furs, even Zhang Tie was frugal, he would not choose to exchange those furs for only a few silver coins from those felt mongers. At this time, Zhang Tie was also not sure whether the message that he had left Eschyle after changing the name was exposed or not. After all, besides those people from Magical Snake Island, even that barber who had cut his hair in Eschyle might also leak his trace. It would be very risky for him to contact any business group in Eschyle at this moment. After all, over 1000 gold coins was not a small amount for many people.


    After a round of choices, each teenager finally selected one iron-teeth hyena respectively before stepped on the way back. Zhang Tie just stayed with them as a bodyguard.


    As they walked, they started to chat with Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie also learned much information about the Grey Hill.


    "Peter, you''re so sharp. Are you a bear-killing fighter from Eschyle City to deal with the animal tide here?" Choy peeped at Zhang Tie''s terrifying metal crossbow as he asked with a special brilliance in his eyes.


    On the way back, all the teenagers kept staring at Zhang Tie''s weapon. It was really their first time to see such a sharp weapon. Being different from common metal crossbows that they used to see, Zhang Tie''s weapons could release fire with great destructive force. The moment its bolt touched an iron-teeth hyena, it would penetrate through its body at once. Furthermore, the metal bolts that matched this crossbow were also not common.


    "I''m not a bear-killing fighter!" Zhang Tie waved his head. He knew what did Choy mean by bear-killing fighter. They were a special Slav fighter on Ice and Snow Wildness. All the bear-killing fighters were above LV 6; however, not all the fighters above LV 6 were bear-killing fighters. The key point to be a bear-killing fighter was to master the maniac ability to increase his fighting strength in a short time. With the help of the maniac ability, a common fighter could increase his fighting strength greatly in a short time so that a LV 6 bear-killing fighter might defeat a common LV 7 fighter or a LV 7 bear-killing fighter could challenge a common LV 8 fighter.


    "You are not a bear-killing fighter?"


    Zhang Tie''s answer made all the teenagers surprised.


    "Of course not!"


    "Why are you here then? It seems you''re being interested in hunting iron-teeth hyenas!" Out of great curiosity, Choy put it straightforwardly without being afraid of violating Zhang Tie''s privacy.


    "Actually, I''m a devoted follower of the school of patron!" As this was not Zhang Tie''s first time to fabricate it, he had been looking very devoted and easygoing as he told him. Zhang Tie found that when he took the school of patron as an excuse, he could explain what he had done easily. This excuse was as useful as tiger balm. No matter what he had done, as long as he connected it to this school, he could make his deed full of righteousness, "It''s the fundamental rule which the school of patron always used to maintain the balance between the basic laws of the mother nature and all the species. I think the animal tide on the Grey Hill could influence the balance between species and the mother nature, here come I!"


    "Ah, you''re also a member of the school of patron?" Evan watched Zhang Tie with widening eyes, "Another man of the school of patron also came to our village several days ago!"


    Hearing Evan''s words, Zhang was stunned. After leaving Blackhot City, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to hear the news of another member of school of patron. For this mysterious school, Zhang Tie knew nobody else than the benign, Grandma Teresa. The moment he heard this teenager''s words, Zhang Tie also became curious.


    "Wuh, what did that person come to your village for?"


    "I don''t know. He left after talking with uncle Zieg in our village for several hours!"


    ...


    "Why did school of patron dispatch a member to a small village on Ice and Snow Wildness?" Zhang Tie kept thinking about that before he arrived at the village.


    After over 10 km, a team of men who were all elder than 20 years old with weapons in their hands encountered Zhang Tie''s group on the way.


    "Evan, Zoan, it''s so nice to see you are safe!" An elder and stronger man instantly let out a sigh the moment he saw those teenagers. He ran towards them, "As too many iron-teeth hyenas appeared in a place not far from the village, uncle Zieg let us to find you and accompany you back as soon as possible!"


    "Hmm, we''ve met over 20 iron-teeth hyenas just now. We almost could not come back!"


    "What happened?" Hearing this, those youths instantly held fast their weapons, "But where are the iron-teeth hyenas?"


    "Thanks to Peter, we''ve killed them all. If not, we''ve been chewed!"


    Hearing Evan''s introduction, those youths stared at Zhang Tie seriously.


    "Evan, if so many people have been here to protect you, I will leave. See you later!" Zhang Tie smiled as he prepared to leave and eat his latest seven-strength fruit.


    "It''s almost dark. Why not take a rest in the village? If uncle Zieg knew that we let you go, he would definitely beat us and blame us for being impolite to you..." Evan urged.


    "That''s it..." All the others agreed with Evan almost in unison.


    "You''ve saved the lives of 8 men in Kurgan village. Therefore, you are our most honorable guest. Please come with us and taste our Buckthorn wine!" One of those youths invited.


    Thinking of that member from school of patron who came to Kurgan village several days ago, Zhang Tie then nodded firmly, "Well, I''d like to taste your Buckthorn wine!"


    Seeing Zhang Tie being that straightforward, everybody burst out into laughter.


    On the way back, Evan and the other teenagers told those youths how they met Zhang Tie and how Zhang Tie saved them. Hearing the whole process, the team of youths glanced at Zhang Tie with respectful looks. Some of them even wanted to challenge Zhang Tie as what young men would always do when they see their peers being better than them.


    Zhang Tie was about 3 years elder than Evan and the other teenagers yet was 3 years younger than those youths. Some of the youths felt that Evan was exaggerating when he described how Zhang Tie killed 20-30 iron-teeth hyenas himself. According to Evan and the other teenagers, Zhang Tie might have become a bear-killing fighter now. However, a bear-killing fighter of 17-18 years old had not been seen in Kurgan village for a long time.


    "Peter, is that huge weapon in your hand a heavy crossbow? You killed over 20 iron-teeth hyenas with it just now?" A youth named Burman asked straightforwardly.


    Zhang Tie had seen so many people like Burman. Actually, he felt much easier to get along with such a person, "Yup, You want to have a try?"


    "Sure!" Burman rubbed his hands full of excitement.


    Zhang Tie then passed it to him with one hand. Seeing Zhang Tie moved it so easily, Burman also prepared to receive it with one hand.


    "It''s a bit heavy. Are you sure you want to take it with one hand?" Before releasing the crossbow, Zhang Tie warned Burman out of kind intention.


    Burman replied with a cold harrumph as he seemed being unhappy about being belittled by Zhang Tie.


    Watching Burman''s look, Zhang Tie directly released his grip after seeing that Burman had held it fast.


    However, the moment Zhang Tie released his grip, Burman had turned his face. With a tilt, he almost fell to the ground together with that heavy crossbow. Before he tumbled over, he roared as he hurriedly took over that heavy crossbow with the help of another hand. Although he finally saved his face, his face had already turned red due to sudden strength. Although Zhang Tie could walk freely with this weapon, he could only barely carry it.


    "Argh, Burman..." At the sight of this, the other youths responded with dumbfounded looks at the same time, "Isn''t this weapon light in Peter''s hand? How come Burman look so embarrassed! Burman has a great strength!"


    "How come..." Burman looked at Zhang Tie amazingly, "This...this crossbow is...at least 300 kg..."


    "What? 300 kg? How come!? Even it''s made of steel and iron, it would not be that heavy!" Another youth shouted as he also stretched out his hand, "Give it to me, I will have a try..."


    When Burman passed that heavy crossbow to the other youth, the latter one also turned his face, "Damned, It''s really...too heavy...how come!?"


    All the youths then crowded round to have a try. However, after trying it, everybody looked at Zhang Tie as if they saw a ghost in the daytime.


    Even Evan, Choy and the other teenagers came over and tried it. However, for those teenagers, that heavy weapon of over 300 kg was absolutely out of their endurance. As for those teenagers, 1 people could barely hold it fast; 2 people could not even carry it; 3 people could barely carry it.


    As they imagined how Zhang Tie moved agilely with this weapon, they all worshiped Zhang Tie so much.


    "Peter, how come is it so heavy?"


    Touching his nose, Zhang Tie replied, "I don''t know why. I didn''t make it. But I know that a material called aerosiderite was used to make it. With that material, the key arcualias that could sustain stress would not be worn even after being used for tens of thousands times."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, everybody understood it. Some youths who knew how to use such a heavy crossbow tried to put it on the ground by foot before trying to load on a bolt with the help of the hydraulic sliding bar. However, although with blushes on their faces, they failed to press the sliding bar to the bottom.


    Watching them being that hard, Zhang Tie directly took over the crossbow. With one hand on the handle, he pinched that hydraulic sliding bar and dragged it back so easily. With a low sound of "kacha" and an euphonious buzz of the rotating gears, Zhang Tie had loaded on one bolt.


    Watching Zhang Tie, those youths completely gave up their challenging thoughts...


    Before sunset, Zhang Tie accompanied them to their village...

 406 It was Strange

    Chapter 406: It was Strange


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Kurgan village was in a plain valley. A small river flowed by the village while the mountain slopes on both sides of the village were covered with Buckthorns.


    The whole village was surrounded with wooden barriers and mounds as high as one adult person. On the side of those barriers and mounds were some simple yet practicable wooden embrasured watchtowers.


    The sun was going to set off while some columns of smoke were rising from the village.


    The moment Zhang Tie and the other teenagers and youths moved closer to the village, they were immediately seen by the watchdogs on the embrasured watchtowers.


    "All the members of Evan''s team and Burman''s team are back! With 8 iron-teeth hyenas...", one of the watchdogs had screamed with full of pleasure the moment he saw them.


    Hearing this voice, some more sounds drifted from inside the village while many younger kids ran out; meanwhile, they kept calling "brother", "brother". When they came to search those who arrived, they started to pull the corners of those people''s garments; some of them even surrounded the iron-teeth hyenas on the backs of Evan''s team. Drooling, they even urged to make clothes with the furs of iron-teeth hyenas. What a boisterous scene!


    All the villagers had coarse skins and robust figures. This was the feature of aboriginals who lived in Ice and Snow Wilderness for so long. Everybody here looked a bit shabby. All the rooms in the village were 1-storey cabins. 2-3 cabins being surrounded with wooden barriers would form a house with a courtyard. Although, it was still filled with cheers and laughter, especially after those hunters came back.


    After being introduced how he saved 8 teenagers for Kurgan village, Zhang Tie undoubtedly became the most popular one in this village.


    Uncle Zieg, the head of Kurgan village brought Zhang Tie into his own house. After that, the family members of the 8 teenagers sent their dried meat and Buckthorn wine there to express their gratitude to Zhang Tie.


    The villagers here were too pure and simple which moved Zhang Tie to a certain degree. After taking around the village, Zhang Tie knew it was not rich here; however, the food that the villagers gifted him were the best that they could afford across the village.


    Took dried meat as an example, on the way back to the village, Zhang Tie knew that Evan''s team were carrying those iron-teeth hyenas back to pickle their meat. For Zhang Tie, it didn''t taste good; however, for those residents in Ice and Snow Wilderness, it could not be wasted. Now, they kept those bad-taste meat of iron-teeth hyenas at home and brought Zhang Tie with the especially yummy meat of deer and pheasants.


    Zieg, the village head of Kurgan was a tough man of 50-60 years old. After experiencing so much in Ice and Snow Wilderness, he looked elder than his real age. Therefore, Zhang Tie could not identify his real age.


    There was a deep frown on Zieg''s forehead. However, he still stood straight; besides, he was taller than 2 meters with thick shoulders. Zhang Tie felt that he was a responsible person the moment he saw the village head.


    After giving the food to his wife to process them in kitchen, Zieg started to chat with Zhang Tie at the stony table in the courtyard.


    Zieg''s wife made two cups of hot water for them. Seeing the yellowish green leaves floating over the golden water, Zhang Tie blinked with an amazed look. "Are they tea leaves? No way! How come tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness be so luxurious?" A pack of tea leaves would definitely be much more expensive than one same pack in Blackhot City!''


    Zhang Tie took up his cup and sniffed. It smelt a bit different from that tea water. However, it also had a faint plant scent. After blowing it, Zhang Tie took a sip but it felt a bit sour beside refreshness.


    "Are they tea leaves?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "These are not tea leaves from the east. These are the leaves of Buckthorns that we made ourselves!" Zieg narrowed his eyes as he also took a sip with a pleasant look, "Both people and domestic animals would grow fat if they always eat it. With those Buckthorns over the mountain slopes outside the village, nobody of Kurgan village had starved to death during the past 200 years...people could always survive on Buckthorns!"


    The village head of Kurgan said proudly.


    "This thing really tastes nice!" Zhang Tie smiled. After sipping twice, Zhang Tie imitated Zieg as he chewed the Buckthorn leaves forcefully. Actually, Zhang Tie was not used to drink expensive tea drinks. He felt it being nothing different than the "wild spring" that served by the senior of Huaiyuan Palace. Although a cup of "wild spring" might be more expensive than all the Buckthorns over the mountain slopes, Zhang Tie didn''t think it was great as he didn''t measure the value of an item in terms of money. He had deeply formed this value since he was in Blapei.


    Seeing Zhang Tie eating all the Buckthorn leaves without any hesitation, Zieg revealed a big smile as he erected his thumb towards Zhang Tie, "You are the real friend of Kurgan village!"


    Zhang Tie had almost figured out the personalities of these residents in the Ice and Snow Wilderness. All of them were very straightforward and generous as they kept gratitude deep in their mind. If you treated and respected them well, you would gain twice the simple respect and warm treatment; however, if you dared to find them trouble, you had better be ready for fighting them to death.


    Zhang Tie liked them.


    After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie decided to put it straightforward what he desired most in Kurgan village.


    "Before I came, Evan told me that a member of school of patron had been here several days ago. Can you tell me about him? As I''m also a devoted follower of school of patron, it''s really out of my expectation to hear another member of the same school in Ice and Snow Wilderness!"


    "Wuh, you''re a follower of school of patron?" Zieg, the village head glanced at Zhang Tie with an amazing look.


    "Right, I was a devoted contributor of school of patron when I was in Norman Empire. When I saved Evan''s team, I told them I''m a devoted follower of school of patron; therefore, Evan told me about that one member of our school came here several days ago!"


    Hearing this, Zieg didn''t doubt anymore, "He was a powerful wild patron from school of patron; he was here to survey the animal tide over the Grey Hill!"


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie was really shocked as it was his 2nd time to hear the title "wild patron". When he was attending the survival training in Wildwolf Valley, Zerom told him for the first time that wild patron of school of patron had a great ability to control animals. It was a very powerful and mysterious profession! Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could hear such a person here.


    "Is there anything special with this animal tide?"


    Now that it could attract a wild patron''s attention, this animal tide was definitely special.


    "The last animal tide broke out 7 years ago; however, it breaks out now. That''s how it''s weird!" Zieg frowned his forehead.


    "Why?"


    "According to the record of animal tides over Ice and Snow Wilderness, the distance between 2 animal tides was about 12-15 years. Ice and Snow Wilderness was too huge that so many ferocious wild animals would increase their population greatly after a fixed period, namely animal tide. It was nothing strange to see an animal tide at all; however, this animal tide is only 7 years after the last one. That''s how it is strange! This had never happened in Ice and Snow Wilderness at all!"


    "Only because of this?"


    "Of course, there are some things more strange!" Saying this, the frown on Zieg''s forehead deepened, "Previously, animal tides of different species didn''t break out at the same time. For instance, when iron-teeth hyenas broke out its tide, the other living beings such as huge wolves on Wilderness and hell-magical rats would not break out their tides at the same time; instead, they would break out by turns. However, this time, I was told that many living beings broke out their tides at the same time across Ice and Snow Wilderness. What''s more, the magic arts on the bloody territories outside many tribes and villages became ineffective..."


    "Bloody territory?"


    Realizing that Zhang Tie didn''t know what was bloody territory, Zieg started to explain to him.


    ''The alleged bloody territory is magic art that shaman flamen applied in Ice and Snow Wilderness with the fresh blood and lives of some wild and dangerous living beings. The only function of this magic art is to drive those dangerous living beings away from the villages where tribes live in and protect those villagers invisibly.


    A magic art of bloody territory only targets at one wild beast. In the surroundings of some larger tribes, there are always multiple magic arts which could prevent some dangerous living beings from hurting commoners.


    Taking Kurgan village as an example. Over 4 decades ago, a shaman priest once applied a magic art of bloody territory to iron-teeth hyenas which always appeared nearby the village, although we had experienced animal tides some times over the past 4 decades, we didn''t even see a single iron-teeth hyena within 10 km of our village.


    However, this time, not knowing whether because the magic art lost its effect or those iron-teeth hyenas had been driven mad, 10 km was not a safe range for us to stay away from iron-teeth hyenas anymore.


    Besides Kurgan village, many other places had encountered this problem.''

 407 A Great Ambition

    Chapter 407: A Great Ambition


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Hearing Zieg''s explanation, Zhang Tie also started to consider about this abnormal situation. Combining with the above points, this animal tide was truly too weird. No wonder one wild patron of school of patron was attracted here.


    "What did that wild patron find?"


    "I don''t know. He stayed over one night in Kurgan village to inquire about what I''ve told you. After that, he left!" Saying this, the village head recalled something, "Oh, he has a pet, a very huge black eagle. Before I saw him off, that huge eagle directly landed on the ground from sky, startling me a lot."


    A weird animal tide, a wild patron of school of patron who came here to investigate with a huge black eagle. These clues reminded Zhang Tie of that attack from iron-beak ibis on the way back to Huaiyuan Prefecture by airship. Because of the attack from those iron-beak ibises, many airlines above Waii Sub Continent had been greatly influenced, some were even stopped.


    "Is there any link between the two events?"


    Zhang Tie sensed a bit danger instinctively. However, it was not a negative event for him; instead, it was easier for him to form seven-strength fruits. Therefore, he didn''t think too much about this event.


    For Zhang Tie, whatever happened in the future, he had to keep increasing his fighting strength in the first place.


    It was a grand supper. Zhang Tie had not tasted such yummy food before he came here, especially the Buckthorn wine which was brewed by the villagers themselves, absolutely unforgettable.


    It was a simple process to brew Buckthorn wine. Being similar to the brewing process of wine, picking off Buckthrons, cleaning them and crumbling them into pieces; after that, mix them with sugar and ferment the mixture in wooden barrel. Zieg said that everybody across Ice and Snow Wilderness could brew Buckthorn wine, each of them grew up drinking Buckthorn wine. Not only did it taste good, but also made people healthy. People here almost didn''t get sick at all.


    If it was before, Zhang Tie would have been amazed about this; however, now, Zhang Tie knew it clearly that those aboriginals were actually fermenting. Although these people might not know what was ferment, they had found the way to obtain a great amount of ferment in Ice and Snow Wilderness so easily and instinctively.


    People here seemed inseparable from Buckthorns. All the items; Buckthorn tea, Buckthorn wine, Buckthorn oil and the Buckthorn twigs was stored for tiding over winter and were closely related to their daily lives.


    Even the Buckthorns being planted outside the village had formed a barrier to this village. Standing neatly in lines like guardsmen, these Buckthorns could prevent wild beasts coming close to this village from all directions to a certain degree. As a result, those wild beasts could only move closer to the village through special accesses that people had prepared. In this way, villagers would be able to notice the traces of huge dangerous wild beasts entering the village much easily.


    Besides, Buckthorns could fertilize the soil. After being planted with Buckthorns for some years, the previous barren farming land could be grown with vital plants like soya beans and provide grains for people. Villages across Ice and Snow Wilderness usually inter-plant wheat among Buckthorns and could always have big harvests.


    Living conditions and quality of life of these people was influenced by this plant. It could be said that without Buckthorns nobody across Ice and Snow Wilderness could survive here.


    This common plant had become the most important guarantee of local residents. Buckthorn fruits and leaves were edible and easily stored. Additionally, as the main fuel of the local residents, they could help people tide over the long winter. Besides, it was the most important cash crop here. By exporting Buckthorns, people here could gain gold coins as payment. Finally, by growing them, people could fertilize their soil and further expand their living space. It was hard to imagine how people would survive here without Buckthorn.


    At the dining table, Zieg introduced the functions of Buckthorns. Hearing those words, Zhang Tie instantly came across a thought, "I''m wondering whether it would be more marvelous after a round of mutation and evolution in Castle of Black Iron."


    The moment it hit his mind, Zhang Tie had become excited. Such a sense of achievement of creating a species was really cool. When Zhang Tie was imagining about the new Buckthorn that might have greater effects, another thought flashed across his mind and struck him like a lightning bolt, causing him stiff all over at once.


    "What if Ice and Snow Wilderness is covered with the new Buckthorn and those residents could get a better life brought by the new buckthorn?"


    Zhang Tie started to quiver faintly as he remembered what he had learned in the book ''General History of Man Kinds'' in Huaiyuan Palace.


    Before catastrophe, the agents and lackeys of demons among humans were applying this scientific means to control the quality of grains over this planet before influencing people''s agricultural production. After that, humans were actually under the control of demons and their agents and lackeys among humans.


    The grain seeds provided by demons to humans were poisonous. The toxin was not the common chemical; instead, it was a more terrifying gene virus. Grains were growing with that gene virus. After entering people''s body, it could regulate their genes and DNAs, reducing their life expectancy and making them frail and sick, even making them slow-witted and infertile. By replacing people''s grain seeds, demons were actually castrating humans, causing them losing their ability to fight demons. If humans eat those poisonous grains, they would definitely be ruled by demons in the end.


    At that age, Chinese were under the conspiracy of demons and suffered a lot before finally woke up. After that, Chinese led the rest of humans to resist demons and became the pillar of humans of the 2 holy wars.


    "If I could get a new Buckthorn, of course, I would not poison the aboriginals with it; however, given that these people could not survive without Buckthorn, I can have a greater influence over Ice and Snow Wilderness by controlling them with the new Buckthorn like how demons ruled humans by the poisonous grain seeds. It''s of the same logic."


    If it was before, Zhang Tie might not have such a great ambition; however, this time, the moment this thought flashed across his mind, it had started to grow and extend wildly like weeds in his mind.


    Seeing Zhang Tie becoming absent-minded, Zieg thought that Zhang Tie didn''t like these food as he asked him out of concern, "Don''t like this?"


    "Wuh, of course not!" Zhang Tie responded with a smile, "When I heard about the functions of these Buckthorns, I was thinking about taking some seeds back as a memory!"


    "You want the seeds of Buckthorns?" The village head asked.


    "Is there any in the village? If not, I can collect some outside!"


    Zieg then burst out into laughter and generously replied, "The last thing that you cannot get from Kurgan village is Buckthorn seeds. As they are used for squeezing oil, many Buckthorn seeds are piling in the mill. We''ve got several hundreds kg. You can take as many as you will. If you tell me where you live, I can have some young men carry them to your place!"


    "I only need a small pack, about half a kilo!"


    "Hassan, go get a small pack of Buckthorn seeds from the mill for Peter!" Zieg touched his grandson who was only about 6 years old.


    Hearing this, his grandson glanced at Zhang Tie before nodded and scuttled outside. After a short while, he already came back with a pack of Buckthorn seeds which weighed about 1 kg...


    Gazing at those seeds, Zhang Tie faintly narrowed his eyes, "Although it''s low for Buckthorn seeds to mutate and evolve in Castle of Black Iron, If I could input different number of merit values, aura values and basic energy storage into the 300 Buckthorn seeds, which are divided into different groups, I might finally gain a whole new Buckthorn seed."


    Thinking of those Buckthorns over Ice and Snow Wilderness which would be "docile" to him in the future, Zhang Tie revealed with a smile.


    After supper, it was already dark. Zhang Tie learned a lot about Ice and Snow Wilderness from Zieg. At this time, Evan and the other teenagers came here to invite Zhang Tie to attend their bonfire party.


    "Go, evening belongs to you, young man. Actually, there are only young men at the bonfire party. We old people do not go there!" Zieg also persuaded.


    Without any hesitation, Zhang Tie agreed pleasantly. It was still a period of time before going to bed. As they were all young, Zhang Tie didn''t mind attending it.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s response, all the other teenagers became joyful. Before leaving, Evan pointed at Zhang Tie''s heavy crossbow which was placed against the wall, "Can we take that huge thing there? So many people want to take a look at it!"


    Zhang Tie instantly took his crossbow. Seeing that, everybody burst out into laughter.


    The bonfire party was held in the middle of the village. Each night, this place would be the world of young persons and kids in Kurgan village. They set a big bonfire in the vacant place; meanwhile, they sat around the bonfire to chat, drink, sing, dance and share their achievements on the very day; besides, these adolescents wrestled and challenged their peers on fighting skills. What a boisterous scene!


    Those diligent girls who helped their family members do farming works in the daytime would also come out in the evening. They sat and joked with boys, being not bashful at all.


    Smaller kids ran around the bonfire as they caught fireflies or played hide-and-seek game.


    Those married ones or elders would not attend such a party at all. Therefore, these young men felt free doing whatever they wanted here.


    According to Evan, such parties were held everyday as long as weather permitted or nothing special happened. These young men would kill time here each night. All the young ones would like to attend this party.


    Before arrival, Zhang Tie had already seen the fierce blaze from afar and heard the laughter of these young people.


    When he arrived there, Zhang Tie found about 400-500 people over there. The atmosphere was boisterous and free. The age of these people ranged from 5-20-odd years old. The younger ones were even running here and there with naked butts. Everybody here looked relaxed and pleasant.


    Zhang Tie noticed that more than 20 young men spared a region on one side of the bonfire as they threw javelins towards a scarecrow being covered with hide which was standing dozens meters away. They were so hyper.


    This was more an open-air party than a bonfire party that every young people would like to attend each night in Kurgan village. Zhang Tie as an average person who grew up in a small city had not imagined about enjoying such a special treatment by attending parties and exchanging with familiar peers each night. Young people in cities often went to bars. However, the atmosphere and feeling in bars could never match that of here. Not to mention that Zhang Tie was very poor when he was in Blackhot City and couldn''t afford bars at all.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie started to admire about the night life of the youth in Kurgan village. They didn''t spend even a penny on attending this party; yet their happiness and freedom could not be bought by many people.


    Zhang Tie''s arrival didn''t arise any surprise. Those young men didn''t welcome him with any special audible and visual effects; instead, they all acted as casual as before. Zhang Tie then followed Evan''s team into that circle formed by Burman''s team whom he met at the sunset. After that, they started to chat with each other happily.


    The heavy metal crossbow that Zhang Tie took here seemed being more attractive than himself. The moment those young men caught sight of such a huge weapon, they instantly surrounded it and wanted to have a try.


    After teaching them how to adjust the moment gear of that hydraulic sliding bar, Zhang Tie handed it to those young men. Many people then tried to take it up one by another.


    Those who could take up this crossbow stared at Zhang Tie with full of admiration; however, those people who could not take up, would not feel too embarrassed either; instead, they only felt a bit bashful as they would always laugh in a benign way.


    Evan shouted that with this crossbow, a bolt could penetrate through an iron-teeth hyena before completely sunk into the soil with its full strength. With Zhang Tie''s consent, some more young men crowded in and wanted to have a try.


    When in trial shooting, almost all the young people in the village crowded over here.


    They tested its power at the point where they threw their javelins. Zhang Tie told some of them to place 3 scarecrows in a row 40 m away.


    Because nobody could take up that huge weapons and shot horizontally like Zhang Tie, they carried it onto a wooden vaulting horse which was about 1 m high. After fixing that metal foot stool with the help of the vaulting horse, they triggered the crossbow.


    Burman was the first. He firstly inserted a metal bolt clip into a slot under the crossbow. After that, he forcefully pulled the sliding bar 8 times consecutively before finally made it with a sound of "kacha". He then placed it over his shoulder against the fold-able handle of the crossbow and triggered the bolt in a few seconds.


    Almost nobody had heard the faint buzz; however, they saw 3 targets exploding at the same time.


    "Wow..." All the young men in Kurgan village uttered a scream as this crossbow''s power was out of their imagination.


    "Even Eschyle City could not make this..." A teenager sighed with emotion, "I''ve seen the heavy crossbow in Eschyle City. They could not match its power and craftsmanship at all!"


    "It might cost a lot!" Evan watched that crossbow as he asked Zhang Tie with sparkling eyes.


    "Hmm, probably!" Actually, even Zhang Tie didn''t know the price of this heavy crossbow. Because he took it away from the warehouse of the Zhen''s Mansion in Heavens Cold City. It was absolutely a imported good from other continents. He had 10 more heavy crossbows of the same kind in Castle of Black Iron. After arriving at Grey Hill, Zhang Tie found this weapon was the most efficient weapon in killing iron-teeth hyenas; therefore, he took one out of Castle of Black Iron and kept using it.


    Zhang Tie thought this crossbow should be worth 400 gold coins or so in Huaiyuan Prefecture. It might be more valuable in other places. In a contrast, the price of a Faerie-Dragon T9 sports car was only 500-odd gold coins. Based on this, the price of such a crossbow was truly expensive.


    After Burman, almost all the teenagers above 12 had a try one after another. Even those girls couldn''t wait to join them.


    It was such a boisterous and happy party. Zhang Tie performed as an interpreter of weapon and a coach on teaching the young men in Kurgan village to manipulate this heavy crossbow. After all, the crossbow was like a big-bore heavy weapon before catastrophe, which was rarely seen. However, this weapon became a big toy in this bonfire party, making everybody excited.


    After playing with his peers innocently for such a long time, Zhang Tie also felt very happy.


    ...


    The bonfire party didn''t come to an end until midnight. As the flames gradually became lighter, those young men returned to their homes.


    Zhang Tie was arranged by Zieg to sleep in the only public room of the village. It was a cabin built by the villagers. If any family could not hold their relatives or guests, they could arrange them in the public room. The wild patron from school of patron also slept here that night.


    As was imagined, Zhang Tie didn''t complain about the treatment at all. Actually, he found that this public room was even better than most of private cabins in the village. Additionally, although the quilts here were not new, they were very clean and carried the smell of sunshine. The villagers especially prepared them for Zhang Tie.


    ...


    When all the households in Kurgan Village died out their lamplights, Zhang Tie, lying on his bed, was intending to enter Castle of Black Iron to taste the latest seven-strength fruit. However, at this moment, he heard faint footsteps from outside the cabin, which stopped Zhang Tie''s intention at once.


    "It''s been so late! Who''s that?"


    "Bang, bang, bang..." After a short while, someone finally knocked at his door.


    When the second round of knocks drifted in his ears, Zhang Tie got off the bed instantly and opened the wooden door.


    It was a beautiful girl of 18 years old who was wearing a cloak made of bear''s fur. Zhang Tie could even smell the fragrance of flowers from her, which indicated that she had just taken a bath.


    "She''s familiar. I''ve met her today; oh, she''s Evan''s elder sister..."


    Before Zhang Tie uttered, the girl had revealed a smile as she walked inside. After closing the door, she took off her cloak, sending it sliding onto the wooden floor. At the same time, a perfect white, naked body was present in front of Zhang Tie...

 408 Impulsion and Enlightenmen

    Chapter 408: Impulsion and Enlightenment


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After taking off her cloak, Evan''s elder sister closed her eyes. Meanwhile, she started to pant faintly with undulant breasts in a nervous way. After doing this, she was waiting for Zhang Tie''s next action.


    However, she had not imagined that Zhang Tie wouldn''t embrace or further violate her; instead, he put that bear-fur cloak which contained her body fragrance back on her.


    When she felt what Zhang Tie was doing, she opened her eyes at once. With a dumbfounded look, she felt bashful all over as her face blushed.


    "Don''t...you like me?"


    Being a bit bashful and somewhat nervous, the 18 year old girl asked with a faintly quivering voice.


    "Are you Evan''s elder sister?" Zhang Tie stared at her with a smile, "You''re very beautiful, but I''m not used to be treated in this way after saving people. Evan doesn''t know that you are here, right?"


    Evan''s elder sister bit her lips as she waved her head.


    "If Evan knew about this, he would be very sad! If a man could not even protect his elder sister from making such a sacrifice, he would have a sense of failure deep in his mind; this would not be good to his later development. Have you thought about this?"


    "But Evan expects to be a bear-killing fighter!" Evan''s elder sister lowered her head while feeling bashful looking straight into Zhang Tie''s clear eyes.


    "I know. On the way back to Kurgan village, I''ve already been told that each teenager here dreamed to be a bear-killing fighter!"


    "However, very few people in the village could guide him. Uncle Zieg was also a bear-killing fighter; however, as he''s old and has suffered a heavy wound, he has lost the greatest power as a bear-killing fighter. On the other hand, there are so many teenagers in the village; therefore, he could not pay special attention to Evan. I know that you have such a power. Although you''re not a bear-killing fighter, you''re very powerful; you''re even more powerful than uncle Zieg. You could give Evan enough guidance and help him realize his dream. I can do anything for my younger brother! I''m doing this to extend my gratitude and pray..." after saying this, Evan''s elder sister raised her head and gazed at Zhang Tie with a brave look.


    Zhang Tie became silent for a second as he watched this woman seriously, "On the way of cultivation, the only shortcut is enlightenment; however, it requires very rigid conditions; fortune and talent. Even for me, it''s very hard to gain enlightenment. Each step forward is at the price of countless sweat drops and fresh blood. As I have to leave next morning, even if I guide him in such a short period, it would be useless!"


    With a sound of "dong", Evan''s elder sister knelt down in front of Zhang Tie at once with tears in her eyes. Raising her head, she gazed at Zhang Tie, "Can you take Evan away? Just let him accompany you. You can take him as a servant and guide him when you''re free. I know that he would be very safe with you as no wild beasts across Ice and Snow Wildness could hurt you. Additionally, he likes to stay with you. You must have seen that his eyes were filled with worship when he looked at you. Evan''s mother had died soon after she delivered Evan. At age 7, he lost his father. It was my first time to see him watching a man with that look. I know it would make you inconvenient, but you could guide him for 3 months. I''m deeply convinced that by following you for 3 months, he could learn more than he could gain in this village for 10 years. As I''m his elder sister, for his development, I''d like to do anything that I wish to satisfy you, if there is. Whatever it is, I''d like to do anything for you. I also like to be your mistress..."


    Zhang Tie was really moved by Evan''s elder sister''s love to Evan...


    Receiving no response, Evan''s elder sister moved 2 steps forward with her knees. When she moved close to Zhang Tie, although with tears in her eyes, she still revealed a charming smile reluctantly, "I''ve not been touched by other men; but I know how to satisfy you. You can have a try..."


    Saying this, she had bravely started to undo Zhang Tie''s waistband with quivering hands.


    "You don''t need to do this!" Zhang Tie stopped her hands instantly as he waved his head. The girl exerted her utmost effort, only to not move even a bit. Feeling this, her tears flew out at once.


    Zhang Tie then glanced at the door as he said, "Evan, come in, don''t stay outside!"


    Kneeling down in front of Zhang Tie, Evan''s elder sister became stunned. She turned around and found the door had been pushed open as Evan was looking at her with tears covering his face outside the door.


    The moment she stared at Evan, the girl hurriedly sprung up from the ground. At the same time, Evan rushed in. Hugging his elder sister, he burst out into tears.


    "Evan, your elder sister is talking useless. I can not help you to be a bear-killing fighter..."


    "Elder sister, I don''t want to be bear-killing fighter any more..." Evan cried.


    "Pah..." The girl pushed him away as she smacked him. At the same time, she scolded him with tears, "If you say this for the second time, I will go die right away. You better tell me, you''re destined to be a bear-killing fighter!¡®¡¯


    "Yes...I...I''m destined to be a bear-killing fighter!" Evan cried.


    Hearing this, she embraced Evan once again as they cried again.


    Watching them on one side, even Zhang Tie felt like crying. It was hard to learn fighting skills and secret knowledge even in Blackhot City, not to mention a wild village in Ice and Snow Wildness.


    In Ice and Snow Wildness, teenagers in larger tribes would have more chances and better conditions. By contrast, teenagers in smaller villages like Kurgan would be too hard to be outstanding. Even though there were bear-killing fighters in this village, they would not stay in the village; instead, they preferred to challenge themselves in the outside world. That been said, nobody would like to guide teenagers like Evan in the village.


    Zhang Tie didn''t persuade them until Evan and his elder sister finished crying, "You go back first; leave Evan here, I''d like to say something to him!"


    After glancing at Zhang Tie with a sophisticated look, Evan''s elder sister gritted her teeth before she left, leaving Zhang Tie and Evan in the cabin.


    "You have a good elder sister!" Zhang Tie told Evan with a sophisticated look, "I won''t belittle her; she''s doing right! I could feel her selfless affection to you!"


    "Thanks!" Evan lowered his voice, "She''s the best one in my eyes!"


    "Hope you could think this way! If you want to be a bear-killing fighter, I can give you a chance."


    Hearing this, Evan''s eyes gleamed at once.


    "Watch me carefully. I only perform one time. Whether you can learn something from it, it depends on you!" After saying this, Zhang Tie calmed down as he posed a starting gesture of Iron-Blood Fist.


    Closing his eyes, Zhang Tie recalled all the fierce fighting moments that he had experienced in both real lives and trouble-reappearance situations since he started to cultivate Iron-Blood Fist.


    There were total 36 free hand movements of Iron-Blood Fist. However, Zhang Tie had spend countless blood, wounds and virtual lives on cultivating each free hand movement...


    He gradually immersed his physical and spiritual energy into that fierce and invincible sensation; nothing exists, me or substance, life or death, come or go...


    Being destructed in mind, everything became quiet...


    At the beginning, Evan felt a bit strange as he didn''t know what Zhang Tie meant by that starting gesture. However, watching Zhang Tie entering that strange state both physically and mentally, Evan''s face gradually turned pale.


    In a split second, Evan started having an illusion. He felt that he was not in that common cabin anymore; instead, he was in a hell full of bloody sea. Heavens collapsed, ground broke, fire columns burst out of the ground and shot directly into the sky, causing the sky to turn red all over. Meanwhile, the thunders and lightnings fell on the ground like rain, quaking the earth like a broken huge drum. It was like the end of the world as it was spread with fierce and terrifying demons and ghosts, who were fighting and swallowing each other...


    The moment he entered this illusion, Evan''s heart was held by a powerful hand at once. As a result, he felt breathless. In such an end of the world, he felt that he was as trivial as a piece of duckweed in that endless bloody sea, a sparkle in one fire column or an ant under the foot of a huge mountain-like demon. He felt nothing but weak and despair in this world...


    When Evan felt that he was to be crushed into pieces by the scene, he saw a giant between the heavens and the land whose frame was as irresistible as a steel mountain, even in the end of the world.


    Standing in the bloody sea, that person stared up at the heavens while the whole bloody sea started to quiver, boil and boom under his feet...


    Suddenly, that figure moved.


    The moment he stepped out his feet, the whole world became quiet. Under the foot of that giant, the entire bloody sea was like puddle. Being sprayed in the air, the bloody sea turned into a thousands-m high bloody tsunami and rolled in all directions...


    Numerous demons and ghosts then rushed towards him...


    Numerous thunders and lightnings boomed him...


    Numerous fire columns tilted towards him...


    At this moment, a fist appeared between the heavens and the land which started to destroy everything...


    ...


    The moment Zhang Tie entered that state, Zieg, the village head who was living 100 m away had sprung up from his bed like being poured in a basin of charcoal fire although he had fallen asleep.


    After springing up from his bed, Zieg''s eyes gleamed as his skin turned a bit red. Meanwhile, the veins underneath his skin crept irregularly like earthworms. Breathing quickly, Zieg looked over himself with an amazement, "What the hell? How come the source of madness like a spring which had withered for a long time suddenly became so active?"


    Zieg knew that it was not because that he had recovered, which enabled him to possess the previous ability of being mad; instead, it was because that his source of madness was stimulated and influenced by a power Qi field and special spiritual field. He sensed it like how a nail was magnified after being rubbed with a magnet. With the influence of those powerful Qi fields and special spiritual fields, the source of madness in bear-killing fighters bodies would also be driven mad.


    After closing his eyes and sensing it for a short while, Zieg put on his clothes. He then left his home rapidly towards that public room.


    ...


    After performing that whole set of 36 free hand movements, Zhang Tie opened his eyes.


    At this moment, Evan had been oozing sweat all over his forehead as his face turned pale.


    Zhang Tie didn''t ask about Evan''s enlightenment; instead, he turned around and took out the book "Iron Blood Fist" from Castle of Black Iron through his luggage and put it onto Evan''s hands.


    "What you were watching just now is described in this book. I''ve already performed the whole set of fist to you, including my recognition. It depends on you how much you obtain from it. This fighting skill is very difficult; yet once you make it, you will be unrivaled!"


    Evan tightly held that secret knowledge as he stared at Zhang Tie with a sophisticated and appreciative look.


    "Can...can I call you master?"


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie became faintly stunned as this special Chinese appellation had been spread among many humans; in many places, it was almost like "godfather". It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that people here could also use this word.


    "Yes, you can!" Zhang Tie nodded as he saw Evan becoming excited.


    "Can I allow other people in Kurgan village to learn this fighting skill?"


    "Of course you can. But, you''d better be careful as this fighting skill is the secret knowledge of the imperial household in Norman Empire!" Zhang Tie told Evan as what Captain Kerlin had told him. At this moment, Zhang Tie finally understood the mentality of Captain Kerlin, like what Captain Kerlin thought. Zhang Tie also hoped these small kids to survive themselves. Compared to their lives, a secret knowledge was nothing important at all.


    However, from Evan''s question, Zhang Tie noticed that this boy was purely innocent. Like Zhang Tie, Evan also like to share his goods with his partners.


    "Perhaps, I''m destined to meet these teenagers in Ice and Snow Wildness!"


    Zhang Tie told himself.


    ...


    When Evan left Zhang Tie''s cabin, he still felt like he was dreaming. Putting the book in his coat, he was recalling that illusion that he watched in Zhang Tie''s cabin right now.


    Of course, Evan knew what he saw just now was not a real existence but an impact to his spirit when Zhang Tie performed that set of fist. It was really a sharp impact. Like what really happened, it directly involved Evan into the spiritual situation of Iron-Blood Fist.


    In the darkness, a tall figure had already stood in front of Evan. Being flurried, Evan almost hit the person.


    "Uncle Zieg!"


    "This fighting skill is the greatest one I''ve seen. I''ve heard about that before. Peter has already showed his spiritual realization on this set of fist to you. Do you know how precious it is to perform the essence of this fist in front of others?"


    "Is it very precious?" Evan asked out of curiosity.


    "Even though we sell all the valuable goods in Kurgan village, we will still not afford that performance!" Zieg heavily patted onto Evan''s shoulder as he added enthusiastically, "Treasure it!"


    Evan instantly became dumbfounded...


    After deeply glancing at that cabin of Zhang Tie, Zieg then turned around and disappeared in the darkness; however, Evan''s eyes became more determined at this moment...


    ...


    Zhang Tie knew that Zieg had come to the outside of the cabin just now and knew that he was imparting Iron-Blood Fist to Evan. Now that village head didn''t come in, Zhang Tie didn''t feel it necessary to invite him in. They both knew how to deal with that.


    The cabin recovered silence. Zhang Tie didn''t enter Castle of Black Iron this time as he was really afraid that he would be seen by someone, if he came out of Castle of Black Iron. If that really happened, it would be a great trouble! Therefore, he decided to eat the latest fruit when he returned to his wild settlement.


    Lying on the bed, Zhang Tie recalled the enlightenment of the performance. Not only Evan, even Zhang Tie had a further enlightenment about Iron-Blood Fist.


    Fist was will!


    A sudden enlightenment flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind...


    ...

 409 Encounter

    Chapter 409: Encounter


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie left Kurgan village before dawn without bidding farewell to anybody. Besides, he also left that heavy metal crossbow and more than 200 metal bolts in that cabin.


    He knew that Zieg was clear about his intention.


    This was his gift to those villagers. With this equipment, even though there was no powerful fighter in Kurgan village, they could improve their fighting strength a lot, on dealing with various dangerous wild beasts in Ice and Snow Wildness. Perhaps this weapon could save lives in the village sometimes.


    This metal crossbow was the most powerful single-handed heavy weapon of this era! Even if Kurgan village could afford this, they could hardly buy one in Ice and Snow Wildness.


    Zhang Tie was deeply impressed by everything here, including Evan, Evan''s elder sister, those innocent and straightforward teenagers and that joyful bonfire party.


    Zhang Tie liked this place.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie had gained a lot here.


    The aspiration on mutated Buckthorns, the burning ambition, his further enlightenment on the essence and meaning of Iron-Blood Fist and the information about this animal tide and the wild patron from school of patrons, each of the above achievements was more than 1000 gold coins, which could never be matched by an icy weapon.


    "Now that I''ve gained so much here, I will leave something here as payment." Zhang Tie thought.


    Therefore, he left the book "Iron-Blood Fist" and that expensive heavy metal crossbow which could greatly increase the defensive capability of this small village...


    "It felt good to serve others!"


    When the first ray of sunlight cast on the ground at the dawn, Zhang Tie was standing at the top of a hill on the side of Kurgan village as he gazed the village. At this moment, he felt relaxed.


    He noticed that Evan had already gotten up in the early morning and was practicing the lying-tiger movement, one of the basic movements of Iron-Blood Fist in the courtyard. Seeing Evan becoming that diligent, Zhang Tie felt reassured.


    At this moment, Evan''s elder sister was walking out of her cabin. Due to female''s amazingly precise intuition, the moment she came to the courtyard, she looked towards the top of the hill where Zhang Tie was standing.


    Although it was about 500-600 m away, she could still see Zhang Tie standing over there.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie also saw her. However, Zhang Tie just revealed a smile; knowing that she couldn''t see him, he turned around and trotted away...


    Seeing Zhang Tie left, Evan''s elder sister instantly dropped off her tears. Although she didn''t make love with this man, but her heart had been filled with the shadow of this man.


    "Peter" Evan''s elder sister muttered.


    ...


    After leaving Kurgan village, Zhang Tie started to run over the hills. Only after half an hour when the sun completely rose above the horizon, Zhang Tie had already been more than 20 km away from Kurgan village and arrived at the wild vast depopulated area on Grey Hill.


    After finding a secret place, Zhang Tie took out another same heavy metal crossbow from Castle of Black Iron.


    This weapon was like a huge set square. With a wholly sealed metal structure, it was 1.4 m in length and 1.6 m in width. Besides, its charger was connected externally. A great amount of special alloy were used on its key parts which ensured its long service life and great power. However, this greatly increased its weight¡ª¡ª312 kg. Zhang Tie saw this net weight with no charger on the operating manual.


    If this weapon was matched with those recycled metal bolts and charger which was made of the same super powerful metal alloy, its standard total weight in fight would be 375 kg; this number had surpassed that of "Man''s Certificate"¡ª¡ª358 kg.


    This weapon was covered with camouflage matte paint which was hidden in the wild. It was especially suitable for fighting on hills. By choosing this weapon, Zhang Tie could not only increase the efficiency of killing iron-teeth hyenas but also improve his fighting strength invisibly.


    When he came here on the first day, Zhang Tie ran over the Grey Hill the whole day and felt a bit tired. However, after taking the first seven-strength fruit that he reaped here, Zhang Tie felt much relaxed by running the whole day with this huge weapon. What a great effect!


    After taking one seven-strength fruit, it took him about 10 hours to completely digest and absorb it. At this moment, Zhang Tie looked at the sky, "If I take it now, I would have to waste today. I''d better kill some more iron-teeth hyenas in the daytime and take one seven-strength fruit at night."


    "Being patient is a virtue!"


    Zhang Tie warned him once again. After that, he forcefully swallowed his saliva and started to wander over Grey Hill with that huge weapon.


    Only after 1 hour, Zhang Tie had met a boar among the paper mulberries. After easily killing that boar, Zhang Tie broke its body and spread its fresh blood and innards everywhere. After that, Zhang Tie climbed onto a tall paper mulberry with this weapon and awaited there for his prey.


    Through these days of hunting, Zhang Tie had already found iron-teeth hyenas'' habits. This animal was very sensitive to odors. Once they sniffed the bloody odor or smelly rotten meat, they would come for that from afar. This greatly increased Zhang Tie''s hunting speed.


    The first batch of 8 iron-teeth hyenas arrived here after 20 minutes. What was waiting for them was needless to say.


    The second batch of iron-teeth hyenas made Zhang Tie wait over 3 hours. When the sun was at the highest point in the sky, this batch of 11 iron-teeth hyenas finally arrived.


    After hunting 19 iron-teeth hyenas with that dead boar, Zhang Tie was a bit satisfied.


    As too much fresh blood of iron-teeth hyenas was covering here, for cunning animals like iron-teeth hyenas who were very sensitive to the fresh blood of their kind, they would not come close easily.


    After killing the 2nd batch of iron-teeth hyenas, Zhang Tie carried that huge weapon as he dragged the disgusting dead boar being surrounded with flies and moved towards another place rapidly.


    That boar weighed about 100 kg. Although it was nothing for Zhang Tie, it was really disgusting. After killing it, Zhang Tie even broke its intestines and exposed it under the sun for a while. What a stink!


    After running less than 20 km with that dead boar, Zhang Tie almost vomited by its stink, not to mention those humming flies around it. Zhang Tie had never been surrounded by so many flies ever since he was born.


    However, Zhang Tie stood it for the latest seven-strength fruit.


    After running several kilometers, Zhang Tie finally loosed his grip. After staying away from the previous location, Zhang Tie threw the boar onto the Buckthorns. He then awaited quietly over 100 m away.


    Before the sun almost set off, Zhang Tie killed another batch of 16 iron-teeth hyenas in total with the help of this dead boar.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could kill 35 iron-teeth hyenas today. Therefore, he felt pretty satisfied. He estimated that after killing another 10-odd iron-teeth hyenas, the 3rd seven-strength fruit would grow ripe.


    This speed was really skyrocketing. However, this also indicated the terror of the animal tide over Grey Hill. A dead boar could attract 30-40 iron-teeth hyenas in one day. What a easy job! If it were another common LV 2 or LV 3 warrior, he would have long lost his life facing so many iron-teeth hyenas in one day.


    After chasing and killing the last iron-teeth hyena, Zhang Tie returned to his original place. Previously, he thought about taking one hind leg back to roast it at his foothold; however, at the sight of those eggs of flies which were surrounding the boar, Zhang Tie finally gave up his plan although he was a tough man.


    "Alright, no more trouble. I will eat some frozen meat of that huge deep-sea monster. Roasted huge deep-sea monster also tastes good." Zhang Tie muttered.


    After one day''s work, Zhang Tie was covered with the smelly odor of the boar.


    With this stink, Zhang Tie returned to his foothold on the Grey Hill.


    When he came back, it was fully dark.


    The foothold was on one bank of a big river over Grey Hill. The river''s width changed from 1 mile to 800 m. With limpid river water, it flew undulating across the greater part of the Grey Hill towards the ocean 50 km away.


    After coming to the riverside, Zhang Tie took off his clothes quickly and took a bath. After cleaning off that stink, Zhang Tie returned to his foothold.


    The foothold was in a mountain cave on the riverside.


    After picking up some dried firewood and weeds, Zhang Tie entered the cave and started to set a fire. After that, he took out a piece of flesh from that huge deep-sea monster and started to roast it...


    20 minutes later, the flesh started to suffuse a exquisite fragrance, making Zhang Tie drooling. The moment Zhang Tie wanted to eat it, he raised his ears as he took up that heavy crossbow and targeted it at that entrance.


    "Wow, someone is here..." A voice sounded outside the entrance. At the same time, a pioneer walked in. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s weapon, he became stunned remarkably. After a short while, he responded with a kind smile as he shrugged his shoulders. Meanwhile, he revealed a mouthful of golden teeth, "After seeing the fire here, I came here. As it''s dark now and I cannot find any suitable place in the neighborhood. Can I sleep one night here?"


    ...

 410 Empty City Tactic

    Chapter 410: Empty City Tactic[1]


    Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie watched that person with faintly narrowed eyes, "Come in, this place is enough for two people..."


    Hearing this, that man walked in. After glancing at Zhang Tie''s heavy metal crossbow, he intended to walk close.


    Zhang Tie then pointed at a place over 10 m away with his heavy metal crossbow, "If you''re a pioneer, you should know the rules among pioneers. You can sleep over there and set a fire yourself with those dried firewoods. As we don''t know each other, in case of conflict, you''d better stay away from me. I''m as timid as a rabbit. Besides, I would always sleepwalk. I''m afraid of hurting you if you are too close to me!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, that person''s smile froze at once. Whereas, after a short while, he revealed a smile once again, "You''re right!" After that, that man picked some dried firewoods and weeds from the ground in the mountain cave and started to set fire by his windproof lighter at the place over 10 m away from Zhang Tie.


    Although that person was a bit far away from Zhang Tie, he faintly blocked the entrance. If Zhang Tie wanted to leave the mountain cave, he had to pass by that person.


    After that person set a fire, the kebab of huge deep-sea monster being on Zhang Tie''s metal bolt had turned golden and was dripping oil onto the bonfire. As a result, the flame below grew higher, causing the sound of "Zra, Zra".


    The fragrance in the mountain cave grew richer.


    During this process, Zhang Tie and that person just looked at each other, causing a bit weirdness in the silence.


    After cooking the kebab well, Zhang Tie took it up. Blowing it slightly, Zhang Tie started to eat it. Even though he was eating the kebab, he still didn''t drop his heavy metal crossbow; instead, he put it on his legs, setting the mouth of the crossbow faintly towards a place 10 meters away.


    "Little brother, what are you eating? It smells good!" That person licked his lips.


    "Hmm, this is a fish I got from the river outside. It does not look bad!" Zhang Tie fabricated. At the same time, oil dripped off his mouth corners. "Flesh of huge deep-sea monster is truly yummy; it makes my stomach warm and very comfortable. After eating it, my tiredness and sense of hunger gradually faded away. The chef is right. the energy of Qi and blood in the flesh of huge deep-sea monster is very beneficial to human body."


    "I''ve not eaten anything today. Can you share me with that kebab, little brother?" that man smiled, exposing a mouthful of gold-capped teeth. "


    "Oh, sorry, the flesh is only enough for myself. If you are hungry, you better get something from outside. As a pioneer, it should not be a problem to get some food!" Zhang Tie kept engulfing the cooked kebab, sparing no face to that guy at all. He even didn''t glance at him.


    Hearing this, that guy with a mouthful of gold-capped teeth twitched his eye corners at once before smiled. After that, he took out a piece of jerked meat and started to roast it above the fire. At the same time, he sighed with emotions, "Alas! I could only eat my own food! But my food is not as savoury as yours. Your meat smells like that of top cuttlefish in the deep sea! How come cuttlefish exist in the freshwater river outside!"


    Zhang Tie also responded with a smile. After sweeping the last piece of kebab, Zhang Tie cleaned his mouth as he put away his metal crossbow, "It''s nothing strange at all. Perhaps I just encountered a foolish cuttlefish that swam along the river from the sea! Actually, this place is not far from the ocean..."


    "Cuttlefish is not foolish. They are actually the most clever and ferocious hunters in the ocean, especially some mutated and evolved ones. If they truly swim against the current and enter this river from the ocean, they must be chasing after their preys..." The "gold-capped teeth" explained with a smile as he stared at Zhang Tie. Being reflected by the fire in front of him, his teeth radiated metallic gleam, making Zhang Tie feel chilly, "Do you know what those smart and powerful cuttlefish would do after they catch their preys? Hehe, they would always not kill the preys right away; instead, they enjoy the process to kill the preys. At first, they would bound the preys tightly with tentacles; then, they gradually corrode preys'' limbs with gastric acid. Finally, they start to eat their preys one bit after another. A cuttlefish could even survive 1 week with a fat prey!"


    "Wow, is that true..." Zhang Tie also smiled, "Besides feeling disgusted about those cuttlefish, I don''t think that they are that sharp. Although some cuttlefish look huge and sharp, as long as you cut off their tentacles, they would not able to move any more. Like what I''ve seen on the passenger liner that I took. I watched how a sword sage cut off the tentacles of a huge deep-sea monster one by another and finally turn it into a pile of dead flesh floating over the sea!"


    "Do you mean Samaranth, the Star and Moon Sword Sage?"


    "Yes! I fought a huge deep-sea monster together with him. At the critical moment, I gave him a little help by shooting the huge deep-sea monster to death with the ballista on the ship. From then on, we know each other! Mr. Samaranth feels that I am very brave. But to tell the truth, I am really brave..." Zhang Tie said with an easy and honorable look.


    "You know Samaranth?" Saying this, the "Gold-capped Teeth" didn''t smile anymore as he stared at Zhang Tie, seemingly wanted to judge whether Zhang Tie was telling a lie.


    Without changing his look, Zhang Tie watched "Gold-capped Teeth". At the same time, he broke a small wooden spike from a withered Buckthorn twig on one side and started to pick his teeth with it in a casual way. Meanwhile, he peered at "gold-capped teeth" with a disgusting and proud look, "Is that strange? You will see him right away. When you see him, you can also talk about that story about cuttlefish to him. Mr. Samaranth hates cuttlefish the most. I think he must be interested in that story!"


    Hearing this, "Gold-capped Teeth" rolled his eyes as he glanced at the entrance, "Hehe, your story is very funny, but everybody knows that the Star and Moon Sword Sage is heading for Haidela Glacier Crack in the south of Ice and Snow Wildness for the pieces of Star of God!"


    "Dare you bet?" Zhang Tie maintained his look as he stared at "Gold-capped Teeth" with a scornful look, "If the trace of a sword sage could be known by everybody, is he qualified to be a sword sage? Mr. Samaranth is going to Haidela Glacier Crack; however, before going there, he wants to prepare something on Grey Hill. Perhaps, he believes in me; therefore, he wants me to give him a bit help."


    "What help?" "Gold-capped Teeth" asked.


    "You don''t need to know about this! Perhaps, if you think that Mr. Samaranth could treat you well, you can ask him!" Saying this, Zhang Tie casually took out his pocket watch and glanced at it, "Sword Sage would come at any time. You can wait here for a while!"


    Hearing this, the "Gold-capped Teeth" changed his face. He had fully lost his calmness. He glanced at the entrance before focused on Zhang Tie with ferociously gleaming eyes. However, he became a bit hesitated at the moment as he became wholly flurried inside.


    "gold-capped teeth" stood up from the ground immediately as he stared at Zhang Tie with eyes full of killing intent, "How do you know that I''m from Demon Snake Island?"


    "Nonsense, please think about it with your cuttlefish-like brain. What''s the time now? How come pioneers still stay on Grey Hill?" Zhang Tie stared at "gold-capped teeth" with a disdainful look. At the same time, he pointed his heavy metal crossbow towards "Gold-capped teeth", "If not to help Mr. Samaranth here and was promised to be taken to Haidela Glacier Crack, I would never stay in this hell place. As a pioneer, I''m here to hug sword sage''s thigh[2], what are you motherf*cking here for? Are you also here to help sword sage?"


    "Only this?"


    "That''s how I say you are as stupid as a cuttlefish..."Zhang Tie sneered, "At the sight of a stranger walking in with a heavy metal crossbow, no pioneer below LV 7 would still dare to walk inside a wild mountain cave and ask for one night. The reason lies in that you think you are more powerful than me and this heavy metal crossbow could not pose any threat to you. However, it''s impossible for pioneers with such a high rank and fighting strength to not go to Haidela Glacer Crack at this moment!"


    "This explanation is not persuasive. Perhaps, I''m just a pioneer and don''t want to go to Haidela Glacier Crack and I just stay here due to other reasons!" "Gold-capped teeth" urged with a confident look.


    "Even though you think you can surpass me on fighting strength, what if you fall asleep? After you fall asleep, if I want to set you up, I only need to trigger my crossbow in such a short distance. You would not able to respond to it at all. Therefore, I''ve known that you''re lying when you said that you were going to live one night with a stranger who''s holding a heavy metal crossbow."


    Zhang Tie sneered, "Nobody, if he''s normal, would able to sleep well in such an environment. Perhaps you could really rest here one night; but it must happen after you are killed or ensured that I do not have to resist; instead of being pointed by my crossbow. Therefore, I have already got 2 hidden meanings the moment you entered the mountain cave and told me about your intention: you are sure that I cannot threaten you tonight; you''ve already known about my real fighting strength and are here for killing me. You''ve not planned to let me survive me tonight. Besides b*stards on Demon Snake Island, I have no other enemies at all. Facing a person who knows me better than others and wants to set me up while not being afraid of being revenged, I could not find anybody else but those from Demon Snake Island. You only want to kill me, but why do you make it so sophisticated!"


    Gritting his golden teeth, he glared at Zhang Tie. He had not imagined that his well-planned performance was full of loopholes in front of Zhang Tie since the beginning. Like a brand standing on his head, even his status and motive was seen through by Zhang Tie at once. To be honest, this made "gold-capped teeth" a bit self-abased. As a result, he grew more hateful towards Zhang Tie.


    "I suggest you to not waste your brains with that poor intelligence, not to mention any ambience or personality. Bandits and killers like you are all scumbags. After catching sight of your targets, you should directly go kill them! Never dream about making any plot. I beg you, please!" Zhang Tie''s sharp words completely destroyed the self-esteem of "gold-capped teeth". It seemed that Zhang Tie was in the advance position.


    "I''m Dawson, a round-table warrior in Demon Snake Island. Do you think that I dare not to kill you?" Dawson stared at Zhang Tie as he moved one step forward.


    "If you want to die, you can have a try!" Zhang Tie still looked calm.


    "By what; your crossbow or your fighting strength as only a LV 9 fighter?" Dawson urged as he moved another two steps forward, intending to launch the attack at once.


    "I''ve told you that you better not rack your cuttlefish-like mind. If you insist on doing that, you could only have two results: the first one is that you kill me and will be killed by Mr. Samaranth, unless you think that you could escape from a sword sage in Ice and Snow Wildness; the second one is that Mr. Samaranth will kill you when you are fighting me!"


    "How come Samaranth follow your order?"


    "Of course a sword sage would not follow a trivial person''s order. I''m not allowed to control his will; however, what if he feels that his dignity is violated or being irritated by someone as his good plan is destroyed? Additionally, do you think that the Star and Moon Sword Sage likes you b*stards from Demon Snake Island?" Zhang Tie then added, "I''d like you to guess whether I am postponing time for the second result?"


    Hearing this, Dawson became startled instantly as he understood something. In a split second, he had already moved back to the entrance. After throwing a ferocious glare at Zhang Tie, he turned around and intended to escape. At this moment, Zhang Tie triggered his crossbow ferociously towards him. Seeing this, Dawson twisted his body in a weird way to avoid from Zhang Tie''s first wave of bolts.


    Zhang Tie followed him closely while shooting at the latter consecutively with his heavy metal crossbow, preventing Dawson from leaving.


    As the speed of the bolts could hardly reach that of sound in the air, they could hardly threaten a LV 10 strong fighter. With some flashes, Dawson had already been dozens of meters away as he soared towards Zhang Tie, "Wait there, brat..."


    "Peh..." After chasing him out of the cave, Zhang Tie spat ferociously towards Dawson''s back as he jumped up and swore, "You timid b*stards. You only know about bullying weak people, yet fearing powerful ones. If you are back, I will show my shooting skills with my crossbow. F*ck!"


    Dawson from the distance was so furious that he almost spat out blood. In a few seconds, he had disappeared in the mountain woods hundreds meters away.


    After seeing Dawson disappearing in the mountain woods, Zhang Tie felt his back wet and cold in the night wind.


    Some of those words were real, some were not. He truly had identified that Dawson was from Demon Snake Island at the beginning. As for the contents about the Star and Moon Sword Sage, he fabricated them all.


    Actually, since Dawson walked out of that mountain cave, Zhang Tie had been scared so much that his back even oozed cold sweat. He had not imagined that he could be blocked by a member of Demon Snake Island in a mountain cave in such a short period. As a people whose comprehensive fighting strength was a bit greater than a common LV 9, if he was blocked by a LV 10 strong fighter in that narrow space, Zhang Tie knew that he would not even survive 2 minutes in a fight.


    Since he was in the Dragon Cave of Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie had already experienced the gap between him and a LV 10 strong fighter. After these days'' cultivation, although he had made progress and had eaten a Iron-Teeth Hyena Seven-Strength Fruit, Zhang Tie still felt that the gap could not be narrowed in such a short period. He had no confidence in defeating Dawson.


    At that moment, when those thoughts flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind, Zhang Tie had determined to take the pre-emptive move himself; otherwise, he had to die tonight. When he could not win a fight by fighting strength, he could only depend on his high intelligence.


    Thankfully, Zhang Tie was the winner. He fabricated a story about the Star and Moon Sword Sage which even convinced himself. With the help of his calmness and perfect performance, Zhang Tie finally scared Dawson away.


    Of course Dawson didn''t leave too far away. Zhang Tie knew that such a sharp figure would never be scared too far away only by his words. Zhang Tie knew that Dawson must be observing him in a hidden place in the woods to judge his words. If Dawson was sure that the Star and Moon Sword Sage wouldn''t appear there or Zhang Tie was intending to escape, he would flash out right away.


    Watching that broad river outside the mountain cave, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. Now that Zhang Tie knew that he was being chased, how come he not prepare anything in advance? That was why he set his foothold on the riverside, which was his greatest guarantee.


    Before leaving his foothold, Zhang Tie determined to give another ferocious blow to that b*stard. Although this blow could not hurt Dawson''s body, but it could disturb his mental and spiritual state, enabling him to not be calm when facing Zhang Tie in the future. Overall, the more flurried that b*stard was, the safer Zhang Tie would be.


    Looking at the direction where Dawson escaped towards, Zhang Tie laughed his head off on purpose; at the same time, he hammered his chest and stomped his feet...


    In this evening, Zhang Tie''s laughter''s might even be heard miles away. Zhang Tie was sure that Dawson could definitely hear his laughter''s while observing what Zhang Tie was doing.


    "B*stard from Demon Snake Island. You are Dawson, right? You are really as timid as a rabbit. You''ve been so scared by such a fabricated story about the Star and Moon Sword Sage, huh? How dare you be a killer? Roll back to your mom and eat some more breast milk, hahahaha..." Zhang Tie added, "I know you are still in the neighborhood. You rubbish! You coward! Besides your gold teeth, can you find something else as hard as it in your body[3]? Your brains are really as foolish as that of cuttlefish. Even a trivial cuttlefish is much braver than you. I really don''t know whether your brains are filled with bullsh*t or paste. Remember to be a bit smart next time. Don''t believe in anybody else like an idiot next time! You wait here for the Star and Moon Sword Sage, this grandpa will not accompany you. Wait here, I will chop off your head sooner or later!"


    After saying this, Zhang Tie jumped into the river. Besides sprays, no more sound was left.


    The river was still babbling while the two bright moons on the sky were smiling like a ripped mouth; they were watching what was happening here...


    Ten more seconds later, with a growl from the distant woods, Dawson reappeared. He rushed towards that point where Zhang Tie jumped into the river. After taking a serious look, he also intended to jump in; however, with a hesitation, he roared, "Peter, I will peel off your skin..."


    ...


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie climbed onto the opposite river bank full of pebbles about 70 km away. Even Dawson stood here, he would never believe that someone could swim against the current for 70 km in half an hour. This was Zhang Tie''s greatest advantage.


    There were also all sorts of dangers in the river, especially in the evening. On the way, Zhang Tie had met more than 10 huge crocodiles which were longer than 5 m and some huge carnivorous fish. Although they swam faster in water and wanted to have a close touch with Zhang Tie at the sight of him, they were all easily lagged behind by Zhang Tie. In order to not leave any clue to Dawson, Zhang Tie didn''t kill them; although they swam faster in water, compared to Zhang Tie, they were like tortoise in front of rabbit on land.


    After reaching the opposite bank, Zhang Tie found a tree hole of a huge red willow. The moment he drilled into the hole, he instantly entered Castle of Black Iron...


    "Castle Lord, Welcome to Castle of Black Iron..." Heller was greeting him...


    [1] Empty City Tactic:


    In the Chinese classic Romance of the Three Kinddoms, after Jieting £¨Gansu Province, China£©was lost, Sima (Surname) Yi (Given name) launched an attack towards Xicheng City where Zhuge (Surname) Liang (Given name) ''s military headquarter was located. As Zhuge Liang''s force was weak, he left the city gate open and arranged people to clean the streets. Sima Yi was very suspicious about this; as a result, he ordered his army to retreat. Nowadays, Empty City Tactic is used to cover one''s weakness in force so as to baffle the opponent or make the opponent retreat.


    [2] Hug one''s thigh refers to rely on one''s great power.


    [3]This line was used to mock that Dawson was too weak and timid.

 411 Earthworm Number One

    Chapter 411: Earthworm Number One


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    At this moment, as Zhang Tie had just come out of the river, he was wet all over. Although, looking embarrassed, he still looked very good. In the first round of fight with that LV 10 strong fighter, Zhang Tie was the winner; besides, he even humiliated that b*stard and escaped away under his gaze. Of course, Zhang Tie deserved the high spirit, It was not because of his advantage on fighting skills but on his high spirit and will.


    Dawson didn''t say that he was LV 10. However from his swift actions on dodging Zhang Tie''s bolts and escaping away, Zhang Tie found that it was nothing different than that b*stard in Zhen family who chased after him in Dragon Cave. Therefore, Zhang Tie had figured out his level.


    "Demon Snake Island truly dispatched a LV 10 powerhouse to kill me as I''ve imagined." Zhang Tie felt stressed while a wild fire completely burned inside, "This Dawson will be the first stepping stone on my way to be a powerhouse."


    "Have you started to catalyze those seeds of Buckthorns?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    "The first batch contains 400 Buckthorn seeds which have started to catalyze according to different input plans. We will know about the catalytic result of the first batch of seeds in 3 weeks. If any Buckthorn seeds evolve or mutate, we can increase the input of aura values to accelerate their growth and stimulate them to bear fruits. In this way, we can gain a great number of evolved and mutated Buckthorn seeds!" Heller explained calmly, "The aura values and basic energy storage in Castle of Black Iron could satisfy this round of catalysis; however, the merit values grow a bit slowly. Its main source is from setting free fishes on Hidden Dragon Island. We could only obtain 50-70 merit values a day by doing this."


    Zhang Tie recalled that he only had a bit more than 500 merit values left on Polar Light when he formed the Flower of Life. If he wanted to accomplish the catalysis of so many Buckthorn seeds at once, he estimated that those merit values might have been dried up.


    "I might add some merit values in a few days!" Zhang Tie replied uncertainly.


    "Might?" Heller stared at Zhang Tie with a doubtful look.


    Zhang Tie then scratched his head, "I made an appointment with someone last year. In case of no emergency, another batch of earthworms would be set free in a few days!"


    Heller then responded with a relieved look...


    If Hanna''s family members could still comply with that appointment that Zhang Tie had made with them before he left Blapei, they would be buying earthworms from Chevli village and its surrounding villages and set them free. After one year, the number of those earthworms which should have been used to feed domestic animals had recovered to its previous level. It was the right moment to set free.


    However, Zhang Tie had been forced to leave Blapei so long as a criminal and didn''t contact them in this period, Zhang Tie was not sure whether Hanna''s family members could still imply with the appointment or not.


    Although Zhang Tie was not in Blapei, with the ability to control yeasts granted by the fruit of creator, he could let Hanna''s beer lose its special taste which helped her win the reputation "Beer Queen".


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how Hanna''s family life had changed after Hanna won the reputation of Beer Queen. If Hanna''s family failed to comply with the appointment, Zhang Tie could punish them by inactivating the mutated yeasts. However, Zhang Tie didn''t want to do this. Actually, Hanna''s family treated him well while Hanna brought him much pleasure. If Hanna''s family failed to fulfill this appointment, Zhang Tie would just call it an end to their friendship. To be honest, Zhang Tie didn''t want his beloved woman to lose everything.


    As for merit values, Zhang Tie intended to seek for other methods. Zhang Tie didn''t believe that there was no chance to do good things in Ice and Snow Wildness. If not, he could return to Ewentra Archipelago and set free fishes and shrimp at the cost of tens of thousands of gold coins. However, if he did this, he would be taken as a lunatic by others.


    "Speaking of earthworms, I''ve got a good news to tell you, Castle Lord. Those earthworms in Castle of Black Iron have completed their first round of mutation and evolution. A new earthworm had formed in Castle of Black Iron. It''s waiting for you to name it, my lord!" Heller smiled.


    Hearing this news, Zhang Tie became stunned. Closely after that, he became too excited. After about 1 year, since he handed the work of the evolving earthworms, bees, basic energy aura yeast, soya beans and corns to Heller, he almost forgot it. It was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that he could have new species in Castle of Black Iron. Zhang Tie had not figured out the effects of these new earthworms; however, thinking of that he could control a wholly new species after eating a fruit of creator, Zhang Tie felt so happy.


    The moment Zhang Tie wanted to open the operation panel of Castle of Black Iron, he was stopped by Heller.


    Pointing at Zhang Tie''s clothes which were still dripping wet, Heller suggested, "Castle Lord, why not change to a new set of clothes?"


    Zhang Tie responded with a smile and accepted Heller''s suggestion. "As I''m already in Castle of Black Iron, I have enough time."


    Zhang Tie then took a bath in Castle of Black Iron, after that, he changed to a new set of clothes before sitting on one chair in the room comfortably. After doing this, he touched the option "Management on Livings and Populations" and found the item "Management on Animals" under "Management on Carbon-Based Livings and Populations" where he found the information about the new earthworms.


    The three-dimensional holograms of 2 earthworms appeared in front of Zhang Tie at once...


    From the appearances, Zhang Tie had already found the difference between common earthworms and mutated earthworms.


    Before mutation, common earthworms were red and reddish-brown, which were also the colors of most earthworms. However, the mutated earthworms had 2 more black circles on their heads and tails besides the original red and reddish-brown colors.


    Additionally, mutated ones were larger than those common earthworms.


    Under the three-dimensional holograms were the differences between 2 kinds of earthworms on chromosomes and DNAs. Zhang Tie couldn''t understand them; therefore, he just skipped to the end to see the new features of this mutated earthworms.


    ¡ª¡ªBlack-circle earthworm is a whole new earthworm species which has experienced a round of mutation and evolution. This earthworm is more suitable to environment than common earthworms. Under light, its survival time is 31% more than that of common earthworms. Besides, this new species could adapt to 4 Celsius degrees more or less than the highest and the lowest temperatures respectively. What''s more, this earthworm is more suitable to various soils and is able to improve and fertilize the activity of soil.


    ¡ª¡ªThe feces of this earthworm contains 2.75% of nitrogen, 1.96% of phosphor, 0.37% of k-alum, 35.4% of organic matters, 23 amino acids and rich earthworm enzyme. Each gram of its feces contains more than 10,000 beneficial microorganisms; as a contrast, there are only a bit more than 100 beneficial microorganisms in aged and barren soil. Earthworm enzyme could kill many kinds of viruses, harmful bacteria and a lot of special substances which restrict the growth of plants.


    "Castle Lord, please name this new earthworm!" Seeing Zhang Tie finish reading this information, Heller said aside.


    "Let''s call it earthworm number one!" Zhang Tie casually named it like what lazy guys always do.


    For this name, Heller only nodded his head. However, from Zhang Tie''s look, Heller felt that Zhang Tie might not know about the significance of this kind of earthworm at all.


    "Castle Lord, do you know the real effect of these earthworms?"


    "Aren''t they used to improve and fertilize soil?" Zhang Tie asked with a curious look.


    "That''s true; but do you know what does this effect mean to you?"


    "What?" a thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "Right, have you got it?" Heller smiled.


    "You mean...we don''t need to plough soil anymore with them!" Zhang Tie''s heart raced.


    "Right. From then on, as long as there is such earthworms, all the farmland would be free from ploughing with the help of these earthworms. If you put 0.9 million of this kind of earthworms on a parcel of land of 10,000 square meters, you will save 4 skilled farmers "8 hours" work in each day. Additionally, their feces will be equal to 140 tons of organic fertilizer each year on that parcel of land.


    Although Zhang Tie had not done any farming work, he clearly knew about farming through the education at school in Blackhot City which emphasized survival ability. It could be said that plough, as an important farming activity was closely related to crop farming and agriculture since a long period before catastrophe. As the old saying went, "No pain, no gain." Ploughing was very important in agriculture, which was almost the most consuming work in the rural areas. But now, Heller told him that all the farmlands were free of plough with the help of this kind of earthworm.


    "Don''t be strange about that. Actually, before agriculture, some countries and regions had already adopted the most advanced and natural farming mode after figuring out this effect of earthworms. ''Agricultural Free-Plough Act'' was even formulated in many regions. Actually, they put a lot of earthworms in the soil so as to substitute manpower and mechanical plough. By doing this, they could save a great amount of manpower and money; meanwhile, the soil was improved and purified!"


    "Why didn''t they popularize this method in a wider scale?"


    "There are too many reasons about this. Only a few people knew about this method at that time because a powerful selfish interest group stopped its popularization in the traditional agricultural mode! At that time, traditional agriculture was a inferior farming mode which separated farmland from crops and the mother nature. By doing this, someone could get rich. All the people who could make money through this way didn''t expect this channel to be stopped by little earthworms!"


    Zhang Tie finally understood. Because of human''s greed, selfishness and arrogance, many people thought they were greater than creator. As for cultivation and fertilization, people invented many machines; however, few people knew that even the greatest machine could not match these trivial earthworms.


    With this explanation, Zhang Tie recognized the importance of earthworm number one. However, the quantity of these earthworms was relatively small. If he wanted them to exert a greater importance, Zhang Tie had to prepare enough quantity of this kind of new earthworms. Take Castle of Black Iron as an instance, if he wanted to turn this parcel of land into forever quality farmland, Zhang Tie had to put at least 6 million earthworms number one here based on Heller''s calculation.


    Thankfully, earthworms reproduced very fast.


    After solving the questions about the new earthworm, Zhang Tie came in front of the small tree.


    Besides the second iron-teeth hyena seven-strength fruit, Zhang Tie found a new fruit of creator in shape of a kidney bean.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Creator has become matured. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªAll the creations carry infinite karma. Because of you, earthworm number one appears in this world. They are your creations. Therefore, they belong to you. You are their father and god. This fruit of creator will grant you with the supreme control over this earthworm in the world. In accordance with the material existence law of earthworm number one, your will and orders interpret their existence.


    With his eyes on this fruit of creator, Zhang Tie picked it off devoutly. Before eating it, Zhang Tie touched the trunk of the small tree and told him seriously, "Thank you. Without you, I will be nothing. Please believe in me that I will treasure this marvelous fruit!"


    Hearing this, the small tree waved itself, causing the sound, "sisi".


    After eating that marvelous fruit, Zhang Tie soon had one more special ability. Without having to count, he knew everything about these new earthworms¡ª¡ªat this moment, there were 185919 earthworms number one in Castle of Black Iron.


    These earthworms really liked Castle of Black Iron, especially that soil nearby Pool of Chaos as if it was like their holy land.


    "Reproduce, put your efforts to reproduce. From now on, your greatest task is to enlarge the quantity of your species", Zhang Tie released his first order to those earthworms.


    After this order, Zhang Tie picked off that delicate seven-strength fruit in shape of iron-teeth hyena. After that, he sat under the small tree before he put it in his mouth...

 412 Dropping Teeth

    Chapter 412: Dropping Teeth


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Each kind of fruit on that small tree had its special effect and would bring Zhang Tie different abilities and benefits; however, the only one that could grant Zhang Tie with the experience of the ''greatest life experience'' was seven-strength fruit.


    After eating each seven-strength fruit, Zhang Tie could feel a baptism and a whole new and powerful improvement in his body.


    Seven-strength fruit constantly improved Zhang Tie''s life experience.


    As LV 1 living beings, iron-teeth hyena was one level higher than wild wolf. They were greater than common wild wolves on strength and speed. However, after taking each iron-teeth hyena''s seven-strength fruit, Zhang Tie would have one more iron-teeth hyena''s full strength in his vitality.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie opened his eyes under the tree the next morning, he felt that something was in his mouth. After spitting it out, Zhang Tie saw 2 teeth falling onto the ground in front of him. "How come I drop off teeth at this age? What''s happening? But I don''t feel any pain at all!" Zhang Tie''s curiosity arised.


    These were 2 bigger molars, Zhang Tie put his fingers inside his mouth and touched the 2 ends of the lower teeth. Surprisingly, 2 new teeth had already grown out over one night but were only half the size of the original ones. Although they were not fully grown, they had a good texture.


    "How come my teeth be replaced at this age? I don''t even have my wisdom teeth fully grown." Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile. "Is it because of that seven-strength fruit that he eats yesterday?"


    At this moment, it was already dawn in Castle of Black Iron. As the time in Castle of Black Iron was synchronous with that of outside, Zhang Tie probably knew the time outside.


    Zhang Tie picked himself up from the ground, causing the cracking sound of his bones. Feeling that comfortable and powerful sense, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but roar in Castle of Black Iron.


    He roared longer than 3 minutes. Zhang Tie found that his voice grew louder and louder; meanwhile, he found that his one breath could last longer. From the 2 aspects, Zhang Tie knew that his body had been much stronger than it was yesterday.


    He was instantly in a good mood.


    Hearing the roar, Heller and his 3 subordinates walked towards Zhang Tie. At the same time, Zhang Tie walked off the high platform from the small tree.


    "Castle Lord..." At the sight of Zhang Tie, Agan, Edward and Aziz had knelt down in front of him with full pleasure and started to kiss Zhang Tie''s shoes in a humble way. These days, Zhang Tie always left Castle of Black Iron in the early morning and returned late in the night, which were different from their schedule; as a result, Agan, Edward and Aziz hadn''t seen Zhang Tie these days.


    "Are you going to work now?"


    "Yes, Castle Lord, your earthworm number one could save a greater part of our time on farming work from today on!" Agan responded happily, "In this way, I will have time to build some more beautiful rooms for Castle Lord. I''m really sorry for the current rooms!"


    "I can also build some proper weapons for Castle Lord. If you like javelins, I will definitely make javelins that fit you the most! If you like crossbow, I will build the most powerful crossbow for you." Edward also revealed a smile.


    "If Castle Lord likes drinking, I can brew various good wines with the fruits here. I can make any drinks that you like!" Aziz added.


    Hearing their words, Zhang Tie suddenly remembered that they were not only qualified to be farmers. "But I''ve been taking them as laborers and coolies since they appear in Castle of Black Iron together with Heller. What a pity!" Zhang Tie sighed with emotions.


    Zhang Tie remembered that these 3 people were nothing different from true people, just like Heller. They should also eat food to sustain their physical energy consumption. Besides, they need to rest and sleep. "Given their piety, perhaps I should treat them better."


    "There are a lot of huge deep-sea monster''s flesh in the ice cave of Castle of Black Iron. It tastes good and is beneficial to your health. From today on, you can have 1 kg of its flesh per week. This is my reward for your diligent work in Castle of Black Iron!" Zhang Tie said generously.


    Hearing this, Agan, Edward and Aziz were deeply moved that they even dropped off their tears.


    "Aziz, as you can brew wine, can you spare some time to share your drinks in Castle of Black Iron with the rest of people. Although being my servants, you should also have the flesh and wine so that I could have a face!"


    Receiving the task, Aziz was so thrilled that his face even turned red, "Trust me Castle Lord, I will not disappoint you. I wonder which wine do you like, my lord. If you can sip even a bit of wine that I brew, I would feel pretty honorable!"


    "What drinks can you brew then?" Zhang Tie asked seriously.


    "Any drink. I can brew any wine, red wine, beer, fruit wine, liquor, high wine, low wine. I can brew any wine with alcohol, total 5689 varieties. The processing methods are deeply imprinted in my soul and memory. As long as the raw materials and conditions are satisfied, I can brew any wine as you like!"


    It was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that Aziz could brew 5689 drinks.


    "How many kinds?" Zhang Tie raised his voice at once.


    "5689!" Aziz became a bit restless, "Castle Lord, do you think that I cannot satisfy your demand?"


    Zhang Tie stared at Aziz, "No, you''re very good. Just brew whatever you want with the raw materials and conditions here!"


    "Fine!"


    When the 3 servants left politely and started to do their works, Heller walked closer.


    "Castle Lord, how are you feeling about the new teeth?"


    "You know that?"


    "I''ve told you that I know everything that happens here!"


    "I was going to ask you why. How come it happened over one night? I''m not a kid!" Zhang Tie rubbed his cheeks and added with a faintly gloomy look, "Because of the seven-strength fruit?"


    "Yes, it''s because of the seven-strength fruit. Iron-teeth hyenas have completed a round of evolution on the basis of common wild hyenas. They have a very sharp teeth and could almost bit through any animals'' bones in Ice and Snow Wildness. The power of teeth indicates the power of the marrow of this animal. Teeth is the external symbol of the strength of marrow of living beings. Similarly, when human grow old, they would drop teeth. It''s because of the exhausting strength of marrow inside human body. Conversely, if a human''s strength of marrow starts to grow, he would have new teeth! The growth cycle of each human''s teeth is closely related to his strength of marrow."


    Hearing this explanation, Zhang Tie understood it right away. After eating that seven-strength fruit of iron-teeth hyenas, Zhang Tie had combined that special great strength into his strength of marrow. This strength of iron-teeth hyena was 40% greater than that of 2 common wild wolves.


    "If so, why didn''t this happen after I ate the seven-strength fruits of wild wolves?"


    "At this time, the strength of marrow in the 9 seven-strength fruits of wild wolves that you''ve eaten has not reached the limit of your body. After breaking this limit, some vital signs and natural changes would appear on your body like how some withered woods could sprout after being stroked by lightning bolts. Everything was concerning about energy. As long as the energy surpasses some critical point, qualitative changes would happen!"


    "You mean the strength of marrow in the 2nd seven-strength fruit of iron-teeth hyenas have just broken through that critical point in my body?"


    "You got it!"


    "I will not become a monster, right?" Zhang Tie changed his face, "I will not have teeth like that of iron-teeth hyenas, right? If so, I would have never eaten it. I don''t want to be taken as a monster as long as I open my mouth!"


    "No, Castle Lord, you think too much!" Heller smiled, "However, because of the powerful strength of marrow in your body, the new teeth are truly different than before to a certain degree, although they will not make you a monster with terrifying teeth. You will know about it in the future. From now on, your old teeth might get replaced with new ones any time! In a couple of days, you will have all your teeth replaced."


    Hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie became reassured. However, before leaving Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie found a mirror and checked his new teeth carefully.


    The two new molars looked like the most expensive ceramic whitewares that were carried from East Continent. Besides being white, bright and clean, they were nothing different than common human teeth. Although Zhang Tie''s previous teeth were also tidy and white, they were still dwarfed by the 2 new teeth.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could have a pair of more beautiful teeth besides improving his fighting strength. He wondered whether he could experience a change in his image and body when the other strengths of seven-strength fruits of iron-teeth hyenas break through his critical points. He was curious whether he would look completely different than before like which was always described in the legends. "Donder have mentioned this special situation about cultivators. I wonder whether I''m experiencing such situation or not." a thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind.


    After a second, Zhang Tie had given up this question, as long as he didn''t become a monster or a person who was totally different than before, it would be acceptable.


    Before leaving Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie sent an order in mind, letting 5000 earthworms climb out of the soil. When he wanted to find some package to hold them and take them out, he heard Heller''s voice.


    "Castle Lord, are you going to take these earthworms outside?"


    "Right!"


    "That''s simple. When you come out, you only need to lock these earthworms with your spiritual energy through the teleportation door of Castle of Black Iron. After that, you can order them to climb out themselves; no need to take them out by yourself!"


    "What? But I remember you told me that all the animals should be carried by me to access the teleportation door."


    "This rule remains unchanged. However, for new species in Castle of Black Iron that were made by you, you are their owner both mentally and spiritually. From a perspective, you''re their god. As long as you open the teleportation door for them, you will have them follow your will. The Castle of Black Iron will also follow your will and have them leave here by themselves. You don''t have to take them away yourself."


    "I see!" Zhang Tie smiled, "Well, good luck to me!"


    "That guy who chased after you could find you on Grey Hill, it indicates that he had special methods or talents in this aspect. You''d better take care of yourself, my lord!"


    Zhang Tie nodded before leaving Castle of Black Iron. He reappeared in the hole of the red willow on the riverside which he entered last night. Over one night, with growing spiritual energy, Zhang Tie found that he could also sense the situation outside Castle of Black Iron through the marvelous teleportation door at the cost of spiritual energy although being in Castle of Black Iron.


    Now, Zhang Tie could sense the situation of 5 or 6 meters outside Castle of Black Iron. Within this range, Zhang Tie''s spiritual feelings were very real. If any human or animal was in the neighborhood, he could definitely find it. But it didn''t work out of the range. Although this was a small progress, it greatly increased Zhang Tie''s safety when he left Castle of Black Iron.


    With his spiritual feeling, Zhang Tie could feel a hedgehog beside the huge red willow. However, the tree hole was still safe. After checking it, Zhang Tie reappeared in the tree hole at once. At sight of Zhang Tie appearing in the tree hole out of nowhere, the hedgehog got scared so much that it shrunk to be a thorny ball.


    Right in the tree hole, Zhang Tie called 5000 earthworms number one out of Castle of Black Iron. The moment those earthworms climbed out of Castle of Black Iron, they had started to drill into the soft soil forcefully.


    The soil on the riverside was both wet and soft, which was very suitable to the growth of earthworms.


    Zhang Tie brought this new species into this world for the first time. At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t know what did this mean. He sent a supreme order in mind to those earthworms¡ª¡ªon the premise of ensuring your safety, try your best to reproduce! I grant this parcel of land to you for your reproduction! Go conceive it, my cute earthworm army!


    Although earthworms didn''t speak, they still gave a feedback signal of pleasure and excitement to Zhang Tie.


    Watching the last earthworm drilling into the soft soil by creeping its body Zhang Tie left.


    The sun had just come out; the riverside was still covered with fog. Zhang Tie drilled out of the fog and started to run towards the hill in the far.


    ...


    2 days later, at noon...


    The moment Zhang Tie killed some iron-teeth hyenas who were wandering nearby the grassland, he had heard a grim sneer from the shrubs on his left rear.


    With that jarring sound, Dawson from Demon Snake Island appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was not holding that heavy metal crossbow anymore; instead, he was holding a long saber.


    At the sight of Dawson, Zhang Tie was not flurried at all; instead, he was very calm. After turning around, he watched Dawson''s mouthful of golden-capped teeth with a cold look.


    "Brat, I will see where you can run this time." Dawson revealed a look that he was going to peer and engulf Zhang Tie alive, "I will pull off your teeth one after another; and let you swallow them. After that, I will cut off your tongue; in the next, I will play you 1 week. Trust me, as payment for being played, I will definitely make you die with great pain!"


    Zhang Tie smiled, revealing a mouthful of snow-white, tidy and close teeth, "You cannot pull off my teeth easily!"


    "Brat, don''t play tricks any more, do you think that you can escape from me today?" Dawson revealed a sneer, "Even you are a powerful LV 7 fighter, you''re still a loser in front of a LV 10 fighter. The difference between you and me is decisive. I''m already a 2-star strong fighter who''s ignited 62 surging points. Do you think that you can escape this time without any assistant?"


    "I wonder how you find me so fast on Grey Hill!"


    "Do you think that I will tell you?" Dawson grinned with dissatisfaction.


    "If so, show me your power as a 2-star strong fighter who''s ignited 62 surging points."


    Zhang Tie didn''t escape this time; instead, he rushed towards Dawson...

 413 Heavy Wounds

    Chapter 413: Heavy Wounds


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie''s action really shocked Dawson, who was irritated in a split second.


    If a mouse rushed towards a cat instead of escaping away when it caught sight of a cat, it was actually posing a defiance to cat.


    Dawson was driven extremely furious as he forced a sneer, "You''re looking for death!"


    If Zhang Tie did this when he was only LV 7, he was truly looking for death; however, Zhang Tie had fully lit the 16th surging point on his spine and was lighting the 17th surging point. This indicated that he had lit 4 more surging points than that he had done when he was LV 7. Additionally, he ate 3 seven-strength fruits of iron-teeth hyenas on Grey Hill and had fought the huge deep-sea monster in the trouble-reappearance fruit several times. As a result, he understood how to use Iron-Blood Fist in a better way.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie wanted to know the difference between him and a 2-star fighter who had lit 62 surging points.


    If a person could not face his fear or a really powerful enemy, he would not make progress.


    Zhang Tie intended to use Iron-Blood Fist by sword this time.


    Dawson also had a weapon. He was wearing a pale blue metal glove on each hand. They looked pretty grim. The moment the fought began, Dawson had already grabbed Zhang Tie''s long sword and his face with his weird claws. What a insidious movement!


    Zhang Tie slashed his sword towards Dawson''s neck with the powerful Qi of Iron-Blood Fist. After cutting through the air, it caused a loud booming sound as it was colliding with Dawson''s pale blue glove.


    Zhang Tie''s attack was very powerful and out of Dawson''s expectation. The moment Dawson touched Zhang Tie''s sword, his smile froze. With a shocking look, he was forced 3 steps back. Besides, his hand became slightly numb. Meanwhile, Dawson''s claw missed too.


    Zhang Tie became a bit disappointed. He was intending to chop off Dawson''s hand; however, he had not imagined that Dawson''s pale blue glove was so powerful that it prevented him from any harms. Additionally, Zhang Tie felt that his sword didn''t touch Dawson''s hand at all; instead, it crashed with a battle Qi over Dawson''s glove, which was still several centimeters away from Dawson''s hand.


    When Zhang Tie was chased after in the Dragon Cave, he had realized that a LV 10 strong fighter had completely opened his Qi sea and was able to release battle Qi without having to touch the opponent. However, it was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that besides off-body strike, a LV 10 strong fighter could cover human body and weapon to resist enemy''s strike. A LV 10 strong fighter had been much more powerful than a LV 9 fighter only on the usage of battle Qi. LV 10 strong fighters had so many skills on using their battle Qi. No wonder those people said that it was the real beginning of cultivation only when you entered LV 10.


    Zhang Tie was also sent flying back in the air by Dawson''s huge strength. Dawson only moved 3 steps back; however, Zhang Tie moved about 10 m away in the air. Seeing the dense luster of battle Qi over Dawson''s pale blue glove, Zhang Tie didn''t escape; instead, he launched the second round of strike. The unrivaled battle Qi of Iron-Blood Fist boiled in Zhang Tie''s blood vessels. The moment Zhang Tie''s feet touched the ground, he thrust against the ground forcefully at once causing a small pit, with the help of that great counter-force, Zhang Tie rushed towards Dawson like a flying bolt once again.


    In a split second, Dawson''s killing intent boiled. What a terrifying opponent! A 2-star LV 10 strong fighter was forced 3 steps back by a guy below LV 10; this was impossible and definitely a shame! Additionally, Dawson felt chilly when he saw Zhang Tie rushing towards him with that extremely powerful battle will and his icy yet unswerving belief in his eyes. "If this teenager is already so powerful at this age, what would he be when he grow up?"


    Dawson knew it well that before becoming a powerful fighter, the key point was that this person had to have an unswerving powerful belief and will when facing any powerful enemies instead of having any powerful fighting skills or secret knowledge. This was the ladder towards the peak. Besides Zhang Tie''s unbelievable fighting strength, Dawson was frightened by Zhang Tie''s high spirit and will to be a powerful fighter.


    Therefore, Dawson didn''t plan to keep Zhang Tie alive this time regardless of Zhang Tie''s current level. If he left Zhang Tie alive this time, he was afraid that this teenager would match him on fighting strength, even surpass him in the near future. If so, he would be killed then. As for cunning enemies with a great growth potential, Demon Snake Island would always kill them as soon as possible, leaving not a single chance to him.


    At this moment, Dawson became especially serious about the fight.


    "Go to hell!" With a muffled voice, Dawson released his pale blue battle Qi; it formed a huge yet grim claw and stroke towards Zhang Tie''s chest.


    "Kill!" Zhang Tie had already exerted his full effort in throwing his long sword towards Dawson before that pale blue battle Qi reached in front of him.


    The long sword turned into a white light after it left Zhang Tie''s hand and flew towards Dawson''s chest after crossing that bright huge claw.


    Zhang Tie did this because he realized that there was no difference on speed and power between throwing long sword and throwing javelin in this short distance. For powerhouses at Zhang Tie''s level, it was almost like fighting with bayonets by using this fighting method.


    The moment Zhang Tie threw out his long sword, Dawson''s claw of battle Qi had already reached Zhang Tie''s chest. Zhang Tie could not dodge it; instead, he punched that claw.


    After breaking the air, the long sword caused a shrill wind, together with the muffling sound between Zhang Tie''s punch and Dawson''s battle Qi and a sound of tearing clothes.


    After this resonance, the two people stopped as they watched the opponent with a distance of over 10 m.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s mouth corners was bleeding. Although he had destroyed that battle Qi, he was wounded at the same time. Besides his innards being hurt, his right sleeve had been boomed into ashes, leaving many bleeding wounds over his arm like being cut by broken glass.


    Dawson was still standing at the original place. It seemed that he had not even moved at all. However, a breach longer than 30 cm was made on the position under his armpit while Zhang Tie''s long sword completely sunk into the ground 30 m away, exposing its handle.


    Zhang Tie wiped off the blood at his mouth corners by his left hand while glaring at Dawson with the same ferocious battle intention. Dawson lowered his head to check his broken clothes as he looked pretty calm.


    "You bring me surprise each time. It''s really out of my imagination. It''s my first time to see such an opponent!" Dawson raised his head as he told Zhang Tie with an extremely calm voice.


    "Really?" Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "But I don''t think it''s surprising enough; if not, my long sword should have penetrated through your heart and nailed you on the ground!"


    "I agree that you almost made it!" Dawson watched Zhang Tie with the same calm tongue. At the same time, his eyes became as narrow as needles, "You can release a fierce sonic boom with your long sword in such a short distance, if I were a strong fighter who had just lit 55 surging points, I might have been killed by you. What a pity! I''ve consolidated my rank completely. Your attack is useless to me!"


    "Just wait!"


    "You are very confident. But do you know what real strong fighters mean? The alleged strong fighter refers to those who could completely surpass LV 9 fighters from all aspects. Although LV 9 fighters could launch sonic boom with some weapons, causing a huge destructive force and power, we strong fighters could break through sonic barrier ourselves in an extremely short period and distance. It''s a essential difference between LV 9 fighters and LV 10 strong fighters. Besides, strong fighters have a great perception on weapons which draw close to them. All the sonic booms are useless to strong fighters!"


    "You''ve not seen the fastest throwing speed!" Zhang Tie''s battle intention was not disrupted by Dawson''s words; instead, he was still full of confidence. Zhang Tie had seen hope from this strike. Compared to that his flying javelin was easily dodged by that strong fighter of Zhen family in the Dragon Cave, Zhang Tie knew that he was closer to the target. He almost killed Dawson just now. His throwing speed had been much faster than before.


    "Actually, do you think the destructive force between one-time the speed of sound transmission and two-times the speed of sound transmission is the same? Although my sonic boom strike is only one time that of sound transmission, do you think that you can still dodge away when my throwing speed reach twice or thrice the speed of sound transmission? Do you think that your alleged great dodging speed is still be useful by then?


    "Hahaha..." Dawson smiled, "You''re right. If you can release a flying sword twice the speed of sound transmission, I truly would not easily dodge. Actually, if you raise the speed of your flying sword by 20%, I would not doge away. However, fighters have physical limits. Nobody could break through this limit. You might have reached your physical limit. I''ve not heard that any fighter could release a sonic boom strike above twice the speed of sound transmission. You are not bad! If not provoking us, you might have a chance to be a strong fighter in the future. Pitifully, too many young men like you are too self-righteous. Finally, you will lose your life because of this."


    "I feel I am living quite well and I will live long!" Zhang Tie responded with a smile.


    "Really?" Dawson narrowed his pupils once again, "Let''s call it an end today!"


    The moment Dawson finished his words, he had already reached in front of Zhang Tie. Although Zhang Tie had been preparing for that by activating a rune effect of his rapid moving skill, Dawson''s speed was still out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. If Zhang Tie rushed towards him like a bolt just now, Dawson was a bolt himself. He had already moved almost 10 m and appeared in front of Zhang Tie in less than 0.1 second. He directly pointed towards Zhang Tie''s heart with his illuminating glove. It was a fierce strike of strength and speed. As long as he touched Zhang Tie, he would undoubtedly scoop out Zhang Tie''s heart.


    When in fight, the effect of rapid moving skill would drop by 80%, thanks to the remaining approximate 20% effect of rapid moving skill. Zhang Tie could move 24% faster than before and dodged away. Otherwise, Zhang Tie might have been heavily wounded.


    The moment Zhang Tie dodged away, he saw Dawson punching him with another fist. This time, Zhang Tie could not dodge at all; therefore, he directly boomed Dawson''s glove which was covered with 1 m-thick battle Qi.


    After a shock on innards, Zhang Tie felt like spitting out blood; however, he forcefully swallowed it back. Dawson''s battle Qi was very sharp and aggressive. Zhang Tie felt that Dawson''s battle Qi intended to drill into his body; thankfully, his iron-blood battle Qi was unrivaled. When the battle Qi intended to invade along his arm, it had been torn apart by Zhang Tie''s iron-blood battle Qi. Even though, Zhang Tie''s arm was still covered with many wounds.


    "Which battle Qi are you practicing?" Seeing Zhang Tie dissolving his battle Qi by hand, Dawson was shocked inside. Actually Dawson was also practicing a senior battle Qi. For inferior fighters, if they were boomed by Dawson''s battle Qi, they would be invaded by his battle Qi. As a result, all their blood vessels would break. If a inferior fighter who was not invaded by his battle Qi while booming against it by hand, the only possibility was that he was practicing a more powerful battle Qi than Dawson. Only top battle Qi could prevent the invasion of Dawson''s battle Qi at a lower level.


    After knowing that Zhang Tie was practicing the top battle Qi, Dawson became more decisive in killing Zhang Tie. "This man is too dangerous. I will kill him. If not, he would definitely be a great trouble for Demon Snake Island in the future."


    Zhang Tie didn''t prepare to answer Dawson''s question at all. The moment Zhang Tie started to fight this really strong fighter in such a short distance, he felt the great fighting strength of the latter. Zhang Tie realized that he could never deal with such a powerful fighter at all in such a short distance. Besides rich fighting experiences, Dawson''s attacking speed was also advantageous. What was more difficult for Zhang Tie was that Dawson could release his battle Qi in the air. Therefore, before Zhang Tie''s punch reached him, Dawson''s battle Qi had already struck on Zhang Tie''s body.


    Thankfully, Zhang Tie had enlightened "one step, one scene" and super high spiritual energy which could help him capture Dawson''s moving traces; besides he had activated his rapid moving skill which increased his moving speed by 24%; otherwise, Zhang Tie had long been killed by Dawson in a wink.


    However, Zhang Tie was still reluctantly defensive against the attack of Dawson. After 10 more rounds, Zhang Tie''s shoulder was boomed by Dawson''s battle Qi. Zhang Tie knew that it was impossible for him to defeat Dawson in such a short distance based on his fighting strength. The only efficient way to deal with Dawson was using his flying javelins, which was Zhang Tie''s most powerful weapon.


    Zhang Tie started to move back rapidly along with Dawson''s strike...


    The moment he moved back, Zhang Tie had increased his moving speed by 120% due to the full effect of the rapid moving skill. In a split second, Zhang Tie had been dozens meters away and was leaving increasingly faster.


    Noticing that Zhang Tie was going to escape, Dawson grinned as he instantly followed up.


    In Dawson''s opinion, he could definitely catch up with Zhang Tie sooner or later. However, gradually, he found that he was totally wrong. Zhang Tie was moving as fast as a super sportscar. In a blink of eye, Zhang Tie''s moving speed had surpassed 100 km/h. Dawson had not seen any LV 9 fighter running so fast. Even most of the new strong fighters could not run so fast.


    As a strong fighter, Dawson could truly move faster than sonic transmission speed in an extremely short period and distance such as booming Zhang Tie or dodging away from Zhang Tie''s booms; however, if he could keep chasing after Zhang Tie at such a high speed, he would almost be a knight; instead of a strong fighter.


    Dawson used all his efforts to chase after Zhang Tie; however, his best mark was 30 m; after that, the distance between him and Zhang Tie grew longer and longer.


    When they were about 50 m away from each other, Dawson gritted his teeth as he took out an egg-sized iron bead and threw towards Zhang Tie without saying anything...


    Like how Dawson had not imagined that Zhang Tie could bring him so many surprises, Zhang Tie didn''t imagine that this round-table warrior could also throw a secret weapon at sonic transmission speed either.


    Before Zhang Tie heard the sound, he felt a sharp wind arriving from behind. Before dodging away, Zhang Tie''s back had already been struck by that item.


    After spitting out a mouthful of blood, Zhang Tie tried to keep calm before passing out. Gritting his teeth, Zhang Tie changed the direction; after accelerating 70-80 m forward in a faster speed, Zhang Tie jumped off a cliff in front of him...


    Dawson rushed over there closely after him. Seeing Zhang Tie rolling down the cliff, he thought for awhile; but finally he didn''t jump off after him.


    It was a bottomless valley under the cliff. Even during the daytime, the sunshine could still not reach the bottom. Dawson saw mist rolling 1000 m below, making it a bit gloomy. Unless carrying a parachute, if he had jumped off from here, he would have fallen into pieces even as a strong fighter.


    Zhang Tie soon disappeared in the mist...


    "F*ck!" Dawson''s face turned gloomy. If it were anybody else, Dawson was sure that guy would die by doing this; however, when he thought about Peter, his heart started to pound. Without seeing his corpse, he would never be reassured.


    After looking downwards at the direction of the valley and surrounding terrain, Dawson turned and left here soon...


    ...

 414 Demon Rats

    Chapter 414: Demon Rats


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Zhang Tie woke up, he felt that his bones all over were going to crack. Due to extreme pain, he uttered a faint groan.


    Besides pain, he also felt happy, "Haha, I''m still alive!"


    Although this fighting course with Dawson was not long, he finally understood that a LV 10 strong fighter had an overwhelming advantage over a LV 7 fighter like him. "Dawson the douchebag was right. Strong fighters are indeed powerful." Zhang Tie muttered.


    Compared to last time when he was chased after by a LV 10 strong fighter in Dragon Cave, Zhang Tie had made a great progress. From the beginning to the end, Zhang Tie and Dawson used about 10 movements respectively. In the whole course, Zhang Tie could attack and defend properly. Besides almost killing Dawson with his long sword, Zhang Tie also boomed Dawson''s battle Qi attack several times by his bare fist. As a LV 7 fighter, Zhang Tie should be proud of that.


    He even almost escaped away from Dawson safely despite Dawson''s flying black bead.


    However, Zhang Tie had never imagined that Dawson could also throw an item at the speed of sonic transmission speed.


    Thanks to the effect of iron-body fruits, Zhang Tie''s body had been pretty strike-resistant. If not, even though Zhang Tie might survive, he would lose his mobility in a split second.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what Dawson hit him with but he knew that the weapon was covered with a fierce battle Qi. The moment Zhang Tie was struck, he felt like booming against Dawson''s battle Qi. In a split second, Zhang Tie felt that his spiritual energy was broken into pieces. At that critical moment, he could not even enter Castle of Black Iron with full concentration. Therefore, he could only make a dangerous choice and continue to rush forward with his braveness of blood and Qi.


    After recovering his consciousness, Zhang Tie faintly closed his eyes. He felt that his preliminary recovery body was gradually working while the pains and wounds were relieving one bit by another.


    Based on his sense, Zhang Tie knew that it was definitely dark now. Because his preliminary recovery body could completely take effect only at night.


    Although the preliminary recovery body gradually took effect, the spiritual energy in his mind was still in an "unstable" state. Similarly, ships in storms could not move stably under the influence of undulant waves. Therefore, passengers could not "board" ships.


    For Zhang Tie, he was "boarding" to Castle of Black Iron; however, because of poor spiritual energy, he could not even complete the simplest things like eating and drinking.


    "F*ck!" Zhang Tie swore inside. Dawson the d**chebag definitely did not strike me with a common secret weapon. Common secret weapons could not have such an effect after striking me. Not only my physical health, even my spiritual energy had been weakened.


    Due to a weak spiritual energy. Zhang Tie could not access to Castle of Black Iron; besides, his dark vision driven by spiritual energy also disappeared. Zhang Tie found that his vision had recovered to his original level.


    Speaking of his body, Zhang Tie found that he was lying in water. Facing the sky, he felt pretty comfortable in the warm water.


    After realizing that he was in water, Zhang Tie moved his body slightly; however, his mouth and nose were instantly filled with water, causing him to choke.


    Zhang Tie felt very inconvenient now. The moment he moved, he would feel painful and sore all over. The water was a bit deep. At least he could not reach its bottom with his feet. With the great swimming ability that he had formed in Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie tried his best to float above the water although being very uncomfortable and painful. After waving his hand in water, he found that his clothes were hooked by a vine; therefore, he pulled that vine and started to swim towards that black stone which was less than 10 m in the front.


    If it was in the past, Zhang Tie would have been there in a wink; however, this time, he almost exhausted his full strength.


    Less than 2 square meters from that stone in the water. Some rotten and withered vines were in the water around the stone. Floating on water, Zhang Tie smelt a mouldy odour; therefore, he spent his effort in pulling himself onto that stone. After doing that, he felt that all of his strength had been exhausted; meanwhile, Zhang Tie panted heavily with his undulant chest.


    After lying there for 10 minutes, Zhang Tie found that the clouds that covered the 2 bright moons had dispersed. After recovering a bit, Zhang Tie was finally able to sit on the stone as he started to observe the surroundings.


    This was an extremely deep and serene valley. Its opening was wider than its bottom. Raising his head, Zhang Tie felt like observing the sky in a well. Endless cliffs were on both sides of the valley. With the moonlight, Zhang Tie could see a lot of vines over the cliffs.


    In order to get enough sunlight, those vines were trying to move upward and outside although being crossed with each other. Zhang Tie estimated that those withered vines in water dropped from the cliffs.


    At the sight of those vines, Zhang Tie knew that he was saved by them. Those plants served as a buffer when he rolled down. Thankfully, he finally fell into the water; otherwise, Zhang Tie was doomed to die.


    Zhang Tie looked around the water and found that it was a big pond which covered about 7000 square meters. The stone was in the center of this pond. There were so many ponds like this in the serene valley. They scattered densely in the valley. Some were connected with each other; some were not. This terrain looked really weird.


    Zhang Tie recalled that mist when he jumped off in the daytime. It was formed in the following way: vapour rose and was condensed when it met cold air.


    Besides the pond in the serene valley and those vines on cliffs, Zhang Tie only saw some scattered stones; especially the place near the pond made Zhang Tie a bit curious.


    After resting half an hour on the stone, Zhang Tie recovered a bit due to the effect of his preliminary recovery body; additionally, aches all over started to relieve. It should be a bit cold at night, especially for a person who was wearing wet clothes, Zhang Tie didn''t feel cold at all because of his cold-resistance body.


    Suddenly, a thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind. "Is here any monster?" The moment Zhang Tie thought about this, he quivered all over. According to Donder, some terrifying animals always lived in places which seemed to have no lives.


    Widening his eyes, Zhang Tie looked around as he forcefully swallowed his saliva. Zhang Tie then comforted himself, "How come? I''ve not been killed after rolling down such a high cliff, I don''t think that I could see anything more strange. God should not allow me to be the dessert of monsters. Besides being a bit lascivious in usual time, I didn''t do any bad things; instead, I''ve done many good things. Although I''ve killed so many people, but they all deserved death. Although I''m not a very good person, I always help people in dangers and poverty. Additionally, I''ve accumulated so many merit values in Castle of Black Iron.


    When Zhang Tie was comforting himself that he would not meet anything strange here, red sparkles started to appear in dark corners under the cliff.


    At the beginning, there were only a few red sparkles; because of the poor light and long distance, Zhang Tie thought they were fireflies. However, the red sparkles started to appear everywhere. Zhang Tie found something was not right. "They are not fireflies, but eyes of animals!"


    Finally, those red sparkles started to flow like tide in the valley, causing a sound of "sisi".


    Zhang Tie slowed his breath as he squatted on the stone and watched those red sparkles.


    Seeing some red sparkles coming to the bank of the pond and lowered their heads to drink water, Zhang Tie finally knew what they were.


    The moment Zhang Tie saw it clearly, Zhang Tie''s fine hair all over stood up at once.


    They were rats! The red sparkles were rats'' eyes.


    Of course Zhang Tie would not fear about some rats; however, the mice in front of him had completely toppled over Zhang Tie''s recognition about mice. Because Zhang Tie had not seen such huge rats before.


    These mice were longer than 40 cm without calculating the length of the tail. They were as long as common dogs. If their tails were included, they would be longer than 1 m.


    With pointed mouth, sharp teeth and a pair of ferocious, bloody eyes, Zhang Tie might solve it easily if there was only one mouse; however, seeing the dense red sparkles, Zhang Tie felt goosebumps all over.


    They instantly reminded Zhang Tie of a terrifying living being in Ice and Snow Wildness¡ª¡ªDemon Rat.


    They were a very terrifying animal. Besides stones and metals, they could almost eat anything, including animals'' corpses, flesh, blood and plants'' roots, stems, twigs and leaves. When they appeared in groups, all the other animals had to dodge away.


    When there was only 1 demon rat, Zhang Tie didn''t feel it was harder to deal with than common wild wolves; however, the terror of this animal lay in its geometrical increase. When there were more than 20 demon rats, even 20 wolves could not defeat them; when there were more than 50 demon rats, they could scare off any wild animals; when there were over 1000 demon rats, they could even sweep over a hill.


    The more demon rats there were, the more terrifying it would be.


    There were at least 1000 red sparkles in the darkness.


    Zhang Tie was driven flurried this time as he had not imagined that he was in a nest of demon rats.


    "You cannot see me, you cannot see me" Zhang Tie prayed!


    Pitifully, as the old saying went, "when you worry about something, something would happen." At this moment, a demon rat raised its head and caught sight of Zhang Tie at once.


    Zhang Tie and the rat then stared at each other...


    "Brother, I beg you! Don''t whistle! I owe you. I promise to invite you to have seafood!" Lowering his body on the stone, Zhang Tie prayed silently.


    That demon rat blinked its red eyes as it uttered a shrill sound, "Zhi...zhi...zhi".


    "F*ck you!" Zhang Tie swore furiously...


    The jarring sound resonated in the serene valley. Hearing this warning, all the other red sparkles changed their moving direction at once. They surrounded Zhang Tie''s pond in only 10 seconds. Even Zhang Tie couldn''t count how many of demon rats were there.


    At that moment, being gazed by demon rats with wholly red eyes, Zhang Tie felt being a piece of flesh on the table.


    The bloody eyes of demon rats didn''t hide their mad and icy killing intent at all; as well as their desire for Zhang Tie''s blood and flesh.


    After being in a stalemate for a few seconds, a demon rat suddenly jumped into the water after flying over 10 m in the air. Although being several times larger than common rats, these demon rats were several times swifter than common rats. With a puff sound, it started to swim towards Zhang Tie without any hesitation from over 20 m away.


    Realizing Zhang Tie that even rats could swim well. "When tiger go down to level land, it would be insulted by dogs! However, this father is insulted by rats! Motherf*cker! Even a rat dares to find me trouble by water." Zhang Tie sighed loudly with emotions while raising his head against the sky. After that, he patted his waist as he pulled out his double-carp swords.


    The moment the first demon rat drew close to the stone in the middle of the pond and charged towards Zhang Tie, its head had been chopped off by Zhang Tie in the air with the sword Qi.


    Gripping its body, Zhang Tie raised his head and opened his mouth. He then poured the sprouting blood into his mouth, causing a sound of "gulugulu". The moment the warm blood entered his stomach, Zhang Tie felt being a bit more vital. The preliminary recovery body not only brought him the great ability to recover, but also the greater ability to digest food.


    "Come on..." Zhang Tie threw its dead body aside as he exclaimed. At the same time, he wiped off the fresh blood on his face and stared at those demon rats who wanted to engulf him, "Let''s see who''s the winner!"


    The demon rats became noisy at once. After another communication "Zhi...zhi...", another 7-8 demon rats jumped into the water like lightning bolts and swam towards Zhang Tie from different directions...


    A fierce battle started...


    ...

 415 A Wretched Tactic

    Chapter 415: A Wretched Tactic


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, demon rat ran faster than any other animals on the ground. They were definitely charging towards him like lightning bolts. Even many powerhouses above LV 6 could not match demon rats on speed and sensitiveness in a short distance.


    High moving speed was the terror of demon rats.


    Thankfully, Zhang Tie was in the middle of the pond. There was still a distance of about 30 meters between him and those demon rats, which the latter could not surpass easily. As a result, Zhang Tie took the water as his last reliance.


    Zhang Tie had been heavily wounded; therefore, he could only perform 10% of his total fighting strength. The 2 parties both had their own limits.


    More demon rats pounced into water from the bank and swam towards Zhang Tie with bloody brutal eyes. Zhang Tie was standing on the stone and waving his double-carp sword; he tried to kill them before they arrived at the stone.


    With his full effort, Zhang Tie could only push out 2-m long sword Qi out of the 6-m long slim sword blades, which could only protect himself and that stone.


    The sharp blades helped Zhang Tie a lot. Although the demon rats'' furs were as smooth as oil yet they were cut open the moment they touched the blades without any exception.


    The injuries of the same kind drove the remaining demon rats more restless and crazier. Being simulated by this, they dashed towards Zhang Tie one after another, regardless of the injuries.


    After 2 hours of battle, the water around the stone had turned blood-red while many dead demon rats were floating above the water. Even Zhang Tie didn''t know how many demon rats had he killed. He estimated that the figure was about 300-400.


    Zhang Tie also suffered injuries. Zhang Tie''s feet were bitten several times; additionally, his arms and waist were left with blood stains of demon rats'' claws. If not for his preliminary recovery body, Zhang Tie could not stick to the end of this 2-h battle at all. Even so, after killing 300-400 demon rats, Zhang Tie''s sword blades were only a bit longer than 1 m, half of that before. They were nothing different than 2 common long swords. He could not make it longer at this moment.


    Gradually, the demon rats stopped their attack when the pond was covered with the corpses of those demon rats.


    Zhang Tie panted heavily as he was kneeling on the stone with one leg; meanwhile, he was glaring at those demon rats on the bank. If Zhang Tie was in a good condition, he could fight 2 days ceaselessly without even a wink. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie felt very tired. Each time he waved his double-carp sword, he felt a sharp pain all over his body, especially on his back where Dawson had struck him.


    After those demon rats stopped their attack for a while, Zhang Tie thought that this battle finally came to an end. Right then, a slightly smaller demon rat with purple-black fur walked out of the crowded demon rats. Coming to the bank, he watched Zhang Tie.


    When it appeared, all the other demon rats gave a way to him while they all put their eyes on it.


    Although it was a beast, Zhang Tie could still sense the killing intent in its eyes.


    "Is it the head?" Zhang Tie wanted to sneer. However, the moment he moved his mouth, he realized that he was very thirsty...


    "Zhi...zhi...zhi..." That special demon rat stood up with its hindquarter and raised its head. Closely after it all the other demon rats'' squeaked along with it.


    Zhang Tie became alert at once. Observably, they were not singing for him. "I was told that they had a good memory about their enemies. As I''ve killed so many of their partners, I wonder what other tactics could they apply."


    Some more demon rats flashed out once again. When Zhang Tie thought that these demon rats could swim towards him like the previous ones, he was really scared by their actions this time. They were stepping onto the corpses of their partners and had come closer to Zhang Tie by jumping only 3 or 4 times.


    "Wow, f*ck! Leapfrog skill..." Zhang Tie swore loudly as he hurriedly cut some demon rats into pieces with his double-carp sword in the air.


    More and more demon rats started to adopt leapfrog skill. Without having to touch water, they had come closer to him. In this method, they could attack Zhang Tie several times faster.


    Zhang Tie knew that he had to utmost his full strength to fight them. "These demon rats are so smart." Perhaps they have already been ready for plan B when they swam towards him at the beginning.


    Only after 10 minutes, although Zhang Tie killed dozens more demon rats, he suffered more wounds this time than he did 10 minutes before.


    Thankfully, they were all slight wounds which didn''t influence his movement. With rich fighting experiences, Zhang Tie dodged away from their attacks on all the fatal positions of his body.


    Feeling a sharp wind at ear, Zhang Tie turned around and found another bloody scratch on his neck which was close to his shoulder. "What a fast attack!" If Zhang Tie didn''t suffer any wounds at this moment, he could easily deal with it; however, it almost cut open the main artery on his neck.


    It was that purple-black demon rat. It didn''t leave; instead, it started to dash on the corpses of its soldiers around the stone like stepping on level land. At the same time, it glared at Zhang Tie with its bloody eyes, seemingly seeking for Zhang Tie''s loopholes and preparing to give a final strike to Zhang Tie.


    "D*mn, is that a rat?" Zhang Tie was shocked inside. Seeing increasingly more rats charging towards him in a crazier way. Zhang Tie felt it more difficult to deal with them. "Is this father, a living person, going to be troubled or killed by a group of rats? No way!"


    "What to do? What to do? What to do?"


    All of a sudden, Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he caught sight of that pond in front of him. He almost slapped himself ferociously. "What an idiot! Am I a fool after being struck by Dawson the d**chebag? Although I''ve just came out of water, I could also come back. I was recovering myself just now; but I can survive myself this time. Although those demon rats could attack me by leapfrog skill, I could become a frog. I don''t believe that they could bit off my ass in water!"


    After glancing at that pond full of dead demon rats, Zhang Tie tried his best to be not get disgusted. At the same time, he ferociously slashed his sword. After killing another 2 demon rats, he instantly jumped into the water.


    Zhang Tie''s response was out of all the demon rats'' imagination. In a split second, all the demon rats started to utter shrill sounds.


    When that purple-black demon rat flashed towards him and prepared to give Zhang Tie another strike, Zhang Tie slightly moved in water and dived in the depth 67-m at once. After that, he faintly swayed his hands to suspend himself in water.


    Zhang Tie raised his head and found many demon rats had jumped into water, aiming to find him in the water. Some put their heads in the water. Although they glared at Zhang Tie with bloody eyes and wanted to dive in, they could only reach half a meter in depth no matter how they waved their claws and tails.


    Watching all this, Zhang Tie finally relieved with a big smile. As he had imagined, although many animals with claws could swim, only few of them could dive. According to Zhang Tie''s knowledge, he knew that only some bears could dive into water for fish in cold areas. Although demon rats could swim, they could not dive. However, as the most intelligent animal, of course human could dive better than rats.


    Seeing so many dead demon rats above water, Zhang Tie really felt disgusted about this, especially about the bloody odour and the floating intestines and organs of demon rats.


    Zhang Tie felt that he was floating in a pot full of rat soup which savages only drunk.


    Whereas, no matter what, Zhang Tie had to survive.


    Seeing their bellies in water, Zhang Tie revealed an insidious smile. He silently swam upwards. When he was 1 m away from a demon rat, he triggered his blades and cut open a deep wound from its neck to its belly; soon after that, he swam away...


    In only a couple of minutes, Zhang Tie had killed 10 more demon rats; however, they could not even touch him at all.


    Zhang Tie became so delightful about this. "Thanks to the great diving skill that I''ve practiced in Hidden Dragon Island, I can finally save my own life and snatch a victory out of defeat."


    Launching a sneak attack towards a rat under water...oh, no, demon rats. Although being a bit disgusting and wretched, I think it is a very efficient tactic. Teenagers are always wretched.


    The demon rats swam back onto the bank. Zhang Tie then exposed his head out of water to take some fresh air, he found that those demon rats were still glaring at him.


    The demon rats then jumped into the water; Zhang Tie dove back and continued to cut open their bellies.


    After several rounds, more corpses floated above water. When Zhang Tie exposed his head above water once again, he did not find even a single demon rat around the banks. Probably those demon rats finally realized that they could not get any benefits by doing this with Zhang Tie, not to mention to gnaw Zhang Tie; therefore, they left...


    Zhang Tie climbed back and threw himself onto the stone. Feeling exhausted both physically and spiritually, Zhang Tie watched that pond full of dead demon rats and suddenly felt like vomiting; however, he didn''t even have the strength to vomit...


    ...


    Gradually, the skyline over his head had turned pale. Lying on the stone, Zhang Tie felt a shock in his mind while his bumpy spiritual energy recovered like the water level after storm.


    Zhang Tie attempted to lock that marvelous arch door in his mind with his spiritual energy. He made it and entered Castle of Black Iron without any hesitation.


    "Castle Lord..." Zhang Tie saw that Heller have long been waiting there for him with a solemn look.


    "I know what you''re going to talk about. I only want to have a rest. Talk about it later when I wake up!" Zhang Tie waved his hand in a tired way.


    Heller didn''t say anything. After bowing towards Zhang Tie, he left.


    Zhang Tie instantly drunk a bottle of 200 ml all-purpose medicament. After that, he took off his wet clothes. After a short bath, he returned to his room. Covering himself with the quilt, he fell asleep immediately.


    The all-purpose medicament instantly took effect on Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie soon felt a warm and agile flow inside. In a few minutes, Zhang Tie had recovered his heart beats, fever and fallen asleep like dozing off in spring...


    ...


    Outside the room, Heller was standing below the high platform of that small tree. Watching the sky in Castle of Black Iron gradually turning bright in synchronous with that outside, Heller muttered, "What an obtrusive Castle Lord! Low-end fighting skills like Iron-Blood Fist develops from the human knowledge in Bronze Age which was discovered tens of thousands years ago indeed made people easily puzzled. In Bronze Age, there was no real powerful people or hero; instead, there were only some average people who desired for the glorious gods to control everything..." After saying this, Heller drew down in the air with his hands. As a result, like drawing down a curtain, Castle of Black Iron entered deep darkness once again...


    ...


    However, at the same time, Dawson was in a valley which was a hundred miles away from Zhang Tie''s place. After wandering there over one night, he found that he was back at the original point. He finally collapsed mentally as he roared.


    "Who the motherf*cker will tell me where I am? Argh..."


    Receiving no one''s response, his voice attracted a pack of iron-teeth hyenas who were staring at him, drooling off their saliva...


    Meanwhile, a huge eagle was hovering in the sky...


    ...

 416 Kill Them All

    Chapter 416: Kill Them All


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how long had he slept. When he opened his eyes, he felt agile and energetic both mentally and physically like waking up from a nap in the order of his mom at weekends when in Blackhot City.


    He got up quickly and put on his clothes. After that, he left the only 2-storey cabin in Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie found it was already afternoon.


    With a smile, Heller saw Zhang Tie walking out of his cabin.


    "Did you sleep well, Castle Lord?"


    Zhang Tie forcefully swung his arms as he felt that all the pains had relieved, "How long have I slept?"


    "36 hours!" Heller replied precisely, "I had kept Castle of Black Iron in the state of darkness so that your preliminary recovery body could help you recover faster. With the help of all-purpose medicament, although just being 36 hours, your recovery effect was equal to 1 week''s recovery effect of commoners!"


    Looking at those old scars over his arms, Zhang Tie kept silent. "At the critical moment, my preliminary recovery body would always take effect greatly. I''ve done really right by setting earthworms free." Zhang Tie determined that after he reached his target in Ice and Snow Wilderness, if Hanna''s family didn''t fulfill the appointment, he would go to Blapei once again and set free earthworms himself. If it improved to medium recovery body, it would have a greater effect in saving his life. "Besides Blapei, I could also inquire whether people in other places also breed earthworms. I can set free more earthworms at the same time so that I could update to medium recovery body as soon as possible."


    At the sight of Heller''s respectful and solemn look, Zhang Tie became embarrassed.


    "Erm...I will take care next time. I''ve not imagined that b*stard could attack me with his secret weapon before I escaped to the riverside!"


    "Even though an earthworm or an ant has its special feature, not to mention a LV 10 strong fighter. Facing such a great opponent, the safest way is to boom him into pieces with your javelin after eating enough seven-strength fruits. Additionally, to be honest, although you''ve already selected a way to escape, the river is indeed far away from where you hunt those iron-teeth hyenas. Facing such a great opponent, I suggest you to narrow the safe distance within 3-5 km!"


    Zhang Tie accepted Heller''s suggestion modestly. This crisis was the best warning for his excessive confidence. Zhang Tie thought that Dawson could not catch up with him with the help of rapid moving skill; therefore, he dared to hunt iron-teeth hyenas at a place far away from the riverside. Additionally, he felt that he could enter Castle of Black Iron at the critical moment. Furthermore, he was not using his true name and face. Even if he had been seen by Dawson, he could change his look. In this way, Dawson could never find him. However, Zhang Tie had not imagined that he almost bid farewell to Castle of Black Iron in this crisis.


    "Heller, which secret weapon did he use to strike me? It''s very sharp! How could it influence my spiritual energy? I could not have it back in over 10 hours!"


    "That''s a rune weapon. Besides weakening your battle Qi, it could make your spiritual energy unstable and void. If not having eaten so many Iron-body fruits, it might have penetrated through your body! You have to especially take care of yourself when you encounter him next time!"


    Iron-body fruits reminded Zhang Tie of something instantaneously, "I should have some new seven-strength fruits after killing so many demon rats!"


    "Why not take a look?" Heller smiled.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly rushed towards the small tree. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie bounced happily.


    "Ha...ha...That''s great! Crisis brings me bliss..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he danced like a lunatic. He found 8 seven-strength fruits in shape of demon rats were hanging over on the small tree. They were so cute! "I''m rich..."


    "Although demon rats are not as powerful as wild wolves or iron-teeth hyenas, this kind of mutated rats are huge. They are not weaker than a common dog. Additionally, this animal could not match wild wolves and iron-teeth hyenas on speed and agility. Therefore, the seven-strength fruits of demon rats must contain such special features."


    Like how he obtained the ability to run constantly at a high speed after eating wild wolf''s seven-strength fruits, "I should be able to improve my abilities on some special aspects with these seven-strength fruits."


    "Castle Lord has killed 367 demon rats in total. Therefore, there are 8 demon rats in total, 7 of which have been ripe and edible..."


    Hearing Heller''s explanation, Zhang Tie hurriedly rushed towards that cabin on his side.


    Seeing this, Heller was startled, "Castle Lord, what are you going to do?"


    "I will find a rope and kill all the other demon rats outside in case of more dangers. I remember that those demon rats lived in a nearby mountain cave!"


    ...


    So many items were piling in the cabin. Zhang Tie searched over them for a short while before found 2 pioneering kits which he bought in Blackhot City. After opening 1 of them, Zhang Tie found what he needed, an iron claw and a rope longer than 60 m.


    After fastening the rope on the iron claw, Zhang Tie left Castle of Black Iron and reappeared on the stone in the middle of the pond in a split second.


    Although it was daytime outside, Zhang Tie could barely see any light. Because of the vapour from all the ponds, a thick mist had formed above the serene valley. The rolling mist gradually faded away covering the whole sky and making it a cloudy day.


    The corpses of demon rats were still floating over the pond. Only after one more day, Zhang Tie had already smelt a vomiting odor due to the high temperature here.


    Holding his breath, Zhang Tie started to observe the surroundings. He noticed a bulged rock on the cliff being not far from the bank. There were so many cracks around the rock, where he could have his iron claws on. Therefore, he threw his iron claw towards there immediately.


    Although it was over 50 m away, the iron claw hit the target right away. The opening angle bar had firmly tucked into the cracks. Holding the rope, Zhang Tie swung himself forcefully and fell on the ground steadily after flying over dozens of meters'' of water.


    After putting away his rope and iron claw into Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie took out his double-carp sword and walked in a nearby mountain cave.


    If those demon rats lived in smaller holes, Zhang Tie could only wait here; however, as they lived in that mountain cave, Zhang Tie didn''t care to take a look inside.


    The mountain cave was about 3.5 m in height. Some twigs were lying disorderly at the entrance. Because of the poor light outside, the inside of the cave became darker. Being daytime, Zhang Tie could still barely see inside with his naked eyes.


    Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile as he injected some spiritual energy into his eyes. Right now, the dark vision started to take effect. Everything in the mountain cave became bright.


    He then entered the mountain cave. The inside space of the mountain cave was pretty large. Amazingly, Zhang Tie found that it was very orderly inside. Someone seemed to have lived here before. There was a pond on the plain ground. Furthermore, Zhang Tie even saw some stony stages and a stony table over 20 m away from the mountain entrance.


    "Someone lives here?" Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he held his double-carp swords tightly. Under the curiosity, Zhang Tie started to fumble towards the deep inside.


    When he came in front of that stony table, Zhang Tie touched it and found the dirt over it was 1.5 cm in thickness. Seeing this, Zhang Tie knew that someone might have lived here before. However, the people had left for a long time.


    Walking upstairs, Zhang Tie continued to dig deep in. Only after a few steps, he had encountered a demon rat. At the sight of Zhang Tie, it instantly uttered a shrill sound, "Zhi...zhi..." The sound of the demon rat drifted far away in the quiet mountain cave. Hearing this warning, all the other demon rats in the cave started to reply, causing the mountain cave noisy right away. The squeaks grew louder and louder.


    Along with a sword Qi, a 6-m long agile golden carp struck past that demon rat, cutting it into two halves at once.


    Having been totally recovered, Zhang Tie could easily deal with all of them with double-carp swords.


    A great number of demon rats poured out of the deep inside. There were hundreds more. After seeing their public enemy, their eyes turned pretty red. No matter how they identified Zhang Tie, from his look or through his special odor, the moment they saw Zhang Tie, they charged towards him immediately, aiming to engulf Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie responded with a smile...

 417 Great Wildness Sutra

    Chapter 417: Great Wildness Sutra


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Although demon rats flashed like lightning bolts, Zhang Tie''s double-carp swords were faster.


    The silver carp blade encountered a purple-black demon rat in the air. Before the rat left any wound on Zhang Tie''s neck, it had been cut open by the silver carp blade less than 2 m away; after spurting a blood mist, it fell down the ground.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that the first demon rat that he killed in the mountain cave was the "head". This demon rat indeed moved faster. The moment he saw Zhang Tie, it had already started to launch an attack. As a result, it was exploded by Zhang Tie''s sword.


    Although demon rats were smart, the head rat still couldn''t figure out how that guy who was chased into the water by them about 30 hours ago to kill became so sharp.


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t need to explain anything to those demon rats; instead, he just waved his gold carp and silver carp swords rapidly.


    Under the force of iron-blood battle Qi, the blades of gold carp sword and silver carp sword had been fully extended. The sword Qi reached 6 m away. The sword Qi was as agile as water while a golden carp and a silver carp were swimming happily in it. Everywhere they reached would arouse a lot of bloody ripples.


    Seeing their head being killed, all the remaining demon rats became furious. They started to attack Zhang Tie completely out of mind. However, after 1.5 days, Zhang Tie had completely recovered from his heavy wounds while his swimming golden and silver carp swords became an insuperable barrier for those demon rats.


    As the sword Qi of double-carp swords reached 6 m away. Besides that head rat at the beginning, no other magical rats could reach Zhang Tie within two meters.


    If someone who didn''t know about fighting skills watched this fight, he might be amazed with what he saw. Because Zhang Tie was absolutely like a magician who released his magics in the water. As long as he waved his hands, he would make numerous golden or silver carps out of his swords handles and send them into the demon rats, arousing blood mists.


    Since he obtained the 2 swords in Heavens Cold City, Zhang Tie had been able to use one sword to attack and another to defend when in fight.


    As Zhang Tie barely used such high-end weapons by 2 hands at the same time, he could only try his best to coordinate them. It was more powerful to use the 2 swords at the same time than only 1 sword. However, he could not use them perfectly at the present. In the eyes of real powerhouses, Zhang Tie might still have problems on the continuity and coordination of this set of double-carp swords. Whereas, it was enough for Zhang Tie to use double-carp swords to deal with those demon rats.


    In less than 10 minutes, when the last demon rat''s head was cut open by the double-carp swords, the entire mountain cave recovered its calm once again.


    The ground was covered with dead demon rats while their blood was flowing everywhere. For those demon rats who wanted to engulf Zhang Tie, he didn''t spare any sympathy to them. After doing that, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh inside.


    With another adjustment of his iron-blood battle Qi, Zhang Tie narrowed the length of his sword blades from 6 m to 1 m, causing a mellow buzz. They looked like common long swords as the thin and smooth blades slightly swayed in the air. After watching it for a while, Zhang Tie found no blood stains or defects over them at all.


    "What great swords!"


    Zhang Tie highly praised inside. "This pair of double-carp swords are better than the red-snake sword that I have used before."


    Because it was impossible for demon rats to live together with other animals and nobody was here, Zhang Tie hung the double-carp swords back onto his waistband.


    "Castle Lord, those demon rats tastes nice; their furs are also useful. Why not take them in Castle of Black Iron? After a short treatment, we might use them in the future!"


    Heller''s voice sounded in Zhang Tie''s mind at this moment. Glancing over the demon rats over the ground, Zhang Tie found each of them weighed about 10-20 kg. "As those in the pond are too disgusting, I will not take them; but it''s really pitiful to leave these fleshes and furs here. Now that they are useful and nobody has seen that, I will put them away."


    Zhang Tie picked up all the dead demon rats and threw them directly into the underground ice cave in Castle of Black Iron. Plus their furs and bones, they might weigh around 5000-6000 kg in total. "I will have Agan deal with them."


    Previously, Zhang Tie planned to leave this mountain cave after he killed these demon rats and made the last demon rat grow mature; however, now that he knew that someone might have lived here before, out of curiosity, Zhang Tie continued to walk inside.


    Someone indeed lived in this mountain cave before. Only after a few steps, Zhang Tie had already seen some artificial stony rooms. Some undying fluorite lamps were hanging on the walls, radiating a greenish luster. In one room, Zhang Tie found some simple living products like bottles and jars, which had been covered with dirt or were completely rotted. Only after a glance at them, Zhang Tie had left.


    This mountain cave was not deep. After walking 70-80 m, Zhang Tie had already reached its bottom, where he saw some stony stages winding upwards like whelks. Zhang Tie then walked upwards along the stony stages.


    There was another huge space above the stony stages. The moment Zhang Tie arrived there, he had already seen an artificial room. Some water-drops were dripping off the stalactites on the roof. A natural, philosophical small pond formed outside the room. A bundle of sunlight cast from a crack on one side of the mountain cave, making it much brighter down there.


    "Sunlight, fresh air, clean water. If there''s anything precious in this mountain cave, it must be in this room." Zhang Tie muttered.


    There were many stony room in the mountain cave; however, only the one in front of him had a stony gate. Zhang Tie then walked in front of that stony gate. After a slight push, Zhang Tie had already opened it, causing a cracking sound. At the same time, a lot of dust dropped off from the top of the gate. Zhang Tie hurriedly dodged away. After that, Zhang Tie walked in this stony room.


    The moment he entered the room, Zhang Tie saw a skeleton sitting on the stony bed. Besides a stony bed and a stony table, most of the other items in the room had been rotten.


    Out of curiosity, Zhang Tie came to the front of that skeleton on the stony bed. The skeleton''s clothes had been covered with dust. Zhang Tie could not identify its texture. After a slight touch, it was broken into pieces. It seemed that it had been sitting here at least dozens of years. Besides, he could not find even a single item from that skeleton, not even a copper.


    It sat up straight with complete bones. None of its bones were broken or cracked. Additionally, the bones also looked normal. From this, Zhang Tie could easily conclude that this man died of natural causes. It seemed that this person didn''t encounter any accident or poisoning.


    "I''m so sorry. Although you lived here before, you''re dead now. By chance, I came here to see whether there are something I can use. No matter what, you don''t need them anymore. Hopefully, you don''t mind! Hehe..."


    Zhang Tie explained to that skeleton before coming to the front of the stony table. Some bottles and jars were on the stony table. Zhang Tie opened some of them and found the contents inside had long become sh*t.


    After checking all the bottles and jars, Zhang Tie was greatly disappointed. "The items here were nothing but junks. They were not even worth a silver coin in total. Isn''t it written in knight novels that people would always have a great achievement in similar cases? How come it doesn''t work on me!"


    After glancing over this room once again, Zhang Tie saw nothing special at all.


    "Do you want me to kowtow in front of this skeleton or to bury it somewhere like what Donder has told me?" Thinking of the contents of eastern knight novels that Donder has told Zhang Tie and watching the hard stony floor, Zhang Tie almost burst out laughter, which flushed away his disappointing mood at once.


    "I''m afraid that you are just an average hermit. Now that there''s nothing special, I will not disturb you!" Of course, Zhang Tie would not kowtow to it. After all, it''s just mentioned in knight novels. Receiving no achievement, Zhang Tie directly turned around and left.


    After another circle outside the stony room, Zhang Tie found nothing special either. The moment he wanted to walk downstairs, he suddenly felt empty inside like losing something.


    The lower he reached, the sharper the sense became. When he reached the middle of the stages, Zhang Tie stopped his feet immediately as a detailed scene flashed across his mind.


    Zhang Tie instantly turned around and rushed upwards like a wind. When he came to the front of that skeleton, Zhang Tie started to observe the hands of that skeleton seriously.


    Before death, that man put his hands below his lower abdomen levelly. It looked pretty calm and nothing special was found. However, Zhang Tie finally focused on its left hand. Its left hand was supporting his right hand. It was nothing weird for cultivators. However, besides the third finger of its left hand which was straight, all the other 4 fingers of this hand were curved.


    Zhang Tie was afraid that nobody else would notice this detail except him.


    In Blackhot City, when a person erected his middle finger, it meant that he was swearing someone. Seeing this, of course Zhang Tie who had always erected his middle finger in No. 7 Middle School in Blackhot City understood that he was not swearing, but pointing at somewhere in such a hidden gesture.


    Along the direction of the finger, Zhang Tie looked at a stony wall on the right side of the stony bed.


    Coming to the front of the wall, Zhang Tie forcefully blew off the dust on it; then, he started to fumble and knock it seriously with his fingers.


    After 2 minutes of hard work, Zhang Tie''s face changed as he started to rub the stony wall with his sword forcefully. After a short while, he had scraped off the stone powers from the wall, exposing a fine crack in front of him. Zhang Tie became very excited as he started to work harder. After a few minutes, he inserted his long sword into the crack. After prying it for a couple of times, Zhang Tie pried out a stony brick covering 20 cubic centimeters.


    After putting it carefully down, Zhang Tie saw a hole on the stony wall. Something was inside it! He put his hand in and got it out of there.


    That was a black heavy wooden box which was unlocked.


    At the sight of it, Zhang Tie''s heart started to palpitate. After a couple of deep breaths, he finally recovered his composure.


    After opening it, Zhang Tie saw a book with a black cover. The cover looked aged and mysterious; some pure, golden patterns like fishes, insects, birds and other fierce beasts as well as some Chinese seal characters "Great Wildness Sutra" were on it...


    "A Chinese secret knowledge? He''s Chinese?" Zhang Tie focused his eyes on that skeleton.


    If he fumbled over the skeleton the moment he entered the room and profaned the dead, he would definitely destroy the direction of the middle finger; as a result, he would not have found that "Great Wildness Sutra".


    Similarly, when he didn''t find anything in the room, if he lost his temper on this skeleton out of disappointment, he would get nothing either.


    The erecting middle finger reminded the visitors to be careful and respectful about the skeleton and mocked those who might ruin the skeleton.


    "It turns out that the contents in knight novels are all real." An absurd thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind.


    It was hard to guess the contents of this book only from its name "Great Wildness Sutra". However, it was not suitable for him to study this secret knowledge at this place at this moment. Therefore, Zhang Tie directly threw it in Castle of Black Iron. After that, he turned around and left quickly.


    ...

 418 To be an Animal Controller

    Chapter 418: To be an Animal Controller


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It was indeed not the right place and time to study the secret knowledge. Undoubtedly, it was the silliest choice to stay here with a treasure. Additionally, Dawson might come in this cave at any time.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie left the cave rapidly. Outside the entrance of the mountain cave, he found this serene valley ranged east to west. It seemed that each direction was available. However, Zhang Tie asked himself which direction he would choose if Dawson came down for him.


    After thinking about it for 2 seconds, Zhang Tie remembered the general terrain of this valley before he rolled down. The ranges on both sides of this valley was "west high, east low". If Dawson came down, he would definitely choose east. In case of another battle with Dawson, Zhang Tie would choose west.


    After figuring it out, Zhang Tie rushed towards west at once.


    Zhang Tie was not familiar with the path; he just moved by his intuition. He kept running westward in the narrow valley. After a short while, he had been 6-7 km away from that mountain cave. This place was full of verdant grasses and woods; by contrast, there was nothing but some ponds in the surroundings of the mountain cave which was occupied by demon rats.


    After 1 hour of travelling in the valley, Zhang Tie came about 40-50 km away from that mountain cave. At this moment, it had almost been dark. Zhang Tie saw a lot of vines with purple tiny flowers on the cliff. Among those flowers, Zhang Tie saw many pits and cracks. Therefore, he ran towards there.


    He climbed up deftly along those vines and found a pit on the cliff which was over 10 m above the ground. That pit was about 1.7 m in height which extended 7-8 m inside. A great number of plants with purple flowers covered the entrance. It was clean inside. Soon after climbing in, Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron.


    ...


    Zhang Tie was right. It was really not wise to stay in the mountain cave. Less than 40 minutes after he left the mountain cave, Dawson had appeared there. He raised his head and looked at the crisscrossed vines on the cliffs and the huge ponds down there; soon after that, his face became gloomy.


    Especially when he saw so many dead demon rats in the huge pond, his face turned gloomier.


    He picked a demon rat from the pond and checked its wounds carefully. After that, he threw it back into the pond ferociously. Like Zhang Tie, he also noticed that mountain cave and rushed in immediately.


    After 10 more minutes, when Dawson came out of the cave, although with a gloomy face, his eyes gleamed.


    Dawson then chased after Zhang Tie towards west...


    ...


    The moment Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron, he saw Heller. Heller responded with a smile, "Congratulations, Castle Lord. I''ve not imagined that you could have such a great achievement in the mountain cave."


    Zhang Tie knew that Heller referred to "Great Wildness Sutra". In Chinese, any book with the Character "¾­[1]" was special. At this moment, as Zhang Tie was in an absolutely safe place, he got curious about that book.


    As seven-strength fruits would not escape away from the small tree themselves, Zhang Tie didn''t worry about them. After greeting Heller, he came to his study room in the 2-storey cabin. A black wooden case was lying on the table.


    Noticing that his hands were a bit dirty, he cleaned his hands seriously before opening the wooden case.


    The moment he opened its cover, he saw a piece of paper dropping down the ground from the title page. Zhang Tie was stunned as he picked up the piece of paper.


    "4 decades ago, our Great Wildness Sect was unrivaled on both Eastern and Western Continents with animal controlling skills. Although there are so many animal controlling skills among hundreds of millions of population, only the secret animal controlling knowledge in Great Wildness Sect is mysterious and unrivaled. So many heroes are desiring for it. However, when Great Wildness Sect reaches its extreme prosperity, it starts to decline. I''m the only alive member of Great Wildness Sect; I''m going to die together with my cultivation base; however, I still could not find our enemy and rejuvenate our Sect. How regretful!"


    Regretful, regretful, regretful, regretful, regretful, regretful, regretful!


    My bones lie in an uncivil land. The one who can obtain the ''Great Wildness Sutra'' is lucky. However, the animal controlling skills in the book ''Great Wildness Sutra'' are the top secrets. Actually, they are the great laws and top secrets on controlling our incarnations. With these skills, we can control all the animals in the sky and on the land. We don''t reveal these skills to the outsiders. Therefore, we establish the ''Great Wildness Sect''. Because of this, we are swept by other forces. When the Great Wildness Sect became prosperous, it ruled the hundreds of millions of square meters for hundreds of years on the south region of Eastern Continent like an undying kingdom; when the Great Wildness Sect declined, it encountered great damages over night while tens of thousands of followers and hundreds of years of foundation ruined so fast. These were all caused by "Great Wildness Sutra"


    As you''re lucky enough to obtain this top secret knowledge of the Great Wildness Sect, if you want to be rich, you can learn some secret skills from this book and work as a common animal controller in human countries or great families where you could be treated as the top guest. Namely, you can get money and social status so easily. However, you should never reveal to the public that you''ve mastered the top secrets in the Great Wildness Sutra; otherwise, you are doomed to be killed. Keep it in your mind! Keep it in your mind! At the beginning, the forces that ruined the Great Wildness Sect were very powerful. They were so ferocious that they could destroy a city very easily. In order to get the Great Wildness Sutra, those people had been driven mad; if they know that you have the Great Wildness Sutra, they would not keep you alive.


    Although the Great Wildness Sect has been ruined, its reputation is still high in the world, especially in the South Region of Eastern Continent. Over the past hundreds of years, the sect has so many followers among the hundreds of millions of mountains in the South Region. If you want to be a king in the future, you can seek for an opportunity in the South Region of the Eastern Continent. However, although it might bring you countless wealth, it will also bring you high risks. Therefore, hopefully, you can considerate it.


    I found dozens of demon rats in the valley, which had been tamed. There''s not a head rat yet; I feed them with a secret medicine; a head rat is doomed to form in the future. If you can master the soul-based animal controlling skill from this "Great Wildness Sutra", you can incarnate yourself as that head rat so that you could order the other demon rats.


    Those demon rats are mutated ones; they are born to be ferocious and cunning. Additionally, they are very aggressive. If their population could reach millions, they would be irresistible. Whereas, demon rats could not match common rats on the basis of reproduction. I planned to increase their reproductivity with improved species so as to rejuvenate our sect by establishing the Great Wildness Sect once again in the uncivil land; however, after more than 2 decades of cultivation, I still could make no progress. As I have no time to do that which might be the god''s intention, I''m afraid that I cannot finish this task.


    By using soul-based animal controlling skill, you have to consume a lot of Qi, blood and the essence of spiritual energy and soul. Although it''s a marvelous secret knowledge, its incarnated situation always makes you unforgettable. However, you''d better not indulge in it or use soul-based animal controlling skill freely, as which might consume a lot of your essence. If you do that, you are seeking for death. In its heyday, the Great Wildness Sect had more than one million of books, which included various classical secret knowledge like methods that were used to strengthen one''s essence. Besides, there were the mountains of eccentric secret medicines in the sect. Therefore, followers of the Great Wildness Sect could recover their essence that were lost by using soul-based animal controlling skill. Now, the foundation of the Great Wildness Sect has been ruined. Everything precious has been robbed away. You have to be considerate before using the soul-based animal controlling skill.


    That''s what I want to say. If you can get this "Great Wildness Sutra", you must have a good personality and mentality. As the great law of ancient human could continue to carry forward, I can close my eyes.


    "The will of Cloud Crane from the Great Wildness Sect!"


    After reading this paper repetitively, Zhang Tie finally let out a long sigh. Zhang Tie really didn''t imagine that he could meet a follower of the Great Wildness Sect of Eastern Continent in the cave. Additionally, he obtained this "Great Wildness Sutra", which could be explained with nothing else but god''s will.


    "However, Cloud Crane might have not imagined that his demon rats which had developed so many generations were killed by me. I''m so sorry about that. I''m afraid that it is impossible to tame them anymore."


    However, the thought of using demon rats really made Zhang Tie excited. In a split second, Zhang Tie had realized that he could have those demon rats mutated and evolved in Castle of Black Iron, but he had to solve two questions.


    The evolutionary direction of living beings in Castle of Black Iron was optional and uncontrollable. Even if a demon rat was evolved, its reproductivity might not be strengthened; instead, it might be weakened. According to the universal law and the basis of the existence of various species, the greater the animals were, the weaker they were in reproductivity. This law could hardly be broken.


    Furthermore, given the growth cycle of demon rats and the possible astronomical cost on evolution and mutation, Zhang Tie could not afford it at all. Perhaps he could get no return in dozens of years. If he made such a great investment only for obtaining some demon rats with greater reproductivity, it would be so stupid. By contrast, earthworms and Buckthorns had shorter growth cycles and stronger reproductivity.


    After thinking it through, Zhang Tie dropped the thought about demon rats as he moved back onto the "Great Wildness Sutra".


    The two words soul-based animal controlling skill and incarnation made Zhang Tie highly spirited.


    Zhang Tie opened the "Great Wildness Sutra" and was shocked by the first line.


    ¡ª¡ªHumans, heart of the universe; living beings, the body of the universe!


    As he opened new pages one after another, Zhang Tie entered a wonderful world that he had never imagined.


    Amazingly, Zhang Tie, who always dreamed to be an alchemist, became an animal controller, who inherited the "Great Wildness Sutra" of the Great Wildness Sect on the South Region of Eastern Continent...


    ...

 419 Making a Breakthrough

    Chapter 419: Making a Breakthrough


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The contents in the "Great Wildness Sutra" were ancient and profound. Each words and sentences were very fantastic. That was a world that Zhang Tie had not touched before. The world was full of sutras, fingerprints, illusions, rules and new definitions about the relationship between human and everything else in the universe. It was completely different from that fighter cultivation system that Zhang Tie adopted since he was young. It broadened Zhang Tie''s vision greatly.


    Of course, animal controller was a profession in this age. This profession only existed less than 700 years. However, it was hard to say how long have human coexisted with everything else in the universe, including various wild animals. According to a common saying, people had existed at least 6 million years on this planet.


    Before the appearance of animal controller, of course humans could coexist with everything else in the universe. The "Great Wildness Sutra" was talking about the methods for humans to coexist with various animals in the mother nature; therefore, Zhang Tie could not only learn about the abilities to control animals from this book.


    Humans could not coexist with animals simply by controlling them. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, many contents in the book were nothing different than the skills of the legendary shamans, flamens and wizards. They were far more than what animal controllers could be in this age.


    For instance, according to the book, before entering adventurous lands, one could make demon figures with grass so as to avoid from being bitten by venomous insects or snakes. Wasn''t it similar to the deeds of shamans and flamens?


    However, it would be too polite if one said that this book was about "coexistence" rules between humans and other animals; actually, to put it straightforward, the "Great Wildness Sutra" was definitely an arbitrary book as it was described in the book, "Human is the heart of the universe while everything else forms the limbs of the universe; to drive its limbs with the heart is like driving its fingers with its arm."


    The secret knowledge of the "Great Wildness Sutra" included 5 sections; "Summon", "Amulet", "Increase", "Drive" and "Incarnation".


    The section "Summon" taught people how to summon animals; the section "Amulet" taught people how to protect themselves; the section "Increase" taught people how to gain more benefits; the section "Drive" taught people how to drive animals while the section "Incarnation" taught people how to incarnate their souls on animals, which was the essence of the "Great Wildness Sutra".


    In this age, it was enough for an animal controller to completely master the contents in the section "Summon" and the section "Amulet" of the "Great Wildness Sutra".


    Zhang Tie read that book for 2 days in the cabin repeatedly. Until the third morning did Zhang Tie stretch his limbs and walk out of his 2-storey cabin.


    This was the longest period that Zhang Tie had stayed in Castle of Black Iron since he obtained it.


    It was early morning in Castle of Black Iron. Agan, Edward and Aziz had already been doing farming work in the verdant farmlands with farming tools. Heller seemed being meditating while sitting below the cherry grove not far away.


    This was Zhang Tie''s first time to see Heller meditating; therefore, he was a bit curious about that.


    Yellow chrysanthemums were growing around the fence. They were blossoming brilliantly. A swarm of bees were busying working among those chrysanthemums. The entire Castle of Black Iron looked tranquil and vigorous.


    Zhang Tie stood in the courtyard for a while to enjoy the beautiful scene. After that, he revealed a faint smile before coming to the small tree.


    The small tree was also fruitful at this moment. Only after a deep sniff of the rich fragrance of seven-strength fruits, Zhang Tie had already being highly spirited and intoxicated.


    The 9 crystal seven-strength fruits in the shape of rats looked pretty cute. They were like crystal artworks which aroused Zhang Tie pity.


    8 of the 9 demon rats looked same, except one which looked a bit deeper with a purple luster flowing inside, making it very special.


    "Isn''t this one not ripe yet? How come that be!? I''ve killed so many demon rats!" With this doubt, Zhang Tie stretched his hand towards that special seven-strength fruit.


    ¡ª¡ªSeven-Strength Fruit of King Demon Rat. This fruit has gathered; the strength of Qi, the strength of blood, the strength of channel, the strength of vein, the strength of bone, the strength of marrow and the strength of spirit of king demon rat. Usage: Pick and direct eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªThis seven-strength fruit was a senior fruit of demon rat. It comes from a king demon rat. The seven-strength inside this were 5 times that of common seven-strength fruits of demon rats.


    After reading the above 2 paragraphs, Zhang Tie was startled for a short while. He then burst out into laughter. "This small tree is really unbelievable. I''ve not imagined this special fruit after killing the head rat."


    "According to the old Chinese saying, if you want to catch thieves, you have to catch their king at first. I will eat this seven-strength fruit firstly!" Saying this, Zhang Tie picked off this seven-strength fruit of king demon rat as he sat down with his legs crossed. He then put it in his mouth and chewed it carefully.


    The sweet juice of the seven-strength fruit slid in Zhang Tie''s esophagus very soon and gradually turned into seven rolling hot Qi''s and energy inside Zhang Tie''s chest.


    Once again, Zhang Tie felt his body being blown up like a balloon by that combined strength.


    ...


    When the 1st strength Qi swam to the sea position of Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen, it gradually integrated with Zhang Tie''s body; meanwhile, Zhang Tie heard the familiar sound of heavy wind blowing by his ears in his mind...


    Then, the 2nd strength...


    When the 3rd strength swam to Zhang Tie''s after-brain, it resolved and entered Zhang Tie''s muscles all over in terms of thousands of smaller strength. When they arrived there, they started to slightly quiver like strings of a musical instrument. Zhang Tie felt that he became a huge harp. With the effect of that strength, he started to sound himself all over.


    This time, the "performance" lasted especially long...


    Followed by the 4th strength...


    ...


    When Zhang Tie opened his eyes, he became stunned as he found it was morning.


    Heller was standing beside the small tree and watching Zhang Tie.


    "How long did it take me to digest the seven-strength fruit?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "30 hours!" Heller replied, "The more powerful the seven-strength fruit is, the longer it will take you to digest it!"


    Zhang Tie smiled as he stood up and picked off another demon rat seven-strength fruit.


    When Zhang Tie woke up once again, it was almost night.


    After eating this common demon rat seven-strength fruit, Zhang Tie felt that its strength of Qi, strength of blood, strength of bone, strength of marrow, strength of vein and strength of spirit was almost equal to half of that of a wild wolf seven-strength fruit respectively; however, its strength of channel was about 1.5 times that of a common wild wolf seven-strength fruit, which might be deeply related to Zhang Tie''s great explosiveness...


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie picked off another demon rat seven-strength fruit.


    After digesting the 3rd demon rat seven-strength fruit, it turned completely dark. The moment Zhang Tie opened his eyes, he saw Heller who was holding a lamp.


    "Castle Lord, haste makes waste. After eating so many seven-strength fruits at once, you''d better slightly move, eat or drink before take a sleep. Only by relaxing yourself to fit your latest physical functions could your body contain the energy of the other seven-strength fruits!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he left the small tree, ate something and drunk some honey-water. After that, he took a bath and slept for some hours. When it was late morning, he came to the small tree and started to eat seven-strength fruits once again.


    This time, he ate 4 seven-strength fruits consecutively. After that, he continued to rest, sleep and eat.


    On the 3rd day, Zhang Tie ate the last 2 seven-strength fruits of demon rats.


    When he woke up this time, Zhang Tie felt being completely different than before. After eating 9 seven-strength fruits in a couple of days, he updated his body 9 times. Even Zhang Tie wondered how powerful he was at this moment. With a will, Zhang Tie felt that the strength in his muscles was moving ferociously like a piston in a high-pressure cylinder which was going to explode at any time.


    Like before, Heller knew what Zhang Tie was thinking about. Zhang Tie found that he was standing below the small tree, with a javelin container in hand. Agan, Edward and Aziz were standing respectfully behind Heller. Each of them were carrying a new wooden target.


    "Castle Lord, you must not wait to try the power of your javelins!"


    Zhang Tie responded with a smile as he walked downstairs. After glancing at the 3 nice targets, he nodded, "I remember that Agan is a carpenter and stonemason. He made them, right? Not bad!"


    Receiving Zhang Tie''s praise, Agan was so excited that his face even blushed. He hurriedly knelt down to kill Zhang Tie''s shoes, "Castle Lord, it''s my great honor to serve you!"


    "Let''s have a try over there!" Saying this, Zhang Tie walked towards the most open parcel of grassland on the lake''s shore, followed by Agan, Edward and Aziz.


    After coming to the shore, Zhang Tie drew out a javelin from Heller''s javelin container before narrowed his eyes and looked at the distance.


    "How far?" Heller asked.


    "200 m, 300 m and 500 m!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Agan, Edward and Aziz directly ran away. Agan stopped 200 m away; carrying the target, he stood still like a dare-to-die corps member; Edward stopped 300 m away while Aziz stopped 500 m away. They all moved very fast. In less than 2 minutes, they had already arrived at the right positions and gave signals to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie then drew out a javelin from Heller''s javelin container. After fixing his eyes on that target 200 m away, he took a deep breath; closely after that, he threw out the javelin.


    In a split second, the javelin had disappeared in the air. Almost at the same time, Zhang Tie heard the cracking sound of Agan''s target and the air-breaking sound.


    Zhang Tie threw out the 2nd and the 3rd javelins consecutively in an extremely short period closely after the 1st javelin.


    The 3 targets were almost exploded in a second. Seeing this, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh satisfactorily. After throwing out 3 javelins, Zhang Tie felt so cool. Zhang Tie felt that he had realized essential improvements on strength, responsiveness and explosiveness. Certainly, the speed of his javelin was much faster than before.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know about its precise speed; but it was true that it only took him a bit more than half a second from throwing out the javelin to the crack of the target 500 m away.


    After breaking through the 3 targets, the 3 javelins continued to fly forward until they hit the colorful, rolling fog to the edge of Castle of Black Iron. They suspended there for several seconds before dropping off.


    "Congratulations, Castle Lord, all the initial speeds of the 3 javelins were greater than 728 m/s, which was twice that of sound transmission speed in air. Your javelin could match heavy crossbow on destructive force within 300 m. Its destructive force didn''t decline until 400 m. Its maximum effective destructive range was 800 m."


    Zhang Tie did not feel strange about the precise flying speed of his javelin. Because it was in Castle of Black Iron while Heller was the administer and intelligent spirit of Castle of Black Iron; of course, he knew everything.


    Zhang Tie only cared about one thing, "Can Dawson survive my javelins?"


    "He can''t!" Heller shook his head, "Unless he could reach or approach LV 11 in these days, he could never dodge away from sonic boom which was twice the speed of sound transmission speed in the air. You''re already able to kill most of strong fighters with javelins. Few strong fighters could respond faster than this speed."


    A harsh countenance flashed through Zhang Tie''s eyes...


    "Are you going out now, Cast Lord?" Heller asked.


    "No hurry. I will stay here for a couple of days..." Zhang Tie smiled as his eyes gleamed, "As nobody disturbs me here, I can practice the first section of the "Great Wildness Sutra". As the first section should be finished in a row, I need to spare 7 days to practice it; but I cannot find such a good condition outside!"


    ...


    Several hours later, Zhang Tie became completely relaxed. After adjusting himself to his best condition, Zhang Tie returned to the place below the small tree. Crossing his legs, he started to make a fantastic gesture described on the "Great Wildness Sutra". At the same time, Zhang Tie started to recite the 7 word-sutra of strange pronunciation by only moving his tongue and throat...


    ...

 420 The All-Spirits Pagoda

    Chapter 420: The All-Spirits Pagoda


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The gesture, the sutra and the illusionary, mysterious strength gradually took effect on Zhang Tie on the 2nd day.


    Of course, the manifested content was in Zhang Tie''s mind which could not be sensed by others.


    In Zhang Tie''s mind, a whole new mysterious space swirled like a milky-way under mist of golden spiritual energy with Zhang Tie''s meditation.


    In Zhang Tie''s mind, previously it was all empty except for that golden swirl of spiritual energy; however, under the guidance of the secret knowledge of the "Great Wildness Sutra", Zhang Tie saw a lamp in his mind. As a result, those unknown land in the darkness gradually became clearer, expanding the space in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    Soon after the space in his mind was expanded, his swirl of spiritual energy started to hang in the sky like a milky way while a bronze, classical pagoda was rising straight from the ground in that mysterious territory under the swirl of spiritual energy.


    Each time Zhang Tie finished reciting that mysterious sutra, he would have some tadpole-like mysterious runes out of the void. Those runes then merged in that pagoda one after another. Like the materials of the pagoda, they became a part of that pagoda and enabled the pagoda to rise higher.


    In such a meditation of foundation, the concept of time became vague.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how long had he entered meditation. He only made a gesture and recited the 7-word true words of the great wildness repetitively; meanwhile, he was visualizing the tadpole-like mysterious runes. Like a diligent ant who kept working inexhaustibly, he was sensing the ground-breaking change in his mind and watching the classic pagoda gradually rising higher.


    Although it was a painstaking course, Zhang Tie was filled with pleasure inside.


    Skill was no burden! Nobody would disguise about having one more skill, including Zhang Tie. Furthermore, it seemed to be very interesting and useful to control wild beasts. Therefore, Zhang Tie was immersed in it.


    ...


    When he finished reciting the true words of the great wildness for 300,000 times, he felt a slight shock of that pagoda; closely after that, the pagoda stopped its growth; meanwhile, the swirling golden spiritual energy above the pagoda started to roll heavily. In a split second, Zhang Tie''s mind went dark and turned bright like a lightning bolt flashed across. With a thunder-like boom in his mind, Zhang Tie quivered all over at once. After that thunder, the milky-way like swirling spiritual energy suddenly scattered into fine sparkling light-spots and fell on the pagoda. After such a bath, the pagoda looked more glamorous at once. At the same time, various eccentric decorative patterns of insects, fishes, birds and beasts started to glitter and appear on the pagoda before fading away.


    The pagoda had 5 facets and 21 stories. After the special bath, each facet was manifesting various images of animals. Until the glamorous rain incarnated by his spiritual energy stopped and the pagoda recovered to its classic and chunky look. Additionally, a layer of golden light was rolling in the pagoda, making the pagoda more magnificent and mysterious.


    After completing this, Zhang Tie had consumed about half of his total spiritual energy. He carefully sensed the all-spirits pagoda in his mind which represented that he started to cultivate the "Great Wildness Sutra". He felt that this pagoda was much higher than that in the book. Additionally, the body of the pagoda looked like a firm solid; instead of an illusionary image after the completion of the foundation of the "Great Wildness Sutra" as was described in the book.


    Zhang Tie didn''t think too much about this difference. He only took it as a result of his strong spiritual energy. Actually, the spiritual energy that he had consumed was equal to that of dozens of people in total. How come a commoner complete such a foundation at once?


    ...


    Sitting below the small tree, Zhang Tie opened his eyes once again. At this moment, tens of thousands of bees were circling around him and the small tree in the clock-wise manner. Zhang Tie had never seen this before.


    "These bees look very happy." Zhang Tie thought at once. After that, he became stunned, "But, how do I know that?"


    Scratching his head, Zhang Tie felt that the "Great Wildness Sutra" was truly amazing.


    Heller walked towards Zhang Tie with gleaming eyes, "Castle Lord, have you finished the foundation?"


    "Yup, what''s the matter with these bees?"


    "They''ve already been here 2 days ago. It might be related to your cultivation of the foundation!"


    "I see!" Zhang Tie recalled and found it was when he formed the all-spirits pagoda in his mind. "According to the book, all-spirits pagoda and all the living beings could sense each other. It''s seems true."


    Zhang Tie took a look at the grasses and woods in Castle of Black Iron and felt an unknown friendliness. All the living beings became vital in Zhang Tie''s eyes. Zhang Tie felt an improvement in his sensing ability once again.


    Not knowing the reason, the moment Zhang Tie thought about the all-spirits pagoda, he had remembered those TV towers and antenna which were used to emit and accept electro-magnetic signals before Catastrophe. He forced a smile inside at once. Certainly, according to people''s recognition, besides emitting and accepting signals, they were at least sure about one thing¡ª¡ªthe basic functions of towers was to form field energy, gather and compress energy. Pyramid was a representative.


    Zhang Tie relaxed his arms as he walked downstairs from the platform. "Is there anything to eat? I''m too hungry!" Zhang Tie asked.


    "I''ve long prepared it for you, Castle Lord!" Heller smiled...


    After walking downstairs, Zhang Tie saw those bees flying away...


    ...


    On the second morning, Zhang Tie left Castle of Black Iron with 2 short javelins and reappeared in the crack being covered with vines on a cliff.


    The sun had just risen up. Everything in the serene valley also seemed having just waken up. Pulling a vine, Zhang Tie slid off the crack nimbly. After breathing the fresh air which was mixed with moisture and the fragrance of grasses and woods, he ran westwards.


    "As I have stayed in Castle of Black Iron for over 10 days, I wonder whether Dawson has left this valley or not. If not, Heh...Heh..."


    Zhang Tie revealed a chilly smile as he was running.


    ...


    2 days later, at dusk, nearby a Buckthorn wood on Grey Hill...


    The sun was going to set off while Zhang Tie had picked up some dried Buckthorn twigs and was setting a fire at a leeward place to cook his supper.


    When the hind-leg flesh of iron-teeth hyena dropped its oil onto the bonfire, the fragrance of those wild potatoes had long drifted in the air. Imitating those villagers in Kurgan village, Zhang Tie crumbed the Buckthorn juice and pulp of Buckthorns and sprayed the on the flesh. He was told that by doing this, he could sweep the fishy smell.


    After doing this, he picked up his short javelins to dig out some wild potatoes from the bonfire. Holding one, Zhang Tie blew the ash off its skin while changing it between two hands rapidly; meanwhile, his face was filled with the pleasure of harvest.


    Plus those iron-teeth hyenas that he hunted today, the 3rd iron-teeth hyena''s seven-strength fruit on the small tree might have grown ripe


    Thinking of the latest fruit, of course Zhang Tie felt pretty good.


    Especially then when he was sitting beside the bonfire, enjoying the night breeze and eating potatoes and roasted meat. When the night fell, he could put his arms under his head and lay on the grassland to watch stars. Everything was that pure. If not so many things to deal with, Zhang Tie really thought it was a free way to live the rest of his life.


    The roasted potatoes were hot and tasted good. Zhang Tie kept blowing it as he was eating. However, Dawson appeared on the hillside over 60 m in front of him like Zhang Tie''s shadow when Zhang Tie only ate half of that potato.


    Watching Zhang Tie eating his roasted potato beside a bonfire, Dawson''s eyes gleamed weirdly.


    Zhang Tie also saw Dawson, but he only raised his head to glance at him like peering at a common iron-teeth hyena. After that, he continued to blow and eat his potato.


    Seeing this, Dawson who was preparing to walk closer felt his heart pounding at once. Being suspicious, he looked around carefully. After ensuring that nobody was in the surrounding, he let out a sigh and slowly moved closer to Zhang Tie.


    When Dawson was about 30 m away from Zhang Tie, he was sure that Zhang Tie could never escape this time. Therefore, he finally recovered his composure.


    "Brat, I will see what else tricks can you play this time. You should be proud enough of escaping away twice from me; however, never dream about the 3rd time!" Dawson grinned hideously.


    Seeing Dawson''s meticulous look, Zhang Tie sniggered, "What? How come you become so timid? Why not move closer?"


    ...

 421 A Butcher

    Chapter 421: A Butcher


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Dawson had a deep feeling about Zhang Tie''s crafty and great fighting strength. Seeing Zhang Tie''s calm look, he became worried about Zhang Tie''s tricks. After ensuring that nobody else was in the surroundings, Dawson even checked the ground in front of him carefully.


    "You look bolder now!" Dawson moved his eyes from the ground to Zhang Tie without even a wink. He seemed wanting to see through Zhang Tie; meanwhile, he also noticed the short javelins in Zhang Tie''s hand and on his side. Dawson remembered that Zhang Tie had no such weapons when he fell down the cliff. However, he didn''t pay much attention to these common weapons.


    "I''m always bold!" Zhang Tie grinned while exposing his tidy teeth. Under the effect of the great strength of marrow, Zhang Tie had changed all of his teeth over these couple of days. Now, his teeth were as white as porcelain; besides, they were delicate, compact and as hard and sharp as diamonds. Furthermore, he found that he had some more teeth this time. Although he was not that boring to count his teeth before; as he was free these days, he carefully counted them and found that he had more teeth than common people.


    Zhang Tie''s grin was really shiny to Dawson''s eyes.


    "Bold people always have their dependence. I''ve checked the place where you stayed in the valley. I''ve understood what you''ve survived on. However, as it was only over 10 days, whatever you got from that mountain cave, you will not survive this time!" Dawson''s eyes became greedy at once as he licked his lips and watched Zhang Tie like watching a fat sheep, "Give me what you''ve got from the mountain cave. I might keep you alive if you satisfy me!"


    ''He''s been to the mountain cave?'' Zhang Tie raved his mind. "If he''s been to the mountain cave, he must have seen the stony room. Even if he has noticed the hole on the wall in the stony room, he wouldn''t know what''s inside at all." Zhang Tie understood that he should never tell him about the "Great Wildness Sutra". Otherwise, he was doomed to face endless troubles. "If I spread this news to public, those b*stards from Demon Snake Island would not be the only ones who want to kill me."


    Even Zhang Tie had already taken Dawson as a dead man, he still didn''t prepare to talk to him about the truth. There were so many odd secret skills in this world; Zhang Tie was not sure whether his words would be revealed or not if he told him the truth even if he killed Dawson right away.


    Zhang Tie sneered as he watched Dawson like watching an idiot, "I''ve been to that mountain cave you mentioned. When I dropped into the pond, I was almost killed by a swarm of demon rats. There was a stony room in the mountain cave. A skeleton was sitting there. However, everything inside has been rotten, except for those cheap bottles and jars. That skeleton had been there for so many years. Are you dreaming that I got something from there? Is your head kicked by a donkey?"


    "You get nothing from there?" Dawson watched Zhang Tie with a dubious look.


    "No crap!"


    "Hehe, it doesn''t matter. I will kill you and search it out!" Dawson replied with a cruel smile as he reached his tongue out to lick his lips. He then slowly walked several steps closer to Zhang Tie. Besides keeping up the stress on Zhang Tie, he was trying to find out Zhang Tie''s tricks.


    "Even if Zhang Tie really got some secret knowledge from the mountain cave, he could not surpass me after only 10 days." Dawson was clear about it. "However, Zhang Tie looked too calm. As a person whom I''ve almost killed twice, his performance is not reasonable." As a LV 10 strong fighter, Dawson had a sharp sense about the potential danger. However, because of the strong greedy desire, he could not stand to let Zhang Tie go. "If this brat truly has got some secret knowledge from the mountain cave, I''d better kill him right away!"


    Additionally, Dawson faintly felt that Zhang Tie was becoming that calm because of that special thing he got from the mountain cave.


    After thinking for a while, Dawson looked both greedy and cautious in front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie knew well about what Dawson was thinking about at this moment. If it was before, he could understand Dawson''s deed; he might even feel facing a great enemy; however, at this moment, Zhang Tie felt like laughing, "Isn''t it hilarious for a person to be that tricky, greedy and meticulous when he''s going to die?"


    Zhang Tie continued to eat his roasted potato leisurely. He seemed to have not seen Dawson at all. The more Zhang Tie acted like this, the more cautious Dawson became. After moving forward another few steps, he stopped as he looked a bit suspicious.


    "Do you really want to know why I''m so calm?" Zhang Tie suddenly raised his head and asked Dawson.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Dawson became faintly stunned as he rolled his eyes for two circles. He then suddenly understood something as he burst out laughter''s, "Brat, you''re really a good performer. However, it''s impossible for you to scare me off with small tricks. As I''ve told you, if you give me what you''ve got from the mountain cave, I might save your life!"


    "I''m wondering how did you find me in Ice and Snow Wildness. If you tell me the reason, I will tell you my reliance. How about that?¡®¡¯ Zhang Tie smiled, "As it''s too late, one of us must die before the next sunrise. Out of one human fighter''s respect to another human fighter, I suggest us to satisfy the other''s demand before death. How do you feel?"


    "It''s okay. I''m good at tracking. Additionally, as I''m practicing a special battle Qi. After LV 9, each level I reach, one more sensory organ of mine would be strengthened. When I reached LV 10, I had my sense of smell improved. I can smell the aroma of human flesh from several miles away, especially on the open land of Ice and Snow Wildness. As long as someone pass by some place, the aroma of their flesh would stay in the air. When I pass by, I will be able to smell it. As there were few people on Grey Hill, it''s not difficult to find you! The smell of a LV 7 teenager was different from that of others..." Dawson said confidently.


    "The aroma of human flesh?" Hearing Dawson''s words, Zhang Tie frowned.


    "Heh...heh...you''ve not tasted the yummy human flesh. If you eat it sometime, you will find that human flesh tastes best among all kinds of fleshes. Especially the taste of fresh flesh of kids or virgins which are full of energy. By eating them, you will be fully energetic. Demons like to eat human flesh and drink human blood, because they could gain a lot of life energy and special DNAs from human fleshes and blood so that they could become stronger. The fresh blood of humans who were filled with terrors have a special energy, which could not even be matched by the best drinks..." Saying this, Dawson reached his tongue out and licked his lips again.


    "It''s my fault. No matter what, b*stards like you are not qualified to gain any respect at all..." Zhang Tie waved his head as he stood up, "Don''t you want to know what I''m relying on? I will fulfill my promise. Look...get it..."


    Soon after Zhang Tie finished his words, he had raised his hand while a black shadow flew towards Dawson. Having been prepared for Zhang Tie''s trick, Dawson was really startled at the sight of that black thing. Almost at the same time, he flew backwards at his greatest speed; in the course, he even constantly changed his movements. In a wink, Dawson had already stood still 50 m away in another direction.


    With a sound of "Pah..." the black thing threw out by Zhang Tie finally dropped down the ground after flying over 40 m in the air. After recovering his composure, Dawson glanced at it and was driven extremely furious. Because that black shadow which forced him back was only a roasted potato skin. Dawson realized that he was scared off by a roasted potato skin. Such a humiliation could not even be stood by commoners, not to mention a LV 10 strong fighter.


    "Go die..." Dawson''s face and eyes instantly turned amaranth. Glaring at Zhang Tie, Dawson''s killing intent boiled immediately.


    However, Zhang Tie was watching him with disdainful and sneering look like watching a lump of sh*t of iron-teeth hyena on Grey Hill, "I thought a person who dares to eat human flesh had something special. I find you are just a coward and d**chebag. At the first time, you were scared away by my words; this time, you were scared so much by merely a piece of potato skin. I really wonder how you dared to eat human flesh. Even an iron-teeth hyena is bolder than you. I think you cannot even eat a hot lump of sh*t![1] Peh..."


    Zhang Tie spat his saliva onto ground.


    "F*ck..." Dawson roared as he rushed towards Zhang Tie right away...


    "Get it!" Zhang Tie raised his hand again while another black shadow flew out...


    It moved as fast as a lightning bolt. It had absolutely surpassed Dawson''s limits of perception and physical responsivity. When Dawson intended to move, he saw that thing penetrating through his chest. With a huge inertia and great sharpness, it opened a big hole on Dawson''s body and sent Dawson, who was rushing forward, flying backwards like a kite with a broken line...


    Before the sharp air-breaking sound disappeared, Zhang Tie had already sat down. Without looking at Dawson, he just found a small wooden stick from aside and dug out a potato from the middle of the ash. After that, he patted it by hands and blew off the ash. As he blew, he started to eat the steaming potato. After eating it, Zhang Tie turned over one kebab. After doing this, Zhang Tie picked himself up once again and walked towards Dawson in the distance.


    After penetrating through Dawson''s body, the javelin which was dripping blood was inserting into the soil over 20 m away in a declining way, 10 cm of it had entered the soil. After pulling the javelin out of the ground, Zhang Tie wiped the soil off it from a trunk aside. He then walked towards Dawson who was lying on one side of the Buckthorns.


    With a bloody hole on his chest, Dawson was lying on the ground, eyes staring at the sky, mouth wide opened; meanwhile, his abdomen was moving undulantly as he was heavily breathing. His blood that flowed out of his chest had painted the ground around. Because of his great vitality as a LV 10 strong fighter, Dawson was still alive.


    Zhang Tie came by. Although Dawson was lying on the ground, he could still move his dead-fish like eyes. Slightly opening his mouth, he uttered some words in a very low voice, "Wh...why?"


    Zhang Tie knew what Dawson wanted to know. Last time, his long sword was dodged away by Dawson; however the difference between that long sword and this javelin on destructive force was too sharp. Dawson didn''t understand how Zhang Tie could make such a great improvement in only about 10 days. It was unnecessary for Zhang Tie to hide his real fighting strength at that critical moment.


    Dawson had too many questions. However, Zhang Tie didn''t want to explain to him at all. As he had fulfilled his promise. He didn''t cheat Dawson. When he threw out the potato skin, he had already told the latter his trump card was throwing weapons. However, this b*stard was completely an idiot. Now that he didn''t understand it, he had to die.


    Seeing Dawson opening mouth and gold-capped teeth, Zhang Tie didn''t say anything; instead, he stepped on Dawson''s necks. Like killing a dog, under the terrifying eyes and imploration of Dawson, he ferociously poked the javelin into Dawson''s mouth and nailed him onto the ground after penetrating through his after-brain.


    After kicking his feet twice, Dawson finally died.


    "This gift is from those whom you''ve eaten, you d**chebag!"


    After killing Dawson, Zhang Tie started to search over his body. Although this d**chebag could not even match a lump of sh*t, it must have many good items as a LV 10 strong fighter. Zhang Tie didn''t have the habit to waste. Actually, precious items and money could not be identified by good or bad. It depended on who had them. "Of course, Dawson could not do good things with them...but if they were in my hands...hmm...well, even though I would not do good things, at least I would not do bad things."


    Zhang Tie didn''t have any mental burden at all.


    He undid that container over Dawson''s waist which was made of sharp''s skin. After opening it, Zhang Tie''s eyes gleamed as it was that pair of terrifying metal gloves which radiated pale blue luster.


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he injected some spiritual energy into the gloves. Instantly, the information about this pair of glove appeared in his mind.


    ¡ª¡ªRune Equipment. Dark Ripper Glove. This equipment could be used as double-hand weapon or an auxiliary equipment. Wearing it, the wearer could increase his flexibility by 3% and block all the alloy blades below LV 10 and battle Qi''s below great master. If the wearer torn the opponent''s body with this double-hand weapon, he could have the special rune effect of this pair of glove, activate the Qi and blood that had lost and increase his recovery speed by 18%. The length of time would depend on the abundance of the enemy''s Qi and blood.


    ¡ª¡ªThis item was made by Kui Andi, a rune manufacturer.


    Watching the pair of dark ripper glove, Zhang Tie almost burst out laughter''s. "It''s really suitable for me." Zhang Tie instantly put it back into the leather container before hanging it over his own waist.


    After that, Zhang Tie searched a purse and a small black metal ball.


    The surface of the small black metal ball was covered with sophisticated floral patterns. At the sight of the ball, Zhang Tie''s back had started to ache faintly. Zhang Tie felt having seen it before. After injecting some spiritual energy into the small ball, Zhang Tie got its attributes instantly.


    ¡ª¡ªSpirit-Sealing Bead. After injecting your spiritual energy into the item, you can cause a follow-up impact on the enemy''s spiritual energy when you struck him, enabling him to not use his spiritual energy in a short time.


    This item made Zhang Tie slightly amazed. Compared to Zhang Tie''s powerful javelin, this item didn''t work too much. It might be helpful sometimes. Therefore, Zhang Tie put it away directly.


    The name of the rune manufacturer was not included in the information of this item. According to the traditions of rune manufacturers, as to these weapons which are used to attack people secretly, rune manufacturers would not record their names on them in case of troubles, except for some sharp weapons with exceptionally great power.


    Zhang Tie opened Dawson''s purse. Besides 20-30 gold coins, Zhang Tie found some gold checks which were worth 2000 gold coins. Amazingly, the gold check was issued by Golden Roc Bank. Zhang Tie became further shocked by the power of Golden Roc Bank.


    When Zhang Tie searched over his booty and was going to stand up, he heard a voice from his back.


    "I''ve not imagined to see robbery here. It seems that no place is safe with people!" the voice was full of helplessness.


    Zhang Tie turned around and saw a tall figure standing 30 m away who was watching him with a calm look.


    This man was over 40 years old. Besides whiskers, he was wearing a very old, pale gray robe like an ascetic.


    This man''s eyes were green. At the sight of him, Zhang Tie felt looking at a green sea as his heart palpitated at once.


    A huge eagle was hovering above that man''s head. When Zhang Tie turned around, he saw the huge eagle was falling on the man''s shoulder...


    Zhang Tie knew who was he in front of him...


    ...

 422 The Wild Patron

    Zhang Tie didn''t know about the fighting strength of this wild patron; however, from the opponent''s eyes, he didn''t see any animosity; instead, Zhang Tie found the opponent was only observing him. Therefore, Zhang Tie became a bit relaxed.


    "This man is Dawson, a round-table warrior from Demon Snake Island. He''s a d**chebag. As I destroyed their plan in Saint Herner Island, I was chased after by. Thankfully, I killed him and was collecting booty," Watching that man, Zhang Tie added calmly, "Therefore, I''m not robbing. You''d better say I''m a cleaning riot and evil person for the safety of commoners!"


    "Why do I believe you?" that man asked.


    Zhang Tie shrugged, "I don''t care whether you believe me or not. Based on this guy''s gold-capped teeth, if you are not afraid of being revenged by Demon Snake Island, you can chop off his head and send it to Ewentra Archipelago. You might get several thousands of gold coins as a reward! Pitifully, I remember that you wild patrons from the Gaia School don''t always care about the wars between human race."


    After being revealed his real status, the man''s eyes gleamed, "You know me?"


    "When I was in Kurgan village, I heard about you from the village head Zieg..." Saying that, Zhang Tie glanced at that huge black eagle on the man''s shoulder and explained calmly, "Your pet left a deep impression to the village head Zieg. When I saw you, I was not sure that was you; however, when I saw your black huge eagle, I knew that was you!"


    Hearing Kurgan village and the village head Zieg, that wild patron revealed a smile as he became relaxed instantly. He then walked towards Zhang Tie, "What an interesting young man! Are you dodging away from the Demon Snake Island or picking herbal medicines on Grey Hill?"


    Hearing this question, Zhang Tie thought too much. However, in less than 0.1 second, he had got the best answer.


    "Actually, I''m a patron, a devoted follower of Gaia School!" Zhang Tie repeated the reason that he told Kurgan villagers. However, this time, he considered many utilitarian goals, "Previously, I was here for the relics of Haidela Glacier Crack. If I was lucky, I could have a look at the piece of star of god; however, when I came to Eschyle City, I was told about the animal tide. Therefore, I decided to come to Grey Hill. It is the responsibility of each devoted follower of Gaia School to maintain the balance between the nature law and various species.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, that man''s calm look finally changed. He looked very amazed. He wanted to see through Zhang Tie, "Good, I''ve not imagined that I could meet a devoted follower of Gaia School here. Young man, do you mind me eating some of your roasted potatoes? I''ve smelt the aroma of your roasted potatoes in the ash!"


    "Please!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    ...


    The two people then sat beside the bonfire. When eating potatoes, that man kept testing Zhang Tie. He talked about religious doctrines and rules of the Gaia School with Zhang Tie. As Zhang Tie had heard so many times about these contents from grandma Teresa in Blackhot City, he had been so familiar with them; therefore, Zhang Tie had a lot of common topics with that man.


    That man asked where did he accept these knowledge, Zhang Tie replied instantly, "In Blackhot City. This city was once a member of Andaman Alliance. Last year, after being annexed by Norman Empire, it officially became a LV 4 city of Brunswik Province under the affiliation of the governor of the North Region of Norman Empire!"


    "I know that place! It''s a border area in Blackson Human Corridor. It''s close to the New Crescent Prairie..." That man ate Zhang Tie''s potatoes as he said casually, "Gaia School has a church in Blackhot City. People can indeed accept the doctrine of Gaia, the mother of land! I remember that a flamen was dispatched there to take charge of the church..."


    "You might be wrong. The school of patron has no church in Blackhot City. There''s only a narrow orphanage. The one who was in charge of it was not a flamen, but grandma Teresa. She''s a nun!" Zhang Tie smiled as he tore a piece of roasted meat and threw it to that huge eagle. Seeing it, the huge eagle clutched it instantly and started to tear and engulf it, "Grandma Teresa taught me about the greatness and tolerance of Gaia!"


    That man stopped what he was doing as he watched Zhang Tie throwing the piece of roasted meat at that huge eagle. He then became silent with a very strange look for a short while. Then, he turned around and glanced over Zhang Tie seriously. With brilliance in his eyes, he revealed a smile. This time, the man finally showed his sincerity, "Young man, I think we need to introduce ourselves. I''m Crell, the wild patron in Ice and Snow Wilderness dispatched by the Gaia School. Who are you?"


    "I''m Peter, Peter Hamplester!" Zhang Tie replied.


    Crell slightly narrowed his eyes, which reminded Zhang Tie of Dawson whom he had killed just now. Not knowing why, Zhang Tie always felt this man had hidden thoughts.


    "Peter..."


    "What?"


    "Are you sure that you''ve not met any other followers of our school besides grandma Teresa?"


    "Truly not, you''re the 2nd patron I''ve ever met! How do you know?" Zhang Tie became a bit alert as he watched Crell.


    "It''s simple. If you''ve met other followers, you''ve definitely have been told one thing!"


    "What?"


    "You''re born with the heart of mother nature!" Crell explained as he pointed at his black huge eagle, "Besides mine, the eagle would not eat the food from anybody else. You are the first one who could feed it. All the people who are born with the heart of mother nature have received the bliss of Gaia. Only they are reliable to the black eagle!"


    "Heart of mother nature? What''s that?" Zhang Tie looked perplexed. ¡®¡¯I only felt that the black eagle was hungry; therefore, I threw a piece of roasted meat to it. Is there anything related to the heart of mother nature?"


    "Wait, how did I feel that black eagle was hungry?" when Zhang Tie thought about the all-spirits pagoda in his mind, he seemingly understood that the heart of mother nature mentioned by this wild patron was the ability to be intimate to these animals that granted by the all-spirits pagoda like how he could feel the moods of bees in Castle of Black Iron...


    "Erm, can you explain about the heart of mother nature to me? It sounds cool!" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "Of course I can!" Crell smiled, "the heart of mother nature is an ability to exchange with other living beings in the mother nature. Actually, the most remarkable symbol for a member of school of patron is to have a heart of mother nature. Individuals have two ways to obtain the heart of mother nature: first, after experiencing a strict cultivation, individuals could sense the existence of Gaia and keep the link with Gaia''s will; second, individuals are blessed by Gaia. The latter one are born with heart of mother nature. They can be intimate to everything in the mother nature."


    "Erm, how many people are born with heart of mother nature?"


    "Neither too many nor too few. Some people are born with heart of mother nature; however, they gradually lose it after being isolated from the mother nature since they are grown up. It''s indeed rarely to see people at your age still have a heart of mother nature!"


    Hearing this reply, Zhang Tie let out a sigh at once. He was thinking about how to be intimate with Crell; he had not imagined that the all-spirits pagoda had such a great function. It was a great surprise to be considered to have the heart of mother nature.


    "Zieg told me that you were investigating the animal tide over Grey Hill. This animal tide is truly weird. Have you found something?"


    "Yes, I''ve got the reason. Someone must be manipulating this animal tide in Ice and Snow Wilderness. These iron-teeth hyenas on Grey Hill are very irritable. This is not a normal animal tide!" Crell frowned his forehead, "At least one powerful animal controller is pushing behind it!"


    "Why are they that boring? Is this beneficial to them?"


    "For some people, their target is to make human race chaotic by consuming the reiki and fighting strength of humans!"


    "Demons?"


    "Possible!"


    "How do we find the culprit?"


    "If he wants to manipulate so many iron-teeth hyenas, he must always stay in a huge pack of iron-teeth hyenas. If not staying with those beasts for a long time, even the greatest animal controller could not control those wild beasts. As a result, those wild beasts would recover their consciousness and instincts and escape away. I''ve discovered several large packs of iron-teeth hyenas on Grey Hill; however, I didn''t find that person. According to my speculation, that person might have sensed me; therefore, he changed his location and played the cat-and-mouse game with me."


    "A huge pack of iron-teeth hyenas", hearing these words, Zhang Tie''s heart raced. After thinking about it with a faint frown, he revealed a virtuous expression, "If you want to find out the guy playing hide-and-seek, the power of two people is bigger than that of a man!"


    "It''s very dangerous. You might lose your life at any time. Have you made a decision?" Crell asked Zhang Tie with a solemn look.


    "He''s profaning the mother nature and harming the living beings in Ice and Snow Wilderness. I believe that each follower of Gaia School would not stand it!"


    ...

 423 Motive

    Chapter 423: Motive


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The Grey Hill covered about tens of thousands of square kilometers. Therefore, it was not easy to find a person on it, even for a wild patron from the school of patron, not to mention that the target was a powerful animal controller.


    Given the survival ability and concealment ability in the wild, animal controllers were much better than pioneers. Because animal controllers were especially about getting along with wild beasts, they were good at concealing themselves in the wild. As an old saying went, "Animal controllers could live wherever wild beasts lived. However, wild beasts might not survive where animal controllers could live."


    After circling around Grey Hill for 3 days, Crell gained nothing.


    For Zhang Tie, those 3 days were his happiest period that he could even laugh out when in dream.


    The benefit to stay with a wild patron was displayed on the 2nd day. Previously, if Zhang Tie wanted to kill the iron-teeth hyenas, he had to depend on fortune or set some harsh traps. He could only hunt 20-odd iron-teeth hyenas a day at that time. However, staying with Crell, Zhang Tie didn''t need to find those iron-teeth hyenas anymore; because Crell seemingly had a marvelous talent; he could always take Zhang Tie to the most aggressive pack of iron-teeth hyenas easily.


    Crell said that these "most aggressive" iron-teeth hyenas probably had just contacted with the animal controller. After the hidden animal controller took effective measures on these iron-teeth hyenas, he drove them more aggressive and irritable. Based on this, they could narrow the animal controller''s scope of activity.


    Zhang Tie really admired this ability.


    Zhang Tie felt being a bit selfish as he only cared about seven-strength fruits instead of that mysterious animal controller when he was staying with Crell.


    In the 3 days, he had 3 more seven-strength fruits on the small tree. Plus that seven-strength fruit of iron-teeth hyena that Zhang Tie had not eaten on the day when he met Crell, there were 4 ripe seven-strength fruits of iron-teeth hyenas on the small tree. With 3 more, Zhang Tie would have all the seven-strength fruits of iron-teeth hyenas from the small tree.


    On the 3rd night, the 2 people chose to sleep in a mountain cave of the Grey Hill. When Zhang Tie came back with some firewoods, he found one more guest in the mountain cave¡ª¡ªan iron-teeth hyena.


    The iron-teeth hyena was lying at the foot of Crell and was as docile as his pet dog. Fondling its head, Crell was muttering something like holding a strange ceremony.


    Zhang Tie kept silent; he just stood and watched aside. Crell was uttering that strange sound "Gulugulu" completely through the resonance between his throat and abdomen.


    2 minutes later, Crell drew a strange pattern on its head before patting it slightly. After that, the iron-teeth hyena stood up. With a glance at Zhang Tie, it flashed out of the mountain cave.


    "This iron-teeth hyena looked very relaxed when it left."


    Crell glanced at Zhang Tie with an admiring look, "You''re right. It indeed felt relaxed when it left!"


    "What were you doing? Was it a ceremony? I was told that all the wild patrons were able to control animals." Zhang Tie put down the firewood and set a fire rapidly as he asked out of curiosity.


    "I was comforting it and removing the invisible bound in its mind so as to set him free again. That was a skill to control animals, being similar to that of an animal controller!" After these days, Crell had trusted Zhang Tie very much. He imparted some secret knowledge to Zhang Tie which could be barely touched by commoners in the school of patron. Remarkably, he had taken Zhang Tie as his fellow. Soon after Zhang Tie''s question, he answered honestly, "Actually, all those with the heart of mother nature have the potential to be an animal controller or a wild patron!"


    It was an evident hint. Of course, Zhang Tie could understand it. However, Zhang Tie pretended to consider it for a short while, "I''m interested in animal controllers, but I cannot be a clergy of the school of patron as I''ve got many things to concern. I cannot sacrifice myself to Gaia!"


    After these days, Zhang Tie had known what it meant by becoming a clergy of school of patron. As school of patron had very strict disciplines, if being not decisive enough to sacrifice one''s youth and life to Gaia, the mother of land, one better do not attempt to be an official clergy of this school. Take Crell as an example, as a wild patron, he had to live in the wild all the year. He could not get married and have babies. Since the day a person became the wild patron, he had been forbidden to eat meat. Because everything on the land was the offspring of Gaia, the mother of land. As a clergy of Gaia, of course, he could not eat the offspring''s of Gaia.


    After staying with Crell for 3 days, Zhang Tie ate roasted potatoes and wild vegetables every meal. To tell the truth, Zhang Tie could not stand such an ascetic-like life.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Crell responded with a smile, "All those who chose to be official clergies of school of patron made the decisions voluntarily after sensing the existence of Gaia. The alleged rules and disciplines in your eyes are just the realest reflection of our mind. We don''t consider them as a bound; conversely, we take them as the true freedom. If you want to learn animal controlling skill, I can teach you some. However, it''s uneasy to master this secret skill; it''s harder to make an achievement on it. As to how much you can master, it depends on you!"


    Zhang Tie became thrilled immediately, "That''s great..."


    ''"If so, my ''Great Wild Sutra'' would not be discovered. Because I learn how to control animals from a wild patron. No matter how rich the opponent''s imagination was, they would not imagine that I''m the only disciple of the "Great Wild Sect" on Eastern Continent."


    As he thought this, Zhang Tie felt a bit embarrassed. "My motive is not as pure as I''ve told you."


    "Alright, I will help Crell find the culprit as a compensation..." Zhang Tie thought.

 424 A Discovery

    Chapter 424: A Discovery


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Swaying flames brightened the mountain cave. Crell was sitting beside the bonfire and teaching Zhang Tie how to control animals. Zhang Tie looked very concentrated, at least from his look.


    "Wild beasts are as same as humans; they also have moods and thoughts. Even tiny insects have moods and thoughts. If you want to learn how to control animals, you have to ignore their bodies and attempt to exchange with them from inside!" Crell explained it to Zhang Tie patiently.


    After learning the "Great Wild Sutra", Zhang Tie became more curious about how other sects control wild animals. Actually, he did not want to learn them but to disguise the "Great Wild Sutra" with them. Therefore, Zhang Tie was very interested in Crell''s words.


    "I don''t understand. Why do we have to ignore the bodies of those wild animals?"


    "Because human''s consciousness is the most mysterious domain in the universe. When you focus on the bodies of the wild animals, you are actually indicating yourself that their bodies are different from yours. Namely, you think they are different from you. If so, you will stop yourself from communicating with them. Because you take the different bodies as the obstacle of the communication, your thoughts could not reach their minds!"


    "It sounds reasonable and a bit fantastic." After thinking it for a short while, Zhang Tie continued, "Do all the other animal controllers communicate with wild beasts like how you did?"


    "No, this is only the secret skill of school of patron. Those inferior animal controllers control wild beasts through mandatory training and drugs; better ones could hypnotize animals; some could use magics; some are proficient in animal languages; a few senior animal controllers are excel at controlling wild beasts through blood and soul contracts. In Eastern Continent, it''s said that there are more mysterious and powerful animal controlling skills!" When talking about Eastern Continent, Crell slightly narrowed his eyes with a desiring look, "I was told that the most powerful animal controllers on Eastern Continent could even inject their souls in fierce beasts, enabling those beasts to be their incarnations!"


    Hearing the last sentence, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded at once. He knew what Crell was talking about. Zhang Tie really had not imagined that the "Great Wild Sect" was so well-known. With a shocking look, Zhang Tie sighed with emotions, "What powerful animal controllers! Those animal controllers who could take wild beasts as their incarnations must belong to the same unrivaled sect!"


    "The sect was very powerful; however, it perished!"


    "Perished, how come?"


    "They perished rightly because of the greatness of their animal controlling skill. As a wise old eastern saying went, ''As long as you have a priceless treasure, even if you are not guilty, you will be guilty in the eyes of others due to their greed!'' Crell explained."


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie finally understood what Crell meant. This was exactly what Zhang Tie was concerned about.


    "Is there anyone else who had mastered the animal controlling skill of that sect?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "As that sect has perished for a long time, all those who could master the core animal controlling skill of that sect have died!"


    "What a pity!" thinking of that skeleton in the mountain cave, Zhang Tie sighed with his true mood. "Destiny is interesting! Even if one had mastered such a powerful animal controlling skill, he had to be alert every time. He had to stay with a swarm of demon rats and finally died alone in a serene mountain cave in the wild."


    "Perhaps this was the god''s will!" Crell also let out a sigh.


    In the following hours, Crell started to teach Zhang Tie about the animal controlling skill of wild patron. According to Crell, these contents were not the most profound ones, which could only be imparted after Zhang Tie has become an official clergy of the school of patron. However, if Zhang Tie had the potential to master these contents and practiced hard, he could easily command 3-5 wild beasts or find 1 or 2 powerful wild beasts as his pets.


    The animal controlling skill imparted by Crell to Zhang Tie was a strange spiritual connection with wild beasts which developed on the basis of some secret prayers of Gaia, the mother of land which the school of patron believed. Zhang Tie''s "heart of mother nature" was the medium and bridge of this connection. Crell considered this connection as the inner communication with wild beasts. However, in Zhang Tie''s opinion, the animal controlling skill of wild patrons was more like a cooperation with wild beasts on the equal footing; instead of simply driving them away. The secret prayers of Gaia, the mother of land were certain cooperation contracts between the two parties.


    By comparison, the animal controlling skills in Chinese "Great Wild Sutra" were completely filled with a domineering sense. Communication and prayers were nothing but bullsh*t for the "Great Wild Sutra". In this Sutra, people was the center of the universe, the most honorable controller in the universe and the incarnation of the universe and the universal laws. All the living beings, insects, fishes, birds or beasts had to follow the orders of humans. It was completely their great honor to satisfy humans'' will.


    "How come they control wild beasts in different ways?" Zhang Tie thought about this question for a while and finally realized that he could not get the answer based on his current intelligence and comprehension. However, now that this phenomenon existed, it was reasonable and allowed by the universal laws. After matching the school of patron and the Great Wild Sect on their animal controlling skills, Zhang Tie felt that the secret skill in the ''Great Wild Sect'' was more suitable to him.


    Although having the all-spirits pagoda, Zhang Tie didn''t know what was the heart of mother nature at all. Additionally, to be honest, Zhang Tie was still doubting whether the consciousness, the mother of land, that surpassed everything truly existed. In this case, Zhang Tie was really afraid that his secret was revealed by Crell.


    Zhang Tie didn''t remember the secret prayers of Gaia that Crell taught him until midnight.


    ...


    On the next early morning, Zhang Tie was awakened by his biological clock while Crell was still sleeping. Unless emergencies, a wild patron would not wake up until the first ray of sunlight cast onto the ground. As was regulated by the doctrine of the school of patron, everything had to be in line with natural laws.


    After waking up, Zhang Tie cleansed himself up at the riverside outside the mountain cave. After that, he sat on a stone outside the mountain cave and started to recite the secret prayers of Gaia, the mother of land that he had learned yesterday. Actually, he was injecting his spiritual energy into the body of the all-spirits pagoda according to the secret laws and illusionary regulations recorded in the "Great Wild Sutra".


    As Zhang Tie constantly injected his spiritual energy into the all-spirits pagoda, the 5 walls of the first storey gradually radiated colorful brilliance; meanwhile, a shiny jujube-seed shaped octahedron gradually came into being in the core of the first storey.


    In the "Great Wild Sutra", this octahedron was called the Great Wild Seal. It was the main carrier of the 5 animal controlling skills in the "Great Wild Sutra". If one wanted to apply different secret skills, one had to "print" different secret seals on the void Great Wild Seal. The function of this Great Wild Seal changed with different secret seals.


    Based on Zhang Tie''s current situation, he could only entered the 1st storey of the all-spirits pagoda, which could only hold 3 Great Wild Seals at most. The 3 seals on the 1st storey could only work on LV 0 animals such as common wild wolves.


    When he was able to enter the 2nd storey, he would have 5 more seals; meanwhile, the upper limit of the animals that the Great Wild Seals could work on rose to LV 1. Senior Great Wild Seals could work on inferior animals; however, inferior animals could not work on senior animals.


    Each level higher he reached, one more storey he would activate. As a result, he would have more Great Wild Seals and work on more senior animals. The interesting thing was that the number of Great Wild Seals in each storey of the all-spirits pagoda formed a Fibonacci sequence with 3 as the first number on the 1st storey. Zhang Tie praised how magical the creator was.


    "Can I control LV 20 animals when I reach the highest storey?" Zhang Tie was startled by this question for quite a while. Even now, Zhang Tie had not seen any animal above LV 10, not to mention LV 20 animals. Zhang Tie even doubted about their existence like how he doubted Gaia, not to mention how to control them. However, according to the footnote in the "Great Wild Sutra", since the beginning of the "Great Wild Sutra", few people in the Great Wild Sect could reach the 16th storey. If they could, they must have been seniors of Great Wild Sect, not to mention to reach the 21th storey.


    After succeeding the foundation, Zhang Tie could directly inject his spiritual energy into the 1st storey of the all-spirits pagoda, which indicated that he had reached LV 1 of the Great Wild Sutra. If he wanted to enter the 2nd storey of the all-spirits pagoda, he had to recite the Great Wild true words for 50 times. Meanwhile, the number of Great Wild Seals also increased in the form of Fibonacci Sequence. The higher level he reached, the more times he needed to recite the Great Wild true words.


    After learning the "Great Wild Sutra", Zhang Tie understood that there was no free lunch in the world. Even for holding a secret knowledge, without efforts, he could not be able to master it.


    The only thing that made Zhang Tie reassured was that besides the first foundation that required 7 days of constant chant of the Great Wild true words, he didn''t have to recite them constantly in the future. After the first foundation, he only needed to visualize and recite the true words according to the regulations of the "Great Wild Sutra" when he was free. When the accumulative number of chant times reached the corresponding standards, it would open the corresponding storey for Zhang Tie.


    Besides, Zhang Tie understood that everything in the world was finite. Nothing was limitless. All the disciples of the Great Wild Sect could apply the 5 secret skills for finite times. The total number of the Great Wild Seals in all the storeys that you could activate was also the summation of the times that you could apply the 5 secret skills in your life. If you used up all the Great Wild Seals, you would not be able to apply the secret skills.


    Given this point, Zhang Tie felt that the number of Great Wild Seals was similar to the number of bolts, which could not be collected after being shot out. Once you used them up, you would have nothing more unless you could enter a higher storey.


    Because of this reason, how to use those Great Wild Seals after forming them in the storeys became a common problem.


    The 5 sections "Summon", "Amulet", "Increase", "Drive" and "Incarnation" had their special functions respectively. They could respond to different situations and help you reach your targets. It depended on you as which seal to use and how. If you waste one of them, you will have to regret.


    As how to use the first Great Wild Seal, Zhang Tie really had considered seriously about it for a long time.


    The secret skill in the section "Summon" was a bit sophisticated. Besides Great Wild Seal, it also required other conditions; additionally, Zhang Tie didn''t know what kind of animal he needed to summon on Grey Hill and what he used that animal for? As it was rational to waste a Great Wild Seal for an unknown reason, Zhang Tie directly passed the Great Wild Seal in the Section "Summon".


    Almost due to the same reason, Zhang Tie also passed the Great Wild seals in Sections "Amulet" and "Increase", leaving the Sections "Drive" and "Incarnation".


    As Cloud Crane warned that the soul-based animal controlling skill in the Section "Incarnation" consumed a lot of Qi, blood and the essence of soul and spiritual energy of the user, even Zhang Tie wanted to try this top secret skill of the Great Wild Sect very much, he still finally gave up this whim after thinking for a while.


    Then, he could only try the seal in the Section "Drive".


    "Perhaps I can find a pet for myself." thinking of this, Zhang Tie formed some strange green patterns on the octahedron-shaped Great Wild Seal on the 1st storey. Those fantastic patterns were carved on the 8 sides of the Great Wild Seal like grains. At this moment, the Great Wild Seal became a shiny green item as it was floating quietly in the air on the 1st storey.


    ...


    After forming the 1st Great Wild Seal, Zhang Tie finally saw the first ray of sunlight casting on the ground. At this moment, Crell walked out of the mountain cave. Watching Zhang Tie practicing the animal controlling skill that he had taught Zhang Tie hardly, Crell nodded inside.


    Realizing that Crell had walked out, Zhang Tie stopped pretending. Actually, he was just doing this to leave a hard-practicing impression on Crell. With this impression, Crell would not be too startled about what Zhang Tie did in the next days. With this cover, Zhang Tie could gradually make improvements in the "Great Wild Sutra" in case of being suspected.


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he saw Crell standing in front of him. Crell was staring at west with a solemn look.


    "What''s up?"


    "I feel a powerful brutal Qi. It''s destroying the tranquility on this land. It is very similar to the Qi waves that powerful animal controllers cause when they apply the animal controlling skills!"


    "He''s over there?" Zhang Tie''s heart slightly pounded, "Are you sure about the concrete position?"


    "No, I am not!" Crell waved his head, "As a wild patron who believes in Gaia, I could only sense the general direction of that Qi. I''m only sure that he''s in the west!"


    Hearing Crell''s explanation, Zhang Tie also looked towards the boundless hill in the west...


    The first ray of sunlight in the east had not reached the land in the west yet. As a result, the west hill was still covered by the thin darkness like a monster, which was forcefully resisting the arrival of sunshine...


    "We are closer to him. He won''t escape this time!" Zhang Tie jumped off the stones, rushed into the mountain cave before running out with his 2 short javelins.


    When Zhang Tie ran out of the mountain cave, the huge black eagle who was resting on a huge tree not far from the mountain cave instantly flapped its wings and flew towards west in advance.


    "Like before, keep 10 km away from each other. If I find him, I will call you!" Zhang Tie patted the bone whistle over his neck as Crell nodded.


    That bone whistle was a gift from Crell. Although Zhang Tie could not hear any sound by his ears when he blew it, he could use it to call Crell. Only Crell could hear it as it was a infrasonic whistle made by him. If Crell wanted to call Zhang Tie, he could have his black eagle lead Zhang Tie.


    In the past days, they moved separately in the daytime head by head; in the evening, they gathered and talked about the plan for the next day.


    In this way, they could have a greater chance in finding their target.


    Zhang Tie ran towards the west hill ahead of Crell as fast as a wild wolf...

 425 The Culpri

    Chapter 425: The Culprit


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie flashed across the ranges of the Grey Hill like wind. He didn''t feel fatigued at all. After eating 9 seven-strength fruits of demon rats, Zhang Tie found that his explosiveness and resistance had greatly increased. As a result, he could now run almost for a day at a cruising speed of 30 km/h and still maintain a powerful fighting strength.


    At this speed, Zhang Tie had run over 60 km on the undulant hill in 2 hours since he left Crell.


    The huge black eagle had long disappeared in the air. It could reach a very great height like Crell''s eye in the sky. Crell said that he could sense whatever the huge eagle could see through his spiritual energy, which really made Zhang Tie admirable.


    With that huge eagle, Zhang Tie and Crell greatly improved their working efficiency on Grey Hill. As they''ve agreed to transfer message through that huge eagle, the moment Zhang Tie raised his head and watched the flying trace of the huge eagle in the air, little did he know what Crell was going to express.


    The wind blowing over the Grey Hill brought some strange sound, hearing which, Zhang Tie slightly changed his moving direction. After running another 2 km, Zhang Tie encountered the first huge pack of iron-teeth hyenas today.


    60-70 iron-teeth hyenas were surrounding a team of people on a hillside while over 10 dead iron-teeth hyenas were lying on the ground sparsely. Some people were covered with blood stains; some were heavily wounded. After losing their consciousness, they had to be carried by others.


    Those cunning iron-teeth hyenas were circling around those people. Seeing people moving back or standing still, those iron-teeth hyenas followed up instantly. Seeing people moving forward, those iron-teeth hyenas moved back immediately. In this course, as long as anyone became careless, some iron-teeth hyenas would instantly charge towards him and gave him a fierce bite.


    In the wild, nobody could survive the "wheel war" of a huge pack of iron-teeth hyenas.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how long those iron-teeth hyenas had chased after these people. At the sight of these people, Zhang Tie knew that they might be too exhausted. Many people could barely wave their weapons.


    Facing this situation, Zhang Tie instantly rushed forward with 2 short javelins like seeing a feast.


    The moment Zhang Tie appeared, he had seen some exterior iron-teeth hyenas pouncing towards him.


    Zhang Tie only used one action with his short javelins¡ª¡ªpoke!


    In a split second, 2 shadows of short javelins flashed by the air, causing an air-breaking shrill sound, "Hugh". In only 2 minutes, the 7-8 iron-teeth hyenas had already fallen down the ground with bloody holes on each of their bodies. Each hole passed through the heart. What a sharp counterattack!


    Seeing what Zhang Tie had done, those people being surrounded finally became spirited as they knew that a powerhouse, their savior, had arrived.


    "Brothers, hold on, someone has arrived to save us!" A head-like guy raised his arm and screamed loudly as he poked his long sword into an iron-teeth hyena''s body.


    Zhang Tie moved so fast that he moved close to those people in a wink. However, he didn''t dash into the circle right away; instead, he just slaughtered those iron-teeth hyenas outside the circle.


    Iron-teeth Hyenas were surrounding those people while Zhang Tie was surrounding around those iron-teeth hyenas.


    In a blink of eye, over 10 iron-teeth hyenas had fallen down the ground as their hearts were poked through by Zhang Tie with his sharp, short javelins.


    Iron-teeth hyenas were smart. Realizing that Zhang Tie''s fighting strength was irresistible, they escaped in all directions at once. Zhang Tie chased after them for a few steps and killed some more before stopping and walking towards those people.


    In a couple of minutes, Zhang Tie had made another iron-teeth hyena half-ripe. Therefore, he felt pretty good. Actually, Zhang Tie had slowed his speed just now. Considering the benefit of the seven-strength fruit of the king demon rat and that there were only 3 seven-strength fruits of iron-teeth fruits available, Zhang Tie wanted to wait for the seven-strength fruit of the king iron-teeth hyena. If possible, a seven-strength fruit of the king iron-teeth hyena was more beneficial than some seven-strength fruits of common iron-teeth hyenas.


    This was also one reason for him to stay with Crell. If he wanted to find the king iron-teeth hyena, he had to depend on fortune; however, if he stayed with a wild patron, he would have a greater chance to meet a king iron-teeth hyena.


    The wild patron wanted to find the culprit of the animal tide who could control so many iron-teeth hyenas; according to the knowledge about animal controller that Zhang Tie had learned from the "Great Wild Sutra", if there was a king among the iron-teeth hyenas, that king iron-teeth hyena was probably staying with that animal controller.


    After realizing that he could solve many problems if he stayed with Crell, Zhang Tie became utilitarian. Of course, although he was utilitarian, his deeds were also useful to counter the culprits. As for those culprits who aroused troubles everywhere at the arrival of the 3rd holy war, Zhang Tie always hated them deeply, not to mention that those culprits might be related to demons.


    Therefore, strictly, although Zhang Tie was selfish to stay with Crell, he was also doing this for the world to a certain degree. Zhang Tie had not felt how great he was; after all, based on his status and his relationship with grandma Teresa, he was not qualified to be a devoted follower of the Patron School of Gaia. He was half a devoted follower at most.


    Being covered with the blood of the hearts of iron-teeth hyenas, Zhang Tie walked towards those people who were attacked just now. Watching the blood dripping off Zhang Tie''s short javelins, those people became awful and nervous.


    There were 12-13 people in total. Based on Zhang Tie''s fighting strength, he could easily kill them all. As it was in the wild, they had to be meticulous about Zhang Tie.


    "Hoy!" Before Zhang Tie moved closer, one of them had shouted towards Zhang Tie.


    Hearing this strange name, Zhang Tie became slightly stunned. He then glanced over those people carefully. This time, he found some familiar, fatigued looks although being covered with dust and blood stains. What a coincidence! They were low-level soldiers of Adelais Business Group.


    Hearing this sound, some became perplexed; some changed their faces greatly. They were not watching Zhang Tie with amazing, surprising or shocking looks; instead, they looked fearsome. Although they had slightly loosened their grips, they instantly became nervous once again as they held fast their weapons like how they were facing those iron-teeth hyenas.


    Seeing their response, Zhang Tie understood it right away. His public status as a criminal might have been exposed by Dawson or that barber in Eschyle City soon after he left Adelais Business Group. But Zhang Tie didn''t care about that.


    In order to ease off their tension, Zhang Tie stood still 10 steps away from them. He inserted his short javelins into the ground and held them by hands.


    "I think we should call you Peter Hamplester!" When the others were in a panic, a 60 years old man with a wound on his leg walked out of the crowd in clothes which were remarkably different from that of other soldiers. He took off his luggage from his back and intended to give it to Zhang Tie by 2 hands, "Thanks for your help, you''ve saved our lives. Here''s our compensation. There are more than 700 gold coins inside and some previous herbal medicines which are worth about 2000 gold coins! Our Adelais Business Group always appreciate our helpers! Of course, we will not forgive our enemies!"


    Zhang Tie responded with a smile. What an interesting old man! Given from his neutral attitude, Zhang Tie knew that he was an influential figure in Adelais Business Group, "What''s your name? What''s your position in Adelais Business Group?"


    "I''m Marney, the charger of Adelais Business Group''s herbal medicine collection center on Grey Hill!"


    "When I was in Eschyle City, I truly killed a person. But he was a lackey from Demon Snake Island. As I''ve bred enmity with people from Demon Snake Island, I have been traced by them the moment I disembarked. That b*stard wanted to kill me; therefore, I killed him. Thanks to your business group, I exited the Eschyle City in case of many troubles. We''re squared up!" Zhang Tie smiled, "Put away your luggage. I''m neither a honorable person nor a bandit!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, although they didn''t know whether Zhang Tie was telling the truth, they became relaxed evidently. They knew that if Peter was going to kill them, none of them could survive the next sunrise, even if Adelais Business Group would revenge for their death. Given Peter''s fighting strength, they knew that he was at least LV 8 or LV 9. By contrast, they were only LV 2-LV 5. Additionally, they were too fatigued and covered with wounds. Zhang Tie could easily kill them all like slaughtering animals.


    Marney let out a sigh evidently as he carried his luggage once again, "For that you are wanted, we cannot help you; but we can relate your words to the police station in Eschyle City!"


    "Thanks!" Zhang Tie shrugged. As long as he left Eschyle City, he would not care about that he was wanted or not, "Why are you here? Adelais Business Group should not dispatch the director of their herbal medicine collection center on Grey Hill to pick up herbal medicines here!"


    "We escaped from our base on the lakeside of Huyrto Lake!" Marney sighed.


    "You escaped from the Maple Leaf Castle on the lake side off Huyrto Lake?" Zhang Tie blinked his eyes with a surprising look, "Can you tell me why?"


    "It''s the animal tide, a powerful animal tide!" Marney''s face turned pale once again while the others also looked panic, "At the beginning, we had over 40 people; but now, we are only left with these!"


    "You mean iron-teeth hyenas could destroy your base?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    Marney let out a long sigh...


    ...


    In the next few minutes, Zhang Tie figured out what happened.


    Huyrto Lake was in deep Grey Hill. In order to collect the precious herbal medicines and other specialties on Grey Hill, some chambers of commerce and business groups in Eschyle City founded Maple Leaf Castle there as their common material warehouse and personnel transfer center.


    The Maple Leaf Castle was safe in the previous animal tides. However, the Maple Leaf Castle was broke in by the animals this time.


    Marney and Adelais Business Group didn''t know why. When they were sleeping soundly several hours before dawn, their Maple Leaf Castle had been covered by iron-teeth hyenas. They were awakened by those people''s shrill cries in the base. Being flurried, they fought those wild beasts right away.


    Because there were too many iron-teeth hyenas, the Maple Leaf Castle was lost. Therefore, they chose to break out. As a result, over half of the 40-odd people had been killed on the way here. If not Zhang Tie, they might also be eaten soon by those iron-teeth hyenas.


    "Aren''t there any senior fighters in Maple Leaf Castle? With a couple of senior fighters, even a wooden camp could not be broken by those iron-teeth hyenas!" Zhang Tie replied.


    "In order to deal with the animal tide on Grey Hill, Eschyle City has dispatched a small team of bear-killing fighters to sweep those iron-teeth hyenas on the Grey Hill. Each chamber of commerce had dispatched some fighters above LV 6 in the base. However, when the animal tide broke out, these people had disappeared. Even those who could fight with their weapons, they became very flurried. In a wink, they had been covered by those iron-teeth hyenas!"


    Hearing this reply, Zhang Tie narrowed his eyes at once, "Where''s the Maple Leaf Castle?"


    "It''s 50 km away. There''s a lake over there, which is easily identified!" Marney said as he pointed at northwest.


    "You''d better leave here as fast as possible. Walk towards east from here. As I''ve cleaned the iron-teeth hyenas on my way here, there is only few left. As to whether you can return to Eschyle City, it depends on you!" After saying this, Zhang Tie drew his short javelins out of the ground and dashed towards northwest. In a wink, he had been 100 m away.


    Seeing Zhang Tie disappearing, the remaining people of Adelais Business Group exchanged glances with each other and hurriedly escaped towards east.


    After running dozens of minutes, Zhang Tie saw some columns of heavy smoke in the far. The huge eagle was hovering above there, which looked like a black spot in the far...


    Zhang Tie also noticed Crell who was leaping between twigs like a leopard at a very amazing speed. Needless to say Zhang Tie also rushed over there.


    ...


    10 minutes later, Zhang Tie and Crell almost arrived at Maple Leaf Castle at the same time.


    The Maple Leaf Castle was a camp circled by 3-m high wooden barriers. All the rooms inside were made of wood. They found the ground of the castle was covered with incomplete human bodies and many times more dead iron-teeth hyenas. Besides, those rooms were burning ferociously.


    Nobody was alive in Maple Leaf Castle. Numerous iron-teeth hyenas were still wandering across the castle, tearing apart those dead human bodies and eating them. At the sight of Zhang Tie and Crell, many iron-teeth hyenas slowly surrounded them.


    "In the name of Gaia, the mother of land, please drive away all the wild beasts on the wildness!" Crell roared as his hair moved slightly; meanwhile, a 30-cm long deadwood-like eccentric walking stick slid into his hand from his sleeve. He inserted that small walking stick into the ground at once. In a split second, the great pack of iron-teeth hyenas which were going to surround them with red eyes shrieked miserably like flurried rabbits and escaped with lowering tails. As a result, all the iron-teeth hyenas inside the base were driven away.


    Crell''s deed really broadened Zhang Tie''s vision. This method was very similar to that of the Section "Amulet" in the "Great Wild Sutra". If Zhang Tie wanted to drive away these LV 1 iron-teeth hyenas, he should at least enter the 2nd storey of the "Great Wild Sutra". As Zhang Tie didn''t reach this level, he could not compare which secret animal controlling skill was sharper. Zhang Tie thought that the "Great Wild Sutra" would take him less time; however the effective range of the Section "Amulet" on the 2nd storey was not as large as that of Crell.


    Seeing so many iron-teeth hyenas, Zhang Tie really wanted to slaughter them all.


    They then went inside the Maple Leaf Castle.


    Soon after they entered, Zhang Tie had seen a broken defense. He walked over there and took a careful look. After that, he made a conclusion, the defense was broke in by people forcefully.


    Crell also noticed that as his eyes turned gloomy, "I smell the odor of that animal controller!"


    ...

 426 Prodding the Culpri

    Chapter 426: Prodding the Culprit


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Although Zhang Tie had not sensed the existence of the animal controller like Crell but he sensed the weirdness in the Maple Leaf Castle.


    Iron-teeth hyenas were only LV 1 living beings. They could never break in a wild base which was guarded by powerhouses above LV 6 no matter how many there were. According to Marney, someone was behind this attack.


    Zhang Tie looked around and found the whole Maple Leaf Castle was like a slaughterhouse. It was smokey and covered with dead bodies. With a casual glance, Zhang Tie had found more than 200 victims. Those human bodies were heavily gnawed by iron-teeth hyenas whose faces could not even be identified. If someone came to make the investigation, they could never reach any conclusion from the scene.


    All the dead bodies were incomplete which destroyed the evidence of artificial factors. Even a LV 6 fighter could barely survive the attack of thousands of iron-teeth hyenas.


    After a couple of days, this event would be a puzzle in this animal tide before gradually fading away from others'' memories.


    Zhang Tie and Crell circled around the Maple Leaf Castle meticulously and didn''t find any evidence.


    They finally came to the open center of the base where airships could take off and touch down. This was the last safe place for those people in the base. Finally, nobody survived here after a bloody battle with those iron-teeth hyenas, making this place the most ferocious one.


    Humans'' fresh blood mixed with that of iron-teeth hyenas on that place, forming numerous dark-red blood ponds which looked like puddles on the ground after heavy rains. Zhang Tie had to dodge away from the fresh blood in each step.


    Arriving at this place, Crell closed his eyes once again. After a short while, he opened his eyes and glanced at Zhang Tie, "That person must be in the neighborhood. He must be close to many iron-teeth hyenas. However, I cannot lock his precise position!"


    Zhang Tie looked around and found that a lot of iron-teeth hyenas were still wandering among the grasses and woods within 1 square kilometers. Crell just drove those iron-teeth hyenas out of Maple Leaf Castle. He didn''t force them far away. If that person was hiding in this area, he could be barely identified even if he was very close to Zhang Tie and Crell.


    "How can we force him out?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "It''s very difficult. That person is a powerhouse. Unless he wants to show himself up, we could hardly force him out. I know that he''s observing us!" Crell frowned his forehead.


    "Can he hear our words?" Zhang Tie rolled his eyes before asking.


    "He could if we talk louder!"


    "Now that he''s seen us, why don''t he escape?"


    "What do you mean?" Crell stared at Zhang Tie.


    "I mean only when he''s very confident that he could not escape at the sight of us. However, confident ones are always proud and have strong self-esteem, especially those who always hide in the darkness. As they could not do anything in the public, they care more about their self-respect! If we want to force such a person out, we might not have to use great secret skills!"


    When Zhang Tie explained, he was thinking about those rules which were taught by Donder. Usually, the darker the working environment was, the more they care about their faces and honors. Take those intelligence agents of countries as an example, in their circle, they cared about their faces and honors more than armies. "Eye for eye" was almost their motto. Sometimes, they might spend dozens of years in doing a very boring thing in commoners'' eyes. Conversely, those politicians who always showed themselves up under spotlights on high platforms didn''t have their moral bottom-lines at all. Although they were always at the most honorable and remarkable positions, they had the least sense of honor. Donder said this was a funny psychological phenomenon.


    "If not use great secret skills, how can we force him out?" Crell asked out of curiosity.


    "Someone told me that the greatest secret skill in the world was language. We can reach people''s heart directly by language. We can turn language into sharp blades and lightning bolts. Nothing else could have such a great strength!" Zhang Tie revealed a confident smile. Seeing a high wooden platform with a pulley crane on the empty land, Zhang Tie walked onto it.


    Crell faintly narrowed his eyes as he didn''t understand what Zhang Tie was going to do.


    After arriving at the high platform, Zhang Tie took a deep breath. He then recalled the obscene smile of Donder and thought what harsh and vicious words would Donder say if he was here; after that, he recalled how those vixens swore 3 hours for a copper coin or a green leaf in the vegetable market of Blackhot City. After warming up, he entered the right state right now.


    "You b*stard in the darkness, you slow-witted idiot..." the moment Zhang Tie shouted, Crell was startled at once. Crell thought that Zhang Tie would have some special performance; however, it was really out of his imagination that Zhang Tie started by swearing.


    "...Get out, you b*stard. This father is swearing you; this father knows that you could hear me. Do you feel that you''re senior by hiding in the darkness to manipulate a pack of iron-teeth hyenas to attack others. Do you have a sense of achievement by doing that? F*ck you. Even iron-teeth hyenas dare to take a walk outside, you the motherf*cker cannot even match an iron-teeth hyena. You cannot even match iron-teeth hyena''s sh*t. Even their sh*t dare to expose themselves under the sunshine, you young worm in the sh*t of iron-teeth hyena!"


    "I know b*stards like you who lack love in the youth and calcium in growth are always self-abased. I really wonder whether you chose to be an animal controller because you found that you lack confidence. Whether do you have a bit superiority feeling only by staying with beasts? In order to satisfy your humble vanity. If so, I''m really shameful about you for your mom. If I was your father, I would have shot you on the wall; instead of shooting you in the close-stool..."


    Zhang Tie became more and more excited. He directly inserted the 2 short javelins onto the wooden poles on his side and supported his waist with his hands. Even Crell became dumbfounded about that.


    "I know you can see me. I''m swearing you. So what? Dare you come out and bit off my ass..." Zhang Tie raised his butt and forcefully patted it by hands like how the rogues at the bottom of the society provoked, "Dare you show your head, this father will fart you away. Have you seen the uncle on my side? He could foist your head into your asshole. Do you know whom this uncle is? You coward worm. Listen, this uncle is Crell, the famous wild patron of school of patron. He''s called wild shield in the school of patron and the killer of all the animal controllers. How about that? Are you scared? Crell can drown you b*stard with only one mouth of saliva. Crell can casually teach an idiot a couple of days, then you will be scared away like a rat. You must have been scared to be idiot by Crell''s talent, ha...ha..."


    Watching Zhang Tie''s exaggeratedly laughing look and the nicknames such as "wild shield" and "the killer of all the animal controllers" that Zhang Tie fabricated, standing on one side, Crell faintly swept off his cold sweat as he felt shameful about that.


    "If you are afraid of that and insist on hiding there, it''s okay. However, in order to avoid this father from being disgusted about your obscene look, you''d better dodge far away and kowtow towards this father loudly for 3 times. As this father has a sharp 6th sense, as long as I sense your piety, I will not find you trouble anymore. Piss away after kowtowing. No need to show up yourself. As Crell ate some of my roasted wild potatoes these days, he owes me; therefore, for the potatoes'' sake, I will let Crell save your life. As long as you roll out of the Ice and Snow Wildness, he will not chase after you anymore. For the sake of your poor childhood, I will keep you alive. From then on, you need to praise me. I count 3,2 and 1, you kowtow 3 times and piss off, 3...2...1, well, Crell, I''ve sensed his sincerity. Let''s go. I''ve already wasted my time several days on Grey Hill for such a trivial figure. I have to go to Haidela Glacier Crack to see the star of god. I don''t want to waste time here anymore. If this d**chebag is not docile, you can pat him to death like how you treat a fly. Then we''re squared away!"


    After saying this, Zhang Tie''s heart raced while Crell changed his look at the same time...


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had charged down from that platform like a demon rat being burned by hot water. When Zhang Tie was still in the air, he had heard the cracking sound of the high wooden platform. The broken wood dregs flew everywhere, breaking Zhang Tie''s coat.


    After that, Zhang Tie heard a air-breaking sound.


    Sonic boom!


    After landing on the ground, Zhang Tie looked at a hillside in the north at the same time with Crell. A figure with full killing intent was slowly standing up from a low bush over 600 m away while glaring at Zhang Tie with his bloody eyes...


    ...

 427 The Collision

    Chapter 427: The Collision


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    That person and Zhang Tie glared at each other. Precisely, Zhang Tie was glaring at an iron-teeth hyena on that man''s side who was taller and ferocious than common iron-teeth hyenas.


    Being different from common iron-teeth hyenas, that iron-teeth hyena on that man''s side was black all over. Its fur was like black silks and satin. Since that iron-teeth hyena appeared on that man''s side, all the other iron-teeth hyenas within dozens of meters had ran away . Some were even quivering all over.


    That black iron-teeth hyena then raised his head and roared. In a split second, all the other iron-teeth hyenas in the surroundings became restless.


    Crell''s face turned gloomy at once.


    "Is that the king iron-teeth hyena?" Zhang Tie asked Crell in a low voice.


    "Yes!" Crell nodded as he warned Zhang Tie, "This man is very powerful, take care!"


    "I know!" Zhang Tie smiled as he gazed at that special iron-teeth hyena with his narrowing eyes.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie really appreciated Donder. When he worked as an apprentice in Donder''s grocery store, he really learnt a lot from Donder. Those knowledge could always have a special effect at the critical moment, such as helping Zhang Tie to identify that b*stard of Zhen Clan in Dragon Cave.


    However, the reality was always out of one''s imagination. Soon after Zhang Tie became excited about his plan, his dream had been killed ruthlessly.


    "You both have to die today!" Although being hundreds of meters away, that man''s icy and sharp voice still drifted into the ears of Zhang Tie and Crell, "I''d like to see how powerful the wild patron''s animal controlling skill is..."


    After saying this, that man had already broken the head of that king iron-teeth hyena by his hand like poking into a piece of bean curd.


    Almost at the same time, all the iron-teeth hyenas over the hill started to wail as they rushed towards that man like mad dogs...


    Even Zhang Tie almost started to wail. "F*ck!" Zhang Tie had never imagined that b*stard would kill that king iron-teeth hyena in front of him.


    "D**chebag! Do you know how much have you made me lose? This father made so many efforts for that seven-strength fruit of king iron-teeth hyena!"


    In a wink, that king iron-teeth hyena deflated like a balloon. Meanwhile, its satin-like fur turned dark and became a piece of rag.


    It seemed that the king iron-teeth hyena not only lost his life, but also his vitality.


    That man drew his hand out of its head. At this moment, a vital ball-sized fresh bloody item was rotating in his hand. That man instantly threw the bloody ball into the air. When Zhang Tie was still puzzled about that, he saw that bloody ball exploding in the air and flowing towards all directions in the form of blood drops. They fell on the heads of those iron-teeth hyenas. Before those blood drops fell down, those iron-teeth hyenas had already jumped in the air and caught them.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t know the effect of this skill, given the amazing scene, he knew it was great.


    Right then, thousands of iron-teeth hyenas started to roar in the wild. In a few breaths, the eyes of those iron-teeth hyenas being sprayed by the blood or having engulfed the blood drops turned red; meanwhile, they exposed their buckteeth. Flowing out mucilage from their mouth corners, they turned around and stared at Zhang Tie and Crell who were standing in the Maple Leaf Castle...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt that Crell and him were like 2 performers on the arena of a super large theater. Those iron-teeth hyenas who were staring at him and Crell were audience.


    There were really too many iron-teeth hyenas. Even Zhang Tie felt goosebumps all over this time. Although dozens of iron-teeth hyenas was a dish for him, hundreds of iron-teeth hyenas was a feast; thousands of iron-teeth hyenas became tricky...


    "Dark Blood Sacrifice!" seeing this, even Crell changed his face. He turned over his head and told Zhang Tie, "I will deal with that man, you pay attention to those iron-teeth hyenas. Attention! Those iron-teeth hyenas have improved their fighting strength greatly. They might be close to LV 2 now. It''s very difficult to deal with them!"


    "Will they break your protective circle that you''ve released just now?"


    "They will, they are totally different from before!"


    After replying to Zhang Tie, Crell rapidly drew some patterns on his body with that short, wooden walking stick. Meanwhile, he read sutras. In a wink, Zhang Tie felt that the thing being similar to battle Qi over Crell brightening up. In the brilliance, a hazy figure of a sacred female was embracing Crell.


    When the brilliance disappeared, Crell seemed being different than before.


    "What''s this?"


    "It''s the land mother''s guardianship. With its bliss, those iron-teeth hyenas will not attack me anymore!"


    "That''s great. I want one too!" Zhang Tie became so excited as he finally let out a deep sigh inside.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Crell glanced at Zhang Tie with a calm look, "I''m sorry, I could only apply this skill on myself!"


    Zhang Tie...


    Hearing Crell''s reply, Zhang Tie glanced over the thousands of iron-teeth hyenas with greatly increasing strength who wanted to tear him into pieces, Zhang Tie rapidly took out that pair of dark tore gloves from the leather bag at his waist and grabbed the two short javelins before heading for a relatively complete architectural complex in the Maple Leaf Castle.


    At this moment, those iron-teeth hyenas had been rushing towards him from all directions like wild ox''s. In a wink, the front ones had already jumped over the wooden defense of the Maple Leaf Castle. Some iron-teeth hyenas showed a great potential in jumping ability. After jumping over the defense, they caught the exterior wall with their sharp claws. They then thrust against the wall and jumped over it, even faster than cats. Closely after that, they rushed into the base...


    When the iron-teeth hyenas rushed over, Crell also dashed towards that man like a leopard.


    That man remained still on the hillside in the far.


    When the iron-teeth hyenas were close to Crell, they crashed onto land mother''s guardianship like how grey sea waves crashed on rocks. As a result, they all changed their directions when they were several meters away from Crell. They didn''t attack Crell or prevent Crell from dashing towards that man. At the sight of this scene, that man in the far slightly changed his face like how Crell changed his look at the sight of the dark blood sacrifice. That man knew that he was facing a powerful enemy.


    The collisions broke out almost at the same time, one in Maple Leaf Castle, the other on the hillside. They were over 500 m away from each other.


    The moment Crell collided with that man, he had swiftly moved together with that man at a speed which was barely caught by human eyes. In a wink, consecutive loud explosions sounded on that hillside...


    If possible, Zhang Tie also wanted to rush towards that man; however, if he left Maple Leaf Castle, he had to face at least two times more iron-teeth hyenas at the same time. In that case, even a LV 10 would be killed under so many iron-teeth hyenas'' endless attack, not to mention Zhang Tie.


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t want to be killed by those iron-teeth hyenas. He knew it was not worthwhile to be that risky.


    Soon, the fastest iron-teeth hyenas had already came in front of Zhang Tie. Without any hesitation, they pounced at Zhang Tie at the same time.


    After fighting iron-teeth hyenas for a few days, Zhang Tie immediately realized that these hyenas were moving at least 30% faster than those he met before. Besides, these hyenas were ferocious and more fearless.


    "Damn it! That b*stard killed your boss, why do you come for me?" Zhang Tie swore loudly as he launched a counterattack.


    Zhang Tie poked his short javelins and penetrated through some iron-teeth hyenas'' hearts at once, sending them flying back in the air. Zhang Tie felt that these iron-teeth hyenas'' collision forces were at least 50% greater than that he met before.


    Thankfully, wearing the dark tore gloves, Zhang Tie felt that he could wave and stab short spears faster than before. Therefore, Zhang Tie slightly became reassured.


    The following iron-teeth hyenas charged at Zhang Tie from all directions. Even Zhang Tie was standing against a cabin, he was still attacked by the iron-teeth hyenas from the window behind or from the roof of the cabin.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie really felt being surrounded by thousands of dare-to-die corps members. He could only run back and forth between those cabins. Sometimes, he directly jumped onto the roofs of the cabins to counterattack those iron-teeth hyenas...

 428 Being Shocked Three Times

    Chapter 428: Being Shocked Three Times


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how many iron-teeth hyenas had he killed.


    All the iron-teeth hyenas were very crazy. Additionally, their fighting strength had been greatly increased. Although a few LV 2 living beings could not pose any threat to Zhang Tie, but this time too many iron-teeth hyenas were surrounding him. Zhang Tie felt that he could not kill them all.


    Each second, at least 3 iron-teeth hyenas were attacking him. Not until those dead iron-teeth hyenas piled up in front of him did Zhang Tie change his place. If not, those iron-teeth hyenas would step on their partners'' dead bodies and charge at Zhang Tie; in that case, it would be more tricky.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how the battle was going between Crell and that culprit. Being hundreds of meters away, Zhang Tie could only hear the consecutive loud explosions and collisions of their battle Qi''s.


    Sparing a half second, Zhang Tie peered at where they were fighting, which really shocked him.


    On that hillside, Zhang Tie saw two high battle-Qi totems colliding with each other. One battle Qi was green, the other was black. Each of them were over 20 m in height. The two totems were rolling and biting in the shape of two huge crocodiles. Compared to the totem of a fighter below LV 9, a LV 10 strong fighter''s battle-Qi totem was not only a simple light and shadow effect formed by the battle Qi; instead, it was more like a spiritual creature which reflected the releaser''s will and thought.


    This was Zhang Tie''s first time to see the real battle fire made by LV 10 powerhouses, which really shocked him.


    The battle-Qi totem of LV 10 powerhouses was demon crocodile, a powerful living being in the deep earth. Zhang Tie heard about it before; however, he had not seen demon crocodiles. This time, he finally knew how demon crocodiles looked. The largest difference between demon crocodile and common crocodile was that demon crocodile had a row of erecting sharp-sword like dorsal fins from spine to tail.


    With a glance, Zhang Tie had already known the real fighting strength of Crell and that person.


    Their fighting strength surpassed that of both Dawson and that b*stard of Zhen Clan who chased after Zhang Tie in Dragon Cave.


    Zhang Tie knew that Dawson and that Zhen b*stard was respectively 1 star and 2 stars of LV 10 fighter. However, Zhang Tie estimated that Crell almost reached 4 stars or 5 stars.


    Starting from LV 10, each level higher would require lighting more surging points. Therefore, from LV 10, each level higher was further divided into more ranks. According to the Fibonacci Sequence, one needed to light another 34 surging points before rising from LV 10 to LV 11 which required to light 89 surging points in total. This was as difficult as rising from LV 1 to LV 9. 34 was a number of Fibonacci Sequence¡ª¡ª1,5,8,13,21,34; therefore, LV 10 was further divided into 5 ranks. Even fighting master, great fighting master, fighting general, fighting demon and fighting spirit were also divided into 5 stars respectively.''


    Zhang Tie learned this from Crell. Commoners didn''t know about it at all. Similarly, in Blackhot City, even teachers didn''t know what was going on above LV 10; in Hidden Dragon Palace, only those above LV 8 were qualified to inquire about this.


    Previously, when in Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie didn''t know why this knowledge about LV 10 was forbidden to know as it was not a secret knowledge. Now, he understood it.


    Zhang Tie estimated that the main reason was that Hidden Dragon Palace was afraid of those young men getting disappointed when they knew this knowledge. For many people, if they knew that what they did before LV 9 in the past 10-20 years was as difficult as improving one level higher in the future, they would be heavily struck. Not each young people could bear such a great stress on the way of cultivation.


    ...


    In a ceaselessly fierce fight with iron-teeth hyenas, even a bit negligence or a slow movement or a smaller strength would leave a chance for an iron-teeth hyena to move closer. As a result, the person would be in a miserable situation as those iron-teeth hyenas would charge at him like a surging tide at once, leaving him no time to regret.


    Thankfully, Zhang Tie had great physique and spiritual energy. After more than 10 minutes of fight, Zhang Tie still responded precisely and fiercely like machines. One blow, one iron-teeth hyena; sparing no chance for those iron-teeth hyenas to counterattack at all.


    After losing the desire for the seven-strength fruit of king iron-teeth hyena, Zhang Tie launched a counterattack immediately.


    Zhang Tie kept running with those buildings and the special terrain as his cover. He estimated that he had killed at least 300 iron-teeth hyenas. When he moved behind a cabin''s wall and caught sight of a bloody, steel shield in the shape of diamond, Zhang Tie''s eyes gleamed.


    After stabbing 2 more iron-teeth hyenas and sending them flying back in the air with his short javelins, Zhang Tie rushed in front of that shield. After waving his short javelins to kill another 2 iron-teeth hyenas in a wink, Zhang Tie threw out his left short javelin which penetrated through 4 iron-teeth hyenas in front of him; meanwhile, he raised that shield of 70-80 kgs with his foot and grabbed it in his left hand at once.


    Given its look, that shield was suitable to tall fighters. Holding it, Zhang Tie looked short. However, he was very happy. After holding the shield, he burst out laughter''s as he dragged it and drew a curve in the air, blocking away a group of iron-teeth hyenas and sending them flying back in the air at the same time.


    Zhang Tie had a talent of using shield. When in Hidden Dragon Palace, he passed his shield defense class firstly. Plus his terrifying strength, holding that shield, Zhang Tie felt having one powerful helper on his side immediately.


    Waving the shield several times, Zhang Tie broke the heads and bones of those iron-teeth hyenas and sent them flying back in the air. A shield in hand, Zhang Tie was like a steel tortoise. Although those iron-teeth hyenas were fierce, they could not break in Zhang Tie''s defense line.


    Hearing the boom-sound of the battle Qi''s in the far, Zhang Tie shouted loudly. Thrusting his feet against the ground, he started to rush towards a great, dense pack of iron-teeth hyenas with his shield. Like an armored vehicle entering on the sidewalk at the highest speed, Zhang Tie knocked down all the iron-teeth hyenas in front of him like how a fairy strewed flowers.


    The iron-teeth hyenas were as thick as 100 m. However, with the shield, Zhang Tie still opened a bloody path from those iron-teeth hyenas like a chisel.


    Thousands of iron-teeth hyenas chased after Zhang Tie in a flurried way.


    Zhang Tie rushed towards that place where Crell was fighting that guy.


    Although it was 500-600 m away, it only took Zhang Tie a few seconds to break in the fight circle of 200 m.


    Now, Zhang Tie could see that guy clearly. Both that guy and Crell had not imagined that Zhang Tie could break out the siege of so many iron-teeth hyenas.


    When two well-matched powerhouses fought each other, the result always lay in a few key seconds.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, that guy was slightly shocked. That guy realized that if the opponent had one helper, he would be in danger.


    Therefore, when that guy was about 200 away from Zhang Tie, he did the same thing as Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªSonic boom!


    Zhang Tie threw out his right short javelin. After dodging away from Crell''s battle-Qi boom, that guy threw out an iron-snake shaped secret weapon from his waist.


    Facing a LV 10 powerhouse who was much greater than Dawson in this distance, Zhang Tie was not sure whether his short javelin could work or not. However, he was sure that Crell would take advantage of this chance to attack that guy.


    The 2 sonic booms arrived in front of the opponent at the same time...


    That guy barely dodged away from Zhang Tie''s javelin...


    At the same time, Zhang Tie''s shield was broken into pieces...


    Thankfully, Crell moved closer to that guy by this chance...


    Zhang Tie just used that shield to attract the opponent''s attention. When the shield was broken into pieces, Zhang Tie rushed out from the shield safe and sound...


    Realizing that he didn''t strike Zhang Tie, that guy became shocked once again. In a flurried way, he was boomed by Crell and was sent flying back in the direction where Zhang Tie rushed towards him, sprouting a mouthful of fresh blood.


    Although it was still 200 m away, Zhang Tie had arrived there as short as a few winks.


    Although that guy was not injured, he still launched a battle-Qi boom towards Zhang Tie in the air, intending to kill Zhang Tie first.


    Facing the black battle-Qi boom, Zhang Tie shouted loudly as he caught it with Heavens-shocking Punch, a fierce gesture in iron-blood fist. After that, he sped up towards that man in a split second once again...


    That guy was shocked for the 3rd time. Pitifully, he cannot dodge away this time as he was in the air. When Zhang Tie passed him in the air, he released a sword Qi from his waist 5 m away, which flashed by that guy''s neck...

 429 The Sacred Beasts Bone

    Chapter 429: The Sacred Beast''s Bone


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As for fight between powerhouses, a trivial mistake would always cause a severe outcome...


    Since Zhang Tie rushed out of the Maple Leaf Castle, he had caused that guy miss his attacks 4 times in an extremely short period.


    Firstly, Zhang Tie used his shield to attract the opponent''s sonic boom; it was out of that guy''s imagination that Zhang Tie could hide himself behind the shield and make his sonic boom ineffective. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie''s javelin could threaten his life.


    Secondly, it was out of that guy''s imagination that Zhang Tie would dare to catch his battle-Qi boom by hand and break in...


    Thirdly, he was shocked that Zhang Tie had already activated his rapid moving skill when rushing towards him. Although Zhang Tie looked exhausted, benefited from the rapid moving skill, Zhang Tie could increase his moving speed by 2 times.


    Fourthly, although Zhang Tie had no weapons but a pair of dark tore gloves, he had one more sharper weapon. The lethal radius of that weapon was completely out of his expectation. The moment the sharp sword blades were released from 5 m away, they had already reached him, sparing him no chance to escape.


    Therefore, he had to die!


    Before he died, he turned around and stared at Zhang Tie with a resentful look.


    Zhang Tie was also spitting blood. However, that guy was spurting blood 2 m away from his neck. After that, he fell down on the ground forever.


    Not until then did the army of iron-teeth hyenas break in 100 m away from the fight. The moment that guy fell down, the crazy iron-teeth hyenas stopped their attack.


    The glows in the eyes of those iron-teeth hyenas gradually disappeared. After that, those iron-teeth hyenas exchanged glances with each other. Then, an iron-teeth hyena wailed, hearing which, all the iron-teeth hyenas escaped away while lowering their tails.


    The whole hillside soon recovered its tranquility. If not the black smokes and bloody scene in the Maple Leaf Castle, people would not believe that a fierce fight had happened here.


    At first, iron-teeth hyenas attacked humans; then, humans counterattacked iron-teeth hyenas. Besides fresh blood and corpses, nothing was left.


    After coughing out blood 3 times, Zhang Tie felt a bit better. He finally believed that even wearing the pair of dark tore gloves, he could barely stand a LV 10 strong fighter''s battle-Qi boom. If that guy had not missed his judgment several times in an extremely short period, Zhang Tie would not have killed him so easily.


    At least, Zhang Tie was not confident to kill this guy when facing him alone. If he encountered this guy alone today, Zhang Tie estimated that he would definitely have used his rapid moving skill to escape instead of taking this guy by storm.


    After wiping the blood stains off his mouth corners while kneeling down the ground with one knee, Zhang Tie slowly stood up. The moment he stood up, he caught Crell''s amazed look.


    "Peter, you are amazing!" What you performed was really surprising. This was my first time to see a fighter below LV 9 to catch a 4-star strong fighter''s battle-Qi boom!"


    "That guy was a 4-star strong fighter?" Zhang Tie nodded inside like he had already known that.


    "This pair of gloves is a rune equipment. It could protect me from being injured by the battle-Qi booms of powerhouses below great fighter master!" Saying this, Zhang Tie patted his hands with a smile. He tried to briefly introduce it, "I have to appreciate Demon Snake Island for this gift!"


    "Even though the glove is a rune equipment, how did you move so fast just now? If it was me, I couldn''t even respond to it in such a short distance!" Crell continued with a curious look. Realizing that Zhang Tie was going to explain, Crell hurriedly waved his hand, "No need to explain to me. Each one has his secret. Actually, I feel that you''re not a pioneer; instead, an elite of a big clan. You are here to cultivate yourself."


    Zhang Tie was slightly stunned, "How do you know that?"


    "Besides elites of big clans, I''ve not seen anybody else in any country of Blackson Human Corridor who could reach such a high level of iron-blood fist at such a young age . Don''t tell me that you were not using iron-blood fist movements when you killed iron-teeth hyenas with your short javelins. Additionally, I know that you were using Heavens-Shocking Punch to break that guy''s battle Qi. Wasn''t that sword movement the extension of sword palm?" Saying that, Crell imitated Zhang Tie''s movement sharply, causing a wuthering sound. It really looked like iron-blood fist, "Although the secret knowledge of iron-blood fist is the top secret knowledge that could be easily obtained, it''s most difficult to practice it. When I was young, I also practiced iron-blood fist. However, as I could not form iron-blood battle Qi, I finally gave it up!"


    Hearing Crell''s explanation, Zhang Tie rolled his eyes and laughed, "The country must be Norman Empire. Haha, Crell takes me as an elite of a big clan in Norman Empire who cultivates himself in the wild!"


    "It''s reasonable for him to think this way. Blackhot City has just been annexed by Norman Empire. I know grandma Teresa in Blackhot City and has a special talent in iron-blood fist that could not be matched by commoners. After concluding these conditions, he could easily speculate my background. Certainly, only some elites of big clans on Waii Sub-Continent could meet such conditions. Otherwise, based on my high level of iron-blood fist, I can enjoy whatever I want in Norman Empire, food or respect, instead of being a pioneer who has to live poor in the wild. Am I sick?"


    Crell had a sharp judgment. Pitifully, he was not completely right unless he changed big clan into Huaiyuan Palace. However, it was not possible for him to hit that.


    Now that Crell thought so, Zhang Tie didn''t make any explanation.


    They then came to the side of that dead guy and started to collect their booty.


    That guy was lying on the ground, face down. His blood had sprayed all over. The moment Zhang Tie wanted to turn over that guy''s body, he was hurriedly stopped by Crell, "Hold on, each powerful animal controller has many evil tactics, especially those above LV 9. Even they are dead, their bodies could still not be easily touched!"


    Hearing Crell''s words, Zhang Tie didn''t move; instead, he watched how would Crell do.


    Zhang Tie and Crell then stood 10 steps away. At this moment, Crell waved his hand to release his green battle Qi towards that guy.


    As it was not in fight, Zhang Tie felt that Crell didn''t use too much strength.


    When the battle Qi struck that body, it turned it over from the ground.


    Soon after that body was turned over, a black thing had bounced up from that corpse''s chest and flashed towards Zhang Tie.


    Although having long prepared for that, Zhang Tie was still startled by it''s high speed. At the same time, Zhang Tie shot out his silver carp sword and cut that thing into 3 sections in the air from about 2 m away.


    Not until that thing fell down on the ground did Zhang Tie realize that it was a weird black snake. It had a pair of terrifying blue eyes. On both sides of that weird snake were 2 thin wing-like flesh films by which it could fly. Although having been cut into 3 sections, it still didn''t die right away; instead, it struggled and spat out its tongue while twisting its head on the ground towards Zhang Tie.


    "F*ck, what''s this?" seeing its blood spraying over the grass on his side, withering the grass right away, Zhang Tie realized that it had a severe toxicity. This thing looked terrifying and disgusting. If Zhang Tie really turned over the dead body by hands, he probably had been bitten by this thing.


    "It''s black wing snake!" answering Zhang Tie, Crell punched onto the ground, smashing the remains of the snake, "It''s one of the most poisonous living beings. It has no antidote. Once being bitten by it, you would die in 5 seconds!"


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie took a deep breath.


    With this experience, Zhang Tie started to move closer to the dead body carefully.


    "Is there something else on his body?" Zhang Tie asked Crell.


    "No, otherwise, it had jumped out of there!"


    ...


    Zhang Tie moved closer and glanced at that guy on the ground carefully. As he had lost a lot of blood, his skin had turned off-white. Plus the insidious and gloomy face, the rising hooknose and the dark robe, Zhang Tie almost mistook him as a dark magician in fairy tales. Although magicians didn''t exist in this age, what this dead body applied just now could not even be matched by magics.


    This dead body was soon cleaned by Zhang Tie and Crell.


    After searching out those items from that guy, Zhang Tie and Crell gathered them into a small pile on the ground. After that, they started to share their booty. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that Crell would feel reluctant to do this; amazingly, Crell did this so adroitly that he looked like a guest performer of some special profession.


    "This is a special throwing weapon. It''s made of a special plant''s root. This plant''s root was ordinarily similar to that of common wood; however, after being injected with battle Qi, this root would turn as firm as iron and have a great penetrability; additionally, it would have some features of that battle Qi. It''s a very rare throwing weapon. Your throwing skill looks good, it seems that this item is suitable to you!" Crell explained as he threw the 3 snake-shaped items from that guy''s waist to Zhang Tie.


    After glancing at them, Zhang Tie put them away at once. Just now, Zhang Tie was almost injured by that guy''s two sonic booms. That guy''s battle Qi easily exploded. After being filled with that guy''s battle Qi, the moment this item hit something, it would explode. Although not being as fierce and powerful as bombs, its lethality could not be ignored in a small range. When it exploded, it was similar to the explosion of mini domestic steam boilers.


    After leaving them to Zhang Tie, Crell took 2 vials which had a weird odor. He said the drugs in the vials could help him control animals. Zhang Tie agreed with his choice.


    Besides, that guy had a purse, a small box and a finger ring.


    There were only a few gold notes and some gold coins, over 400 gold coins in total. At the sight of this, Crell waved his hand immediately, "One person, one half".


    "Do you wild patrons need money?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity after he put over 200 gold coins into his pocket. Although it was not a great amount of money, it was a part of the booty from a powerful enemy. Therefore, Crell felt pretty comfortable to have them.


    Crell trembled his eyebrows as he replied with a serious tone, "Do you think that I have my clothes out of air? Even in the wild, we always need to exchange others'' items with money." There''s a proverb in Eastern Continent, "With gold coins, even demons would like to pull the millstone for grounding grains. It is a truth!"


    Zhang Tie smirked as he knew that proverb.


    What were left were that finger ring and that small wooden box. After glancing at that finger ring for a short while, Crell threw it to Zhang Tie, "Take a look!"


    Zhang Tie knew that such a powerful guy always had precious ornaments. Zhang Tie took it as he injected some spiritual energy into the finger ring.


    "Finger Ring of Eagle''s Eye¡ª¡ªthis item has the rune effect of eagle''s eye. After injecting some spiritual energy into it, you can activate its rune effect one time per natural day; each time would last for 2 hours."


    Zhang Tie had not seen a rune equipment with fixed effect before. As this rune equipment was not marked with the rune manufacturer''s name, its background could not be identified. However, after staying in Huaiyuan Palace for a period, Zhang Tie knew the world about rune manufacturers more or less. He knew that all the rune equipment with fixed special rune effects were top goods. Such equipment were even rarely seen in auction houses. They were basically customized.


    Zhang Tie then glanced at Crell.


    "You might know about its value. We have 2 items left, a finger ring of eagle''s eye, a small box. Now that he takes this box with him, it indicates that the item inside is special. It might value more or less than that finger ring. As you killed him, for the sake of fairness, you can choose one, leaving the rest one to me!"


    Having not imagined that Crell was that serious, Zhang Tie burst out laughter''s as he opened that box.


    It was an animal''s bone in the box, yes, a bone. However, it was as transparent as crystal. No matter from which angle, it looked as profound as a cat''s eye.


    At the sight of that bone, Crell''s eyes had gleamed. Zhang Tie noticed that Crell''s hand slightly shook. Before seeing that finger ring of eagle''s eye, Crell looked very calm; however, at the sight of this crystal-like bone, Crell became disgraceful at once. He instantly understood the value of this crystal-like bone.


    Crell took a deep breath as he glanced at that bone once again. He then reached his hand out to take that ring. Seeing his movement, Zhang Tie burst out laughter''s. He then took up the box along with the bone and put them onto Crell''s hand. After that, he put on the finger ring himself.


    Crell shook all over as he stared at Zhang Tie, "You..."


    "I opened it to let you make the choice first. Now that you like the item in this box, I will take the ring!" Zhang Tie casually said.


    "Do you know what''s this? You will regret!" Crell fixed his eyes on Zhang Tie as his hands had started to quiver due to excitement.


    "I don''t care. I only know that this item is more useful to you than me. So what even if it is worth millions of gold coins? Aren''t we comrades- in-arms?" Zhang Tie shrugged. Zhang Tie also knew that the item in the box might be very expensive; however, as long as he took one person as his real friend, he would never make his friend suffer a loss.


    "This is sacred beast''s bone, the supreme treasure of animal controllers. When you have it, you will have no obstacle on the way of cultivating animal controlling skills. Additionally, it has other marvelous effects. It might be worth more than millions of gold coins. Actually, nobody would like to sell it in the auction house, unless he''s insane. Have you made your decision?"


    "I would not auction my roasted potatoes, unless I''m insane; but I gave my roasted potatoes to you!"


    After gazing at Zhang Tie for a short while, Crell laughed suddenly, "Do you know that you made a mistake today?"


    "What mistake?" Zhang Tie became stunned.


    "You should not call me uncle. I''m not that old. Actually, I''m only 27!"


    Staring at Crell''s whiskers, Zhang Tie asked with a dubious look, "27? Are you kidding me? Are you sure it''s not 47? You...You look really old."


    "If you also stay in the wild for 10 years in which period you are not allowed to shave your beard before promoting to great fighting master, I''m sure that you will be as same as me in a decade!" Crell said with a blank face.


    "F*ck, being not allowed to shave beard. What a motherf*cking rule!"


    "This is the rule of school of patron. As a wild patron, if you don''t see a lion asking to shave his hair, you''re also not allowed to shave your beard, either!"


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie almost showed the white of his eyes; however, Crell continued.


    "Additionally, I want to apologize to you; because I also lied to you just now!"


    "When did you lie to me?" Zhang Tie was dumbfounded once again.


    "When those iron-teeth hyenas were rushing over, actually, I could also apply the land mother''s guardianship on you. If I did that to you, you would not have been attacked by those iron-teeth hyenas anymore! However, as you made me unhappy, I wanted to punish you for what you''ve done to me." Saying this, Crell''s swarthy face faintly blushed.


    "I made you unhappy? But why?"


    "Because you called me Uncle. I''m not that old!" Crell looked serious once again as he erected 3 fingers with a solemn look, "You called me Uncle 3 times!"


    Recalling thousands of iron-teeth hyenas drooling towards him with red eyes, Zhang Tie twitched his mouth corners. After that, he sprung up from the ground and swore Crell loudly while pointing at Crell''s nose.


    "F*ck! Do you know that If I was negligent or didn''t have enough strength, I would have been torn into parts by those iron-teeth hyenas. Do you know how it feels when you face a regiment of dare-to-death corps? You b*stard! How can you set me up for that bullsh*t reason?"


    "Actually, you were looking well. Those iron-teeth hyenas couldn''t even hurt you at all!"


    "B*stard. Give me my sacred beast''s bone. This father prefers to feed dogs with it, instead of giving it to you!"


    At this moment, Crell looked very gloomy. Facing Zhang Tie''s fury, he slowly put that odd-looking sacred beast''s bone into his coat, "I''m sorry, this sacred beast''s bone belongs to me now. If you want it back, you have to find a dog which could be able to gnaw it!"


    After glaring at each other for a few seconds, they burst out laughters at the same time...

 430 The Hiding Effec

    Chapter 430: The Hiding Effect


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The Maple Leaf Castle was still smoking. Zhang Tie and Crell then carried that animal controller''s body back to a suspending platform of the heliport in the middle of that base. After that, they tied that body onto a wood pile.


    "Is this useful?" Seeing Crell writing a line of blood words on one side of the dead body, Zhang Tie asked in a casual way.


    "As Eschyle City is not too far away from here. If something happened in this base, Both the chambers of commerce and urban administrators of Eschyle City would dispatch people here for an investigation. We''d better give them some warning by this chance!" While explaining to Zhang Tie, Crell left the symbol of school of patron below the line of words. For school of patron, violating nature laws by driving animal tide artificially is very hateful; the school of patron doubted that this animal tide was related to demons.


    Since the airlines above Waii Sub-Continent suffered from many raptors'' attacks last year, the school of patron had already dispatched people to investigate this event. The result was targeting at a mysterious animal controlling group. In the past year, after many parties'' concerted efforts, some animal controllers of that mysterious group were killed, some escaped and disappeared, some arouse troubles in other places. However, not a single alive one was caught. Therefore, nobody knew about the reason. Whereas, given what bad behaviors these people had done, it was undoubted that they were demons'' lackeys and b*stards.


    When Zhang Tie heard the words "Three-Eye Association" from Crell, Zhang Tie sighed with full moods. These demons'' lackeys really have a deep root in the continent. They almost existed everywhere, including Huaiyuan Prefecture, Heavens Cold City and Ice and Snow Wildness. When the 3rd holy war between human race and demons was going to break out, these people started to move more frequently.


    Actually, Zhang Tie didn''t care about their backgrounds. If they were demons'' lackeys, they deserved to be killed. What Zhang Tie concerned most was his personal fighting strength, especially after this fight. As the world was becoming more chaotic, one''s fighting strength would always determine whether he could survive or not.


    Take this fight as an example. If that guy was not LV 10, but LV 11, a powerful great fighting master who was excel at sonic booms, Zhang Tie would have been killed by the first sonic boom. Similarly, if Zhang Tie was a bit more powerful, he would not have to fight that guy in such a close distance. As long as he threw out his javelin, he would have ended up the fight. Sometimes, life or death was just a matter of one''s fighting strength.


    Considering it, Zhang Tie felt that he was a bit lucky today.


    "Where are you going then?" Zhang Tie asked Crell.


    "There are demon-rat tides in some northern regions of Ice and Snow Wildness. I''m heading for north, what about you?"


    Having eaten 9 seven-strength fruits of demon rats, Zhang Tie would not obtain any more seven-strength fruits of demon rats no matter how many he killed. Hearing Crell''s reply, Zhang Tie considered it for a short while before replying, "I''m going to the south of Ice and Snow Wildness. I want to try my fortune!"


    "Going for relics and star of god?" Crell smiled.


    Zhang Tie also responded with a smile. He didn''t explain it. "Now that Crell thought I was an elite of a big clan in Norman Empire, I don''t have to explain. Haidela Glacier Crack is indeed in the south of Ice and Snow Wildness. It must be very boisterous over there. However, according to my knowledge, besides relics of human civilizations and the pieces of star of god, there''s another attractive thing in the wildness where the Haidela Glacier Crack is located¡ª¡ªWild Huge Wolf."


    "I was told that tide of Wild Huge Wolves was breaking out in some southern places of Ice and Snow Wildness. Why not take a look over there?"


    "I''ve been there before. The tide of Wild Huge Wolves was not driven by humans. For such an animal tide, we wild patrons would not intervene them as the mother nature has its own way to deal with it!"


    Zhang Tie shrugged. It seemed that they had to separate from here, "Take care of yourself. In front of powerhouses, don''t feel shameful to escape!"


    "Haha, it''s not that dangerous. No matter what, Ice and Snow Wildness is the territory of bear tribes, which had the heaviest awareness of territory. Those powerful figures and priests in those bear tribes would not stand outsiders making troubles in their territory. If someone was behind the demon-rat tide, that guy might have been killed by powerhouses on the way towards north!" Crell answered.


    "But why nobody care about the animal tide on Grey Hill?" Zhang Tie became dubious. Honestly, he didn''t know too much about Iron and Snow Wildness. Previously, he only learned its knowledge from some books. When he arrived at this place, he put all of his efforts on seven-strength fruits, sparing not time and spiritual energy to learn about other things here.


    Crell responded with a smile, "This place is close to Eschyle City, the territory of iron bear tribe. I was told that many powerful figures and priests of iron bear tribe pilgrimaged to Erqida Mountain several days ago. They''ve not returned yet. Additionally, in the eyes of the rulers of iron bear tribe, the iron-teeth hyenas over the Grey Hill only caused a bit loss to some chambers of commerce and some wild villages, which was not enough to arouse their attention. At this moment, they might pay more attention to the relic and piece of star of god in Haidela Glacier Crack. Even something happened here, in those guys'' eyes, it was nothing but some animal controllers aroused some small troubles in Ice and Snow Wildness! Even those chambers of commerce themselves could solve this problem."


    Zhang Tie knew that Crell was telling the truth. This was the difference between big figures and small figures. Even the biggest problem in the eyes of big figures was a piece of cake. Similarly, a couple of gold coins in the eyes of poor guys was definitely not as valuable as that in the eyes of nouveau-rich.


    Zhang Tie and Crell were both straightforward. After making their own decisions, they directly separated like getting off the same carriage of a train.


    Zhang Tie saw Crell off. When Crell walked 10 steps away, he turned around, "I forgot to tell you. If you really find a dog which could gnaw the saint beast''s bone one day and want to get that bone back, you can come for me. You can visit any church of school of patron which has a priest and tell him that you want to see me; that priest would ask you about my emblem in the school of patron. You tell him that my emblem is locust."


    Zhang Tie nodded as he recalled something, "Oh, what''s the saint beast''s bone? You''ve not mentioned that before!"


    "Ha...ha...you will know it when you are an official animal controller!" Crell made a joke.


    "Perhaps when I see you next time, my animal controlling skill has surpassed you. I feel that I''m talented in learning this skill. Only after practicing those secret prayers over one night, I feel that I''ve been able to control a low-level pet!" Zhang Tie said like it was true.


    "It''s impossible. When I saw you for the first time, I already knew that you''ve not used animal controlling skill or had any pet before. It''s already late to learn animal controlling skill at your age. Therefore, you can hardly reach the supreme level of animal controlling skill!"


    "Maybe I''m the exception!"


    "Unless you''re the baby nephew of Gaia, the mother of land or the the incarnation of legendary beast god!" Crell burst out laughing; meanwhile, he waved towards Zhang Tie and left, leaving Zhang Tie alone.


    Standing on the hillside, Zhang Tie saw Crell and that huge black eagle in the sky disappearing in the far. Then, he revealed a smile as he slightly waved his head and muttered, "You missed a possibility!"


    Zhang Tie turned around. After identifying the direction, he ran towards southwest.


    ...


    Zhang Tie knew that after he and Crell left, someone from Eschyle would definitely come here for an investigation. However, Zhang Tie had not imagined that they could respond so fast. Only 2 hours after he left, they had arrived here from Eschyle City.


    They were not common bear-killing fighters or powerhouses dispatched by those chambers of commerce and business firms from Eschyle City; instead, they were 2 terrifying wild reward hunters with strong killing intents.


    After circling around Maple Leaf Castle for one time, they returned to the place below the suspending platform where Zhang Tie and Crell tied that animal controller on. Reading the line of words left by Crell, the 2 reward hunters frowned.


    "Is school of patron involved with that guy?" The massive guy said firstly, "I''ve not imagined that someone is behind this animal tide. We have to report this to Eschyle City right now!"


    "Don''t worry, the airship of the Chamber of Commerce of Eschyle City will arrive here soon. They will bring this message back. They are just some clowns, humph..." the other reward hunter uttered an icy voice from behind a grim mask. Given the voice, it''s a female. Raising her face, she stood still while facing the sunshine calmly, seemingly identifying something.


    "I feel that the 2 people were separated from here. The man of school of patron moved north while the b*stard called Peter moved southwest. Our task is to bring that Peter''s head back and get the 5000 gold coins. With 5000 gold coins, our tribe could afford many items. We will not tide over this winter easily. We''ve not met such a good trade for a long time!"


    "O'' Laura, don''t you feel it strange? Given the message from Kurgan or the description of those people who escaped from Maple Leaf Castle, that Peter seems not being that bad. Perhaps, something is wrong with the arrest order issued by the police station in Eschyle City?"


    "There''re two kinds of men in total. one that deserves to die, the other that is going to die. How do you know that Peter was not disguising himself in front of them. Haven''t you met such crafty people before...", a sneer drifted from behind the metal mask, "Perhaps there''s some problem with the arrest order issued by the police station in Eschyle City, but there''s no problem on the bodies of the previous 2 wild reward hunters which were torn apart. They were here for Peter after receiving the arrest order. Weren''t they dead because of that b*stard? If not because of this, why does the police station dispatch us here? The majesty of Eschyle City and bear tribes could not be weakened because of him. Even if Peter was not a murderer, the 2 wild reward hunters were killed because of him. Based on this point, he deserves to die!"


    "However, we could not maintain the majesty of bear tribes by killing innocent people!" That strapping man warned.


    "Setton, if you want to apply for altering the arrest order in Eschyle City and investigate the death cause of the 2 previous wild reward hunters, go back freely. I can deal with it myself! Unless you put a new arrest order in front of me, I swear to bring that man''s head back!" after saying this icily, the female directly rushed towards southwest without even glancing at Setton. Her moving speed could almost match that of Zhang Tie.


    After glancing at that disappearing background with a concerned look, Setton let out a sigh before finally following up.


    ...


    Zhang Tie ran so fast. At dusk, Zhang Tie had already arrived 400 km away from the Maple Leaf Castle and found a mountain cave in the wild, even though the the path was always tortuous. After that, Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron that he had not entered for a few days.


    ...


    At the sight of the 7 seven-strength fruits of iron-teeth hyenas hanging over the small tree, Zhang Tie realized that it might be his wisest decision to leave Huaiyuan Palace this time.


    Besides the 7 seven-strength fruits of iron-teeth hyenas, there were 2 more fruits on the small tree, which made Zhang Tie smirk, one was fruit of brilliance, the other was fruit of judgment that he had been long expecting for...


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Judgment. Fruit of Judgment has become ripe. It contains a god''s rune effect¡ª¡ª"Hiding". Usage: After picking it, paste it on your forehead; activate it with your spiritual energy. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªWarrior, the one who waves his blades towards the darkness, the sun will not always hang over the sky. Because it knows that it''s necessary to give the stage of the sky to stars so as to hide itself on the other side of the world. After that, it will be able to expect for the arrival of the next dawn after darkness.

 431 A Trouble from a Familiar Person

    Chapter 431: A Trouble from a Familiar Person


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After digesting 7 seven-strength fruits of iron-teeth hyenas, a fruit of brilliance and a fruit of judgment, Zhang Tie came out of the Castle of Black Iron on the 7th day.


    Seven-strength fruit of iron-teeth hyena was the most powerful seven-strength fruit that Zhang Tie had ever eaten. As a fruit of LV 1 living being, the total of its seven strengths were far more than that of wild-wolf seven-strength fruit and demon-rat seven-strength fruit. After completely digesting the 7 seven-strength fruits of iron-teeth hyenas, Zhang Tie felt that his explosiveness increased by more than 40%.


    This was a huge, terrifying progress. Precisely, he could throw his javelin at a speed of 1024 m/s, which was 3 times more than the speed of sound transmission in the air, instead of 728 m/s, which was only greater than 2 times the speed of sound transmission in the air. Its maximal effective lethal range also surpassed 1000 m.


    According to Heller, unless some top strong fighters who had special abilities, with such a high sound transmission speed Zhang Tie could absolutely stifle more than 98% of 4-star or 5-star strong fighters within 100-200 m.


    From then on, most of the strong fighters could not pose any threat to Zhang Tie. For Zhang Tie, he could kill almost any strong fighters by throwing out his javelins. Zhang Tie asked himself, "If I met that animal controller at this moment, I would have ended the battle after throwing out only 1-3 javelins."


    "That person might be able to dodge away from my first javelin; however, the consecutive javelins could easily penetrate through him. I can keep throwing javelins towards him endlessly; however, can he keeping moving at that high speed? Of course, he cannot. Because it is absolutely out of the ability of a strong fighter."


    Zhang Tie knew that it was a very terrifying ability. After the combination of this ancestral bloodline and seven-strength fruits, his precise throwing ability had already evolved into a terrifying and effective lethal skill.


    What was the cost of a javelin? What was the cost of cultivating a LV 10 strong fighter? After realizing the difference, Zhang Tie knew how terrifying and powerful was his throwing skill.


    This throwing skill reminded Zhang Tie of the thermal weapons before catastrophe which were featured by extremely high speed and precision, such as a sniper rifle. Zhang Tie felt like carrying a sniper rifle.


    Before catastrophe, after a short-term training, a teenager would be able to kill many powerful people with those thermal weapons. So was Zhang Tie.


    Perhaps in close battle, because of low level and weaker battle Qi, Zhang Tie might not be able to defeat some LV 10 strong fighters; like how a LV 10 strong fighter boomed Zhang Tie with his battle Qi in the air, as long as the distance was proper, Zhang Tie would be able to throw out his javelins and ended the battle right away. There was no such a regulation that javelins could not be used to counterattack while only allowing LV 10 strong fighters to boom him with battle Qi in the distance!


    Zhang Tie knew it well that if he wanted to be powerful, he didn''t have to do a good job on all aspects; instead, he needed to gradually improve his advantage until it was above that of everybody else. When he reached that level, he could even defeat 10000 enemies himself. Regardless of any powerhouse, even the legendary knight could be killed by throwing one javelin. If so, Zhang Tie would truly succeed.


    Besides the greater strength brought by the 7 seven-strength fruits of iron-teeth hyenas, Zhang Tie obtained a new skill from the fruit of judgment¡ª¡ªHiding skill.


    The preliminary hiding effect could weaken Zhang Tie''s Qi field by 1 energy level. With this skill, Zhang Tie could hide himself in front of powerhouses. Being similar to the tactic¡ª¡ªdisguising oneself as a pig to eat tiger, he could always hide his real fighting strength so as to not arouse others'' attention.


    This effect would last 6 hours. When using it, Zhang Tie''s overall fighting strength would not weaken. According to Heller, after using this hiding rune effect in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie felt like a senior warrior between LV 4 and LV 5 in the eyes of those powerhouses who had sharp insights.


    Zhang Tie was very satisfied with this hiding skill. By now, Zhang Tie had already eaten 3 fruits of judgment and obtained three basic skills¡ª¡ªattack, escape and hide. Therefore, Zhang Tie fully expected what other effects could the next fruit of judgment bring him.


    The latest fruit of brilliance contained all the spiritual energy of Dawson and that secret animal controller. Soon after eating this fruit, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy had soared to 160 times of his original base. What a harvest!


    Given the harvest, Zhang Tie had one question.


    Previously, Zhang Tie felt that his growing spiritual energy seemingly reached a critical point. He felt that he could soon break that invisible ceiling after increasing his spiritual energy a bit. However, although he had increased his spiritual energy a lot during this period, especially in this couple of days, he could still not break that invisible obstacle. Therefore, Zhang Tie started to be perplexed about it.


    Remarkably, he could not purely break that obstacle by increasing his spiritual energy. Zhang Tie wondered why would he have that obstacle, whether because each one would have such an obstacle when their spiritual energy reached a certain degree or his level was not high enough. He didn''t know what was behind that obstacle. On the way of individual cultivation, nobody would tell him why, including Heller. Although Heller could tell him the weight and size of each dust in Castle of Black Iron, he could not help Zhang Tie cultivate.


    "Cultivation is the most important life experience. In the course of cultivation, each question is actually involved with numerous possibilities and results, which determine different choices as a part of casual chain. It guides you about the meaning of your life. If I tell you the answer, I''m actually determining your life''s direction and kill all the other possibilities. If so, you will lose your freedom to make choice. This goes against the objective and meaning of my existence! If you''ve determined your life''s direction, I can be your good helper; yet I cannot determine your life''s direction!" Heller told Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie understood it. Therefore, he was not concerned about this question anymore. Given Zhang Tie''s personality, if he could not find the answer, he would not waste time in seeking for the answer; instead, he owed this question to his low level.


    However, the benefit of his soaring spiritual energy was remarkable.


    In Zhang Tie''s mind, the golden swirl of spiritual energy had further expanded. It was like the swirling galaxy in the sky. In the center of that swirl of spiritual energy were the 3 secret god''s runes that Zhang Tie had obtained. Below the swirl of spiritual energy was the all-spirits pagoda.


    In these days, Zhang Tie had formed the last 2 Wild Seals on the 1st storey of the all-spirits pagoda. Zhang Tie chose a "Summon" and a "Amulet". According to the standards of Great Wild Sect, Zhang Tie was already an indoor pupil of Great Wild Sect and was qualified to tell the outsiders that he was an animal controller.


    The only difference between Zhang Tie and the animal controllers with the lowest rank was that Zhang Tie had no pet.


    Previously, Zhang Tie wanted to try the effect of LV 0 soul-based animal controlling skill; however, after thinking about the warning of that skeleton in the mountain cave, Zhang Tie decided to try it when he would reach the 2nd storey of the all-spirits pagoda.


    After forming the last 2 seals on the 1st storey, Zhang Tie changed his clothes and left Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie carried a leather container over his waist which contained 20 palm bolts. Although these palm bolts were a bit weaker than that of javelins and crossbows, Zhang Tie could still use them to easily kill a 2-star strong fighter and many opponents below this rank within 200 m.


    Besides that container of palm bolts, Zhang Tie still held the 2 common short javelins.


    From then on, Zhang Tie had made a decision, "I will never expose my javelin throwing ability unless critical moment. The alleged trump card should be amazing. I cannot carry javelins and wander everywhere everyday to let everybody know that I could easily kill a strong fighter; otherwise, if my opponent dispatches a fighting master or a great fighting master to kill me, it will be a tragedy! Even the sun would take a rest in the evening to keep long life, not to mention me."


    A LV 7 fighter could easily kill a great batch of LV 10 strong fighters. What an amazing news! If it was spread out, Zhang Tie was not sure whether someone who disliked him would dispatch a powerhouse to kill him or not.


    When Zhang Tie left Castle of Black Iron, he felt as refreshing as obtaining a new life. However, after being vigorous and ambitious for only 2 seconds, Zhang Tie had turned gloomy in the narrow mountain cave.


    Arriving at the entrance of the mountain cave, Zhang Tie squatted to check the small pebbles and the dust on the ground.


    His natural trace system had been completely destroyed by others. It indicated that someone had arrived here in these days.


    "Is that a coincidence?" Zhang Tie asked himself before carefully observing the inside of the mountain cave. As there was no trace of fire, weeds or sleeping bags inside, Zhang Tie knew that the newcomers didn''t stay here too long.


    Of course, the newcomers might not sleep inside the cave at all. For many powerhouses, this was probable. They only needed to enter meditation and cultivate themselves over night. However, if they sat here for a long time, due to the long-term contact between their legs, butts and the ground, they would leave some traces. Pitifully, Zhang Tie found no clues in such a narrow space.


    "In the wild, it was least possible if a person followed me in the mountain cave."


    "Am I spotted by someone?" the moment this thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind, Zhang Tie became gloomy at once.


    "Damn it!" Zhang Tie swore in a low voice. "Haven''t I killed that b*stard from Demon Snake Island? Even though they dispatched some more here, it shouldn''t be that quick. Additionally, how could those newcomers find me so precisely?"


    "Are they partners of that animal controller?"


    An icy light flashed across Zhang Tie''s eyes. Zhang Tie thought a while before putting on the pair of dark tore gloves. Besides defending the battle Qi, this pair of gloves could also make Zhang Tie''s hands more flexible...


    After observing the situation outside the mountain cave carefully, Zhang Tie confirmed that no ambush was outside; therefore, he left the mountain cave quickly and sped up towards southwest.


    Only after half an hour, in the valley 40 km away from that mountain cave, Zhang Tie finally knew who was chasing him.


    Soon after Zhang Tie entered the valley, he had felt the finger ring of awareness on his hand warming up, which indicated that he was followed by someone. Heart racing, Zhang Tie stopped his foot right away.


    The moment Zhang Tie stopped, he had seen 2 people standing 200 m away in the front and in the back of him respectively. They blocked his way.


    Their Qi fields were very powerful, at least much more powerful than that of Dawson. The one in front of Zhang Tie wore a grim bronze mask. At the sight of this, Zhang Tie''s heart slightly pounded before he let out a sigh. Knowing that they were not fighting masters or great fighting masters, Zhang Tie became confident.


    "What do you want? Robbery?" asking this in a muffling sound, Zhang Tie instantly held fast his javelin, intending to defend.


    "You''re Peter Hamplester?" the man in front of Zhang Tie asked.


    That man''s question aroused Zhang Tie''s whims at once. Zhang Tie then nodded, "Right, I''m Peter Hamplester!"


    "We''re wild reward hunters employed by Eschyle City. Your head is worth 5000 gold coins; therefore, we reserve it!"


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie became dumbfounded. Realizing the man was going to launch an attack, Zhang Tie hurriedly exclaimed, "Wait, I know I killed a person in Eschyle City and was wanted; but isn''t it 1000 gold coins? Additionally, they don''t want my life on the order for arrest. How come it becomes 5000 gold coins?"


    "No more disguise!" the female with mask opened her mouth which startled Zhang Tie, "You killed 2 wild reward hunters who was going to arrest you on Grey Hill cruelly. Have you forgotten about that? Because of this event, the reward rose to 5000 gold coins!"


    "What? I killed 2 wild reward hunters who came for me? No way! Besides you two, I''ve not met any other reward hunters since I came to Grey Hill!" Zhang Tie explained seriously, "It must be a mistake!"


    "Mistake?" The female in mask sneered as he watched Zhang Tie''s gloves, "We''ve checked the reward hunters'' bodies. Previously, I was curious about those wounds, at the sight of your gloves, I finally understood. You son of b*tch. Do you feel very cool by digging out others'' hearts using your claws? Today, I will show you the color of your heart."


    The moment Zhang Tie heard this, he understood it right away. "Those 2 hunters must have met Dawson on Grey Hill and were killed by the latter. That b*stard left me a big trouble even after death."


    With a whim of killing the 2 reward hunters, Zhang Tie denied it at once as he recalled Crell''s warning, our bear tribes are not easily provoked. "There are also many powerhouses here. Based on my current fighting strength, I''m not qualified to fight bear tribes. Although I can kill the 2 people, what then? Will the reward rise to 50000 gold coins? Then, 2 more powerful reward hunters will come for me, or I will escape away from Ice and Snow Wildness as the scapegoat for Demon Snake Island?


    "What to do? The b*stard Dawson has been dead and already became the sh*t of those beasts on Grey Hill. I have no witness to clarify myself at all."


    Various whims flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind. However, Zhang Tie couldn''t find a solution at all.


    "F*ck!"


    "Humph, you have no excuse, right?" the female''s voice became merciless, "Then, go to hell!"


    After saying this, the female rushed in front of Zhang Tie right away. At the same time, she clapped her hands, releasing a pair of palm-sized silver battle Qi towards Zhang Tie from over 10 m away...

 432 Subduing the Opponents

    Chapter 432: Subduing the Opponents


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    People always had to face many things that they disliked, such as this time.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was like a dog, who wanted to bite a hedgehog but didn''t know where to start.


    "Close fights doesn''t work, especially when the opponents want to kill me. It''s not good to be surrounded by two LV 10 strong fighters; otherwise, I might lose my life."


    "I should not kill them, either. Unless I don''t want to stay in Ice and Snow Wildness anymore; otherwise, after killing these 2 wild reward hunters, I have to escape far away. But I don''t want to die here. It''s not worthwhile."


    In a wink, the silver battle Qi had almost reached in front of Zhang Tie''s chest. Zhang Tie made the decision right away.


    "End it as fast as possible!"


    What made Zhang Tie a bit reassured was that the man behind him didn''t rush towards him together with that female in mask; instead, he just moved closer on one side.


    "Perhaps, in that man''s eyes, the female is enough to deal with me."


    "This is a chance. I have to grasp it."


    Zhang Tie roared as he activated a rapid moving rune at once; meanwhile, he poked his short javelins towards that silver palm-sized battle Qi ferociously. Zhang Tie only used 30% of his full strength. The moment he touched the battle Qi, Zhang Tie had been forced back like how a common LV 8 or LV 9 powerhouse was struck back by a battle Qi in the distance. Being shocked by that powerful battle Qi, Zhang Tie''s javelins flew backwards in the air; meanwhile, Zhang Tie was boomed and sent flying back in the air by that silver battle Qi...


    With the inertia, Zhang Tie seemed wanting to escape as he was accelerating backwards.


    Realizing that Zhang Tie was going to escape, the man behind Zhang Tie adjusted his location while that female responded with a cold harrumph, "Do you think that you can escape away?"


    Zhang Tie''s performance was completely within the 2 peoples imagination. Therefore, they didn''t feel strange about this. According to the judgment of the police station in Eschyle City from all aspects, Zhang Tie might be LV 9. If the two hunters fought Zhang Tie at the same time, they could definitely kill him.


    Therefore, the two people were very confident that they didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could play any tricks in front of them successfully.


    However, Zhang Tie was not like any murderer that they had ever faced before.


    When the female sped up towards Zhang Tie, the latter changed his movements at once. Zhang Tie instantly accelerated forward instead of backward. In a split second, the effect of the "One Step, One Scenery" situation was reflected by Zhang Tie.


    Move backward or forward, each movement was a different scenery!


    Feel free to move forward or backward!


    Zhang Tie forcefully thrust against the ground as a stone was broken instantly. After that, he started to dart towards that female ferociously like a powerful bolt. He moved even faster and fiercer than that female in a mask.


    Neither of the 2 hunters had found that Zhang Tie was doing a fake movement just now. Zhang Tie did that to draw that female closer.


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s completely different performance, that man who was watching and blocking Zhang Tie''s way behind him turned his face, "O''Laura, watch out!"


    Almost at the same time, that man darted towards Zhang Tie.


    However, as that man was 50 m away from Zhang Tie and that woman, the moment he started to move his foot, he had seen Zhang Tie colliding with that woman.


    Zhang Tie was indeed too close to that woman. Additionally, they were speeding up towards each other. Therefore, the distance of 10-20 m was too short.


    The moment Zhang Tie moved, he had already arrived in front of that woman in mask.


    The woman didn''t move backwards; instead, she boomed towards Zhang Tie''s chest with icy eyes. Zhang Tie didn''t move backwards either. He roared as he put forward one hand and broke her battle-Qi boom with his dark tore gloves. Meanwhile, he was 1 m away from that woman and started a real bloody close battle.


    In such a short distance, Zhang Tie''s javelin was useless, so was that woman''s air-born battle Qi attack. Therefore, they could only attack each other by hands and feet. In such a case, the air-bore battle-Qi attack that couldn''t be mastered until LV 10, became useless at once.


    In this situation, they were matching nothing else but their physical quality, fighting skills and fighting wills.


    Common LV 9 fighters could never match LV 10 strong fighters in such a case as they were widely different in all aspects, such as physical strength and responsive speed, except for Zhang Tie.


    After eating so many seven-strength fruits and activating the rapid moving skill, Zhang Tie had obtained a blessing on swiftness and flexibility; his physical strength had completely surpassed that of a LV 10 strong fighter, so was his responsive speed. Plus the super powerful effect of iron-blood battle Qi and that pair of dark tore gloves, the gap between Zhang Tie and that woman on power of battle Qi due to different levels was narrowed.


    After the gap on aspects were offset, the two parties broke even. In less than 1 second, they had boomed more than 10 times by fists, palms and knees, causing consecutive muffles.


    The woman in mask was vicious. Even then, that woman was still not flurried at all. Each of her movement was ferocious. She kept attacking Zhang Tie''s eyes, throat, heart and crotch.


    Zhang Tie sneered. Because he had cultivated himself in trouble-reappearance situations at the cost of too many lives and had obtained many bloody experiences, he had tempered each movement of iron-blood fist pretty well and could use each movement very briefly. As for close battle, although Zhang Tie was not sure whether he could defeat a fighting master or a great fighting master, he didn''t fear about any strong fighters at all.


    As for the strong fighters that he had met, Zhang Tie really didn''t think that they could match his close fighting skills. Compared to common fighters below LV 9, strong fighters'' physical qualities were improved in all aspects. Besides, strong fighters could release air-borne battle-Qi attack. However, air-borne battle-Qi attack could be ignored in a long distance or a very short distance.


    The woman''s movements were very vicious and sharp. Of course, Zhang Tie would not pity her at such a critical moment. Otherwise, he was seeking for death.


    That man also arrived beside them in a wink. He wanted to join the battle. As a man, he should do that. However, at that moment, the man found that he couldn''t make it.


    The reason was simple. No matter how that woman moved, Zhang Tie still kept her between him and that man. If he dared to launch the attack, he would hurt his partner at first.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was like a shadow while that woman was a pole in the darkness and that man was the fire. He didn''t want to burn the pole as there was always a shadow between the fire and the pole.


    The 3 people were all moving fast. The man was point A, the woman was point B. No matter how they moved, Zhang Tie would always stay on the extension line of straight line AB, preventing that man from joining the battle.


    Each step forward or backward was a scenery.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie only blocked that man by staying at the relatively safe location; gradually, he enlightened the effect of "one step, one scenery" in this battle. He had a subtle feeling as he isolated that man as easy as moving his limbs.


    The moment Zhang Tie moved, he would keep his opponents still.


    His shadow moved with his body while his body moved with his heart. He might have seen through all the rules in the universe...


    Zhang Tie seemed enlightening something in such a case. The 2 reward hunters completely changed their faces as they had not imagined that Zhang Tie could change a 2-1 battle into a 1-1 battle. How come such a powerful murderer only values 5000 gold coins?


    "Damn it! Why did they tell us that this guy was LV 9 at the most?"


    The man had tried 2 times to join the battle; however, considering that woman''s safety, he failed as his forehead was oozing sweat all over. He realized that Zhang Tie''s fighting skills in close battle were even better than O''Laura. Additionally, Zhang Tie had a very terrifying strength; plus that pair of weird gloves. O''Laura was not in the advantageous position after several times of close booms.


    Finally, the battle came to an end with O''Laura''s muffle as Zhang Tie pinched her neck fast by one hand...

 433 Hostage

    Chapter 433: Hostage


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Let her go..." that man roared with a flushed as he wanted to charge at Zhang Tie. However, Zhang Tie slightly used his strength, causing that woman faintly groan. Hearing this, the man instantly stopped.


    One''s neck is the most fragile part. For commoners, when their necks were pinched, they might feel breathless; however, for powerhouses who cultivated battle Qi''s, as long as fragile parts such as main arteries and central nerve vertebrae on their necks were pinched by others, they would be killed or lose their abilities to move or resist.


    Neither did that man nor that woman imagine that result. In their opinions, the police station in Eschyle City made a fatal mistake on the intelligence that they provided to them. They made a major mistake on the level and real fighting strength of Peter. In their eyes, Zhang Tie was at least above LV 10 although he didn''t reveal his battle Qi. To deal with such a sharp powerhouse, more powerful reward hunters were required.


    "Se...tton...don''t care about me, kill...him!" Although her neck was firmly pinched by Zhang Tie''s hand, restricting her central nerve, she still raised her head as she squeezed out words through her teeths.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie know that man''s name. Zhang Tie then glanced at that woman. Although her face was hidden, her neck was elegant and slender with smooth skin. She must look beautiful. Being sharply compared to that pair of grim, dark tore gloves, Zhang Tie had an odd and cruel aesthetic feeling on her slender neck.


    However, Zhang Tie had no time to appreciate beauty. Just now, he was almost killed by that woman for many times. If not having eaten a lot of iron-body fruits, his head might have been chopped off.


    Zhang Tie felt that he was like a negative character in knight novels. Only those negative characters would abduct women. But, if Setton and this woman didn''t overreact at the beginning, I might have already escaped away, instead of staying here to play such a negative character.


    Hearing the woman still urging to kill him at this moment, Zhang Tie directly punched her lower abdomen brutally, making her lower her body immediately.


    Treat enemies mercilessly, men or women. This was what Donder had taught Zhang Tie.


    "B*stard, stop, what''re you doing? I''ll kill you..." Setton roared on one side like a furious bull as his eyes turned red.


    At the sight of that man''s excited look, Zhang Tie wandered about the relationship between the man and the woman, a couple or siblings. "Why are they so nervous?"


    "As a scapegoat, I don''t feel very good. You''d better not stimulate me!" Zhang Tie sneered towards Setton and that woman, "What did you say? You want to kill me? Okay, come on!"


    Setton truly wanted to pounce at Zhang Tie; however, after glancing at that woman, he became timid. Therefore, he could only pant heavily several meters away while glaring at Zhang Tie.


    "If you let her go, we promise to not chase you anymore!"


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "Do you think that I''m that silly to trust a reward hunters'' words? Don''t be that naive!"


    "What do you want?" Setton became a bit calm.


    Hearing this question, Zhang Tie nodded inside, "This Setton is not silly; at least he knows I will not kill this woman right now; he knows I have demand." The moment Zhang Tie wanted to reply, he heard the voice of the female who had just recovered from that punch.


    "Setton, don''t...believe in him, kill...him!" when the woman could breath smoothly, she started to whine once again. Additionally, she was glaring at Zhang Tie with a pair of hateful eyes, "I...I will kill you...you cannot escape...you b*stard!"


    "Shut up, your life is in my hand. As long as I''m unhappy, I can kill you right now. Do you really think that I dare not to kill you?" Zhang Tie watched that woman carefully as he pretended to be very ferocious and gloomy.


    "Ju...just...kill me. As you are in...ice and snow wildness, you cannot...escape" the woman urged.


    "This woman was really strong-minded. Perhaps only such kind of woman could be a reward hunter. Given her voice, she was not too old; however, as she is LV 10, she must be unusual. Perhaps she had a deep background. Similarly, those women above LV 10 in Huaiyuan Palace were all came from Huaiyuan Palace or were closely related to Huaiyuan Palace. Such a figure could barely come out of an average family. Besides talent and great efforts, a person also required resources before becoming a powerhouse. In Huaiyuan Prefecture, it''s not easy for a woman to reach above LV 10 with the resources of Huaiyuan Palace, not to mention those in the wild place like Ice and Snow Wildness. Even a man could hardly reach LV 10, not to mention a woman."


    Considering for a short while, Zhang Tie got some ideas.


    Seeing Zhang Tie becoming silent, the woman screamed, which was very jarring.


    "Setton, kill...him!"


    Of course that man didn''t dare to move. However, Zhang Tie became furious at once. He drew out his dagger from his waist. Under the frightening look of Setton and that woman''s scream, Zhang Tie skimmed over that woman''s hair, causing a part of it fall down the ground.


    "D*mn it. From now on, if you dare to speak without my consent, this father will draw a wound for each sentence on your face. If you don''t believe me, let''s watch it! Women is not allowed to interrupt men''s talk!" Zhang Tie said ferociously as he directly drew his dagger on the metal mask twice.


    Hearing the jarring frictions between the sharp blade and the metal mask, the woman indeed shut up.


    That b*stard Donder is right. Although some women were not afraid of death, none of them could accept their face bing ruined. Even a very ugly woman would not like to be uglier.


    The whole world became quiet.


    Zhang Tie watched that man called Setton, "D*mn it, I almost forgot what I wanted to say after being interrupted by this woman!"


    "I ask you what do you want?" Setton remarkably tried to control his anger.


    "Oh, I get it!" Zhang Tie smirked weirdly, which even caused goosebumps all over him, "I want you to go back to Eschyle City to revoke my arrest order. After that, bring me the exemption document for this woman!"


    "That''s impossible!" Setton refused it right now.


    Zhang Tie continued to skim his dagger on the woman''s metal mask as he sneered, "There might be something impossible in this world, except for that revoking the arrest order of me! As long as it was done by people, it could be corrected!"


    "Exemption is not that easy. Since the founding of Eschyle City, there''s no exemption of arrest order at all. All the fugitives were finally caught or killed; only few of them had escaped away." Setton waved his head.


    "The wanted circular was a mistake at the beginning. I truly have killed someone in Eschyle City. However, that man was a lackey of demon snake island. As I displeased demon snake island, I was chased by them. They wanted to kill me; I was doing that to defend myself. After killing that lackey, I was chased by Dawson, a round-table warrior from demon snake island. This pair of dark tore gloves belonged to him. After killing him several days ago, I took it. According to your description, the one who killed the previous 2 reward hunters with gloves must be Dawson. It''s nothing to do with me!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, the man changed his look.


    "Do you have any evidence?"


    "It''s not difficult to find the evidence. That person being killed by me in Eschyle City was not coming out of air. If you survey that man''s background, you will know his real status. I believe that Eschyle City could figure it out. As for the news about Dawson, the round-table warrior of demon snake island and this pair of black tore gloves, I think more people should have heard about them. You will know that I am telling the true after a simple investigation. Additionally, I met a wild patron of school of patron when I killed Dawson. He''s Crell. He could tell you that I killed Dawson and got his gloves! He''s heading for north to survey the animal tide of demon rats!"


    Zhang Tie knew that the relationship between school of patron and bear tribes in Ice and Snow Wildness was harmonious. Because it was only an affidavit as a witness, it would not bring Crell any trouble. Therefore, Zhang Tie let them ask Crell. By contrast, Zhang Tie was in a big trouble; he needed help from Crell.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Setton truly became silent as Zhang Tie had imagined.


    "Now that you didn''t do it, you can let go O''Laura first!"


    "I''m sorry, I''m talking about the condition with you. I don''t fully trust you by releasing my hostage! Right a few minutes ago, you two even wanted to kill me. I don''t know whether you are thinking about killing me now too. However, I would not test your credibility at the risk of my life. If you want me to set her free, you have to give me the exemption document..." Zhang Tie waved his head as he urged.


    "You can go to Eschyle City with us to clarify what happened!"


    "It''s you who made the mistake. My time is very precious. I have no time to buy menu for your mistake at the cost of my time and my spiritual energy. Additionally, if I go back to Eschyle City at this moment, am I seeking for death? How come you 2 reward hunters protect me. My head values 5000 gold coins. You know that people could kill others even for 5 gold coins, not to mention 5000 gold coins!"


    "What if I don''t agree?" Setton narrowed his eyes right away.


    "If not, I will kill this woman right now. After that, I will fight you. Perhaps, I can kill you. If so, you will see my name on the wanted circulars list in Eschyle City. Actually, I can leave Ice and Snow Wildness as I don''t have any concerns here!" Zhang Tie''s answer shattered Setton''s last illusion. Setton was clear that all those who could reach such a high level in fighting skills were firm-minded. Those like Peter had been used to wander across the world. If he was Zhang Tie, he would also do the same as Zhang Tie. Nobody would like to be killed by others in such a case.


    "Well, I promise you. But how do you protect O''Laura''s safety?" Setton glanced at O''Laura.


    "I can not protect her safety. But truly you have no other choices..." Zhang Tie glanced over that woman who wanted to kill him with a furious and hateful look before waving his head, "This woman has no plumpy butts or breasts. She doesn''t look like a woman at all. I''m not interested in her either. As long as she doesn''t threaten my life, I will not touch her!"


    "Okay, I will go to Eschyle City right away. Hopefully, you can remember your words; otherwise, you will be regretful!" after glancing at Zhang Tie, Setton turned around and intended to leave.


    "Hold on!" Zhang Tie stopped him as he pointed at that restrictive necklace over Setton''s waist which was almost the symbol of reward hunters, "Give that thing to me, I cannot catch her all day long!"


    Setton directly threw off the restrictive necklace before darting away...

 434 Zhang Ties Pe

    Chapter 434: Zhang Tie''s Pet


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie watched Setton disappearing in the far. After that, he turned around and watched this woman.


    The woman was still glaring at him; however, considering Zhang Tie''s previous threat, she finally became quiet.


    Zhang Tie stood there still; however, he didn''t let the woman go. He kept this movement for 1 minute, 2 minutes to even about 10 minutes with a smile.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie heard a roar from afar while Setton reappeared in the distance.


    "Peter, you b*stard..."


    "Remember, if you dare to play tricks on me, I will draw a wound on this woman''s face!" Zhang Tie shouted towards him.


    After losing his complaint towards Zhang Tie, Setton left once again. Zhang Tie knew that Setton truly left this time.


    "How do you know that Setton didn''t leave?" Being still caught, that woman gleamed her eyes behind her mask finally couldn''t help but ask Zhang Tie.


    "To be honest, I don''t know about it either. I was just having a try. No matter what, I won''t lose anything!" Zhang Tie shrugged casually.


    Hearing this, the woman grit her teeth.


    In the next few seconds, Zhang Tie caught that woman''s neck with one hand while putting that restrictive rings over the woman''s neck and wrists by another hand.


    Restrictive necklace was a very senior metal restrictive tool. Although it seemed simple, it had a great power. As a combination of shackle and rune equipment, it could not be afforded by common policemen. However, for these senior reward hunters, they always carried this regular equipment with them so that they could bring their targets back alive. Holding the restrictive rings, Zhang Tie smiled. Because the restrictive rings were made by Huaiyuan Palace, they were priceless. Zhang Tie had seen it in Hidden Dragon Island. It was really out of his imagination that he could apply it now.


    The moment the restrictive rings were put on one''s neck and wrist, its effect would combine with that of the rune effect on it. In this way, it could restrict one''s movement and suppress one''s fighting strength.


    When being put on the restrictive rings, the woman started to struggle forcefully. However, Zhang Tie didn''t care about that. He put them all on her neck and wrists brutally, causing some cracking sounds. After that, he drew the knob key out of the restrictive rings and started to grope blindly over that woman''s body.


    "What are you doing...argh!" The woman turned anxious as she screamed, thinking that Zhang Tie wanted to offend her.


    "Of course I''m searching over your body. I don''t want to be set up by your secret weapons. Considering that you''re a captive, I have to search over your body before leaving!"


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about her response. He drew a dagger out of her waist. After that, he found a storage sac which contained various items, including another key of the restrictive rings. Of course Zhang Tie took away all of them.


    Zhang Tie searched very carefully. After groping her waist, he started to grope her butts and thighs under her screams.


    That woman was absolutely a female tiger. Seeing Zhang Tie squatting down to touch her thighs, she instantly raised her knee to attack Zhang Tie''s face.


    After wearing the restrictive rings, this woman''s fighting strength declined sharply. Her current fighting strength was only between LV 5 and LV 6. Seeing the woman''s movement, Zhang Tie directly bumped against it with his elbow.


    This time, the woman felt a pain. With a muffle, she almost felt down the ground.


    Zhang Tie groped very fast and carefully. After colliding with that woman, he continued to grope from the woman''s thighs to her insteps before moving upwards until her breast. Although Zhang Tie didn''t mean to offend the woman, he had searched every place on her body, including her sensitive parts.


    The woman slightly shook out of tension or fury; especially when Zhang Tie reached her breast, she became stiff all over at once.


    Her clothes felt good. Although feeling a bit stimulative, Zhang Tie was not too selfish. After groping it over swiftly, Zhang Tie stopped. Realizing that he was just searching a person, the woman slightly recovered her composure. At least she didn''t scream anymore. However, before Zhang Tie wanted to take off her mask, she screamed once again.


    "If you dare to take off my mask, I swear to kill you no matter where you are!"


    Seeing her firm will, Zhang Tie became stunned and he stopped. After glancing at that mask twice, he muttered, "Maybe she looks too ugly. Therefore she was afraid of exposing her real look to the public. Hmm, it''s indeed possible. Those beautiful women always couldn''t wait to show their looks to the public. If she hides her look, considering that no lethal weapon would be buried in the mask, it indicates that she has physical or mental problems more or less."


    "Well, given that you''re a woman, I will not take off your mask. Just take it as my special treatment. I will not offend you. After my wanted circular was exempted, I will let you go. Whereas, I have to warn you, if you want to play any tricks, I will not treat you that politely anymore!" Zhang Tie became serious.


    ...


    Zhang Tie then collected his two short javelins and left this valley with her.


    Zhang Tie urged her to go southwest with him. Although she was unwilling to do that, the woman still followed Zhang Tie towards southwest.


    Given her face, Zhang Tie didn''t pull that alloy chain of the restrictive rings. If he pulled that chain, it was like pulling an indocile criminal. That woman also knew that Zhang Tie had left her with self-esteem. Therefore, she basically coordinated with Zhang Tie''s plan no matter how hateful her eyes were.


    After leaving the valley for a few kilometers at a medium speed, Zhang Tie forcefully scratched his head, "We cannot move at such a low speed. If I keep running at a cruising speed, I can run at least 400-500 km per day; but if I run at a high speed, I can move farther and arrive at the south region of Ice and Snow Wildness in a couple of days; however, with this woman, my moving speed was greatly slowed."


    Although the restrictive rings sealed the woman''s abilities to a certain degree and stopped her from moving her Qi and body''s blood fast, she didn''t completely lose her ability to move. Zhang Tie wondered how fast could she run.


    "How fast can you run now?" Zhang Tie asked that woman.


    "How fast do you want?"


    "As I want to reach the south of Ice and Snow Wildness, at this speed, it would take us months to go there. Therefore, I want to speed up!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the woman gleamed her eyes, "Do you mean the Haidela Glacier Crack?"


    "Right!" Zhang Tie was not afraid of telling her about his destiny; neither was he concerned about her tricks.


    The woman slowed her tongue, "As long as you take off my restrictive rings, I can run as fast as you can!"


    "You really take me as an idiot?" Zhang Tie sneered, "You know that''s impossible as I''m not that silly. I know it restricts your abilities to a certain degree, but you could still match a LV 6 fighter. Additionally, you have not lost your resistance and basic physical strength! Therefore, I want to play a game with you!"


    "What game?"


    Zhang Tie revealed a evil smile. Glancing at her purple hair, Zhang Tie replied, "This game is called haircut. I will guide you in front. If you fall behind over 30 m from me, I will cut a lock of hair off your head until it''s bald..."


    Zhang Tie explained as he licked his lips in a very abnormal way. Meanwhile, his eyes became gleaming, "I like woman''s bald head the most. Women with bald heads are very sexy. The round, smooth head is like a extra large breast; especially when their hair dropping off one lock after another. It was like how lovers drop tears. Heard that many women would like to have their hair cut for their favorite men. Heh...heh..." Zhang Tie revealed a strange smile, "If you slow me down, you have to compensate me for that!"


    "Ah!" the woman screamed, "Stay away from me, you pervert!"


    "It depends on your performance!"


    After saying this, Zhang Tie started to run. The woman hurriedly followed him up. Zhang Tie was satisfied with such a game. However, he didn''t notice the bright light that flashed across the woman''s eyes after he turned around and started to run.


    After cutting off her hair twice, Zhang Tie finally figured out her maximal moving speed. It was about 30 km to 35 km per hour. Although it was a bit slower, Zhang Tie was basically satisfied with it.


    Certainly, it was basically a joke for the woman to raid or escape.


    ...


    Most of the paths were in woods. As they moved towards southwest, they saw more and more woods.


    At dusk, they ran over 200 km. Finally, they found a small cabin at the foot of a mountain. At the sight of that cabin, Zhang Tie ran over there.


    It seemed to be a temporary building made by neighboring hunters or lumbermen. Although it was not good, at least it was firm and could provide as a shelter. Some timber piers and a Chinese fireplace were in the middle of the cabin. Around the fireplace were some charred stones.


    The floor was covered with a thick layer of dust. It seemed that it had not been visited for a long time. After a glance, Zhang Tie decided to take a rest here tonight.


    "We will live here tonight!" Zhang Tie told her.


    Although her face was hidden, but running after Zhang Tie for a whole day, her breast started to rise and fall. Remarkably, she was a bit tired. However, she didn''t say it because of a strong self-esteem.


    "I want to have a pee!" after a while, the woman finally posed it.


    Zhang Tie smirked as he pointed at a bush over there, "You can go there; I promise to not peep it. You''d better clap your hands or sing a song, keeping the silent gap less than 10 seconds. Of course, you can attempt to escape; but I will catch you, and I will let you know the feeling of having a bald head!"


    With a mask, the woman glared at Zhang Tie as she replied with a cold harrumph. After that, she walked towards that nearby bush. After watching her entering the bush, Zhang Tie indeed could hear her clapping her hands.


    After looking around, Zhang Tie smirked as he moved behind the cabin. In a wink, he took out some flesh of a dead demon rat from the underground iced cave of Castle of Black Iron.


    If it had been stored in other iced places for a long time, it must be hard now. However, the iced cave in Castle of Black iron had been modified by Heller. The moisture and temperature inside the cave both reached the optimal critical points. Additionally, after consuming some aura values, this flesh would be as fresh as those having just been stored inside the iced cave.


    The flesh of demon rat was still fresh. Zhang Tie washed it in a rivulet beside him. After that, he penetrated them with 2 sharp-pointed stick before taking them into the cabin. Zhang Tie then cleaved a small wood pier in the cabin and burned them in the fireplace.


    The clapping sound behind the bush didn''t stop. Zhang Tie understood that women were always troublesome. When she entered the cabin, she noticed the fire in the fireplace. Meanwhile, the flames were licking the demon-rat flesh on the 2 sticks in Zhang Tie''s hands.


    Although the flesh was not well cooked, it had already diffused aroma.


    "Here is your supper!" Zhang Tie gave a kebab to her. Without any hesitation, the woman took it and continued to roast the demon-rat flesh on the opposite of Zhang Tie.


    "Demon-rat flesh?" after roasting it for a few seconds, the woman sniffed twice behind the mask and identified the flesh on the stick at once.


    "Heh, heh, what a sharp nose!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    The woman gazed at Zhang Tie for a few seconds seriously, "Demon rats barely move outside alone; they only come out in the deep night. How did you get this?"


    Hearing the woman''s question, Zhang Tie became faintly alert. He had not imagined that this woman was that deliberate. However, Zhang Tie still pretended to be cynical, "I forgot to tell you. Actually, I''m also a powerful animal controller!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, the woman responded with a cold harrumph. Remarkably, she didn''t believe in Zhang Tie at all. Zhang Tie didn''t explain anymore; he only replied with a smirk.


    "O''Laura, can you talk about you reward hunters? This profession sounds interesting!"


    "It''s nothing to talk about. We are paid to kill people!" the woman replied in a gloomy voice directly. It seemed that she had already frowned her forehead behind the mask, "I have to warn you, although I''m in your hand. As we are not familiar with each other, please don''t call my name!"


    After being refused, Zhang Tie rubbed his nose. As he had a thick hide, he was not embarrassed about that; instead he felt interesting, "Alright, I will not call you O''Laura. But I have to call you something. Especially gentlemen like me should not always call you "hi, there". I don''t want to be that rude. Which one do you think is better, beauty or iron-face sister?"


    After saying this, Zhang Tie watched that woman clutching that stick fast. Meanwhile, her breast rose and fell. After glaring at Zhang Tie, she turned over her head and became silent.


    Although this beauty was terrifying when she lost her temper, Zhang Tie found that she was actually very cute.


    "Now that you don''t make any choice, I will help you choose. Given that you''d like to wear this mask and behave even more ferocious and cooler than men, I will call you iron-face younger sister!"


    She didn''t respond to Zhang Tie...


    "Can you tell me something about Ice and Snow Wildness?"


    She still didn''t respond to Zhang Tie...


    "Tell me about your childhood! When did you start to wear this mask?"


    The woman remained silence...


    "Are you not satisfied with iron-face younger sister? I understand it. I''m afraid that you''re older than me, it''s not proper to call you younger sister. But it sounds good..."


    The woman''s breasts slowly started to rise and fall...


    ...


    After a few minutes...


    "Can I ask you a question? Do you wash your face with this mask?"


    "Shut up!" the woman finally lost her temper while she stabbed that kebab towards Zhang Tie''s chest fiercely. Zhang Tie burst out laughing as he moved backwards to dodge away.


    ...


    After supper, the moon had already hung over the sky. Watching the increasingly darker sky, the woman leaned against the door-frame as she narrowed her eyes with a dubious look. Zhang Tie was kneeling down the ground outside the door with one knee in a pious way and muttering the prayers of school of patron.


    However, Zhang Tie was activating the Great Wild Seal in Section "Summon" on the 1st storey of the All-Spirits Pagoda and pressed it into the mother land in front of him according to the steps in "Great Wild Sutra".


    Mysteriously, when Zhang Tie pressed the Great Wild Seal into the mother land, he felt that it sunk in the ground like a stone was thrown into the pond, arousing ripples.


    After a short while, In the woman''s amazing eyes, a pair of green spotlights appeared in the bush. When they moved closer, O''Laura found that was a common wild wolf. It came in front of the cabin and stood there still, keeping its eyes on Zhang Tie...


    Closely after the wild wolf, some more animals arrived, such as snakes, hedgehogs, pangolins, boars and leopard cats, causing low friction sounds. All the animals were standing quietly around the cabin and watching Zhang Tie.


    Seeing more and more animals around the cabin, the woman in mask gradually showed a shocking look...


    Zhang Tie was also shocked by this as he forcefully swallowed his saliva. He had not imagined that a great wild seal of section "Summon" was that effective. It had summoned so many LV 0 living beings.


    With a series of sounds of flapping wings, a snow-white owl flew over here and fell on the roof of the cabin.


    Zhang Tie really wondered what other animals will arrive if he kept waiting there. At the sight of that owl, Zhang Tie''s eyes gleamed. While slightly raising his arm, Zhang Tie sent an order in his mind. Receiving his order, the owl flew off the roof of the cabin and fell on Zhang Tie''s arm...


    Zhang Tie activated the great wild seal in the section "drive" of the All-Spirits Pagoda once again, making it brighten up. When he fondled the owl, he pressed the great wild seal onto this owl. In a split second, Zhang Tie felt being connected to the owl spiritually.


    "Is this my first pet?" Zhang Tie became very thrilled inside although his look remained unchanged. Although he used 2 great wild seals on the 1st storey of all-spirits pagoda, Zhang Tie didn''t feel pitiful about that; instead, he became pretty thrilled, "What a great Great Wild Sutra!"


    "Go! Go to the breast of the mother of land!" facing the woman, Zhang Tie ordered those animals in a benign tongue. Of course, actually, he was just delivering an order from inside. Hearing his order, all the animals ran away at once.


    Except for that snow-white owl, who was revolving and rubbing its head on Zhang Tie''s arm in a very intimate way.


    "Keep an eye on this woman for me. If she escapes in the midnight, don''t forget to remind me about that. If someone else is coming, remind me too!" After saying that, Zhang Tie raised his arm, sending the snow-white owl flying in the air. However, it didn''t fly far away; instead, it just rested on a big tree 20 m away from the cabin. After that, it kept gazing at that woman with its gleaming eyes.


    The woman was completely stunned. Watching Zhang Tie, she asked in an unbelievable tone, "Are you really an animal controller?"


    "I promise I''m real. How about the orthodox animal controlling skill of school of patron?" Zhang Tie revealed a smile, exposing his admirable white teeth...


    Glancing at that owl, the woman became silent at once. With gleaming eyes, she was thinking about something...

 435 A Dangerous Nigh

    Chapter 435: A Dangerous Night


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On the 3rd evening, a snow-white owl flew around a small town Sciatta over 300 km away in the west of Eschyle City for a circle before flying towards a hill in the northeast of the small town.


    The owl moved very fast. After a short while, it was already over 20 km away from the small town and disappeared in the woods. It finally fell on a person''s arm.


    Although owls were intellectual but they can never match humans. Therefore, they could not communicate with humans like how people communicate with each other. Even now, it could only communicate with Zhang Tie by flapping its wings.


    Zhang Tie told it how to transfer information by flapping its wings. If someone was in front, the owl would raise its left wing; if it saw a building in front, it would raise its right wing. However, the well-behaved owl consecutively flapped its wings this time, which only carried one meaning.


    ¡ª¡ªThere were so many people and buildings in front...


    Zhang Tie gained this message from the owl.


    "Go, take a rest and eat something. Come back at night!" Zhang Tie raised his hand to drive the owl away.


    After that, Zhang Tie took out a pioneering map and a compass. He started to study the map carefully.


    "No need to check it anymore. It''s town Sciatta in front. We''ve already arrived in the south region of Ice and Snow Wildness. If you walk towards west from here, you will see the Haidela Glacier Crack!" after being captured 3 days, the woman in mask finally opened her mouth as icily as before.


    After putting away his map and compass, Zhang Tie watched this woman as he scratched his head, "I''m afraid that Setton has dropped you. How come there''s no message in 3 days? I saw you leaving many marks on the way here. Will he find us?"


    Even Zhang Tie started to be perplexed. He was here for huge-wolf seven-strength fruits; instead of taking this weird woman to travel here. In the past days, the woman''s look reminded Zhang Tie of being caught sight of running out of home without pulling on the zipper of the trousers by aunts in the neighborhoods. He didn''t feel right, but he didn''t know why.


    Perhaps, this woman was too docile these days, which made Zhang Tie feel wrong.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s questions, the woman behind the mask only responded with a cold harrumph.


    As it was still early, Zhang Tie walked another 40 km towards west with that woman. Before dusk, they finally found a proper place to rest on the hillside.


    He couldn''t go to Sciatta together with this woman. This place was very close to Eschyle City. It was even already in the territory of Eschyle City. As this woman''s mask and the restrictive rings were too eye-catching, Zhang Tie was afraid of having a big trouble if he was recognized to have captured a reward hunter.


    Additionally, the road was gradually becoming populated. In less than 10 miles, They almost encountered several batches of pioneers.


    Although they had awaited here for some time, Zhang Tie found that an increasing number of pioneers were pouring into Sciatta. Almost everybody was heading for the Haidela Glacier Crack. Zhang Tie wondered whether there were some new discoveries in the urban relics over there.


    Standing on the hillside, Zhang Tie watched the vast field for a while before turned around, "We''ll rest here tonight!"


    ...


    They ate roasted potatoes in the evening. Last day, Zhang Tie found some wild potatoes; therefore, he took some as today''s grains.


    In Ice and Snow Wildness, potatoes, which had an extremely strong adaptability, was a staple of the residents here. Additionally, cold-resistant wheat was also a grain here. The 2 crops were grown around many villages.


    It gradually turned dark. Being reflected by the flames, Zhang Tie''s face constantly loomed.


    At the sight of a brook and a pond behind the mountain rocks, the woman insisted on taking a bath over there. Therefore, Zhang Tie let her go. Certainly, even if she was taking a bath, she still had to wear the restrictive rings. No matter what, the restrictive rings didn''t influence her movement.


    It took at least half an hour to roast potatoes, which could only be warmed up under ashes. While roasting it, Zhang Tie was thinking about his plan.


    "If everything went well, after forming another 9 huge-wolf seven-strength fruits, I will return to Blackhot City to visit old friends such as Barley, Doug and those girls of Rose Association. If they like, I will pick them up and their family members and carry them to Jinwu Castle firstly. As for where they would go in the future, it''s their choices. As the 3rd holy war between humans and demons was going to break out, Blackhot City was not a safe place.


    For those girls of Rose Association, besides the gift that Zhang Tie presented them before leaving, he left nothing else to them. Although it was a bit ludicrous while being driven by sexual desire at that moment, without having to consider about the result, Zhang Tie was a bit sorry and concerned about those girls. No matter what, he was their first boyfriend.


    When he recalled Blackhot City, Zhang Tie couldn''t help remembering Miss Diana. Curiously, this time, he only missed her, instead of dreaming about the sophisticated, evil moments with her.


    Zhang Tie knew that he had grown up and finally walked out of the shadow of Miss Diana. The one who helped him grow up was another woman with cyan eyes. Zhang Tie fulfilled a ludicrous dream with her.


    That woman knew that he had known whom she was. Zhang Tie also knew who was that woman. However, they both pretended that they knew nothing about the opponent''s real status. By keeping this as a secret, they made it very interesting.


    Ms. Olina''s face was looming in Zhang Tie''s mind like a waving fire.


    "No matter what, the most important thing at the present is huge-wolf seven-strength fruit. However, if Setton doesn''t show up, should I have to take that woman to travel around the wild?" Zhang Tie finally realized that the woman was like a princess. He could not kill her, beat her or leave her alone. Additionally, Zhang Tie had to provide her with food and drinks all day long.


    As the old Chinese saying went, "Time reveals a man''s heart". Perhaps he really could not treat the woman too viciously. His fake look as an evil person had been completely identified by that woman in less than 2 days. Therefore, the woman became increasingly bold. She even posed to take a bath herself. A man and a woman were in the wild while the woman was the man''s captive. What did this mean? It was simply a defiance to the man.


    "D*mn it. How low is the efficiency of Eschyle City. It''s just an exemption order. How come it is still not solved until now!" Zhang Tie muttered as he turned over the potatoes under the ashes.


    Right then, he heard a furious reproach, "Piss off...". It was the woman''s voice. Zhang Tie immediately rushed over there with 2 short javelins.


    When he arrived at the riverside, Zhang Tie saw 3 male pioneers. They were smirking. The woman''s clothes were piling on the stone. One of them even took up a black underwear of the woman obscenely and sniffed it, "How fragrant!" after saying this, the 3 men burst out laughing at the same time.


    The woman was squatting in the brook while the flow had just covered her neck. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether the 3 guys had seen her look or not. Actually, when Zhang Tie arrived here, he had seen her mask back on her face.


    The woman was trembling in water. According to Zhang Tie''s acknowledgement about that woman, he knew that was not due to fear, but fury.


    "You 3, slap your own faces twice before rolling out of here!" at the sight of the situation here, Zhang Tie had already known what happened. The 3 pioneers passed by the riverside by accident or perhaps they were here to drink some water after hearing the water flow sound. However, they saw O''Laura taking bath in the brook.


    The 3 pioneers were at their 30s or 40s. Given their looks, Zhang Tie knew that they were living poor. Although they were rude and obscene at the sight of a woman taking bath by accident, Zhang Tie didn''t think that they should be killed because of this. Therefore, Zhang Tie planed to save their lives.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, although being in water, the woman still glared at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s intention was good; however, not everything in the world developed according to one''s intention.


    Seeing Zhang Tie running towards them, the 3 pioneers became slightly astonished as they prepared to defend. However, when they saw Zhang Tie''s look clearly, they exchanged glances with each other before bursting out into laughter at the same time. They became relaxed right away.


    Zhang Tie was like a 16-17 year old boy with some fine hair over his lips. In the wild, Zhang Tie''s look was very tender! According to common sense, those who look tender always had poor fighting strength.


    "Brat, you''re really a playboy! Take a woman to play in the wild. Hah! judging from your tender skin and flesh, you really are hardcore. You put restrictive rings on such a enchanting beauty?" a taller one walked one step closer to Zhang Tie as he pointed at Zhang Tie with one finger in a contemptuous tone.


    "Bolatti, I''m afraid that this brat is a young master of a rich family. He''s here to play with his female servant! These rich babies must have been fed up with common women; they want different. I was told that these guys like to play rabbits, cats, dogs..." another pioneer added on one side as he narrowed his eyes and started to glance over Zhang Tie with weird, gleaming eyes.


    "What rabbits, Ali, that''s Bunny Girl. Average ones only require 10 silver coins; better ones require 20 silver coins. I''ve seen them in the inn of Kordy City. Amazingly, we have such a good fortune today..." another guy smirked.


    The 3 guys exchanged their glances before revealing sinister smiles. A guy sent an order with his eyes. Receiving his order, the other 2 gradually left and started to surround Zhang Tie.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie was silent. However, the woman in water was so furious that she even trembled all over. Zhang Tie could even sense the fiery-eyes behind the mask.


    Considering their looks, Zhang Tie realized that this event could not be easily solved today. As there were various pioneers, some of them could be Zhang Tie''s friends such as Sam and Gerri whom Zhang Tie encountered on the Polar Light. Of course, there were also some craps and b*stards, such as the 3 guys in front of him. The moment they saw this woman taking bath here, they had remarkably revealed their evil nature. The existence of such pioneers ruined the image of all the pioneers in someone''s eyes to a certain degree. In someone''s eyes, pioneers were all bandits, thieves and refugees. Pioneers were completely forbidden in some countries and cities on Waii Sub-Continent...


    Zhang Tie waved his head as he slowly walked towards that tallest pioneer with his short javelins, "Now that you offend me, don''t blame me then."


    "Brat, if you''re smart, you''d better..."


    The moment that man finished his words, he had seen Zhang Tie stabbed his short javelin into his mouth and made it come out from the back of his head.


    Zhang Tie moved as swiftly as lightning bolt. When he drew his short javelin out of that man''s mouth, he saw the man standing still.


    Seeing the most powerful one among them could not even insist on 1 second, the remaining 2 pioneers''s legs paralyzed right away as they even started to pee. Realizing that they encountered a powerhouse, one of them became weak and knelt down the ground at once...


    Before that last one moved 5 steps away, Zhang Tie instantly moved close to his back. Raising his short javelin, he immediately penetrated through that man''s head with it.


    When the 2nd one fell down the ground, the 1st one also fell down.


    Zhang Tie then came to the front of the pioneer who was kneeling down the ground...


    "Forgive me, forgive me please. I swear to not do that later..." that man kept kowtowing like pounding garlic into pulp. He dared not to raise his head at all. He was so scared that he even started to drop tears and run nose.


    Standing in front of that man, Zhang Tie hesitated. Considering that this guy was as timid as a rabbit, Zhang Tie planned to let him go.


    However, at this moment, Zhang Tie heard the sound of water and a series of rapid rubbing sounds; however, he didn''t turn around. A shadow with full killing intent had already arrived behind Zhang Tie. She picked up a pioneer''s weapon before walking towards that guy kneeling down the ground. With a sharp slash, she chopped his head off. Zhang Tie hurriedly dodged one step aside in case of being sprayed by guy''s fresh blood.


    "Bang", the woman in mask dropped off her saber as she glared at Zhang Tie with fierce eyes. Meanwhile, she squeezed out some words, "None of your men were good things!"


    "F*ck!" being involved out of no reason, Zhang Tie rubbed his face with a vacant look, "I didn''t peek at you."


    Before leaving her, Zhang Tie looked back. He found that the woman had already thrown her black underwear into the brook. Besides, 3 corpses were lying here. Given their looks, Zhang Tie knew that they only had a couple of gold coins at the most; therefore, he didn''t feel like searching the booty at all. Waving his head, he returned to his fireplace.


    Sitting beside the fireplace, the woman became silent. Seeing Zhang Tie walking towards her, she turned around and peered at Zhang Tie with a different look than that before.


    "Why didn''t you kill them at the beginning?"


    "What if they saw you by accident? I think they didn''t deserve death! I don''t think that you will kill anybody who peek at you by accident!" Replying her, Zhang Tie walked back to his position. Meanwhile, he poked his short javelins into the mud, causing a sound of "Puff" and continued to roast his potatoes.


    "I will kill anyone who see my naked body!" the woman answered seriously.


    "What are you talking about, it''s not big!" Zhang Tie muttered.


    "What?" the woman raised her voice greatly as she became furious like a hedgehog who erected its spikes at once.


    Zhang Tie also became irritated as he glared at her, "F*ck, this father means you have no good figure, plumpy butts or breasts. The 3 guys were idiots. As you also came to this world with naked butts, are you going to kill the doctor and the midwife?"


    Panting heavily, the woman glared at Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie glared at her too. When he thought that she was going to fight him, Zhang Tie found her gradually recovered her composure.


    "I start to believe that you didn''t kill the 2 wild bounty hunters!"


    "Glad that you know it. If not being a scapegoat, nobody would like to stay with you all day long, except for idiots!"


    The woman wanted to lose her temper again. After taking deep breaths several times, Zhang Tie found that the woman started to move the roasted potatoes in the ashes.


    "What''s going on? She''s changed her mind?" Zhang Tie was a bit amazed as he became alert right away...


    ...


    In the time after midnight, mist started to drift over the mountain. At the beginning, Zhang Tie didn''t care about that. However, when he found something was wrong, Zhang Tie could not be able to move anymore. Although he struggled, he realized that his spiritual energy had been frozen by the weird mist. However, the woman who slept in the mountain cave was standing on his side. Along with that woman was a man with long beard, who was not Setton!


    "Senior!" the woman lowered her head and greeted him.


    "Is that him?"


    "Yes! This man is a bit useful. He''s an animal controller. Additionally, he was polite to me these days. I suggest to keep him alive!"


    Closely after the woman''s words, Zhang Tie felt a headache as he lost his consciousness...

 436 The Grey Eagle Tribe

    Chapter 436: The Grey Eagle Tribe


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Zhang Tie recovered his consciousness, he felt his head being cracked while his body was under a huge rock which weighed as heavy as 5000 kg.


    He also recovered his memory. Zhang Tie knew that he was in others'' hand. As for the weird mist, Zhang Tie was still confused about it even now.


    He had recovered his spiritual energy. After sensing it, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh. As long as his spiritual energy was normal, he could protect himself at the critical moment.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie heard a creaky sound. Meanwhile, his body was quivering. Therefore, Zhang Tie opened his eyes at once.


    Zhang Tie saw a low, grayish black car roof which was covered with animal''s hide and that woman in mask. The woman was sitting in the carriage with her back against him. She was crunching her legs and hugging her knees. Along with the carriage, she also quivered.


    The moment Zhang Tie saw her, Zhang Tie felt that she was weak.


    It seemed that the woman felt Zhang Tie''s gaze. She turned around and stared at Zhang Tie.


    Before Zhang Tie said anything, the woman had hurriedly adjusted herself to cross her legs once again.


    "You woke up several hours earlier than what I expected!" The woman''s voice was as icy as before.


    "Well, actually, I think it''s still too late. I don''t even know when you started your plan!" Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile. The moment he wanted to pick himself up, he found one more thing over his neck and his writs¡ª¡ªthe restrictive rings. Additionally, all of his items had been plundered, including his dark tore gloves, purse, 2 rune rings and a double-carp swords.


    "What a quick retribution! I''ve just confiscated her items several days ago, now it''s my turn."


    Zhang Tie struggled to sit up in the carriage; leaning against the wall, he panted heavily.


    The moment he sat up, Zhang Tie''s mind became clear. Although he still felt like getting up on the second day after being drunk, he knew that his basic moving ability was not weakened.


    Zhang Tie saw the woman playing his "finger ring of eagle''s eye" while his "finger ring of awareness" had been put on her left hand''s middle finger.


    The woman was staring at Zhang Tie with her gleaming eyes in a slightly joking and cool way.


    The woman''s eyes made Zhang Tie very uncomfortable. Therefore, Zhang Tie also prepared to make her uncomfortable, "If you put on my ring on your middle finger, it means that you''re falling in love with me. I don''t remember having agreed to accept you as my wife. My wife has to have a hot figure!"


    Close after Zhang Tie''s joke, he had known the outcome of teasing the woman. The woman stretched out her hand and punched onto Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen at once. With a creaky sound, Zhang Tie had a churning stomach, causing him cough loudly.


    Hearing this, Setton pulled open the curtain. As the carriage was heavily quaking just now, Setton thought something happened in the carriage; therefore, he checked it. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s poor look, he understood it right away.


    "O''Laura, we''re 10 km away from the tribe!" after reminding O''Laura, Setton put down the curtain.


    Because of the great strike-resistance ability brought by iron-body fruits, Zhang Tie recovered only after a few seconds. He then gradually straightened up. "This woman was too vicious. That punch almost turned over my intestines. F*ck!"


    "We''re on even this time!" the woman said icily.


    "On even?" this reminded Zhang Tie of the punch that he gave to that woman several days ago. "She still kept it in mind?"


    Zhang Tie had a new recognition on women''s narrow-mindedness.


    "Alright, we''re on even!" after taking deep breaths, he straightened up, "Can you tell me what happened? I want to know how I lost it!"


    "What do you want to know?"


    "All of it!"


    "Setton didn''t go back to Eschyle City; instead, he returned to the tribe. It''s senior Merkel who helped us. He''s also the priest of our tribe!"


    "Tribe?" Zhang Tie widened his eyes.


    "Of course, most of the bounty hunters above LV 10 in Eschyle City were powerhouses from surrounding tribes. After accepting the requests of the police station in Eschyle City, we will assist Eschyle City to chase those criminals in Ice and Snow Wildness for rewards. This is our benefit from Eschyle City."


    Zhang Tie finally knew his mistake. He was overconfident that he ignored an important message which looked trivial¡ª¡ªthe background of the senior bounty hunters in Eschyle City.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, now that these bounty hunters were dispatched by Eschyle City, of course they were under the jurisdiction of Eschyle City. However, actually, the backgrounds of these bounty hunters were more sophisticated. Although there were some bounty hunters in Eschyle City, the surrounding tribes around Eschyle City also had bounty hunters. Precisely, these bounty hunters from surrounding tribes were not completely affiliated to Eschyle City; instead, their relationship was more like a collaboration.


    If he had long known about the background of this woman and Setton, Zhang Tie would never have been that silly to send Setton to Eschyle City for the exemption of his wanted circular. The reason was only a matter of fact. In these people''s eyes, it was just a matter of dignity, the dignity of their tribe.


    A tribe which collaborated with Eschyle City dispatched bounty hunters to chase the escaped criminal; however, they were controlled by that criminal. Of course that bounty hunter was shameless to ask for exempting the criminal''s wanted circular back in Eschyle City. If so, he would have been drowned by tribesman''s saliva.


    "Therefore, Setton did not go to Eschyle City at all. After realizing that he and this woman could not deal with me, Setton returned to his tribe to seek for relief force. However, I was still waiting for his news about the exemption of the wanted circular like a fool." Zhang Tie regretted.


    "Where is your tribe?"


    "It''s in your target, the grey tribe in the south of Ice and Snow Wildness!" Zhang Tie could feel the sinister smile of the woman behind her mask.


    "It turns out that I was entering her nest together with this woman."


    Zhang Tie patted his forehead with a speechless and painful look, "If Donder knew that I could do such a silly thing, I''m sure he would jump and swear me 3 hours without repeating a sentence."


    "This indicated the importance of the details. Because of the negligence of a detailed message, I deteriorate to others'' prisoner. What an influential lesson and a high price!"


    Zhang Tie sighed. He knew that it was his fault. "I''m really stupid!"


    "What do you want to do with me now? If you want money, just let me go. I will give you 5000 gold coins as a payment..." Zhang Tie knew that human''s greed was bottomless. Even though he could give them 50,000 gold coins at once, he would still be asked for more.


    "I know that you''re rich. You had 3 rune equipments and a non-rune elite equipment. Although I''ve been a bounty hunter for so many years, it''s my first time to encounter such a rich man!" The woman sneered, "Do you think that you can buy everything with money? Or do you think I''m an idiot? Although our tribe is poor, I''ve seen 5000 gold coins. But you''re much more valuable than 5000 gold coins!"


    "Speaking of my items that you''ve collected..."


    "Mine!" O''Laura in mask interrupted Zhang Tie before he finished his words. After that, he directly put the finger ring of eagle''s eye on the other hand before delcaring it righteously, "From now on, all of your belongings, including you are my personal properties. Do you know what is personal property? It means that from now on you are my slave according to the regulations of ice and snow wildness!"


    "Slave? F*ck!"


    Zhang Tie was so infuriated that he was almost driven mad, "I can give your my belongings, but you should know that I''m wronged. I''ve not killed those 2 bounty hunters at all!"


    "I know that you''re wronged. But so what? Am I obliged to clarify it for you? Who''re you?" O''Laura raised her face and stared at Zhang Tie proudly, "Don''t forget that, you''re still wanted now. You should appreciate me as I''ve not chopped off your head and go for the reward in Eschyle City. If you met another bounty hunter, you''ve already been a corpse. Do you think that you can still talk with me like this?"


    "What do you want?" Zhang Tie asked in a low voice.


    "It''s very simple. From now on, you should listen to my words and serve me. If you satisfy me one day, you might have your freedom back!"


    Zhang Tie slightly narrowed his eyes...


    "Never think about escaping, as senior Merkel has already planted a bone-exploding needles in your body. If you escape, you will explode. Don''t blame me for not having warned you by then!" this woman seemed knowing what Zhang Tie was thinking about.


    "Bone-exploding needles?" Zhang Tie was startled. He then checked his body carefully and found nothing was improper.


    "You can try to run your battle Qi and check its effect."


    Zhang Tie then tried to run his battle Qi; in a split second, he felt a sharp pain on all the joints and bones; meanwhile, he started to ooze big sweat drops over his forehead...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie found that something weird was in his body. They felt like needles while lurking near his joints and bones. If not running his battle Qi, he would not find them at all. However, the moment he ran his battle Qi, he had driven them to swim all over his body. As a result, they stabbed into his bones, causing a sharp pain...


    Because of the sharp pain, Zhang Tie panted heavily while widely opening his mouth. Although it was a transient period, Zhang Tie felt unbearable as being stabbed with over 10 nails.


    "This is the unique skill of the priests in Ice and Snow Wildness. Only the performer could relieve it. As long as you don''t run your battle Qi or escape, it would be okay. However, if you want to escape, the bone-exploding needles would lose its control and explode in your body. You are doomed to die then!" O''Laura said calmly.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie completely gave up his mind."Restrictive rings plus bone-exploding needles. D*mn it! Am I that dangerous?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that in O''Laura''s eyes, he definitely was the most dangerous person among all those O''Laura had met. Even facing a LV 10 strong fighter, O''Laura had not been that careful. Even the senior of her tribe could still not implement bone-exploding needles easily. However, O''Laura thought it was very necessary to implement it on Zhang Tie.


    ...


    They arrived at their tribe in less than 1 hour after a 10-odd km travel.


    When the vehicle parked, O''Laura pulled open the curtain of the carriage and jumped off firstly, followed by Zhang Tie.


    The moment Zhang Tie got off the car, he had been pressed by Setton on his shoulders.


    "Brat, if you want to survive a few days more, you''d better forget what happened that night. No matter who ask you about that, you only need to tell them you are caught by O''Laura. Besides me, you''ve seen nobody else. Am I clear? If I heard any rumors in the tribe, I will chop off your head..." Setton whispered to Zhang Tie. After the warning, he forcefully pinched Zhang Tie''s shoulders.


    "It seemed that Setton and O''Laura didn''t want others to know that I was caught by the senior of their tribe." Zhang Tie understood it right away. However, he still had some doubts and was confused about the reason.


    Although he was under their control, Zhang Tie was clear that he didn''t need to suffer any loss for the alleged dignity.


    "I''m clear!" Zhang Tie also replied in a low voice.


    "O''Laura is not as bad as you''ve imagined. As you''re smart, as long as you are not excessive, perhaps you will gain your freedom after some time!" Setton left a hope to Zhang Tie.


    "May I know about my status..."


    "Hasn''t O''Laura told you about that?" You''re her personal property. Precisely, you''re her slave. This is the only status for those criminals being caught and kept alive!"


    "D*mn it. I''m really a slave!" Zhang Tie swore inside with a bad look.


    "Don''t worry. Besides O''Laura, you don''t have to follow the orders of anyone else!" Setton patted Zhang Tie''s shoulders as he comforted him, "Follow me, we''re entering the Grey Eagle Tribe. We have to walk on foot!"


    ...


    Since he walked out of the back of the carriage, Zhang Tie finally saw the overall look of the vehicle which he was in. It was a simple animal drawn vehicle. The animal was like a yak, but bigger than yak. Besides, its horns were like that of deer''s as they were fork-shaped.


    "This is moose, which only lives in Ice and Snow Wildness. It''s docile and features a strong resistance. However, it cannot move fast. After eating one meal, it could walk 2 days without rest and sleep. It''s the best animal-drawn vehicle in Ice and Snow Wildness!" Noticing that Zhang Tie glanced at that animal several times, Setton explained to him.


    Zhang Tie''s vehicle was followed by a fleet of over 30 moose-drawn cars, which carried various items. After a glance, Zhang Tie found that the most of them were daily necessities. On a crate in the front, Zhang Tie saw the symbol of table salt. Besides, Zhang Tie saw clothes on other vehicles. Even a lot of items were piled on the top of the vehicle which Zhang Tie was in.


    It was a wild-like prairie in the surroundings. The path in front was a small gentle slope, which was covered with vigorous weeds. There was a trace left by vehicles in the middle of the muddy path. All the people of the fleet got off their vehicles from here. They started to push their vehicles. However, given their looks, they were very happy and energetic.


    At this moment, O''Laura was ahead of the fleet. She was communicating with a senior.


    Seeing them working so hard, Zhang Tie felt a bit embarrassed to walk with his arms crossed. Therefore, he also put his hands on the back of the animal-drawn vehicle which he was in just now and started to push it.


    As the carriage of this vehicle was empty, the moose could easily draw the vehicle onto the top of the hill; therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t use too much strength at all.


    When he was on the top of the hill, he caught sight of a tribe in Ice and Snow Wildness which occupied about 1 square km and was covered with cooking smokes.


    At the sight of the fleet, a long clarion sounded in the troop. Meanwhile, a squad of cavalries rushed towards them as they yelled.


    Zhang Tie only put his eyes on that tribe and the cavalries for a short while before moving his eyes onto those huge canyons in the plain not far from here. Each of those cracks would be as wide as miles. They were like wrinkles on the face of the mother of land as they extended to the distance...


    "Haidela Glacier Crack?" Zhang Tie finally knew where he was. He became spirited at once.


    Those cavalries arrived in front of the fleet in a wink. When they were about 50 m away from the fleet, one of them screamed, "O''Laura, my dear cousin. I was told that you went out for business. I wonder whether you could help your Grey Eagle Tribe tide over this winter with the reward. Why do you work so hard? As long as you open your mouth, you can dispatch your men to carry away whatever is in the warehouse of my tribe..."

 437 Weal and Woe

    Chapter 437: Weal and Woe


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The voice was full of arrogance. It reminded Zhang Tie of those noble playboys in Blackhot City.


    Soon after he finished his words, his cavalry had already rushed in front of the fleet and stopped over 10 m away. Zhang Tie saw no awe and hatred but mixed moods from the faces of those fleet members. Given this point, Zhang Tie knew that the relationship between the Grey Eagle Tribe and those cavalries was not tense.


    The senior who was with O''Laura slightly lowered his body to greet him.


    Most of the cavalries were riding a beast which was similar to the iron-horn beast of Norman Empire and rhinoceros, except for the one in the middle of the cavalries which looked pretty fierce and tall. It was about 2 m in height while a 1 m-long sharp sword-shaped tusk stretched out of its mouth. Its silver-grey silver had a eccentric texture of metal. Its gold eyes made people very repressive. The other beasts stayed away from it on purpose.


    Sitting on the fierce beast was a tall man who was about 28 years old. The man looked complacent. Given his look, he should have a great fighting strength.


    What caught Zhang Tie''s attraction was that the most of the beasts were carrying a container. Each container contained a row of javelins. When in Kurgan Village, Zhang Tie knew that most fighters in Ice and Snow Wildness used javelins as a throwing weapon. However, at the sight of so many people carrying so many javelins for the first time, Zhang Tie became curious.


    As a poor slave, Zhang Tie didn''t speak; instead, he just stayed behind the crowd and observed what these guys wanted to do.


    "Nurdo, what are you doing in the Grey Eagle Tribe?" O''Laura stared at those cavalries icily and asked straightforwardly.


    "I have something to talk with you!" Nurdo replied casually.


    "Talk about what?"


    "Hah...hah..."


    "I was told that the pioneers discovered an urban relic before catastrophe in the Haidela Glacier Crack. Pieces of star of god might also be discovered over there. Now, pioneers and powerhouses are heading for Haidela Glacier Crack from all directions for wealth. My darling cousin, facing such attractive wealth in front of our door, don''t you have any plan?"


    "I know very well about the real fighting strength of the Grey Eagle Tribe. We only do what we are able to do. If you want to find someone as your cannon fodder, you are finding the wrong person!" O''Laura sneered.


    "Hold on, O''Laura..." Riding on the fierce beast, the man slightly straightened up and leaned forward while fixing his eyes on O''Laura, "Of course, it''s impossible for us to strive for the pieces of star of god. When sword-sage-leveled powerhouses participate in it, it''s nothing to do with us. However, do you know that something in the urban relics might be out of your imagination. Now that the relics were discovered in Ice and Snow Wildness, they should not be taken away by those pioneers from outside. Except for your Grey Eagle Tribe, all the other tribes in the south have already been prepared to organize people to take a look downside there. As your cousin, I''m especially here to notice you in case that you miss the opportunity!"


    Hearing these words, O''Laura became silent...


    Hearing that, Zhang Tie was also curious inside. He had not imagined that the discovery of the urban relics in Haidela Glacier Crack had gradually become such a hot topic. Even tribes here intended to take measures about it. However, relics were nothing but some antiques being buried under earth; especially the relics before catastrophe which was only less than 1000 years ago. People could find nothing valuable but some scrap metals in the relics.


    "O''Laura, if you want to participate in it, don''t forget to take your bear-killing fighters to the estuary of Fitjar River 2 days later. As grey eagle tribe is a eagle-level tribe in the south of ice and snow wildness, you''d better not degrade your grey eagle tribe. If it turns into a grey mice tribe, it would be a laughing stock, hahahaha..." With arrogant laughter''s, Nurdo flashed away with his cavalry.


    After standing there quietly for a few seconds, O''Laura waved her hand, "Go back to tribe..."


    ...


    It was only less than 2 km away from here to the grey eagle tribe. After a short while, the fleet had already arrived at the outside of the tribe.


    This tribe was much larger than that of Kurgan village. However, there was no difference between the 2 villages on buildings, almost all of which were low cabins, except for a few tall and stony buildings. Based on the number and density of buildings, Zhang Tie estimated that this tribe contained about 30,000 to 50,000 villagers.


    Seeing the fleet coming back, many kids ran out of the tribe to chase the fleet out of excitement.


    "There''s salt, I see it!"


    "There''s sugar, they''re in the boxes!"


    The kids screamed excitedly, especially after some guys of the fleet sprayed two hands of sugars towards them, they became more jubilant.


    At this moment, O''Laura was like a super star. Walking in front of the fleet, she was greeted by others as she waved her hands towards those villagers.


    Zhang Tie followed the fleet as he observed the surrounding environment. Many villagers were breeding husbandries, most of which were moose, sheep, etc..


    There were some simple processing workshops in the tribe, the most remarkable ones were processing Buckthorn wine. Zhang Tie had smelt the fragrance from afar. The ironware processing workshops were smoking heavily, causing tinkles. Some semi-finished sabers, swords, javelins and some daily products were hanging over the walls outside the ironware workshops.


    Zhang Tie saw many women tanning hides, binding the well-tanned hides and piling them in the courtyard at the height of 2 m. After a glance, Zhang Tie almost sprung up, as he found that those hides were rightly of huge wolves. With off-white furs, they were bigger than common wolves.


    If not so many people near him, Zhang Tie almost burst out laughing. The hides of huge wolves indicated that they could hunt huge wolves not far from here. "This means my huge-wolf seven-strength fruits are not far from me!"


    "I was told that an animal tide broke out here, are there any huge wolves here?" Zhang Tie asked Setton casually.


    "Hmm, there''re so many huge wolves. However, we''ve been used to it. The tribe is safe. The priest of our tribe had implemented a bloody seal around the tribe. Therefore, huge wolves will not break in the tribe. Our grey eagle tribe has been living here for hundreds of years, we''ve long known how to deal with these beasts. Animal tide of huge wolves breaks out in every few years which would provide us extra gains. In the daytime, fighters in the tribe will take young men to hunt huge wolves; in this way, we can make money and practice them!", Setton didn''t know why Zhang Tie asked him that; therefore, he didn''t take any precautions about Zhang Tie and told him about the details.


    "I heard the dialogue between that man and O''Laura, it seems that O''Laura is very influential in grey eagle tribe!"


    "O''Laura''s mom is the priest of grey eagle tribe; her father is the head of the tribe. O''Laura is doomed to be the head of our tribe. This tribe belongs to her. You tell me whether she''s influential or not?" Setton muffled.


    "Ah?" hearing this answer, Zhang Tie was really startled. He had not imagined that the woman in mask had such an influential position, "If so, why does she become a bounty hunter? This profession is very dangerous. Do her parents allow her to risk that?"


    "Her parents have passed away..." Setton lowered his voice at once. He glanced at Zhang Tie with experienced and sympathetic eyes, "Human will always have to do something that they dislike, especially someone on the special position. Previously, when O''Laura''s parents were alive, she was a naive, beautiful little girl. She didn''t even kill an insect. I gifted her a rabbit when she was young, and when the rabbit died, she cried for 2 days..."


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie had realized what a woman, the successor of the tribe would face after losing her greatest dependence. It was like a kid who suddenly inherited a great sum of properties would always be robbed by some relatives. They might have already met one just now.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie started to sympathize O''Laura.


    "What about you? What''s your position in the tribe?"


    "I''m her head guard!" Setton replied. Hearing this answer, Zhang Tie finally understood why Setton became that nervous when he controlled O''Laura at that moment.


    "Do you really want O''Laura to be the head of the tribe?"


    "That''s the meaning of my life. If not, I should have been dead 2 decades ago!" Setton explained.


    Zhang Tie rolled his eyes, "If so, we need to discuss about it!"


    "Don''t play any tricks!" Setton looked around and warned Zhang Tie in a low voice.


    "Actually, I know that you and O''Laura are not bad guys!" Zhang Tie also lowered his voice, "If not because of the misunderstanding, I might not pose any threat to you. From the beginning, I didn''t mean to offend you. Conversely, I really like to help my friends. Of course, not in the current status and condition..." Zhang Tie said as he raised his hands, showing the restrictive rings over his wrists to Setton.


    "I will tell O''Laura about that!" Setton muffled. After that, he didn''t speak to Zhang Tie anymore.


    Zhang Tie nodded. He would like to try every possible way to change his current situation unless despair. Zhang Tie was not telling a lie just now. If it was advantageous to the cooperation between the two parties, the misunderstanding between him and O''Laura could really be dissolved.


    After walking hundreds of meters in the tribe, Zhang Tie saw the tallest and most magnificent stony building in the center square of the tribe. It was built on a soil platform. Certainly, compared to those buildings in Yiyang City or Stars Viewing City, this building was shorter.


    When the fleet was close to that place, 3 seniors walked out of the building at the same time. The one on the left was holding an odd-looking crutch with snow-white hair and beard. Although it was still a distance away from him, the moment Zhang Tie caught sight of that senior, he had a great sense of familiarity. Needless to say, Zhang Tie knew whom he was¡ª¡ªsenior Merkel, the priest of grey eagle tribe.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, senior Merkel triggered those bone-exploding needles right away. Zhang Tie immediately felt painful all over. Thankfully, the pains relieved right now, making Zhang Tie''s heart pounded at once.


    Senior Merkel was accompanied by two more people. Although Zhang Tie didn''t know about the other 2 people, he was sure they were also seniors of the tribe.


    The fleet just parked in front of the soil platform.


    O''Laura walked towards those 3 seniors directly. When she arrived there, she talked something to them. After that, the 3 seniors walked into that building. However, Zhang Tie felt that Merkel glanced at him before turning around.


    Seeing people coming here to count and remove items off the vehicles, Setton took Zhang Tie away from here. After walking for a short distance, they arrived in front of a small cabin.


    ...


    "You live here temporarily. Don''t expect to escape. You can not bear the effect of bone-exploding needles. Do not take that as a joke at the risk of your life! At night, someone will send you food!" After saying that, Setton had one people keep an eye on Zhang Tie outside the cabin before leaving.


    Watching this simple cabin and that young man who was standing outside the door, Zhang Tie became quiet. He then sat down on the wooden plate with crossing legs as he injected some spiritual energy into Castle of Black Iron.


    "Heller, can you hear me?"


    "Castle lord, Heller is waiting for your order at any time!"


    "Do you know what I''m thinking about?"


    "As long as castle lord enters Castle of Black Iron, I can help you take off the restrictive rings at once. However, there''s a bit problem with the bone-exploding needles..."


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded hearing Heller''s reply.


    "What''s the matter with the bone-exploding needles?"


    "You have to clean it off by yourself!"


    "By myself? How can I clean it off?"


    "Haven''t you tried it just now?"


    Zhang Tie thought about it for a short while, "Do you mean that I can clean off the bone-exploding needles after running my battle Qi?"


    "You got it. Bone-exploding needles is a secret method used by priests in Ice and Snow Wildness. Those being planted into your body are not real needle-sized metal objects but an energy formed by priests'' special battle Qi at the cost of their spiritual energy and cultivation. Essentially, the bone-exploding needles are a dynamic energy that could be controlled by human. When they bring you sharp pains and harms, they would decrease at the same time!"


    "You mean each time I run my battle Qi I would be able to decrease the energy of the bone-exploding needles while being attacked by them?"


    "Yes, when they hurt you, they weaken their own energy at the same time!"


    "If bone-exploding needles could be cleaned off so easily, how could the priests in Ice and Snow Wildness control people by them? Won''t each one clean it off by bearing the pains?" Zhang Tie hit the point. Now that this weapon could be dissolved so easily, it would be useless.


    "Theoretically, it''s true. However, people can not easily clean it off. Each time bone-exploding needles attacked a person, it would bring a sharp pain to him; although its energy declines, it won''t weaken the pain. Am I clear? If each person could feel the same sharp pain when cleaning off the bone-exploding needles, how many times can he bear it? 1 times, 10 times or 100 times? As human, one prefers to stay far away from the same sharp pain!"


    "You mean, the mechanism of action of the bone-exploding needles is like a erecting cone-shaped container, which is full of water. And I connect water faucet to its bottom; each time I turn on the water faucet, I would have water flow out constantly. However, its flow remains unchanged. Although the water inside the container gradually decreases, I don''t know when all the water flow out until the last moment!"


    "Correct. Before all the water run out of the cone-shaped container, as long as you adjust the water faucet to a certain position, you will get constantly same pain. Additionally, I believe that those people being controlled by the bone-exploding needles might not know that they were consuming the energy of bone-exploding needles when they ran their battle Qi''s. Being controlled by this secret skill, one would not see any hope of freedom! Even the priest who implements this secret skill might not know that the energy of bone-exploding needles could be consumed in this way."


    "Will it harm my body?"


    "This is the second point I want to say. After eating so many iron-body fruits, you can bear the great harm of bone-exploding needles. Additionally, with preliminary recovery body, you can recover quickly. Therefore, you might be able to dissolve the bone-exploding needles!"


    "What about commoners?"


    "Based on commoners'' endurance capacity and recovery ability, 99% of them could not clean off the energy of bone-exploding needles as the accumulative effects of the bone-exploding needles could easily kill him by consuming all of one''s essential Qi. O''Laura is right. Besides the priest himself, nobody else could clean off bone-exploding needles!"


    Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh as he felt being free once again, "How long can I clean off these bone-exploding needles?"


    "Based on your current maximal endurance ability, it will take you 5 days to clean them off, 5 times a day, 20 minutes per time. But I need to warn you that the priest could sense it the moment you completely clean off the bone-exploding needles!"


    "If I escape now, will the bone-exploding needles take effect and kill me right away?"


    "Yes, they will!"


    "What if I could run far away?"


    "It''s the same outcome. This weapon is like a remote-sensing crystal and electro-magnetic wave. Like many twins could sense each other''s poor condition no matter how far they are from each other, as long as it is in the same space with you, its sensing distance will remain unchanged.


    "Whether I could be easily killed by that old man if he wants?" Zhang Tie asked out of his concern. If it was true, it was nothing different than being waiting for death.


    "Not as worse as you imagine. It takes some time to trigger their energy. Actually, it''s not as sharp as real explosions. It takes 40-60 seconds to release its energy sharply. By then, you can enter Castle of Black Iron. After that, the space barrier could cut off that one''s sense and manipulation to the bone-exploding needles!''''


    Hearing this explanation, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh. "If it truly comes to that worse situation, I have to clean off the bone-exploding needles in Castle of Black Iron before coming out. Hopefully, it doesn''t come to that step. If not, since coming out of Castle of Black Iron, I have to change my look and leave Ice and Snow Wildness at once in case of potential dangers. I''ve not imagined to encounter so many troubles for seven-strength fruits."


    Knowing what Zhang Tie was thinking, after talking with him for a while, Heller finally gave Zhang Tie a surprise.


    "Don''t worry, Castle Lord, actually, you will have some benefits from these bone-exploding needles."


    "Benefits? What benefits?"


    "When you will consume the energy of bone-exploding needles, you will be bearing the attacks of bone-exploding needles. In this course, the growth of iron-body fruits will be accelerated. I''ve calculated that if Castle Lord could completely clean off those bone-exploding needles, you could obtain at least 3 iron-body fruits as a payment!"


    "3 iron-body fruits?" after being stunned for a short while, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter...


    "There''s another good news."


    "What good news?"


    "We''ve got the 1st mutated and evolved Buckthorn seed!"

 438 Oh, I See

    Chapter 438: Oh, I See


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    A wholly-new Buckthorn seed came into being in Castle of Black Iron!


    This was the best news that Zhang Tie had ever heard in this period.


    "What''s the difference between the new Buckthorn seed and that of before?" Zhang Tie asked Heller in mind.


    "New Buckthorn seed''s adaptability to environment is 27% greater than that of the old ones. They have a greater viability. They could live in colder and dryer regions. Actually, the new seed could survive all the regions in Ice and Snow Wilderness whereas old Buckthorn seed could not."


    "Besides, new Buckthorn seed could increase the fertility of soil by 12%. Soil with the new Buckthorn seed has higher activity. As a wholly-new species, new Buckthorn seed is different from the old one in many aspects. The size of new Buckthorn seed is 15%-20% bigger than that of the old one. Additionally, it tastes better; additionally, a new Buckthorn tree''s output is 8%-14% higher than that of the old Buckthorn tree. What''s more is that new Buckthorn seeds and tree leaves contain some aura values!"


    "New Buckthorn seeds and tree leaves contain some aura values?" Zhang Tie became slightly stunned.


    "Right, original Buckthorn seeds and tree leaves contain few aura values; however, the aura values in new Buckthorn seeds and tree leaves has increased by over 300%!"


    "How long do I need to wait until Castle of Black Iron provides these new Buckthorn seeds to me?"


    "At least 1 month. By then, Castle of Black Iron could provide Castle Lord with about 15 kg of new Buckthorn seeds. From then on, the provision will remain unchanged in each month!"


    "As most of the land in Castle of Black Iron has been used, there''s few vacant land available. If we want more new Buckthorn seeds from Castle of Black Iron, we have to expand the arable land in it. Therefore, we need a great quantity of energy storage!"


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he finally came back to this problem, which was really annoying¡ª¡ªno matter how many things he moved inside, he still could not cater to its demand.


    "Do you have any good suggestions to solve this problem?"


    "Unless Castle Lord returns back to the sea!"


    "You mean this is the only method to increase the basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron?"


    "It depends on your personal ability. If you are able to lift a mountain, just drop it into the Pool of Chaos!"


    "Alright, I will deal with this problem later. I''m already very happy to have obtained new Buckthorn seeds. I''ve got a lot of problems to deal with." thinking about this, Zhang Tie gradually recovered his composure.


    "What''s the name of the new Buckthorn seed?"


    "It''s waiting for you to name it!"


    "Now that it appears in this age, just call it black-iron Buckthorn as a souvenir."


    "Fine!"


    After communicating with Heller, Zhang Tie started to consider about the current problem in the small cabin.


    He could not consider other problems; but he had to clean off the bone-exploding needles as fast as possible as its threat to him was like worms gnawing his bones. It seemed that he had 2 methods to eliminate the threat of bone-exploding needles.


    "The 1st method is that I have to seek a chance to escape right away. If I leave the grey eagle tribe, I have to find a remote place and enter Castle of Black Iron. After that, it will take me a few days to remove the threat. Although this method was feasible but the moment the senior of the grey eagle tribe sensed that the bone-exploding needles disappeared in my body, he would find the secret of Castle of Black Iron. If this secret is exposed, whether there will be consecutive bigger troubles, whether could I still stay in Ice and Snow Wilderness to continue the plan to improve my fighting strength."


    "The 2nd method is that I will continue to stay here. I will keep consuming the energy of bone-exploding needles in my body until there was only few left. By then, even though the bone-exploding needles are activated by the senior, they will not threaten my safety anymore. After that, I could take the remaining ineffective bone-exploding needles as a cover so that I could collect 9 huge-wolf seven-strength fruits. Soon after I reach my target, I will return to Blackhot City."


    "The benefit of the second method is remarkable. However, as a slave in grey eagle tribe, I might not be able to move freely here. Therefore, I need to make a good plan for that."


    When Zhang Tie was racking his mind, he saw a young man standing still just outside the door. After that, he revealed a smile. "As I''m new here, I''d better figure out the situation."


    Zhang Tie got off the bed. The moment he opened the door, he saw the young man''s head who was staring at Zhang Tie full of alert while putting his hand on the handle of the saber.


    "You can not escape from here. Go back!" the young man told Zhang Tie with a cold face.


    "Easy, buddy, I''m just taking a fresh breath; it''s a bit stuffy inside!" Zhang Tie told a lie as he returned into the room.


    Seeing Zhang Tie moving back, the young man moved his hand off the handle of the saber.


    Zhang Tie then sat on the stool against the door. After that, he put his hand inside his pocket and took out 2 gold coins from Castle of Black Iron at once.


    He started to flip the 2 gold coins. Soon after the 2 colliding gold coins caused several crispy sounds did that young man turn around once again. At the sight of the 2 brilliant golden coins in Zhang Tie''s hands, he forcefully swallowed his saliva as his eyes gleamed.


    What did Crell say? Gold coins could turn demons into donkeys who only knew about pulling the milestone for grounding grains. Even demons could not stand the allure of gold coins, not to mention mortals. Perhaps someone truly didn''t like money, but there was few such people. At least from the look of this young man, he was a member of the mortals. He had not been as noble as treating money as feces.


    "It''s really boring to stay here alone. If you talk with me, you will have 1 of the 2 gold coins, how about that?" Zhang Tie started to allure him.


    "Do not dream that I can let you go!" the young man became very alert. Although with eyes fixed on the 2 gold coins, he was still sensible.


    "Look, how dare I escape. I''m just chatting with you. I swear to not walk out of this door!"


    "Don''t expect to get the secret of grey eagle tribe from me either!" the young man waved his head once again.


    "You''re wrong. I''m not a mole or detective. You don''t need to tell me any secret. You just talk to me about the information that each villager knows. Look, I''m neither a subversive nor saboteur; otherwise, Setton would not allow me to keep my gold coins. Am I right?" Zhang Tie revealed an innocent smile.


    "Is that...true? Only by chatting with you can I obtain 1 gold coin..." the young man became excited right away.


    "Of course, O''Laura is too poor. She lost her parents 2 decades ago. If not Setton and senior Merkel, I don''t even know how can she survive so many schemes!" Zhang Tie sighed like he knew well about the situation of grey eagle tribe, "Look, I just want to chat with someone!"


    Zhang Tie''s words dispelled the young man''s final concern. In the next half an hour, Zhang Tie almost knew everything that he wanted to know from the young man. As a result, the details of the whole grey eagle tribe started to become clear in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    Before eight, O''Laura was living like a princess in the grey eagle tribe. She was very beautiful. What was more important is that she had showed an extremely high talent in cultivation since she started to learn how to walk. She was identified as a cultivation talent who would not appear in the grey eagle tribe for 100 years by the priest in the tribe. Her father was the head of the tribe while her mother was the most beautiful woman in the tribe. At that time, someone said that her mother was not only the most beautiful woman in the grey eagle tribe, but also the most beautiful one across Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Born in such a family, O''Laura should have lived a dreamlike life; however, the reality was cruel. When her mother''s beautiful look became increasingly well-known in the south of Ice and Snow Wilderness, troubles arrived. A group of bandits which was influential across the south prairie of Ice and Snow Wilderness fixed their eyes on her mother. When O''Laura''s parents made a cruise with a few fighters, they were raided by those bandits. As a result, O''Laura''s mother was robbed away.


    What was worse, O''Laura''s father died in the raid. O''Laura''s mother chose to commit suicide in order to resist those bandits''s offense. From then on, O''Laura''s life completely changed. Although those bandits were finally swept by the allied tribes in the south of Ice and Snow Wilderness, O''Laura couldn''t return to her previous life anymore.


    After the death of O''Laura''s father, the other 2 seniors of the tribe who were docile previously started to have evil thoughts. After taking the power of the tribe, they didn''t want to give it back to a girl. Additionally, many people were casting grey eyes on the fertile land of grey eagle tribe. They wanted take down the grey eagle tribe by controlling O''Laura.


    Therefore, as was imagined, O''Laura was facing a pretty great stress in daily life.


    Not to mention those outside the tribe, even Juventus and Ollier in the grey eagle tribe were definitely the biggest obstacle in O''Laura''s way to take the power of the tribe. Now, Juventus was the financial minister of the tribe while Ollier controlled over 2/3 of the total armed forces of the tribe with the help of his sons and his trusted followers.


    With the support of Setton and senior Merkel, although O''Laura was the official successor of grey eagle tribe, her force was limited.


    Although there was a conflict between Juventus and Ollier, they had reached a tacit agreement on dealing with O''Laura and preventing O''Laura from taking the power of grey eagle tribe. Not only providing even 1 copper coin to O''Laura, Juventus even always asked a lot of money from her at the excuse of many improper reasons. Therefore, it became harder for O''Laura to establish her force and majesty in grey eagle tribe. Therefore, O''Laura chose to be a bounty hunter. On one hand, it indicated that she had a great fighting strength; on the other hand, she had no other choices. She had to make money.


    Although Juventus was treating O''Laura by not providing her with money but still saved her face to a certain degree; however, Ollier was almost shameless.


    Ollier always declared to the outside that the only condition for O''Laura to take the power of the tribe was that she had to marry one of his son. Only by this could the grey eagle tribe not be annexed by other tribes.


    After knowing the details, Zhang Tie finally understood why Setton told him to not reveal the message that senior Merkel helped him and O''Laura to deal with him. If not, it would be a great strike to O''Laura''s dignity in the grey eagle tribe.


    How come a woman being captured was qualified to be the head of a tribe? Zhang Tie understood the situation of O''Laura now. "I''m really a freak, maybe I''m the first one to defeat O''Laura since she became a bounty hunter!"


    "Actually, for O''Laura, the safest way was to directly kill me on that night after I was controlled by that senior Merkel. After that, she could even take my head for bounty. However, she didn''t do that. She kept me alive." Zhang Tie felt mixed moods immediately.


    After learning that, Zhang Tie couldn''t forget the scene when the slender woman hugged her knees alone in the carriage.


    ...


    2 hours later, someone brought Zhang Tie with his supper. It was just a brown bread, fresh water and a cup of Buckthorn wine. When Zhang Tie was having them, he heard a noisy sound outside the cabin.


    "What are you here for?" the young man asked.


    "At the order of senior Ollier, we''re here to execute the criminal that was brought back by O''Laura!" another arrogant voice sounded.


    "None of you is allowed in!" the young man replied furiously at once.


    What a pity! Zhang Tie heard a sneer, "Break in..."


    ...

 439 Being Bloody or No

    Chapter 439: Being Bloody or Not


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Hearing the sounds outside the door, Zhang Tie figured out 2 things right away. "Firstly, the news that I am in the grey eagle tribe had been spread; secondly, the other 2 seniors of the grey eagle tribe seem reluctant to let me survive here given that they want to ruin O''Laura''s dignity or kill her possible helper in the future."


    "Setton and O''Laura might not know what''s happening here. These b*stards want to make it a vested fact before arguing it with O''laura. No matter what, I''m just a criminal, an outsider. O''Laura would not reach a deadlock with the other 2 seniors because of me. Therefore, they''re not afraid of killing me first."


    Hearing the sounds outside, an icy light flashed across Zhang Tie''s eyes; for these b*stards who wanted to kill him, Zhang Tie didn''t pity them at all.


    "You''re seeking for death!"


    After the mutter, Zhang Tie bottomed up the remaining Buckthorn wine.


    Only after a few seconds, the young man was down to the ground.


    "Setton would not forgive you..." the young man still exclaimed.


    "Clog his mouth!"


    "Wuh...wuh..."


    The moment the young man''s voice disappeared, the door of the cabin boomed open by feet...


    At the same time, Zhang Tie lifted the solid-wood table of over 200 kg in weight by the hands and threw it towards the door forcefully like patting a fly...


    Being influenced by the restrictive rings, one could not run his Qi and blood rapidly or move quickly. Also being influenced by the bone-exploding needles, one could not run his battle Qi; if it was anyone else then after being influenced by the 2 restrictive weapons, they could only have 20% of their overall fighting strength left.


    However, Zhang Tie was different. Even though he could not run iron-blood battle qi, he had eaten a lot of seven-strength fruits, which granted him with brutal strength. Although the running speed of Qi and blood in his body had slowed down, Zhang Tie could still keep running dozens of km like a wild wolf without affecting his heart rates. The strenuous exercises of commoners were as easy as taking a walk in the courtyard for Zhang Tie. He could still exert 60-70% of his overall brutal strength; therefore, Zhang Tie was not afraid of the coming battle at all.


    Additionally, his battle awareness would not decline due to the existence of restrictive rings and the bone-exploding needles.


    The one who broke in first was miserable at once.


    Before that one saw clearly the inside of the room, he had been pounded by a table which was longer than 2 m and wider than 1 m. Hearing a wuthering sound, he intended to resist it by hand, then...


    Then...it came to an end...


    With the terrifying sound of broken bones, the first one sprouted out fresh blood from his ears, eyes, nose and mouth like a tomato being struck by baseball. Meanwhile, he was sent flying back with a faster speed like a cannonball being launched.


    A series of shrill cries sounded outside the door...


    Zhang Tie patted his hands before moving the thick, heavy solid-wood table back to the original position. After that, he slowly walked out of the cabin and looked at what was going on outside.


    7-8 people were lying on the ground in a row of over 20 m from the door to the outside, some of which had been unconscious while the rest were groaning on ground.


    Additionally, 10 more people were scattering nearby with weapons in hands. They all looked flurried.


    The young man''s mouth was clogged by cloth; meanwhile, he had been bound by rope. Lying on the ground, he was staring at Zhang Tie with widening eyes like watching a monster.


    At the sight of such a scene, Zhang Tie revealed a cold smile. Crossing his arms, he glanced over those men, "Who wanted to kill me just now?"


    "Kill him!" a man holding a broad axe screamed with red eyes. Receiving this order, the other men roared and rushed towards Zhang Tie. Meanwhile, the man with the broad axe emitted a battle-Qi totem of huge-centipede and joined the battle.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie charged out like a leopard and thrust into one''s chest like how a bear hit a tree.


    The opponent''s chest sunk instantly as he was sent flying back in the air while spurting fresh blood.


    At the same time, another one hacked his machete towards Zhang Tie. Seeing it, Zhang Tie slightly moved his body to dodge it away. After that, he stretched out his hand and gripped the man''s wrist before waving that man for a circle like waving a straw...


    As a result, 2 more people were sent flying backwards. At the same time, 5 more weapons fell on that poor man. The guy with the broad axe even directly chopped off one of that man''s leg...


    "Ah..." the poor man uttered shrill cries. Zhang Tie then loosed his grip and sent him flying backwards at once. As a result, he hit another man before flying together with that man 10 m away after running down the wooden fence of the courtyard.


    When the poor man flew away, his machete fell into Zhang Tie''s hand. Almost at the same time, Zhang Tie raised his machete to crash the LV 7 fighter''s broad axe. The moment the collision happened, the parts between the opponent''s thumbs and index fingers had been split, causing fresh blood flowing out. He could not hold fast the 40-50 kg broad axe anymore; instead, the axe flew out of his hands. Meanwhile, he was quaked 2 m away by the huge strength from Zhang Tie''s machete.


    Another 2 swords and sabers carried towards Zhang Tie at the same time. With a sharp sweep, Zhang Tie directly broke the blades of the 2 weapons. With another sweep, he sent 2 heads flying in the air...


    ...


    In the stony building on the soil platform in the central plaza of grey eagle tribe, O''Laura was communicating with the 3 seniors. At this moment, a person trotted in and whispered at O''Laura''s ears before leaving quickly.


    "Senior Ollier, why are you doing this?" the moment O''Laura heard the report, she had stood up and smacked onto the wooden table, breaking it at once. She was so furious that she even started to quiver, "I caught Peter. He''s my captive and my personal property. How can you send your men to execute him without my consent?"


    "Are your sure..." Ollier smirked. He directly ignored O''Laura''s fury. He picked his ear with a finger before blowing off the earwax. After that he explained briefly, "Probably my men misunderstood my order. I was told that Peter was a wanted criminal. He''s very dangerous. I''m afraid that if he escapes, he might bring dangers to the tribe; therefore, I let Coca to take some men to assist the guard. I will punish Coca when he comes back. How silly he is!"


    After saying this, Ollier glanced at the other senior at the table.


    "I was told that Peter''s head was worth 5000 gold coins. Although this was a misunderstanding, it''s not bad to kill him. I suggest to punish him to guard the pasture for 1 month. With 5000 gold coins, our grey eagle tribe could easily tide over this winter! We can store a lot of things!" Another old guy narrowed his eyes, "O''Laura, I''ve not imagined that you could lose your temper towards the senior of our tribe for an outsider. Do you think that the murderer being wanted by Eschyle City is more important than the well-being of tens of thousands people in the grey eagle tribe? How do you think, senior Merkel?"


    Holding a walking stick, senior Merkel was expressionless, "As we are in grey eagle tribe, of course, the well-being of our clansmen counts the most. As the only successor of grey eagle tribe, the whole tribe is O''Laura''s home. I think O''Laura knows it clearly without having to be warned by senior Juventus. I think that all the clansmen know clearly what O''Laura has done for the tribe over these years. Nobody would doubt about O''Laura''s affection for the grey eagle tribe!"


    Listening to senior Merkel''s words, Juventus smirked. After glancing at Ollier, he also became quiet.


    After glancing at Juventus and Ollier, O''Laura turned around and left the room immediately.


    "Let''s take a look over there. If O''Laura becomes too impulsive that she punishes Coca for a criminal, it would be bad..." Ollier stood up and followed O''Laura out of the room. He knew that Coca''s group could not defeat O''Laura. As O''Laura is furious at the moment, he had to help Coca, "heh heh heh..."


    After exchanging glances with each other, Juventus and Ollier also followed O''Laura out of the room.


    ...


    In less than 3 minutes, Zhang Tie had almost killed all the opponents outside the cabin. The courtyard was covered with blood, broken limbs and heads. Over 10 people''s corpses were scattering everywhere.


    The LV 7 fighter was lying on the ground. With pale face, he looked pretty embarrassed. His clothes was covered with blood stains while his right hand was lost. Stepping on his chest, Zhang Tie was going to chop off his head...


    "Stop..." a furious voice drifted over there. Zhang Tie then stopped his movement. After raising his head, Zhang Tie saw a lot of people trotting towards him.


    Those in the middle of them were O''Laura and the 3 seniors of grey eagle tribe. At the sight of the current scene, besides O''Laura whose look was hidden behind the mask, all the others were shocked.


    The one who stopped Zhang Tie looked especially bad. It looked like that he wanted to eat Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie remembered this long-face old guy as it was the very guy who glanced at him many more times when he left the fleet.


    "Old man, who are you?" Zhang Tie squinted at that man.


    "Audacious, I''m Ollier, the senior of grey eagle tribe...how dare you kill people in the grey eagle tribe. Let him go right now!" The old man pointed at Zhang Tie with quivering fingers.


    "Ollier, who''s Ollier?" Under the gaze of those people, Zhang Tie''s voice was so loud that it could even be heard by people hundreds meters away. Zhang Tie pretended to rack his mind before finally waving his head, "I''ve stayed so long in Ice and Snow Wildness, but I''ve not heard about you at all. Are you a fake senior of the grey eagle tribe?"


    "Audacious, this is the senior of our tribe!" hearing Zhang Tie''s doubt, another one beside Ollier stood out and screamed right away.


    "No way. I''ve only heard about a senior called Juventus in the grey eagle tribe in Eschyle City. He''s well-known. I''ve not heard anyone called Ollier at all!" Zhang Tie replied loudly.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Juventus became a bit amazed as he peeped at Ollier who was so furious that even his face had turned purple. Juventus then asked Zhang Tie, "You''ve heard about me?"


    "Are you senior Juventus of the grey eagle tribe?"


    "Yup!" Juventus became a bit satisfied. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie knew about his name.


    "No way!" Zhang Tie waved his head, "How come you''re senior Juventus..."


    "B*stard, I''m the real senior Juventus!"


    "Even a barber in Eschyle City knows that the richest man in the south of Ice and Snow Wildness is senior Juventus of the grey eagle tribe. I was told that Juventus was very good at putting the tribe''s wealth into his own pocket. His bank account in Eschyle had millions of gold coins. As a senior guest of bank, how come you look so poor. You''re even less valuable than 1 gold coin!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Juventus'' face turned red at once. He pointed at Zhang Tie with one finger, "You...you are talking nonsense!"


    "Easy, I''ve not finished that. Don''t be that flurried. Of course, senior Juventus'' wealth is far more than that. I was told that he had many valuable mansions in Eschyle City. You have a lot of mistresses over there. They''ve delivered a lot of babies for you. You even have secret shares in some business groups in Eschyle City. They say that those business groups monopolize almost all the businesses of the grey eagle tribe. As the richest man in the south of Ice and Snow Wildness based on a small grey eagle tribe, senior Juventus is really the idol of many people!"


    Zhang Tie''s words were too lethal that even a greater part of people in the grey eagle tribe had heard about that.


    "Who incites you to slander me?" listening to the whispers and feeling the weird eyes, Juventus asked loudly. He wanted to save his image as fast as possible by transferring others attraction.


    Pitifully, he encountered Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie''s words were more terrifying than his fighting strength when in need.


    "Incite?" Zhang Tie''s voice was full of amazement, "Last year, senior Juventus'' love child in Eschyle City was abducted by those in demon snake island. Those people in demon snake island blackmailed him 300,000 gold coins. Juventus instantly drew 300,000 gold coins out of the bank. Finally, this event was spread to Ewentra Archipelago. In some circle of Eschyle City, everybody knew it. It was round-table warrior Dawson who abducted his son. That guy even declared everywhere that it was too easy to rob senior Juventus of the grey eagle tribe. If you don''t believe in me, you can ask Dawson, the round-table warrior of demon snake island. If I was telling a lie, I swear to be chased by demon snake island such as Dawson..."


    Seeing Ollier glanced curiously, Juventus almost spurted out a mouthful of blood.


    Zhang Tie''s story was really attractive. Even though the audience didn''t believe in it, they would doubt Juventus at least. Zhang Tie was sure that the guy who monopolized the fiscal affairs of grey eagle tribe for dozens of years must have dirty points. If this old guy was innocent, he should have supported O''Laura to take the power; instead of holding her back. He didn''t care how much did this old guy have. He only needed to cloud the water.


    O''Laura stared at Zhang Tie with gleaming eyes. Perhaps only she could identify whether Zhang Tie was talking the truth or not. Although she knew that Zhang Tie was fabricating a lie, O''Laura felt that he was talking the truth. Additionally, seeing Juventus'' bad-look face, O''Laura felt carefree inside...


    "Senior Juventus, is he telling true?" O''Laura asked icily in front of the public.


    "He''s definitely talking nonsense!" Remarkably Juventus became completely flurried at this moment. He lost all of his majesty. He was glaring at Zhang Tie, "This person is a wanted criminal, how can you believe in his words?"


    "It''s very easy to test whether I''m telling true or not. As long as senior Juventus writes a letter, attaches your personal seal on it, has people carry it to the banks of Eschyle City and bring back the printed list of your account items, everything will be clear. Dare you do that, senior Juventus? Won''t you tell us that you''ve not deposited a cent outside?"


    "B*stard, it''s not a criminal''s turn to talk rubbish here!" senior Juventus was so furious that he almost could not utter a word.


    "Of course, it''s not an outsider''s turn to talk rubbish about the grey eagle tribe. Because the affairs in grey eagle tribe have long been controlled by you, senior Juventus!" Zhang Tie continued, "I also heard that since the abduction event, senior Juventus had established a relationship with demon snake island and became their friend. Many outsiders said that senior Juventus wanted to purchase demon snake island''s trust so as to clean off his obstacles in the grey eagle tribe based on the power of demon snake island. I was told that even your youngest love son had turned 13 years old. It seems that he will get married in a couple of years..."


    "It''s enough!" O''Laura stopped Zhang Tie in time, "Senior Juventus is not that kind of a person. Don''t disturb our judgment by what you heard outside..." after saying this, O''Laura stared at Ollier who was thinking deeply with twinkling eyes, "Senior Ollier, you said it was a misunderstanding; but it''s aroused by your men, will we just call it an end?"


    If it was not told by Zhang Tie, it might not have such a remarkable effect. However, as O''Laura''s captive, he didn''t even have freedom of action. Being opposite to O''Laura, he was an objective "third party". Therefore, his words were more confusing. Additionally, this scene was not arranged by O''Laura; it was absolute an "accident". Furthermore, Zhang Tie''s contents were too reasonable; at least nobody could find any loophole from it.


    After glancing over Zhang Tie, O''Laura, senior Merkel, Juventus and Ollier finally moved away his eyes, "Hmm...alright!"


    Receiving Ollier''s reply, Zhang Tie smirked as he dropped off his machete and walked towards O''Laura. Before moving his feet away from that man''s chest, Zhang Tie slightly increased his strength on feet and sunk that man''s chest.


    At the sight of Ollier and his followers'' furious eyes, Zhang Tie smirked, "I''m sorry. I''ve not imagined that this guy was so weak. With restrictive rings, I could not control my strength well. Therefore, I stamped him to death, hope you don''t mind!"


    Not until then did everybody recall that Zhang Tie was still wearing restrictive rings. He has such a great fighting strength with restrictive rings. What if he didn''t wear them? Watching the corpses all over the ground, many people felt shivers inside. This was a squad led by a LV 7 bear-killing fighter, 4 of which were fighters above LV 6. However, he killed them all in a few minutes. What a freak...


    At this moment, they seemed having no desire to communicate any more. After exchanging glances with each other, they all left, leaving someone cleaning up the battle field...


    Among them, only senior Juventus seemingly wanted to tear Zhang Tie into pieces.


    Although it seemed coming to an end, everybody knew that it was just a beginning.


    ...


    As the door of the cabin had been broken, it was messy all over there. Zhang Tie could not stay there any more. Therefore, Zhang Tie followed O''Laura to a new place.


    Although the new place was still a cabin, it was much more beautiful and spacious than the previous one. Some female servants were serving in the new room.


    O''Laura waved her hands to let those female servants leave.


    Zhang Tie looked around here before staring at O''Laura who was silent and sighed, "It seems that you''re really difficult here. According to your words, I''m your personal property at least. But others wanted to kill me without even your consent. They were evidently showing off their force to you. Even I could not stand it anymore. Don''t stay still, open those rings over my wrists and neck. Do you still think that these things could bring you safety?"


    Although O''Laura''s look was still hidden behind the mask, after hesitating for a few seconds, she finally took out the key and opened the restrictive rings for Zhang Tie.


    With those rings, he felt very inconvenient and uncomfortable. By contrast, after taking them off, Zhang Tie rubbed his wrists and neck as he felt free now, he became freer in fighting others.


    "Perhaps we need to talk about the cooperation carefully."


    "What can you give me?" O''Laura''s voice had become a bit hoarse.


    "What do you need most?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Money!" O''Laura answered straightforwardly.


    Zhang Tie knew that she was talking true. With money, O''Laura could raise and enlarge her army and establish relationships with others so as to weaken the control of Juventus and Ollier and gain a greater right of speech. Finally, she could take back the power of grey eagle tribe. In this age, unless one''s personal fighting strength was able to crack down everything, one needed money.


    "I have a lot of money, given my belongings, you know that I don''t lack money!" Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly, "However, my money doesn''t come out of the air. I can provide you with money, but you have to show me your value!"


    "Value? Isn''t it enough to keep you alive?" O''Laura threatened.


    "O''Laura, honestly, if I truly died in the grey eagle tribe, I''m sure that the whole tribe will be swept for my death. Soon, your tribe will be cleaned overnight. Nobody will survive, even a chick or dog! Do you really treat me as a monkey coming out of the stone? Do you really think that I have no friends and relatives?" staring at O''Laura, Zhang Tie replied. He was not threatening O''Laura; he meant it. Although it was only a short contact between him and his master, Zhang Tie knew it clearly that based on the personality of his Zhao Yuan, his master, if he sensed that his only apprentice was killed by the grey eagle tribe in Ice and Snow Wildness, he would definitely destroy the grey eagle tribe. This time, O''Laura took away his soul crystal through which Zhao Yuan could sense Zhang Tie''s location. If Zhao Yuan wanted to revenge, he only needed to find the soul crystal. No matter being involved could escape.


    O''Laura became silent. She truly wouldn''t believe it if Zhang Tie told her that he had no background, he studied the fighting skills himself while all the valuable items were picked in the wild.


    "What''s your opinion about value?"


    "I don''t need any privilege of your tribe or need you to do anything that you think unacceptable. You only need to take my money as a commercial investment or loan for pure economic benefits!" Zhang Tie replied.


    "What do you mean?"


    "I mean, you only need me to believe in that you can pay me my cost and interests!"


    "That''s it?" O''Laura winked.


    "Hmm, that''s it!"


    "What about you? What do you want to do?"


    "What I want to do might be very strange in your eyes."


    "What''s that?"


    "To maintain the balance of the mother nature!" a solemn expression appeared on Zhang Tie''s face. Zhang Tie raised his head, "I forgot to tell you that I''m actually a devoted follower of school of patron! I can sacrifice everything for my dream..."


    O''Laura watched Zhang Tie carefully as she wanted to know whether Zhang Tie was joking or not. She wanted to know whether Zhang Tie was a hidden lunatic...


    ...


    In the midnight, senior Juventus left Ollier''s home with some followers after a half hour''s talk. Juventus sensed something special in Ollier''s eyes although the latter swore that he wouldn''t believe in a criminal''s gibberish.


    When he left Ollier''s home, senior Juventus was filled with bitterness. Because Ollier treated him much kinder tonight than usual, Juventus felt being estranged to a certain degree.


    Sometimes, it was not always good for familiar people to be polite to each other suddenly.


    On the way back, noticing that some clansmen were peeping at him with weird eyes, senior Juventus held fast his fists.


    After returning to his residence, senior Juventus let everybody leave. He then came to his prayer room. After opening a hidden shelf on the wall of the prayer room, senior Juventus took out of his writing instrument and started to write a letter rapidly...


    ...


    10 minutes later, an owl flapped its wings from Juventus''s home and disappeared in the nightscape rapidly...


    ...


    "Senior, soon after Juventus returned home, he had sent his owl flying out. The owl flew very fast. As it was near Juventus'' home, we didn''t shoot it off..." a man reported to Ollier.


    "As I''ve imagined, there are truly some problems with the old guy. I was almost cheated by him. How he has pretended to be docile before..." Ollier sneered...

 440 The Heroic Feeling

    Chapter 440: The Heroic Feeling


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Honestly, Zhang Tie didn''t care about how many secrets did Juventus have outside the tribe at all.


    Neither did he care about who would take the power of grey eagle tribe in the future. At that moment, he clouded the water to only live a bit more comfortable; perhaps, there was another reason for that, which Zhang Tie would not admit¡ª¡ªactually he sympathized O''Laura to a certain degree.


    Zhang Tie was not actually very justified; however, he really could not stand the 2 old d**chebags bullying a woman.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about how O''Laura and the other people in grey eagle tribe defined his current status, O''Laura''s personal property, captive or slave. For Zhang Tie, these things were nothing different than a temporary nickname or appellation. They were meaningless.


    In Zhang Tie''s mind, the grey eagle tribe was just a small courier station. He knew that he would soon leave here.


    Until this moment, the tour to Ice and Snow Wildness was like a fantastic adventure and travel for Zhang Tie. At that moment, Zhang Tie''s ambition started to grow in this land although he always maintained a relaxed mentality.


    After what happened last day, the relationship between Zhang Tie and O''Laura further developed. They were neither like friends nor enemies. "Out of blows friendship grows".


    Although they had already known each other a little but they still wanted to learn more about each other.


    Although O''Laura took off Zhang Tie''s restrictive rings, she still didn''t mention about the restrictive rings, neither did Zhang Tie mention it. Both of them knew that their relationship was far from being established.


    Zhang Tie asked O''Laura to return his equipment so that he could at least protect himself. After thinking for a while, O''Laura returned the pair of dark tore gloves to him. As for his other weapons, O''Laura said it depended on Zhang Tie''s sincerity.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was not an idiot. He would not take out those gold coins out of air. Even though he could, he wouldn''t give them to O''Laura. Before cleaning off the threat of bone-exploding needles and gaining the equal right of say, if Zhang Tie took out such a great amount of money, he was definitely seeking for death.


    Thankfully, O''Laura seemed being not in hurry to gain something from Zhang Tie. She was putting all her efforts on that urban relics in Haidela Glacier Crack. O''Laura had already decided to take some people of the grey eagle tribe to attend the gathering of southern tribes at the estuary of Fitjar in a couple of days. She planned to share some benefits in the secret relics. No matter what, the other 3 seniors of grey eagle tribe agreed with this decision.


    The moment Setton returned to the grey eagle tribe, he left right away. He was there to inquire the news about this gathering and the relics. When Setton returned to the grey eagle tribe to see O''Laura, it was already past midnight. When he was told about what happened after he left the tribe, he became extremely infuriated, dumbfounded and finally burst out laughing.


    "O''Laura, Peter is fiercer than lions in fight and is smarter than foxes. If he''s on our side, he can help you to take the power of grey eagle tribe!"


    O''Laura then briefly told Setton about what Zhang Tie had told her and their current relationship.


    "I feel that this brat has a deep background. Few people would have such great fighting strength and carry so many rune and elite equipment at such a young age even in those bigger tribes in Ice and Snow Wildness. If he doesn''t have any special background, it would be a marvel. He probably be an elite disciple of a big clan on the continent who comes out to cultivate himself. Therefore, he was not afraid of offending those in demon snake island. I heard that many elite disciples of those big clans on continent complied with this rule before growing up. Their achievements and performances in the survival training would determine their positions in their clans in the future!" That brat might be here for a survival training!"


    "I also think so!" O''Laura nodded, "He''s not too bad, he''s too smart. But I don''t even know which of his words were true!"


    "Isn''t it good? He''s been in the grey eagle tribe for 1 day, yet he''s already made the 2 old d**chebags too embarrassed. If he could stay here for some time, O''Laura, perhaps you might be not that tired!"


    "What do you want to express, Setton?" O''Laura slightly frowned as she noticed that Setton was implying something.


    "Look, as a toyboy, that brat has a great fighting strength and high intelligence. He also has a good family background. What''s more, he''s not gotten married yet. I''ve not met such a proper person at all. If you marry him, all the problems would be solved. Additionally, his clan would not move in Ice and Snow Wildness. Even though you marry him, you can still keep the power of grey eagle tribe. That guy can live here..." Setton ticked off the benefits that could be brought by Zhang Tie.


    "Setton..." O''Laura screamed after being stunned for a while...


    After realizing that O''Laura would lose her temper, Setton had long slipped outside the room, exposing a head outside the door-frame, "O''Laura, I mean it. You''d better consider it well. Based on my experience, such a guy is definitely a shopping-rush good in Ice and Snow Wildness. If you want that, you have to do that as soon as possible. Then what has done cannot be undone..."


    In response to him, O''Laura smashed a bottle...


    ...


    Zhang Tie had a good sleep last night.


    Since he left Kurgan Village, it was Zhang Tie''s 2nd time to sleep on bed. Although it was only a plank bed being paved with a straw mattress and a hide, it was still much more comfortable than sleeping on the ground.


    Knowing that nobody would dare to cause him trouble after the fierce battle in the daytime, Zhang Tie slept pretty well over night.


    On the 2nd day, when Zhang Tie was woken up by his biological clock, it was still dark outside.


    After getting up, Zhang Tie firstly stretched his limbs in the narrow room. Then, he sat back on the bed with crossing legs and activated the trouble-reappearance situation where he met the huge deep-sea monster on the sea...


    Only after 10 minutes, Zhang Tie''s forehead had started to ooze sweat. After a few minutes, Zhang Tie''s body quivered for a short while. He then opened his eyes as he started to look around this small room with a frightening look. Closely after that, he panted heavily. Although it only took him a few minutes, Zhang Tie was killed by that huge deep-sea monster once again.


    This time, Zhang Tie was "killed" in a very miserable way. As he could not use his battle Qi, he could only cause some fetal wounds on the huge and terrifying monster. Finally, he was rolled by that monster''s tentacle. After getting crushed most of his bones were broken, Zhang Tie was then put into the monster''s mouth...


    In the previous fights with that huge deep-sea monster, Zhang Tie didn''t try to escape. Because he found that the huge deep-sea monster could only move 30% faster than the Polar Light which meant that It could not match him on moving speed at all. If he just escaped, it was nothing different than wasting his spiritual energy in the trouble-reappearance situation.


    After being killed by the huge deep-sea monster, Zhang Tie changed a trouble-reappearance situation. This time, he chose the valley where he killed those demon rats. What appeared in the valley were not only demon rats, but also numerous wild wolves and iron-teeth hyenas. Zhang Tie was surrounded by thousands of wild beasts who were glaring at him with hateful eyes at the same time. The moment Zhang Tie appeared in the valley, he had seen those wild beasts charging at him like surging waves...


    Those wild beasts knew how to coordinate with each other this time. Agile demon rats were hiding behind wild wolves and iron-teeth hyenas. They especially attacked the parts below Zhang Tie''s knees...while wild wolves who were responsible for attracting Zhang Tie''s attention always jumped high to bite Zhang Tie''s neck and head...iron-teeth hyenas would not loose their grips the moment they bit Zhang Tie, even if it was his clothes and trousers...


    He was pursuing for the maximal lethality and the greatest dodging speed and efficiency in the biggest space in the fight with the huge deep-sea monster just now, but this time he had to pay attention to the delicate secrets on fighting skills and movements in narrow space.


    Since Zhang Tie killed the real huge deep-sea monster, he would practice hard at least twice in the above 2 different trouble-reappearance situations everyday so as to reach the 2 ultimate effects...


    30 minutes later, oozing all over his forehead, Zhang Tie opened his eyes once again. He slightly waved his head as the king demon rat finally found a chance to revenge him this time...


    In the next 50 minutes, Zhang Tie got off his bed. Standing on the ground, he started to consume the energy of the bone-exploding needles by running his iron-blood battle Qi twice, 20 minutes per time with only a 10-minutes break between them.


    In the course of running his iron-blood battle Qi, Zhang Tie suffered an extremely physical pain. Meanwhile his blood vessels, Meridian and veins twisted under his skin; his muscles also quivered every now and then and turned as compact as iron and steel; big sweat drops oozed and rolled down like rains...


    Gritting his teeth, Zhang Tie remained silence...


    After running his iron-blood battle Qi twice, Zhang Tie opened his eyes. At this time, he felt his feet faint while the ground in front of his feet had been covered with sweat. It seemed like that the roof was leaking rain.


    Zhang Tie could only stand separately at most 5 times per day. It was already his physical limit to run battle Qi twice consecutively. If he ran one more time, he would collapse, which meant that his self-protection mechanism would start to run. Simply, he would pass out. Honestly, Zhang Tie didn''t want to be seen passing out in the room.


    After resting for 10 minutes, when his vitality recovered a bit, Zhang Tie looked outside and found that the day had just broken.


    Being naked, Zhang Tie came to the courtyard. He then lifted barrels of water from the well before taking a shower.


    3 minutes later, Zhang Tie finished his shower. At this moment, he heard footsteps from behind.


    He turned around and found it was Setton.


    "Hehe, what a nice body, young man!"


    Touching his beard, Setton watched Zhang Tie''s naked body with a curious look. He looked like considering something.


    At the sight of Setton, Zhang Tie who had intended to take two more barrels of water suddenly felt his asshole tightening as his body was covered with goosebumps. He then hurriedly put on his clothes.


    In this course, Setton fixed his eyes on Zhang Tie, which made Zhang Tie more tense.


    "Erm...so early, what''s up?" Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva.


    "O''Laura asked whether you would like to take a look at the animal tide of the huge wolves today?"


    "Ah, great!"


    "Let''s go then."


    "What? Doesn''t O''Laura go there?" Zhang Tie asked curiously as he remembered that O''Laura wanted to go there together with him.


    "O''Laura doesn''t feel good today. Additionally, she has to deal with some things in the tribe. Therefore, she could not accompany you there!"


    Actually, Setton didn''t know why either. After saying that she didn''t want to go out together with Zhang Tie this early morning, O''Laura could only dispatch Setton to do that on behalf of her.


    "Alright!"


    ...


    Setton had prepared it very well while the 2 tall beasts with stirrups had been waiting outside the courtyard.


    The 2 beasts were those that Zhang Tie had seen the last day which looked like rhinoceros and iron-horn beasts. Such beasts seemed common in Ice and Snow Wildness. Zhang Tie walked around the 2 beasts for a circle as he looked at them carefully. The 2 beasts became impatient as they snorted and paced on the ground.


    "What are they?"


    "LV 1 rhino-horses. They''re bad tempered. Can you ride them?"


    "I''ve not even started the horsemanship lesson, one of the 6 compulsory courses in Hidden Dragon Palace. You tell me whether can I ride or not?" Zhang Tie retorted him inside although he answered, "I can have a try..."


    Setton didn''t speak as he directly rode on a rhino-horse on his side.


    After seeing Setton''s movements, Zhang Tie stood in front of his rhino-horse. Staring at its eyes, he started to touch its head with hand.


    Although the rhino-horse was a bit whiny and pacing on the ground, it gradually calmed down. It started to sniff Zhang Tie and rub Zhang Tie''s arms with its neck.


    Setton watched that with a dumbfounded look. Although O''Laura told him that Zhang Tie was an animal controller, he didn''t believe in her; however, at this moment, he believed in that. It was his first time to see a person being intimate to a rhino-horse in the tribe.


    At the sight of the look of Setton, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. "It''s just because of the All-Spirits Pagoda" Zhang Tie thought inside. However, he felt a bit pitiful. If he could enter the 2nd storey, he could form another great wild seal. If so, he could have a rhino-horse as his pet. If that really happened, I''m afraid that Setton might be more amazed.


    "Hmm, as the All-Spirits Pagoda has endless fantastic functions. It seems that I have to enter the 2nd storey as soon as possible. I really want to try my soul-based incarnation."


    Thinking this, Zhang Tie rode on the rhino-horse like Setton.


    Setton shook his rein to make his rhino-horse trot. Zhang Tie imitated him and followed up...


    When they left the grey eagle tribe, they encountered a great number of cavalries who were also leaving the village.


    "You''re Peter?" at the sight of Zhang Tie, those cavalries immediately stopped. Their equipment was simple, only few people wore metal armor. Most of them only wore simple leather armors and held average sabers and swords. Some of them carried javelins; however, they were all very strong. Riding hundreds of rhino-horses, they looked pretty powerful.


    After a glance, Zhang Tie found the one who asked him was over 30 years old. He was strong whose look was similar to Ollier whom he saw last day. Given his look, Zhang Tie understood his status at once. This guy must be Ollier''s son.


    "Right. I''m Peter. What''s up?" Zhang Tie asked as he and Setton stopped at the same time. After glancing over these cavalries, Zhang Tie yawned with a casual look.


    Setton didn''t speak; instead, he just watched these cavalries and Zhang Tie with slightly narrowed eyes.


    After glancing at Setton, the one continued to ask Zhang Tie with a cold voice, "Did you kill Coca?"


    "I don''t know who''s Coca. But I truly killed some guys who wanted to kill me yesterday. If you want to revenge for him, you can come for a duel with me at any time. I''m always waiting. But I have to warn you that if I''m really infuriated, I will not care who''s your dad. In 10 movements, I will chop off your head!" Staring at that guy, Zhang Tie said casually. Zhang Tie felt that this guy was at most LV 8 or LV 9. Even if Zhang Tie didn''t run his battle Qi, he could also kill him easily.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the cavalries became restless. Many of them even drew out of their weapons at once as they swore loudly.


    "Sh*t up!" Zhang Tie roared as he released the invisible killing Qi that he had formed by numerous puppets'' fresh blood in Heavens Cold City. Soon after the killing Qi was released, the rhino-horses in the opposite were frightened as they started to move backwards. As a result, hundreds of cavalries were in a chaos at once. Many cavalries even fell down the rhino-horses. Even Setton''s beast on Zhang Tie''s side was greatly frightened as it kept moving backwards. It took Setton a lot of strength to rest it.


    "What a heavy killing Qi!" many people were stunned inside. If not having experienced countless corpses and blood, he could not have such a heavy killing Qi. Although one''s killing Qi was not directly related to one''s level, it could well reflect one''s real fighting strength and battle experiences.


    "Salem, do you have to bully a stranger outside your home with these fighters of grey eagle tribe everyday to survive yourself?"


    Closely after Setton''s words, that guy''s face turned worse; however, this served as an excuse to him. After glancing at Zhang Tie and Setton, he gritted his teeth and said, "Let''s go..."


    Receiving the order, all the cavalries left with Salem, causing a booming sound.


    Seeing them off, Zhang Tie turned around and smiled at Setton, "Did you worry that I would kill them all?"


    "Will you?" Setton asked.


    "I''m not a murderer. I''m not here for killing people. Generally, I will not kill people unless my life is threatened!"


    After considering Zhang Tie''s words for a short while, Setton finally let out a sigh, "Let''s go!"


    They then moved forward.


    "Setton, can I ask you a question?"


    "Go ahead!"


    "Although Ollier has a lot of followers, few of them is above LV 10. Juventus is just a fat worm. Actually, if you, O''Laura and senior Merkel could join hands, you could definitely kill Juventus and Ollier. After that, O''Laura will take the power of grey eagle tribe. Why do you keep them alive?"


    "Ollier and Juventus'' clans are influential in the grey eagle tribe. Their powers are deep-rooted. If we determined to clean them, the grey eagle tribe would suffer a great loss. It might even split up. By then, the grey eagle tribe will not exist anymore. None of us would like to accept such a result, me, O''Laura or senior Merkel. Therefore, we try our best to avoid that!" Setton muffled.


    "Therefore, the 2 old d**chebags just do whatever they want in the grey eagle tribe while you could only keep a relative balance with them?"


    Hearing Setton''s explanation, Zhang Tie directly showed the white of his eyes "they are definitely sparing the rat to save the dishes." LV 10 fighters were not cheap cabbages. Zhang Tie estimated that there were only 3 or 4 LV 10 powerhouses in the whole grey eagle tribe. Based on the scale of population of the grey eagle tribe, it was already a high proportion. O''Laura had been on an advantageous position, yet she was still afraid of taking the power. Zhang Tie couldn''t understand it. If it was him, he would directly kill them instead of wasting time on the 2 old d**chebags, even if the power of grey eagle tribe was sharply weakened. In the worst scenario, they could establish the tribe from the beginning instead of being restricted and set up by those people.


    "What would you do if it was you?" Setton asked Zhang Tie.


    "Of course, I will kill all the b*stards. If they want to die, let them die!" Zhang Tie replied immediately.


    ...


    Soon after they left the tribe, they heard a sound from the sky. Zhang Tie raised his head and saw a white owl flying towards him. Zhang Tie raised his arm to let the owl rest on it.


    "Ha...ha..." Zhang Tie burst out laughing as it was his first pet.


    After resting on Zhang Tie''s arm for a second, the white owl flew away once again as Zhang Tie delivered a order to it¡ª¡ªfollow me to search huge wolf packs in the Ice and Snow Wildness.


    ...


    Rhino-horses moved faster than common horses. At the beginning, Zhang Tie was unfamiliar with riding it; however, after the rhino-horse started to run at full speed, Zhang Tie finally mastered the skills to gallop his rhino-horse in the wildness; namely balance, rhythm and coordination.


    He had to keep balance by foot and adapt to the rise and fall of the rhino-horse; the most important was the coordination between him and his rhino-horse.


    Because of the All-Spirits Pagoda, Zhang Tie clearly understood how could he make the rhino-horse feel comfortable and free.


    After a short adjustment, Zhang Tie had been able to drive the rhino-horse. In less than half an hour, he had been able to gallop his rhino-horse neck and neck with Setton.


    To tell truth, it was Zhang Tie'' first time to ride a beast since he was born. It was completely different from driving a car or running. When the rhino-horse tided over the river or jumped over high obstacles in gallop, Zhang Tie felt very thrilled like being a hero. Zhang Tie finally knew why real men or brave warriors liked to drive beasts...


    ...


    Guided by Setton, they drove their rhino-horses over 3 hours. After being over 300 km away from the grey eagle tribe, they finally arrived at a lakeside.


    "This is snow wolf lake. Most of huge wolves stay in 25 km around this place. Not only huge wolves, even many other animals in the neighborhood like to drink water here. Therefore, huge wolves could easily hunt preys here. When there''s no animal tide, this place would be a nice pasture. Each year..."


    Before Setton finished his words, he had found Zhang Tie jumped off his rhino-horse and rushed towards the lakeside 100 m away. Some huge wolves which were obviously larger than common wild wolves were drinking water over there...


    At the sight of those huge wolves, Zhang Tie felt like seeing his huge wolf seven-strength fruits. It made him more thrilled than seeing a pile of gold coins.


    A huge wolf''s strength was far greater than that of a common wolf, a demon rat or an iron-teeth hyena. Of course, Zhang Tie was very excited at the sight of them.


    "With 9 huge wolf seven-strength fruits, I will be able to break 4-time the speed of sonic speed. Even my explosive strength would reach a terrifying level. By then, even without running battle Qi, I would also be able to conquer all the average fighters."


    "If one exerts his strength to the utmost, he would be close to the most powerful one. I really dream about that day..."


    Huge wolves moved very swiftly. At the sight of Zhang Tie rushing towards them, some huge wolves revealed their canines as they darted towards Zhang Tie.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s heroic feeling and growing ambition broke the depressive resentment at once and turned into a spring-thunder like roar.


    "Boom!"


    The tranquil lake quaked, causing micro waves. Along with this roar, Zhang Tie jumped up and punched his fist while breaking the air. Meanwhile, the 4 wild huge wolves became blood drops and fine fleshes as they sprayed over the ground in a wink...


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s punch, even Setton changed his face from afar. Setton didn''t know what Zhang Tie roared just now, but he felt that Zhang Tie''s fighting strength instantly intensified after that roar. Zhang Tie was very overwhelming. Given Zhang Tie''s fierce punch, Setton even doubted that the bone-exploding needles in Zhang Tie''s body did work at all. Given such a shocking effect, Setton was clear that Zhang Tie had a terrifying strength.


    "Does he hate huge wolves or he''s a devoted disciple of school of patron?''


    Setton became perplexed at once. A powerhouse traveled so far to kill some worthless huge wolves? Only lunatics would be that ludicrous.


    ...


    Zhang Tie wandered nearby the snow wolf lake for about 1 day. With the help of his owl, his hunting efficiency greatly increased. In only 1 day, Zhang Tie killed 117 wild huge wolves.


    This number of wild huge wolves meant 2 huge wolf seven-strength fruits. "What a big harvest!"


    Finally, being urged by Setton, Zhang Tie felt reluctant to leave snow wolf lake.


    Zhang Tie even wanted to escape away and freely hunt huge wolves for a few more days here. However, after considering the situation of grey eagle tribe, he left and finally gave up this idea.


    "Patience is virtue!" Zhang Tie told himself.


    Setton''s words further confirmed Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "O''Laura will take the fighters of grey eagle tribe to converge with other tribes at the tributary of Fitjar River. We will talk about how to march towards the urban relics. The tributary of Fitjar is also the heavily-stricken area of wild huge wolves."


    ...

 441 The Team

    Chapter 441: The Team


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The estuary of Fitjar was more than 400 km away from the grey eagle tribe...


    When the day broke, Zhang Tie set out with the team of grey eagle tribe. After 6-7 hours of travel, they finally arrived at the estuary of Fitjar at about 14:00.


    The estuary of Fitjar was in the northwest of grey eagle tribe while the snow wolf lake was in the northeast of grey eagle tribe. Estuary of Fitjar was about 500 away from snow wolf lake.


    This time, Zhang Tie really enjoyed riding a rhino-horse for a long distance as a cavalry. After over 400 kms of coordination, he further improved his equestrian skill. He could drive rhino-horse purely by his feet instead of having to draw the rein by hand.


    For any cavalry, it was the first step to have fighting strength by setting free their hands.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could practice riding skills, one of the six compulsory courses in Hidden Dragon Palace through this travel in Ice and Snow Wildness. Therefore, he felt very good. Zhang Tie knew that horsemanship course in Hidden Dragon Palace could not be passed so easily. In Hidden Dragon Palace, horsemanship must include many fighting skills, riding movements and standard training of cavalries. However, Zhang Tie didn''t need to learn all of them in such a short period. He didn''t think that he could not drive a rhino-horse well as the only successor of the Great Wild Sect...


    Therefore, Zhang Tie kept galloping his rhino-horse! For others, this was a rapid march; however, for Zhang Tie, it was almost like a tour.


    After running his battle Qi for 5-6 times during the past 2 days and this early morning, Zhang Tie had almost consumed 1/3 of the bone-exploding needles in his body. It would take him 3-4 days more to completely clean off the bone-exploding needles. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not concerned about them at all.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie estimated that he could have 1 more iron-body fruit to eat after 2 days of painstaking consumption of the energy of bone-exploding needles. Wherever he was, Zhang Tie was always sunny like how he was in the iron-thorn fighting club in Blackhot City as a flesh bag. As long as he changed his mind, everything would change.


    Zhang Tie rode his rhino-horse back and forth joyfully as he stretched out his arms like a bird. At the sight of his movements, 2 people in the grey eagle tribe gritted their teeth.


    The 1st one was O''Laura. She wondered how come a guy who had almost lost his freedom after being planted with the bone-exploding needles became so happy. Since that night when she heard Setton''s suggestion, she had been very unpleasant the moment she saw Zhang Tie in recent days.


    "Did you just hunt wild huge wolves last night?" Riding on a snowwhite rhino-horse, O''Laura asked Setton while gritting her teeth. Based on her terribly precise intuition as a woman, O''Laura would never believe in Zhang Tie''s reason no matter how devoted he looked.


    "This guy was really doing nothing else but hunting wild huge wolves!" Setton lowered his voice. At this moment, even Setton began to admire about Zhang Tie''s broad mind, "Actually, this guy is really talented at learning horsemanship. Very few people could reach his level only after 2 days of practice." Setton owed all these to Zhang Tie''s "secret background" and the influence of Zhang Tie''s family education. "Perhaps Peter has ridden horse or something before; therefore, he could adapt to rhino-horse so fast. If Peter could ride any beast in the childhood, he must have a good family. However, Setton would be the last person who believed that Zhang Tie was riding a transformed mini tricycle to carry goods when he was a child."


    "This guy is too smart. I always feel that he''s cheating us. Don''t be cheated by his look!" O''Laura warned Setton.


    Scratching his head, Setton smirked as he glanced at O''Laura''s rhino-horse, "Speaking of the look, have you found that the color of your rhino-horse is completely as same as his owl? They really match with each other. But I remember that you always ride black rhino-horse..."


    Soon after saying that, Setton had kicked his rhino-horse and rushed ahead before O''Laura lost her temper.


    O''Laura didn''t lose her temper; instead, she became stunned for a short while...


    ...


    Another one who gritted his teeth among the team of grey eagle tribe was Salem who was provoking Zhang Tie outside the tribe last day.


    Salem was the eldest son of senior Ollier and the head of the largest armed force in grey eagle tribe. Among all the sons of Ollier, Salem''s fighting strength was the highest as a LV 9 fighter.


    Without war mobilization, the grey eagle tribe contained more than 900 professional fighters who were the most powerful military forces in the tribe. 600 of them were led by Salem while only 300 fighters were under the leadership of Setton, being loyal to O''Laura.


    Of course, fighters had to eat. Given the population size and economic strength of the grey eagle tribe, it was already a bit difficult to maintain the regular fighting strength of 900 fighters.


    As professional fighters didn''t attend productive labor of the tribe, they could not bring a single cent to the tribe; additionally, their weapons, armors, daily training and supplies were definitely not a small expenditure. Especially in Ice and Snow Wildness, each fighter should be matched with a rhino-horse so as to form mechanomotive force. In this way, it required at least 50 gold coins to maintain an average fighter''s one year''s expenditure. This meant tens of thousands of gold coins per year. For smaller tribes like the grey eagle tribe which had no powerful economic pillar, it was indeed a huge expenditure.


    Because of the same reason, O''Laura needed money urgently. With money, she could train powerful fighters. With more fighters, she could take the power of the tribe without having to arouse a bloody war. In the tribe, the number of fighters represented the number of families. The more fighters you had, the more families would support you and the more influential you would be in the tribe.


    This time, O''Laura took 400 fighters, 200 of them were hers, 200 of them were Salem''s. O''Laura was the head of this team while Salem was the vice head. The reason that senior Ollier supported O''Laura to take so many people out of the grey eagle tribe to gather at the estuary of Fitjar was that he wanted half of the achievements...

 442 The Mermaid

    Chapter 442: The Mermaid


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Senior Ollier''s request was indeed a bit excessive, because everybody knew that O''Laura''s team was far more powerful than the fighters led by his son because of the existence of O''Laura and Setton. However, O''Laura still agreed with the request. This made Zhang Tie a bit puzzled. According to Setton''s explanation, O''Laura did this to avoid the grey eagle tribe from being sneered as lacking cohesive force.


    After knowing that, Zhang Tie became speechless.


    On the way, Zhang Tie encountered many pioneers, who were heading for the estuary of Fitjar in a group of three or four. These pioneers were coming from Sciatta. Among them, some pioneers drove traffic tools drawn by moose; some directly walked on foot.


    When they caught sight of the cavalries, almost all the pioneers became a bit tense. Many of them even directly escaped towards other directions in case of encountering the cavalries of the grey eagle tribe.


    In wild, if the head of the team of cavalries was brutal, he might kill all the pioneers. Nobody would like to revenge for these poor pioneers at all. Therefore, these weak pioneers were a bit afraid at the sight of so many cavalries.


    Watching Zhang Tie galloping his rhino-horse jubilantly, many people disliked him. However, nobody uttered a voice. As long as they wanted to stir up trouble, they would recall how Coca and his men died that day.


    ...


    The estuary of Fitjar was in a open plain area. Some rivers converged here and finally flew into a huge glacier crack...


    When they were miles away from the estuary of Fitjar, Zhang Tie had already heard a huge thunder-like boom from afar. Hearing it, everybody sped up while screaming.


    The cavalries in the team who hefted the banner of the grey eagle tribe became more spirited. They raised high their big banners and rushed ahead.


    The estuary of Fitjar ahead of Zhang Tie was so boisterous that it was completely out of his expectation. Zhang Tie looked ahead and saw the continuous camps and different banners that flew in the air above the center of each camp. Those camps could be clearly identified. It looked absolutely like arranging arms and embattling.


    Based on the quantity of camps, tens of thousands of fighters were gathering here.


    In the central part of those camps, Zhang Tie saw a bear totem of a camp which occupied the biggest area. That banner was outstanding.


    At the sight of that banner, Zhang Tie had known that some big tribes had attended this gathering.


    "Wild bear tribe!" Setton remarkably frowned and became amazed as he caught sight of that banner in the central area.


    "What? Is that tribe special?" Zhang Tie asked Setton out of curiosity.


    "All the members of this tribe are lunatics. They can do whatever they want. You''d better not stir up them!" Setton warned Zhang Tie, "It''s your great honor if you can be their friend; however, if they treat you as their enemy, you''d better pray to have a disgraceful death. If those lunatics want to kill you, they can chase you for decades endlessly. 3 decades ago, a powerhouse coming from the continent stirred up with the wild bear tribe. Therefore, the wild bear tribe dispatched people to chase after him for more than 2 decades, even though that guy escaped away from Ice and Snow Wildness. In over 2 decades, wild bear tribe lost over 2000 people; however, finally, they brought back that guy''s head. It was told that the guy was not killed by wild bear tribe, but was driven mad by wild bear tribe endlessly and finally committed suicide! "


    Zhang Tie widely opened his mouth, "F*ck, how come they dispatched so many fighters to chase an enemy for decades at the cost of thousands of people? These guys are really stubborn."


    A lunatic was already terrifying; however, a tribe full of lunatics like wild bear tribe was more terrifying!


    Zhang Tie put Setton''s words in mind deeply. Meanwhile, he warned him to not stir up with lunatics like them.


    When the grey eagle tribe arrived there, they were stationed on a 20-m wide riverside where they started to set fire to cook grains. Everybody only took 2 dried fruits. Therefore, they didn''t have to worry about food at the present.


    As a member of the grey eagle tribe, Zhang Tie also started to build his individual tent. According to Zhang Tie''s customs, he built his tent close to the riverside so that when necessary he could roll into the river. The river was very clean. Although Zhang Tie had not tried its depth, he could not see its bottom directly. But, it was okay for him to escape at critical moment.


    The moment the grey eagle tribe settled down, someone had visited their camp to invite O''Laura to discuss about something in the commander''s tent of the wild bear tribe. Without saying anything, O''Laura directly went there with Setton and Salem.


    As it was nothing to do with Zhang Tie, he was pleased to be free.


    It was the hottest period in the afternoon. The sun was hanging above head while the river was sparkling. Many fighters from different camps were taking bath and cleansing their rhino-horses in the river. After building his individual tent, Zhang Tie came across a thought. He then took off his clothes except his shorts and walked out of his tent. Without warming up his body, he directly dived into the river.


    When he entered the river, Zhang Tie swam with his head above water for a while, pretending to take a bath. However, when he was a short distance away from the camp area of the grey eagle tribe and found that nobody cared about his movement, Zhang Tie smirked as he buried his head into the water. He started to dive towards the upper reach. At the beginning, he would control his diving speed under water; however, after swimming a few minutes when he was gradually far away from the camps, Zhang Tie sped up.


    Remembering Setton said this area was the heavily-stricken area of wild huge wolves, Zhang Tie just wanted to try his fortune and explore the way over there.


    This river was deeper than 10 m. It flew slowly while the bottom was covered with stones and few aquatic plants. As the lower reach of this river was the convergence of three rivers and a waterfall, Zhang Tie could only dive towards the upper reach.


    Although the bone-exploding needles curbed his battle Qi, they didn''t restrict his spiritual energy. Therefore, Zhang Tie could still open the teleportation channel on his hands at the bottom of the river to absorb water into Castle of Black Iron, in such way he could still adjust his moving speed and become as flexible as a big fish.


    Only after 20 minutes, Zhang Tie had been about 30 km away from the camp area of the grey eagle tribe.


    Although Zhang Tie was here for wild huge wolves, he found a mermaid ahead of a huge wolf.


    Zhang Tie swam so fast under water with a good vision. When he saw someone else swimming in front of him, Zhang Tie slowed down immediately.


    That was a graceful female who was naked in water. From the angle of Zhang Tie, he could rightly see her breathtaking snowwhite thighs and beautiful black hair.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could encounter someone swimming here after being so far away from the camp area. Therefore, he stayed at the bottom, being over 30 m away from that figure. He was thinking about the next plan.


    "If I pass by her from the bottom as fast as possible...I''m sure I will be discovered. Besides exposing my super great diving ability, I might even be taken as a lady-killer!"


    "If I come out of water and reveal the identity of the woman that wants to hunt huge wolves, nobody would believe in that, unless they''re an idiot."


    "If I turn back and go ashore to another place, it might be a bit troublesome. But she''s just a swimming woman. Nothing to be afraid of."


    Because of a strong self-esteem, Zhang Tie denied the 3rd plan at once.


    "Then, hold on here for a few minutes. I will pass by when she goes ashore..."


    "Hmm, this idea sounds great."


    Zhang Tie then waited under water as he enjoyed the naked woman swimming in water.


    "Honestly, her figure is pretty good. Each of her movement is sexy."


    Zhang Tie smirked inside...


    However, only after enjoying the scene for 2 minutes, Zhang Tie felt his heart pacing immediately as he rolled towards one side as fast as a lightning bolt in water.


    Meanwhile, a steel short javelin was thrown downside from outside, which directly inserted into those broken stones where Zhang Tie was standing on just now.


    "Someone is down side there!" Someone shouted...


    Hearing this sound, the figure who was swimming in water hurriedly swam towards the riverside. Meanwhile, 4 people jumped in water, causing the sound of "Puff" while arousing some sprays. Holding weapons, they swam towards Zhang Tie.


    The 4 women were all good at diving. The moment they entered river, they had surrounded Zhang Tie.


    At this time, another short javelin was thrown towards Zhang Tie from riverside. However, Zhang Tie dodged away from it too. At the sight of the 4 women diving towards him, Zhang Tie knew that if he didn''t go ashore at this moment, he had to kill them in water. Otherwise, he had to expose his diving ability.


    Seeing the 1st woman stabbing towards him, Zhang Tie stretched out his hand to knock at her wrist before grabbing away her saber. Under her screams, Zhang Tie swam to her side. Embracing her waist, he drew her wrist as he exerted his strength and threw the woman onto the riverside immediately.


    Although these women had great fighting strength and good diving abilities, they were still sharply dwarfed by Zhang Tie in all aspects.


    Only after 10 seconds, the 4 women had been disarmed by Zhang Tie and thrown back onto the riverside.


    None of the 4 women were injured. When they were thrown onto the riverside, Zhang Tie heard sounds of amazement from the riverside. It seemed that they had not imagined that someone could throw them back on riverside. If not with great diving ability and strength, one could never do that.


    After a loud order "stop", they stopped throwing javelins in water. Knowing that they had understood his intention, Zhang Tie finally exposed his head out of water before going ashore rapidly.


    Dozens of women were glaring at him with sharp killing intents. They all drew their saber out of their sheaths while raising their eyebrows. Some of them were holding javelins and crossbows.


    Given Zhang Tie''s look, he was just a 17-18 year old teenager. Without weapons, he looked handsome while his wet hair fell naturally. Many women were startled about what they saw. As a result, many of them lowered their weapons.


    In most girls'' eyes, those younger handsome men were always not too bad.


    Almost all the women were elder than Zhang Tie. Even the youngest one was a bit elder than 20. After glancing over these women, Zhang Tie knew that he must have encountered an influential woman. Their cordon was very long along the riverside; however, they couldn''t imagine that he reached here in water from dozens of km away. Additionally, as he was at the bottom of river, he could not see those people on the riverside; therefore, such a misunderstanding was aroused.


    "Dear sisters. It must be a misunderstanding. As I was diving here from the lower reach, I didn''t know that you''ve surrounded this place. Look, I''ve been out of river now. Please, don''t point your weapons at me anymore; otherwise, others would think that I''m doing something bad here!''''


    Perhaps because of Zhang Tie''s sincere smile, many women exchanged glances with each other before further lowering their weapons towards Zhang Tie.


    "Didn''t you do anything bad?" A tall woman with long legs walked towards him from behind the crowd, water drops on her hair. However, she had already put on her handsome purple leather armor. At the sight of her black hair and long legs, Zhang Tie finally knew whom she was.


    The woman was over 20 or 30 years old; with a pair of blue eyes, plumpy lips and straight and raised nose, she was full of feminine charm. She looked like a well-ripe honey peach which, with a bite, could spray sweet juice. However, that purple leather armor reminded Zhang Tie that she was not a vase which could only be used for admiration.


    "Truly not!" seeing her walking towards him, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "When I found that you were swimming in front of me, it was rude to directly swim across you in case of misunderstanding. It was timid to swim back; therefore, I just stayed there and planned to swim across there after you went ashore. I''ve not imagined that you could find me!"


    "What did you see?" with a solemn face, the woman stared at Zhang Tie with her beautiful eyes.


    There was a second that Zhang Tie wanted to say that he didn''t see anything; however, he forcefully swallowed it back. Zhang Tie recalled First Lieutenant Freo. If Freo encountered such a sexy woman, he would have started to seduce her. Freo insisted that real men should be straightforward and dauntless.


    "Your legs are beautiful and white. Flowing over the glittering water, your black hair was like a black lotus flower!"


    "Black lotus flower!" The woman carefully tasted Zhang Tie''s words before revealing a smile, "If you said you didn''t see anything, it indicated that you were hypocritical; soon after you said that, I would have them kill you. If my naked body was spotted by such a person, I would feel as disgusting as eating a fly. But now, I changed my mind. Your answer satisfies me very much. Even though my naked body was spotted by you, I would not feel bad. Women indeed show their bodies and looks to men. Otherwise, they would not treasure themselves so much. Am I right?"


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that this woman was so open minded, "You''re right. There''s an old saying in Eastern Continent, "A woman would make herself up for her beloved man while a fighter would sacrifice himself for the woman who knows him best!"


    Actually the original old saying was "A woman would make herself up for her beloved man while a fighter would sacrifice himself for the one who knows him best!" Of course the one who knew the fighter best was not definitely a woman. In most cases, it was a man. However, at this critical moment, Zhang Tie changed the one into the woman.


    It was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that after hearing his explanation, not only that woman in purple leather armor, even the other women''s eyes gleamed. Many of them completely loosed their grips of weapons.


    "Young man, may I know your name?" the woman walked towards Zhang Tie with a tender voice. Meanwhile, she waved her hand towards her back, asking all the women to put down their weapons.


    "I''m Peter, what about you?"


    "Do you want to know my name?"


    "Of course!"


    "I''m Sabrina!" the women walked towards him while swaying her slim body like a hot purple flame, "Did you come here from the camp area in the lower reach?"


    "Yup, I''m from grey eagle tribe!"


    "What a coincidence! I''m also from over there. Compared to that place which was full of smelly men. This place is a bit tranquil. However, I encountered you!" the woman staring at Zhang Tie with her beautiful eyes in an interested manner, making Zhang Tie''s heart palpitate.


    "Erm, I want to dive for a bit longer, can I leave now?"


    "Go ahead, nobody would trouble you!" the woman smiled.


    "Okay, see you then!" Zhang Tie burst out laughing as he waved his hands towards them. After that, he turned around and dove into the river once again. He knew that those people on riverside were watching him; therefore, he dove forward in a speed which could be accepted by those people.


    "Young lady..." a woman appeared in front of Sabrina.


    "Don''t worry. I knew he was not telling a lie from his eyes. Additionally, I didn''t sense his animosity. Let''s go back. It''s really pleasant to chat with such a fresh and sincere handsome boy!"


    They then left...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that when those women left, the news that his head was worth 5000 gold coins had been spread in the gathering center of tribes by someone. After hearing this news, many people''s eyes started to radiate greedy green lights.


    ...

 443 Being Surrounded

    Chapter 443: Being Surrounded


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Zhang Tie returned to the camp of the grey eagle tribe, he saw bonfires.


    Under the amazing gazes of the fighters of the grey eagle tribe, Zhang Tie slowly went ashore with an arm-long lively, fat fish. It was penetrated with a waterweed through its gill. After hanging the fat fish onto an armrack on the side of his tent, Zhang Tie slowly walked in his own tent. After putting on his clothes and socks, he saw Setton coming in.


    "O''Laura thought you had escaped!"


    "If I wanted to run, I had to put on my clothes, even if I''m a prisoner who want to break prison. How come escape with naked butts!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    "Watch out yourself these days!"


    "Why?" Zhang Tie was preparing to take the fat fish to the riverside and clean it so as to cook it as his supper. After hearing Setton''s words, he slowed down his movement at once.


    "The news that your head is worth 5000 gold coins has been spread in this area!"


    "Who did it? Salem?" Zhang Tie became infuriated immediately.


    "Salem, I and O''Laura were communicating with directors of the other tribes in the main camp of the wild bear tribe. When I left there, I found someone was talking about you. Salem said he didn''t know about this. Although O''Laura became infuriated, she couldn''t find any evidence!"


    Zhang Tie sneered, "What a smart guy. He made an evidence that he was not there at the present. But he only needed to order his fighters to do that. Considering that he had half of the fighters of the grey eagle tribe, of course O''Laura would not punish so many people at once. Therefore, that guy was not afraid of that."


    "What should I do now? Wait for others to chop off my head?" Zhang Tie asked Setton.


    "According to the rules in Ice and Snow Wildness, you''re now the captive and personal property of O''Laura. Therefore, those people would not do that in the public; however, they might set you up in the dark. As long as they take your head to Eschyle City, they will obtain 5000 gold coins. For such a great amount of money, I''m afraid that someone would do that even at the risk of his own life! However, as long as you stay in the camp, you will be safe!"


    "Do you think that the barrier of this camp could prevent the charm of 5000 gold coins? Perhaps many people in the camp of the grey eagle tribe want to chop off my head!"


    "Don''t worry about that. Through the general recommendation, the one who presides over this action of tribe alliance is Gangula of the wild bear tribe. Gangula is the 4th son of the head of wild bear tribe. As he''s very crazy, his nickname is mad dog. However, he values the rules and regulations in Ice and Snow Wildness. When he presides over the action of all the tribes, if someone dares to attack you in the camp of the grey eagle tribe in the public, he would not only offend us, but also slap Gangula''s face. Nobody would like to do this. If not, he would stir up the wild bear tribe, not to mention the 5000 gold coins! However, you have to take care of yourself in the wild, especially remote places..."


    After hearing Setton''s words, Zhang Tie felt a bit better; however, Zhang Tie was not used to wait for death or rescue. He recovered his composure as he considered for a short while before asking, "What if someone wants to kill me in the wild? Can I kill him? If I kill him, whether it would trouble you?"


    He had to ask this question. Because Zhang Tie could not let other innocent people be involved.


    "If someone wants to kill you, you can directly kill him! Nobody dare to trouble us with this!" Setton replied firmly.


    "I see!" Zhang Tie nodded before asking another question, "What''s the result of your negotiation on the relics?"


    "The underground relics is in the glacier crack 25 km away. Our job is to block all the entrances of the glacier crack by setting passes. Those pioneers don''t need to pay any copper coin to enter the crack; however, they have to leave half of their achievements when they exit. Otherwise, we cannot ensure their safety in Ice and Snow Wildness."


    Zhang Tie smiled, "It turns out you plan to collect road toll here!"


    "The underground world is very dangerous. Although tens of thousands of fighters gather here, when they go inside, all of them might die in a wink. Therefore, we can gather at the entrances for benefits. Although many pioneers go there, they could not defeat us. Additionally, it''s reasonable for us to share half of their achievements in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Even in those continental countries, they still need to pay taxes for mining!" Setton explained.


    Zhang Tie nodded, "That''s true!"


    "We are here today to ascertain the way of cooperation. But we still have sharp different opinions on sharing our achievements. I''m afraid that we have to argue for one day. Well, take care of yourself!"


    Seeing Setton off, Zhang Tie stood still and thought for a short while. After that, he cleaned that fat fish at the riverside...


    After supper, Zhang Tie returned to his tent and started to polish the 18th surging point on his spine using his spiritual energy.


    Zhang Tie had been in Ice and Snow Wilderness for about a month, in that period Zhang Tie had consecutively lit the 16th and the 17th surging points at the cost of 3 leak-less fruits. At this moment, Zhang Tie''s 18th surging point had become bright orange. Additionally, there was a latest leak-less fruit on the small tree. Zhang Tie thought that he was not far from becoming a LV 8 fighter after lighting 21 surging points.


    "Whatever danger it is, as long as I have the strength, I will deal with it."


    ...


    On the 2nd day, after doing the morning exercise in his tent, Zhang Tie took a bath in the river. He then came to the outside of O''Laura''s tent.


    As a nominal head of the grey eagle tribe, of course, O''Laura''s tent was much bigger than the other tents.


    "Can I talk with O''Laura? I''ve got something to tell her!" Zhang Tie asked one of the two female servants standing outside O''Laura''s tent. The servant glanced at him before entering the tent. About half a minute later, the female servant walked out of the tent to call Zhang Tie in.


    When Zhang Tie entered, he saw O''Laura''s back. It seemed that O''Laura had just put on her mask.


    "Ho...ho...I thought that you kept your mask even on bed. It would be very terrifying if a woman doesn''t wash her face!" Zhang Tie joked.


    O''Laura turned over and glared at Zhang Tie, "What''s up?"


    "Erm, can you clean off the bone-exploding needles for me? Senior Merkel should give you the antidote..." Zhang Tie revealed a big smile.


    "No way, I have no antidote." hearing Zhang Tie''s request, O''Laura refused right now.


    "So many people want to kill me outside. If I don''t run my battle Qi, my fighting strength would sharply decline. Perhaps I might be killed the moment I leave your tent!" Zhang Tie looked serious at once.


    "As long as you are in the camp, you will be safe!" O''Laura glanced at Zhang Tie with a bad look. For some reason, as long as she caught sight of Zhang Tie''s exaggerating look, she would feel uncomfortable.


    "But I have to maintain the balance between species of the mother nature. There are so many huge wolves here. They''ve already destroyed the stability of the biosphere!" Zhang Tie raised his head towards the sky as he let out a sigh.


    "Do you think I''m a kid? How come I believe in your craps!" O''Laura sneered.


    "Can you give me my finger ring of awareness in case I can sense that I am followed by someone!" Zhang Tie really wanted this ring back as it was a gift from Olina. It was special for him. If he was forced to leave the grey eagle tribe, he had to take away the finger ring of awareness and the soul crystal gifted by his master Zhao Yuan, even if he could not get back his finger ring of eagle''s eye and the double-carp swords. Zhang Tie asked O''Laura for this item in the excuse of what happened to him yesterday.


    After considering Zhang Tie''s words for 2 seconds, O''Laura directly took off the finger ring of awareness from her finger and threw it to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie caught it and put it on his finger. Immediately, he had a weird sense. He had not imagined that he could ask this back in such a method. "Of course, this is not because that I''m charming but because that O''Laura thought that she could control me."


    "And my lucky stone, that common dark red crystal. Can you give it back to me too?"


    The moment Zhang Tie mentioned it did O''Laura remember it. There was indeed such a small crystal. When she searched out this item from Zhang Tie, she and senior Merkel found nothing special with it. Therefore, she just put it away casually. Now that Zhang Tie wanted it, she directly found it out and threw it to Zhang Tie.


    After getting back the finger rings and the soul crystal, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh. Seemingly having greater sensing abilities after wearing the finger ring of awareness, Zhang Tie instantly sniffed the slight bloody smell. Comparatively, air flow in tent was a bit slower than that outside, therefore, some special smell could not scatter in a short period.


    "You''ve got injured?" Zhang Tie watched O''Laura with a curious look.


    "No!"


    "That''s strange. How come there''s bloody smell in the tent?" Zhang Tie raised his nose and forcefully sniffed it...


    O''Laura''s body turned stiff at once.


    "Are you really injured? May I check it for you? I''ve learned how to deal with wounds. Generally, if wounds don''t ooze blood, it will be..."


    "Roll out!" O''Laura roared toward Zhang Tie which really frightened him.


    ...


    Zhang Tie escaped out of her tent in an embarrassed way at once. When he was outside the tent, he found many people were turning around and staring at him. O''Laura''s roar was really frightening that many people outside the tent had heard it.


    Looking at those people''s amazing looks, Zhang Tie touched his nose in an embarrassed manner.


    "What happened?" Setton ran towards him.


    "Was O''Laura injured yesterday?" Zhang Tie asked Setton.


    "No!"


    "But..." the moment Zhang Tie wanted to say it, he shut up. He came across the reason. "F*ck, perhaps this woman is in the unrivaled state which is featured by flowing out blood safe and sound. No wonder she lost her temper."


    "What a mess!" Zhang Tie heavily patted his head. Without any explanation, he rapidly left the camp of the grey eagle tribe under the doubtful look of Setton.


    When he left, Zhang Tie caught sight of Salem and his fighters. Salem was sneering at him.


    "Idiot!" Zhang Tie glanced at him. Under Salem''s changing face, Zhang Tie left.


    Salem wanted to catch up with Zhang Tie. However, at the sight of Zhang Tie''s back, he stood it as he swore ferociously, "I will see how many days can you survive!"


    When Zhang Tie left the camp, he directly ran towards the wild. Only after leaving the camp for less than 1000 m, he had felt being followed by someone through his finger ring of awareness.


    Raising his mouth corners, Zhang Tie sneered. As he was here for hunting wild huge wolves, if someone was behind, he didn''t mind chopping off his head.


    Zhang Tie trotted at a medium speed. He especially chose remote paths which were far away from the gathering center of tribes. If someone who was familiar with Zhang Tie''s deed, they would definitely know that Zhang Tie was setting a trap. Pitifully, for those who were obsessed with benefits, at the sight of Zhang Tie''s deed, they must be over pleasant and consider it as a pie in the sky.


    2 hours later, Zhang Tie had been about 40 km away from the camps. At the sight of a small crack which was 1000 m in length, over 20 m in depth, dozens of meters in width in front of him, Zhang Tie immediately walked inside from one end.


    Only after 10 minutes, he had arrived at a relatively open place. Zhang Tie stopped. After looking around, he revealed a sneer at his mouth corners.


    "You''ve followed me so long, come out!"


    The moment Zhang Tie finished his words, he had been surrounded by over 10 people.


    At the sight of them, Zhang Tie ridiculed, "In order to hide their status, they covered a cloth on their face."

 444 A Special Invitation

    Chapter 444: A Special Invitation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Only after a few minutes, Zhang Tie had already walked out of that crack without losing a hair, while all those guys in the masks couldn''t come out of that crack.


    Zhang Tie started to run towards afar...


    More than 10 minutes later, another figure rapidly drilled into that crack and came to the place where those people surrounded Zhang Tie. At this moment, this place was covered with corpses. All of them were covered with a cloth. Additionally, each one''s neck had been broken. They were looking at their own backs. At the sight of this, the investigator was startled at once. The killer was definitely killing them like killing chicks.


    "D*mn it!" the one drilling in the crack swore. Feeling a bit chilly, he looked around and found nobody was nearby; therefore, he turned around and ran out of here at once.


    ...


    In the daytime, Zhang Tie hunted another 40 more wild huge wolves. Although it was not too many, it still satisfied Zhang Tie. Not until the dusk fell did Zhang Tie return to the camp of the grey eagle tribe.


    Seeing Zhang Tie coming back to the camp, Salem and his lackeys looked a bit unhappy; however, at the sight of Zhang Tie, Setton remarkably let out a sigh.


    "Are you okay?"


    "Some masquers. I''ve killed them!"


    "Glad to see that you''re safe!" Setton didn''t ask about the details as Zhang Tie just briefed it.


    "What about your negotiation today?"


    "Almost done. The materials being used for setting passes are distributed according to the proportion of fighters of each tribe. However, if the fighters of each tribe would like to go in the underground relics, their achievements would belong to their own tribes. From tomorrow, we will set out from from here and head for the glacier crack 50 km away. Tonight, the wild bear tribe is going to invite all the heads of each tribes for a carnival. We have to bleed tomorrow!"


    Zhang Tie knew what did "bleed" mean. If they wanted to collect half of those pioneers'' achievements, they would definitely arouse their resistance. As for such a contention of interests, they could not carry it out without chopping off someone''s heads. Because this could never be solved by words but fists and blades.


    Perhaps, many people who should not die would die in the coming conflict; however, Zhang Tie could not come up with any other solution as it could not be transferred by his personal will. This was the game rule of this age.


    When Zhang Tie talked with Setton, they saw O''Laura walking out of her tent. She was wearing a robe which was more magnificent than that Zhang Tie saw in the morning. Given her look, Zhang Tie knew that she was going to attend the banquet.


    In well-dressed hair, Salem walked towards her as he glanced at Zhang Tie in a contemptuous way. He shouted loudly, "O''Laura, let''s go. The banquet of the wild bear tribe is going to start. As it''s a party held by the honorable Gangula, it''s impolite to be late!"


    "Setton!" O''Laura seemed having not seen Zhang Tie at all.


    Setton then glanced at Zhang Tie in a bit embarrassed way, "Only 3 people in the grey eagle tribe are qualified to attend this banquet according to the rule, you know..."


    "I see, enjoy yourselves!" Zhang Tie shrugged casually. Actually, based on his current status, he was really too trivial. Of course, he was not qualified to attend this banquet. Zhang Tie didn''t feel disappointed about that. Actually, he could polish his surging point or cultivate his iron-blood fist during this period.


    Setton then left. Before leaving, Salem turned around and glanced at Zhang Tie. His eyes were undoubtedly expressing a message¡ª¡ªNo matter how great your fighting strength is, you are still a trivial person here.


    Zhang Tie pointed his mouth towards Salem as he whispered a word¡ª¡ªIdiot!


    Salem glared at him before turning around.


    Zhang Tie rubbed his face as he took out some dried meat and started to roast it on a bonfire. Tonight, all the camps became boisterous. It seemed that everybody had received the news that they were going to set out tomorrow. Therefore, they wanted to relax themselves tonight. All the camps were filled with noises, aroma of roasted meat and the fragrance of Buckthorn wine, which made them very relaxed.


    Bonfires were burning high in the open land of each camp. The stars looked especially bright tonight. Many people ran outside to attend the carnival, leaving less than 1/4 of them in the camps.


    In less than 10 minutes after O''Laura, Salem and Setton left, when Zhang Tie could smell the aroma of his dried meat, he heard a voice, "Is Peter here?"


    Zhang Tie turned around and saw 2 women standing outside the gate of the grey eagle tribe''s camp, one of whom was inquiring about a fighter of the grey eagle tribe who was on sentry duty.


    They looked familiar. One of them was thrown onto the riverside by Zhang Tie yesterday.


    "Are you looking for me?" Zhang Tie ate his dried meat as he walked over there.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, the 2 women revealed a smile at the same time.


    "Miss Sabrina dispatch us here to invite you to attend the banquet of the wild bear tribe!" the 20-year old women who had fought Zhang Tie last night put it straightforwardly.


    "Invite me?" Zhang Tie pointed at his own nose as he blinked.


    "Right, young lady ordered us to bind you there if you refuse to come!" another woman teased him, which indicated Sabrina''s firm attitude.


    "I will go there, why not? How interesting it is!" imagining about Salem''s dumbfounded look at the sight of him in the banquet, Zhang Tie felt pretty good.


    The 2 fighters who were on sentry duty both stared at Zhang Tie with dismay. At this moment, their eyes were full of amazement. They wondered how could Zhang Tie be involved with that well-known woman since he had only been here for 2 days and why he was invited by that woman to attend the banquet held by the wild bear tribe tonight?


    Noticing the 2 fighters'' dumbfounded looks, Zhang Tie threw his dried meat to them, "Come on, brothers, I invite you for supper!"


    After catching Zhang Tie''s dried meat, the fighters saw Zhang Tie and the 2 women leaving towards the camp of the wild bear tribe.


    "Can you tell me about the status of Sabrina? It seems that average people could not attend the banquet of the wild bear tribe tonight, let alone inviting others!" on the way there, Zhang Tie asked them.


    "Haven''t you inquired about our young lady since you came back yesterday?" a woman became amazed.


    "It was just an encounter. No need to be that thoughtful!" Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly.


    "You will know about that later!" a woman glanced at Zhang Tie as she smiled.


    ...


    The camp of the wild bear tribe occupied the biggest area, which contained most population and tens of thousands of tents in different sizes which occupied about 1000 square meters. Under the guidance of the 2 women, Zhang Tie directly entered the camp of the wild bear tribe and walked towards the center of the camp without encountering any obstacles.


    On the way here, Zhang Tie found that the atmosphere in the wild bear tribe was very relaxed tonight. Bonfires were burning everywhere. However, Zhang Tie still met patrols for more than 10 times in the camp. He could almost encounter 1 patrol in each dozens of meters.


    The wild bear tribe had the most fighters, whose equipment was obviously more excellent than that of the grey eagle tribe and other tribes in Zhang Tie''s eyes. The patrol fighters were simply wearing leather armors, but also half-body metal armors. Even average fighters of the wild bear tribe were matched with uniformed short sabers. By contrast, the equipment of the other tribes were instantly dwarfed. It was similar to the difference between regular army and guerrilla.


    Additionally, although the wild bear tribe was stationed here temporarily, all of its facilities and barriers were set carefully, revealing a forbidding sense all over.


    Everything here indicated that the wild bear tribe was indeed powerful enough to rule the other tribes here.


    "No wonder all the tribes recommend Gangula of the wild bear tribe to be the commander of this tribe alliance." Zhang Tie sighed with emotions inside. "It seems that as long as it is, the game rule of this world remains unchanged; namely, the most powerful one will be the boss. All the other rules were nothing but sh*t."


    After walking a few minutes in the camp of the wild bear tribe, the 3 people finally arrived outside a huge tent.


    Occupying 1000 square meters, this tent was completely the tent of those large-scale cruising circus. Of course, this tent was much more luxurious than those tents.


    Braziers were set outside the tent, which illuminated this place and made it as bright as daytime. Low voices drifted from the tent while lines of fighters were moving yummy food such as roasted sheep and barrels of Buckthorn wine into the huge tent. It seemed that the banquet had just started.


    Guards were tightly surrounding this tent. Zhang Tie looked around and felt that these guards were more powerful than those patrols. Additionally, these guards wore combined full-body metal punching armors, which were more senior than those half-body metal armors.


    The moment they were drawing close to the tent, a guard had stopped them. However, 1 of the 2 women easily forced him away with only one line.


    "This is a guest invited by young lady!"


    After hearing this words, nobody stopped them any more. Someone even opened the curtain for them when they entered the tent.


    "Is Sabrina a member of the wild bear tribe? It seems that she has a great status in the wild bear tribe." At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie came across a thought. "What a coincidence!" Zhang Tie''s mouth corners raised...


    In the big tent, dozens of short tables were set on both sides of the tent while a line of taller tables were set in the main positions. Most of guests in brilliant costumes were sitting on both sides of the tent and whispering each other. The fighters of the wild bear tribe were constantly serving various food and wines on the tables.


    Because the tables in the main positions were empty, nobody started to eat; instead, they were waiting for something.


    When the 2 women guided Zhang Tie in, they didn''t arouse the others'' attention. As Zhang Tie wore common clothes among the fighters who were serving food constantly, some influential guys sitting at the tables close to the door only skimmed over Zhang Tie. Until the 2 women took Zhang Tie on the middle way and directed towards the line of tables in the main positions did everybody seemingly notice Zhang Tie. Along with the 3 people''s footsteps, the humming sounds in the tent gradually slowed down. Eventually everybody fixed their eyes on the 3 people including Zhang Tie in the end.


    Zhang Tie also caught sight of O''Laura, Setton and Salem, who were sitting in the positions closer to the door on both sides. Zhang Tie knew that it indicated that the position of the grey eagle tribe was not good if not the worst.


    Nurdo, O''Laura''s cousin whom Zhang Tie met when he was in grey eagle tribe at the beginning was sitting on O''Laura''s side, which was a bit closer to the main positions.


    This time, Nurdo was not as arrogant as before; instead, he looked kind with a smile. He was inclining his body and whispering to O''Laura while the latter just ignored him. Salem was sitting between them.


    Salem liked O''Laura. However, another guy who liked O''Laura completely ignored his existence. This made Salem''s face full of changes, such as fury, embarrassment and grievance; however, Salem couldn''t lose temper at this moment. Because O''Laura and Nurdo were both sharper than him in the fighting strength; Nurdo''s social position was even higher than him.


    At the sight of this, Zhang Tie almost burst out into laughter. Zhang Tie felt that the ones who arranged seats in the wild bear tribe were really tacit with O''Laura. They must have reached an agreement on teasing Salem. How dramatic!


    Setton, who was sitting on O''Laura''s side also caught sight of Zhang Tie. He then blinked his eyes with a dumbfounded look. It was really out of his imagination why Zhang Tie could appear here. Therefore, Setton touched O''Laura with his leg. When O''Laura turned her head around, she, Salem and Nurdo fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie at the same time.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Salem who was embarrassed just now looked like being slapped sharply as his face turned red and black. Even his mouth corners started to twitch slightly.


    Although Nurdo still maintained his smile, he slightly frowned. He felt that he had seen Zhang Tie before; however, he could not recall the concrete whereabouts.


    Although O''Laura''s facial expression could not be seen, Zhang Tie could feel that her eyes were thrown onto him like needles. Being same to Setton, O''Laura''s eyes were also full of doubts.


    Only after a smile to O''Laura and Setton, Zhang Tie had walked towards the 3 main tables.


    The whole tent became silent. Under everybody''s gaze, Zhang Tie was taken to the left main table.


    Zhang Tie found 2 seats were arranged for this table. He then chose the side one.


    "Hold a second, young lady will arrive soon!"


    "Thanks!"


    Not until the 2 women left the tent did the tent recover its discussions.


    Sitting on the main seat, Zhang Tie watched the guests on both sides as he forced a bitter smile. He knew that although these guys looked normal, they must be gazing at him secretly. Their eyes were full of curiosity and doubts. They seemed like peeling off Zhang Tie''s clothes.


    Actually, Zhang Tie found that there were also dozens of women in the tent. Like those men, these women also glanced at Zhang Tie every then and now.


    Among those tough Slav men, Zhang Tie was as remarkable as a crane in chickens, let alone he was at the main seat. Therefore, many women''s eyes were filled with desires.


    The power of the wild bear tribe was reflected on the tables once again. Zhang Tie found that, even exotic fruits were served on the tables while other tribes only had dried rations. These couple of days, Zhang Tie had traveled 100 square kilo meters in the surroundings. At the sight of the fruits, he had known that they were not picked off from the surroundings. Therefore, they must be taken there by the wild bear tribe.


    Having not eaten for a whole day, Zhang Tie was a bit hungry. Therefore, regardless of the others'' amazing gazes, Zhang Tie started to engulf food alone...

 445 Being Eye-catching

    Chapter 445: Being Eye-catching


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    If one wanted to be distinctive, he only needed to act distinctively. The most distinctive way was to follow one''s own mind, regardless of the others'' views.


    When the others were waiting for the head of the wild bear tribe, Zhang Tie''s performance made the whole tent become quiet once again. Watching Zhang Tie eating so jubilantly, the audience were so shocked that they even wanted to count Zhang Tie''s fine hair with their glittering eyes.


    At this moment, Setton understood that no matter what, people like Zhang Tie would not stay in the grey eagle tribe. Even though Zhang Tie was a captive and slave at this moment, he still acted like a king. The grey eagle tribe could not keep such a person at all. Even if O''Laura married him, the grey eagle tribe would just be a courier station in his eyes.


    However, O''Laura had a strange feeling, at the sight of Zhang Tie''s performance, she felt excited and stimulative for some reason. However, O''Laura finally confirmed that even the bone-exploding needles were left in this guy''s body by master Merkel, this guy was still uncontrollable.


    As to Salem, besides a sharp sense of disappointment, he was expecting for the cool sense of revenge. Salem knew that not everybody could be distinctive in the banquet of the wild bear tribe. Although there was no fixed rule that guests could not start to eat before the arrival of the head, it had become a customary rule in Ice and Snow Wilderness. In Salem''s eyes, Zhang Tie''s performance was already close to rudeness and presumption.


    "Hopefully, this b*stard could not survive tonight!" a vicious thought flashed by Salem''s mind. "It will be a revenge for Coca."


    Besides Setton, O''Laura and Salem, all the others only wondered whom the one was.


    Someone might have already known Zhang Tie''s status; therefore, they glanced at O''Laura''s table.


    The atmosphere in the tent became a bit weird.


    "Why not eat? What are you staring at?" with a fruit in left hand, a roasted leg of lamb in right hand, Zhang Tie buried his head. After finding the tent recovered silence once again, Zhang Tie raised his head and greeted the others to eat while wiping the oil off his mouth.


    All the dozens of people then exchanged glances with each other. None of them moved their hands.


    Zhang Tie smirked as he continued to eat while smacking his lips.


    In such a weird silence, a series of footsteps drifted from the curtain behind the main tables.


    "Here''s childe Gangula!" with a long, loud call, everybody in the tent stood up out of respect, including Zhang Tie.


    In Ice and Snow Wilderness, all the rulers of tribes being crowned with the word "bear" were qualified as dukes according to the regulations on the division of classes of Slavs. Of course, the class duke could only be admitted in Ice and Snow Wilderness as a symbol of power. Strictly, duke was not a universal human noble in this age. Being different from Count Longwind in Huaiyuan Palace, if the head of the wild bear tribe left Ice and Snow Wilderness, nobody would call him duke at all.


    Of course, sons of dukes were called childe. In this age, sons of kings were called princes; those who could succeed to the throne among princes were called crown prince. Sons of average princes and dukes were called childe''s; those who could succeed to the throne of average princes were called royal highness. Those who could succeed to the throne of dukes enjoyed no special appellation. The three top classes were strictly hierarchical.


    It was said that such regulations and appellations originated from ancient Chinese etiquettes. Nowadays, with the growing power of Chinese, these etiquettes became widely accepted by the nobles and ruling classes in almost every country and region.


    "I''ve not imagined that I could witness the great influence of Chinese in Ice and Snow Wilderness." a strange sense rose in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    After the call, a team of fighters who wore the same armors of the guards outside the gate pulled open the curtain of the side door before standing on both sides of the door solemnly. After that, a 20-year old man in black armor came in. He looked languid; however, he was especially attractive which could not be ignored at all.


    Sabrina was close behind him. She was especially brilliant in a sumptuous black skirt, half exposing her plumpy breasts followed by some armored fighters who had sharp Qi fields.


    When the man came in, he glimpsed at Zhang Tie''s messy table. Although responding with a disgusting look, he was still silent. The armored fighters behind Sabrina also glanced over Zhang Tie. After that, they darted a look at Sabrina calmly. Nobody was happy at the sight of Zhang Tie''s messy table except for Sabrina.


    When he caught sight of Sabrina, Zhang Tie also grinned.


    They headed for the main tables. The youth in black armor was Gangula, who was sitting at the middle main table. Sabrina and Zhang Tie were sitting on his left hand while the other 2 armored men were sitting on Gangula''s right hand.


    Not until Gangula took his seat did everybody else sit, causing a boom in the tent.


    "Pah...pah..." sitting at the middle main table, Gangula clapped which attracted everybody''s attention, "May I have your attention, please. Before banquet, I want to introduce my friends to you, these 2 friends are Roslav and Waajid from the huge bear tribe of Mount Elzida. They visit us with a team of bear-killing fighters. After hearing that we''re heading for urban relics, they come here with me!"


    Gangula introduced them in a very casual way. When they heard "the huge bear tribe", all the other guests sprung up to show their respect to them.


    Meanwhile, the 2 guests on Gangula''s right side also stood up. However, they didn''t speak. After slightly nodding, they sat down once again.


    Zhang Tie noticed that many people looked excited when heard that people from the huge bear tribe would attend this action. Many people even sat up straight. It seemed that it was a great honor for them to work together with the huge bear tribe.


    After having been in Ice and Snow Wilderness for so long, Zhang Tie had known something about the huge bear tribe: firstly, the huge bear tribe was the most powerful tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness which was guarding slava''s saint mountain. It had a great influence in Ice and Snow Wilderness; secondly, this tribe was closely related to the other tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness. It was heard that hundreds of years ago, the huge bear tribe was the only tribe which migrated in Ice and Snow Wilderness. After constant reproduction, due to various reasons, the huge bear tribe finally separated into various tribes, small or big, which coexisted in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    After the main characters entered the tent, everybody started to enjoy themselves.


    ...


    "What a foodie cat !" Sabrina murmured in a kind way as he noticed that Zhang Tie had eaten 1/3 of his food.


    "Foodie cat?" Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile.


    "As I''ve not eaten anything in the whole day, at the sight of so many food in front of me, I couldn''t stand but eat. I heard foodie cats always likes eating fish, especially mermaid!" Zhang Tie joked with Sabrina.


    "If there''s a mermaid in front of you, dare you eat it?" Sabrina showed the white of her eyes to Zhang Tie in an amorous way.


    "I dare not!"


    "Coward!" Sabrina harrumphed as she pretended to be angry.


    "A great number of tigers were staring at you covetously. Of course, I dare not to eat!" Zhang Tie raved. Honestly, although they only met twice, they felt having known each other for a long time. Zhang Tie wondered inside, "Does it have such a side effect by watching a beauty taking bath by chance?."


    Sabrina glanced over those people who were staring at them with covetous eyes as she revealed a smile, "Lena said you didn''t know who I am until now?"


    "Never mind!" Zhang Tie shrugged, "No matter what, I''ve been ready to be mauled by them after supper..."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Sabrina chuckled at once as she quivered all over, making her more attractive. Sabrina''s chuckles were too special that everybody fixed their eyes on her. At the sight of their intimate looks, many people''s eyes were filled with admiration, jealousy and hatred.


    "Gangula is my younger brother. We have the same father!" Sabrina moved her mouth close to Zhang Tie''s ear.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie almost spurted the Buckthorn wine out of his mouth, "Gangula''s elder sister. F*ck! No wonder dozens of people guarded her even when she took a bath in the river."


    "Almost everybody know me in Ice and Snow Wilderness. I''m afraid that many people have taken you as another curtain guest of mine!"


    This sentence contained a lot of information. It took Zhang Tie a few seconds to realize it. Although Sabrina''s status was shocking, what made him more surprised was the term.


    "Another curtain guest?" Zhang Tie accented the term.


    "Yes. In some people''s eyes, I have a bad reputation. It''s said that those who had slept with me could queue up from here all the way to Eschyle City!" Sabrina explained calmly. It seems that she was talking about another woman instead of her for such an embarrassed thing, "Do you mind sitting close to me?"


    Zhang Tie glanced over Sabrina from her head to her feet for a short while before waving his head.


    "Do you feel pitiful about me after hearing this? Do you believe in your ears?" Sabrina raised her gorgeous face as she asked Zhang Tie in a slightly aggressive tone, "Or are you going to leave now?"


    Zhang Tie instantly moved his head closer to Sabrina''s ear while his lips could almost touch her auricle. He murmured, "I''m pitiful about those men. They''re not just idiots, but also blind. Based on your current situation, you are even as pure as a nun who grows up in the monastery since young. Am I right? If you want me as your 1st curtain guest, I would not stand showing it off..."


    At the beginning, Sabrina showed a slightly stunning look; finally, she turned around and stared at Zhang Tie with blush and widely opening eyes.


    "How do you know that?" Sabrina asked in a lower voice.


    "I just have a pair of sharp eyes which are good at discovering beauties!"


    "You b*stard, don''t you tell others about this!" Sabrina said decisively which sounded like a threat.


    "What benefit can I get?" Zhang Tie asked shamelessly, "You have to pay for your secret!"


    "What do you want?"


    "As you invite me for a feast tonight, I will tell you later!"


    "Don''t be excessive!"


    "Don''t worry, I''m not a foodie cat. I''m sure my demand will not turn your secret into a past tense!"


    After being silent for 2 seconds, Sabrina finally understood Zhang Tie''s words. Therefore, she fiercely pinched Zhang Tie''s thigh below the table, almost making Zhang Tie spring up.


    As they didn''t want their talk to be heard by others, they were very close to each other. In the eyes of the other guests, they were very intimate to each other.


    At sight of this, O''Laura twisted her knife and fork while many men''s eyes got burned.


    "Childe Gangula, we should have a program to spice up this banquet. I''m told that there is a murderer who''s wanted with the bounty of 5000 gold coins in Eschyle City. I heard he had killed 2 bounty hunters. My men dislike him and want to test his talent. Hopefully, Childe Gangula could agree with that!" A man suddenly stood up at a table and shouted.


    Hearing that, Zhang Tie knew that the most concerned thing finally arrived...


    "A murderer being wanted with the bounty of 5000 gold coins is here?" the moment he heard this, Gangula''s face turned gloomy.

 446 The Death Game

    Chapter 446: The Death Game


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As Gangula''s face gradually turned gloomy, that guy fixed his eyes onto Zhang Tie. At the same time, more and more people stared at Zhang Tie. Even many people who were not clear about Zhang Tie''s status understood it at once as they held their breaths.


    Sitting at the main seat, Gangula also understood it as he turned around and stared at Zhang Tie with his wolf eyes.


    Hearing that a wanted murderer who had killed bounty hunters is here, the 2 men from the huge bear tribe on the right seats of Gangula instantly put their hands on the handles of their swords.


    Sabrina just stared at Zhang Tie with a smile. She seemingly wanted to see how Zhang Tie would deal with this situation.


    The atmosphere in the tent gradually turned icy.


    Under the gaze of everybody, Zhang Tie finally stood up from his seat and looked at that guy who stirred up trouble with a contemptuous smile.


    "You''re almost half-right. I truly killed a d**chebag from demon snake island in Eschyle City. Therefore, I was wanted by Eschyle City. As to the 2 bounty hunters who were dispatched by Eschyle City to kill me, they had been killed in the wild by someone else before they met me. Therefore, Eschyle City owed this case to me. No matter what, I will not be the scapegoat for the real killer!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Gangula''s eyes glittered as the atmosphere in the tent became a bit relaxed.


    "Harrumph...harrumph..." that guy sneered with crossing arms, "Why do you think we believe in you?"


    "I believe in him!" O''Laura uttered at this moment. Under the gaze of everybody else, O''Laura stood up, "After receiving the wanted circular of Eschyle City, I found that the 2 bounty hunters were indeed not killed by him. It''s someone else who had killed them. Because of this, I chose to capture him and keep him as my personal property, instead of killing him!"


    O''Laura''s words were really out of Zhang Tie''s expectation. However, her last words seemingly indicated something, especially when she said that Zhang Tie was her personal property, O''Laura slightly raised her face and glanced at Sabrina.


    At this critical moment, of course O''Laura''s words were more believable than Zhang Tie''s own oral defense. Everybody in the present knew that O''Laura always earned money as a bounty hunter, she must have a more precise judgment on whether Zhang Tie was a murderer or not.


    Hearing O''Laura''s explanation, that guy was so embarrassed that he could not utter a word. Until several seconds later, that guy sneered, "No matter what, this guy is still wanted by Eschyle City with the bounty of 5000 gold coins. Nobody could change this fact. Now that O''Laura cares about him so much, I''m afraid there must be something between you and him!"


    Hearing this, O''Laura didn''t say anything; however, Setton directly pounded his table and charged at that person like a leopard. With a full killing intent, he wanted to directly smack that person to death.


    The moment Setton moved, a person on one side of that guy also darted towards Setton. They started to fight in the air. In a split second, the tent was filled with strong winds and dense booming sounds. As so many influential people were in the tent, they didn''t use remote battle-Qi attack in case of destroying this tent or injuring others...Otherwise, they would ruin this banquet...


    However, for such powerhouses, it was much more dangerous for them to fight closely instead of using remote battle Qi attack.


    "It''s enough!" as Gangula sent the order calmly, a guard behind Gangula took a javelin and threw towards Setton and his opponent. After making a shrill sound, the javelin steadily inserted into the ground between them, entering the ground for about 7 cm. Hearing the sound, Setton and his opponent flied backwards and returned to the front of their tables while glaring at each other.


    Narrowing his eyes, Zhang Tie watched that guy who insulted O''Laura and Setton with icy eyes.


    "As you want to spice up the banquet, how about playing a more stimulative game?" saying this, Gangula turned around and glanced at Sabrina, "What do you think, my dear sister. Can I invite your guest to play a death game with the fighter of Grojack so as to spice up the banquet?"


    Sabrina then stared at Zhang Tie with an inquiring look.


    "Can you tell me the rules about this death game?" Zhang Tie took a deep breath.


    "It''s very simple. As two parties of death game, you represent yourself while Grojack represent his bloody wolf tribe. Now that bloody wolf tribe chooses you as their opponent, you can also choose your opponent from bloody wolf tribe for a duel. The rules of duel are unlimited. However, only one party of the duel could survive in the end!" Gangula replied with dangerous glittering eyes.


    "You mean my opponent is the bloody wolf tribe which attends this alliance action?"


    "Yes. But according to the rule you are not the winner unless you survive the first round of duel!"


    "Fine, I agree!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, everybody in the present looked strange. The guy called Grojack laughed at Zhang Tie. Many people were driven excited. They knew that something wonderful was doomed to happen soon.


    ...


    After a few minutes, everybody walked out of the tent and came to an open place in the outside. As they were going to play the death game, the iron bear tribe directly dispatched a group of soldiers with heavy steel tower shields here. The soldiers inserted the heavy steel tower shields into the ground, forming a closed square territory of about 360 square meters as the playground of the death game.


    The playground was surrounded by braziers. Various weapons were piled in the field which were provided by the wild bear tribe. They could choose their own weapons for the duel.


    3 fighters of Grojack stood in a line in front of Zhang Tie, who were staring at Zhang Tie with killing intents.


    According to the rule, Zhang Tie could choose one of them as his opponent. After glancing over them, Zhang Tie felt that all of them might be LV 9 fighters. Zhang Tie realized that the bloody wolf tribe was definitely more powerful than the grey eagle tribe. This could be further implied by the positions of their seats. Grojack sat close to the main positions while O''Laura and Setton sat close to the gate of the tent.


    "If anyone of you could pick off this brat''s head, you will obtain 2000 gold coins as a reward!" Grojack incited outside the ring. Hearing this, all the 3 fighters gasped heavily. They couldn''t wait to tear Zhang Tie into pieces.


    Under everybody''s gaze, Zhang Tie watched them for a short while before waving his head. It seemed that he was not very dissatisfied about them.


    "Brat, do you want to prolong time?" Someone started to be impatient outside the ring.


    Under the reflection of the surrounding flames, Zhang Tie looked a bit dwarfed. Only from the perspective of height, Zhang Tie was poorer, as he was only 1.8 m while being not very strong. By contrast, all the 3 fighters of Grojack were higher than 2 m. Two guys'' arms were even sturdier than Zhang Tie''s legs. Standing together with them, Zhang Tie was like a leopard cub in front of a pack of strong huge wolves.


    Seeing Zhang Tie being hesitated, the onlookers started to buzz.


    However, Zhang Tie ignored their buzz; instead, he turned around and stared at Gangula, "How many can I choose at once?"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s question, all the buzz disappeared at once.


    "Does this guy want to fight several fighters at once?" Everybody thought that Zhang Tie was insane.


    "Whatever!" Gangula''s eyes gleamed. He seemingly started to be interested in Zhang Tie.


    "I have another question. How many people can be dispatched by the bloody wolf tribe to attend the death game?" Zhang Tie asked Grojack straightforwardly.


    "Ha...ha...brat, our bloody wolf tribe has 1100 fighters here. Don''t worry. I won''t bully you by the advantageous number of fighters. If you''re able to kill them, I will keep you alive tonight!" Grojack shouted.


    After hearing Grojack''s reply, Zhang Tie directly walked towards O''Laura under the gaze of everybody. O''Laura was also watching the duel outside the ring. Although Zhang Tie could not see her real facial expression but he could discover a mixed moods from her eyes, which included a bit concern. O''Laura didn''t know whether Zhang Tie could pass this duel after his battle Qi was restricted.


    "I will chop off that guy''s head for you tonight!" coming to O''Laura, Zhang Tie only said one sentence before turning around and leaving O''Laura. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, O''Laura''s eyes glittered; yet she didn''t utter a word.


    Setton opened his mouth with a dumbfounded look while Salem completely changed his face.


    Zhang Tie then stopped 5 m away from the 3 fighters, "Come up together!"


    "What?" hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the onlookers almost dropped off their eyes. The 3 fighters exchanged their glances with each other. They wondered whether they misheard Zhang Tie''s words or not.


    "Don''t waste my time!" Zhang Tie became impatient.


    "Kill him!" Grojack sent the order while his face turned pale out of fury. The moment they heard Grojack''s order, 1 of the 3 LV 9 fighter charged towards Zhang Tie at once.


    This indicated the official beginning of the death game.


    Seeing him charging towards him, Zhang Tie didn''t face him; instead, he dodged away like a lightning bolt.


    When Zhang Tie moved, the other 2 fighters also launched their attacks. In their eyes, Zhang Tie was nothing but 2000 brilliant gold coins. Anyone who killed Zhang Tie would get 2000 gold coins as a reward.


    Zhang Tie ran and dodged away while being chased by those fighters. At the sight of this, many people hushed while Grojack revealed a wisp of decisive smile.


    "Dear sister, your guest is good at dodging. But it seems not possible to defeat 3 LV 9 fighters only by dodging. You probably could only sleep alone tonight!" Gangula turned around and spoke to Sabrina.


    "Dear younger brother, you know, if you make me unhappy, who will be responsible for that? Additionally, it''s just a beginning, I feel that it''s too early for you to reach the conclusion!" Sabrina replied with a charming smile. Hearing Sabrina''s words, Gangula slightly twitched his mouth corners.


    ...


    For Zhang Tie, as he could not use his iron-blood battle Qi and didn''t want to show his dark tore gloves, of course, he would not directly collide with the LV 9 fighters with bare fists. Although LV 9 fighters could not release battle Qi in the air, but their battle Qi could enter one''s body the moment they touched one''s skin. Their battle Qi''s were very erosive and destructive, which could only be counteracted by battle Qi or dodging away.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie chose to dodge away from their battle Qi. Actually, he was escaping while circling around the playground, especially when the 3 LV 9 fighters ran their battle Qi''s and boomed their battle Qi-totems. It seemed that 3 huge black scorpions were chasing after Zhang Tie.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was not really escaping; he was seeking for a proper weapon, which was about 40 m away from him. It was a pretty exaggerating metal battle hammer. From its look, Zhang Tie estimated that it was at least 600 kg.


    Among those weapons, Zhang Tie caught sight of the biggest and exaggerated one.


    Not until Zhang Tie reached in front of that terrifying battle hammer did any of the 3 LV 9 fighters realize that Zhang Tie''s ultimate target was to draw close to that hammer. Of course, none of them believed that Zhang Tie could move the hammer at all.


    However, everybody widened their eyes in the next second...


    Zhang Tie easily lifted that super large battle hammer, a small part of whose sharp spines were buried in the ground, like holding a stick. After that, he waved it too fast, leaving no chance for one to dodge away. It directly pounded against the fist of the guy who rushed to the front of him.


    With a sound "bang", that guy spurted blood mist like a broken watermelon and he broke into parts.

 447 A Bloody Waltz

    Chapter 447: A Bloody Waltz


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Huge hammer in hand, Zhang Tie reversed the situation right away...


    Nobody could imagine that Zhang Tie boomed a LV 9 fighter into pieces by a hammer at once. The fact was really unbelievable.


    One advantage was better than 10 average skills. When one exerted his strength to the utmost, he would drawf all the alleged skills and movements. Because the terrifying destructive power and elusive speed formed the unrivaled lethality, namely the most effective fighting skill.


    Zhang Tie had eaten 27 seven-strength fruits, including 9 wild wolf seven-strength fruits, 9 iron-teeth hyena seven-strength fruits and 9 demon rat seven-strength fruits. Although a single seven-strength fruit could not make Zhang Tie so advantageous but the total of 27 seven-strength fruits did make Zhang Tie''s strength terrifying.


    Try to imagine how great the total strength of all the animals were!


    A terrifying battle hammer in hand, Zhang Tie knew that it was heavier than the Man''s Certificate that he once used in the Iron-Blood Camp. However, as his strength had increased, Zhang Tie felt even lighter than the Man''s Certificate.


    Even O''Laura and Setton had not imagined that Zhang Tie was that powerful as he didn''t show it in front of them since the beginning.


    Watching a LV 9 fighter being pounded into pieces by Zhang Tie''s battle hammer, all the onlookers burst out noises after being quiet for 2 seconds.


    "How come?" Grojack roared...


    Even Gangula and the other 2 powerhouses of the huge bear tribe also sat straight as their faces turned dignified.


    Of course, powerhouses understood what did it mean. Even they did not dare to directly face the battle hammer in that high speed and with that terrifying strength.


    "Is that humanoid demon beast?" Gangula muttered with an unbelievable look, "That''s a 657 kg bear-killing hammer..."


    Seeing Zhang Tie reversing the situation, Sabrina instantly looked bright...


    ...


    The battle continued...


    Seeing their partner being boomed into pieces by Zhang Tie''s hammer, the other 2 LV 9 fighters instantly moved backwards to different directions.


    As there were still a lot of weapons on the ground, a LV 9 fighter ran towards a super heavy machete while the other one darted towards some javelins. They were tacit as they knew well how to kill Zhang Tie in such a case.


    As long as that guy who got the super heavy machete entangled with Zhang Tie for a second, the other guy could penetrate through Zhang Tie from afar.


    They had a good plan; pitifully, they met Zhang Tie.


    Seeing them moving backwards quickly, Zhang Tie rushed towards the nearest one. Although with a hammer of hundreds kg, Zhang Tie could still move fast.


    Watching Zhang Tie still moving fast with that huge hammer, all the onlookers drew in their breath, "How powerful is this guy! How come he run that fast with the bear-killing hammer?"


    It was also out of the 2 LV 9 fighters'' imagination that Zhang Tie could still move so fast with that hammer.


    The moment the fighter lifted his super heavy machete and held fast its handle did he see Zhang Tie having reached in front of him.


    "Kill..." Zhang Tie''s eyes looked as glittering as lighting bolts as he rose high his battle hammer and pounded towards that guy overwhelmingly.


    That guy changed his face instantly. Using his instincts, he moved back right away. However, he found that Zhang Tie followed him closely like his shadow. No matter how he changed his movements, he could still not enlarge the distance between them even a bit.


    The battle hammer carried a strong wind. At the critical moment, that man directly grabbed the handle of the super heavy machete as he roared and lashed it towards the huge hammer...


    With a huge sound of "bang...", all the onlookers'' eardrums were heavily shaken. As a result, the 70-80 kg machete twisted ninety degrees and was sent flying high in the air. Additionally, the guy''s hands were spurting fresh blood while the place between his thumb and his index finger was completely torn open. He was sent flying back in the air while spurting a mouth of blood.


    Zhang Tie continued his attack...


    "Bang", with another crispy sound, Zhang Tie pounded away the javelin which was flying towards him. Meanwhile, an air-breaking sound caused by the javelin was heard.


    Sonic Boom! However, it was hit down by Zhang Tie successfully.


    Since the very night when Zhang Tie saved Ms. Olina in Saint Herner Island, he had already updated his ancestral bloodline¡ª¡ªprecise throwing skill. Although Zhang Tie didn''t know about the name of this new awakened skill in Huaiyuan Palace even now, he could still exert this talent granted by this bloodline at the critical moment.


    This bloodline was also related to throwing. The new awakened bloodline granted Zhang Tie with a marvelous instinct¡ª¡ªhe could sense the moving trace and route of that weapon so that he could prepare to dodge away from it. Zhang Tie could even force it to change its moving direction and release a counterattack with that weapon.


    As he didn''t know the name of the new awakened ancestral bloodline, Zhang Tie named it "throwing reflection".


    The guy in the distance wanted to kill Zhang Tie with javelin. He was simply showing off his slight skill before an expert. If the opponents outnumbered him and threw javelins towards him at the same time, perhaps they could pose a threat to Zhang Tie''s safety; however, if it was only one javelin, even if it was a sonic boom, it could still not threaten Zhang Tie at all especially when Zhang Tie had been preparing for that.


    Seeing the javelin being hit down by Zhang Tie''s bear-killing hammer, Gangula instantly hopped up from his chair while all the other onlookers drew in breath. "Am I dreaming? How could this guy hit down that sonic-boom javelin with such a heavy weapon..."


    After pounding away the javelin, with the inertia, Zhang Tie directly pounded the battle hammer onto the ground. Closely after that, he supported the handle of the battle hammer with one hand as he flew horizontally in the air, kicking fiercely on the chest of the LV 9 fighter who had hacked him with the machete.


    With a chilly sound of breaking bones on the chest of the LV 9 fighter who hacked him with the machete, Zhang Tie forced him to fly over 20 m away like a shell and roll on the ground for a short while .


    When Zhang Tie landed, he instantly picked up the battle hammer and darted towards that guy who threw the javelin towards him.


    It only took Zhang Tie less than 1 second from pounding down the javelin and killing the 2nd LV 9 fighter to darting towards the last alive guy. In such a short course, the last LV 9 fighter had not even thrown out his 2nd javelin.


    That guy was about 40 m away from Zhang Tie. He threw out the 2nd javelin when Zhang Tie had moved 7-8 m towards him.


    "Bang...", the 2nd javelin was blocked away by Zhang Tie''s battle hammer...


    Zhang Tie rushed ahead about another 20 m in a split second...


    "Bang...", the 3rd javelin was sent flying away by Zhang Tie''s hammer.


    At this moment, the opponent had no time to throw out the 4th javelin anymore. Because Zhang Tie was already close to him. When Zhang Tie was less than 10 m away from him, he directly threw his battle hammer towards his opponent.


    With a wuthering sound, the 600 kg battle hammer rotated and flew towards that person. Although it was not as fast as javelins, its huge power and stress was 10 times greater than that of the opponent''s javelins.


    The opponent could only dodge away as he abandoned the plan to throw out the 4th javelin.


    When the opponent thought that he had dodged away from Zhang Tie''s attack and even many onlookers thought that he had dodged away, Zhang Tie flashed out from the wuthering, rotating battle hammer. Unimaginably, he caught the handle of the rotating battle hammer. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie turned right, with his right foot as the center of a circle, he directly rotated 180 degrees and drew a elegant half circle in the air with the hammer like an agile dance...


    When Zhang Tie grabbed the handle of the battle hammer, he saw the LV 9 fighter standing 2 m away from the rotating battle hammer. He thought that he had already dodged away from Zhang Tie''s attack...


    The grim battle hammer directly fell onto the opponent.


    Another blood mist was arisen from that person.


    It was tranquil in the surroundings. At the beginning, Zhang Tie showed his great strength with his battle hammer; gradually he showed his great judgment and speed by pounding down the javelin with the hammer; finally, he showed his great fighting skill which could not just be described by great strength and speed but gorgeous! Terrifyingly gorgeous!


    Under everybody''s gaze, the 600-kg bear-killing hammer which symbolized ferocity became spiritual and danced a elegant yet pretty bloody waltz with Zhang Tie...


    "Boom!" Zhang Tie put the bear-killing hammer on the ground, making a pit. Hearing this sound, everybody woke up.


    Zhang Tie pressed the handle of the battle hammer with crossed hands, which gesture, although being very common, contained an unspoken arrogance and weird charm.


    At this moment, both O''Laura''s and Sabrina''s eyes radiated marvelous brilliance.


    However, someone''s face turned pale...


    "Who''s the next?" narrowing his eyes, Zhang Tie gazed at Grojack and asked calmly...


    ...

 448 A Startling Javelin

    Chapter 448: A Startling Javelin


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It was quiet all over. Everybody turned their eyes towards Grojack, the director of the bloody wolf tribe''s soldiers here, including Gangula and those soldiers of the wild bear tribe who watched Zhang Tie''s performance,


    Zhang Tie''s meaning was clear¡ª¡ªthis death game had not come to an end!


    At this moment, Grojack''s face already turned pale. LV 9 fighters were not as average as huge wolves in Ice and Snow Wilderness. He only took 3 LV 9 fighters from the blood wolf tribe this time. All of the 3 fighters were the backbone of his troop. After losing 3 powerhouses at once, Grojack could not explain it to his tribe easily.


    Besides having to face the blame and query from his tribe, he felt very pitiful about losing them as the 3 fighters were his henchmen. Previously, he prepared to ask for the source of madness from the tribe for the 3 LV 9 fighters at a high cost so that he could greatly improve their fighting strength. It was really out of his imagination that the 3 people would be killed here. This was nothing different than chopping off his arms, making him extremely distressed.


    At this moment, Grojack still didn''t think that he was wrong. He thought that it was reasonable for him to defy and insult others. In his opinion, those who were inferior than him should follow his order.


    Glaring at Zhang Tie who was standing in the ring with his widely opened eyes. He hated Zhang Tie so much that he even wanted to peel off Zhang Tie''s skin.


    "According to the game rule, you''ve already won the battle. No need to pose challenge to the blood wolf tribe anymore. The blood wolf tribe has no other LV 9 powerhouses here. If you insist on, you have to face LV 10 strong fighters of the blood wolf tribe!" Gangula stared at Zhang Tie with glittering eyes like he had found something very funny. Gangula was actually reminding Zhang Tie to stop.


    "Is this the rule of death game?"


    "Yes, as the death game is always held between fighters of the same level. If the opponent has no fighter of the same level any more, the winner has to challenge opponent of a higher level if he wants. You''d better considerate it!" Sabrina explained to Zhang Tie. As O''Laura was a LV 10 strong fighter, according to the hunting rule of bounty hunters, she might be taking inferior wanted criminals as the hunting targets; since Zhang Tie was O''Laura''s captive, so everybody took it for granted that Zhang Tie was a LV 9 fighter.


    Sabrina was also persuading Zhang Tie to stop. Because in everybody''s mind, very few LV 9 fighters could defeat LV 10 strong fighters. Such a figure could be barely found in bear tribes. Some LV 9 fighters in the wild bear tribe could indeed kill LV 10 powerhouses. However, all of these kind of guys had the rare "madness" physical quality. After "madness", they could increase the power of the source of madness by 3 times.


    Nobody thought that Zhang Tie could defeat a strong fighter. The reason was very simple. If he could win the battle, Zhang Tie would not have been captured by O''Laura. Just now, Setton was only on even with that LV 10 strong fighter in tent.


    "Peter, it''s enough..." Setton shouted towards Zhang Tie. Hopefully, Zhang Tie wouldn''t be impulsive. After all, Setton liked Zhang Tie. He didn''t want Zhang Tie to be killed in this way. As the blood wolf tribe had lost 3 LV 9 fighters, which had slapped Grojack''s face out of blood.


    Setton knew that Grojack would never feel good back in the blood wolf tribe after losing 3 LV 9 fighters. Bartel, the head of the blood wolf tribe didn''t just have one son. A fierce competition existed between Grojack and his brothers.


    If Zhang Tie ran his battle Qi and wore his dark tore gloves, he might defeat a LV 10 strong fighter; however, at this moment, his battle Qi was locked by the bone-exploding needles...


    O''Laura also slightly waved her head towards Zhang Tie.


    Grojack glared at Zhang Tie with hateful eyes while his words made everybody despise him inside, "You are just a wanted criminal. Do you think that you are qualified to be proud after gaining a little bit benefit in such an inferior way? Do you know the outcome to fight a LV 10 strong fighter? It''s enough to scare the sh*t out of you, ha...ha...brat. After today, I suggest you to hide in a rat hole or hide in the crotch of a woman who can protect you. Never let me meet you any more!"


    Grojack was instigating Zhang Tie to receive the challenge. In this way, he could dispatch his LV 10 strong fighter to kill Zhang Tie. Such a result would be better than losing LV 9 fighters without hurting Zhang Tie at all. After all, 3:1 was absolutely different than 3:0.


    All those at present were smart. Otherwise, they would not be able to lead their soldiers to attend this action. Everybody understood Grojack''s plan at once.


    "Shameless!" Sabrina swore towards Grojack while pointing at his nose, "Do it yourself!"


    "Heh...heh...unless he could pass the following challenge, he''s not qualified to fight me." Crossing his arms, Grojack said loudly.


    Sabrina was so infuriated that she could not even utter a word...


    "Show me your LV 10 strong fighter, I want to see how sharp is the LV 10 strong fighter of the blood wolf tribe!" Zhang Tie replied, which made all the onlookers become quiet. Fixing their eyes on Zhang Tie, everybody felt that he was insane. Many people slightly waved their heads, some showed a pitiful look at Zhang Tie. "What a pitiful young man. How can you make such a crazy decision?"


    In many people''s opinions, they might not appreciate the gorgeous hammer strike anymore.


    "A powerful fighter should not only have a great fighting strength, but also have a firm decision. Even a huge bear pup would also stand the humiliation of wild wolves and hyenas sometimes so as to grow up!" Gangula inclined his head towards the 2 powerhouses from the huge bear tribe.


    The 2 powerhouses glanced at Zhang Tie before slightly waving their heads, "There are always gorgeous powerhouses and talents in this world; however, few powerhouses and talents could survive long."


    "High priest Sarin said that the deposited snow on the top of Mount Elzida didn''t thaw all the year round; however, the most white and dazzling snow easily melted. Although they are both at the high places, they have different fates. Therefore, when a person is at the highest position, he might easily lose his position." Roslav, a member of the huge bear tribe muffled.


    Although in this scene, after hearing high priest Sarin, Gangula, who was on the main position slightly nodded respectively as he put his hand on his left chest, "High priest Sarin is indeed the most intelligent person in Ice and Snow Wilderness!"


    "What a pity!"


    "Yes, what a pity!"


    ...


    Under the pitiful looks of the onlookers, the LV 10 strong fighter who fought Setton in tent slowly walked in the ring with a sneer. He stood still 40 m away from Zhang Tie. According to the game rule, if the opponents could release battle Qi in the air, they should stay 40 m away at the beginning without any buffering.


    Zhang Tie just stared at his opponent without facial expression.


    When a guard on Gangula''s side declared the beginning of this duel, O''Laura, who was standing outside the ring suddenly screamed.


    "Hold on, Peter is my personal property, I don''t agree him to attend this duel!"


    O''Laura''s voice was sharp and a bit disgraceful. Zhang Tie turned around and found that she was slightly shaking her body and fixing her eyes at him. Not knowing whether it was because of the illusion in the flames, Zhang Tie felt that O''Laura''s eyes were wet.


    "O''Laura, according to the rule of death game, the individual wills of the 2 competitors could dominate everything. Nobody is allowed to interfere with them. I guess you must be painful for your toyboy for his coming death, heh...heh..." Grojack sneered with a grim look. After glancing at O''Laura, he turned around and looked at Gangula, "As Peter has already agreed to attend the duel, he could regret. Childe, please announce the start of this duel!"


    "O''Laura, Grojack is right. You have no right to interfere with the duel!" Gangula replied after glancing at O''Laura.


    O''Laura then became quiet as she kept her eyes on Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie just revealed a smile towards O''Laura.


    "Let''s start it!" Gangula told a guard on his side.


    Soon after that, the guard stood up from Gangula''s side. After that, he raised his saber and flipped it in the air...


    In the ablaze flames, the saber drew several circles in the air. When it reached 7-8 m high in the air, it started to descend.


    Everybody knew that the duel would start when the saber fell down the ground. Nobody cared how long this young man called Peter could stand in front of the LV 10 strong fighter. Because in their eyes, the result was already set.


    The saber finally fell down and inserted vertically into the ground.


    The moment the saber touched the ground, the 2 men had moved...


    In the 1st 0.1 second, the LV 10 strong fighter released a 10 m high tiger-shaped battle-Qi totem...while Zhang Tie rapidly picked up a javelin from the ground and held it...


    In the 2nd 0.1 s, the strong fighter darted towards Zhang Tie...


    By contrast, Zhang Tie was ready to throw out his javelin...


    In the 3rd 0.1 second, the strong fighter had forged ahead another 10 m towards Zhang Tie.


    However, Zhang Tie revealed a smile...


    "Go die, brat..." In the 4th 0.1 second, the strong fighter of the blood wolf tribe roared. Meanwhile, his battle Qi rolled while a huge battle-Qi punch had formed in his hand; he had reached 20 m away from Zhang Tie...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie threw out his javelin...


    In the 5th 0.1 second, almost all the people in the black bear tribe had heard the earsplitting explosion, including those onlookers at present and those fighters within 1 km.


    Hearing this sound, many fighters of the black bear tribe were flurried out of confusion. They knew the sound originated from the commander tent of the camp; therefore, many fighters of the black bear tribe took up their weapons and rushed over there under the guidance of some military officers.


    In a split second, the entire black bear tribe was in a chaos.


    Nobody at present could figure out what happened. They could only see the tall battle Qi totem of that strong fighter of the blood wolf tribe dispersing in a second while the 20 m-long defense line of heavy steel tower shields which was fixed on the ground with triangular wooden frames fully collapsed. Some of the steel tower shield even scattered into pieces. The huge sound was mostly the cracking sound of these heavy steel tower shields.


    As this battle ended in less than 1 second, many low-level people could not even see clearly what happened. Only after a wink, everything had changed.


    They were really shocked. As a result, nobody could utter a sound.


    "What happened? Why doesn''t the strong fighter move? What happens to the defense line of heavy tower shields? I know they could defend the attack of heavy armored cavalries. Was it a thunder?" A guy felt that his foot was stepped by someone; therefore, he lowered his head to check it. However, when he raised his head, he found the battle had come to an end. Everybody was like standing still as they were all gazing at the spot.


    The guy beside him was just opening his mouth and goggling his eyes like an idiot, ignoring his question.


    Right then, the booming and groundbreaking footsteps sounded while teams of the wild bear fighters held their torches and weapons and rushed towards here from all directions like tide.


    "It''s...safe here, let them back!" Gangula sent the order. Although he was always calm since the beginning of the banquet, his voice started to be a bit hoarse and quiver at this moment.


    Receiving the order, the booming and groundbreaking footsteps disappeared and gradually faded away.


    After those fighters went back, Gangula wanted to say something; however, at the sight of the fixed spot, Gangula felt his throat dry.


    Gangula didn''t notice that Roslav and Waajid of the huge bear tribe on his side had already stood up. Their faces both blushed while the big blood vessels on their hands and necks were jumping madly. Meanwhile, their nostrils were expanding irregularly. It seemed that they were going to be driven mad right away.


    Nobody could utter a word about what they saw. With their eyes fixed on the battle field, they just asked themselves, "Was that an illusion?"


    ...


    The strong fighter of the blood wolf tribe was still standing over 20 m away from Zhang Tie. He lowered his head and saw a huge and tidy blood hole on his chest. He was curious why he was still alive. Full of confusion and doubts in eyes, he could not even feel the pain at all; instead, he could only feel that his senses and powerful vitality being invaded by weakness one second after another.


    "What...what''s that?" watching that young man standing 20 m away from him in a calm look, the strong fighter asked weakly.


    "It''s javelin!" Zhang Tie said calmly, "I don''t want to kill you, but you should not serve that b*stard!"


    "Javelin..." the strong fighter repeated. He instantly understood that the alleged strong fighter was nothing different than the low-grade wild beasts in Ice and Snow Wilderness in front of Zhang Tie''s javelin. After thinking it through, the strong fighter''s face turned bright. Eyes deadly on Zhang Tie, he uttered the last sentence, "I...am a member of the blood wolf tribe; Grojack...could not...represent...the entire...blood wolf tribe!"


    "I don''t hate the blood wolf tribe. I only want that guy''s head!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s guarantee, the strong fighter revealed a wisp of smile before falling down, facing the sky.


    Gazing at the dead strong fighter, Zhang Tie let out a long sigh. After that, he took up a heavy sword and a javelin before walking towards Grojack.


    Seeing Zhang Tie drawing close to Gangula with his javelin, Gangula''s guards instantly formed a defense line in front of Gangula.


    "Roll out of my vision. Do you think that your body is stronger than heavy steel tower shields..." Gangula roared as his eyes gleamed. He instantly showed his instinct¡ª¡ªa mad dog. Some guards in front of him were instantly kicked flying back in the air.


    Being speechless, Gangula''s guards flashed away. However, at the sight of Zhang Tie''s javelin, they did not dare to breathe smoothly.


    Gangula stared at Zhang Tie; however, Zhang Tie stared at Grojack.


    Like a salty fish which was dried in the air for a few days, seeing Zhang Tie walking towards him, Grojack could barely breathe. However, at the sight of Zhang Tie drawing closer, all the people besides Grojack hurriedly ran away. As a result, everybody stayed 10 m away from him.


    Grojack also wanted to escape; however, at the sight of Zhang Tie''s javelin, he felt his legs as heavy as being filled with lead.


    Zhang Tie came to the front of him and stared at him with narrowed eyes...


    Grojack uttered, "I''m blood wolf tribe''s..."


    Only with a slash of heavy sword, he chopped off Grojack''s head. As a result, Grojack''s blood spurted higher than 1 m which even sprayed over Zhang Tie'' face.


    After dropping off his javelin and heavy sword, Zhang Tie picked up Grojack''s head as he mopped the fresh blood off his face. He then came to the front of O''Laura and dropped Grojack''s head onto the ground in front of her.


    Zhang Tie wanted to say something; however, seeing that O''Laura''s eyes were filled with tears, which were dropping off from her delicate chin.


    "Don''t cry. As you personal property and...captive, I should revenge for you!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    "You...are a liar!"


    Zhang Tie knew what O''Laura referred to. Actually, even being restricted by the bone-exploding needles, he could still sweep the grey eagle tribe. However, he was always hiding his ability.


    "I feel that our misunderstanding could be dissolved sooner or later. Additionally, this is not a trouble for me. As you didn''t kill me that night, I didn''t have to open a blood hole on your body!" Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly. After saying that, Zhang Tie added a popular joke before Catastrophe which was told by Donder, "If I beat you, I would feel painful!"


    Hearing this, O''Laura quivered. After glancing at Zhang Tie, she didn''t say anything; instead, she directly turned around and left...


    Being confused, Zhang Tie scratched his head...


    Setton smirked as he erected a thumb towards Zhang Tie. However, seeing Zhang Tie gazing at him, Salem on Setton''s side forced a bitter smile.


    ...


    "Well, the death game ends, go back in tent for dinner!" Gangula''s voice remained calm.


    Zhang Tie turned around and found Gangula whose nickname was "mad dog" was revealing a big smile towards him. At that moment, Zhang Tie could see sincere smiles everywhere...


    Except for the 2 guys from the huge bear tribe whose eyes made Zhang Tie feel goosebumps all over...

 449 Reputation

    Chapter 449: Reputation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    That night, Zhang Tie slept in Sabrina''s tent.


    On the second early morning, when he woke up, he was embracing Sabrina. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to embrace a woman over night without making love with her.


    Last night, Sabrina''s female servants served Zhang Tie a bath in her tent. After that, lying on the bed with Sabrina, he started to chat with her before finally falling asleep.


    Zhang Tie knew that nobody would believe that he did nothing with a woman but chat over night. He also felt it unimaginable; however, that was the fact.


    In the eyes of many people of the wild bear tribe, Sabrina was a loose woman who had scandals with many men. Although Sabrina''s bosom friends'' tents always welcomed men, some men even slept on her bed, actually, Sabrina was still a virgin until now.


    Sabrina''s secret was a colorless and tasteless overpowering drug and her female servants. Those men, who thought that were favored by Sabrina, when came in her tent would breathe in that illusionary drug before being indulged with her female servants over night, contributing to the infamous loose woman.


    Very few woman liked such a reputation, except for Sabrina. According to her saying, only by this could she predominate her own marriage. Otherwise, she had long been a victim of inter-marriages between the wild bear tribe and another powerful tribe and the 5th wife of a 50-odd old men.


    None of her sisters in the wild bear tribe could escape from this destiny. Previously, people always proposed a marriage; her father, the head of the wild bear tribe also had a lot of choices. However, after her infamous reputation became loud across the entire Ice and Snow Wildness, nobody proposed a marriage anymore. Therefore, her father gave up his mind to marry her with a man of other powerful tribe. If he married such a daughter to others, he was arousing hatred.


    Although Slavs didn''t have such a sharp traditional notion about virginity like Chinese, no men would like to marry a woman who had slept with various men; especially after getting married, men in Ice and Snow Wilderness valued the virginity of women very much. However, given her infamous reputation and dissolute stories, no men would believe that she could be a good wife and mother after getting married.


    Sabrina could not determine her own destiny since she came to this world. Although she could gain rich food and honorable social status but she was responsible for sacrificing herself as a payment.


    Sabrina was treacherous. Therefore, she chose a special way¡ª¡ªseek freedom by destroying her own reputation.


    This was Sabrina''s biggest secret. Besides her henchwomen and her teacher, the saint priest of the wild bear tribe, Zhang Tie was the only man who knew this secret.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was also the first man who embraced her.


    Zhang Tie woke up on time. He found Sabrina was still sleeping well while the loose and soft night robe perfectly reflected her side curve, especially the sudden declination between her butt and her waist. What a beautiful scene.


    As he was embracing her, the grim "javelin" pressed onto the groove between her soft butts with 2 layers of think silk fabric in the middle.


    The woman seemingly didn''t notice it. At this moment, Zhang Tie felt a bit impulsive and stimulative.


    Zhang Tie remembered the expression "not even match a wild beast" told by Donder. After forcing a bitter smile, he instantly sat up from his bed.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether there was pure friendship between man and woman. The relationship between him and Sabrina was a bit ambiguous since the beginning; however, the relationship developed greatly last night. Zhang Tie was not sure how their relationship would develop in the future. Actually, he felt very good by just embracing her over night, which made both him and Sabrina relaxed.


    It was still a bit dark outside. Previously Zhang Tie wanted to leave at this moment; however, thinking that it was a bit weird to leave out of here at this time. If something really happened between him and Sabrina last night, it was a bit early to leave here at this moment. Additionally, he had no plan after leaving the grey eagle tribe at this moment.


    Therefore, after throwing another glance at Sabrina''s stimulative curve, Zhang Tie directly sat on the bed with legs crossed and started to consume the energy of the bone-exploding needles by running iron-blood battle Qi.


    The process was very painful. Soon after Zhang Tie started, he oozed sweat all over. Although it was a short period, it increased Zhang Tie''s ability to stand pains a lot...


    After 20 minutes, Zhang Tie finished his 1st round of cultivation. After a few minutes'' break, Zhang Tie felt having recovered a bit; therefore, he started the 2nd round.


    Soon after the 2nd round, Zhang Tie entered the trouble-reappearance situation and started the regular "two deaths" cultivation. Although he could not see any improvement, he had formed a strong battle awareness and fighting skill at the critical moment at the cost of lives. Without the daily cultivation, he could have never performed that extremely gorgeous bloody dance by that super heavy battle hammer last night.


    After doing all of this, Zhang Tie opened his eyes and noticed that Sabrina was gazing at him without a wink while supporting her head with a hand on bed.


    "I''ve not imagined that you''re so diligent!"


    "Have you heard about that talent is equal to 99% of efforts and 1% of aspiration!" Zhang Tie pretended to be serious.


    Sabrina replied with a smile as she sat up from the bed. Poking Zhang Tie''s chest with one finger, she said, "My genius, whether can we get off bed now? Over one night, I estimate that everybody across the camp has known that Sabrina the loose woman broke her record¡ª¡ªto sleep with a teenager who''s younger than 18 years old!"


    Zhang Tie smiled, "I don''t care. Actually, I''d like to give you a favor. If you need similar helps in the future, just let me know. I can accept it even if it''s a bit more excessive!"


    "Don''t you mind O''Laura''s feeling" Sabrina rolled her eyes.


    "Her feeling?" Zhang Tie winked, "What''re you thinking about? Nothing happened between me and her. I''ve not even seen her real look yet!"


    "You liar! If nothing happened between you and her, why would like to be her captive? I was told that O''Laura was actually a big beauty. She''s even more beautiful than her mother. As she didn''t want to be influential in the grey eagle tribe only by her looks and avoid from being pursued by men, she wore that mask. I was told that she disliked men before. It seems now that it''s not reliable!"


    "Cough, cough" Zhang Tie rubbed his nose and felt confused.


    "But no need to worry about that anymore. After the death game last night, few people would dare to pursue her anymore. Those who want to pursue her have to consider it well that a guy who could easily kill a LV 10 strong fighter with a javelin could not be easily stirred up!"


    "He...he..." Zhang Tie smirked as he became speechless.


    "You''re also giving me a favor. As everybody knows that you''re my curtain guest. As a loose women who has you as a lover, fewer people would like to marry me!" Sabrina became excited at once.


    "Are you my lover?" Zhang Tie asked Sabrina.


    "Guess!" Sabrina glanced at Zhang Tie in a charming look.


    "I think so. After all, I''m the first man who slept with you. Heh...heh..." Zhang Tie replied shamelessly.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Sabrina''s face blushed, "You little b*stard!"


    "Young lady, we''re ready for your bath!" a female servant of Sabrina walked to the side of the bed and reminded them while being isolated by a curtain.


    "You want to take a bath?"


    "I saw you oozing sweat just now. I prepare it for you!"


    "Why not together? I found your bath barrel was huge when you took bath here. It would be a waste if I use it alone!"


    "Humph, badass!"


    ...


    As Zhang Tie''s clothes were covered with too much fresh blood, Sabrina had thrown it away last night. After taking a bath in Sabrina''s tent, Zhang Tie put on a whole set of blue Samurai clothes which were prepared for him by Sabrina. After that, Zhang Tie walked out of Sabrina''s tent.


    At this moment, the first wisp of sunlight had appeared in the horizon, everybody across the wild bear camp was preparing for the breakfast. After breakfast, they would set out to block the entrances of Haidela Glacier Crack.


    Battles were doomed to happen today; perhaps someone would sacrifice their lives. Therefore, each fighter was preparing for that. Although the atmosphere in the camp was not stiff but it was definitely not as relaxed as that of couple of days before. Nobody would like to waste time at this critical moment.


    Like yesterday, Sabrina had a female servant accompany Zhang Tie out of the camp of the wild bear tribe. On the way, Zhang Tie found that every fighter was throwing their awed look at him.


    Zhang Tie knew that his performance last night had been spread. In this world centered by fighting strength, his performance had already won him enough respect here.


    As a man who could easily kill LV 9 fighters, a man who could kill a LV 10 strong fighter with a javelin in a split second, he was qualified to frankly face such awed looks wherever he was.


    Actually, Zhang Tie felt pretty good by being awed in this way. His vanity was greatly satisfied.


    ...


    "Is that the teenager from last night? He doesn''t look like that strong. How can he lift the bear-killing hammer with such thin arms?"


    When he passed by a tent, he heard some discussion, although in a low voice.


    "You know what! Powerhouses are not judged by weight and age. I''m afraid that 100 of you could not defeat him!"


    "I was told that he''s a wanted criminal."


    "He''s a scapegoat. Childe Gangula had expressed last night that he would dispatch people to request the police station in Eschyle City to investigate his wanted circular once again!"


    "What does that mean?"


    "Stupid. By doing this, the grey eagle tribe would not be able to keep him. I was told that he had stayed over night in Sabrina''s tent!"


    "Oh, I see!" a soldier replied.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie just revealed a smile...


    ...


    Outside the gate of the wild bear tribe''s camp, a guard beside Gangula had long waited there with a strong and tall rhino-horse. On the back of the rhino-horse, there was a special armrack, where the terrifying battle hammer that Zhang Tie used last night was hung. On the other side of the rhino-horse''s back was a container which contained over 20 metal javelins and a set of armor.


    Gangula promised to gift Zhang Tie last night.


    Seeing Zhang Tie coming out, Gangula''s guard greeted him politely before giving the rein of the rhino-horse to Zhang Tie.


    On the way to the camp of the grey eagle tribe with that rhino-horse, Zhang Tie found that many people were talking about him; however, nobody dared to stir up him.


    After killing a tiger easily, Zhang Tie found that all the flies became quiet. At this moment, nobody felt that 5000 gold coins were attractive anymore.


    When Zhang Tie returned to the camp of the grey eagle tribe, he found some fighters were standing outside the gate of the grey eagle tribe''s camp. At the sight of Zhang Tie, they soon stood with respect and stared at Zhang Tie with awed and thrilled looks. Meanwhile, they punched the leather armors on their left chests.


    Those fighters in the camp of the grey eagle tribe also heard about what happened in the camp of the wild bear tribe last night. Whatever Zhang Tie''s status was, he was fighting for the reputation of the grey eagle tribe. As he chopped off the head of the people who insulted and despised the grey eagle tribe and put it in front of O''Laura, Zhang Tie was qualified to gain the sincere respect of all the fighters of the grey eagle tribe.


    Salem became quiet completely. He did not dare to look into Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    For some reason, when O''Laura saw Zhang Tie this morning, she only humphed. Closely after that, she drilled into her own tent. This made Zhang Tie confused. He could not think it through why a woman who dropped tears in front of him could be as icy as an iceberg this morning.


    "Woman''s heart is really confusing!"


    ...


    Two hours later, as fighters blew the horns, all the fighters who had finished their breakfast started to set out. After fastening bulged leather sacs onto the iron-chain frames at the riverside and paving wooden plates on them, they started to tide over the river. After that, tens of thousands of fighters forged towards the entrances of the relics like tide.


    All the tribes tided over the river except for the blood wolf tribe. After losing the head and some powerhouses, the blood wolf tribe directly withdrew from the alliance action and returned to their base camp.


    Seeing thousands of fighters of the blood wolf tribe leaving in another direction, Zhang Tie knew that it was not the end. The blood wolf tribe would definitely revenge him, "So what, I''m not afraid of them."


    Riding a rhino-horse, Zhang Tie soon caught sight of a huge Haidela Glacier Crack and an increasing number of pioneers with flurried faces...


    Therefore, Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside...

 450 Being Kind-hearted

    Chapter 450: Being Kind-hearted


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Haidela was the legendary god of ice and snow of Slavs. Of course, the land being named with the god of ice and snow had a sharp implication.


    In the legends of Slavs, the south terrain of Ice and Snow Wilderness was caused by the fighter between gold of ice and snow and some deity. After being eroded and carved by ice and snow for millions of years, it finally became this terrain.


    With a bird-view from the sky, one would find that the Haidela Glacier Crack was like wrinkles and wounds on the mother land, in different depths. Due to long-term ice movement, the southern terrain of Ice and Snow Wilderness which was once plain became exotic.


    Zhang Tie was standing before the entrance of the legendary underground relics, which was a bizarre existence.


    This was a long and narrow French-bean shaped huge glacier crack, the highest point of which leveled with the ground. It was as wide as 2-3 km. Given its look, it was nothing different than average canyons. The only difference was the staged rock faults formed by ice movement from the ground to the bottom of the huge glacier crack on both sides.


    As it was summer in Ice and Snow Wilderness, it was pretty verdant below the canyon. 1.7 m high lush weeds were growing everywhere.


    At this moment, the rocky faults on both sides of the canyon was covered with dense personal tents. There were also smoke and fire in many places.


    Hearing the groundbreaking sounds of the contingent of fighters, many pioneers drilled out of their tents and watched the army that appeared on the slopes of the canyon in the distance.


    Many pioneers were rushing towards here from afar in a flurried way.


    "Hurry up, escape right now. The allied army of Ice and Snow Wilderness has tens of thousands of soldiers..."


    "Slavs are here to clean us..."


    Hearing this, many pioneers changed their faces. They hurriedly put away their personal belongings and escaped. Some even screamed, "Don''t worry, as long as we cooperate with each other, we don''t have to fear them!"


    "Yes, we found the relics first. Why do those Slavs chase us away?"


    The canyon became chaotic right away. Someone prepared to escape while someone seemingly prepared to organize people so as to negotiate with Slavs. However, as pioneers'' organizations were always loose, they could not form a cohesive force at such a critical moment at all.


    Riding his rhino-horse, Zhang Tie followed the team of the grey eagle tribe. The terrifying scene of tens of thousands of cavalries was overwhelming.


    The vanguards slowly opened the road in front of the army, following the troops. They entered the canyon from a wild slope on one end. After that, the following troops gradually extended and became as wide as 1000 m. They started to sweep across the entire canyon like a steel flood.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie found that almost each fighter was born to be a cavalry. After entering the canyon, almost without any command, all the cavalries of tribes, including those of the grey eagle tribe had started to coordinate and cooperate with each other when forging ahead. They extended their own troops and formed an assault line which posed an intense stress to the pioneers.


    Each one''s rhino-horse was trotting while tens of thousands of rhino-horses''s crispy hoofs formed a muffled, groundbreaking sound.


    As the allied forces were here to occupy the place and gain benefits instead of killing people, they maintained such a slow speed so as to cause a great stress to the pioneers. In this way, those pioneers could escape in case of unnecessary losses because of counter-attack.


    Only after a short while, tens of thousands of cavalries had already forged thousands of meters ahead. They encountered no counter-attacks on the way as all the pioneers in the canyon were escaping like how rabbits being chased by wolves.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had already rushed to the front of the troop. After glancing at those pioneers in vision, he recognized 2 pioneer friends, Sam and Gerri. Zhang Tie didn''t expect that the 2 guys were killed out of no reason today.


    As the terrain gradually widened in the canyon, some places became more sophisticated; therefore, the cavalries started to separate into different troops. When they moved close to a huge entrance which was 100-m wide, they saw the most pioneers. Based on the relatively sophisticated terrain, the pioneers finally launched a counter attack towards those allied forces.


    Without any verbal warning, the pioneers lurking in the weeds had already shot out bolts towards the cavalries, causing some fighters fall down. After that, the allied forces rushed towards them as they chopped off all the pioneers in front of them as the short, fierce battle started at once.


    Very soon, pioneers started to bleed and fell down in batches...


    Personally, most of the pioneers could match fighters in the allied forces; however, facing such a well-organized attack, the team of pioneers was soon dispersed after a couple of minutes. The allied forces instantly gained an overwhelming advantage. All the pioneers who dared to fight back were soon surrounded and killed.


    As most of these pioneers were poor, of course, Zhang Tie would not hurt them. He didn''t need to fight them at all. He only followed up the troops. In the fight, he only used his weapon once.


    ...


    Hundreds of pioneers were gathering under a huge tree hundreds meters away. At the sight of this battle, someone instigated loudly. They seemingly wanted to rush towards here.


    "These idiots!" seeing those pioneers, Zhang Tie swore inside. After kicking his rhino-horse, he rushed towards those people.


    When he was over 100 m away from them, Zhang Tie drew out a javelin and threw it towards them.


    The javelin didn''t fall on anybody; instead on a huge tree beside them.


    The luxuriant tree was over 30 m in height and over 1 m in width.


    With a sonic boom, the trunk of the huge tree was penetrated and exploded, which was heard by everybody on the battle field.


    The wood chips flew in all directions, causing another startling boom. The twigs and crown almost covered 100 square meters at once. As a result, all the pioneers who wanted to join the battle hurriedly dodged away. Many of them were bruised by wood chips. After glancing at the quivering twigs and the straight line over the weeds from Zhang Tie and them, all of them turned pale with dumbfounded looks. Some even loosed their grips of weapons.


    Because this place was covered with 1 m high weeds, Zhang Tie''s javelin pressed down the weeds due to its sharp wave and airflow. As a result, an over 100 m long line was left on the weeds like an invisible hand, which was really shocking.


    The line started from Zhang Tie and ended at the huge tree.


    "F*ck, is that a human?" many pioneers had not seen such a person who could launch such a terrifying attack from 100 m away.


    "Roll out of here, are you seeking for death?" Zhang Tie roared, scaring all the hundreds of pioneers away at once.


    Not only some fighters of the allied forces behind Zhang Tie, even those pioneers in the distance had caught sight of such a shocking scene.


    "Wula...", seeing Zhang Tie''s performance, all the fighters of the allied forces uttered a groundbreaking sound in unison, rising the morale at once. It was completely different between hearing Zhang Tie''s performance and seeing Zhang Tie''s performance for those fighters. The moment they saw Zhang Tie''s terrifying javelin, everybody became thrilled at once. It was their great pride to have such a powerful fighter on their side.


    On such a battle field, gorgeous fighters who had super great fighting strength could always bring strong aspiration and confidence to the other fighters on the same side.


    By contrast, those pioneers in the distance who were still watching the battle field became completely hopeless at this moment. As a result, they instantly turned around and escaped.


    Riding on the rhino-horse, Zhang Tie didn''t chase after them; instead watched them disappear from his vision rapidly. After that, his cavalries rushed over them like a tide.


    Riding her white rhino-horse, O''Laura came to Zhang Tie''s side. After putting away his bloody long sword, she turned around and stared at Zhang Tie, "I''ve not imagined that you''re so kind-hearted!"


    "As we have no deep hatred with them, we don''t have to kill them. Many of them are not bad guys. They are just here to survive themselves. Additionally, it can reduce our casualties too!" Suddenly, Zhang Tie felt his heart racing. He turned around and found Roslav and Waajid of the huge bear tribe were gazing at him from afar.


    Realizing that they were noticed by Zhang Tie, they exchanged glances with each other before turning around like nothing had happened.


    "F*ck, are they sick?" Zhang Tie muttered. He recalled that the 2 guys had been abnormal since he exposed the power of his javelin last night.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie made a decision, "If the 2 guys dare to stir up me, they will try my javelins..."

 451 The Prophecy

    Chapter 451: The Prophecy


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After the morning, the allied forces had already occupied the whole canyon.


    In this action, the allied forces suffered a casualty of over 110 people while the pioneers suffered a casualty of over 300 people. Almost all the pioneers in the canyon were driven out of the canyon.


    After the pioneers were driven out of the canyon, the allied forces started to set passes and barriers to the ends of canyon and entrances of the underground relics.


    In the morning, Zhang Tie had witnessed the survival of the fittest in this age.


    For pioneers, the allied forces were like bandits; however, the pioneers in the eyes of the allied forces were like thieves. Zhang Tie found that each party had their own view on the opponent. Therefore, they had to deal with it through fists and blades.


    As the allied forces'' fists were more powerful than that of those pioneers, the allied forces set the regulations here.


    ...


    At noon, when the sun was hanging high in the sky, Zhang Tie saw some fighters of the allied forces set a huge wooden notice board at the east entrance of the canyon.


    ¡ª¡ªThis entrance is administered by the southern allied forces in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    ¡ª¡ªPioneers are welcome to discover treasures in relics from here.


    ¡ª¡ªPioneers have to submit 50% of their achievements from the underground relics to us. Meanwhile, we will ensure the security of the taxpayers and their personal belongings.


    There were only 3 above lines in scarlet letters on the new wooden notice board. They were written using the fresh blood of the pioneers whose heads had been chopped off. Hundreds of meters away from there, hundreds of heads of pioneers were piled, forming a sharp contrast with this notice board.


    "Relics discovery tax? Holy crap! When did these savages in Ice and Snow Wilderness learn how to collect taxes?"


    "If incapable people wanted to rob others, they had to use their blades or javelins; however, if capable people wanted to rob others, they only needed to collect taxes." Donder told Zhang Tie. At this moment, at the sight of the funny notice board, Zhang Tie finally understood it that tax collection was just a changing form of robbery. The only difference between tax collection and robbery was that the prior form was more civil. Additionally, the fragile self-esteem of those being robbed were preserved.


    Hearing the booming hoofs of rhino-horses from behind, Zhang Tie turned around and found Sabrina was galloping towards here followed by over 200 female fighters from the inside of the canyon.


    She was wearing the purple leather armor which Zhang Tie saw at the first sight of her. Her black hair was dancing with the agile movements of the xiphodon, revealing a high vitality.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Sabrina revealed a smile. Meanwhile she rushed towards Zhang Tie with her contingent and stopped in front of Zhang Tie.


    As Zhang Tie''s rhino-horse was a bit afraid of that Sabrina''s xiphodon, it started to wave its head and moved 2 steps aside.


    "The grey eagle tribe said that you''ve already left. You''re truly here!" Sabrina couldn''t cover her excitement.


    "How did you find me?'' Zhang Tie asked her.


    "It''s too boring here. You told me you were going to hunt huge wolves. How about hunting them together. We can collect some fleshes for our tribesmen. Gangula said that we might stay a bit longer than expected. If we run out of dried rations, we have to solve it ourselves. I''m afraid that each tribe would dispatch hunters to hunt beasts a few days later. We can go there first!"


    After glancing at Sabrina''s maiden army, Zhang Tie knew that Sabrina was not going to hunt; instead, she was going to play by chance. If the dried rations of the wild bear tribe had to depend on these women, Zhang Tie was afraid that all the fighters of the wild bear tribe would have to gnaw grass roots in 2 weeks.


    "But it''s not bad. This is in compliance with my target here. If I go out with these young ladies, my deed would not be that remarkable anymore."


    "You only have so few people? You know, the pioneers are still gathering outside the canyon!"


    "You''re my bodyguard. Additionally, you''d better not belittle me as I''m already a LV 7 fighter!" Sabrina raised her breasts proudly.


    Remembering the swimming scene in the river, Zhang Tie peeped at her 2 white bulbs and forcefully swallowed his saliva. He thought for a few seconds before replying, "Well, but you have to listen to me over there!"


    "No problem. Are you familiar with the surrounding environment? I don''t expect to hunt nothing after a long while!" Sabrina showed her whites of eyes to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie smiled and raised his arm. In a few seconds, with a flapping sound, a white owl flew towards here from afar and fell on Zhang Tie''s arm. Meanwhile, its eyes kept rolling like the embrasures and gazing at Sabrina.


    "Ah..." Sabrina watched Zhang Tie surprisingly, "Is this your pet?"


    "Right, how''s it?" Zhang Tie became a bit pleasant.


    "A white owl, it''s really beautiful!"


    "With its help, you don''t need to worry about the preys anymore!" soon after saying this, Zhang Tie touched its head as he sent an order to it. At the same time, he raised his arm, sending the owl in the air. After reaching hundreds of meters high, it hovered for a while before flying towards a direction.


    "Jia..." Zhang Tie shook his rein and followed his owl.


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s back, Sabrina''s eyes gleamed. Meanwhile, she also shook her rein and followed Zhang Tie. Her female cavalries hurriedly followed after Sabrina.


    Although owl didn''t have a sharp vision in the sky; no matter what, its vision was much sharper than humans. It was almost like a moving sentinel in the sky. Additionally, this kind of owl had a super great listening ability which could never be matched by any other animals. Its face as a whole was like a radar which could receive sound. In winter, it could hear the sound of rats moving under snow from 1 km away and point their positions precisely.


    Zhang Tie learned this since he gradually collaborated with this owl these days. Because of the great wildness seal, a mysterious link was established between the owl and Zhang Tie, through which, Zhang Tie could gradually sense the special abilities of this animal. This was also one of the benefit of "Great Wildness Sutra".


    Previously, Zhang Tie didn''t know that this owl could have such great abilities.


    Although the owl''s level was very low, it was the best sentinel and detective.


    ...


    After Zhang Tie left the canyon for less than 1 km, he encountered a problem. As long as Sabrina''s xiphodon was close to his rhino-horse, it would scare Zhang Tie''s rhino-horse several steps backwards. Zhang Tie was very depressed about this as he had to correct the rhino-horse''s moving direction and speed every now and then.


    Noticing this, Sabrina chuckled, "Xiphodon is the best and most powerful animal in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Many animals are afraid of it. You have to cultivate bonding with it since it''s young before being able to drive it else I would have gifted you one xiphodon!"


    Recalling Nurdo, O''Laura''s cousin''s arrogant look on a xiphodon, Zhang Tie instantly became interested in such animal.


    "Did you catch it from the wild? But I''ve not seen any xiphodon in the wild since I came to Ice and Snow Wilderness?"


    "Almost all the xiphodons grow in the wild. But you could only see them in the northern region of Ice and Snow Wilderness. Only the huge bear tribe knows how to capture and tame them. Our xiphodons were all bought from the huge bear tribe..." Sabrina explained as she gently fumbled the golden fur of her xiphodon, "Lily has been over 20 years with me. My father gifted it to me since I was 7 years old!"


    Zhang Tie stared at such a huge animal. He had not imagined that she was already over 20 years old. Zhang Tie realized that its lifespan was much longer than a horse. "When a horse is over 20 years old, it should be a senior; however, this xiphodon is still jubilant."


    "Her lifespan is very long?"


    "Of course, xiphodon is a standard LV 6 animal. A common xiphodon could live about 100 years like humans. In Ice and Snow Wilderness, each bear-killing fighter dreams to ride a xiphodon as their partner! In fight, the same number of xiphodon cavalries could easily curve 3 times more number of other kinds of cavalries. Additionally, xiphodon''s endurance and speed could almost rank top 3 among all the animals that could be ridden by humans in a large scale. They could easily run 1000 km over night!"


    Sabrina''s words really startled Zhang Tie inside. "This animal is simply a powerful animal being born to ride. If they could be matched with fighters on the battle fields in a large scale, they are simply animal tanks on the battle fields. Additionally, given its figure and its high running speed, it could be matched with highly-protective armor."


    "Haven''t the wild bear tribe established a team of xiphodon cavalries?"


    Sabrina showed the whites of her eyes, "We have one. Each tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness expects to have a team of xiphodon cavalries; however, xiphodons are difficult to catch. Additionally, the cost of breeding a xiphodon is very high. Since 3 years old, a xiphodon would eat at least 20 kg flesh a day. The entire wild bear tribe only has one team of 400 xiphodon cavalries. They were the forbidden guards of the head of the tribe. In the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness, only the huge bear tribe maintains a king regiment of 5000 xiphodon cavalries, which safeguard the tribe of Slavs."


    "King regiment of cavalries?" Zhang Tie''s curiosity was arisen by such a special name.


    "They are lunatics. They''re safeguarding a weird prophecy generations after generations. They are completely living in their illusions. You''ve already seen 2 of them just now!" Sabrina became thrilled.


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced, "You mean Roslav and Waajid?"


    "Yup. They came to tell my father that the prophecy that they had safeguarded for hundreds of years was going to come true. The king of Slavs who will unify the Ice and Snow Wilderness has come. They''re here to tell the wild bear tribe to prepare for the king''s welcome!" when she said the last sentence, Sabrina remarkably revealed a contempt.


    "Is it a plot?" Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly. Because there were so many similar events in the history like an idol was fabricated or a puppet was found to take the throne so that the real power behind them could rule the rest of the powers.


    "Now, the bear tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness have long separated. How can they unify with each other so easily. How can they follow a stranger on Elzida and let him be their lord?" Sabrina waved her head, "Do you know what did my father think when he heard this?"


    "What?"


    "My father lets my young sisters to stay at home these days. If the huge bear tribe really find out such a guy, my father will directly marry my young sisters over there. Whether it was true or not, to be the guy''s father-in-law was the best!"


    Hearing this plan, Zhang Tie showed the white of his eyes, "These old guys are really smart. Facing this, without making any promise, they planned to have a son-in-law first so that they will be in a overwhelming position. D*mn it! It''s really difficult to find a idiot in this age."


    However, recalling how Roslav and Waajid peeped at him, Zhang Tie felt good once again. "Bad guys would always be troubled by bad guys. I will just stay away from them."


    "Your father is shortsighted. If I was your father, I would marry you to the would-be king. Based on your ability, I believe that you could definitely conquer him!" Zhang Tie joked.


    Sabrina replied with a laughter. She then suddenly pointed at the sky in the distance, "Look, your owl is swirling over there, what does that mean?"


    The owl was drawing "8" in the sky. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "Ha...ha...here are our preys..."


    "Will you come here, my Lily could ride 2 people easily!" Sabrina glanced at Zhang Tie.


    Receiving the invitation, Zhang Tie directly flew onto the xiphodon from several meters away. He came to Sabrina''s back. Among her screams, Zhang Tie kissed her face.


    "Keep running, my little mare!"


    "You little asshole!" Sabrina swore as she shook her rein, driving the xiphodon towards the place where the owl was heading for...


    Only after a few seconds, Zhang Tie had started to move his hands upwards from her abdomen...

 452 Becoming a Butterfly

    Chapter 452: Becoming a Butterfly


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Five days later...


    With a shrill air-breaking sound, a javelin penetrated through a huge wolf over 300 m away in a split second, spurting fresh blood over the weeds.


    Being startled by the sonic boom, the pack of smart wolves which were lowering their heads to tear off their preys felt being threatened. Without even glancing at who had thrown out the javelin, they directly darted towards afar with their heads lowered.


    The javelins constantly arrived from afar, one javelin for one wolf. After each sonic boom, there was always a huge wolf being struck while spurting fresh blood. In a wink, ten more huge wolves had been killed.


    The remaining huge wolves escaped in all directions; however, thunder-like hoofs sounded in the distance at this moment while over 200 female cavalries chasing the huge wolves back from two sides.


    Holding a long sword, Zhang Tie darted towards them and managed to kill the remaining 20-odd huge wolves in a split second.


    Inserting his long sword onto the grassland, Zhang Tie glanced at those dead wolves as he finally let out a long sigh. After these days'' efforts, he had killed about 500 huge wolves and obtained 9 huge wolf seven-strength fruits.


    Zhang Tie finally sighed satisfactorily.


    These days, Zhang Tie had been waiting for a king huge wolf; however, he failed to encounter it, which made him a bit regretful. Nevertheless, Zhang Tie knew that such a thing was an uncertainty; as he had already obtained 9 huge wolf seven-strength fruits, he knew that it was already almost a perfect result.


    When he imagined about the skyrocketing physical strength after taking the 9 huge wolf seven-strength fruits, Zhang Tie would feel proud about himself.


    A huge wolf''s strength was much greater than that of a wild wolf or an iron-teeth hyena, not to mention demon rats. Therefore, Zhang Tie knew that after eating the 9 huge wolf seven-strength fruits, he would have nine huge wolves'' strength more in his body. Zhang Tie knew that he would see an essential improvement in his fighting strength and power this time.


    The sun turned into a beautiful afterglow in the distance in the west, which was reflecting the distant sky and the vacant wilderness and making them red. Glancing at that afterglow, Zhang Tie felt that it was like a butterfly which had just broken out of its cocoon.


    The beautiful afterglow resonated with Zhang Tie''s current mood. Gazing at the afterglow, Zhang Tie let out a long sigh.


    "Although the worm is still far from being a dragon, at least it could become a butterfly now."


    At this moment, Zhang Tie heard Sabrina''s low exclamation from afar. He instantly rushed towards her with his long sword.


    ...


    "What''s up?"although it was over 200 m away, Zhang Tie had arrived there in about 10 seconds.


    With a slightly pale face, Sabrina pointed at a brushwood on one side, "I was startled by something disgusting over there!"


    Zhang Tie then walked over there. Before drawing close, he hurriedly held his breath due to the bloody and disgusting smell which made him feel like throwing up. He opened the weeds with his long sword and caught sight of an incomplete corpse which had been gnawed by the huge wolves.


    Given its look, it should be a pioneer. Perhaps, more precisely, it was a poor guy. This place was over 100 km away from the canyon where the relics'' entrance lay. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether this guy came from the canyon or was going there. But it was really not important.


    For women, even if they had seen a lot of corpses, they might still be startled by disgusting things.


    Even Zhang Tie hurriedly moved back after a glance, not to mention Sabrina. If he kept gazing at it, Zhang Tie''s appetite would be influenced for sure tonight.


    "Alright, it''s just a pioneer''s corpse. He must have encountered the pack of huge wolves!" Zhang Tie shook his head as he glanced at those female cavalries who were getting down from their xiphodons and were going to manage those dead huge wolves, "We''d better not take those dead huge wolves. We might eat something disgusting if we failed to get them out of their stomachs..."


    "Stop, it''s really disgusting..." Sabrina hurriedly shook her head while her face turned totally pale, "We''d better leave here as soon as possible!"


    ...


    1 minute later, Zhang Tie rode the xiphodon together with Sabrina before leaving here with over 200 female cavalries. Facing the sunset, they prepared to return to the canyon where the relics was discovered.


    Zhang Tie and Sabrina were dozens of meters ahead of the team. After a few days outside, those female cavalries had already realized to keep a "safe distance" from Zhang Tie and Sabrina in case of listening to or seeing something that they should not.


    After her symbolic resistance was collapsed by Zhang Tie, Sabrina was indulged in Zhang Tie''s demon hands once again.


    "You look happy today!" the woman really had a very strong instinct. Only after galloping for a short while with his hands around her breasts, Zhang Tie''s exciting mood had been sensed by Sabrina.


    "How do you know?"


    "Woman''s instinct!" sitting in front of Zhang Tie, Sabrina turned around.


    A solemn and pious expression reappeared in Zhang Tie''s face. On the slightly bumpy back of the xiphodon, Zhang Tie raised his head while he put his hands over Sabrina''s quivering white breasts with a layer of cloth between them. He started to rub them slightly, "You''re right. I''m truly very happy today. Because after these days of efforts, I feel that various species on this land have gradually recovered their ecological balance. This is the meaning of my efforts!"


    "You liar!" being rubbed by Zhang Tie''s weird hands, Sabrina''s face slowly turned red. She twisted her body. After realizing that she could not escape from Zhang Tie''s roguish hands, she glared at Zhang Tie and didn''t struggle any more, "This tide has tens of thousands of huge wolves. You only killed hundreds of them. How could you recover their balance!"


    "Everything has its own way. I only do my way best. This is the balance between them and I. If I feel balanced inside, everything will be balanced!" Zhang Tie continued to explain in a solemn look.


    Sabrina was still considering about Zhang Tie''s words with a slight frown while Zhang Tie instantly put his mouth on her lips...


    Being raided by Zhang Tie once again, Sabrina just tightened her mouth. At the same time, she fiercely pinched Zhang Tie''s thigh. Zhang Tie didn''t care. He just pinched the enlarging and bulging buttons under his palms before pressing it down.


    With a light groan "ah", Sabrina''s body turned soft while her lips were opened by Zhang Tie''s tongue...


    ...


    Zhang Tie indeed felt very happy today. Besides completing the hunting action, he had cleaned off the threat of the bone-exploding needles this morning.


    In order to not arouse senior Merkel''s attention, Zhang Tie left a bit energy of the bone-exploding needles. It would only take him half a minute to clean all of it if he wanted to manage it. Such a bit energy could not prevent Zhang Tie from running his battle Qi at the critical moment, not to mention cause any unbearable destruction to his body.


    Another reason that Zhang Tie kept that little energy of the bone-exploding needles was that he had not thought through what to do next. He was not sure whether to leave Ice and Snow Wilderness or continue to stay here to seek for other chances to intensify his fighting strength.


    If he cleaned off all the energy of the bone-exploding needles, he had to leave Ice and Snow Wilderness right away.


    According to his plan A, Zhang Tie intended to leave here when he would reach LV 8. Given his current situation, he only needed to light a bit more than 3 surging points; given the growth cycle of leakless fruits, he only needed to wait another 1.5 months here.


    ...


    Two hours later, it turned dark completely when Zhang Tie and Sabrina''s female cavalries returned to the canyon which was occupied by the allied forces.


    At this moment, the canyon was full of bonfires and burning torches. Being less than 2 km away from the canyon was the pioneers'' temporary camp. In the evening, the canyon was covered with flames, making it pretty splendid.


    After knowing that the allied forces were not going to occupy the relics alone, but to cooperate with them, most of the pioneers chose to stay here, except for a few pioneers who could not accept the condition. After all, most pioneers thought that a half of achievements was better than nothing. Although the allied forces were advantageous, at least they left a hope to the pioneers.


    Even in the canyon, Zhang Tie was still riding behind Sabrina and hugging her.


    A 18 year old teenager was riding on a fierce xiphodon while hugging a 30-odd mature beauty, followed by over 200 female cavalries. Such a great Qi field was enough to make them eye-catching wherever they were.


    Zhang Tie revealed a wisp of smile while Sabrina''s face blushed. In hot love, they just ignored the looks of the onlookers.


    "Pe...Peter?" soon after he entered the canyon from hundreds of meters, Zhang Tie suddenly heard an exclamation.


    Hearing the sound, the xiphodon stopped. Zhang Tie turned around and saw a very embarrassed guy among those shabby pioneers, whose face was pitch dark. That guy was widely opening his eyes and mouth while looking at Zhang Tie as if he was watching a ghost.


    Although the guy was a bit sloppy, his purple hair and slightly fat figure could still be recognized.


    "Sam?" Zhang Tie became stunned as he instantly jumped off the xiphodon and walked towards those pioneers. Zhang Tie didn''t identify him when they were lowering heads with sad looks just now.


    The female cavalries behind Zhang Tie also stopped, so did those pioneers who had just experienced that fierce fight. Zhang Tie and Sam were both dumbfounded as they had never imagined that they could see a friend from the two different groups of people.


    "It''s that you, Peter? Am I dreaming?" Gerri also walked out of those pioneers and stared at Zhang Tie while rubbing his eyes forcefully.


    "Ha...ha...you could keep an eye open even in dream, how can you mistake me for someone else?" Zhang Tie burst out laughing. Before Gerri could make any movement, Zhang Tie had already moved forward and hugged him forcefully.


    "Ah, I''m a bit dirty..." glancing over Zhang Tie''s clean and gorgeous uniformed clothes, Sam also walked towards Zhang Tie. Before uttering a word, he was also hugged by Zhang Tie. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie gave him a heavy punch on his shoulder.


    "It''s really too good to see you guys fine!" Zhang Tie glanced over them carefully.


    Seeing Peter unchanged, Sam smirked with gleaming eyes.


    "Peter, why are you here?" Gerri asked Zhang Tie out of his concern.


    Before Zhang Tie answered Gerri, over 100 cavalries had rushed over here with heavy killing intents. Weapons in hands, fierce eyes on these pioneers. The moment they arrived, they had surrounded these pioneers, seemingly prepared to kill all these pioneers at any time.


    Being surrounded by the cavalries, these pioneers became intense right away.


    "Mr. Peter, have these pioneers offended you?" A military officer jumped off his xiphodon and came to Zhang Tie''s side as he glanced at those pioneers with a heavy killing intent.


    Zhang Tie''s terrifying fighting strength and performance in the canyon had completely won him the respect of most of the soldiers and low-rank military officers of the allied forces; plus his scandal with Sabrina of the wild bear tribe these days, Zhang Tie had become an idol of many soldiers of the allied forces.


    Zhang Tie knew that these on-duty patrols might be attracted by it when he stopped here. They might think that some conflict or trouble happened between the two parties. Therefore, they were here to give a favor to Zhang Tie.


    "Thanks, they''re my friends. I stopped here to greet them!"


    "Friends?" the military officer glanced over Zhang Tie, Gerri and Sam for a short while. Finally he waved his hand to order his cavalries to leave while giving a salute to Zhang Tie.


    Seeing off the military officer, Zhang Tie turned around and revealed a smile to Sabrina with a curious look, "My little mare, you go back, I will come back to you tonight!"


    Sabrina then replied with a smile as she led her female cavalries away.


    Not until all the soldiers of the allied forces left did the other pioneers surround Zhang Tie, Sam and Gerri.


    "Gerri...who''s this man..." a 40-odd pioneer watched Zhang Tie carefully.


    "This is Peter, a friend of mine and Sam!" Gerri raised his voice, "Peter is also a pioneer!"


    Hearing the second half of Gerri''s words, all the other pioneers were shocked greatly as they felt a row of crows flying by their eyes. Everybody stared at Zhang Tie with widely opened eyes which were full of surprises and doubts...


    "He''s a pioneer? Are you kidding me? If this young man is a pioneer, what are we? Are we beggars who come to Ice and Snow Wilderness from afar?"


    "How come such a huge gap between pioneers?"


    "Hugging a big beauty on a xiphodon, followed by hundreds of female cavalries; being protected by hundreds of cavalries of allied forces at any time. What did he call that beauty? My little mare? Look at this, I will never believe that he''s a pioneer. This Peter is definitely a noble in a big tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness!"


    Various whims flashed across their minds.


    ...


    Hearing Gerri''s words, everybody became dombfounded, not knowing what to say.


    "Where are you heading for?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "We''ve just come out of the underground relics. We were told that the other pioneers were above there, therefore, we''re going to stay with them!" Sam explained.


    "Have you eaten?"


    Sam waved his head.


    "This is not the place to talk, let''s go up!"


    Sam and Gerri exchanged glances with each other as they nodded.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie went to the pioneers'' camp together with them.


    Compared to those pioneers, Zhang Tie was really eye-catching. At the sight of Zhang Tie, all the pioneers who had seen his terrifying performance that day changed their face, some even escaped right away.


    When Zhang Tie''s status as a pioneer was spread across the pioneers'' camp, the whole camp was in a chaos.


    However, Sam and Gerri thought that the other pioneers in the camp might be shocked by Zhang Tie''s gorgeous clothes.


    Zhang Tie took out his jerky meat and shared with them along Sam and Gerri. Sitting beside a bonfire, Sam and Gerri started to engulf the jerky as they described what they had experienced since they left Zhang Tie.


    Sam and Gerri had not noticed that more and more pioneers were slowly gathering around them silently...

 453 Super Relics

    Chapter 453: Super Relics


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Sam and Gerri left Zhang Tie from Eschyle City, they came to the small town Sciatta. After staying there for a couple of days, they came here with the army of pioneers.


    Their experience was not complex. After arriving here, they tried to enter the glacier crack to discover the urban relics with the other pioneers. Through constant attempts and exploration, they gradually figured out the underground situation. Therefore, after some preparations, Sam and Gerri entered the underground world 10 days ago, they came out of there today.


    Although it was not very risky down there, they also encountered many dangers and setbacks, big or small. All of them had been tortured so much.


    What made them depressed was that half of their achievements were robbed away when they exited the entrance. Facing that powerful fighting strength of the allied forces, they had no right to negotiate, to be killed and lose all the achievements or to submit half of their achievements. They had to make the final choice.


    That was why Zhang Tie saw them lowering their heads in low spirits just now.


    "You''ve gained something down there? I wonder what are they?" Zhang Tie asked out of pure curiosity, instead of greed.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Sam and Gerri exchanged glances with each other. Closely after that, they took out one item from their storage bag respectively and showed it to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie took it from Sam''s hand. It was pretty heavy. Zhang Tie found it was a delicate metal fallow deer, an art work. Although its surface was a bit rusted, it still remained its metallic luster; additionally, it was very complete.


    According to the current standards, this item was produced about 900 to 1000 years ago. It was remarkably a cultural relic before the Catastrophe. Before the Catastrophe, humans could produce a lot of things that could not be produced today, take this item as an example. It''s processed with a metal coating technology, which could not be mastered by humans in this age. The moment he held it, Zhang Tie had realized it.


    This item was very collectible. Many rich people would like to place some cultural relics before the Catastrophe in their homes.


    As Zhang Tie had worked in Donder''s grocery for a long time, he estimated that this item was worth at least 30 gold coins in the grocery in Blackhot City. Of course, if it was well packaged and met someone who really liked it, it might be worth higher than 70 gold coins.


    "Nice, this item is at least worth your travel here. Besides, you can have some surplus!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    With a sad look, Sam sighed, "It should have been a pair. When we exited the entrance, we were robbed by those b*stards of the allied forces, losing the other one!"


    With a smile, Zhang Tie then took Gerri''s item. It looked a bit weird. In the size of a palm, its surface had been heavily rusted. however, Zhang Tie could still identify the number buttons on its surface.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what it was. He estimated that it was a product before the Catastrophe. The price of such a cultural relic which was obviously featured by human science and technology before the Catastrophe might range from a couple of silver coins to thousands of gold coins. As such items were involved with too many special professional knowledge, its value could not be identified by Zhang Tie.


    After saying "Not bad", Zhang Tie returned that item to Gerri.


    "Peter, why are you here? Why are you so close to those Slavs?" Gerri found that so many pioneers had surrounded them at this moment. If they were curious about Zhang Tie at the beginning, they should have left at this moment. However, they all focused on Peter with a bit awe. Gerri slightly touched Sam. Sam then also noticed that.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about those pioneers at all; he had already found them being surrounded by the other pioneers from the beginning. However, out of his confidence, he still acted calmly. In those pioneers'' eyes, his calm act made him outstanding. Therefore, they did not dare to draw too close to them.


    "After leaving you at the dock, I came to Eschyle City. I met an enemy over there and killed him. After that, I was wanted by the police station of Eschyle. Then, I escaped away from Eschyle City and wandered for some days in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Then, I was caught by bounty hunters. Therefore, my current status is actually their captive and...hmm...personal property!" scratching his head, Zhang Tie briefed.


    Listening to this, Sam and Gerri both widely opened their eyes. Actually, if Zhang Tie said he was a son-in-law of Slavs, Sam and Gerri would never doubt it; given Zhang Tie''s toyboy look, it was possible. However, Zhang Tie told them he was their captive, which really shocked them.


    "You mean you''re captive of those Slavs? F*ck, are you kidding me? Riding a xiphodon, hugging a big beauty, followed by a contingent of bodyguards, you tell me you''re their captive? I saw them respect you very much. Is that a special treatment for captive? If so, please ask them whether do they need more captives or not?" Gerri instantly shouted.


    Being embarrassed, Sam glanced at Zhang Tie with full of admiration, "The woman that you hugged...is really...really very beautiful. Additionally, she has huge breasts! I''m sure very few women like her could be found in Ice and Snow Wilderness!"


    "Yes, the moment I saw you, I knew you might have slept with her. Are the Slavs used to gift their beauties to their captives?"


    Watching Sam and Gerri''s shocking looks, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "Of course not. Firstly, I''m a special captive. I only killed a b*stard in Eschyle City. However, Eschyle City''s wanted circular charged me with 3 lives by mistake. I became other''s scapegoat. Actually I''m not as evil as that on the wanted circular. Secondly, they find me useful to them, therefore, they treat me well! As to the woman, it''s an accident. She didn''t know I was a captive at the beginning! Finally, she knew that; however, considering the above two reasons, she didn''t care about it!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Sam and Gerri finally understood it. They then sighed with full emotions that Zhang Tie''s experience in Ice and Snow Wilderness was really wonderful.


    "What are you going to do?" Sam asked Zhang Tie.


    "I''ve not had a plan yet. It''s good to stay here. Perhaps, I will stay here for a couple of more days. After my wanted circular was cancelled, I will leave from here!" Zhang Tie answered after thinking for a short while. He then added, "What about you?"


    "We will stay here for a few days!" Gerri glanced at Sam. After that, he moved his head closer to Zhang Tie. After looking around, Gerri whispered, "Sam and I found that the relics might be a huge treasure, a GSC."


    Sam looked at Zhang Tie. When Gerri said this to Zhang Tie, Sam nodded solemnly.


    "GSC?" Zhang Tie became stunned. Although he could always imitate pioneers vividly, he was not a real one as he didn''t know too much about the secret language and inherited knowledge which were used by experienced pioneers. Therefore, Zhang Tie became curious about it.


    "What''s a GSC?" Zhang Tie asked Gerri in a low voice.


    "Nobody have told you about this before?" Gerri glanced at Zhang Tie in an amazing look.


    "No, as I''m a new pioneer and used to be alone, I don''t know about this!" Zhang Tie waved his head.


    "Do you know about the Star of God?"


    "Yes!"


    "GSC refers to the city which is well preserved after being destroyed by the pieces of star of god. Because of the odd energy of the star of god, its pieces would form a special time and space energy field wherever it fall. In this energy field, all the lifeless objects would remain unchanged no matter how long they stay there. GSC means the super relics caused by the pieces of the star of god. Do you know that?" Gerri gleamed his eyes.


    Zhang Tie became dumbfounded as he seemed to not believe what he had heard. If this was true, it meant that there might be a complete GSC beneath the Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    "How do you know that?"


    "At the beginning, we just assumed it with a hope. Because this urban relics is too close to the legendary place of the pieces of star of god. Previously, although the pieces of star of god were discovered in other relics before the Catastrophe, those relics had been completely destroyed. Although the special energy field of the pieces of star of god could remain the relics unchanged, if the relics is heavily destroyed due to other reasons, the value of the items inside the relics would not be reduced!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he recalled the response of those pioneers in the Wilderness Bar when they heard that the relics and pieces of star of god were discovered. After that, he remembered why the allied forces suddenly blocked the entrance of the urban relics. He then instantly understood that the pioneers were excited by a wisp of hope. As for those southern tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness, some big figures might have already got some information through special channels. Therefore, they couldn''t wait to occupy the entrances of the relics by forces. The items in a GSC might be 10 times more valuable than a common relics. Those big figures might not be interested in such a little money brought from a common relics; however, they would not mind occupying a GSC.


    Realizing that Zhang Tie became silent, Sam stealthily foisted a small ball of things onto Zhang Tie''s hand from the inside of his sleeve.


    Zhang Tie found it was just a waste. However, its material was bit weird as it looks like that of his military officer certificate in Norman Empire. It was red and touched ductile. It seemed like a package.


    "What''s this?"


    "The ham package before the Catastrophe. It was called plastic before the Catastrophe. If not in the special energy field of the pieces of star of god, it would not have been preserved so well after such a long time. What counts most is that the ham inside might have just been eaten. Sam found it in an underground hidden corner 4 days ago!"


    "You found this in the underground?" Zhang Tie looked solemn.


    "Right. Although we don''t know who dropped it, someone has already found something special down there. Additionally, those items preserved so well that it was out of people''s imagination. The guy who dropped this item might be a pioneer. Pitifully, on the way back, he ate up his food; therefore, he had to eat the food that he collected from there! That guy might have left here with so many treasures, or he''s still hiding somewhere and is preparing for a second discovery. Otherwise, he might have been killed!"


    "You want a try?"


    "Each pioneer dreams for such a precious chance. Why not have a try?"


    "Peter, join us!"


    "Sam and I have already discovered the underground tunnel where we found this object. As long as we go down along that underground tunnel, we will reap something for sure!"


    "Give me some time. As my status is a bit sensitive. If I act alone, I might bring some unknown dangers and troubles to you!" after considering it for a short while, Zhang Tie replied. What attracted Zhang Tie most was the super relics caused by the pieces of star of god, the GSC which remained the original look of the city before the Catastrophe, instead of the treasures inside.


    ...


    After warning the two people about something and promising to give them some necessary help, Zhang Tie stood up and prepared to leave.


    Seeing Zhang Tie leaving, after a short noise, a 60-odd pioneer walked towards Zhang Tie from the crowd.


    "Mr. Peter, we appreciate what you''ve done for us today. You''ve saved a lot of people''s lives. Because of you, many of our partners survived!" the senior paid his tribute to Zhang Tie while putting his hands on his shoulders and slightly lowering his head.


    "Don''t worry!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    When Zhang Tie found all the pioneers became quiet, he knew that this senior must want to talk something to him.


    "I was told that Your Excellency is also a pioneer?"


    "Right! Just say it..."


    After looking around, the old pioneer gritted his teeth, "After negotiating with all the other heads of our pioneers, we have a presumptuous request. We want Mr. Peter to be the commander of all the pioneers gathering in the Canyon! We expect you to lead us to discover the relics."


    Although pioneers were sloppy, many pioneers would also form temporary pioneering teams voluntarily. The leader of each team would be their commander. Although being always sloppy, once they formed teams, they would pay special attention to the unified strength of the team and the authority of the leader. As a result, leader of each team was granted with a great authority among the temporary team, which could almost match the power of military leaders.


    As a result, the pioneering teams guided by some leaders fought the allied forces under the personal wills of the leaders.


    "The commander of these pioneers?" it was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that these pioneers could pose such a request to him.


    Actually, besides owning a great power, the commander of pioneers could also share 3% of the total wealth of the entire team. Realizing that there were about 8000 pioneers near the canyon, Zhang Tie understood the value of this title.


    "Are you sure?" Zhang Tie smiled. Of course, he knew what they were thinking about. Ever since he was born, he had never met such a good thing.


    The old guy and those in the surroundings nodded at the same time.


    "Well, I accept it!''''


    The moment they revealed big smiles, their smiles froze as Zhang Tie sent the order,


    "I order you to hug your heads and jump like a frog for 100 times!"


    Watching their frozen looks, Zhang Tie sighed while his intelligent gleaming eyes became very aggressive "Actually, you''ve not determined your minds, right? The allied forces'' condition would not change just because of me!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie directly left the camp of the pioneers.


    ...


    Zhang Tie was always thinking about the underground relics on the way back. However, when he heard O''Laura''s words the moment he came back to the grey eagle tribe, Zhang Tie knew that he didn''t need to make any plan anymore.


    "You have a cool life these days, ha!" O''Laura sneered, "But, you''d better not forget that you''re my personal property. You have to listen to my order. I now officially notice you to follow me in the underground world tomorrow!"

 454 The Arrival of Fury-Class Airship

    Chapter 454: The Arrival of Fury-Class Airship


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The next morning, before dawn, a huge airship arrived at the relics canyon...


    After being killed twice in trouble-reappearance situations and polishing his surging points for a while, Zhang Tie lowered his body and drilled out of his tent. Raising his head, he caught sight of that huge airship which was hovering above an open grassland in the canyon.


    At the sight of it, Zhang Tie became stunned as he couldn''t believe in his eyes. After carefully looking at the 400-m long airship, Zhang Tie realized that he was not dreaming. Therefore, his heart gradually paced while a whim flashed across his mind, "Is that from Huaiyuan Palace?"


    That was truly a fury-class hard battle airship made in Huaiyuan Palace.


    "Are they here to catch me?" this whim was soon abandoned by Zhang Tie. "I''m just a small figure in Huaiyuan Palace. Huaiyuan Palace don''t need to catch me in such a magnificent way. Additionally, they could never know I''m here."


    After checking it again, Zhang Tie found no symbol of Huaiyuan Palace at all. Therefore, he slightly recovered his composure.


    The airship was truly a fury-class hard battle airship produced in Huaiyuan Palace. However, it doesn''t belong to Huaiyuan Palace now. According to Zhang Tie''s knowledge, fury-class hard battle airship was the urgently needed large-scale battle machine in Huaiyuan Palace. Its factory was in Yiyang City. It could be used for both military purposes and civil purposes. Besides being matched for Huaiyuan Palace''s troops, it was also sold to other forces. When Zhang Tie left Huaiyuan Palace, he was told that new buyers could only get fury-class hard battle airships at least after 5 years later. Huaiyuan Palace was planning to expand a new large-scale airship production base in Jinhai City.


    Besides Zhang Tie, many people in the camp were watching that huge airship with dumbfounded looks. Such a huge battle airship posed a great impact to people''s vision and mentality. Common airship were rarely seen in Ice and Snow Wilderness, not to mention such a huge airship.


    ...


    Realizing so many people were watching the airship, Zhang Tie directly came to the flume and started to cleanse himself. Soon after cleansing himself, he saw Setton walking towards him. Setton''s armor was sparkling, making him very spirited. Zhang Tie knew that it had been well cleaned.


    "Peter, are you ready? We will go there after a short while." Setton pointed at that fury-class airship in the distance.


    "That airship is so huge. Is it dispatched by some tribe?" Zhang Tie asked seriously.


    "No, the airship belongs to Golden Roc Bank in Eschyle City. Golden Roc Bank is very powerful and is the partner of our allied forces. They are responsible for purchasing our achievements and providing us with some logistic support!"


    Zhang Tie became stunned as he had not imagined that Golden Roc Bank was behind this action. However, the moment he recalled what Sam and Gerri told him last night, Zhang Tie understood it at once. Perhaps Golden Roc Bank already knew that a super relics existed here through some special channels. Therefore, they stood on the side of the allied forces so as to share the big cake.


    Zhang Tie glanced at that huge airship again and felt the great ambition of Golden Roc Bank at once.


    From Blackhot City to Huaiyuan Prefecture, from Ewentra Archipelago to Ice and Snow Wilderness, Zhang Tie really sensed the omnipresent influence of Golden Roc Bank. He started to realize how terrifying the Chinese forces behind Golden Roc Bank was.


    ...


    Over 10 minutes later, Zhang Tie left the camp of the grey eagle tribe together with Setton and O''Laura with rhino-horses, followed by Salem in a humble way. Salem was not as arrogant as he was several days ago anymore. Instead, he was always dodging from Zhang Tie''s vision. Even though he encountered Zhang Tie, he would always forced a chrysanthemum-like smile, making Zhang Tie comfortable instantly. As long as he was docile, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like finding him trouble.


    Compared to Salem''s "enthusiasm", O''Laura, who treated Zhang Tie kindly before suddenly turned cold to him. The two people''s attitudes towards Zhang Tie seemed like a seesaw, making Zhang Tie sigh about the wonders of the world.


    These days, the love affairs between Zhang Tie and Sabrina continuously heated. In others'' eyes, Zhang Tie had long been Sabrina''s curtain guest. However, they were just using their hands and mouths in most cases. In this course, Zhang Tie felt very funny and had an odd sense of conquering her. Gradually, Zhang Tie, as a 18 years old teenager was not satisfied by only doing this.


    From last midnight to this morning, Zhang Tie''s thing had always been as hard as an iron rod. It expanded so heavily that Zhang Tie felt that it was going to explode.


    At this moment, at the sight of O''Laura riding on the rhino-horse, Zhang Tie fixed his eyes on her butts naturally. At the same time, he started to compare her butts with that of Sabrina''s.


    Sabrina''s butt groove was really a lethal weapon. After hugging Sabrina in the wilderness for a few days, Zhang Tie had felt it deeply. By comparison, the butts in his front were a bit smaller; however, they were plumpy and should feel good...


    Seemingly feeling the hot eyes behind her, O''Laura turned around and noticed that Zhang Tie was gazing at her butts.


    "B*stard, what''re you looking at?" O''Laura in mask swore as she galloped his rhino-horse to enlarge the distance between her and Zhang Tie.


    Salem didn''t speak; instead, he just followed O''Laura. Seeing Setton''s glance, Zhang Tie forced an embarrassed smile as he scratched his head, not knowing how to explain, "Erm...I''ve seen nothing!"


    "O''Laura has a nice figure, right?"


    Zhang Tie thought that Setton would scold him; however, he had never expected that Setton could ask him in that way. Therefore, Zhang Tie lowered his voice, "erm...not bad!"


    "O''Laura is very beautiful; she''s even more beautiful than her mother. Additionally, she doesn''t have any boyfriend yet. Although she''s a bit elder than you, she was almost like a girl on love affairs. She could be easily moved. Sometimes, she''s very sentimental. Haven''t you found that she''s always losing temper when you stay with Sabrina these days?"


    After saying this, Setton threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie. Soon after that, he rushed ahead and caught up with O''Laura.


    Zhang Tie became perplexed for a short while as he was not sure what Setton''s words mean, "Is Setton...imp..implying that O''Laura likes me?"


    Zhang Tie recalled the episodes when he stayed with O''Laura, besides beating and being beaten, they just treated each other with cold words. In most cases, they were like enemies. They could barely speak kindly to each other...


    "No way!" Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile, exposing his white teeth before catching up with them.


    ...


    Heads of each tribe were gathering in the main tent of the wild bear tribe. Zhang Tie found most of them were those attending the banquet that night. Seeing the arrival of Zhang Tie, O''Laura and Setton, many people greeted Zhang Tie enthusiastically. It seemed as if Zhang Tie was the leader of the grey eagle tribe.


    O''Laura was silent while Setton became expressionless. By comparison, Zhang Tie nodded towards them with a smile. However, Salem was almost ignored.


    Everybody sat in the tent, forming a circle. They were chatting about their achievements these days and that huge airship in low voices.


    "O''Laura. I was told that you are going to enter the underground world with your assistant today?" Nurdo, O''Laura''s cousin walked towards them with 3 people. He nodded towards Zhang Tie before talking to O''Laura.


    "Mind you own business!" O''Laura still replied in an icy tone.


    "Ha...ha...no matter what, you''re my cousin. We''re relatives..." Nurdo replied with a smile. He was not angry at all. Compared to his arrogant look when he said the same words before, Nurdo became kind this time due to different environments. This change warned Zhang Tie that he was a chameleon, a small figure, an idiot, or a vicious figure who was very shrewd. Remarkably Nurdo was not the first type.


    O''Laura directly responded with a cold harrumph.


    "I forgot to tell you that I''m also going down there with the wind wolf tribe today. Why not set off together. We can take care of each other on the way. In the underground world, it''s safer if we unite with each other."


    O''Laura then gazed at Nurdo with sharp eyes, "Who leads the team, you or me?"


    "As to the vanguards, we will provide half of our own forces respectively or by turns. In this way, we can lower the potential loss! As to the common discovery, we can share them. Individual discovery will belong to individuals respectively!"


    After staring at Nurdo for a while, O''Laura finally nodded slowly.


    When Nurdo was talking with O''Laura, his woman was giving a glad eye to Zhang Tie. She was about 19 years old in white skirt. She had plumpy breasts, a slim waist and a sweet oval face. She looked innocent, yet with attractive eyes.


    "Oh, this is my friend, Elizabeth. She received my message a few days ago. He heard that it was interesting over here, therefore, she came here yesterday..." after talking with O''Laura, Nurdo had pulled this woman in front of Zhang Tie and started to introduce her, "Elizabeth, this is Peter who could wave over 600 kg huge hammer while performing a bloody, splendid dance. Additionally, Peter''s javelin throwing skill is the best. I''ve seen that. If you''re interested in that, you can chat with Peter after..."


    Soon after saying these words, Nurdo left with his men before O''Laura''s lost her temper. When Elizabeth left, she even turned around and revealed a sweet smile to seduce Zhang Tie once again.


    "Is Nurdo here as a procurer..." a whim flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind. "Although Elizabeth looked innocent, Zhang Tie always felt that innocence was only a part of her personality. Something might be hidden beneath her innocence. Now, everybody across the allied forces know that I''m staying with a dissolute woman everyday. I''m afraid that my reputation is not better than that of Nurdo. What does he mean by introducing me to this woman at this moment?"


    Zhang Tie was thinking about it as he heard O''Laura''s cold harrumph.


    ...


    After a few minutes, they had seen Gangula, Sabrina and Roslav and Waajid of the huge bear tribe coming in the main tent.


    Sabrina wore a black female battle clothes today, which made her breasts and butts more prominent. At the sight of Zhang Tie, Sabrina smiled towards him.


    "The airship of Golden Roc Bank has already arrived. We can go there to check what they''ve brought us now!" Gangula put it straightforwardly. After saying this, he directly led the others out of the main tent. Zhang Tie purposely slowed down his footsteps so that he could walk together with Sabrina. All the others just pretended to have not seen that. O''Laura directly followed Gangula away with the big strides while whipping her hair. Only Elizabeth turned around and glanced at Zhang Tie and Sabrina.


    "You look very beautiful today!" Zhang Tie moved closer to Sabrina''s ear. Meanwhile, he couldn''t help sniffing her alluring body fragrance as a mature woman. Instantly, Zhang Tie felt frantic inside.


    "Oh, do you like my black clothes?" Sabrina was remarkably very happy about Zhang Tie''s praise.


    "Mature woman like you would always look very sexy in black clothes!" Seeing nobody behind them, Zhang Tie directly pinched her plumpy butts.


    "You b*stard. You''re growing audacious. If Gangula caught you teasing his elder sister in the public, he would chop off your head!"


    "Hehe, I miss you so much the moment I think that I cannot see you in a very long period!''''


    "Do you want a piece of good news?" Sabrina''s eyes gleamed.


    "What good news?"


    "I''ve decided to go down there too!"


    "What? How can you go down there? It''s too dangerous."


    "So what? I''m with you. Additionally, Roslav and Waajid would also go down there with fighters of the huge bear tribe. Nothing to worry about it..."


    "Underground is different than above ground. Without enough preparations, it would be very dangerous! Especially we have to stay there for a long time..." Zhang Tie explained solemnly.


    "Do you mean the underground equipment? Don''t worry. Are you going to select equipment now?" Sabrina urged.


    The fury-class battle airship was only hundreds of meters away from this main tent; therefore, everybody went there on foot.


    Only after a short while, they had already arrived below the airship under the guidance of Gangula. For those heads of the allied forces who had not been so close to a fury-class airship before, the 400-m longer body caused a great stress to them. As a result, they gradually slowed their breath in front of the airship.


    "Welcome, childe Gangula!" A 50-odd Chinese senior was standing at the entrance of the airship with a smile, followed by a group of people...


    At the sight of this 50-odd man, Gangula burst out laughing. Seemingly being very familiar with this senior, Gangula paced up and gave him a warm hug as they patted each other''s back respectively.


    "Your airship really startled me. I''ve never seen such a huge airship before." After hugging with that senior, Gangula raised his head as he stared at that huge triangular body, "If wild bear tribe wants one, how much will it take?"


    "This is the latest fury-class hard battle airship produced in Huaiyuan Palace, Jinyun City. In Blackson Humans Clan, its performance ranks number one. If the wild bear tribe wants one, it will cost you 420,000 gold coins. You can get it in 5 years!"


    Hearing the senior''s words, everybody who followed Gangula here drew a cold breath. "420,000 gold coins? In 5 years?'' Each of the 2 numbers shocked them. Many small tribes here could not even make 420,000 gold coins in 5 years. Take the grey eagle tribe as an example. If O''Laura only made money as a bounty hunter, she had to wait for a long time.


    "How can it be so expensive and take such a long time?" Gangula frowned.


    "Because of the demon north wind belt, we could only transport the parts of fury-class airship to Eschyle City for assembly. It required a huge freight. Additionally, due to the tense situation on continents, the orders of fury-class hard battle airships had been queued up to 5 years later. As Golden Roc Bank has a deep-rooted partnership with Huaiyuan Palace, we have the priority to purchase some. If not want to wait such a long time, you can increase 40,000 gold coins for a year in advance..."


    "Then 5 years in advance means..."


    "With 200,000 gold coins more, the wild bear tribe would be able to get a fury-class airship in 3 months!"


    "620,000 gold coins!" muttering this number, even Gangula whose nickname was "mad dog" took a deep breath. After glancing at this giant once again, Gangula seemingly realized that he forgot something. He then turned around and introduced the senior to the public, "This is Xu Tao, the manager of Golden Roc Bank in Eschyle City..."


    "Please come in and take a look at the weapons I''ve brought you!" Manager Xu lowered his body to invite them before walking in the hatch together with Gangula.


    Seeing this familiar airship, Zhang Tie had mixed moods...

 455 Chaos and Freedom

    Chapter 455: Chaos and Freedom


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "According to our agreement, I bring you 300 tons of dried rations this time as the supplement to the soldiers of the allied forces. If this could last over 1 month, we will transport another 300 tons here at the same time next month." The manager of Golden Roc Bank introduced to Gangula on his side as he walked.


    They followed the manager in an open warehouse at the bottom of the airship. It was filled with military dried rations. At the sight of them, all the heads of the tribes nodded slightly. With these provisions, the soldiers of the allied forces could survive longer in the canyon.


    "Very good. I will have my men carry away the food after a while. By the way, they will carry their achievements here for your assessment!" Gangula was also very satisfied.


    "Childe Gangula, there''s one point that I have to notice you in advance. Because of the potential dangers caused by demons, the situation in the western continent is growing intenser. As a result, the prices of common cultural relics before the Catastrophe have started to decline. But, please believe in us, we have the most professional cultural relics appraisers. We will pay you according to their appraised values. After offsetting the total price of this batch of food, we will pay you the surplus money in terms of your favorite pattern!"


    "No problem!" Gangula nodded. At this moment, Gangula was the representative of the allied forces. Therefore, when he talked, nobody interrupted him. When in peaceful times, people would buy antiques; by contrast, in chaotic times, people would prefer gold. This law of value also suited to this age. As the 3rd holy war drew close, the values of common antiques declined sharply. However, the heads of tribes were not amazed about this, because the allied forces didn''t target at those common relics.


    "Is the situation in the continent really so tense now?"


    Hearing this question, everybody''s attention was attracted. As Ice and Snow Wilderness was far away from the continent, it was completely a desert place. Therefore, even Gangula could not receive the latest news timely. Relatively, Golden Roc Bank in Eschyle City became the most informative party in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Actually, many big tribes obtained their latest messages from Golden Roc Bank.


    "It''s very chaotic!" The manager lowered his voice as he walked, "Millions of demonized puppets in Heavenly Cold City have not been completely cleaned. An increasing number of demons were found in Hurricane Plateau in the west of Golan Empire, causing people of many western provinces of Golan Empire grow flurried and escape to the southern and eastern provinces of Golan Empire. As a result, all the provinces of Golan Empire are setting passes to prevent the entry of refugees. This also caused a lot of problems. Many conflicts have occurred between refugees and the army of Golan Empire, causing many casualties. As a result, many refugees turned roving bandits and the greater part of Golan Empire have been in chaos!"


    Hearing this reply, Gangula became slightly shocked, "Is that so serious?"


    "Even more. 3 days ago, the roving bandits of Golan Empire had occupied Gadiyani, a major city of Pearson Province of Golan Empire. As a result, all the officials of Gadiyani were killed. Now the entire Golan Empire is filled with riots. Someone even urged to overthrow the ruling of the imperial households. Additionally, as a chain reaction, some neighboring countries also became chaotic."


    Nobody would feel comfortable while hearing this news, even though Golan Empire was far from Ice and Snow Wilderness with mountains and rivers between them. On the stance of humans, before the appearance of the army of demons, human countries had already been in chaos or collapsed. Of course, nobody would like to hear it.


    Zhang Tie felt blue. He recalled Zhang Su, his cousin, who had been to the Hurricane Plateau for over 3 months with the other students from Hidden Dragon Palace. Even when Zhang Tie left the Hidden Dragon Palace, he didn''t see them return yet. Zhang Tie wondered what they had encountered. For such an organized military action, if its action time sharply increased, it would not be a good symbol.


    "What''s up?" Sabrina pinched Zhang Tie''s hand.


    "Nothing!" Zhang Tie forced a smile.


    "You liar. I feel you were thinking about something just now. Do you have family members in the continent?"


    Zhang Tie became a bit surprised about the woman''s precise intuition, "My family members are very safe; but I recalled my friends. As it''s growing worse in the continent, I''m concern about their safety!"


    "Have you found that Ice and Snow Wilderness is a good place?" Sabrina winked.


    "Oh?"


    "As Elzida the greatest prophet and pontiff has seen the future, he knew that the holy war between humans and demons would not influence this place, he led the Slavs here and make it the territory of Slavs."


    "How come?" Zhang Tie doubted.


    "The devil north wind belt prevents airships from arriving here. The sea is the natural barrier. The northern iced land of Ice and Snow Wilderness is unpopulated as it could kill any living beings. Additionally, it''s said that the periphery of the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness is surrounded by magma. Therefore, the demons could only arrive here by sea. However, if the demon fleets treat Ice and Snow Wilderness as their target, it means that the entire Blackson Humans Corridor has been collapsed!"


    Hearing Sabrina''s explanation, some thoughts flashed Zhang Tie''s mind. If it was true, Zhang Tie felt that perhaps he could manage something here so that he could take this place as a temporary asylum besides the oriental continent when the situation on the western continent became completely deteriorated.


    ...


    After rising to one floor higher from the basement, everyone came to the place that Golden Roc Bank prepared for them.


    This was a lobby in the airship, which was as magnificent as an imperial palace in the air. Zhang Tie found something different between its internal layout and that of those for military purpose that he had taken before. It seemed that the factory of Huaiyuan Palace could make special internal layouts according to the demands of the guests.


    It was so luxurious and comfortable here, which broadened the vision of heads of the allied forces once again. Previously, none of them have expected to enjoy such a top service in the airship before.


    There was even a small fountain in the middle of this lobby.


    Watching such a gorgeous place, even Sabrina''s eyes gleamed, "Wow, it''s too awesome! If only I can have such an airship, I will travel everywhere above the Ice and Snow Wilderness everyday. How interesting it would be!"


    Even Sabrina acted in this way at the sight of this lobby, not to mention the others. Many of them couldn''t help to touch here and there like rustics. Even O''Laura in mask couldn''t stand to look around.


    When they were exclaiming, the staff on the airship had delivered the information about the airship to them.


    This lobby was completely like a small commodity sales exhibition as it was surrounded by counters. Various medicament and special equipment were placed in the counters.


    Zhang Tie was also surprised about this. He then started to take a look around while pulling Sabrina''s hand. Although the dried rations down there could be divided by the number of people of each tribe. But the items here could only be purchased if they wanted. As each tribe would have their own achievements if they discovered anything underground, of course, they had to purchase their medicament and special equipment here.


    For pioneers, they could enter underground with only one fluorite lamp as it was the most economical method. However, for these leaders, they would never do that like those pioneers. At least, they should prepare some night viewing medicament. Therefore, many people instantly surrounded the counters where night viewing medicament were placed in.


    Various night viewing medicament were displayed in the counters, the duration of which varied from one day to one month. At the sight of the prices of these medicament, Zhang Tie had realized that the medicament in Hidden Dragon Island were too cheap.


    Zhang Tie and Sabrina were studying a compacted composite jerky which contained super high heat and various nutrients. Sabrina was really interested in that and was going to buy some. Right then, a voice sounded, "Peter Hamplester!"


    Hearing this sound, Zhang Tie turned around and found O''Laura, Setton, Gangula, Xu Tao, the manager of Golden Roc Bank, an uniformed man and a 40-year odd fat man standing in the distance.


    The one who called his fake name was the man in the uniform, whose uniform reminded Zhang Tie of the police in Eschyle City. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s eyebrows jumped.


    When Zhang Tie turned around, everybody over there fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie with weird and amazing looks. Additionally, the 40-year odd fat man seemed to relieve a heavy burden at the sight of Zhang Tie''s look, making Zhang Tie perplexed.


    Zhang Tie walked over there calmly, "I''m Peter Hamplester. What''s up?"


    Before the man in the uniform finished his words, the 40-year odd man beside him had hurriedly opened his mouth with a big smile while striding forward for a few steps, "It''s so nice to see you safe here!"


    "Do we...know each other?" Zhang Tie stared at that fat man with a doubtful look as he racked his mind to remember this guy.


    "Mr. Peter, I''m Paulson, the director of the branch of Seablue Castle Business Group in Eschyle City!"


    "Seablue Castle Business Group?"


    "Erm, you might not know that, Balas Business Group changed its name into Seablue Castle Business Group several days ago."


    Glancing over this fat, who called himself the director of Seablue Castle Business Group in Eschyle City and that man whose uniform was like that of policemen in Eschyle City, Zhang Tie seemingly understood something; however, he was not sure about that.


    "When you came to Ice and Snow Wilderness, Ms. Olina had ordered us to pay attention to your whereabouts and news. After you were wanted by the police station in Eschyle City, we reported your news to Ms. Olina right away. After knowing that, Ms. Olina was very concerned about you. Therefore, she ordered us to contact with you as soon as possible, later on..."


    "Director Paulson, please let me say the following things!" the man in the uniform interrupted, "I''m Andrew, the inspector general of the police station in Eschyle City. After the police station in Eschyle City sent you the second wanted circular, director Paulson had contacted with us and provided us necessary intelligence. According to the intelligence provided by director Eugene, we started the strictest review procedures for your wanted circular. Through review, we found that you were executing self-defense by killing that man from demon snake island. As to the death of the two bounty hunters, it was nothing to do with you. Based on the analysis of traces and intelligence, someone else had killed them. It might be Dawson, a round-table warrior from demon snake island. After confirming the two situations, the Eschyle City have already revoked your wanted circulars!"


    Zhang Tie was stunned for a short while before asking in a doubtful look, "You mean I''m free now?"


    "Yes, it was totally a misunderstanding. I show my sincere apology to you for the troubles brought by the two false wanted circulars delivered by the police station in Eschyle City!" After apologizing, Andrew bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie.


    "It''s Olina..." Zhang Tie recalled that Bluesea Castle Business Group must have paid a lot and pulled a lot of strings in the process of revoking the wanted circulars.


    Standing on the side of Zhang Tie, Sabrina silently pinched him on his back...


    "Thanks to O''Laura''s prudence, Peter is safe!" Gangula opened his mouth. For some reason, Gangula seemed to be very happy at this moment as he started to glance over O''Laura and Sabrina. Not until being glared by Sabrina did he reveal a meaningful smile.


    "After knowing that Mr. Peter was taken away by two bounty hunters, we came here by the airship of Golden Roc Bank!" Saying this, Paulson took out a gold note purse from his chest and passed it to O''Laura politely with two hands, "We know the rules of bounty hunters. Given that Eschyle City''s reward was 5000 gold coins. Golden Roc Bank delivered gold notes of 500,000 gold coins to appreciate Miss O''Laura and the grey eagle tribe for taking care of Mr. Peter and redemption of Zhang Tie''s items from you!"


    In a split second, everybody focused their eyes on O''Laura...

 456 Conquer OsLaura

    Chapter 456: Conquer O''Laura


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Zhang Tie walked towards them, the talk had already arisen the attention of many people. The moment they heard about that amount of 500,000 gold coins, the lobby instantly became quiet while numerous eyes focused on the purse. It was 500,000 gold coins! The entire grey eagle tribe could at most gain 100,000 gold coins in a year.


    Even Gangula''s body quivered. Although he could afford it but he had to take a few days to collect so much money.


    Setton stared at O''Laura with a slightly thrilled look. With this amount of money, O''Laura could instantly establish a team and gradually take back the ruling power of the grey eagle tribe...


    Salem looked at O''Laura with a fearful look, then he moved his eyes on the purse with a greedy look. He understood what did the 500,000 gold coins mean to O''Laura and his father.


    Nurdo was also watching O''Laura from afar with a slightly anxious look, "With 500,000 gold coins, she could do a lot of things in Ice and Snow Wilderness." He looked at O''Laura, then Zhang Tie, then O''Laura again with glittering eyes. Nobody knew what he was thinking about.


    Some people gazed at Zhang Tie. Although it was not Zhang Tie who gave the money to O''Laura, it was more shocking while giving the money to her by someone else. Someone would like to pay that for Zhang Tie, made Zhang Tie more mysterious.


    Zhang Tie peered at O''Laura. He could sense that O''Laura was a bit colder than before although she didn''t say anything.


    He knew that O''Laura needed money very much.


    "Now that the wanted circular has been revoked, Peter is innocent. But I won''t take this money..." O''Laura muffled from behind the mask, "From now on, Peter Hamplester is free. He''s not my captive and personal property anymore. The grey eagle tribe will return everything that belongs to him!"


    After saying that, O''Laura turned around and left, leaving no chance for others to say anything.


    Paulson opened his mouth as he had never imagined that O''Laura would not take the gold notes.


    Only Zhang Tie seemingly understood something at the sight of O''Laura''s stubborn back. Zhang Tie had mixed moods at once.


    ...


    "Mr. Peter. According to our investigation, demon snake island dispatched Dawson, a round-table fighter to hunt you. Did you encounter him? Based on our analysis, the two bounty hunters probably be killed by Dawson. The bloody spot suited to Dawson''s killing method very much. All the wounds on the two bounty hunters were lethal and were in consistent with the wounds caused by the weapons adopted by Dawson. Therefore Dawson is wanted by the police station in Eschyle City!"


    Andrew explained to Zhang Tie politely. Additionally, he intended to restore the relationship between Zhang Tie and Eschyle City and obtain some useful intelligence from Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie glanced over and found O''Laura had already disappeared in the lobby only after a couple of minutes.


    "Dawson did come after me in the Grey Hill; however, I''ve already killed him. I''m afraid that he''s already became the feces of iron-teeth hyenas. You can revoke his wanted circular too. I have his dark tore gloves!" Zhang Tie briefed, "I''m sorry, supervisor general Andrew, I have something to manage, excuse me..."


    Under Andrew''s slight amazement, Zhang Tie patted Sabrina''s hand before nodding to Paulson. Without saying anything, he directly walked towards Setton.


    "Where''s O''Laura?" Zhang Tie asked Setton.


    "She left the things here to me. She said she wanted rest. I''m afraid that she''s already returned to the camp!" Setton looked sophisticated. Looking at Zhang Tie, he wanted to say something, yet finally didn''t say it.


    Zhang Tie immediately turned around and left the lobby...


    When Zhang Tie left the lobby, he heard manager Xu Tao''s voice, "May I have your attention please. Now, I''m going to introduce you a marvelous medicament that you''ve all heard of but not have seen. Actually, since the age before the Catastrophe, in the human history of over 6000 years, this medicament appears for the first time. Compared to many expensive medicament, its price might not be high; yet it is absolutely qualified to be called rare and precious. This medicament is the bliss for all. We will not sell them today; instead, as Golden Roc Bank obtained a batch of them through special channel, we will gift a vial of this marvelous medicament to each guest..."


    However, Zhang Tie had already left the airship before Xu Tao finished his words...


    After exiting the airship, Zhang Tie directly ran towards the camp of grey eagle tribe. After a short while, he had already arrived there.


    "Is O''Laura back?" Zhang Tie asked a sentry.


    The sentry nodded. Zhang Tie then entered the camp and directly walked towards O''Laura''s tent.


    "You cannot go inside!" Two female servants standing outside O''Laura''s tent instantly stopped Zhang Tie. Without saying anything, Zhang Tie slightly blocked them away before striding inside.


    "You..." a female servant changed her face and wanted to stop Zhang Tie while another female servant instantly stopped her by pulling her arm, and waved her head, "Let him in..." the female servant became perplexed at once before exchanging glances with the other female servant. She seemingly understood something. Therefore, she recovered her original gesture.


    After passing by two curtains, Zhang Tie finally walked into O''Laura''s boudoir.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered, he had been noticed by O''Laura. O''Laura turned around in front of a cabinet with an item in hand.


    "You cannot wait to get your freedom back?" O''Laura sneered while raising her face, "Although I''m a woman, I will never eat my words. I will return all your personal belongings to you. Here''s the antidote of the bone-exploding needles in your body. Take it away together with the other items on the table!"


    After saying that, O''Laura dropped a small vial of antidote onto a desk. Zhang Tie found his double-carps sword, dark tore gloves and finger ring of eagles'' eye were also lying there.


    He didn''t ask O''Laura why she had the antidote of the bone-exploding needles. Neither did he stare at the items over the table anymore. Instead, he just looked into O''Laura''s eyes and asked another question, "Why don''t you take the 500,000 gold coins?"


    "Does it have anything to do with you? You''re free now. You can continue to screw around with that shameless woman. Nobody would stop you anymore. You can also live well in the wild bear tribe based on your ability. Oh, and that enchanting fox..." O''Laura''s words were full of sarcasm and irony.


    Zhang Tie pretended to have not heard it; he continued to force ahead and asked, "Why don''t you take the 500,000 gold coins?''


    "Mind your own business. Who are you? You''re not qualified to care about me." O''Laura''s breasts slightly rose and fell. It seemed that she was becoming thrilled.


    "Why not take the 500,000 gold coins?" Zhang Tie continued while drawing closer to her.


    "Take you items and roll out of here!" O''Laura roared.


    "Because you like me. No matter how much that man paid, you would not take it. Because you don''t want to replace your beloved man for anyone''s compensation and gratitude. You won''t trade your beloved man, right?" Zhang Tie asked as he moved closer to O''Laura. Gradually, he could touch her if he stretched out his arm.


    Like being struck by lightning bolt, she started to quiver.


    "Do you know how I know about your thoughts? Because if it was me, I would not trade my beloved woman for any items either!" Saying this, Zhang Tie had already pulled O''Laura''s hand.


    Having been staying with O''Laura for so long time, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to hold her hand.


    O''Laura''s hand was cold. Although the back of her hand felt very delicate, her palm felt a bit crude. Zhang Tie knew that it was because she always cultivated fighting skills. Even O''Laura was talented but she still needed to practice hard.


    "Let me go..." after quivering for a few seconds like being struck by lightning bolt, O''Laura intended to draw her hand back; however, Zhang Tie''s strength was so great that she could not escape at all; therefore, O''Laura directly punched towards Zhang Tie.


    Of course, Zhang Tie would not like to be struck by her. Along the direction of O''Laura''s strength, he directly pulled O''Laura closer to him, making her lose her balance.


    When Zhang Tie was going to hold her two hands, at the same time he found that O''Laura had kicked towards his forehead with one foot. As a LV 10 strong fighter, O''Laura''s close fighting skills were also very sharp. If Zhang Tie was struck by O''Laura''s kick, Zhang Tie was sure that his face would probably have been destroyed.


    "F*ck, do you want to murder your man?" Zhang Tie teased her as he instantly dodged away.


    "B*stard!" the moment she landed, O''Laura had already rushed towards Zhang Tie again like a crazy leopardess...


    ...


    Hearing the fighting sound from inside the tent, the two female servants looked weird. They became hesitated whether they would go inside or not. Right then, Setton was rushing back in a flurried manner. At the sight of Setton, the two female servants on O''Laura''s side felt like seeing their savior.


    "Has Peter come back?"


    "Soon after Peter entered, the fight started..."


    Setton raised his hand to stopped the two female servants. He stood outside the door and listened to the inside for a short while. After that, a smile flashed by Setton''s face. At the sight of those soldiers who looked at this tent, Setton started to swear them with a serious look, "B*stards, mind your own business. Go carry your rations. As something important proceeds inside the main tent, from now on everybody has to stay 20 m away from the main tent!"


    After saying that, Setton just stood outside the main tent while gazing at those soldiers. All the soldiers shrugged and dared not to glance at the main tent anymore.


    ...


    O''Laura didn''t run her battle Qi. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t wear his dark tore gloves either. After fighting several minutes, Zhang Tie finally conquered O''Laura, although being struck by O''Laura for some times.


    However, this time, Zhang Tie''s gesture was much warmer. Zhang Tie completely pressed O''Laura onto her bed, making her lose her moving ability.


    Zhang Tie pressed O''Laura''s hands by one hand while twisted her legs with his legs. They just glared at each other.


    "B*stard, let me go!" O''Laura swore in a low voice.


    Zhang Tie didn''t speak; instead, he reached his another hand towards O''Laura''s face.


    Realizing Zhang Tie''s intention, O''Laura struggled more. However, it was in vain, except for some meaningless physical frictions.


    Zhang Tie finally put his hand onto O''Laura''s mask.


    "If you dare to take off my mask, I will kill you..." O''Laura exclaimed.


    Zhang Tie''s hand remained still like a piece of iron. He only hesitated for less than 0.5 second about O''Laura''s threat. After that, he picked off the mask.


    Zhang Tie saw a 20-odd woman''s face which was as icy as frost and as enchanting as rose.


    The moment her mask was picked off, O''Laura recovered composure. She didn''t oppose anymore.


    Zhang Tie''s face was about 3 cm away from the delicate face.


    "Are you afraid of being killed?" O''Laura uttered an icy voice from her alluring lips.


    "Your voice sounds better without the mask!" with a smile, Zhang Tie stared at O''Laura''s face, "If I''m not brave enough to see the look of my beloved woman, am I qualified to be a man then?"


    "You...hmm..."


    Before O''Laura replied, Zhang Tie had already pressed his lips onto that of O''Laura and started to kiss her forcefully...


    O''Laura''s body started to be stiff, struggling and quivering; finally it became as hot as fire and as soft as water...


    ...


    Over 10 minutes later, O''Laura, who had recovered her moving ability, instantly reverted the positions with Zhang Tie. Panting, blushing, they closely stared at each other.


    After glaring at Zhang Tie for over 10 seconds, O''Laura suddenly lowered her body and kissed onto Zhang Tie''s lips. At the same time, she instantly dug open Zhang Tie''s lips with that flexible tongue and drilled into Zhang Tie''s mouth with it...


    O''Laura''s kiss almost engulfed Zhang Tie.


    Several minutes later, Zhang Tie felt being breathless by O''Laura...


    Like a ice-covered volcano, O''Laura''s eruption was really groundbreaking.


    "Can I take a breath?" Zhang Tie spent a great effort to escape from O''Laura''s lips. Inclining his head, Zhang Tie started to pant heavily. "Such a woman''s eruption is too terrifying."


    Although O''Laura panted through her nostrils, she kept her lips over Zhang Tie''s body. She moved them downwards from Zhang Tie''s lips to his chin, neck and finally, she pulled open Zhang Tie''s coat and exposed Zhang Tie''s firm chest.


    When Zhang Tie''s heart raced and he thought that O''Laura could bring him an unprecedented stimulation like those girls in Rose Association, O''Laura directly bit on Zhang Tie''s left chest, which was closest to Zhang Tie''s heart and pierced Zhang Tie''s skin.


    That was indeed stimulative!


    Zhang Tie uttered a groundbreaking, miserable wail!


    ...


    Frowning his forehead, Setton couldn''t understood why it was Zhang Tie who uttered the miserable cry. "How can he feel more pain than O''Laura? That''s not reasonable..."

 457 Underground Relics

    Chapter 457: Underground Relics


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On the same afternoon, the first batch of explorers of the allied forces had set out towards the underground relics.


    Besides the 100 people dispatched by the grey eagle tribe, the other tribes dispatched over 2000 soldiers in total. Gangula didn''t go there. However, the wild bear tribe also dispatched a team of 500 soldiers. Being led by the powerhouses of the tribe, they entered the entrance of the underground crack first.


    Closely after the team of the wild bear tribe was a group of Golden Roc Bank. Although Golden Roc Bank only dispatched about 20 people but all of them were the best professionals in underground investigation and mapping. Therefore, they were very eye-catching. Compared to surface mapping, underground mapping was much more difficult and sophisticated. Because land surface map was a plain map while underground map was a three-dimensional perspective in a more sophisticated environment. In this age, one could buy any land surface map of the most populated places at a low cost. However, the maps of underground world were always in the hands of major powers as they were very strategic resources and were very valuable in military area and commerce.


    There were professional courses in Hidden Dragon Palace. Students could learn how to identify and use underground maps. Pitifully, Zhang Tie had not touched this course until he left Hidden Dragon Palace. Zhang Tie knew that these knowledge could only be learned in the staff departments of corps of Huaiyuan Prefecture.


    Standing in the distance, Zhang Tie saw the team of Golden Roc Bank disappearing at the entrance of the underground world.


    Meanwhile Paulson, the director of Seablue Castle Business Group''s branch in Eschyle City found a chance to talk with Zhang Tie alone.


    Zhang Tie listened to Paulson''s introduction about the recent situation of Bluesea Castle Business Group and Olina. Finally he sighed, "Please tell Ms. Olina that I appreciate her concern about me very much. And I''m living well here!"


    Given that Olina changed the name of Ballas Business Group into Bluesea Castle Business Group, Zhang Tie knew that Olina had finally cast off the shadow of Ballas clan that had troubled her for many years. Zhang Tie felt happy about that for Olina.


    "Demon snake island now hates me the most, they would not cause any trouble to Olina anymore." Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh. After killing Dawson, Zhang Tie knew that demon snake island would be more cautious for sure. "It seemed that there were only 8 round-table fighters above LV 9 across the demon snake island. They all had their own things to deal with, they could not spend full time on me."


    "Ms. Olina warned you to be cautious about the people of demon snake island. If you have any demands, Ms. Olina said you could mobilize all the resources in Ice and Snow Wilderness. If it''s not enough here, the headquarter will further support you!"


    "Fine, if I need something, I will find you in Eschyle City to tell you!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile. He felt really warm about the beauty''s deep sentiment.


    "These money..." Paulson took out of the gold notes again as he stared at Zhang Tie in an embarrassed way.


    "Just take them back, I don''t need it!" Zhang Tie felt that he had not been that degenerated to have to survive on a woman. Additionally, he didn''t lack money at the present. He had not used the gold notes that he collected from Zhen Clan Mansion which were worth over 600,000 gold coins. If he needed, he could take them out at any time.


    ...


    When Paulson was going to leave, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled something. Therefore, he stopped Paulson.


    "I''ve got few words for Olina. I miss her very much. Perhaps, I will visit her after a few days!"


    Paulson threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie as he bowed, "I will tell her all your words!".


    ...


    Paulson left while O''Laura came to Zhang Tie''s side.


    "Humph, you really have a lot of women, including the well-known enchanting fox!" O''Laura''s voice sounded not right.


    At the sight of her, Zhang Tie''s left chest ached once again. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to encounter such a situation. He had planned to let O''Laura bleed; unexpectedly, O''Laura left a bloody mark on his left chest before driving him out of her main tent. When he recalled Setton''s weird look outside the tent, Zhang Tie became extremely shameless and he even wanted to bury himself in the soil.


    After that, Zhang Tie realized that it was because that he failed to answer O''Laura well.


    Although Zhang Tie almost entered her body at that moment, O''Laura resisted him at the critical moment. Panting heavily, she asked Zhang Tie a question, "Which one do you like more, I or Sabrina?"


    "Both!"


    Closely after this answer, Zhang Tie was kicked off from O''Laura''s body.


    Sometimes, women changed their moods as fast as turning pages.


    Zhang Tie didn''t continue. Because he knew that some things could not be forced to do. Each one had their own respect and hope. No matter whether they like it or love, it will not be the whole content of the communication between the two people. .


    Perhaps, O''Laura seek for more sense of safety due to her experiences in the childhood. Besides, she had stronger sense of possession and desire for controlling others. Zhang Tie understood it very well. Like Alice, women were sentimental animals. However, it didn''t mean that they had no personal persistence.


    Certainly, they might change their persistence as women were all capricious. Given O''Laura''s tone and enthusiasm just now, Zhang Tie knew that he still had a chance. Based on the experience that he had learned from those girls in Rose Association, if a woman would like to kiss you, it meant that she had fully accepted you inside as it was a shortcut for a woman to open her heart to you.


    Zhang Tie glanced at the finger ring of eagle''s eye on O''Laura''s finger before revealing a smile, "Do you believe me if I told you that I''ve not seen her naked body?"


    "You liar!" O''Laura sneered at Zhang Tie, "I found that you were a pervert. All the women you like are too much elder than you. The enchanting fox is already over 40 years old while Sabrina is almost 30."


    "Including you, right?"


    O''Laura became slightly stunned for a short while. Finally she looked in the distance, "Humph, the woman you like arrives!"


    Zhang Tie looked around and found Sabrina was coming towards him with a team of female guards.


    "I have to warn you that you''d better take the antidote of the bone-exploding needles as soon as possible. If you miss it, it would take a long time for senior Merkel to produce it once again."


    "But you told me that there was no antidote for the bone-exploding needles and they could only be cleaned up by senior Merkel."


    "You''re too smart. We didn''t know about your background at that moment. Therefore, I told you that to let you abandon the plan to escape. It was women''s privilege to tell a lie!"


    Zhang Tie became speechless. After glancing at his back, O''Laura turned around and left at once.


    "Peter, I''ve already prepared well. I can go down there at any time. What about you?" Sabrina walked towards Zhang Tie with a big smile from his back...


    ...


    One hour later, Zhang Tie, Sabrina and another 300 soldiers of the grey eagle tribe and the wind wolf tribe entered the entrance of the underground world. Sam and Gerri were also invited by Zhang Tie to join this team.


    Sam and Gerri were very thrilled by the privilege that they didn''t have to submit their "tax" if they followed Zhang Tie, not to mention that they could be safer after such a powerful team. Therefore, the moment Zhang Tie posed the invitation had they agreed.


    ...


    Over 10 minutes after Zhang Tie''s team entered the underground world did Roslav and Waajid of the huge bear tribe follow in with their fighters.


    In the next few hours, some more teams followed in.


    ...


    After entering the underground cave for a couple of minutes, they could not see any light anymore. Therefore, each team member took out their own fluorite lamps and hung them over their own waists.


    Looking at them from the distance, over 200 fluorite lamps were like a green dragon as it twisted forward in the pitch-dark underground world which was several miles in width.


    Zhang Tie also carried a luggage weighing dozens of kilograms like others. He also took out a fluorite lamp and hung it over his waist at this moment.


    "Peter, haven''t you purchased night viewing medicament?" seeing Zhang Tie using fluorite lamp, Sabrina added, "I have a few night viewing medicament left. Each vial could last two weeks, do you want some?"


    Hearing Sabrina''s words, O''Laura who was walking together with Nurdo ahead of them raised her ears. Seeing this, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh, "Thanks, I don''t use them. I''m allergic to night viewing medicament. If I used night viewing medicament, I could see nothing but white mist in front of me. O''Laura had given me some, but I returned them all to her. I remember that when I came to the underground world to form battle Qi for the first time, I used one which could last one day; however, I became blind for a whole day!"


    "Ah? That''s too pitiful!" Sabrina waved her head out of sympathy.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "Actually, I feel good. Under such dim lamplight, I find you are much more beautiful than before!"


    Sabrina stared at Zhang Tie with a big smile as she forcefully kissed Zhang Tie''s face, "You cute small badass."


    "Humph!" hearing Zhang Tie''s talk with Sabrina, O''Laura who was walking ahead of them responded with a cold harrumph before pacing up.


    As there was no sun or moon in the underground world, in order to not disturb their biological clocks and keep their energy, they just followed the work-rest schedule that they followed above the ground.


    That day, Zhang Tie felt that they obliquely deepened into the underground world for at least 30 km along a huge crack. After entering a huge underground cave, they started to move northeast. Totally they walked about 200 km. The underground terrain here was more evenly than that in the Dragon Cave. Additionally, the space here was more spacious.


    On the first day since they entered the underground world, they walked for 10 hours. When the time was after 23:00, they started to pitch tents.


    Their tents were close to each other, yet were clearly separated. After eating their own dried rations, they didn''t feel like chatting at all. Therefore, after receiving their own tasks on sentry in the evening, they hung their fluorite lamps outside their tents. After that, all the men drilled into their own tents and slept. By contrast, women lifted clean water to their tents from nearby and cleanse themselves.


    With so many eyes in the surroundings and a task in hand, Zhang Tie felt too shameless to drill in Sabrina''s tent at this moment. If he did that, he was waving the overall morality. If it was in the army, he would have his head chopped off for sure. Of course, Zhang Tie was clear about that.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie drilled in his own tent.


    The moment he drilled in his tent did Zhang Tie take out the antidote of the bone-exploding needles given by O''Laura. After glancing at it, Zhang Tie didn''t eat it; instead, he directly threw it in Castle of Black Iron.


    "Heller, is there any problem with this antidote?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t believe in that senior Merkel, as old guys were usually shrewd. Even if he gave this antidote to O''Laura, Zhang Tie was not sure whether that old douchebag set him up or not through the antidote.


    "It''s safe. The pill contains some special herbal medicine and a spiritual energy which will completely reverse the energy of your bone-exploding needles. It''s harmless to human body. The only problem is that you might have loose bowels 5 minutes after eating it according to the analysis of pharmacological properties!"


    Hearing Heller''s reply, Zhang Tie didn''t speak anymore. He started to run iron-blood battle Qi silently. After dozens of seconds, Zhang Tie''s forehead started to ooze while the sense of discomfort and pains disappeared at once. At the same time, he could run iron-blood battle Qi smoothly; actually, he felt his iron-blood battle Qi was smoother than that before he was struck by the bone-exploding needles. Like all the reefs in the river course had disappeared at once, Zhang Tie felt pretty relaxed.


    After consuming the last bit energy of the bone-exploding needles, Zhang Tie felt free once again.


    Remembering the 3 iron-body fruits in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. After sitting in the tent silently for about 5 minutes, Zhang Tie instantly rushed out of the tent as he put his hand on the belly on purpose. Taking off the fluorite lamp from the tent, he instantly darted towards the temporary toilet in the distance.


    "Peter, where are you going?" at the sight of Zhang Tie, Sam was going to drill into his tent asked loudly.


    "Stomachache!" Zhang Tie shouted loudly. Almost everybody else could hear that, including O''Laura. Recalling how intimate was Zhang Tie to Sabrina in the daytime, O''Laura swore in a low voice, "You deserve it!".


    The night flashed by...


    Under the guidance of Sam and Gerri, Zhang Tie''s team arrived at a ruined architectural complex on the 3rd day.


    At the sight of it, Zhang Tie and everybody else became spirited...


    For many of them, it was their first time to see such a magnificent relics of historical civilization before the Catastrophe in such a close distance.

 458 A Humanoid Excavator

    Chapter 458: A Humanoid Excavator


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    This was a city. From the remains of the collapsed buildings, Zhang Tie realized that it was a medium-sized city.


    As there was no road in front, they could barely access to it. The fluorite lamplight brightened up a part of the darkness. Through the indistinct mistiness, those ruined tall corridors were like a beast lurking in the darkness.


    Some pioneers were seemingly wandering in the darkness. Holding green fluorite lamps, they looked like swaying ghost fire[1], which terrified Zhang Tie''s team for some reason.


    Feeling the tense atmosphere behind him, Zhang Tie switched his dark vision with the common vision and found that this ruined city was absolutely like a graveyard. It brought a great stress to humans. However, in dark vision, Zhang Tie could only see the desolate wildness.


    Seeing those remaining tall buildings, Zhang Tie could sense the development of human civilization before the Catastrophe.


    Within his vision, Zhang Tie saw many collapsed skyscrapers. Zhang Tie saw numerous exposed steel bars and huge twisted steel structures at the intersections of skyscrapers, which looked like terrifying fish bones or skeleton of monsters.


    At least in architectural field, the human achievements before the Catastrophe could not be matched by those today. After making a comparison between the cities that Zhang Tie had seen before and this city, Zhang Tie found that, even those tallest buildings in Yiyang City, which was the most prosperous city in Zhang Tie''s eyes were dwarfed in front of the remains of this city.


    When they moved inside, Zhang Tie''s team was always obstructed by concrete blocks which fell down from those buildings. As a result, they had to make a detour.


    On the roadsides, Zhang Tie also saw many traffic tools before the Catastrophe, which had already become nothing but rusty iron shells. Some were buses, some were like railed trains which contained a lot of carriages.


    As to some eccentric remains, even Zhang Tie could not identify them.


    For some reason, these remains suddenly reminded Zhang Tie of the old man, the teacher of his nature class in the No. 7 National Middle School in Blackhot City. It was the teacher''s last dream to make an investigation in such a relics. However, pitifully, this was too unrealistic for a commoner.


    "Ah..." a soldier uttered a miserable cry in front before falling down the ground. Hearing this, everybody else took out their weapons and formed a defense formation while looking around. They were afraid of being attacked.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly walked over there. He found the warrior was hugging his foot while a sharp thing like a nail penetrated through his instep.


    The soldier''s wound was soon bound up. It was indeed a nail before the Catastrophe. One end of the nail touched a concrete block while its sharp end faced upwards. The soldier stepped onto it carelessly.


    After the nail was drawn out of his foot and cleaned, Zhang Tie took a look at it. He found that the nail was still pitch-dark and bright, except for a bit rust. Undoubtedly, it could indicate the scientific and technological level of humans before the Catastrophe.


    "Watch out your feet!" Someone warned loudly.


    ...


    "We can find a place to settle down!" Zhang Tie said while looking at O''Laura. As they had already arrived at the relics, they had already reached their first target. Even though O''Laura and Nurdo had other plans, unless they had already known the concrete location of the possible super relics, it would waste too much time to search for that place with so many people. If a powerhouse could find that super relics in one day, it would take so many people about 10 days to find the target.


    O''Laura exchanged glances with Nurdo.


    "As our team has walked for a few days, they indeed should take a rest. As we''ve already found the relics, if our soldiers don''t search over here for a while, their morality will be shaken! If they''re lucky, they can make some money here." Nurdo agreed with Zhang Tie firstly.


    O''Laura glanced at those soldiers who were looking around with curious and excited looks before nodding, "Fine, let''s find a place to pitch tents!"


    "I can finally find a place to take a bath!" Sabrina revealed a smile. In these days, although women paid attention to their tidiness, men had already been smelly. The man who smelt best was Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether it was because of the fruits that he had eaten or the effect of the all-purpose medicament, although he also looked as dirty as other men and oozed sweat, he didn''t smell sweaty. Sabrina said he smelt like the fresh grass under sunlight in the summer.


    Now that the most influential 4 figures in the team had reached an agreement, the team chose to settle down after another few kilometers beside a collapsed skyscraper.


    The skyscraper occupied over 6000 square meters. As it had collapsed, of course, it was safer. Zhang Tie''s team chose to settle down in the relatively open spot between the collapsed part and the part that had not collapsed of that skyscraper. As it had barriers on two sides, it was relatively hidden and safer.


    Soon after he pitched his tent did Zhang Tie see Sam and Gerri walking towards him. After exchanging glances with each other, they left the camp. Finally they stopped at a hidden place hundreds of meters way.


    "Sam and I found that ham package not far from here!" Gerri looked around and he told Zhang Tie in a low voice.


    "Wuh, near here?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Yes, it was in a mountain cave on the east border of this city. It''s less than 40 km away from here!" Sam added as he pointed at a direction.


    "Given the allied forces'' firm decision to enter the underground relics and the attendance of Golden Roc Bank, I''m afraid that they might have known the existence of the super relics. It could be said that wild bear tribe and our team were here for the super relics. Therefore, your intelligence would help them a lot; at least could shorten their time to find the super relics. As you two found the intelligence first, you have the full right to dispose it! If you decide to trade this intelligence with them, you will be safe under my protection; if not, I won''t reveal your discovery to anyone else!"


    Zhang Tie gazed at Sam and Gerri in a sincere look. Sam and Gerri had never imagined that Zhang Tie could say these words to them as they were slightly moved. At this moment, Zhang Tie could still restrain his temptation facing the allure of the super relics. This made Sam and Gerri feel lucky befriending Peter.


    "I know, but Sam and I have well prepared this time. We plan to find a chance to go deeper into the cave. If it doesn''t work, we will consider to trade them with the intelligence!"


    Zhang Tie nodded. As Sam and Gerri were seeking for wealth here, their plan was reasonable. If they didn''t try it, they were not real pioneers, "When do you plan to go there?"


    "2 days later!" Gerri put it straightforward, "We can go there together!"


    Zhang Tie nodded again, Gerri is indeed cunning. As it was still about 8 hours away from going to bed, it would be too eye-catching if they instantly rushed towards that place after pitching their tents. However, if they went there after wandering over here for 2 days, they would be not that noticeable.


    "Actually, this city relics has a great potential to discover. If not the existence of that super relics, there may be a perfect treasure trove for pioneers!" Gerri added.


    "Oh? You mean there''s something precious yet not discovered here?"


    "Of course, the bank vaults in this city have not been discovered yet. Additionally, there are something else which were very valuable, such as jewelries in the jewelry story which are still buried in the ruins, those items in the safes of rich families, even those top-class crystals which were used as common ornaments and ceiling lamps before the Catastrophe. Compared to those artworks before the Catastrophe, these item are more valuable!" Sam sighed with feeling.


    "If there were some museums in this city, the items in the museums would be too valuable!" Gerri added, "The well-preserved books in libraries could also be sold at high prices!"


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that so many valuable items could be discovered in this relics. Looking around the city which occupied over 100 square kilometers, Zhang Tie started to believe in Gerri''s words. However, at the sight of those big blocks of buildings that collapsed in the ruins, Zhang Tie realized that the great physical strength was demanded to excavate wealth out of there.


    "Do you have a target now? Where is the most valuable in this city in your mind?"


    "Generally, according to people''s customs before the Catastrophe, tall architectural complex is always the prime commercial area in the city where we probably find high-end stores and banks. Although common banks have no vaults, they have safe leasing service, which is also very profitable. By comparison, rich people always live in villas in the suburb where they could enjoy beautiful scenery, except for some special situations!"


    Listening to Gerri''s words, Zhang Tie glanced at the place in the far which was covered with most wandering fluorite lamps. "That must be the right place which gathered the most skyscrapers in the city, some have already collapsed while some 100-m higher skyscrapers are still standing there, making them very eye-catching. It seems that no pioneer is silly."


    "Do you mean there? That place seems to have more fluorite lamps!" Zhang Tie pointed to that place which was only about 10 km away.


    "I remember that the most prosperous commercial area in this city was over there when we came here last time!" Sam recalled for a short while as he nodded firmly.


    "How about taking a look over there? It''s still early now. It will not take us too much time to make a round trip over there!" thinking of that treasures that might be hidden in the relics, Zhang Tie became thrilled at once. No matter whether he could find wealth or not, at least it was a very interesting treasure-exploration experience for him.


    After exchanging glances with each other, Gerri and Sam nodded at the same time.


    Therefore, under the leadership of Zhang Tie, they trotted towards there.


    ...


    Actually, Nurdo always had an eye on Zhang Tie. Seeing Zhang Tie running away with his friends, Nurdo instantly raised his arm, closely after that one of his subordinates appeared beside him. Without saying anything, Nurdo just raised his chin towards the direction Zhang Tie was heading for. Seeing this, his subordinate instantly disappeared in the darkness.


    ...


    After relieving the 80-kg luggage, Gerri and Sam''s moving speed increased sharply. As a result, although having to detour a lot of ruins and obstacles, they only took about half an hour to reach there.


    When arriving there, Zhang Tie saw many pioneers wandering over there. Many of them were striking something among the collapsed buildings using tools.


    "Why don''t they search over there. I feel something might be buried over there!" the moment Zhang Tie arrived, he had pointed at the debris¡ª¡ªa relatively short building between two skyscrapers which were only about 20 m in height. The upper part of this building had collapsed while the greater part of it remained buried by some debris and concrete blocks of the ruined two skyscrapers.


    "There might be something, might be nothing. However, it''s really time and energy consuming to clean the debris around that short building. It might require 10 people to work over 1 week. Additionally, we are not sure what''s buried inside. If we cannot find something valuable, we will suffer a great loss. It''s not reasonable to waste time on uncertain spots like this." Gerri explained.


    Zhang Tie found it was in the location of "waistband fengshui" which was always mentioned by Donder. In Eastern Continent, businessmen usually chose their stores in an obtuse angle or an arc at a road junction, which was called "waistband fengshui". According to Donder, stores at such locations usually had good fortunes. Donder''s grocery was right at a location of "waistband fengshui" beside the railway station.


    Actually, Zhang Tie didn''t know the basis about "waistband fengshui". However, at the sight of the debris in front, he knew that the location was a "bandwaist fengshui" using his instinct. Therefore, he wanted to have a try. Zhang Tie thought that the building at such a "waistband fengshui" location in the prosperous commercial district could never be a steamed bun store or a public toilet; otherwise, it would be a great waste and would not fit the principle of maximizing the commercial value of everything before the Catastrophe.


    "If you want to have a look in other places, just do that. Remember to not leave far away from here. If you need any help, just let me know. I''m going to clean this debris, no matter what." Zhang Tie said casually. "Now that there''s no target, it''s better be here." Soon after saying that, Zhang Tie had rolled up his sleeves and started to work hard.


    "Ah? Peter, are you crazy? Even if you work for half a month here..." the moment Gerri wanted to persuade Zhang Tie, his eyelids jumped heavily as he caught sight of Zhang Tie''s movements.


    The moment he arrived at the debris, Zhang Tie had grabbed a 600-kg concrete block with one hand and thrown it 30 m away like throwing a banana skin, causing a loud noise.


    Sam and Gerri were dumbfounded by what they saw.


    "Pinch me. Am I dreaming? I saw..."


    In a wink, another piece of cement formwork of almost the equivalent weight was drawn out of the debris rudely by Zhang Tie and thrown aside casually.


    After a short while, huge blocks were thrown out of the debris one after another.


    Sam and Gerri were totally stunned. They saw the same doubt in the opponent''s eyes, "Is this guy a humanoid steam-driven excavator? His efficiency is even higher than that of an excavator."


    27 seven-strength fruits, plus his powerful strength as a LV 7 fighter and his flexible limbs as a human, making Zhang Tie''s efficiency extremely higher at the moment.


    The loud noises also attracted many pioneers from afar. The moment they saw Zhang Tie casually throwing away a 1-ton block, they all became completely shocked.


    With the help of the dark tore gloves and his iron-blood battle Qi, Zhang Tie could easily break in stones with his hands and shatter them into pieces or lift them and throw them away.


    Only after half an hour, a small part of the debris and the concrete blocks covering that short building had been cleaned.


    Finally, an over 8-ton concrete block appeared in Zhang Tie''s way.


    Zhang Tie ran away...


    When many people let out a sigh and thought that they could finally rest their hearts, they saw Zhang Tie running back with an over 3-m long flange steel. After that, Zhang Tie put another smaller block under that super heavy concrete block; he then used the flange steel to move away the block on the way.


    In the next 5 hours, Zhang Tie kept digging. With the help of the pair of dark tore gloves and that super hard lever and under the unimaginable gaze of so many pioneers, he finally opened up a path which could allow one person to access to.


    Finally, a wall of the low building was exposed...


    Zhang Tie instantly pounded his flange steel onto the wall...


    In the rising dust, a cave appeared...


    ...

 459 Excavating Treasures

    Chapter 459: Excavating Treasures


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Honestly, Zhang Tie didn''t think that he could find anything valuable in that debris; however, after disguising himself as a pioneer for so long, Zhang Tie indeed wanted to find something valuable here out of curiosity.


    It''s good if he could find something; if not, it''s acceptable. Actually, the course of excavating treasures was more stimulative to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie remembered that Donder always sold items in terms of piles. He usually put one or two valuable goods inside the pile of items. By doing this, he could always obtain an unexpectedly better marketing result. Donder said this indicated the pleasure of excavating treasures.


    You might not be interested in it if an item was directly put in front of you; however, if you found it in a hidden place or get it by chance, that kind of happiness might leave you with a very deep impression.


    The profession of pioneer was thrilling. That was also why so many people would like to join in this action. They could experience the sense of stimulation brought by excavating treasures in the ruins. In the course, you might only find something that was a little valuable or you might become rich over night. Because of such an uncertainty, it became so attractive.


    Someone had also considered to explore that ruins these days. However, it would take one person at least 1 month to clean it up while most people''s personal supplies could not stand that long. If too many people joined, it would be not economical as that was only a small building between two skyscrapers. They were not sure whether they could find something inside it or not. Although some wanted to have a try but the others didn''t want to risk too much. Therefore, there were different opinions between the pioneers.


    What''s more was that they could discover many valuable items without having to spend so much efforts. Additionally, as the bank vaults of this city had not been discovered yet, it was too silly for them to spend so much efforts in excavating a short building being buried in the ruins without knowing the potential benefits. Based on the pioneers'' experience, bank vaults would never be in such a short building.


    Later on, if they really could not gain any benefits from other places, some pioneers might work together to try this place. However, at this moment, nobody else would like to try here except for Zhang Tie.


    Watching Zhang Tie excavating over there, Sam and Gerri stood still. They also wanted to give Zhang Tie a hand; however, it was completely out of their ability to move the huge blocks.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie moved too fast. If they stood their, they would even slow Zhang Tie''s working efficiency.


    "Peh...peh...peh..." Zhang Tie spat out the dust while a lump of dust fell on his head. Meanwhile, he constantly patted off the dust from his hair, waiting for the cave to recover tranquility.


    Dozens of seconds later, it finally recovered tranquility.


    The wall with a hole was on the 2nd floor of the ruined building. All the floors above floor 2 had collapsed and turned into ruins. As a result, the building remains was completely buried by the debris of the floors above other wastes. Although floor 1 and floor 2 were also partially destroyed but almost half of its rooms were not completely covered. The items inside the rooms were well preserved.


    Watching Zhang Tie opening the hole on one wall of this building in such a rude and barbarous pattern, all the surrounding pioneers were drawn one step forward by the great indescribable allure inside it.


    "What? Do you want to pick off peaches at this moment?" Zhang Tie sneered at those pioneers as he inserted that 500-600 kg flange beam into the ruins in front of him like inserting a wood pile.


    As a result, the 3-m long flange beam instantly entered the ground for about 1 m, causing a sound of "Puff".


    Realizing the terrifying strength of Zhang Tie, all the pioneers were shocked as they stopped their footsteps.


    Zhang Tie glanced at those pioneers'' faces with a casual look. Many of the pioneers had stayed here for a long time. Therefore, they didn''t know about Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie knew these pioneers clearly. In front of powerful person, they would be docile; while in front of weak ones, they might be as fierce as jackals and wolves.


    "Sam and Gerri, come here. Let''s take a look inside!" after frightening the others, Zhang Tie waved his hands towards Sam and Gerri.


    Sam and Gerri then walked towards him with widely opened eyes. Although they had heard about Zhang Tie''s amazing performance on the day when the allied forces occupied the relics canyon, they had not witnessed it themselves. Therefore, they were dubious about that more or less. On the way here, as they had not encountered anything special, they didn''t have a chance to witness Zhang Tie''s performance until now.


    In their opinions, an enormous project which could not be completed in 4-5 hours was completed by Zhang Tie right in front of them. The moment they recalled Zhang Tie''s amazing tyrannosaur-like strength, Gerri and Sam felt like dreaming, "Is this Peter? Is he the guy who lived in the sam hatch with me on Polar Light? But I didn''t know that he had such a terrifying strength at that moment. Was he always hiding his real fighting strength..."


    "What...what''s your level on earth?"


    When Gerri finally opened his mouth, Zhang Tie rolled his eyes. Zhang Tie had not imagined that his performance stimulated the "innocent souls" of Sam and Gerri so much.


    "Is that important?" Zhang Tie glanced at those onlookers as he didn''t want to be too outstanding here. Actually even in the allied forces, very less people knew his real level. Previously, O''Laura and Setton thought he was LV 9; however, since the death game, they were not sure about Zhang Tie''s real level either. Many people considered Zhang Tie as a 5-star strong fighter. Some even thought Zhang Tie was a fighting master.


    Zhang Tie''s reply caused Sam and Gerri to exchange glances with each other before waving heads.


    "We''ll talk about it later. Now let''s take a look inside!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    "According to the regulations of the pioneers, as you have opened it yourself, Gerri and I are not entitled to enter this place until you finish your discovery inside!" Sam replied honestly.


    "What motherf*cking regulation? We''re here together. Therefore I allow you to go in together with me. Nothing to worry about!"


    "Fine, we will take a look inside in case you leave something!" Gerri was cleverer than Sam.


    "Good, if there''s something inside, each of you can select one. If there''s nothing inside, we will just take it as a free travel!" Zhang Tie answered.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Sam and Gerri both nodded.


    After glancing at those excited onlookers, Zhang Tie didn''t say anything; instead, he just walked inside the hole with his fluorite lamp.


    As that hole was about 1 m in height, they had to lower their bodies to access to it.


    Under the green light of fluorite lamps, everything inside was coated with a weird green color. It was very disordered inside the room, being covered with dust all over. With the help of his dark vision, Zhang Tie could see everything inside the room. Besides some chairs and a broken desk, he saw nothing else. A small part of the big sharp block penetrated through the solid load-bearing floor, exposing some steel bars.


    From the building material, Zhang Tie could imagine what happened here when the Catastrophe arrived. Thankfully, the quality of this building was not bad. Although the upper floors collapsed, the bottom two floors still remained complete.


    With a sound of "Kacha", Zhang Tie lowered his head and found he broke the hands of a skeleton who was lying on the floor, facing the sky under the thick dust.


    If he was timid, he might have been crying in fear. However, finding that skeleton was almost like an animal fossil, Zhang Tie looked as calm as before.


    "Wait a second..." the moment Zhang Tie wanted to leave, he found Gerri walking towards him. Gerri started to fumble on the ground carefully.


    After fumbling over the two hands of the skeleton for a short while, Gerri revealed a big smile as he took up a ring. He then cleaned the ring adroitly on his clothes and weighed it in his hand in front of his eyes.


    "Platinum ring, with diamonds, ha...ha...good luck!" after saying this, Gerri passed the ring to Zhang Tie.


    Before the Catastrophe, such jewelry was neither average nor precious. The same jewelry is worth 3 times in this age. Diamond was the most expensive jewelry before the Catastrophe; however, in this age, as humans intensify their exploration and development of the underground world, they discover a lot of diamonds, causing the sharp decline of diamond value. As a result, diamond was only an average jewelry in this age.


    "Take it first!" Zhang Tie smiled. He felt very happy although this ring was only worth about 100 gold coins.


    After searching over this room carefully, they did not find anything valuable; therefore, they came to another room.


    Only a metal framework was left on the door which connected the two rooms, leaving glass fragments over the floor.


    Being similar to the last room, this room was also very concise in arrangement. With fewer furniture, it looked more like a senior business reception center or a conference room. Some paintings were hanging over the wall. However, they were already heavily degenerated like the sofas. Some ornaments and art works were scattering over the floor, most of them had been destroyed, except for some special metal art works.


    "Peter, come over here..." Sam exclaimed with a remarkable sense of excitement.


    Zhang Tie walked over there and found Sam was holding a 33 cm high pitch-black vase and was wiping it with his sleeves. As he accelerated his wiping speed, Sam became more thrilled.


    "It seems...like a eastern good..." Sam forcefully swallowed his saliva before passing it to Gerri, "Take a look..."


    "This pattern might be from the Eastern Continent. But I''ve not encountered such a precious eastern good before. Therefore..." Gerri revealed a solemn look, "Additionally, this vase is made of brass. The colors of the decorative patterns looked weird. They were not drawn on it; instead, they were inlaid on it. But why it''s so plain? It seems like a special manufacturing process".


    "Let me see..." Zhang Tie took the vase and started to wipe it with his sleeves forcefully like Sam. Gradually, the purple body became clearer. They saw a very vivid flower, above which was a Chinese character "¸£" which was coated with silver.


    "This is indeed an art work from Eastern Continent..." Zhang Tie confirmed.


    "How do you know that?"


    "This is a Chinese character, which means luck, wealth and success. It''s a propitious Chinese symbol!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Gerri and Sam both became thrilled.


    "What?"


    "We''re rich!"


    "This is just an art work. It should not be more valuable than that art work that you took out last time!" Zhang Tie said with a doubtful look.


    "Don''t you know that all the artworks from Eastern Chinese before the Catastrophe are very valuable. If it is a genuine one, many rich Chinese people would like to buy them at high prices. This is a best-seller in cultural relics market and auction houses for sure." Gerri told Zhang Tie while taking a deep breath.


    "Let''s search carefully, if we can search more items like this, each of you can take one..."


    There were 6 more rooms on the 2nd floor. After searching over all the rooms, they only got 3 brass vases like that one in total. They found them in the same room. The 3 vases had same patterns. The only difference was the 3 Chinese characters, "¸£" which means luck, "»" which meant wealth and "ÊÙ" which meant longevity. They should come from the whole set...


    Zhang Tie was already very happy with the discovery of Chinese cultural relics before the Catastrophe here, even though they didn''t know the value of these items. This was the pleasure through excavating treasures.


    After searching over the 2nd floor, the 3 people came downstairs to the 1st floor. It looked like a lobby on the 1st floor. It was much better that upstairs. Besides some dust, they saw few wastes. Rows of counters were placed in the four directions of the lobby. After about 900 years, those counters still remained unchanged and tightly closed.


    Those counters reminded Zhang Tie of Donder''s grocery. To be honest, after thousands of years, the counters and showcases which were used to display commodities in human stores had not experienced any change essentially.


    Zhang Tie walked to the nearest counter and wiped off the thick dust over the counter. The moment he caught sight of those items inside the counter, Zhang Tie widely opened his mouth...


    When he caught sight of the 3 vases above stairs which were featured by Chinese cultures, Zhang Tie had already realized that the boss might be a Chinese or Chinese items seller.


    Actually, Zhang Tie was right...

 460 Immortal Stones

    Chapter 460: Immortal Stones


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Zhang Tie wiped the dust off a counter and caught sight of the items beneath it, Gerri and Sam also cleaned up the dust off a counter on Zhang Tie''s side out of curiosity and revealed the items inside.


    Even after 1000 years, the items inside the counters were still as clean as before in the well-sealed counters.


    Under the green light of their fluorite lamps, those items inside the counters became more shiny. They looked like a profound dreamland which had been buried for one millennium.


    "These...these items are..." even Gerri and Sam became perplexed at once. Facing so many items in the counters, Gerri and Sam didn''t even believe that they were in the real world as they were really shocked.


    Like Sam and Gerri, Zhang Tie didn''t believe that he could be that lucky either. Even in this age, there were still many liars such as in the flea market nearby the Blackhot city railway station. They usually counterfeited this special Eastern jewelries by green or deep-color glassworks so as to lure some idiots.


    Such precious jewelries were the symbol of noble status among Chinese in the Eastern Continent before the Catastrophe. After the Catastrophe, such jewelries had more shocking meaning.


    Such jewelries were called emeralds!


    Unique emeralds!


    In this age, such jewelries had another special name in the Eastern Continent¡ª¡ªImmortal Stones.


    Before the Catastrophe, such jewelries were very precious. However, emeralds were dwarfed by diamonds in that age.


    "Who would sell counterfeit commodities here 900 years ago?" a whim flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind as he glanced at those green jewelries and pendants in the counters.


    "Peter..."


    Hearing Gerri''s voice, Zhang Tie turned around and found they were looking at Zhang Tie with nervous looks. Remarkably, they had already guessed something.


    "Let''s take a look..." Zhang Tie smiled. Even though he didn''t lack money at the present, he still felt his throat dry when he posed this suggestion.


    The moment Zhang Tie wanted to open the counter in front of him, he saw Sam running upstairs, "You...stay downstairs, I will take a look upstairs!"


    Zhang Tie knew that Sam was standing sentry upstairs for them. Although Zhang Tie didn''t believe that someone would dare to rush in at the risk of their lives but he knew that it was necessary to be careful.


    When Sam went upstairs, Gerri just stared at Zhang Tie.


    After taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie directly punched onto a counter in front of him.


    After causing a loud sound and shaking off some dust, he still could not break the counter. Therefore, Zhang Tie became stunned. Although he only used 30% of his full strength, it was already very shocking. Even if it was a steel plate in front of him, it would have been left with a fist mark. However, the counter remained unchanged.


    "Before the Catastrophe, such counters for selling jewelries and valuables were not formed by average glasses, but a special glass like alloy. It was used to protect the items inside from being robbed away. Although it looked like glass, it was even harder than steel and iron!" Gerri explained.


    Zhang Tie revealed a slightly embarrassed smile as he moved behind the counter. He saw a movable drawer over there. After touching it for a short while, Zhang Tie forcefully tore away the lock on the drawer. After that, he casually took out an item from the counter.


    That was a dark green bracelet. Based on Zhang Tie''s experience in the grocery, he could identify that this bracelet was not a glasswork for sure. It was completely different than any other jewelries or stones that he had seen before.


    The bracelet was clean and especially beautiful. Donder once told him how to simply identify emeralds. However, Donder added with a smile that Zhang Tie might barely have a chance to see a real immortal stone in his life. He told Zhang Tie that most of the immortal stones were monopolized by Chinese powers in the Eastern Continent. Few alchemists could have them. Those who could get immortal stones were not commoners for sure. At that time, Zhang Tie only had a few copper coins a day. He even had no surplus money to enjoy a bowl of rice brew which was worth a couple of copper coins. Of course, Donder didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could have a chance to touch such jewelries in the future.


    Zhang Tie put the bracelet onto his face slightly.


    In a split second, he felt cool.


    Taking out a lighter, Zhang Tie instantly burned that bracelet.


    After over 10 seconds, Zhang Tie moved away the lighter. He then tried to wipe the place being burned with his sleeve. He found that the place was as new as before. No color changes at all.


    As a pioneer, of course Gerri knew that it was the simplest way to identify whether this jewelry was real or not. Not to mention those low-grade green glasses in this age, even before the Catastrophe, there were still many counterfeited emeralds.


    When Zhang Tie wiped the bracelet clean, he saw Gerri drawing close to him. Gerri even lifted his fluorite lamp to check it. Seeing no color changes at all, Gerri held his breath. After looking around so many counters being covered with dust on the 1st floor, Gerri instantly felt bewildered as he shook his body.


    The priority was to carry these items away without arousing the others'' attention.

 461 A Trade

    Chapter 461: A Trade


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Seeing Zhang Tie leaving the camp, Nurdo, the cousin of O''Laura finally found a chance to talk with O''Laura in a quiet place.


    O''Laura walked about 2 m ahead of Nurdo.


    O''Laura''s attitude towards Nurdo was always cold. Even now, she was still taking precautions against Nurdo.


    "Right here. What do you want to say?" with her arms crossed, O''Laura looked around and said icily.


    It was not far from the camp; additionally, O''Laura was very confident about her fighting strength as a LV 10 strong fighter. Therefore, she didn''t fear that if Nurdo, a LV 9 fighter, played any tricks.


    "Do you like Peter?" knowing her personalities, Nurdo put it straightforward.


    "Mind your own business!" O''Laura sneered, "If you are here to talk about such a boring topic with me, I will go back right now!"


    "Juventus is on my side. He has already told me everything about Peter in the tribe!" Nurdo said it with a calm look like saying something trivial.


    Although Nurdo could not identify O''Laura''s look under the mask in such a dark environment, he found that O''Laura''s body quivered. Therefore, Nurdo revealed a wisp of smile at his mouth corners. Nurdo knew that he had to make her restless so as to reach his target.


    "So what?" after a short while, O''Laura replied icily, "I don''t care on which side is Juventus. As long as he''s not on my side, his will in the grey eagle tribe has nothing to do with me. However, if he dares to betray the grey eagle tribe, the tribe won''t mind chopping off a senior''s head even at the risk of being split."


    "I can make him support you so that you can take over the power of the grey eagle tribe as soon as possible. With his support, you can completely suppress Ollier and take over the power of the grey eagle tribe!"


    O''Laura thought about Nurdo''s words for a while. She knew that Nurdo''s words were true. Based on the current situation in the grey eagle tribe, if she and senior Merkel could cooperate with Juventus, they would be able to suppress Ollier completely. The biggest trouble facing the grey eagle tribe was that the party of O''Laura and senior Merkel and the party of Ollier and Juventus were on even. Therefore, she did not dare to act rashly and blindly in the tribe. Additionally, her party was always restricted by the other party. If the alliance of Ollier and Juventus completely collapsed, the problem facing the grey eagle tribe would be solved. This was the perfect solution for the problem facing the grey eagle tribe...


    After thinking for a short while, she finally agreed. She glanced at Nurdo. Although Nurdo was smiling, his slightly narrowed eyes were gleaming icily, making her heart race at once.


    O''Laura knew that a grand didn''t come for free.


    "What''s your condition?"


    "It''s very simple, marry me!" Nurdo revealed a wisp of smile at his mouth corners.


    "No way!" O''Laura refused him immediately.


    "Listen!" Nurdo looked confident, "I know you like that guy. But he cannot help you at all. He''s just a high-level fighter. We also have fighters like him in our tribe. Additionally, the conflicts in the grey eagle tribe could not only be solved by fighting strength. I think you understand that!"


    Seeing O''Laura becoming silent, Nurdo continued.


    "Even if he accepted you, you have to understand that you are only one of his beloved women. Given the hot relationship between him and Sabrina at the present, how much more advantageous do you think you are than Sabrina. Additionally, don''t forget who revoked the wanted circular this time. It''s said that the enchanting fox in Ewentra Archipelago is also an amorous woman!"


    "That''s why you bring Elizabeth here!" O''Laura replied with a strong irony in her tone.


    However, Nurdo maintained his face unchanged, "I admit that I intended to seduce him with Elizabeth. It would be enough if a woman could let a powerhouse like Peter give me a favor at a critical moment in the future!"


    O''Laura instantly recalled something as her eyes turned solemn at once, "Your father has determined to let your elder brother Mirba succeed to the throne of the wind wolf tribe last year..."


    "Even if a woman like you wants to rule a tribe, how could I succumb to Mirba, the idiot. Besides having an old bitch mom, who''s better than mine, Mirba can never match me!" Nurdo raised his head while his eyes were filled with flames, "My father didn''t make the final decision yet. He could at least rule the wind wolf tribe for 10 years. I still have a chance in the decade. I will gain the support of the two seniors of the wind wolf tribe and I could lead the wind wolf tribe to become a leopard tribe..."


    O''Laura understood Nurdo instantly. As long as Nurdo married her, he would annex the grey eagle tribe sooner or later. Plus the population and power of the grey eagle tribe, the wind wolf tribe would gradually develop to be a leopard tribe.


    The tribes were divided by Slavs into mouse tribe, eagle tribe, wolf tribe, leopard tribe, fox tribe and bear tribe according to their forces.


    It could be said that each Slav tribe''s ruler had the mission and honor to develop the population and force of their tribe to the scale of bear tribes. In order to reach this target, the rulers of all the Slav tribe would strive endlessly generation after generation. However, besides the natural growth in population and force of tribes, some powerful tribes also chose to expand their tribes by inter-marriage or wars.


    The population base of the wind wolf tribe had already reached 350,000. If the population base of the grey eagle tribe was included, the whole population of the wind wolf might surpass 400,000, which just reached the minimum standard of leopard tribe.


    "As long as you help me take the throne of the wind wolf tribe, I will let you rule the entire grey eagle tribe. It''s a win-win situation!" Nurdo said full of ambition.


    "Can a wolf spit out the flesh from his stomach?" O''Laura didn''t believe in Nurdo''s words at all.


    "I don''t want to restrict your freedom. I don''t even care about whom you love and want to stay with. I only need a nominal marriage and the obedience of the grey eagle tribe. After taking the throne of the wind wolf tribe, I will not interfere with the affairs of the grey eagle tribe. You will still be the ruler of the grey eagle tribe. I feel this method is beneficial to both of us! What you need to pay is just some time and a nominal marriage!"


    "Why are you telling me this? If you''ve long made this plan, I don''t believe that you could wait until now!" O''Laura was still rational even Nurdo''s words were alluring.


    "I admit that this plan was a bit different than that I made before. In my earlier plan, I wanted to force you to marry me, by forcing instead of cooperating with you. Right because of this, you should believe in my sincerity!"


    "Because of Peter?"


    "A guy who could kill a LV 10 strong fighter with a javelin in a blink of eye is only a powerful guarantee for the grey eagle tribe, nothing else!" Nurdo revealed a wisp of smile¡ª¡ªsneer, "Do you know what is the most powerful in this world? It''s money. If you accepted the 500,000 gold coins from Bluesea Castle Business Group, we would not stand here. If you did that, you would have taken control of the grey eagle tribe. You''re too arrogant, O''Laura, you''re beaten by your own arrogance!"


    O''Laura replied with a cold harrumph as she raised her face.


    "What''s especially hilarious is that Peter also refused the assistance from Bluesea Castle Business Group. Although he knew that you needed money, he still refused the enchanting fox''s money. Aren''t you clear about your position in his heart? Perhaps he felt that you didn''t worth him to do that. No matter what, it''s 500,000 gold coins. Don''t tell me that he could afford that amount of money himself. I know that his purse had been taken away by you and Setton when he was caught. He''s now a poor guy..." Nurdo showed discord.


    "If he gave her money to me, wound''t he be taken as a toy boy? At least, Peter came down together with me. I believe that we will have a big harvest!" O''Laura urged.


    "Don''t comfort yourself anymore. Even if all the population of your tribe came down, how much could you gain in this action, 50,000 or 100,000 gold coins? Actually, you cannot completely depress Juventus and Ollier without at least 350,000 gold coins. Additionally, it''s the wild bear tribe which hosts this action, how much do you think you could take away from here? That guy just accompanies Sabrina down here for exploration and travel; perhaps, he even wants to make some money. However, you only have one chance."


    "Isn''t the attraction of relics featured by the uncertainty of benefits. Why are you so sure that Peter and I cannot find enough wealth down there?"


    "Do you really think that powerful ones are doomed to have good luck and become millionaires. Don''t be naive. O''Laura, you''ve already passed the age of being naive. You''d better consider about my suggestion. Finally, I want to tell you, no matter which way do you choose, it won''t influence this cooperation. The former appointment between us still works."


    "No need to consider anymore. No way! No matter what, I have to take over the grey eagle tribe. Nobody could take it away from me!" O''Laura replied firmly.


    "Good luck to you! I hope that the talk between you and me is not exposed to anyone else!"


    "Humph..."


    Knowing that he could not persuade O''Laura temporarily, Nurdo didn''t continue as he knew that something would sprout sooner or later as long as it was sowed in her mind.


    "A woman who gives up 500,000 gold coins for the illusory love and self-esteem of a toy boy wants to take over a tribe. Does she think it''s a playing house?" Nurdo sneered inside. After glancing at O''Laura, he turned around and left.


    This talk ended in discord.


    Seeing Nurdo disappearing in the distance, O''Laura tightened her fist...


    ...


    When O''Laura was separated from Nurdo, Zhang Tie, Sam and Gerri just came out of the entrance of the ruins.


    At this moment, at least hundreds of people were surrounding the entrance. Those greedy pioneers who were curious about the items inside the entrance didn''t leave; instead, they were just staying outside the entrance with glittering eyes. But nobody dared to go inside.


    Based on the freak''s strength, the first guy entering the hole would probably lose his life, not to mention finding something. Therefore, nobody would like to be that idiot.


    When Zhang Tie, Sam and Gerri exited, they were stripped to the waists. They only wore pants. All the rest clothes had been tightly packed and carried on their back. Nobody could see what was inside.


    Sam and Gerri both looked pale. Careful pioneers found that their legs were shaky while their hands on the package were trembling. Only the freak man looked unchanged.


    "Is that okay?" Sam asked nervously.


    "No problem, you two don''t say a thing. Relax yourselves. I will deal with the rest!" Zhang Tie replied.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Sam forcefully swallowed his saliva as he nodded with a solemn look.


    When they came out of the hole, those pioneers outside the hole moved one step forward. After being glanced by Zhang Tie''s lightning-bolt eyes, everybody else stopped.


    "What''s inside?" Someone asked.


    Zhang Tie only replied with a cold harrumph. After that, he took up that flange beam and walked aside. Under the gazes of everybody else, he immediately moved some 7-10 tons of blocks to the original places and blocked the hole.


    At the sight of this, all the other pioneers started to swear inside. However, many people''s eyes also brightened up. According to the rules of pioneers, as long as the discoverer left, the items inside the hole would have nothing to do with the discoverer anymore, irrespective of what it was. However, Zhang Tie''s action remarkably reminded many people that something valuable was still buried inside.


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s movement, those who kept gazing at their package also moved their gleaming eyes on the architectural wastes which were used to block the hole. Even if someone among them wanted to rob their package, after measuring Zhang Tie''s strength and those architectural wastes, they changed their decisions.


    The moment the three people left, many pioneers instantly swarmed up. Someone instantly found the flange beam and started to move that block on road with other people.


    The spot became chaotic at once.


    ...


    Seeing that they were not followed up, Sam and Gerri both let out a sigh, so did Zhang Tie.


    "Peter, why did you block the hole once again?"


    "Nothing. I just didn''t want to kill anyone over there!" Zhang Tie said casually, "It''s better to bring them hope than to kill them!"


    Sam and Gerri exchanged glances with each other as if they didn''t know Zhang Tie before.


    ...


    As they had to move steadily, their speed was slower compared to when they came here. Even though, they still returned to their camp after about an hour.


    What a coincidence, the moment they came back, they saw O''Laura walking towards here from afar.


    Seeing their weird looks, O''Laura became stunned, "Where have you been?"


    "We went for wealth!" Zhang Tie replied with a relaxed look while Sam and Gerri both looked very nervous at this moment. If not Zhang Tie who found these items, Sam and Gerri would never dare to return here anymore.


    O''Laura glanced at Zhang Tie with a gloomy look. She ignored his joke.


    "Go to the tent, and when you come back to camp. I have something to tell you."


    "What a coincidence, I''ve also got something to tell you!"


    "What?"


    "Let''s talk about it later, it''s just a few steps back!"


    O''Laura nodded.


    When they came back to the tent, they saw Sabrina and Nurdo who were still staying with some guests.


    Those guests were dispatched by Golden Roc Bank and some heads of the wild bear tribe. As they came down here consecutively with a time interval of a few hours, it''s normal for them to encounter each other here if they intended to.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s arrival, they instantly turned around and became curious about Zhang Tie''s weird look.


    "Ha...ha..." Nurdo burst out into laughter first, "What? Have you already gone to discover relics after coming down here for a few hours? Look at you! You must have a big harvest!"


    Although Nurdo''s tone was not ironical but it was jeering. Indeed, nobody belived that Zhang Tie and his friends could find anything valuable in only a few hours.


    However, at the sight of the staff from Golden Roc Bank, Zhang Tie let out a sigh as he knew that he didn''t need to worry about these items anymore...


    Zhang Tie fumbled in his trousers pockets and took out a thumb-sized item. He then flipped it towards a staff from Golden Roc Bank. That staff instantly grabbed it.


    "Send your men down, we want to preserve a batch of relics!"


    "Mr. Peter, our lowest limit of amount for entrustment service is..." before he finished his words, he seemed being choked by something while he looked around that item carefully with widely opened eyes at once.


    "We have 1674 pieces in total!" Zhang Tie told him a figure. Nobody else understood what did Zhang Tie mean. However, at the sight of Zhang Tie and his friends three package, the staff of Golden Roc Bank instantly took out a metal cylinder and triggered it towards the sky...


    With a shrill soar, a huge symbol of Golden Roc Bank appeared in the sky which could be seen clearly by people within dozens of miles.


    In a split second, various battle Qi''s shined in the distance while many light spots started to fly towards here...


    Nobody knew what was happening!

 462 Qiyun

    Chapter 462: Qiyun


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Before they realized what happened, with a long roar from afar, a shadow had already arrived here like a lightning bolt.


    He moved so fast. With a glittering battle Qi, he had already appeared in Zhang Tie''s camp from miles away after a short while along with an air-breaking sound.


    "What''s up? Who sent the cloud-penetrating bolt?"


    Closely after the boom was heard beside where they stood, a person fell down the ground like a shell, raising a lot of dust.


    Zhang Tie admired him inside. Although he knew that there were powerhouses in the team of Golden Roc Bank for sure but he had not seen them before. Now, Zhang Tie found that the powerhouse was much sharper than that he imagined. At least this person''s moving speed had already surpassed 100 m/s, which was much greater than that of Zhang Tie''s. Even if he added himself with a rapid moving skill, Zhang Tie could not move so fast.


    It was a 40-odd Chinese bald man who looked strong. When he asked the question, he fixed his eyes onto that person who sent the cloud-penetrating bolt, causing a great stress to that person.


    "I received a entrustment service here..."


    Hearing this, the bald man changed his face as he wanted to lose his temper...


    "Someone found over 1000 pieces of emeralds!"


    The moment the bald man heard the next words, he instantly relieved his fury; instead, he revealed a weird look as he asked repetitively, "Over 1000 pieces?"


    "Yes, over 1000 pieces!" As he had not seen the items, he was afraid that Zhang Tie''s number 1674 was not precise, therefore, he said a conservative number.


    This number was indeed conservative!


    Along the eyes of the speaker, the Chinese bald man moved his eyes on Zhang Tie, Sam and Gerri.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie looked around and found that the looks of the others remained confused, except for Sabrina. What happened just now left them no time to think at all. Soon after Zhang Tie arrived here and threw that item to the staff of Golden Roc Bank did that person send a cloud-penetrating bolt. Closely after that, the bald man arrived.


    As Zhang Tie could speak Hebrew, his words were understandable. However, the two men from Golden Roc Bank spoke Chinese. Therefore, all the others became flurried. They only knew that Zhang Tie discovered 1674 pieces of something from outside. As to what Zhang Tie had discovered, everybody else was confused.


    Nurdo''s eye corners were cramping. With his eyes on Zhang Tie''s luggage, he didn''t know how come they had such a big harvest only in a few hours. It seemed that all these items were valuable; otherwise, those people in Golden Roc Bank would not pay special attention to this.


    "F*ck, has he discovered so many high-level crystals only after such a short period? What a lucky bastard!"


    At this moment, many people in the camp had gathered here. They all gazed at Zhang Tie''s luggage. Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he turned around and told Sam and Gerri, "Put down our achievements; show them to the public; by the way, we will count them here."


    Gerri and Sam hesitated a little. As there were so many people here, they were a bit worried about the safety of these jewelries. However, seeing Zhang Tie putting down his luggage, Sam and Gerri did that too. They paved their clothes on the ground and opened the objects one package after another.


    As they also found some relatively well-preserved black flannels in the counters, they wrapped all the objects with that soft material in case of losses in transportation. As to smaller items such as finger rings and ear rings, they packed over 100 pieces of them together. As to bigger items such as bracelets and jade chips, they packed them separately.


    They also brought the three special metal vases. As to many jewelries and small objects, they wrapped them and directly put them in the vases.


    Watching those objects being opened one package after another, all the onlookers stretched out their necks and became stunned. Compared with so many objects, the three vases became dwarfed. Everybody fixed their eyes on those green stones, large or small.


    "Ah, so many jewelries!" exclamations sounded one after another.


    "Peter became rich. Did they find them in the relics?"


    "Sure, they went inside empty-handed. Of course, they found them in the relics!"


    "What are they, emeralds or green crystals? They look valuable..."


    "They look more like turquoise..."


    "Turquoise are not that bright!"


    "Those must be olivines!"


    The onlookers started to discuss. Most of them had not seen these emeralds at all. Therefore, they could easily mix these objects with those they had ever known or heard about.


    Only Nurdo and a few people slowly changed their faces at the sight of those objects.


    With air-breaking sounds, powerhouses from Golden Roc Bank arrived here constantly with more and more onlookers. What Zhang Tie had not imagined was that Roslav and Waajid also led the fighters of the huge bear tribe towards here.


    Not knowing whether it was an illusion or not, Zhang Tie felt that Roslav and Waajid seemingly let out a sigh at the sight of him. After realizing that they were gazed by Zhang Tie, the two guys walked to the side of Sabrina like nothing had happened.


    It was not strange to meet people from the huge bear tribe at all. But the huge bear tribe seemed to be too active. Therefore, Zhang Tie paid more attention to them.


    Keeping silent, Zhang Tie just stood aside, watching those staff from Golden Roc Bank authenticating the values of those emeralds.


    After checking over those objects on the ground carefully, a 30-odd man from Golden Roc Bank stood up as he nodded towards a 50-odd man while trying his best to relieve his excitement.


    The 50-odd man was the head of this team of Golden Roc Bank. The bald man was his subordinate.


    "Mr. Peter. I''m Zhu Zhen, the head of the expedition of Golden Roc Bank. I want to reconfirm it, are you sure that you want to entrust Golden Roc Bank to keep these immortal stones for you?"


    Because he was talking with Zhang Tie, the 50-odd man didn''t use Chinese anymore; instead, he spoke Hebrew. Hearing this question, all the onlookers who were discussing about these stones shut up at once. Everybody felt their necks being grabbed by hands. The spot became so quiet that even a needle falling down the ground could be heard.


    Zhang Tie nodded with a smile, "Yup, I truly want to entrust these objects to Golden Roc Bank. I know your bank could provide such a service. But I don''t know whether you can accept them here or I have to bring these objects to Eschyle City!"


    "If it''s a common business, you truly need to entrust a person to manage it in our branch in Eschyle City; but it''s special now, we can directly assign our ground crew here to receive this batch of immortal stones!"


    "Fine, no problem!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s promise, Zhu Zhen directly nodded towards a Chinese youth who was carrying a medium-sized box. The Chinese youth took out a clock-sized crystal remote sensing communication device from the box and started to communicate with their ground crew in the public.


    Zhang Tie watched how did the Chinese youth manipulate the crystal remote sensing communication with an interested look, "When will your crew arrive here?"


    "Our airship is still outside there. As long as they receive our message, the powerhouses of Golden Roc Bank will arrive here in 5 hours!" Zhu Zhen replied firmly.


    Zhang Tie believed in his words. Zhang Tie knew that real powerhouses'' moving speeds were very terrifying. Although it took them several days to be here, it only took real powerhouses a few hours. If not go down here with 200-300 people, Zhang Tie was also confident that he could arrive here from above ground in a few hours.


    "Fine, you can keep them now!" after saying this, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Sam and Gerri. Then, the went in their own tents to put on clothes.


    The moment the three people left did Zhu Zhen make a gesture. Seeing this, the other members of the expedition of Golden Roc Bank headed by the bald man walked towards him. After that, the 6 people surrounded the piles of jewelries.


    Not until then did those onlookers become boisterous like a bowl of water being sprayed in the boiling water in a pot.


    "Immortal stones? Are these objects immortal stones?"


    "Peter found immortal stones?


    The entire camp boiled up.


    Nurdo drew a cold breath. Even if he was always calm, at the sight of the solemn looks of the team of Golden Roc Bank, he was also driven crazy! His heart raced while his eyes turned red. However, in front of those people from Golden Roc Bank, Nurdo would never dare to rob those jewelries away.


    After forcefully swallowing his saliva, Nurdo asked Zhu Zhen and the others, "May I...know the value of these immortal stones?"


    Although many people had heard about immortal stones, few of them knew its price.


    "Although these immortal stones have different qualities, they were not bad generally. If Mr. Peter entrusts our bank to preserve these for him, I think our bank would pay him more than 1.4 million gold coins!" Zhu Zhen answered seriously before letting out a sigh, "I''ve not imagined that Mr. Peter is so lucky. I was told that he had just been here for a few hours!"


    Hearing this, some clever guys hurriedly ran towards the tent of Zhang Tie; the rest ones exchanged glances with each other as they could see amazement and admiration from the opponents'' eyes, "Damn it. How come that guy be so lucky?"


    Zhang Tie''s good luck really made others jealous.


    ...


    The moment he came out of his tent, Zhang Tie had seen a subordinate of O''Laura who was cringing outside his tent with a chrysanthemum-like smile.


    "Mr. Peter, Can...can you..." face blushed, the man asked with a shameful look while rubbing his hands.


    Only after glancing at this guy, Zhang Tie had already known what he wanted. Therefore, Zhang Tie briefly told him about the location where he found those jewelries. The moment the man received Zhang Tie''s reply, he had turned around and ran away without even thanking Zhang Tie. After running a few steps forward, he realized his rudeness; the moment he turned around and wanted to say something to Zhang Tie, he found Zhang Tie was smiling at him while waving his hand.


    "It''s okay. Hurry up, it depends on your luck!"


    Zhang Tie didn''t put on shelves in front of them. As the short building was collapsed, Zhang Tie didn''t clean up there. Therefore, it was uncertain whether they could find some other valuables over there or not.


    In a wink, over 200 members of Zhang Tie''s camp ran over there with green eyes, except for the female army led by O''Laura, Nurdo and Sabrina.


    The power of a good model was unrivaled.


    Only after a few minutes, when Zhang Tie came back, he found O''Laura, Nurdo and Sabrina were already chatting with those staff of Golden Roc Bank. At the sight of Zhang Tie, they all fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie.


    Perhaps someone among them also wanted to take a look in the place where Zhang Tie discovered these emeralds; however, given their status, they felt shameful to follow Zhang Tie''s action.


    "What are you talking about?" seeing their weird looks, Zhang Tie asked casually.


    "We''re talking about your amazing good luck!" Zhu Zhen smiled with a curious look, "We''ve participated in the excavation of many relics; however it''s our first time to see someone like Mr. Peter to reap so much only after arriving here for a few hours!"


    Zhang Tie shrugged and kept silent.


    "Actually when someone''s luck reaches the upper limit, we Chinese will not call it luck anymore!"


    "What do you call it?" Nurdo asked.


    "Qiyun!" Zhu Zhen called it in Chinese pinyin. There''s no corresponding word with this in Hebrew. The moment they heard about this strange new term, everybody else looked different, "Mr. Peter really has a great qiyun!"


    "What is qiyun? Can you explain it?" out of everybody''s imagination, Roslav, a representative of the huge bear tribe asked while biting his tongue.


    "In your words, qiyun means that a person is favored by God and could do great things!"


    Hearing Zhu Zhen''s words, the two powerhouses from the huge bear tribe exchanged glances with each other and kept silent.


    Even Zhang Tie realized that his luck was pretty good these days. Although he had also suffered some dangers and setbacks, he could finally survive them. Remarkably, no matter what problems he encountered these days, he could always easily manage them, such as wanted circular and the bone-exploding needles...this formed a sharp contrast with Zhang Tie''s experience in the previous 16 years. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt this sharp difference especially.


    Especially the wanted circular, before he managed it, someone else had already revoked it for him. Even if he was captured at the risk of being chopped off his head, he could also survive that easily. Additionally, he was just trying to excavate the short building several hours ago; it was really out of his imagination that he could find so many immortal stones. "I''ve never been so lucky before, did something special happen to me?"


    Zhang Tie instantly remembered the small tree. Besides providing him with fruits, the small tree also changed his mode of thinking. It told Zhang Tie that nothing in this word came without a reason. An object definitely existed or appeared due to some reason or logic.


    Zhang Tie asked Heller in his mind at once.


    "Heller, are you there? I also feel that my luck is pretty good these days. It''s quite different from before. Do you know the reason? Is it related to the small tree..."


    Only after a couple of seconds, Heller''s voice had already reappeared in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "Precisely, it''s only related to yourself. The Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree is breeding a new fruit recently. In the course of its generation, your luck is pretty good. As long as you see that fruit, you will know why."


    Zhang Tie became stunned, "What? A new fruit? But I''ve done nothing special these days..."


    ...

 463 The Most Valuable Thing

    Chapter 463: The Most Valuable Thing


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Undoubtedly, life itself was one of the most valuable things. That was why immortal stones were so expensive.


    After being processed by an alchemist, the value of immortal stones would increase by 2 times. Although Zhang Tie''s emeralds had not been processed by alchemists, they were still valuable. According to the authentication of the powerhouses from Golden Roc Bank, those emeralds were worth 1.64 million gold coins.


    Although Golden Roc Bank sincerely expected to purchase these immortal stones, Zhang Tie didn''t want to sell them.


    For others, immortal stones were just gold coins; however, for Zhang Tie, those immortal stones had another meaning.


    After the other powerhouses of Golden Roc Bank arrived here from above ground, Zhang Tie talked with one of them.


    ...


    "Of course, immortal stones could not help people become immortal. However, they could increase one''s life span. Actually, people strive for cultivation by lighting their own surging points was also to increase their life span. The average life span of commoners was about 90 years; however, if one could reach LV 9, he could increase his life span to 120 years as his physical potential was released. The higher one''s level was, the longer would he or she live!"


    "What about the life span of a knight?"


    "Generally, a knight could live longer than 400 years!"


    "400 years?" Zhang Tie was full of amazement.


    "Of course, besides knights who could live even longer, the whole set of top-class immortal stones processed by alchemist masters in the Eastern Continent could also extend their life span to 200 more years. A knight with a whole set of top-class immortal stones could live longer. As your immortal stones had been cut into smaller pieces in different levels, their values were sharply discounted; otherwise, they were worth a higher price!"


    "Is the whole set of top-class immortal stones effective to commoners?"


    "Of course, that''s why the immortal stones are so expensive!"


    "How much is one set of that thing?"


    "Top-class immortal stones are rarely seen even in the Eastern Continent. They could barely be seen in the market. After collecting raw materials, big clans would entrust alchemist masters to process them. You cannot buy them even if you''re rich!"


    "Can people be really immortal?"


    "In the Chinese legends, in the ancient times, humans could easily live longer than 10,000 years old. Dying at the age of 800 or 900 years would always be taken as an abnormal death at a young age. Human body is the most precious jewelry in this world!"


    ...


    After signing a series of documents on entrustment service with Golden Roc Bank and promising to them that Golden Roc Bank had the priority to purchase these jewelries on equal conditions if he wanted to sell them, Zhang Tie saw them off with those immortal stones.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s heart raced because of that talk.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie know that one could increase his or her life span after reaching a high level. Additionally, with a whole set of top-class immortal stones from an alchemist master, one''s life span could increase by 200 years. Zhang Tie was really shocked by the two pieces of information. Previously, he knew that one could grow healthier and live longer through cultivation while immortal stones could extend one''s life span. However, he didn''t know the details. Now he knew.


    Zhang Tie knew that cannon fodder-class small figures who were educated to beat screws in the city like himself were born with limited knowledge structure and recognition in the world. Even though he had stayed in Hidden Dragon Island for a year, his limited vision was slightly made up; instead of being essentially changed. After the talk with that powerhouse from Golden Roc Bank, he reconfirmed about this point.


    For some people, they could not touch such secret knowledge until they had reached a certain age, when they would extremely broaden their vision and mode of thinking. For Zhang Tie himself, unless he had the chance to touch them, he was isolated from a lot of information in this world.


    Zhang Tie didn''t sell those immortal stones immediately because he recalled his master Zhao Yuan. After the talk, Zhang Tie imagined about his parents'' increasingly wrinkled faces. In a split second, a whim boiled up in Zhang Tie''s mind. "No matter what, I have to let my dad and mom enjoy the benefits of immortal stones. I will help them to live longer. Because of various reasons, my dad and mom didn''t have much knowledge on cultivation; therefore, they could not live long. This was also my biggest regret. If I could mend up this regret, I wouldn''t care about the amount of money and immortal stones."


    Zhang Tie experienced the power of alchemist once again. Therefore, he grew more ambitious about becoming an alchemist.


    "Of course, if I want to help my dad and mom live longer, I have to achieve my first dream¡ª¡ªto grow stronger." Zhang Tie finally understood why so many people were striving for higher levels at any cost. Because in addition to greater power, they could also gain longer longevity. They might live 5-6 times longer than commoners.


    Zhang Tie had never imagined that he could live for hundreds of years. At this moment, a whim flashed across his mind.


    "Perhaps, I could also live 400-500 years old." Zhang Tie told himself as his heart started to pound. He could feel that a gate was pushed open in his mind which presented a splendid world which he had never imagined. Now Zhang Tie started to realize the significance of the hard course on cultivation and polishing surging points.


    "Cultivation, cultivation, cultivation!"


    Zhang Tie immediately acted like a machine being installed with a motor. He grew more desirable for cultivation.


    ...


    Being stimulated by those immortal stones, in the next two days, the 200-odd guys in Zhang Tie''s team kept cleaning up that short building where Zhang Tie discovered the immortal stones.


    As was imagined, those pioneers who expected to discover some valuables here were chased away ruthlessly. At the beginning, many pioneers were inimical; however, after knowing that these people were in the same team with Peter, they all left and did not dare to bother.


    After two days, the short building was cleaned up. Those guys really discovered a lot of valuables over there, dozens of pieces which were well-preserved and a few broken immortal stones and jewelries. They were worth 70,000-80,000 gold coins in total.


    As a result, the morale of the team became spirited. This was a worthy travel for them. They could hardly make so much money above the ground.


    In the two days, Zhang Tie also wandered with Sam and Gerri on this relics and in the neighborhood. Apparently, they were seeking for another chance to discover wealth; actually, they were just familiar with the surrounding environment and terrain so as to seek for the real super relics.


    Zhang Tie''s good luck seemed being used up. Although he also tried to excavate something, he didn''t find anything valuable at all, except for some scrap metal.


    Sam and Gerri found the place where they picked up the weird ham package before the Catastrophe. In these two days, they just passed by this place for one time. It was a deep and serene cave which extended to the distance. They didn''t know where did it lead to. In case of arousing others'' attention, they didn''t go deep in it.


    In the same period, Zhang Tie found many strange forces and unidentified individuals. They had long entered the underground world before the allied forces blocked the relics valley. Additionally, their fighting strength were above common pioneers and most of the fighters of the allied forces for sure.


    Zhang Tie knew that not everybody in this world knew themselves well and could curb their greed about the pieces of star of god, except for powerhouses like star and moon sword sage. Somebody would always have a try with a fluky mind. Perhaps, the news of super relics had been spread through special channels. Therefore, besides the allied forces and Golden Roc Bank, the others had also known about this message.


    In the two days, Zhang Tie had seen many corpses of pioneers and unidentified individuals who looked very miserable. Remarkably, their personal belongings had been taken away. At the sight of them, many people who came down here for a try would feel icy.


    The situation in the underground world was much more sophisticated than that Zhang Tie had imagined. Even the vanguards of Zhang Tie''s team had not imagined that. Facing the potential dangers, the separate vanguards of the allied forces gradually gathered together in these days. The cake of wealth being exposed in front of them was much larger than that they had imagined.


    ...


    On the same evening when Zhang Tie discovered those immortal stones, Zhang Tie stood on the top of a 30-storey building which only had half of its steel and cement framework left. Looking down at those fluorite lamplights, Zhang Tie looked calm. Nobody knew what he was thinking about.


    In the underground world, they judged time in consistent with the time above ground. Besides the weak light of a few fluorite materials and heat sources in the darkness, daytime and night could not be distinguished here. Therefore, one''s biological clock could be easily disturbed.


    "Thankfully, these dogskin plasters stopped following us!" Standing on Zhang Tie''s side, Sam said furiously.


    "No matter what, these guys are not silly. As this building has been searched by so many pioneers; nothing valuable could be discovered in it at all. If they continued to follow us up, they would find nothing else except for blush!" compared to Sam, Gerri looked a bit calm, "Have you found that the number of these dogskin plasters has decreased a lot after achieving nothing in two days?"


    "It''s true. Much fewer compared to yesterday!" Sam nodded.


    Hearing their talk, Zhang Tie revealed with a smile. "Being similar to those gamblers who like to follow up those lucky gamblers, ever since the news that I made a fortune after discovering those immortal stones spread among the vanguards of the allied forces, Sam, Gerri and I had been followed up by a lot of people."


    "In this couple of days, as long as I paid special attention to a certain place or moved my hands or stayed a bit longer somewhere, I would instantly be surrounded by some guys who started to excavate near me."


    After achieving nothing for consecutive three days, Zhang Tie knew that those guys'' endurance might have ran up. Zhang Tie was that lucky gambler. However, after achieving nothing for three days, he had been not attractive to those guys who followed him. Therefore, this was a good symbol for Zhang Tie.


    As those who followed him were just average warriors of the allied forces who expected to make a fortune, Zhang Tie was not disgusted about them. However, after being gazed by them constantly, Zhang Tie didn''t even have a chance to eat fruits in Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, he grew pretty depressed about that.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie could only let so many fruits hang over the small tree in Castle of Black Iron.


    "For some reason, I feel that the process of seeking for the super relics would be very risky!" after considering it carefully, Zhang Tie told Gerri and Sam, "As you''ve already seen it these days, the situation in the underground world is very dangerous, besides the pioneers and allied forces, there are many unidentified forces and individuals. Some of them have died for some reasons. I hope you two think twice before deciding whether to seek for the super relics or not..."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s suggestion, Sam and Gerri hesitated...

 464 A Hidden Force

    Chapter 464: A Hidden Force


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After thinking for a while, Sam and Gerri did not feel enthusiastic about exploring the super relics the last few days.


    Poor guys were always the most struggling. However, Sam and Gerri were not poor anymore. Because Zhang Tie had promised to gift two biggest and best jade chips to them. Although they felt shameful about that, they finally accepted Zhang Tie''s "reward" under his passionate request.


    According to the authentication of Golden Roc Bank, the two pieces of immortal stones were worth more than 40,000 gold coins. Therefore, they sold them to Golden Roc Bank at once. At this moment, with gold checks which were worth over 40,000 gold coins, which was out of their imagination, Sam and Gerri started to hesitate.


    These two days, when they wandered with Zhang Tie, they also saw those dead pioneers. Being stimulated by that, they woke up as they realized the potential dangers hidden in this relics.


    Sam and Gerri knew their real fighting strength. As they were lower than LV 6, if not had come down together with Zhang Tie, even if they discovered the immortal stones, they would not be able to take the immortal stones out. If they were found having a huge amount of money, any douchebag among the pioneers could eat them up, not to mention any powerhouses. Such things were too common among pioneers.


    However, they had already gained more than their expectancy. Therefore, they hesitated.


    Even if they discovered the super relics and found the well-preserved vaults in the super relics, were they able to carry one ton of golds out of the cave? Of course not. However, at this moment, they were already carrying gold checks which were worth more than 40,000 gold coins, which would be heavier than one ton of golds, if being placed in front of them.


    Actually, they already made a fortune. As long as they didn''t want to live too luxuriously, they could live a dignified life in any place of Blackson Human Corridor. Wasn''t it what many pioneers strive for their whole lives?


    However, if Sam and Gerri insisted on exploring the super relics, they might have encountered potential dangers and had their lives threatened. If so, they might not get any chance to spend the 40,000 gold coins. The most anguished thing was not being able to spend all the money that one had made.


    If they returned now, they would miss the chance to excavate the super relics. For pioneers, this was like how a lady killer missed a big beauty and how a fierce, hunter beast missed a grand dinner.


    Sam and Gerri struggled between possible anguishes and regret. They didn''t want to give it up; however, when pinching the hard gold checks which were sewed in corners of garments, they hesitated once again.


    Only after glancing at their looks, Zhang Tie had already known what they were thinking about as he heavily patted on their shoulders.


    "We are friends. Therefore, I respect your decisions. If you stick to your former decision, I will try my best to protect you!" Zhang Tie didn''t promise to keep them safe. He knew his real fighting strength. Even if he could easily kill a LV 10 powerhouse, he still did not dare to be arrogant. After witnessing his master''s power and how star and moon sword sage killed that huge deep-sea monster, Zhang Tie knew that he was just a trivial figure for sure. How dared he ensure others'' safety in a spot where even knights and sword sages would attend.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, Sam and Gerri made their decision at once. After working with each other for such a long time, they had already known the other''s decision only after a glance.


    "The achievement has already been out of our imaginations. We were also negotiating about this a couple of days ago, yet we didn''t make any decision by then. Now, after hearing your words, we make our final decision!"


    "Oh? You''ve made your decision?"


    "Actually, we''ve got another idea!" Gerri replied with a shameful look.


    "Go ahead!" Zhang Tie asked with an interested look.


    "If you plan to explore the super relics alone, Sam and I will give up going there in case of bringing you troubles and setting ourselves in dangers. However, if the allied forces followed you there, Sam and I will also go there along with them. As to the information about the super relics, its yours now, you can dispose it at your will!"


    "He...he...you two guys are really..." Zhang Tie waved his head with a smile. He had not imagined that Sam and Gerri had such a plan, "he...he...they are really cunning. They directly handed over the disposal right of that information to me. If I lead the allied forces over there, they would stay with so many people. As a result, they would be safe. However, if I prepare to act alone, they would leave right away."


    "Peter, what''s your plan?" seeing Zhang Tie being not angry, Sam asked.


    Zhang Tie touched his chin as O''Laura''s and Sabrina''s faces flashed across his mind, "I want to take a look over there first, if there''s indeed a super relics over there, I will consider the next plan!"


    Actually, Zhang Tie didn''t feel that he had the obligation to the entire allied forces. Even if there was truly a super relics, Zhang Tie only intended to benefit O''Laura who always wanted to take over the Grey Eagle Tribe and Sabrina who always wanted to dominate her fate. He didn''t think that he had to benefit others. Additionally, Zhang Tie was very anxious to enter Castle of Black Iron at this moment. What Heller told him three days ago had almost driven him crazy. If not check inside, he could not even sleep well.


    After exchanging glances with each other, Sam and Gerri nodded.


    "Let''s go back to the camp then!"


    ...


    When Zhang Tie, Sam and Gerri returned to the camp, they saw that most people were already back.


    The camp had been enlarged after three days. Almost all the vanguards of the allied forces were gathering inside.


    The moment Zhang Tie returned to the camp, he found something abnormal as a great number of people were gathering in a narrow area. It seemed that they were looking at something.


    Those people were standing at the roadside; therefore, Zhang Tie took a look over there by the way.


    Seeing Zhang Tie walking over there, many people gave a way to him.


    It was 20 corpses in the middle of the onlookers. They were laid in a row tidily. Under the green lamp light, those pale faces looked more gloomy.


    These days, after sensing the hidden force in the relics, the camp had already delivered an order¡ª¡ªall those who went for exploring the relics had to set off in terms of teams. A team was composed of 20 people. Therefore, the corpses lying on the ground implied that nobody of this team survived.


    Those onlookers looked extremely furious.


    "It must be the pioneers!"


    "Summon our men, we will kill all the disgusting mice!"


    "Yes, revenge, we want a revenge..."


    Although some started to roar but some special figures among the vanguards were not idiots.


    "Shut up!" hearing a roar from a head of the wild bear tribe, all the onlookers became silent as they fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie.


    "This is really an unfair world. How could someone go out and bring back a huge amount of wealth while someone else lost their lives?" At this moment, the same thought flashed across many people''s minds.


    With a solemn look, Zhang Tie checked those corpses one after another carefully. Sometimes he squatted as his look grew gloomier.


    All the wounds were on their necks. They were as tidy and smooth as red lines drawn by a red pen. The weapon might be a very sharp and fast sword.


    "Where did you find these corpses?"


    "In a mountain cave in the east of the relics. This team was dispatched over there to check the terrain. However, they didn''t come back in time. Therefore we sent men to to look for them but found their corpses in the cave!" A familiar head answered.


    "You can contact with your higher authority with your remote sensing crystal, right?"


    After being silent for a while, that person nodded.


    "You can not manage this thing. If you want to revenge, you''d better contact with your higher authority. They will assign powerhouses down here!" Zhang Tie said in a low voice.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the onlookers slightly changed their looks, "Mr. Peter, do...do you also think so?"


    "The killer is a sword master. He killed them all with only one movement. Look, they''ve not even drawn their weapons out of their sabers even by one inch until death. You can not manage such a powerful enemy!" Zhang Tie waved his head.


    "Even you..."


    Zhang Tie glanced at him who swallowed his words back at once...


    If the team of 20 people walked in a pitch-dark mountain cave, the length of the team would surpass 10 m. Zhang Tie knew that he could not manage so many people in such a short period.


    Not knowing why, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled Sabrina.


    "Did Sabrina come back?"


    "No, we''ve dispatched people to find her!"


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie instantly changed his look as a bad premonition flashed across his mind.

 465 A Business

    Chapter 465: A Business


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie had searched for Sabrina''s cavalry for several hours; yet, he didn''t find them. However, as Zhang Tie didn''t see any miserable scene which he concerned most, he gradually recovered his composure.


    As the old Chinese saying went, "the more concerned you were, the more chaotic it would be." After calming down, Zhang Tie returned to his camp.


    There was still a repressive atmosphere in the camp. By then, almost everybody else had returned. They all knew what happened. Nobody had imagined that a vanguard of 20 people could be killed in this way. Therefore, many people felt uncomfortable while roars could be heard everywhere in the camp.


    Zhang Tie didn''t think that he should shoulder any responsibility towards the allied forces. Therefore, he was not infuriated and much painful for what happened today. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the downfallen vanguard was nothing different than those dead pioneers. All this just reminded him of the hidden force in the underground world.


    "Did Sabrina''s cavalry come back yet?" Zhang Tie asked a person.


    "Yes, they did!"


    The moment he heard this news, Zhang Tie instantly paced up towards the tents area of Sabrina and her female cavalries.


    At the sight of Sabrina in her purple leather armor, Zhang Tie finally took a sigh of relief. Although Sabrina was fine, over 10 cavalries were injured. Thankfully, they were not heavily injured. Sabrina was binding up wounds for her cavalries.


    "What''s up?"


    "We met some barbarous pioneers. They bullied us. Therefore, we fought them!" Sabrina stood up and walked towards Zhang Tie.


    "What about those pioneers?"


    "We killed them!" gazing at Zhang Tie''s face, Sabrina suddenly burst out laughing and became very enchanting. She moved closer and drew circles on Zhang Tie''s chest slightly, "I was told that you hurriedly went to search for me after you saw the dead vanguards."


    Sabrina was wearing a verdant bracelet made of immortal stone, which was gifted by Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie found her just now, he didn''t felt anything special; however, after being mentioned by Sabrina, facing her smile, Zhang Tie felt slightly embarrassed at once like being caught by the teacher when he was dating a girl in the campus, "Erm...I was indeed a bit worried about you. Thank god, you''re safe!"


    "You''re not entirely shameless!" Sabrina was very satisfied with Zhang Tie''s answer as she glanced at Zhang Tie with an enchanting look.


    Zhang Tie knew that no matter how the love affairs between him and this woman started or how many jokes and flirtation were aroused, even taking advantage of each other, he truly started to fall in love with this "lousy girl". At least, he indeed could not treat her as same as the other members of the allied forces when he knew that she might be in danger. He could not just wait there for the possible worse news with a calm mentality.


    By then, the two people who were the most intimate to Zhang Tie in Ice and Snow Wilderness were two women. Realizing this, Zhang Tie asked himself inside, "Am I really that lascivious?"


    "Young lady, our vulnerary is not enough. Can we borrow some from the camp of the wild bear tribe?" Zora, one of Sabrina''s trusted subordinate walked towards her in a low voice.


    As the head of the female cavalries, Sabrina who always showed herself as a dissolute image in front of others, had not imagined that they could encounter such a great danger, either. Therefore, it was possible that they would lack vulnerary. Before coming down, few people of the allied forces could predict that an entire vanguard of the allied forces would be killed. Because women were always scrupulous, Sabrina and her cavalries took some vulnerary and bandages; however, Zhang Tie knew that some female teams took nothing else except for some dried rations and necessary weapons.


    "How much do we need?"


    "Not too much! About two persons'' demand!"


    "No need, try this!" after saying this, Zhang Tie took out two vials of all-purpose medicament from his medicament container and gave it to Zora.


    The moment he took them out, the green and golden solution and the brilliant individual symbol of manjusaka on the vials instantly attracted the attention of all the female cavalries.


    In Ice and Snow Wilderness, variety of medicament were the rarest. As a barren land, Ice and Snow Wilderness lagged behind in all aspects. Its information and traffic were relatively isolated. Few pharmacists would like to develop here. The pharmacists of various tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness were remarkably dwarfed by those in continents from both population and ability. As a result, even the most common medicament could only be used by the high-ranking government officials of each tribe. As for most commoners and average warriors, they might not be able to use medicament even once in their whole lives. Therefore, at the sight of the two vials of medicament, all the female cavalries looked amazed.


    But Sabrina was the most amazed one.


    "All-purpose medicament?" Sabrina recognized it right away at the sight of the unique symbol on the vials.


    Zhang Tie glanced at her with an amazing look, "You know that?"


    "Manager Xu Tao of Golden Roc Bank officially introduced such medicament to us several days ago. You were also there that day. But you left ahead of us. Therefore, you didn''t attend the promotion after..." Sabrina explained as she also took out an all-purpose medicament from his medicament container. After putting it together with Zhang Tie''s two vials of medicament, she found they were completely the same, "Manager Xu Tao said this medicament was very popular in the outside. The price of each vial was around 30 gold coins. Compared to other kinds of medicament, although it was not very expensive, it could not be bought in the market at all. Even Golden Roc Bank could only obtain a small batch of such kind of medicament. They gifted me one. But how do you have them too?"


    Staring at Sabrina''s gleaming eyes, Zhang Tie remembered that he truly heard manager Xu Tao boosting some "marvelous medicament" when he left the fury wind-level airship of Golden Roc Bank. However, as he wanted to see O''Laura at that moment, he just left first. He had not imagined that Golden Roc Bank was boosting his all-purpose medicament.


    Of course, Zhang Tie could not tell her that he was the producer of all-purpose medicament as it was nothing different than finding himself troubles. After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie had got the answer. Even Zhang Tie didn''t feel like lying to her but he had to be a bit flexible at this moment.


    "Do you know Armes, the mercenary empire? I have some influential friends in the Thor Mercenary Regiment. They got a batch of all-purpose medicament when they went to Jinyun City a few days ago. I got some from them!"


    "Wuh!" Sabrina didn''t doubt Zhang Tie.


    Hearing the medicament being so precious, even Sabrina only had one, Zora instantly hesitated as she looked at the two vials of medicament in her hand.


    "Young lady, this..."


    "It''s fine. Take them along with mine. I owe him. I was told that by using this kind of medicament, one would not have scars!" Sabrina generously gave her all-purpose medicament to Zora too.


    All the female cavalries were watching Zhang Tie and Sabrina with grateful looks. Through this thing, Zhang Tie felt the intelligence of Sabrina. Although two vials of all-purpose medicament were nothing to Zhang Tie, hearing Sabrina''s words, the female cavalries became more grateful and loyal to Sabrina.


    "You don''t mind it?" Sabrina whispered.


    Zhang Tie smiled as he patted Sabrina''s butts, "It''s a bit chaotic in the underground recently. Many people and other forces were involved. They might not care about your status in the wild bear tribe. Therefore, you''d better not run around. If you''re free, go back to the ground. It would be safer over there!"


    "Not everybody could discover a pile of immortal stones for free like you. Even if you were wanted, you could still be bailed out by Bluesea Castle Business Group. Who else could be as lucky as you? Even I have to observe others'' eyes before making any decision in the wild bear tribe. All the expenditure of my female cavalries was earned by myself. If not the belongings left by my mom, I could never be so free!"


    "Actually, it is very easy to make money. You don''t have to risk your life here!" Zhang Tie told her.


    "What''s your plan?"


    "Your words reminded me just now. If the all-purpose medicament is so precious in Ice and Snow Wilderness, you can sell all-purpose medicament here!" Zhang Tie straighten out his mind, "I have some relationship with my friends in Thor Mercenary Regiment. I can help you inquire about it. If only I can bring you a batch of all-purpose medicament each year!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Sabrina''s eyes brightened up immediately, "Are you sure?"


    "Of course!"


    "But I was told that it was hard to get all-purpose medicament. I''m afraid that even Thor Mercenary Regiment could not get too many of them!"


    "If Thor Mercenary Regiment could get them, it means that the channel of distribution is not completely closed. As long as we can find the sellers and the manufacturers, we will get the all-purpose medicament!"


    "Where''s O''Laura? You petite lover seems to be needing money very much!" Sabrina rolled her beautiful eyes before asking him.


    "How large do you think the market of all-purpose medicament in Ice and Snow Wilderness is?"


    "If all-purpose medicament is really as good as described by manager Xu Tao, its demand will exceed with its supply for sure. No matter how many there are, as long as its price is not too high, they will be bought away!" Sabrina replied after considering it for a short while.


    "That''s it. If so, you and O''Laura will be responsible for this business. I''m sure each one of you can earn 100,000 to 200,000 gold coins a year!" Zhang Tie said confidently.


    "If I can make 30,000 to 50,000 gold coins, I would have been satisfied, not to mention 100,000 to 200,000 gold coins. But I''m afraid that your petite lover won''t agree!" Sabrina smiled.


    "Don''t worry about that. I will persuade her! If you''ve made the decision, you''d better go back in a couple of days!"


    "What about you?"


    "I might stay for a few more days here!"


    "Well, after today''s event, my cavalries and I indeed need to take a rest for a couple of days here!"


    ...


    Zhang Tie then left Sabrina and walked towards the tents area of the grey eagle tribe. On the way, he felt that his opinion was very marvelous. Sabrina was tricky but was good at making friends while O''Laura was powerful and ambitious. They complemented with each other on personalities and abilities. It was pretty suitable for them to work together as the agent of all-purpose medicament in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    As O''Laura had a strong self-respect and decisiveness, if he directly gave her gold coins, she might not accept it; however, if he introduced her with a business, Zhang Tie believed that she probably would not refuse it.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, being different than Sabrina''s enthusiasm, O''Laura only gave him a cold harrumph before turning around and leaving.


    Seeing O''Laura walking towards outside, Zhang Tie hurriedly caught up with her. When they came to a quiet corner outside the camp, Zhang Tie directly grabbed O''Laura''s hand.


    O''Laura forcefully shook her hand; yet she failed to shake off Zhang Tie''s hand; plus Zhang Tie''s grinning look, O''Laura could not lose her temper anymore.


    "Let go off my hand, you rascal..."


    "Are you angry? Tell me who stirred up with you. I will give him a lesson for you!" Zhang Tie pretended to be furious as he rolled up his sleeves.


    "Don''t pretend anymore. Didn''t you head for that bitch just now? Why did you come for me?"


    Zhang Tie became stunned for a short while. He had not imagined that O''Laura was jealous about Sabrina. Revealing a smile, Zhang Tie tightly hugged O''Laura. As they had touched each other very closely, O''Laura was not that counteractive to Zhang Tie; instead, she just pushed him twice symbolically.


    Zhang Tie then stretched out his hand to pick off O''Laura''s mask. O''Laura just resisted him by inclining her head slightly. Zhang Tie finally picked off her mask.


    That was a perfect and icy face. Each time Zhang Tie saw her face, he would appreciate it for quite a while. The tender skin, the rising nose, the watery pupils and the stubborn mouth were all like delicate artworks.


    Under the shining eyes of Zhang Tie, plus Zhang Tie''s weird hands which gradually slid onto her butts, O''Laura''s face slightly blushed. She looked pretty like a petite girl, which made Zhang Tie feel dizzy.


    No matter how great was O''Laura''s fighting strength was, at least, Zhang Tie knew that she was nothing different than those petite girls who fell in love with someone for the first time. Each girl of Rose Association might know men much better than her.


    In the past two decades, O''Laura actually locked her in a narrow circle. She didn''t have any chance to move freely. Being different from Sabrina, who always wanted to escape from the iron cage of the wild bear tribe, O''Laura always wanted to drill into the iron cage of the grey bear tribe.


    Seeing O''Laura''s slightly shy look, Zhang Tie started to sympathize her. As his heart changed, his aggressive, shining eyes also turned mild. Under Zhang Tie''s warm gazes, O''Laura''s stiff body softened at once.


    "Are you jealous?"


    O''Laura tilted her head, ignoring him.


    Zhang Tie smiled, "Have you seen the wounds of the 20 people?"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s question, O''Laura turned around, "Yes, it''s a powerhouse, a sword powerhouse. At least a 5-star strong fighter or a fighting master above 1 star!"


    "Do you have a chance to beat him?"


    "No chance. But I can barely escape!" O''Laura put it straightforward, "What about you?"


    "No chance in close fight. But I might beat him with javelin; otherwise, I can escape!"


    O''Laura thought for a short while before looking at Zhang Tie, "You''d better go back, this is not the right place for you to stay!"


    Zhang Tie thought for a second before hugging O''Laura tightly, "This is what I want to tell you!"


    "This is a chance!" O''Laura waved her head stubbornly.


    "Do you mean the super relics?"


    O''Laura was shocked, "You know that?"


    "Yes, I know. Those dead vanguards might be dispatched to search for the super relics by the allied forces. I''d be really stupid if I didn''t know about the plan of the allied forces until now!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    "That''s why I have to seize the chance!" O''Laura glanced at Zhang Tie, "I know what you want to say. But, I would not take your money!"


    Hearing O''Laura''s words, Zhang Tie were forced to swallow his words back. He could only change his expression, "There are many ways to make money. I know you need money very much at the present. But you can make money faster by doing business than seeking for chance here!"


    "Business, what business?" hearing that Zhang Tie was going to introduce a business to her, O''Laura became interested in it at once.


    "A business of the all-purpose medicament!"


    Zhang Tie repeated what he had told Sabrina to O''Laura.


    "You want me to go back now?" knowing Zhang Tie''s intention, O''Laura''s voice also became tender.


    "Yes, the faster, the better!"


    "What about you?"


    "I want to stay here for a few more days. But it won''t take me too long!"


    "What about that slut? Have you made the same promise to her?" O''Laura gazed at Zhang Tie without a wink.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that O''Laura could respond so fast.


    "Yes, I made the same promise to her!" Zhang Tie answered after thinking for a short while. As this thing could never be buried, he put it straightforward, "Actually, she''s not like how you imagine!"


    O''Laura became silent. This made Zhang Tie worry about that she was going to lose her temper once again by refusing his good willingness.


    After a few seconds, O''Laura finally let out a long sigh, "Fine, I agree!"


    Hearing her reply, Zhang Tie was even happier than finding a pile of emeralds, "Do you agree?"


    "Of course. Why would I give my share to that slut? Humph...humph...that woman cannot wait for me to disagree. I will not satisfy her! If she can do that, I can do it too." O''Laura looked like a disobedient kid at this moment.


    With a smile, Zhang Tie found O''Laura''s angry look was especially charming; therefore, soon after O''Laura finished her words had Zhang Tie kissed her lips...


    After ten minutes, Zhang Tie almost exploded as his face blushed like pomegranate. Panting heavily, O''Laura instantly pushed Zhang Tie away while forcing apart Zhang Tie''s weird hands from her plumpy breasts.


    "Which one do you prefer, me or that slut?"


    At the critical moment, Zhang Tie became puzzled once again. After struggling for two seconds, Zhang Tie spoke frankly.


    "I like both!"


    Hearing this answer, O''Laura pushed Zhang Tie away once again. After putting on her mask, she directly walked towards the camp..


    Seeing O''Laura''s back and remembering the ecstasy, Zhang Tie lowered his head with a bitter smile. After that, he put his right hand into the trousers pocket and returned to the camp too.


    ...


    The atmosphere in the camp was very weird today. Nobody was interested in why O''Laura and Zhang Tie came back to the camp one after another.


    The moment O''Laura came back to the camp, she had been noticed to attend a meeting. As Zhang Tie was an outsider, he was certainly not qualified to attend the official meetings in the allied forces. He didn''t care about that either. Therefore, he just drilled into his own tent and started to cultivate quietly.


    No matter what, as long as O''Laura and Sabrina returned to the ground, he would not worry about what could happen in the underground.


    Now that it was not as relaxed as journey and was full of unpredictable dangers in the underground, it''d better be managed by men.


    Whereas, Zhang Tie didn''t know that many things were out of his control!

 466 An Unexpected Thing

    Chapter 466: An Unexpected Thing


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Only after one night, when Zhang Tie woke up early the next morning and walked out of his tent, he was amazed with what he saw.


    Standing beside his tent, Zhang Tie looked at the distance. Under his dark vision, he immediately found too many people on the relics over there. After shifting his dark vision into normal vision, Zhang Tie found that those fluorite lamps over the waists of those pioneers were like flooding fireflies in the summer wild.


    After been here for a few days, Zhang Tie had an estimation about the overall population of the pioneers and the other people in the relics. There were about 10,000 people in total in this area, over 3000 of which were vanguards dispatched by the allied forces. However, there were over 20,000 densely moving light spots in front of him.


    "How come all of a sudden there are so many people?" a question flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind.


    However, Zhang Tie''s mentality could never be matched by those common youths anymore. Although he felt strange but after glancing at those light spots in the distance, Zhang Tie slightly sighed and left the camp. He started to cleanse up himself at a water source being not far from the camp.


    In the underground, of course, water became especially important. Although one could take a month''s dried rations down here but one could hardly bring a month''s water down here.


    The water was dropping from the top of a relics rock cave which was hundreds of meters in height like it was raining. They finally formed a small pond on the ground which covered about 3-5 square meters.


    After checking the water quality of this pond and found it was nontoxic, the vanguards of the allied forces occupied this water source first, which could barely afford the daily use of about 3000 people of the vanguards of the allied forces.


    When cleansing himself, Zhang Tie suddenly came up with a problem, "If so many people suddenly appear in this relics area, water shortage would be a big problem. Although there are some other similar water sources in the surroundings, they are remarkably not sufficient for so many people. The rest people could only seek for other water sources in farther places..."


    Zhang Tie remembered that there was a subterranean stream with abundant water on the way here. However, it was over 40 km away. "It seems that many people need to go to the distance to drink water."


    After considering it for a second, Zhang Tie realized that it was not a problem. For these pioneers who dreamed for wealth, it was just a 4-5 hour travel. If not want to die out of thirst, they could spend a couple of days in seeking for the water.


    After cleansing up himself, Zhang Tie returned to the camp and found Sam and Gerri were very flurried.


    "What''s up?"


    "A great number of pioneers arrived here last night!" Sam said.


    "I know, I''ve seen them this morning!"


    "Do you know why they are here?"


    "Why?"


    "Gerri and I have inquired about it just now. They are all here for GSC!" Gerri said with an unimaginable look.


    "Super relics?" Zhang Tie was stunned. "Shouldn''t it only be known to a few people? How come it suddenly became such a popular information? Even common pioneers have known about it. Additionally, so many people swarmed in over night."


    "How did they know that?"


    "It''s said that a team of pioneers carried a great amount of jewelries and valuables out of the entrance on the 3rd day since we came down here, which aroused a huge shock instantly. They declared that they had discovered the GSC in the underground. Hearing that, all the pioneers boiled up and swarmed in. It was said that some teams of pioneers even obtained the accurate map of the super relics from here."


    "Just because of this?"


    "Sure. At the sight of those wholly new jewelries, many people''s eyes turned red. Because only the GSC being covered with the energy of the fragments of the star of god could prevent all the lifeless substances from being deteriorated. Except for this reason, any objects being excavated from this relics would not remain unchanged after 800-900 years!" Gerri confirmed.


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he didn''t know what to say. Although one person could maintain his sense but over 10,000 people could barely be sensible at the same time. For those pioneers, as long as they saw someone taking jewelries out of the underground super relics, they would be driven mad for sure. As long as one of them couldn''t stand to come down, all the others would followed in at once. This was determined by the feature of this group of people.


    Even those pioneers couldn''t stand to pour in, wouldn''t the greater part of the allied forces above the ground know about the reason? As the allied forces could at least obtain half of the jewelries from the pioneers, they would know it for sure.


    Not knowing why, the moment he thought about how they poured in the underground for the super relics, Zhang Tie felt bored.


    Gerri and Sam became both disappointed and excited. They were disappointed because their secret about super relics was exposed to the public. They were excited because they would feel much safer if they could follow so many pioneers over there.


    Zhang Tie didn''t discourage them; instead, after talking with them for a short while, he left.


    Zhang Tie wanted to inquire O''Laura about the situation of the allied forces first. Unexpectedly, O''Laura had already left with her female cavalries and Nurdo in the early morning. Therefore, Zhang Tie went for Sabrina.


    Only after one night, Sabrina''s injured female guardians had been much better. At the sight of Zhang Tie, Sabrina and her female guardians became much more enthusiastic than before.


    "It''s good to see you. I was going to find you!" Sabrina revealed a smile before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, "I''ve never imagined that the all-purpose medicament was so effective. Only after one night, Zora''s subordinates had almost been cured, leaving no scars at all!"


    After witnessing the unusual effect of all-purpose medicament, Sabrina became more excited about the suggestion that Zhang Tie posed yesterday. However, she was not going to talk about that with Zhang Tie right now.


    "I''m told that Gangula, my younger brother is going to be here..."


    "GSC!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    "You also know that?" Sabrina became a bit surprised.


    "I learned about it just now. I came to you here for this thing!" Zhang Tie said solemnly, "I want you leave out of here as soon as possible!"


    "Why?"


    "I don''t know why. But I feel very bad about this thing. I will leave out of here as soon as possible. If you want to leave, I can escort you away!"


    For Zhang Tie, the value of super relics would decline along with its widening exposure. No matter what were inside the super relics, if over ten thousands of people poured in at the same time, even if there were 10,000 tons of golds in the super relics, each one could share at most 1 ton, which was equal to 40,000 gold coins.


    This emergency completely disrupted Zhang Tie''s plan. As the value of the super relics declined, Zhang Tie became increasingly more uncomfortable. Therefore, Zhang Tie decided to let Sabrina go back first so as to get rid of this swirl.


    Sabrina''s smile disappeared as she stared at Zhang Tie seriously. As a smart woman, she understood about Zhang Tie''s meaning.


    "You mean there might be a problem with this super relics?"


    "There''s no evidence about the existence of that super relics until now!" Zhang Tie lowered his voice as he stared at Sabrina with his gleaming eyes. It was already very strange for so many people to know about this piece of news since the first batch of vanguards of the allied forces came down!"


    "However, it''s said that they have obtained a great batch of wholly new jewelries from the underground. Where else could they obtain so many new objects besides the super relics?"


    "What if those wholly new jewelries were brought down silently by someone else?" Zhang Tie asked when he recalled the "evidence" of the ham package which was presented to him by Gerri and Sam silently. He was just shocked at that moment but he had not thought more about it. Now, Zhang Tie realized that someone might set a trap over here by fabricating an "evidence". As super relics was not a new term, as long as they were able to carry some objects or fragments of the former super relics over there, nobody could identify them.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Sabrina finally changed his face, "You mean it''s a plot?"


    "I don''t know. I only feel that this thing has been out of my expectation and has become valueless!"


    "Gangula is coming. I will tell him about this and ask him to take care of himself. Then, we will leave tomorrow, how about that?"


    "Fine!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Do you know that you''re fascinating now?" Sabrina said with a tender voice.


    "Fascinating?" Zhang Tie scratched his head.


    "Yes, a real man, a real leader, who doesn''t follow the mass at the critical moment and has his own decision. Such a man is very fascinating!"


    Zhang Tie blushed.


    ...


    Only after a day, the atmosphere across the camp had been utterly different than that of yesterday. Even many soldiers in the camp had already known the "existence" of the super relics. Additionally, the arrival of the greater part of the allied forces increased the morale of many soldiers in the camp.


    To revenge for the loss of that vanguard or to make a fortune in the super relics, each of the two motives could make most of the commoners spirited and hopeful towards future.


    According to those exaggerating words, that super relics became an open treasury to the public. In the treasury, all the valuable objects were displayed in the stores on both sides of the streets, where everyone could make a fortune.


    Based on such an exaggerating description, that super relics became as charming as a naked beauty who was lying on bed and waiting for a lot of men to sleep with her.


    Only after walking around the camp had Zhang Tie gotten some versions of maps from those pioneers.


    Compared to others'' ecstasy, Zhang Tie grew gloomier. For some reason, watching at the constant light spots at the entrance of the relics in the distance, Zhang Tie only thought about those mice being induced into the cage by the aroma of cheese and fleshes.


    The only thing that made Zhang Tie comfortable today was that nobody followed him up.


    After having no achievements for consecutive three days, Zhang Tie''s halos had gradually faded away. Additionally, the news of the existence of the super relics was exposed. Therefore, all the guys who dreamed to make a fortune behind him finally lost their interests.


    Even though his status as a wanted circular had been revoked before he entered this relics, Zhang Tie felt free just now.


    After circling around the camp, Zhang Tie was sure that nobody was following him. Therefore, he ran away in the distance...


    After half an hour, Zhang Tie had been over 40 km away from the camp and arrived in a wild underground cave at the border of the relics. Zhang Tie put down the cover of his fluorite lamp to die out the lamp. He then made some twists and finally arrived at a secret place. After taking a deep breath, he entered the Castle of Black Iron.


    "Welcome back, Castle Lord..."


    Heller''s familiar voice sounded once again. Having not heard his voice for so long time, Zhang Tie felt warm at once.


    After staying too long in the underground. When he entered Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie narrowed his eyes. After being adapted to the brightness in Castle of Black Iron for a few seconds, he nodded towards Heller before striding towards the small tree...

 467 Fruits

    Chapter 467: Fruits


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Since meeting O''Laura, Zhang Tie had not entered Castle of Black Iron for over 20 days. The moment he entered, Zhang Tie caught sight of the fruits over the small tree. Immediately, Zhang Tie felt happy inside.


    Three iron-body fruits.


    Nine huge wolf seven-strength fruits


    Four leakless fruits, three of which had been ripe.


    Zhang Tie knew that his real fighting strength would increase sharply for sure after eating the 16 fruits. Gazing at those fruits, Zhang Tie started to drool.


    Besides, there were a lot of trouble-reappearance fruits over the small tree, most of which were obtained by hunting huge wolves and some other living beings. After eating these trouble-reappearance fruits, Zhang Tie could have more trouble-reappearance situations and living beings to choose, which indicated a higher soft power.


    Beside the altar under the small tree, Heller watched Zhang Tie circling around the small tree with pounding heart.


    "Fruit of Redemption¡ª¡ªappreciation from sandscale fish" was still hanging over there. As the redemptive effect of a single living being could be accumulated, which, after reaching a certain degree, would show up. Zhang Tie checked it and found that his cold-resistance and water flow-sensitiveness could be further increased by 107% with this redemption fruit. After eating it, undoubtedly, Zhang Tie''s ability and response in water could increase remarkably.


    There was indeed a new fruit.


    The new fruit was familiar. It reminded Zhang Tie of the redemption fruit¡ª¡ªappreciation from earthworms. But this fruit looked like two earthworms twisted with each other. It was like a golden fried dough twist.


    With his eyes on it, Zhang Tie stretched out his hand and touched it.


    Fruit of advancement¡ª¡ªmedium recovery body! As it''s not ripe yet. You can not eat it.


    ¡ª¡ªThe energy of this fruit comes from the appreciation of the released earthworms. It''s the extension of the fruit of redemption.


    ¡ª¡ªIn the early stage of its growth, this fruit could bring a good luck to Castle Lord. £¨grey[1]£©


    ¡ª¡ªYou have to release 160000000 earthworms so as to update your preliminary recovery body to medium recovery body.


    ¡ª¡ªThe progress of the medium recovery body is :2158069/160000000.


    This instantly reminded Zhang Tie of Hanna. He knew that Hanna''s family had started to fulfill their promise by setting free earthworms in the nearby villages. There was a time when Zhang Tie thought that Hanna''s family had already forgotten about this or didn''t care about this thing at all. It was really out of his imagination that they still remembered it. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt pretty good.


    Although it required them to set free 160 million earthworms so as to update preliminary recovery body to medium recovery body but Hanna''s family had only released over 2 million earthworms by now, which was still far away from the ultimate target. However, Zhang Tie had been very satisfied with this. As it was a long-term plan, as long as Hanna''s family stuck to that appointment, they would make the fruit ripe sooner or later.


    What made Zhang Tie truly amazed was that this fruit could bring him good luck in the early stage of its growth. It was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that even his luck could be improved by this fruit.


    The color of that line of words turned grey, which indicated that it had already passed its early stage of growth.


    After realizing that the pile of immortal stones that he excavated several days ago might be influenced by this fruit, Zhang Tie''s face turned strange.


    "Is...this real, Heller?"


    Seeing Heller standing aside, Zhang Tie didn''t even know how to ask.


    "It''s real. One of the side effects of this fruit in its early stage of growth is to bring good luck to you. Actually, this is a benefit from releasing living beings!"


    "By setting free living beings I can be lucky?" Zhang Tie goggled.


    "Castle Lord, you should know that in the far ancient times, setting free living beings was actually the full contents and core of the secret knowledge cultivation of some powerful and mysterious sects. Its function even became deified in some people''s eyes!"


    Zhang Tie was shocked by Heller''s words, "It''s treated as the full contents and core of the secret knowledge cultivation of the entire sect. That''s too powerful!"


    "You mean even commoners could become lucky by setting free a lot of animals?"


    "Of course!"


    "Why?"


    "Because all the animals have their spirits. Materially, the energy of appreciation formed by setting free animals is a powerful bliss, which could increase the frequency and energy level of one''s soul and awareness and cause resonance and attraction between human and beautiful things. Benefited by this, you could make many correct and positive decisions. Actually, this had been clarified in the mysterious and profound eastern Chinese cultures, such as the old Chinese saying, "Luck brings wisdom!"


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie found that it was real. When he excavated the small building, he became pretty clear-minded. Even in the urban ruins, he could faintly identify that the location of the short building was the "waistband fengshui". Being driven by this whim, he attempted and truly made a fortune.


    After the secret was exposed, Zhang Tie deepened his understanding about the effect of setting free animals. Zhang Tie asked Heller another question, "Whether would I become lucky for a period after the appearance of each new fruit of advancement?"


    "Yes. Your good luck would have different duration due to the different levels and functions of fruits of advancement. This fruit of advancement brought you about 17 days of good luck. You would have 25 days of good luck when the fruit of advancement could finally help you advance to senior recovery body from medium recovery body. As to other fruits of advancement, you would have different duration of good luck, which ranged from 3-5 days to even a month!" Heller stared at Zhang Tie with a solemn look, "As long as Castle Lord sticks to set free an increasing number of animals, I believe that Castle Lord would be in such a special situation for a few days in each year."


    Touching his nose, Zhang Tie felt a bit strange. "Women would be in that unrivaled situation for a few days in each month. Will I enter such a special situation for a few days in each year? Damn it! That''s weird!"


    Zhang Tie then watched the small tree swaying its body, causing rustles. Meanwhile, he rubbed his hands in an excited way. The problem facing him was so many fruits to eat.


    It would take him at least 1 week to completely digest the nine huge wolf seven-strength fruits. However, given the situation here, he did not have enough time to eat up all the fruits. He had to leave out of here together with O''Laura and Sabrina as soon as possible. If he stayed here for a longer time, it would more troublesome.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie fixed his eyes on the three ripe leakless fruits. After thinking for a short while, he picked off one of them. After that, he sat under the small tree with crossed legs and put that leakless fruit in his mouth.


    Having not eaten leakless fruit for a long time, the moment he broke it, the familiar sweet taste instantly slid into his esophagus. The effect of leakless fruit spread in Zhang Tie''s chest at once...


    After several hours, the 18th surging point on Zhang Tie''s spine turned deep blue.


    Zhang Tie stood up and moved his limbs for a while. He then picked off another leakless fruit.


    ...


    The fire dragon formed by the energy of leakless fruit boomed the purple surging point into pieces. After numerous purple light spots disappeared, a bright sparkle gradually appeared in the darkness and finally became a raging flame...


    After lighting the 18th surging point, Zhang Tie felt relaxed all over while some burdens were relieved. At the same time, the energy in his muscles and bones, Qi and blood also increased. His fighting strength grew higher like the mercury being heated in thermometer.


    This feeling was very great.


    The remained energy of the 2nd leakless fruit charged towards the 19th surging point on Zhang Tie''s spine. Before the exhaustion of this energy, the 19th surging point on Zhang Tie''s spine had already turned orange.


    Zhang Tie then picked himself up and moved his limbs once again. Meanwhile, he revealed a big smile. After that, he picked off the 3rd leakless fruit...


    After eating the 3rd leakless fruit, the 19th surging point on his spine finally became blue.


    Closely after the three leakless fruits, Zhang Tie ate a fruit of redemption which could improve his cold-resistance and water flow-sensitiveness. After the fruit of redemption, Zhang Tie ate an iron-body fruit.


    Now, it took Zhang Tie more efforts to obtain a new iron-body fruit. It was a surprise for him to gain three iron-body fruits because of the bone-exploding needles.


    After eating the latest iron-body fruit, Zhang Tie seemingly heard the sound of crashing metals and stones from his bones all over.


    After eating five fruits, Zhang Tie''s fighting strength increased sharply. He then exited Castle of Black Iron at once.


    When Zhang Tie reappeared in the remote place of that dark cave, only after walking a few steps, he felt that the ground was shaking sharply while a boom drifted from the underground world...

 468 The Cage Was Closed

    Chapter 468: The Cage Was Closed


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Along with the earthquake, dust and stones started to fall down from the top of the gloomy cave. Zhang Tie instantly turned to the fluorite lamp by opening its shade and ran out of the cave.


    It was a huge underground space outside the cave which included the entire relics. The earthquake waves also reached outside there, making many people flurried.


    "Is that an earthquake?" Zhang Tie became confused. Meanwhile, he had a bad premonition about the earthquake and the boom.


    Zhang Tie immediately ran towards the camp of the allied forces.


    Only after running for less than 20 km, another earthquake and boom happened. This time, Zhang Tie was sure that it was not a real earthquake, because its direction was different from the former one. The former one seemingly came from the underground; whereas, this time, it was definitely closer. It seemed to be coming from a place in the underground tunnel leading to the relics.


    This was a faintly familiar sound to Zhang Tie.


    After reflection in the relatively closed underground space, the boom could be heard across the entire relics.


    When the 2nd boom arrived, Zhang Tie''s face changed as he slightly changed his running direction. He didn''t run towards the camp anymore; instead, he rushed towards the tunnel where it originated.


    "Ah, what''s up?"


    "I heard two booms!"


    "One was over there!"


    On the way, Zhang Tie encountered some pioneers who were flurried and vacant. Some smart guys also ran towards the origin of the second boom.


    At this moment, without using his rapid moving skill, Zhang Tie''s running speed had surpassed 80 km/h, which was much faster than that of a wild wolf. As a result, the fluorite lamp over his waist became a flying green ray in the darkness.


    With a wind, those pioneers had seen Zhang Tie rushing ahead of them, leaving behind a gradually disappearing green light ray.


    At such a speed, Zhang Tie soon rushed out of the relics and entered an underground tunnel.


    After entering the tunnel for a few kilometers, Zhang Tie caught sight of the pile of scattered stones and conical stalactites which fell down from the top of the tunnel. After going deeper for a few more kilometers, Zhang Tie saw injured people in the tunnel.


    A poor pioneer''s leg was pressed by a huge stone. Lying on the roadside, he was wailing. Zhang Tie stopped and forcefully pushed the 1-ton stone aside.


    The poor pioneer was at his 30s or 40s. His injured leg had been badly mutilated, which might have been crippled. When the huge stone was pushed away, he screeched loudly once again.


    "What happened..." Zhang Tie put a hand on his shoulder and asked him loudly.


    "Thanks...I don''t know what happened. After...after a loud sound, I panicked. Then, the stone rolled down here and hit me..."


    Only after saying only few words, the pioneer felt exhausted. Having not figured out the reason, Zhang Tie further rushed ahead.


    The deeper he entered, the more scattered stones and wounded people Zhang Tie saw. At least dozens of people were killed by those huge stones.


    Zhang Tie stopped at a place which was only dozens of meters in width. According to his memory, this place was like the waist of a gourd.


    The tunnel ahead disappeared, precisely, completely collapsed. What was in front of Zhang Tie was a 50-60 m high slope which was composed of huge stones, which were as large as house or millstone.


    Zhang Tie felt icy in heart.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie figured out what happened and why he felt the second boom was familiar, "the tunnel accessing to the relics has been destroyed by bomb."


    "It''s an alchemist''s bomb, a powerful alchemist''s bomb!"


    After the mice entered the cage, someone closed the cage using an alchemist''s bomb.


    "But what about the first louder sound from a farther distance?"


    Gazing at the collapsed underground tunnel, something chaotic flashed across his mind.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie heard a sound from behind. He turned around and saw Roslav and Waajid rushing towards him at a speed which was faster than that of his.


    At the sight of the scene in front of them, Roslav and Waajid changed their faces completely while standing on Zhang Tie''s side.


    "What''s up?" Roslav, who was as strong as a huge bear opened his mouth first.


    Although he didn''t say Zhang Tie, remarkably, he was asking Zhang Tie who was the only one standing here.


    "I don''t know. I came here soon after the boom. It seems that it was destroyed by a powerful alchemist''s bomb!"


    Roslav and Waajid exchanged glances with each other with great amazement. Although they came from the most powerful tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness, they had not seen an alchemist''s bomb. They heard about it before; however, they had never imagined that they could encounter one. An alchemist''s bomb was rarely seen in other places, not to mention in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    "Peter, how do you know it''s caused by an alchemist''s bomb?" Waajid, who was slightly well-balanced in figure, asked.


    "Because I''ve seen the power of an alchemist''s bomb before. Given that boom and its destructive power, I really cannot think of a second possibility!" Zhang Tie answered in a low voice.


    Watching the collapsed tunnel, Roslav and Waajid also became silent. They were analyzing how worse the current situation was.


    "Ah? How can that be...f*ck!"


    A flurried sound drifted from behind. It was from Gangula.


    Gangula, who looked blue, hurriedly led a lot of people here who was familiar to Zhang Tie. At the sight of this, all their faces froze, including that of Gangula.


    "Now that Gangula was here, the greater part of the allied forces might have been attracted here by the illusory super relics." Zhang Tie sighed inside.


    "Childe Gangula!" Zhang Tie turned around and greeted him.


    "Ah, Peter, you''re also here. What happened?"


    Realizing that Gangula was still confused, Zhang Tie repeated what he told Roslav and Waajid. After that, watching the newcomers, Zhang Tie stood aside silently.


    The moment they heard the "alchemist''s bomb", those guys behind Gangula drew cold breath. Staring at the collapsed tunnel, they became despaired.


    "Is this a plot? How come this tunnel was exploded the moment we arrived here?"


    "Ah, sh*t, Can we go back?"


    Some smart guys behind Gangula had guessed something. Hearing this question, many more people''s faces turned pale.


    Zhang Tie gazed at Gangula silently. Zhang Tie wanted to see how Gangula would manage it, as the leader of the allied forces.


    Gangula didn''t say anything. Panting heavily, he glared at the collapsed tunnel ahead. His face turned blue first, then slowly turned snowwhite, finally blushed. It seemed that he was gradually recovering his composure although his eyes looked more furious.


    "Sh*t up!" after Gangula''s roar, all the others following him here became quiet.


    "Filking, take you men and occupy all the drinkable water sources near the ruins. If the pioneers dare to stop you, kill them all! Attention! Prevent them from destroying and polluting the water sources." an icy order was delivered.


    Receiving this order, a subordinate behind Gangula moved one step forward as he punched onto his own chest armor. Soon after that, he turned around and left.


    "Luca, take a team of elites and figure out the first boom!"


    Another person left rapidly.


    "Jyoba, find the prospecting team of Golden Roc Bank."


    Another person left.


    After delivering three orders consecutively, Gangula gazed at those heads of each tribe as he uttered a colder voice, "From now on, besides keeping three day''s supplies for the soldiers, all the tribes should submit the rest rations. The allied forces will be responsible for distributing rations!"


    Hearing Gangula''s last order, those other heads of tribes started to discuss.


    "Who doesn''t agree?" Gangula glared at them all with his bloody eyes. Hearing this, Gangula''s subordinates put their hands on the sword handles.


    The turmoil quieted down at once. Nobody dared to disagree with him.


    Hearing Gangula''s crazy orders in such a short period, Zhang Tie finally understood why this guy''s nickname was "mad dog"...


    ...

 469 A Hopeless Situation

    Chapter 469: A Hopeless Situation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The moment the troop of the allied forces started to occupy the water sources nearby the relics, the chaos in the underground space started to spread like the ripples in pond. Whether those tens of thousands of pioneers who swarmed in like hornets or a few powerful individuals, nobody could resist the power of the allied forces which was like a bulldozer.


    There were also powerhouses in the allied forces.


    Given the types of organizations of most countries and armies in this age, the fighting strength of first-class military officers were generally in consistent with their positions. After two holy wars between humans and demons, for the sake of the guidance and co-ordinance in joint operations, most human countries'' military establishments appeared to be similar on type of organization and hierarchy.


    In the average troop establishment of most countries in the continent, there was a similar red line, which, although being not absolute, was referential.


    A LV 6 fighter could be the leader of a platoon of about 30 soldiers and be awarded with the rank of second lieutenant.


    A LV 7 fighter could be the commander of a company of about 100 soldiers or 3 platoons and be awarded with the rank of first lieutenant.


    A LV 8 fighter could be the commander of a battalion of about 300-500 soldiers and be awarded with the rank of captain. For example, when Zhang Tie was in the Iron-Blood Camp of the 39th Division of Iron-Horn Army of Norman Empire, although Reinhardt, the commander of Iron-Blood Camp was a LV 8 fighter, because of the special establishment of Iron-Blood Camp and the great power of iron-blood fist, he had already been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel which was rarely seen across the Blackson Humans Corridor.


    A LV 9 fighter could be the colonel of 1000-2000 soldiers and be awarded with the rank of major. Concretely, although the difference of establishments between the armies of different countries and regions, any LV 9 fighter was qualified to be the middle-ranking military officer of any army in any place in this age.


    A LV 10 strong fighter could be the commander of a brigade of 5000-10000 soldiers and be awarded with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.


    A LV 11 fighting master could be the commander of a regiment of at least 20000 soldiers and be awarded with the rank of colonel.


    A LV 12 great fighting master could be the head of an army of 80,000 to 100,000 soldiers and be awarded with the rank of a brigadier general or a major general. Those at this level entered the high-ranking general officers officially.


    Above the army was an army group which was composed of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. As the real terrifying organ of violence and the pillar of humans against demons, the army group was able to destroy cities and countries. Additionally, according to the regulation of the "Great Brilliance Charter" of humans, although a LV 12 great fighting master could be the head of an army, the core of an army group had to be a knight, instead of the pure accumulation of low-level soldiers in quantity.


    Only knights were qualified to establish fighting units like army groups and be the leader of army groups. Although fighting spirit, fighting demon and fighting general below knight were not qualified to establish an army group but they could take important positions in the army group.


    Certainly, even the army groups centered by knights were divided into different types. In different countries, the army groups were classified by different levels and ranks. However, the division standards of army groups in most countries were divided into four levels according to the division standards of Chinese army groups; common army group, class B army group, class A army group and forbidden army group. The names of the four levels might be different in other countries. In some countries, it was divided into; class C army group, class B army group, class A army group and class S army group. Some countries divided it into; black iron army group, bronze army group, silver army group and gold army group. Although being different in names, they were basically same in division standards.


    A common LV 6 fighter could be a platoon leader in a common army group; however, if he was in a class B army group, he could only be a monitor. Almost all the platoon leaders in class B army group were monitored by LV 7 fighters. It would be stricter in class A army group.


    It was said that in the forbidden army group, the lowest limit to be platoon leader was LV 9 fighter. Even common soldiers in forbidden army group were LV 7 fighters. Given its fighting strength, a forbidden army group could easily crack down more than three class A army groups.


    Such a forbidden army group was absolutely a legendary existence. There was not even one forbidden army group in Blackson Humans Corridor at all. It was said that such army groups only existed in Eastern Continent. In Blackson Humans Corridor, a country with class B army group was already a powerful one. As to the alleged class A army groups in a couple of countries, they were just some class B army groups being mixed with some regiments at most according to the standards of class A army groups. Such troops had been brand troops across Blackson Humans Corridor and the pride of a few countries.


    Zhang Tie could never touch such knowledge when he was in Blackhot City. He learned some when he was in Hidden Dragon Palace. The Iron-Horn Army Group of Norman Empire which was the most powerful force in Andaman Alliance was a black iron army group. The brilliance feathers of Sun Dynasty was also a black iron army group. Iron-Blood Camp was a special force under a division of an army group, which was actually a mixed unit.


    In this age, the reason that Chinese were powerful, respectable and were called gold race was that only Chinese were able to establish the gold army groups. In the former two holy wars between humans and demons, Chinese gold army groups had made meritorious deeds to humans and became well known around the planet.


    As tens of thousands of people were dispatched by the wild bear tribe, which already reached the scale of division, there must be many powerhouses like fighting masters and great fighting masters. Plus the bear-killing fighters who had unique ability to increase their fighting strength sharply, only after a few hours, the water sources nearby the relics had been taken over by the allied forces.


    At the beginning, many pioneers were confused why the allied forces started to occupy the water sources nearby the relics. However, after ten more hours, they finally understood their current situation. Therefore, everybody became flurried. The turmoil broke out naturally.


    After 50,000-60,000 people poured in, the water sources nearby the relics could not afford so many people at all. When the underground tunnel was smooth, this contradiction was not obvious. As long as they spent some time and walked dozens of miles, they would be able to get enough water. However, after the tunnel collapsed, the road back to the ground was blocked. What was more, the largest water source supply was cut off.


    Even if they took enough dried rations but did not get enough drinking water, they could not stand too long underground, either.


    In over ten hours, the allied forces intensified their camp under the order of Gangula. They built a defense line around the camp. As a result, some water sources being occupied by the allied forces became the military forbidden zones. Any outsider being less than 100 m away from the water sources without consent would be killed!


    Therefore, those pioneers who dreamed to make a fortune in the super relics instantly felt a great danger.


    Zhang Tie caught sight of the prospecting team of Golden Roc Bank, half of which had lost. Most of the remaining team members were injured and looked bad.


    O''Laura and Nurdo also came back with only 2/3 of their guards. O''Laura also saw Zhang Tie. However, before talking to him, O''Laura had been pulled away by Gangula''s subordinate.


    ...


    Sitting on the top of a ruined 5-storey building in the relics beside the camp, Zhang Tie was looking at the distance quietly.


    At a place near a water source within Zhang Tie''s vision, over 2000 soldiers of the allied forces were intensifying the defense over there. Meanwhile, those pioneers wandering in the neighborhood were glaring at those soldiers.


    At this moment, the pioneers were a bit rational. None of them would like to drink water at the risk of their own lives. However, this was just the first day since their water sources had been taken over by the allied forces. Three days later, when most of the pioneers would run out of their own drinking water, Zhang Tie didn''t know whether they would just look aside like today.


    Hearing the footsteps from behind, Zhang Tie knew it was O''Laura without even turning around. Seeing Zhang Tie sitting on the ground while swinging his legs in the air, O''Laura became hesitated for a couple of seconds before sitting on Zhang Tie''s side. Like Zhang Tie, she also suspended her feet in the air.


    "It looks worse than my imagination!" Zhang Tie turned around and looked at O''Laura. O''Laura picked off her mask, allowing Zhang Tie to glance at her icy and delicate side face with unscrupulous eyes.


    "You''ve not attended the conference, but how do you know that?" O''Laura asked calmly.


    "Hehe, it''s evident. if not going to tell me your last words, how could you just sit on the ground casually? When you walked towards here, you became a bit hesitated before sitting down. I guess that you might be thinking about your last words at that moment. Don''t cover it anymore, am I right?"


    "You b*stard!" O''Laura swore in a low voice before letting out a long sigh.


    "Go ahead, what''s going on there?"


    "There''s no star of god, no super relics. It''s just a trap!"


    "I''m afraid many people have realized it!"


    "The first boom was also caused by an alchemist''s bomb. Its explosive equivalent was especially large. We''ve confirmed that all the knights who wanted to grab the pieces of the star of god have been killed. According to our earlier investigation, there were four knights being involved with this trap, one from Ice and Snow Wilderness, the other three from outside, including Samaranth, the star and moon sword sage!"


    Although birds died in pursuit of food, after hearing so many god-like powerhouses were gone at the same time, Zhang Tie was also shocked. Any knight was influential enough to threaten the safety of a region. Zhang Tie had not imagined that four of them were killed at the same time. Such a great loss was barely seen in one place in one day even at the most fierce period of the former two holy wars between humans and demons.


    Recalling how Samaranth, the star and moon sword sage killed the huge deep-sea monster, Zhang Tie felt very pitiful inside. Previously, Donder told Zhang Tie that no matter how high your fighting skills were, you would still be afraid of kitchen knives. At the beginning, Zhang Tie treated it as a joke; however, at this moment, he realized that it was not a joke at all. Alchemist''s bomb was like a kitchen knife. After a pile of alchemist'' bombs were detonated, even knights would be killed.


    Zhang Tie thought that the first alchemist''s bomb was at least 100 times more powerful than that he met in Blapei. Facing such a terrifying power, even steel and iron would be melted down.


    "Do you know who did this?"


    "Gangula doubted that it was done by Three Eyes Association!"


    "Three Eyes Association? Three Eyes Association again?" Zhang Tie also realized that no other organizations could do this, except for Three Eyes Association. This trap seemingly targeted at the knights in humans since the beginning. The pioneers and the allied forces being trapped here were just a "plus". No matter what, for those b*stards of the Three Eyes Association, they could do whatever they could to weaken human''s fighting strength and make human world more chaotic before the 3rd holy war.


    What a shrewd trap! Nobody could imagine that there was such a trap behind the new relics. Although knights were confident that they could solve all the problems and plots; however, they had not imagined that what waited for them were not the pieces of star of god, but a death trap caused by alchemist''s bombs.


    Zhang Tie remembered the animal tide above the ground, which was full of plots and artificial traces. After considering it for a white, Zhang Tie instantly realized that the function of the animal tide was to attract the attention of the public. When those tribes across the Ice and Snow Wilderness and those who were alert about the plots of Three Eyes Association transferred their eyes to the outside, few of them could imagine that the trump card of Three Eyes Association was down here.


    Noticing that Zhang Tie became silent, O''Laura thought that Zhang Tie was digesting her words. Therefore, she didn''t disturb him; instead, she just looked at the fluorite lamplight in the distance as she muttered.


    "In the conference, we''ve already strictly deduced the current situation. The water supply from the water sources occupied by the allied forces could only afford about 30,000 people''s daily use at most. However, our allied forces include 37000 people in total, which meant that 7000 of the the allied forces could not get enough water after 3 days, not to mention the pioneers."


    "There are over 20,000 pioneers nearby the relics. Three days later, if so many pioneers don''t want to be thirsty to death, they have to fight the allied forces for the limited water sources. However, the terrain of this relics is not convenient for the allied forces to spread. Therefore, the allied forces had to fight to death so as to clean all the pioneers. Even if we''re the winner, the allied forces would also have to suffer a great loss. We will lose at least 10,000 soldiers!"


    "The fierce battle will last over one week. After that, the dead bodies will cover each corner of this relics. As it''s in the underground being surrounded with stones. The environment is relatively closed. Therefore the corpses could be hardly dealt with. The allied forces could deal with a batch of corpses by burying them beneath the relics or throwing them into the caves being far away from here. However, a lot of corpses could not be cleaned. As a result, they would decay very soon and probably cause diseases and plagues over here. The survivors would also be polluted."


    "Now that there is no plague or disease, the dried rations could only afford us one month at the most. Even though there are sufficient water sources, everybody would be starved to death in the end!"


    "Through the confirmation of the prospecting team of Golden Roc Bank, there''s only one tunnel leading to the outside. However, it would require 40,000 people to work at least 2 months to break it through. Even though we could contact with the outside and ask for their relief, it would require 40,000 people to work in here for at least 45 days. In the current situation, this is impossible. Nobody could organize a project of 40,000 here. Even if the allied forces join hands with pioneers, we could not stand 45 days, either..." O''Laura then stopped for a second, before reaching the conclusion calmly and gloomily, "Therefore, we probably die here in 45 days!"


    ...

 470 My Brothers

    Chapter 470: My Brothers


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    At this moment, Zhang Tie held O''Laura''s hand tightly as he stared at her with a solemn look, "I won''t let you die here!"


    O''Laura just revealed a smile as she purely took Zhang Tie''s words as a comfort, "I know that but if not because of me, you might not be here. It''s my fault!"


    "Don''t be silly. I chose to come down here. It''s nothing to do with anybody else!"


    "Although you''re a bit bad, you''re cute sometimes!" O''Laura looked at the distance, "Can I lean on your shoulder?"


    Zhang Tie nodded. O''Laura then leaned her head on Zhang Tie''s shoulder in a tender way.


    They looked at the distance silently.


    "Do you know what I was thinking about when I knew that I was going to die here in one month?"


    O''Laura whispered in Zhang Tie''s ear like how lovers usually did. However, the contents was very cruel.


    "What are you thinking about?"


    "I started to feel afraid of death. I realized the value of life for the first time. After that, I realized that I was very stupid. Actually, the problem in the grey eagle tribe was very simple, but I made it complicated. You''re right. If only I can suppress Ollier, Juventus and their supporters and let them pledge allegiance to me by chopping off the heads of those who don''t agree with me."


    It was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that O''Laura''s mentality could change so much at this moment. But it was not bad, at least for the grey eagle tribe. Zhang Tie was sure that as long as senior Merkel agreed to chop off one or two heads, the rest would succumb to her for sure. As O''Laura was not brave enough to be that cruel previously, those people didn''t follow her orders.


    Now, O''Laura became really mature.


    Distress made people mature.


    Remembering about Gangula''s crazy eyes and his sharp decisions, Zhang Tie''s heart raced suddenly. He then asked O''Laura, "Gangula is not going to just wait for death. What''s his plan?"


    Hearing this question, O''Laura''s face turned pale instantly. She waved her head firmly and said decisively, "I bet you don''t want to know that crazy dog''s plan. I prefer to die than living like how he arranged!"


    Zhang Tie closed his eyes. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes, "Did he plan to kill people? He planned to kill all the pioneers and collect all their dried rations in 3 days. Meanwhile, he planned to consume some soldiers of the allied forces through fighting pioneers. As a result, the remained supplies would be available to the survivors for a longer time. At least, the allied forces would not lack water supply in a short period."


    O''Laura nodded in a solemn way. Although Zhang Tie had not attended the conference of the management of the allied forces, he could speculate the contents. Therefore, O''Laura became more admirable about Zhang Tie.


    "That''s it! Gangula even planned to carry out hierarchical allotment system and isolation system for sick and wounded people. Once soldiers of the allied forces were injured or affected with diseases, they would soon die because of insufficient supply and treatment!"


    O''Laura''s voice sounded very sorrowful, "Gangula thought that nobody else knew about his next plan. But actually, everybody knew that after exterminating those pioneers and eliminating those sick and wounded people of the allied forces, Gangula would definitely abandon or sweep all the other small and medium-sized tribes except for the wild bear tribe so as to gain enough supplies and allow the rest people to live longer. Right because of this reason, the conference finally ended with a turmoil. All the other tribes could only join hands with each other so as to negotiate with Gangula!"


    Through O''Laura, Zhang Tie knew what happened in the conference. At this critical moment, the small and medium-sized tribes of the allied forces didn''t yield much; instead, they proposed to dispatch their own soldiers to fight according to the overall proportion of each tribe in the allied forces, to share supplies fairly and take over two water sources from the wild bear tribe. However, all these proposals were vetoed by Gangula.


    If it was in the outside, those small and medium-sized tribes would never dare to propose such requests to Gangula at all. However, at this critical moment, they had to oppose. Although the wild bear tribe was powerful in fighting strength, as long as the wild bear tribe fought the other small and medium-sized tribes, they would force them to stand on side of the pioneers. If so, even the wild bear tribe and Gangula could not stand it.


    Zhang Tie realized that the allied forces had started to split from inside. In order to survive, each person was making their full efforts.


    "Setton is coming. I''m afraid he''s here for me. I have to go now!"


    Setton walked towards this building as he raised his face towards them. He had just converged with O''Laura with the soldiers of the grey eagle tribe. It was really out of his imagination that they were in dilemma right away. Zhang Tie found Setton was a bit solemn and sad.


    O''Laura slightly kissed Zhang Tie''s cheek. After that, she put on her mask before flying away from the roof of the building and leaving with Setton.


    Seeing O''Laura off, Zhang Tie remained still. At this moment, Zhang Tie became very vacant, which might be involved with the life or death of himself or tens of thousands of people here.


    After 17 years of life experience, Zhang Tie had never been so perplexed before.


    Whether he would just wait until the last moment with only a few people whom he was concerned about or stand out bravely and lead these people out of this trap facing a great risk...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what to do!


    He then asked Heller.


    "Castle Lord, Castle of Black Iron could provide water for tens of thousands of people. The fleshes inside could also be available to them for over 3 months. Such an important decision could only be made by Castle Lord out of sincerity. I will support you no matter what decision you make!"


    Heller''s answer made Zhang Tie more confused. Zhang Tie didn''t know what was deep in his mind.


    "Why don''t I know what is deep in my mind?"


    "How come?"


    Zhang Tie just considered about that question while sitting on the top of the ruined building. He gradually forgot himself...


    ...


    In this state, Zhang Tie completely forgot about the existence of time. Not knowing how long had passed, one day or two days, Zhang Tie felt many people walking under the building and heard noises drifting from afar. O''Laura came to his side once again. After staring at him for a short while, she told him a message in a sad and ironical tone.


    "Gangula has already reached a secret agreement with all the other heads of small and medium-sized tribes. As long as the heads of the other tribes support him, he could ensure that some major figures in each tribe would survive to the end. According to Gangula''s plan, about 200-300 people of the allied forces could survive for more than 3 months until the tunnel is broken through from outside!"


    Hearing this news, Zhang Tie felt his back, which was lashed in Heavens Cold City, burning.


    There was one sentence that could be used to describe Gangula''s plan¡ª¡ªSmaller figures had to die first so as to survive big figures. Therefore, all the big figures agreed.


    "Tomorrow, the allied forces would start the massacre until the last pioneer is killed! In order to safeguard the soldiers of the grey eagle tribe, I will attend the battle with my soldiers at the risk of our lives!"


    After saying this, O''Laura left.


    Zhang Tie felt a heartache.


    "Is that my heart?"


    Zhang Tie became confused...


    ...


    O''Laura left. After a while, Sabrina and two of her guardians arrived in front of this building.


    "Young lady. What''s wrong with Peter? I was told that since he had known that everybody would be trapped here, Peter had been scared too much and kept hiding here like an idiot!"


    "Sh*t up!"


    Zhang Tie heard the footsteps of Sabrina and her guardians. Although they were still below the building, their whisper had drifted to Zhang Tie''s ears.


    Not knowing why, Zhang Tie realized that his auditory sense became much sharper than before.


    After coming to the front of Zhang Tie, Sabrina squatted and slightly touched the sluggish face of Zhang Tie who was staring at the distance without moving his eyes. She then let out a sigh and said in a tender voice, "My little man. You don''t have to worry about that. We can still keep touch with outside. The relief of the wild bear tribe and the other tribes would arrive in a few days. We only need to wait for 3 months here. I''m sure they will get us out of here. As long as I can get out of here, I will take you out for sure!"


    After saying this, Sabrina slightly kissed Zhang Tie''s lips. She then left while her guardians left some water and food to him.


    Smelling the food on his side, Zhang Tie realized that he was a bit hungry. Without reaching out his hand to take those food, he just sent an order in his mind; instantly, the sweat solution of all-purpose medicament appeared in Zhang Tie''s mouth. Zhang Tie swallowed it right away.


    ...


    Not knowing how long had passed, Sam and Gerri appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    "Peter, Sam and I are here to say goodbye to you. After a discussion, we''ve made the final decision. At this moment, we should go back to the team of pioneers. No matter what, nobody could leave out of here or stick to the day until the tunnel was broken through. If we have to die, Sam and I prefer to die as pioneers, which would be more respectful!" Gerri said.


    "We are told that the pioneers have been gathered by some individual powerhouses. Yesterday, the action of the allied forces have not gained any effects; instead, two water sources of ours were grabbed away by the allied forces. Each party suffered a loss. O''Laura had promised to send us to the safe place. No matter what, you''re our friend forever!" Sam said.


    Sam and Gerri then left when Zhang Tie was moved once again.


    They reminded Zhang Tie of his former friends in the wild wolf valley. Like those small figures in wild valley, Sam and Gerri were both born in average or poor families, who had no reliance at all. Each step he moved forward, he had to ooze sweat, bleed or drop tears. They were young, sincere and happy. Of course, they also had courage.


    A series of pictures reappeared in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    ...


    In the deep and twisting underground tunnel, he was forging ahead quietly with a group of people while holding torches. That was a plot about Great Bless Skill. It was nothing but a joke. However, each one behind him were determined to create a new world.


    ...


    Zhang Tie drew out of his dagger and cut open his own hand, followed by all the others. They sprayed the fresh blood into the stone pit.


    ...


    "This is the blood of brothers. Before the completion of the sacred Great Bless Skill, how can you dry up?"


    "Ah, no..."


    "Use mine, use my blood..."


    "What the hell..."


    ...


    Those who walk in the dark. Your faces are covered with dust; you totter while your hands are tainted with filth. You walk in the dark, dirty land; however the brilliance and flame in your heart could never die out, which instead would finally become torches in the dark and brighten the road for your brothers so that they can clearly see the difficulties and obstacles on the road. Those who take the torches, your torches are the best bless to this world. It is a bless of light which will brighten the road towards the ultimate sacred door. Hearing this, all the teenagers ahead of the team dropped off their tears.


    ...


    Silly Potter, who had been the torch-holder, looked sacred, "I''d like to sacrifice for all of you!"


    ...


    Hallan Wood jumped out of the team, "I''d like to sacrifice myself!"


    Jack Jones jumped out, "I''d like to sacrifice myself!"


    Dili Gandhi also jumped out, "I''d like to sacrifice myself!"


    Francis Franca, the son of an average gardener jumped out, "I''d like to sacrifice myself!"


    ...


    Zhang Tie almost forgot the frivolous things and jokes that he had made. Until this moment, Zhang Tie realized that all the details that he had experienced with his brothers were deeply imprinted in his bones and soul, including mixing fresh blood with each other, their voices and expressions, which could never be erased or forgotten at all.


    Zhang Tie dropped off his tears naturally.


    "My brothers, who''d like to cut open their palms by daggers, walk in the dark with torches and topple over this world with me, are you all ready?"


    "I''m sorry, I almost have made you disappointed."


    ...


    After a long time, the enshrouding bloody brilliance of iron-blood battle Qi gradually appeared on Zhang Tie, which shot up to the sky like bloody waves and banners flying against the wind.


    Standing on the top of the building, Zhang Tie looked in the distance, "Those brave guys, you sacrifice yourself to your brothers. How virtuous you are! This is the purest love...your names will be carved on the sacred arch door forever. If you can treat your brothers as yourself, you have already reached the supreme level. Although time will end, oceans will dry, high mountains will fall but your names will never fade away. Sacrifice is eternal. Finally, all of us will gather in the sacred eternal territory. Each of fulfillment that you have made for your brothers will come back for you. Your brothers will not abandon you and let you wander alone. You know that brilliance is right in your body. All the opportunities that you''ve created will be together with you like how you stay with the almighty god."


    Soon after the voice in his mind, the rising huge centipede battle-Qi totem was torn into pieces in the fierce, rolling battle-Qi banner by his powerful spirit and superb willingness. Another thing started to swim in Zhang Tie''s chest, which included trust, fearlessness, decisiveness, piety, grief, small figures'' unyielding yells, teenagers'' surging fresh blood and the lofty self sublimation for the brothers to sacrifice themselves.


    Because of the sublimation, everything became lofty.


    Being unable to sustain Zhang Tie''s superb willingness, the huge centipede battle-Qi totem was finally shattered...


    Among the pieces of the battle-Qi totem, a light spot started to brighten up in Zhang Tie''s chest like a torch in the dark...


    A wholly new, rare totem slowly rose from Zhang Tie''s back and shot into the sky. Fresh blood drops sprayed all over the sky endlessly like a curtain in the sky. It was more like a doomsday flame which was descended by gods so as to judge everything like that in myths and legends. With a glance, everybody''s heart pounded...


    A sacred totem¡ª¡ªBloody and Fiery Curtain appeared in front of public for the first time.


    In the distance, the soldiers of the allied forces were fighting pioneers along with ground-breaking roars...


    ...

 471 The Gods Manifestation I

    One hour before the bloody and fiery curtain, everything was developing towards that merciless track along the fixed cruel trace. In such a dilemma, everybody was exerting their full effort.


    ...


    Sharba was holding tightly his short sword and following the other pioneers with stiff and tense footsteps onto the battle field.


    The handle of his short sword was wrapped with a rough cloth strip. At this moment, the cloth strip had been soaked by Sharba''s sweat. Therefore, it felt smooth in hand.


    Before going to the battle field, Sharba drank up all of his drinking water.


    Since this tunnel completely collapsed along with a terrifying earthquake last week, all the pioneers were sent in a terrifying and despairing situation.


    Sharba was only 18 years old. Like how it was described in the popular story among many pioneers, because his father was a pioneer, he was then a pioneer. He didn''t know whom his mom was. Since he was sensible, he joined the team of pioneers along with his father and wandered around the world.


    His dad passed away two years ago. Before death, his dad''s last wish was to see Sharba to settle down in a human city, find an average job, marry a woman and live like commoners...


    He did not understand his dad''s wish until last week. Although he understood it now but it was impossible for him to live it up this dream because Sharba knew that he was going to die. Even though he could survive today, he would die tomorrow.


    The despairing mood had been spreading among the pioneers for one week. This relics was like a cage and a graveyard in the dark which was going to bury all the pioneers here.


    Facing such powerful and well-trained army of the allied forces, only after 2 days of confusion, all the pioneers had realized that none of them could leave this graveyard...


    The abyss-like despair made the pioneers suffocated. Therefore, they were driven mad for the last time.


    One week ago, none of the pioneers could imagine about the outcome to fight the allied forces; but now, the pioneers not only fought the allied forces, but also launched a counterattack towards the allied forces and occupied two water sources.


    At this moment, a coarse hand fell on Sharba''s shoulder and slightly patted him.


    "Sharba, just follow me; take it easy; we will be free after today..." said uncle Milan, the 50-year odd head of the small team of pioneers. In the past few days, uncle Milan''s lips had cracked due to thirst. The brilliance in his eyes also faded away. He was now full of despair and frustration.


    "Will...we die?" a hoarse voice sounded. Another partner in the team asked, who was 2 years elder than Sharba.


    Uncle Milan smiled in a frustrated and weak manner, "In the legend of pioneers, such a relics is a place being cursed. Before Catastrophe, this place had already swallowed numerous spiritual beings and fresh blood. Now the tragedy started once again. Because those who come here to disturb the dead spiritual beings, all of them have to accompany these dead spiritual beings at the cost of their lives..."


    "I...I don''t want to die..." someone started to wail in a low voice.


    "Don''t worry, we''re together with you. It will be okay for a short while. If we win, we can live some more days..." uncle Milan comforted himself, which was more like a hopeless sigh.


    The pioneers moved in the battle field one team after another. They had no fixed formations; instead, they just followed their familiar person and their head towards the death place.


    If they joined the battle several days later, they would be too weak to fight. Therefore, no matter what, they had to solve the battle today. On the battle field, to be killed might be better than being thirsty and starved to death.


    ...


    "This is a hopeless battle which is nothing about the sense of honor!" In a place being far away from the battle field, watching tens of thousands of pioneers gathering 1 km away from the allied forces like how moth charged towards flames, Roslav let out a sigh, "No morale exist in the two armies at all. No party will win the battle. They are all killing people for their own survival. I won''t join such a battle!"


    "What a pity!" Waajid also sighed as he turned around, looking at the camp of the allied forces over 5 km away and waved his head, "Previously, I thought that person might be the one we need, I''ve not imagined..."


    "Not all the 17-18 year old teenagers could sustain the stress from the coming death and despair. Many geniuses finally could not grow up. Because they could not bear the huge stress. Even some soldiers in the allied forces could not bear that stress and would be driven mad!"


    "Perhaps we have put too much unrealistic hopes on him. That''s why we can barely accept the fact now!"


    "Hopefully, he would recover his composure!"


    "No matter what, we have to take our huge bear warriors back safe and sound. Their lives and missions belonged to our lord. They should not die here for no reason!" Waajid turned around and glanced at that team of the huge bear warriors behind him.


    Roslav nodded in a solemn look.


    ...


    "Pass my order, all the supplies and booty of each soldier in the fight don''t have to be submitted!" Gangula''s voice sounded in the main tent of the allied forces.


    Hearing this order, all the heads and officials of other tribes in the main tent became thrilled. Many people ran out to pass the latest order to their own soldiers of each tribe.


    Before the war, Gangula caught sight of the bear-killing hammer hanging over a weapon stand, he then instantly remembered Zhang Tie''s handsome movements on waving that terrifying battle hammer. So he asked, "Where''s Peter, what is he doing?"


    "He''s still sitting on that short building!" Nurdo replied in a calm voice.


    "Oh!" Gangula peered at Sabrina who looked calm and O''Laura in mask who held her fist tightly when she heard about this question. After that, he revealed a smile, "Alright, remember to send some food to him after winning the war and bring a doctor to him. Don''t let him be starved to death. No matter what, he''s our guest!"


    Hearing this, some heads of small and medium-sized tribes hurriedly responded with a sneer like having heard a joke from Gangula.


    O''Laura responded with a cold harrumph as she turned around and walked out of the tent.


    "What are you laughing at?" Gangula looked at those guys who mocked just now and asked icily with bloody eyes. Hearing this, those guys'' sneers ceased at once like chicks whose necks were clutched.


    ...


    A place far away from the battle field and close to the camp of the allied forces was not influenced by the tense atmosphere of the coming war in the distance. If this relics was a huge graveyard, that place would be the graveyard of the graveyard.


    This was the wounded soldiers division of the allied forces, a more despairing place.


    Not knowing how long had he slept. Maxim slowly woke up and gradually picked himself up from the rough bed on the ground. Feeling scorching in his throat, he took out his notebook and pen from his portable bag.


    As a trivial logistical secretary in the small tribe of the allied forces, he was injured when he joined the action of the allied forces three days ago. After that, he was sent here for death like many other wounded soldiers after a simple treatment.


    He was truly here for death. When they were sent here, their supplies was reduced by 2/3 at once.


    After holding the notebook and the pen, Maxim instantly felt hopeful. After dozens of years, his professional habit had already become his instincts and joys of life. As long as he held his notebook and pen and could write words, he would feel as safe and stable as a snail who carried its shell once again.


    Maxim moved his body hardly. Finally, he found a corner being close to a fluorite lamp in the circled yard and was going to write something. Right then, a sneer drifted in his ears.


    A soldier who was weakly leaning on the ground mocked Maxim at the sight of what he was doing at this moment.


    "You''re really diligent, ha. Are you writing your will? If you have time, you''d better check whether Sher on your side is still alive. If he''s dead, call people here to carry him away right now; otherwise, those who are alive would die soon..."


    Seeing a lot of wounded soldiers turning around and looking at him, Maxim kindly put down his notebook as he struggled to pick himself up from the ground and came to the side of a wounded soldier who was lying not far from him. He started to check the wounded soldier carefully.


    Sher''s lips had been covered with a layer of paste; thankfully, they were still quivering. Maxim lowered his body and drew his ears close to Sher''s mouth. He heard a faint voice, "Water...water..."


    There was a military flume in the yard; however, it was already dried inside and was covered with dust. A huge cheap average-looking tin water bottle was dropped on its side after being excavated out of the relics by a pioneer for the wounded soldiers. After struggling towards the flume, Maxim forcefully took up that water bottle and turned the bottle upside down. After a few seconds, a small water drop finally formed and suspended at the mouth of the water bottle.


    "Sher wants water; however there''s no water here..."


    Everybody became silent when the despairing and frustrating atmosphere started to spread from that dried flume and the mouth of the water bottle. Even that wounded soldier who spoke with irony to Maxim also lowered his eyes...


    After putting down the bottle in a frustrated manner, Maxim didn''t say anything; instead, he struggled back to the corner. Sitting on the ground, he opened his notebook and wanted to write something on it; finally, he only left a paragraph on the paper.


    ¡ª¡ªOctober 7th, 890th year of Black Iron Calendar. The shadow of death covers the wounded soldiers camp. This is the 5th day since we lacked water. I don''t know how long can I survive...Nobody knows how many days can they survive whether they are in the wounded soldiers camp or not. In this place which could only be brightened by fluorite lamps, each one is breathing despair and fear about death...I know that I''m not pious, neither do I have any belief. However, at this moment, I would exert my full efforts to pray piously. If God really exists in the world, please save these people who are struggling here with despair and fear; please let the humble and mortal people see the manifestation of the God and bathe the honor of the God. Wish our mortals'' awe to the God could make us not that humble and fearful anymore.


    The boom of the battle drums in the distance disrupted Maxim''s moods. He stopped his pen, raising his head, he looked at the distance. He knew that many people would die there today. This relatively open wounded soldiers camp might be a crowded flesh and blood market by tomorrow...


    ...


    Half an hour later...


    The boom of battle drums and battle calls between the allied forces and the pioneers drifted from that battle field. Having determined to fight to death, those pioneers burst out great potential and were twining with the allied forces. As a result, the battle field was separated into hundreds or thousands smaller battle fields by the terrain of the relics...


    Out of the battle field, Roslav, who had been watching the battle situation suddenly felt his heart pounding. He turned around and was stunned by what he saw in the direction of camp of the allied forces.


    Several miles away, a huge, eccentric battle-Qi totem slowly appeared above the horizon like a burning banner. It was rising, which brightened the greater part of the sky like a sun in the dark underground.


    "What''s that?" after feeling that huge glow from his back, Waajid looked around and was stunned by what he saw.


    Even those who were fighting on the battle fields noticed the glow and the burning bloody curtain which brightened the entire space. Facing such an eccentric and rare scene, everybody became shocked and didn''t know what happened...


    After receiving the notice, Gangula also walked out of his tent. He looked at the distance when an amazed look flashed across his eyes...


    At the sight of this weird scene nearby their camp, all the heads of small and medium-sized tribes widely opened their mouths...


    O''Laura looked around and found the place where the bloody and fiery curtain rose. "It seems...seems to be rising from where Peter was." O''Laura instantly darted towards there.


    "That seems to come from where Peter was!" Sabrina muttered as Gangula''s eyebrows kept jumping...


    Being influenced by such a weird scene, the battle calls gradually disappeared. All the soldiers and pioneers looked around and watched that eccentric scene in the distance.


    ...


    "Maxim, what''s up? Is it burning outside?"


    "Ah, that must be a big fire..."


    "Impossible. There are no firewoods. How come it burns so heavily?" a wounded soldier asked restlessly while lying on the ground and watching the rising glow from the camp on his side. Those who could hardly move still struggled towards here to see what was happening.


    At this moment, Maxim had long been flurried at the sight of the figure in the glow in the distance. He saw battle-Qi totem before; however, he could never connect the current scene with those battle-Qi totem he saw before. That felt like a sun rising from his side.


    In Maxim''s amazement, that figure slowly walked towards the wounded soldiers camp. Each of his step was full of a sacred sense and made Maxim''s heart race...


    ...

 472 The Gods Manifestation II

    Earlier than O''Laura, Waajid and Roslav, thousands of soldiers residing in the camp of the allied forces rushed out of their camp under the leadership of the military officials and arrived at the small building where Zhang Tie was sitting on.


    After seeing the 200-m high bloody and fiery curtain behind Zhang Tie from such a short distance, thousands of soldiers became quiet. Like a deity walking out of the blood and fire, Zhang Tie flew off the small building. After landing on the ground by feet, he walked towards the wounded soldiers camp which was not far from the small building.


    Those soldiers didn''t know what was happening to Zhang Tie at all. They didn''t know what was that suffocating bloody and fiery curtain behind Zhang Tie. They were just awestruck about the unknown, powerful and sacred power. Besides, they also felt a bit afraid. After a glance at Zhang Tie''s bloody and fiery curtain, everybody''s face turned pale, not to mention to draw closer to it.


    The burning fresh blood in the bloody and fiery curtain fell down the sky like thousands of burning bloody shooting stars. In the dark underground, the 200-m high curtain and the constantly burning fresh blood brightened up the area within almost 1 km from Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie just walked towards the wounded soldiers camp silently. Seeing him walking towards them, all the thousands of soldiers hurriedly gave a way to him.


    Waajid and Roslav also came here with the team of soldiers of the huge bear tribe. At this moment, even if there was no glow of the bloody and fiery curtain, the faces of Waajid and Roslav along with the team of soldiers behind them had already turned red because of excitement.


    At this moment, the exciting aria of Pontiff Sarlin started to sound in the mind of all the soldiers of the huge bear tribe.


    "My Lord, the Lord who''s destined to conquer all the oceans in the world. You come from afar by sea. Under your foot, the surging waves are as plain as bright road..."


    "My Lord, the creator of things who opened his immortal undertakings. You come from east and south. At this moment, you''re on the ocean and in the sky..."


    "The most powerful weapon of our Lord is that javelin in his hand. With the terrifying lightning-bolt like power, it could destroy all the enemies on our road ahead..."


    "My Lord''s look is his own, yet could not be identified by others..."


    "When my Lord attends the battle, he will erect his great banner to summon all of his soldiers. All the soldiers following him could see that for sure..."


    "He''s the supreme one among all the gods; he ruled all the gods. He will bring the brilliance to the secular world from the heaven. He will return the original honor to each person, man or less, regardless of races!"


    Javelin, banner, holiness. At the sight of this, all the soldiers from the huge bear tribe felt that their blood started to burn.


    "That''s right, that''s right; that''s him for sure; that''s him for sure..."


    Waajid and Roslav exclaimed inside. Although they had faintly expected for that before arriving here. When they really saw what was happening in front of them, both Waajid and Roslav felt their heart pounding. Their blood rushed to their heads at the same time, making them a bit dizzy. They really wanted to scream so as to present their excitement. However, at the sight of this scene, they could not even utter a single word.


    Although some contents was confusing in pontiff Sarlin''s prophecy, Waajid and Roslav had already ascertained that Zhang Tie was that Lord.


    All the soldiers of the huge bear tribe heavily panted with their nostrils. Widely opening their eyes, they were standing aside like the other soldiers of the allied forces. Meanwhile, they fixed their magma-like scorching eyes on Zhang Tie. Being afraid of illusion, they didn''t even dare to blink their eyes.


    Their fathers, grandpas, grandpa''s grandpas had been waiting for the arrival of this day for hundreds of years in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    O''Laura also arrived. Her grim metal mask looked red under the brilliance of the bloody and fiery curtain, making it especially weird. With her eyes on Zhang Tie, she didn''t believe that this man was that rascal whom he knew.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s face looked solemn, which became holiness under the reflection of the unyielding bloody and fiery curtain.


    O''Laura wanted to say something; however, she swallowed her words back in front of the shocking scene.


    "Tsa..."


    "Tsa..."


    Everybody could only hear the rustles of Zhang Tie''s moving steps on the ground.


    Zhang Tie walked into the wounded soldiers camp calmly. After a glance at those wounded sounders who were shocked too much and could not even utter a word, Zhang Tie walked to the side of the flume under the quiet gazes of thousands of people and slightly took up that empty tin kettle.


    Zhang Tie''s movement was very weird. Nobody knew what he was going to do.


    As he took up that kettle, Zhang Tie took a deep breath. He knew that as long as he started this, he would have no way to regret. He had to stand whatever happened next.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie glanced at those wounded soldiers. All those who could sit up had already sat up. Many wounded soldiers were gazing at him with widely opened eyes and mouth as they panted heavily. Many wounded soldiers were only 17-18 years old, who were at Zhang Tie''s age like his brothers...


    Zhang Tie finally opened his mouth.


    His words were loud, slow and muffling. However, they spread over each inch of this wounded soldiers camp.


    Everybody could hear it.


    "Those who believe in me will be saved!"


    After saying the first sentence, Zhang Tie lifted the kettle and bottomed it up; however, there was still not water inside...


    Everybody watched him silently...


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s first sentence, Maxim instantly felt mouth parching and tongue scorching. He almost fell down the ground while his heart was palpitating heavily...


    "Those who follow me, even if you walk in the desert, you will get sweet spring water from above stones..."


    Soon after the second sentence, limpid water flew out of the empty tin kettle and entered the flume of the wounded soldiers camp...


    Hearing the sound of water flow, thousands of people froze. Widely opening their eyes, they could not believe what they saw in front of their eyes just now...


    Perhaps, there was water in the kettle; any average powerhouse could prevent it from flowing out¡ª¡ªsuch a whim flashed across many people''s minds. How, those who thought about this instantly quivered as the water flew out of the kettle constantly. Its amount had been several times more than that of the kettle.


    Waajid and Roslav were quivering...


    So was O''Laura...


    Under the silent gaze of thousands of people, the water flowing out of the tin kettle had already filled the huge plume.


    It was not a kettle any more; instead, it was an endless fountain.


    Under the gaze of everybody else, an arm-injured soldier struggled to the side of the plume and scooped water from the plume with a military canteen in his left hand. After that, he raised his head and drank it...


    Crystal water-drops dropped onto the ground from his beard...


    "It...it''s real...this is...this is...mysterious manifestation. We''re saved!"


    The soldier knelt down in front of Zhang Tie in the most pious way...


    It''s God''s manifestation. Only God could create such a marvel under the gaze of everybody else...


    All the wounded soldiers who could barely move knelt down in front of Zhang Tie with tears all over their faces. They knew that they were saved. They don''t have to wait for death and struggle in the hopeless dark anymore...


    Yes, it''s God. They were saved by the God''s incarnation!


    "God''s manifestation...God''s manifestation..."


    Someone exclaimed with high spirit outside the wounded soldiers camp.


    At this moment, without any doubt or hesitation, Waajid''s and Roslav''s eyes turned red and as they knelt down piously, followed by the team of soldiers behind them. Seeing the members of the huge bear tribe kneeling down, all the thousands of people outside the wounded soldiers camp also knelt down piously with high spirits.


    Many people witnessed the God''s manifestation. Even some of them without faith also knelt down piously...


    Those who could not sit up in the wounded soldiers camp also struggled to sit up at this moment...


    Zhang Tie walked over there with holy words, "All the darkness is because of lack of light. All the guilt is because of lack of mercy. You''re suffering from pains and fears because you''re separated from me. If you want to have your traumas cured, you have to open your forbidden soul to me..."


    Zhang Tie came to the front of those heavily wounded soldiers who could not sit up. After slightly touching their chests, he turned around and walked out of the wounded soldiers camp. Unexpectedly, when he walked out of the wounded soldiers camp, those wounded soldiers who could not move had already been able to pick themselves up from the ground...

 473 The Gods Manifestation III

    With that average-looking tin kettle, Zhang Tie walked towards the battle field in the distance under the reflection of the bloody and fiery curtain.


    Thousands of people were still kneeling down the ground, including O''Laura. Everybody was stunned by this God''s manifestation. At this moment, Zhang Tie was both familiar and strange to O''Laura. She showed her awe to Zhang Tie. Not until this moment did O''Laura realize that she didn''t understand this man, whom she thought she understood very well and presented the God''s Manifestation.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie became too bright and holy that nobody dared to see him directly. O''Laura immediately felt dwarfed inside. She knew that the one in front of her was not that Peter whom she could hug and touch casually.


    The kettle in Zhang Tie''s hand formed an endless sweat spring which gurgled out the water constantly. He walked to those soldiers who were kneeling down in front of him and sprayed the water onto them from the kettle. The crowd started to be noisy while everybody pushed towards Zhang Tie. Kneeling down the ground, they raised their heads and stared at Zhang Tie with pious and desiring eyes. Meanwhile, they reached out their quivering hands, wanting to touch the God''s manifestation.


    Everybody touched it and realized that it was real water. Water was flowing out of the kettle constantly...


    When the icy, sweet spring was sprayed on their hands, some could not wait to catch it with their hands and drink it while others piously daubed the spring water on their own faces and bodies...


    At this moment, thousands of people shed tears along with the spring water...


    Despaired ones wept as they saw hopes...


    Sufferers cried as they felt relieved...


    Pious ones dropped off tears as they were moved by the holy movement of Peter...


    Those with no belief also sobbed due to shamelessness and self-accusation...


    Numerous hands were striving to touch Zhang Tie''s garment corners. However, no hand dared to directly touch Zhang Tie''s body as they didn''t want to profane him. Some even kissed Zhang Tie'' footsteps.


    Zhang Tie was a holy and solemn incarnation.


    Zhang Tie came to the front of O''Laura. O''Laura also reached out of her hands. When the crystal spring water flew across her palms, O''Laura''s last doubt disappeared. "This is a God''s manifestation, a real God''s manifestation." The one who presented this God''s manifestation was that man in front of her.


    "You''re my mate; you don''t have to kneel down in front of me!" Zhang Tie''s voice drifted clearly as he held fast O''Laura''s hand and pulled her up.


    For some reason, although having been very intimate with Zhang Tie, O''Laura still felt very thrilled like being injected with a great power while Zhang Tie pulled her up by his hands.


    Zhang Tie continued to walk forward with O''Laura on his side.


    Zhang Tie caught sight of Roslav and Waajid as well as that team of soldiers of the huge bear tribe. If he was gazed by a team of men, who were kneeling down the ground and supporting their swords with hands which were inserted into the ground, with such hot and exciting eyes in usual days, Zhang Tie might have turned around and escaped away. But now, he had to bear it.


    Zhang Tie knew that since he had started it, he had no route of retreat now. He had to act like a god to the end.


    Zhang Tie sprayed water on the soldiers of the huge bear tribe. All the soldiers looked as fascinated as experiencing a good rain after a long drought.


    Roslav and Waajid were still kneeling down the ground. While being thrilled, their scorching eyes seemed desiring for something more. They were waiting for something...


    Zhang Tie gritted his teeth...


    When the onlookers saw Zhang Tie dipping water in the kettle and reached towards Roslav''s forehead, they all held their breath and widened their eyes to witness the sacred moment.


    Roslav and Waajid grew more thrilled. Keeping their eyes closed, they both raised high their heads.


    With a calm look, Zhang Tie dipped water with his finger and drew three horizontal lines and one vertical line on the foreheads of Roslav and Waajid. It was a Chinese character "Íõ". The whole process was like a mysterious baptism.


    "My blessing to you comes from the brave warriors in Ice and Snow Wilderness. From today on, even if you''re in the darkest and most hopeless situation, if you follow the brilliance, bravery and loyalty in your mind, you will always get the honorable road and never get lost!"


    Closely after Zhang Tie''s words, a brilliance appeared on Roslav and Waajid while numerous purple sparkles gathered into a huge bear. After a muffled roar, it slowly dispersed.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what was that; however, he remained calm. Those who knew the meaning of the brilliance and the pattern on Roslav and Waajid were shocked once again...


    "LV 2 sublimation; LV 2 sublimation..." someone cried...


    Unexpectedly, soon after the mysterious baptism, Roslav and Waajid had already broken through LV 2 sublimation.


    Everybody owed this to Peter''s mysterious baptism and his mysterious mark of blessing on the foreheads of Roslav and Waajid. At this moment, everybody was throwing their admiring eyes towards Roslav and Waajid. As a result, Roslav and Waajid were very excited.


    Only Zhang Tie knew that Roslav and Waajid''s LV 2 sublimation was nothing to do with him. He had no ability to let them break through at all. He didn''t know what was LV 2 sublimation either. This breakthrough should be related to their changing mentality and spirits. The power of one''s spirit and belief was marvelous. In special situations, if one was stimulated, one''s potential would burst out. It was not strange for an average person to lift an object which weighed tons at critical moment.


    Whereas, the two people realized their LV 2 sublimation at the very critical moment. What a coincidence! After glancing at the onlookers who were watching him, Zhang Tie knew that from now on nobody would doubt his words any more.


    This was the power of belief and spirit!


    This power would be kind in someone''s hands which could nourish everything; however, in someone''s hands, this power became very terrifying as it could destroy everything like storms and lightning bolts.


    At his moment, Zhang Tie needed this power. Only with this power could he finally help everybody escape out of here.


    Zhang Tie walked towards the battle field in the distance with a solemn look. At this moment, he didn''t even need to say anything as everybody was following him firmly. Roslav, Waajid and their team of huge bear soldiers were walking on Zhang Tie''s right hand. Roslav and Waajid looked solemn with a strong sense of mission. They were like Zhang Tie''s guardians. O''Laura was walking on Zhang Tie''s right hand.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie''s overwhelming bloody and fiery curtain drew close to the battle field, both parties, pioneers or soldiers of the allied forces became curious and nervous. For the sake of safety, both parties rapidly narrowed their front. Leaving their wounded soldiers on the battle field, they all looked around at the distance.


    When the bloody and fiery curtain drew closer, its glow had almost covered the whole battle field, finally the soldiers clearly saw the bloody sparkles that dropped off the sky.


    Like those people behind Zhang Tie, these people also became quiet at the sight of this scene.


    Zhang Tie didn''t speak; however, those behind him seemingly had reached an agreement with each other. 5000-6000 people roared what Zhang Tie had said just now. The sound was so loud that it resonated in the enclosed underground space. Everyone felt very holy inside.


    "Those who believe in me will be saved!"


    ...


    "Those who follow me, even if you walk in the desert, you will get sweet spring water from above stones..."


    ...


    "All the darkness is because of lack of light; all the guilt is because of lack of mercy. You are suffering from pains and fears because you are separated from me!"


    ...


    The sound grew closer and louder. Gradually, it started to resonate over the relics. As a result, all the soldiers and pioneers on the battle field changed their faces.


    With a solemn sound, Zhang Tie appeared in the battle field with a tin kettle under the brilliance of his bloody and fiery curtain...


    Spring water was flowing out of the tin kettle all the way here...


    When encountering those wounded soldiers of the allied forces or pioneers, Zhang Tie would stop with mercy before slightly pressing their chests...


    Closely after that, thirsty people had their powers back...


    Those in coma woke up at once...


    Wounds of those who were slightly injured started to recover...


    Wounds of those who were heavily injured stopped deteriorating. They had a chance to survive on...


    ...


    "Those who believe in me will be saved!"


    ...


    "Those who follow me, even if you walk in the desert, you will get sweet spring water from above stones..."


    ...


    "All the darkness is because of lack of light; all the guilt is because of lack of mercy. You are suffering from pains and fears because you are separated from me!"


    ...


    Watching such an unimaginable scene and the kettle from where the water constantly flew out, uncle Milan dropped his weapon onto the ground, causing a sound "bang" as he muttered, "God''s manifestation...God''s manifestation...we''re saved, we''re saved...the God is coming to save us..." After that, he knelt down facing the one who brought the brilliance and started to cry like a kid...


    On the battle field, rows of soldiers and pioneers dropped off their weapons and knelt down the ground. Although the firm-minded soldiers and pioneers didn''t drop tears in battle just now, they were all crying like babies at this moment...


    Just because...


    In the despair and dark...


    The God''s manifestation...is to save a humble person like me!


    ...


    In the main tent of the allied forces, watching so many soldiers and pioneers joining that team behind that person and singing together, Gangula''s face turned pale. He started to quiver. Watching the soldiers of the allied forces, even the soldiers of the wild bear tribe joined the team behind that person, they didn''t even glance at him...


    ...


    "Those who believe in me will be saved!"


    ...


    "Those who follow me, even if you walk in the desert, you will get sweet spring from above stones..."


    ...


    "All the darkness is because of lack of light; all the guilt is because of lack of mercy. You are suffering from pains and fears because you are separated from me!"


    ...


    This sound almost made an earthquake.


    At this moment, the so-called secular authority and personal dignity had become as humble as the dust on the ground.


    Seeing Zhang Tie walking towards them with that sacred kettle, all the military officials and soldiers outside the main tent knelt down the ground. Even the heads of all the tribes hurriedly knelt down in front of that unimaginable God''s manifestation. Although Gangula wanted to stick to his own willingness, he felt his feet becoming week...


    Sabrina also knelt down. When the others knelt down on her side, Sabrina also did that. On Gangula''s side, she revealed a wisp of smile as she looked at that dignified man with a shocking and unspoken satisfaction, "My elder brother, do you stick to your dignity in front of such a God''s manifestation?"


    Although Gangula was a mad dog, he was not silly. He knew the outcome to be distinctive at this moment. If he acted distinctively, he would become a dead dog very soon!


    Gangula was the last person who stood outside the main tent. He wanted to preserve his dignity for a longer time. However, he finally succumbed to Peter while oozing sweat over his forehead under the gaze of tens of thousands of people behind Zhang Tie. Even Roslav and Waajid who was over 50 m away from him had started to narrow their eyes on him.


    ...


    Seeing Gangula kneeling down in front of him, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh as he knew that he had made it.


    "Those who follow me, as long as you have a firm mind, you will be able to move the mountain and turn the abyss into a plain road. That''s my promise to you..."

 474 Continue to Play as the God

    Chapter 474: Continue to Play as the God


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As everyone had prepared one-month dried rations before entering the underground world to search for the super relics. Therefore, they didn''t lack food now. However, they lacked clean water in the relics.


    The moment the water problem was solved, all the soldiers and pioneers started to work on breaking through the tunnel under the leadership of Zhang Tie.


    Over 60,000 people worked in shifts around the clock. Everyone could burst out huge energy and endless potential under the aspiration and guidance of powerful spiritual energy. Therefore, they worked faster and faster, which made Zhang Tie amazed.


    By now, Zhang Tie had become the real spiritual leader and pillar of these people. Wherever he was, he could always see people bowing towards him.


    Among the soldiers of the allied forces and those pioneers, many of them would throw themselves down at Zhang Tie''s feet or kneel down the ground and stare at Zhang Tie with burning eyes the moment they saw him. After Zhang Tie passed by them, they would kiss Zhang Tie''s footsteps in the most pious and humble gesture. It seemed that all the places that Zhang Tie passed by became sacred.


    In such an atmosphere, more and more pious followers gathered around Zhang Tie, such as Roslav and Waajid. All the soldiers of huge bear tribe voluntarily became Zhang Tie''s guardians. Roslav and Waajid would always follow Zhang Tie wherever he went.


    O''Laura, Setton and the soldiers of the grey eagle tribe also closely followed Zhang Tie...


    Sabrina and her female cavalries also joined in...


    More and more people started to draw closer to Zhang Tie...


    Although being tired to play as the God, Zhang Tie could only act like the God so as to lead all of them out of here with full morale and confidence by joining hands with each other.


    What Zhang Tie needed to do everyday was to keep smiling and manifesting the God''s will under their expectation...


    The average-looking tin kettle had become a sacred object in everyone''s eyes.


    When it was not used, the tin kettle was put on a stone platform in an exclusive tent while being covered with a thick yellow cloth. Commoners could barely see that. The tent was guarded by soldiers around the clock. Besides Zhang Tie and O''Laura, nobody was qualified to touch it.


    Zhang Tie handed the tin kettle to O''Laura. Each time Zhang Tie wanted to manifest the God''s will, O''Laura would held that kettle and stood aside Zhang Tie in a solemn way. Because of this, O''Laura won a new name in a couple of days¡ª¡ªGoddess Kettle!


    Many people were staying with Zhang Tie, such as military craftsmen or those who had various expertise among the pioneers. Zhang Tie ordered some of them to make 7 huge stone vats using the huge stones which collapsed and blocked the tunnel and put them at the entrance of the tunnel so as to provide water for people.


    Each of the 7 huge stone vats was higher than 1 m and wider than 2 m. Each of their volume was about 3 cubic meters. Therefore, the total volume of the 7 water vats was over 20 cubic meters.


    Most of the soldiers and pioneers were above LV 3. Their physical potential had been developed to a certain degree. Each of them only needed about 150 ml water to survive a day; even though they had to do a lot of labor works a day, they only needed at most 300 ml water a day.


    Now, over 40,000 people lacked drinking water in the underground space. These people required about 12 tons of water a day. After filling the 7 huge vats, Zhang Tie made up the shortage at once.


    The most important thing that Zhang Tie would do everyday was to manifest the God''s will by filling those huge vats with that kettle.


    It was the most solemn and sacred moment for Zhang Tie to manifest the God''s will each day, under the breathless gaze of tens of thousands of people, Zhang Tie took over that sacred kettle from O''Laura''s hands. After that, the crystal water started to pour out of the kettle and filled the huge vats in a few minutes.


    After the Catastrophe, human beliefs spread in an explosive way. At this moment, even the world views of those who had no beliefs or those atheists collapsed at once, not to mention those who believed in the existence of God.


    Besides the God''s will, people could never figure out how so much water flew out of an average kettle constantly. In the eyes of those who had beliefs, even a water drop appeared in the eye of a sculpture would be taken as the tear of the God, which was pretty sacred, not to mention this scene.


    Those who were responsible for guarding these huge vats and distributing water to those people who queued up here everyday were Sabrina and her female cavalries. Because of this, Sabrina even won a new name¡ª¡ªGoddess Water!


    Whenever Zhang Tie manifested the God''s will in the public, his image would grow taller and more sacred.


    On the 7th day, when Zhang Tie filled the 7 vats with that kettle, under the gaze of everyone, a wrinkled pioneer with pale hair walked out of the crowd in heavy footsteps. He knelt down in front of Zhang Tie. After that, he raised his face which was covered with tears and stared at Zhang Tie. Meanwhile, he raised his hands and prayed.


    "The most divine person in the world. You''ve undoubtedly manifested the God''s will in front of us and showed us the greatness and mercy of the God. We''ve been appreciating you so much. Please show us the immortal truth with your mercy and wisdom so that we, the lost lambs, could return to the kingdom of the God, and see light in the dark and hope in the pain and return to the God''s territory in case of being depressed!"


    This was absolutely an accident. Zhang Tie had never predicted it before. Zhang Tie realized that it might be because his performance was too successful these days, everyone was enjoying it, including himself. Everyone believed in the God''s manifestation.


    Zhang Tie looked at that senior pioneer in a calm look. Given the wrinkles and tears on the senior''s face, Zhang Tie knew that he did it voluntarily. Perhaps, seniors would become more desirable about belief.


    "Of course the truth needed to be preached in the public. However, I''m not qualified to be a preacher at all. I could only fabricate some words; if you really request me to talk a lot of nonsense, I''m afraid that I would fall down the altar at once." At this moment, Zhang Tie became very anxious inside. If not being gazed by so many people, Zhang Tie really wanted to kneel down in front of that old man and beg loudly, "Grandpa, forgive me please. I''m only an average guy who graduated from the Seventh National Middle School in Blackhot City. Are you going to make me embarrassed? Even though if you want to make me embarrassed, you should do that after we leave out of here. This is not the right moment..."


    Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva. When he prepared to cheat the senior, more and more people knelt down...


    "Please reveal the truth to us..."


    ...


    "Please reveal the truth to us..."


    Even Roslav and Waajid knelt down in front of him with one knee and gazed at Zhang Tie with desiring eyes. Zhang Tie became dumbfounded immediately.


    Certainly, Zhang Tie''s dumbfounded look also indicated that he was meditating in a solemn way in others eyes.


    "Just do that! Castle Lord, this is an opportunity!" Heller''s voice sounded in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "Ah, but what to say? I''m afraid that my trick would be exposed in 10 minutes!"


    "Don''t worry about that. Castle Lord only needs to read the words!"


    "Read what?"


    The moment Zhang Tie asked, he felt his head becoming slightly swollen while many pieces of message flew out of the marvelous arch door. They seemed coming from a complete book.


    "What''s this?"


    "This is the "Immortal Book" which has long disappeared in the long course of human history. Tens of millions of years ago, this book preserved the most powerful and prosperous worldwide religion. It is the sacred code carried forward by all the followers of that religion!"


    Zhang Tie became slightly shocked. He didn''t ask why Heller had this book. At this moment, his mind had been filled with the expression of the most powerful and prosperous worldwide religion, "Is it okay for me to expose the contents of this book to the public?"


    "No problem. In the age when this book became popular, people didn''t pursue the power of fighting strength, but the sublimation of souls and the fulfillment of the spiritual world. This is completely different than the pursuit in this age. In this age, fighting strength is the pursuit. However, the contents of this book just cater to people''s pursuit for spiritual truth."


    After hearing this explanation, Zhang Tie became reassured, "It''s okay as long as they don''t threaten my life or do bad things with the contents. But why is Heller so passionate this time?"


    After thinking about this question for a couple of seconds, Zhang Tie decided to solve the current dilemma first...


    The contents of the "Immortal Book" flew across Zhang Tie''s mind while the solemn expression reappeared on Zhang Tie''s face.


    "Do you know what is truth?"


    Zhang Tie''s question shocked everyone else. "What is truth?" nobody had thought about this question before...


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t need their answers at all; instead, he started his preach...


    "Truth is not classified by size, difficulty or immortality. All the truths contain the same meaning¡ª¡ªperfect love!"


    After hearing this explanation, everyone was stunned once again.


    "Truth itself is not the key. The key lies in its source, which is the original point of all lights and sacred things. The value of truth is immeasurable..."


    "Truth is the manifestation of love. The real truth lies in the love. All those originate from love is truth; whereas, all the sacred things and miracles that you see are the most real expressions of truth..."


    "Each one is entitled to have holiness; whereas, before having the holiness, one has to purify himself or herself; otherwise, the holiness would hide itself..."


    "All the truth imply lives. The connection between truth and life is redemption. It''s redemption when rich people helps poor ones, when powerful ones protects weaker ones, when those on the riverside pulls out the ones who were almost drown and when smart guys teaches silly ones to identify righteousness..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s sincere words, the tens of thousands of people became quiet once again...


    ...


    Maxim had been too thrilled that he started quivering all over because of a sacred sense of mission. He noted down each of Zhang Tie''s words by quivering hands...


    ...


    From today on, Zhang Tie had one more job¡ª¡ªto preach after implementing the God''s will every day!


    After Zhang Tie''s preach, the working efficiency increased again. What made Zhang Tie amazed was that even Gangula had rolled up his sleeves and moved stones on the third day since his preach.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie found a side effect after the preach, namely nobody dared to see his eyes, including Sabrina, O''Laura and Setton; instead, they all lowered their eyes piously.


    ...


    Although being blocked by the huge stones, they could still contact with the outside by remote sensing crystal.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness was boiling when he was trapped here.


    On October 8th, ten thousands of xiphodon cavalries of the huge bear tribe flashed across the Costari Plain in the central part of the Ice and Snow Wilderness and headed towards south...causing an earthquake in the Ice and Snow Wilderness...

 475 Welcome, My Lord

    Chapter 475: Welcome, My Lord


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Over 20 days had passed in the underground space. It was November now. Precisely, it was November 2nd. After 5 more days, it would be one month since Zhang Tie was taken as the God. Zhang Tie should get his monthly salary by then, if possible.


    Most people''s food was almost bottomed out. Although they were not starved, Zhang Tie was afraid that he had to manifest the "God''s new will" in a couple of days.


    "I really wonder how to explain them if I teleport food here, even fleshes of huge deep-sea monsters out of the void."


    ¡ª¡ªIn order to feed you, the Almighty God killed a huge deep-sea monster and brought its fleshes to you.


    When this whim flashed by Zhang Tie''s mind, Zhang Tie felt hilarious.


    "If It''s sacred to have spring water at God''s will..."


    "It should be acceptable to have food out of void..."


    "But if a pile of fleshes came out of void, would it be?"


    Zhang Tie remembered that God never sent roasted meat to those starved people in any religion or legend. When Moses and a great number of people felt hungry, the God turned dew and water drops into pies, instead of steaks or roasted meat.


    If he had to do this, Zhang Tie decided to slip away the moment he returned to the ground. "F*ck, I cannot disguise as the God any longer. This is not a human job at all. Before being caught away and cut into pieces for study, I''d better escape away from Ice and Snow Wilderness as soon as possible."


    If he truly feed them with the fleshes of huge deep-sea monster, Zhang Tie was not sure whether someone would connect the attack of the huge deep-sea monster against the Polar Light with this. By doing this, he might greatly break apart his halos and increase his risk. That would be very irrational.


    Thinking of the halos, Zhang Tie was still confused about the new look of his battle-Qi totem. He wondered about the meaning of the new totem. Heller''s explanation was very simple, "The new totem is the reflection of Zhang Tie''s will, spirit, desire and his mysterious strength. The secret of the new totem could only be explored by Zhang Tie himself. Heller could not tell him much about it now."


    Although Heller didn''t tell Zhang Tie about the answer but what he said did arouse Zhang Tie''s curiosity. Zhang Tie was sure that the new totem was not simple. As for its function, he could figure it out gradually. The priority was to leave out of here.


    The only good news these days was that Golden Roc Bank and the huge bear tribe had already dispatched their rescue teams here and had helped them from outside for many days. Benefited from this, they could leave out of here earlier than that they expected.


    "If only the tunnel was broken through before the depletion of everybody''s food." Zhang Tie walked out of the tent as he thought about this.


    He slept in the main tent of the allied forces, where Gangula once slept in. Everyone thought it was reasonable, including Gangula, except for Zhang Tie, who felt a bit shameful about that.


    It was really spacious to sleep in such a tent alone. If it was before, Zhang Tie felt that Sabrina and O''Laura should always visit his tent; unexpectedly, they both kept a distance with him. Although they were on his side, even touchable, they regarded Zhang Tie with more reverence because of Zhang Tie''s different status. Not only O''Laura, even Sabrina became increasingly more solemn when facing Zhang Tie.


    "Is this the sacrifice that I have to make as a fake God?" Zhang Tie finally knew why those evil fathers in Blackhot city were so abnormal. "D*mn it, they have to do that..."


    Seeing Zhang Tie walking out of the tent, all the soldiers who were guarding outside the main tent looked solemn.


    At this moment, Roslav and Waajid walked over here. They were more like granites which had been weathering for 1000 years.


    O''Laura also walked towards him while holding the sacred kettle with hands. Zhang Tie could not see her expression under the mask; after glancing at her tidy green skirt and the bracelet and finger ring that he had gifted her, Zhang Tie let out a sigh. Zhang Tie knew that O''Laura didn''t care about these details before. Compared to her current look, if she wore a set of wearable warrior''s clothes and carried that ugly kettle by one hand casually, Zhang Tie would feel much better.


    However, Zhang Tie knew that it was impossible. Even though she disliked dressing herself up but she would also pay attention to her image in the public sacred spot. If you want a woman to dress herself casually in such a scene, it was nothing different than ruining their looks.


    At the beginning, O''Laura was not used to the bracelet because emerald was very fragile for a LV 10 strong fighter. It could be easily broken. In such case, it was not suitable to wear it. Nevertheless, after noticing that Sabrina was wearing a bracelet gifted by Zhang Tie, O''Laura also wore one. Besides, she put on her finger ring of eagle''s eye, which was very eye-catching. Especially when she held that kettle, her finger ring and bracelet attracted others'' eyes naturally.


    When Setton exposed that Zhang Tie sent the gifts to O''Laura, O''Laura''s status became special. Wherever she went, she would gain respect. Although Sabrina didn''t say anything, Zhang Tie could sense that her eyes turned increasingly gloomier.


    Zhang Tie knew that O''Laura and Sabrina disliked each other. Unexpectedly, they were still contending with each other at this moment.


    Sabrina''s counterattack made her a real Goddess. As she was responsible for distributing the water in the 7 huge vats, Sabrina could touch more people. Zhang Tie checked there when she was working and found that her smile was so pure and kind. Her gentle attitude almost made Zhang Tie mistake her for someone else.


    Therefore, in this period, the Goddess Water''s name was even louder than that of the Goddess Kettle.


    Zhang Tie walked ahead of them quietly in a sacred and solemn way.


    After a few steps, Zhang Tie looked around and stared at Roslav and Waajid, "You two don''t need to be that serious, so doesn''t others. If you don''t know how to relax the muscles on your face, you can attempt a smile. I won''t mind that. So won''t others!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words in a solemn manner, Roslav and Waajid slightly frowned their foreheads. After exchanging glances with each other, Roslav twisted his strong neck as he ordered his soldiers, "Have you heard that? Relax your facial muscles and smile!"


    Looking at those twisting faces, which could almost scare kids to cry, Zhang Tie was finally defeated, "Alright, whatever you want. But don''t force yourselves to smile. Take it easy!"


    Everything recovered.


    After accessing to the path which was surrounded by tens of thousands of people, they arrived at the entrance of the tunnel, where Sabrina and her female cavalries were waiting in the most pious manner.


    Although everyone had seen what Zhang Tie was going to perform for many times, they still kept their eyes on the water which flew out of the kettle constantly like enjoying a very beautiful drawing in a pious and solemn look. Many people knelt down the ground while putting their palms together. It seemed that their minds was filled with holiness...


    When he caught sight of their expressions which were almost the same, Zhang Tie understood it right away. He was afraid that he could not make their faces relaxed before they escaped out of here.


    The God''s will was manifested once again. After the ceremony, Zhang Tie handed the kettle to O''Laura. After that, he started an hour preach...


    The moment he opened his mouth, everyone became fascinated while Maxim rapidly noted them down...


    ...


    When Zhang Tie was preaching, the other end of the tunnel was completely different.


    A 1000 m long team of 70,000-80,000 soldiers were moving away all the stones that blocked in front of them...


    A huge rock blocked their way, which could be barely moved.


    "Go away!", hearing this roar, those experienced ones hurriedly ran away. With a gleaming battle-Qi, a figure flew over here. With only one punch, he had inserted his palm into the huge rock. The huge rock was broken into pieces at once, which now could be easily moved.


    Closely after that, the soldiers rushed forward and moved all the stones in a wink like diligent ants.


    Half an hour later, after another huge rock was broken into pieces, the soldiers yelled as they had broken through the tunnel.


    What made everyone curious was that nobody was in the opposite. When they were dumbfounded, a team of powerful fighters had already rushed in.


    Hearing the footsteps surging towards him from behind, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded heavily. He was so thrilled that he wanted to jump up. Thankfully, he stood still and didn''t move. So didn''t the tens of thousands of people.


    After breaking through the tunnel, the soldiers only saw a handsome young man sitting on a stone platform in a solemn way. Those tens of thousands of people whom were supposed to be flurried and thrilled were all sitting calmly in front of that young man while crossing their legs. They didn''t even look that the newcomers at all.


    Only that person''s sound was resonating clearly in the relics.


    Two women were standing on the young man''s sides. One woman was holding a kettle. Roslav and Waajid were standing behind that man with a team of the huge bear soldiers.


    The scene in front of them had undoubtedly indicated that young man''s status.


    Those newcomers drew in a deep breath.


    "All the fear comes from your false perception, which is the nightmare. Suppose I cast light on a person who is making the nightmare, he would also include the light into his nightmare and intensify his fear. When he wakes up, if he recognizes the light, he will become fearless while the false nature of nightmare will be exposed. This doesn''t rely on your illusions and false perceptions, but on your perception about the real world. The perception not only makes you free, but also makes you clear that you''re born to be free..."


    After saying this, Zhang Tie stopped, as he calmly looked at those soldiers who had just rushed in. Zhang Tie sensed a powerful Qi from these fighters.


    Zhang Tie finally let out a deep sigh. He knew that his career as the fake God would finally come to an end.


    However, Zhang Tie became happy too early...


    When the team of soldiers arrived in front of Zhang Tie, they all knelt down in front of him with one knee when Zhang Tie thought that they would say something. Even Roslav, Waajid and those huge bear soldiers walked to Zhang Tie''s front and knelt down together with them.


    Not only Zhang Tie, even O''Laura and Sabrina didn''t know what was going on.


    "My Lord, the huge bear tribe welcome you back to the Sacred Mountain!"


    When they knelt down, they caused a boom, which woke up everyone else.


    Zhang Tie''s brain powered off for a few seconds. If not he knew that nobody was behind him, he really wanted to see whether these guys were talking to him or not.


    "Roslav, what''s going on? When did I become the lord of huge bear tribe!" Zhang Tie calmly said while his heart was pounding. "Are they playing a trick with me?"


    "Since you were born, you were doomed to be our Lord. This is the prophecy of our great pontiff Elzida. Pontiff Sarlin has already confirmed it. We''ve already waited for this day for hundreds of years. Please forgive us. Waajid and I have already confirmed your status. However, we didn''t tell you about that. If you''re angry about our concealment, hope you can be satisfied with this..." after saying this, Roslav and Waajid exchanged glances with each other while a fortitude look flashed across their eyes. Meanwhile, they drew out their daggers and stabbed towards their own hearts.


    Seeing this, Zhang Tie raised his hand and fly out to knock off their daggers at once...


    After thinking about it for a short while with his eyes closed, Zhang Tie finally opened his eyes, "Is Pontiff Sarlin above there?"


    "As Pontiff Sarlin is too old, he''s not convenient to come inside. Although he''s together with the army, he could only welcome you above there!"


    "Let''s leave out of here first!"


    Zhang Tie picked himself up and walked towards the entrance of the tunnel...

 476 My Lord is Returning!

    Chapter 476: My Lord is Returning!


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Three days later, on the evening of November 5th, when everybody ran out of food, tens of thousands of soldiers of the allied forces and pioneers finally returned to the ground and saw the bright stars above Ice and Snow Wilderness after being trapped for 1 month.


    As they''ve stayed in the underground for too long, many people had adapted to the dark environment. Zhang Tie especially chose this period for them to return to the ground because If they came out in the daytime, many of them would be blinded at the sight of the dazzling sunlight; but there should be no problem if they came back in the evening.


    After breathing the fresh air above Ice and Snow Wilderness, Zhang Tie finally became relaxed after being nervous for about a month. It was like a dream for him to bring so many people back alive. Even though Zhang Tie was not a narcissist but he also had mixed feelings at this moment.


    "I made it, my brothers!" Zhang Tie muttered with inner feelings as he was fully moved.


    When the first wisp of night wind blew over, Zhang Tie''s eye corners turned a bit wet. It was because of pleasure, excitement and a bit pride. Even if he had disguised as the God, he successfully brought most of the figures out. For Zhang Tie, it was the most meaningful thing that he had done ever since he was born. "If dad and mom knew this, they would be proud of me for sure..."


    It was uneasy, precisely, it was impossible for anyone else except him.


    Even in the three days of travel back onto the ground, it was still not smooth as the contradiction between the tens of thousands of warriors of the huge bear tribe and those who were trapped inside had broken out since the beginning.


    The contradiction between the two parties was caused by the 7 stone vats. Although they were valueless vats in Zhang Tie''s eyes, they led to the conflict between those warriors of the huge bear tribe and those being trapped underground.


    Although they were common in Zhang Tie''s eyes, the huge vats were much more valuable than gold in other''s eyes. Because they witnessed the God''s will, they possessed special meanings as sacred objects.


    The warriors of the huge bear tribe wanted to take away the huge vats; however, those pious followers of Zhang Tie stood out as they didn''t allow the warriors of the huge bear tribe to move them. For the belonging right of the stone vats, they even drew out their weapons, making the atmosphere very tense.


    For those warriors of the huge bear tribe, all the honors created by their Lord should return with their Lord. By contrast, for those people who had been fobbed off by Zhang Tie in the underground for almost one month, nobody could take away the redemption gifted by Peter.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie fully understand what Donder said, "The thing which has been confirmed by the public is the fact!"


    When the public thought the stone vats were unusual, the stone vats were unusual.


    In human history, this thing being related to God''s will and belief always had unmeasurable, great values. Numerous legends, wars and plots were caused by these special things. Numerous powers were created or vanished because of them.


    The cup that Jesus used at the last supper became a sacred cup. It was said that the sacred cup could make people eternal!


    The wooden cross which Jesus was nailed on became the sacred object of the Christianity. It was workshipped by numerous followers as the true cross.


    A common centurion stabbed that common lance into Jesus''s body. Being sprayed with Jesus'' fresh blood, it became the famous lance of Longinus. Finally, this lance became the God''s object and was used by the Roman empire to show off his power and meritorious deeds.


    A common cup, a wooden cross and an iron lance became the most sacred objects because they were related to someone. Whether an object was sacred or valuable was not determined by its own value but what it had experienced and people it had met.


    What Zhang Tie manifested was undoubtedly the most sacred in eyes of these people. Similarly, the above three special objects being related to God''s wills could not be measured by money at all.


    The cup that Jesus used became a sacred object, the toilet bowl that an emperor once used became a cultural relic. Then what the object that the God used would become?


    Everybody knew it. Also because of this, when Zhang Tie decided to leave the underground space, the value of those sacred objects became outstanding at once.


    At this moment, of course Zhang Tie would not disappoint his pious followers. Therefore, Zhang Tie ordered his followers to carry out the 7 huge stone vats.


    The warriors of the huge bear tribe followed Zhang Tie''s order immediately. However, everyone fixed their eyes on the sacred kettle which O''Laura was holding tightly.


    As each stone vat weighed tons, it was very difficult to carry them out. In the course of transportation, all the warriors exerted their full efforts. As long as they could touch the vats, they would feel honorable.


    One day before they arrived at the ground, when they rested in the evening, Zhang Tie manifested the God''s will for the last time in the underground space by filling the 7 vats.


    This time, ten thousands of warriors dispatched by the huge bear tribe to rescue them also witnessed the God''s will...along with many rescuers from other tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness...and tens of thousands of people dispatched by Golden Roc Bank from Eschyle City...


    The total population exceeded 100,000.


    Zhang Tie accomplished this rite in the most attractive place of the underground space. At the sight of the God''s will for the first time, many people became so thrilled, especially the warriors of the huge bear tribe, all of them knelt down.


    "Here''s our Lord, here''s our Lord..."


    Each warrior of the huge bear tribe shouted loudly inside. After waiting for hundreds of years, they finally welcomed their Lord. Who else was more qualified to be their Lord than a man who could manifest the God''s will. The entire huge bear tribe would be honorable about this person! This Lord was gifted by the God.


    "We will leave out of here tomorrow. Therefore, this is the last manifestation of God''s will..." Zhang Tie''s voice resonated clearly in the huge karst cave as he glanced at those silent people with a solemn look at a high risk of being seen through.


    Everyone became silent and shocked. Zhang Tie was satisfied with this effect very much. He found that was the difference between the big figures and humble ones. When big figures made the decisions, they didn''t have to explain anything; especially at his position, nobody dared to doubt him.


    However, Zhang Tie still made an explanation to them, which also became pretty sacred.


    "If one''s belief has to be induced by God''s will and wonders, one must have entered the wrong way and misunderstood the truth and the meaning of being sacred!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, everyone felt relieved. They then regarded Zhang Tie with more reverence and felt lucky. Especially those who survived the relics, the bitterness and despair that they had experienced in the relics was really trivial than what they had obtained and witnessed.


    Of course, the so-called God''s will was precious and shocking because of rarity.


    In the next 2 hours, Zhang Tie preached once again. He kept talking until he finished the rest of the "Immortal Book". Finally he drew a full stop to his status as a damn father.


    Those who listened to the contents of the "Immortal Book" dropped tears one after another. They felt like they had heard the immortal truth and saw the true light.


    The moment Zhang Tie''s preach ended, numerous people had swarmed forward. Zhang Tie then dipped the water in the vats using his fingers and flicked it over those people with a faint smile, which also indicated that he was bidding a farewell to the one-month period as a damn father...


    Over one night, Zhang Tie''s deeds and words in the relics had been spread to everyone.


    Under the gaze of everyone, he let pure water flow out of the sacred kettle...


    He even healed many slightly and heavily wounded people by just putting his hand on the chest of the patient or wounded people. Each one who was cured by Zhang Tie on the battle field could witness that...


    His blessing was also priceless. Under the baptism and blessing of Peter, Roslav and Waajid even completed their LV 2 sublimation...


    And that sacred totem, like the new-born sun, the bloody and fiery curtain which could brighten the dark...


    He even spread the immortal light and truth to everyone...


    Finally, he led tens of thousands of people out of the dilemma and granted everybody with a new life...


    When others spread his meritorious deeds, over one night, Zhang Tie also became completely relaxed like having relieved his heavy burden.


    The three-days travel felt like a triumphant return.


    Zhang Tie finally led everybody out of there.


    Under the starlight all over the sky, Zhang Tie faced a borderless, silent jungle of square formations composed of blades and spears which stood as firm as stones. The gloomy armors reflected the pale blue moonlight.


    Some seniors with white beards were standing in front of the formations. The one in the middle of them was especially eye-catching as he was wearing a snowwhite sacrificial robe while the faint light over him was slighting expanding and shrinking. Standing there, he felt like breathing the starlight over the sky.


    With a sound "boom", the whole earth quaked while the borderless steel and iron jungle knelt down with one knee before roaring.


    "My Lord is returning!"


    ...


    "My Lord is returning!"


    ...


    "My Lord is returning!"


    ...

 477 Doubts!

    Chapter 477: Doubts!


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie and some white-beard seniors stared at each other for about 2 minutes in the spacious main tent. None of them spoke a word.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt being an eccentric item as those seniors eyes made Zhang Tie feel being naked like how mercury penetrated in the marrow.


    A couple of minutes ago, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded heavily as he was shocked by what he saw. However, he had already recovered his composure now. Additionally, after leading his men out of there, Zhang Tie felt having completed his mission. He didn''t need to disguise as the God anymore. He could be himself once again. Therefore, he was relaxed all over.


    After over 1 month, 5 more leakless fruits had become ripe on the small tree. Zhang Tie could advance to LV 8 at any time. Plus the 9 huge wolf seven-strength fruits which had not been eaten, Zhang Tie felt that his target in Ice and Snow Wilderness had almost been reached. At this moment, he thought he could directly change his look and leave.


    Thinking of this, Zhang Tie recovered his composure. In the past three days, he realized that the prophecy of the pontiff Elzida of Ice and Snow Wilderness indeed existed. Many people knew about it. According to the prophecy of Elzida, a great Lord would appear, who would rule all the tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness and establish a country. After that, he would lead all the Slavs towards a great rejuvenation. Although the prophecy was true, Zhang Tie would never believe that he was that Lord in the Prophecy which had been spread for hundreds of years.


    This was too ridiculous, just like someone suddenly foisted a lottery in his hand on the street and could not wait to tell him that he hit 5 million gold coins. That must be a plot.


    Staring at these seniors, Zhang Tie slowly sorted out his thoughts. "These seniors must have realized my value after knowing that I manifested the God''s will in the underground space. Therefore they want to push me to the throne of the king of their own tribe. After that, they could threaten me to rule the other tribes and make me their puppet."


    This was also feasible for Zhang Tie. "Like doing a business, as long as it was advantageous to both sides, and these seniors could afford me, I don''t mind being a puppet."


    Zhang Tie admitted that the huge bear tribe was very rich. His ambition was also stimulated by those strong warriors. Zhang Tie realized that he could use the relationship between him and the most powerful tribe here.


    Zhang Tie thought that he had found the truth; therefore, he slowly revealed a sneer. Arms crossed, Zhang Tie directly leaned against the back of the chair. Meanwhile he put his feet on the table arrogantly.


    Zhang Tie imagined that if he had a cigar in his hand while O''Laura and Sabrina were standing behind him in a hot low-chest butt-tightening skirt, and one of them was peeling off a grape for him while another one was pinching his shoulders. That would be perfect! At least he would not be beaten by these seniors on Qi field. Pitifully, besides him and these seniors, nobody else was involved.


    These old guys were damn fathers. Therefore, it wouldn''t work by disguising as a damn father anymore. Neither would Zhang Tie like to disguise anymore.


    "Honestly, what do you want me to do? What is your condition? As we''re all smart, don''t waste time any more. As I''ve been moved by that scene for a couple of seconds, I can coordinate with you to put on a play. It''s okay even to be your puppet as long as you can afford my demands. Additionally, there''s one point that I have to tell you¡ª¡ªI have my principle; if you want to cooperate with me, don''t expect me to do those evil things together with you!"


    Except for senior Sarlin, the eyebrows of the other two seniors on Sarlin''s sides jumped as they turned around and stared at Sarlin.


    Zhang Tie''s ruthlessness didn''t let senior Sarlin frown, instead, he revealed a wisp of satisfactory smile.


    "We want you to be the clan elder and leader of the huge bear tribe, and we cannot give you any conditions!" senior Sarlin said with a slight smile.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie was enraged. He instantly sat up straight and patted on the table, causing a "bang!" in the tent. He glared at these seniors, "No way. You want me to follow your order without payment. What a nice plan!"


    "Not because we cannot satisfy your demands. As all of our things belong to the huge bear tribe. After becoming the clan elder and leader of the huge bear tribe, you will have the entire tribe. You have the right to dispose anything, including all the materials and warriors. We cannot trade with you using your belongings!"


    Zhang Tie was dumbfounded as he had never imagined that pontiff Sarlin would answer him in this way.


    "You mean the entire tribe belongs to me?"


    "Yes!"


    "I can casually dispose the properties of the tribe, even use up all the savings of the tribe?"


    "Yes, as long as you will, you can dispose all the wealth of the tribe. If you''re happy, you can even throw all the gold coins of the tribe into the ocean!" Pontiff Sarlin replied as calmly as before.


    "Can all the warriors of the tribe follow my order?"


    "Yes, it''s their mission and honor to implement your will!"


    "Even let them die?"


    "If you want them to die, death would be the paramount honor for them. Each warrior in Ice and Snow Wilderness would like to die for their Lord!"


    Zhang Tie revealed a sneer, "Fine, I agree to be your clan elder. I deliver an order right now. All the warriors prepare well for attacking the Eschyle City!"


    After a deep glance at Zhang Tie, Pontiff Sarlin directly turned around and told another elder on his side calmly, "Toles, go summon all the military officials!"


    After taking a deep breath, the elder stood up at once. Without saying anything, he strode outside the tent.


    "As the only city in Ice and Snow Wilderness founded by the iron bear tribe. This city represents the iron bear tribe. We, the huge bear tribe has sophisticated relations with all the other bear tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness. If the huge bear tribe wants to fight another bear tribe, nobody could deliver such an order, except you. Therefore, we will summon all the military officials outside. You will deliver the order to them by yourself!" Pontiff Sarlin explained it to Zhang Tie calmly.


    Hearing this explanation, Zhang Tie put back his feet from the table. He sat straight and stared at pontiff Sarlin''s face with narrowed eyes, wanting to see whether this old guy is telling a lie or not.


    Pontiff Sarlin also stared at Zhang Tie calmly. They just stared at each other silently like the tranquil nightscene.


    "He''s a liar, this old guy must be lying to me." Zhang Tie muttered inside, "He thinks that I will stop Toles if he said this. After that, I will believe in their next lies. Humph, humph, no way. I will see how the play goes on."


    Zhang Tie thought those old guys were cheating him with a lot of reasons. Being slightly unexpected, Pontiff Sarlin directly order Toles to summon those military officials outside. Although such a trick could frighten average people, it didn''t work in front of Zhang Tie.


    Toles directly strode out of the main tent without any hesitation. Even when he reached at the entrance of the tent, he didn''t glance at Peter at all.


    Only after over 10 seconds, the fevered drums sounded outside the tent.


    "All the military officials will arrive soon. Please take the main seat, clan elder!" Pontiff Sarlin stood up as he made a gesture to invite Zhang Tie. The main seat was about 1 m in width while the main table was covered with a snowwhite hide of an unknown beast, making it pretty gorgeous.


    After peeping at Pontiff Sarlin, Zhang Tie looked solemn as he raised his head and strode towards the main seat. He then threw himself on the main seat.


    Beside the main seat, there were three smaller chairs. Pontiff Sarlin and another old guy walked over there and sat down, Pontiff Sarlin''s seat was closest to Zhang Tie while another old guy''s seat was farthest to Zhang Tie, leaving the middle one empty.


    After a short while, Toles walked in silently and sat straight on the middle chair beside Zhang Tie.


    Seeing the solemn looks of the three old guys, Zhang Tie became slightly hesitated as a whim flashed across his mind. "Do they mean it? How come such a good thing fall on me? That''s impossible! But if the old guys lied to me, it''s unnecessary for them to do this. That would be a great loss. Liars would never do that."


    When Zhang Tie doubted about that, all the military officials of huge bear tribe entered in armors while raising their heads, weapons over their waists...

 478 The Key Box

    Chapter 478: The Key Box


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The huge bear tribe dispatched 100,000 people southwards. All of them were elite xiphodon cavalries. This population was equal to that of an elite corps. Zhang Tie knew that most of the tribes and forces in Ice and Snow Wilderness could not resist such a great power except for the bear tribes.


    Over 20 military officials were qualified to enter the main tent, which included Aukin whom Zhang Tie picked up in the relics two days ago.


    Aukin was a battalion commander, who ruled an armed force which guarded the sacred place of the huge bear tribe on Mount Elzida. The name of the armed force was "bear-killing camp". All the fighters of bear-killing camp were above LV 6. Across the Ice and Snow Wilderness, no tribe was able to establish a bear-killing camp of ten thousands of people except for the huge bear tribe.


    The bear-killing camp was the main force that huge bear tribe dispatched to welcome Zhang Tie back in the deep underground space. They also witnessed the last manifestation of God''s will in the underground. Although coming from bear-killing camp and were both LV 10 strong fighters, Roslav and Waajid were just Qi leaders. Therefore, they were not qualified to attend such a high-level conference.


    The military establishments of the tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness were different than that Zhang Tie had touched. The minimal military unit in the tribes was wu(Îé), who led 4 soldiers; 2 wus formed 1 shi(ʲ); 5 shis formed a team; 2 teams included 100 soldiers, the head of which was centurion; 500 soldiers formed 1 qi(Æì); 2 qis included 1000 soldiers, the head of which was chiliarch; 3000 soldiers formed a feng(·æ); 10000 soldiers formed a battalion; 3 battalions formed a regiment; 10,0000 soldiers formed an army.


    Briefly, the military ranks in the troops of the tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness were as follows: wu leader, shi leader, team leader, centurion; qi leader, chiliarch, feng leader, battalion commander, regimental commander and army commander. There was no army group of hundreds of thousands of soldiers in Ice and Snow Wilderness at all. Only the clan elder of the tribe was qualified to manage so many soldiers, if possible.


    Such military establishments were closely related to the ranks of the tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Tribes were divided into rat tribe, eagle tribe, wolf tribe, leopard tribe, fox tribe and bear tribe. For example, a grey eagle tribe only had about 1000 regular soldiers. The rank of the head of a grey eagle tribe was equivalent to feng leader in Ice and Snow Wilderness, which was only a bit higher than chiliarch. O''Laura was a chiliarch in Ice and Snow Wilderness on the premise that she could completely take over the power of grey eagle tribe.


    Ice and Snow Wilderness was also strictly hierarchical. Although being not as abnormal as Norman Empire, hierarchical barriers could also be seen everywhere here.


    Take this moment as an example. The first batch of people who were qualified to enter the main tent were battalion commanders, whose personal power was at least fighting master or great fighting master. The moment they poured in, their powerful Qi field made Zhang Tie stressed, especially those leaders ahead of them. Although their Qi were not as powerful as that of knights that Zhang Tie had met but they could also cause a strong stress. If not being much more powerful than common LV 7 fighters and his great spiritual energy, Zhang Tie could not even sit firmly under the gaze and stress of so many people.


    Sitting straight on the broad hide chair, Zhang Tie put his hands on his knees while glancing at those leaders one after another.


    Previously, these leaders were told that Zhang Tie had some considerations about returning to the huge bear tribe and needed to negotiate with two elders and pontiff Sarlin. However, after entering the main tent, these leaders found that Zhang Tie had already sat on the main seat of the ruler of the tribe. Therefore, they all thought that Zhang Tie already admitted his new status as they all revealed an ecstatic and exciting expression.


    After entering the tent, all the leaders showed their respect to Zhang Tie by raising their right hands and punching on their left chest armors.


    "Clan elder!" over 20 people shouted in gruff voice in unison. This voice not only resonated in the tent, but also drifted outside of the tent. After that, Zhang Tie heard constant yells from soldiers outside the tent. Remarkably, after hearing "clan elder!", those soldiers outside the tent knew Zhang Tie''s stance; therefore, they started to cheer up.


    Hearing the exciting and pleasant expressions on the faces of these leaders and the words "clan elder!", which arose louder yells, Zhang Tie knew that it could never be an illusion or trap made by Pontiff Sarlin; instead, it indicated that these leaders and soldiers accepted this prophecy, namely Zhang Tie himself.


    "In this case, if someone would still use me to order the other lords, they would have trouble for sure."


    "Clan elder has military order to deliver!" Toles stood up and said with no facial expression.


    Soon after Toles'' words, all the 20-odd military officials changed their faces. Chest raising, they all stared at Zhang Tie with gleaming eyes.


    Zhang Tie glanced at Pontiff Sarlin, who still looked calm.


    At this moment, numerous thoughts flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind. Finally, all the thoughts converged into an icy and calm decision,


    "Set out for Eschyle City tomorrow!"


    Zhang Tie stared at those military officials in front of him. After hearing this order, some of them were surprised, some were confused while some were so excited that they even quivered all over with gleaming eyes. Zhang Tie knew that his decision was a bit ludicrous; therefore, he could understood why some were surprised or confused; however, he could not understand why some were excited.


    Zhang Tie thought that some military officials would definitely inquire about the reason; at least, Pontiff Sarlin should inquire about it. However, nobody asked. After showing their respect to Zhang Tie by punching their chests once again, all the military officials of the huge bear tribe left the main tent.


    Zhang Tie and three elders were left alone in the main tent. After delivering that order casually, Zhang Tie noticed that the other two elders looked stiff.


    After half a minute, Zhang Tie heard a distant and rich mort outside the tent. In only a couple of seconds, the yells of soldiers ceased.


    "That''s the sleep mort. As we''re going to fight tomorrow, our soldiers have to sleep and rest as soon as possible so that they could keep their energy for the battle!" Pontiff Sarlin explained.


    "What if I was kidding?" Zhang Tie smiled which almost caused a heart attack to good-hearted people.


    "I''ve told you that the entire huge bear tribe belongs to you. You have the right to make fun!"


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter''s, "If you have some trump card, just show it; you will have time to regret. The longer you wait, the higher the cost of regret would be!"


    "I indeed have one item for you. Gouras, take out the item left by great Pontiff Elzida!"


    ...


    Two minutes later, an aged odd-looking, heavy bronze metal box was placed in front of Zhang Tie. The elder called Gouras put it onto the table in front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie found it was a strange key box. Seven metal gears were put at the opening of the box. Each metal gear was respectively marked with traditional Chinese characters "Áã, Ò¼, ·¡,…£, ËÁ, Îé, ½, Æâ, °Æ, ¾Á", which means "0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9".


    The three gears on the most left side represented the very year of black iron calendar. The two gears in the middle indicated the very month while the rest two gears meant the very day.


    "What''s this?"


    "Great Pontiff Elzida left that prophecy together with this box. He expressed to leave this box to the one in the prophecy. Only the very person could open this box. The code of this box is that person''s birthday of black iron calendar."


    "You mean your great Pontiff Elzida left this box to me?" Zhang Tie asked with an unbelievable look. Zhang Tie''s feeling was like how those crazy followers witnessed his manifestation of God''s will.


    "Right. This key box is specially designed. It only allowed us to try three times. If you mistook the codes for three times, the device inside the metal box would destroy this box together with the item inside. Because of this reason, none of pontiffs in the history of the huge bear tribe dared to open this box. In fact, nobody touched this box at all!" Pontiff Sarlin explained in a solemn manner.


    "What''s inside?"


    "No one knows!"


    After hearing this answer, Zhang Tie doubted, "Are these three elders finding excuse for themselves. If I mistook the code for three times, they would have an excuse to declare that I''m not that very person in the prophecy. After that, they could kick me away. Otherwise, this box should be opened by any code. However, something dangerous could be hidden inside..."


    "What a naive trick..."


    With a smile, Zhang Tie pulled over the box and casually rotated the seven gears. He input a date which was different from his birthday before pressing down the metal handle of the box. Although with a click, the box didn''t move. However, the seven gears started to rotate rapidly and finally returned to "0".


    Zhang Tie input another wrong date on purpose. With another click, the box still didn''t move while the seven gears returned to "0" again.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie found Pontiff Sarlin changed his face while Gouras and Toles became tense.


    Zhang Tie shrugged with a shameless smile, "Hehe, don''t worry, I input the wrong dates on purpose. I just wanted to see whether this box could be opened by wrong dates. The fact is you are not lying to me!"


    After hearing this faint statement, Gouras and Toles instantly glared at Zhang Tie.


    Almost in a split second, Zhang Tie felt being pressed by two mountains. He was almost forced to kneel down.


    "Knights, f*ck" Zhang Tie swore inside. Although the two old guys'' Qi field and stress was not as frightening as that of the elder of Huaiyuan Palace, they were undoubtedly very overwhelming.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that the two old guys were knights. He gritted his teeth while sweat flew off his forehead...


    "One more time, the correct one is enough!!" Pontiff Sarlin''s voice sounded while the two huge mountains instantly disappeared.


    After forcefully swallowing his saliva, Zhang Tie mopped the sweat on his forehead. Even though he could not read people''s heart, from the expression in the eyes of Gouras and Toles, Zhang Tie had already known what they were thinking about¡ª¡ªhow come such a r*scal and b*stard manifested the God''s will underground? How come he is the Lord of huge bear tribe?


    Under the glare of Gouras and Toles, Zhang Tie adjusted the gears for the third time. This time, he input his own birthday¡ª¡ª8730326, namely March 26th, 873th year of Black Iron Calendar.


    After inputting this date, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth as he pressed down the metal handle...


    This time, the seven metal gears didn''t rotate any more.


    After rustles and slightly jarring frictions between the machine and metal, the metal key box slightly opened like a blossom...


    The furious expression in the eyes of Gouras and Toles finally disappeared; instead, they watched the metal box opening one layer after another like blossoming in complicated looks. After bowing towards Zhang Tie, Gouras, Toles and Pontiff Sarlin left the main tent before the box fully opened.


    As the item in the box was left to the very person by Pontiff Elzida, according to the will of the great prophet, only the one who opened it could see it.


    The moment Zhang Tie caught sight of that item in the box, he was stunned...

 479 A Letter from Great Prophe

    Chapter 479: A Letter from Great Prophet


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    The three elders of huge bear tribe waited outside the tent...


    At this moment, the camp of 100,000 soldiers was like a sleeping monster. However, it was still boisterous in the relics canyon which was a bit farther away. The huge bonfire rose high and reflected the sky, while tens of thousands of people were singing and dancing around the bonfires to celebrate their rebirth.


    Seven huge stone vats were standing in the middle of those people. At this moment, the vats had become their sacred objects with numerous people praying around them. More and more people were crowding around the vats. They wanted to touch the sacred objects that had witnessed God''s will.


    Another group of people were sitting on the edge of the camp of the huge bear tribe. They didn''t go to sleep after hearing the sleep mort, unlike the soldiers of huge bear tribe. Neither did they celebrate like the people in the relics canyon. They were just sitting outside of the cordon of the camp silently, watching the main tent from over there.


    They had followed Peter here when Peter was welcomed by the soldiers of huge bear tribe. Nobody had asked them to come. After being stopped by the soldiers of huge bear tribe, they just sat silently like sculptures outside the camp, with legs crossed and eyes fixed in the direction where Peter had disappeared.


    The group of people included soldiers from other tribes, pioneers and other various people. They would never have gathered together in the past. However, they converged now like water. Although it was silent, a great, invisible power was gradually surging.


    The three elders slowly moved their eyes from the relics canyon to this group of people. They gazed at those people for a long time.


    "I feel a great power, which is even more powerful and stable than that of dare-to-die corps!" Toles sighed, "If something happened to the person in the tent, these people would launch an attack towards the camp immediately. Even though they cannot defeat the 100,000 elite soldiers of our tribe, they would still attack us at any cost. None of them would retreat until the last one''s blood had ran dry. If we had to clean up such a group of people, even though we outnumber them and our individual troops'' fighting strength is higher than that of theirs, we would have to pay at least the same price as them!"


    "This is the power of belief. That person is God in their eyes!" Pontiff Sarlin said.


    "Honestly, numerous people have already witnessed that man''s manifestation of the God''s will. I still find it hard to believe that he turned a common tin kettle into an inexhaustible sweet spring!" Elder Gouras shook his head, "If it were true, I should have taken a look down there myself!"


    "Are you sure that you won''t act like those people after seeing it?" Elder Toles pointed at the batch of people who were still waiting there silently.


    "I don''t know. Perhaps I will see through the trick. Perhaps, I might also be trapped. In this world, even the most mysterious alchemy follows its own natural rules which can never be overridden. Even 3-in-1 strength, the most powerful legendary strength, comes from the accumulation, improvement and enlightenment of knights after long-term cultivation. But this completely violates natural rules. Unbelievable!" Elder Gouras said in a solemn manner.


    "With rules we can achieve great power, but we should also show awe and humility towards unknowns. We should know that we''re trivial!" Pontiff Sarlin said while his eyes were as profound as the stars all over the sky. "Since ancient times, nothing could be more eternal and greater than these stars. I have a premonition that what we see today might have an unimaginable influence in the future. Perhaps, in future, when people talk about what happened today, the trivial person in our eyes now will seem brilliant. However, we will be his humble subordinates..."


    After hearing Elder Sarlin''s words, Gouras and Toles drew in a cold breath at the same time. Gouras and Toles both knew what this premonition from Elder Sarlin indicated, as he could understand the rules of time and space. As if they seemingly understood something, they then threw their eyes once again towards those who were celebrating around the bonfires in the relics canyon with their hands touching the vats, and that group of people who were sitting silently outside the military camp.


    After thinking for a short while, Elder Toles asked Sarlin, "Are we really attacking Eschyle City tomorrow? If we fight the iron bear tribe, the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness will topple over. Additionally, a big problem would arise. Although our tribe is powerful, we''re not able to unify the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness using force."


    "Are we smarter than our great prophet Pontiff?" Elder Sarlin asked.


    Gouras and Toles both shook their heads.


    "Can we see farther than our great prophet?" Sarlin continued.


    Gouras and Toles shook their heads once again.


    "Do you think that our great prophet betrayed Slavs?"


    Gouras and Toles shook their heads forcefully. They would never doubt the great prophet''s affection and responsibility towards Slavs. If not for the great prophet Elzida, all the Slavs would have been reduced to dust and demon''s food in history.


    "If so, let''s believe in and follow the decision of our great prophet, who''s more intelligent and more concerned about the fate of the Slavs!" Elder Sarlin set the tone, "If that person from the prophecy of our great prophet does what is within our expectations, he would be nothing different than us. If so, how do you expect him to do what we cannot do?"


    "Pontiff Sarlin, before he opened the box were you also unsure about whether he was the right person?" Gouras asked.


    "As the maze being interwoven with time and space is too mysterious, what I see and confirm are not always definitely true. For the lives and futures of the 100,000 soldiers of huge bear tribe, I have to stay modest and sensible. But at this time, I feel we have no reason to doubt at all."


    "What on earth is in the box?" Elder Toles finally asked.


    "Honestly, I don''t know. The great prophet didn''t want us to see it, so how could anyone know?" Pontiff Sarlin said in a sad mood.


    ...


    When the three elders were pondering about the item in the box, Zhang Tie became stunned about the item inside the box.


    Inside the box was no top secret item, no magic weapon, not even some valuable jewelry. It was only a piece of paper. That''s right, it was a tidy piece of parchment on a black piece of flannelette with words on it. It seemed to be a letter.


    After gazing at it for a short while, Zhang Tie picked up that piece of parchment, spread it and started to read the words on it. Although the piece of parchment had changed in color, its words were still very clear.


    After glancing at just the first line of words, Zhang Tie almost sprung up. It was written tidily in Chinese. But what made Zhang Tie amazed was not that the great prophet could write beautiful Chinese characters, but the contents of that first line.


    ¡ª¡ªHello, Zhang Tie. Perhaps, I should call you Peter Hamplester. I''m Elzida.


    After reading the first line, it was like Zhang Tie had been struck by a lightning bolt. In a split second, he felt goosebumps all over him as his face changed.


    The key box might be a very delicate trick. However, this letter was definitely not a trick. Because even Zhang Tie''s parents and his friends in Hidden Dragon Island didn''t know about his whereabouts, not to mention that he had changed his appearance. Therefore, this letter was real. It had really been written by Elzida, the great prophet.


    After being confused for about two minutes, Zhang Tie recovered his composure. He then continued to read the letter, full of awe.


    ¡ª¡ªDon''t be amazed about how I know you. When you are able to see through time and space, you will also know what will happen in the future, like me.


    ¡ª¡ªDon''t admire me as my road is very difficult and lonely, which doesn''t fit you. When you read this letter humans won''t need spectators, like me, who can see through time and space. What they''ll need are brave warriors, who can embark on a blood-filled pathway with sabers and swords for the survival of the human race!

 480 The Contents of the Letter

    Chapter 480: The Contents of the Letter


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    "The third holy war between humans and demons will be far more miserable than that of the former two holy wars. I know you must want to know about the result of the third holy war and whether humans win the war or not. I can only tell you that, in the long course of history, I''ve seen too many variations of the future. None of them is fixed. The power of the demons and humans involved in this holy war has gone beyond that which I could predict."


    "To a certain degree, I''m a spectator on the riverside of history. In other words, I''m just an ant on a huge tree. Compared to the ants walking on the ground, I can see farther than them, because I''m in a three-dimensional world and they are in a two-dimensional world!"


    "However some humans and demons are like birds that can fly into the air from the top of a tree. Just as ants on the ground cannot imagine the world in the eyes of an ant on the tree, the ant on the tree also cannot imagine the world in the eyes of the birds. Neither can they predict where the birds are headed for, because birds are in an even more complex world of time and space!"


    "You''re that bird. Perhaps you can grow into an eagle. When you read this letter, you''ll still be climbing on the ground, not having any concept of the sky. However, you will finally grow into a bird. Because you have a great power that is much more powerful than that of many other birds, even if you are on the ground, I still cannot clearly see your road ahead."


    "Don''t worry, I could not see too many of your secrets. I could only identify your two faces and your names in different situations, as your secrets are covered by a great power. There are so many unknowns and awesome things in the universe. Sometimes we have to admit that we''re small and ignorant. It''s your great power that reminds me of my own smallness and ignorance."


    "Therefore, compared to your curiosity, I care more about the fate of the Slavs in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Because I''m also a part of the Slavs, all of my friends and relatives and those who love me are continuing their bloodlines and finding other ways to live."


    "If I were a commoner and could only be responsible for my own fate, I would choose to accept everything as arranged by fate. However, when I climb up the tree and see the fate of those Slavs on the ground, I start to feel a heavy burden on me. I want to do something for these people who share the same bloodline as me. When I see a flood in front of their path, I want to lead them to a relatively safer place!"


    "Of course, this is not enough. When the third holy war arrives, no place is going to be safe in this world. Not even in remote places, where it''s far away from the Eastern Continent. Therefore, I left my prophecy to them and let them wait for your arrival in the most pious manner!"


    "Please forgive me for my selfishness as an old Slav. I''m sorry for signing this contract with you without your consent. However, I have to do this. Because in the future that I see all the hundreds of millions of Slavs wail and die, which makes me sleepless, sorrowful and despaired. Only a great power, which I cannot touch and see, could prevent this from happening. Only by being influenced and covered by that power can the destinies of all the Slavs in the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness be changed!"


    "You have that power!"


    "I know that you will come to Ice and Snow Wilderness sooner or later."


    "Therefore, I leave the prophecy and choose an unknown road for all the Slavs. Compared to the cruelty that I could see, an unknown road is my best reward and the last hope for Slavs to survive on!"


    "When you read this letter, the Slavs in Ice and Snow Wilderness will have already split up into different tribes. After hundreds of years, although the Slavs in Ice and Snow Wilderness still respect me, more and more Slavs will have started to put their own demands and interests in front of my prophecy. Whereas, no matter what, the warriors of huge bear tribe and the priests in the hieron will follow my orders and carry forward my spirit until you arrive."


    "The entire Ice and Snow Wilderness is my gift to you. Since you''ve opened that box, all the warriors of huge bear tribe and all the priests in the hieron will firmly believe in you, follow you, advocate for you and be loyal to you. They will be your greatest assistance and help you ascend to the throne, even the altar!"


    "Promise me that you won''t abandon the Slavs who will be loyal to you forever from today. Do not leave huge bear tribe. Please keep them hopeful. I beg this of you. If you have to leave Ice and Snow Wilderness one day, please keep more Slavs alive and sustain this human race. I know you have the ability to create such a wonder, as I''ve seen it!"


    "Your promise would comfort me most!"


    "¡ª¡ªJuly 21, 617th year of Black Iron Calendar"


    After reading this letter, Zhang Tie blanked out on the chair. He was completely confused by this letter. Although Zhang Tie knew that the great power mentioned in the letter was Castle of Black Iron and that small tree, he really didn''t know what else in him could awe Elzida.


    ''Elzida actually choose Castle of Black Iron, not me. If not for Castle of Black Iron, I know that I would still be a teenager struggling for food and survival in Blackhot City, or a trivial person in the Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace. If not for Castle of Black Iron, I wouldn''t be qualified to have Elzida'' trust at all.''


    Zhang Tie knew the reason clearly, although it hurt his self-esteem.


    Gradually, Zhang Tie felt his hands getting slightly hot. He found the letter was burning itself. Therefore, Zhang Tie hurriedly threw it onto the ground. The piece of parchment then gradually became ashes.


    It seemed that Elzida had already treated the paper with some special method. The moment it was exposed to the air or was touched for a few minutes, it would burn itself. Therefore, besides Zhang Tie, nobody would know of the contents in the letter any more.


    ''I''ve suddenly become the ruler of a tribe.'' Zhang Tie still felt like he was in a dream.


    The smallest population of a bear tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness was above ten million. As the most powerful bear tribe, huge bear tribe had more than ten million people for sure.


    ''Am I able to take responsibility for the fate of more than ten million people?"


    When this question appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind, Zhang Tie instantly felt great stress, and even great fear. However, Zhang Tie slowly recovered his composure.


    ''Now that I know the worst case scenario is the elimination of all the Slavs, no matter how I try it can''t be worse than that. Therefore, I don''t have to worry about that.''


    Zhang Tie felt more relaxed now. He became spirited and intelligent once again...


    But at that moment, Zhang Tie was yet to understand that being relaxed was the most difficult state to be in for him. Once he became relaxed, it meant that he''d become confident about being the ruler of huge bear tribe, and he started to loosen the reins on his rich imagination.


    After eliminating his doubt, Zhang Tie started to imagine the various benefits of having a huge tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness. His eyes gleamed.


    Zhang Tie then called in the three elders.


    The moment they entered, they caught sight of the ashes on the ground and felt Zhang Tie''s calmness as he sat on the main seat of the clan elders.


    "Elzida left a letter to me in the box. He explained that prophecy to me. After I read it, it burned itself!" Zhang Tie smiled after seeing them glancing at the ashes.


    ''The great prophet Elzida left a letter to this man and explained the prophecy to him?'' The three elders became slightly stunned. After that, they became relieved as they let out a sigh.


    "How many supplies has huge bear tribe brought here?" Zhang Tie asked Toles.


    "The supplies are enough for a three month fight outside!" Toles didn''t know why Zhang Tie had asked that. He just answered it honestly.


    "I have some followers outside. Distribute one month''s worth of supplies to them and tell them I''ve already become the clan elder of huge bear tribe. If they want to follow me, they can join huge bear tribe. Make each of them carry at least one two-hundred kilogram bloody-grain granite piece to huge bear tribe from the grey valley and wait for me outside!"

 481 The Power in Hand

    Chapter 481: The Power in Hand


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    The manifestation of God''s will was really shocking. So, from then on, more and more people started to follow him.


    In this age, the so called ''follower'' was a special title, which was more special than the retinue and bodyguard. A retinue and bodyguard could be employed by money. The employees had to follow the master''s orders completely within the scope of their duties. Nevertheless, followers were spontaneous. The relationship between them and the one whom they followed was very sophisticated. Sometimes, this relationship was both casual and flexible as the followers could leave at any time. Nobody forced them to do anything. Sometimes, this relationship became very sacred.


    In Hebrew, the relationship between followers and the one being followed evoked many connotations. The simplest relationship between them was like that between fans and their idol. An intermediate relationship could be like that of team leaders and team members. And the strongest relationship between them was close to the strict relationship between masters and apprentices. The followers that suited the third relationship were gathered by the same belief.


    Usually, the relationship between followers and the one being followed could change freely between the above three relationships, and the three types of relationships often coexisted within one group of followers. However, followers who gathered from the same belief were rarely seen as they could almost sacrifice themselves for their belief.


    Zhang Tie''s followers fitted the last type. Because of this, Zhang Tie''s words had a great amount of influence over these followers.


    On the second day, before the sun rose and the Faerie Dragon star in the eastern sky had disappeared, over ten thousand of Zhang Tie''s followers outside the camp of huge bear tribe had already gone.


    Zhang Tie stood outside the camp in a set of thin clothes and stared at the place where the followers had been last night. Meanwhile, he tightly pursed his lips with perseverance.


    Before daybreak the breeze was still a bit cold. Additionally, Zhang Tie''s clothes and the hair on his forehead were messy. At this moment, he looked more like a casual neighboring teenager. After getting up he looked in the mirror and found a ring of fine hair around his lips, making him look more mature.


    Although it wasn''t daybreak yet, the military camp over the Ice and Snow Wilderness had already woken up. They were preparing for the coming war. 100,000 tents were pitched close to each other and went on for miles like steel chains across the ground. It was like a terrifying war machine.


    A vanguard of 3000 soldiers rushed out from the farthest camp under the gaze of Zhang Tie. Even though they were far away, Zhang Tie could still sense the slight earthquake caused by them.


    This was the strongest maneuvering power in Ice and Snow Wilderness!


    ''This is also my power!''


    Until now Zhang Tie still felt like it was an illusion, even when he saw the first batch of cavalrymen leaving the camp like a tide.


    In the Ice and Snow Wilderness very few tribes could establish 100,000 elite cavalrymen, which indicated the real fighting strength and strong background of the huge bear tribe.


    ''Can I really hold this power?'' Zhang Tie asked himself as he looked at the vanguards gradually disappearing in the distance and the continuous military camp below. Zhang Tie''s eyes gradually became penetrating while a flame was jumping in his heart...


    At this moment, Roslav and Waajid came to him.


    These two people had stayed by his side for a long time and they had witnessed how he''d manifested the "God''s will" many times underground. They were most loyal to Zhang Tie and worshipped him with a blind and crazy trust. Therefore, Zhang Tie let them be the leaders of the bear-killing camp.


    Zhang Tie remembered when he was chased underground like a dog by a LV 10 strong fighter and he''d almost lost his life. By comparison, he now had two LV 10 strong fighters as his own bodyguards. How amazing it was!


    This was Zhang Tie''s first order for adjusting personnel positions and his first time executing the power of clan elder since promising to be the clan elder of huge bear tribe. Roslav and Waajid were naturally dispatched to Zhang Tie''s side. This order also made Roslav and Waajid thrilled.


    In Zhang Tie''s opinion, as the clan elder he should enjoy the right to make personnel decisions, as well as having the right to control resources and military. At least he felt good being the clan elder yesterday. Zhang Tie had tried these three rights yesterday and found that all of them were effective.


    "My Lord, your clothes and armor are ready!"


    Being addressed this way for the first time in reality, Zhang Tie was filled with mixed emotions. He had not imagined that his narcissistic illusion in Castle of Black Iron two years ago could be a reality.


    Roslav and Waajid brought over the new costume for Zhang Tie. Now that Zhang Tie had become the clan elder of huge bear tribe, his clothes as a pioneer and the warrior''s clothes prepared by Sabrina didn''t suit him anymore. In Ice and Snow Wilderness, as the clan elder of bear tribe, he had to wear a special costume so as to manifest his authority and position.


    Slavs worshipped the colors red, black and yellow. It was said that the powerful Slav Empire''s national flag had had the three colors before the Catastrophe. From then on, the costumes of the most honorable people in Ice and Snow Wilderness had been made with the three colors.


    Red pants the color of brilliant velvet, delicate black edging with golden decorative patterns, a shirt with lining and a high rising collar on a high-necked knight''s coat which could cover the back of the head...


    Soon after putting on the clothes came the armor. Zhang Tie was custom fitted with a set of black titanium alloy chained armor. A roaring bear head was on the chest portion of the armor.


    After putting the black armor on him, Roslav and Waajid buckled a golden woolen cloak onto Zhang Tie''s shoulders.


    Zhang Tie was relatively handsome within Ice and Snow Wilderness. After putting on this set of armor, he instantly became dignified, noble and brilliant. Even Roslav, Waajid and the other guards'' eyes glittered with an admiring look. Thankfully, after one month of experience as a d*mn father underground, he had already become immune to such gazes and expressions. Otherwise, he would have felt conceited.


    "My Lord, nobody fits this costume better than you in Ice and Snow Wilderness!" Roslav said sincerely.


    "I wonder, do elders of other bear tribes wear this?"


    "They pretty much look like this when they are going to lead their troops. If not, they could take off their armor and put on one Slav grand duke robe!"


    Zhang Tie nodded. This suit of armor was truly nice, from its color, pattern, and protective uses to its degree of comfort. Additionally, it matched Zhang Tie''s dark tearer gloves very well. If he wore them and joined the battle, nobody would think that they were not part of the matching set.


    "Let''s go!" After dressing up Zhang Tie walked out of his tent closely followed by Roslav, Waajid and a team of guards.


    "Which weapon do you want, my Lord?" Waajid asked.


    "The battle hammer that I used in the death game!" Zhang Tie replied. He knew that his biggest advantage at this moment was his great strength, which fit the craziest weapon.


    "That''s the bear-killing hammer of wild bear tribe. The battle hammer of huge bear tribe is Thor''s hammer, which fits the most powerful and fierce in the tribe. It''s even 118 kilograms heavier than bear-killing hammer!"


    "No problem. Go fetch me the Thor''s hammer!" Zhang Tie nodded. After death game, he lit another two surging points and further released his potential. Even with over 100 kilograms more to carry, he would not feel that it was heavy at all.


    Waajid nodded as he inclined his head and whispered to one of his guards. After that, the guard left with three people.


    ...


    At this time, the army of huge bear tribe had built a temporary drill ground in the wild.


    5000 strong cavalrymen were riding on their xiphodons with long spears and waiting for the arrival of Zhang Tie silently.


    The 5000 cavalrymen occupied an area equivalent to that of over 20,000 average cavalrymen. They were divided into five tidy square formations and were standing straight quietly. Occasionally, the breathing sound of the xiphodons could be heard from under the metal protective armor of their heads, like working the bellows. The xiphodons exhaled hot air through the pores on the protective armor of the nose like furnace steamers. The white steam in the icy air felt pretty powerful.


    These were the most powerful xiphodon cavalrymen in Ice and Snow Wilderness¡ªthe "King''s Knights Regiment" from huge bear tribe. If the 100,000 cavalrymen of huge bear tribe were the most powerful manoeuvring power in Ice and Snow Wilderness, the 5000 xiphodon cavalries were the most powerful living tanks among the 100,000 cavalries.


    At the sight of the 5000 xiphodon cavalrymen, all the high-ranking government officials and heads of the allied forces who were invited to pay a visit to the military drill, including Gangula, changed their expressions when they recalled the legend about the King''s Knights Regiment...


    Salem almost passed out at the sight of the 5000 xiphodons. Grey eagle tribe was not even qualified to have one xiphodon. The wild bear tribe, which was closest to grey eagle tribe, only had hundreds of xiphodons.


    ...


    With the expectant public outside, Zhang Tie appeared in his new uniform on the other side of the drill ground with Sarlin, Toles and Gouras.


    Zhang Tie looked completely different to his previous downtrodden appearance. His costume, which could only be worn by around ten people in Ice and Snow Wilderness, was more persuasive than anything else.


    "This team is called King''s Knights Regiment because it was established for you, the king. This team will preserve and follow the doctrines and regulations of the great prophet like knights and wait for your arrival..." Elder Sarlin explained the background of this team to Zhang Tie as they walked forward.


    Listening calmly, Zhang Tie felt his heart pounding inside.


    "In the last hundreds of years, positions like regimental commander and clan elder of huge bear tribe were always vacant. All the affairs in the tribe were managed by the seniors. Previously, this knights regiment could only be matched with three deputy regimental commanders at most. In accordance with the great prophet''s advice, after you arrived and opened the key box, you were to be the regimental commander of this knights regiment. Except for you, nobody else is qualified to command this troop from today onwards. This armed force is under your direct affiliation. They are waiting for your review. Here''s your time..."


    When they entered the drill camp and drew close to those xiphodons, the three seniors all stopped.


    In front of Zhang Tie was hundreds of meters of long, plain road and rows of xiphodon cavalrymen on his left hand side.


    After taking a deep breath, under the gaze of the public, Zhang Tie carried his terrifying battle hammer and passed by the formation with firm and steady steps, while inclining his head towards those strong cavalrymen and xiphodons.


    ...

 482 Thors Hammer

    Chapter 482: Thor''s Hammer


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    The xiphodons looked frightening in their steel armor. Combined with the knights also in steel battle armor and holding four to five meter long sharp spears in their hands, their assault power could only be imagined...


    Now only the rustling of Zhang Tie''s battle boots on the ground could be heard. When Zhang Tie passed by, all the warriors on xiphodons in each square formation raised their spears high. Meanwhile, they rotated their heads slowly along with Zhang Tie''s pace.


    The atmosphere at present looked majestic and solemn.


    Zhang Tie was silent. After passing by all of them, he came to the high platform which was specially prepared for him. Standing there, Zhang Tie glanced at the cavalrymen. The sacred totem of a bloody and fiery curtain behind him immediately rushed up over 200 meters high in the sky like a flying flame. At the same time, Zhang Tie lifted the Thor''s hammer with his right hand firmly.


    It was silent for four to five seconds, and then¡ª¡ª


    "Wula..."


    "Wula..."


    "Wula..."


    The overwhelming roars sounded at once. Gradually, the entire camp was filled with this sound...


    All the warriors saw the raised banner of their Lord. At this moment, each warrior of huge bear tribe became spirited...


    ...


    Lifting the Thor''s hammer, Zhang Tie looked around as he roared, "From today on, you will no longer be known as King''s Knights Regiment. Drop that womanly name. That name doesn''t match how you''ve waited for hundreds of years. From now on, your troop will follow the name of my battle hammer. Now, tell me your name!"


    "Thor''s Hammer..."


    "Thor''s Hammer..."


    "Thor''s Hammer..."


    The 5000 xiphodon cavalrymen exerted their full strength as they roared. Responding to their excited masters, even the 5000 xiphodons started to bluster. The raucous sounds changed the atmosphere among the whole audience.


    Now, Pontiff Sarlin''s and the other two elders'' eyes began to gleam. They all understood why the great prophet had left that prophecy...


    Zhang Tie also became thrilled because he knew that he''d finally attained a strong power that he could dominate. Elzida didn''t cheat him. He''d truly left many good things to Zhang Tie.


    ...


    One hour later, the huge bear tribe''s army of 100,000 warriors set out and rolled towards the southeast in an overwhelming manner.


    On such an occasion, all the military officials and heads of the allied forces were standing on the small mountain slope. They felt goose bumps all over while their limbs turned cold. 100,000 warriors of huge bear tribe were heading for Eschyle City. Why were they? Was Peter, who had just been the previous clan elder of huge bear tribe, going to conquer the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness by force?


    In the past ten or more hours, from last night to this morning, what had happened made everybody confused. Having still not recovered from the pleasure of escaping, everybody was in shock and frustration once again.


    Peter manifested God''s will underground...


    Peter became the clan elder of huge bear tribe and made the prophecy of Elzida come true...


    The first thing that Peter did after becoming the clan elder of huge bear tribe was to lead his army towards Eschyle City...


    All these were big events, especially the last two, which could almost influence the entire history of the Ice and Snow Wilderness. These consecutive events really shocked the witnesses.


    Everyone peered at Gangular''s sour face, which looked entirely like a bitter gourd...


    Over 6000 warriors of wild bear tribe became Peter''s followers. They left wild bear tribe without a word. This loss would definitely fall on Peter and Sabrina, whose infamous reputation was known throughout the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness. She and Peter escaped together with some stone vats. Curiously, Peter even accepted her. How would her father feel if he was told about that news.


    The moment he recalled wild bear tribe, Gangula would feel furious. When Peter started to manifest God''s will underground, Gangula had already sent a message to wild bear tribe through remote sensing crystal, hoping his father would pay attention to that. Unexpectedly, the authenticity of his report didn''t arouse his father''s attention. Instead, he''d only got the sneers of his half-brothers, who had the same father as him but different mothers.


    "My dear younger brother, even though you are trapped underground, you don''t have to make up such a poor lie for the entire tribe to save you. Why did you fabricate that someone manifested the God''s will there? It seems that you must be living poorly underground. However, please be reassured. Given that we have hundreds of thousands of warriors and Sabrina and you are both trapped there, we will come to save you. However, you have to wait for a few days before the tunnel is dredged!"


    This was the reply from wild bear tribe. Because of those arrogant and prejudiced idiots, wild bear tribe had missed many things in the relics canyon this time. In the end, a series of major events happened in the Ice and Snow Wilderness. However, wild bear tribe could only watch on the sidelines silently as they let a good opportunity slip by, which could never be forgiven.


    For other small tribes, it was normal for such events to happen as they didn''t have the power to be involved. However, it was different for wild bear tribe. In the eyes of others, wild bear tribe was slow-witted at making decisions.


    After Peter had come out for one day, iron bear tribe and wild bear tribe had already shown negativity towards him.


    ''Is that guy really that powerful besides being able to manifest the God''s will?''


    Gangula felt his heart racing. He knew it was just a beginning. After witnessing Zhang Tie''s manifestation of God''s will underground and the "truths" that Zhang Tie had declared, those saved by Peter would spread everywhere. No one could stop them from spreading. As a result, Peter''s influence in the medium and small sized tribes in the south of Ice and Snow Wilderness would gradually increase and finally reach an unimaginable level.


    If Peter were alone, wild bear tribe would still have the chance to conquer the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness. However, Peter had become the clan elder of huge bear tribe, and was the one in the prophecy of Elzida who would save all the Slavs and bring them to the brilliant road...


    Gangula suddenly oozed cold sweat all over at once.


    After a cold breeze came, Gangula shivered all over. He then recovered his composure and found that the army of huge bear tribe had long disappeared on the horizon in the distance.


    ...


    "Go!" Gangula waved his hand weakly as he brought them back to the relics canyon.


    After the underground tunnel was dredged, there were still many valuables to be discovered in the relics. Therefore, they didn''t leave. The allied forces especially, which had lost many people, needed some valuables to "comfort" themselves for sure. However, there would not be as many people entering the tunnel compared to that of the previous time.


    Some of the pioneers left, and some didn''t.


    However, at this moment the most important thing for the warriors of the allied forces and the pioneers was not the possible wealth from the relics, but an altar, which could be used to serve the stone vats which had consecrated the God''s will.


    As per the requests of numerous people, Peter let Sabrina take away six of the seven stone vats, leaving one here so that people could commemorate and worship it. They agreed to build a magnificent altar in the relics canyon so that they could put that stone vat on it...


    70,000 to 80,000 people were excavating stones voluntarily and paving the ground, while some craftsmen among the allied forces and the pioneers were quarrelling loudly...


    ...


    "Peter is a pioneer. Therefore, this altar should be built by our pioneers and constructed in our style!"


    "No way, Peter is the clan elder of huge bear tribe. He''s a Slav. Therefore, this altar should be built by us. How can it be handled by you outsiders!"


    "As we all know, Peter is a pioneer and a so-called ''outsider'' in your words. He was even wanted by your police. How can he be a Slav?"


    "Even though he wasn''t before, he is now..." said the craftsman of the allied forces seriously. "How could such a great person be a pioneer? Remarkably, being a pioneer was just his temporary status cover-up. In the myths, didn''t all the great people like Peter disguise themselves as shepherds, beggars or other humble civilians?"


    "Farce..." the pioneers became so agitated that they sprung up directly from the ground. They looked like they''d just been robbed of some jewellery. "Peter was a pioneer when he came to Ice and Snow Wilderness by Polar Light. He even had pioneer friends and partners..."


    ...


    Hearing the quarrel between the craftsmen of the allied forces and those pioneers, Gangula frowned. He wanted to say something, but he couldn''t...


    ...


    Two hours after the army of huge bear tribe had left the relics Canyon, Eschyle City received the news through a special channel about 1000 kilometers away and instantly became flurried. As a result, the whole city imposed a curfew in the daytime...


    Soon, the news was spread across Eschyle City...


    100,000 warriors of huge bear tribe are going to attack us...

 483 Returning to Grey Eagle Tribe

    Chapter 483: Returning to Grey Eagle Tribe


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    After leaving the relics canyon and crossing the river of Fitjar Estuary, the army of huge bear tribe had travelled over 500 kilometers before dusk. When they arrived at an expanse of wilderness over 30 kilometers away from the grey eagle tribe, they finally rested there.


    It was really a rapid speed for an army of 100,000 soldiers to travel over 500 kilometers in a day across the Wilderness.


    Zhang Tie didn''t stay in the camp of the army. Instead, he led a group of xiphodon cavalrymen towards grey eagle tribe together with O''Laura and the cavalries from grey eagle tribe.


    Over one month ago, O''Laura had brought out 400 cavalries, 200 of which belonged to her while the other 200 belonged to Salem. However, more than 60 people had left the team, five of which were killed in the battle underground while the rest became Zhang Tie''s followers and had voluntarily left grey eagle tribe and O''Laura and moved towards grey hill...


    This time, many soldiers of the eastern tribes who joined the allied forces action became Zhang Tie''s followers. They gave everything that they had and chose an utterly different path. Almost one in six people from each tribe became Zhang Tie''s followers.


    Except for those who didn''t return to grey eagle tribe, the remaining 330 or so odd cavalries had nothing to do with Salem. After all they''d experienced, if the soldiers of grey eagle tribe still wanted to stay with Salem and his dad, they would be especially stupid.


    Before she left the tribe, O''Laura, Ollier and Juventus'' forces were in equilibrium in grey eagle tribe. However, the balance had been destroyed at this moment.


    Because of Zhang Tie''s words, ''You''re my mate, you don''t have to kneel down in front of me'', everyone simply knew that O''Laura was Zhang Tie''s woman. Additionally, Zhang Tie was the legendary clan elder of huge bear tribe. Naturally, O''Laura would become the woman of a clan elder. Within Ice and Snow Wilderness, such a woman was destined to be a duchess. If O''Laura was to have a child with Zhang Tie, the kid would be qualified as a ''childe''.


    Compared to O''Laura''s great status, the two elders of grey eagle tribe were only like wealthy countryside landlords.


    How could two countryside landlords match the duchess of a head of a bear tribe?


    Additionally, O''Laura''s reputation as Goddess Vat was definitely more influential than that of Ollier and Juventus in the tribes in the east of Ice and Snow Wilderness. They were not on the same level.


    Therefore, in this case, the most active one today was not the army of huge bear tribe, not Zhang Tie, not O''Laura, but Salem. While the army and the soldiers of grey eagle tribe took a rest, Salem kept galloping on his horse and rushed back to the base of grey eagle tribe.


    As a small tribe, grey eagle tribe had no expensive long-distance communicating device. In order to let his father prepare as early as possible and survive Ollier family, Salem had to explain the current situation clearly to his dad before O''Laura and Zhang Tie returned.


    As Ollier had wanted to kill Zhang Tie when Zhang Tie entered grey eagle tribe, Zhang Tie could easily sweep the whole Ollier clan, not to mention the conflict between Ollier and O''Laura.


    How intriguing it was! Nobody would have imagined that an Eschyle City wanted murder from over one month ago could become the clan elder of huge bear tribe and the very one in the prophecy of Elzida the great prophet. Salem felt that the whole Ollier clan was played by the God.


    Compared to Salem''s anxious emotions, the other soldiers of grey eagle tribe, including Setton, felt like they''d won a battle.


    Although this movement of allied forces had not reached grey eagle tribe and O''Laura''s target, compared to other tribes, even wild bear tribe, grey eagle tribe was already a big winner. O''Laura being the wife of the clan elder of huge bear tribe, to be honest, was definitely more valuable than receiving one or two million gold coins for grey eagle tribe.


    ...


    With the ground-breaking boom caused by the hoofs of xiphodons, the contour of grey eagle tribe gradually appeared in front of everyone''s eyes.


    This time, Zhang Tie imagined that O''Laura would deal with the two old guys fiercely. However, when they arrived at the gate of grey eagle tribe, Zhang Tie''s illusion broke apart.


    Juventus and Ollier, who were arrogant previously, were kneeling outside the gate of grey eagle tribe with dozens of their family members, old and young.


    Among those people, the eldest were Juventus and Ollier while the youngest were four or five year-old kids. Because of their fear, the adults looked pale while the kids, being pressed onto the ground, were struggling and crying.


    It was already November, so in the evening the temperature declined sharply. Wearing an unlined garment, Juventus and Ollier, who had always lived noble lives, were quivering on the ground. What a poor situation! God knew how long had they been kneeling there.


    Salem was also kneeling among them. Beside him was a 30 year-old woman and two kids. One was about seven years old while the other was about four or five. When over 50 xiphodons in steel battle armor appeared in front of them, the kids were so scared that they forgot to even cry. Instead they kept clinging onto their parents'' arms while quivering.


    Right behind these people, almost all the residents of grey eagle tribe had already come out. Standing in the distance, they were staring in front of them with sophisticated and dubious looks. Why had the two elders become so weak, waiting to be slaughtered outside the gate of the tribe.


    Standing alone behind Juventus'' and Ollier''s families, Elder Merkel was staring at the guards on xiphodons with a worried look too. He didn''t know how Zhang Tie would deal with Juventus and Ollier. He didn''t even know whether Zhang Tie would punish him. After all, he had planted bone-exploding needles on Zhang Tie''s body.


    Under the majesty of huge bear tribe, small tribes like grey eagle tribe didn''t even stand a chance to struggle under the hoofs of the xiphodons.


    All the cavalries stopped 20 meters away. Seeing a priest standing there, Roslav and Waajid instantly locked onto priest Merkel. It seemed that they were going to pounce at priest Merkel as soon as he intended to move.


    Raising their heads, Juventus and Ollier glanced at Zhang Tie, who was riding on a handsome xiphodon. They were instantly scared by the dignified tri-color costume of the bear tribe''s clan elder as they lowered their heads again. Meanwhile, they started to quiver.


    Zhang Tie slowly moved closer on his xiphodon. He didn''t stop until the sharp tusk of the xiphodon almost touched Juventus and Ollier. Sitting atop the xiphodon, he then started to glance at the two old guys.


    When Juventus knelt down, his fat body almost shrunk into a ball. Although it was very cold now, his back was still wet all over with sweat. Even Ollier, who was always known for being aggressive, also dared not raise his head. He even dared not to argue.


    Recalling how the two old guys in front of him had looked over one month ago and how they looked now, Zhang Tie, riding on the xiphodon, closed his eyes as he started to taste the sweetness of power for the first time in his life.


    After opening his eyes once again, Zhang Tie glanced at the crowd behind the two people. After gazing at the three to five year old kids for a short while and the frightened women for another short while, Zhang Tie''s killing intent instantly disappeared.


    Finally he fixed his eyes on the two old guys, like he was watching two pieces of dried, pickled flesh. He then instantly felt bored.


    "Now that you know your faults, stand up!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    After hearing this, Juventus and Ollier instantly raised their heads as they couldn''t even believe what they had heard. At this moment, Zhang Tie''s words were the most important to them. After exchanging glances at each other, Juventus and Ollier didn''t dare to continue kneeling down any more. They then struggled to stand up.


    Juventus''s legs might have been numb. The moment he picked himself up, he lost his balance and almost fell down on the ground once again. After standing up, Ollier also staggered.


    Following the two people in front, all their family members picked themselves up with confused looks on their faces.


    "Lord Peter, I..." Ollier wanted to say something.


    Zhang Tie was not interested in listening to him. Neither did he want to say anything. Instead, he shook the reins and drove his xiphodon away, closely followed by his guards and the cavalrymen of grey eagle tribe...


    Staring at Zhang Tie''s back with a confused look, Ollier and Juventus seemed unable to believe that Zhang Tie could let them go. However, many of the women behind them suddenly burst out in tears of relief...


    ...


    In the evening, after taking off his armor and cleansing himself, Zhang Tie changed into a loose robe. He was inside a small building of Juventus silently staring at the night sky in the distance.


    The best house in the entire grey eagle tribe belonged to Juventus. Therefore, Juventus moved out together with his family members and left the best place to Zhang Tie and his guards.


    Based on Zhang Tie''s current status, it was really a great honor for grey eagle tribe to have Zhang Tie stay in their midst. Of course, they had to arrange the best house for Zhang Tie out of respect.


    It was already November. Almost four months had passed since the event in Heavens Cold City. Zhang Tie still remembered that important message that he''d received after the event in Heavens Cold City. ''If Zhen Clan''s plot had not been exposed by me, according to the analysis of Professor Simon, all the eggs of the puppet worms in Heavens Cold City might have hatched by next year. As a result, millions of people in Heavens Cold City would become terrifying zombies and killing machines under the control of puppet worms. If so, the whole Langya Prefecture of Jinyun Country would fall into chaos. The third holy war between humans and demons would break out.''


    Although the plot was exposed, because the crisis caused by the demons had not been dissolved, Zhang Tie knew that the real holy war would arrive in two months at the latest. This holy war would be the longest, most severe winter ever experienced by the human race.


    ''How are my friends in Blackhot City now?''


    Zhang Tie remembered his friends, brothers and girlfriends in Blackhot City. A hint of sorrow flashed in his mind.


    No matter what, Zhang Tie had already decided he''d go back to Blackhot City after leaving the Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    At this moment, the door behind Zhang Tie was pushed open. Zhang Tie didn''t turn around. He knew who it was.


    After coming over to Zhang Tie, O''Laura tightly hugged him while pressing her face into his back.


    After a short while, Zhang Tie felt that his back was wet from O''Laura''s silent sobs.


    "It''s okay, it has all passed. Don''t cry..." Zhang Tie turned around and wiped the tears from O''Laura''s icy and delicate face.


    About one hour ago, Zhang Tie had already discovered the result of the conference of grey eagle tribe. Juventus and Ollier resigned from their positions as the tribal elders. They completely handed over their power to O''Laura. Besides this, Juventus even "donated" over 300,000 gold coins to grey eagle tribe. Ollier also urged his sons and trusted followers to vow to be loyal to O''Laura. O''Laura had officially become the tribal elder of grey eagle tribe.


    From today on, there was only one clan elder and one tribal elder in grey eagle tribe.


    All the conflicts in grey eagle tribe came to an end. The whole tribe was back in the hands of O''Laura.


    Before Zhang Tie could wipe off all the tears from O''Laura''s face, she hugged him tightly all of a sudden and started to kiss him madly, almost suffocating Zhang Tie. Finally, she pushed Zhang Tie directly onto the bed in the attic...


    ...


    Setton and Zhang Tie''s other guards were alert downstairs...


    After more than ten minutes, Setton heard O''Laura''s muffled, painful groans from upstairs. He then immediately let out a sigh¡ª¡ªthat makes sense!

 484 Spencer Clan I

    After the curfew was imposed in Eschyle City on November 6th, the whole city was shocked many times a day as the news about the army of the huge bear tribe was spread here constantly in the fastest speed.


    On the second day, although various news about the army of the huge bear tribe caused a great clamour in Eschyle City. What made most of the residents in Eschyle City more stunned were the various events happened in the former day.


    A pioneer called Peter became the clan elder of the huge bear tribe.


    The prophecy of the greatest Slavic prophet and pontiff came true.


    Before becoming the clan elder of the huge bear tribe, the pioneer called Peter saved tens of thousands of soldiers and pioneers of eastern allied forces and manifested God''s will for many times in the dilemma.


    Peter turned an average tin kettle into an endless sweet spring, which saved the lives of tens of thousands of people...


    All the wounds, after being touched by Peter''s hand, had healed...


    After the baptism of Peter, two powerful fighters even completed LV 2 sublimation at that moment...


    Peter also preached the immortal truth in the underground for tens of thousands of people...


    Being moved and aspired by the God''s will, tens of thousands of people became the followers of Peter...


    When these news were spread in Eschyle City, the whole city became clamorous like boiling oil in the pot. Although some news were spread through the people''s word of mouth, it lacked fidelity. Whereas, they covered a more sacred halos over Peter.


    At this moment, even no one could remember that the same guy called Peter was wanted by the police station over one month ago in the same city.


    As the army of the huge bear tribe drew closer, the whole Eschyle City became increasingly more intense while more and more hidden forces appeared.


    They were not common army of 100,000 soldiers, they were 100,000 elites from the huge bear tribe, among them, there were not only bear-killing camp, but also the most powerful xiphodon cavalries which were named as the Thor''s Hammer by Peter. What was more important, two elders and Pontiff Sarlin of the huge bear tribe also arrived. Although both the two elders were already knights, Pontiff Sarlin was more unpredictable. They were led by the very person in the prophecy of the greatest prophet and pontiff in the history of Slavs.


    After knowing these messages, commoners began gossiping about them; however, each member of Spencer Clan, especially the decision makers of the clan would feel a great stress.


    When the army of 100,000 warriors of the huge bear tribe left the Costari Plain, all the leaders of the bear tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness started to become intense.


    Historically, all the bear tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness were split from the huge bear tribe. Therefore, there was always a tribal chauvinism in the huge bear tribe, especially among the senior leaders of the huge bear tribe. There was always a tone that¡ª¡ªthe bear tribes should return all the tribes of Ice and Snow Wilderness to the huge bear tribe and realize the rejuvenation of Slavs once again.


    For the rulers of tribes, of course, this was hardly accepted. After being used to be a boss, they would feel unhappy to be others'' subordinates. Therefore, when the army of the huge bear tribe left Costari Plain, they started to be intense and prepared to defend.


    When the army of 100,000 warriors of the huge bear tribe headed for the the Haidela Glacier Crack in the south of Ice and Snow Wilderness, the rulers of Eschyle City let out a sigh and started to worry about the wild bear tribe. Some even expected to see the miserable outcome of those people in Haidela Glacier Crack. Unexpectedly, after being relaxed for a few days, they saw a sudden reversal.


    Peter became the clan elder of the huge bear tribe. After that, he led his army directly towards Eschyle City!


    The two events happened too fast, which left no time for Spencer clan to make any preparation. Hearing the army of 100,000 warriors of the huge bear tribe rolling towards Eschyle City, the iron bear tribe became flurried...


    No one thought that Peter was here for a travel or walk.


    Facing such a situation, under the great stress, all the decision makers of Spencer clan had to negotiate about the countermeasures around a table.


    ...


    On the evening of November 8th, all the big figures in Eschyle City gathered in the assembly hall of the iron bear castle of Eschyle City.


    Under the magnificent and luxurious high-end crystal lamps, the gleaming marble floor even made the assembly hall as magnificent a as palace. Due to the curfew, even a mosquito could not fly in within 50 square meters,


    As major figures had to discuss and determine about the fate of Spencer clan and the major events of Eschyle City in the future, the confidentiality of the assembly hall was very high. This was absolutely a closed room without any window. No one else except for the members of Spencer clan could enter.


    If Zhang Tie arrived here, he would be able to find the great difference between Spencer clan and the rulers of the other tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness. None of the members of Spencer clan in the assembly hall were barbarous at all. All those here were wearing exquisite western coat or uniforms with well-combed hair. If not that huge metal emblem which represented the iron bear tribe on one wall, there conference looked nothing different than the board of directors of big business groups.


    At this moment, this fully closed place was like a steaming pressure cooker. As the conference continued, an intense atmosphere started to spread each nook of the assembly hall...


    Just now, all the members of Spencer clan heard the cause of the two wanted circulars about Peter Hamplester delivered by the police station in Eschyle City from the police chief Hellno.


    After hearing the report, the assembly hall became quiet once again.


    Hellno was the third son of Tilin Spencer and the most powerful wolf of Spencer clan in ruling Eschyle City.


    After hearing the report, Tilin Spencer glanced at his third son and all the other silent audience, before opening his mouth in a muffled voice.


    "Now that this event has been solved well, why would Peter still attack Eschyle City at any risk!"


    Although Tilin intended to protect his own son, the other members of Spencer clan didn''t express any dissatisfaction about that. Because Tilin was right. Unless Peter was a lunatic or idiot, he would never launch a war at such a great cost.


    Obviously, a lunatic and idiot could not manifest the God''s will. Even the legendary God''s will was fabricated, he could never cheat hundreds of thousands of people without a high intelligence quotient and smart methods. A lunatic and idiot could never be the clan elder of the huge bear tribe and survive so long while being chased by people from demon snake island. As long as the three elders of the huge bear tribe were not blind, they would never allow a lunatic and idiot to lead the army of 100,000 warriors towards here.


    "What if the huge bear tribe had the plan to attack Eschyle City? What if Peter is just their puppet and excuse? This might be a performance led by the huge bear tribe. They pushed an average brat onto the throne and used him to unify the Ice and Snow Wilderness!" a member of Spence clan posed it seriously after thinking for a long while.


    After hearing this, everyone was shocked. It was really possible. However, the other members of Spencer clan also posed different opinions.


    "The prophecy of Elzida is very sacred in the huge bear tribe. They have been believing in this prophecy for hundreds of years. This is their spiritual belief. If someone wanted to do that in the huge bear tribe, he would be immediately opposed by Pontiff Sarlin. Additionally, if the huge bear tribe had long intended to conquer Eschyle City, they would not only assign 100,000 cavalries. At least, there should be a great quantity of infantries. Additionally, they had to carry enough instruments and weapons. However, according to our intelligence, no weapon or instrument was carried by the army of 100,000 warriors of the huge bear tribe at all.


    "Perhaps, it''s just a small trick. Gouras and Toles will be easy to deal with. If they have made enough preparations the moment they left Costari Plain, we would know what they want to do then. If so, we would make enough preparations to counterattack! Additionally, If they want to conquer Eschyle City, they don''t have to attack it; instead, they could only surround it so that we would fight them outside the city!"


    Hearing utterly different opinions in the assembly hall, they started to argue with each other loudly until Tilin coughed twice.


    "Wuli, what would be the final outcome if we fought the army of 100,000 warriors of the huge bear tribe?" The clan elder of Spencer clan asked a major in military uniform solemnly...

 485 Spencer Clan II

    In this age, major general was already the head of an army. Although no military ranking system was executed in other tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness, Spencer clan which, due to frequent contact with the outside world and they treated as the represent of advanced civilization among all Slavic tribes. They had intergrated themselves with numerous countries on continent.


    The man inquired by Tilin was over 50 years old. He was the bloodtied younger brother of Tilin, the head of Spencer clan. For many people reaching LV 10, this age was just as young as 20-old teenagers. The golden time in their lives just started.


    Wuli Spencer took good care of his skin as he didn''t have any wrinkles at all. Also, his hair was black and shiny. From his look, he must have been used to a dignified life. Additionally, the cyan military uniform which represented the highest rank in Eschyle City made him majestic. Since 20 years old, Wuli Spencer had already been known as a very handsome man in Eschyle City. His gossips were spread all over the Eschyle City.


    After hearing the inquiry of the head, everybody threw their glances at Wuli. Facing this second powerful figure in Spencer clan, many people''s eyes were mixed with flattery.


    Hearing Tilin''s question, Wuli slowly opened his mouth after carefully thinking about it for half a minute.


    "If we fight 100,000 warriors of huge bear tribe, we would face the same outcome..." the moment Wuli finished his words, many people were slightly stunned, ''how can that be?''


    Wuli glanced at them as his muffled masculine voice sounded once again, "Based on the force of Eschyle City, this city''s base would be at least completely destroyed if we have to fight the 100,000 elites of huge bear tribe. We could never deal with their counterattack or challenges from other tribes. Even though all the warriors of huge bear tribe were killed, they could soon mobilize another army of 100,000 warriors on Costari Plain. If so, how do we block them?"


    Hearing this possible outcome, everyone felt a heavy burden.


    "As the most powerful tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness, huge bear tribe could mobilize at least 600,000 warriors, which is similar to an army group. However, Eschyle City could mobilize 250,000 soldiers at most, which were two armies. Therefore, we are not able to fight huge bear tribe at all. Additionally, no tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness could fight huge bear tribe independently." Wuli continued to explain.


    "Can we diffuse this crisis with the help of wild bear tribe?" someone suggested.


    "No way. The old guy in wild bear tribe might even be waitingfor the battle between us and huge bear tribe like how we did when the army of 100,000 warriors of huge bear tribe headed for the southern part of Ice and Snow Wilderness several days ago. God bless us if the old guy doesn''t set us up!"


    The moment the members of Spencer clan recalled the barbarious clan elder of wild bear tribe who was like a butcher, they felt a headache. As the clan elder of iron bear clan which ruled Eschyle City, Markov had criticized Spencer clan as the "fox in bear hide" and "iron tortoise with the stink of money". Therefore, the relationship between wild bear tribe and Eschyle City was always stiff. It was almost impossilbe to expect to collaborate with wild bear tribe at this moment.


    "Where''s fire bear tribe. Could they give us a favor or not?"


    Tilin''s elder female cousin was the wife of the clan elder of fire bear tribe. The two tribes had a very close relationship. Therefore, after hearing that wild bear tribe could not give a favor, someone instantly remembered fire bear tribe.


    "Fire bear tribe is over 5000 km away from us. Additionally, fire bear tribe doesn''t have so many cavalries. The clan elder has already contacted with the fire bear tribe a couple of days ago. The fire bear tribe have already dispatched 10,000 cavalries towards Eschyle City. However, as it is a long way, they have to pass the Caucasian Mountain Range and could not arrive here until one month later. If they dispatch over 100,000 infantries towards here, it would be one month later than cavalries do!"


    A person at Tilin''s right hand explained it to the others.


    ''One month? The army of huge bear tribe would arrive at Eschyle City in four days. You tell me the cavalries of fire bear tribe would arrive in one month? Additionally, facing the 100,000 cavalries of huge bear tribe, the effect of the 10,000 cavalries from fire bear tribe is still unknown.''


    Everyone became flurried but they didn''t complain about it. Because they all knew that it was already very good that fire bear tribe could give them a favor this time, as the bill had to be paid by Eschyle City.


    After discussing about various countermeasures, they found that the basic problem facing Eschyle City was that huge bear tribe had the power to play the same game 2 or 3 times; however, Spencer clan could only barely play it one time.


    Therefore, clan elder Tilin set the tone directly. They had to figure out Peter''s real target and tried to avoid the potential war. Even though some crazy guys in huge bear tribe would like to unify Ice and Snow Wilderness by force, Eschyle City had to try itself to avoid from becoming the first target of huge bear tribe.


    These people at present were all elites out of 10,000 members of Spencer clan on both intelligence quotient and vision. Through discussion, they soon proposed various reasons and possibilities of the war along with countermeasures.


    "What if Peter doesn''t have any reason. He might just want to let his army make a travel around Eschyle City?" a voice appeared in the assembly hall. The moment it was heard, the whole assembly hall became quiet at once. After that, they threw their glances towards that member of Spencer clan.


    It was Neymar Spencer, who was reaponsible for the propaganda and public opinions of Eschyle City. Concretely, he was only responsible for two newspapers and many troubadours who only knew how to seduce lonely women by boasting in the receptions and salons of Eschyle City. Such a figure could be ignored in Spencer clan. However, as it was an important conference of Spencer clan, big figures in all aspects needed to negotiate about major events here; therefore, he was also invited.


    Perhaps because he had been responsible for propaganda and public opinions for too long, his mindest was always radioactive. Sometimes, he absolutely indulged in wildest fantasy. In this way, people could not catch up with his mind.


    Under the weird gaze of the other members of Spencer clan, Neymar became a bit tense as he swallowed his words back.


    "Don''t worry, Neymar, tell me about you certificate?" clan elder Tilin encouraged Neymar to explain it after hearing Neymar absurd conclusion after frowning his forehead.


    Being encouraged by clan elder, after thinking it for a while, he explain it in a calm way.


    "No matter Peter manifested the God''s will underground or did anything amazing, as huge bear tribe suddenly appeared in front of him and told him that he was the very person in Elzida''s prophecy and wanted him to be the clan elder of huge bear tribe, he must be dubious about that. Everyone would doubt that if it fell on themselves. He might worry about being cheated; therefore he wants to have a try."


    "Have a try?" clan elder Tilin gazed at Neymar with meaningful and dubious eyes, "What do you mean by having a try?"


    "I mean he just wants to have a try whether he could command the 100,000 warriors of huge bear tribe. If the 100,000 warriors could follow his order, even when his order was a bit absurd, he would know that huge bear tribe don''t cheat on him. If not, he could figure out that it was a plot!"


    Neymar''s words shocked everyone in the assembly hall. Although they were discussing about various plots and tricks, nobody seriously considered this event on the stance of Peter. Therefore, after Neymar posed it, although being very absurd, it felt reasonable.


    "Right, Neymar; you''re right. We''ve ignored this point. If it is truely as you think, what do you think the army of huge bear tribe would do after it?" Tilin asked.


    "If it''s true, I''m afraid that the army of huge bear tribe will turn around after drawing close to Eschyle City and go back!" Neymar put it straight, "Actually, I fell you ignored another possibility!"


    "Another possibility?"


    "Right, the one leading 100,000 warriors of huge bear tribe towards Eschyle City is neither Peter nor those crazy tribal chauvinists, but someone else!"


    "Someone else? How come? Do you think it''s that someone could mobilize 100,000 warriors by just moving his mouth? It''s not as easy as writing your paper." soon after Neymar finished his words, some contenders instantly sneered him as he arouse Tilin''s attention.


    "What if that person is the great Pontiff Elzida?"


    The moment Neymar posed this, the whole assembly hall became quiet at once.


    "Based on our intelligence, before setting out the army, Peter had already opened that key box left by Elzida. There was only one letter in the box. Peter was the only person who had read it. Attention! After Peter opened that box for a few hours, huge bear tribe started to surge towards Eschyle City. Dare you say it was not related to the letter?" Neymar raised his voice.


    "Why would Elzida do that?"


    "How could we guess the decision of Elzida, a person who could observe the future? If it was true, Elzida might have already seen events in Eschyle City. Therefore, he dispatched the army of huge bear tribe here for the most proper preparations and disposal. Elzida had done many things like this in his life, many of which looked absurd and unpredictable; however, all that he had done helped Slavs out of crisis. Right because of this, he became the greatest prophet and pontiff in the eyes of Slavs!"


    Everyone became silent. Compared to the first reason, this reason was more shockingg¡ª¡ªElzida still had a magical power for each one in Ice and Snow Wilderness until today.


    If Elzida truly left some premonition in the key box, what a major event would happen in Eschyle City that could worth 100,000 warriors of huge bear tribe''s arrival?


    In Slavic history, not until the moment the fate of the whole Slavs was influenced, Elzida would not expose the future that he had seen and made preparations for that. Right because Elzida had done many similiar things, he had saved the lives of Slavs for many times. Whereas, as he had leaked too many events in the future, his longevity was reduced according to the time rule. He passed away at the age of 60-odd years old.


    The great prophet and pontiff shaped a great image in the heart of all the Slavs. The great image was still threatening now.


    When Neymar posed the first presumption, all the others sneered him; however, after hearing his second presumption, the assembly hall immediately cooled down.


    All the Spencers became silent as they felt very restless.


    If Neymar''s first presumption was right, they didn''t have to do anything but to wait for the crisis to diffuse by itself. If the second presumption was right, the Spencers should discuss about how to coordinate with huge bear tribe to eliminate the crisis as soon as possible. Therefore, Spencers should not resist the 100,000 warriors; instead, they should welcome them.


    What absurd! They were discussing about how to respond to this crisis just now; however, in a wink, everything changed.


    In that abnormal silence, that person who had been silent since he entered the assembly hall became more eye-attractive. He slightly frowned his forehead before glancing at a people at the end of the conference table, who was lowering his head and shrugging his shoulders silently with a disatisfied look.


    "Pears, you''re also a member of Spencer clan, tell me about your opinion!"


    After hearing Tilin''s words, all the Spencers threw their glances at that guy who was almost ignored by others. At the sight of that poor, frustrating look, many people twitched their mouth corners, which seemed like a a polite smile, yet was actually an contemption.


    Compared to Tilin and Wuli, who was the most shiny stars in Spencer clan, Pears was as trivial as a broken sofa being thrown into a warehouse. Additionally, he smelt mouldy. It was really unbelievable that he could compete for the clan elder with Tilin dozens of years ago.


    That man called Pears raised his fat face with his two frustrated eyes and evidently big eye bags due to excessive drinks and sexual intercourse. At the sight of him, everyone signed inside.


    After being called by the clan elder, the one woke up from fatigueness.


    "Ah...clan elder is right. Now that Peter is a lascivious guy and could even have such a special relationship with that loose woman in wild bear tribe, we..only need to send him some women. Then, everything would be solved. I follow your opinions, I follow your opinions..."


    Whilst hearing Pears repeating the former topic that they were discussing about twenty minutes ago, everyone became speechless.

 486 Spencer Clan III

    One hour later, all the Spencer elites walked out of the assembly hall with a solemn look.


    Clan elder Tilin had already made the decision that an elder would go to communicate with Peter and some elders of the huge bear tribe with the "sincerity" from Eschyle City tomorrow.


    No matter what, they had to figure out the purpose of huge bear tribe before deciding to fight or seek for peace.


    The army of the huge bear tribe was still over 500 km away. However, for the elite cavalries of huge bear tribe, it would only take them a couple of days to arrive at Eschyle City.


    Being influenced by some messages or gossips, of course the so-called "sincerity" referred to the beautiful women of Spencer clan. This was the right moment for those women to sacrifice for their own clan. The clan elder only needed to take the selected woman over there. If Peter was truly lascivious, Spencer''s woman had many methods to display their value in maintaining the clan''s interests. This was what each Spencer woman learned since they were young.


    In Ice and Snow Wilderness, each woman of the ruling clan, especially the women in the bear clans always used to maintain the clan''s ruling by fulfilling men. This was not a secret at all. Except for the huge bear tribe which had no clan elder before, each tribe did this as they didn''t think it was shameless at all.


    For Spencer clan, when the other tribes'' ruling clans were still using women as the primitive yet effective tool of inter-marriage, Spencer clan had long realized a "deep-processing" about this tool. Each woman of Spencer clan, since they were 6-7 years old, had already started to learn a lot of professional courses.


    Besides common courses which could accumulate one''s personality, music, dance, poem, painting, makeup, etiquette, inter-personal relationship, style of conversation, psychology and stratagem were all their compulsory courses. When they were 14 years old, they had already started to learn how to please men.


    Spencer clan invited real experts from the continent to carry out systematic education and training for these women. Those who taught them etiquette were court advisers from imperialism countries on the continent. Those who taught them how to please men were "famous prostitutes" who had already retired. Those who taught them inter-personal relationship were experienced diplomats and famous courtesans that were invited by Spencer clan at high costs. Those who taught them psychology and stratagem were real expert scholars and excellent people in all industries.


    Under the intoxication of such a great education system, "Spencer Woman" even became a exclusive term across Ice and Snow Wilderness. In the tribes of Ice and Snow Wilderness, even in Eschyle City, if a neighbor pointed at some woman and said she was a "Spencer Woman", he was definitely speaking highly of her as Spencer women were all beautiful, shrewd, able and knew how to seduce men.


    ...


    Pears was the last to leave the assembly hall. Even the younger generations of Spencer clan felt disgusted by him. Therefore, nobody glanced at him at all when he walked out, not to mention to greet him or leave Iron Bear Castle together with him.


    When the other people left in a group of 2 or 3, Pears slowly walked behind them as he yawned.He came to the parking lot. After foisting his fat body into the back seat of a sedan which was imported from Eastern Continent, he ordered the driver to leave Iron Bear Castle.


    Iron Bear Castle of Spencer clan was the standard mansion for clan elders. Only the current elder was qualified to live in it. Even the sons and daughters of the clan elder were not qualified to live in it after they grew mature. Therefore, after the conference, all the elites of Spencer clan left here except for Tilin.


    Of course, in the eyes of the other Spencer elites, they could pleasantly accept the reputation of "clan elites". However, if someone described someone else as the clan elite, he might be sneered.


    Before completely leaving the Iron Bear Castle, those guardians outside the gate of Iron Bear Castle had already seen Pears taking out a bottle of senior gin from the gradevin beside the back seat, making a full cup for himself...


    After drinking a cup of gin, Pears blushed and looked a bit more spirited.


    At this moment, due to curfew, the entire Eschyle City became quiet. One week ago, the whole city was still brightly-lit all over in the evening. By contrast, soon after dusk, the city had already been in a deadly, silent darkness. Due to lack of vehicles, all the streets looked open. Therefore, Pears'' car flashed on the streets.


    His car soon drew close to his residence, from where the road was blocked temporarily. The police had gathered here.


    The sedan parked. Pears rolled down the window and showed half of his fat face. He looked at that police head who was lowering his body to explain it to Pears.


    Of course, this police head knew Pears. No matter how trivial Pears'' position was in Spencer clan, Pears could not be offended by such a small police head.


    "What happened?" Pears asked in a muffled, weak voice.


    The small head raised his arm towards his subordinate to move away the roadblock as he explained, "Mr. Pears, someone brushed some slogans on the roadside walls in the evening. After receiving the report, we especially come here to manage it!"


    These days, all the heads of the Eschyle Police Station were sworn heavily by their superiors. Certainly, none of them dared to make any mistake at this critical moment. Therefore, soon after receiving the report, a great number of policemen arrived here.


    "You idiots, piss off..." Pears swore them impatiently while waving his hand like chasing flies. Closely after that, he rolled up the window.


    When the car passed by the roadside walls, Pears saw the painted slogans in red.


    The Lord in the prophecy of the Great Prophet Elzida has appeared!


    It''s time for Slavs to unify the Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Even after hundreds of years, as long as there were Slavs in Ice and Snow Wilderness, there were always crazy fans and followers of Elzida and some Calvinism Slavs who always dreamed about rejuvenating all the tribes. Although these minorities were not able to rebel, they could stir up troubles at the critical moment.


    After a short while, the two slogans had already been covered by the same red paint.


    When he saw the name "Elzida", Pears tightened his right fist before loosing it and reaching towards the gradevin like nothing had happened.


    "Pah..." seeing off Pears'' vehicle, that small police head spat a mouth of saliva towards the back of the vehicle...


    ...


    After a few minutes, the sedan returned to the luxurious villa which occupied a wide area of territory. The bodyguards opened the gate for him. After that, Pears had his car driven in the courtyard.


    After getting off the vehicle, Pears looked gloomier.


    Looking at the well-pruned evergreen trees in the parterre, Pears sent the steward to bring the gardener. He then lost his temper towards that gardener and ordered steward to deduct this month''s salary of the gardener and lay him off. After that, he entered the villa furiously.


    After half an hour, glass breaking sounds and roars drifted out of the villa at the same time along with the sobs of female servants who were slapped. The whole villa was in a terrifying atmosphere until Pears entered the study room.


    After the door of the study room was shut up, Pears recovered his composure completely, causing a tranquility in the villa.


    After sitting on the sofa calmly for 2 minutes, Pears stood up and came to the front of the fireplace. He twisted the button inside the fireplace using a pair of fire-tongs to open a wall silently beside the fireplace, exposing a dark tunnel leading to the underground.


    After putting back the fire-tongs, Pears entered the tunnel. Closely after that, the wall returned to its original place.


    The dim fluorite lamps made the basement greenish. It seemed to be an icehouse as it was piled with huge ice cubes. Each ice cube was glittering and translucent like super huge crystals while radiating dark blue luster.


    Experts could identify that these were not common ice cubes, but aged ones. They had been preserved in this state for over 1 million years. They were harder than steel and iron and would not easily melt. The cost of each piece of such kind of ice cube was equal to that of the same weight of gold.


    On the bed, which was carved on a huge aged ice cube, was lying a 15 or 16 year-old teenager with his hands crossed onto his abdomen quietly like being asleep...

 487 Paternal Love

    Chapter 487: Paternal Love


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    Pears watched the asleep teenager with a benign and tender look. Moreover, he combed the hair on the forehead of the teenager carefully.


    The teenager''s face was as white as snow and he looked dead. At this time, Pears'' kind look and action gave people a creepy feeling.


    After a few time, the steward appeared on Pears'' side.


    Although Pears looked tender after entering the study room, the steward who looked kind and elegant outside immediately became gloomy and lofty the moment he entered.


    The green fluorite lamps left a gloomy shadow on their faces, which made the whole underground more terrifying.


    "What''s the result of Spencer''s conference?" The steward asked in a aggressive and paramount manner.


    "There''s a very bad news. Our plan might have been recognized by someone!" Pears''voice was very calm, which was sharply constructive to that humble look in assembly hall, "The army of 100,000 warriors of huge bear tribe might be heading for us?"


    After hearing Pears''words, the steward instantly responded with an amazed look, "You mean our trap in the relics was discovered and huge bear tribe followed the clue here? How can that be..." The steward urged as he waved his head, "After that powerful huge alchemist''s bomb exploded, everything would be ruined. What else would be left? The three-eye association spent a lot of time and resources for this plan in order to attract the other tribes'' attention. Even our animal controllers were killed."


    "It''s not our mistake. Someone might know our plan!"


    "Who?" The steward''s voice became gloomy at once. He stared at Pears and put it straight, "Now there is such a person, why haven''t anyone killed him? Why do you come back now? Such a person should die as soon as possible for our safety.


    "But that man might be Elzida!" Pears replied with a muffled voice.


    "Who?" The steward became dumbfounded.


    "The great prophet of Slavs, Elzida!" Pears explained. He also added, "Elzida left a letter to Peter in the key box. He might mention what would happen in Eschyle City in the letter. Therefore, he told huge bear tribe to respond to it in advance."


    Of course, the steward knew who was Elzida. After hearing Pears'' explanation, his face changed, "Are you sure?"


    "Not sure. After discussion, we found many possibilities. In a conclusion, the predominate powers behind it might come from three aspects. First, it''s reasonable for some crazy men or tribal calvinists in huge bear tribe to launch an attack; however, their preparations are not sufficient!"


    "Second, Peter might want to check his ruling power in huge bear tribe by launching the attack. The troop of huge bear tribe might come back reaching Eschyle City. Certainly, we need to consider about the marvellous events that Peter has down in that underground relics. Peter might have other plan on setting out the troop of huge bear tribe. If this man could truly manifest the so-called God''s will when he was also in the trap, he might have discovered something. You know that, some regions are always unpredictable in this world..."


    "Lastly based on Elzida''s superb ability, he might have already seen what happened in Eschyle City in future. Therefore, he left a letter so that huge bear tribe could respond to it properly!"


    Hearing Pear''s expressionless tone, the steward''s facial muscles twisted painfully. That was caused by fury, hatred or a bit frustration. After Elzida died hundreds of years, nobody knew his ability better than three-eye association.


    When this person was alive, he managed all the plots of three-eye association towards Slvas. Hundreds of years ago, Elzida cleaned all the politicians and lackeys of three-eyes association lurking in the Slavic clans in aggressive and bloody manner, causing a great loss to the three-eye association. Even though now, three-eye association still hadn''t recovered his vitality and influence among Slavs. Few Slavs could be absorbed by three-eye association. Therefore, the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness became the vacuum territory of the power of three-eye association.


    Three-eye association had already spent a lot in absorbing Pears. Their plan would succeed in a few months after over two decades. Unexpectedly, that guy, who had died for hundreds of years, suddenly reappeared.


    Perhaps, the Spencers were still a bit dubious when they heard about Elzida. However, as long as the name "Elzida" appeared in their plot towards Slavs, he targeted at three-eye association for sure.


    The steward looked as terrifying and grim as a devil as he was covered with rolling black battle-qi totem. However, he surpressed it forcefully. Given the rolling battle-qi totem, the steward was at least a LV 10 powerhouse.


    "Perhaps, the true situation is not that worse. This is just a presumption!" Pears said calmly.


    "I know, of course it is not the worst scenario. Even though it was Elzida. he could not see all the events and details in the future. Otherwise, they only need to dispatch a knight towards Eschyle City, instead of an army of 100,000 warriors!"


    Pears became silent as he threw his sights towards that teenager once again.


    The steward also became silent as his eyes glittered weirdly. It seemed that he was struggling inside...


    After the basement recovered its tranquility for a short while...


    "Pears..." the steward called him calmly and kindly.


    Pears raised his head and stared at the steward, seemingly that he had already predicted what would the steward say, "Are you going to launch an attack in advance? If we wait for another 3 months, everything would be different."


    "We cannot wait any longer. When the army of huge bear tribe arrive, all that we''ve done might be meaningless. If so, we will lose everything. We cannot hand over the initiative to others. Now, we still have the ability to arise a chaos in Eschyle City. However, after a couple of days, we might be stranded fish!"


    Pears also sighed as he touched the stiff face of that teenager, "Do you know why would I like to collaborate with you?"


    The steward became hesitated for a second, "Only our three-eye association could bring a new birth to young master. As long as young master''s body is well preserved, when our army arrive at Ice and Snow Wilderness, we will complete rebirth and clone for young master using his cells..."


    "But, will he be the same little Hellfire? By then, I will be worthless for you to do that..." Pears waved his head with a sorrowful tone, "I collaborate with you because I only want to let Spencers know that they have to pay for what they did. This clan should belong to my little Hellfire. If he is alive, he should have become the clan elder. Although I could not match Tilin, my kid is more excellent than any of his sons. However, the accident happened to the most excellent person when he was executing the clan mission. However, those average people live shamelessly. Now that little Hellfire is dead, the Spencer clan could not die. It''s meaningless for such a corrupted clan to exist!


    "You..." the steward was surprised. He felt heartache at once. He lowered his head and found a black long sword had been penetrated through his heart by the very humble man, whom he thought having been under his full control.


    ''He had a sword? How come that be?''


    ''He attacked me by sword? Yet, I don''t feel that until being striken?''


    ''What''s that swordsmanship? Is that the very humble and incompetent man who only knew about drinking?


    The fresh blood flew out of the steward''s mouth. He widely opened his eyes as he stared at that man''s fat body and loose sleeves. He seemed understanding something. However, as his strength and vitality disappeared rapidly, he didn''t even have the strength to utter the last words although he opened his mouth.


    "Now that I will die and meet my little Hellfire, why do you live? Do you know that as a Slav, I actually hate you b*stards of three-eye association very much." Pears said as he drew out of the long sword and chopped off his head. Meanwhile, the headless corpse fell down.


    The whole basement was filled with blood at once. A drop of fresh blood even sprayed onto that teenager''s face. Pears took out a snow-white handkerchief and wiped off that drop of fresh blood. After that, he lowered his body and kissed his forehead before revealing a regretful smile.


    "Little Hellfire. Look, your dad is really old. I cannot even kill a person tidily. Sorry for the blood. If you are still alive, you must be sharper than your dad. Wait for a few days. After your dad finishes that, I will bring more people here to accompany you. By then, you would not feel cold and lonely any longer..."

 488 Zhang Ties Plan

    Chapter 488: Zhang Tie''s Plan


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    On November 9th, after many days of long-range raid, the army of 100,000 warriors of huge bear tribe were finally less than 1000 km away from Eschyle City. For the tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness. If 100,000 warriors were less than 1000 km away from their core, with cavalries'' speed, this distance was already suitable for the two tribes to fight.


    Its distance had already reached the cordons of most tribes. It meant the two tribes would fight very soon.


    Although the greater part of the army of huge bear tribe was still about 1000 km away from Eschyle City, the vanguard of the army was already less than 400 km away from the Sciatta town in the west of Eschyle City.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had already confirmed that Elzida didn''t cheat him. The whole huge bear tribe was Elzida''s gift to him. Everyone across the huge bear tribe, including the most common warriors and big figures like Sarlin Pontiff had paid enough tribute to him, a guy who was doomed to the clan elder of huge bear tribe. Each of his orders was very absurd and required a high cost of huge bear tribe, could be implemented resolutely.


    Take this time as an example, his original intention of ordering the huge bear tribe to set out towards Eschyle City had been hit by Neymar. Zhang Tie really wanted to confirm his ruling authority towards huge bear tribe. If Elzida''s prophecy had lost its sacred influence in huge bear tribe, Zhang Tie would not waste time on those people who treated him as a puppet.


    Elzida wanted him to take responsibility for the future of huge bear tribe. Therefore, Zhang Tie firstly should confirm whether huge bear tribe was worth for him to be responsible for. Otherwise, the prophecy of great prophet and pontiff was just a mad old man''s illusion which could not restrict him at all. He didn''t think that he owed Elzida or Slavs. He had not reached any agreement or made any promise with anyone. Therefore, he didn''t have to take responsibility for the future of Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    If he had to take responsibility for that, Zhang Tie felt that his responsibility for O''Laura and Sabrina might be greater than that for all the Slavs.


    According to Zhang Tie''s plan, if he could really take over huge bear tribe, he would stop the army and return his army northward to the base of huge bear tribe when they arrived at the small town Sciatta. If so, this action was just an armed cruise. If huge bear tribe was not worthwhile for him to do that, he would leave Ice and Snow Wilderness directly from Eschyle City by boat and return to Blackhot City.


    Zhang Tie had already delivered the order to stop when the vanguard of his army reached the small town Sciatta. They would wait there until the great part of the army arrived. Based on the current marching speed, the greater part of allied forces would arrive at Sciatta Town by the evening of the day after tomorrow. After resting one day near the Sciatta Town, the army would turn around and return to the base of huge bear tribe.


    ...


    After exiting the underground relics for a few days, Zhang Tie could obviously feel that the temperature of Ice and Snow Wilderness gradually declined. The north wind became increasingly chilly. The Ice and Snow Wilderness was going to enter winter.


    After pitching the camp last night, Zhang Tie directly came to the camp of Thor''s Hammer for an investigation.


    Zhang Tie was very curious about xiphodons. After several days'' contact, Zhang Tie found that this animal was born to be ridden. Although it might not be the strongest beast for riding, at least it was the best and strongest one that Zhang Tie had ever seen.


    Xiphodon was the most comfortable one with the highest speed and the best endurance that Zhang Tie had ever seen. Additionally, it could carry the heaviest burden. According to his subordinate, in certain rigorous environment, xiphodon could cooperate with the cavalry in fighting for one week without eating or drinking. What an amazing ability.


    Xiphodon could run at a speed of about 120 km/h. Common xiphodons could carry above 1500 kg in battle. Plus its own weight of more than 4 tons for an adult. A xiphodon could also break everything except for the city wall at a speed of 100 km/h.


    If not considering the speed of the greater part of the army, Thor''s Hammer had already reached Eschyle City yesterday.


    In the camp of Thor''s Hammer, the cavalries were loading off the battle armor for their own xiphodons. Many cavalries were busy feeding and watering xiphodons and combing fur for them before eating themselves. Seeing those though guys taking care of xiphodons so patiently, Zhang Tie bet they would never take care of their women at home.


    For cavalries of Thor''s Hammer, xiphodons were not only for riding, but their brothers, partners and family members. For most of cavalries, as xiphodons could live long, they could befriend one or two xiphodons at most in their whole life. Therefore, they especially treasured their partner.


    "What''s that?" He saw some cavalries throwing purple pies into a xiphodon''s mouth and the xiphodon enjoying it, Zhang Tie walked over there out of curiosity.


    When he didn''t disguise, Zhang Tie looked like a commoner. He liked to stay with his subordinates and warriors very much. When he was in Blapei, Zhang Tie, as a small official of Logistics Department who had rich payment, always stayed in the vehicle maintenance workshop with those repairmen. He always drilled in and out of the chassis of vehicles. Although being covered with oil, he enjoyed it.


    When he acted kindly in Blapei, his subordinates felt him easygoing; however, if he did that at this moment, he would make his subordinates flattered and highly inspired. Zhang Tie was still the same person; however, due to different positions, the same deed had different effects.


    Seeing Zhang Tie coming over, the cavalry who was feeding his xiphodon instantly became thrilled as he hurriedly stood at attention.


    "Easy, I saw you feeding it with something weird and it seemed to be different to other food!" Zhang Tie explained kindly, "What did you feed just now. Can you show it to me?"


    "Colonel, I''m feeding Tyrrhenia with perilla stem!" the warrior answered loudly as he passed a hat-sized pie to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie took it over and found it was about 5 or 6 kg. It was made of leaves of dried broad-leaved herbaceous plant in the shape of pie. Zhang Tie remembered that Sabrina told him that xiphodon ate meat. He also found that most of xiphodons ate jerk these days.


    Coincidentally, Sabrina was at Zhang Tie''s side. Zhang Tie then threw a dubious look at her.


    "My clan elder. Don''t look at me like that. I didn''t lie to you..." Sabrina peered at Zhang Tie in a charming way, "Tyrrhenia is the speciality in Costari Plain and the most favorite food of xiphodon. As there''s no tyrrhenia in other places except for Costari Plain, xiphodon could only eat meat in other places. Even in Costari Plain, tyrrhenia could not be easily found. When there''s no tyrrhenia, we will feed them with meat."


    ''Xiphodon is an omnivorous animal?'' Zhang Tie realized that at once. However, after thinking it carefully, he found it was not strange at all. ''Most of bulky terrestrial animals like bear and elephant are omnivorous animals even herbivores. Aren''t horse and cow herbivores? But they are all very powerful and could run fast. Weren''t dinosaurs, the biggest and strongest animals in the legend, herbivores?


    Zhang Tie bore the name of tyrrhenia in mind and was thinking about taking a look at such a plant when he reached Costari Plain.


    After taking a round in the camp of Thor''s Hammer, Zhang Tie was going to come back. Right then, an airship flew towards the camp. Although being not as exaggerating as the fury-class airship, it was also huge and shiny, which looked brilliant. A remarkably huge bear-head symbol being surrounded by gears was on it.


    "Eschyle City sends you beauties?" Sabrina blinked her eyes towards Zhang Tie.


    "I guess they are here to inquire about the intention of huge bear tribe!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    "Haven''t you heard the term "Spencer women?" Sabrina asked.


    "What do you mean?"


    Therefore, Sabrina told Zhang Tie about the allusion, "I bet the big figures of Spencer clan must bring you some beautiful Spencer beauties. Perhaps they are using honey trap to you!"


    "Is my image that embarrassed? Do Spencer clan plan to deal with me by only two women?" Zhang Tie almost cried.


    "It seems that it''s my fault!" Sabrina sighed.


    Zhang Tie burst out laughter. Ignoring others'' eyes, he directly patted Sabrina''s plumpy butts. After that, he walked towards his tent, "What are you talking about? How come a man blame a woman. Let''s take a look at the Spencer women!"


    Looking at Zhang Tie''s casual look, Sabrina revealed a smile as she walked towards the main tent in the distance together with Zhang Tie.


    The huge airship landed about 1 km away from the camp. After that, a team of people walked towards the camp...

 489 A Sudden Change

    Chapter 489: A Sudden Change


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    On the way back to the main tent, Zhang Tie listened to Sabrina''s introduction about Spencer clan as he gradually improved his plan in his heart.


    According to the information revealed by Sabrina, Zhang Tie realized that he might rip off Spencer clan if he was lucky enough. He had already fabricated a reason¡ª¡ªEschyle City asked 4 silver coins from him when he entered the city.


    This was obviously a prejudice to Zhang Tie.


    ''If this reason would not make Spencers spurt blood, how about the lengendary clan elder of huge bear tribe being wanted by the police station of Eschyle City?''


    The wanted circular of Eschyle City almost killed Zhang Tie. Thankfully, Bluesea Castle revoked the wanted circular for Zhang Tie at a high price. Zhang Tie still owed Bluesea Castle the repeal of the wanted circular instead of Eschyle City.


    ''As I was a trivial figure at that moment, after the wanted circular was revoked, Eschyle City only dispatched one person to manage me without promising any compensation. If I told them about this, they would consider it well.


    On some events, Zhang Tie was not that open-minded, neither was he that kind of person who would stand being spat with saliva on face. As Spencer clan was wrong first, he had the reason to make a fuss.


    Sabrina told Zhang Tie everything about Spencer clan and Eschyle City, which deepened Zhang Tie''s understanding about this women.


    Until now Zhang Tie and Sabrina were still just friends and lovers. They had not broken through the last barrier. Although Sabrina was infamous outside, Zhang Tie knew that she was not only innocent but also had her own pursuit. Compared to most women''s dependence on men, Sabrina was very powerful inside. She dreamed to be an independent female who could control her own fate.


    His current social status was completely different than that one month ago. However, Sabrina always kept a distance with him. Although they were still intimate, they didn''t seek for stimulation without any consideration any longer.


    Because of this, Zhang Tie became more respectful about Sabrina.


    After sleeping a girl, Zhang Tie would always treasure her better. Whereas, Zhang Tie also gave enough respect to the women who didn''t sleep with him.


    Zhang Tie knew that Sabrina was trying her best to display her value in front of Zhang Tie. This woman was very smart and valuable. Additionally, due to her special status, she could get many unusual information. Zhang Tie felt her words very enlightening.


    "You are really familiar with Eschyle City. Are you going to settle down there?" Zhang Tie joked.


    "Compared to other tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness, the atmosphere in Eschyle City is more relaxed. There''re more opportunities to make money over there. Additionally, my status might frighten many people over there. I truly thought about that before!" Sabrina confessed. as she ran her fingers through here hair womanly, "Additionally, it''s also convenient to leave Ice and Snow Wilderness from Eschyle City. I was thinking that if that old man of wild bear tribe forced me too much, I would leave Ice and Snow Wilderness and bought a small island in Ewentra Archipelago. I preferred to be a king of an isle. After that, I will open a hotel or a bar by the sea. After that, I could look at the sea or take a walk on the beach everyday!"


    Zhang Tie burst out laughter at once. He had not imagined that Sabrina had such an idea before.


    ...


    The Spencer representatives soon arrived at the camp of the huge bear tribe. It was heard that the head of the team was an elder. According to the equivalence principle in this case, elder Gouras went out to welcome them; however, Zhang Tie, Pontiff Sarlin and elder Toles waited for them in the main tent.


    As Sabrina was not qualified to attend this meeting, she left the main tent.


    Zhang Tie soon saw the elder of Spencer clan. When the thick curtain of the main tent was opened, elder Gouras and that man entered.


    That was an old man with grey hair, who looked spirited and healthy. His name was Rodolfo Spencer. After feeling that the old guy''s qi was weaker than that of Gouras and Toles, Zhang Tie finally recovered his composure.


    If this world was covered with knights, those people below knights would have no chance to survive any more. Elder Sarlin said there was only one knight in Spencer clan, the grandpa''s grandpa of Tilin. He had already been over 200 years old. Such an important people would always stay in the clan. He would never leave Eschyle City at this moment.


    Since Titlin''s grandpa''s grandpa, the whole Spencer clan failed to cultivate one knight for 200 years at the cost of numerous clan resources. From this, we knew how difficult to cultivate a knight.


    Sabrina also mentioned this dilemma facing Spencer clan¡ª¡ªno successive top fighting strength.


    Behind this old man was a slightly fat 40-year old man, who was followed by two women. The moment the two women entered, Zhang Tie''s eyes gleamed.


    They were very beautiful and had distinctive charms. The elder one was about 30 years old who was almost as charming as Sabrina like a ripe honey peach. The younger one was only 17-18 years old, who looked naive.


    Although with distinctive images, when the two women walked together, the charming one would be more alluring while the naive one would be more innocent. The two women looked similar to each other. When they stood together, their charms would drive any men to make crimes.


    They were Spencer women, two nature-born stunners!


    All the four Spencers greeted Zhang Tie with the regular etiquette on greeting clan elder of huge bear tribe.


    After that, Rodolfo introduced the other three Spencers to Zhang Tie. After that, he sat on the opposite of Zhang Tie, Pontiff Sarlin and Toles.


    Through Rodolfo''s introduction, Zhang Tie knew that 30-odd woman named Matia while the younger one named Beryl. As to the rest man, Zhang Tie knew that he was here to make the Spencer elder not too embarrassed as he gifted the two women to him. That man was nothing but a ritual prop. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t even want to remember his name.


    After taking a seat, they exchanged pleasantries with each other for a short while. Then, Rodolfo told them about his purpose in a very skilled way. Slow-witted guys might even not understand the meaning of this old guy.


    "The prophecy of the great prophet and Pontiff Elzida finally fulfilled. When we received this message, as a member of Slavs, iron bear tribe and our Spencers were very spirited about that. Therefore, I''m here to congratulate huge bear tribe and clan elder Peter on behalf of Spencers!"


    Soon after Rodolfo finished his words, the fat guy beside him had already took out a brocade box, put it on the table before pushing it forward.


    "We know there''s a misunderstanding between clan elder Peter and Eschyle City. Therefore, we''re especially here to congratulate clan elder Peter and huge bear tribe. Meanwhile, we extend our sincere apology to that we mistook you as a wanted criminal due to our negligence two months ago. We really appreciate Bluesea Business Group for correcting us. Thankfully, the misunderstanding didn''t develop into a regret. Here are gold checks of about 3 million gold coins in the case. It''s our sincerity. If clan elder Peter accept our apology, our Spencers would welcome clan elder Peter to visit Eschyle City at any time. We will arrange the most hospitable and solemn reception for clan elder Peter."


    After thinking about two seconds, Zhang Tie figured out four meanings in the elder''s words.


    First, Spencers admitted the legality and sacredness of Peter as the clan elder of huge bear tribe. Additionally, as a member of Slavs, Eschyle City would be in consistent with huge bear tribe to a certain degree on the events that were involved with the interests of all Slavs.


    Second, Spencers had already known what Bluesea Castle had done for revoking that wanted circular. They would compensate Bluesea Business Group and would not let Bluesea Castle suffer a loss in this event.


    Third, Spencers might have no high-end fighting strength; however, they had enough money. Now that they could afford 3 million gold coins a gift, Spencers could also spend more money to support Eschyle City in the battle. By then, the two parties would suffer a loss.


    Fourth, if you agree, let your army of 100,000 warriors go back as soon as possible. After that, Spencers would welcome Peter to visit Eschyle City at any time. The two beauties also presented their sincerity.


    After thinking for a few moment, Zhang Tie finally figured out Rodolfo''s words.


    ''F*ck, are all these old guys that smart and hypocratical?'' Zhang Tie swore inside. If they were two gang leaders, one of them would have long patted the gold checks of 300 gold coins onto the table and asked "Who will roll out of here first, you or me?" How easy would that be?


    Everyone fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie. Gouras was even worried that Zhang Tie might not understand the meaning of the old guy.


    "Let bygones be bygones. I heard the spring in Sciatta was nice. I just want to take a look over there. After resting one day in Sciatta Town, my army would turn northward and return to Costari Plain. If possible, I will pay a visit to Eschyle City next time!" Zhang Tie opened his mouth.


    Soon after the words, not only Rodolfo and the other Spencers, even Sarlin, Gouras and Toles let out a deep sigh. Everyone became reassured.


    Sciatta Town was still over 300 km away from Eschyle City. If the army of huge bear tribe finally stopped in Sciatta Town. Everyone would feel acceptable.


    Therefore, the atmosphere in the main tent became relaxed at once.


    Gouras and Toles exchanged glances with each other as they were all surprised about Zhang Tie''s calmness and decisiveness. Even if Peter was chosen as the clan elder of huge bear tribe by Elzida, Peter''s performance refresh the two people''s recognition about him.


    After leading the army of 100,000 warriors for a few days, Peter displayed the great power of huge bear tribe, which was threatening to all tribes. Meanwhile, he gained 3 million gold coins from Eschyle City so easily. What a hopeful clan elder!


    Not until then, elder Gouras clapped. After that, a team of warriors entered and served drinks and food on the two tables...


    Naturally, the guests and the owner became happy and harmonious.


    ...


    Unexpectedly, when Rodolfo bottomed up for the clan mission in the main tent of huge bear tribe, the whole Eschyle City were sent in chaos completely after a ground-breaking explosion.


    After that explosion, the whole Iron Bear Castle became ruins. The whole city was shocked by that explosion. Many residents in Eschyle City were shocked by that explosion so much that their faces even turned utterly pale. Gradually, the eyes of some city guards who resided Eschyle City started to turn red. Meanwhile, they started to attack everyone that they saw...


    As a result, the Eschyle City was gradually filled with cries, battle calls and roars.


    The entire city started to weep...


    ...


    One hour later, when a flurried people bumped into the main tent "accompanied" by two warriors of huge bear tribe regardless of rites. He passed an emergency note that he got through remote-sensing crystal to Rodolfo. Only after one glance, Rodolfo instantly sprung up as his face turned from white to red and from red to black. Finally he spurted a mouthful of blood and fell back onto the ground.


    ...


    A few minutes later, acute and inspiring mort drifted in the camp of the huge bear tribe.


    Zhang Tie rushed into the camp of Thor''s Hammer like a storm as he raised high his battle hammer.


    "Thor''s Hammer, have my order! Everyone, throw away your heavy armors and supplies, only take your weapons and follow me!"


    Zhang Tie then jumped onto his xiphodon and rushed out of the camp of Thor''s Hammer together with his bodyguards.


    At the same time, his bloody and fiery curtain rose into the sky...


    That was a burning banner in the chilly wind...


    That was a flying banner under the brilliant stars...


    At the sight of the rising banner and first one rushing out of the camp, all the warriors of Thor''s Hammer''s eyes turned red. Among endless growls, 5000 xiphodons followed up that banner in a dauntless way.


    After that, numerous hoofs boomed the ground...

 490 1000 Km Gallop

    Chapter 490: 1000 Km Gallop


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Before daybreak, a blood-red color appeared on the horizon, which was not the sunlight, but the big fire in Eschyle City below it.


    After 11 hours of gallop, Zhang Tie finally arrived at the periphery of Eschyle City together with his Thor''s Hammer.


    After running over 1000 km, even the strongest xiphodons felt very fatigued at this moment.


    In the cold wild, after running over night, the 5000-odd xiphodons were like red iron pots being sprayed with cold water as each of them were steaming.


    This was a small hillside right over 20 km away in the northwest of Eschyle City. A limpid stream flew by the hillside from its foot. Even though Zhang Tie was very anxious inside, he had to stop Thor''s Hammer and take a rest in order to deal with the coming fierce battle.


    No matter how powerful a bolt was, when its energy was exhausted, it could barely break a thin silk cloth. Although it looked cool to rush towards Eschyle City from 1 km away, it was a huge challenge to both cavalries and xiphodons. Cavalries still stuck to it; however, xiphodons were already very tired. If they did not take a rest for a short while, Thor''s Hammer''s fighting performance would decline.


    "Rest half an hour. Then, we will set out!"


    Soon after Zhang Tie delivered his order, all the cavalries jumped off the xiphodons silently. However, none of the cavalries took a rest; instead, they started to help their xiphodons relax themselves and recover energy. This skill had to be mastered by cavalries, which was concluded by the cavalries of the huge bear tribe after hundreds of years of practices. It was a kind of a massage. After the whole massage, the xiphodons'' physical strength and running ability could recover rapidly.


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t know about this skill. However, he had another method. After jumping off his xiphodon, Zhang Tie pasted his palm onto xiphodon''s body. After locking the xiphodon''s stomach with his powerful spirit, Zhang Tie directly injected 6 vials of all-purpose medicament into his stomach from Castle of Black Iron.


    This method was taught by Heller when he disguised as the God underground. When his spirit was powerful enough and the opponent was relaxed, the substance was carried out of Castle of Black Iron could penetrate into the opponent''s cell walls in disperse pattern. In this case, Zhang Tie could directly inject water, all-purpose medicament or recovery medicament into the opponent''s stomach.


    Zhang Tie implemented this in the name of the "God''s will" by touching the patients to cure them.


    Of course, some had noticed Zhang Tie''s movement; however, they didn''t pay special attention to that. When Zhang Tie left the xiphodon and climbed onto the top of the hill to observe the situation in Eschyle City in the distance with some people, one of Zhang Tie''s bodyguard walked towards his xiphodon to massage it. However, he found that Zhang Tie''s xiphodon had already recovered its physical strength, which arouse the curiosity of the nearby warriors...


    Zhang Tie climbed onto the top of the hill and watched the big fire in Eschyle City in the distance. He clenched his fist as a painful expression flashed across his eyes. Zhang Tie knew that people would die every second in Eschyle City.


    If he was alone, Zhang Tie would have long rushed towards Eschyle City at once. However, as the general of Thor''s Hammer, he had to be responsible for those people who handed their lives to him. He could not send those pious warriors into dilemma due to his warm blood and impulsion.


    Therefore, even if Eschyle City was covered with blood at this moment, the Thor''s Hammer had to rest here for half an hour at least.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie finally understood the proverb "Kind people are not suitable to rule the army", because no matter whatever decision he made, he would always have to sacrifice many lives.


    Clenching his fist, Zhang Tie kept his eyes closed for a couple of seconds. After opening his eyes, he looked more decisive.


    Zhang Tie was followed by Roslav, Waajid and some generals of Thor''s Hammer. At the sight of the city full of wails in the fire, they all looked very solemn.


    After a boom, Iron Bear Castle was completely destroyed by an alchemist''s bomb. Spencer clan suffered a great loss. The command center of the clan was paralyzed at once. They still didn''t know about the casualties in Spencer clan because of that boom. They were only told that the elites of Spencer clan were holding a conference in Iron Bear Castle when Iron Bear Castle was destroyed by an alchemist''s bomb. Closely after that, a lot of demon puppets appeared in Eschyle City, turning this city into a hell at once.


    The earliest demon puppets were transformed by at least 80,000 city guards in Eschyle City. No one knew how many commoners in Eschyle City were transformed into demon puppets.


    That was why Zhang Tie insisted on rushing towards here. The appearance of demon puppets indicated that demons or three-eye association were involved in it.


    The most important thing in front of them were the number of demon puppets and whether they were controlled by puppet worms. After the event in Heavens Cold City, Zhang Tie deeply knew the terror of demon puppets. If demon puppets were controlled by puppet worms, it would be more terrifying.


    Right then, under the gaze of everyone on the top of the hill, a cavalry of about 50 people soon reached the foot of the hill while hefting a banner of the huge bear tribe.


    After receiving the intelligence from Eschyle City last night, Zhang Tie had already ordered the vanguard of the huge bear tribe to save as more people as possible in Eschyle City. Therefore, the vanguard of 3000 cavalries arrived here in a few hours ago.


    The leader of the cavalry was soon guided by Zhang Tie and the other generals of Thor''s Hammer.


    "Clan elder!" the enterprising leader stood upright. Meanwhile, he raised his right hand forward and punched onto his left chest at once as a military salute.


    "How is the situation in Eschyle City?" Zhang Tie put it straight.


    "It''s very chaotic. The whole city was disordered. People were killed everywhere. Our team has just arrived there for less than 2 hours. Given the chaotic situation in Eschyle City, we didn''t dig deep into it. Under the command of the leader, we grabbed the north gate of Eschyle City and opened it so that the alive people could escape out of there!"


    "How many demon puppets are there in the City?"


    "At least 600,000 people, among them were at least 150,000 regular soldiers in Eschyle City. As demon puppets killed every alive people they saw. Few soldiers who had not been demonized were still fighting those demon puppets. Spencer have already lost their control of this city. Everyone is fighting for themselves!"


    "Were those demonized puppets acting like a well-organized army? Did they look like being commanded by others?"


    "My vanguards have already fought some demonized puppets. They are too crazy to be killed; however, they are poorly organized. They just killed every alive man they saw!"


    Zhang Tie thought about it for a few seconds, "Do you know the most populated place of demonized puppets?"


    "I was told by some residents escaping out of the city that the most populated place of demonized puppets was near the Iron Bear Castle of Spencer clan!"


    "Near the Iron Bear Castle?" Zhang Tie considered it for a short while before sighing inside. "Spencer clan is over. The Iron Bear Castle and its neighborhood was where the most of the Spencers lived." However, now, Iron Bear Castle was boomed into pieces. After pouring in another hundreds of thousands of demonized puppets from the neighborhood, how many Spencers could still survive such a catastrophe would be a question.


    Although having not seen it himself, Zhang Tie could almost confirm that the maternal puppet worm was in the Iron Bear Castle. Perhaps that boom killed that maternal puppet along with the Iron Bear Castle. Therefore, so many demonized puppets gathered around the Iron Bear Castle.


    "Fine, I know. Go back and tell your vanguard head. Guard the north gate of Eschyle City. The Thor''s Hammer would arrive soon!"


    "Yes, sir!" the team leader punched onto his chest once again towards Zhang Tie before leaving the top of the hill rapidly.


    Zhang Tie glanced at those generals of Thor''s Hammer. After hearing the words of the team leader, the generals of Thor''s Hammer didn''t look worried; instead, they looked faintly excited as their eyes glittered.


    The catastrophe facing Spencer clan and the chaotic situation in Eschyle City was indeed a good chance for the huge bear tribe.


    "Bring me the map of Eschyle City!"


    Closely after Zhang Tie''s words, an adviser among the generals opened a metal cylinder and took out of the map of Eschyle City from it.


    For various tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness, as long as the army set out, each troop had to take maps of the other tribes'' habitation, especially Eschyle City. They could buy one in Eschyle City at the cost of a couple of silver coins. They could dispatch some people here to look around the Eschyle City before drawing a military map on the basis of the original map.


    After opening the water-proof military map and pressing the four corners of the map with some fluorite lamps, the generals of Thor''s Hammer stood aside and watched the map while holding their breaths. Zhang Tie watched it for a short while before drawing a circle of about 5-6 square kilometers by a red pen centered in the Iron Bear Castle of Eschyle City. After that, he started to deploy the battle plan...

 491 A Bloody Suppression

    Chapter 491: A Bloody Suppression


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie''s plan was very simple; to clean all the demonized puppets on the three main horizontal avenues and three main longitudinal avenues using the force and speed of Thor''s Hammer in Eschyle City around the red circle. Additionally, to break through the city gates being linked to the 6 main avenues so as to create a tunnel for those alive to escape out of the city.


    Being different from common maps, the widths and depths of the six avenues on the military map of Eschyle City had been marked for the convenience of the xiphodons or common rhino-horse cavalries.


    Zhang Tie only had one requirement about Thor''s Hammer in the whole plan¡ª¡ªIn any case, maintain the maneuverability and speed of the troops. Keep moving; otherwise, once being surrounded by the demonized puppets, the Thor''s Hammer would be gnawed sooner or later like fierce tigers being trapped in marsh.


    As the others had not fought the demonized puppets before, they could hardly sense the terror of the demonized puppets, not to mention that they could make a battle plan like Zhang Tie. Whereas, as Zhang Tie had already experienced the similar battles in Heavens Cold City, he was very familiar with the battle patterns of those demonized puppets. Furthermore, he knew it clearly how to defeat demonized puppets using his own advantages.


    If the Thor''s Hammer included 50,000 warriors, perhaps Zhang Tie would consider to take a look in the neighborhood of the Iron Bear Castle. However, in the current situation, it was really not sensible to crash that hard bone with Thor''s Hammer.


    "As the military officials and generals of Thor''s Hammer, you have to keep one thing in mind after leading your troops into Eschyle City, ''If you lose your speed, you will lose your life.'' The first battle of Thor''s Hammer will sustain until this 12:00 am. By then, you have to retreat from the north gate. After that, you will converge outside the north gate and take a rest. I don''t expect to see any cavalry of Thor''s Hammer being trapped in the city by then. Although casualties cannot be avoided, I don''t allow any member of Thor''s Hammer to die unless on the back of xiphodons while in movement, if possible. Am I clear?"


    As Zhang Tie was so solemn, all the military officers and generals of Thor''s Hammer nodded solemnly.


    "Well, go pass my order to your warriors. We will set out on time!"


    All the generals and military officials heavily pounded their own left chests.


    ...


    Half an hour was actually very temporary. After the cavalries of Thor''s Hammer finished massaging their xiphodons and allowed them to drink water, they took a rest for less than 5 minutes. When the twilight exposed in the skyline, the troop set out once again.


    Speed, speed, speed¡ª¡ªthis was what their colonel required them. Each cavalry of Thor''s Hammer kept this in mind.


    When it was still over 10 km away from Eschyle City, they saw many residents escaping out of the city in a flurried way.


    These people were awakened from their fears by the booms of the xiphodons'' hoofs. They hurriedly gave a way to the xiphodons in front of them. Hiding aside, they widely opened their eyes as they saw this batch of powerful cavalries flashing before them.


    "Papa...who...are them?" a 11-12 year-old boy asked his father with his frightening eyes fixed on a male xiphodon which he had never seen before escaping out of the city while standing on an earth slope.


    Looking at those xiphodons, his dad became silent for a short while with a complicated look while his face was still sprayed with some blood stains. Only one tribe could afford so many xiphodon cavalries at once across Ice and Snow Wilderness. This must be the army of 100,000 warriors of this tribe, which had frightened the entire Eschyle City these days.


    "They...they are the King''s Knights Regiment!"


    At this moment, the man didn''t know that the King''s Knights Regiment had been changed to Thor''s Hammer.


    "King''s Knights Regiment..." the little boy stared at the backs of those strong cavalries who were darting towards Eschyle City. From then on, the tough backs and the fierce beasts left a deep impression in the little boy''s heart, which would accompany with him for the rest of his life.


    When some escaped out of that hell, some rushed into that hell!


    The little boy was very innocent.


    ...


    In a wink, the north gate of Eschyle City appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie arrived at the north gate, he saw the 3000 vanguards of the huge bear tribe fighting 6000-9000 demonized puppets. They were fighting from the outside of north city gate to the doorway.


    The moment the vanguards heard the hoofs of xiphodons of the Thor''s Hammer, they instantly gave a way to them, allowing thousands of demonized puppets to rush out of the city through the doorway with grim, bloody eyes.


    Seeing this ugly demonized puppets, a killing thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind. He knew that the real people had died, all these were bugs cultivated by demons which were manipulating and profaning the human corpses...


    The moment those demonized puppets rushed out of the city, they had seen the xiphodons surging towards them.


    Closely after that, constant sounds of breaking bones, tendons and breaking jars of pickled vegetables dropping onto the ground from 3rd or 4th floor drifted from the north gate of Eschyle City.


    A lot of demonized puppets were bumped and sent flying back dozens of meters. Each demonized puppet struck by a xiphodon could collide a lot of its kind onto the ground like a flying flesh balls. As for those being collided onto the ground, before they climbed up, they had already been kicked back onto the ground by the hoofs of xiphodons.


    The cavalries then reached out their long javelins and stabbed into the heads of those demonized puppets precisely and sharply. After that, they shook their javelin and directly injected their surging battle Qi inside, exploding the heads of demonized puppets.


    Zhang Tie rushed ahead of the Thor''s Hammer. Each time he waved his terrifying battle hammer, he would split a demonized puppet''s body into pieces like a broken porcelain, sending them flying back to dozens of meters and shooting down a great number of demonized puppets.


    The deputy regimental commander behind Zhang Tie was thrashing his iron javelin horizontally towards those demonized puppets like using a common wooden stick, causing rows of demonized puppets to fly backwards in weird gestures.


    A qizhang''s javelin was connected with 5 or 6 struggling demonized puppets like sugar-coated haws [1]. After the qizhang''s battle Qi flashed by, it blew up all the demonized puppets...


    Under the gaze of the 3000 vanguards, the 5000 cavalries of Thor''s Hammer formed a triangular arrowhead. After that, the arrowhead rolled towards the 7000-8000 demonized puppets like how a herd of mad cattle trampled on the roadside scarecrows without declining their speed.


    After that, the arrowhead penetrated through the north gate of Eschyle City and disappeared in front of them, leaving a hundreds of meters long flesh swamp. Only a few of the 7000-8000 demonized puppets were left there. They were standing on two sides of the flesh swamp with a confusing look and looking around, seemingly could not figure out what was happening.


    This was Thor''s Hammer, the most powerful warriors in Ice and Snow Wilderness led by the clan elder.


    After a couple of seconds, the 3000 vanguards yelled. Soon after that, they swarmed back and killed all the rest alive puppets. By then, they took control of the north gate of Eschyle City once again.


    Zhang Tie was also shocked by the first battle. Such a powerful cavalry was dreamed by each commander. Zhang Tie was sure that this team''s fighting strength could rank within top five even top three across Blackson Humans Clan on the premise of the same population, not to mention in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    However, there were thousands of human cavalry teams across Blackson Humans Clan.


    After rushing into the north gate of Eschyle City, the Thor''s Hammer didn''t stop. Instead, they split into three parts. Zhang Tie led 2000 of them forward while each of the two deputy regimental commanders led 1500 of them towards the two sides.


    Like plows, the three cavalries plowed towards south along three main avenues in Eschyle City...


    ...


    The six main thoroughfares were very broad. Benefited from the developed industry, commerce and trade in Eschyle City, the width of each thoroughfare was greater than 40 m.


    As curfew was implemented these days in the Eschyle City, no vehicle or traffic tool could be seen in the thoroughfares across the city.


    Based on Zhang Tie''s experiences, in such case, the average people in the city might be hiding in their homes or chose hidden and safe paths to escape out of the city together with their friends and neighbors. Those who were fighting demonized puppets would also take advantage of the terrains. Nobody dared to swagger in the main thoroughfares so as to attract the attention of those demonized puppets unless they wanted to die. However, those who really wanted to seek for death could not be more dead at this moment.


    Therefore, those who were swaggering in the main thoroughfares of Eschyle City were all demonized puppets. What was there in front of Zhang Tie verified his judgment.


    Seeing those demonized puppets rushing towards his xiphodon with bloody eyes, Zhang Tie roared as he waved his battle hammer to suppress them all with the help of his 2000 warriors of Thor''s Hammer...


    As they moved forward, the road behind was gradually paved with fleshes and rolling heads.


    Facing those slow-witted demonized puppets who only knew about killing using their instinct, Thor''s Hammer had an overwhelming advantage. In the broad main thoroughfares, all the cavalries of Thor''s Hammer only needed to do this; kept the formation, followed the team, raised their javelins, charged, charged and charged forward.


    No demonized puppets could block such a cavalry.


    If demonized puppets had high intelligence, they would set road blocks or change their tactics and fighting ways. In this way, they could bring huge trouble to the cavalries of Thor''s Hammer.


    However, as these demonized puppet couldn''t grow mature due to the death of the maternal puppet worm, they only knew about killing and destroying others. They had no intelligence at all. Therefore, they did two things to Thor''s Hammer¡ª¡ªrushed toward the cavalries while waving their arms; shrilled towards the cavalries of Thor''s Hammer out of fury and chased after them.


    However, the Thor''s Hammer only did one thing¡ª¡ªeach team chose one horizontal and one longitudinal main thoroughfares and kept galloping their xiphodons in them.


    At the beginning, the two deputy regimental commanders didn''t understand Zhang Tie''s order¡ª¡ªkeep galloping their xiphodons in the main thoroughfares. In their mind, after killing those demonized puppets in the main thoroughfares twice, they would have no demonized puppet to kill anymore; however, when they made a round trip in their own main thoroughfares, they found they could not clean them all at all as the other demonized puppets in the far would soon arrive after hearing the shrills of their same kind...


    What the two deputy regimental commanders needed to do was to keep "refreshing" the roads to and fro like a road roller together with their cavalries on the terrain which was most beneficial for xiphodons to play their role.


    Before arrival, no general of Thor''s Hammer had imagined that they would fight this way...

 492 The Brilliant Military Exploits

    Chapter 492: The Brilliant Military Exploits


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Since they rushed into Eschyle City, the 5000 cavalries of Thor''s Hammer had been rushing and killing in the six main thoroughfares of the city until 12:00 am. When the three troops of Thor''s Hammer converged at the fixed time and retreated out of the north gate of Eschyle City to take a rest, 5000 cavalries and 5000 xiphodons were all covered with blood and aggressive killing intent.


    Seeing them coming out of the city, all the alive people who had escaped out of the north gate of Eschyle City watched this cavalry with awed and appreciative eyes. Many people''s eyes were filled with tears as they gave a way to the cavalries silently. Everyone knew that they might not be able to escape out of the city at all without this powerful cavalry.


    Because of the impact of Thor''s Hammer, the other 5 city gates of Eschyle City were also opened consecutively. All the demonized puppets nearby the 5 city gates were eliminated by Zhang Tie''s moving tactics. When Thor''s Hammer were attracting and killing those demonized puppets in the six main thoroughfares of the city, a great number of residents escaped out of the city gate through the safe roads which had been cleaned by Thor''s Hammer, including some established detachment of city guards.


    Based on the population and power of Thor''s Hammer, Zhang Tie knew that he could not consider each street and each residential area. However, he indeed had already played the role of Thor''s Hammer to the utmost extent and tried his best to create conditions for those alive people who wanted to escape out of the city.


    All the Thor''s Hammer cavalries and xiphodons had only rested half an hour before daybreak since rapid march last night; plus 5 hours of consecutive high-intensity fight, the whole Thor''s Hammer was very fatigued, by noon, including cavalries and xiphodons.


    The temporary camp of Thor''s Hammer was over 200 m outside the north gate, being close to the north gate tower and a section of the city wall. As an important material storage warehouse of the city guards of Eschyle City, this place was very spacious.


    There were over 300 guards here previously. Since last night, the great changes in the city made the guards flurried. As they didn''t receive any order, they could only stay here to defend this place. After Zhang Tie rushed towards them with Thor''s Hammer and declared that this place had been expropriated, the military officers opened the gate of the warehouse only after a few seconds.


    After the cavalries jumped off the xiphodons, their military exploits were soon reported.


    ¡ª¡ªIn the entire morning, 278 cavalries of Thor''s Hammer were slightly wounded, 24 were worse yet could still fight while 3 were heavily wounded, who could not join the battle anymore. They were receiving the medical treatment and were no longer in danger. However, they killed 80,000 to 100,000 demonized puppets in total, 30,000 of them were the original regular army of Eschyle City.


    This was a very brilliant victory which was out of one''s imagination--Killed 100,000 enemies, yet lost no one itself.


    Roslav''s voice trembled when he reported this military exploit to Zhang Tie. Although such a brilliant military exploit was caused by the sharp difference between demonized puppets and xiphodons in fighting strength, it was benefited more from Zhang Tie''s command and fighting tactics. Although being boring and mechanical, the moving tactic played a great role in the battle. Otherwise, it was not even possible for the 5000 xiphodons cavalries to kill 100,000 mad dogs, not to mention 100,000 demonized puppets.


    After receiving the report, Zhang Tie was also shocked. Honestly, Zhang Tie had not accepted any systematic military and command training since he was born. The reason that he insisted on this fighting tactic lay in his experience in fighting demonized puppets. He just felt it was practicable. And he could not think about better fighting tactics for Thor''s Hammer in Eschyle City.


    Given the military exploits, this fighting tactic was not especially effective.


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie found that he had already reached a supreme level in military command mentioned by chief of staff Guderian, which was desired by most of the commanders and generals¡ª¡ªto complete the battle in the most advantageous way with more powerful forces on the predetermined battle field.


    Although Zhang Tie also felt very fatigued, after hearing this report, he still stood up and told Roslav, "Let''s take a look out there..."


    For Zhang Tie, as long as he put down his Thor''s Hammer, it would be the best rest. In order to maintain the morale of the cavalries, Zhang Tie kept waving his Thor''s Hammer until now. After putting it down, Zhang Tie felt that his arms were in so much pain that they almost became numb.


    Even though he had eaten a lot of seven-strength fruits, he still could not bear it after the high-intensity march and battle from last night to now with that Thor''s Hammer.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt coming back to Iron Blood Camp.


    When he walked out of the door of the tent, Zhang Tie silently "transported" some all-purpose medicament into his mouth before forcefully swallowing them like swallowing his saliva. After that, he gradually recovered.


    Feeling the cold north wind, Zhang Tie raised his head and found that it was already snowing in the cloudy day.


    "Is it snowing?"


    Zhang Tie reached out his hand, having the glittering snow flakes fall on his hand.


    "It''s good. At least, now we don''t have to worry about the corpses in the city being rotten. If those corpses could not have timely dealt, it would probably have arose plague in the neighborhood and killed more people." Zhang Tie sighed inside.


    "Perhaps, even the God would not like to see this city become worse."


    When it snowed, Zhang Tie took a look at those warriors.


    As a result, all the fatigued warriors silently climbed up from the ground and watched Zhang Tie''s back when they saw Zhang Tie passing by them. Some of them even punched their chest to pay their tribute to him.


    The brilliant military exploits also spread across the Thor''s Hammer at this moment.


    Looking at those awed eyes, Zhang Tie knew that his status as the regimental commander of Thor''s Hammer was fully accepted and sincerely advocated by all the warriors of Thor''s Hammer until now. Before this, the warriors of Thor''s Hammer accepted Elzida''s prophecy more than him.


    Whatever the prophecy was, Zhang Tie knew that only the commanders and generals who could win a battle and survive their subordinates would win the adoration and support of the warriors. If his performance was too bad, like how a wastrel squandered his 1 million gold coins of deposit in bank, sooner or later, he would lose everything, including all the resources left by Elzida to him like that marvelous halos and the warriors'' belief in him.


    Zhang Tie took a round among the warriors of Thor''s Hammer to check those who were moderately or heavily wounded. After confirming that those wounded warriors had been properly managed and had been no longer in danger, Zhang Tie walked out of the wards.


    "Open the warehouse. There are some things available inside. Deliver them to the warriors first!" Zhang Tie walked as he sent an order to the one beside him, "Pick up the thick clothes, tents and food first to ensure the supply of Thor''s Hammer and the vanguards; after that, dispatch some people to other places outside the city, if there are other material warehouses near us, expropriate them; after counting the materials inside, prepare to deliver them to the refugees!"


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how many people had he saved. Therefore, he could only try his best at this moment.


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Bring me that garrison officers. Something in Eschyle City has to be managed by them. As we have no surplus people to consider about other things in this couple of days, it''s nothing different than killing them if we sent them into the city; however, they could play their role in other places!"


    After the Thor''s Hammer took over this material warehouse, they had already put the 300-odd guards under house arrest.


    Receiving Zhang Tie''s order, someone soon brought the garrison officers here.


    He was a 50-year old middle aged man with the rank of captain. He looked very experienced and honest. Being promoted to a captain and was dispatched here to defend the warehouse in his 50s , this person must be a rather honest guy.


    That person also knew about Zhang Tie''s current status; however, he had not imagined that Zhang Tie wanted to meet him. Therefore, he looked very tense while his forehead was oozing. He did not dare to look straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    "Don''t bully honest ones.", this was the code of conduct to be a man taught by his mom. Therefore, at the sight of such an honest man, Zhang Tie looked kinder at once.


    "Take a seat, captain. What''s you name?"


    "My...my name is Cruyff!"


    "Are your family members still in Eschyle City?"


    "My family members are outside of the city; however...my brother''s family is still in the city!" Cruyff said after a second.


    "Captain Cruyff. You must have known what happened in Eschyle City. To put it straightforward, you might not determine the future of this city; but are you willing to do one thing if it could help a lot of residents in Eschyle City, even save a lot of them without having to risk your life?"


    After a short hesitation, Cruyff raised his head and looked at Zhang Tie''s sincere eyes before nodding, "I am!"


    ...


    Several minutes later, Cruyff left together with his 300-odd subordinates...


    Without taking a rest, after making an arrangement to Thor''s Hammer, Zhang Tie rushed into Eschyle City again with Roslav, Waajid and the other 7 bodyguards whose comprehensive fighting strength was above LV 7...

 493 Only for Peace of Mind

    Chapter 493: Only for Peace of Mind


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It took Zhang Tie''s team less than 20 minutes to arrive from the north gate to the Duhaer Avenue after killing dozens of demonized puppets on the way.


    Duhaer Avenue was a common place in the west of Eschyle City. There were all sorts of commercial firms and buildings of 4-5 storeys on both sides of the avenue.


    Many gates of the commercial firms on the first floor of the buildings was broken. The avenue was covered with over 100 corpses and blood stains.


    When they arrived here, they saw a group of demonized puppets who were squatting on the roadside and tearing some fresh corpses.


    "Kill them!" Zhang Tie muffled his voice as he charged towards the demonized puppets right away.


    Feeling enemy rushing towards them, those demonized puppets instantly raised their bloody face from the incomplete corpses and darted towards Zhang Tie''s team.


    Roslav and Waajid were both LV 10 strong fighters, the other members except for Zhang Tie were all above LV 7. Therefore, before those demonized puppets arrived in front of Zhang Tie, a lot of them had been stricken down by Roslav and Waajid.


    Holding a common long sword, Zhang Tie only chopped off the ugly heads of the two demonized puppets before the battle came to an end.


    Before the next batch of demonized puppets arrived, the whole avenue became quiet temporarily. Because the population of demonized puppets in Eschyle City was less than that in Heavens Cold City. Heavens Cold City was where most of the people became demonized puppets and was the real hell. In that city, each step should be meticulous. If the current situation in Eschyle City was the same as that in Heavens Cold City, Zhang Tie would never let Thor''s Hammer involve in, no matter how sharp Thor''s Hammer was. Facing millions of dauntless demonized puppets, each step forward was like facing a flesh wall of dozens of meters in thickness. In that case, it was nothing different than sending them for death by dispatching army in.


    It snowed heavily while the white snow formed a sharp contrast with the blood stains in the avenue, which felt very cruel.


    After jumping over a roadside metal barrier, Zhang Tie rushed forward while looking at the door-numbers on either side of the streets and names of those small commercial firms or stores.


    When No. 176 in Duhaer appeared in front of Zhang Tie, he felt a bit cold inside as the gate had been broken while some fresh blood and broken glass were spread over the steps outside the gate.


    There was a blue signboard called Isle & Mays Commercial Firm on the broken gate.


    Zhang Tie rushed in, followed by his men.


    Behind a counter on the first floor, a young man''s neck was bitten off while the fresh blood was flowing over the floor. Nobody else was in the 1st floor. However, hearing the loud sound on the 2nd floor, Zhang Tie instantly rushed upstairs.


    It was a warehouse on the 2nd floor while many goods were piled inside. Nobody was in. Therefore, Zhang Tie rushed to the 3rd floor.


    The 3rd floor was more chaotic. The moment he rushed to the entrance of the stairs, Zhang Tie had already seen a demonized puppet twisting its head and reaching its hand towards the axe head on his shoulder. However, as the axe head was deeply stuck into its shoulder and the handle was on his back, the demonized puppet could not take it off.


    Seeing Zhang Tie rushing up, that demonized puppet became shocked for a second. Closely after that, Zhang Tie waved his sword and chopped of its head, sending it flying in the air.


    After passing by two rooms on the 3rd floor, Zhang Tie found the source of the sound. Five demonized puppets were hacking a metal door crazily using axes and various objects. As they hacked it, they uttered terrifying shrills.


    However, after each hack, some kids inside the door would burst out a scream of terror.


    Waajid instantly rushed forward and chopped off the heads of the five demonized puppets. After swaying on the ground for a while, the headless corpses finally fell down while the rich bloody smell instantly spread in the narrow corridor.


    Zhang Tie walked over there and found that door had already been transformed while some steel bars being linked into the wall had been exposed. Zhang Tie slightly waved his head, "If I didn''t come here, I really wonder how long would it stand."


    Zhang Tie grabbed the door-frame of the metal door. After releasing his barbarous strength, he instantly pulled open the metal door, causing a crack.


    When the metal door fell down, an axe was thrown out from inside.


    "Stop, Isle, it''s me!" Zhang Tie instantly caught the handle of the axe as he pulled that mad guy out of there.


    This guy was a friend that Zhang Tie made on Polar Light, a small businessman in Eschyle City who was especially in food and fur trade.


    At this moment, Isle''s face was completely pale with bloody eyes while his clothes were covered with some blood stains. If the other cavalries of Thor''s Hammer caught sight of his red eyes, they might have already killed him.


    After being rocked heavily by Zhang Tie twice, Isle finally woke up. He glanced at the headless corpses, then Zhang Tie with his eyes widely opened in an unbelievable way.


    "Peter..."


    Zhang Tie glance at that narrow room and found a 20-odd woman was tightly hugging her two kids while huddling up at a corner with a frightened look.


    The elder kid was a 5-6 year old boy who looked a bit like Isle while the younger one was a 2-3 year old girl. The woman covered their eyes with her hands as she didn''t want them to see the scene when the door was broken.


    At the sight of a safe, Zhang Tie guessed that this room might be the financial affairs office of this commercial firm. As something important was put inside, the door was a solid metal door. When in danger, Isle''s family just hid here; unexpectedly, their lives were saved.


    "Hurry up, call all of your family members out. We have to leave out of here right now!"


    "Peter, why are you here?"


    "It''s a long story. I will tell you on the way!"


    "Mays, come out, he is our friend!" saying that, Isle turned around and ran into the small room. He hugged that little boy and covered his face into his chest to hide the bloody scene of outside. After that, he walked out with the woman who he called Mays.


    "Isle, are they your kids and wife?"


    "Yes!"


    "After a while we have to leave out of here. Women and children may not be able to keep pace. For safety reasons, only people can carry them away!"


    "As long as you can take my little Kevin and Tess out of here, Isle and I could stay here. We will never bring trouble to you..." Isle''s wife glanced at Zhang Tie and his men. Feeling that they were powerful fighters, she said that very decisively.


    Zhang Tie was moved by the braveness and maternal love of Isle''s woman. After hearing Mays'' words, Isle also nodded towards Zhang Tie in a solemn way.


    At the critical moment, both the parents hoped to save their kids.


    "Mom, don''t leave me...wuhwuh..."


    "Mama..."


    Although the two kids were hugged by Isle and Mays and couldn''t see what happened outside, they could hear what their parents were talking about. After hearing their mom''s suggestion, the two kids both cried as they tightened their grip.


    Seeing this, Zhang Tie took a deep breath as he put one hand onto Isle''s shoulder heavily "Isle, do you believe in me?"


    Isle nodded.


    "I will carry your family members out of here, including you, your wife and your two kids for sure!"


    ...


    After a couple of minutes, Zhang Tie''s bodyguards carried Isle''s kids and his wife as they rushed out of the Isle & Mays Commercial Firm towards the north gate along the path they came from.


    As it was too terrifying outside, Isle''s wife took two pieces of handkerchiefs and covered her kids'' eyes. Additionally, she didn''t allow her kids to open their eyes.


    Even after carrying a person, the fighters were still running very fast at a speed of 100 m per second. Although Isle was healthy and young, he also lit some surging points. However, after following them over 500 m, Isle had been panting heavily.


    "Peter, leave me here..."


    Before Isle finished his words, Zhang Tie, who had been paying attention to him, immediately grabbed him and carried him on the back.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s movement, his bodyguards were shocked inside as all of them felt like being injected with a boiling flow...


    Roslav and Waajid hurriedly rushed to Zhang Tie''s side. They wanted to say something; however, after seeing Zhang Tie''s eyes, they didn''t say anything.


    Isle instantly burst into tears...


    Zhang Tie felt that it was his responsibility to help most of the residents to escape out of this city through the safe paths that had been cleaned by Thor''s Hammer.


    At this moment, he also thought that he should carry his friend out of here.


    When he rushed in the north gate with Thor''s Hammer, he had thought about taking Isle out; however, that whim just flashed across his mind. He soon rejected that idea due to the rigorous situation. At this moment, seeing that Isle''s family members were safe, Zhang Tie was very satisfied; thankfully, he had no regret about that.


    Zhang Tie knew that he might not save everyone, neither would he satisfy everyone; What he did was only to be not regretful and for peace of mind. As to what other big figures would do facing such a situation, it was nothing to do with him...


    ...


    Right then, a dangerous person on the roof of a 10-odd storey building on the roadside over 100 m away instantly stopped when he saw Zhang Tie carrying Isle on his back. He had been following Zhang Tie since Zhang Tie entered Eschyle City for the second time.


    That was an old man with silver hair. Standing on the roof of the building, he looked as steady as a mountain.


    Seeing Zhang Tie running fast with Isle on his back, the old man looked sophisticated while the last bit of killing intent in his eyes gradually disappeared. After a long while, the old man let out a deep sigh as he looked at the direction of the Iron Bear Castle. As he moved his feet, he disappeared from the roof of the building. When he reappeared, he was already on the roof of another building over 300 m away...


    After this person left this building in less than 10 seconds, the snow had started to twist weirdly in the sky. After that, a pair of blurry, profound eyes appeared like an inverted image on water. After a glance at that old man, it immediately disappeared.


    When the blurry image appeared again, although the old man had already arrived at the Iron Bear Castle almost 10 km away from here, his body became stiff for a second as he turned around and looked at that direction where he stood just now...


    ...


    Over 200 km away in the northwest of Sciatta Town, Pontiff Sarlin opened his eyes...


    ...


    The next noon, when the army of 100,000 warriors of the huge bear tribe arrived at Eschyle City, the periphery of the whole Eschyle City had become a huge refugee camp. In a recent couple of days, millions of people escaping out of Eschyle City had already occupied each available place within dozens of kilometers of Eschyle City with tents or movable wooden cabins.


    Those refugees filled all the small towns nearby Eschyle City. Some brave people even directly crowded in the commercial area from the south gate of Eschyle City to the harbor area as they were waiting for the day to return to Eschyle City.


    The periphery of the whole Eschyle City had been overcrowded; thankfully, the basic order was maintained...

 494 The Negotiation

    Chapter 494: The Negotiation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When the army of the huge bear tribe arrived, Zhang Tie had already finished today''s "cleaning mission" in the six main thoroughfares of Eschyle City with 1000 xiphodon cavalries.


    After the 5000 xiphodon cavalries finished their mission in Eschyle City that morning, besides those being wounded, all the others were divided into four groups, 1000 for each. They entered Eschyle City one group after another to constantly clean the demonized puppets in three horizontal and three longitudinal main thoroughfares.


    For Thor''s Hammer, this was a very simple mission. Each group only needed to rush one time in 6 main thoroughfares before returning. It only took each group 2 hours to complete their mission. After resting 6 hours, they started the second strike.


    In such a wheel war, the six main thoroughfares were unimpeded. Therefore, a lot of residents escaped out of there. Meanwhile, the demonized puppets in the city gradually decreased.


    Within two days, over 150,000 demonized puppets had been killed by Thor''s Hammer.


    After putting on the armors and the protective gear that were found in the combat readiness warehouse, the cavalries of Thor''s Hammer were well protected in the later actions. No soldiers were heavily wounded anymore. Most of the wounds were minor.


    The moment Zhang Tie came out of the north gate, he had seen the army of the huge bear tribe. They were pitching tents on the riverside in the north of the city.


    At this moment, it was already immense white in the wild. After snowing for 24 hours, the accumulated snow on the ground had been as thick as 15 cm. The warriors of the huge bear tribe moved away the snow and nailed their tents onto the ground.


    At the sight of the army of 100,000 warriors, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh, "As the demonized puppets in Eschyle City have been cracked down, it''s time for the huge bear tribe to negotiate with Spencer clan."


    After this battle, Zhang Tie didn''t know how many people were left alive in Spencer clan. Over 20,000 guards of Spencer clan escaped out of the city. Based on such a small population, they could not control the entire city anymore. Zhang Tie knew that even though the huge bear tribe didn''t occupy Eschyle City, the powers that envy about the resources of Eschyle City would not give up this opportunity either.


    Spencer clan was in various crisis. Its foundation in ruling Eschyle City had been completely shaken. In the past two days, there was already a gossip that the one who arouse this tragedy was Pears, a member of Spencer clan. As the former clan elder, he not only brought an alchemist''s bomb into Iron Bear Castle, but also activated the puppet worms across the city, including the army.


    It was not the ordinary people who came out with this news, but some military officers of the city guards in Eschyle City. At this moment, after suffering such a huge catastrophe, everyone escaped out of the Eschyle City was furious. As such an accident happened in the city under the rule of Spencer clan, although Spencer clan also suffered a great loss, especially a great amount of city guards became demonized puppets, Spencer clan should shoulder the responsibility.


    ...


    When the night fell again, the wind and snow grew fiercer. The wuthering sound of north wind drifted everywhere. Not only Eschyle City, even the entire land started to sleep in the darkness.


    Besides some guards who were residing and controlling the city gates of Eschyle City, even the demonized puppets slowed their action in the city.


    Zhang Tie cancelled the action of Thor''s Hammer in this evening. Everyone just stayed in the camp to recover themselves, including the army of 100,000 warriors of the huge bear tribe.


    Almost everyone knew that a big war was going to break out tomorrow. However, before the big war, the huge bear tribe could negotiate with Spencer clan tonight¡ª¡ªthe huge bear tribe would not bleed for the interests of the iron bear tribe while Spencer clan would not just gift Eschyle City to the huge bear tribe unconditionally.


    The result of the negotiation tonight would determine the future of Eschyle City.


    At this moment, almost all the senior military officers of the huge bear tribe had gathered in a tent not far from the main tent. When they waited for the news from the main tent, they started to do tactical deduction for Thor''s Hammer on the new sand table of Eschyle City.


    After the army of huge bear tribe arrived, they were immediately shocked by the brilliant military exploits of Thor''s Hammer. Killed 150,000 enemies safely without losing even a single warrior, if not happened to their own troop, nobody would believe in that.


    The tactical deduction on the sand table was implemented by some senior military officers. When the deputy regimental commander of Thor''s Hammer was explaining about the details, the other military officers had fixed their eyes on the sand table while standing on the side.


    After the result of the rigorous deduction came out, all the military officers in the tent became silent. Nobody knew what to say. They were all in awe of Peter for the time when he chose to attack Eschyle City and the brilliant military exploits of Thor''s Hammer under his leadership.


    Although not everyone had witnessed the man''s manifestation of the God''s will in the underground but everyone witnessed the "God''s will" that he manifested on the ground.


    Right then, Spencer clan finally posed their bottomline in the main tent not far from this tent.


    Only two people of Spencer clan were qualified to negotiate with the huge bear tribe, Rodolfo that Zhang Tie had seen a couple of days ago and another knight whom Zhang Tie had not seen before.


    Pontiff Sarlin told Zhang Tie that the elder was Turin, the only knight of Spencer clan.


    For knights, their ages could be hardly identified. Although elder Turin looked only 60-70 years old, if not being warned by Pontiff Sarlin, Zhang Tie actually would not believe that this guy was over 200 years old.


    Elder Turin looked icy. Since he entered the main tent, he didn''t speak at all with his eyes closed. In the whole process of negotiation, elder Rodolfo was negotiating with Toles and Gouras of the huge bear tribe on behalf of Spencer clan. The old man kept his eyes closed until the two parties showed their hands when he looked at Zhang Tie.


    "If you agree, Eschyle City will be your personal territory from then on, including all the human resources, materials and wealth of Spencer clan and the numerous resources that Eschyle City contains. If you don''t agree, from tomorrow, Spencer clan will exert its full efforts to fight the huge bear tribe to the end for its own benefit! Although Spencer clan could fall or perish but we would never survive ourselves as timid as a rabbit!" Elder Turin opened his mouth, making the main tent colder.


    At this moment, everyone silently fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie, including Pontiff Sarlin, Toles and Gouras and waited for Zhang Tie''s final decision.


    Zhang Tie was considering it carefully. The condition of Spencer clan was very simple¡ª¡ªEschyle City would be incorporated into the huge bear tribe as Zhang Tie''s private territory. He could enjoy everything in Eschyle City. However, Zhang Tie had to marry some Spencer women and had babies with them. All the kids'' family name should be Spencer. In the future, the Eschyle City could only be inherited by one of those Spencer kids, even the new clan elders of Spencer clan had to be succeeded by one of those Spencer kids.


    This was Spencer''s plan to the future of Eschyle City.


    Zhang Tie felt that this condition was really shrewd. He really wandered who thought out this condition. Only through simple inter-marriage and inheritance, the huge bear tribe and Spencer clan both would feel like owning Eschyle City.


    "Based on such a condition, Spencer clan would not suffer any loss. After tiding over the current difficulty with the help of me and the huge bear tribe, they would have the whole city once again. I would not suffer any loss either. As they are my children, if they had equal powers over Eschyle City, they would not cause a loss to the huge bear tribe. As the head of the huge bear tribe, my willingness is also the willingness of the huge bear tribe. Even in the future, the one who rules this city would also be the son of the clan elder of the huge bear tribe."


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he had to experience a political inter-marriage so fast.


    Actually, no man would refuse such a condition. The only condition for you was to have others'' money, women, foundation and resources, to have your son succeed to all of this!


    Zhang Tie was also a man, a man who would not do bad things or limit himself with too many moral sentiments.


    Therefore, only after thinking for half a minute, Zhang Tie had nodded before saying, "I agree!"


    ...


    Only after a few minutes, the result of this negotiation had been passed to the tent of the military officers in the tent not far from that main tent. After hearing this result, everybody yelled. From today on, the one who ruled this city would be their Lord and the offsprings of their Lord. They didn''t care whether the Lord''s kids were male or female.


    "Prepare for the battle. We will kill all the demonized puppets in Eschyle City tomorrow!"


    ...

 495 Step by Step

    Chapter 495: Step by Step


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On the next day, both wind and snow stopped while the accumulated snow outside the Eschyle City was about 30 cm in thickness. Although it was still cold, the whole Eschyle City gradually boiled like a burning furnace of a steam machine.


    100,000 warriors of the huge bear tribe, over 20,000 city guards of Eschyle City, plus 180,000 young adults who had escaped out of Eschyle City started to march towards the core area near the Iron Bear Castle.


    After the 5000 xiphodon cavalries of Thor''s Hammer swept over the six main thoroughfares once again and left, 60,000 warriors of the huge bear tribe entered Eschyle City from six city gates to clean the demonized puppets.


    The most powerful warriors of bear-killing camp were divided into six parts as the vanguards for eliminating demonized puppets. Each part contained 1500 people. While the rest 1000 people prepared to fight outside the city as the reserved force.


    Each one of the 10,000 people was above LV 6. According to Zhang Tie''s requirements, each of them put on a heavy plate armor weighing over 160 kg provided by Spencer clan. Besides, they had to hold a broadsword and huge axe.


    Together with the bear-killing camp were hundreds of shield carts, the front of which were two riveted layers of thick steel plates. There were sharp metal spines and thorns. The steel plates fixed in front of the cart were 2.5 m in height and 1 m in width. The cart could be moved by two common warriors. When these shield carts moved in a row, they could form a solid steel shield formation in the streets. Additionally, they could be freely organized according to the width of the streets. They were suitable to both avenues and alleys.


    Behind the shield carts formation and the soldiers of bear-killing camp, there were also fully-armored warriors of the huge bear tribe and the former city guards of Eschyle City. These soldiers and warriors held javelins or lances. When they moved, they looked like a wood.


    Behind these troops were the young adults that were recruited from Eschyle City temporarily.


    When Thor''s Hammer rushed into Eschyle City, the six troops were already ready to set out. When Thor''s Hammer rushed out of Eschyle City, the six troops had already gathered outside the city gates.


    At this moment, the huge airship of Spencer clan had already reached above Eschyle City. The three elders of the huge bear tribe, Zhang Tie and the other two elders of Spencer clan were all watching the war situation on the airship.


    A huge sand table of Eschyle City was placed in the spacious hall on the first floor of the airship. The advisers of the huge bear tribe and Spencer clan were waiting for the message from below around that huge sand table.


    On the deck of the airship, more than 10 people were observing the city below with a telescope.


    The light signal team on the airship was ready...


    The crystal remote-sensing communication team was also ready...


    ...


    Sitting in the command module on the second floor of the airship, Zhang Tie watched the snowwhite city below through the huge circular glass window.


    Thor''s Hammer rushed in Eschyle City and worked as efficient and sharper as before.


    After detouring the core area of Iron Bear Castle, the 5000 cavalries of Thor''s Hammer rapidly finished their task, offering a good start for the great battle.


    Under the gaze of Zhang Tie, the cavalries of Thor''s Hammer left the north gate of Eschyle City. Before he delivered an order, he had already received a message.


    ...


    Only after 10 more seconds, a voice sounded in the command module of the airship.


    "Clan elder, Thor''s Hammer have already completed the first stage of mission and left Eschyle City safe and sound!"


    After hearing this sound, everyone in the command module of the airship fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie''s face.


    Zhang Tie just nodded calmly before sending the order, "Start!"


    ...


    Seeing the changing light signal on the airship, the six troops below started to enter the city from six directions.


    The bear-killing fighters rushed ahead and chopped off the heads of those wandering demonized puppets. Those demonized puppets in the streets could never fight the bear-killing fighters. Therefore, within a few minutes, each troop had already marched forward 100 m in Eschyle City.


    Behind the bear-killing fighters were the shield carts.


    Soon after the bear-killing fighters cleaned a small section of roads, the shield carts and soldiers with javelins and lances had occupied the area and closed all the entrances in all directions in case of being raided by demonized puppets.


    After that, the bear-killing fighters started to rush towards various buildings on both sides of the roads in a group of 10 and started to clean the possible demonized puppets in the buildings.


    After the team of bear-killing fighters came out of a building, the young adults being recruited from Eschyle City would rush in at once. They then carried the corpses of demonized puppets or residents out of the buildings and transported them to the outside of the city to deal with them.


    Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people were digging in a pit which was almost as deep as a football field outside the city while oozing sweat like it was raining.


    The heads of corpses of demonized puppets were chopped off. Therefore, the moment they were transported to the outside of the city, they were thrown into the huge pits. After pouring oil on them, people would burn and bury them. Those corpses being killed by demonized puppets would be transported to another place for the recognition of their relatives.


    Battle calls drifted in the city while ground-breaking cries could be heard outside the city.


    ...


    "Troop 1 enter 200 m forward Roseville Avenue, Clear..."


    ...


    "Troop 2 enter Gurness Department, shield carts are blocking the crossroads..."


    ...


    "Troop 4 complete the cleaning in Spring Avenue, turning to Buckthorn Street..."


    ...


    "Troop 5 complete the cleaning of 300 m in Harbor Road East, keep going..."


    ...


    "Troop 3 meet over 2000 demonized puppets. Some of the demonized puppets are LV 10 strong fighters, Troop 3 have casualties...demonized puppets clear...200 m in Harbor Road West clear!"


    ...


    "Troop 6 surround D1 residential area...D1 residential area clear. Some residents in D1 residential area have been rescued. We''re heading for D2 along Snowwhite Avenue..."


    The shield carts pushed forward step by step. The six troops followed the shield carts entering each street, each building and each residential area...


    With constant reports, more and more streets, buildings and communities were cleaned on the sand table of Eschyle City in the hall of airship while more and more blue flags, which represented safety, started to appear on the sand table of Eschyle City.


    After receiving each new message, the advisers would push forward the sign cards on the sand table for a distance; meanwhile, they constantly passed the information to the command module on the second floor of the airship.


    The six troops pushed forward orderly according to the prefixed routes interdependently. As a result, all the demonized puppets were separated, surrounded and eliminated by the six troops. After that, the corpses of the demonized puppets were soon thrown into the huge pits outside the city by the young adults of Eschyle City.


    Zhang Tie constantly delivered his order in the command hall,


    "Warn troop 5. They are moving too fast. After cleaning Harbor Road East, they need to stop marching ahead temporarily. They must wait for troop 4 and troop 3 on their left and right flanks to clean up Buckthorn Street and Harbor Road West before moving on. It''s too risky to move alone..."


    ...


    "Warn troop 2. To be ready for over 10,000 demonized puppets who are surging towards them from the west along Thunderbolt Square!"


    ...


    "Notice troop 6, there''s a great batch of residents on the roof of some residential buildings in D2. Some demonized puppets were attempting to break the safety door leading to the roof. The residents are defending them. tell troop 6 to dispatch some elite teams to rescue them. Meanwhile, tell the follow-up troop to cover them."


    "Let Thor''s Hammer be ready for the coming enemies. A great number of demonized puppets are forced back in the main thoroughfares. Let them clean there in 5 minutes..."


    The orders were delivered down there from the airship through light signal. After seeing the signal, some people started to coordinate and command the actions of the six troops.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was pretty clear-minded. After seeing what was happening in Eschyle City, he instantly delivered orders one after another.


    Zhang Tie was not used to command so many people. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie had to take the position of the supreme commander.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie was afraid of making any mistake. However, he soon found that he could easily command about 10 people, who would manage 300,000 soldiers for him. He only needed to command the six troops like commanding six people.


    Additionally, based on his experience in fighting demonized puppets, he only needed to take the six people as himself. If he imagined what he would do facing the same situation down there, it would be much easier.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how would others command and deliver orders in his position. Because he had no such experience at all. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie felt that he could see clearly the battle field and the battle situation.


    Through such an efficient and steady advancement, only after one morning, the troops had already killed more than 100,000 demonized puppets at a low cost and reached the core area of the city around Iron Bear Castle.


    This core area was about 5-6 square kilometers, which gathered over 400,000 demonized puppets. Almost all the buildings in this area had been destroyed by the crazy demonized puppets. Zhang Tie felt goosebumps all over when he looked at the densely populated wild beast-like demonized puppets from the airship.


    This place gathered the most populated demonized puppets in Eschyle City.


    According to Zhang Tie''s plan, after the six troops reached here, they would not rush forward any more; instead, they would adopt new strategies.


    In Zhang Tie''s words, the new strategy was a seesaw battle. To be concrete, it was like how wild dogs drew intestines.


    When the six troops reached here, they encountered a greater resistance from demonized puppets. They then stopped moving forward; instead, under the protection of the shield carts, they started to retreat.


    Of course, the demonized puppets who only knew about killing wouldn''t let go their preys. Therefore, they chased after the retreating troops.


    When a number of demonized puppets left the Iron Bear Castle, the six troops launched an counterattack and killed them all. After that, they repeated the series of movement¡ª¡ªmove forward, retreat, move forward again. Like a seesaw battle, they gradually cleaned all the hundreds of thousands of demonized puppets.


    By then, they didn''t need any command anymore.


    If demonized puppets were a bit smarter or they might have a commander, this tactic would be ineffective. All the demonized puppets could bring a big trouble or a miserable loss to the troops only by attacking the troops in one or two directions. However, they were only using their instinct to kill just like a worm. They were even more primitive than wild beasts. It was too difficult to let these demonized puppets to move in an organized way. However, it was not impossible. These demonized puppets could only respond to certain stimulations.


    Sitting in the command module of the airship, Zhang Tie watched that fiery battle on the ground as his blood gradually boiled. The powerful battle intention of iron-blood fist that was deeply rooted in his blood, flesh and soul started to explode.


    "If not practice in such a great battle, how could I improve my iron-blood fist? How can I have a bright future?"


    "Isn''t the battle field down there the real trouble-reappearance situation?"


    "Aren''t those fighters on the battle field as average as me? How can I just sit here and watch them fighting there?"


    "Am I more advanced than those fighters or have I already forgotten about my former status as a commoner after enjoying the privilege for a few days? Have I forgotten that my real name is Zhang Tie and started to belittle these who are same as me in a vain, arrogant and lofty manner? "


    After closing his eyes for a long while, Zhang Tie opened his eyes. With a wisp of smile, Zhang Tie lifted his hands and put them in front of him carefully...


    "If not for this pair of hands, how would you create any miracle?" Zhang Tie mocked himself inside...


    After that, Zhang Tie stood up from the high, gorgeous chair and delivered one order which shocked everyone at present.


    "Move above the Iron Bear Castle, I will go down..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the whole command module became silent. Everyone stared at Zhang Tie, including the three elders of the huge bear tribe, Turin and Rodolfo from Spencer clan and some Spencer women who served as female servants in the command module.


    Since Zhang Tie boarded on this airship, he had already found some Spencer women in the command module, some of whom were familiar such as Matias and Beryl, some of whom were strange yet delicate faces. Their age ranged from 16 to 20-odd. It was said that Spencer clan always trained these women outside the city; therefore, these women escaped from this catastrophe.


    Spencer clan seemingly intended to arrange Spencer women to contact Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie didn''t care about it. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the alleged Spencer women were nothing different than those women in Rose Association at all. They were just a bit better than those girls in Rose Association as they could contact better people and knowledge. It was not improper to treat them as advanced girls in Rose Association. Zhang Tie didn''t refuse to find a smart and beautiful mom for his kids after 10-20 years. Because this was also one of his humble dreams.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, a Spencer woman who was adding an expensive tea water into Zhang Tie''s cup was instantly stunned. As a result, the tea water even flew out of the tea cup.


    "Lord, the battle below has not ended yet. It''s very dangerous for you to go down there just now. Especially in the ruins of Iron Bear Castle, there were the most populated demonized puppets!" breaking the silence, elder Gouras stood up as he told Zhang Tie respectfully.


    "I want to join the battle. It would be meaningless for me to go down there after the battle. Additionally, I know how to survive there."


    "If so, Lord, you can choose any one of the six troops. After knowing that Lord is going to join them, they would be greatly spirited. All the fighters have been sincerely respectful about the military exploits and braveness of the Thor''s Hammer under your command!" Elder Toles stood up from his chair.


    "Each troop have their own commander. If I join them, I would make the commander embarrassed. I don''t want to show something. Don''t ask me why. I just want to fight with my fighters in the most dangerous place..." seeing that Elder Gouras wanted to say something, Zhang Tie raised his hand, "This is not my request. This is my order. As the clan elder of the huge bear tribe and the owner of Eschyle City, I hope this is the last time I interpret the reason to you. I don''t want to repeat my order for the second time!"


    After saying this, Zhang Tie looked at the coxswain, "Move it above Iron Bear Castle and drop the wire cable!"


    ...

 496 The Iron-Blood Fist Intention

    Chapter 496: The Iron-Blood Fist Intention


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The airship soon arrived above the Iron Bear Castle and started to circle over 100 m high in the air. After that, the airdrop hatch was opened and filled with cold wind immediately.


    Seeing the black points of demonized puppets down there, everyone in the airship drew in a cold breath, It was nothing different than putting themselves in the circle of hundreds of thousands of demonized puppets.


    "Lord..." Roslav wanted to say something.


    "No more persuasion. Whatsoever, if I cannot bear that, at least I can escape away!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he waved his hands. After that, he looked at the red faces of his bodyguards and Waajid, "I will go down alone. This is my own battle. But I treasure my life very much; I won''t play jokes about my life. It''s not good for you to go down there!"


    Everyone became silent.


    The cable wire being put down reminded Zhang Tie of the spiral rotachute in Huaiyuan Palace. Pitifully, that object was too expensive. Many aspects were relatively underdeveloped in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Nobody would like to establish any airship troops which would cost a lot. Therefore, those objects being matched for elites could not be seen here. "If I''m still in Hidden Dragon Island, I might have already learned how to use rotachute. Whereas, I have to accept the fact."


    After revealing a smile to the others, Zhang Tie put on his dark tore gloves before sliding off by the cable wire.


    Gouras glanced at Elder Turin of Spencer clan, who also revealed a smile. Seeing Zhang Tie sliding off the wire, Turin''s eyes glittered, "We can pull him back if he couldn''t stand anymore. This man is very special. Only such a talent is qualified to own Eschyle City. A Lord having not experienced bloody fight was nothing different than a lion in cage."


    ...


    The moment Zhang Tie jumped out of the hatch, he felt much colder. The wuthering north wind drilled in Zhang Tie''s collar through the gaps between the pieces of his armor. Zhang Tie was ready for the battle right away.


    This scene reminded Zhang Tie of his experience in raiding Heavens Cold City by the airship of Huaiyuan Palace several months ago. He jumped off the airship like how he did last time. When he declined quickly in the air, Zhang Tie realized that he preferred joining such a battle himself than sitting high in the warm command hatch to watch his army fighting. Compared to that role as a commander who had to be responsible for hundreds of thousands of soldiers, he was more suitable and excel at being responsible for himself in the battle.


    "Is this the nature that I''m born with?"


    Some people would like to control everything at a high position while some people would prefer to practice something themselves at the cost of their own sweat and efforts.


    I should be the second kind of people.


    When this whim in his mind broke apart and disappeared, those grim faces gazing at Zhang Tie became clearer...


    After loosing his grip, Zhang Tie instantly landed. After that, he bounced towards those demonized puppets who were rushing towards him. Meanwhile, he waved his dark tore gloves; with a blurry shadow, the sharp edge of the pair of gloves flashed by the necks of a pile of demonized puppets who were wearing the military uniforms of the city guards of Eschyle City, sending their heads flying in the air.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie kicked out consecutively like a windmill, releasing his iron-blood battle Qi at the same time, booming a great number of demonized puppets into pieces around him.


    Uttering shrills, the other demonized puppets charged towards Zhang Tie from all aspects at once.


    "Kill!" Zhang Tie roared as he pounced at them; he was attacking his enemies with his hands, feet, shoulders, elbows and knees in each movements.


    There was no road or space in front of him anymore as they were all crowded with red-eyed demonized puppets.


    However, Zhang Tie chose a "killing" road using his force...


    As he was surrounded by densely populated demonized puppets, Zhang Tie also gradually increased his speed and used his movements in a handsome way. He punched 12 times and kicked 6 times. As a result, 18 demonized puppets were boomed into pieces at once, spraying their flesh and blood all over the ground.


    At that moment, everyone was watching Zhang Tie''s battle in the airship. They could only see constant blossoming red flowers which were cruel, horrible and beautiful. Magically, they could not even move their eyes away from that.


    However, there were really too many demonized puppets, especially down there. The battle, the bloody smell and the constant shrills attracted more demonized puppets.


    Those in the airship could only see the surging heads of demonized puppets on the ground. Bloody flowers always blossomed around Zhang Tie. However, narrowing space was available for Zhang Tie to move. Facing hundreds of meters thick demonized puppets, even armored vehicles could hardly move, not to mention a person.


    Among the surging demonized puppets, Zhang Tie was like a sailor on an isle. The black tide gradually flooded the isle, leaving increasingly fewer part of the isle above water...


    Watching Zhang Tie''s smaller movable space, some Spencer women who had known about their mission in the future widely opened their eyes. When Zhang Tie was almost covered by those demonized puppets, those women immediately covered their mouth with hands.


    Zhang Tie directly sprung up from the ground...


    The heads of the demonized puppets reminded Zhang Tie of the scene where he practiced his basic footwork in Hidden Dragon Palace. The quincuncial piles were extremely similar to the current scene.


    Zhang instantly stepped onto a head, breaking it into pieces. At the same time, he directly rushed out. With each foot forward, he would collapse a head of demonized puppet.


    With laughter, Zhang Tie rushed forward about 100 m while stomping on the heads of those demonized puppets. He kept stomping, shoveling and kicking at the original place, booming over 100 demonized puppets'' heads...


    The demonized puppets were infuriated. They poked their weapons towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie grabbed two lances. After slightly putting forth his strength, he grabbed away the lances from the hands of the two demonized puppets. After that, he started to run on their heads; at the same time, he kept whipping their heads on both sides like how a kid whipped roadside weeds with a small wooden stick while running jubilantly in the wild.


    Zhang Tie''s strength was extremely great. The two common lances were nothing different than straws in Zhang Tie''s hands. Along with the wuthering sound of the lances were the cracking sound of heads.


    Some demonized puppet shrilled as it also sprung up and rushed towards Zhang Tie while stepping on the dense heads of demonized puppets.


    The demonized puppet was wearing the uniform of military officers of city guards in Eschyle City. Judging from it''s rank, it was a lieutenant colonel. Meanwhile, its battle-Qi totem was rolling around him. It might be a LV 10 strong fighter before death.


    When the demonized puppet was over 40 m away from Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie threw out his lance...


    The lance broke the air before striking off its head, leaving a boom in the air.


    Zhang Tie caught another lance and continued to run, stomp and whip like he was on the ground. Any place that Zhang Tie passed by would spurt out blood plasma under his foot and his side. Coincidentally, some LV 10 or LV 9 demonized puppet appeared; yet they were all killed sharply by Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how many powerhouses above LV 11 were there in Eschyle City, whether they had been killed by these demonized puppets or had been killed by the alchemist''s bomb. After fighting for quite a while, he had not encountered any powerhouse above LV 11 at all. This made him reassured completely. Although there were so many demonized puppets around Iron Bear Castle, none of them could really threaten him.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how long had he fought. He only remembered that he had broken over 10 lances and killed numerous demonized puppets. Later on, he jumped off their heads and dropped off the bent lances. After a roar, he applied his iron-blood fist once again, booming all the demonized puppets completely into pieces.


    If it was someone else, he would feel fatigued for sure. However, as Zhang Tie had eaten nine wild wolves seven-strength fruits, nine iron-teeth hyena seven-strength fruits and nine demon rat seven-strength fruits, one of which was demon rat king seven-strength fruit, Zhang Tie felt that his spiritual energy and endurance were out of commoners'' imagination. He could almost keep fighting like a machine. As long as he didn''t want to stop, he could maintain that extremely high fighting efficiency.


    Zhang Tie completely immersed in the cool battle by iron-blood fist. He absolutely forgot about the existence of time. He didn''t care about it even if his armor was broken. He didn''t even know when his bloody and fiery curtain would start to explode...


    When Zhang Tie found that none of demonized puppets were beside him, he finally stopped. However, it was already deep night...


    Standing on the ruins of Iron Bear Castle, Zhang Tie looked around and found that the corpses of demonized puppets within 300 m had been as thick as 1 m. The closer he was to it, the higher the pile of corpses would be. Standing on the piles of corpses, he boomed all the surging demonized puppets into pieces one after another.


    At the same time, the over 200-m high bloody and fiery curtain brightened the whole sky. Six troops of the huge bear tribe and the cavalries of Thor''s Hammer were standing out of this ring. Over 100,000 military officers and soldiers and over 100,000 young adults of Eschyle City behind them were silently watching Zhang Tie who was standing high on the corpses of demonized puppets.


    In the battle, when Zhang Tie''s bloody and fiery curtain rose from the ruins of Iron Bear Castle, all the soldiers of the huge bear tribe were driven crazy. They knew that their Lord was fighting together with them in the core, the most dangerous place of the battle field.


    "Have we eliminated all the worms...of demons?" the moment Zhang Tie opened his mouth, he found that his voice had become hoarse. Meanwhile, he felt painful all over his body and could not help but frown slightly.


    This was a worthwhile battle. Seeing the numerous corpses of demonized puppets, Zhang Tie finally understood what was the real iron-blood fist.


    In the end of the battle, his iron-blood fist had been blurry in movements as he could attack and counterattack his enemies casually on the right moment.


    Although visible things were shattered, invisible things started to boil in Zhang Tie''s blood. It was the iron-blood fist intention, which gradually appeared and stimulated each cell and each wisp of Zhang Tie''s strength, resonating the surging masculine strength and willingness in the universe.


    That wisp of strength and willingness was hiding in each flying snowflake, in each tender grass that drilled out of the broken bricks and stones in the ruins, in the vast starry sky behind the clouds, under everyone''s feet and blood.


    All the lives and existences might die out or be destroyed; however, they would neither fail nor retreat. As long as they existed dauntlessly, they would live forever!


    The flying snowflakes originated from this strength and willingness...


    The tender grass drilled out of the ruins in the wind and snow with this strength and willingness...


    The silent and firm land originated from this strength and willingness...


    The vast starry sky above him originated from this strength and willingness...


    The iron-blood fist intention originated from this strength and willingness.


    ...


    On November 12th, after one day''s fierce battle, all the hundreds of thousands of demonized puppets in Eschyle City were eliminated. Therefore, the city was back in the hand of humans.


    After this battle, each people in Eschyle City remembered a great name, Peter Hamplester!


    ¡ª¡ªthe new owner of Eschyle City and the clan elder of the huge bear tribe!


    When the two powerful bear tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness were merged by one person in only a couple of days, the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness was shocked.


    The fire bear tribe, wild bear tribe, mountain bear tribe, sea bear tribe, black bear tribe and demon bear tribe dispatched their important figures or elders to Eschyle City almost at the same time...

 497 Sacrifice

    Chapter 497: Sacrifice


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    On November 15th, Eschyle City was covered with white snow. It was already the third day since Eschyle City recovered its order. No flesh and blood pulp like that two days ago could be seen in the streets any more. Whereas, the whole city still looked a bit cold and sluggish, especially in the six main thoroughfares of Eschyle City. Few pedestrians could be seen there.


    The accumulated snow in the main thoroughfares had been shovelled away by environmental sanitation workers. However, the blue-gray granite ground bricks on the six main thoroughfares had already become dark brown like people have changed them. Looking at the color-changed ground bricks, all the environmental sanitation workers and passers felt chilly and showed their awe to Peter, Hamplester, the new ruler of this city.


    The color of the ground bricks of the six main thoroughfares were tainted by the fresh blood of demonized puppets. Those young adults who participated in cleaning the six main thoroughfares a couple of days ago described them as the blood and flesh avenues.


    That scene could wake up anyone in nightmares. In other words, all the nightmares were dwarfed in front of the six blood and flesh avenues.


    "The six main thoroughfares in Eschyle City are six huge sausages being filled with shattered corpses of demonized puppets. Broken corpses and heads as high as mountains could be seen everywhere. The six main thoroughfares had been paved with a thick layer of bones and bloody fleshes, which had been trampled by xiphodons repetitively and they were pretty disgusting and terrifying..."


    "People being responsible for cleaning six blood and flesh avenues had to shovel the pulp from the ground like shovelling cattle dung in the stable. Even though the most strong-willed volunteers being recruited would vomit heavily in less than 10 minutes. However, no matter what, they have to do that..."


    Among those who survived, someone who served as a writer for a small paper in Eschyle City was jostling down what he witnessed in this catastrophe in Eschyle City in case that the event was forgotten by people in future.


    People in future might forget about these details. However, these residents of Eschyle City could never forget about details as the six most spacious thoroughfares in Eschyle City had completely changed their colors due to the current ruler of Eschyle City.


    On November 12th when Eschyle City was retaken, it was said that a man called Peter had killed over 10,000 or 20,000 demonized puppets by himself near the Iron Bear Castle. Additionally, all these demonized puppets were former city guards of Eschyle City who were the hardest to deal with.


    Besides frightening people, these gossips also made people awed. For the most of residents in Eschyle City who looked like flurried birds, such a ruler could at least bring them a sense of safety during crisis.


    Although people were relieved from fear and concern, the reality of facing Eschyle City pushed people back into the sad river.


    This crisis lasted four days, in which period, the death and missing population in Eschyle City reached 1.37 millions, namely 1/4 of the total population in this city disappeared in this world. Almost each person in this city had lost some relatives, friends or familiar people in this catastrophe. This was not a small stimulation for everyone.


    At 9 am, the whole city was drifted with the silvery bell rings¡ª¡ªduang...duang...duang...


    After hearing the bell rings, all the residents in the city and in the towns outside the city stopped what they were doing and started to stand in silent tribute for the dead people. As a result, a sad atmosphere immediately spread across the whole city.


    At the same time, at the foot of a hill miles away from Eschyle City, hundreds of thousands of residents of Eschyle City were standing in line in a solemn way and watching a monument being erected at the foot of the huge cemetery hill where were buried with over 1million people.


    All the big figures of Eschyle City and some elders of huge bear tribe attended this sacrificial ceremony.


    Elder Rodolfo of Spencer clan was standing in the heavy snow on the high platform in front of the monument with tears and was loudly accusing about the atrocity and catastrophe of demons and their lackeys towards Spencer clan, Eschyle City and all the people across Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Rodolfo''s thin body shook in the wind and snow. For many times, he almost passed out due to excessive excitement, which looked extremely miserable and pitiful.


    ''Spencer clan also suffers a miserable loss in this catastrophe. We almost lost all of our clan elites.'' Rodolfo revealed the loss in a very skilled way, which aroused the resonance of numerous people in front of him.


    Zhang Tie, in a thick black bear fur, was also one of them. He looked a bit pale out of sickness.


    On November 12th, after feeling the iron-blood fist intention and killing numerous demonized puppets, Zhang Tie also suffered a lot of wounds. On the very evening, after peeling off the broken armor from Zhang Tie''s body which had been soaked in blood. Everybody became silent when they saw Zhang Tie''s wounds. Some women who were cleaning Zhang Tie''s body even cried.


    Zhang Tie''s body had been covered with 137 wounds in total. If Zhang Tie was a common person, he might have long lost his life. However, Zhang Tie survived with his strong will. He even forgot about these wounds during the battle.


    "What on earth were you thinking about?" Elder Turin of Spencer clan asked Zhang Tie.


    "I just felt that I was nothing different than those soldiers. I cannot just watch them fighting. If I can kill one more enemy, I might save a soldier''s life!" Zhang Tie answered.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s answer, Elder Turin became silent for a long while. Finally, he let out a sigh.


    The simple dialogues between Zhang Tie and Elder Turin instantly spread among the soldiers of huge bear tribe and the remaining city guards of Eschyle City.


    Although Zhang Tie was listening to the mournful complaints of Elder Rodolfo at this moment, he was picturing what he saw in Pears'' basement¡ª¡ªthe teenager lying on the aged ice cube and the bloody lines on the wall left by Pears.


    Pears had known that someone would come to his basement after that ages ago. Therefore, he wrote down the reasons on the wall.


    This was a mad revenge of a hopeless man towards the entire Spencer clan. As a result, three-eye association even became the tool of this man.


    Pears knew that he would die. so, he just thought about revenging Spencer clan regardless of the result.


    Such events were rarely seen in big clans.


    This was the biggest scandal of Spencer clan. Once it was exposed, the Spencer clan''s reputation would be destroyed. Additionally, they had to bear the fury of residents in Eschyle City. Therefore, only five people were qualified to enter that basement and see the bloody contents on the wall¡ª¡ªthe only two survived elders of Spencer clan, Zhang Tie, Elder Toles and Elder Gouras.


    After reading the contents, they cleaned the bloody contents. From then on, the catastrophe in Eschyle City became a plot towards Eschyle City and humans dominated by demons and three-eye association. A small figure called Pears was controlled by three-eye association and became a puppet-like victim. It was reasonable to explain this event in this way as this was the original intention of those scums in three-eye association.


    Everything was buried in this huge cemetery, including that teenager lying on the ice bed called Hellfire.


    Seeing Elder Rodolfo''s endless vivid speech and those residents of Eschyle City whose faces were covered with tears, Zhang Tie''s face slowly changed.


    Elder Rodolfo was obviously putting on a show and telling a lie. However, Zhang Tie just listened in silence. He didn''t know whether it was because of being mature or experienced, out of the benefits of the overall situation or selfishness, maintaining the benefits of Spencer clan or preserving his own benefits, the moment he thought that he might become a common audience under the platform, he would feel hateful towards this liar on the high platform who acted as the pawns of the tiger. Gradually, Zhang Tie looked worse.


    "What''s wrong? Are you sick?" O''Laura, on Zhang Tie''s side, slightly pinched Zhang Tie''s hand as she asked in a low voice out of concern.


    ...

 498 Being Urgen

    Chapter 498: Being Urgent


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The grey eagle tribe heard about the events in Eschyle City and Zhang Tie''s performance on the morning of November 12th. O''Laura and Setton arrived at Eschyle City to unite with Zhang Tie at noon on November 13th, when everything had passed.


    Because Zhang Tie was heavily wounded, O''Laura just stayed there to look after him. At this moment, O''Laura had already picked off her mask, revealing her cold yet delicate face.


    "No, I''m not sick. I''m afraid that one day I might turn into the kind of people that I hate!" Zhang Tie said in a muffled voice.


    "How come?" O''Laura comforted him.


    Zhang Tie slightly revealed a bitter smile, "Nobody deteriorate in one day. People were not born to be greedy and hypocritical; people were not born to be familiar with game rule, shrewd and indifference; people were not born to criticize things; people were not born to cheat others for their own benefits."


    Previously, Zhang Tie hated such persons very much; however, at this moment, when he covered the cause of the catastrophe and the strategy of the event in Eschyle City where over 1 million people were killed, Zhang Tie realized that he was right in the very position that he hated and despised before. If he was still that one in Blackhot City, he must have hated the one who covered the truth. He couldn''t wait to tell everyone about the truth. However, he became an important member of the community of interest who covered the truth. As a result, Zhang Tie felt blue at once.


    O''Laura who always hid herself and was not good at peeping into others'' inner hearts, she didn''t find Zhang Tie''s changing mood. However, Sabrina, on Zhang Tie''s side, glanced at him after hearing his low voice.


    ...


    "Defeat the demons; fight for our relatives; rejuvenate Eschyle City..."


    "Defeat the demons; fight for our relatives; rejuvenate Eschyle City..."


    Numerous residents of Eschyle City had been full of hatred and spirit by the last words of Elder Rodolfo. Therefore, they started to shout slogans loudly.


    When the slogans declined, Elder Rodolfo opened his mouth once again in another affectionate and solemn tone.


    "Hundreds of years ago, Elzida, the greatest prophet and Pontiff of Slavs left a prophecy that a great figure would lead all the Slavs in Ice and Snow Wilderness to prosperity and magnificence!"


    "One month ago, out of the plot of the demons and their lackeys, all the soldiers of the eastern tribes alliance and tens of thousands of pioneers were trapped in the underground relics ruins of Haidela Glacier Crack. When everyone ran out of ammunition and grains and was going to fight each other for the limited water resources out of despair, this person appeared. He manifested the God''s will for many times. He let the sweet spring flow out of the kettle and cured the wounds of soldiers immediately; he even led over 100,000 despairing people out of the underground world..."


    "Pontiff Sarlin of the huge bear tribe knew his arrival and confirmed his identity. Therefore, he led 100,000 soldiers of the huge bear tribe towards Haidela Glacier Crack to welcome him. This man opened the key box left by Elzida!"


    "Several days ago, people in Eschyle City appeared to be in a great trouble. He led Thor''s Hammer to break through the safe roads in Eschyle City, allowing numerous residents to escape out of the dangerous place. On November 12th, he rushed ahead of his army of the huge bear tribe and those young adults to eliminate hundreds of thousands of demonized puppets in Eschyle City.


    "He is the first clan elder of the huge bear tribe and the very hero who saved Eschyle City out of the demons'' plot. From today on, our Spencer clan will follow the expectation and will of Elzida, our great prophet. In order to realize the rejuvenation of the entire Slavic race, we will hand over Eschyle City to this person. From today on, this man becomes the patron and ruler of Eschyle City!"


    "This man is standing behind me. I think all the people in Eschyle City have already heard about his name. Right, he is Peter Hamplester!" after saying that, Elder Rodolfo moved aside.


    Those people down there surged, agitated and swarmed; however, they were blocked out of the cordon by the strong warriors of the huge bear tribe.


    Under the gaze of everyone, Zhang Tie slowly walked forward.


    Zhang Tie silently glanced at the dense population, then the biggest alchemist equipment under his feet, which was a loudspeaker made by alchemists.


    In Zhang Tie''s glance, the crowd gradually became quiet. Everyone was staring at him and waiting for him to say something.


    After a long while, Zhang Tie raised his head, "Actually, I don''t want to stand here at this moment! If I could save the 1.37 million people, I prefer to abdicate. "


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, everyone became silent when Zhang Tie''s voice spread to the distance and resonated in the wild.


    "I was pushed here to stand on this huge alchemist equipment which is more expensive than the same volume of gold of the people, the hope, the responsibilities and the force behind me.


    "Before coming to Ice and Snow Wilderness, I''ve not imagined that I could stand here. I wonder if it''s my fate to stand here. The so-called fate is the most illusory and marvelous trace in the maze of time and space. Even if Elzida was also just a passerby on this trace. He came, saw and left something; then he was gone..."


    "Elder Rodolfo said that I was the very person who led Slavs onto the brilliant road. I don''t agree with him. Due to his respect for Elzida, he believed that the prophecy left by the great prophet and pontiff must have a magic, which would send everything back onto the brightest track. However, what could push the fate of the Slavic race back onto that bright track? Nothing. I tell you. Nothing could do that. Neither do I nor others have such an ability. Even the Almighty God doesn''t have such an ability!"


    "Do you want to know what Elzida left to us in the key box? That''s a letter. On the letter, Elzida told me that he saw the destiny of Slavs in the third holy war between humans and demons. In the future, the last Slav would be killed by the army of demons in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Like those human races disappeared in the former two holy wars between humans and demons, all the Slavs would be killed in the 3rd holy war!"


    Zhang Tie said calmly. However, the contents of his words shocked everybody at present like a lightning bolt. Not only those common residents of Eschyle City, even the elders of the huge bear tribe and Spencer clan behind Zhang Tie had changed their faces. Those standing behind Zhang Tie moved their eyes onto Pontiff Sarlin, whose look made their heart pound.


    At this moment, Pontiff Sarlin lowered his head and became silent.


    "Elzida saw your fate; however, he could not see my fate. He only knew that I would arrive in Ice and Snow Wilderness at a certain time. Therefore, he shouldered me the responsibility for your lives in that prophecy. He expected me to change the fate of the entire Slav race using my unknown fate. He requested me to bring hope to the rejuvenation of Slavs at the most dangerous moment. Because of this reason, he left the huge bear tribe to me and made me the leader and clan elder of the huge bear tribe!"


    "The fate of each Slav is not a brilliant avenue, but a mysterious road interwoven between death and unknowns. I''m not born to be dignified. Neither do I know whether I would be used to tell a lie. I don''t want to lie to you here. I only want to tell you the fact that I don''t know how to lead you to the brilliant road; I''m even not sure whether I can save you in the future. I can only tell you that the third holy war between humans and demons is very close. Next year, the 3rd holy war would break out in an all round manner. This war would be even crueler than the former two holy wars. Nobody could escape from it. The battle fire of the coming holy war would cover the ground, the sky and the oceans. Hundreds of millions of living beings would die in the war."


    "If the army of demons truly arrive at Ice and Snow Wilderness one day, in front of the 1.37 million souls here, I promise you that I will accompany you to the end as long as the last Slavic fighter who''s loyal to me is fighting on this ground!"


    "Meanwhile, I will also tell the other tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness and those who are watching me in a terrifying way, the huge bear tribe and the iron bear tribe will keep the current situation. We will prepare for the coming holy war; however, we won''t allow Slavs to slack Slavs. When the holy war is coming, any war between tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness would be a betrayal to the whole Slavic race!"


    "This is all I want to say!"


    "Wish the dead to rest in peace; wish the alive ones to prepare well for the coming holy war!"


    After saying this, Zhang Tie turned around and bowed towards that monument...


    When Zhang Tie watched the ground, he recalled the bloody words on the wall of Pears'' basement once again.


    ¡ª¡ªThe demonized puppets in Eschyle City are set to mature at the beginning of the next February.


    After combining with the key information that Zhang Tie had obtained in Heavens Cold City, Zhang Tie knew that the holy war would arrive in next February. This meant they only had at most 3 months to prepare...


    "I have to go back to Blackhot City and help my friends out of there..."

 499 Preparation

    Chapter 499: Preparation


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    Of course, Zhang Tie was serious about the preparation for the coming holy war. On the second noon since the Eschyle Victim Cemetery was founded, the five elders of huge bear tribe and Spencer clan sat together with Zhang Tie and started to discuss officially about how to respond to the coming holy war.


    What Zhang Tie said yesterday outside Eschyle City not only shocked common people but also 4 of the 5 elders who were sitting on Zhang Tie''s sides. Elder Sarlin was the only one who stayed calm.


    This conference was held in a manor of Spencer clan outside Eschyle City. After leaving the cemetery, they arrived here.


    This place was once the vacation center of the clan elder of Spencer clan. But it became Zhang Tie''s sanatorium now.


    Superb white pine wood floor and the ceiling lamp of a pile of class-IV pyramid crystals made this place low-key and luxurious. In winter, the superb white pine wood floor would radiate a wild pale fragrance of pine needles. As long as you sniffed it, you would feel relaxed compeletly. However, the crystal ceiling lamp above their heads formed a special natural energy which filled the room with a pleasant and energetic environment.


    Zhang Tie admitted that the former ruler of Eschyle City really enjoyed his life.it would take them at least 10,000 gold coins for the layout of this average-look room.


    This morning, Zhang Tie made an investigation about huge industries of Spencer clan in Eschyle City by car. Yesterday, the ownership of all the properties of Spencer clan in Eschyle city had been officially transferred to Zhang Tie.


    Under the supervision of some influential figures in huge bear tribe, wild bear tribe and Eschyle City, Zhang Tie, Elder Rodolfo, Elder Turin, Elder Gouras, Elder Toles and Pontiff Sarlin respectively signed their name on a document, which represented that Zhang Tie, Spencer clan and huge bear tribe officially confirmed his ownership, position and the right of succession of this city in the future, etc..


    Spencer clan transferred 75% of the whole Eschyle City and its ownership of clan industries to "Peter Hamplester", namely Zhang Tie. Spencer clan only kept 25% of its ownership to its clan industries.


    In future, the above ownership and property of Spencer clan that Zhang Tie owned would be succeeded by a kid between Zhang Tie and a Spencer woman. That kid would also be the clan elder of Spencer clan in the future.


    All the elders of huge bear tribe agreed with the document.


    In a sense, this was only a symbolic document, especially for the top decision makers of two tribes. However, sometimes, such a symbol was unnecessary as those words on white papers could make people reassured and reduce a lot of troubles.


    After signing that document, Elder Rodolfo read a book like an account book for more than 10 minutes when Zhang Tie finally understood what did it mean by 75% of the properties of Spencer clan.


    Eschyle City alone would have over 2.8 million gold coins of tax revenue and over 1.7 million gold coins of property fee and wharf annuity a year.


    Moreover, Spencer clan also had dozens of business groups and commercial firms, hundreds of factories and workshops, dozens of manors and farmlands and thousands of square meters of land of different exploitable value and more than 10 mines...


    Zhang Tie felt confused after listening to them.


    "You tell me, how much can I use each year and how many people can I mobilize?" Finally, Zhang Tie had to interrupt Elder Rodolfo.


    "Except for the expenditures and accumulations for the normal operation of Eschyle City and Spencer industries, 7.8 million gold coins and over 13.4 million people are available each year. Except for the organs of violence like city guards and policemen, 1.26 million people are employed by you in various industries. After the policemen and city guards are re-organized, you have 250,000 city guards and over 40,000 policemen. All the others would follow your order."


    Zhang Tie finally understood. He only remembered two figures, 7.8 million gold coins and over 1.5 million people that could be mobilized by him. The two figures were great. After having the people and resources of Eschyle City and Spencer clan, Zhang Tie genuinely felt the great power of a bear tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    In order to deepen his impression on these things, Zhang Tie especially took a round in Eschyle City this morning.


    Zhang Tie paid special attention to three places, Eschyle Steel Plant, Iron Bear Steam Power Corporation and North Wind Shipyard. All of them belonged to Zhang Tie now.


    The three companies were the most important industrial enterprises under the affiliation of Spencer clan. Except for Iron Bear Steam Power Corporation which was located in Eschyle City, the other two companies were in an industrial park area called Spias Gulf 30 km away in the east of Eschyle City, where gathered most of industrial enterprises of Eschyle City.


    The main products of Iron Bear Steam Power Company were some locomobiles whose power ranged from 5 horsepower to 100 horsepower.


    In this age, locomobiles which connected steam engine with boiler was almost human''s best friend. This machine could play a great role in rural areas, cities or plants. As long as it was connected with the proper equipment, it would be used to irrigate farmlands, saw wood, mill rice, drill well, extract oil, thresh, build roads, process and forge machine. Its steam exhaust could also be used to dry, evaporate and warm up as a heat source.


    Locomobiles could be fed with both firewood and coal. Besides a heavy weight and a slow start-up speed, this was one of the most perfect machine that humans could produce in this age.


    The locomobiles produced by Iron Bear Steam Power Corporation were famous across Ice and Snow Wilderness. One or two locomobiles could always be seen in tribe agglomerations. Even in Kurgan village, Zhang Tie had also seen a small low-speed 5-horsepower locomobile. The machine was used to drill well in Kurgan village.


    Iron Bear Steam Power Corporation produced about 3000 sets of various locomobiles a year, which were mainly sold in Ice and Snow Wilderness; few of them were sold to Ewentra Archipelago. Those average buses in Eschyle City were also produced by this company. However, they could only produce a limited number of buses.


    The Eschyle Steel Plant could produce 280,000 tons of steel a year as the largest and only steel producer in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    The Eschyle Steel Plant was supported by an iron mine over 40 km away in the east of Spias Gulf which covered about 15-16 square kilometers. This iron mine area contained 940 million tons of high-quality open-air iron ore, which were easily exploited. There was a coal mine about 210 km away in the north of Eschyle City. It contained above 2 billion tons of coal, which was enough to support the demand for coal of the steel industry in Eschyle City.


    Of course, the coal mine and iron mine both belonged to Zhang Tie.


    Each year, North Wind Shipyard would consume about half of the total production of steel products in Eschyle City. This shipyard was much bigger than the Milky Way Shipyard of Zhang Tie''s grandpa in Golden Sea City. It was already able to build huge steamers of tens of thousands of tons. Whereas, being restricted by the poor industrial development across Ice and Snow Wilderness from various reasons, North Wind Shipyard and Eschyle City didn''t have the ability to build key equipment for steam turbine of large ships. North Wind Shipyard purchased the key parts of steam turbines from Gantyadu Island and assembled them on Eschyle City.


    This was the Eschyle City in Zhang Tie''s eyes and the overall industrial development situation across Ice and Snow Wilderness. According to Zhang Tie''s knowledge, due to extremely rigid living environment and the scarcity of various materials, life styles of tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness were divided into three categories, 1/3 for farming work, 1/3 for nomadism and 1/3 for hunting.


    Each bear tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness had their fixed territory. They lived a relatively poor life in their own territory. Except for bear tribe in Eschyle City, almost no other tribe had a well-developed industrial system.


    Facing such a situation, Zhang Tie felt pretty frustrated. For Zhang Tie who grew up from Blackhot City, he clearly knew about the importance of steam and steel to human living and prosperity. It could be said that without steam and steel industries, people would never sustain to the end in the former two holy wars between humans and demons.


    Xiphodons were fierce; cavalries that rode xiphodons were also tough men and powerful fighters; however, neither could each one have an xiphodon, nor be a fighter above LV 6. For most of commoners, if they could drive a high-performance steam tank or armored vehicle towards a demon, they would not play a weaker role than xiphodon cavalries on the battle field...


    "It''s the most reliable and effective way for us to face the threat from demons by using steel and steam. I wonder how the industry of Eschyle City and huge bear tribe would develop?" Zhang Tie determined the theme¡ª¡ªTo Respond to the 3rd Holy War between Humans and Demons through Industrialization at the beginning of the conference...

 500 Industrialization

    Chapter 500: Industrialization


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    "Costari Plain where huge bear tribe lacks major steel and coal resources which are necessary for industrialization. There''s no major coal mine and iron mine across Ice and Snow Wilderness except for the coal mine and the iron mine near Eschyle City!"


    Elder Gouras who was responsible for civil affairs in Ice and Snow Wilderness opened his mouth after being silent for a while.


    "There''s no major coal mine and iron mine in other places of Ice and Snow Wilderness?" Zhang Tie felt unbelievable about this. From the map, Ice and Snow Wilderness occupied more than 20 million square kilometers. Previously he only thought that the weather here was worse. Unexpectedly, it also lacked natural resources.


    "There are resources. However, we cannot exploit them. Due to the very severe climate and living conditions, many resources could not be exploited in a large scale. Take the Fire Dragon Coal Mine outside Eschyle City as an instance. We need at least 70,000 miners to exploit such a coal mine. It''s easy to feed such a great number of people near Eschyle City; however, if they were dispatched to the wilderness in the north of Eschyle City, a bear tribe might be dragged down. This is equal to supplying an guerrilla of 70,000 soldiers all the year round. It requires a very terrifying daily expenditure which is far more than the value created by these workers." Elder Gouras added.


    "Large-scale industrial development has to depend on sufficient population. However, people have to survive on enough grains and suitable living conditions. Workers need to get married and live. It''s impossible for them to exploit ores constantly. What''s more, Ice and Snow Wilderness severely lacks grains and suitable living conditions. When each tribe chooses their living territory, they have to solve the food problem firstly, instead of directly choosing a place with ores. Only when everyone is full could tribes attempt to find and exploit some ores so as to meet their basic demand. However, they dare not exploit too much ores considering the cost. "


    "Whether it was experience from the development of human society before the Catastrophe or the objective conclusion in this age, over 40 million population is the priority for a country or region to complete industrialization. However, even though huge bear tribe has the most population among all the tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness, we only have less than 20 million people. Such population could hardly complete industrialization in Ice and Snow Wilderness."


    Zhang Tie rubbed his forehead as he had to face the reality, "You mean we could only depend on the coal mine and the iron mine near Eschyle City based on the current condition?"


    "That''s true. Before these fundamental living conditions in Ice and Snow wilderness are improved and enough grains could be produced to meet the basic demand of people, we have to maximize the use of the current resources!" Elder Rodolfo answered.


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie said, "However, less than 300,000 tons of irons a year is too low for Eschyle Iron Plant. What''s the highest capacity of Eschyle Steel Plant?"


    "Its highest capacity could reached above 2 million tons. Previously, as there was no such a market and demand in Ice and Snow Wilderness, each tribe could almost solve their own demand about steel. Therefore, we didn''t expand our capacity. Additionally, it requires a lot of money for expansion of capacity. If we want to expand the capacity of Eschyle Steel Plant, we have to expand the mining scale of the coal mine and the iron mine outside the city! Besides money, we also need a lot of workers and technicians to ensure the smooth operation of the steel plant!"


    "Don''t worry about money. Get people to make the plan first. We will make further plan after knowing the demand!" Zhang Tie glanced at the elders, "My principle is that I would not spend any cent of the 7 million gold coins per year in Eschyle City, neither would I spend them in other places outside Ice and Snow Wilderness. We will spend all these money in the preparing for the coming holy war. We will use them to lay the foundation of huge bear tribe and wild bear tribe!"


    All the elders nodded inside.


    "Now that, we will soon start to expand and optimize the capacity of Eschyle Steel Plant. This might take us about 2 years and over 10 million gold coins..."


    "Even if it''s completed a bit late, it''s always better than the current situation! This is just the prior program. I will spend my money in such a place at first. However, if we want to play the role of steel and steam, it''s not enough to just increase the steel capacity. What''s more, we need to turn steel into something and put them in certain places so as to enhance our strength to the utmost. Now I want to ask you about a key question. where about do you think the demons would arrive here, if possible, sky, sea, above ground or underground? I heard about some answers about this, but I still want to confirm."


    "From sea, for sure!" Elder Toles confirmed while the other elders nodded, "The geological position of Ice and Snow Wilderness is very special. The deepest place under Ice and Snow Wilderness is full of lava. Therefore, demons would never enter here from underground. We have demon north wind belt in the sky which would isolate all the airships. Ice and Snow Wilderness is adjacent to sea in three directions. Only our north is an Ice-Capped Continent. Ice-Capped Continent is a vast depopulated zone, which is hundreds of times bigger than the entire Blackson Humans Corridor. Many places in Ice-Capped Continent have extreme climates. Most areas of Ice-Capped Continent are below 50 Celsius degrees and suffer from ice storm in the evening. Even though knights might not come back alive if they deepen into the Ice-Capped Continent, not to mention major troops. Therefore, demon troops have to come here by sea!"


    "If demons are doomed to come over here by sea, we have to do something to stop them. After expanding Eschyle Steel Plant, we need to expand the capacity of North Wind Shipyard too. The North Wind Shipyard cannot produce steam turbine now. We cannot just import steam turbine. When demons arrive here by sea, we will not be able to import any thing any more. Therefore, I think we need to learn the technology by spending money, inviting people or directly moving the factory of steam turbine from Gantyadu Island to Ice and Snow Wilderness. Steam turbine is the most sophisticated steam power equipment. As long as we get this technology, we will improve the overall technology strength of Eschyle City greatly!"


    "I have some friends in Gantyadu Island. I will go there in a couple of days. I will bring back the equipment and technicians of steam turbines!" Elder Turin talked in a calm way like it was very easy.


    "Didn''t Spencer clan want to master this technology before?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "The relationship between us and Ewentra Archipelago is very special. Most of the big clans and business groups in that island are our business partners. Whereas, they are also worried about suffering a loss firstly if we want to leave Ice and Snow Wilderness one day; therefore, they keep the key technology for manufacturing huge ships. There''s even a confidential agreement among those great powers and big clans who have great sea power in Ewentra Archipelago. The moment Spencer clan or Slavic armored fleet pass by Oro Strait, they would join hands with each other to eliminate this fleet. Therefore, in order to avoid stimulating them excessively, Spencer clan always purchases steam turbine from them. Although we could obtain the manufacturing technology and equipment of steam turbine through other channels. They also know that we are compromising to them. Therefore, they always sell the products to us at a relatively reasonable price, which is even cheaper than that we can produce, if possible." Elder Rodolfo answered Zhang Tie.


    However it would be different now. The 3rd holy war between humans and demons were urgent while demons and their lackeys were growing rampant. Additionally, Spencer clan were sharply weakened. As long as those people were normal, they would never believe that Eschyle City would fight them with armored fleet. Furthermore, although the technology of steam turbine was expensive, it was not unreachable, neither it was a patent. It could be produced in many countries. Now that Elder Turin had promised, this problem would be solved for sure.


    In the following minutes, Zhang Tie made his 3rd decision, sending everyone at present in silence.


    Zhang Tie wanted to build a railway from Eschyle City to Costari Plain, which penetrated through the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness from south to north. The railway was over 9000 km in length, the two ends of which were respectively linked with huge bear tribe and iron bear tribe. Besides, the railway would connect too many small and medium-sized tribes.


    This was Zhang Tie''s real plan, which he named as¡ª¡ªTribal Axis!


    The moment the elders heard about this ambitious plan, they had been shocked.


    "It requires at least 50 million gold coins to build such a railway!" Elder Rodolfo swallowed his saliva, " It''s too hard to support such a plan by huge bear tribe and wild bear tribe!"


    Zhang Tie smiled, "Don''t worry. The two tribes don''t need to pay a single cent!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the others glanced at him with a dubious look, ''It''s impossible even by the God''s will...''

 501 The Tribal Axis Plan

    Chapter 501: The Tribal Axis Plan


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie was not bragging. He indeed didn''t need the huge bear tribe and Eschyle City to spend even a cent in building the tribal axis.


    The greatest ability that Zhang Tie mastered in Donder''s grocery store in the past years was that he understood customers'' mentality and could sell the items in the counter to the customers in their favorite ways.


    Zhang Tie thought he was a small figure as he grew up with small figures. Therefore, he knew how did small figures think.


    The core of the Tribal Axis Plan that really aroused the attention of small figures was not the railway, the tribe or its prospect but Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    In the eyes of many big figures and rich men, Ice and Snow Wilderness was nothing attractive at all. They ignored such a place. Even if they felt Ice and Snow Wilderness was attractive, it must be because of some chances here that could bring money or reputation to them, instead of Ice and Snow Wilderness itself. Additionally, this place was barren and full of savage Slav aboriginals. There was only one city across Ice and Snow Wilderness. When it was winter, people could even be frozen to death. Nothing else was attractive!


    From the perspective of small figures, Zhang Tie saw the potential value of Ice and Snow Wilderness. When the 3rd holy war between humans and demons broke out, if demon troops were irresistible, Ice and Snow Wilderness would be the last place across Blackson Humans Corridor that demons could break in.


    Before occupying all the continental countries, demons would not be able to start a expedition towards Ice and Snow Wilderness by sea. This implied the great value of Ice and Snow Wilderness. This would be the last fortress of Blackson Humans Corridor. The sea, the Ice-Capped Continent and the wuthering demon north wind belt formed the best natural chasms for demons.


    When demons arrived, big figures and rich men would escape to foreign countries and Western Continent, even Eastern Continent by airship. How about small figures? Do they have the condition, the ability and the capital to escape away like this? Impossible! This is the real portrayal before each catastrophe. All the big figures would escape away, leaving small figures to taste the bitterness of the catastrophe with tears and blood.


    Zhang Tie planned to provide an opportunity for those small figures of Blackson Humans Corridor using the Tribal Axis Plan within their ability.


    The Tribal Axis Plan was a financing plan towards these big figures. Zhang Tie decided to organize a railway corporation for the Tribal Axis Plan. The railway corporation would deliver 3 million shares, subscription amount of each share was 40 gold coins. These shares would be sold to the commoners in those countries across Blackson Humans Corridor, instead of in Ice and Snow Wilderness. With each share of the Tribal Axis, one could not only enjoy the bonus of the railway corporation but also have a right to take another two people to Ice and Snow Wilderness; additionally, he or she would be entitled to settle down and live within 50 km of the new railway.


    This was not only the shares of the railway corporation, the certificate of the shareholders and bonus but also the right to migrate and settle down in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    "If I was still that small figure in Blackhot City, if my parents don''t have Huaiyuan Palace on their back, if there''s a place that has been confirmed as the last shelter of humans in the coming holy war between humans and demons and it only takes you 40 gold coins to enter it, what would my parents do?"


    Zhang Tie was sure that his parents would buy one ticket no matter how difficult it was so as to keep him and his elder brother alive till the end.


    "Not only me, if there''s truly such a ticket, even average families like that of Bagdad, Leit, Hista would try their best to buy one ticket for their kids. As Barley''s home is rich, if they have to escape, his dad might transfer him to a safer place; however, if his dad could prepare one more safer place for Barley only at cost of 40 gold coins, I''m afraid that he would immediately spend 40 gold coins without a frown."


    The bonus of the shares could eliminate the last concern of most average families. Even if they could not find a job in a few days and had no income, they could also have one more guarantee through the bonus of the railway corporation. Additionally, railway, a product of industrial civilization, would also reduce their strangeness and fright about Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    This was the biggest desire of most of commoners before the arrival of the catastrophe¡ª¡ªto have a shelter and survive there.


    The shares could rightly meet the demand of commoners. Zhang Tie considered the very details of commoners'' mentality.


    40 gold coins could be afforded by most of the medium-class families across Blackson Humans Corridor. It was neither too much nor too little. It could allow commoners to find the last shelter on Blackson Humans Corridor.


    When the 3rd holy war arrived, compared to the miserable loss caused by demons, the poor living standard in Ice and Snow Wilderness was acceptable. After experiencing the cruelty of war and witnessing the catastrophe in Heavens Cold City and Eschyle City, Zhang Tie was sure that as long as there was no flame of war, it would be the paradise.


    Among 900 million population across Blackson Humans Corridor, even if 1/100 of them wanted to hide in Ice and Snow Wilderness, it indicated 9 million people. Therefore, it would be no problem to deliver the shares of the Tribal Axis Plan.


    Of course, Eschyle City and the huge bear tribe had no ability and channels to deliver such shares; however, Golden Roc Bank had.


    ...


    In the evening, Zhang Tie was interpreting his Tribal Axis Plan to O''Laura calmly while lying in a hot spring pool in a hidden yard of this manor...


    This yard was surrounded by rockeries and white pines. It looked very serene. Well-designed crystal fluorite lamps were inlaid below the roadside parterre of pebbles, revealing a pale green light and making this place dimmer and serener.


    The hot spring was steaming. The temperature was proper. However, it was snowing heavily. Zhang Tie was lying on a smooth stone, only exposing his head and shoulders. O''Laura in a gauze skirt was making physical rehabilitation massage carefully for Zhang Tie on his back.


    After using a vial of senior recovery medicament, plus Zhang Tie''s abnormal preliminary recovery ability, Zhang Tie had almost recovered only after 4-5 days. Many smaller wounds of the total 100-odd wounds had disappeared exposing light red skin on some bigger wounds.


    O''Laura kept massaging the muscle tissues around his wounds and the joints tenderly with her slim fingers. As a LV 10 strong fighter, O''Laura, who was very familiar with human body, knew how to help a fighter recover his wounds as soon as possible better than commoners.


    At this moment, in this scene, when enjoying the delicate and tender massage of a cold and brilliant beauty, Zhang Tie felt being in the paradise.


    After hearing that Zhang Tie prepared to entrust Golden Roc Bank to deliver 3 million shares for him, O''Laura behind him stopped her movement. 3 million multiplied by 40 was an astronomical figure, which had been out of O''Laura''s comprehension.


    "How much it that?"


    "120 million gold coins in total. After deducting a part of the distribution fee, we can still raise about 110 million gold coins!" Zhang Tie signed satisfactorily. Until then did he truly understand what Donder meant by a person''s ability to accomplish the most important integration and utilization of resources at a certain position. This Tribal Axis Plan was an integration of resources by hand. In this plan, he integrated Eschyle City, Spencer clan, the huge bear tribe, his current status, even the changing situation facing Ice and Snow Wilderness and continents.


    If someone told him that he could fulfill an investment plan of above 100 million gold coins a year ago or even months ago, Zhang Tie would never believe in it. That amount of money could kill him for one hundred times. However, this time, Zhang Tie had a strong sense of pride. He didn''t disguise as a scum father using the functions of Castle of Black Iron and Heller''s help or made a success with the help of others, clan or reliance; instead, he integrated and utilized his resources by hand using his own intelligence and ability.


    He knew what commoners and small figures thought about. Therefore, he provided a satisfactory commodity and service for commoners and small figures. This was a multi-win plan which would benefit himself, the huge bear tribe, Eschyle City, even numerous commoners.


    For Zhang Tie, this plan was more important than jumping into the ruins of Iron Bear Castle from airship. He felt that he could realize a sublimation in this plan.


    "Can you further implement this plan if the other bear tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness also entrust Golden Roc Bank to deliver such a stock?" O''Laura asked.


    "When entrusting Golden Roc Bank to do this, I will let them fulfill exclusive commercial codes. That is to say, nobody else is allowed to do the same thing in my mode in Ice and Snow Wilderness without my consent!"


    "Whom will the railway belong to in the future, those shareholders?" O''Laura asked as she was unfamiliar with this sophisticated commercial mode.


    "Nominally, it belongs to them. They occupy most of shares of railway corporation; however, they only have the right to share the bonus; they have no right to make operating decisions. Therefore, the railway corporation is actually my individual property being independent of the huge bear tribe and Eschyle City!"


    "How come that be? You''ve not paid for that!"


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he turned over his body, "As the initiator, I am investing in my invisible assets such as my intelligence, ability, human relationship and my integrated resources. I don''t have to pay for it. Therefore, I could have the majority ownership of the railway corporation by having a great proportion of shares as an initiator. It would be no problem as long as I''m not too excessive!"


    "This is not snatching a white wolf with empty hands. This is a normal commercial game rule in the outside!" Zhang Tie stared at the plump "white rabbits" behind the gauze and the looming area below her lower abdomen as he felt thirsty and silently swallowed his saliva, "Come on, I''ve not recovered here, please massage here in another way!"


    "How!" O''Laura asked seriously as she didn''t recognize Zhang Tie''s trick.


    "Like this..." Zhang Tie pulled over O''Laura immediately.


    "Argh..." O''Laura exclaimed...


    ...


    Two hours later, six Spencer women appeared beside the foggy hot spring pool in semi-transparent gauze. Seeing the rhythm ripples, the six women''s faces turned red. Finally, they walked in the pool slowly and elegantly while gritting their teeth...

 502 Leaving the Ice and Snow Wilderness

    Chapter 502: Leaving the Ice and Snow Wilderness


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    On November 18th, all the representatives of the bear tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness converged in Eschyle City. They signed the Eschyle Declaration, which symbolized the arrival of a truly peaceful time among Slavic tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness before the third holy war between humans and demons.


    Since the signing day of the Eschyle Declaration, all wars between Slavic tribes were forbidden in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Any military action involving over 50 participants targeted at another tribe, ranging from the minimal rat tribes to the most powerful bear tribes, would be severely punished by bear tribes who had already signed the Escyle Declaration.


    Although the Eschyle Declaration could not eradicate all the conflicts in Ice and Snow Wilderness, it could minimize the destruction caused by those conflicts. As long as bear tribes could remain in peace, the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness would not break out in huge turmoil. Additionally, the conflicts between small tribes could remain on a very small scale.


    As he knew what other bear tribes within Ice and Snow Wilderness were concerned about, Zhang Tie posed such a plan which could make everyone feel reassured. Thus, all the representatives of fire bear tribe, wild bear tribe, mountain bear tribe, sea bear tribe, black bear tribe and demon bear tribe, who''d come from afar, signed the Eschyle Declaration at once. For those tribes, as long as the huge bear tribe and iron bear tribe didn''t plan on unifying the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness and all the Slavs, they would let out a sigh of relief.


    The representatives and teams of the six tribes entered Eschyle City on November 17th. In a sense, this was like an alliance. Before arriving at Eschyle City, the representatives of these tribes had already heard of Zhang Tie''s speech at the Eschyle Victim Cemetery and became much more reassured. After signing this Eschyle Declaration, they became completely relaxed.


    Although some fierce and powerful people tended to always treat a signed agreement as a piece of waste paper, now that Zhang Tie had made such a public declaration and had signed such a solemn agreement, unless he wanted to have his credit declined across Ice and Snow Wilderness, the effect of this declaration would be guaranteed.


    Additionally, after witnessing the casualties of over one million people, even the most radical Calvinism Slavs in huge bear tribe had become quiet. They knew that the biggest crisis facing the Slavs was not the tensions between tribes, but the coming holy war between humans and demons.


    After the signing of the Eschyle Declaration and the news about the first railway in Ice and Snow Wilderness was exposed to the public, Zhang Tie''s reputation rose to a new height. Although many people were still doubtful that Zhang Tie had the capital and ability to build such a railway in Ice and Snow Wilderness, now that the news was exposed they were always inspired.


    Everyone was clear about the benefits of a railway, especially a railway that could penetrate through the north and south of the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness. If this railway was truly built, it would have an immeasurable effect in aiding Eschyle City''s foreign trade.


    In a few days, although the distress caused by the catastrophe in Eschyle City had not completely faded away, the Eschyle Declaration and the Tribal Axis Plan posed by Zhang Tie had brought a wisp of brilliance and hope back to the people. Therefore, the whole city gradually recovered its vitality.


    The destroyed buildings and blocks started to be cleaned.


    The schools, especially polytechnics in Eschyle City, started to expand and recruit students who were not talented as fighters.


    Police stations and city guards of Eschyle City started to recruit freshmen and carry out rehabilitation training.


    Although the capital for the railway was not in place yet, at Zhang Tie''s order the engineers for early prospecting and preliminary designing of the railway, recruited by the foreign agency of Spencer clan, had already boarded on ships headed for Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    The large-scale expansion plan of Eschyle Steel Plant and its supporting programs and facilities had started.


    The blueprint plan of the entire Spias Gulf Industrial Area made every industrial worker in Eschyle City spirited as the area of Spias Gulf might reach above 100 square kilometers in the future.


    ...


    On November 18th, after confirming that Zhang Tie had fully recovered, O''Laura left Eschyle City and returned to grey eagle tribe. As the clan elder, she had to shoulder many responsibilities for the rise or fall of grey eagle tribe.


    O''Laura was both proud and independent. She''d come to Eschyle City for Zhang Tie, and she''d left Eschyle City also because of Zhang Tie. She didn''t yield to Zhang Tie too much because of Zhang Tie''s changing status. She even disdained to use Zhang Tie''s money.


    When O''Laura left, Zhang Tie went with her over 50 kilometers away from Eschyle City by xiphodon. Additionally, Zhang Tie gifted her two xiphodons, one for her and one for Setton, and two bags of seeds, one of buckthorn seeds and one of potatoes.


    Several days ago, the potatoes that Zhang Tie had planted in Castle of Black Iron finally completed their first mutation and evolution. The new potatoes not only produced a greater harvest, but also had a greater ability to resist drought and cold. Zhang Tie had Heller accelerate the ripening of some of these new kinds of potatoes in Castle of Black Iron and gave them to O''Laura.


    After kissing Zhang Tie, O''Laura left.


    ...


    On the second day after the Eschyle Declaration was issued, Zhang Tie finished negotiating the stock financing issuing program of the Tribal Axis Plan with Xu Tao, the manager of Golden Roc Bank, in a parlor of the Rose Manor by signing an official cooperation document.


    The issuing fee of Golden Roc Bank was five percent, which meant they would ask for two gold coins for each share as payment. Therefore, the issuing cost of the shares of Tribal Axis Plan would reach 6 million gold coins. However, Zhang Tie had gained much more than that. If all the shares were sold, Zhang Tie would raise 14 million gold coins, which was an astronomical figure wherever in the world you were from.


    Besides, the document included exclusive items, which meant that Golden Roc Bank would not undertake a similar business in Ice and Snow Wilderness without Zhang Tie''s consent. That was to say, this business was Zhang Tie''s patent.


    As Zhang Tie''s partner, Golden Roc Bank had another condition in the business of stock issuing¡ªto ensure the reputation of Golden Roc Bank. Golden Roc Bank would dispatch its professional accountants to supervise the use of the raised funds so as to ensure that all the funds were applied in the Tribal Axis Plan in Ice and Snow Wilderness instead of being squandered. Of course, Zhang Tie agreed with this delightedly. Additionally, he even employed Golden Roc Bank as the financial counsellor of the Tribal Axis Plan.


    Previously Zhang Tie didn''t plan to use the raised funds in other places. Although it was an unimaginably huge amount of money, it garnered too many people''s hopes and was going to be used to prepare for defending demons in the coming holy war. If this amount of money was squandered in other places, Zhang Tie felt that he had already surpassed his bottom line.


    Each person had his or her own desires and ambitions. Gangsters wanted to occupy more streets; beggars wanted to occupy more rubbish dumps. Even Zhang Tie had his desires and ambitions. However, Zhang Tie''s desires and ambitions were not that extreme. The great achievement brought by Ice and Snow Wilderness stimulated Zhang Tie''s ambition too much. Therefore, Zhang Tie was very satisfied. If he needed money, Zhang Tie felt it would be more reassuring to use the money brought by his all-purpose medicament. As to the money from Spencer clan, Zhang Tie felt uncomfortable spending it.


    Zhang Tie had once mocked himself, for it was a common disease among small figures like him to only dream about a well-off life. However, they only dreamed about being the richest one in the country.


    If they had to do bad things for money, most of them would struggle inside.


    "Lord, whether in the relics or Eschyle City, underground or above ground, your popularity and deeds win my sincere respect. It''s the pleasure of Golden Roc Bank to serve you. After signing this document, you will be promoted to a top-end, golden star guest of our bank in Blackson Humans Corridor. You will be able to enjoy more private services!" Manager Xu expressed this sincerely as he shook hands with Zhang Tie after signing two agreements.


    "Thanks for your appreciation. Actually, I''m just doing what I should do. I know what I can do and what I cannot do," Zhang Tie said modestly. This Chinese Golden Roc Bank was still very mysterious, as if it was covered with a veil in Zhang Tie''s eyes. Meanwhile, the more he contacted this bank, the more unpredictable he would feel this bank was.


    Even a manager of Golden Roc Bank in Eschyle City could be so calm, which really startled Zhang Tie.


    "Thanks to you, our prospecting team survived the ruins and left safe and sound. We''ve not extended our thanks to you for that. We know that everything that you do in Eschyle City was to defend against the demons. Therefore, I want to present you with a gift!" Saying this, Manager Xu Tao glanced at a man by his side. That man then moved forward. He put one black suitcase on the table in front of Zhang Tie before moving several steps back politely.


    "What''s this?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity as he watched the suitcase.


    "It contains the formulas and processing procedures of some high-performance alloys. Based on the capabilities of Eschyle Steel Plant, after some technical transformations, it will be able to produce these high-performance alloys. With such alloys, sabers and swords would be sharper, armor would be firmer, and machines and fleets would perform better."


    Zhang Tie let out a slight sigh. He knew the formulas of alloys were very expensive wherever they were. In this age, such things were kept as A-class secrets of a country or a clan, and would never be exposed. Some big clans in Blackhot City had developed by mastering the formulas and processing procedures of some high-performance alloys at the beginning. As the Steel Plant in Eschyle City was weak in technical power, having these things would be able to make up for their shortcomings.


    "Thank you so much. Ice and Snow Wilderness need these things urgently!" Zhang Tie shook Manager Xu''s hands.


    "If you need, we can freely provide you with the whole set of design maps for high-performance tanks, steam armored vehicles and over 100 large-scale military ships, which are suitable to the environment and territory of Ice and Snow Wilderness, as well as some experts and engineers in the relevant fields. These maps would weigh dozens of tons in total. Those military experts and engineers could teach you how to turn these maps into real objects."


    "Yes, we need them, we need them too urgently!" Zhang Tie revealed a big smile. ''This is nothing other than being gifted with a pillow when one wants to go to bed. The steel of Eschyle Steel Plant is not useful unless it is turned into these objects!'' Zhang Tie asked, "Can you tell me why you''d want to help me?"


    "First, we extend our sincere thanks to you. Second, as a member of the human race, before the arrival of the holy war, we''d like to do our best to help you defend against the demons. Golden Roc Bank is not only an organization that focuses on money. Third, we believe that you can use these things reasonably!"


    ''Is this the legendary popularity bonus?'' Zhang Tie was almost moved by himself.


    ...


    Zhang Tie saw off Manager Xu Tao outside the door. After that, he returned to the parlor. Sitting on the sofa, he became stunned while gazing at that black leather suitcase.


    After being moved by his own popularity for less than one second, Zhang Tie started to think about the motives behind why Golden Roc Bank would be doing this. This decision could never be made by a manager of Golden Roc Bank. This decision must have been done by higher management.


    Gradually, Zhang Tie started to feel chilly. Golden Roc Bank had a good intention for doing this. What made Zhang Tie feel cold on the inside, though, was Golden Roc Bank''s precise judgment about the overall situation of the continents. Only when Golden Roc Bank knew that all the countries on all the continents on the other side of the sea were going to be completely destroyed by demons would they decide it was meaningful to help him at such a high cost.


    Although the six Spencer clan women had brought Zhang Tie a new understanding about dissolution these days, they helped Zhang Tie manage everything well in Eschyle City. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt a new recognition for the talent and abilities of Spencer women. However, Zhang Tie knew that he had to go back to Blackhot City as soon as possible. Otherwise it would be difficult to find his friends when the western continent became chaotic.


    ...


    On November 21st, after arranging affairs in Ice and Snow Wilderness, Zhang Tie set out by sea. At Zhang Tie''s request, two elders of Spencer clan and three elders of huge bear tribe followed him onto the 10,000-ton luxurious private cruise ship of Spencer clan.


    The north wind howled on the sea, whipping up incessant huge waves. However, it did not feel bumpy on the cruise at all.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the elders gazed at the trivial buckthorn seeds and fresh potatoes on the two big plates in front of them. After Zhang Tie finished his words, the elders exchanged glances with each other silently.


    "In short, I have to leave Ice and Snow Wilderness alone. When I solve my affair, I will come back. These are seeds. Don''t ask me where I got them from. These seeds will be useful to Ice and Snow Wilderness. You will find out after planting them!"


    "You are going to leave? We can arrange for a team of powerful fighters to accompany you!" Elder Toles said, "I can also accompany you!"


    "No need. This is my personal affair. I will manage it myself!"


    "Are you going to leave now?" Elder Rodolfo asked out of curiosity.


    "That''s right!"


    "Do you want to go to Saint Herner Island on this ship?"


    "No, I will swim to the continent and I won''t stay on Saint Herner Island!"


    ''Swim? Can a man swim across Oro Strait and Demon North Wind Belt towards the continent tens of thousands of miles away?'' Hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, all the elders had odd expressions, like they''d just heard Zhang Tie was going to fly over there himself. If not for Zhang Tie''s majesty and his extremely normal behaviour today, the elders would have really wanted to check whether Zhang Tie was getting a fever or not by touch his forehead.


    "Well, I have to go now. I will come back when I have to!"


    After these final words, Zhang Tie left at once.


    Under the gazes of the elders, Zhang Tie jumped off the ship and disappeared in the vacant sea...


    ...

 503 Returning to Kalur

    Chapter 503: Returning to Kalur


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    In Kalur, the city of machines, the first snow arrived several days later than in previous years. Nevertheless, after snowing for two days, the whole city was covered with a ten centimetre thick layer of snow.


    The snow even impeded the normal operations of the railway leading to Kalur. Many factories in Kalur were also influenced as they failed to deliver their goods or receive their raw materials. Therefore, a great number of people started to clean snow in the streets and railway lines.


    Only the large-scale airship center was uninfluenced as it was an airborne hub across Kalur. Even though it had heavily snowed at night, the ground crew still cleared the airship center with snow cleaners once every few hours. Therefore, while the roads and railway lines were severely impeded in winter, the airship center in Kalur became especially busy.


    On December 25th, a medium-sized airship landed on runway number B06 in Kalur airship center. This airship was available for both passengers and freight, so it wasn''t very comfortable. Goods were in the lower cabin while many common travellers were crowded in the upper cabin.


    Noble travellers would always choose to ride dedicated passenger airships between Carol Federation and Kalur City, on which they could enjoy a high degree of comfort and the quality service of stewardesses. Those who took such airships could always engage in lots of love affairs. Therefore, few rich people would prefer to travel by an airship which was both available to passengers and freight. Instead, they all chose this professional passenger airship.


    Most of the taxi drivers outside the airship center had sharp eyes. After seeing which airship had landed on runway B06, the taxi drivers just ignored the passengers. In their previous experiences, most of those who took the airship for both passengers and freight were as mean as Grandet [1]. These kinds of people would simply ignore the taxis, the starting rate of which was two silver coins. Even if one or two of them wanted to take a taxi, they would bargain sharply with the drivers for a few copper coins. This always made drivers doubt whether they had a decent job. Otherwise, how could they bargain with others for half an hour over a few copper coins?


    In the indifferent eyes of a bunch of taxi drivers, Zhang Tie finally walked out of the hatch door of the cabin where he had been crowded in with so many people on chairs for the last few days.


    Zhang Tie had already gone back to his original appearance at this moment.


    After leaving Eschyle City, Zhang Tie stayed on an uninhabited island in the Ewentra Archipelago for a few days. During this period, he had digested nine huge wolf seven-strength fruits in Castle of Black Iron, he lit 21 surging points and officially became a LV 8 fighter. After that, he came to the continent. After seriously making a plan while on his travels, he hunted a kingsnake in an underground space of a small country called Bastille for two days. After gathering the soul fire of the LV 8 kingsnake, Zhang Tie finally completed his advancement.


    After leaving Bastille, Zhang Tie moved westward and had arrived at Carol Federation a couple of days ago. After that, he came to Kalur City on the earliest airship.


    Zhang Tie was wearing a set of common cotton linen clothes, which had wrinkled after sitting on the seats for a few days. Underneath that his upper garment was a shirt. He was lifting a common canvas backpack. This set of clothes didn''t look so shabby previously. However, since it was winter and he didn''t wear an overcoat or fur coat, he looked shabby.


    After taking in a deep breath of chilly air, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. After that, he walked towards those taxis.


    Amazingly, although he waved towards those taxis, he found he was ignored. After glancing at the passengers beside him who were surrounded by so many taxi drivers, Zhang Tie then glanced over his own clothes and the pair of slightly worn leather shoes. After that, he rubbed his nose, forcing a bitter smile and walked in front of the nearest taxi.


    "Pah...Pah..." Zhang Tie slightly tapped on the glass of the mini bus. The driver, who was staying in the warm car, rolled down the window reluctantly and looked at Zhang Tie with a pair of unwilling eyes.


    "The starting price is three silver coins!" The driver asked for one more silver coin from Zhang Tie in order to scare him away as soon as possible.


    "No problem!" Zhang Tie smiled, "I will go to Blapei, is that okay?"


    The driver became a bit hesitant. Meanwhile, his unwilling look disappeared. He replied with a slightly better attitude, "Blapei is over 100 kilometers away from here. It will take us more than 3 hours from here to Blapei. Additionally, I cannot get a guest on my way back from there. Therefore, the fee is very expensive. It will cost you at least...15 silver coins. No bargaining!"


    "Fine, let''s go!" saying this, Zhang Tie pulled open the rear door and threw himself in the back seat.


    The driver turned around and watched Zhang Tie, "Erm...you need to pay me first!"


    Zhang Tie then fumbled in his pocket for a short while before taking out a gold coin. He then flicked the gold coin to the driver. Catching it right away, the driver found it was the locomotive gold coin issued by Andaman Alliance. At the sight of this gold coin, the driver instantly became relaxed as he started the car.


    Watching the strange city outside the window, Zhang Tie sighed inside slightly as he didn''t know whether this city could be preserved in the coming holy war. Because he knew no one in this city, he headed directly for Blapei, from where he planned to set out for Blackhot City by train.


    "Have you been here before? Andaman Alliance''s gold coin is rarely seen here..." the driver started the conversation.


    "I lived in Blackhot city before!"


    "Alas, Blackhot City is a LV 4 city under the affiliation of Brunswick Province, Norman Empire. Our Andaman Alliance has been cancelled. All the cities have been separated except for Kalur!" The driver sighed with a nostalgic tone. After discovering that Zhang Tie was a resident within the Andaman Alliance, the driver''s voice had become tenderer.


    "We have to show our appreciation for that powerful alchemist of the Iron Gate Clan. The other cities are not that lucky!"


    "Yup!"


    "How''s Kalur now?"


    "It''s more boisterous than before. A great number of orders from Sun Dynasty and Norman Empire satisfy those mill owners so much!"


    Through the talk with the taxi driver, Zhang Tie learned of many things that had happened in Kalur over the past year. Brilliance Feathers and Iron Horn Corps had retreated from the surroundings of Kalur city at the beginning of this year. Therefore, the tense situation facing this region had been eliminated. However, skirmishes still always happened on the borders between two armies. But this was all gossip in Kalur, which had not been confirmed through any official channel.


    Norman Empire already revoked their division and establishment that had been in Kalur theater. However, a part of Iron Horn Army Corps was still stationed there.


    After hearing that this region was still in the control of Iron Horn Corps, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh inside. He knew that what he would do in Blackhot City was a bit against the laws of the Norman Empire. If this region was under the control of other forces, it would be difficult for him to move so many people away. But if it was still in the control of Iron Horn Corps, many things would be easily solved.


    As they chatted, the taxi left the territory of Kalur City after a short while. Seeing that so many sentry posts on the road in the front and so many vehicles leaving Kalur City were queuing up in front of the sentry posts, the driver slowed down the vehicle and joined the queue after a truck.


    "After passing that sentry post, we will enter the territory of Norman Empire. The sentry post will not check goods entering Norman Empire too strictly. However, they do check people entering it very seriously. You cannot enter Norman Empire without a legal identification certificate admitted by Norman Empire. Norman Empire doesn''t admit people with the identification certificates of some countries and regions. If you''re not allowed to enter, I will just take four of your fifteen silver coins. Additionally, I will send you back to Kalur City," the driver reminded Zhang Tie kindly.


    Zhang Tie smiled, "My ID card should work!"


    Two soldiers in dark red millitary uniforms of the Norman Empire climbed into the carriage of the truck and glanced inside quickly before jumping off. After that, they raised the road bar to let the truck go. Then a soldier standing in front of the sentry post made a hand gesture towards the taxi. Seeing the hand gesture, the taxi driver hurriedly drove his car forward meticulously.


    At the same time, two tough men with long swords walked over. Before the soldiers had even knocked at the window, the taxi driver had hurriedly handed over his certificate. After checking his certificate, the soldier gave it back to the driver. Meanwhile, he asked the driver to open the trunk.


    "Please show me your identification certificate," said another soldier icily as he stood outside the door of Zhang Tie''s car and slightly lowered his head to look at Zhang Tie with solemn eyes. Single male youths, like Zhang Tie, were the key targets of this sentry post.


    Zhang Tie passed his ID card to the soldier. After glimpsing Zhang Tie''s identification certificate from the rear view mirror, the taxi driver quivered all over for a second.


    In the middle of the dark green booklet was a shiny, delicate, yet ferocious looking silver-plated dragon relief, below which were a pair of crossed long swords and tree-leaf like grains. Given this identification certificate, this passenger must be a military officer of the Norman Empire...

 504 A Dramatic Encounter

    Chapter 504: A Dramatic Encounter


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    Even though Zhang Tie was wanted by the secret police of Norman Empire, his qualification as a military officer wasn''t cancelled by Iron Horn Corps. The military party of Norman Empire didn''t admit that Zhang Tie was wanted by their secret police. Even if Zhang Tie left the Norman Empire, he was still a military officer of Iron Horn Corps.


    Franca''s chase revealed a deep conflict between the North Border Military Region of Norman Empire and the North Border Order Review Committee of Norman Empire. Secret police had chased Zhang Tie while the military party of Norman Empire chased Major Franca. When the conflict broke out between the two parties, Zhang Tie and Major Franca became attractive chess pieces. As a result, few people paid attention to the truth behind the conflict between him and Major Franca.


    ''However, the event reversed itself in the end. When Huaiyuan Palace appeared suddenly, the secret police disappeared right away. Although the secret police have not revoked their order to have me captured, as long as I don''t surrender myself to the headquarters of the secret police, I will be ignored by them.''


    It was much safer for Zhang Tie on the side of the North Border Military Region of Norman Empire. If Iron Horn Corps admitted that Zhang Tie was a criminal, it was no different to slapping their own face, as it meant that they admitted they were beaten by the Order Review Committee. This event was related to the reputation of the military of Norman Empire.


    Therefore, nobody would give Zhang Tie any trouble as long as he was a bit low-key. He didn''t even need to hide himself or change his name.


    The moment the soldier saw Zhang Tie''s military officer certificate, he instantly turned solemn as he took it with his hands hurriedly. He skimmed it over before forcefully swallowing his saliva. Written on the certificate were Zhang Tie''s job positions and rewards¡ª


    Second lieutenant of Iron-Blood Camp, division number 39...


    Iron-Blood medal winner of Norman Empire...


    Promoted to first lieutenant due to military exploits, dispatched to the number 9 Equipment Center at the same time, Comprehensive Logistics Relief Division of the Logistics Department, Iron Horn Corps director due to heavy wounds.


    This was a military officer who had retired from the frontlines due to heavy wounds, and who had made great military exploits in Kalur theater.


    Zhang Tie''s military officer certificate was too heavy for the soldier. However, Zhang Tie''s age seemed dubious. This common soldier had never had the chance to touch a true military officer certificate since entering the army and could not identify whether it was real or not. Therefore, he could only look at a second lieutenant stationed near a sentry post a few meters away and made a hand gesture silently towards him.


    The second lieutenant noticed the situation unfolding and he came over with another two soldiers. The common soldier then passed Zhang Tie''s military officer certificate to the second lieutenant.


    After checking it for a few seconds, the second lieutenant confirmed that it was true. Closely after that, he stood at attention and gave a military salute towards Zhang Tie which made a "Pah" sound.


    "Welcome back, sire. Are you going to Blapei? Do you need us to escort you there?" As the second lieutenant said this, he passed the military officer certificate back to Zhang Tie through the window in a very respectful way. In the army of Norman Empire, anyone who had been awarded with an iron-blood medal due to his military exploits on the battle field could enjoy some special treatment wherever they were in the country. If the rank of first lieutenant was not too eye-catching, the iron-blood medal made him utterly outstanding.


    "No need, I will go back by taxi!"


    "Fine, bon voyage!"


    Seeing the military officer making a military salute towards the passenger, the other soldiers hurriedly raised the road bar, letting Zhang Tie''s car pass through.


    ...


    The second lieutenant, who was on duty at the sentry post, had just been dispatched to Iron Horn Corps after graduating from North Border Military Command College of Norman Empire at the beginning of this year. As the war between Iron Horn Corps and Brilliance Feathers had just come to an end, he didn''t know Zhang Tie. Seeing the taxi disappearing in the distance, this second lieutenant frowned slightly.


    He remembered that someone had mentioned the name "Zhang Tie" to him before. However, he could not connect the name with Zhang Tie''s image. ''Such a young first lieutenant who had obtained an Iron-Blood Medal would be recognisable within the Iron Horn Corps. How come I can''t recall him?


    The young second lieutenant felt fretful. It wasn''t until 20 minutes after Until Zhang Tie had left that the second lieutenant glanced at that wanted circular poster at the sentry post. He then quivered all over as he remembered where he''d heard this name.


    ''That was the most famous young military officer, who killed dozens of secret policemen and caused a mighty uproar and is wanted by the secret police? He''s back?''


    The second lieutenant forcefully smacked his head. Closely after that, he confided something to his assistant before jumping into a car which had already been started up beside the sentry post and sped up towards Blapei.


    ...


    Although it was not hot in the car, the taxi driver still kept dripping with sweat. After discovering Zhang Tie''s status, the driver remembered his conversation with Zhang Tie just now. Thinking especially how he''d sworn at Norman Empire army as "red-hide dogs" and "devils", his face turned blue with extreme fear.


    ''I''m done for.'' Imagining the brutality of the Norman Empire army in the legend, the taxi driver felt like dropping into hell right away.


    It grew gloomier inside the car. Realizing that the taxi driver was extremely frightened and closing his mouth tightly, Zhang Tie also kept silent. Leaning against the back seat, he kept his eyes closed and pretended to take a nap.


    As it was snowing heavily, the vehicle drove at a slow speed. Although some roads had been cleaned, their accessibility had sharply declined. It took the driver over two hours to arrive at Blapei after a 100 kilometers of travel. They arrived at Blapei at six in the evening, when dusk had already fallen.


    The taxi parked in a street. Before Zhang Tie opened the door, the driver had hurriedly gotten out of the vehicle and opened the door for Zhang Tie.


    "Sir, it''s my...my great honor to serve you. You don''t need to pay me. Please take...take your money back!"


    Seeing the driver taking out that gold coin with a tense look, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. "I have poor hearing. I couldn''t hear clearly what you said in the car. Therefore, you don''t have to worry about that. Keep the tip. It''s late. Your family members are still waiting for you at home. Blapei''s bear and sausage are great. You can buy some for them. Drive slowly on the way home. See you..."


    Zhang Tie waved his hand before leaving with his canvas backpack.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s shadow walk off, the driver stood still for quite a while with mixed feelings. Finally he decided he was sure that he''d met a good person just now and would not face any trouble. He then squeezed into his car. After that, he truly went and bought some beer and sausages before returning to Kalur...


    ...


    There was also some snow piled up in the streets of Blapei. It was a bit slippery. Due to the cold weather, many roadside stores had already closed. Only a couple of people could be seen in streets wearing thick coats. Zhang Tie decided to find a place to take a rest.


    He then turned into a street in downtown Blapei. When he caught sight of a female costume store, Zhang Tie became stunned at once as he remembered that he had been here before.


    Compared to what he saw there last time, the clothes in the showcases facing the street had already become thick female clothes. The necks of the models in the showcases were circled with some furry scarfs. Additionally, there were high-heeled shoes, beautiful boots and shiny ornaments.


    Under the light of the fluorescent lamps, the showcase was filled with a strong feminine quality and emotional appeal. Beside the door was a pile of snow which had been moved there by spade. In contrast, the lamplight in the store felt warm.


    After rubbing his face and revealing a smile, Zhang Tie pushed open the door and entered.


    "Ding..."


    After a crispy and sweet sounding bell ring, the man who was saying something over at the cashier desk turned around and caught sight of Zhang Tie. The three people were shocked at the same time. Zhang Tie had never imagined that he could encounter the same people in the same place and almost at the same time as before. The whole thing was like something from a drama.


    "What a coincidence, Mr. Perth!" Zhang Tie grinned while revealing his white teeth.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Perth''s face turned pale as he quivered all over. In Perth''s eyes, Zhang Tie''s white teeth were as ferocious as an evil dragon when it was going to eat people. "Erm...erm...I just... was just passing by here...and buy something for my wife...this is the first time...really...I promise..."


    "Have you bought your things?"


    "Yes, I have...I have...you continue, you continue..." Saying this, Mr. Perth hurriedly left with a paper bag without daring to glance at Zhang Tie again. When he passed by Zhang Tie, he even moved inch by inch along the wall while holding his breath. The moment Mr. Perth rushed out of the door, he had thrown himself onto the ground, face down. After climbing up, he instantly rolled away as he dared not even look back.


    Then, there were only two people left in the store.


    Zhang Tie exchanged glances with the female boss behind the cashier desk, who had beautiful, wavy hair. They smiled at each other at the same time...

 505 Gain and Loss

    Chapter 505: Gain and Loss


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Suppose O''Laura was an ice cube, Zhang Tie preferred her to melt into water. By contrast, Linda was water; therefore, she could only become a tender and muddy swamp and wrap to Zhang Tie. After that, Zhang Tie would indulge in her softest place under her depressing groans.


    This was a gentle and mature woman who was excellent, womanly and beautiful. When she was pressed under Zhang Tie''s body, she still looked embarrassed as she closed her eyes and inclined her head.


    On the same Greens'' building. After Zhang Tie moved away, Linda had moved from the 3rd floor to the 4th floor. It was the room where Zhang Tie lived. Like how Zhang Tie sent Linda back last time, after drinking a bit, Zhang Tie sent her back again. After that, it happened naturally.


    Well, Zhang Tie had to admit that he didn''t stand it first.


    On the dark stairs, Linda was walking ahead of Zhang Tie. Watching her twisting, plump butts under the tight purple kilt and the pair of beautiful snowwhite legs in high-heeled shoes and smelling the alluring fragrance of this mature woman, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand to touch her butts on the 3rd floor.


    Linda remained silent. She just turned around and glanced at Zhang Tie in a slightly embarrassed way. For Zhang Tie, this was an encouragement.


    Walking in the dark passageway, Linda had some premonition as she started to hold her breath.


    When they walked in the dark passageway outside the room on the 4th floor, Zhang Tie hugged her. They then started to kiss each other.


    Being extremely stimulated in the dark, Zhang Tie forcefully pushed the gentle and beautiful female boss to the corner. Meanwhile, he lifted her snowwhite leg and started to fumble, push and rub his thing on her leg; he finally pricked into the swamp-like wet and soft place through the narrow crack on the side of her lace.


    Zhang Tie still remembered that Linda was like a fire while her tongue was icy.


    ...


    On the next day, Zhang Tie woke up on time by his biological clock. When he opened his eyes, he found Linda was crouching at his chest like a kitty. The woman''s hair was spreading over Zhang Tie''s neck and shoulders in a disordered way. Her plump ''white rabbits'' [1] were pushing closely beside Zhang Tie''s ribs and chest. The moment Zhang Tie moved, he felt itchy over his neck.


    Zhang Tie then looked outside through the chink of the curtain. It was snowing. It was still dark outside although this small bedroom looked very warm.


    Linda''s fair face remained a wisp of blush and luster after the romantic affair with Zhang Tie. She looked very charming. Their clothes spread over the carpet, making it a bit disordered. The door of the bedroom was open. Right on the handle of the door was Linda''s black 36E bra. There were even Zhang Tie''s milky body fluid on the bra which had already dried.


    Linda was a mature and charming woman. Once being conquered by a man, she would become very obedient on the bed like how a fair lady served her man at her age. As a result, Zhang Tie''s desire for conquest and gratification was greatly met. By conquering such a woman, a man would feel satisfied both physically and mentally.


    Watching her sweet sleeping look, Zhang Tie could barely imagine how poor this woman was on the same time last year when she did not encounter him. The God seemingly always brought more troubles to these kind yet beautiful women, making them suffer from men''s betrayal and greed.


    After slightly kissing her face, Zhang Tie carefully moved away her arm from his neck before getting off the bed silently. After that, he pulled a quilt over her body.


    Zhang Tie walked to the window side and revealed a narrow aperture. After that, he glanced downwards and found two people were standing outside the Greens'' house and slightly stomped their feet as they looked at the house before daybreak.


    They were wearing dark red military uniforms of Norman Empire. Being not far from the two people, two black sedans parked on the roadside. From Zhang Tie''s side, he could rightly catch the white license plates.


    Zhang Tie revealed a wisp of smile over his mouth corner. "The military reacted so fast. They''ve already found me over one night." If not being so efficient, Zhang Tie would doubt Iron Horn Corps'' ability to control Blapei.


    After putting down the curtain, Zhang Tie took a cold bath in the bathroom using the water in the water tank. After that, he returned to his bedroom, picking up his clothes and put them on.


    Linda was still sleeping. After a glance at her, Zhang Tie silently left the room.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Linda opened her eyes the moment he closed the door of the bedroom...


    ...


    As it was still early, Greens and their other guests had not gotten up yet. Therefore, Zhang Tie left the Green''s building and walked towards the two soldiers who were standing at the cross of the lane.


    Seeing Zhang Tie walking out of building, the two soldiers became spirited. However, before they uttered, Zhang Tie had already opened his mouth.


    "Thanks. Take me to your officer!"


    After glancing at each other, the two soldiers nodded before leading Zhang Tie to the vehicle outside the lane. After opening the door, they invited Zhang Tie in; after that, they entered the vehicle in the front.


    A military officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel of Norman Empire was sitting in the car with a solemn look and was waiting for Zhang Tie''s arrival.


    "Hi, First Lieutenant Zhang Tie. I''ve really not imagined that I can see you again in Blapei. I''m Labelli, a lieutenant colonel of the Ministry of Supervision of Iron Horn Corps!"


    After shaking hands in the car, Zhang Tie sat on the opposite chair of lieutenant colonel.


    "Hello, lieutenant colonel. I''m sorry for bringing trouble to the brothers in Ministry of Supervision in such a weather!"


    After hearing the words "brothers in Ministry of Supervision", Lieutenant Colonel Labelli looked a bit mild, "First Lieutenant Zhang Tie, although I hate those red gloves too; individually, I admire what you''ve done in Blapei very much; no matter what, you''re still wanted by the secret police. The relationship between the whole Corps and North Border military region and Order Review Committee of Norman Empire was strained because of you. You should know that you''re a sensitive person. If you appear in the public, you might arise some problems. May I know your purpose back?"


    "I have some friends in Blackhot City and Blapei. I''m back to visit them. If not, I''m afraid that I might not see them in the future." Zhang Tie put it straightforward.


    Narrowing his eyes, lieutenant colonel Labelli asked, "What do you mean by you''re afraid that you might not see them in the future?"


    "I witnessed the event in Heavens Cold City. The military of Norman Empire must have predicted some key information about Heavens Cold City through analysis. I think that some major information should have been delivered to field officers confidentially from Iron Horn Army. If it''s delivered a bit later, it would be too abrupt. Am I clear!" Zhang Tie explained calmly.


    Those lieutenant colonels in Iron Horn Corps were at least smarter than commoners. Therefore, after thinking for a second, Lieutenant Colonel had already gotten Zhang Tie''s meaning.


    If this was told by a common first lieutenant of Iron Horn Army, Lieutenant Colonel Labelli would instantly arrest the first lieutenant and had investigated where did he get the message. However, the event in Heavens Cold City was predominated by Huaiyuan Palace. Norman Empire could not gain the key information and evidences without the consent of Huaiyuan Palace. Now that Zhang Tie was a member of Huaiyuan Palace and was a participant of the event, he must know some information.


    Lieutenant Colonel Labelli nodded.


    "In order to maintain normal social order, the Norman Empire have not delivered some messages officially. You should know what big problems would be arisen if those messages were revealed. As you are still a soldier of Norman Empire, I hope you can stick to the codes as a soldier of Norman Empire. Remember to not do anything excessive!"


    Zhang Tie smiled, "Of course. I''m going to see some old friends in Blackhot City. As Huaiyuan Prefecture of Jinyun Country is adjacent to the sea, it''s very beautiful over there. My friends have not seen sea ever since they were born. Therefore, I want to take them to watch the sea if they like!"


    "How many friends do you have there?"


    "Plus their family members, I''m afraid that an airship would be required to carry them!"


    "Norman Empire is implementing a very strict control on population migration. If you want to take your friends out, each of them need a migration certificate. This might be a bit difficult!"


    "No problem. I will manage it for them like how those riches of big clans do. I will not cause any trouble to others!"


    "How long will you stay in Blapei?"


    "It depends. I have to leave tomorrow. I will go to Blackhot City by train!"


    "Where else are you going to except for Blackhot City?


    "Blackhot City is my destination. As long as I manage it, I will leave with my friends!"


    ...


    After talking with Lieutenant Colonel Labelli for over 20 minutes, Zhang Tie got off the car, putting a special pass of Iron Horn Corps into his pocket.


    "First Lieutenant Zhang Tie. I have to say, it''s very lucky to be your friend. Wish you a pleasant trip with your friends!" Lieutenant Colonel Labelli told Zhang Tie through the window.


    "Thanks!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile...


    After a slight quiver, the two vehicles left.


    Zhang Tie saw off the vehicles before revealing a smile and returning to Greens'' building.


    When he was back to the 4th floor, he knocked at the door as he had no key.


    Linda opened the door with a slight amazement and surprise.


    "What?" Zhang Tie asked with an amazed look.


    "I thought...though you''ve already gone!" Linda said in a embarrassed way.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile before entering the room and closing the door.


    "Have you eaten breakfast? If not, I will make breakfast for you."


    Under Zhang Tie''s gleaming eyes, Linda looked a bit embarrassed as she hurriedly turned around and walked towards the kitchen. At this moment, Zhang Tie pulled her hands as he sat on sofa. After that, he patted his legs, "Come on, sit here!"


    Biting her lips, Linda sat on Zhang Tie''s one thigh in a shameful way.


    "Not like this, you need to split open your legs..." Zhang Tie ''ordered'' while his arms around Linda''s waist...


    Sitting on Zhang Tie''s thigh in an intimate gesture, Linda''s skirt was raised up, revealing a snowwhite thigh root. The 30-odd female boss then blushed.


    "Is...is that like this?" Linda asked Zhang Tie in a low voice as she thought that Zhang Tie wanted her to do some weird things.


    "Look at my eyes!" Zhang Tie said while holding his arms around her waist.


    Turning around her head, Linda looked at Zhang Tie in a coy pattern.


    Seeing such a mature woman, especially her coy look after sleeping with her, Zhang Tie almost lost his control again. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, such a woman was really marvelous. He couldn''t understand how her former fiancee thought. How could he drop such a good woman only for a few gold coins. What an idiot! By comparison, even Perth was a bit more discerning.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t stand to take a deep breath of the alluring fragrance of the woman. He knew that he was not the God and could not save all the people; however, he could keep this woman here. It would be too cruel for her if she suffered another catastrophe in her life.


    "Linda, do you have relatives in this city?"


    Hearing this question, she shook her head after a wisp of gloomy look.


    "If so, do you want to live in other places?"


    "Where can I go? I have a job here so I have to live here. If I''m in a strange place, I don''t know what else I can do." The woman shook her head in a confused look.


    "Even if you''re in other places, you can still do whatever you like. You can continue if you like to open a store and sell female clothes and ornaments. Nobody would force you to do what you dislike!"


    "Do you want to take me away from here?"


    "Yes, I''m back to take some people out of Norman Empire, because this place might be in danger; I don''t want to restrict you as my goods, neither would I abandon you at the critical moment. When you leave here, you''re still free. You can do whatever you want and live your life. Do you believe in me?" Zhang Tie watched this woman sincerely.


    Linda also watched Zhang Tie with mixed moods. After being silent for a few seconds, she suddenly covered her mouth with a hand and burst out tears at once as she nodded forcefully...


    ...


    It took Zhang Tie a little time to realize why Linda cried and became so thrilled at this moment. After the death of her father and the betrayal of her fiancee, Blapei became a sad for Linda. She always dreamed that one day she could meet a man who could take her away and wouldn''t abandon her at the critical moment.


    Zhang Tie became the very man...


    ...


    In the afternoon, Zhang Tie came to Chevli Village on the thick snow, where he got a message that he wanted to know without having to ask others.


    One month ago, Hanna got married. The one who married the most brilliant Beer Queen of Blapei was a young master of a big business group in Nordingburgh¡ª¡ªa tall, rich and handsome first lieutenant of the Logistics Department of Iron Horn Corps. Hanna''s family and the recipe of beer followed Hanna to Nordingburgh.


    Hanna became the golden phoenix that flew out of Chevli Village. All the villagers in Chevli Village sighed as they could barely drink a cup of that delicious beer anymore from then on.


    Because of this unexpected message, Zhang Tie stayed in the snowfield for quite a while. Each one had their own life. Nobody was the center of the whole world, even Zhang Tie himself. If he missed something, he would miss it forever. Zhang Tie could only bliss Hanna sincerely.


    On the next morning, Zhang Tie asked Linda to sell his store in Blapei and made preparations to leave out of here. After that, he got on the train from Blapei to Blackhot City.


    "Are you all right, my brothers...?"

 506 Ism Back

    Chapter 506: I''m Back


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On December 29th, Blackhot city was filled with an atmosphere of new year. The showcases and the doorways of stores on both sides of the fascinating Avenue Bright were newly decorated with colorful lamps. Many firms and hotels were discounting so as to make a fortune in the new year. When it was the same time in previous years, the most average people in Blackhot City , who rarely came out for shopping would come here to feel the wonderful life of wealthy people in Avenue Bright.


    Perhaps only those scrupulous people could find that although Avenue Bright was still boisterous this year, much fewer members of the former 7 ruling clans of the Federation of Coal, Steel and Iron could be seen in some top entertainment venues in Avenue Bright.


    Since the beginning of this year, the 7 ruling clans of Blackhot City had gradually faded out of the vision of commoners here. Although many industries and businesses of the 7 ruling clans were still running well in Blackhot City, the number of the influential figures of the 7 ruling clans gradually decreased. According to the gossips, many people of the 7 ruling clans, especially young men had left Blackhot City and headed for other countries.


    Captain Kerlin finally bought a house of 140 square meters. This was not because that he had accumulated enough money, but because the house price in Blackhot City declined, allowing this cyclops to have his own "love nestle". However, he still didn''t have a girlfriend.


    A few days ago, Captain Kerlin plucked up his courage and expressed his true feelings to Miss Daina, only to get an answer, "Thanks, but we don''t fit each other!" This shocked Captain Kerlin very much. Because of this, he even became frustrated for quite a long time.


    When it was close to the new year, watching the room filled with empty glasses, Captain Kerlin wondered that he would be driven mad if he continued to stay here like this.


    Thus, Captain Kerlin put on his coat and stood in front of a mirror of a washroom. After washing his face with cold water in a rusty way, he casually combed his disordered mane with some water. After that, he left the apartment with red eyes.


    His apartment was not far from the Iron Thorns Fighting Club. After being depressed for a few days, Captain Kerlin planned to have a fight in the fighting club so as to recover his morale. If he was lucky, he could even rip off that Fat in the fighting club.


    These days, Captain Kerlin spent a lot on beer which made him poorer. Pinching the remaining silver coins and copper coins in the pocket of his coat, Captain Kerlin swore inside the cunning businessman who rose the price of beer by two times compared to that last year before leaving.


    Out of the apartment was the Avenue Bright. It was evening, when the whole avenue was brightly lit and filled with visitors.


    Watching those slim toyboys in fine clothes who were holding their women''s hand, Cyclops raised his firm chest as he felt his confidence once again.


    If it was indeed in a chaotic world, Daina would know that the man who could really protect her and give her a reliance and a sense of safety was only him, instead of those toyboys who only knew how to tease women. Only strong men''s punches were the best reliance for women in a chaotic world, Daina would understand it very soon.


    "Zerom even wants me to be a mercenary. Humph, didn''t he know that this was the right moment for me to shine in front of Daina? Even men would change themselves in a different environment, not to mention women. I will not give up. I believe that Daina would think it through one day for sure."


    As Captain Kerlin walked, he plucked up his courage. He confirmed his decision to pursue for Miss Daina once again.


    I have a house now. Perhaps, I can buy some fine clothes like those toyboys and have a haircut in the barber shop...


    Cyclops won many aspirations from the boisterous stores on both sides of the Avenue Bright. As a result, cyclops became spirited once again. Raising his head and chest, he strode forward in the crowd.


    "Hmm, if I want to do this, I have to make some money."


    Remembering that Fat in the Iron Thorn Fighting Club, Captain Kerlin revealed a wisp of smile as he paced up.


    As he thought about that Fat, he saw a fat in front of him. However, this fat looked more wretched.


    Therefore, Captain Kerlin sped up and patted onto the shoulder of the fat in front of him heavily.


    Barley, with some acne on his face he turned around and caught sight of Cyclops who covered a half of his puberty with a shadow. Sharwin who was walking with Barley was also frightened at the sight of Captain Kerlin.


    Numerous former graduates of the No. 7 National Middle School reached a conclusion at the cost of fresh blood¡ª¡ªunless you could beat Cyclops, you''d better show enough respect to him even if you have graduated from school. As for a person who dared to beat his superior in the troop, he would never see whether it was proper if he wanted to beat a former student.


    "Ah, Captain Kerlin, are you also here for shopping?" at the sight of Captain Kerlin, Barley, the Fat had already smiled like a dog that had just picked so many rotten meat. He almost stuck out his tongue.


    Sharwin hurriedly greeted Captain Kerlin.


    Slightly frowning his forehead, Cyclops watched this obscene fat. Barley''s exquisite woolen suit and silk shirt made him a bit uncomfortable. "Why Barley, a fat rascal who was not even qualified to be a soldier a year ago could live so well; however, I always lack money although being frugal. How unfair was the God! Toyboys always attract women''s attention, cunning and obscene guys could make money; however, I always lack both."


    "Where are you going?" Cyclops asked with a solemn look.


    "We are just taking a walk here; and planning to buy some gifts for our family members by the way." Barley replied with a smile, "We heard Captain Kerlin bought a house near here. It''s really admirable. The house here is the most expensive in Blackhot City. So many women want to marry a man who has a house here. We wish Captain Kerlin to marry a beautiful hostess for his mansion!"


    Barley was really good at observing people''s expressions. The moment his upper lip touched his lower lip had Captain Kerlin''s face relieved.


    "Hmm. Don''t be too late outside..." after glancing over Barley and Sharwin, Captain Kerlin really couldn''t find a place to lose his temper; therefore, he just strode forward.


    Seeing Captain Kerlin leaving, Barley and Sharwin exchanged glances with each other before letting out a sigh. Cyclops almost hung his bad mood on his face completely today; if it was before, seeing him standing outside the school gate in such an expression, all the passers'' legs would have became weak. Thankfully, he left. Right one minute ago, they were still talking about Miss Daina. If Cyclops heard what they talked just now a minute earlier, he might have crippled them.


    "How risky..." Sharwin said as he patted his chest.


    "Judging from his look, it seems that he had not made any progress in pursuing for Miss Daina!" Rubbing his jaw, Barley watched Captain Kerlin disappearing in the crowd.


    "No crap. Do you really want to see Miss Daina being pressed down by this beast? To be honest, I would barely accept any man Miss Daina would stay with..."


    Barley shook his head as he sniffled, "Come on, we''d better mind our own business!"


    Sharwin nodded.


    Of course, the two people were not here for shopping. Several minutes later, they appeared in a chartered room of a high-end restaurant in Avenue Bright. After about 10 minutes, First Lieutenant Clarke of the Logistics Department of the No. 19 Division of Iron Horn Corps in informal dress appeared in the same chartered room.


    After enjoying the expensive, yummy food and drinks, Barley instantly took out a purse from his pocket and pushed it in front of First Lieutenant slightly.


    Taking over the purse, First Lieutenant Clarke casually weighed it by hand before revealing a smile. He then raised his cup, "Cheers, for our cooperation in the next year, cheers!"


    "Cheers!"


    Three cups then collided with each other...


    ...


    After dinner, a waiter entered to chartered room to settle accounts for them.


    "96 silver coins and 86 copper coins in total. Which one of you will pay the bill?"


    "I will!" saying this, Barley instantly took out of a gold coin and flicked it towards him, "Keep the change!"


    "Thanks!" the waiter bowed and left.


    After chatting with Barley and Sharwin for a short while, Clarke left first. After that, Sharwin drew a cold breath in the room, "Alas, it''s too luxurious. I''ve not imagined that it could cost us about one gold coin for one dinner. I''m not even full!"


    "This is face!" Barley said in an experienced way, "If not such a high-end restaurant, Clarke might not even come at all!"


    "Why not? We''re presenting him gold coins. When you gave him the 60-odd gold coins just now, I felt really pitiful. We only made over 100 gold coins in one year; however, he took away half of them..." Sharwin sighed.


    "Don''t worry. Do not always focus on that bit of money. As long as we keep a good relationship with Clarke, we could make twice the amount tomorrow from him. This starts from establishing our mutual trust." Barley gritted his teeth, "Let''s go, go catch that waiter..."


    "What?" Sharwin became stunned.


    "Ask our money back. Damn it! That''s 3 silver coins and 14 copper coins. Mrs Anna has a bad business recently. With this amount of money, we can visit her twice."


    Sharwin and Barley then instantly rushed out of the chartered room.


    ...


    "Sir, you...you''ve told me to keep the change." the waiter stared at Barley with an amazing look.


    "There must be a mistake. I meant that you keep the 4 copper coins, but you have to give us the 3 silver coins and 10 copper coins right now. Quick, we''re in a hurry!" Barley said with a shameless look.


    Finally, the waiter put the 3 silver coins and 14 copper coins on Barley''s hands.


    ...


    After leaving the restaurant, Barley and Sharwin put on their original average clothes and packed the clothes, each of which was worth more than 2 gold coins before hurriedly rushing into a high-end garment store to return them.


    "Sir, is there any problem with my clothes?" the clerk watched Barley and Sharwin with a depressed look.


    "No problem, but we don''t want them all of a sudden. According to your regulations, as long as the clothes are well-preserved with a label in 7 days, we can return them without any reason. We bought these clothes yesterday, can we return them?" Barley explained with a serious look.


    After checking the two clothes carefully, the clerk found that they were well preserved, including their labels. Therefore, he returned it back to Barley in a frustrated way.


    ...


    After walking out of the garment store, Barley and Sharwin exchanged glances with each other before bursting out into laughter''s.


    After that, Barley put his hand onto Sharwin''s shoulder, "Brother, trust me, we will not pick up clothes from this store one day!"


    "Where else will we pick if not here?"


    "We will have our own tailor, the best ones, like those big figures of the Federation of Coal, Steel and Iron in Blackhot City..." Barley said with a hopeful look.


    Sharwin smiled pleasantly, "Of course, I believe in you!"


    "Let''s go. We will go back early today. We have to buy some Spring Festival goods to gift to the homes of Doug, Bagdad, Leit and Hista. I''m afraid that they would not have a vacation until the end of the year!"


    "It''s said that Bagda would soon become a LV 3 soldier..."


    "This guy truly is indeed progressing very fast. He has already lit 3 surging points in less than 2 years since graduation!"


    "I miss Bighead. He might be sharper!"


    "He might have been LV 6!"


    Speaking of Zhang Tie, Barley and Sharwin both revealed a special look. That''s their good brother, who made them proud of.


    ...


    Barley and Sharwin then departed and returned to their own home at a late time.


    Barley was living in a nice residential area of Blackhot City. When he came back home, it was already midnight. Nobody could be seen in the residential area anymore. Besides faint barks from afar, it was tranquil over here.


    Several days ago, a guy committed suicide by jumping off the building. He looked pretty miserable when he died. His brain had spattered over ten meters away. After a cold breeze, seeing the shadows on both sides of the roads under the reflection of the roadside lamps, Barley passed by the place where that guy had committed suicide; gradually, he felt goosebumps over his neck as he paced up.


    At this moment, a hand reached out of the darkness and fell on Barley''s shoulder.


    In a split second, Barley felt his head full of blood. Feeling soft at foot, the moment he uttered half a word, his mouth had been covered.


    "It''s me!" a voice sounded at Barley''s ears. Barley turned around and caught sight of Zhang Tie''s faint and familiar face.


    Zhang Tie was still smiling like before. Seeing Barley''s widely opened eyes, he knew that Barley had already recognized him. Therefore, he moved his hand away from Barley''s mouth, "It''s only a bit longer than 1 year. How did you become so timid?"


    "Bighead?" Barely muttered as he was shocked. At this moment, even if that guy who had jumped off the building stood in front of him, he would not be as shocked as he was seeing Zhang Tie.


    "Such a nickname has not been called for a long time!" Zhang Tie rubbed his face,


    "Is that you?''


    "Yes, it''s me..."

 507 The Current Situation

    Chapter 507: The Current Situation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The special pass that Lieutenant Colonel Labelli gave Zhang Tie was a certificate used by the military officers of the Ministry of Supervision of Iron Horn Corps in special tasks. It contained Zhang Tie''s photo, the duration of the certificate, military rank and code, except for a name. With this pass, Zhang Tie could be low-key in this city. Very few people would pay attention to him in case of troubles and embarrassment.


    After leaving Barley''s residential area and reaching an appointment with Barley about the next meeting time, Zhang Tie went to Grandma Teresa''s Orphanage.


    Walking in the familiar street of Blackhot city in the cold and silent evening, Zhang Tie had mixed moods inside.


    Over the past one year, the Blackhot city seemingly had changed a lot; however, it didn''t change actually.


    Bagdad joined the army and became a soldier of No. 39 Division. Barley and Sharwin, who had not passed the physical examination, opened a small firm in Blackhot City, the shareholders of which were the seven members of the brotherhood.


    Barley reached an agreement with First Lieutenant Clarke of Logistics Department of No. 39 Division whom he had met once before and started to do business on the treatment of junks of the Logistics Department of No.39 Division.


    Zhang Tie, who had stayed in the Logistics Department of the Iron Horn Corps for a period, knew it clearly that many items that were overdue or couldn''t meet the requirements of the army should be treated like junks in the strict military supply system of Norman Empire. Some of these junks were useless; some of them were still very useful in the folklore after processing.


    First Lieutenant Clarke had the disposal right of some wasted weapons, which should be sold in the price of scrap iron according to the regulation of Norman Empire. However, actually, they were very profitable.


    Take a standard 1.57 m-long single hand long sword used by the army of Norman Empire as an instance. If the tip of the blade was broken or a part of the blade was severely damaged, this sword would be discarded as useless. Barley''s team took over this kind of sword from Clarke. After polishing it into a 1 m-long common sword, even a short sword or a dagger, they could still make a profit. As commoners had less requirements on weapons than military, neither did they have so many standards. Their only requirement was that this weapon was available. However, the military products of Norman Empire were always very high. Even though it was thinner than before, as long as it was available, it would have a high demand.


    Barley and Sharwin were running a mini workshop. Besides some sets of grinding machines and metal processing tables, they also invited some assistants. They processed the discarded military products here. After that, they sold the new ones. Last year, excluding expenditures, they even made over 100 gold coins.


    As Barley and Sharwin have just had a meal with Clarke in Avenue Bright and bribed him, Barley estimated that they could make twice the amount of money in the next year.


    "Before leaving Blackhot City, I gave some money and resources to Barley and the other friends; they didn''t input all the money in this business; in Barley''s words, the secret of making money is not to always expand your business but to be familiar with your business. Without a solid foundation, one might suffer a loss no matter how much you spent."


    Speaking of business, Zhang Tie had to admit that the fat was born to be a businessman. "This guy is much sharper than me on doing business."


    "If I don''t come back, Barley might continue to do his business here; however, Barley had to consider whether to stay in Blackhot City or not given the current critical situation."


    Zhang Tie had already told Barley about the reason that he came back. Blackhot City was not a place to stay for long. Once the 3rd holy war broke out, Blackhot City, which was on the border of Blackson Humans Corridor, would become the frontier of the war or be destroyed in a wink. Otherwise, as long as other places were involved in the war, they would not be able to retreat from Blackhot City. The long and narrow terrain of Blackson Humans Corridor determined the fate of Blackhot City in the coming holy war.


    After leaving from here, they might have to say goodbye to Blackhot City forever. Although Barley believed in Zhang Tie but he had to negotiate with his family members solemnly about that.


    Any family would be very serious on making a decision which was involved with the fate of the whole family.


    Zhang Tie told Barley that as long as his family wanted to leave out of here, he would be responsible for their migration certificates. Barley would go for Sharwin tomorrow. As to other brothers, he could only notice them when they would come out of the barracks in a few days.


    Zhang Tie had about one month to manage things here from now to the next February.


    After coming to the orphanage of Grandma Teresa, Zhang Tie was amazed that the name-plate of the orphanage had disappeared. The orphanage was closed. Using his dark vision, Zhang Tie could see the playground of the kids was covered with packs of goods. The orphanage seemingly became a warehouse.


    Seeing the light coming from the small room of the night watchman, Zhang Tie walked forward and slightly knocked at the door of the room. After a few seconds, he received no response; therefore, he knocked once again.


    This time, he heard some noises in the room. After a few seconds, the night watchman pulled open a palm-sized iron window and showed half of his face with a vigilant look while lifting his fluorite lamp towards outside.


    "Whom are you looking for?"


    "I want to know where are Grandma Teresa and those kids?"


    "You mean that old nun who adopted a lot of orphans?"


    "Yes!"


    After thinking for a short while, the man in the room replied, "They''ve moved away two months ago."


    "Are they still in Blackhot City?"


    "Not anymore. After disposing the real estate here, that nun left with those orphans by airship!"


    "Hmm, thanks!"


    Zhang Tie turned around and left the orphanage. After hearing the night watchman''s words, Zhang Tie let out a sigh. Besides Patron School, nobody would do that.


    When Zhang Tie met Crell in Ice and Snow Wilderness, who was familiar with Grandma Teresa very much, he started to doubt that Grandma Teresa''s status in the Patron School might not be that humble. It seemed that Grandma Teresa had other missions to accomplish in Blackhot City, for instance, to seek for orphans who were suitable to the cultivation system of Patron School. Given the current situation, it was indeed like that.


    Whatever, after knowing that Grandma Teresa and those orphans left Blackhot City, Zhang Tie finally became reassured. If Grandma Teresa and those orphans had not left, Zhang Tie planned to take all of them away this time.


    After leaving the orphanage, Zhang Tie walked on the tranquil street alone. He wanted to find an inn; however, Beverly''s face appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind at once, making his heart race.


    "Perhaps, I can give her a surprise!"


    With a wink, Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he sped up.


    ...


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie appeared outside a apartment in a lane near Red Maple Avenue in the north of Blackhot City.


    Zhang Tie stood in front of the building and watched the lighted window while raising his head. He remembered that Beverly''s family lived in the 6th floor, namely the top floor. Beverly''s room was adjacent to the balcony facing this lane.


    As he was going to try a new thing, he felt excited inside. After looking around and finding nobody was near him, he instantly sprung up from the ground onto the balcony of Beverly''s apartment like an owl. In the air, he just pressed his one hand onto the windowsills on two floors before springing up once again. He then appeared in the balcony of Beverly''s apartment silently.


    It was very easy for a LV 8 powerhouse like Zhang Tie to do this.


    The balcony directly led to Beverly''s room. There was a glass door and a window between the balcony and Beverly''s room. As it was winter, the window and the glass door were covered with deep, thick curtains. The glass door was also closed. After twisting the handle of the glass door, Zhang Tie opened the door, only causing a silent sound, "click". He then flashed inside the room at once before closing the door.


    Using his dark vision, Zhang Tie could see clearly the dark-pitched room like how commoners saw things in the daytime.


    It was a small, tidy room. It was only a bit more than 10 square meters. On the clothesline pole were hanging some woman''s clothes, including two sets of nursing uniforms, some pairs of delicate underwear and sizable bras. The whole room was filled with a familiar smell of a young girl.


    As this apartment was equipped with heating units, the room was not cold. In a night skirt, Beverly was sleeping on the bed in a sexy manner...

 508 A Surprise

    Chapter 508: A Surprise


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After a year, Beverly looked more mature at 18.


    Her blonde hair was scattering over the pillow. She was breathing evenly. In sleep, her beautiful and delicate face looked pretty tranquil.


    Beverly, who was sleeping soundly didn''t know that a man was standing in her room.


    Beverly''s bed was covered with some stuffed toys. Even though in sleep, Beverly was still hugging a huge stuffed toy dog.


    Zhang Tie was attracted by the ruby on her right fourth finger, which was gifted by him.


    Zhang Tie slowly drew closer to her bed. The moment he lowered his body and wanted to kiss her, he saw one thing beside her pillow. Being shocked for a second, he silently took that thing.


    It was a small white linen bag which looked pretty ugly. Zhang Tie pinched it and realized it contained some black mulberries that he fetched from the wild. This small bag was sewed by the pieces of his shirt.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Beverly treasured them so much that she put them beside her pillow instead of using them.


    This ugly bag was a bit different than that before, as three words were sewed on it¡ª¡ªI love you!


    Beverly had not even said this to him even in the craziest period. However, she sewed those words on this bag.


    Seeing that ring and that bag, Zhang Tie understood it right away. His eyes slightly turned wet.


    He slightly put that bag in the original place and covered quilt for Beverly. After that, he silently moved back to the wall. He then sat on a chair and watched her sleeping soundly like watching a beautiful painting.


    ...


    On the second morning, a shrill drifted from Beverly''s room.


    "Bennie, what''s wrong?" Beverly''s mom asked outside her room.


    After being silent for two seconds, Beverly replied, " Nothing, mom. A big cockroach drilled in from the balcony last night!"


    "Well, I''m making breakfast. What do you want to eat?"


    "Mom, I don''t feel good with my stomach; I want to sleep a bit longer. I won''t eat breakfast!"


    "Whatever, your hospital is in a vacation. Take a good rest at home!"


    "Hmm!"


    The talk between mom and daughter then came to an end.


    ...


    Seeing Beverly''s amazing look and hearing the talk between her and her mom, Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    Beverly sprung up from the bed. When Zhang Tie thought that she would throw herself into his embrace, his smile froze as Beverly rushed into the washroom.


    "What a woman!" Zhang Tie smiled in a speechless way...


    Three minutes later, after washing her face and tying up her hair, Beverly rushed out of the washroom in a night skirt. Supporting Zhang Tie''s face with hands, she watched Zhang Tie with gleaming eyes. Without saying anything, she immediately lowered her body and bit Zhang Tie''s neck ferociously.


    "Ouch..." Zhang Tie uttered a muffled voice.


    After lingering for a short while, they smiled at each other. Although they had not seen each other for over a year, after such a kiss, they felt having separated only for a few days. Zhang Tie didn''t change, neither did Beverly.


    "When did you come back?"


    "I came back from Blapei to Blackhot City by train last night!"


    "How did you come back? You''re still wanted by the secret police!" Beverly said in a low voice while supporting on Zhang Tie''s shoulder in case her mom heard it.


    "Never mind. In the eyes of secret police, I''m invisible. As long as I don''t run to the avenue and exclaim that I''m Zhang Tie who''s wanted by the secret police, nobody will find me trouble..."


    "Why are you back then?"


    "To take you out of Blackhot City!"


    "What? But why?"


    "Because this is going to be a dangerous place very soon!"


    "Is it because of war?"


    "It''s a long story..."


    ...


    Zhang Tie stayed in Beverly''s room for an entire morning. And when Beverly''s mom went out to buy vegetables for lunch, Zhang Tie silently left Beverly''s apartment.


    After that, Zhang Tie called a carriage in the street outside the building and headed for Black Gold Hotel, the most one of its kind in Blackhot City. Using the special pass given by Lieutenant Colonel, he opened the most luxurious room which required 15 gold coins a day and waited there for the message.


    Zhang Tie was not used to be that luxurious. However, this time, he had to be luxurious. Because in the eyes of the most commoners, the words of a person who could afford 15 gold coins a night was more authoritative than a person who could only afford 1.5 silver coins a night. Especially when people made major decisions, it was very important to guide and encourage them to make a decision by one''s energy and Qi field.


    This was not the battle field where things could be solved by fists. If it could be solved by fists, it would be much easier; however, if he wanted to persuade others, especially the family members of his friends, he needed high skills.


    When Zhang Tie arrived at the Black Gold Hotel, Barley and Sharwin had already started to collect people, one family after another according to the name list given by Zhang Tie. Besides the family members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood, the name list also contained Zhang Tie''s other friends in Blackhot City like Blues, Potter and those people of the God''s Will Association.


    Zhang Tie just let Barley tell them that he wanted to see them. As he was still being wanted by the secret police, those who didn''t know the truth had to endanger a high risk if they came for him.


    If those people dared to see him at such a high risk, Zhang Tie would tell them about the truth and let them make a choice. If they agreed to leave, Zhang Tie would give them a favor and take them away. It was a payment to the friendship and loyalty.


    Of course, if those people didn''t come, he would have no complaints about that. In this world, we cannot force people to change their mind. In Chinese opinion, if two people were doomed to not stay with each other, they could only separate from each other.


    Beverly was also busy. Zhang Tie told her to find other girls of Rose Association. He wanted to see how many of those girls would like to see him at this moment. If they would like to come, Zhang Tie would indeed fulfill his responsibility as a "Guardian Knight"; otherwise, what they did before was just like a crazy wet dream.


    After the CSIF (Coal, Steel and Iron Federation) faded away from commoners'' vision, very few people could afford such a high-end consumption in Black Gold Hotel. Even in the prime period when the CSIF ruled this city, very less people afforded 10,000 gold coins a night in Black Gold Hotel like Zhang Tie.


    Because of this, Zhang Tie was instantly served as the god of wealth. As long as Zhang Tie had a requirement, a great number of people would swarm up at once.


    ...


    In the big steaming bath pool which was over 200 square meters, after waving his hand to tell some waiters to leave, Zhang Tie took off his bathrobe and slid into the warm and comfortable pool. He was thinking about a very tricky thing in a completely quiet and relaxed state.


    "What about Miss Daina?"


    "Who am I? How would I make Miss Daina believe in my words and leave Blackhot City together with me? In the final analysis, I''m just an average student of her. She might have already forgotten about my name. I''m not qualified to influence her choice on such an important thing."


    Zhang Tie thought about this question for one hour in the bath pool. He even thought about abducting her out of there. Finally, he realized that it wouldn''t work.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie came out of the bath pool in bathrobe, over 30 waiters and female servants were waiting for him in the dressing room with his outfits. They were waiting for Zhang Tie''s choice. All of the outfits were the top-class ones in Blackhot City...

 509 A Visit to the Headquarters of the No. 39 Division

    Chapter 509: A Visit to the Headquarters of the No. 39 Division


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After staying in Black Gold Hotel, on the following afternoon Zhang Tie left the deluxe presidential suite in wholly new clothes and sat in a black deluxe car which was arranged by the hotel. He then came to the Headquarters of the No. 39 Division of Blackhot City.


    The migration certificates of Norman Empire were managed by the military, which must be issued by the local army. Therefore, he could not take away his friends and his friends'' family members from Blackhot City without the consent of No. 39 Division.


    Zhang Tie estimated that he would take away 8-10 people this time, some of them were even serving the No. 39 Division, which made it more difficult. Therefore, he decided to visit Colonel Leibniz, the supreme officer of the No. 39 Division.


    Colonel Leibniz was also the supreme military officer of Norman Empire in Blackhot City. As long as he nodded, everything could be managed in Blackhot City. Although it was tricky, Zhang Tie believed that it would not be difficult than how those big clans silently transferred their whole clans. To the final analysis, almost all the problems in this world could be managed by money. As long as you had money, you could almost drive everything.


    "I would give the same thing that those clans of CSIF had promised to Leibniz and the No. 39 Division." Zhang Tie was not brave enough to say this half a year ago; however, at this moment, even though he didn''t use his influence in Ice and Snow Wilderness, he was still confident about making money by his all-purpose medicament.


    After leaving Hidden Dragon Island for some months, Zhang Tie estimated that he had already made at least 1.2 million gold coins through the cooperation of Long Wind Business Group as the all-purpose medicament became gradually improved and the completion of Jinwu Castle. Besides, he also made hundreds of thousands of gold coins through his elder brother''s channels. Zhang Tie could never imagine such an amount of money one year ago. No matter where he put it, he could do a lot of things with such an amount of money.


    The Iron Blood Camp of the No. 39 Division had been dispatched to other places for special training. Such an elite troop would rarely stay in the camp for too long. The Scouts Camp was not in Blackhot City at this moment, either. Having no chance to see those brothers and friends in Iron Blood Camp and Scouts Camp, Zhang Tie felt a bit regretful.


    After coming out of the Black Gold Hotel, Zhang Tie was thinking about Miss Daina on the way. Until then did he realize that he rarely know her.


    When he was a student, he just fell in love with her secretly like an idiot. After school each day, he would hide behind the bus station to enjoy her beautiful back. Besides knowing her name, her vocation as a biology teacher of ''No. 7 National Male Middle School'' in Blackhot City and from where she would get on the bus after school, Zhang Tie knew nothing more about her.


    What a tragedy!


    When Zhang Tie was waving his head in the car for the former tragedy, he arrived at the headquarters of the No. 39 Division. His car was stopped by the guard outside the headquarters.


    The driver in deep blue uniform wearing a sea-captain''s hat looked around Zhang Tie, "Your excellency, you need to present your certificate!"


    Zhang Tie took out his special pass of Iron Horn Corps and passed it to the guard. After glancing at it, the guardian gave it back to Zhang Tie with two hands; additionally, he gave a salute, allowing Zhang Tie to enter the yard of the headquarters.


    After parking the car, the driver quickly got off the car and helped Zhang Tie opened the door. After that, Zhang Tie stepped his shiny black shoes out of the car.


    Watching this place, Zhang Tie recalled when he came here last time. He really felt like having been here for three decades.


    "Wait for me here!"


    "As you wish!"


    Zhang Tie got off the car and walked towards the headquarters. He still remembered the location of Colonel Leibniz''s office. On the way there, all the military officers and soldiers who passed by Zhang Tie glanced at him for a few seconds silently as they muttered, "Is this a big figure from Nordingburg?"


    At this time, after putting on a set of outfit that could not be afforded by his dad even after 10 years of work, Zhang Tie looked very excellent from both inside to outside. The outstanding personality that Zhang Tie formed on the battle field was utterly different from those toyboys who only knew how to coax women. If those toyboys were brass, Zhang Tie was gold.


    When he entered the building, he encountered another man coming out.


    After seeing each other, they were both shocked.


    "First Lieutenant Vessie, long time no see!" Zhang Tie greeted him with a smile. Although it was only a bit longer than one year, this second lieutenant adviser of Leibniz had one more star on his rank. If such a low-rank military officer who was far away from the frontier wanted to be promoted, he had to gain the appreciation from his superior. Given it, first lieutenant Vessie must have gained the appreciation of Colonel Leibniz.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Vessie almost could not connect this Zhang Tie with the boy who was escorted into the headquarters from the prison of Blackhot City. After Zhang Tie greeted him, the First Lieutenant Vessie changed his face at once.


    "Zhang...you''re back?" realizing the sensitiveness of Zhang Tie''s status, First Lieutenant Vessie swallowed back Zhang Tie''s name with a dumbfounded look.


    "I came back a couple of days ago. I''ve already met those brothers of the Ministry of Supervision in Blapei, there''s no problem!" Zhang Tie briefed, "Is Colonel Leibniz inside?"


    "Colonel?"


    "Yes, I need his help. If he''s not there, can you help me reserve it?" Zhang Tie didn''t think that he could see the supreme military officer of Blackhot City the moment he came here. Influential figures like Leibniz could not be easily seen in Blackhot City without reservation. Whereas, Zhang Tie also guessed that the Ministry of Supervision of the Corps had already told Colonel Leibniz about his arrival. Therefore, Colonel Leibniz should not be too surprised about his arrival.


    "What a coincidence! Colonel has just come back after an inspection of the troop. If you come here half an hour later, I''m afraid that the Colonel would have left. Follow me, I will notice it for you!" Knowing that Zhang Tie was special, First Lieutenant Vessie directly led Zhang Tie into the building of the headquarters and towards the office of Colonel Leibniz.


    "How did you do in Jinyun Country in the past year?" First Lieutenant Vessie asked out of curiosity on the way.


    "Hmm, not bad. After arriving at the rewarded prefecture of Huaiyuan Palace, I was sent to the Hidden Dragon Island and stayed there for a period!" Zhang Tie revealed some information about his experience in Huaiyuan Palace.


    If First Lieutenant Vessie understood the clan systems of these big clans, he should know the position of Hidden Dragon Island in Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Zhang Tie knew it clearly that he had to display his energy to a certain degree, instead of always being low-key, even though he just disguised as a powerful one with the banner of Huaiyuan Palace in case of being scorned by others. This would also be helpful to what he was going to do.


    Humans were all realistic animals. If he was a dead dog, nobody would like to glance at him or kick him. Additionally, most of people would be pleasant to help a guy who might become the pillar of Huaiyuan Palace instead of a penniless guy.


    As Zhang Tie had expected, after hearing the words "rewarded prefecture", "Huaiyuan Palace" and "Hidden Dragon Island", First Lieutenant Vessie revealed a bigger smile. In the following chat, he gradually improved the relationship between him and Zhang Tie after praising Zhang Tie''s military exploits in Blackhot city.


    After coming to a quiet reception room outside the office area of Colonel Leibniz, First Lieutenant Vessie asked Zhang Tie to take a rest on the sofa as Colonel Leibniz was holding a meeting. He then waited in the office area to notice Colonel Leibniz after meeting.


    First Lieutenant Vessie was very enthusiastic.


    Zhang Tie nodded, "Fine, you go first. I will wait here!"


    After saying sorry to Zhang Tie, Vessie left.


    There was only one snowwhite female secretary with the rank of first lieutenant in the military uniform typing words in the room. She was very beautiful in short black hair. Zhang Tie was rightly facing that female secretary.


    After exchanging glances with that female secretary, Zhang Tie smiled, so did the female. After that, she changed her sitting posture and started to type words seriously once again...

 510 A Strategic Material

    Chapter 510: A Strategic Material


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    The elegant female first lieutenant sat straight and continued typing words. However, Zhang Tie had already sensed her restless aura.


    In Donder''s words, their invisible life magnetic fields were colliding with each other. The so-called ''love at first sight'' was actually due to the dialogue between two life magnetic fields.


    Zhang Tie liked such a woman, who was like a Faerie Dragon T9 roadster that was burning alcohol. She could be easily lit without a warm-up. As long as it was started up, it could soon bring its driver a perfect experience and a strong sense of manipulation, as if the car and the driver were combined in one.


    Sitting on the sofa, Zhang Tie appreciated the woman carefully while she typed words.


    One minute passed, and after feeling Zhang Tie''s appreciative look the female first lieutenant raised her head once again and revealed a smile towards Zhang Tie which seemed to imply something that could not be easily identified. Her look even contained encouragement.


    Zhang Tie then strode forward and stopped in front of her. After that, he put it straightforwardly, "Beautiful First Lieutenant, are you married?"


    The female first Lieutenant became stunned for a short while as she blinked her eyes towards Zhang Tie in a cute way. It seemed that she had not imagined that Zhang Tie would ask this question, "Not yet!"


    Zhang Tie smiled as he picked up a pen from her desk and wrote down his room number in Black Gold Hotel on a piece of white paper. After that, he moved back to his seat.


    The female first lieutenant revealed an enchanting smile towards Zhang Tie. After that, she put that piece of paper into her drawer.


    ...


    First Lieutenant came back in a few minutes.


    "I''m sorry to make you wait so long. The Colonel says I can take you to his office!" First Lieutenant Vessie told Zhang Tie.


    "No problem, can we leave now?"


    "Yes, please follow me!"


    ...


    It had been more than one year since Zhang Tie had seen Colonel Leibniz again in his office. Compared to one year ago, Colonel Leibniz''s appearance remained unchanged.


    Colonel Leibniz watched Zhang Tie while an amazed look flashed in his eyes. He could still remember how Zhang Tie looked one year ago. Comparing it to Zhang Tie''s current image, Leibniz became more admiring of Huaiyuan Palace. In his eyes, only Huaiyuan Palace could make Zhang Tie look so noble after just one year. Huaiyuan Palace had displayed its rich clan background through Zhang Tie once again.


    Perhaps Zhang Tie was a descendant of a big figure in Huaiyuan Palace. Therefore, Huaiyuan Palace spent so much effort in taking care of him. After such a whim flashed across his mind, Colonel Leibniz smiled inside.


    "Please take a seat, First Lieutenant Zhang Tie!" Colonel Leibniz summoned Zhang Tie to sit on the opposite side of his desk. "It''s my great pleasure to see you again. I have to say, you always bring me some surprise each time I see you!"


    "Hopefully, I could also satisfy you this time, colonel!" Zhang Tie smiled as he replied with a pun in a very generous way.


    "I already know your purpose for coming here from the Ministry of Supervision of the Corps. Privately, I feel very proud to be your friend. However, from another perspective your request is very tricky!"


    "I know. I''m here to have a good talk about it with you. We can manage this in a moderate manner!"


    Colonel Leibniz then nodded. Silently he took out a document from the desk and passed it to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie stood up to take it over. At the sight of the Class-C Confidentiality mark on the cover, Zhang Tie became slightly stunned as he glanced at Colonel Leibniz.


    "No problem!"


    Zhang Tie flipped open the document, the contents of which made him slightly dumbfounded. It was a military analysis report of Norman Empire, the topic of which was his all-purpose medicament.


    Zhang Tie skimmed the full text. Finally, his eyes focused on the end of the report, which read, "From today on, all-purpose medicament will become the LV 1 strategic material of the military of Norman Empire. Besides being delivered by the Logistics General Assembly Department of Norman Empire, each corps can purchase all-purpose medicament themselves for storage according to their demands!"


    Zhang Tie then raised his head and looked at Colonel Leibniz, who was also staring at him with gleaming eyes. After that, Colonel Leibniz took out a vial of all-purpose medicament which was marked as Manjusaka from his drawer.


    "This is the all-purpose medicament pushed by Huaiyuan Palace. The military of the Norman Empire received 100,000 vials of all-purpose medicament because of the relationship between them and Huaiyuan Palace. After a comprehensive appraisal, the military of Norman Empire ranked this medicament as a Class-A strategic material. Before this, the military of Norman Empire only had one strategic material¡ª¡ªalchemist''s bomb. Now, they have one more strategic material!"


    Zhang Tie was shocked inside, ''Does this mean that the news that I can make all-purpose medicament has been spread in the public? That''s impossible. After the murder, Huaiyuan Palace had adopted many means to cover the fact that I am the inventor of all-purpose medicament. The Long Wind Business Group even made some fake production bases of all-purpose medicament. Therefore, only a few people could know that I''m the very producer of all-purpose medicament.''


    Although he was shocked inside, Zhang Tie''s expression remained unchanged.


    Colonel Leibniz let out a sigh as he looked at that vial of all-purpose medicament in his hand like gazing at his mistress. At the same time, he stroked it slightly. "This kind of medicament really has a wide range of purposes. It could almost be applied in all aspects except for killing people. It can respond to many emergencies in place of most other inferior medicament and grants soldiers with a new life by curing wounds and diseases, improving their fighting ability and recovering ability, and also greatly simplify the overall logistics supply system of troops at critical moments. According to my rough estimation of the Norman Empire military, if this medicament could be used among troops, as long as each soldier could have one, the fighting strength of the whole troop could increase by at least 40%. The survival rate of soldiers in the wild could rise by 61%. Casualties in war could reduce by 55%. Comprehensive logistics expenditure on troops could reduce by 31%. Field hospital expenses could decrease by half. What''s more, this kind of medicament could be made with mass production. Do you know what this means?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t speak as he knew that Colonel Leibniz didn''t really expect an answer. Zhang Tie was just a bit shocked. He knew the great effects of his all-purpose medicament. However, he had never imagined that it could be widely accepted in the army.


    "All-purpose medicament helps average soldiers most. If each soldier of the corps could be given one, the overall fighting strength of Iron Horn Corps would increase by one whole level, upgrading it from a black iron corps to a bronze corps!"


    "This item is not bad..." Zhang Tie replied meticulously in case he revealed some information.


    Colonel Leibniz let out a sigh, "It''s more than that, this item is marvellous and admirable. Besides its many applications in battle fields, it''s also very effective in keeping women young. Additionally, it could make men more robust in bed. Moreover, it could cure many diseases without any side effects. Therefore, the military of Norman Empire spent a lot buying 100,000 vials of all-purpose medicament from Huaiyuan Palace. However, after it was shared by some bigwigs and noblewomen in the capital of Norman Empire and Nordinburg, the troops on the frontlines could only receive a small portion of the order. According to regulations, Iron Horn Corps should have gained 5000 vials in the first batch. But actually, they only got a little more than 2000 vials. Finally, only 70 vials were dispatched to me under the supervision of the military affairs chancellor. If not for that, these vials would have long been cleared in the capital. None of them could flow in Nordinburg, not to mention Iron Horn Corps and Division No. 39!"


    "You mean..."


    Colonel Leibniz looked at Zhang Tie with a serious look. "First Lieutenant Zhang Tie, I don''t want to bring you trouble, but I have to do something for the benefit of Division No. 39. Now that you''re from Huaiyuan Palace, I believe you can get hold of such things from Huaiyuan Palace much easier than us. Therefore, in one word, I know you want to take people away from Blackhot City, but you have to pay 30 vials of all-purpose medicament for one migration certificate. As long as you can bring me all-purpose medicament, I don''t care how many people you take away, even if you take the whole population of Blackhot City. As to your friends who have joined the army, as long as they want to go, I will let them go. How about that?"


    Zhang Tie blinked his eyes as he asked in a weird tone, "30 vials of all-purpose medicament for one person?"


    Colonel Leibniz twisted his body on the chair, embarrassed. "Hmm, I know...it''s a bit too much. If that''s not possible, how about 25 vials per person?"


    "25 vials?" Zhang Tie pretended to consider it on purpose. After thinking for a while, he slowly nodded.


    Colonel Leibniz became very excited. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie wouldn''t even bargain over the price. He moved in front of Zhang Tie from behind the desk before putting his big hands onto Zhang Tie''s shoulders. "First Lieutenant Zhang Tie, you''re truly a man of Division No. 39. I''ve not backed the wrong horse!"


    ...


    After leaving No. 39 Division''s headquarters, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh. He had not imagined that he could make such a difficult thing so easily. What was more unexpected was that his all-purpose medicament aroused such great attention.


    After glancing at his watch, Zhang Tie told the driver to drive the car to the rendezvous between him and Barley¡ª¡ªclose to the gate of the No. 7 National Male Middle School.


    Zhang Tie arrived there almost 15 minutes in advance. However, he had not expected Barley and Sharwin to be standing there already. Therefore, Zhang Tie had the driver park on their side.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s familiar face through the window, Sharwin became very thrilled. The moment Zhang Tie opened the door, Sharwin had already come inside. Closely after that, he punched Zhang Tie''s chest fiercely. Zhang Tie returned the punch. They then burst out in laughter in unison. Barley then also came in.


    The car started once again while the separator between the front and back seats rose automatically. After that, the space for the back seats was isolated.


    ...


    "How''s going?" Zhang Tie asked them.


    "I have no problems!" Sharwin became excited. "But five people in my family will leave. Is there a problem with the migration certificates?"


    "No problem, has your mom agreed to leave?"


    "Since Sharwin started to make money, he became the boss of the family!" Barley added. "I told Sharwin not to tell his asshole stepfather about that in case our plan was exposed. We will just take him when we leave!"


    Zhang Tie nodded. ''Barley is indeed considerable,'' he thought to himself. "What about you?" Zhang Tie asked Barley.


    Barley scratched is head slightly in an embarrassed manner, "I want to do business outside. However, my dad said he wanted to see you before making his decision!"


    Zhang Tie understood at once, ''Barley''s dad wants to see whether I am believable and have the ability and energy to do that.''


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about it. Compared to the fate and destiny of his brother''s family, this was nothing serious. If they truly needed his help, Zhang Tie would even carry their family members to Black Gold Hotel one after another. "I''m living in the Presidential Suite room number 6 of Black Gold Hotel. When does your father have time? I will invite him to eat in Black Gold Hotel. Set up a time by yourself, I will have a car pick you up!"


    Barley also understood Zhang Tie''s words, which made Barley feel warm inside. ''That''s my brother.''


    After that, Barley told Zhang Tie what he''d experienced in finding the God Bless Association.


    Some of the God Bless Association had not passed the physical examination of Norman Empire like Barley and Sharwin. Therefore, after graduation they started to work hard. However, as Zhang Tie had predicted, among the remaining members of God Bless Association, except for Potter, all the others changed their attitudes instantly the moment they heard about Zhang Tie in case being involved with him brought trouble. Someone had even clarified the distance between them and Zhang Tie by swearing Zhang Tie was a liar in front of Barley.


    Hearing this, Zhang Tie sighed inside. He didn''t blame them as they were all small figures and commoners. Because of the great pressures of life, they chose to keep themselves away from trouble. Few commoners knew why he''d left Blackhot City. Additionally, he appreciated them for not immediately revealing him to the secret police of Norman Empire.


    After graduation, many people had realized that his disguise as a damn father underground was just a joke. Few people would believe in it now.


    This was the reality!


    "How''s Potter?"


    "He''s still digging the mines. Before digging, he would always kneel down and pray. At the beginning, he was mocked by many people in the mines. Now, they have become used to it. After he was told that you''re coming back, Potter was very happy. He wished to see you. However, as his vacation starts tomorrow he could not leave the mining area today!"


    Thinking of that emaciated youth, Zhang Tie had mixed feelings. "Who else is in Potter''s family?"


    "No one else. He was always living with his relative''s family and was poorly treated. After work, he mailed some money to the relative a few times and didn''t return there anymore. He lives in the mining area and has a meal with us occasionally!"


    "What about Bagdad and the other people?"


    "Their vacation starts January 2nd. Many people of God Bless Association are also in troops, who could be hardly contacted!"


    ...


    After making a round of the Blackhot City in the car and talking with Zhang Tie for a while, Barley and Sharwin got off the car in a side street.


    After that, Zhang Tie had the driver drive to the Golden Roc Bank of Blackhot City, where he had the personnel in Golden Roc Bank send a message to his elder brother written in the secret language that could only be understood by Zhang Tie and his elder brother.


    When Zhang Tie left Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Yang had already become a VIP guest of Golden Roc Bank. Therefore, Zhang Tie could contact Zhang Yang in an easier and safer way.


    After finishing these things it was already dark. Therefore, Zhang Tie left Golden Roc Bank and returned to the Black Gold Hotel.


    The moment he opened the door of his presidential suite, Zhang Tie heard the cheers of Beverly in the huge, luxurious bath pool. When he left Beverly''s home this morning, Zhang Tie had already told her to come here and wait for him.


    Zhang Tie handed a slip of paper to the steward of his presidential suite, which contained the name and the work place of Miss Daina.


    "Find the best private detective in Blackhot City and figure out all of their information for me. be careful not to influence and disturb their personal life. After that, prepare a romantic candlelit supper for me."


    After delivering his orders, Zhang Tie started to undo his tie as he walked towards the bath pool.


    The steward waved his hand, ordering all the others servants to leave the room...

 511 Gifts

    Chapter 511: Gifts


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On December 31st, the last day of the 890th year of Black Iron Calendar, the festive atmosphere in Blackhot City reached its climax. On this day, many businessmen earned most in the year around. After this day, many stores would close their doors and take rest for three days at the beginning of the near year. Therefore, numerous people had to go out for a big purchase on that day even though they rarely did shopping before.


    For many people, on this day family members would unite with each other. Zhang Tie was also free today. Many things had to wait until next year to be dealt with. Therefore, Zhang Tie spent today with Beverly.


    Barley''s dad had not determined to leave Blackhot City yet. However, Zhang Tie had to persuade Beverly''s parents today. Beverly had already mentioned it to her parents yesterday. Her parents were also worried about leaving Blackhot City for a strange yet remote place.


    Beverly''s mom was a typical housewife while her dad was an accountant. If her parents didn''t want to leave, Beverly wouldn''t go with Zhang Tie either.


    Beverly was very happy today. Since this morning, she had been staying with Zhang Tie. After breakfast in the room of the hotel, Zhang Tie took her out of the hotel and selected gifts for her and her parents. After that, Zhang Tie paid an official visit to Beverly''s home with these gifts and made an official communication with her parents.


    After arriving at the Avenue Bright by the very car of Black Gold Hotel, the two people had started to select items there.


    This day was the most boisterous day of the year in Avenue Bright for sure. The population of the visitors in the avenue surged by several times than usual.


    As he didn''t know what Beverly''s parents liked and what was the most appropriate gift for them, Zhang Tie let Beverly choose the proper gifts for her parents while he was only responsible for the payment. Zhang Tie enjoyed paying for his own woman. However, sending gifts was a knowledge and not only a matter of money. As it was his first time to visit her parents, the gifts should neither be too casual nor too expensive; otherwise, it would lack sincerity or become too domineering. Beverly also knew it. Therefore, she didn''t choose expensive ones like jewelry.


    After wandering for awhile, Zhang Tie bought a very expensive pen for Beverly''s dad which was worth about 4 gold coins and a female mink coat which was worth a bit more than 3 gold coins.


    After that, they returned to the car. Beverly was so happy that she wanted Zhang Tie to go home together with her.


    "You''ve chosen your parents'' gifts, but what about yours?" Zhang Tie kissed Beverly''s face.


    "Ah? I also have a gift?"


    "Of course!"


    "What is it?"


    "I will not tell you. You will know about it after a short while!" after saying that, Zhang Tie told the driver to drive to Golden Roc Bank.


    In a VIP hall that especially served Chinese, a director received Zhang Tie and Beverly.


    "Mr. Zhang. This is the reply of your message yesterday. Please write you name on the receipt!" the director directly handed a sealed letter to Zhang Tie politely at the sight of him.


    Seeing Zhang Tie opening it, the director even hurriedly moved two steps back, "Do you need a single room?"


    "No need!" Zhang Tie smiled as he skimmed the message on the letter. This letter was also written in secret words by his elder brother. Although the secret words were not senior, commoners could not easily understand them.


    The message was¡ª¡ª30000 big thorny cucumber has been sent out, which will arrive at K city in 7 days and wait there for your order.


    Its meaning was as follows: A huge airship had already set out from Huaiyuan Prefecture, which carried 30,000 vials of all-purpose medicament according to your order. This airship will arrive at Kalur City in 7 days and wait for your order over there.


    After reading this letter, Zhang Tie let out a sigh.


    "Mr. Zhang Tie, do you have another other requirements?" the director of Golden Roc Bank asked very politely.


    "Hmm, I want to make a lifetime annuity deposit financing plan for this young lady!" Zhang Tie told the director with a smile after glancing at Beverly on his side.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Beverly uttered a voice ''Argh'' as she looked at Zhang Tie with an amazed look.


    "Okay, fine, wait a second please, I will arrange a special personnel to deal with it for you!" the director left politely after glancing at Beverly.


    Zhang Tie then patted Beverly''s hand, "Don''t be so surprised, that''s my new year gift for you!"


    "This...this would cost you too much!" Beverly became hesitated, "You''d better not do that. Having you back was my gift already. I''ve already been satisfied with the candlelight supper last night. No need to do that for me. I heard only rich people and big clans in Blackhot City could make annuity deposit financing plan...I don''t need them..."


    Saying this, Beverly stood up from the sofa and wanted to pull Zhang Tie away. With a slight draw, Zhang Tie forced her to sit back. He then pulled the hand with ruby in front of him and kissed it. Closely after that, he watched Beverly with a serious look, "I''ve told you that as long as I can do it, I will definitely try my best to give you more!"


    "But...it''s really unnecessary!"


    "No, it''s necessary; Bennie, it''s a chaotic world. It would be worse in the future. No one knows what will happen tomorrow. If I die or may not be by your side, I will not be able to protect you and look after you anymore. I hope you can live a happy life wherever you go. I hope you can live in a dignified and guaranteed way. I hope you don''t have to worry about money. In many people''s eyes, this might be very vulgar; however, this is indeed the best gift that I want to give to you!"


    Beverly watched Zhang Tie while her beautiful eyes were filled with tears at once. That was her favorite men, who was frank, enthusiastic, straightforward and never hypocritical. No matter what, he could always give her the best thing; even at the risk of his life, he would have pushed her away without any hesitation.


    "Don''t cry anymore. Give me a smile, that would bring me a sense of achievement!" Zhang Tie wiped off her tears using his finger before making a joke, "What if I give you a smile?"


    Saying that, Zhang Tie rolled his eyes and blew his cheeks towards Beverly, making her laugh at once.


    Seeing someone entering the room, Beverly hurriedly lowered her head while wiping off her tears.


    ...


    "Hello, sir, I''m the financial commissioner of Golden Roc Bank. It''s my great pleasure to serve you. I was told that you need us to make a lifetime annuity deposit financing plan for this young lady?"


    "Yes!"


    "Can you tell me about your requests and the details about this young lady. I will make a proper plan for her. You can choose a proper deposit financing plan according to my suggestions!"


    "I want to know about the average per capita income of cities in Eastern Continent."


    "Eastern Continent is very prosperous. It could not be matched by Blackson Humans Corridor. Based on our statistics, the average per capita annual income of a commoner in Blackhot City is 10 gold coins and 76 silver coins, the per capita annual income of people in some developed countries of Blackson Humans Corridor can reach above 30 gold coins. However, in Eastern Continent, residents in most of cities could earn more than 40 gold coins a year. Amazingly, residents in some very developed and prosperous regions could earn more than 200 gold coins! Of course, the figure would decline in some relatively under-developed regions and relatively enclosed rural areas."


    "Okay, please calculate how much do I need to deposit in your bank if I want to get 2000 gold coins a year from you?"


    "Is it a lifetime annuity?"


    "Yup!"


    "Will you deposit it at once or by installment?"


    "At once!"


    "Will it take effect right now or in the future?"


    "Tomorrow. It''d better take effect from January 1st of the 891st year of Black Iron Calendar!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the financing commissioner started to calculate rapidly on a piece of paper. Meanwhile, he looked up data from the forms of a document and gave Zhang Tie an answer very soon.


    "If so, you need to pay 34,482 gold coins for this lifetime annuity financing plan. From tomorrow, this young lady could get 500 gold coins from each branch of Golden Roc Bank at the first day of each season. We will open a special annuity account for this young lady. All of her annuity would be transferred in this special account. The interest of the capital in this account will be calculated according to current deposit. The annuity of 34,482 gold coins could be inherited by one or several people appointed by this young lady. She could also withdraw all of them when this lifetime annuity plan is on due!"


    After hearing his explanation, Zhang Tie directly drew out of 4 gold checks from the gold check folder in his coat, each of them was worth 10,000 gold coins, "I will choose this plan with 40,000 gold coins!"


    "If you input 40,000 gold coins at once, this young lady will gain 2320 gold coins a year, 580 gold coins per season."


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    After that, he dealt with the procedures for Beverly. The financial commissioner of Golden Roc Bank brought an inkpad. After checking Beverly''s palm, he asked Beverly to press her fingers onto it.


    "Each person''s ten fingerprints are distinctive. After collecting this young lady''s fingerprints, we will extract the features of her fingerprints and convert them into digital code. This will be her exclusive identification code in our bank. We will preserve this code in the large-scale steaming computer data center of the headquarters of Golden Roc Bank. After that, this young lady could easily withdraw her annuity through her hands and the annuity withdrawal code that she had set!"


    After making the model for her fingerprints, the financing commissioner of Golden Roc Bank directly passed out that model through a small window on the side door of the room. Someone took it away. After that, the financing commissioner brought a metal box and taught Zhang Tie and Beverly how to set code. He then left. After Beverly set the code, someone took the metal box away. After that, the financing commissioner reappeared with a document and asked Beverly to sign on it. Here it came to an end.


    The moment this process was finished, Zhang Tie had a strong sense of satisfaction and happiness. Like how he felt when he conquered Beverly on bed, such a feeling made Zhang Tie puzzled. He didn''t know why he was so satisfied with such a pure payment. Until he held Beverly''s hand while walking out of the gate of Golden Roc Bank and watching her happy look did he realize it right away.


    ¡ª¡ªWhether on bed or not, whether to conquer or pay, men actually wanted to tell women that they were capable of love. A man who was able to love a woman was happy and satisfied; perhaps, men were trying to do the same thing in their whole life.


    After leaving Golden Roc Bank, Zhang Tie and Beverly went to her home and met her parents.


    Beverly''s parents were commoners in Blackhot City. They had sophisticated moods for their daughter bringing home such a big boy. Since last year, they had heard many stories about Zhang Tie from their daughter. However, it was the first time for them to see Zhang Tie.


    Beverly''s mom was gentle after knowing her daughter''s love affair; however, her dad became solemn at the sight of Zhang Tie as if he had saw a thief who was stealing a treasure from his house...


    ...

 512 A Sacred Contrac

    Chapter 512: A Sacred Contract


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    Perhaps every father feels uncomfortable when they see their daughter coming back home with a man. Zhang Tie could feel that Beverly''s father disliked him. Although he controlled himself, he finally couldn''t stand it after supper.


    After supper, Beverly and her mom cleaned the bowls and plates in the kitchen, leaving Zhang Tie and her dad in the parlor. Before entering the kitchen, Beverly even glanced at Zhang Tie with a worried look. Zhang Tie replied to her with a reassuring smile.


    "Bennie always talks about you at home. I know she likes you!" Beverly''s dad sized up Zhang Tie''s expensive costume with a fastidious and complex gaze through a pair of thick, crystal glasses, like he was reviewing a nice balance sheet. As accountants were always censorious, they usually paid more attention to the internal key logical connections instead of the surface. "I know how rich men live. I might not be able to afford your clothes for many years. I also know the attitudes of those rich people toward women. You only need to answer me this: Will marry my daughter in the future?"


    Soon after this question came a clanging sound from the kitchen. A metal plate fell on the ground.


    Beverly''s house was less than 100 square meters, only three bedrooms with one parlor. Beverly''s father didn''t lower his voice. He didn''t ask this question at the table in front of Beverly and her mom because he might not have wanted to make Beverly embarrassed. However, if he asked Zhang Tie at this moment, Beverly would not feel embarrassed anymore. Additionally, Beverly could also find out Zhang Tie''s opinion.


    Zhang Tie had not been prepared for her dad to ask such a sharp question at the beginning of their talk. He understood the hidden meaning clearly¡ª¡ªwhy would a father believe in the nonsense of a man who had not even shown responsibility for the future of his daughter and left Blackhot City?


    Zhang Tie became silent for a while. The sounds in the kitchen returned to normal. However, Zhang Tie knew that Beverly must''ve been very tense in the kitchen.


    "Mr. Joan, perhaps you don''t believe in my words. However, I don''t care how much my clothes are worth at all. This is meaningless for me. It''s not because I have enough money, but because I only care about whether I can survive!"


    The moment Zhang Tie opened his mouth Beverly''s dad was stunned. The movements in kitchen also slowed down.


    "Before coming to Blackhot City over 2 months ago, I almost died. I was hunted by a LV 10 strong fighter. Perhaps Mr. Joan doesn''t understand the concept of LV 10 strong fighters. According to my knowledge, before Blackhot City was merged into the territory of the Norman Empire, there were less than 5 strong fighters across Blackhot City. I couldn''t beat him. Therefore, I was struck off a peak of a mountain, which was thousands of meters high. Fortunately, I didn''t die. In the process of rolling down, thanks to the twigs and vines in the valley, I finally fell into a pond and survived by myself..."


    "After that, two strong fighters hunted me as my head was to be rewarded with 5000 gold coins. I almost died!"


    "I joined Iron Blood Camp, Division No. 39 and stayed for over one year, during which period, I almost died many other times. I was shot by bolts covered with blue frost and almost died. In Kalur theater, Iron Blood Camp Division No. 39 was surrounded and outnumbered by Black Feathers Corps of the Sun Dynasty. Although we finally broke out of the encirclement, I almost died there too. That time, I suffered 186 wounds and 47 bone fractures all over my body. Finally, I was struck by the sky battle qi of a LV 8 military officer from Black Feathers Corps. As a result, my guts were severely wounded. My brothers of Iron Blood Camp sent me to a field hospital. When one doctor caught sight of how much fresh blood and wounds were over me, he told my brothers that I was already dead. My brothers of Iron Blood Camp even put blades to the doctors'' necks and forced them to rescue me! Finally, I survived. I thought I was lucky. After that, I found out that a respectable officer of Iron Blood Camp sacrificed himself in order to save me!"


    "When I returned to Jinyun Country, I almost died twice too. One time, I was betrayed by a person and was hunted by many killers in Dragon Cave. I was almost thrown into the magma. Thankfully, my master saved me. Another time was the event in Heavens Cold City. You might have heard about this event. As one who participated in and experienced this event, I know how it felt when the troop was surrounded by millions of demonized puppets. You would never know how risky it was when a person was surrounded by tens of thousands of demonized puppets that were not afraid of pain or death like machines. The demonized puppets left 137 wounds on me. These ones have just recovered in the last few days!"


    Zhang Tie was very calm, as if talking about other people''s affairs.


    "I''m not showing off. I''m just telling you what I''ve experienced and the risks that I''ve faced in my life. To be honest, although I''m sitting here and talking with you, I''m not sure if I''ll still be alive and talking with you and Bennie in half a year, because I don''t know what the next danger is. I''m not sure whether I can survive each and every danger. Therefore, I really don''t know how to answer you, as I don''t know whether I''ll still be alive by then."


    "I don''t want my family members to live in fear and concern every day. Wives are worried about losing their husbands. Kids are worried that their dad will not come back after going out! The biggest responsibility of a man, a husband, is to keep his family free from fear, instead of bringing fear to them. Pitifully, I cannot make it so!"


    "As long as I''m alive, as long as I am with Bennie, I will exert my full effort to protect her, treasure her and love her. As long as I''m with her, she will never be bullied by others. I will let her be happy and treat her happiness and smile as my pride and achievement. I can promise you that if I am alive in the future, when I feel I''m qualified to be a husband, I will marry her if Bennie would still like to marry me at that moment. I will be happy to have Bennie as my wife."


    When Zhang Tie left, Beverly sent Zhang Tie downstairs with red eyes. She hugged him tightly as she pressed her face on Zhang Tie''s chest for a long time before letting him go.


    If Zhang Tie slept in Bennie''s home today, he would make her parents embarrassed. It was also improper if Bennie directly left with Zhang Tie. Beverly lied to her parents that she was playing with her friends last night. As she was already grown up, her parents would not keep her under their strict control. However, if Beverly didn''t come back tonight with the same excuse, she must have underestimated her parents'' intelligence quotient.


    ...


    After leaving Beverly''s home, Zhang Tie sat in the car alone and watched the gradually depopulating Blackhot City. He had to pass this New Year''s Eve alone in the luxurious presidential suite in Black Gold Hotel.


    The moment he returned to Black Gold Hotel, Zhang Tie caught sight of a familiar shadow getting out of the carriage outside the hotel. Given her black, short hair, beautiful face and the alluring, mellow shanks, Zhang Tie instantly recognized her.


    When Zhang Tie got off the car, the beautiful female first lieutenant also caught sight of Zhang Tie. After that, they smiled at each other. Without saying anything, Zhang Tie offered his arm when the female came over, reached out and linked her arm with Zhang Tie''s.


    "First Lieutenant Zhang Tie, you''re too audacious. How can you dare to stay in Blackhot City at this moment?" the female asked.


    Hearing her question, Zhang Tie finally knew why she didn''t come to him yesterday. She must have discovered his background. She must be a meticulous person.


    ...


    Twenty minutes later, the female first lieutenant blushed after drinking some wine whilst inclining against the sofa in the bar of the luxurious presidential suite, which made her seem like she was waiting for Zhang Tie to violate her. Embracing her with one arm, Zhang Tie held a glass while rocking the liquid around in the bottom.


    Mellow wine and beauties. Zhang Tie didn''t know how long he could enjoy such a nice life. He looked a bit vacant. All the words that he''d said in Beverly''s home were true. After experiencing so many dangers and partings between dead people and living ones, Zhang Tie really didn''t know whether he''d still be alive in this world in half a year or one year. As the producer of all-purpose medicament, Zhang Tie was not sure whether a knight would suddenly flash in front of him and punched him to ashes.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie finally understood the thoughts and mentalities of those military officers who were always spending their time on women and alcohol whenever they were free.


    It was because they didn''t know how long they could survive. As long as they were alive, they would enjoy and make full use of their lives.


    "What...did you mean by asking me that in the reception room?"


    "That what?" Zhang Tie guzzled down the wine before throwing it onto the carpet.


    "You asked...whether I''ve gotten married or not?" The female first lieutenant turned around and watched Zhang Tie with fascinating eyes. "You men always like to play jokes. I thought...I thought you were kidding me...actually...actually I''ve already gotten married..."


    After saying this, the female first lieutenant lay face down the sofa and kept her eyes closed, waiting for Zhang Tie to violate her.


    She waited for one minute and received no reply. After another half a minute, she found that Zhang Tie had already helped her gather her clothes and kept his hands away from her.


    She then turned around and found Zhang Tie had already sat down on the next sofa and was panting heavily. He opened a new bottle of liquor and poured half of it into his mouth.


    "What''s wrong?" the woman became dumbfounded as she didn''t understand why Zhang Tie would stop at the most critical moment.


    "It''s too late. You''d better go back home." Zhang Tie raised his head and finished the remaining half of the bottle of liquor.


    "Argh! But why?"


    "You won''t understand!" Zhang Tie shook his head as he didn''t want to explain it. He then pulled the bell rope beside him. Soon after that, the steward appeared outside the door of the bar.


    After seeing this, the woman could only turn around and sit up. As she tidied her clothes, she watched Zhang Tie with a confused look.


    "Your excellency, what can I do for you?"


    "Send this woman back home in my car!"


    "Please, lady..." the steward made a gesture politely. After glancing at Zhang Tie with an embarrassed expression, the female turned around and picked up her overcoat before walking away in high heeled shoes, while rocking her buttocks.


    After only one minute, the steward reappeared in front of Zhang Tie. "Your excellency, I''ve had the lady sent away. Do you have any other demands?"


    Zhang Tie waved his hand, then the steward left silently. Sitting in the room alone, Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile. He knew that if what he did tonight was exposed, someone would swear at him as an idiot for sure. Perhaps other men would never have stopped in that situation. However, he had already crossed the line in his books.


    In this age, many people had not treated their wedding banquets seriously. Neither did they treat others'' marriages seriously. However, Zhang Tie regarded weddings as the most sacred contract to exist between humans. In his opinion, a wedding was the most sacred, inviolable contract between two partners.


    Zhang Tie''s opinion about weddings originated from his parents. His parents established a family through marriage. Although his dad and mom always lived calmly in Blackhot City, sometimes they even quarrelled with each other and didn''t speak to each other for a few days. All this didn''t influence Zhang Tie''s views about marriage from his parents and his respect about the sacred marriage between man and woman.


    Zhang Tie could not imagine how his family would be if one of his parents had betrayed their marriage during the past dozens of years. As the old Chinese proverb went¡ª¡ªdon''t impose on others what you don''t desire. Similarly, what he didn''t want his own family to face should not be imposed on other families.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the contract of marriage between a man and a woman was more sacred and solemn than any other laws. He preferred to violate the laws and regulations of the Norman Empire than to destroy the sacredness and solemnity of a contract of marriage.


    Therefore, no matter how much he liked a married woman, he would not touch her. Because Zhang Tie thought these women were protected by their sacred contract of marriage. Even if this contract became trivial in the eyes of the ones who''d established it, Zhang Tie still considered it inviolable.


    Additionally, even though Zhang Tie had not met the female''s husband, regardless of the man''s looks, job, experience and talents, Zhang Tie felt men should at least respect each other, even if they didn''t know each other or were enemies. With this respect, one man would not steal another man''s object. No matter what, men should have some common values.


    Zhang Tie didn''t think he was noble. From the beginning, he still felt that he was a man and had his morals. Therefore, he stopped at the most critical moment. There were so many women in the world, but Zhang Tie was not a love king. He would not touch those women who had gotten married. If a thing was pleasant, it should not hurt others.


    This was a respect given to both others and himself.


    In many people''s eyes, this moral standard was hilarious. However, Zhang Tie didn''t care. He wanted to satisfy himself.


    Zhang Tie immersed himself in the icy bath pool for one hour before recovering his composure.


    Zhang Tie cultivated himself silently over the long and deserted New Year''s Eve in the empty room of the luxurious presidential suite of Black Gold Hotel.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie and his brothers of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood reunited with each other after New Year''s Eve, everything started to run rapidly.


    After meeting Zhang Tie, Barley''s father was the first one who determined to leave Blackhot City. The family members of Doug, Hista and Leit also agreed to leave the city after Zhang Tie''s visit. Although some of them were still a bit hesitant to leave, they were finally moved when Zhang Tie told them to just take it as a vacation to the seaside if they didn''t like the idea of leaving Blackhot City, and that they could come back in three months if they wanted. Even Beverly''s parents agreed to take a look in Jinyun Country. If they were not used to that place, they could come back in three months.


    Everything was panning out well. After the best private detective in Blackhot City told Zhang Tie about Miss Daina''s recent situation, Zhang Tie started to make a clear plan.


    It wasn''t until then that Zhang Tie discovered Miss Daina had grown up in a single parent family. After her father died, the only family she had left was a paralyzed elder brother who lay on a bed for many years. Because of her elder brother, Miss Daina didn''t get married for many years. She just made money to cure her elder brother''s disease.


    It would cost her a lot to cure her elder brother and employ two people to look after him. Therefore, even on vacations, Miss Daina still worked two part-time jobs.


    In one job she was hired as a private teacher by a rich lady. Another job was as the instructor of the No. 4 Female Middle School in Blackhot City on holidays.


    With the two part-time jobs, Miss Daina could gain another two gold coins and 74 silver coins. With her income from No. 7 National Male Middle School as a teacher, she could make over 40 gold coins a year. However, she had to spend over 30 gold coins on her elder brother.


    Although Miss Daina looked as brilliant as a goddess, she didn''t live well in her daily life. She had to bear a great amount of pressure from the cost of living. However, she didn''t expose her stress to others or complain about it. Instead, she just bore it silently. She buried all her troubles in fascinating smiles. She looked elegant whenever Zhang Tie saw her in or out of the camp.


    After knowing this about her, Zhang Tie thought Miss Daina was respectable. Besides being beautiful and independent, Miss Daina was strong-willed and kind.


    On January 5th, the atmosphere of the New Year gradually faded away. On the same day, Zhang Tie met Susan and Fiona of the Rose Association.


    When they saw Zhang Tie again, the two girls didn''t smile. Instead, they just put many rings on Zhang Tie''s hand.


    ¡ª¡ªTo my beloved baby Angel¡ª¡ªZhang Tie


    ¡ª¡ªTo my beloved baby Sharapova¡ª¡ªZhang Tie


    ¡ª¡ªTo my beloved baby Hiltina¡ª¡ªZhang Tie


    ¡ª¡ªTo my beloved baby Nya¡ª¡ªZhang Tie


    ¡ª¡ªTo my beloved baby Mia¡ª¡ªZhang Tie


    Reading those words on the insides of the rings, Zhang Tie felt that something bad had happened. "What''s wrong?"


    "They''re dead!" Susan and Fiona cried at once. "Before death, Angel told us to hand these items to you. She said you understood it!"


    ''Dead?'' Zhang Tie became stunned for a second before he burst out into tears.


    "How did they die? Tell me what happened!" Zhang Tie uttered in a terrifying voice as tears flew down his face.


    "Soon after you left Blackhot City, Master Abyan''s manor recruited some assistants. After hearing about the good treatment over here, they came given that their conditions were satisfied..." Fiona wept as what happened gradually became clear to Zhang Tie...

 513 Withering Roses

    Chapter 513: Withering Roses


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    There was a graveyard on the hill over 30 kilometers away to the north outside of Blackhot City. After hearing that Angel and the other girls of Rose Association were buried here, Zhang Tie walked out of the north gate of Blackhot City on the dawn of January 7th, facing the withering, chilly wind.


    Knowing that these girls had been good sisters at school, their family members decided to bury them together in the same place in case they were lonely.


    The accumulated snow outside the city was thick. After each step, he would sink to his knees in the snow. Zhang Tie arrived there in two hours, one step after another, wearing an overcoat.


    The five new graves were very eye-catching. Zhang Tie soon came to the front of them, which had been covered with white snow. After pulling off his gloves, Zhang Tie swept off the snow from the graves, revealing their black and white photos.


    Facing the black and white photos, Angel''s blonde hair, Sharapova''s beautiful face, Nya''s shiny eyes, Hiltina''s entangled hair and Mia''s lovable dimples reappeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    The time when he''d indulged with these girls seemingly happened yesterday. However, they already lay icily underground.


    This was a so called parting between dead people and living ones.


    Hot liquid flew out of Zhang Tie''s eyes and dripped onto the icy graves.


    When no more tears flowed out, Zhang Tie lowered his body and kissed each of their graves before turning around and leaving.


    After leaving the graves, Zhang Tie returned to Blackhot City one step after another. At the sight of the city gate of Blackhot City, Zhang Tie didn''t enter the city. Instead, he continued around towards the south of Blackhot City.


    ...


    The animal trading market in the south of Blackhot City also became sluggish on such a cold day. Almost nobody could be seen over there. However, the manor of Master Abyan''s castle outside the city looked more magnificent and beautiful than it had over one year ago, because the former castle could not match the current status of Master Abyan anymore.


    Last year, Master Abyan was promoted from red robe pharmacist to orange robe pharmacist. As a result, he reached the 6th brilliant stage of pharmacists world and became the most influential figure across Blackhot City.


    At this moment, Master Abyan had already joined Norman Empire and became one of the vice chairmen of the Pharmacists Association of Brunswick Province of Norman Empire. His reputation had even spread to Nordinburg, the capital along the north border of the Norman Empire. Recently, Master Abyan went to visit Nordinburg at the invitation of the Pharmacists Association of Nordinburg. It was said that he would come back in a few days.


    In a strictly hierarchical country, like Norman Empire, Master Abyan could be the noblest officer in Blackhot City by becoming an orange robe pharmacist of Norman Empire. He had a great influence in many aspects. He was even more influential than Colonel Leibniz in some aspects. At least, Colonel Leibniz could not casually access Nordinburg like him. Compared to a colonel, an orange robe pharmacist was undoubtedly more favored by some big figures.


    Therefore, under the great influence of Master Abyan, the deaths of Angel and the other girls of Rose Association were covered. It was just caused by an accident. As the assistants of an orange robe pharmacist, some young girls had touched some fatal things in a warehouse full of poisonous substances and fierce beasts, and they were killed. That was too "normal". This case came to an end after paying some gold coins to each family.


    In the eyes of Master Abyan they were just common girls in Blackhot City, and their deaths were nothing serious at all.


    Of course, they didn''t die from an accident. In fact, they were murdered.


    Susan and Fiona saw many weird wounds over their bodies, which were not caused by wild beasts but humans. Additionally, their blood had seemingly been drawn out. Angel''s right hand was holding something tightly. Susan and Fiona spent some time trying to open her fingers, while tears dropped from their faces before taking the ring out of her hand.


    According to the secret, popular "regulations" followed among girls of Rose Association, after a girl took off the jewellery gifted by a man, if she threw it away, it meant she was saying good bye to the man forever. If she still held it, it meant that she wanted to give it back to the man.


    ''If Angel had suffered an accident, she would have thought about saving herself instead of thinking about returning that ring back to me, as I was not present at all. It was also unnecessary to do that. Therefore, Angel''s action meant that she wanted other girls of Rose Association to return the ring to me. Angel wanted to tell me that she was still awake when she took off her ring. However, she knew that she could not see me any more while she was alive, because she had predicted her own fate.


    This was what Angel wanted to tell me. If it was an accident, Angel would never do that. She was doing this to tell me how she was killed.


    Angel was intelligent and proud. While the other girls didn''t think about it or had been unable to do this, she did it by tightly holding her ring, leaving a key message to me.


    Who tortured them to death?


    The answer was clear. Nobody else could have besides Master Abyan.


    If Master Abyan was an idiot, he might have lost his control about his castle or perhaps someone dared him to kill his female assistants in his castle. However, the problem was that he was not an idiot. A young, energetic and powerful vice chairman of Pharmacists Association of Brunkswick Province of Norman Empire could never lose his control about his nestle. In Blackhot City, Master Abyan was known as a strict person. Therefore, nobody would be the murderer except him. If it was done by others, Master Abyan would never manage it using his own influence.


    Standing on the hill, Zhang Tie watched the manor of the magnificent castle where Master Abyan lived with icy and dead eyes.


    After remembering all the details about the manor, Zhang Tie took a deep breath and closed his eyes. After half a minute, he opened his eyes. Meanwhile, he grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed it on his face. After that, he turned around and left.


    ...


    After twenty minutes, Zhang Tie got into his exclusive car matched by Black Gold Hotel in a street of Blackhot City and shut the door, causing a "bang" sound. He tried to recover his composure and figure out his next move.


    "Go to Avenue Gregory!" After determining what to do today, Zhang Tie had the driver start the car.


    ...


    Avenue Gregory was named after the surname of the Gregory Clan, which was one of the most influential clans of CSIF in Blackhot City. In the legend of Blackhot City, over half of the houses and shops in this avenue had belonged to the Gregory Clan.


    Of course, Zhang Tie''s arrival had nothing to do with the Gregory Clan. He was here for a more important thing.


    The car was parked outside a post office in Avenue Gregory. Zhang Tie stared at the broad plate "Bionne Clinic" through the window for a short while. After that, he got out of the car and walked across the road towards that clinic.


    The gate of the clinic was under the broad plate. Because it was cold and the New Year festival had just passed, there were few people in the clinic. A young nurse was sitting behind the reception desk. It wasn''t until Zhang Tie came to the front of the reception desk when the nurse realized someone had come in. She hurriedly raised her head as she hid the snacks.


    "Argh, mister, are you sick?" asked the nurse with a round face as she looked at Zhang Tie.


    "I''m not sick. I''m looking for Doctor Bionne!"


    "Have you reserved an appointment with Doctor Bionne?"


    "I don''t need a reservation!" Zhang Tie smiled as he presented the special pass delivered from the Ministry of Supervision of Iron Horn Corps to the nurse.


    The special pass from the Ministry of Supervision of Iron Horn Corps was also the identification certificate for a military officer of the Ministry of Supervision in execution of a mission. In regions like Blackhot City, where it had just been conquered by Norman Empire by force, a certificate from a powerful military department posed a great threat to commoners. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s certificate, the nurse changed her facial expression at once.


    "Argh...please follow me." The nurse hurriedly walked out of the reception desk and led Zhang Tie in.


    This clinic only covered a bit more than 200 square meters. After passing by the reception desk, a drug storage room and a diagnosis room, the nurse led him in front of another room before knocking at the door.


    "Please come in..." a voice drifted from inside.


    ...

 514 God Blessing Brotherhood

    Chapter 514: God Blessing Brotherhood


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    "Who''s this, Sally?"


    "This mister wants to see you!"


    "Has he reserved an appointment?"


    After hearing that Doctor Bionne was dissatisfied, the round-faced nurse wanted to explain. However, Zhang Tie turned around and told her, "It''s okay. You can go now!"


    After glancing at Zhang Tie, the round-faced nurse lowered her head and left as she closed the door.


    "Mister, I''m very busy recently. If you want medical treatment or a diagnosis at your home, you need to reserve in advance!" Doctor Bionne said to Zhang Tie with a contemptuous voice.


    Zhang Tie walked towards him and presented his certificate to him for ten seconds under his dissatisfied look. When he put away the certificate, Doctor Bionne changed his face right away. He instantly revealed a genial smile, which hid his fear. Any common small figure, who was being gazed at by a person from a powerful, violent position, would feel fearful.


    Like sitting on a see-saw, the moment Zhang Tie''s buttocks touched the sofa, Doctor Bionne sprung up from his chair. He came in front of Zhang Tie carefully and lowered his body, "Mr...do you have any needs?"


    "Yes, I do!" Zhang Tie replied calmly.


    "Ah, please, please..."


    "Take a seat, please!" Zhang Tie pointed at the sofa opposite him like he was the owner of this office.


    "Fine, thanks, thanks!" Doctor Bionne sat on the opposite sofa with his legs tightly closed. From his movements, Zhang Tie knew that he was as timid as a rabbit. Before Zhang Tie even spoke, he was already so scared.


    "Do you have a patient called Laona?"


    "Yes, yes, he''s paralyzed. I have to visit him twice a week!"


    "I know, you will go there on Tuesday and Friday, 18 silver coins each time. You''ve already treated him for over six years. According to the plan, you have to be there on time this afternoon!" Zhang Tie told him what he knew. Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Doctor Bionne started to ooze sweat on his forehead. He was afraid of being in trouble. Otherwise how could he be followed for so long?


    "I...I was just helping him rehabilitate. I''ve done nothing else to him. I didn''t know about what that person and his family members did." When saying this, Doctor Bionne stood up from sofa once again.


    "I know, don''t worry, take a seat, take a seat..." Zhang Tie waved his hand towards Doctor Bionne. "Is Laona suffering from a special central nervous dysfunction syndrome?"


    "Yes, it''s a very tricky disease. Most of the medicines were not effective. The patient felt weak all over and could not walk. Besides this, his immunity is low while the toxins could not be drained out of his body. Each time, I brought him some medicine it had no effect at all. I mainly help him do some physical therapy!"


    "I''m carrying out a special mission, which requires your coordination!"


    "Argh, please, I will coordinate with you for sure!"


    Zhang Tie then silently took out six vials of all-purpose medicament from his pocket and put them on the table, "These are very special medicament. From today on, you must have him drink two vials of this medicament each time you visit him!"


    At the sight of the vials of medicament on the table, Doctor Bionne turned pale. Zhang Tie''s special status and the medicament before him reminded him of some plots to kill people. However, he was not brave enough to refuse Zhang Tie.


    "In order to carry out this medicament mission, you need to give him the medicament treatment in the following three days!"


    "Do...do I need to go there today?"


    "Today!"


    "May...may I ask about the purpose of this medicament?" Doctor Bionne asked in a frightened way.


    "This medicament is helpful to his health!" Zhang Tie glanced at Doctor Bionne. "I know what you''re thinking about. But it''s not like that. If you do it according to my request, you will face no danger at all. You don''t need to know other things!"


    "Yes...yes!" Doctor Bionne nodded hurriedly.


    "After this medicament takes effect, Laona and his sister, Miss Daina, will know it. If they ask you why, you tell them..." Zhang Tie told Doctor Bionne about the story that he had fabricated.


    Doctor Bionne became dumbfounded.


    "Have you remembered what I told you?"


    "Yes, I''ve remembered it, I''ve remembered it!"


    "Repeat it then!"


    Doctor Bionne then repeated what Zhang Tie had told him. Zhang Tie nodded inside.


    "Remember, as long as you do what I told you to do, you will have no trouble. Besides, you will have a good reputation. But if you want to play tricks, I promise that you won''t want to see the result!" While saying this, Zhang Tie pinched the desk using his right thumb and index finger. With a cracking sound, the thick, solid desk cracked like having been split by an axe.


    The terrifying strength of Zhang Tie''s fingers made Doctor Bionne go pale-faced once again.


    After glancing at Doctor Bionne, Zhang Tie stood up and amplified his voice, "Thanks, Doctor Bionne, thanks for your concern about the orphanage. I''ve not imagined that grandma Teresa has moved away. What a pity! The six vials of medicament are my gifts from Jinyun Country. Hopefully, they could help you! I have something to deal with, I have to go..."


    Zhang Tie reached out his hand towards Doctor Bionne, who instantly sprung up and shook hands with Zhang Tie saying, "Erm, it''s my pleasure, my pleasure!"


    "Hmm, it''s a bit cold and dry these days. Look, your desk has cracked. It doesn''t look good. You''d better get a new one!"


    "Yes. What damn weather! It''s too cold!"


    "I will stay in Blackhot City for the next couple of days. If you have any problems, do you know where to find me?"


    "No. 6 presidential suite in Black Gold Hotel. I''ll keep it in mind!"


    "Good. See you then!"


    "Bon voyage!"


    "Thanks!"


    ...


    After Zhang Tie left, Doctor Bionne stood still in his room for two minutes before quivering all over for a second. ''The powerful, violent departments of Norman Empire are too weird. I had not imagined that I was involved too. Thankfully, my job is easy. I only need to cooperate with him.'' Doctor Bionne was really not brave enough to search for the reason behind this request.


    Thankfully, Zhang Tie didn''t force him to poison his patient.


    Walking to the side of the desk, Doctor Bionne took up a vial of medicament. At the sight of the delicate symbol for Manjusaka on the vial, his eyebrows jumped at once.


    He had never heard about this medicament at all. However, given its symbol, it seemed to be expensive.


    Doctor Bionne finally recovered his composure.


    On the same afternoon, Doctor Bionne went to his patient with the all-purpose medicament...


    ...


    Since Susan and Fiona came for Zhang Tie, the other girls of Rose Association started to come for Zhang Tie too. Zhang Tie told them about his target here.


    After only one year, many girls who were intimate with Zhang Tie had already found their own life partners, except for those who were killed by Abyan, those who''d left Blackhot City due to various reasons, or those who dared not to come for Zhang Tie. Finally, 47 girls in total decided they would like to leave Blackhot City after meeting Zhang Tie.


    Watching these cute girls, Zhang Tie was relieved of all his negative moods, like grief for the deaths of Angel and the other girls. He really didn''t want to see those beautiful roses wither. After just one year, Zhang Tie had already seen how the affairs of the world were inconstant. After one year, Only 47 of the total 84 girls of the Rose Association could gather with him in Blackhot City. What about the fates of these cute girls in the next year or the distant future?


    ...


    In the evening on January 8th, Zhang Tie invited seven people from Hit-Plane Brotherhood and 21 people from God Blessing Association, including Potter, Wood, Francis and Zhang Tie''s friend Blues, to join an evening reception in Black Gold Hotel where Hit-Plane Brotherhood and God Blessing Association officially merged into God Blessing Brotherhood.


    Meanwhile, they improved the organizational framework and constitutional system of God Blessing Brotherhood.


    The new organization was oriented towards mutual assistance, mutual support, solidarity, friendliness and common development. The main principle of the God Blessing Brotherhood was mutual benefit between power and obligation, contribution and achievement. As long as it fit the constitution of the organization, the members of God Blessing Brotherhood could choose to join or exit it freely. The only target of the foundation of the God Blessing Brotherhood was to survive its members, allowing everyone in the brotherhood to survive the coming holy war.


    Zhang Tie took out 200,000 gold coins for the first development fund of God Blessing Brotherhood after they left Blackhot City. Through unanimous nominations, Zhang Tie became the leader of God Blessing Brotherhood.


    For Zhang Tie, 200,000 gold coins were only worth a few vats of fermented fruits. ''If this amount of money can allow these people to believe in me today, bring a bright future to my brothers and enable them and their family members to live better futures, then those vats of fermented fruits meant nothing to me at all.''


    In the evening on January 9th, Zhang Tie invited the 47 girls of Rose Association and Beverly to come to Black Gold Hotel...

 515 The Bes

    Chapter 515: The Best


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    47 girls of the Rose Association came to Zhang Tie''s presidential suite for the party in beautiful skirts and evening wear.


    According to the list made by Zhang Tie, Black Gold Hotel tried its best to dispatch 47 exclusive limos and servicemen to take all the 47 girls of Rose Association to Black Gold Hotel from door to door, which was the most luxurious escort request in the history of Black Gold Hotel.


    In order to welcome these girls, the hotel even set up a special VIP pathway which was only available to these girls.


    The bright, bloody carpet went all the way from where the girls got off the limos to Zhang Tie''s presidential suite.


    Along the carpet were a number of archways made of bright roses, which had been sent here from tens of thousands of miles away by airship. Male and female servants were standing on both sides of the carpet tidily in black swallowtail suits. They were welcoming the girls of the Rose Association in the most respectful manner...


    The professional photographers started to take photos of the girls the moment they got off the limos. Each time a limo parked and a girl got out of it, constant flashes of light from cameras could be seen in the surrounding areas.


    Like a princess'' welcoming, this was completely dreamlike for the girls of the Rose Association.


    Zhang Tie, in a grand and brilliant black evening suit, was smiling and standing outside the gate with his hands behind his back.


    In the banquet hall behind him, the crystal lamps were twinkling, while a philharmonic society was playing a melodious and pleasant song beside the fountain in the middle of the hall.


    Each girl was led to the banquet hall by one of the hotel waiters. While they felt that they were princesses at this moment, they regarded Zhang Tie as their prince.


    Many girls of the Rose Association were puzzled at this moment.


    Zhang Tie kissed each girl''s hand. After that, he told the staff of Golden Roc Bank to guide them aside. They put their fingerprints in a metal inkpad and signed contracts with Golden Roc Bank. After that, each girl could receive 580 gold coins a year from Golden Roc Bank as the beneficiaries of the lifetime annuity financing plan.


    This was a gift from Zhang Tie.


    This gift made many girls exclaim in shock. Compared to the gifts that Zhang Tie had presented them last time, this one was too expensive. Actually, with this gift they could live a graceful life wherever they went from then on.


    Zhang Tie smiled. However, Beverly almost came to tears at the sight of him. Only those who were very familiar with Zhang Tie could feel the grief in Zhang Tie''s eyes behind his smile.


    At this time, Zhang Tie was completely forcing his smile in such a fairy-tale scene.


    They had the best food, the mellowest wine, most brilliant carpet and the best music in that banquet. The moment Zhang Tie appeared in the banquet hall, all the girls became quiet while gazing at Zhang Tie, waiting for him to say something.


    The music stopped at this moment. The staff of Golden Roc Bank also left.


    Glancing at those beautiful faces in front of him, Zhang Tie had mixed emotions inside. "There are more people who should have been here today. What a pity! Shirley said everything here is the best, just like in her dream, we have the best wine, the best golden caviar, the best tableware and crystal glasses, the best music and the best waiters..."


    After being mentioned by Zhang Tie, a girl called Shirley, who was holding a glass and wearing black evening wear, rolled her eyes away from Zhang Tie embarrassedly.


    Watching the adorable Shirley, Zhang Tie smiled. "Shirley was right about many points, but she forgot one important point. In my eyes, besides these things, the best girls in Blackhot City are here too. Because of you, everything at present has become meaningful! Without you, everything in front of me would be nothing other than desert and rocks. Because of you, this place was filled with brilliance, laughter and pleasure. And because of you, my life has also been filled with brilliance, laughter and pleasure. Therefore, I have to extend my thanks to you all, the best girls in Blackhot City. I appreciate that you loved me yesterday and you still trust me today! Today, you''re the queens and princesses, while I am just your humble servant, an idiot being brightened by you..."


    After saying this, Zhang Tie raised his glass and gulped it all down...


    The girls also raised their glasses...


    Then, the unforgettable evening banquet started...


    ...


    Zhang Tie drank too much this time. He drank one glass after another with each girl of the Rose Association. In that boisterous and happy atmosphere, the girls of the Rose Association pulled him onto the dance floor and taught him about waltz. He then danced with each girl, one circle for one girl. The girls kept rotating, smiling and playing in front of him like beautiful flowers...


    Gradually, all the waiters in the presidential suite left, including the philharmonic society. The steward of the presidential suite closed the gate from outside.


    Feeling a bit dizzy, Zhang Tie lay on the soft sofa and watched the fascinating faces of the girls of the Rose Association in the crystal lamplight.


    Zhang Tie''s shirt had been undone by the girls while some small, golden fish were swirling over Zhang Tie''s body, moistening Zhang Tie''s chest and lower abdomen. Fiona was kneeling between Zhang Tie''s knees while her beautiful evening gown and black bra had been undone and taken off her shoulders. She was covering her breasts using her hands in a shameful way. She knew Zhang Tie liked it that way.


    A milky firework rose from Fiona''s breasts and flew in the air. Finally, it spread over their bodies and faces.


    This firework was like a signal flare. Soon after the girls'' exclamations, Zhang Tie was covered by them at once...


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how long he had slept or whether he had slept at all. When he woke up, Zhang Tie still felt a bit dizzy.


    The mechanical button of the red calling lamp on the pure gold microphone was turned on. It seemed that someone wanted to talk with someone in the room. Zhang Tie moved his body slightly out of the crisscrossed Rose Association girls.


    Beverly was half-exposed in her evening wear, bowed at the waist and hugging her legs, curled up in Zhang Tie''s chest. This was the best position.


    The moment Zhang Tie moved, Beverly murmured a low hum in sleep and her eyelashes quivered once.


    Zhang Tie lowered his head and found that his p*nis was still in Beverly''s body. He didn''t remember what had happened last night as he was drunk with alcohol. He only remembered that it was a crazy night. All of them were mad, including Zhang Tie and those Rose Association girls. They all vented something in their madness, became freed of something. When someone mentioned Angel, many people cried. After that, they became entangled with each other in a crazier way...


    Zhang Tie silently drew his p*nis out of her body and got off the bed. He then casually threw on one coat and stealthily passed between the girls'' bodies on the soft and thick carpet in the bedroom.


    At this moment, 49 girls were crisscrossed over the 200-odd square meters of bedroom in the presidential suite, from the extremely huge bed to the sofa and carpet. The entire bedroom became an alluring pornographic field. The torn-off evening gowns, colorful bras and underwear were thrown everywhere. The whole room was filled with the smell of Zhang Tie''s semen.


    Because of they had heating units, it was as warm as spring in the bedroom. The girls were still sleeping soundly while the thick curtain prevented sunlight from being cast into the room. As a result, people could not identify the current time.


    They were too crazy last night. Glancing at the scene, Zhang Tie became a bit bashful. He silently left the bedroom and closed the door. When he came to the corridor outside the bedroom, he opened the cover of a pure gold microphone and pressed down the switch.


    "What''s wrong?" Zhang Tie asked.


    In two seconds, the steward''s voice was heard, "Your excellency, two people want to talk with you!"


    "Who are they?"


    "A man and a woman. The man is Doctor Bionne. He said he was your friend. The woman is Daina. They have been waiting for you for half an hour."


    ''Miss Daina?'' Zhang Tie became stunned for a second. Then, he instantly glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. It was already past nine o''clock in the morning.


    Zhang Tie took a deep breath. "Argh, fine. Guide them to my room in a couple of minutes...oh...no...You''d better let them wait for me in the cafe of the hotel. I will be there soon!"


    "Yes, sire. Do you have any other demands?"


    "Hmm, when the girls wake up, have people send some clothes and skirts inside. Let them select their favorite ones."


    After hanging up, Zhang Tie became stunned for a second before hurriedly rushing into the bathroom. After taking a bath, he put on a new suit. He then took a look at the handsome guy in the mirror before leaving the room for the cafe.


    Upon entering the caf¨¦, with a casual glance Zhang Tie had seen Doctor Bionne and Miss Daina, who were sitting beside a curtained glass window. At the sight of Miss Daina, Zhang Tie''s heart started to pound like how he would react at school. After over one year, Miss Daina was still the same as before in Zhang Tie''s heart...

 516 See You, Blackhot City

    Chapter 516: See You, Blackhot City


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Miss Daina and Dr. Bionne were sitting beside a glass window in the coffee house. She was watching the garden in the hotel which caused a greenhouse effect while she slightly stirred up a cup of coffee on the table with a silver ladle.


    Zhang Tie stood at the door of the coffee house and gazed at Miss Daina''s side for about half a minute.


    Dr. Bionne noticed Zhang Tie''s arrival ahead of Miss Daina. At the sight of Zhang Tie, he instantly revealed a slightly exaggerating surprise as he sprung up from his chair, "Argh, Miss Daina, he''s that person I told you!"


    Miss Daina turned around as she caught sight of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie had rehearsed how to deal with this scene for many times. Therefore, after miss Daina looked at him, he revealed a surprising look, "Argh, Miss Daina, what a coincidence! Do you remember me? I''m your student."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Dr. Bionne almost fell down. Twitching his eye corners, Dr. Bionne naturally revealed a dumbfounded look. He could not understand why such a military officer of the violence sector of Norman Empire could be a student of Miss Daina. He was more confused as he didn''t know why he was involved now that Zhang Tie was familiar with her. In short, all this was too weird in the eyes of Dr. Bionne. Whereas, he did not dare to figure out the reason.


    Miss Daina watched Zhang Tie while an amazement flashed by her eyes. She had not imagined that the one she would like to see was her student. Zhang Tie was always silent in the No. 7 National Middle School in Blackhot City. Therefore, he was not impressive in the eyes of Miss Daina. However, after Zhang Tie''s excellent performance in the survival training before graduation and his participation in Iron-Blood Camp as the most famous person in his session, Miss Daina started to pay attention to him.


    Zhang Tie sat beside the coffee table.


    Doctor explained everything according to Zhang Tie''s will to Zhang Tie and Miss Daina. After sitting for another 2 minutes, Dr. Bionne felt like sitting on a fire basket.


    "Miss Daina, I''ve explained everything clearly. He gave me the vials of medicament. I''ve not imagined that they could have such a great effect on Leona. Now that you know each other, you can talk freely. I have something to deal with in my clinic. I have to go now."


    "Hmm, Dr. Bionne, I appreciate you so much!" seeing Dr. Bionne was going to leave, Miss Daina stood up and saw Bionne off politely.


    Zhang Tie also stood up. Based on Zhang Tie''s design, he and Bionne had long been familiar with each other as they both usually visited the orphanage of Grandma Teresa. This time, Zhang Tie gifted him six vials of "very special medicament" when they encountered in Blackhot City.


    "Ah! It''s my pleasure. I''m also very happy to see Leona''s condition becoming better!" Dr. Bionne said righteously. After saying that, Dr. Bionne stealthily glanced at Zhang Tie. After seeing that Zhang Tie was pleasant, he left.


    Miss Daina''s blue eyes were like a blue mountain in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    Miss Daina''s brown hair was like warm wind that blew through mountain ranges.


    Facing Miss Daina and being watched by her, Zhang Tie felt being in a dream. It was so warm and nice.


    This was Miss Daina''s image in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    "Dr. Bionne said you were familiar with each other in orphanage. I was told that you usually sent gifts to the orphanage in Blackhot City. I''ve not imagined that you''re that kind!" Miss Daina uttered in a warm voice.


    "My family usually made rice brew. When we have surplus rice soup, my mom usually told me to sent some to those kids. Plus some salt or sugar, rice soup would be nutritious. Those kids liked to drink it! As Dr. Bionne always went to the orphanage to treat those kids. Therefore, we gradually knew each other. This time, when I encountered him on the street, I gifted him some vials of medicament. I''ve not imagined that they were helpful to Miss Daina."


    In a white skintight thin sweater, Miss Daina''s figure became especially eye-catching today. After a glimpse at her, Zhang Tie felt thirsty because of excitement.


    The fragrance over Miss Daina was also intoxicating.


    "May I know the name of the medicament?" Miss Daina looked at Zhang Tie with a desiring look, "I''ve seen that medicament; however, I''ve not heard about it before. But it works so well on my younger brother. Only after using six vials of that medicament, his condition had been improved. This never happened before!"


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel strange that a common biology teacher had not heard about the name of all-purpose medicament. Because all-purpose medicament had not been popularized among average people across Norman Empire. Additionally, Blackhot City was always information occluded.


    "That''s all-purpose medicament produced by Huaiyuan Palace!"


    "All-purpose medicament?" Miss Daina blinked as she exclaimed ''ah'' with an amazing look.


    "Have someone made super enzyme in Jinyun Country?"Zhang Tie nodded towards Miss Daina as he didn''t feel strange for a biology teacher to know something about super enzyme, even if not being an alchemist.


    Miss Daina then became hesitated, "Do...do you have more such medicament? I want to buy some from you, if possible."


    "God, forgive me. It''s my first time to cheat a woman, especially Miss Daina!"


    Zhang Tie prayed inside before shaking his head decisively, "Miss Daina, I''ve not brought too much of that medicament this time. After sending some to others, I don''t have them anymore..."


    "No more?" Miss Daina looked a bit disappointed.


    "Now that it''s produced in Huaiyuan Palace, do you know where to buy it?" Miss Daina''s eyes blazed with some hope after a second.


    "Honestly, Miss Daina. All-purpose medicament is very popular now. It has become a class-A strategic good in Norman Empire. Therefore, it is greatly desired by other countries and powers. I''m afraid that it could be hardly gained through normal channel!"


    Hearing the word class-A strategic good, Miss Daina''s hope died out like burning candles in chilly wind.


    Noticing the sort of grief in the eyes of Miss Daina, Zhang Tie almost took out a pile of all-purpose medicament from Castle of Black Iron and put them in front of Miss Daina. However, considering the possible result, Zhang Tie stopped.


    "This medicament could be hardly gained through other channels. However, as it was produced in Huaiyuan Palace, I could still get some in Huaiyuan Prefecture!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Miss Daina''s eyes blazed with hope once again.


    "However, even if I could get some from Huaiyuan Prefecture, Blackhot City is too far from Huaiyuan Prefecture. I cannot send the goods to you conveniently!"


    It was said that human postal and express system could deliver addressee''s message to every corner of the planet before Catastrophe. However, in this age, this was hardly satisfied. Average message could be passed in one region or a country. Nevertheless, a logistics system that stretched across numerous countries had not been established yet. Even if it was established, it would cause a huge operating cost when airship was used as a traffic tool. Nobody could afford this. In this age, business groups were prosperous and developed partly because that business groups sustained the logistics trade between countries and regions.


    "Then...then there''s no way else?" Miss Daina muttered. After losing another hope, Miss Daina didn''t know whether Leona could bear such a strike. This was even crueler than having not given him a hope. Recalling Leona''s shiny eyes, Miss Daina felt like crying as she covered her mouth at once; meanwhile, a drop of tear fell into the coffee cup on the table.


    "Miss Daina. Do you have other relatives in Blackhot City except for your younger brother? If so, it would be easily solved if you and your younger brother go to Jinyun Country together with me!" Seeing that the opportunity was ripe, after pretending to think for a short while, Zhang Tie finally poured out what he wanted to say to Miss Daina.


    Miss Daina became amazed at once. Raising his watery blue eyes towards Zhang Tie, she said, "This...this would be very troublesome. Migration certificate is needed if I and my younger brother are going to leave Blackhot City..."


    "Miss Daina. If you want to leave Blackhot City. I will help you and your younger brother to manage migration certificates. You know that I once served in the No. 39 Division of Norman Empire. I am acquainted with Colonel Leibniz of No. 39 Division. I''ve contacted with Colonel Leibniz. There will not be a problem!"


    Staring at Miss Daina''s face, Zhang Tie felt that Miss Daina had been dreaming for that. However, she still hesitated. Zhang Tie knew what she was worried about. Every woman would be a bit hesitated to leave a familiar place with a younger brother who needed her help.


    "Actually, many people that you know will leave Blackhot City together with me!"


    "Ah, who else?" Miss Daina asked in an amazing look.


    "Hmm, of course, many of them are familiar with you, Miss Daina. Because they are your students, including some male students of my session in No. 7 National Middle School and some girls in No. 4 National Female Middle School. They are all my friends. You could take your younger brother away from here by airship together with them. You can look after each other on the way! When you arrive at Huaiyuan Prefecture, you will have familiar persons over there. You can work and accompany your younger brother for medical medicament. The medical conditions over there are much better than that in Blackhot City. Chinese medical system is more developed. Besides you will have more work opportunities over there. When your younger brother''s disease will be cured completely, you can come back if you want!"


    Zhang Tie knew that Miss Daina was finally moved by his last words...


    "Zhang Tie, I really don''t know how to appreciate you. I''ve not imagined that you could help me so much this time..." watching Zhang Tie, Miss Daina became a bit thrilled.


    "Hehe, you don''t have to thank me, Miss Daina. It''s my great honor to help you. If my friends in No. 7 National Middle School knew that I could give a favor to you, they would envy me very much!" Zhang Tie said in a relaxed manner.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Miss Daina''s face blushed slightly as she felt warm inside...


    ...


    After seeing off Miss Daina to leave the hotel by a car, Zhang Tie recovered his composure.


    He finally let out a deep sigh.


    As long as Miss Daina would like to leave, what''s left could be easily dealt with.


    "Who else should I take away?" Zhang Tie tried his best to recall those people that he was familiar with in Blackhot City. Finally, two straightforward men appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind¡ª¡ªCaptain Kerlin and A''Nuo.


    Zhang Tie knew that as long as that cyclops knew that Miss Daina would leave Blackhot City together with him, he would definitely follow them. "Regardless of that cyclops feelings about Miss Daina, he is my savior. He not only gave me the secret book of Iron-Blood Fist, but also saved me out of the Gold-eating cave. Because of this, I have to take him away with me. In the coming holy war, a LV 8 fighter is nothing but a scum, who might be killed at any time."


    I would not disturb the relationship between that cyclops and Miss Daina. Because that would be too nasty. Neither would I help them to develop their relationship. Because that violates my original intention. It would be too silly to do that.


    As to A''Nuo...


    Recalling that straightforward and simple human flesh bag, Zhang Tie smiled. "Mom said I have to appreciate those who helped me even if a bit. This was a Chinese virtue. I will appreciate him this time. If A''Nuo and his family members would like to leave Blackhot City, I will then take them away..."


    For A''Nuo, if he could make more money than being a human flesh bag in Iron-Thorn Fighting Club and save his family members, he would be happy, even being a driver or a common bodyguard in Jinwu Corporation.


    See you, Blackhot City. That''s all that I care. After these people leave, what''s left would be the same...

 517 The Arrival of the Airship

    Chapter 517: The Arrival of the Airship


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When the huge airship appeared in the sky, Zhang Tie and Colonel both narrowed their eyes as they raised their heads to watch it.


    The 100-m long triangular body of the airship indicated its type at once¡ª¡ªfury-level harp airship produced in Huaiyuan Palace.


    At the sight of the airship, ground crew send a landing signal. After a few minutes, in the wuthering chilly wind, the airship slowly landed on the designated field while dropping off some ground anchors. Ground crew instantly ran towards it and tied those ground anchors to the ground anchor piles, fixing the airship steadily.


    The huge object was very terrifying in the sky; however, when it landed and appeared in front, it felt much more terrifying.


    According to Zhang Tie''s knowledge, fury-level airship was the largest and most powerful airship ever manufactured by human among all the countries across Blackson Humans Corridor.


    "Fury-level..." Colonel Lebniz muttered. Watching such a huge airship which glittered silver grey luster, Lebniz''s eyes gleamed. As a soldier, at the sight of such an airship, it was like a warrior caught sight of a treasured sword or a fierce beast caught sight of a grand feast. Of course, he was interested in it very much.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that his elder brother could dispatch such a huge airship here. The mark of Jinwu Corporation on the airship indicated whom it belonged to. It also reminded Zhang Tie that Jinwu Corporation had gained a momentum development in a short period by selling all-purpose medicament. Therefore, his elder brother could afford such a huge airship.


    The moment the airship landed, a hatch door was pushed open as a middle aged man in the uniform of coxswain and the first mate of the airship came out. Zhang Tie and Colonel Lebniz then boarded on it.


    After greeting each other for half a minute, the coxswain murmured to the first mate. The first mate then entered the airship. After a short while, crew members drew out the goods by a manual hydraulic trailer from the airship. Those goods were sealed in the shiny metal boxes. Each box could rightly be carried by a person just like a carry-on luggage.


    The boxes were especially for carrying expensive vials of medicament. At the sight of those boxes on the hydraulic trailer, Colonel Lebniz''s eyes gleamed like that of wolves.


    Dozens of boxes were placed in front of Colonel Lebniz and Zhang Tie in two piles tidily.


    Colonel Lebniz glanced at Zhang Tie, who also nodded. Thus, Colonel Lebniz walked to a box and opened it.


    The moment he opened it, he caught sight of the rows of vials of medicament being inserted in the soft protective grooves like soldiers being ready for review.


    Colonel Lebniz instantly took out one vial and drunk it. After closing his eyes for while, he opened his eyes with a satisfactory look.


    Watching those boxes, Colonel Lebniz was so thrilled that he even felt his blood rushing to his head. "God bless, only 70 all-purpose medicament were allocated by Iron-Horn Army; but the Iron-Horn Army now have almost 2000 vials of all-purpose medicament." At the sight of so many vials, Colonel Lebniz almost passed out.


    At this moment, Colonel Lebniz even worried about those empty boxes.


    After taking a deep breath, Colonel Lebniz asked Zhang Tie in a slightly quivering voice, "First Lieutenant Zhang Tie, are...these all-purpose medicament?"


    "Yes. Each box contains 200 vials of all-purpose medicament. This time, 291 people want to leave Blackhot Cit together with me. 25 vials of all-purpose medicament for each person, 7275 vials in total. We have 42 boxes here, 8400 vials in total. Please transfer the 1000 of the surplus 1125 vials of all-purpose medicament to those brothers of Iron-Blood Camp as my gift. As to the rest 125 vials, please hand them to Salvey of Scouts Camp."


    "Although i''ve lost some commoners, I store a great quantity of all-purpose medicament for No.39 Division. This is really economical. If this piece of information is exposed, many people in the army would admire me."


    Colonel Lebniz was very satisfied with this trade. After hearing that Zhang Tie would like to send 1000 vials of all-purpose medicament to Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division, even 125 vials to his friends in the Scouts Camp of No. 39 Division, Colonel Lebniz was deeply moved. Each vial of these all-purpose medicament might save one soldier on the battle field. This indeed interpreted the meaning of comrade-in-arms.


    "Trust me, I will hand these 1125 vials to Iron-Blood Camp and your friends in Scouts Camp. These vials of all-purpose medicament would be freely used by them!" Colonel Lebniz said in a solemn way.


    "Thank you!"


    Colonel Lebniz then sighed as he put one hand on Zhang Tie''s shoulder, "First Lieutenant, you will be the military officer of No. 39 Division forever, nobody will dare to harm you as long as last soldier of No. 39 Division is alive!"


    Zhang Tie smiled and nodded.


    Colonel Lebniz glanced at First Lieutenant Vessie on his side. A great number of soldiers instantly rushed towards here from the base. In a wink, they had moved all these all-purpose medicament on the truck in the far. After covering the carriage tightly, a great number of soldiers instantly escorted that truck away with two armored vehicles.


    ...


    "First Lieutenant Zhang Tie, may I visit this fury-level airship?"


    "Please!"


    Under the leadership of the coxswain, Zhang Tie and Colonel Lebniz walked towards that airship. The moment they entered the hatch door, Zhang Tie had caught sight of Linda. As Linda was inconvenient to come out just now, she just waited for Zhang Tie inside the airship.


    Zhang Tie introduced Linda to Colonel Lebniz with a smile. He then visited the inside of the airship together with Colonel Lebniz while embracing Linda''s waist frankly. At the same time, the coxswain introduced the inside of the airship to them.


    Even Zhang Tie, who had seen airship for many times, had been amazed by the layout in the airship, not to mention Colonel Lebniz. The inside of this airship interpreted coziness and luxury so well.


    "This airship was manufactured on the concept of luxurious air yacht. That''s why its inner layout is completely different from common airships. Its cargo carriage is very small. The crew area is separated from the passengers area. The airship is divided into three floors, most of the space is for rest and entertainment. It is made of high-intensity light metal material, which greatly increases its manufacturing cost; however, it provides a larger internal space and a greater take-off weight!"


    "How many people could it hold?" Colonel Lebniz asked.


    "360 passengers could enjoy a comfortable and pleasant air travel experience; 700 people could be held if the passengers would like to sacrifice some coziness!"


    "What about its fighting force? I was told that fury-level airship has a very powerful air fighting ability."


    "Compared to military fury-level war airship, this airship has much less weapons. However, there are still two 3000-m range Thor-level steaming ballistas, four middle-range Naruto three-in-one crossbows and six dense steel beads emitters!"


    Hearing such an allocation, Colonel Lebniz sighed once again. Such fighting force had surpassed that of the in-service mad shark-level war airship in Iron-Horn Army. Compared to this airship being designed as a air yacht, the mad shark-level war airship felt shameless to be a war airship. These products from Huaiyuan Palace were really challenging.


    When they came to the observation deck which was semi-closed by the high-intensity reinforced steel, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Colonel Lebniz. Colonel Lebniz thought for a second before turning around, he then asked two of his followers to visit the engine room of the airship. Zhang Tie then threw a glance at the coxswain. The coxswain then left with another two people.


    Immediately, only three people were left on the observation deck. Linda felt that Zhang Tie would like to say something to Colonel Lebniz. Therefore, she also wanted to leave. However, Zhang Tie embraced her waist tightly. She then stayed with a warm feeling as she knew that Zhang Tie had accepted her inside.


    "There are another 108 boxes of all-purpose medicament in the airship!" the moment Zhang Tie finished his words, Colonel Lebniz became dumbfounded.


    He drew a breath. "108 boxes? That means over 20,000 vials of all-purpose medicament. How many vials of all-purpose medicament have Zhang Tie got from Huaiyuan Palace in total? The military of Norman Empire could only get 100,000 vials. However, Zhang Tie alone got 30,000 vials?"


    "Colonel, are you interested in taking all these vials of all-purpose medicament?"


    "What''s the price?"


    "Thanks for your help. Therefore, you could get them in a price 20% lower than that the military of Norman Empire could get from Huaiyuan Prefecture!"


    Zhang Tie''s words made Colonel Lebniz''s heart pound. Based on the current supply condition of all-purpose medicament, Colonel Lebniz knew that Zhang Tie not only brought him a great amount of gold coins, but also brought him a huge resource, which could not be measured by gold coins in Iron-Horn Army or Nordinburg.


    Colonel Lebniz could imagine how crazy those noble women would be when he would take out the all-purpose medicament in the salon of Nordinburg. This good was the best product to maintain youth and vitality for women now. It had a remarkable effect whether to daub it on one''s skin or drink it.


    Women were crazier than men about this product.


    ...


    When Colonel Lebniz left the airship, his face shined obviously. The moment he got off the airship, he had sent an order to the military officers in the base--to satisfy all the demands of this airship and complete its supply in the fastest speed...


    If he still treated Zhang Tie as his subordinate military officer before getting on the airship, he had already treated Zhang Tie as his best friend now.


    Zhang Tie was seeing off Colonel Lebniz on the airship. By this chance, he broke through the line of Iron-Horn Army for Jinwu Corporation. From Armes, the Mercenary Empire to Ewentra Archipelago, from Iron and Snow Wilderness to the north border of Norman Empire, such a network and power helped Jinwu Corporation lay a solid foundation for its development.


    ...


    "I feel through your eyes that something is in your mind!" Linda murmured to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie became stunned as he watched this elegant, beautiful and mature woman and sniffed her hair deeply. He then smiled, "I''m just missing you!"


    "Liar!" Linda slightly peaked Zhang Tie''s lips.


    Zhang Tie didn''t want to talk about this topic anymore. Therefore, he transferred the topic, "Oh, are you used to this airship?"


    "It''s fast. Only after half a day, we''re already here!" speaking of today''s travel, Linda showed an exciting look.


    "Oh, have you dealt with the affairs in Blapei?"


    "I''ve already transferred my store and clothes to others. I don''t know what to do then. Can I open a store in the future?"


    "Of course. As long as you like, you can open a big clothing shop in Huaiyuan Prefecture. As the boss, you can dress yourself well everyday and employ some people to sell your favorite clothes. In this way, you can make money and enjoy yourself. Additionally, you can show me your dress everyday. When we''re free, we can take a walk on the seaside. We can enjoy various seafood and buy whatever we want. In summer, we can have a vacation in islands, swim and catch crabs over there. We can have one vial of all-purpose medicament a day to keep ourselves forever young!"


    Linda imagined what Zhang Tie described as a desiring look flashed by her eyes, "Is that real?"


    "Of course!" Zhang Tie nodded firmly.


    "Do you have a lot of friends here?"


    "Hmm, you will see them tomorrow. You will set off tomorrow!"


    "You?" Linda realized something, "What about you, won''t you go there together with us?"


    "I have something to deal with. Trust me, I''ve already told my elder brother. You''re my woman, someone will take care of you in Huaiyuan Prefecture. Don''t worry about that, someone would accompany you on the way!"


    However, hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Linda did not feel reassured...


    ...

 518 Picking up People

    Chapter 518: Picking up People


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On January 14th, it was a bit sunny in Blackhot City. Although the accumulated snow outside the city had not completely melt but at the sight of the wisp of light through the thick clouds, people''s grief gradually reduced.


    At this moment, the Blackhot City was still prosperous and boisterous. Over 10 coaches with the license plate of No. 39 Division of Norman Empire were running in the streets of Blackhot City silently.


    Each coach had a military officer of No. 39 Division, who was holding the road map and a name list. They were picking up people as marked on the map according to the name list.


    For those soldiers and drivers in No. 39 Division, they were executing a military mission, during which period, no mistake was allowed. Therefore, everyone became very serious.


    ...


    When a car parked outside the Norbin Hotel, a military officer in the car got off the coach. A girls of Rose Association and her parents were waiting there. After checking their names, they all got on the coach...


    ...


    At the same time, another coach parked outside the Mangrove Shopping Mall in Blackhot City. At the sight of the coach, some people walked over here.


    "Are you Mr. Franca''s family?" the military officer asked politely.


    "I''m Franca..." as a common gardener in Blackhot City, Mr. Franca walked one step forward in a bit tense look.


    "Can you show me your migration certificates?"


    "Fine!" Franca revealed a smile as he took out the migration certificates of his family to that military officer.


    "Alright, please get on the coach!" the military officer invited them in politely.


    Franca''s family members then got on the vehicle. At sight of the familiar faces of the brothers of God Blessing Association, Franca responded with a smile.


    After finding some people in the vehicle were as old as them, Franca''s dad and mom started to chat with them and soon they became relaxed.


    ...


    Blues was cradling his younger sister. Lifting a luggage with his left hand, he was waiting outside the postal office of Blackhot City with his family members. Only after ten more minutes, a coach had already parked in front of them.


    After communicating with each other for a few seconds, Blues'' family got on the vehicle.


    ...


    The same scene happened in many places across Blackhot City.


    In the Red Maple Avenue in the north of Blackhot City, at the sight of Beverly in a beautiful red overcoat standing on the roadside with her parents, Zhang Tie ordered his driver to park over there. At the sight of Beverly through the window, Hista and the other guys of Brotherhood started to make ambiguous grimace towards Zhang Tie. If not their parents were sitting in the vehicle, they must have been booing and hooting.


    The moment the vehicle parked, Zhang Tie jumped off it and took over Beverly''s luggage, "Let me do it!"


    Beverly responded with a sweet smile. She let her mom get on the vehicle first, then herself.


    Watching such a spacious coach, Beverly''s dad asked Zhang Tie silently in the back of the coach, "Ah, so many people would like to leave out of here with you?"


    Although Zhang Tie had already told him that he would take some friends back together with him, Beverly''s dad had not imagined that it was a full coach of people instead of just 7-8 people. Therefore, he became a bit amazed.


    Zhang Tie then felt a bit diffident inside. After talking with Beverly''s parents that day, he found that Beverly''s dad had almost treated him as a will-be son-in-law. If Beverly''s dad saw those girls of Rose Association after a short while, Zhang Tie was wondering what Beverly''s dad would think about him.


    "Erm...I have many friends in Blackhot City!" Zhang Tie yawned as he invited Beverly''s dad in the vehicle. He then placed Beverly''s luggage.


    "Are we going to the railway station after a short while? We''d better buy sleeping berths; otherwise, Beverly''s mom might not stand it!"


    "Hmm, I know, I won''t let aunt feel uncomfortable!"


    "Papa, what''re you talking about. Come on, get on the vehicle!" Beverly urged them in the vehicle.


    The vehicle started once again. Zhang Tie was sitting on the side of the driver, which was close to the door. If it was a bus, Zhang Tie was in the position of the ticket seller. Beverly''s parents were sitting behind the two people and were chatting with Barley''s parents. Beverly was sitting on Zhang Tie''s side as she hugged Zhang Tie''s arm with a sweet look. For Beverly, she felt like traveling with her family members under the guidance of Zhang Tie, making her feel pretty sweet.


    "Bighead, who else should we pick up?"


    Doug, sitting on the back of the coach, called Zhang Tie''s nickname straightforwardly even at this moment. He had not noticed Leit''s expression at all. After Zhang Tie became the boss of the God Blessing Association, even Barley and Sharwin silently changed Zhang Tie''s appellation. They rarely called him Bighead anymore, except for Doug.


    Zhang Tie didn''t mind at all. Turning around his body, he explained, "I made a friend in Iron-Thorn Fighting Club, A''Nuo. I plan to pick him up this time. He has the same temper like you, Doug!"


    "Really?" Doug became excited, "That''s going be fun!"


    "Oh, how did you get your nickname Bighead?" Beverly asked Zhang Tie in a low voice.


    "Ah, erm...when in preliminary school, we used to play truant. As we could not escape from the front door, we could only drill out of the gap between protective steel bars in the classroom. Everyone could drill out easily, except for me because of my big head. My head was stuck in the protective steel bars, which made me very embarrassed. From then on, they called me Bighead!" Zhang Tie murmured to Beverly.


    Beverly revealed a smile at once as she had not imagined that Zhang Tie had such a story...


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie saw A''Nuo''s family who had been waiting for them near the Citizen Square of Blackhot City¡ª¡ªA''Nuo, his wife and two kids, who were younger than 8 years old.


    Seeing Zhang Tie getting off the vehicle, A''Nuo instantly held Zhang Tie''s hand tightly with an exciting look. He didn''t know what to say. Since last year, A''Nuo had already known some frightening information by chatting with some guests in the fighting club. As high-end clients gradually decreased, A''Nuo had felt the coming danger. However, he was unable to solve that. He had long expected to leave Blackhot City for his kids. However, he could not make it. Zhang Tie''s appearance made A''Nuo feel that the God had heard his prayer. He was very appreciative inside. A''Nuo had not imagined that his benevolence in the fighting club could win him such a great return. What an amazing fate!


    "Have you got this month''s salary from the fighting club?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Yes. Manager Hance even paid me advance salary of two more months'' when he knew that I was going to leave!" A''Nuo replied with full gratitude.


    Remembering that fat in the Iron-Thorn Fighting Club, Zhang Tie smiled, "That shrewd guy must have long managed his migration certificate. Such a sycophant don''t need my concern at all."


    "Good, get on the vehicle!"


    A''Nuo''s family then got on the vehicle. With two more kids in the vehicle, the coach became more boisterous.


    ...


    After picking up A''Nuo in the Citizen Square, Zhang Tie told another address to the driver.


    Several minutes later, the vehicle parked. Zhang Tie then jumped off the vehicle. Meanwhile, he needed the help from Barley and the other guys.


    "Ah, who will we pick up?" Barley frowned as he watched the apartment which had been covered with purple vines.


    "Cut the crap. You will know about that at once. I''m sure you will be surprised!" Zhang Tie smiled towards his brothers before walking in the apartment building.


    Barley and the other guys followed Zhang Tie to the third floor of this apartment building with full doubts. Zhang Tie knocked at a door on the third floor. After a few seconds, the door was opened. At the sight of Miss Daina''s beautiful face, the other guys were dumbfounded at once. Widely opening their eyes, they almost screamed.


    "Miss Daina!" Bagdad exclaimed at once.


    "Miss Daina, are you ready?" Zhang Tie asked her quietly with a smile.


    "I''m ready. but, Leona has inconvenience in movement..." Miss Daina said politely.


    "Ah, do you need help? Let me help you, let me help you..." Hearing that Miss Daina needed help, those horny students swarmed in at once.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see Miss Daina''s younger brother. He was more than 20 years old. With a pale face, the emaciated man was sitting on a wheelchair while frowning his forehead. It seemed that he was being troubled by many concerns. Not until he saw the group of horny guys pouring in and heard their appellation towards his elder sister did he relieve his frown.


    Bagdad, the most strongest one among them, directly carried Leona on his back. Sharwin folded Leona''s wheelchair while the other horny guys hurriedly helped Miss Daina to pick up the luggage--three trunks, leaving Doug standing alone there. Finally, he walked in front of cabinet and asked Miss Daina shamefully while smiling like a rotten pear, "Miss Daina, do I need to move this?"


    Miss Daina instantly burst out a smile. Watching her students, all of her concerns disappeared at once...


    Zhang Tie and the other guys made a contemptuous gesture towards Doug at the same time.


    ...

 519 A Brave Jump

    Chapter 519: A Brave Jump


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The moment Miss Daina got on the vehicle, the whole vehicle became much more boisterous. They all felt having a travel organized by the school. Even Leona, Miss Daina''s younger brother revealed a smile in such a happy atmosphere.


    At this moment, the other guys in the vehicle truly felt being dwarfed in front of Zhang Tie. He could even take Goddess Daina away, that''s too great! Greater than the Great King Bull in the famous Chinese fantasy novel ''Journey to the West''.


    Only after a glimpse at Miss Daina''s attractive figure, Beverly had understood everything. She then rolled her eyes towards Zhang Tie.


    "You badass!" Beverly murmured in Zhang Tie''s ear and pinched his waist forcefully.


    Zhang Tie drew a breath. He could only stand it as he didn''t even have a chance to right wrongs in the public .


    "I''ve not even touched Miss Daina''s hand!" Zhang Tie explained it to Beverly in a low voice.


    "Humph, I don''t believe you!"


    Zhang Tie became speechless. Perhaps he was excessive in some aspect in Beverly''s eyes. Therefore, she didn''t believe him even if he was telling the truth.


    ...


    Many people in the vehicle exchanged glances with each other when they found the coach directly ran towards the east of Blackhot City instead of the railway station of Blackhot City.


    "Bighead, aren''t we heading for the railway station, or are we going to pick someone else?" Doug asked.


    "Hehe, you will know it!" Zhang Tie briefed as he wanted to give them a surprise.


    After leaving the east city gate for one kilometer, the vehicle parked alongside a row of coaches.


    "Wait for a second, I will check whether all of them have arrived!" after saying that, Zhang Tie got off the vehicle and started to check those coaches one after another.


    At the sight of so many vehicles in front, Beverly''s dad widely opened his mouth. If all the people in the vehicles wanted to leave Blackhot City, it was at least 200 people. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie was such an able man.


    Seeing Zhang Tie coming over, those soldiers on the coaches also got off their vehicles and started to report to Zhang Tie. They had already picked up everybody according to the name list provided by Zhang Tie. All the vehicles had arrived except for one.


    When Zhang Tie came to a vehicle in the front, he caught sight of Ms. Anna. That woman smiled at Zhang Tie implicitly, so did Zhang Tie.


    "Take Ms. Anna away." this was what that Fatty Barley requested after plucking up his courage. Zhang Tie was wondering whether that guy still had a special feeling about this woman who had lost her husband and deteriorated into the secular world.


    Sharwin said Barley had not found any other women since graduation. Instead, he usually slept in Ms. Anna''s house. What a spoony guy! Sometimes, he even gifted her money and goods.


    Zhang Tie didn''t understand Barley''s emotions. However, considering that this woman turned all the brothers of Hit-Plane Brotherhood into real men except himself, Zhang Tie took her.


    At this moment, Ms. Anna just had a light makeup. With a silver enamel necklace and a fox scarf over his neck, she coiled her hair. Besides being a bit mature and alluring, she was almost like a fair lady.


    "As I''ve taken hundreds of people, I don''t care about taking one more." Actually, Zhang Tie was sympathetic about this woman inside. As to how Barley would treat her in the future, it had nothing to do with Zhang Tie.


    Captain Kerlin was also sitting in a coach. Seeing him crossing his arms, nobody dared to sit together with him. At the sight of Zhang Tie, his eyes even included a sort of threat--if Miss Daina didn''t go there, I will beat you well!


    All the girls of Rose Association and their family members had arrived. At the sight of the familiar faces, Zhang Tie became reassured inside.


    Zhang Tie let the coaches to wait here for a while.


    ...


    After 7-8 minutes, the last coach arrived. When the coach parked, Zhang Tie walked over there.


    "I''m so sorry. My wife''s younger brother is a bit naughty. When the vehicle arrived, we had to find him for a while..." seeing Zhang Tie, Wood explained on the vehicle in an embarrassing way. Wood brought the most family members. Besides his family members, he also brought his wife''s family members, 9 people in total.


    "It doesn''t matter. It''s just a few minutes. It''s okay..." Zhang Tie comforted Wood before asking that military officer on the vehicle, "Is everybody here?"


    "Yes, everybody is here!" that military officer nodded.


    Zhang Tie then got off the vehicle and made a hand gesture to that vehicle in front of him. After that, he got on his own vehicle. Then, the fleet drove forward orderly.


    Only after ten more minutes, the fleet had driven in that place where Zhang Tie and Colonel Lebniz welcomed the airship. That was an airship hub which was established by No. 39 Division outside the city, which was over 10 km away from Blackhot City.


    When entering the base, some people on the vehicles were a bit restless. When the fleet stopped in front of that huge fury-level airship, Zhang Tie jumped off the vehicle at first before calling Miss Daina and the other people to get off their vehicles.


    Watching such a huge, nice airship, everybody became dumbfounded. They had not imagined that Zhang Tie could fetch such a great airship as their traffic tool. Before the Catastrophe, this was like a large airplane. That was fabulous.


    "This...this is our...our traffic tool?" Barley stammered as he raised his head and watched this mountain-sized fury-level airship in its shadow.


    "Of course, why not? Do you think I brought you here for a visit?" Zhang Tie smiled.


    Standing in the huge shadow of the airship, many people raised their heads as they put their hand on the forehead and watched this huge giant in the air. Many girls of Rose Association became excited. For many people at present, this was their first time to take such a high-end traffic tool.


    Captain Kerlin, who only carried a luggage, combed his mane-like hair casually by hand as he walked over there. After glancing at Zhang Tie, he implied, "Brat, that''s my boy. You''re not bad." After that, Captain Kerlin started to greet Miss Daina enthusiastically, "Miss Daina, are you also heading for Jinyun Country?"


    At the sight of Captain Kerlin, Miss Daina was also stunned; however, she recovered her composure very soon, "Yes, I have prepared to take my younger brother to Jinyun Country for further treatment!"


    After hearing Miss Daina''s words, Captain Kerlin noticed that youth sitting in a wheelchair on her side who looked similar to Miss Daina. In a split second, Captain Kerlin had mixed moods. He finally understood why he could not get her heart¡ª¡ªbecause he didn''t know about her situation at all.


    Colonel Lebniz even bid a farewell to Zhang Tie. After saying some warmhearted words to Zhang Tie, he left.


    Seeing off Colonel Lebniz, Zhang Tie instantly called them to board on the airship. They had enough time to be amazed inside the airship.


    The coxswain and all the crew were welcoming them at the hatch door in tidy uniforms. Standing in two rows, all the crew chinned up and chested out in full spirit. Meanwhile, their hands were supporting on their waists, displaying their good spiritual outlook. The coxswain was standing at the entrance and greeting everybody entering the airship.


    For many people who took airship for the first time, everything here was fresh and stimulative. When they boarded on the airship one after another, they became more thrilled about the luxurious and cozy layout inside. The girls twittered and circled around the berth cabins. Those members of God Blessing Association also started to look around out of curiosity.


    Until 20 minutes later did they become a bit quiet when they confirmed about their own berth cabins.


    There were two spacious, luxurious berth cabins in the airship, according to Zhang Tie''s arrangement, one for Miss Daina and Linda, the other for Captain Kerlin and Miss Daina''s younger brother.


    The coxswain of the airship came to ask Zhang Tie whether to take off. Zhang Tie nodded. Then the airship slowly moved.


    When the airship took off, many people ran onto the semi-closed sightseeing deck on the airship to experience how the airship lifted in the air. Seeing the airship gradually leaving the ground, many girls of Rose Association shrilled loudly due to excitement.


    ...


    "Mr. Zhang Tie, I''m...I''m sorry for what happened!" the father of a girl of Rose Association called Feli finally got a chance to apologize to Zhang Tie solemnly once again. In order to show his sincerity to Feli''s parents, when Zhang Tie visited Feli''s home several days ago, he was treated as a human trader by Feli''s parents and was poured by a basin of vegetable-washing water in the winter. Out of fury, Feli''s dad almost wanted to send Zhang Tie to the police station.


    However, at the sight of such a luxurious airship, Feli''s parents finally believed in Zhang Tie''s words; they then came here to apologize to Zhang Tie once again.


    These days, Zhang Tie also experienced many things in the secular world. In order to take away these people whom he cared about, he had tasted a lot of feelings.


    "Haha, it''s okay. Just forget it!" Zhang Tie comforted Feli''s parents. He even asked whether their berths were comfortable or not and whether did they have any other demands. Therefore, Feli''s parents left pleasantly.


    After the airship rose in the air for less than 10 minutes, Zhang Tie came to bid a farewell to them.


    The members of God Blessing Association were shocked too much; even Miss Daina and Captain Kerlin were stunned.


    Zhang Tie just revealed a smile towards them, "I''ve already arranged everything for your arrival at Jinyun Country. Don''t worry. You don''t need to know what I''m going to do. I''ve promised to protect some lovable girls. It''s time for me to fulfill my promise."


    Captain Kerlin wanted to say something; however, Zhang Tie put one hand onto his shoulder. The man instantly changed his face as he felt the great, destructive power on Zhang Tie''s hand.


    Until then did Captain Kerlin realize that this teenager was not that Zhang Tie of before.


    ...


    After the airship left Blackhot City for 200 km and arrived above the wilderness, Zhang Tie ordered the coxswain to keep flying away from Norman Empire after he left. After that, the airship lowered its height and put down the rope. Zhang Tie then made a brave jump.


    ...


    None of girls of Rose Association knew that Zhang Tie left. They were told that he had left an hour later.


    Zhang Tie didn''t tell them what he was going to do. Only Fiona and Susan burst out into tears when they were told that Zhang Tie had left...

 520 Sneaking in Abyans Castle

    Chapter 520: Sneaking in Abyan''s Castle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Lurking in the woods, Zhang Tie was covered with a waterproof overcoat. He buried himself under snow and kept gazing at the castle down there quietly.


    This was the second day since Zhang Tie came here. After leaving the airship, Zhang Tie dodged from crowded roads. After darkness fell, he returned from Wilderness to Blackhot City. Zhang Tie didn''t enter the city; instead, he just lurked outside the city and kept his eyes on Abyan''s castle.


    After staying in Blackhot City for a few days, Zhang Tie had acknowledged many information about master Abyan.


    After becoming a orange-robe pharmacist, airship had become master Abyan''s traffic tool. He visited and returned from Nordinburg by airship this time. Therefore, Zhang Tie could only choose to ambush master Abyan in his castle.


    That was a castle full of evils. After inquiring about master Abyan''s message carefully, Zhang Tie learned that some people died in his castle every year due to various reasons since over one decade ago when master Abyan became well-known. Angel and the other girls of Rose Association who were killed were neither the first batch nor the last batch.


    Of course, death was a very serious problem for others, however, it was trivial in master Abyan''s eyes. With his special status as a pharmacist, master Abyan was always good at human relationships. Therefore, he could easily establish relationships with the most powerful ones and became the top guest of those people no matter who was ruling Blackhot City. In such a case, of course, it was nothing serious for him to kill some people.


    After many pharmacists were murdered on the continents, master Abyan also employed many powerhouses to protect him and became more careful in travel.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could fight master Abyan. However, there were some things in life that must be done.


    If it was two years ago, he and the other members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood would admire to be master Abyan''s assistant or apprentice at school. However, now, he only wanted to chop off his head.


    ...


    In the afternoon, a medium-sized airship landed on the airship hub outside the castle. After that, the airship was pushed into a warehouse beside the castle. Zhang Tie found that everybody in the castle were busy. In the evening, many vehicles drove into this castle from Blackhot City, making it boisterous at once.


    Zhang Tie knew that master Abyan was back.


    Zhang Tie kept waiting and observing quietly in the distant woods. He drunk one vial of all-purpose medicament in each three hours so as to maintain his best physical strength and state. He kept waiting there like a wild wolf and stealthily changed his locations in the chilly woods.


    Until the dark fell and the temperature started to drop did those people return to their vehicles and left. After waiting for another few hours, the castle recovered silence while lamps gradually blacked out. At midnight, when almost everyone fell asleep, Zhang Tie finally stood up from the snow field.


    After stretching his limbs, Zhang Tie put on the dark tore gloves. Additionally, he started a "rapid moving skill" and "hiding skill".


    With rapid moving skill, Zhang Tie moved faster and more swiftly. With hiding skill, Zhang Tie lowered his Qi by one level, enabling him more difficult to be found and sensed.


    With Zhang Tie''s dark vision, evening became as clear as daytime.


    Zhang Tie soon arrived at the exterior manor of master Abyan''s castle after flashing less than 2 km. In the evening, some people had started to go on patrol in the exterior manor. However, they were just small figures. They could only prevent commoners from entering the castle. Therefore, Zhang Tie easily flashed across the manor and came to the wall of the castle, which was as high as dozens of meters.


    The defense of the castle begun stricter from here. Some people were standing on the high wall. Additionally, some soldiers were going on patrol near here. Zhang Tie then came to the dark foot of a high bartizan outside the high wall and started to climb up.


    With a terrifying strength, iron-blood battle Qi and that pair of dark tore gloves, Zhang Tie firmly seized the exterior granite wall like grabbing rotten wood and clay sculpture. He easily inserted his fingers into the solid rocks and kept climbing up.


    Like a swift gecko moving in the dark, Zhang Tie soon reached below the crown-sized shooting mouth at the top of the bartizan which was higher than 40 meters. As long as Zhang Tie raised his head, he could see the part of steaming ballista that stretched out of the shooting mouth.


    Through the shooting mouth, he could see light and hear human voice.


    The moment Zhang Tie moved closer to the shooting mouth, he heard the sound of opening door and a fricative sound of leather shoes stepping on the floor.


    "Head, why are you here? It''s so late..."


    "Hmm, it''s the remained roasted goose of the banquet. I asked Wella to bring some here. It''s a bit cold, but you can still eat it..."


    Muffled cheers then drifted from the ballista.


    "Ah, those rich men are really wasteful. How could they throw such delicious food? We cannot always enjoy such good food!" Zhang Tie heard a voice mixed with a chewing sound.


    "After enjoying it, be careful on your work. Keep your eyes widely opened until the next shift!"


    "Don''t worry, head!"


    "Head, when will you marry Wella?"


    "Idiot. If Wella gets married to the head, she won''t make good food for us in the kitchen!" a voice broke...


    "Ah, I found a female cook in the kitchen. She''s nice, white skin and big breasts. Head, can you ask Wella to introduce her to me?"


    "F*ck, you can not even make 3 gold coins a month. How dare you dream for that? When you could make 10 gold coins like the head, even if you don''t open your mouth, women would come for you."


    They then derided and taunted each other...


    ...


    Hearing their talks, Zhang Tie knew that he had made the right choice. Abyan deserved to be killed; however, not each of his subordinates should die. Many people in this castle and manor were average people from Blackhot City. They were just here to survive themselves. "It''s truly cool to make a massacre here before chopping off Abyan''s head; however, how many people would be killed together with that bastard like cannon fodder?"


    Zhang Tie lay in the shadow below the shooting mouth of the ballista. Until that ''head'' left the bartizan in about 5 minutes did Zhang Tie detour to the other side of the bartizan. He came onto the wall of the castle through the stairs of the bartizan and slid into the castle along the wall.


    This castle was almost as large as Jinwu Castle. It was very difficult to find a specific target in hundreds of rooms. He might expose himself at any time.


    Therefore, the best way was to have someone lead him there.


    Commoners didn''t work, the steward of this castle was the most proper one.


    As for such a castle, when the owner returned and invited his guests in the evening, the steward could not take a rest until all the guest left and his owner went to bed. Therefore, the steward''s room must black out in the end.


    Additionally, according to Zhang Tie''s knowledge, although being not absolute, a qualified steward in a castle should live in a room, through the window or balcony of which, he could observe the major areas of the entire Castle.


    Although so many rooms were still bright, Zhang Tie instantly locked some targets facing the front of the castle and the manor.


    After dodging from two groups of patrolling guards, Zhang Tie flashed across an open place between the exterior castle and the interior castle. After that, he sprung up from the ground and stuck onto the external wall of the inner castle like a gecko in a shadowy area. Closely after that, he started to "swim" towards those windows in his memory one after another.


    Through the first two windows, Zhang Tie caught sight of a warehouse and a guard''s room. When he was close to the third window, Zhang Tie heard the sound "Pah...pah..pah..." from inside the room.


    Zhang Tie was very familiar with such a sound caused by collision between fleshes.


    Zhang Tie glanced at the inside of the room and saw an old douchebag colliding a woman''s butts while pressing her on the sofa.


    He showed his disgusting, loose and fatty butts while sweating all over. That woman was still wearing a servant''s black-and-white uniform.


    After a few minutes, the old asshole stopped while panting and cramping heavily.


    "Cecelia...trust me, the manor outside the city needs an inspector. You can send your brother to have a try over there next week..." the old guy opened his mouth after resting for a few minutes.


    The female servant remained silence in the whole process. She silently put on her skirt and helped him clean his body. Before leaving the room, she said in a low voice, "Thanks, steward, please...please don''t tell my younger brother about this!"


    "Don''t worry. As long as you follow my order, I will not tell anything to your younger brother!"


    When the female servant left, the old guy even touched her butts before seeing her off with a greedy look.


    Hearing the name Cecelia, Zhang Tie prayed silently for some bad-luck guy. What an utilitarian world! Between some young men who enjoyed eating the remained roasted goose left by the guests on the bartizan and a disgusting, fatty old guy who had some power over personnel affairs, any slightly beautiful female cook preferred to climb onto this old guy''s bed.


    After being indulged in love affairs, the old man exhausted his physical and mental strength. He then started to take a nap on the sofa with his eyes closed. Not knowing how long had passed, when the old douchebag felt a bit chilly, he realized that the window had not been closed.


    When he opened his eyes, he saw a black-haired young man standing in front of him. Before uttering any voice, his neck had been pinched by that young man''s terrifying black glove.


    That young man''s strength felt like that of a strong adult while the old guy''s neck was like a slim candle. As long as the young man used his strength, the old guy''s neck would be broken.


    The steward started to struggle; however, it was useless as a fly could never push down a city wall.


    "If you want to survive and follow my order, then you nod; if not, I will kill you right now!"


    Before the old douchebag was suffocated, he heard Zhang Tie''s sound. Although being too weak to struggle, he tried his best to nod.


    Zhang Tie then slightly loosed his grip, allowing him to take a breath.


    "Who...who are you, what..what do you want?" after recovering his composure a bit, the old man watched Zhang Tie with a terrified look.


    "You don''t need to know who I am. I''m here only to chop off Abyan''s head. As I don''t know the road in the castle, please lead me there!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    "Ah..no way..." the old man changed his face right away.


    Zhang Tie then replied with a smile, "You might have not figured it out. From now on, if you want to save your life, you''d better pray that I could chop off Abyan''s head!"


    "How come that be?"


    "Why not? You only have three choices now; Don''t follow my order, pretend to follow my order and play tricks or follow my order. If you choose the first one, I will kill you right away; if you play tricks, I will kill you too; if you follow my order but If I fail, Abyan will kill you. Therefore, you should know that the only chance for you to survive tonight was to pray for Abyan''s death!"


    With a few words, Zhang Tie had broken through the old douchebag''s mental defense, making his face turn completely pale...


    ...

 521 Killing the Enemy with One Punch

    Chapter 521: Killing the Enemy with One Punch


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    Zhang Tie knew that an aged man who was greedy about sex and tyrannically abused his power would be very afraid of death. As this kind of person would always be used to indulging in various joys, they were very afraid of losing their privileges.


    It was very easy to break the mental defense of these kinds of people. As long as you let them know that they were in the palm of your hand and you could stomp them to death like a bug at any time, they would forget their ego completely. Even if you made them lick the soles of your shoes, they would do it better than a dog.


    Such a person was essentially a worm, regardless of their position.


    Of course, in order to stop him from playing any tricks, Zhang Tie took out a sharp dagger before putting on that loose, ascetic''s robe. In this way, that old douche-bag would remember that he might lose his life at any time.


    For Zhang Tie, he''d prefer to be stabbed ten times by a dagger than be struck by the dark tearer. However, this old douche-bag didn''t know about the effect of the dark tearer. In the eyes of commoners, a punch could never match a dagger.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie took out a sharp, bright dagger. After playing with it in his hands for a short while in front of the old guy, he hid it in the loose sleeve of his robe.


    Before going out, Zhang Tie uttered, "Wait for a second."


    The old guy quivered at once as he turned around. "What...what else?"


    Zhang Tie pointed at the fingerprints on the old douche-bag''s neck and said, "You need to put on a high-collared shirt. Or else the fingerprints might arouse people''s attention!"


    The old guy hurriedly changed his clothes. Zhang Tie glanced at him for a while carefully before he nodded and allowed him to open the door. "Remember, you need to be relaxed. Don''t play tricks or it will cost you your life. Don''t do stupid things. Then you might survive. If Abyan was dead, nobody would doubt you!"


    "You..really won''t kill me?"


    "You can choose to doubt me or believe in me. Which one do you choose?"


    The steward of the castle quivered for a second before becoming silent. Zhang Tie then put on his hood and covered a small part of his face. After hiding himself in that loose robe, Zhang Tie followed the old guy out of the door.


    It was very quiet in the corridor outside. There was a dim, fluorite lamp every ten or more meters. Zhang Tie and the steward were walking on the carpet silently one after another.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time here. The dark red carpet and the dark brown dado felt weird and oppressive. Walking along the corridor, Zhang Tie felt as uncomfortable as walking along a long, bloody esophagus of an animal.


    ''Is this the special aesthetic standard of pharmacists?'' Zhang Tie wondered, but his sixth sense told him that the atmosphere here was weird.


    At this moment, most of the people in the castle had gone to bed. Therefore, the castle became very quiet.


    Less than half a minute after they left the room, they had already caught sight of a team of patrol guards.


    Watching them walking towards him and the steward, Zhang Tie felt the steward become obviously stiff. Therefore, he put his sharp dagger against the steward''s waist through his loose sleeve while walking behind.


    The two parties then passed by silently, and nobody exchanged glances with each other.


    Zhang Tie then let out a sigh slightly. "Why don''t they ask who I am?" Zhang Tie asked the old guy in front of him in a low voice.


    "Because there are always some guests from Blackhot City. When guests come here, they don''t want to show themselves to the public. Therefore, they just wear a long gown like yours and cover a part of their face!" the old guy explained in a low voice.


    "Oh, who are the guests?"


    "They are young ladies from big clans or rich families. They are all lonely. Master Abyan will cure their loneliness! Some of them are rich men in Blackhot City. As they are impotent, they come here to buy yang qi strengthening water from Master Abyan," he replied.


    ''F*ck.'' Zhang Tie finally understood why women and men from Blackhot City always slid inside this castle for Abyan. Women £÷ere here to sleep with Abyan, while men were here for yang qi strengthening medicine. As they didn''t want to be recognized by others, they always dressed in this way. Therefore, those patrol guards just pretended to not have seen them.


    After a while, the steward led Zhang Tie downward along some spiral stairs inside the castle.


    "Doesn''t Abyan live above the ground?" Zhang Tie became a bit dubious.


    "Master Abyan works above the ground. But his bed room, study room and store room of expensive goods are in the basement of the castle! This is also one of Master Abyan''s weird habits."


    Zhang Tie took a deep breath. He didn''t believe that this old guy would dare to play any tricks on him. Therefore, he just followed the old guy downward. On the way, they met some guards and passed by them smoothly.


    The spiral stairs didn''t come to an end until they were dozens of meters underground. At the end of the stairs was a channel. If not for the carpet on the ground and the mural paintings on the two walls, Zhang Tie would have started to suspect that he was led into an underground prison.


    "After circling around here, you will arrive at Master Abyan''s room. There''re two guards outside the door. They were especially promoted by Master Abyan and are his trusted followers. They don''t follow my orders. You can go there yourself!" The steward besought in a low voice, "As I''ve brought you here, just let me go. Otherwise, you can batter me unconscious now!"


    "No, you have to go there together with me. If there truly are guards outside the door, I have to go inside the room together with you in case I arouse their doubts. Since we''re both here already, do you think that you have any other choice?" Zhang Tie said coldly.


    The old guy grit his teeth as he led Zhang Tie down the tunnel with quivering steps.


    Zhang Tie indeed caught sight of two guards over there. They noticed Zhang Tie and the steward at the same time. When they were closer to the guards, the old guy could not restrain his tenseness any more while facing an increasingly greater stress caused by Master Abyan.


    The two guards eventually stared at the old guy.


    The old douche-bag''s quivering body aroused the attention of the two guards. Finally, when they were over ten meters away, one of the two guards raised his hand to stop them from moving forward.


    Noticing that the guards had become alert, Zhang Tie instantly shocked the steward''s heart into pieces with one punch before darting towards the two guards at maximum speed. At the same time, his two fists struck the lower abdomens of the two guards without encountering any obstacles.


    Zhang Tie moved so fast that the two guards had no time to respond at all. As a LV 8 fighter, after eating nine huge-wolf seven-strength fruits, Zhang Tie''s explosiveness and strength had already raised his fighting strength to the highest level. Additionally, he was aided by his rapid moving skills, and therefore, he could reach such an unimaginable speed in such a short distance.


    In this castle, commoners could be forgiven. However, that old douche-bag was remarkably Abyan''s accomplice. He must have done a lot of bad things for Abyan, otherwise he would not gain Abyan''s trust. How could Zhang Tie keep him alive? Zhang Tie didn''t need to fulfill his promise to him.


    Bad guys'' secrets should not be preserved. No need to be honest to bad guys¡ª¡ªThis was what Zhang Tie''s mom had taught him when he was young.


    When Zhang Tie''s fist struck the lower abdomens of the two guards, the faster one among the two guards had just put his hand onto his sword handle. Zhang Tie''s iron-blood battle qi then exploded inside their bodies, mingling their guts into a mess.


    Without uttering a sound, they had already fallen to the ground.


    Zhang Tie then put his hand on the handle of the door in front of him. Releasing his great strength, he instantly broke the lock. Soon after that, he kicked open the door and threw off his robe. Almost at the same time, he flashed in.


    There were two people in the room. Hearing the noise, they both raised their heads.


    Zhang Tie caught sight of the two people, one in an orange pharmacist''s robe was about 30 to 50 years old and looked weird and charming. The other one was more impressive to Zhang Tie because of his wolf-like eyes. Being gazed at by that man, Zhang Tie felt like being gazed at by a wolf.


    Zhang Tie found that they were negotiating about something. The one in the pharmacist''s robe was sitting in the main position while the other man was talking about something with him.


    "Zhang Tie!"


    "Major Franca?"


    At this moment, both Zhang Tie and Major Franca were shocked.


    Remembering Zhang Tie''s excellent swordsmanship, which had almost wounded him, Major Franca responded immediately as he sprung up from his chair and drew out of his long sword, increasing the distance between him and Zhang Tie at once. Meanwhile, he slashed towards Zhang Tie''s neck in a very ferocious way.


    After more than one year, Major Franca had made great progress in both movement and fighting skills. It seemed that he had already reached LV 9.


    Major Franca was also full of confidence as he showed a joking expression, like how a wild wolf looked when it caught sight of its prey.


    With a cold expression, Zhang Tie just watched Major Franca''s sword, which was full of gloomy, killing intent, drawing close to him. After that, he stretched out his arm and caught Major Franca''s blade at once, twisting the blade into noodles. He then punched through Franca''s chest, revealing his fist through Franca''s back...

 522 The Real Status of Master Abyan

    Chapter 522: The Real Status of Master Abyan


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    Major Franca stared at Zhang Tie with a look of disbelief. Over the past year, he had made great progress. He thought that he could have easily defeated Zhang Tie. He had not imagined that he was done for the moment the teenager attacked him.


    At this moment, Major Franca could not sense any pain at all. Instead, he only felt dumb and cold due to his gradually weakening qi and vitality, like when a balloon was deflated by someone. He then lowered his head and stared at the arm that penetrated through his chest before looking at Zhang Tie''s sarcastic expression.


    "I''ve not imagined...that you...could improve so fast!"


    Soon after muttering this sentence, plasma started to pour out of Major Franca''s mouth.


    Zhang Tie drew back his hand rapidly as he threw the ball of scrap iron onto the ground. After that, he gazed into the wolf eyes of Major Franca. "In Blapei you should have realized that you have no advantage over me in response time!"


    "Don''t...I?"


    After muttering this, Major Franca fell down.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie charged at Abyan.


    Abyan was just watching him quietly without any sort of flurried look. When Zhang Tie pounced at him, he simply stomped on the ground. Almost at the same time, a wall of seven centimeters wide steel bars fell down from the ceiling of the room, keeping Zhang Tie several meters away from him. Abyan instantly slid downward into a cave that appeared on the floor and disappeared at once.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Abyan would have such a layout in his room. When Zhang Tie was dodging away from the barrier, Abyan had already disappeared in front of him. Zhang Tie was almost driven mad.


    "Ah...open..." Zhang Tie roared as he tightly held two steel bars and started to pull them open, causing cracks on the bricks that held them. Gradually, the two steel bars became bent and allowed Zhang Tie to slip through. At the sight of that six or seven square meter cave on the floor, Zhang Tie instantly jumped inside.


    The cave was inclined downward. The stones inside had been polished and they were very smooth. It looked like an underground tunnel. Zhang Tie kept sliding downward. After over ten meters, he heard a sound above his head. Raising his head, he found the entrance of the cave was blocked. Zhang Tie''s heart instantly raced as he became alert. During the process, he grabbed the smooth walls of the tunnel using his dark tearer so as to control his speed and balance in case of an emergency.


    Even though he was trying to control his speed, Zhang Tie still slid down at a very high speed. When he was about 100 meters away from the exit, Zhang Tie caught sight of some light. He then pushed off the wall with his hand to accelerate at once, flashing out of the tunnel immediately.


    The moment he landed, Zhang Tie had rolled forward on the ground to an alert posture.


    At the sight of the scene, Zhang Tie was greatly stunned.


    This underground space was like a theater. The entire space was as bright as daytime. It was covered with high mirrors everywhere. The mirrors formed a maze. However, Abyan''s reflection appeared in each mirror at each angle. He was watching Zhang Tie calmly.


    ''This is a lighting and shadow maze according to the principles of optics. Abyan didn''t know that I was going to come here, therefore he didn''t prepare this for me, but for himself. How abnormal he must be for setting hundreds of mirrors in such a hidden place.''


    Zhang Tie looked around and was confused about Abyan''s whereabouts.


    "Zhang Tie. I''ve heard of your name for a long time, but this my first time seeing you here. It seems that you want to kill me?" In the mirrors Abyan opened his mouth as calmly as before.


    "Right. I''m here to chop off your head today!" Zhang Tie slightly frowned. Abyan''s voice drifted from everywhere, making him fail to locate him. ''It seems that Abyan has set a special acoustical transmission system here.''


    Now that he could not find Abyan for a short while, Zhang Tie didn''t wait there anymore. Instead, he chose the simplest and most efficient way to force Abyan to show himself. He moved in front of a mirror and punched it, breaking the expensive crystal mirror into pieces.


    After another punch, he broke another mirror...


    After the third punch, he broke one more mirror...


    After a few seconds, seven or eight Abyans disappeared.


    "May you tell me why you want to kill me?" Master Abyan in the mirrors still looked very calm.


    "To get revenge!" Zhang Tie replied as he kept breaking mirrors one after another.


    "Is it because of the dead girls in Blackhot City?" Abyan forced a smile.


    "How do you know of the relationship between me and them?" Zhang Tie stopped.


    "I didn''t know about that before. However, I found out after the arrival of Franca. Therefore, I employed those girls as my assistants. I wanted to gain some information from them. Both Franca and I are very curious about you. We want to know your secret."


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that their deaths were related to himself. Tightly clenching his fist, Zhang Tie radiated a furious killing intent from all over his body.


    "What secret do I have?"


    "You have too many secrets. You can form Iron-Blood Hidden Strength in a short time. You can defend blue frost. You can achieve fast improvements in your physical strength and fighting strength. You might even have formed Iron-Blood Battle Qi after only a bit longer than one year. Your body is priceless in my eyes!" Saying this, Master Abyan''s greedy eyes almost blazed as he licked his lips.


    "F*ck, if you want to know my secret, just do that to me. Why did you make so many innocent people involved?" Zhang Tie became completely furious. His battle-qi totem rolled densely as he accelerated his movement by more than ten times in a split second, breaking dozens of mirrors at once, causing constant cracking sounds.


    "What silly people! You still know nothing about your secrets even now. Do you think that I could only get your secrets through you? You''re wrong. As you were the first and only boyfriend in the lives of those girls, I could also discover your secret through those girls!" Saying this calmly, Abyan watched Zhang Tie, who was driven extremely mad, with a jeering smile. "I see a very powerful vital source in you which has new-born features. Even if you didn''t come for me, I would have come for you. I''ve not imagined that you could send yourself here!"


    "Go die!" After destroying the majority of those mirrors, Zhang Tie finally found the optical principles of the maze. He deduced which one was the true figure of Abyan. Therefore, he charged at Abyan and punched at him at once.


    When his fist was close to Abyan, Zhang Tie saw that Abyan''s eyes turned completely dark and disappeared like the black background on the stage.


    Abyan opened his mouth and shrilled like how a siren cried, causing all the mirrors to explode into pieces. Zhang Tie felt like he was being hit by hundreds of kilograms of iron hammers at once. With a humming sound in his head, his ears, nostrils and eyes started to bleed. At the same time, Zhang Tie was sent flying back in the air.


    ''That''s powerful, that''s too powerful. Abyan is too powerful to be a human. Right, he is not a human at all...''


    After falling on the ground, Zhang Tie spat out blood as he struggled to get up. He then watched Abyan with an amazed look.


    At this moment, Abyan was twisting his body weirdly while his orange robe swelled, broke and exploded into pieces.


    With a "tsla" sound, his robe was completely ripped apart while a crocodile-tail like thing appeared from his back. Although he still looked like a man, his skull and brow ridge started to bulge as his face and neck were gradually covered with greenish scales. His hands transformed into monster''s claws with sharp fingernails. Additionally, his shoes were broken as his feet started to change completely.


    At the same time, a long tongue stretched out of his mouth like that of a poisonous snake. After quivering in the air twice, it was drawn back at once, causing a "hugh" sound.


    "De...mon..." Zhang Tie stammered like he was being pressed by a 100 kilogram object.


    "Wrong. We''re shadow demons, the rarest species of demons. Please don''t confuse us with common demons!" Abyan''s voice became muffled like something was in his throat, causing an exotic resonance.

 523 The Holy War Broke ou

    Chapter 523: The Holy War Broke out


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Shadow demon?" Zhang Tie heard about this term in the legend. This kind of demon caused a catastrophe to humans. They got their name from their great transforming ability. They were like chameleon and some octopus at the bottom of the sea. They were born to transform their looks. The transforming ability of shadow demon was much greater than that of chameleon and octopus. This was the most weird and dangerous ability adopted by demons. As long as they liked, they could transform into any person.


    The fact that Master Abyan was a shadow demon could shock numerous people for sure. This was out of everyone''s imagination, yet it was reasonable. Because in the human history, those shadow demons who could transform into humans had brought a huge terrifying catastrophe to all the humans. When shadow demons appeared as human elites, they might become the presidents, leaders and those big figures who had great powers of a human country. If such a demon who desired destruction of humans by keeping them under the control of demons and ascended to the throne of a human country, it would cause a much greater harm to humans than a demon army.


    Besides casually transforming their own looks, shadow demons had a more frightening ability, to plunder and combine with other''s genes. They were terrifying gene plunderers.


    Shadow demons were the synonym of liars, plots and catastrophe.


    "It turns out that the frightening demon was always near me. It''s always in Blackhot City as an influential person."


    Master Abyan, who displayed his real status as a shadow demon, walked towards Zhang Tie one step after another. Zhang Tie didn''t know why such a demon would appear in Blackhot City. However, Zhang Tie was clear that now that it had displayed its original look, it didn''t plan to let him survive here. If he fell into its hand, Zhang Tie could only expect for death in a faster way.


    When two enemies encountered in a narrow path, they had to fight for death!


    "Kill..." Widely opening his furious eyes, Zhang Tie darted towards Abyan once again without any fear. He reached directly towards Abyan''s chest with thunder-like fists and lightning movements. This movement gathered all of Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy and qi. It was the most powerful attack that Zhang Tie could afford.


    However, Abyan, who had recovered his demon''s look, just stood there still. When Zhang Tie struck onto Abyan''s scaled chest, he became excited inside. Almost in a split second, Zhang Tie had attacked Abyan for over 100 times all over his body; including head, neck, chest and lower abdomen.


    However, Abyan just stood there still like a mountain.


    "How could it be?" Zhang Tie became stunned. Each time he touched Abyan''s body, Zhang Tie felt like being blocked by a strength. There seemed to be an invisible armor on Abyan.


    Abyan''s tail then swept towards Zhang Tie like a leg. It struck on Zhang Tie''s chest, sending Zhang Tie flying back over 30 m. Zhang Tie finally hit onto the wall and fell down together with some broken stones from the wall.


    Zhang Tie then spat out mouthful of blood as he felt his bones being broken all over. At the same time, Zhang Tie felt humming in his head while sparkles were in front of his eyes. If not having eaten a lot of Iron-Body Fruits, Zhang Tie knew that he must have been completely crippled. Two of his ribs seemed to have broken. Besides, his breast bone had cracked. Panting heavily, Zhang Tie struggled to get up from the ground slowly.


    "You humans are as weak as ants in our eyes. Among all the people that I''ve ever seen, I have to admit that you''re the most powerful one on LV 8 at this age. Your strength is even greater than most of LV 11 fighting masters. You gave me a big surprise. However, gaps between levels could not be easily narrowed. For instance, a bigger mice could not be heavier than a new-born elephant. In front of a LV 14 fighting demon who has formed his protective battle Qi, even if you''ve already formed Iron-Blood Battle Qi and have much greater strength than that of others on your level, it''s still useless! However, your body has made me more surprised!" Abyan revealed a smile on his fully-scaled, grim face before walking towards Zhang Tie one step after another.


    "LV 14 fighting demon? protective battle qi?" Zhang Tie felt hopeless at once when he heard these words. Zhang Tie could hardly narrow the 6 levels gap.


    Zhang Tie attempted to contact with Castle of Black Iron; however, he found his spiritual energy was very unstable at this moment. That guy''s terrifying sonic attack directly penetrated through his head and messed up his spiritual energy. Plus the following collision, Zhang Tie had been greatly wounded all over. Of course his spiritual energy could not exist independently from his body. At this moment, his spiritual energy was absolutely like a mustang that escaped from the stable, which could be hardly collected at once.


    "Are you regretful about coming here?" Zhang Tie asked himself. However, even now, he still didn''t feel regretful at all. He had to do something. He just wondered why a LV 14 fighting demon would hide in Blackhot City in the look of a human.


    "I know what are you thinking about. For our shadow demons, we could not exert our utmost ability ourselves; instead, we have to exert our ability to the utmost by combining ourselves into human society. We have many fighting demons. In the eyes of many powerful humans, especially knights, there''s no difference between a LV 14 fighting demon and a LV 8 fighter. Therefore, I chose to hide in Blackhot City so as to gain greater privilege and influence as a pharmacist and play a bigger role than a LV 14 fighting demon!"


    Before Zhang Tie asked the reason, Abyan had already explained it to him, "After knowing this, you will have a good death. Do not struggle anymore, because it would make you more painful. I could feel your upsurging vitality. If I could engulf you, I might complete the evolution of my second form. I''ve been waiting for it since a long time. It''s very difficult for me to meet a man who''s suitable to be engulfed and could bring me much vitality. Commoners are useless for me. If I engulf commoners, I have to pay the same amount of vitality to gain vitality from them."


    Zhang Tie felt that Abyan just treated him as a yummy dim sum, a rare tonic.


    "Pah..." Zhang Tie spat out a mouth of blood as he revealed an untamed smile, "You want to engulf me? Go eat shit!"


    After saying this, Zhang Tie darted towards the shadow demon once again. Zhang Tie would never make this b*stard happy even at the risk of his life.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie drew out of the dagger. He exerted his full efforts to throw it towards Abyan in a sound-breaking speed like a flying javelin.


    The dagger stopped in front of Abyan''s left eye, closely after a loud sonic boom.


    Abyan''s invisible battle qi undulated for a short while. The dagger then fell down before Abyan, who caught it by hand and threw it back towards Zhang Tie, causing another sonic boom. The dagger almost penetrated through Zhang Tie''s left scapula, causing a blood spurt on Zhang Tie''s shoulder. At the same time, Zhang Tie was sent sliding back and was finally nailed onto the stony wall on his back. Zhang Tie uttered a muffled harrumph as half of his body was tainted with fresh blood at once. He looked miserable; however, his battle intent was still burning in his eyes as he deadly gazed at Abyan who was walking towards him.


    It was already out of Zhang Tie''s ability to narrow the 6 levels gap. That was a bottomless chasm and an endless natural moat.


    "I''ve told you, if the huge gap between levels could be mended up by brutal strength, people didn''t need to cultivate anymore!" saying this, Abyan slowly walked in front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie stretched out his right hand and pulled out of the dagger on his left shoulder and stabbed towards Abyan.


    Abyan just stretched out his weird claw and slightly twisted Zhang Tie''s right hand, breaking all the bones of Zhang Tie''s right hand at once along with a cracking sound.


    Zhang Tie kicked towards Abyan''s lower abdomen like a huge ax while breaking the air. Seeing this, Abyan swept his tail over Zhang Tie''s feet. With a cracking sound, Zhang Tie''s feet were broken.


    Spitting out blood, Zhang Tie knelt down by one knee to maintain his balance. At this moment, Abyan stretched out one claw and stuck Zhang Tie''s neck, lifting Zhang Tie above from the ground. He then moved Zhang Tie in front of him as he looked straight at Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    "I rarely have seen such a stubborn person who has a great potential. As long as you promise me to serve demons loyally and become my bloody descendant, I will give you a chance to survive. You can have paramount privilege and have numerous women; you can enjoy everything in the world..." Abyan gazed at Zhang Tie with his pitch dark eyes as he said icily.


    "Mo...motherf*cker!" Zhang Tie ferociously struck onto Abyan''s face with his head. Although Zhang Tie''s head started to bleed, Abyan was still safe and sound. Zhang Tie raised his head and grit his teeth before striking onto Abyan''s face once again. Blood spurted out of Zhang Tie''s skull. After striking Abyan for the third time, Zhang Tie''s skull was broken while his forehead had transformed. Whereas, Abyan''s protective battle qi remained unchanged as firm as steel.


    Zhang Tie''s eyes were blurred by fresh blood, making the world in Zhang Tie''s eyes look bloody.


    "If so, go to hell..." seeing Zhang Tie being still that uncompromising, Abyan''s tail raised while the tip of the tail inserted into Zhang Tie''s spine through Zhang Tie''s neck.


    Zhang Tie''s body then started to quiver all over. Being stabbed by that tail, Zhang Tie felt that his qi, blood and energy were all absorbed by that tail.


    "How energetic vitality. Your vitality is at least 20 times that of human fighters of your level. This is really the best gift from the Demon God!" Abyan became thrilled as he grim his face and revealed a smile. Meanwhile, he stretched out his snake''s tongue and started to lick the fresh blood that flew off Zhang Tie''s head like tasting yummy food.


    Abyan''s body started to radiated red glow. With a heavy bloody taste, the red glow slowly covered Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie felt that he was losing his vitality rapidly. This process was completely converse to that when he ate seven-strength fruits. When the tail inserted into his spine, Zhang Tie felt that his strength of qi, strength of blood, strength of bone, strength of marrow, strength of vein, strength of passage and strength of spirit were constantly drawn out from his body and flew into Abyan''s body.


    The vitality that mentioned by demons referred to the above seven strength in human body.


    The red glow over Abyan''s body started to appear more brilliant while the bloody taste covering Zhang Tie''s body grew dense. Gradually, an ox horn started to bulge on Abyan''s forehead. Meanwhile, a bone film appeared and gradually grew on Abyan''s back like rat''s wings...


    Abyan became so excited that he even raised his head and uttered a terrifying roar.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what happened to Abyan. It seemed to be an evolution of shadow demon. However, Zhang Tie knew that he was losing his vitality rapidly. He was going to die soon. "If not those seven-strength fruits, I might have already died."


    Using his instinct, Zhang Tie moved his left hand and reached towards his double-carp sword. At the same time, a sharp sword qi flashed out of Zhang Tie''s waist and circled around Abyan''s neck...


    "Hoho, I''ve not imagined that you could play such a trick. But it''s useless. These common weapons could never break my protective battle qi at all..." although the sharp golden carp blade circled around Abyan''s neck, Abyan just waved his head to make the golden carp blade drop off Zhang Tie''s hand. Abyan then watched Zhang Tie with a bantering and satisfied look, allowing Zhang Tie to struggle, he even scratched him using his left hand in vain, "Struggle, humble human; be afraid, weak human; your fresh blood would be sweeter with your fear!"


    ...


    "Am I going to die this time?" Zhang Tie''s consciousness gradually became blurry...


    Not knowing how long have passed, Zhang Tie suddenly became awake. This was the last awakening time of his life. When he woke up, he found that he only had 10% of his vitality. While Abyan became more terrifying. The bloody light covered Zhang Tie like a heavy bloody cocoon, making Zhang Tie pretty weak.


    Because too much spiritual energy had been drawn out, Zhang Tie felt that his remaining spiritual energy became stable although it was still flowing away.


    The horn on Abyan''s forehead was growing bigger. Watching the horn, Zhang Tie instinctively took out that horn that he picked up from the sludge in the river when he attended the survival training in the wild wolf valley from Castle of Black Iron. After that, he injected all the Iron-Blood Battle Qi into that sharp horn before stabbing it towards Abyan''s heart...


    The sharp object radiated a dim light after being injected with Iron-Blood Battle Qi. It smoothly broke Abyan''s protective battle Qi and stabbed into Abyan''s heart.


    Abyan quivered at once as he watched that object with an unimaginable look. Like being fixed, his face was full of fear...


    Zhang Tie also started to quiver. When he stabbed that horn into Abyan''s body, he felt his palm hot as a great amount of energy flew into his body through that horn. Zhang Tie felt being locked tightly with Abyan at this moment. Neither of them could move.


    Abyan was engulfing Zhang Tie''s energy just now; however, after Zhang Tie stabbed that horn into Abyan''s body, he started to engulf Abyan conversely. One human, one demon and one strange horn then formed a mysterious circulation.


    Abyan wanted to open his mouth; however, he couldn''t say any word, neither could Zhang Tie. He only felt getting hotter and hotter all over while his qi, blood, energy and red glow grew richer and thicker...


    Before completely losing his consciousness, Zhang Tie locked that arched door in his mind¡ª¡ªgo back!


    ...


    The news that Abyan was assassinated made his castle become an empty place in three days. All the commoners who were afraid of being involved with this accident had escaped away. Besides, they took away all the valuable objects across the castle.


    The whole Blackhot City was in chaos...


    After seven days, a person appeared above the castle like a burning cloud.


    Watching that castle at his foot, Zhao Yuan growled out of fury as he released a punch downwards the castle. With a boom, Blackhot City seemed experiencing an earthquake. At the same time, Abyan''s castle disappeared, leaving a 100-m deep pit while the underground water filled the pit.


    After a few days, a senior investigation team led by a big figure and some knights assigned by Norman Empire arrived at Blackhot City. When they stood on the side of the lake which was said to be a castle one month ago, they all became silent.


    ...


    After over one month, over 30 countries and regions across Blackson Humans Corridor broke out demon catastrophes. Being controlled by puppet worms, the undying army spread across the ground like locusts...


    The third holy war broke out!


    ...

 524 Three Years

    Chapter 524: Three Years


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie felt that he had made a long, sweet dream and became a fetus in his mom''s womb once again. Being soaked in warm water, Zhang Tie didn''t know how long had he slept. When he started to recover his consciousness, he twisted his body for a short while before opening his eyes.


    It was dark in front of his eyes. After a short while, Zhang Tie realized that it was not because he lost his visual ability, but because he was wrapped in a thick, hard and dark cocoon-like mucous shell.


    "I''ve not been suffocated to death?"


    A whim flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind. He then started to move his limbs. With a crashing sound, he tore off that mucous shell and walked out of it.


    When he walked out of there, Zhang Tie was not adapted to the tender light in the outside. Therefore, he slightly narrowed his eyes. After a few seconds, Zhang Tie started to glance over this place.


    Abyan was also wrapped in a 2m-high bloody cocoon. However, Abyan had become a completely dried corpse. He almost shrunk by half of his original body. Like a weathered lizard flesh, he looked very frightened. The sharp horn was still there in his chest.


    After glancing at Abyan, Zhang Tie moved his eyes away.


    He caught sight of the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree, which made him reassured at once. As long as he was in Blackhot City, he would be safe. However, the small tree in front of him looked a bit different than that before. Concretely, it grew taller with more dense leaves. "The surrounding houses didn''t change too much; but why this space became a bit different than before?"


    Zhang Tie remembered that when he came here last time, the length and the width of the space of Castle of Black Iron was less than 1 km. However, at this moment, both the length and the width of the space of Castle of Black Iron reached about 10 km, which was almost one hundreds times greater than the former figures. Zhang Tie saw a lush plain in front of him which was covered with various crops and woods. What a prosperous scene! There was even a 100-m high hill miles away. The hill was covered with undulant woods. Plus an over 20 square km of glittering lake. All this shocked Zhang Tie.


    If not that small tree and the rolling colorful clouds in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie almost thought that he had come to the wrong place.


    "But, it really feels great to gain a new birth."


    At this moment, based on the angle of the light in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie knew that it was noon. Some diligent bees were circling around Zhang Tie while being attracted by the special smell of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie could sense the pleasant mood of those bees.


    Standing still for a few seconds out of amazement, Zhang Tie found Heller was not here. Therefore, he came to the riverside which was not far from him and prepared to cleanse up himself. Because he found that his clothes had been ragged and rotten, which looked poorer than beggars. Besides, he felt glutinous which made him more uncomfortable.


    Zhang Tie came to the riverside. The moment he put off that dark tore gloves, he caught sight of his hands.


    This pair of hands were completely different from that before as they were covered with black scaled skin while each fingernail looked as sharp as a blade, shining cold light.


    "Ah..." Zhang Tie was too scared that he started to exclaim. At the same time, he faltered back. However, before he fell down, he felt that another foot appeared on his back which supported on the ground to maintain his balance. Zhang Tie looked back and wanted to see what was that. Unexpectedly, that thing moved in front of him in a very agile way. He could see it clearly...


    It was a tail like that of Abyan, which was similar to his third finger or third foot...


    Zhang Tie was too frightened that his face turned blue at once. He became completely flurried. Right then, his clothes were broken while a pair of wings stretched from his shoulder. Each wing was about 3 m in length. The wings flapped forcefully, dragging Zhang Tie away from the ground.


    After his clothes were torn off, Zhang Tie saw a layer of black scales over his body. In the reflection on the stream, he even saw a horn on his forehead.


    Raising his head, Zhang Tie shrilled miserably, "What''s happening? Ah...how can I become this?"


    At this time, he found that his voice also became muffled due to the weird change of his vocal cords. His words had a hoarse effect.


    Heller darted towards Zhang Tie from afar and stopped several meters in front of Zhang Tie. Watching Heller''s calm look, Zhang Tie slightly recovered his composure.


    At this moment, the pair of huge wings had already lifted him 8 m in the air and suspended him there.


    "Ah, Heller, what''s happening to me? How can I look like Abyan..."


    "Don''t worry, Castle Lord. Come down first. I will explain to you slowly!" Heller raised his head and told Zhang Tie.


    "Ah...erm..erm...how can I come down. I cannot control myself!"


    "You can. This is your instinct in this state like walking and breathing. As long as you are not nervous. You will know how to come down!"


    After hearing Heller''s suggestion, Zhang Tie tried to calm himself down. After that, when he intended to come down, he had already landed steadily on the ground while flapping his wings.


    The pair of powerful wings with a layer of flesh film were folded at once.


    Before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, Heller had already displayed a three-dimensional image in front of Zhang Tie by drawing in the air...


    ...


    After ten more minutes, hearing Heller''s explanation and watching Heller displaying how the two groups of spiral DNAs engulfed with each other, Zhang Tie became dumbfounded.


    "You mean he didn''t engulf me in that case but I engulfed him? What''s that horn? How could it be so powerful? How could it break Abyan''s protective battle Qi and transfer Abyan''s vital energy to me constantly?" Zhang Tie touched that sharp horn in his hand as he asked.


    "Do you remember that legend about the Wild Wolf Valley when you attended survival training there?"


    "You mean that gold-eating boa which shocked the entire Blackson Humans Corridor?"


    "Right. This sharp object is a teeth which exfoliated from an adult gold-eating boa. It''s the most special object on gold-eating boa. This thing has the exotic ability to engulf and pierce through everything. After injecting your battle Qi into it, you activated it. Therefore, you had pierced through Abyan''s protective battle Qi with it. Meanwhile, at that moment, Abyan was experiencing the evolution of his second form, which indicated that his DNA was highly active. You three then formed a mysterious circulation, under the effect of which, Abyan''s second evolution process was reversed to you, making you look like this."


    "Can I recover my former look?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Yes, you can. Your former look was your first form while your current look is your second from. With the ability of shadow demon, you''re able to convert between two forms at your will!"


    "Whether I am a human or a demon now?"


    "It depends on your definition about humans and demons!" Heller watched Zhang Tie with a deep and savvy look.


    "What do you mean?"


    "If you differentiate demons from humans in terms of look, you are now a demon; if you differentiate it in terms of DNA, you''re neither a demon nor a human. Because your DNA combines the common features of both species. You''re now a mutated species. If you want to differentiate humans from demons in terms of ability, you''re purely a demon as you can do everything that a shadow demon could do. If you differentiate it in terms of soul and awareness, you''re yourself, namely human! Of course, it depends on your recognition about yourself. If it was people, at the sight of you, they would treat you as a demon for sure. However, any demon would treat you as their same species. Your first form would be considered as a transformation of a shadow demon. Nobody would believe that you''re Zhang Tie!"


    After hearing Heller''s answer, Zhang Tie became stunned as he became very painful inside. None of normal men would like to look like this.


    "Therefore..."


    "Therefore, after you leave Castle of Black Iron, as long as you expose your second form or special ability of demon, you would be treated as a demon, a shadow demon, which was the top enemy of humans. According to the ''Great Brilliance Charter'', anyone who kills a shadow demon could be promoted to be a Lord. Do you know what does this mean?"


    Of course Zhang Tie clearly knew that once he was exposed, he was doomed to be killed.


    "Oh. What''s the time now? How long have I stayed in the bloody cocoon? I have to go meet my friends!"


    Heller then watched Zhang Tie silently for over 10 seconds before opening his mouth, "It''s March 1st, 894th year of Black Iron Calendar..."


    "What?" gazing at Heller''s solemn look, Zhang Tie felt humming in his head as his face completely turned pale. He had not imagined that he had slept in the bloody cocoon for 3 years!

 525 The Price of Being a Pure Human

    Chapter 525: The Price of Being a Pure Human


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Three years elapsed in a wink. It took Zhang Tie one day to gradually adapt to this message. What made him a bit reassured was that all the people that he cared about had been properly managed.


    His elder brother was accompanying their parents. Before he left Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie already gave his elder brother the basic energy aura yeast which could constantly reproduce. Therefore, although he was not in Jinwu Castle, his elder brother could still maintain the supply of the all-purpose medicament and guarantee the development of Jinwu Corporation.


    "The members of God Blessing Association and those girls of Rose Association have already left Blackhot City and would be able to survive in Jinyun Country. I''ve already told my elder brother to take good care of Miss Daina and Linda. Therefore, they should also be safe." Before leaving Ice and Snow Wilderness, Zhang Tie had already made proper arrangements for everything over there. Therefore, even without him, the Ice and Snow Wilderness could still run normally.


    Thinking this way, Zhang Tie felt a bit better. However, Zhang Tie knew that many things must have happened and changed a lot of people.


    "Dad and mom must be worried about me very much."


    "How are my friends in Hidden Dragon Island doing now?"


    "How is senior sister Lan Yunxi?"


    "What''s up with God Blessing Association and Rose Association?


    "How''s Miss Daina and Linda now?"


    "And I missed the chance to meet Pandora..."


    According to Zhang Tie''s former plan, after seeing off his friends from Blackhot City, he was going to attend Pandora''s "hubby selection meeting" in Holy Golden Orchid Empire. He had not imagined that he would sleep for over 3 years. Therefore, he must have missed that meeting. Zhang Tie only hoped that Pandora''s "hubby selection meeting" had ended smoothly due to the coming holy war. However, the moment Zhang Tie remembered Pandora''s father, Haiger VII, he became restless, "Who knows what weird opinions would that mad emperor come up with?"


    What was most was that Zhang Tie didn''t know what happened to those people outside Castle of Black Iron and whether the holy war between humans and demons had broken out.


    Zhang Tie knew that he had missed too many things during the past three years. The only achievement that he had made was to survive the battle between him and a LV 14 demon.


    The price of survival was too big!


    After watching carefully that strange face in the mirror and that pair of pitch dark eyes, Zhang Tie roared as he punched the mirror into pieces. This was the 7th mirror that he broke this day. Perhaps, this face was very beautiful in the eyes of a pure demon like the pervert Abyan; however, as long as Zhang Tie saw such a bug face and monster claws, he felt an impulse to destroy everything.


    Many things were not considered precious until they were lost, such as human body. When you had it, you didn''t feel it was precious. However, when you lost it, you would realize that each pure, aesthetic line displayed the nobility of human body. According to myths, the God created human body according to his own image, which indicated that human body was perfect.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie felt being polluted by a disgusting and terrifying virus about the assimilated genes after killing Abyan.


    Zhang Tie really didn''t know how to face those people who were familiar with him with his current mentality and body. He felt that he might drive them mad by this body.


    What was more unacceptable was that he would pass some genes of his second form to his kids as was told by Heller.


    This was the terrifying genes of shadow demon. Although such a blood-tied relationship was a paramount honor for someone such as Three-Eye Association. It was said that many managers of Three-Eye Association were the half-blooded descendants between shadow demons and humans. Their positions were determined by their purity of demon genes. Therefore, they only allowed half-blooded descendants to get married with each other. Zhang Tie''s situation was greatly favored by those half-blooded descendants. However, Zhang Tie would never accept this.


    Because Zhang Tie preferred to be a commoner. He thought what his parents gave him was the best. Zhang Tie could not accept what the other commoners disliked. He didn''t want to be a monster; neither did he want his descendants to be such a monster. If so, Zhang Tie knew that his whole family would be destroyed. Not only his descendants and wives, even his parents could not accept this.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie went for Heller with red eyes.


    "I know you must have a method to manage this problem. Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree and this space must have a method to deal with that. I''d like to recover to my former body at any price. I have to drive those demon genes out of my body. I want my human body back at any price!"


    Heller watched Zhang Tie. In the past one day, he had already felt Zhang Tie''s mentality and response to his second form. Heller had not imagined that Zhang Tie could have such a sharp response about his transformation.


    "Previously, I thought that you would not care about it as long as you don''t expose the second form. With the second form, you could have many abilities of shadow demon, such as flying, transforming, great vitality and strike-resistance ability. You could stay with demons safe and sound. You might play a key role at the critical moment. I''ve not imagined that you didn''t accept it at all. Why not consider about it? In my opinion, body is just like a coat."


    Zhang Tie watched Heller seriously, "Heller, your life and birth are different from me. Therefore, you don''t understand how important is a human body for a human. My body belongs to myself, my parents, my wives and kids. It''s closely related to my family. Perhaps you''re right. But I don''t want it. I only want to be a pure man, a man who could make every member of his family happy and proud instead of a powerful monster, who would scare his family members. I don''t know whether I would be driven mad by such a body!"


    After being silent for a while, Heller told Zhang Tie, "It would cost you too much if you want to recover the former pure human body. Even Castle of Black Iron and Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree are not all-purposeful. It follows many fixed rules and laws. If you want to reach your target, you have to spend too much!"


    "What price should I pay?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "You would not get any seven-strength fruit from Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree anymore!"


    Zhang Tie became silent for a while. His current fighting strength benefited from seven-strength fruits to a certain degree. Seven-strength fruits were the most powerful fruits that the small tree provided him. Without seven-strength fruits, Zhang Tie knew that he would lose his biggest advantage. From then on, it would be hard to say whether he could improve his fighting strength like before.


    During the process that Abyan promoted to the second form of shadow demon, he consumed the greater part of Zhang Tie''s vitality granted by those seven-strength fruits. After completing the assimilation and evolution of his second form reversely, Zhang Tie even lit the remaining surging points on his spine and became a LV 9 fighter.


    However, Zhang Tie''s overall fighting strength was actually a bit weaker than that he had when he was in Blackhot City. The reason was that most of the energy granted by seven-strength fruits that he had eaten were consumed. His strength was not that abnormal anymore. The potential strength brought by lighting another 13 surging points could not offset the fighting strength that he had lost.


    "If I knew how to light surging points after LV 9, I might have lit more surging points with the surplus energy of Abyan. What a pity!"


    "Heller told me that I could not get seven-strength fruits anymore if I want my pure human body back."


    "Which choice could make my parents pleasant and proud of?" Zhang Tie would ask himself this question whenever he faced a problem. He then soon got the answer. This question had become his compass of his life.


    After hesitating for a second, Zhang Tie raised his head firmly, "I''d like to pay such a price, even if I could not get any seven-strength fruit anymore from then on. I have to recover my pure human body. The second form would make me lose many precious things, which was irreplaceable in this world. Although seven-strength fruits could improve my strength to the utmost, there are many ways to improve my personal strength. Those who have no seven-strength fruits could become powerful one step after another, I believe that I can also do it!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Heller''s eyes were filled with admiration and respect, "If so, Castle Lord, please follow me!"


    Heller then led Zhang Tie to a place where they planted the flower of life, which was like a huge lotus, each bud of which was as large as a huge vat.


    The flower of life covered dozens of square meters, which formed a scenery in Castle of Black Iron.


    "Does flower of life have such a marvelous effect?" Zhang Tie became amazed.


    "It could make each pure life seed to sprout here; of course, it could also make the life to recover to its pure seed here as well. However, the latter requires a higher price!" Heller explained as he touched a bud of the flower of life. The bud then opened. "Castle Lord, please take off your clothes and lie in there. It will take you two days to recover to your pure human body!"


    Zhang Tie immediately lay in the bud of flower of life...


    ...

 526 Hellers Humor

    Chapter 526: Heller''s Humor


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After Zhang Tie laid in the flower of life, the huge bud gradually closed. Zhang Tie then felt being wrapped by pedals while an exotic fragrance drilled into Zhang Tie''s nose. Zhang Tie instantly felt pure as his soul and his body seemed being split from each other.


    ...


    Zhang Tie couldn''t feel the existence of time in that state. After quivering his body all over, Zhang Tie realized that the pure state had disappeared. Zhang Tie opened his eyes and found that he was soaked in a liquid of the bud. What a strange feeling! He didn''t breathe, however, he could sense that each pore on his skin was exchanging oxygen and energy with the liquid.


    With a crashing sound, the bud opened while the liquid spread over the ground and disappeared instantly. All the liquid that touched Zhang Tie''s skin also slid off Zhang Tie''s body. Being naked, Zhang Tie also caught sight of the outside world at once.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie really felt being a new born. He was pure, cool and energetic. He watched his hands, skin and his thing before letting out a deep sigh.


    No tail on his body, no scale on his face, no horn on his forehead, no bat-like flesh-film wings on his back, he recovered his human body once again. In one word, "Cool!".


    Although demon''s body was powerful, Zhang Tie always regarded it as a worm, instead of a person. Now, he had recovered his pure human body; although losing his seven-strength fruits as a payment, Zhang Tie felt it was worthwhile.


    Heller was waiting for Zhang Tie beside him with a mirror and a lot of clothes very carefully. It seemed that Heller knew what Zhang Tie was thinking about.


    Zhang Tie jumped off the flower of life and put on his new clothes. After that he raised his head and exclaimed, "Ah..." for about 1 minute. After releasing all his depressive qi, Zhang Tie started to look in the mirror carefully. If there were still some scales on his face or a bulge on his forehead, he would suffer a lot.


    It was still that same handsome face. There was no bulge on his forehead. Except one point, his eyes became emerald.


    "Ah, why is my eyes green? Is there any remaining genes of demon?" Zhang Tie was greatly shocked.


    "Demon''s genes have been completely cleaned from your body. However, some of your special genes were activated when you and Abyan engulfed each other. Although demon''s genes were removed, your genes could not be eliminated. You''ve already had the similar experience." Heller explained patiently.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Castle Lord has awaken another ancestral bloodline, a unique ancestral bloodline which only appeared in Chinese. Such a bloodline would be inherited to your descendants!"


    "Ancestral bloodline? You mean I''ve awaken another ancestral bloodline?" Zhang Tie widely opened his eyes.


    "Right!"


    "What''s its effect? To turn my eyes green?" Zhang Tie muttered inside.


    "Castle Lord, you could imagine your eyes turning black!" Heller suggested.


    Zhang Tie glanced at Heller before looking into mirror once again. He then silently imagined that his eyes were black. Amazingly, his eyes turned Chinese black.


    Zhang Tie almost sprung up.


    "Castle Lord, you could imagine that you have blonde hair like that of Peter Hamplester!"


    Zhang Tie then imagined as his black hair gradually turned blonde. Additionally, his skin gradually changed its color while his eyes turned blue.


    All these only took him dozens of seconds. However, the effect was the same as that of disguising medicament. Zhang Tie was so amazed about that Peter Hamplester in the mirror as he widely opened his mouth.


    "What a great...great...great ability!"


    "Will I be mistaken as a demon?"


    "No, like how fish could swim, human could also swim. You can''t say that a person who has the same ability with fish is a fish. Your ability originates from the activated human genes of you instead of the demons. Additionally, this ability is completely different than that of shadow demon. Shadow demon could completely transform into another person; however, you could only change the color of your eyes, skin and hair. Some people were born to change the color of their eyes. For instance, some albinism patients could also change the color of their eyes, hair and skin. Because they''ve partly manifested their human genes. Although such a manifestation is not constructive and controllable in many people''s eyes, it''s truly their special ability. The biggest difference between you and those people who could optionally manifest their genes is that you could control this process!"


    "Ah, but why would people have such an ability?" Zhang Tie continued.


    Heller blinked as he joked, "If I told you that this was just an instinct and talent of women who could make themselves beautiful without make-up in the far ancient time, would you be surprised about that?"


    "This was an automatic make-up skill for women?" Zhang Tie became stunned as he watched Heller, "Heller, I''ve not imagined that you''re that humorous!"


    Heller replied with a smile as he shrugged, "I''m always humorous, but Castle Lord has not found that before. As the first person who wakes up this ancestral bloodline in this age, you can name this bloodline!"


    "Let''s call it Fantastic Pupils!" Zhang Tie replied after thinking for a while, "Although I''ve lost seven-strength fruits, I woke up an ancestral bloodline. Therefore, I can save the money for disguising medicament! That''s not bad!"


    "Castle Lord, as you''ve been focusing on that demon body these couple of days, you forgot to take a look at your reward from the small tree after killing the shadow demon. Shadow demon is the most terrifying enemy of human."


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie hurriedly rushed towards the small tree...


    After one minute, Zhang Tie''s exciting roars drifted from that small tree...


    ...


    One day later...


    The moment Zhang Tie left Castle of Black Iron did he appear in water. Widely opening his eyes, he held his breath and watched where he was. If not Heller had told him that he would appear in water after leaving Castle of Black Iron, he might have been choked by water.


    There were undercurrents in the water, which was caused by churning water. It was already deep night. However, under his dark vision, he could see everything clearly. He could see a shoal of small fish and flourish water seeds at the bottom of the water on his side. After ensuring that nobody was in water, he forcefully kicked back in the water and came to the surface of the water along with his water-proof luggage.


    In the past three years, as Zhang Tie was promoted to LV 9, Castle of Black Iron further released its spacial ability. Heller built a space tunnel between this subterranean stream and the Pool of Chaos in Castle of Black Iron so that water could be constantly transported in the Pool of Chaos and bring a great amount of energy storage to Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, Castle of Black Iron could be expanded. If not being afraid of too much water loss which might lead to abnormal phenomenon here, Castle of Black Iron might have expanded many times more.


    However, even now, Zhang Tie was also satisfied. Because he found another way for Castle of Black Iron to increase its basic energy storage rapidly. Later on, if he wanted to rapidly increase basic energy storage for Castle of Black Iron, he only needed to find a remote place in ocean. After entering Castle of Black Iron, he could directly open a space channel and absorb sea water in the Pool of Chaos from inside. In this way, he could increase the storage efficiency by more than 1000 times.


    This made Zhang Tie comfortable more or less. Although it was a long period during which he lost many things, Zhang Tie also gained something. After recovering his human body by eliminating demon genes with the help of the flower of life, Zhang Tie found that he recovered his looks of three years ago. Three years was just like one day, which left no trace on Zhang Tie at all.


    Only after a few seconds, Zhang Tie had already exposed his head out of the water. He looked around and saw nothing in the surroundings but waving reeds in the night wind.


    Nothing changed in the surroundings except for the disappearance of the entire castle of Master Abyan. Instead, it became a lake. "According to Heller, my master Zhao Yuan arrived one week after I entered Castle of Black Iron. With only one strike, he erased the entire castle from this world."


    Zhang Tie swam towards the lakeside. As long as he swam in the lake he could sense the terror of the man whose nickname was conversion demon. Such a terrifying strength was completely out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. In front of such a strength, Zhang Tie, as a LV 9 fighter, or a fighting demon like Abyan was nothing but ants.


    Zhang Tie was filled with reverence and self-mockery. It was reasonable that he didn''t know what level was his master Zhao Yuan; however, although having lit 34 surging points on his spine, he was still confused about the next step. In Zhao Yuan''s words, LV 9 was just a start of cultivation.


    Thinking about this, Zhang Tie became more desiring about Huaiyuan Palace because his relatives, friends and the secret knowledge about the way of cultivation after LV 9 were all there.


    Zhang Tie came to the lakeside and entered reeds. He then started to put on his clothes rapidly. When he fought Abyan, he dropped off his golden carp sword. Finally, the sword was covered by Abyan''s bloody light and was teleported into Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, it was preserved. But the soul crystal gifted by Zhao Yuan was broken in fight.


    After putting on average clothes, Zhang Tie walked out of the reeds and headed for Blackhot City.


    On the way, Zhang Tie saw weed everywhere. Additionally, there were so many tombs on the hillside. Some red-eyed stray dogs were wandering in the wild. At the sight of Zhang Tie, some of them followed Zhang Tie without any fear. After Zhang Tie kicked two of them with stones, the rest ones escaped away while lowering their tails.


    At the sight of all this, Zhang Tie gradually became cold inside. Although he didn''t know what happened in Blackhot City, what was in front of his eyes had told him that Blackhot City had experienced a huge change.


    Coming to the south gate of Blackhot City, Zhang Tie was startled by the current situation of Blackhot City. Ruined city walls and open city gate indicated that this city had encountered a catastrophe. It was broken and deserted everywhere. Nothing was on the top of the city wall. Some men were sitting at the city gate with spears. The whole city seemed having been deserted, which was sharply different than its previous boisterous scene.


    Sitting in the gate entrance, they were sitting around a bonfire and roasting something. Until Zhang Tie reached the city gate did a guy who was facing Zhang Tie find him.


    "Ah, someone is here..."


    The moment that person exclaimed, everyone who was sitting before the bonfire turned around as they targeted their spears at Zhang Tie.


    "Who''re you?", a 40-odd strong guy with a ferocious look glared at Zhang Tie.


    Frowning, Zhang Tie watched them. Their uniforms were irregular. Additionally, their gesture and coordination was not proper. Zhang Tie then confirmed that they were just some commoners with some strength. In another word, they were nothing but a motley crew.


    "Who are you?" Zhang Tie asked them after glancing at them.


    "Ah, he can speak. He''s not a damn zombie!" one of them finally let out his sigh as he lowered his spear. As to that guy with a ferocious look, after glaring at Zhang Tie, he hurriedly raised his spear in a shameful way.


    "Brat, answer me honestly. Who are you? Where have you come from? What are you going to do in Blackhot City?" the 40-odd guy shouted towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie didn''t speak; instead, he just flashed forward and instantly grabbed away that guy''s spear magically. After that, he changed the direction of the spear and put the sharp end of the spear onto that 40-odd guy''s throat.


    Zhang Tie moved so fast that the 40-odd guy''s life fell in his hand in a wink.


    "It''s my turn to ask you. Who are you? Where have you come from? and What''s the current situation in Blackhot City?"


    ...

 527 Humans Catastrophe

    Chapter 527: Humans Catastrophe


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After his spear was drawn out of his hand by Zhang Tie, this man felt his hands hot. Facing that icy spear head, he did not dare to move at all. Zhang Tie just pinched one end of the spear like pinching a walnut with two fingers while the spear was as steady as Mount Tai.


    At the sight of this, even idiots would know that they met a powerhouse.


    The other guys were instantly scared several steps back. Even though they were a motley crew, they knew clearly about the great difference between small figures like them and a powerhouse.


    "Ah, I said, I said...we are refugees from Blackhot City. We were residents in Blackhot City. This is...is how Blackhot City look!"


    The 40-odd man stammered as he didn''t dare to move a bit. At the same time, he looked down at that spear head on his neck. For Zhang Tie''s last question¡ª¡ªwhat''s the current situation of Blackhot City, he really didn''t know how to answer it. This question was too ambiguous. "Isn''t this the current situation of Blackhot City?"


    Zhang Tie slightly frowned, "What''s the date of Black Iron Calendar?"


    After blinking his eyes quickly, that man replied, "It''s March 3rd, 894th year of Black Iron Calendar!"


    "Ah, no, it should be March 4th!" another person hurriedly added.


    "Ah, right, it''s March 4th. I''ve not seen calendar for a long time, so I couldn''t remember it clearly!" that man hurriedly added.


    After hearing this answer, Zhang Tie nodded inside. He had not imagined that he had stayed in Castle of Black Iron for three years. If he was outside Castle of Black Iron in the past three years, he must have made a great progress. However, he also made a great achievement after killing Abyan, although at a great price. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether he won the fight or not.


    "Has the holy war broken out?"


    "Yes!"


    "When did it break out?"


    "February, 891st of Black Iron Calendar!"


    "How could Blackhot City become like this?"


    "After the holy war broke out, the army of zombies of Sun Dynasty surrounded here for one year!"


    "Tell me what happened between Sun Dynasty and Blackhot City!" seeing their fearful looks, Zhang Tie put away his spear at once as he threw that spear back to the man. Seeing that Zhang Tie was not hostile to them, they all recovered composure. After exchanging glances with each other, they put down their weapons too.


    In the following half an hour, they sat around the bonfire and told Zhang Tie what happened in the past three years.


    Although Zhang Tie had long prepared to face the holy war, he was still shocked by their description. The 3rd holy war between humans and demons had spread over the Blackson Humans Corridor in only three years.


    In Blackson Humans Corridor, the catastrophe of demon puppets broke out in over 30 countries and regions at the beginning and gradually spread the entire Blackson Humans Corridor.


    Nobody could imagine that over 30 parent puppet worms appeared in Blackson Humans Corridor at the same time. This number had reached 1/3 of the total quantity of parent puppet worms in the 2nd holy war. It meant that demons had already mastered how to hatch and manufacture parent puppet worms. This was a catastrophe to humans.


    Additionally, the new parent puppet worms had a new trait, namely they were wiser and more difficult to deal with.


    Sun Dynasty which was neighboring Norman Empire was heavily stricken by puppet worms. Three major cities within the territory of Sun Dynasty broke out demon disasters at the same time. After over 6 million demon puppets spread the entire Sun Dynasty, Sun Dynasty died in three months. Over 3 million demon puppets invaded Norman Empire and arouse battle fires everywhere.


    On July, 891st year of Black Iron Calendar, over 600,000 demon puppets broke Kalur, the city of machine all the way to Blackhot City. They fought Iron Horn Army for half a year. The result was that demon puppets failed to occupy Blackhot City; however, Blackhot City became deserted completely.


    In this war, over half of 500,000 soldiers of Iron Horn Army decreased. Blackhot City suffered over 800,000 casualties. Until now, there were still over 50,000 demon puppets in the dim underground tunnel of Glang Iron Ore in the northwest of Blackhot City. However, the railway lines leading to the outside of Blackhot City had been completely destroyed and blocked. As a result, the iron ore could not be exploited and transported out of there, causing Blackhot City to be deserted.


    In order to protect commoners from becoming soldiers of demon puppets, since May, 892nd year of Black Iron Calendar, at the order of the emperor of Norman Empire, the remaining force of Iron Horn Army and the commoners who survived the catastrophe started to evacuate from Blackhot City.


    As a result, Blackhot City became a dead city. Very few people stayed in the city.


    Like worldwide wars between humans before the Catastrophe, in each worldwide war, techniques, tools, cruelty and devastating efficiency towards life would be pushed to a new high level. In each war, people would forget about the experiences in the former wars, just like this holy war between humans and demons after the 2nd holy war about 200 years ago.


    Demon puppets shocked people very much; the demon army that appeared in Hurricane Plateau in the west of Golan Empire since the beginning of the 3rd holy war made people despairing about the future of humans.


    That was an unprecedented demon army which had not appeared in the former two holy wars. With their appearance, the four-level division that human army had carried forward for hundreds of years also became a history.


    That demon army only contained less than 100,000 population, which was only about 1/6 of that of an average human army. However, the lowest level of those demon fighters was LV 9!


    It was really out of people''s imagination that the lowest level of the fighters of that demon army was LV 9. However, demons made it. In front of such an army, human army division became meaningless.


    In front of this demon army, Golan Empire died in only two weeks. After that, this demon army constantly occupied 17 human countries in Blackson Humans Corridor like an unrivaled sharp demon blade, causing 1/4 of Blackson Humans Corridor collapse.


    Terrifying demon army and raging demon disaster opened the curtain of the 3rd holy war between humans and demons. As a result, Blackson Humans Corridor was covered with battle fires and sad songs. In order to escape from the demon disaster, hundreds of millions of refugees escaped from their homes and headed for safer countries and regions. Human Alliance was consolidating the city walls and eliminating those demons in the wild.


    Zhang Tie obtained this information in half an hour. This happened ten months ago. As to other big events in Blackson Humans Corridor in the past 10 months, these refugees didn''t know about them anymore.


    The deserted Blackhot City had been isolated from outside world for a long time.


    After hearing this, Zhang Tie knew that the world had toppled over in the past three years. The 3rd holy war must be unprecedentedly miserable. Besides, demon''s great strength also made many people distress.


    After entering the south gate of Blackhot City, Zhang Tie walked on the open and desolate streets as he sensed a strangeness which made him restless.


    The whole city was like a ghost city at night. Zhang Tie could see nobody in the streets. Both sides of the streets had been covered with weeds while the streets were filled with wastes. None of the roadside showcases were complete. Additionally, besides thick dust, there were only sundries and wastes in the stores.


    Many buildings were damaged. All the apartments and residential buildings were pitch dark. Only some villas and senior mansions had looming light and noises¡ª¡ªthose refugees were indulging themselves over there.


    1/3 of Black Gold Hotel was left in ruins...


    The school gate of the No. 7 National Male Middle School was tightly closed. The school brand was covered with dust while nobody was inside...


    The Bright Avenue seemed having experienced a terrifying riot as the avenue was filled with broken glass and various litters. The roadside walls were covered with scrawls.


    The fountain outside the gate of Golden Roc Bank had withered while its two gates had been destroyed and pushed down...


    Zhang Tie knew that the Blackhot City in his memory was dead.


    Zhang Tie returned to his home. The door of his home was still tightly locked. When his parents left Blackhot City at the beginning, they didn''t sell this house; instead, they kept it so that Zhang Tie could have a place to stay when he came back.


    The lock was 10 years old, which had been lubricated with oil by his mom when they left. Zhang Tie still had a key of his home in Castle of Black Iron. No refugees would like to visit such a poor home even after Blackhot City was deserted.


    Zhang Tie stood still for a short while outside the door before taking out the key and opened it, causing a "click" sound like what it usually did...

 528 Shadow Demons Backroom

    Chapter 528: Shadow Demon''s Backroom


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Besides the layer of dust on the floor and the furniture, everything else remained unchanged. The beds inside the bedrooms were even covered with bed covers which were made by his mom. Zhang Tie pulled aside the bed covers and found the bed sheets and quilts were as tidy as before.


    Zhang Tie returned to that narrow attic and slept peacefully that night.


    This night, lying on his familiar bed, Zhang Tie felt pretty tranquil. He was thinking about one very important question¡ª¡ªhow to go back to Jinyun Country.


    At this moment, Blackhot City had become a dead city. Kalur City was collapsed in the demon disaster. Although the mysterious eastern alchemist master could prevent Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty from occupying Kalur City, in front of those demon puppets who only knew about killing, the name of the eastern alchemist master didn''t work at all. Kalur''s collapse meant that the traffic hub from where he could fly to Jinyun Country was paralyzed.


    Therefore, it became difficult for Zhang Tie to come back to Jinyun Country.


    "My message lags about 10 months. I don''t know about the current situation of the Blackson Humans Corridor." However, Zhang Tie was sure that the current situation on the continent was worse than that of a year ago. That terrifying demon army could make everyone distress.


    Additionally, nobody could guarantee that demons had not input new army into this battle field.


    ...


    On the next early morning, Zhang Tie was awakened by his biological clock before 6. Since he knew that he could not obtain seven-strength fruits anymore, Zhang Tie started to cultivate himself more diligently.


    Zhang Tie even started to practice ''mental arithmetic'' which he had not practiced for a long time. Previously, the spiritual energy brought by practicing ''mental arithmetic'' could almost be ignored compared to that of seven-strength fruits at all. However, after losing seven-strength fruits, the trivial growth of spiritual energy brought by practicing ''mental arithmetic'' also became precious for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie didn''t believe that he could not become a powerhouse without seven-strength fruits. By working hard, one could always fix his stupidity. He will never forget this proverb at any time.


    After visualizing two 13-column abacuses, Zhang Tie started to make different calculations with the two abacuses.


    After practicing ''mental arithmetic'' for one hour, Zhang Tie felt a trivial growth of his spiritual energy. After that, Zhang Tie practiced cross movement of Iron Blood Fist in his room for another one hour. After feeling that his physical condition had reached its optimal state, Zhang Tie sat down with his legs crossed before activating a trouble-reappearance situation.


    This was the trouble-reappearance situation of the latest trouble-reappearance fruit, also an unexpected achievement that Zhang Tie made after killing Abyan. Besides this trouble-reappearance fruit, the small tree also bred a wholly new fruit¡ª¡ªthe fruit of plunder. Zhang Tie could take this fruit out of Castle of Black Iron and allow others to eat it. After considering about it carefully, Zhang Tie prepared to take the new fruit back to his elder brother.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that he could only get trouble-reappearance fruit by killing magical beasts and wild beasts. Now, he knew that he could also have a trouble-reappearance fruit by killing demons. This was the first trouble-reappearance fruit of an intelligent species that Zhang Tie obtained.


    The trouble-reappearance situation brought by this trouble-reappearance fruit was very meaningful for Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie named it as Shadow Demon''s Backroom.


    The moment Zhang Tie appeared in the activated trouble-reappearance situation had he slid down along the smooth tunnel. In a few seconds, he came out of the tunnel and appeared in that backroom which was full of mirrors.


    When he caught sight of those mirrors last time, he didn''t realize it. Now, he realized that all the shadow demons were the most abnormal narcissists. This was one weird hobby of shadow demon. In the place which they think was safe, they would arrange a lot of mirrors so that they could enjoy their body which could casually transform into humans from all aspects.


    This time, before Zhang Tie came for him, Abyan had already charged at Zhang Tie. With a roar, Zhang Tie also faced him with his iron-blood fist...


    Only after 5 seconds, Zhang Tie had been killed by Abyan, closely after which, the trouble-reappearance situation split into light points.


    This was the fastest battle since Zhang Tie had obtained trouble-reappearance fruits. This reminded Zhang Tie of the great difference between him, a LV 9 fighter and a LV 14 fighting demon.


    Although it was a short fight, Zhang Tie''s each movement was full of his strength and the power of his Iron Blood Fist. This was a tougher cultivation for Zhang Tie.


    Not each person could have a LV 14 demon as his partner trainer.


    Having not been killed like this for a long time, Zhang Tie''s forehead oozed only after a few seconds. When he was killed by Abyan in the trouble-reappearance situation, his body even quivered some times.


    Widely opening his eyes, Zhang Tie panted heavily. After one minute, he activated the Shadow Demon''s Backroom once again. After another 5 seconds, his body quivered again as he was killed by Abyan for the second time.


    The spiritual energy being used to activate the trouble-reappearance situation of Shadow Demon''s Backroom was just 30% less than that required by activating the trouble-reappearance situation of that huge deep-sea monster. Zhang Tie realized the terror of Abyan.


    Zhang Tie activated Shadow Demon''s Backroom six times in 10 minutes, which consumed more than half of his spiritual energy. When he exited the trouble-reappearance situation for the 6th time, Zhang Tie felt his nose was wet. After touching it, he found that his nose was bleeding. Therefore, he stopped trying the 7th time.


    What happened in the trouble-reappearance situation also reflected on Zhang Tie''s body in terms of spiritual energy and feelings. Although it was not fatal, Zhang Tie would not bear it after being stimulated severely several times in a short period.


    Before Abyan completely transformed into a shadow demon, Zhang Tie could only bear 5 seconds each time. He could stand such a physical intensity 6 times. Additionally, he could activate Shadow Demon''s Backroom 10 times. Amazingly, Zhang Tie found that he could estimate his overall strength through the three data; 5 seconds referred to his fighting force, 6 times referred to the upper limit of his physical intensity that he could stand, 10 times referred to the total amount of his spiritual energy.


    After thinking for several minutes quietly, Zhang Tie became spirited, "Perhaps, I could use the three data to measure my power from then on."


    Like seeing a hope, Zhang Tie became spirited once again. After arranging his attic once again, he pulled back the bed cover. After that, he came downstairs and came to the courtyard to cleanse himself using the water in the well. After that, he got some food from Castle of Black Iron and ate them and drunk a bowl of all-purpose medicament. Finally, Zhang Tie left this home.


    After locking the door, Zhang Tie glanced at this home which he might not see any longer in the future, he then strode towards the east gate of Blackhot City in the early dawn.


    Zhang Tie decided to walk eastward no matter how dangerous it was. He remembered that the ocean was over 7000 km away in the east of Blackhot City. As long as he passed by some depopulated zones and some countries would he see the ocean. He then could swim back to Huaiyuan Palace in the fastest speed. This was the fastest way that he could choose to return to Huaiyuan palace. If he was lucky, he might have a chance to take an airship on the way there.


    ...


    Over 100 refugees were gathering at the east city gate. At the sight of Zhang Tie striding towards them, they surrounded Zhang Tie at once.


    "I was told that a sharp young man came to this city last night. That must be you. I''m really lucky to meet you here." a 30-odd assh*ole who was wearing some female necklaces over his neck and a dirty, improper high-end western uniform stopped Zhang Tie with his long sword.


    Zhang Tie watched that guy calmly, "That''s me. What''s wrong?"


    "Ha...ha...you''re lucky, brat. I''m their boss. As long as you join us, you can eat and drink well in Blackhot City from then on. You can be my assistant. If you perform well, I can give you a woman as a reward when we catch some!" That guy revealed his yellow teeth and laughed loudly.


    "I''m not interested in that. Please give way to me. I have to go!" Zhang Tie slightly frowned.


    "Brat, you still want to go? Don''t you know about the regulations in Blackhot City?"


    "What regulation? Did I forget to submit entrance fee last night?" Zhang Tie replied in a cold, humorous tone.


    "No crap, brat. According to the regulation in Blackhot City, all those entering the city have to join us and defend demons together with us!"


    "To defend demons here? This guy really find a great reason for his deed."


    "What if I disagree?"


    That guy then sneered as he watched Zhang Tie confidently, "If so, you''re the mole of demon, you will die here! Do not think that this father is afraid of you. This father has chopped off two demon puppets'' heads."


    Zhang Tie glanced at them as he smiled and waved his head, "I''m not a mole demon, neither do I want to claim your territory here with you. I don''t care what you''re doing here. But you''d better not stop me from leaving. Please give way to me!"


    That person changed his face at once as he drew out of his long sword and shouted, "Kill..."


    Before he finished his words, his head had already flown in the air with his open mouth by Zhang Tie''s sword Qi. All those who prepared to swarm up stopped their steps as they watched Zhang Tie with a fearful look.


    "I''m sorry, you could choose a new boss!"


    Zhang Tie put back his silver-carp sword and kept moving forward. As a result, all those in front of him gave way to him hurriedly. Finally they could only see Zhang Tie off.


    Soon after Zhang Tie left Blackhot City, he had started to run towards the rising sun...

 529 Men to the North

    Chapter 529: Men to the North


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie kept running eastward, except for 6 hours of rest per day, regardless of daytime or night. When he felt thirsty, he would drink a mouthful of all-purpose medicament or water. In this way, he could run 500 km a day.


    What guided him was a map of Blackson Humans Corridor and a compass.


    On the map, there was a wild area which covered more than 1700 square km. In the south of the wild area was a city Indhart which was one of the 17 stars on the flag of Andaman Alliance. This city was also annexed by Norman Empire and destroyed by demon puppets just like Blackhot City. Besides this city, no more city or people could be seen in the wilderness. Therefore, it looked very desolate.


    Zhang Tie''s first destination was not Indhart, but a human country¡ª¡ªthe Republic of Symbian in the east of this wilderness.


    The Republic of Symbian covered about 2 million square km. A small part of this country was connected to Norman Empire. This country had more than 30 cities. Its national strength was a bit weaker than that of Norman Empire; however, it was much powerful than the former Andaman Alliance.


    According to Zhang Tie''s plan, after passing by the Republic of Symbian, he would keep moving eastward and pass the territory of Cross Star Commerce Alliance; then, he would pass two smaller countries before reaching the seaside.


    The Sun Dynasty had already collapsed in the demon disaster, which meant that the way towards southward from Blackhot City was blocked. Although Zhang Tie was promoted to LV 9 for a couple of years, he didn''t think that he could safely and smoothly survive those demon-stricken areas. He was told that the most powerful armies, the Brilliant Eyes and the Brilliant Fury were demonized, causing Sun Dynasty collapse rapidly. Therefore, a LV 9 fighter was nothing in front of such a great power.


    The road towards east looked less dangerous; however, it depended. Because the Republic of Symbian was only over 4000 km away from Golan Empire. 10 months ago, the demon army, which swept all the way towards south from Hurricane Plateau had already collapsed most of countries surrounding Golan Empire. The whole northeast territory of Blackson Humans Corridor had been collapsed. It was hard to say whether the demon''s army had already reached the Republic of Symbian.


    After running in the wilderness for three days, during that period, he killed some low-rank magical beasts and enjoyed their flesh for a couple of times. On the 4th day, Zhang Tie saw many airships in the sky, which were as dense as a horde of flies. They passed by this wilderness towards north while covering the sky.


    This was the first time when Zhang Tie felt that airships could be as many as a horde of flies. All of them were large and medium-sized airships, more than 1000 in total. Zhang Tie raised his head and watched that cloud passing over him for about 10 minutes.


    Watching those airships flying over him, Zhang Tie felt being shocked inside. However, he didn''t stay there but kept running forward. After two hours, Zhang Tie moved another 60 km ahead. At this time, he saw another batch of about 100 war airships flying towards south.


    In the next 5 hours, Zhang Tie encountered another 3 batches of war airship, the number of war airships of each batch varied from 300 to 1000. Each batch flew northward in a tidy formation.


    At night, when the familiar fury-level war airships flew by Zhang Tie densely, Zhang Tie''s blood almost coagulated. Zhang Tie caught sight of the symbol of cloud dragon which was special for Jinyun Country.


    After thinking for a few seconds, Zhang Tie kept running towards east.


    After one hour, Zhang Tie saw a railway, two smoking trains and endless contingents of people on the sides of the railway.


    One contingent was all underprivileged ones, who were moving from north to south while the other contingent was all armored soldiers, who were moving from south to north. They just passed by each other.


    So did the trains on the railway. One train was heading for south from north and was crowded with people. Even its top and head was covered with people. People were climbing on the train like ants. Those passers threw their admirable looks towards those on the train.


    The other train was heading for north from south was filled with steam armored vehicles, steam tanks and military materials being tightly covered with green water-proof cloth.


    Right in front of Zhang Tie, two trains passed by each other in converse directions with a shocking slogan on each train¡ª¡ªMen to the North; Women to the South.


    Standing on the roadside, Zhang Tie watched the soldiers walking towards north and the underprivileged ones walking towards south. Many of them glanced at Zhang Tie out of curiosity when they passed by Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie even checked himself and found nothing special, "But why do they look at me with that curious look?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t figure out the reason while a military officer with the rank of captain who was wearing a white armband with the symbol of gendarme walked towards Zhang Tie followed by some soldiers in solemn looks. They surrounded Zhang Tie at once.


    That captain watched Zhang Tie with despised and chilly eyes, "You coward, no matter what your name is or which troop you have escaped from. You have two choices now. First, let me chop off your head right away. Second, go back to the frontier and die like a man. Make a choice!"


    After hearing his words, Zhang Tie became stunned. He looked left and right and found nobody else was behind him. Therefore, he pointed at his own nose, "Are you talking to me?"


    "Is there any other army deserter here?" the captain asked with a sneer.


    "You might be wrong. I''m not a deserter. I am just passing by here!" Zhang Tie explained sincerely.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, not only that captain, even those soldiers started to laugh out loudly. At the same time, their laughter was mixed with a cold sense.


    "Sir, although this guy is a coward, he''s humorous. We''ve caught so many deserters these days. But this guy''s lie was the most creative!" a soldier joked as he watched the captain.


    "From three years ago, all the countries in the north of Kalay Mountain Range of Blackson Humans Corridor have started the red mobilization decree. All the men ranging from 16 to 60 years old were forcefully recruited to serve the army. They had to fight on the battle field or join the reserve forces and logistics army. This place is close to the battle field of the holy war. All the men within 2000 km have to take the weapons and join the war. The frontier is converging with armies from dozens of countries of Blackson Humans Corridor. All the fighters of the Republic of Symbian had started to converge here. You''re just passing by? From where? Are you here to enjoy the scenery?" Watching Zhang Tie with a cold expression, the captain revealed Zhang Tie''s "lie" straightforwardly.


    After hearing this, Zhang Tie became silent. The captain''s words were reasonable, which Zhang Tie could not refute at all. Zhang Tie could not tell the captain about the truth. Even if he explained it to him, nobody would believe in him.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie carefully observed those people moving towards south. He then found that all the men looked old and clumsy with grey hair or had kids. Zhang Tie finally realized how distinctive he was here in such casual clothes.


    "If all the countries in the north of Kalay Mountain Range of Blackson Humans Corridor have started the red mobilization decree. I might have a lot of troubles if I want to pass by the Republic of Symbian and the other smaller countries on this route, which might be more troublesome than going southward from Blackhot City."


    "If I went southward from Blackhot City, demon army might chop off my head. If I want to continue to pass by these countries, the commoners and army of these countries might kill me by treating me as a deserter. Do I have to return to Huaiyuan Prefecture by killing a lot of people?"


    After thinking it for a short while, Zhang Tie recalled the airships from Jinyun Country. Thus, he deliberately let out a sigh like a captured deserter, "Well, I will go back to the frontier, just send me back to the encampment of Jinyun Country!"


    After watching Zhang Tie seriously, that captain burst out into laughter, "You should think like that!"


    ...


    After half an hour, that captain drove Zhang Tie to a railway station in the front. When a military train parked there, the captain told something to another military officer on the train before sending Zhang Tie into a carriage.


    After a few minutes, the military train started to move. Seeing off the train, a gendarme asked that captain, "Captain, do you really want to send this coward to the encampment of Jinyun Country?"


    "All those dispatched here from Jinyun Country were elites above LV 9 of the six major clans who could defeat demon army. How come such a coward be dispatched there from Jinyun Country? Do you think that I could not identify that he was lying?" that captain sneered.


    "Ah, so where do you send him to, sir?"


    "Such a coward deserter is most suitable to be a cannon folder in the vanguard of the battle field. If he could kill one demon puppet, his death would be meaningful!"


    "What kind of people were those in that carriage?"


    "They were all convicts sentenced to death from Cross Star Commerce Alliance. They had just put on the military uniforms. As long as they could survive one year in the vanguard, they could gain freedom!"


    "Ah?"


    ...


    When Zhang Tie was sent in the carriage, Lan Yunxi, a major in the military uniform was delivering an order in the flagship command module of the airship fleet while looking in the distance with a solemn look.


    "We''re entering the battle field, send the signal, let the fleet change to three layers. Gap, 20m. The first echelon formation releases gliders to spy on the air territory in the front. Watch out the strike of winged demons!"


    During the past years, Zhang Tie became a LV 9 fighter in sleep; at the same time, the most brilliant pearl in Huaiyuan Palace also promoted to a great commander of the airship fleet. Her honor shocked the entire Blackson Humans Corridor.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that when he raised his head towards the sky, Lan Yunxi was in the air territory within the reach of his eyes.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie prepared to have a good sleep in the narrow carriage, he found the atmosphere was not right as some guys were gazing at him with malicious looks...

 530 Condemned Prisoners

    Chapter 530: Condemned Prisoners


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    The carriage was very crowded and filled with the smell of men''s sweat. A lot of soldiers were casually sitting on the floor. Some were even laying on the big boxes of military materials in the carriage. Zhang Tie sat silently on some boxes which obviously contained weapons. At the sight of those malicious looks, Zhang Tie frowned slightly.


    At first when he came in, Zhang found these guys were not bad. However, after a few seconds Zhang Tie felt that they were not soldiers at all.


    It was a bit stuffy in the carriage. When the train set out, these guys took off their military uniforms and displayed many tattoos of ghosts and magical beasts on their bodies. Zhang Tie knew that some troops in Blackson Humans Corridor would have uniformed tattoos, which were usually symbols of honor and power in the troop. However, these guys'' tattoos were very distinctive. Remarkably, they didn''t have them in troops.


    After a few minutes, those who were sitting beside Zhang Tie silently stood up and left. The atmosphere in the carriage gradually changed. Those people who had been chatting with each other in low voices also became quiet. They all watched Zhang Tie. At this moment, some tough guys walked towards Zhang Tie with malicious looks.


    Zhang Tie simply raised his head and glanced at them, but he kept sitting and practicing his mental arithmetic. He didn''t even stand up.


    "Brat, I was told you are a deserter?" one guy asked loudly in front of Zhang Tie.


    "No, I''m just a passer-by and people assumed I am a deserter. Coincidentally, I wanted to take a look at the frontier. Here I am!" Zhang Tie explained calmly.


    "Ha...ha..." the guy burst out in laughter as if he felt Zhang Tie was telling a very funny story. "No need to disguise yourself any more. If you''re not a deserter, why were you sent here together with us? All the passengers in this carriage are condemned prisoners. We''re being sent to the vanguard as cannon fodder. As long as we can survive one year, we will be deemed innocent. Additionally, we can gain a new status!"


    After being silent for a short while, Zhang Tie smiled and nodded his head. He hadn''t imagined that the captain could use such a trick. ''It seems that it''s indeed not good to be regarded as a deserter.''


    "Brat. I''m now the boss of this carriage. Everybody here follows my orders. What do you want to say?" The guy watched Zhang Tie while standing in front of him.


    "Hmm, you guys work hard. I hope you can survive one year!" Zhang Tie ''encouraged'' them in a calm voice.


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel disgusted about these condemned prisoners. Zhang Tie knew that laws sometimes represented the will of the privileged upper class. Those being sentenced to death were not always evil people. Of course, it didn''t mean that all the condemned prisoners were good men either. Some of them were scumbags for sure. But wherever it was, a country that could execute the death penalty on innocent people or good people would vanish rapidly. Across Blackson Humans Corridor, although the countries and regions were ruled by different regimes, most of the regimes and systems were relatively well-developed as a result of thousands of years of human experiences. Therefore, that kind of evil country basically didn''t exist at all anymore.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, that guy became silent for a few seconds. Closely after that, he became irritated as he felt as if he was made an idiot in front of Zhang Tie. He was humiliated by Zhang Tie''s words.


    At this moment, that guy directed a kick towards Zhang Tie''s head forcefully. Given his strength, his speed and his movement, that guy was already LV 7.


    Any commoner who was kicked by him would be killed or heavily wounded.


    However, Zhang Tie remained unchanged. He just casually caught the man''s foot and threw him onto the floor face down like smacking a fly.


    At this moment, although Zhang Tie had lost the strength from the seven-strength fruits, as all the 34 surging points on his spine had been lit he had reached LV 9. His physical potential had been tapped further. As a result, his pure strength was almost like that in the underground relics of Ice and Snow Wilderness when he didn''t eat the nine powerful huge-wolf seven-strength fruits. Besides, Zhang Tie''s battle awareness, application of battle skills and battle qi were greater than before after being baptized by Master Abyan.


    With a "Bang" sound, the entire carriage shook. Then, the carriage became silent at once.


    Fresh blood slowly flowed out onto the floor from under that "boss" and tinted the floor after a short while. Face down, the man lay in his own blood and couldn''t stand up any more.


    Like nothing had happened, Zhang Tie continued to practice mental arithmetic against the wall so as to improve his spiritual energy as soon as possible.


    The iron wheels of the train were rapidly moving on the rails, making a loud noise, "kacha, kacha". Although there was a metal iron sheet between them and the wheels, the noise was still very jarring. In contrast, nobody dared to speak in the carriage. They dared not to even breathe.


    After a few minutes, a slightly hoarse voice drifted from the crowd and called out, "Michel..."


    Soon after this voice sounded, a man came out of the crowd. He then carefully held and drew away that corpse. After checking the wounds seriously, he started to clean the blood stains on the floor.


    After cleaning the blood stains from the floor, that guy used the corpse to set up a different scene against a wall.


    After a few minutes, the guy called Michel stood up as he patted his hands, saying, "It''s okay. As long as the troops don''t dispatch a trace expert here, they won''t find any problem. If I had some tools and materials, even trace experts could not find any problem."


    At this moment, the slightly hoarse voice sounded once again, "Bohr has committed suicide. Have you seen that?"


    After staying silent for two seconds, another furious voice sounded among the crowd, "After hearing that he was heading for the frontier and joining the vanguard, he became abnormal. When we fell asleep last night, he even shouted from a nightmare and woke everybody else. He even said that he didn''t want to die. Peh! What a coward!"


    "Yup, this guy even urged me to escape together with him. When he found no chance to escape on the way, his expression looked too bad!" another voice sounded.


    "Michel, this coward committed suicide beside you just now. How did it happen!"


    "We saw the coward crashing himself against the wall. We all saw it. After a loud sound, he died. I was really scared by this!"


    "Yes, this guy didn''t dare to even hold a machete. What a coward!"


    "Right. This coward hit himself against the wall!" the rest of the people added in unison.


    Right then, one guy suddenly burst out in tears. His crying was really saddening, "Why couldn''t you think it through? Why didn''t you think it through? We are just joining the vanguards. We even planned to celebrate with some women after we survived there!"


    At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie became stunned. ''What the hell are these people?''


    A gentle man in his sixties wearing military uniform and a pair of glasses walked out of the crowd and stood in front of Zhang Tie. After bowing his body in a humble way, he almost lowered his gray-haired head below his knees. "Your excellency, I''m Hillman. It''s my great pleasure to serve you!"


    This man''s voice was a bit hoarse. The moment Zhang Tie heard it, he knew that this old man was the very person who''d said "Michel" just now. Given his appearance, it was hard to imagine him as a condemned prisoner. If he''d been wearing another military uniform, he could look like a senior adviser. If not wearing a military uniform, he would have looked like a professor at a school or a bank manager. This guy looked a bit similar to Abyan. Zhang Tie wondered why he was here.


    "Tell me, what crime have you made?" Zhang Tie watched this old guy with an interested look.


    "Hmm. It...it''s a small financial dispute!" the old guy replied in an implicit manner as he pushed up his glasses.


    "Financial dispute?" Zhang Tie felt baffled about this term.


    "A financial dispute with Cross Star Bank!" the old guy added.


    "Bullshit. His nickname is old dog. He''s a super liar," a voice drifted from the crowd. "He almost made Cross Star Bank bankrupt. If not for the third holy war, the Cross Star Commerce Alliance would not execute emergency air traffic control. If so, the old dog would have been invited to get off the airship and become a billionaire on another continent! I''m Figo. I''m a veterinarian. It''s my pleasure to serve you, your excellency!"


    ''A vet? That''s hilarious!'' Zhang Tie smiled, "Then, what about you? Why did you become a condemned prisoner?"


    Figo revealed his teeth as he looked a bit embarrassed. "Erm...I just performed some small surgeries without their consent!"


    "Some small surgeries?"


    "Your excellency. Figo''s injections are mainly targeted at men¡ª¡ªthat is, rich and privileged men who would like to gift their inherited substances to women without their consent. When he knew of such a man, our Figo would always help that man do a small contraceptive operation so that those men would lose the necessary and basic physical channels to transmit their own DNA to the woman. Plus, our Figo didn''t use anesthetic at all!" the old dog revealed Figo''s secret briefly.


    ''F*ck!'' after hearing this reply, Zhang Tie felt his legs clamp, ''What the hell are these condemned prisoners?''

 531 A Miserable Encounter

    Chapter 531: A Miserable Encounter


    Translator: WQLEditor: KLKL


    After linking the information that he got in Blackhot City to the information he was told by Hillman the old dog, Zhang Tie had a clear understanding about the current situation facing Blackson Humans Corridor.


    The current situation was much more intense than that of one year ago. The demon army had started to move southwards. In the past ten months, three countries were consecutively destroyed by the demon army. In such a case, the countries of the Central States Union in Blackson Humans Corridor had to coordinate their forces so as to crack down on the demon disaster across the Corridor. Meanwhile, each country in Blackson Humans Corridor dispatched their elite force northward and cooperated with each other in case they were crushed by demons one after another.


    At this moment, only some demon disasters in the southern countries were put to a stop. All the rest of the countries were filled with flames of war. A great number of refugees started to escape to the south after detouring around the demon-stricken areas. Since two years ago, those southern countries, especially Chinese countries, had started to transfer their population to the other continents at a large scale.


    In such a large-scale holy war, the human population would be the major factor for humans to survive this war later on.


    At this moment, the entire Selnes Plain between the north of Symbian Republic and Titanic Principality was the frontier for all the countries across Blackson Humans Corridor to defend against demons. The frightening super demon army was fighting the great army, which consisted of over 5 million people from dozens of human countries across Blackson Humans Corridor.


    If the demon army broke the defense line of Selnes Plain, none of the forces across the vacant territory, from Selnes Plain all the way to the north of the Kalay Mountain Range of Blackson Humans Corridor, could defeat the demons. Half of the territory of Blackson Humans Corridor would fall.


    After only three years, the casualties across Blackson Humans Corridor had already surpassed 100 million people.


    After hearing this news, Zhang Tie felt hopeless. According to Zhang Tie''s instincts, Selnes Plain could not be held for long. As a LV 9 fighter, Zhang Tie knew the terrifying strength of that demon army, whose basic unit was made of LV 9 fighters.


    If there were no more demon disasters, with a population of 1 billion across Blackson Humans Corridor, some golden armies composed of fighters above LV 6 could be formed. When fighting on the right terrains, and being assisted by large-scale mechanical troops, these golden armies might defeat this terrifying demon army. However, many countries were throwing their resources into dealing with the demon disasters in their own territory. Therefore, it was hard to say how long the human forces could stand in Selnes Plain.


    ...


    After killing that guy called Bohr in the carriage, Zhang Tie established his prestige in the fastest way possible and became the "boss" of the condemned prisoners in the carriage. Some smart guys immediately stood on Zhang Tie''s side. At this moment, they knew clearly that they could survive longer on Zhang Tie''s side. This was one of the laws of survival that these condemned prisoners had learned in prison.


    Zhang Tie was invited to sit in the most comfortable place in the carriage, where it was closest to the air vent. Besides having fresh air, this place was also cleanest.


    In the carriage, these cannon fodder prisoners, who were doomed to join the vanguard, could only get some water and some dried food rations. Their weapons were placed in some ordnance boxes, which could not be delivered to them until they got off the train under the supervision of someone from the troop. Right now those boxes were sealed with the symbol of Holy War Headquarters of Central States Alliance. If those seals were torn open by anyone before they got off the train, everybody in this carriage would be beheaded.


    The first thing that was carried out in a war zone was military laws. Thousands of people would die everyday, everywhere. Therefore, it was easy for those law-enforcement teams to chop off the heads of some condemned prisoners. So even though those condemned prisoners were recalcitrant, they dared not risk their lives by opening the seals in advance.


    However, the seals were opened. When Zhang Tie wanted to see what was inside these boxes, the guy called Michel voluntarily opened one box¡ª¡ªMichel was a great thief and a trace expert. However, he was just a LV 5 warrior. Therefore, he tried to display his other talent in front of Zhang Tie.


    The boxes contained common steel spears, which could be assembled in sections. There were also chest armors and helmets that were punched from thin, steel plates. The steel plates were only about two centimeters in thickness and very simple, which would not provide much defense. The chest armor could only defend one''s breast and lower abdomen while being fixed with canvas on one''s body. The helmets looked as if they could also be used as lunch boxes.


    All these were the simplest of weapons and defensive fittings. Such was the special "treatment" that could be enjoyed by vanguard members in the war zone.


    After Zhang Tie saw those items, Michel sealed the box like before. Zhang Tie''s eyes glittered because of this guy''s talent.


    At midnight, the train was still running on the railway. Hillman the old dog told Zhang Tie that they had already entered the war zone. Zhang Tie didn''t sleep at all. He just kept his eyes closed and practiced mental arithmetic.


    Seeing that Zhang Tie was silent, all the other guys in the carriage became quiet. None of them dared to make any noise.


    When the next dawn fell, after listening to the rumbles of the train wheels over night, Zhang Tie suddenly felt his heart racing as he opened his glittering eyes immediately.


    "Watch out..." Zhang Tie shouted instantly, waking all the guys in the carriage at once. Many people just watched Zhang Tie with a confused look, wondering why Zhang Tie woke them up.


    However, before Zhang Tie could explain, he had already heard a boom in front of the train. Closely after that, the whole carriage keeled and rolled. Zhang Tie could only just catch a metal handle beside him so as to stabilize his body...


    The carriage crashed and bumped for 20 seconds due to its inertia.


    The train was derailed while the whole carriage was in a mess. The wooden boxes in the carriage hit some people as they rolled around. With some terrifying bone cracks, some guys started to shrill miserably. A guy''s head exploded, spraying brains in all directions.


    The carriage rolled 180 degrees, its roof and floor reversed. One box with helmets had been opened, and helmets flew out everywhere. The toilet bowl in the carriage also detached itself from where it was, spraying everything out of it, making the whole carriage as bloody and smelly as hell mixed with wails.


    The only one who was safe and sound in the carriage was Zhang Tie. However, even Zhang Tie could not bear such a disgusting smell and atmosphere.


    The door of such a carriage with condemned prisoners was different than that of carriages with regular soldiers. In order to prevent these guys from escaping along the way, the door of this carriage was locked from outside. It could not be opened from the inside. Therefore, the moment these condemned prisoners recovered their senses, they gathered at the door and started to bang on it.


    "Let us out of here, let us out of here..." Many of them started to shout at the door.


    Nobody replied outside. However, Zhang Tie could faintly hear continuous, miserable wailing from outside.


    "Ah...it''s demons. It''s demons!" someone''s fearful exclamation drifted from afar.


    Zhang Tie changed his expression at once as he forcefully lifted an ordnance box away from a poor guy''s legs.


    "Ah, thanks, thanks." The guy''s face was twisted in great pain. Seeing Zhang Tie moving the box away from his legs, he burst out in tears at once.


    Zhang Tie immediately tore open the box and drew a bundle of half length spears with the heads out of the box. After that, he ran to the side of the door as he shouted loudly, "Move aside..."


    Those who were near the door hurriedly gave way to Zhang Tie. At this moment, Zhang Tie kicked and transformed the steel door instantly, revealing a gap from where a kitten could squeeze out. With another kick, the entire door was sent flying in the air, together with its lock catch.


    The moment Zhang Tie jumped out of the carriage he caught sight of a massacre...


    ...


    It was dawn. The long train was paralyzed on the riverside like a dead snake. Its head and last two carriages had fallen in the river. Some of the other carriages were still linked to the train, while some were not. Most of carriages had toppled over. Some armored vehicles had rolled out of the carriages and were lying on one side of the railway.


    Many human fighters, who were only slightly wounded, had just climbed out of their carriages in a flurried manner when their heads and bodies were split into pieces by a black swirl...

 532 The First Battle

    Chapter 532: The First Battle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Besides Abyan, this was Zhang Tie''s first time to witness demon fighters which only existed in textbooks and the other books.


    This was the most famous and terrifying main demon force¡ª¡ªiron-armored demon.


    Iron-armored demon was a black-scaled tall and strong monster which had two hands and two feet as well as a terrifying crocodile head. Its sharp teeth were exposed while its eyes were bloody. Additionally, there was a high rising tail like that of reptile on its spine.


    The iron-armored demon was taller than 2.2 m on average. It has a great vitality and a destructive power. Its black scaled-armor was as defense as thin iron sheet, which could not be broken through by common arrows and some bolts of light crossbows from 100 m away.


    When Zhang Tie jumped out of the carriage, he saw iron-armored demons waving their curved battle blades and tearing those human soldiers climbing out of the carriages into pieces as fast as constant black fatal cyclone.


    Some iron-armored demons even drilled into those tilt carriages, causing a lot of blood sprayed out of the carriages constantly.


    In front of 10-odd iron-armored demons, all the human soldiers in the train didn''t even have a chance to counterattack. The whole train was like a prey being drawn to the riverside and surrounded by a group of fierce crocodiles. Fleshes and blood sprayed everywhere. Sometimes, battle-qi totem could be seen; however, all the battle-qi totems would disappear right away, black spider or huge centipede.


    The moment Zhang Tie landed on the ground did he see a bloody iron-armored demon jumping out of the carriage in front of him and charging at him with a shrill roar.


    In the eyes of that iron-armored demon, Zhang Tie''s carriage was undoubtedly a start of another bloody feast.


    The moment those condemned prisoners followed Zhang Tie off the carriage did they see that iron-armored demon darting towards here. The shrill and terrifying roar was like that doomsday was coming.


    Zhang Tie narrowed his eyes as he rapidly drew out a javelin from his hand and threw it towards that iron-armored demon.


    Almost at the same time, the head of that iron-armored demon was exploded. Closely after that, a boom sounded in the air. The iron-armored demons kept running two steps forward before falling down.


    Perhaps in the eyes of those iron-armored demons, LV 1 human soldiers and most of LV 8 human fighters could be easily killed by one or two slashes. Similarly, in Zhang Tie''s eyes, most of LV 10 strong fighters and LV 1 common soldier could be easily killed by one javelin, not to mention those LV 9 iron-armored demons. That was an overwhelming advantage.


    When a person broke through a limit, he could take all the people below that limit as weak as ants and worms. In Abyan''s eyes, Zhang Tie was such a worm; so were those LV 9 demon fighters in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    The javelin in Zhang Tie''s hand was the most effective pesticide.


    In less than a half second, Zhang Tie had thrown out 3 javelins, spurting the heads of 3 demon fighters who were executing massacre within 100 m.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie jumped onto the top of the train and ran towards the head of the train.


    Zhang Tie''s carriage was in the middle rear end of this train. Therefore, most of carriages were in front of Zhang Tie. On the top of the train, he could have a good vision about the situations on both sides of the train. It was more convenient for Zhang Tie to kill those demon fighters with javelins.


    Before Zhang Tie jumped onto the top of the carriage in front of him, he threw out another 2 javelins and killed 2 more demon fighters.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had killed 6 LV 9 iron-armored demons.


    The rest iron-armored demons uttered jarring roars as they rushed towards Zhang Tie from all directions. Demon fighters were fiercer and dauntless than human fighters.


    Zhang Tie threw out another 4 javelins in a wink, killing another 4 demon fighters'' heads at once. At this moment, the final 3 demon fighters arrived at Zhang Tie''s side.


    With a sound, "Zra", a demon fighter torn the top of the carriage from the inside with its battle saber and hacked towards Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen. Zhang Tie jumped away. Almost at the same time, the demon fighter jumped out of the broken top of the carriage and charged at Zhang Tie once again.


    Zhang Tie moved closer to that demon fighter facing its sharp blade in mystical movements. Zhang Tie, who just reached the shoulder of that demon fighter in height and was half the weight of the demon fighter, punched on that demon fighter''s chest, bursting its body into pieces immediately while spraying its flesh and blood everywhere...


    The remaining 2 demon fighters uttered a weird shrill as they pounced at Zhang Tie at the same time. Before a demon fighter''s saber touched Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie had thrown himself against that LV 9 demon fighter like a mad ox, causing it sprout out a mouthful of blood like being crashed by a train and sending it flying backwards in the air from the top of the carriage.


    The last demon fighter roared as its eyes were like being filled with blood. That demon fighter dropped off its big saber and directly charged towards Zhang Tie with its sharp claws. Zhang Tie faced its claws with his fists, causing it explode from the wrists to the shoulders and fall off the top of the train.


    Zhang Tie closely followed that demon fighter off the top of the train. Before landing, he had forcefully stomped on that demon fighter. As a result, the two people hit the ground like iron hammers, causing a pit on the ground. That demon fighter exploded like a ripe tomato.


    That demon fighter, who was sent flying back in the air, struggled to pick himself up from the ground. When Zhang Tie walked towards it, it was kneeling on the ground with one knee while spitting out blood.


    Zhang Tie stepped on its tail while tightened its neck from its back with his right arm. The demon fighter then started to struggle forcefully as it caught Zhang Tie''s arm with hands, wanting to split Zhang Tie''s arm. At this moment, with a click, its thick neck was broken. Closely after that, it collapsed to the ground.


    "Who else?" Zhang Tie roared as he glared around. He found no demon fighters anymore, but a lot of human soldiers and condemned prisoners who were watching him with an amazing look.


    Watching those common human soldiers, Zhang Tie''s killing intent gradually faded away. Since his fight with Abyan, the fury deep in Zhang Tie''s heart was finally released.


    Zhang Tie glanced at them and waved his hands towards them. Michel ran over here with an exciting look. When he arrived in front of Zhang Tie, he even glanced at that strong demon corpse before Zhang Tie''s feet. Pounding his heart, he swallowed his saliva as he exclaimed inside, "F*ck, what the hell is this man?"


    "Boss...what can I do for you?"


    "Since these demons wanted to destroy the railway, they would not only destroy this track. Take some people and take a look at the other track over there. If there''s a problem over there, set a warning in front of the road and block the train on the other track!" Zhang Tie sent the order. It was a multi-track railway. It''s was too easy for a LV 9 fighter to derail the train. As an attack had just happened to the train on this track, it was hard to say that the train on the other track was safe.


    After receiving the order, Michel became alert at once as he hurriedly ran towards the other track with some deft guys. As was predicted by Zhang Tie, less than 300 m after Michel ran away from the riverside, he had started to shout, "the track and the arm nuts of the foundation were loosened. The track was moved 10 cm outside..."


    Closely after finding the problem had Michel started to set warning on the railway with the other guys...


    A military officer with the rank of first lieutenant whose half body was tainted with blood walked towards Zhang Tie with some soldiers with a hesitating look. as he stammered, "Sir..."


    If not Zhang Tie''s javelins which boomed a demon fighter on this guy''s side, this guy''s head had long been chopped off.


    On the military train heading for the frontier, a guy who could clean a small team of LV 9 demon fighters in a wink was qualified as a military officer. Based on Zhang Tie''s fighting strength, he was at least a colonel.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t want to explain anything to them anymore. After glancing at the miserable scene over the ground, Zhang Tie slightly sighed, "First lieutenant, let''s save people together..."


    ...


    After that, Zhang Tie and all the movable people started to find wounded people and corpses one carriage after another and took them out of the carriages.


    As the train was derailed suddenly, it caused a great casualty to the passengers in the carriages. The following mad massacre of demon fighters worsened this situation. Besides a lot of military materials, this train also carried 2000-odd soldiers from the Cross Star Commerce Alliance; however, less than 400 could still move while over 500 of them were heavily wounded and required timely medical treatment.


    This was the outcome of the battle between a 2000-odd human regiment and 13 demon fighters.


    The colonel of the 2000-odd soldiers was a LV 9 human fighter. The moment he came out of the train had he been tore into pieces by three demon fighters. If not himself, Zhang Tie was clear that none of the 2000-odd soldiers could survive.


    Zhang Tie felt a bit gloomy. He finally understood that that this terrifying demon army had already toppled over the war mode of the former two holy war between humans and demons. In front of such demons, common human soldiers would be completely overwhelmed and be nothing different than those unarmed average people. In front of such a terrifying demon army, above 95% of human troops across Blackson Humans Corridor would be eliminated.


    "So how to fight such a tough war?"


    ...


    After pulling all the wounded people and corpses out of the carriages, they found a signal launcher in a carriage.


    After a few minutes, a signal flare was emitted into the sky by high-pressure, causing a red flare at once.


    1 hour later, a mini reconnaissance airship flew towards here from north...


    ...


    The accident only happened a bit more than 200 km away from Mocco City, which was closest to the frontier of Selnes Plain. It took Zhang Tie and the other guys 2 days to reach the frontier...

 533 Arriving at the Theater of Operations

    Chapter 533: Arriving at the Theater of Operations


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Three cities across Selnes Plain between the north of Symbian Republic and Titanic Principality were under the control of humans , namely Mocco, Wolff and Sradic. The three cities formed a defense line longer than 500 km in the south of Selnes Plain from the west to the east.


    At this moment, over ten corps and about 5 million human soldiers were gathering in the three cities and their surroundings. The population of logistics corps that served these people were twice this figure. Additionally, a lot of troops arrived here from rear to join this war.


    In the north of Selnes Plain, the population of demon corps and demon puppets was also greater than 3 million. Besides, the demons'' forces kept increasing.


    At this moment, everyone across Blackson Humans Corridor focused on Selnes Plain. Three years since the beginning of the 3rd holy war, this was the first large-scale battle between human troops and demon troops.


    When Zhang Tie and his followers arrived at Mocco City, they found that this city had become a ferocious battle field. The war airships flying across the sky were like a shoal of crucian swimming across the river. From the periphery of this city, Zhang Tie noticed that each one of them wore the same military uniform. Besides the men who who were fighting here, all the women and kids across this city had been evacuated 4 months ago.


    Various military materials were piling high on the station. For the sake of the defense, all the buildings nearby the railway station had been bulldozed.


    Under the guidance of a lot of people, armored vehicles and tanks were gradually driven out of the carriages of the train, then the railway station. The huge sounds of steam engines mixed with tones of tens of thousands of people from troops of different countries. With shouts and neighs, the entire railway station was much more boisterous than the most crowded vegetable market.


    "No. 7 Imperial Heavy Armored Infantry Corps of Ducklin Empire, please gather on the No. 7 station...copy...No. 7 Imperial Heavy Armored Infantry Corps of Ducklin Empire, please gather on the No.7 station..."


    A hoarse baritone drifted from an expensive alchemist''s loudspeaker in the railway station, which covered all the other noises. After hearing this voice, a group of tough men with a huge metal box on their back, which was as large as half of their height, jumped off the train and rushed towards the No. 7 station. The others in front of them were pushed away by them rudely.


    These tough men reminded Zhang Tie of iron-armored demons. Being same to iron-armored demons, all these tough men were higher than 2.2 m. They were like mountains. The bulging muscles on their arms were even thicker than the waists of thin men. The box on their back was also eye-catching. What was more impressive was that each of these tough men had a beautiful beard. Some men''s beard was so long that it even reached their chests.


    This group of people were the most attractive ones in the railway station. Therefore, they were very proud. When two of them passed by Zhang Tie, they glanced at Zhang Tie''s bald jaw before raising their heads and displaying their long beard.


    "Men in Ducklin Empire are proud of having beard. They are real fighters. The most powerful heavy-armored infantry across Blackson Humans Corridor come from Ducklin Empire!" Hillman, the old dog, stealthily slid to Zhang Tie''s side like Zhang Tie''s shadow as he whispered to him. After saying this, he looked at Zhang Tie''s jaw before adding another sentence, "Of course, real fighters don''t have to have beard!"


    Zhang Tie touched his jaw; however, he felt nothing but some fine hair. He then smiled. At the sight of the banner of Cross Star Commerce Alliance over there, he summoned those survivors towards that place.


    All the hundreds of survivors of Cross Star Commerce Alliance left the railway station without any morale.


    "Hello. I''m Hobby, a major of the headquarters of Cross Star Commerce Alliance in Selnes Theater of Operations. I''m responsible for helping these people settle down. I''ve already known what happened to you on the way. General Cayne sent me to express thankfulness!"


    After these people left the railway station, a major of the Cross Star Commerce Alliance stayed at the end of the team on purpose and sought a chance to whisper to Zhang Tie. Of course, Zhang Tie was not regarded as a deserter anymore at this moment.


    "You''re welcome. To be honest, I was just on my way to catch your train. In that case, nobody would ignore what happened here!" Zhang Tie explained frankly.


    "May I know your name?"


    "I''m Zhang Tie. I''m from Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace, Jinyun Country." Zhang Tie revealed his background.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Major Hobby blinked his eyes out of amazement as he swallowed his words back.


    Besides settling down the troops from Cross Star Commerce Alliance, his another mission was to hook in Zhang Tie. General Cayne, the highest commander of Cross Star Commerce Alliance here was very interested in Zhang Tie. A guy who could clean a small demon team so easily was at least a LV 10 strong fighter. Such a fighter would be roped in by numerous forces wherever he was. Strong fighters were always urgently demanded.


    Actually, less than 20 strong fighters were dispatched to Selnes Theater of Operations from the Cross Star Commerce Alliance. Cross Star Commerce Alliance had done its utmost efforts to support the frontier. If Zhang Tie was of another status or came from other forces, Major Hobby might attempt to persuade him to join them with alluring conditions. However, after being told that Zhang Tie was from Huaiyuan Palace, a Chinese powerful family of famous Count Long Wind, Major Hobby felt it improper to invite Zhang Tie to join them anymore.


    "Hmm, may I know what are you here for..." after knowing Zhang Tie''s true status, Major Hobby looked more polite when he talked with Zhang Tie.


    "To stay with my family members!" Zhang Tie replied straightforwardly. After seeing those airships from Jinyun Country, Zhang Tie knew that Huaiyuan Palace would not ignore this battle with demons in the Selnes Theater of Operations. Although he had arrived at the theater of operations, Zhang Tie didn''t know where was Huaiyuan Palace''s troops, "As I''ve just been in the theater of operations, I''m not familiar with the situation here. Can you tell me the encampment of Jinyun Country and Huaiyuan Palace?"


    "The troops of Jinyun Country and Huaiyuan Palace are quartered in the Crystal Battle Fortress 40 km away from here!" Major Hobby replied at once.


    "Ah, that''s awesome!" Zhang Tie revealed a happy smile. "It seems that I''m in the right place." Zhang Tie thought inside. "Major Hobby, can you have someone drive me there?"


    "Of course, no problem!" Major Hobby replied without any hesitation. After that, he rolled his eyes and asked in a low voice, "But...we have a small technical problem here."


    "What problem?"


    Major Hobby whispered in Zhang Tie''s ear for a few seconds before watching Zhang Tie with a shameful look.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "Never mind. I''m just a passer-by. Of course, the achievement belongs to Cross Star Commerce Alliance. But I like those guys who were dispatched to the vanguards as cannon fodders. How about gifting them to me? I need them."


    "How many people are there?"


    "5!"


    "I remember those guys have been killed by demons in the railway accident!" Major Hobby answered frankly.


    The two men then glanced at each other for a few seconds before bursting out into laughter.


    ...


    After half an hour...


    "Hillman, fall out..."


    "Michel, fall out..."


    "Figo, fall out..."


    "Dinar, fall out..."


    "Frasier, fall out..."


    Major Hobby read a name list loudly. After reading each name, he drew a line across the name. The five condemned prisoners came out of the team with a confused look.


    Pointing at that military truck with a closed carriage in front of them, Major Hobby ordered, "Get on the truck..."


    After their names being called, they all exchanged glances with each other with a confused look, except Hillman, the old dog, who became very excited and climbed onto the truck quickly. Seeing what the old dog was doing, Michel also hurriedly followed up.


    After they all got on the truck, the truck left...


    "Those whose names were called have to execute a special mission. The rest of you, to the rear..." Major Hobby ordered when the truck had left 100 m away.


    Hearing Major Hobby''s words, two guys in the carriage even became a bit flurried, "Old dog, is he sending us to the frontier so fast?"


    Since getting on the truck, Hillman was always closing his eyes with a bit flush on his cheeks. Until he was asked did he open his eyes and sighed, "We''re already free!"


    "Free?" the other guys didn''t realize what did he mean.


    Hillman silently walked to the front of the carriage which was linked to the cab. After that, he lowered his body and knocked at the rear window which could be opened.


    The rear window was pulled open, showing Zhang Tie''s smiling face.


    ...

 534 Becoming an Idol

    Chapter 534: Becoming an Idol


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    With a faint smile, Zhang Tie turned around and looked at those guys in the carriage from the seat of the cab.


    "I really appreciate that you saved me once again, your excellency. I promise I would play a bigger role on your side than in the vanguard!"


    "Old dog is not suitable to this guy at all. He should be called old fox." Zhang Tie thought inside before revealing a smile, "Before the vehicle arrives at the destination, if any of you don''t want to follow me, you can get off the vehicle for your own future at any time. From now on, you have about 1 hour to consider it! I''m not a big figure. I''m just a small figure. I bear grudges. Therefore, I can bear your ignorance about me; but I can not bear your betrayal. Have a good time considering about that!"


    After saying this, Zhang Tie closed the rear window.


    Basically, condemned prisoners were scumbags. However, not all of them were condemned prisoners. Zhang Tie found that these guys were not that bad. Therefore, he took them away. As for their future, they had to seek for blessings themselves.


    Thinking of these guys'' "bright experiences"¡ª¡ªliar, thief, smuggler, counterfeiter and abnormal doctor who was especially responsible for castrating rapers, Zhang Tie wondered whether these guys would bring him a nickname "the king of douchebags" in the future.


    "Never mind!" Zhang Tie just revealed a smile...


    Zhang Tie believed in fate very much. Additionally, Zhang Tie knew that he didn''t look like a king unless he disguised as a damn father. Therefore, he gave them some time to consider it. If they didn''t agree, they could leave. That was not a big deal.


    After closing the rear window, Zhang Tie didn''t care about their whereabouts anymore. Instead, he started to observe the situation in the Selnes Theater of Operations. On the way, Zhang Tie felt that the theater of operations was more like a work site than a military camp. Soldiers in military uniforms and battle armors could be seen everywhere. Armored vehicles were parking on the roadside one row after another. Besides, the peripheral fortifications outside the Mocco City existed everywhere which caused goosebumps all over Zhang Tie.


    Over 10 km away from Mocco City, the erecting battle fortresses on the plain looked like steel forests. Those battle fortresses were distinctive in styles and sizes. All of them were filled with killing intent. Although it was daytime, the chimneys of the battle fortresses were smoking, making Zhang Tie feel like staying in a big industrial city. At this moment, the black smoke brought people a sense of safety.


    As long as the chimneys were smoking, everyone knew that humans were still defending this defense line.


    Over 5 million human soldiers really caused a great Qi field here.


    After leaving Mocco City, the military truck kept driving towards northwest. The road in the wild had been covered with pits by the track-laying vehicles. Therefore, the truck ran slowly. After about 1 hour, the steel battle fortresses became sparse and a magnificent battle fortress appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie finally understood why the battle fortress of Jinyun Country was called Crystal Battle Fortress. Because this battle fortress was really too huge and magnificent. The 6 grim independent battle fortresses formed 6 supporting points and the skeleton of crystal battle fortress. The huge steel structure modules connected the 6 battle fortresses in the form of city walls and formed a huge, crystal-sized steel city. Erecting on the Selnes Plain, it displayed the power and magnificence of Chinese countries across Blackson Humans Corridor.


    100 m away from this huge battle fortress was sentry posts and anti-tank trenches, which prevented vehicles from drawing closer.


    "Sir, we''ve arrived at the crystal battle fortress of Jinyun Country! Our truck can not drive in!" the truck driver dispatched by Major Hobby watched that magnificent battle fortress in front of him with an admiring look.


    "It''s fine! Thanks. I will enter it myself!" after saying this, Zhang Tie opened the door as he waved his hand towards the driver.


    Followed by the other guys in the carriage. Four of them stayed¡ª¡ªHillman, the old dog; Michel, the warehouse keeper; Figo, the vet and the counterfeiter whose nickname was Manager. Frasier, whose nickname was Black Shark had already gone on the way.


    Zhang Tie was very satisfied to have 4 of them.


    "Before Frasier left, he asked me to tell you, as you''ve saved him twice, he will appreciate you when there''s a chance!" Hillman told Zhang Tie.


    "Alright. Good luck to him!" Zhang Tie didn''t mind it at all. After that, he took them towards that sentry post outside the crystal battle fortress. At the sight of the young Chinese looks, Zhang Tie felt intimate at once.


    "I''m Zhang Tie. Please notice inside, I want to see the director of Huaiyuan Palace!" Zhang Tie spoke in Chinese. Given the shape of the crystal battle fortress, Zhang Tie knew that all the 6 families of Jinyun Country must have dispatched their elites here to participate in the war.


    "You''re from Huaiyuan Palace? Could you show me your certificate?" a Chinese fighter asked seriously. Judging from Zhang Tie''s common clothes, he didn''t believe in Zhang Tie''s words.


    Zhang Tie then took out his clan identification plate and showed it to the two fighters at the sentry post. All the elites of the 6 big clans of Jinyun Country had such a clan identification plate. At the sight of the plate, the two soldiers knew that Zhang Tie was not bragging.


    Below the crystal in the middle of the plate was Zhang Tie''s photo. On the back of the plate was "Zhang Clan, Huaiyuan Palace" engraved.


    After telling Zhang Tie to wait here for a short while, a fighter immediately ran into the battle fortress.


    When Zhang Tie talked with the 2 fighters, Michel and the other guys looked confused. Only Hillman revealed an amazement.


    "You know Chinese?" Zhang Tie asked Hillman in Chinese.


    "This is the popular language in the superb society of Waii Sub-Continent. It''s the best reflection of one''s culture and class. I understand it a bit." Hillman spoke in Chinese fluently.


    After hearing that Hillman called Waii Sub-Continent instead of Blackson Humans Corridor the moment he came to the Chinese battle fortress, Zhang Tie sighed inside, "What a talent!"


    After waiting here for less than 2 minutes, Zhang Tie saw an armored man running out of a gate of a battle fortress hurriedly.


    "Ah...junior fellow apprentice Zhang Tie, that''s you!" that guy became excited the moment he saw Zhang Tie.


    "Long time no see, senior fellow apprentice Liu Xi!" Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could see his junior fellow apprentice whom he recognized in Hidden Dragon Island. Therefore, Zhang Tie also became spirited at once.


    After glancing at Zhang Tie for a short while, Liu Xi heavily patted on Zhang Tie''s shoulders, "I''ve not imagined that I could see you here. I deeply believed that you would not die that easily..."


    Zhang Tie was startled by Liu Xi''s words, "Ah, who told you I was dead?"


    "Hahaha..." Liu Xi burst out into laughter, "They are just boring. As you''ve not showed up for a long time in Hidden Dragon Island, plus some gossips, they thought you were already dead. It''s good to see you back. They will shut up this time! Oh, who are they..."


    Liu Xi''s eyes fell on Hillman and the other''s guys.


    After recovering his composure, Zhang Tie replied, "Hmm, they are my retinue. I take them out to cultivate. A steward, a material keeper, a private doctor and a customs consultant!"


    Liu Xi became silent for a second as he didn''t think they fit their status given their military uniforms. He then pulled Zhang Tie''s hands and walked inside, "Let''s talk inside!"


    Zhang Tie glanced at those guys, who hurriedly followed up.


    "Oh, senior fellow apprentice Liu Xi, who''s the director of the Huaiyuan Palace here?"


    "Senior sister Xi!"


    Hearing his answer, Zhang Tie almost fell down...


    "What''s wrong, junior fellow apprentice?"


    "Ah, nothing." Zhang Tie swallowed his saliva and he hurriedly told a lie, "I was a bit shocked to hear that. I remember that senior sister Xi was just LV 9 when I left Hidden Dragon Palace. It''s really out of my imagination that she could preside over the current situation here on behalf of Hidden Dragon Palace!"


    "Senior sister Xi is super talented as shiny as the sun and the moon. Senior sister Xi had reached LV 9 four years ago. After the battle in Heavens Cold City, senior sister Xi smoothly promoted to LV 10; after one and half years, she promoted to LV 11; 3 months ago, she was officially promoted to LV 12 and became the youngest great fighting master in the history of Hidden Dragon Palace. She''s really our role model!" Liu Xi replied with an admiring look.


    Being shocked inside, Zhang Tie had not imagined that Lan Yunxi could reach such a level in only a couple of years. Even if Lan Yunxi was the pride of the God and enjoyed the rich resources of Huaiyuan Palace, her promotion speed was very terrifying, "You''re right, senior fellow apprentice, senior sister Xi is indeed our role model!"


    "Junior fellow apprentice, you''re also not bad. Although you were not in Hidden Dragon Island these years, you had also become the idol of many brothers in Hidden Dragon Island. Your reputation could even match senior sister Xi!" Liu Xi sighed with full of emotions.


    "What idol?" Zhang Tie asked with a surprising look.


    "Haha, no disguising anymore, junior fellow apprentice." Liu Xi revealed an ambiguous smile which could only be understood by men, "We all thought that you were living a poor life in the barren place Blackhot City, we''ve not imagined that you could have over 40 lovers in that place. They all have their own features, some are enchanting, some are adorable, some are plump. How amazing it is! If they were not transported to Huaiyuan Prefecture, the brothers in Hidden Dragon Island might have not known your cool days in Blackhot City at all! If senior sister Xi has the greatest fighting force in Hidden Dragon Island, you must be the Love Affairs Number One in Hidden Dragon Island."


    The moment Zhang Tie heard the nickname "Love Affairs Number One" did he feel a chilly sense...

 535 Meeting Lan Yunxi Once Again

    Chapter 535: Meeting Lan Yunxi Once Again


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    This place gathered many elites of the 6 top clans in Jinyun Country, namely Zhang Clan, Lan Clan, Ou Clan, Dantai Clan, Wang Clan and Li Clan.


    Besides those common soldiers who kept running the battle fortress, all the participants dispatched by the 6 clans were at least LV 9 elites. Over 1/3 of the soldiers who were only responsible for defending the battle fortress were above LV 6. The rest 2/3 were LV 4 to LV 5 warriors. Even the boiler firemen in the battle fortress were above LV 3.


    There were over 25000 people in the crystal battle fortress in total. Each clan dispatched 4000 people to this battle fortress, 2-3% of which were not lower than LV 9, namely about 100 people. Although this number could not match that of the terrifying demon corps, Zhang Tie thought it was a great fighting force for sure. Few country across Selnes Theater of Operations could have over 600 fighters above LV 9.


    Zhang Tie and his retinue settled down in two narrow rooms near the "city wall" of the battle fortress, the roof of which was covered with dense steam pipes.


    Hillman and the other three guys'' room was only a bit greater than 3 square meters in total. The four high-strength spring beds were fixed on the walls. Besides, there were only some hot steam pipes in the room. The inside of the room was 5 degrees higher than that outside. Because the battle fortress was transported here by air, for the sake of the weight in the air, all the thermal baffles were saved. This situation was acceptable in winter; however, it was as hot as a steam cage in summer.


    Zhang Tie''s room was independent, which was a bit better. However, it was far away from being comfortable. If it was a castle, its outlook and coziness would be considered; however, as a battle fortress, it only had two aspects to consider with, namely its lethality and defensive power. Aesthetics and coziness was out of concern for the battle fortress designers.


    Liu Xi fetched some clothes of Huaiyuan Palace''s soldiers and gave them to Zhang Tie and Hillman to put on. Otherwise, their clothes would be too eye-catching.


    Besides Liu Xi, there were 10 more senior fellow apprentices from Hidden Dragon Island in the battle fortress. However, Zhang Tie didn''t even know their names. Out of curiosity, all of them ran here to take a look at Zhang Tie. They all wanted to see how Zhang Tie looked as the "Love Affairs Number One" in Hidden Dragon Palace. At the sight of their looks, Zhang Tie was unhappy; however, he could not lose his temper at this moment.


    After entering the crystal battle fortress, Zhang Tie knew that there were over 16,000 human airships in Selnes Theater of Operations. With so many airships, humans took control of the air across the theater of operations. This advantage in the air was offset by the advantage of demon corps on the ground. As a result, humans and demons reached an impasse.


    Human airships was carrying a very tough task, to stop demon corps from completing large-scale gathering in the frontier. As long as the population and density of demons reached a certain degree, they would be boomed by human airships. The airships mainly used two weapons to strike the land forces, one was the terrifying white phosphorous gel combustion bomb, the other was the powerful alchemist''s bomb.


    White phosphorous gel combustion bomb could burn the surface of any object that it adhered to, which could be hardly put out. It could burn even in water. If it adhered to the surface of living beings like animals, it could even burn the fat of the animals, causing new heat sources. Such combustion bombs were a huge threat to demon troops. Even LV 9 demon fighters would be heavily wounded if not killed by such combustion bombs. It was said that only LV 14 demon fighters with protective battle qi could survive such bombs. All those below LV 14 would be killed for sure by this bomb.


    White phosphorous gel combustion bomb was that powerful, not to mention alchemist''s bomb. At the critical moment, alchemist''s bomb could even kill a knight, not to mention average demons.


    Liu Xi told Zhang Tie that countries had gathered over 1000 alchemist''s bombs in Selnes Theater of Operations.


    Three cities, hundreds of battle fortresses, a defense line that lasted hundreds of miles, over 1000 alchemist''s bombs, over 16,000 war airships, over 10,000 armored vehicles and over 5 million human soldiers. All these sustained humans'' morale in Selnes Theater of Operations.


    The Selnes Theater of Operations was in a very sophisticated and fierce situation overall. Human airships were seeking for chances in the air to strike the terrifying demon airships while the terrifying demon corps were seeking for chances on the ground to break humans'' Selnes defense line.


    Of course, it was sophisticated only for big figures and outsiders. For those LV 9 elite fighters who usually broke in Selnes Plain to fight demon troops, this holy war was just collisions between sharp blades about life or death. Since the founding of the crystal battle fortress, Huaiyuan Palace had lost 20 LV 9 fighters and about 400 fighters below LV 9. The airship troops lost more than 3000 people. In this theater of operations, as long as the human airship was brought down by wing demons, no fighters inside the airship could survive back.


    Selnes theater of operations was just a huge meat grinder.


    At this moment, Lan Yunxi was the supreme commander of Jinyun Country''s airship troops in Selnes Theater of Operations. Of course, she could not stay in the battle fortress every day. Actually, according to Liu Xi, Lan Yunxi rarely stayed in the battle fortress. One week ago, she had her airship troop supplemented with some major materials in the airship base in the rear of Selnes Theater of Operations before returning to the battle field once again. If not threw 1/3 of those bombs to the demons, Lan Yunxi would not come back.


    Since an airship base in Carlo Federation was destroyed by a small demon troop half a year ago, burning 500 airships into pieces, there were only three large-scale airship supplementation and maintenance bases in Mocco City, Volv City and Sradic City respectively across the entire Selnes Theater of Operations. Most of the airship supplementation bases were moved to the safer places in the rear. If crystal battle fortress was not so large and could protect the airships inside it, no airship dared to park in here for an overhaul. Airships from Jinyun Country just accepted short maintenance here by batches. They would not stay here too long.


    Strictly, Zhang Tie was not a frontline combatants at this moment. Therefore, nobody assigned tasks to him. He didn''t see Lan Yunxi until two days later on the evening of March 14th .


    Under the guidance of lamp signals on the ground, a lot of airships started to land on the airport next to the crystal battle fortress. One airship directly landed in the crystal battle fortress, which was covered with some damages. One of its independent air sacs was flat. All the ground service members started to repair the body and air sacs of the airship quickly.


    Those teams of LV 9 elite fighters in the battle fortress had already left the battle fortress silently and started to patrol and set invisible sentry within 20 kms circle of the battle fortress in case of being attacked by demon troops. A team of LV 9 fighters could cause a severe damage to a batch of airships on the ground in only a few minutes. In order to avoid from being noticed by demons, the airships here chose to land on the ground in dark.


    One hour after those airships landed here, Zhang Tie met Lan Yunxi .


    Lan Yunxi was in the airship which landed in the crystal battle fortress. Zhang Tie saw Lan Yunxi in the command module of the airship. She was surrounded by many people, who were all young elites from all the 6 clans and other senior military officers in the airship troop.


    The military rank of the coxswain of a fury-level airship was captain who could command a squad of airships; the military rank of the commander of 8 fury-level airships was major; the military rank of the commander of 50 fury-level airships was Lieutenant Colonel. A colonel could command 200 fury-level airships. Lan Yunxi as the head of the air army could command almost 1000 fury-level airships.


    When Zhang Tie was taken into the command module by Liu Xi, he saw Lan Yunxi sitting on the commanding chair and listing to a strong and tall man with the rank of colonel, "Although the gliders being released before airship strike could realize early warning and investigation to a certain degree, in front of wing demons, fighters who manipulated the gliders could barely survive themselves. This time, we lost 13 glider fighters. Now, the driver of each glider is selected by drawing lots. Fighters are of high morale. They all treat such a sacrifice as a great honor. However, it''s not a sustainable way..."


    Lan Yunxi had already seen Zhang Tie come in; however, she didn''t even glance at him; instead, she just paid attention to the opinions of those people around her. Watching her cold face, Zhang Tie''s heart started to race.


    Excessive modesty was a sort of pride; similarly, Lan Yunxi, who had an expressionless look was most expressive in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    As Liu Xi had a task in the evening, after taking Zhang Tie here and telling him about something, he then left. Sitting in an inconspicuous place of the command module, Zhang Tie waited for Lan Yunxi quietly. Meanwhile, he was thinking about how to talk with her.


    After about 4 years, Lan Yunxi had become more mature and beautiful. Besides, she looked more dignified like giving out a light, which was not easily touched by others, although being not stimulative to eyes. Her light even dwarfed Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie thought he had been low-key; however, he didn''t know how eye-attractive was his common military uniform which was usually worn by LV 1 soldiers in this command module. Even if he didn''t want to arouse others'' attention, he failed to make it.


    "Are you a soldier on airship? Don''t you know about the rules? Are you qualified to be here? Roll out of here!" a 20-odd handsome major started to rebuke Zhang Tie with a frown.


    When that major walked to the front of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie noticed that Lan Yunxi was glancing at him. However, she didn''t say anything. It seemed that she just wanted to see how Zhang Tie was going to face.


    "Are all women that narrow-minded?" Zhang Tie swore inside. He raised his head and glanced at that major. However, he still sat there. This guy had seen that Liu Xi brought Zhang Tie in just now. He didn''t say anything at that time; whereas, he came here to find Zhang Tie trouble now. What did he mean?


    The moment Zhang Tie saw those men''s admiring look in front of Lan Yunxi did Zhang Tie know what did this guy mean. "F*ck, you want to seek the limelight in front of Lan Yunxi by taking me as the stepping-stone and prop? Damn!"


    Receiving no response from Zhang Tie, that major''s face turned red at once. With a furious look, he instantly lowered his body and his voice as he glared at Zhang Tie while gritting his teeth, "Roll out of here, am I clear?"


    Zhang Tie picked wax from his ears before blowing it away. When that guy was almost driven mad by him, Zhang Tie explained slowly, "Hmm, I''m sorry. I''m not a soldier in crystal battle fortress. Therefore, I don''t know about the rules here. You''re not holding a conference of war, why couldn''t I be here?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, that major became stunned for a second, "You''re not a soldier in crystal battle fortress, why are you here then?"


    "I''m here for my wife!" the moment Zhang Tie finished his words, Lan Yunxi, who had a sharp auditory sense as a LV 12 fighting master, jumped her eyebrows. She could not maintain her calm look anymore; instead, she immediately glared at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter inside.


    "Your wife is here?" the major realized it after a few seconds. After saying this, he looked around and found all the female dogrobbers had left. No female was here except...


    "Yup!" Zhang Tie replied with a common look.


    "Who''s your wife?"


    "My wife is..." Zhang Tie suspended on purpose, "You guess?"


    Zhang Tie blinked and made a grimace.


    The major was infuriated as he felt being cheated by Zhang Tie. The moment he wanted to beat Zhang Tie, he heard Lan Yunxi''s voice.


    "Junior fellow apprentice Zhang Tie, it''s been 4 years no see!" Lan Yunxi walked towards them.


    Zhang Tie stood up with another look, "Senior sister apprentice Xi, it''s been 4 years no see, you look more beautiful!"


    Hearing the frank talk between Zhang Tie and Lan Yunxi, all the men in the command module focused on Zhang Tie, which almost turned Zhang Tie into a burning torch.


    The major stood still as he almost swore all of Zhang Tie''s ancestors and relatives in his mind, "F*ck, you''re a junior fellow apprentice of Lan Yunxi? Why do you look like this? Aren''t you setting me up?"


    Seeing that everyone focused their eyes on Zhang Tie, Lan Yunxi revealed a big smile as she started to introduce to the onlookers very straightforwardly, "May I have your attention, please. I will introduce a person to you. This is Zhang Tie, my junior fellow apprentice, the number one lady killer among the young generation of Huaiyuan Palace. Before he became an adult, he already had more than 40 lovers. My junior fellow apprentice is more well-known than me in Hidden Dragon Island!"


    "Killing intent, killing intent!" Zhang Tie''s fine hair on his back stood up at once.

 536 Love Affairs in Battle Field

    Chapter 536: Love Affairs in Battle Field


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Having over 40 lovers before becoming an adult?" after hearing Lan Yunxi''s introduction, all the young, handsome guys from different clans threw their weird looks at Zhang Tie. If they were commoners, they might admire about Zhang Tie''s "achievements"; however, all these were elites from the 6 influential clans of Jinyun Country. They were all born and grew in rich families. They could have 400 women, not to mention 40, if they were allowed.


    Actually, these true Chinese rich and powerful families had very strict requirements on love affairs. They were instructed since they were young that a person being indulged in love affairs could only be confined in the clan as a birth machine; instead of becoming any influential figure in the clan.


    Therefore, none of the true elites in Chinese rich and powerful families would indulge in love affairs. Meanwhile, they treasured their reputation on this aspect especially. If those elders and big figures of their clan knew that they had love affairs with women outside, it was nothing different than destroying their own future.


    Through Lan Yunxi''s introduction, Zhang Tie became a playboy in Huaiyuan Palace. Plus Zhang Tie''s "whiteboard" military uniform, more people started to feel that Zhang Tie was just a birth machine. Otherwise, as Lan Yunxi''s junior fellow apprentice in Hidden Dragon Palace who had awakened his ancestral bloodline, he should have some shining points.


    Each powerful clan had some people like Zhang Tie. However, they didn''t express their contemptuous looks for the sake of Lan Yunxi''s face. However, given Lan Yunxi''s ridicule, they knew that Lan Yunxi disliked her junior fellow apprentice. Otherwise, she would not have revealed Zhang Tie''s nickname "Love Affairs Number One".


    Of course, Zhang Tie admitted what he had done. After witnessing the miserable situation in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie felt that it was very timely and remorseless to pick the girls of Rose Association away from Blackhot City. Therefore, Zhang Tie looked very calm at this moment.


    After Lan Yunxi''s words, before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, another guy had burst out into laughter.


    "Haha, senior sister apprentice Xi''s words make us embarrassed. But I think that real men should have meritorious deeds in the battle field in this chaotic world. We should fight demons and defend humans on the battle field and tint our battle armors using demons'' fresh blood instead of being indulged in love affairs in the moonlight. What do you think?"


    All the others started to nod.


    The one who talked was a toyboy, whose words were full of superiority. By participating in the holy war, he looked as righteous as a savior in the doomsday. Zhang Tie would not care about that in usual days; however, at this moment, this guy was showing off himself in front of Lan Yunxi, which made Zhang Tie very uncomfortable.


    "F*ck, I''m talking with my wife. who''re you? How dare you show off yourself in front of me?"


    "Good talk! Senior fellow apprentice, your words really enlightened me!" Zhang Tie applauded as he watched that guy with a ''sincere'' smile, "May I know your name, senior fellow apprentice? Which clan do you come from?"


    "I''m Ou Hongyu from Chuixue Palace!" that guy replied with full of conceit.


    Chuixue Palace was the official name of Ou Clan.


    "Oh, it''s senior fellow apprentice Ou from Chuixue Palace. It''s my great honor to see you..." Zhang Tie revealed an ''admirable'' look. "I was told that all the great heroes in the ancient times aimed at eliminating enemies and defending their home. Senior fellow apprentice was so righteous at targeting and sweeping the demons, which really enlightened me a lot. I''m really dwarfed in front of you. I think senior fellow apprentice Ou must have the ambition of sweeping demons and defending our home. I really admire you, please accept my bow."


    After saying this, Zhang Tie really gave a bow to this guy seriously.


    "Erm..." after hearing Zhang Tie''s words, this guy felt something was wrong. However, as he had just said that, he felt shameful to regret; therefore, he revealed a faint embarrassed look.


    "Were you kidding just now?" Zhang Tie asked him with an ''amazed'' look.


    "Of course not!" that guy glared at Zhang Tie.


    "You were just talking about it. Actually, you didn''t think about sweeping demons and defending our home?"


    Under the gaze of the onlookers, including Lan Yunxi, that guy could not swallow his words, "Of course not!"


    "Good man!" Zhang Tie smiled as he forcefully applauded for a few more times, "As you''ve all witnessed that, senior fellow apprentice Ou Hongyu expressed his ambition of sweeping demons and defending our home here. That''s really admirable!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie told Lan Yunxi with an embarrassed look, "I''m sorry, senior fellow apprentice Xi. Seeing so many senior fellow apprentices surrounding you, I thought they were all courting you; I''ve not imagined that this senior fellow apprentice Ou was so noble and so decisive. As this holy war would at least last 100 years, I know senior sister apprentice Xi would not marry until 100 years later when you become a old grandma, this senior fellow apprentice Ou was...alas...pitiful...pitiful!"


    Zhang Tie shook his head as the face of Ou Hongyu turned pale. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie had dug a pit for him and buried him alive; additionally, Zhang Tie even matted down the soil and set a gravestone for him. As a result, Ou Hongyu had no chance to free himself at all.


    At this moment, all the other guys in the room threw their sympathetic glances at Ou Hongyu. They all sympathized Ou Hongyu. With so many elites from 6 clans at present, Ou Clan would definitely force Ou Hongyu to be a ''martyr'' for the reputation of Chuixue Palace; otherwise, Ou Clan would be derided by others.


    Of course, with one less competitor for courting Lan Yunxi, some guys were happy inside. However, at this moment, nobody treated Zhang Tie as a ''birth machine'' anymore. None of the senior fellow apprentices of Lan Yunxi was coward, even a playboy who was indulged in love affairs...


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s eyes lit up once again, all the guys'' hearts pounded.


    "Who else have the same thought as senior fellow apprentice Ou Hongyu?" Zhang Tie asked with a smile.


    "Junior fellow apprentice Zhang Tie must be joking. Although junior fellow apprentice Hongyu''s ambition is admiring, this holy war would last 100 years, even 1000 years. Facing the holy war, it''s our responsibility to protect humans by killing demons on the battle field; however, it''s also our responsibility to extend our clan bloodlines. If our generation could not sweep the demons, we will have our sons and grandsons clean the demons!" a 27-year old man with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel smiled with a mature look.


    All the elites of the 6 clans were excellent in some aspects. Although Ou Hongyu fell into Zhang Tie''s pit, how could the others be foxed by such a problem.


    His words sounded much more reasonable, which formed a resonance with Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then cupped his hands in front of his chest, "May I know your name, senior fellow apprentice?"


    "I''m Dantai Yuya from Tuisi Palace!" that man replied politely.


    "Is senior fellow apprentice also wanting to court our senior sister apprentice Xi?" Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly.


    "Ahem..ahem..." Dantai Yuya did not feel suitable to answer Zhang Tie''s question. After glancing at Lan Yunxi and thinking about Ou Hongyu''s outcome, he said euphemistically and bravely, "Gentlemen always court for fair lady. Senior sister apprentice Yunxi is as delicate as a orchid and as bright as the sun and the moon. It''s my great honor to be favored by her, if possible!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie talking about her private affair, Lan Yunxi glared at Zhang Tie.


    "Ha...ha...don''t be embarrassed, senior fellow apprentices. Our senior sister Xi is the most brightest star in Huaiyuan Palace and Hidden Dragon Palace. Numerous people are courting senior sister apprentice Xi. It''s not strange for you to have such a desire." After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, everybody exchanged glances with each other before nodding inside.


    "However, as our fellow apprentices in Hidden Dragon Palace had negotiated before, the men who could match senior sister apprentice Xi must be very excellent. If he was an average person, even though senior sister apprentice Xi agreed to marry him, we fellow apprentices of Hidden Dragon Palace would not agree. In the eyes of our brothers from Hidden Dragon Palace, men from other clans courting senior sister apprentice Xi were like buddies from other schools stealing away our school sweetheart. What do you feel about that?"


    Everyone in the room nodded as Zhang Tie''s words were very vivid.


    "Therefore, anyone wanting to court our senior sister apprentice Xi has to pass our brothers in Hidden Dragon Palace, right?"


    Lan Yunxi stared at Zhang Tie with a puzzled look. She didn''t know what other tricks would Zhang Tie play. However, Lan Yunxi was moved by one point of Zhang Tie''s words. She was bothered by a lot of men all day long. Sometimes, she was very bored about them. However, their excuses were about military affairs; she felt embarrassed to drive them away. Therefore, she wanted to see what method did Zhang Tie have.


    "I wonder what do you mean by passing the brothers of Hidden Dragon Palace." Dantai Yuya asked calmly.


    "It''s very simple. If you could not match the talents of the brothers of Hidden Dragon Palace, you''d better be self-conscious and stay away from senior sister apprentice Xi. As a girl, our senior sister apprentice might be embarrassed to drive you away sometimes. Our brothers of Hidden Dragon Palace could help her select her pursuer.


    "Match what?" soon after Zhang Tie''s words was a lieutenant colonel''s question. None of those confident men would retreat at this moment.


    "Any item which is concerned with money or family background is not trustful as it''s not your own talent. I have a good item. As we are in the first theater of operations, where all the men head for, we will match the number of wing demons we can kill. As senior sister apprentice Xi had mentioned, I am just a toyboy and her most coward junior fellow apprentice, let''s bet with 3 months. Those who could not kill as many wing demons as me within 3 months would stay far away from senior sister apprentice Xi. A toad don''t dream for eating swan. Within the following 3 months, unless military affairs, please do not draw closer to senior sister apprentice with those old excuses for the sake of the others'' feelings. What do you think about that?"


    Those men exchanged glances with each other before raising their heads like game fowls with unpredictable smile.


    "Hahahaha, that''s funny, that''s funny. Guys from Hidden Dragon Palace are really funny..." a man laughed hysterically, "I will match with you, let''s see whether I''m qualified to court senior sister apprentice Xi after 3 months. I''m Wang Hu. This junior fellow apprentice is really funny. Let''s drink when there''s a chance!"


    A guy with whiskers walked here and patted Zhang Tie''s shoulders before going away.


    Dantai Yuya also smiled, "Junior fellow apprentice Zhang Tie is right. Let''s match our fighting strength then. We will be relaxed after 3 months!"


    After leaving these words, Dantai Yuya also left.


    The rest of people exchanged glances with each other before leaving. Only Ou Hongyu glared at Zhang Tie before leaving.


    In a wink, there were only Zhang Tie and Lan Yunxi in the command module.


    "What do you mean, junior fellow apprentice Zhang Tie?" Lan Yunxi glared at Zhang Tie as she accented the term ''junior fellow apprentice'', "From when did you start caring about my private affair?"


    Zhang Tie revealed a roguish smile, "Erm...as so many men were surrounding you...I''m afraid, I''m afraid to wear a green hat[1]!"


    Soon after he finished his words, Zhang Tie found Lan Yunxi''s eyes turned green as she slowly moved towards Zhang Tie with an increasingly dangerous qi.


    Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva as he moved back out of fear, "Argh...what..what do you want?"


    "Green...green..." Lan Yunxi muttered while gritting her teeth. It seemed that she had been obsessed with a ghost as she glared, "You b*stard!"


    Soon after saying this, Lan Yunxi darted towards Zhang Tie in a high speed that Zhang Tie could not even catch her figure.


    "Don''t beat my face...argh..."


    ...

 537 Cultivation in the Airship

    Chapter 537: Cultivation in the Airship


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie left the airship with a bloody nose and swollen face and looked very embarrassed. However, he didn''t feel depressed about that; instead, he felt a bit relaxed. He had a sense of relief after being beaten by Lan Yunxi. What he was afraid most was being ignored by Lan Yunxi.


    Back in the battle fortress, Hillman and the other three guys were really startled by Zhang Tie''s embarrassed look. They thought that Zhang Tie met demons on the way. Zhang Tie didn''t want to explain it to them. He just let them have a good sleep and return to Jinyun Country together with him tomorrow.


    "Argh, we will go back to Jinyun Country tomorrow?" Michel asked Zhang Tie with an amazing look.


    "Hmm, of course, so you should go to bed early tonight. We will set out early morning!"


    "Oh, thank god, I thought that we were going to fight demons here."


    "Do you want to stay here? If you want, I will tell them to keep you here!"


    "Argh. Don''t do that! I''m just joking!" Michel hurriedly replied with a big smile.


    Zhang Tie then entered his cabin and started to cultivate.


    No matter how tense it was in the first theater of operations, as Zhang Tie had disappeared for three years, if he didn''t return home to take a look at his family members and his friends, he would not be able to concentrate on fighting demons here.


    To resist foreign aggression, there must be internal stability. His family members were still concerned about him. Additionally, he also cared about those girls of Rose Association and the God Blessing Brotherhood. It was righteous for him to just stay here in the 1st theater of operations, however, Zhang Tie was not proud of it at all. No matter what, family ranked first in Zhang Tie''s mind forever. If he lost his own family and those people whom he was concerned about the most, who was he fighting demons for?


    It only took him about 20 days to return to Huaiyuan Prefecture and come back. Zhang Tie didn''t believe that such a great theater of operations would collapse without him.


    "Additionally, Lan Yunxi is still angry at him. It''s tricky to manage her. Slow down." Zhang Tie finally understood that polygamy was not that easy.


    At about 5 in the next early morning, Zhang Tie heard the knocks from outside the narrow room.


    Having long prepared for it, Zhang Tie hurriedly got off the bed and opened the door. A second lieutenant in airship uniform was standing outside the door, "Are you Zhang Tie?"


    "Yup!"


    "Airship 086 is going to set off, my officer told me to take you onto the airship!"


    "Fine!" Zhang Tie hurriedly knocked at the door next to his room. Hillman and the other 3 guys had long prepared for that. The moment they heard Zhang Tie''s knocks did they come out hurriedly.


    After walking out of the battle fortress of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie let them wait for a short while. He then rapidly ran towards the room of Liu Xi and knocked at his door. Liu Xi was not inside. Zhang Tie estimated that Liu Xi was still on duty. Therefore, he left a slip of paper in Liu Xi''s room. Soon after that, he left with that second lieutenant.


    In the airship base outside the battle fortress, Zhang Tie caught sight of airship 086, which was a fury-level war airship. Over 200 wounded soldiers were in that airship, who required medical treatment in Huaiyuan Prefecture. Compared to them, Zhang Tie was just thumbing a ride.


    The coxswain didn''t know Zhang Tie''s status. Therefore, when Zhang Tie boarded on the airship, the coxswain didn''t show up. The crew of the airship also treated Zhang Tie as a coward of Huaiyuan Palace who hurriedly escaped away at the sight of the dangers in the frontier.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about their thoughts. When a person was enough powerful, he indeed didn''t have to care about others'' feelings, neither would he show himself up in front of others. Zhang Tie estimated that he had killed tens of thousands of demon puppets, 13 LV 9 demons and 1 LV 14 demon from the accident in Heavens Cold City to now. He wondered whether this was a contribution that he had made to humans in the holy war or not. Therefore, he was very reassured about his current situation.


    This time, 5 of them were allocated with 5 independent cabins. Although it was a bit crowded but it was better than that in the crystal battle fortress. Whereas, due to too many wounded soldiers were inside, the entire airship was filled with a smell of disinfected water.


    Less than 10 minutes after they boarded on, the airship 086 had slowly suspended in the air under the guidance of the ground lamp signals. At the same time, the anchor chains which were used to fix the airship were also collected. Standing on the deck of the airship, Zhang Tie watched these battle fortresses. On the top of that battle fortress of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie saw a graceful figure who was watching this airship.


    That was Lan Yunxi.


    "Wait for me. I will be back soon. Wait for me back. I will kill all the wing demons and drive all those b*stards away!" Zhang Tie shouted towards that figure. After hearing Zhang Tie''s exclamation, that figure directly turned around and entered the battle fortress.


    Touching his nose, Zhang Tie watched those fighters manipulating some defense weapons on the deck who were staring at him as if they saw an idiot.


    "You can kill wing demons?" a tough Chinese soldier with the rank of sergeant first class asked Zhang Tie.


    "Not yet. But I think it''s not difficult!" Zhang Tie shrugged.


    "Brat, don''t talk nonsense. If you could kill a wing demon, I would call you grandpa!"


    "Is wing demon that tricky?"


    "Of course, they were LV 9 demons. As long as they reached the dead defensive corners of airship, one wing demon could tear all the major air sacs of a fury-level airship in one minute. In order to deal with wing demons, we''ve lost too many brothers."


    "Does wing demons fly faster than airship?"


    "Of course!"


    "Are they faster than glider?"


    "Almost!"


    "Why not beat them by glider?"


    "Brat, don''t brag, glider is not like airship. It has limited weapons. There''s only a driver inside. How to beat demons in the cockpit?" that sergeant first class stared at Zhang Tie.


    "Do you have a glider on this airship?"


    "Of course!"


    "Haha, you will know how to beat them!" Zhang Tie smiled before leaving the deck.


    ...


    "F*ck, this brat must have not been to the battle field!" a soldier on the deck said after Zhang Tie left.


    All the others nodded.


    ...


    After leaving the deck, Zhang Tie directly returned to his cabin. He told Hillman to call him if the airship encountered an air attack. After that, he closed the door and started to cultivate.


    Zhang Tie estimated it would take him at least 7 days by airship from Selnes Plain to Huaiyuan Prefecture of Jinyun Country. He could have a good cultivation in this period. Of course, if the airship met the attack of some iron-beak ibises on the way back, it would be awesome.


    Zhang Tie sat with his legs crossed in the narrow cabin as he started to visualize the mysterious runes off ''Great Wilderness Sutra''. After that, he started to recite the endless true words of the Great Wilderness Sutra.


    He had to recite the true words of endless Great Wilderness Sutra for 50 times before activating the second storey of the All-Spirits Pagoda. As long as the second storey was activated, Zhang Tie would have 5 Great Wilderness Seals and could manipulate all the LV 1 living beings. After that, Zhang Tie would prepare to see how powerful the soul-based animal controlling method in the "Great Wilderness Sutra" was.


    As Zhang Tie muttered the true words one after another, mysterious tadpole-sized runes gradually formed in Zhang Tie''s mind before drilling into the second storey of the All-Spirits Pagoda. Gradually, the second storey of the All-Spirits Pagoda started to shine.


    Zhang Tie gently sped up. Gradually, each sentence of Great Wilderness endless true words jumped out of his mouth in the form of one syllable. As he read too fast, he only heard the sound "buzz"..."buzz"...later on, all of Zhang Tie''s cells started to hum...


    ...


    In cultivation, Zhang Tie forgot about time. When he felt hungry as his stomach sounded like a thunder, he instantly retreated from the state of reciting Great Wilderness endless true words. After that, Zhang Tie got off the bed. After moving his limbs, he opened the door and walked out.


    "Argh, boss, you''re out?" half-balded counterfeiter Abu let out a sigh immediately the moment he saw Zhang Tie coming out.


    "What''s wrong?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "Boss, we were all concerned about you during the past three days. If you didn''t come out today, Hillman would have called the captain to break your door by force!"


    "Oh, I''ve cultivated 3 days?"


    "You don''t know how long have you cultivated, boss?"


    "In cultivation, you would have a different time experience!"


    "Oh!" Abu scratched his head. The world of senior fighters was too mysterious for these LV 2 or 3 soldiers.


    "Have the airship been attacked by those flying beasts?"


    "No!" Abu shook his head.


    "Where''s the canteen. I want to eat something!"


    "Ah, good!"


    Although there were too many food in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie didn''t want to use Castle of Black Iron without any emergency.


    On the way to the canteen, Zhang Tie found that Figo was dealing with wounds for those wounded soldiers as professionally as a doctor. It seemed that Figo had gained great respect from those wounded soldiers.


    Zhang Tie was told that this guy was a surgeon before. Hillman was playing chess with the coxswain. At this moment, Figo and Hillman were the most popular guys on the airship.


    When Zhang Tie was eating food, Michel stealthily ran towards here and whispered to Zhang Tie, "Boss, I know where''s the code case of the airship. Do you want to see what''s inside?"


    Zhang Tie almost sprayed out a mouth of soup...


    "F*ck, what the hell are they?"


    After hearing Michel''s words, Abu also smiled in a bashful way, "Hmm, after observing their certificates these days, I found that it was very easy to counterfeit them!"


    Zhang Tie took out of his clan plate and threw it to Abu, "Can you counterfeit this?"


    After observing that plate for about half a minute, Abu replied, "I can make one with the same look. However, it''s hard to completely counterfeit it. The special alloys on it could not be bought in the market. If they were replaced by other materials, they could be noticed by experts. The grains and fine holes on this plate form a very sophisticated machine three-dimensional identification code. Without the digital decoding formula, I could not pass the identification of difference engine. I need at least 40 parameters to decode this identification code. Additionally, I have to use the core programming card of the difference engine to completely backcast the digital decoding formula."


    "You know difference engine?" Zhang Tie glanced at that half-balded guy.


    "Doesn''t a pig slaughter know how to polish a knife?"


    "I forgot to ask you. What was your job before?" Zhang Tie asked the counterfeiter.


    "Boss, I was a keypunch operator of a difference engine!"


    "A keypunch operator?"


    Abu explained for 10 minutes. After finding that Zhang Tie didn''t understand what he said, he just looked at Zhang Tie with a helpless expression.


    Zhang Tie didn''t ask him anymore. He could understand the principle of abacus; however, he was completely confused about the steam calculator which was composed of numerous gears.


    However, Zhang Tie also confirmed one thing, these guys were very useful.


    ...


    In the later days, Zhang Tie kept cultivating quietly in his cabin. Fortunately, this airship didn''t encounter any attack on the way because of its great threat or its better route in the air. As a result, Zhang Tie failed to meet his desire for having one more trouble-reappearance fruit in the travel by trying the glider on the airship.


    After entering his 3rd meditation for some time, Zhang Tie felt the All-Spirits Pagoda suddenly started radiating countless golden light in his mind, among which, the shadows of various insects and beasts started to appear on the second storey of the pagoda. Zhang Tie realized that he had activated the second storey of the All-Spirits Pagoda.


    Zhang Tie started to inject spiritual energy from the top of the pagoda. An octahedron-shaped Great Wilderness seal slowly formed into the second storey of the All-Spirits Pagoda.


    Zhang Tie became thrilled, "Is this the Great Wilderness Seal that could manipulate all the LV 1 living beings?"


    After forming all the 5 Great Wilderness Seals on the second storey, Zhang Tie felt a bit tired because of lack of spiritual energy.


    Zhang Tie poured in a vial of all-purpose medicament as he heard someone knocking at his door.


    "We''re arriving at Huaiyuan Prefecture..."


    ...

 538 Family Members I

    Being in the northernmost of Huaiyuan Prefecture, Taian City was adjacent to Shunjiang City of Lan Clan of Jinyun Country. After the 3rd holy war broke out, the entire Taian City became the northernmost military town of Huaiyuan Palace. Most of troops that left Huaiyuan Palace had to pass Taian City, not to mention airship troops. Now, Huaiyuan Palace set its airship base in Taian City. The airship No. 086 landed on a busy large-scaled airship port.


    The airship arrived at noon while the sun was hanging high above head. Zhang Tie waited until all the wounded soldiers were carried away. The wounded soldiers bid farewell to Figo. When Hillman left, the coxswain even gifted him a box of collected chess. Because of the two guys, those airship crew''s looked towards Zhang Tie while turning milder.


    "Brat, remember what you said. Go back to the 1st theater of operations to kill wing demons. Don''t be coward if you''re a man."


    Zhang Tie turned around and found that strong sergeant first class who talked with him a few days ago was shouting towards him while exposing his head out of the safety fence of the deck and waving his fist.


    Zhang Tie smiled as he waved his hand towards this guy.


    Soon after he passed the hatch door at the bottom of the airship was Zhang Tie stunned.


    "Little Fruit..." Zhang Tie''s mom rushed to him at once and embraced Zhang Tie. At the same time, she burst out into tears. After half a minute, she separated from Zhang Tie. Like checking a good, she checked Zhang Tie''s body from head to toe. She even let Zhang Tie turn around. After that, she stopped sobbing, "It''s good to see you safe...it''s good to see you safe..."


    Zhang Tie''s eyes also turned red. When his mom rushed to him and embraced him, he genuinely sensed how his parents were concerned about him during the past 3 years.


    His dad also came here. Wiping off his tears, he patted Zhang Tie''s shoulders, "Remember to usually...usually send a message to us when you go out next time in case of your mom''s concern!"


    Zhang Tie wiped off his tears. He just nodded, "I know...this time...it''s my mistake. I should not have made you and mom worried about me for such a long time!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie looked at his elder brother, who looked more mature and dignified than that when Zhang Tie left Huaiyuan Prefecture. Zhang Yang had kept a mustache. On his side were standing some people. Zhang Tie''s eldest sister-in-law Huizhen, who was holding a strong 4-5 years old kid in her right hand and a 2-3 years old little girl in her left hand. Both kids were adorable.


    Besides the eldest sister-in-law were two women, both of whom looked like fair ladies and were more beautiful and dignified than the eldest sister-in-law. One of the two women was holding a 2-3 years old boy. The other woman who looked a bit plump was cradling a half-year old baby. Zhang Tie found that they were all similar to his elder brother.


    "What a great elder brother!" Zhang Tie sighed with emotions inside.


    Besides more family members, Zhang Tie found everybody was wearing better, especially his three elder sisters-in-law, who looked noble. It seemed that their living standards had been greatly improved. After a couple of years, Zhang Tie''s parents looked even better than before due to the effect of all-purpose medicament. They didn''t look old at all. Furthermore, their cheeks were rosy. This made Zhang Tie reassured.


    "Cheng''an, do you remember your uncle? Call uncle together with your younger sister!" Wang Huizhen, the eldest sister-in-law touched the head of that 4-5 years old boy while telling him to hold the hand of the little girl on his side. Both kids then called Zhang Tie uncle in a naive voice with curious black eyes.


    Zhang Tie then squatted as he touched their head sand kissed their tender faces. Being not accustomed to that, the little girl was so scared by Zhang Tie''s kiss as she directly hid behind Zhang Tie''s mom, "Grandma, grandma..." all the family members then laughed about that...


    "Shiyun, Huayin. Come out to greet Zhang Tie!" Zhang Tie''s elder brother coughed, telling the two women on his side to greet his younger brother.


    Zhang Tie stood up very officially, "Nice to see you, elder sisters-in-law!"


    Zhang Yang then introduced the two women to Zhang Tie. The second sister-in-law''s son was Zhang Chengxu, who''s Zhang Yang''s second son while the third sister-in-law''s son was Zhang Chengze, who was just 5 months old. The eldest sister-in-law''s daughter was Zhang Shiyu. That was to say, Zhang Tie''s elder brother already had 3 wives, 3 sons and 1 daughter.


    "That''s awesome, elder brother. I have some nephews and nieces now. Since I came back in a hurry this time, I''ve not prepared any gifts for my nephews and nieces. How about this uncle bringing you some gifts next time?" Zhang Tie pinched the petite face of Zhang Chengxu.


    "Thanks, uncle..." Zhang Chengxu replied as his mom that is Zhang Tie''s second sister-in-law revealed a smile.


    "Who are they?" Zhang Yang looked at Hillman and the other three guys on Zhang Tie''s side.


    "These are my subordinates. Elder brother, arrange someone to lead them to Jinwu Castle and settle them down there!" after saying that to Zhang Yang, Zhang Tie said something to Hillman and the other three guys. After that, they were taken away by a subordinate of Zhang Yang by a car being not far from here.


    "Let''s talk inside home!" after they all recognized with each other, Zhang Tie''s dad suggested on one side as all the others nodded.


    "Let''s go back home then?" Zhang Yang looked at Zhang Tie.


    "Fine. Let''s talk inside home. Chengze and the other kids are too young to stand such a heavy wind!" Zhang Tie also nodded, "Oh, how did you come here, elder brother?"


    "By airship. Our home has already moved to Yiyang City!" saying this, all of them started to walk in one direction.


    Right dozens of meters away from here, there was a very luxurious and beautiful streamlined medium-sized manned airship. After boarding on the airship, Zhang Tie found that this airship was much more comfortable than that he could imagine. There were servicemen, babysitters of Zhang Yang''s kids and their bodyguards. It seemed that Zhang Tie''s parents and eldest sister-in-law had been used to this living style. Zhang Tie was also amazed by the bodyguards'' levels. 3 of the bodyguards were LV 9, 2 of them were LV 10. The level of the rest one was unpredictable as a 50-odd years old man whose existence could almost not be sensed.


    They just sat on the cozy sofa in the passenger cabin and chatted for free.


    "These bodyguards were employed through special channel when Jinwu Corporation reached a certain scale. They are all members of Zhang Clan from Huaiyuan Palace!" Seeing Zhang Tie glancing at them, Zhang Yang whispered to Zhang Tie.


    "Jinwu Corporation?"


    "I recruited a team of guards last year. Our firm also developed. Therefore, our Jinwu Firm promoted to Jinwu Corporation!"


    Zhang Tie nodded, "Elder brother is really an insightful person. I''ve predicted about the fast expansion of Jinwu firm with the business of all-purpose medicament."


    "Tell me about you. Where have you been these couple of years? Don''t you know how much your mom was worried about you?" Zhang Tie''s dad glared at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie scratched his head as he didn''t know how to explain to his parents.


    "Put down your hands. The moment you scratch your head, it means you''re telling a lie. That''s a bad habit that you''ve formed since you were young. I know you well!" Zhang Tie''s dad put it straightforwardly.


    Under the curious looks of three elder sisters-in-law, Zhang Tie revealed an embarrassed smile as he put his hands on the knees, "Erm...actually, I was cultivating in the wild these years. As it was remote, I didn''t even know that the 3rd holy war had broken out until recently."


    Zhang Tie expressed his experience in a honest way.


    "Cultivate? You''re just a teenager. To cultivate what? Tell me, have you been LV 6? Don''t think that you papa could be easily cheated by your nonsense!" Zhang Tie''s dad condemned him.


    "Dad, I''m LV 9 now!" Zhang Tie replied honestly.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, both Zhang Tie''s dad and his elder brother were shocked.


    "What?" Zhang Tie''s dad thought he heard it wrong.


    "LV 9! As I''ve already promoted to LV 9, I returned to an inhabited place and found that the holy war had broken out. I''ve not encountered any dangers these couple of years although I''ve not returned home. Don''t worry about me, dad and mom!" Zhang Tie comforted his parents. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Tie''s mom looked much more relaxed.


    "Then why did you come back by the war airship of Huaiyuan Palace?"


    "As demon disasters exist everywhere, I could only come back through Huaiyuan Palace''s airship in the Selnes Theater of Operations!"


    "Well, it''s okay, it''s good to see my son back. Don''t always talk with him so seriously. We''re not interrogating a criminal!" Zhang Tie''s mom urged. Zhang Tie''s dad then became silent.


    Meanwhile, Zhang Tie''s mom cradled Zhang Shiyu, who was climbing on the ground, onto her knees as she revealed a benign look, "Little fruit, you''re almost 20 years old. I will find a girl to marry you this time. You have to learn from your elder brother and give birth to some kids for the sake of the domestic undertakings. The domestic undertaking is growing too large. Your dad and I are even a bit afraid about that. As long as you have more babies, your dad and I will be reassured..."

 539 The Best Wish

    Chapter 539: The Best Wish


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Zhang Tie''s mom spoke, all the family members focused on Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie immediately felt a great stress. Especially facing his parents'' desiring eyes, Zhang Tie didn''t know what to say at all.


    "Get married and give birth to a baby?" To be honest, Zhang Tie had thought about this before. However, it was still too early to consider it now.


    "Don''t worry, mom. I promise you that I will give birth to more grandsons than my elder brother. You and dad are my idols. As you and dad fell in love freely, you can not force me to accept a stranger. I will also choose a free love and bravely elope with my beloved one. Am I right, dad?" Zhang Tie looked at his dad with a grin.


    "Of course, at that time..." the moment Zhang Tie''s dad became excited and wanted to say something with a proud look did he become frustrated and smirk under the sharp gaze of Zhang Tie''s mom.


    Zhang Tie''s elder sisters-in-law all giggled while covering their mouth with hand...


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s casual look, Zhang Tie''s mom sighed...


    Zhang Yang hurriedly shifted the topic as he pointed at the layout inside the airship, "Zhang Tie, guess where was this airship produced?"


    Zhang Tie looked at it for a while before replying, "It looks nice, is there anything special with it?"


    "Do you remember that small airship manufacturing company where our dad worked in Jinhai City?"


    "Argh, is this airship produced by that company?"


    "Yes!" Zhang Yang revealed a smile, "Two years ago, I bought that company at the cost of over 400,000 gold coins. Now, that company has changed its name into Jinwu Airship Manufacturing Company. Dad became the boss of that company. That is to say, this airship was produced by ourselves. Its type sea swallow was even named by dad. Its endurance could not match large-scale airship. However, It''s suitable to medium and short-range flight within 2000 kms. As it''s smaller and faster than the fury-level airship produced in Huaiyuan Prefecture, it has good market sales!"


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that his elder brother had the same thought as him. Previously, he had thought about purchasing that airship manufacturing company so as to please his dad and himself.


    After Zhang Yang finished his words, Zhang Tie picked himself up from the cozy seat and took a visit around the airship. To be honest, this airship was really not bad. Its design and craftsmanship could reach middle and upper class. Additionally, it could move fast. It seemed that they had made it with heart.


    "How much does such an airship cost?" Zhang Tie asked Zhang Yang.


    "About 14,000 gold coins for an average one. It could be customized and decorated according to the demands of customers!"


    "Can we match it with weapons?"


    "There''s only a small steam ballista in the airship! As it is for civil use, it''s not matched with too many weapons; however, it could be extended with some weapon positions. As war demands were considered in advance, additional weapon positions had been left on the power package!" Zhang Tie''s dad started to introduce this airship for Zhang Tie with full of excitement ahead of Zhang Yang. Seeing their dad being that spirited, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang exchanged glances with each other before grinning at the same time¡ª¡ªa man should have an undertaking so as to bring spice to his life.


    ...


    It took them about 3 hours from Taian City to Yiyang City. After coming back to Yiyang City, Zhang Tie saw more airships in the sky than that a couple of years ago. At this moment, Huaiyuan Prefecture had not been influenced by the holy war; instead, it became more prosperous.


    Being far away from demons disaster and being adjacent to the ocean, Yiyang City was the most important traffic hub in the entire Waii Sub-Continent. This place was also the trading center of the continents. From here, people could leave Waii Sub-Continent. With the surging population brought by war and the relevant developed trading and manufacturing, Yiyang City became more magnificent and grand.


    The airship of Zhang Tie''s family members didn''t land in the airship port in Yiyang City; instead, it landed in a magnificent manor of Yiyang City.


    After getting off the airship, Zhang Tie took a deep breath at the sight of those servants and babysitters who became busy because of the arrival of the airship and that faintly luxurious and grand building behind the woods.


    "Let''s go, we always keep your room clean. When you''re outside, our mom would clean up your room each week and wait for you to come back!"


    The whole manor covered more than 26000 square meters, which was twice that of Zhang''s old mansion in Jinhai City. The qi field of this manor was much greater than that of Zhang''s old mansion. Of course, this manor in Yiyang City was much more valuable and magnificent than that in Jinhai City.


    At the sight of this place, Zhang Tie had understood his elder brother''s intention¡ª¡ªjust for the face of their dad.


    Being followed by a lot of servants, Zhang Tie''s family members arrived at the front of that building. Before that round pool outside the front door of the building, Zhang Tie caught sight of Miss Daina when a current spread over Zhang Tie''s body from his spine, causing him quiver all over for a second.


    Miss Daina was still that beautiful with brown hair and blue eyes. Her hair was shorter than before, yet she looked more womanly. Wearing a decent azury female western uniform, she was squatting in front of the pool and applauding towards Zhang Cheng''an and the other kids. With a hurrah, those kids ran towards Miss Daina.


    "Miss Daina is now the private teacher employed by us!" Zhang Tie''s elder brother threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie before explaining to him, "With the help of all-purpose medicament, his elder brother has been completely cured two years ago. He''s now working for Jinwu Corporation!"


    Miss Daina stood up as she looked at Zhang Tie with a smile while holding two kids. This scene was like a beautiful picture in Zhang Tie''s eyes. After burying his thought in mind, Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he walked over there, "Miss Daina..."


    "I always wanted to extend my sincere thanks to you. But I had no chance. Although I didn''t have your message these years, I believed that you were safe!" Miss Daina watched Zhang Tie.


    Watching the blue mountain, Zhang Tie felt that his mind became pure, "Ha...ha...Miss Daina has taught two generations of Zhang family. That''s your greatest thanks to us. I find that Cheng''an and Shiyu like you so much!"


    "Actually it''s a bit relaxed to teach kids. I''m also happy to stay with them!"


    "Miss Daina meant I was naughty at school..."


    Miss Daina replied with a smile...


    ...


    Before supper, Miss Daina completed today''s task and intended to leave. Zhang Tie accompanied her to the outside of the manor.


    Walking on the shadowy path, they chatted for a short while at the beginning; however, they both became silent after a while.


    They just walked and didn''t know what to say.


    After a long while, Miss Daina broke the silence, "Zhang Tie, thank you..."


    "It''s my pleasure, teacher. To transfer you out of Blackhot City is the most meaningful thing that I''ve done since I was born!"


    "You knew that holy war was going to break out at that time?"


    "Yes!"


    Miss Daina became silent once again. After a few more steps, she suddenly looked at Zhang Tie and asked, "Before you came back to Blackhot City, you didn''t know about doctor Bionne, right? Doctor Bionne told me that it was you who taught him to say that."


    After being silent for a second, Zhang Tie watched Miss Daina, "Yes!"


    They then stopped at the same time, Daina watched Zhang Tie with a sophisticated look. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to watch Miss Daina with an unprecedented brave look. He could almost hear his own heart beats.


    "Miss Daina...I...am already LV 9!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Miss Daina became a bit amazed. While blinking her eyes, she smiled as she hugged Zhang Tie and kissed his forehead slightly, "Promise me, be my best student, okay? I''ve met my beloved man in this city. I want to get married. If not, I will be really old. I''m always waiting for this chance to tell you about this!"


    The kiss almost made Zhang Tie fly; however, her following words made Zhang Tie hear something breaking in his heart.


    After being silent for a few seconds...


    "Ha...ha, I''m kidding. How come I become a bloody-scorpion fighter..." Zhang Tie burst out laughter at once with a cynical look. He even made a grimace towards Miss Daina, "All the students at school said that your appointment was fake. It seems that they were right. But I win a kiss at least. I''m so happy to know that you will get married, Miss Daina. That guy must be handsome!"


    "Hmm, he''s a handsome doctor. He''s also considerate!" Miss Daina also smiled.


    "Pitifully, I have to leave Huaiyuan Prefecture in a few days. Otherwise, I''d have definitely stayed to attend your wedding ceremony!"


    "Do you still want to leave?"


    "Hmm, I will go back to Selnes Theater of Operations..." Zhang Tie shrugged.


    ...


    After having the driver of the manor send Miss Daina away, Zhang Tie just stood still outside the gate of the manor and seeing her off like a concrete sculpture.


    A few minutes'' gaze was like a couple of years for Zhang Tie. During this period, Zhang Tie understood that many nice things in one''s life could not be gained!


    If you got it, you would be happy; if you lost it, you would grow up.


    No matter whether it was happiness or growth, it would be a wish!


    "I''m not the God. The world would not circle around me. Try your best, man!"


    Zhang Tie forcefully rubbed his face, making it as red as his eyes. He wanted his tears back in his eyes. He then took a deep breath and forced a smile before returning to the manor.


    "My parents are still waiting for me to eat supper."


    ...

 540 The Fruit of Plunder

    Chapter 540: The Fruit of Plunder


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie had not eaten supper with his family members for three years. His parents were very happy. The kids were running around the table, making a very boisterous atmosphere. No matter what, those elder sisters-in-law were at least kind with each other superficially. Therefore, they all had a happy meal.


    After supper, Zhang Tie''s eldest sister-in-law asked Zhang Tie about the current situation of Blackhot City. After hearing that Blackhot City had been deserted by Norman Empire due to demons disaster and all the residents had moved out of the city, she was shocked very much.


    Even his dad and mom sighed for that.


    When the eldest sister-in-law asked Zhang Tie about the situation in Blackhot city, the other two sisters-in-law only sat aside and listened to their talk. Eldest sister-in-law looked as same as before while the 2nd and the 3rd elder sisters-in-law smiled. Zhang Tie could sense the subtle relationship between three women.


    The eldest sister-in-law''s family background was very common. Her parents opened a tailor''s store. The 2nd and the 3rd wives of Zhang Yang both originated from rich and powerful clans. Zhang Tie''s 2nd elder sister-in-law came from an influential clan of Jinhai City, which ran a big ocean fishing company. Because they had business dealings with Jinwu Corporation, Lu Shiyun married Zhang Yang through the introduction of their family members.


    Although the eldest sister-in-law and the 3rd elder sister-in-law shared the same surname Wang, their families were completely different from each other. The 3rd elder sister-in-law came from Shude Palace of Wang Clan, one of the 6 top clans in Jinyun Country. Although she was not very noble in Wang Clan, she belonged to the direct line of descent of Wang Clan. Since she was young, she had received a good education and had a broad vision. Her father and brothers were all working as officers in Tianxi City, where the awarded prefecture of Wang Clan belonged to.


    In such a case, Zhang Tie''s eldest sister-in-law had a sense of crisis. She needed to seek for a chance to consolidate her position in Zhang Yang''s family. Zhang Tie could understand it. Besides, he even coordinated with her very well. Zhang Tie always respected this very virtuous eldest sister-in-law who had been following his elder brother since in Blackhot City.


    After chatting with each other for a while, as it was too late, Zhang Yang asked his wives and kids to go to bed first. Zhang Tie''s parents knew that Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang had a lot to talk with each other after having separated for a couple of years. Therefore, they went to bed too.


    Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang then came to Zhang Yang''s study room from the parlor.


    After entering Zhang Yang''s study room, at the sight of the thick carpet and the rows of books on the book shelves, Zhang Tie nodded inside, "That''s what a home should look like."


    Zhang Tie casually threw himself onto the cozy sofa. Zhang Yang made two cups of tea and sat on Zhang Tie side as he passed one cup to Zhang Tie.


    The special, dense fragrance and the glazed liquid in the tea cup were familiar to Zhang Tie, which reminded Zhang Tie of many things at once.


    "Top Wild Spring from Eastern Continent!"


    "You know that?" Zhang Yang glanced at Zhang Tie with an amazing look before letting out a sigh, "It seems that you lived well in the outside these years!"


    "I drunk it once in the clan senior''s room!" Zhang Tie smiled. He then added two cubes of sugar from the sugar cup into the tea cup and slightly stirred up.


    "It''s my first time to see the best drinking method of top Wild Spring! I will also have a try!" watching Zhang Tie''s movement, Zhang Yang burst out into laughter as he also added two cubes of sugar into the tea cup. Zhang Tie also burst out into laughter. He finally could enjoy adding sugar into top Wild Spring tea water at home after 4 years.


    What was progress? This was progress! The small cup of tea water indicated the power and social position of Zhang Clan.


    "I know you have a lot of questions to ask. Go ahead. I will talk after you..." after drinking a mouth of sweet Wild Spring tea water, Zhang Tie''s elder brother smacked his lip as he watched Zhang Tie.


    "Where are those people that I brought here from Blackhot City?"


    "After being told that you were not back together with them, I dispatched some powerhouses to pick you up in Blackhot City. When they arrived, they heard the news that Master Abyan was assassinated. His castle disappeared. Nobody knew what happened. Even you were lost. Closely after that, the holy war broke out. Those people waited for you in Huaiyuan Prefecture for one year. They were not used to living here; mainly because of language problem. Finally, many of them thought you were dead or could not stay in Huaiyuan Prefecture after encountering some accident; therefore, I sent them away from Waii Sub-Continent!"


    "Where were they?"


    "Eastern Continent!"


    After being told that those guys of God Blessing Association and those girls of Rose Association had gone to Eastern Continent, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh inside. "That''s good. They could at least live a steady life. Perhaps some of them thought that they would not see me again. I could only seek for a chance to explain it to them.


    Zhang Tie knew that when he would see those girls of Rose Association in the future, most of them would have their own families. The absurd experience between him and them would come to an end.


    Waving his head, Zhang Tie forced a smile. "What a special day! It seems that all the familiar female came to bid farewell to me for the bygones today, including Miss Daina and those girls of Rose Association. My elder brother has increasingly more wives; however, I don''t even have one. I''m afraid that I might not have a chance to see those girls of Rose Association anymore. I could only hope for them to live a happy life after leaving this continent."


    Watching Zhang Tie''s bitter smile, Zhang Yang also smiled, "Hoho, easy; actually, besides Miss Daina who stayed here for his younger brother''s treatment, three women are still staying in Huaiyuan Prefecture who said that they would wait for you to come back."


    "Three?" Zhang Tie blinked his eyes as he felt something strange.


    "Hmm, Linda, Beverly and Fiona. When I went to pick you up, I planned to take all of them; but considering our parents'' feelings, I didn''t notice them. You can give them a surprise!"


    "Where are they?"


    "Right in Yiyang City. They learnt Chinese very fast. They even opened a clothing store which has a good business. They are living together and looking after each other. I''ve already sent Beverly and Fiona''s family members to the Eastern Continent and have people help them settle down there." after saying this, Zhang Yang even patted Zhang Tie''s shoulders, "Hmm, these women are not bad!"


    Zhang Tie drew in a deep breath as he controlled his impulsion to find them. After that, Zhang Tie asked another question, "What about other people. Are they used to the language of Eastern Continent? I''m afraid that many of them couldn''t speak Chinese. Is it okay to have them sent to Eastern Continent?"


    Zhang Yang replied with a smile, "The size of the Eastern Continent is thousands times that of Waii Sub-Continent. Although it is predominated by Chinese, on the border of Eastern Continent, there are also some agglomerations of minorities who speak Hebrew. Each minority would have millions of people. Therefore, they would not have problem in communication over there."


    After hearing Zhang Yang''s words, Zhang Tie found that besides reading a travel note written by a foreigner about Eastern Continent when in Blackhot City, he knew very little about Eastern Continent. Therefore, he felt a bit shameful about that.


    "How''s Eastern Continent?" can you talk with me about that, elder brother. To be shameful, as a Chinese, I only know a bit about that continent." Zhang Tie asked.


    "Fine. I started to know about Eastern Continent in business these years as I touched more and more people over there. Let me talk with you about that!" Zhang Yang slightly raised his head with a gleaming look, "There''s only one country predominated by Chinese in the entire Eastern Continent, which is called Taixia. The country is very prosperous. It has numerous Chinese people and vacant territory. It has 9 divine provinces, 36 upper provinces, 72 greater provinces and numerous medium- and small-sized provinces and prefectures. It''s the most prosperous land of human civilization, the ruling center of Taixia and the sacred land of Chinese. It''s called Xuanyuan Hill. It was said that Xuanyuan Hill was the sacred item of the far-ancient Chinese and the jewelry that Chinese excavated from the underground world after the Catastrophe."


    "Argh? Isn''t Xuanyuan Hill a place? Then why was it excavated from the underground world?"


    "Xuanyuan Hill is both a place and is excavated from the underground world. I''ve not seen it. However, I was told that Xuanyuan Hill was a huge mysterious cube, whose length, width and height was about 100 km respectively. Its greater part is still buried underground!"


    Zhang Tie became dumbfounded, "What about the Eastern Continent now? Are they still fighting?"


    "The flames of war have not reached the Eastern Continent. If it reached the center of human civilization, Waii Sub-Continent had long been burned into ashes by demons. We would not be sitting and drinking tea here anymore."


    Zhang Tie nodded. "Although the Waii Sub-Continent has been covered with flames of war, given its geographical position and its power on the human side, it is just the beginning of the holy war."


    However, this had already brought Zhang Tie a great stress. He became a bit worried about the future; especially after witnessing the power of demon corps, Zhang Tie was clear that Waii Sub-Continent could not stand too long in this holy war. It was already 3 years since the beginning of the holy war; however, 1/4 of the territory of Waii Sub-Continent had collapsed. Numerous people had been killed. All the countries on the Waii Sub-Continetn were ruined. Who knew what it would be here after 10 years. Zhang Tie was even not sure if humans could sustain 10 years here.


    Zhang Tie then told Zhang Yang what he had witnessed in Selnes Theater of Operations and his judgment about the holy war. After that, he watched his elder brother seriously, "If our foundation could not be established here in the future, Waii Sub-Continent would completely collapse sooner or later. Therefore, from now on, elder brother, I hope you to prepare for moving our home to Eastern Continent as soon as possible. We need to take our parents, my elder sisters-in-law and the kids away from here. We have to lose some money for the future of our family!"


    "Of course, I know. I''ve already started to prepare for this a couple of years ago. We have made more than 10 million gold coins by selling all-purpose medicament these years. Plus other incomes, we can restart our business wherever we go!"


    "It''s too good if you think that way, elder brother. As long as we are alive, we can make ten more times, even 100 times more!"


    "I find you are much more confident than before!"


    "Haha, no kidding, elder brother. You''ve doubled the population of our family these years. After two decades, when those kids have babies, our family would be great!" Zhang Tie joked.


    Zhang Yang glared at Zhang Tie, "Don''t talk nonsense. If not dad and mom worried about you, I wouldn''t have so many kids! Have you seen that our mom didn''t smile until being surrounded by those kids? She was transferring her attention; otherwise, the moment she thought about you, she would drop tears silently!"


    Zhang Tie finally knew why his elder brother gave birth to babies so crazily these years.


    "This is an accident. I promise this will not happen again!" Zhang Tie explained with a bashful look.


    After picking himself up, Zhang Yang took out of a silver box from a drawer and put it in front of Zhang Tie.


    "What''s this?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Take a look at it!"


    Zhang Tie opened it and saw two fluorescent diamond crystal columns being wrapped with a rune metal structure. Each of them were in the size of three fingers in a bundle. They looked like an hourglass, "Argh, twin mirror crystals..."


    "Since you disappeared, I''ve started to prepare this item. Later on, I got one set from Eastern Continent through Long Wind Corporation. This set is of top quality among long-distance communication equipment. It''s very small. Although being rare, it''s not sophisticated in use. You should take this and learn how to use it when you are free. Later on, no matter how far you will walk, you can be in touch with me at any time. Give me a message when you''re free for the sake of mom''s concern!"


    This item could only be available for regimental commander even in Norman Empire''s Army. It was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that his elder brother could fetch one for him. Zhang Tie was not used to luxurious items. However, this time, as long as he could contact with his family members using it, Zhang Tie felt very worthwhile to have it.


    Taking up one of them, Zhang Tie found it was linked with a firm metal chain for the sake of convenience. Zhang Tie took a look at it before wearing it over his neck. Zhang Yang wore the other one over his own neck.


    "How much does this pair of item cost?"


    "This pair of small top-quality item costs more than 300,000 gold coins. They could only be bought from Eastern Continent!" Zhang Yang then took out a brochure from the box and handed it to Zhang Tie, "Here''s the user manual of this device. Take a look at it. We''d better make a set of key information or code so as to identify our real status when in communication!"


    In the following 10 minutes, the two brothers solved this problem through a careful negotiation.


    With the means that they could use to communicate with each other in the future, both Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang let out a deep sigh.


    "I remember there was a communication device called mobile among numerous long-distance communication means before the Catastrophe. It only costed a bit more than 10 silver coins to have a mobile. But that mobile could not match my necklace which costs 200,000 gold coins.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    "Oh, elder brother, what''s your level now?"


    "I''m just LV 6. I don''t have a good talent like you. Additionally, I put most of my efforts on business these years; therefore, I didn''t spend too much time on cultivation. When money will not work, this home has to rely on you!" Zhang Yang told Zhang Tie seriously.


    If the holy war didn''t break out, Zhang Yang, as a LV 6 fighter, could serve as a small military officer in the city guards of Blackhot City. If so, he could already make his family members proud and satisfied. However, at this moment, an average LV 6 fighter who had not even awakened his ancestral bloodline was far away from showing off his talent and making others reassured.


    Zhang Tie knew that his elder brother must have another more powerful and more respectable status besides being a rich businessman so that Zhang family could tide over difficulties even if Zhang Tie was dead. Their family required a double shelter.


    This was the main reason for Zhang Tie to come back to Huaiyuan Prefecture this time.


    "Elder brother. As you have gifted me a long-distance crystal; turn around and guess what I will gift you!" Zhang Tie joked.


    "Haha, don''t joke with me. If you have something, I must have seen it!" Zhang Yang thought that Zhang Tie was kidding him like what he always did in the childhood.


    "I will perform a magic. Turn around. Elder brother. Let me keep a bit mystery!"


    Watching Zhang Tie''s serious look, Zhang Yang then turned around as he warned Zhang Tie, "I tell you, younger brother. Don''t scare me with a toad or snake like what you usually did. We''re adults now, don''t play such a naive game anymore!"


    After hearing that, Zhang Tie grinned. After his elder brother turned around, Zhang Tie used some spiritual energy and moved out a crystal red fruit which was much smaller than an apple out of Castle of Black Iron¡ª¡ªFruit of Plunder! That was a reward from the small tree after Zhang Tie killed Abyan.


    Zhang Tie held the fruit which was a bit bigger than a plum. A mysterious luster seemed flowing in the fruit, which was eye-catching.


    "It''s okay, elder brother. The magic is over. You can turn around!" Zhang Tie told Zhang Yang calmly.


    Zhang Yang turned around and caught sight of that crystal fruit which radiated a mysterious splendor. He became stunned at once. Closely after that, he grinned, "Ho, you''ve hidden something with you. Is this your gift? It looks beautiful. Is it made of crystal?"


    "This fruit is eatable; I especially brought it here for you, elder brother!"


    "Eatable? It''s a fruit? What a strange fruit! It''s my first time to see such a fruit. Did you find it in the wild? Is it poisonous?" Zhang Yang joked as he held it and looked at it with a calm look.


    "Elder brother. Can you promise me two things before eating it. Firstly, don''t ask me where did I get this fruit. I don''t want to lie to you. It''s very complex. It''s not a good thing if you know it. Let''s take it as my secret. Secondly, don''t tell anyone else that you''ve eaten this fruit!" Zhang Tie watched Zhang Yang with a solemn look.


    "Ha, that sounds serious. Well, I promise you. I will not ask where did you get it or tell anyone else about this, even your elder sisters-in-law, how about that?" Zhang Yang still remained very relaxed.


    Zhang Tie nodded very seriously.


    "Then, let me taste it?"


    "You''d better engulf it, including all of its juice!"


    Zhang Yang replied with a smile as he didn''t doubt that Zhang Tie gave him something bad to eat. Therefore, he engulfed it at once. After chewing it for a while, he swallowed it directly.


    "Hmm, it tastes a bit weird..." Zhang Yang smacked his lips, "It''s a bit similar too..."


    Before Zhang Yang finished his words, he had widely opened his eyes as he started to quiver all over. Right then, he felt numerous knowledge surged in his mind. Like he knew all of them, they became clear all of a sudden, including names of herbal medicines and plants, features and drug properties of animals, manufacturing methods of weird liquids and powders, familiar operating processes, genes sequences, formulas, manufacturing methods of medicament and pills, treatment of diseases and assessment criteria of pharmacists...


    Zhang Yang panted and rolled up his eyes as his eyelids quivered. He cramped once and remained in this state for about an hour before he gradually recovered his composure...


    He watched Zhang Tie, then his hands with a shocking look. Then, he muttered in an unimaginable and quivering tone, "Argh...what''s wrong with me...I now...feel...I''m already an orange-robe pharmacist. I know so many knowledge, I''ve learnt manufacturing methods of so many medicament at once..."


    Zhang Tie took a deep breath, "Elder brother, you''re indeed an orange-robe pharmacist now. You''ve already grasped all the knowledge that should be mastered by an orange-robe pharmacist. With this status, you will be able to protect our home now..."


    "That fruit..." Zhang Yang widely opened his eyes and gazed at Zhang Tie. It seemed that he had understood something at once. Zhang Yang felt that all the surprises that he had accumulated since he was born could not match 1/100 of his current surprise.


    Zhang Tie slightly nodded.


    Zhang Yang was too shocked to utter a word. He wanted to ask where did Zhang Tie get that fruit; however, he stopped at once as he remembered what he had promised to Zhang Tie.


    The room became quiet for 3 minutes before Zhang Yang recovered his breath. As he was intense, his voice became a bit trembling and hoarse, "After a few days...I will complete the authentication of herbal medicine apprentice in the Pharmacists Trade Union. This will not arouse others'' attention..."


    "Hmm, pass the authentication of herbal medicine apprentice first; before leaving here, you''d better promote to knapsack herbal medicine master. After that, you should complete the the authentication of orange-robe pharmacist within 10 years. You''re already a top talent in others'' eyes if you could make that in 10 years. It''s not good if you promote too fast!" Zhang Tie explained calmly.


    ...


    2 hours later, when it was later than 11 pm in the midnight, Zhang Tie stood in front of a door on the 3rd floor of an apartment building in a safe high-end community and consecutively pressed the doorbell for three times.


    "Fiona, go take a look who''s that..." a familiar, tender voice drifted out of the door.


    "Argh, who knows..." with a sound caused by slippers moving on the floor, Zhang Tie heard, "That''s too boring. We''ve been tired for the entire day. I''ve not cooked well my strawberry jam yet..."


    Hearing the footsteps drawing nearer, Zhang Tie moved one step back. He then laid out his clothes and revealed a smile in front of the peephole on the door.


    After a few seconds, the peephole was opened from inside, closely after a crashing sound caused by a plate falling on the floor.


    "Argh, Fiona, what''s wrong?" Linda''s voice drifted from the inside of the room as she walked towards the door.


    The door was opened. Fiona in pajamas burst out into tears. She immediately thew herself into Zhang Tie''s chest as she hugged Zhang Tie tightly. When Linda caught sight of Zhang Tie, she also became stunned at once. Covering his mouth with hand, she didn''t believe what she saw as her tears also poured out at once.


    ...

 541 Family Members II

    Chapter 541: Family Members II


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    For many people, time was as cruel as a butcher''s knife as it would turn beautiful things into vulgar and meaningful things into insipid. In front of such a butcher''s knife, any beauties would grow old and any heroes would fade away.


    However, sometimes this butcher''s knife also become a brew master. Being fermented by this master, those raw or sweet fruits turned into fragrant, mellow and intoxicating drinks.


    Zhang Tie was drunk over night.


    The next morning, when Linda, Fiona and Beverly woke up on the bed in a sluggish and slightly fatigued manner, they found nobody else was on their bed. They almost thought that was just a dream. That was too illusory. At the same time, they heard chopping sound from the kitchen and faint aroma of dishes and food. This indicated that it was not a dream. It was real. That man truly came back.


    Linda was the eldest and the most bashful one among them. When she woke up and saw Fiona and Beverly''s looks, she hurriedly covered her body with the bed sheet and jumped off the bed rapidly to take up the night skirt and put it on.


    Fiona and Beverly exchanged glances with each other and giggled. After that, they also got up and put on a skirt casually before walking towards the kitchen together.


    When they came to the kitchen, they saw Zhang Tie cutting potatoes into shreds and boiling a fish in the kitchen. The whole kitchen was filled with the aroma of the fish soup.


    Watching Zhang Tie cooking in the kitchen, all the three women felt something strange.


    Linda walked there first and tightly hugged Zhang Tie''s waist from his back. At the same time, she put her face on Zhang Tie''s back as she closed her eyes. It seemed that she was not sure that was the real Zhang Tie if she did not do this.


    Zhang Tie turned around and slightly kissed Linda''s forehead. He then revealed a smile, "We can have breakfast in a few minutes. I''ve not cooked for many years. Hopefully, my cooking skills didn''t regress! After breakfast, you can take me to visit your store. After that, go back home with me!"


    "Argh, go back to your home?" Fiona was amazed.


    "Of course. Mom was still worried that I did not have a girlfriend when I came back home yesterday. I will take you back home today!" Zhang Tie said in a cynical tone.


    All the 3 women got Zhang Tie''s meaning from his reply. Fiona and Beverly exclaimed at once. Closely after that, they turned around and cleansed themselves. Zhang Tie felt Linda''s body turned slightly stiff.


    "Do...do I need to go there? You can just take Fiona and Beverly there..." Linda asked Zhang Tie in a low voice behind his back, "I''ve already been very satisfied about this!"


    After cutting the last potato into shreds, Zhang Tie stopped and washed his hands. After drying his hands with towel, he turned around and pinched Linda''s jaw, raising her beautiful and womanly face as he looked in her beautiful eyes, "What are you worried about?"


    Linda dodged from Zhang Tie''s eyes in a bashful way, "I...I''m much elder than you. According to Chinese customs, I...am a bit improper...!"


    "What are you talking about? In Chinese, if woman is 3 years elder than the man, she would bring a gold brick to the man. As you are over 10 years elder than me, you can bring me a gold mountain for sure. I have to marry a mature woman like you. You can bring me wealth and manage the household well." saying this, Zhang Tie put his arm around Linda''s waist as he rubbed her plump and soft butts with her silk night skirt in between. After that, he bit Linda''s ear slightly, "Woman with such butts could easily deliver a baby. You have plump breasts too. As my mom has sharp eyes, she will know that you can deliver a healthy baby at the sight of your figure. She will like you for sure. Come on, go cleanse yourself and put on a set of beautiful clothes. Baby..."


    Hearing the word ''baby'', Linda instantly blushed, even her ears turned red. It seemed that this word reminded her of many other things. After glancing at Zhang Tie bashfully, Linda nodded as her face shined. After slightly kissing Zhang Tie, she went to cleanse up and change her clothes.


    ...


    Actually, when women dressed up themselves seriously, it would take them a lot of time. After half an hour, Zhang Tie had already cooked the breakfast; however, the three women were still in the room. Therefore, Zhang Tie entered their room.


    "Beverly, does this purple skirt fit me? and the shoes? I like this pair of brown high-heeled shoes. However, the deep color of this pair of shoes seemed not matching the deep color of this skirt...It''s a bit depressing..." Fiona was standing in front of a dressing mirror in only bra and underwear while holding a skirt in front of her.


    The bed was covered with various clothes. All the wardrobes had been opened. Beverly was delving in her casket for something, "Argh, have you seen my crescent earrings that I bought last time?"


    "It might be in the 2nd drawer of your dressing table!" Linda replied as she had already put on a red elegant skintight longuette, which displayed all of her beautiful lines. She was sitting on the chair and putting on her silk stockings.


    Zhang Tie really enjoyed watching the three women changing clothes in the room. After a couple of years, Fiona and Beverly looked more beautiful and maturer. They had already become fully mature at the age of about 20. Due to the effect of all-purpose medicament, Linda didn''t look elder than that three years ago at all. Additionally, benefited from all-purpose medicament, they looked healthy and brilliant inside and outside¡ª¡ªbrighter eyes, shinier hair, whiter and finer skin without any defects, which even faintly brightened up.


    Zhang Tie''s elder brother indeed understood Zhang Tie. Even though Zhang Tie was not in Huaiyuan Prefecture these years, Zhang Yang still supplied enough all-purpose medicament, which was favored by noble women across Blackson Humans Corridor as the sacred medicine of youth, to the three women.


    Beverly was the first one who found Zhang Tie was leaning against the door and watching them with gleaming eyes, "Argh, don''t peep at us!"


    "Haha, what are you afraid of? I''ve already seen everything on your bodies!" Zhang Tie grinned.


    "Argh, go out...go out..."


    Zhang Tie was then driven out of the room by Linda. Standing out of the door, Zhang Tie patted his head as he shouted, "The breakfast is ready..."


    "We will come soon..."


    After another half an hour, when Zhang Tie almost cooked the breakfast for the second time did the three women walk out of the room. At the sight of the three women, Zhang Tie''s eyes brightened up. How elegant, beautiful, alluring, energetic, mature and charming women!


    ...


    In the afternoon, Zhang Tie visited their store in a quiet and tidy avenue of Yiyang City. All the surrounding stores and buildings looked high-end and stylish. The clothing store covered more than 200 square meters, which was much larger than that Linda opened in Blackhot city. However, the commodities were almost the same. Besides the 3 of them, they also employed four saleswomen and two highly skilled tailors and garment makers.


    They sold middle-grade female clothes that they designed and processed themselves. Their business was neither too good nor too bad. Besides maintaining the expenditure of running the store, they could survive themselves. What was more was that they found some spice in this business.


    Zhang Tie felt it was not bad. Not each woman in this world was like Lan Yunxi, who had brilliant look and overwhelming fighting skills than men; or Olina, who was extremely shrewd and could establish a great undertaking out of nothing. If all women were like them then men would be nothing but a birth machine.


    Perhaps this thought was a bit radical which might even arouse the ridicule of those feminists, able women or tough girls. However, Zhang Tie really thought that an average woman only needed to dress herself well, maintain health and take care of her man and her family. If possible, she could also have her own undertaking. Women didn''t need to think that much.


    After visiting where they worked and knowing how they lived and killed time these years, Zhang Tie took them back home.


    The three women became a bit intense. Beverly visited Zhang Tie''s home and had already met Zhang Tie''s parents in Blackhot City as Zhang Tie''s "student". However, her status was different this time.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie took three women back home at once. Thankfully, Zhang Tie had already informed his elder brother and his parents in advance. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s parents were not surprised at the sight of Beverly, Linda and Fiona.


    Instead, Zhang Tie''s three elder sisters-in-law were shocked by the three women brought by Zhang Tie like seeing aliens. Whereas, Zhang Tie was shameless, who didn''t care about their response at all.


    Since Zhang Tie''s mom caught of Zhang Tie making love with those girls of Rose Association in Blackhot City, she had been prepared well for Zhang Tie''s absurd action in some aspect.


    After opening a clothing store and living in Huaiyuan Prefecture for three years, Beverly, Linda and Fiona could speak Chinese very fluently. They spoke Chinese fluently when they talked with Zhang Tie''s parents, which satisfied Zhang Tie''s parents very much.


    What was out of the imagination of Zhang Tie''s parents was the age of Linda, who was even elder than Zhang Tie''s three elder sisters-in-law. However, Linda''s kindness and beautiful look left a very good impression to Zhang Tie''s parents; especially after being told that the three women had waited for Zhang Tie for three years in Huaiyuan Prefecture, Zhang Tie''s parents didn''t know what to say.


    This evening, the three women slept in Zhang Tie''s home...


    ...


    "Are you serious?" Zhang Yang asked Zhang Tie when there were only two of the them in the room.


    "How many three years do a woman have in their most beautiful age? I don''t want to pursue for any ground-breaking love. I felt that these women had spent too much for me." Zhang Tie looked a bit moved while watching his elder brother, "I only feel that such women deserve my serious treatment. I feel very relaxed to be with them. I don''t need to disguise at all. When we move to Taixia, we need to take them; as long as they don''t live up to me, I will not live up to them!"


    Zhang Yang watched Zhang Tie as he nodded seriously.


    ...


    In the midnight, Zhang Tie got up and slipped towards their rooms. Unexpectedly, all of their bed rooms were locked from inside. Even Zhang Tie called their name from outside the door, he still received no response. Finally, Zhang Tie could only return without any achievement. After cultivating for a few hours, he fell asleep.


    ...


    The next morning, when Zhang''s family members ate breakfast together with Linda, Beverly and Fiona, Zhang Tie''s mom, who was drinking porridge, suddenly asked Zhang Tie, "Was there a stray cat in our home last night? I heard a stray cat scratching doors!"


    After hearing her words, Zhang Tie''s three elder sisters-in-law lowered their heads as they tried to not laugh out. Linda, Beverly and Fiona also glanced at Zhang Tie bashfully. However, Zhang Tie disguised in front of his mom, "Argh, is that true? I didn''t notice that!"


    "Of course it is!" before Zhang Tie''s mom replied, Cheng''an, who slept with his grandma last night had raised his innocent face and said seriously, "Grandma said there was a big stray cat scratching doors last night. She said the cat was going to steal little golden fish. The big stray cat is too bad..."


    "Pfttt..." Zhang Yang almost sprayed out a mouth of porridge after hearing his son''s words. He hurriedly covered his mouth with napkin.


    "Don''t talk nonsense, Cheng''an. Hurry, eat breakfast..." Zhang Tie''s eldest sister-in-law hurriedly fed her son although trying her best to not laugh out.


    "I''m not talking nonsense. If you don''t believe me, you can ask my uncle. My uncle must have heard that last night!" Cheng''an urged innocently before watching Zhang Tie, "Uncle, dad said you were great. Can you help me catch that big stray cat. I don''t want it to steal our golden fish!"


    Zhang Tie frowned as he nodded solemnly, "Trust me, Cheng''an, this uncle will beat its butt for you!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the people at the table burst out into laughter...


    ...


    After having breakfast, the steward arrived. Lowering his body, he glanced at Zhang Tie and whispered something in Zhang Yang''s ear.


    "What''s up?" Zhang Tie asked Zhang Yang.


    "There''s a deacon from Clansmen Pavilion and a vehicle. He wants to take you to Clansmen Pavilion..." Zhang Yang slightly frowned...


    The moment they heard that the deacon from Clansmen Pavilion arrived did Zhang Tie''s parents change their face. Deacons from Clansmen Pavilion were big figures. If not major events, they would not come here themselves...


    "Argh, is there something wrong?" Zhang Tie''s dad became worried as he was a bit afraid about the Clansmen Pavilion of Huaiyuan Palace due to his elopement with his wife.


    "It''s fine, dad. I will take a look out there!" Zhang Tie cleaned his mouth as he stood up.


    "Me too!" Zhang Yang also stood up and walked out of the dining room with Zhang Tie...


    In the parlor of Zhang Tie''s home, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang caught sight of that deacon from Clansmen Pavilion. That was a 50-odd years old man in a black robe who looked very dignified.


    When Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang entered, that man glanced at Zhang Yang immediately before focusing on Zhang Tie. Like seeing a jewelry, he kept gazing at Zhang Tie, making Zhang Tie a bit scared.


    "F*ck, is he a psycho?" Zhang Tie swore inside...


    "Are you Zhang Tie?" that man asked.


    "Yes! Who are you?"


    "I''m Zhang Jin, a deacon from Clansmen!" saying this, the man took out of his clan identification plate and showed it to Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang.


    After checking the plate, Zhang Yang nodded at Zhang Tie.


    "May I know your intention here?"


    "The clan elders want to see you..."


    "The clan elders want to see me?" Zhang Tie was stunned at once...

 542 The Immortal Bloodline

    Chapter 542: The Immortal Bloodline


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The moment Zhang Tie thought that he had to visit the Clansmen Pavilion of Huaiyuan Palace each time he returned to Huaiyuan Prefecture did he feel something strange.


    "Why would the clan elders want to meet me this time?" Zhang Tie was always puzzled about this on the way. "If it was because of all-purpose medicament, the one who should contact me would be Long Wind Corporation, instead of the deacon from Clansmen Pavilion. It must be related to internal affairs of Zhang Clan. But why do these Clan elders focus on me, a small figure?"


    Zhang Tie was confused. He inquired about the deacon, who just told him that he would know about it in Clansmen Pavilion.


    "Is it because of Lan Yunxi? Are those Clan elders warning me that an ugly toad should not dream about eating the flesh of a beautiful wild swan? How gossipy they are! Lan Yunxi''s dad has not even cared about that!" Zhang Tie thought.


    "Oh, I''ve not yet seen Count Long Wind, the head of Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace!"


    As deacon Zhang said that the Clan elders only wanted to see Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang didn''t come with Zhang Tie. Even if he came together with Zhang Tie, it was still useless. In Clansmen Pavilion, which gathered so many Clan powerhouses, nobody could stir up a trouble.


    It was the same Clansmen Pavilion and the same lofty, solemn and old-fashioned building. At the sight of the people inside the vehicle, the soldiers outside the gate of Clansmen Pavilion just let them in without even checking it. After getting off the vehicle, deacon Zhang took Zhang Tie around the Clansmen Pavilion and finally arrived at a relatively tranquil independent small building which was called ''Ancestral Bloodline Pavilion''. Deacon Zhang didn''t enter it; instead, he just bowed outside the small building.


    "Clan elders, Zhang Tie is here!"


    "Good, let him in!" a calm voice drifted from the inside of the small building. Deacon Zhang glanced at Zhang Tie and implied that Zhang Tie could enter. After taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie walked in.


    The special fragrance of burning sandalwood incenses filled the small building, bringing Zhang Tie a sense of tranquility. Zhang Tie recovered his composure at once.


    After crossing the threshold, detouring the screen wall facing the gate and passing a courtyard, Zhang Tie saw some gray-haired old men sitting in a hall. Zhang Tie did not dare to show any disrespect to the Clan elders who had high positions in Huaiyuan Palace and unpredictable fighting strength .


    Only after being glanced by them, Zhang Tie had felt being seen through. When they looked at him, the All-Spirits Pagoda in Zhang Tie''s mind slightly vibrated while the surrounding spiritual energy gathered around it and covered the All-Spirits Pagoda at once. Zhang Tie had not imagined that All-Spirits Pagoda could have such a marvelous ability. As a result, Zhang Tie''s heart slightly pounded.


    "Zhang Tie, a descendant of Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace pays a formal visit to Clan elders!" Zhang Tie bowed towards them. After seeing clearly the look of that Clan elder in the main seat, Zhang Tie knelt down in front of that elder and kowtowed three times loudly, "Zhang Tie wishes sixth grandpa good health on behalf of my father Zhang Ping!"


    Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa was the most influential figure of Huaiyuan Palace in Golden Sea City. He was the head of Clansmen Pavilion. When Zhang Tie''s family arrived at Huaiyuan Prefecture, without Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa''s help, Zhang Tie''s father might still be in the prison. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s family appreciated this extremely dignified man very much.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s performance, all the Clan elders exchanged glances with each other before nodding slightly.


    "Get up!" Sixth grandpa replied with a tender voice as he slightly raised his hand. Zhang Tie then felt an invisible, irresistible and tender strength lifting himself from his feet.


    "Is this a knight''s strength?" Zhang Tie was shocked. He wondered when could he have such a great strength.


    Zhang Tie just stood there respectfully as he was confused why the Clan elders wanted to see him. He just behaved like a kid with a good discipline silently.


    "What do you think, brother Murray?" A Clan elder asked Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa on his side with a smile.


    "Just follow the rules in case of loopholes!" Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa said calmly.


    "Fine!" that Clan elder nodded as he glanced at this side. Two deacons in robe then walked forward. One of them was carrying a very solemn box. After the other Clan elders nodded, the other deacon opened the box and took out of a crystal which was longer than 30 cm and thicker than 6 cm. The crystal was glittering blurred brilliance. In the middle of the crystal was a rolling drop of red blood.


    When this item was taken out, Zhang Tie, who was close to it, instantly felt his qi and blood all over being restless.


    The deacon held the crystal carefully in his hand before erecting the sharp topmost part of the crystal and telling Zhang Tie, "Put your finger on the top of the bloodline crystal and pierce it!"


    As it was not proper to ask why at this moment, finding that these Clan elders were not malicious about him, Zhang Tie put his finger on the sharpest point of the crystal. After slightly pressing his finger, Zhang Tie forced a drop of fresh blood to flow off his finger. Under Zhang Tie''s gaze, the drop of fresh blood started to penetrate into the crystal like how plants rooted in the ground. At the same time, the fresh blood in the crystal also started to be restless. When the two drops of blood touched, the entire crystal glittered red brilliance for over 10 seconds.


    "Your excellency, Clan elders, based on the test of the bloodline crystal, his fresh blood resonates the fresh blood of Lord Huaiyuan and glitters brilliance without causing any abnormal phenomena, this man is indeed the descendant of Lord Huaiyuan instead of being disguised by shadow demon!" that deacon being responsible for testing Zhang Tie with the crystal reported.


    After hearing this report, Zhang Tie immediately oozed cold sweat all over. He finally understood the purpose of this test. If he could still transform into a shadow demon due to the genes of shadow demons, Zhang Tie did not dare to imagine how the crystal would look.


    All the Clan elders nodded. The two deacons then put the crystal back into the box and moved back.


    Finding that Zhang Tie slightly changed his face, Zhang Murray and Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa revealed a smile, "Take easy. This is just a rule of Huaiyuan Palace. Almost each apprentice of Huaiyuan Palace entering here has to pass this test. Each Clan has such means to maintain the purity of its Clan bloodline and the reliance of its key figures in case of being violated by outsiders and demons. We''re not especially targeting at you."


    After hearing the words of his sixth grandpa, Zhang Tie recovered his composure.


    "Please forgive me. I''ve not heard about such a testing method before. Therefore, I was just a bit shocked!" Zhang Tie replied.


    "Hmm, take easy. We want to know something about you!" Zhang Murray opened his mouth.


    "What do you want to know, your excellency? I will answer honestly!"


    "Did you awaken an ancestral bloodline several weeks ago?"


    Zhang Tie knew that Huaiyuan Palace was able to know which apprentice of Zhang Clan had awakened an ancestral bloodline recently. Therefore, he was not amazed by this question. After knowing their purpose, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh at once.


    "Yes, I''ve awakened an ancestral bloodline several weeks ago!"


    "What''s the function of this bloodline?" before Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa continued, another Clan elder couldn''t wait to ask.


    "Erm..." Zhang Tie became a bit hesitated as he looked around.


    "Don''t worry. Nobody else is allowed to enter Ancestral Bloodline Pavilion without our consent. Additionally, there are lots of rune settings here. Nobody could hear your words besides the Clan elders in the hall!" that Clan elder added.


    Zhang Tie thought for a while and replied, "How to say, I can transform my look with this ancestral bloodline!"


    "Argh, transform your look?" the moment they heard this did the three Clan elders become excited. The quick-tempered one who asked Zhang Tie instantly picked himself up. After glancing at the other two elders, he took a deep breath and sat down.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know why they were so thrilled.


    "Can you show us your ancestral bloodline?" Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa asked kindly.


    "Yes, I can!" after saying this, Zhang Tie started to transform his look. His hair gradually turned red; his eyes turned dark green; his skin turned as black as that of Bagdad. It took him over 10 seconds to complete his transformation. After that, Zhang Tie almost became another human race.


    All the three Clan elders were shocked. The hand of the one who asked Zhang Tie even quivered on the chair.


    After this look was maintained for more than 10 seconds, Zhang Tie''s hair started to turn brown; his eyes turned light golden; his skin turned that of Hebrew people. Except for his height and his figure, Zhang Tie changed into another human race.


    Finally, Zhang Tie recovered his original look.


    "How long can you keep the two looks respectively?" Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa''s voice quivered slightly.


    "Erm, maybe as long as I want to keep them. I feel natural to transform my look!" Zhang Tie scratched his head.


    "Hmm...how many times can you use this ability one day?" another Clan elder asked Zhang Tie while fixing his eyes on him.


    "Erm, I''ve not tried. But I feel it''s as easy as breathing. It should be limitless!" Zhang Tie replied while changing his eyes colors alternatively into red, yellow, blue and green easily.


    "Immortal bloodline, immortal bloodline, unique immortal bloodline..." that Clan elder who asked Zhang Tie instantly sprung up from his chair as he raised high his hands with an extremely excited look. The other two Clan elders didn''t stand up; however, they both looked spirited as their cheeks blushed...


    Zhang Tie watched these Clan elders with a confused look, "It''s just an ancestral bloodline, why are you so happy?"

 543 The Origin of Zhang

    Chapter 543: The Origin of Zhang


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The excited Clan elders had not noticed Zhang Tie''s confused look at all. Until Zhang Tie slightly coughed and asked "Sixth grandpa?" did the other two Clan elders take a deep breath and recovered their composure.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie found that the three Clan elders were watching him like watching a gold baby being dug out of the ground, making him a bit uncomfortable.


    "Ahem...ahem...did anyone else know that you''ve awakened this ancestral bloodline?" a Clan elder asked Zhang Tie.


    "No, I''ve just awakened it a few days ago. I''ve not told others yet!"


    "Don''t mention it to others in case of troubles, even in Huaiyuan Palace. What you revealed today will be listed as a top secret. Less than 10 people across Huaiyuan Palace would know your secret including the Clan elders in this hall. Therefore, you need to be careful!" that Clan elder warned Zhang Tie.


    Although Zhang Tie thought it was unnecessary to show off this talent, after realizing that these Clan elders were so serious, Zhang Tie became a bit surprised, "What''s the reason?"


    "Do you know what is immortal bloodline?" that most excited Clan elder asked Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie shook his head.


    "Do you know the origin of Zhang? Have you ever thought about why the Chinese family name ÕÅ £¨Zhang£©is composed of ''¹­'' and ''³¤''?" Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa asked.


    Zhang Tie became confused as he shook his head once again. Although the three questions looked simple, it was hard to answer.


    "The family name ''ÕÅ (Zhang)'' is an influential Chinese family name. Zhang people is the direct descendant of Xuanyuan Emperor. When gods and demons fought, the ancestor of Zhang clan produced the most powerful crossbow in the world with his great strength and made a meritorious deed by sweeping all the demons. In order to commend him, Xuanyuan Emperor awarded him with the family name Zhang £¨ÕÅ£©, namely the one who was excel at using crossbow in the war between gods and demons. Our family name contains the honor of our bloodline!"


    Speaking of the history of the family name Zhang, Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa and the other two Clan elders all looked proud and honorable.


    "Is this why the most powerful ancestral bloodline of Huaiyuan Palace is related to archery and rune equipment methods?" Zhang Tie was shocked inside as he understood it at once.


    "Right!" Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa nodded, "Besides Zhang, Xuanyuan Emperor had many other descendants with distinctive abilities, who also made meritorious deeds in the war between gods and demons. Therefore, numerous ancestral bloodlines were inherited. After Xuanyuan Emperor, many Chines emperors were also awarded new surnames. It could be said that each Chinese surname has its brilliant history and contained at least one powerful ancestral bloodline at the beginning! For instance, Ouye£¨Å·Ò±£© Clan is famous for its sword casting skill; Dong£¨¶­£© Clan originated from Quanlong£¨È­Áú£©, who was good at taming dragons in the war between gods and demons. Therefore, Dong Clan''s animal taming skill is unrivaled."


    Zhang Tie became stunned. "There are so many Chinese surnames. If one surname contains one ancestral bloodline, there will be over one thousand Chinese ancestral bloodlines." Zhang Tie asked.


    Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa nodded, "Right, actually more than that. Honestly, we cannot count them even in three days. The knowledge about various ancestral bloodlines of surnames was very extensive and profound. It''s called the Learning about Ancestral Bloodlines. It''s a secret knowledge which could not be easily touched by commoners! Ancestral bloodlines are closely related to the prosperity and fate of a powerful clan. It has to be treated seriously."


    "What is immortal bloodline then?"


    "There are numerous Chinese ancestral bloodlines which could be divided into eight ranks; heaven, earth, black, yellow, space, time, flood and wilderness. Your precise throwing ability belongs to wilderness. Immortal bloodline is out of the above eight ranks, which has not appeared before!"


    "Erm, I feel this immortal bloodline is useless. Its effect could be achieved by common disguising medicament!" Zhang Tie shrugged.


    "You know what?" the most excited Clan elder glared at Zhang Tie like watching an idiot who treated gold as common pyrite, "How can you match the effect of this immortal bloodline with that of external forces? No matter how much do you make with your all-purpose medicament, it''s nothing to do with Zhang Clan. Zhang Clan will not interfere with your business even if you are the top rich in the country. However, do you think your immortal bloodline is just your private affair? Those clans without awakening ancestral bloodlines would finally disappear in the long river course of history no matter how brilliant they were. However, if an immortal bloodline is awakened in a clan, it indicates that this clan has a very excellent bloodline. The clan with an immortal bloodline might awaken a unique ancestral bloodline and have a distinctive ability. This would bring a great cohesiveness and influence to the clan. The clan''s social status would rise. Do you think that could be brought by disguising medicament at the cost of a few gold coins? You will know about it sooner or later that the true valuable things could not be measured by money!"


    Zhang Tie hurriedly behaved modestly.


    After giving Zhang Tie a lesson, that elder turned around and asked Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa, "Brother Murray, has Zhang Tie gotten married?"


    "Not yet!" touching his gray mustache, Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa smiled.


    "How about arranging him to leave Huaiyuan Prefecture for the Eastern Continent with the next batch of clan apprentices?" another Clan elder suggested.


    "Hmm, not bad. It''s really a bit dangerous to for him to stay here." Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa nodded.


    "When he arrives there, we''d better arrange his marriage. He needs to give birth to babies as soon as possible!"


    "That''s reasonable!"


    Zhang Tie finally could not wait to interrupt them as his heart pounded.


    "Hmm, your excellency...I want to say something!"


    "Hahahaha, don''t worry. We know that. The Clan will not interfere with your marriage too much. You will have a great autonomy. The Clan will provide you with some proper girls. You can choose at your will. After that, the Clan will host a wedding ceremony for you. It is obligatory for you to do that for the Clan. Additionally, the Clan will not stop you from marrying other women. You can marry as many as possible if you like." Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa explained.


    After hearing his words, the other two Clan elders laughed.


    "Erm...I...I cannot leave Waii Sub-Continent now!" Zhang Tie plucked up his courage.


    "You cannot leave Waii Sub-Continent?" all the Clan elders frowned slightly, "Why?"


    "I''ve promised others...to not leave Waii Sub-Continent until it''s completely collapsed!" Zhang Tie gritted his teeth.


    "Fart!" the most excited Clan elder smacked onto the table in front of him, crushing it into powders at once...


    The atmosphere in the hall froze immediately...


    ...

 544 Being Imprisoned

    Chapter 544: Being Imprisoned


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After leaving the Ancestral Bloodline Pavilion, Zhang Tie was escorted into an underground prison of Clansmen Pavilion by two serious deacons.


    The two deacons looked as stiff as a piece of iron in front of Zhang Tie who dared to disobey the order of Clan elders. Zhang Tie had thought about refusing by force; however, given his current ability, he would definitely struggle in vain if he dared to stir up trouble in Clansmen Pavilion. Therefore, he just entered the prison with a glassy-eyed look.


    "Bang..." after the door of the prison was shut up, Zhang Tie was left alone inside.


    Until then did Zhang Tie start to look around this prison. It was a small room which covered over 10 square meters. The walls were made of caesious stones. There was a plank bed, a toilet bowl and a water pipe. There was a row of pores on a wall which were used to ventilate. As some sunlight penetrated through the pores, the room didn''t look too dim. However, it was impossible for Zhang Tie to escape unless he turned into a mouse.


    Every nation has its own laws and every family has its own rules. Huaiyuan Palace was now executing family rules on Zhang Tie. Being capricious and disobeyed the order of Clan elders at the cost of the benefit of the Clan. Zhang Tie knew that he had made a very severe crime. However, he really could not make it if he was forced to leave Waii Sub-Continent. Because Zhang Tie had promised those people in the Ice and Snow Wilderness who had a great hope on him that as long as one Slav fighter was still defending the Ice and Snow Wilderness, he would not abandon them.


    What irritated the Clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace most was Zhang Tie''s stubbornness. Two Clan elders were so infuriated that they directly left with a flick of their sleeves. Even Zhang Tie''s sixth grandpa''s face turned green. Finally, he had to have Zhang Tie imprisoned.


    If not considering Ice and Snow Wilderness, Zhang Tie felt that Huaiyuan Palace truly had considered well for him. The Clan''s arrangement was human friendly. As long as he agreed to leave Waii Sub-Continent, he would immediately have women, money, safety and an influential status in Zhang Clan. This was a special ''Panda-type'' treatment given by the Clan after he awakened the immortal bloodline. Commoners could not even have it. Therefore, Zhang Tie became capricious in the eyes of the Clan elders.


    "Should I make a choice?" at this moment, Zhang Tie could only make a choice between his promise and the expectation of Zhang Clan.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could have such trouble by awakening the bloodline called transformation.


    Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile as he knew that his relationship with Huaiyuan Palace would break for sure if he didn''t compromise this time. When in Heavens Cold City, his relationship with Huaiyuan Palace had become stiff, this time, he would be marginalized for sure in Huaiyuan Palace. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether he could remedy this relationship. Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t think that Huaiyuan Palace could implement any mandatory measures on him. Perhaps these Clan elders were a bit old-fashioned and prioritized the interest of Zhang Clan too much, they should have a high morality. They would not treat him too bad.


    After standing there fore a short while, Zhang Tie threw himself onto the plank bed and started to cultivate. It would be too boring if he just stared at the icy walls.


    As Zhang Tie didn''t know how long would he be imprisoned there, he could only kill time by cultivating.


    Shadow Demon Backroom¡ª¡ªMental Arithmetic¡ª¡ªthe 3rd floor of All-Spirits Pagoda¡ª¡ªas Zhang Tie didn''t know how to light surging points after LV 9, he could only cultivate himself between the three sides alternatively.


    The narrow cell was too quiet. Nobody came to see him. Each day, only a cold steamed bun was put inside through the window of the door, by which Zhang Tie could keep alive and identify how many days have passed.


    When the 7th cold steamed bun was put inside through the window, Zhang Tie had recited the sutra of the 3rd floor of All-Spirits Pagoda for over 400,000 times. Zhang Tie could still stand less than 6 seconds in the Shadow Demon Backroom; however, it was about 0.2 second longer than before. Through practicing mental arithmetic, Zhang Tie also improved his spiritual energy a bit.


    When Zhang Tie thought that he would get his 8th steam bun here, the door was opened with a crashing sound. Someone entered. Zhang Tie opened his eyes and saw his 6th grandpa was standing in front of him. Zhang Tie hurriedly got off the bed and bowed towards him.


    "Have you thought through these days?" Zhang Tie''s 6th grandpa asked Zhang Tie with a calm voice.


    "I''m sorry, 6th grandpa, I could not accept the Clan''s arrangement. I will not leave Waii Sub-Continent until the continent collapse. I know what does this mean. I also understand the hope and concern from the Clan. Whereas, each one has his own persistence. I think that even Lord Huaiyuan doesn''t expect that one of his descendants eats his words!" Zhang Tie replied frankly.


    Zhang Tie''s 6th grandpa moved his eyebrows as he glanced at Zhang Tie with a sophisticated look. He then sighed, "Alright, I know, you can leave now!"


    Zhang Tie was so happy that he had not imagined that he could pass it so easily, "Thank you, 6th grandpa!"


    "You''re welcome. Now that you have your own choice, you should shoulder the corresponding responsibilities. Before leaving this place, hand out your clan identification plate. Hidden Dragon Palace doesn''t fit you anymore. A person who has awakened his ancestral bloodline yet doesn''t wish to contribute to the Clan is not suitable to stay in Hidden Dragon Palace anymore!"


    Zhang Tie felt sad inside. He knew that Zhang Clan was driving him out of Hidden Dragon Palace. From today on, he would be nobody but a commoner. His future in Huaiyuan Palace also came to an end.


    In this world, you could not make a choice at no price.


    Zhang Tie took out his clan identification plate of Huaiyuan Palace and submitted it to his 6th grandpa. Holding it, his 6th grandpa forcefully pinched it into ashes.


    "Take care of yourself. Do not do evil things in the name of Huaiyuan Palace. Otherwise, I will let you know the taste of home rules!" after warning Zhang Tie, he left.


    "Let''s go!" a scowling deacon of Clansmen Pavilion watched Zhang Tie, implying him to leave.


    ...


    After walking out of the gate of the Clansmen Pavilion, Zhang Tie felt a bit dazzling by the sunlight. Therefore, he put his hand on his eyes for a few seconds. After being adapted to the sunlight, Zhang Tie looked back at the Clansmen Pavilion. He knew that he probably had no chance to come here again in the future while many Zhang commoners would have no chance to visit here in their whole lives.


    Zhang Yang strode towards Zhang Tie and tightly hugged him. He then checked Zhang Tie from his head to toe, "Is everything okay?"


    "It''s okay!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "How do you know that I would be released today?"


    "Let''s talk about it in the vehicle!" Zhang Tie muffled.


    Zhang Tie nodded before getting on the vehicle.


    Sitting in the back seats of the sedan and watching the suddenly strange streets and the crowd on the streets, Zhang Tie told his elder brother about his current situation. He was told that his elder brother ordered Jinwu Castle to suspend its cooperation with Long Wind Corporation during these days when he was imprisoned. During the 7 days, Jinwu Castle didn''t provide even one vial of all-purpose medication for Long Wind Corporation.


    Hearing his elder brother''s words, Zhang Tie felt so moved inside. He knew that his elder brother had to bear a great risk and stress by delivering such an order. If not his elder brother''s decisive attitude in the outside, this event could not be solved so easily.


    "As long as you''re safe, the undertaking is nothing serious. Our family could even survive that tough living environment in Blackhot City, I don''t think that we cannot survive without all-purpose medicament. The worst scenario is to sell rice brew again! To the final analysis, Zhang Clan need all-purpose medicament more than us."


    Zhang Yang said this with a smile like talking something trivial. After talking about that, the two brothers looked at each other with a big smile. Compared to the lives of their family members, this small frustration was nothing serious at all.


    "Oh, if the Clan drives you out of Hidden Dragon Palace, will it pose any influence to you?"


    "Although I''ve been LV 9, I don''t know how to light surging points in the next. Previously I planned to exchange for some secret knowledge about promoting from LV 9 to LV 10 in the Hidden Dragon Palace, I also wanted to inquire something about cultivation. After being driven out of Hidden Dragon Palace, I have to abandon this plan!" Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile.


    "Can we buy the secret knowledge about cultivation after LV 9?" Zhang Yang asked.


    "It''s hard!" Zhang Tie shook his head, "I attended some auctions; yet I didn''t see any cultivation methods after LV 9. It seems to be a taboo, which is strongly restrictive in humans. Nobody dare to break it easily!"


    Zhang Tie believed that Zhang Yuan, his master, could help him. However, he had completely lost his contact with that old man. Zhao Yuan might have thought that he was dead. It was as difficult as finding a needle in the ocean if Zhang Tie wanted to find such a superb powerhouse.


    Seeing his elder brother frowning, Zhang Tie laughed, "Elder brother, don''t worry about this, it''s just a small problem. I have other methods. It was just a matter of a few days!"


    Zhang Tie remembered the Huge Bear Tribe, the most powerful tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness. He didn''t believe that a tribe that could cultivate knights didn''t have the cultivation methods after LV 9. His puzzle would be solved as long as he returned to Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, Zhang Yang relieved his frown, "These days, dad and mom were worried about you so much. After knowing that you''re safe, they will be reassured!"


    "Elder brother, you''d better arrange our family members to leave out of here as soon as possible!"


    "I''m preparing for that. We will leave out of here in 2 months!"


    "When you arrive at the Eastern Continent, remember to find Donder and root in a proper place. The world is growing more and more chaotic. Our parents are old; they could not stand too much tortures anymore. My nieces and nephews are still young. They need a good growth environment. My elder sisters-in-law could not stand too many difficulties in the chaotic world. We have to take care of them!"


    Zhang Yang nodded, "I know, don''t worry. I will treat it seriously!"


    "Oh, elder brother. I have to trouble you to purchase an airship for me. After a few days, I will go to the 1st theater of operations. It''d better be a fury-level battle airship. It should be matched with some gliders and a batch of experienced volunteers who would like to fight demons in the 1st theater of operations with me!"


    "When do you need them?"


    "The faster the better!"


    Zhang Yang forcefully nodded, "No problem!"


    ...


    Zhang Tie had actually a very sophisticated mood at this moment. He didn''t know whether he should feel lucky or worried about being driven out of Hidden Dragon Palace. He felt lucky because he got rid of the restriction of the Clan and felt relaxed; on the other hand, he started to worry about something.


    He was worried more about Lan Yunxi than the cultivation methods after LV 9 or his future. After being driven out of Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie was clear that the development of the relationship between him and Lan Yunxi would be greatly impeded by Huaiyuan Palace. Zhang Tie wondered what Lan Yunxi would think after knowing that he was driven out of Hidden Dragon Palace.


    A deserted young man who was driven out of Hidden Dragon Palace wanted to marry a princess of Huaiyuan Palace. If this really happened, many people''s faces would be slapped. Of course those people didn''t want this event to happen.


    ...


    Watching the vehicle returning to home, Zhang Tie hid his concern as he revealed a sunny smile in case of his parents'' concern.


    When Zhang Tie was imprisoned, Linda, Beverly and Fiona just accompanied his mom at home which made his mom a bit reassured. After this event, Zhang Tie found that the relationship between Linda, Beverly and Fiona and his family members furthered developed. It seemed that he didn''t need to worry about something anymore.


    When Zhang Tie returned home, the entire home was filled with joy again.


    ...


    When it was late, they all went to bed. After returning to his bedroom, Zhang Tie took a bath and slept on the bed in dark. He just waited there silently with his hands crossed on his head, leaving his door unlocked. The door could be opened from outside by slightly pressing the handle.


    In less than 10 minutes, Zhang Tie heard a low sound as someone pushed open the door and slipped in. It was Fiona.


    After entering in the bedroom, Fiona immediately drilled into Zhang Tie''s quilt with a grin.


    In another 10 more minutes, Beverly slipped in. Being quiet, he fumbled all the way to Zhang Tie''s bed before drilling in his quilt too, where an exclamation sounded when the two women saw each other...


    What a cool experience! Zhang Tie still laid on the bed with his hands crossed under his head, waiting for the arrival of the 3rd woman.


    In 5-6 minutes, the door opened for the 3rd time when Linda with a faint blush slipped in with her fascinating body fragrance as a mature woman.


    When the 3 women met and exclaimed in Zhang Tie''s quilt in unison, Zhang Tie finally burst out into laughter...

 545 Zhangs Osmanthus Tree

    Chapter 545: Zhang''s Osmanthus Tree


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On the next day, Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang and their dad went to visit grandpa. They previously planned to do that on the 3rd day since Zhang Tie returned home; however, Zhang Tie was suddenly called away by Clansmen Pavilion. Therefore, they could only visit him.


    As the old saying went, if one was poor, even if he was in the boisterous city, he would be ignored; however, if one was rich, even if he was in the deep mountain, he would still have frequent visits from distant relatives. Similarly, as Jinwu Company gradually developed, the relationship between Zhang Tie''s family and his uncles and aunts became much better.


    With a prosperous domestic undertaking and two successful sons, Zhang Tie''s parents became less concerned. As a result, they got along well with Zhang Tie''s uncles and aunts.


    During the couple of years when Zhang Tie disappeared, the grandpa always asked about Zhang Tie and had dispatched people to Norman Empire to search Zhang Tie. Therefore, Zhang Tie had to pay a visit to him.


    When they arrived at the old mansion of Zhang family, although there were fewer people compared to the last time, Zhang Tie felt a much better atmosphere in the old mansion. Not only those Zhang family members, even those servants smiled more sincerely towards Zhang Ping, Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie.


    Even grandpa''s first wife treated Zhang Tie as her direct grandson as she pulled Zhang Tie''s hands and cared about him casually. She even started to concern about Zhang Tie''s marriage.


    It was not proper to describe it with the word ''utilitarianism''. Because even when Zhang Tie''s family returned to Huaiyuan Prefecture with an extremely poor look several years ago, these family members in the old mansion also took care of them a lot; even though someone didn''t like them, they didn''t show it on their face at least.


    However, as they were in the real society, if they could cooperate with each other to maintain the honor of this big family, they would share a greater energy. At the critical moment, if they could have more human relationships to use, they could always gain more respect and smiles from outsiders. Facing such an overall benefit, what happened was not important. When in emergencies, Zhang Tie''s family could only rely on the family members of Zhang Tie''s uncles and aunts. After all, they had ties of kinship. Some things were decisive.


    Zhang Tie''s elder brother managed Jinwu Corporation with the help of Zhang Tie''s two uncles'' family members. After these years, Zhang Yang genuinely felt that it was much easier with the help of family members.


    Huaiyuan Palace was really too big for Zhang Tie, which contained complex human relationships. Zhang Tie''s family only had a feeling on the relatives on the grandpa''s side.


    Zhang Tie''s family came here in the daytime without any notice. Therefore, they just saw grandpa and his wives in the old mansion.


    After a meal in the old mansion, grandpa led them in a tranquil pavilion in the backyard garden and chatted with them.


    Being covered with osmanthus, this pavilion was a good place for taking rest and chatting.


    Zhang Tie''s dad then talked with grandpa that his family members were going to migrate to the Eastern Continent in the recent couple of months. This was also one of their targets here today. As it was a major event, they had to notice grandpa''s side in advance.


    After hearing Zhang Ping''s words, grandpa slightly closed his eyes for awhile before opening his eyes, "It''s fine. After all, Waii Sub-Continent is a remote place. It could not match the prosperity and stability of the Eastern Continent. We need to find another way to survive ourselves. Last year, I told Zesheng to pave a way for our family in the Eastern Continent with some juniors. When you arrive at the Eastern Continent, you can contact Zesheng first. He will give you a hand. I will give you Zesheng''s address after awhile. Zesheng is now in Yingzhou Province, one of the 72 major provinces in Taixia. Many years ago, Huaiyuan Palace had been rooted in Yingzhou Province. We have a city there called Huaiyuan City. All the family members could seek for shelter in Huaiyuan City."


    Zesheng was one of grandpa''s sons and a brother of Zhang Tie''s dad, who had different mothers. Therefore, he was Zhang Tie''s uncle. They had met each other last time, although not being very impressive. After being told about Huaiyuan Palace''s undertaking in Yingzhou Province of Eastern Continent, Zhang Tie was shocked as he had not imagined that Huaiyuan Palace could have a private city in Eastern Continent.


    Zhang Yang was also very surprised as he put it straightforwardly, "Argh, I''ve not imagined that Huaiyuan Palace could have a city in the Eastern Continent."


    "Huaiyuan Palace originated from Zhang Clan in Taixia Country. It''s nothing strange for it to have a city in Eastern Continent. In case of your fickleness, we don''t reveal it to the outside. Therefore, average people don''t know about that. Not only Huaiyuan Palace, even the other influential clans in Jinyun Country had their own territory in Eastern Continent. Eastern Continent is the root of all the big clans and the sacred land of Chinese. Everything here is just twigs and leaves which takes in sunshine and rain dew. When the holy war breaks out, the autumn wind blows, the fallen leaves would finally come back to its root." Grandpa signed with full moods while he made a pun.


    After hearing about that fallen leaves would finally come back to its root, Zhang Ping and his sons became confused. Grandpa watched Zhang Tie and smiled, "Life or death, it depends. If I die, my ash would also be carried back to the Eastern Continent and buried there. As a Chinese, I have to go back for my root. I''ve been managing shipyards for my whole life and busy working for business every day. However, I have no achievement in cultivation. Therefore, I could only live for about 100 years. I''m 70 years old now. There are 2 or 3 decades left. As you and your cousins have entered the Hidden Dragon Palace and would have a great achievement in the future and Zhang family''s undertaking develops well, our family gradually looks like a big clan. We might have a shrine later on. Therefore, I will have no regrets anymore."


    After hearing grandpa''s words, Zhang Tie became bashful at once. He thought that grandpa would know about this sooner or later. Therefore, he''d better tell him now, "Hmm...I am not a member of Hidden Dragon Palace anymore since yesterday."


    Grandpa asked Zhang Tie while slightly changing his face, "What''s wrong?"


    Zhang Tie briefed the reason. Additionally, he said that he had awakened another ancestral bloodline. However, he didn''t tell grandpa about the concrete ability of this ancestral bloodline.


    Actually, the Clan elders had considered well for Zhang Tie. Even though Zhang Tie wanted to stay in Waii Sub-Continent for some reason, the Clan elders suggested to dispatch a powerhouse to protect him. When Zhang Tie finished his thing on Waii Sub-Continent, that powerhouse would escort him back to the Eastern Continent. However, Zhang Tie finally refused this suggestion.


    As long as the Zhang Clan dispatched a powerhouse to protect him, Zhang Tie''s secret would be exposed. That powerhouse who was confident to take him away even when the entire Waii Sub-Continent was collapsed by demons was undoubtedly much more powerful than Zhang Tie. He probably be a battle demon or a battle spirit. In front of such a sharp person, Zhang Tie would have no chance to play any tricks. He might be under the gaze of that person around the clock. In such a situation, he would have no chance to disappear in front of that person and enter Castle of Black Iron to eat fruits. This was a great obstacle for Zhang Tie, which even completely blocked his way of cultivation.


    Additionally, as long as he returned to Ice and Snow Wilderness, more secrets would be exposed to those big figures of Huaiyuan Palace. If so, how could he interpret what he has done in Ice and Snow Wilderness such as the so-called God''s manifestation and those exotic seeds? If so, he would fall into a deeper mire. Zhang Tie didn''t want to expose all of his secrets to the the members of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie finally infuriated those Clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace...


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, grandpa didn''t look disappointed like what Zhang Tie had imagined. Instead, he just watched Zhang Tie with a weird look. After a long while, he smiled casually and said, "It''s okay. After all, there are so many Zhang members in Hidden Dragon Palace. The greater the Clan is, the more rules there will be. Sometimes, big clan would be too utilitarianism. As long as you''re enough talented, those clan rules will be as nothing but waste papers. You can crumple them into a ball and throw them into a toilet bowl. Some people would even applaud for you. Therefore, you don''t need to care about this!"


    Grandpa comforted Zhang Tie with intelligent words, which shocked Zhang Tie inside. At this moment, Zhang Tie remembered Lan Yunxi as he understood it at once. "Yes. If I''m an alchemist master and as talented as my master, the conversion demon, as well as a knight who has the three-in-one power mentioned by my master, will anyone of Huaiyuan Palace dare to say that I''m not qualified to marry Lan Yunxi?"


    "To the final analysis, if I''m enough powerful, all the problems and obstacles would disappear."


    Zhang Tie became open-minded at once...


    ...


    After chatting with grandpa, Zhang Tie''s family left. Grandpa then started to drink tea leisurely in the pavilion. The eldest grandma took here a plate of fruits and sat besides the grandpa. She started to flap a fan for him.


    Grandma felt that grandpa was very happy today through his look. Therefore, she also aroused a topic.


    "It''s good to know Zhang Tie is safe. He''s already 20 years old. He should get married. You''ve met Liangying before. Her dad took her here last time. She''s my granddaughter and looks beautiful and virtuous. How do you think about them? It will be great if they can get married."


    Grandpa glanced at his first wife with a smile, "Don''t worry about Zhang Tie. He has his own plans!"


    Grandma also replied with a smile, "Well, at the sight of Zhang Tie today, I find he''s different than that last time. Which one is better; Su''er or Zhang Tie in your eyes?"


    "Su''er is steady and bold. As he has experience in Hidden Dragon Palace, he has both human relationship and ability. As the eldest grandson of my eldest son, he could carry forward this undertaking and have a great achievement for sure!" grandpa touched his mustache with a smile.


    After hearing the comment of his husband about his grandson, grandma revealed a satisfied smile, "What about Zhang Tie?"


    "Zhang Tie..." grandpa suspended for a second before watching his first wife with a solemn look, "This grandson will be the pillar of Zhang Clan for sure. After my death, he might be able to build a shrine for Zhang Clan!"


    After hearing his husband''s comment about Zhang Tie, grandma became shocked as she had not imagined that her husband could give such a high confirmative comment about Zhang Tie, "Argh, how can that be?"


    "Zhang Tie has been expelled out of Hidden Dragon Palace by the Clan elder yesterday!" grandpa replied calmly.


    "Why do you comment about him in this way then?" grandma could understand the comment about her eldest grandson of her eldest son who was famous in Hidden Dragon Palace; however, it was out of her imagination that a person who was expelled out of Hidden Dragon Palace could gain a better comment from the grandpa.


    Grandpa didn''t explain. Women could not understand some domestic affairs. He just watched the grandma, "I will not tell you why. But remember, Su''er and Zhang Tie are cousins. If they treat each other kindly, it would be a happiness for Zhang Clan. The undertaking of Milky Way Shipyard belongs to us. Zhang Ping''s sons are not interested in this undertaking at all. As an elder, you need to keep the family in harmony. Am I clear?"


    Grandma lowered her head respectfully in front of the dignified look of grandpa, "I know."


    "Hmm, go and take a rest then. I will sit here for awhile!"


    Grandma then left...


    Sitting in the pavilion, grandpa drank tea and watched the tall osmanthus trees which shivered their twigs and leaves in the wind. He entered meditation. Not a single young man at his 20s dared to say no to the Clan elders over hundreds of years. Even grandpa dared not do that at the age of Zhang Tie; his sons dared not do that at the age of Zhang Tie; his eldest grandson of his eldest son dared not to do that. However, Zhang Tie dared.


    Zhang Tie truly had a reason to be thought highly of by the Clan as he was also bold and responsible enough to refuse the Clan''s order. If grandpa could not see the potential of his grandson, he must be blind.


    "Is anyone going to establish shrine for Zhang Clan in the future? There really seems to be an osmanthus tree[1] that could brighten up the Zhang ancestors in Zhang Tie''s generation..." grandpa thought.


    ...


    Translator''s Thoughts


    WQL WQL


    [1] Osmanthus tree, Zhang Tie was compared to a osmanthus tree with fragrant osmanthus blossoms.

 546 Coming to Hidden Dragon Island Once Again

    Chapter 546: Coming to Hidden Dragon Island Once Again


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After leaving Zhang''s old mansion, under the guidance of Zhang Ping, Zhang Tie paid visit to his elder uncle''s home. As he didn''t see him before, he needed to pay an official visit to him out of courtesy.


    Zhang Tie''s elder uncle''s family lived in Xince City. Previously they had difficulties in living; with the help of Zhang Tie''s family these years, their living standards had been greatly improved. Zhang Tie''s mom suggested to take Zhang Tie''s elder uncle''s family away from Xince City to the Eastern Continent after negotiating with them.


    Of course, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang had no objection about that as it could please their mother.


    The group of three ate supper at Zhang Tie''s elder uncle''s home. Even if they traveled by airship, when they arrived at home in Yiyang City, it was already dark.


    Zhang Tie estimated that 11 days had passed since he returned to Huaiyuan Prefecture on March 15th from Selnes theater of operations. Time flied. In a wink, it was already the beginning of April.


    "I have to return to the Selnes theater of operations before April; otherwise, the bet between I and those guys in the airship would become a laughing stock. I have to go back there for both Lan Yunxi and myself." Zhang Tie thought.


    As Linda, Beverly and Fiona felt inconvenient to live in Zhang Tie''s home for long time, they returned to the apartment which they rented on the second day since Zhang Tie returned home from Clansmen Pavilion when Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang and Zhang Ping was paying a visit to Zhang''s old mansion. Of course, after returning home from Xince City in the evening, Zhang Tie told his mom about his schedule in the next two days before going to the three women''s apartment. Zhang Tie''s dad and mom just pretended to not know about that.


    In the apartment of the three women, Zhang Tie had fewer constraints. Of course, he was indulged in making love with them over night. Zhang Tie would like to spend more time with them during the rest days in Huaiyuan Prefecture. He didn''t know how long could he spend with them after he left Huaiyuan Prefecture.


    ...


    On the next early morning, Zhang Tie came to the wharf of Yiyang City with the three women. When they arrived there, they started to sense the influence of the holy war. Their vehicle could not move in the crowded place.


    Right outside the wharf, those who queued up to purchase tickets were sleeping in simple tents on the streets. The line was miles in length. Many more people were wandering outside the wharf and were seeking for chance to leave here.


    Besides Chinese, most of them were Hebrews. Many women and kids were standing on the roadside while raising all sort of brands with Chinese or Hebrew on them¡ª¡ª


    "I''d like to be a slave, only for a boat ticket"


    "Please take me away, my master!"


    "I will be your best servant!"


    "I wish to be a slave, please take me away!"


    These people were all refugees who escaped to Yiyang City due to demon disasters. Many of them were unable to purchase boat ticket to leave Waii Sub-Continent; therefore, they sold themselves as a slave for a chance to leave out of here!


    After staying in Huaiyuan Prefecture for a few days, Zhang Tie felt that Huaiyuan Prefecture became more crowded than before. Some refugees poured in. However, it was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that the wharf could be so crowded. After seeing an old woman and a 5-6 year old girl raising a board and selling themselves as slaves, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded.


    "Argh..." Fiona exclaimed out of scare as she drilled into Zhang Tie''s chest when a wrinkled face pasted on the window and watched them who were in nice dress in the car. At the same time, she kept patting the glass. As she was so close to Fiona, her grubby brown hair scared Fiona a lot.


    "Mr...Mr...please take my daughter away. As long as you take her away, you can let her do whatever you want...my daughter is very docile..." a man shouted as he drew a 13-14 year old girl to the window side forcefully, enabling Zhang Tie to see clearly that girl''s face.


    That girl just stared at Zhang Tie with a flurried look. At this moment, that man on her side shouted, "Tess, hurry up, say some Chinese...you''ve just learned it..."


    However, the little girl was so scared that she could not even utter a word.


    Before Zhang Tie spoke, all the windows of his vehicle had been covered with numerous faces and palms. They were shouting outside the vehicle and would not like to leave no matter how much the driver pressed the trumpet. Many people were surging over here. As the vehicle slowly moved, the man and his daughter were pushed to one side by others at once.


    "Please take away my daughter..."


    "Please take us away..."


    "Please take me away, lord, I can do whatever you like..."


    "Please take away my sisters. We can serve you on bed..."


    Linda, Beverly and Fiona were so scared by this that their faces turned pale. Holding Zhang Tie, their hands kept quivering. They had not seen such a scene before.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly drew the curtains. The driver kept pressing the trumpet. At the same time, Zhang Tie saw some policemen running over here while blowing whistles and waving sticks to drive away those who stuck to the window side.


    It took them half an hour to finish the 2 km''s travel in the wharf. On the way, Zhang Tie found that a fat guy on the vehicle in front of his vehicle picked four women and drew them into his vehicle like picking vegetables in the market without even spending one gold coin.


    Seeing this, Linda''s hand became icy although holding Zhang Tie tightly. All the three women on Zhang Tie''s vehicle looked bad. Zhang Tie also became a bit regretful. If he knew the current situation in the wharf, he would have chosen to go to Hidden Dragon Island by airship for the sake of convenience. Previously, he thought that the three women had not traveled by sea after arriving at Huaiyuan Prefecture, he planned to travel with them by sea. However, it was out of his imagination that the situation in the harbor could be so worse.


    Zhang Tie was also greatly shocked. If it became so worse in the territory of Huaiyuan Palace, he could imagine how worse the other places in Waii Sub-Continent would be.


    The vehicle parked beside a 3000-ton private luxury yacht of Zhang''s family. Zhang Tie, Beverly, Fiona and Linda then got off the vehicle and boarded on the yacht.


    This yacht was produced by Milky Way Shipyard. It was gifted to Zhang Yang by grandpa when Zhang Yang married Lu Shiyun, his second wife. Although it cost hundreds of thousands of gold coins, given the relationship between Zhang Tie''s family and Zhang Tie''s uncles and aunts, it was worthwhile.


    After Zhang Tie and the three women reached the rest room on the top of the yacht, standing on the deck outside the rest room and watching Yiyang Harbor disappearing in their eyes, the three women slowly looked better.


    Linda leaned against Zhang Tie''s shoulder in a tender manner, "Those people were really frightening. I wonder whether I would also look like them without you. Perhaps I would be more miserable than them. Promise me, do not leave me, okay?"


    "Idiot, what are you thinking about? Even if I''m not with you, I will not let you suffer like that!" Zhang Tie kissed Linda''s face.


    "Those people are really poor!" Beverly also let out a slightly sigh.


    "Don''t think too much, we should not waste time!" Fiona said with a naive look and plump breasts, "How long will it take us from here to Hidden Dragon Island?"


    "About 7 hours?" Zhang Tie answered.


    "You only belong to us in the 7 hours!" Fiona yelled as she rolled her eyes and watched Linda''s charming and sexy figure with a mischievous smile, "Sister Linda is still a bit shameful each night. She''s not mastered some skills yet. Let Beverly and I teach you this time, how about that, Beverly..."


    "Nice!" Beverly also grinned...


    "Argh, now?" Linda blushed right now as she looked around shamefully.


    "What are you afraid of? There are only four of us. Nobody else!" Fiona urged as she pushed Zhang Tie onto a lunge beside the swimming pool. After that, Fiona sat on Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen and showed a pair of snow-white legs as she looked at Zhang Tie in a womanly way. She then bit Zhang Tie''s ear as she drilled her tongue into Zhang Tie''s ear, "My Lord Magical Beast. Can I borrow some of your organs as sister Linda''s props in these hours?"


    Zhang Tie said righteously, "No problem. Just take it. I like to help others. You don''t even have to pay if you break them."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the three women burst into out laughter''s as they forgot all their sorrows...


    ...


    7 hours later, Zhang Tie caught sight of Hidden Dragon Island...


    Although a few years had passed, the Hidden Dragon Island remained unchanged.


    After landing on the wharf of Hidden Dragon Island and passing by the White Dragon Town, Zhang Tie was frightened by the boisterous scene in Jinwu Castle...

 547 Encountering an Old Friend

    Chapter 547: Encountering an Old Friend


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Zhang Tie and the three women caught sight of Jinwu Castle, it was a bit later than 3 pm. It was the most boisterous time in Hidden Dragon Island, especially in Jinwu Castle.


    At the foot of Yunju Mountain, the road from Jinwu Castle to White Dragon Town was crowded with sorts of peddles on both sides. The entire road was crowded with people. The closer it was to Jinwu Castle, the more people there would be and the more advanced the commodities would be.


    Zhang Tie remembered that the land covering hundreds of thousands of square meters being close to Jinwu Castle was bald when he left Hidden Dragon Island previously. However, it was now covered with buildings, hotels, shops, workshops and markets with unified styles, just like a downtown in the city.


    Jinwu Castle was located in the center of those buildings like landmark. What surrounded Jinwu Castle was a beautiful fountain square.


    If not the two brilliant words ''Jinwu Castle'', Zhang Tie even dared not believe that this was the exact place he had been familiar with.


    "Wow, I''ve not imagined that there''s such a beautiful place in Hidden Dragon Island. I thought this was the wilderness where fighters would cultivate." Fiona exclaimed at the sight of all of this.


    The three women were always living in downtown, where they could touch beautiful clothes, cosmetics, yummy food and daily commodities. However, the sorts of medicament, medicine, potions, armors, weapons, special ornaments, survival tools and items that were made of special body parts of underground demon beasts widely broaden their vision, making them feel like entering another world.


    All the three women became thrilled.


    At the sight of this, Zhang Tie didn''t enter Jinwu Castle; instead, he just wandered through those shops and booths outside Jinwu Castle with the three women.


    "Argh, what''s this?" Beverly saw a string of brilliant necklace with decorative patterns as her eyes glittered at once. Fiona and Linda also stopped to look at it.


    "Lady, you really have a good taste. This is the fire-dragon crystal necklace that we''ve just polished. It must fit you very well!" a female clerk of 16-17 years old hurriedly walked here and introduced it to the three women.


    When that female clerk walked over here, Zhang Tie threw a glance at her. Her age and personality immediately reminded Zhang Tie of those junior sister apprentices who worked in Zhixing Department.


    The female clerk also glanced at Zhang Tie, a 16-17 year old teenager who was embracing three foreign beauties. Additionally, Fiona, Beverly and Linda didn''t look like fighters who came here for promoting their fighting skills. Very few commoners dared to come here for a travel.


    After sleeping in Castle of Black Iron for three years, Zhang Tie''s look remained unchanged. However, Fiona, Beverly and Linda looked maturer. Therefore, Zhang Tie looked too young compared to the three beauties on his sides. He was completely like their younger brother. Linda could even be Zhang Tie''s aunt. However, all the three women behaved like Zhang Tie''s lovers, creating a powerful qi field for Zhang Tie.


    "Argh, what''s fire-dragon crystal?" Although the three women could speak Chinese very fluently after staying in Huaiyuan Prefecture for three years, they were still strange about some special terms.


    Before that female clerk opened her mouth, Zhang Tie had already walked to their side and started to explain it to them with a smile, "This fire-dragon crystal is just a crystal formed by a special species in larva after condensation in the underground world. It''s not very precious; however, the LV 8 king snake had always engulfed it. After a long time, it became fire-dragon crystal in the king snake''s stomach, which is precious."


    "Why would the snake engulf it?" Linda asked out of curiosity.


    "King snake is a cold-blooded demon beast. Like other snakes on the ground which could drill out of dark place for sunshine so as to supply heat with them. As king snake could not get sunshine in the underground world, it would engulf this crystal. It''s said that this crystal would make king snake feel warm like basking in the sun. While some people said that king snake used crystal to gather energy as a form of cultivation. After hunting the king snake, people would obtain this crystal from its stomach. With this crystal, you would feel calm. After wearing it, you would feel cool in the daytime and warm in the evening. After sensing the qi of this crystal, those insects on the ground dared not to touch the wearer at all!"


    "Wow. Is it something in the body of the king snake? Why is it called dragon?"


    Zhang Tie smiled, "This is a traditional Chinese culture. Some times, snake is called small dragon in Chinese. In Chinese legends, dragon could be evolved from snake!"


    The three women became clear at once. Watching the three women''s looks, Zhang Tie knew that they like it. Therefore, without asking the price, Zhang Tie directly told the clerk, "I want three top-class fire-dragon necklaces. Don''t take out of the necklaces in the counter. I know that you always keep the good fire-dragon crystal necklaces for the insiders!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, that clerk threw another amazing glance at him before turning around to the inside of the counter and whispering something to another clerk in the shop. After that, she walked in and took out of a tray with three bloody, brilliant fire-dragon necklaces on it in half a minute.


    Compared to those fire-dragon crystal necklaces in the counter, the new fire-dragon crystal necklaces looked much more advanced.


    Zhang Tie directly picked up the fire-dragon crystal necklaces for the three women and then asked, "How much?"


    "200 gold coins for each, 600 gold coins in total!"


    Zhang Tie put his hand into his pocket and took out a gold note that was worth 1000 gold coins in Golden Roc Bank and passed it to the clerk.


    That clerk carefully took over the gold note as she said, "Please wait for a second!"


    "Fine!"


    The clerk then asked another little girl to invite someone to authenticate the gold note from outside.


    Linda, Beverly and Fiona then watched the other items in the store.


    After waiting for less than 1 minute, a 30-year old man walked in. After taking over the gold note, he carefully authenticated it before nodding towards the clerk. After that, he exchanged ten gold notes for her, 100 gold coins for each before leaving.


    The clerk then gave Zhang Tie four gold notes, 100 gold coins for each, which was the minimal par value of gold note. Soon after Zhang Tie took the gold notes and walked out of the store with the 3 women did they encounter a woman outside the door.


    "Argh, younger sister Guo, what a coincidence..." Zhang Tie blinked his eyes as he greeted that woman.


    "Zhang Tie!" Guo Miaolu widely opened her eyes like seeing ghosts in the daytime.


    "Hahahaha, long time no see. Junior sister Guo, you look more beautiful!"


    Guo Miaolu was much taller and more plumper than that four years ago. In beautiful black female warrior''s uniform, she had short hair, lifted breasts, slim waist and long legs. She looked healthy and shrewd. Guo Miaolu was the head of a group of girls four years ago; now, she looked more like an able woman, which was far from that innocent look when she was in Zhixing Department.


    "Is that you?" at the sight of Zhang Tie, Guo Miaolu was really shocked, especially by the same look and his bad smile. She then stretched out her hand and pinched Zhang Tie''s face.


    Zhang Tie didn''t move.


    "Haha, long time no see, you became much bolder. Previously, you even did not dare to touch me. Now, you dare to pinch my face. Are you falling in love with me?"


    Guo Miaolu blushed at once as she hurriedly drew her hand back. She finally confirmed that he was Zhang Tie, the one who disappeared three years ago. She wanted to say something; however, after noticing the three beauties beside Zhang Tie, she swallowed what she wanted to say about the gossips and changed it right away, "D**chebag, you''re still so nasty!"


    Zhang Tie waved his hand, "Well, I know you all want to beat me. Just keep this chance until this evening. Sorry to trouble you, junior sister Guo, you can call all those who want to beat me in Hidden Dragon Palace. I''m waiting for you in Jinwu Castle tonight!"


    "You want me to do that for you? Why not call them yourself?" Guo Miaolu glared at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie rubbed his nose with an embarrassed look, "Erm...I will tell you in the evening. In one word, I will not enter Hidden Dragon Palace now! I have to enter Jinwu Castle and have them prepare it for you..."


    "Okay then!"


    Zhang Tie then waved his hand towards her before taking Linda, Beverly and Fiona away. Before Fiona left, she even looked back at Guo Miaolu.


    ...

 548 My Castle

    Chapter 548: My Castle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After Zhang Tie left with Beverly, Fiona and Linda, that clerk who sold them fire-dragon crystal necklaces greeted Guo Miaolu sweetly, "Senior sister apprentice Guo!"


    "Hmm, junior sister Song, why were they here?" Guo Miaolu watched Zhang Tie''s back with a sophisticated look.


    "That man bought one top-quality fire-dragon crystal necklace for each of the three women..."


    After hearing that, Guo Miaolu forced a bitter smile.


    "Aww, senior sister Guo, you called that man senior brother apprentice. Is he from Hidden Dragon Palace? But I''ve not seen him before!"


    "Of course you''ve not seen him. That asshole has left Hidden Dragon Palace for almost 4 years!" Guo Miaolu replied with a complex look.


    "Argh, no way! Given his look, he''s just 16-17 years old like me. Did he join Hidden Dragon Island at the age of 12? That sounds great. He should be very famous in Hidden Dragon Palace!"


    "Humph, that guy does not look old at all!" Guo Miaolu said as she touched her own face, "Didn''t you always want to see the top one on the Hidden Dragon Wealth List? You saw him!"


    "Argh, it''s him..." junior sister apprentice Song''s eyes soon glittered, "He''s too great. I''ve not imagined that the senior brother is so young and so handsome..."


    "Hmm, junior sister Song, you''ve forgotten one point. This guy is the most lascivious one in the world! You junior sisters have to take care of yourself in case of being cheated by this guy''s look. Do you know how many girlfriends does he have?" Guo Miaolu asked full of fury.


    "Three?"


    "More than 40. This guy is the idol of many people in the Hidden Dragon Palace!"


    "Wow!" the junior sister apprentice exclaimed as she kept watching towards the leaving direction of Zhang Tie with a curious look...


    ...


    Zhang Tie walked towards Jinwu Castle together with Linda, Beverly and Fiona.


    "Is that beautiful Chinese girl your junior sister apprentice?" Fiona asked Zhang Tie in a low voice.


    "Hmm! She''s a junior sister apprentice that I met here before!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Your junior sister apprentice really has a nice figure. She''s also beautiful and special!" Fiona continued. At the same time, she silently drew a circle in Zhang Tie''s palm as she whispered to Zhang Tie, "Have you f*cked her, like how you did to those girls of Rose Association?"


    "What are you talking about?" Zhang Tie blushed as he glared at Fiona, "Am I that kind of a person? Am I just a lady killer in your eyes? Do you think that I have to make love with all the beautiful women around me?"


    "Why don''t you ask Beverly and Linda whether you''re a lady killer or not?" Fiona urged.


    "What do you think?" Zhang Tie then watched Beverly and Linda.


    After exchanging glances with each other, Beverly and Linda giggled and replied in unison, "Yes!"


    Zhang Tie stared at them with his widely opened eyes before bursting out into laughter...


    After passing by the suspension bridge and entering Jinwu Castle, Zhang Tie found the barbican of Jinwu Castle which was more boisterous. Additionally, the commodities being sold in the barbican were more advanced. The rows of stores in the barbican made it as prosperous as the Bright Avenue in Blackhot City. What Zhang Tie conceived about Jinwu Castle had completely become a reality.


    "Castle Lord..." a loud voice sounded in front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie looked front and found Runo, the captain of the guards of Jinwu Castle was looking at him with a thrilled look.


    Runo was tall and wearing a set of excellent full-body armor while a double-hand long sword was hanging over his waist. He looked very dignified. After a few years, this Spirit soldier had become far from slave and grown more confident and powerful.


    After feeling Runo''s qi, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "Fine, you''re already a LV 6 fighter now. I''m very happy to have you with me!"


    According to the appointment between Zhang Tie and those Spirit soldiers, as long as these people reached LV 6 in Jinwu Castle, they could have their freedom back. Additionally, Zhang Tie would present them 200 gold coins. Runo was a free man for sure at this moment. Compared to the amazing promotion speed from LV 2 to LV 6 in 4 years, Zhang Tie became more reassured about Runo''s choice.


    "Welcome back, Castle Lord!" under the leadership of Runo, a team of patrol guards knelt down in front of Zhang Tie on their knees and waited for Zhang Tie''s return.


    At the sight of this, all the onlookers watched Zhang Tie with an amazing look. As a result, this place became quiet at once. They had not imagined that Zhang Tie was the castle lord of Jinwu Castle.


    ...


    Zhang Tie''s return aroused a great shock in Jinwu Castle at once. Since Zhang Tie entered the internal castle of Jinwu Castle being escorted by a team of Spirit guards, the entire castle had become boisterous.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the castle, a humpbacked old man had already rushed in front of Zhang Tie in a nimble way and kissed Zhang Tie''s shoes, "Thank god, you''re back, my lord. I knew that you would come back safe and sound..."


    Zhang Tie almost forgot about this humpbacked old man. It was the scar on his face that reminded Zhang Tie of him. He was that miserable, poor old slave. He looked much better now.


    "Get up. As you''re old. Don''t show such a great etiquette to me from now on!" Zhang Tie replied in a tender voice as he lifted up the old man, "Are you used to staying here these years?"


    "Yes, yes; thanks to your mercy. I could have food and drinks here everyday. I could even have new clothes to wear. I''m so glad to be a watchdog for you..." as he said this, the old man started to drop off tears.


    Zhang Tie was also a bit moved as he didn''t know what to say. Instead, he just patted the old man''s shoulder before entering with Linda, Beverly and Fiona.


    In the hall of the internal castle, the moment Zhang Tie sat in the main seat, those people whom Zhang Tie kept in Jinwu Castle at the beginning, the two female stewards dispatched to Jinwu Castle by Zhang Yang and Hillman and Figo whom were just sent to Jinwu Castle a few days ago hurriedly came here to greet Zhang Tie. The etiquettes that they executed were solemn as those chancellors welcomed their lord back from the battle field. Zhang Tie received them one batch after another. After encouraging them and acknowledging about the current situation of Jinwu Castle, he dispatched some missions to them, and let them leave.


    Until now did Linda, Beverly and Fiona on Zhang Tie''s side know that Zhang Tie have a private castle. Before they arrived at Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie just told them that he wanted to take them to travel two days in Hidden Dragon Island and show them how he cultivated in the clan at the beginning. He didn''t tell them that he had such a magnificent castle and so many subordinates and servants here.


    Watching Zhang Tie sitting in the chair and receiving those people calmly and confidently, the three women''s eyes glittered. Such a man was indeed attractive to women. Additionally, he could give them a strong sense of safety and an unspoken pride or vanity.


    Jinwu Castle had changed a lot in the past 4 years.


    Most of the Spirit guards had become LV 4 or 5 warriors. Runo and another guard called Buffet had promoted to LV 6 successfully. Runo might be promoted to LV 7 this year.


    Because of the cozy living environment in Jinwu Castle, those female slaves from Varner Empire had changed completely. They all had good looks before; but after 4 years, Zhang Tie could not even recognize them.


    At this moment, the internal castle of Jinwu Castle had already become a country full of 20-30 beauties.


    When Sonia who looked like a noble beauty and the other 52 women stood in front of Zhang Tie, even Zhang Tie felt stressed about their plump breasts and butts and their increasingly hot eyes. Zhang Tie then introduced his female servants to Linda, Beverly and Fiona.


    "The three women would be your female master from then on. You should follow what they order. Am I clear?"


    "Clear!" those 50-odd women glanced at Linda, Beverly and Fiona before moving their eyes away. In front of those women, Linda, Beverly and Fiona were sitting elegantly as they raised high their breasts.


    "Hmm, prepare a night banquet for me at the roof of the castle like how I held last time!" Zhang Tie told Sonia, "I have friends here tonight!"


    "Fine, master, what else can I do for you!"


    "Nothing more, you can leave!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    After those female servants left, seeing nobody entering anymore, Fiona started to lean against Zhang Tie as she pouted, "You''re not a lady killer? I''ve not imagined that you have so many more women here besides those girls of Rose Association!"


    Zhang Tie pinched her petite face as he replied, "They were female slaves from Varner Empire that I bought in Stars Viewing City. What are you thinking about? From then on, you three will be their female masters, how could you envy your servants?"


    "Female slaves from Varner Empire? I''ve not imagined that they could be so beautiful. They look more like those women who''d like to wander in Bright Avenue in Blackhot City..." Fiona blinked her eyes. She had heard about female slaves from Varner Empire, "You mean they were virgins when you bought them?"


    "Hmm...erm, should be, but I''ve not checked that!" Zhang Tie bought them in the price of virgins. However, Zhang Tie felt bashful to check them. Therefore, he was not sure about that. As most female slaves didn''t have a good experience, Zhang Tie didn''t know what other troubles had met them. However, according to Davinci, the slave trading agent, those slave traders had a good reputation.


    Noticing that Fiona was rolling her eyes once again, Zhang Tie patted her elastic butts, "Don''t think too much about that. As we''ve been on the sea for the whole day, you might be tired. You can take some rest first. I will introduce my friends to you in the evening!"


    ...


    Watching the three women leaving out of here under the guidance of a female servant, Zhang Tie started to meditate while sitting in the chair. At this moment, the scene that an old grandma and a little girl raising a brand and wishing to sell themselves reappeared in his mind, making him upset.


    After thinking about for over 10 minutes on the chair, Zhang Tie finally made a decision. After gritting his teeth, he took up an iron bell and rang it. Iron bell''s sound was muffled while copper bell''s sound was silvery which was always used as a musical instrument. Iron bell was used to call people who were waiting to serve him outside the hall in the castle.


    A guard entered the hall and bowed towards Zhang Tie.


    "What can I do for you, my majesty!"


    "Go to Stars Viewing City and bring Davinci here!"


    "Yes, sir..." the guard then left.


    ...

 549 One Night Dance

    Chapter 549: One Night Dance


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Zhang Tie met his old friends in the same party in the same place, he finally knew that men were no more the same ones.


    How a lot of teenagers and partners celebrated party here last time was still deeply imprinted in Zhang Tie''s mind. Zhang Tie had not imagined that it was already impossible for him to gather those people only after 4 years.


    "Yang Yuankang, Zhu Wenqiang had been promoted to LV 9 last year. After completing the cultivation in Hidden Dragon Palace, they were recruited by the Clan and had long left Hidden Dragon Island. Senior sisters Gu Caiyun and Ma Aiyun also left Hidden Dragon Island in the latter half of the last year after completing the cultivation in Hidden Dragon Palace. It''s said that these senior sisters have been dispatched to the Eastern Continent. Before leaving Hidden Dragon Island, senior sister Gu even came here for you. She wanted to have a talk with you; however, as nobody knew where you were, she could only give it up!"


    "What about Zhang Keliang, Zhang Yunfei, Wei Wu and Zhang Hongsheng? They should not have reached LV 9 yet. Are they also going to leave Hidden Dragon Island?"


    "They''re already LV 8. After accepting the missions dispatched by Hidden Dragon Palace, they are cracking down demon disasters on the Waii Sub-Continent with other corps in Jinyun Country. Besides those who have completed the cultivation in Hidden Dragon Palace, most of the male clan apprentices above LV 7 have participated in cracking down demon disasters. They are directly cultivating themselves on the battle field; therefore, they could barely come back one time a year. The ones left in Hidden Dragon Island are mostly female apprentices below LV 9 like us!" Guo Miaolu put it straight.


    Zhang Tie glanced at those girls at present. Those coy junior sister apprentices had grown into beautiful young ladies. At this moment, Zhang Tie found one person less. There should be 12 junior sister apprentices here.


    "Where''s junior sister apprentice Zhang Ya?" Zhang Tie asked.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, all the girls looked gloomy.


    "Junior sister apprentice Zhang Ya met an accident when she gathered soul fire in the underground world at LV 7. After chopping a huge centipede into two halves, junior sister apprentice Zhang Ya thought that the huge centipede had died. However, it sudden sprung up. Junior sister apprentice Zhang Ya then..." when Lv Shasha explained it, she started to drop off tears together with the other girls.


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced, "What an adorable and coy petite girl! When she smiled, she had two beautiful dimples on her face. What a pity..."


    Without saying anything, Zhang Tie directly forced the lid of a jar of liquor to pop out of the jar by forcefully patting the jar. Closely after that, he raised his head and bottomed it up...


    This evening, Zhang Tie was drunk, so were those girls. As nobody knew when could they gather here like this the next time or whether all of them could come here by then...


    Guo Miaolu stumbled towards Zhang Tie with blushed face. She forcefully patted on Zhang Tie''s shoulder as she put her arm over Zhang Tie''s neck. After that, she pushed Fiona aside from Zhang Tie''s chest before sitting on Zhang Tie''s thigh.


    "Junior...junior brother apprentice Zhang Tie...you...they...all say...you...you have a lot of women...you tell me...whe...whether our junior sister apprentices are...are your women..." Guo Miaolu stammered.


    "O...of course...you...you''re all my women...for the rest of your lives..." Zhang Tie stared at Guo Miaolu with drunk eyes.


    "You...you...asshole..." Guo Miaolu swore before bursting out into laughter, "You gifted...your women fire-dragon crystal necklaces...do you know...that you...have a share with that store...you gifted your women with those items...then what...what do you...gift us..."


    Zhang Tie became a bit dizzy, "I...will also gift you fire-dragon crystal...necklace..."


    "No..." Guo Miaolu shook her head...


    "I present Jinwu Castle...to you...all of it..."


    "Junior sisters...do you want that..." Guo Miaolu turned around and shouted towards the other girls.


    "No...you have to...gift us...unique things..." the girls jeered.


    "Right, if you gift us with the same item...we will not take it..."


    "You have...to gift...unique items..."


    "I will gift myself to...to you..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter...


    "No...who cares about you lady killer..." Du Yuhan started to cry.


    "Yeah, who cares about you lady killer..." Qu Liangying, who sat on Du Yuhan''s side also cried. These two girls were the most drunk tonight.


    "Gift us...what others could not...take away forever!" Zhang Wanjun shouted...


    "Now that junior sisters...don''t like items...this senior brother will...will perform a set of fist for you!" after saying this, Zhang Tie stumbled to the open land from the back of the table. He then gradually stood steadily.


    A generous qi upsurged in Zhang Tie''s chest. With the drunk feeling, Zhang Tie felt a bit sad as he remembered the strange song that Donder usually sang when he was drunk. Each time Donder sang it, he would burst out into tears. Zhang Tie suddenly felt like singing it loudly...


    "Gloomy, my departed friend! Long distance between Qin state and Wu; 1000 km between Yan state and Zhao state; We depart when spring moss appear; we depart when autumn wind blow..."


    In the strange song, a fiery-blood banner surged into the sky like a milky way and reached over 200 m in height. In the battle-qi totem, a huge king snake swam like a furious dragon started to hover above the entire Jinwu Castle...


    Zhang Tie boomed his unrivaled iron-blood fist, which looked like brilliant flower of life...


    "Thus vagrants are miserable; wuthering wind, exotic clouds; boat at the riverside, vehicles beside mountain road; how could I leave? how could horse stop neighing; covering the gold cup, who would like to drink? putting aside the zither, my tears wet the horizontal bar of vehicle. Friends at home lying on bed, feeling like losing something..."


    In the song, Zhang Tie''s fists swayed the girls'' hair and skirts with a strong wind...


    At this moment, from the bartizan of Jinwu Castle to White Dragon Town and Hidden Dragon Palace, numerous people raised their heads and watched the huge king snake that was swimming like a huge dragon above Jinwu Castle. Everybody was shocked and fascinated by the iron-blood battle qi, which rolled the west wind...


    "The sunshine gradually fade away from the wall, the moonlight gradually spray over the corridor. Red orchid is holding the autumn dew; green catalpa is covered with frost. Entering the old rooms, I half close the door and touch the brilliant bed; a grief rose; vagrants stop in his dream, imagining about the souls swaying behind him."


    With the great force of Iron-Blood Fist, the water in the pool on the rooftop of the castle rose and flew towards the skyline like a reversed waterfall. After spraying over the pool, it jumped up once again. Water drops turned into fog, causing a dreamland over the rooftop of Jinwu Castle.


    "Thus departure feels different in different situations. Tall, handsome horse matches silver-inlaid saddle; red vehicle matches colorfully-painted wheels; I build a tent outside the gate of capital and bid a farewell to my old friends in Golden Valley Park. Strings of harp, flute and drum produce music; sad songs of Yan State and Zhao State make beauties weep; pearls and jades are brilliant in the late autumn; silks and brocades are fascinating in the early spring. Being shocked by the song, horses raise their heads and chew; fish jumped out of the deep water. When in departure, with tears in eyes, I feel lonely and gloomy."


    By then, Zhang Tie''s Iron-Blood Fist suddenly changed its feature as the wind of his fist contained the sound of zither and drum. It sounded like thousands of pearls falling into the jade plate. Sometimes, it was like horse''s neigh; sometimes, it was like fish swimming freely in the abyss. The wind along with his fist blew over their faces which felt like desolate wind in autumn. All the girls were fascinated by that...


    "There are swordsmen who feel shameful about having not appreciated their masters and young righteous men who targeted their masters, such as Nie Zheng assassinated Xia Lei, the prime minister of Han State, Yu Rang intended to assassinate Zhao Xiangzi in the toilet of the imperial palace, Zhuan Zhu assassinated the emperor of Wu State, Jing Ke assassinated the first emperor of Qin Dynasty. All of them abandoned the warmth of their mother and wife. They left their homeland and bid farewell to their family members. Before leaving, they wiped off their tears and blood and gazed at each other. After riding on the battle horse, they didn''t look back anymore, leaving dust on the way. They paid gratitude to their masters at the cost of their own lives. When bells rang, cowards turned faces while their parents and wives wailed to death."


    Zhang Tie jumped in the air while he released his golden-carp sword and silver-carp sword from his waist. He released sword qi for over 100 times and punched 100 times at the same time. The sword qi surged towards the sky. Zhang Tie''s fist intention incarnated into the shape of dragon while the golden and silver carps flew out of his sword qi vividly and reached the skyline directly. Under the shiny skyline, they danced with the king snake. Dotted by red, golden and silver, the stars in the sky were even dwarfed. It was absolutely a legendary scene...


    Watching this, a 50-year old wrinkled man widely opened his mouth as the bowl of night snacklate fell on the ground, causing a "cracking" sound.


    Many people in the inn raised their heads and watched the direction of Jinwu Castle silently.


    "...the frost in the deep autumn is like pearls; the bright moon in the autumn night is like jade chip; the bright moonlight and the pearl-like frost, come and go. After departure, I miss you so much.


    Therefore, although the departing parties and reasons are uncertain, I will always be sad about that. Being upset, I lose my awareness and suffer a great trauma and shock mentally and spiritually. Although there are marvelous poems of Wang Bao and Yang Xiong and the profound narrations of Yan An and Xu Le; although there are many handsome people in the examination hall and numerous talented people in the national library whose poems are known as having a powerful qi surging into the heavens like that of Sima Xiangru, whose texts are known as profound and extensive like that of Zou Shi, who could describe the scene of departure!"


    After the song, the sword qi disappeared, the fist intention was buried and the dancing king snake remained dormant as Zhang Tie''s figure reappeared in the water curtain. The water curtain turned into water drops once again and fell onto the girls'' faces and skirts.


    Zhang Tie then stared at his double-carp swords and forced the two thin sword blades out. He then forcefully collided the golden carp sword with the silver carp sword, breaking them into pieces at once.


    "Does this set of fist position...look good...I''ve broken my double-carp swords...especially...for you...the gift that I present to you...could not be grabbed away by...anyone else"


    All the junior sister apprentices of Zhang Tie had burst out into tears...


    After asking this, Zhang Tie laughed as he lay down, facing the sky at once. With an exclamation, Linda, Beverly, Fiona who had long recovered her consciousness and all of Zhang Tie''s junior sister apprentices surged up towards him immediately.


    After checking him carefully, Guo Miaolu wiped off her tears. Looking at Zhang Tie who was leaning against her breasts, she smiled at the other sisters,"Senior brother apprentice...is just drunk...he''s fallen asleep!"


    That night, Zhang Tie''s dance became legendary.


    ...


    At the peak of the mountain where Hidden Dragon Palace rested, a group of elites who were holding a meeting in Heavens Breaking Pavilion were also gazing at that marvelous scene in Jinwu Castle. Until the marvelous scene disappeared did everyone become speechless.


    "The one who could break the heavens is not here, isn''t it hilarious for us to break heavens here? I will leave Hidden Dragon Island for the theater of operations in Qilan State tonight. I hope to further improve my cultivation. See you..." after a long sigh, a youth crossed his hands towards his partners before directly jumping off the Heavens Breaking Pavilion.


    "See you next year then, hope you''ll be alive then! after saying this, another youth also jumped off the Heavens Breaking Pavilion.


    In a wink, all the elites of Hidden Dragon Palace had left. Before the final one left, he stared at the three words "Heavens Breaking Pavilion" and frowned. He then jumped up and punched that board into pieces. Closely after that, he left without looking back¡ª¡ªfrom today on, there''s Heavens Breaking Department in Hidden Dragon Palace; yet no Heavens Breaking Pavilion in the Heavens Breaking Department...

 550 Arrangements

    Chapter 550: Arrangements


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Zhang woke up late the next morning, he felt spirited all over and was in his best state. After one night, Zhang Tie had a better recognition of fighting skills. He suddenly felt that he could apply Iron-Blood Fist, swordsmanship and his battle qi as well as the ''One Step, One Scene'' smoothly. That one night dance was Zhang Tie''s best performance since he was born.


    When Zhang Tie woke up, he found that he was resting his head on Linda''s plump and snow-white thigh. Linda was massaging his dimples kindly by hands. The fragrance of the plant essential oil in her hands smelt very comfortable. Seeing Zhang Tie opening his eyes, Linda stopped.


    "Ah, you woke up..."


    "Where are Fiona and Beverly?" after looking around, Zhang Tie found nobody else in the bedroom, including Fiona.


    "Fiona said she wanted to see how those female servants worked in the castle. She went with Beverly!"


    Zhang Tie smiled. As Fiona and Beverly had not lived in the castle before, it was normal for them to be curious about that. To the final analysis, they were still childish.


    Zhang Tie and Linda then got up. After pulling the rope of the bell in the room, after a few seconds, the female servants had entered with Zhang Tie''s clothes and cleansing tools one after another.


    In only 5-6 minutes, Zhang Tie had already cleansed himself and dressed well. Noticing those women glancing at his thing, Zhang Tie blushed although being shameless. Whispering something to Linda, he hurriedly left the bedroom.


    After coming to the outside, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh inside.


    "Where are my junior sister apprentices?" Zhang Tie asked Sonia who followed him.


    "Those guests have left this early morning. You were still sleeping at that moment, your excellency!" the servant of Jinwu Castle answered while her blush did not completely fade away.


    Zhang Tie drew in a long breath as he didn''t know when would they gather again. However, that was how life went. Banquets would always come to an end. After acknowledging his friends'' information, Zhang Tie had solved half of his concerns in Hidden Dragon Island. After lighting the soul fire of bloody scorpion as a LV 9 fighter, Zhang Tie would leave out of here.


    "There''s one more thing!"


    "What?"


    "Many people wanted to see you outside the Jinwu Castle this early morning, my lord!" Sonia reported.


    Zhang Tie knew these people must be attracted by the fist position that he performed last night. Zhang Tie really had no time to care about these people. Whether they were here for fame or benefit or out of pure curiosity, Zhang Tie didn''t plan to waste time on them.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie didn''t know whether there were killers of Three-Eye Association among those people. If Three-Eye Association intended to deal with him by arranging moles in Hidden Dragon Island, they might want to slip in Jinwu Castle by this chance. It was unnecessary for him to find trouble for himself.


    "I will not see any of them!" Zhang Tie ordered as he walked, "Oh, I have sent someone to bring Davinci here from Stars Viewing City yesterday, has he arrived here?"


    "Yes, he has. He''s waiting for you, castle lord!"


    "Let him wait for me in the lobby!"


    "As you will!"


    ...


    In a few minutes, Davinci, whom Zhang Tie met a few years ago, stood in front of Zhang Tie politely. He even did not dare to look at other women in the castle. Since he entered the lobby, he had been gazing at his feet.


    "Take a seat!" Zhang Tie pointed at a chair on his side. Davinci then sat down carefully.


    Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly, "I want you to give me a favor."


    "Argh, it''s my pleasure...just let me know your demand!" Davinci picked himself up in a flurried manner before sitting down hurriedly.


    "How''s the slave trade in Stars Viewing City?"


    "Alas, just so so. After the holy war broke out, human life had become worthless. Not only Stars Viewing City, even the slave trade across the entire Waii Sub-Continent could hardly sustain. Honestly, I''ve not had a business for a long time!" Davinci replied with a bitter look.


    "I have a business for you!" Zhang Tie directly passed an envelope and 5 gold notes to Davinci, each note was worth 10,000 gold coins. At the sight of the par value of the gold notes, Davinci''s face started to cramp as his eyes turned bloody. He started to pant like an old ox. In a split second, a powerful qi aroused from him.


    "What...what do you want me to do?"


    "I have a friend. He wants me to transport some slaves to Ice and Snow Wilderness for him!"


    "Are you kidding me?" Davinci watched Zhang Tie with an amazed look, "So many people are striving for a stock certificate of Ice and Snow Wilderness. This year, each share of stock delivered by the tribal axis of Ice and Snow Wilderness has reached 100 gold coins. Even so, you could barely get one. Many rich people could not get one, not to mention those worthless slaves!"


    "Mind your own business. You only need to bring those people, who wish to be slaves and seek shelter in Ice and Snow Wilderness. These 50,000 gold coins are your budget!"


    "I want to help you, but I cannot make that without the admittance certificate of Ice and Snow Wilderness..." Davinci forcefully swallowed his saliva while gazing at the gold notes; he decisively shook his head, "As to those ferries which want to steal in Ice and Snow Wilderness, even though they have arrived at Eschyle City, all the passengers have to pass the check there. Only those who have admittance certificates are allowed to land in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Those having no admittance certificates would have to go back where they came from!"


    Zhang Tie smiled as he pointed at that sealed envelope, "My friend handed this letter to me. You only need to have your man hand this letter to the ruler of Eschyle City. They will take over those slaves."


    "Ah, does that work?" Davinci watched Zhang Tie with an unbelievable look.


    "My friend has a great power in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Don''t worry about that. As long as you could deal with it well, I promise you will have a bright future. Gold coins will not tell a lie, right? It''s unnecessary for me to play a joke with you with 50,000 gold coins!"


    Davinci finally made his decision as he gritted his teeth, "Fine, I will do that!"


    "I have to warn you. Those who would like to be slaves are poor. Many of them are orphans and lonely old women. Don''t play tricks with me. Just bring those people to Ice and Snow Wilderness safe and sound. If you don''t understand this point, I''m sure that as long as I hear some bad news about you, you won''t try how I review my wrongdoings. Am I clear?"


    Davinci quivered all over before nodding solemnly, "Don''t worry. I''m clear. I won''t do that stupid thing!"


    "That''s what I want. I will have someone accompany you there as your bodyguards and assistants..." after saying that, Zhang Tie sent someone to bring here Hillman, Figo, Michael and the ''manager'' and told them about their job.


    As it was their first time to serve Zhang Tie, they all treated it as a test of their loyalty; therefore, they all agreed instantly...


    ...


    Closely after that, they left Jinwu Castle. Seeing them off, Zhang Tie sat still for a short while before telling the other servants that he wanted to enter meditation in the backroom. After that, he entered the basement of Jinwu Castle.


    ...


    After changing a look in 20 minutes, Zhang Tie walked out of a private residence in White Dragon Town and rapidly surged towards the Dragon Cave...


    After 7 hours, Zhang Tie finally caught sight of a LV 9 bloody scorpion which was higher than 10 m in the deep underground space of Dragon Cave. The bloody scorpion walked towards him like a mountain. Zhang Tie responded with a smile...


    When Zhang Tie walked out of the basement of Jinwu Castle in the evening, nobody knew that Zhang Tie had become an official LV 9 fighter. After being lit by the soul-fire of the LV 9 bloody scorpion, Zhang Tie''s iron-blood battle qi gradually improved qualitatively. Zhang Tie tried the trouble-reappearance situation of the shadow demon backroom once again. With the help of the LV 9 iron-blood battle qi, he survived 6 seconds under the attack of the shadow demon for the first time. 6,6,10¡ª¡ªthe latest data of Zhang Tie''s fighting force.


    The biggest problem facing Zhang Tie now was how to promote to LV 10. As long as he reached LV 10, he would be able to release his battle qi through the air. As a result, he could kill his enemy using his iron-blood fist over 10 m away. By then, he would reveal the real power of iron-blood fist which was the secret knowledge of the imperial household of Norman Empire.


    At dinner, Zhang Tie fetched all the female servants. After that, he took out a contract and handed it to Sonia.


    "Sonia, given what you''ve done for Jinwu Castle and your loyalty to me these years, you''re free now. If you wish to stay in Jinwu Castle and serve me loyally, you will become my home chancellor and enjoy the treatment of home chancellor. Do you like to stay?"


    Being thrilled, Sonia took that contract as her eyes turned wet at once. She stammered, "I...I wish to stay and serve you, my lord!"


    All the other female servants watched Sonia with an admirable look. This contract brought hope to all the female servants.


    That was what Zhang Tie pursued. Zhang Tie pointed at Linda, Beverly and Fiona and told those female servants, "After a few days, you will follow them to the Eastern Continent. From then on, the three women will be your masters. I will hand your contracts to them. They will control your fate, am I clear?"


    All the female servants nodded as they showed their etiquette to Linda, Beverly and Fiona solemnly.


    After the female servants left, Zhang Tie called in the team of Spirit soldiers and introduced their female masters to them.


    The last one entering was Paul, the candidate muling of Sun Dynasty, who was almost the most humble person in Jinwu Castle. Although he was low-key, he also showed his loyalty to Zhang Tie in his own way. Zhang Tie also paid him for his loyalty¡ª¡ªseveral years ago, when those girls of Rose Association and those brothers of God Blessing Brotherhood returned to Huaiyuan Prefecture before the holy war broke out, Zhang Tie fulfilled his promise. He told his elder brother to dispatch someone to kill that head muling named Keehn who had killed all the family members of Paul in Sun Dynasty.


    From then on, Paul sincerely accomplished the task of setting free sand-scale fish requested by Zhang Tie in Jinwu Castle everyday. It seemed that he treated this as his only task and work in the world.


    When Zhang Tie came back yesterday, Paul was not back from the wharf yet. Therefore, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to meet Paul in the past 4 years. The fruit of redemption on the small tree in Castle of Black Iron witnessed this man''s diligent work everyday.


    When Zhang Tie met Paul once again, he was a bit shocked by Paul''s qi. This slave looked more tranquil and profound. Average people could not observe that except Zhang Tie.


    "Have you broken through it?" Zhang Tie asked with a slightly amazed look.


    "Yes, my lord. Watching those maritime lives returning to the ocean freely and happily everyday, I feel very tranquil and comfortable inside. Therefore, I have finally broken through!" Paul''s calm face slightly revealed a bit excitement. As he replied, he knelt down in front of Zhang Tie and touched the ground with his forehead, his shoulders and his knees, which was the highest etiquette that followers used in front of their leaders of the school God of Brilliance, "Thank you, you''re my lord of brilliance. It''s you who had wiped off hatred from my heart and silently pointed out a bright road towards sacredness for me. Please allow me to follow you and be loyal to you. It''s my great honor to be your home chancellor, even servants!"


    Zhang Tie opened his mouth as he had not imagined that this man could make the breakthrough in cultivation only by watching sand-scale fish returning to the ocean. After a short while, Zhang Tie finally asked him, "What''s your rank now?"


    "According to the standards of the school of the God of Brilliance, I''m a 5-star battle priest now!"


    "5-star battle priest?"


    "Hmm, my fighting strength is equal to that of a LV 9 fighter!"


    "F*ck" Zhang Tie almost shouted out. "This guy was just a candidate muling of the school of God of Brilliance over one decade ago. Such a breakthrough must be a result of long-time accumulation. But it''s too weird to make breakthrough in this pattern. Is there any secret inside?" as Zhang Tie thought about it, he gradually recovered his composure. He glanced at Paul and finally nodded, "From today on, you will be my home chancellor. When I''m not in the castle, you should serve them; this is Linda, this is Beverly, this is Fiona!"


    Paul then gave his salute to Linda, Beverly and Fiona respectively...


    ...


    On the next day, after arranging the affairs in Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie returned to Yiyang City with Linda, Beverly and Fiona by airship.


    As he had finished what he wanted to do, he would prepare for returning to the Selnes Theater of Operations...


    Zhang Tie sensed that he could find a chance to breakthrough LV 10 in Selnes Theater of Operations...

 551 The Idiots

    Chapter 551: The Idiots


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    A huge fury-level battle airship parked in front of Zhang Tie. Raising his head, Zhang Tie watched his own airship calmly while being thrilled inside.


    Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie were reviewing this new battle airship which had just been transported out of Zhang''s airship factory and over 130 volunteers who were employed to manipulate the airship.


    These volunteers were very experienced in manipulating airships. They escaped from those regions which had been destroyed by demons to Huaiyuan Prefecture. Although having sold their airships, they still had a tough life in Huaiyuan Prefecture. The demon disasters had destroyed their homeland along with everything in it. The advertisement that people were recruited to crack down demons attracted a great number of volunteers who would like to go to Selnes Theater of Operations. After a round of selection, over 130 people of them were employed.


    Zhang Tie watched these volunteers calmly. Zhang Yang had already have them put on a set of blue airship uniform. Although they didn''t look handsome, Zhang Tie could sense their decisiveness and morale, which was rightly what Zhang Tie required.


    The airship was matched with various weapons and gliders. Before leaving the factory, this airship had already passed strict tests and commissioning. Therefore, after taking a visit in the airship, Zhang Tie got off the airship and stood in front of these volunteers.


    "I''m Zhang Tie, the coxswain of this airship. This is my elder brother. You must have seen him. My elder brother had also told you about me. Perhaps some of you might have some questions, such as "Does this idiot and playboy really spend hundreds of thousands of gold coins to buy the best battle airship only to seek for death or show off in Selnes Theater of Operations?"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s question, many people of those volunteers exchanged glances with each other as what Zhang Tie said was really what they thought. Actually, at the sight of this ''coxswain'', many of them even became a bit disappointed. Zhang Tie''s age didn''t fit this trip in their mind.


    Zhang Tie knew that he had to build enough authority in front of these people if he wanted them to follow his order. Otherwise, if these people didn''t follow his order in the theater of operations, it would be a big problem.


    "Firstly, I want to say. I''m not a playboy. I''m 20 years old. Five years ago, I served in the Iron-Blood Camp of Iron-Horn Corps of Norman Empire, during which period, I was promoted to the first lieutenant and was awarded the Iron-Blood Medal. Do you know the condition to have an Iron-Blood Medal in Iron-Blood Camp?"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s self-introduction, many people responded with an amazing look as they didn''t believe in Zhang Tie''s experience.


    "Honestly, all the people that you have killed and will kill on the battlefield for the rest of your lives might not match me. This was the reason that I was awarded the Iron-Blood Medal. Later on, after leaving Iron-Horn Corps, I returned to Jinyun Country, where I experienced the event in Heavens Cold City. participated in the raid of Heavens Cold City organized by Huaiyuan Palace. This action directly detonated the demon disaster in Heavens Cold City. The heads of demonized puppets that I chopped off was also more than the total of what you''ve chopped off. Half a month ago, when I returned from Selnes Theater of Operations, I also swept a squad of demon corps. Therefore, don''t treat me as a playboy. I''m not traveling to make money in Selnes Theater of Operations; instead, I''m going to fight demons there."


    Listening to Zhang Tie''s introduction, those people started to look Zhang Tie respectfully instead of doubting him. Zhang Tie''s experience and his meritorious deeds were both admirable.


    "Am I silly? Honestly, I am. I have a chance to leave here as soon as possible for the Eastern Continent; however, I refused it. I have to stay for some reasons. Therefore, it seems that I''m silly in others'' eyes. Because of this reason, I even lost my opportunity to participate in the battle in Selnes Theater of Operations as an official soldier of Huaiyuan Palace. That''s why I employ you to fight demons together with me!" Zhang Tie smiled, "In my opinion, you''re also a group of idiots who''re going to seek for death in Selnes Theater of Operations. You have your reasons and I have my reason. There we go!"


    All the volunteers burst out into laughter.


    "Look, that''s all about me. You can ask me if you have any questions!"


    "Sir, can you tell me why do you choose Selnes Theater of Operations?" a 30-year old guy raised his hand as he asked Zhang Tie.


    "If others wanted to know the reason, I would tell them that I did that for the bright future of humans. However, as it is asked by you, I have two reasons. First, I hate demons very much. Each one who had witnessed the disasters caused by demons would hate demons. Second, my beloved woman is in Selnes Theater of Operations. She has a lot of pursuers. I have made a bet with her pursuers. If I could kill more wing demons than any one of them, they would give up her. Therefore, in one word, I''m going to Selnes Theater of Operation for killing demons and pursuing my beloved woman!"


    Closely after Zhang Tie''s words, some guys whistled. Zhang Tie''s reasons were not only convincing but resonating.


    "Sir, what kind of squad of demon corps have you killed?"


    "A squad of LV 9 iron-armored demons. You don''t need to doubt that. When you arrive at Selnes Theater of Operations, you can easily see my performance!"


    "Are we going to fight iron-armored demons?"


    "If we meet them, we will beat them ferociously. However, our main target is not those iron-armored demons on the ground but those wing demons in the air. In Selnes Theater of Operations, wing demons are called airship killer. Therefore, this task would be very dangerous. If our airship was struck down by wing demons and fell onto the battlefield, none of you could survive. Therefore, you''d better think about it carefully. You can still leave now. When the airship set off next morning, we will have to execute military rules in the airship. If anyone of you wants to leave at that time, I will chop off his head!"


    "F*ck them!" a bearded uncle swore as he took out a small stoup and drunk a mouth of alcohol, "Sir, I''m Peter; just hand the engine room of the airship to me. If there''s any problem with the engine room, just chop off my head!"


    "Fine, is there any other problem?"


    "Sir, our airship doesn''t have a name yet!"


    "Haha, now that we''re all idiots, just call it the Idiots!"


    "The Idiots?" all the volunteers exchanged glances with each other.


    "We Chinese usually say that idiots always have their happiness. I feel it''s a very auspicious name..." Zhang Tie smiled, "I hope all of you could survive till the end!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, everybody nodded.


    With no more problems, Zhang Tie then delivered his first order, "You can go take a look in the airship and prepare for your job. We will set off at 8 am next morning. See you tomorrow!"


    After giving a salute to Zhang Tie, those volunteers left.


    ...


    Outside the gate of a hospital in Yiyang City, Zhang Tie sat in his vehicle and watched Miss Daina throwing herself into the arms of a 40-year old handsome gentleman in doctor''s uniform who was walking out of the hospital while lifting an insulated lunch box with a happy look...


    Miss Daina was going to get married in the next month. They had already taken wedding photos two days ago. The man named James. He''s a doctor in this hospital. He had a good family background and a good moral quality without any bad habit;


    "Is this the happiness wanted by Miss Daina?" at the sight of this, Zhang Tie had a complex mood, "Well, wish you happiness!" Zhang Tie said inside.


    Before Zhang Tie''s family members left here, Zhang Tie would send his elder brother to ask Miss Daina''s opinion. If they also wanted to leave, Zhang Yang would take them away. If they didn''t want to leave, Zhang Yang would present them a lot of money as a reward for teaching his sons and daughter. He would also introduce some friends to Miss Daina and her husband.


    "See you, dear Miss Daina!"


    Noticing that Miss Daina was glancing at this direction, Zhang Tie drew in a deep breath before telling the driver, "Let''s go..."


    The black vehicle then set off...


    "Daina, what''s up?" that man asked her when Miss Daina turned around and saw the vehicle off.


    "That might be Zhang Tie in the vehicle" Miss Daina''s mood became a bit complex; however, she responded with a smile, "Nothing!"


    ...


    After that, Zhang Tie returned home and had a dinner with his family members. After knowing that Zhang Tie was going back to the Selnes Theater of Operations, his parents'' eyes turned red. His mom started to drop tears in the meal. Linda, Beverly and Fiona also wept.


    This supper might be the last meal that Zhang Tie had with his family members in Waii Sub-Continent. After Zhang Tie returned to the Selnes Theater of Operations, the people here would soon move to the Eastern Continent.


    "Dad and mom, don''t worry about me. I will be okay. I can get in touch with my elder brother at any time now. When I finish my task over there, I will come for you in the Eastern Continent!" Zhang Tie forced a smile as he actually didn''t know when he would see his parents next time...

 552 A Disappeared Empire

    Chapter 552: A Disappeared Empire


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Hearing the knocks, Zhang Tie stopped his cultivation of the Great Wilderness Sutra and opened the door of the captain''s room. A crew member was standing outside the door.


    "Captain, the first mate told me to let you know that we''re arriving at Oris, the capital of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire!"


    "Aww, fine, I will go to the command module right now!"


    The crew member gave a salute to Zhang Tie before leaving. Zhang Tie straightened his clothes before putting on his hat and walking towards the command module.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was wearing a set of dark green military uniform which fit that of militia of Jinyun Country. If not the symbol of captain on his chest, nobody would believe that he was the captain of the awe-inspiring fury-level battle airship.


    The captain''s bedroom was the best in the airship, which was close to the command module. After passing through the spacious tunnel which was available to three people at the same time in the middle of the fury-level airship and walking down a small part of stairs, Zhang Tie entered the command module.


    "At 13:58, on April 7th, the captain enters the command module and takes over the command of the airship!"


    Seeing Zhang Tie entering, the first mate who was standing on the position of the captain beside the helmsman shouted loudly. At this moment, besides those volunteers who didn''t put on military uniforms, everything ran in the state of a formal expedition. They followed strict manipulation procedures and regulations. Closely after the first mate finished his words, the second mate marked on the flight log.


    Those in the command module gave a salute to Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie gave a salute back to them. After that, he walked onto the command position which was 3 stages higher than the ground of the command module. Holding the rail around the command position, Zhang Tie lowered his head and looked at the land below the airship.


    There was a very senior imaging lens which covered about 1 square meters on the command position. It was used to look down. This device was like a huge ground telescope. Through the application of the principle of optics, the captain could see clearly the situation on the land below the airship the moment he lowered his head. He could also adjust the angle and the size of the image in the imaging lens.


    At this moment, the airship was above over 2000 m. Through the bird-view imaging lens, Zhang Tie could see clearly everything on the ground. Zhang Tie didn''t know how did the capital of Holy Golden Orchid Empire look before; however, at this moment, most of the capital had turned into ruins, which was more miserable than the situation in Blackhot City.


    After the holy war broke out 3 months ago, Oris had been struck by demon disaster. The Holy Golden Orchid Empire which was almost destroyed by Haiger VII collapsed completely in this demon disaster.


    Even before the Holy Golden Orchid Empire completely collapsed, Haiger VII had delivered an absurd order¡ª¡ªto dissolve the entire empire and summon those chancellors who were still loyal to him to follow him to a new world and build a new country full of ''light and love''. After delivering that decree, the entire imperial household of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire disappeared.


    Therefore, it''s hard to say whether the Holy Golden Orchid Empire died in the hands of demons or the hands of Haiger VII. When the holy war broke out, whether it was lucky or not for those countrymen to have such a bizarre empire. After the entire imperial household of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire disappeared, all the people in the city had lost their morale. Most of them had already escaped away like that absurd emperor before the demonized puppet corps arrived at Oris.


    Those who hated Haiger VII the most were not those countrymen who had been tortured so much by that emperor and completely lost their confidence; but those ''able youths'' who had dreamed to be the emperor''s son-in-law and princes of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire at the cost of 200 gold coins or more.


    Although nobody calculated how many of those ''able youths'' were there, as diplomats of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire had made advertisement in countries across Blackson Humans Corridor, it was estimated that at least tens of thousands of people had applied for being the emperor''s son-in-law, including Zhang Tie.


    The total of the application fee of tens of thousands of people was not a small amount of money. Additionally, it was said that the registration fee was divided into different ranks. Different ranks matched different treatments. 200 gold coins were relatively affordable for those small figures who dreamed to be big figures; it was said that some application fee paid by rich clan and new startups in the Waii Sub-Continent for being the emperor''s son-in-law was as high as hundreds of thousands of gold coins, by which they could enjoy more special treatments.


    Therefore, nobody knew how much had Haiger VII actually taken away in the name of choosing his son-in-law.


    After the entire imperial households of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire disappeared, some people said that Haiger VII was the biggest liar in the history of Blackson Humans Corridor. He completed the largest-scale robbery in the history of Blackson Humans Corridor before the arrival of the holy war.


    More ''able youths'' could only reap what they had sown. According to the bilateral agreement, this time, it was truly nothing to do with Haiger VII.


    Zhang Tie also paid 200 gold coins in the embassy of Jinyun Country of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire which was like an illegal agent. He even sighed an agreement. In the beginning, he didn''t pay attention to that; however, when he took it out and read it carefully a couple of days ago, he finally found that line of words which were as tiny as ant legs in an inconspicuous place of that agreement.


    ¡ª¡ªWhen being influenced by force majeure like war and natural disasters, the Holy Golden Orchid Empire''s imperial household is entitled to extend, terminate or abandon its fulfillment of this agreement. The loss caused by such force majeure would be sustained by the applicant. The application fee will not be returned in such case. The Holy Golden Orchid Empire and its imperial household will not shoulder any responsibilities for such loss.


    ¡ª¡ªNote: the force majeure in the contract includes but not limited to those listed in the attachment. The final power of interpretation belongs to the Holy Golden Orchid Empire.


    Of course, the holy war belonged to the most powerful force majeure. Therefore, they could only be speechless.


    When he read this item, Zhang Tie became stunned. He even started to doubt whether the hilarious emperor of Haiger VII had long known that the holy war was going to break out. Therefore, he carried out such a robbery with her daughter as a bait.


    Nobody could answer this question. Because all the royals of Holy Golden Orchid Empire had disappeared. Nobody knew their whereabouts. If in peaceful times, the disappearance of all the royals of an empire would cause a great chaos for sure; however, when many countries had vanished or were vanishing and many people died everyday because of the arrival of the holy war, such an incident was just like a spray in the tsunami which would be forgotten by people in a blink of eyes.


    Zhang Tie adjusted his bird-view imaging lens and observed the situation of Oris under his feet. A lot of buildings collapsed or were destroyed in the battle fire. Not even a single alive person could be seen down there. However, Zhang Tie occasionally saw some demonized puppets wandering in the ruins. This was how the capital, the most prosperous place of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire presented in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    Since they left Jinyun Country and flew northwards, Zhang Tie started to see more similar scenes. Therefore, he became gloomy. He finally understood why those people raising boards in Yiyang City would like to leave this continent at the cost of their freedom.


    They were deeply hurt by the holy war. Their sharp pains reminded them of the most realistic pursuit of commoners in the holy war¡ª¡ªto survive themselves!


    Zhang Tie watched the land down there which was contaminated by black and grey colors like a color palette with a calm look. However, he was greatly shocked inside.


    "If the grand meeting for selecting Pandora''s husband was just a hoax, how could Haiger VII knew that the holy war would break out before the grand meeting? Haiger VII even set the time of the grand meeting before the even in Heavens Cold City. Unless he was a key figure among demons or the Three-Eye Association, he could not have such a precise judgment on the arrival of the holy war."


    "Even I didn''t have a clear judgment on the arrival of the holy war until I left Ice and Snow Wilderness, how could Haiger VII know about it so early?"


    "If Haiger VII is really a demon or a member of Three-Eye Association, what''s the role of Pandora in this event? Is she a purely innocent girl or a demon or a member of Three-Eye Association like Haiger VII? If Pandora is a demon or a member of Three-Eye Association, how would I face her?"


    Zhang Tie had a complex mood. In order to take a look at Oris, the Idiots airship flew more than a 1000 km than the planned route. After watching the ruins below, Zhang Tie knew that he didn''t need to face Pandora at least now. Not knowing why, Zhang Tie immediately let out a sigh inside.


    Even if Pandora was really a demon or a member of Three-Eye Association, Zhang Tie knew that he could barely target his weapon at Pandora, not to mention to kill her.


    "Just hand it to time!"


    Only after 20 minutes, the Idiots airship had already flown past Oris, leaving this ruined city behind.


    Zhang Tie turned his head and asked his first mate, "Are there demon beasts within hundreds of square km that usually attack airships..."


    "This route is relatively safer; however, as it is in the wild, there''re many mutated living beings and demon beasts that might attack our airship. We can easily find them if we want..."


    Zhang Tie nodded. The moment he wanted the first mate to find a nearby place for him to kill some demon beasts so as to form a similar trouble-reappearance situation for the sake of practicing glider and rotachute did he hear the early-warning bell ring...

 553 The Whip of a Fiery Flame

    Chapter 553: The Whip of a Fiery Flame


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After hearing the early-warning bell ring, all the people in the command module became spirited.


    The first mate instantly charged at a pile of dense sound-transmission pipes in the command module. He opened a sound-transmission mouth that led to observation post at the top of the airship and roared, "What''s happening?"


    "There''s a large-scale battle 20 km away from us in the 9 o''clock direction!"


    "There''s a large-scale battle 20 km away from us in the 9 o''clock direction!"


    A loud voice drifted from the sound transmission pipes for twice. Until the first mate answered, "Copy that" did it stop.


    In a split second, everybody turned around and looked at Zhang Tie. Airships such as the Idiots could choose to join such a ground combat or not. As a spontaneous ''folk armed force'' heading for Selnes Theater of Operations, nobody forced them to do something. It only depended on the captain. Only when they arrived at the Selnes Theater of Operations could their action be restricted.


    "Ring the battle alarm; prepare for attacking the ground. Turn around the airship, I will take a look down there!" Zhang Tie delivered his order immediately.


    On the 3rd day after leaving Jinyun Country, the Idiots rung its battle alarm for the first time. Soon after that, everybody in the airship became busy out of excitement. After adjusting its angle flexibly, the huge triangular-shaped body of the fury-level airship accelerated its speed right away and flew towards the battlefield in the distance.


    Zhang Tie adjusted the angle of the bird-view imaging lens in front of him and instantly captured the scene on the battlefield 20 km away¡ª¡ª


    A human troop was evacuating from a valley while the demonized puppets were chasing closely after them. A great number of women and kids were running towards the east in a flurried manner. That human army worked as the shield and the barrier for those women and kids. The human troop was safeguarding a bridge on the riverside and preventing demonized puppets from breaking through.


    The two parties were fighting fiercely nearby the bridge. Zhang Tie found some people were trying to destroy the bridge so as to hold back the demonized puppets. However, that bridge''s abutment was in the form of a steel frame, which could hardly be completely destroyed. At the same time, the human troop was forced back by demonized puppets step by step.


    There were over 10,000 human soldiers and about 30,000-40,000 demonized puppets across the battlefield. Additionally, more and more demonized puppets were rushing out of the valley. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, this was not a large-scale battle; however, it was extremely fierce. Especially when more and more demonized puppets rushed out of the valley, the human troop''s situation became critical.


    "You command the following battle. You can mobilize all the means in the airship and give a sharp blow to those demonized puppets. Destroy that bridge and let the human troop, the women and the kids leave out of there safely." Zhang Tie delivered an order to the first mate.


    "Yes, sir!" the first mate replied loudly. Closely after that, he glanced at the clock in the command module before shouting loudly, "At 14:27, on April 7th, the airship encountered a battle. The first mate took over the battle command!"


    To command the airship to join a ground combat required very senior commanding skills. One had to learn 3 years in regular military academy plus many years of practice before becoming a qualified airship commander. As Zhang Tie had not learned any airship commanding courses at the college or being taught in practice, it was indeed out of his ability to command the airship to join a battle.


    Therefore, in such a case, Zhang Tie appointed the first mate who was an experienced airship commander. Zhang Tie would decide whether they would join the battle or not while the first mate would determine how to fight with the consent of all the crew members in the airship. After all, nobody would like to put their lives in the hand of an outsider.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s role was like that of the political commissar in the human troops before the Catastrophe. Actually, Zhang Tie''s power was much greater than that of the political commissar. In other words, the first mate of the airship was more like a senior battle adviser.


    "Altitude!" the first mate roared in the command module while the whole command module entered a tense battle state.


    "2100..." a crew member standing in front of a lot of dashboards replied loudly at once.


    "How long does it take us to be close to the target?"


    "4''57''''!" another voice shouted.


    "Adjust the entrance angle; ground reference, the iron bridge on the river; entrance angle 0 degree, port the helm 20!"


    The huge fury-level airship instantly inclined as its entrance angle was adjusted.


    After a few seconds, the helmsman replied loudly, "Entrance angle adjustment completed..."


    "Dive in 30 seconds; height 400..."


    "Repeat, dive in 30 seconds; height 400..." the signal staff lightened the dive signal lamp as he shouted towards the sound transmission pipe in front of him.


    After 30 seconds, everybody in the command module seized the fixed handrails beside them, including Zhang Tie. After that, the entire airship started to dive downwards towards the ground.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt falling off from high buildings as he felt his blood boiling.


    After almost 2 minutes, the airship gradually recovered its stability.


    "Altitude 400..."


    "Bomb compartment, prepare white phosphorous gel bombs, 3 in one group, unit density 4..."


    The battle on the ground became clearer when Zhang Tie reached hundreds of meters in height. Some demonized puppets had already rushed over that bridge, forcing all the human soldiers to the other side of the bridge.


    Even though at this moment, the human troop still had not noticed such a huge airship in the air. Until the huge body of the fury-level airship caused a wide area of shadow on the ground did many human soldiers raise their heads and glance at it.


    The airship had just flown over the bridge...


    The demonized puppets were crowding on the iron bridge.


    "Release..." after the roar of the first mate, three black barrels dropped off the airship like how a hen laid. When they were over 20 m above the ground, the 3 black barrels sparkled. Closely after that, they all exploded, drawing a black fire line in the sky. The fire line slashed onto that bridge like a fire whip in the hand of the God. As a result, the entire bridge, along with the land on the riverside and the bridgehead started to burn immediately like a pot of boiling oil being lit.


    All the demonized puppets on the bridge started to burn at once. Like numerous burning torches, the bridge started to burn, including its steel frame and the land at the bridgehead.


    This whip was as long as about 100 m. It was like a flame hell which was hotter than 2000 degree Celsius.


    The airship flew over the bridge and rushed into the valley from where the demonized puppets were constantly pouring out. At the sight of the crowded demonized puppets, Zhang Tie drew in a cold breath. There were already tens of thousands of demonized puppets outside the valley. However, there were at least 70,000 to 80,000 demonized puppets left in the valley. Like a swarm of locusts which wanted to rush out of the valley to engulf people, all the demonized puppets were uttering weird sound towards the Idiots airship in the air with bloody eyes and twisted, grim looks.


    "Kill these b*stards!" Zhang Tie roared in the command module.


    "Release..."


    ...


    "Release..."


    ...


    "Release..."


    After throwing 7 groups of white phosphorous gel bombs, the entire valley started to blaze. So many demonized puppets were burned and started to wail. They wanted to die out the flames on themselves by rolling on the ground; however, they could hardly make that in such a narrow valley. Additionally, their fats and carbohydrates were burned. They just ran around which easily burned those weeds and shrubs in the valley. As a result, the entire valley was covered with rising flames.


    Demonized puppets had super great vitality. Even though they were burned, they could not turn into ashes at once. Neither would they die at once; however, all the demonized puppets lost their fighting strength immediately. In such a high temperature, their eyes were destroyed at once.


    The puppet worms occupied the brains of the demonized puppets. They had no feeling about the common physical trauma on demonized puppets; however, they had sharper sensitiveness about temperature than normal people. Therefore, they could not bear high temperature.


    After losing their visual senses, the burning demonized puppets started to collided fiercely on the bridge and in the valley. Only after a few minutes, before their bodies turned into ashes, they had already fallen on the ground and died as their heads had been well cooked. Even though they had died, their bodies were still burning.


    Many demonized puppets were forced to jump into the torrents by the high temperature and the flames. As a result, they were flushed away. It was hard to say how many of them could survive till the end.


    The human troop on the other end of the bride were also forced back about 100 m. After killing those demonized puppets who had reached this end of the bridge, everyone cheered up at the sight of the airship coming back after making a circle in the air...


    "Boom..." in the fierce flames, the steel frame turned soft. Some parts of it became liquefied iron together with its steel wires. The bridge then collapsed...


    ...

 554 The Preliminary Water-Proof Body

    Chapter 554: The Preliminary Water-Proof Body


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie was greatly shocked by the Idiots'' first attack towards the ground. The airship threw 24 white phosphorous gel bombs for 8 times, 3 in each time. While the casualty of the crew member was zero, the achievement was great as they killed at least 40,000 demonized puppets, destroyed the iron bridge and successfully protected that human troop and those women and kids.


    It also benefited from the terrain. If it was another terrain, the demonized puppets would have greater space to move; if so, the 24 white phosphorous gel bombs would not have such a great impact. However, the most important factor for the triumph of this battle was the overwhelming air domination on Zhang Tie''s side that he felt for the first time.


    If not on the real battlefield, you would never know the importance of air domination. After this experience, Zhang Tie had a clear recognition of the concept of air domination.


    What was air domination? To put it simply, I can beat you; yet you cannot beat me; I will beat you whenever I want. You cannot defend my attack at all. After beating you, I will leave; however, you cannot catch up with me. When you and your enemy were both fighting on the ground, it was a two-dimensional battle; however, when you were in the air and your enemy was on the ground, you would have an air domination.


    All the members of the Idiots became excited about such a great triumph. Since they boarded on the airship, they had determined to give a fierce blow to the demons. This battle alone had made every one of them felt it a worthwhile trip. In the words of the first mate, this battle was already fruitful for the battle airship. If it was in a troop, after such a battle, each one of them would be awarded a medal.


    Although they were not awarded medals on the Idiots, after this battle, all of them started to believe that the name "Idiots" brought luck to this airship.


    If Zhang Tie didn''t want to take a look at Oris or determined to join the ground battle, they would not have such a great achievement. Crew members of airship and boatmen were the most superstitious groups; as long as their captain could bring luck and victory to the airship, even though the captain had no idea about command, they could also gain the sincere respect from the crew members and the boatmen.


    The human soldiers on the ground were showing their respect to the airship cheerily. Someone sent light signals towards the airship by facing the shiny metal mirrors on their armors towards the sunshine.


    "Captain, the ground troop is extending their gratitude to us. They''re an infantry brigade being affiliated to the human allied forces against demons in this region. They are inquiring about our designation and want to invite us to their base!" a signal officer soon translated the signals launched from the ground and told Zhang Tie loudly.


    "Thanks for their good intention. Tell them, our airship is the private force of Huaiyuan Prefecture, Jinyun Country. We''re now heading for Selnes Theater of Operations to give a cool blow to the demons. Good luck to them!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    Soon after the light signals were launched downside, another group of signals arrived from the ground.


    "They said ''bon voyage''."


    "Let''s go!"


    After the airship made a circle above the battlefield, it left this place for the north. After this battle, Zhang Tie felt that the morale rose across the command module.


    "Captain, do you think we can have a good meal as a reward?" the first mate asked Zhang Tie.


    "Hmm, tell the cooks to make a good meal for us. Each one could have a cup of fruit wine in the evening. After the dinner is cooked well, you can just eat it. Don''t call me unless there''s something important. I will cultivate back in my room! When in an emergency, if I don''t make any response to you, that means I''ve closed my senses and could not be bothered. In that case, you can deal with that at your discretion."


    "Yes, sir!"


    After nodding to them, Zhang Tie left the command module and returned to his exclusive room. On the way back to his own room, all the crew members who met Zhang Tie showed more respect to Zhang Tie.


    The captain''s room was the most luxurious and spacious one in the airship. The entire room covered more than 30 square meters. Only this room was matched with an independent set of bathing equipment across the battle airship. Only Zhang Tie was qualified to take a bath in the airship. This was one of the captain''s privileges.


    After entering the room, Zhang Tie locked it from inside. Closely after that, he entered Castle of Black Iron.


    After 3 years, too much water was absorbed in the Pool of Chaos in Castle of Black Iron from the subterranean stream. As a result, Heller expanded the territory from less than 1 square km to almost 100 square km. When Zhang Tie entered it, he felt like entering another vast world.


    The small tree was still in the center; however, with the help of the increasing number of aura value, many woods around the small tree had been growing very high. Some woods, especially those oaks and parasols crowns were even higher than 10 m or dozens of meters in height. The tidy vineyard, cherry garden and orchards made Zhang Tie pleasant and brought Zhang Tie a sense of achievement.


    After remembering the window of basic tributes that he had not checked for a long time, Zhang Tie clicked it casually while a semi-transparent dialogue box appeared in front of his eyes.


    Castle of Black Iron:


    ¡ª¡ªLength: 13 krusa


    ¡ª¡ªWidth: 13 krusa


    ¡ª¡ªAura value: 4785189


    ¡ª¡ªMerit value: 793176


    ¡ª¡ªBasic energy storage: 8631473


    ¡ª¡ªSpecial output:


    Animal: No. 1 earthworm, No. 1 bee


    Plants: No. 1 potato, No. 1 sand buckthorn, No. 1 grape, No. 1 rice, No. 1 pumpkin, No. 1 wheat.


    Microorganism: Essential energy reiki yeast


    Zhang Tie felt that he had never been so rich before when he read the dialogue box. Besides the greatly expanded area of Castle of Black Iron and those mutated animals and plants, even the aura value and the basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron had already reached the millions.


    Starting from the essential energy reiki yeast, Zhang Tie named all the mutated living beings in the laziest way. Those living beings would be named according to the times that they had mutated; namely, those being mutated for the first time would be named as No. 1..., those being mutated for the second time would be named as No. 2...; if many sorts of mutation were completed at the same time, the living beings would be named as No. 2.1... or No. 2.2...etc.. Although such as naming method lacked aesthetics, it was very easy and clearly understandable.


    In the 3 years during which Zhang Tie fell asleep, the bee, grape, rice, pumpkin and wheat in the Castle of Black Iron had completed one round of mutation. After the mutation, these living beings were very suitable to the environment and more productive. According to Heller, the mutated ones are wholly-new living beings with better traits.


    Although these varieties were not available at the present, Zhang Tie always felt that they would play a big role in the future for sure.


    After closing the basic attributes panel of Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie walked towards the small tree. Among those fruits on the small tree, Zhang Tie indeed caught sight of the trouble-reappearance situation about the latest battle and that fruit of redemption which had been hanging there for a long time¡ª¡ªgratitude from sandscale fish.


    Zhang Tie put his hand on the fruit and was instantly startled by those words below this fruits.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Redemption¡ª¡ªgratitude from sandscale fish. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality would gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªWith this fruit, Castle Lord could improve his cold-resistance by 672% in water and chilly environment and sensitiveness to water flow by 2172%


    ¡ª¡ªThis fruit has been well ripe. With it, your cold-resistance and water flow sensitiveness would reach its upper limit by setting free sandscale fish.


    ¡ª¡ªWith this fruit, Castle Lord would increase his cold-resistance in water and the chilly environment by 20 times and water flow sensitiveness by 35 times. Some of your DNAs being related to this would be completely activated.


    ¡ª¡ªThis time, your body would promote to the preliminary water-proof body.


    ¡ª¡ªThe effects of a preliminary water-proof body are as follows:


    1. Castle Lord could move freely and have 15% more fighting strength in water; besides, you can dive 20% deeper than before.


    2. In the hypoxic environment, Castle Lord could stay 50% longer than before.


    3. The gratitude of sandscale fish brings you a nice preliminary water-proof body. As long as you don''t attack aquatic living beings below LV 9 on purpose, they would not attack you on purpose in any condition. Besides, aquatic living beings above LV 9 would be less hostile to you.


    4. With the preliminary water-proof body, the possibility for you to drive all the aquatic living beings with animal controlling skill would increase by 10%.


    Reading this message, Zhang Tie became thrilled. Closely after that, he picked off this fruit and engulfed it quickly. After digesting it in more than 2 hours, Zhang Tie could sense an obvious change in his body.


    In such a non-water environment, Zhang Tie became more sensitive to moisture in the air. Even if he closed his eyes, he could still sense the brook being not far from that small tree. What an amazing feeling!


    Besides being more sensitive to the moisture in the air, Zhang Tie also became more sensitive to the air flow beside him. After all, water and air were liquid to a certain degree. Besides being different in density, they were similar to each other on many properties. Now that Zhang Tie could have a clear sense of water flow in water, he could also have a sharp sense about airflow, even the latter sense was not more sensitive than the prior one.


    This sensitive perception about air flow was what Zhang Tie required the most.


    After tasting the effect of the preliminary water-proof body with his eyes closed, Zhang Tie opened his eyes and found that Heller had been standing in front of him.


    "Ah, Heller, when did you come here?"


    "When you were digesting that fruit of redemption, my lord!"


    Zhang Tie then asked Heller, "Can you tell me whether I will still have other fruits of redemption or not if I set free more sandscale fish after eating this fruit?"


    "Each species could only provide you a limited number of fruits of redemption, my lord. This upper limit is also the limit of some species on improving your body!" Heller added, "Although you will have no fruit of redemption but if you keep setting free sandscale fish, you could still have merit values. Additionally, the more sandscale fish you set free, the more merit values you will have and less possibility of your water-proof body being attacked by aquatic living beings above LV 9!"


    "Why?"


    "This fits the mysterious karma. It could be hardly explained. You can think of the reason why humans hate demons. It''s because demons have killed too many people and brought too many disasters to humans. Conversely, the more aquarium creatures you save and the more sandscale fish you set free, the more acceptable you will be in the eyes of those aquarium creatures!"


    Zhang Tie nodded, "Whether do I need to set free other marine organisms to promote my preliminary water-proof body to medium water-proof body?"


    "Yes, you need to set free more senior aquarium organisms to promote to the medium water-proof body. Of course, before you promote to the preliminary water-proof body, you can still gain the fruits of redemption of other living beings. Those fruits of redemption will also bring you some new abilities!"


    Zhang Tie nodded. "As my family members would soon leave Huaiyuan Prefecture with Linda, Beverly, Fiona and the other people in Jinwu Castle, I will not consider setting free other marine organisms until they settle down in Eastern Continent. Additionally, I need a chance to explain it to others. If I did it too obviously, it would arouse others'' attention. If so, I could not solve the problem with money."


    After they settled down in Eastern Continent, according to Zhang Tie''s arrangement before leaving Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie wanted Paul to help him set free golden uangs. After losing Seven-Strength Fruits, Zhang Tie had to find a method to improve his strength rapidly. Because strength was the most powerful and effective weapon for a fighter. Many times, the other abilities could only be auxiliary to one''s strength. For instance, although this preliminary water-proof body was sharp, Zhang Tie didn''t live in water. If he met a powerhouse who was many levels higher than him, he might have no chance to use this talent at all.


    Therefore, fighting strength was the most important factor for a fighter.


    Zhang Tie really expected to taste the fruit of redemption brought by golden uangs, the king of strength in the kingdom of animals.


    "After killing a squad of iron-armored demons last time, besides a trouble-reappearance fruit, I gained nothing else on the small tree." Zhang Tie immediately thought about this when he remembered about the fruit of plunder after killing that shadow demon Abyan.


    "Aww, I remember that I killed over 10 iron-armored demons last time. Why didn''t I have a fruit of plunder as a reward?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    "You could only gain the fruit of plunder from shadow demon. It''s unique!"


    "What kind of fruit can I obtain from killing other demons?"


    "Hehe, this question has already surpassed my access. Before the appearance of the fruits, I could not tell you what fruits would be born on the small tree. Because that might lead you onto a very dangerous route only for fruits at any price. We have to follow the natural law. I could only tell you that you will also get a reward by killing other demons; however, the reward has not met the condition of its manifestation!"


    "I know!" Zhang Tie nodded as he picked off the trouble-reappearance fruit and ate it. After digesting it rapidly, he left Castle of Black Iron.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie reappeared in his captain''s room, nobody in the airship realized that Zhang Tie had improved his ability after just 2 hours.


    Cheers faintly drifted from outside the door. This was the first time that Zhang Tie allowed the crew members to drink since they set off. Although each one only had a small cup of drink, the meritorious deed and the grand supper today made everyone excited.


    Zhang Tie sat back on his bed with his legs crossed. After that, he activated that trouble-reappearance situation of the fight on the airship and entered it.


    ...


    In the trouble-reappearance situation...


    Zhang Tie appeared in the command module of the airship. Looking down from the command module, Zhang Tie found that most of the dense demonized puppets had disappeared, except for a couple of demonized puppets who were watching the airship with a confused look. They wanted to attack the airship; however, they didn''t know how; therefore, they could only run here and there after the shadow of the airship.


    This trouble-reappearance situation had other meanings for Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie didn''t activate all the demonized puppets on the ground. He just activated a couple of them as his prop.


    There was nobody in the command module of the trouble-reappearance situation. Zhang Tie came to the position of the helmsman and sat down there. After that, he held the rudder of the airship and forcefully pulled it up. As a result, the huge fury-level airship which was suspending over 400 m high in the sky raised its head and shot up at once.


    In a few minutes, when the Idiots reached thousands of meters high, Zhang Tie leveled his rudder and left the command module.


    Along the direction of the command module, Zhang Tie came to the glider throwing compartment at the bottom of the airship.


    In the glider throwing compartment, a glider whose wingspan was greater than 12 m was standing on the slideway. Its spacious wings and streamlined body were full of aesthetic perception. Its body made of the same material of the airship''s air sac protective armor was firm, durable and extremely light. The exterior shape of this glider was very close to the aircraft of humans before the Catastrophe.


    After glancing at that glider, Zhang Tie opened the safe buckle of the hatch door of the glider throwing compartment. After that, he checked the connections between the glider and the slideway.


    After checking it, Zhang Tie drew in a deep breath and jumped into the cockpit of the glider rapidly. He then put on his goggles, wind-proof hat and gloves. He looked at those operating levers, pedals, buttons and bars in the cockpit as he started to recall the details of the manipulation books about the glider that he had read these couple of days. After that, he rubbed his hands.


    "Hopefully, I will not die too miserably on the first attempt!" Zhang Tie muttered as he put down an operating lever on his left hand.


    The moment he put down the operating lever did Zhang Tie feel the wild wind. After the hatch door opened, the glider slid off the airship at once...


    When the glider slid off the airship, Zhang Tie''s heart was suspended for a couple of seconds. Closely after that, he found that the glider didn''t keep descending; instead, it opened its wings after leaving the airship for over 20 m...


    Zhang Tie exclaimed in the glider, "Wooh!"


    Only after ten more minutes, the glider spiraled out of its control and started to dive towards the ground. Zhang Tie quickly undid his safe buckle as he took out a metal mushroom from the cockpit. He then forcefully pressed down a button on the metal mushroom...


    Umbrella pieces of the rotachute instantly extended in the air and drew Zhang Tie out of the descending glider...


    The first close touch between Zhang Tie, glider and the rotachute came to an end by then...


    ...


    Only after 10 minutes, Zhang Tie had descended in a glider from the throwing compartment of the Idiots once again...


    This time, Zhang Tie stood over 30 minutes in the air...


    ...


    Zhang Tie stayed two hours in the air for the 3rd time...


    ...


    In the 4th time, Zhang Tie didn''t use his rotachute any longer...


    ...


    In the 5th time, Zhang Tie started to play tricks with his glider in the air...


    This indicated the effect of the trouble-reappearance situation. Everything was completely the reappearance of that in the reality. In such a case, Zhang Tie learned how to drive a glider in only half a day.


    After constantly audacious attempts at the cost of his life and glider for a few times, Zhang Tie''s driving skills improved rapidly...


    On the 2nd day, Zhang Tie''s driving skills had almost caught up with that of professional drivers...


    On the 3rd day, Zhang Tie could already make all sorts of risky movements with his glider within 2 m of the airship.


    On the 4th day, Zhang Tie played the hide-and-seek game with a swarm of iron-beak ibises in his glider. As he drove the glider by one hand, he constantly triggered his palm bolts by another hand. With the constant sonic booms, the iron-beak ibises that were chasing after the glider turned into blood mist. It was completely a no-fly zone within 400 m of the glider...


    ...


    On the 6th day, after over one month, the Idiots finally arrived at the Selnes Theater of Operations...

 555 Military Exploits Rankings

    Chapter 555: Military Exploits Rankings


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie arrived at the Crystal Battle Fortress on April 14th. As the frontline base of Jinyun Country in Selnes Theater of Operations, the Idiots had to register here before being authorized to participate in the action in the Selnes Theater of Operations and gain the air territory access right.


    According to relevant orders in the theater of operations, the Idiots was freer than regular troops. However, it should also follow the order of the airship troop of Jinyun Country. When necessary, the military of Jinyun Country was entitled to take over the command of the Idiots.


    Without the supply and maintenance of the airship base on the ground, the airships in the air would not be sustainable. If they wanted to enjoy the ground services, of course, they had to carry the corresponding commitment and responsibilities. Although the Idiots was voluntary, its rights and obligations were on an equal footing. Zhang Tie didn''t oppose the obligations that they had to take. As Lan Yunxi was the commander of the airship troop of Jinyun Country, Zhang Tie could accept that the Idiots was under her control. He didn''t believe that Lan Yunxi would find him trouble.


    On one hand, Zhang Tie was here for Lan Yunxi; on the other hand, as a human fighter, Zhang Tie thought that he should do something for his family members, friends and many commoners.


    If the demons were resisted here for one more day, those people behind the frontline would have one more day to evacuate. If some more demons were killed here, fewer people would die in the future.


    This was each human fighter''s sacred mission and responsibility.


    Additionally, because of the relationship between Zhang Tie and Ice and Snow Wilderness, Zhang Tie knew that he had to fight demons in Waii Sub-Continent to the death. He''d better face demons himself and be familiar with the battle with demons instead of being waiting for demons to arrive at Ice and Snow Wilderness. In such a battle, he could gain more marvelous fruits and grow powerful quickly.


    Each people were doomed to face holy war. As a human, he had no other choice but to face demons dauntlessly.


    Selnes Theater of Operations was filled with the smoke of white phosphorous gel bombs. The moment Zhang Tie got off the airship and landed on the airship base did he realize that he was surrounded by others.


    A lot of ground crew members were discussing about the Idiots. They were curious about the name and the status of Idiots.


    "Is that you?" seeing Zhang Tie getting off the airship, a young Chinese military officer ranked major became stunned, "You came back?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t know his name; however, he had an impression on him in the command module of Lan Yunxi''s airship one month ago. This guy was also one of the pursuers of Lan Yunxi. "I don''t care which clan do you belong to. Now that you dare to content with me for Lan Yunxi, I will put you under my feet this time."


    "Of course it''s me!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "I wonder how many wing demons have you killed over the past month?"


    "More or less. Some killed over 10, I also killed 3!" that major watched Zhang Tie with a smile, "It''s nice to see you back. If you didn''t come back, we would not know who''s the final winner. If you cannot kill even one wing demon, we''ll have to repeat the scene like before. That would be boring!"


    "Over 10? That''s not bad!" Zhang Tie smacked his lips, "I wonder how do you count, senior brother apprentice? What if someone registered more than he had killed?"


    "It'' simple. Each of us has prepared for an agreement on the vow of soul and bloodline. After signing that agreement, if someone told a lie, he would suffer from being engulfed himself!"


    "The agreement on the vow of soul and bloodline?" Zhang Tie became slightly shocked. When he attended the survival training in the wildwolf valley at the beginning, he even used this to frighten others. Actually, Zhang Tie didn''t even have a chance to see the real agreement on the vow of soul and bloodline by now. On the other hand, Zhang Tie also sighed with emotions inside, "What elites from the six big clans of Jinyun Country! They dared to use the agreement on the vow of soul and bloodline for this bet. There are so many people who want to pursue Lan Yunxi. Does it mean that each of them has to consume at least one piece of the agreement on vow of soul and bloodline?"


    "Senior brother apprentice, can you tell me where did you get the agreement on the vow of soul and bloodline from?" Zhang Tie asked modestly.


    That major replied with a faint smile, "Don''t you know that as long as the youth elites of the 6 big clans in the Crystal Battle Fortress are above LV 9, they can ask for a piece of agreement on vow of soul and bloodline from the Lan elder in the Crystal Battle Fortress and join the elites military exploits ranking in the fortress."


    Zhang Tie was shocked inside as he instinctively felt that something had been out of his expectation. In the beginning, he was just making a bet with those guys who wanted to pursue Lan Yunxi, it was out of his imagination that even the clan elder in the Crystal Battle Fortress was involved in.


    Actually, Zhang Tie didn''t know that the bet between him and those people had been spread across the Crystal Battle Fortress since he left there. Once being focused by too many people, many things would change in nature and meaning.


    After that bet was known by too many people and the Lan elder touched those people of the big clans in Jinyun Country, the bet turned into a wrestle on ranking between young elites at the Selnes Theater of Operations. All the clan rulers would like to have their young elites contend with those of other clans.


    Additionally, such a match on military exploits could easily trigger their moral and braveness. Therefore, under the acquiescence of the clan rulers and the push of someone, the bet had turned into a wrestle between young elites of the 6 clans at Selnes Theatre of Operations. Besides those guys that Zhang Tie met in the command module, more people joined it. As a result, this match carried a special meaning.


    The strong ones would always be stronger. Those with excellent performance in this match, as long as they survived to the end, would definitely be the pillar of each clan and represent the top fighting strength and ability among the younger generation of each clan. Therefore, this wrestle caught the attention of many people as it faintly seemed like a rehearsal of the ranking of the 6 clans in Jinyun Country in the future.


    Under such a background, it''s too easy for the 6 clans to fetch some pieces of agreements on the vow of soul and bloodline in order to authenticate whether someone was telling a lie or not.


    At this moment, nobody talked about that bet anymore; however, all the attendants bore it deep in mind. Within 3 months, those whose rankings were below Zhang Tie would feel embarrassed to appear in front of Lan Yunxi anymore.


    In the Crystal Battle Fortress composed of 6 battle fortresses, Zhang Tie caught sight of an over 10-m high steel frame, on the top of which were three words welded by steel¡ª¡ªMilitary Exploits Rankings.


    Names and military exploits were below the Military Exploits Rankings. Names were written on iron plates, which were inserted in the grooves of the steel frame and could be easily taken out of there. On the left of the grooves were the rankings of military exploits from high to low.


    Behind those names were four figures. The first figure was that person''s level; the second figure was the number of enemies that he had killed in the air; the third figure was the number of enemies that he had killed on the ground; the fourth figure was the total scores.


    There was a notice board on scoring rules on one side. A LV 9 iron-armored demon counted 1 point; a LV 9 wing demon counted 6 points; with one level higher, the score would rise by 5 times; namely, a LV 10 iron-armored demon counted 5 points while a LV 10 wing demon counted 30 points and so on.


    From this rankings, Zhang Tie could see how tricky was wing demons and humans'' hatred towards wing demons. It was definitely more difficult to kill a LV 9 wing demon than a LV 10 iron-armored demon.


    The Military Exploits Rankings were full of wildness and bloody smell. Undoubtedly, Lan Yunxi ranked first. After a glance, Zhang Tie knew that Lan Yunxi had killed 23 wing demons in the past one month and gained 186 points. From her score, Zhang Tie knew that she had killed 2 LV 10 wing demons and 21 LV 9 wing demons.


    The one closely below Lan Yunxi was called Ou Hongmeng, whom Zhang Tie had not heard of before. That guy killed 18 wing demons and gained 132 points.


    The one on the 3rd place called Shi Zhongyu, who gained 112 points in total.


    The one on the 4th place was very familiar to Zhang Tie, Zhang Wumu. He didn''t kill any wing demon; however, he killed 87 iron-armored demons and gained 107 points.


    Dantai Yuya and Wang Hu, whom Zhang Tie met in the command module one month ago were also in top 100, however, their ranks were both below 30.


    Senior brother apprentice Liu Xi, whom Zhang Tie was familiar with was also on the top 100. He ranked 98th, 11 points in total.

 556 Signing the Agreemen

    Chapter 556: Signing the Agreement


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    According to the ranking rules, if two people had the same points, the one with the lower level would have a prior rank; if they had the same level, the one who gained the military exploits first would have a prior rank.


    Although more than 100 people had joined this match, only top 100 were qualified to appear on the Military Exploits Rankings as the most attractive ones among the younger generation of Jinyun Country.


    The points on the Military Exploits Rankings made many people''s blood boiled. This was indeed inspiring and hopeful. However, Zhang Tie knew that very few countries and battle fortresses were qualified to have such a Military Exploits Rankings across the Selnes Theater of Operations.


    Even if the top elites of the younger generation of the 6 big clans of Jinyun Country whose fighting strength were the best in the Waii Sub-Continent could only have such military exploits, those troops of other countries and those alleged elites could hardly achieve such military exploits.


    Additionally, it was impossible to gain such military exploits at no cost.


    When Zhang Tie watched the Military Exploits Rankings, two soldiers walked towards him. They climbed on the steel frame and drew out of an iron plate on the 67th place. After that, they raised one place for all the iron plates below it by rocking the chains on the steel frame.


    "What''s happening?" Zhang Tie asked the two soldiers.


    The two soldiers glanced at Zhang Tie gloomily before replying, "This man has died. He was sent here last night with heavy wounds and in the end, he passed away!"


    When the two soldiers climbed off the steel frame, one of them took out an iron plate with a wholly-new name and put it in the vacancy on the 100th place at the bottom of the Military Exploits Rankings.


    That major who took Zhang Tie in also sighed silently, "Let''s go, I will take you to the Lan elder!"


    ...


    In the room on the highest floor of the Lan''s battle fortress, Zhang Tie met the Lan elder.


    The room was filled with a very comfortable sandalwood flavor. Zhang Tie looked at the furnishings in the room and found that the flavor was coming from the Lan elder. He then became slightly shocked. Zhang Tie could identify that the flavor was not from the perfumed satchel or the spice that Lan elder carried but from his body. Zhang Tie didn''t know what this flavor indicated; however, he knew it was special.


    As an elder of the 6 big clans, this Lan elder was at least a knight. However, Zhang Tie didn''t feel being overwhelmed like how he felt in front of the elders of Huaiyuan Palace; instead, he felt being relaxed.


    Zhang Tie knew that it was a special feeling; however, he could not control it. He could not even be alert in front of the elder, not to mention to fight him.


    Zhang Tie was shocked inside...


    "Is this the power of a knight? It''s so weird. It could influence one''s mentality unconsciously."


    "Lan elder, I''m Zhang Tie from Huaiyuan Palace!" Zhang Tie showed his courtesy to this terrifying man in the Crystal Battle Fortress.


    "You''re Zhang Tie?" the Lan elder, who had a grizzled mustache and fine, smooth face like that of a baby, glanced at Zhang Tie as he asked faintly. Zhang Tie could not identify his real age.


    Zhang Tie nodded. It seemed that this elder had already heard about him.


    "It''s so weird. Given your qi, you''ve already entered LV 9 for a few days, why don''t you make any progress?" Lan elder slightly frowned.


    Having not expected that his current situation was identified by the elder at once, Zhang Tie slightly swallowed his saliva as he looked a bit embarrassed, "Hmm, when I promoted to LV 9, I was cultivating outside Jinyun Country. Therefore, I had no time to learn how to cultivate after LV 9. After returning to Huaiyuan Prefecture, I exited Hidden Dragon Palace due to some reason. Therefore, I''ve not learned how to cultivate after LV 9. That''s why I could only join the battle here in the status of a volunteer..."


    "Aww!" Lan elder glanced at Zhang Tie; however, he didn''t ask Zhang Tie why he exited Hidden Dragon Palace; instead, he asked after a few seconds, "Do you also want to enter the Military Exploits Rankings?"


    "It''s caused by me. As my senior brother apprentices are fighting demons bravely in the theater of operations, how could I hide behind the back!"


    Lan elder nodded. He seemed being satisfied with Zhang Tie''s reply. After that, he waved his hand towards a person and have him bring an agreement of vow on soul and bloodline.


    This was Zhang Tie''s first time to see the agreement of vow on soul and bloodline. It was made of a special leather with complex grains and dun oath on the vow of soul and bloodline written by fresh blood.


    Before arriving here, Zhang Tie had been told how to use it. Therefore, after taking over the agreement, he instantly opened a wound on his finger with a dagger and wrote down his name with his fresh blood. After that, he pressed the agreement by his hand and started to vow.


    "I, Zhang Tie, swear with my soul and bloodline. From now on, I will honestly report my military exploits in Selnes Theater of Operations. I will never fabricate my military exploits. If I hid something or told a lie, I would like to accept the punishment of the vow of soul and bloodline!"


    After reading the oath, Zhang Tie felt an exotic spiritual energy entering in his body from the agreement in his hand, slightly shocking the swirl of spiritual energy in his mind.


    Before the Catastrophe, humans had already mastered very hi-tech lie-detecting means. Although Zhang Tie didn''t know about the principle of the agreement of vow on soul and bloodline, he felt it was very marvelous.


    "Is that okay?"


    "Okay!" Lan elder nodded.


    "May I know the result of telling a lie?"


    "Of course you will be weakened by the force of agreement of vow on soul and bloodline. Although you would not lose your life, you would feel worse than losing your life. Your face would turn pitch dark. Meanwhile, you would smell stinky. This phenomenon would last for many years. Therefore, young man, you''d better not try it. Unless you''re already above LV 14, you''re affected by the power of this agreement."


    "Thanks, Lan elder!"


    "You''re welcome. Work hard. Selnes Theater of Operations is a furnace. Young men who could show his value in this furnace will have a bright future. Each of the 6 big clans in Jinyun Country has presented some nice items. Those young men in top 18 of the Military Exploits Rankings might gain one or several of them. Try your best for that!" Lan elder waved his hand, allowing Zhang Tie to leave...


    ...


    After walking out of the Lan elder''s room, Zhang Tie was still a bit thrilled. He had not imagined that those with good performance could be rewarded with some items from the 6 big clans. Needless to say, the items gifted by the 6 big clans were good items for sure.


    "No matter what, I have to push in at least top 18. I will get one gift at least!" Zhang Tie became spirited.


    There was a registration desk about military exploits below the Lan''s battle fortress. Those young men who had signed the agreement of the vow on soul and bloodline could report their military exploits here at any time. After that, the personnel in the military exploits registration center would adjust the rankings according to the performance of those young fighters.


    When Zhang Tie came out of the Lan''s battle fortress, he saw some guys registering there.


    ...


    "Wang Sheng, two LV 9 iron-armored demons, 2 points..."


    "Lan Yunguang, one LV 9 iron-armored demon, 1 point..."


    "Dantai Qingqing, one LV 9 wing demon, one LV 10 iron-armored demon, four LV 9 iron-armored demons, 15 points..."


    After hearing that a woman killed a wing demon, Zhang Tie turned around and watched those people, one of them felt being gazed. When she turned around and saw Zhang Tie at the same time.


    That woman was over 20 years old. She was tall with long legs, raised butts and bloody hair. She might have used disguising medicament on her hair. Feeling a bit rebellious, she wore a brilliant black armor and carried two wheel-shaped weapons. She had plump and smooth lips. There was even a beauty mark [1] below her lower lip. What a beautiful, sexy woman! However, her eyes corners looked a bit terrifying as it looked like a thorny rose.


    That woman started to glance at Zhang Tie''s militiaman''s uniform from his head to toe. After that, she turned back.


    "Zhang Tie?" one guy glanced at Zhang Tie as he instantly frowned.


    "Senior brother Ou, what a coincidence! I met you again!" Zhang Tie greeted with a smile.


    "Haha, what a coincidence!" Ou Hongyu frowned and then relieved at once as he walked towards Zhang Tie, "Junior brother apprentice Zhang Tie, since you left the Crystal Battle Fortress that day, I thought you''d not dare to come back after you returned to Huaiyuan Prefecture!"


    Seeing Ou Hongyu greeting Zhang Tie, the other people also walked towards here.


    Of course, Zhang Tie could identify that Ou Hongyu was satirizing him. As he was screwed up by Zhang Tie in the command module of Lan Yunxi''s airship, Zhang Tie didn''t believe that Ou Hongyu didn''t hate him...

 557 The Final Preparation

    Chapter 557: The Final Preparation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Seeing Ou Hongyu walking towards him, Zhang Tie could feel his hatred. The animosity was doomed to form between them.


    "F*ck" Zhang Tie swore inside, "Who let you be a disgusting poser by ruining my image? You deserve that!" Zhang Tie never really care about such an enemy. "This father will accompany you to play whatever you want."


    "Haha...even now senior brother apprentice Ou was desiring for cleaning demons for the sake of the benefit of the homeland, how could this junior brother apprentice hide behind the back of the theater of operations?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Ou Hongyu''s eyes corners twitched as he frowned immediately. However, it was not good for him to lose his dignity in such a battle. Therefore, Ou Hongyu recovered his composure. He even revealed a smile like Zhang Tie was really praising him, "Thanks, thanks, that''s how heroes should act! At this moment, all the senior brothers and sisters in the theater of operations were doing better than me. As for you, junior brother apprentice, how many wing demons have you killed after you disappear one month?"


    "Not yet!"


    "What about iron-armored demons?"


    "Not yet!"


    Ou Hongyu then smiled as he started to introduce Zhang Tie to those beside him, "This is the junior brother apprentice of senior sister apprentice Lan Yunxi. He made a bet with us at the beginning; however, after one month, junior brother Zhang still have not gained a point at all except for returning to Huaiyuan Prefecture!"


    After hearing Ou Hongyu''s introduction, although those beside him didn''t say anything, they had already revealed an obvious disdainful look.


    Zhang Tie looked as calm as before. He just replied with a smile, "There''re two months left."


    "Hahaha..." Ou Hongyu burst out into laughter, "It seems that junior brother apprentice Zhang Tie is very confident. If so, I will congratulate you to have a good achievement as soon as possible. Oh, I forgot when you joined the militia of Jinyun Country. This uniform is too eye-catching in the Crystal Battle Fortress. Junior brother apprentice Zhang Tie''s behavior is really amazing!"


    Ou Hongyu meant nothing but that Zhang Tie was currying favor by claptrap. It was indeed a bit exaggerating for one coming from Hidden Dragon Palace to be a militia. That would be a great waste! Therefore, Ou Hongyu knew that Zhang Tie put on the militia''s uniform himself instead of being forced by the ruler of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Zhang Tie shrugged, "Senior brother apprentice Ou, you''re still that talkative. But the contest between men finally relies on fighting strength and power, instead of eloquence, am I right? It''s meaningless for us to argue about that. Let''s just match on the Military Exploits Rankings. I hope to see your name in top 18, senior brother apprentice Ou."


    Ou Hongyu was chocked at once. Zhang Tie then directly left...


    The woman called Dantai Qingqing gazed at Zhang Tie''s back with glittering eyes.


    ...


    "What''s this guy''s level?" one person beside Ou Honyu asked after Zhang Tie left.


    "Zhang Tie, LV 9..." the one replied was not Ou Hongyu, but from the Military Exploits Registration Center on one side. They turned around and found a second lieutenant was taking out an iron plate and reading it while he painted Zhang Tie''s name and level on the iron plate tidily. It seemed that Zhang Tie had just completed his official registration.


    "F*ck, I thought he was at least a battle master. He''s too presumptuous!"


    "If a LV 9 guy really wants to join the demon-killing squad, he could at most survive 2 months in the battlefield!" another person ridiculed as he didn''t believe in that a LV 9 guy could play any trick in the Crystal Battle Fortress with so many powerhouses. In other places, a LV 9 fighter was qualified to be arrogant; however, in the Crystal Battle Fortress, it was...


    "Lan Yunxi''s junior brother apprentice looks fresh and tender!" Dantai Qingqing uttered which shocked all the men at once, "Fresh and tender? what does this woman want?"


    "Qingqing, you''re wrong!" Ou Hongyu forced a smile, "This guy had already over 50 lovers at the age of 16, four years ago. He''s the Love Affairs Number One in Hidden Dragon Palace!"


    "Ah, 16 years old 4 years ago? He is 20 years old now?" Dantai Qingqing blinked her eyes.


    "Nice!"


    "Ah, not only fresh and tender, he''s also good at skin maintenance. He still looks like 16 years old..." Dantai(Surname) Qingqing(given name) exclaimed out of excitement.


    After hearing her words, all the men cried loudly inside, "Elder sister, we''re also not old. We''re just a bit elder than 20..."


    ...


    After completing a series of procedures of registration for the Idiots in the Crystal Battle Fortress, Zhang Tie received a flight chart in Selnes Theater of Operations. After that, he left the Crystal Battle Fortress. Based on Zhang Tie''s current status as a nongovernmental volunteer, he could not even have a room in the Crystal Battle Fortress. He had to sleep in the airship Idiots.


    When he returned to the airship base, it was almost dusk, Zhang Tie saw a first lieutenant who was responsible for ground service was talking with the first mate of the Idiots at the hatch door of the airship. The crew members were transporting various supplies into the airship by drawing hydraulic trailers.


    "You can supplement anthracite, water, food and those common weapons in the airship base of the Crystal Battle Fortress; however, as we have to keep the supply of white phosphorous gel bombs for regular troops, we could not provide it for you!"


    "Without white phosphorous gel bombs, this airship''s effect in the sky would decline by 1/3. We''re striving for killing demons here. Do you want us to fight demons with empty hands or are you letting us be the target of demons? the first mate urged out of fury, "Or you want us to get its supply back in Jinyun Country?"


    "I''m so sorry, the supply of white phosphorous gel bombs across the Selnes Theater of Operations are short. Each white phosphorous gel bomb is worth over 200 gold coins. In order to ensure the effectiveness of such a valuable military material, we cannot afford to supply you such military materials!"


    After hearing this reply, the first mate shouted like being insulted, "Our crew members are all experienced. On the way here, we''ve killed tens of thousands of demonized puppets in the Holy Golden Orchid Empire with 24 white phosphorous gel bombs. Isn''t it a good example for our high-efficient use of white phosphorous gel bomb?"


    After hearing this, the first lieutenant didn''t say anything; his look was just labeled with one word, "Liar". Killing tens of thousands of demonized puppets with 24 gel bombs? Such a military exploit was fruitful even in the Selnes Theater of Operations. Few airships could make that. How could he believe that an airship manipulated by volunteers could gain such remarkable military exploits so easily?


    The first mate''s face turned red. He wanted to say something. However, Zhang Tie walked over there and slightly patted his shoulder.


    "Captain..."


    "Well, it''s okay. I''ve heard that!" Zhang Tie comforted the first mate as he patted the first mate''s shoulder. After that, he told that first lieutenant, "I''m very glad for everything that you''ve provided for the Idiots. Hard work, ground service brothers. The Idiots will not let you work in vain!"


    The first lieutenant gave a solemn salute to Zhang Tie. After that, he nodded towards Zhang Tie and left.


    "That''s too excessive!" the first mate still grumbled.


    "It''s okay. Check the supply of the airship. You''ve been working so hard these days. Have a good rest tonight. We will show them our value tomorrow!"


    The first mate nodded.


    "How many white phosphorous gel bombs are left in our airship? I remember that we have more than 300 white phosphorous gel bombs before we set off, which was many times more than that in other fury-level airship. How did we use them up so quickly?"


    The first mate scratched his head bashfully. After the first mate left far away, he told Zhang Tie with a cunning smile, "Erm...we didn''t use them up. But there''s an old Chinese saying that crying babies could always have breast milk. I was just thinking whether can we gain supply here after using up the white phosphorous gel bombs."


    Zhang Tie replied with a weird smile.


    ...


    Lan Yunxi left the Crystal Battle Fortress with her airship troop a couple of days ago. This time, the airship troop from Jinyun Country under her leadership would coordinate with the left wing corps in Selnes Theater of Operations to complete a large-scale ground military action. It was estimated that she would not come back in 10-15 days. After acknowledging this situation, Zhang Tie didn''t plan to wait in Crystal Battle Fortress; instead, he prepared to have a try with the Idiots on the battlefield tomorrow.


    Big airship troop had their special mode of operations while a single airship had its own mode of operations. The former chose to charge at the enemy together while the latter chose to fight like guerrillas. As long as they could eliminate the demons and constantly decrease the number of regular demon corps, they could choose their mode of operations for free.


    Back in the airship, Zhang Tie entered the trouble-reappearance situations where he challenged the shadow demon backroom for three times, crashed the squad of iron-armored demons on the railway for two times and played difficult flight movements for two hours by glider. Finally, he exited the trouble-reappearance situations.


    Ou Hongyu could never believe what tortures Zhang Tie had experienced in the period between supper and sleeping time. Through such a constant cultivation, Zhang Tie''s fighting strength and skills gradually improved.


    After exiting the trouble-reappearance situations, Zhang Tie visualized mental arithmetic for an hour so as to supplement his spiritual energy. After that, he recited the Great Wilderness Sutra for over 20,000 times, amounting the times of the Great Wilderness Sutra to 670,000. After doing this, he went to bed...


    The next morning at 10 am, the Idiots set off from the airship base of the Crystal Battle Fortress and headed for the northern region of Selnes which was under the control of demons...


    ...

 558 Flying Like an Eagle

    Chapter 558: Flying Like an Eagle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The Idiots left the airship base of Crystal Battle Fortress in the bright and warm sunshine and kept going up. Only after 10 minutes, when the airship base became as tiny as an ant, the Idiots had already reached 7000 m high in the air. Additionally, it was over 50 km away from the airship base of Crystal Battle Fortress.


    It meant that they had already entered the war zone of Selnes Theater of Operations and might encounter wing demons at any time. All the crew members of the Idiots were ready for the coming battle.


    This height almost reached the maximal suspension height of 8,000 m of fury-level airships. From here, they could clearly see the exposed black coal mining area on Selnes Plain and the constant human defense line composed of trenches and battle fortresses.


    The entire underground space of Selnes Plain was full of high-quality anthracite. The allied human forces chose this place as the first defense line against the demon corps. Besides, the terrain here was adaptable to the extension of mechanized human troops, what counted most was that the logistics of human corps faced the minimal stress here.


    Wherever it was in the Selnes Plain, as long as you dug the ground, you would get high-quality anthracite, which could constantly provide a driving force for human battle fortresses, tanks, vehicles even airships.


    Looking at the scarred black coal mining area over the plain, Zhang Tie instantly understood the intention of the headquarters of allied human forces. Height indeed determined one''s vision.


    However, at this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t want to talk about national affairs; instead, he was making the final preparation for this battle.


    "After I leave here, keep the Idiots hovering in this area..." after sending the order, Zhang Tie drew a circle on the air map in the command module. It was a fan-shaped area 50-100 km in the north of the Crystal Battle Fortress. "If you encounter wing demons and could not resist their attack, I allow you to retreat towards the Crystal Battle Fortress. If I don''t come back in 48 hours, you can retreat to the Crystal Battle Fortress; if you do not see me in two weeks, it means that something must have happened to me. You can decide whether to stay here or not by then. Additionally, you should hand the Idiots to the airship troop of Jinyun Country and have it continue to serve on the battlefield!"


    Before it set off officially, Zhang Tie had to tell the crew members how to respond to various emergencies. As the situation on the battlefield varied every single second. Even a knight might encounter emergencies in Selnes Theater of Operations, not to mention Zhang Tie, a LV 9 fighter.


    After hearing to Zhang Tie like he was telling his last words, all the crew members in the command module exchanged glances with each other before focusing on the first mate. After Zhang Tie left the airship by glider, the first mate commanded the airship on behalf of Zhang Tie.


    The first mate watched Zhang Tie with an admirable and solemn look. Each crew member knew clearly what a high risk would Zhang Tie face by driving a glider in the Selnes Theater of Operations. It could be said that anyone who dared to drive a glider in Selnes Theater of Operations was like a member of dare-to-die corps. Even though they had just stayed in the Selnes Theater of Operations for one day, they had heard the nickname of the glider drivers in this theatre of operations¡ª¡ªAir Vanguard.


    This arm of services was known with the highest mortality. Its mortality was even greater than the vanguards in the corps on the ground. It was said that the drivers of gliders were selected by drawing lots in the airship troops across the theater of operations.


    Nobody expected that Zhang Tie would drive a glider to kill wing demons. Therefore, they all had complex moods. Some crew members didn''t believe that Zhang Tie would do that even now. To fight wing demons by glider? Even lunatic dared not think in this way. However, the captain of the Idiots would like to do such a crazy thing at once.


    Nobody knew whether Zhang Tie was a lunatic or an idiot...


    "Captain, before doing this, I suggest you fix your fly zone!" under the gaze of everyone, the first mate drew a triangular area outside the cruising area of the Idiots after thinking for a while and suggested on behalf of all the crew members, "If you can fly in this area, the Idiots could coordinate with you. This would be the safest way!"


    Zhang Tie smiled, "I know. But you should know that the best protection for a bird is the sky, not the nestle. I''m very confident about driving the glider and my fighting strength. Even if some emergency comes up, I believe that I can still go back to Crystal Battle Fortress safe and sound. You don''t need to worry about me. What the Idiots should do is to survive itself in the wind and rain like a nestle. Don''t be blown off from the tree. I wish to see you when I come back. I hope you can still send me in the air when I want to give another blow to the demons! This is my nestle in Selnes Theater of Operations, am I clear?"


    "Clear!" the first mate took a deep breath, "Nobody would let you down in the Idiots!"


    "Hmm, good luck to me!" Zhang Tie revealed with a big smile...


    ...


    After a few minutes, all the available people in the Idiots had come to the glider throwing compartment at the bottom of the airship. After checking the glider very carefully, they let Zhang Tie sit in. Zhang Tie put on his flight suit under the sophisticated look of the crew members. After that, he sat in the cockpit of the glider and nodded towards the crew members. At the same time, he erected his thumb towards them.


    "Open the hatch door!"


    After receiving the order of the first mate, some crew members quickly opened the hatch door.


    When the hatch door was opened, a strong wind blew in. Zhang Tie just nodded towards those crew members before immediately ejecting out of the Idiots along the lead rail.


    "Salute..." the first mate roared as all the crew members gave a salute to Zhang Tie.


    ...


    When the glider ejected out of the airship, Zhang Tie felt returning to the ocean like a fish. The glider was like a javelin being thrown towards the water from the airship. The moment the glider left the airship, its moving speed had reached 150 km/h.


    In only a few seconds, Zhang Tie felt the glider was like a fish in the ocean current as he stepped down the left pedal. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie pressed down the elevator by hand. Closely after that, the glider flew towards left as agile as a sea swallow. After flying hundreds of meters, Zhang Tie felt an ascending thermal current. He stepped down the right pedal and lifted the driving handle. The entire glider then started to rise in the thermal current. Under the amazing gaze of all the crew members of the Idiots, Zhang Tie drew a cool letter "U" around the airship. Finally, he reached above the air sacs of the airship and flew northward...


    "How can he cut into the thermal current so fast and do such a cool movement?" A crew member watched Zhang Tie driving his glider around the airship while widely opening his mouth. Under Zhang Tie''s manipulation, everyone in the throwing compartment felt that Zhang Tie was like a skilled racing driver who was driving a super sports car and moving swiftly on the highway around the heavy truck "fury-level" airship.


    "Erm, it might be a coincidence..." another one muttered.


    The glider could be easily manipulated. For each crew member on the airship, it was like how a sailor drove a rubber dinghy. Each crew member knew how to drive a glider. Actually, everyone would know how to drive a glider by following this rule¡ª¡ªthe driving handle in the cockpit was used to ascend and descend while the pedals were used to control directions.


    When you pulled back the driving handle, the elevator of the airship would wave upwards, causing the head of the glider incline upwards. When you pushed forward the driving handle, the elevator would wave downwards, causing the head of the glider incline downwards. When you pressed down the left pedal, the rudder would wave towards the left, causing the head of the glider incline towards left. When you pressed down the left pedal, the rudder would wave towards the right, causing the head of the glider incline towards the right. Even a kid could master the driving skills, not to mention adults.


    However, it was also very difficult to manipulate the glider. As the driver could hardly judge the sorts of airflow and use them such as topographic dynamic updraft, cyclotron updraft, wave-sized updraft and heating power updraft which provided a driving force for the glider. Whether a driver could use these sorts of airflow was the only standard on whether he was qualified to drive a glider.


    Those kinds of airflow were invisible. They could only be judged by one''s practical experience and feeling. Therefore, one might only need 10 minutes to drive a glider; however, it might take him at least 10 years to combine his driving intention with those sorts of airflow.


    Whether a person could apply airflow properly was the only standard of his driving ability. In front of this standard, the difference between a newbie and a powerhouse was like that between a LV 0 soldier and a LV 10 strong fighter.


    In this age, people usually used four data to measure one''s driving skill on the glider, namely the longest air-staying time, the greatest flight distance, the recorded ascended height and the average speed of triangular routes.


    In front of the above 4 data, the difference between a newbie and a powerhouse became remarkable.


    The 4 data of a newbie was as follows: the longest air-staying time was about half an hour; the greatest flight distance was within 40 km; the recorded ascended height was lower than 1000 m while the average speed of triangular routes was below 50 km/h.


    Under the same driving conditions, if a glider was like a sparrow in the hand of a newbie, it would be an arrogant eagle in the hand of a top powerhouse.


    The 4 data of a top powerhouse was as follows: the longest air-staying time was over 70 hours; the greatest flight distance was over 2000 km; the recorded ascended height was over 15000 m while the average speed of triangular routes was above 220 km/h.


    "Captain''s glider has reached higher than 300 km/h..." a voice drifted from the observation post above the airship through the sound-transmission pipe when everyone in the throwing compartment was still tasting that cool "U-shaped" roll. After hearing this, all the crew members in the throwing compartment became stunned once again.


    "It''s too fast. How can it reach such a high speed in such a short period..." the first mate muttered.


    Nobody could reply...


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what impression had he left on the crew members in such a short period. He didn''t feel that he had done something too special as he was just flying according to his feeling.


    Zhang Tie found the airflow was like the currents in the ocean. With the preliminary water-proof body, Zhang Tie was very sensitive to both the waterflow and airflow.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know why. Perhaps it was because the waterflow and airflow were both fluids or perhaps it was because of the moisture in airflow. Undoubtedly, Zhang Tie felt same in both the waterflow and airflow.


    This feeling didn''t come from the sense of touch of his skin or body, but from the natural extension of his spiritual energy outside his body.


    There was a moment when Zhang Tie almost thought that he was not driving a glider in the air but in the familiar ocean. Although he could not control the glider as agile as controlling his body, Zhang Tie indeed felt like following his heart by driving the glider. There were many similarities between flying in the airflow and flying in the ocean currents. Zhang Tie could think through many experiences and laws.


    In the ocean, Zhang Tie reached his maximal speed not by moving along the ocean current but rapidly moving in the swirls and undulating places, by which he could gain more power. He could also constantly change his directions among different ocean currents in snake-shaped routes and swiftly cut into another ocean current from one current. In this way, he could reach a super fast speed.


    Zhang Tie found that it was similar in the sky. Even the shapes of the ocean currents were similar to the that of thermal currents in the sky. Ocean currents swirled; similarly, thermal currents in the sky were like bubbles. They both existed and flew in the circular state.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how did others distinguish powerhouses and newbies. However, he felt that as long as he wished, he could stay very long and fly very far in the sky like he was in the ocean.


    After leaving the Idiots for a short while, Zhang Tie descended his height and speed. He kept the glider at about 3,000 m and its speed as same as the Idiots. After that, he flew towards the north. He could see ruined villages on the Selnes Plain; sometimes, he could see the wreckage of large-scale airships.


    Only after half an hour, Zhang Tie caught sight of some black spots in the distance. The black spots also noticed Zhang Tie as they instantly accelerated towards Zhang Tie...

 559 The Wing Demon Buster

    Chapter 559: The Wing Demon Buster


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Seeing the black spots drawing closer to him in a manner which was completely different than that of gliders, Zhang Tie knew that they were wing demons.


    If it was another driver of the glider, at the sight of those wing demons, he would instantly turn around and escape. However, Zhang Tie was different. He didn''t escape; instead, he sped up towards those black spots.


    In a few minutes, Zhang Tie had seen clearly those wing demons.


    They were three humanoid bats, who were similar to the legendary vampires. However, being different from vampire whose look had been beautified, besides having a pair of huge wings, wing demons looked lean all over. They had long limbs and a bat''s head. With a green face and grim fangs, they looked pretty terrifying.


    As it was Zhang Tie''s first time to fight this kind of living beings, he was not sure that he could kill them. In order to ensure that he could give a severe blow to them, Zhang Tie played a trick. After flying for a while, Zhang Tie felt an ascending thermal current. Therefore, he cut into the ascending thermal current and kept ascending rapidly with the strength of the thermal current.


    The three wing demons thought that Zhang Tie was going to escape; therefore, they followed after Zhang Tie.


    Wing demons could fly very fast. A LV 9 wing demon could reach 7,000 to 8,000 m in the sky while their speed could reach more than 200 km/h. Average airships and gliders could hardly escape from wing demons.


    After ascending by about 1,000 m, the three wing demons separated. It seemed that they wanted to outflank Zhang Tie. The distance between them and Zhang Tie was also gradually narrowed.


    Zhang Tie sneered. With one hand on the driving handle, he took out of a palm bolt from the cockpit of the glider by another hand.


    Before the Catastrophe, after human beings invented the airplane, the first air battle between humans was a duel between pilots using pistols. This time, Zhang Tie felt returning to the first air battle before the Catastrophe. However, he was not using a pistol but a palm bolt. His opponent was not human, but wing demons.


    "Gua..." with a jarring shrill, two wing demons charged at him from two sides in front his glider. In a split second, their distance had been narrowed from hundreds of meters to just 100 m.


    In 0.1 second, Zhang Tie released two palm bolts, splitting the grim heads of the two wing demons into pieces at once. When two blood mists spurted in the sky, the sonic booms caused by the two palm bolts sounded.


    Closely after that, the two wing demons fell down from over 4,000 m in the sky.


    Zhang Tie rapidly penetrated through the two blood mists. While inclining his glider to one side, Zhang Tie caught sight of the last wing demon who caught up with him from the rear side. With another palm bolt, Zhang Tie boomed that wing demon''s head from over 200 m away. After its huge wings flapped twice weakly, it fell down from the sky like a broken bag.


    Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh. Wing demons were not that difficult to deal with. In the beginning, he was still worried about that if wing demons had the powerful body and pervert defensive power like that of iron-armored demons, plus their rapid moving speed, he could hardly give them a fatal blow with his palm bolt in the environment of sharp airflow and heavy wind. Therefore, he chose to ascend. In such a height, even if the wing demons were wounded and fell down, they would also lose their lives.


    After realizing the real fighting strength of wing demons, Zhang Tie became reassured. These LV 9 wing demons were not good at defense. Within 200 m, these LV 9 wing demons were irresistible to his palm bolt.


    Thus, Zhang Tie became thrilled.


    At this moment, the glider was still in the ascending thermal current. Zhang Tie kept ascending in the thermal current.


    Zhang Tie found it very simple to drive a glider. Actually, it was just a game in and out an ascending airflow. The ascending airflow was like an elevator. Sitting in the elevator, the glider would reach a new height. Additionally, the higher it was, the cooler it would be, the faster the thermal current would ascend. Therefore, the higher the glider was, the faster it would ascend in the thermal current.


    After reaching a certain height, the glider could come out of the elevator of the ascending thermal current from the top of the bubble. When in descending, he could gain a momentum. Zhang Tie felt that each 1 km he descended, the glider could fly 50-100 m forward.


    When he descended to a certain height and encountered another ascending thermal current, he could take an elevator once again; after gaining another momentum, he could fly freely for another while in the sky. Of course, the actual flight required very agile manipulations of ascending thermal currents and various airflow. When you descended, you had to find an ascending thermal current and came out of the thermal current after reaching a height. Everything was determined by your flight intention and your driving skill.


    Theoretically, a glider could keep flying 100 years in this way. Of course, even if a glider could fly so long in the air, nobody could stand it.


    Honestly, it was just a game of height and speed in and out ascending thermal current.


    Zhang Tie liked this feeling of freedom brought by speed and height. When flying in the sky, he felt cooler than running on the land and swimming in the ocean.


    Driving the glider, Zhang Tie felt like becoming a happy and free eagle. Sometimes, he turned into a light stick of feather. Putting everything under his feet, he penetrated through the clouds and floated in the wind without any weight. Treating the horizon as his direction, the land as his cradle, Zhang Tie was deeply fascinated by that feel.


    The data on the altimeter of the cockpit of the glider refreshed rapidly. After reaching over 6,000 m which was the top of the ascending thermal current, Zhang Tie flew out of the thermal current.


    At this moment, the north wind started in the sky. Zhang Tie turned his glider in an agile way to make it vertical to the direction of the north wind. He didn''t continue to fly towards the demon''s area in the north; instead, he flew eastward.


    The place where he met wing demons was over 200 km away from the Crystal Battle Fortress. It was already in the middle of the Selnes Theater of Operations. Now that he could meet wing demons here, he would probably meet more wing demons on both east and west of this route. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t continue to fly northward; instead, he prepared to patrol along this route and killed some more wing demons.


    A LV 9 guy who dared to enter the area which was under the control of demon corps on the first day was too careless. For the sake of his life, Zhang Tie found it necessary to try the fighting strength of his enemy.


    Only after 10 minutes, Zhang Tie had seen another two wing demons. They were flying 2,000 m below him. They were monitoring the woods below them as they could not imagine that Zhang Tie was above them.


    At the sight of the two wing demons, Zhang Tie instantly pushed forward the driving handle, causing the glider to lower its head and dive towards the two wing demons like how an eagle charged towards its prey. On the halfway, Zhang Tie felt a descending airflow, which would always be avoided by other drivers; however, Zhang Tie didn''t care about it at all. He directly cut into the descending airflow and accelerated towards the two wing demons.


    It was just like taking an elevator for Zhang Tie.


    Until Zhang Tie penetrated through the thin clouds and narrowed the distance between him and the two wing demons to 500 m was he found by the two wing demons. Closely after that, the two wing demons turned around and charged back towards Zhang Tie...


    Because Zhang Tie was diving towards them, with the advantage in height, Zhang Tie had a sharper momentum. Zhang Tie almost had already launched his palm bolts when the two wing demons turned around.


    About 500 m away, when the two sonic booms sounded, the two wing demons'' heads spurted into blood mists at the same time as they fell down...


    Zhang Tie''s glider drilled out of the descending airflow. After flying over the woods, he hovered there for a few seconds before entering an ascending airflow which was caused by the terrain...


    ...


    A human hunting team was hiding in the crowns of those top trees. When they saw the two wing demons were shot down by a human glider, they could not believe in their eyes.


    After a short while, the wing demons'' corpses fell in the woods. The hunting team soon rushed towards there. Watching their bloody heads, a tough man with a thick mustache and camouflage face drew in a cold breath.


    "They were indeed shot down by that glider. That''s amazing! How did he do that?"


    "Yeah, we''ve not heard about such a No.1 figure in our theater of operations." another guy replied with an amazed look, "How could a member of the airship troop kill a wing demon as easily as hunting a prey?"


    "Leave out of here right now. Take the two corpses." Reinhardt drilled out of the 1.8 m high brushwood as he lifted a bloody head of a wing demon, "Perhaps some countries or clans have already found out the method to deal with wing demons. That''s a very important intelligence. We need to report this intelligence to the headquarters of the empire and the allied forces..."

 560 A Bloody Battle in the Air

    Chapter 560: A Bloody Battle in the Air


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Before 2 pm, as the sun had reached the climax of the sky, the ground temperature increased, causing the ascending thermal current to reach its highest intensity of the day. For average glider drivers, this was the peak time of flight of the day.


    However, Zhang Tie had no feelings about this peak time. Just like a fish in the ocean would not care about the weather above, Zhang Tie didn''t care about the intensifying and increasing thermal current below him. No matter what time it was, Zhang Tie felt that he could keep flying in the sky based on various airflow as long as he wanted. Unless the air stopped flowing, he would not concern about his flight.


    Since he left the Idiots, Zhang Tie had wandered in the sky for about 4 hours like an eagle hunting its preys. After deepening about 200 km into the right wing of the Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie had killed 34 wing demons.


    Most of the 34 were in twos or threes. The moment they saw Zhang Tie would they fly towards him. Undoubtedly, they all became Zhang Tie''s targets. Their heads were boomed by Zhang Tie''s palm bolts within 200-400 m one after another. Closely after that, they fell off.


    The most wing demons that Zhang Tie met once was 11. One hour ago, Zhang Tie saw dense smoke rising up from the ground. When he arrived there, he found over 10 airships were attacked by a group of wing demons. At the same time, tens of thousands of human troops were fighting demonized puppets with the coordination of armored vehicles. The two parties wrestled with each other. The airships were here to launch an air raid towards the demonized puppets on the ground; unfortunately, their plan was disrupted by wing demons.


    One human airship had been completely destroyed by wing demons. The other airships were struggling to retreat towards the south. Those gliders on the airships seemed to have been destroyed by wing demons.


    In the next second, Zhang Tie appeared. After circling around the human airship troop for less than 2 minutes, he had killed 10 of the 11 wing demons. The last wing demon wrestled with Zhang Tie in the air.


    That was a LV 10 wing demon. The LV 9 wing demon''s weapon was two long and slim spikes while the LV 10 wing demon was holding a fork-shaped weapon. The LV 10 wing demon was not only bigger, but also much agiler and faster than LV 9 wing demon.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first powerful enemy in the air. Within 100 m, Zhang Tie constantly launched three palm bolts towards that LV 10 wing demon; however, all of them were blocked off. That LV 10 wing demon was driven infuriated as it croaked and accelerated towards Zhang Tie while waving his weapon. Zhang Tie could only wrestle with him by the glider.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, palm bolt was just a minimized javelin. Although it was portable and easily launched, its destructive strength was weakened due to its small size and lightweight, which was reflected on the LV 10 wing demon. Based on the fighting strength of LV 10 wing demon, although they could not move faster than palm bolts, they were able to block off Zhang Tie''s palm bolts by their weapon.


    After wrestling with each other for half an hour, the two people had ascended from 1,000 m to about 7,000 m and left the battlefield by 100 miles. At such a height, Zhang Tie changed his tactics. He didn''t target his palm bolts towards the head and limbs of the LV 10 wing demon; instead, he targeted at its double wings which were as long as 4-5 m.


    Finally, after the LV 10 wing demon blocked off Zhang Tie''s two palm bolts, one of its thin wings was penetrated through by the 3rd palm bolt.


    With a sound "Pfttt...", the palm bolt penetrated through one of its wings like breaking a balloon, making it a turning point of this battle.


    With one hole on its wing, the wing demon''s speed and agility were weakened greatly at once. As a result, it shrieked.


    After finding it not good, the LV 10 wing demon hurriedly drove downwards. Of course, Zhang Tie would not abandon this good opportunity. He kept chasing after it.


    After dozens of seconds, with four sounds "Pfttt, pfttt, pfttt, pfttt", Zhang Tie opened another 4 holes on the same wing.


    Although one of its wings was complete, the other wing looked like a sieve. This time, the wing demon could not maintain its balance in the air anymore as it struggled to fall off.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie launched his last palm bolt from the back of the wing demon. The palm bolt entered the afterbrain of the wing demon and completely boomed its head.


    Although this battle came to an end, Zhang Tie was still oozing cold sweat. Thankfully, he just met one LV 10 wing demon; if it was two, he would be the one who fell off.


    Zhang Tie rejoiced for his good luck inside. Thankfully, he didn''t directly head for the area under the control of demons. If he met two LV 10 wing demons there, he could not return at all.


    It was 2 pm when he killed this LV 10 wing demon. In the steaming ascending thermal current, Zhang Tie changed his direction. After reaching about 10,000 m high, Zhang Tie flew towards the west of Selnes Plain, namely the left wing of the human defense line.


    The airship troop of Jinyun Country under the leadership of Lan Yunxi was in the west of Selnes Plain. Zhang Tie wanted to check over there. If possible, he could relieve the stress of the airship troop from wing demons over there.


    At this moment, he felt a bit hungry. He then directly took out some all-purpose medicament from Castle of Black Iron and poured it into his mouth.


    After drinking it, Zhang Tie felt full spirited and energetic.


    On the way there, Zhang Tie killed another 7 wing demons.


    The closer he was to the west, the more airships could Zhang Tie see in the sky. He even met many gliders which were responsible for the investigation. Many pilots of the gliders also noticed Zhang Tie. However, they didn''t care about him. At this moment, there were too many gliders in the left wing of the Selnes Theater of Operations, all of which were released from the airships. As long as they were not wing demons, nobody would pay attention to them.


    Zhang Tie saw many kinds of gliders, some were bigger with 2 or 3 people. Besides the pilots, the others on the gliders were all manipulating weapons like the crossbow. Facing the threat of wing demons, human troops were also constantly adjusting and improving their coping ability.


    If the south line of Selnes Theater of Operations was relatively calm, the west line was intense. A corps of the right wing of the theater of operations was preparing to seize back Flatte, a very important city in the west of Selnes Plain with the coordination of large-scale airship troops and ground armored troops.


    Flatte was more than 270 km away from Moog, the core city in the left wing of human defense line. It was once the most important industrial town of Titanic Principality in Selnes Plain. However, now, this city had been occupied by a demonized puppets corps. Flatte, after being occupied by the demonized puppets corps was like a sharp embolon, which extended the power of demonized puppets corps from north to the central and southern parts of Selnes Plain. As a result, the allied forces of nations across Blackson Human Corridor could not sleep well. They treated it as a thorn in their flesh.


    After long-term considerate preparation, the allied human forces finally launched a large-scale battle to seize back Flatte City on the defense line of left wing last week. Over 1 million people joined this battle. Even the airship troops of Jinyun Country participated in this battle.


    At this moment, the 2000 square km ground in Flatte City had become a huge battlefield. From ground to sky, a lot of blood sprayed at each second.


    Zhang Tie, who had just have a try in the right wing of the human defense line also drove into this battlefield with his glider.


    ...


    Five days later, during the sunset, a sentry in the airship base of Crystal Battle Fortress saw an item flying towards the airship base in the afterglow of the sun.


    The sun was right behind its back. Being reflected by the hot setting sun, although it was unclear and twisted in the telescope, its two wings could still be identified.


    "Wing demon?" the sentry almost sent the air-defense warning. Thankfully, before the sentry sent out the air-defense warning, he caught sight of the metal luster on that thing.


    When that thing drew closer in a rocking way like being drunk, the sentry identified that was a glider.


    The glider landed on a plain grassland outside the airship base. However, nobody got out of it. When a lot of ground crew in the airship base and all the crew members of the Idiots rushed in front of that glider, everyone was shocked.


    None of them had seen such a miserable glider before...


    Its metal hull was covered with wounds. What was more shocking was that it had been covered with blood stains from head to wings.


    It was more like a bloody battle armor than a glider...


    The crystal covers of the cockpit had long been broken into pieces while a pale golden, twisted and grim steel fork stabbed into the crystal cover on one side of the cockpit.


    A person was sitting in the cockpit while lowering his head, being breathless. His left shoulder was nailed on the seat by that grim steel fork, causing half of his body tainted by fresh blood...


    "Captain..." all the crew members of the Idiots charged forward...


    "Hurry up, carry him into the Crystal Battle Fortress..." a captain who was responsible for ground services roared with red eyes...


    Only after a few minutes, the Crystal Battle Fortress had been boiling...

 561 Selnes Eagle

    Chapter 561: Selnes Eagle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Two days later, the airship troop of Jinyun Country returned to the Crystal Battle Fortress with a smell of smoke. They brought back an exciting news.


    After sacrificing over 200,000 people, over 2400 armored vehicles and tanks and over 180 airships, Flatte finally returned to the hand of humans.


    Although Flatte was completely ruined, it was still of very important significance for the allied human forces across Blackson Human Corridor to seize back this city.


    Because this was the first city that humans grabbed back from the hand of demons since the beginning of the 3rd holy war between humans and demons. This victory not only extremely inspired the morale of the allied human forces, but also cut off an aggressive tentacle of the demon corps towards the south.


    Although the main opponent of the allied human forces was just a demonized puppets corps, 1/3 of which finally retreated to the north. However, nobody cared about this at all. They only cared about the first victory that humans had gained since the beginning of the holy war.


    After knowing about this victory, many people finally relieved their stress which was caused by demons.


    Flatte City not only brought an inspiring triumph, but also a legendary person in the air to the allied human forces who was witnessed by nearly 1 million people in the left wing corps of Selnes.


    Because of this legendary person, the number of airships being ruined also dropped from over 500, which was deducted by the Prewar Coalition Command to over 180 while the casualty of pilots on the airships also declined from 85% on average to less than 20%.


    Finally, with the excellent performance of the airship troops which had completely taken the air supremacy of Flatte City, the demonized puppets that occupied the Flatte City were heavily struck by the human airship troops. As a result, the demonized puppets corps escaped to the north, allowing the battle in Flatte City to come to an end in advance.


    Nobody knew who was that legendary person. When the Flatte Battle came to an end, through investigation, none of the troops could find that legendary person, who had created a marvel above Flatte City using a glider.


    In only 5 days, an earthshaking nickname had spread among all the airship troops in the left wing corps of Selnes Theatre of Operations¡ª¡ªSelnes Eagle.


    "Perhaps that Selnes Eagle was in our Jinyun Country!" a mapping advisor in the command module of Lan Yunxi''s flagship airship argued when the airship gradually landed in the base of the Crystal Battle Fortress, "That guy''s falcon-level glider is produced in Huaiyuan Prefecture!"


    "Are you kidding me? All the airship troops of Jinyun Country are here. Do you mean that


    Guy flew all the way here from Jinyun Country?" another second lieutenant refuted.


    "That guy could stay 5 days in the air. That''s a new record. He might be able to do that!"


    "Forgot about that. Huaiyuan Prefecture has sold so many furys and falcons these years. I was told that some countries had been authorized to produce them. Look at how many fury-level airships are in Selnes Theater of Operations now. He''s just driving a falcon. You can get no information from it!"


    "But I feel that man always appeared nearby the airship troops of Jinyun Country. Many people have seen that!"


    "Flatte is so large. Additionally, it''s in the sky. We all moved so fast. As long as he was on the battlefield, he could be easily seen by us. Perhaps you should go to ask about others airship troops'' opinions. They must also think that person always appear nearby them!"


    Lan Yunxi watched the gradually larger Crystal Battle Fortress under her feet as she slightly frowned. All the military officers'' words had drifted in her ears. As the fierce battle had come to an end, She didn''t mind them talking about some easy topics to relieve the stress brought by the battle.


    What made Lan Yunxi slightly frown was that military officer''s feeling. Lan Yunxi had a deeper feeling about that military officer. Lan Yunxi felt that the Selnes Eagle didn''t just appear nearby the airship troops of Jinyun Country more often than the other airship troops but also completely safeguarded her and her airship troop.


    "Is that him?" Lan Yunxi waved her head slightly, "How could that rascal master such marvelous driving skills. That person has just left Huaiyuan Palace for 3-4 years. He has not touched glider in Huaiyuan Palace. Even if he had immersed himself in studying how to drive a glider in that period, he could still not make this."


    "There''s no such a Chinese bloodline. Even those who have dozens of years'' experience in troops would be stunned by his driving skills. How could he make that in only a few years?"


    "But why do I have a familiar sense?"


    Lan Yunxi didn''t know why. She just felt a bit upset!


    Lan Yunxi''s airship directly landed in the Crystal Battle Fortress. The moment she got off the airship had she felt something weird in the battle fortress. Before she asked, one of her henchmen had already walked in front of her and whispered to her.


    Closely after hearing the words, Lan Yunxi changed her face...


    ...


    "Zhang Tie arrived at Crystal Battle Fortress with the other crew members of the Idiots on the 14th day of this month. On the next early morning, he had left by the Idiots. Those crew members of Idiots said that after the Idiots left the Crystal Battle Fortress, Zhang Tie had driven a glider away from the airship. He even told those crew members that if he did not come back in two days, they could drive the airship back to the Crystal Battle Fortress. The Idiots stayed 3 days outside there and returned to the airship base of the Crystal Battle Fortress on the 18th day of this month. Zhang Tie didn''t come back with them. On the evening of the 20th day of this month, after leaving here for 5 days, Zhang Tie finally came back by a glider. However, he was heavily wounded and is in a deep coma now!"


    When they accelerated towards Zhang Tie''s ward in the Crystal Battle Fortress, Lan Yunxi''s henchman whispered to her.


    "You mean he stayed 5 days on a glider outside there?"


    "Those crew members of the Idiots told me so. Nobody else saw when Zhang Tie left the Idiots by his glider. Therefore, I don''t know whether it''s true or not!"


    "What''s the type of his glider?" Lan Yunxi''s heart raced as she hurriedly asked.


    "He drove a falcon produced by Huaiyuan Palace. When he came back, his glider was covered with blood and wounds. According to the test, all the blood belonged to wing demons. This even aroused a shock in the Crystal Battle Fortress at once. The cockpit had been destroyed with a weapon of a LV 10 wing demon on it..."


    "How''s he right now?"


    "Lan elder has checked his wounds and applied medicine to his wounds. Lan elder said he''s safe. However, as he had not slept for a long time, plus being heavily wounded, he might wake up in a couple of days!"


    ...


    Lan Yunxi saw some crew members of the Idiots with red eyes were waiting outside of a ward. Seeing Lan Yunxi and the other guys, those crew members directly stopped them.


    "Our captain is still in the coma, nobody is allowed in!"


    "Audacious! This is Zhang Tie''s junior sister apprentice, the commander of the airship troop of Jinyun Country..." one person beside Lan Yunxi scolded.


    "Ah, this is the woman that our captain likes..." a crew member of the Idiots blinked his eyes as if he had enlightened something.


    Lan Yunxi watched that crew member and asked him calmly, "Has Zhang Tie talked about me?"


    Under the gaze of Lan Yunxi, that crew member''s heart pounded as he poured out everything, "Captain told us that the woman he loved was in Selnes Theatre of Operations. He said she was a very sharp Iron Lady, being surrounded by a lot of flies..."


    "Iron Lady?" some guys beside Lan Yunxi glared at that crew member. Lan Yunxi didn''t say anything, neither did she care about those crew members. She directly entered the ward. The Idiots crew just let her in.


    Lan Yunxi entered the ward alone.


    The white bed sheet and the white wall in the room carried a smell of sterile water. Zhang Tie seemed asleep as he was breathing slowly and evenly.


    Lan Yunxi was standing on Zhang Tie''s bed and silently watched Zhang Tie''s pale face. Her awe-inspiring powerful qi gradually faded away. Her eyes gradually turned tender as she slightly touched Zhang Tie''s face and combed some hair on Zhang Tie''s face.


    Zhang Tie was the very person who protected her in the sky of Flatte City. At this moment, Lan Yunxi had been sure about her feeling. Although she didn''t know how Zhang Tie made it, watching this man who preferred to be imprisoned by the clan elders and driven out of Hidden Dragon Palace so as to protect her in Selnes Theatre of Operations, nothing else was important.


    "You''re really an idiot!" Lan Yunxi slowly sighed.


    After a while...


    A weird sound "Gulu..." appeared in the room, which came from Zhang Tie''s stomach.


    The moment she heard the sound did Lan Yunxi draw back her hand from Zhang Tie''s face. However, before she drew it back, Zhang Tie had already seized her hand. Zhang Tie opened his eyes at once. He looked at Lan Yunxi with a faint smile. After that, he drew Lan Yunxi''s hand to his mouth. He even forcefully sniffed and kissed it, causing a sound "Zi".


    Lan Yunxi almost cried, "This douchebag had long woken up. He was just pretending to sleep."


    "You rascal!"


    ...

 562 Explanation

    Chapter 562: Explanation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Lan Yunxi didn''t draw her hand back. Perhaps she had been used to that since Zhang Tie had done too many excessive things to her. She might not accept other men to do that to her; however, if it was Zhang Tie, she didn''t think it was improper.


    After slightly touching and kissing her tender hand for a while, Zhang Tie struggled to sit up on the bed. He leaned against the headboard and let Lan Yunxi sit on the bed by patting the bedside.


    Lan Yunxi rolled her eyes towards Zhang Tie. Without saying anything, she just sat on the bed.


    Finding Lan Yunxi so obedient, Zhang Tie became excited inside as he was immediately filled with a sense of satisfaction.


    "When did you learn to drive the glider?" the moment Lan Yunxi sat on the bed did she reach out her hand and catch Zhang Tie''s claw which was reaching towards her butts and thigh. She then pressed Zhang Tie''s claw on the bedside.


    Lan Yunxi in a military suit looked more attractive than wearing a skirt. Zhang Tie could only gaze at her plump butts and beautiful legs under the straight and tight military unit while he forcefully swallowed his saliva for a few times.


    "Hmm, I learned it by chance in a wild cultivation two years ago!" Zhang Tie immediately replied it as what he had planned.


    "Two years ago?" Lan Yunxi peered at Zhang Tie with a dubious look, "You mean you''ve just learned to drive a glider in only two years!"


    "Right. I know what do you mean!" Zhang Tie still replied with a casual smile, "You know I''m good at diving in Hidden Dragon Island and was the Yaksha in the sea over there. Actually, I find that driving a glider is similar to diving in the water. In the sea, I will face various ocean currents and subterranean flows; similarly, in the air, I have to face sorts of air flows. I find that I''m very sensitive to the water flows and air flows beside me. I can easily sense and catch their existence and flowing directions. Therefore, it''s very easy for me to drive a glider!"


    Zhang Tie''s explanation was perfect. No matter how amazed was Lan Yunxi, she could only admit Zhang Tie''s talent on some aspect. Fish was born to swim, Bird was born to fly. Perhaps someone was really born with some special ability like Zhang Tie.


    "What''s your weapon in the sky?"


    "Palm bolt. I''ve already promoted my precise throwing ability to the highest level when I was in Hidden Dragon Island. I only need one hand to drive a glider. I release palm bolts with the other hand."


    Lan Yunxi faintly sighed as she didn''t know what to say. It was out of her imagination that the combination of an inferior ancestral bloodline and the excellent driving talent of Zhang Tie could lead to such a marvel in the air. Each of the above two abilities was admirable at most; however, the combination of the two abilities caused a great difference to Zhang Tie.


    "You''ve already prepared to do that when you bet with those people?"


    Zhang Tie raised his chest at once, "Of course, as those people wanted to pursue my woman, they should appreciate me for not burying them. Additionally, I didn''t force them to bet with me. They were voluntary. As they could not match me on fighting skills, they did not disappear in front of me!"


    After hearing such a sufficient reason, Lan Yunxi became speechless.


    Zhang Tie thought Lan Yunxi was angry; therefore, he hurriedly asked with a smile, "Are you angry with me?"


    Lan Yunxi didn''t smile; instead, she just watched Zhang Tie with a solemn look, "Do you know about the outcome of what you did in Flatte City?"


    "I know!" Zhang Tie hid his smile, "People are afraid of being famous. I must have become famous in Selnes Theater of Operations. This would bring me a lot of benefits and disadvantages!"


    "Just disadvantages?" Lan Yunxi flicked Zhang Tie''s forehead with her finger abruptly, "You are seeking for death. Do you know about your nickname?"


    "What?"


    "Selnes Eagle!"


    "That sounds good. It''s awesome!"


    "You will soon become the thorn in the demons'' side. Those lackeys of demons and Three-Eye Association will definitely kill you. Even if you were a knight, you could not avoid from their assassination, not to mention that you''re only LV 9." Lan Yunxi became worried about Zhang Tie.


    "As I was born in a chaotic age, I could not make choice on something!" Zhang Tie peered at Lan Yunxi decisively and frankly, "As a man, how could I just watch you fight ferociously in the sky when I have the ability to give you a favor? How could I just stay on the ground afraid of becoming the target of demons and Three-Eye Association? I''ve almost died for many times these years. Finally, I came up with a conclusion, as long as I can live up to my heart by protecting my beloved ones, I won''t care when will I die!"


    "Trust me, I have my own survival rules. Nobody could kill me easily, demons or Three-Eye Association. I will protect myself! Before marrying you, I will not easily die. How can I just watch you become a widow?" Zhang Tie forcefully drew closer to Lan Yunxi''s face and kissed her alluring lips.


    "Hmm!" Lan Yunxi struggled faintly and symbolically. Closely after that, her teeth were opened by Zhang Tie''s tongue. Zhang Tie held her tongue at once, causing her become soft all over immediately.


    After carefully tasting Lan Yunxi''s tongue for a few minutes, watching her blushed cheeks and half closed eyes, Zhang Tie became spirited at once. After slightly using his force, he had slipped his hand out of Lan Yunxi''s grip. Meanwhile, he covered his hand on Lan Yunxi''s plump breasts instantly.


    Lan Yunxi became stiff for a second as she caught Zhang Tie''s weird claw and threw him out of the bed. Closely after that, she jumped off the bedside like a spring.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s miserable shriek and a huge sound in the room, those outside the ward rushed inside at once. After entering the ward, they all widely opened their mouths at the sight of what happened.


    Zhang Tie in the suit of a patient was lying on a wall in the size of "´ó" with his face against the wall. When they came in, they saw him sliding off the wall like a pool of mud.


    Lan Yunxi just stood near the door while her face looked a bit red and her breasts were undulating. She was watching Zhang Tie while trying to hide her smile.


    "Captain." the crew members of the Idiots rushed towards him at once.


    "Ah, I''m okay, I''m okay..." Zhang Tie picked himself up from the ground while his nose was bleeding.


    "Ah, captain, your nose is bleeding!"


    "Wuh?" Zhang Tie touched it and saw blood on his hand. He then hurriedly raised his head as he took out of two pieces of toilet paper from a drawer of the cabinet near the bed and plugged his nostrils.


    "What happened, captain? Why were you on the wall?" a crew member of the Idiots asked before glancing at Lan Yunxi silently.


    "Ah, it''s nothing serious. I woke up just now. Senior sister apprentice asked me about what happened these days. I then showed her how I killed enemies by a glider. As I was too indulged in the performance, I mistook myself as a glider and forgot about where I was. Therefore, I hit myself on the wall!" Zhang Tie lied as he glanced at Lan Yunxi with a gloomy look which could only be understood by Lan Yunxi.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s hilarious look with toilet paper in his nostrils, Lan Yunxi almost burst out laughing, "You deserve that. Who let you be that lascivious..."


    "Now that junior brother apprentice Zhang Tie had woken up, you''d better take a good rest. Someone might come here for an investigation these days. Hope you are prepared for that!" Lan Yunxi replied with a pun in front of the public.


    "Thanks, senior sister apprentice, I know how to deal with it!"


    Lan Yunxi then left with her subordinates, leaving Zhang Tie and some crew members of the Idiots in the ward.


    "Captain, how...how...could a person treat himself as a glider?" a guy asked with a confused look.


    "If you want to have a try, when I drive a glider next time, I can bind you below the glider. I will show you then how to treat yourself as a glider!" Zhang Tie replied with a glassy-eyed look.


    That guy shrugged and became speechless. Knowing that Zhang Tie was safe, they then slipped out of the ward.


    Standing in the room, Zhang Tie raised his head and watched the ceiling which was full of pipes. He was trying to stop his nose from bleeding; however, he was thinking about what Lan Yunxi had told him just now.


    Those with secrets used to be low-key. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie knew that he could not be low-key anymore. He should follow his own choice and face the possible outcome instead of always enjoying the benefits privately.


    When an awl was in the balloon, it would break the balloon for sure, unless the awl broke its own sharp end.


    Therefore, now that something could not be avoided, it was better to have the initiative in your own hands. Sometimes, when you stood at the peak, you could protect yourself much better. While standing under the highlights, you could better hide some secrets.


    Zhang Tie had determined inside.


    ...


    After 2 hours, Zhang Tie looked much better. At least, his nose didn''t bleed anymore. After putting on a set of clean suit, he left the ward for the Military Exploits Registration Center below the battle fortress of Lan clan...


    ...

 563 I am an Air Cavalry

    Chapter 563: I am an Air Cavalry


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Closely after the Flatte Battle, the Military Exploits Center and the Military Exploits Rankings of the Crystal Battle Fortress had been crowded with people. Most of them were onlookers, rest of them were here to register their own military exploits.


    Zhang Tie''s arrival attracted many people''s attention at once.


    Two days ago, when Zhang Tie returned by that glider, all the onlookers were shocked. They could hardly imagine what kind of a bloody battle had Zhang Tie experienced.


    After knowing that Zhang Tie stayed in the air for 5 days, everybody became stunned. They didn''t believe that a person who could break the record of the longest driving time in the air across Waii Sub-Continent came from the Crystal Battle Fortress. In this age when fighting force counted most, although driving skill was not as eye-catching as fighting skill, it was greatly favored by airship troops like how sailors were favored by the navy.


    No matter what, a person who could break a record would always catch others'' attention wherever he was.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie became very attractive. If he was not in a coma in the last few days, he might have been visited by too many people.


    Everyone was curious whether he really broke the record or not and what was his military exploits.


    "Junior brother apprentice, what a coincidence, nice to see you again!"


    At the Military Exploits Registration Center, Zhang Tie met a guy who made a bet with him¡ª¡ªDantai Yuya.


    Closely after Dantai Yuya''s voice, a lot of young military officers turned around and glanced at Zhang Tie. Many of them faintly glittered their eyes. They finally knew who Zhang Tie was.


    "Ah, senior brother apprentice Dantai. You''re also here to register military exploits?" Zhang Tie greeted him with a normal look.


    "Yes, I made some achievements in Flatte Theatre of Operations this time. I want to confirm here!" Dantai Yuya watched Zhang Tie as he replied politely and sincerely, "I was told that junior brother apprentice Zhang Tie bought an airship to join the battle as a volunteer after leaving Hidden Dragon Palace. That''s what real hero does! That''s really admirable."


    Dantai Yuya had top demeanor and temperament. Therefore, since Zhang Tie met him last time, Zhang Tie had liked this elite of Dantai Clan. After hearing his praise, Zhang Tie became a bit bashful.


    "Senior brother apprentice Dantai, you make me bashful. I know many senior brother apprentices were commanding the airships; however, this military exploits registration was just personal; it doesn''t contain the contribution of the troops. It''s actually a bit unfair for senior brother apprentices. My contribution is dwarfed by your commanding ability!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Dantai Yuya smiled, "Haha, don''t say that. In this age, all the plots and intelligence would be dwarfed by powerful fighting strength. In the duel between humans and demons, fighting strength counted most in the end. If a person lacked fighting strength, he could be an assistant at most no matter how clever and tactical he was. Such person''s achievement is limited."


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he knew this was how apprentices from big clans thought about. For these apprentices from big clans, the tactic was just a tool while personal fighting strength really predominated everything. Although they also paid attention to tactics and commanding skills, it was just an important component of one''s real power. Tactics and commanding skills were dwarfed by one''s fighting strength.


    This point could be seen clearly from the clan elders. Each clan elder was assumed by a knight. As long as one promoted to a knight, one would have a great influence and power wherever one was. Knight could influence and predominate a clan''s fate. However, Zhang Tie had not heard anyone who was excel at tactics and commanding skills could become a clan elder across the Waii Sub-Continent.


    This was the most famous "Stronger''s Effect" or "Knight''s Effect" in this age. Because of different levels in cultivation, there''s a sharp difference in ability and fighting strength between a knight and a common fighter. When tens of thousands of soldiers of an average division could not realize what a knight did, an invisible ceiling would form in front of all the brain workers.


    Before the Catastrophe, human intelligence and tactics were placed in a very important position. Brainworkers governed people; why labor workers were governed by people. Those who excelled at tactics and had excellent thinking ability were usually favored by people and could easily gain success and social status. However, in this age, all the rules were founded on fighting strength for both groups and individuals.


    When they talked, Dantai Yuya had registered his military exploits. It was soon Zhang Tie''s turn.


    Seeing Zhang Tie going to register his own military exploits, all the onlookers pricked up their ears. Many people drew closer out of curiosity. Dantai Yuya also prepared to look at Zhang Tie''s military exploits. As Lan Yunxi''s junior brother apprentice who dared to bet with others, Dantai Yuya thought that Zhang Tie''s performance wouldn''t be too worse, at least among the LV 9 fighters.


    After glancing at Zhang Tie, a lieutenant nodded, "You''re also here to register your military exploits?"


    "Yes!"


    "Have you registered it before?"


    "No, it''s my first time!"


    "Okay, now that you''ve signed the agreement on soul and bloodline, any lie of you would bring you a side effect of violating the agreement. Therefore, don''t brag your military exploits. You''d better not count what you are uncertain about. Additionally, the military exploits that have been registered should not be counted in repetitively. Each military exploit should be the latest. The group''s achievement is not counted in." The lieutenant explained it to Zhang Tie patiently.


    "I know!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Hmm, tell me your name and your military exploits!" that captain prepared to record.


    Zhang Tie took a deep breath before saying, "Zhang Tie, 157 LV 9 wing demons, 4 LV 10 wing demons, if not count wounded wing demons!"


    "What?" that captain thought he heard it wrong as he asked Zhang Tie to repeat it.


    "I killed 157 LV 9 wing demons and 4 LV 10 wing demons these days!" Zhang Tie repeated it calmly and confidently.


    The Military Exploits Registration Center became so quiet that even a needle dropping on the ground could be heard clearly. Everybody watched Zhang Tie''s face as they seemed to wait for something special to happen. However, Zhang Tie remained calm and frank. His face didn''t turn black; neither did he smell bad.


    ¡ª¡ªHe''s not been affected by the oath of soul and bloodline? Everyone realized that Zhang Tie was telling the truth.


    The captain wrote down Zhang Tie''s military exploits on the notebook with a quivering hand as he forcefully swallowed his saliva and looked at Zhang Tie like seeing a ghost, "Can...can you repeat it once more, sir?"


    The captain changed his tone.


    "157 LV 9 wing demons, 4 LV 10 wing demons. Is that okay..." Zhang Tie replied patiently.


    "Aww, it''s okay...it''s okay..." the captain hurriedly said in a much more polite manner.


    "Senior brother apprentice Dantai, my airship is still parking outside. It''s called the Idiots. I will invite you for a drink when you''re free. Thanks to the medical treatment of Lan elder, I recovered so fast. I will go appreciate him. See you..." Zhang Tie still greeted Dantai Yuya in the same tone as before. After that, he directly entered the Lan''s battle fortress and had people report to Lan elder.


    Only after less than 1 minute, Lan elder had already sent people to lead him in.


    Zhang Tie waved his hand towards Dantai Yuya before entering Lan''s battle fortress.


    Until Zhang Tie disappeared in front of them did those in the Military Exploits Registration Center realize what happened. The center boiled at once.


    "Let me count it. 157 LV 9 wing demons, 942 points; 4 LV 10 wing demons, 120 points; Zhang Tie gained 1062 points in total..."


    "Ah, I know, Zhang Tie is the Selnes Eagle in the legend..." one person shouted out of excitement.


    Everybody drew in a cold breath...


    Dantai Yuya stood still as he felt like being dead, "How could I surpass such an achievement? I cannot even match a guy being driven out of Hidden Dragon Palace, how would I pursue Lan Yunxi?"


    Zhang Tie''s image was like a high and firm wall in the eyes of Dantai Yuya, which broke all of his hopes about pursuing Lan Yunxi.


    Without having to wait for another 2 months, Dantai Yuya was already sure that those who had made a bet with Zhang Tie could hardly surpass Zhang Tie''s current military exploits even after 2 months.


    ...


    In the room where he was carried in one week ago, Zhang Tie saw Lan elder once again. After Zhang Tie clarified his intention and extended his gratitude to Lan elder, Lan elder peered at Zhang Tie for a quite while before nodding, "You, not bad, not bad..."


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that it was Lan elder''s first time to praise a young man in the Crystal Battle Fortress.


    After hearing such a praise, Zhang Tie just replied modestly, "It''s my pleasure..."


    "Hmm. Do you know what''s the most important thing for you at the present?" Lan elder watched Zhang Tie with a wise and kind look.


    "To save myself..." Zhang Tie put it straight.


    After hearing this answer, Lan elder revealed some praise and appreciation through his eyes, "Have you thought about that you might face a lot of troubles by gaining such military exploits as a volunteer?"


    Zhang Tie became silent for a second. He indeed did not think about this question before he came here. He found it a bit tricky. If a volunteer could ferociously beat wing demons in the sky, what would over 5 million regular soldiers do in the frontline of Selnes Theater of Operations?"


    The one who gained the nickname of Selnes Eagle was just a nongovernmental volunteer. This made many people embarrassed. Even in the Crystal Battle Fortress, Zhang Tie estimated that not everyone would like to see a guy in the suit of a militia of Jinyun Country on the Military Exploits Rankings. Even in Huaiyuan Palace, his military exploits might be used by someone to estrange the relationship between him and Huaiyuan Palace.


    After thinking through this point, Zhang Tie was slightly shocked, "An old ox makes a straight furrow! Lan elder points out the major problem facing me."


    "I will follow your order, Clan elder!" Zhang Tie became docile, "After all, you''re the boss of Crystal Battle Fortress, now that you have pointed out this problem, you can work out the solution for sure, too."


    Lan elder replied with a smile. He found Zhang Tie was even smarter than the elders of Zhang Clan, "I will notice Huaiyuan Palace. From now on, you will be the first air cavalry of the Crystal Battle Fortress of Jinyun Country!"


    "Air cavalry, a cavalry in the air?" Zhang Tie''s eyebrows moved.


    "Right, you''re now an air cavalry. This is a new independent establishment. You''re the only air cavalry across the air of Selnes Theater of Operations. Your rank is major. Nominally, you belong to the Crystal Battle Fortress, namely being responsible for me. You have the right to fight alone. How do you think about that?"


    "Haha, it''s really out of my imagination that Lan elder has already considered it well for me." Zhang Tie was moved inside as he deeply bowed towards Lan elder, "Thank you, Lan elder!"


    "You''re welcome. As an air cavalry, a new independent establishment, you should change your suit. Otherwise, it would be too awkward..." Lan elder then applauded as one person entered the room at once. He pointed at that person and told Zhang Tie, "You can negotiate with him about your suit, equipment and symbol. I will not care about that. It''s estimated that you will use them very soon."


    ...


    Zhang Tie negotiated with the logistics director of the Crystal Battle Fortress for almost one hour. After confirming the style, material, military rank, dog tag, collar badge, cockade and symbol of his military suit as the first air cavalry, he left the Lan''s battle fortress.


    As there were so many senior talents and handicraftsmen in the logistics department of the Crystal Battle Fortress, it would take them at most one day to work out Zhang Tie''s military suit.


    When Zhang Tie walked out of the Lan''s battle fortress, the Military Exploits Rankings in front of the Crystal Battle Fortress had already changed. Zhang Tie ranked first with 1062 points, followed by Lan Yunxi. In the battle of Flatte City, Lan Yunxi killed 8 LV 9 wing demons, 2 LV 10 wing demons and a LV 11 wing demon, causing Lan Yunxi''s points rise to 444 points from 186 points.


    However, her points were still less than half of that of Zhang Tie''s.


    Although it was just a ranking, Zhang Tie felt pretty special by defeating Lan Yunxi as he had a sense of conquest.


    All the fighters in the Crystal Battle Fortress, at the sight of Zhang Tie, would show their respect to him, especially those fighters of Huaiyuan Palace. At this moment, Zhang Tie was the most glorious member of Huaiyuan Palace.


    When Zhang Tie returned to the Idiots, all the crew members went out of the airship and celebrated Zhang Tie''s return in the most grand way. Only by this could those crew members feel that they were showing their full respect to their captain.


    Zhang Tie greeted them with a big smile as he patted their shoulders. After having a good supper with them, Zhang Tie told them he needed to take a rest and didn''t want to be disturbed. After that, he returned to the captain''s room.


    Where he entered the Castle of Black Iron and wanted to check what surprise had the small tree brought to him...


    ...


    After a few days, the inside of Castle of Black Iron didn''t change too much. Besides the aura in the refreshing air, with the expansion of the area of Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie felt here more like the outside world.


    Heller was already waiting for Zhang Tie under the small tree as he knew that Zhang Tie would come in. At the sight of Zhang Tie, Heller said with a solemn look, "Castle Lord, you''re too risky this time. If you don''t treasure your life, we will feel very frustrated inside here. We will feel everything is meaningless!"


    Zhang Tie scratched his head in a bashful way. He knew what Heller referred to. The mode of battle that he fought 5 days in the air at the cost of his spirit was truly very dangerous. On the 5th day, he could almost not stand it. Being attacked from flanks by two LV 10 wing demons, Zhang Tie almost died.


    "Alright. I know that. But in that case, as long as I can stick to a longer time, I might save many people''s lives. Therefore, I could not stop..."


    Heller sighed, "If you cannot control such a case, you might encounter it later on. If so, Castle Lord, you''d better get some more iron-body fruits. At least you could bear more strikes and could tide over dangers easier. As long as you spend some time, you can easily get iron-body fruits. This fruit would have a remarkable effect when you eat enough of them. They could strengthen your body. Body is the foundation of everything. Castle Lord, you''d better not ignore it. Somethings like sunshine and air, although being cheap, could be easily obtained. However, they were the basis on which everything relied on. Take this time as an example, as long as you had eaten two or three more iron-body fruits, you would have been clear-minded when you landed and would not be wounded so severely!"


    Heller''s words aroused Zhang Tie''s attention. Zhang Tie realized that he indeed did not eat iron-body fruits, "Heller barely makes such a good comment about any fruit. Perhaps, I''ve not completely exerted the effect of iron-body fruits..."


    "Fine, I will spend more time in obtaining iron-body fruits for sure!" Zhang Tie nodded with a solemn look. After that, he asked Heller, "Have those fruits of demons grown out?"


    "Yes, they have..."


    ...

 564 The Fruit of Source

    Chapter 564: The Fruit of Source


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    That was an odd-looking fruit. At the first sight of that fruit, Zhang Tie felt some visuals flashed in his mind. He felt having seen it somewhere.


    It looked so weird that it didn''t look like a fruit at all; instead, it was more like a complex three-dimensional pattern, which was utterly different than other fruits bred by the small tree.


    Seven-strength fruits looked like mini sculptures of animals. This fruit looked weirder. It was completely covered with a beautiful, complex pattern formed by rounds.


    Thinking of ''sculpture'', Zhang Tie instantly became spirited. He finally remembered why he was familiar with this fruit. Because he had seen it on real sculptures.


    Zhang Tie recalled the two lion sculptures outside the gate of the Clansmen Pavilion of Huaiyuan Palace. Lion sculptures were usually seen outside the gate of the major Chinese agencies, units or big private mansions. One of the two lions would usually step on a ball with round patterns. Zhang Tie found this latest fruit looked as same as the ball under the foot of the Chinese stony lion.


    The surface of the fruit was covered with interlocked numerous round patterns. There was a six-petal flower in the middle of each round pattern. Additionally, the exterior of each round pattern was also divided into petals which looked similar to the six petals. As a result, each petal appeared in two round patterns, making this pattern both simple and sophisticated.


    The tradition that Chinese put stony lions outside the gate could be dated to thousands of years ago before the Catastrophe. This was a cultural symbol. However, when Zhang Tie realized that the surface pattern of that ball under the foot of stony lion was consistent with that of this fruit, he became shocked.


    Zhang Tie didn''t understand why. Therefore, he stretched his hand towards that fruit and wanted to check its attributes.


    ¡ª¡ªWing Demons'' Fruits of Source. It''s not ripe yet. You cannot eat it.


    ¡ª¡ªWhen this fruit becomes ripe, it will increase your life source and improve your health in an all-round manner.


    ¡ª¡ªAll the lives are sprouted from source seeds. Spiritual life rules reflect the source. The powerful strength is the outward manifestation of the source. This source is included in each fulfillment. It includes all the knowledge, rhythms, lives and holiness. It gathers female and male, brightness and darkness, positiveness and negativeness. It''s the seed of lives, the blossom of lives and the fruit of lives. It''s also the thriving tree of lives.


    Watching the introduction of this fruit of source, although Zhang Tie didn''t fully understand it at once, he instinctively felt this fruit was unusual and very powerful from both its look and its introduction.


    Heller was waiting for Zhang Tie calmly under the high platform where the small tree rested on.


    After peering at that fruit for a while, Zhang Tie went downstairs and came to Heller''s side.


    "What''s the effect of this fruit of source?" Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly.


    "The most important process of cultivation for the human is to constantly light one''s surging points, through which one could release the energy of source of life and communicate with this universe. The power of your source of life would be reflected in all aspects. From the aspect of fighting strength, it could increase the potential and strength of each of your surging point to the utmost!"


    "How?"


    "Each fruit of source could increase the source of your body by 1/12. That was to say, each fruit of source could also increase the potential of each surging point by 1/12!" Heller explained.


    Zhang Tie was shocked, "Each surging point?"


    "Right, each surging point! If each surging point on your body was regarded as a steam engine which could provide you driving force, with each fruit of source, your surging points'' driving force would increase by 1/12. It''s very effective for those surging points that you''ve already lit. After eating it, you could obviously feel the change of those surging points and your body. For those surging points which had not been lit, its effect would display when you light them!"


    Although ''1/12'' was not an enormous figure, its effect was very terrifying. Because it was different essentially. According to Heller, when the surging points in one''s body were seen as an engine, if others could only gain 12 horsepower by lighting a surging point, he would gain 13 horsepower by lighting a surging point. That would be an advantage.


    "By lighting 12 surging points, I could gain the same effect as lighting 13 surging points. Based on my current fighting strength as a LV 9 fighter, as long as I eat a fruit of source, I would immediately gain the fighting strength of 3 more surging points. Additionally, after lighting each surging point, I would be a bit stronger than others. Gradually, the difference between me and others would be decisive. When I become a battle spirit, I would light 987 surging points. Because of the fruit of source, I would gain the power of 82 more surging points, which was close to the total number of surging points lit by a LV 11 battle master."


    "A fruit of source could bring me the fighting strength of a LV 11 battle master. That is great!" Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh as he heard Heller''s introduction. After losing seven-strength fruits, he finally gained a more powerful fruit...


    "What are the other effects of this fruit of source?"


    "It has many effects. As long as you eat it, your physical strength and endurance would increase by 1/12. Normally, your life expectancy would extend by 1/12. Additionally, the aging speed of your cells would slow down by 1/12. The existence of all lives and their psychological activities reflect the source of lives. Life is the germination of source while death was the exhaustion of source."


    Having not imagined that such a fruit could have so many effects, Zhang Tie widely opened his mouth, "Ah, why 1/12? Why not more? How long would this fruit take to become ripe?"


    "12 is a mysterious figure. It''s the reflection of life rules. You need to kill 360 wing demons, namely the total number of days of a whole year to ripe this wing demons'' fruit of source."


    "How many fruits of source could I gain from wing demons?"


    "One, only one fruit of source from each kind of demon!"


    "Ah, only one?" Zhang Tie became a bit disappointed after hearing Heller''s answer.


    "The more powerful the fruit is, the less you could gain. This also complies with the life rules. Like those living beings on the peak of the food chain, only when their population was small could the balance of the ecosphere be sustained!"


    Zhang Tie understood it. He also recovered his composure, "If such a great fruit could be constantly obtained, that would violate the intention of the God. Even though I could constantly gain seven-strength fruits, it would also be very terrifying. I should be satisfied with this. After all, there''re many kinds of demons. If I can get a fruit of source from each kind of demon, I would also have a bright future. But I''m afraid that I could barely get a shadow demon''s fruit of source. Shadow demon is the rarest demon. It''s hard to say whether there are 360 shadow demons in the world or not. It seems that this also complies with the universal law, even moon''s shape would change with time. I should not have all the benefits. There should always be a pity!"


    "Aww, I find the surface pattern of this fruit of source is same as that on the ball under the foot of stony Chinese lions, why?" Zhang Tie asked.


    After glancing at Zhang Tie, Heller drew in the air by hands, displaying a three-dimensional pattern in front of Zhang Tie. In the beginning, a round appeared in the middle of that image. Gradually, the other rounds appeared and formed that pattern in front of Zhang Tie. After that, the whole image immediately turned into three-dimensional from two-dimensional. Rounds were interlocked with each other as they started to move, deriving various nice and complex geometrical patterns and scenes¡ª¡ª


    "This is tetrahedron; this is octahedron; this is dodecahedron; this is icosahedron; this is Plato cube, the basic architecture mode of the material world; this is the Mehta Thrun cube which symbolizes sacredness; this is Cassara time grid; this is Mer-Ka-Ba spiral..."


    Heller explained as that image composed of rounds constantly derived, making Zhang Tie fascinated, "This is the Meiosis mode of human cells; this is the geometric interaction mode of light; this is Fibonacci sequence of number; this is genetic code arrangement of biological DNA; this is male; this is female; this is the chord structure of music; this is the transformation mode of mass energy of nuclear fission; this is the self-rotation mode of galaxy..."


    After introducing them to Zhang Tie, Heller clapped, causing all the patterns and lines disappear one after another. Finally, they turned into the plain pattern composed of rounds once again. Heller watched Zhang Tie, "Did you understand?"


    Zhang Tie was completely stunned, "How...how could that be?"


    "This pattern is the totem and essence of sacred geometry. It has a lot of secrets. It represents spiritualism, intelligence, morality and physical source rules. You, humans, call it flower of life, words of light; but I prefer to call it words of source. In this age, very few people understand its real meaning."


    Zhang Tie became silent. He had never imagined that the ball under the stony Chinese lions that had been spread for thousands of years could contain such profound and sacred secrets and rules. No wonder those sculptures could become the symbol of magnification, power, sacredness and honor after being spread for thousands of years. When the stony lions stepped on the rules of source clearly, they would look extremely dignified.


    When Zhang Tie knew that Chinese had already mastered the secret of the rules of source thousands of years ago and put the sacred geometric patterns under the foot of stony lion in a low-key and remarkable way, he finally understood why the Chinese clan in the Eastern Continent were so proud.


    ...


    After eating those trouble-reappearance fruits which were formed by killing wing demons, Zhang Tie left Castle of Black Iron.


    Before leaving Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie watched those leakless fruits hanging on the small tree as he made a decision to grasp the method to promote to LV 10 as soon as possible. Otherwise, he would hardly deal with any possible dangers.


    After drinking too much all-purpose medicament, Zhang Tie had a good sleep.


    When he woke up on the second day, Zhang Tie felt energetic as all of his wounds had recovered.


    However, at this moment, the Logistics director had already brought a wholly new suit of air cavalry in the Idiots.


    ...


    On the second day, the first page of the newspaper ''Holy War News'' which was delivered to over 5 million frontline soldiers across the Selnes Theater of Operations by the Human Alliance Command was filled with one report¡ª¡ªSelnes Eagle Swept Wing Demons across Flatte City.


    There were two pictures in the report. Zhang Tie''s airship was covered with wounds. Like battle armors, the entire body of the glider was tainted with the fresh blood of wing demons; Zhang Tie''s military exploits ranked first in the Military Exploits Ranking of Crystal Battle Fortress.


    The newspaper ''Holy War News'' was delivered once a week to the frontline troops, each time fixedly printing 100,000 pieces. This day, only several hours after it was delivered had the urgent remote-sensing messages been spread to the Human Alliance Command from all the frontline troops across the Selnes Theater of Operations. Almost all the troops that could touch with the command had sent the urgent letters¡ª¡ªthe ''Holy War News'' is severely insufficient. We need more...


    On the same day, a name¡ª¡ªZhang Tie, the Selnes Eagle started to spread across the Selnes Theater of Operations. Everybody kept this name in mind.


    This name represented the first air cavalry across Waii Sub-Continent, an unprecedented powerful armed force that could completely conquer the air force of demons and a hope that could make all the despaired people spirited...


    Along with this report, all the millions of soldiers across the Selnes Theater of Operations focused on the Crystal Battle Fortress...

 565 Great Honors

    Chapter 565: Great Honors


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After seizing Flatte City, all the human troops across the south of Selnes Theater of Operations let out a deep sigh. If they were too intense about the holy war, they might collapse. Therefore, the Human Alliance Command conducted a propaganda widely towards the victory of Flatte battle by this chance, relieving all the troops.


    As a brilliant new star in the battle of Flatte City, the Human Alliance Command especially dispatched a colonel to the Crystal Battle Fortress and expressed the order of commendation of the Command to Zhang Tie. He invited Zhang Tie to attend the reward ceremony in the Human Alliance Command of Mocco City on April 27th.


    On April 26th, one day before Zhang Tie attended that reward ceremony had that order of commendation from the Command been delivered to all the frontline troops across Selnes Theater of Operations.


    There was only one sentence in the order of commendation, which Zhang Tie had seen in the Crystal Battle Fortress.


    ¡ª¡ªWith the consent of the Holy War Alliance Command of Central Countries Alliance in Blackson Humans Corridor, we especially reward staff sergeant Zhang Tie, the air cavalry of Jinyun Country with the great honor of ''Selnes Eagle'' and human glory medal.


    This order of commendation won Zhang Tie another two records in Selnes Theater of Operations: the first one who obtained the honorary title and a human glory medal.


    This honor was a special treatment as it was confirmed by the alliance command. Since the alliance command delivered this order of commendation, Zhang Tie''s name had been closely related to Selnes. Selnes Eagle was not a nickname anymore; it was a great honor, which could be written in the history and be placed in front of his name at any place. This honor was even more important than any military rank and official post in the army. With this honor, Zhang Tie enjoyed the supreme treatment in any country across Blackson Humans Corridor.


    This was the first honor rewarded by the Holy War Alliance Command of Central Countries Alliance in Blackson Humans Corridor since the beginning of the 3rd holy war and the first honor that someone won in the 3rd holy war across the Blackson Humans Corridor.


    So was the human glory medal. Like an iron-blood medal, the human glory medal also carried a special meaning. Iron-blood medal was set by Norman Empire in order to commend the bravest soldiers in troops; human glory medal was also used to commend those individuals who had excellent performance in the battle with demons and raised the morale of all the human troops.


    Each human glory medal indicated the winner''s great contribution to humans in the holy war.


    Zhang Tie was dumbfounded by the two great honors. Based on his performance in Flatte City, it was normal for Zhang Tie to gain one of the two honors; however, Zhang Tie found it a bit excessive to be rewarded with both honors.


    Zhang Tie understood the reason quickly. Actually, the one who needed the two honors most was not him but the alliance command and the human troops of over 5 million soldiers who were converging at the frontline of Selnes Theater of Operations.


    At this moment, a black horse, a victory by a narrow margin and the great honors which could show everyone the light of hope in the future are the most inspiring spiritual medicament for the frontline troops to survive on.


    Historically, there were many similar examples. Even if there were no heroes, they would fabricate a hero, not to mention a real hero like him. Perhaps some people in the alliance command were very thrilled to see such a hero at such a critical moment as they were dreaming about that.


    From Blackhot City, all that Zhang Tie had experienced these years had made him gradually mature. He had special opinions on many things. Zhang Tie frankly adopted his honors. He was neither too proud nor too modest. Zhang Tie had a sense of achievement about these honors and was satisfied with his growth.


    Zhang Tie was also very calm about the intention of some big figures in the alliance command. "Now that Selnes Theater of Operations needs such a figure and I meet the conditions of becoming such a figure coincidentally, I don''t mind being used to increase the morale of the soldiers across the theater of operations as a spiritual medicament."


    In any case, it was always good to show hope to so many people. No matter what, this was a duel between humans and demons. As long as it was beneficial to humans and didn''t violate Zhang Tie''s behavioral principles, Zhang Tie could basically accept it.


    On April 27th, the entire theater of operations started to drizzle as if it wanted the battlefield to cease. After seizing the Flatte City, the demons'' offense was curbed temporarily. These days, Selnes Plain was relatively safer. Although there were always skirmishes, almost all the battles above the scale of the division had disappeared. Encounters with LV 9 demon squad also decreased a lot. Therefore, everyone took a good rest for a few days.


    Including Zhang Tie. His glider was almost discarded as useless as its airfoils and empennage were severely damaged. There were too many wounds on the glider. In the words of the crew members of the Idiots, it was already a miracle for him to drive it back.


    Through this air battle, Zhang Tie accumulated a lot of experiences. Therefore, Zhang Tie was digesting what he achieved in this air battle in the trouble-reappearance situations these days as he recuperated and built up spirit for the preparation of the next battle.


    Zhang Tie''s way to recuperate and build up spirit became a scene in the Crystal Battle Fortress. Almost every morning, he would call those crew members of the Idiots to beat him in boxing gloves. He just defended them yet not escaped. He asked them to beat him 2 hours a day.


    Many people in the Crystal Battle Fortress became confused about this, "Is this how the first air cavalry in Selnes Theater of Operations trains himself? It''s indeed very special." Zhang Tie told them by training in this way could increase his anti-strike ability. Being influenced by the halos of his reputation, many soldiers started to learn from him.


    Near 2 pm, Zhang Tie wearing a wholly new suit of air cavalry drove a military SUV towards Mocco City together with Lan Yunxi to attend the reward ceremony held in the alliance command in Mocco City.


    As the commander of the airship troop of Jinyun Country, Lan Yunxi was also rewarded and invited by the alliance command due to her excellent performance in Flatte battle. Therefore, Lan Yunxi and Zhang Tie left the Crystal Battle Fortress together in the public.


    Since Zhang Tie woke up in the ward, he had not seen Lan Yunxi. Lan Yunxi was also busy dealing with after-war affairs in the airship troop. This time, Zhang Tie was really attracted by Lan Yunxi.


    In a military officer''s ceremonial dress of the airship troop of Jinyun Country, Lan Yunxi looked bold, elegant and beautiful. The plump breasts and the tightening elegant curve from her knees to her butts in her ceremonial dress constantly attracted Zhang Tie''s attention.


    Lan Yunxi also wore a pair of middle-heeled black leather shoes, which made her look more womanly.


    Beautiful feet, beautiful legs, beautiful butts, beautiful waist, beautiful breasts and beautiful look, that''s Lan Yunxi''s image in Zhang Tie''s eyes. Even if she lost her temper towards him, Zhang Tie would find her especially cute.


    "What are you looking at?" finding Zhang Tie''s eyes becoming increasingly audacious, Lan Yunxi became a bit bashful as she glared at Zhang Tie, "Drive your car carefully!"


    Zhang Tie sighed, "Chinese culture is really profound and extensive! I remember an old Chinese saying which is really wise!"


    "What old saying?" Lan Yunxi''s curiosity was aroused.


    "A short departure is better than a new marriage!" Zhang Tie teased Lan Yunxi.


    "Shut up!" Lan Yunxi slightly blushed as she inclined her head and watched the drizzling scenery in the wild.


    Watching Lan Yunxi turning her head, Zhang Tie immediately touched her thigh. Lan Yunxi caught Zhang Tie''s hand and pushed it away. Zhang Tie reached out his hand and was pushed away once again. After repeating it three times, Lan Yunxi became irritated, "Do you want to perform as a glider again?"


    "I have to do something even if I would be beaten ferociously!" Zhang Tie replied as he put his hand on Lan Yunxi''s thigh once again.


    "Villain!" Lan Yunxi swore Zhang Tie. However, she didn''t push Zhang Tie''s hand away this time.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile. Since Lan Yunxi would like to attend the reward ceremony with him and would like to sit in the front of the car, Zhang Tie had known that he had a chance to touch Lan Yunxi today. If Lan Yunxi really opposed him, she would choose to sit in the back seats. After experiencing so many women, Zhang Tie had been able to recognize women''s delicate mental changes very well.


    Driving the vehicle and touching Lan Yunxi''s thigh which felt nice, Zhang Tie sighed satisfactorily.


    "Why did you sigh?" Lan Yunxi didn''t care about Zhang Tie''s hand anymore as Zhang Tie''s petting made her comfortable and especially stimulative. Lan Yunxi''s face slightly blushed; however, she still pretended that nothing happened.


    "To drive a car and pet my beloved woman''s thigh. That''s what I had dreamed of. I''ve never imagined that this could happen so fast. However, under such an environment, I cannot stand but sigh!" Zhang Tie explained as he glanced at Lan Yunxi, "What''s your dream?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Lan Yunxi''s eyes became a bit vacant, "My dream?"


    "Yup, what''s your dream?"


    "Nobody asked me about that before."


    "Is it a strange question?"


    "Yes, it is for me!" Lan Yunxi smiled which looked a bit disappointed, "I''ve awakened a powerful ancestral bloodline when I was born. Therefore, since I was 3 years old, everybody around me had set the only life target for me, namely, to be the most, most, most excellent person so as to live up my sacred bloodline. Therefore, I probably dream to be such a person!"


    Zhang Tie stopped petting her at once as he turned to watch Lan Yunxi, "Haven''t you thought about what you were really desiring for since you were born?"


    "No, I don''t desire for anything at all. Because all that I want has been piled up in front of me by choice. You might not know how Huaiyuan Palace educated me. The first lesson of my life was taught by my father. In the classroom, he made me understand that those things which could be bought with money were not worthwhile to be treasured and admired. I should learn to exchange money and those worthless things for something more valuable!" Lan Yunxi let out a sigh.


    "Ah, what?" Zhang Tie was shocked.


    "I remember that when I was only 4 years old, I saw a beautiful toy in another little girl''s hand. I liked it very much and wanted to have one like that too. I told my father about that. My father didn''t say anything to me at that time. On the 2nd day, he took me to a very distant city by airship. In a warehouse of that city, I saw piles of toys. My father told me that all the toys belonged to me, even that factory which produced the toys. He let me choose one. I didn''t because I lost my interest in toys at once. I even started to dislike those lifeless toys. Do you know what happened then?"


    "What happened? Your dad let you burn all of the toys?" Zhang Tie guessed.


    "No, my father transported all the toys back to Huaiyuan Prefecture by airship. In a festival, he let me gift the toys to strange girls one after another. As a result, I exchanged those toys I disliked for more praises and reputation for the first time in my whole life. This was my first lesson."


    "You grew up in this way?" Zhang Tie asked seriously as he watched Lan Yunxi, "You were always under the control of others since you were a little girl!"


    Lan Yunxi nodded...


    With a shrill sound, Zhang Tie braked the car.

 566 A Sharp Contras

    Chapter 566: A Sharp Contrast


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Seeing Zhang Tie parking the car, Lan Yunxi turned to watch Zhang Tie, "What do you want?"


    "I won''t go to the alliance command!" Zhang Tie started to back his car rapidly while staring at the rear-view mirror.


    Under Zhang Tie''s manipulation, the powerful military SUV moved back several meters before changing its direction quickly.


    "You won''t go to the alliance command?" Lan Yunxi widely opened her eyes at once.


    "Hmm, I have free time now, I can show you something cool and let you know the feeling of being a poor student. I will show you the taste of being not excellent in others'' eyes..." as Zhang Tie said this, he changed the direction and headed for the southwest, instead of Mocco City.


    "Are you insane? Don''t you know that this reward ceremony is mainly prepared for you? The alliance command will reward a human glory medal to you. So many big figures are waiting to see you in the command. By this chance, you can accumulate many human resources. Many people might not have such a rare chance in their lives and you refuse it?" Lan Yunxi watched Zhang Tie like watching a lunatic.


    Zhang Tie pursed his lips stubbornly, "After all, the order of commendation has been delivered. This is just a ceremony. Those big figures have nothing to do with me. Just treat it as playing truant in the school meeting!"


    Lan Yunxi drew in a deep breath, "Take me to Mocco City. I will go there!"


    Zhang Tie pulled up the safety switch on his left hand and locked all the doors at once. Only he could open them.


    "Douchebag!" Lan Yunxi tried to open the doors; however, she couldn''t.


    "As you''re in my car, you have to follow my order. You''re abducted by me today. You should obey my intention. If you disobey, humph...humph..." Zhang Tie sneered ferociously as he kept driving forward.


    Crossing her hands, Lan Yunxi sat aside with an angry look. She ignored Zhang Tie for quite a while, Zhang Tie just drove his car silently. After 10 minutes, it stopped raining while it gradually became sunny.


    "Where are we going?" Lan Yunxi finally opened her mouth.


    "Hehe, I thought you would not ask about that. Don''t worry. I will not abduct your wealth or sexually harass you. You will know that soon!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    Zhang Tie had a good memory. After looking at the flight chart of the Selnes Theater of Operations, he had remembered that there was a glider base over 40 km away in the southwest of the Crystal Battle Fortress. He wanted to take Lan Yunxi to that place.


    Realizing that Zhang Tie had made his decision to not go to the alliance command in Mocco City, Lan Yunxi didn''t speak anymore. Not knowing why, she felt completely relaxed while staying with Zhang Tie.


    "Why not take off your dress?" Zhang Tie suggested Lan Yunxi. After hearing his words, Lan Yunxi instantly glared at him. Zhang Tie hurriedly clarified, "The military officer''s ceremonial dress looks nice; but it looks a bit tightening. As we''re not going to attend that reward ceremony anymore, don''t make yourself so restrictive. Relax yourself."


    Lan Yunxi glanced at Zhang Tie twice before silently taking off her major''s ceremonial dress, exposing her blue long-sleeve shirt.


    Watching that plump breasts under her shirt, Zhang Tie whistled.


    "Actually you can undo two buttons. It''s not raining now and is getting hotter. Don''t be that restrictive, young girl!" Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva as he urged.


    Lan Yunxi gave a ferocious punch on Zhang Tie''s head, causing him shriek miserably.


    However, Lan Yunxi, whose face slightly blushed revealed a wisp of smile at her mouth corners at once.


    ...


    Only after 20 more minutes, Zhang Tie had already seen that glider base.


    There were two methods to set off a glider: to throw the glider by airship in the air; to drag the glider into the sky by airship. The gliders in this base set off with the second method. The gliders in this base could also serve as a supplementation of the airship troop in the Selnes Theater of Operations. This base was also available for the gliders of airship troop to land in emergency after losing contact with the airship. Across the Selnes Theater of Operations, there were over 10 bases of gliders like this one.


    This base was founded on a hillside, which was surrounded by wire net. A medium-sized battle fortress was defending this place.


    Zhang Tie parked outside the gate of the base, where a second lieutenant on duty requested him to get off his car.


    "Please show me your ID certificate." the second lieutenant asked after glancing at Zhang Tie and Lan Yunxi on his side, who looked pretty beautiful after putting off her officer''s ceremonial dress and utterly different from her real status.


    Zhang Tie handed that certificate of air cavalry through the window.


    After opening Zhang Tie''s certificate, the second lieutenant became stunned at once. After that, he started to quiver all over. He watched the certificate, then Zhang Tie. Then, he instantly flushed while his eyes glittered...


    "Ah, sir...aww...no, your excellency..." seeing the legendary figure that shocked the entire Selnes Theater of Operations, the second lieutenant immediately stammered. He wanted to call Zhang Tie sir; however, after remembering that Zhang Tie was a sergeant first class, which was higher than him, he found it improper to use that appellation. Therefore, he changed it into your excellency at once. Only general-level figures could enjoy the appellation ''Your Excellency'' in the army. Besides generals, only the winner of a widely accepted honor could enjoy such an appellation.


    "Easy bro, just call me Zhang Tie. My glider is broken. Coincidentally, your base is not far from the Crystal Battle Fortress; additionally, I was told that the gliders in your base were good. Therefore, I want to borrow one and give this beauty a ride in the air. Is it convenient?" Zhang Tie blinked his eyes towards that second lieutenant as he pouted his mouth towards the copilot.


    That second lieutenant watched Zhang Tie, then Lan Yunxi. He then understood it at once as he revealed an obscene smile that was familiar to all men. The second lieutenant drew in a deep breath as he immediately chested out, "No problem. Of course, the gliders of our Hoorn Republic are the best. It''s our great honor to see you visit here, your excellency..."


    After hearing that second lieutenant''s words, Zhang Tie immediately knew that this base was Hoorn Republic''s frontline base in Selnes Theater of Operations. "What a coincidence!" Zhang Tie became thrilled inside.


    Hoorn Republic was a small republic state in Blackson Humans Corridor in the north of Kalay Mountain Range. It only had millions of people and covered over 100,000 square km. The overall national strength of the state could not even match that of a city. However, this state was very well-known for its glider sport in Blackson Human Corridor.


    In Hoorn Republic, the glider sport had already become the quintessence of this state and a part of its countrymen''s daily lives. Some figures could be used to describe the influence of the glider sport in Hoorn Republic¡ª¡ª1 in 7 people would have a glider or a hang glider; 1 in 4 people had an experience in driving a glider or a hang glider. However, the total amount of deaths caused by the glider sport each year in other countries of Blackson Humans Corridor didn''t even account for 1/10 of that died for the same reason in Hoorn Republic. The glider and hang glider export was one of the pillar industries in this state.


    It seemed that many record keepers of the glider sport across Blackson Humans Corridor came from Hoorn Republic¡ª¡ªOf course, before Zhang Tie shot into the sky.


    Zhang Tie''s arrival shocked the entire glider base. Everyone in the base from colonel Ohlson to those below him felt honorable and proud about Zhang Tie''s arrival.


    In the eyes of everyone in the base, it was not a request at all; it was completely the Selnes Eagle''s confirmation and trust about the manufacturing technology of the glider in Hoorn Republic. If not Hoorn Republic''s good reputation in manufacturing gliders, why would the Selnes Eagle borrow one here soon after his glider was damaged?


    Only after a few minutes, the staff in the base had already prepared a WindTalker double-seat glider for Zhang Tie.


    The wing of WindTalker was wider than that of the falcon. It was relatively shorter. It was specially designed as its horizontal empennage almost connected with its main wings. Additionally, there were two vertical empennages on its end.


    The WindTalker was pushed into the track and hooked with the hauling cable on the capstan of the tractor. After Colonel Ohlson nodded towards Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie appreciated him. After that, under the gaze of a lot of soldiers in the base, he cradled Lan Yunxi and walked towards the glider, causing Lan Yunxi shriek.


    "Put me down!" Lan Yunxi''s face turned red as she had not imagined that Zhang Tie could be so audacious in the public.


    "You''re now my juvenile delinquent who plays truant with me, you''re my woman. You have to follow me!" Zhang Tie told Lan Yunxi.


    Seeing this, all the soldiers in the base burst out into laughter.


    Zhang Tie put Lan Yunxi onto the back seat and helped her buckle up. After that, he quickly sat in the cockpit and drew up the canopy. He then thumbed up.


    Being drawn by the ground tractor, Zhang Tie''s glider soon reached above 60 km/h on the track. The glider soon rushed to the end of the track. Under the effect of the ascending airflow from below the valley, the glider immediately separated from the hauling cable and flew in the air...


    The glider constantly ascended. After hovering above the base for a while, it started to fly southward. As it wasn''t raining in the south just now, it was a bit hot there. After a short while, Zhang Tie had already found an ascending thermal flow. Like climbing on stages, Zhang Tie just drove his glider and constantly ascended through accessing to thermal flows one after another.


    At the beginning, Lan Yunxi looked calm as usual. However, seeing the data on the altimeter constantly rising and surpassed 10,000 m, Lan Yunxi''s face slightly changed.


    Zhang Tie kept ascending at a faster speed.


    "I will take you to the highest point where nobody has ever arrived yet..." Zhang Tie told Lan Yunxi.


    At 10,000 m, they had already been able to see the entire Selnes Plain; however, Zhang Tie didn''t stop.


    After half an hour, Zhang Tie''s glider penetrated through the thick clouds like a whale jumping out of the water and arrived at a height that Lan Yunxi had never imagined before. Nobody else could arrive at such a height by the glider.


    At that height, wind softened, ground disappeared. They were stepping on undulating, white cloud sea while facing a rainbow which stretched over the sky. The beautiful scenery made them suffocated...


    After recovering her composure, Lan Yunxi suddenly recalled a term "stratosphere".


    "How possible?"


    When Lan Yunxi was greatly shocked, the shameless voice of the guy in the cockpit drifted into her ears.


    "Chick, how do you feel by playing truant? Can you coordinate with me by some shrieks? If you feel suffocated here, you can just groan for a while. If you do that, I will have a sense of achievement. Don''t worry. It''s high here. Nobody would hear that. No matter what, this is our first time to reach above the clouds. A LV 12 great battle master should be adapted to such an environment..."


    "Do you want to hear shrieks?" Lan Yunxi''s voice softened at once.


    "Yes, can you coordinate with me?" Zhang Tie became thrilled.


    "No problem!"


    After a few seconds...


    "Ah..." someone shrilled in the glider. However, it was not Lan Yunxi, but Zhang Tie. A hand of a LV 12 great battle master penetrated through the back of Zhang Tie''s chair as it ferociously pinched Zhang Tie''s arm.


    This was Lan Yunxi''s first time to pinch a person''s arm since she was born...


    ...


    The reward ceremony was ongoing in the alliance command of Mocco City. The conference hall was converged with stars, including all the noble ones coming from the central states alliance''s base in Mocco City. As those being rewarded showed up one after another, the atmosphere in the rewarding ceremony became a bit weird.


    Because the main character that they wanted to see didn''t appear at all.


    Everybody was looking around. Many were watching the entrance of the conference hall.


    Some generals sitting in the rostrum of the conference hall looked as black as the bottom of a pot. When it was close to Zhang Tie''s name, a man in colonel''s suit entered the side door of the conference hall and came to the rostrum. He then lowered his body and whispered to Howard, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.


    General Howard slightly frowned his snowwhite eyebrows when he heard the whispers of the colonel. After two seconds, when the colonel left the rostrum, General Howard recovered his composure.


    "May I have your attention, please. I''ve gotten the latest news. Our Selnes Eagle was on his way here. After finding some wing demons breaking through our frontline defense, Sergeant First Class Zhang Tie gave up the chance to attend this rewarding ceremony at once. He instantly drove to the nearest glider base and chased after the wing demons..."


    After General Howard finished his words, the conference hall became quiet for two seconds before bursting out thunder-like applause...


    "Only such a person is worth the honor of Selnes Eagle and the Human Glory Medal!"


    "Sergeant First Class Zhang Tie is a real fighter..."


    "We have to ask ''Holy War News'' to make a good report for it. We need to show all the soldiers how our Selnes Eagle fulfill his responsibilities for his honor!"


    "Yes, yes..."


    Excessive praise filled the hall. By contrast, Zhang Tie was traveling with her woman above clouds.


    However, before those noble ones finished their praises, a ground-breaking boom had drifted into their ears, causing the crystal ceiling lamp to shake.


    Alchemist''s bomb?


    Everyone realized what happened at once. That boom was less than 1 km away from here.


    All the people sprung up from their seats as they exchanged glances with each other with the confused look...


    "What''s happening?" General Howard became infuriated as he smacked the table and stood up.


    After a few minutes, they knew what happened. A military SUV with the driving license of Jinyun Country was boomed by alchemists'' bomb on the avenue 1 km away from the alliance command.


    The raider and all the passengers in the military SUV were killed. Besides, over 400 people were wounded and many buildings were damaged in the neighboring street.


    The ones in the vehicle were an adviser and two retinues of the alliance command. 2 hours ago, the alliance command dispatched some people to investigate what happened to Zhang Tie in Crystal Battle Fortress. However, their vehicles anchored on the way there. Therefore, they could only come back by the SUVs of the Crystal Battle Fortress.


    An adviser, some commoners and the SUV, the total value of which could never match that of an alchemist''s bomb. They were obviously not the real target. Who was the real target of the raider then?


    After realizing that the Selnes Eagle would attend the rewarding ceremony by the vehicle of Crystal Battle Fortress today, everybody understood that the real target of the bomb was rightly the main character of this rewarding ceremony. The raider waited on Zhang Tie''s necessary route for the alliance command. At the sight of the SUV heading for the alliance command from the direction of the Crystal Battle Fortress, they launched the attack...


    Everyone felt chilly at once...

 567 Breaking Sun Sutra

    Chapter 567: Breaking Sun Sutra


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Until it was completely dark and the sky had dotted with sparkling stars did Zhang Tie take Lan Yunxi back to the Crystal Battle Fortress by the glider under the brilliance of the two bright moons.


    After sliding on the ground for a small distance, the glider finally parked. Zhang Tie and Lan Yunxi then got off the glider together. Seeing this, the ground service staff ran towards here.


    "Thank you!" Lan Yunxi told Zhang Tie, "I''m very happy today. It was a nice trip."


    Zhang Tie glanced at those ground servicemen who were running towards here before revealing a smile to Lan Yunxi, "I''m glad that you liked it. Remember to call me when you want to play truant next time!"


    Lan Yunxi replied with a smile, "Actually, I found you''re not that bad."


    "Of course. I''m one of the top 4 excellent teenagers in Blackhot City. I''m a very good person, okay?" Zhang Tie urged.


    "I will go back first. You''d better not expose your talent to others."


    Zhang Tie knew that Lan Yunxi referred to his talent of driving a glider into the stratosphere. A fabulous experience for the glider drivers for sure. It magnified the application of atmospheric phenomenon.


    Below the stratosphere was the troposphere. The ascending airflow which enabled gliders to fly was the product of troposphere. This airflow stopped ascending when it reached below the stratosphere. According to common sense, gliders could never reach as high as the stratosphere. However, Zhang Tie could make it. Besides the ascending thermal airflow, Zhang Tie could also sense some more powerful spiral ascending airflow in the troposphere.


    If there was a high mountain range below or in the place where cold and hot air converged with each other, this powerful spiral ascending airflow might appear temporarily. The moment Zhang Tie seized it could he keep his glider climbing up until reaching the stratosphere. He could fly steadily and rapidly below the stratosphere.


    This was also the maximal flight height of gliders theoretically. The temperature above the stratosphere was higher than that below the stratosphere. Therefore, sinking cold airflow could always be seen in the stratosphere. This situation was completely opposite to that of the troposphere. Therefore, no glider could reach this height, even theoretically. This was determined by the flight principles.


    Knowing that Lan Yunxi was concerned about him, Zhang Tie nodded, "Don''t worry. I will not show off this talent unless it''s necessary!"


    "Why was it necessary for you today?" Lan Yunxi watched Zhang Tie with a bashful look.


    "Because it''s always necessary for me to stay with you!" Zhang Tie watched Lan Yunxi fervently.


    "Have a good sleep!" Lan Yunxi turned away her bashful eyes as she said kindly.


    "You too!"


    Lan Yunxi nodded before walking towards the Crystal Battle Fortress. After walking a few steps, she suddenly turned around and asked, "Can you promise me one thing?"


    "What?"


    "Don''t take any other women by your glider ever!"


    "I won''t!" Zhang Tie replied decisively.


    "Humph!" Lan Yunxi left with a good mood.


    Seeing Lan Yunxi leaving, Zhang Tie almost howled towards the moon. He felt that his relationship with Lan Yunxi had entered a new stage from then on. Because Lan Yunxi had changed and become very womanly in front of him. Zhang Tie had never seen that before.


    After handing the WindTalker to the ground servicemen, Zhang Tie whistled and walked towards the Idiots vigorously. He planned to have the Idiots transport the WindTalker back to the glider base tomorrow.And by the way, he would drive back his SUV from there.


    Zhang Tie''s memory was filled with Lan Yunxi''s nice face. However, when he returned to the Idiots, he found the first mate sad. Zhang Tie instantly woke up from the sense of falling in love.


    "What''s wrong?" at the sight of the look of the first mate, Zhang Tie had already known that something happened.


    "You didn''t go there today?"


    "Hmm, I changed my opinion on the way. I took a ride in the sky!"


    "Thankfully, you didn''t go there. If you went there, you might not be able to come back!" the first mate replied with a smile.


    "What happened?" Zhang Tie became stunned.


    "Something happened in the Mocco City. The entire city is in curfew now..." the first mate then told Zhang Tie about what happened today.


    After hearing his words, Zhang Tie changed his face. He had not imagined that he was worth being boomed with an alchemist''s bomb by those motherf*cking demons lackeys. If he went there together with Lan Yunxi today, he might not survive.


    According to the witnesses, when the SUV from Crystal Battle Fortress drew close to the alliance command, someone suddenly rushed to the side of the SUV and ignited the alchemist''s bomb. Everything over there was boomed into pieces. Nobody could react in that case.


    "Three-Eye Association, that b*stard must be dispatched by the Three-Eye Association."


    The moment he thought that Lan Yunxi was in the same vehicle with him, Zhang Tie became scared. An unprecedented fury and a killing intent started to boil in Zhang Tie''s heart.


    The Human Glory Medal of Zhang Tie had been sent here by people from the alliance command. It was a diamond-shaped medal with a Chinese character "ÈË[1]" in the middle of it. Below that character was Zhang Tie''s name. It looked pretty delicate.


    What was unprecedented was that this medal was a rare rune equipment. There was a very special rune effect on the medal. When he wore it on his chest, with the effect of rune equipment on the medal, Zhang Tie''s voice could increase by 8% on loudness and force of penetration.


    This effect could be very remarkable in the public. It was also an effective manner for Zhang Tie to display his honor and dignity.


    Zhang Tie named it ''small trumpet'' privately...


    ...


    On the next morning, after getting up and finishing his morning classes, someone from Crystal Battle Fortress came to inform Zhang Tie that Lan Yunxi wanted to see him. Zhang Tie tidied up his clothes before coming to Lan Yunxi''s office in the Crystal Battle Fortress.


    Zhang Tie knew that Lan Yunxi probably wanted to see him for what happened in Mocco City yesterday.


    At this moment, Lan Yunxi had recovered her dignified look as the commander of the airship troop of Jinyun Country in Selnes Theater of Operations. At the sight of Lan Yunxi''s solemn look, Zhang Tie''s also became serious.


    "Have you known what happened in Mocco City yesterday?"


    "I have!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Perhaps there''s some information that you don''t know. After what happened yesterday, the alliance command has started to investigate the source of that alchemist''s bomb. Finally, they found it was from the strategic arsenal of the Symbian Republic, which was right in the Mocco City. 3 alchemist'' bombs lost in that arsenal. The director and many people being related to this case had been arrested. Although after the strict interrogation, there was still no answer. Nobody knew how the three alchemist''s bombs were lost at all!"


    "That means there are two more alchemist''s bombs waiting for me?" Zhang Tie sneered, "I''m really worthwhile in their eyes!"


    Lan Yunxi nodded, "This event is not as simple as it is apparently. This event reveals that the Mocco City and the alliance command have been penetrated by Three-Eye Association!"


    "That was expected. As so many people from different countries are gathering in Selnes Theater of Operations, it would be abnormal if there was no mole of Three-Eye Association among them. Additionally, from this event, we now know there might be more than one mole of Three-Eye Association among them in Selnes Theater of Operations!"


    "Therefore, you need to be very careful!"


    "I will!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Here you go!" Lan Yunxi took out a very precious item and gave it to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie took it and found that was a half-palm sized square item being covered with a brilliant gold pattern which looked like a clan identification plate. In the middle of the gold pattern was a weird matchbox-sized black crystal.


    "What''s this?" Zhang Tie looked at it for a while.


    "You will know it after injecting your spiritual energy into that piece of crystal!"


    "Is it another rune equipment?" Zhang Tie was moved as he injected a wisp of spiritual energy into that piece of black crystal.


    In a split second, some golden words had appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    ¡ª¡ª"Breaking Sun Sutra"


    Zhang Tie injected in more spiritual energy and started to skim over the words and images in the book one page after another.


    "It has the secret knowledge on cultivation?" Zhang Tie became spirited as he felt a bit thirsty. However, he still forced his spirit to retreat out of it.


    He then watched Lan Yunxi and drew in a deep breath, "Is this the secret knowledge of Huaiyuan Palace?"


    "Yes, you can light all the 987 surging points in your body according to the contents in the Breaking Sun Sutra. You can be promoted all the way to LV 16 and become a battle spirit!"

 568 The Secret of Surging Points

    Chapter 568: The Secret of Surging Points


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    ''Breaking Sun Sutra'' was unusual. Zhang Tie had noticed that from its carrier. Zhang Tie admitted that he had not seen a secret knowledge made into a rune equipment although he had rich experiences.


    Zhang Tie was sure that it must cost a lot to store so many contents into a piece of marvelous crystal and enable people to read it by injecting spiritual energy in.


    In this age, all the contents on cultivation above LV 10 were top secret knowledge and were treasured by all big clans. They would not be exposed to the public easily, not to mention the contents of ''Breaking Sun Sutra'', which could help one light all the surging points smoothly and promote all the way from strong fighter to battle spirit. The value and position of ''Breaking Sun Sutra'' were among the top treasure of Huaiyuan Palace for sure. Commoners could never touch it. Even though Zhang Tie had stayed in Hidden Dragon Island for so long, he had not heard about ''Breaking Sun Sutra'' at all.


    "Does anyone else know that you gave me the Breaking Sun Sutra?" Zhang Tie stared at Lan Yunxi with gleaming eyes.


    Lan Yunxi turned her face away, "You don''t need to know that. No matter what, to constantly improve your fighting strength is always the best guarantee for you to survive dangers. You''re just a LV 9. Seriously, you just stepped on the road of cultivation. With this book, you could cut it short."


    "I''m sorry, I cannot take it!" although Zhang Tie was desiring about the contents, he still put the ''Breaking Sun Sutra'' back in front of Lan Yunxi decisively.


    "Why?" Lan Yunxi glared at Zhang Tie with a confused look.


    Zhang Tie smirked, "Because the more you help me now, the more difficult it will be for me to marry you in the future. If those elders in Huaiyuan Palace knew that I promoted to LV 10 with your help, you tell me how would they see me. Additionally, if I accepted it, it would definitely pose negative influence on you. I know that even in Huaiyuan Palace ''Breaking Sun Sutra'' could still not be touched by everyone!"


    "Do you know how difficult the road of cultivation is above LV 9? You might easily lose your life!"


    "I don''t know. But I''d like to hear that if you want to tell me. But you''d better not tell me the contents of the ''Breaking Sun Sutra'', I will not listen to it!" Zhang Tie said languidly.


    Zhang Tie''s look made Lan Yunxi angry. However, she also felt warm, "There are totally 987 surging points in human body. People would light all the surging points on his or her spine from LV 1 to LV 9. All the surging points on one''s spine were visible surging points. The shrine surging point was called original point, which was the foundation of one''s cultivation. When one''s cultivation reached a certain degree, those visible surging points would appear naturally. As long as one constantly polish these bright surging points with spiritual energy, he or she might light these surging points on his spine!"


    "I know this. But I''ve not heard about the appellation visible surging points and original point!"


    "The visible surging points could be seen in the sunshine, which could be manifested. The original point refers to the original point of one''s cultivation. Because of its special function, it''s usually not mentioned together with other surging points in human body. Being contrary to this, besides 34 visible surging points and that special shrine surging point, there are 953 invisible surging points, which could not be seen. Those invisible surging points could only be manifested through special method and cultivation process. Each piece of the 639 muscles and 206 bones contains a surging point. Besides, the special energy gathering centers in the brain, guts and the other places of human body also contain surging points. After lighting all of these surging points, visible and invisible, one would reach LV 16."


    "Wait..." Zhang Tie became a bit stunned as it was his first time to hear these contents, "You mean human guts also contain surging points, including heart?"


    "Of course, there are 7 surging points on one''s heart. After lighting the 7 surging points, one could become smarter!"


    "7-hole heart?" an old Chinese saying appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind at once. Zhang Tie had not imagined that the 7-hole heart meant that when 7 surging points on one''s heart were lit, one would become smarter.


    "It seems that I only need to find all these surging points and light them all so as to promote my level gradually." Zhang Tie became excited. He had never thought it was so easy to cultivate above LV 9.


    "No way. If it was so easy, the secret knowledge above LV 10 would be seen everywhere in the market!" Lan Yunxi warned Zhang Tie after knowing what Zhang Tie was thinking about, "Human potential is locked in one''s surging points. When you light these surging points, you''re actually unlocking your potential. If the human body is treated as a safe full of wealth, those invisible surging points would be the code of this safe. You think you can try this code at no cost? Do you think it''s as easy as playing house like kids?"


    "You mean I have to follow some mysterious rule or order to light the rest 953 invisible surging points? You mean I could not easily find those invisible surging points. If the order is wrong, it would bring me a very severe outcome."


    "You''re not too stupid. Tell me how many orders and methods do you need to try before lighting the 953 surging points?"


    Lan Yunxi''s question was not complex. It was just a mathematical problem. Having received math education for some years, Zhang Tie could easily understand it. He then started mental arithmetic by abacus. However, in a split second, Zhang Tie became puzzled as the result was out of Zhang Tie''s upper limit.


    Because it was a terrifyingly enormous figure¡ª¡ª953*952*951*950*949...he needed to keep multiplying these figures in this way until 2. Only after completing the first three steps, Zhang Tie had already gained an enormous figure 862800456. In the fourth step, it became 819660433200. In the 5th step, the 13-column abacus in Zhang Tie''s mind had already failed to hold this figure anymore.


    This was just a beginning. He needed to keep multiplying like this until 952 steps later. The final result might be read for over 10 minutes by people.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s face, Lan Yunxi knew that he had already realized how severe was the problem. Therefore, she said, "Do you know that? The cultivation method above LV 9 is very precious because it is contained in the infinite possibilities. Like a grain of gold in the ocean, such infinite possibilities also contain infinite wrong cultivation methods and death traps. If there''s any problem with the order and method to light those surging points, you might explode and die at any time or at least become handicapped!"


    Lan Yunxi''s words utterly overthrew Zhang Tie''s presumption about the cultivation process above LV 9. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that the cultivation process above LV 9 was like that below LV 9. He thought he only needed to find the surging points and light them one after another. He had not imagined that there were so many possibilities in the process of cultivation above LV 9 and so many risks were buried in the process. He once thought that everyone would follow the same order to light surging points above LV 9.


    "No way!" Lan Yunxi glanced at Zhang Tie, "When you lit surging points, you were also decoding your body''s treasury. Different decoding processes would trigger different potentials and abilities of human bodies. Of course, they would bring different results. Like how painters paint, although they use the same raw materials, they could make different paintings. After matching and mixing with different colors, they could display completely different paintings."


    "What do you mean by different results?"


    "Take the simplest example, one cultivated Zhang''s "Breaking Sun Sutra", the other one cultivated Lan''s "Big Dipper Sutra". Both of them were promoted to LV 10. Although both of them could open qi sea and release battle qi in the air, the one who cultivated ''Breaking Sun Sutra'' would be 10% more powerful than that who cultivated ''Big Dipper Sutra''. Additionally, the one who cultivated ''Big Dipper Sutra'' would have sharper insight and responsive ability than that one cultivated ''Breaking Sun Sutra''!"


    "At LV 11, the one who cultivated ''Breaking Sun Sutra'' would gain a chance to strengthen his visual ability greatly while the battle qi of the one who cultivated ''Big Dipper Sutra'' would have one more harmful attribute. Gradually, both parties would have increasingly greater differences on many aspects, which further determine the differences between their battle skills and cultivation roads!"

 569 Being Clear

    Chapter 569: Being Clear


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "In this age, according to Chinese traditions, any secret knowledge that helps people promote all the way from LV 10 to LV 16 can be called sutra, which indicated its qualified, dignified position."


    "The cultivation of visible and invisible surging points are too complex that it contains hundreds of billions of methods, which could not be concluded by humans after the Catastrophe without making any mistakes. Instead, they were the far-ancient cultural product that people discovered in the underground relics. That''s why cultivation methods above LV 10 are very precious!"


    Lan Yunxi continued to explain as Zhang Tie gradually understood the world of cultivation above LV 10. At the same time, a question appeared in his mind.


    "Now that such a secret knowledge is so precious, why have I encountered many human fighters above LV 10. Have all of them gotten the precious secret knowledge?"


    "That''s what I''m gonna tell you and what should catch your attention. Besides those secret knowledge being called sutra, there were many other levels of secret knowledge on cultivation across the Waii Sub-Continent and other continents, such as law, rule, know-how, skill and technique. When you meet one of them, you''d better not be too happy with them and cultivate them at once. If not, you might regret for the rest of your life."


    "Ah? Why?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Because the above 5 kinds of secret knowledge could not promote you all the way from LV 10 to LV 16 smoothly. Instead, when you reach a certain level, you will completely lose the advancing route later. That''s a dead end. You might not advance even a bit at a certain level!" Lan Yunxi told Zhang Tie with a solemn look.


    "Where do they come from?"


    "These kinds of secret knowledge are incomplete secret knowledge of cultivation which were discovered from underground relics. After losing the later parts, they were called law, rule, know-how, skill and technique so as to separate them from those sutras, which contain complete cultivation methods."


    "What about the differences between law, rule, know-how, skill and technique in details?"


    "Among these kinds of secret knowledge, those being called law under sutra are the best, which could promote people to LV 15; followed by rule, which could promote one to LV 14; know-how, which could promote one to LV 13; skill, which could promote one to LV 12. Those being called technique are the worst, with which you could only promote to LV 11 at most, some of which could only promote you to LV 10. If one cultivates such laws, rules, know-hows, skills and techniques, after reaching upper limits, they could only watch their invisible surging points as they dared not light them. As long as they mistook the order of lighting surging points, they might lose their lives while lighting the next surging point!"


    "Do they still cultivate such kinds of secret knowledge?"


    "Of course. Do you think that everyone else could have a chance to pick and treat sutra as shit like you at such a critical moment?" Lan Yunxi rolled her eyes at Zhang Tie, "In the entire Waii Sub-Continent, even laws, rules, know-hows, skills and techniques are the top secret knowledge, which are only in the hands of very few people. Many people might not have a chance to see it in their whole lives. Additionally, each one has different qualifications, gifts and cultivation conditions. Many people would be satisfied if they could reach LV 11 or 12. Therefore, suppose if they could be guided to reach this level, they would be very satisfied!"


    Lan Yunxi''s words reminded Zhang Tie about his experience in Blackhot City. At that time, his elder brother, who had just reached LV 5 made all the family members very happy and proud of him. They were thinking about the dignified look of him when he became the commission officer in Blackhot City. At that time, Zhang Tie would already be satisfied if he could reach LV 7 or 8, not to mention LV 10. By the way, he could never imagine that he would be concerned about the cultivation road above LV 10.


    "If so, whether ''Breaking Sun Sutra'' is the only secret knowledge in Huaiyuan Palace?"


    "Of course not. Huaiyuan Palace also has many other inferior secret knowledge. They would be delivered to different people according to their personal situations. ''Breaking Sun Sutra'' could only be cultivated by excellent talents in Zhang''s direct descendants. Additionally, they could only get a part of the ''Breaking Sun Sutra''. Only when their level and contribution to the clan reach a certain degree could they cultivate the rest part of ''Breaking Sun Sutra''. Very few people could be rewarded with class II or class III cultivation method of ''Breaking Sun Sutra'' at once!"


    Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile, "She must be condemning about my silly deed. The others might only get class II cultivation contents of ''Breaking Sun Sutra'' after hard efforts, however, I refused to accept the complete contents of ''Breaking Sun Sutra''. No wonder Lan Yunxi looks a bit angry."


    However, Zhang Tie still felt that he had made the right decision. "Given the importance of the ''Breaking Sun Sutra'', if I accepted it frankly, Lan Yunxi would carry a greater responsibility in the clan. I don''t want my woman to sustain such a heavy burden for me." Zhang Tie had been very satisfied to know that Lan Yunxi wanted to shoulder risks for him.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt like coming to the right place.


    "You mean even sutras have different effects in the later phases. Do you mean that even sutras have different positions and could bring us different achievements after unlocking the human potential treasury?"


    "Yes. Even complete sutras would have different positions. These sutras were all products in the far-ancient times. In that age, although these secret knowledge were complete for cultivation; due to a hierarchical system, these sutras also had different positions. They were divided into 7 levels, namely emperor-level, throne-level, duke-level, marquis-level, count-level, viscount-level, baron-level, which was similar to the divisions of human noble..."


    "Is there a sharp difference between different levels of secret knowledge?"


    "Before promoting to knight officially, these secret knowledge, as long as they are complete, would not have a sharp difference with each other after lighting all the surging points. However, when one promotes to a knight and reaches a certain phase, these secret knowledge would have different effects, which might cause sharp differences in fighting skills."


    "Might?" Zhang Tie watched Lan Yunxi with a dubious look.


    "Yes, might. Although the secret knowledge are different in levels, after promoting to the knight, when you want to advance to higher cultivation levels, you might not qualify due to some objective conditions. You might not be able to use your advantage and possibility which were granted by your high-end secret knowledge. After all, the cultivation conditions and cultivation resources in this age are sharply different than that before the Catastrophe. Those could be easily done before the Catastrophe might be extremely difficult in this age."


    After thinking for a second, Zhang Tie asked, "Look whether it''s like this. If I cultivate a high-end secret knowledge now, it''s like a poor guy suddenly becomes a legal successor of a great sum of legacy. That sum of legacy is in abroad, which could not be succeeded until I am 30 years old. However, when I am 30 years old, I might not go abroad due to many reasons such as war, etc.. Therefore, it''s nothing different than having the right and also not!"


    "Right. Accurately, you have the right of succession to that legacy. However, when you can succeed that legacy, you don''t know where''s that legacy. As a result, you could only live the same life as others. However, as long as you could find that legacy, you could instantly become the No. 1 richest person in the country. By contrast, those who cultivate inferior secret knowledge are unable to succeed that legacy even though it''s in front of them. This is the difference between cultivating different levels of secret knowledge."


    After hearing Lan Yunxi''s explanation, Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile as he finally understood the difference between a poor guy and a princess. Lan Yunxi perhaps has long known these knowledge. However, for Zhang Tie, everything was so fresh. If not being told by Lan Yunxi, He didn''t know when would he understand that the cultivation methods were so important above LV 10, which might even influence the cultivation after promoting to the knight. "That''s too complex!"


    Zhang Tie smacked his lips, "What''s the level of ''Breaking Sun Sutra'' of Zhang Clan in Huaiyuan Prefecture?"


    "Zhang''s "Breaking Sun Sutra" and Lan''s "Big Dipper Sutra" are both in count-level! Such secret knowledge could be the top secret knowledge on cultivation across Waii Sub-Continent. They could support a clan and a kingdom. In the western continent, there is duke-level secret knowledge; however, senior secret knowledge could only be found in Taixia State in Eastern Continent. The Xuanyuan Emperor who rules the Xuanyuan Hill cultivates the only complete emperor-level secrete knowledge among humans¡ª¡ªXuanyuan God-Converting Sutra!"


    "Count-level secret knowledge!" Zhang Tie tasted it as he remembered a situation introduced to him by Lan Yunxi, "If so, those incomplete laws, rules, know-hows, skills and techniques, when being complete, might have higher levels than ''Breaking Sun Sutra''. They might reach marquis-level, duke-level, even throne-level and emperor-level?"


    "Yes. But it''s meaningless. Even though it''s an incomplete emperor-level sutra, if it could only help you reach LV 11, it might not be more powerful than an inferior secret knowledge which could help you reach LV 12. If you cannot reach the top level of an incomplete emperor-level sutra, you might fully play its role. That''s why they only divide complete secret knowledge into levels!"


    "Is there indeed an incomplete emperor-level secret knowledge?"


    "Yes, there is!"


    "Ah? Really?" Zhang Tie almost exclaimed.


    After thinking for a second, Lan Yunxi continued, "The incomplete one was discovered with the ''Xuanyuan God-Converting Sutra'' at the same time. However, with the incomplete one, you could only promote to 3 star-strong fighter!"


    "What''s the name of that incomplete secret knowledge?"


    "It''s called ''King Roc Sutra''. However, as it''s an incomplete one, you could only reach LV 10 with it. Therefore, it got another name, ''Robust Ox Technique''!


    "Robust Ox Technique", Zhang Tie twitched his eye corners after hearing this wild name.


    "How did you know that?"


    "It''s the most widely spread secret knowledge. Many big Chinese Clans have it, including Huaiyuan Palace!"


    ...


    10 minutes later, Zhang Tie left Lan Yunxi''s room. Through this talk, Zhang Tie became more clear-minded while his cultivation road instantly became bright. Although he didn''t take Lan Yunxi''s ''Breaking Sun Sutra'', he finally fixed his road ahead.


    At this moment, Heller''s voice sounded, "Find a ''King Roc Sutra'', don''t miss this chance!"


    "Ah? Why?" Zhang Tie became slightly stunned.


    "Others are afraid of losing their lives after making a mistake, what are you afraid of in the trouble-reappearance situation?"


    Zhang Tie felt like being struck by thunderbolts at once...

 570 The Super Glider

    Chapter 570: The Super Glider


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After leaving Lan Yunxi''s room, Zhang Tie covered his excitement. After thinking for a short while, he returned to the outside of the Crystal Battle Fortress and allowed people to load WindTalker glider in the Idiots. After that, he flew towards Hoorn Republic Glider Base by the Idiots.


    It was not easy to recover ''Robust Ox Technique'' to ''King Roc Sutra''. Even though he had the trouble-reappearance situation where he could make mistakes endlessly, it required a great patience. After reaching LV 10 with ''Robust Ox Technique'', each step forward would require him to make mistakes for hundreds of times in the trouble-reappearance situation.


    "Is it worth it?" Zhang Tie didn''t know. He was not too ambitious. According to Lan Yunxi''s words, "The power of emperor-level secret knowledge on cultivation might gradually show up after the cultivator became a knight. It was just ''might''!"


    Although there were many powerful ones among billions of humans, only emperor Xuanyuan of Taixia State on the Eastern Continent could successfully cultivate emperor-level secret knowledge. With this point, Zhang Tie knew that it was very difficult to cultivate the latter parts of emperor-level secret knowledge.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie would better dream about what surprises and benefits could the ''King Roc Sutra'' bring him before he promoted to a knight than expecting for the ''rich legacy'' brought by the complete emperor-level secret knowledge after he promoted to a knight.


    From LV 10 to LV 16, the difference caused by different levels of secret knowledge was not decisive; what was really decisive was the level of a person and the number of surging points that he had lit. Therefore, in this process, Zhang Tie would be satisfied if the King Roc Sutra''s performance was not worse than that of the Breaking Sun Sutra. As it was an emperor-level secret knowledge, it might not be worse than "Breaking Sun Sutra".


    "Pitifully, I only have one body and my surging points could only be lit once; otherwise, I''d probably recover all those secret knowledge below sutras in the trouble-reappearance situation.''


    "Of course, the priority is to get a ''Robust Ox Technique''; otherwise, everything would be an illusion. Additionally, the secret that I cultivated ''Robust Ox Technique'' must not be exposed to the public; otherwise, when I reached above LV 10 with this secret knowledge, it would arouse a great shock."


    Zhang Tie gradually sorted out his ideas on the Idiots. Only after over 10 minutes, the glider base of Hoorn Republic had appeared.


    What was most important for Zhang Tie was to clean those demons and b*stards of Three-Eye Association who hid among humans in Selnes Theater of Operations. If not what happened in Mocco City yesterday, Zhang Tie didn''t know that the Three-Eye Association and demons would like to kill him so quickly, neither would he come to the Hoorn Republic Glider Base today.


    However, now that he had known about it, Zhang Tie determined to launch a ferocious counter-attack towards demons and those b*stards of Three-Eye Association for their tricks and plots. He had to make demons and those b*stards of Three-Eye Association more afflictive.


    "How to make demons and those b*stards of Three-Eye Association more afflictive? It''s simple! I have to constantly become more powerful and kill more wing demons."


    ...


    When Zhang Tie got off the airship, Colonel Ohlson with a dense whisker walked towards him on the glider base and gave Zhang Tie a fervent bear hug.


    "Welcome to the Hoorn Republic Glider Base, Selnes hero in the air!" after that, Colonel Ohlson watched that WindTalker which was pushed out of the Idiots by the crew members and asked, "How about our WindTalker?"


    "Nice, very nice. This is the best two-seat glider that I''ve ever driven!" Zhang Tie replied with a solemn look. After all, it was his first time to drive a two-seat glider. Therefore, it was a compliment, not a lie. Additionally, WindTalker indeed has a good driving experience. Besides agile manipulation, its lift-to-drag feature was very excellent. Although being a two-seat glider, it could even match Huaiyuan Palace''s one-seat falcon.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s compliment, Colonel Ohlson became very spirited as his face blushed. He then turned around and shouted towards those soldiers in the base, "Bit*hes, have you heard that? Selnes Eagle said WindTalker was the best two-seat glider that he had ever driven!"


    After hearing this, many people in the base cheered up. In Blackson Humans Corridor, one way to make friends with the Hoorn Republic was to talk about their glider. If you want to make them happy, you should praise their glider; this method had been spread across Blackson Humans Corridor for hundreds of years. The compliment from the Selnes Eagle was more lethal to these soldiers and commission officers of Hoorn Republic. As a result, all of them was proud of themselves.


    "You''re the best friend of Hoorn Republic!" Colonel Ohlson patted Zhang Tie''s shoulder.


    "The glider of Hoorn Republic is very famous in Blackson Humans Corridor. I''m here today to ask for your help!"


    "Help what? As long as we can do it, no problem!" Colonel Ohlson said immediately.


    "I need a glider that I could fight with. It should be modified according to my requests. Hopefully, you could give me a favor!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s request, Colonel Ohlson''s eyes gleamed as he watched Zhang Tie''s eyes very seriously, "You mean you need us to provide a glider for you. You want to drive the Hoorn Republic''s glider to f*ck those demon b*stards, are you kidding me?"


    "Right, I will pay all the expenses!"


    Colonel Ohlson drew in a deep breath as he turned around and shouted more loudly, "B*tches, tell those moldy engineers to prepare to work. Let them gather in the warehouse No. 1 and tell them it''s time for them to contribute to the country..."


    ...


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie saw a lot of gliders in the warehouse No. 1 and dozens of engineers who looked very thrilled. After Colonel Ohlson told those engineers that Zhang Tie wanted to drive a Hoorn Republic''s glider to fight demons, they became more thrilled. Some of them even burst out into tears.


    "In order to fight demons, our Hoorn Republic dispatches the most excellent people here. Although these guys could not fight on the battlefield, they are the most excellent engineers and technicians in the Hoorn Republic. You only need to tell them about your requirements. They will work out your glider for sure!"


    After talking with those guys, Colonel Ohlson turned around and talked to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that his request could arouse such a shock. Standing in front of those engineers and watching their gleaming eyes, Zhang Tie revealed a bashful smile.


    "Actually, my requests are not complex. First, it should fly fast; second, besides being available to be thrown out of the airship in the air, it''d better set out on the ground. Of course, I don''t mean that they are dragged by other instruments. Instead, I want to run it by foot until it reaches the speed of taking off. Thirdly, it should be matched with some battle pendants which are adaptable to my battle mode!"


    Soon after Zhang Tie''s voice did those engineers'' start to discuss enthusiastically.


    After discussing it for a few minutes, an engineer asked, "Your Excellency, can you make it clearer what you meant by running it by foot?"


    "Actually, it''s like this..." as the language was not concrete, Zhang Tie then fetched a metal ring whose diameter was about 60 cm and wore it while putting the metal ring at his waist, "This metal ring is like the cockpit. When I am in the cockpit, I lift the glider by hands and carry its weight. When I want to fly off and land on, I will put my feet out of the cockpit and run..." Zhang Tie made a running gesture, "This is like how I lift my short pants and rush to the toilet..."


    All the engineers became stunned as they had not imagined that Zhang Tie would choose such a method to fly off the glider. This is like how birds such as swan run before flying off. Nobody has tried that before. That''s insane.


    "Your Excellency, you need to lift about 800 kg so as to keep its balance. Additionally, you need to run at least 50 km per hour. Are you sure about that?"


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "Sure!"


    ...

 571 Free Fligh

    Chapter 571: Free Flight


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could do this before. When he arrived at this base yesterday, he saw the glider being dragged by the car before flying off. Therefore, he hit this possible way¡ª¡ªthe glider should weigh less than 1000 km; additionally, he could catch up with the running speed of the car. As long as the terrain was proper, he could have his glider fly off.


    He could lift about 1000 kg for sure, which was just as heavy as a battle hammer. He could also catch up with the running speed of the car. Therefore, he wanted to have the glider modified so that it could better adapt to his ability and play a greater role on the battlefield.


    If it was successfully modified, he could fly off at any time once there was a hillside. As a result, his driving ability would be further improved.


    The engineers soon understood Zhang Tie''s thought, which made them thrilled. Therefore, they soon started to work it out.


    As Zhang Tie expressed that he wanted to use this glider as soon as possible, the engineers didn''t build a new one; instead, they started to modify a very well-matched excellent glider.


    A WindTalker II was drawn out of the warehouse by those engineers. After moving away its cover, they started to split it one part after another in a warehouse and modify it.


    ...


    When those engineers were modifying the glider, Colonel Ohlson took Zhang Tie into a office. The moment Zhang Tie entered it was he startled. He even wondered why Colonel Ohlson took him in a utility room.


    Almost half of the room was covered with hats, notebooks, mini glider models and certificates of merit.


    Colonel Ohlson revealed a bashful smile, "Since you came here yesterday, those b*tches outside asked for your signature; therefore, I have their items collected here, look..."


    Zhang Tie smiled, "No problem. After all, I have some time; I will meet their wishes!"


    "That''s awesome!" Colonel Ohlson became thrilled as he instantly called in two soldiers to let them assist Zhang Tie to accomplish this.


    There were more than 1,000 items in the room. Watching those pens which had been prepared for him, Zhang Tie rubbed his face as he fetched a chair and sat down. After drawing in a deep breath, he started his job.


    As Zhang Tie always treated himself as a commoner, he knew what did those common soldiers think. Therefore, Zhang Tie did it seriously.


    Zhang Tie didn''t just sign his name; he also left a sentence.


    "Salute to those brave humans who fought together with me in Selnes Theater of Operations¡ª¡ªZhang Tie!"


    After living in Blackhot City for many years, although Zhang Tie''s scores were not excellent, under the strict requirements of his dad and mom, he had a nice handwriting. His words combined agility and strength.


    In the entire morning, Zhang Tie signed his name seriously without even having lunch. Colonel Ohlson came here to see Zhang Tie for many times. After watching Zhang Tie''s serious look while signing his name on each item, especially under the translation of some advisers who knew Chinese, Colonel Ohlson''s eyes turned wet.


    At about 2 pm, Zhang Tie finally finished his job while that one-seat WindTalker II had also been modified and was put on the track. Its caesious color had a good concealment effect in the sky.


    Given its look, this modified one-seat WindTalker II was nothing different from the original one. Their differences existed in the cockpit.


    At this moment, an arc opening which was about 80 cm in length and 50 cm in width below the cockpit and two more concave metal handles appeared on both sides of the seat.


    The chief engineer who was responsible for modification introduced it to Zhang Tie.


    "On the premise of not increasing its weight, we have strengthened the stress structure of its frame. You can lift this glider by the two concave metal handles. Thankfully, the location of the cabin is the geometric center of gravity of the entire glider, you only need to carry its weight. You don''t need to carry the burden caused by leverage factor."


    "Additionally, we have opened a hole here at the bottom of the cockpit, where you could stretch your feet out for the sake of running. We made this opening movable. There''s a hand-pull switch in the cockpit. When you fly off, you can withdraw your feet, at the same time you pull the switch by hand to cover the metal sliding closure. This would neither influence your flight rest nor the speed of this glider!"


    "To reach such an effect, we needed to adjust some interlocks. Previously, the hard seat was not available; we have changed it into a folding chair. Besides feeling more comfortable, you will find no change in its flight performance and driving pattern. Your free mobility in the cockpit won''t change either."


    "Thanks, you''re great!" Zhang Tie nodded after watching it for a while, "Can I have a try now?"


    All the engineers nodded. Zhang Tie then jumped into the cockpit. Holding the two concave metal handles, he lifted the glider, which weighed about 800 kg.


    Zhang Tie stepped on the ground as he steadily lifted the glider. This looked like a pair of huge plane-shaped metal short pants.


    Zhang Tie ran a couple of steps and found that his mobility was not restricted besides his arm.


    After a slight adjustment, Zhang Tie started to run by lifting the glider. After over 10 seconds, his speed had reached above 60 km/h.


    Zhang Tie felt an elevating force on the wings due to the different upper and lower airflow as the weight in his hand gradually decreased.


    After running hundreds of meters, being blown by the airflow under the hillside, the glider attempted to leave the ground. Zhang Tie felt no weight in his hands as the glider completely took him off the ground and flew into the sky. Zhang Tie rapidly withdrew his feet and put his feet on the pedals. Closely after that, he closed the metal sliding cover by pulling the switch. He then sat back into the seat and started to drive.


    All the engineers yelled and applauded.


    After half an hour, Zhang Tie returned to the track by the glider. All the engineers swarmed up and finished the final modification for the glider¡ª¡ªincreased two weapon racks outside both sides of the cockpit. Each weapon rack could contain six 1.1-m long metal spears as Zhang Tie''s weapons towards LV 10 wing demons.


    After accomplishing all these, the whole base became boiled; as all the soldiers had received Zhang Tie''s signature and encouragement. As a result, the morale in the base surged to its peak at once.


    These engineers were all reserved in the base. Those items where Zhang Tie signed his name on didn''t include that of these engineers. After knowing that Zhang Tie left a very meaningful souvenir to the others, all the engineers revealed an admiring look.


    Zhang Tie noticed their special looks. When some engineers took out the notebook with an expecting look and asked for Zhang Tie''s signature, Zhang Tie posed the last request towards those engineers who participated in the modification of the glider, "I really appreciate what you''ve done for me today. This glider is my battle partner in Selnes Theater of Operations from then on. If you can sign your names on it and let them stay with this glider forever, it would be my great honor. I will take it as a souvenir gifted by you. If so, I will always miss you when I fight in the air. I promise you I will kill a wing demon for each one of you who leave their name on the glider!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the engineers felt their blood boiling in their hearts as they had an unprecedented sense of pride and honor. As a result, many of them burst out into tears.


    Leaving their own name on the glider of the Selnes Eagle was the supreme honor and reward for an engineer.


    ...


    Finally, after taking a photo with the commission officers and engineers in front of the glider, Zhang Tie left by the Idiots with the glider which was covered with 27 engineers'' names.


    Zhang Tie didn''t return to the Crystal Battle Fortress; instead, he directly headed for north.


    After 24 hours, the Idiots returned to the Crystal Battle Fortress with over 60 grim and terrifying heads of wing demons.


    "Prepare a vehicle and hang all these heads over it!" Zhang Tie ordered with an aggressive killing intent...

 572 Beat the Dogs Owner

    Chapter 572: Beat the Dog''s Owner


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When crew members of the Idiots started to hang those wing demons'' heads over the military vehicle, all the people in the Crystal Battle Fortress who had received the news came here to watch it silently.


    Those wing demons'' grim heads were well preserved. Many of the heads still had their dying looks .


    At the sight of that vehicle, all the onlookers were stunned. They didn''t know how to describe the military SUV which was covered with wing demons'' heads.


    It was both terrifying and shocking. After watching it, everyone felt being fully energetic, heroic and dauntless.


    The powerful wing demons'' heads were just this vehicle''s goods and ornaments.


    Those wing demons who made the sky full of terror became the trivial ornaments of this military vehicle.


    Those demons who once ate and massacred humans could also be killed and violated by humans.


    What a power!


    How sharp! How sharp!


    ...


    "Come on. Where''s the photographer? Take a photo for me in front of this vehicle!" Soon after those wing demons'' heads were well placed did a ground service commission officer shout.


    The onlookers instantly became boiled as many of them strove for taking a photo in front of this vehicle.


    With such a photo, even though one had not killed a demon, he could still bluff in front of his grandsons when he was old¡ª¡ªYour grandpa had made contributions to the humans in the 3rd holy war; additionally, your grandpa once worked together with a human hero called Selnes Eagle in a battle fortress...


    ...


    When so many people were surrounding the vehicle, Ou Hongyu and his demon hunting squad who had left the base for about 10 days finally finished their task and returned to the Crystal Battle Fortress.


    When Ou Hongyu''s demon hunting squad left the Crystal Battle Fortress, Zhang Tie was fighting ferociously in Flatte City. When Zhang Tie came back, Ou Hongyu was still in the outside where he could not touch Crystal Battle Fortress. Therefore, Ou Hongyu didn''t know what happened these days. Neither did he know that Zhang Tie had become the hero across Selnes Theater of Operations only after two weeks.


    Demon hunting squad was like human elite squad which especially targeted at dealing with demon corps in the wild. This time, Ou Hongyu had a good performance. The entire squad suffered no casualty at all. Besides, they swept two demon squads and killed some wing demons. Therefore, when they caught sight of the Crystal Battle Fortress, they all felt pleasant due to a big triumph.


    "Senior brother apprentice Ou, you can definitely enter top 30 with this achievement. As long as you keep this achievement, senior brother apprentice Ou could definitely make a further improvement in Chuixue Palace in the future!" An apprentice of Chuixue Palace flattered him when he found Ou Hongyu was happy.


    "The achievement belongs to all of us. Without your cooperation, I can not make such an achievement. Especially Qingqing, with her fiery wheel, she has also has made a great achievement. She even killed three wing demons. We all have achievements this time. Later on, we need to work harder. After having a good experience in Selnes Theater of Operations, when we reach the Eastern Continent, we will have the chance to exhibit ourselves!" Ou Hongyu said modestly. However, his words revealed some important information.


    After hearing Ou Hongyu''s words, someone among the demon hunting squad immediately realized something, "Senior brother apprentice Ou, you mean..."


    "Just keep it as a secret. Don''t pass it on. It won''t sound good..." Ou Hongyu warned them before lowering his voice, "I was told by a senior brother apprentice in Chuixue Palace, the bottom line for the six major clans of Jinyun Country to stay here was that demons would not pass by the Kalay Mountain Range. In case, the demon corps passed by the Kalay Mountain Range, all the Chinese across Waii Sub-Continent would leave for the Eastern Continent!"


    "Ah? Is that real?" some innocent guys were shocked by Ou Hongyu''s words.


    "Some Chinese countries in the south of Waii Sub-Continent had prepared for leaving there in an all-round manner before the holy war. All the six major clans have their own ways in Eastern Continent. They have not cut their connections with their base in Eastern Continent yet. All the elders and heads of the major clans are top elites. After all, Waii Sub-Continent is a remote place. When there is no holy war, they could do business here; however, when the holy war breaks out, how can those clan elders let this place determine the fates of their clans? We only need to cultivate ourselves well here. When we arrive at the Eastern Continent, we might have a chance to appear in the Heavenly Fortune Rankings and be rewarded with the rank of nobility..." Ou Hongyu said as he gradually became heroic.


    "Senior brother apprentice Ou, I was told that Heavenly Fortune Rankings was a marvelous item in Taixia Dynasty. As long as one dropped his or her blood on it, the Heavenly Fortune Rankings would know all the information about this person. Is that real?"


    "I''ve not seen Heavenly Fortune Rankings yet. It''s a mysterious product in the far-ancient civilization. In the former two holy wars, Heavenly Fortune Rankings served as the stage for the heroes to exhibit their own strength. It didn''t make any mistake after so many generations and so many experiences. As Chinese, only when we become knights could we leave our names on it by dropping our blood on it. Thus, we could be rewarded with the corresponding rank of nobility according to the meritorious deeds that were exhibited on the Heavenly Fortune Rankings while our wives could also be rewarded with rank of nobility and our sons would inherit our positions and privileges. That''s how the ancestors of the six major clan of Jinyun Country originated from!"


    "Ah? Senior brother apprentice Ou, don''t many countries in Waii Sub-Continent also have emperors and nobles?" a younger guy asked with a puzzled look.


    "If you just stay at home, as long as you shut your door and buy some slaves to serve you, you can also treat yourself a emperor. However, can you enjoy the same treatment in the outside?" Ou Hongyu sneered, "Although only demon-killers could be rewarded with the rank of nobility according to the ''Humans Brilliance Charter'', besides us Chinese, who should be rewarded with the rank of nobility according to the meritorious deeds exhibited on the Heavenly Fortune Rankings, other clans'' nobles and imperial kingsmen don''t have strict rules. As long as they kill some demons and are able to rule a mountain could they call themselves nobles and imperial kingsmen. Nobody cared about them. However, when they came to the Eastern Continent, they were nothing but a fart. They are just country moneybags at most. When they arrive at Taixia Dynasty, they have to be docile. None of them dare call themselves nobles at all..."


    "Ah? But why?"


    "Because, in Taixia Dynasty, only nobles on the Heavenly Fortune Rankings are recognized. All those who have not been recognized by the Heavenly Fortune Rankings dared to call themselves nobles would be split into 5 parts by horses according to Taixia''s laws!"


    "According to you, the Fighting Strength Rankings in the Crystal Battle Fortress is really meaningful!" a member of the demon hunting squad became enlightened at once.


    "You just realized that?" Ou Hongyu smiled intently.


    "Aww, I wonder whether Zhang Tie has killed any demons these days." a guy suddenly remembered Zhang Tie.


    "Forget about him. A LV 9 guy is nothing in the sky. If he could join our demon hunting squad, he might kill one or two demons. However, if he stays in the airship, it depends on his fortune!" a guy sneered.


    Dantai Qingqing just listened to their discussions. Until when she caught sight of so many people around a place in the base was her attention aroused.


    "Yi? What''s happening over there?"


    "Let''s take a look there!" Ou Hongyu smiled.


    ...


    When the demon hunting squad pushed in the crowd and watched the bloody and terrifying military SUV did they stupefy.


    "What...what happened? Who killed so many wing demons?" Ou Hongyu changed his face at once. After forcefully swallowing his saliva did he remove his vision from that vehicle.


    "Who? Of course the Selnes Eagle!" a ground service soldier who was waiting to take a photo replied pleasantly.


    "Selnes Eagle?" after hearing this name, all the members of the demon hunting squad exchanged glances with each other.


    "Don''t you know that?"


    "As we were on duty in the outside these days, we''ve just come back. Can you tell me what happened" Dantai Qingqing revealed a smile towards a soldier. That young soldier felt being struck by electricity while he blushed at once...


    However, before that soldier spoke, a voice in unison had sounded in the surroundings, "Ah? Here comes the Selnes Eagle. This time, the first rank would refresh his marks..."


    The demon hunting squad members turned around and found Zhang Tie walking in the crowd in a weird uniform, at the sight of whom, all the surrounding crowd gave a way to him.


    Ou Hongyu''s face turned pale at once...


    Zhang Tie also caught sight of Ou Hongyu and the other members of the demon hunting squad. He smiled towards them silently. After that, he told those around the vehicle, "I''m sorry, please give me a way, I have to go out for a travel now!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s request, all of them gave a way to him hurriedly, leaving those who had not taken a photo with the vehicle pitiful.


    Zhang Tie got on the vehicle and drove away that shocking vehicle from the base in the Crystal Battle Fortress and headed for Mocco City.


    Those b*stards of Three-Eye Association wanted to kill him. Therefore, he wanted to show them the outcome to stir up him. "Aren''t those b*stards thinking they are hiding in a secret place? I will find their owner some trouble then."


    "Before beating a dog, the others would see who''s its owner. However, if a dog stirs up me, I will directly beat its owner..."

 573 A Lonely Parade

    Chapter 573: A Lonely Parade


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After the explosion in Mocco City three days ago, the circumstances across the city became intense at once. Various news were spread in Mocco City. The explosion was targeted at the Selnes Eagle while the missing two alchemist''s bombs in the strategic arsenal of Symbian Republic were still lost.


    The explosion on that day killed hundreds of people. Additionally, the two missing alchemist''s bombs in the strategic arsenal of Symbian Republic had many people sent to the prison. This event involved over 600 people in total. Therefore, although three days had passed, the atmosphere in Mocco City was still intense.


    The noon had just passed by. At the northern city gate of Mocco City, a city defense soldier was checking the accessing vehicles and personnel strictly. After they were told that the missing two alchemist''s bombs might still be in Mocco City, all the soldiers on duty treated this very seriously. They paid special attention to the places on vehicles which could hold alchemist''s bombs.


    However, after three days, they neither found the alchemist''s bombs nor the lackeys of Three-Eye Association. They only caught some deserters and corrupted guys from the logistics department of some countries in the Selnes frontline who were related to the illegal market in Mocco City.


    It was just a bit over 12 pm. It was lunchtime. At this moment, a car darted towards Mocco City after passing by some defense lines outside the Mocco City and causing some noises, dust floating through the air.


    A major wearing the armband of the human alliance who was on duty outside the city gate had already noticed the abnormal situation in the far. Before that vehicle arrived at the city gate, the major had already told the soldiers to be spirited.


    At the major''s order, two armored vehicles parking outside the city gate had already targeted the steam catapults on the armored vehicles towards the oncoming vehicle.


    When the incoming vehicle drew closer, the major noticed the symbol of Jinyun Country hanging on it, "Who dared to drive a military SUV into Mocco City only after that event three days ago." the major slightly frowned, "What the hell!"


    The vehicle was stopped at the checkpoint outside the city gate. Before the major opened his mouth had he seen a pile of wing demons'' heads behind the vehicle. The major immediately drew in a cold breath.


    After hearing their exclamations, a lot of soldiers swarmed up. They all watched those demons'' heads with a shocking look.


    "Ah? They''re real, not waxworks. They''re all wing demons'' heads..." a soldier couldn''t stand to check those heads out of curiosity before shouting out loudly.


    The major deeply drew in a breath before asking that driver, "Sergeant first class, what are those things?"


    "Wing demons'' heads, is there any problem?" Zhang Tie answered.


    "Those heads are real, but why did you put them in your vehicle?"


    "They are my military exploits!"


    "Military exploits? From where?"


    "I killed them!"


    "You killed them?" that major immediately recalled something when he saw Zhang Tie''s young face and the rank sergeant first class on Zhang Tie''s shoulder, "Can you show me your ID certificate?"


    Zhang Tie showed his ID certificate as the only air cavalry across Selnes Theater of Operations to the major through the window.


    After taking a look at it, the major instantly snapped to attention, causing a sound ''Pa'' before passing the certificate back to Zhang Tie respectfully. At the same time, he took a deep breath, "Your Excellency, Zhang Tie, out of my duty, I have to warn you that someone might pose a threat to your life in Mocco City. May I know your purpose here? If necessary, I will notice the human alliance and let them protect you..."


    "No need. I''ve heard what happened in Mocco City. I''m just here to take a round in Mocco City. I want to chop off the head of the owner of those demon lackeys and show them my energetic look. I want those b*stards to know that even though they have alchemist''s bombs, they are still just a group of b*stards who deserve to hide in the sewer!"


    ...


    Under everyone''s admiring gaze, Zhang Tie drove into Mocco City.


    At this moment, Mocco City was full of soldiers.


    Zhang Tie slowed down and started to wander in the streets.


    All those who caught sight of this vehicle would stop on the streets as they widely opened their mouths and stared at those wing demons'' heads in the carriage of the vehicle.


    Since the beginning of the 3rd holy war, demons'' super corps had been resting on each human''s head like a mountain. A LV 9 human fighter could at least serve as a field officer in many countries across Blackson Humans Corridor, which was definitely the backbone of each human corps. However, in demon''s super corps, such a LV 9 fighter was just a common soldier. Therefore, everyone would feel chilly and think that demons were unrivaled.


    However, in Selnes Theater of Operations, those demon squads who broke through human defense line and penetrated to the back of the theater of operations brought a huge and terrifying destruction to humans, which frightened everyone. A battalion of human fighters, If encountered a demon squad of over 10 demons, would be killed in a couple of minutes. Such powerful demons made over 99% of human fighters below LV 9 breathless.


    If an allied human squad of about 100 people could kill one common LV 9 demon soldier, all the members of this squad would be rewarded. This reward was equal to killing one major commission officer of the enemy. From this, we knew how difficult it was to kill a demon.


    However, at this moment, those human fighters who might have not seen demons, suddenly saw a military vehicle being loaded with wing demons'' heads in the streets. Of course, they were shocked.


    Those heads were not of the most commonly seen iron-armored demons but of the rarest wing demons. Therefore, the shock was amplified by many times at once.


    Wing demons'' heads, a military SUV from the Crystal Battle Fortress of Jinyun Country and a young sergeant first class in a special uniform¡ª¡ªafter combining the three aspects, some onlookers guessed Zhang Tie''s status right now. In a split second, the driver''s status was spread across the city.


    After experiencing the assassination of an alchemist bomb, the Selnes Eagle returned to Mocco City, with a carriage of wing demons'' heads. He was driving his vehicle on the streets of Mocco City brightly.


    Because of that explosion three days ago, the circumstances in Mocco City became a bit depressive as people were worried about their lives. However, at the sight of so many wing demons'' heads and knowing that the driver was Zhang Tie, everyone felt energetic like having a strong power out of nothing. They didn''t fear about demons anymore while their depression faded away at once.


    Gradually, more and more soldiers followed Zhang Tie''s vehicle voluntarily. Being driven by the unrivaled morale, some even shouted the slogan for the first time as more and more people joined in. The slogan then became as overwhelming as mountains and tsunami and sounded around Zhang Tie''s vehicle.


    "Kill the demons. Humans are doomed to win..."


    ...


    "Kill the demons. Humans are doomed to win..."


    ...


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to make such a chaos. However, Zhang Tie gradually found that he could not control that. Hundreds and thousands of people started to follow him. Only after wandering in the streets for over 10 minutes, he had been followed by over tens of thousands of people.


    Through the rear-view mirror, Zhang Tie saw his vehicle was followed by a lot of people, who filled the whole street. As he moved ahead, more and more people joined in the contingent. Some more were coming on the way here.


    ...


    "Kill the demons. Humans are doomed to win..."


    Gradually, this slogan thundered across the Mocco City.


    ...


    General Howard was holding a meeting with the other generals of other countries in a conference room. At this moment, the loud slogan drifted in the conference room. Given the loudness, they knew it was caused by at least hundreds of thousands of people.


    General Howard and the other generals in the conference room became a bit chaotic.


    "What''s wrong? Which country''s corps is holding a parade in Selnes City?" General Howard slightly frowned as he glanced at those generals at present.


    Although Howard, as the supreme officer in the alliance command, just played a coordinating role on the battlefield. None of the corps from other countries would follow his order. All the military actions had to be coordinated. However, it was too excessive if any corps would like to hold a parade in Mocco City and didn''t notice him in advance. Therefore, General Howard became a bit dissatisfied.


    At this moment, there were only three major corps, coming from three countries. One from the Symbian Republic; one from Norman Empire; the last one from Francia Federal.


    At this moment, all the other members in the conference room were silently glancing at the representatives from the three countries. Many of them were admiring them inside. Given the slogan, they knew the corps had a high morale. It was very difficult to keep such a morale at this critical moment.


    The three countries'' representatives then exchanged glances with each other.


    "Symbian Republic didn''t hold a parade today. If there was, as the owner of Mocco City, I would be invited to watch it for sure!" the general on behalf of Symbian Republic shook his head.


    "Norman Empire didn''t hold a parade either. In Norman Empire, only when the king arrives do we hold a corps-level parade!" that general of Norman Empire also shook his head.


    "The parliament of Francia Federal has never approved any budget for holding a corps-level parade in Selnes Theater of Operations. This requires a lot of money. In order to support the Selnes Theater of Operations, we''ve already tightened our waistband. The parliament of Francia Federal has already cut off half of its expenditure. This summer, our noble parliamentarians will not enjoy those ice cubes in the ice cave. If we hold such a parade at this moment. Those noble parliamentarians would feel cold in winter. They might rebel before the arrival of the demons!"


    After hearing the Francia Federal general''s joke, all the others in the conference room burst out into laughter.


    Only after a short while, the slogan outside had become even louder. Additionally, they realized that it came from all directions. It seemed that the entire Mocco City was boiling.


    When they were puzzling about that, General Howard''s adjutant hurriedly walked into the conference room and whispered in Howard''s ears for half a minute. After hearing that, General Howard''s eyebrows raised at once as he looked thrilled.


    The adjutant then left.


    Watching those generals in the conference room, General Howard took a deep breath, "Our Selnes Eagle has just driven in Mocco City while the carriage was loaded with 60-70 wing demons'' heads. This is his current achievement, also a dauntless declaration. That''s a heroic and charming deed. The slogan was made by the soldiers in Mocco City. As the general of the alliance command in Selnes Theater of Operations, I''m proud to have such a hero in Selnes Theater of Operations!"


    After hearing his words, all the general applauded fervently after a short second.


    The Selnes Eagle allowed the low-morale across the Mocco City to rise again. He made the entire city so energetic and inspiring. Given this point, he deserved that medal.


    ''''I want to see our hero and the wing demons'' heads. Those who are not afraid of alchemist''s bombs can go there together with me!" General Howard then walked out of the conference room. The other generals exchanged glances with each other before following General Howard one after another...

 574 The Public Enemy of Mothers

    Chapter 574: The Public Enemy of Mothers


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Zhang Tie drove to the urban square of Mocco City, those soldiers who came here to see the Selnes Eagle and the whole carriage of wing demons'' heads had blocked all the roads of the vehicle in every direction.


    When Zhang Tie''s vehicle couldn''t move, he directly parked it and got off the vehicle.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt that he had reached his target. However, the great effect was really out of his imagination.


    However, before Zhang Tie got off the vehicle, he had found those soldiers outside the vehicle gave a way to him like ebbing tide. At the same time, a group of generals with stars on their shoulders walked towards him.


    This time, Zhang Tie realized that he really could not leave.


    He hurriedly jumped off the vehicle and gave a solemn salute to those generals.


    ...


    General Howard then climbed onto the top of Zhang Tie''s vehicle in the Urban Square of Mocco City and delivered a fervent keynote speech. Even Zhang Tie felt bashful about that; meanwhile, the atmosphere in Mocco City was pushed to the climax.


    Even when the flatte battle ended, Mocco City was not as boisterous as today. After Zhang Tie took a round in the city today, the city''s morale became lit. The whole city became boisterous like winning a war.


    Zhang Tie''s vehicle parked in the Urban Square of Mocco City just for others to visit and take photos with. Zhang Tie then entered the alliance command together with General Howard. After talking with those generals for a while, Zhang Tie was invited into General Howard''s office.


    In General Howard''s office, Zhang Tie could still faintly hear the cheers from the Urban Square of Mocco City.


    After the adjutant of General Howard made a cup of tea for Zhang Tie, General Howard pushed open the door of his office and walked in. His adjutant then closed the door and left.


    "General!" at the sight of Howard, Zhang Tie put down the tea cup and stood up politely from the sofa.


    "Take a seat, young man, take a seat!" General Howard walked towards Zhang Tie and put his hand on Zhang Tie''s shoulder with a genial smile. He pressed Zhang Tie onto the sofa.


    Zhang Tie respected this old man who was several times elder than him and was still insisting on staying in Selnes Theater of Operations. However, Zhang Tie did not look too humble or too recalcitrant. To date, actually, he didn''t need to perform in front of anybody. Even in front of the elders of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie could still stick to be himself, not to mention now.


    "Have you heard the voice outside?" General Howard went to the window sill of his office and watched the scenery before turning around to ask Zhang Tie.


    "Yes!"


    "What did you hear?" General Howard asked with a profound look.


    Zhang Tie shrugged straightforwardly, "Humans hope to survive the holy war and the hateful sound of demons and the lackeys of Three-Eye Association!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s answer, Howard nodded before throwing a glance at Zhang Tie profoundly.


    "Do you know that you will face danger here?"


    "I know. But I also believe that those b*stards might not have predicted that I could do this. Even If they knew that I was going to be here, they would not make such a fast response in Mocco City. This city is still under the rule of humans. Therefore, it may seem to be a dangerous travel, but is actually not." Zhang Tie replied frankly.


    "You surprised me. To be honest, your performance today completely changed my recognition on you from what I had three days ago!"


    Speaking of the event three days ago, Zhang Tie scratched his head bashfully as he just smirked...


    "Thankfully, you didn''t come here three days ago. If you really came, those demons'' lackeys plan would have succeeded. This time, your arrival was much more meaningful than that three days ago. Since you entered Mocco City with those wing demons'' heads, you''ve already won a battle in Mocco City in front of about one million of soldiers in Mocco City and weakened the morale of those lackeys of demons! We human army require heroes like you." General Howard made a high comment on Zhang Tie''s deed today.


    "I was just doing what I should do and like to do!"


    General Howard looked a bit thrilled, "No, young man. You don''t know. You''re not only doing what you should do and like to do, you''re also doing what the others want to do yet cannot do. Do you know how proud some of our common soldiers were when they mentioned you? If you''ve seen them, you would change your saying!"


    "Aww!" Zhang Tie raised his eyebrows.


    "Those soldiers told me that they had not imagined that our human army could have an arm of service which could suppress demons'' LV 9 soldiers. We LV 9 human fighters could also make wing demons scared. You will bring them hope and encouragement."


    After hearing Howard''s words, Zhang Tie instantly understood why Lan elder persisted to let him be the first air cavalry in Selnes Theater of Operations in the status of sergeant first class. Actually, based on his performance on the battlefield, he could be promoted to major or lieutenant colonel at least. Perhaps, Lan elder had already considered that a sergeant first class who killed a lot of demons would pose a greater influence on the mentality of common soldiers compared to a major or a lieutenant colonel.


    When humans were at a disadvantage, the former choice would bring pride and dignity to common soldiers and trigger everyone''s courage; while the latter choice made people admirable at most.


    "Aged ginger was more pungent." Zhang Tie sighed inside, "None of the knights are silly. Lan elder has maximized my personal value silently. What a smart man!"


    Knowing that Zhang Tie had understood it, General Howard made a request to Zhang Tie, "Many generals are moved by today''s event. Some general suggested that heroes like you should not limit your value on the battlefield. You could bring more inspirations to the front line soldiers."


    "What does that mean?"


    "The alliance command wants to set an exclusive task group for you and open a special column for you in ''Holy War News'', which will be responsible for propagating and shaping your positive image and inspiring the front line soldiers."


    Zhang Tie was startled by this suggestion as he hurriedly shook his head. He heard about such a treatment before. However, he had not dreamed about this for himself. He could never perform such a great and positive image. Actually, he didn''t feel his affairs were worth to report. If the report was true, it would violate his personal privacy; if it was fake, he would be disgusted to death by himself. He didn''t want to be observed by others. How tired it was! If his secret was exposed, he would have no place to cry for that.


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s firm attitude, Colonel Howard replied with a bitter smile; however, he didn''t give up, "This is actually a part of the war. Through propagating and shaping heroes, we could bring great spiritual energy to many people. You have already felt such a strength today. Additionally, I''ve been told what you''ve done in the Hoorn Republic Glider Base. You encouraged them by signing your name for the commission officers and soldiers in the base. Now, all the soldiers in the Hoorn Glider Base were fully energetic. It was similar to that!"


    "I''m sorry, general. Perhaps in your mind, this is right. But I really don''t want to be such a role. I''ve never defined myself as a hero and honestly, I don''t want to be a hero. Actually, I have a lot of shortcomings. Neither do I like to be a performer under a magnifying glass. As I''ve said, I only want to do what I should do and like to do." Zhang Tie lowered his eyelids, "If possible, what I want most is to embrace my beloved woman and just eat and play until death, instead of fighting demons here!"


    "Is it real?" General Howard became a bit amazed.


    "Yes, it''s my real thought!"


    "By doing this, you can encourage a lot of people!"


    "Many people would be killed too!"


    "But many people would appreciate you!"


    "No!" Zhang Tie shook his head, "Many mothers would hate me..."


    Zhang Tie watched General Howard seriously, "If it was 4 years ago, if my mom knew that I admired a hero and was finally killed on the battlefield, she was doomed to hate that ''hero''. Because I have a good mother, I don''t want to be the public enemy of all the mothers across Blackson Humans Corridor. Each hero is the public enemy of mothers who send their sons onto the battlefield. I had understood this since I was young. Therefore, if you ask me what requirement do I have, I only want to not be the public enemy of mothers."


    "Each hero is the public enemy of mothers who send their sons onto the battlefield?" General Howard had not heard about this before. Opening his mouth, he watched Zhang Tie''s serious and stubborn face for a few seconds.


    "You have a great mother!"


    "Yes, my mother is very great!" Zhang Tie nodded frankly.


    ...


    Zhang Tie stayed in the alliance command for about 2 hours. When he walked out of the gate of the alliance command, he saw a masculine man leaning against a vehicle outside the alliance command, exposing his wide chest. He was smoking a cigar.


    "Brat, long time no see..." Reinhardt raised his jaw towards Zhang Tie like when he saw Zhang Tie for the first time. At the same time, he threw a cigar towards Zhang Tie.


    After catching the cigar, Zhang Tie put it close to his nose and took a deep sniff before jumping into Reinhardt''s vehicle...


    ...

 575 Demon Hunters Bar

    Chapter 575: Demon Hunters Bar


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Some people telepathy with each other. So did Zhang Tie and his brothers in Iron-Blood Camp of No. 39 Division. They killed enemies and bathed blood, they blocked blades and bolts for each other at the risk of their own lives.


    Zhang Tie felt Freo, the bald-headed tough man''s fresh blood was running through his body. While those brothers in Iron-Blood Camp were running Zhang Tie''s fresh blood through their body.


    After Zhang Tie got on the vehicle, Reinhardt also jumped onto it. Without saying anything, he just held the cigar and accelerated his vehicle at once.


    As it was outside the gate of the alliance command, Zhang Tie was not afraid of being followed by others. If the alliance command in Mocco City could not even guarantee such a simple thing, they didn''t need to fight in Selnes Theater of Operations any longer. They only needed to return home and wait for demons.


    "Did you kill Master Abyan?" Reinhardt asked casually.


    "Yup. He killed some of my women. Therefore, I have to kill him. However, I almost lost my life that time!" Zhang Tie took up a lighter and started to light that cigar which Reinhardt had thrown to him. After having a mouth of it, the fragrance of the cigar was filled in his mouth.


    He learned to smoke the cigar from Reinhardt. Previously, as a poor teenager, Zhang Tie thought it was like smoking a cigarette; however, when in Iron-Blood Camp, he knew that the smoke of cigar didn''t have to enter lungs; instead, it just stayed in the mouth for a while before going out.


    "What happened? That old d**chebag couldn''t be that sharp!" Reinhardt turned around and glanced at Zhang Tie.


    "That old d**chebag was a shadow demon. His level was higher than mine. Therefore, I was almost killed!" Zhang Tie blew out the smoke.


    "Shadow demon?" Reinhardt finally revealed a shocking look.


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    "What happened then? Abyan''s fortress was swept off by someone. Even marshal Lin Changjiang and many big figures in the capital city were shocked by this!"


    "He was my master. As I could not even have time to protect myself, I could not meet him at that time. Probably after thinking that I was killed, he especially came there and destroyed the fortress.


    That strength was almost out of people''s reach. Later on, Reinhardt went to take a look at the ruins of Abyan''s fortress. Facing that deep and serene lake, he didn''t know what to say besides being shocked. However, as a major commission officer of No. 39 Division, Reinhardt had his own channels to learn about the event which happened beside the encampment of No. 39 Division. According to the investigation group dispatched by the capital city, there was no such a powerhouse in Norman Empire, even across Blackson Humans Corridor. It was said that his strength had almost reached to that of the immortal level.


    "You master is too powerful!" Reinhardt sighed with emotions as he felt happy for Zhang Tie.


    "He is very powerful!" Zhang Tie replied with a bitter smile, "However, I don''t know when I can see him again. His temperament is a bit odd. He''s always alone. I wonder where he is now. I won''t feel strange even if I didn''t see him in the next decades.


    Reinhardt glanced at Zhang Tie with an amazing look once again before shaking his head.


    The scenery on both sides of the street flashed backward. Reinhardt drove very fast as he continuously glimpsed at the rear-view mirrors to ensure that nobody was following them.


    "Where are we going?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Have a drink!"


    "That''s fine!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    After being silent for over 10 seconds, Reinhardt opened his mouth, "We''ve received the 1000 vials of all-purpose medicament that you had Colonel Leibniz left to the brothers of Iron-Blood Camp. When the demonized puppets corps besieged the Blackhot City, those vials of all-purpose medicament saved a lot of brothers'' lives!"


    "That''s good!"


    Reinhardt became silent for another few seconds, "First Lieutenant Liu Xing died in the demon disaster!"


    After hearing this news, Zhang Tie''s hand holding the cigar quivered slightly when he felt being chocked by something...


    ...


    Reinhardt kept driving ahead. After taking Zhang Tie around the Mocco City for over half an hour, he finally parked in a remote street. They then got off the vehicle and passed by two lanes before arriving at a small bar.


    Some bald-headed tough guys in black vests were standing outside the gate of the bar. At the sight Lieutenant Colonel Reinhardt, a tough guy turned around and knocked at the door. A person then looked outside through a small window on the door. When all the guards nodded, he opened the thick iron gate from inside.


    "I''ve not imagined that the guards here are so professional." Zhang Tie became interested in this place at once.


    "Where are we?"


    "This is demon hunters bar. Only powerhouses of demon hunting squads in Selnes Theater of Operations or those who had at least chopped off one demon''s head could come here!" Reinhardt explained.


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    Zhang Tie and Reinhardt passed that thick iron gate and a narrow winding corridor which was hung over with sabers and swords before entering the bar. At this moment, although it was not dark, so many people had already gathered inside. After glancing at Zhang Tie and Reinhardt, those people turned around and kept drinking.


    Like Reinhardt said, Zhang Tie saw various military uniforms and battle armors. They were at least captains.


    After sitting at a table, before they opened mouth, a beauty waiter in the breast-exposing uniform had already served bottles of alcohol and some food on the table. Finding Zhang Tie was handsome, that waiter even leered at Zhang Tie before leaving with her twisting plump butts.


    "You cannot order drinks here. We can provide you what we have!"


    Zhang Tie nodded. At this moment, all the supplies in Selnes Theater of Operations were in short. The rationing system was executed here. Even if you were a commissioner, you should also appreciate for having some alcohol. Alcohol could serve as hard currency here. The boss of this bar was already an able man to supply such goods.


    As they drank alcohol, Zhang Tie and Reinhardt chatted about their recent situation.


    Two years ago, Reinhardt had already left No. 39 Division and the Iron-Horn Corps and was dispatched into the Iron-Plough Corps in the North Border Military Region of Norman Empire. He was now a colonel.


    This time, facing the flooding demons, Norman Empire decided to dispatch three elite corps of about 1.4 million soldiers northward into Selnes Theater of Operations. The Iron-Plough Corps where Reinhardt was in, like the trump card of North Border Military Region, also arrived at Selnes Theater of Operations at the order.


    Although the demon disaster in Sun Dynasty had not been fully cracked down, Norman Empire had to deal with the current situation with their full efforts.


    As long as the demon army broke through the Selnes Plain, the entire Symbian Republic would be destroyed by demons sooner or later. Closely after that, Norman Empire, being next to the Symbian Republic would naturally become the next target of demons. Therefore, how long could Norman Empire keep demons in Selnes Theater of Operations almost determined how long would Norman Empire survive.


    Besides Iron-Plough Corps, the trump card troop in North Border Military Region, the most powerful imperial Iron-Blood Corps of Norman Empire which always safeguarded the capital of Norman Empire also arrived at Selnes Theater of Operations. The one who led the three corps northward and defended in Sladic City was rightly the crown prince of Norman Empire. Iron-Plough Corps was in Mocco City while Reinhardt served as the captain of demon hunting squadron of Iron-Plough Corps.


    "I''ve just received the report from home. Marshal Lin Changjiang has already accomplished strategic besiege towards those demonized puppets in Sun Dynasty with 9 imperial corps of about 4 million soldiers. After half a year, the empire will sweep all the demonized puppets of Sun Dynasty and break through the strategic tunnel towards the south of the empire..."


    "Even Norman Empire has prepared to retreat?" Zhang Tie asked out of amazement.


    "As long as the demon army breaks through the Selnes defense line, the empire has to make a strategic retreat. Selnes defense line is a psychological pass for many people. Once this pass is broken, not only Norman Empire but many other countries would try their best to carry out large-scale strategic transfer!" as Reinhardt said this, he took up a bottle of alcohol and poured in half of it before putting it heavily on the table, "Actually, able people have long taken their family members to the south by airship. Only commoners could not leave. You should know the situation in Selnes Theater of Operations better than me that it would deteriorate sooner or later. We''re just sparing some more time for commoners..."


    Zhang Tie nodded. The demon army could not be held in the north of the Selnes Plain forever. This was determined by the sharp strength gap between the two parties. Everyone knew that. As long as this human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations was broken through, everybody could only retreat in an avalanche type...


    Gradually, it was dark. Zhang Tie found more and more people in the bar. Additionally, after drinking a bit, many of them would enter a room behind the bar and stay there for a long time. Some didn''t drink at all. Holding few bulging items, they entered the same room. After a short while, hundreds of people disappeared in front of Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    "There''s an enclosed underground warehouse behind the room. This is the largest illegal demon hunters market in Selnes Theater of Operations. Many demon hunters would come here to trade items everyday. They could usually see many nice items here, including rune equipment, secret knowledge and weapons, etc. ..." Reinhardt explained.


    Being shocked by Reinhardt''s introduction, Zhang Tie asked, "Ah? There is such an illegal market?"


    "Actually, demons have many similarities with humans. They even have a stronger desire for wealth and good items. Some special demons could even cultivate using human cultivation methods. After demon corps swept those countries in the north, many demon soldiers would always carry spoils of war with them. Those spoils were traded in the demon hunters market at the beginning. But now, there are more items to be traded here..."


    With Reinhardt''s explanation, Zhang Tie finally understood the current situation of the illegal demon hunters market. Those being traded in this market at the beginning indeed came from the demon soldiers. However, as the war proceeded, many more powerhouses arrived here from Blackson Humans Corridor, increasing the variety of items being traded here.


    Those items of the demon hunting squad being killed by demons probably finally returned to the hand of other demon hunting squad through dead demons. As those items were relatively argumentative, they could only be traded in the illegal market.


    Now, there were over 10,000 LV 9 or higher population of demon hunting squads across the Selnes Theater of Operations, which included the elites of all countries. Some among those squads would disappear or sacrifice everyday. Similarly, each day, some of the demon hunting squads could gain something. After keeping what they needed, they traded unnecessary or argumentative items with other demon hunters in the illegal market.


    Such an illegal market had become a half-exposed secret to the demon hunting squads. Many generals of the alliance command also knew that. However, nobody could stop it. All the members of demon hunting squads were working at the risk of their lives. They were bearing great stress from demon corps on the ground. If they were not even allowed to trade items privately, it would be too ruthless to them. Of course, as the situation in Selnes Theater of Operations was a bit complex, it was hard to determine whether some items of the ''allied forces'' belonged to booties and whether they should be returned to the original owners...


    "Perhaps, I could get a ''King Roc Sutra'' here", a thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind...

 576 Trade in the Illegal Marke

    Chapter 576: Trade in the Illegal Market


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Until then did Zhang Tie realize that the demon hunters squads made rich profits. Zhang Tie then pitied himself that he only knew how to deal with wing demons. However, besides a pair of leather short pants, those wing demons only had a weapon in hand in order to relieve their burden in flight. As to those iron-armored demons that he encountered for the first time were like members of dare-to-death corps. Now that they prepared to break through the back of the human defense line, of course, they didn''t carry anything valuable with themselves.


    "Can I take a look inside?" Zhang Tie was moved greatly.


    "Of course, no problem. I''m also looking to find some useful items inside!" Reinhardt nodded.


    The two people then walked towards that room. After entering that room, Zhang Tie found it was absolutely a huge dressing room. After paying a gold coin per person, those entering it would be requested to put on the black cloak and face mask. After putting on them, Zhang Tie and Reinhardt each got a number plate before being allowed to enter that underground illegal demon hunters market.


    Wearing the mask, Zhang Tie felt his voice become hoarse. Wearing the black cloak, his moving ability was not restricted; however, his military uniform was well covered. Nobody could identify which troop did he come from.


    In the illegal market, nobody knew the opposite''s status, the buyer or the seller. They could only be identified by the temporary number plate.


    Zhang Tie''s number was 1361 while Reinhardt''s number was 1362. After taking the number plate, they walked downwards along a winding stair for more than 20 m before entering a huge underground space.


    That underground space was obviously an air-defense cave with ventilating pipes and rotating ventilators. It was prepared for the war. When they built it, they didn''t imagine that it could be used as an underground illegal trading market for demon hunters.


    "Let''s take a look at what we need. We''re not allowed to call the real names. If you want to call me, just call my number!" Reinhardt nodded towards Zhang Tie as he patted his number, "And if you really need to trade something, you''d better change your voice in case of trouble!"


    "Fine!" Zhang Tie nodded. As a LV 9 fighter, Zhang Tie had a great ability to control his body. It was very easy for him to slightly change his voice.


    After nodding towards each other, they then headed towards different directions.


    This underground air-defense cave was as huge as an underground football field. It could hold tens of thousands of people. Fluorescent lamps were hanging on the roof and the walls of the air-defense cave. The fluorescent lamps had faint brightness. People could barely see the items beside them. This was especially designed by people. As a result, this illegal underground market looked a bit mysterious.


    There were rows of counter-like booths in the illegal market. Some of them were vacant, some were covered with items, while some other booths only hung a plate, on which was written what the owner wanted to purchase or sell and a number below it.


    The number of people in the illegal market was at least 700-800, which was more than Zhang Tie had imagined. It seemed that many people had already been here before Zhang Tie and Reinhardt.


    Those who traded here were basically above LV 9. Those items being liked by people above LV 9 were naturally of high value.


    Only after wandering for a short while had Zhang Tie found that the items like weapons, medicament or something else were all of high quality. Some of them were rune equipment and alchemist''s equipment. However, they were at least two times more expensive than the same equipment that Zhang Tie saw in the auction house of Kalur several years ago. This was also a change brought by the holy war.


    On a booth, Zhang Tie saw a secret knowledge of ''Iron-Blood Fist''. At the sight of the familiar silver cover, Zhang Tie became stunned for a second as he recalled the time when Captain Kerlin gave him this secret knowledge in the ward when he attended the survival training in the wild wolf valley.


    This secret knowledge had a special meaning for Zhang Tie.


    "How much is this secret knowledge?" Zhang Tie took up the ''Iron-Blood Fist''.


    "50 gold coins. Don''t bargain. Although this secret knowledge is a pirate, it has a great printing quality. Additionally, the raw material of this secret knowledge is good, which could be barely seen even in Norman Empire!" the owner of the booth was as tall as Zhang Tie. He also wore a mask and a set of cloak.


    Zhang Tie instantly took out a gold check of 100 gold coins from Castle of Black Iron and gave it to him.


    After taking over that gold check, that man checked it carefully before nodding and putting it away, "Look, this gold check has the minimal par value here, as I have no changes, can you pick up some more items. I will give a discount!"


    "This guy is really a good businessman." Zhang Tie nodded. Even if the price of this secret knowledge was 1,000 gold coins, he would also buy it right now. However, it only cost him 50 gold coins. Additionally, after paying 100 gold coins, he could have another item. Therefore, Zhang Tie started to look at the items patiently.


    On this booth, besides the ''Iron-Blood Fist'', Zhang Tie also found some good-quality sabers and swords, a waistband and a bird in a cage, which aroused Zhang Tie''s curiosity.


    This was Zhang Tie''s first time to see live animals being sold in the illegal market. Therefore, he was very curious about that. The medium-sized bird looked ugly and dark gray all over. However, its eyes were very sharp. It looked a bit restless in the cage.


    "What''s this? Did the demon hunters squad catch birds to sell?"


    "This is thunder hawk. Although it does not look big, it''s a ferocious LV 1 living being. A thunder hawk could drive away a pack of common wild wolves. This bird could not only move fast in the sky, but also be very agile and ferocious. Generally, this bird could hardly be caught. Our demon hunters squad encountered this one by chance. It might have dropped on the ground during the process of striving for the spouse with other thunder hawks and got wounded. We found it and brought it back. Its wounds have recovered. I was almost injured by it twice."


    "What could it be used for?"


    "You can find a bird trainer to train it. This kind of bird could serve as the best scout and messenger. It is also a good helper for hunting in the wild!"


    Zhang''s heart pounded at once, "Well, I want this, is it worth 50 gold coins?"


    "Its price is 60 gold coins. But if you want it, you can take it with 50 gold coins!" after selling this bird, that person let out a sigh evidently.


    Zhang Tie took over that bird cage. That person even warned him kindly, "Remember, do not put your finger into the cage; otherwise, the bird will cut off your finger with its beak at once. Thunder hawk has a very great strength..."


    "Alright, I will remember that!" Zhang Tie took over the cage and left at once. After passing by that booth, Zhang Tie put one finger into the cage. At the sight of the finger, the thunder hawk didn''t give him a peck; conversely, it started to rub Zhang Tie''s finger intimately with its beak like a spoiled child. Zhang Tie almost burst out into laughter. "This bird seems a bit intelligent. It''s great! I am seeking for a chance to try the soul-based animal controlling skill of the ''Great Wildness Sutra'' these days. "


    As there were all sorts of people and items in the illegal market, Zhang Tie did not look too eye-catching with a birdcage on the way. Zhang Tie even saw some iron-armored demons'' heads being soaked in potion on a booth. When he passed by that booth, Zhang Tie even heard that owner whispering with another guy.


    "1,000 gold coins per one. Just take it away. When you submit this as a military exploit, you could be promoted to a commission officer at once...After that, you can leave Selnes Theater of Operations with the excuse of being wounded. With military exploits, a commission officer could leave here easier than common soldiers. All those rich dandies do this..."


    "It''s too expensive. How about a bit cheaper? We''ve just received a business, we need at least 10..."


    "950 gold coins for each. Additionally, you need to wait for two days for the rest ones..."


    They then bargained in a low voice...


    Wherever there were people, there were always trades. In the same theater of operations, those common soldiers were driven spirited by the carriage of wing demons'' heads; however, at the same time, someone was racking his head to implement his escape plan using a demon''s head...


    Zhang Tie sighed inside¡ª¡ªthis is human, this is humanity...


    "Ah, ''Fierce Tiger Know-how''..." a nearby, low exclamation attracted Zhang Tie''s eyes...

 577 Different Responses

    Chapter 577: Different Responses


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    With ''Fierce Tiger Technique'', one could reach LV 13 and light 233 surging points. It was also incomplete. If it was complete, it should be called ''Fierce Tiger Sutra''.


    The complete ''Fierce Tiger Sutra'' was a viscount-level cultivation method.


    After hearing that voice, Zhang Tie walked closer to that booth. Hearing some customers'' discussion at the booth, Zhang Tie understood something at once.


    ''Fierce Tiger Technique'' was a secret knowledge in a northern country occupied by demons. Before the holy war, that country was prosperous. However, after only a few years, everything had become a history. To date, this secret knowledge had become a merchandise in the demon hunters illegal market in Mocco City.


    This ''Fierce Tiger Technique'' was also recorded on a piece of diamond crystal which was rimmed with metal. The one who sold this secret knowledge was a guy in a cloak who wore a mask.


    The price of ''Fierce Tiger Technique'' was 350,000 gold coins. It could also be exchanged with other items of the equivalent value.


    After watching it for a while, those guys in front of that booth left due to its high price, so did Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie became thrilled by finding a skill-level secret knowledge as he was looking to find ''Robust Ox Technique'' here. Additionally, it might not be expensive. For most of the LV 9 demon hunters, they felt pitiful by only promoting one level to three-star strong fighters at most. Even LV 9 soldiers were just commoners in demon corps, not to mention a LV 10 soldier.


    However, after taking a round in the illegal market, Zhang Tie didn''t find any ''Robust Ox Know-how''. Therefore, he recovered his composure. He believed that he would have a chance to find the secret knowledge here sooner or later.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether Reinhardt had bought his necessity as he was empty-handed when Zhang Tie met him. Reinhardt was amazed about that birdcage in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    "You bought it?"


    "Yup, I bought an Iron-Blood Fist as a souvenir. The seller gifted this to me as changes!"


    Reinhardt became speechless.


    "Let''s go!"


    "Whether there are also demon hunters illegal market in Volv City and Sladic City?"


    "Yes, there are. But the markets in the two cities are a bit smaller than here! However, there are also high-quality goods there..."


    "Can you tell me the whereabouts of the two markets? I want to take a look there!"


    Reinhardt then told Zhang Tie the addresses of the two demon hunters markets. The same with this one, the other two markets were also covered by a bar.


    Zhang Tie silently remembered the addresses in mind. He planned to take a look there these couple of days. Perhaps, he could find what he needed in the other two markets.


    After leaving the bar, Reinhardt directly threw the car key to Zhang Tie.


    "You drive my vehicle back. The military SUV of Jinyun Country is too eye-catching in Mocco City. As there are too many military SUVs from Norman Empire here, you might be safer by driving it!"


    "What about you?"


    Reinhardt burst out into laughter, "Iron-Plough Corps''s encampment is several kilometers away. I will just walk there!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he took the key. It was just a vehicle which was worth about 100 gold coins. Zhang Tie even didn''t need to ask Reinhardt whether would he return it to him.


    "Fine, see you then. You can find me in the Crystal Battle Fortress if you need help!"


    "You too. You can find me in Iron-Plough Corps. But I''m not always in Mocco City. I only stay here for 3-5 days a month. As the holy war has just started, you''d better not show off your fighting strength on the battlefield. I really don''t want to hear that you have a cool performance on the battlefield again. The demons have not exerted their full efforts yet. Remember, you cannot have a bright future if you''re dead!" Reinhardt told Zhang Tie solemnly as he forcefully patted his hand on Zhang Tie''s shoulder.


    Zhang Tie nodded, "You need to take care of yourself too!"


    Reinhardt nodded before leaving. In the dark, Zhang Tie saw Reinhardt''s back disappearing in front of him before taking the key and getting on the vehicle.


    The moment he got in the car did Zhang Tie open the bird cage and let the thunder hawk out of the cage. The seller thought that the thunder hawk had already recovered; actually, it did not. Zhang Tie found that when he let it jump onto his hand.


    After cultivating the ''Great Wildness Sutra'', with his rising cultivating level, Zhang Tie found that he had mastered the ability to communicate with these animals and magical beasts. That was really a great ability. No wonder the deceased one who left the ''Great Wildness Sutra'' to him in the cave told him that he could easily have numerous wealth once he mastered the ''Great Wildness Sutra''. Based on his current ability, he could easily perform as a common animal controller.


    The seller mistook another point about the thunder hawk. Although thunder hawks would fight for spouse and would suffer wounds in the process, even die, this thunder hawk''s wounds were not caused by fighting for the spouse. Instead, they were stricken by lightning bolts when they caught up with them in the sky.


    Like how a moth would charge at the fire, thunder hawk liked to pursue lightning bolts in the sky. Nobody knew the reason. That was where their name came from. Generally, very few thunder hawk could survive a lightning bolt, except for this one, who really survived on.


    Zhang Tie soon drove out of Mocco City and came to the wild. Zhang Tie then put one hand on a wheeler while stretching another hand out. At the sight of this, the thunder hawk flattered it wings and jumped on Zhang Tie''s one side.


    "As you''ve not recovered yet. How about resting somewhere for a few days? I have good drinks and food for you." Zhang Tie asked the thunder hawk as he touched its head.


    It seemed that the thunder hawk had already understood Zhang Tie''s meaning. It rubbed its head on Zhang Tie''s hand for a few times. Zhang Tie smiled as the thunder hawk instantly disappeared into the position of the copilot.


    At this moment, Heller''s voice sounded.


    "Castle Lord, can you bring in some more animals? This place is a paradise for those animals. They would like it!"


    "Okay!" Zhang Tie replied as he suddenly remembered something, "Heller, can I directly set free animals into Castle of Black Iron?"


    "Of course!"


    "That''s great. I will have a try next time..."


    At this moment, a scene appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind. He wondered when Castle of Black Iron could be as large as the Blackson Humans Corridor, when could he enjoy the most splendid and exotic landscape everywhere. He could see various docile mutated plants and living beings there. Besides, it could hold billions of people...


    By then, when humans were forced against the wall by demons, he could lead them in Castle of Black Iron. After all, they were two completely different spaces. However, Castle of Black Iron with 100 sq km was still a bit limited for long-term settlement. If it could be as large as millions of sq km, it would be available for enough people to live in. He could even found a country inside.


    As he thought about that, Zhang Tie threw the metal birdcage into the Pool of Chaos in Castle of Black Iron which added trivial basic energy storage to Castle of Black Iron. After that, Zhang Tie drove back to the Crystal Battle Fortress. Fortunately, nothing happened on the way.


    Those in Crystal Battle Fortress also knew about Zhang Tie''s "heroic deed" in Mocco City today. When Zhang Tie parked his vehicle, he found the surrounding soldiers were watching him with admiring looks.


    However, before he returned to the Idiots, a person outside Lan Yunxi''s office told him that Lan Yunxi wanted to see him. Therefore, Zhang Tie entered Lan Yunxi''s office.


    In Lan Yunxi''s office, Zhang Tie was ferociously sworn by her. Like Reinhardt, Lan Yunxi also disagreed with Zhang Tie''s deed today. She was even very angry about that.


    "Do you think you''re great by just killing some LV 9 and LV 10 wing demons? Do you think you can step all the demons under your feet? Do you know that there are also battle-spirit-level wing demons? Do you think you can still survive back if you met any wing demon above LV 11? Do you think you could be the main character of the holy war between humans and demons?"


    Lan Yunxi was driven mad that her face almost froze. She released a powerful and unrivaled qi, "I thought you were smart. However, I''ve not imagined that you are as silly as the other men!"


    Zhang Tie couldn''t even utter a word. However, Zhang Tie found that he grew happier as Lan Yunxi swore him.


    Finally, before Zhang Tie uttered any word, Lan Yunxi had driven him out of the office. Standing outside the office, Zhang Tie touched his nose as he smiled and returned to the Idiots.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that another woman was waiting for him in the Idiots.


    She was Dantai Qingqing...

 578 Who Pursued Whom?

    Chapter 578: Who Pursued Whom?


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, those crew members forcefully blinked their eyes towards Zhang Tie. The first mate then told Zhang Tie that a woman was waiting for him in the command module of the airship.


    "That''s a very beautiful woman!" the first mate commented.


    After entering the command module, Zhang Tie caught sight of Dantai Qingqing.


    Seeing their captain coming in, those horny male wolves who were showing off their muscles in front of Dantai Qingqing left the command module.


    A bit treacherous red hair, a sexy figure and a beauty mark[1] near her lip¡ª¡ªZhang Tie didn''t know what Dantai Qingqing was here for.


    At this moment, she was wearing a brilliant, rosy longuette and a pair of high-heeled shoes like she was going to attend a ball. Those horny male wolves who showed off their muscles in front of her might not know that she could kill them all in a second if she lost her temper.


    "I heard that you are waiting for me? What''s the matter?" Zhang Tie asked straightforwardly.


    "Why not ask my name first? Don''t you think it''s rude?" Dantai Qingqing pouted her mouth, which looked cute.


    Zhang Tie rubbed his face as he blushed, "Miss Dantai Qingqing, we met in the Military Exploits Registration Center. I heard someone calling your name. Therefore, I know who you are. You also know who I am. So, we don''t need to ask names!"


    "Ha, I''ve not imagined that you could pay attention to my name. It means I''m charming!" Dantai Qingqing smiled, which was too alluring that even Zhang Tie was shocked.


    "Beautiful woman is always eye-catching, let alone it was in Crystal Battle Fortress!" Zhang Tie shrugged and said honestly.


    After hearing this, Dantai Qingqing became happier. With a fascinating smile, she walked towards Zhang Tie. The moment she came closer to Zhang Tie had Zhang Tie sniffed her good smell. "I''m here to ask you some questions?" Dantai Qingqing said.


    "Go ahead"


    "Do you have a girlfriend?"


    Zhang Tie became stunned as he glanced at Dantai Qingqing with a curious look, "Yes, I have, many!"


    "You''re honest. Do you mind having one more?" Dantai Qingqing put one hand on Zhang Tie''s shoulder as she leered at Zhang Tie.


    "Who?"


    Dantai Qingqing showed off her arrogant figure by raising her head as she said, "How about this girl?"


    "You?" Zhang Tie seriously looked at her from her head to toe. Standing closer to him, Dantai Qingqing really made Zhang Tie''s blood boil.


    When Zhang Tie glanced at her, he was fully dubious, "F*ck, this woman must have eaten wrong medicine. What an open girl!"


    "There are so many men in the Crystal Battle Fortress. I believe that a lot of them must be pursuing you. Why did you choose me?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "This girl likes little fresh meat[2] like you. You''re handsome and talented. How about that?" Dantai Qingqing put it straightforwardly.


    Zhang Tie smiled, "Well, I agree. From now on, you''re my girlfriend!"


    "Really?" Dantai Qingqing had not imagined that Zhang Tie could agree with her so fast as he became excited at once, "You have a good insight!"


    Zhang Tie then put his arm around Dantai Qingqing''s slim waist as he smirked and glanced over her body once again.


    Under the ''evil'' gaze of Zhang Tie, Dantai Qingqing twisted her body restlessly as she seemed not being used to Zhang Tie''s arm. As Zhang Tie embraced her waist, he started to tease her by rubbing the place under her waist, causing goosebumps all over Dantai Qingqing.


    Zhang Tie laughed inside as he directly headed for the Captain''s Room.


    "Where are we going?"


    "We''re in the command module. It''s where we work. Now that you''re my girlfriend, we''d better talk about rest of the things in my room!"


    Dantai Qingqing threw another glance at Zhang Tie before raising her head and followed Zhang Tie into the Captain''s room in a proud way.


    The moment they entered the room had Zhang Tie locked the door from inside.


    After hearing the door was locked, Dantai Qingqing turned around. At this moment, Zhang Tie had already forcefully kissed her plump lips with his arm around her waist.


    "Hmm..."


    Having not prepared for that, Dantai Qingqing widely opened her eyes at once. She had not imagined that Zhang Tie could do this. After being vacant for a few seconds, she pushed away Zhang Tie at once. Meanwhile, she raised her eyebrows and watched Zhang Tie furiously as she blushed, "What''re you doing?"


    Zhang Tie watched her with an ''amazing'' look, "Now that you''re my girlfriend, it means that I can kiss you. Have you seen any boyfriend who could not kiss her girlfriend? Don''t tell me this was your first kiss..."


    "Who...who said this was my first kiss?" Dantai Qingqing''s breasts undulated heavily as she glared at Zhang Tie. After half a minute, she recovered her composure. She revealed a smile once again as she said calmly, "It was too abrupt. You''ve not even told me about that. I''m not used to that!"


    "You mean you want me to aware you in advance?" Zhang Tie asked with a voice that sounded as tender as water.


    "Hmm, that would be better!"


    "Okay. You can go to bed and take off your skirt..." Zhang Tie pointed at that bed.


    Zhang Tie''s words shocked Dantai Qingqing so much. Widely opening her eyes, Dantai Qingqing asked unbelievably, "What did you say?"


    "I told you to take off your skirt and lie on the bed!" Zhang Tie explained very patiently.


    "What...what do you want?"


    "Of course, I want you to be my girlfriend!" Zhang Tie watched her with an ''innocent'' look, "Since I came to Selnes Theater of Operations, I''ve not made love. Now that, you want to be my girlfriend, just let me enjoy it!"


    Saying this, Zhang Tie had already put his hand on Qingqing''s butts. Being scared, Dantai Qingqing jumped away like a deer being startled. Gritting her teeth forcefully, the woman glared at Zhang Tie, "B*stard, who...who agrees to let you enjoy it!"


    "Isn''t it normal between a man and his girlfriend?" Zhang Tie watched Dantai Qingqing who was staring at him like finding an alien, "Is it strange for me to make love with my girlfriend? Hurry up. No crap! Lie on the bed. You can also lie on your stomach. The more gestures you could perform, the more I will like. Heh, heh, your butts look plump..."


    "Who...who told you that a man and a woman have to do this?"


    "Yes, a man and a woman don''t necessarily have to do this. However, as you''re my girlfriend, when you stay with me, we must do this." saying this, Zhang Tie had stripped to his waist. He started to undo his waistband and prepared to take off his pants.


    "F*rt, who told you that a man and his girlfriend must do this?" Dantai Qingqing became both furious and bashful as her face had completely turned red.


    Zhang Tie stopped at once as he revealed a considerate look, "You''re also right. Whether I''m too secular or not? Perhaps I''m shortsighted. How about this? If you can tell me a story, the main male character of which was a eunuch, it means you''re right. Otherwise, just lie there obediently!"


    Dantai Qingqing widely opened her mouth. Zhang Tie stopped his movement as he just watched her...


    After half a minute...


    "Have you got one?" Zhang Tie asked in a kind voice, "If not, just follow my order and lie on the bed. We can take it slow. Don''t worry, I will not hurt you! I''ve really not imagined that a beauty like you could propose to be my girlfriend voluntarily in Selnes Theater of Operations. That''s marvelous! I think I will not feel lonely at night later on."


    Zhang Tie revealed an ''obscene'' smile as he undid his waistband. Meanwhile, he gradually drew closer to Dantai Qingqing. Perhaps being frightened by Zhang Tie, Dantai Qingqing''s face turned a bit pale, "This isn''t little fresh meat! This is a lady killer." She started to move back one step after another as she stammered, "You...you...you stay away from me!"


    "Do you want to play something violent? You are a good performer. Heh...heh...I like it..." Zhang Tie revealed an ''evil'' smile as he gradually forced Dantai Qingqing against the wall. After undoing his waistband, he whipped it loudly, "Now that you like this atmosphere, I will show you something good on me!"


    When Dantai Qingqing had nowhere to go, Zhang Tie rapidly took off his pants.


    "Ah..." Dantai Qingqing uttered a shrill as she covered her eyes and directly sprung up from the ground and fell on the door side. She then opened the door at once and darted outside without looking back.


    "Qingqing...don''t run...I will be kind...Qingqing..." Zhang Tie pretended to chase after her for a few steps as he shouted with a ''sentimental'', oily voice.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s exclamation, Dantai Qingqing sped up. She even lost one high-heeled shoe. What a miserable escape!


    After staying in the room quietly for half a minute and watching Dantai Qingqing rushing towards the Crystal Battle Fortress after leaving the airship barefoot, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter at once as he staggered forward and back.


    If it was four years ago, he might have been frightened by Dantai Qingqing''s performance tonight. However, Zhang Tie had already experienced too many love affairs. The moment he caught sight of Dantai Qingqing had he known that this hot beauty had not made love before. It was too easy for Zhang Tie to deal with such a little beauty who had a great fighting strength, yet was rebellious and inexperienced in some aspect.


    Zhang Tie then lowered his head and looked at his loose sky-blue boxer shorts from different angles. Touching his jaw, he made some poses, "Hmm, doesn''t this pair of boxer shorts look good? This is the uniform of air cavalry in Selnes Theater of Operations. What the hell are these women thinking about? That''s too complex. Do they think that men don''t wear underwear..."


    ...

 579 War and Bloodline

    Chapter 579: War and Bloodline


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    What happened between Dantai Qingqing and Zhang Tie was just a small episode in Zhang Tie''s life. He didn''t care about that at all.


    On the second day, the news that Zhang Tie drove a vehicle being loaded with wing demons'' heads around Mocco City had been published in ''Holy War News'' along with the two photos, which shocked the entire Selnes Theater of Operations.


    Everyone knew that it was how Zhang Tie responded to the assassination which targeted at him two days ago.


    The reputation of Selnes Eagle grew louder. Zhang Tie evidently became the representative of human heroes in the theater of operations.


    However, Zhang Tie wasn''t used to represent or be represented. After being warned by Reinhardt and Lan Yunxi; Zhang Tie, being in the peak of the storm, became low-key at once. He didn''t do excessive or eye-catching things anymore; instead, he proposed to join the airship troop of Jinyun Country. Ignoring his social status and halos, Zhang Tie fought demons together with the airship troop. As an air cavalry, he was responsible for protecting the entire airship of Jinyun Country in the air. Additionally, he would carry out some reconnaissance missions with other glider drivers.


    After making such a choice, although Zhang Tie did not become that remarkable as that a couple of days ago, his persona movement was limited. He had fewer chances to kill wing demons. However, he became more honorable in the heart of those fighters in Crystal Battle Fortress and the airship troop of Jinyun Country.


    Across the Selnes Theater of Operations, Jinyun Country''s airship troop was the only airship troop that was escorted by the air cavalry. Because of Zhang Tie''s existence, the casualty rate of the glider drivers of Jinyun Country''s airship troop declined to the lowest in the Selnes Theater of Operations. The casualty of each mission declined by over 90% than before.


    In the troop, those who could provide a strong guarantee to their comrade-in-arms and could save so many people, would gain others'' respect wherever they were, such as Zhang Tie.


    The life in the theater of operations was relatively boring and very intense everyday. Everyone was in a high alert. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had stayed in Jinyun Country''s airship troop for over a month.


    During this period, although being in the same troop, Zhang Tie couldn''t see Lan Yunxi very often. Sometimes, they could not see each other for 1 or 2 weeks. Additionally, they met in the public each time.


    In the same period, Zhang Tie almost visited all the large-scale airships across Selnes Theater of Operations as he followed his airship troop out for battle or transfer. Zhang Tie also visited Volv and Slavic, another two cities in the human territory where his airship troop took a stop in turns. He visited the illegal demon hunters markets over there.


    Although Zhang Tie had seen a lot of cultivation methods and secret knowledge in the two demon hunters markets during the past month, he still didn''t see ''Robust Ox Know-how'' or the incomplete ''King Roc Sutra''. Zhang Tie gradually became worried. He could not just remain stagnant on his fighting strength. This would be a huge loss for him, causing him to bear a great stress.


    The situation on the battlefield changed every second. Like what Lan Yunxi said, in the fight between humans and demons, a LV 9 fighter could never be the main character. Because there were so many opponents who were more powerful than him.


    Lan Yunxi talked with him again later on; however, Zhang Tie still didn''t accept her ''Breaking Sun Sutra''. Because of this, Lan Yunxi didn''t speak to him for about two weeks. However, after that, Zhang Tie had made a warning in mind¡ª¡ªIf he did not get the ''Robust Ox Skill'' at the end of July, he would find another secret knowledge to cultivate.


    Zhang Tie really could not keep going like this. If he was not afraid of exposing his secret and being caught for vivisection, he could fetch the ''Robust Ox Know-how'' from Huaiyuan Palace in the broad daylight, he could also fetch one from Long Wind Business Group.


    However, Zhang Tie dared not do that as each of his movement was eye-catching. If he cultivated the ''Robust Ox Know-how'', once he passed LV 11, he would become the focus of the public. By then, he could barely clarify it. That would arise a big trouble to him. Therefore, he could only work out a way to get ''Robust Ox Know-how'' stealthily. To be rich silently counted the most.


    "What if I still could not fetch the ''Robust Ox Know-how'' in the end of July?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t have a high requirement on himself, neither did he have a great ambition. He only needed an incomplete sutra above count. "Zhang Huaiyuan, the founder of Huaiyuan Palace have had such a great undertaking only by a count-level ''Breaking Sun Sutra'', if I could also have such a great undertaking, I would be satisfied; it would be better if I could get an incomplete sutra above marquis or duke.


    Over the past one month, Zhang Tie had contacted his elder brother for several times through remote-sensing crystal. He told his parents that he was safe and reported his recent situation to his family members. Although Zhang Tie was in Selnes, he always concerned about his family members.


    Under the arrangement of his elder brother, Zhang Tie''s family members had almost prepared well to leave Waii Sub-Continent. By the next month, Zhang Tie''s family would set out for the eastern continent.


    Although Zhang family would move to the eastern continent, Zhang family''s business in Huaiyuan Prefecture didn''t end at once, and had been properly arranged. After Zhang Tie''s elder brother left, the business of Jinwu Corporation would shrink. Some of its business would be sold to Long Wind Corporation. Through remote sensing crystal, Zhang Tie''s elder brother could also manage the business here from the eastern continent. Meanwhile, Zhang Yang entrusted the specialized agency of Huaiyuan Palace and Golden Roc Bank respectively to supervise the operations of the corporation.


    What Zhang Tie worried most was actually Linda, Fiona and Beverly.


    When he returned home last time, in the last evenings before he left Huaiyuan Prefecture, he injected his essence of new life into the body of the three women by the special ability gifted by the small tree after carnival.


    The request was also proposed by the three women. Before they departed from him, they expected to breed new lives for him and would wait in the eastern continent for his return.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie didn''t know they had such a thought. After making love with them for many times, he found they all maintained an odd gesture; at the same time, they prevented his fluid from flowing out of their body. Zhang Tie then realized that they all wanted to have babies.


    "If I need to wait for you a few years, I''m afraid that I will miss you so much. However, if I had a baby, I could spend time with our baby. That would not make me insane!" Beverly told him.


    "Since you left the airship on the way back to Huaiyuan Prefecture, I was thinking about having a baby for you. That was the first time I wanted to be a mom and have a man''s baby. Even if you don''t come back, even if you died, when the kid grows up, I would tell him, he had a great papa. He''s my most admirable man!" Fiona told him.


    "If I can give birth to a baby, I want to have a baby with you. I''m afraid of losing the quality to be a mom. When you''d see me in the eastern continent, I might have already lost that quality. That would be a great pity! Beverly and Fiona had already told you what I wanted to say..." Linda said.


    When a woman determined to have a baby for you regardless of being fat, ugly, regardless of the huge pains, and the other potential dangers. When a woman would like to be a mother, to accomplish the greatest role conversion in her life, wish to sustain more life responsibilities or put all her efforts in breeding a baby for a man...Zhang Tie didn''t know what other men would feel when they heard this, but he was deeply moved by this unprecedentedly.


    When the three women said the above words, they didn''t say the three words ''I love you'', but Zhang Tie thought all the words were solemn oath and promises...


    Being moved by this, Zhang Tie made the most important decision for himself.


    To tell the truth, even Zhang Tie himself didn''t know when would he see them again. The hopeless wait was the most excruciating. Zhang Tie even didn''t know whether could he return to the eastern continent in the future after this departure.


    Zhang Tie felt that he was responsible and obligatory to sustain such a bloodline for himself, for Linda, Beverly and Fiona, for his dad and mom and for Zhang family.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie only told his elder brother about that. Before Zhang Tie came to Selnes, Zhang Yang had already asked his wives to pay attention to the health of Linda, Fiona and Beverly. By the end of May, Zhang Yang messaged Zhang Tie that all of them had no menstruation in May. After reporting it to their dad and mom, Zhang Tie''s mom picked up them and arranged them to live in Zhang''s household. According to the doctor, Linda, Beverly and Fiona were pregnant.


    Zhang Yang said that although their dad swore Zhang Tie, he was very happy inside. So was their mom. The whole family was very boisterous now. Their mom was preparing for the babies'' clothes, although she didn''t know whether they were male or female.


    Zhang Tie didn''t tell his elder brother what he wanted to say through the remote sensing crystal¡ª¡ªthe babies that Linda, Beverly and Fiona had were all male with black hair and eyes. Additionally, they would awaken the two bloodlines the moment they came to this world, precise throwing skill and body transformation.


    This was a powerful ability gifted by the small tree which could control and determine the sustainability of his bloodline .


    It was soon mid-June, less than 2 months after the human alliance seized back the Flatte City. However, the tusk of the demon corps shocked everyone once again...

 580 Attack and Defense

    Chapter 580: Attack and Defense


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On June 11th, after Zhang Tie and Jinyun Country''s airship troop carried out one-week patrol in the theater of operations, they moved to a large-scale airship center called C over 50 km behind Volv City.


    This was Zhang Tie''s 3rd time here in the past one month. Therefore, this place was not strange to him anymore.


    The constant two days'' storm symbolized the beginning of the rainy season in this summer on the Selnes Plain. The two days'' storm did not influence the action of the airship troop and the gliders on the airships, except for Zhang Tie.


    When the Idiots landed, the moment Zhang Tie stepped out of the hatch door in the military boots had he seen some ground service ambulance vehicles flashed by him, spraying water onto his trouser legs and shoes.


    The shallow puddles on the ground carried a lot of coal ash. When it sprayed on Zhang Tie''s trousers, it caused a lot of black spots. The sprayed water pleasantly stained Zhang Tie''s wholly-new military uniform regardless of his status as Selnes Eagle.


    Lowering his head, Zhang Tie watched his trousers and shoes which were covered with black spots, then the direction where the ground service vehicles headed for. He then slightly shook his head. Zhang Tie didn''t care about that as he walked towards the flagship airship of Jinyun Country where Lan Yunxi was.


    It was still raining; however, it was much lighter than before. Wearing a water-proof raincoat, Zhang Tie strolled on the road of the airship center C. At this moment, a concern flashed across his mind. This concern did not come from those mud spots on his trouser, but from the situation in the past one week. Zhang Tie found that all the wing demons had disappeared for three consecutive days. He realized it was not a good symbol.


    Demons didn''t shrink; wing demons didn''t appear. It meant that demons must have already worked out a new tactic to deal with humans.


    The atmosphere in Base C also seemed to be a bit intense. This time, Zhang Tie found too many security guards were placed here. One more battle fortress was founded 7 km away in the north of the base. Additionally, the barbed wires and patrolling troops outside the base increased.


    At this moment, there were over 3000 airships in the airship base of Volv City. Like an airship exhibition attended by countries across Waii Sub-Continent, airships were taking off and landing within dozens of square kilometers. When Zhang Tie came here for the first time, he was amazed by what he saw. Now, he had been accustomed to that.


    Artists and poets might find something in war which could arouse their inspiration and passion; however, for a person who indeed participated in the progress of the war, all of his illusions and romantic factors would be broken into pieces by the cruelty of war in an extremely short period. In this case, he only thought about how to survive himself and how to kill enemies.


    People came and went in Base C. Almost nobody else would like to ramble in the rain. They all trotted or drove their vehicles fast on the road. Those airships landing in the base made the ground servicemen busy. They started to provide various supplies for airships. By contrast, those crew members in the landing airships would pour into the strip clubs and brothels around the base.


    Although Zhang Tie was walking, his speed almost caught the others'' trotting speed. Nobody could recognize him on the way. During the past one month, Zhang Tie''s name didn''t appear on the ''Holy War News'' anymore. He didn''t even update his military exploits on the Military Exploits Rankings in Crystal Battle Fortress. In this case, he gradually faded out of the public''s vision.


    When he arrived at Lan Yunxi'' flagship airship, he found a greater part of chief commanders of fleets of Jinyun Country had arrived there. Among those whose lowest military rank was lieutenant colonel, Zhang Tie''s military rank as sergeant first class became a bit eye-catching. However, Zhang Tie was an exception as he wore the unique uniform of air cavalry. He was also qualified to attend the summit of the fleets.


    All the attendants were young elites from the six big clans of Jinyun Country. These people paid more attention to the military exploits rankings than their military ranks. Therefore, nobody refused Zhang Tie to attend the conference.


    Many of them were those who had lost the bet with Zhang Tie. After watching Zhang Tie''s powerful performance in the sky, they all became silent. They were very polite to Zhang Tie now.


    Those who had come here were discussing at the conference table in a low voice. Zhang Tie''s seat was in the middle of the right side of the conference table. The moment he sat down had a guy with the military rank of lieutenant colonel drawn closer to him, "Have you found that something is not right in the theater of operations?"


    Zhang Tie nodded with a solemn look.


    The one who talked with Zhang Tie was Wang Cheng, an apprentice of Wang Clan, one of the six top clans in Jinyun Country and a chief commander of the No. 7 fleet of the airship troop. He was an easy-going guy. After meeting Zhang Tie for a few times here, he had become familiar with Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie came to Base C last time, this chief and some young commission officers drank over night in the commission officers club. That night, those guys wanted to make Zhang Tie drunk; however, they had not imagined that Zhang Tie could move all the alcohol from his mouth to the Pool of Chaos in Castle of Black Iron. As a result, over 10 people could not defeat Zhang Tie, even in turns.


    After that, Zhang Tie was better known as alcoholic than Selnes Eagle among the airship troop of Jinyun Country. He was almost like a king at the table.


    Wang Cheng''s concern was verified soon. After a few minutes, when all the commission officers arrived, Lan Yunxi, in major''s military uniform appeared with an overwhelming qi.


    When she entered, all the commission officers on both sides of the conference table stood up, including Zhang Tie.


    Lan Yunxi just glanced over their looks. When she caught sight of Zhang Tie, she watched him for 0.3 seconds longer, which satisfied Zhang Tie''s vanity to a certain degree. She then nodded as everybody sat down.


    "The latest news, the airship troop of Francia Federation has been annihilated by demons yesterday..."


    Soon after that, the conference room froze at once.


    After being quiet for about half a minute, someone asked in a hoarse voice, "Erm...is it real?"


    "The alliance command has already dispatched some demon hunting squads to check the spot. Based on the analysis result, the airship troop of Francia Federation was annihilated by demons in less than 20 minutes!" Lan Yunxi replied calmly.


    "That''s impossible! Although the performance of the airships of Francia Federation''s airship troop was a bit worse than that of fury-level airships, that''s a fleet of over 500 large-scale battle airships. How could demons annihilate such a fleet in 20 minutes?" a commission officer shouted.


    "That''s real. The possibilities are just judged by our experiences!" Lan Yunxi watched that commission officer with a wise look, "Before we say impossible, we''d better ask ourselves our reference. Whether our reference is too powerful to be unshakable, or whether it''s made according to our habit or willingness. In this conference, we''re not talking about whether it''s possible or impossible. Because it''s unnecessary for us to do that. The priority is to clarify how did demons make it and how should we deal with them."


    Zhang Tie was also considering about Lan Yunxi''s words while lowering his head. Zhang Tie had to admit that Lan Yunxi, as a commander was more excellent than him in many aspects. This was also why she could have these people follow her orders. Zhang Tie learned many things from Lan Yunxi.


    Zhang Tie was not good at analyzing and judging such an overall situation. After being silent for a few seconds, when the others were frowning and thinking about Lan Yunxi''s words, Zhang Tie opened his mouth. Actually, among all these at present, Zhang Tie knew wing demons best.


    According to Zhang Tie''s judgment, it must be wing demons who annihilated human airship troop in such a short period.


    "When you''re thinking about how demons made it, I hope you know that in the last few days, I found that the number of wing demons had decreased by over 90%. That is very abnormal. After combining with the accident of Francia Federation''s airship troop, I think demons might have changed their tactic. How did they make it? I think the main corps of demons might have changed the deployment of wing demons troops!"


    Zhang Tie''s words shocked everyone as they all focused on Zhang Tie.


    "In the past, wing demons always attended the battle by a group of two or three, or 8-10 at most. They just strayed and sought for opportunities in the air like wild wolves. But now, I think they have started to throw in wing demons collectively. If they wanted to annihilate a fleet of over 500 battle airships in 20 minutes, they had to put in at least 1000 wing demons at once. With the help of weather, when the human airship troop didn''t have the gliders to make early warning, those wing demons raided into the matrix of the airship troop while being covered by clouds or terrains before successfully annihilating the fleet in such a short period!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie found a bit admiration and encouragement in Lan Yunxi''s eyes. At the sight of Lan Yunxi''s eyes, he immediately knew that Lan Yunxi knew the truth of this event.


    The moment Zhang Tie finished his words, many people started to discuss about that. After a hot discussion, they all agreed with Zhang Tie''s opinion¡ª¡ªdemons indeed have changed the deployment of wing demons.


    "This is serious for each people in Selnes Theater of Operations. If demons have started to put in wing demons collectively, it means that the main corps of demons have already found humans'' shortcomings in the defense line of Selnes Theater of Operations."


    "Air supremacy is humans'' powerful umbrella in the Selnes defense line. Under the protection of this umbrella, the human ground troops could fight demon corps; however, if they lost this umbrella, the human ground troops would not stand too long in front of the overwhelming demon corps. "


    "The air supremacy of the human defense line relies on its powerful airship troop. However, the human airship troop has a shortcoming in Selnes Theater of Operations, which doesn''t expose itself until the opponent changed the tactic of their wing demons."


    "Sometimes, wars are supported by a lot of strange math principles and relativity."


    "It is the principle of probability which exposes the shortcoming of human airship troop."


    "When wing demons appear in Selnes Theater of Operations sparsely, all the airship troops probably meet wing demons in the air. Comparatively, it will be less possible for large-scale airship troops to be annihilated by wing demons. Because the human airship troops will outnumber wing demons. Humans will firmly take the air supremacy of Selnes defense line."


    "This is the confrontation between two nets in the air."


    "If demons put in wing demons collectively, the above situation would change. The human airship troop might not easily meet wing demons in the air anymore. Because wing demons'' moving space and time is limited; once they meet in the air, the strength comparison between humans and demons will reverse at once. As a result, the human airship troop probably will be annihilated."


    "Wing demons could gain relative air supremacy at a certain time and place. Through this relative air supremacy, the advantage of human airship troop would be weakened step by step."


    "Demons could put in wing demons collectively without any limit. Being restricted by the flight principles of airships, commanding and communication level as well as other objective conditions, the human airship troops could not make this. Even if they barely made it, they would not have any effect. "


    "If tens of thousands of airships moved in the sky at the same time, suppose they were in the most dense array, they would occupy at least dozens of square km. Unless demons were blind, such an airship troop''s move would not have any effect at all. Additionally, demons could attack humans by chance. Given the power of Three-eye Association in this theater of operations, I''m afraid that the moment such a move order was delivered to the airship troops would the demons know about that."


    "After confronting with human allied forces in Selnes Theater of Operations for months, when the rainy season arrived this year, the demon corps finally found the shortcoming of human defense line through constant skirmishes with the allied human forces. They then started to tear open the air umbrella of humans in Selnes Theater of Operations."


    "The demons'' net became a saber and started to forcefully make a hole on the cover of the umbrella..."


    With the explanation of Lan Yunxi and the others'' discussion, Zhang Tie, who listened aside became hopeless.


    "Don''t demons have any shortcoming?"


    "No, demons are sparing a chance for us to heavily destroy their ground troop. They have to suffer a loss by changing the tactic of their wing demon troop..." when the others felt gloomy, Lan Yunxi''s firm voice drifted in Zhang Tie''s ears...

 581 Dilemma and Hope

    Chapter 581: Dilemma and Hope


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    "When demons change the tactics of the wing demon troops, their air defense in the front lines to the north of the Selnes Theatre of Operations would weaken. Although spare wing demons were unable to annihilate the human airship troop, they could also provide the necessary early warning for demons as the defensive line off the demons against human airship troop. To date, the demons have started to gather the wing demons collectively. This means they would leave a lot of loopholes in the north defense line. As long as we seized this chance, the human airship troop might give a heavy blow to the ground troops of demon corps!" Lan Yunxi''s gleaming eyes roused the others'' morale once again. As a result, the conference room gradually warmed up.


    "However, we need to confirm the precise position of demonized puppets corps on the ground. We should forget about attacking the main forces of demons, as demons are smart, even though wing demons changed their tactics, they would at least keep sufficient wing demons as their guards in the air above the encampment of their main forces. Therefore, our target is still the demonized puppet corps. Given their limited air forces, the demons could only choose between the main forces and the demonized puppets corps." The chief of staff of fleets who sat on the left side of Lan Yunxi added.


    "As the population of demonized puppets is not limitless. If we can annihilate the demonized puppet corps, we can also give a heavy blow to demons. When we kill a lot of demonized puppets, the demons'' control force in their occupied zone and Selnes front line would have loopholes for sure. By then, our ground troop would have a greater chance to win. By doing this, we''re peeling off the armor of the main force of demons." A commissioned officer on Lan Yunxi''s right side said after being silent for a few seconds.


    "However, the priority is to confirm the encampment of the demonized puppets before making a move. Meanwhile, we need to dodge from wing demon troop. We have to move very fast. We need to accomplish our evacuation before the wing demon troop makes any response. Otherwise, once being hampered by the wing demon troop, we might suffer a loss even if we could make it back. If so, we might even suffer more than the Francia Federation''s airship troop.


    "Such a move is very dangerous. Jinyun Country should not resist demons alone. We''d better touch the alliance command before moving out. With other airship troops'' coordination, our danger would be reduced to the lowest level."


    The commission officers discussed fervently.


    "However, our airship troop needs to solve the problem of early warning before this. Especially when the subordinate fleets and greater brigades move alone, other gliders could not take off from the airships in bad weather. Even if we have Selnes Eagle, Zhang Tie could still not take care of each fleet. If we can''t solve this problem, once those subordinate fleets and greater brigades encounter greater troops of wing demons when en route, they might repeat the outcome of the Francia Federation''s airship troop."


    "Before working out a feasible solution, I propose that our airship troop cancel the independent movement of subordinate fleets and greater brigades." A colonel suggested Lan Yunxi.


    "I agree. This is what I want to say." Lan Yunxi nodded. "As the wing demons'' tactics changed, our airship troop should also change its tactics. Now I will announce the new movement rules of the subordinate fleets and greater brigades of Jinyun Country''s airship troop..."


    ...


    After over one hour, everybody left the conference room with a gloomy mood. They all saw a hope of reversing the current situation. Therefore, they were not hopeless.


    Zhang Tie left in the end. Seeing Zhang Tie staying, the other guys who bet with him before hurriedly left the conference room. Given the special relationship between Zhang Tie and Lan Yunxi, plus that they only met for a few times in the same airship troop over the past one month, it was really a marvel to hear no scandal between Zhang Tie and Lan Yunxi.


    Sometimes, even Zhang Tie could not understand why. ''Is it because that Lan Yunxi and I have a great gap in all aspects or because Lan Yunxi exhibits a very powerful image in front of others so that nobody would believe in that Lan Yunxi could act in another way in front of me?''


    After refusing Lan Yunxi''s "Breaking Sun Sutra" for twice, whenever they stayed together, Lan Yunxi would gaze at him with a hateful look, making him very depressed.


    The moment the door of the conference room was closed, as the last person''s footstep grew quieter in the distance, Zhang Tie hurriedly raised his hands when he saw Lan Yunxi changing her eye lights once again.


    "Well, I surrender. Please don''t look at me in this way. It makes me look like an unfaithful lover. Give me some more time, please. I will get the secret knowledge on cultivation for sure!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Lan Yunxi wanted to lose her temper once again. However, she didn''t. After taking a deep breath, she said, "You mean that in the demon hunters markets?"


    "How did you know that?" Zhang Tie watched Lan Yunxi with his eyes widely opened.


    "Nonsense, your status is so special. Additionally, you move together with the airship troop, won''t I pay attention to you?"


    "Heh...heh...how about my moral standing? Besides demon hunters markets, I''ve not been to any brothels in the over the past month. I would always keep it for you even if I was forced to have internal injuries. You can tell me if you want it." Zhang Tie molested Lan Yunxi with a big smile.


    If it was before, Zhang Tie''s shameless words would definitely make Lan Yunxi blush. This was also one of Zhang Tie''s interests. However, Lan Yunxi just released out a slow sigh this time.


    "You cannot find any sultras in the demon hunters markets."


    "I know."


    Lan Yunxi then bit her lips. After being silent for a short while, she plucked her courage. "Do you know that I will not marry a man below knight?"


    When she said this, Lan Yunxi blushed.


    Zhang Tie watched her vacantly while being moved greatly inside.


    Lan Yunxi thought Zhang Tie was scared. Therefore, she added in a tender voice, "Commoners might have satisfied when they reach above LV 10. Such kind of people could be talents and elites in many places. However, it''s different for those beside me in Huaiyuan Palace. To be knight is only their basic condition. If your secret knowledge is below count, your development potential would also be restricted in the future even if you''re a knight. Am I clear?"


    "Don''t worry. I will definitely promote to knight with a secret knowledge above count." Zhang Tie promised decisively.


    "There''s no secret knowledge on cultivation above count in Waii Sub-Continent. Do you think you can find one here? How can you make me reassured?" Lan Yunxi watched Zhang Tie with a slightly disappointed look. "Do you want to start cultivation when you come back to the eastern continent? Do you know that the clans and sects in eastern continent treasure secret knowledge more than they do here? You might find many secret knowledge below count, however, those above the level of count are also very precious. In the sects of the eastern continent, you need chances to touch such secret knowledge after strict tests. How many years can you spare for that?"


    "I''ve told you I will promote to a knight with a secret knowledge above count, I will definitely make it. Additionally, I''m confident that it will not take me too much time. I have my own fortunes and methods. You can believe in me!" Zhang Tie drew Lan Yunxi''s hand.


    After watching Zhang Tie for a short while seriously, Lan Yunxi slowly nodded. She didn''t know how Zhang Tie could be so confident. However, Zhang Tie''s decisive and frank look told her that he was not kidding.


    "Well, I believe in you. I hope you not to play jokes with...with your future!"


    Zhang Tie then reached his hand onto Lan Yunxi''s waist while twisting like a snake. Lan Yunxi faintly moved before sliding his hand off.


    "I have to go to the alliance command of Mocco City..."


    "Do you come back at night?"


    "What for?" Lan Yunxi became alert.


    "As we have three days'' rest, I want to talk about my dream with you. Although the holy war is critical, we should not give up our dreams!" Zhang Tie said officially.


    "What''s your dream? I''ve not heard about that before?"


    "It''s so-so. I dream to contribute my trivial strength to human''s reproduction. As the commander of my airship troop and a righteous and kind human, you should support my dream whatever, right?"


    After being silent for three seconds, Lan Yunxi understood Zhang Tie''s words. In a split second, she was driven mad, ''You asshole. You''re becoming more excessive. How dare you pose such a request towards me?'' She then threw a paper file towards Zhang Tie''s head, "Roll out of here..."


    ...


    Several minutes later, Zhang Tie left the airship. Standing in the drizzle, Zhang Tie watched that airship taking off and flying towards the direction of Mocco City.


    After putting on his raincoat, Zhang Tie left Base C.


    After one hour, it was completely dark when Zhang Tie appeared in the Demon Hunters Bar in Volv City...


    Good luck to me this time!


    Zhang Tie muttered as he entered the gate which was as thick as that of the vault safe in bank.

 582 Killing Intent in Illegal Demon Hunters Marke

    Chapter 582: Killing Intent in Illegal Demon Hunters Market


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    The illegal demon hunters market in Volv City was in a lane behind the Demon Hunters Bar. Compared to the demon hunters market in Mocco City, this one was a bit smaller. However, the items in this market could match those in the market in Mocco City.


    As it was raining, the ground paved with rubble became wet from the water dropping from the sunshade. The stones at the foot of the wall were also covered with a layer of thin moss. Under the green light of the fluorescent lamps, people''s shadows were elongated in the moist lane. The lane was crowded with a lot of guys in overclothes. Their voices had changed, either hoarse or shrill. Some were even talking in ventriloquy, while their voices were produced in their stomach, making it more difficult to distinguish.


    On a rainy night, some guys in masks wandered in such a serene lane like ghosts. At the sight of this, someone might be frightened a lot. Therefore, the atmosphere in the lane was a bit weird.


    Zhang Tie was also walking in the lane in a suit of black overclothes and a mask as he watched the items being displayed on the windows on both sides of the lane.


    After reaching LV 9, Zhang Tie started to understand why it was just a beginning of cultivation at LV 9 as was told by Zhao Yuan, his master. Besides a lot of invisible surge points that needed to be ignited after LV 9, a lot of fighting skills could be learned only after LV 9.


    Take movement skills as an example. Before LV 9, Zhang Tie was only qualified to learn leaping skill, which could greatly increase one''s leaping ability by releasing force through the spine. Before mastering it, Zhang Tie could use his instinct to leap 4 m high. However, after mastering it, he could leap 6-7 m high easily.


    When Zhang Tie came to this demon hunters market, he witnessed the biggest trade. It was a movement skill called "Storm Movement". Its price was 650,000 gold coins. This really stunned Zhang Tie. When he was attracted by this book, he asked about its details and learned that its effect could not be exerted until over 70 surging points on one''s feet were ignited. Therefore, Zhang Tie gave it up.


    Many high-level fighting skills required the cultivator to light some surging points. After obtaining the secret knowledge on how to light surging points, for many people, whether the fighting skills that they cultivate could coordinate with the surging points that they have lit determined their personal strength.


    Generally, the more surging points that were ignited, the greater potential would be released. As a result, the more fighting skills could be cultivated and applied. Therefore, on the road of cultivation, the more powerful you were, the more powerful you would be. Although each step forward was very difficult, after each step, you would see a different world.


    When Zhang Tie was looking at the merchandise in the lane, he suddenly felt his finger slightly numb through the ring of awareness. Zhang Tie was immediately shocked.


    When the effect of the ring of awareness was triggered, it indicated that someone was staring at him with a malicious look for over 20 seconds.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know who was following him. However, the warning from the ring of awareness made him careful. Although he pretended that he hadn''t noticed, when he watched those weapons on a roadside booth, he rapidly glanced over those people behind him through his eye corners.


    He saw over 30 people behind him in the lane using his dark vision. Each of them was wearing a suit of black overclothes and a mask. They were all going about their own business. Some were in a group of 2 or 3, some were independent. It seemed that nobody was noticing him at all. Zhang Tie could not identify who was staring him from behind.


    ''Is it a coincidence or someone is going to rip me off after knowing my status?''


    Zhang Tie rapidly racked his mind. In Selnes Theatre of Operations, demon hunters came from different countries and regions. Therefore, even if the relationship between demon hunters was very complex sometimes. Zhang Tie had also heard about demon hunters stabbing each other with sabers in the wild. Even in some cities, some demon hunters who thought they were powerful had also done illegal things. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not sure what that person behind him was thinking about.


    Seeing Zhang Tie stopping and watching those weapons in front of his booth, the demon hunter who sold his weapons became excited at once, "Our weapons are of top quality in Selnes Theatre of Operations. They all carry rune effects. Even it is the simplest rune effect, it is much more powerful than those common weapons. Take this longsword, for instance, the rune effect it carried is sharpness. Additionally, it is made of high-quality alloy. It''s a rare treasure that we obtained on the move!"


    The owner held a 1 m-long sharp long sword and exhibited it in front of Zhang Tie. It was indeed a very nice merchandise. It was classic and majestic. Together with its sheath, it didn''t have too many decorations, however, it felt very stable and sharp.


    Being interested in it, Zhang Tie looked it over. it was very heavy. Although it seemed to be only over 20 kg, it weighed at least 70 kg, which was proper for Zhang Tie. It was indeed made of a special material.


    "How much?" Zhang Tie asked the owner.


    "1,200 gold coins. Don''t bargain!"


    If it was a common elite sword with no rune effect, it was at most worth 200 gold coins. However, it carried with a rune effect. Additionally, its quality was higher than that of a common elite sword in all aspects. Therefore, its price rose from three digits to four digits.


    "1,000 gold coins. I will take it away!" Zhang Tie gave a counter-offer.


    After watching Zhang Tie for a few seconds, the owner replied, "Fine, I will make a contribution to the holy war. That''s a deal, 1,000 gold coins!"


    Zhang Tie took out of a gold check of 1,000 gold coins and gave it to the owner. The owner took it and checked it carefully before nodding towards Zhang Tie.


    Although this price meant nothing for Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie knew it was not cheap as with it he could buy two Faerie Dragon super sports cars. ''My dad could not afford such a rune weapon without eighty or ninety years'' salary.''


    Taking the long sword, Zhang Tie directly hung it under his overclothes. After that, he continued to wander in the lane. The ring of awareness didn''t send a warning anymore. However, Zhang Tie didn''t recover his composure.


    The raindrops fell on the sunshade above the lane, causing cracking sounds. Wind and drizzle leaked through the gap on the sunshade, making Zhang Tie feel cold.


    The coldness didn''t come from wind or rain, but from a looming killing intent in the wind and rain. If not for the ring of awareness, Zhang Tie might not be able to identify the killing intent inside the coldness.


    Zhang Tie calmed down.


    There were hundreds of people in the illegal market. Before the fight, Zhang Tie didn''t know who among these people were threatening him. Although he was wearing a mask and a suit of overclothes, his frame would remain unchanged. For one or a group of powerhouses or killers, as long as they could keep his frame in mind, they could recognize him even he was in a mask and a suit of overclothes.


    Zhang Tie thought that someone had already noticed his trace since he rambled in the illegal demon hunters markets over the past one month. Therefore, the opponent just waited there for his arrival.


    Those who lurked among demon hunters were all powerhouses. They could better hide in the crowd. Additionally, they could easily escape after the assassination.


    All of a sudden, Zhang Tie felt that the illegal demon hunters market was filled with killing intent, causing him to tense up.


    After failing to assassinate him with alchemist''s bomb, especially knowing that he could kill LV 10 wing demons, the opponents would dispatch powerhouses above LV 11 for sure this time. Zhang Tie wouldn''t find it strange even if they were great battle masters.


    Although Zhang Tie looked relaxed, he was working out counter-measures anxiously. However, at this moment, a sound drifted into his ears from a booth in front of him.


    "Alas, are you kidding me? It''s just a "Robust Ox Skill". Don''t waste my time. You can only cheat those guys below LV 6 with this. However, who would like to block his own way of cultivation only for improving one level. Buddy, this item was a bit valuable before the holy war; however, now even the average members of regular demon corps is LV 9, who will buy it..."


    "Erm, if you want it, I will give you a discount, how about 10,000 gold coins?"


    "Forget about that. This is a trap for those below LV 10. Anyone who cultivates it will have a bad fortune."


    "If it''s complete, it''s an emperor-level secret knowledge. Even if you don''t cultivate it, you can also collect it!" the owner urged.


    "Antiques are valuable in a flourishing age while gold is valuable in a chaotic age. Who''d like to collect and study this? In such a chaotic age, gold is the best!"


    Saying that the man shook his head and left the booth.


    As nobody was sure that he wanted "Robust Ox Skill" for sure, Zhang Tie could confirm that what happened in front of him wasn''t a cheat or trap.


    It was indeed a strange occurrence. Zhang Tie had not imagined that the extremely rustic secret knowledge "Robust Ox Skill", the incomplete "King Roc Sutra" which he had been striving for could appear together with the killing intent at the same time.

 583 Getting the Robust Ox Skill

    Chapter 583: Getting the Robust Ox Skill


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie looked around and found that those people who wanted to assassinate him were very careful. He drew in a deep breath before walking in front of the booth at a medium-sized pace frequency.


    Where he saw an item which looked similar to the ''Breaking Sun Sutra'' of Lan Yunxi. It was a metal with beautiful patterns. The center of that piece of metal was a piece of black crystal which was circled by some Chinese characters "´óÁ¦ÉñÅ£¹¦", which meant "Robust Ox Skill".


    Having not imagined that the item that he had been seeking for over a month was right in front of him; thankfully, nobody liked to buy it. Zhang Tie''s hand under his cloak started to quiver...


    Beside that ''Robust Ox Skill'' was a diamond-shaped crystal which was wrapped by the metal. At the sight of that item, Zhang Tie had known that it was a secret knowledge for sure. All the secret knowledge above LV 9 were as mysterious as this. Unless deliberate destruction, such a secret knowledge would remain unchanged for thousands of years.


    Besides the two secret knowledge were some vials of medicament and medicinal powders.


    Zhang Tie ignored the ''Robust Ox Skill''; instead, he directly took up another secret knowledge on its side and asked the owner.


    "What''s this?"


    The owner also wore a black cloak and a mask.


    "This is the secret knowledge ''Meteor Shower Sword''..."


    "Meteor Shower Swordsmanship?"


    "Right. This fighting skill comes from the eastern continent. You can cultivate it when you reach LV 10."


    "Is there any requirements on surging points?"


    "No. Additionally, you could trigger it using various battle qi. This sword''s power will increase along with your level and realm. Although it could be cultivated by people at LV 10, it could exert a bigger effect when you reach the knight. That''s its strength. It''s told that some sword sages in the eastern continent immersed in such a swordsmanship for their whole lives. This swordsmanship is very profound and extensive."


    The booth owner introduced the benefits of that swordsmanship to Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie seemed to be interested in it as he took it up and looked at it.


    "Can I read it?"


    "10 seconds available!"


    Under the supervision of the owner, Zhang Tie injected a wisp of spiritual energy into the crystal when the golden Chinese characters "ÌìÓêÁ÷Ðǽ£", which meant "Meteor Shower Swordsmanship" appeared in his mind. After that, the golden characters gradually faded away as a long, classic Chinese sword appeared. At this moment, the owner had already reached out his hand and stopped Zhang Tie.


    "How much?"


    "200,000 gold coins!"


    "Too expensive. Give me a discount!"


    "This amount of money would be shared by a squad. Each of us could only get a small amount of it. Do you think it easy to get such a secret knowledge? If not risk our lives, we cannot get it!" the owner pretended to be pitiful.


    "That''s too expensive!" Zhang Tie shook his head as he pretended to leave.


    "Fine, you say a price..." as it was hard to see such a rich customer, how could the owner let Zhang Tie go so easily.


    Zhang Tie stopped, "190,000 gold coins then. Hmm, plus this as a gift. I like to collect these items. It''s about 10% off..."


    Zhang Tie pointed at the ''Robust Ox Skill'' which had not been sold yet and said in a calm voice.


    The owner became hesitated for a short while as he seemed to calculate behind the mask. He then asked Zhang Tie, "Will you pay me cash?"


    "Of course!"


    "Which bank''s gold check?"


    "Golden Roc Bank!"


    "Fine, 190,000 gold coins then. You can take the two items away!"


    Zhang Tie directly took out 19 gold checks of Golden Roc Bank, the par value of each one was 10,000 gold coins and gave them to the owner. The owner counted and authenticated the gold checks adroitly before nodding towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie also nodded. Being extremely thrilled inside, he put the two secret knowledge inside his cloak; at the same time, he teleported them into Castle of Black Iron.


    After the trade, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh inside at once.


    "Who had imagined that I could obtain the incomplete version of an emperor-level secret knowledge so easily in an illegal market. I might be the only one who could recover ''Robust Ox Skill'' to ''King Roc Sutra'' in the world. In the process of recovery, even if I was in the trouble-reappearance situation, I might also die hundreds of times in order to light each surging point. This is the price of cultivating emperor-level secret knowledge."


    "As to the ''Meteor Shower Swordsmanship'', I can cultivate it when I''m free. If I''m busy, I will gift it to those junior sister apprentices in Hidden Dragon Island."


    After obtaining the most important secret knowledge, Zhang Tie''s concern was finally solved. His next step was to deal with the killing intent in the illegal market.


    Zhang Tie kept wandering in the lane. At the same time, he paid attention to his surroundings. Zhang Tie felt the killing intent beside him was becoming icier. It seemed that they were going to launch an attack.


    "What should I do?"


    Each of the passers-by might be a killer. Zhang Tie became intense. If the enemy was going to launch a thunderbolt sneak attack towards him, he might suffer a great loss.


    A raindrop fell from the sunshade onto Zhang Tie''s face through its crevice.


    Zhang Tie became slightly stunned as he raised his head. At the same time, a thought flashed across his mind, "F*ck, why would this father wait here for death? Even If they knew how I came here, I don''t think they will know how I left."


    Zhang Tie then burst out laughing, which startled those in the surroundings. In the next second, Zhang Tie sprung up from the ground as a sword qi shot out of his hand. After making a big hole on the steel sunshade, he jumped out of the hole immediately and disappeared in a split second.


    As a result, the heavy rain was blown inside through the big hole, exposing the gloomy sky. All the demon hunters became stunned.


    "What the hell! Is he a motherf*cking lunatic? How could he leave in such way? F*ck..." a demon hunter swore loudly after his clothes were splashed wet.


    Under the mask, some became silent as they only felt a bit strange; while some turned ghastly pale.


    The terrifying killing intent in the illegal market was solved by Zhang Tie in such an odd and abrupt way.


    ...


    After one hour, Zhang Tie, being wet all over, returned to Base C. The moment he returned to Base C had he caught sight of Wang Cheng coming out of the building of the commission officers club along with some young commission officers of the airship troop. After staying in the sky for so many days, the moment they landed, had these commission officers relaxed themselves in the club by drinking, chatting and playing cards with friends.


    Although there were some beautiful female waiters in the club, none of these young elites would waste time on them as they didn''t want to be labeled as lascivious. Zhang Tie really admired those Chinese elites on this aspect.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie who looked like a drowned rat, they were all amazed.


    "Zhang Tie? What are you doing?"


    "I have been angry lately, so I''m just running in the rain to cool down myself!" Zhang Tie joked.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Wang Cheng and the other commission officers burst out laughing at the same time. They didn''t realize that Zhang Tie had just escaped from a dangerous situation just now.


    After escaping out, Zhang Tie didn''t report to the military of Volv City. Because it was useless. As long as those killers in the illegal market were not idiots, they would never expose their traces at all after Zhang Tie escaped successfully. They could only wander in the market and leave that demon hunters market with the others.


    Those who could freely access to the demon hunters bar and the illegal market in Volv City would have no problem with their ID certificates. Three-eye Association was good at hiding their lackeys in human organizations. There was only one result¡ª¡ªthey could not catch anybody after great efforts. This might attract the attention of demon hunting squads in Selnes Theater of Operations. If those demon hunting squads knew that it was caused by Zhang Tie, they would find him trouble. Those b*stards of Three-eye Association didn''t mind setting him up by aggravating the complicated situation.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t tell them about what happened to him.


    A mature man could hold many things in mind. Even if he had experienced great troubles, he would still look calm.


    Only resentful men and small cynical figures would complain about their unfairness and wounds now and then.


    The best way to deal with demons and Three-eye Association was to crack them down by powerful strength mercilessly.


    After greeting Wang Cheng and the others, Zhang Tie returned to the Idiots. After taking a hot shower and changing to a suit of clean and comfortable clothes, he took out of his ''Robust Ox Skill'' in the Captain''s Room and started to immerse in the cultivation road after LV 9 according to the secret knowledge...


    The emperor-level secret knowledge, although being incomplete, also shocked Zhang Tie greatly. It opened the gate of another world to Zhang Tie...

 584 Planting Golden Seed Rune in the Shrine

    Through the experience in the illegal market, Zhang Tie knew that he had already become the most hated person in the eyes of Three-eye Association and demons. Therefore, he did not dare to become relaxed. After taking the incomplete ''King Roc Sutra'', he started his cultivation during the rest of the airship troop.


    Although the ''Robust Ox Skill'' was the incomplete ''King Roc Sutra'', it contained two aspects that Zhang Tie wanted the most to learn since the beginning: how to manifest those invisible surging points through his cultivation; how to light those invisible surging points.


    The first step of cultivation was to manifest a golden rune¡ª¡ªKing Roc Seed Rune in his shrine according to the secret ritual procedure that combined spiritual energy with the battle qi in the ''King Roc Sutra''.


    That was not an average rune, but a special seed being cultivated by Zhang Tie''s powerful spiritual energy and battle qi. After visualizing that King Roc Seed Rune, he needed to visualize another 7-layer gold egg to wrap the King Roc Seed Rune like wrapping yolk.


    This process did not sound complicated; however, it was just a beginning. After visualizing that gold egg, he needed to manifest 987 different classic runes, each of which looked as light as feather on special locations of the eggshell. Those runes had to cover the entire gold egg. By then, he would just accomplish the first step of cultivating the ''King Roc Sutra''¡ª¡ªto plant gold seed in the shrine.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie didn''t think that it was complicated. He thought he could accomplish it with his powerful spiritual energy very fast. However, when he started to manifest the King Roc Seed Rune in the shrine, Zhang Tie''s face turned pale.


    While sensing the mysterious awareness, the Shrine surging point seemed to become as vast as a palace. The King Roc Seed Rune was like a black hole that could engulf everything in this palace. Zhang Tie seemed to have a big fight each day during the past four days as he constantly mixed the spiritual energy in his mind and the battle qi in his body into that King Roc Seed Rune. Each time, Zhang Tie felt his strength was dried up.


    On the evening of June 15th, after his strength was dried up once again, the King Roc Seed Rune in the Shrine surging point finally manifested itself while radiating golden light.


    The moment the King Roc Seed Rune was planted, before Zhang Tie took a breath, had he found that the Shrine surging point and the 34 surging points on his spine started to rock like an earthquake. As a result, his body started to quiver all over. After vibrating 7 times consecutively, he finally recovered his composure.


    "What''s wrong?" Zhang Tie became startled.


    "Congratulations, Castle Lord, you''ve accomplished the manifestation of King Roc Seed Rune. You could treat the rock as the welcome ceremony of the King Roc Seed Rune to you!" Heller''s voice drifted into Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "Will other cultivation methods have the same effect?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    "The surging points will vibrate 7 times. This is the feature of the emperor-level secret knowledge''s seed rune when it manifests in the Shrine. As to the other seed runes, when the seed rune was manifested in the Shrine, surging points of throne-level secret knowledge would vibrate 6 times; surging points of the duke-level secret knowledge would vibrate 5 times. Similarly, the surging points of the lowest baron-level secret knowledge would vibrate one time."


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie remembered that Lan Yunxi had talked about this when she explained how to divide levels of secret knowledge on cultivation to him. He remembered that when he asked her how to distinguish it when someone fabricated high-end secret knowledge with low-end secret knowledge, Lan Yunxi replied with a smile and said that it was impossible. When the seed rune was manifested, the level of secret knowledge would be clearly distinguished.


    Zhang Tie finally understood it.


    "Heller, what''s wrong with this seed rune? Why did it take me so long to manifest? I remember that Lan Yunxi said this step only took 1-2 days in ''Breaking Sun Sutra''. Additionally, it really consumed too much energy. It took me so long time to accomplish it although my spiritual energy and battle qi was many times more than that of commoners. If others want to manifest this King Roc Seed Rune, it will take them several months!"


    "Right, Castle Lord, your speed is really fast. It''s already many times faster than that of commoners!"


    "What''s the reason?"


    "Of course, the foundation of a skyscraper and that of common buildings consume different materials in construction, neither the construction time are the same. A baby elephant and a baby rat require different nutrients. Am I clear?" Heller explained to Zhang Tie very patiently, "Even if it was the simplest first step, how could that of an emperor-level secret knowledge be as same as that of other secret knowledge?"


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie finally understood it. He then thought about another shocking question.


    "987 runes need to be manifested on the golden egg through visualization. Will it take me 4-5 days to manifest each rune?"


    If it took him the same efforts as he spent on the seed rune to manifest about 1000 runes, Zhang Tie would cry as it would take him 10 years to accomplish this step. That was too frightening!


    Thankfully, after hearing Heller''s explanation, Zhang Tie became relieved at once.


    "The runes on the gold egg would consume lesser spiritual energy and battle qi. Based on your ability, you could manifest about 10 runes in one day!"


    "According to you, it will take me about 100 days to plant the gold seed in the Shrine of ''King Roc Sutra'' right?"


    For Zhang Tie who had been used to enjoy the benefit of fast cultivation, he felt 3 months was too long for him to accomplish the first step of ''King Roc Sutra''.


    "For the emperor-level secret knowledge, if you can complete the foundation in 100 days, it''s already very fast. It will take others above 1 year to complete this!"


    Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh. When he thought about those people who could only promote one level after hard efforts with this secret knowledge, he felt an inner balance at once. No matter what, he was already a lucky dog. If others knew that he was qualified to cultivate a complete emperor-level secret knowledge, they would drown him with saliva at once. Numerous people were dreaming for this opportunity at any cost. However, he was complaining about the long term which was required to lay the foundation.


    "Fine, 100 days. It''s just a bit longer than 3 months. The road of cultivation really needs to be paved one step by another!"


    "Hope you can think in this way; When you could light those surging points, those leakless fruits on the small tree would work. Benefited from that, you would promote to LV 10 very fast!"


    "When you reach LV 10, you need to seek for the correct route through constant attempts in the trouble-reappearance situation!"


    "This is the only method!"


    "Heller, I feel that you know the complete King Roc Sutra." Zhang Tie suddenly aroused his question.


    Heller became silent for a few seconds...


    "I truly know something. I have knowledge on some contents of the ''King Roc Sutra'', however, being different than what you think, I know that this road of cultivation is the best for you. I know what the ''King Roc Sutra'' might bring to you in the future; however, I don''t know the concrete cultivation method of King Roc Sutra!"


    "Aww, what will ''King Roc Sutra'' bring me in the future?"


    "Power and freedom!"


    Although Heller''s reply was obscure, Zhang Tie''s heart still raced. Because this was Heller''s comment. After being familiar with Heller for so long, Zhang Tie had not heard him describing someone or something with power and freedom.


    Therefore, if Heller said power, it must be power; if Heller said freedom, it must be freedom.


    Zhang Tie started to dream about the bright future.


    On June 16th, after 4 days of rest, the airship troop of Jinyun Country left Base C in Volv City once again and headed for the northern frontline.


    During the past 4 days, an airship troop of over 100 airships lost contact with the outside world. Although it was not confirmed, everyone knew that this airship troop must have been annihilated.


    Before setting off, Zhang Tie attended another conference hosted by Lan Yunxi. In the conference, Lan Yunxi drew a circle in the northwest of an amplified flight chart in Selnes Theater of Operations using her baton.


    "According to intelligence, there is always a corps of over 300,000 demonized puppets in the region Misty Moon Woods. As this region is covered with dense woods and valleys, we couldn''t find the demonized puppets corps. Our mission is to find that demonized puppets corps while dodging from the disturbance of wing demons and give them a fierce blow. Closely after that, the ground elite troop will enter the Misty Moon Woods and turn this region in a defense line so as to restrict demons'' power for a long time. This is a very important move. Our performance will determine this move. Am I clear?"


    "Clear!" everyone replied in unison.


    More people moved their eyes on Zhang Tie. In the entire airship troop of Jinyun Country, the one who could probably find the location of that demonized puppets corps in the shortest period must be Zhang Tie.


    Such a mission was delivered to the airship troop of Jinyun Country probably because the big figures appreciated Zhang Tie''s excellent talent in the air. All the attendants at present reached an agreement inside.


    "I will find the location of those demonized puppets corps!" facing their looks, Zhang Tie replied calmly.


    Lan Yunxi threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie, "Be careful!"


    Zhang Tie smiled, "I will!"


    ...

 585 Misty Moon Woods

    Chapter 585: Misty Moon Woods


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As it was raining, the glider suffered a heavy resistance in the sky. Zhang Tie could obviously feel that the glider slowed down. Additionally, it was harder for him to find an ascending thermal air flow. Zhang Tie could only use the elevating force provided by the main wing of the glider to offset the influence of rain drops and the downward cold air.


    Unless Zhang Tie drove the glider away from this region, he could not violate physical rules to keep his glider hovering in this region without any driving power.


    Actually, it was already a marvel for Zhang Tie to stay above the Misty Moon Woods for over 7 hours in such a weather. The other glider drivers could not even fly off their gliders in such a weather. Even if they could fly off, they could only stay for a short period in the sky. However, Zhang Tie almost stayed an entire daytime in the sky with that WindTalker.


    In the past 7 hours, Zhang Tie unavoidably declined from 15,000 m to 1,000 m or so. Additionally, it was very difficult for him to elevate again.


    It was not heavily raining. However, the mist above the Misty Moon Woods became denser. Sitting on the glider, Zhang Tie inclined his head and watched the mist below the glider. Feeling like flying above the cloud sea of the stratosphere, Zhang Tie could see nothing.


    In order to prevent rain from coming in, the protective cover above the cockpit was closed. The rain drops soon slid off the protective cover. However, due to the difference in temperature, the protective cover was always covered with a layer of fine mist. As a result, the visibility in the cockpit became poorer.


    In only a few minutes, the glider had declined another 100 m. Using his instinct, Zhang Tie caught two sparse topographic elevating air flows to slightly elevate the glider. However, in the irresistible weather, the glider gradually declined like being pressed by an invisible hand.


    "Sh*t!" Zhang Tie swore inside.


    It was the 5th day since Zhang Tie arrived at the Misty Moon Woods. In this period, even though Zhang Tie had checked all over the Misty Moon Woods once, he still could not find the hiding place of those demonized puppets corps.


    The name Misty Moon Woods had two reasons: this place was covered with dense fog all the year round; there were vacant woods below. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t have any achievement.


    As long as human scouts dispatched by the allied human forces entered this place, they would disappear. As a result, they could only lay hope to air reconnaissance.


    In a good weather, such a method might work; however, when in rainy days, this method''s effect would undoubtedly be sharply reduced.


    It was already a big test for people to execute tasks with gliders in such a bad weather, not to mention that the heavy rain made the fog denser, causing a poorer visibility.


    Besides Zhang Tie, Lan Yunxi also dispatched some airships to coordinate him for the reconnaissance; however, they made no achievements, either.


    The longer the airship troop of Jinyun Country stayed here, the more possible it would be for them to get exposed to wing demons. Everyone knew it clearly.


    It was a misty sea below. At the sight of a hillside in front of him, Zhang Tie considered two seconds before gritting his teeth and diving towards that hillside while pressing down his rudder.


    As he didn''t have any clue, plus the bad weather today, it was even more difficult for him to return to the base. Therefore, Zhang Tie made a decision and prepared to land the glider on this hillside. He planned to take a look down there. If the weather became better tomorrow, he would fly off based on the terrain of the hillside.


    The glider declined rapidly by hovering in the sky. Under Zhang Tie''s manipulation, the glider became more flexible. Additionally, even if it was hovering there, its head was still facing sharply downward. Even if it was those trump-card glider drivers, very few of them would dare to descend in this way. In only half a minute, the glider had already been close to the ground.


    When the glider''s head was going to touch the ground, with the faint elevating air flow on the hillside, Zhang Tie raised the head of the glider rapidly. With a slight shock, the body of the glider leveled up at once. After rushing dozens of meters ahead, Zhang Tie instantly stretched his feet out of the bottom of the cockpit. After running a few meters on the grassland had he stopped the glider steadily.


    After putting down the glider, Zhang Tie opened the protective cover of the cockpit and jumped out of it. In the rain, he closed the protective cover once again. After that, he carried that glider and ran towards the woods on the hillside.


    The glider which weighed less than one ton was almost like a weapon in Zhang Tie''s hand. Carrying the glider, Zhang Tie ran over there without leaving any trace on the ground.


    After entering the woods, Zhang Tie found a covert bush. After briefly cleaning it, Zhang Tie hid the glider in the bush. After that, he took out his dagger and chopped off some twigs to cover it.


    After hiding it in such a way, a person being dozen meters away could not find such a glider at all, unless he came here and moved away the twigs.


    Additionally, nobody could imagine that there was a glider in the wild.


    After doing this, Zhang Tie''s clothes were almost wet all over. He took the six javelins from the armrack outside the cockpit and carried them on his back. After that, he arranged two trace systems around the glider before leaving this place rapidly.


    Twenty minutes later, the rain grew heavier while it became colder.


    Zhang Tie found a mountain cave in the valley over 10 km away from the glider. After a brief investigation, he found nobody in this cave. He then drilled into the cave.


    The mouth of this cave was not big; thankfully, the cave was deep and a bit twisting. There were some trees below the mouth of the cave while some withered leaves and twigs were lying down there, some of which were not wet; Zhang Tie collected some dry twigs and leaves and set a fire at a mysterious location in the cave.


    The entire cave warmed up at once.


    After having a pee behind a big tree at the mouth of the cave, Zhang Tie returned to the cave. He then drank two mouths of all-purpose medicament to supplement his energy. After that, he took out a piece of dried meat from Castle of Black Iron and baked it over the fire. As he gradually warmed up, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh.


    When the alluring aroma drifted from the piece of dried meat, the rain water in his clothes started to steam. After eating the food, he got some water from Castle of Black Iron and drank it. Gradually, his clothes were dried. Zhang Tie then sat behind a huge rock at the mouth of the mountain cave and started to stare blankly at the rain scene in the valley.


    Many familiar faces appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind. After several months, Zhang Tie started to miss them, especially Linda, Fiona and Beverly. The moment he thought of his babies who were going to be delivered by the three women had he have an exotic and complex feeling.


    Honestly, Zhang Tie had not been ready to be a father until now. However, he also knew that when he was ready to be a father, the relationship between him and the three women might not remain the same as of now.


    The greatest effect of the babies was to turn the status of the three woman as his women and lovers into his wives. After such a relationship was set, it would remain unchanged no matter how far and long it was.


    Sometimes people could not just live for themselves. You''d better treasure someone when it was necessary. Do not let those who deserve your cherish be the passers-by in your life; instead, they should be the scene, benefactor in your life and a part of your life. When you could see them everywhere in your life, your life would be fulfilled.


    This was what his mother told him when Zhang Tie entered the No. 7 National Male Middle School in Blackhot City. Zhang Tie always kept it in mind.


    I wonder when could I go to the eastern continent, how old the three little guys would be when I see them and whether they could call me dad or not. Plus three more grandsons, mom could open a kindergarten now...


    When he thought of his mom being surrounded and pushed by many little kids to run, Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    After staying there for a short while, Zhang Tie shook his head to clean those romantic scenes from his mind. After that, he took out a map and found his location on it. He then frowned.


    This reconnaissance region was not selected casually. Zhang Tie selected it after several days of reconnaissance as he thought it probably hid the demonized puppets corps. The bad weather and the dense fog greatly weakened the effect of reconnaissance. Watching the map, Zhang Tie made marks on the grids of the map. He prepared to take a look at those places on the map where he marked when the rain became lighter.


    The target that could not be noticed from the sky would be very remarkable on the ground. Even If there was indeed the demonized puppets corps in these places, Zhang Tie didn''t believe that he could find hundreds of thousands of demonized puppets.


    Zhang Tie started to cultivate in the mountain cave as he waited for the rain to become lighter.


    It kept raining over night...

 586 Locking the Targe

    Chapter 586: Locking the Target


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    When it was raining overnight, Zhang Tie kept cultivating until midnight in the mountain cave. Finally, he visualized and manifested the last layer of the shell of that 7-layer gold egg with his spiritual energy and battle qi. This indicated that he had accomplished the second step of planting the gold seed rune of "King Roc Sutra". What he needed to do then was to visualize and manifest 987 special runes on the shell of the golden egg.


    Zhang Tie found that the number of surge points in his body and the special runes that he needed to visualized were both 987. He knew that there must be some mysterious connection between the two aspects although he didn''t know why.


    If Zhang Tie couldn''t understand something, he would drop it. Like the moon always being round, somethings weren''t worth consideration. What is rational is actual and what is actual is rational. Therefore, Zhang Tie would not concern himself with it at all.


    Compared to these illusory concerns, those concerns that he needed to face and those which could influence the fate of himself and his relatives and friends counted most.


    After one night, the spiritual energy and battle qi that he had consumed had completely recovered the next morning after Zhang Tie drank some mouths\fuls of all-purpose medicament.


    If not necessary, Zhang Tie would not exhibit the special ability that was gifted by the Castle of Black Iron in such a shocking way. Therefore, even if he could put away the glider in the Castle of Black Iron, he would not do that at the risk of exposing the secret of Castle of Black Iron.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie could only use the Castle of Black Iron as a portable wallet or kettle so that he could take out some gold checks or transfer two mouthfuls of spring water or all-purpose medicament into his mouth. It was no longer necessary for him to disguise as a damn priest like what he did in the Ice and Snow Wilderness. Neither would he do that.


    Some pits on the stones outside the mountain cave were filled with rainwater after one night''s heavy rain. Zhang Tie found two water willows outside the mountain cave. After fetching two water willow twigs, he added some salt in one pit and mix it with the rainwater using the water willow twigs. After that, he started to clean his teeth.


    After doing this, he ate two pieces of dried pies and put on a camouflage raincoat. After that, he cleaned all the traces in the mountain cave and left.


    It was sunny today. Soon after he left the mountain cave he saw a fiery sun rising up.


    Zhang Tie quickly ran through the woods and sought for those dubious regions that he marked on the map.


    ...


    At noon, Zhang Tie stopped on one side of a river which passed through the Misty Moon Woods. Because of the heavy rain, the water level had risen too much today. Squatting by the riverside, Zhang Tie watched a corpse with a gloomy look which was flushed onto the rubble of the river rapids by the surging river.


    That male corpse wore a set of shabby commoner''s clothes. Given its skin, it hadn''t stayed in the water too long as it was not bloated yet. However, the corpse was a bit terrifying because its half head and neck were gone as if having been gnawed by some animal. After being soaked in water, the exposed wounds made Zhang Tie uncomfortable.


    As it was sunny today, the corpse started to release a stench.


    Zhang Tie checked those wounds carefully while enduring the disgusting stink.


    Besides wild animals, demonized puppets could also cause similar wounds. However, as the teeth structure of demonized puppets was different than that of wild beasts, they would cause different wounds. After being gnawed by humans, grinding marks were usually seen. In contrast, after being gnawed by wild beasts, there were always marks caused by penetrative and forceful dragging of sharp teeth on the wounds.


    After observing it carefully, Zhang Tie made a conclusion¡ª¡ªthe wounds of this corpse were not caused by wild beasts but demonized puppets.


    After making such a conclusion, Zhang Tie was excited. After looking at the upper reach of the river, he ran towards the upper reach along the riverside. On the way, he saw odd-looking rocks and towering trees everywhere. There were also many cliffs that could not be easily passed by commoners. Thankfully, Zhang Tie was agile and passed by them all the way along the riverside.


    After 2 hours, Zhang Tie had already walked over 70 km towards the upper reach of the river. However, he found no target. Therefore, Zhang Tie frowned. If hundreds of thousands of demonized puppets were hiding here, they would definitely leave some clues.


    When he was doubting his judgment, he heard a sound "Duo...duo...". Raising his head, he found a that woodpecker was knocking at the trunk of a big tree.


    At the sight of the bird, a thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind. He heavily patted his forehead, ''Idiot, you forgot that you''re a powerful animal controller. You''re in the woods. How could you be troubled by such a small problem.''


    Zhang Tie then connected his spiritual energy with that All-spirits Tower in his mind while sending a message towards that woodpecker. The woodpecker immediately stopped its movement as he turned around and watched Zhang Tie who was standing under the tree.


    Zhang Tie stretched out a hand. The woodpecker then flew off the tree while flapping its wings and lightly landed on his hand. At the same time, it uttered, "Gulugulu". It seemed that it was curious as to why Zhang Tie could communicate with it.


    Woodpecker was a common LV 0 living being. Coincidentally, there was one Great Wild Seal on the first floor of the All-spirits Tower which could work on LV 0 living being. That was a "Rest" seal that Zhang Tie produced at the beginning. It could not match seals in the "Defense" sect on controlling living being. It was mainly used to protect and drive creatures away, instead of controlling them. However, seals in "Rest" sect also had a benefit, namely, as long as this seal was applied on the creature, it would not suffer any harm from the others at the same level in a very long time. Additionally, animal controllers could control this animal in a short period with it.


    With this "Rest" seal, Zhang Tie could control the woodpecker for 12 hours. Although it was not as powerful as the seals in "Controlling" sect which could allow the animal to be loyal to the controller for the rest of its life, Zhang Tie thought 12 hours were enough for him.


    Additionally, it was wasteful if he didn''t use the great wild seal on the first floor of All-spirits Tower at this moment.


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he fondled the head of the woodpecker and applied the "Rest" seal into its body. Closely after that, Zhang Tie felt that he had established a close relationship with the woodpecker.


    "Take me to the most populated place you''ve seen!" Zhang Tie sent an order to that woodpecker. After that, he raised his arm, sending that woodpecker flying in the air. After hovering above Zhang Tie''s head for two circles, it flew towards a direction.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly followed after. After each distance, the woodpecker would rest on the twig and look back at Zhang Tie. When Zhang Tie drew closer, it kept flying forward.


    The woodpecker, whose nickname was woods'' doctor, had a very wide range of movement. If this woodpecker had indeed met a lot of people, Zhang Tie believed in that it could take him there sooner or later.


    After flying through the dense woods one hour later, the woodpecker reached above a misty valley and kept hovering there. Zhang Tie realized that it must have seen a lot of people here. Additionally, something terrifying must be hiding here.


    "You can go now, you''re free..." Zhang Tie sent another order to the woodpecker. The woodpecker then flew towards another direction while flapping its wings.


    Zhang Tie silently lay behind a huge rock and a patch of brushwood while watching this valley.


    Even if it was a sunny day, the valley was still covered with a dense fog. Additionally, many places in the valley were covered by the towering, flourish trees on both sides of the hillside.


    Zhang Tie took out the map and checked it carefully. He found this place was rightly in the dubious region of Misty Moon Woods that he marked on the map. He had passed here by glider several days ago. However, he could see nothing at all from the sky.


    Due to the dense fog, even if it was on the ground, his visible distance was also limited to 100 m. Those outside 100 m were all buried in the dense fog.


    "Is the demonized puppets corps hiding here?"


    When this doubt flashed across his mind, Zhang Tie changed his face. At this moment, a gust of wind blew over, causing the dense fog rolling in the valley. Zhang Tie then smelt a faint bloody smell in the wind.


    Zhang Tie immediately took two javelins from his back as he silently fumbled towards the source of the bloody smell.


    There was a huge mountain cave leading to the hinterland of the mountain in a hidden place below the valley. The bloody smell came from that mountain cave, where Zhang Tie saw a squad of patrolling demonized puppets...


    ''There you are!'' Zhang Tie became thrilled while some questions came to his mind, ''Why would those demonized puppets hide here? What the hell are they doing there...''


    Zhang Tie lay about 100 m away from that mountain cave.


    Suddenly, a turmoil drifted from the entrance of the mountain cave. With wails and cries, some people were taken out. After that, Zhang Tie heard someone sneer, "Do you want to escape? Do you think you can escape?"


    "Please, let us go, we dare not do that anymore!"


    "Now that you don''t want to work, just be the food of sacred worms, eat them..." the man said mercilessly.


    A lot of demonized puppets instantly charged at those people while uttering weird sounds. Closely after that, Zhang Tie heard disgusting sounds and miserable shrieks, causing goosebumps all over his body.

 587 The Reappearance of the Hell

    Chapter 587: The Reappearance of the Hell


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Zhang Tie lay there without moving for 5-6 hours. He waited until it was completely dark then darted towards the entrance of the mountain cave.


    In the dark, he could better use his dark vision. By contrast, as demonized puppets had almost the same vision as commoners, their vision would be greatly weakened in the dark. Therefore, Zhang Tie would have a chance to sneak into the mountain cave.


    When the tragedy happened in the daytime, Zhang Tie also thought about saving those people, however, he couldn''t make it. In that case, he would expose himself for sure if he killed those lackeys of demonized puppets. If so, he might lose his own life.


    Zhang Tie applied a hiding skill and a rapid movement skill to himself. Under the blessing of the two rune effects, Zhang Tie moved like a waft of smoke in the dark. He flashed by over 100 m in a blink and reached less than 15 m away from the entrance of the mountain cave.


    Zhang Tie hid in the crown of a big tree. After that, he picked up a small stone and threw it towards one side. The stone fell in the brushwood dozens of meters away, causing some sounds.


    The demonized puppets at the entrance were very alert. The moment they heard the sound from over there, all the demonized puppets watched over there. With the blurry, low roars of the head of those demonized puppets, a squad of demonized puppets ran towards the source of the sound.


    Seizing this chance, Zhang Tie instantly slid off the tree and sneaked into the mountain cave along the shadowy places near the entrance of the mountain cave.


    These demonized puppets had poor fighting strength which couldn''t defeat Zhang Tie. However, demonized puppets were controlled by puppet worms. As long as a demonized puppet was killed by Zhang Tie, the parent worm of the demonized puppets would sense it for sure and respond.


    On the battlefield, demonized puppets were almost the best sentries. Demon corps being surrounded by demonized puppets corps had no history of being raided by human corps in the 2nd Holy War. Of course, Zhang Tie would not like to disturb the sentries.


    After hearing that miserable shrieks of humans in the daytime, Zhang Tie was a bit shocked. He hadn''t imagined that humans could cooperate with demons at this moment. Besides demonized puppets corps, it seemed that many humans were hiding inside this cave. Zhang Tie had to figure it out. After seeing those people in the daytime, Zhang Tie felt that these demonized puppets corps were here for some special purpose. There was a negligence about the intelligence of this place from the human alliance command.


    The moment he entered the cave, Zhang Tie felt like vomiting. The stink was like that in the slaughterhouse and the cesspool which had not been cleaned for dozens of years. Even the most disgusting smell that you could imagine could not match this.


    Bearing his discomfort, Zhang Tie rapidly sneaked into the cave while dodging the places where might expose himself.


    This cave was a natural huge karst cave. The deeper he entered, the broader it would be in the underground space. He found many newly-excavated traces in the cave. This made Zhang Tie more suspicious¡ª¡ªwhat are the demons excavating here?


    In the pitch-dark cave, in each distance, there would be a fluorescent lamp or a natural rough fluorescent stone on both sides of the cave, which provided dim light in the dark cave.


    Near these fluorescent lamps and rough fluorescent stones were always squads of patrolling demonized puppets. Wherever he passed by these places he would find a chance to rapidly pass by them or temporarily distract them by using the same trick that he had used at the entrance of the cave just now before passing by quickly.


    As demonized puppets had low intelligence, this trick never failed.


    On the way, what shocked Zhang Tie were those piles of stinky human bones. The deeper he entered the cave, the more bones would he see. One time, Zhang Tie saw tens of thousands of human bones fill a pit which was about half the size of a football field in the underground cave. The pit sent out a heavy stink while numerous mice with bloody eyes were accessing the bones and gnawing the rotten meat on the bones. Some of them burrowed in the bones and skulls to suck essence in the marrow.


    When the mice ate, they made sounds "Ka...ka...ka...". Like numerous people walking on the sand road, it caused goosebumps all over Zhang Tie''s body.


    The scene was like the reappearance of hell.


    After experiencing numerous cruel scenes, Zhang Tie, who thought he had been very powerful inside, turned pale abruptly the moment he saw this. At the same time, he felt like vomiting.


    Zhang Tie preferred to have not seen such a scene. The miserable terror and nausea could never be described in language.


    Zhang Tie then sped up and left the terrifying scene behind.


    Recalling the scene that he saw in the daytime, Zhang Tie immediately understood that those bones and skulls were left by the demons.


    Meanwhile, Zhang Tie understood why hundreds of thousands of demonized puppets could not be found after entering the Misty Moon Woods. Because those b*stards were hiding underground. When they were hungry, they would eat those human captives.


    A fury flame burned in Zhang Tie''s mind. It was not a holy war for humans at all. It was just a choice that humans had to make when they were pushed at the extremely cruel situation¡ª¡ªto be demons'' food or to survive. If they wanted to survive, they could only fight. They could only crush demons into pieces, burn them into ashes, bury them in the soil and stomp on it. That''s the holy war of humans!


    Although Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to chop off the heads of all the demon b*stards in front of him, he became calmer inside. Those demons must have their reasons for being here.


    Zhang Tie continued deep into the cave.


    After entering about 4-5 km, Zhang Tie felt the underground temperature started to gradually rise. Finally, at the exit of that cave, Zhang Tie saw a vast underground space.


    Zhang Tie then slipped out of that exit like a shadow. Closely after that, he found a relatively higher position near the exit and hid behind a pile of stalactites.


    In front of Zhang Tie was an underground space dozens of square kilometers. Some fiery lava rivers slowly flew across the underground space. In a place 7-8 km away, Zhang Tie saw lava flowing off from hundreds of meters high.


    Due to the relationship between these lava rivers and that lava waterfall, this underground space was shrouded in a dim red light like apocalypse dusk.


    A huge military camp was erected in the middle of this underground space. The surroundings of this underground space were like a huge underground construction site. Zhang Tie saw hundreds of thousands of people in shabby clothes busy working like diligent ants and constantly excavating and digging something. At the same time, those grim demonized puppets with bloody eyes were patrolling everywhere in squads and monitoring those people''s work. Some of them were even swearing loudly in human language as they constantly whipped those laborers with knouts ferociously.


    Not far from Zhang Tie, a skinny man was carrying a rock which weighed about dozens of kg as he stumbled and trembled. Suddenly, a steel whip flew from afar like how a poisonous snake spat out its tongue and struck heavily on that man''s shoulder.


    The man uttered a miserable shriek as the rock slid off his hand and fell to the ground.


    When the second whip struck on him, the man instantly charged at the stone like crazily and wanted to lift it up once again.


    As new wounds were caused on his back, he felt extremely painful. His hands started to tremble, causing the stone fall down once again.


    "Crap..." that man who waved the steel whip swore.


    "No...no...I''m not crap. I can, I can continue to work..." the man shouted loudly as he struggled to lift up the rock once again.


    However, the 3rd whip directly broke his wrist. This time, the man became despaired to lift the stone.


    "Please...please give me one chance...give me once chance..." the man exclaimed.


    "Don''t worry. You''re still useful!" the guy who held the steel whip sneered as he waved his hands. Some demonized puppets with bloody eyes instantly rushed towards that man and dragged him away by catching his feet...


    "Ah...no,...no..." shrill shrieks sounded.


    Under the gaze of the onlookers, that man was dragged to a nearby place. Closely after that more and more demonized puppets ran over here and surrounded that man. They then started to gnaw his flesh and drink his blood like how a herd of wild beasts caught a prey. The miserable shrieks were instantly covered by the sounds that the demonized puppets gnawed the man''s fleshes and bones.


    At the sight of this scene, all the onlookers couldn''t stand to quiver all over. Some had already been completely numb about that. They just lowered their heads and continued to work while suffering the steel whips...


    ...


    Right then, a person stealthily climbed to the front of Zhang Tie while keeping his body close to the ground. Feeling something, he raised his head and showed a swarthy face. The moment he saw Zhang Tie''s eyes, he revealed a terrified look. He immediately opened his mouth. Before he uttered any voice, his mouth had been covered by Zhang Tie''s hand. Zhang Tie then dragged him to the back of the stalactites.


    "Shut up if you want to survive..." Zhang Tie whispered to him.

 588 Demonss Scheme

    Chapter 588: Demons'' Scheme


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie soon knew a lot of information from that person. His name was Rawls, a member of Titanic Duchy. After the demonized puppet corps occupied the Titanic Duchy, they captured him. Together with many people, he was taken here by a demonized puppet corps and became the slave laborer and food of the demonized puppets.


    After being captured by demons, these humans suffered a miserable treatment. They had to work hard over 10 hours a day. Those emaciated or wounded people who couldn''t work anymore were immediately eaten by demonized puppets.


    "What is your main job here?" Zhang Tie posed his greatest concern.


    "Our captives are mainly used to break through the underground tunnels over here. There are two tunnels here, one towards the north, the other towards the south. The tunnel towards the north had been broken through; it links the demons'' occupied zone. The tunnel towards south had also been broken through dozens of kilometers!" Rawls answered.


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he immediately understood the mission of this demonized puppets corps here.


    Because of the advantage of human airship troop in the sky and the threat of alchemist''s bombs, demons planned to break through an underground tunnel towards Selnes Plain. As long as the demon corps appeared in the back of the Selnes defense line of humans, the entire human defense line would collapse at once.


    This was not the only method that demons used in Selnes Theater of Operations; however, it was the most worthwhile method. For demons, they only needed to put in a demonized puppets corps and some human captives here so as to implement this plan. This was not a big cost for demons; however, as long as it succeeded, it would help them a lot.


    "How many demonized puppets are here?"


    "About 300,000."


    "How about the number of human captives?"


    "About 100,000. Every once in a while, they would transport here some more human captives from the north tunnel as the supply of food and labor work for demons."


    The moment he heard Rawls'' words had Zhang Tie known that the alliance command''s judgement about Misty Moon Woods was not precise. Those hiding in the Misty Moon Woods were not only over 300,000 demonized puppets, but also the constant supply of human captives being transported here from the demons'' occupied zone. The underground space where Zhang Tie was in had become an underground interchange station for demons to implement this plan.


    "This information is very important. I have to notice the alliance command about this. We have to stop demons from implementing this plan."


    "Who are those people who cooperate with demonized puppets?''


    Speaking of those people, Rawls revealed a hateful look, "They are lackeys of Three-eye Association. After demons occupied Titanic Duchy, the lackeys of Three-eye Association started to cooperate with demons to manage the demons'' occupied zone. Under the ruling of these lackeys of Three-eye Association, some people had sworn to be loyal to Three-eye Association in order to survive themselves!"


    "What''s the current situation of the demons'' occupied zone?"


    "It''s very complex. Demons are exerting out very brutal rule in the demons'' occupied zone. Meanwhile, they have started to divide humans into different classes in the demons'' occupied zone. Those who don''t follow their orders will be converted into demonized puppets; some of them are deteriorated into demons'' slaves and live a very miserable life. All the human clans that are affiliated with Three-eye Association in the demons'' occupied zone became the agents of demons in that region and treat themselves as nobles. All the people who would like to be loyal to Three-eye Association would gain a certain social status; additionally, their lives and right of property would be guaranteed. They could also have many human slaves and demonized puppets as their subordinates!"


    Zhang Tie was really shocked by this information. He thought that the demons in their occupied zone would burn everything into ashes like what they did to humans in the 2nd holy war; he had not imagined that the demons became smarter this time as they started to collapse humans from the inside and implement a new ruling strategy. With such a ruling strategy, demons'' occupied zone would constantly provide supports for demons'' corps. In the future, humans might even fight each other on the battlefield.


    This holy war might sustain over 100 years. This preparation of demons indicated that they were going to fight demons for a long time.


    "Do you have food?" Seeing Zhang Tie thinking about something, Rawls forcefully swallowed his saliva as he watched Zhang Tie with a craving look.


    Zhang Tie then pass his two pieces of dried rations and kettle to him, "What do those human captives eat here?"


    The moment he saw the dried rations and the kettle had Rawls grabbed it and started to engulf it. At the same time, he replied Zhang Tie with a blurry voice, "There are fiery mushroom and ferns underground...we...eat them...and some...insects and mice...but we can rarely find them now... those demons force...us...to eat humans...some people couldn''t stand it...and directly committed suicide in the lava...this happens everyday...I''ve not eaten human flesh...I want to escape...my wife and kids are here...I have to find a way for them to escape..."


    Zhang Tie became silent as he sighed mournfully for those human captives inside. Since they came here, these human captives had been doomed to die here. Few of them could bear such a sheer terror.


    "Are... human troops going...going to save us?" Rawls asked Zhang Tie as he kept eating the dried rations.


    Watching Rawls'' miserable and hopeful look, Zhang Tie felt bashful to tell him that he was alone here.


    After realizing Zhang Tie''s meaning of being silent, Rawls stopped his movements at once as he stared at Zhang Tie with a dumbfounded look, "Are...are you alone?"


    "Yes, I''m alone here!" Zhang Tie replied calmly.


    Rawls faintly opened his mouth as the hope in his look faded away at once. 2/3 of his dried rations were still left. After forcefully swallowing his saliva twice, he carefully wrapped them with paper.


    "I want...want to find a way to leave out of here...and take my wife and kids away!" he told Zhang Tie.


    "You cannot. There are demonized puppets squads patrolling in many key locations from here to the entrance. It''s possible if you have the strength and responsive speed of LV 9 fighters. If you just fumble towards the entrance in this way, you could only be the food of those demonized puppets. Even It took me some time to enter here."


    Zhang Tie felt he would be unable to take Rawls away from this mountain cave without arousing the attention of those demonized puppets. As long as those demonized puppets patrolling in the cave found them, a great number of demonized puppets would enter the cave and besiege them. In that case, Zhang Tie could not ensure Rawls'' safety.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Rawls threw himself onto the ground like he lost all his strength at once.


    "Do you have family members here?"


    "Yes. My wife and a daughter..." Rawls started to sob in a low voice as he seized his hair with hands, "I cannot watch them eating human flesh...I cannot stand watching them being eaten by others...fewer fiery mushroom and ferns could be found underground now...in this case...they...they..."


    Rawls couldn''t utter any word as Zhang Tie''s heart raced. At this moment, he only wanted to find the location of this demonized puppets corps, he had already accomplished his mission. If so, he could leave at any time.


    However, watching the hopeless look of this man in front of him as a husband and a father and thinking of those human bones and the hell-like situation of those human captives, Zhang Tie started to feel mournful about them.


    Perhaps he would also soon be a father; therefore, Zhang Tie had a deep comprehension on the role and responsibilities of men. If a father could not change the hell-like situation facing his wife and kid, he would be driven mad by the hopelessness.


    Zhang Tie gritted his teeth, "Damn, whatever..."


    Zhang Tie put his hand on Rawls'' shoulder as he whispered, "Where are you wife and daughter? Can you bring them here?"


    Rawls raised his head and watched Zhang Tie with a confused look, "What do you want?"


    "I might take you out of here!"


    "Really?" Rawls almost sprung up from the ground. Zhang Tie hurriedly pressed him down as he put his finger on his mouth to stop him. After that, Zhang Tie looked at those demonized puppets and the lackeys of Three-eye Association in the distance, "Thankfully, they didn''t find us."


    "I can take you to another place. It''s a bit special. After entering it, you might not come out of it!"


    "Ah? Did you find another hidden underground space here?" Rawls asked with an amazing look as his eyes glittered again.


    "Almost like that!" Zhang Tie replied briefly, "That place is like this underground space, but its larger than this one. It''s relatively close. However, you can have sufficient food and a good living environment there. What''s more, demons cannot reach there. Would you like to go there?"


    "I would...I would..." Rawls hurriedly nodded, "As long as we don''t become wild beasts or become the food of those wild beasts and demons, we can do everything for you."


    "Can you bring your family members here?"


    "I can..." Rawls gritted his teeth...


    ...


    After a few minutes, Rawls lowered his body and fumbled towards the dark in the distance. Zhang Tie then waited in a hidden place for them...


    ...


    After 2 hours, Rawls came back with over 30 people, instead of 2...

 589 Asylum

    Chapter 589: Asylum


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Before Rawls returned, Zhang Tie made a dialogue with Heller.


    Zhang Tie: Is it okay?


    Heller: You''re the owner and ruler of Castle of Black Iron, you have the authority to make any decision.


    Zhang Tie: How many people could Castle of Black Iron hold?


    Heller: Based on the food storage and productivity of Castle of Black Iron, Castle of Black Iron can now hold at most 26,000 people. If 26,000 people entered Castle of Black Iron, half a year later, if those people joined in the production and wasteland reclamation, Castle of Black Iron could hold another 78,000 people. Similarly, if the land area of Castle of Black Iron didn''t change, it could at most hold and survive 1,200,000 people in the future.


    Zhang Tie: If...I mean, if there are truly so many people in Castle of Black Iron one day, can you manage them?


    Heller: In the space of Castle of Black Iron, the existence of all the substances and lives would be restricted by the rules of Castle of Black Iron. Their lives would be completely determined by your willingness. Even 12 billion people are like 12 billion yeasts in my eyes if I want to manage them, not to mention 1.2 million.


    Zhang Tie: Can they cause any harm to the small tree?


    Heller: I can set a rule in Castle of Black Iron. Without your consent, all of them will be stopped 100 m away from the small tree. Additionally, we can slightly change the terrain in Castle of Black Iron. Thankfully, the basic energy storage in Castle of Black Iron could support such an innovation...


    Zhang Tie: Do you think...I''m a bit selfish by doing this? After they enter, I will not allow them to leave out of there for a long time...


    Heller: No, Castle Lord, I feel your deed is very lofty. For them, Castle of Black Iron is their paradise. Additionally, you will not forbid them here forever. One day, if your fighting strength reaches a degree, trust me, there will be no problem even if you let them leave or they know that you have such an ability.


    Zhang Tie: Is there going to be such a day?


    Heller: It''s possible. Only you could answer this.


    Zhang Tie: if there are indeed so many people, how will I bring them in?


    Heller: Castle Lord has been LV 9, as your ability gradually improves and the holy war between humans and demons starts, the space transfer function of Castle of Black Iron will be further open to you. If you want to take those people in, Castle Lord could authorize me with the ability to open the space asylum function of Castle of Black Iron!


    Zhang Tie: Space asylum?


    Heller: Yes, after having such an ability, it would be very easy for you to take people or living beings in Castle of Black Iron. As long as Castle Lord could lock them with your spiritual energy, you can take them in like carrying an item by touching their bodies directly or indirectly...


    Zhang Tie: It''s that easy?


    Heller: Yes, so easy.


    Zhang Tie: It depends on you.


    Heller: No problem. Castle of Black Iron should have some more aboriginals now. They could help us develop Castle of Black Iron.


    ...


    After the dialogue with Heller, Zhang Tie patiently waited for Rawls. Meanwhile, he silently observed those demonized puppets in the huge underground space and the situation in his surroundings.


    Zhang Tie felt that Rawls was not faithless man. However, Zhang Tie had to be careful in this place in case of being betrayed.


    It was very risky for him to do this. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether he was too kind-hearted. He only knew that he would gain tranquility by doing this. Perhaps, it was a usual mental illness of people like him who grew up like small figures¡ª¡ªsympathy would always affect his decision.


    Thankfully, nothing happened in the 2 hours. By then, it was time for those human captives to sleep. Many of them gradually stopped working.


    Perhaps, even demons knew that humans could not keep working like machines. Nobody could keep working a couple of days without any necessary rest, no matter how strong they were. For the sake of their working efficiency, they had to take necessary rest in the late night.


    Zhang Tie found those demonized puppets and lackeys of Three-eye Association who waved their kurbashes became relatively less alert. Especially those lackeys of Three-eye Association, many of them had already left the working place of human captives and walked towards the camp of demonized puppets in the distance.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie saw a group of people climbing towards him rapidly under the leadership of Rawls.


    Over 30 people were following Rawls.


    ...


    Rawls watched Zhang Tie in a bashful look while those who followed him here were watching Zhang Tie with thrilled looks. Among the 30-odd people, over 20 of them were male. The age of those females ranged from 40-50 years old to about 10 years old. They all looked swarthy and were in shabby clothes. Zhang Tie could only identify their gender through their physical traits.


    Their current miserable looks were all caused by the hell-like situation here. Even the 50-odd woman could move so swiftly on the ground, which shocked Zhang Tie greatly.


    After arriving here, a little girl of 13-14 years old with short-cut hair hid behind Rawls'' back and watched Zhang Tie with frightful, widely opened eyes.


    "These people are together with us. They don''t want to eat human flesh, either. Therefore, they cannot survive here for sure..." Rawls explained to Zhang Tie with an embarrassed look.


    Zhang Tie raised his hand to stop Rawls as he watched those people.


    "You have to know that although that place is hidden, once I take you in, you will not come out easily..."


    "Will we be starved there?" a 50-60 odd man asked.


    "No, you won''t!"


    "How large is that place?"


    "Very large, much larger than here!"


    "That''s okay. As long as you don''t force us to eat human flesh or be eaten by humans, it will be better than here. After all, if we stay here, we will die sooner or later. Maybe we can survive by choosing this way. As you come in from outside, you will always have more methods to escape out of here than us!"


    Zhang Tie looked around, "Do you also think so?"


    Everyone nodded.


    "Fine. Come closer, hand in hand. Stand closer to me in a circle. Before taking you out of here, I need to hold a special blessing rite for you!" Zhang Tie told them in a very solemn look.


    Those people did according to Zhang Tie''s words without any doubts. Hand in hand, they moved closer to Zhang Tie as they really thought that Zhang Tie was going to hold a blessing rite for them.


    Zhang Tie put his hand on Rawls'' shoulder, "How many people would not like to eat human fleshes?"


    "Too many. For the sake of management of human captives and destroying their unity, demons would let those who were succumbed to eat human flesh wear some human teeth over their neck. The more teeth they had over their neck, the more loyal they were to demons. These people might be promoted to supervisors of human captives and lackeys of Three-eye Association. They might do less labor work. Although those demonized puppets had low intelligence, they would not eat such people!"


    Zhang Tie then watched their necks and found none of them wore teeth.


    "Do you mean all the people who didn''t wear teeth would not like to eat human flesh under the threat of demons?"


    "Yes, many of us don''t like to do this." Rawls answered, "For those wild beasts who start to eat human fleshes, the teeth over their necks are their amulets!"


    "Are new human captives always be transported in through the secret tunnel?"


    "Yes, many times a day or many days a time. People here die everyday. Some new human captives would be transported in everyday."


    "Do you mean that even those lackeys of Three-eye Association and demonized puppets could not keep everyone''s look in mind, right?"


    "Yes. Additionally, human captives were moving when they work. Nobody could remember all of their looks."


    "If so, put off your clothes and lend it to me. After a while, I will give you a new set of clothes!" Zhang Tie told to Rawls as he glanced at his frame.


    Rawls became hesitated for a short while before putting off his shabby clothes.


    After taking his clothes using one hand, Zhang Tie smiled towards Rawls, "The rite is going to start. Close your eyes, please. Don''t open them until someone asks you to open your eyes. Good luck!"


    After saying this, Zhang Tie used his spiritual energy while the 30 people were teleported into Castle of Black Iron in a split second.


    Knowing that all of them have entered Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie felt relaxed and became very satisfied.


    Zhang Tie directly put off his clothes. After that, he fetched some dust from the ground and applied them to his hair and face, making himself look like those who had been teleported into Castle of Black Iron. Although Rawls'' clothes were shabby and smelly, Zhang Tie didn''t care about that. He rolled on the ground for a short while to make him more similar to them.


    When rolling on the ground, he changed his black hair into brown, along with the color of his skin and eyes. Only after over 10 seconds, Zhang Tie had completely turned into another person.


    After that, Zhang Tie lowered his body and sneaked towards where Rawls and the others came from...


    ...


    In Castle of Black Iron...


    "Okay, you can open your eyes..."


    Heller''s voice sounded as they opened their eyes. Closely after that, they were shocked by what they saw...


    The man standing in front of them was as handsome as Apollo. Behind this man was a vigorous world. Although it was evening here, due to the tender and bright light radiated by the colorful clouds in the sky, they could still see clearly the green plants everywhere. Furthermore, they could smell the fresh air which carried the flavor of flowers and fruits.


    "Am...am I dreaming...?"


    "Ah? Where''re we?" Rawls was completely stunned by all the strange things.


    "This is your new home!" Heller watched them kindly.


    The old man who talked with Zhang Tie just now trembled as he knelt down on the ground at once. At the same time, he deeply lowered his head and gathered some mud with his hand and took a deep sniff. Closely after that, he highly raised his hand while his eye sockets were filled with tears.


    "Ah, what fertile and fragrant soil...I''m not dreaming. But it''s real...it''s real..."


    Everyone then knelt down...


    "God, it must be God who has heard our prayers and saved us out of the hell..." someone shouted loudly out of excitement, "This must be the God''s domain. It must be. We''re saved..."


    "Are...are you God?" a petite girl beside Rawls asked as she raised her head.


    "I''m not God; I''m God''s steward..." Heller smiled.


    At this moment, all of them realized that the human fighter was not here.


    "That man is the God, God saved us...God saved us..."


    Everyone started to scream out of excitement...

 590 Exposed

    Chapter 590: Exposed


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the deep and dark underground cave, after working hard for a day and eating something casually, almost all the human captives fell asleep in hunger and fatigue.


    They were sleeping in those dim mountain caves of the underground space. Some of the caves were pitch dark. According to the miserable practices and lessons of human captives, In the dark environment, people had the best sleeping effect and recovery of the body energy at the fastest speed. Those who liked to sleep in bright places could not survive long in such an environment. They had long become bones. Even their bones could not be found.


    Because of this, all the human captives would choose to rest in quieter and more hidden places.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie found that those human captives who opposed to eat human fleshes didn''t sleep together with those who had eaten human fleshes. They were sleeping in different caves. In this way, they might feel a bit safer.


    Coincidentally, it was convenient for Zhang Tie to move.


    In shabby clothes and messy hair, Zhang Tie was like the other human captives. Even If someone saw him, they would not doubt his status as a human captive.


    When the entire underground space became quiet and even those demonized puppets started to take rest in batches, Zhang Tie fumbled in the dark and checked each mountain cave to seek for those human captives who didn''t wear human teeth.


    There were so many mountain caves. Some caves held over 10 people, some held over dozens of people, while some held hundreds of people.


    Like a ghost in the dark, Zhang Tie ran very fast in a mountain cave. Any person being touched by his hand would be teleported into Castle of Black Iron. It only took Zhang Tie less than 10 seconds to transfer over 100 people of a mountain cave into Castle of Black Iron.


    Some people didn''t fall asleep. Zhang Tie was founded by those people twice when he flashed in the mountain cave. Those people sat up and wanted to exclaim; however, before they exclaimed, they had already been teleported into Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how many people could he save. He was just doing his best. He even didn''t need to ask whether those people would like to be teleported in Castle of Black Iron or not. Because he had no time, neither would he waste time on that. In these mountain caves, besides death, these people would not face the second possible result. The only problem was how long could they stand here, one month, two months or three months...


    If some of them were the extreme masochist and would like to be mistreated to death by demons, they only needed to jump into the Pool of Chaos.


    However, such an idiot didn''t exist at all. Therefore, he didn''t need to ask whether they would like to leave out of here or not.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had determined his mind to save as more people as possible.


    Time was precious.


    The rune effect of rapid moving skill had long faded away. In the next 2 hours, Zhang Tie applied two rapid moving runes to himself so as to maintain the highest swiftness and speed.


    During the 2 hours, Zhang Tie didn''t even know how many people had he saved and how many mountain caves had he entered. He estimated that he saved at least 10,000 people. Zhang Tie knew that the more people he saved, the more possible would he expose his move to the demons and the lackeys of Three-eye Association.


    Finally, after teleporting over 60 people from a mountain cave to Castle of Black Iron, the moment Zhang Tie was going to leave the cave had he seen a guy in better clothes standing at the entrance of the cave with a dumbfounded look and a kurbash in hand...


    That guy was a lackey of Three-eye Association. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether he was here to check or for what; it seemed that he had already found that all the humans inside the cave had disappeared. Before he made any sound, Zhang Tie had already made a preemptive move.


    Zhang Tie dragged that person into the cave, causing him unable to resist. Being held by Zhang Tie''s pliers-like grip, that man''s face turned red as he started to struggle.


    "I ask, you answer, okay?" Zhang Tie then gradually loosened his grip.


    "You...you cannot escape out of here...you''d better let me go...if you dare hurt me...the holy clan will kill you..."


    That guy seemed having not figured out what was happening; or perhaps he mistook Zhang Tie''s status due to the shabby clothes. Therefore, he threatened Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie didn''t speak. That guy thought that Zhang Tie was scared by his words. As similar events had happened many times. None of the human captives had succeeded. Therefore, he started to get fearless about Zhang Tie.


    As Zhang Tie moved fast in the dark, he didn''t know Zhang Tie''s real fighting strength. Additionally, his fighting level was not high, he was short-sighted. Therefore, he could only treat Zhang Tie as a guy who had some fighting strength among those human captives. Those human captives were at most LV 6 or LV 7, who could not make any big trouble.


    "Where are Feli and the other girls...where are they...if you tell me about that...if you wish to cooperate with me...after catching them...I will count that as your meritorious deed...I can recommend you to the big figures of the holy clan...you can be a slave supervisor like me...you can also have Feli and some female captives serve you..."


    Zhang Tie remembered that there were indeed some women in this mountain cave. However, he didn''t see their looks clearly. This guy might want to do something dirty to those women.


    Realizing that this guy still thought that he could control the situation, Zhang Tie slightly intensified his grip, causing him unable to utter any voice. After that, he took out a dagger and ferociously stabbed into the guy''s thighs seven or eight times like stabbing a bag. Each time, he''d have the blade fully enter the flesh, then drew it out, then in, then out, then in... each time, he''d stab in a different place...


    Zhang Tie''s cruel movement caused the guy to widely open his eyes like a dead fish. While being pressed by Zhang Tie, he could not move. After being stabbed many times, he started to cramp like shrimps in an iron span while the veins on his neck and his forehead bulged.


    Only after 10 more seconds, soybean sized sweat beads rolled off his forehead; meanwhile, his face turned completely pale.


    Zhang Tie just watched him icily without a wink, "What''s the highest level of the demonized puppets in this demonized puppets corps?"


    After asking this question, Zhang Tie slightly loosened his grip, allowing him to utter a sound.


    "Who...who are you?"


    This guy had realized that Zhang Tie might not be a human captive. Because none of the human captives here were allowed to carry a dagger. Facing Zhang Tie''s dead qi, he felt a strange fear. Pitifully, he was not smart enough.


    When Zhang Tie pinched his neck once again, he stabbed in his thighs another three times rapidly, almost causing him to pass out.


    "What''s the highest level of the demonized puppets here in the demonized puppets corps?" Zhang Tie repeated before slightly losing his grip.


    "LV 12..."


    That guy finally realized that Zhang Tie didn''t want to hear craps.


    "What about the army chief?"


    "LV 16...LV 16...the army chief of this demonized puppets corps is...is a LV 16...battle spirit..."


    It was within Zhang Tie''s expectation that the army chief of this demonized puppets corps was not a knight. As cannon fodder, demonized puppets corps''s chief commission officer always had a relatively lower level compared to that of demon corps. After all, knights were not as cheap as white cabbages. Knights could not be matched to any troop for free. Given that the demonized puppets corps was actually controlled by the parent worm of puppet worms, the main mission of the army chief of the demonized puppets corps was to communicate with the parent worm.


    "Is the army chief a human or a demon? What''s his name?"


    "He''s human, called Koz...the eldest son of the head of Senel Clan of Titanic Duchy...This demonized puppets corps is also controlled by Senel Clan..."


    "What''s the background of the Senel Clan of Titanic Duchy?"


    "The heads of this clan had served as the protectorship of the duchy for consecutive generations..."


    "Does Senel Clan belong to Three-eye Association?"


    "Yes..."


    "Besides Koz, who else of Senel Clan is here?"


    "Koz''s sons are all here..."


    "What''s the highest level of his sons?"


    "Also LV 12..."


    Although oozing sweat due to sharp pain, that guy still replied very fast as he was afraid of being stabbed again by Zhang Tie. He was trembling inside...


    "Where''s the parent worm?"


    "Only army chief Koz knows that!"


    "Is he in the camp?"


    "He had returned to Titanic Duchy two days ago..."


    Zhang Tie started to think about it...


    "Can...can you stop my bleeding?" that guy watched Zhang Tie with an imploring look.


    "No need!" Zhang Tie glanced at him before stabbing in his heart.


    When Zhang Tie was thinking about whether to take a look at the camp of demonized puppets and find a chance to find the parent worm and kill it, a sharp whistle sounded abruptly from afar...


    "Someone escaped..." a person screamed in the distance.


    After glancing at the whistle in front of the chest of this dead guy, Zhang Tie realized that his deed had exposed...

 591 A Living Hell

    Chapter 591: A Living Hell


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie instantly threw this dead guy into the Pool of Chaos in Castle of Black Iron. By doing this, he could make this event more mysterious and himself safer.


    With the sharp whistle and exclamations, more and more people woke up. Zhang Tie hurriedly ran out of the mountain cave.


    "Everyone, come out...everyone, come out..."


    Some slave supervisors shouted loudly outside the mountain caves. When many human captives were awakened and ran out of the mountain caves, Zhang Tie sneaked into the crowd and followed them towards the gathering center in a flurried way.


    As they had been doing labor work underground for a long time, most of the human captives looked swarthy and unidentified. When Zhang Tie entered the crowd, besides some human captives around him who glanced at him, none of the others paid attention to him.


    As human captives died and arrived everyday, they had long been used to strange looks. Additionally, everyone was forced to do high-intensity labor work everyday. In the rest time, they would go to find food. As a result, most of these human captives only knew a few people besides them.


    The entire underground space was in chaos. Although human captives usually escaped, they always faced a very miserable outcome. However, it was the first time for all of them to assemble because someone escaped.


    Zhang Tie was then followed to the open underground space by supervisors with the other captives like ducks in a chaotic way.


    On one side of the open land was the boiling lava river. Zhang Tie, in the crowd, found more and more supervisors running towards here.


    "What''s wrong?" a 20-odd human captive asked Zhang Tie with a flurried look.


    Zhang Tie glanced at him and found that this guy was a bit emaciated. However, he didn''t wear any human teeth. Although those who didn''t wear human teeth didn''t sleep together with those who wore human teeth, when in assembly and work, all of them would stay together. This was how demons and slave supervisors managed these human captives. Looking at those who wore human teeth beside him, Zhang Tie shook his head.


    "I don''t know!"


    " I''m Huwen, what''s your name?" that guy asked in a low voice.


    "I''m Peter..." Zhang Tie replied.


    "Shut up, quiet..." a slave supervisor waved his kurbash and shouted loudly in front of the human captives as he whipped towards those in front of the crowd, causing miserable shrieks at once. In a split second, the crowd became quiet, including Zhang Tie, who just watched carefully.


    Human captives were constantly driven out of mountain caves and dim places and started to assemble in an open land. Those slave supervisors scolded ferociously as they whipped those human captives constantly.


    Human captives were forced to form loose and chaotic square matrices in a group of about 5000 people. Each square matrix was overseen by 10 slave supervisors. Those slave supervisors constantly whipped those human captives so as to keep them obedient and quiet.


    At the beginning, there were some voices among those matrices; however, when squads of armored demonized puppets with grim and bloody eyes appeared, those human captives became quiet at once.


    Everyone knew that those demonized puppets ate humans. Therefore, at the sight of these undying, stinky and bloody demonized puppets, most of the common human captives felt as fearsome as chicks at the sight of skunks.


    When demonized puppets surrounded Zhang Tie''s square matrix, Huwen and some guys beside Zhang Tie started to tremble. Zhang Tie also pretended to be afraid when he was actually observing the surrounding situation.


    Soon after the squads of demonized puppets arrived, Zhang Tie saw some commission officers in brilliant and advanced armors in front of the square matrices.


    These commission officers were not demonized puppets; instead, they were pure humans; or, precisely, they were just b*stards of Three-eye Association.


    At the sight of these people, a slave supervisor of each square matrix ran towards them at once. Like how a dog saw its owner, they bowed and whispered to those commission officers.


    Due to the distance, Zhang Tie couldn''t hear clearly what they were talking about. Only after a few minutes, Zhang Tie found those commission officers had dispersed and came to the front of square matrices with those slave supervisors.


    The one who came to Zhang Tie''s square matrix was a man who looked very sinister with a hooknose and deep socket.


    That man''s eyes were shooting bloody and brutal lights. He casually pointed at a human captive in the front. After knowing his intention, two strong slave supervisors instantly rushed towards that man and dragged him out of the square matrix and took him in front of that commission officer.


    "When you slept, some human captives escaped. Do you know where they are?"


    The human captive became frightened so much that he stammered.


    "I...I don''t know."


    "You don''t know?" that man revealed a sneer as he waved his hand, "If so, you''re useless!"


    The two slave supervisors immediately dragged that captive''s hands and walked towards the lava river over 20 m away. The human captive started to wail and struggle, "Please...I really don''t know about that...I''ve fallen asleep...I don''t know anything about it..."


    However, his cries didn''t stop the two slave supervisors. Compared to the four powerful hands, his struggle became useless.


    In a wink, that human captive had been dragged to the side of the lava river and thrown into it by the two slave supervisors.


    With a groundbreaking shrill shriek, that person just flapped twice in the fiery lava before sinking into it. Besides some bubbles and a lower flame on the lava river, nothing else was left.


    The same scene happened to other human square matrices at the same time. In a wink, dozens of people had been thrown into the lava river.


    All the left human captives looked pale as they trembled.


    Including Zhang Tie, but not because of fear, but fury. Lowering his head, he tightly gritted his teeth as he clenched his fists tightly, causing the veins on the back of his hands swell.


    That ''hooknose'' sneered as he pointed at another human captive. The two slave supervisors immediately caught that captive and dragged him out of the square.


    "I don''t know...I don''t know..."


    This time, the hooknose didn''t even ask him. He waved his hand once again while the second human captive was thrown into the lava river.


    The 3rd one...the 4th one...


    With constant shrill cries from each square matrix, many human captives being pointed at were so scared that they even had an incontinence.


    When the 5th human captive was dragged out, the 60-year odd man spat towards that hooknose forcefully, "Peh...you Senel Clan will not have a good result...sooner or later...you will be crushed into pieces by the human army...all of you will be thrown into the lava river one after another too...to embrace the burning stake in the hell forever..."


    "Wait!" the hooknose wiped off the saliva from his face as he stopped the two slave supervisors, "Drag him over here!"


    The 60-year odd man was dragged in front of that hooknose. The old man still wanted to swear; however, the hooknose had already drawn out a long sword from his waist and stabbed into his mouth. With one agitation, the old man''s teeth, tongue and the entire mouth had been completely hurt. He could not even utter a word anymore.


    The hooknose drew out his long sword and chopped off the old man''s limbs, causing his limbs to fall on the ground.


    "Stop his bleeding. Keep him alive and awake." the hooknose said mercilessly.


    The two slave supervisors immediately took out medicine powders. One of them tore open the old man''s clothes and started to stop his bleeding; the other filled in the old man''s bloody mouth with a vial of medicament.


    The old man, who had been in coma woke up once again. The old man didn''t succumb to the hooknose; instead, he glared at him while his facial muscles trembled. It seemed that he was still swearing at him.


    The hooknose fetched four demonized puppets by waving his hands as he pointed at the old man''s limbs, "This is your food today!"


    The four demonized puppets got his meaning as they immediately picked up the old man''s limbs and started to gnaw them in front of him.


    The old man trembled and directly closed his eyes.


    "Open his eyelids, I want him to look at it..." the hooknose''s merciless voice sounded.


    The two slave supervisors opened the old man''s eyelids brutally and had him watch his limbs being gnawed by demonized puppets one piece after another.


    "From today on, let him stay here. I want everybody to see him. Cut off a piece of flesh from him everyday. I will keep him alive and have him watch how he was eaten by holy worms one piece after another. I want to let him know the look of the hell. Am I clear?" the hooknose told those slave supervisors.


    "Clear!"


    "Humans are doomed to be destroyed. The holy clan will establish wholly-new orders for sure and have humans back under the ruling of the holy clan. Our Senel Clan is doomed to become the human nobles and rulers since we mastered the Senel Holy Worm Corps. Like what happened before the Catastrophe, we will stomp you one generation after another. You and your posterity only have two choices¡ª¡ªto succumb, or to taste hell alive." the hooknose shouted loudly as he pointed at that old man, "Those people cannot escape out of here. They must be hiding in some hidden underground tunnels or space that they discovered when doing labor work. If anyone among you knows the whereabouts of those people or could provide useful clues, I will promote him to be the leader of these slave supervisors!"


    The human captives were still silent.


    The hooknose waved his hand once again as another human captive was dragged out with shrill cries.


    ...


    After killing over 100 human captives, those b*stards still obtained no clue yet. At this moment, the commission officers of Senel Clan then gathered together once again. After a short negotiation, they had the rest human captives return.


    However, those human captives being released didn''t go back to sleep; instead, they were forced to check all the tunnels and caves that they had excavated in order to find those who had escaped...


    In the opinion of those commission officers of Senel Clan, those slave captives must have found some hidden tunnels or space when they worked. They must have covered it silently. After preparing for a long time, they finally escaped.


    In such an underground space of complex terrain, it was normal to see those hidden natural tunnels, ground cracks and underground space.


    Like others, Zhang Tie was also forced to do labor works...


    After leaving the open land beside the lava river, Zhang Tie threw a deep glance at that old man who was being watched by some demonized puppets. Lying on the ground, facing towards the sky, he seemed having died. However, Zhang Tie knew that those slave supervisors and b*stards of Senel Clan would keep him alive.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie finally understood what a person would be when he was driven extremely furious.


    He was not furious anymore; instead, he became as calm as an ice-capped volcano. Meanwhile, a name deeply impressed in Zhang Tie''s mind¡ª¡ªSenel Clan!


    Zhang Tie never had such a strong will to destroy something until now...

 592 Endurance

    Chapter 592: Endurance


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    With a crispy sound "Pah..." on Huwen''s back, Huwen uttered a shrill cry. At the same time, a bloody mark appeared on his back even being covered by his shabby clothes.


    The rock almost fell from Huwen''s hands. Zhang Tie, on his side, hurriedly stretched out one hand and took it steadily.


    "You b*tches, don''t dream about killing time. Hurry up. Clean out this region..." the slave supervisor swore loudly while standing on a piece of rock, "If not find those escaping b*tches for me, all of you have to keep working here till death..."


    Zhang Tie turned around and threw a glance at that slave supervisor. The slave supervisor instantly slashed Zhang Tie while glaring at him, "Brat, if you look at me one more time, I will dig out your eyes..."


    Zhang Tie trembled. However, that whip was nothing serious for Zhang Tie at all. Over the past one month, Zhang Tie had eaten three more iron-body fruits after being hammered constantly by the crew members of the Idiots. Now, Zhang Tie felt that his strike-resistance ability had intensified a lot.


    Zhang Tie could stand being whipped when in Heavens Cold City, not to mention now. The penalty which was unbearable for others was just like being patted by flyswatter for Zhang Tie.


    It was not the right moment to argue with these scumbags. Zhang Tie didn''t speak as he just lowered his head and continued to pretend to forcefully carry that 50 kg''s rock and dropped it off that slope over there like the others.


    "Thanks..." Huwen drew in a cold breath.


    The two people walked to that slope and dropped it off there. Huwen threw a glance at that slave supervisor in the distance and that guy didn''t pay attention to them; therefore, he stealthily took out of a kettle from his clothes and passed it to Zhang Tie, "Drink some, it''s already over 10 hours, but you''ve not even drunk a bit..."


    "Thanks, I don''t need it..."


    "Ah, you''re really strong..." Huwen threw an admiring look at Zhang Tie as he rapidly opened his kettle and had a small mouth of water. After seeing some human captives, who wore human teeth, walking towards them, he hurriedly hid his kettle and continued to walk towards that pile of rocks in the distance with Zhang Tie.


    Those human captives who wore human teeth walked towards here with some smaller rocks. Although they were also doing labor work, they could have some special treatment. Sometimes, they could even take a rest. Additionally, those slave supervisors would rarely slash them.


    "Stay away from these people..." Huwen whispered to Zhang Tie when those guys who wore human teeth passed by, "They have started to eat human fleshes and become wild beasts. As long as they could survive, they would do anything. Once these people become slave supervisors, they will treat us more acrimoniously than demons..."


    Zhang Tie nodded. As long as some people succumbed to evil, they would be the accomplices and thugs of evil. They would further show the dark side of their personalities. Demons and b*stards of Three-eye Association had been used to classify human captives and make them fight each other so as to weaken their own fighting strength.


    Under the intensified ruling of slave supervisors, human captives had been working over 10 hours. However, they still didn''t find any hidden underground tunnel or ground crack. Zhang Tie found that all the demonized puppets had rushed into those dark caves to seek for those missing human captives.


    Zhang Tie knew that they could never find those missing people in the underground space. This was a good news for Zhang Tie. At least it meant that nobody had found what he did.


    As demonized puppets left in large groups, the camp of demonized puppets became relatively vacant. Before leaving here, Zhang Tie had determined to give those b*stards of Senel Clan a surprise.


    ...


    Fiery mushroom looked like an average mushroom on the ground. Being red all over, the fiery mushroom was like a little scarlet umbrella. In this underground space, especially those wet and backlit places such as the gaps between rocks, as long as the conditions fit, they would sprout from underground in 1-2 days.


    Previously, there were too many fiery mushrooms in the underground space; now they gradually disappeared. The most important reason was that human captives would pick up all the fiery mushroom regardless of their size. Even those fiery mushroom which was not ripe yet had been picked up, causing them to lose the ability to reproduce anymore.


    One hour later, after moving a piece of rock, Zhang Tie saw a red canopy in the soil.


    Before Zhang Tie moved, Huwen and the other human captives on one side had already charged at those fiery mushroom and foisted them into their mouths. Huwen also crammed one in his mouth and started to chew it hurriedly. By the way, he passed one to Zhang Tie.


    "Hurry, eat it..."


    Watching them engulfing the fiery mushroom, Zhang Tie also put one in his mouth after a second. It tasted as bitter and cold as unripe bagasse.


    "You b*stards, keep doing your work..." seeing the chaos over here, a slave supervisor instantly rushed towards them with a kurbash and slashed them crazily.


    ...


    After another 7-8 hours when above 80% of human captives didn''t even have the strength to walk no matter how crazily they were slashed by slave supervisors, the bitter labor work finally came to an end.


    Although many human captives escaped, which infuriated those people of Senel Clan, in order to keep the rest human captives alive, they had to let them take a rest after gaining no achievement.


    Zhang Tie then returned to a mountain cave with over 40 human captives including Huwen. Lying on the ground, they could only pant.


    The others didn''t care about having one more person inside the cave. It seemed that the population here always changed.


    Zhang Tie felt these mountain caves were like underground cells in Blackhot City. The air in the cave was polluted and smelt weird. Some red lights of lava river were reflected on top of the inside of the cave, causing a little brightness in the cave.


    After resting for a while, some people who had recovered some physical strength struggled to fumble out of the mountain cave to seek for food. Some of them took out some weird, dried food from their clothes and started to eat them.


    Watching a person on his side forcefully chewing a mouse''s tail, Zhang Tie almost vomited.


    After resting for a while, Huwen also left the mountain cave. He then fetched a bottle of water from a water source outside the cave.


    Huwen also went out to find some food. When he came back, given his look, Zhang Tie knew that he had gained nothing. Thankfully, he had eaten some fiery mushroom several hours ago and didn''t feel hungry now.


    Zhang Tie felt the fiery mushroom which tasted like bagasse started to ferment and expand in his stomach, making him feel full. However, he didn''t get too many nutrients.


    "Peter, do you think there''s indeed a secret tunnel or ground crack here?" Huwen asked Zhang Tie.


    "Maybe!" Zhang Tie replied briefly, "No matter what, they had left out of here!"


    "If we find any clue, never expose it..." Huwen whispered.


    Zhang Tie nodded as he stared at him.


    "We could find a fewer fiery mushroom and edible things here. I wonder whether we can survive tomorrow!" Huwen said in a pessimistic mood.


    "You don''t believe that you could survive on?"


    "Unless being demons'' lackeys and wild beasts who eat human fleshes, nobody else could leave here." Huwen urged as he took out of a small piece of black-brown thing to Zhang Tie, "I prepared it for myself. As I''ve got one, you can take this one!"


    "What''s this?"


    "An arrow-poison mushroom. I found it several days ago by chance. It contains extremely toxic muscarinic substance and a hemolytic toxoid. As long as you eat a small piece of it, you will die in a few minutes. Additionally, after you die, your corpse will also contain the extremely toxic substance. Those beasts will not eat your corpse. Therefore, you could remain complete after death. When you have to die, take one bit of this, and you will suffer less pain."


    "How do you know that?" Zhang Tie asked Huwen out of curiosity.


    "I was a botanist..." Huwen revealed a bitter smile.


    Zhang Tie took that dried thing and rubbed it into pieces in front of Huwen before blowing them off...


    "You..." Huwen glared at Zhang Tie.


    "I promise, you will not have to use this, neither will I!"


    "How?" Huwen watched Zhang Tie like watching aliens.


    "Do you believe in miracle?"


    "Miracle had died since we were taken in here!"


    "Perhaps, when you open your eyes after you fall asleep, you will see a miracle; you should never lose your hope and dream!"


    "Sleep, save some strength for tomorrow..." Huwen let out a sigh as he huddled up on the ground.


    Zhang Tie also laid there. After swallowing some all-purpose medicament and water from Castle of Black Iron, he silently closed his eyes to recover his physical strength and spiritual energy. Meanwhile, he filled those god''s runes in his mind so as to maintain his optimal state. He then just waited for most of them to fall asleep...

 593 The Pledge

    Chapter 593: The Pledge


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang kept his eyes closed and maintained his spiritual energy; meanwhile, he paid attention to the situation inside and outside the entire mountain cave.


    Two hours later, both the inside and outside of the mountain cave became quite as the snoring sounds filled the mountain cave. At this moment, Zhang Tie opened his eyes.


    Huwen had been in a sound sleep on Zhang Tie''s side. He didn''t sleep well last night. After being woken up in the midnight and doing another one day''s heavy work, he had been extremely fatigued. Unless someone shouted loudly in front of him, he would not wake up, like the others in the cave.


    Besides snoring sounds, there was another special sound, "Gulugulu" from those hungry guys'' stomachs. Without getting sufficient food, they could only have one method to prevent hunger by drinking a lot of water before sleeping.


    After slightly touching Huwen''s shoulder, Zhang Tie had teleported him into Castle of Black Iron. After that, Zhang Tie stood up and flashed around the inside of the cave, teleporting all the others into Castle of Black Iron.


    After doing all this, Zhang Tie sneaked out of the mountain cave.


    There were some more caves where human captives slept in closer to Zhang Tie''s cave. With his dark vision, all the mountain caves were as bright as daytime.


    Senel Clan didn''t expect that the same event could happen on the second day; additionally, after one day''s hard work, all the human captives had been in a sound sleep. Even those slave supervisors had become relaxed after one day''s busy work. Therefore, it was much easier for Zhang Tie to teleport all the human captives into Castle of Black Iron.


    When in work, Zhang Tie had been familiar with the situation and terrain of this underground space. He knew the caves of those human captives who insisted on not eating human fleshes. Therefore, after applying a rapid moving skill and hiding skill, Zhang Tie swiftly moved among those dark caves and spaces like a ghost and teleported human captives into Castle of Black Iron one after another in the fastest speed.


    Senel Clan treated this underground space as a huge prison where they adopted very cruel and extensive management measures. In the opinion of those Senel Clan members, as long as they blocked the exits on two ends of the underground space, they would prevent those human captives from escaping. Therefore, after ending one day''s labor work, the Senel Clan''s surveillance on this human captives center loosened. This was then more convenient for Zhang Tie''s move.


    Those members of Senel Clan might never imagine that there was a person like Zhang Tie who could teleport human captives on his side into an independent time-space.


    Additionally, as those demonized puppets who were mainly responsible for managing this place had low intelligence, the number of slave supervisors was also very limited, those people of Senel Clan could not register a holistic management over this place. Furthermore, those demonized puppets were good at destruction and killing while those slave supervisors were only excelled at slashing human captives and licking the boots of those commission officers.


    Even Zhang Tie didn''t know how many people had he teleported in Castle of Black Iron. He only remembered some guys who got up and peed when he instantly moved them into Castle of Black Iron before they made any response.


    He even met some guys wearing teeth over their neck. Before those guys exclaimed, they had also been teleported into Castle of Black Iron. As to whether these people could survive or be beaten to death by other humans in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie wouldn''t care about that. Zhang Tie had witnessed thousands of people die, he didn''t feel pitiful about seeing some more.


    Zhang Tie knew that this was his last time to save people. Therefore, he worked very hard at a faster speed. After losing his rapid moving effect for consecutive three times, Zhang Tie applied the rapid moving skill to himself for the fourth time; however, at this moment, he found no more people who didn''t wear teeth over neck anymore.


    After running for such a long time, even though he constantly supplemented his physical strength with all-purpose medicament, Zhang Tie still felt a bit fatigued.


    "Heller, how many people do we have in Castle of Black Iron?"


    "21679!" Heller replied with a pleasant sound, "Castle Lord, if you''re free, you can take a look inside. It has never been so boisterous inside. Those people think they are taken into the paradise by the God from the hell!"


    "Not until I leave out of here. And, how about those guys who wore human teeth?"


    "The moment they entered have they been beaten to death. The others thought these people were gifted by the God for them to revenge!"


    After hearing Heller''s explanation, Zhang Tie became speechless. However, after sending those guys wearing human teeth into Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie found that if he could touch his enemy, he could also control the enemy''s fate by teleporting him into Castle of Black Iron.


    "Can I teleport my enemy inside Castle of Black Iron by touching them?" Zhang Tie asked with full desires. If Heller replied yes, Zhang Tie would feel that he had one more trump card. The moment Zhang Tie thought that he could teleport a powerhouse like Master Abyan into Castle of Black Iron and have him under his control only by touching him had he been thrilled all over.


    "Yes!"


    After hearing Heller''s answer, Zhang Tie almost sprung up, "Is there any limit?"


    "Of course there is. I thought you could understand the secret when you teleport them in, it seems that you haven''t. You mainly teleport those people in through the special link between your special energy and the arch door of Castle of Black Iron. The person that you teleport in Castle or Black Iron is actually being covered by a special energy field formed by your spiritual energy, which was featured by your unique energy fluctuation frequency. It was like an access certificate to that arch door. Am I clear?"


    "Clear!"


    "Actually, it''s a transient holistic coverage to that person. In order to reach this effect, you have to light more surging points than that of the person you want to teleport in. Those who have lit more surging points than you will have a higher frequency of spiritual energy. Therefore, you cannot form a holistic coverage towards those people, which means that you cannot teleport them into Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie became stunned, "You mean I cannot teleport those who have a higher level than me into Castle of Black Iron and have them under control inside?"


    "Yes. If you meet those who have a higher level than you, you could only deal with them based on your fighting skills. Castle of Black Iron would not give you any favor. Actually, when you reach LV 10, you will know that real powerhouses could rarely touch each other when in the fight. If the opponent had determined to kill you, you could barely touch them. Of course, you could not teleport them into Castle of Black Iron and crack down them inside."


    "But my spiritual energy is greater than theirs. Doesn''t this work?"


    "The size of spiritual energy is different from its frequency level. One refers to quantity while the other refers to quality. You might feel the faint change in your spiritual energy each time you lit a surging point. In that change, even if the total quantity of your spiritual energy didn''t increase, you could still feel your spiritual energy grow a lot. That is both a growth in the frequency and quality of spiritual energy."


    "What if they are not my enemies? Can I take those with a higher level in Castle of Black Iron?"


    "The only condition for those whose spiritual energy frequency is higher than yours is that they are completely relaxed physically and spiritually and believe in you very much!"


    "Do you have any method for the old man?" Zhang Tie knew that Heller would understand what he referred to.


    "Sorry. That old man''s limbs have been chopped off. Additionally, he had watched his limbs being eaten by demonized puppets; he had been collapsed both physically and spiritually. He might die in any second. It''s out of my ability to save him!"


    When Zhang Tie asked Heller about this, he had already left the place where the human captives slept and came to the open land on the side of the lava river which gathered all the human captives about 20 hours ago. Thankfully, nobody paid attention to this place at this moment. Nobody could imagine that any human captive dared to check or save this old man at the risk of their lives.


    The fiery light of the lava river brightened up the riverside. Right there, an old man losing his limbs was lying on the ground, facing the top of the underground space miserably and lonely. At this moment, he even had lost his ability to commit suicide. Those slave supervisors didn''t worry that he would escape or commit suicide. Lying there, he was sensing the arrival of death in the most anguished manner.


    Watching the old man, Zhang Tie''s heart raced. He instantly checked his artery and found it was still faintly pulsing. Therefore, Zhang Tie hugged the old man and left rapidly.


    Zhang Tie moved the old man back to a dark place. The old man was still breathing faintly. However, his mouth had been completely destroyed. His face looked extremely terrifying. Some ants were gnawing the old man''s fleshes through wounds.


    After driving away those ants, Zhang Tie put his hand on the old man''s chest and directly injected all-purpose medicament and some clear spring water into his stomach from Castle of Black Iron, allowing the effect of all-purpose medicament and water to gradually spread over his body.


    One minute later, the old man slowly opened his eyes. Watching Zhang Tie, he slightly moved his mouth. However, he could not utter one word, except for some weird voice. With a vacant look, the old man dropped off tears.


    From the old man''s eyes, Zhang Tie got two messages: he appreciated Zhang Tie; he wanted Zhang Tie to end his pains right away as he felt pretty painful both physically and spiritually in each second.


    "I took those missing people away. Now, I''ve already taken away all the human captives who don''t eat human fleshes in the entire underground space. They are in a safe place which the demons could never find. What other requirements and wishes do you have?" Zhang Tie whispered to the old man.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the old man''s eyes started to glitter as the voice in his throat grew louder. Zhang Tie moved his ear closer to the old man''s mouth for a while before figuring out what did the old man repeat in hoarse, obscure and trembling voice.


    "...survive on..."


    "...survive on..."


    "...survive on..."


    "Do you want I and everybody to survive on?"


    The old man revealed a reassured look as he nodded hardly.


    Watching the old man nodding, Zhang Tie dropped off his tears at once. At this moment, this respectful old man''s biggest wish was to make all those who escaped away survive on.


    Zhang Tie''s tears fell on the old man''s face, causing the old man''s face twist painfully once again. He stared at Zhang Tie with a beseeching look and hoped Zhang Tie to end his pain.


    "I promise you we will survive on no matter what."


    After saying that, Zhang Tie closed his eyes as he moved his hand on the old man''s chest. However, Zhang Tie''s hand started to quiver as he felt difficult to release his battle qi.


    At this moment, the old man uttered some voice. Although Zhang Tie closed his eyes, he had understood the old man''s meaning at once.


    "Please..."


    "Please..."


    "Please..."


    This was the last imploration of the old man.


    ...


    Zhang Tie finally gritted his teeth and broke the old man''s heart vein by faintly releasing his battle qi.


    The old man''s voice stopped in Zhang Tie''s arms. Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he saw a smile of being relieved.


    "I swear to destroy the entire Senel Clan and have their dirty fresh blood with all those who died here...!" Zhang Tie made a solemn pledge towards the old man''s body, which remained a bit warmth. After that, Zhang Tie teleported the old man''s corpse into Castle of Black Iron and had Heller bury it well.


    Zhang Tie mopped off his tears as he stood up. After throwing a furious glance at the camp of demonized puppets corps, Zhang Tie darted towards that camp as fast as a strand of smoke while being covered by the dark and the terrain.

 594 Demonized Puppetss Camp

    Chapter 594: Demonized Puppets'' Camp


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The camp of the demonized puppets corps under the control of Senel Clan was not surrounded by too many defensive devices. Besides some stallions which were taken in from outside, the entire camp was covered with dense tents. It felt like a tribal agglomeration zone in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    There was a brazier at a few meters in the camp. Some crude fluorescent stones were erecting sparsely. Additionally, there was a lava lake near the camp. Being effected by the three light sources, the region of the camp near the lava lake was a bit brighter; by contrast, the part being far away from the lava lake became dim.


    In the dark, patrolling demonized puppets passed by one squad after another.


    In this planet, even sun would rise in the east and set in the west. Therefore, although demonized puppets could constantly fight in special conditions, they also needed to take a rest. Precisely, the puppet worms in the heads of demonized puppets also needed to take a rest.


    Demonized puppets also slept in tents. Those dense tents were like bleak tombs and woods in a ghost city in the dark, which revealed a stink everywhere.


    The stink were from the demonized puppets'' mouths when they breathed. When a place was crowded with demonized puppets, the air of that place would make people suffocate.


    Therefore, the moment Zhang Tie drew closer to the camp of the demonized puppets corps, Zhang Tie felt like entering a closed room which was filled with rotten fleshes. He almost vomited.


    However, as a fighter instead of being a dude, Zhang Tie had to bear it.


    Those tents and dark covered Zhang Tie well. Zhang Tie gradually drew closer to the center of the camp after dodging from squads of demonized puppets many times as fast as light.


    Those b*stards of Senel Clan lived in the central region of the camp, where the parent worm of puppet worms of the hundreds of thousands of demonized puppets should stay in. If the army chief of this demonized puppets corps was here, Zhang Tie would never risk his life to find trouble here. However, according to the human captives and what he observed yesterday, that powerhouse Koze of Senel Clan might not be here. Therefore, Zhang Tie wanted to have a try.


    Zhang Tie was indeed risking his life. Even if this army chief was not here, there were still many powerhouses among the demonized puppets corps, who were more powerful than Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie might lose his life due to any mistake.


    However, Zhang Tie was decisive. He would not leave out of here so easily. Before leaving out of here, he wanted to do something. That ''hooknose'' of Senel Clan had to die today. Given that guy''s qi, Zhang Tie estimated that he was about LV 10. "If I could get the chance, I might kill him easily." Zhang Tie had a crazier thought, "If possible, I can find that parent worm and kill it. If so, the entire demonized puppets corps will collapse."


    Zhang Tie felt it valuable to risk his life due to the above two reasons.


    ...


    At this moment, the door of a tent in front of him was opened from the inside, exposing some fluorescent light from the inside; meanwhile, someone walked out of the tent.


    The moment Zhang Tie saw that person had he hidden himself in the shadow of a tent.


    The person came out of the tent and undid his trousers. After finishing his pee, he quivered his crotch a few seconds. He then muttered and walked back towards his tent.


    When the person opened the tent, Zhang Tie instantly flashed out of the dark and struck that person with a binding chain before that person made any response. That person became stiff at once. Zhang Tie then rushed in front of him and rapidly dragged that person into the tent before closing the door curtain of the tent.


    There was a fluorescent lamp inside the tent. Therefore, that person could see clearly Zhang Tie''s look. Meanwhile, his eyes were full of fear.


    Given his look, Zhang Tie was totally a human captive in the lowest class. However, Zhang Tie''s strength was so great that that person could only move his eyes. Because of such a sharp contrast, that person became extremely fearful.


    Zhang Tie glanced over his tent rapidly and found nothing else but a kurbash, a dagger, clothes and bedding. Therefore, Zhang Tie estimated that this guy was a small head of slave supervisors.


    Zhang Tie instantly seized the guy''s neck as he relieved the binding chain.


    "I ask and you answer. If you want to die, you can have a try. If you understand my words, blink your eyes." Zhang Tie said grimly.


    That person rapidly blinked his eyes.


    "Where''s Koze?"


    "The army chief...is still not back yet!" that guy hurriedly replied as he felt the grip slightly loosened over his neck.


    After hearing this reply, Zhang Tie became reassured, "It seems that they have not paid special attention to the recent event."


    "What''s the name of that ''hooknose'', who chopped off the limbs of the old man a day ago?"


    "Cambo, that person is called Cambo, Senel Cambo!" the slave supervisor forcefully uttered.


    "What''s the relationship between him and Cambo?"


    "He''s the 3rd son of Koze!"


    "Where does he live?"


    "I don''t know...I only know that many powerhouses of Senel Clan are living in the tents near the center of the camp. As I am not qualified to be there, I don''t know where Cambo lives!"


    "Where''s the parent worm of puppet worms?"


    "I...I don''t know."


    "Where''s the warehouse of the camp?"


    "Near the center of the camp!"


    Zhang Tie tossed a lot of questions in a line. When he couldn''t get any more useful information from that person, Zhang Tie slightly strengthened his force and broke that guy''s neck, causing a cracking sound. Closely after that, he threw the corpse into the Pool of Chaos in Castle of Black Iron in case of exposing his own trace.


    After doing all this, Zhang Tie listened to the outside carefully and found nobody was in the neighborhood. Therefore, he left the tent rapidly and headed for the center of the camp stealthily.


    The entire demonized puppets corps might have never considered that any person could slide into their camp; neither have they imagined that what threat could those human captives pose to them. Therefore, their defensive facilities were not very strict. All this was just a matter of routine. In such a case, it only took Zhang Tie a few minutes to reach the center of the camp.


    In the center of the camp, there were indeed a bigger tent surrounded by two rows of smaller tents. Those tents were remarkably more advanced in regulations. Zhang Tie observed it in the dark and found there were dozens of tents at least over there. It was very difficult for him to find that guy called Cambo among so many tents. It would be too dangerous if he met any real powerhouse.


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie focused on the warehouse which was piled up with a lot of materials over 200 m away from the biggest tent in the center of the camp. He then worked out a method.


    The warehouse was evidently matched with more guards than other places. Zhang Tie found two teams of demonized puppets were patrolling around the warehouse constantly. Before doing something to the materials, he had to kill those demonized puppets. As long as what happened here was founded by others, all the powerhouses of Senel Clan near the center of the camp would come here.


    After counting the population of those demonized puppets and observing the terrain near the warehouse, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth and chose to hide in a shadow a bit far away from the center of the camp; meanwhile, he filled all the binding chains in his mind sea using his spiritual energy.


    Where Zhang Tie hid was the closest place to the patrolling route of those demonized puppets. It was over 30 m away from the demonized puppets'' patrolling route.


    Each team contained 11 patrolling demonized puppets. It would take two teams of demonized puppets less than 2 minutes to pass the same region. Zhang Tie counted time silently. When one team passed by where he hid, Zhang Tie instantly rushed forward at the fastest speed.


    The distance of over 30 m instantly narrowed to 20 m. When Zhang Tie reached 15 m away from those demonized puppets, a head of those demonized puppets had found Zhang Tie as it twisted its grim head towards where Zhang Tie came from at once.


    When it turned around its head, Zhang Tie moved another 7-8 m ahead. When that demonized puppet narrowed his eyes and wanted to roar, Zhang Tie had pushed ahead another few meters.


    Right then.


    The moment the team of demonized puppets were within the attacking range of binding chains had Zhang Tie released 11 binding chains and struck them.


    Those demonized puppets became stiff at once...

 595 Killing Cambo

    Chapter 595: Killing Cambo


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    If possible, Zhang Tie really hoped to kill all these grim and disgusting demonized puppets. However, if he did that, the parent worm of those puppet worms would feel someone breaking in at once. If so, he would not continue his plan.


    Therefore, after fixing those demonized puppets with binding chains, Zhang Tie knocked them down quickly; instead of killing them. After that, he filled his mind sea with binding chains by constantly driving his spiritual energy towards the god''s rune of binding skills in his mind sea at the speed of one binding chain per second.


    After hearing the footsteps of the other team of demonized puppets, Zhang Tie supplemented his binding chains once again. Like what he did previously, before the team of demonized puppets made any response, they had been frozen by the 11 binding chains.


    Zhang Tie then dragged the 22 demonized puppets into a hidden place which was close to the warehouse before rushing into the warehouse.


    After freezing another two demonized puppets in the warehouse using the same method, Zhang Tie finally occupied the entire warehouse.


    Among all the military materials, kerosene was the necessity for both demons and humans. In that warehouse, Zhang Tie had found where the kerosene was placed only by sniff.


    The kerosene was put in about 1000 1-m high tin buckets, which were piled like a hill. The moment he saw those kerosene buckets had Zhang Tie taken out a dagger and stabbed hundreds of times in each of them.


    The moment he stabbed in those tin buckets had the kerosene gurgled out of them.


    When those buckets were leaking kerosene, Zhang Tie lifted a kerosene bucket which weighed hundreds of kg as he opened its lid and started to run in the warehouse, spreading kerosene everywhere.


    In this warehouse, besides kerosene, there were some other materials such as food, timbers, weapons and military uniforms. Zhang Tie poured kerosene over all of them. After using up two buckets of kerosene, he used another two...


    Until after pouring 10 buckets did Zhang Tie run outside of the warehouse.


    "B*stards of Senel Clan, are you ready for the bonfire?" watching those tents in the center of the camp, Zhang Tie sneered as he triggered his lighter and threw it on the kerosene line.


    As the flame of the kerosene line spread towards far, Zhang Tie hid in the dark once again.


    ...


    2 minutes later, with a huge explosion, a fiery flame higher than 50 m rose from the place where the kerosene buckets were placed, which chocked the entire camp.


    "What''s the matter?" a roar sounded from a tent in the center of the camp. At the same time, a member of Senel Clan rushed out of the tent.


    At the sight of the flame over the warehouse, he instantly darted towards there.


    Only after a few seconds, when he arrived there, the entire warehouse had started to burn. That person roared, "Have people put out the fire, hurry...". Soon after sending the order, that person released a punch, which instantly broke a pile of burning crates into pieces over 30 m away. After that, the flame outside the crates became smaller.


    In a blink of an eye, other powerhouses arrived. Seeing such a big fire, the entire camp became chaotic. Many people started to put out the fire.


    There were so many fire sources in the warehouse. Fiery flames grew bigger and higher. Even those fireproof items had started to burn; especially those burning kerosene at the corner of the warehouse. It was so hot over there. Although being dozens of meters away, people could already not draw close to that place. All the tents closer to that place had been burned.


    At this moment, those demonized puppets being froze by binding chains had been burned into ashes. When they died, all the other demonized puppets across the camp uttered crazy shrieks.


    After feeling the abnormal behavior of those demonized puppets, a middle-aged man who was putting out the fire was shocked at once as he seemingly realized something.


    "Rouben, take a division of demonized puppets in line 1 m away from the camp and prevent those pariahs from making troubles here!"


    "Yes, sir!" a strong powerhouse of Senel Clan left right away.


    "Hughs, go to inspect the camp; maintain the order over there."


    "Yes, sir!" another powerhouse of Senel Clan left with two hands.


    "Bartee, safeguard the main tent with the other powerhouses of demonized puppets above LV 9. Send the warning right away if there''s something wrong!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "All the others put out the fire here as soon as possible with me..."


    ...


    Hiding in the dark, Zhang Tie was shocked by this man''s decisions in such a short period. Zhang Tie didn''t know who was he; but he was sure that that person was a big figure as he could command this demonized puppets corps and have those elites of Senel Clan follow his order.


    Zhang Tie found that person''s purple battle qi was rolling like waves when he sent the order. Any punch of him could put out a flame or break any burning item into pieces more than 30 m away. That was an unrivaled fighting strength. It was estimated that he was at least at the level of master Abyan. In front of such a person, Zhang Tie could not stand more than 10 seconds.


    However, besides this person, there were some more people whose level was between 12 and 13, which was far greater than that of Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie knew that, he could never beat them face to face.


    Being limited to level, a LV 9 guy was not qualified to be proud in front of a corps, no matter how talented he was and how many wonderful experiences he had.


    Through this point, Zhang Tie knew better about the power of Senel Clan. This clan might be more powerful than Zhen Clan in Heavens Cold City.


    Zhang Tie focused on the hooknosed guy called Cambo among those powerhouses and those people''s shadows under the reflection of the high rising flames since the beginning. When those people of Senel Clan drilled out of their tents, Zhang Tie had already kept Cambo''s tent in mind.


    In that chaos, Zhang Tie sneaked in the tent of that guy called Cambo and waited for him to come back silently.


    At this moment, the most dangerous place was the safest place.


    Nobody could imagine that the fire-raiser was not in the camp, or breaking in the main tent which contained so many secrets or leading those human captives to rebel, but hiding in a tent near the center of the camp.


    ...


    With the efforts of so many powerhouses in Senel Clan and tens of thousands of demonized puppets, the fiery fire was finally put out in 40 minutes. As a result, over 70% of materials in the warehouse had been burned into ashes. Additionally, hundreds of demonized puppets were burned to death.


    After putting out the fiery fire, all the powerhouses of Senel Clan gathered in the main tent. Everyone felt that this fire was a bit weird.


    "Rouben, what about the situation on your side? Have those pariahs dared stir up trouble here?"


    "No, none of those pariahs dared to watch what happened here. After working for the whole day, many of them might be snoring like pigs. They don''t know what happened at all!" Rouben sneered as he shook his head.


    "What about you, Houghs?"


    "Everything is normal in the camp. Besides those demonized puppets who became restless at the beginning, nothing special happened. "Houghs replied calmly with two swords on his back, "But dozens of demonized puppets who were responsible for safeguarding the warehouse have been burned to death. It''s a bit weird."


    "Nobody else entered the main tent. Everything is normal here." The guy called Bartee looked very grim. When he talked, a killing qi could be sensed.


    After hearing these words, the middle-aged man frowned at once.


    "Scala, do you think this event is related to those missing pariahs?" Cambo looked at the empty main seat in the main tent as a light flashed across his eyes. That position belonged to his father. Now, the one who was qualified to sit beside it was his elder brother, Scala. "In the future, that seat must belong to me." Camboo thought.


    Scala also noticed the desiring look of Cambo as his mouth corners twitched once, "We can not reach such a conclusion now..." Scala denied Cambo''s presumption right away while Cambo''s hooknose looked a bit grim, "But I also feel what happened these couple of days are a bit weird. As the army chief is not here, we need to strengthen the patrolling force of the camp. Tomorrow, we have to have those pariahs find out that secret underground tunnel or ground crack. Additionally, the lost materials should be supplemented through the tunnel from the north as soon as possible."


    After saying that, Scala watched Cambo, "Cambo, now that you feel the two events are related with each other, you''re responsible for the investigation of the two cases since tomorrow. When the army chief comes back, you can report to him!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "If there''s nothing else, adjourn. Remember to do your own jobs well!"


    When everybody left, Scala sneered towards their backs.


    Rouben was complaining about his overreaction.


    Houghs was tossing a problem.


    Bartee was also mocking him for his overreaction.


    Cambo wanted to make it more complex.


    None of the four people were loyal to him. "So what? Don''t they know that they have to depend on fist instead of mouth if they want to have a right of say in Senel Clan. As long as my level is higher than them always, they are determined to be under my rule and follow my order for the rest of their lives."


    ''If you have hard punch, you don''t need to be clever. This is an ancestral proverb of Senel Clan. Have they forgotten about that? Additionally, are they really cleverer than me?"


    ...


    After leaving the main tent, those members of Senel Clan exchanged a glance with each other before returning to their own tents.


    Cambo looked grim as Scala was more tricky than he could imagine. If he did well what Scala ordered him to do, Scala would have a good reputation of using a good person. If not, Cambo would be regarded as incompetent and whimsical. What waited for him was nothing but mocks.


    To be honest. What Cambo said just now was indeed intending to find trouble to Scala. However, he truly thought the two events might be linked with each other. Although no abnormal situation was found, it didn''t mean there was no abnormal situation. It would be unreasonable if the fire was completely owed to be an accident. Because there were truly many doubtful points.


    "Scala''s performance was too calm just now. Why?"


    Cambo was raving his mind; suddenly his heart raced. "Did Scala think that the fire raiser was one of those in the main tent?"


    "This...this is really possible..."


    When he was filled with plots and tricks, Cambo came to the front of his tent. After opening it, he walked in...


    Right then, a series of punches struck him with terrifying battle qi as destructive as a pile of hot blades . He had no time to dodge away anymore. Even though he was already LV 10, he had no time to make any response in front of such a sudden attack, especially when the punch had already touched his body.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had launched 7 punches on Cambo''s throat, chest, heart and lower abdomen as fast as lightning bolts. Although the punches were silent, the first punch had already made a LV 10 strong fighter lose his ability to move and exclaim.


    Cambo laid on the ground as soft as a pool of mud. However, he didn''t die. With his eyes widely opened, he watched this figure who looked like a pariah.


    "Peh..." Zhang Tie squatted as he took up Cambo''s sword from his back. After that, he stood up and drew the long sword out of the sheath.


    "Did you use this sword to chop off that old man''s limbs that day?"


    Cambo could not utter any word. Opening his mouth, it seemed that he wanted to say "wait"...


    Zhang Tie waved his sword, causing Cambo''s head roll off his neck with an opened mouth. After catching this head and throwing his storage bag into Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie disappeared in the dark once again...

 596 Animosity and Return

    Chapter 596: Animosity and Return


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Two days later, all the powerhouses of Senel Clan were gathering on the bank of an underground lava river silently. The atmosphere was extremely depressive.


    A tall and strong man in faintly grey hair and a suit of dusky golden armor was standing there and watching the head, which had run out of its fresh blood silently.


    As this man didn''t speak, all the others felt a great fear.


    The man also had a very cruel and grim hooknose, which was as same as that of the head on the ground. However, the only difference was that one head was alive while the other was already dead. The dead head maintained an amazing look as it was faintly opening its mouth, seemingly wanting to say something.


    "Can anyone tell me what happened?" the man turned around and watched the other members of Senel Clan with a calm look, "Why Cambo''s head is here, but yours are still on your neck?"


    Everyone felt a killing qi from his words. Rouben and the other guys then threw their glances at Scala. They were very jealous and admiring about the position of army chief assigned by Scala yesterday; however, now, they all felt lucky as they let out a deep sigh inside¡ª¡ªthankfully, I''m not in that position.


    Scala walked one step out of the crowd with a solemn look, "Cambo was assassinated in his tent. We found that he was assassinated yesterday; then we found his head here. I think dad have the right to see Cambo''s miserable look after being assassinated, therefore, I let them protect the crime scene."


    "Before Cambo was assassinated, the warehouse of the camp was on fire, causing a great loss. One day before he was assassinated, thousands of pariahs escaped away. After Cambo was assassinated, we found another 10,000 people were missing. All the missing pariahs insisted on not eating human fleshes. Another two slave supervisors are also missing. We''ve searched each corner and nook; however, nobody found their hiding place. We could not find any underground tunnel or secret underground space."


    "As the agency army chief and Cambo''s elder brother, I will shoulder the responsibility!"


    After saying this, Scala lowered his head bashfully.


    "You''ve not figured out what happened until now?" Koz asked icily.


    "Yes!" Scala forced a word, "I just..."


    Koz didn''t speak. Before Scala accomplished his words, Koz had already punched onto his chest. Scala uttered a muffled harrumph as his chest armor had been broken into pieces completely. After being sent 20 m away, he started to spit out blood forcefully. Whereas, he still struggled to pick himself up from the ground and walked back.


    Before Rouben and the other members of Senel Clan said anything, Koz had already slapped them, causing all of them spit out blood at the same time. Meanwhile, they were all sent flying backwards.


    After falling on the ground, they didn''t even dare to utter a voice. After picking themselves up from the ground, they continued to walk back silently while lowering their heads.


    Koz gazed at them with killing qi, "You are my most excellent sons. The one who will rule the Senel Clan in the future must be one of you. I only want to tell you, although jackals are ferocious, they won''t kill their family members. The future of Senel Clan won''t be limited in Titanic Douchy either, am I clear?"


    They exchanged glances with each other before nodding at the same time.


    Koz closed his eyes and opened them after a few seconds, "Gather all the pariahs here, select one of ten, regardless of age, and chop off their heads for Cambo''s death!"


    If this order was implemented, it meant that at least 10,000 people would be killed. However, someone executed it right away.


    Koz then moved his eyes onto that head on the bank of the lava river with a dense sadness."That person who killed Cambo must have some reason to take his head here. It seems like a sacrifice."


    "What happened during the period I left the corps?"


    "Cambo...Cambo...threw some pariahs into the lava river. Additionally, he chopped off a pariah''s limbs to feed demonized puppets!" Scala panted.


    "What?" Koz widely opened his eyes as if he wanted to eat people.


    "I...I was also doubting that...maybe a powerful scout of the allied human forces have already found this place...the person who killed Cambo might be an outsider. When Cambo killed those pariahs, that human scout might be hiding among those pariahs. Additionally, given Cambo''s wounds, it seemed being caused by a powerful battle qi..."


    "Contact our moles in the allied human forces. If some human really had found this place, let me know who''s that..." Koz gritted his teeth as his battle qi started to roll in spite of himself, "He dared kill my son, I will chop him into pieces."


    ...


    Soon after that, the underground space was filled with human heads while a dense bloody smell started to suffuse the entire underground space...


    ...


    Actually, Zhang Tie returned to the airship troop of Jinyun Country a bit later. Although he had already left that underground space in Misty Moon Woods yesterday, he came back today.


    It was still heavily raining yesterday. In such a weather, Zhang Tie''s glider could not fly off with the help of ascending airflow. When it became sunny today, Zhang Tie seized a strong ascending airflow nearby the hillside where he hid his glider and flew off.


    After flying for several hours, Zhang Tie finally found the airship troop of Jinyun Country which was hovering in an airspace.


    When they saw Zhang Tie''s glider once again, many people in the airships cheered up. This time, Zhang Tie disappeared for 4 days, which made people worried about him.


    Zhang Tie found Lan Yunxi''s flagship airship. After flying around it for two circles, Zhang Tie sent a request to land on it. After that, Lan Yunxi''s flagship airship adjusted its direction and speed along the wind direction. Meanwhile, a huge tuck net was released out of the bottom of the huge airship like catching fish.


    Glider drivers described this process as falling into a tuck net.


    This was indeed falling into a tuck net. No runway could be matched for gliders on airship. Therefore, the gliders could only return to the airship in this way. When they flew against the wind, they could slow down their gliders for the convenience of being captured by the huge tuck net.


    If the glider driver was not excel at driving, they might encounter various events when falling into the tuck net, such as crashing onto the airship, breaking the tuck net or directly dropping off the air due to a sudden deceleration. Therefore, to successfully fall into a tuck net became an important standard to test an excellent glider driver''s driving skill.


    However, although other glider drivers felt very nervous when they finished this process, it was as easy as drinking water for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie drove the glider into that tuck net rapidly and softly. Soon after the two crew members of the airship fixed the glider with cable wires and hooks, Zhang Tie had already climbed out of the glider. At the same time, he erected his thumb towards the two crew members in goggles. After that, he climbed up by the net.


    After returning to the airship, Zhang Tie directly headed for the airship command module where Lan Yunxi was in.


    Lan Yunxi was discussing at a chart table with the other commission officers. At the sight of Zhang Tie, Lan Yunxi let out a deep sigh remarkably.


    "It''s nice to see you back!"


    Watching Lan Yunxi''s relaxed look, Zhang Tie felt warm inside as he also responded with a smile. Soon after that, he changed his face, "I''ve got a major information to report to General Lan".


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, other commission officers and other people in the command module exchanged glances with each other before leaving the command module silently. When the last person left, he even closed the door.


    According to the requirement on keeping confidentiality in the army, if Zhang Tie was going to report major information to Lan Yunxi alone, the others are not qualified to listen to it. Therefore, they had to leave out of here in this case.


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s solemn look, Lan Yunxi''s face turned solemn too.


    "Have you found the trace of the demonized puppets corps?"


    After hearing Lan Yunxi''s question, Zhang Tie didn''t speak; instead, he directly came to Lan Yunxi''s side and pointed at a location on the map with his finger.


    "They are here."


    Watching that location, Lan Yunxi frowned, "I''ve already dispatched airships over here these days; however, we have no any discovery."


    "That demonized puppets corps is not above ground; they are in an underground space. An entrance to the underground space is here."


    "Ah? Underground?" Lan Yunxi revealed an amazing look, "What are they doing there?"


    Zhang Tie drew two lines on the south and the north of that point, "They plan to break through an underground tunnel so as to pass Selnes Human defense line. Starting from this point, the northern part of this tunnel had been linked with the Titanic Douchy while its southern part had been broken through dozens of kilometers. Once this tunnel passed human''s defense line in Selnes..."


    Zhang Tie didn''t need to say the rest words as Lan Yunxi had realized the outcome. She drew in a deep breath as her face turned extremely solemn at once.


    "Have you entered that tunnel?"


    "Yes!" Zhang Tie then told Lan Yunxi what he had learned about in that underground space. Of course, he didn''t mention that he had saved over 20,000 human captives out of that underground space. In holy war, nobody would be interested in studying why 20,000-30,000 human captives of hundreds of thousands of human captives in total disappeared after being driven into the underground space.


    "I have to report this event to the alliance command. The move plan of Jinyun Country''s airship troop should also be altered..." Lan Yunxi said with an absolute certainty. After that, she went to a voice conducting pipe and sent an order, "This is Lan Yunxi, notice all the main commission officers, this move is cancelled. All the airships returned to the base. Flagship airship heads for Mocco City..."


    After sending the order, Lan Yunxi walked back and glanced over Zhang Tie seriously. After being silent for a few seconds, she said, "Next time...you''d better not enter that dangerous place alone, okay?"


    Zhang Tie instantly put his hand on Lan Yunxi''s waist, "You''re concerning about me?"


    Lan Yunxi''s face blushed as she instantly looked aside.


    Zhang Tie moved her head back as he forcefully kissed her lips.


    ...


    The war in Selnes Theater of Operations continued. After accomplishing the reconnaissance of Misty Moon Woods, Zhang Tie returned to the Crystal Battle Fortress with the airship troop of Jinyun Country. They had a few days'' holiday once again. They had to take a rest after executing a high-intensity task in the air over 10 days. No airship troop could stand long-time flight.


    Zhang Tie didn''t need to concern about how human alliance command would deal with that demonized puppets corps of Senel Clan which was hiding in the underground space. It was out of his ability. Someone would naturally work out how to deal with such a huge demonized puppets corps and their plot to pass the Selnes human defense line. Some human troops would fight that demonized puppets corps and prevent demons'' plot for sure. Zhang Tie only needed to do his best when necessary. As a LV 9 guy, Zhang Tie didn''t need to consider too much about that.


    What shocked Zhang Tie most during this reconnaissance task were the cruelty of the Three-eye Association and the miserable fate of those human captives.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie started to cultivate crazily. He wanted to accomplish the gold seed planting process of "King Roc Sutra" as soon as possible.


    When in cultivation, Zhang Tie even forgot about time. He entered a mechanical circulation of battle and rest¡ª¡ªtask¡ª¡ªcultivation¡ª¡ªtask¡ª¡ªcultivation...

 597 Breaking Through the Bottleneck I

    In the following months, although Zhang Tie didn''t participate in the battles in the Misty Moon Woods, he had heard about the allied human forces'' method and the progress of the warfare over there.


    What Zhang Tie hadn''t imagined was that the measure adopted by allied human forces to deal with demons'' plot would be so simple. They dispatched a corps of fewer than 100,000 people into the Misty Moon Woods. The corps was the well-known Jungle''s Leopard Corps from Barl, the country of the jungle.


    This corps was the most powerful corps-level jungle combat troop in Selnes Theater of Operations. They could play a great role in the Misty Moon Woods.


    It was said that this corps could fight for over 1 year in the jungle without any supplies.


    Zhang Tie even started to doubt that the task might be specially prepared by the human alliance command for this jungle leopard corps.


    Although the jungle leopard corps entered the Misty Moon Woods, they didn''t enter the underground space. Only one female entered the underground space. She was a voodoo pharmacist, the rarest advanced profession among pharmacists.


    It was so rare that Zhang Tie even didn''t hear about it before. They excelled at refining various poisons and killing people in various secret methods as the darkest existence among pharmacists. If common pharmacists could serve as doctors par- time, voodoo pharmacists were totally aiming at destroying lives.


    After the voodoo pharmacist left the underground space, that demonized puppets corps of Senel Clan had to leave the underground space too.


    Because the only water source of the underground space had been contaminated by the severe poison released by the voodoo pharmacist. There were also various fatal poisons in those closed underground tunnels which had been excavated by human captives. Even demonized puppets could not stand that, not to mention human captives.


    In the words of the "Holy War News", that voodoo pharmacist turned the entire underground space into a "huge poisonous vat", including those underground tunnels which were excavated by the demonized puppets corps. In the next decade, demons would not organize the same thing again.


    The underground space was in a special environment. Even the largest water source was an underground lake. Additionally, the air flow condition was poor over there. Although there were great differences between the underground space and that above ground on many aspects, it was really great to destroy the demons'' plot with only one person''s strength.


    Compared to what meritorious deed Zhang Tie had made, this was also a very exciting and inspiring achievement. Therefore, the human alliance command delivered the second order of commendation to her and rewarded the voodoo pharmacist with the honor "Selnes Snake".


    Although commoners disliked snakes, voodoo pharmacists really regarded any honor with word snake as a reward.


    Additionally, besides being very mysterious, that voodoo pharmacist was a woman called Tirsyris.


    A woman obtained an honor in Selnes Theater of Operations and aborted the plot of a demonized puppets corps. This aroused shock across the theater of operations at once. Many people started to match her contributions with that of Zhang Tie.


    With one more hero, the others'' confidence rocketed once again. They seemed to be seeing the twilight of victory. However, for Zhang Tie, the tough battle had just begun.


    Since June, with the arrival of the long-term rainy forest of summer in Selnes, Zhang Tie''s responsibilities became heavier. In July, August and September, the times that Zhang Tie executed tasks by glider and the period that he lasted in the air refreshed the entire Selnes Theatre of Operations.


    In the same period, the confrontations and battles between wing demon troops and human airship troops grew fiercer across the Selnes Theater of Operations.


    During the three months, human airship troops lost over 1400 airships,whereas, human airship troops also broke through demons'' air defense line many times and seized the opportunity to make a large-scale air strike towards the northern regions under the rule of demons, which caused a severe blow to some demonized puppets corps.


    In July, under a delicate plan, Lan Yunxi''s airship troop abruptly entered the airspace of the collapsed Titanic Duchy and raided Erie, a major city in the south of Titanic Douchy under the rule of demons. As a result, the entire city was destroyed along with a large batch of military materials being stored in Erie by the demons'' corps in the frontline. Additionally, a demonized puppets corps in Erie suffered casualties numbering at least 200,000.


    Since the confrontation between allied human forces and demons in Selnes Theatre of Operations, this was a rare overwhelming triumph of human airship troop and the first time for a human troop to destroy a city under the rule of demons. The successful air strike being named "Double-Arc Move" by Lan Yunxi also made her one of the most brilliant generals across the Selnes Theatre of Operations.


    Both parties had made triumphs in the air and on the ground in the three months.


    Zhang Tie mainly executed his tasks in the sky. Over the past three months, Zhang Tie found the wing demons became more difficult to deal with. He was gradually losing his advantage in fighting wing demons by glider in the sky.


    Now, he could rarely meet a wing demon in the sky or directly met a troop of wing demons. After killing a common wing demon, he would soon become the target of LV 11 wing demons in the troop of wing demons and be chased by them.


    Zhang Tie met the latter situation once. It was very risky. In order to dodge from that LV 11 wing demon, he directly dove into a big river with the glider.


    This was because a LV 11 wing demons'' fighting strength and speed had made Zhang Tie''s javelins ineffective.


    That time, Zhang Tie was injured. Additionally, he lost a glider. Thankfully, he returned to the Crystal Battle Fortress. After returning to the Crystal Battle Fortress, Zhang Tie made a serious analysis about this battle and finally reached a conclusion, ''It seems to be tricky in the air from now on.''


    Zhang Tie knew that his events and name must have been known by the management of demonized puppets corps. Additionally, wing demons had already worked out the method to deal with him based on his ability¡ª¡ªaverage LV 9 and LV 10 wing demons would descend at the sight of him and escape along the direction of the air flow based on their agility in the air. They could soon dodge his attacks and hunt in this way. However, high-level wing demons, at the sight of him would immediately rush forward to kill him.


    In such a situation, although Zhang Tie increased his frequency to execute tasks, he could hunt fewer and fewer wing demons over three months. From the beginning of July to the end of September, Zhang Tie hunted less than 10 wing demons in total. However, he almost lost his life many times in the air.


    As the number of wing demons that he could hunt decreased sharply, the fruit of source of wing demons that Zhang Tie had desired for a long time still wasn''t ripe. Therefore, his military exploits on the Military Exploits Rankings remained unchanged. At the same time, the military exploits of the other elites from six clans started to rocket, causing a fiercer competition on the Military Exploits Rankings in Crystal Battle Fortress.


    This was the upper limit that a LV 9 fighter could reach. Like the border between stratosphere and troposphere, it separated two worlds. Zhang Tie felt that he had already reached the bottleneck. Only those above LV 10 could enter the world above this ceiling.


    If he didn''t break through this ceiling, Zhang Tie knew that he could hardly change such a situation. He would still be chased by LV 11 wing demons in the sky. Those b*stards of Three-eye Association could still casually arrange some killers in the illegal demon hunters market so that he dared not wander in the market casually. This was an urgent survival crisis caused by a low level of power.


    Because of this bottleneck and survival crisis, Zhang Tie started to cultivate harder. As long as he was free, he would enter cultivation. He dared not waste any time.


    When Zhang Tie proceeded to the first step of the "King Roc Sutra"¡ª¡ªplanting a golden seed in the Shrine, he constantly strengthened and consolidated his fighting strength and basic fighting skills in all aspects.


    In the three months, Zhang Tie obtained 11 iron-body fruits after being beaten by his crew members crazily. Benefiting from those iron-body fruits, Zhang Tie felt that his bones were growing more compact and harder. Additionally, his muscle fibers were growing stronger and more resilient, which could provide a greater explosive force and bear greater resistance. Even his innards had become more stable while being filled with vigorous and agile vitality. Zhang Tie gradually felt that there was an invisible, powerful protective film over those organs.


    What was more unimaginable was that Zhang Tie''s skin had become better as it looked as shiny as jade, which looked very pleasant and noble.

 598 Breaking Through the Bottleneck II

    Benefited from the leakless fruits, Zhang Tie had improved greatly on physical strength and the other aspects. In the trouble-reappearance situations, Zhang Tie''s iron-blood fist and various fighting skills were further improved.


    Before coming to the Selnes Theater of Operations for the second time, Zhang Tie''s marks in shadow demon cell were 6,6,10, namely surviving 6 seconds in shadow demon cell, being collapsed 6 times physically and activating shadow demon cell 10 times.


    In August, Zhang Tie had made a great progress in fighting data in shadow demon cell when he came to Selnes Theater of Operations for the second time.


    7,9,11, the latest marks of Zhang Tie. He could survive over 7 seconds in shadow demon cell, sustain collapse 9 times consecutively in the trouble-reappearance situation and activate shadow demon cell 11 times after several months'' hard cultivation.


    In October, the rainy season of Selnes Plain had passed when the autumn flavor started to cover this land full of flames and smoke of war.


    Autumn was the season of harvest after sprouting and brilliance.


    Zhang Tie also made a harvest in this season. Since he obtained ''Robust Ox Skill'', the incomplete version of ''King Roc Sutra'' on June 11th, he would finally finish planting the golden seed in his Shrine after over 100 days.


    On the evening of October 4th, Zhang Tie was sitting on the bed in the Captain''s room of the Idiots with his legs crossed.


    Since he returned to the base by the Idiots on October 2nd, Zhang Tie had been in the Captain''s room. All the crew members knew that Zhang Tie was in cultivation; therefore, nobody disturbed him.


    In the Shrine surging point, that huge golden egg had been covered with dense classic, feather-like runes. There were totally 986 runes over it.


    The last rune was like a rotating spiral with a beautiful tail. The moment Zhang Tie completely manifested the last rune on the top of the golden egg using his spiritual energy and battle qi had he felt relaxed all over. After that, before letting out a sigh, Zhang Tie had quivered all over. In Zhang Tie''s mind, the Shrine surging point started to rock heavily.


    When the Shrine surging point vibrated, the golden egg which was covered with 987 mysterious runes started to float and emit out colorful, brilliant lights, making the entire Shrine surging point as bright as an imperial palace. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen became as warm as a thermos flask.


    Its color changed from red to orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and purple...


    These colorful lights appeared alternatively. They seemed penetrating through the Shrine surging point as they started to brighten everywhere inside Zhang Tie''s body. Zhang Tie started to feel that his body became as transparent as glass as his fleshes, blood, bones, veins and organs gradually disappeared, causing his body void inside and outside and pretty pure. As the golden egg alternatively changed its color, Zhang Tie''s body became a huge, solemn and sacred piece of glaze.


    In such a nice feeling and realm, Zhang Tie suddenly heard a groundbreaking chirp. At the same time, the golden egg broke into pieces and emitted out bright colorful lights. After that, 987 runes started to float from the golden egg and converged in the air. Finally, a huge bird completely composed of lights whose look was blurrily manifested in the Shrine.


    Although it was virtual, at the sight of the bird, Zhang Tie felt an indescribable, powerful energy and qi which could destroy the universe. He almost knelt down for that out of worship.


    That huge bird composed of lights flapped its wings as a light feather fell off its body and flew out of the Shrine. It finally landed on a place inside Zhang Tie''s body...


    The huge bird constantly flapped its wings as light features constantly flew out of his Shrine and headed for everywhere inside his body...


    In the end, Zhang Tie felt that the inside of his body was covered with the lights feature from that huge bird.


    The huge bird chirped loudly for four times...


    When it chirped for the first time, Zhang Tie felt his body was as massive as land.


    When it chirped for the second time, Zhang Tie felt his body was as dynamic as water.


    When it chirped for the third time, Zhang Tie felt as light as wind.


    When it chirped for the fourth time, Zhang Tie felt as hot as fire.


    After four chirps, Zhang Tie obtained a greater mass, a more agile body, a broader sense of space and a great passion.


    Finally, the four elements and feelings mixed with each other and filled Zhang Tie''s empty body once again like coloring a painting. Zhang Tie then felt the existence of his blood, fleshes, bones and organs and felt his heart beating and blood running once again.


    At this moment, the heart beats sounded like a giant hammering a battle drum.


    Additionally, the sound of the running blood in Zhang Tie''s vessels was also like a jubilant brook.


    The sounds of battle drums and running brook resonated in Zhang Tie''s body, bringing him a new, strange feeling. How blood flew over spine was like how brook flew over the mountain ridge. Resonating in his chest, the heart beats were like sonorous and elegant songs in the serene valley. Being combined with his innards, they performed a delicate piece of music.


    Livers, heart, spleen, lungs and kidneys; green, red, yellow, white and black; 1,2,3,5,6 (musical notes); wood, fire, soil, gold and water; fury, hatred, complaint, angry and boredom...


    Zhang Tie had never had such a feeling before. He seemed having enlightened something. He felt having everything, including the mountains, rivers, stars and universe.


    When the true feelings recovered, Zhang Tie finally woke up and opened his eyes.


    He was still sitting in the Captain''s room of Idiots. However, one night had already passed. He saw the twilight of dawn through the closed window. However, he was spirited like having recuperated several days as he felt flying in the air.


    Zhang Tie looked inside his body as he almost dropped off his tears.


    At this moment, all the invisible surging points had manifested in his senses clearly. Like clearing off the clouds and seeing the sun, each surging point was an energy core in his body. They spread in Zhang Tie''s body like 987 stars. Besides 34 surging points on his spine, all the other 953 surging points had manifested themselves.


    At this moment, all the 987 runes of ''King Roc Sutra'' that he spent almost 100 days to visualize reappeared. Each rune matched each surging point. The image of runes clearly appeared in the cores of those surging points.


    Of the 34 surging points on his spine which had been lit, the 34 runes were as brilliant as flames. Comparatively, the runes in the 953 invisible surging points which had not been lit looked a bit dark.


    From then on, the gate from LV 10 to LV 16 opened to Zhang Tie completely.


    At the same moment, Zhang Tie indeed felt the power and the terror of the emperor-level secret knowledge. Soon after he finished planting the golden seed in his Shrine had all the invisible surging points in his body been completely manifested. That was too marvelous.


    Although Zhang Tie had not cultivated other secret knowledge, he had already heard about the cultivation effects of the other secret knowledge in these couple of months. According to Zhang Tie''s knowledge, even the Zhang Clan''s ''Breaking Sun Sutra'' could not manifest invisible surging points until later phase. Some viscount-level or baron-level secret knowledge would cost the cultivator more time to manifest invisible surging points. Some of them even needed the coordination between outside force and medicine to manifest invisible surging points.


    However, soon after you planted the golden seed of ''King Roc Sutra'' in your Shrine, you would manifest all the invisible surging points. What Zhang Tie needed to do was to light all the invisible surging points one after another and witnessed the nirvana.


    "Powerful, that''s too powerful. What an emperor-level secret knowledge!"


    Perhaps this is the realm of this sutra. The one who cultivated the ''King Roc Sutra'' would be like a King Roc. As long as it stretched its wings, it would break through air and clouds. In a split second, it would pass tens of thousands miles as there were only stars in its eyes. No obstacles existed anymore. The road in the front would be clear and the road in the back would turn into dust under the feet.


    In the Shrine surging point, the golden egg had completely disappeared. The one being left in the Shrine was only a brilliant King Roc Seed Rune, which had been a stick of spiritual feature.


    Now that it was ''King Roc Sutra'', the method to light surging points would not be as stupid as before. That stick of spiritual feather was the key to cultivate ''King Roc Sutra'' and light those invisible surging points.


    Although Zhang Tie wanted to rush in Castle of Black Iron, burning that stick of spiritual feather with those leakless fruits which were accumulating in Castle of Black Iron for a long time, and promote to LV 10 in the fastest speed, more haste, less speed. Because he had just broken through an important pass after cultivating for many days, he needed to take a rest.


    Thinking of this, Zhang Tie got off the bed, opened the door of Captain''s Room and walked outside.


    At this moment, it was early morning. As it was a holiday break, besides some people on duty and some guards, most of the crew members on the Idiots had not woken up.


    It was a nice weather today. Zhang Tie came to the deck of the airship and found the sun had just come out of the horizon, tinting the eastern sky and the entire Selnes Plain into golden color.


    "After planting the golden seed in the Shrine, it was all clear in front of his eyes. There were no more mountains in front of his eyes from then on."


    A line flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind as Zhang Tie felt extremely heroic. He felt very bright in front of his eyes. The sense of depression and frustration that had accumulated in his mind for several months disappeared in a second. Demons? Three-eye Association? F*ck you...

 599 Beating Training and Promotion

    Chapter 599: Beating Training and Promotion


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The kitchen of the Idiots opened only when the airship landed on the ground. By then, crew members might have a hot meal in the kitchen. When the Idiots executed tasks in the air, no matter how long would the tasks last, no open fire was allowed across the airship except for the boiler in the engine room which was under strict control. During the process of executing tasks, crew members could only eat dried rations and preserved food.


    In such case, whenever the airship landed for supply, the kitchen would always be crowded with people, like today.


    However, the situation today was a bit different than before. Although the crew members were eating, they were all focused on old John, the chef of the Idiots who trotted between the kitchen and the dining hall.


    Old John was very excited. As long as old John became excited, his nose would turn red. Today, old Join''s nose was as red as a made-up clown.


    Of course, the one who could make this chef of a 5-star hotel so busy was the captain of the Idiots.


    As the captain was always busy, he rarely ate in the dining hall. Even though he came here, he would finish the meal and leave rapidly. It was said that old John even complained about that before; today, old John became very excited and diligent.


    The one who was more attractive than old John in the dining hall was Zhang Tie. At this moment, Zhang Tie''s table had been covered with so many plates. What he ate was more than that of three tough guys in the airship. Additionally, he was still eating. It seemed that he wouldn''t feel full.


    All the crew members didn''t find that their captain had such a good appetite until now.


    "Hurry, give me a way, give me a way..." old John shouted loudly, scaring away some crew members who were queuing up to fill dish far away. Lifting a plate, he trotted all the way in front of Zhang Tie as he lowered his body and served that plate on the table in front of Zhang Tie. After that, he unveiled the cover of the dish and said, "Captain, try this one, golden roasted fish. This is my best dish when I served as a chef in Cyrink Empire. It took me half an hour to cook this dish..."


    When the cover was unveiled, everyone in the surroundings smelt an alluring aroma. Many people started to raise their nose to sniff.


    When old John was introducing his ''well-known dish'' to Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to pick up the golden roasted fish and engulf it. As Zhang Tie''s teeth were as hard as steel, he soon ate up the entire dish.


    Until he ate up that golden roasted fish did Zhang Tie find old John was staring at him like being wronged.


    "What?" Zhang Tie asked with an amazed look.


    "Erm...captain, you forgot to paste my sauce on it. Golden roasted fish tastes better with sauce!" old John looked like how an artist watched a bricklayer spoiling the first-class painting.


    "Ah? Is that real?" after saying that, Zhang Tie saw a saucer of sauce beside that plate. He then revealed a bashful smile, "I will try. Hope it''s not late..."


    Zhang Tie replied as he poured that saucer of sauce into his mouth and engulfed them at once. After that, he smacked his lips twice, "Hmm, it really tastes good. Well done!"


    Old John widely opened his mouth. This was his first time to see someone eat golden roasted fish in this way. However, he revealed a happy smile, "There''s one more dish in the kitchen. Wait for a second, I will serve it to you..."


    After saying that, old John ran jubilantly towards the kitchen.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know why he had such a good appetite today. Even though he didn''t eat food for a couple of days when in cultivation, his appetite was still out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. Zhang Tie felt that he could eat at least twice the food of that before.


    After planting the golden seed of ''King Roc Sutra'' in the Shrine, Zhang Tie felt so hungry. This was indeed out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. However, Zhang Tie also knew that great hunger represented a sharply increasing demand for energy and digestive ability. This seemed to be one of the changes that his body had experienced after planting the golden seed of ''King Roc Sutra'' in his Shrine.


    There were some more changes that Zhang Tie didn''t know how to describe. He didn''t find these changes at the beginning. After planting the golden seed of ''King Roc Sutra'' in Shrine for over 1 hour, he gradually adapted to the changes.


    Zhang Tie found his body became lighter.


    Zhang Tie thought that he lost his weight at first. He especially weighed himself on a scale; however, his weight remained unchanged. It was still 79 kg. As a result, he found that his fast moving skill was much improved. He could move in a more agile way. Sometimes, Zhang Tie felt being as light as a stick of feather.


    Besides being more agile, Zhang Tie found his strength also increased by 10%, which really shocked him.


    In legends, when roc was a super magical beast which ate dragons like eating earthworms. It was said that when dragons saw roc, they would be too scared to move. A roc would eat 500 young dragons and a king dragon a day. Additionally, this magical beast was as long as thousands of miles. After flapping its wings once, it could travel 80,000 miles at a super fast speed. To drive such a huge body, its strength was of course extremely terrifying.


    Thinking of his great appetite and those improvements in his body, Zhang Tie realized that these were benefited from ''King Roc Sutra'' for sure. As for such an emperor-level secret knowledge which had manifested a great effect since he planted the golden seed in his Shrine, Zhang Tie could say nothing but praise.


    Zhang Tie started to become more desiring about the effects after LV 10. Only from the name ''Robust Ox Skill'', Zhang Tie had realized that this ''King Roc Sutra'' would bring him a great strength for sure in the process of promoting to LV 10, If not, those people would never name this incomplete version of ''King Roc Sutra'' as ''Robust Ox Skill'', with which, they could only promote to LV 10.


    When old John served a fish-flavored shredded pork with Chinese characters, Zhang Tie ate another two bowls of rice and drunk another two bowls of soup. Finally, facing the satisfactory smile of old John, Zhang Tie felt that he was almost full.


    ...


    After eating the breakfast and resting for a short while, Zhang Tie started his beating training.


    This beating training had become the most boisterous scene in the airship base of the Crystal Battle Fortress since it started. Whenever Zhang Tie prepared to be beaten, he would instantly be surrounded by a lot of common fighters in the Crystal Battle Fortress and the airship base.


    "Ah? Our Selnes Eagle is ready to be beaten once again..."


    As someone exclaimed outside the Idiots. Soon after Zhang Tie and those crew members got off the Idiots had they been surrounded by many guys who were rubbing their hands with glittering eyes.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know why those guys were so positive until the first mate of the Idiots explained it to him.


    "When they have a chance to beat Selnes Eagle, it sounds great! Later on, even if they leave Selnes Theater of Operations, when someone asks them what is the coolest thing that they''ve done in Selnes Theater of Operations, they will swear that they''ve beaten Selnes Eagle many times. Additionally, he never dared to fight back. How cool!"


    After hearing such a reason, Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile. However, Zhang Tie knew that was real. If he was still a small figure in Blackhot City, he would do this too so as to show off back in the home.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t mind that. After being familiar with everyone, each beating training was like playing with friends. He didn''t have any mental burden at all.


    After several months'' beating training, Zhang Tie''s strike-resistance ability gradually improved. Gradually, Zhang Tie posed new requirements on those people who beat him. They were requested to attack him with clubs and wooden sticks. Those weapons were made of longan wood and ashwood which were not too hard.


    Zhang Tie had tried that. On the premise of not using battle qi, when the longan wood and ashwood were broken on his body, it was just close to the attack limit that he could stand without any injuries. This was a sort of protection to himself; by doing this, those guys could fully enjoy themselves. Additionally, he could perceive the best training effect in this way.


    "Fine, as you''ve waited for this chance for several days, you can beat me now!" Zhang Tie stood in the middle of the training center in a training velvet, a pair of military pants and a pair of training leather shoes. The moment he opened his mouth had the others burst out into laughter.


    "Zhang Tie, when it''s my turn, can I have people take a photo for us?" a guy kidded with Zhang Tie.


    "Of course, but my portraiture right is very expensive. You have to pay 100 gold coins for each photo with me." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, followed by the others soldiers once again.


    Zhang Tie then waved his hands towards them as 7 guys in clubs and wooden sticks instantly swarmed up and ferociously struck Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie didn''t fight back. In a split second, some clubs were hacked on his body...


    At this moment, Lan Yunxi and a man with the rank of major general walked over there. Standing outside the crowd, they were watching the training between Zhang Tie and those fighters.


    That man only watched Zhang Tie being beaten several seconds before drawing a mouth of cold breath. Those innocent people thought that Zhang Tie was just dodging from being beaten; however, in the eyes of powerhouses like the major general, Zhang Tie''s training pattern really shocked him...

 600 A New Task

    Chapter 600: A New Task


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Zhang Tie was surrounded by 7 people, all of which were average soldiers below LV 6. Although they were not powerhouses, they had very rich fighting experiences. They attacked Zhang Tie''s different parts ferociously in different attacking frequencies. As Zhang Tie could not fight back, Zhang Tie had a very limited space to move.


    However, in the limited space, Zhang Tie''s performance was really shocking in the process of being beaten by clubs and wooden sticks.


    Commoners might not figure out Zhang Tie''s intention, however, in the eyes of that powerhouse who watched that together with Lan Yunxi, Zhang Tie was unconsciously controlling the attacking frequencies by moving his feet. Furthermore, he even chose where to be beaten.


    Through Zhang Tie''s movements in the limited space, the parts of Zhang Tie''s body which would be beaten by those weapons were not determined by those soldiers, but by Zhang Tie.


    After a short while, the major general found that a soldier had attacked Zhang Tie 8 times consecutively, each time on a different part like hindneck, left shoulder, right shoulder, lower abdomen, forebreast and arm.


    In the end, that person''s stick fell on the subscapular position of Zhang Tie''s left shoulder.


    The same to all the other soldiers.


    An average LV 9 fighter could easily realize this when facing a LV 5 or LV 6 soldier''s attack. However, Zhang Tie faced 7 soldiers.


    That meant that Zhang Tie had to judge 7 opponents'' attacking speeds, locations and constantly change his movements so as to have the disorderly attacks develop according to his own will at each second.


    As those soldiers could attack several times a second, actually, Zhang Tie had to deal with over 10 attacks from all directions each second.


    Those soldiers who attacked Zhang Tie didn''t change. But Zhang Tie changed, causing everything change.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie''s movements were not from advanced secret knowledge. After watching it carefully, the major found that Zhang Tie had five kinds of footsteps, namely bow step, sliding step, side step, jumping step and quick short step. However, the five basic footsteps became marvelous under Zhang Tie''s foot. Even though soldiers who attacked Zhang Tie had not found that Zhang Tie didn''t even move his hand through the entire process. However, their attacking frequencies had been regulated and controlled by Zhang Tie''s footsteps.


    Controlling the opponents'' attacking frequencies with changing footsteps?


    In such a relaxed state?


    Such an ability could only be described as terrifying.


    ...


    "Ah, don''t beat my face. Are you jealous about my handsome face..."


    ...


    "Buddy, even though I want you to beat me, you cannot knock that place with your stick, that''s my heirloom!"


    ...


    While being beaten, Zhang Tie was still joking with his partners. A lot of onlookers burst out laughter. Some soldiers, when tired, would be replaced by another one at once.


    Lan Yunxi realized the difference between Zhang Tie and her while watching him playing jokes with those soldiers while being beaten by them.


    She couldn''t do this. Nobody in Hidden Dragon Palace could do this, not to mention her. None of the fighters above LV 9 in the Crystal Battle Fortress could do it. However, Zhang Tie made it although having won an honor in Selnes Theatre of Operations.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, he indeed treated these commoners as the same as him. No matter what to do with these people, he would neither feel embarrassed nor feel being humiliated about that. Instead, he could enjoy it.


    Although she would not discriminate against these commoners, she knew that she was different from these people. She knew it since she was young. Perhaps no high-level fighter or guy with a bright future who had awakened their ancestral bloodline would feel as same as these commoners, except for Zhang Tie.


    This was also the biggest difference between Zhang Tie and all the others.


    For the sake of those strange commoners, he even violated clan regulations and suffered in Heavens Cold City.


    Here, he was enjoying being a human flesh bag of those commoners.


    Idiot!


    Lan Yunxi sighed inside. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s jubilant look which had not been seen in recent months, Lan Yunxi''s looked also turned mild.


    Zhang Tie had long noticed Lan Yunxi and the man in a major''s military uniform. The moment Zhang Tie glanced at that man''s military uniform had he knew that there was trouble.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t stop. He kept training until oozing all over. When he felt okay, he finally stopped and walked towards Lan Yunxi and that man.


    Seeing Zhang Tie stop, the other soldiers exchanged glances with each other and knew that Zhang Tie had something to deal with, therefore, they all left.


    "Senior sister apprentice Lan!" Zhang Tie came to the front of the two people.


    "This is Ford, major general of the alliance command." Lan Yunxi introduced the man to Zhang Tie.


    "Nice to meet you." that man reached out of his hand before Zhang Tie gave a salute to him, "I''ve long heard about the name of Selnes Eagle. Nice to meet you!"


    Zhang Tie then shook hands with that man, "Major general, what can I do for you?"


    After looking around, major general suggested, "Let''s change locations."


    "Fine, let''s talk about it in my airship."


    Zhang Tie then invited the two people into the airship.


    ...


    After making a cup of tea for Zhang Tie, Lan Yunxi, and the major general, the crew member left, leaving the three of them in the command module.


    Major general watched Zhang Tie for a second before getting straight to the topic.


    "There are some new situations about the demons'' occupied zone in the north, which made the alliance command very concerned." The major general threw a glance at Zhang Tie. "If we don''t confirm it and obtain some information in time, the human''s defense line in Selnes might collapse in a very short time."


    Lan Yunxi might have already known about this. Therefore, after listening to major general Ford''s words, she didn''t look too amazed, instead, she just faintly frowned.


    "What''s that?" Zhang Tie turned solemn.


    "Demons might produce demonized puppets in a large scale in the occupied zone in the north. Many people could not escape out of the collapse zone in time. Therefore, most of them might have been killed and become demonized puppets. Now we''re facing 2 or 3 millions of demonized puppets. In the future, we might face 20-30 millions of demonized puppets, even above 30 million. Do you know what that means?"


    If we had to face 20-30 millions of demonized puppets, Zhang Tie knew that the Selnes defense line would collapse for sure. Demons only needed to dispatch all of those demonized puppets here. They would beat the allied human forces of 5-6 million people. Now, the most important reason for Selnes human defense line to sustain was that the human forces outnumbered the demonized puppets. As long as this advantage was lost, even though humans had air superiority in a short time, it was still meaningless.


    Because airships had to land on the ground sooner or later. Additionally, airships'' air-to-ground striking ability was limited.


    After being silent for a few seconds, Zhang Tie asked, "Doesn''t it take a puppet worm egg of a parent worm a long time to hatch after entering a person''s body? How come demons cultivate so many demonized puppets in the occupied zone so fast?"


    "It was true in the 2nd holy war. It took demons at least 6 years to occupy a place before obtaining a demonized puppets corps. But it''s different now." The Major General watched Zhang Tie with a worrying look. "We got some intelligence. Demons might have already mastered a new ability, with which, they could realize the large-scale production of parent puppet worms. Additionally, they could stimulate humans being infected by parent puppet worms to turn into demonized puppets in a very short period."


    As Major General Ford said this, he took out of a photo from his suitcase and placed it in front of Zhang Tie, "We obtained this photo at a great cost."


    Zhang Tie looked over the photo.


    That photo was taken in the evening. The photographer was a bit farther from the target. Therefore, the photo looked a bit blurry. However, Zhang Tie recognized a huge pyramid-sized object in the photo. However, it was not a pyramid, because pyramids were made of stones. It looked more like a mountain of flesh, which was covered with dense holes like honeycombs while disgusting mucus flew out of the holes.


    There were numerous humans below that object, who were queuing up and moving into that dark huge entrance of that pyramid-sized object like walking dead.


    At the sight of this photo, Zhang Tie felt chilly as goosebumps formed all over his back.


    ...

 601 Knightss World

    Chapter 601: Knights'' World


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "What''s that?" Zhang Tie asked Ford.


    "Based on our intelligence and the analysis of demons'' biologists, it might be an evolutionary form of the parent puppet worm!" Ford told Zhang Tie with a solemn look.


    "This is a parent puppet worm?" After hearing this answer, Zhang Tie, who had learned parent puppet worm before became so amazed that his mouth could even hold some chicken eggs. In Zhang Tie''s imagination, although the parent puppet worm was very terrifying, it was as weak as a grub. However, this one was like a hill. What a sharp difference!


    "Are you kidding me? This object is so huge, you tell me it''s a parent puppet worm?" Zhang Tie couldn''t even believe that the object was a living being, not to mention a parent puppet worm.


    "In order to obtain this intelligence, we''ve already sacrificed a lot of people; however, our intelligence is incomplete. What we can confirm is that this object could turn alive humans into demonized puppets at a very fast speed. Have you seen these dense honeycombs?"


    Major General Ford pointed at those honeycombs as he explained, "We don''t know what''s inside them, but If the alive people entered them, they would be bound in the honeycombs and immersed in some fluid. Only after half a month, those people would turn into demonized puppets when they come out of those honeycombs."


    "Half a month?" Zhang Tie drew in a mouth of breath.


    "Yes, this object could turn a normal alive person into a demonized puppet in only half a month!"


    "It''s like demons'' arsenal!"


    "This metaphor is very proper. This object could produce 20-30 thousands of demonized puppets in one month."


    "If this object is the parent puppet worm, all the demonized puppets that it produces will not stay far away from it. This object cannot move, right?"


    "The alliance command has already inquired many experts about this question. Those experts reached a very consistent conclusion, if this object is an evolutionary form of puppet worms, the demonized puppets that it produces would be greatly different than those demonized puppets produced by common parent puppet worms. Demonized puppets of the average puppet worms would fight near their parent puppet worms; their moving distance was limited even though they could leave their parent puppet worms. Basically, demonized puppets would always follow those parent puppet worms."


    "However, those demonized puppets created by that object might be able to fight alone even if they were far away from this object. They might not even rely on that object at all. We don''t know about the details; but we can confirm that demons would not produce a pile of demonized puppets which could only move in a limited zone. "


    Major General Ford explained.


    Zhang Tie became silent for a few seconds before asking, "What does the alliance command want me to do?"


    "The alliance command wants to confirm whether there are a lot of such objects in the north of Titanic Douchy and the number of demonized puppets corps that had been produced by such objects. This intelligence would pose a greater influence on the war situation across Selnes Theater of Operations." Major General Ford explained very solemnly.


    "Where did you take this photo from?"


    "The object in the photo comes from a city of Viginia Federation in the north of the zone occupied by demons. That city is adjacent to the sea. We gained some incomplete intelligence nearby the sea after sacrificing a lot of people. Now, it''s very hard to gain intelligence about the zone occupied by demons. We need to sacrifice a lot of scouts and intelligence agents for a small piece of intelligence."


    Major General Ford then lowered his voice, "In order to gain the relevant intelligence about the north of Titanic Douchy, we''ve already dispatched over 30 airships there for an investigation. They have already deepened into the zone occupied by demons. However, as airships could be easily noticed, none of them returned. Those on the airships were all elite boys. We''ve also dispatched there ground squads of scouts and intelligence agents composed of powerhouses above LV 9; however, none of them came back after entering the zone occupied by demons. This intelligence and relevant information are very important; therefore..."


    Due to the special status of Zhang Tie, he didn''t need to follow anyone''s guidance in Selnes Theater of Operations; therefore, the alliance command could only negotiate it with Zhang Tie, instead of sending an order.


    "I accept this task!" after thinking for a few seconds, Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly.


    Major General Ford looked relaxed at once, "Do you have any requirements?"


    "Yes, of course, I have!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile towards Lan Yunxi. After realizing something, Lan Yunxi glared at him.


    "What''s that?"


    "I only have one requirement. Please give me at least a viscount-level secret cultivation knowledge!" Zhang Tie said frankly.


    Major General Ford had not imagined that Zhang Tie could pose such a requirement. After being silent for a few seconds, he threw a glance at Lan Yunxi. After that, he thought for a while before slowly nodding, "I cannot promise you, but I can report your requirement to the superior. As the viscount-level secret knowledge is a rarity, can you tell me the purpose of that secret knowledge?"


    "Of course, it''s used for cultivation. I''m just LV 9, due to some reason, I could not gain the secret cultivation knowledge in Huaiyuan Palace. However, the battle grows fiercer now. Therefore, I urgently crave for a secret knowledge so that I can continue to improve my fighting strength! It''s my lowest requirement." Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly.


    After planting the golden seed of ''King Roc Sutra'' in the Shrine, Zhang Tie really wanted a complete secret cultivation knowledge so as to cover the method that he was cultivating. He could still hide it now; however, after he promoted to LV 11, he could not tell others that he was cultivating an emperor-level secret cultivation knowledge. Therefore, of course, Zhang Tie would seize this opportunity to obtain a complete secret cultivation knowledge. After that, his constant promotion would not arouse any doubt from others.


    Now, the Blackson Humans Corridor was in a chaos. In such a chaotic situation, the high-end secret cultivation knowledge could even be found in illegal demon hunters'' market. Actually, it was not difficult for the alliance command to fetch a viscount-level secret knowledge for him.


    After gaining Zhang Tie''s reply, Major General Ford left by a car under the gaze of Zhang Tie and Lan Yunxi.


    Seeing Major General Ford''s car disappearing into the distance, Lan Yunxi turned around and watched Zhang Tie, "Have you long expected to wait for someone to bring you the secret knowledge?"


    Zhang Tie instantly complained, "Don''t think of me as a sinister, I almost lost my life for that secret knowledge!"


    "You deserve that!" Lan Yunxi scolded Zhang Tie in a low voice.


    Given her look, Zhang Tie knew that Lan Yunxi was joking with him. Zhang Tie didn''t want to talk about the danger that he had encountered in the illegal demon hunters market. He thought that it was unnecessary to show off the frustrations and misfortunes that he had met before.


    "Yes, Is the situation really that severe in the demon zone?" Zhang Tie transferred the topic. He knew that Lan Yunxi must know more than him about the demon zone based on her current status and her background as the princess of Huaiyuan Palace.


    "Yes!" Lan Yunxi slightly frowned, "Recently, that squad of elite demons decreased their frequency of appearance in Selnes Theater of Operations. Instead, more and more demonized puppets appeared there. That''s not a good hint."


    "Are demons consuming the strength of the allied human forces using demonized puppets?" Zhang Tie realized it right away, "Don''t we have powerful knights? Why not dispatch some knights over there?"


    "How do you know that human knights have not been dispatched there?" Lan Yunxi watched Zhang Tie with a special, solemn look.


    Zhang Tie was stunned, "Ah? You mean human knights have already attended the battle?"


    Lan Yunxi became silent for a few seconds, "From January, we''ve lost two human knights across Selnes Theater of Operations. Without knights, the Selnes Theater of Operations would be in another situation."


    Lan Yunxi''s reply shocked Zhang Tie a lot, "That''s a major event. But why don''t I know about it? Nobody talked about it at all!"


    "You won''t understand the world and battlefield of knights!" Lan Yunxi said gloomily.


    ...


    "What is knights'' world?"


    As Lan Yunxi was busy, after talking with Zhang Tie for a while, she left. Zhang Tie just stared at Lan Yunxi''s back frankly...


    ...


    As he had already posed a requirement for a secret cultivation knowledge, Zhang Tie didn''t enter Castle of Black Iron to light his invisible surging points using leakless fruits. As long as he started to light those invisible surging points except for those on his spine and headed for LV 10, some powerhouses could sense it. They might have a doubt, ''Didn''t you want a secret cultivation knowledge after LV 9? How did you start to cultivate it before you got that?''


    In order to avoid such a conflict, Zhang Tie waited for two days, during which period, he gradually relaxed himself. Meanwhile, he was preparing for the dangerous task arranged by the alliance command.


    In the preparation, what Zhang Tie was interested in most was a wholly-new glider designed and manufactured by the Hoorn Republic...


    That was an unprecedented glider that nobody could make before the Catastrophe. It was both a glider and a private plane which was customized for Zhang Tie with propeller as the driving force...


    ...

 602 The Man-Powered Plane

    Chapter 602: The Man-Powered Plane


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Since Zhang Tie was chased by wing demons and had to dive into the water to escape last time, the engineers of the Glider Base of Hoorn Republic had been busy producing a new glider for Zhang Tie.


    In order to produce a new glider for Zhang Tie, Halson, the chief commission officer of the Glider Base of Hoorn Republic even contacted with the side of the Hoorn Republic. The Hoorn Republic finally dispatched a team of experts to Selnes with some carriages of equipment and tools.


    Before Zhang Tie knew that news, the experts'' team of Hoorn Republic had already arrived. Zhang Tie felt a bit embarrassed. After listening to Colonel Halson''s explanation, Zhang Tie knew that he had been pretty famous across the Hoorn Republic.


    After his heroic event with this Glider Base was spread in the Hoorn Republic, through the propaganda of the media of Hoorn Republic, almost every citizen of Hoorn Republic knew that there was a brave air cavalry called Selnes Eagle who fought lots of wing demons and scared them away by the glider produced in the Hoorn Republic.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was an idol in the Hoorn Republic for sure.


    Therefore, after knowing that Zhang Tie''s second glider collapsed, the side of Hoorn Republic dispatched a very powerful experts team to Selnes with equipment and machines to build a wholly new glider for Zhang Tie so as to maintain the honor of the country.


    In the words of Colonel Halson, it was the honor of the entire Hoorn Republic for the Selnes Eagle to drive the glider of Hoorn Republic to fight wing demons for the sake of humans.


    When the experts'' team arrived in Selnes, they met Zhang Tie twice and communicated with him. As it was in the rainy season, gliders would always lose the driving force brought by elevating thermal air flow; additionally, the rainy day was a great test to this unpowered aircraft. When those experts asked Zhang Tie what sort of glider did he want, Zhang Tie told them the following words:


    "I could already make full use of wind power and airflow. I think you can barely make any breakthrough in this aspect. However, the situation on the battlefield is very complex. Sometimes, like the past two months, because of the heavy rain, I could not use these natural conditions, which made me very passive. It would be very dangerous to drive a glider in bad weathers. If possible, I hope to have another driving force so that I don''t have to rely on airflow and wind power. I expect to fly freely in the sky by glider like riding a bicycle."


    When Zhang Tie said this, he didn''t imagine whether the experts'' team from the Hoorn Republic could make it. He just told them about his need. Even If they couldn''t make it, it wouldn''t cause any loss to Zhang Tie at least; however, if they could, that would be a great surprise for Zhang Tie. It indicated that Zhang Tie would have a greater freedom in the sky.


    In a few days after Zhang Tie posed his requirement, the experts'' team of the Hoorn Republic invited Zhang Tie to do all-round physical fitness tests twice.


    Zhang Tie didn''t understand the relationship between driving a glider and his physical fitness. Whereas, he still went there. In the process of physical fitness tests, Zhang Tie remembered that all the members of the experts'' team from the Hoorn Republic were staring at him with gleaming eyes...


    Since then, the experts'' team rarely contacted Zhang Tie in the glider base. Until recently, Zhang Tie was informed that a new glider had been produced. They wanted him to take a look.


    On October 7th, the Glider Base of Hoorn Republic...


    Zhang Tie reappeared in a glider warehouse of the base, where he saw a wholly new glider which had taken dozens of professional engineers of the Hoorn Republic over 1 month.


    That glider looked a bit similar to WindTalker II; however, the sharp difference between the entire glider and WindTalker II was that this one had a double-wing propeller on its head.


    When Zhang Tie entered the cockpit, he found that the layout and devices had been totally changed. The steering pedal under his feet had been replaced by an actuator like bicycle''s foot pedal. There were also some changes on the elevator. Previously the elevator could only be pulled up or pressed down; however, Zhang Tie found it could now be rotated 90 degrees to the left and the right. There was one more pushing rod below the elevator whose function was unclear.


    Except for all these changes, the glider still maintained features of Zhang Clan, namely the seat was foldable; there were still two concave handles on the left and the right of the cockpit which could be lifted by hand; additionally, the cover of the bottom of the cockpit was still slideable.


    Zhang Tie looked around in the cockpit. He couldn''t wait to step on the pair of foot pedals. He wanted to see the effect.


    It was very hard for commoners to move that pair of foot pedals; those weak ones could only move the pedals a few times. However, for Zhang Tie, it was as easy as how commoners stepped on the pedals of bicycles.


    The moment the pedals were moved, the two propellers at the head of the glider had started to rotate, causing a wuthering sound. Zhang Tie gradually accelerated while the propellers sped up. Zhang Tie then found the entire glider started to slide forward.


    When the glider was running in the warehouse, a whim flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind. Zhang Tie moved the rudder rightward, causing the glider slide towards the right; Zhang Tie moved the rudder leftward, causing the glider slide towards the left.


    Zhang Tie became very excited. He finally understood how did those experts think. Now that he could push glider forward on the ground, he could also have it driven forward by the propellers in the sky.


    Zhang Tie jumped out of the cockpit with a happy look, "How did you make it?"


    "What you told us brought us a great enlightenment and inspiration. After thinking carefully, we borrowed the designing ideas of the plane before the Catastrophe. We used a set of speed transforming gear and a chain to pass the power being produced by stepping the pedals to the propellers at the head of the glider so that this glider could have the ability of early human planes before the Catastrophe. It could gain an extra driving force when it couldn''t make use of elevating airflow and wind power."


    "Thank you, you''re really great!"


    "This glider is especially designed and produced for you. Such a design doesn''t work for common glider drivers as they might not have enough strength to maintain a long time flight like you. Do you remember the physical fitness tests that we''ve made for you. We find your legs are very powerful. Additionally, your physical strength and endurance are excellent. If your legs'' strength is converted into machine''s power, your legs might be equal to an engine of 20 horsepower. This reminds us of this design."


    "Ah? My feet could work like an engine of 20 horsepower, what does that mean?"


    "Commoners who have not lit surging points could only produce 1 horsepower per minute. Within 10 minutes, commoners could only explode about half a horsepower at most. 20 horsepower is like you lie down with your feet lifting a 1500 kg object 1 m high in 1 second. Additionally, you could repeat this process. It is not a simultaneous explosiveness, it is a constant and repetitive strength. Speaking of explosiveness, many people could easily lift 1500 kg object 1 m high in 1 second with feet. However, few people could repeat this process in half an hour or one hour."


    "Wuh, I see!" Zhang Tie understood it at once. He had not imagined that his feet could match an engine of 20 horsepower. It made him proud of himself as it was a special ability.


    "Can I directly fly into the sky by stepping on this pair of pedals?"


    "Although we''ve set the aided function to run the glider by stepping on the pedals, it poses a high requirement on your strength. However, when you fly in the sky, it will be different. As long as you have enough strength to keep the propellers running at least 800 turns a minute, you can have the pedals provide the constant driving force for this glider. It grants a very excellent flight and manipulative performance to this glider without relying on climates. We feel that this glider should be called man-powered plane, instead of a glider!"


    "Man-powered plane, it sounds very interesting!" Zhang Tie smiled. When he recalled the Hit-Plane Brotherhood, he felt that he really had a great predestined affinity with planes. He had not imagined that he could really drive a plane now.


    "Can I have a try now?"


    "Of course!"


    "I have one last question. What''s this pushing rod below the elevator used for? I see data 50, 30,15,5, air and ground. What does that mean?"


    "This is a variable transmission rod. It could adjust the reduction ratio between the pedals and the propeller and the outputting direction of the driving force from your pedals. It has two outputting directions and four gears. The highest gear represents that you could have this man-powered plane''s propeller rotate 50 turns by stepping on the pedals one loop. Similarly, the lower gear represents that you could have this man-powered plane''s propeller rotate 30 turns by stepping on the pedals one loop. The higher the reduction ratio is, the more strength you will need to step on the pedals one loop. It could adjust itself based on your physical strength. The words ''air'' and ''ground'' respectively represent the outputting direction of the driving force provided by the pedals, ''air'' refers that by stepping on the pedals you could provide a driving force to the propeller while the word ''ground'' refers that by stepping on the pedals you could provide a driving force to the ground wheels and keep it running on the ground like riding a bicycle..."


    ...


    After a few minutes, when Zhang Tie completely figured out how this man-powered plane was manipulated, this man-powered plane was pushed onto the runway.


    When Zhang Tie returned to the cockpit, he instantly pushed the variable transmission rod and had it point at the word "ground". After that, he started to step on the pedals forcefully...


    Without the traction of a tractor, this time, Zhang Tie just rode pedals like riding a bicycle, causing the glider run faster and faster on the runway. Finally, it left the runway and flew into the sky.


    After flying into the sky, Zhang Tie had the gear point at the data 50. After that, he started to step on the pedals rapidly, causing the propellers run very fast...


    Finally, without the help of wind power and elevating air flow, Zhang Tie had that man-powered glider fly in the air like a plane by his foot.


    ...


    It was really hard to describe the feeling of driving this man-powered plane in the air. If he was driving a common glider, he had to pay attention to the wind power and direction of airflow; however, by driving this man-powered plane, Zhang Tie felt like becoming really free.


    Zhang Tie felt that this was more like a bicycle in the air. As long as he had strength, he only needed to keep stepping on the pedals to fly freely in the sky.


    When in free flight, Zhang Tie could drive it like driving a glider in an elevating airflow so that he could take a rest and recover his physical strength. However, when there was no airflow to use, Zhang Tie could drive it at his will by stepping on the pedals, regardless of weather.


    If Zhang Tie could step on the pedals to run the propeller in airflow, Zhang Tie found that he could increase his flight speed by at least 20-30%.


    With this man-powered plane in hand, Zhang Tie became more confident about completing that task...


    ...

 603 Five-Element Ground-look Sutra

    Chapter 603: Five-Element Ground-look Sutra


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    When Zhang Tie steadily landed the man-powered plane, a lot of people swarmed up at once.


    As citizens of Hoorn Republic, these engineers felt pretty happy when they witness so many marvels concerning gliders in such a short period.


    Several months ago, Zhang Tie created a marvel in this base by foot. However, today, he created another marvel by only sitting in a glider. Compared to the first marvel, the second one was more inspiring.


    "Can we make it lighter?" soon after Zhang Tie got off the man-powered plane had he asked those experts from the Hoorn Republic.


    "We used a very expensive light alloy to make this man-powered plane. Although its shape looks like that of WindTalker, its internal and external structures and raw materials had been greatly optimized. Therefore, although we added a set of variable transmission gears and some actuators inside this man-powered plane, we decreased its weight to 670 kg. It''s the best we can do." An expert explained to Zhang Tie.


    After hearing this expert''s explanation, Zhang Tie knew that someone had already posed the concept of manufacturing man-powered plane a long time ago in the Hoorn Republic, which was crazy about flight. Many people in the Hoorn Republic had fantasized about providing a driving force to a glider to make it a real man-powered plan with stepping pedals like riding a bicycle.


    Actually, all those who had posed similar thoughts had failed. There were mainly two reasons for failure. Firstly, the man-powered plan was too heavy, which could almost not be driven by a human. Secondly, even though they could barely produce a very light man-powered plane, its performances could not even match that of common gliders. Nobody in the Hoorn Republic thought that could be qualified as a plane.


    Many years ago, the Hoorn Republic had already made a man-powered plane using canvas and some light alloy. They controlled the weight of the man-powered plane within 150 kg. However, its best achievement in trial flight was 37 km''s distance within 5 m in height.


    After that light man-powered plane failed its trial flight, the engineers and glider fans in the Hoorn Republic reached a conclusion, in this age, the man-powered plane had to be designed with an excellent structure featured with an optimal lift-drag ratio and aerodynamic configuration. However, if a glider satisfied these conditions, it would weigh at least 700 kg. This posed a very high requirement to its driver. Besides being a top glider driver, he should have unrivaled strength and endurance.


    It could be said that the man-powered plane was waiting for the right man.


    The Hoorn Republic was a mini country, whose total population could not even match that of Blackhot City. Therefore, it was very rare to have powerhouses above LV 10 in this country.


    Zhang Tie''s advantage could be described as follows: those who had greater strength and endurance than him could not pilot gliders better than him while those who could pilot gliders didn''t have greater strength and endurance than him.


    In many powerhouses'' eyes, glider sports was a very low-end and populist. Most of those who liked this sports were commoners. Few people above strong fighters would fly gliders when they were free. In commoners'' eyes, glider sports were interesting. However, in powerhouses'' eyes, it was as boring as playing mahjong. When they were free, they preferred to cultivate so as to promote to a new level or advance to knights.


    Given the combined factors, Zhang Tie finally became the first person who could drive a man-powered plane to fly into the sky by foot.


    After having crew members carry 1000 vials of all-purpose medicament off the Idiots and gift them to the Glider Base of Hoorn Republic as his gratitude, Zhang Tie left the Glider Base.


    This time, the experts and engineers of the Hoorn Republic produced three man-powered planes for Zhang Tie in total. However, one of them was a prototype which could fly but had faults. Therefore, the prototype was left in the base. Zhang Tie carried away the other two man-powered gliders, a pile of detailed manufacturing blueprints and parts which were used for replacement and maintenance.


    When driving a man-powered plane, Zhang Tie needed only to pay attention to the set of variable transmission gears. However, that set of gears had to be maintained with lubricating oil. According to those experts and engineers from the Hoorn Republic, even Zhang Tie stepped pedals of man-powered plane 10 hours a day, the set of gears would have no problem in a decade. Because the set of gears were top industrial products in the Eastern Continent, whose durability and precision could even match that of gears in different machines.


    After staying in the Glider Base of the Hoorn Republic for a few hours, it was already dusk. When Zhang Tie returned to the Crystal Battle Fortress using the Idiots, there were already two bright moons in the sky.


    Major General Ford had already waited 4 hours for Zhang Tie in the Crystal Battle Fortress. Soon after Zhang Tie returned to the base of the Crystal Battle Fortress had Major General Ford boarded on the Idiots.


    ...


    Zhang Tie met Ford in the command module of Idiots once again.


    "Major General Ford, it seems that you''ve got a gift for me?" at the sight of Major General Ford, Zhang Tie had already focused on the metal box in Ford''s hand. A metal chain linked the box with Ford''s right wrist. It looked very valuable.


    After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, Major General Ford placed that box on the table. He then input the code and opened it. After that, he took out of a piece of diamond crystal being covered with a silvery metal and passed it to Zhang Tie.


    Soon after Zhang Tie took it had he injected a strand of spiritual energy into it. In a split second, Zhang Tie saw some Chinese characters¡ª¡ª"ÎåÐеØÏñ¾­(Five-element Ground-look Sutra)" in his mind.


    ...

 604 Falling into the Lions Den

    Chapter 604: Falling into the Lion''s Den


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Zhang Tie skimmed it over and found the cultivation process of this secret knowledge started from lighting surging points on one''s heart, livers, spleen, kidneys and lungs. Based on the interactions between the five human organs and five elements, namely gold, wood, water, fire and soil, it could constantly trigger one''s potential and advance it to the utmost.


    Zhang Tie felt this cultivation method was fair and progressive. It was fantastic. Starting from LV 12, the cultivator would have one more strand of the strength of the five elements respectively after each level he promoted. This strand of strength was unusual, with the rising level of the cultivator, in the later phase, when the cultivator collected all the five elements in his battle qi, his battle qi would grow more powerful.


    "What''s its level? Where did you get it from?" Zhang Tie asked Major General Ford.


    "This viscount-level secret knowledge comes from the exile imperial household of the Dutin Kingdom which had been destroyed by demons in the north. Through the coordination of the alliance command and out of their respect and approval to you, the exile imperial household of Dutin Kingdom agreed to present this secret knowledge to you. Their only requirement is that you should not reveal the contents of this secret knowledge to others without their consent."


    "Don''t worry. I promise to not reveal it to anyone else. However, it is not my business if someone gets it through other channels." Zhang Tie replied solemnly.


    As the old saying went, a Phoenix that lost its feathers could not even match a chicken. Zhang Tie really wondered what other cards could they play as the exiled imperial household who had already lost their privileges and territory. It might be a secret knowledge in the imperial household of the Dutin Kingdom in the past, however, only after coordinating with the exiled imperial household and promising some virtual conditions to them, the alliance command had already obtained their secret knowledge. Therefore, that exiled imperial household must be in an embarrassing situation. Additionally, before he got this secret knowledge, Zhang Tie was not sure whether it had been read or copied by others.


    Major General Ford understood Zhang Tie''s meaning. However, he didn''t know what to say. Instead, he just nodded and asked straightforwardly, "The alliance command has already satisfied your requirement, may you tell me when to set off?"


    "I will set off tomorrow!" Zhang Tie replied rapidly. To a certain degree, this task was a trade. Now that he had already gained what he needed, Zhang Tie didn''t want to put on airs and waste time.


    "Good!" Major General Ford nodded. "This task is very important. According to our judgment, you will probably find valuable intelligence in Tokei City, the capital of the northernmost part of the Titanic Duchy. Tokei City is the most populated city and the largest city in the Titanic Duchy. If demons have a lot of evolutionary forms of parent puppet worms, those objects would exert their role to the utmost in Tokei City. After all the citizens across Tokei City were transformed, they could provide millions of demonized puppets for demons. Those demonized puppets could never be completely covered in Tokei City."


    "I will take a look in Tokei City."


    "Good luck!" Major General Ford picked himself up from the seat.


    The two people then shook hands with each other.


    ...


    When Major General Ford left, Zhang Tie toyed with that secret knowledge for a while before slightly smiling and throwing it into Castle of Black Iron. Perhaps a complete viscount-level secret cultivation knowledge was already very precious, however, for Zhang Tie, now that he could cultivate the "King Roc Sutra", all the other secret knowledge below emperor level would lose their attraction to him.


    With the viscount-level secret knowledge as a disguise, Zhang Tie would have no obstacles on the way of cultivating the "King Roc Sutra".


    ...


    On the second day, the Idiots kept flying southward since it set off from the base of Crystal Battle Fortress. After leaving Crystal Battle Fortress for half an hour by airship, Zhang Tie had already driven his man-powered plane away from Idiots.


    It was a nice weather. Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had already found an elevating thermal airflow. He then started to climb up in spiral manner as he kept moving southward.


    After coming to the top of a huge mountain range in the south, with the help of the powerful elevating airflow brought by the mountain range, Zhang Tie entered the stratosphere once again. After that, he changed his direction and started to fly northward towards Titanic Duchy.


    In the stratosphere, Zhang Tie stepped on the pedals to make the propellers rotate faster. With the terrifying power, the speed of propeller could almost reach above 3000 r/m. Benefited from such a high speed, the man-powered plane could maintain a steady flight state in stratosphere in fast speed without having to lower its height, during which period, Zhang Tie could experience the perfect manipulative performance of the plane.


    When he left the Crystal Battle Fortress, Zhang Tie didn''t even bid a farewell to Lan Yunxi. Although this was an important task and he might meet dangers, he would encounter dangers each time he executed the task. Since he came to Selnes Theatre of Operations, he had already executed a lot of dangerous tasks like this one, if he had to bid a farewell to Lan Yunxi each time before he was going to execute a task, he would feel very boring, not to mention Lan Yunxi.


    Wars might change a lot of things. Previously, Zhang Tie thought it was bragging and exaggerating to forget life or death when on the battlefield. How could a person not care about his own life. However, when he was really in such an environment, he finally understood that it was not exaggerating, it was very real. When you became numb, you would feel boring to think about many things. Of course, you would ignore your life or death.


    Zhang Tie realized that when one considered life or death on the battlefield, it was like concerning about whether that person in front of you would break wind or not. Such a boring risk always existed, which you had to face. However, it was actually not under your control in most cases. It was not worth you wasting time.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t feel that this task would change him a lot. After gaining the man-powered plane, Zhang Tie even felt that he would face fewer dangers. He started to be more confident about accomplishing the tasks.


    Before entering the air territory of the Titanic Duchy, Zhang Tie was always thinking about that scene, the old man whose limbs had been chopped off watched demonized puppets gnawing his limbs. If he didn''t enter the underground space that day, that old man might also die in the end. However, he would not die that miserably in front of Zhang Tie. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt guilty about that old man. At the same time, he hated the Senel Clan very much.


    Zhang Tie was thinking that after accomplishing this task and promoting to LV 10, he would change his look and seek a chance to sneak into the territory of the Senel Clan. He had to make the Senel Clan restless. Perhaps he was not able to exterminate the Senel Clan at this moment but he could at least make some troubles for them and make them restless.


    After entering the airspace of the Titanic Duchy, Zhang Tie recovered his composure as he paid high attention to this task. As it was a major task, Zhang Tie dared not make any mistakes.


    As it was in the stratosphere, Zhang Tie could better hide his man-powered plane. This height could not be reached by any LV 9 and LV 10 wing demons. The plane could not even be easily observed by naked eyes on the ground. For a better hidden effect, Zhang Tie had the crew members of Idiots paint the lower part of this plane into allure, which was as same as that of the sky. Benefiting from this, his man-powered plane could fully hide in the sky.


    On the way passing by the Selnes Plain, Zhang Tie didn''t encounter any wing demons but he didn''t become relaxed. After entering the airspace the of Titanic Duchy, Zhang Tie selected a route which had been well planned. He attempted to avoid the sensitive regions and whether he might encounter wing demons in his imaginations; he chose a relatively remote route to head for Tokei City, the capital of the Titanic Duchy.


    After coming to the Selnes Theater of Operations several months ago, Zhang Tie became less interested in the landscape below his eyes.


    After flying for 3 hours, when he reached the hinterland of the Titanic Duchy, Zhang Tie met a team of wing demons. They were flying thousands of meters below Zhang Tie in rows of black points.


    Thankfully, they didn''t find Zhang Tie. Those wing demons hadn''t imagined that human aircraft could fly in the stratosphere, causing a fly-over.


    Zhang Tie kept changing his directions. When it was past 3 pm, after flying for over 2,000 km, Zhang Tie finally reached the airspace of Tokei City, the northernmost capital of Titanic Duchy.


    In the distance, Zhang Tie had already seen the rising objects outside Tokei City. As they were so high, Zhang Tie was not sure what they were. In order to see it clearly, Zhang Tie took out of his telescope and looked below.


    He saw dozens of pyramid-sized flesh hills being covered with honeycombs outside Tokei City.


    However, before Zhang Tie could see it clearly, a sudden sense of crisis had made his heart race. Zhang Tie moved his eyes away from the telescope as he saw a dark purple wing demons who was accelerating towards him with a grim look.


    ''Dark purple? LV 12? Being able to fly in the stratosphere?'' Goosebumps covered Zhang Tie''s scalp at once.

 605 The Eagle Broke Its Wing

    Chapter 605: The Eagle Broke Its Wing


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The crisis came so abruptly. The wing demon had already been 100 m away from Zhang Tie when Zhang Tie caught sight of it.


    Zhang Tie released two palm bolts and changed the direction almost at the same time.


    Although palm bolts caused sonic booms, they were useless to LV 12 wing demons. They could only slightly slow down the wing demon''s flying speed before being dodged away by the wing demon.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had already exerted his utmost effort to step on the pedals as fast as possible. Meanwhile, he had the man-powered plane cut into a downward strand of cold air flow on his left and dive towards the ground.


    Zhang Tie understood that he could never defeat a LV 12 wing demon in the sky. Last time, he was embarrassed by a LV 11 wing demon, not to mention a LV 12 wing demon.


    The wing demon chased after him as it uttered a weird, frightening sound. When Zhang Tie started to dive towards the ground by the man-powered plane, that wing demon had already been less than 80 m from him. Sitting in the cockpit, Zhang Tie inclined his body as he cast another palm bolt backwards. The wing demon blocked it away with an odd-looking fork. However, In such a delay, Zhang Tie was pushed 10 meters away.


    At the critical moment, Zhang Tie recovered his composure at once as the terrain of the Tokei City, the capital of Titanic Duchy appeared in his mind immediately...


    Zhang Tie knew that he could only use three aspects to escape; mountain, water and his man-powered plane.


    There were undulating hills in the east of Tokei City. Much elevating wavy air flows formed above the hills due to the terrain. In the elevating wavy airflows, Zhang Tie could use a unique flying skill to gain a speed which was far greater than that could be gained in normal conditions.


    After flying over those hills, there was a huge lake more than 300 km away in the east of the hills. The lake was about 200 km in both length and width. It was called Star Leaves Lake. It was the biggest freshwater lake in the Titanic Duchy. As long as he arrived there, he would have a greater chance to escape even at the cost of one man-powered plane.


    Although Zhang Tie could not defeat a LV 12 wing demon in the sky, he was unrivaled in water.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had dived from 10,000 m to 3,000-4,000 m in height. Through sharp frictions with air flows, the rapidly running propeller uttered a weird wuthering and deafening sound.


    Zhang Tie then released some more palm bolts to further slow down the speed of the wing demon. However, during this process, that wing demon narrowed the distance to 60 m.


    If it was the former glider that Zhang Tie drove, Zhang Tie might have been caught up by that wing demon. This time, the extra driving force provided by the propeller of man-powered plane postponed the time of being caught up by the wing demon for Zhang Tie.


    Facing chilly wind, hearing weird, wuthering sound from the propeller, Zhang Tie could see the objects on the ground below him more and more clearly. Zhang Tie found that the dense military camps and demonized puppets on the ground became more terrifying; however, he didn''t have time to observe them at all; instead, he only thought about how to escape.


    When the contour of hills entered Zhang Tie''s vision, what Zhang Tie was most concerned about happened. Two more purple black points were accelerating towards him from the front and on the left.


    "Three LV 12 wing demons? What the hell?"


    "F*ck!"


    Zhang Tie instantly picked off a standard javelin from the weapon rack hanging on one side of the glider and threw it towards that wing demon behind him.


    Standard javelin''s power could never be matched by palm bolts. Almost in a wink, it had flew over 50 m and arrived in front of that LV 12 wing demon. The LV 12 wing demon instantly blocked it away with its fork, causing a huge sound. However, that wing demon was also sent flying backward over 10 m while its body quivered.


    In this way, the distance between Zhang Tie and the LV 12 wing demon was expanded to over 100 m at once. The LV 12 wing demon uttered a weird sound in the air, which sounded being extremely furious and warned the other two wing demons about this trick.


    When the javelins on both sides of the cockpit were almost used up, Zhang Tie finally cut into the air territory above the hills. Three LV 12 wing demons accomplished their encirclement above the hills. Each of the 3 LV 12 wing demons was less than 100 m away from Zhang Tie.


    In this distance, nobody could escape out of 3 LV 12 wing demons'' encirclement, no matter what he drove, the man-powered plane or a glider.


    Without those undulating hills, Zhang Tie felt that he could never escape. Even those who were watching this wonderful air chase from the ground in the distance felt that the result was already fixed.


    However, at this moment, Zhang Tie''s man-powered plane finally entered the air territory above the hills.


    Undulating hills could produce wavy airflows. Based on his acute senses, Zhang Tie started to penetrate through those elevating airflows like a butterfly. Zhang Tie''s plane suddenly accelerated, expanding the distance between him and the LV 12 wing demon behind him.


    This was an exclusive flying skill that Zhang Tie developed based on the traits of the glider. Zhang Tie named it dynamic soaring.


    Dynamic soaring could only be applied in the air territory above the undulating hills. Such area bred very special elevating airflows and a strong sense of space hierarchy. The airflows were sharply different in speed. By constantly making curvilinear motion among these airflows, Zhang Tie would accelerate its glider each time he made a turn.


    In the mother nature, this glider''s driving skill was very similar to that of seagulls'' flight principle among waves. The undulating hills were like undulating waves as they could produce undulating airflows in different speeds. This was the principle of dynamic soaring.


    In such a flight, the space velocity lost in each turn would be smaller than the increasing speed brought by different air flows. In this way, speed and energy could be constantly accumulated. When the air stopped flowing or the glider entered high-speed airflows from the low-speed area after a great turn, the glider''s moving speed decreased compared to that of airflows; however, it increased compared to the ground. After another sharp turn, a part of increasing speed was lost. After entering high-speed airflow, it gained a momentum once again. Similarly, through the circulation of decreased airspeed ¡ª¡ª increased ground velocity¡ª¡ªground velocity turning into space velocity, the glider reached the highest speed.


    Zhang Tie had not shown off this flying skill in front of others. It was almost impossible for other glider drivers to sense the changes and layers of air flow at hundreds of meters in height when in high-speed flight; not to mention that they had to frequently bear the terrifying overload caused by the large-angle turn of the glider. In the process, if the glider was poor, it might break into parts when turning, not to mention humans.


    Such a flying skill was completely an unimaginable "marvelous skill" of the glider drivers that they could never master.


    Last time, Zhang Tie dived in water to escape a LV 11 wing demon at the cost of a glider because he had no terrain to make use of within hundreds of miles when he encountered that wing demon. As a result, he could not apply his dynamic soaring skill.


    However, this time, it was a different situation. He could make use of the vast, undulating hills and expose his special skill. There was always a way out!


    The driving force provided by the propeller could mend up the losing speed when he moved out of the high-speed airflows, allowing him to cut in high-speed air flows at a faster speed. Benefited from this, he could gain a higher speed. After accelerating a few times, the speed of Zhang Tie''s man-powered plane had already surpassed 600 km, expanding the distances between him and the other three wing demons at once.


    Although wing demons could do some gliding motions using airflows by flapping their wings, they could not meet the requirements of aerodynamics. They could never match some birds on the application of air flows, even human gliders. Therefore, even in the same environment, they could not catch up with Zhang Tie.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie heard furious roars behind him. When he thought that he had already dodged from their chase, a powerful qi rose from the ground.


    When Zhang Tie sensed this qi, before he made any response had the right wing of his man-powered plane been broken into pieces by a strength.


    Soon after that, Zhang Tie heard a terrifying air-torn explosion.


    "What a sonic boom!"


    The moment this whim flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind had his man-powered plane swiveled and lost its control as it dived towards the ground...

 606 A Terrifying Trap

    Chapter 606: A Terrifying Trap


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the process of applying dynamic soaring, Zhang Tie was in a low height but at a very fast speed; after such an attack, the man-powered plane was only a bit higher than 100 m in a few seconds.


    It kept swiveling and plunging, making Zhang Tie a bit dizzy. However, he recovered his composure very soon. When the man-powered plane was dozens of meters away from the ground, Zhang Tie rapidly picked a rotachute out of his coat and pressed its button at once.


    The moment he pressed the button had the two leaves of the rotachute started to rotate. With a powerful buffering, Zhang Tie was instantly drawn out of the man-powered plane''s cockpit.


    ...


    Several seconds later...


    "Boom..." the man-powered plane crashed into pieces 200 m away, scattering all its parts everywhere. When Zhang Tie was still about 10 m away from the ground, he had put away the rotachute and had his body fall down faster.


    After buffering the plunging inertia by rolling on the ground for a while, Zhang Tie hurriedly sprung up. When he was going to dart towards the east, a man stood in front of him.


    At the sight of that man, Zhang Tie stopped at once.


    That man was wearing a dusky golden armor with a hooknose. His qi was even greater than that of Master Abyan. He was just watching Zhang Tie with a calm, faintly icy look. Zhang Tie felt like a frog being gazed at by a poisonous snake as goosebumps covered his back.


    It was this man who shot down Zhang Tie''s man-powered plane just now. If that man targeted at his cockpit, Zhang Tie was not sure whether he would be able to stand up now.


    After fighting Abyan many times, Zhang Tie clearly knew the fighting strength on that level. Therefore, since this man stood in front of him, Zhang Tie had given up his plan to escape. Due to such a sharp difference in level and fighting strength, Zhang Tie knew it clearly that it was just like seeking for trouble if he tried to escape.


    "Who are you?" Zhang Tie asked that man as he felt that he had seen that hooknose before. Meanwhile, a bad whim flashed across his mind, "After encountering three LV 12 wing demons in the air, I was finally shot down by a powerhouse. Is this a coincidence?"


    "I''m Koz!" The man opened his mouth as Zhang Tie''s heart raced. The bad whim became clearer, "How could I meet a member of Senel Clan here?"


    That man kept gazing at Zhang Tie''s face. Even Zhang Tie''s most trivial mental changes could not escape from his eyes. After telling Zhang Tie about his name, Koz found that Zhang Tie faintly narrowed his pupils. He then let out a sigh, "It seems that you''re that person who destroyed the good plan of Senel Clan in Misty Moon Woods in June. You killed my son Cambo, right?"


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about." Clearly knowing that in war there was no objection to deceit, of course, Zhang Tie would not expose the truth. After hearing Koz''s words, Zhang Tie felt chilly as falling into a terrifying trap being especially set for him.


    "You don''t need to think too much about that. I''m especially waiting for you here. I''ve not imagined that you, a tiny LV 9 fighter who has been rewarded with the honor Selnes Eagle, really have a talent. You almost escaped from the encirclement of three LV 12 wing demons. It seems that you are waiting for me to kill you." That man revealed an icy smile.


    When the man said these words, the 3 wing demons had already arrived here. After seeing the man''s hand gesture, they then left.


    "Right, I am Zhang Tie, the Selnes Eagle. I admit that you''re more powerful than me. However, don''t dream about getting any intelligence from me!" Zhang Tie watched that man with a calm look.


    That man burst out laughing before watching Zhang Tie with a sinister smile, "Hahahaha, do I need to get any intelligence from you? You really think that we are afraid of the allied human forces? Who has dispatched you here? Have you started to cultivate the ''Five-element Ground Look Sutra'' these days?"


    "What are you talking about?" Zhang Tie finally changed his look.


    "I''m just leaving you a chance to see clearly who will be the winner of this war!"


    In a few seconds, Zhang Tie heard another air-breaking sound as some more people appeared, surrounding him right away.


    Those people were young elites of Senel Clan whom Zhang Tie had seen in the underground space of Misty Moon Woods.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, they were like how timber wolves stared at little white rabbits with a cruel and aggressive look. Zhang Tie looked around and found that he could not escape this time. Therefore, he became silent and wanted to see what trick did these members of Senel Clan want to play.


    "Take him back!" Koz said as he pointed at Zhang Tie with a finger, as a glittering battle qi flashed towards Zhang Tie. As Zhang Tie was only 10 m away from Koz, he didn''t have time to dodge away. With a headache, he passed out and fell down the ground at once.


    "Dad, why not kill him for Cambo''s death?" Rouben moved one step forward as he licked his lips and watched Zhang Tie who was lying on the ground. At the same time, a shrewd light flashed across his eyes.


    "Keep him alive. He''s still useful to Senel Clan. We would deal with him when he was useless. Are you afraid of him escaping at this moment?" Koz said icily as all the other young elites of Senel Clan exchanged glances with each other and nodded.


    Koz waved his hand. Scala then walked forward and lifted Zhang Tie by one hand. After that, a group of people darted towards Tokei City.


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t how long had he been in the coma. When he woke up, he only felt warm and comfortable all over like bathing in hot water.


    He opened his eyes and found himself lying on a huge, cozy bed. What in front of his eyes was a golden, noble mosquito curtain with long fringes. The bed had a faint rosemary flavor.


    "Am I still alive?" after remembering the last scene before he lost his consciousness, Zhang Tie instantly sat up on the bed. However, everything in front of him made Zhang Tie confused...


    He was in a brilliant, noble bedroom.


    "Master, you woke up..." Some beautiful women instantly swarmed up when Zhang Tie sat up.

 607 Allure

    Chapter 607: Allure


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "This was really a dreamland. Haven''t I been captured by Senel Clan? I should be a prisoner. But why do they treat me in this way?"


    Zhang Tie would not feel strange if he was in a dark cell. However, this brilliant bedroom slightly shocked him.


    Those women had been changing clothes for him.


    Zhang Tie ignored them with a calm look as he hurriedly checked his physical conditions. His battle qi had been sealed as he could not apply them at all. In that comfortable state, he could not use too much strength. He felt a bit sleepy temporarily like how he felt soon after making love with women. Additionally, in the mind sea, his spiritual energy became stagnated like a puddle of water being frozen. He could not use his spiritual energy at all.


    In a conclusion, Zhang Tie found he had completely become an average person. Even a LV 3-LV 4 warrior could defeat him.


    What Zhang Tie was reassured was that the marvelous arch door of Castle of Black Iron was still in his mind. It seemed that the strength that restricted his spiritual energy was unable to find that arch door. Zhang Tie remembered that the arch door might be able to hide itself in some special situations.


    "Heller, can you hear that?" Zhang Tie attempted to touch Heller in his mind.


    "Here I am, Castle Lord!" Heller''s voice sounded in Zhang Tie''s mind. Zhang Tie then let out a deep sigh. After these years, Zhang Tie had already been relying on Heller and Castle of Black Iron. As long as he could touch Heller, Zhang Tie would recover his composure very soon no matter what danger was he in.


    In a few seconds, Zhang Tie had almost been naked, except a pair of underwear. With a big smile, those women were appreciating Zhang Tie''s powerful and coordinated frame as they helped him put on a pair of wholly new clothes.


    Zhang Tie coordinated with them to put on the new clothes. No matter what, he had to wear clothes. In this situation, he didn''t need to express his integrity at the risk of his life. Even if was in bare butts, he could still not cause any harm to the members of Senel Clan.


    "What''s the matter with my body?" Zhang Tie asked Heller as he coordinated with those beauties.


    "Castle Lord, your spiritual and material strength have been sealed by a secret method!"


    "F*ck, it''s the second time. Last time was in Ice and Snow Wilderness." Zhang Tie knew that the current situation must be much riskier than that he encountered in Ice and Snow Wilderness last time. Last time, the opponent was O''Laura; however, this time, the opponent was the b*stards of Three-eye Association. As long as he recalled the piles of bones in the underground space, he would know how terrifying and cruel is Senel Clan. Now that he fell in the hand of these scumbags, he would not have a good result.


    "How severe is it this time? Can I cope with it?"


    "They were two different secret methods. Last time, the bone-exploding needle was the unique skill of priests in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Its main energy comes from the spiritual energy of the priests. Bone-exploding needles could seal your abilities physically and mentally; besides, the executor could also sense your situation. However, this time, the secret method''s main energy carried the attributes of battle qi. It is a powerful battle qi of Koz, a LV 16 battle spirit. That energy could seal all the surging points that you''ve lit. Therefore, you will feel that you''ve not lit any surging point at all. The latter method is more direct and aggressive than the former one. However, Koz could not sense your body''s situation."


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie lit up his hope once again, "You mean I can defuse the current situation?"


    "Of course!"


    "How should I do then?"


    "Nothing!"


    "Nothing?" Zhang Tie became amazed.


    "Yes. Actually, you could not alter the battle qi seal at all; you could only wait for its strength to weaken. When you could apply your spiritual energy, you could accelerate this process."


    "How could Koz allow this battle qi seal to defuse and weaken itself?"


    "Koz didn''t know that the battle qi seal on your body could defuse and weaken itself!"


    "Ah? But why?"


    "Because he doesn''t know that you''re cultivating ''King Roc Sutra'', an emperor-level secret knowledge. The power of emperor-level secret knowledge could not be completely sealed or bound. You can be killed; however, your power could not be killed. Even though throne-level secret knowledge might be sealed. This is the dignity of emperor-level secret knowledge!"


    "Although you have only mastered a weak power of ''King Roc Sutra'' after planting the golden seed in the Shrine, the strand of power in your body still remains supreme. It is superior to all the battle qi below emperor level. It could never be completely bound by low-end battle qi. When in the weak state, it would be temporarily suppressed; however, it could not be suppressed forever. Because it has the ability to get rid of bound and seal! It would take you at most 1 week to digest the sealing power over your Shrine surging point. By then, you could recover a bit ability. You could apply your spiritual energy once again. At least, you could enter Castle of Black Iron at any time. Besides, you could use your god''s rune."


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that what brought him a bit hope in the impasse was the power that he gained after planting the golden seed of ''King Roc Sutra'' in his Shrine. From then on, he realized the power of emperor-level secret knowledge.


    This task was completely a trap targeting at Zhang Tie from the beginning. It was pushed by Senel Clan using the power of Three-eye Association. After realizing that the Three-eye Association could set a trap for him through the alliance command, Zhang Tie felt pretty chilly inside as he became disappointed about the future of allied human forces in Waii Sub-continent.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how many people of the alliance command had been involved in this plot. However, he realized that the power behind it must be very terrifying. Someone in the management of the alliance command must be involved in it, perhaps more than one.


    "Three-eye Association''s power is really shocking. If not clean Three-eye Association''s lackeys out of the allied human forces, the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations would collapse sooner or later. But how can I do that?" Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile. If it was possible, they had long been cleaned.


    Through this encounter, besides realizing that he was in a dilemma, Zhang Tie also lost his confidence in the management of the allied human forces.


    However, what counted most at this moment was to survive himself and escape out of here.


    When Zhang Tie figured out his physical and mental situations and the current situation, he had already put on a new pair of clothes.


    Standing in front of the mirror, Zhang Tie watched the person who was wearing a suit of noble and proper clothes and smiled calmly, "Selnes Clan must be using me. I''d like to see what tricks do they play."


    "Where am I?" Zhang Tie asked those women.


    "Master, you''re in your residence, a manor nearby the Sunshine Avenue in Tokei City..." before those women opened their mouths, a male had replied when he walked in.


    Zhang Tie found those female servants were scared about that man and were saluting him with formal bows, two of them even dared not raise their heads as their bodies were slightly shaking.


    That old guy in a suit of black swallowtail looked 50-60 years old. He seemed to be a steward. However, he looked very gloomy. At the sight of him, Zhang Tie remembered an old jackal who had started to lose its fur yet still liked to eat human fleshes.


    "There''s still water on the floor. What did I teach you before?" The moment he entered the room had the old guy complained as he glared at those female servants. When they helped Zhang Tie cleanse his body just now, some water was sprayed on the floor. They had not cleaned it yet.


    "We...we''re going to clean it right now..."


    When a woman was going to clean it with a piece of towel, she was slapped in the face by that old guy and fell down. She wanted to cry; however, she didn''t and hurriedly stood up.


    With his eyes on those women, the old guy slowly walked towards them and slapped their faces ferociously one after another. At the same time, he taught them, "Don''t forget about your current status. You''re not fair ladies in big clans anymore; instead, you''re the female slaves here. You have to treasure this opportunity and do your best in case of my concern. Think about how those women becoming bloody slaves or entering gravehills. Then you will know how to do..."


    Being so scared, those women didn''t even dare raise their heads; neither dared they utter a voice.


    Zhang Tie watched this old guy''s performance with a cold look. He knew that this old man was scolding him, instead of those women.


    ''However, this method only works for commoners. You''ve found a wrong spectator today. This father has chopped off tens of thousands'' demons'' heads. Of course, I''m not afraid of you.''


    "Who are you?" Zhang Tie asked him when the old guy finished his performance.


    "Master, I''m Navas, your steward..." the old guy bowed towards Zhang Tie with a respectful yet presumptuous look. He was watching Zhang Tie like watching a subordinate with a bit joking and contemptuous look, which made Zhang Tie very uncomfortable.


    "What did you call me?" under the old guy''s presumptuous look, Zhang Tie grew calmer.


    "Master!"


    "You''re my steward?"


    "Yes!"


    "Who''s the boss here?"


    "Of course you, master!"


    "A bit closer! I cannot hear it clearly..." Zhang Tie waved his hand towards the old scumbag.


    He moved one step forward...


    Zhang Tie suddenly sprung up and slapped his face ferociously, causing a loud sound, "Pah...".


    Those women in the room became so scared that they hurriedly lowered their heads and watched their own insteps.


    The old guy looked like an idiot as a palm print appeared on his face. After that, he glared at Zhang Tie like that he was going to eat him. At the same time, his qi grew aggressive...


    Zhang Tie drew in a cold breath as he swung his arm and watched this old guy like watching an old dog. He didn''t mind Navas'' look at all, "I''ve not imagined that your old scumbag''s face is so hard. I don''t like how you looked at me just now. Therefore, I slapped you to remind you of your current status. You must figure out why Senel Clan dispatched you here. Am I clear?"


    Soon after hearing the words ''Senel Clan'' had the old guy lost his dignity like a deflated balloon. He lowered his head as he became docile at once, "You''re right, master, it was my fault just now!"


    "Do you know about your mistake?"


    "Yes, I know!"


    "Raise your head!"


    The moment the old man raised his head and wanted to force a smile had he been slapped by Zhang Tie once again.


    With another "Pah...", a palm print appeared on the other cheek of the old guy. At the same time, a wisp of blood appeared on the old guy''s mouth corner at once.


    "I felt that you were still complaining about me, how about now?" Zhang Tie watched Navas with a smile.


    Navas almost gritted his teeth, "No!"


    "You''re not sincere at all. Look at the mirror, you''re gritting teeth like that you''re going to swallow me!" after saying this, Zhang Tie slapped Navas'' face once again.


    "You..." Navas was driven extremely infuriated.


    "What? Do you want to fight me? Come on. I feel you''re at least a LV 6 fighter. You must have already gathered your battle qi. I can not defeat you now. What are you afraid of?" with a sneer, Zhang Tie directly kicked Navas'' lower abdomen, causing him move several steps back. As a result, he almost fell down.


    Although Zhang Tie''s battle qi and surging points had been sealed, he was still as strong as a 20-odd healthy youngster. The steward must feel very painful. If a common LV 6 fighter didn''t fight back, he might be wounded, even be killed by Zhang Tie.


    "Come here..." Zhang Tie waved his hand towards Navas once again.


    The old guy walked towards Zhang Tie with furious eyes as Zhang Tie slapped him once again.


    This time, Zhang Tie''s wrist was tightly clenched by the old scumbag.


    Zhang Tie didn''t struggle. After smiling at Navas, Zhang Tie uttered a miserable shriek, "Ah, my hand, my hand is almost broken by Navas...help, Navas is going to kill me..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s miserable shriek, Navas'' face turned pale at once. Like grabbing a red-hot iron stick, he hurriedly let off Zhang Tie''s hand.


    Zhang Tie stopped shrieking as he slapped Navas'' face ferociously once again with another hand...


    Only after half a minute, Navas'' face had been swollen like a pig''s head. Watching Zhang Tie''s icy and mocking eyes, Navas finally had a bit fear in his eyes. He finally knew that a lion was always a lion. Even If it was locked, it could still not be teased by jackals.


    ...


    After beating up Navas for a while, Zhang Tie finally let him roll out of here. After taking a walk around the house, Zhang Tie finally understood his current situation¡ª¡ªhe was put under house arrest by Senel Clan.


    In the manor where he was confined, he saw nobody but some women, Navas and a team of guards with icy look and powerful fighting strength. Needless to say, those guards and Navas were monitoring and controlling him here.


    As long as he didn''t want to leave this manor, Zhang Tie found that his behaviors were not restricted. Just like the real master here, he had brilliant clothes, good food and so many beauties. Almost all of his demands could be satisfied. Besides, there was a study room in the manor where he could enjoy reading.


    "According to an old Chinese saying, if a person shows his courtesy to you, he must need your help. I''m already under the control of Senel Clan, but they still treat me so well. It means that they must want something from me. The more they want from me, the more they could bear me from doing excessive things here. As I''m still alive, I must be useful to them."


    "What do the Senel Clan want from me?"


    Zhang Tie knew that he would soon get the answer from Senel Clan.


    Zhang Tie was right. 3 hours after he woke up, a major figure of Senel Clan had already arrived at his manor.


    ¡ª¡ªScala.


    Although they were in two hostile camps, Zhang Tie felt that Scala was visiting an old friend. He looked pretty relaxed. In the parlor of the manor, Scala was alone in a suit of casual clothes.


    "How''s going here? Are you used to this place?" Scala smiled, "We have arranged some measures for the sake of your safety. After all, Tokei City is the capital. Can you understand me?"


    If not having witnessed how Senel Clan and this person treated humans cruelly and mercilessly, Zhang Tie might have been cheated by this scene.


    "If there''s no war, this is indeed a good place. That''s almost what I want." Zhang Tie replied calmly.


    "This war will not continue forever. This land will welcome the order of a new world."


    "I agree. Demons and Senel Clan would be exterminated sooner or later. I really expect for that world and order." Zhang Tie smiled.


    Scala watched Zhang Tie with a solemn look. However, he didn''t lose his temper; instead, he responded with a smile, "Would you like to take a look with me at the outside of the city?"


    "Look what?"


    "Look at what you to see in Tokei City. Perhaps after visiting those objects, you would change your mind; and we will lay a foundation for further cooperation!"


    "Wuh? Is that real? I really want to take a look! I cannot wait..." Zhang Tie smiled.


    Scala revealed a smile too, "Fine, let''s go there right now!"


    At this moment, the two people were both smiling, which caused icy and silent war flames...


    ...


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie walked out of the manor and got on Scala''s car. The car then drove out of the Tokei City.


    Sitting in the car, Zhang Tie was glancing at this city being occupied by demons out of curiosity like unveiling an icy and mysterious yashmak...

 608 Order of Three-eye Association

    Chapter 608: Order of Three-eye Association


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    If not observe carefully, it was hard to imagine that Tokei City had been occupied by demons.


    As the capital of Titanic Duchy before, of course Tokei City was very prosperous. At least in Zhang Tie''s eyes, this city was much more prosperous than Blackhot City. The city streets were very broad; additionally, the buildings on both sides of the streets were very tidy and distinctive. Sculptures could be seen everywhere in the city.


    It was about 3 pm, the most boisterous time in this city. Both sides of the city streets were crowded with people like that in other human cities.


    The scene in front of his eyes shocked Zhang Tie very much for a second; however, Zhang Tie instantly found that this city was abnormal. Although there were many people on the streets, they were too quiet. Besides footsteps of passers-by on the streets, Zhang Tie, in the car, almost could not hear any other sound. Zhang Tie found that those passers-by even tried their best to tread softly. The quiet scene formed a sharp contrast with the bustling crowd, making Zhang Tie feel terrifying.


    Besides being quiet, Zhang Tie even found that above 90% of passers-by on both sides of the streets were walking on the leftmost side of the sidewalk. He could barely see anybody go in a direction not allowed by traffic regulations. Even some places on the sidewalks and the roads were spacious, everyone was still walking on the leftmost side, although it was already too crowded.


    In the crowd on the leftmost side of roads, Zhang Tie saw a yellow symbol like armband or breastplate on their arms. There was a yellow three-eye image on that symbol.


    However, a few people who could walk freely on the right side of sidewalk were also wearing a symbol on their arms. There was a blue three-eye image on the symbol.


    Those who wore blue symbols were all walking with a proud look. Some of them were even followed by a team of fully-armored soldiers. It seemed that they were patrolling on the streets.


    There were very few vehicles on the roads, carriages or cars, making the roads very spacious. In some crosses or intersections, at the sight of Zhang Tie''s car, those passers-by would stop on the roadsides. They didn''t continue until the vehicle was dozens of meters away after passing the crosses or intersections.


    The roads were too clean. After over 10 minutes'' travel in the car, Zhang Tie didn''t see anyone clean the roads at all. However, he didn''t see any waste on the roads, even litters or wasted packages. That was amazing.


    "What do you think about this city compared to those human cities?" Scala asked Zhang Tie.


    As Zhang Tie''s physical and spiritual abilities had been sealed, Scala was not worried that Zhang Tie would make any trouble on the road. Therefore, he just sat in the same car with Zhang Tie.


    "It''s a bit out of imagination!" Zhang Tie replied honestly, "The streets here are very clean. The passers-by have a strong sense of order!"


    Scala revealed a proud smile, "This is the new world order that we''re pursuing. In such a new order, humans will not be exterminated. Everyone is carrying their own responsibilities. Everything is running perfectly. We will help humans correct their shortcomings and castrate the evil traits in their personalities. Don''t you think the current Tokei City is nice? Have you seen any human city cleaner, tidier and more orderly than this city across Blackson Humans Corridor? There''s no waste, no thief, no traffic police in this city. Don''t you think it''s more civilized than other human cities?"


    "It''s indeed very clean and tidy here. However, I find it is as icy and lifeless as gears. I want to know how a person would be punished if he threw a piece of litter on the street?" Zhang Tie asked calmly.


    Scala glittered his eyes, "If someone throws litter on the street or doesn''t follow traffic rules, we will turn that person into a demonized puppet. After that, he will know what is order."


    "People would die miserably just because of dropping a litter or going the wrong way?" Zhang Tie stared at Scala with a scrupulous look, "This is how you help humans correct their shortcomings and castrate the evil traits in their nature?"


    "Right!" Scala confessed frankly, "Humans are born to succumb to fear and power. We turn them into civilized ones and have them abandon the evil and ugly traits in their nature through threat and power. Is there any problem? Although it sounds brutal, as long as habits are formed, such a social structure will have an extremely high efficiency. Additionally, it could exterminate unfairness to the utmost. Isn''t this what most of the people pursue for?"


    "Do you think they are still humans in this system? Is there any difference between them and animals or machines?"


    "That''s where humans'' suffering comes from. They are always pursuing what doesn''t belong to them. If one day, all the cities in the world are like Tokei City; if everyone is educated to be docile since they are born and worships us like worshiping the God, if everyone treats it gloriously, happily and honorably to be slaves by sacrificing themselves for us, don''t you think it is nice?" Scala smiled, "After we win this war, we only need 50-100 years, namely 2-3 generations, to accomplish brainwashing for all the humans. We will have them forget their own history and everything about humans'' past and live as how we design for them full of gratitude. They will even desire for maintaining this system. This is actually not hard to make. On how to rule humans, we''re more experienced than humans!"


    "Can you do that? Compared to other continents, Blackson Humans Corridor is just a tidy, remote place. Do you think that you''re qualified to be proud only after conquering some human countries here?" Zhang Tie sniggered.


    "You will see it very soon!" Scala didn''t want to make any explanation. Instead, he moved his eyes to the place before the car. Following his eyes, Zhang Tie saw a pyramid-sized flesh mountain which was covered with honeycombs...


    The car soon arrived outside Tokei City and was close to those terrifying, huge pyramid-sized monsters.


    In Tokei City, Zhang Tie felt a brutal order; however, outside the city, Zhang Tie felt as terrifying as in the hell.


    He saw a large area of concentration camps being surrounded with wires on both sides of the roads outside the city, where gathered numerous humans. Great batches of demonized puppets were wandering nearby the wires. Most of the wires had been tinted weird dark brown with fresh blood. Many humans'' skulls were hanging on the wires, making it more terrifying...


    When they passed by a concentration camp, Zhang Tie saw some people climbing out of the wires although a lot of wounds had been caused. With fresh blood all over, he was screaming loudly because of fear. However, in a split second, before the car rushed over there, a team of demonized puppets had already arrived there and pressed him on the roadsides as they started to gnaw him like wild beasts.


    After a few seconds, Zhang Tie saw a large area of fresh blood and that person''s scattered body parts over the ground. Some demonized puppets who were chewing something with bloody mouths even turned around and stared at Zhang Tie with grim looks as they uttered muffled roars twice.


    After passing by large areas of concentration camps, Zhang Tie saw an endless military camp of demonized puppets in the wild. He was really shocked by the population of demonized puppets. They were everywhere in the military camp. Only after a glance, Zhang Tie estimated that there were at least 2 million demonized puppets over there. There were many more that he could not see...


    The car parked. There was a pyramid-sized flesh mountain hundreds of meters ahead of the car. Within dozens of kilometers behind the flesh mountain, there were another dozens of flesh mountains...


    Needless to say, Zhang Tie opened the door and got off the car.


    The moment he got off the car had he smelled a stimulative stink, which came from the flesh mountain ahead of him. It smelt like a dead fish being dried in the sunshine, almost causing Zhang Tie vomit.


    As it was daytime and he was so near, Zhang Tie finally saw clearly this object in front of him.


    Under the sunlight, the flesh mountain in front of Zhang Tie was shining smooth luster, which told Zhang Tie that object was very wet on its surface. It was like a catfish being scooped out of the water. As it was too huge, Zhang Tie had to raise his head.


    Zhang Tie saw a thin layer outside the honeycombs constantly breaking while some red-brown fluid kept running out of the cavities. Before all the fluid ran out of the cavities, demonized puppets being covered with maroon liquid mucus had already drilled out of those cavities naked one after another as they uttered shrill roars...


    However, after some thin layers were broken, what drilled out of cavities along with those maroon liquid were rotten, twisted corpses which didn''t make any response at all. The moment those corpses slid out of those cavities like wastes being dumped, the flesh mountain had already stretched out some disgusting huge mouth-parts which were like sausages and sucked them back.


    There was a huge wiggly, bloody mouth which looked like the entrance of grave below the flesh mountain. Numerous people were queuing up and crying as they were thrown into the hell-like huge mouth by a lot of demonized puppets...


    When a new demonized puppet was produced in a honeycomb-sized cavity on the flesh mountain, a person would be thrown into the wiggly, huge mouth.


    This flesh mountain was more like a living being arsenal being used to produce demonized puppets by demons.


    Zhang Tie''s soul was shocked as he saw those people struggling to resist from being thrown into the huge, wiggly mouth with heart-wrenching cries. Some of them could only watch their relatives being swallowed by that flesh mountain. Zhang Tie''s eyes turned red as he dropped off tears.


    "This is the evolutionary form of the parent puppet worm. We named it gravetower demon. Compared to parent puppet worm, it could not move; however, it had a great productivity. After entering it, a person would be turned into a demonized puppet which could fight alone after 12 days. A mature gravetower demon has over 16,000 cavities. It could produce over 1,000 demonized puppets a day on average and provide us with demonized puppets constantly. Now, we''ve already produced over 10 million demonized puppets. Additionally, we are producing over 30,000 demonized puppets a day. Soon, we will be able to break the human defense line in Selnes using the demonized puppets corps. It won''t work no matter how many alchemists'' bombs do the allied human forces have. This object could exterminate humans at the cost of humans. Do you still think that the allied human forces could win?" Scala asked Zhang Tie with a proud look.


    "F*ck you!" Zhang Tie roared as he stabbed towards Scala at once.


    It was a silver knife which was used to open envelops from the study room of the manor. Its blade was only as long as 8 cm which was not sharp. However, this was the most powerful weapon that Zhang Tie had at this moment.


    Zhang Tie really could not stand it anymore. If not his battle strength was sealed, even if he was almost dead, Zhang Tie would also struggle to bite off a mouth of flesh from this b*stard of Three-eye Association.


    "Although I might be killed, so what? I have to fight for humans! You b*stard!"


    Zhang Tie showed his dauntless personality at once. He rapidly stabbed towards Scala''s throat regardless of defense at all.


    A knife was useful only when it attacked the fatal place.


    Scala just stared at Zhang Tie with a contemptuous look. Before he defended, a guard on his side had already stretched out his hand and boomed Zhang Tie over 10 m away...

 609 The Trick of Senel Clan

    Chapter 609: The Trick of Senel Clan


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Spitting out blood, Zhang Tie picked himself up from the ground. After that, he grabbed that knife and rushed towards Scala once again; however, he was sent flying backward for the second time...


    After repeating this process four times, even Scala became moved. After beating down Zhang Tie for the fourth time, Scala came to Zhang Tie''s side. After squatting down, he easily grabbed away the knife from Zhang Tie''s hand.


    "You are really strike-resistant. I admire about your braveness. However, it is not worth it for you to do that only for those pariahs. I''ve not imagined that Selnes Eagle is a hot-blood youth, ho...ho..." Scala rubbed the knife into silver powders with his hand and have them fall down and blown away by the wind.


    Panting, Zhang Tie watched Scala who was squatting in front of him. With the azure sky as the background, Scala looked a bit blurry. Zhang Tie could not identify whether he was happy or furious.


    After being struck heavily a few times, although it was not fatal, Zhang Tie still felt that all of his bones were going to collapse. He didn''t even have the strength to pick himself up from the ground.


    The guard beside Scala was also a LV 10 strong fighter, who clearly knew how to abolish one''s ability to fight on the premise of keeping him alive. It was already out of their imaginations that Zhang Tie could repeat the same process four times.


    "No matter what you want from me, I could only tell you, don''t dream about that, motherf*cker, peh..." Although being in a dilemma, lying on the ground, Zhang Tie still remained a defiant ridicule. He then spat a mouth of bloody saliva on Scala''s face, "This father has chopped off numerous demons'' heads. I''m not afraid of death at all. I''ve not done anything regretful since I was born. If you want to kill me, just do it."


    After moping off the bloody saliva from his face, Scala stood up without losing his temper. Instead, he just watched Zhang Tie, "I thought you were a smart guy; I''ve not imagined that you''re as same as those pariahs. I brought you here to let you know that humans have no bright future. Our gravetower demons have covered all the countries in the farther places in the north. Our demonized puppets corps are expanding at an unimaginable speed every day. After a few days, demonized puppets corps will swallow all the human troops like the swarm of locusts. If you stand on our side, you will also be the owner of a new world in the future!"


    Zhang Tie struggled to sit up before picking himself up from the ground in a groggy way. After moping off the blood stains from his mouth corners, Zhang Tie kept his shoulder square and watched Scala, "Demonized puppets could only consume the low-end power of humans. Even if you have enough demonized puppets, you only have a temporary advantage. Additionally, as humans are strengthening their defenses and clearing their fields, you could have fewer demonized puppets. Even though you have collapsed this continent, it doesn''t indicate anything. Because it''s just a beginning. It will not be able to determine the result of this war. Don''t forget about the powerful Chinese Clan and Taixia Country which is composed of powerful Chinese in the Eastern Continent..."


    "You''re right. It indeed is just a beginning. However, a good beginning indicates a half success. Chinese and Taixia Country are indeed powerful; however, do you think that we''re displaying all of our power here? In a few years, the war flames will reach Eastern Continent. By then, you will see who''s the most powerful."


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "Hahaha, will I still be alive at that moment? Do you think that I will believe in the words of Senel Clan. You can use such words to cheat kids, but not me."


    "As long as you submit in the recipe of all-purpose medicament, we could keep you alive. In the future, you can get everything you want, regardless of wealth, social status, women or power. You can become the owner of the new world in the future together with us. If you agree, the animosity between you and Senel Clan would be cleared off." Scala finally revealed his purpose.


    Zhang Tie sneered...


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel amazed about Scala''s words. When he woke up this morning, Zhang Tie had been thinking about why would Senel Clan treat him so well. He finally got two answers, all-purpose medicament and his status as Selnes Eagle.


    "Zhen Clan have already known that I could produce all-purpose medicament. Perhaps, these b*stards of Three-eye Association knew this information through their own channels. It''s not weird at all. Additionally, after so many years, it''s hard to say whether these false messages that Huaiyuan Palace had released so as to cover his status as the producer of all-purpose medicament are still effective. Furthermore, whether can I survive on if I submit in the recipe of all-purpose medicament? Although Scala tries to imply me that they will promise me a nice life if I tell them the recipe, if I really believed so, I would be an idiot."


    Scala''s trick had long been used by Donder, that cunning fattie. It''s a very smart communicative skill. Before tossing out the real topic, the opponent would mislead you to the direction that he hoped. From the beginning, Scala, or the entire Senel Clan had misled Zhang Tie that if he agreed to cooperate with them, he would survive on. They expected to crack down Zhang Tie''s will to resist and have Zhang Tie submit in what they wanted.


    Zhang Tie was sure that he would die for sure as long as Senel Clan got the recipe of all-purpose medicament. Three-eye Association''s credit was only effective to its own members. They had been used to reach their targets in terms of cheats and threats. This had long been proved in the history.


    Therefore, for public benefits or selfish reasons, Zhang Tie would never submit the recipe of all-purpose medicament. Additionally, the recipe of all-purpose medicament really contained too many secrets. Therefore, Zhang Tie would never reveal it to these b*stards of Three-eye Association.


    Seeing Zhang Tie being so decisive, Scala didn''t say anything; he just waved his hand and had a guard take Zhang Tie away, "Perhaps, you will realize that it''s the wisest way to cooperate with us in a few days!"


    Gritting his teeth tightly, Zhang Tie didn''t say anything...


    ...


    Zhang Tie was then put under the house arrest of that manor for two days, during which period, nobody came here to ask about his opinion. Zhang Tie didn''t know what trick those b*stards of Senel Clan played until the 3rd day...

 610 Being Framed

    Chapter 610: Being Framed


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    What was in front of Zhang Tie was a colorful dodger. On the top of that dodger was a shocking title¡ª¡ª"Zhang Tie, Selnes Eagle Surrenders to the Holy Clan and persuades the allied human forces to give up resistance".


    Below that shocking title was the introduction of Zhang Tie''s event on surrendering to the demons along with some photos.


    The introduction was wholly bullshit; however, the photos were real.


    In the first photo, Zhang Tie was wearing a suit of brilliant clothes and sat in the same car with Scala.


    In the second photo, Zhang Tie was standing on Scala''s side and pointing at the distance.


    The third photo was the distribution diagram of the allied human forces'' defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations.


    In the first two photos, Zhang Tie didn''t look like being forced at all due to the angle of the photographer. On the contrary, he looked intimate to Scala. Especially in the 2nd photo, standing together with Scala, Zhang Tie was watching the gravetower demons. The blurry background of the 3rd photo was that those human captives were queuing up to be swallowed by the gravetower demons in a miserable way. That photo reminded readers that Zhang Tie was like a leader of demons like Scala, which formed a sharp contrast with those miserable human captives.


    To be honest, although Zhang Tie had stayed in Selnes Theater of Operations for such a long time, he had not seen the distribution diagram of the allied human forces'' defense line so far; because it was classified. However, there was such a line "This distribution diagram of the allied human forces'' defense line is what Zhang Tie gifts to the Holy Clan." in the remark of the third photo.


    As Zhang Tie''s battle strength was sealed and his ring of consciousness had already been taken away by Senel Clan, Zhang Tie didn''t know that someone was stealthily taking photos of him using the telephoto lens from afar. The photo was real; however, under the fake background and introduction, it would easily arouse misunderstanding to others.


    "What''s that for?" Zhang Tie asked Scala icily.


    "Yesterday, our wing demons troop had already distributed 300,000 dodgers like this across the Selnes Theater of Operations. Now, almost all the human soldiers in the entire Selnes Theater of Operations have already known that you''ve surrendered to us!" Scala explained casually with a smile, Therefore, you''re not their idol anymore; instead, you''ve become a traitor being sworn by every human!"


    Eyes turning red, Zhang Tie wanted to spring up; however, he was pressed forcefully back onto the chair and couldn''t move at all.


    Zhang Tie understood that Senel Clan had been planning this trick since the beginning. Both the recipe of all-purpose medicament and his status as Selnes Eagle were useful for Senel Clan. These b*stards had been thinking about making full use of Zhang Tie since they caught him.


    ¡ª¡ªNeedless to say, besides the first two photos, the diagram must be stolen away from the allied human forces by Three-eye Association''s lackeys. However, Senel Clan used it to frame him. Zhang Tie didn''t even have a chance to explain it at this moment.


    Zhang Tie could imagine how those average soldiers in the defense zone of the allied human forces would respond when they saw these dodgers. The morale of the entire allied human forces would be severely weakened. When their idol and hero betrayed them in the most unacceptable manner, they would be disappointed, furious, frustrated and fully pessimistic about the future. They would further doubt the meaning of staying in Selnes Theater of Operations, even shake their battle will.


    This was indeed a vicious trick, which both prevented him from returning to the allied human forces and gave a heavy blow to the allied human forces.


    "Your trick will not come true. Such an insidious pattern could not cheat everyone!" Zhang Tie glared at Scala.


    "Ha...ha..." Scala burst out into laughter, "Why would we have to cheat everyone. We only need half, one-third, even one-fourth of those average soldiers among the allied human forces to believe in it. If some people believed in it, and some people did not, they would have utterly different opinions and attitudes; thus, they would have conflicts and arguments with each other; the morale of the allied human forces would be weakened. As a result, they would not unite with each other tightly. That''s what we want!"


    Zhang Tie knew that these b*stards of Three-eye Association had been using these methods to alienate and estrange humans from thousands of years. Although the fact was unacceptable, Zhang Tie had to admit that these sc*mbags were really good at playing tricks.


    Knowing that it was useless no matter how much he argued at this moment, Zhang Tie directly kept his mouth closed.


    Scala watched Zhang Tie as he seemed knowing what Zhang Tie was thinking about. He then revealed a smile, "Even if you could return to the camp and base of the allied human forces, do you know what''s waiting for you? You''re facing the cruelest interrogation. Based on the experiences in the former two holy wars, as long as you encounter such an interrogation, your future on humans'' side would come to an end, no matter what the result of the interrogation was. You would have to hide yourself forever or prove that you''re loyal to humans on the battlefield at the cost of your life. Which would you rather choose?"


    "Are you saying that I have no other choices but to surrender to you?" Zhang Tie asked icily.


    "Right. That''s our intention. After figuring out your current situation, I think you will make a wiser choice!" Scala put it straightforwardly, "You''re just 20 years old. It''s a very young age. You have not started your real social life yet. Wealth, power and beauties are all waiting for you. Are you going to give up all of these? The winner of this war is going to be us. As long as you surrender to us, you could even join Three-eye Association and become one of us. After this war, you can also be an owner of this new world. Don''t you think it''s good?"


    Zhang Tie suddenly burst out into laughter, "I have to admit that you''re really great. Your tricks are indeed impossible to guard against. However, you missed one point. You don''t know what I want and care about at all. Do you think that I care about losing the honor of Selnes Eagle? Forget about that. That honor is nothing serious to me. As long as those people who care about me don''t believe in your words, I don''t care what other people think about me. This father is not the God, I don''t need to concern about so many things."


    "The honor of Selnes Eagle won''t influence me at all. What you''ve framed me will not wound me either. I only need to follow my heart. As to my future, I don''t need to follow others'' order even in Huaiyuan Palace, not to mention other places; if I could really leave out of here, do you think that I would care about that motherf*cking future being rewarded by you or hide myself? Do you think that I will fall into your trap once again by attending the motherf*cking interrogation? By doing this, even if you completely separate me from the allied human forces, you will not cause any mental burden to me at all. Later on, I will still do whatever I want. Even if I recover my freedom, I won''t prepare to go back to the allied human forces; neither would I worry about being framed by those b*stards in the allied human forces."


    Just like how Zhang Tie had not imagined how they played those tricks, it was also out of Scala''s imagination that Zhang Tie, at the age of only 20 could have such a transcendental thought.


    In the eyes of Senel Clan, Zhang Tie was qualified as an elite with such a great honor at such a young age. People at such age would usually care most about honor, power and social status. However, Zhang Tie didn''t care about that at all.


    Actually, Zhang Tie was not transcendental; instead, he could be easily satisfied. When he was a teenager, he only dreamed of enjoying life while lying on gold coins, being accompanied by some beauties. He pursued for power; however, he was not immersed in it. If Zhang Tie was fascinated by power and social status, he should be in Ice and Snow Wilderness, instead of Selnes Theater of Operations.


    Therefore, Scala''s lure didn''t affect Zhang Tie at all. "After all, I would not lack money by selling all-purpose medicament if I could leave out of here. As Linda, Beverly and Fiona had been pregnant, they would follow me for the rest of their lives. Perhaps, I could marry some more in the future. With enough beauties on my side, even if I have a very bad luck in the future, I would go to Eastern Continent and enjoy my life. Like what they always say, I would survive and die together with the other humans there. That life is rightly what I dream for. I don''t care about motherf*cking future and social status at all."


    "As I''m innocent, I don''t care how destructive was Senel Clan''s trick to the allied human forces. This is a war, a holy war between humans and demons. Both parties are doing their best to destroy the opponent; I don''t need to feel guilty for the opponent''s deeds. Additionally, I am a victim of the trick and have already made all my efforts for the allied human forces. Finally, I''m even framed by those b*stards of Three-eye Association in the management of the allied human forces. I don''t have any moral burden at all..."


    "If the allied human forces were defeated, it''d have nothing to do with me. In the words of Donder, it''s the ''common undertaking'' of the allied human forces."


    After thinking through it, Zhang Tie became relaxed, instead of being angry anymore. He then stared at Scala like watching an idiot.


    This is a real wrestle between him and Senel Clan. Zhang Tie knew that if he wanted to survive on, he could not be negative; instead, he had to take the priority. Although it was out of blades and blood, it was testing his will, intelligence, decisiveness and courage. If he was defeated on any of the above 4 aspects, he would die.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words and seeing Zhang Tie''s strange smile, Scala''s look gradually turned icy...

 611 Tenacious Bones

    Chapter 611: Tenacious Bones


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie sensed Scala''s fury from his icy eyes. However, he became more relaxed.


    "Do you think that we dare not kill you?" Scala threatened Zhang Tie.


    "Do you think that I expect to survive here?" Zhang Tie glared at Scala, "The only purpose for you to keep me alive is that you still want something from me; you want to use me to weaken the morale of the allied human forces. Will you keep me alive when you reach your target?"


    "It seems that you understand everything!"


    "I''ve witnessed many life and death situations; everyone will die, including me!" Zhang Tie replied calmly.


    "How do you feel about your current life?" Scala changed his tone.


    "Not bad. I have food and drinks here. I also have servants. Very few captives could enjoy such a special treatment!"


    "Yup. Precisely, you''re the first captive who could enjoy such a special treatment. At this moment, such a life in Tokei City is almost like living in paradise. It seems that good living conditions couldn''t move you. Meanwhile, you have some misunderstandings about Senel Clan as you start to doubt our abilities. Usually, we will use another set of methods to open the mouth of the captives and make them docile to us. Do you want a try?" Scala revealed a frightening look.


    "Pleasure!" Zhang Tie stared at Scala with crossed arms as he raised his mouth corners, revealing a sarcastic look.


    Scala suddenly launched an attack as fast as a lightning bolt. Although they were 2 m away from each other, Scala instantly pointed at Zhang Tie''s left chest with one finger.


    Even If Zhang Tie''s battle strength was not sealed, he still could not easily dodge away from such a super powerhouse''s attack in such a short distance.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had sensed that the icy battle qi of Scala stabbed in his body through his left chest. Soon after that, the battle qi started to shoot around in his body like disordered icy blades...


    Zhang Tie''s face turned pale. In a minute, Zhang Tie''s face had been covered with a thin layer of frost while blood ran out of his nostrils, being surrounded by icy, white vapor.


    Scala watched Zhang Tie with a cruel look as his finger still rested on Zhang Tie''s body, "How do you feel now?"


    "Cool...very cool...like...like eating ice cream..." Due to the great pain, Zhang Tie''s body quivered as he forced a smile on his face which was covered with a layer of white frost, "That''s all you Senel...Clan could do?"


    Scala frowned as Zhang Tie''s tenacity was out of his imagination. At this moment, Zhang Tie''s suffering was very clear. The Icestar battle qi of Senel Clan could cause a LV 12 pain in one''s body. It was almost as painful as delivering a baby. He could never imagine that Zhang Tie could bear it.


    "Do you want something sharper? Fine, I will show you!"


    As Scala said this, his eyes revealed cold lights. Meanwhile, the battle qi that raged in his body shrunk into a bundle of needles which were as fine as ox''s hair and ferociously stabbed into Zhang Tie''s heart.


    "...cool..." Zhang Tie squeezed out this word as he glared at Scala with bloodshot eyes. His face then turned red. In less than 10 seconds, he sprouted out of a mouth of blood. Closely after that, he fell backward and passed out.


    Some of Zhang Tie''s blood fell on the table; some on Scala''s clothes. Reeking cold vapor, they froze very soon.


    After standing up, Scala shook those ice dregs off his clothes. After that, he threw a cold glance at Zhang Tie who was lying on the ground as he clapped his hands.


    After hearing the clapping sound, Navas, the steward of this manor instantly drilled in the door like an old jackal who had a sensitive smell. At the sight of Zhang Tie lying on the ground, Navas looked very happy as he bowed towards Scala respectfully, "Young master."


    "This person''s honeymoon in Tokei City has come to an end. He''s yours. Keep him alive. You know I want from him!"


    Licking his lips, Navas threw another vicious glance at Zhang Tie, "The recipe of all-purpose medicament, I know it. Erm...some methods are very effective. However, they might cause severe damages to his body, erm..."


    "I''ve told you. Just keep him alive. Don''t let him lose his hope for living. This man is very tenacious. He''s very important. As he killed a member of Senel Clan, he could only be executed by Senel Clan. Am I clear?"


    "Clear!"


    "We cannot stay here anymore. In the evening, I will dispatch someone to escort him together with you to Ironedge Castle. It''s much safer over there!"


    "Ah, young master, do you mean someone would come here to save him?"


    "There''s a message from the allied human forces. The alliance command has already been discussing the plan to save him. Although they''ve not passed the plan, we have to strengthen protective measures. As this person is a hero of the allied human forces, they would come here to save him for sure. After escorting him away, make some arrangements here, keep everything running as normal as usual like he is still here. We should set a trap here. If some people really came here to save him, we would capture them all!"


    "Young master, don''t worry. If he really exposes something about the recipe, I will tell you right away. Without your consent, I would never expose any secret to anybody, even Ruben. " After hearing that Scala''s order, Navas immediately expressed his loyalty.


    Scala nodded satisfactorily as he praised inside, "What a shrewd old man!"


    "Hmm, he''s yours!"


    "Navas will never disappoint you, young master!"


    "Hope so..."


    ...


    After Scala left, Navas watched Zhang Tie who was in a deep coma on the ground as he couldn''t stand to grin hideously. He squatted down and patted Zhang Tie''s icy face, "Brat, I will treat you well!"


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t remember when he was in the coma like this the last time. Neither did he know how long he had been in the coma. With a sharp icy sense, Zhang Tie quivered as he opened his eyes once again.


    This time, he didn''t see that luxurious bedroom and those beautiful female servants who called him master anymore; instead, he saw a furnace about 8 m away in front of him.


    That furnace was about 1 m in height. The coals inside the furnace were glowing, making its surroundings red. In the beating flames, Zhang Tie saw all sorts of grim instruments of torture, because of which, the entire room was filled with a gloomy qi.


    At this moment, water flew off Zhang Tie''s hair one drop after another. Zhang Tie knew that he was awakened by water. He found that he was fixed on a hob. As a result, he could not move his limbs. He was a bit weaker as he was stripped to the waist.


    The icy water flew onto the ground along Zhang Tie''s feet, making Zhang Tie quiver once again; meanwhile, he remembered the aggressive battle qi of Scala in his body. Until then, Zhang Tie''s heart still ached, "F*ck, hope it could bring me an iron-body fruit."


    After realizing his current situation, Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile, "It seems that the Senel Clan finally revealed their inner true side. Are they going to execute penalty on me? Is this the psycho war of those b*stards? What a sharp difference in treatment!"


    "Brat, you are awake?" Navas walked in front of Zhang Tie with a gloomy face as he looked pleasant and ferocious, "You finally fell in my hand". With a kurbash in hand, he supported Zhang Tie''s chin with the handle of the kurbash.


    "I planned to sleep for a long while, but you woke me up!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "What? Have you changed the room for me? The method that you used to wake me up is really special. Is there also a new room service? Hmm, very special morning call..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Navas'' eye corners jumped a couple of times. After that, he gave Zhang Tie a sharp smack, "Brat, you''re still tenacious, hope you can stick to it after a short while!"


    "Your massage skill is really harsh!" Zhang Tie twisted his neck as he turned his face back. At the same time, he swam his tongue towards one cheek inside his oral cavity. Soon after that, he spat out a mouth of bloody saliva before smiling like nothing had happened, "Actually, the most tenacious part of me is not my mouth, but my bones. After a while, you can give me a good massage service on my bones. If you do it well, I might reward you some copper coins!"


    "Wuh, really?" Navas turned around with an insidious smile. He took out of a triangle-headed hot-red brand iron from the furnace. When the brand iron was still over 10 cm away from Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie had already felt the hot waves, "I''m sorry to make you wet just now. I''m afraid that you''re a bit cold; how about warming you up..."


    "It seems that the room service is really well-matched, I can have a free warm-up!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile...


    Navas revealed an insidious smile as the hot-red brand iron was pressed onto Zhang Tie''s chest forcefully.


    With a scorching smell, Navas forcefully pressed the handle of the brand iron as he stared at Zhang Tie''s look...


    Zhang Tie quivered all over as the veins on his forehead bulged. He gritted his teeth silently while his sweat rolled off his forehead like water drops...


    1 minute later, when the color of the brand iron became fully dark, Navas took the brand iron away from Zhang Tie, "How about it, brat, what else do you want to say?"


    Lowering his head, Zhang Tie watched that scorched skin as he raised his head and revealed a faint smile, "I''ve...not imagined that...this room...could also provide tattoo service...can...can you give me a try...on my right side? Symmetric triangle patterns...would look better..."


    Navas'' pleasant look froze at once...

 612 Soul-based Animal Controlling Skill

    Chapter 612: Soul-based Animal Controlling Skill


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie was locked in a narrow cell alone. The prison cell was close to the torture chamber. Zhang Tie could only judge time through the sunlight penetrating through the fist-sized windows on the shared wall of the prison cell and the torture chamber.


    Besides Zhang Tie, there were only Navas and some jailers who were responsible for torturing him everyday in the two rooms. Zhang Tie didn''t know exactly where he was. He only knew that this place ought to be nearby Tokei City.


    Only after 3 days, Zhang Tie had been tortured too much. He would be in the coma several times a day. Besides, 3 fingers were broken, 4 toenails were pulled out; furthermore, the bones on his left shin was broken into many pieces by an instrument called grinding rod.


    Anybody else, if being tortured in this way, had long been collapsed, except for Zhang Tie.


    Senel Clan wanted the recipe of all-purpose medicament. Zhang Tie knew that he was doomed to die as long as he exposed his secret.


    ...


    On the 4th day, Navas inserted hot-red steel needles into Zhang Tie''s ten fingernails, causing Zhang Tie quiver all over. Due to extreme pain, Zhang Tie uttered a shriek before passing out.


    Before passing out, Zhang Tie remembered that some sunlight penetrated through an air vent on the wall of the torture chamber. When he was woken up by a basin of water, he saw no sunlight from the same air vent anymore.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how long had he been in the coma. He only knew that it ought to be dark outside. His 10 fingers were too painful that it even became numb. He felt that those fingers were not his.


    "You really have tenacious bones!" Navas sneered as he walked in front of Zhang Tie. In front of the glow of the furnace, his face became as grim as that of the ghost. He clutched Zhang Tie''s hair brutally, "How about that? What else do you want to say? We''ve got something more funny for you!"


    "F*ck..you!" Zhang Tie said weakly as he opened his eyes. At this moment, Navas'' look had become blurry and trembling in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    Navas replied with a sneer. After putting down Zhang Tie''s hair, he turned around and looked at a jailer who was immersing kurbash into the water, "Have you added salt?"


    "Not yet..."


    "Idiot. His wounds are just going to form scars, if we add some salt to the water and dip it with kurbash, it would have a better effect. He would feel getting burned all over. Nobody could stand that, hurry!"


    The jailer then went away to take salt. He came back very soon with a bag of salt. After pouring it into the bucket, he started to mix it with kurbash.


    After a few minutes, the jailer kept slashing Zhang Tie so forcefully that he even sweated profusely, causing Zhang Tie''s blood and fleshes fly in all directions. However, Zhang Tie remained silent. In the end, even the jailer was too tired to move. Navas then ordered the jailer to check Zhang Tie''s physical situation. He told the jailer to pour some saline water and medicament into Zhang Tie''s mouth and throw Zhang Tie back into the cell. One set of alloy shackles were added to Zhang Tie''s neck. In order to restrict Zhang Tie''s ability to move, an iron chain on the shackles was fixed onto a wall of the cell.


    "Let''s call it an end today. We will continue tomorrow. This brat is really strike-resistant. It''s been 4 days. I really have not seen a guy who could bear being beaten for above 3 days." Navas grumbled to the jailer.


    With a sound ''bang'', the door of the cell was locked from outside. Closely after that, the door of the torture chamber was also locked, leaving Zhang Tie alone in the cell.


    After a long while, Zhang Tie, lying on the ground, opened his eyes as he felt being gradually recovering.


    In the evening, the preliminary recovery body started to take effect. As a result, Zhang Tie could recover in a faster speed. This was also the main reason that Zhang Tie could stand these days'' torture. Senel Clan sealed his surging points; however, they could not seal his preliminary recovery body. Because preliminary recovery body had become his instinct.


    Lying on the ground, facing down, Zhang Tie was too weak to pick himself up. He could only wait until he gradually recovered a bit aura value. In order to keep his ability to recover or prevent him from being starved to death, Navas would pour some saline water and low-end nutrients into his mouth after each torture. Sometimes, he would throw some pieces of bread to him.


    Face touching the icy ground, Zhang Tie suddenly saw a rat in front of him. It sniffed and shook its beard. It seemed that it was going to check Zhang Tie'' situation. Perhaps it found that Zhang Tie was not eatable or sensed the existence of All-spirits Pagoda, it didn''t bite Zhang Tie. Instead, it started to wander around the cell. Finally, it found breadcrumbs in a corner and started to enjoy it.


    When the mouse was eating its supper, Zhang Tie suddenly felt the Shrine surging point gradually warming up. Only after 10 more minutes, the Shrine surging point seemingly had already broken a bind while an eccentric and relaxed feeling spread over Zhang Tie''s body.


    Zhang Tie knew that his Shrine surging point had already broken through the bind on him applied by the Senel Clan.


    After breaking through the bind, the Shrine surging point brought a wholly new energy to Zhang Tie''s body, making Zhang Tie feel like lighting his Shrine surging point and becoming a LV 1 newbie soldier from a commoner once again.


    Although being a newbie soldier, the new ability was also very important to Zhang Tie.


    The moment Zhang Tie wanted to support himself and pick himself up with his hands had his face turned pale. Due to the sharp pain from the 10 fingers, his forehead oozed sweat all over at once. As a result, he almost knelt down once again. Gritting his teeth, he supported his upper part of the body using his elbows and struggled to pick himself up. Finally, he threw his butts on the ground. The moment he leaned against the cold wall, the wounds on his back made him quiver all over. He then hurriedly kept his back away from the wall...


    Zhang Tie painted the dirty air in the cell a few minutes. After the pains on his hands, shoulders and back relieved a bit, he closed his eyes as he started to check his conditions.


    The Shrine surging point remained unchanged. In that surging point, the stick of spiritual feather being incarnated by the king roc''s golden seed was still shining brilliantly, showing the supreme dignity of the emperor-level secret knowledge. It seemed not being influenced at all. The Shrine surging point was like a warm flame. When it emitted warm light in Zhang Tie''s cold body, it brought limitless warmth and hope to Zhang Tie.


    After the Shrine surging point broke through the bind, Zhang Tie found that the spiritual energy that had been frozen in his mind sea also became dynamic. Even the god''s rune and the All-spirits Pagoda in his mind sea became more sensitive.


    Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy and instantly poured a lot of all-purpose medicament into his mouth. After engulfing about four vials of all-purpose medicament, he finally stopped...


    The moment the all-purpose medicament entered his stomach had its powerful effect started to exert.


    The sense of hunger and cold gradually faded away. His pains also relieved greatly. The 10 fingers which had been heavily wounded also started to recover gradually like being soaked in a thermos flask.


    Zhang Tie picked himself up once again. Although it was a bit difficult, he finally succeeded. He then touched that metal shackles over his neck and stretched the thick iron chain being linked to the shackles. After that, he tried to turn his head to the left and right.


    "Heller, can I enter Castle of Black Iron now?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    "No, that set of shackles and chain are like your clothes. They are closely linked to your body. If you want to enter Castle of Black Iron, you have to drag them in too. However, as they were fixed onto the wall, when you enter Castle of Black Iron, your neck would be broken!"


    "D*mn it", Zhang Tie swore inside, "Those sc*mbags of Senel Clan. This father has been as same as commoners, they''re still restricting my movement in the cell."


    "Is there any method?"


    "You could only open it by key or open it with a saw."


    Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy and had one small saw appear in his hand. After looking around, he found nobody was paying attention to him. Therefore, he nipped that saw with his hands and started to saw the chain on a hidden location while bearing the huge pains and discomfort.


    However, the moment he started to saw it had he found the chain was made of a special alloy. It was far firmer than that he could imagine. After over 10 minutes'' work, he could not leave a mark on it. As his hands had just been heavily wounded, although he had drunk so much all-purpose medicament, the wounds could not recover so fast. As a result, Zhang Tie was covered with sweat all over as his face turned pale. Finally, his hands quivered uncontrollably. The saw dropped onto the ground, causing a light sound in the cell...


    The rat who was eating breadcrumbs was startled greatly. It instantly sneaked into a dark corner, where there was a narrow entrance of a sewer.


    After hearing the light sound, Zhang Tie realized that it would bring him a trouble. He hurriedly squatted down as he teleported that saw into Castle of Black Iron. Meanwhile, he pretended to lie on the ground due to heavy wounds.


    As he had predicted, after a few seconds, the iron door of the torture chamber was opened from the outside. After hearing the footsteps, Zhang Tie knew that a jailer was entering. He seemed to check what happened inside after hearing the sound...


    Zhang Tie pretended to twist his body painfully on the ground, causing a light sound using the chain.


    "Jeff, what''s wrong?" Someone shouted ambiguously outside the torture chamber as he was chewing something.


    "Nothing, the brat moved, causing a sound of friction between the chain and the ground!" the person who had entered the cell replied.


    "Don''t make a fuss about that. The brat is under our eyes. He could never escape away from here. Hurry, come back. If the drinks and dishes were cold, it would not taste good!"


    After mumbling some words, the guy called Jeff locked the door and left.


    Zhang Tie judged that the person had walked away based on his footsteps. Finally, he heard a bunch of keys being dropped on the table...


    Right then, when the keys were dropped on the table, Zhang Tie suddenly became vacant as a whim occurred to his mind.


    Zhang Tie became thrilled as he realized that it was his only chance to escape.


    In such a situation, such a method deserved his attempt.


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie crossed his legs and sat down once again. After inhaling deeply, he kept his eyes focused on where the rat had disappeared as he made a hand gesture and started to mumble.


    After a short while, the rat drilled out of the sewer in the dark corner and sneaked all the way to the front of Zhang Tie. Sitting still on the ground, it watched Zhang Tie in a cute way.


    "Alright, so let it be a rat. Hope the secret skill of the Great Wilderness School could work."


    Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile as he ran the All-spirits Pagoda in his mind sea. When he touched the rat''s head, a Great Wildness Seal which represented the most powerful and effective contents of Great Wilderness Sutra and could control all the living beings below LV 1 fell on the rat''s body.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie felt something flying onto that rat from his body.


    In the next second, Zhang Tie was so scared as he sprung up from the ground and uttered a sound, "zi..." Because, his soul had already left his own body.


    In front of Zhang Tie was that extremely tall guy who was sitting still on the ground with crossed legs while being covered with wounds.


    Even though Zhang Tie had looked into the mirror so many times, he was still shocked by such an experience from such a visual angle.


    "Am I dead?" Zhang Tie asked himself.


    The moment he posed such a question had Zhang Tie realized that he was not dead; instead, he turned into that rat; precisely, his awareness and senses were transferred to that rat. At this moment, he could control the rat''s thoughts and movements.


    This was soul-based animal controlling skill, the most mysterious method of humans in the far-ancient times. The Great Wilderness School became prosperous and died in the Eastern Continent because of this skill. After understanding the principle, Zhang Tie became thrilled at once.


    At this moment, if Zhang Tie could see the look of that rat, he would find that the rat was also surprised and shocked...

 613 Escape

    Chapter 613: Escape


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the world of rats, everything was full of curiosity for Zhang Tie. Everything became huge in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    Zhang Tie realized that he could see clearly about 10 m. At this moment, he finally understood what was shortsighted. Comparatively, his smell and auditory sense became sharper. He could easily identify various odors and became sensitive to distant sounds. Additionally, Zhang Tie could sense that he had very sharp teeth and excellent climbing skills. He might even understand how rats communicate with each other.


    Zhang Tie ran around his former body for a short while and glanced at his own body from all directions. That felt pretty odd. After being adapted to the incarnated body, Zhang Tie drilled out of the cell and ran towards the outside of the torture chamber.


    The doors of the cell and the torture chamber were both composed of arm-thick steel bars. The gaps between steel bars could only hold one fist. However, the gaps were still too large for a rat to pass by.


    When he passed by the gap on a door of the cell, Zhang Tie raised his head and felt that he was passing by a huge gateway.


    After passing through two doors, Zhang Tie soon sneaked into the passageway outside the torture chamber.


    Honestly, this was Zhang Tie''s first time to enter that exclusive ''VIP suite''.


    It seemed like being in a castle. The passageway was dim. The walls on both sides of the passageway were made of large blocks of rocks. There was only one dim kerosene lamp on one wall of the 5-6 m long passageway. There was a corner in front of the passageway, beside which was a room, which was a bit brighter. Although it was several meters away, Zhang Tie had already smelt alcohol and cooked-meat and heard two people smacking their lips.


    Zhang Tie ran over there along the high wall. When he came to the corner, he looked inside.


    Two people were eating and drinking at a table 7-8 m away. As lackeys of Senel Clan, they had tortured Zhang Tie a lot these days.


    Zhang Tie looked around this room and saw another table and two benches behind them. Additionally, there was a key hook on the wall, beside which were their hats and waistbands.


    Although Zhang Tie could not see what was on the table, after combining with what he heard just now, he was sure that the keys were lying on the table at this moment.


    Zhang Tie then waited there silently. After 20 minutes later, a guy finally burped and picked himself up as he staggered, "Jeff, you stay here till midnight. I will take a rest in the bedroom. Don''t forget to wake me up after midnight. By the way, prepare some midnight snack for me..."


    "Don''t sleep like a dead pig like you were yesterday!"


    "Don''t worry. I drank less today. That brat is really strike-resistant. It''s already 4 days; however, we still haven''t got any information we need. D*mn it..."


    "When we finish this job, we can play some bloody slaves. It was said there were a lot of female bloody slaves, many of which were young ladies and madams of former rich families. They would do everything to survive themselves. Even slaves are better than bloody slaves, heh...heh...if only we surrendered to Senel Clan earlier, we could at least have a better position and select bloody slaves for free..."


    "Ha...ha..."


    After uttering an evil laughter, that guy, who stood up, patted on Jeff''s shoulder as he burped and left the room from another door. Jeff ate and drunk alone for a while. After emptying all the bottles on the table, Jeff rocked the last bottle and mumbled a short while. After that, he bent over the table and started to snore.


    Realizing that Jeff had fallen asleep, Zhang Tie rapidly rushed out of the corner and jumped onto that chair. After that, he easily climbed onto the highest point of the chair''s back, from where he saw clearly the keys on the table.


    The chair''s back was about 30-40 cm away from the table. Zhang Tie accelerated on the chair''s back and flew onto the table. He soon came to the side of the keys.


    There were three keys, which matched the two doors and Zhang Tie''s shackles.


    Zhang Tie tightly bit the keys. Meanwhile, he adjusted his gestures by pressing the keys with his front paws. After confirming that he had bitten them firmly and wouldn''t make any sound, Zhang Tie rapidly rushed to the end of the table and directly jumped onto the chair. After that, he jumped from the chair to the ground. Finally, he hurriedly rushed towards the cell. Before leaving here, he even turned around and watched Jeff who had been like a dead pig.


    As the keys were lying horizontally in his mouth, they were blocked by the iron rails of the iron door of the torture chamber. Zhang Tie put down the keys. After that, he bit the keys vertically and dragged them in slightly. Finally, he came to the side of his own body and placed the keys on the ground.


    Zhang Tie then opened his eyes as his consciousness returned to his own body.


    He smiled as he touched that rat beside him. After that, he picked up those keys and inserted one of them into the keyhole of the shackles over his neck. With a cracking sound, the shackles were opened.


    Zhang Tie put the shackles on the ground slightly before picking himself up from the ground once again. After that, he walked to the door of the cell. Stretching his hand out of the gap on the cell''s door, Zhang Tie opened the cell''s door slightly and came into the torture chamber.


    After opening three locks constantly, Zhang Tie came to the passageway outside the torture chamber.


    With barefoot and upper body, Zhang Tie supported the walls using two hands as he dragged his broken foot towards the room at the corner, followed by that docile rat.


    After entering the room, Zhang Tie immediately took out a dagger from Castle of Black Iron and came to the back of the guy who was sleeping like a dead pig on the table. Covering his mouth, Zhang Tie instantly stabbed into the b*stard''s heart.


    After twitching his body for a while, that b*stard was dead...


    Zhang Tie loosened his grip and drew his dagger out of that b*stard''s body. After wiping off the blade''s blood on the guy''s dead body, he limped towards the exit of this room...


    There was a dim upward corridor outside this room. However, with the effect of Zhang Tie''s dark vision, the dim corridor was as bright as daylight. It was over 30 m in length, on both sides of which were all dim kerosene lamps. There was another iron door at the end of the corridor, which was fully closed. It seemed like a huge steel plate. There was no gap on it. Whereas, there was a room in the middle of this corridor. The wooden door of the room was half covered while snoring sounds drifted out of the room.


    Zhang Tie pushed open the wooden door and limped inside. After 20 seconds, he came out of the room with some fresh blood on the tip of his blade. However, no snoring sound drifted out of the room anymore.


    Of course, Zhang Tie would not treat politely those lackeys who had surrendered to demons and tortured him these days. The only thing that made Zhang Tie feel pitiful was that Navas was not inside.


    Zhang Tie kept limping towards the end of the corridor. When he arrived at the iron door, he knew that Senel Clan really paid special attention to him; because this iron door could only be opened from outside.


    Based on Zhang Tie''s senses, there were 2 guards outside the iron door. As it was too late, most of the people had already fallen asleep, it was very quiet outside the iron door. Zhang Tie sensed that the two guards were both below LV 6.


    Zhang Tie sensed that this door led to another passageway in the castle. This cell seemed to be in a hidden place in the castle. Besides himself, it seemed that nobody else was locked inside this castle.


    Zhang Tie didn''t hear any other prisoners'' sounds these days. From the chat of the two jailers, Zhang Tie judged that this place might be outside the Tokei City. It was not a standard prison; instead, it was a castle, a real estate of Senel Clan. It was indeed a secret place to lock him up.


    After coming to the side of the iron door, Zhang Tie knocked it. After a few seconds, he knocked it for the second time, which sounded a bit more urgent than that last time...


    "Who''s that?" a muffled sound drifted from outside.


    Zhang Tie patted the door for the third time impatiently; meanwhile, his voice turned hoarse as he imitated that obscure drunken sound, "I want to see whether there''s something to eat in the kitchen."


    "Jeff and Benari? Foodie!" With this sound, the iron door was opened from outside. The moment the door was opened had the two guys been struck by Zhang Tie''s binding chains.


    Zhang Tie opened the door and walked out of that narrow passageway. It was indeed much spacious outside. This place led to a tower in the castle. At this moment, there was nobody in the tower anymore. Zhang Tie could see the huge windows of the tower and Tokei City outside the windows.


    He immediately killed the two guards...


    "Now, I could easily enter Castle of Black Iron. Even though Senel members could come in here, they would find no trace at all. This is much better than disappearing in the cell. Additionally, they would not find my secret at all."


    "The only problem at the moment is whether to kill Navas or enter Castle of Black Iron to recover my wounds."


    After being hesitated for a short while, Zhang Tie watched his broken leg...


    Right then, he heard loud explosions and saw bright flames from Tokei City in the far. As a result, this castle was shocked while many pitch-dark rooms turned bright.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at the flames in Tokei City. It might come from the manor where he was put under arrest several days ago. Zhang Tie''s heart raced, "Who''s that?"


    At this moment, he heard footsteps from below the tower.


    Zhang Tie gritted his teeth. Facing such an urgent event, he could not hesitate anymore. After having the rat jump onto his hand, Zhang Tie disappeared...


    ...


    Two minutes later, Navas and a group of people arrived at where Zhang Tie disappeared. At the sight of the open iron door and the two dead guards lying on the ground, Navas changed his face at once as he hurriedly rushed inside with people.


    Benari was dead on the bed; Jeff was dead at the table. All the door locks were in good condition. Given this clue, they knew they were all opened by keys.


    "Hurry, report to young master Scala. Zhang Tie was robbed away from the Iron-edge Castle by a powerhouse of the allied human forces..." Navas roared anxiously.


    In Navas'' opinion, the powerhouse must be sneaking inside the castle from outside. After killing the two guards, he broke in and saved Zhang Tie out of here. Given such strict protective measures in Iron-edge Castle, Navas knew that the one who robbed Zhang Tie away must be a top powerhouse.


    The moment he thought about the two corpses in the cell had Navas felt chilly inside, "If I were inside, I must have been killed by that human powerhouse like slaughtering a poultry."


    ...


    At this moment, the neighborhood of the Sun Avenue in Tokei City had long become a fire sea and battlefield. Thousands of demonized puppets swarmed over there from all directions. When those demonized puppets crowded the Sun Avenue, a rainbow bolt penetrated through the flesh wall of demonized puppets, causing them explode like a bloody rain...


    With this bolt, a 200-m long road was cleared.


    With a furious look, Lan Yunxi held a portable small bow as she took out another small bolt.


    "Yunxi, Zhang Tie is not in here. This is a trap. We have to go now. If not, we could not leave out of here anymore. There were two powerful qi, one from the north and another from the south. They will arrive here in a few minutes. By then, if you were wounded, I wouldn''t know how to explain it to Zhang Clan and Lan Clan..." Standing on Lan Yunxi''s side calmly, Lan elder casually waved his hand like sweeping pedals off the table, causing over 100 demonized puppets'' heads explode...


    Senel Clan planned to fish here; however, they had never imagined that they could attract here a tigress and a prehistorical crocodile. After seeing that Lan elder easily exterminated a detachment of powerful bowmen nearby this place by casually waving his arm, nobody of Senel Clan dared come out at this moment.


    For those members of Senel Clan, it was already a victory if they could drag on the two figures here until the arrival of demon fighters.


    Biting her lips, Lan Yunxi shot out another rainbow bolt, causing numerous demonized puppets into a bloody rain.


    After throwing a glance at Lan Yunxi who attempted to shoot another bolt regardless of her life, Lan elder sighed inside, "Love is really marvelous." If not being requested by Lan Yunxi, he didn''t know that Lan Yunxi had fallen in love with Zhang Tie. "This is the last excessive thing that he could do for Lan Yunxi. After this time, no side would allow her to risk such a danger, Zhang Clan, Lan Clan or demons..."


    "Let''s go..." Lan elder put one hand on Lan Yunxi''s shoulder.


    After throwing another glance at the battlefield and recalling Zhang Tie''s fatigued smile in front of her, Lan Yunxi dropped off a tear...


    ...


    After a few minutes, three meteors arrived from the north and south along with a terrifying momentum. After reaching above the Sun Avenue in Tokei City, they suspended there for a few seconds before heading for the east...


    ...


    2 days later, because of Zhang Tie''s event, Major General Ford who was receiving the interrogation of the alliance command suddenly died in Selnes Theater of Operations. This news aroused a great shock. There were two presumptions on his death reason. The first one was that Major General Ford was a lackey of Three-eye Association. He set up Zhang Tie this time. Therefore, he committed a suicide while afraid of being blamed. There was another presumption that he was involved in the event that Zhang Tie surrendered to demons. After being treated brutally, he committed a suicide due to fury in order to maintain the dignity of a commission officer.


    No matter which presumption was real, the final outcome was that the human troops in Selnes front lines started to doubt the capability and authority of the alliance command...


    Among the presumptions, a piece of news almost shocked everyone in the Crystal Battle Fortress although few people across the Selnes Theater of Operations knew it¡ª¡ªLan Yunxi, the commission officer of the airship troop of Jinyun Country was dispatched back to Jinyun Country. With the ''protection'' of a Zhang elder, she silently left Selnes Theater of Operations.


    Jinyun Country and Huaiyuan Palace didn''t make any explanation to the outside about this order.


    It soon came to November. From the beginning of this month, endless demonized puppets had appeared in the north of Selnes Theater of Operations and started to launch attacks to human defense line constantly, causing the ground battle in Selnes Theater of Operations to enter white-hot stage...

 614 My Immortal Territory

    Chapter 614: My Immortal Territory


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After eating a full plate of fruits and drinking some vials of all-purpose medicament, Zhang Tie had a nice noontime-snooze on a lounge beside grassland with a warm blanket over his body while listening to the agile gurgles of the brook.


    When he felt his leg numb, Zhang Tie woke up. Actually, he wanted to snap for a long while; however, he felt numerous ants climbing in his shin. Whereas, he could not scratch it. Therefore, he could only wake up.


    The feeling indicated that his broken bones were healing. If it were others, after being tortured that way, they would lose their leg or it would take them at least 5-6 months to heal. However, Zhang Tie''s healing speed was really amazing. Only after returning to Castle of Black Iron for one month, his leg had almost healed.


    Besides his broken leg, even those wounds all over his body had healed and scarred. After the scars fell off, his skin became as fresh as boiled eggs being peeled off shells.


    This was the longest, laziest and most pleasant time that he had stayed in Castle of Black Iron since he slept 3 years here last time.


    Over the past 1 month, Zhang Tie''s main task was to recuperate himself. Besides eating and drinking, the only cultivation that Zhang Tie could carry out when he was free was to repeat the contents and secret knowledge of the ''Great Wilderness Sutra''.


    What shocked Zhang Tie most through this narrow escape was that he indeed recognized the terror and power of the ''Great Wilderness Sutra. Compared to the soul-based animal controlling method in the Great Wilderness Sutra, all the other animal controlling skills became dwarfed. Therefore, Zhang Tie understood why the Great Wilderness School was exterminated by other schools. Because the soul-based animal controlling method really made people jealous.


    Over the past one month, Zhang Tie had activated the 3rd floor of the All-spirits Pagoda in his mind sea. Additionally, he repeated the Great Wilderness endless true words on the 4th floor over 300,000 times. He still needed to repeat them about 1 million times to activate this floor.


    When the 3rd floor of All-spirits Pagoda was activated, it meant that he could use LV 2 animals as his incarnation. As soon as he thought about having an incarnation had Zhang Tie become excited.


    However, he could not be too excited as he had to recover his wounds.


    In more than 1 month, all of his wounds had been recovered, even his broken leg had almost healed. With the great power of "King Roc Sutra", 31 surging points on his spine had broken through the bind of Senel Clan and recovered their fighting strength.


    ...


    "Ah, master, you''re awake..." Seeing Zhang Tie sat up in the lounge, Edward trotted all the way here as he placed a plate of golden pies in front of Zhang Tie which smelt pretty good, "Master, have a try, I''ve just made them for you!"


    Zhang Tie sniffed them forcefully as he had a great appetite. He picked one of them and put it in his mouth. After a bite, he tasted the tender, sweet fluid and the special aroma of honey. It was so delicious that Zhang Tie even wanted to swallow his tongue. Zhang Tie instantly ate 4-5 pies.


    When Zhang Tie ate the pies, Edward kept watching Zhang Tie with an intoxicating and proud look. He looked like receiving Zhang Tie''s highest reward.


    "Ah, so good, you made them?" Zhang Tie asked ''politely'' based on these days of ''experience''.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Edward instantly raised his chest, "Yes, sir, it''s my great honor!"


    "How did you make it?" Zhang Tie continued.


    "I used 17 fruits and grains in Castle of Black Iron, plus our specialty¡ª¡ªhoney..."


    Edward kept talking about the process of making pies for 2 minutes. After that, Edward drew in a deep mouth of breath as he revealed an intoxicating look, "The above are all the procedures required to make these pies!"


    "Not bad!" Zhang Tie listened to it patiently. After enjoying his life here over 1 month, Zhang Tie found that the best reward to Edward, Agan and Aziz was to listen to them introducing the manufacturing procedures besides enjoying various services provided by them. They all treated this reward as their greatest enjoyment and personal achievements.


    According to Heller, if Zhang Tie could listen to and praise the services of Edward, Agan and Aziz. their souls would upgrade and grow. This was their happiest moment. Therefore, as long as there was a chance, Zhang Tie would spend a few minutes to listen to the three servants'' introduction about their services.


    Zhang Tie felt that he should respect and reward his servants who were so loyal to him. Therefore, he always listened to their introduction politely. Gradually, he found that he could learn a lot from Edward, Agan and Aziz. The three servants were masters in their own line for sure.


    Agan was a carpenter and stonemason, who were good at building houses.


    Aziz was a master in agriculture. He was excel at anything concerning agricultural production. Additionally, Aziz was excel at brewing all sorts of alcohol. Honestly, Zhang Tie was not good at brewing alcohol. After Aziz was responsible for producing all-purpose medicament, the effect of all-purpose medicament was 30% greater than that made by Zhang Tie himself. Zhang Tie was really shocked by this.


    Edward was good at using fire. He could both cook yummy food and produce tools using fire.


    Previously, although Zhang Tie knew about the three people''s talents, he didn''t pay attention to that. After Zhang Tie teleported a lot of slaves into Castle of Black Iron from the underground space in Misty Moon Woods, the three guys got rid of the low-end farming work. From then on, they gradually showed their great talents. Zhang Tie also started to sense the unusual aspects of the three people.


    "Where are Agan and Aziz?" Zhang Tie asked Edward.


    "They went to instruct those newcomers to build houses and do farming work!" Edward replied with a rich admiration, "Those newcomers called them the God''s messengers."


    Zhang Tie smiled as he threw a glance at Edward, "Do you also want to go downhill?"


    "Master, if you produce some metal mines in Castle of Black Iron, I can make anything you want for sure!" Edward said full of confidence.


    "Hehe, we will have such a day!" Zhang Tie smiled as he stood up. Edward hurriedly wanted to support him with his hand. However, Zhang Tie prevented him by waving his hand, "It''s okay, I''m much better these days. I want to take a walk!"


    Edward bowed and left.


    Besides having enough rest, he also needed to do some proper movements so as to recover fast.


    There was a mountain as high as 300 m in the center of Castle of Black Iron, within 1 km of the small tree. Zhang Tie was wandering on the top of the mountain.


    Nothing had changed, the small tree, the spring or those houses, except for the terrain of Castle of Black Iron.


    After teleporting those miserable human captives into Castle of Black Iron from Misty Moon Woods, Heller had innovated the terrain of Castle of Black Iron. After the innovation, the location of the small tree and the place where Zhang Tie was standing became more unique. This mountain was the achievement of this innovation.


    Zhang Tie came to one edge of the top of the mountain as he started to glance over Castle of Black Iron.


    There was a flight of natural, golden stone stages from the top of the mountain all the way to its foot. The tidy and broad stages looked pretty magnificent.


    The foot of the mountain was surrounded by a black abyss. After innovation, the former Pool of Chaos turned into a moat. The Pool of Chaos became the River of Chaos.


    There was a spring originated from the top of the mountain. After passing by the halfway of the mountain, it turned into a fine waterfall and finally fell into the River of Chaos. This formed a complete circulation of energy and materials.


    Right above the River of Chaos was a natural, golden bridge being linked to the golden stages. It was the only tunnel from the outside to the top of the mountain. In Heller''s words, without Zhang Tie''s consent, nobody could pass by the River of Chaos through that bridge in Castle of Black Iron. Anybody who wanted to pass through that bridge would be rejected by the basic principles in Castle of Black Iron; they would fall into the River of Chaos and be decomposed into the most basic energy particles.


    "Nobody could pass by?" At the sight of the River of Chaos, Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    "Nobody!" Heller nodded firmly.


    "Including my master, Zhao Yuan?"


    "That person is indeed very powerful in the outside world; however, he''s nothing different than commoners in front of the dimension and space rules of Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, even if your master wants to pass by the bridge without your consent, he would also fall into the River of Chaos for sure."


    Time inside Castle of Black Iron was synchronous with that in the outside world. At this moment, the colorful clouds were changing their shapes and radiating a layer of halo. The entire space was bathing in a dusky light, making the inside of Castle of Black Iron more mysterious.


    On a plain about 3-4 mile away from this mountain was a human town which was gradually coming into being. Those living in the town were the first batch of residents in Castle of Black Iron.


    Standing at the top of the mountain, as long as it was completely dark, Zhang Tie could always see a lot of people busy doing their works these days. Some were chopping trees in the surrounding mountainous region; some were sawing logs while some others were building simple wooden houses using the logs that had been well sawn.


    Most of the wooden houses were relatively narrow and rough. However, there was a complete stone building in the town, which looked more magnificent. As he had not been to the town, Zhang Tie didn''t know what was that building used for.


    Beside the town were large areas of farmland being reclaimed. Women were busy sowing seeds in the farmland and picking various berries and fruits in the wild.


    For those people who came from the underground hell, Castle of Black Iron was definitely the paradise that only existed in their imaginations.


    The soil here was very fertile. Any seed, once being buried in the soil, would start to grow sturdily.


    The river and lake here tasted very sweet and was full of aura. The wildland was full of eccentric, yummy fruits. Some of those fruits could not even be identified.


    Among those which could be identified, the most impressive fruits were potatoes and sunflower seeds.


    Being different from those they could see before, most of the potatoes here were as large as kids'' heads. Besides, after being roasted, those potatoes tasted very yummy.


    Similarly, all the sunflowers were as big as golden sieves. After growing ripe, each sunflower seed would be as large as a peanut, which also tasted yummy.


    Most of those fruits were new species that formed in Castle of Black Iron during the 3 years that he slept in Castle of Black Iron. Take potatoes as an instance, they were new products after the 2nd round of mutation and evolution. They were more eccentric than those Zhang Tie left in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    As Zhang Tie watched them growing up, he had been used to or numb about those mutated species. However, for those who entered Castle of Black Iron for the first time, at the sight of everything in Castle of Black Iron, it occurred to them that this was an immortal territory. Due to their piety and persistence in the dilemma, they had been taken into this immortal territory from the hell by the God.


    Everybody entering this territory would kneel down, cry and pray out of gratitude.


    Undoubtedly, Zhang Tie was that God who saved them out of the hell. This immortal territory was the God''s home.


    ...

 615 Introspection

    Chapter 615: Introspection


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    During these days, Zhang Tie would stand on the top of the mountain and watch those people in the town busy doing their own works and starting their new lives everyday. After experiencing so many things, Zhang Tie found that he had recovered his composure completely when he saw those commoners living a happy life. Meanwhile, he would introspect and think about too many things.


    After experiencing a life or death test, Zhang Tie instinctively started to think about many things.


    ''What''s the meaning of coming to the Selnes Theater of Operations?''


    ''Why would I be framed by Three-eye Association once again?''


    ''What''s the reason for me this time to survive on?''


    Many questions flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind...


    Although these questions seemed to be simple, after reconsidering them and facing his inner heart, Zhang Tie realized that he was still confused about many of them.


    Whether he was here to improve his fighting strength, for the sake of Lan Yunxi, or out of his responsibility and honor as a human fighter, Zhang Tie had never been regretful about coming to Selnes Theater of Operations.


    What made Zhang Tie start to introspect and review himself was his new recognition about this world.


    Neither had he seen through himself nor his opponent. That was why he fell into the hands of Senel Clan.


    After being rewarded with the honor of Selnes Eagle, although he looked calm, even unsatisfied, but actually, he was pleased about having such an honor. This honor made him feel being different than others and being able to do more things. Because of this honor, he started to lose himself and finally entered the dilemma.


    ''To the final analysis, when I was rewarded with this honor, I forgot that I was not the same poor teenager in Blackhot City who would like to be the human flesh bag for a few silver coins a day anymore.''


    ''I am already not that teenager anymore on any aspect. That lifestyle has been far away from me. I would never return to that lifestyle. However, the deep-rooted memory and life experience in Blackhot City over 10 years ago deeply impressed me with a mindset. Being influenced by that mindset, I would always try to recognize and observe this world through a special "window".''


    ''When I see outside through that window, I feel the honor of Selnes Eagle is ground-breaking and deserve being defended!''


    ''When I see inside through that window, I feel a LV 9 fighter who has formed an iron-blood battle qi is unrivaled.''


    ''That''s really ridiculous!''


    ''Because of the first recognition, I entered the huge and complex den of the allied human forces which must have contained a lot of dark forces and was finally framed by Three-eye Association so easily.''


    ''Because of the second recognition, I always had a fluke mind and didn''t prioritize improving my fighting strength and level; instead, I always had a thought of "let it be". Because of this fluke mind, I lost my advantage in front of opponents above LV 11 and lost my ability to resist the conspiracy of Senel Clan.''


    ''After being rewarded with the honor of Selnes Eagle and scaring away the pursuers of Lan Yunxi, if I tried my best to improve my fighting strength and became a bit low-key, even though I would have to leave Selnes Theater of Operations temporarily and get a secret cultivation knowledge to breakthrough LV 11 or LV 12 before coming back, I would not have entered the dilemma.''


    ''If a low-end secret knowledge could be bought in the illegal demon hunters'' market in Selnes Theater of Operations, of course, I could get one from other places. As long as I would like to trade a "Robust Ox Skill" with 100,000 vials of all-purpose medicament when I come back to Jinyun Country or Ice and Snow Wilderness, even in Norman Empire, someone would put it in my hand soon after I released the news.''


    ''Why didn''t I do that?"


    ''To be honest, I didn''t put this thing in the first place. I had too many fluke minds and excuses. Subconsciously, I became a bit pleasant about owning the fighting strength as a LV 9 fighter.''


    ''The cruel fact was that I had to pay a great price for my own mistakes.''


    ''Besides not having figured out my advantages and essence of problems, I even lacked alertness to Three-eye Association. I''m really stupid!''


    ''The assassination in Dragon Cave, moles of Three-eye Association in Huaiyuan Palace, disaster in Ice and Snow Wilderness, bomb assassination in Mocco City and Three-eye Association killers'' lurk in illegal demon hunters'' market. Three-eye Association has already shown its great penetrating and controlling the ability to human society from all aspects based on demon''s organizations and its hidden huge resources. As I have been assassinated by Three-eye Association 3 times, how could I not doubt it when I accepted the task from the alliance command? That''s unforgivable!''


    ''In Waii Sub-continent, Three-eye Association''s force had penetrated in human countries and organizations so much. The bomb assassination happened when the alliance command was going to reward me with the honor of Selnes Eagle. However, the alliance command which was responsible for investigating this case didn''t figure out the culprit at all. This should have reminded me that someone in the alliance command might be the moles of the Three-eye Association. However, I didn''t become alert about the alliance command at that moment.''


    ''If I was a bit smarter, I should have ended up the relationship between me and the alliance command at that moment and ignore all the orders and requests of the alliance command. Pitifully, I didn''t. To the final analysis, I was viewing the alliance command as a huge body which was full of authority and sense of justice from the viewpoint of a small figure and instinctively refused to believe that a place that represented the hope of Waii Sub-continent could hide the moles of Three-eye Association.''


    ''Small figures always craved for the authoritative and righteous place. They always believed that the more superior the place was, the righteous it would be. How innocent small figures! However, Three-eye Association was excelled at hiding in the sunniest place to do the darkest things. They labeled evil as holiness and disguised ugliness as justice.''


    ''I made the same mistakes that all the other small figures would make.''


    ''The crisis in the illegal demon hunters market indicates that the force of Three-eye Association might have exceeded too much in Selnes Theater of Operations. Therefore, they could arrange a timely attack. That was a life-or-death crisis, which exposed many problems in Selnes Theater of Operations and implied me that a LV 9 fighter was not safe over there. Pitifully, after obtaining the "King Roc Sutra", I was too excited to consider the warning of that crisis.


    ''After I drove a glider into the water so as to escape from a LV 11 wing demon''s chase, Lan Yunxi had already suggested me to return to Huaiyuan Prefecture and not come back until I become LV 10. Pitifully, I didn''t follow her suggestion; instead, I stayed.''


    ''After recovering my composure, I realized that my reason and logic at that time was really ridiculous¡ª¡ªas a LV 9 fighter, I should be able to stay here. I could rarely meet a LV 11 wing demon in the sky.''


    ''It''s enough for others to be LV 9 and kill a LV 10 strong fighter with the javelin as a LV 9 fighter. However, it''s far from enough for me. Because I''m not a commoner or a small figure anymore. I''m already a key person, whose choice could influence a lot of things. The problems and difficulties that I meet are much more tricky than that small figures faces. This requires me to have a greater fighting strength.''


    Finally, Zhang Tie understood this. As a result, he reviewed himself and many events that he had encountered.


    ''Your enemy might understand their value better than you could understand yourself.''


    When Zhang Tie fell in the hand of Senel Clan, it was neither Castle of Black Iron nor ''Great Wilderness Sutra'' that survived Zhang Tie at the critical moment; instead, it was the all-purpose medicament.


    ''Actually, since I invented all-purpose medicament and made it a strategic material of many countries, I was already not a commoner or a small figure anymore.''


    ''In order to catch me, Three-eye Association spent almost all the relationships and resources that they had. Such treatment could never be enjoyed by a small figure.''


    After experiencing so many tortures from Senel Clan, Zhang Tie had another chance to identify himself and the world that he was going to face.


    Zhang Tie realized that his biggest mistake was the inconsistency between his viewpoint as a commoner and his real influence and the difficulties that he was going to face. He could neither figure out his advantage nor the most urgent problem and the largest crisis that he was going to face. As a result, he fell into the enemy''s traps one time after another and almost lost his life.


    This inconsistency was also like an invisible rope and bind which made it possible for people to frame him and determine his fate and the direction of his life.


    Over the past one month, Zhang Tie''s body had been gradually recovering while his mind further improved. If a man didn''t experience frustrations and strikes, he would not grow mature.


    Through such a review and introspection, that 15-year old teenager who lacked confidence deep in bones from Blackhot City was replaced by a wholly-new man, a more confident and wiser Zhang Tie who had a clearer and deeper recognition about himself


    ''As the honor of Selnes Eagle was rewarded by others, it would be taken away in the end. At the critical moment, only I could save myself.''


    ''As for me who joined this war between humans and demons, life is my most precious thing; fighting strength is my most reliable partner while freedom is my biggest advantage. With freedom, I could create numerous possibilities. Perhaps, I''m not unrivaled, even weak in front of real powerhouses; however, I''m able to create numerous possibilities...''


    ''The numerous possibilities comes from Castle of Black Iron, from the small tree and from the "Great Wilderness Sutra" and myself who is growing mature constantly...


    ...


    The colorful clouds in the sky of Castle of Black Iron were like an intelligence colorful lamp of humans before Catastrophe in the legends. As time went by, the inside of Castle of Black Iron gradually became dark while the colorful clouds looked like the bleak and smooth moon.


    Zhang Tie found more and more bonfires were lit in the town. Those human captives who were teleported inside by him might be holding a grand ceremony as all of them were surrounding the highest and the most magnificent building in the town.


    As he couldn''t hear clearly what they were talking about, after a yawn, Zhang Tie turned around in a sluggish way and walked into the house. The moment he thought about Edward''s yummy food had Zhang Tie''s mouth filled with saliva.


    ...


    At this moment, in the most magnificent and highest building in the town, after some noble elders pulled off layers of veils which took hundreds of women more than half a month to wave with quivering hands, exposing a tall stony statue on an immortal altar in front of them.


    The moment they saw that stony statue had they knelt down in the square and the building piously.


    "Great and benign God, please accept your men''s humble piety and sacrifice. It''s you who took us into your immortal territory from the hell; it''s you who relieved us from the sea of bitterness; it''s you who sprayed the holy brilliance to warm up and cleanse our body and soul. We''d like to give everything we have to you..."


    Some elders knelt in front of the crowd and prayed. After that, some virgins in beautiful crowns and linen clothes slowly walked out from aside and served high-quality fruits and grains onto the altar in the most pious manner, namely at the foot of the stony statue...


    If Zhang Tie was here, he must be shocked at the sight of the stony statue. Because the stony statue was carved according to his own look, which looked almost as same as him.


    The entire stony statue must be a priceless, holy masterpiece which would be praised by numerous sculptures if it was taken out of Castle of Black Iron.


    The stony statue was supporting a vigorous small tree by one hand while holding a javelin in another hand. He was standing in the hell full of burning flames while a holy, brilliant arc door was opened at his foot. Hopeless people were pouring towards that arc door. Each one''s look was very vivid. That stony statue was wearing a holy crown, above which were patterns like sun, moons, stars and various birds, insects and beasts...


    This stony statue was carved by Agan.


    ...


    Closely after supper, Zhang Tie felt his broken shin growing more numb. Zhang Tie became restless. He wanted to scratch it; however, he couldn''t. If this feeling could disappear after he slashed towards his shin, Zhang Tie didn''t mind having a try.


    "Hmm, Castle Lord, the wound on your shin would recover in a few more days. As it''s dark, your preliminary recovery body would start to exert its effect fully as your wound is recovering faster than that in the daytime; therefore, you are having such a feeling!"


    Zhang Tie signed helplessly, "I know, but I''ve not imagined that the healing process is so torturing with the effect of preliminary recovery body!"


    "After this strike and torture, when your body completely heals, you can eat some iron-body fruits which were produced in this torturing process. After that, you will grow stronger. It''s hard for you to suffer such a heavy wound!" Heller comforted Zhang Tie.


    "Hope so!"


    "Those people whom you took in Castle of Black Iron had established a shrine in the town. They are worshiping your stony statue over there. They''ve already taken you as the God!" Heller briefed.


    "They''ve made my statue?" Zhang Tie became slightly stunned. Soon after that, he felt relieved as he asked Heller, "Erm, will this reduce my longevity?''


    "Reduce your longevity?" Heller watched Zhang Tie with a dubious look. After that, he understood that Zhang Tie referred to a Chinese custom¡ª¡ªif an alive young person was worshiped by others, especially seniors, the young person might reduce his or her longevity. Heller then revealed a smile, "Don''t worry, it won''t!"


    "Oh, alright!" Having pretended to be a holy priest many times, Zhang Tie waved his hand as he didn''t think too much about that, "They can do whatever they want, as long as they don''t pose any bad influence to me!"


    Heller also lowered his eyes and didn''t mention it anymore. Zhang Tie even ignored this event.


    ...


    After recuperating another 3 more days, although the wound on Zhang Tie''s shin had not fully healed, the last surging point on his spine had broken through the bind. As a result, Zhang Tie''s fighting strength as a LV 9 fighter completely recovered. He could cultivate and light new surging points once again...


    ''This time, I will never leave Castle of Black Iron until I eat up all the leakless fruits that have been accumulated 3-4 years and improve my fighting strength and level greatly.''


    Zhang Tie made his determination.

 616 Cultivation under the Small Tree

    Chapter 616: Cultivation under the Small Tree


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    From the ferocious battle between Zhang Tie and Abyan in Abyan''s castle to the 3-year deep sleep in Castle of Black Iron all the way to now, the manjusaka karma fruit tree had not stopped producing leakless fruits. It had been 3 years and about 10 months in total. With so many leakless fruits, the small tree looked fruitful.


    One leakless fruit per week, 52 ones each year, 156 ones in 3 years. Plus 42 ripe ones and 1 unripe one in 10 months, there were totally 199 leakless fruits over the small tree.


    Therefore, standing in front of the small tree, Zhang Tie felt having a heavy, pleasant, bumper harvest.


    "What''s the date today?" Zhang Tie asked Heller in front of the small tree.


    After recuperating over 1 month idly in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie didn''t even know the current time. Before lighting his new surging points officially after 4 years'' suspension, Zhang Tie thought this date was memorable.


    "November 21, the 894th year of Black Iron Calendar..." Standing under the small tree, Heller watched Zhang Tie as he added, "Castle Lord, before lighting the new surging points, you''d better confirm the order of lighting those surging points from LV 9 to LV 10. As it''s an emperor-level secret knowledge, If you made any mistake in cultivation steps, you might become nothing but a strand of smoke at once."


    Zhang Tie nodded. As he recalled the order of lighting those surging points daily these days, he had been very familiar with the order. However, after hearing Heller''s suggestion, he closed his eyes and recalled the order once more. After confirming that he would not make any mistake, Zhang Tie picked off one leakless fruit from the small tree and sat down below the small tree with crossed legs.


    When he took the familiar ripe leakless fruit once more, Zhang Tie became pretty tranquil inside. After slightly closing his eyes for a few seconds, he put the leakless fruit into his mouth.


    Like before, soon after he swallowed the leakless fruit had he felt the great energy of the fruit gathering between his chest and abdomen and turning into an energetic fire dragon.


    Under Zhang Tie''s manipulation, that fire dragon didn''t rush towards those invisible surging points which had manifested in Zhang Tie''s body.


    Instead, it rushed into his Shrine surging point and charged at the stick of spiritual feather incarnated by the seed rune of the ''King Roc Sutra''. After that, the stick of spiritual feather started to glow the entire Shrine surging point.


    At the sight of this scene, the Shrine surging point turned into a forge used by refiners. Like a rarity being refined by fiery in the forge, the stick of spiritual feather was constantly absorbing the energy of the fire dragon of the leakless fruit as it changed its color. The whole process was completely mysterious.


    Of course, the process of cultivating an emperor-level secret knowledge might be different from that applied by Zhang Tie when he was a newbie. The stick of spiritual feather incarnated by the golden seed of king roc in the Shrine surging point became the center of the entire cultivation process and the key to expose the secrets of surging points according to ''King Roc Sutra''.


    After the entire fire dragon''s energy was absorbed by the stick of spiritual energy, the luster of the stick of spiritual feather changed its color from red, orange to yellow...


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes and saw Heller standing on his side and watching him seriously.


    In the process of cultivation, he would forget time. In that realm, although he felt it was just a split second, actually, it might have been several days.


    "How long have I spent?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    "3 hours!" Heller replied.


    Zhang Tie nodded. He then picked himself up from the ground and picked another leakless fruit. After sitting down, he ate it.


    After eating the 2nd leakless fruit, the stick of spiritual feather in the Shrine surging point started to radiate blue luster like surging points being polished...


    After 3 hours, Zhang Tie stood up once again and picked the 3rd leakless fruit.


    With the 3rd burning dragon, the stick of spiritual feather''s luster turned purple. When it turned extremely purple, the entire Shrine surging point and that stick of spiritual feather slightly shocked as a ball of golden, brilliant bird-shape flame flew out of that stick of spiritual feather and started to circle around that stick of spiritual feather.


    Even though, the 3rd flame''s energy had not been completely exhausted. After this ball of golden flame was produced, the stick of spiritual feather''s color recovered to its original look as it continued to absorb the dragon''s energy; finally, the 3rd fire dragon''s energy was exhausted as the stick of spiritual feather started to radiate orange luster. The entire Shrine surging point recovered its tranquility once again, leaving that stick of spiritual feather radiating orange luster and a golden bird-shape flame circling around it.


    Zhang Tie looked inside for a second. After recalling the order of lighting surging points according to ''King Roc Sutra'', Zhang Tie focused on that golden bird-shaped flame, which then flew out of his Shrine surging point and headed for Zhang Tie''s heart like a real bird leaving its nest.


    In Zhang Tie''s heart, there were 7 manifested invisible surging points and runes in each of them. At this moment, the 7 invisible surging points were like 7 shadows composed of virtual glass.


    After locking one surging point, that golden bird dove into it at once.


    Closely after that, the invisible barriers of that surging point on his heart broke into pieces at once. When his heart quivered a bit, Zhang Tie felt breaking a shackle as a strand of energy poured out of his heart. All the cells in his body were cheering.


    After touching that dark rune in the invisible surging point, the golden bird-shape flame integrated into it at once. Soon after that, the rune brightened up like a burning fire-pan as it radiated a golden light. As a result, it brightened the entire surging point. After that, with a sound "boom", the surging point was completely lit as it started to radiate golden luster like a burning torch.


    From then on, the first invisible surging point out of the 34 surging points on the spine was lit as Zhang Tie stepped onto the advancement road of ''King Roc Sutra''.


    Under the small tree, Zhang Tie opened his eyes. This was just a new start. He was not satisfied with it. After picking himself up from the ground once again, he picked another leakless fruit and ate it...


    3 hours later, he ate another leakless fruit.


    After eating another 2 leakless fruits, the stick of spiritual feather produced another ball of a golden bird of flame. Meanwhile, the stick of spiritual feather turned red...


    At this moment, another golden bird-shape flame flew out of the Shrine once again. This time, it didn''t head for Zhang Tie''s heart; instead, it locked a manifested invisible surging point in the qi sea at his lower abdomen and lit it like how it lit the one in the heart.


    After the second invisible surging point was lit, Zhang Tie opened his eyes. He started his cultivation in the morning; however, it was already deep night in Castle of Black Iron now. Heller was still standing on his side. Zhang Tie picked himself up from the ground and was going to pick the 6th leakless fruit; however, Heller persuaded.


    "Castle Lord, you''ve already lit 2 surging points in the past 16 hours. You need to adapt to the change in your physical strength and supply a large amount of energy. At this moment, you need to take a rest and let your body have a buffering effect!"


    Soon after Heller''s suggestion, Zhang Tie''s stomach had started to grumble. After throwing a glance at the rest leakless fruits on the tree, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. He then went downstairs from the high platform where the small tree was planted as he waved his hand, "Alright, I will eat something and go to bed. I will be back tomorrow!"


    "That''s right. If you want to be the real powerful man, you need to control your desire. Nothing powerful and valuable could be obtained easily." Heller said thoughtfully.


    ...


    After having a bumper supper, Zhang Tie took a walk at the top of the mountain. After that, he drank two vials of all-purpose medicament and went to bed...


    When he woke up the next day, he cleansed himself as casual as usual. After that, he ate breakfast and took a walk. When he felt better both spiritually and physically, he sat under the small tree and started to eat leakless fruits.


    Zhang Tie would cultivate 16 hours a day under the small tree. Besides lighting 2 invisible surging points a day, he would rest, sleep and supply energy so that his body could adapt to the change brought by burning surging points.


    Although it felt limited in time, everything was undergoing regularly.


    During this process, Zhang Tie genuinely understood why it was called ''Robust Ox Skill'', an incomplete version of ''King Roc Sutra''. After lighting 5 invisible surging points, the terrifying strength which was as robust as a ferocious ox constantly poured out of his body like the flood, which shocked Zhang Tie too much...


    On the 4th day, after lighting the 8th invisible surging point, he felt the strength of qi, the strength of blood, the strength of bone, the strength of marrow, the strength of channel, the strength of vein and the strength of god were back and growing stronger.


    The emperor-level secret knowledge showed its terrifying power once again...

 617 The Power of a Strong Fighter

    Chapter 617: The Power of a Strong Fighter


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When in conscientious cultivation, Zhang Tie felt time flying.


    He even didn''t find that his broken leg had already healed.


    He needed to light 21 invisible surging points to promote to LV 10 from LV 9. The 21 invisible surging points spread all over his body. Sometimes, even Zhang Tie felt that he was not cultivating but decoding a very advanced safe in a special method.


    His body was a safe with a 987-digit code. The front 34 digits were easily decoded; however, the later 953-digit code became complex and difficult to decode.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie thought that there ought to be some rules to light the invisible surging points. Later on, he knew that no rules existed at all. Perhaps, for the human body''s safe, each surging point carried an unusual meaning and effect. There was a hidden special part behind each surging point. When all the special parts were integrated with each other, they would form a human body, the most precise machine in the world, which could not run if lacking any of its parts.


    ''It seemed that the function of secret knowledge was to tell people how to assemble this most precise machine in a certain method and order. After injecting energy into the machine, people would start it once again.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    ...


    Zhang Tie lit his 9th invisible surging point on the bone under his left first toenail.


    ...


    The 10th invisible surging point being lit was on a small piece of triangular bone inside his right ear.


    ...


    He lit the 11th invisible surging point on his liver; then one on his throat, one on his skull, some near his qi sea, one on the bone under his right first toenail, one on his lowest abdominal muscle, one on the left sole and one on the piece of triangular bone inside his right ear...


    These invisible surging points were not lit according to a certain order; however, after lighting each invisible surging point, Zhang Tie felt that he did that naturally or the invisible surging point was indeed lit according to some rule or at the certain rhythm. Nevertheless, the rule and rhythm were out of the reach of people''s imagination in this age. Therefore, it looked chaotic.


    Zhang Tie asked Heller the outcome of making a mistake. Heller told him that he could have a try in the trouble-reappearance situation after lighting all the invisible surging points according to the incomplete version of ''King Roc Sutra''. If he tried in the real world, the only result would be Game Over at once...


    The effect of leakless fruits remained unchanged. Precisely, it required him to consume 7 leakless fruits to light each 3 invisible surging points. He needed to consume 49 leakless fruits to promote to LV 10 from LV 9.


    On December 1, after sitting 11 days consecutively under the small tree, Zhang Tie ate the 48th and the 49th leakless fruit.


    When it was about 12 am at noon, a LV 6 black spider-totem, a LV 7 huge centipede-totem, a LV 8 king snake-totem and a LV 9 bloody scorpion-totem appeared behind him at the same time, which formed a wonder in the sky...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that the moment the battle-qi totems rose behind him, Heller had already waved his hand as the colorful clouds started to cover the entire peak and dozens of square kilometers'' land under the peak. As a result, those people in the town could not see clearly what was happening here; neither did they know that the God they worshiped was promoting to LV 10.


    At the sight of the four battle-qi totems behind Zhang Tie, Edward, Agan and Aziz instantly ran over here. Standing outside the range of the small tree with Heller, they watched Zhang Tie with an amazing and admiring look.


    "Heller, what''s happening to our master?" Aziz asked.


    Aziz, Edward and Agan were masters in their own lines. However, they had very limited knowledge about other things. Therefore, they could only learn them later on.


    "Castle Lord has officially entered LV 10. This is the symbol of promoting to LV 10, totem digestion..." Heller replied with a satisfactory look.


    Soon after Heller finished his words, the four totems behind Zhang Tie had started to change.


    The huge centipede totem moved like a real one as it engulfed the hell black spider; after that, the king snake swallowed the huge centipede; closely after that, the king snake was eaten by the bloody scorpion, which grew larger at least one time. However, the final winner didn''t live longer. It immediately turned into a golden rain of light and poured into Zhang Tie''s body from the top of his head.


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes and stood up. His eyes were full of shrewd lights as his bones started to crack like fried beans for about 2 minutes. After that, Zhang Tie rapidly grew over 3 cm higher in the gaze of Heller, Aziz, Agan and Edward.


    Zhang Tie finally understood how it felt to open his qi sea. After lighting 46 invisible surging points, Zhang Tie felt space was opened over there, which covered the Shrine surging point. As a result, the iron-blood battle qi swimming through his body immediately returned to the space of the qi sea and gathered there like it found its home.


    Additionally, the iron-blood battle qi that gathered in the qi sea seemed to be compressed. It was of higher density and greater energy. Moreover, it became more flexible. At this moment, the iron-blood battle qi all over his body integrated into one unity.


    With energy surging and battle qi rising in the qi sea, Zhang Tie became thrilled. At this moment, he finally understood how it felt as a LV 10 strong fighter. What a great, great, great power!


    Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to roar. Closely after that, he sprung up from the ground below the small tree. Due to a pair of powerful legs, he could jump over 10 m high in the sky. When he was still in the sky, he punched a 1.7 m thick parasol tree over 20 m away.


    Zhang Tie felt like shooting a cannonball as a red fist being covered with red battle-qi luster flew out as faster as a lightning bolt. In a split second, his fist had struck that parasol tree.


    With a boom, the wood dust flew in all directions from the hard trunk, causing a fist-sized hole through its trunk.


    Before landing on the ground, Zhang Tie had already launched the second round of attack with his foot, while an ax-shape battle qi luster flew out of his foot and hacked onto the ground like a huge ax. As a result, a trough about 1 m long and half a meter deep was left on the ground more than 10 m away.


    After that, Zhang Tie landed on the ground as he burst out into laughter. After so many days of cultivation, he finally felt being confident once again.


    "Congratulations, Castle Lord, you''ve promoted to LV 10 and stepped onto the road of becoming a powerful person!" Heller walked towards Zhang Tie and suggested, "Castle Lord, do you want to try the javelins?"


    "Yup!"


    The moment Zhang Tie replied had Agan, Aziz and Edward carried some heavy javelins over here jubilantly with a flattering look.


    Zhang Tie took a heavy javelin and weighed it with his hands. He felt it was as light as a stick of straw. Zhang Tie knew that it was not because the javelin became lighter, but he became stronger.


    The moment Edward and Aziz took the target and ran away had they been stopped by Zhang Tie.


    "No need. There''re so many trees here. I can shoot them..."


    Soon after saying this, Zhang Tie had thrown his javelin towards one shagbark more than 400 m away at the foot of the mountain.


    This time, the sonic boom turned lighter. By contrast, when the shagbark was struck, a thunder boom drifted from afar; meanwhile, the entire shagbark was broken into pieces, leaving a huge pit on the ground.


    Zhang Tie was very satisfied with this strike. It was at least two times more effective than that of before. With such a great power, Zhang Tie knew that a LV 11 wing demon would not pose any threat to him anymore.


    Through this advancement, Zhang Tie knew that his battle strength had increased by more than two times. His battle pattern had changed greatly because he could realize battle qi attack without having to touch the opponent now. After promoting to LV 10, he became qualified to cultivate some senior battle skills and martial arts. A wholly new gate was opened to him from then on. Heller was right. This was the start to be a real powerhouse.


    After doing some warm-up, Zhang Tie noticed that the entire mountain was covered by the colorful clouds.


    "Heller, what happened?"


    "Castle Lord, when you promoted to LV 10, there was an abnormal phenomenon. As it was very eye-catching, if those residents in the town saw such a phenomenon which would appear when a commoner promoted to LV 10 on the God''s mountain, they might wave their belief. Therefore, I covered that place with colorful clouds!" Heller explained.


    Zhang Tie didn''t agree with Heller''s deed because he felt that Heller cared too much about their belief. However, as Heller was always meticulous and did this for his sake, Zhang Tie didn''t say anything about that.


    If Zhang Tie was a commoner, he must have been very satisfied; however, after being thrilled, Zhang Tie threw his glance towards that small tree once again. The iron-body fruits that he obtained through torture were still hanging over there. Additionally, there were another over 150 leakless fruits. "Compared to having them hang over there, I''d better turn all of those fruits into my battle strength..."

 618 Being Dauntless and Progressive

    Chapter 618: Being Dauntless and Progressive


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Although having promoted to LV 10, Zhang Tie was not satisfied with his current achievement; instead, he continued to improve his fighting strength.


    According to Heller''s suggestion, after promoting to LV 10, he''d better eat all the iron-body fruits so as to raise his strike-resistant ability to a new height.


    Previously, it took him at least 7 days of strike in Crystal Battle Fortress for an iron-body fruit. However, after falling in the hand of Senel Clan, it only took him a few days to form 5 iron-body fruits. Given this fast speed, it could be imagined how cruel torture had he experienced.


    Take Zhang Tie''s leg as an instance. The leg was fully broken one part after another using instrument of torture. This sharp pain was as unbearable as in the hell. Besides the stripe on his scalded skin all over his body, there were other kinds of cruel tortures, each of which could collapse commoners.


    With those cruel tortures, even a piece of iron would be smelt; however, Zhang Tie survived.


    Of course, he obtained the fruits after experiencing the hell-like pains. Zhang Tie felt that he should appreciate the small tree. The small tree brought him the last beacon of hope in all pains. Because of the small tree, he escaped out of that cell.


    Zhang Tie took 2 days to digest the 5 iron-body fruits.


    Just like qualitative changes that happened when he lit sufficient invisible surging points, after digesting 5 more iron-body fruits, Zhang Tie felt his strike-resistant ability had met a qualitative change.


    In Zhang Tie''s words, he finally understood the term ''Iron man''. The term ''Iron man'' could be well defined by the following data through the test made by Heller for him after he digested 5 iron-body fruits.


    Heller said Zhang Tie finally reached a small achievement after eating so many iron-body fruits these years. Over 95% of Zhang Tie''s body parts had been immune to pure barbarous force and strike from blunt objects below 900 kg, except for his eyes, nose, ears and inguen. That was to say, any force below 900 kg would cause no harm to Zhang Tie any longer.


    Eyes, nose, ears and inguen which were very fragile for commoners, Zhang Tie could still bear over 10 times more pure barbarous force and strike from blunt objects.


    Besides being fully immune to blunt objects and barbarous force below 900 kg, his body could also bear more physical harms caused by other blunt objects, high temperature or flames or battle qi strike.


    Heller told Zhang Tie about his strike-resistant ability to those harms vividly.


    "Simply, if you are naked now, you would not be scalded by 100 degree Celsius anymore. If an average 6-year old kid stabs you with a common blade or sword, he would not make you bleed. Your toxins-resistant ability has increased by 4%; your spiritual-strike-resistant ability has increased 5%; all the battle qi strikes on you would be weakened by 3%-12% or so."


    "Battle qi strikes'' effects on you would be specifically determined by the battle qi''s level and features. If a person who cultivates iron-blood battle qi attacks you, you could only be immune to 4% of its total effect. If the battle qi is fury-wave battle qi, robust ox battle qi, fiery-flame battle qi or crescent battle qi, you could be immune to above 9% of its full effect.


    "There''s one point you need to know, iron-body fruit brings you the natural physical ability, which could not be brought by any secret knowledge and fighting skills. If you could learn some defensive secret knowledge and fighting skills in the future, you could have a defensive effect bonus on the basis of those fighting skills and secret knowledge."


    Zhang Tie knew that although his harm-resistant ability could not match that pervert ability to walk out of the magma safe and sound like Zhao Yuan, his master, it was at least top-class in the same level. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt being immortal and proud in front of many low-level fighters.


    Through Heller''s words, Zhang Tie immediately understood many things. He realized why Heller always persuaded him to not belittle the effects of iron-body fruits.


    Iron-body fruits could improve his physical qualities and defensive ability in all aspects for sure, including harm-resistance and defense against stunt and sharp objects, physical harm-resistance and defense against flames and high temperature, strike-resistance and defense against spiritual force, toxins and battle qi.


    The body was the basis of everything. Only with a powerful body could one survive in the chaotic world. A strong and firm body could grant people with great and firm confidence and belief and enable them to face dilemma and challenges more calmly.


    "Castle Lord, If you had not fallen asleep for 3 years because of Abyan, you should have reached this effect when you were promoted to LV 9. If you had such a strong body at LV 9, you would have fewer dangers when facing those difficulties and enemies!" Heller told Zhang Tie with full moods.


    Zhang Tie nodded forcefully. He has indeed missed a lot during the 3 years. Thankfully, he still had a chance to mend it up. At least, the leakless fruits were kept hanging over the small tree. He could catch up with the schedule.


    On the 3rd day since he digested those iron-body fruits, Zhang Tie continued to sit under the small tree and eat leakless fruits.


    The world after LV 10 was different from that of before LV 10 in many aspects. To be a LV 6 fighter was a key watershed on the road of cultivation while becoming a LV 10 strong fighter was another watershed. The scenery before and after the two watersheds was entirely different.


    Before LV 6, cultivators could neither use battle qi nor gather magical beasts'' soul flames to produce battle-qi totem.


    Before LV 10, cultivators could not launch the long-distance battle-qi strike. From LV 6 to LV 9, battle-qi totem on each level was fixed. Without integrating with the same level of soul flame, cultivators could not make further cultivation and advancement.


    After LV 10, everything changed greatly. Cultivators could launch the long-distance battle-qi strike. Soul flames'' influence on cultivators had two major changes.


    First, magical beasts'' soul flames which could be integrated by LV 10 strong fighters started to become rare. They could not be easily owned by people; instead, they became a rarity for cultivators.


    Second, cultivators didn''t have to integrate with soul flames so as to promote.


    The first change could be understood easily. Because magical beasts above LV 10 could be rarely obtained, of course, their soul flames became rare. Only a few of magical beasts above LV 10 were above the ground. Most of the magical beasts above this level would hide in the deeper underground world or adventurous, unpopulated places. Without great efforts and a high price, commoners could barely see magical beasts above LV 10, not to mention their soul flames.


    As to the second change, when a person reached LV 10, his physical potential treasure would be further tapped. As the most spiritual living being, after promoting to LV 10, people could be self-sufficient and didn''t need soul flames to promote themselves anymore. Of course, it didn''t mean that soul flames became useless after LV 10; conversely, after LV 10, soul flames became more effective and more precious to cultivators compared to that before LV 10. Because soul flames could stimulate one''s battle qi to mutate and add some extra attributes or certain great abilities to the cultivator. This effect was enough to drive people mad.


    Because of the above two reasons, the battle-qi totem and abilities of powerhouses started to change greatly after LV 10. Many people could not integrate with soul flames after LV 10; therefore, their battle-qi totems became popular ''Whiteboard Totems''.


    There were no powerful magical beasts in the ''Whiteboard Totems''; instead, there were only bright points that represented the surging points that had been lit in one''s body. Because of those bright points, ''Whiteboard Totem'' was also called ''Starry Totem''.


    By contrast, those powerhouses after LV 10 who had integrated with soul flames would have both starry points and a powerful magical beast image. Besides being more magnificent, the combination of magical beast''s image and the starry totem also represented the cultivator''s greater fighting strength. Accordingly, the battle qi''s power and feature would be greatly different than that which had not integrated with soul flames.


    Before LV 10, each level from LV 6-LV 9 could integrate with soul flame once. Besides, the level of the soul flame should be consistent with the level of the cultivator. Whereas, after LV 10, before one became a knight, each person only had one chance to integrate with soul flame, which didn''t have to be consistent with the level of soul flame. If a LV 10 strong fighter was able and talented, he or she could integrate with the soul flame of a powerful LV 16 magical beast so as to change his battle qi''s power greatly.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s battle-qi totem was a ''Whiteboard Totem''. In his battle-qi totem, there were 55 bright points in the rolling iron-blood banner, which represented the number of surging points that he had lit in his body after promoting to a strong fighter.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t have any super powerful magical beast''s soul flame to integrate with. Neither was he worried about that. It was a major event for each cultivator to integrate with a magical beast''s soul flame after LV 10. They had to treat it meticulously. Besides fortune and ability, cultivators needed to consider a lot of aspects. Without proper soul''s flame, cultivators would maintain their ''Whiteboard Totem'' even at LV 16.


    Zhang Tie continued his cultivation.


    As an incomplete version of ''King Roc Sutra'', ''Robust Ox Sutra'' could only allow the cultivators to be the 3-star fighter at most. Zhang Tie needed to light 34 invisible surging points from LV 10 to LV 11, which was as difficult as lighting the number of surging points from LV 1 to LV 9. Zhang Tie only needed to light another 13 surging points orderly so as to promote to a 3-star strong fighter.


    Only after 7 days, when Zhang Tie lit another 13 invisible surging points, the "Robust Ox Skill" didn''t work for him anymore.


    That was the toughest cultivation moment...


    On the afternoon of December 9th, after lighting the last surging point on "Robust Ox Skill" and producing another ball of golden flame from the stick of spiritual feather in the Shrine, Zhang Tie left the small tree. After that, he ate some food, took a rest, then walked; then he stood on the top of the mountain and watched those people living in the town. Until Zhang Tie felt that his body had recovered to the optimal state physically and spiritually did he return to the small tree and sat down.


    Knowing that the later cultivation process would be extremely tough and frustrating, Heller warned Zhang Tie, "Castle Lord, you''d better choose a trouble-reappearance situation which consumes the least spiritual energy. In this way, you could make attempts by constantly activating the trouble-reappearance situation with your spiritual energy. According to my most optimistic estimation, if you want to find the next accurate invisible surging point to light, you need to die at least 450 times in the trouble-reappearance situation."


    "Alright!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie closed his eyes. After activating a trouble-reappearance situation, he entered it in a split second.


    ...


    Sea waves, refreshing wind, sand beach and sunshine, Zhang Tie watched the place where he collected blue sea iron ores in the west of the Hidden Dragon Island and revealed a smile.


    Standing on the beach, he saw a small sea snake in the sea, which was twisting its body and waiting to give Zhang Tie a fierce bite.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about that small sea snake; instead, he found a higher clean rock on the beach and sat on it with legs crossed. He started to visualize his Shrine surging point. The ball of golden flame which could light the next invisible surging point was still in the Shrine surging point. However, there were 919 invisible surging points to be lit in his body.


    "Which one first?" Zhang Tie glanced over all of them before revealing a bitter smile, "Whatever, no matter what I choose, the accuracy is less than 1/900. No need to hesitate at all."


    Thinking in this way, Zhang Tie allowed that ball of golden flame to fly into an invisible surging point on the top of his head. He prepared to try from the top for the sake of memory...


    The ball of golden flame integrated with the highest surging point. In the next second, he heard the sound of breaking glass. After opening his eyes, he found he had exited the trouble-reappearance situation and returned to the small tree.


    Zhang Tie became a bit surprised, "Ah? What''s wrong? It''s so fast..."


    "You failed the first time, my lord. You''ve been destroyed and died one time in the trouble-reappearance situation. Therefore, you exited there!" Heller replied calmly.


    "I''ve been destroyed so fast? But I didn''t feel any pain at all."


    "It needs human neurons some time to feel pain. The feeling of pain is transmitted to a certain region in the human brain in the form of electronic signal. When the speed of self-destruction is faster than the transmission speed of that electronic signal, everything would come to an end before you feel any pain! Castle Lord, do you want to see what was happening at that time?"


    "Yup!"


    Heller waved his hand as a holographic scene appeared in front of Zhang Tie. After standing on a beech for a short while, Zhang Tie sat on a clean piece of rock. After a few seconds, with a sound of ''bang'', his body exploded into bloody mist at once, leaving nothing at all.


    At the sight of the scene, Zhang Tie felt chilly all over as he quivered once, "This...this is the outcome of lighting the wrong surging point? If I did this in the reality, will I have the same outcome?"


    "Yes, once you''ve made a mistake in cultivation, you wouldn''t even have time to feel the pain of being destroyed by the emperor-level secret knowledge. After selecting the wrong target, it means that you''ve pressed down a switch of a bomb. As a result, the 987 surging points would explode in a split second like 987 mini alchemist bombs. They would leave any time for you to make any physical response and feel any pain! The benefit of this is that you won''t have any experience in wounds or pain physically or spiritually in the trouble-reappearance situation. As long as you have sufficient spiritual energy, you can constantly try it..." Heller explained solemnly.


    After being silent for a short while, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "It''s indeed tough to recover the complete emperor-level secret knowledge. However, now that I choose it, I will continue!"


    After saying these words, Zhang Tie sat down with crossed legs once again. He closed his eyes and activated the same trouble-reappearance situation once again.


    After a few seconds, Zhang Tie opened his eyes once again. He failed again...


    13 hours later, after being exploded 796 times, he finally lit the accurate invisible surging point on a muscle of his calf below his knee. This time, he didn''t explode. Instead, the new lit surging point became consistent with other lit surging points, bringing a wholly new energy to Zhang Tie...


    "That''s it..."


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile after opening his eyes.


    Half an hour later, that surging point was lit in the real world...


    "It''s an improvement in the human history since the Catastrophe. Another emperor-level secret knowledge starts to recover its original brilliance." Heller, who was standing on Zhang Tie''s side, concluded in a solemn look.


    Zhang Tie smiled. He directly left the small tree silently, after eating supper he went to bed. After getting up on the next day, he came to the foot of the small tree once again. After picking 2 leakless fruits and eating them, he took a short rest before entering the same trouble-reappearance situation.


    After being exploded 487 times, Zhang Tie found a new surging point, the 15th surging point from LV 10 to LV 11...


    ...


    This time, Zhang Tie sat under the small tree for about 3 months...

 619 A Powerful Ability

    Chapter 619: A Powerful Ability


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Time: 4 am, March 14th, the 895th year of Black Iron Calendar...


    Location: A tower in Ironedge Castle of Senel Clan outside Tokei City, the capital of Titanic Duchy...


    At this moment, the Ironedge Castle was like a stiff monster falling asleep in the pitch-dark night...


    In the empty tower, a rat appeared in a corner along the wall of the aisle in a blink of an eye.


    That rat had smooth fur which seemed having been well maintained. It looked shrewd all over.


    The rat stood up like a person. After looking around, it sniffed. At the sight of the thick layer of dust on the floor, the rat looked a bit frustrated.


    After finding that nobody was near here and the environment here became different than that a few months ago, it darted along the wall. In a split second, it had reached the staircase. Soon after that, it climbed downstairs...


    There was a lobby on the first floor with an opening gate towards the outside. There were some scattered rocks and broken objects. All the items had been covered with dust. Half of a wall in the hall had collapsed. Along the moonlight from the broken hole on the collapsed wall, the rat saw this place clearly.


    There was neither lamplight nor human here. It seemed having experienced a sharp change.


    The rat ran all the way to the gate of the lobby. Standing at the stage outside the gate, he watched the Ironedge Castle with a dumbfounded look.


    The rat found the Ironedge Castle had been completely abandoned. It looked desolate and shabby all over.


    It had to be abandoned as half of its buildings had encountered a huge destruction and turned into debris. The greater part of Ironedge Castle''s main buildings had collapsed. The yard of the square in the center of the castle had been covered with weeds, which were slightly waving in the night wind...


    Under the moonlight, there were tweets of crickets among the weeds.


    When the rat was glancing over the scene, a huge colorful cat which had long treated this place as his home was lowering its body and drawing close to the rat. The rat which was glancing at the scene out of curiosity was a rare night snack in the eyes of the big colorful cat.


    The rat seemed not having found that the cat was drawing near. Drooling saliva, the big colorful cat soon narrowed the distance to 2 m. It then charged towards the rat as fast as a lightning bolt.


    ...


    The rat didn''t scream; instead, the big colorful cat groaned after being extremely stunned.


    The rat disappeared; instead, Zhang Tie appeared as he glanced at this place full of excitement.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie disguised as Peter Hamplester who had returned from Ice and Snow Wilderness. He was lifting the skin on the cat''s neck with two fingers slightly. Facing such a thing, the cat became so scared that it kept groaning out of panic.


    After calming down, Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he placed the big colorful cat on the ground. Being too scared to look back, the cat escaped away at the fastest speed.


    Wandering in this utterly different castle, Zhang Tie glanced at the changes here. In the square, Zhang Tie saw a 2-m deeper pit and the cracking ground nearby. In the deserted building, Zhang Tie saw the same radioactive, destructive pattern. The only reason that caused this outcome was that this place had been attacked by the alchemist bombs.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t know what happened here during the past months, there was only point to confirm that besides the troops of the allied human forces, no other forces could have such a power across Waii Sub-continent.


    Zhang Then climbed onto the top of the half-collapsed wall, from where he looked at the distance and was shocked greatly.


    Dozens of pyramid-sized gravetower demons outside the Tokei City had disappeared. Even the exterior city wall of the Tokei City had been severely destroyed. The ground had been covered with human airship wrecks.


    Looking at the distance, Zhang Tie saw at least 1000 human airship wrecks within dozens of square miles...


    Under the moonlight, many human airship wrecks only remained their skeletons which supported the hard-type air sacs. Some of the skeletons were well preserved; some had been twisted like bones of dead warriors as they shined desolate brilliance.


    This was a miserable large-scale battle. The human airship troop raided Tokei City and used the alchemist bombs to destroy all of the gravetower demons here. However, as a payment, human airship troop also suffered a great loss.


    When Zhang Tie recalled Lan Yunxi, he became concerned at once; however, after thinking about Lan Yunxi''s status, he recovered his composure again. Zhang Tie knew that Lan Yunxi would never be permitted to sacrifice in such a miserable battle by Zhang Clan or Lan Clan. Even if Lan Yunxi''s airships crashed, they would escort her away too.


    "I wonder what''s going on in Selnes Theater of Operations?"


    "Over the past months, the entire Selnes Theater of Operations must have experienced a great change."


    Zhang Tie instantly disappeared. After a few seconds, a big bird appeared. It flapped its wings and rushed to hundreds of meters high in a blink of an eye and headed for Tokei City in the distance.


    That bird was the wounded thunder hawk that Zhang Tie bought in the illegal demon hunters market. After recuperating several months in Castle of Black Iron, it had completely recovered; additionally, with the help of all-purpose medicament, the thunder hawk had reached its heyday. Under the moonlight, its feathers were shining like metal. Only after a few breaths, it had already reached one mile away.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was sitting calmly under the small tree in Castle of Black Iron while the thunder hawk became his second incarnation after the rat.


    Previously, Zhang Tie even didn''t imagine that he could manipulate in this way.


    In the process of using soul-based animal controlling skill of ''Great Wilderness Sutra'', he had to protect his original body. In that state, his body was just like a plant man who only breathed. It couldn''t sense or move at all. If not being protected well, even a 3-year old kid or a wild-dog could kill him. It was always a shortcoming of soul-based animal controlling skill.


    If the incarnation was dead, the manipulator''s awareness and senses could recover on the original body; at most losing some aura qi and source soul. Although it felt not good, at least the manipulator would not die. However, if the original body was dead, the manipulator would indeed die. He didn''t even have a chance to mend it up.


    Therefore, when the disciples of Great Wilderness School applied soul-based animal controlling skill, they always hid their original body in a safe place or put them under the eyes of the elders of the same school. Otherwise, once there was an emergency, they would die for sure.


    For Zhang Tie, Castle of Black Iron was the safest place for him. Nobody could break in without his consent. In Castle of Black Iron, his original body could be well protected. With Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie could apply soul-based animal controlling skill without any concern.


    What did Zhang Tie''s incarnation mean to Castle of Black Iron?


    Previously, Zhang Tie had to exit from the same place where he entered Castle of Black Iron. After having incarnations, he could exit wherever he wanted as long as he controlled the incarnation.


    In Heller''s words, the ''anchored'' space coordinate of Castle of Black Iron changed with the location of Zhang Tie''s incarnation outside Castle of Black Iron. When Zhang Tie''s incarnation left Castle of Black Iron, it was nothing different than Zhang Tie leaving Castle of Black iron. Similarly, when Zhang Tie''s incarnation entered Castle of Black Iron, it was nothing different than Zhang Tie entering it himself.


    This was a very powerful ability. It meant that he could appear anywhere where his incarnation could arrive as long as that space could hold his body. What a magic!


    However, this was not a magic, but a bonus effect after Castle of Black Iron combined with ''Great Wilderness Sutra''. This effect fully displayed 1 plus 1 was greater than 1...


    After combining the ability of Castle of Black Iron and the most mysterious soul-based animal controlling skill of ''Great Wilderness Sutra'', Zhang Tie instantly obtained a powerful ability. Although his fighting strength didn''t increase, he gained endless possibilities and a fantastic means.

 620 Being a Thunder Hawk

    Chapter 620: Being a Thunder Hawk


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After being incarnated into a thunder hawk, Zhang Tie felt pretty cool flying in the sky, which could never be matched by a glider or the man-powered plane.


    Thunder hawk was a very fierce mutated LV 1 living being. Its speed and agility in the sky could never be matched by any other birds. As a result, it had no natural enemy in the sky.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt the real freedom in the sky.


    Thunder hawk moved much faster than the man-powered plane or a glider driven by Zhang Tie. However, it was as easy as a commoner taking a walk on the ground for the thunder hawk. It felt no stress at all.


    Flying in the sky, Zhang Tie felt as relaxed as a fish entering the water. He felt pretty relaxed by using the airflow and flapping his wings. Zhang Tie''s body was lifted autonomously by the airflow through its feathers without any resistance.


    Although being flying, it was as easy as taking a walk in the wild field for Zhang Tie.


    Although Zhang Tie had tried to incarnate in a thunder hawk many times when he was in Castle of Black Iron these days, the space in Castle of Black Iron was limited compared to the outside. When he exited Castle of Black Iron, he really started to enjoy the flight.


    What Zhang Tie was interested in most was the vision of the thunder hawk. Among all animals, birds had best visions; compared to that of humans, thunder hawk must have a greater vision. When in flight, even if it was in the evening, with the help of a bit moonlight, it could see clearly all the kinds of stuff on the ground. Even a rat in weeds over miles away could not escape away from its eyes.


    Thunder hawk was born with a powerful sharpening effect. Like combining telescope with some special optical imaging instrument, it could see clearly very distant stuff like it was right in front of his eyes. If not Zhang Tie had a dark vision, his natural vision could never match that of a thunder hawk.


    After leaving Ironedge Castle, Zhang Tie used his instinct to fly. He soon arrived at Tokei City.


    The city wall of Tokei City was a bit damaged; however, there were still people inside the city.


    Zhang Tie saw squads of demonized puppets patrolling in the city and various things happening in dark corners.


    In the dark corners, some were doing something after dodging from demonized puppets; some were discussing something in a low voice; some were trading stuff in dim alleys; some women and men were seeking for sharp physical happiness in rooms behind curtains; some were murdering...


    In a dim street in Tokei City, a man got off a carriage. When he was going to open the gate of a residence on the roadside, some humans in masks had sneaked out of the parterre on one side and stabbed into his heart, throat, neck and the place between his chest and abdomen with some pitch-dark daggers at the same time.


    In a split second, the man had been stabbed dozens of times while his fresh blood sprayed over the stages outside the gate.


    The man fell down. Those murderers instantly took his bag away from his hand. Before leaving, they even fumbled over his corpse before disappearing into that dark alley rapidly.


    Before the man was killed, he uttered a miserable shriek, which woke up the person inside the residence. At this moment, the lamp in one room of the residence was turned on...


    When a woman in pajama hurriedly went downstairs and opened the gate with candles in hand, the killers had long escaped over 500 m away.


    Those killers could never imagine that what they had done was captured by a pair of sharp eyes hovering in the sky.


    After escaping 2-3 miles away, the killers slowed down as they entered a slum of slaves. After hiding in a place, they unveiled their masks. They were young men who looked both flurried and excited. They opened the bag and found it was filled with food like bread. They shared the food and left there...


    At the sight of this, Zhang Tie realized that the man being killed ought to be a small figure in the order chain of Senel Clan in Tokei City who had surrendered to Senel Clan and demons. He was followed by some audacious slaves. At the risk of losing their lives, those young men killed him outside the gate of his residence¡ª¡ªperhaps for bread or opposing the ruling of Senel Clan and demons.


    It was said that where there was oppression, there would be resistance. It was too normal to see such an event in Tokei City.


    The alleged order of Scala was just not voluntary. It was not the real order. Although it could run bloodily and icily in the daytime, someone would attempt to break it in the evening.


    This order was not real. Demons and Three-eye Association just turned cities into huge prisons and warehouses of fresh human blood and fleshes. In this order, demons were the rulers, those b*stards of Three-eye Association were the managers of the prisons. This was the truth of the alleged order of the new world mentioned by those sc*mbags of Three-eye Association.


    Different view angles indeed led to different feelings. Hovering in the sky, after witnessing various people and this murder, Zhang Tie became enlightened as he instantly saw through the new world''s order pursued by Scala and the Three-eye Association.


    After leaving that region, Zhang Tie instantly arrived at the Sun Avenue of Tokei City according to the route in his memory. It was where Senel Clan put him under house arrest several months ago.


    In the sky, he found that manor had been ruined into pieces. Many buildings on the street nearby the manor were damaged. However, the damages were not caused by the alchemist bombs but by another force.


    "What happened?" a whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, "Someone came here to save me?"


    ''Who''s that?''


    Zhang Tie started to search above the neighborhood with his sharp eyes. He found a tidy 3 square meters of a hole on the wall and a trace of being ploughed dozens of meters behind the wall.


    "Lan Yunxi?" Not knowing why, at the sight of that trace, Zhang Tie immediately imagined how Lan Yunxi pursed his lips and forcefully pulled the bolt while being surrounded by numerous demonized puppets. Several years ago, Zhang Tie visited where Lan Yunxi fought Zhen powerhouses in Heavenly Cold City. The trace left by that battle was very similar to this one. However, it could not match such a great destructive force. It was caused by Lan Yunxi''s battle bow which carried the bloodline power of the ancestors of Huaiyuan Palace...


    It had happened a long time ago. Given the growth of the weeds in the ruins, Zhang Tie realized that it happened even earlier than the attack in Ironedge Castle.


    The moment he thought that Lan Yunxi came here to save him had he felt crying although thunder hawk''s eyes couldn''t drop tears.


    After knowing that neither Zhang Clan nor Lan Clan would allow Lan Yunxi to deepen in such an adventurous place, Zhang Tie became reassured. After combing with the scene outside the city which had been raided by the human airship troop, Zhang Tie speculated that it was Lan Yunxi who launched the air raid after confirming the threat of gravetower demons outside the city to the allied human forces in the frontline.


    After lighting 1 of the 7 surging points on the heart, Zhang Tie didn''t realize that he had become much smarter. His speculation was very close to the fact.


    Zhang Tie continued to hover in the sky above Tokei City and observe this city. With the vision of the thunder hawk, Zhang Tie could see everything wherever he passed by. He felt like watching a huge man-made sand table. He could even see a part of those in windows if there were no curtains.


    Compared to that several months ago, Tokei City looked much more desolate at this moment. All the large-scale demonized puppet camps outside the city were empty. After hovering above there a while, Zhang Tie didn''t find any regular demon troop or wing demons at all. It was demonized puppets who maintained order here.


    In this case, Zhang Tie paid special attention to the blocks which had the highest and most luxurious buildings in the south of Tokei City.


    When Zhang Tie was wondering whether there were powerhouses of Senel Clan in Tokei City anymore at this moment, he saw a person among the buildings...


    It was Navas, the sc*mbag.


    Even though Zhang Tie could not see clearly his face in the dark, he could identify the b*stard''s figure and his way of walking...

 621 A Great Decline

    Chapter 621: A Great Decline


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Slightly bending over his body, Navas was holding a fluorescent lamp while his face was as wrinkled as orange peel. It seemed that he was not in a good condition.


    Since he screwed up the stuff in Ironedge Castle several months ago, his position in Senel Clan had encountered a disastrous decline. The golden gate which had opened to him closed up once again. However, he was declined to a lower position, becoming a warehouse keeper of Senel Clan in Tokei City.


    How could a warehouse keeper be as comfortable as a steward of the manor? It was a low-paid position. He was only accompanied by that fluorescent lamp in his hand and that whistle over his neck which could never be blown.


    If it was several months ago, he must be hugging a beautiful female slave on the bed at this moment; however, now, he needed to make an inspection tour alone one time after another. Life became tougher for him.


    "How could they blame me for Zhang Tie''s escape..." Navas mumbled to comfort himself as he found nobody nearby. Over the past months, he had been used to mutter to himself, "The one executing the massacre in Tokei City was a knight. The one who saved Selnes Eagle away might also be a knight. Only knights could sneak into Ironedge Castle and take away an alive person from the hidden cell without being found. I''m just a small figure, even if I was on the spot, how could I stop a knight. I''ve served for Senel Clan over 2 decades. I''ve always been so loyal to you, how could you treat me this way? When the knight was executing a massacre in Tokei City, weren''t you just hiding aside and watching it like me?"


    After realizing the last words were not treacherous, Navas instantly looked around out of confidence. After finding nobody nearby, he muttered some more words as he lifted the fluorescent lamp and checked whether those warehouses had been locked.


    This high-wall courtyard was in the most defensive core area of Tokei City. It was once where Titanic granduke, the ruler of Titanic Duchy met his mistress. Because Titanic granduke had a wife who was jealous and always dispatched killers to kill those who tried to steal his man from him. In order to prevent from being broken in from the outside by force, this courtyard was very hidden being surrounded with the high and thick wall, which brought them a great sense of safety and trust.


    After Titanic Duchy collapsed, precisely after Titanic Duchy fell into the hand of Senel Clan, this place had become a warehouse of Senel Clan.


    When Senel Clan collected all the wealth of the capital of the Titanic Duchy and the most part of the wealth of the country, they had to hide this wealth in hidden places. After filling the warehouse of the bank of Titanic Duchy and the secret warehouses of the Granduke Castle and Senel Clan with wealth, they had to hide the rest in this place where the Titanic granduke met his mistress.


    If it was a southern human settlement which had not collapsed, Navas might be indolent when he was here alone. However, it was in the demon''s territory, where he dared not even think about it.


    There were two reasons. First, money and properties were forbidden to circulate in demons'' territory. People had to submit in all the money and precious metal. You couldn''t buy anything here with money; neither would there be any seller. As long as one was found having money and precious metal, the person would face the death penalty. Second, even if he tried to take something away from here, he could not cross the entire Titanic Duchy and escape to south with those items alone. If he persisted in escaping, he would be the food of those demonized puppets straying in the wild.


    Senel Clan also knew that Navas dared not escape; therefore, they dispatched him here so that he could still do something for the clan.


    At this moment, Navas was dreaming that one day a big figure of Senel Clan could remember his name and dispatch him away from this f*cking place. Meanwhile, he started to admire about that Selnes Eagle who escaped away from his hand.


    "I was told that his aircraft could fly off from any place and maintain a fast speed in the sky. If I could do that..." Navas licked his lips as he exchanged a glance at that locked gate of the warehouse.


    He knew what was in the warehouse. Those items which could not be consumed or traded in demons'' territory were very useful to Senel Clan.


    "I was told that Senel Clan members and ''nobles'' in other demons'' territories were still trading things using this item. Through the relationship and network of Three-eye Association, the items inside this warehouse could still work a lot in the humans'' territory and human countries. After forbidding commoners to use and store these items in demons'' territory, ''nobles'' here could better plunder this wealth."


    After making an inspection tour around the warehouse, Navas didn''t find anything abnormal. Therefore, he lifted that fluorescent lamp and went to bed in his own room. He didn''t know that a pair of eyes was gazing firmly at him from the sky.


    Zhang Tie was still hovering in the sky. In his eyes, after making an inspection tour around some warehouses, Navas returned to his own room. Soon after that, the fluorescent lamp was turned off, making his room dark.


    This was a hidden place. There''s nobody nearby. After observing this place for a while, Zhang Tie confirmed that this was not a trap. Therefore, he sneered and plunged downward.


    The thunder hawk incarnated by Zhang Tie dived so fast. At the beginning, it shot downwards like a bolt; when he was about 50 m away from the ground, Zhang Tie stretched out his wings adroitly. The airflow penetrated through his feathers slowed him down at once. Zhang Tie then glided down silently like a folded paper plane that kids usually played.


    As long as it didn''t flap its wings, thunder hawk would not cause any sound in gliding. Even if there was a bit sound, as it was mixed with the wind sound, it could not be easily noticed by people even powerhouses.


    The thunder hawk landed behind parterre which was covered with tidy plants. Several seconds after the thunder hawk entered Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie himself appeared in the shadowy place of the parterre with a killing qi. Watching Navas entering his room less than 20 m away, Zhang Tie could hear how Navas turned over his body on the bed.


    "What a coincidence!" Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could meet Navas after making an inspection tour in Tokei City.


    If not encountered him here, Zhang Tie really didn''t have time to revenge him. Even if he wanted to revenge, he would revenge Senel Clan''s core members, instead of their lackeys. However, now that he met Navas, Zhang Tie would not pity him. The moment he remembered how cruel punishment had Navas executed on him with a sneer had he felt a killing qi surging in his mind.


    Zhang Tie walked towards Navas'' room silently.


    At the front of the room, when Zhang Tie wanted to open the door''s lock by battle qi, he found that the door was left open. He didn''t know whether it was because of the b*stard''s habit or that the b*stard forgot to close it. He just pushed open the door and walked inside.


    "Who''s that?" Navas who had not fallen asleep instantly sprung up from bed when he heard the low sound from the door.


    A LV 6 fighter responded very fast at the critical moment, including Navas. Pitifully, his opponent was Zhang Tie.


    With a distance of about 7-8 m, when Navas sprung up from the bed, Zhang Tie had already launched a punch towards him casually.


    As a result, Navas didn''t even have a chance to utter a sound before being slapped and fell back on the bed while spitting out a mouth of fresh blood. After that, he didn''t move anymore.


    Zhang Tie slowly walked over there.


    Navas had already passed out. After checking him, Zhang Tie found that almost half of Navas'' bones had been broken. At this moment, Navas looked pale golden who only had last breath.


    Zhang Tie swore him in a low voice, "F*ck, you b*stard. Aren''t you good at torturing people? But I have not realized that you were so fragile when I slapped you several months ago? Why?"


    Zhang Tie remembered that he was just a LV 9 fighter whose battle strength had been sealed and had just lit 34 surging points on his spine when he slapped Navas several months ago; then he realized that he had already lit 125 surging points besides the Shrine surging point and had been a LV 11 5-star battle master; besides, he was cultivating iron-blood fist and ''King Roc Sutra'', of course, he felt that Navas became fragile.


    Zhang Tie scratched his head bashfully, "It''s not because my opponent became weak, but I became strong. I''ve not been used to that."


    When Zhang Tie watched Navas for a few seconds, he found Navas tilted his head as black blood flew out of his mouth corner. Navas was dead! He didn''t even know who killed him. How pitiful!


    "F*ck!" Zhang Tie swore inside. After staying in Castle of Black Iron several months, he was curious about what happened outside. When Zhang Tie was going to wake Navas up and ask him some questions, he seemed hopeless.


    Zhang Tie then started to look around the room...


    Navas'' room was neither simple nor luxurious. The furnishings inside the room were nothing special at all. The moment Zhang Tie saw them had he wanted to leave. However, Zhang Tie''s eyes were attracted by one object on the table near his bed''s head.


    That was a copper whistle.


    "Whistle?" At the sight of that whistle, Zhang Tie instantly recalled what Navas was doing just now. "It seemed that Navas was making an inspection tour around those rooms with a fluorescent lamp while wearing a whistle over his neck. But what was he doing this for? It''s strange. There was nobody else here. Why did he make an inspection tour and serve as a sentry just now?''


    "Is he guarding something here for Senel Clan?"


    The moment such a whim occurred to Zhang Tie had he become spirited, "At least, it won''t be a pile of wastes." As long as it could strike and destroy Senel Clan, it would be meaningful for both Zhang Tie and humans in the holy war.


    Zhang Tie then left Navas'' room.


    This was also a manor. Being different from other manors, everything in this manor looked a bit low-key.


    There was a big house dozens of meters away from Navas'' room. When Zhang Tie came to the front of the big house, he found the gate of this big house was locked. The former windows had been sealed from inside. Zhang Tie attempted to push the door as he found the door was made of metal. it was very heavy. It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that this place was defended so strictly.


    "F*ck!" Zhang Tie swore inside as he became more curious about the items inside the big house.


    If not afraid of making a loud noise, of course Zhang Tie could break it by force. However, as it was deep evening, as long as he made any loud noise, he would attract the attention of others at once. Therefore, he could not break the metal gate by force.


    "What should I do?"


    A whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind as he squatted down in a hidden place outside the house. He took out of a pair of dark tore gloves. After putting them on, he injected his battle qi inside the gloves. After that, he inserted it into that stony wall with his fingers like inserting into a piece of bean curd.


    After deepening the distance of the wall, his fingers touched a layer of steel plate which was even harder than granite. It was not a common steel plate, but an alloy steel plate which was much harder than a common steel plate.


    "There''s a layer of high-intensity alloy steel plate inside this wall?" Zhang Tie swore inside as he intensified his strength. He soon tore open a hole on the alloy steel plate. After his entire arm entering it, he suddenly felt no resistance in front of his fingers anymore. Zhang Tie then knew that he had broken through the wall.


    After drawing his arm out of that hole, Zhang Tie disappeared. After a few seconds, a rat appeared in the place where he disappeared. After throwing a glance at that hole, it sneaked inside at once...

 622 A Thorough Cleanup

    Chapter 622: A Thorough Cleanup


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After entering the house, Zhang Tie came out of Castle of Black Iron and started to look around this place. He then faintly frowned. With the help of his dark vision, he could see everything clearly here.


    It looked like a huge warehouse. There was no furniture or decoration here. In the closely sealed house, Zhang Tie only saw piles of items. Like piles of straws in the open place of rural area, they were covered with a waterproof cloth.


    The waterproof cloths were very new. There was no dust in the sealed house while a carpet was paved on the ground. It seemed that someone lived here before.


    Zhang Tie walked to a pile of objects being covered with a piece of waterproof cloth and unveiled it at once.


    Before unveiling it, Zhang Tie imagined what might be buried beneath there. He thought they were munitions; however, after opening it, he became stunned.


    What in front of him were tidily placed pieces of golden rectangular ingot metal.


    Each piece of those ingot metal was about 40 cm in length,10 cm in width and 7 cm in thickness. At the sight of those golden ingot metal, Zhang Tie felt vacant for 0.5 seconds. He could not believe what he saw. After that, he stretched out his hand and took a piece of an ingot metal.


    It was so heavy. Weak commoners might not take it at all. Weighing it by hand, Zhang Tie knew it was gold for sure.


    The line of letters on the piece of ingot metal also verified his judgment¡ª¡ªGOLD, 99.999%, 100 KG.


    Watching the gold ingots as high as his chest, Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva. Although he didn''t know why Senel Clan would place so many golds here, he didn''t want to think about it at this moment. What counted at the present was that he needed to take away all of these golds. Even the God would not allow him to leave so many golds alone here.


    "F*ck, if I take away these golds, I will end the capital source of Three-eye Association. I''m contributing to humans in the holy war!" Zhang Tie found a fair reason for himself. After that, he swallowed a mouth of saliva and moved rapidly.


    The moment he touched a piece of gold ingot had he teleported it into Castle of Black Iron. It was time to test Zhang Tie''s speed. After making one circle around the pile of gold ingots and touching them with hands, he had teleported all of them into Castle of Black Iron.


    A pile of gold ingots had 8 layers; each layer contained 25 gold ingots; each gold ingot weighed 100 kg. It meant one pile of gold ingots weighed 20,000 kg, namely 20 tons. Each standard gold coin weighed 25 grams. Each tone of gold ingots could be made into 40,000 standard gold coins. That was to say, a pile of gold ingots were worth 800,000 gold coins.


    As Zhang Tie teleported those gold ingots into Castle of Black Iron, he started to calculate the value of each pile of gold ingots rapidly inside.


    After glancing at this warehouse, Zhang Tie found at least 20-30 piles of gold ingots here.


    Zhang Tie flashed across the entire warehouse as fast as how autumn wind swept leaves away from the ground.


    After over 20 minutes, Zhang Tie left that empty warehouse.


    The moment he left this warehouse had he heard some braking sounds of some vehicles outside the gate of the courtyard. After that, over 20 people jumped off the vehicles. The metal soles of their battle shoes touched the slate, causing disordered sounds. After a few seconds, someone opened the gate of the courtyard, causing a cracking sound.


    Zhang Tie hid in the dark. Over 20 tough soldiers rushed in the courtyard. At the sight of the last person, Zhang Tie''s pupils shrunk at once.


    That one was Rouben, another son of Koz, the head of Senel Clan. Zhang Tie had seen him twice.


    "Navas, that b*stard. What a crap! With such a loud noise, he''s still sleeping like a dead pig. Besides flattering Scala, he''s a crap for sure! If not he has served Senel Clan for so many years, I have long thrown him into gravetower demon. Even a puppet soldier is useful than him!" Rouben, who was tall and strong complained when Navas didn''t come out to greet him. With a cold harrumph, he instructed a person beside him, "Go wake up Navas!"


    "Yes, sir!" a subordinate immediately trotted towards Navas'' room.


    "No need!" Zhang Tie uttered a voice as he walked out of the shadow with a javelin in hand.


    "Who''s that?" Rouben roared as he turned around, followed by the other soldiers.


    "Long time no see!" Zhang Tie greeted Rouben with a smile.


    "You..." Rouben''s pupils shrunk as he had already identified Zhang Tie. At this moment, although Zhang Tie''s hair, eyes and skin had changed colors, he could still be easily identified by those who had seen him before.


    Rouben became stunned for a second. He then revealed an ecstasy. After that, he became solemn and suspicious. He didn''t launch an attack right away; neither did he allow his subordinates to launch an attack. Instead, he glittered his eyes and looked around. He wondered whether someone was hiding in the dark, "You were saved away last time. I''ve not imagined that you could surrender yourself. I think you are not brave to come back alone. I admit that you have sharp throwing skills; however, you''re just LV 9, you could at most threaten a LV 10 strong fighter. It''s not enough for me. Is there anybody in the dark? Whether the one who saved you is also here. Just show yourself!"


    Watching Rouben''s glittering eyes, Zhang Tie knew that this guy was suspicious and meticulous. Only after a few words, he had exposed a lot of things. Zhang Tie wanted to reply, however, a whim occurred to his mind. Therefore, he changed his mind.


    "He, he, of course I dared to come back here alone. Tokei City is not as dangerous as a lion''s den. Those who came here along with me would have already shown up if they wanted. Now, they''ve been destroying your plan. You only need to wait here for a short while, then, you will see them!" Zhang Tie replied calmly.


    As Zhang Tie could imagine, the moment he said these had Ruben revealed a bit panic. However, he recovered his composure soon, "You''re really well-informed. I''ve not imagined that you still have time to pay attention to Tokei City when your defense line in Selnes was going to be collapsed by demonized puppets'' corps!"


    "You know better than me how many lackeys of Three-eye Association were hiding in the alliance command. Do you think that all the human powerhouses would follow the order of the alliance command? Since I left here last time, someone had been gazing at Tokei City and Senel Clan." Zhang Tie sneered as he crossed his arms in a pretentious way. He marked 90 points for his own performance inside.


    "Harrumph, so what! Although my father and many powerhouses of Senel Clan are not in Tokei City anymore, you can not destroy our move. Besides me, Senel Clan has just employed an elder for the safety of the airship. He''s a knight! The one accompanying you might be a knight at most. Even though he could destroy our airship and prevent us from carrying this wealth away, you could still not take this wealth away!" Speaking of the elder of Senel Clan, Rouben recovered his composure, "If you really want to fight here, there are 500,000 demonized puppets in the city, you will suffer a great loss!"


    Cleverness might overreach itself. Because Zhang Tie looked too calm and confident, Rouben preset a premise that Zhang Tie could not come here alone. With a few words, he had exposed a lot of information to Zhang Tie, which made Zhang Tie''s heart race.


    Humans'' defense line in Selnes would collapse soon.


    Most of elites and powerhouses of Senel Clan had already left Tokei City, leaving only two powerhouses in Tokei City, Rouben and an elder of Senel Clan.


    Tonight, Senel Clan seemed to be ready for carrying some wealth that they plundered in Titanic Duchy to somewhere else.


    After thinking for a few seconds, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "Thanks for telling me so many information!"


    "What do you mean?" Rouben changed his face.


    "I mean you can die!"


    Soon after saying these words had Zhang Tie thrown out that javelin.


    That javelin carried both Zhang Tie''s terrifying strength and his iron-blood battle qi. This was a skill that Zhang Tie developed over these months. Zhang Tie found that if he could wrap the javelin with his battle qi, he could not only make the javelin more destructive but also make a lower sound in the flight. Being wrapped by iron-blood battle qi, javelin would not cause sharp sound in the air anymore; instead, it became as tender as a bumble breaking apart in water.


    Rouben had been ready to dodge and defend from Zhang Tie''s javelin. The moment Zhang Tie moved had he moved too. He instantly changed his positions while being ready to release his battle-qi totem as a warning...


    He wanted to lock Zhang Tie''s javelin; however, he found that Zhang Tie''s javelin could not be sensed at all the moment it left Zhang Tie''s hand. After being shocked inside, he knew what did this mean...


    "Impossible, I''m already LV 12..." the last whim occurred to Rouben''s mind.


    Rouben''s body exploded into the bloody mist, closely followed by a low sound in the air...


    Zhang Tie flashed his movements and launched over 20 punches in a split second, exploding all the soldiers of Senel Clan who followed Rouben in at once.


    In a second, with the coordination of javelin and iron-blood fist, Zhang Tie cleared the spot.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie realized how powerful he was. Before the bloody mist of Rouben''s body completely faded away, Zhang Tie had already darted out of the courtyard and killed the other soldiers in a truck. None of them could send any warning since the beginning.


    The entire courtyard recovered to its tranquility. Besides the corpses and blood all over the ground, nobody else had come here.


    After making an arrangement, Zhang Tie incarnated into that thunder hawk and rushed into the sky. He headed for a place outside the city in the north. Zhang Tie remembered that there was an airship base over there. There were still 4 large battle airships over there. This was the only place where airships were available across the city.


    When Zhang Tie was hovering in the sky, he had already seen this airship base; however, it was out of his imagination that Senel Clan would carry the wealth of Titanic Duchy to somewhere else.


    From thousands of meters high, Zhang Tie observed the airships. Only after hovering there a short while, he had already seen a big blazing fire burning in the place in Tokei City where he came from.


    In less than 3 minutes, Zhang Tie saw a person flashing towards Tokei City like a meteor.


    It was estimated that that person would not come back until 7-8 minutes later. Therefore, Zhang Tie dived downwards like lightning bolt and landed on the empty deck of an airship...


    In a blink of an eye, his incarnation returned to Castle of Black Iron while Zhang Tie''s real body flashed out. He then darted towards the freight cabin at the bottom of the airship. At this moment, Zhang Tie had already exploded his maximal speed and battle strength. On the way there, he met some small figures. Like a wind blowing by, Zhang Tie casually killed all of them without even seeing them clearly.


    Only after dozens of seconds, Zhang Tie had already reached the freight cabin at the bottom of the airship. After breaking the hatch into pieces with one punch, he saw a lot of crates in front of him.


    Zhang Tie didn''t even check what was inside the crates. With a gust of wind blowing by, he touched all the crates and teleported all of them into Castle of Black Iron. When he did that, he sprayed a large volume of kerosene over there...


    It took Zhang Tie less than 1. 5 minutes to plunder this airship. After rushing out of this airship, he darted into the second airship on its side.


    All those trying to prevent Zhang Tie were fighters below LV 9. They were too weak in front of Zhang Tie.


    After 5 minutes, Zhang Tie directly broke out of a wall of the freight cabin at the bottom of the 4th airship. After that, he flashed around the four airships and set blazing fires on them. After sweeping the 4 airships, Zhang Tie directly burned all the corpses along with his traces...


    At this moment, that person who left here just now had already realized that something was wrong here. He accelerated towards here, causing a terrifying sonic boom in the air.


    After hearing that wuthering sound and how fast it was heading towards him, Zhang Tie became scared. The sound moving speed was at least 2 or 3 times than that he could imagine. Zhang Tie then realized the power of a knight. He hurriedly rushed towards the woods beside the burning airships.


    When the wuthering sound was close to the airship base, many birds were so flurried that they flew off. Zhang Tie also entered Castle of Black Iron and the thunder hawk flew together with those birds...


    After Zhang Tie disappeared less than half a minute, a frame with unrivaled killing qi and a terrifying power had flashed by Zhang Tie''s feet like a blazing fire. Zhang Tie was so scared that he oozed sweat all over.


    After doing this, Zhang Tie did not dare to stay in Tokei City anymore; instead, he directly headed for Selnes Theater of Operations in the south...

 623 Zhang Ties Creed

    Chapter 623: Zhang Tie''s Creed


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When a pinpoint of light appeared in the eastern sky, Zhang Tie had already flown over 3 hours. Tokei City had been lagged far behind by him. Thunder hawk moved so fast that Zhang Tie felt that he had already flown over 1000 mile while numerous mountains, rivers and cities had been lagged behind.


    No matter how great the elder of Senel Clan was, he could not catch up with Zhang Tie anymore, even though he changed his direction and flew towards the south. After leaving Tokei City, Zhang Tie didn''t just keep flying forward. He even changed his route twice on the way. No matter what, as it was in the sky, his move would not be influenced. Zhang Tie preferred to fly above the high and rugged mountains, and great rivers, where his enemy would not choose to chase after him on the ground.


    It was the first time for Zhang Tie to ''fight'' knights. After Zhang Tie left Tokei City a long time, that terrifying figure who looked like a blazing fire still made Zhang Tie scared. If he was one minute late or he was not able to use his incarnation, he would be in a big trouble.


    The knight moved so fast. Especially when he found that he was cheated and returned from Tokei City to the airship base, his speed was much faster than Zhang Tie''s thunder hawk. He was not running on the ground anymore; but flying in the air. Leaning forward, he was flying like a blazing meteor at about 100 m above the ground.


    ''Was that the ability of a knight?'' Although he had witnessed how the Star and Moon Sword Sage used the same ability, at the sight of this ability used by his enemy, Zhang Tie was still shocked too much. He also understood the great gap between him and a knight. Zhang Tie recovered his composure once again although he could easily kill a LV 12 elite of Senel Clan.


    ''The path ahead is still long. I''m not unrivaled now. Therefore, I should not be puzzled by the current triumph. Life is the most precious, battle strength is the most reliable, freedom counts the most.'' Zhang Tie warned himself inside. ''The reason that I succeeded this time is not that I have an overwhelming battle strength; but I''m a free man. In that free state, I could exert my ability to the utmost. Therefore, I could destroy the plan of Senel Clan and do what others could not do.''


    ''What if this move was arranged by the alliance command?''


    ''Needless to say, that would be another trap for sure. Even If a knight was dispatched to join the move together with me, that knight might be killed too.'' After experiencing the alchemists'' bomb attack in Ice and Snow Wilderness, Zhang Tie knew that even a powerful knight would fall into the trap which was delicately designed by others and might lose his life.


    ''Only when your enemy doesn''t know about your next plan would it be the greatest guarantee for your safety. Additionally, the alleged "unrivaled" person could not defeat everyone else. You only need to defeat the one that you''re going to face.''


    Although Zhang Tie recovered his composure, he didn''t look down upon himself; instead, he saw clearly his own advantage and ability. What he did several hours ago might not be matched by any elder of Huaiyuan Palace. Therefore, although the battle strength and ability were important, it was more important if you choose the proper means to exert your battle strength and ability to the utmost at a proper time and a proper place.


    This time, Zhang Tie saw clearly his advantage and his battle style. Being mysterious; dodge from the opponent''s strength and strike their shortcomings; dodge from the powerhouse and strike weak ones; seize all the opportunities to strike the enemy and leave right away; never leave any chance to the opponent''s powerhouse to catch; take the priority of the battle at any time.


    By contrast, he would never strike the enemy using his small figure in the air, falling into the enemy''s trap and almost lose his life like before.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that he had gradually established a firm and powerful personal creed after a year of experience in Selnes Theater of Operations. This creed would influence the rest of his life.


    Zhang Tie concluded this creed in one sentence at the cost of his fresh blood, even life on the battlefield.


    ¡ª¡ªWithout taking the priority, I would never join the battle.


    ...


    After flying 3-4 hours, Zhang Tie finally arrived at the hinterland of Titanic Duchy. This place was over 1000 miles away from Selnes Theater of Operations. Although Zhang Tie didn''t feel tired, he didn''t intend to fly ahead anymore.


    ''No matter how the battle situation develops in the frontline of Selnes Theater of Operations, it won''t work if I just break in.'' Before entering Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie intended to count what he had achieved in Tokei City.


    After making a cool plunder, he was busy escaping; therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t have time to check what he had gotten from the freight cabins at the bottom of the airships at all. Thinking of those locked crates, anybody would be restless, including Zhang Tie...


    ''After robbing the human clans of Three-eye Association, of course, I will check what I''ve gotten.''


    It was wild below. After noticing a hidden concave cliff cave in the middle of a steep mountain peak where the thunder hawk could rest in, Zhang Tie spiraled down there.


    There were a pine tree and some weeds outside the cliff cave. It was very clean inside the cliff cave as no boa was inside. It was about 2 m deep. Zhang Tie flapped his wings and landed outside the cave. After that, he entered it. Closely after that, he entered Castle of Black Iron.


    After the thunder hawk entered Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie''s consciousness and senses returned to his own body.


    After opening his eyes, Zhang Tie, with his legs crossed, found that thunder hawk was standing beside him as it was rubbing his thigh with its beak in a very intimate way, causing a light, cracking sound.


    While using soul-based animal controlling skill, the consciousness and senses of the animal which Zhang Tie incarnated in was like in a deep sleep. The animal didn''t know what its body was doing at all. Only after Zhang Tie relieved that state could the animal recovered its consciousness and senses. Because of the special connection between consciousness and Great Wilderness Seals, after the animal woke up, it would be very intimate with the executor like the latter''s loyal pet.


    Zhang Tie smiled as he touched the thunder hawk''s head. He then picked himself up. Seeing Zhang Tie standing up, that thunder hawk also flapped its wings and jumped up. It wanted to stand onto Zhang Tie''s hand. Zhang Tie then stretched out his arm and allowed it to stand on. After flapping its wings twice, the thunder hawk found its balance.


    At this moment, Aziz and Heller walked over here together. Aziz was even holding that rat which Zhang Tie had incarnated before. At the sight of the thunder hawk on Zhang Tie''s hand, the rat was so scared that it quivered and hid into Aziz''s sleeve at once. It didn''t dare to come out anymore. That thunder hawk flapped its wings to show its power before croaking twice.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he flicked the thunder hawk''s head slightly with one finger, "You cannot eat it, it saved my life before; additionally, it also made meritorious deed today. If you are hungry, you can go to him, he will give you something to eat!"


    The thunder hawk croaked and flapped its wings twice more as if it had understood Zhang Tie''s meaning.


    Although it couldn''t eat the rat, the thunder hawk was eating the flesh of the huge deep-sea monster these days. The flesh was so yummy for the thunder hawk. Additionally, it could increase the thunder hawk''s physical strength. Besides, the thunder hawk could enjoy one vial of all-purpose medicament everyday. Such a treatment was already extremely luxurious for a bird.


    Aziz raised his arm as he always did that. The thunder hawk then jumped onto Aziz''s shoulder from Zhang Tie''s hand and stood well there. In Castle of Black Iron, Aziz was qualified as a zoologist. Therefore, he was responsible for taking care of the two pets. Seeing the thunder hawk jumping over here, the rat dared not stay in Aziz''s sleeve anymore; it sneaked out of Aziz''s sleeve. It planned to go for Zhang Tie; however, after hearing the thunder hawk''s unpleasant croak, it hurriedly changed its direction and drilled into the patch of strawberry land which was growing so vigorously. It dared not come out of there any longer.


    "These little guys are so cute!"


    "Castle Lord, do you want to see what are inside those crates?" Heller asked.


    "Heller, you know me so well." Zhang Tie nodded, "Have you seen them, what are they?"


    "I know what were they the moment they entered Castle of Black Iron. However, Castle Lord, if you could open them by yourself; you would have a greater sense of achievement!" Heller revealed a smile.


    "Fine, I will take a look then..." Zhang Tie replied happily.

 624 A Great Achievemen

    Chapter 624: A Great Achievement


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    There was a huge hollow in the middle of that sacred mountain in Castle of Black Iron. According to Heller, he renovated this place into a huge warehouse lest waste in basic energy storage.


    Honestly, after Heller accomplished this space and topographical renovation, the basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron almost used up. As a result, Zhang Tie had to carry the heavy responsibility to expand the basic energy storage for Castle of Black Iron.


    Those items that Zhang Tie plundered from Tokei City were all in the hinterland of the sacred mountain.


    The entrance of the hinterland of the mountain was in the north at the top of the mountain. There was a stony gate. After entering the gate, Zhang Tie stepped onto the tidy stages while the path was bright because of the fluorescent belts on both sides of the staircase. He seemed to enter a delicate, fantastic basement. The space and topographic renovation capability of Castle of Black Iron was really marvelous. Who could imagine that all these were natural, especially the natural fluorescent belts on both sides of the aisle? In Zhang Tie''s opinion, this was a fabulous, unforgettable setting.


    Walking on the tidy stages, a whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind as he asked Heller, "Heller, can we make a castle on the top of the mountain using the space and topographic renovation ability of Castle of Black Iron? I mean to grow a castle or a palace here?"


    "Of course, Castle Lord!" Heller watched the stages as he replied, "With the capability of Castle of Black Iron, we can form the complete main structure of a castle or a palace. Except for the furniture and mobile windows and doors which requires us to manufacture and install with hands, all the fixed parts could be formed by the capability of space and topographic renovation. Additionally, we could choose many kinds of building materials. It''s much more convenient than concrete, stones and steel products!"


    "That''s great!" Zhang Tie exclaimed, "Don''t you feel it becoming crowded on the top of the mountain, I''m afraid that very few people could be held here!"


    Those buildings on the top of the mountain were portable dwellings that Zhang Tie left when in Castle of Black Iron, which remained unchanged these years.


    "Castle Lord, do you want to take some more people in?"


    "Hmm, maybe!" Zhang Tie replied briefly. Zhang Tie estimated that he might have babies now.


    "Castle Lord, as long as you could provide sufficient energy storage and merit values, you can build castle and palace in a split second. You''ve gotten enough merit values; however, you lack basic energy storage." Heller replied.


    "What are my merit values now?" Zhang Tie asked Heller as he had not paid attention to his merit values for a long time.


    "3287790" Heller told him a tremendous figure.


    "Ah? How could it be so much?" Zhang Tie became stunned.


    "Castle Lord, you saved tens of thousands of human captives from the underground space of Misty Moon Woods to Castle of Black iron lest they were killed. Therefore, you obtained over 1 million merit values. Plus those you''ve achieved over the past one year by killing demons in Selnes Theater of Operations!"


    After being conscious of his merit values, Zhang Tie continued, "How much basic energy storage do we need to accomplish one building?''


    "It depends on your demand, my lord. Of course, the more, the better. If you have sufficient basic energy storage, you will have more choices. You can build and form more objects and main structures of buildings!"


    Zhang Tie nodded and became silent. He started to imagine what a kind of building to build on the top of the mountain. Curiously, he didn''t have such a thought before. However, he became more desirable about this idea now.


    Zhang Tie thought that this might because that he was going to be a dad of some babies.


    When a man was going to be a father, he would change his ideas greatly. Take Zhang Tie as an instance, previously, he felt it comfortable to live in here alone. Nevertheless, he realized that it was a bit crowded here.


    ''If some relatives or friends came in, where would they live? It''s such a chaotic world. My family members might seek a shelter in Castle of Black Iron at any time. As a man, I should make more preparations for the safety of my family members when their settlement is afflicted by the holy war.'' Zhang Tie bore this idea in mind.


    ''When I escaped from Senel Clan''s prison last time, I touched my elder brother. At that time, elder brother and the other family members have already arrived at Yingzhou State, one of the 72 states of Eastern Continent, safe and sound. They have already settled down basically.''


    Fiona, Linda and Beverly were good. Because they had been pregnant, they were not suitable to move frequently. Under the suggestion of Zhang Tie''s dad and mom, the elder brother was buying real estate in Yingzhou. They prepared to settle in Yingzhou first and got used to the folklore of Taixia Country in the Eastern Continent. They would not consider transferring to proper places until the three babies of Zhang Tie came to this world.


    Being different from all the other newborn babies, the moment the 3 babies of Zhang Tie came to this world would they awaken 2 ancestral bloodlines. They had to stay 12 months in their mom''s wombs before coming to this world while other babies only needed to stay 10 months. According to Zhang Tie''s calculation, the three babies might be delivered these couple of days.


    Zhang Tie had already mentioned the peculiarities of the three babies to his elder brother faintly and had his elder brother tell their mom and dad about that. They didn''t need to make any precautions when the babies were only 10 months old in their mothers'' wombs in case of mistakes.


    ...


    After a few steps, Zhang Tie and Heller came to the hinterland of the mountain. Besides several piles of hill-like gold ingots, there were thousands of crates, big or small.


    Those crates didn''t have locks; instead, there was a mobile lock catch out of each crate, which could be opened without keys. Zhang Tie came to the front of one crate. After rapidly opening the lock catch of the crate, he opened its lid right away.


    The moment he opened the lid had his face been reflected by brilliance under the light of the two circles of fluorescent stone belts in the middle of the hinterland.


    ''F*ck...'' Zhang Tie swore inside.


    The crate was filled with resplendent pure blue stones. Zhang Tie put one hand into that pile of stones and scooped out some of them. He found each of them was as large as a pigeon''s egg while shining fascinating brilliance. Zhang Tie had them slide off his fingers, causing cracking sounds.


    "Is...this blue crystal?" Zhang Tie asked Heller as he swallowed his saliva.


    "No, these are high-quality sapphires." Heller replied calmly.


    Although the prices of many gemstones were cheaper than that before the Catastrophe due to humans'' development to the crustal layer, although Zhang Tie knew that Titanic Duchy was abundant with some gemstones, for commoners, gemstones, especially high-quality jewels were still expensive. Their prices were far higher than that of gold. In the hand of an alchemist, these gemstones would exert greater effects.


    Zhang Tie realized that one crate of jewels was worth at least 1 million gold coins.


    Zhang Tie became thrilled. He opened all the other crates one after another. There were over 20 crates of sapphires, some crates of rubies, one crate of diamonds which were more expensive, one crate of Alexandrites, one crate of cat''s eye gems and one crate of variegated gemstones. Since he was born, Zhang Tie had never seen so many crates of gemstones.


    Besides those gemstones, Zhang Tie saw crates of colorful class VI pyramid-sized crystals and the most precious black crystals.


    After crystals, he saw hundreds of crates full of well-sealed gold coins. Zhang Tie was shocked by so many gold coins. After being told that the crates were all filled with gold coins, Zhang Tie directly walked over.


    After gold coins, he saw crates of colorful jewels and a crate of emeralds.


    Behind those jewels were some small crates, each of which was about 1 cubic meters. Zhang Tie opened one of them and found it was filled with silver bars as long as 10 cm. He then became stunned.


    "Why do they have silver bars here? These silver bars are valueless. Why do they put them in crates?" Zhang Tie became puzzled.


    "Castle Lord, you might know the reason when you take them!" Heller suggested.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Heller. The moment he took the silver bar had he been shocked. The silver bar was even heavier than the gold of the same volume.


    "Ah? But why?"


    "This is mithril, a more expensive item which could only be exploited in extreme depth. Castle Lord, you had a rune finger ring made of mithril before. It was your booty from the battlefield. Later on, you sold it in an auction house of Kalur."


    After being reminded by Heller, Zhang Tie remembered it, "Mithril is indeed rarer than gold. The small rune finger ring made of mithril brought me a lot of money."


    This crate of mithril might be more valuable than the crate of sapphires.


    ...


    After that, Zhang Tie opened another different crate and found it was filled with gold checks of different par values from Golden Roc Bank. The minimal par value was 500 gold coins while the maximal par value was 10,000 gold coins. Watching those gold checks, Zhang Tie became so excited that he widely opened his mouth.


    "F*ck, have all the wealth of Titanic Duchy been plundered by Senel Clan?"


    Zhang Tie was right.


    Almost all the wealth that Titanic Duchy had accumulated for hundreds of years and those properties which could not be removed by rich people in the country after the holy war broke out and commoners'' savings had fallen into Senel Clan''s hand.


    ...


    "In a conclusion, you got 540 tons of golds, 14.68 million gold coins, gold checks which were worth 47.6 million gold coins, over 600 crates of colorful gemstones, jewels and noble metals. Those golds, gold coins and gold checks were worth 83.88 million gold coins in total while those gemstones, gemstones and mithril which could not be cashed were worth at least 0.13 billion gold coins. As the holy war continued, those items would have a big appreciation space."


    Hearing Heller''s report, Zhang Tie understood that people would be rich after plundering while the horse would grow fatter after eating grass at night. "Through this plunder, I became a billionaire."


    After losing so much wealth suddenly, Senel Clan felt dropping a big piece of bloody flesh. It was a great strike to Senel Clan. Three-eye Association would not develop their forces or harm humans with this wealth. This was also a contribution to humans'' side in the holy war. As long as it could weaken the enemy''s forces, it would be good to humans.


    With such a harvest, Zhang Tie further confirmed his path in the future. Zhang Tie was aware that if he was still following others'' order in Selnes Theater of Operations, he would never have made such an achievement.


    After returning to the top of the mountain from the hinterland, Zhang Tie obtained two gifts from the small tree: one fruit of brilliance, one fruit of judgment.


    The fruit of brilliance contained the spiritual energy of Rouben and the other b*stards whom Zhang Tie had killed. After eating this fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy boomed.


    By contrast, the fruit of judgment didn''t gift Zhang Tie any new item; but a promotion of a god''s rune skill. After eating that fruit of judgment, Zhang Tie successfully promoted his binding skill to medium level, which indicated a great effect.


    Medium binding skill could attack LV 8 enemy instead of LV 7 at most. All the targets being not higher than LV 8 could not escape from medium binding skills.


    Besides attacking higher level targets, Zhang Tie''s binding chains also increased their maximal storage number from 18 to 27 and their attacking radium from 52 cm to 62 cm. This indicated that the overall battle strength of the skill had promoted to a new height.


    ...


    After eating the two fruits, Zhang Tie understood that as long as he chose the right position, he could give a great blow to those b*stards of Three-eye Association. Even If he could not plunder wealth from them; after killing them, he could also increase his battle strength greatly and obtain merit values and all sorts of fruits...


    ''Which one first, return to Selnes Theater of Operations or seek for the next opportunity to strike Three-eye Association and Senel Clan in Titanic Duchy?'' Zhang Tie thought for a short while before making the final determination¡ª¡ªgo back to Selnes Theater of Operations to check the situation of Lan Yunxi and those guys of the Idiots...


    After staying 4-5 hours in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie flew off the cliff cave in the incarnation of the thunder hawk once again...

 625 Like a Ghost Region

    Chapter 625: Like a Ghost Region


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie, who had hovered more than half a year above Selnes Theater of Operations by the gliders, was familiar with this region. The mountains and rivers under his feet were the coordinates in Zhang Tie''s mind. Even if he didn''t use airmap, he could still identify the correct route and direction based on his memory. Therefore, after flying towards the south for 7 hours, during which period he corrected his route twice and inspected the situations of some cities in Titanic Duchy, Zhang Tie finally flew over the entire territory of Titanic Duchy and arrived at the Selnes Theater of Operations that he was familiar with at dusk.


    4 months ago, he was familiar with everything over here very much; however, now he felt pretty strange about this region.


    Rouben said the humans'' defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations was going to collapse. When Zhang Tie listened to that, he was even a bit dubious about that. However, when he was really close to Selnes Theater of Operations, he realized that Rouben didn''t cheat him.


    When Zhang Tie saw those huge pyramid-sized gravetower demons erecting outside the city near the demons'' region, he knew that the situation here was even worse than he could imagine.


    If the gravetower demons appeared in Selnes Theater of Operations, it meant that human airship troops had completely lost their air supremacy over Selnes Theater of Operations. If not, human airship troops would never allow demons to build their arsenal in the frontline tactically or strategically. Demonized puppets constantly provided by gravetower demons would be the worst nightmare of the human troop.


    However, the human airship troop could not stop this anymore.


    Zhang Tie remembered the wrecks of human airships outside Tokei City. It seemed that human airship troop had paid a greater price than that he could imagine in that move. Although the gravetower demons outside Tokei City were destroyed, the human airship troop also suffered a great loss. They had not even recovered from that battle till now.


    Zhang Tie looked downward and saw a constant demonized puppets camp. The pitch-dark demonized puppets on the ground stimulated goosebumps all over Zhang Tie''s body.


    When Zhang Tie entered the battlefield of Selnes Theater of Operations, he was shocked once again as the sky was neither covered with human airships nor wing demons, but numerous vultures which ate rotten flesh.


    There were also vultures above the battlefield before. However, Zhang Tie had not imagined that there were so many vultures now. The entire sky and ground were covered with vultures. When some vultures flew off the ground, they looked like a sort of dark gray wave while those in a certain air domain looked like clouds.


    The only reason for so many vultures to gather here was that there was sufficient food on the ground.


    Zhang Tie looked down and found miles of bones and incomplete corpses on the ground, which looked like the hell. The entire Selnes Theater of Operations had become the paradise of scavengers. Packs of wild-dogs and vultures were walking on the battlefield, which was dotted with wrecks of human armored vehicles and tanks. The armored vehicles were covered with blood stains while wrecks of airships could always be seen.


    Judging from those corpses, Zhang Tie could not identify whether they were demonized puppets or humans. After remembering that Scala told him that Senel Clan had already turned over 10 million humans into demonized puppets, Zhang Tie looked down and felt icy right away. Although he had not joined the battle, he could also imagine how the army of demonized puppets submerged the Selnes Plain and combated the human troops here.


    Zhang Tie then noticed those collapsed battle fortresses.


    At the sight of those human battle fortresses, Zhang Tie''s scalp felt numb.


    There was a slope paved by corpses outside each battle fortress, which leveled with the height of the wall of the battle fortress. Zhang Tie could completely imagine how those battle fortresses were broken through¡ª¡ªunder the strike of numerous demonized puppets, these steel battle fortresses defended with human fighters inside the battle fortresses as firm as rocks on the Selnes Plain. They shot down those demonized puppets in batches, causing the corpses of demonized puppets pile up from the foot of the wall of the fortress. When those demonized puppets'' corpses gradually elevated and reached the height of the wall, the following demonized puppets finally broke into the battle fortress while stepping on the former corpses...


    In such a case, no human guard would survive in the battle fortress. However, Zhang Tie, with the sharp vision of thunder hawk, couldn''t find one demon''s corpse from the piles of corpses at all.


    Demons and Three-eye Association broke though humans'' defense line at the cost of humans'' strength.


    Nearby those battle fortresses which had not been broken through, there were still large batches of demonized puppets. Many of them were squatting on the ground and eating those corpses like scavengers on Selnes Plain. In the region where demonized puppets existed, even wild-dogs and vultures would stay away from them.


    From north to south, Zhang Tie saw many human battle fortresses and trenches which had been collapsed while human corpses were piling as high as mountains outside the battle fortresses. Even the trenches had been filled with corpses.


    Miserable, too miserable...


    When it became completely dark, the Selnes Plain was covered with wildfire, making it look like a ghost region.


    Zhang Tie finally recovered his composure. He realized that in the strike of about 10 million demonized puppets, the allied human forces'' defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations was finally torn open.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know where the allied human forces had been retreated to and whether the southernmost three cities in Selnes Plain were still in the hand of the allied human forces.


    Zhang Tie directly flew towards the Crystal Battle Fortress. The closer he was to the south, the more demonized puppets would he see on the ground. Many established demonized puppet troops were converging towards the south.


    ...


    After a short while, Zhang Tie had been close to the Crystal Battle Fortress. It was pith-dark in the evening while being surrounded by the wildfire. At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie''s heart raced. He instantly lowered his height to 200-300 m.


    Zhang Tie could see that the corpses of demonized puppets outside the Crystal Battle Fortress were piling as high as a mountain from one mile away. The closer he was to the Crystal Battle Fortress, the more corpses of demonized puppets would he see. According to Zhang Tie''s estimation, there were at least 300,000 to 400,000 corpses of demonized puppets.


    Hovering above the Crystal Battle Fortress, Zhang Tie could not see any person inside the fortress at all as the entire Crystal Battle Fortress had been occupied by the alive demonized puppets.


    Zhang Tie hovered there a while. After seeing no wreck of the airships in the Crystal Battle Fortress, he became relaxed a bit.


    Across the Selnes frontline, Crystal Battle Fortress was not only the biggest battle fortress but also the only battle fortress which could hold fury-level airships. Zhang Tie remembered that a few fury-level airships were parking in the Crystal Battle Fortress all the year round for the sake of emergency evacuation like life buoys on ships. If he didn''t see the wrecks of those airships, it meant that those airships had already evacuated from here along with most of the fighters in the battle fortress. This was the best news for Zhang Tie.


    The Military Exploits List was still erecting over there. After being weathered about one year, the metal rack was still not rusted. The plates with names of elites from the major clans of Jinyun Country and their credits were still on the Military Exploits List. Zhang Tie found that his name still ranked first...


    The Military Exploits List seemed to be especially left by people of the battle fortress which was a mock towards demons and represented the meritorious deeds and dignity of Chinese nations in Waii Sub-continent.


    When Zhang Tie saw his name once again, his heart was filled with emotions.


    Those slow-witted demonized puppets could never understand the Chinese on the plates. Otherwise, they might have long destroyed it.


    After leaving the Crystal Battle Fortress, Zhang Tie flew towards the Glider Base of Hoorn Republic. Like how Zhang Tie had imagined, the glider base which was not far from the Crystal Battle Fortress had already been occupied by demonized puppets.


    ''I wonder how many fighters in this base have survived.''


    The Glider Base of Hoorn Republic was only dozens of miles away from Mocco City. Given that this glider base had been collapsed, Zhang Tie knew it clearly that the allied human forces had already retreated to the last urban bases of Selnes Theater of Operations. If the last human bases were occupied by demonized puppets, the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations would be collapsed completely...


    Zhang Tie''s guess was correct.


    Soon after he left a few miles from the airship base of Hoorn Republic had he seen a battle between a human troop and a troop of demonized puppets. It was more like a chase than a battle...


    Hundreds of human fighters were retreating in the wild while being chased by almost 1,000 demonized puppets who were like wild-dogs with bloody eyes. Those human fighters who stayed to stop them were constantly submerged and torn apart by demonized puppets.


    At the sight of such a scene, Zhang Tie instantly landed in the weeds which were as high as 1 m...

 626 What a Massacre!

    Chapter 626: What a Massacre!


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After frequently changing his body, Zhang Tie could use soul-based animal controlling skill much faster and more easily. Almost the moment the thunder hawk landed in the weeds had Zhang Tie''s real body reappeared.


    It was like that the thunder hawk abruptly turned into a person the moment it landed in the weeds. It was fantastic and shocking. In the eyes of the onlookers, Zhang Tie was almost like a witch or monster who could transform into all kinds of animals in a blink of an eye, which made them awe-stricken.


    Zhang Tie reappeared in the look of Peter Hamplester. At this time, Zhang Tie was like a pioneer who was wearing a pair of half-metal battle boots and a suite of leather armors. Zhang Tie carried a special battle equipment on his back, which was a special metal weapon rack which contained a lot of shiny huge double-bladed axes.


    He was also holding two huge double-bladed axes in hands. He obtained all of these weapons from Zhen Clan.


    Each huge ax weighed about 60 kg. The double blades were as broad as full moons while the handle was very short. This was a super heavy boomerang. Although it was super heavy for others, it was as light as a wooden stick for Zhang Tie.


    The moment he came out of Castle of Black Iron had Zhang Tie rushed towards the place over 500 m away as fast as wind with huge axes like two open lowered-wings.


    The moonlights sprayed onto the blades like water, reflecting two chilly lights in the shape of crescents.


    Zhang Tie ran rapidly. Everywhere he passed by, the weeds as high as his chest would be split open like waves. At the same time, the sharp blades drew over weeds, causing them to fly in all directions. Everywhere Zhang Tie passed by would be like a wave. Watching it from the sky, it was like a bolt shot by Zhang Tie, which flew all the way towards the two parties who were fighting in the distance. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had narrowed the distance to about 200 m.


    ...


    "We can not escape like this. Brothers of Battalion One, stay with me to stop the demonized puppets. The other brothers, go away as fast as possible. If you could return alive, remember to tell my son that his dad walked out of the armored vehicles and combated to death. We armored units are not as timid as rabbits. After leaving armored vehicles, we can still kill those sons of b*tches...!" A tough man who was covered with blood exclaimed as he stopped and rushed back towards those demonized puppets.


    "Regimental commander..." those fighters beside this man exclaimed. After hearing this man''s order, one-third of those who were escaping stopped at once and rushed back towards those demonized puppets who outnumbered them evidently.


    Numerous fighters dropped off tears. Besides fighters of battalion one, more people rushed back towards those demonized puppets resolutely. In the end, nobody continued to escape anymore. All of them rushed backward towards those demonized puppets.


    "Asshole, Aars, take away with brothers of battalion two and battalion three..." The regimental commander who turned back first yelled at a commission officer who followed him back.


    "Boss, we''ve been used to assault the enemy together with you. Just let us do it once more..."


    After knowing that all the brothers would like to fight demonized puppets together with him, the tough man who turned back first dropped off tears from his fierce eyes. Without saying anything, he instantly rushed ahead of the team and stabbed his short sword into a demonized puppet''s eye. After a slight prick, he had cracked its head while a disgusting worm which looked like an octopus fell down the ground and started to creep there. That man stamped it into pieces using his battle boots...


    When one party didn''t escape, the two teams collided in a split second.


    The human fighters were also holding short swords which were longer than 30 cm. Therefore, they were not in the advantageous position with this kind of weapon. Unless they could chop off demonized puppets'' heads or stab their short swords into the heads of demonized puppets, common wounds could never affect demonized puppets'' movements.


    The moment they collided with each other, all the human fighters had already been in a fierce combat.


    Glaring at the grim faces of those demonized puppets which were many times more than the population of theirs, all the human fighters thought that they were doomed to die this time.


    However, at this moment, two moons flew over...


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s flying double axes, they indeed had such an illusion that two moons were flying over. Because the shiny blades became shiny disks due to the fast speed under the moonlight. The path that the disks flew by was like a light band.


    When the two moons flew over, they shattered all the weeds in front of them. After that, they flashed into a lot of demonized puppets, shattering the ferocious demonized puppets like shattering weeds. As a result, demonized puppets'' fleshes flew in all directions. After crushing out two dozens of meters long bloody paths among the troop of demonized puppets, the two disks made a turn and flew back after drawing a curve. Wherever they passed by, they had left a lane of blood and fleshes composed of the corpses of demonized puppets...


    In the blink of an eye, more than 60 demonized puppets had fallen down.


    At the sight of this, all the human fighters became dumbfounded.


    However, what was more shocking was coming.


    When Zhang Tie arrived there, he forcefully patted his back while the huge battle equipment which looked like a metal shell uttered a light "crack". At the same time, 7 shiny huge axes appeared on his back like how peacock flaunted its tail. Zhang Tie put his hands over his shoulders and grasped other huge axes. Closely after that, two more moons rose in the air and flew towards those demonized puppets.


    After the two moons flew out, the first two moons returned to Zhang Tie''s back like spiritual living beings after crushing out another two bloody paths.


    When all the fighters were concerned that Zhang Tie would be injured by the two disks, Zhang Tie just gave a slight push, shooting out the two disks towards another two directions in a more ferocious way, shattering all the demonized puppets'' bodies on the way.


    All the human fighters could hear the muffled humming sound when Zhang Tie put his hands on the disks. When those human fighters being close to Zhang Tie heard this sound, they felt like vomiting...


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had thrown out 7 huge axes from his back. Plus the first two axes that he threw out, 9 moons were surrounding Zhang Tie while each of them drew an illusory light belt...


    Those sharp moons carried terrifying momentum. Everywhere they passed by, they would spray demonized puppets'' fresh blood like rain, their heads flew off from their necks and fell down the ground. Any objects in front of those moons would be broken or shattered, demonized puppet''s bodies or their weapons...


    Those moons were also as agile as dancing butterflies under the moonlight and seeking for brilliant flowers of blood. They were extremely fast and untouchable. They flew everywhere in all directions before coming back to their owner. After obtaining their owner''s praise and touch, they flew off out of excitement once again...


    After Zhang Tie arrived here, he emancipated all the human fighters from the battle. Everybody just stared at him with widely opened eyes like being obsessed with ghosts. Just now, these human fighters felt that they would almost die. As for them, they had to face too many demonized puppets that they didn''t have any chance to win. After Zhang Tie arrived, all the human fighters felt that those demonized puppets were surrounded by this man at once. It sounded unimaginable that a person surrounded by 1,000 demonized puppets. Nevertheless, it was how they felt at this moment. It was more than an art master displaying his top-notch art and innovation in front of them than a battle.


    Under the moonlights, Zhang Tie was wandering casually in the weeds which were covered with the fresh blood of demonized puppets like an immortal man walking in the air. 9 moons rose and fell constantly, tearing the dark apart.


    After a while, long or short, when the onlookers recovered their composure, they noticed the dark had dissipated.


    "Ah, watch out your back..."


    When Zhang Tie walked towards those human fighters, the regimental commander suddenly exclaimed as a demonized puppet who had lost one arm and the greater part of one shoulder with most of its innards exposing to the air was standing up behind Zhang Tie''s and was going to stab into Zhang Tie''s back by its long sword. At the sight of this scene, all the human fighters'' heart raced.


    However, the fact was everybody''s concern was needless.


    Before it could stab Zhang Tie''s back with its weapon, 2 moons flew towards that demonized puppet from its back, chopping off its head and breaking its waist at once. As a result, its body was split into three parts. Zhang Tie didn''t even look back as he stretched out his hands. The two moons then fell back into his hands, showing their original looks.


    At the sight of this scene, all the fighters, including that regimental commander forcefully swallowed a mouth of saliva as they felt their throats dry. Until then, there were still some who rubbed their eyes and couldn''t believe what they saw. "How could one person exterminate over 1,000 demonized puppets so quickly?"


    After staying in Selnes Theater of Operations so long, they had seen many powerhouses; however, it was really their first time to see a powerhouse like Zhang Tie, who could kill so many demonized puppets so easily without even having his hands been polluted with blood.


    The double axes in his hands were still as shiny and sharp as new ones. However, there was no blood on them at all. Zhang Tie sighed with emotions inside, ''These weapons might be imported from Huaiyuan Palace or the Eastern Continent by Zhen Clan. It should be made of an advanced alloy.''


    With a "cracking" sound, Zhang Tie inserted two huge axes back into the equipment on his back. The 9 huge axes on his back really looked like how a peacock flaunted its tail. Such an exaggerating shape might be mocked by people in daily lives; however, at this moment, those human fighters only felt it pretty magnificent and cool.


    As Zhang Tie gradually walked towards them, those axes on his back had been put away in the metal shell. Until then did those human fighters who had been pulled back from the hell by Zhang Tie realize what happened. They hurriedly walked towards Zhang Tie and surrounded him while throwing their admiring and appreciative looks towards Zhang Tie.


    "Your Excellency, thanks for your help. Otherwise, we might have been dead!" That regimental commander appreciated Zhang Tie after making a solemn salute to him.


    Until then did Zhang Tie find the collar badge of this regimental commander was familiar. He remembered that Reinhardt wore the same collar badge. Of course, these people''s uniforms were a bit different than that of Reinhardt. They might have belonged to different arms of services.


    "You are from Iron Plough Corps, North Border Military Region, Norman Empire?" Zhang Tie asked.


    After Zhang Tie identified the designation of their corps, all the human fighters became shocked faintly while that regimental commander raised his chest at once, "Yup, we belong to No. 107 Heavy-armored Unit of Iron Plough Corps, North Border Military Region, Norman Empire!"


    After hearing his reply, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, ''I''ve not imagined that I could meet brothers from Norman Empire. But it''s not strange. As Norman Empire had dispatched 3 trump-card ground corps here, which almost occupied 1/4 of the total ground troops in Selnes frontline'', "Do you know Reinhardt?"


    "Ah? You know Colonel Reinhardt?" The lieutenant colonel revealed a strange look.


    "We''re good friends!"


    Soon after Zhang Tie finished his words had he felt that the surrounding fighters changed their looks. Many of them revealed a big smile like seeing their brothers.


    "Great..." that regimental commander revealed a big smile at once.


    "Oh, why are you here?"


    "It''s a long story..."


    "Are you going back to Mocco City?"


    "Yup!"


    "Come on, I''m also going there!"

 627 An Encounter

    Chapter 627: An Encounter


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When he returned to Mocco City once again, Zhang Tie sensed the intense and grim atmosphere which was enshrouding this city. The human defense line and works outside the city were crowded with discomfited human fighters; many broken armored vehicles and tanks were abandoned in the wild. Some turrets and boilers which could still run were buried beneath the earth, only exposing their batteries.


    Until then did Zhang Tie realize that Volvo City had collapsed two months ago, the allied human forces only controlled Mocco City and Sladic City while the ground connection between the two cities had been cut off by the demonized puppets corps.


    In the recent two months, the allied human forces had been thinking about breaking through the connection between Mocco City and Sladic City. The remnants of the allied armored units then became the main force to combat demonized puppets corps. After losing their fuel and material supply in the latest move, the No. 107 Heavy Armored Regiment of Iron Plough Corps suffered a great loss. As a result, the regimental commander had to lead all the fighters of the entire Armored Regiment to climb out of armored vehicles and evacuated back to Mocco City on foot. Nevertheless, they were caught up by a demonized puppets troop and could almost be completely annihilated.


    In such a case, the armored units had two choices: to stay in armored vehicles for rescue; to escape out of there by foot. However, as Selnes was becoming worse while more and more demonized puppets were wandering outside the city. As for an armored regiment being trapped in the wild, they might never see the reinforcements coming. Even though the reinforcements arrived, they had to sacrifice many times more fighters to save the armored units out of there.


    In such a case, especially when the armored troop was surrounded by the demonized puppets in the wild after losing power and suffering mechanical obstacles, those armored soldiers preferred to commit a suicide or starve to death than coming out of there to be eaten by the demonized puppets.


    This was the most tragic page of Selnes Theater of Operations.


    The No. 107 Heavy Armored Regiment of Iron Plough Corps were fortunate. When their armored vehicles broke down, those demonized puppets had not caught up with them; however, when those demonized puppets caught up with them, they were saved by Zhang Tie.


    After being framed by Senel Clan, Zhang Tie didn''t know whether he was a hero or a traitor in Selnes Theater of Operations. Because his status was sensitive to the public, Zhang Tie didn''t inquire too much about Jinyun Country and the Crystal Battle Fortress lest others'' suspicion. Through the regimental commander, Zhang Tie knew that Jinyun Country''s troop had evacuated due to some reason after Volvo City was collapsed. Additionally, there was no news that the commission officer of the airship troop of Jinyun Country died or had any trouble in the past months. Therefore, Zhang Tie became reassured.


    After entering Mocco City successfully, Zhang Tie separated from those armored units.


    ...


    "When you see Reinhardt, tell him that the guy who smoked his cigar in Mocco City last time had come back. I will live in the place where he invited me to drink that day. I might stay in Mocco City a couple of days!"


    "No problem!" That regimental commander nodded.


    Zhang Tie waved his hands towards those fighters of the No. 107 Heavy Armored Regiment before turning back and disappearing in the pitch-dark street...


    Zhang Tie didn''t tell them his name.


    ...


    In the evening, the Mocco City looked a bit frustrated. As a human city in Selnes Theater of Operations, everything about the allied human forces would be expressed in this city. Any victory in the frontline would make this city brilliant while any failure in the frontline would make this city depressed and grim. When this city became the defense frontline and might be collapsed by demons at any time, it was terrifying all over besides deep depression. Zhang Tie saw many human fighters sitting on the roadsides as drunk as fiddler and watching the sky with a vacant look...


    Previously, in such a case, urban gendarmes would at least drag those drunk soldiers away; however, at this moment, the gendarmes might have disappeared or just ignored them.


    With his memory, Zhang Tie wandered through the dim streets and alleys. It took him only a bit longer than 20 minutes to come to the Demon Hunters Bar in Mocco City.


    Besides hiding the largest illegal market across Selnes Theater of Operations, this Demon Hunters Bar was also the most informed place in this city.


    Zhang Tie''s strange and powerful qi was familiar to those guards outside the door of the bar. Zhang Tie even smelt bloody, which was even more useful than any certificate. The guards threw a glance at Zhang Tie and sniffed before opening the door for Zhang Tie.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered had he felt abnormal inside. A woman in black robe was sitting at the bar counter and drinking alone. She looked narcissistic. She was alone near the counter while the others stayed far away from her and sat at those tables around the bar counter. Although some tables looked evidently crowded, nobody would like to sit at the table, even though some stools were still available at the bar counter.


    Under the gaze of everyone else, Zhang Tie came to the side of the bar counter and sat beside the woman as he waved his hand towards the bartender.


    "Give me a cup of drink!"


    "What do you want to drink?" The bartender walked over and asked him in a low voice.


    Zhang Tie found the bartender''s face looked a bit pale, which might be because of over panic. His smile even looked embarrassed.


    "Whatever!" Zhang Tie glanced at the gradevin behind the bartender and found the kinds of drinks inside the gradevin had decreased a lot. It seemed that this place had started to run out of materials.


    "Try this. This is the best beer from Norman Empire. I''m sure that you''ve not drunk it before. This beer is called Iron-blood Lover!" The bartender faintly recovered his look when he talked about the beer. At the same time, she made a cup of beer from the beer barrel behind the counter rapidly.


    ''Iron-blood Lover?'' Zhang Tie felt like vomiting after hearing this name, ''Why does a beer have such a literary name? Whatever, it''s none of my business. I''m here for a drink.'' Watching the bartender serving him a big glass of beer, Zhang Tie immediately took it up and had a mouth of drink. He was stunned at once.


    "How about it?" The bartender asked Zhang Tie hopefully.


    Zhang Tie had numerous feelings about the taste of the beer. After a second, Zhang Tie asked slowly, "You mean this beer comes from Norman Empire?"


    "Yup, this beer is exclusively supplied for the trump-card troop of Norman Empire in the frontline. I dare say you can not find a better beer across Blackson Humans Corridor. I was told this beer also had some marvelous effects. With it, the frontline fighters could better maintain their physical strength. If they had some small wounds, they could heal them soon by drinking this beer!"


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile as Hanna''s face and the absurd and happy plots between him and Hanna flashed across his mind, ''Iron-blood Lover, Iron-blood Camp Lover, doesn''t it refer to me? It turns out that even though Hanna has gotten married, she''s still authoritative on the side of her original family; otherwise, they would not name the beer in this way.''


    "One more Iron-blood Lover!"


    After hearing the hoarse and slightly attractive voice of the woman on his side, Zhang Tie turned around as he noticed that the woman was also drinking a big glass of beer; after drinking it up, she pushed the glass towards the bartender.


    Judging from her side, she was a top beauty; additionally, she might be a Chinese of mixed parentage. Black hair and clear-cut facial features made her especially charming and impressive.


    The woman looked very icy. Even though she knew that Zhang Tie was staring at her, she still didn''t throw a glance at Zhang Tie. She looked very arrogant. When Zhang Tie stared at her hands, he found she was wearing a pair of semi-transparent gloves. If not the golden plum blossoms embroidered on the gloves, he almost could not identify that they were female gloves.


    After realizing that Zhang Tie was staring at her gloves, that woman threw a glance at Zhang Tie. When she saw the huge shell-sized equipment on Zhang Tie''s back, a light flashed across the woman''s eyes, which could not be easily observed by others.


    The bartender filled the glass meticulously and pushed it back to the woman. The woman took up the glass and started to sip it slowly. As Zhang Tie was thinking about his next step, he didn''t feel like accosting her. Therefore, after the woman finished her beer, she dropped some gold coins and left before throwing another glance at Zhang Tie.


    Until the woman left did the weird atmosphere in the bar relieve a bit. Some men who were crowding at the tables then dared sit at the bar counter; however, nobody dared sit where the woman had sat before.


    "Brother, you''re audacious. Well done! You dared even sit beside that woman!" A whiskered tough man sat beside Zhang Tie and thumbed up towards him.


    "Ah? Is that strange?" Zhang Tie blinked his eyes.


    "Do you know who''s that woman?"


    "Who''s her?"


    "Tirsiris. Don''t you know her? Although she had been here only a few times, many guys who wanted to accost her had been killed out of no reason!"


    ''Tirsiris¡ª¡ªSelnes Snake? The terrifying voodoo pharmacist?'' Zhang Tie became faintly shocked as he had not imagined that he could meet that woman here, ''It''s nothing strange. I, the Selnes Eagle could be here, then why couldn''t she come here?''


    Soon after Zhang Tie drunk two glasses of beer had Reinhardt arrived...

 628 The Critical Situation

    Chapter 628: The Critical Situation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After entering the bar, with a short glance, Reinhardt had noticed that equipment on Zhang Tie''s back; he then walked towards him right away.


    Zhang Tie felt that someone was watching him. He then turned around and found Reinhardt was walking towards him in the military uniform of colonel.


    Since they met in Mocco City last time, Zhang Tie had not seen Reinhardt for a long time. At the sight of him, Zhang Tie found a 4-cm long new scar on Reinhardt''s left face. Reinhardt looked more experienced.


    However, Reinhardt almost could not recognize Zhang Tie as Zhang Tie not only changed his look but also changed his qi. Last time, Zhang Tie was only LV 9 when his qi was not oppressive. However, at this moment, Reinhardt felt Zhang Tie''s qi was oppressive. The reason was that they both cultivated Iron-blood Battle Qi. People who had not cultivated Iron-blood Battle Qi would not have such a strong sense like Reinhardt.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile towards Reinhardt who sat on his side.


    "Dude, one more beer!" Zhang Tie told the bartender.


    Reinhardt glance at Zhang Tie carefully, "I almost could not recognize you!"


    "Had better do this lest any trouble!"


    Although they had not seen each other for a long time, the moment they sat together had they started to chat about what happened these days like friends who were separated for only a couple of days.


    Zhang Tie didn''t explain how did he change his look; therefore, Reinhardt just owed it to some disguise medicament.


    "What happened several months ago?" Reinhardt asked him after finishing up a glass of beer in front of him and making a gesture to the bartender for one more glass.


    "That was a trap from the beginning. They''d long been waiting for me to seek for death over there. Fortunately, I escaped out of there after experiencing too many tortures!"


    As Reinhardt knew Zhang Tie well, he didn''t even ask Zhang Tie whether had he surrendered to demons. Because that was impossible. Anyone who knew Zhang Tie would know that was a conspiracy of demons.


    "B*stards!" Reinhardt swore ferociously. He knew that Zhang Tie was telling the truth. However, he could not change the publicity. Because not everyone knew Zhang Tie. Most of the commoners were easily influenced by publicity and propaganda. Therefore, at this moment, many people in Selnes Theater of Operations had treated Zhang Tie as the traitor of humans who had surrendered to demons after being influenced by the propaganda of demons and Three-eye Association. They started to swear and curse Selnes Eagle. The news that Zhang Tie had surrendered to demons was truly a great blow to the morale of frontline troops. Even If many people didn''t believe that, they would doubt that. If they doubt that, their will to fight demons would shake. As a result, they would not be able to maintain their morale. If Zhang Tie showed his original look, he would bring troubles for sure.


    The bartender pushed another glass of beer to him. Reinhardt finished it up once again and pounded it onto the bar counter, "Have you ordered the room?"


    "Not yet, I''ve not imagined that you could come so fast!"


    "I met Lieutenant Colonel Stevenson on the way. He told me about you and here I am!"


    "It''s a coincidence. On the way back, I saw them being chased by demonized puppets; therefore, I gave them a favor!"


    "Let''s go to another place. It''s a bit noisy here!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he finished up his beer and dropped some gold coins on the bar counter. After that, he picked himself up and followed Reinhardt away from Demon Hunters Bar.


    Reinhardt didn''t drive over here. Therefore, they walked and chatted. When they left the bar and found no other people on the street, Zhang Tie started to inquire some sensitive topics from Reinhardt.


    "Why did Jinyun Country''s troop evacuate from Selnes Theater of Operations?''


    "Do you know what happened in Volv City?" Reinhardt asked Zhang Tie instead of answering his question.


    "Haven''t Volv City been collapsed?"


    Reinhardt revealed a solemn look, "Common fighters might not understand how Volv City was collapsed. Actually, demonized puppets didn''t encounter any resistance before rushing into Volv City. Real combats started from inside the city."


    Zhang Tie was really shocked by this news, "What the hell?"


    "Before the demonized puppets corps arrived, the alliance command changed two corps which were garrisoning outside the city in the name of the shift. The two corps then both received a new garrison map. On the two maps, there was an overlapped area. On the overlapped area of the map, the other corps was garrisoning in it. Therefore, neither human corps dispatch troops to that overlapped area. However, demonized puppets corps fought all the way to Volv City from that overlapped area. When the demonized puppets rushed to Volv City, the two city gates were opened; the defensive equipment on the city walls didn''t work at all!"


    "Three-eye Association?" Zhang Tie had not imagined that Volv City was collapsed in this way. When he remembered the assassination that he encountered in the illegal demon hunters market of Volv City, Zhang Tie understood that the power of Three-eye Association in Volv City was actually much greater than that he had imagined.


    Reinhardt nodded forcefully, "The allied human forces lost three corps. After Volv City was collapsed, the two human corps of over 1 million soldiers garrisoning outside the city were surrounded by over 4 million demonized puppets. Finally, only less than 100,000 of them broke out of the encirclement. Through investigation, we found that the garrison map was replaced. In the original garrison maps, the forces of the two corps were clearly marked on the maps. In the investigation, a respondent even died in Volv City. However, it was the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the alliance command which made the decision to adjust the deployment of the two human corps. After the event broke out, General Howard, the top chief of staff of alliance command had resigned. His two sons also died in Volv city. However, besides, General Howard, the allied human forces couldn''t even find a mole of Three-eye Association. After Volv City was collapsed, Jinyun Country''s airship troop left Selnes Theater of Operations!"


    After hearing Reinhardt''s explanation, Zhang Tie felt chilly inside. In Selnes Theater of Operations, what was really terrifying was not demons from north but power of Three-eye Association in human forces who served demons. Three-eye Association''s power was too deep-rooted in Waii Sub-continent that they were as firm as worms in bones. Three-eye Association was excelled at hiding their darkest side in the brightest place. You knew the moles of Three-eye Association were in the alliance command who were scheming the whole thing; however, you couldn''t find who was that? That was really terrifying.


    Given the joint forces of Huaiyuan Palace and the other major clans of Jinyun Country could not find the hidden force of Three-eye Association in Selnes Theater of Operations, after losing the Crystal Battle Fortress, the Jinyun Country''s airship troop directly left Selnes Theater of Operations in case of being screwed up by Three-eye Association once again.


    In Zhang Tie''s opinion, the evacuation of Jinyun Country''s airship troop predicted that the defense line of allied human forces could not stand too long in Selnes Theater of Operations.


    "Have the airship troop of Jinyun Country returned?"


    "No, although Jinyun Country''s airship troop have left Selnes Theater of Operations, they are still fighting for humans. They are helping Norman Empire transfer their population to the south."


    "It seems that even Norman Empire have prepared to evacuate. As Jinyun Country''s airship troop had over 1000 fury-level battle airships, if they could go full stream ahead, they could transfer over 500,000 population once in total. If the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations really collapsed, the removal of 500,000 population means that demons would reduce one corps'' demonized puppets. From a certain perspective, it indirectly exterminated a demonized puppets corps. Perhaps Jinyun Country''s airship troop made this choice out of this reason."


    "The dozens of demonized puppets corps pouring in from the north awakened all the people in the Selnes frontline. After knowing that demons could produce demonized puppets, humans have to try their best to cut off the source of demonized puppets from then on. Additionally, they have to clear b*stards of Three-eye Association out of the human camp. If humans could not make the above two points, they would be defeated by their own force."


    "Where''s Lan Yunxi?"


    "Before Jinyun Country''s airship troop left Selnes, Lan Yunxi had been dispatched back to Huaiyuan Palace. I don''t know why. The commander of Jinyun Country''s airship troop is Wang Hu!"


    Zhang Tie had a bit impression about Wang Hu. After knowing that Lan Yunxi was safe, Zhang Tie became completely relaxed.


    "Is there anyone of Jinyun Country still in Selnes Theater of Operations?"


    "Only a few. It''s said that those left are all elites and powerhouses above strong fighter from the major clans of Jinyun Country. However, all of them took off their military uniforms. They stayed in Selnes Theater of Operations not in the status of soldiers, but paladins. Nobody knew about their traces."


    "How about those people of Hoorn Republic? They have a glider base outside Mocco City. Have those people escaped out of there?"


    As the Hoorn Republic was a small country. Reinhardt thought a while before replying, "When demonized puppets beset the Crystal Battle Fortress, all the garrisons of airship and glider bases between Crystal Battle Fortress and Mocco City had evacuated. They might have been transferred to the rear bases. Thanks to Crystal Battle Fortress which slowed down the main force of demonized puppets corps, the garrisons in those bases could evacuate rapidly!"


    "When I fell in the trap of demons and Three-eye Association last time, major general Ford might have played a negative role or might have cooperated with Three-eye Association. Is that guy still in Mocco City?" Zhang Tie asked as he gritted his teeth out of fury, ''That guy must know the details.''


    "Major General Ford had died soon after you were caught by demons!"


    "Dead?"


    "Yup, dead. Your event had a great influence. Therefore, alliance command dispatched exclusive personnel to make an investigation about that. Due to great stress, Major General Ford committed suicide. Of course, we all know that civilian posts like major general might be easily disguised as committing suicide! After the death of Major General Ford, the alliance command could not figure out anything at all."


    After hearing this news, Zhang Tie abandoned his plan. According to his previous plan, Zhang Tie was going back to Mocco City to investigate Major General Ford so as to catch the moles of Three-eye Association out of the alliance command. After this clue was cut off, Zhang Tie didn''t have any other methods anymore.


    "What about the alliance command? Who''s responsible for it?"


    "Since Volv City was collapsed, the alliance command had only been an empty title. At this moment, you cannot find anybody in the station of the alliance command except for a plate."


    After knowing the current situation of the alliance command, Zhang Tie''s heart filled with emotions, "What about the rest troops in Selnes?"


    "There are still over 2 million human soldiers in Mocco and Sladic. After the remaining airships and some ground troops evacuated to the rear base, each human troop is occupying a piece of land in the frontline and acting willfully!"


    "Ah? Won''t it be a mess?"


    "Almost like that. The situation in Mocco City is more sophisticated. As many troops are gathering there, it''s rather complex to coordinate with their relationships. By contrast, Sladic City is better. There''re two trump-card corps of Norman Empire over there. Although they suffered some loss, it was not severe. After Volv City was collapsed, our prince had already taken over Sladic by force. Some troops of other countries had been invited to leave Sladic by our prince!"


    Zhang Tie knew that other countries'' troops could never be chased away from Sladic City without using force. As Norman Empire''s corps outnumbered those of other countries'' troops in Sladic City, of course, they could take control of the overall situation of the city by force. However, they also needed to pay for it. Based on the current situation, the troops of different countries in the frontline might have been administered in their own way. If not the army of demons in front of them, they might have been fighting each other.


    Although they didn''t fight each other, the troops of countries had been suspicious about each other. They even became afraid of each other. Because of the existence of Three-eye Association, each country''s troop was afraid that the other human troops were lackeys of Three-eye Association who would combine with demons to attack them at the critical moment. Therefore, each troop''s commander became very meticulous lest being framed by others. How could such troops join hands with each other to fight demons sincerely?


    After hearing Reinhardt''s reply, Zhang Tie had a deeper comprehension about the evacuation of Jinyun Country''s troop. The main force dispatched by Jinyun Country was an airship troop which could not fight demons independently without the support of ground troops. Airship troop had to depend on ground troops on many key aspects such as supplies and defense. Given the current situation in Selnes, once there was any problem about the ground coordination, the entire airship troop of Jinyun Country might be destroyed. Jinyun Country''s airship troop might be forced to leave the frontline in Selnes because of concerns from all aspects.


    After thinking about the problem from the perspective of a higher position, Zhang Tie almost figured out what he had not considered at once. For those decision makers of Jinyun Country, they were committed to dispatch troops to Selnes Theater of Operations out of their responsibilities or for the purpose of drilling newbies. However, they didn''t want to have a lot of Chinese disciples lose their lives here which was far away from Jinyun Country. Such a decision might only be made by those extremely ferocious clan elders. As to that airship troop of Jinyun Country which went to help Norman Empire transfer population, there might also be an unknown trade behind it.


    "How many airships are available in the Selnes Theater of Operations now? When I escaped out of Titanic Duchy, I saw many gravetower demons in the north of Selnes Plain. They could produce a lot of demonized puppets each day. If not destroy them timely, Mocco City and Sladic would not stand long!"


    "Although the gravetower demons outside the Tokei City have been destroyed, the airship troops of allied human forces also suffered a great loss. In the last 2 months, they were raided by the large units of wing demons for a few times and lost a lot of airships. Now, the power of human airship troops has been sharply weakened. As a result, humans also completely lost their air supremacy above Selnes Theater of Operations. There are only over 3000 airships in the theater of operations now. All of these airships have already evacuated to the airship bases within the territory of Symbian Republic. They could barely guarantee the safety of the rear airspace of Mocco City and Sladic City and provide limited air support for the two cities. They could not even surpass the middle line of Selnes Plain at the moment!" Reinhardt couldn''t help but sigh.


    The holy war had just started. However, the demons and the Three-eye Association had already been overwhelming. This unavoidably made humans a bit pessimistic.


    Zhang Tie also became silent. He had not imagined that the Selnes Theater of Operations could develop to such a degree only after a few months. Compared to the demons which were as unified as a piece of iron plate, the power of allied human forces was not only weaker but also dispersed, which could hardly be unified. Even though they were barely unified, they would also face various problems. The nominal existence of the alliance command actually symbolized the failure of the first allied human defense line across Waii Sub-continent in the 3rd holy.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how would the rest human countries fight demons. He couldn''t work out any effective way either. Zhang Tie also became pessimistic about the battle situation of Selnes Theater of Operations. What he concerned most was that how long could Mocco City and Sladic stand?


    Reinhardt directly led Zhang Tie into a high-end garden apartment. After arriving at the top storey of the 4-storey apartment, Reinhardt directly threw a bunch of keys to Zhang Tie, "Some rich people lived in here before. After they escaped away, this house was confiscated. Now, those living in this apartments are all commission officers. Common soldiers dare not find trouble here. Take the keys. When you come to Mocco City later on, just live here. I can also easily find you!"


    As it was just a house, which was not important for Zhang Tie and Reinhardt, Zhang Tie didn''t say anything; he directly took the keys.


    "Are you going to converge with the airship troop of Norman Empire and Jinyun Country? If you want to go there, I can arrange it for you. You can leave Mocco City tomorrow!"


    "No, I don''t want to leave out of here yet. I feel good being alone. Additionally, I''ve not gotten back to Senel Clan yet. I''ve not killed enough b*stards of demons!" When Zhang Tie talked about Senel Clan, a shrew light flashed across his eyes.


    Reinhardt burst out into laughter before asking Zhang Tie, "What''s your level now?"


    "5-star battle master!" Zhang Tie told him honestly.


    "Good boy, you''ve really surpassed me. I''m just LV 10..." Reinhardt burst out laughing hysterically as he patted Zhang Tie''s shoulder with one hand while he reached another hand towards Zhang Tie, "Come on, let me try whether you lied to me."


    Zhang Tie directly reached out a hand and resisted against Reinhardt''s hand in the air. Only after a few seconds, Reinhardt let out a muffled harrumph as he was forced to retreat backward three steps. Meanwhile, his face turned a bit pale. Until over 10 seconds later did he recover a bit composure.


    "How much force did you use?" Reinhardt asked Zhang Tie.


    "80%!"


    "Come on, tell me the truth!" Reinhardt looked solemn as he stared at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie could only force a bitter smile as he scratched his head, "60%!"


    "Ha...ha...ha, that''s more like it. It seems that the Iron-blood Camp of our No. 39 division will have a powerhouse for sure!" Reinhardt didn''t mind it at all; instead, he burst out into laughter.


    "Boss, aren''t you jealous?" Zhang Tie called Reinhardt like how all the members of Iron-blood Camp of No. 39 Division called him before.


    "F*rt. So many people are sharper than me in the world. How could I be jealous about my brother''s talent? Of course, I''m glad about that. I think you might be a knight in the future." Reinhardt touched his thorny mustache as he watched Zhang Tie seriously, "Maybe I will also choose to be struck by a lightning bolt a few days later. I will see whether I could make a great progress in battle strength!"


    Both of them then burst out into laughter.


    ...


    After the talk, Zhang Tie saw Reinhardt walking downstairs. Until Reinhardt left the apartment did Zhang Tie see his hands and mumbled, "I''m sorry, boss, actually I just used 30% of my strength just now..."


    ...


    After opening the door of the apartment and entering it, Zhang Tie found everything inside it was well arranged. It seemed that nobody lived in here recently. Besides those furnitures and sofa which looked a bit luxurious, there was no problem.


    After taking a bath, Zhang Tie laid on the bed with his hand behind his head. Watching the crystal ceiling lamp which had not been turned on, he started to think about his next plan.


    After knowing that those people whom he was concerned about were safe, Zhang Tie had been reassured. He had really not imagined about the current battle situation of Selnes Theater of Operations. However, as he had tried his best to do what he deserved, Zhang Tie didn''t have any mental stress. Neither was he an alarmist. Instead, he had a sense of relief. ''Now that the airship troop of Jinyun Country had evacuated from here, I would be free here. No matter how long could the human defense line stand in Selnes Theater of Operations, I only need to consider how to improve my battle strength in Selnes Theater of Operations and find Senel Clan troubles. No matter how worse the battle situation would be, I would be able to escape at the critical moment.''


    ''Perhaps I could also be a paladin in Selnes Theater of Operations! In this period, I need to find an opportunity to fly to the seaside and increase energy storage for Castle of Black Iron greatly.''


    ''If I kill some more wing demons, I would have a ripe fruit of source, as long as I find the settlement of wing demons.''


    ''Additionally, I only have a thunder hawk and a rat to use my soul-based animal controlling skill on. By far, I have not found any side effect of soul-based animal controlling skill on my body. It seems that I can find some more incarnations so as to deal with more situations.


    Thinking of incarnation, a weird whim occurred in Zhang Tie''s mind. Zhang Tie then instantly became thrilled, ''According to the "Great Wilderness Sutra", all the living beings could be incarnated except for humans, does...it mean that I can also incarnate demons...''


    ...


    Zhang Tie was driven excited by this fantastic whim. Gradually, he fell asleep...


    ...


    Zhang Tie slept like a dead pig overnight. After waking up, Zhang Tie refreshed himself before leaving his residence. He prepared to leave Mocco City. However, he found it was too late to leave as the gates of Mocco City had been closed while the atmosphere both inside and outside the city became much more intense than that of yesterday at once.


    Looking in the distance, Zhang Tie saw over one million demonized puppets as he felt his scalp numb.


    In a distant and sharp clarino, the demonized puppets started to march towards Mocco City. At the beginning, the demonized puppets just wandered; gradually, they paced up; finally, they started to run like a tide, causing booms...

 629 The Strength of Steel

    Chapter 629: The Strength of Steel


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether he was fortunate or not. Only after staying in Mocco City overnight, he had encountered such a large-scale battle situation.


    Many people who planned to leave the city were gathering in the northernmost city wall of Mocco City. Watching so many demonized puppets, many people were so scared that their face even turned pale. When something reached its million level, it would be overwhelming in front of you even if they were ants.


    At this moment, what was rushing towards Mocco City were not ants but the army of demonized puppets.


    At least two demonized puppets corps were rushing towards Mocco City.


    At this moment, most of those on the city wall of the north gate along with Zhang Tie were demon hunters. Some of them were paladins. Actually, demon hunters were not greatly different than paladins. Demon hunters were powerhouses with military background while paladins were powerhouses who wished to defend demons in Selnes Theater of Operations voluntarily. The two parties both had rich experiences in fighting demons and demonized puppets. Many demon hunters were commission officers. Because of this, the garrisons allowed Zhang Tie and the others to watch what was happening outside the city in the city tower.


    The saplings and newborn weeds were quivering, causing ripples in the pond beside the saplings and newborn weeds. The ground was booming like it was thundering. It was caused by more than one million demonized puppets who were running. Looking away at the distance, the demonized puppets were forming a big, dirty and fierce tide.


    Including Zhang Tie, everyone held their breath to wait for the attack.


    Right behind the city wall, there was a turret which was higher than 50 m. All the people in the turret were working hard.


    On the top of the turret, there was a huge mobile platform which looked like an astronomical observatory. Inside that platform, a huge over 1000-ton mechanical flywheel was swiveling rapidly. Beneath the flywheel were two sets of steam engines. The driving force provided by the steam engines turned into the speed of revolution of the huge flywheel. Above the flywheel, complex steam mechanical devices were automatically loading huge, odd gear-shaped items into the projectile positions of the flywheel.


    Because there were two boiler rooms downstairs, steam would be transmitted upwards through pipes. Even in winter, the temperature in the turret would still be higher than 35 degree Celsius, not to mention now. In the turret which was was over 40 degree Celsius, each human fighter was oozing sweat all over. Almost all the fighters here were in the bare upper body, a pair of short pants and a pair of shoes. However, at the critical moment, each person was sticking to their own position while staring at the commander who sent orders. Everybody became intense. However, nobody felt frightful. As a human fighter who garrisoned in the steam centrifugal turret silently, it was time for them to show their value. Many people could only have such a chance one or two times in their whole lives.


    A Chinese captain with fortitude look and black eyes was standing in the turret and observing the direction of the demonized puppets corps using telescopic rangefinder before sending orders one after another.


    "Direction 2..."


    "Projection angle 65..."


    "Loading centrifugal gear bombs..."


    "Largest load..."


    "Maintain the largest revolving speed of the flywheel..."


    With the series of orders, the metal platform at the top of the turret which was higher than 50 m slowly moved while the huge gun muzzle opened and raised towards the sky...


    "Brothers, are you afraid?" That commissioned officer moved his eyes away from the rangefinder at the critical moment as he threw a glance at those fighters who were garrisoning in the turret.


    Those fighters'' age ranged from 16 to above 60. Some were constantly spading coal into the boilers by shovel; some were gazing at those pressure gauges and tachometers in front of them; some were covered with tools and observing the running operation of those steam pipes inside the turret. Some operators were sitting before the operating table and manipulating the pile of metal drawbars and dials. In the underground bomb loading room, over 20 tough men were gazing at the bomb belt in front of them and waiting for the orders from above.


    "Fear what!"


    "Just beat those b*stard!"


    "Yes, no matter what, we are common low-end soldiers. On the battlefield, we might be killed before chopping down any demon. However, in here, by manipulating such a big weapon, we will make a comeback with only one launch. To fear what?" Soldiers in the turret replied loudly.


    "It''s not enough to make a comeback; we need to make at least 1000 times more. If you make less than that, don''t tell others you''re following my order!" The Chinese captain joked as he turned solemn at once, "Attention, ready..."


    The inside of the turret became quiet at once. Only the huge centrifugal flywheel hummed...


    In less than 10 seconds, a roar sounded in the turret...


    "Launch..."


    Closely after the order "Launch", the great centrifugal linear velocity turned into the initial velocity of the ammunition on the flywheel at once. With a shriek outside the turret, a group of centrifugal gear bombs had flown towards the far...


    ...


    This was Zhang Tie''s first time to witness a battle facing a city in such a scale.


    At this moment, the entire Mocco City had been fortified. There were over 100 centrifugal turrets with the largest range in the city. The moment the demonized puppets surged into the range of the centrifugal turret, over 100 centrifugal turrets opened fire almost at the same time. Zhang Tie raised his head and saw hundreds of black points drawing a distant parabola towards the demonized puppets corps over 4 miles away. After over 10 seconds, they all fell into the camp of demonized puppets.


    The moment the huge wheel-sized metal gears fell on the ground, they sprung up once again. Due to their great momentum, they kept rolling forward, crushing demonized puppets dozens of meters ahead. As a result, a lot of demonized puppets'' blood and fleshes sprayed in all directions with broken tendons and bones...


    Standing on the tower over the city gate, Zhang Tie saw those huge centrifugal gears causing over 100 red bloody traces. In the blink of an eye, those bloody traces disappeared as they were submerged by the following tide. For those terrifying demonized puppets, they didn''t know about fear and pain at all.


    Zhang Tie felt that powerful steam centrifugal shell was like a kurbash which slashed onto those monsters rushing towards Mocco City crazily, leaving bloody traces on their bodies. However, those monsters didn''t stop moving forward.


    After 20 seconds, over 100 gears flew off once again and fell towards the distance, leaving 100 more bloody traces, which disappeared in a wink...


    Like mad cows, the black tide grew crazier among the constant shrieks.


    After launching 10 rounds of shells, the vanguard of the black tide had already been 3 miles away from Mocco City.


    Among a wide area of thick rising smokes, Zhang Tie saw over 1,000 armored vehicles and tanks accelerating towards the demonized puppets from outside the Mocco City. At this moment, those who dared rush towards the black tide by armored vehicles were real heroes.


    In order to deal with those demonized puppets, the wheels on both sides of those armored vehicles had been installed with blades.


    The moment the two parties collided with each other had those demonized puppets been sent flying backwards. Some were crushed; numerous were cut into halves. At the same time, the armored vehicles shot out bolts through steam ballistas. Each time they shot blindly had they at least penetrated through two demonized puppets...


    After being heavily cracked by human armored troops, those demonized puppets'' tide-like attack was curbed at once; however, it was temporary.


    Demonized puppets could barely be killed. Even though they were cut into halves, they would not die in a short time; instead, they could still move. As to the penetrating injuries, unless their fragile head or necks, which contained central nervous system, were penetrated through, those injuries were not fatal to demonized puppets at all.


    Gradually, the demonized puppets started to launch a counterattack. Numerous demonized puppets jumped on the armored vehicles and blocked the loopholes and peepholes with their own bodies while others swarmed up the armored vehicles like ants that biting beetles. After their limbs being chopped off, the demonized puppets were struggling and trying their best to insert their weapons into the pedrails of the armored vehicles; some of them even put their own arms or bodies into the pedrails or wheels to break down the armored vehicles.


    After being blocked by piles of demonized puppets, armored vehicles could not launch bolts anymore...


    When the pedrails were destroyed, the armored vehicles started to turn around in the same place; some could not even move anymore...


    Being surrounded by demonized puppets, the drivers in armored vehicles could not see the forward direction; as a result, their armored vehicles collided with other armored vehicles. Some of them even drove into gullies...


    While others kept surging forward...


    Only after a few minutes, the collision between steel and demonized puppets which were barely killed had entered a climax.


    Not all the demonized puppets were blocked by armored vehicles. When a part of demonized puppets surrounded the armored vehicles, the others just ignored them and continued to surge towards Mocco City while uttering weird roars.


    At this moment, the firm fortifications made of steel and cement outside Mocco City started to work while the long-distance ballistas on the city wall of Mocco City also started to roar. Facing the dispersed strike which was like raindrops, a large area of demonized puppets fell down; however, they struggled to pick themselves up from the ground. The entire Mocco City boiled like a piece of hot, red steel in a split second...

 630 Yingzhou State of Taixia Country

    Chapter 630: Yingzhou State of Taixia Country


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Yingzhou State, Taixia Country, Eastern Continent...


    As the most powerful and formidable country and the core region of human civilization in this age, Yingzhou State gathered billions of Chinese population. Every Hua people dreamed for that place. Taixia State represented the top human civilization and power in this age. Each human historian would prioritize Eastern Continent¡ª¡ªTaixia Country¡ª¡ªHua people when they talked about the major reason that humans could survive on after the Catastrophe.


    Almost every human historian was aware that there would be no Taixia Country or humans would have been exterminated in the former two holy wars without Hua people. Anyone who had a clear recognition about this age would sigh with emotions that Hua people and Taixia Country were the masters of Iron Black Age.


    In this age, the continuity of Hua people and the power of Taixia Country bore the largest hope of the survival of all the humans.


    If not considering the history and legends that happened in the distant age, humans had almost 6,000 years'' recorded history. With the Catastrophe as the original point, there were more than 5,000 years on its left side while only less than 900 years were on its right side. In the recorded human history of 6,000 years, no other countries could match Taixia Country''s power and prosperity. Actually, no country or alliance that could match Taixia Country was ever described in the history textbooks of humans. All the alleged brilliant and powerful countries and alliances in the human history textbooks were like fireflies in front of the bright moon compared to Taixia Country today.


    Taixia Country was so powerful and prosperous that it was out of ones'' imaginations. As a result, those who couldn''t imagine its power and prosperity could only strive to move closer to it. When the holy war was coming, they would be more anxious about migrating into Taixia Country. Yingzhou State, as a coastal state of the 72 greater states of Taixia Country had a large number of immigrants after the holy war, especially the coastal cities, which became boisterous as a result.


    ...


    It was not Zhang Yang''s first time to come to the harbor of Fuhai City, each time he came here, Zhang Yang would feel shocked, despite he had also seen those prosperous harbors in Huaiyuan Prefecture,


    Fuhai Harbor was just one of the 17 harbors in Yingzhou State. It was not the largest one as its scale and freight throughput could only rank middle places. However, Zhang Yang almost got lost when he came here for the first time.


    The harbor coastline was longer than 70 miles. It had over 20,000 shipyards and docks, big or small. In the cargo berths, there were so many giant head masts. Walking in such a harbor, he felt like walking in a steel woods composed of ships and huge fleets. Right in here, Zhang Yang saw huge open-sea fleets which weighed over 1 million tons.


    There were exclusive railway lines in the harbor which connected the harbor from the south to the north. It took people almost one hour from the southernmost part of the harbor to the northernmost part by commuting train.


    Fuhai Harbor was very large, so was Fuhai City. After coming to Taixia Country and gathering a lot of information from all aspects, Zhang Yang was deeply impressed by Taixia Country. It was too "huge".


    Zhang Yang didn''t know how large was Taixia Country, because the entire Eastern Continent including those black and gray wild regions on map belonged to Taixia Country. In the words of Hua people, the entire Eastern Continent was the inherent territory of Taixia Country.


    In the territory of Taixia Country, the 9 immortal states were the most prosperous, followed by 36 upper states, 72 greater states. The wild places, there were many medium-sized and small states and prefectures and people agglomerations.


    The basic condition to be a greater state of Taixia Country was that the state had to have at least 108 Class A cities, not to mention other conditions and requirements.


    After staying in Taixia Country several months, Zhang Yang had not figured out how cities were classified in Taixia Country. He was told that even Yiyang City in Jinyun Country could barely meet the requirements on the scale of population and size of the economy to be a Class A city in Taixia Country, as to other conditions, it might not even meet.


    In Waii Sub-continent, Norman Empire copied Taixia Country from all aspects such as its social systems, urban classifications and national class divisions, etc..


    The founder of Norman Empire, which was well-known across Waii Sub-continent became average in Taixia Country. In the eyes of most of the people in Taixia Country who knew Norman Empire, the alleged founder of Norman Empire was just a smart guy who ruled an uncivilized place after traveling Taixia Country and learned something. There were so many similar people in other continents and uncivilized places. Even now, there were still a lot of guys who came to Taixia Country with the same thoughts and dreams. They hoped to find a shortcut on this marvelous land so that they could be rich and privileged when they came back to their homeland.


    As a Hua people who lived overseas for a long time, when Zhang Yang came to Taixia Country, he firstly needed to be adapted to the inherent confidence and pride of Hua people. After Taixia Country developed greatly, those Hua people who were extremely stubborn and proud would start to call themselves God''s men.


    In this age, each Hua people living in Taixia Country was qualified to be proud of that.


    Take Yingzhou State as an instance. As a greater state, the distance from south to north and from east to west were both above 20,000 miles. The area of Yingzhou State alone had already surpassed the total territory of all the human countries across Blackson Humans Corridor. Plus the area of all the islands and seas under the affiliation of Yingzhou State, the size of Yingzhou alone had already been several times more than that of Blackson Humans Corridor.


    Of course, Yingzhou State was also very prosperous as an upper state.


    Yingzhou State was divided into 7 prefectures, which included over 130 class A cities, over 1,000 cities below class A and tens of thousands of towns, large or small. 17 years ago, the state government roughly calculated the total population of Yingzhou State based on the consumption of common salt. According to the investigation, about 6.7 billion Hua people were living in Yingzhou State. Therefore, more Hua people lived here.


    But it was just a state. We can imagine how prosperous and powerful was Taixia Country.


    After coming to Yingzhou State, Zhang Yang firstly bought a map of the full territory of Taixia Country which was about 4 square meters. It was a mini version. On the map, Zhang Tie recognized that the distance from the southernmost part of Taixia Country to its northernmost part was 380.000 miles, excluding the grey regions.


    It meant that it would take a person at least half a year by train straightly from the southernmost part to the northernmost part of Taixia Country at the speed of 100 km/h including using 2 hours to add water and coal each day. Actually, many people had tried it. Zhang Yang was told that it would take a person at least 20 months to finish the complete travel from the southernmost part to the northernmost part of Taixia Country.


    However, on the map, Zhang Yang found that the distance between the easternmost part and the westernmost part of Taixia Country was even about 1/3 longer than that from the southernmost part to the northernmost part.


    Curiously, after coming to Taixia Country, Zhang Yang had felt reassured. He had never felt that reassured when he was in Blackhot City. When he returned to Huaiyuan Prefecture, he felt a bit reassured; however, he didn''t become reassured completely. The moment he stepped on the land of Taixia Country and knew that billions of Hua people with the black hair and eyes were living here had Zhang Yang recovered his composure completely. Meanwhile, all the disordered sounds that had been restless in his heart over 2 decades disappeared along with his concerns about coming to a strange place.


    Zhang Yang realized that Taixia Country was the very place for Zhang''s posterity to root and sprout and the place for Zhang clan to find and develop its everlasting undertakings.


    As Zhang Ping, Zhang Tie''s uncle said, this was where they should go.


    ...


    Zhang Yang was waiting nearby the dock "Tiger 08" with some attendants. After receiving the message, Zhang Yang knew that those steamers whose weight ranged from 30,000 to 50,000 tons would finally be anchored at the dock nearby "Tiger 08". In this harbor, different tons of ships would anchor in different docks. Docks were different in water depths and docking facilities. In the dock region named as "Rat", there were super huge steamers which weighed over 1 million tons while those huge steamers which weighed over 500,000 tons would basically anchor in dock region named as "Ox".


    It took Zhang family over 2 months from Waii Sub-continent to Yingzhou State of Taixia Country by airship last year. Although the airship was fast and comfortable, it could not hold too many passengers or items in such a long-distance flight. Therefore, Zhang Yang decided to evacuate people in batches last year. The second batch of people would arrive today. They were taking a huge 36,000-ton open-ocean steamer which was bought by Jinwu Corporation from Zhang''s Milky Way Shipyard. After bumping 9 months on the seas, the Safety&Tranquility steamer finally sent a message to Zhang Yang last day and told him that they would arrive at Fuhai Harbor of Yingzhou State this morning. Therefore, Zhang Yang waited here with some attendants.


    Besides some reliable backbone personnel from all departments of Jinwu Corporation and their relatives, there were some items that Zhang Yang had people bring from Huaiyuan Prefecture, including some key equipment of his dad''s airship manufacturer. After all, they were all valuable belongings. Zhang Yang had them packed and transported here.


    After waiting for more than 2 hours on the dock, Zhang Yang still didn''t see Safety&Tranquility yet. However, other huge steamers docked near the dock "Tiger 08".


    The moment those huge steamers docked had the passengers pushed onto the deck and cheered. For them, it was really like getting rid of bitterness and reaching the bank of happiness. Everything here was fresh and nice to those people.


    Watching those people, Zhang Yang recalled the scene when he came to Yingzhou State for the first time.


    At this critical moment, those who could come to Yingzhou State by steamer were at least not poor. This could be judged from their clothes.


    ...


    "Dad, what''s that?" a little girl of about 11 years old in a beautiful skirt raised her head while pointing at that object in the sky when she passed by Zhang Yang.


    "Young lady, of course, it''s an airship! When we settle down, the master will consider adding the airship as a traffic tool for sure. It''s said that Taixia Country is so large. It''s very inconvenient for us to travel without an airship!" a fat woman told the little girl, "I''ve not imagined that young lady could speak Hua language so well only after learning it two years!"


    "No, Lisa, that''s not an airship. It doesn''t have air sacs..." The little girl exclaimed.


    "What?"


    Some raised their heads out of curiosity and became stunned at once. They then shouted, "How come is it flying in the air without air sacs?"


    After hearing their exclamations, more people stopped walking as they all raised their heads and watched the sky, including Zhang Yang.


    There was indeed an over 200-m long object hovering in the sky at about 1,000 m in height. That object was different than the airship in shape. Additionally, it didn''t have air sacs or wings. Looking from the ground, it was completely a ship. Being different from common boats, it was floating in the sky.


    After coming to Yingzhou State many months, it was Zhang Yang''s second time to see such an airboat. When he saw it for the first time, he also became dumbfounded; however, at this moment, he had almost been used to it. However, he was still very interested in it as he was deeply shocked by the power of civilization of Taixia Country.

 631 Airboat of Noble Clans

    Chapter 631: Airboat of Noble Clans


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Before coming to Taixia Country, Zhang Yang had never believed that there was such an object in the world. Three decades ago, such a marvelous airboat had already appeared when an exotic metal called "air floating metal" was excavated from the underground world. However, such an object could only be seen in Taixia Country. Even in Taixia Country, only very few people could have such an object. In the airspace of Taixia, the airship was still the main air traffic tool. Such an airboat was rarely seen. After coming to Taixia Country the past few months, Zhang Yang had just seen it twice.


    It was very crowded when people got off the steamer. One person raised his head and watched the sky as he continued to walk forward. Unfortunately, he was pushed into the sea. He then flapped and exclaimed in the sea as those on his side pulled him out of the sea hurriedly.


    "That''s an air floating airboat made of the air floating metal..."


    A sailor in the dark brown skin explained to those people in Hua language fluently as he was fixing the anchor chain while those passengers were watching that exotic object in the sky.


    "Can I buy one? How much?" A middle-aged man with a bulged belly while being pushed by people in all directions looked like "This uncle doesn''t lack money" as he asked with glittering eyes.


    "Of course you can..." That sailor had seen too many nouveau riches who escaped here in order to dodge from the holy war. He derided, "Across Yingzhou State of Taixia Country, besides the governor of this state, only a few clans like Qin Clan could purchase the air floating airboat. Qin Clan is very well-known here. You will know them soon. If you think you could match Qin Clan on wealth, you might purchase an air floating airboat!"


    "How rich is Qin Clan?" The middle-aged man continued as he felt the sailor''s ridicule.


    "Qin Clan is a noble clan in Yingzhou State. They''ve multiplied over 40 generations here. They have a nickname, ''100-city Qin''!"


    "100-city Qin?" That middle-aged man repeated as he felt strange about that word, "What does that mean?"


    "It means that Qin Clan has over 100 cities. If you also have many cities, you can also buy an airboat!"


    "One clan has...over 100...ci...cities?" That middle-aged man was frightened as he stammered.


    "Hmm, almost like that. Although it''s a bit exaggerating. I was told Qin Clan at least have 70 cities and dozens of large-scale town. Therefore, Qin Clan was called 100-city Qin!" The Sailor''s voice was full of admiration and respect when he talked about so much wealth of Qin Clan, "You''d better be low-key here. In Taixia Country, if you have less than 1 city and levy tax of less than 1 million gold coins from your city each year, you''d better not tell others that you''re a rich man; otherwise, you would be ridiculed. They would treat you as a rustic."


    After hearing the sailor''s words, the man''s fury disappeared at once. He even dared not ask the price of the airboat. Watching the airboat disappearing in the sky very soon, the middle-aged man could only take his followers away while lowering his head. Only that little girl was still watching the sky.


    After hearing this dialogue, Zhang Yang also smiled. Before coming to Taixia Country, all of these people had excellent lives. Many of them were rich in their former settlement. However, when they came to Taixia Country, they found the standard of being rich was out of commoners'' imagination. In Yingzhou State, a lot of clans had cities. In Taixia Country, cities were divided into official cities and private cities. Official cities were managed by Taixia''s governments and imperial court while private cities belonged to personnel or clans. Over two-thirds of cities in Taixia Country were private.


    100-city Qin was well-known in Yingzhou State. When Zhang Yang came to Yingzhou State at the beginning, he was told that noble clans in Yingzhou State like Qin Clan had very deep root in this state. Qin Clan had been in Yingzhou State for over 700 years. Due to the efforts of generations, Qin Clan had such a great undertaking. If in other places, Qin Clan, with such a great undertaking, would be unrivaled. However, in Taixia Country, Qin Clan was just a local noble clan.


    Private property was guaranteed by the laws of Taixia Country. According to the laws of Taixia Country, as long as you built a private city in a place, you will have that private city forever. The owner of the city had the right to levy taxes and formulate taxation policies to gain "tax and interest", you could also recruit army and guards for your private city...


    In your private city, you could levy whatever you want as it was protected by the Taixia''s laws. Additionally, all the non-slave population in Taixia Country could enjoy free immigration. However, if you didn''t have enough conditions to attract people to do business in your private city, your city would be an empty city. You could have as many troops and powerhouses as you want. Rich people were even encouraged to cultivate powerhouses privately according to the laws of Taixia Country. They could do business and expand their own territory by force. Nevertheless, bullying the weak and violating others'' legal rights and interests were forbidden and intolerable in accordance with the laws of Taixia Country.


    Therefore, all the noble clans and rich people in Taixia Country were wild about building cities and treating it as the best undertaking that they could leave to their posterity.


    There was a saying in Taixia Country, "Commoners kept houses, noble clans kept cities; houses existed for about 100 years while the cities existed forever."


    After coming to Taixia Country several months later, Zhang Yang''s ambition was also gradually aroused. For all the Hua people, Taixia Country was full of hopes. People had enough place to make their dream come true here. ''Others could build cities for the well-being of their posterity and have their bloodlines carried forward, why wouldn''t Zhang Tie and I establish an undertaking in Taixia Country?''


    ...


    At almost noon, Zhang Yang finally saw that the Safety&Tranquility steam slowly driving towards the dock under the guidance of the pilot vessel. In Huaiyuan Prefecture, Safety&Tranquility was a huge vessel. However, it was dwarfed here.


    The moment the Safety&Tranquility was anchored steadily and the gangway ladder was put down from the vessel, all the passengers who had traveled about 10 months poured out at once.


    "Boss..." All the people who got off the vessel were very thrilled at the sight of Zhang Yang. Some even dropped off tears. They finally arrived at Taixia Country and didn''t need to be terrified anymore.


    "Thankfully, you all arrived safe and sound. After bumping on the sea for so long, you can have a rest for a few days. I''ve already arranged your residence. After a couple of days, we will discuss the next plan!" Zhang Yang let out a sigh when he saw the backbone personnel of Jinwu Business Group and their family members. ''As long as these people have arrived, I will have good helpers when doing business. As we are new here from Waii Sub-continent, we could only join hands with each other to tide over difficulties. By doing this, these people could be more loyal to me.''


    "Boss, we''ve bumped on the sea for over 300 days, we''re almost driven mad. When can we assemble those machines? Once we find some more employers and figure out the purchase channels of raw materials, our Jinwu Airship Manufacturing Corporation could produce airships soon!" An engineer of Zhang Yang''s dad suggested enthusiastically as he couldn''t wait to show his value.


    Zhang Yang threw a glance at that engineer. He knew clearly what that engineer was thinking about. At this moment, those people who came to Taixia were shocked by such a prosperous country. Therefore, they were very afraid of not finding their location in the new place so as to show their value, "Don''t worry about our plan, Taixia is a bit different than Huaiyuan Prefecture. I''ve not figured out many things yet. You only need to believe me that as long as you wish to continue to work for me and serve Jinwu Business Group and Zhang Clan, as long as I have food, I will never make you hungry. Our Jinwu Business Group would never abandon those who would like to stand together with us regardless of any risks and difficulties!"


    At this moment, Zhang Yang looked more like a leader. Only with a few words, he had made all the others reassured.


    This time, over 100 employers of Zhang Yang came here from Huaiyuan Prefecture. Plus their family members, the Safety&Tranquility held over 1,600 passengers in total. As shipping tickets from Waii Sub-continent to Taixia Country were rare, almost all the employers came here with their relatives and family members. Even some guys came here with their beautiful wives. After asking the reason, Zhang Yang knew that since these guys were allowed to take their family members to Taixia Country, so many people would like to propose a marriage for them. Some girls even wanted to marry them voluntarily. Before going aboard, these guys were still intoxicated in their sweet dreams. Finally, they had to take their wife, and parents-in-law, their wives'' younger brothers together to Taixia Country.


    As the old saying went, "If one requested others too strictly, one would not have any friend." Zhang Yang didn''t feel like figuring out the details. Because numerous people were dreaming to leave Waii Sub-continent, a steamer ticket would even arouse a fight. After remembering his mom''s instruction, Zhang Yang just wanted to save as more people as possible.


    It would take 180 gold coins a day for the Safety&Tranquility steamer to anchor in the dock of Fuhai Harbor. Although it was not cheap, it was necessary. After handling the procedures on the harbor and arranging some people on the Safety&Tranquility, Zhang Yang took those people away from Fuhai Harbor.


    Like how Zhang Yang felt when he came to Fuhai Harbor at the beginning, watching the over 70 mile-long harbor and those huge fleets which weighed over 1 million tons in the docks, everybody else was shocked by the prosperous scene.


    ...


    Zhang Yang ordered a big hotel in a quiet place over 10 miles away from the port area of Fuhai Harbor. He arranged those people to take rest in the hotel for a couple of days and adapt to the situation of Yingzhou State. Although those people were very excited the moment they got off the steamer, after a short time, they had started to feel dizzy as they suffered from symptoms like seasickness. It was a common disease. Like some people would suffer from carsickness, after bumping on the sea for a long time, when they came to the steady land, some people would not adapt to such a change at once. Therefore, they would also feel uncomfortable temporarily. Many sailors had such an experience.


    After having a meal with everybody else who had not eaten food on the land for over 10 months, Zhang Yang comforted them faintly and told them to have a good rest. After that, he left the hotel by car.


    In that black sedan, on the way back home, Zhang Yang took out of a thick book "Taixia Laws".


    If you wanted to understand a place, the most effective way was to learn the local laws. The complete Taixia laws contained 360,000 words in Hua language. The complete "Taixia Laws" were divided into "Great Laws", "Civil Laws", "Commercial Laws" and "Criminal Laws", which regulated the running of the entire huge eastern empire as the supreme code of Taixia Country.


    Over 500 years, "Taixia Laws" had just been remedied once, namely, increasing an item in the "Commercial Laws" of "Taixia Laws", which made a clear definition about the shipping priority of maritime businessmen. Due to the authority of "Taixia Laws", Taixia became more and more powerful.


    ...


    Only after half an hour, a manor that covered about 15,000 square meters appeared in front of Zhang Yang''s black sedan. At the sight of the sedan, two spirits fighters instantly opened the gate of the manor and had the sedan enter.


    The moment Zhang Yang got off the vehicle had he seen some female servants running here and there. They looked very busy. The entire manor also looked a bit intense.


    "Aunt Sun, what''s happening?" Zhang Yang hurriedly asked a senior who came to Taixia Country together with his family members.


    "First young master, thank god, you''re back. The three wives of the second young master are going to deliver babies!"


    "Now?"


    "Yup, the three ladies have already broken their amniotic fluid simultaneously in half an hour just after the noon. What a coincidence..."


    After hearing Aunt Sun''s words, Zhang Yang hurriedly walked into the inner chamber where the three ladies were.

 632 The Birth of Immortal Bloodline I

    After entering the inner chamber, Zhang Yang found all the members of Zhang Clan were busy serving the three women in the exclusive delivery room.


    Zhang Ping was circling outside the room while he looked both intense and pleasant. He kept punching one fist onto the other. Zhang Yang didn''t see his mom. Paul, whom Zhang Tie arranged to protect Linda, Beverly and Fiona, was also waiting outside the room. Compared to Zhang Ping''s anxious look, Paul kept his eyes closed in a tranquil way all over. He didn''t open his eyes until Zhang Yang arrived. He then put his right hand on his left chest as he faintly bowed to Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang also nodded towards him.


    "Where''re dad and mom?" Zhang Yang asked as he strode forward.


    "Your mom is helping inside the room with Huizhen!" Zhang Yang''s dad looked a bit reassured after seeing Zhang Yang.


    "What''s going on inside?"


    "It''s should be okay!"


    "Dad, you don''t need to be that nervous. Just take a seat outside. It will be all right after a short while!"


    "How can I take a seat at this moment? I''ve not imagined that Zhang Tie''s going to be a papa!" Zhang Ping revealed a faint smile as he was going to have three more grandsons or granddaughters. This brought him a great sense of achievement, "When did you contact Zhang Tie last time, is he okay?"


    "Good, he''s dynamic!" Zhang Yang didn''t tell the truth which was told by Zhang Tie. After all, as long as knowing that Zhang Tie was safe, their parents would not be concerned about him.


    "That''s good. Remember to tell him to not care about the honor of ''Selnes Eagle''. It would be good as long as he could come back alive. The honor ''Selnes Eagle'' is nothing but a f*art in Taixia Country!"


    "I know. I will tell him when I contact him next time! The Safety&Tranquility has already arrived at Fuhai Harbor along with those equipments. Dad, what''s your next plan?" Zhang Yang inquired Zhang Ping. If Zhang Clan wanted to settle down in Taixia Country, his dad''s airship manufacturing plant had to take root here too. Although it was an industry of Jinwu Business Group, the airship manufacturing plant was always run by his dad. It was Zhang Ping''s undertaking. Therefore, Zhang Yang had to follow his dad''s opinion on the airship manufacturing plant.


    "I''ve investigated the situation of Fuhai City these months. The harbor and transport services here are very developed. The shipbuilding skills here are much more advanced than that in Huaiyuan Prefecture. However, there''s a weaker foundation here on airship manufacturing industry. There''s almost no airship manufacturing plant here. If we settle down here, we will be greatly limited in all aspects such as talents, techniques and resources. Our airship manufacturing plant will hardly develop. As a small enterprise, if we want to build competitive airships here, we have to do trades and learn from others enterprises in the same industry!" Zhang Ping became excited and professional when he talked about the airships manufacturing.


    "Which place do you think is suitable?"


    "I was told that some places in the inland of Yingzhou State had an advanced manufacturing industry, which gathered a batch of Class A airship manufacturing enterprises. I''ve not investigated over there yet. Therefore, I have not made any decision temporarily. What do you think?"


    "I will wait until my younger sisters-in-law get better. Then, I want to take a look at Huaiyuan City!" Zhang Yang replied after a few seconds.


    Huaiyuan City was a settlement of Huaiyuan Palace in Taixia Country and one of the Class A cities in Yingzhou State. It was over 3,000 miles away from Fuhai City. Since he came to Taixia Country, Zhang Yang had not been there yet.


    "Are you prepared to settle down in Fuhai City?" Zhang Yang''s dad asked Zhang Yang.


    "Not yet..." As a descendant of Huaiyuan Palace, of course, he could be taken care of by Huaiyuan Palace when he came to Huaiyuan City. However, Zhang Yang didn''t mean to gain any special care from Huaiyuan City; instead, he wanted to negotiate with Huaiyuan Palace on the business of all-purpose medicament in Taixia Country. At this moment, most of the all-purpose medicament were mainly used in Waii Sub-continent. Only a few of them were sold to Taixia Country. However, the all-purpose medicament would play a greater role everywhere. Compared to the Waii Sub-continent, 1/4 of which had been occupied by demons and covered with battle flames, Taixia Country was a much greater potential market.


    Huaiyuan Palace dispatched a 60-year odd powerhouse to protect Zhang Yang''s family members on the way back to the Taixia Country. Given this point, Zhang Yang knew that Huaiyuan Palace was aware of the value of all-purpose medicament. Someone also came to Fuhai City for Zhang Yang from Huaiyuan City and mentioned the all-purpose medicament a few days ago. However, as Zhang Yang was not clear about the situation in Taixia Country, he didn''t make the decision right away. Additionally, he didn''t have enough assistants on his side; therefore, he could not take care of that on many aspects. By contrast, with the arrival of the reliable backbone force of Jinwu Business Group and Zhang Yang''s deeper investigation about Taixia Country in all aspects, Zhang Yang realized that it was the right time to talk with Huaiyuan Palace.


    "I will support you and Zhang Tie, no matter what decision you make!" Zhang Ping expressed.


    Right then, the steward came to Zhang Ping''s side, "Master, the household registration officer of Fuhai City has arrived. He''s taking a rest in the parlor!''''


    "Oh, I know, go greet him politely right away. When the babies come out, I will send someone to notice you. You then bring the officer here!"


    "Yes, sir!" Before leaving, the steward suddenly remembered something as he asked, "There are two female officers, do we need to prepare for red purses?"


    "Prepare two red purses, just 6 silver coins and 6 copper coins in each of them in case of trouble." Zhang Yang replied.


    "Yes, sir!" The steward became hesitated for a short while as he felt that the red purses contained too less money. ''Even the servants would gain more than that in usual. How come the first young master became so mean this time?'' However, the steward dared not ask about the reason.


    Until the steward walked away did Zhang Ping ask Zhang Yang, "Does the red purses contain too fewer coins?"


    "They dare not take it if you give them too much. Additionally, they would be angry about that. According to ''Taixia Laws'', civil servants are forbidden to take the bribe. As long as the evidence could be provided, even if they take one copper coin illegally, their positions would be relieved. Additionally, they would never be employed again. If they take the bribe of more than one gold coin, they would be punished to do hard labor work for more than a month. If they take the bribe of more than 100 gold coins, they would be disparaged to pariahs. If they take 500 good coins illegally, they would face a capital punishment while three generations of their posterity would be forbidden to be officers."


    "Ah?" Zhang Ping became amazed, "Why did you give them the red purses then?"


    Zhang Yang smiled, "Local customs are exceptions. In Fuhai City, when household registration officers provide door-to-door registration services, they could accept red purses which indicated a benediction. However, the maximal amount of money in the red purse should not exceed 8 silver coins, namely one day''s salary of the lowest officer in Taixia Country; otherwise, the registration household officer would not dare to take it!"


    When Zhang Yang explained to Zhang Ping, a loud cry drifted from the delivery room, closely after which were the exclamations of some women...

 633 The Birth of Immortal Bloodline II

    It would take commoners about 10 months to come to the world; however, it took Zhang Tie''s three wives about 12 months to deliver the babies. This was what Zhang Ping was always concerned about. He was afraid that something was wrong with the babies in the wombs of their mothers. If it happened to commoners, the fetuses probably had been dead or have problems in development


    If they had not invited a lot of prestigious doctors to check the pulses and learned that the fetuses were normal plus Zhang Tie''s reminder in advance, Zhang Tie''s family members might have had Linda, Beverly and Fiona to do cesarean section two months ago.


    At this moment, after hearing the first especially loud cry of the baby, Zhang Ping finally looked relaxed. However, closely after that, he heard the doctor and those women''s exclamations, therefore, he became startled at once. He thought that something bad happened as he almost broke inside the room.


    Zhang Tie''s dad didn''t break in; instead, he just drew closer to the door in a flurried way and asked loudly and intensely, "Is everything all right inside?"


    Until a few seconds later did Zhang Tie''s mom try her best to reply calmly, "It''s all right...Linda delivered a boy. Mom and baby are both safe..."


    "Nice to hear that!" Zhang Tie''s dad recovered his composure at once.


    Zhang Yang also stood outside the door in an intense way. After eating Zhang Tie''s fruit of plunder, Zhang Yang had already been an orange-robed pharmacist. As a pharmacist who could identify about 1,000 medicines and raw materials by the nose, his smell was much sharper than that of his dad. The moment he stood outside the door had he smelt the rich, special fragrance from inside the room.


    If Zhang Tie smelt this fragrance, he would know that it was from leakless fruits. This was a feature of his baby.


    Paul finally opened his eyes while a mysterious and shrewd light flashed across his eyes.


    By contrast, after hearing the baby cry, an old gardener who was pruning flowers and grasses in the garden suddenly stopped. When Paul opened his eyes, the old gardener closed his eyes before slowly revealing a shocking look.


    ...


    With Linda''s smooth delivery, a rich, special fragrance started to spread out, which even covered the bloody smell. Everyone was shocked when they saw the baby boy and smelt the exotic fragrance, including the doctors, the midwives, the nurses, Zhang Tie''s mom, Sonia and some female servants and Zhang Tie''s elder sister-in-law on Linda''s side.


    Besides Zhang Tie''s family members, nobody knew that the baby had stayed in his mom''s womb for 12 months. However, the moment the baby came out had all the others felt his specialty. Besides the exotic fragrance in the room, the baby''s feature was more amazing.


    Usually, new babies could not open their eyes until a few days later. However, Linda''s baby boy opened his eyes closely after his first cry.


    At the sight of that baby boy, everyone exclaimed.


    What marvelous, beautiful eyes!


    They were as glittering and translucent as ice and snow and as beautiful as gemstones. At the beginning, his eyes were black; closely after that, they started to change constantly like the rainbow from red, orange, yellow to green, blue and purple. Everybody felt like watching a brilliant milky way. The female doctor who cradled the baby boy was completely stunned.


    Besides his eyes, his hair was also constantly changing its color. At the beginning, it was black like that of Zhang Tie; it then turned into the color of a chestnut like that of Linda; after that, it turned into red and blue like a rainbow.


    After his hair changed its colors, the baby boy''s jade-like skin faintly changed its color like a rainbow as well.


    The female doctor felt like cradling a brilliant rainbow.


    ...


    When everyone was stunned and didn''t know what to do, with Beverly''s muffled cry, another loud baby cry sounded on the other bed several meters away from Linda''s bed. When the second rich fragrance suffused in the room, the second rainbow came out, which was 5 minutes later than the first one.


    After another 5 minutes, with the same exotic fragrance, Fiona gave birth to the third rainbow.


    All the doctors and nurses were shocked by the three unusual babies. Even Zhang members were stunned...


    ...


    After half an hour, Zhang Yang and Zhang Ping exchanged glances with each other in the study room solemnly. Even though Zhang Yang was always prudent, he was still a bit restless at this moment.


    "Zhang Yang...look...can you cover this thing?" Zhang Ping asked as he looked surprised and worried, "It''s easy to deal with our family members, as to the doctors and nurses, can we prevent them from disclosing it to the outside using money?"


    Zhang Yang replied with a solemn look, "If there was only one baby, it would be easy. However, the three younger sisters-in-law delivered their babies almost at the same time. We invited three groups of doctors and nurses, totally 18 people; all of them have already seen that just now. It''s easy to prevent them from spreading the news to the public; however, it''s hard to let them keep their mouths closed, unless..." Zhang Yang hesitated before forcing a bitter smile, "Besides those doctors and nurses, the two household registration officers of Fuhai City are still sitting in the parlor!"


    "Can we not register households for the three babies this time? Just let the officers leave?" Zhang Tie''s dad asked hopefully.


    "I''m afraid not!" Zhang Yang shook his head, "As their dad is a Hua man, the three babies carry Hua people''s bloodlines, additionally, they were delivered in Taixia Country. According to the laws of Taixia Country, the three babies had already become real Hua people in Taixia Country. By contrast, we are now migrants and could not be real Hua people in Taixia Country until 3 years later, unless we could immediately find another three baby boys who could substitute them. Additionally, the 18 doctors and nurses have to risk their lives to perjure for us. Otherwise, the registration household officers have to verify the babies themselves..."


    "Zhang Tie the jerk, even being not at home, he still makes so many troubles for us!" Zhang Ping could only blame Zhang Tie. Previously, everyone in Zhang family was forbidden to disclose the news that Linda, Beverly and Fiona would give birth to the babies after being pregnant for 12 months, including the servants. Zhang Ping only expected the babies could be delivered smoothly; however, he had never imagined that the baby boys could have such special features. If it was in a remote place, they could just bring them up by being frugal. However, it was in Taixia Country. Zhang Ping didn''t know how to deal with that. He was even afraid of bringing harms to the three babies.


    The father and the son both saw the opponent''s frustration. Even Zhang Tie had not imagined about this. Zhang Tie only knew that the babies were born with two bloodlines, color changing capability and precise throwing skill. However, he had never imagined that they could show the bloodlines in such an exaggerating manner.


    "Alright, just bless it. Invite the two household registration officers here. If we cannot stay here anymore. we will move away!" Zhang Tie''s dad made his decision as he gritted his teeth.


    Zhang Yang nodded as he asked the steward to bring the two household registration officers to the delivery room to check the three baby boys...


    ...


    It had already been half an hour when the abnormal looks of the baby boys had almost disappeared. Their skin was as white as jade steadily while their hair and eyes were still changing colors. Usually, new babies would fall asleep soon after they were born; however, these three baby boys were especially energetic.


    Linda, Beverly and Fiona were also in good conditions. They all delivered the babies smoothly as they didn''t suffer too much pain. The moment the babies cried had the women''s breasts became plump while the milk started to flow out like a spring. The babies then started to suck their moms'' milk.


    After drinking milk, the babies became more energetic. Lying in the swaddle, they were all widening their beautiful eyes and watching this world out of curiosity.


    When the two household registration officers came to the delivery room, the fragrance in the delivery room still didn''t fade away. The two women, one was over 30 years old while the other was over 50, wore vermeil uniforms which represented happiness and blessing. Watching them entering, Linda, Beverly and Fiona hurriedly held their babies intensely.


    The two household registration officers looked both curious and solemn. Before entering the room, they had already asked the doctors and nurses. If not being told in unison vividly, they would never believe that.


    The moment they entered the room had they smelt the special fragrance and witnessed their eyes and hair which were still changing colors; therefore, they knew that the doctors and nurses were telling the truth.


    The two household registration officers exchanged glances with each other as they both found the opponent''s shocking look at the same time. The elder one then told Zhang Tie''s mom, "Erm, we need to invite our director to verify this. I will invite him here, hold on please!"


    Zhang Tie''s mom had not imagined that it would become so tricky. However, she could do nothing but see the female register leaving out of here rapidly.


    The younger registration officer just sat in the room and kept her glittering eyes on the three babies afraid of them being substituted by others.


    "Before the director arrives, please send others away from here!" The younger female registration officer told Zhang Tie''s mom.


    "Is there anything wrong with my grandsons?" Zhang Tie''s mom asked out of concern.


    "Don''t worry, it will be all right!" The registration officer revealed a smile as she took a deep breath. It seemed that she was relieving her intense mood, "It could only be good news!"


    After hearing that, Zhang Tie''s mom, Linda, Beverly and Fiona finally recovered their composure.


    ...


    Almost about 40 minutes later, the other registration officer finally arrived at Zhang''s manor. As the owner of this manor, Zhang Yang and Zhang Ping had to greet the local officer.


    The moment the black official vehicle parked had a 70-year old dignified elder with a snowwhite mustache in a vermeil official robe jumped out of the vehicle with the smell of liquor, "Where are those babies with the exotic symptoms? Hurry, take me there..."


    Zhang Yang forced a smile towards his dad as he could only lead the director to the room.


    ...


    Right in the delivery room, under the gaze of Zhang members, the director meticulously took out a box with exotic grains; after that, he drew out a colorful object from the box. One end of that object was made of a metal which was carved with runes and small colorful pieces of crystals while the other end of it was a fine needle which looked like a cattle''s hair.


    The director then slightly injected that object into the baby''s finger under the intense gaze of Linda and pushed out of a drop of fresh blood which was as small as a sesame seed. After that, he had it sucked into that needle-sized object.


    Only after 10 seconds, a piece of mauve crystal on the object had started to shine.


    "Ah, this baby has a complete Wild-level ancestral bloodline. Good, very good..." The director became thrilled as his hands faintly quivered, "No, there should be some more. Wild-level bloodline doesn''t have such a great ability..."


    The moment the director finished his words had the piece of golden crystal brightened up at the top of the object. The director raised his voice at once as he almost quivered all over, "Ah? another immortal bloodline...my god, it''s indeed an immortal bloodline...my god, it''s an unprecedented immortal bloodline..."


    When the piece of white crystal at the bottom of the object brightened up, the director directly shrieked like a little girl.


    "What...leakless body..."


    After testing the other two babies and finding that they had the same features, the director giggled a few seconds before tilting his body and falling to the ground.


    Zhang Yang and the others were startled. If the director of the registration household center had some troubles in their house, it would be a big disaster for their family. Zhang Yang hurriedly jumped over there and helped the director sit well. At the same time, he pressed, patted and rubbed some points on the director''s head and back. The moment the director woke up, he instantly grabbed Zhang Yang''s arms tightly with glittering eyes, "Are you the father of the three babies? I have a daughter of age 16. She''s beautiful and kind. She has a good-luck look. Additionally, she''s not married. I have more than 30,000,000 square meters of fertile quality land outside Fuhai City. I''m also a shareholder of the maritime business in Fuhai City. If you wish to marry my youngest daughter, how about taking the land and shares as her dowry?"


    Seeing such a sudden change, not only Zhang Tie''s family members became stunned, even the two registration officers felt embarrassed as they turned their heads aside. However, the younger registration officer was stealthily glancing at Zhang Yang with a special, brilliant look.


    Zhang Yang also felt a bit embarrassed as he cleared his throat, "Director, the father of these three babies is my younger brother, I''m their uncle!"


    "What? Your younger brother, where''s your younger brother?" The director instantly became nimble as he looked around the room.


    "My younger brother is fighting demons in the Waii Sub-continent!"


    After hearing this answer, the director became faintly hesitated as his eyes became more glittering. Only after slightly rolling his eyes, he had dropped Zhang Yang''s arm and grabbed Zhang Ping''s arm almost at the same time. He then burst out into laughter, "Hahaha, brother, lion-like father always have excellent sons; the moment I saw you had I realized that we would have this marriage fixed. When your younger son comes back to Taixia Country, let''s arrange the marriage for them. How about that?"


    "Erm..."


    "Now that brother doesn''t oppose that. That''s a deal! I have something to deal with, I will leave now!"


    The director changed his look and hurriedly left before Zhang Tie''s dad said anything. The two female registration officers hurriedly followed their director away with an embarrassed look.


    Zhang Ping had never seen such a big figure. When he opened his mouth and thought about what to say, the director had already left.


    "I...did not say anything just now!" Zhang Ping looked at Zhang Tie''s mom with an embarrassed look.


    After recovering her composure, Zhang Tie''s mom looked more open-minded, "It doesn''t matter, let''s talk about it when Zhang Tie comes back!"


    "But why would that man have his daughter marry Zhang Tie?" Fiona was still as naive as a young girl although being a mother. She just felt unhappy instinctively.


    "My cute girl!" Zhang Tie''s mom walked over and slightly patted Fiona who was sitting on the bed with the baby in her arms, "Have you heard about the old Hua saying?"


    "What''s that?"


    "Mom becomes dignified if she has a good son!" Zhang Tie''s mom''s eyes fell onto that little Zhang Tie as she revealed a benign smile.


    Fiona was still confused. However, Linda and Beverly had already understood it after exchanging a glance with each other, ''According to that person, our babies are born with some very rare potential abilities, which are given by their dad...''


    Although having prepared for that, Zhang Tie''s family members were still stunned when the governor of Fuhai City paid a visit to Zhang Tie''s family on the same evening.


    The governor even brought a gift. Until the city governor left did Zhang Yang send a message to Zhang Tie using remote sensing crystal...


    It was March 22, the 895th year of Black Iron Calendar, the 7th day when the demonized puppets besieged Mocco City, a portal of human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations!


    From that day on, Zhang family''s manor had become boisterous as the gossip about the abnormal phenomena of the three baby boys started to spread across Fuhai City, even Yingzhou State...


    The director of household registration center of Fuhai City sent people with written marriage proposal noting the name, the birthday and the family background of his younger daughter. This made Zhang Tie''s dad and elder brother speechless. According to the Hua traditions, when one party sent the marriage proposal, the marriage would be fixed. What made Zhang Tie''s parents reassured was that the girl''s photo was there in the marriage proposal. Given the photo, the girl indeed looked beautiful and virtuous. Because of the photo, Zhang Tie''s parents didn''t return the marriage proposal.


    No matter what, Zhang family still underestimated the influence of the powerful ancestral bloodlines and the leakless bodies of the three babies born in Taixia Country...


    ...


    Huaiyuan Palace was shocked at first...


    ...

 634 Arousing a Shock

    Chapter 634: Arousing a Shock


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The elders in Huaiyuan Palace had not received the emergency call of Zhang Clan for a long time. Therefore, the moment they received the message through their carry-on jade plate had the elders rushed towards the Shrine palace of Huaiyuan Palace at the fastest speed, even though it was midnight. Although some elders were in Yiyang City when they received the message, they still flew towards Huaiyuan Palace like meteors, being not afraid of arousing a chaos.


    In the evening, a meteor flew towards Huaiyuan Palace from the skyline with a boom. When it was close to the terrace of the Clan Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace, the meteor abruptly stopped and changed its direction. Closely after that, it landed on the terrace with a fierce qi, causing some pieces of solid and thick stone plates to break off in a split second. A tall old man walked out of the fiery flames full of killing qi, shocking those who were present.


    "Brother Muyuan, have demons reached Jinyun Country?" The old man asked in a muffled voice.


    "No, when I was in the Clan Shrine Palace, I had received a message from Huaiyuan City of Taixia Country. As it was a major event, I had to call you up for a negotiation!" The man being called brother Muyuan by the fierce old man was Zhang Tie''s 6th uncle who ruled the Clansmen Pavilion of Huaiyuan Palace from Golden Sea City. At this moment, Zhang Tie''s 6th uncle was standing on the stages of the Clan Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace and welcoming the other elders.


    "Ah!" After hearing such a reply, the fierce old man became a bit amazed as the brilliance over his body dissipated at once, "I wonder how major it is!"


    "Brother Mulei, calm down. When brother Muen and brother Muyu arrive, we will talk about it in the palace!" Zhang Tie''s 6th uncle replied calmly with a weird look.


    Soon after his words, a figure had appeared silently on the terrace like coming out of the void without any early symptom. Soon after this person appeared for less than 2 seconds, a gust of breeze blew over while another person arrived on the terrace.


    "Not having seen you for many days, brother Muen''s Swift Move out of the Void skill looks better. Congratulations!" The latter one smiled.


    "Brother Muyu''s free steps skill is also fabulous!"


    "Ha...ha..." With a big laughter, the latter old guys entered the palace together.


    The huge statue of the founder of Huaiyuan Palace was drawing full a crossbow in the deep end of the palace majestically. There were fierce flames inside the bronze tripod. An elder who arrived earlier had been waiting in the palace. After the rest elders served incenses for the statue of Lord Huaiyuan, they sat together.


    ...


    After the other four Zhang elders arrived and sat under the statue of Lord Huaiyuan, they all turned to Zhang Tie''s 6th uncle. However, Zhang Tie''s 6th uncle didn''t speak; instead, he took out a piece of paper and passed it to elder Muen, telling him to share it with the rest elders.


    After taking it, elder Muen skimmed a few seconds before turning his face, "Are you sure?"


    "18 doctors and nurses were present. Even the 2 registration officers have seen that. After receiving the report of one registration officer, the director of the household registration center of Fuhai City made the test himself. Several hours ago, the governor even paid an exclusive visit to Zhang Tie''s family and gifted 3 rune gold locks to them. We''ve confirmed these messages!"


    "What happened in Taixia Country?" Elder Mulei, who was a bit short-tempered couldn''t wait to move closer. Elder Muen directly passed the note to him.


    After taking it, Elder Mulei had widely opened his mouth only with a short glance, "Ah? Is that real?"


    Hearing this, the rest 2 elders also became curious. It was soon their turns to read the note.


    "God bless our Huaiyuan Palace!" Elder Muyu''s eyebrows quivered as he added, "I suggest to dispatch Huaiyuan City powerhouses to escort Zhang Ping''s family members to Huaiyuan City right away."


    "After receiving the message, the agent in Huaiyuan City has already dispatched an airship to Fuhai City to pick them up. However, as Fuhai City is over 3,000 miles away from Huaiyuan City, it would take them at least 1 day to be there. Zhang Ping''s family members might not follow other''s arrangement, it''s just a temporary solution!" Elder Muyuan said.


    "Our head is in Taixia Country, does he know that?"


    "We''ve already sent the message to him. However, since the beginning of the holy war, the head of Zhang Clan has been fighting demons in the underground world. He has no time to concern about what happens above the ground. The head of Zhang Clan has sent a message to let the elders deal with this event!"


    Elder Muyuan''s reply contained too many messages. If Zhang Tie was here at this moment, he must be surprised and frustrated, "What''s happening in the underground world? How could Count Longwind have no time to concern about what''s happening above the ground?"


    "I suggest Elder Muyuan to go to Taixia Country!" An elder on elder Muyuan''s side said after thinking for a few seconds, "As this is a major event of Huaiyuan Palace which is related to the continuity and prosperity of the clan bloodline for thousands of years, I''m afraid that Huaiyuan Palace''s people in Yingzhou State could not deal with it if there''s no clan elder on their side! As Zhang Ping''s family members came from Golden Sea City. If Elder Muyuan went there, a lot of things could be dealt easily. Additionally, given the progress of the warfare in Waii Sub-continent, Huaiyuan Palace would return to Taixia Country sooner or later. At this moment, a heavyweight needs to go to Taixia Country to preside over the situation."


    "I agree!"


    "Fine!"


    The other elders nodded almost at the same time.


    Among all the elders, there was only one elder who had been frowning since he read the message. At this moment, he slowly opened his mouth, "An immortal bloodline, a complete wild-level ancestral bloodline and a leakless body. The 3 babies are very important. However, we forgot an more important person¡ª¡ªtheir father. The message doesn''t contain the father of the 3 babies."


    Closely after this elder opened his mouth had the other elders become shocked, "Yup, how could we forget the most important thing?"


    "Brother Muyuan, isn''t Zhang Yang the father of the 3 babies?" Elder Mulei reacted at once.


    After being silent for a second, Elder Muyuan replied, "Their father is Zhang Tie!"


    "What?" Elder Mulei almost sprung up soon after Elder Muyuan finished his words, "That brat had left Huaiyuan Prefecture for Selnes since the end of last March. It''s 12 months since Zhang Tie''s wives got pregnant, how could he be the father of the 3 babies?"


    With the same thought, the other elders could never imagine that Zhang Tie was the father of the 3 babies when they read the message. As the message on the note came from Huaiyuan City, Yingzhou State of Taixia Country, which was too far away from here and the message was incomplete and contained some contradictory information, nobody knew who was the father of the 3 babies without confirmation.


    "I''m afraid that Zhang Tie is indeed the father of the 3 babies!" Elder Muyuan replied in a muffled voice, "The 3 women who delivered the babies are all foreigners whom Zhang Tie met in Blackhot City and Norman Empire. After confirming that Zhang Tie had color-changing bloodline last year, out of the responsibilities of Clansmen Pavilion, I have been keeping some people to focus on Zhang Tie''s situation. During the period when Zhang Tie was in Huaiyuan Prefecture, he always stayed with the 3 women. After Zhang Tie left Huaiyuan Prefecture, the 3 women had been pregnant and were taken by Zhang Tie''s family. The pregnancy of the 3 women was 12 months in total, instead of 10 months. Zhang family members were forbidden to disclose the news when the 3 women still didn''t deliver babies after being pregnant for 10 months. Although the message from Taixia Country was unclear, I guess the immortal bloodline should be the color-changing bloodline that Zhang Tie had awakened while the complete wild-level ancestral bloodline should be the precise throwing bloodline that Zhang Tie had awakened and advanced. As to the leakless body, it might also be passed to them by Zhang Tie!"


    All the elders were shocked. They all knew clearly what did this mean¡ª¡ªZhang Tie, the jerk, could pass the powerful bloodlines that he had awakened to his next generation. This was really unrivaled!


    In that age, it was a matter of chance for the next generation to awaken the same bloodlines that their parents had awakened. It was usually rare for 1 or 2 of 10 babies to awaken the same ancestral bloodlines that were carried by their parents. Huaiyuan Palace and the other major clans of Jinyun Country even those noble clans in Taixia Country racked their mind to work out various means in order to raise the chance of awakening the same bloodline even a bit.


    In such a case, nobody could imagine that someone could grant his next generation with ancestral bloodlines that he had awakened simply by giving birth.


    If ancestral bloodlines could be inherited to the next generation, it would not be precious anymore.


    However, if only one person could pass the bloodlines that he had awakened to his next generation, that person would be extremely precious.


    All the babies delivered by the 3 foreign women had awakened 3 very powerful abilities; what if the babies were delivered by 3 Hua women? At least 3 more...


    An immortal bloodline, a complete precise throwing skill and a leakless body. The moment the elders thought about this had their hearts pounded.


    At this moment, all the 3 elders who had met Zhang Tie were regretting inside. If it was real, they should not have let Zhang Tie go. How could Huaiyuan Palace drop such a valuable person in Selnes Theater of Operations? If other clans knew that, they would laugh their a*s off.


    "Where''s Zhang Tie now?" Elder Mulei asked.


    "He''s disappeared in Selnes Theater of Operations!" Elder Muyuan described what happened to Zhang Tie in Selnes Theater of Operations with a grim look, "In order to save Zhang Tie, Lan Yunxi and an elder of Lan Clan broke into Tokei City by force. They almost fell into the trap of Three-eye Association. However, they still didn''t find him. Lan Yunxi even suffered a punishment for what she did. After being dispatched back from Selnes Theater of Operations, she was sent to Taixia Country by the clan. After that, we''ve used a lot of resources and made a lot of investigations; finally, we learned that Zhang Tie had been saved away from the backroom of Senel Clan by a powerhouse on the same evening when Lan Yunxi and the Lan elder broke in Tokei City by force. After that, Zhang Tie didn''t appear anymore, although we''ve been searching him for months..."


    "Powerhouse?" After hearing this words, all the elders frowned. If that person was qualified as a powerhouse in the mouth of Elder Muyuan, it meant that he was at least a knight. This made the problem more complex.


    "I will go to Selnes Theater of Operations right now. I will search Zhang Tie there, dead or alive!" Elder Mulei proposed.


    "It''s indeed necessary. As we could realize that point, the others must be able to realize that too. Based on the ability of Huaiyuan Palace, once Zhang Tie is in Waii Sub-continent, very few people dare oppose us. However, we might have troubles in Taixia Country. There must be a lot of people who understand the value of the 3 babies. Additionally, they could easily link the 3 babies to Zhang Tie. I''m sure that a lot of people have already paid attention to them in Taixia Country. Take care of yourself, brother Muyuan!"


    Elder Muyuan nodded. Closely after that, he forced a bitter smile and shook his head, "I''ve never imagined that our Huaiyuan Palace could have such a freak!"


    "Zhang Tie is just 20 years old. When he enters his heyday, he might awaken some more ancestral bloodlines, even heavenly bloodlines..."


    Elder Muen didn''t finish his words. Whereas, all the 5 elders held their breath at the same time...


    "I will go to Selnes Theater of Operations tonight, as to the affairs in Huaiyuan Palace, thanks for your concern!" Elder Mulei suddenly sprung up as he instantly shot out of the palace as fast as a lightning bolt while being covered with flames...


    The other elders then exchanged glances with each other. Elder Muyu hesitated a little before asking, "Erm...should we inform Lan Yunxi about Zhang Tie''s affair?"


    When Lan Yunxi broke in Tokei City by force for saving Zhang Tie a few months ago, the elders had already understood her intention. None of the elders could imagine that Lan Yunxi, who was always arrogant, could fall in love with Zhang Tie, the jerk. Besides, the jerk could make 3 foreign girls pregnant before getting married. None of the other elites in Hidden Dragon Palace, even other clans could do it. However, that jerk also had an unrivaled reproductive ability.


    "The moment Lan Yunxi arrived at Eastern Continent had she been sent to Taiyi Fantasy Sect, one of the 7 major sects in Taixia Country. No disciple of Taiyi Fantasy Sect is allowed to leave out of there before becoming a battle spirit. This might slow down her cultivation. We need to negotiate with it later!" An elder suggested as the others elder nodded.


    "I''ve not imagined that the force of Three-eye Association could be so deep-rooted in humans. Waii Sub-continent is weak originally; plus someone who has malicious intentions are lurking inside, the demons are more powerful than humans at this moment. Therefore, the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations could not stand for too long. The north of Waii Sub-continent would be collapsed sooner or later. Huaiyuan Prefecture should also evacuate its people as soon as possible!" An elder said.


    "What a pitiful undertaking!"


    "It''s just some cities. To the final analysis, they are just some bricks, gold, silver and steel, nothing to be pitiful about. The holy war has just begun. If we keep our people, we might get our land back in the future; if we intend to keep our land, we will lose both land and people. As long as our clan has more elites in the future, our Huaiyuan Palace can easily expand its undertaking by 10 times after the holy war!"


    "Yes!"


    The elders then remembered Zhang Tie once again, "But why does he have such marvelous abilities?"


    "Perhaps it''s because he had been struck by a thunder when he was young. Or perhaps he has other special experience or fortune. Each one has his or her secret."


    "Being pregnant for 12 months reminds me of some Hua legends. It was said that Emperor Pangu didn''t come out until being bred in the chaos for tens of thousands of years; many special people stayed longer in their mom''s wombs. Those who could stay in their mom''s wombs for dozens of years were all masters; those who could stay a couple of years in their mom''s wombs were all talents who could arouse a great chaos; similarly, whether Zhang Tie''s babies might also be great in the future?"


    After hearing the words, the other elders looked weird at first; gradually, they all revealed a thinking look. They realized that the truth of cultivation was to seek for the endless secrets in human bodies and the universe.


    However, in a split second, the elders recovered their composure. If it was in a peaceful time, they might have free time to discuss this question; however, at this moment, nothing could be more powerful than fists. None of the illusions could be more beneficial than finding out Zhang Tie, the jerk.


    After the negotiation, the elders of Huaiyuan Palace left. However, the entire Huaiyuan Palace''s force moved for Zhang Tie''s affair from Waii Sub-continent to Yingzhou State of Taixia Country.


    Although Zhang Tie had not been to Taixia Country, his name and "talents" had been spread across Taixia...


    If the director of the household registration center of Fuhai City and the elders of Huaiyuan Palace realized the importance of Zhang Tie and his 3 babies, how could others not realize that...


    All sorts of hidden forces started to move!

 635 Feeling Sad

    Chapter 635: Feeling Sad


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On March 23rd, after 8 days of endless bloody battle, the Mocco City was covered with blood and fleshes.


    At dusk, as the last ray of sunshine disappeared in the distant woods, Zhang Tie woke up in an empty civilian house which was not far away from the north city wall of Mocco City after less than 4 hours of rest.


    With sufficient all-purpose medicament and exuberant energy, Zhang Tie felt that he could even keep working 7-8 days without taking a rest. However, in order to not be too eye-catching lest bigger troubles, Zhang Tie kept his regular schedule consistent with most of the guards in Mocco City like that of other paladins and demon hunters.


    The demonized puppets corps were terrifying. As long as they launched the attack, all the demonized puppets would completely become wild beasts who only knew about killing and moving ahead. They could constantly charge forward like waves with one batch after another until their heads were exploded or their physical structures were severely destroyed.


    What a terrifying attack! Demonized puppets could keep attacking humans without food, water or rest just like killing machines. However, the greater part of guards in Mocco City didn''t have such abilities. Those guards could only keep fighting for 3 days at most; therefore, the troops in Mocco City were forced to defend on the city wall in two shifts.


    More than 20 armored soldiers and paladins were lying disorderly in the civilian house like Zhang Tie in the bedroom which only had 2 beds. Some more were lying on the sofas of the parlor. At this moment, it made people jealous if one could occupy a sofa or share a bed with the others. Most of them could only casually find a corner in the parlor or the corridor and fall asleep while leaning against the walls.


    Previously, the owner of this civilian house might be a middle-class man. Therefore, the entire house was clean. However, it had been disordered at this moment. A cabinet in the parlor had been hacked into firewood and wooden plates, which became the heat source for this place. The 3-layer curtains had become their quilts. At this moment, it was especially dirty inside. The pieces of wooden wainscots on the walls of the parlor had been taken down and nailed onto the windows on behalf of curtains. The air inside the rooms smelt very turbid as it was filled with the stink of men''s feet and sweat as well as various body odors. Including Zhang Tie, everybody inside the room had not bathed for 8 days.


    After waking up, Zhang Tie picked himself up silently. After that, he strode over the disordered arms and legs and walked out of the parlor.


    There was a washroom outside the parlor. Since the demonized puppets corps besieged Mocco City, the water faucet inside the washroom had stopped working. However, the washroom was still available if they had to pee or poo. Although that washroom was extremely dirty, nobody cared.


    Zhang Tie, as a person, also had to pee. However, when he came to the washroom, he could not even place his feet. As Zhang Tie really couldn''t stand making any more contribution calmly to the piles of shit or pee which almost reached his feet, he could only retreat. After leaving the civilian house, he came to a lane nearby. After that, he faced the wall, pulling off the zipper of his pants and started to have a pleasant pee.


    Squads of soldiers were running on the streets. Many buildings on both sides of the streets of Mocco City had been demolished by soldiers. Some buildings were destroyed while the others were reinforced. At this moment, everybody in Mocco City knew that they would lose this city. Therefore, many radical commissioned officers chose the street battle.


    Amazingly, after knowing that Mocco City would be collapsed, Zhang Tie didn''t feel sad. He just watched those human soldiers passing by him in squads. Watching those faces which were as young as him and imagining how many of these people could finally survive when the city was collapsed, Zhang Tie felt faintly grieved. On the battlefield, after witnessing too many killings and experiencing too many life and death situations, one would not always be that excited and fervent anymore. These days, Zhang Tie had watched hundreds of thousands of people being killed in front of him outside the city.


    For many soldiers of those troops, they had a chance to withdraw; however, they didn''t. Because they locked themselves inside the firm fortifications and fortresses and fought demonized puppets for 5 days until the corpses of the demonized puppets blocked those loopholes and those thorny trenches. Finally, it faded to silence.


    At this moment, when you watched a person dying in front of you, you would feel sad; when you watched 10 people dying in front of you, you would feel furious and painful; however when 100 people, 1,000 people, 10,000 people even hundreds of thousands of people died in front of you, you would gradually become dumb. After that, you would only feel sad.


    It was like how you felt when you saw a red maple leaf falling off and turning into the mud. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, young human fighters were just maple leaves which were not red or would turn red.


    There were many supply points in the streets being close to the city wall. They provided large pieces of brown bread which contained ham slices and canned meat paste, and meat porridge in paper cups. Those soldiers who ran over the streets would take a piece of bread or a cup of meat porridge with their hands. When they ate the food, they rushed onto the city wall or entered the fortifications inside the city wall.


    Mocco City had sufficient supplies, with which the guards of the city could at least survive 2 months. However, everybody was clear that Mocco City could not stand for 2 months. In such a case, it would be meaningless to save any supply.


    Zhang Tie took two pieces of bread and a cup of meat porridge. As he ate them, he walked onto the city wall.


    It was already dark outside while the torches on the city wall had been lit. Demonized puppets had already attacked the defense line of Mocco City one wave after another for 8 consecutive days.


    The demonized puppets were still uttering weird sounds outside the city while those human commissioned officers on the city wall were still roaring exhaustively. Although demonized puppets'' sounds remained unchanged, all the human commissioned officers'' voices had turned hoarse, which sounded as rough and dry as bubbles.


    The city wall of the entire Mocco City was surrounded by a terrifying and disgusting odor of putrefaction. If one kept breathing in such environment for a long time, one''s organs would suffer a great damage. As a result, his battle force would be weakened.


    After coming to one side of the aisle, Zhang Tie found a barrel of brown ointment. Fighters on the city wall would always daub some ointment below their nostrils for the sake of the corpses'' stink.


    After 8 days of battle, over 1 million corpses of demonized puppets had been lying outside the city gate. After being exposed to the air for 8 days, many of the corpses had been rotten. 3 days ago, when the demonized puppets tore off the last defense line outside Mocco City and rushed to the foot of Mocco City, they also paved their corpses near here.


    At the foot of the Mocco City, there were numerous demonized puppets.


    However, the battle continued. The demonized puppets which looked like black tides were still rushing towards Mocco City constantly, which gradually increased the thickness of the corpses outside the city gate.


    Zhang Tie didn''t daub that kind of ointment which was used to prevent from the invasion of the stink of corpses; instead, he just gnawed his bread, chewed his ham slices and meat. In the strong smell and battle fires, he walked onto the city wall and started to check the situation outside the city.


    After several hours, the corpses of demonized puppets outside the north city gate grew 2 m higher. However, demonized puppets kept rushing in. At this moment, the demonized puppets were not in bare hands anymore; they all held a corpse or a part of the corpse in front of them as their shield and food.


    Demonized puppets constantly rushed towards the north city gate with others'' corpses as the shield against the powerful defensive weapons on the city wall. Some thirsty demonized puppets were even biting off fleshes from those rotten corpses as they uttered harsh shrieks. However, those demonized puppets who had reached the foot of the city directly dropped off their shields to narrow the distance between the top of the city wall and their heights.


    Eating bread, drinking meat porridge, Zhang Tie just watched this bloody battle icily.


    At least Mocco City was safe at this moment; however, it could not stand for too long. The guards outside Mocco City had already fulfilled their responsibilities at the cost of their lives. For guards inside Mocco City, it was the time for them to sacrifice themselves when the demonized puppets almost reached the top of the city wall.


    The north city wall of Mocco City was higher than 30 m. At this moment, the corpses of demonized puppets had been 15 m in height, leaving 20 m for the demonized puppets to rush into Mocco City.


    About 7-8 miles away, where the steam centrifugal shells could not reach, was gathering more demonized puppets compared to one week ago. Looking away in the distance, Zhang Tie saw nearly 2-3 million demonized puppets which covered the entire plain. Those demonized puppets were also waiting patiently for the moment when they could directly run onto the city wall...


    ...

 636 A Bloody Battle on the City Wall

    Chapter 636: A Bloody Battle on the City Wall


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Peter is coming..."


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, 4 fighters in front of a position of steam ballista were happy at once. These days, Zhang Tie had become a "Sniper" who could operate steam ballista very well on the city wall. Each day, he would work with other fighters in shifts to operate a ballista S137 on the north city wall of Mocco City.


    When other ballista operators operated this middle-and-short distance ballista, they could hardly kill one demonized puppets due to the strong vitality of demonized puppets unless their heads were exploded. Even if their bodies were penetrated through or their limbs were broken, they would still rush forward.


    7 days ago, the fighter who operated this ballista dislocated his arm and suffered a severe bruise due to the long-term work. Coincidentally, Zhang Tie was on his side. After saying "Hand it to me", Zhang Tie then sat in the gunner''s location. With his excellent ability, he soon gained the approval of the other fighters of this emplacement and became a special person who was out of the personnel scheduling of emplacement S137.


    Those who were responsible for S137 and the other emplacements on its side was a ballista camp of No. 7 City Defense Regiment under the affiliation of garrison corps in Mocco City, Symbian Republic. Usually, those who didn''t belong to the ballista camp like Zhang Tie who worked as a paladin were not allowed to sit in the location of the gunner. However, nobody cared about that at such a critical moment, as long as he could kill demons.


    All the other gunners were stunned at the sight of Zhang Tie sitting in the emplacement of S137. After receiving the report, the battalion commander even came here out of fury and prepared to scold Zhang Tie; however, after watching Zhang Tie operating for 2 minutes, all of his fury faded away as he tacitly approved Zhang Tie''s special status as a gunner out of the establishment. At this critical moment, everyone in Mocco City was qualified for defending demons; therefore, military uniform did not become that important.


    Watching Zhang Tie coming here, the gunner who was operating the ballista hurriedly jumped off his seat like relieving a heavy burden as he gave the gunner''s location to Zhang Tie, "F*ck those b*stards..."


    Zhang Tie immediately jumped onto the seat and adroitly drew the reset catch of the steam ballista. Closely after that, he put his hands on the handle of the ballista and pressed down the trigger. With a short glance, he shot out a bolt towards the head of a demonized puppet who was holding a corpse and rushing towards the city wall more than 500 m away, blowing its white and red brains out.


    All the other fighters of S137 emplacement exclaimed at once. It would take others a least 3 bolts to precisely hit a demonized puppet; however, it depended that which part of the demonized puppet could they shoot. If they shot its torso or limb, besides opening a hole on the demonized puppet, they could still not stop it running towards the city wall although it would slow down its speed. If they wanted to kill one demonized puppet, they had to consume at least 7-10 bolts. However, with 10 bolts, Zhang Tie could precisely kill more than 4 demonized puppets.


    "Hurry, get some more ammo here!" The monitor of that emplacement roared as he also rolled up his sleeves and joined Zhang Tie''s supporting crew.


    From then on, the ballista S137 kept firing 3 times per 2 seconds and shot bolts towards demonized puppets constantly who were 30-500 m away from the city wall.


    Zhang Tie, who was sitting in the gunner''s seat, repeated his movements like targeting and shooting as his body faintly quivered with the ballista. As ballistas on the city wall were driven by steam high-pressure ejection, its principle was similar to that of bombs before the Catastrophe. However, the powder was replaced by a rotating high-density steam compression can. When the steam compression can was broken, the thrust would trigger a sliding barbette which was similar to a piston, shooting the bolt out of the tube of the ballista.


    When the high-intensity steam compression can released its thrust, the barbette would suffer a great counter-force. Although there were devices like torsional spring on the emplacement, a part of the counter-force was still transferred to the gunner. Commoners could only keep operating it for 1 hour before their arms became numb; if longer, their arms would be dislocated; in the worst case scenario, their joints would be severely worn.


    However, Zhang Tie was not influenced by that bit of counter-force at all. For a person who could stand almost 900 kg''s trike, that bit of shake was too trivial.


    Zhang Tie pressed his hands on the handle as steady as a huge rock on the ground as he constantly blew out demonized puppets'' heads. It was a bit similar to throwing javelins. Although Zhang Tie could not realize 100% precision like how he threw javelins; using his instinct, he could reach 30% to 50%. Although Zhang Tie couldn''t control the power of the high-intensity steam compression can, he could try his best to control the trajectory of the bolt in the air just like how he controlled the trajectory of his javelins.


    With this ability, Zhang Tie became a respectable "great gunner" on the city wall. He didn''t even remember how many demonized puppets had he killed these days.


    It was worth being happy to have such a harvest for others; however, Zhang Tie felt it meaningless. But he had to do that. Although those demonized puppets were humans previously, they were just a larva or an egg of the parent puppet worm of demons at this moment. A puppet parent worm could lay hundreds of thousands of eggs per day. However, the real demon corps had not appeared till then. Perhaps demonized puppets corps were just cheap low-value consumables for demons corps. They were dispatched here for just to be a cannon fodder. No matter how many of them were killed, the demons would never feel pitiful about their loss.


    Whereas, nobody across Mocco City knew that the famous Selnes Eagle was working as a gunner at an emplacement at this moment.


    When the demonized puppets were less than 30 m away from the city wall, they were in a dead angle of the steam ballistas; instead, they were in the shooting range of the scattered strike weapons. The entire city wall was covered with layers of weapons. After reaching here, besides dropping off the corpses from their arms, they could never survive themselves; however, those demonized puppets didn''t intend to withdraw at all. Although being like sieves, the demonized puppets still gathered at the foot of the city wall, allowing alive ones to climb on them. Whereas, as long as they drew closer to the city wall, rows of sharp steel javelins would prick out and draw back repetitively from egg-sized holes. As a result, those demonized puppets were constantly killed.


    Although demonized puppets would fail each time when they stepped on their partners'' corpses, the pile of corpses gradually increased their height while the demonized puppets became increasingly closer to the top of the city wall. After being blocked by dense corpses, the defensive weapons on the lower part of the city wall became ineffective.


    Everybody knew that the real test had not arrived yet. However, it was not too far.


    The moment Zhang Tie sat on the ballista had he forgotten about time. Gradually, besides burning torches, the lens headlights on the city wall were also turned on, brightening up the area within 100 m. However, the farther place became dim. Firepots were thrown out of the city wall one after another and burned up the open land in the dark so as to provide sufficient light sources for firing weapons on the city wall.


    After it turned completely dark, the precision of weapons on the city wall started to decline. As a result, the demonized puppets became more restless as their striking density and frequency increased evidently. Additionally, demonized puppets could always put out the firebombs very fast and make the surrounding space recover to dark completely.


    Demonized puppets kept flashing out of the dark and rushing towards Mocco City one wave after another while their grim looks were like that of ferocious ghosts.


    With the dark vision ability, Zhang Tie could keep the same precision as he did in the daytime. Because the density of demonized puppets increased, Zhang Tie''s ballista even became more fatal. However, only Zhang Tie could do this across the entire city wall. Therefore, more and more demonized puppets evidently forced in the range of 30 m.


    Not knowing how long had he stayed on the city wall, Zhang Tie suddenly heard a boom as his S137 stopped working...


    A part of the emplacement suddenly cracked while a metal fragment immediately broke Zhang Tie''s face and left a 2-cm long wound on Zhang Tie''s left face...


    "Ah, the high-pressure rifled tube is broken. What the hell? Motherf*cker..." The monitor of class 2 looked downward as he shouted. All the other fighters became flurried...


    Regardless of his wound and the fresh blood, Zhang Tie casually wiped off the blood as he jumped off the gunner''s seat. He looked downward and found a tube at the bottom of the barbette had been destroyed evidently as a hot vapor spurted out of it...


    "How''s it? Can we fix it?" Zhang Tie asked the monitor...


    "As a key part of the emplacement, it should not be broken so easily. We could only change it. However, we need to move away the entire turret. It will take us at least 3 days to fix it." The monitor of S137''s face turned pale...


    In a split second, another boom was drifted from a ballista in the distance, causing it to break down too...


    ...

 637 A Conspiracy

    Chapter 637: A Conspiracy


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Starting from S137, in the next few hours, high-pressure rifled tubes of ballistas on the north city gate of Mocco City were broken one after another. As more and more ballistas stopped working, more and more demonized puppets rushed forward...


    At the sight of this, the commissioned officers and fighters who were defending on the city wall started to roar furiously. Some fighters even punched onto ballistas, making their fists bleed; however, the ballistas still remained broken.


    High-pressure riffled tube was the core component of the ballista. Theoretically, as it was made of special alloy, it should be of great durability. This component didn''t need to be replaced usually as it wasthe most durable component of the ballista. However, many high-pressure riffled tubes were damaged one after another at the critical moment. This indicated that it was not a coincidence; instead, it was a conspiracy...


    2 years ago, when the demon corps had not reached Selnes Plain, the entire city defense system of Mocco City had been updated in a large scale. These key components had been replaced at that time. In usual, these ballistas didn''t have any problem at all. It was really out of ones'' imagination that the most important parts of these ballistas could have such a problem only after being used for just one week constantly.


    It reminded Zhang Tie of Three-eye Association at once.


    Only those b*stards of Three-eye Association could have such motive and ability to screw up the city defense system of Mocco City, causing a big problem at the critical moment.


    Undoubtedly, Three-eye Association had hidden deep in the Symbian Republic.


    However, it was meaningless even if one knew that it was screwed up by Three-eye Association...


    The demonized puppets swarmed up one wave after another while more and more corpses were dropped outside the city wall, making the piles grow higher and higher...


    At this moment, all the paladins and demon hunters jumped off the city wall and set off cyclones so as to relieve the striking rhythm of the demonized puppets.


    Zhang Tie also jumped off the city wall. Without dealing with the wound on his left face, he took two long swords with him, each weighed more than 50 kg.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt like returning to the situation where he was surrounded by demonized puppets in Heavens Cold City. If the demonized puppets around him when he was in Heavens Cold City were like a lake, those demonized puppets surrounding him at this moment were like an ocean. Those demon hunters and paladins were like rocks in the ocean which could split the sea water and the waves. However, more sea water would flow over these rocks and rushed towards the bank.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how many demonized puppets had he killed; however, there were always endless demonized puppets who charged at him one after another.


    When the day broke, the precision of available steam centrifugal ballistas started to rise, reducing the strike frequency of demonized puppets; meanwhile, the density of demonized puppets decreased. However, after one night''s ferocious battle, some exhausted demon hunters and paladins had been injured or killed. As a result, they started to retreat.


    A paladin was mired into the encirclement of demonized puppets more than 100 m away on Zhang Tie''s left-hand side.


    A demonized puppet who was chopped in halves fell in the corpses and remained unchanged. The paladin fought other demonized puppets as he kept moving his footsteps to retreat back into the city; when the paladin passed by the one lying on the ground, the half demonized puppet suddenly stabbed its short sword into his shin, drawing a long wound.


    With a painful roar, the paladin instantly blew out its head; however, more demonized puppets swarmed up, sending the injured paladin in a dilemma at once.


    Zhang Tie rushed over there as he swept over his two swords, sending a lot of heads flying in the air. After that, he caught the paladin''s waistband and rushed into Mocco City.


    On the way back, Zhang Tie was stepping on the crisscrossed disgusting corpses of those demonized puppets. Some demonized puppets lying on the ground who had not been completely dead wanted to attack Zhang Tie; however, they were all kicked to death by Zhang Tie. The closer they were to the city wall, the more corpses of demonized puppets would they meet. Gradually, a hill composed of corpses came into being.


    Watching Zhang Tie rushing towards the city wall, the garrison and the other demon hunters and paladins on the city wall yelled while the distributed strike system started to fire towards those demonized puppets behind Zhang Tie and the injured paladin.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie and the injured paladin were the final humans who evacuated. Therefore, they attracted a lot of people''s attention.


    "It''s not convenient for you to take me. Just drop me off..." The paladin told Zhang Tie in a weak voice.


    "Catch him..." Zhang Tie shouted when he reached at the foot of the city wall; meanwhile, he threw that injured paladin onto the city wall.


    As Zhang Tie was standing on the pile of corpses, which was less than 10 m away from the top of the city wall; therefore, that person could be easily thrown onto the city wall. After seeing the injured paladin falling onto the city wall, Zhang Tie forcefully stomped as he directly jumped into the air; at the same time, he grabbed the end of one rope which was put down from the top of the city wall and instantly came back to the city wall.


    As it was less than 10 m, Zhang Tie actually could directly jump onto the city wall with the injured paladin and the two weapons. However, it would be too exaggerating if he did it under the gaze of so many people. Therefore, Zhang Tie pretended to be low-key. Over one night''s battle, Zhang Tie didn''t expose his real battle force too much; he didn''t even use his Iron-blood Fist and battle qi strike. When many demon hunters and paladins were releasing their brilliant battle qis in the dark, Zhang Tie was just walking among the demonized puppets with two swords like a reaper. He just chopped off the heads of demonized puppets and crushed their bodies one after another precisely, efficiently and icily.


    On the city wall, the injured paladin was sitting under a gun perforation while his face turned pale. He had torn open his pants which had been wet with fresh blood and exposed that terrifying wound on the rear side of his right knee. The wound was as wide as 50 square cm, through which one could even see his bones. A medic was squatting in front of him and cleaning up his wound using alcohol.


    When alcohol was poured into his wound, the veins on the paladin''s forehead jumped while sweat drops rolled down.


    Watching Zhang Tie coming over here, everybody else threw their respectful glances towards him and his weapons.


    Noticing that they were gazing at his two long swords, Zhang Tie became stunned. He also looked at his swords and found the blades had been like saws. After killing numerous demonized puppets over one night, he realized that the two swords were almost scrapped.


    Evidently, the two long swords were the best certificate of Zhang Tie''s meritorious deed, which also won him respectful eyes.


    Zhang Tie shook his head as he threw the two swords into a deserted wooden case which contained bolts. After that, he walked to the injured paladin.


    "What''s the matter? Are you okay?" Zhang Tie asked that paladin whom he threw onto the city wall.


    That paladin was over 30 years old with a square face. He looked strong. With a brown hair and a whisker, he looked pretty heroic. Just now, Zhang Tie found this guy was between LV 10 to LV 11. He might be a 4-star or 5-star strong fighter.


    "Thank you, I''m Robin. You saved my life!" That guy raised his head towards Zhang Tie as he was oozing cold sweat, "What''s your name? I will pay you back whenever there''s a chance."


    ''What a funny guy!'' Zhang Tie smiled, "I''m Peter!"


    "Fine, I will keep your name in my mind!" That person nodded seriously as he quivered his eyebrows. Meanwhile, he drew in a mouth of cold breath.


    After such a short while, the medic had already cleaned his wound with alcohol and started to sew up the wound using a needle in the shape of a fishhook and surgical suture.


    "Wait a moment!" Zhang Tie stopped that medic as he took out a vial of all-purpose medicament from his pocket, "It would be better with this!"


    At the sight of that vial of all-purpose medicament, Robin, the medic and all the others all brightened up their eyes.


    "Ah? All-purpose medicament?" Robin uttered an amazing voice. After licking his lips, he revealed a smile, "Looks like I''m lucky. I should not be a burden for you even if I need to escape after a couple of days."


    After taking the vial of all-purpose medicament, the medic sniffed at the mouth of the vial with an intoxicating look before carefully daubing half of it on the wound. He then felt unwilling to give the rest half of it to Robin. After taking it, Robin instantly bottomed it up.


    After dealing with Robin''s wound, the medic wrapped it up soon. With the effect of all-purpose medicament, Robin could already stand up.


    The other paladins and demon hunters walked over here. They were all powerhouses above LV 9 who fought demonized puppets outside the city with Zhang Tie last night. They made concerted efforts to defend the city these days. Although they could not tell each others name, they were still familiar with each other.


    "Two brothers, do you want to have a cup of drink with us?"


    Zhang Tie looked at the demonized puppets outside the city; then, he threw a glance at the turrets where half of the ballistas had been damaged overnight and the groups of fighters who were running onto the city wall with manual crossbows. He then let out a deep sigh inside.


    Even Robin had realized that Mocco City could stand 2 days at most, how could Zhang Tie not find that? At this moment, many people in the city should have a good plan about what to do in 2 days...

 638 The Plan

    Chapter 638: The Plan


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As Mocco City had been besieged for 9 consecutive days by demonized puppets corps, the popularity in the dim demon hunters bar also declined. The various kinds of drinks that could be once enjoyed here had disappeared. At this moment, each customer could only enjoy half a cup of "Iron-blood Lover".


    At this moment, the illegal demon hunters market behind the bar was clear. There was an eye-catching plate outside the demon hunters bar¡ª¡ªuntil the first demonized puppet enters, this bar will keep running.


    This was the last bar in Mocco City. Perhaps because of its declaration, those customers who visited here didn''t have any complaint about the supply of only half a cup of "Iron-blood Lover".


    Mocco City was besieged by demonized puppets corps. The railway had been cut off. As a result, materials could not reach inside the city by railway. Within 9 days, the airships had supported Mocco City 3 times and launched air attack to the demonized puppets outside the city 3 times by dropping a lot of gel ammunition. However, fewer human airships could reach Mocco City, posing increasingly less threat to the demonized puppets corps outside Mocco City. According to the gossip, human airship troops suffered a severe loss these days after being raided by the wing demons. Many airships were shot down by the wing demons on the way here.


    After fighting overnight, many demon hunters and paladins were gathering in a bar at this moment. Zhang Tie was sitting in a location which was not eye-catching as he was sipping the beer in his cup and listening to others'' talks.


    They were not here to drink and trade items; instead, they were here to exchange messages and discuss the countermeasures. Although it was a fierce battle last night, it was not fatal to these LV 9 human fighters. Additionally, everybody knew that the most critical moment had not arrived yet.


    "When the city collapse, I will break out from the south city gate. Who else would like to leave with me?" A demon hunter at Zhang Tie''s round-table put it straightforwardly as he placed his glass on the table forcefully.


    "Count me in!"


    "Count me in!"


    "And me!"


    Some guys instantly agreed with him. It was not a coward tactic to break out of the encirclement of demonized puppets.


    "Having been in Selnes Theater of Operations for many days, I only understood one point, as long as we didn''t clear those b*stards of Three-eye Association, the allied human forces in Waii Sub-continent would never win the war. Even if they could, it was just temporary. The more humans gathered here, the easier it would be for the b*stards of Three-eye Association to screw us up. I don''t want to be framed by those b*stards. Therefore, I prefer to break out of the city." Another paladin replied calmly.


    "Peter, how about you?" With this question, all the members at the table focused on Zhang Tie. Although Zhang Tie didn''t show off his real battle force, everybody working together with Zhang Tie had realized that Zhang Tie was unusual. This could be seen from his performance last night. Among all the humans exiting the city gate to fight demonized puppets, Zhang Tie was the only one who didn''t suffer any wound after fighting overnight. Additionally, he saved a partner in the end.


    Zhang Tie was also considering the same question.


    "I don''t want to leave temporarily. If there are still troops fighting demonized puppets in the city, I will fight together with them. I will not leave until the last moment!"


    Zhang Tie''s words shocked everybody.


    "Ah? Why?" Robin asked with a strange look.


    "I want to see whether the demon corps would appear. Honestly, I''ve not seen how a super corps of 100,000 demons launched an attack on a city." Zhang Tie revealed a smile. Zhang Tie stayed in the city these days for two reasons. First, he wanted to see how the demonized puppets corps collided with the human defense line of steam and steel; second, he had a small desire¡ª¡ªif that super demon corps appeared in Mocco City with a limited number of demon fighters, it would be a good opportunity for him to grow fruits of source of iron-armored demons.


    Zhang Tie had not eaten a fruit of source; even that fruit of source of wing demons had not been ripe yet. However, Zhang Tie had always been dreaming for one ripe fruit of source because of its powerful attribute. With one fruit of source of wing demons, he could increase his source by 1/12; namely, he could increase the ability of each surging point that he had lit by 1/12. Based on the number of surging points that Zhang Tie had lit, as long as he ate one fruit of source, the total ability of 125 surging points would increase by 1/12, namely, the ability of lighting another 10 surging points. Additionally, such a surplus effect would grow greater as he lit more and more surging points.


    As long as he could ripe two fruits of source in Selnes Theater of Operations, this trip in Selnes would be worthwhile.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the demon hunters and paladins at present became stunned for a few seconds. Then, the paladin told Zhang Tie solemnly, "Younger brother Peter, if we want to be well-known, we will get a lot of opportunities later on. As the holy war has just begun, we cannot kill all the demons. As long as we''re alive, after this holy war, we might be nobles! At this moment, Mocco City is already a dead city. You''ve already seen what happened last night. Many ballistas on the city wall had broken down. They might be damaged by those b*stards of Three-eye Association. If you''re mired in this city, you would be screwed up by the Three-eye Association!"


    "Yes, even if we leave Mocco City at this moment, we can also find a chance to fight demons later on!"


    "If I do not feel good, I will leave out of here. I don''t plan to sacrifice myself for a city!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he was indeed not anxious about leaving out of here.


    "Younger brother Peter, if you intend to stay here, you must have a way to protect yourself. I saw the all-purpose medicament that you gave to Robin, it''s a rarity, which could save one''s life. Do you have more? If you have, can you sell some to us? I can pay you 50 gold coins for one vial!" The demon hunter who expressed to break out of the south city gate stared at Zhang Tie with glittering eyes.


    For these demon hunters who fought demons on the battlefield, they knew clearly what the all-purpose medicament represented. With one more vial of all-purpose medicament, they could survive at the critical moment. However, dozens of gold coins were nothing compared to their lives. Actually, the all-purpose medicament was really more useful than gold coins. Previously, all sorts of items were sold in the illegal demon hunters market, except for all-purpose medicament. As for all-purpose medicament, anyone who saw it would hide it or store it; nobody would complain about that they carried too many vials of all-purpose medicament.


    Glancing at their enthusiastic eyes, Zhang Tie smiled as he took out a carry-on medicament purse and opened it in front of them. There were 9 vials of all-purpose medicament inside it.


    "One of my friends serves in Thor Mercenary Group. After knowing that I was going to Selnes Theater of Operations, he gifted me 10 vials of all-purpose medicament. One was used by Robin, there are 9 vials left now. Don''t talk about money with me. We''re comrades-in-arms. I only take 2, you can share the rest 7, 1 for each. Hope this thing could work at the critical moment!" Zhang Tie said generously. After that, he took out the vials of all-purpose medicament and gave one vial to each of them, including Robin. Zhang Tie just kept 2 vials.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s generous words, the other 7 people were all moved very much. It was really a timely assistance.


    Because of some vials of all-purpose medicament, Zhang Tie made some more friends.


    ...


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie left the demon hunters bar and returned to the apartment which was gifted to him by Reinhardt. After that, he closed his eyes and crossed his legs before cultivating the endless true words of the Great Wilderness Sutra.


    The daytime soon passed. When it turned completely dark, Zhang Tie opened his eyes and stood up. After warming up his limbs, he checked around the apartment and found that he was the only person in the entire apartment. All the nearby streets and gardens were very tranquil. As the battle outside the city wall was so fierce, nobody had time to care about this trivial place. Therefore, Zhang Tie became reassured.


    Zhang Tie came to the bedroom and entered the hidden tunnel. Closely after that, he entered Castle of Black Iron.


    Only after 10 seconds, the thunder hawk had appeared in Zhang Tie''s bedroom. It looked right and left before walking out of the bedroom. It then came to the balcony. After thrusting against the ground forcefully and flapping its wings, it flew away.


    After hovering around Mocco City for a circle, especially above some warehouses which stored the materials such as grains, he flew outside the city...

 639 A Needle in the Ocean

    Chapter 639: A Needle in the Ocean


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The battle outside Mocco City became fiercer in the evening; especially the section being longer than 100 m in the middle of the north city wall had become the focus of the entire battlefield, where most corpses of the demonized puppets piled up at the fastest speed.


    Hovering in the sky, with only one short glance, Zhang Tie found that the corpses of demonized puppets had piled up another 2 m higher. A slope almost as high as 20 m had formed.


    While besieging the Mocco City, the demons also knew how to break through this city at the minimal price by centralizing its force. When the greater part of the demonized puppets corps was used in attacking the north city wall, most of the defensive equipment on the other city walls of Mocco City became useless. Only a few defensive equipments nearby the east of the north city wall and the west city wall could provide limited support to the great stress facing the north.


    When it turned dark, the demonized puppets were driven mad. They rushed towards Mocco City one round after another. 8 rows of human fighters were squaring their shoulders in a line of thousands of meters on the north city wall with crossbows in their hands. They were defending demonized puppets by shooting in sections. The moment one row of human fighters finished shooting, the other row would substitute them.


    At the foot of the city wall, more and more human fighters were gathering in the dark and preparing to substitute those fighters on the city wall. Given the strength and firing intensity required for operating the crossbows, most of the human fighters could only stand 2 hours; otherwise, they would become exhausted and could not be well-prepared to shoot crossbows in the regular time.


    In the dark, rows of bolts were fired towards outside the city like rain.


    Unless being shot in the head, those demonized puppets would never stop; instead, they were just delayed a second. Many demonized puppets were still rushing towards the north city wall like a hedgehog while being covered with bolts.


    Compared to the lethality of ballistas, crossbows were too weak. From 100 m away, the bolts of crossbows could not be lethal to demonized puppets after penetrating through the "corpse" shields in their arms.


    At this moment, all the turrets on the north city wall had broken down. None of them could run anymore. However, those human fighters were still trying their best to restore those turrets although they knew that it was impossible within such a short time.


    At the sight of this, Zhang Tie let out a sigh. Facing such an overwhelming battle situation, he knew that he could not change anything; therefore, he kept flying towards outside the city.


    A large flock of vultures appeared above the wild outside Mocco City due to the stink of corpses. They were waiting for the chance to share the rotten corpses below. Those vultures provided the greatest cover for Zhang Tie; nobody could notice that thunder hawk among those vultures.


    When Zhang Tie flew over that demonized puppets corps. Perhaps because of such a unique perspective, he was shocked by the dense, millions of demonized puppets, which covered dozens of kilometers in the north of Mocco City. At the sight of them, Zhang Tie felt his scalp being covered with goosebumps.


    The demonized puppets were restless on the ground and were waiting for the moment to break through the Mocco City.


    In the middle of the matrix of these demonized puppets, Zhang Tie saw a lot of wing demons and a huge tent in the rear of the demonized puppets corps. The tent felt being very rigid. A lot of fire baskets were burning around it. Zhang Tie also found a lot of humans there, besides demonized puppets.


    When Zhang Tie was hovering in the air, he found a group of people walking out of the tent who were pointing at Mocco City in the distance. With the light provided by the flames in the fire baskets around the tent and the powerful vision of thunder hawk, Zhang Tie saw Koz, Scala and some strangers. Standing on Koz''s side, those strangers felt as powerful as Koz and didn''t look like Koz''s subordinates. Scala was standing on their side as well.


    When Zhang Tie was observing them, 2 people of them sensed his gaze as they raised their heads and watched the thunder hawk which was thousands of meters in height. One of them glanced at Zhang Tie seriously for a few seconds before moving his eyes away and continuing to watch Mocco City in the distance.


    When they looked up, Zhang Tie''s heart almost stopped beating. Even being a thunder hawk, he could still sense the terrifying, powerful threat from the ground.


    One of the 2 people looked familiar. When he looked up, Zhang Tie suddenly remembered that he was that elder being employed by Senel Clan in Tokei City who looked like getting heated all over. Therefore, his heart raced.


    What if a thunder hawk felt a powerful threat from the ground, what would he do then? He would fly away at once.


    With the incarnation of thunder hawk, Zhang Tie knew it clearly how the thunder hawk would respond in such a case. Therefore, he immediately flew towards the north instead of continuing to observe the camp.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that the elder being employed by Senel Clan didn''t move his eyes away from the thunder hawk until he flew away.


    "Elder Quentin, what''s wrong?" Koz turned around and asked politely after realizing that Elder Quentin became absent-minded.


    "Nothing, I just felt a thunder hawk was gazing at us just now. Therefore, I checked whether there was some problem with the bird..." Elder Quentin explained.


    Zhang Tie could not identify Quentin''s real age. Given his look, he didn''t have any wrinkles on his face at all. He looked like a middle-aged man who took care of himself very well. His hair looked abnormally offwhite while his pupils were burning rufous flames. As long as Zhang Tie looked into his eyes, he would feel a great stress.


    "Elder Quentin, you don''t need to feel sorry about what happened in Tokei City. Our Senel Clan could afford that bit of loss of property. The Blackson Humans Corridor would belong to us sooner or later!" Koz comforted him "generously" as he thought Elder Quentin became oversensitive after what happened in Tokei City.


    Nevertheless, although Koz mentioned the loss of property, he didn''t mention the loss of his son Rouben. Senel Clan could never stand this. He would revenge for his son sooner or later.


    Of course, Elder Quentin understood what did Koz mean. Senel Clan was severely damaged by that event in the underground space of the Misty Moon Woods; Koz also treated that event as a great shame. Closely after Koz''s words, Elder Quentin had been surrounded with a killing qi while he narrowed his eyes, "Don''t worry, no matter whom that person is, as long as I find him, I will never let him go."


    "Now that person dared to rob Three-eye Association, he is our common enemy. Now that he could plunder our items in Tokei City, he must have unusual means. If that person was found, Elder Saale could give a favor to Elder Quentin when necessary!" A man on Koz''s side said with a heroic look.


    The elder who looked up together with Quentin then turned around and smiled at Elder Quentin. Elder Quentin also replied with a smile. At the same time, an abnormal light flashed across their eyes...


    Although Senel Clan suffered a great loss, for those who had been knights, the mortal items were not indeed precious; what was indeed precious could not be bought or produced in this age. Those items were buried deep in the ground or the bottomless abyss. They were real treasures. It was said that they existed in the age of gods hundreds of millions of years ago. Elder Quentin and Elder Saale only heard about those rare items. Compared to those rare items, the loss of property of Senel Clan was nothing at all.


    Such rare items were usually in the hands of rare powerful persons. Even Elder Quentin was dwarfed in front of those people who could have those rare items. Whereas, it was out of Elder Quentin''s imagination that a guy who was weaker than him probably had such a rarity to plunder all the treasures using the tactic of luring the tiger out of the mountain. The rarity was even more powerful than all those that Elder Quentin had ever heard which could hold all the items in the warehouses of four airships. Naturally, Elder Quentin became excited.


    Of course, that person might be a terrifying, powerful passerby who teased Elder Quentin when he passed through Tokei City; perhaps, many knights whose power was close to that of Elder Quentin joined hands to tease him. However, it was almost impossible. For instance, theoretically, the king had the same right to play mud with kids; however, no king would like to squat down and play mud with kids.


    ''This is a good opportunity that could not be met for 1,000 years.'' Elder Quentin''s heart pounded. However, what made him anxious was that he still didn''t know the look of that robber. If there was even the slightest chance for him to know that the robber was in Selnes Theater of Operations, he would never let that robber go.


    This was almost like seeking for a needle in the ocean. Although it was a hard work with a trivial chance, what if he found it?


    Evidently, Elder Quentin was not the only one who had such a thought.


    Elder Quentin didn''t know that the "needle" had just flown over his head.

 640 An Incarnation of Demonized Puppe

    Chapter 640: An Incarnation of Demonized Puppet


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After flying over the demonized puppets corps outside Mocco City, Zhang Tie soon arrived at Selnes Plain more than 300 miles away.


    At this moment, many demonized puppets were still wandering in the wild nearby the battle fortresses which had been broken through by them. Zhang Tie targeted those demonized puppets.


    In order to not make himself feel like vomiting after making a success, Zhang Tie wandered quite a while before locking a proper target. Its clothes were a bit tidier and didn''t look that disgusting. When Zhang Tie caught sight of that demonized puppet, it was tearing a rear leg of a wild wolf like a wild beast on the vast prairie.


    Watching it eating the flesh of a wild wolf, Zhang Tie felt a bit better at least. As it could kill a wild wolf, it was at least a LV 1 soldier.


    There was nobody within dozens of miles. Therefore, Zhang Tie just landed on the exuberant grassland hundreds of meters away from that demonized puppet.


    After a few seconds, Zhang Tie appeared and walked towards that demonized puppet.


    When Zhang Tie was about 50 m away from that demonized puppet, the demonized puppet, who was gnawing the rear leg of the wild wolf, immediately raised its head and glared at Zhang Tie with a pair of bloody eyes. At the same time, it showed its teeth to Zhang Tie with a grim look. Closely after that, it dropped off that bloody rear leg and darted towards Zhang Tie.


    Of course, this demonized puppet was as weak as an ant in Zhang Tie''s eyes. Watching it rushing over here, Zhang Tie just stayed still with a smile. When the demonized puppet was about 5 m away from him, a binding chain flew out of Zhang Tie''s forehead and stroke it, freezing it right away. According to the acting time of the binding chain, Zhang Tie instantly identified that this demonized puppet was a LV 2.


    Zhang Tie walked over there and teleported it into Castle of Black Iron at once. Closely after that, he also entered Castle of Black Iron. After being incarnated into the thunder hawk, he flew off once again.


    After half an hour, the thunder hawk landed on a mountain in Selnes Plain more than 100 miles away. Closely after that, it entered Castle of Black Iron while Zhang Tie''s eyes opened inside there.


    The demonized puppet was still lying stiffly on the ground. Zhang Tie walked over there as he directly picked a Great Wilderness Seal from the 3rd floor of the All-spirits Pagoda and injected it into its mind.


    In the next second, Zhang Tie realized that he was lying on the ground while his real body was standing on his side.


    ''The secret knowledge of the Great Wilderness Sutra could really control demonized puppets!'' Zhang Tie exclaimed as he picked himself up from the ground at once. He became so excited that he almost sprung up.


    Zhang Tie didn''t realize that the effect of the binding chain had already been relieved.


    After being incarnated into a demonized puppet, Zhang Tie felt being utterly different from being a rat. When he became a rat, he could sense how the rat sensed. However, when he was incarnated into a demonized puppet, he felt as weird as driving a machine. Zhang Tie poked the body which he was in using his finger and felt like poking a piece of log. He didn''t have any sense at all. Of course, he would not feel any pain. Zhang Tie realized that he was manipulating the puppet worm in this body; instead of this body.


    This body didn''t have any sense of touch, smell or taste. It could only see and hear out its instinct to respond to hunger and thirst.


    The demonized puppet kept its auditory sense unchanged. However, Zhang Tie felt like wearing a pair of tainted spectacles as everything he saw had lacked fidelity like being covered with a layer of a faint bloody curtain.


    After being incarnated into the demonized puppet, Zhang Tie felt that its brain was full of disordered and bloody killing intents. Thankfully, the killing intent didn''t influence Zhang Tie''s judgment. Zhang Tie attempted to speak; however, he felt very difficult to utter any words. It seemed that the "manipulating mode" provided by that demonized puppet didn''t contain the "option" of language and speech. He tried twice only to find that he could only utter meaningless sounds.


    Zhang Tie tried to run around the top of the mountain for a while and did some movements. He found that the body of the demonized puppet could still move freely. Zhang Tie could still use his Iron-blood Fist using this body, although being less powerful. His battle awareness and instinct was still there. However, great strengths such as hidden battle qi could not be implemented by this body. Thankfully, Zhang Tie didn''t need this demonized puppet to do anything difficult. He only needed to hide himself inside its body.


    After noticing that Heller was watching him interestingly on his side, Zhang Tie retreated from the incarnation and returned his awareness to his original body.


    After that, the demonized puppet just stood aside stupidly. After seeing that Heller pointed at the entrance of this mountain, this demonized puppet walked into the mountain cave.


    "In usual time, we can just let it stay in the mountain cave and have Gandi, Aziz and Edward feed it some food and water. When Castle Lord needs its body, you can just call it out!" Heller told Zhang Tie.


    "That''s great. I''ve not imagined that the soul-based animal controlling skill could really control demons!" Zhang Tie told Heller fervently. In this way, he would not be identified by them even if he disguised as a demonized puppet in front of those b*stards of Three-eye Association.


    "To the final analysis, the demonized puppet is just a special worm. Of course, it is under the control of the secret method in the Great Wilderness Sutra!"


    Zhang Tie instantly recalled something as his heart raced, "Hmm? If I meet a parent puppet worm, can I control it?"


    "Of course, Castle Lord; but you need to raise your floors of the All-spirits Pagoda. Given the current floors of the All-spirits Pagoda that you''ve unlocked, you could not control the parent puppet worm temporarily!"


    "Ah? What''s the level of the parent puppet worm?"


    "It''s a LV 14 living being!"


    "LV 14?"


    "Right!" Heller nodded.


    The moment he heard Heller''s words had Zhang Tie dropped that exotic thought. He had just unlocked the 3rd floor of All-spirits Pagoda. That was to say, he could only control LV 2 living beings at most. He had to unlock the 15th floor of All-spirits Pagoda so as to control LV 14 living beings. However, even if he did nothing but read endless true words of the Great Wilderness Sutra for 10 years, he could still not unlock the 15th floor of All-spirits Pagoda. Because the higher the floor was, the more times of endless true words he needed to read. The times grew in the form of a Fibonacci data array. What was more was that they were calculated by the unit of ten thousands.


    He needed to read the endless true words of the Great Wilderness Sutra for 1.3 million times so as to unlock the 4th floor, 2.1 million times to unlock the 5th floor, 3.4 million times to unlock the 6th floor and 5.5 million times to unlock the 7th floor...he had to read endless true words numerous times before unlocking the 15th floor.


    ''Well, just forget about that. Don''t be that greedy. Just step by step. Others could not even have an incarnation. I should be satisfied with such an ability. It''s not good for me to be over-ambitious.'' Zhang Tie then gradually recovered his composure.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s look, Heller knew what Zhang Tie was thinking about. After realizing that Zhang Tie accepted the reality so fast, Heller nodded inside. On the way towards being a real powerhouse, it''s not always good for a person to have an unrealistic high expectation, regardless of the way near his foot. Many cultivators were destroyed by unrealistic expectations. Perhaps, Zhang Tie didn''t have high talent, he was indeed very diligent. Additionally, he was always optimistic and full of hope, which was the necessary foundation for a person to be a real powerhouse.


    As he had just left Castle of Black Iron for less than 2 weeks, there was only one ripe leakless fruit on the small tree, while the other one had not been ripe yet. It was not enough to light a surging point; therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t waste time in Castle of Black Iron. He soon appeared in the woods.


    This time, Zhang Tie targeted some powerful incarnations below LV 2. The demonized puppet could only be used in special situations. On one hand, there were still some available Great Wilderness Seals on the 2nd floor and the 3rd floor of All-spirits Pagoda at this moment. He wanted to use them. On the other hand, Zhang Tie didn''t feel that the soul-based animal controlling skill could bring him any side effects. Therefore, he intended to get some more incarnations.


    To be honest, although the rat helped Zhang Tie a lot, it was too common. Zhang Tie always wanted to find an incarnation with a special ability. He only requested it to be a bit sharper than that rat.


    With this thought, Zhang Tie came to a relatively open land in the woods. After that, he injected a Great Wilderness Seal from the 2nd floor of All-spirits Pagoda into the ground...


    The moment the Great Wilderness Seal entered the ground, an invisible, mysterious wave had started to spread across the mountain...


    Zhang Tie just waited for those small animals...

 641 An Exotic Beetle

    Chapter 641: An Exotic Beetle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie was waiting silently in an open land of the woods...


    A few seconds later, some green points appeared in the distant shrugs. With faint rustles, two yellowish LV 1 huge wolves jumped out of the brushwood behind the shrugs and laid on the ground in front of Zhang Tie.


    After that, with a flapping sound, an odd-looking bird flew over here.


    The Great Wilderness Seal in the Summon Sector on the 2nd floor of All-spirits Pagoda could actually summon all the LV 1 and LV 0 animals within 30 miles; however, as Zhang Tie wanted a special incarnation, he only summoned LV 1 living beings. That was to say, those LV 0 animals were not qualified to attend this big party.


    In the wild of Selnes Plain, there were too many LV 0 living beings; by contrast, there were very few LV 1 mutated living beings.


    Zhang Tie just waited there silently. Soon, an agile leopard cat with shiny fur appeared in front of Zhang Tie at an extremely fast speed. After circling around Zhang Tie for a while, it stayed under a tree in a cute way.


    The leopard cat moved very fast and lightly. It was the fastest animal that Zhang Tie had seen in the woods so far.


    After carefully glancing at that leopard cat, Zhang Tie shook his head. The leopard cat was too large; additionally, it only stayed in the woods. If it appeared in other places, it would arouse others'' attention for sure. This was what Zhang Tie wanted.


    Zhang Tie wanted a trivial animal which could substitute that rat. It should be able to go anywhere that common rats could and could not go. It should have a greater ability to move and survive. It should be agile and be hidden enough at a place. Additionally, it had better be small enough to drill into that warehouse that he had broken in Tokei.


    Animals had different features. As this incarnation was not used to fight, it didn''t need to be too strong and deterrent. If a weak thing was used properly, it could also play a great role.


    After a short while, with a loud noise, a large area of shrugs fell down while a brown bear with terrifying, sharp claws slowly appeared. Closely after that, a leopard, some strange birds and a weird scaly anteater arrived.


    As Zhang Tie was not a biologist, he could only identify which family did they belong to; however, he could not tell their names. In this age, there were too many LV 1 mutated living beings to be told by many authoritative biologists.


    When LV 1 animals appeared one after another, Zhang Tie became hopeless constantly. Although these animals were good, they were not what he needed.


    Finally, when Zhang Tie saw some red hedgehogs wobbling towards him under the moonlight, he even burst out into laughter.


    ''Alright, these might be all the nearby LV 1 living beings.'' Zhang Tie shook his head.


    Zhang Tie waved his hands to let all the LV 1 living beings leave politely and safely like that they had just joined a party. No attacks happened.


    Zhang Tie was not disappointed. He just injected the 2nd Great Wilderness Seal from the All-spirits Pagoda into the ground which could be used to summon LV 2 living beings.


    Zhang Tie waited there for about 10 minutes. With a bloody wind, a tiger with silver markings appeared in front of Zhang Tie. After a low roar, it laid on the ground.


    In the next half an hour, Zhang Tie saw no more LV 2 animals. When he thought he had wasted two Great Wilderness Seals of Summon Sector tonight, a pitch-dark little beetle fell on his shoulder after flying around him for a short while.


    At the sight of that tiny beetle, Zhang Tie became stunned, ''Is this small thing a LV 2 living being or a common beetle who was passing by here coincidentally?''


    ''It''s easy to verify this question. If this small thing is appealed here by the LV 2 Great Wilderness Seal from the Summon Sector, it would follow my order.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    "Come here onto my palm!" Zhang Tie opened his hand and told that beetle.


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s message, the small beetle flew off Zhang Tie''s shoulder and landed on Zhang Tie''s palm without any fear.


    ''Yi? What an interesting thing!'' Zhang Tie mumbled.


    Zhang Tie moved the beetle in front of him and watched it carefully. It was only as large as half of his thumb. Its pitch-dark shell was shining metallic luster. After a careful look, Zhang Tie found its shape a bit strange. Its body was like an amplified ant. Being different from common ants, this small thing''s eyes seemed to be a bit larger than that of common ants. Additionally, there was a pair of wings on its back. When it landed, its wings could be completely hidden in his hard shell. When necessary, its wings would pop out of its shell.


    Zhang Tie stroked its tiny body with one finger as he found it pretty hard. It felt like touching a small piece of iron.


    "Show me your talent!" Zhang Tie sent an order to that small thing.


    After circling in Zhang Tie''s palm for a few seconds, it flew off. Zhang Tie found that it could even fly a bit faster than common sparrows. Because of its small figure, it seemed to be more agile.


    The small thing flew a few seconds around Zhang Tie rapidly like showing off itself. It even dared land on the head of the tiger with silver markings. The tiger seemed to be very afraid of that small thing. When the small thing landed on its head, the tiger even gritted its teeth and wanted to pat away the small thing. However, he finally dared not do that; he could only shake its head.


    When the small thing landed on the tiger''s head, it changed its color into that of the tiger like a chameleon. If he did not watch it carefully, Zhang Tie thought it was just a spot on the tiger''s head.


    ''What a marvelous talent!'' Zhang Tie became interested in it.


    The small thing then flew off the tiger''s head and landed on a trunk 10 m away. At the same time, its body turned into the color of that of the trunk and became unidentified.


    After that, the small thing moved. In only a bit longer than 10 seconds, it had already drilled a hole on the trunk. Two minutes later, it came out of the trunk from the other end of the hole. In such a short period, it had already drilled through the trunk which was as thick as 1.5 m.


    Zhang Tie widened his mouth in a shock...


    After flying off the trunk, the small thing directly landed on a distant solid rock. In a blink of an eye, it had already opened a hole on the rock and hid itself inside.


    Zhang Tie knew that some ants and beetles were good at drilling holes; however, he had not imagined that this small thing was that sharp.


    When he saw it drilling out of the ground beside the rock, Zhang Tie waved his hand towards it. The small thing then flew over and fell onto his hand once again.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie realized the cuteness of the small thing.


    Zhang Tie waved his hand towards that tiger. The tiger then turned around and disappeared in the woods.


    Zhang Tie then gradually hid himself in the shadowy place and entered Castle of Black Iron together with that beetle.


    The moment Zhang Tie returned to Castle of Black Iron had that small beetle flown off Zhang Tie''s hand. It seemed to be very excited. It flew around the small tree for a few seconds before rushing to the high air. Then, it wanted to touch and catch up with the colorful clouds. After finding that it could not catch up with the colorful clouds, it circled around the mountain rapidly for a few seconds before diving towards the foot of the mountain. After reaching the abyss which was made of the Pool of Chaos at the foot of the mountain, the small thing started to dance in the air. Under Zhang Tie''s gaze, the small thing couldn''t wait to drill a hole on the cliff.


    After a few minutes, that small beetle flew back and landed onto Zhang Tie''s palm. At the same time, it started to circle in his palm due to the excitement.


    Zhang Tie smiled as he injected a LV 2 Great Wilderness Seal into that special little beetle.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie found he was on the palm of his original body which was a lofty as a mountain. Zhang Tie then flew off. As he turned small, he found the top of the mountain became grotesque at once. The small tree became as lofty as a huge towering tree. Each leaf of the tree was like a balcony where he could rest on. The brook on the mountain became a surging river while those rocks became high mountains. Each item was very fresh to him. The entire world seemed having enlarged by many times as it turned abruptly vivid...


    Although being the same world, it had different splendors in different viewpoints.


    The beetle''s vision was not as open as that of humans. However, it could still see objects over miles away. Additionally, it seemed to have twilight vision. With fine light, it could see clearly everything nearby. What was funny was that the auditory sense of the beetle was on its legs. There was a layer of fine fur on its legs, which were sensitive to rocks and sounds in the air. Within a distance of about 20 m, it even had a sharper auditory sense about low sounds than humans.


    The small beetle then flew downwards the foot of the mountain. It finally arrived at that distant village. As it was late, villagers had already gone to bed. After making a round, it flew into the hieron, where he saw his own statue. Some seniors were sitting on their knees in front of the statue. They might be praying piously. However, they didn''t notice such a trivial beetle at all...


    "My lord, please accept our gratitude. It''s you who gave us new lives..."


    "My lord, please accept our gratitude. It''s you who gave us food..."


    "My lord, please accept our gratitude. It''s you who gave us safety..."


    "The greatest god in the world, you break the hell to open a sacred gate of redemption for those in troubles. You punish all the evils in the world by throwing javelins as fast as lightning bolts. You master the great karma. All the living beings will succumb to you. You display the greatness of life to the human world. Your name is the most sacred secret..."


    The prayers were being sung solemnly and sentimentally. This seemed to be a rite that these people had invented.


    Zhang Tie landed on a stony pillar in the palace. After listening to them quietly for a short while, he flew away. Watching him being worshiped like a god, Zhang Tie felt pretty absurd.


    The beetle then flew back to his palm while his consciousness returned to himself...


    Watching that beetle lying in his palm, a whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind. He took out a vial of all-purpose medicament and dripped some drops in his palm. The little beetle soon drunk them all. It became so happy to taste such a yummy drink for the first time.


    ...


    After having one demonized puppet and one beetle as his incarnations, Zhang Tie''s potential ability improved again. Zhang Tie was very satisfied with that. Therefore, after telling Heller about something, he incarnated into a thunder hawk and flew out of Castle of Black Iron.


    After a bit longer than 1 hour, Zhang Tie had arrived at Sladic City.


    Like Mocco City, Sladic City was also besieged by 3-4 millions of demonized puppets. The land outside Sladic City was also covered with corpses. As it was evening, the battle between humans and demonized puppets grew fiercer...


    After observing the battle situation facing Sladic City, Zhang Tie knew that human defense line across Selnes was on the verge of collapse...

 642 Message and Farewell

    Chapter 642: Message and Farewell


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie learned that he had become a dad in the morning of the 25th day of the month.


    This was completely a kind of whim. When the Selnes human defense line was going to be collapsed, Zhang Tie remembered that he had not contacted his family members for many days. Therefore, after finding two incarnations for himself last night, he took out the remote sensing crystal that his elder brother gifted him when he got up on the next morning. When Zhang Tie injected his spiritual energy into the remote sensing crystal, he soon sensed a vibration from the other side at a fixed frequency. It indicated that someone on the other side was always gazing at the other remote sensing crystal. Zhang Tie wondered whether his elder brother was paying attention to it or someone else. As he was in the Selnes Theater of Operations, he could not do anything but watch the remote sensing crystal. Therefore, Zhang Tie always touched Zhang Yang on his own initiative unless he and his elder brother fixed the contact time in advance.


    Zhang Tie soon sent some secret words that he and his elder brother had appointed to identify each other''s real status in the different frequency of oscillation, high or low. After dozens of seconds, Zhang Tie received a reply in the same type of secret language. It was Zhang Yang.


    Therefore, their statuses were confirmed.


    After that, the core of the remote sensing crystal oscillated in different frequency, high or low.


    Zhang Tie jostled down the frequency of oscillation as he deciphered the contents of the section of frequency in the way that he and his elder brother had appointed.


    ¡ª¡ªYou''re a dad now. Linda, Beverly and Fiona gave birth to 3 male babies for you on the afternoon of the 22nd day of this month. Linda first, Beverly second, Fiona third.


    After being familiar with the use of remote sensing crystal, they felt very convenient to touch each other with remote sensing crystals although they could not talk with each other, as long as they were tacit. This was like how humans made instant message transfer using mobile or telegraph before the Catastrophe. However, compared to that of mobile or telegraph, a pair of twin remote sensing crystals in this age was too expensive that even many rich people could not afford it. In many corps of human countries across Blackson Humans Corridor, a pair of twin remote sensing crystals was already a high-end configuration for a division. Only large-scale business groups, noble clans and some personnel or agencies targeting special tasks such as Golden Roc Bank, the super giant.


    After receiving Zhang Yang''s message, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded. After more than 1 minute, Zhang Tie sent another message.


    ¡ª¡ªHow are Linda, Beverly and Fiona?


    ¡ª¡ªThey are safe. What about you? Dad and mom are worried about you very much.


    ¡ª¡ªI''m okay. But I''m afraid that the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations will be collapsed.


    ¡ª¡ªJust come back then!


    ¡ª¡ªI cannot come back temporarily. I have my way to protect myself. I''m always safe.


    ¡ª¡ªHuaiyuan Palace have dispatched some personnel to our home.


    ¡ª¡ªWhat''s the matter?


    ¡ª¡ªYour babies were different from others when they came out. They had abnormal phenomena. All the 3 babies had awakened an immortal bloodline, a complete ancestral bloodline and a leakless body when they came out, which even aroused a shock across Fuhai City. Meanwhile, the news is spreading in Yingzhou State. We dare not even leave our house now. Various figures come to visit us everyday.


    Zhang Yang''s response was very long, which shocked Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie didn''t feel amazed about the inheritance of the color-changing pupils and precise throwing skill. However, it was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that the trait of the leakless body was also inherited. Zhang Tie guessed that this might be related to the leakless fruits that he had eaten, ''It''s understandable that I could have a leakless body after eating so many leakless fruits; but how could the babies also have leakless bodies when they don''t have any leakless fruit to eat?'' Zhang Tie wondered. He then asked Heller straightforwardly.


    "The leakless state of the three babies is inherited from you. It was an effect of leakless fruits. It''s a duplication and response to your own physical state. However, their leakless bodies are different from your leakless state. In the concept of Eastern Continent, the alleged leakless bodies of them refer to that it won''t easily lose their aura and spiritual energy. By contrast, your leakless state refers to that none of your energy would escape with the effect of the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree. Your leakless state is many tiers higher than that of theirs. Although they don''t have leakless fruits to eat, their leakless state could improve their health and make them more resistant. Benefited from that, they could better cultivate many battle skills and secret knowledge. Simply, the 3 babies are born with a higher qualification of cultivation!"


    "Higher than me?" Zhang Tie asked.


    Heller became silent for a second before replying with a vacant expression, "Castle Lord, you''re really humorous!"


    "Would all of my babies have such a leakless body in the future?"


    "Yes!"


    When Zhang Tie talked with Heller, Zhang Yang sent another message.


    ¡ª¡ªHave you already guessed the traits of your babies?


    ¡ª¡ªYes!


    Zhang Tie replied honestly as he treated his elder brother as one of the most reliable persons in this world.


    Zhang Yang became silent for a short while. He didn''t ask why. After eating the fruit of plunder gifted by Zhang Yang, he had already known that Zhang Tie had a lot of secrets. .


    ¡ª¡ªHuaiyuan Palace is looking for you. I didn''t tell them how I could I get in touch with you. They also hope us to move to Huaiyuan City.


    ¡ª¡ªWhat''s your plan?


    ¡ª¡ªIt has aroused a shock. Perhaps we will settle down in Huaiyuan City for a few years. After a few years, when the babies grew up and Jinwu Commercial Organization''s base in Taixia became a bit steady. We will build our private city in Taixia Country and leave an everlasting undertaking for Zhang''s posterity. By then, we will not have to rely on others.


    ¡ª¡ªThat''s a good idea!


    ''I''ve not imagined that my elder brother has been ambitious to build a city soon after arriving at Taixia Country. It seems that Taixia Country is indeed suitable for developing undertaking.'' Zhang Tie became thrilled.


    ¡ª¡ªHave you named the babies?


    ¡ª¡ªJust let our dad deal with it.


    ¡ª¡ªWhen will we contact next time?


    ¡ª¡ªThe 25th day of next month. It might be a bit chaotic this month.


    ¡ª¡ªFine, take care of yourself!


    ¡ª¡ªYou too!


    Zhang Tie then put away his remote sensing crystal.


    It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that Huaiyuan Palace was looking for him. But it was reasonable as Zhang Tie knew that the elders of Huaiyuan Palace prioritized bloodlines very much. ''At this moment, I must have been a "Trump-card stallion" in Huaiyuan Palace. If it was a few years ago, Zhang Tie would dream for this day for sure. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie had realized that many things were more important than making piston movements with beauties.


    ''Whatever, I don''t believe they can find me. When they cannot find me, they will abandon this thought. It would depend on when will I return to Eastern Continent and Huaiyuan Palace by then.''


    ''I wonder what Lan Yunxi will think about it when she finds out that I''ve become a dad.'' Zhang Tie rubbed his face with a bitter look, ''Whatever, let''s just wait until I meet her. Oh, I should have inquired my elder brother about the current situation of Lan Yunxi. I have to do that next time.''


    On the verge of the collapse of Mocco City, Zhang Tie was not nervous at all. Because he knew that with his abilities, he didn''t need to be nervous at all. Zhang Tie, as a 5-star battle master, was trivial in such a large-scale battle which determined the life or death of millions of humans across Blackson Humans Corridor. There were a lot of powerhouses on both sides. It was not his turn to determine the overall situation. He only needed to mind his own business.


    When he recalled those people of Senel Clan that he saw outside the city last night, a killing intent flashed by Zhang Tie''s eyes. Perhaps he could not defeat LV 16 Koz or LV 14 Scala in a head-on collision at this moment, he didn''t need to please them face to face given that they were just b*stards of Three-eye Association who were excelled at playing tricks. As long as he could kill them or made them unhappy, he didn''t care about much. At this moment, Zhang Tie had already prepared to be a fish in troubled waters.


    As it was already the 25th day of this month, given the progress of the accumulative corpses of demonized puppets outside the city gate, they would be able to break in Mocco City in the following 24 hours. At such a critical moment, Zhang Tie calmed down; instead of being anxious.


    There were still some firewood and food in the kitchen of this apartment which was gifted by Reinhardt. Although the water pipes had already run out of the water, the water tank in the washroom was still full of water which was preserved several days ago.


    Zhang Tie lit the firewood and made a steaming breakfast. After that, he took off his clothes and took a cool bath in the washroom. When he came out of the washroom in a towel while cleaning his hair, he heard the doorbell ring. He opened the door and found it was Reinhardt.


    Reinhardt was wearing a suit of battle armor which was covered with blood stains. It seemed that he had just left the battlefield. At the sight of Zhang Tie who looked like having a vacation in Mocco City, he widely opened his mouth.


    "Ah, boss, come on in. Do you want to eat something? I''ve just made the breakfast." Zhang Tie leaned his body, allowing Reinhardt to enter.


    Reinhardt then strode in. He then sniffed the taste of breakfast in the kitchen. If not Zhang Tie kept fighting demonized puppets on the city wall these days, Reinhardt would doubt that whether he had come to the wrong place.


    "You are taking a bath at this moment?''


    Zhang Tie revealed a casual smile, "No matter what, Mocco City could not stand too long; therefore, I took a bath before the city was collapsed. Just take it as a memory. Pitifully, there''s no barber''s shop in business now; I even wanted to have a haircut."


    Few people could be so calm at such a critical moment across the Mocco City. Reinhardt''s dumbfounded look turned into an admirable look. Sometimes, the demeanor of great generals referred to such guys who could feel free to make breakfast when the city was going to be collapsed.


    "When Mocco City is collapsed, Norman Empire''s Iron Plough Corps will break out. Do you want to leave with us?" Reinhardt put it straightforward...


    "I want to stay in Mocco City and kill demons for a longer time. I won''t leave before this city is completely ruined!" Zhang Tie answered.


    Reinhardt watched Zhang Tie seriously for quite a while when he saw a firm conviction in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    "Okay, take care of yourself!"


    "You too!"


    The two people then embraced each other tightly as they patted the other''s back and shoulder heavily. Closely after that, Reinhardt strode away.


    Zhang Tie knew that it was uncertain whether they could reunite after this departure. When the holy war broke out, life or death situation and regrets always happened to friends, brothers, and relatives!


    After seeing Reinhardt off, Zhang Tie took a deep breath before returning to the table. After glancing at the rest breakfast, he sat at the table calmly and gnawed it leisurely...

 643 The Final Momen

    Chapter 643: The Final Moment


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Sometimes, one would do something strange thing in others'' eyes. When on Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie was told that there was an elder brother in Hidden Dragon Palace who would like to do surfing when terrifying, huge waves being as high as dozens of meters formed in the ocean. Previously, Zhang Tie didn''t understand why. Until when he watched the millions of demonized puppets surging over here like huge waves, he understood that there was a dauntless pledge surging in all the men''s souls¡ª¡ªHere I am, here I see, here I conquer!


    At dusk, the slope of the corpses of demonized puppets finally reached the height of the top of the city wall. At the same time, the first demonized puppet climbed onto the city wall using its dirty hands and jumped off it.


    As was predicted, all the demonized puppets of that batch were killed by the garrison. After being killed, their corpses were pushed off the city wall and made the pile of corpses a bit higher.


    After attacking Mocco City for 10 consecucutive days like a storm, when the demonized puppets finally climbed onto the city wall, they all stopped. At the same time, all the demonized puppets retreated from the front line and returned to their large unit. As a result, the periphery of the entire Mocco City became quiet at once, showing a temporary, weird peace.


    Right then, all the air defense towers in Mocco City rung shrill alarms at the same time, which sounded like the last roars and wails of this human city and shocked everyone''s souls. At that moment, all the humans guarding this city stopped what they were doing and listened to it carefully. The alarms indicated that demonized puppets had already climbed onto the city wall.


    When the alarms sounded, Zhang Tie, who had taken a bath, finished his brunch and taken a noontime snooze, was drinking beer leisurely in the Demon Hunters Bar. At this moment, there were only over 10 people in the bar.


    When they heard the alarms, everyone put down their glasses and listened to it carefully, including the bartender who stopped wiping the glass in his hand.


    When the alarms stopped, the bartender didn''t say anything. He just took out some bottles of liquor from a lower hidden place in the cabinet and filled all the glasses for those people who were sitting at the bar counter. Meanwhile, he said unwillingly, "This is Fiery Blade, a special, orthodox liquor from Eastern Continent. I always keep it. Try it. It''s my treat today. You will not have such a chance to later on."


    Fiery Blade was a Hebrew saying. As a Hua people, Zhang Tie didn''t know that it had another orthodox Hua name¡ª¡ªBurning Blade! According to Donder, the best Burning Blade had to be soaked in a fiery lava crystal, which grew underground, for longer than half a year after being brewed. The lava crystal would grant that sort of liquor a special taste and power.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether the Fiery Blade was the very Burning Blade as was mentioned by Donder. He took the glass and bottomed it up. It was like drinking a ball of flames. Closely after that, he was impulsive to chop off something''s head with a saber.


    Everybody in the bar had bottomed up the liquor. Someone''s face turned red while others'' faces turned pale. After putting down the glass forcefully, everybody straighten their clothes and took their weapons before walking out of the bar silently.


    When Zhang Tie walked out of the bar, he looked back and found the Demon Hunters Bar had been empty. The bartender let out a deep sigh before spreading the Burning Blade over the bar, including its counter.


    After coming outside, the demon hunters and paladins didn''t say anything. They just departed and headed in different directions. Being different from them, Zhang Tie just walked towards the north city gate. At this moment, the streets became vacant. Being barehanded, Zhang Tie carried that shell-shaped equipment which contained a lot of special ax boomerangs. Until he saw the opening arsenal nearby the north city gate did he walk in.


    An elder ranking first sergeant was sitting outside the gate of the arsenal while smoking a cigarette. He was cutting off those uniformed swords and sabers from their handles and heads with a set of steam cutting machine, making them ineffective. They were surplus weapons stored in Mocco City. As it was close to the north city gate, if not destroy them at this moment, they would be used by demonized puppets to kill humans.


    "They are all good weapons. What a pity!"


    Each time the arsenal keeper took a saber or a javelin from his side, he would touch it gently by hand and let out a sigh. After that, he would use the simplest method to turn it into scrap iron.


    In the afterglow of the setting sun, the old man looked special while holding that cigarette languidly and revealing a sad look. Those broken parts of javelins, sabers, and swords were lying all over the ground like corpses.


    Watching the old man, Zhang Tie suddenly felt like watching a sheepherder dropping his tears and slaughtering his own lambs. The spraying flames were like spurting fresh blood after the weapons were cut through their throats.


    "I want to f*ck demons on the city wall. Give me two weapons, one in one hand. I don''t care what they are. My requirements are that they''re heavy and durable!" Zhang Tie said.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the old man raised his head and threw a glance at Zhang Tie while a shiny light flashed by his cloudy eyes. Closely after that, he grinned as he stood up in front of the steam cutting machine. "Come with me!"


    The old man led Zhang Tie into the warehouse. Zhang Tie caught sight of a huge crate which was longer than 2 m on a trailer. The old man pried off the cover using a shovel and exposed the weapon inside. That''s a pair of huge swords being fixed on a simple wooden frame. There were some fillers between two huge swords. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie smiled as he felt like seeing a partner whom he had lost contact with a long time ago. Zhang Tie had a similar one before, which was called Man''s Certificate.


    "This is a very special item among the batch of weapons which were transported here from Heizfar Kingdom. It contains star iron. As it didn''t meet its owner, I just put it in the warehouse. If you don''t come here, I will have to break it into pieces after a couple of hours. It would take me at least half an hour and 6 grinding wheels to break it apart." The old man sighed as he stroked the sword gently. "Each of them weighs 298 kg. Do you want a try?"


    Heizfar Kingdom was a small country in the south of Waii Sub-continent. Like Hoorn Republic''s gliders, this country was famous for its metallurgy and a special iron ore called star iron. As a result, the Heizfar Kingdom was almost the most powerful weapons manufacturing nation across Waii Sub-continent after Huaiyuan Palace. Huaiyuan Palace was famous for its rune equipment and crossbows while the Heizfar Kingdom had a super great power on producing conventional weapons.


    Zhang Tie put his hands in the crate and tore off the package over their handles. After that, he took the pair of huge shiny swords easily. Each of the two huge swords was a bit lighter than the Man''s Certificate. However, the total weight of the two huge swords was over 500 kg for sure. Their length was a bit shorter than that of the Man''s Certificate. However, each of the two huge swords was longer than 1.8 m, which was of course much longer than that of common swords. Additionally, being evidently different from Man''s Certificate, this pair of huge swords looked smoother and more harmonious. Although being not as exaggerating and grim as Man''s Certificate, they were more magnificent. They looked more like what swords should be as they were full of aesthetic feeling combining masculinity and power.


    If Man''s Certificate was the work of a weapon craftsman who suddenly had an aspiration, the pair of huge swords in front of him would feel like masterpieces that pursue perfection in each detail after being hammered thousands of times.


    The moment he held the pair of huge swords Zhang Tie realized that they were more powerful than Man''s Certificate for sure. They were even sharper and firmer than Man''s Certificate. In order to support the Selnes frontline, the Heizfar Kingdom indeed had spent a lot of efforts.


    Watching that Zhang Tie could take this pair of huge swords so easily, the old man revealed a smile. "Can you chop off 1,000 demonized puppets'' heads with it?"


    "1,000? Too few. Maybe 10,000." Zhang Tie told the old man.


    The old man saw Zhang Tie off the gate of the arsenal. Before Zhang Tie left, he suddenly told Zhang Tie, "Young man, live well. Don''t die in Mocco City. I feel you might chop off more demonized puppets'' heads in the future!"


    Zhang Tie nodded towards the old man before striding away with the two huge swords.


    ...


    "Green. Promise me to go back alive and settle down in a safer place. You could give birth to more sons in the future. I always protect you since we were young. From now on you need to protect yourself. You should be strong-willed. Our family is relying on you." The elder brother, inside the turret, was telling the younger brother, who was dropping tears outside the turret as they were holding hands tightly. The steam centrifugal turret was going to be closed from inside when food and drinking water had been moved into the turret. Half of the gate of the turret had been sealed with steel plates.


    "If you see Louis, remember to say sorry to her on behalf of me."


    The elder brother then drew back his hands as he waved his hands towards outside. The last gap of the gate was then sealed with steel plates. At the sight of this, the younger brother burst out tears.


    Actually, on the way here, Zhang Tie found all the centrifugal wheel turrets had been sealed from inside. All the human fighters who defended in the turrets were showing their decisive will using their actions... they were average, yet great human fighters!


    When he passed by these centrifugal wheel turrets, Zhang Tie held his huge swords more tightly while his killing intent gradually rose.

 644 The Bravest Man

    Chapter 644: The Bravest Man


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie arrived at the north city gate of Mocco City in the silence before the arrival of the thunderstorm.


    At this moment, hundreds of thousands of human fighters were gathering all over the north city gate. Each human fighter was holding weapons in armor and waiting to launch an attack. Looking in the distance, he found armored steel woods in the nearby streets and behind the large area of buildings which had been demolished. There were many banners of countries among the woods.


    The north city gate which had been closed for 10 days was going to be opened from inside so that the troops inside the city could rush out. At this moment, after the city wall of Mocco City lost its advantage in height, it became meaningless for the city gate to be further closed.


    Zhang Tie was very eye-catching with two huge swords in hands. Additionally, as he always fought demonized puppets on the north city gate these days, he could penetrate through the thick steel woods and walk to the height point of the city wall.


    At this moment, rows of terrifying, tough men with long beards as lofty as mountains were standing arrogantly on the north city wall in full-body armors like steel puppets. Each of them was holding a huge ax which weighed more than 100 kg.


    Zhang Tie felt familiar with those tough figures and their long beards. When he caught sight of the banner behind those tough guys, Zhang Tie remembered that they were Taklin Empire''s Imperial Heavy-armored Infantry which he had met in the railway station when he came to Mocco City for the first time.


    They were the best heavy-armored infantry across Blackson Humans Corridor.


    These people stood on the city wall at the most dangerous moment.


    A silver-haired imperial priest of Taklin Empire was walking through this powerful heavy-armored infantry while spraying a handful of sacred water on each of these fighters from a silver bowl. At the same time, he kept muttering something. When the priest passed by them, these fighters would kneel down on one knee and slightly kiss the own crucifix on their chest. At the same time, they would pray piously before standing up firmly.


    At this moment, the population of demon hunters and paladins at the north city gate was even less than 1/10 of that in usual.


    Zhang Tie was standing on a part of the city wall with some paladins and demon hunters.


    The demonized puppets were still waiting for something quietly in the distance. Zhang Tie found that the huge matrix of demonized puppets was in a small adjustment.


    The atmosphere on the north city gate of Mocco City within 10 miles was frozen, which made all these human fighters'' hearts pound. Even the vultures hovering in the air might have felt it. In usual, dauntless, roguish vultures would always bite those rotten corpses on the ground whenever they wanted. However, at this moment, although numerous corpses were piling over the open land which covered about 5 square km between the north city wall and the demonized puppets corps, none of the vultures dared land there. Because the rising killing intent from there was deterrent to those scavengers.


    Watching the millions of demonized puppets in the distance, Zhang Tie, standing on the city wall, became as tranquil as water. Few people could be as brave as him at this moment. Few people could have such an experience. At this moment, Zhang Tie was just thinking about his three babies. He wondered about their looks. If he could see them one day, he would tell them that their dad had already stood on the city wall of Mocco City with huge swords in hands at the age of 20. He was the first one who faced the collision of millions of demonized puppets not for the purpose of resisting them but for conquering them. Perhaps humans might lose Mocco City in the end. So what? There is no stage in this world which would not collapse. However, each person, big or small could be an everlasting hero as long as they dared face the coming troubles.


    A spirited aspiration was crashing Zhang Tie''s chest...


    Empires would become dust; rivers would change their colors. Only human fighters who dared brandish their swords towards dark forces would keep their strong will as forever as the land and the sky!


    Everyone was waiting there...


    Zhang Tie was waiting there...


    Reinhardt was waiting there...


    ...


    An old man with a resolute look was standing on the highest point of the highest gate tower of the north gate of Mocco City and watching the endless demonized puppets corps in the distance while faintly frowning his eyebrows.


    "Leo, have you really made the decision?" Another old man asked solemnly while sitting on the opposite of that old man.


    "It would be pitiful if no human knight fought here till death when the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations was broken by demons!" The old man replied frankly.


    "There are other chances!" Another old man sighed faintly before adding, "You know that you will have other chances. If you could make further improvement in your battle force, you would be in a new realm!"


    "No, Marcus, it took me too long time to promote to a knight. I was above 180 years old when I became a knight. I''m average in talent. Through hard work and efforts, I''ve already obtained the favor of the God once and entered this sacred realm. There won''t be the second time. You still have a chance, but not me!" The resolute old man watched the other old man, "Black Iron Knight is my terminal. Over these years, I''ve enjoyed all the honors brought by the rank of a human knight; I should also sacrifice myself for the honors of a human knight at this moment. It''s fair!"


    The other old man then became silent. It indicated that he had agreed with the resolute old man out of his respect to the latter, "Do you have any will?"


    "No!" The resolute old man smiled as he pointed at those dense fighters on the city wall, including Zhang Tie, "Actually, it doesn''t matter even if I die here. Look at those people down there. Perhaps, after witnessing the final battle between a human knight and a demon, some of them might be able to reach farther than us in the future!"


    The other old man became silent as he stood up firmly, "There are two knights in the opposite, when the Iron Plough Corps breaks out, I will wrestle with one of them, you can deal with the other one!"


    The old man called Leo nodded. After that, they departed.


    ...


    The distant demonized puppets launched an attack only after a short while. In the shrill clarino, millions of demonized puppets uttered miserable roars towards the sky, which could be heard within dozens of square kilometers. Meanwhile, the dense demonized puppets'' vanguards darted towards the city wall like a rolling tide.


    The entire land started to shake. Standing on the city wall of Mocco City, everyone could see numerous blades and grim looks of demonized puppets.


    The vanguard of demonized puppets corps soon arrived at about 4 miles away from Mocco City, from where the centrifugal wheel turrets in Mocco City started to take effect. Therefore, a lot of blackspots were tossing out of the turrets and disappeared in a blink of an eye like pebbles being thrown into the water pool. They could never slow down the speed of demonized puppets at all.


    The demonized puppets accelerated their footsteps while the faces of demon hunters and paladins on Zhang Tie''s side had turned pale.


    "Put down your face mask..." The commissioned officers of the Taklin Imperial Heavy-armored Infantry sent the order. With a cracking sound, all the steel-like warriors put down their face masks from their helmets at the same time.


    "Prepare your ax..."


    With a sound of "whula...", rows of huge, shiny axes were put in front of the chests of that infantry precisely by the pairs of steel gloves which indicated that they were ready for the attack silently and steadily.


    After a short while, the vanguard of demonized puppets had already been 3 miles away from the city wall...


    When everybody else on the city wall was so intense that they even became breathless, with a cracking sound, Zhang Tie inserted the pair of terrifying sword into the ground on the city wall; closely after that, he jumped onto an arrow mound beside an embrasure and slowly pulled down the zipper on his pants under the gaze of numerous people; closely after that, a water arrow was shot towards the demonized puppets corps.


    "After drinking too much in demon hunters bar, I''ve not gone to the toilet yet. Therefore, I will have a pee right here just in case I have no time to do that when I f*ck you b*stards. Why are you sc*mbags that anxious? Easy, easy, you will all share it..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter on the city wall. After that, he forcefully ejected the water arrow more than 10 m away.


    After being teased by Zhang Tie''s deed, the vanguard of demonized puppets corps seemed to be not that terrifying in other fighters'' eyes.


    All the demon hunters and paladins near him felt relaxed while they also burst out into laughter.


    On the gate tower, the old man called Leo focused on Zhang Tie for the first time when he noticed that such a young man dared behave in this way facing millions of demonized puppets at this critical moment.


    Of course, the vanguard of the demonized puppets corps would not stop just because of Zhang Tie''s pee. They soon reached 1 mile away from the city wall. At the same time, a lot of bolts were shot out of the crossbow army behind the city wall and hit the vanguards of demonized puppets...


    Some demonized puppets fell down. However, more demonized puppets rushed over here with bolts on their bodies, causing an earthquake near the city wall of Mocco City.


    "Ready..." The commissioned officers of Taklin Imperial Heavy-armored Infantry roared hoarsely.


    With a sound of "Whua...", the heavy-armored infantry raised half of the blade of their huge ax above head and prepared to launch an attack.


    Zhang Tie shook his head and pulled up the zipper on his pants. After that, he pulled the two huge swords out of the ground. With the drunk feel caused by the Burning Blade, he raised his head and took a deep breath before jumping off the city wall ahead of others. Zhang Tie stretched out his hands like how a roc flapped its wings and launched an attack towards the millions of demonized puppets...


    At the sight of this scene, all the human fighters on the city wall felt blood boiling all over their bodies while the fighters of Taklin Imperial Heavy-armored Infantry roared at the same time...


    With long growls, the demon hunters and paladins followed Zhang Tie one after another...

 645 A Fierce Battle

    Chapter 645: A Fierce Battle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Kill..."


    When Zhang Tie jumped off the north city wall of Mocco City, the other southern city gates of Mocco City were opened at the same time. With a roar, Reinhardt rushed out, followed by the cavalries of Iron Plough Corps of Norman Empire.


    At this moment, all the other vanguards beside Reinhardt had shown their Iron-blood Battle Qi totems. Almost half of the powerhouses who had formed Iron-blood Battle Qi across Iron Plough Corps had joined the vanguards.


    The most ferocious collision happened near the city gates of Mocco City at once.


    This was the cruelest contest between the strong will of humans fighters and the demonized puppets'' undying bodies. Iron Plough Corps, the former trump card troop of Norman empire was not the trump card anymore; similarly, the former commoners had become monsters under the control of demonized puppet worms.


    ...


    With a battle call "Kill...", Zhang Tie crossed the huge swords in front of his chest, causing more than 10 demonized puppets'' heads fly off in a split second.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt like a lonely canoe that sailed against the mountain torrent. He could be flushed off and crushed into pieces by the great inertia of the numerous demonized puppets rushing over here.


    He had to paddle the canoe forcefully lest it was flushed away by the mountain torrent. When its speed of advance and power could offset that of the mountain torrent, it could stay wherever it was; when its speed of advance could surpass that of the mountain torrent, it could sail against the mountain torrent.


    The double paddles of the canoe were Zhang Tie''s huge swords. Besides greater power, he should also wave his swords faster than the speed of the advancement of demonized puppets so as to defend the latter''s strike.


    Zhang Tie waved his huge swords very fast, each of which weighed about 300 kg. He could wave each of his hands 16 times per second, namely 32 times in total. He kept sweeping over his swords around himself. Only in such a high speed could he smash the demonized puppets...


    Looking down from a high place, one would find the demonized puppets corps were like a black piece of bloody cloth. Zhang Tie just sheared off the complete piece of cloth like a pair of sharp scissors, causing fresh blood spray in all directions.


    There seemed to be an invisible meat grinder around Zhang Tie with a radius of 2 m. Any demonized puppets, once came in touch with the edge of this circle would be shattered by Zhang Tie''s shadowy swords.


    There were too many demonized puppets. When Zhang Tie was grinding demonized puppets, more demonized puppets passed by him and the other demon hunters and paladins behind him before arriving at the foot of the city wall. They rushed onto the city wall of Mocco City along the slope which was as long as hundreds of meters.


    At this moment, the fighters of Taklin Empire''s Imperial Heavy-armored Infantry launched an attack...


    In a split second, the killing qi of the axes on the north city wall formed a tidy, shiny line while a large area of demonized puppets'' bodies was split open from the middle of their bodies. They then rolled down from the city wall while their fresh blood tinted the hundreds of meters'' long city wall red. At this moment, more demonized puppets rushed onto the city wall. The shiny, white line flashed on the north city wall of Mocco City at a fixed frequency. Numerous javelins were stabbed in and out of the bodies of the demonized puppets through the gaps on the white, shiny line like the woods of javelins.


    Demonized puppets fell down constantly; however, more and more demonized puppets rushed onto the city wall.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how many demonized puppets had he killed. After only 10 minutes, he had been covered with the disgusting blood of demonized puppets.


    Facing the powerful resistance of human corps on the north city wall of Mocco City, the demonized puppets became less aggressive.


    Although having rushed into the corps of the demonized puppets dauntlessly and having just tided over the most difficult moment, Zhang Tie was aware what sort of figures were in this demonized puppets corps; he also knew the limit of his ability and strength. Therefore, he didn''t continue to rush forward regardless of any risks. He attempted to not leave 500 m away from Mocco City. He then turned around and started to sweep back along the north city wall of Mocco City. Like chopping melons and vegetables, he chopped off the heads of a lot of demonized puppets on his side or just tore them into pieces.


    In the early 10 minutes, the demonized puppets'' fierce momentum seemed being curbed. However, as the pile of corpses of demonized puppets near the north city wall grew higher, Taklin Empire Imperial Heaven-armored Infantry''s defense line was gradually rocked while the pleasant tidy, shiny, white line started to become disordered. Fighters of Heavy-armored infantry were hit down by demonized puppets one after another. Whenever a heavy-armored fighter fell down, the surrounding demonized puppets would swarm up and stab into the gaps of armors using sharp weapons until they killed him.


    Because their helmets were movable and could be opened from outside, soon after the heavy-armored fighters fell down would a lot of demonized puppets start to tear off their helmets; after that, the demonize puppets would smash their weapons onto the fighters'' heads or directly widely open their bloody mouths and bite the faces of the fighters...


    Those demonized puppets who were crazier would hold some heavy-armored fighters and directly roll down with them from the city wall.


    More and more demonized puppets rushed onto the city wall and fought human fighters, causing a greater chaos and more casualties. Facing the ceaseless strike of the demonized puppets, all the sections on the north city wall of Mocco City gradually entered chaos while battle calls, roars, killings and fresh blood spread everywhere.


    When it gradually turned dark, the battle calls of human fighters and the shrill utterances of the demonized puppets across Mocco City grew fiercer. Battle qi totems in different shapes and colors started to roll across Mocco City.


    Zhang Tie''s dark vision also activated at this moment.


    When Zhang Tie was chopping demonized puppets, he suddenly felt a danger on his back. Therefore, he rapidly slid aside; meanwhile, he blocked his back using his huge swords.


    With a huge loud sound "Bang...", Zhang Tie felt that his hands trembled. It was a response to a long-distance battle qi attack.


    Zhang Tie turned around right away when he saw a human standing 10 m away among demonized puppets. With a grim look, the 4-star fighter punched him using his battle qi just now.


    Demonized puppets were unable to use battle qi. Even human fighters above LV 9, after being converted into demonized puppets, would also lose their ability to use battle qi besides maintaining their original physical strength and some of their battle instincts. Each person''s battle qi was spiritual, which would disappear with his or her life. Therefore, fighters above LV 9 among demonized puppets would be either demons or members of Three-eye Association like those in Senel Clan.


    Watching Zhang Tie turning around, that guy punched him once more as a ball of battle qi flew towards Zhang Tie rapidly. Zhang Tie jumped away instantly. After that, he tried to get rid of his opponent. After revealing a grim smile, the guy darted towards Zhang Tie with a look of determination to tear Zhang Tie into pieces.


    When Zhang Tie stayed in Mocco City these days, he had not shown his ability to launch battle qi strike through the air. He was fully relying on his great strength. This could easily cause a false judgment to others¡ª¡ªThis guy is just a LV 9 fighter with some brutal force.


    This effect was what Zhang Tie wanted.


    When Zhang Tie was chopping demonized puppets to relieve the stress on the city wall, he was also angling.


    When he was shaping his dauntless image, he was also setting a trap for some b*stards of Three-eye Association in the demonized puppets corps. After killing a LV 10 b*stard of Three-eye Association, he could at least obtain a powerful fruit of brilliance which contained the full spirits of that guy; he might obtain a fruit of judgment. How come Zhang Tie miss such a chance. Given the current situation, as the demonized puppets corps and the Three-eye Association were taking the initiative of the battle, Zhang Tie could only wait for the arrival of those powerhouses above LV 9 among Three-eye Association. After reaching this purpose, he had to meet two conditions: first, he had to make a small trouble for them; second, he had to make them think that a LV 10 or LV 11 powerhouse could defeat him.


    If he showed his real strength as a 5-star battle master at the beginning, he might face more tricky figures like Scala. If a 5-star battle master appeared in front of him, he could do nothing but escape right away. Therefore, being low-key when necessary was more powerful than being always arrogant. However, as was told by Donder, when one pretended to be arrogant while covering his real battle force, it would even be more mysterious. This was a wise tactic in battle.


    Real force counted the most. However, sometimes, it was more important to show one''s force properly in proper time and place than just having a great force.


    Who could imagine that the one who jumped off the city wall of Mocco City and rushed towards the demonized puppets corps could be so insidious?


    ...


    Only after 10 seconds, the guy who chased after Zhang Tie had exploded two headless corpses that Zhang Tie threw towards him by his huge swords in a ferocious and imposing way. After exploding the 2nd corpse, the moment that guy wanted to kill Zhang Tie with the 3rd punch, he suddenly found that Zhang Tie had disappeared right in front of him. Before he realized what happened, his body had been split into three pieces...


    ...


    At the sight of this, the old man who had been watching Zhang Tie silently on the gate tower of the north city gate of Mocco City since Zhang Tie jumped off the city wall instantly revealed a brilliant look...

 646 Angling

    Chapter 646: Angling


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    Soon after killing a LV 10 b*stard had Zhang Tie flashed across the demonized puppets and left the "spot" in a split second.


    In such a large-scale battle with millions of attendants, few people would pay attention to a guy who was even below LV 10. Compared to Zhang Tie, those demon hunters and paladins who could punch a demonized puppet into pieces within 10 m with rolling colorful battle qi totems were more attractive to powerhouses among the demonized puppets corps.


    Zhang Tie knew that it was just the beginning and a signal for him to kill that LV 10 strong fighter. It indicated that more and more powerhouses of demons and Three-eye Association were going to join the battle. As a result, those who could dominate this battlefield would not be those inferior demonized puppets any longer.


    ''It''s time to reap.'' Zhang Tie told himself. ''Demons would find me angling here sooner or later. Before powerhouses above LV 13 appear in front of me, I have to kill as more b*stards above LV 10 as possible. This also indicates a growth of my battle force. What a rare chance!''


    When the powerhouses of Three-eye Association joined the battle, many demon hunters and paladins also met powerful enemies at this moment. Since few people paid attention to Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie just kept chopping those demonized puppets while stealthily drooling and drawing close to those powerhouses who were fighting the other demon hunters and paladins.


    Of course, Zhang Tie would not just rush towards those powerhouses of Three-eye Association. He chose to f*ck them when they paid attention to fight other demon hunters or paladins using his unrivaled precise throwing skill or precisely the bolts in his palm.


    How did he release his bolts in his palm when he was holding a huge sword. The solution was very simple¡ª¡ªhigh speed.


    After dropping his huge sword, he could release the bolts in his hand before catching his sword once again, even if it only took him 0.1 s or less time. Likewise, Zhang Tie could release bolts with two hands along the directions of his strength while chopping the demonized puppets.


    Zhang Tie could easily do it.


    In the process of fighting real powerhouses, if one''s hand left his weapon or lost its control of the weapon, it would be a fatal mistake. Even though it was only less than 0.1 s, it would also cause a severe outcome. However, the threat only existed when your enemy was almost as powerful as you instead of being demonized puppets who were much worse than your battle force.


    When Zhang Tie chopped those demonized puppets on his side, he found those demonized puppets became his best cover. He was covered by the pair of huge swords in his hands, even the chaotic situation in the battlefield was dark. Nobody could imagine that Zhang Tie was still able to release bolts at this critical moment. However, Zhang Tie''s bolts could immediately kill any powerhouse below LV 12 within 150 m.


    When chopping demonized puppets, Zhang Tie was also watching and listening to the battlefield.


    Zhang Tie noticed that a LV 11 b*stard of Three-eye Association was fighting a LV 11 paladin fiercely over 100 m away. He kept glancing at that battle situation stealthily. With his powerful spiritual energy, Zhang Tie found that all the demonized puppets on the battlefield were moving slowly. While chopping demonized puppets, Zhang Tie gradually adjusted the angle between him and that b*stard. Within less than 0.01 s, Zhang Tie caught the special "release window" through a gap between him and that b*stard. Therefore, he loosed the handle of one sword and released the first bolt almost at the same time.


    After leaving Zhang Tie''s hand, like following the summon of the Grim reaper, the mini bolt passed by numerous silent raising arms of demonized puppets, weapons, necks with bulged veins and grim faces like a canoe in the river and struck the head of the LV 11 powerhouse of Three-eye Association who was moving as slowly as a nail, spurting out his bloody brains.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie heard a low boom. However, on a battlefield full of loud booms, that low boom was like a peddle being thrown into a stormy ocean. Few people would pay attention to it.


    "Go die..." That LV 11 paladin punched the same LV 11 powerhouse into pieces. The whole process was too short that many people thought the powerhouse was killed by that paladin. Only the paladin knew that the powerhouse''s head had been exploded 0.1 s before he touched the powerhouse''s body.


    ''Who''s that?'' The paladin became amazed as he looked around. However, besides those dense demonized puppets within 40-50 m, he could see nobody else. Some human powerhouses were at least 70 m away from him. Additionally, they were all busy fighting. The guy who was having a pee on the city wall just now was over 100 m away and was sweeping horizontally with his two huge swords. ''Are there any human powerhouses hiding on the battlefield?"


    Before that paladin figured it out, a lot of grim demonized puppets had already rushing towards him with bloody eyes, pushing him into the chaotic battle once again.


    In the next over 10 minutes, Zhang Tie killed one LV 9, two LV 10 and one LV 11 powerhouses of Three-eye Association, relieving the stress of paladins and demon hunters greatly.


    However, at this moment, the steel defense line composed of the Taklin Imperial Heavy-armored Infantry was finally broken through by demonized puppets. As a result, more and more demonized puppets rushed onto the city wall. The north city wall of Mocco City was gradually occupied by demonized puppets.


    With a "boom", the entire land rocked. Zhang Tie, who was fighting demonized puppets, looked into the distance and found a strong qi rose into the sky from the demonized puppets corps with the sense of Iron-blood Fist, causing a great chaos in the camp of demonized puppets. With a shrieking roar that rocked all the eardrums across the battlefield, Zhang Tie saw a familiar one surging towards the strong qi from the back of the demonized puppets corps.


    Zhang Tie found that one was the very elder employed by Senel Clan, a real knight-level powerhouse that he had seen in Tokei City.


    Closely after that, the two figures being wrapped by flames started to crash in the air over 100 m above the ground like two meteors. Each time they collide with each other would they cause a thunder-like sound and strong firelight like how two powerful and terrifying giants fought...


    ''Is this the battle between Knight-level powerhouses?'' Zhang Tie was obsessed with that battle. It was completely out of his imagination.


    However, before Zhang Tie recovered his composure had he seen another strong qi rising to the air from the north gate tower of Mocco City over hundreds of meters away. Closely after that, a figure being wrapped with surging blue flames flew off the north city gate tower towards the demonized puppets corps.


    Wherever that person being wrapped with blue flames passed by, numerous demonized puppets would start to freeze before exploding.


    Zhang Tie felt that person glance at him for a short while while flying over.


    At this moment, another strong qi appeared in the demonized puppets corps and darted towards this one.


    The two figures crashed over 1000 m away from Mocco City, clearing all the demonized puppets within 100 m in a split second.


    Knights were fighting too fast to be identified even by Zhang Tie. He could only hear the loud booms.


    At this moment, the 4 knights were fighting in a group of two. Compared to others, knights could cause destructive strikes from 100 m away.


    As the knights joined the battle, the entire battle became white-hot. Demonized puppets and human fighters'' roars spread across the battlefield.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt dark all over. He then raised his head and found batches of wing demons were flying over the city wall, clearing a lot of human fighters in a blink of eyes. As a result, more demonized puppets rushed onto the city wall while uttering obscure sounds.


    When the wing demons flew into Mocco City, they threw down the jars, causing big fires all over the city.

 647 Re-encounter

    Chapter 647: Re-encounter


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    At this moment, most of the air-defense weapons on the north city wall had become ineffective. The two human knights had left the city while the human corps and demonized puppets corps were in a chaos. Right then, the wing demons launched their lethal attack.


    Those wing demons were all LV 9 demon fighters. Compared to the most human fighters, these wing demons had evidently more strength in battle force.


    The wing demons seemed to drop gel combustible bombs. The moment they fell to the ground or buildings had they started to burn. Many turrets near the north city wall of Mocco City had started to burn and became ineffective.


    The big fires on the ground made the crossbow soldiers matrix chaotic in the city. Many crossbow soldiers were rolling and wailing on the ground with flames all over their bodies. The demons soon took the initiative on the battlefield. As a result, more and more demonized puppets climbed onto the city wall.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had intended to retreat.


    Even knights and demons among the demonized puppets corps had shown themselves, Zhang Tie, as a LV 11 5-star battle master, could never determine the result of this battle which had millions of attendants. Even though he had tried his best for the benefit of Mocco City. If the demonized puppets completely occupied the north city wall, he would not be able to retreat anymore. It was not worthwhile for him to sacrifice himself here.


    At this moment, powerful human knights were still fighting in front while the north city wall behind them had not been completely occupied. It was time to retreat.


    Those demon hunters and paladins who jumped off the city wall together with him had also figured out the battle situation as some of them had started to retreat.


    Zhang Tie shattered the demonized puppets behind him with huge swords. The moment Zhang Tie was going to retreat had he seen a person darting towards him. At the same time, that person chopped his sword towards him as he yelled, "Are you thinking about escaping at this moment? Go die!"


    The guy who rushed towards Zhang Tie was much more powerful than those Zhang Tie met just now. This guy was at least a LV 11 battle master. When he was still 10 m away, his aggressive sword qi had already arrived in front of Zhang Tie.


    The sword qi was an attack triggered by saber or sword through the air. It was a variant of battle qi. One could not produce sword qi unless being a LV 10 strong fighter. Only when one could launch a battle qi attack through the air could he or she produce a sword qi. One needed to practice the correct cultivation method for a long time before producing sword qi. Although sword qi was evolved by battle qi, it was greatly different than battle qi. Compared to battle qi, sword qi was usually more condensed and sharper, which made it more powerful.


    Therefore, the cultivation world above LV 10 was more colorful and would bring more possibilities to each cultivator.


    Although Zhang Tie was already LV 11, he still had not practiced his sword qi. However, Zhang Tie was not afraid of the sword qi triggered by other LV 11 battle masters as he was cultivating Iron-blood Fist and Iron-blood Battle Qi which were more powerful.


    Having not imagined that he could have another fish in hook before retreating, Zhang Tie was very happy. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t have time to play hide-and-seek with that sc*mbag. He preferred to end the battle as soon as possible.


    Zhang Tie then crossed that pair of huge swords in front of his chest and blocked that sword qi, causing a crispy loud boom. However, Zhang Tie''s hands didn''t even quiver at all.


    At this moment, if that guy was smart, he should have turned around and escaped as soon as possible; however, he was slow-witted. He didn''t even think that he himself could not resist his strike; however, the guy in front of him could easily and steadily resist it using his swords without suffering any harm. How could a LV 9 fighter have such a great ability?


    "Enjoy one more..." That guy triggered another sword qi towards Zhang Tie.


    "Idiot..." Zhang Tie revealed a killing qi as he punched towards his opponent through the air.


    When Zhang Tie triggered his punch, he didn''t even put down his sword. With his sword in front of him horizontally, he triggered his punch towards his opponent.


    With only a red flashlight, the fist-shaped battle qi had flown out. After breaking the sword qi triggered by that guy, it struck that guy''s body and exploded him into a cloud of blood.


    The power of the secret knowledge of the imperial household of Norman Empire could not fully play its role until LV 10. Iron-blood Fist, "King Roc Sutra", fruits and Zhang Tie''s realization about Iron-blood Fist made Zhang Tie almost unrivaled at the same level. Meanwhile, the Iron-blood Fist looked supreme on Zhang Tie.


    After exploding a fish into pieces, Zhang Tie instantly turned around and rushed towards Mocco City. When he passed by a paladin and a demon hunter, he killed a LV 10 and a LV 9 opponents just by his huge swords instead of using his battle qi or Iron-blood Fist. Meanwhile, he asked the paladin and the demon hunter to retreat together with him. At this critical moment, the two people didn''t have time to figure out how Zhang Tie became so sharp at once. They just retreated towards the north city gate of Mocco City together with Zhang Tie while chopping demonized puppets.


    When Zhang Tie boomed that LV 11 powerhouse of Three-eye Association, he exposed himself due to that flash red battle qi. Although his punch was transient, he was still noticed by someone in the evening. Seeing Zhang Tie retreating, that guy then accelerated towards him.


    More than 100 m away from Mocco City, Zhang Tie had already sensed a great crisis and killing intent. He then turned around and saw a figure darting towards here from 100 m away while his feet almost left the ground.


    ''Scala?'' Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he had not imagined that he could re-encounter this guy here.


    Likewise, Scala also noticed that the guy who used Iron-blood Fist just now was Zhang Tie when he was drawing closer to the latter. At the beginning, Scala just felt that the opponent looked a bit familiar. When he looked at the opponent carefully, Scala''s heart pounded too, ''Zhang Tie? Is that him?''


    Zhang''s look didn''t change except for the colors of his hair and face. Of course, Scala could recognize him easily.


    Scala sped up once again.


    Zhang Tie also knew that Scala had recognized him. Zhang Tie was clearly aware of the terrifying battle force of a LV 14 battle demon. Abyan in the shadow demon''s cell had not been defeated by Zhang Tie until today. Facing such a powerful enemy, it was a joke for Zhang Tie to win the battle. What he could only do was to postpone the time for him to touch Scala.


    "Hurry up!" Zhang Tie roared towards the paladin and the demon hunter who were retreating together with him as he tossed one huge sword towards the city wall.


    With a humming sound, the terrifying, rotary huge sword chopped off a lot of demonized puppets on the way back to the city wall after flying more than 100 m as it inserted 2 m into the city wall of Mocco City, causing a cracking sound; meanwhile, it kept quivering heavily.


    The paladin and the demon hunter were startled by such a terrifying strength and throwing ability. However, they didn''t waste any second; they instantly rushed towards the city wall. When they were close to that long sword, they instantly jumped onto the handle of the long sword and flew onto the city wall.


    Zhang Tie tossed the other huge sword towards Scala. When the rotary sword cut all the way towards Scala, Scala didn''t even dodge away from it. He just triggered a punch towards it and pushed it to the ground more than 10 m away. Closely after that, Scala continued to dart towards Zhang Tie at a full speed.


    When Zhang Tie was still about 60 m away from the city wall, Scala had appeared in front of him.


    Although enemies'' eyes would turn bloody when they saw each other, Zhang Tie''s eyes didn''t turn red; instead, he recovered his composure instantly.


    The moment Scala appeared, all the surrounding demonized puppets stayed away from Zhang Tie.


    "Long time no see, Zhang Tie, I''ve not imagined that you''re still in Selnes Theater of Operations!" Scala grinned like seeing an old friend; however, there was a weird luster in his eyes.


    "As the battle in Selnes Theater of Operations has not come to an end yet; how could I leave out of here so easily?" Zhang Tie smiled.


    "Were you involved in the accident in Tokei City a few days ago?" Scala asked abruptly while he glanced over Zhang Tie carefully from his head to his toe in a blink of an eye.


    "Ah? What happened in Tokei City?" Zhang Tie became stunned as he sneered, "What? Have your family met any trouble? How did the alchemist''s bombs of the allied human forces feel?"


    When Zhang Tie asked Scala about that, his heart raced, ''Scala is too cunning. I''ve not imagined that anyone could doubt me on what I did in Tokei City a few days ago. However, Scala had started to doubt me the moment he re-encountered me. What a terrifying person! If I were a bit innocent, I might have exposed many secrets because of this.''


    Scala watched Zhang Tie with his narrowed eyes as he could not see any information from Zhang Tie''s look. ''How could Zhang Tie have that sort of rarity. If he had, I must have already searched it out last time. I was told that the rarity always existed in the form of finger rings or bracelets. I might have thought too much.'' Scala then revealed a smile, "Nothing, we''ve just lost something. But it''s a compensation for that to re-encounter you here!"


    "Really?" Zhang Tie smiled as he suddenly exclaimed, "Master!" towards the back of Scala with a surprising look.


    Scala was shocked as he instantly flashed over dozens of meters away like a ghost. At the same time, Zhang Tie rushed towards Mocco City...


    When Scala realized that he had been cheated, Zhang Tie had already been more than 20 m away. Having not imagined that he was cheated by Zhang Tie once again even in such an overwhelming situation, the face of Scala, who was always conceited, turned pale; with a growl, he chased after Zhang Tie...

 648 A Narrow Escape

    Chapter 648: A Narrow Escape


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After throwing two swords, Zhang Tie aided himself with a rapidly moving skill. At his maximal speed, it seemed that he would arrive at the city wall of Mocco City in a blink of an eye. However, having fought Abyan, a LV 14 battle demon numerous times, Zhang Tie understood that the result of a battle was always determined in a blink of an eye. He should not have any fluke mind.


    Therefore, although it was just a distance of dozens of meters, Zhang Tie still treated it as risky as a natural chasm as he exerted his full strength.


    After rushing 30 m ahead, Zhang Tie had felt the fine hair blowing on his back. Closely after that, Zhang Tie accomplished the movement that could barely be done by most of the powerhouses at his level¡ª¡ªHe just turned back and retreated at the same speed while facing the strike of his enemy.


    It was a powerful battle qi flying towards him from a LV 14 battle demon. Scala looked a bit grim as he sped up towards Zhang Tie. At the sight of Scala''s face, Zhang Tie had realized that Scala would never allow him to leave alive at this moment.


    Right then, Zhang Tie roared as he punched towards that battle qi with his Iron-blood Fist.


    Although spurting a mouth of blood, Zhang Tie didn''t fall down; instead, he retreated faster than ever.


    Some demonized puppets wanted to block Zhang Tie while waving their arms. Zhang Tie just ignored them as he crashed them into pieces with his shoulders and back.


    At this stage, Zhang Tie had been able to launch his Iron-blood Battle Qi through many parts of his body. That was to say, the effect of his body parts onto those demonized puppets was same to that of his punches. Of course, the average demonized puppets could never resist him.


    Scala had never imagined that his furious blow would be blocked away by Zhang Tie''s punch; instead of exploding Zhang Tie into pieces. Scala was so shocked like how a mad ox stomped onto an insect and found that the insect under its hoofs was still as energetic as before.


    In a split second, Scala had realized that Zhang Tie was not the same one being captured by Senel Clan several months ago. He was already many times different. Scala didn''t know what happened to Zhang Tie during the past months; however, Zhang Tie''s progress drove Scala''s killing intent boiling inside. ''What a terrifying person! If I keep him alive a few years longer...''


    ¡ª¡ªI will never let him escape alive.


    A whim flashed across Scala''s mind.


    Watching Zhang Tie being close to the city wall, Scala sped up abruptly with a grim look. When he was going to launch another attack, the demon hunters and paladins who were watching Zhang Tie on the city wall launched their attacks towards Scala at the same time at their full strength.


    In a split second, a bolt triggered by a heavy crossbow, a flying ax, a javelin and a sharp steel needle were shot towards Scala.


    Only by raising his arm, Scala had already swept all of them away. In 1/3 of a wink, Zhang Tie had already been 5 m away from the city wall.


    It seemed that Zhang Tie was going to jump up...


    With a roar, "Wolf Punch...", Scala pushed out a purple "wolf-shaped" battle qi towards Zhang Tie with his hands as fast as a lightning bolt after flying above 10 m, covering the upper space of Zhang Tie.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t jump up as it was just a fake movement. The moment Zhang Tie''s feet left the ground had Zhang Tie squatted abruptly. Closely after that, he rolled back on the ground.


    Scala''s punch struck the city wall close to Zhang Tie''s scalp. After a loud boom, Zhang Tie felt an earthquake while the shattered stones fell onto his body like the rain.


    As a result, there was a 5-m high pit on the city wall. The layer of bricks and concrete structure which was about 1 m in thickness covering the city wall was completely destroyed, exposing the twisted steel bars and the defensive steel plate inside the steel bars along with the surrounding steel transportation tunnels, spurting too much steam vapor at once...


    After seeing the effect of this strike, Zhang Tie indeed realized the great power of the battle skill of a LV 14 battle demon. If he had jumped up just now, he must have been exploded into pieces.


    In the covering dust, Zhang Tie rolled to the foot of the city wall. At the sight of those exposed, broken steel bars, Zhang Tie felt chilly inside. In the misty steam vapor, Zhang Tie shoved against the ground and jumped up like a huge eagle.


    Until Zhang reappeared in the covering dust and misty steam vapor had Scala realized that he didn''t kill Zhang Tie just now. Therefore, he changed his look and rushed towards Zhang Tie once again. However, he had not imagined that Zhang Tie triggered consecutive battle qi punches towards him like shooting red shells, forcing him a few steps back. Therefore, Scala had to block Zhang Tie''s battle qi strikes.


    When he wanted to launch another strike towards Zhang Tie, a growl drifted from the top of the city wall when a tall human leader in battle armor had charged towards him like a lofty mountain. Before the person arrived, a ball of powerful battle qi which could almost match his battle qi had been triggered towards Scala.


    Scala racked his mind about 0.001 seconds before choosing to retreat while watching Zhang Tie jumped onto the city wall.


    After arriving at the top of the city wall, Zhang Tie swept some more demonized puppets off the city wall by waving his arm. Closely after that, he turned around and revealed a sneer towards Scala. At the same time, he thumbed down towards him and made a hand gesture to cut through his throat before disappearing from the top of the city wall...


    Scala looked pretty bad while a rich sense of frustration and shadow covered his mind.


    ...


    "You b*stards from Three-eye Association, how could a battle demon bully a battle master? Come here to have a duel with me if you''re a real man!" The human leader jumped off the city wall as he swore with bloody eyes. At the same time, he raised his huge ax and darted towards Scala...


    ...


    "Whua..."


    Zhang Tie spurted a mouth of fresh blood towards the ground. After that, he felt much better. He then wiped off the blood from his mouth corners and kept running forward.


    About 2 miles away from the north city gate and that chaotic region, Zhang Tie flashed across the dim alleys and streets in Mocco City. All the houses in front of his eyes were empty. In usual, some fighters might live here; however, all the fighters had already gathered at this moment. They were preparing for the coming battle or breakout, leaving these old residential areas empty at once.


    Wing demons were still hovering in the air. Many places had been burned down. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether those wing demons could notice him. He tried to be careful. Therefore, he dodged from main roads and preferred hidden routes.


    There was a semi-old 3-storey house in front of him with a brand of a hotel on its facade. The gate of the hotel was widely opened. After confirming that nobody noticed him, Zhang Tie just slid into that hotel.


    The hotel was in a mess while broken glasses, dirty magazines and papers were covering the ground. Two rats were running across an empty gradevin. They were not afraid of Zhang Tie at all.


    Zhang Tie realized that this hotel had been closed for a long time. Closely after that, he went upstairs slightly.


    There were some guest rooms on the 2nd storey and the 3rd storey. Behind that hotel were an empty kitchen and a courtyard. Zhang Tie then came to the 3rd floor.


    Most of the rooms on the 3rd storey were opened while all sorts of items were covering the floor, including broken vials, jars and kids'' old toys. Zhang Tie came to a messy room and checked inside; after finding no issues, he closed the door from inside while facing inside in a customary way. He then leaned against a wall and panted heavily.


    The dark inside the room brought him a sense of safety and tranquility. Zhang Tie fumbled out 2 vials of all-purpose medicament and bottomed up them all at once. After 1 minute, with a warm feeling in his chest, Zhang Tie felt a bit comfortable. If not that he had been extremely strong, he might not have resisted Scala''s strike at all.


    Zhang Tie had a great achievement tonight at the risk of his life. He chopped many demonized puppets; however, more and more demonized puppets rushed onto the top of the city wall. He had tried his best; however, the destiny of Mocco City remained unchanged...


    After taking some rest in the dark, Zhang Tie felt that he had recovered a bit. After glancing at the sparkling skyline, he ran his spiritual energy and returned to Castle of Black Iron.


    It was also evening inside Castle of Black Iron. However, compared to Mocco City at this moment, the tranquil space inside Castle of Black Iron was more like a sweet dreamland.


    In the dark, Heller looked pretty solemn...

 649 Watching the Battle as a Beetle

    Chapter 649: Watching the Battle as a Beetle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Castle Lord, you were too risky tonight. You almost couldn''t come back alive. You knew that Senel Clan members were on this battlefield and might encounter them at any time; if you met such a dangerous situation again, later on, I''d suggest you to retreat from the battlefield as soon as possible and try not to get mired in that dangerous situation!" Heller suggested solemnly.


    Zhang Tie scratched his head bashfully, "Hmm, you''re right. I almost died this time. There were many uncertain factors on the battlefield. Thankfully, I''ve got some achievements!"


    "As long as you''re alive, you will always have some chances to make achievements. Only when you could retreat from dangerous situations would you have a bright future!"


    Heller''s advice was very valuable. Therefore, Zhang Tie accepted it modestly. Heller then looked better, "Castle Lord, it will take you at least 2 days to fully recover your injuries. I suggest you to not leave Castle of Black Iron before full recovery!"


    "Fine, I will not leave Castle of Black Iron. I will keep my body inside to recover. But can I take a look outside in my incarnation? As the battle has not come to an end, I want to take a look outside there..." Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    Heller then forced a bitter smile.


    Zhang Tie then ran towards the small tree and sat down there.


    As it was not the right moment to eat fruits, Zhang Tie just glanced at the new fruit of brilliance and the fruit of judgment before sitting down satisfactorily. Closely after that, he ran his spiritual energy and summoned that exotic LV 2 beetle.


    Only after a few seconds, that beetle had already appeared as it was flying around the small tree jubilantly. At the sight of that beetle, Zhang Tie smiled as he closed his eyes. In the next second, he incarnated into that beetle who was still flying around the small tree. Thus, he left Castle of Black Iron...


    The moment Zhang Tie reappeared in the room of the hotel had he flown out of the room through a broken window.


    The fiercest battle was still near the north city gate. Therefore, Zhang Tie flew towards there...


    Zhang Tie kept flying a bit faster than sparrow 10 m above the ground. However, compared to the size of a sparrow, the small beetle was more agile as its fingernail-sized black body could almost not be noticed by people in the evening.


    The entire Mocco City was covered with earsplitting battle calls and flames. In the north of Mocco City, two extremely remarkable, powerful battle qis were rushing into the air, one blue, one cyan.


    This was Zhang Tie''s 2nd time to witness an abnormal phenomenon when the two knights were fighting each other. When Huaiyuan Palace raided Heavens Cold City, Zhang Tie saw knights'' battle qis for the first time. Last time, when Zhang Tie was outside the city, he saw two volumes of shiny battle qi which were similar to wolf dung smoke rising into the air inside the Heavens Cold City. This indicated that the knights had made real fire. Compared to that in the daytime, when in the evening, knights'' battle qi would have more amazing effects.


    As Zhang Tie had not reached that level, Zhang Tie didn''t know whether the battle qi effects behind the knights were battle qi totems. Zhang Tie was even not sure whether that strength was a battle qi or not. Compared to the battle qi totems below knights, Zhang Tie saw obscure images in the two light volumes, which were more like the knights themselves instead of being magical beasts. Zhang Tie wondered everything about knights. What attracted him most outside Castle of Black Iron was the battle between the two knights outside the city.


    It was a very rare opportunity to witness a battle between two knights. This was the only time that Zhang Tie had encountered since he was born. Anyone who had a dream on the path of cultivation would never miss such an opportunity.


    When Zhang Tie reached the north city gate, he found the north city wall had been occupied by demonized puppets while more and more demonized puppets were swarming up onto the city wall and starting a fiercer battle with human corps. Human fighters fought demonized puppets one step after another backward along the stairs and one bartizan after another. Fresh blood sprayed in each second.


    The north city gate had been opened while a human troop had already rushed out of it. They formed 3 powerful pikemen matrices in the shape of the Chinese character "Æ·".


    All the human fighters of the 3 pikemen matrices were wearing metal armors. Each fighter was holding a 3-m long pike, making each pikemen matrix a steel hedgehog. Any demonized puppet who rushed in front of any one of the 3 pikemen matrix would face a cluster of pikes instead of only 10 pikes. In the blink of an eye, the demonized puppet would be torn apart by numerous pikes.


    Zhang Tie was shocked as it was his first time to witness the great power of human pikemen matrix.


    Among the 3 pikemen matrices, there was a matrix of crossbow soldiers. The 4 square matrices could play a powerful effect when in coordinated work. As a result, those demonized puppets near the north city gate suffered a great loss. Gradually, the corpses of demonized puppets were as thick as 3 m in front of the pikemen matrices...


    If they only needed to deal with the common infantry of demonized puppets, the human pikemen matrices had an overwhelming advantage. However, there was no "if" on the battlefield, especially for the common arm of services below LV 6, the mutual-restraint relationship between the different arm of services was evident. When human pikemen matrices cracked down the fierce demonized puppets, the large batches of demonized puppets shot down their short javelins towards the pikemen matrices from dozens of meters away.


    As a result, the human fighters were penetrated through one after another.


    However, in the air, from a height which could not be reached by bolts from the ground, other wing demons were throwing down burning jars towards the pikemen matrices. As result, more and more human fighters were swallowed by the blazing fire, causing a chaos in the matrices. However, even being baptized by blazing fire and short javelins, the human fighters were still moving forward, turning left and turning right in a fixed frequency at their commissioned officer''s order so as to constantly clean all the enemies in front of them.


    Even if the commissioned officers fell down, someone else would soon take over the command and continue the battle...


    The luster of battle qi totems rose up or diminished constantly, which indicated the terror of the holy war...


    After sighing inside, Zhang Tie flew over the city wall and the battlefield towards the two light volumes in the distance.


    Ants only needed to solve their battle in their hole; birds could end their battle on the twigs; tigers solved their battle in the woods while knights fought regardless of the battlefield...


    Zhang Tie could only see 2 knights at this moment. The other 2 knights had already disappeared. Even the rest 2 knights had been more than 10 miles away from the general battlefield.


    The beetle soon got closer to the battlefield of the two knights. On the way there, Zhang Tie was stunned by a lot of odd-look, miserable corpses of demonized puppets.


    After arriving at their battlefield, Zhang Tie just landed on a broken steam tank more than 700 m away.


    Although the muzzle of the ballista was not thick for a person, it was like a lying, towering tree which was as thick as dozens of times of his arm length. Although the body of the ballista was shiny in the eyes of a person, it was full of fine grains and pits like huge anti-slippery mattresses in the eyes of the beetle. Therefore, the four feet of the beetle which were covered with fine burrs could stand on it steadily. He could even hang upside down on it as steady as Mount Tai.


    After putting away his wings, Zhang Tie widened his eyes and started to appreciate the battle between the two knights.


    Knights moved so fast that Zhang Tie could not clearly see their movements. He could only feel the battle effect. The center of their battle was like a terrifying thunderstorm being wrestled with blue and cyan luster. With sharp booms, powerful killing qi and afterwinds of their battle qi escaped from that thunderstorm. Even though it was 700 m away, Zhang Tie could still feel the wind as chilly as icy bolts or powerful qi as sharp as javelins flying across the wrecked tank.


    Zhang Tie really broadened his vision by such a battle, ''What a valuable trip! If not see how real powerhouses fight, I will always be short-sighted.''


    Two currents of powerful qi even struck the tank, causing loud booms. Like being struck by real sabers, swords or long javelins, Zhang Tie was shocked. However, as he was too small, it was hard for the escaping powerful qi to strike him. Therefore, he was safe.


    Only after less than 10 minutes, the two knights had flown towards the mountains in the west while colliding with each other ferociously.


    In less than one second, Zhang Tie had hurriedly flapped his wings and chased after them.


    Zhang Tie almost used his full effort while his speed was at least 2-3 times faster than that of a sparrow. However, he was still farther and farther away from the two figures in front of him. Even if they were flying across the mountains and fighting each other, they still didn''t slow down.


    Zhang Tie kept chasing them for 2 hours. After flying across many mountains, he finally could not see the two figures. Zhang Tie flew across the dense ridges for quite a while; however, he could not find his target anymore. When he was considering to return to Mocco City or incarnate into the thunder hawk to look for a long while, he saw a blue luster rushing in the air from the valley over 10 miles ahead. Closely after that, he heard a thunder. Then, it recovered its tranquility once again like nothing had happened.


    Being ecstatic inside, he hurriedly flew over there. When he arrived at that valley and saw what happened, Zhang Tie was amazed...

 650 A Resolute Attack

    Chapter 650: A Resolute Attack


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Zhang Tie arrived at the valley, he saw a huge pit as deep as 10 m at the bottom of the valley, where the two knights'' brilliant battle qi totems were gradually fading away.


    What a fierce battle situation! When they tightly clutched the opponent''s hand with one hand, the long sword of the human knight was penetrated through the chest of the knight of Three-eye Association. When the knight of Three-eye Association was covered with blue ice dregs, he inserted his right hand into the human knight''s lower abdomen, causing a huge bloody hole on the back of the latter...


    Standing at the bottom of the deep pit, they constantly shed fresh blood, causing a blood pond at their feet...


    At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie realized how powerful were the two knights. As a result, Zhang Tie quivered once all over as he almost wanted to turn around and escape.


    ''Should I leave?'' Zhang Tie struggled for 2 seconds before gritting his teeth and landing on a small tree beside the huge pit. The beetle then stretched out its little head through a leaf and watched the battle situation in the huge pit.


    In such a remote valley, the two knights seemed to have not noticed such a trivial insect landing on the tree beside them. Even if they did notice it, they would not care.


    "Wh...why?" The knight of Three-eye Association asked in a furious, regretful and hoarse voice as he glared at that human knight opposite him.


    Zhang Tie remembered that this guy was standing with that knight who was employed by Senel Clan last night when he flew over the camp of demonized puppets.


    "You...won''t understand it!" Leo replied as he spurted out a mouthful of black fresh blood, "Even though you''re a knight, you''re just...a lackey of demons, it''s...worthwhile...for me...to die in Mocco City together with you..."


    "Lunatic...lunatic..." The knight of Three-eye Association swore loudly as he also kept spurting out blood. After falling to the ground, his fresh blood turned into dark blue ice dregs...


    "This is...the commitment...of a real knight!" Leo revealed a tranquil smile...


    "Do you think...you could die together with me only in this way? Heh...heh..." The knight of Three-eye Association revealed an insidious smile, "You''re too naive, without enough benefits...do you think I will...help Three-eye Association?"


    Leo suddenly narrowed his eyes as something occurred to him; however, he didn''t say it; instead, he just used up his remaining battle force, "Go die..."


    The long sword inside the chest of the knight of Three-eye Association suddenly became more brilliant as it cut downwards his belly, seeming to cut that knight into halves. As a result, a terrifying wound about 10 cm long appeared on that knight''s body...


    After suffering another severe injury, the knight of Three-eye Association suddenly opened his mouth while a cyan flame flew out of his mouth and fell onto Leo''s body. As a result, Leo''s body froze before burning into ashes only in a few seconds in front of Zhang Tie''s eyes although the flames didn''t look hot.


    The battle instantly came to an end in the huge pit. If not that long sword which still stayed inside that knight of Three-eye Association and the terrifying huge pit at present, almost nobody could imagine that there was another [human] knight here just now...


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to witness the death of a powerful human knight.


    Even till now, Zhang Tie still didn''t know the name of the dead human knight.


    Zhang Tie''s blood boiled...


    The knight of Three-eye Association knelt down at once as he started to spit blood. After a while, he struggled to pick himself up and attempted to draw that long sword blade out of his body. However, the moment he moved had he uttered a muffled harrumph while sweat dropped off his forehead heavily. Finally, he abandoned that thought as he just kept the sword blade inside his body.


    Although only with an attempt, he had almost exhausted his full physical strength. He swayed his body for a few seconds before throwing himself onto the ground with his legs crossed. After that, he took out a vial of medicament and drunk it. He then closed his eyes and entered meditation.


    At this moment, a crazy thought occurred to Zhang Tie. However, when Zhang Tie recalled the cyan flame flying out of the mouth of that knight of Three-eye Association and his terrifying battle force, Zhang Tie hesitated at once.


    All the actions were too risky. He would be safe and sound if he just left out of here at this moment; however...


    The reply "This is...the commitment...of a real knight!" filled Zhang Tie''s mind...


    Only after thinking for less than 5 seconds, Zhang Tie had gritted his teeth and flew off the leaf...


    ...


    Right then, the knight of Three-eye Association seemed to feel that something was wrong as he turned around. When he found that it was just an insect, he ignored it and continued his meditation.


    When that guy turned around, Zhang Tie was so scared that he almost wanted to turn around and flew away. He had not imagined that such a person could still have such a great perceptive ability even now. What a knight!


    Nevertheless, Zhang Tie was controlled by his adventurous gene once again.


    ...


    At the final moment, the knight felt something behind him. He looked back once again...


    This time, he didn''t see an insect anymore; instead, he saw Zhang Tie''s decisive look which was full of killing intent. As a result, that person widened his eyes immediately.


    "Go die!" Zhang Tie exclaimed the same words which the human knight roared just now like he was going to finish the will of the human knight. Meanwhile, he struck onto the knight''s ears and temples with his punches which were full of his physical strength and his fierce Iron-blood Battle Qi.


    As a result, each hole on the head of the knight of Three-eye Association spurted out blood while his head was distorted...


    Being afraid of his cyan flame, after striking his head, Zhang Tie teleported a dagger from Castle of Black Iron and stabbed him dozens of times on his back in a blink of an eye...


    When Zhang Tie stopped, he found the knight was already dead with his eyes widely opened. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether that guy was smashed to death by his punch or by his dagger.


    Only after such a short while, Zhang Tie found that he had already been oozing sweat all over. Meanwhile, he panted as his chest was rising and falling.


    ''F*ck, it''s really intense to kill a knight.'' Zhang Tie mumbled.


    Soon after killing that guy had Zhang Tie teleported the corpse along with the long sword on the corpse into Castle of Black Iron. After that, he glanced over the bottom of the pit with a complex look and confirmed that nothing was left except for the ash. Then, Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron. A few seconds later, that black beetle reappeared. It changed the direction and flew away.


    Only after less than 20 seconds, before Zhang Tie left the valley had another figure arrived.


    At the sight of that figure, Zhang Tie was too scared that he started oozing sweat all over even in Castle of Black Iron.


    That person was Koz...


    Koz darted here as fast as a lightning bolt with gleaming eyes and started to check the huge pit carefully. As the bottom of the huge pit was full of gravels, Zhang Tie was not worried about leaving any footsteps on it.


    After finding no clue, Koz finally paid attention to that small pile of black ash and blood stains. He squatted and rubbed the black ash and blood stains with his fingers. Closely after that, he revealed a dubious look. After standing in the pit for a few seconds, he jumped out of it. After a couple of seconds, he passed by Zhang Tie as fast as the wind.


    At that moment, Zhang Tie was only less than 10 m away from Koz. However, Koz didn''t pay attention to such a small insect behind the trunk of a tree, the color of whom turned as same as that of the trunk.


    ''If I waited another 20 seconds before attacking the knight or stayed 20 seconds longer in the pit after killing him, the result would be completely different.''


    Zhang Tie felt fortunate inside.


    After flying off the trunk, Zhang Tie was not in a hurry to return to Mocco City; instead, he kept flying dozens of miles away towards the west before landing in a palm-sized crevice on a low cliff. After that, the beetle returned to Castle of Black Iron.


    In Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie opened his eyes when he found Heller watching him with a weird look. It was like how a math doctor watched a passer-by clearing the lottery pool which contained the total prize of 5-6 billions of gold coins by purchasing 50-60 lotteries with the same number. If not the passer-by had colluded with the lottery seller, it could only owe to the luck.


    Zhang Tie had no time to consider the meaning of Heller''s weird look; instead, he directly ran towards that knight of Three-eye Association pleasantly.


    After turning over the corpse by his foot, Zhang Tie instantly drew that long sword out of the corpse. Of course, the knight''s weapon was unusual. The moment he held the long sword had Zhang Tie realized that it was a rarity...

 651 Reap the Booties

    Chapter 651: Reap the Booties


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After injecting some spiritual energy into that long sword, Zhang Tie had seen the attributes of the long sword¡ª¡ª


    Autumn Frost Golden Sword¡ª¡ª


    Surplus rune effect: LV 3 sharpness; LV 3 consolidation.


    Rune effect on strike: increases LV 2 freezing damage effect and the sword qi striking distance by 3 percent.


    Special effect: rapid recovery¡ª¡ªby holding the sword''s handle, one could increase his strength recovery speed by 10 percent.


    Alchemist''s gem inlaid: LV 1 brave gem.


    State: perfect combination.


    Effect of alchemist''s gem: LV 1 brave gem could increase one''s courage by two times and help its owner to prevent from being afflicted by doubts, restlessness, fear and spirit-shocking secret skills.


    In the autumn of the 851st year of Black Iron Calendar, it was produced by Gongye Qianqiu in Swords Cleansing Pool, Taixia Country, Eastern Continent.


    ...


    ''How lofty it is!'' Zhang Tie kept his mouth widely open when he read the message one line after another. ''What a knight''s equipment! It''s really unrivaled. It contains 5 rune effects, one of which is the same as that carried by my ring of vitality that I obtained for the first time, namely accelerating one''s "recovery" ability. However, compared to that ring of vitality which could only increase recovery speed by 4 percent, this sword''s surplus recovery effect is much greater.'' Zhang Tie sighed with emotions.


    The same kind of rune effect could not be accumulated on one''s body. If one rune equipment''s rune effect increased by two times, the price of the rune equipment would at least increase by 5 times; the price of a few rune equipments might increase by more than 10 times. Therefore, given only the rapid recovery effect, the sword would be worth at least 100,000 to 200,000 gold coins, not to mention the other rune effects on this sword.


    As to the LV 1 Brave Gem, the alchemist''s gem being inlaid on the sword, it must be more expensive; the alleged Brave Gem was a tiger''s eye. It was inlaid on the top of the sword''s handle. It looked like a golden tiger''s eye. Common tiger''s eye was just a semi-gem, which was not expensive; however, after being processed by alchemists, it would also have a terrifying, great value.


    Although the effects of Brave Gem were not displayed on the sword, the moment Zhang Tie held it had he felt being full of strength, braveness and very clear-minded.


    ''Great!'' That thought filled Zhang Tie''s mind. Zhang Tie was not familiar with the craftsmanship of the rune equipment and was confused about many rune effects on the sword. For instance, he didn''t know the effect of "LV 2 freezing damage effect" and the special "perfect combination". However, undoubtedly, this sword was extremely valuable.


    Zhang Tie casually waved the long sword in the air, causing a chilly light and a desolate killing intent.


    Even the knights in Blackson Humans Corridor were using weapons which were produced in Taixia Country. Thus, Zhang Tie understood the influence of Taixia Country.


    Of course, Zhang Tie put away this long sword.


    Zhang Tie threw the long sword to Heller who was right on his side.


    "You can tell Edward to make a proper sheath for this sword. Edward could slightly change its look while keeping its rune effects and power lest of being recognized by others." Heller suggested.


    "Does Edward have such a talent?" Zhang Tie asked with a surprised look.


    "Castle Lord, have you forgotten about his talent? As long as you give him the opportunity, he will surprise you for sure!" Heller answered.


    ''Surprise. Sure, I''m very surprised now.'' Zhang Tie mumbled inside.


    "Hmm, we will talk about it later!"


    Zhang Tie was full of respect towards that human knight who fought to the death. As this was the human knight''s weapon, Zhang Tie was not anxious about changing the look of the Autumn Frost Golden Sword. It would arouse others'' doubts for sure if he took this sword out of Castle of Black Iron at this moment. There would be no problem if he took it out when he arrived at the Eastern Continent or after a couple of years. Additionally, based on his current battle force, it would be too eye-catching if he used such a valuable sword which was worth at least 1 million gold coins. Such a priceless treasure was favored by too many people. If someone killed him just for the sake of the sword, it would be a tragedy.


    ''I''d better be low-key.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    "As you wish!" Heller seemed having understood Zhang Tie''s thought.


    After achieving a super weapon, Zhang Tie became vigorous as he rubbed his hands, crouching down and started to search over the corpse of the knight of Three-eye Association.


    Zhang Tie took off the corpse''s finger ring for the first time.


    It was a bronze finger ring with rose grains on it. As it was a bit wider than common finger rings, the finger ring could cover a greater half of a dactyl.


    The moment Zhang Tie took the finger ring had he injected some spiritual energy into it.


    Rose Finger Ring¡ª¡ªthis finger ring could increase the recovery speed of the wearer''s physical strength by 10% and improve the wearer''s effect of meditation by 15%. Additionally, it could accelerate the blood circulation of your fingers and gradually improve the wearer''s physical strength.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that it could have a rune effect of rapid recovery, ''It seems that the rune effect of rapid recovery is very popular and practical. Whereas, the rapid recovery effect of this ring was a bit better than that of the Autumn Frost Golden Sword as it could reach 11%.


    By contrast, the other two rune attributes were rarer. ''At least I''ve not seen them before; especially the blood circulation acceleration effect, which is really great. Although very little blood could flow through that finger per second, with this blood circulation acceleration effect, it could accelerate my blood circulation per second. Gradually, it could improve my physical strength.''


    ''What a treasure!'' Zhang Tie exclaimed inside.


    He then threw the rose finger ring to Heller, "How long would it take Edward to change its look?"


    "One day at most!" Heller smiled as he replied.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he continued to search over the corpse.


    Zhang Tie remembered that that guy carried a medicament container. He then found it in his waist. Zhang Tie opened it and saw some vials of pills and medicament. Besides different colors, he saw special symbols which looked like trademarks on those vials. There was no introduction about their names or functions. Therefore, Zhang Tie started to scratch his head as he glanced at Heller with a desiring look. Heller almost knew and could control everything that appeared in Castle of Black Iron.


    Heller walked over and took the medicament container from Zhang Tie''s hand and introduced those items to Zhang Tie one after another.


    "This is a super recovery medicament; it''s a bit more effective than senior recovery medicament. The very medicament that he drunk just now which had not fully taken effect in his body!" Heller explained after taking out the two black vials of medicament.


    Zhang Tie revealed a big smile.


    "This is a long lasting night viewing medicament. With one vial, you will have dark vision capability within 2 years!"


    Heller then took out another one.


    "This is a secret knowledge medicament; it could make it more possible to succeed in cultivating some battle skills and secret methods above knight!"


    ...


    "This is a concealing medicament. After taking it, your heat source and infrared signature would disappear completely. Within a short period, your skin would look like being stonified!"


    "Ah? What''s the function of this medicament?"


    "In a special state, some magical beasts which seek for their targets based on the heat source and infrared signature cannot find you easily after you take this medicament. Of course, some secret method can also realize such an effect; however, before you grasp that secret method, it''s nice to choose this medicament!"


    "Is there any magical beasts which seek for targets based on the heat source and infrared signature?"


    "There are so many such magical beasts in the deep underground world, some of them are very powerful!"


    "Being so powerful that even knights have to disguise themselves in front of them?" Zhang Tie goggled at Heller.


    "Right, you will understand it when you think about the levels of the living beings that could be controlled by the Great Wilderness Sutra. You cannot imagine how powerful some living beings are in the universe!"


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    Heller continued introducing about the other vials which contained special pills. Besides one of the pills which could rapidly supplement one''s spiritual energy, Zhang Tie had not even heard about all the others which were not useful at this moment. There was even a rank poison called bone erosion in a red vial. According to Heller, a bit of that rank poison could kill over 100,000 people. Even knights could not survive it. It had no antidote at all. Additionally, it was as colorless and tasteless as water.


    "F*ck you, b*stards of Three-eye Association. Look at what you have!" Zhang Tie started to swear after Heller''s introduction.


    "Do you want to throw it away?" Heller asked innocently.


    "No!" Zhang Tie hurriedly stopped Heller as his eyes gleamed stealthily, "Just keep it, I might have to use it in the future!"


    Heller immediately coughed heavily like being choked...

 652 Fruit of Bloodline

    Chapter 652: Fruit of Bloodline


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Besides that medicament container, Zhang Tie found a purse on the corpse. There were gold checks inside the purse which were worth more than 1 million.


    Since he robbed Senel''s warehouse in Tokei City, Zhang Tie had been immune to wealth. Therefore, at the sight of these gold checks, Zhang Tie was not excited at all. However, Zhang Tie felt strange about finding gold checks on a knight''s corpse, ''Money is really irresistible. Even knights are obsessed with it.''


    Besides these items, the dead knight of Three-eye Association also had a special waistband.


    It was a shiny black waistband whose buckle was like two crossed bright moons. It seemed to be specially three-dimensional, classical and delicate. It might be made of an animal''s hide. However, when Zhang Tie held it, he realized that it was metal as it felt icy and heavy. It was perfectly sealed with numerous black hexagonal, metal scales, which were both as soft as silk and as firm as steel. Zhang Tie was shocked by its perfect craftsmanship.


    After being an assistant in Donder''s grocery store for a few years, at least Zhang Tie had formed a sharp judgment. However, Zhang Tie had never seen such an exquisite craftsmanship of this waistband.


    Out of curiosity, Zhang Tie injected some spiritual energy into the waistband while the information of the waistband appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    Full-moon Dragon Soul Waistband¡ª¡ª


    ¡ª¡ªBronze Secret Item.


    ¡ª¡ªKnight''s Equipment.


    ¡ª¡ªThis waistband contains a lost rune effect. Its craftsmanship and raw material are unknown. But I''m sure that it has been quenched by the blood of an underground dragon and has been injected with the soul fire of an underground dragon.


    ¡ª¡ªThis waistband''s effect is closely related to the moons'' looks. At the double full moons, it would have a maximal effect when it could increase the full strength of an underground dragon for the wearer. At the double two crescents, it would have a minimal effect when it could increase 10% of the full strength of an underground dragon. As to the other periods, its effect would determine on the looks of the two moons.


    ¡ª¡ªAuthenticated by Fang Xiaobai from Treasures Pavilion, Taixia Country, Eastern Continent.


    As there was too much information, Zhang Tie had many questions.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what was an underground dragon or how powerful was an underground dragon. However, he knew that he had never touched such an item before; especially the words "Bronze Secret Item" "Lost" "Unknown" and "Authenticated by Fang Xiaobai" which reminded Zhang Tie of one possibility¡ª¡ªthis waistband was not the product of this age at all; instead, it came from a distant age which was discovered by the modern people. Now that it was produced in a distant age, of course, it had a lot of secrets. That was also why the information was left by the jewelry appraiser instead of its producer.


    After being shocked for more than 10 seconds, Zhang Tie instantly thought it through as he recovered his composure, ''Now that I could get a rarity like Castle of Black Iron, of course, someone else could also get something special.'' Given that information, Zhang Tie understood that there were a lot of rarities that were out of his imagination in this world, ''Perhaps, I''m not qualified to know more information until I promote to a knight.''


    Zhang Tie attempted to wear that waistband. When he buckled it up, he felt a special wave spreading across his entire body from the waistband; at the same time, the flames of those surging points that he had lit jumped faintly. Closely after that, the waistband recovered its tranquility. Zhang Tie then did not feel it special anymore, not to mention the increasing strength for him, ''It seems that this waistband is indeed only available to knights.''


    After this waistband, Zhang Tie found no more valuable items from this knight of Three-eye Association.


    Zhang Tie reaped a lot today¡ª¡ªAutumn Frost Golden Sword, Rose Finger Ring, Full-moon Dragon Soul Waistband, gold checks that were worth more than 1 million gold coins and a lot of vials of pills and medicament.


    Zhang Tie gave the Full-moon Dragon Soul Waistband to Heller and told him to put it away.


    "Castle Lord, do you need Edward to change its look?" Heller asked.


    "No need!" Zhang Tie took a deep breath before hiding his smile. At the same time, he narrowed his eyes with a brooding look, "I can''t use this waistband until I promote to a knight. When it''s available to me, it doesn''t matter even if others know that this is of a knight of Three-eye Association! What the f*ck a knight would do if he could not even protect such an item?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s domineering words, Heller nodded, "Hmm, this waistband is indeed a good item. At the full moons, it could increase one''s strength by the full strength of an underground dragon; thankfully, this waistband could only increase the knight''s strength by a bit more than 1/5 of the full strength of an underground dragon; otherwise, the guy of Three-eye Association would be more powerful!"


    "Heller, what''s an underground dragon? How powerful is an underground dragon?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "An underground dragon is a LV 14 magical beast which lives in a special underground environment. An average adult underground dragon would be almost twice of your strength"


    ''Twice?'' Zhang Tie faintly drew in a mouth of breath as he had never imagined that a waistband could increase one''s strength by two times, ''That''s great! Although there are only 3-4 days all the year round when there are full moons, it''s already amazing.''


    "What about the bronze secret item?"


    "It''s a concept of modern people about the past. You could only discover those secrets and knowledge by yourself!"


    Zhang Tie knew that Heller stuck to his bottom line and would not tell him everything that he knew. Therefore, after hearing this answer, he soon transferred his attention.


    ''After reaping a lot of booties from this knight of Three-eye Association, it''s time to look at the rewards from the small tree.''


    In the dark, an amber luster was running across the tree leaves of the small tree, making it pretty majestic and splendid. However, Zhang Tie felt that the small tree was a bit different than usual. The moment he was close to the small tree had he seen the tree leaves swaying, causing a euphonious bell ring. It seemed to be greeting Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie had not enjoyed such a kind treatment before. Besides delicate music, Zhang also smelt a strong, exotic fragrance. Only after a sniff had he felt being spirited while all of his fine hair seemed being opened.


    Zhang Tie smelt the fragrance of fruit of judgment, the fruit of brilliance and another special fragrance.


    Meanwhile, Zhang Tie''s heart started to pound.


    When standing under the small tree and watching all sorts of fruits hanging over the small tree, Zhang Tie felt so happy that he almost passed out.


    At the sight of the 7 cross-star shaped fruits of judgment, Zhang Tie felt thirsty as he panted and torn open his collar.


    Zhang Tie then checked the effects of those fruits of judgment by his quivering hand one after another.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of judgment; already ripe. This fruit contains an advancement rune whose effect is "Medium-level Rapid Moving skill"...


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of judgment; already ripe. This fruit contains an advancement rune whose effect is "Medium-level Hiding Skill"...


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of judgment; already ripe. This fruit contains an advancement rune whose effect is "Senior Binding Skill".


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of judgment; already ripe. This fruit of judgment contains an advancement rune whose effect is "Senior Rapid Moving Skill"...


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of judgment; already ripe. This fruit of judgment contains an advancement rune whose effect is "Senior Hiding Skill"...


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of judgment; already ripe. This fruit contains a god''s rune whose effect is ¡ª¡ª"cracking"...


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of judgment; already ripe. This fruit contains a god''s rune whose effect is¡ª¡ª"Stabilize Spirit"...


    Zhang Tie remembered that there were already two fruits of judgment on the small tree when he left the battlefield of Mocco City. He had never imagined that he could have 5 more fruits of judgment after killing one knight.


    With the 7 fruits of judgment, he could not only promote the effects of the three current god''s runes to senior level but also obtained another two new skills.


    Zhang Tie really had a fruitful achievement this time.


    Besides the fruit of judgment, the fruit of brilliance also changed its look.


    Since the first fruit of brilliance appeared on the small tree, Zhang Tie had fixed his eyes on the fruit of brilliance which could completely store one''s spiritual energy in his mind¡ª¡ªround, smooth and shining a dark golden luster. No matter how many people''s spiritual energy it contained, its look remained unchanged. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie realized that he was wrong. The fruit of brilliance would always change. The fruit of brilliance was almost 1/2 bigger than its previous look while its dark golden luster also disappeared. It turned transparent like a senior crystal ball. Additionally, Zhang Tie could also see the running colorful brilliance inside the fruit.


    Zhang Tie did not believe that it was a fruit of brilliance until he touched it and read the information.


    Undoubtedly, its changing look was owed to the knight. The moment Zhang Tie imagined the powerful spiritual energy of the knight had he drooled.


    Additionally, he obtained two trouble-reappearance fruits tonight, one from the battlefield of Mocco City, the other from that knight of Three-eye Association whom he killed in the valley. The two trouble-reappearance fruits were the only ones that Zhang Tie had expected.


    Besides, Zhang Tie smelt a special fragrance around the small tree. After walking around the small tree for a short while, Zhang Tie finally saw a wholly new fruit on one twig.


    That fruit was half bloody and half black. It was a special gyroelongated square dipyramid which looked like a bright, perfect artwork that combined well-polished red gems and black crystals.


    Zhang Tie touched it and saw its information at once.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of bloodline; already ripe; Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After picking it off, you could preserve it in crystal ware forever.


    ¡ª¡ªYou can freely allocate the strength in this fruit. It could awaken your ancestral bloodline or help evolve the bloodline that you''ve already awakened.


    ¡ª¡ªThe brave man who dares to wave saber towards the dark force, when you conquer your fear, everything would be possible. When you create a marvel in the dark, the marvel would manifest itself in the brightness for sure. This fruit of bloodline is your marvel and your greatest reward, with which you would acknowledge the secrets of the endless treasures of your body and have the power of determining your own fate. The power doesn''t come from your punch but from your strong will and heart of being a brave man.


    ''Fruit of bloodline?''


    ''Awaken my ancestral bloodline or help evolve the bloodlines that I''ve already awakened?''


    Zhang Tie became shocked. After a short while, he couldn''t wait to pick off that fruit of bloodline...


    "Castle Lord, as you''ve not fully recovered from your injuries. I suggest you to rest two days until your body is fully recovered. After that, you can enjoy these fruits. In this way, those fruits could fully play their effects!" Heller said on Zhang Tie''s side.


    Zhang Tie then stopped. Watching the fruits all over the small tree, he swallowed his saliva forcefully before nodding.


    ...


    ''Two days, just two days then...'' Zhang Tie mumbled.


    ''I wonder about the battle situation in Mocco City.''


    ''No matter how it proceeds in Mocco City, based on my current battle force, I cannot change anything else besides killing some small figures.''


    ''I will wait a couple of days then...''


    ''Mom said, being patient is a virtue.''


    Zhang Tie then recovered his composure...

 653 A Surging Comprehensive Force

    Chapter 653: A Surging Comprehensive Force


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Two days flew past.


    During the past two days, Zhang Tie lived a very comfortable life. When he got up in the morning, he would drink some all-purpose medicament. After that, he would take a bath in the hot spring and take a noontime snooze. He would also fly around Castle of Black Iron in the incarnation of that black beetle and experience the marvelous world from the eyes of an insect.


    In the past two days, Zhang Tie didn''t even cultivate the endless true words of the Great Wilderness Sutra.


    Before eating so many fruits, Zhang Tie intended to relax himself spiritually and physically and adjust himself to the optimal state.


    Zhang Tie even wanted to take a look at Mocco City in the incarnation of that small beetle; however, he finally abandoned this thought.


    Heller had a proverb¡ª¡ªOnly when you learned to calmly retreat yourself from dangerous situations could you have a bright future.


    ''Before being calm, I have to learn to relax myself and free myself out of the bizarre environment in the outside world. I have to face my true heart.''


    ''My true heart is to be dauntless.''


    ''I''ve already tried my best. I rushed towards millions of demonized puppets firstly and almost lost my life. After that, I killed a knight of Three-eye Association bravely. I''ve already faced my true heart dauntlessly and have no regrets.''


    Over the past two days, Zhang Tie not only healed his wounds, but also improved his spiritual realm.


    In such a spiritual realm, Zhang Tie forgot about Mocco City and Senel Clan. He even forgot about those fruits on the small tree. He just enjoyed traveling everyday in the incarnation of the small beetle. In the special perspective of that insect, a common small tree was like a vast and exotic world that he had never experienced before. Entering the small tree, he felt pretty pleased that he almost forgot everything else.


    Sometimes, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but think that the Great Wilderness Sutra was created by some extremely powerful people who wanted to experience and sense this world in different incarnations. Perhaps, on a far ancient day, when one of those extremely powerful people suddenly became tired of observing and experiencing this world in the perspective of a human, he wondered what this world would be in the eyes of insects, birds or beasts. Therefore, he created the "Great Wilderness Sutra"


    ¡ª¡ª''Is that possible?''


    ¡ª¡ª''Is that impossible?''


    Hahahaha...


    In that relaxed state, Zhang Tie found his mind became agile and fully energetic.


    ...


    On the morning of the 3rd day since he entered Castle of Black Iron, when those villagers in the town started a new day, Zhang Tie, who had been fully relaxed, appeared below the small tree.


    "Choose fruits which could be easily absorbed firstly; eat the fruit of brilliance and the fruit of bloodline in the end. Pay attention to the order of fruits of judgment. The lower level ones first; otherwise, it won''t work!" Heller suggested aside.


    "Okay, I see!" Zhang Tie then picked off that trouble-reappearance fruit and swallowed it instantly. After digesting that trouble-reappearance fruit, Zhang Tie continued to gnaw other fruits.


    It took Zhang Tie 24 hours to digest all the 7 fruits of judgment. After that, his comprehensive strength surged greatly.


    Senior binding skill could freeze all the fighters below LV 9. Its striking radius reached 85 cm. Zhang Tie could store 36 senior binding chains. That was to say, if there were 36 LV 9 powerhouses in a room, the moment he entered the room could he freeze all the 36 fighters with senior binding chains.


    Zhang Tie had never imagined that he could have such a great ability.


    With the blessing of senior rapid moving rune, Zhang Tie could increase his moving speed from 120% of that granted by preliminary rapid moving rune to 360%. If Zhang Tie encountered Scala outside Mocco City at this moment, with the blessing of the senior rapid moving rune, Zhang Tie could move 2 times faster than that he did three days ago. Even Scala could only see him off and eat dust as his speed had already reached the upper limit of a battle demon.


    With the blessing of senior rapid moving rune, Zhang Tie tested his speed in Castle of Black Iron and was really stunned by that. At his full effort, Zhang Tie was as fast as a gust, leaving behind a constant shadow. It only took him less than 2 seconds to finish the distance of 100 m. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to be fully confident about his ability to escape.


    With the blessing of the senior hiding rune, in Heller''s words, Zhang Tie''s life qi became a bit weaker than that when he had just drunk the concealing medicament. Concealing medicament could only conceal one''s heat source and infrared signature and make one look like being stonified; however, the senior hiding rune could even conceal one''s entire life qi and energy besides concealing ones'' heat source and infrared signature. Undoubtedly, senior hiding rune was greater than concealing medicament. Besides, senior hiding skill could also be used on one''s incarnation.


    Especially that black beetle. It was trivial itself and was able to change its color. If it was applied with a senior hiding rune, it would almost be impossible to discover it when it wanted to hide itself.


    The "cracking" god''s rune was a powerful aided striking skill. Zhang Tie could apply it on his weapon, a bolt or a javelin. Given its preliminary effect, it would cause a cracking effect on the skin near the wound of his opponent. It could increase his weapon''s physical striking effect. Even if the opponent didn''t die, this effect would make his opponent lose his blood more rapidly. It would take his opponent two times longer to heal his wounds. If his opponent was a demon, this "cracking" effect would additionally increase by 30%. This effect seemed to be targeting at demons.


    The god''s rune "Stabilize Spirit" could form a shield in front of his spiritual realm.


    With the help of "Stabilize Spirit", Zhang Tie would be greatly resistant to some spiritual strikes. "Stabilize Spirit" was the first negative god''s rune that Zhang Tie had. After eating that fruit of judgment, Zhang Tie saw the god''s run in his mind. It was a light, transparent shield.


    On the next morning he digested all of his fruits of judgment, After picking off the exotic fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie crossed his legs and engulfed it.


    Zhang Tie closed his eyes. In a split second, he had felt the golden spiritual energy swirling in his mind. A river abruptly appeared above that spiritual swirl. After that, the golden river dumped off from the river and converged into that spiritual swirl. It was like how a waterfall poured into a lake. The lake then rippled and spread in all directions. At the same time, it expanded and became deeper.


    When the spiritual energy gradually suffused in his mind, Zhang Tie felt an extremely cold sense spreading across his body. It was like how a dry land being as thirsty as a desert suddenly was drown by an ocean. The sense of happiness and satisfaction was even 10 times sharper than an orgasm.


    The golden river kept dumping off while Zhang Tie was intoxicated in that extreme happiness.


    Not knowing how much time had passed, the river in his mind disappeared when Zhang Tie''s mind sea became a real golden ocean!


    When Zhang Tie woke up from that sweet state, he found his spiritual energy had increased at least 10 times than that of before. When Zhang Tie looked around, he felt his surging spiritual energy expanding in all the cells across his body like how sea waves flapped the beach. Even though the land was far from the coastline, he could still hear the sound of sea waves.


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes and saw Heller standing in front him.


    In the process of cultivation, Zhang Tie had forgotten about time. It was in the morning when he closed his eyes. However, at this moment, it was already dark in Castle of Black Iron. Zhang Tie asked Heller, "How long has it been?"


    "37 hours!" Heller answered.


    "37 hours? It''s one and a half days." Zhang Tie then let out a sigh and picked himself up from the ground.


    During the process when he stood up, Zhang Tie felt that he became lighter. He even wanted to fly...

 654 Knights Consciousness

    Chapter 654: Knight''s Consciousness


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Besides being lighter, Zhang Tie''s vision was also improved as he could see distant items clearly. Additionally, he could further identify the fragrance of different flowers and grasses. Furthermore, he had a sharper auditory sense when he could even obscurely hear the boisterous sounds of villagers in the distant town at the foot of the mountain. When he focused on the small town, he could hear the boisterous sounds clearly; when he focused on the gurgling brook on the mountain, he found it was as clear and loud as a symphony; by contrast, the boisterous sounds in the small town faded out and became a background sound. What a marvelous feeling! When Zhang Tie gazed at the colorful clouds in Castle of Black Iron, he found the clouds slowed down while the whole world seemed to be agile and tranquil, which could be known by telepathy.


    Zhang Tie tried to move his limbs and found that he could better control his body. It seemed that he had tapped greater potentials of his body. He could make many things which could not be imagined or made at this moment. For instance, as long as he focused on his heart, he could control his heart''s contraction force like controlling the muscle on his palm so as to control the blood circulation speed across his body. It was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. Previously, Zhang Tie always thought that he could not control his heart''s beating frequency. Now he understood that as long as his spiritual energy was high enough, he could also control the muscle on his heart.


    Zhang Tie tried to suspend his heartbeat for a short while, during which period he found his blood circulation also stagnated; additionally, he felt his blood sinking down due to gravity. Zhang Tie instantly remembered an old Hua saying¡ª¡ªWhen one grew elder, one''s feet function would decline first. As one''s feet were farthest from one''s heart, due to gravity, the qi and blood in one''s feet would be harder to be pumped up by one''s heart. Therefore, feet function would decline first.


    Zhang Tie stopped his heartbeat for 5 minutes before feeling a bit dizzy. Then, he loosed his control and had his heart beat freely.


    "Bang...bang...bang..." Only after contracting 3 times, Zhang Tie''s blood started to run across his body once again.


    ''What a nice feeling to control my body freely! If some part of my body begins to bleed, I can have my heart beat at a lower speed. By slowing down my blood circulation, I can reduce the potential danger caused by the excessive loss of blood.''


    ''Great. Very great.''


    After warming up his limbs, Zhang Tie directly jumped away from the small tree and started to perform his Iron-blood Fist on the top of the mountain.


    Zhang Tie performed it according to his previous battle force first.


    Based on his previous judgment, Zhang Tie thought that his Iron-blood Fist was already very sharp and almost perfect. However, this time Zhang Tie found that his Iron-blood Fist was indeed crude. He was more like a simple-minded muscled guy slashing and surging forward by a sharp saber in the street while there were a lot of problems in the rhythm, coordination, coherence, footsteps, speed, strength, movement, transfer, defense and his control of time and space.


    ''Why is it crude?'' Zhang Tie felt bashful.


    After finishing Iron-blood Fist, Zhang Tie stood still and faintly frowned as he carefully recalled those problems on his Iron-blood Fist. He then immediately thought it through that it was not because his Iron-blood Fist had declined but his insight and cognitive ability had improved.


    The surging spiritual energy not only increased Zhang Tie''s ability to control his body unimaginably but also greatly improved his cognitive mode, cognitive ability and sensing pattern about the objective world unconsciously. He experienced such great changes because he devoured the spiritual energy of the knight of Three-eye Association. Perhaps in the eyes of knights, the Iron-blood Fist that he was always proud of was just mediocre, which, although being much greater and more majestic than that of common cultivators, was full of loopholes.


    "This is knight''s heart!" Heller ''s voice sounded aside, "Perhaps you can call it knight''s consciousness. Because of such a great spiritual energy, knight''s consciousness and spiritual realm have already expanded into a very vast and deep realm. Their cognitive and sensing ability to this world are greatly different than commoners. It''s a foundation for the power of a knight."


    "You mean what I''m sensing now is what that knight could sense?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Yup, because your spiritual energy has already reached the level of a knight, which is even greater than many common knights; your sensing ability and cognitive state have already entered the knight''s consciousness. That''s to say, you''ve already entered the threshold leading to the knight''s world with one foot. What a great progress and leap!"


    "Ah? You mean there''s no difference between my spiritual energy and knight''s consciousness?"


    "Only a bit. Because knights have already lit all of their surging points and further tapped their physical potential, they would have deeper sensing ability, making their knight''s consciousness more acute. Given this point, your knight''s consciousness is a bit weaker. Some knights could even produce a powerful 6th sense in knight''s consciousness. As a result, they have exceptionally great sensing ability towards special things and people!"


    "You mean my consciousness and the cognitive state could be regarded as would-be knight''s consciousness or would-be knight''s heart?"


    Heller smiled, "Would-be consciousness, what a precise appellation."


    Zhang Tie also smiled as he started to further cultivate his Iron-blood Fist.


    This time, he corrected all the loopholes that he could find. As a result, his Iron-blood Fist gradually became majestic and grand, entering a wholly new realm.


    After practicing it another 3-4 hours, Zhang Tie stopped and stood still solemnly. He then frowned. After thinking for a few seconds, he moved once again. After half an hour, he stopped and stood still with a dubious look...


    He felt that he could make it better; however, he could not make further progress anymore no matter how hard he tried. Therefore, he felt pitiful about this.


    "Castle Lord, don''t worry. It indicates that your physical level and ability cannot catch up with your knight''s consciousness at this moment. Although your spiritual energy and cognitive ability have already reached would-be knight''s consciousness, your level is still LV 11. Your physical abilities on all aspects cannot catch up with your knight''s consciousness. It''s a chasm that you cannot stride over at least now."


    After hearing Heller''s explanation, Zhang Tie understood it right away. ''This was like driving a sports car. Previously, it was enough for me to drive a Faerie Dragon T9; however, if my driving skill was 10 times stronger, I could play more tricks. If so, a Faerie Dragon T9 might not meet my driving will on performance sometimes.''


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile as he had never imagined this. He felt that he could do better; however, his physical conditions could not meet his will. What a regret!


    ''Thankfully, it''s not a permanent regret. With my rising level, I could further increase the power of my Iron-blood Fist. In the past few hours, if I did not have knight''s consciousness, I would not find the loopholes in my Iron-blood Fist; if so, I would not push my Iron-blood Fist to a new realm in such a short period.''


    After owning his knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie found that he could easily find his own shortcomings in the insight of a knight. Therefore, he could further improve his battle skills through pure empiricism guidance.


    Although his experiences worked, they restricted his progress. If he could cultivate Iron-blood Fist with the guidance of knight''s consciousness, he could easily make further progress for sure and grasp the essence of this battle skill in the shortest period.


    Similarly, he could cultivate other battle skills like this.


    ''It seems that this is not all the benefits that could be brought by the ocean-like spiritual energy in my mind sea and my knight''s consciousness. I will explore them later.'' Zhang Tie mumbled.


    After cultivating Iron-blood Fist a few hours, Zhang Tie''s battle qi was boiling all over. He was fully spirited and very excited. How could he go to bed in such a state? Therefore, he gradually moved his eyes on the fruit of bloodline hanging on the small tree...

 655 Treasury

    Chapter 655: Treasury


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The red and black fruit of bloodline was like an artwork. After observing it for quite a while in his hand, Zhang Tie finally ate it.


    It tasted sour and salty. However, after eating it, Zhang Tie felt being still as an exotic energy rose from his stomach before spreading across his body. Being affected by that energy, Zhang Tie felt very sleepy. Only after resisting it for a few seconds had Zhang Tie closed his eyes...


    ''F*ck, will this fruit of bloodline help me awaken a bloodline in the dream?'' Zhang Tie thought before falling asleep.


    ...


    Zhang Tie felt like entering a grotesque world, which was covered with white clouds of mist, large or small, which looked like the marshmallows.


    ''Is this a dreamland?'' Zhang Tie asked himself. Closely after that, Zhang Tie denied his presumption as he saw the fruit of bloodline in a clear-minded way inside.


    The fruit of bloodline was floating above Zhang Tie''s head in the shape of gyroelongated square dipyramid while giving out looming luster. This fruit of bloodline seemed to be much larger than that before. Suspending above Zhang Tie''s head, it reminded Zhang Tie of being in an odd-looking lighthouse in the ocean composed of the marshmallows.


    When Zhang Tie looked around, a group of messages appeared in his mind, reminding Zhang Tie of his current situation.


    He was not in a dreamland but in a mysterious spiritual world similar to the virtual situation manifested by the trouble-reappearance fruit. This world was half real. Zhang Tie didn''t know why he was here. Neither did he want to think too much about it. He only knew it was an effect of the small tree or Castle of Black Iron.


    The trouble-reappearance fruit manifested the external world while the Fruit of Bloodline manifested his internal world, in which, he could freely choose which ancestral bloodline to activate or evolve.


    The marshmallows in different sizes were various ancestral bloodlines which were hidden in his genes and had not been activated yet.


    Zhang Tie then watched the ocean of marshmallows and almost passed out. Watching those marshmallows, Zhang Tie finally realized why everyone''s body was a treasury.


    Zhang Tie waved his hands towards the red and black fruit of bloodline; then, the huge gyroelongated square dipyramid floated towards him at once. Zhang Tie touched it with one hand and obtained a message immediately¡ª¡ªbloodline''s energy: 316 points.


    "Show me the two ancestral bloodlines that I''ve already activated..."


    Soon after Zhang Tie finished his words had a red marshmallow and a golden marshmallow flown towards him from afar and floated in front of him.


    Compared to other dim marshmallows, both the red one and the golden one were giving out a comfortable, tender light.


    There was a shadow of the javelin in the red marshmallow. Zhang Tie immediately recognized that it was the precise throwing bloodline. There was a humanoid shadow which was changing its color constantly in the golden marshmallow, at the sight of which, Zhang Tie knew it was the color changing bloodline.


    It seemed that the red marshmallow had been completely activated while the greater part of that golden marshmallow was still grey.


    Zhang Tie put his hand on the red marshmallow and saw a line of the message at once.


    ¡ª¡ªPrecise throwing bloodline; already been fully activated.


    After checking the precise throwing bloodline, Zhang Tie moved his hand on that color changing bloodline.


    ¡ª¡ªBody changing Bloodline; 1/3 activated. 2 more levels to be activated.


    ¡ª¡ªLV 1, color changing bloodline; already been activated. This bloodline could change the color of your skin, eyes and hair.


    ¡ª¡ªLV 2, bone changing bloodline; not been activated yet. After activating this bloodline, you could change your figure. It could be activated with 78 points of bloodline energy.


    ¡ª¡ªLV 3, face changing bloodline; not been activated yet. This level could not be activated unless the LV 2 bloodline is activated. After activating this bloodline, you could change your face. It could be activated with 135 points of bloodline energy.


    After reading this message, Zhang Tie was so thrilled that he kept rubbing his hands. He had not imagined that he could have such powerful genes. Bone changing effect could be reached by some secret cultivation methods such as bone contracting skill. With the help of some pills or medicament, one could also realize the same effect in a short period; however, that face changing bloodline was really great. As the color changing bloodline, bone changing bloodline and face changing bloodline belonged to the same series, only when all the 3 bloodlines were activated would the entire body changing bloodline awaken completely.


    ''What an immortal bloodline!'' Zhang Tie thought it was a bit excessive by listing the color changing bloodline as an immortal bloodline previously. Until then did he understand that the color changing bloodline was just a beginning of a powerful bloodline. It would be more powerful if the later bloodlines could be further awakened.


    ''Why Huaiyuan Palace are so concerned about the ancestral bloodlines that their disciples have awakened? Maybe the elders of Huaiyuan Palace have already guessed that there might be more special bloodlines to awaken after these rare immortal bloodlines.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    ''I have 316 points of bloodline energy after eating that fruit of bloodline. I will still have 105 points left if I completely activate the body changing bloodline. Do I need to activate them?''


    Watching the marshmallows in front of him, large and small, Zhang Tie soon made a decision¡ª¡ªjust take a look first.


    In the next half an hour, Zhang Tie was wandering in the ocean of marshmallows. He checked the ancestral bloodline in each marshmallow. As a result, Zhang Tie was so shocked that he could not even utter a word.


    There were inclusive ancestral bloodlines in his genes. As long as he activated any one of them would he gain a new ability. He found that the precise throwing ability was only a very common ancestral bloodline being related to javelin. There were many other bloodlines concerning the abilities to use weapons, the most common one among was called "**Affinity" such as "Sword Affinity", "Sabre Affinity", "Stick Affinity" and "Ax Affinity". According to the introduction, after awakening "**Affinity" bloodline, he could use that weapon adroitly.


    However, these "**Affinity" bloodlines were just a start as many weapons would manifest their unique and powerful bloodline abilities in later stages. For instance, Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace paid more attention to the ancestral bloodline concerning crossbow. After reaching "Crossbow Affinity", there were dozens of other ancestral bloodlines to be awakened, such as "Crossbow Proficiency", "Crossbow Identification Skill", "Unification of Human and Crossbow", "Shooting through Tree Leaves from 100 m away", "Long-distance Shoot", "Shooting in Wind", "Shooting through Clouds", "Mountain Drilling Shoot", "Heart Shoot", "Shoot after Lightning Bolt ", "Breaking Sun Bow", etc. Those ancestral bloodlines of the same series would have complex links with each other more or less. It was a bit like bloodlines tree which had a rigid hierarchy.


    These ancestral bloodlines reminded Zhang Tie of Lan Yunxi, who said she had awakened some ancestral bloodlines concerning crossbow at a young age. Perhaps, they were contained in these bloodlines.


    Among all the ancestral bloodlines, crossbow, sword, saber and javelin were the most powerful series concerning weapons, each of which had developed into a verdant bloodlines tree, on which there were always a lot of ancestral bloodlines to be awakened.


    Zhang Tie found that those marshmallows containing ancestral bloodlines of crossbow series were whiter while those marshmallows of saber, sword and javelin were grayer. It required 27 points of bloodline energy to activate a "Crossbow Affinity". However, it required 62 points of bloodline energy to activate a "Sword Affinity" or "Sabre Affinity", which was almost twice that of "Crossbow Affinity".


    Zhang Tie thought, ''Perhaps this was influenced by the ties of the blood of Zhang Clan. The most powerful ancestral bloodline of Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace is related to the crossbow. Therefore, such an ancestral bloodline could be easily manifested by the offspring of Huaiyuan Palace. The Clan''s mark has been staying in my body since I was born.''


    Besides the above ancestral bloodlines, Zhang Tie learned many other strange ancestral bloodlines on insects'' language, beasts'' language, flowers'' language, etc.


    Some bloodlines, after being activated, could make you a good gardener.


    Some bloodlines, after being activated, could enable you to identify ground qi and fengshui.


    Some bloodlines, after being activated, could enable you to respond to aspect astrology and meteorology.


    Some bloodlines, after being activated, could grant you with the talent of mathematics and financial management.


    Some bloodlines, after being activated, could make you a cook or a blacksmith.


    Some bloodlines, after being activated, could grant you with an ability to pluck up the morale of the army when you beat a drum. Zhang Tie was deeply impressed by this ancestral bloodline and its name¡ª¡ªFiery Dance.


    Zhang Tie was stunned by its message when he checked a grey marshmallow which was as large as a small room.


    ¡ª¡ªDragon Herding Bloodline; not activated yet. After activating this bloodline, you could gain the secret method of herding dragons. It could be activated with 1134 points of bloodline energy.


    ''Is that real? Is that dragon herding skill hiding in my gene?''


    Zhang Tie was shocked.


    ''I remember that an elder of Huaiyuan Palace said it was a bloodline of Dong Clan. The ancestor of Dong Clan was called Dragon Herding. As Dong Clan had been married to Hua people for tens of thousands of years, the ancestral bloodline was maintained in my gene...


    After being stunned for a few seconds, Zhang Tie shook his head as a question appeared in his mind, ''It took me quite a long while to only read 1/10 of these ancestral bloodlines, which ancestral bloodline should I activate then?''

 656 Kuafu Bloodline

    Chapter 656: Kuafu Bloodline


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Sometimes, you would sigh if you didn''t enter a treasury; however, when you entered, you would feel confused as you didn''t know which treasure to choose.


    There were thousands of bloodlines to be activated. If the Fruit of Bloodline contained countless energy, Zhang Tie, of course, would activate all the bloodlines, by doing which he would be unrivaled in a split second and crush all the sc*mbags of demons and Three-eye Association into pieces; however, the Fruit of Bloodline only contained 361 points of bloodline energy. Therefore, Zhang Tie had to choose which bloodlines to activate among the thousands of bloodlines.


    Different ancestral bloodlines required different points of energy, which varied from dozens of points to over 1,000 points. Therefore, it was hard to choose with only 361 points of energy.


    Zhang Tie didn''t continue to check the remaining ancestral bloodlines; instead, he stood still and started his consideration.


    ''Which bloodline is the most useful to me?''


    ''It''s a tricky problem. Each bloodline has its own function. All of them could improve my ability and grant me with one unimaginable ability. But which one could maximize my battle force at least for the time being?''


    Zhang Tie couldn''t work out a solution after thinking for quite a while. He felt all the bloodlines were very useful. Suddenly, an old Hua saying flashed across his mind¡ª¡ªthe truth lies in the extreme strength!


    ''The truth lies in the extreme strength!''


    Zhang Tie quivered all over as it was the first line in the "Preface" of the secret knowledge "Iron-blood Fist". Any strength, as long as being exerted to the utmost, would be able to conquer everything else.


    The moment Zhang Tie recalled this line had he become clear-minded and reached a conclusion¡ª¡ªThe bloodline that could combine with my current situation perfectly and make my advantage more prominent and powerful is what I want.


    ''It''s better to exert my current ability to the utmost rather than waiting for a new ability.''


    ''What''s my most powerful and prominent ability now?''


    Zhang Tie closed his eyes and thought for a short while before reaching a conclusion¡ª¡ªspeed!


    ''With the combination of the strength granted by various fruits that I''ve eaten, the effect of the "King Roc Sutra" and the senior rapidly moving skill, I could already reach a very terrifying, high speed. Although I''m just a LV 11, with the effect of a senior rapidly moving rune, I would not even fear Scala even if I met him.''


    ''This is my strength. I have to make this strength my trump card so as to be unrivaled.''


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes as a light flashed across his eyes...


    "I need a bloodline which could be activated right now. It should make me run faster, move swifter and jump higher and farther. In one word, it should grant me with a higher speed." Zhang Tie spoke to the air.


    Soon after his words had the clouds started to roll. Almost at the same time, a grey marshmallow flew towards him from afar and finally suspended in front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie recovered his composure before reaching out his hand to check the function of this bloodline.


    ¡ª¡ªKuafu bloodline; not activated yet; you will have the strength of Kuafu[1] after activating this bloodline. You would move as fast as a lightning bolt and could even chase after the sun and the moon. It requires 129 points of bloodline energy.


    ''Kuafu bloodline? The Kuafu who chased after the sun?'' a Hua legend flashed through Zhang Tie''s mind, driving Zhang Tie excited at once.


    "Confirmed, activate Kuafu Bloodline..."


    After Zhang Tie confirmed his request, that huge Fruit of Bloodline on his side suddenly brightened up as a red and black energy beam of light injected into the grey clouds from the fruit. It took over 1 minute for the beam of light to disappear. The huge marshmallow then turned blue while giving out a tender light. At the same time, an obscure shadow ran and jumped as fast as a lightning bolt in the marshmallow.


    ¡ª¡ªKuafu bloodline; already activated.


    As the one standing here was not Zhang Tie''s original body but a projection of his spirit and consciousness, Zhang Tie didn''t know how his original body felt at this moment. If he wanted to know the real effect of this bloodline, he had to return his spirit and consciousness to his original body.


    Zhang Tie then took a deep breath. The moment he thought about combining senior rapidly moving skill with this Kuafu bloodline had he became excited.


    After activating this Kuafu bloodline, Zhang Tie had 232 points of energy left in the Fruit of Bloodline.


    ''What next then?''


    After closing his eyes and thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie opened his eyes with a wisp of a smile at his mouth corners. He then chose to activate the rest two levels of the body changing bloodline, namely the bone changing bloodline and the face changing bloodline.


    ''My body changing ability is exclusive. Once I mastered it, I could cover my traces with the help of Castle of Black Iron and the incarnation ability of the "Great Wilderness Sutra"''


    ''If I only used color changing skill, those who''re familiar with me might still recognize me; however, after mastering the 3 levels of body changing skill, I could never be recognized by those who''re familiar with me even if I stood in front of them. This ability serves as the largest protection for me. In special cases, I could do things which even knights could not do.''


    ''Although the body changing bloodline could not bring me greater battle force, it could bring me the most possibilities, with which, I would have a bright future.''


    After the rest two levels of the body changing bloodline were activated, there were only 19 points of bloodline energy left in the Fruit of Bloodline.


    ''What can I do with such a little energy? It could not even activate the commonest weapon affinity.''


    With a casual thought, Zhang Tie delivered an order to this space, "Hmm, show me all the ancestral bloodlines which could be activated by 19 points of bloodline energy!"


    Soon after he finished his order had a grey marshmallow flown towards him from afar and suspended in front of him. Compared to other marshmallows, this one was too tiny that it was even smaller than the real marshmallow.


    ''Amazing!'' Zhang Tie became a bit dumbfounded as he reached his hand over there.


    ¡ª¡ªImitating bloodline; not activated yet. After activating it, you would have a super great ability to perform and imitate others. It could be activated with 18 points of bloodline energy.


    Zhang Tie widely opened his mouth, ''Is the function of imitating bloodline only to activate the one''s gift to be a performer? Actually, many people have such an ability; but they are not good at it. Those professional performers on stages are most excelled at the performances. I''ve not imagined that I could have such a bloodline.''


    ''It means that there was a person among my ancestors who lived by performing on stages many generations ago. It''s not a senior vocation, which is even always despised by people.'' However, Zhang Tie didn''t mind it as he felt that he was also a commoner.


    Now that there was an ancestral bloodline left by Hua ancestors who herd dragons, it was not bizarre for actors or clowns to leave an ancestral bloodline for their offspring.


    It was said to be the heyday of actors or performers before the Catastrophe. In that age, actors and performers were treated as social elites and successful men. They were even awarded as emperors or queens. How bright and hilarious they were! However, the real cultivators in that age were not favored by the public. They were even repelled out of the mainstream society. As a result, many real cultivators were extremely poor; some of them were even treated as lunatics. This looked unimaginable in this age as the value of these people was completely put upside down.


    According to the theory of conspiracy in this age, the absurd things before the Catastrophe were completely caused by Three-eye Association and demons. As a result, many young people preferred pursuing the actors or performers who were packaged by agencies; at the same time, they scoffed the cultivators who studied the secrets and truths of humans and this universe.


    ''After the body changing bloodline was awakened, the rest bloodline energy was only enough to awaken such a trivial bloodline. The body changing bloodline plus imitating bloodline, fabulous! What a God-given arrangement!''


    In laughter, Zhang Tie activated the imitating bloodline. As to the last one point of bloodline energy, he threw it into the marshmallow of sword affinity. Of course, the marshmallow remained unchanged, but it''s better than not doing that.


    The Fruit of Bloodline then disappeared while the world of marshmallows became observable...


    Like waking up from a dream, Zhang Tie''s senses and consciousness returned to his original body.


    Zhang Tie picked himself up under the small tree as his body started to crack. It started from his skull, then his meridians, veins and muscles; finally all the cells over his body sounded. The whole process lasted about 5 minutes, during which period, Zhang Tie twisted his limbs and made different gestures while being driven by his instinct of stretching himself. He felt pretty comfortable and natural only in that state.


    Zhang Tie just followed such a change although he didn''t know whether it was benefited from his body changing bloodline, or Kuafu bloodline or imitating bloodline or all of them.


    After 5 minutes, the disordered sounds stopped, so did Zhang Tie''s body. He didn''t feel anything uncomfortable.


    Zhang Tie raised his foot and prepared to get off the small tree. However, only after a casual stride, he felt a bit dazzling as he had been standing on the grassland over 5 m away.


    ''What the hell?'' Zhang Tie was startled. He then felt an exotic energy surging in his body, especially his legs stimulated him to run and jump rapidly¡ª¡ªKuafu''s strength, Kuafu bloodline.


    Zhang Tie then started to run using his instinct. Only after a slight move, before reaching his full speed, Zhang Tie had heard the wuthering wind while all the items beside him were flowing backward as fast as a lightning bolt...


    ''Fast, it''s too fast.'' Zhang Tie soon reached the effect after he used a rapidly moving rune. He didn''t feel hard under his feet anymore; instead, he felt like stepping on springs. The moment he landed had he stridden more than 10 m forward like riding the wind.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had arrived at the hillside. Zhang Tie directly jumped off the hillside from the height of 50-60 m. After landing on the foot of the mountain, he felt stepping on a huge resilient jelly. Closely after that, he sprung up 50 m high. Then, he landed and sprung up once again...


    ''Argh...'' Zhang Tie exclaimed out of excitement like how a kid played on a trampoline. Each time he sprung up would he casually stretch or roll himself and do various movements. After a few times, he didn''t spring up anymore; instead, he kept running on the land as fast as a lightning bolt...


    After half an hour, Zhang Tie suddenly gritted his teeth as he activated a senior rapidly moving rune...


    Within 0.01 second after he activated the senior rapidly moving rune, Zhang Tie saw a big tree rushing towards him as fast as a lightning bolt...


    "Dodge away..." Zhang Tie roared towards that "huge tree which flashed in his vision".


    Of course, the big tree would not dodge away itself...


    Thus...


    A thunder-like boom sounded in Castle of Black Iron, waking up all the villagers who were sleeping soundly in the town.


    Heller revealed a smile at the sight of the distance on the top of the mountain, ''Castle Lord really made a wise choice this time. The Rapidly moving skill plus the Kuafu bloodline would exert its power to the utmost after being driven by the powerful physical strength. But I''m afraid that Castle Lord has to adapt to such a high speed. Thanks to his knight''s consciousness, he will not have any problem with it.''


    No more special sounds occurred in Castle of Black Iron after the loud boom.


    ...


    Until 2 hours later...


    With another boom, Zhang Tie appeared on the grassland in that courtyard on the top of the mountain in a very majestic look. A pair of pits as deep as 16 cm appeared under his feet...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie looked completely like a beggar in shabby clothes. He raised his shoes from the pits and found that one sole had disappeared.


    With a big smile, Zhang Tie took off the pair of worn shoes and threw them away.


    "I''m going to bed. Wake me up after 24 hours. I will f*ck those sons of bitches in Mocco City!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie returned to his room and fell asleep instantly...


    [1] Kuafu, an ancient Hua people which liked to chase after sun and moon.

 657 A Dead City

    Chapter 657: A Dead City


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the moonlight, a black small beetle flew over ridges, woods, cliffs, grasslands, rivers swiftly...


    This time, Zhang Tie felt much easier in flight.


    As this small beetle enjoyed various variant plant fruits in Castle of Black Iron these days, it looked spirited and excited everyday.


    With the cultivation and management of Heller, many of those fruits that Zhang Tie threw in Castle of Black Iron a few years ago had completed variation. Some fruits became completely inedible after variation while some became more yummy. According to Heller, those yummy fruits contained more aura values.


    These days, the black beetle became the frequent visitor of that variant strawberry farm on the mountain in Castle of Black Iron. It would eat a lot of variant strawberries over there everyday. When Zhang Tie called it, the little thing drilled out of a strawberry with a sweet juice all over its body.


    The little thing was very happy as it indeed treated Castle of Black Iron as the paradise.


    Zhang Tie was happy too.


    Therefore, even though Zhang Tie was going to make another raid in Mocco City at this moment, he still felt pretty relaxed.


    With an upsurging battle force, Zhang Tie became more calm. Zhang Tie didn''t care whether Mocco City was collapsed or not. After all, he could not alter the overall situation alone. This time, Zhang Tie had three targets: first, he wanted to get one wing demons'' fruit of source and one iron-armored demons'' fruit of source; second, he determined to exterminate Senel Clan. Even though he could not clean Senel Clan completely but this time, he aimed to damage their foundation at least; third, Zhang Tie expected to kill another knight of Three-eye Association or demons, which would be great.


    During the process of killing that knight of Three-eye Association, Zhang Tie remembered a very interesting board game, the process of which was determined by throwing dices, that he used to play with other students when he was in Blackhot City. In the game, if an inferior player could kill the Boss by skipping a rank, according to the calculating rules of the bonus of the game, the player would become rich at once.


    After killing that knight of Three-eye Association, Zhang Tie felt like killing the Boss in the board game. With the rich reward, his battle force was greatly improved.


    Zhang Tie returned along the route that he came to the valley.


    Even though it was already a few days, Zhang Tie could still see the traces of the battle of the two knights.


    When he came to Mocco City, Zhang Tie was startled as many big fires had not died out. However, compared to those big fires, the colorful smoke that covered this city were brighter.


    The north city gate of Mocco City had been covered with corpses, which belched the most weird smoke.


    When Zhang Tie saw the smoke, a word occurred to his mind¡ª¡ªpoison!


    Zhang Tie dared not enter the smoke. Instead, he flew above them and started to observe them.


    The smoke came from those rotten corpses. Compared to that of a few days ago, those corpses of demonized puppets had been rotten completely, especially those corpses of demonized puppets which were piled up, which turned into a rotten mire while dirty fluid flew everywhere with a heavy stink. Meanwhile, bubbles broke out from those corpses constantly, releasing a colorful gas.


    Zhang Tie realized that it was a terrifying ptomaine.


    The closer he was to the downtown, the more corpses of demonized puppets would he see. Each corpse of demonized puppet became a source of ptomaine. All the sources of ptomaines turned the entire Mocco City into a huge gas chamber.


    On the almost ruined urban streets, Zhang Tie saw numerous corpses of demonized puppets. Although many of them had no scars, given their extremely grim looks, Zhang Tie knew that they were poisoned to death. Some of them even maintained the posture to tear open their necks and windpipes, which looked pretty terrifying.


    There were also corpses of human fighters among them. However, compared to that of demonized puppets, Zhang Tie could see evident injuries and damages on human corpses. He could also judge that all of those human fighters fought to the death.


    There were more than 1 million of corpses of demonized puppets, fighting to the death or being poisoned to death and about hundreds of thousands of corpses of human fighters in Mocco City.


    The entire city had already become a dead city full of corpses. Because of those corpses which were releasing ptomaine, although demons corps had occupied this place, they could still not take this place as their stronghold and supply base.


    After circling around the city, Zhang Tie didn''t see any alive demonized puppet at all. It was so quiet in the downtown that he could not even hear the barks of strayed dogs or meows of strayed cats.


    Watching the scene, Zhang Tie instantly recalled an unsentimental, arrogant woman in a black robe¡ª¡ªTirsiris, the terrifying voodoo pharmacist who was awarded as the Snake of Selnes.


    When Zhang Tie came to Mocco City last time, he even encountered this woman in the Demon Hunters Bar. When the city was besieged by the demonized puppets corps, this woman disappeared. Zhang Tie thought that she had already left. It was really out of his imagination that the woman always stayed in Mocco City and gave such a "great" gift to the demonized puppets corps when they occupied this city.


    Even Zhang Tie felt chilly about such a brutal means.


    Watching the tomb-like city, Zhang Tie realized how terrifying was a voodoo pharmacist for the first time. Each voodoo pharmacist was the most terrifying biochemical weaponeer. ''I''ve just poisoned two b*stards of red-scarf burglars since I was born.'' Compared to such a scene, it was like the fireflies in front of the bright moon.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to recognize the great effect of the poison on the battlefield.


    Perhaps such ptomaine was nothing severe for powerhouses as they could directly leave when they found it; however, it was lethal to millions of common human fighters and demonized puppets.


    After circling around the downtown for a short while, Zhang Tie flew towards the warehouses of allied human forces in the city. He wanted to see whether he could get something there. Zhang Tie remembered that there were piles of materials a few days ago. Zhang Tie even thought about teleporting them into Castle of Black Iron before the city fell instead of seeing them falling in the hands of demons.


    The warehouses were covered with ptomaine. It seemed that the warehouses were the last stronghold of urban garrisons. Zhang Tie saw the fortifications and a great number of corpses of human fighters near those warehouses. By contrast, there were more corpses of demonized puppets. Zhang Tie realized that a fierce battle happened here.


    The warehouse''s area of food had been burned into ruins while the food had turned into black carbon slags. Similarly, the warehouse''s area of weapons had turned into plain ruins, which was covered with fragmented corpses of demonized puppets. There were even some terrifying huge pits on the ground in the center of the warehouses. At the sight of those huge pits, Zhang Tie imagined how some alchemist''s bombs exploded there.


    The human fighters near the warehouses resisted demonized puppets until the last moment; additionally, they destroyed the entire warehouses'' area with the alchemist''s bombs that were stored in the warehouses. It was hard to measure the loss of the demonized puppets corps; however, after such explosions, it was also hard to imagine how many available weapons could still be explored from the ruins.


    Watching such a tragic scene, Zhang Tie felt complicated. He also felt fortunate about avoiding from such a destruction; at the same time, he showed his respect to these human fighters who defended the warehouses at the cost of their lives. If he had rushed over here and plundered all these items away before the city fell, such explosions might not even happen.


    ''It seems that it''s predestined.''


    Many human fighters had already fought to death here. Given the quantity of the human corpses here, Zhang Tie predicted that a part of human fighters had broken out of the city.


    When Zhang Tie prepared to leave Mocco City and continued to fly southwards, a team of wing demons flew over Zhang Tie''s head.


    When he saw those wing demons, Zhang Tie instantly realized that he had been noticed by them. Until those wing demons flew over his head rapidly did Zhang Tie realize that he was just a trivial beetle, ''How could those wing demons pay attention to a beetle?'' Zhang Tie smiled.


    After leaving Mocco City a few miles, those wing demons started to hover above an area. Closely after that, they dove sharply downwards with shrill sounds. In a split second, Zhang Tie had witnessed gleaming luster of battle qi and booms in the area where the wing demons hovered above...


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he hurriedly accelerated towards that place.

 658 A Reality Show

    Chapter 658: A Reality Show


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Those wing demons hovered above a skyscraper which had more than 30 floors. There were a signboard of a shopping center and a signboard of the hotel below the skyscraper. After this city became a theater of operations, everything in this city had been ruined except for the skyscraper being composed of steel bars and cement.


    Zhang Tie saw two people over there, a familiar one, Scala and a half strange one, Tirsiris.


    After a few weeks, Tirsiris in a black robe and black hair was still aggressive and unsentimental, who looked exceptionally charming under the moonlight. A wisp of fresh blood flew off her mouth corners; however, this woman still raised her head and watched her opponent with an icy look. By contrast, her skin looked pretty white which contained a killing intent...


    There were already 3 corpses of demonized puppets lying on her side. Half of the corpses were slowly melting into a pond of blood. Although the other wing demons were hovering and shrieking in the sky, they dared not dive towards her any longer.


    Scala stood 20 m away from Tirsiris. Narrowing his eyes, he was watching the woman while his battle qi was faintly rolling. One of his sleeves had already fallen on the ground. Being weird, his sleeve on the ground was bluish green, which was different than his black warrior costume and another sleeve.


    Glancing at the sleeve, then the wing demons who had gradually melted into a pond of blood, Scala looked a bit scared.


    Scala and Tirsiris then just faced each other on the roof of the deserted 6-storey shopping center.


    "Tirsiris, you cannot escape. None of those who oppose demons and Three-eye Association could escape. Additionally, you''ve not recovered your old injuries. Now you have new injuries. We''ve spent a lot of efforts in catching you these days. I''ve not imagined that you''re still hiding in Mocco City. How fortunate I am!" Scala said.


    "Really? You can try it once again. Even if I couldn''t escape, it would be no problem for me to have someone accompany me to the death!" The woman said arrogantly while whipping her hair. Even at this critical moment, the woman still maintained calm while her voice was womanly, hoarse and wild.


    Watching the woman whipping her hair, Scala hurriedly moved his body to dodge away. However, he found the woman didn''t attack him at all.


    Seeing his intense look, Tirsiris revealed a sarcastic and disdainful look.


    Scala didn''t take anything for granted. He had just experienced the terror of this woman. This woman could launch an attack or release poison gas through any part of her body. After being struck by this woman, the outcome would be unimaginable, which could be seen from the wing demons on the ground whose bones had been melt.


    "Perhaps, we can make a deal!"


    "Deal what?" Tirsiris narrowed her eyes at once.


    "You can surrender to us!"


    "No way!"


    "How about giving me your evolved ptomaine miasma? You give it to me, I will let you go!" Scala revealed a smile.


    "You know that?" Tirsiris asked as a killing intent flashed across her eyes.


    "You destroyed our plan in Misty Woods last time. This is the second time. If we still didn''t know that your ptomaine miasma had evolved once, our Senel Clan would be too incompetent!" Scala replied as a weird light flashed across his eyes, "I remember that your ptomaine miasma was not that destructive in the underground space of Misty Woods. This time, your ptomaine miasma not only turned it into a dead city, but also caused a great loss to us. If Senel Clan didn''t create conditions for you in the underground space last time, your ptomaine miasma would not complete its evolution. Therefore, you leave the ptomaine miasma here, and I will let you go. It''s a fair trade!"


    "You want my ptomaine miasma?" Tirsiris revealed a sneer as he suddenly threw a vial onto the ground, which was only 10 m away from both of them, "Take it if you want. Can I leave now?"


    Watching the vial, Scala became hesitated at once...


    ...


    After landing on a rail being far away from the two people, Zhang Tie found the two people didn''t notice him; therefore, he moved his attention to those wing demons hovering above the skyscraper.


    Hovering about 50 m above the top of the skyscraper, those wing demons dared not descend. It seemed that they were monitoring Tirsiris in case that she escaped away once again.


    While being gazed by a team of demonized puppets, if she did not run faster than wing demons'' flight speed, she would hardly dodge away from them. To a certain degree, the demonized puppets were indeed the best scouts of demons.


    Zhang Tie counted those hovering wing demons using his index finger and became excited.


    There were totally 21 wing demons; a LV 10 wing demon and 20 LV 9 wing demons. However, he only needed to kill another 17 wing demons to make his first fruit of source ripe. What a surprise!


    Even though he was incarnated into a beetle, Zhang Tie still swallowed his saliva forcefully.


    ''How could I kill those wing demons then?''


    Zhang Tie rolled his eyes as he glanced over the roof of the shopping mall. Finally, he focused on the main building of this skyscraper which was linked with this shopping mall. These wing demons were flying about several storeys above the top of that main building.


    After seeing that Tirsiris dropped a vial onto the ground, Zhang Tie didn''t waste time any longer. He flapped his wings and arrived at the back of that skyscraper after making a detour. After that, he elevated his height.


    Only after 10 seconds, the small insect had entered a disordered, hidden room on the 22nd storey of the skyscraper through an air vent.


    It seemed to be an office storey; however, nobody was inside it now while it was scattered with paper and furniture and broken files which were covered with dust.


    The room where Zhang Tie entered was a conference room. There were some broken chairs and a set of sofa. Realizing that nobody was in the room, Zhang Tie instantly entered Castle of Black Iron; almost at the same time, his original body walked out of Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie carried the shell-shaped equipment which was filled with axes while holding 2 axes by his hands. It was pitch-dark in the storey; however, Zhang Tie was not influenced by that because of his dark vision. Instead, it became Zhang Tie''s best cover. Zhang Tie licked his lips silently as he fumbled towards the other end of this storey as agile as a civet cat. After opening two half-closed doors, Zhang Tie had already come to an office which contained nothing but some wooden partitions. It occupied more than 1,000 square meters.


    When Zhang Tie entered the office, Zhang Tie heard a loud collision from downstairs while the wing demons'' shrill shrieks outside the windows of this office grew louder. Two wing demons even flashed through the floor-to-ceiling windows outside the office.


    Zhang Tie revealed a grim look as he immediately came to one side door of the balcony, from where, he could see all the wing demons flying below his eyes while watching the battle on the ground. The distance between them and Zhang Tie varied from 10 m to 100 m.


    Based on Zhang Tie''s previous spiritual energy, he might find that those wing demons were hovering rapidly; however, based on his current spiritual energy, with the knight''s consciousness, he realized that those wing demons were crawling as slowly as a tortoise in the sky.


    At such a short distance, these wing demons almost became the dish in Zhang Tie''s bowl. Therefore, Zhang Tie just opened the side door and entered the balcony.


    At the same time, the side door made a faint "cracking" sound, which aroused the attention of a close wing demon at once. The wing demon noticed that Zhang Tie was revealing a faint sneer...


    The moment the wing demon opened its mouth and wanted to utter a shrill shriek had Zhang Tie launched the attack.


    "Go die!" Zhang Tie narrowed his eyes as he instantly threw out the 9 axes, including the 2 in his hands and the 7 on his back. If the 9 axes were like javelin boomerangs two weeks ago, now, with the knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie felt like casting a net, an extremely sharp, changing net composed of flying axes.


    The moment Zhang Tie launched the attack had the two people on the top of the shopping center realized the abnormal phenomenon below them. As they didn''t know who was there, they both thought that it was the opponent''s helper. Out of caution, they hurriedly jumped away. At the same time, they raised their heads and looked up...


    There were 2 moons, one was semicircular while the other was like a sickle...


    Under the moonlights of the two bright moons, Scala instantly saw another 9 moons flying and splitting wing demons'' bodies one after another in the sky like spirits.


    In the blink of an eye, the fresh blood, headless corpses of wing demons had fallen down from the sky like transplanting rice seedlings into the field. Most of them fell on the top of the shopping center.


    The LV 10 wing demon who was farthest from Zhang Tie struggled in vain. Finally, the 9 moons split his body into a pile of fleshes from different directions like butterflies. Before the fleshes fell down had Zhang Tie appeared on the top of the shopping center with a "boom". Watching Scala, Zhang Tie smiled, "Long time no see..."


    "Zhang Tie!" Scala said Zhang Tie''s name while gritting his teeth.


    At this moment, the moons that had cleaned all the wing demons in the sky returned to Zhang Tie''s metal shell from a height of more than 50 m like spirits, causing consecutive cracking sounds...


    After that, the blood rain fell down...


    Zhang Tie would never dare to do that before. He could have those axes fly back in his hands; however, he could not have all the 9 axes fly back into that shell-shaped equipment on his back automatically. With any mistake, for instance, If one ax flew by his neck, it would be a tragedy. Whereas, under the control and domination of the knight''s consciousness, it was easy for Zhang Tie to do this. When his physical strength and skills met the requirements, those things which could be easily done by knights were also easy for Zhang Tie...


    At the sight of this scene, Tirsiris'' eyes brightened up at once. However, Scala contracted his pupils at the same time...

 659 Chopping a Powerful Enemy

    Chapter 659: Chopping a Powerful Enemy


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Standing on the top of the shopping center, Scala saw a calm and confident look from Zhang Tie''s eyes...


    The headless corpses and fleshes of wing demons that fell down from the sky like rain was the best certificate of Zhang Tie''s battle force. Scala knew that even he could not kill so many wing demons in such a way in such a short period. Although the ax boomerangs were sharp weapons, Scala had never seen anyone who could use them in such a high realm.


    Zhang Tie cleaned all the wing demons, LV 9 or LV 10 in the blink of an eye like slaughtering livestock.


    ''A guy who was almost killed by me a few days ago could still stand calmly in front of me at this moment. He must have a powerhouse on his back.'' Scala felt a bit dangerous. However, he forgot about this hypothesis at once as he didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could make any great progress. ''He''s promoted to a higher level at most. So what? How could a LV 11 Tirsiris and a LV 12 Zhang Tie defeat me?'' Scala mumbled.


    ''If not Tirsiris who has terrifying voodoo skill and weird movements, I''ve long caught her. As to Zhang Tie.'' Scala sneered, ''His flying axes might be sharp; however, it''s still not enough for him to deal with me. But he went downstairs so fast just now that I couldn''t see it clearly. Perhaps because I paid too much attention to Tirsiris just now.''


    ''Zhang Tie''s too cunning and dangerous. He might want to stress me by showing himself in this way; after that, he will save this woman.''


    The light flashed across Tirsiris'' eyes didn''t escape from Scala''s eyes. After capturing Tirsiris'' abnormal look, Scala realized that Tirsiris and Zhang Tie might have long known each other or have any intimate relationship. That was why Zhang Tie appeared in this way and wanted to save her. ''In Misty Woods, soon after Zhang Tie appeared had this woman arrived to make troubles. This time, when this woman is in trouble, Zhang Tie also jumps out. It seems that they have a special relationship.''


    Thinking about this, Scala gradually calmed down. He looked at Zhang Tie, then Tirsiris and thought about killing the two troubles at the same time.


    Of course, if Zhang Tie knew what Scala was thinking about at this moment, he would roll his eyes at once. ''As Scala is too smart, he might make simple things complex sometimes.''


    Actually, Zhang Tie only thought it was the best time for him to kill Scala. Perhaps Zhang Tie was not sure whether he could kill Scala alone; however, with one voodoo pharmacist on his side, Scala was already dead in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    "Hahaha..." Scala burst out into laughter after thinking for a few seconds. He didn''t think it was severe after the wing demons were killed by Zhang Tie. Scala slightly adjusted his location to make the three of them form a triangle in case of being attacked from both front and back. Although Zhang Tie''s flying axes were not lethal, they were destructive. Therefore, he had to defend them. ''It seems that I''m lucky today. I see two human heroes, the Selnes Eagle and the Selnes Snake, at the same time. If I killed or captured two of you this time, I would get a lot of rewards!"


    "Idiot!" Zhang Tie rolled his eyes towards Scala. Closely after that, he told Tirsiris, "Beauty, given that we had a drink at the same bar counter, how about killing this b*stard together..." Zhang Tie then glanced at Scala like watching a corpse, especially paying more attention to his waist and the finger rings, "I don'' want to take advantage of you, you can pick his items first, how about that?"


    After killing those wing demons, Zhang Tie did not feel bad. Therefore, he became "generous". Additionally, as he had obtained the items of two knights some days ago, he had a potential greater foresight.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Scala felt that Zhang Tie was swashbuckling. He faintly narrowed his eyes while revealing a faint sneer. At the same time, he felt being filled with killing intent, ''I''ve been cheated by Zhang Tie on the day we attacked Mocco City. How could I fall into the same pit for the second time?''


    "You''re Selnes Eagle?'' Tirsiris asked Zhang Tie as she watched him.


    "Yup!"


    "Can you prove that? As far as I know, Selnes Eagle is a Hua man..."


    Zhang Tie scratched his head as he had not imagined that this woman was so meticulous, "Hmm, I was almost killed by Senel Clan last time. Therefore, I used a concealing medicament when I came back to Selnes Battle Theater of Operations this time..." Zhang Tie told a lie, "It''s easy to prove it. If we can cooperate to kill this guy, it will be the best proof!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Tirsiris'' eyes gleamed as she nodded, "Fine! That ring on his right 3rd finger belongs to me!"


    "No problem!" Zhang Tie waved his hand as he replied generously.


    Hearing the two people treating him as a dead person and discussing the distribution of his personal belongings, Scala burst out laughing out of extreme fury, "I will see how you two kill me..."


    After saying that, Scala launched his attack towards Zhang Tie. In Scala''s opinion, it''s best to kill the weaker one in such a situation. Additionally, Zhang Tie made him restless faintly; he wanted to prove his judgment using his fist.


    The moment Scala moved had the 3 people''s battle started...


    Compared to that a few days ago, Zhang Tie had a different feeling towards Scala who was rushing towards him with a killing intent.


    Several days ago, when Scala rushed towards him, Zhang Tie felt that Scala was moving as fast as a lightning bolt who carried an irresistible powerful qi. At that time, Zhang Tie could not even make any judgment about Scala''s next movement and time. By contrast, at this time, Scala''s movement and aggressiveness remained unchanged compared to that a few days ago; Scala even became more resolute and decisive; however, in Zhang Tie''s eyes, Scala was not that threatening anymore. Besides, Zhang Tie felt that Scala was moving so slow!


    In knight''s consciousness of Zhang Tie, Scala''s movement was not only slow but also resistible. Due to his low speed, he lost his aggressiveness completely. In people''s senses, no matter how powerful the opponent was, as long as the opponent was slow enough, he would lose his threat to you, not to mention any aggressiveness. Therefore, the reason that a fat guy was not terrifying while disguising as a ghost in Halloween laid in his frame, which reminded people of his low speed.


    The terrifying, powerful LV 14 battle demon could never imagine that he became a silly fat disguising as a ghost in the eve of Halloween in the eyes of a person whom he thought was very weak previously.


    When Scala was just 10 m away from Zhang Tie, the LV 14 battle demon''s powerful battle qi flew over Zhang Tie''s body. When Scala thought that he had killed Zhang Tie, he realized that his battle qi had just passed by Zhang Tie''s shadow. However, Zhang Tie had already dodged away from his first attack by striding aside when the battle qi was close to him.


    ''How could that be?''


    Scala almost thought that he was dazzling as Zhang Tie moved too fast, which even shocked Tirsiris who also moved at the same time.


    "Too slow..." Zhang Tie shook his head towards Scala with a sneer.


    "Go die!" Scala roared as he released two battle qi. In a split second, he dodged away from a sharp battle qi from his side which was released by Tirsiris. Scala always paid a high attention to any attack launched by that woman. Even if it was a battle qi, it might also contain some rank poison, which could never be touched by his body.


    Zhang Tie dodged away from Scala''s two battle qi once again. When Scala realized that something was wrong, Zhang Tie had already launched a battle qi towards the part below Scala''s heart.


    It was so fast that Scala was unable to respond to that. As a result, he could only block it with his punch. As the battle qi rightly stroke against Scala''s loophole, Scala had to block it. Whereas, due to poor angle and timing, Scala could only play 30% of his full strength at most.


    With a sound "bang", Scala offset this punch; as a result, he retreated three steps back.


    Before Scala responded, a rain-like battle qi had fallen onto his body...


    At this moment, Scala almost lost his thinking ability...


    Zhang Tie moved so fast that Scala thought that he was not facing Zhang Tie but his own father...


    Moreover, Zhang Tie''s punch skill was extremely sharp and terrifying as each of his punch was launched towards Scala''s loopholes and key joints, making him uneasy to deal with...


    Perhaps Zhang Tie''s battle qi was not as powerful as that of his, however, it was very tricky. Although Scala could break Zhang Tie''s battle qi each time, he could still feel an exceptional destruction even after he broke Zhang Tie''s battle qi attack. Gradually, Scala felt his skin being scorched and painful like being pricked by hot red needles. ''Iron-blood Battle Qi'' such a battle qi skill flashed across Scala''s mind. Only the most famous Iron-blood Battle Qi could be so aggressive across Blackson Humans Corridor.


    Scala felt so bad that he almost wanted to spurt out blood. He found that he could only wait to be beaten when Zhang Tie launched his attack. His aggressiveness was greater than Zhang Tie''s; however, his speed was slower; therefore, he could not strike Zhang Tie. Nevertheless, Zhang Tie could strike him.


    At the beginning, Scala could counterattack Zhang Tie''s battle qi attack a couple of times; however, he gradually found that it became more difficult to launch a counterattack. Each time he tried to launch a counterattack towards Zhang Tie, it was like a boor throwing a boulder towards a fly. If he could make it, of course, he could break Zhang Tie''s body into parts. However, the problem was that he could not make it. The roof of the shopping center was demolished due to Scala''s powerful battle skill. Whereas, Zhang Tie didn''t even lose any of his fine hair.


    ''How could that be? How could Zhang Tie move so fast? How could Zhang Tie find the loopholes in my movements and gestures? His punch skill and battle skill also promoted to a new level. It''s impossible for Zhang Tie to gain such a great speed and ability only after a few days. What happened to Zhang Tie during the past few days?''


    At this moment, Scala remembered those wild oxen who were torn into parts by agile wild wolves in Selnes Plain. Although wild oxen were extremely powerful with sharp horns, they moved too slowly and were not as agile as wild wolves. Therefore, this kind of animal would always be the food of wild wolves.


    Scala found himself a wild ox while Zhang Tie became a wild wolf. Tirsiris was still that terrifying viper. Scala realized that Zhang Tie was able to catch and bite him while Tirsiris kept moving on the edge of the ring with ghost-like steps. Although Tirsiris reduced her striking frequency, she became more threatening. Gradually, Zhang Tie and Tirsiris became more tacit. At the same time, Scala felt an upsurging stress. In the blink of an eye, he was in a dilemma...


    It was not the right moment to ask why; instead, he should consider how to survive himself...


    At this moment, a battle qi luster rushed out of Scala''s body and reached dozens of meters in height. There was an image of burning magic leopard in the luster...


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see Scala''s battle qi totem. Not each cultivator above LV 10 had battle qi totem; instead, many cultivators above LV 10 only had "white board totem".


    "We''re gonna defeat him. He''s asking for help. Kill him as soon as possible before his reinforcements arrive..." Zhang Tie roared as he accelerated his strike...


    After 2 minutes, Scala roared as he blocked Zhang Tie''s punch. As a result, he flew backward horizontally. With the inertia, he jumped off the roof of the shopping center.


    How could Zhang Tie just watch Scala escape under his eyes?


    Zhang Tie immediately released his 9 ax boomerangs towards Scala like a huge net, causing thunder-like booms...


    Trying his best to buffer from his shocking innards, Scala swept away Zhang Tie''s axes with a few punches. However, the ax boomerangs were very annoying, which could not kill him but blocked wherever he arrived. Therefore, he had to treat those powerful axes carefully.


    Soon after he swept away the flying axes had Scala felt his right shin numb. Closely after that, he felt as chilly as ice while a fine needle silently drilled out of his shin through the gap of his armor over his shin.


    ''That woman...''


    Scala glanced at Tirsiris while he found a sneer on her look.


    Chasing after this woman for so many days, Scala didn''t know that this woman could release hidden weapons silently until now. If he fought this woman alone, he would never be wounded by this woman''s hidden weapons. But now...


    Scala suddenly remembered that the flying axes were completely silent when Zhang Tie tossed out them for the first time, ''But he caused such loud sounds with his flying axes just now. Did he intend to make me perplexed?''


    ''A voodoo pharmacist''s hidden weapon? I''m over. That dead woman...''


    Scala''s eyes turned bloody at once while he charged towards Tirsiris, "I will kill you..."


    The moment he moved had he found that his battle qi was frozen all over, making him faintly stagnated in 0.1 s.


    However, such a transient moment was enough for Zhang Tie to find his loopholes. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, Scala''s face almost turned into dark green in a split second.


    "Go die!"


    7 Iron-blood Battle Qi broke Scala''s helmet and stroke onto his body at the same time.


    Scala kept spurting blood out of his mouth. Zhang Tie caught an ax boomerang and flashed through Scala''s body as fast as the light...


    Zhang Tie moved so fast that he didn''t stop until he drew a long trench with the ax on the steel-concrete...


    The battle came to an end...


    Zhang Tie looked back and found that Scala was watching him. Although Scala was moving his lips, seemingly asking why he couldn''t utter a sound in the end; instead, he was chopped into three sections and scattered on the ground.


    ''I''ve killed Scala? I finally have killed Scala?'' Zhang Tie became stunned for a few seconds as he didn''t believe that he could do that until now...


    At this moment, a meteor flashed towards here from afar, which had already flown over the south city wall of Mocco City which was less than 3 miles away from here. At the sight of that light, Zhang Tie changed his face at once. He put away his ax boomerangs immediately. After that, he rushed to Scala''s side and took off all the finger rings and valuable items on Scala''s corps. Meanwhile, he shouted at the woman, "Hurry, leave out of here, a demon knight is coming!"


    Watching Zhang Tie, the woman faintly frowned. Closely after that, her face blushed as a wisp of blood flew out of her mouth corner. After letting out a sigh, she laid on the ground...


    ''F*ck!'' Zhang Tie swore inside.


    Zhang Tie rushed to her side and instantly cradled her and ran away...

 660 Escaped by a Trick

    Chapter 660: Escaped by a Trick


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie knew that that knight had already paid attention to this place when he entered Mocco City. However, due to the colorful ptomaine miasma which was covering Mocco City like a dense fog, the knight''s vision was covered partly. As a result, he could not see what happened here clearly.


    Even for the time being, Zhang Tie knew that he could still not match knights on speed, although his speed was much faster than that of Scala. Additionally, he was carrying a female.


    The moment Scala''s battle qi totem disappeared had that knight realized that something was wrong as he accelerated towards here abruptly.


    Zhang Tie was also moving rapidly. Closely after he cradled Tirsiris had he stridden onto the ground from the top of the 6-storey shopping center with the effect of the ancestral bloodlines that he had awakened and the rapidly moving skill.


    The moment he landed on the ground had he sprung up and come to the north of that skyscraper.


    The knight headed towards them after flying over the south city wall. Zhang Tie then came to the north of the skyscraper, from where he could cover himself and Tirsiris by that skyscraper and that ptomaine miasma while on the same line with that knight.


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had already rushed out more than 100 m. After that, he picked up a piece of broken tile and threw it towards the low residential area in the block ahead.


    The rotating tiles uttered sharp sonic booms like how a powerhouse friction with the air when he escaped at the full speed. With Zhang Tie''s delicate throwing skill, the piece of broken tile made two turns along the direction of the alley in the air...


    When Zhang Tie threw out that piece of broken tile, he applied a senior hiding rune on both him and that woman in his cradle. Closely after that, he returned to the foot of the skyscraper in a few seconds along the route that he came from. After that, he jumped onto a balcony of a room on the 3rd storey of the skyscraper while cradling that woman by one hand. The moment he touched the balcony had he covered that pair of obscure footprints with his battle qi.


    Zhang Tie entered the skyscraper secretly once again. Closely after that, he rushed upstairs like a curl of smoke. Each step he moved upward would he cover his footprint with Iron-blood Battle Qi.


    There were stairs in the skyscraper. Zhang Tie flashed upstairs, one step for a half floor. Although the stairs were covered with dust and some sundries, Zhang Tie could still silently dodge away from them carefully in his dark vision.


    Zhang Tie strode over 20 steps and arrived at the 13th floor, namely the middle floor of this skyscraper. He then flashed into a room on that floor and hid there with that woman.


    It was a deserted, messy office of a company or a commercial organization which contained some abandoned desks for business. Zhang Tie and Tirsiris hid in the empty space below the desk on the left side the moment they entered the office. Even If someone entered, he could still not easily find Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie applied his senior hiding rune to Tirsiris, she actually had already woken up. Although keeping her eyes closed, she could still sense that Zhang Tie was playing a trick who returned to the skyscraper again after leaving out of there.


    The moment Zhang Tie squatted down in the empty space of the desk had they became close to each other. Tirsiris was completely sitting on the place between Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen and his thigh and was in Zhang Tie''s cradle.


    "Hurry, put me down!" Tirsiris murmured to Zhang Tie as she twisted her body in Zhang Tie''s cradle.


    "Hush..." Zhang Tie made a hand gesture with a solemn look as he pointed at outside and murmured, "Don''t move, don''t talk if you don''t want to die!"


    Tirsiris shot a killing intent through her eyes. At the same time, she moved her fingers while one black fine needle appeared in her hand. The fine needle could touch Zhang Tie at any time...


    However, Zhang Tie was closing his eyes and quivering his ears. He was evidently observing the situation outside the skyscraper.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s look, the killing intent in Tirsiris eyes disappeared. However, she didn''t put the fine needle back. When she wanted to say something, she heard a sharp sonic boom from outside, which landed on the top of the shopping center where they fought Scala just now.


    Tirsiris instantly closed her eyes. She even dared not breathe.


    Until then did Tirsiris realize the marvel of the secret method that Zhang Tie had applied to her just now. She knew that she was alive while her heart was beating; however, she could not hear her heart beat and that powerful rhythm. Additionally, she felt that the body temperature of her and Zhang Tie had cooled down and became as same as that of the surrounding environment. However, she didn''t feel uncomfortable at all.


    Tirsiris knew that it ought to be a secret skill which was used to conceal one''s body and qi.


    With a roar outside, the knight seemed to have found Scala''s corpse. Closely after that, another sonic boom occurred while the knight headed northwards.


    After a few minutes, with the 3rd sonic boom, the knight came back. After circling a short while around the skyscraper, it landed on the roof of the shopping center. After 10 seconds, the sonic boom headed southwards...


    After 10 minutes, when there was no sound outside, Zhang Tie and Tirsiris let out a sigh at the same time.


    When the knight arrived here, it indeed chased northwards as Zhang Tie had predicted. After finding no target, the knight returned and checked the skyscraper. However, it didn''t find any trace here; therefore, it could only leave out of here. Scala''s corpse probably had been taken away by the demon knight. If not, Scala''s corpse would finally become a pool of rotten fester which produced ptomaine like the corpses of other demonized puppets.


    "Sweetie, can you put away your needle? We''re not in the hospital. I don''t want to have an injection." Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he glanced at that woman in his cradle.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether this woman had sensed it just now. Zhang Tie felt a strange spiritual wave when the knight circled around this skyscraper for the second time; however, the knight didn''t find any problem. It seemed that the senior hiding rune could indeed cheat the spiritual consciousness of the knight to a certain degree.


    The woman threw a glance at Zhang Tie. After that, she moved her hands away and concealed her needle at once.


    "I''ve not imagined that you could make a narrow escape even at this moment!"


    "It''s us. If I didn''t escape away, you wouldn''t either. As the old saying goes, the safety always lies in the most dangerous place. That knight would never imagine about our trick. Actually, we''ve not left yet at all!"


    "Aren''t you afraid that he would come back and search over this place again?"


    "He''s a knight, not a granny who''s cleaning the skyscraper. If a knight indeed wants to search over each room of the skyscraper which consists of dozens of storeys, I will admit that it''s really great!" Zhang Tie answered in a relaxed way as he was not worried about that at all. If that knight really did that, Zhang Tie would flash in Castle of Black together with this woman the moment that knight entered this room and found them. In the worst scenario, he would keep this woman living in Castle of Black Iron for the rest of her life. In that case, as he had saved the woman''s life, Zhang Tie would not feel guilty about that at all.


    "You''re brave!"


    "Nothing like that. I was just making a bet. Do you have any other methods except for this one in that case?" Zhang Tie asked as he stood up while cradling that woman. The woman struggled in Zhang Tie''s cradle for a while before ordering, "Let me off!"


    Zhang Tie instantly loosened his hands, dropping the woman to the ground.


    With a "muffled sound..." Tirsiris watched Zhang Tie with a bashful and furious look, "B*stard..."


    "You told me to let you off. I''m always selfless. I don''t offend woman; neither would I bully people when they are in a disadvantageous state. If not the emergency just now, I would even have a blush on my face when I touched your hand!" Zhang Tie shrugged with an innocent look.


    Tirsiris wanted to pick herself up; however, after a faint struggle, her face blushed once again. It seemed that she had not fully recovered in such a short period. After struggling twice, seeing Zhang Tie looking at him with crossed arms, she glared at Zhang Tie as she gritted her teeth, "Pull me up!"


    "Doesn''t a female need to use the word ''please'' if she wants to invite a gentleman for help?"


    "Could...you...give...me...a...hand...please?" Tirsiris squeezed out the words one after another with burning eyes.


    "It''s my pleasure!" Zhang Tie stretched out his hand and pulled her up from the ground.


    After standing up, Tirsiris fumbled over her body and took out of a vial of medicament. She opened its lid and bottomed it up.


    Zhang Tie glanced at that medicament before revealing a smile as it was all-purpose medicament...


    After watching Tirsiris taking that medicament, Zhang Tie took out that finger ring which he took off from Scala''s right middle finger and threw it to Tirsiris without even glancing at it.


    Finding that Zhang Tie still followed the agreement that they made before, Tirsiris'' eyes gleamed, ''Although this guy is disgusting, he''s barely reassuring and masculine.


    "Don''t you want to know the usage of this finger ring?"


    "It doesn''t matter. It''s just a rare rune finger ring at most. Now that you''ve told me that this item belongs to you. I will not go back on my promise and rob a woman''s belonging!"


    Holding the finger ring, Tirsiris became silent for a few seconds before saying, "I want to make a deal with you..."


    ...

 661 The Dark Parliamen

    Chapter 661: The Dark Parliament


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "A deal?" Zhang Tie glanced at Tirsiris before revealing a jeering smile, "Is there anything on you worth attractive to me? If I wanted it, I''ve long gotten it!"


    "Don''t you want to know what I want?" Tirsiris asked patiently.


    "Fine, go ahead!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    "Do you know what Three-eye Association want from me?"


    "No!"


    "Ptomaine miasma. It''s a very terrifying poison. It could spread with corpses as the media; it could constantly turn the living things into corpses and make them new sources!"


    "Like how Mocco City looks like now?"


    "Yup!" Tirsiris nodded. As she had just started to recover, she still looked a bit pale, "Ptomaine miasma is a rare poison, which is barely cultivated. After the battles in Misty Woods and Mocco City, my ptomaine miasma had mutated successfully. It''s more destructive to common demonized puppets than before. Additionally, it has a great potential. Besides, it could mutate for the second time. I want to make a deal with you. If you can protect me for the next two months and coordinate with me to complete the second mutation of my ptomaine miasma in Selnes Theater of Operations, I can gift this finger ring to you along with some other benefits, if you like!"


    "Why do you prefer Selnes Theater of Operations?"


    "There are the most corpses in this theater of operations. The more corpses there are, the more raw materials will be and the more bountiful the gene samples of corpses will be and the more possible the mutation of ptomaine miasma will be!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as the entire Selnes Plain had almost become a land of terror which was piled with numerous corpses of human fighters and demonized puppets. Perhaps this explained why this woman stayed here.


    "Why me?"


    "It was out of my imagination that you could escape from a knight''s chase and kill a LV 14 battle demon with me. You have the ability to make a deal with me!" Tirsiris recovered her arrogance.


    "Hmm, I have another question. Who are you? Where are you from? Each voodoo pharmacist is well-known, but I''ve not heard about you before. I don''t remember there''s a figure in Blackson Humans Corridor!"


    "Is it related to our deal?" Tirsiris faintly frowned as she was dissatisfied with Zhang Tie''s question.


    "Of course it is. If I promise you, I have to know whom I am working with to complete the mutation of the ptomaine miasma?" Zhang Tie smiled.


    Tirsiris became silent for a short while before putting it straightforwardly, "You''re right, I''m indeed not from Blackson Humans Corridor. I''m from the Western Continent, a member of the Dark Parliament in Western Continent!"


    "The Dark Parliament?" Zhang Tie was stunned. Zhang Tie didn''t feel strange that Tirsiris came from the Western Continent. Due to the special profession of the voodoo pharmacist, it''s impossible to cultivate a voodoo pharmacist without a great amount of investment and a deep background. According to Zhang Tie''s knowledge, this profession originated from pharmacists; only some schools in the Eastern Continent and the Pharmacists Association in the Western Continent could cultivate some voodoo pharmacists. Other places could cultivate one or two voodoo pharmacists at most. Therefore, after knowing that a voodoo pharmacist came to Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie presumed that Tirsiris didn''t come from the Eastern Continent, but from the Western Continent.


    Zhang Tie was not completely right. He had not imagined that Tirsiris was from the Dark Parliament. Zhang Tie only learned something about the Dark Parliament in the Western Continent from some books that were accessible to students at his level when he was in Hidden Dragon Island.


    The Dark Parliament was a mysterious and powerful organization. Those who could join this organization were all elites in Western Continent. The appearance of this organization was closely related to the control of Three-eye Association and demons to Western Continent. Before the Catastrophe, the countries in the Western Continent were all heavily-stricken by Three-eye Association clans and shadow demons. According to the historical record, in a period before the Catastrophe, 3/4 of the royal households in Western Continent had the bloodline of shadow demon. Rulers of over half of the countries across Western Continent originated from Three-eye Association. The force of Three-eye Association and demons almost controlled the entire Western Continent from all aspects, including politics, economy, culture and religious system. In that age, human society had been brainwashed too long by Three-eye Association and demons. Anyone, who dared declare that there were other high-end intelligent species besides humans in the world, would be labeled as lunatic and heretic by the mainstream media. If anyone dared reveal the existence of Three-eye Association would he be framed as being a paranoid and a conspiracy theorist or directly disappear from this world.


    Demons and Three-eye Association almost locked all the information and messages concerning them. In that age, not even one out of a million people believed that demons indeed existed in this world. Additionally, demons were controlling humans on their back. However, few elites and intelligent people in Western Continent still found the existence of demons and Three-eye Association and the truth that they were ruling humans. These elites in Western Continent who awakened first then started to form an association secretly so as to resist the ruling of demons and Three-eye Association towards Western Continent, which was the embryo of Dark Parliament.


    As of now, the Dark Parliament had already developed into a mysterious and powerful organization in Western Continent, which also hid itself like Three-eye Association. However, few people knew where did its tentacles reach. The relationship between this organization and Three-eye Association in Western Continent had almost been concerning about assassination, death, conspiracy, terror, dark, blood and war during the past 1,000 years.


    In Western Continent, the fiercest and the latest collision between Dark Parliament and Three-eye Association happened in the period of the Holy War II, which was known as "Bloody July", also known as "Ten Days of War" or "100-year War"¡ª¡ªon July 6th, the 684th year of Black Iron Calendar, the Dark Parliament cleaned all the Three-eye Association clans in 26 countries across Western Continent, which included 9 royal households, 11 clans of presidents, prime ministers and senior officials, 8 millennium noble clans, 6 clans of business giants and 2 pope''s clans. Within 3 days, all the clans of Three-eye Association were cleaned by the Dark Parliament, regardless of age. As a revenge, on July 15th of the same year, the powerhouses of Three-eye Association and demons raided the headquarter of the Dark Parliament. This time, one speaker, two deputy speakers and over 30 parliamentarians of Dark Parliament fought to the death. As a result, the Dark Parliament was heavily stricken while its secret headquarter also suffered a destructive blow.


    The outcome and aftermath of "Bloody July" were still influencing the situation of Western Continent until 5 decades later. However, the Dark Parliament kept hunting those traitors in the management of Dark Parliament for 136 years. Nobody knew how many people died during this period.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could meet a member of the Dark Parliament. ''Is the Dark Parliament paying attention to the war in Blackson Humans Corridor?'' Zhang Tie shook his head as he smiled, ''It''s not strange. For those continents and forces that have not been involved with the war, it''s normal if they dispatched someone to take a look at the situation of demons in Blackson Humans Corridor. Perhaps someone also came here from the Eastern Continent. For instance, Donder was always staying in Blackhot City and collecting information over there, who didn''t leave until the war broke out. Although Donder had left, his organization and force should also dispatch people here to keep an eye on what''s going on in Blackson Humans Corridor in the future.''


    "How about it, do you agree?" Tirsiris asked Zhang Tie.


    "I''m sorry, I cannot accept this deal!" Zhang Tie replied frankly.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, Tirsiris became stunned for a few seconds. She had not imagined that Zhang Tie would deny her after asking so many questions. ''This b*stard!'' Tirsiris took a deep breath and controlled his fury before asked, "Can you tell me why?"


    "It''s very simple. If I promised you, I would be in a great danger along with you. I''m afraid of death very much. None of your benefits would be more valuable than my life. The greatest guarantee to my life is my freedom." Zhang Tie told Tirsiris with a smile, "You''ve hidden a reason for this deal. Actually, you want to get the secret concealing method that I applied to you just now. After killing Scala, if you continued to stay in Selnes Theater of Operations, Three-eye Association and demons would input greater strength to search for you surely. You''re now a living target. Therefore it''s impossible for me to sustain risks for you with only a bit benefit!"


    Tirsiris narrowed her eyes and thought for a short while. She then slowed her tone, "If my ptomaine miasma completes its mutation once more, it will bring a great loss to demons and demonized puppets corps. Don''t you think that you should do something for that?"


    "It''s nothing to do with my business. Ptomaine miasma doesn''t belong to me. If it is really such important, the Dark Parliament should dispatch a knight to give you a hand. As a human fighter, I think I''ve contributed too much to Selnes Theater of Operations. I will be full of confident wherever I go. Therefore, don''t regard me as a patriotic idiot. I agree with your stance against demons and Three-eye Association; however, it doesn''t mean that I want to risk my life for you. If you need encouragement, I will support you to stay in Selnes Theater of Operations spiritually!"


    "You b*stard!" Tirsiris swore as she had not imagined that Zhang Tie was such a timid guy.


    "Hmm, thanks for your praise!" Zhang Tie said casually with a shrug.


    Tirsiris threw a glare at Zhang Tie as her face became merciless once again. After that, she walked aside. After casually cleaning the floor, she just sat down against the wall with crossed legs and started to recover his injuries. Now that Zhang Tie saved her and didn''t offend her when she lost her capability to resist, she didn''t worry that Zhang Tie would be disadvantageous to her.


    This was where they killed Scala. Additionally, that knight had searched over here. Even though the powerhouses of Three-eye Association and demons wanted to find him and Tirsiris in Mocco City, they would not search here for the second time. Therefore, this place became the safest place in Mocco City. Zhang Tie also wanted to wait here for a while. Even though nothing in Mocco City was worth his nostalgia, if he left out of here now, he might encounter that knight. Therefore, the best way was to stay here for a while. When it was convenient, he would incarnate into a beetle and fly wherever he wanted.


    This room was in the middle storey of the skyscraper which had no windows. Therefore, they were not afraid that light could be seen from outside. It was already deep evening when it grew colder. After throwing a glance at Tirsiris who was dealing with her wounds, Zhang Tie directly removed some wooden slabs and broke an old wooden chair before setting a fire in the room.


    The flames soon drove away the coldness in the room. Being close to the warm flames, Tirsiris gradually looked pale.


    It seemed that Tirsiris'' face looked warmer as she opened her eyes. She found Zhang Tie was sitting beside the bonfire and checking the items that he got from Scala with a money-mad smile. He also smirked now and then, who really looked like a rustic usurer in small countries of Western Continent who had just collected his principal and interest...


    With a "Harrumph...", Tirsiris closed her eyes once again, ''How could such a guy be the Selnes Eagle? How could he be the first one who jumped off the city wall and rushed towards the millions of demonized puppets?


    When she remembered how Zhang Tie had a pee on the city wall and looked at Zhang Tie''s current look, Tirsiris soon labeled Zhang Tie as a reliable guy who was vulgar, cunning, tricky yet would not compromise to demons and Three-eye Association. ''I''ve not been dropped to the ground since I was born.'' Tirsiris gritted her teeth once again as she added one comment to Zhang Tie''s label¡ª¡ªa rude b*stard!

 662 The News

    Chapter 662: The News


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Until then did Zhang Tie have a chance to take out Scala''s belongings and authenticate them.


    Scala wore two finger rings. Zhang Tie threw the one on the right middle finger of Scala to Tirsiris without even looking at it; he kept the one on the left middle finger. After injecting his spiritual energy into it, Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    ''Senel members really have good rune equipments.'' Zhang Tie thought inside.


    Masudra''s Protection¡ª¡ªthis finger ring could increase the recovery speed of the battle qi of the wearer by 15% and the off-body striking distance of battle qi by 8%.


    ''A rare finger ring that could work on battle qi! It could increase the recovery speed of the battle qi of the wearer and the off-body striking distance of battle qi. It''s a quality rune equipment. Besides its strange name, this finger ring is perfect in all aspects. It''s special and delicate in shape. An exotic sapphire as large as a soybean was bitten by two grey wolves, which bent their bodies and formed the ring.


    The moment Zhang Tie put it on did he feel that his qi sea faintly shocked. A weak current flashed into his qi sea from that finger that wore the ring and established a mysterious contact with his qi sea at once. As a result, the Iron-body Battle Qi became active immediately.


    ''Nice, what a nice rune equipment!'' Zhang Tie instantly exclaimed inside.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was wearing three finger rings, namely the rose finger ring that he obtained from the dead knight, the finger ring of consciousness and Sudra''s Protection, the maximal number of rune finger rings that he had ever worn.


    Zhang Tie was told that a knight could only wear 4 rune finger rings at the same time. Below the knight, a person could only wear 3 rune finger rings at the same time. If more, the rune finger rings would lose their effects and become sharply weakened due to mutual effects. Therefore, people below knights could only wear 3 rune finger rings at most.


    After obtaining Sudra''s Protection, Zhang Tie sighed with emotions as he didn''t know whether it was because that he had good fortune or these rune finger rings were commonly seen. Zhang Tie had obtained 5 rune finger rings in total. After selling one and gifting one, he still had 3. With one more, he had to consider when to wear these finger rings.


    ''I wonder about the finger ring of Tirsiris. It seems that the woman is familiar with rune finger rings. Whatever, we''ve killed Scala. Besides one more rune finger ring, I will have one more Fruit of Brilliance at least. As long as I eat that Fruit of Brilliance will I increase my spiritual energy once again. Additionally, the Fruit of Source of wing demons has been ripe. To the final analysis, I''m the biggest winner tonight.''


    Although he killed Scala with the help of Tirsiris, Zhang Tie had a clearer recognition of his battle force. He started to explore his battle style. Furthermore, Zhang Tie realized that it was right for him to consume that Fruit of Bloodline as senior rapidly moving skill, Kuafu Bloodline and Knight''s Consciousness indeed raised his battle force to a new realm.


    Besides the two finger rings, Zhang Tie also got a storage bag from Scala, which included some vials of medicament, a special copper plate and a secret knowledge.


    The copper plate was as delicate as the ID plate of Huaiyuan Palace. It was covered with some beautiful and complex grains and a special pattern which was similar to three crossed tree leaves. However, the metal grains reminded Zhang Tie of the ID code of a difference engine. ''Now that Scala carried it, it must be useful. I will keep it.'' Zhang Tie mumbled.


    The secret knowledge was a colorful diamond-shaped crystal which was wrapped with the metal. Commoners who had not seen a secret knowledge above LV 10 before would take it as a special crystal pendant for sure.


    After injecting some spiritual energy into the crystal secret knowledge, Zhang Tie saw some bloody Hua characters in his mind¡ª¡ªSoul Capture and Seclusion Skill


    ''A Hua secret knowledge?'' Zhang Tie was stunned.


    When the characters "Soul Capture and Seclusion Skill" faded away, another 2 lines of words appeared.


    ¡ª¡ªSecret Knowledge from Bloody Soul Temple of Taixia Country.


    ¡ª¡ªThis secret knowledge''s contents are locked by a secret knowledge. If your spiritual energy could not reach the level of a battle spirit, please don''t watch or cultivate it in case of destroying yourself.


    Below the above 2 lines were some chaotic information, which were like reading records. It contained that someone wanted to read the contents of this secret knowledge; however, he failed after several times'' attempts. Although his spiritual energy improved each time he attempted, he didn''t make it.


    When Zhang Tie remembered that Scala was still opening his eyes even after being killed, Zhang Tie understood it at once, ''Scala must have obtained this secret knowledge from some place. Although he wanted to cultivate it, he couldn''t do it due to his poor spiritual energy. In this age, Hua language became popular. Even though in Blackson Humans Corridor, almost all the top-class figures could speak a bit Hua language. Some of them were even in proficient in Hua language. Therefore, it was not strange if Scala knew Hua language.''


    After that message, an image of 15 huge golden locks being locked with each other appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind. Zhang Tie had already known that he had to unlock 15 locks using his spiritual energy through the former information before reading and cultivating this secret knowledge. According to the latest records, someone had opened 13-14 locks in the latest times. However, as he failed to open the last one, he couldn''t start his cultivation of this secret knowledge as a result.


    Zhang Tie glanced at Tirsiris who was closing her eyes in recuperation. He then put away that secret knowledge silently.


    ''It''s not the right moment to cultivate the secret knowledge. If this beauty finds out that there''s such a thing in the storage bag, she might have other thoughts. Therefore, I''d better be low-key.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    "What''s that? It seems that you have a nice harvest." Tirsiris asked the moment Zhang Tie put away the secret knowledge.


    "It''s a secret knowledge called Stormwind Steps. Do you want it? We can exchange!" Zhang Tie disguised to take out that secret knowledge.


    "Harrumph, no need!" Tirsiris raised her head arrogantly.


    "You must need this. As it''s also our common booty, you can have one!" Zhang Tie then threw a vial of medicament towards her from the storage bag.


    It was a vial of medium recovery medicament. After catching it, Tirsiris took a look at it before throwing it back to Zhang Tie. At the same time, she said, "No need..."


    "Bite the hand that feeds you!" Zhang Tie muttered. This woman''s guts might have been wounded by Scala''s battle qi. Her spiritual energy and battle qi were dwarfed to a certain degree. Although the all-purpose medicament was good, medium recovery medicament was better at this moment. It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that this beauty didn''t even appreciate his kindness. ''Whatever, this father gets one more vial of medicament then.''


    "What are you mumbling?" Tirsiris who had been talking with Zhang Tie in the Hebrew language suddenly asked Zhang Tie in Hua language


    "Hahahaha, nothing, nothing, I mean you''re a hero!" Zhang Tie put away the vial of that medicament as he thumbed up towards Tirsiris with a big smile.


    Tirsiris became speechless as she could only glare at him before ignoring him.


    "I was in recuperation a few days ago. Therefore I don''t know what happened outside these days. Can you tell me about that?" Zhang Tie asked shamelessly.


    "Why do I tell you?"


    "We can make a deal. You tell me what happened here these days, I will tell you where has the most corpses in Selnes Plain!"


    "You know that?"


    "Don''t forget about my honor. I''ve been trapped by Senel Clan once and escaped all the way here from the north, the area under the control of demons to the south. I dare say that very few people across Selnes Theater of Operations knows better than me about the situation in the north!"


    Tirsiris then watched Zhang Tie for a few seconds, "Fine, what do you want to know?"


    "Tell me everything that you know, such as how are the human troops that broke out of Mocco City and Sladic City and where have the demons reached?"


    "The human troops that broke out of Mocco City and Sladic City encountered the raid of demons corps on the way and suffered a great loss!"


    "Demons Corps, you mean that super corps?" Zhang Tie raised his voice at once while he almost sprung up from the ground. It was out of his imagination that the demons corps didn''t come out until the human troops broke out of Mocco City and Sladic City and gave a fatal blow to the human troops. After losing the protection of tall city walls, fortifications and city defense equipments, Zhang Tie could fully imagine the outcome of the common human troops in front of that super demons corps in the wild. In that case, it would be useless even though the number of human fighters was 10 times or 20 times more than that of the super demons corps. It was an overwhelming massacre for demons.


    The moment Zhang Tie recalled that Reinhardt and many of his friends were in the human troops which broke out of the cities had his heart started to pound.


    ...

 663 Separation

    Chapter 663: Separation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Through Tirsiris, Zhang Tie finally knew what happened in Selnes Theater of Operations these days. In one sentence, the human defense line across Selnes Theater of Operations had been collapsed completely. The battle in Selnes Plain, the first wrestle between the allied human forces and demons corps in Blackson Humans Corridor had come to an end with the overall failure of the allied human forces.


    The human troops that broke out of Mocco City and Sladic City had been heavily struck by the demons corps while their corpses were covering the wild. The last human troops in the two cities were completely shattered by the blow of demonized puppets. Thankfully, the human airship troops arrived at the critical moment and rescued almost 1 million human fighters from being exterminated by the demonized puppets corps. However, the remaining airship troops were also heavily damaged by wing demons. Finally, they had to retreat southwards together with the ground human troops.


    After this battle, the air and ground troops of the allied human forces in Selnes Theater of Operations had completely collapsed. Demons corps and almost 10 million demonized puppets corps were surging 100 miles a day towards the south in an irresistible manner. They had already entered the northern region of Symbian Republic and swept over 10 cities in 2 provinces of that region in a few days. The Symbian Republic was determined to collapse sooner or later.


    The collapse of the Selnes defense line was a great blow to the morale of countries across Blackson Humans Corridor. From then on, all the countries in the north of Kalay Mountain Range in Blackson Humans Corridor would quiver facing the sharp force of demons corps. As a result, almost half of the territory of Blackson Humans Corridor would collapse.


    At least Zhang Tie didn''t think any country among the countries in the north of Kalay Mountain Range could resist the almost 10 million demonized puppets and that super demons corps.


    As the old saying went, troops were defeated like a landslide.


    Even if Zhang Tie was 10 more times powerful, he could still not alter the current situation.


    After hearing Tirsiris'' introduction, Zhang Tie frowned and became silent for a short while. Under the reflection of those burning flames of firewood, Zhang Tie''s face looked gloomy.


    ''This guy looks handsome!'' Tirsiris made a comment silently when she saw Zhang Tie''s clearly-cut face.


    "I''ve already told you what you want to know. Now you tell me what you know!"


    After hearing this request, Zhang Tie took a small section of a wooden stick and started to draw on the ground beside the bonfire, "This is south; this is north; this is demons'' region; this is Misty Woods; this is Naro River; this is Porakan Mining Area..." Zhang Tie started his explanation after drawing some symbolic regions on the ground, "I escaped all the way from north to south, and I saw most corpses here, here and here..."


    Zhang Tie explained carefully. He almost introduced all the situations and terrains of Selnes Plain that he had learned to Tirsiris. Besides, he even told her about the situation in the demons'' territory in the north being adjacent to Selnes Plain and where could she hide herself so as to avoid from demons'' hunting. These were Zhang Tie''s experiences during the past one year in Selnes Theater of Operations.


    When Zhang Tie spoke in Chinese, Tirsiris listened to him carefully. Tirsiris was not an idiot, she realized that Zhang Tie was indeed concerned about her through his words.


    "You said you saw gravetower demons here?" Tirsiris asked as she pointed at that place where Zhang Tie drew just now.


    "Yup!"


    "How many?"


    "Dozens at least, right in the periphery of the cities in demons'' territory!"


    Tirsiris frowned faintly as she continued to ask, "Is there any more of them in the north?"


    Zhang Tie then drew a line in the air, "I''m not clear about the other places, at least I didn''t see any more gravetower demons along this line!"


    "If my ptomaine miasma could be catalyzed by the genes of gravetower, it would be more destructive to demonized puppets!"


    "Haha, are you thinking about killing some gravetower demons?" Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    "If you could agree with the proposal that I posed just now, it''s actually not impossible..." Tirsiris glanced at that shell on Zhang Tie''s back before asking, "Your shell-shaped golden wheels plus my poison, as long as we stayed 200 m away from the gravetower demons, we might do it!"


    "Ah? What shell-shaped golden wheels?" Zhang Tie asked with a strange look.


    "Don''t you know that the weapon on your back is a famous exotic weapon in the Eastern Continent. It''s called shell-shaped golden wheels. Few people could be as proficient as you in using this weapon, even in the Eastern Continent." Tirsiris watched Zhang Tie with a dubious look.


    "Ahem...ahem...of course I know, erm...I''ve already treated it as my friend for a long time. I even named it as Sweetie...I''ve always called it that over the past years. Therefore, I couldn''t respond to that when you called its original name..." Zhang Tie, as a Hua man, felt bashful to let a western female tell him about the name of the weapon from Eastern Continent, although he plundered it from the warehouse of Zhen Clan.


    After hearing the name "Sweetie", Tirsiris, although she was a vicious voodoo pharmacist, she still felt her body being covered with goosebumps. At the same time, her look turned weird, ''This guy could drop me to the ground and call a piece of metal with such a disgusting name. Does he...does he...have some strange hobby? It seems that I''ve not heard any scandal about this guy in Selnes Theater of Operations.''


    Tirsiris moved away from Zhang Tie silently. When Zhang Tie was drawing a map on the ground a while ago, she drew closer to him; however, she hurriedly stayed away from Zhang Tie at this moment. It seemed that even the most terrifying voodoo pharmacist was almost like a commoner in some aspect, "Do..do you consider what I said just now?"


    Zhang Tie shook his head with a smile, "You have your choice, so do I. I''m sorry!"


    After being refused by Zhang Tie, Tirsiris closed her eyes and stayed silent for a few seconds. It seemed that she was thinking about something. She then opened her eyes, "I feel that the hiding rune that you applied to me still works. How long can it sustain?"


    "About 3 hours!"


    "Hmm, it''s enough!" Tirsiris picked herself up with a firm look on her beautiful face, "With the cover of this hiding rune, it''s enough for me to leave Mocco City. I want to leave out of here tonight. You''re right. Each one has his or her own choice. I owe you. I will pay you back later!"


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that woman was as resolute as an iron lady, "Are you going to leave now?"


    "I''ve almost recovered. At least, it doesn''t influence my action. It''s a bit safer if I leave Mocco City in the evening. At least I could avoid from the wing demons'' hunting. If I leave the next evening, I will lose the cover of your hiding rune and it will be more dangerous. How about you? Where are you going?"


    "I want to figure out the situation of the human troop that broke out of Mocco City. I have a friend in Iron Plough Corps. Later on, it depends!"


    Tirsiris knew that she could not talk about something deeper with Zhang Tie as they had just known each other. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, she nodded and didn''t say anything else. She then turned around and left the room...


    Tirsiris then went downstairs and left the skyscraper before rapidly disappearing in a nearby poisonous mist.


    ''This woman...'' Zhang Tie didn''t know what to comment about her. He then returned to the bonfire and sat down.


    After 10 minutes since Tirsiris left, Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron. He incarnated into that beetle and flew another storeys higher. Then, he silently flew out of a window in the east of the skyscraper. Even if someone was peeping in the dark, he could still not see Zhang Tie flying away from this skyscraper either.


    Zhang Tie wanted to leave Mocco City; however, when he remembered that Tirsiris said this ptomaine miasma might further evolve, he flew towards an area of ptomaine miasma below a hidden section of the city wall.


    Zhang Tie held his breath and rushed into the ptomaine miasma rapidly. He then teleported a small mouth of air into Castle of Black before flying out of Castle of Black Iron once again.


    In Zhang Tie''s senses, that beetle didn''t feel uncomfortable at all. After obtaining knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie found that he could easily transfer something into Castle of Black Iron from outside using his incarnation as a media. When he wanted to move things into Castle of Black Iron, the incarnation was like a hand. Just now, he had a handful of poisonous air that contained ptomaine miasma and moved it into Castle of Black Iron.


    "Heller, does this poisonous air contain a special virus?"


    "Yup."


    "Can we help it evolve in Castle of Black Iron?"


    "Yes, we can!"


    "It''s your job then!"


    "I will live up to your expectation, Castle Lord!"


    After hearing Heller''s promise, Zhang Tie became reassured. However, the moment he imagined that the ptomaine miasma would listen to his order completely like basic energy aura yeast had Zhang Tie become excited.


    ''Of course, I''m not taking advantage of Tirsiris on purpose. Ahem..ahem...after all, the poisonous mist covering Mocco City doesn''t belong to anybody. Tirsiris could help it evolve in her method while I have my own method. I will see whether there''s any difference between our new viruses later on. ''


    After leaving Mocco City, Zhang Tie flew southwards...

 664 Moving Southwards

    Chapter 664: Moving Southwards


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On the map, Selnes Plain was important because it was an important traffic hub in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. As long as the demons broke through Selnes Plain, they would be able to surge all the way to the south. Additionally, the demons corps would have more choices on their routes.


    After the human defense line in Selnes Plain collapsed, some provinces in the north of Symbian Republic was occupied first. As long as the northern region of Symbian Republic was occupied by demons corps would the south of Symbian Republic and the region of Norman Empire that bordered the Symbian Republic expose to the sharp blades of demons.


    In such a battle situation, Blackson Humans Corridor was like a row of Domino cards. After the Domino card of human defense line in Selnes Plain fell down, more Domino cards would fall down consecutively.


    Perhaps, the only news which was not worse in this case was that almost all the underprivileged people had started to evacuate towards the south 2 years ago, except for the troops. Even though demons occupied those cities, they couldn''t only find people at all. That was to say, the alive human forces were preserved while the source of demonized puppets was restricted greatly.


    After leaving Mocco City, Zhang Tie flew into a hidden place in the wild. Zhang Tie had already returned to Castle of Black Iron when it [the black beetle] was still flying in the air. In a split second, the thunder hawk darted out of Castle of Black Iron. Like a magic, Zhang Tie changed the incarnation and surged southwards.


    Compared to the thunder hawk, the beetle flew too slow with a too narrow vision.


    With the surging spiritual energy and knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie could change his incarnations more easily. Actually, in the eyes of an onlooker if there was, it was like a beetle suddenly turning into a big bird and flying away. It was like a ghost or a spirit in mythological legends.


    After incarnating into the thunder hawk, Zhang Tie flew southwards along the route that he traveled by train for the first time. The human troops which broke out of Mocco City also retreated along this route. On the way, Zhang Tie could see the traces left by the human troops.


    The entire railway had been destroyed. Even though the human troops which broke out of Mocco City had already left out of here, they still tried their best to destroy the fundamental facilities in that territory which was going to be occupied by demons and Three-eye Association.


    There were blood stains, battle traces and the traces left by troops on the ground; however, Zhang Tie could not see any corpse.


    Zhang Tie knew that those corpses were not taken away by kind-hearted men but by demonized puppets corps as their food. With the example in Mocco City, the demons knew that those corpses, if were left here, might become new poisonous sources and pose a threat to demonized puppets corps.


    After leaving Mocco City for an hour, Zhang Tie had already been more than 200 miles away from Mocco City. At this moment, he saw the first city being occupied by demons in the Symbian Republic in the air.


    The human city had been burned into ruins. In the evening, the greater part of that city was smoking and charred. Some sparkles had not died out yet. At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie knew that the human troops in this city were ready to burn the city before the arrival of the demons. Perhaps, the only mission for the garrisons here was to burn the city and retreat as fast as possible instead of resisting before the arrival of demons, because Zhang Tie didn''t see any trace of fierce battle outside the city.


    Zhang Tie saw another 4 cities being burned down like this city after he deepened 700 miles in the Symbian Republic. Numerous villages were burned into ruins while black smoke was rushing into the sky and sparkles were spreading all over.


    More and more demonized puppets appeared under his feet. A few remaining human troops were hiding in the wild and among mountain ranges. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether they were the troops which broke out of the frontline of Selnes Theater of Operations or the garrisons of those cities. Zhang Tie found 5-6 remaining human troops, each of which contained 200 to 1,000 people.


    Watching these sparse human troops, Zhang Tie could only wish them good luck. These human troops would face a lot of troubles no matter whether they were going to be guerrillas or preparing to evacuate. As to their future, it depended.


    ''This is how the war goes. Sometimes the strength of one person, hundreds of persons even thousands of persons is too trivial. Each people could only struggle for his own destiny.'' Zhang Tie sighed inside before being spirited up once again.


    At the sight of a huge demonized puppets'' camp on the ground in front of him, Zhang Tie silently landed on a hidden place before turning into the beetle. After applying a senior hiding rune to the beetle, he flew towards the military camp.


    After being applied with a senior hiding rune, the beetle''s qi would be as trivial as a mosquito or a fly, which would never attract others'' attention at all.


    Soon, Zhang Tie arrived at that demonized puppets camp. After penetrating through the dense barrier and numerous demonized puppets, Zhang Tie circled around the camp and found a big tent in the middle of the military camp. He then drilled inside through the gap between the curtain and the vent on the top of the tent like drilling in an underground tunnel. Only after drilling 1 inch inside had he felt bright in front when he could see everything in the big tent clearly.


    Zhang Tie saw some braziers, two tables, a map on the back of the main table, a sand table, two rows of chairs on both sides, two weapons racks with various weapons on them in the tent and two rows of guardians on both sides of the door outside the tent; however, he saw nobody in the tent.


    Zhang Tie then quietly lurked in the tent and waited patiently.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had no idea what to do. Therefore, he just stayed here for some useful information.


    After being applied with a senior hiding rune, the beetle lurked and looked dead.


    ...


    After 2 hours, it turned bright outside while the eastern skyline turned white. After one night''s torture, he finally welcomed a new day.


    Zhang Tie waited there silently as he predicted that someone would enter the tent when the day completely broke one more hour later.


    Zhang Tie had not seen those who entered the tent. However, he knew that those who ruled these demonized puppets corps were also clans of Three-eye Association like Senel Clan in the north region. If Zhang Tie saw these people in another place, he must have chopped them. However, it was not the right moment for him to show off his battle force. Therefore, Zhang Tie just listened to their talk.


    Additionally, given their qi, Zhang Tie judged that they were all powerhouses above LV 10, two of them were even as powerful as that of Scala. Therefore, Zhang Tie realized that this clan of Three-eye Association had a deeper background than Senel Clan. After all, Senel Clan''s root was only Titanic Duchy; however, there were more than one country which was larger than Titanic Duchy in the north region. Zhang Tie had already seen two clans of Three-eye Association in Mocco City; plus those in Sladic City, there would be at least 4 clans of Three-eye Association which cooperated with demons corps.


    Those who were in the tent seemed to wait for someone as they were just whispering to each other. However, Zhang Tie could still capture some useful information from their talks. Therefore, he had a clearer understanding of the battle situation.


    More than 10 minutes later, a team of guardians in full armors with double swords on their waists entered the tent in tidy steps. They then rapidly stood inside on both sides of the tent. Seeing those guardians, those people who were in the tent rapidly stood well in two rows solemnly and quietly.


    "Here arrives the Clan Head..." With a loud sound, a 50-odd man in a greenish-white face and brilliant armor entered the tent while being accompanied by a robust elder. He then sat in the main seat while the elder sat on his side. The man then waved his hands to ask all the others to take a seat.


    "Gar, do you have any latest news from the frontline?" The man in the main seat opened his mouth with a casual look.


    "Head, there was a news last night. The vanguard corps had already arrived at Deland City. Deland City is a huge city. The human garrisons didn''t abandon the city and escape; instead, they united some remaining forces to fight us. I''m afraid that the vanguard corps would not take Deland City without suffering a loss!" One man of the two rows replied respectfully.


    "Deland City is a key town in the north of Symbian Republic. If they abandoned this city, our vanguard corps would be able to break in the capital of Symbian Republic in the next. It''s reasonable for the human garrisons of Deland City to struggle a while. Since they broke the human defense line in Selnes Plain, Isaac Clan had been smooth all the way to Deland City. It''s not bad for them to have some trouble in Deland City!" The man in the main seat said...

 665 A Super Lurker

    Chapter 665: A Super Lurker


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The conference proceeded over 10 minutes in the tent. It was about the battle situation between the demons corps and human corps and the internal affairs of the clan of Three-eye Association. Zhang Tie gained a lot of information on one side.


    "Have you figured out the reason why Scala of Senel Clan stayed in Mocco City?" The man in the main seat suddenly asked while Zhang Tie became spirited at once.


    "Yes, that voodoo pharmacist being granted the title of Selnes Snake by the allied human forces did not escape together with the human troops that broke out of Mocco City; instead, she stayed in the rear end. After Mocco City was broken through, Scala kept his eyes on that woman to obtain the seed of ptomaine miasma. The woman''s ptomaine miasma is very destructive after one round of mutation. At this moment, commoners and common demonized puppets could not enter Mocco City at all. It''s completely ruined." Another person interrupted.


    "Senel Clan is excessive. It''s our Elvis Clan''s rear-end corps which is responsible for all the matters in the rear end. If that voodoo pharmacist is still in the rear end. It should be us who capture that woman!" A man in armor and helmet suddenly strode one step out of the row and told that man in the main seat in a muffled voice, "If the head issues an order, I promise to get the seed of the mutated ptomaine miasma from that woman before Scala finds her..."


    Until then did Zhang Tie understand that these clans of Three-eye Association were not on the same side. They had complex interest disputes. In front of rights and interests, they would never retreat.


    "Head, please consider Dylan''s suggestion carefully!" Another young man strode out of the row. Compared to others, this young man looked a bit thinner and grimmer, "Ptomaine miasma is a poison that could only be controlled and released by voodoo pharmacists. There''s no voodoo pharmacist in Senel Clan; therefore, Scala wants to get the seed of the mutated ptomaine miasma and gift it to Demon General so as to get a reward from Demon General. It''s said that Koz has been stagnating too long on a 5-star battle spirit. The reason he didn''t promote to a knight was that he had not formed his Chakara. If Senel Clan gifts the mutated ptomaine miasma to Demon General, as a reward, they might request a Star''s Pill from Demon General. Of course, it''s better if our Elvis Clan rather than Senel Clan could get a Star''s Pill. With a Star''s Pill, we will have one more knight in a couple of years."


    "Star''s Pill? Demon General? Unrivaled Poisonous Battle Qi? Knight''s Chakara?" Zhang Tie was shocked by those Hua terms. What a precious information!


    The man in the main seat nodded silently. At this moment, the elder on the man''s side suddenly put his hands into his sleeves and closed his eyes. After 10 seconds, the elder opened his eyes. He then inclined his head and whispered to that man in the main seat, who then revealed an amazing look with a frown.


    "Head, please issue the order!" The guy called Dylan moved one step forward as he hammered his armor and said in a muffled voice, "I promise to bring back Scala and that woman together with her seed of mutated ptomaine miasma!"


    "No need, Elder Casilla has just received a message that Scala is dead!" The man in the main seat waved his hand.


    ''Dead?'' All those at present were stunned, ''Scala is not a cat or dog, who might die at any time; he''s a LV 14 battle demon and a member of Three-eye Association.''


    "How?"


    "Being chopped into three sections. A human powerhouse appeared in Mocco City and killed Scala with that voodoo pharmacist. Scala''s corps had been moved to the command by a knight being employed by Arthur Clan!"


    "A knight being employed by Arthur Clan moved Scala''s corpse in the command? It sounds weird..."


    "It seems that Senel Clan is not the only clan that wants to exchange seed of the mutated ptomaine miasma for a Star''s Pill from Demon General. Now that Scala has been killed, the knight who doesn''t want to be the scapegoat could only take Scala''s corpse back and explain the reason to Arthur Clan. Arthur Clan only has one clan knight now. As the knight is already old enough, Arthur Clan has the same desire for Star''s Pill."


    "Is this a conspiracy of Arthur Clan? They might have killed Scala on purpose so that they could have a reasonable excuse to get the seed of ptomaine miasma."


    "Arthur Clan is not that silly. They dare not challenge the order of the entire Three-eye Association and the bottom line of Demon General. Even if they dare do that, it''s not necessary for a knight being employed by Arthur Clan to sustain such a high risk when he doesn''t need a Star''s Pill at all!"


    "It depends. If Arthur Clan gets the seed of the ptomaine miasma while sustaining no responsibility, even though Senel Clan had the same plan, they would have no idea about that!"


    Those people at present started to discuss. Hearing their discussions, the man in the main seat nodded, "You''re right. But you missed one point. The human powerhouse and that voodoo pharmacist who killed Scala were not caught by Arthur Clan. They''ve already escaped away from Mocco City. They were not caught by the knight of Arthur Clan, do you know what does this mean?"


    Everyone inside the tent became silent in a split second, closely after which they took a deep breath.


    Now that the knight being employed by Arthur Clan had expressed that Scala was killed by a human powerhouse and that voodoo pharmacist, it indicated that the knight had seen them. Everyone clearly knew how great their battle force would be if they could escape under the eyes of a knight. No matter how complex and special was the situation in Mocco City, the one who could escape from a knight''s chase would be a battle spirit at least, who almost promoted to a knight, just like Scala''s dad.


    "Battle spirit, a high-end battle spirit who at least ranks 4-star!" The young man who spoke just now mumbled.


    At this moment, even the one who urged to take back the seed of the ptomaine miasma became silent.


    Zhang Tie saw everything that happened in the tent. It was out of his imagination that the news that Scala was killed could spread to this place so fast. The elder who was sitting on the side of the head ought to be making long-distance communications with remote-sensing crystals just now. What Zhang Tie had not imagined that he was mistaken as a high-end battle spirit who had killed Scala and escaped from a knight''s chase. Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t want to show himself and explain it to these people, ''The more confused are these people, the safer am I.''


    "Our Elvis Clan don''t need to join this event. It''s not cost-efficient for us to dispatch a rare knight to seek for two people across Selnes Theater of Operations. However, we can dispatch some subordinates to pay attention to this event. If there''s a confirmed message, we can have Elder Casilla solve the battle as soon as possible!" The man in the main seat suggested as the old man on his side nodded faintly.


    "Soon, we will occupy the Symbian Republic completely. Spirit up. Be familiar with the troop these days. After taking the Symbian Republic, Demon General''s next target would be Norman Empire!"


    "Ah? Head, has the Demon General issued his command?"


    "Yes, Demon General has issued a clear command last night. Our Elvis Clan''s corps will become the vanguard corps on the left. Norman Empire is the most powerful country in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. Take the battle situation in Selnes Theater of Operations as an instance, many countries and corps were completely exterminated; however, two corps of Norman Empire, namely more than 400,000 people still broke out. Even though they were covered with human airship troops and a Hua knight appeared to save them at the critical moment, their battle force was still underestimated!"


    "Yes!" Everyone standing up nodded forcefully as they were rubbing their fists.


    "Norman Empire is a big pie. It contains a lot of human resources and plentiful materials. A few years ago, being influenced by the demon disaster in Sun Dynasty, many civilians in this country could not evacuate towards the south. Less than 1/2 of its total population have evacuated until today. As long as we could take Norman empire rapidly, the population of our demonized puppets would expand at least 2 times in a few days. The wealth, land and women in this country are even greater than that of 10 Titanic Duchy. As a vanguard, the more meritorious deeds we make this time, the more benefits will we have in the future. Am I clear?"


    "Clear!" All those at present answered in unison. Many people panted as a greedy and crazy qi meandered in the tent.


    "Good, some small squads of escaping human fighters are mobilizing in the rear end. You can prepare to exterminate them today as a warm up..."


    Closely after that, the man in the main seat started to dispatch tasks to his subordinates¡ª¡ª*** was responsible for the ***region with *** demonized puppets...


    Zhang Tie bore in mind those orders and the names of those people who received the orders. After that, a dauntless whim flashed across his mind...

 666 A Fish in Troubled Waters

    Chapter 666: A Fish in Troubled Waters


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After knowing that more than 400,000 people of Norman Empire escaped successfully, Zhang Tie became reassured at once. Zhang Tie knew that Reinhardt, the tough man, would be safe for sure if not being in a dilemma.


    Of course, this was a good news for Zhang Tie. However, it also indicated the fierce battle between the troops that broke out of the demons'' encirclement and that demons'' corps. Norman Empire dispatched three trump card domestic corps to Selnes Theater of Operations this time, which included about 1.5 million people. However, less than 500,000 people of them survived. At least one corps was lost when they broke out. Given this battle, Zhang Tie realized the power of that demons'' super corps of only 100,000 members. In the wild, common human corps could never defeat that demons'' corps, even though they had 10-20 times the number of soldiers of that of the demons'' corps. It would be a massacre the moment they encountered in the wild. No human corps across Blackson Humans Corridor could defeat that demons'' super corps.


    The one who ruled the demons'' super corps and guided the battle situation across Blackson Humans Corridor was the "Demon General" as was said by the clan members of "Three-eye Association". ''The "Demon General" must be a very powerful demon knight. He could make his battle qi more powerful with the rank poison. This is a very important message, I have to pay attention to that when I meet him.''


    After the conference came to an end, everyone left the tent, making it empty once again.


    10 minutes after that knight left, the black beetle moved and drilled out of the vent at the top of the tent and landed on the back of the main seat. It then raised its head and bore that huge military map behind the main seat in mind. After that, it flew towards the vent and drilled out of the tent.


    At this moment, the demonized puppets camp had been boisterous. After receiving the orders, the young elites of Elvis Clan were reviewing their troops. They were ready to warm up in the rear end by exterminating the small squads of human troops.


    Totally 9 young elites of Elvis Clan had received the tasks. Zhang Tie aimed 5 of them, whose ranks varied between LV 10 to LV 13. At the sight of them, Zhang Tie felt like watching ripe fruits hanging on the small tree. If he did not give Elvis Clan a deep lesson with this chance, Zhang Tie would feel sorry for himself. He could make a contribution to the humans in the holy war and increase his battle force by doing this, why not?


    As to those guys whom Zhang Tie felt being above LV 13, Zhang Tie didn''t intend to attack them. In this battle, he needed to kill his opponents in high speeds and efficiency before leaving right away. He had to leave before the Elvis Clan responded to it. ''Just let them survive a few more days. No matter what, the holy war is not my thing alone. It''s enough to make those b*stards of Three-eye Association to feel bad within my ability.''


    ...


    One day later, at noon, the corps of more than 30,000 demonized puppets had poured in a remote, uninhabited village...


    This mountain village was about 200 miles away from the camp of the demonized puppets corps of Elvis Clan.


    A thin young man in armor was riding a mutated magical horse and glancing at the woods behind the mountain village with a gloomy and disdainful look.


    "It''s said that 500 human soldiers escaped to this mountain?"


    "Yes, your excellency Kassie. Do you need us to search over the mountain? The mountain woods is not large. As long as we spread our troop, we will be able to drive them out of the woods in two days at most!"


    "No need. What do you think we take so much kerosene for?" The young man riding on the magical horse sneered as he continued, "They are just hundreds of rabbits. No need to search over the mountain. We only need to set a fire in four directions of this woods. When those people escaped out of there, we will hunt them down. Then, we can go back. Don''t always fight and bleed if we can solve it using our intelligence. Although these demonized puppets are nothing serious, we''d better save them. No matter what, they are the property of our Elvis Clan!"


    "Yes, sir. Your excellency Kassie. With your intelligence, you will be able to accomplish great deeds in Elvis Clan!" The lackey on his side instantly flattered.


    The young man then smiled, "Only clans like Senel Clan which have no background yet struggle for superiority would be disordered. I felt Scala was an influential figure who could have had a bright future; I''ve never imagined that he could lose his life only for a Star''s Pill! That guy must not have heard about the wisest Hua saying!"


    "Which saying?" The lackey asked.


    "As long as you keep a green mountain, you will not worry about having no firewood in the future. Compared to one''s life, Star''s Pill is nothing. We will soon occupy the entire Blackson Humans Corridor. Won''t we get a Star''s Pill by then?" The youth said with an arrogant and pleasant look as he guided the lackey, "If you want to be something in the future, you have to study the Hua culture. There''s a reason for the power of Hua people!"


    "Yes, yes, yes. When we get some Hua slaves, I will find some of them to teach me Hua language. I will study Hua culture like your excellency, Kassie. If I could match 1/100, even 1/1,000 of your excellency on intelligence and knowledge one day, I will be satisfied..." That guy said with a big smile.


    "You can go to work now!"


    "Yes, sir! Yes, sir!"


    The young elite of Elvis Clan riding on the magical horse watched the guy and left with a sneer. He knew that this guy was only good at flattering and following rules. However, by having this guy on his side, he could enjoy a rare "spiritual massage" for sure so that he would be active and pleasant spiritually. This might be the reason that great emperors were usually accompanied by one or two chancellors who were good at flattering them...when he didn''t need them in the future...


    He would...


    However, there was no "would" anymore as a javelin flew out of the woods from 300 m away...


    ...


    Only after walking a few steps had that guy who flattered Kassie heard a loud "bang" and the neigh of the magical horse. He turned around and saw Kassie who was boosting just now, lying on the saddle while his head had already disappeared. Fresh blood and brains splashed everywhere. The lackey then touched his own neck which was wet and bloody...


    After staying there still for 3 seconds, the guy finally understood what happened.


    "There is an assassin, right in the woods..." An extremely shrill voice sounded.


    Closely after that, the demonized puppets that had poured into the mountain village rushed into the woods, scaring birds off in the woods. However, they found nobody inside the woods. After a few seconds, a medium-sized thunder eagle rushed into the sky and disappeared in the blink of an eye...


    ...


    Only after an hour later...


    A squad of 1,000 human fighters couldn''t stand a team of 100 demonized puppets wandering in front of them and killed them. Closely after that, the greater part of the troop of demonized puppets appeared and started to chase after this squad of human fighters. They chased them all the way into the flourish grassland. As a result, the squad of human fighters suffered a loss of 1/3 of its total population. They were surrounded at once. The eyes of the commissioned officer of these escaping human fighters turned bloody as he roared with a rolling battle qi totem of a LV 8 king snake. At the same time, he rushed towards the humans among the demonized puppets with his machete...


    ...


    In a split second, a glaring, widely opened head flew off; at the same time, the LV 8 king snake disappeared while he fell down spurting blood out of his neck...


    "Regimental commander..." all the other human fighters were driven furious as their eyes turned bloody. Closely after that, they accelerated towards those demonized puppets dauntlessly with weapons, "Revenge for regimental commander..."


    An elite of Elvis Clan put back his long sword icily before sneering towards those human fighters who were rushing towards them like a lion watching a cluster of ants. He didn''t even feel like joining the battle himself as he issued the order impatiently, "Solve it in 2 minutes...".


    At this moment, nobody noticed that a red-faced disheveled tough man suddenly charged out of the weeds and rushed towards them while shouting, "Revenge for the regimental commander..."


    The tough man moved very fast while shouting loudly. He even rushed ahead of those human fighters. With a machete in hand, he soon chopped the two rows of demonized puppets into pieces before rushing towards the young elite.


    The young elite had not imagined that the tough man was a ferocious fighter.


    "Kill him..." The elite of Elvis Clan issued the order after throwing an icy glance at that tough guy.


    After receiving the order, a LV 9 fighter on his side rushed out. The moment he touched the tough man had his head been sent flying in the air.


    Watching his subordinate''s head flying off, the elite suddenly realized that something was wrong as he changed his face immediately.


    "Who are you?" After drawing his long sword out of his sheath, he launched a sharp sword qi towards that tough man by air...


    "Pay me for our regimental commander''s life..." The guy exclaimed as he accelerated by at least 10 times faster and arrived in front of that elite of Elvis Clan right away. At the same time, he waved his punches and machete and covered all the guys within 20 m in a split second. The others could only see a shadow flashing everywhere while heads rolled off accompanied by shiny blades and crisscrossed battle qi and hear that elite of Elvis Clan roaring constantly.


    After 20 seconds, that tough man had jumped away as he raised his machete and rushed towards the other demonized puppets behind them, "Pay me for our regimental commander''s life..."


    The elite of Elvis Clan was freezing like a statue with a long sword in hand. At the same time, he rolled his pupils and watched the corpses of his subordinates all over the ground and his waist where the storage bag had disappeared. He seemed to look back at the tough man; however, the moment he moved his neck had he exploded fully like a balloon in a hot day, splashing his fresh blood over those humans'' faces who had just rushed in front of him.


    The demonized puppets were in a chaos after losing their commander while their encirclement was broken out.


    "Brothers, follow me, kill..."A commissioned officer of the human fighters finally caught such a rare opportunity as he summoned all the human fighters to break out of the loophole.


    Until they dispensed those demonized puppets completely had a question occurred to their minds, ''Who''s that tough guy who waved his machete? I''ve not seen him before!''


    "Brothers, we cannot stay here anymore. Neither could we go back to our country. As there are numerous demonized puppets in front of us, I plan to find a place to be a bandit. As long as we''re alive, we will fight demons and those lackeys of demons for revenging our dead brothers and regimental commander. Do you like to follow me, brothers?" The commissioned officer asked those soldiers.


    "Deputy regimental commander. From today on, we will follow you. You will be our boss. Now that we''ve been to Selnes Theater of Operations, we have not thought about going back..."


    "Fine..." The deputy regimental commander was very resolute. After letting them take a short rest and recover their physical strength, he led them towards the lush woods in the north...


    ...


    The thunder hawk continued to fly towards another place...


    ...


    One day later, the man in the main seat growled painfully like an injured wild wolf, "Who''s that? Who''s that? Who''s framing our Elvis Clan? I will chop you into pieces..."


    Four top young elites of Elvis Clan, who had a bright future and could have been the rulers of this vast land, were killed in one day. This was a great blow to the entire Elvis Clan. One of them was killed by a javelin; one was killed by a paladin hiding in the escaping human fighters when he was exterminating them; one was passing by a bridge; however, the bridge suddenly collapsed, causing him fall into the water. When he was found floating on the water, he had already been a corpse. Another one died in a more exaggerating way¡ª¡ªhe slept overnight quietly. However, when he was found the next morning, his head had been split off from his neck...


    If only one elite had died suddenly, it might be an accident or the deed of a powerful enemy; however, four of them died in one day; therefore, Elvis Clan realized that it was a conspiracy.


    ''Knight, only a knight could be able to frame Elvis Clan in four places in one day without exposing himself. Additionally, that guy must be keeping an eye on Elvis Clan.'' Such a whim occurred to everyone in the tent.


    ''If it was a human knight, he would not just target the young elites below LV 13; instead, he would target those young elites of Elvis Clan who had greater responsibilities. He might even target all the young elites of Elvis Clan. Of course, the human knight might play a trick to arouse our doubts. But there''s another possibility¡ª¡ªthe knight might be from Three-eye Association. Common knights being employed by clans of Three-eye Association dared not do that. Only clan knights or elders would choose to suppress Elvis Clan properly in advance in this way for the sake of their own clans.''


    "We''ve not even taken down the entire Blackson Humans Corridor yet and you''re already thinking about sharing the profits..." The man in the main seat sneered, "Well, you started the war first, don''t blame me..."


    At this moment, none of the members of Elvis Clan could imagine that all of these were done by a LV 11 five-star battle master¡ª¡ªWhat a Marvel!


    Castle of Black Iron, incarnation which was a secret method of "Great Wilderness Sutra" and the exotic, powerful abilities that he had cultivated led to a marvelous qualitative effect¡ª¡ªa terrifying, mysterious destruction that could never be imagined or predicted by anyone else. This made Zhang Tie''s opponents extremely agonizing.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t know that the other clans of Three-eye Association were scapegoated by Elvis Clan. If he knew that, he would have laughed out loud. As he had received some information about Senel Clan from here, he wanted to take a look over there; therefore, he incarnated into a thunder hawk and flew towards the southeast.


    Compared to the other clans of Three-eye Association, Senel Clan had lost more talents.


    ''I''ve already killed 3 top elites of Senel Clan, except for Koz, he''s a clan elder. But it''s not enough. The atrocious crimes that Senel Clan has made could not be paid until this dirty clan of Three-eye Association is exterminated...''


    ''All the b*stards of Three-eye Association have to die. For me, Senel Clan deserves its extermination the most...''

 667 Waiting for the Opportunity

    Chapter 667: Waiting for the Opportunity


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As a key town in the north of Symbian Republic, Deland City was the first tenacious human city after the demons corps broke the human defense line in Selnes Plain.


    It took 3 days from the first demonized puppet was killed by the steam ballista of Deland City to the city was fully collapsed by demonized puppets corps.


    In the 3 days, more than 200,000 demonized puppets were killed outside the city. However, for a human city without a knight, when a knight of demons'' vanguard corps destroyed a city gate of Deland City last night with powerful battle skills, the demonized puppets flooded into the city, which indicated the collapse of this city.


    Among the flames which rushed into the sky across the city, the garrisons of Deland City fought demonized puppets overnight. In the latter half of the night, the battle calls stopped in the city while all the brave soldiers of garrisons died. From then on, Deland City fell into the hands of demons.


    At dawn, the vanguard corps of demons had left Deland City and charged towards the next human city like a swarm of locusts. At dusk, more than 3 million demonized puppets of the middle corps of demons arrived at Deland City and took a rest inside the city temporarily.


    The vanguard corps, middle corps and rear corps of demons kept a marching distance which required a bit longer than half a day. Like three terrifying monsters, they rushed forward and tore apart human cities and countries one after another like tearing pies.


    When Koz, the head of Senel Clan entered Deland City, he looked gloomy and cold with a killing intent. Even his sons Battie and Houghs dared not to stay close to him.


    Since he saw Scala''s corpse, Koz had been looking like wanting to eat human flesh. He glared at everyone. He even killed 2 of his subordinates due to a trivial matter. As his favored son, Scala''s death was a great blow to Koz, even the entire Senel Clan.


    Koz had more than 20 sons, 5 of which were most talented and were able to carry the future of Senel Clan. However, 3 of them died in less than a year¡ª¡ªhis youngest son Cambo died in the underground space of Misty Woods; Rouben died in Tokei City, the nestle of Senel Clan which had been run for many years. Even Scala, the successor of Senel Clan was killed in Mocco City.


    What was worse was that Koz saw the tumble-down future of Senel Clan. Even if Koz himself promoted to a knight, his offspring would still be unable to carry out the responsibility of this clan. ''Houghs is smart; however, he could not carry responsibility for the future of the clan; Battie is brave and fierce; however, he is always jealous and not calm enough in troubles. Although Houghs and Battie have better cultivation qualifications than commoners, it is still difficult for them to be knights. Even though in Three-eye Association, those weak and useless clans would also be gradually pushed aside and lose more and more things. Now, the hope of Senel Clan doesn''t lie in the next generation, but in the 3rd generation. If I became a knight, I would have time and resources to see the third generation to grow up; however, as long as something bad happened to me, Battie or Houghs, Senel Clan would deteriorate into a weak power in Three-eye Association and would gradually be eaten by other forces.


    ...


    As a key city of the Symbian Republic, Deland City was much more prosperous than Mocco City. It was once the charcoal dealers'' garden in the Symbian Republic. Even though it had experienced a war and big fires, the greater part of this city was still preserved.


    When the members of Senel Clan entered Deland City, they didn''t notice that a trivial black beetle followed them in after a few minutes.


    Of course, the beetle was Zhang Tie. After receiving some information, it was not difficult for him to find the members of Senel Clan. However, he didn''t have a chance to attack them. Therefore, Zhang Tie just followed the three targets of Senel Clan¡ª¡ªKoz, Battie and Houghs into Deland City.


    When the members of Senel Clan entered Deland City, they settled in a manor that had not been destroyed by fire. One hour later, Zhang Tie also settled in a rockery of the manor.


    In the evening, Koz called Battie and Houghs into his room. Zhang Tie then gazed at the inside of the room quietly on a parasol outside the room.


    Besides Koz, Battie and Houghs, the elder being employed by Senel Clan also sat in the room.


    When they saw Koz and Elder Quentin, Batty and Houghs hurriedly showed their sincerity to them.


    "Father, Elder Quentin..."


    Until then did Zhang Tie know the name of the elder being employed by Senel Clan.


    "I''ve negotiated with Elder Quentin just now. I have one thing to tell you." Koz said icily, "From today on, you two have to report all of your private schedules to me or Elder Quentin in advance until we completely occupy Blackson Humans Corridor. Without our consent, you''d better stay in the camp. Don''t stay too far away from me and Elder Quentin! Our Senel Clan has spent too much for this holy war. As long as you could survive, you would have much brighter future than today. Am I clear?"


    Battie and Houghs then exchanged a glance with each other as they lowered their heads at the same time, "Clear!"


    "You can leave now!" Koz waved his hands with a frustrated and fatigued look.


    Battie and Houghs then left...


    After hearing his words, Zhang Tie started to grumble inside instantly. He had not imagined that Koz, the old man, could be so cunning and cautious¡ª¡ªThe moment Scala died had he paid special attention to protect the remaining two talented sons. ''It''s difficult to kill them then.''


    Battie''s and Houghs''s bedrooms were on two sides of that of Elder Quentin. At the sight of such an arrangement, Zhang Tie could do nothing but swear inside.


    ''Do I leave now and wait for a chance to settle with Senel Clan in the future?'' Zhang Tie asked inside.


    ''Be patient. Many good opportunities are waiting. Patience is a virtue!'' Zhang Tie warned himself after thinking for a few seconds.


    Zhang Tie then stayed there silently...


    ...


    On the second early morning, more than 3 million demonized puppets of the middle corps nearby Deland City set off once again. The corps lasted dozens of miles in length and marched all the way towards the south along the route of the vanguard corps. The moment Zhang Tie landed on the materials in a vehicle had he moved southwards together with Senel Clan and demons corps...

 668 Towards South

    Chapter 668: Towards South


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In only 10 days, the vanguard of demonized puppets corps had already swept the greater part of the territory of Symbian Republic. Following the middle corps of demonized puppets, Zhang Tie witnessed the collapse of human cities one after another.


    Deland City, Perigourd City, Edeline City, Somibay City, Holbech City, Kozlian City and Reay City...


    All the above cities were once prosperous human cities. None of them were worse than Blackhot City. However, when the middle corps of demonized puppets arrived, many cities were burned into ruins. When passing by those deserted villages and towns, fields and numerous corpses, Zhang Tie was deeply impressed by the cruelty of the holy war and its harm to humans in the past 10 days.


    After taking Deland City, the demonized puppets corps didn''t meet any large-scale regular resistance on the way towards south anymore. All the human cities had been deserted or burned into ruins before the arrival of the contingents of the demonized puppets. Even the entire Symbian Republic had become unmanned. Women and kids had evacuated 2 years ago; soldiers also evacuated after the human defense line in Selnes Plain was collapsed; especially after Deland City was collapsed, the remaining human troops in the Symbian Republic became completely disappointed. As a result, nobody would like to stay in this city and wait for the arrival of the demonized corps.


    The combined forces of the corps of almost 10 million demonized puppets and that super demons corps were irresistible.


    Speaking of that super demons corps, Zhang Tie finally witnessed it during the past days in Holbech City.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how to describe the demons corps. He was shocked when about 100,000 LV 9 demon fighters appeared in front of him.


    Before the demons corps appeared, Zhang Tie saw a great batch of at least 4,000-5,000 wing demons hovering above Holbech City like a cloud. Only after the batch of wing demons arrived at the air territory of Holbech City in less than 5 minutes had that super demons corps appeared in the horizon which rolled towards the city like a black flame.


    Without arousing an earthquake or any loud battle calls, the contingent of almost 100,000 LV 9 demon fighters just flashed at the foot of the city wall of Holbech City like a hot wind blowing from afar. When the wind stopped, the formation of about 100,000 demon fighters stood still like steel mountains silently. However, facing such an unrivaled qi, the contingent of about 1 million demonized puppets gathering outside the city wall were scared to move backwards.


    At that moment, all the members of Senel Clan and Arthur Clan who ruled the middle corps were welcoming the super demons corps outside the city. At the sight of this scene, the face of each one of them turned pale, including that knight who was employed by Senel Clan.


    Even Zhang Tie, in the incarnation of the little beetle, who was lying on a brick on the top of a wrecked bartizan, was also shocked by such a power.


    If a LV 9 iron-armored demon was in front of him, Zhang Tie would just ignore it; if 10 LV 9 iron-armored demons were in front of him, Zhang Tie could solve them easily; if 100 LV 9 iron-armored demons were in front of him, Zhang Tie would feel stressed; if 1,000 iron-armored demons were in front of him, Zhang Tie would turn around and escape right away. If 10,000 iron-armored demons were in front of him, even a knight would avoid from them, not to mention Zhang Tie. However, there were almost 100,000 LV 9 iron-armored demons in front of him. Zhang Tie didn''t know how many commissioned officers ranked LV 10 to LV 15 were among them. However, Zhang Tie learned it from the members of Clans of Three-eye Association that there were 6 demon knights in this super demons corps under the rule of the demon general, although one of which had been killed in Selnes Theater of Operations.


    ''How do I resist such a powerful super demons corps?'' Zhang Tie compared all the other corps that he had heard and seen before to this super demons corps and found it was unrivaled across Blackson Humans Corridor. Any human corps in front of this super demons corps could do nothing but be slaughtered, even if they outnumbered the demons; because that sharp blade formed of LV 9 iron-armored demons could easily break out the encirclement of human corps and escape away.


    Perhaps humans corps could encircle this super demons corps with outnumbered armored troops in a specific narrow environment before giving them a heavy blow with the coordination of the airship troop. However, the collapse of human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations had indicated that this ideal battlefield and situation would never appear. Selnes Theater of Operations once gathered the most powerful human airship troops and most human armored vehicles. So what? The two predominate armed human services were dragged in a bottomless mire only by the wing demons troop and the demonized puppets corps. Demons were not idiots. They would not stand there and wait for you to beat them after a proper deployment. Conversely, the demon general of this super demons corps was even more smarter and cunning than those most famous human generals.


    The wing demon troop served as the barrier and eye of this super demons corps while the corps of numerous demonized puppets served as the shield and tentacles of this super demons corps. This super demons corps always loomed behind that barrier, eye, shield and tentacles, which would give human corps a fatal blow at the critical moment.


    Like now, after the demonized puppets corps broke the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations, it divided into three parts and marched all the way towards the south. This super demons corps loomed weirdly among the vanguard corps, middle corps and rear corps of this demonized puppets corps. Even though the members of clans of Three-eye Association didn''t know about its whereabouts. They only knew that this super demons corps under the rule of the demon general would always stay less than 300 miles away from one of the three demonized puppets corps. Sometimes, this super demons corps would completely get rid of the demonized puppets corps. They were just commanding the military actions of the demonized puppets corps. Nobody knew where they were.


    Besides, Zhang Tie found one rule about the whereabouts of this super demons corps¡ª¡ªthey never made camp in cities; even in Holbech City, this super demons corps also encamped about 100 m away from the city wall of Holbech City.


    Hua military experts usually described a powerful troop as follows: when they moved, they were as rapid as the wind and lightning bolt; when they slowed down, they were as dense as the woods; when they plundered, they were as aggressive as the fire; when they remained still, they were as firm as the mountain; when they hid themselves, they were as mysterious as the sun and moon in cloudy days. After watching this super demons corps, although Zhang Tie would not like to accept and admit it, he knew that this super demons corps was the troop that could match the description of the best among all the troops that Zhang Tie had seen.


    The moment Zhang Tie saw it had Zhang Tie enlightened that no human troops could defeat this super demons corps unless one of the human troops was composed of the same number of LV 9 human fighters. Based on the battle experience in Selnes Theater of Operations, only human troops composed of LV 9 or above human fighters could defeat a troop composed of LV 9 or above demon fighters. The forces who were most destructive to this super demons corps in Selnes Theater of Operations were not airship troops, armored troops or other human troops, but those squads of demon hunters and paladins who loomed in Selnes Plain.


    About 3,000 iron-armored demons were killed by demon hunters and paladins in total. However, the other human corps and troops only caused a casualty of about 1,000 iron-armored demons.


    Zhang Tie knew that the collapse of human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations would give a huge blow to the current human corps establishment system for sure. He could find the loopholes in the current human corps establishment system, so did others. The former division standards of human corps had become meaningless; perhaps in the future, human corps were only divided into two forces, one was used to deal with demonized puppets; the other was used to deal with the regular army of demons. Demonized puppets corps would be defended with high city walls, powerful steam ballistas, armored vehicles and white phosphor gel bombs, which could also pose a great threat to regular demons corps. Even though those human soldiers above LV 2 could operate the weapons. By contrast, only human fighters above LV 9 could deal with regular demons corps; even though a squad, a battalion or a company of human fighters above LV 9 would be more effective than a common corps composed of hundreds of thousands of common human soldiers.


    In order to defend the super demons corps, common human corps had to hide in "Iron Tortoises[1]" which were driven by steam; however, field forces that could wrestle with the super demons corps under the rule of human knights who could move as fast as a lightning bolt on the battlefield were more destructive. They didn''t need to be outnumbered, but they should be elites. Only in this mobile way could they curb demons...

 669 Stancy City

    Chapter 669: Stancy City


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When in Holbech City, Zhang Tie was closer to the demon general, he even wanted to fly into the camp to take a look at the demon general. However, Zhang Tie finally abandoned this thought. After having the knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie clearly knew how powerful was a knight''s consciousness. Therefore, he didn''t feel like risking his life; additionally, Zhang Tie heard that the demon general was not a common knight.


    It was indeed too foolish for Zhang Tie to risk his life in order to take a look at someone.


    Although the death of his incarnation would not kill him directly, according to the description on the "Great Wilderness Sutra", it would cause a great damage to his original body as well; in the worst scenario, he might become a plant man. After thinking about it for a short while, Zhang Tie felt it being not worthwhile for him to do that, ''I only need to know that it''s a powerful demon knight. If there''s a chance, I will see it for sure; even if I cannot see it forever, I won''t lose a fine hair.''


    ''I''d better pursue something "closer to real life", for instance, how to kill the three b*stards of Senel Clan.'' Zhang Tie considered at that moment.


    The super demons corps encamped outside Holbech City overnight. Before daybreak, they had disappeared. On the second morning, the middle corps continued to march southwards; in a few days, Kozlian City and Reay City collapsed too.


    Speaking of Senel Clan, what made Zhang Tie depressed was that Battie and Houghs were always staying in the vision of Koz and Elder Quentin in the army of demonized puppets these days. He could not even fly close to them, not to mention killing them. It was okay if an insect followed the members of Senel Clan; however, if it always followed them, it would arouse their attention sooner or later.


    Elder Quentin had a knight''s consciousness, the basic ability of which was to keep everything in mind the moment he saw it. Zhang Tie was sure that if he was noticed twice by Elder Quentin in different cities, he would have a big trouble. Therefore, Zhang Tie always kept over 100 m away from Elder Quentin these days when he gazed at Senel Clan members. He almost didn''t appear in the positive vision of Elder Quentin. In this case, it would be more difficult for Zhang Tie to kill Battie and Houghs.


    On April 15th, the 895th year of Black Iron Calendar, rainy...


    On this day, the army of the middle corps of demonized puppets arrived at Stancy City...


    When Stancy City entered Zhang Tie''s vision, it was heavily raining. This city had also been destroyed by humans before the arrival of the army of demons. However, compared to other human cities, this city was more completely destroyed by the garrisons. It was like having been demolished by "developers", a special powerful Hua profession before the Catastrophe in the legend. The half-collapsed city walls and exposed broken steam pipelines and disordered concrete structures were more eye-catching in the heavy rain. The heavy rain, while falling down, causing a drizzling mist which looked like smoke rings out of the mouth of one fickle guy and ridicule towards the army of demons...


    Compared to those cities which could still be available or renovated after being burned to ruins or destroyed, this city had been completely destroyed. What was left was just building craps erecting in the wild.


    On the incomplete city walls, the big red, painted words were also becoming especially eye-attractive even in the heavy rain.


    "B*stards of demons, go eat f*rt. This f*ther won''t leave anything to you!"


    ...


    "Sons of bitches of Three-eye Association, this father is leaving now; go clean your asshole and wait for this father to come back..."


    ...


    "Some public toilets are still available in the downtown; this father tells you, retarded sons, remember to keep clean. Don''t relieve yourselves everywhere..."


    ...


    There were so many similar slogans. Even some of them had been erased by people, many of them were still left.


    These days, Zhang Tie had seen too many deserted human cities. Only when he caught sight of this city did his eyes brighten up. It was really a wonder to see so many "inspiring" slogans and such a completely destroyed city.


    "B*stards, who left these words. If I caught you, I would peel you off and soak you in a lacquer..." A furious sound drifted from those people who were riding demon horses in front. Judging from the infuriated sound, Zhang Tie knew that it was Battie. Even though he didn''t see Battie, Zhang Tie could still imagine how angry Battie looked.


    "Battie, if you can take a look at that intelligence these days, you will know that the commanding general in charge of the defense of this city is called Mathew. It was Mathew who issued the order to demolish this city and leave these words. Mathew is alone. He has no family members. Even if you caught him, you could only peel him off and soak him in the lacquer; instead of soaking all of his family members into the lacquer!" Houghs said.


    After Scala, the would-be "successor" of Senel Clan was killed, Houghs became more "active" these days.


    "Houghs, what do you mean?" Battie asked furiously. Even idiots could hear the meaning of Houghs. Battie had not imagined that he was blackmailed by Houghs only because of a casual grumble.


    "Nothing, I just reminded you out of kindness!"


    "B*stard!"


    The moment Houghs wanted to satirize Battie, Koz glared at him and Battie icily. Quivering once all over, they instantly lowered their heads and stopped quarreling.


    "Clean all of these slogans after encampment, I don''t want to see them tomorrow!" Koz sent an order.


    "Yes, sir!" Someone replied at once.


    After hearing Koz''s sound, Zhang Tie silently exposed his head out of a small hole of the wooden horizontal beam on the top of the vehicle drove by two uni-horn black oxen and glanced at Koz once again...


    In the heavy rain, all those on demon horses were wearing raincoats, except for Koz and Elder Quentin. The falling raindrops were blocked away by their protective battle qis. ''How cool and brilliant are they to be protected with battle qi in the heavy rain!'' Zhang Tie drooled silently...


    ''As long as I promote to LV 14, I will be able to form protective battle qi.'' Zhang Tie hesitated when he realized that his cultivation had been prolonged after following Senel Clan for more than 10 days without any harvest...

 670 An Encounter

    Chapter 670: An Encounter


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    ''Should I continue to follow Senel Clan members until I get a chance or come back to exterminate this clan when I''m powerful enough?'' Zhang Tie thought.


    ''It''s indeed a tricky problem. Although incarnation has many benefits, it also has shortcomings.''


    ''During incarnation, my original body would enter a marvelous state like hibernation of some animals or trance of convalescence. Like falling asleep, my original body doesn''t need to eat or drink in 1-2 months. The only trouble is that I cannot cultivate in this state.''


    ''Although "patience" could bring me some chances, it would take me a great amount of time.''


    ''If I spent more than 10 days in cultivation, I might further improve my battle force. I could read the endless true words of the "Great Wilderness Sutra" on the 4th storey of All-spirits Pagoda for more than 600,000 times, which indicates that I''ve finished half of the work to activate the 4th storey of All-spirits Pagoda. If I spent more than 10 days to light surging points, I could at least light 2 surging points with the effect of the leakless fruits. That means I will be closer to LV 12 great battle master.''


    ''I''ve not eaten the ripe fruit of source of wing demons. Neither have I started to cultivate the "Soul Capture Forbidden Skill" of Bloody Soul Temple from Taixia Country that I obtained from Scala. If I focused on those iron-armored demons, I might find a chance to kill enough LV 9 iron-armored demons and get a fruit of source of them.''


    Zhang Tie became perplexed when he hid in the hole. If he kept acting like this, he might not even find a chance to exterminate Senel Clan even when the demonized puppets corps occupied the entire Blackson Humans Corridor, ''How long will it take, one year or two years?''


    When Zhang Tie was considering this question, he heard whispers of two clan warriors of Senel Clan on both sides of the vehicle, who were responsible for escorting vehicles of grains and weapons.


    "Is that Tripoli, the capital of Symbian Republic ahead of Stancy City?"


    "Right. After passing by Stancy City and tiding over Niecon River, we will arrive at the capital of Symbian Republic!"


    "Pitifully, given the information from the vanguard corps, it seems that Tripoli''s current situation is like that in Stancy City. All the resistible forces in the Symbian Republic have retreated to Norman Empire. They keep retreating southwards. None of them dare to block our army!"


    "Ho...ho...that''s great. We only need to chase after them. I''d like to see where they could hide."


    "It''s boring. We don''t have a sense of conquest. We''ve not obtained any booties for a long time. Neither did we see any fresh, beautiful women..." The speaker swallowed his saliva at this moment before continuing, "I really recall those days in Titanic Duchy!"


    "As long as we are fast enough, I don''t believe that all the people can evacuate from this continent. Because of demon disasters, even the civilians in Norman Empire have not fully evacuated!"


    "Therefore, we have to take Norman empire; then, we will obtain manpower resources, food, beautiful women and a great amount of wealth!"


    "Heh, heh, heh..."


    After hearing these words, Zhang Tie made his determination. ''Before the demons corps arrive at Norman Empire, if I cannot find a chance to kill Senel Clan members, I will leave them and improve my battle force by eating fruits first. I would never hang on the same tree of Senel Clan to death. After improving my battle force, I''ll have a lot of chances to deal with Senel Clan in the future.''


    ''It''s nothing serious even if I failed this action. Even the god would not allow one to be always smooth and successful.''


    The moment Zhang Tie made the determination had he become relaxed. He then laid in the small hole and watched the heavy rain outside.


    In the eyes of that insect, the scene was utterly different from that in people''s eyes. They were not raindrops, but dense rain bullets. Each rain bullet was as large as its head. Like shells, each of them would cause a pit on the ground. Those fine dust and grits rose and fell. After a short while, the ground had become an ocean while numerous rivers and lakes came into being. Being baptized by rain bullets, those wild plants and tiny grasses were shaking with full rhythm. It seemed that they were communicating with this world in a bizarre way...all that in Zhang Tie''s eyes formed a marvelous scene and brought Zhang Tie into an exotic realm.


    How could people see such a marvelous scene!


    Even Zhang Tie''s new home was fashionable. He chose his temporary settlement in a junction on the top of a materials vehicle, which was hidden, safe and water-proof. If not someone climbed on the top of the vehicle and demolished it, nobody would find such a small hole at all. While he was staying in this small hole, he recalled the tree hollow where he lived in Wild Wolf Valley.


    If there was no demonized puppet or war, these days'' travel was unforgettable for Zhang Tie for sure. Even walking the same route, the world in the eyes of an insect was also utterly different than the world in the eyes of a person. Zhang Tie, in the incarnation of the little beetle, felt pretty fresh in a new world.


    This was the marvel of life.


    In the eyes of every life, even an insect, this was a different wonderful world full of possibilities and vitality.


    ''Who else has the right to deprive the other lives to sense this fresh and wonderful world?''


    ...


    Suddenly, the material vehicle parked. Closely after that, the vehicle quivered a few seconds while someone jumped off it and unveiled the waterproof cloth over the vehicle. He started to unload those items from the vehicle in the heavy rain. At the same time, it turned noisy outside the hole.


    The army was going to encamp here.


    Those senseless demonized puppets could stay overnight as long as they huddled together. They would eat everything they saw on the way here. However, for those members of clans of Three-eye Association and their lackeys in the demonized puppets corps, they had to pitch tents at least. Of course, the common human members of clans of Three-eye Association would at least eat some dried rations during the march period; however, those like Battie, Houghs and Elder Quentin maintained high standards in food, drinking and living even during the march period.


    Zhang Tie once thought about poisoning those b*stards of Senel Clan as it was the most convenient way for him to kill them; however, he found that the major figures like Koz, Quentin of Senel Clan were very meticulous in daily food. Before starting meals, they would have special people taste the food. Besides, their dining wares, including the glasses, vessels, knives and forks were able to identify poisonous substances. Therefore, the poisons that Zhang Tie carried didn''t work anymore.


    When the noises outside the hole turned smaller, it almost stopped raining. When the night fell, Zhang Tie drilled out of that "temporary settlement" on the top of the material vehicle. After that, he popped out his wings and started to "inspect" the near environment.


    Usually, the material vehicle was parked in a hidden place in the rear of the camp. That temporary campsite was separated from the dense demonized puppets with barriers. The tents of Battie and Houghs were on both sides of the tent of Elder Quentin. Koz''s main tent was also close to them. When Zhang Tie flew out of the hole, he saw the two guys walking in the main tent together with Elder Quentin and a liaison officer of Arthur Clan, another clan of Three-eye Association which controlled the middle corps.


    Arthur Clan originated from Verof Federation of 17 human countries which collapsed first in the north. In the past 100 years, three federal presidents came from this clan. Besides, this clan controlled the largest military-industrial complex in Verof Federation as the biggest noble clan in Verof Federation. Who could imagine that such an influential clan could be a member of Three-eye Association? The reason that demons corps could take Verof Federation rapidly was closely related to Arthur Clan. Arthur Clan had much deeper background than Senel Clan. The knight that Zhang Tie killed was a knight employed by Arthur Clan. After that knight "disappeared", Arthur Clan dispatched another clan knight whom Zhang Tie saw after he killed Scala in Mocco City.


    Now that the liaison officer of Arthur Clan was there, it indicated that they ought to be negotiating about the march route tomorrow in the main tent. Zhang Tie had eavesdropped such talks sometimes; however, he didn''t get any valuable information from their talks; additionally, he was even afraid of exposing himself. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t want to do that once again.


    They encamped in the south of Stancy City. It seemed to be a river in the distant as Zhang Tie could hear gurgling sound of water. He then flew towards that river.


    It was a great river, which was wider than 200 m. Due to heavy rain, the water near the bank was a bit dirty. It seemed to be an iron bridge over there previously; however, it had been completely demolished now. There were only two piers on two ends.


    The iron bridge was replaced by more than 10 chain bridges above the river, which were paved with planks being linked with iron wires. Perhaps it was hard for commoners to build chain bridges above such wide river; however, it was very easy for a corps with knights. Heavy equipment such as armored vehicles might not be able to pass chain bridges; however, common vehicles and horses could easily pass them.


    At the sight of the firm chain bridges, Zhang Tie had abandoned his thought¡ª¡ªto kill them when they pass the chain bridges.


    ''Won''t I find any chance to clean Senel Clan members? Do I have to wait until the future?''


    With a depressed mood, Zhang Tie flew along the bank for a while before returning to the encampment.


    Of course not. There were always unexpected things in this world.


    Before he reached the encampment had Zhang Tie heard a thunder-like sound which contained an unrivaled aggressive qi, "Who''s Koz, the owner of Senel Clan?"


    The moment Zhang Tie heard this voice had become stunned because he was familiar with this sound. Zhang Tie remembered that he might have heard it somewhere. At the same time, a solemn and dignified face loomed in Zhang Tie mind...


    Elder Muray, Huaiyuan Palace...


    Zhang Tie quivered all over as he almost fell down from the air, ''Is that him?''


    After recovering his composure faintly, Zhang Tie hurriedly rushed back towards that encampment from where he had just left...

 671 The Unrivaled Power of Elder Muray

    Chapter 671: The Unrivaled Power of Elder Muray


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Zhang Tie arrived at the camp, he saw Elder Muray standing still about 20 m in the air while releasing a powerful aggressive qi and looking down at the camp.


    Zhang Tie flapped its wings and silently landed on a eucalyptus tree over 100 m away. After that, he held his breath and gazed at the scene over there.


    The camp of Senel Clan was a bit disordered while numerous demonized puppets were flooding towards the camp.


    At this moment, Koz and a knight being employed by Senel Clan walked out of the main tent. The moment Quentin caught sight of Elder Muray had he walked into the air one step after another like there were stairs in the air and gazed at Elder Muray from 50 m away.


    Some bolts were shot towards Elder Muray right away from some heavy crossbows. However, Elder Muray just ignored them. Like chasing away flies, he casually waved his arm, causing the bolts fly back at a faster speed. After flying over 100 m, they exploded the two warriors of Senel Clan who were holding the heavy crossbows, followed by thunder-like sonic booms. From the beginning, Elder Muray didn''t look aside. Elder Quentin was also glassy-eyed like having not seen Elder Muray killing people in front of him.


    At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie swallowed his saliva on a distant tree forcefully, "It''s too powerful! The casual wave could cause bolts fly back as powerful as his javelins, which could kill any fighters below LV 12 immediately."


    "You''re Koz?" Elder Muray asked Quentin icily.


    "I''m Quentin, the elder being employed by Senel Clan. Who are you?"


    "Zhang Muray, Huaiyuan Palace!" Elder Muray replied with a calm, loud voice.


    After hearing this answer, Koz who had just walked out of the main tent slightly changed his look; Elder Quentin''s look also turned solemn at once.


    "May you tell me about your intention here?" Quentin asked carefully and slowly. At this moment, Quentin expected to hear the words "pass by"; pitifully, Elder Muray''s reply shattered his hope at once.


    "Senel Clan once framed Zhang Tie, apprentice of Huaiyuan Palace. Of course, his elder would come here to revenge for him; otherwise, others would doubt that our Huaiyuan Palace is too weak to protect its own apprentices. I only need to take away Koz''s head today. Why are you here?" Elder Muray asked calmly.


    In the distance, a knight of Arthur Clan was flashing towards here as fast as a lightning bolt.


    "Kill him..." Before Elder Quentin opened his mouth had Koz''s voice spread across the military camp.


    ...


    Before Zhang Tie recovered his composure from Elder Muray''s shocking words had the terrifying, fierce battle started.


    When Koz uttered "Kill", he had already started to move rapidly. As a result, Elder Muray instantly focused on him while narrowing his eyes...


    Almost at the same time, a fiery battle qi totem rushed into the air like a signal bomb from Elder Quentin, which was extremely brilliant in such a deep night and could be seen clearly within 100 miles. This indicated that the knight being employed by Senel Clan had gone to all lengths at the beginning of the battle.


    At the same time, numerous subordinates of Senel Clan inside and outside the camp triggered their long-distance weapons, some of which were powerful mobile beehive crossbows and drag and drop heavy mechanical ballistas towards Elder Muray.


    The faces of the great batch of demonized puppets being closest to the camp who knew nothing about death and fear had turned grim...


    ...


    Closely after the word "kill", Koz had already been 50 m away...


    At this moment, Quentin had already formed a powerful Knight-level long-distance strike...


    Numerous bolts had already been shot out...


    Those demonized puppets being closest to the camp had already raised their steps and prepared to rush towards here...


    A brilliant longbow had appeared in Elder Muray''s hand, which was almost as high as that of Elder Muray. Even though Zhang Tie had been widely opening his eyes, he still failed to see how it appeared in Elder Muray''s hand, not to mention the look of the longbow. In the evening, the longbow was emanating brilliance like a weapon composed of light. Elder Muray was striding forward and drawing the bow in the air...


    At the sight of that longbow, Quentin changed his face at once while his battle qi totem quivered a while and almost collapsed...


    ...


    Closely after the word "him", Koz had been more than 100 m away and disappeared in the numerous demonized puppets...


    Quentin''s powerful Knight-level battle qi finally came into being while a wolf-sized battle qi charged towards Elder Muray. Soon after launching this strike, Quentin rapidly retreated towards the other direction at the speed many times faster than that of Koz.


    Numerous bolts were close to Elder Muray''s body...


    The long light bow in Elder Muray''s hand was like a full moon. The moment he unstrung the bow had the camp of demonized puppets become bright like a sun rising in the dark. Zhang Tie felt white all over in front of his eyes...


    All those bolts being close to Elder Muray were crushed completely. The wild wolf battle qi flowing off Quentin''s hands was like a snowman falling into the magma, which was destroyed at once. At the same time, a beam of light flew off Elder Muray''s longbow and caught up with Koz.


    The tents and demonized puppets were all vaporized by this beam of light at once...


    With still a dumbfounded and unbelievable look, Koz had disappeared in the beam of light.


    At the sight of this scene, the aggressive knight of Arthur Clan in the distance instantly turned around and escaped right away...


    ...


    When Zhang Tie recovered his composure, he found a great chaos in the demonized puppets camp.


    After triggering his long crossbow, Elder Muray chased after Elder Quentin and disappeared from Zhang Tie''s vision...


    There was a 1,000 m long terrifying burning mark from where the longbow was triggered, causing half of the tents in the core of the camp of Senel Clan to disappear.


    Koz disappeared, along with his sons, Battie and Houghs. Zhang Tie saw two heavily broken items on the ground where a lot of tents had been cleaned. Zhang Tie could barely identify their previous looks, one of them was Battie''s ox-horn shaped helmet, the other was Houghs'' long sword.


    Zhang Tie recalled that the bolt triggered by Elder Muray rightly penetrated through the main tent, from where Koz and Quentin had just drilled out. When Elder Muray suddenly arrived, it seemed that Battie and Houghs were still in the tent. Koz might want to protect them by leaving them inside the main tent at the critical moment. However, everything happened so fast. Only in a few seconds, everything had come to an end. Battie and Houghs didn''t even have time to respond to it.


    Koz thought he was just facing a knight; however, he forgot that the knight came from Zhang Clan, Huaiyuan Palace...


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that what he failed to do after following Senel Clan for more than 10 days was solved by only one bolt of Elder Muray in less than 30 seconds. After the Koz, the head of Senel Clan and the two excellent successors were killed, Senel Clan was exterminated.


    What a knight!


    ''The grand dinner that the poor always dream about might only be the common food what the rich felt not like eating at all. What I couldn''t do might just be a matter of choice for others.'' Zhang Tie concluded.


    Zhang Tie was deeply impressed by the brilliant longbow and the bolt that had been triggered. Until then did Zhang Tie realize why Elder Muray was bad-tempered as was said by everyone in Huaiyuan Palace. Whenever he launched an attack, he would cause a great casualty...


    What made Zhang Tie feel more complex inside was Elder Muray''s words "Senel Clan once framed Zhang Tie, apprentice of Huaiyuan Palace. Of course, his elder would come here to revenge for him".


    At this moment, the estrangement between Zhang Tie and Huaiyuan Palace faded away in Zhang Tie''s mind at once.


    ''What a Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace!''


    Zhang Tie took a deep breath before flying off the twig. Soon after he flew off the camp and came to a hidden place had he incarnated into the thunder hawk and rushed to the height of about 1,000 m by flapping his wings. At the same time, he darted towards the direction where Quentin left for at the speed ten times faster than that of the beetle according to his memory.


    Quentin escaped towards the east.


    Zhang Tie kept chasing after him until the daybreak. He didn''t know where he had been. However, he didn''t see Quentin and Elder Muray on the way at all. Finally, he stopped in front of a vast ocean where Zhang Tie knew he lost his target...

 672 A 1,000-Mile Misty Ocean

    No matter how lucky he was, he could not encounter a dying knight every time. Therefore, it was not strange if he lost his target.


    After adjusting his mood instantly, Zhang Tie flew along the coastline.


    ''Quentin might have turned when he flew eastward a while. However, I kept flying eastward; therefore, I lost my target.


    ''Will Elder Muray catch up with Quentin?'' Zhang Tie didn''t know about that. At least he had not seen battle traces between knights on the way here. The knight''s realm was always covered with a mysterious veil for others. Quentin might have a way to protect his life.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t think through why a brilliant long bow suddenly appeared in the hands of Elder Muray last night, why Quentin suddenly changed his face after seeing the longbow and slipped away as timid as a rabbit after a hasty strike. It seemed that Quentin had long known that the longbow was an unrivaled weapon. As he knew that he could not defeat Elder Muray, he chose to retreat. So was the knight from Arthur Clan. After seeing Elder Muray killing Koz in the blink of an eye, the knight of Arthur Clan also hurriedly turned around and escaped.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether it was worth seeing such a shocking scene after following Senel Clan jubilantly for more than 10 days.


    Zhang Tie had not gained any new fruit; neither did he kill anyone. However, the strike of Elder Muray opened a gate for Zhang Tie at once, allowing him to peep many things that he had not imagined through the gate.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, Koz was a powerful guy, who was very cunning and hard to deal with. Even Zhang Tie himself had fallen into his trap. Zhang Tie didn''t know when he could kill such a powerful enemy. However, Elder Muray made him disappear only with one punch. Therefore, Zhang Tie reached a conclusion¡ª¡ªIn the eyes of knights, all those below knights were ants.


    ''I have to be a knight like Elder Muray, even better than him.''


    A hot blood and heroic spirit surged in Zhang Tie''s mind, ''With Castle of Black Iron, small tree and "King Roc Sutra", I have no reason to be not as powerful as Elder Muray.''


    ''Although I didn''t launch an attack, Senel Clan have been exterminated. What''s my next destination then?'' Zhang Tie considered inside.


    ''Go back to Huaiyuan Palace? No, Elder Muray must be here for me. If I went back to Huaiyuan Palace, I would definitely be confined as a stallion. I would never be as free as now. Even if I was not confined in a place, I would always be accompanied by an elder from Huaiyuan Palace as my bodyguard. If so, I could not enter Castle of Black Iron to eat fruits and would barely promote to a knight quickly. Therefore, I would never go back.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    After Koz was killed, the middle corps of demonized puppets would be in a chaos temporarily; however, it would not pose any rudimentary influence to the plan of demons. After rolling over the Symbian Republic, the vanguard of the army of demons would target Norman Empire directly.


    ''Will Norman Empire leave its empty cities to demons?'' Zhang Tie didn''t think so. ''Because Norman Empire has not evacuated all of its people. If Norman Empire didn''t resist, after capturing those people in the territory of Norman Empire, the population of demonized puppets would expand to a terrifying scale. This would cause a disaster for the rest of humans. Therefore, Norman Empire would fight demonized puppets and demons to death even only for saving some more time for those civilians. Besides, if the military of Norman Empire just escaped away, the royal household of Norman Empire would lose their majesty. When they give up Norman Empire, they abandon their royal status and honors as well. Therefore, the royal household of Norman Empire would never just escape without fighting demons and demonized puppets. After demons broke the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations, the cruelest battle between humans and demons would start in Norman Empire. ''


    ''I have no concerns in Norman Empire; based on Hanna''s current status, they could easily leave Norman Empire by an airship. Reinhardt is a powerful fighter, who could determine his own fate with his current ability and battle force. Therefore, it is meaningless for me to go to Norman Empire at this moment.''


    ''The best choice is to digest the achievements that I''ve gained these days so as to further improve my battle force. After promoting to LV 12, I''d better find a chance to kill a batch of iron-armored demons so as to get a fruit of source of iron-armored demons. After that, I will go to Ice and Snow Wilderness.''


    As soon as he made the determination had Zhang Tie felt relaxed.


    Watching the vast ocean at the foot, Zhang Tie remembered that his Castle of Black Iron was running out of basic energy storage and his plan to build some "new houses" on the top of the immortal mountain in Castle of Black Iron. His heart raced at once, ''Before I promote to LV 12, I will greatly increase basic energy storage for Castle of Black Iron.''


    Zhang Tie instantly flew towards the deep of the ocean...


    After more than half an hour, Zhang Tie was almost 100 miles away from the coastline, from where he sniffed the special odor of sulfide in the sea wind coming from afar. An isle appeared in Zhang Tie''s vision.


    There was a volcano in the isle, which was fug-belching. At the same time, a lot of dark red magma flew out of the top of the volcano all the way to the ocean. The moment the scorching magma met the icy seawater had arisen a large area of vapor, which looked like a dense fog over the sea. The entire isle was covered by the misty dreamland. If not above the isle, Zhang Tie could never see the overall look of the isle.


    Starting from this isle, more and more mist as wide as hundreds of square miles appeared on the sea. The mist gradually covered the sky. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt like entering a misty ocean.


    In the misty ocean, Zhang Tie could faintly see glows on the sea, from where a wide area of vapor and water mist upsurged. Some scorching air flows even spurted as high as 100 m in the air.


    After recalling the map on the sea area of the entire Blackson Humans Corridor for a few seconds, a term occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind¡ª¡ªA 1,000-mile Misty Ocean! ''I''m in a 1,000-mile Misty Ocean.''


    This was a forsaken place in Blackson Humans Corridor. A lot of magma fractures led to the underground world beneath this ocean. The volcanic activity in this region was very frequent while the magma was spurting out of the seabed all the year round. After reaching the sea level, the magma heated up the sea water and formed a misty ocean as wide as 1,000 square miles. This was due to the epeirogeny of the continent. After tens of thousands of years, this sea area might become a vigorous land being bordered by the land of Blackson Humans Corridor. However, at this moment, it was just a forsaken place.


    No ship would like to enter such a secluded misty ocean. The visibility in the misty ocean was very low. Dark eddies existed everywhere beneath the sea level. Additionally, more hidden reefs would form everyday after the magma cooled down. Furthermore, old reefs would enlarge everyday, which would even change their locations due to the flowing underground magma river. This passage changed in each second. Nobody could hold it. Therefore, all the ships of Blackson Humans Corridor would make a detour around this Misty Ocean.


    As the seawater here cooled down too much magma, the sea water here became hot while carrying some substances in the magma. As a result, the sea water here displayed weak acidity, causing no fish or marine organism to live in this sea area.


    This was a dangerous desert in the ocean. However, it was the best paradise for Zhang Tie at this moment.


    After flying more than 2 hours in the misty ocean as a thunder hawk, Zhang Tie almost came to the center of the misty ocean. He then teleported the thunder hawk into Castle of Black Iron.


    After the thunder hawk was teleported in Castle of Black Iron for one minute, Zhang Tie''s naked body appeared out of void about 40 m above the sea. After that, he dove into the sea, causing no spray at all...


    With the preliminary waterproof body, Zhang Tie felt as free as being in the sky when he returned to the ocean that he had not seen for a long time. The moment he entered the sea had he slightly moved and dived towards the seabed after leaving some bubbles on the sea level. His speed and agility would dwarf any ocean organism if there was any.


    This sea area was very deep. Besides, it was about 40 degree Celsius. After diving about 1,000 m in depth, Zhang Tie saw some fiery magma rivers in the seabed while the surrounding seawater was boiling and constantly transferring numerous bubbles and vapor upwards, causing the dense mist over the sea.


    There were some crisscrossed oceanic trenches beside the magma rivers. With the surging magma, large water flows poured out of the deep earth''s crust being linked to the oceanic trenches, making the ocean environment more complex...

 673 A Hidden Cultivation in the Misty Ocean

    Chapter 673: A Hidden Cultivation in the Misty Ocean


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie attempted to touch the water flows pouring out of the oceanic trenches. The moment he was hit by one water flow had he been sent sliding over 50 m backward. Given his senses, Zhang Tie realized that it was fresh water. It seemed to be a turbulent fresh river in the oceanic trench. In farther places, Zhang Tie saw some volcanoes spurting magma from the seabed. There were volcanoes and estuaries of subterranean rivers at the seabed, arising Zhang Tie''s praise about the marvel of the creator, the mother nature.


    Because of the environment hereby, the seawater was covered with torrents, subterranean streams and whirlpools.


    Zhang Tie was very satisfied with the environment.


    "Heller, how about this place?"


    "Nice, I could maximize the teleporting entrance so that Castle of Black Iron could absorb seawater at the fastest speed without causing any abnormal situations on the sea level!" Heller''s voice sounded in Zhang Tie''s mind. Heller was very satisfied with Zhang Tie''s plan to increase basic energy storage for Castle of Black Iron.


    "Hard work!"


    With these words, Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron.


    When Zhang Tie put on his clothes in Castle of Black Iron, he felt the colorful cloud turning bright. Closely after that, a spillway opened in the sky while enormous seawater poured down directly into the Abyss of Chaos.


    The Abyss of Chaos was surrounding the immortal mountain while enormous seawater was pouring into the Abyss of Chaos. In a split second, the entire immortal mountain was like being covered by a bizarre, round waterfall, which shocked Zhang Tie at once.


    With the knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie still felt that the waterfall was flowing hundreds of times faster than that of a common waterfall. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the entire immortal mountain was not covered with liquid, but with an extremely thick, freezing crystal wall. If not the changing glistening light on the round water wall, Zhang Tie would never believe that it was a water flow pouring down from the sky.


    The super high-speed waterfall fell into the Abyss of Chaos silently without causing any spray.


    In the distance, those people whom Zhang Tie brought in Castle of Black Iron were so excited at the sight of such a wonderful scene on the immortal mountain that they all knelt down and prayed loudly on the ground. In the eyes of those people, the immortal mountain was a huge crystal cover manifested by their god. As it was flowing super fast silently, those people didn''t know that it was water. They could only feel the breeze.


    Watching Heller walking over here, Zhang Tie swallowed his saliva forcefully, "Can you tell me the runoff of this water?"


    "1.17 million cubic meters per second!" Heller answered with a smile.


    "Ah? You mean the Castle of Black Iron could engulf 1.17 million tons of seawater per second!"


    "Right. This figure is 3.2 times that of the largest river in Blackson Humans Corridor. Now, Castle of Black Iron could convert 1.17 million tons of basic energy storage per second. Do you want to check it?" Heller waved his hand while a virtual image of counting card appeared in front of Zhang Tie. The figures in the front 7 digits were running so fast that Zhang Tie could only see a white line while the 8th digit was rolling rapidly like that of a water meter. The figure on the 9th digit changed twice per second.


    The great convertible efficiency of basic energy storage reminded Zhang Tie of how he carried pack baskets of deserted ores from the mining caves into Castle of Black Iron. Zhang Tie felt speechless at once, ''What a great cheat!'' He realized that he might not have utilized 1/10,000 of the ability of Castle of Black Iron to convert the material into basic energy till now.


    "How fast is the water flow?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "It could cut through granite plates!"


    "Won''t it hurt someone?"


    "Castle Lord, trust me, everything in Castle of Black Iron is under my control!" Heller revealed a confident smile which made Zhang Tie reassured.


    "What about outside?"


    "Don''t worry. Nobody would find it. The 1,000-mile misty ocean forms the best cover. If someone comes to this sea area by accident, arrives at such a depth by accident and is no less than 500 m away from this water, I will know that someone is coming through the subtle change of water flow that enters Castle of Black Iron. I will stop it right away. That person would never find it!"


    "That''ll be good!" Zhang Tie became reassured, ''It might be the god''s will for me to arrive here. As for such a suitable environment for me to increase basic energy storage for Castle of Black Iron, I will make full use of it for sure.''


    "How long will you stay in Castle of Black Iron, Castle Lord?"


    "I won''t leave out of here until I reach LV 12!" Zhang Tie had a sense of crisis after seeing the blow of Elder Muray last night. Even a LV 15 guy was nothing but a f*rt in front of the knight. Therefore, Zhang Tie realized that him, as a 5-star battle LV 11 battle master was too risky in front of the real powerhouses. After promoting to LV 12, Zhang Tie would feel safer in front of crises. Additionally, Zhang Tie had already lit 125 surging points. He only needed to light another 19 surging points before promoting to a LV 12 great battle master...


    Zhang Tie gained the ability to intensify his power twice when he promoted to LV 10 and LV 11 with the help of "King Roc Sutra". Based on the former two experiences, Zhang Tie knew that he would intensify his ability once more when he promoted to LV 12. He was desiring so much about what he could achieve.


    "If it''s real, before you leave Castle of Black Iron, you would definitely see a new round of change of Castle of Black Iron!"


    "I hope so..." Zhang Tie said as he walked towards the small tree.


    ''It''s time to eat fruits!''


    From March 14th when he left Tokei City to April 16th, there were 6 new leakless fruits hanging on the small tree, 5 of which already became ripe, 1 was still raw.


    Besides the 6 leakless fruits, Zhang Tie saw many more fruits, 1 of which was the fruit of brilliance, 4 trouble-reappearance fruits and 1 fruit of judgment.


    The fruit of judgment granted Zhang Tie with a wholly-new rune skill¡ª¡ª"preliminary tracing skill". As a very practical and powerful skill, it enabled Zhang Tie to release a hidden spiritual energy mark on someone or something which would stay effective very long. As long as that person or thing appeared less than 600 miles away from Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie would be able to sense it and find them precisely.


    The 6 fruits came from the reward of killing 4 young elites of Elvis Clan in the rear corps.


    Besides, the wing demons'' fruit of source that Zhang Tie desired most also became ripe. It smelt extremely fragrant. The whole fruit was radiating a bizarre eye-catching brilliance. Compared to other fruits, this one took Zhang Tie the longest time to become ripe since he came to Selnes Theater of Operations last year.


    Watching the complex pattern of source flower being composed of rounds on the surface of the fruit of source, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh with satisfaction. ''No matter how many troubles have I experienced in the Selnes Theater of Operations, everything was worthwhile. With such perfect conditions, if I could not be a knight, I''d rather go die.''


    Zhang Tie reached his hand out...


    ¡ª¡ªWing demons'' fruit of source. Usage: Pick and direct eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªThis fruit could increase your life source and improve your health and quality of life in an all-round manner.


    ¡ª¡ªAll the life existences are sprouted by the seed of source. The spiritual life rules are the manifestation of the source. The great strength forms the look of the source, which is included in each fulfillment. It includes all the knowledge, rhythm, lives and sacred things. It is a combination of feminine and masculine, brightness and darkness, positive and negative. It is the flower and fruit of lives and the sturdy tree of lives.


    Zhang Tie imagined what Heller had told him about the fruit of source. There was a mysterious link between this fruit and the number 1/12. As long as he ate one fruit of source, the ability that could be brought by each surging point, his physical strength and endurance, his life expectancy and his cells'' aging speed would decline by 1/12...


    Zhang Tie picked off the fruit of source and held it carefully. After that, he sat under the small tree with crossed legs and put this fruit into his mouth. As he ate it, he closed his eyes.


    Soon after the fruit entered his stomach had a pattern of the bud of a flower of source loomed in the middle of Zhang Tie''s forehead. Closely after that, the bud was in full bloom. Zhang Tie also started to give out light all over...


    After 5 hours later, Zhang Tie opened his eyes. Zhang Tie felt that he had promoted to a new level. He gained a new life both inside and outside. Additionally, Zhang Tie felt having one more familiar energy in his body. He always felt that he had sensed that energy before. After racking his mind for a few minutes, he became suddenly shocked as he sensed the same weak energy escaping from the All-spirits Pagoda when he used the soul-based incarnation method of "Great Wilderness Sutra".


    When he remembered the warning of Cloud Crane in the posthumous paper about implementing soul-based incarnation skill, Zhang Tie immediately danced with joy under the small tree while bursting out into laughter...


    "Hahaha, I see, I see..."

 674 Benefits

    Chapter 674: Benefits


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie had only implemented soul-based incarnation method a few times. In the posthumous paper, Cloud Crane once warned that soul-based incarnation method required a bit source of spirit and soul of its user. It was the biggest shortcoming of soul-based incarnation method. Therefore, cultivators of Great Wilderness Sutra could never constantly apply the soul-based animal controlling skill. With one more incarnation, the source of spirit and soul of one''s original body would decline a bit. Zhang Tie was afraid of having some sequelae after applying soul-based animal controlling skill previously. However, after eating the fruit of source, Zhang Tie finally understood that he didn''t need to think too much. Because the strength gifted by the fruit of source was the very wisp of strength that had escaped from his body when he fixed his incarnations.


    From the beginning, Zhang Tie totally had three incarnations, namely a rat, a thunder hawk and a black beetle. It would always consume his original body''s some source energy when he fixed the 3 incarnations. However, compared to the energy that he gained through the fruit of source, this bit of energy escaping from his body was trivial. If the source energy gained through the fruit of source was compared to a vat of water, the source energy that he lost when he fixed the three incarnations was only equal to the bit of water on the tip of the writing brush.


    Of course, the source energy contained in the fruit of source of 360 wing demons at and above LV 9 was thousands of times greater than that required by fixing a rat, an insect or a thunder hawk.


    In the former Great Wilderness School, the apprentices used numerous secret tonics to mend up the escaping source energy when they cultivated soul-based incarnation skill; although Zhang Tie had not taken numerous secret tonics, a fruit of source was enough to mend up all the source energy that had escaped from his original body. After fixing the only shortcoming of the secret method of "Great Wilderness Sutra", Zhang Tie didn''t have to worry about potential harms.


    The teleportation ability of Castle of Black Iron, the fruit of source and the "Great Wilderness Sutra", what a perfect combination.


    After taking this fruit of source, although Zhang Tie didn''t light any more surging point, he felt as powerful as lighting over 10 more surging points. At this moment, the flames around the 125 surging points that had been lit had faintly expanded and grown brighter. Zhang Tie''s overall strength had hit a new high from aspects such as strength, speed, reaction capability and senses.


    It was just a beginning. Later on, with one more surging point being lit, Zhang Tie would gain 1/12 more ability than those people who lit the same number of surging points. The later it was, the more effective the fruit of source would be.


    With a laughter, Zhang Tie started to run about wildly on the top of the mountain so as to sense the changing physical conditions more precisely. He flashed as fast as a lightning bolt. After activating Kuafu Bloodline, he arrived at the foot of the mountain in only a couple of steps. With another stride forward, Zhang Tie returned to the top of the mountain. After activating a senior rapidly moving rune, Zhang Tie moved so fast that he almost turned into an extremely virtual shadow which circled around the immortal mountain.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie started to feel that this area was too small that it was even inconvenient for him to move.


    Heller watched Zhang Tie running about madly out of excitement with a smile. Heller had a great sense of achievement and satisfaction about Zhang Tie''s excitement and success¡ª¡ªbecause this was the feature of his achievement-type personality.


    After running around the top of the mountain for a few circles in an extremely virtual shadow, Zhang Tie came to the front of Heller with a fresh wind. After standing still, Zhang Tie showed his figure and look clearly.


    Zhang Tie neither blushed nor panted.


    "Heller, can you expand the immortal mountain? After moving so many people inside, I feel inconvenient to do many things."


    "As you wish, Castle Lord. As long as you stay in Castle of Black Iron for a few more days, I promise to show you a satisfactory space and topographical renovation!"


    ...


    Later on, Zhang Tie ate that fruit of judgment which contained the "preliminary tracing skill", some trouble-reappearance fruits and that fruit of brilliance. The effect of each rune of preliminary tracing skill could last 10 days with a remote-sensing distance of 600 km. If Zhang Tie stuck his tracing tentacles to objects, it would hardly be found by people. If Zhang Tie stuck tracing tentacles to people, nobody below knights could notice such a mysterious rune effect on himself. ''As to knights, heh, heh. Don''t knights wear clothes or shoes? As long as knights don''t find the tracing tentacles on their belongings temporarily, the rune would take effect as well.''


    As a very practical and useful skill, it could be used to trace someone and send an early warning to him. It could also remind Zhang Tie of the location of someone. Additionally, if he was chased after by someone, Zhang Tie, with this skill, would be able to master the trace of the opponent; as a result, he could escape easily.


    After taking that fruit, Zhang Tie had one more golden secret rune that represented preliminary tracing skill in his mind. After being injected with spiritual energy, the rune shocked while a faintly agile stick of tracing feather in the shape of dandelion''s seed appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind sea and started to float in his mind sea.


    After taking the fruit of brilliance which contained the spiritual energy of the 4 young elites of Elvis Clan, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy sea had expanded a lot. Commoners could never accumulate so much spiritual energy in their whole lives. However, Zhang Tie could gain them only by eating a fruit.


    It took Zhang Tie almost one day to digest all of these fruits. Zhang Tie didn''t continue his cultivation; instead, he adjusted his rhythm by eating food and sleeping...


    On the next day, Zhang Tie took the 5 leakless fruits while two more golden bird-shaped flames circled around that stick of spiritual feather in his Shrine.


    After sacrificing himself 891 times in the whole day, Zhang Tie finally found the next 2 surging points in Castle of Black Iron. Closely after that, he lit the 2 surging points under the small tree once again.


    Since then, he only needed to light 17 more surging points before promoting to LV 12 great battle master.


    Would he just stay there to wait for the next leakless fruits to become ripe so as to light other surging points?


    Of course not. Zhang Tie had started to sit under the small tree with crossed legs and polish that stick of spiritual feather in his Shrine using his spiritual energy like how a commoner cultivated "King Roc Sutra" since the next day after he lit the two surging points.


    ''Others could light their surging points in this method, so could I. It''s not acceptable that I could not use the most rudimentary cultivation skill without leakless fruits.'' Zhang Tie thought. Additionally, he faintly felt that he had not fully exerted the effect of his powerful spiritual energy and knight''s consciousness.


    Zhang Tie was right.


    Soon after he calmed down and started to cultivate based on his own ability had he sensed the high efficiency of cultivation benefited from his Knight-level consciousness. Only in about 11 hours had the color of that stick of spiritual feather in his Shrine surging point turned from orange to yellow...


    It was like breaking 1 of 7 barriers of a surging point in one day. Zhang Tie could never imagine about this before.


    Zhang Tie finally understood the benefit of a powerful spiritual energy.


    "You''re polishing surging points as fast as a knight!" Heller concluded, "This is the benefit for you to have the knight''s spiritual energy. Castle Lord, do you want to challenge more difficult cultivation?"


    "Of course, what''s that?" Zhang Tie''s curiosity was aroused.


    "When you polish that stick of spiritual feather in the Shrine, you can gain some iron-body fruits at the same time so as to be stronger!" Heller replied like a senior adviser while his words were full of temptations.


    "Is that real?"


    "It''s impossible in other places at any time. However, it''s indeed possible in this environment!" Heller said as he pointed at the firm water wall which was falling into the Abyss of Chaos constantly, "When you start your cultivation, I can divert a water flow onto your body. As long as you can bear it, you will have your body exercised when you polish the stick of spiritual feather, one stone for two birds!"


    "Do you mean that the water flow could cut through granite. I''m afraid that I could not bear such a high speed at this moment!"


    "Of course the water flow that I divert on you will not have such a high speed. Its effect is like the impulse that you could bear under a waterfall as high as 1,000 m. Under such a great impulse, your majesty could stand 12 hours per day at most!"


    Zhang Tie gritted his teeth as he said, "Fine!"


    ...

 675 A Remarkable Progress

    Chapter 675: A Remarkable Progress


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On the same day, Zhang Tie moved to the foot of the mountain from the place under the small tree. Right on a stony platform near the Abyss of Chaos, Zhang Tie accepted the impulse of the powerful water flow as he attempted to polish that stick of spiritual feather in his Shrine...


    At the first 3 days, Zhang Tie could not fully enter meditation under the impulse of the powerful water flow when he felt exhausted 12 hours per day. Until the 4th day, Zhang Tie became slowly adapted to it. He tried to enter meditation under the impulse. On the 7th day, Zhang Tie finally could enter meditation under the impulse of water flow. However, this process was intermittent. After eating 3 iron-body fruits in 10 days, Zhang Tie could finally fully enter meditation under such a powerful impulse of waterfall...


    After that, Zhang Tie''s cultivation schedule became steady in Castle of Black Iron. He would spend 12 hours a day to polish that stick of spiritual feather in his Shrine under the impulse of the powerful waterfall. After that, Zhang Tie used another 4 hours to cultivate his battle skills and other secret methods and 3 hours to read the endless true words of the Great Wilderness Sutra. As to the rest 5 hours in a day, he would eat food and sleep...


    Zhang Tie cultivated and enlightened Iron-blood Fist everyday. Besides, he also cultivated other battle skills and secret skills.


    The other battle skill that Zhang Tie cultivated was the swordsmanship called "Meteor Shower Sword" that he bought in the illegal demon hunters market in Selnes Theater of Operations which came from the Eastern Continent. When he bought this book, Zhang Tie was gifted with the secret book "Robust Ox Skill" for free.


    Although "Meteor Shower Sword" was not one of the top swordsmanships in the legend, it was also extensive, profound and very powerful. Additionally, the secret knowledge at this level was always beyond the reach of commoners. In the Eastern Continent, some even promoted to sword sage with this secret knowledge.


    As long as becoming a strong fighter, anyone could cultivate this secret knowledge. Additionally, as the cultivator''s level increased, the cultivator would have deeper enlightenment about this swordsmanship; as a result, his swordsmanship would be more powerful. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether it was benefited from his knight''s consciousness because he could always understand the contents of the secret knowledge instantly. He made a remarkable progress in the process of learning "Meteor Shower Sword".


    Additionally, due to commonplaces between swordsmanship and fist position, Zhang Tie also made progress in Iron-blood Fist.


    When he was free, Zhang Tie would cultivate another secret knowledge¡ª¡ª"Soul Capture Skill" of Bloody Soul Temple that he gained from Scala''s corpse.


    Compared to "Meteor Shower Sword", this "Soul Capture Skill" had higher requirements. People whose spiritual energy was lower than that of a battle spirit could not cultivate it. Scala didn''t know where to get this secret knowledge. Scala as a LV 14 battle demon didn''t unlock this secret knowledge before he was killed by Zhang Tie.


    Although it was a higher request on spiritual energy for commoners, it was extremely easy for Zhang Tie. After eating so many fruits of brilliance, his spiritual energy would be much higher than that of common knights, not to mention that of a battle spirit.


    Compared to "Iron-blood Fist" and "Meteor Shower Skill", "Soul Capture Skill" was too evil, which was based on the cultivation of vision, auditory sense, smell, taste sense, body sense, consciousness, predestined affinity and soul. As long as he completed the cultivation, he could capture or influence others'' souls and consciousness with one look or motion silently which was unpreventable. The hypnotism that Zhang Tie heard before was dwarfed by this marvelous skill. When he reached an extremely supreme realm, he could even sow soul seeds in others'' 8 senses, causing them to be his soul slaves. The soul slaves would say fragrant things smelly, smelly things fragrant, white black, black white; they would lose their mind and be fully hallucinatory; they wouldn''t even know whether they were dead or not. How arbitrary! What counted most was that soul slaves didn''t think that their actions and feelings were under your control. They would only feel that everything they did was following their mind and determination.


    After reading "Soul Capture Skill", Zhang Tie confirmed that Koz had not cultivated this secret knowledge. Otherwise, he might have exposed everything he knew to Senel Clan when he fell in their hands in Tokei City. One could easily obtain any information that he wanted from others'' mouth using this "Soul Capture Skill".


    As this skill was a bit evil, Zhang Tie was considering whether to cultivate it or not at the beginning; however, after reading the secret knowledge once, Zhang Tie tragically realized that he had already bore the contents of the entire "Soul Capture Skill" firm in mind. Furthermore, as the only request that this secret knowledge posed to its cultivator was the cultivator''s spiritual energy, after skimming over the secret knowledge, Zhang Tie had already mastered some low-end secret methods such as soul obsessed skill.


    ''Whatever, just cultivate it. With more skills, I will be more powerful. As a righteous and kind youth...ahem...ahem...I will not do evil things with those evil secret methods.'' Zhang Tie thought as he started to cultivate the "Soul Capture Skill". The moment he started had he found a more tragic fact¡ª¡ªalthough always being average in talents, he had a great aptitude in cultivating the evil secret method. It only took him 2 weeks to promote to the level that ''would be reached by commoners after many years'' of serious cultivation on many contents as was written on the mysterious book...


    ''F*ck, this father is born to...have a...''


    Zhang Tie swore inside. At the same time, he made the determination that he would never tell others that he had such an evil aptitude. ''As long as I leave Castle of Black Iron, I will never have heard about "Soul Capture Skill" or anything else.''


    Castle of Black Iron would engulf 1.17 million cubic meters of seawater per second. Furthermore, the small tree could provide Zhang Tie one iron-body fruit per 3 days and 1 leakless fruit per 7 days. Meanwhile, when in deep meditation, Zhang Tie could produce a golden bird-shaped flame that could light a surging point from the stick of spiritual feather in the Shrine with his knight''s spiritual energy. What an amazing speed! Zhang Tie just gnawed fruits and cultivated carefully when the time elapsed...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how long had he stayed in Castle of Black Iron. He felt that he had already lit 134 surging points in the blink of an eye. After lighting 10 more surging points, he would promote to LV 12...


    ...


    Today, Zhang Tie didn''t count how many times had he died in the trouble-reappearance situation...


    With a sound "bang", Zhang Tie who attempted to light the next surging point on the seaside exploded and turned into bloody mist in the blink of an eye. At the same time, the trouble-reappearance situation broke apart...


    Under the torrents, Zhang Tie, in naked body, opened his eyes. After taking another deep breath, he activated that trouble-reappearance situation once again...


    After failing over another 100 times consecutively, Zhang Tie stood on the seaside in the trouble-reappearance situation once again. However, Zhang Tie became fretful at this moment. The process of attempts depended completely. Sometimes, he might find the next surging point after exploding 200-300 times. Sometimes, it was not enough even after dying 600-700 times. Today, Zhang Tie had already died more than 700 times; however, he still didn''t find that surging point yet. Therefore, he gradually became fretful. Thankfully, he had Castle of Black Iron; otherwise, he might have already died.


    Recently, Zhang Tie met two bottlenecks in the cultivation of "Meteor Shower Sword": one was that Zhang Tie could not convert his Iron-blood Battle Qi to sharper Iron-blood Sword Qi. As Iron-blood Battle Qi was very powerful as a top battle qi, it was more difficult for it to convert to more powerful Iron-blood Sword Qi. Zhang Tie had spent many days; however, he failed to break through it. Another bottleneck was that Zhang Tie felt not being able to manipulate some delicate moves and battle skills in the cultivation of "Meteor Shower Sword" although he had great physical strength. The reason was that he had not laid a solid foundation when he started to cultivate swordsmanship. Due to the above two bottlenecks, Zhang Tie''s swordsmanship cultivation had to stagnate.


    The poor small sea snake had already arrived at the seaside. It was trying to bite Zhang Tie.


    Watching that small sea snake struggling to climb onto the beach while twisting its body, Zhang Tie, who was fretful, suddenly burst out laughing. His fret and boredom disappeared at once...


    Watching the glistening ripples and feeling the sea wind and seeing the familiar scene on the Iron Ore Beach, a whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, ''I''ve kept cultivating for so many days without any rest. I will have a day off today. Just take a walk in Hidden Dragon Island to relax myself.''


    Thinking this, Zhang Tie instantly arrived at the cliff from the Iron Ore Beach with one stride. Closely after that, he disappeared from the seaside.


    In the trouble-reappearance situation, besides live animals, everything was as same as that in the real world, including all the grasses, trees, sand and dust. Walking in the familiar Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but sigh with emotions. He recalled what happened in Hidden Dragon Palace when he came there at the beginning¡ª¡ªcarrying navyblue iron ores with Zhang Hongsheng and the other partners, joking with girls from Zhixing Department and seeing Lan Yunxi''s charming look for the first time...


    Zhang Tie felt that these things very warming and interesting.


    As he reminisced about this, Zhang Tie had already arrived at Hidden Dragon Palace and stridden over the mountain gate.


    The Hidden Dragon Palace in the trouble-reappearance situation remained unchanged. Nobody was inside.


    Walking in Hidden Dragon Palace and watching all the familiar grasses and trees, Zhang Tie recovered his composure completely...


    After remembering that he met bottlenecks in the cultivation of swordsmanship, Zhang Tie directly came to the Swordsmanship Gym. Watching those familiar steel puppets, Zhang Tie sighed with emotions, ''As a common member here, I cultivated my swordsmanship diligently while spraying my sweat like the rain. Pitifully, before I passed the test on a fundamental swordsmanship had I left Hidden Dragon Palace due to various reasons.'' Zhang Tie almost forgot when he came here last time.


    Zhang Tie came to the front of a row of long swords and slightly touched their handles. After that, he took the heaviest sword on the rack and came to the front of a steel puppet before starting to practice the eight moves of swordsmanship repetitively according to the requirements.


    Zhang Tie moved as fast as a lightning bolt. Accompanied by his virtual shadow were the consecutive tinkling sounds. At the same time, the data on the counter of the steel puppet upsurged...


    After practicing for more than 1 hour, the data on the counter had risen to 5 digits. At this moment, Zhang Tie felt a link between him and the long sword. He then casually threw it backward, which fell on the rack 30 m away precisely.


    "Hmm, it seems that I have to mend up the fundamental swordsmanship in the trouble-reappearance situation so as to master "Meteor Shower Sword". For commoners, some fundamental skills could never be fixed after being lost, even with knight''s consciousness!" Zhang Tie mumbled. After that, he walked out of the Swordsmanship Gym while waving his head.


    ''I wonder how does Lan Yunxi''s bedroom look like?''


    A bizarre, evil whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, which aroused Zhang Tie''s curiosity. Zhang Tie then smirked as he turned around and walked towards Lan Yunxi''s residence.


    On the way, a tall pavilion''s roof entered Zhang Tie''s vision while being almost covered by woods¡ª¡ªSecret Knowledge Pavilion...


    After recalling that old man who drunk tea water here everyday in the Secret Knowledge Pavilion, Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he continued to walk forward. However, he gradually slowed down his footsteps and finally stopped. He then turned around abruptly and gazed at the very Pavilion...


    Zhang Tie remembered how he discovered the Gold-eating boa''s teeth in the river when he joined the survival training in Wildwolf Valley and all the details in the trouble-reappearance situations these years, even the training in the Swordsmanship Gym just now¡ª¡ªin the trouble-reappearance situations, all the lifeless objects were nothing different than roadside rocks and soil as the complete copy of the material world.


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced heavily while he darted towards the Secret Knowledge Pavilion...

 676 My Secret Knowledge Pavilion

    Chapter 676: My Secret Knowledge Pavilion


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As same as before, the Secret Knowledge Pavilion was composed of 7 storeys. With 8 sides, the pavilion looked like a pagoda while being sheltered in the picturesque mountain scenery.


    It was tranquil in the surroundings except for the rustling sounds of tree leaves swaying in the mountain wind.


    The front gate of the Secret Knowledge Pavilion was opened with a screen right inside the gate. After detouring the screen, Zhang Tie arrived at the lobby on the 1st floor. Although the tea tables and stools were still there as orderly as before, the old man who used to drink there disappeared.


    Zhang Tie became a bit intense as his heart pounded. He faintly felt as guilty as being a thief when he came to this place in the trouble-reappearance situation.


    A staircase behind the lobby led to the 2nd floor, where Zhang Tie had not visited before. Therefore, he wondered what was on the 2nd floor. Previously, when he came here, as long as he told the old man what secret knowledge or battle skill he wanted to exchange with his credit points would the old man draw the rope of the bell beside the tea table and had people sent it downstairs. According to the regulations in Hidden Dragon Palace, all the learners could only learn the secret knowledge in the Mysterious Knowledge Pavilion. There were some tranquil and isolated rooms in the Pavilion. Like those in some libraries, you could learn and bear the contents in the secret knowledge in mind quietly. Besides managing various secret knowledge, the old man could also answer various questions posed by learners here.


    The staircase leading upstairs was clean while being paved with a soft and thick carpet. When Zhang Tie went upstairs, he heard no sound at all.


    When Zhang Tie came upstairs, he saw many numbered isolated rooms where learners could study in. Nobody was in the isolated rooms either.


    Previously, Zhang Tie had only exchanged "Fish-like Diving Skill" here. He always read it in a room on the 1st floor. He had not imagined that there were more than 20 isolated rooms on the 2nd floor which were larger than those on the 1st floor.


    Zhang Tie then came to the 3rd floor and found similar isolated rooms. Being different from that on the 1st and 2nd floor, the isolated rooms on the 3rd floor were fewer and larger. They were isolated with copper or iron walls. There were huge crystal columns in each isolated room, enabling the energy field in the isolated room very active. Besides, each isolated room was matched with a training cell which contained iron puppets. Additionally, there were living utilities like bedding and washroom in each isolated room. At the sight of these isolated rooms, Zhang Tie knew that they ought to be prepared for learning more advanced mysterious knowledge.


    There were totally 3 isolated rooms on the 4th floor. Compared to the 3rd floor, the furnishings of these isolated rooms were more advanced and firmer than those on the 3rd floor. The floors, walls and steel puppets in these training rooms were made of more advanced alloy. Zhang Tie could see many odd-looking wounds on the steel puppets. Additionally, the isolated rooms on the 4th floor were evenly matched with different labs: one elixir lab, one alchemist''s instruments lab and one comprehensive lab.


    ''After staying in Hidden Dragon Palace for so long, I''ve not had any chance to experience the quality learning conditions provided for learners upstairs hereby Hidden Dragon Palace.'' Zhang Tie felt like crying.


    After visiting the 4th floor, Zhang Tie came to the 5th floor.


    Zhang Tie saw an alloy door with an interface of a secret key. There was no keyhole on the door; instead, there was an identification interface through which the special clan identification plate could be read. It seemed to pose a high requirement for the access of the visitor. Zhang Tie blinked his eyes as he attempted to push it; however, the door remained still. Zhang Tie blinked his eyes once again. Closely after that, he was driven furious while that bit of guilty sense had long disappeared in his mind.


    ''F*ck, this father has been here and you tell me I''m not allowed in?''


    "Open it..."


    Zhang Tie roared while a terrifying, barbarous strength and powerful Iron-blood Battle Qi turned into a groundbreaking kick.


    In a split second, the entire Secret Knowledge Pavilion was like blasting while the boom could almost be heard across the Hidden Dragon Palace.


    "F*ck, open it..." "Boom..."


    "Open it..." "Boom..."


    After roaring about 1 minutes along with the blasting booms, the alloy door finally fell down with another louder boom.


    "Pah..." Zhang Tie spat a mouth of saliva forcefully towards the alloy door. Closely after that, he stepped on it and entered the 5th floor of the Secret Knowledge Pavilion.


    Zhang Tie saw rows of bookshelves in the entire 5th floor while various secret knowledge were lying there orderly.


    Watching such a marvelous scene, Zhang Tie felt a bit dazzled as he thought it was unreal.


    After taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie came to the nearest bookshelf and drew out a book by slightly quivering hand.


    Zhang Tie saw the words "Crescent Battle Qi" on the cover of that book. He turned on a new page casually and found it was made of a silver-plate paper which touched very comfortable. The cultivation method of "Crescent Battle Qi" was written in the book.


    After putting it back, Zhang Tie drew out another book "Barbarous Ox Battle Qi"...


    Then the 3rd book "Fiery Fire Battle Qi"...


    ...


    Zhang Tie rapidly passed by those shelves one after another and saw many classifications: Battle Qis¡ª¡ªBattle Skills¡ª¡ªElixirs¡ª¡ªRunes¡ª¡ªAlchemists'' Instruments¡ª¡ªComprehensive¡ª¡ªOdd Skills¡ª¡ªOthers¡ª¡ª


    In the shelf "Comprehensive", Zhang Tie caught sight of the "Iron-blood Fist" that he cultivated...


    In the shelf "Odd Skills", Zhang Tie saw the preliminary, medium and senior "Fish-like Diving Skill".


    In the shelf "Others", Zhang Tie saw many books such as "100 Questions about Ancestral Bloodline Learning" and "Secret Knowledge in Taixia Country". Although they weren''t any mysterious knowledge, they were more expensive than average books of cultivation.


    In the shelf "Elixirs", Zhang Tie saw books such as "Brochure for Apprentice Pharmacist", "Herbs Classic", "ABC of Mysterious Medicine", "Deciphering of Human Genes", "Method of Elixir Manufacture", etc..


    Among the two items "Runes" and "Alchemist''s Instruments", Zhang Tie saw many mysterious knowledge such as "Basic Runes", "Runes Advancement", "Heavens and Ground Corresponding Skill", "Sounds Imitation Skill", "Minerals Identification Skill", "Metallurgical Method", "Forging Method" and "Flames for Mineral Extraction", etc..


    The battle skills were further divided into more categories, including various weapons, fist positions, finger attacking skills, feet movements and cultivation mysterious knowledge...


    In all the 5 storeys, there were thousands of mysterious books. Zhang Tie felt like entering a dreamland just by looking at so many names.


    Many of the mysterious books here were about battle qi, battle skills and various professional basics that were available to people below LV 9. If he was still in Hidden Dragon Palace, he needed to use a lot of clan contribution points to exchange for any of these mysterious books. However, all of them were freely available to Zhang Tie now.


    ''How fast does the happiness come!'' Zhang Tie''s heart raced.


    After taking a round on the 5th floor, Zhang Tie rushed to the 6th floor.


    On the 6th floor, his heart pounded more heavily.


    If the 5th floor was a library, the 6th floor would be an exhibition hall for crystal treasures.


    There were all square crystal cabinets which were arranged orderly on the 6th floor. Each crystal cabinet was displaying some sandalwood cases with soft velvet cloths inside. There were mysterious crystal books in different shapes being wrapped with metal on the soft velvet cloths, large or small. Those who had no knowledge about mysterious books would take those mysterious crystal books as ornaments, which were actually advanced mysterious books which could not be cultivated until reaching LV 10.


    With a glance, Zhang Tie estimated that there were about 200-300 pieces of mysterious crystal books on the 6th floor. All the deep deposits of Huaiyuan Palace''s were displayed here.


    Names were written on the sandalwood cases which contained mysterious crystal books for the sake of identification. Zhang Tie took a round on the 6th floor rapidly. After that, he almost cried as the "Robust Ox Skill" which took him great efforts was right here; it was placed in a trivial corner. "Meteor Shower Sword" was even placed ahead of the "Robust Ox Skill". Zhang Tie took the 2 mysterious crystal books out of the cabinets and injected his spiritual energy inside them. He found their contents were as same as that in his own books.


    Recalling how many troubles had he experienced when he sought for "Robust Ox Skill", Zhang Tie patted his forehead forcefully, ''Zhang Tie! Zhang Tie! You should have thought about this before! How stupid you are. You''ve already come to the trouble-reappearance situation for so many times. You have even discovered good items in Wildwolf Valley in the trouble-reappearance situation. How could you forget so many mysterious books in Hidden Dragon Island? How stupid you are! You should not blame others...''


    In the most remarkable location in the middle of the cabinets on the 6th floor, Zhang Tie caught sight of "Breaking Sun Sutra". Being different from that which he refused to take from Lan Yunxi, this one was a 60% mysterious book which only contained contents from LV 10 to LV 15. Zhang Tie speculated that this was a trick of Huaiyuan Palace. It was used to encourage clan students and prevent the entire version of "Breaking Sun Sutra" from being exposed to the public. Across Huaiyuan Palace, only a few people could master the entire version of "Breaking Sun Sutra". Even in Hidden Dragon Palace, clan students could not learn the "Breaking Sun Sutra" without gaining enormous clan contribution points. If not real clan elites, nobody was qualified to touch it.


    ''What''s on the 7th floor?'' Zhang Tie took a look there and found it was a people''s residence. The faint aroma of tea water on the 7th floor had already indicated who was living there¡ª¡ªthe old man who guarded this Mysterious Knowledge Pavilion.


    After returning to the 6th floor, Zhang Tie had been bothered by a happy problem, ''With so many mysterious books and such a top cultivation condition that numerous people were dreaming about, which mysterious book should I choose to cultivate so as to improve my battle force? It''s impossible for me to digest all of them, neither do I have so much time or vigor to do that. So which one is more useful to me?''

 677 Painstaking Exercise

    Chapter 677: Painstaking Exercise


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After finding Secret Knowledge Pavilion, Zhang Tie slightly adjusted his schedule. He narrowed the period to light the surging point and do exercises under the impulse of water flow from 12 hours to 4 hours and the period to read endless true words of Great Wilderness Sutra from 3 hours to 1 hour. He increased the period to cultivate battle skills and secret knowledge from 4 hours to 14 hours. What remained unchanged was the sleeping time¡ª¡ª5 hours.


    With such an adjustment, although Zhang Tie would take a few more days to promote to LV 12, he could lay a solid foundation. After all, he could promote to LV 12 only after lighting another 9 surging points. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not anxious.


    During these days in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie had forgotten about all the troubles outside. He didn''t feel it was improper. ''No matter how the war progresses between humans and demons, I''m not even a knight, so it''s not my turn to concern about that. This world will continue to run without me. My battle force is my largest dependence. The more powerful I am, the safer it will be for those beside me and myself, and the more influential my words will be to the overall battle situation. Even if a LV 6 soldier survived 100 years in the holy war, he could still not match the meritorious deed that a knight could make in one day on the battlefield. I gained nothing after following Senel Clan for more than 10 days; however, the moment Elder Muray arrived had he solved the problem. What a difference!''


    Therefore, Zhang Tie continued his cultivation in Castle of Black Iron with a peaceful mind.


    It would definitely be annoying for a person who could hardly make a choice when he discovered a Secret Knowledge Pavilion in the Trouble-reappearance Situation.


    It was always a happy thing to find a secret book; however, when there were too many secret books to read, you would feel perplexed.


    Thankfully, Zhang Tie had no trouble to make a choice, neither was he over-ambitious. For Zhang Tie, it would be good as long as he could become more powerful. But how? To further develop his strengths so as to enlarge the gap between him and others. When he activated his ancestral bloodlines, he immediately became able to challenge Scala although his level was lower than Scala''s.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie used the same method when he chose the secret books.


    It took Zhang Tie 3 days to skim over the secret books in the Secret Knowledge Pavilion and learn what abilities they could bring to him.


    During the 3 days, besides continuing his cultivation, Zhang Tie selected the 1st secret book that could make him more powerful.


    As he met the bottleneck in the cultivation of "Meteor Shower Sword", Zhang Tie selected the first secret book "True Swordsmanship" and started to read it carefully. This was a secret book for those below LV 9. Although it didn''t contain powerful battle skills or battle qi; it raised Zhang Tie''s understanding about the cultivation of battle skills and swordsmanship to a new high.


    After studying "True Swordsmanship", Zhang Tie didn''t read any more secret books; instead, he started to accomplish the cultivation of his fundamental swordsmanship. It was not only a process to consolidate the foundation of his swordsmanship but also the foundation of Zhang Tie''s road towards a real powerhouse.


    When in Hidden Dragon Palace, he had to repeat the 8 movements of fundamental swordsmanship 8 million times so as to accomplish the cultivation of his fundamental swordsmanship. This was a painstaking process, which Zhang Tie previously didn''t pay too much attention to. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, the more powerful the battle skill was, the better it would be. However, after carefully studying "True Swordsmanship", he finally understood that all the great powers were based on the simplest and firmest foundation, without which, the alleged powers were just as illusory as moons in the river and flowers in the mirror. Only with the firmest foundation could one become powerful always.


    The foundation of power was featured by a super strong will, forever persistence, strong body, faster speed, best coordination between limbs, consciousness, eyes and movements, 100% precision, great concentration that could turn failure into success and delicate control force like using 500 kg''s huge ax to carve floral grains on a bean curd. The only way to reach all the above targets was painstaking exercise¡ª¡ªto repeat each simple movement over 1 million times.


    Until then did Zhang Tie understand the reason that Hidden Dragon Palace listed fundamental swordsmanship as a compulsory course for all the students. This was not an idea that occurred to someone when he patted his head, but the deepest enlightenment that a real powerhouse could have in the process of cultivation.


    Without a firm foundation, the cultivator could never touch the peak of his battle road and battle skills.


    Zhang Tie started his painstaking exercise.


    At the beginning, with one sword, he could repeat the 8 movements twice in a second, namely reaching out of his sword 16 times...


    After 1 week, Zhang Tie held two swords and could repeat 2 rounds of the 8 movements in each second by each hand, namely reaching out of his sword 32 times per second...


    This was a tough challenge. In the early days, Zhang Tie''s two swords always collided with each other due to different movements. His footsteps would always become disordered when he usually disrupted his own rhythm. Gradually, Zhang Tie adapted to it in an unimaginable way and solved this tricky problem which seemed could never be solved.


    Zhang Tie found that as long as he treated the two long swords in his hands as the two abacuses that he imagined in his mind when doing ''mental arithmetic'' could he realize the most perfect coordination when making different movements with the two long swords.


    This was a great discovery and an outstanding attempt. After realizing its feasibility, Zhang Tie was shocked as he knew what did this mean. Previously, Zhang Tie had never imagined that he could master the method to make two different movements at the same time after reaching that supreme realm of "mental arithmetic". After applying mental arithmetic in battle skills, Zhang Tie could almost increase his battle force by two times. Now that he could use two swords at the same time; he could also use his fist and sword or his shield and sword at the same time. An unprecedented road of cultivation opened in front of Zhang Tie''s eyes, which shocked Zhang Tie for quite a while.


    After recovering his composure, Zhang Tie started to cultivate his fundamental swordsmanship in Castle of Black Iron instead of being in the trouble-reappearance situation. He told Heller to divert a thick water flow onto his body from the heavens waterfall. Zhang Tie started to cultivate each movement of fundamental swordsmanship under the heavy impulse of the torrent. At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t need any iron puppet anymore. As he had gazed at that puppet for too long, he could imagine about its look even when he closed his eyes.


    Zhang Tie used the two heaviest long swords that he could find from Castle of Black Iron, each weighed 280 kg, to attack the illusory steel puppet which existed in his mind.


    He was improving his fundamental swordsmanship, his will and his body at the same time. Zhang Tie didn''t stop his cultivation until the potential of each of his cells was fully tapped.


    When he could not wave the 280 kg long swords, he used smaller ones. Until his fingers trembled when he held the commonest long swords would he replace the long swords with his fingers. Under the impulse of the heavy water flow, Zhang Tie kept repeating the 8 movements of the fundamental swordsmanship using his fingers.


    Through such a painstaking exercise, Zhang Tie gradually recovered his attacking times per hand from one round to two rounds. Almost every time he took a fruit, Zhang Tie would feel freer in movements under the impulse of the water flow. However, the dropping speed of the water flow would soon increase, which gradually offset his physical strength.


    In this way, Zhang Tie completely forgot about time; neither did he remember how many times had he repeated the 8 movements of fundamental swordsmanship. He could only remember that he had already opened the 4th floor of All-spirits Pagoda and lit the 143rd surging point. After lighting one more surging point would he promote to LV 12 great battle master...


    ...


    This day, when Zhang Tie woke up, he didn''t feel different than usual days. However, the moment he picked the two 280 kg''s long swords to start his cultivation had he felt an evident agility and affinity from the two long swords. It seemed that they were not long swords but parts of his body. When he closed his eyes, the long swords almost became his eyes and enabled him to sense everything, including the trivial air turbulence. When he raised his long swords which then became his hands and enabled him to touch and tear everything apart. When he poked the long swords into the ground which then became his feet on the ground and could never be moved by others.


    A whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind while his long swords instantly crashed with each other. In a split second, with a sharp thunder-like sonic boom, two terrifying crescent-shaped sword qi flew out of the swords and swept over all the grasses, trees and mountain rocks within 50 m at the foot of the immortal mountain in the form of a cross after flying over all the obstacles in front of them, leaving a huge cross symbol on the mountain ridge...


    Zhang Tie was shocked as he felt that he was pretty familiar with "Meteor Shower Sword" immediately.


    "Congratulations, my lord, you''ve awakened another ancestral bloodline and formed the Iron-blood Battle Qi!" Heller''s voice drifted from Zhang Tie''s back...

 678 Great Battle Master

    Chapter 678: Great Battle Master


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie turned around and saw Heller walking towards him.


    "You mean I''ve awakened a new ancestral bloodline?"


    "My lord, you must have sensed the change. You''ve awakened sword affinity!" Heller smiled.


    ''How weird it is. When I woke up, I just felt different with the two long swords. I remembered that when I took the fruit of bloodline and activated ancestral bloodlines, I had to use 62 points of bloodline energy to activate sword affinity. I injected the remaining last bit of bloodline energy into the marshmallow of sword affinity; I did not expect this ancestral bloodline to activate at this moment.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    Zhang Tie thought it might be related to his painstaking training during this period, ''Ahh, how long have I cultivated in Castle of Black Iron?''


    Zhang Tie then asked Heller the same question that he was considering.


    "According to the date outside, it''s already August. Your majesty, you''ve exceeded the cultivation of fundamental swordsmanship more than that you could expect. As a reward, you''ve awakened your ancestral bloodline..." Heller answered.


    "Exceeded?" Zhang Tie indeed had not thought about this before. Since he started his painstaking cultivation under that torrent, Zhang Tie even forgot how many times he had reached out his swords.


    "Yes, my lord. During this period, you could keep reaching out swords 16 times per second per hand. That''s to say, you can reach out swords 32 times per second with two hands, namely 115,200 times per hour. Under the torrent, you trained 8 hours, namely, you had reached out your swords 921,600 times a day. Excluding the cultivation that you made in the trouble-reappearance situation, you had stayed 68 days in Castle of Black Iron by yesterday, during which period, you had reached out your swords 62,668,800 times under the torrent. However, the standard of fulfilling the cultivation of fundamental swordsmanship in Hidden Dragon Palace was that the cultivator had to reach out swords 8 million times. Plus the times that you reached out your swords in the trouble-reappearance situation, you have already reached out your swords over 80 million times, 10 more times than regulated. Besides, you were cultivating it by two hands at the same time under very tough environment. Because of this, you awakened your sword affinity!"


    Perhaps Zhang Tie was not talented in cultivation; however, his strong will and persistence aroused Heller''s appreciation.


    "Over 80 million times?" Zhang Tie was stunned after hearing the figure. Zhang Tie didn''t know that he had accomplished such a great work¡ª¡ªby reaching out his swords over 80 million times in total, he accomplished his cultivation of fundamental swordsmanship and laid a solid foundation for his road towards a real powerhouse.


    "My lord, have you found any difference in your current movements than before?"


    "Not yet." Zhang Tie replied like an idiot as he indeed had not sensed any change.


    Heller then pointed at the place where Zhang Tie stood, "Your majesty, this platform is a very firm granite, which was as high as 1.7 m or so at the beginning; however, look at how high it is now, my lord?"


    Zhang Tie lowered his head and checked it carefully. He then realized that this granite was only a bit higher than 0.5 m with a pit in the center which was caused by his own gravity when he was meditating.


    "This is the best certificate for your painstaking exercise. The torrent that flushed onto your body and your long swords lowered this granite over 1 m in height. Even the hard rock had changed its look under the impulse of the torrent, how could you not sense the change when you cultivated under the impulse of the torrent, my lord?"


    Zhang Tie then scratched his head bashfully before replying, "Erm...I really didn''t sense any change!"


    "That''s because you''ve already been used to cultivate in such an environment. With your rising battle force and increasing bearing capability, I gradually increased the impulse of the torrent. Therefore, you could not sense any change. There''s no water flow now, you can try again with your swords, my lord!"


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie casually moved with double swords. In a split second, the platform was covered with thunder-like sonic booms and dense sword shadows, displaying brilliant, grim and terrifying sword flowers...


    The sword flowers faded away while everything else on the platform disappeared in 1 second. What happened just now was like an illusion.


    Zhang Tie watched his hands with an unimaginable look. In the past one second, he was just cultivating his fundamental swordsmanship as usual. However, in a split second, he had felt his hands accelerating greatly in a much easier way. Therefore, in a second, he launched his attack 19 rounds by two hands, namely 304 times in total. Because of a super fast speed, the brilliant sword shadows formed sword flowers.


    Sword flowers was a high realm of swordsmanship recorded in the secret book "True Swordsmanship". The full description about it was "Even water is forbidden in sword flowers!"


    ''Now that I could reach out swords 304 times per second, I could also punch 304 times per second.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    Zhang Tie watched Heller before saying, "Give me a basin of water..."


    Heller responded with a smile as he pointed towards the firm water wall on Zhang Tie''s side. A water flow instantly flew towards Zhang Tie''s head. Compared to the terrifying super high speed of the water wall, this water flow didn''t flow so fast. It was equal to the speed of that of a basin of water being poured down from upstairs.


    When the water came close to Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie felt that it was flowing as slowly as the crawling speed of a tortoise. After that, he reached out his swords and cut the water into numerous pieces and minced it, then he lifted it and pushed it aside in extremely common movements without even releasing his sword qi.


    In Heller''s eyes, when the water flow almost touched Zhang Tie''s head, with sword flashes, the water had turned into mist and been blown away by the sword wind like a magic...


    After the mist faded away, Heller saw Zhang Tie standing there with his swords supporting on the ground while Zhang Tie''s body was still dry.


    At that moment, Zhang Tie finally sensed his great change. He had faintly and easily reached an unimaginable realm on strength, speed, responding ability, judgment and coordination between limbs, consciousness and eyes. Zhang Tie finally felt a faint resonance between his state and his knight''s consciousness.


    Forming a resonance with the knight''s consciousness and feeling more harmonious indicated a great progress and unusual realm.


    "Thank you, Heller!" Zhang Tie appreciated sincerely. He knew that he could never make such a remarkable achievement in such a short period without the environment and conditions that Heller created for him.


    "My lord, it''s my great honor!" Heller bowed to show his sincerity elegantly.


    ...


    3 days later, Zhang Tie sat on the same platform with crossed legs while a powerful torrent poured down from the sky and kept flushing Zhang Tie''s body. Zhang Tie didn''t notice it; instead, he was fully focusing on the stick of spiritual feather in his Shrine.


    Right then, the purple stick of feather radiated strong brilliance with a slight quiver. Closely after that, a golden flame in the shape of a bird came into being and started to fly around the stick of spiritual feather in his Shrine.


    At this moment, there were two bird-shaped golden flames in Zhang Tie''s Shrine. During this period of cultivation, Zhang Tie found that he had better keep a golden bird-shaped flame in his Shrine surging point all the time if he wanted to find the next surging point of "King Roc Sutra" by constant attempts in the trouble-reappearance situation. In this way, he could increase the efficiency in lighting surging points instead of having to accumulate enough energy to form a golden bird-shaped flame in his Shrine before making attempts to light new surging points. He didn''t have to explode hundreds of times in the trouble-reappearance situation hurriedly before lighting a surging point; instead, he could spread the experiences of exploding himself hundreds of times in intervals between cultivation periods.


    When the new golden bird-shaped flame came into being, Zhang Tie let the other one fly out of his Shrine towards a surging point on his sacrum to integrate with that surging point.


    With a sound "boom", Zhang Tie''s mind sea quivered; at the same time, that surging point on the sacrum was finally lit and radiated a golden flame...


    After lighting the 144th surging point, Zhang Tie finally became a LV 12 great battle master...


    When he lit the surging point, before Zhang Tie celebrated, all the surging points across his body that had been lit quivered at the same time. Right then, the golden bird-shaped flames in all surging points that had been lit radiated great brilliance. Closely after that, a bizarre strength appeared that made Zhang Tie feel like losing his weight. At the same time, every single cell turned into the wind as they became lighter and moved faster. With a slight move, they turned into the light and flashed towards the endless sea of stars...


    This was the "reward" from "King Roc Sutra" after Zhang Tie promoted to a higher level. In the former two times, Zhang Tie was rewarded with great strength; however, this time...


    ...


    Zhang Tie finally opened his brilliant eyes and stood up. At the same time, he felt like frying beams as the 144 surging points that he had lit were cracking at the same time while the high-speed torrent that poured down from the sky stopped.


    Zhang Tie gradually revealed a brilliant smile when he sensed his light body...


    The reward from "King Roc Sutra" for the cultivator who promoted to LV 12 was agility, namely higher speed and faster responsive ability. ''God, I love you...''


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter...


    ''It''s time to leave Castle of Black Iron...''

 679 The First Victory

    Chapter 679: The First Victory


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Trouble-reappearance situation, Shadow-Demon Cell...


    Abyan''s roars had sounded for 2 hours in Shadow-Demon Cell. At this moment, Abyan''s two wings had been torn into pieces; its powerful tail had broken while its body was covered with wounds. How miserable it was!


    Abyan broke its tail itself. If not, Zhang Tie would clutch its tail and beat it into a meat pie.


    Although Abyan''s protective battle qi was powerful, it could not bear Zhang Tie''s fierce movements by clutching its tail and pounding its body onto the ground one time after another. Some big pits had formed on the ground; each time Zhang Tie pounded its body on the floor would Abyan feel being crushed by a train while spurting out a big mouth of fresh blood; meanwhile, many bones on its body would be broken.


    Zhang Tie''s strength was too terrifying. What was more was Zhang Tie''s high speed, ghost-like footsteps and movements.


    This was a bloody battle that had never happened since the birth of the Shadow-Demon Cell between a LV 14 battle demon and Zhang Tie, who had just promoted to LV 12 great battle master.


    If a common great battle master fought a battle demon who was two levels higher than him, the common great battle master would lose the battle evidently in half a minute. However, Zhang Tie was not a common battle master. Therefore, this was a fierce battle.


    Abyan had powerful battle skills and protective battle qi which could defend and defuse many common protective battle qis. Additionally, it was two levels higher than that of Zhang Tie and had rich battle experiences...


    By contrast, Zhang Tie had greater speed; although his battle skill could not match that of Abyan, his battle skills were special; additionally, Zhang Tie had rich battle experiences.


    Zhang Tie and Abyan both fought with bare hands.


    The Shadow-Demon Cell had been disordered while the floor and walls were covered with huge pits caused by battle qi booms. The bricks and concretes were falling like the rain from the roof. This was also the largest destruction that this trouble-reappearance situation had encountered since it was formed.


    Through this battle, Zhang Tie concluded two points. First, in a duel, if a powerful battle qi didn''t strike the opponent, it would cause a huge destruction to the environment. Second, Iron-blood Fist and Iron-blood Battle Qi were powerful enough to tear apart a LV 14 battle demon''s protective battle qi.


    Abyan roared with twisting face. At the same time, he waved his hands and launched off-body battle qi attacks towards Zhang Tie like a lunatic.


    Noticing Abyan''s movements, Zhang Tie became stunned as he suddenly recalled how he gritted his teeth and tried to survive longer in front of Abyan previously. In previous times, Zhang Tie estimated that he looked as anxious as Abyan at this moment. As a result, Zhang Tie was almost struck by Abyan''s off-body battle qi.


    When Abyan''s strike almost touched Zhang Tie''s cloth corner, Zhang Tie straightly disappeared.


    In such a small Shadow-Demon Cell, wherever Zhang Tie was, he could appear in any place of this cell with only one step. For Abyan, Zhang Tie was just like a virtual shadow. Everything about Zhang Tie was false, only Abyan''s strike was real.


    Zhang Tie appeared 20 m behind Abyan. Before Abyan turned around, Zhang Tie''s punch had reached its back, causing the thin protective battle qi that Abyan had just formed collapse in a split second. Besides, a lot of scales flew off its body while Abyan spurted out another mouth of fresh blood.


    Before Abyan made its counterattack, Zhang Tie had disappeared once again.


    Zhang Tie''s strike made Abyan fly into a rage.


    "Go die..." Abyan roared as it launched its top trump-card battle skill.


    9 black bats flew out of Abyan''s hands and charged at Zhang Tie at the same time.


    Of course, they were not real bats, but bats composed of powerful battle qi.


    Battle-qi in shape was a battle skill that a LV 13 battle general could master. With this skill, one''s battle qi could play a greater destruction when in a strike. Zhang Tie saw Scala''s battle-qi in shape of a destructive wild wolf when he was in Mocco City for the first time.


    After fighting with Abyan for so long in Shadow-Demon Cell, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to see Abyan''s battle-qi in shape.


    This was Abyan''s 3rd battle-qi in shape within 2 hours.


    Not knowing why, Zhang Tie felt that Abyan was changing completely today. Previously, Zhang Tie felt that Abyan was like a tall and terrifying mountain ridge who could tear him off in a split second; however, today, Zhang Tie felt Abyan becoming clumsy as each of its movement lacked something.


    The 9 bats charged at Zhang Tie from 4 directions. In the eyes of onlookers, if there was, Zhang Tie had no way to retreat or dodge away. However, in Zhang Tie''s eyes, he could still see possibilities in this impossibility. With the combination of his powerful knight''s consciousness and his enlightenment of "one step, one scenery", Zhang Tie instantly moved over 100 steps in a limited area by moving forward, backward, leftward, rightward, raising or lowering his head as light as a virtual smoke. After trembling a few times, Zhang Tie got rid of Abyan''s trump-card battle-qi in shape for the 3rd time.


    Abyan pounced on Zhang Tie. With its mouth widely opened, Abyan exposed its sharp teeth and wanted to bite off a piece of flesh from Zhang Tie''s body.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, Abyan was just moving fast.


    Zhang Tie knew that he could hardly squeeze anything more out of Abyan, ''It''s time to end this battle.''


    ...


    After getting rid of Abyan''s strike, Zhang Tie easily passed through Abyan''s front claws. When he passed by Abyan''s body, Zhang Tie instantly turned around and swept over Abyan''s neck as fast as a lightning bolt by using his palm horizontally like a sharp sword...


    As a result, Abyan''s head was sent flying in the air. While spurting out hot blood, the headless corps continued to rush forward a few more steps before falling on the ground.


    With a sound "bang", Abyan''s head fell on the ground and rolled a long distance ahead.


    Standing in the Shadow-Demon Cell, Zhang Tie watched his hands with a complex look. Just now, he killed Abyan which was once like a nightmare by his own hands.


    "I made it, I made it..." Zhang Tie mumbled. Finally, he roared while two lines of tears poured out of his eye sockets, "Angel, Sharapova, Nia, Hirtina, Mia, did you see that? I finally killed Abyan with my own hands today. I can be your guardian knight now, ah..."


    The entire Shadow-Demon Cell rocked while numerous stones fell off the roof.


    Zhang Tie raised his head with a dumbfounded look, ''What''s the matter? My sound is not that destructive...''


    "F..."


    With a boom, the entire Shadow-Demon Cell collapsed in a split second due to Abyan''s last battle-qi in shape. Zhang Tie, appeared in this scene as a winner for the first time had been pressed by millions of tons of stones before tasting the complex moods. He didn''t even finish the word "F*ck". Even though Zhang Tie had taken dozens of more trouble-reappearance fruits during this period of cultivation, he still had no strength to resist...


    The trouble-reappearance situation was shattered and turned into light spots.


    ...


    Under the small tree, Zhang Tie opened his eyes. He felt cold under his lower eyelids. After touching it, he realized that his original body had been dropping off tears.


    Although the accident had passed a long time ago, the death of the girls in Blackhot City were always making Zhang Tie''s depressive. Zhang Tie always dreamed about the girls'' crying looks. However, he was unable to help them; he could only see them being engulfed by the dark force. After killing the murderer who killed those girls in Blackhot City today, Zhang Tie finally felt reassured.


    Zhang Tie picked himself up from the ground and walked downstairs that high platform.


    Heller was waiting for him downside there. At the sight of Heller, Zhang Tie hurriedly wiped off his tears bashfully and said, "Erm...I''ve just won a battle...I cried due to the excitement. Have I said something weird just now?"


    "No!" Heller shook his head with a solemn look. After that, he moved his eyes from Zhang Tie''s face like having not seen Zhang Tie''s tears as he suggested, "My lord, we''ve worked out the latest space and topographic renovation map, do you want to take a look at it?"


    "Fine!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    Heller waved his hand while a huge three-dimensional vertical image appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    "As many basic energy storages have been accumulated in Castle of Black Iron in these months, the land area in Castle of Black Iron would be expanded to 1,000 sq km or so. Meanwhile, a sea area as wide as about 500 sq km would come into being..." Heller explained to Zhang Tie while pointing at the three-dimensional image...


    With Heller''s explanation, Zhang Tie recovered his composure and focused on the rotating three-dimensional map...


    ...

 680 New Look I

    The rotating three-dimensional image displayed a new look of Castle of Black Iron, whose land area expanded by 10 times. Besides, there was an ocean. The moment Zhang Tie saw that had he felt his heart racing.


    ''This is my space, this is the land that I accumulated step by step.'' Zhang Tie told himself as he felt proud. Additionally, the immortal mountain in Castle of Black Iron, namely where Zhang Tie was standing on increased by over 10,000 m in height immediately which looked more magnificent and mysterious.


    Zhang Tie saw some white clouds above the three-dimensional image.


    "White clouds? How could we have white clouds here?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    "With the expansion of the space in Castle of Black Iron, the natural circulation system of this space will gradually show itself. White cloud is just the initial phenomenon. If this space could further expand later on, it would display its more complex, three-dimensional climate types which are adapted to all sorts of living beings."


    "Will it rain here?"


    "Maybe!" Heller answered faintly.


    "Ah? What do you mean?"


    "I mean it will rain if you want it in this space; it will not rain if you don''t want it. It depends on you, my lord!"


    Zhang Tie nodded, ''Although it''s a marvelous way to control the weather; it''s nothing strange in Castle of Black Iron.''


    "How many people could this new land hold?"


    "All the new land is very fertile. Main grain crops could be planted in the three seasons of a year. If we made full use of this land, we could hold a population of more than 3 million people!"


    "More than 3 million people?" Zhang Tie slightly frowned as he stretched out his hand to work on the three-dimensional image, "The sea area is too large; just cancel it off. We can change it into a land. Additionally, we need some inland freshwater lakes and as more natural river systems as possible so as to irrigate the land on river banks. We should prioritize the benefits of as more people here as possible!"


    Under the manipulation of Zhang Tie, the sea area disappeared while the land area expanded by a quarter. Additionally, some more lakes and rivers appeared in the land.


    Watching the change that Zhang Tie made, Heller understood Zhang Tie''s meaning immediately, "My lord, are you preparing for more people to live in Castle of Black Iron?"


    Zhang Tie nodded, ''The holy war has just started a couple of years ago, however, numerous people have lost their homeland. In the future, the holy war will be crueler.'' Zhang Tie could not predict the outcome of this holy war; however, he wanted to do more preparations for the possible future. Castle of Black Iron could serve as a sacred shelter and enable more people to survive on. Take Ice and Snow Wilderness for instance, as an isolated overseas land in Blackson Humans Corridor, it could barely stand too long if the entire Blackson Humans Corridor collapsed. If there was one day that Ice and Snow Wilderness was mired in an impasse, he could teleport all his followers from Ice and Snow Wilderness to Castle of Black Iron. Although the method seemed to be a bit irresponsible, Zhang Tie knew that what counted most in the holy war was to save as more humans as possible.


    After figuring out Zhang Tie''s train of thoughts, Heller started a new change. After a short while, he had completed the adjustment of the entire three-dimensional image. Heller pulled down the image with one hand while the entire land area expanded to over 4,000 sq km once more like spreading a pie on the pan.


    "My lord, now that you want to hold as more people as possible here, we don''t have to keep the new land so thick. According to the previous plan, the land and rock layer in Castle of Black Iron was as thick as 800 m. After the adjustment, its thickness turns into 200 m. Therefore, we could increase more land area and hold over 10 million population in total inside Castle of Black Iron."


    Zhang Tie patted his forehead forcefully, "Right, how could I forget about this?".


    "Is there any side effect?"


    "No, these people could only live on the land surface. If we just consider their daily lives, 200 m in thickness is enough. If you are not satisfied with land area, 20 m in thickness also works. After all, everything here is carried in this space. As long as there''s such a layer of soil on the ground, it will grow plant and grains!"


    ''20 m in thickness?'' Zhang Tie rubbed his face, "It''s like rolling a dough on the panel. Although the thickness won''t bring any side effect to Castle of Black Iron, it feels weird¡ª¡ªone guy might penetrate through the land in a few days using a hoe? It''s too thin. As it''s humans'' settlement, I''d better make it safer. Just set it as 200 m in thickness then. This thickness could help people survive and feel safer. If I have any demand in the future, I will increase the thickness."


    "I''ve got another question."


    "Can we produce a mineral vein in Castle of Black Iron this time?" Zhang Tie asked Heller with full of hope.


    "It has an advanced ability to produce mineral vein in Castle of Black Iron. In the current stage, it requires a great price. Any small low-end mineral vein will require enormous merit values and aura values as well as some other prerequisites. Therefore, I don''t suggest you to use this ability now."


    After thinking for a few seconds, Zhang Tie asked Heller, "Which mineral vein could we form in Castle of Black Iron based on the current merit values, aura values and basic energy storage?"


    "If all the current resources are put in, due to the bucket effect, you can gain a mini, low-end common iron ore whose gross reserve is less than 80,000 tons after using up all the merit values. The template of the iron ores originates from those low-end wasted iron ores that you brought in Castle of Black Iron to increase its basic energy storage when you joined the survival training in Wildwolf Valley! Meanwhile, after forming this iron ore, due to the exhaustion of merit values and the consumption of the greater part of aura values, Castle of Black Iron would not accomplish this space and topographical renovation although there were still a great amount of basic energy storage left."


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie woke up at once. He then took a deep breath as he had not imagined that it was so difficult for Castle of Black Iron to form a natural mineral vein at such a great cost. However, after thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie understood it, ''If it was very easy to form mineral veins in Castle of Black Iron, I would be the richest man in the world only by casually forming some quality gold ores, gem mines or crystal mines in Castle of Black Iron.''


    "You mean it''s impossible for me to form some mineral veins in Castle of Black Iron now. Is there any other method?"


    "The mineral veins in Castle of Black Iron could be formed in two ways. We''ve known about the first method, when you could provide sufficient resources, you could form a certain mineral vein. Second, after space and topographical renovation, Castle of Black Iron could form a mineral ore naturally. If Castle of Black Iron could form over 1,000 sq km'' ocean or land area whose thickness was over 50 km, namely 50,000 m, it would form the preliminary earth''s shell. By then, you might gain one or more natural mineral veins or ore deposits whose locations, species and reserves were optional..."


    "That is to say, if I''m able to complete such a space and topographic expansion, I might get one or more optional mineral resources by chance?" Zhang Tie widely opened his eyes as he had not imagined that Castle of Black Iron could have such a marvelous ability.


    "Yes. Generally, the wider the expanded land area is, the thicker the earth surface and earth''s crust are, the more kinds of mineral ores and reserves will be formed optionally in Castle of Black Iron. This process is almost like that outside of Castle of Black Iron. If you''re able to accomplish a space and topographic expansion as wide as that of Blackson Humans Corridor, I promise that you will have no fewer mineral veins and ore deposits in the new land of Castle of Black Iron than that in Blackson Humans Corridor."


    Zhang Tie showed the whites of his eyes. Based on his little body and little energy, he could not accumulate sufficient basic energy storage for over 100 years by soaking himself in the ocean so as to accomplish such a wide area of expansion, not to mention that he had to have corresponding merit values and aura values. ''Just forget about it. It''s too luxurious to think about mineral veins in Castle of Black Iron, it''s not even as economical as buying well-extracted metals from outside and bringing them inside Castle of Black Iron.''


    After then, Zhang Tie and Heller continued to adjust the three-dimensional map.


    A whim occurred to Zhang Tie as he pointed at a place on the immortal mountain, "I need a training field here with a firm land."


    "A training field?" Heller watched Zhang Tie with a dubious look.


    "Like that where I cultivated a few days ago. I want to cultivate under the impulse of seawater which is diverted from outside to that place. I feel pretty good cultivating in that state. Additionally, I could have iron-body fruits to take!"


    "No problem, my lord, are you going to meditate in seclusion in the ocean?"


    "You got me!"


    "If so, we''d better build a waterfall on this side of the immortal mountain. It''s a very considerable impulse from 10,000 m high. It could provide a better cultivation environment when you had no chance to meditate in seclusion in the ocean..." After saying that, Heller drew his fingers on the three-dimensional map while a waterfall straightly flew off one side of the immortal mountain. With a splashing sound, a river appeared on the ground below...

 681 New Look II

    The water source of the waterfall pouring off the immortal mountain originated from the melting deposits of snow on the top of the mountain. After Heller made a few rapid adjustments, Zhang Tie saw a new change in the shape of the immortal mountain¡ª¡ª There was a new mountain peak over 2000 m in height which was covered with white snow.


    At the sight of this, Zhang Tie praised the marvel of the Castle of Black Iron once again. ''I''m afraid that only the real creator could make this.''


    When Zhang Tie and Heller were planning and adjusting the three-dimensional map on space and topographical renovation, Agan, Aziz, and Edward had already arrived at their sides and were watching the three-dimensional map with an interested look.


    "My lord, can you create a smithing workshop for me this time?" Edward asked with a big smile on Zhang Tie''s side.


    "You want a smithing workshop?" Zhang Tie glanced at Edward with a dumbfounded look.


    "Yup, with a smithing workshop, I will be able to produce all sorts of instruments for you, my lord!"


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Heller, "Can we?"


    "Yes, it only requires a bit basic energy storage. We can layout an independent space at the bottom of the immortal mountain which could serve as Edward''s smithing workshop while making some high-temperature fires." Heller nodded as he made a slight adjustment on the three-dimensional map. Closely after that, a tidy space appeared inside the immortal mountain, which was further divided into many isolated and inter-linked cells. Besides, there were dozens of fires on the ground in that space.


    Watching this, Edward smiled in a satisfied manner.


    "My lord, I need a cellar and some wine vats in the hinterland of the immortal mountain. With them, I can brew all sorts of palatable drinkings for you." Aziz opened his mouth.


    Zhang The threw another glance at Heller, "We should treat them fairly, just make them for Aziz."


    Heller the made another slight adjustment on a position of the immortal mountain. As a result, a mountain-cave sized cellar and hundreds of huge wine vats appeared on the map. Covering an area of over 20 sq km, the cellar was further divided into many layers. Aziz was so happy at the sight of that. Even Zhang Tie was shocked by such an adjustment.


    "Erm, do we need such a wide area?"


    "Yes, we do, we do!" Aziz interrupted Zhang Tie. "My lord, when you have a great undertaking, you will definitely find this cellar useful."


    Agan was so excited that he kept rubbing his hands on one side. "My lord, can you build a stone mountain outside the immortal mountain. It can better provide sufficient architecture stones for me. There''re few stones left in Castle of Black Iron now."


    Before Zhang Tie uttered, Heller had already pointed on the map while an undulating bald hill appeared.


    "There''re blue stones, marble stones, granite, China granite and obsidian on this hill, which are available to build some cities."


    "Thank you, thank you!" Agan''s eyes gleamed as he started to stammer. Zhang Tie also couldn''t help but laugh out loud, ''How cute they are!''


    After Edward, Aziz and Agan posed their requirements, an important thought crossed Zhang Tie''s mind¡ª¡ªhouses. The cabins were far from meeting his demands at this moment.


    "Aww, I need more spacious houses that can hold more people." Zhang Tie looked at the map for a short while before choosing a place covering over 10 sq km of vast plains that were leaning against the snow peak on the hillside of the immortal mountain. "At this place..."


    "Do you have other requests on the houses, such as exteriors?"


    "At your will." Zhang Tie said casually.


    Heller then pointed at the place where Zhang Tie had selected while a tall building that occupied a wide area appeared on the three-dimensional map, the tallest of which was higher than 200 m.


    Zhang Tie was dumbfounded by the architectural complexity of the area. Because the tallest building in the three-dimensional map was absolutely a huge tree. Precisely, it was a palace that looked like a huge tree. Many places in that building were unimaginable. Even before the Catastrophe, humans could never build such a delicate tall building.


    "This, this is... too exaggerated. Won''t it break down?" Zhang Tie asked Heller with a dubious look.


    "If it was a concrete building, it would collapse for sure as it didn''t correspond to the structure of building mechanics. However, it''s not a building precisely, it''s a tree!"


    "A tree?"


    "This is a palace tree. It''s made of special silicon-based lifeform. The Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree could produce the seed of a palace tree, which consumes more basic energy storage, merit values, and aura values than are required to build a real palace complex. However, this palace tree has an advantage, it could constantly grow and expand its space and land. After inputting the basic energy storage, merit values, and aura values once in growing it, we don''t need to input other resources or build other buildings even as the population of residents increases. Such a palace tree is very suitable to the living of humans!"


    It was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that it was a palace tree. After being shocked for a few seconds, Zhang Tie nodded forcefully. "Well, let''s grow this palace tree!"


    "My lord, please have the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree produce the seed of a palace tree."


    Zhang Tie opened the management panel of Castle of Black Iron when he indeed saw the sub-option "Production of Seed of Palace Tree" under the option "Production of special seed and fruit of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree". At the sight of the resources that it required, Zhang Tie took a deep breath. However, Zhang Tie felt very happy the moment he thought that he could live in such an exotic silicon-based lifeform. Additionally, he only needed to input resources one time. Therefore, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth as he pressed the button.


    ¡ª¡ªMy lord, Do you want to produce the seed of a palace tree, Yes or No?


    ¡ª¡ªYes...No...


    ¡ª¡ªYes!


    Soon after pressing the "Yes" button, Zhang Tie felt that the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree on his side was radiating a yellowish luster. Each leaf and twig of the small tree was giving out light. At the same time, the tree leaves were rubbing each other, causing a sound as euphonious as that of an organ.


    After a few minutes, the small tree''s luster disappeared while a pineapple-sized seed was hanging over the small tree.


    Zhang Tie walked to the front of the small tree and picked off the very seed from the small tree. Holding the seed, Zhang Tie felt like holding a heavy stone. After gazing at it for quite a while, Zhang Tie didn''t see any relation between this pineapple-sized seed and that palace tree in the three-dimensional map.


    With one more partner and citizen, Zhang Tie felt that the small tree was very happy. Zhang Tie came to Heller''s side with that seed in hand.


    "What do I do now?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    "Just give it to me, my lord!"


    Zhang Tie then handed the seed to Heller.


    "Do you have any other requests, my lord?"


    Zhang Tie pointed towards the mountain spring, "Whatever, as I''ve invested so many resources towards this renovation, just upgrade the mountain spring then!"


    "My lord, do you want to promote to quality mountain spring to a Class A aura mountain spring?"


    "Is there any difference"


    "A Class A aura mountain spring is one level higher than a quality mountain spring. In the outside world, there are also a few natural Class A aura mountain springs in the wild."


    "Class A aura mountain spring then!"


    "Fine!"


    ...


    Ten minutes later, after agreeing on some details, Zhang Tie and Heller then confirmed the plan on space and topographical renovation of Castle of Black Iron completely. In the new plan, the entire immortal mountain and over 100 sq km of neighboring land were surrounded by a huge lake, being linked to which, some rivers nourished and irrigated the surrounding land. The Castle of Black Iron was covered with fertile land and woods which were abundant in water sources.


    The Abyss of Chaos, after being expanded by 10 times, was in a canyon being surrounded by the immortal mountain.


    "My lord, do you need other adjustments?"


    "No need!"


    "Let''s start it then!"


    "Good!"


    ...


    Until 1 second before of the start of the renovations, the high speed-water flow pouring off the sky stopped, the colorful clouds started to pervade in all directions. In a split second, it had covered the Castle of Black Iron.


    Watching such a bizarre scene, all the residents in the small own in the distance became perplexed. They just prayed loudly.


    Heller then threw that seed of palace tree into the colorful clouds.


    "Heller, is there any problem with those residents?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "No problem, my lord. Because they were brought in by you, as long as you''re okay, they will be okay."


    Before Zhang Tie figured out Heller''s words, the colorful clouds started to roll. In the misty cloud, Zhang Tie could see nothing near him.


    The ground started to rock, the immortal mountain beneath his feet started to rock, the whole world started to rock. At the same time, Zhang Tie heard tumbling sounds coming from all directions.


    Zhang Tie felt that he was standing on a car which was running on a bumpy road being paved with fine pellets.


    After 3 minutes, the rock stopped while the colorful cloud covering the entire space started to fade away to the marginal region.


    In 3 minutes, the Castle of Black Iron had already changed its look greatly. It expanded by dozens of times and became boundless. The entire immortal mountain was as high as 12,000 m like the pillar of the world. The lofty mountain undulated like a Chinese dragon in the middle of the Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie lowered his head as he looked at his own feet. He felt that he had already come to a new world. Even though he was on the hillside, he was still over 6,000 m high.


    In the distance, a heaven river was pouring off from the sky. The seed of the palace tree had already grown into a tree-sized palace behind him which was higher than 200 m. Its crown was as splendid and fantastic as that of colorful clouds. In the farther and higher place behind the palace tree, Zhang Tie saw a picturesque mountain peak being circled by white clouds...


    ...


    "Creating the world, our God is creating a new world..."


    In the small town, more people responded it at this moment. They were so moved that they even dropped off tears at the sight of their God creating a new world. Everybody then poured towards the only shrine in the small town


    From then on, the firm belief became indestructible.


    ...


    After a few hours, Zhang Tie left Castle of Black Iron.

 682 The Phenomena in a Chaotic World

    Chapter 682: The Phenomena in a Chaotic World


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The Kalay Mountain Range was the natural north-south watershed of Blackson Humans Corridor and the loftiest mountain range in the Corridor. This mountain range undulated tens of thousands of miles from east to west. It extended to the endless black or grey wild regions on the map in the west and reached the seaside in the east.


    After a few days of heavy rain, more than 1,000 sq miles of the Kalay Mountain Range was covered with a mist. Numerous people who evacuated from the north were gathering in the north of such a natural watershed. At this moment, the north of Kalay Mountain Range was covered with refugee tents. In the most crowded place, the grey refugees'' tents lasted over 100 miles in length. Before the earlier refugees left, new ones poured in...


    Deaths occurred everyday. Some of them died of natural disasters, some died of human reasons. Starvation, disease, coldness, murder, robbery and rape were raging across the refugee camp...


    Two days ago, the garrisons at the Kalur Harbor of Ungava Federation had just suppressed a civilian riot in the westernmost part of the Kalay Mountain Range, causing a casualty of over 50,000 people.


    As they had stagnated in the harbor for a long time, being driven by hunger and fear, a great batch of refugees started to pour into Kalur Harbor to grab the steamer tickets two days ago, namely, August 27. Nobody knew when the riot started. When the basic orders collapsed, the refugees started the abduct steamers violently, causing the tragedy.


    Policemen who maintained the order were covered by the flooding refugees, causing a severe stampede accident. Some refugees who were scrambling to board the steamer were pushed into the icy seawater. Some boatmen were killed by the refugees with daggers. The chaos in Kalur Harbor finally influenced the entire city. When a 2000-ton passenger liner Golden Pearl capsized after colliding with another steamer anchoring at the harbor under the manipulation of a lot of refugees, the bloody suppression started.


    It was not fresh for rulers to maintain their orders violently wherever it was. However, when it happened at this moment, it was more miserable. In front of the threat of the demon army, human troops were suppressing human refugees. The implication was evident¡ª¡ªThis was a chaotic world, a real chaotic world, when all the orders gave way to the human instinct of seeking for survival and all the axioms were hiding behind punches and blades.


    The consecutive heavy rain didn''t flush away the blood stains in Kalur Harbor. The corpses of those refugees who were killed in the suppression were straightly thrown into the ocean. Nobody cared about their lives at all as new refugees were pouring into Kalur City...


    In Goose Bay, Vedirac Federation, which was over 1,200 miles away from Kalur City, there were also a great number of refugees. There was a "Goose Bay Trail" in Goose Bay through which those refugees who had no traffic tools to climb over the Kalay Mountain Range could penetrate through the Kalay Mountain Range.


    "As it is the rainy season, the Goose Bay Trail doesn''t work. Due to mountain floods, many parts of the trail has collapsed, causing great casualties. Don''t keep moving forward. You''re seeking for death. You cannot penetrate through the Kalay Mountain Range in this way..." A military commissioner of Vedirac Federation was standing on a high platform, wet through, in the heavy rain while holding a trumpet made of an iron sheet and shouting exhaustively so as to prevent those refugees from entering the Goose Bay Trail.


    Some refugees stopped while more refugees just entered it in a numb and silent way. When they passed by this young military commissioner, they even didn''t glance at him.


    The young military commissioner just watched the great number of refugees entering the Goose Bay Trail with simplified maps in hand with a grieved look. In such a season, less than 1/10 of these people could finally penetrate through Kalay Mountain Range through Goose Bay Trail.


    More refugees were gathering in Upton, the capital city of Free Commercial Federation over 3,000 miles away from Goose Bay.


    Upton was the largest and most famous aerotropolis and commercial city in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. This city and Millbay in the south of Kalay Mountain Range were both members of Free Commercial Federation. With Kalay Mountain Range in between, the two cities were connected with each other through airlines, which supported the prosperity of the entire Free Commercial Federation.


    Upton City once managed the largest and most prosperous airline that traversed Kalay Mountain Range in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. At this moment, Upton''s air traffic volume was over 10 times more prosperous than that before the holy war. Numerous airships were flowing from the south and landing in Upton City so as to carry away refugees from here...


    After the tragedy broke out in Kalur Harbor, the population of garrisons being dispatched here to maintain the order of Upton City increased to 300,000. All the airships in Upton City were surrounded with 3-layer barbed wire. In the heavy rain, dense refugees were crowding outside the airship base and watching the airships in the sky. Any airship landing in would arouse their turmoil as numerous people would flood in that airship base.


    "Those who have honor certificates could leave first...Those who have honor certificates could leave first..." The garrisons were waving their sticks and ferociously beating those refugees who attempted to rush into the airship base, causing them to bleed. Those refugees who were raising high red honor certificates were selected from the crowd and allowed to enter the airship base first. They were allowed to leave out of here first before the next batch of airships arrived.


    "Ah, my honor certificate, my honor certificate, someone grabbed away my honor certificate left by my husband..." A woman who was cradling a 5-6-year-old girl in raincoat cried loudly at the entrance of the airship base while changing her face greatly. In the chaos, when the woman raised her honor certificate, another hand reached out from her side. Before this woman responded, her honor certificate had been grabbed away.


    Right then, a bolt was shot out from the embrasure of the bartizan above the entrance of the airship base and killed the man who wanted to sneak into the base with an honor certificate. This shocked everybody else as they all retreated two steps backward.


    A first lieutenant military commissioner rapidly walked out of the bartizan and came to the man who was lying dead on the ground with a bolt through his heart. The military commissioner then picked up that red certificate. After that, he pulled out that tearful woman from the crowd and put that honor certificate in her hand. Additionally, he whispered to a soldier on his side to escort the woman and her daughter into that airship base.


    "Anyone who dared to grab the honor certificate, would die..." The first lieutenant watched those refugees with a heavy killing qi.


    Previously in Free Commercial Federation, when a soldier killed a civilian casually, it would arouse a great turmoil. However, at this moment, nobody cared about that.


    Soon after that woman entered the airship base with her little daughter had a medium-sized airship arrived from the north for replenishment.


    After a few minutes, that woman received a news that a medium-sized airship would fly off soon while a seat was available for her. The woman then followed a soldier to that medium-sized airship while cradling her daughter after extending her sincere thanks many times.


    When the woman boarded on the airship, a person was getting off the airship. A lot of people felt embarrassed to see that person off the airship, including the captain of the airship.


    "Mr. Peter, don''t you need to think about it? If you wish to protect us to leave out of here, we could pay you 2,000 gold coins as a reward when we arrive at the destination!" A well-dressed fat man watched that person who was getting off the airship. The person named Peter, a 28-year-old youth. With a common long sword on one side of his waist, he looked pretty average.


    After hearing this, the woman''s heart pounded as she finally knew how she got that vacancy. As someone was going to get off the airship, after negotiating with the personnel in this airship, the military commissioner agreed to let her in. At this moment, although being selfish, she was indeed afraid that Peter would change his mind again.


    "As you''ve already arrived here, you''re much safer. The demon corps'' power could not reach here. You could traverse the Kalay Mountain Range in less than 2 days. Therefore, it''s unnecessary for me to stay in the airship!" Peter refused that man''s proposal by waving his hand.


    Although everybody else was inviting Peter to stay, they failed to move him.


    "Peter, will...I see you in the future?" An 18-year-old blonde girl came to the hatch door as she watched that man who was leaving here with an admirable, unwilling look. The maiden''s pure eyes looked as tender as water. The moment Peter saw her had he understood her meaning.


    Everybody [who were seeing Peter off] didn''t speak. They just watched him silently on one side, including that maiden''s father. After staying in the airship for two days, all the passengers, including that maiden''s parents, had understood her mind¡ª¡ªyoung women always worshiped heroes and powerful men, especially those who had saved them and could make them feel extremely safe during the crisis.


    ...

 683 Situation in Blackson Humans Corridor I

    After throwing a glance at that maiden, the young man called Peter revealed a bright smile as he waved his hand towards her. At the same time, he said, "As long as you''re alive, we will see each other one day. Therefore, Mansa, you have to live well!"


    Mansa''s eyes were swollen with tears at once...


    Peter turned around and watched that woman who was cradling her daughter with a smile. After that, he tilted his body, enabling the woman to get on the airship, "Well, go back now. Bon Voyage!"


    After saying these words, Peter took out his waterproof canopy and put it above his head. After that, he strode into the curtain of rain.


    "Mansa, forget him. You and Peter are not living in the same world. You just met by chance..." The girl''s mother, who looked graceful and noble comforted her as she came to the girl''s back and put her hand on the girl''s shoulder. The girl''s father turned around and threw a glance at the girl. Closely after that, he shrugged and let out a sigh helplessly.


    Watching Peter''s back, the girl threw herself onto her mother''s shoulder as she burst out into tears loudly...


    After getting aboard with her daughter, the woman couldn''t help looking back at the man called Peter. She was confused why someone would not like to leave out of here at this critical moment.


    This woman heard Peter''s story in the airship one day later...


    Of course, the man called Peter was Zhang Tie. At this moment, although Zhang Tie still used his pseudonym, his look and figure had already changed completely. He would not be recognized even if he stood in front of his family members...


    The powerful body-changing immortal bloodline was fully displayed on Zhang Tie, making him an utterly different person.


    ...


    After leaving that misty sea, Zhang Tie went to Norman Empire. After 4 months, the overall situation in Blackson Humans Corridor changed once again.


    The demonized puppets corps indeed encountered the unprecedented powerful counter-attack from Norman Empire under the leadership of Marshal Lin Changjiang, the governor of the North Border Corps of Norman Empire.


    Under the guidance of Marshal Lin Changjiang, the North Border Corps of Norman Empire induced two routes of overwhelming demonized puppets corps into Nein City of Fisk Province nearby the capital city Nordinburg of the North Border of Norman Empire at the price of losing the greater part of territory of the North Border of Norman Empire in July. After that, Marshall Lin Changjiang issued the order to blow up the largest irrigation works across Blackson Humans Corridor¡ª¡ªthe Imperial Dam, which was once the pride of Norman Empire. The moment the Imperial Dam was ruined, over 80 billion cubic meters of water rushed towards the lower reach in an overwhelming manner. As a result, the Nein City over 600 miles away from the dam was destroyed while Fisk Province and the nearby two provinces were flooded at once...


    In front of the power of the mother nature, 10 million demonized puppets were too fragile. Although demonized puppets didn''t feel any pain, the puppet worms in their brains couldn''t survive without oxygen. Therefore, demonized puppets would also die if they were in hypoxia and stuffy state for too long. As a result, only less than 2 million demonized puppets survived the flood. According to the news, that super demons corps also suffered a great loss. Because after that accident, the super demon corps straightly disappeared for almost 2 months.


    This was an overwhelmingly inspiring victory. Even though in Selnes Theater of Operations, the allied human forces had not made such a brilliant achievement. Due to this battle, Marshall Lin Changjiang also became the hero and the most well-known general with the greatest strategic vision across Blackson Humans Corridor. He became ranked among the top generals in an instant.


    Marshall Lin Changjiang might not be qualified as a famous general if he just exploded the Imperial Dam in an emergency. What was awe-inspiring was that he had let people bury alchemist''s bombs in the major structure of the Imperial Dam over 2 decades ago when he took charge of building the Imperial Dam in the North Border of Norman Empire at the cost of more than 88 million gold coins while mobilizing almost 1 million workers.


    If not having made such a preparation, it was impossible for him to destroy the Imperial Dam which was completely linked with the entire mountain by throwing alchemist''s bomb from the outside. It was said that nobody else knew this except for Marshall Lin Changjiang and the imperial households of Norman Empire. Actually, one-third of alchemist''s bombs reserves in Norman Empire was buried in the Imperial Dam.


    In the eyes of the public, especially all the citizens in Norman empire, the Imperial Dam could barely be destroyed. Such a firm belief even wavered in the demons'' mind. Therefore, almost 10 million demonized puppets gathered at the foot of Nein City and prepared to take down Nordinburg.


    Nobody knew why Lin Changjiang and the imperial households of Norman Empire had made such a preparation over 2 decades ago. Nobody knew whether Lin Changjiang and the imperial household of Norman Empire had long predicted that the demons army would arrive here from the north, and hence prevented the potential danger. What a terrifying setting! Any opponent would be scared by the 2-decades plot. Of course, such a human leader was admirable.


    Through this battle, Marshall Lin Changjiang shattered the unrivaled arrogance of demons army and spared almost half a year for the citizens who had not evacuated from Norman Empire and the north region of Blackson Humans Corridor.


    After being frustrated at the foot of Nein City, the remaining demonized puppets hurriedly retreated while more demonized puppets flooded towards here from the north. However, it would take at least half a year for the number of entire demonized puppets corps to reach 10 million.


    It was said that the super demon corps also suffered a great loss. However, Zhang Tie, who had witnessed the members of the super demon corps didn''t think it was highly credible. In front of the destructive power of the mother nature, the super demon corps would definitely suffer a loss; however, it was almost impossible for them to suffer a severe loss. Before the arrival of the flood, the wing demons would have warned the super demon corps about 10 minutes in advance. It was enough for the super demon corps to get rid of the most dangerous dilemma and minimize their loss in that period.


    Therefore, the super demon corps didn''t suffer a great loss; instead, they hid themselves in a cunning way after losing a flesh shield or a tentacle so as to preserve their remaining power. Maybe they were brewing some plot, a more amazing revenge or an attack.

 684 Situation in Blackson Humans Corridor II

    When he was in Norman Empire, Zhang Tie traveled to Nordinburg where he easily figured out Hanna''s situation.


    Hanna''s husband was a member of Sines Clan of Nordinburg, who was called Quinnell. Sines Clan was a pine leaf gentry which was a noble clan in Nordinburg. This clan mainly traded grains and drinks. Quinnell was the second son of the head of Sines Clan. In the past two years, Hanna''s beer and formula made Sines Clan well-known across Nordinburg and raked a great amount of wealth. Sometimes Hanna''s beer couldn''t even meet the demand. As a result, Hanna''s reputation as the Beer Queen spread across Nordinburg. Everyone admired that Sines Clan married a money-spinner.


    Hanna and the main members of Sines Clan had long moved away before the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations collapsed.


    Hanna and her husband''s clan, as the elites in Norman Empire, mastered the formula of the beer "Iron-blood Lover"; therefore, they became the major resources of Norman Empire and enjoyed the special concern from the country.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know where was Hanna now; however, he was not worried about Hanna''s current situation. As for this woman who once had love affairs with him, Zhang Tie felt reassured as long as he knew that she was living a happy life.


    Besides Hanna, Zhang Tie also inquired about the situations of Reinhardt and his former friends in Iron-blood Camp. After receiving the news, Zhang Tie was stunned.


    As the military establishment system that Norman Empire had carried out against the attack of demons was completely as same as that Zhang Tie had imagined before. As a large-scale mixed establishment unit, corps was gradually altered. In Nordinburg, Zhang Tie was told that Norman Empire was gradually changing almost half of its corps into three troops: First, a pure city defense troop, which was mainly responsible for city defense based on city-defense weapons. This kind of troop''s main force were warriors; Second, cavalry forces, airship forces and armored forces, which were called maneuver troops; the members of these maneuver troops were more professional with higher qualities. They were excelled at maneuverability, assaulting ability and abilities to coordinate with the other two troops. Norman Empire requested its maneuver troop to be able to crack down common demonized puppets corps in an all-round manner and coordinate with the other troops when in need. Additionally, they could form a stress to the super demon corps. The 3rd troop was an iron-blood force fully composed of elites above LV 9, who could wrestle with the super demon corps face to face and had a great ability to survive in the wild.


    In Norman Empire, all the elites of a corps could only form one iron-blood force. There were only 5 iron-blood forces in the north border of Norman Empire and less than 500 people in total.


    The establishment of the Iron-blood Camp of the former No. 39 Division of Iron-horn corps had been rearranged. Reinhardt, who came back from Selnes Theater of Operations entered the Iron-blood force. Other friends entered city-defense troops and maneuver troops. Based on their experiences in Iron-blood Camp, many of them were promoted to military commissioners.


    Only after a few years, the holy war had forced these tough men of Iron-blood Camp of the No. 39 Division of Iron-horn Corps to advance in their own ways. They could barely gather anymore. Except for sighing about that, Zhang Tie had no way to change it.


    After the demonized puppets corps were heavily damaged by the flood, the super demon corps disappeared. Zhang Tie stayed in Nordinburg for two days to seek for the traces of that super demon corps.


    Zhang Tie didn''t seek for that super demon corps for a noble or great purpose. He was just seeking for a chance to kill some squads of iron-armored demons so as to gain an iron-armored demon''s fruit of source and further improve his battle force. It would be better if he could relieve some stress for Norman Empire and Blackson Humans Corridor in this process.


    After hovering above the wild aimlessly for a few days, Zhang Tie didn''t find any trace of the super demon corps; however, he noticed a civil airship which landed in the wild due to a mechanical breakdown. It was surrounded by over 100 demonized puppets. Zhang Tie then descended there and recovered his look as Peter. Closely after that, he solved the problem for the airship.


    Those common demonized puppets posed a terrifying, fatal threat to those passengers in the airship. However, they were just like ants in Zhang Tie''s eyes. He killed them all in a split second.


    After being saved, of course, those passengers appreciated Zhang Tie so much. They all hoped Zhang Tie to stay with them and protect them until they were in a safe place. Now that Zhang Tie had met them, he could not leave them alone to die there along with their family members. Additionally, Zhang Tie knew that the wing demons always traced and attacked lonely human airships. Zhang Tie considered that if he could meet some wing demons, he might find out the super demon corps through them. Therefore, Zhang Tie stayed in the airship and helped the crew to fix the airship. Finally, he escorted the airship all the way towards the south. It took them 3 days to arrive at the north of Kalay Mountain Range after traversing Sun Dynasty and two small countries in the south of Sun Dynasty. They got off the airship in Upton City.


    On the way, besides almost being fallen in love once again, Zhang Tie didn''t even see any wing demon.


    Compared to the situation when humans troops were shouting slogans loudly to march northward two years ago, at this moment, the entire north region of Blackson Humans Corridor had been in a chaos. After demons army broke the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations, all the rest of humans in the north region of Blackson Humans Corridor started to flood towards the south. Previously, humans were evacuating orderly. However, at this moment, all of them became scared as all the orders collapsed due to the collapse of the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations. All the rest humans wanted to escape from the north and stay as far away from demons as possible.


    The Cross Commercial Alliance which had some relations with Zhang Tie previously was a hilarious example. This political alliance, which was much bigger than the Andaman Commercial Alliance which Blackhot City once belonged to, declared its collapse on the second day since the human''s defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations was broken through. From then on, it didn''t shoulder any responsibility as the central nation''s alliance while all of its members were struggling to escape.


    Although the demons army suffered a great loss in Nein City in the north border of Norman Empire, the refugee tide in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor didn''t relieve; instead, more and more people seized this opportunity and tried their best to flood towards the south.


    At this moment, the demonized puppets corps were marching into the north region of Blackson Humans Corridor constantly. The demonized puppets disasters that had raged in many regions a couple of years had not been completely cracked down yet. The regular super demon corps'' trace was always mystical. Numerous refugees were pouring towards the south and gathering at the northern foot of Kalay Mountain Range. Everything was wavering like the weather...


    The misty rain flew into Zhang Tie''s raincoat collar icily. Zhang Tie, who was walking in the airship base, tightened his raincoat collar and lowered the brim of his raincoat hat, covering the greater part of his face.


    The airship base was almost surrounded by dense refugee tents. Even in the heavy rain, there were still a great number of people crowding at the entrance of the airship base and waiting for any possible chance to leave out of here.


    After walking out of the gate of the airship base, Zhang Tie saw a lot of curious and perplexed faces.


    "Are you kidding me! Who comes to Upton at this moment?"


    "He might have just gotten off that airship!"


    "What an idiot..."


    "Huh, does he want to die? If he dared stay here at this moment, he must be a powerhouse. He might be a paladin coming from the north!"


    "He might be a vicious businessman who just came here for the war profit!"


    "Alas, it''s such a bad weather today, I wonder when will the next airship arrive..."


    Although they thought they were whispering, Zhang Tie, who had knight''s consciousness, could still hear their talks clearly.


    In the amazing eyes and discussions, Zhang Tie left the airship base.


    Zhang Tie targeted Upton City. When he was in the airship, he had already figured out the route. Therefore, soon after he left the airship base had he straightly gone towards the downtown. From there to Upton City, the distance was about 7-8 miles.


    When Zhang Tie passed through the refugee camp, 5-6 men in sloppy looks drilled out of the refugee camp, who after exchanging glances with each other, followed Zhang Tie to a distance of dozens of meters.


    Zhang Tie slightly frowned as he had not imagined that someone dared to follow him with malicious intentions in the cloudy, rainy day with a low visibility soon after he left the airship base.


    Donder said that disasters and dilemmas were a weird mirror. In front of such a mirror, some would look as noble and sunny as an angel while some would turn as ugly and dirty as a hungry ghost. Donder reached a conclusion, "Although everyone was wearing the skin of a human, not everyone was a real human!"


    ''Is this humanity?'' Zhang Tie revealed a sinister smile as if he had not noticed being followed. He just kept walking...

 685 A Partner Exercise in the Rain

    Chapter 685: A Partner Exercise in the Rain


    Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost


    The attack arrived without any warning. Those followers were like wild wolves hunting their prey in the rain. When Zhang Tie arrived in a remote region about 1 mile away from the airship base, he felt people darting towards him from his back.


    The footsteps behind him sounded louder in the rain. At the same time, Zhang Tie heard panting breaths from behind. With neither battle call nor threat, Zhang Tie realized a pitch-dark dagger was drawn from one follower''s sleeve and stabbed towards the back of his waist without making any sound.


    The dagger didn''t hit Zhang Tie. The man who darted towards Zhang Tie with a dagger in hand stopped as he lowered his head and saw that a long sword had penetrated his lower abdomen. He couldn''t understand how this guy could have a longsword under his raincoat.


    Zhang Tie just watched the man who looked grim and a bit scared with a glassy-eyed look. "As you want to stab me on my waist, I will also stab you with a sword on your lower abdomen. It''s a fair deal."


    That man let out a miserable shriek.


    After hearing their partner''s miserable shriek, the other murderers rushed forward and stabbed towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie drew his longsword out of that man''s body and started his counter-attack.


    Zhang Tie''s counter-attack was considerable. If the murderer stabbed towards his neck, he would stab the man''s neck with his longsword in advance. If the murderer attempted to stab his heart, he would stab that man''s heart with his longsword in advance. If one of the murderers tried to stab his chest, he would stab that man''s chest with his longsword ahead of that man. As the old saying went, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.


    Zhang Tie didn''t show off his real battle force. As these murderers were at most LV 5, Zhang Tie just performed with strength a bit higher than theirs.


    It was a very special cultivation for Zhang Tie. In the process, he could judge his opponents'' intention, attacking angles, strength, speed and next move every time instead of simply killing them. Zhang Tie felt it a bit interesting in fighting them in this way as he could learn something from it. If he simply killed them all in a split second by releasing his sword qi, it would become meaningless.


    Meanwhile, in this process, Zhang Tie was also setting a trap for his opponents unconsciously while hiding his real battle force. It was a very vicious pit. Evidently, Zhang Tie was able to kill battle demons below 3-star LV 14 battle demons, however, he only performed a bit better than his opponents. If his opponent was LV 5 warrior, Zhang Tie would perform as a bit more powerful than a LV 5 warrior. If his opponent was a LV 6 black spider, he would perform a little bit more powerful than a LV 6 black spider and the like. When he could take the preemptive move on the battlefield, Zhang Tie would always perform as a bit more powerful than his opponents which brought "a bit" of hope to his opponents. It was just like a gap of half level. If his opponents really thought that that was Zhang Tie''s total battle force, they would jump into the trap, when they found that it became a bottomless hole.


    Zhang Tie hid in the safest place of this bottomless cave and spared the most flexible room for him to exert his utmost effect. Meanwhile, he lowered the possible dangers to the minimal extent.


    Even knights might be killed on the battlefield. Zhang Tie had even personally witnessed it happen. He even killed a knight himself. Therefore, even knights weren''t guaranteed to be safe on the battlefield. The safest way and what counted most was to control the possible dangers that he might face and the level of his opponents while trying to create the opportunity for him to exert this ability to the fullest. This was what Zhang Tie had realized. Although being low-key, it was also insidious.


    Zhang Tie didn''t realize that he had changed into a terrifying, insidious and cunning powerhouse from that poor, weak boy in Blackhot City.


    Although he could solve the battle in less than 0.1 seconds, Zhang Tie did this exercise with them for over a minute before slaying all of them.


    In the heavy rain, some of them were killed, some were heavily wounded while cramping their bodies who were not far from death. At the same time, some blood stains were scattering in the rainwater on the ground. Zhang Tie stepped on the LV 5 warrior''s body and pointed his sword tip towards his throat.


    That man was glaring at Zhang Tie with a twisted pale face while his dagger had dropped onto his side. He was pressing the vessel on his broken hand in order to stop himself from too much blood.


    The raindrops constantly struck the man''s face. With bloodshot eyes wide open, he glared at Zhang Tie viciously without blinking. However, for Zhang Tie who dared launch an attack towards an army of millions of demonized puppets from above the city wall of Mocco City, such behavior was extremely hilarious. This guy might not have seen real vicious behavior.


    "What do you want to say now? I don''t know you nor have I started any conflict with you. You don''t even know how much money I have. Why do you want to kill me?" Zhang Tie watched that man while lowering his head.


    "You.. you''re dead... our boss will never... never let you go... you cannot leave Upton City... if you dare hurt me..." The man still threatened Zhang Tie at this moment.


    "What a pity! If you could kill some demonized puppets on the battlefield before death, you might be worth your whole life. Remember to be a good man in your next life!"


    "You..."


    Zhang Tie just casually drew his sword over that man''s neck, stopping the man''s words.


    After wiping the blood off his sword blade on the clothes of a guy who was lying on the ground half dead, Zhang Tie ignored those guys who were dying, lying on the ground and continued his walk towards Upton City.


    ''As the super demon corps are hiding, the north situation is so chaotic, Huaiyuan Palace must still be looking for me.'' Zhang Tie didn''t know what to do next, whether to continue to stay in the north for the iron-armored demon''s fruit of source or just return to Ice and Snow Wilderness. ''I haven''t received any news from Ice and Snow Wilderness for a long time. Besides the many people to be concerned about, there''s also my solemn promise as a man.''


    After Zhang Tie left here a few minutes, a shadow flashed over there and checked those corpse before flashing away in the rain.

 686 Pub

    Chapter 686: Pub


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Upton City was also covered by the misty heavy rain. Only after half an hour of walk, Zhang Tie had already seen this city.


    It was a commercial city with no city walls or any other city defense facilities. Due to the prosperous trade between the south and north of Blackson Humans Corridor, this city gradually expanded in the past 200 years. As the capital city and the most important base of the Free Commercial Federation, this city had already expanded into a big city covering more than 100 sq km.


    This city was much more prosperous than Blackhot City.


    The human tide that surged towards the south made Upton City unprecedented, abnormally prosperous.


    Both sides of the urban streets served as a shelter and were covered with portable tents or blankets which gathered numerous refugees. Beside those refugees were the ad signboards of apartments, hotels and inns.


    ...


    "No. 76, Leavins Avenue, apartment of 2 bedrooms, 1 dining hall for rent; water and central heating available; 10 gold coins per month..."


    ...


    "Warm hotel; clean and comfortable; 600 silver coins per day. (Note: breakfast not served!)"


    ...


    "Blackhorse Hotel; suite; 3 gold coins per night..."


    ...


    "Wall Building, 4F stairwell for rent; 10 sq m; 2 gold coins per month..."


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, such rents were nothing different than a robbery as they were out of average families'' bearing capacity. However, it was normal in Upton City at this moment.


    Besides, there were many liars in Upton City. The moment Zhang Tie entered Upton City had he met 3 liars using the same tricks. They had common ground, namely, their clothes were as tidy and high-end as possible; they kept talking; they had the same "business". As long as they were paid, they would help you contact with and "book" the seats of airships leaving Upton City.


    "Sir, our Silverboat Airship Corporation is definitely a powerful enterprise. You might have already met liars. However, believe me, we''re definitely not like them. We have our own airships; we are running many airlines from Upton City to the south. With 10 silver coins, we can show you our airships. You can decide whether to book a seat or not after looking at the airships..." A 50-year old man followed Zhang Tie with an umbrella in hand as he kept persuading Zhang Tie. In order to make it more reliable, he even took out some photos and materials from his old suitcase with a solemn look.


    "Can you get a seat for me?" Zhang Tie stopped as he watched that man.


    "Of course, sir. As a personnel of Silverboat Airship Corporation, this is definitely a piece of cake for me!" That guy answered after a pause.


    "Hurry up, book a seat for yourself then!"


    "Why?"


    "If you don''t leave Upton City as soon as possible, you might have a danger!"


    "Ah? Sir, no kidding, how could I have a danger?" That guy forced a smile.


    Zhang Tie didn''t say anything; instead, he just raised his jaw towards the distance. That guy looked at the direction along Zhang Tie''s eyes and saw some furious men who were pointing at him and striding towards him with water pipe joints and clubs in hand.


    When he turned around, he exposed his face to those people.


    "Catch him, catch him, catch that damned liar..."


    "Pay me back..."


    Those men shouted as they rushed towards here. The man changed his face instantly. In the next split second, he dropped the umbrella and escaped away...


    Those guys passed by Zhang Tie and chased after that liar. They soon disappeared in the rain curtain.


    At the sight of that umbrella on the ground, a 10-year old boy instantly drilled out of a nearby alley and grabbed that umbrella. Closely after that, he turned around and intended to run away.


    "Wait for a second!" Zhang Tie stopped that little boy.


    "I picked up this umbrella. It belongs to me, not you..." That little boy instantly hid that umbrella behind his back with a vigilant look.


    "I know, you picked it up. I just want to ask you something!" Zhang Tie looked kind.


    "Sorry, I don''t know anything!" That little boy shook his head in an experienced way. Closely after that, he intended to retreat into the alley.


    Zhang Tie took out a silver coin, stopping the little boy at once. The little boy hesitated while he watched that silver coin with gleaming eyes.


    "You should know something now."


    "What do you want to know, sir?"


    "Take me to the most informed place in Upton City; then, this silver coin belongs to you!"


    The little boy rolled his eyes before saying, "2 silver coins, sir. If you can pay me 2, I will take you there!"


    "Fine, let''s go!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Sir, can you pay me this silver coin first as the down payment? I cannot escape from you after all!" The little boy said after rolling his eyes.


    ''What a capital city of Free Commercial Federation! Even a kid knows how to make money.'' Zhang Tie smiled as he tossed that silver coin to that little boy.


    After taking that silver coin, the little guy threw a glance at it before quickly putting it in his pocket. Closely after that, he let out a sigh.


    "Sir, follow me!"


    ...


    20 minutes later, the rain got lighter. After walking about 2 miles they arrived at the destination.


    "Is that here?" Zhang Tie watched a nearby building.


    "Yup. This building is the headquarter of the Mercenary Trade Union in Upton, the best partner of Armes, the mercenary empire and Free Commercial Federation. Many mercenaries take tasks here. That pub on the side of the Mercenary Trade Union is the most informed place in Upton. Besides those mercenaries, many people would like to drink here and ask for information at the same time!"


    Zhang Tie smiled as he took out a gold coin from his pocket and tossed into that little boy''s hand, "Take it and keep the change!"


    "Ah, thank you, sir. You''re the best person I''ve ever seen!" The little boy gazed at that gold coin with an unbelievable look. Closely after that, he bowed towards Zhang Tie. Being afraid of Zhang Tie''s regret, soon after he finished his words had he disappeared in the street on one side.


    Zhang Tie smiled as he walked towards that pub beside the Mercenary Trade Union.


    That little guy was right. There were indeed many passers-by here. All of them were taking weapons like sabers and longswords, which felt aggressive. On the opposite of the pub were a weapon store, a protective equipments store and a big grocery store. On the side of the pub was an alluring street for many men.


    Soon after the heavy rain stopped, many make-up women had appeared on both sides of the street. They were wearing a coat, exposing a part of white legs below knees with a stick of cigarette or a bag in hand. Zhang Tie had seen such kinds of women in the streets near the railway station of Blackhot City before. They reminded Zhang Tie of Ms. Daina. Therefore, Zhang Tie knew what their job was only with a glance.


    When many tough men passed by that street, they would whisper to one of those women for a short while. After that, they would walk into a pub on one side while putting their arms around women''s waists.


    Mercenaries who licked blood on their blades and Orioles who stood on roadsides were always perfectly matched.


    Zhang Tie didn''t go to the headquarter of the Mercenary Trade Union of Upton City as only mercenaries who had been officially registered were qualified to enter it. He went straightly to the entrance of the pub.


    The name of the pub was called "Gold Coins Pub", which sounded really suitable to mercenaries. It looked nice and magnificent. Zhang Tie thought it might be a nongovernmental foreign exchange window for Mercenary Trade Union. Many messages that were not convenient to be disseminated in the Mercenary Trade Union would be exchanged there.


    Besides mercenaries who wore evident emblems of mercenary groups on their chest, many people accessing to the pub had unknown backgrounds. Some looked like pioneers who wore cloaks and used pioneering swords; some looked like paladins who wore feathered hats and used shields; some others looked like free mercenaries who wore white gloves and used crossbows. However, for Zhang Tie, as he could even change his look at his will, he didn''t care about the symbols. Therefore, for experienced ones, it was very childish to judge a person''s status based on his look.


    Zhang Tie looked both like a paladin and a pioneer.


    After walking into the pub, Zhang Tie took off his raincoat and hung it on a rack on the left of the pub. Closely after that, he walked inside.


    There were so many people in the pub, making it very noisy and fervent. The pub was filled with a special smell of mixed alcohols and smoke. Thankfully, it was not chaotic. A half-naked stripper was twisting her butts while hugging a steel pipe on the stage in the middle of the pub under the pink fluorescent lamplight. Those maids who exposed their thighs and cleavage were walking in the pub with glasses in hand. They would usually tease the customers here now and then.


    Zhang Tie looked around and found that all the tables had been occupied, except the loop of chairs around that stage. He then walked over there and took a seat beside the stage...

 687 New Trouble

    Chapter 687: New Trouble


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The moment Zhang Tie sat down had a seductive maid come to Zhang Tie''s front while twisting her butts. At the same time, she lowered her body and exposed her breasts to Zhang Tie''s eyes, " Sir, what can I do for you?"


    Even though Zhang Tie''s look had been extremely average while holding an extremely common pioneering sword, he still felt warm about the maid''s adroit and enthusiastic smile. If he were an innocent guy, he might have thought that this girl fell in love with him.


    "Brandy!"


    "Wait for a second, please!"


    The maid twisted her waist away. After a short while, she served a bottle of Brandy and a glass on the table.


    Zhang Tie kept drinking casually as he seemed to watch that stripper on the stage. Actually, he was listening to the discussions of those surrounding customers. As a person who had knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie could hear all the talks in the pub.


    A table of mercenaries was discussing the riot and its bloody suppression that happened in Kalur Harbor 2 days ago. After the suppression, according to the traces in Kalur Harbor, they found that someone might have pushed the riot of the refugees in Kalur Harbor from the back; many moles mixed in the refugees and finally pushed the event to a dilemma. After the suppression, many "refugees" who looked eye-catching in the riot disappeared. The garrisons of Kalur Harbor had started to investigate suspects...


    That table of pioneers behind Zhang Tie was discussing the battle situation in the north. Although the super demon corps had disappeared for 2 months, many people were still concerning their whereabouts...


    "Have you heard that the fleets of Eastern Continents have already gone ashore in some Hua countries in the south and are transporting away a great number of Hua people..."


    Zhang Tie was attracted by this news from a customer at 4 o''clock direction over 20 m away from Zhang Tie.


    "I also heard about it. However, I''m not sure about that. It was said that each ship dispatched from Eastern Continent weighed above 1 million tons. Each of them could hold over 200,000 Hua people at once. Such huge ships have anchored in over 10 harbors of Hua countries in the south. Some harbors could not even hold such huge ships. Therefore, they could only anchor in the near sea. As a result, ferries were required to carry people and supplies to the huge ships. Do such huge ships really exist? It''s unimaginable."


    "Taixia is a wonderful country. When I finish this task and make a bucket of money, I will go to Taixia. I wonder how this holy war would proceed. Even those richest people are moving to Taixia Country. What about you?"


    "Hmm, count me in!"


    "Count me in, I really want to take a look at the 1 million-ton huge ships in Taixia!"


    ...


    After hearing this news, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded. It was out of his imagination that Taixia Country in Eastern Continent had dispatched fleets to help Hua people evacuate from Blackson Humans Corridor during the period that he cultivated in the misty sea. This was the first time for Taixia to intervene with the battle situation in Blackson Humans Corridor. This symbolic move actually indicated that Taixa Country didn''t think highly about the future of Blackson Humans Corridor.


    The arrival of Taixia fleets was both good or bad for many people in Blackson Humans Corridor. On one hand, the evacuation of Hua people would intensify the turmoil in Blackson Humans Corridor and enable more people to move southwards and seek for the opportunity to leave Blackson Humans Corridor. In a short-term, it was not good; however, after more Hua people were evacuated, more space of survival could be left to those refugees who moved southwards, which was conducive to relieve the stress of population in southern cities of Blackson Humans Corridor. In a long-term, this could avoid more people from becoming demonized puppets while preserving humans'' battle force.


    Zhang Tie remembered that almost all the cities in Huaiyuan Palace were close to the sea. The Hua people in downtown could definitely evacuate firstly. But Zhang Tie started to imagine what kind of people would be left in the end.


    However, only after imagining about it half a minute had Zhang Tie been shocked by another news from another table. Several days ago, Huaiyuan Palace sold the entire Taian City to Norman Empire''s imperial household.


    ''Sold a city?'' Zhang Tie was stunned for quite a while. Taian City was the northernmost key military town in Huaiyuan Prefecture which had high and thick city walls, vast and fertile land, sparse population and was close to Yuanjiang River which was a natural chasm. It was the portal of the entire Huaiyuan Prefecture. It was really a big deal to sell it to Norman Empire''s imperial household. It was a charming decision for both seller and buyer. Zhang Tie didn''t know how much had Norman Empire''s imperial household paid for that; he knew it ought to be a very terrifyingly high price.


    Taian City had changed its name to Hope City and became a southern base of Norman Empire''s imperial household in Blackson Humans Corridor. A great number of people arrived here by airships from Norman Empire every day.


    Recalling that Jinyun Country''s airship fleet started to help Norman Empire evacuate its people after leaving Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie knew that there should be a hidden trade and plot which could only be known by someone at present when the decision was made.


    In the pub, Zhang Tie had heard the name Lin Changjiang many times. The Marshall of Norman Empire who had severely damaged the army of demonized puppets had become well-known across Blackson Humans Corridor and became the idol of many people. Even though those recalcitrant mercenaries and paladins showed their admiration when they mentioned this name.


    Of course, the one who could kill the most demonized puppets in the holy war was a human hero, just like Lin Changjiang.


    Many mercenaries were talking about their tasks. The commonest task was to clear the disaster of demonized puppets in the north. Bigger mercenary groups would accept bigger tasks; while smaller mercenary groups would accept small and sparse ones. They were paid a lot for these tasks. According to the current "market price", a commonest demonized puppet''s head would worth one gold coin. For a troop of over 100 demonized puppets, each demonized puppet would worth 2 gold coins as some of them might be above LV 6. The price would be tripled for a troop of over 500 demonized puppets. The price of a troop of over 10,000 demonized puppets would be at least 100,000 gold coins, which could only be accepted by large-scale mercenary groups.


    In recent years, the mercenary groups in Blackson Humans Corridor had made a lot of money by clearing demonized puppets. They also made great meritorious deeds for humans. As a result, many mercenary groups of Armes, the empire of mercenaries had expanded.


    The holy war had just come to a start; however, powerful forces had gradually grown more important in many places such as the Iron-blood Battle Team of Norman Empire and the mercenary groups in Armes. As a result, warriors'' positions surged rapidly. For many commoners, this holy war might be a disaster; however, for warriors and cultivators, this might be the beginning of their heyday. Through the war, the previous orders would collapse while new orders would be established through naked fists, sabers and swords.


    After each holy war, the social status of warriors and cultivators would rise in the human society. Zhang Tie wondered how the new social society would become, after this holy war.


    Watching Zhang Tie drinking alone on the chair beside the stage, the stripper gradually drew closer to him. After Zhang Tie drunk up a glass of Brandy, the stripper''s "white rabbits" almost touched his face.


    The pair of "white rabbits" and a piece of underwear which was woven by fine metal chains loomed in front of Zhang Tie''s eyes. The pair of "white rabbits", the waist and the butts constantly shook in front of Zhang Tie while she raided Zhang Tie with her breasts and butts.


    Zhang Tie''s face blushed slightly. Although he was not a newbie anymore, it was his first time to be teased by a woman while all the onlookers were tough men in such a half-public scene.


    Seeing Zhang Tie becoming bashful, all the onlookers burst out into laughter. It was a way to entertain themselves by seeing a newbie embarrassed.


    Zhang Tie soon recovered his composure. When the stripper shook her "white rabbits" in front of him, Zhang Tie noticed her fine sweat drops under the shiny lamplight. It was actually very painstaking to do such a dance. Zhang Tie noticed that the stripper was not elder than 30 years old; she just had a hot figure and a mature makeup.


    Actually, women who made money by doing labor works were very pitiful.


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh slightly as he took out a gold coin and placed it into the metal net in between her "white rabbits". He tried to not touch her body; instead, he just smiled as he whispered, "Thanks for your hard work."


    The woman seemed to pause her movement. Then, she threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie before smiling at him. After that, she turned around and didn''t tease him anymore.


    Zhang Tie received a lot of information from their talks and discussions. When Zhang Tie was going to leave. 3 people walked in the pub. After looking around the pub, they went straightly towards Zhang Tie aggressively.


    "You killed my subordinates?" One of them walked to Zhang Tie''s front as he pressed on Zhang Tie''s table forcefully. At the same time, he glared at Zhang Tie in a commanding way...


    At the sight of this man''s gesture, everybody moved their eyes to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie sighed while shaking his head, "Oh my god! Even dung beetles have an organization!"


    After a dead silence, the whole pub was filled with laughter...

 688 Mad Dog

    Chapter 688: Mad Dog


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s ridicule, a killing qi flashed through that man''s eyes. He raised his hand to stop the other two people on his side from moving. Closely after that, he narrowed his eyes and watched Zhang Tie with a sneer. It seemed that he wanted to keep Zhang Tie''s look in his mind.


    "Do you know who I am?" That man asked icily.


    Zhang Tie raised his head as he faintly looked at this man. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, this man was over 50 years old with a tough figure and a fat face. He was even a bit bare-headed. The moment Zhang Tie saw him had he realized that this guy was tricky. However, Zhang Tie had been immune to tricky figures of this kind after staying in Selnes Theater of Operations for a year, during which period, he had already chopped off numerous heads of demons and demonized puppets and killed a great handful of b*stards of Three-eye Association.


    Zhang Tie just watched that man like watching a lump of sh*t, "Your subordinates were just sc*mbags who stabbed innocent people and plundered them from their backs. Needless to say, you''re also a sc*mbag. Therefore, I don''t care about your name!"


    "Well, well, hope you can keep your words in mind. Do you think you can stay in this pub for the rest of your life? You''d better not leave this pub." After throwing a glare at Zhang Tie, that man looked around other people in this pub, especially that bartender who was wiping glasses behind the counter. Out of some concern, he finally gritted his teeth before waving his hand and leading his two subordinates away.


    After they left, a half-drunk tough man with whiskers whose face had turned wholly red came to Zhang Tie''s side. Closely after that, he called a maid, "One more glass for this brother, my treat!" After saying that, the tough man threw himself onto Zhang Tie''s side and thumbed up towards Zhang Tie, "Well done, brother. I''ve long hated Rein the b*stard. You should take care of yourself as you dared make him embarrassed in the public. That villain could do whatever he wants!"


    "That guy is called Rein?"


    "Hmm. That guy is a mad, greedy dog; even his teeth were covered with poison. You''d better not leave out of here until night. The moment you leave the pub should you run away and leave Upton City as soon as possible!"


    "Does this mad dog have a sharp master?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, a light flashed by the eyes of that slightly drunk tough man, "Yeah, the one who could control a mad dog must be more terrifying than that mad dog. There''s an old Hua saying, ''A dog threatens people on the strength of his master''s power!'' Am I clear?"


    At this moment, the maid served another glass of Brandy. The tough man then stood up and returned to his own table.


    Zhang Tie smiled as he raised that glass towards the tough man''s table. He didn''t care who was that man behind Rein, neither did he prepare to stay long in Upton City. When he listened to their talks, Zhang Tie had already made a determination, ''I will go back to Ice and Snow Wilderness first. As to the iron-armored demons'' fruit of source, I will deal with it later. Unless the holy war comes to an end right now, I will have more chances to meet iron-armored demons. I will get that iron-armored demons'' fruit of source sooner or later. It''s unnecessary for me to play hide-and-seek with that super demon corps at this moment. It''s more efficient to go back to the misty sea to cultivate in seclusion than wandering in Blackson Humans Corridor aimlessly.''


    ''I could not change the battle situation facing Blackson Humans Corridor anymore. However, I can still determine and do many meaningful things in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Although I could not change everyone''s fate; I can change someone''s fate at least. In such a large-scale war, each one only needs to do a good job of his own.''


    After Rein arrived, the atmosphere in the pub slightly changed. Zhang Tie found many people were watching him with a sympathetic look, ''It seems that Rein and his master have a very terrifying power and energy in Upton City.''


    Zhang Tie had determined to leave Upton City as soon as possible the moment he left the pub, ''It''s unnecessary to wrestle with a mad dog and the power behind a mad dog alone. It will waste my time and push me to a dangerous situation.''


    Pitifully, although Zhang Tie had a good plan, what happened next was out of his control. The alleged fate and changes always led him to an unprecedented road.


    Less than 10 minutes after Rein left the pub, when Zhang Tie had just slowly drunk up a glass of Brandy, a 14 or so teenager appeared in front of Zhang Tie while he placed a box in front of Zhang Tie with shaking hands, "Hi...some...someone asked me to give it to you..."


    Before Zhang Tie said anything, the teenager had turned around and ran away.


    Zhang Tie became stupefied for a second before slightly changing his face. Although that box was tightly sealed, Zhang Tie could still smell the faint bloody smell that drifted from inside the box.


    Zhang Tie opened the box and saw a bloody, coarse and young hand. It was coarse because of the heavy stress from daily life; it was young because of its owner''s age. The hand was still clutching a locomotive gold coin. Zhang Tie was very familiar with that hand and that gold coin. The gold coin that Zhang Tie had just gifted to a boy a while ago was issued by the former Andaman Alliance. That hand belonged to the same boy who had just caught Zhang Tie''s silver coin and gold coin adroitly a short while ago. The owner of the hand even said that Zhang Tie was the best person that he had seen...


    With a faint pain in heart, Zhang Tie closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. He had seen many scenes which were even more miserable than this hand; however, because of this hand, Zhang Tie''s killing qi spread in his heart like the wildfire that blew over the mountain in the autumn.


    Zhang Tie felt that this hand belonged to himself, the teenager who worked in the grocery store of Blackhot City and worked as a human flesh bag in the Iron-thorn Fighting Club who struggled to make every single cent...


    Donder was right. Not everyone was human. Besides human, not even animals could treat their same kind using the same cruel means in the mother nature.


    After opening his eyes once again, Zhang Tie closed the box and finished all the Brandy in the bottle. After that, he dropped a gold coin and walked out of the pub resolutely with the long sword in hand.


    All the people in the pub saw Zhang Tie off with various looks, many of them were curious about the item in the box.


    ...


    At this moment, it was already dark outside the pub. The air in Upton City was bloody wet. As the rain stopped, more people appeared on the streets while the roadside lamps were lit. Some restaurants were nearby the pub, which had a booming business.


    The moment Zhang Tie strode out of the pub had 7-8 policemen swarmed up from outside. A police car which escorted prisoners parked beside the pub. Instead of breaking into the pub to arrest him, those policemen just waited for Zhang Tie to come out.


    Those policemen were holding alloy shackles and weapons that resisted arrest. Their heads looked gloomy with 2 silver flowers on the shoulder strap of their police uniform. Seeing the policemen catching people here, the nearby commoners hurriedly ran away.


    "Stop moving, you''re under arrest as you''ve violated the laws of Free Commercial Federation!"


    Zhang Tie stopped as he watched those policemen with a glassy-eyed look, "Why?"


    "Why? Someone saw you kill some refugees outside Upton City. We doubt that you''re a mole of demons. Therefore, you should follow us back to the police station for our investigation!" The head policeman labeled Zhang Tie.


    "Did Rein call you to arrest me here?" Zhang Tie asked calmly.


    After hearing this, those policemen slightly changed their looks while they sneered like looking at an idiot.


    "So what? Do you think that you can leave Upton City now? If you dare resist arrest, we can kill you here straightly!" The head policeman lowered his voice as his battle qi totem rolled up in the shape of a huge centipede. Given his look, he was fully confident to take down Zhang Tie. Seeing Zhang Tie standing still, the head policeman waved his hand as he roared, "Put him..."


    At this moment, a long sword was stabbed into his head while the bloody sword tip came out of the back of his head. The head policeman gazed at Zhang Tie with widely opened eyes. Before he figured out what happened, his battle-qi totem had already dispersed...


    The other policemen were stunned as they had never imagined that Zhang Tie dared resist arrest in the public. Additionally, Zhang Tie''s battle force was completely out of their expectation, "Didn''t they say this guy was only between LV 5 and LV 6? What the hell?"


    When Zhang Tie launched the attack, he didn''t spare any time to these policemen to react. With one sword light flying off, the heads of all the other policemen that surrounded him had been sent flying off. In a split second, 7 headless corpses fell on the ground outside the pub which were sprouting fresh blood...


    "Ah, policemen were killed..." Some orioles and passers-by were so scared that they screamed loudly.


    It had not happened in Upton City for many years that policemen were killed in the public. The whole street was in a chaos...


    ...


    When the chaos started outside, a maid unveiled that paper box on Zhang Tie''s table out of curiosity as she shrieked too...


    ...


    In the chaos, Zhang Tie disappeared in the nearby alley while the entire Upton City became chaotic from then on...


    ...

 689 Fifteen Seconds

    Chapter 689: Fifteen Seconds


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the dark, narrow alley, Zhang Tie could still smell a remaining bloody smell like that in the paper box within the distance that could not be sensed by commoners. Based on his powerful knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie flashed in the alley in pursuit of the source of that bloody smell.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was a bit regretful. If he knew Rein, the b*stard, could lose his temper on someone innocent, Zhang Tie had already chopped off his head in the pub.


    ''Now that the b*stard could have police in Upton City deal with this case, he must have a powerful reliance.''


    Whatever, Rein had been a dead man in Zhang Tie''s heart. If anyone who dared block in front of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie would kill him together with Rein the mad dog.


    With a killing qi surging in his eyes, Zhang Tie had already made the determination.


    ...


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie had arrived at a hidden corner of a slum, where he saw a puddle of fresh blood and a piece of broken waterproof coir raincoat, ''Those people must have chopped off that boy''s arm at this place.'' Zhang Tie let out a slight sigh as he didn''t see that boy''s corpse. The bloody smell grew heavier here. After observing the blood stains for a short while, Zhang Tie moved along the trace and another sort of bloody smell...


    After 15 minutes, Zhang Tie saw that little boy in a corner of a dump in a low slum about 1 mile away from where he met that little boy in the east.


    That little boy had been wet all over at this moment, who was crouching still under a small tree beside a dump.


    Zhang Tie ran over there and squatted down in front of that little boy. After that, he turned over that little boy.


    With eyes tightly closed, that little boy was biting a rusted iron wire. His face and lips turned pale while he also had some wounds on his face.


    After checking his breathing situation and pulses, Zhang Tie found that the little boy''s heart was still beating faintly. If he didn''t find him, this boy could not survive tonight. He then put his hand on the little boy''s chest and filled two vials of all-purpose medicament into his stomach.


    The boy''s right hand had been chopped off while his clothes had been covered with blood stains. An iron wire was tightened above the place where his arm was broken, which almost cut into his flesh. Thankfully, his vessels were tightened; therefore, his blood was stopped. One end of the iron wire was in the little boy''s mouth while the other end was circled on his left hand.


    At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie seemed to watch a little boy stumbling towards this dump with the instinct of seeking for survival, who then found a rusted iron wire from the litter and came to a hidden place under the tree before finally wrapping his wound using one end of the iron wire while biting the other end of the iron wire.


    This was the crudest method to stop bleeding and might be the only way for the little boy to save himself at that moment.


    Being inflicted by great pains, the little boy was like a deserted puppy. The moment he wrapped his wound had he been in a deep coma...


    Zhang Tie made the little boy lean against his legs while he took off the iron wire from the little boy''s mouth and arm and used professional medicine to deal with his wound.


    Benefited from the all-purpose medicament, the little boy slowly woke up as he opened his eyes.


    "They...they asked me where...where you were...you...you''re a good person...I...didn''t tell them..."


    After hearing the little boy''s first words, Zhang Tie''s eyes were filled with tears.


    "Do you have any family member?" Zhang Tie asked him with a lower voice.


    "None...my papa and mama had died one year ago...on the way towards Upton City with me. We met a demon disaster!" Speaking of his family members, the little boy dropped off his tears, "They said they were going to take me...to the south...but they died on the way...mama...told me to survive on...as a good person...you tell me...whether I am a good person..."


    "You''re a good person!" Zhang Tie dropped off his tears...


    The little boy revealed a satisfied and faint smile, "Will...will I die?...whether can...can I see my papa and mama....after death?"


    "You won''t!"


    "You liar...I know...I feel...sleepy...it''s said that people would...die as long as they fell asleep in this case."


    "I''m telling the truth. Trust me, just have a good sleep. When you wake up, you''ll find that you''re in a new place!"


    "Is that...paradise?"


    "Yes, everybody is good there, nobody would harm you anymore!"


    "Ah, can my arm grow...grow out in paradise...I...I don''t want my papa and mama...to see that I...don''t have an arm...if not...they...will feel sad about that!"


    "Trust me, your arm will grow out!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the little boy gradually closed his eyes and fell asleep again.


    Feeling that nobody was near them, Zhang Tie put his hand on the little boy''s forehead and teleported him into Castle of Black Iron at once...


    ...


    Since Castle of Black Iron accomplished its expansion last time, the residents in the town had been more pious about their God. This small Shrine in Castle of Black Iron was always covered with prayers.


    Tonight, a big event was happening in the town. In order to satisfy the demand of the residents, through a negotiation joined by all the residents in the town, they decided to make God''s statues in this Shrine so that each one could take a God''s statue back home...


    This was a sacred and solemn rite. Each detail had passed the discussions of the noblest and knowledgeable persons in the town, including the raw materials of the statue, the manufacturing process and how to welcome the God''s statue to each believer''s home. Not a single loophole could be found.


    Without any sigh, that sleeping little boy straightly appeared at the foot of the God''s status in the Shrine, which scared all those at present a lot...


    "Ah, our God brought another poor kid to the paradise!" Someone exclaimed.


    All those at present swarmed up and carried the little boy away from the immortal altar carefully.


    "Hurry up, carry this little boy to the infirmary; prepare a braiser, scissors, hot water and some cotton clothes..." An experienced senior instantly guided the others...


    ...


    10 minutes after teleporting that little boy, Zhang Tie was blocked in a slum of Upton City by a person in black clothes who was holding an odd-looking iron claw. When Zhang Tie wanted to pass by the alley, that person appeared at the entrance of the alley abruptly like a black ghost while glaring at Zhang Tie with a killing qi.


    Given his qi, which was much more powerful than those b*stards that Zhang Tie met before, Zhang Tie realized that this one was at least a LV 10 strong fighter.


    Zhang Tie stood still in the alley and gazed at this person.


    Given Rein''s qi, Zhang Tie knew that he was a LV 9 fighter; therefore, this person was definitely not a subordinate of Rein. A LV 9 mad dog could never have a LV 10 strong fighter follow his order. However, given this man''s naked killing intent, Zhang Tie realized that evidently this one was dispatched by that one on Rein''s back, ''It seems that the death of the policemen outside of the pub has already startled the one behind Rein. In order to appease the trouble, that person on Rein''s back dispatched a powerhouse and aimed to kill me, the "insurgent", as fast as possible. Meanwhile, it could shock the onlookers¡ª¡ªWhat a vicious guy!''


    At this moment, Zhang Tie heard another sound of slight footsteps from his back while another person appeared on the other end of the alley over 20 m away from Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie didn''t look back. He had also sensed the qi of the other killer behind him¡ª¡ªanother LV 10 strong fighter. He could even sense that the second killer was holding a long sword like him; however, his long sword felt much more advanced than that of his.


    ''What a pity!'' Zhang Tie slightly shook his head, ''It''s better for such elites to kill some more demons on the battlefield than to die here in such a chaotic world.'' However, Zhang Tie knew that people were different from each other. Due to desires and greed, people with the same talent would choose completely different roads in many times. Even knights had different choices. Some would fight to the death for humans on the battlefield while some would choose to surrender to Three-eye Association.


    "If you leave Upton City and swear to never come back, I will treat that you two have never been here!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    After a few seconds in silence, Zhang Tie received two sneers.


    "This guy is humorous!" The one in front of Zhang Tie opened his mouth.


    "Maybe this is a trick. Cunning fish always use such a swashbuckling trick!"


    "You or me?"


    "You. Such a fish would take you at most half a minute. Don''t waste time. We have to take his head to the Gold Coin Pub!" The other one behind Zhang Tie replied.


    "At most 15 seconds..." That killer in front of Zhang Tie argued when he walked towards Zhang Tie with his weird iron claw.


    Zhang Tie became silent as he drew out his sword and walked towards that killer...

 690 Teeth for Teeth

    Chapter 690: Teeth for Teeth


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In an extremely luxurious room, somewhere in Upton City...


    "Pah..." A heavy slap fell on Rein''s face, sending Rein flying off. He fell on the brilliant, thick carpet 2 m away.


    The one who slapped him was an expressionless man who wore a black half-body metal armor and a face mask. Additionally, that man had a pair of huge swords hanging around his waist. After slapping Rein, that man stood still like a machine.


    After falling on the floor, Rein didn''t say anything; instead, he picked himself up from the ground and returned to his original position. At the same time, he slightly quivered all over, even he did not dare to wipe off the blood stains from his mouth corners. After a tooth was slapped off, Rein straightly swallowed it silently while lowering his head.


    That machine-like man raised his hand and prepared to slap Rein once again...


    "Enough, Douglas..." A sound drifted from behind the masked man. After hearing this sound, the masked man lowered his hand and silently retreated to one side.


    A person in a brilliant blue robe at his 20s was leaning against a gilding soft bed while some beauties with half-exposed breasts were kneeling on his side. Some of them were peeling off fruits for this man; some were responsible for putting fruit into this man''s mouth; some were massaging his legs.


    The man, lying on the soft bed, looked very handsome. However, the long, narrow eyes looked crafty while the pale lips as thin as blades looked a bit cruel and grim.


    The young man watched Rein with his narrow eyes; nobody knew what he was thinking about; however, Rein''s body quivered more heavily.


    Being covered by that young man''s powerful qi and sharp eyes, Rein was as docile as a guide dog; he was too scared to look at that man''s eyes as he lowered his head towards the ground.


    After a long while, that man opened his mouth calmly.


    "Angus Clan cannot determine everything in Upton City. With 8 policemen being killed, you want me to help you clean your butt? Tell me, how do I punish you?"


    "I...I''d like to accept any...any punishment!" Rein stammered. Only Rein knew how cruel and terrifying was this young man in front of him.


    "Any punishment?" That young man slightly sneered as he suddenly transferred to another topic, "How about the two bloody slaves businessmen that came to Upton City last week? Have you completed what I''ve told you to do?"


    "Ah, I''ve already put them into the bag and poured them together with concrete into the foundation of the wall of the refugee camp in the east of Upton City!" Rein seized every chance to indicate that he was "still useful", "I invited the directors of Belle Business Group, Haun Business Group and Golden Rose Business Group to visit it at present. I''m sure that they have known that some businesses could not be touched by others in Upton City!"


    "Hmm, not bad!" That young man lying on the soft bed took a grape. When he chewed it, he issued the order, "If so, from tomorrow on, we can raise the price of the food in the surrounding refugee camps by another 30%. We have to get the last copper coin from those refugees who prepared to escape to the south. As to those who have no money, have them sign the contract on selling themselves as slaves voluntarily. After that, move them away as soon as possible so that new refugees could occupy their positions. In this way, we will save the money for building new refugee camps. Am I clear?"


    "Clear!" Rein replied as he recovered his composure a bit. As long as this man felt that he was still useful, it would not be difficult to deal with this event.


    "Have you figured out that man''s background?"


    "He''s Peter, who has just come to Upton by an airship from the north! He''s a paladin, also a pioneer who might prepare to make the war profit in the north. Accidentally, he saved those passengers on the airship when that airship made a forced landing in the wild. After that, he escorted them all the way here. After refusing their employment, he left the airship base. My men in the refugee camp found that he was not poor and thought that they could rip him off. However..." Rein explained rapidly so as to fix his mistake. At this moment, that young man slightly waved his hand to stop him.


    "As you were always diligent in previous years. I will not claim responsibilities from you this time. Remember to not make the same mistake in front of me for the second time!"


    "Yes, sir. I promise I''ll be careful next time!" Rein lowered his head as he let out a sigh inside, ''Thank God, I finally survived it.''


    "You''re too impatient. You should show yourself after figuring out the opponent''s background. You even made this event known across the city. It seems that you''ve been used to be privileged in Upton these years and have lost the least alert. After this event comes to an end, you''ll better go to Black Prison of Upton City to practice yourself. There''s a vacancy over there. I''ve just taken it. Don''t come out of there until you become steady!"


    "Young master, what about Peter then..." Rein asked carefully.


    "I''ve already dispatched Aral and the other one to kill him..."


    After hearing that young man''s reply, Rein hurriedly revealed a relieved look as he flattered, "It will be okay. Aral is proficient in tracing. Peter is at most LV 9, who could not escape far away!"


    "I''ve got a visitor. You can leave now. Be alert these days. If there''s any tricky figure in Upton these days, let me know first."


    "Yes, sir!" Rein lowered his head as he left this room by moving backward.


    Until he moved out of the room had Rein found that his back had been wet all over.


    When Rein left the rear door of the manor, he glanced at the direction of the manor and found a black sedan outside the gate. Two people in capes with half face covered in the shadow got off the vehicle while the young man, who was leaning on the soft bed just now came out to greet them...


    Rein dared not stay longer as he hurriedly left.


    At this moment, neither Rein nor that young man who was greeting his "guests" outside the gate of the manor cared about the case of "Peter" any longer as "Peter" had been dead in their eyes. They had met too many similar "tricky" events these years. They dealt with each event in this way. Therefore, they didn''t think that there was anything special with this case...


    ...


    In the narrow, deep and dark alley, the battle came to an end in 15 seconds...


    Zhang Tie was safe and sound. By contrast, the two LV 10 strong fighters who blocked him and declared to end the battle in 15 seconds had a miserable outcome. The one holding a sword was penetrated through his throat and heart by Zhang Tie. He was watching Zhang Tie with an unimaginable look before dying. He fell down softly as he couldn''t figure out how could this person between LV 8 and LV 9 could suddenly release such a powerful sword qi, ''f*ck...''


    That killer swore before dying. Actually, he might not know whom to swear at this moment.


    The other killer''s neck was pinched by Zhang Tie while he struggled like a weak, suffocating mandarin duck. Being forced against the wall, he was slowly lifted by Zhang Tie''s hand.


    For Zhang Tie, LV 10 strong fighters were not much stronger than those policemen whom he had killed just now.


    Zhang Tie watched this killer in his grip as he triggered his "Soul Capture Skill", a mysterious method from Bloody Soul Temple of Taixia Country, at once. In a split second, Zhang Tie''s eyes looked like two mysterious rotating mires as they sucked in the LV 10 fighter''s consciousness right away. The fighter gradually stopped his struggle while his painful look gradually turned into a stoned smile


    Zhang Tie loosened his grip while that killer stood in front of Zhang Tie like a puppet with a silly and weird smile.


    "What''s your name?" Zhang Tie asked calmly.


    "Aral!"


    "Did Rein dispatch you here?"


    "Young master dispatched me here!"


    "Whose''s your young master?"


    "Leeb Angus!"


    "What''s his status?"


    "The son of the president of Free Commercial Federation, the first cis-position of Angus Clan in the future!"


    Zhang Tie was shocked as he finally understood the status of Rein''s reliance. With such a powerful reliance, no wonder Rein dared be so aggressive in Upton City. ''The power of Angus Clan could at least rank top 3 in the entire Free Commercial Federation. However, now that the opponent has meant to kill me, I could only execute teeth for teeth. As they want to kill me, they have to be prepared to be killed.''


    "Where''s Leeb?" Zhang Tie asked with a killing qi.


    "Right in the Stars Manor. He''s waiting for your head!"


    "Where''s Stars Manor?"


    "No. 16 Avenue Wealth, Upper East City, Upton!"


    "Are there any powerhouses over there?"


    "Young master has a bodyguard, a LV 13 5-star battle general!"


    "What''s the battle force of your young master?"


    "LV 11!"


    "Where''s Rein? Where would he always be in the evening?"


    "He''s just got on with a mistress recently in the Upton City. He would always stay with that mistress at night."


    "Tell me his address..."


    After asking some questions rapidly, Zhang Tie had a general judgment on his opponent. He didn''t move at once; instead, he just watched Aral, "Bring me all of your good items and those of your partner!"


    Zhang Tie had formed a good habit to collect booties after a battle since he joined Iron-blood Camp.


    Aral then undid his storage bag and necklace foolishly before walking to his partner who had been killed by Zhang Tie and picking that guy''s storage bag and longsword. After that, he handed all of them to Zhang Tie together with his odd-looking iron claw.


    After weighing them for a second, Zhang Tie threw all of them to Castle of Black Iron, "Okay, you can commit a suicide now. Hurry up!"


    Aral then nodded with a stupid smile. After that, he smacked onto his forehead, making his head flat, spurting out his brain. Closely after that, he sat in the alley.


    This was Zhang Tie''s first time to apply the mysterious method "Soul Capture Skill" in an alive person. Watching that guy commit a suicide so straightly, Zhang Tie felt his heart pounding, ''How terrifying is this "Soul Capture Skill"!'' Before leaving Upton City, Zhang Tie didn''t want to expose the two corpses to the public in case of arising the opponent''s alert. Therefore, he threw the two corpses into the Abyss of Chaos. Closely after that, he disappeared in the dark as fast as the wind once again...


    If it was before, Zhang Tie would not casually expose the existence of Castle of Black Iron like this time; however, after having the knight''s consciousness, his sensing and perceptive ability had already improved to a very terrifying, high level. He could clearly know whether someone was in the surroundings or peeping at him from afar. Therefore, Zhang Tie became more confident when he used the function of Castle of Black Iron.


    The 2 dead guys would never know that even the "rendezvous" place was chosen by Zhang Tie. When Zhang Tie was going to catch two lackeys, they presented themselves to him voluntarily; of course, Zhang Tie would never treat them politely...


    ...


    After leaving the manor, Rein returned to the apartment of his mistress. At this moment, all the policemen in Upton City had mobilized to seek for that "killer".


    All the frustrations, pains and fears that he suffered today finally converted to his driving force to ride on his mistress.


    Being driven by a certain fierce emotion and his mistress'' adroit skills, Rein''s first time arrived very fast. After the fierce spurt, Rein laid on that woman''s body as he felt empty-minded. Until then did Rein figure out the dangers.


    ''It''s time to come to an end. As I''ve known too much. As long as I lose my value or that man thinks it''s more beneficial for me to disappear than exist, it will be my doomsday.'' Rein figured out his current situation at once, ''As it''s chaotic everywhere, as long as I find a chance, I might be able to leave Upton City and that man. As long as I leave out of here, based on the wealth of over 100,000 gold coins that I''ve accumulated these years, I could go straightly to the Eastern Continent or Western Continent or find a strange place to restart my life. Whatever, it''s safer than risking my life all day long in Upton City.''


    ''It might be that man''s way to control me in the black prison of Upton City. If I believe in his words, I might be killed in the black prison of Upton City sooner or later. That man might have already intended to kill me today; however, considering that if he killed me straightly, he might let down many of his followers; therefore, he postponed the plan in the excuse of the vacancy in the black prison. Based on my understanding, that man has never spared any second chance to anyone these years.''


    The more Rein thought, the more chilly did he feel. More and more whims flashed in his mind...


    Suddenly, he felt that the hand of the woman, who was teasing him underneath, became stiff. At the same time, the woman instantly changed his blushed face to a pale look as she looked at his back with a scared expression. Right then, Rein felt a killing qi from his spine.


    Before that woman shrieked, Rein had already covered her mouth and broken her neck with a "cracking" sound. That woman had never imagined that she could be killed by a man who was making love with her just now.


    It was like a trivial thing for Rein to kill a woman. He didn''t look back; instead, he just said calmly, "My friend. All of my money was in the cabinet at the end of my bed. There were over 1,000 gold coins over there. Just take all of them away. I don''t want to know who you are. Just forget about what happened tonight. This thing is a bit shameful for me. I won''t mention it to anyone else. As you can find me here, it means that you know my reliance. If something happens to me, that man would feel unhappy; then, he won''t let you go!"


    "I''ve not imagined that you could be so decisive and tricky, Rein. It seems that all those who said you were a mad dog were cheated by your performance. As long as I give you some more time, you might become a big figure!"


    After hearing this voice, Rein became stiff all over. At this moment, he would not feel accidental to hear any other voices except for this. In Rein''s imagination, this man would have already been killed or escaped away like a strayed dog. He had not imagined this person could appear on his back at this moment.


    Rein slowly turned around as he saw the same person that he met in the pub. What made Rein more amazed was that how could this person enter it when the door of the bedroom had been locked from inside until then.


    "How...how did you know my residence? How did you come in?" Rein stammered as he crunched backward on the bed.


    "Do I need to explain it to you?" Zhang Tie sneered.


    "Go die!" A delicate crossbow suddenly appeared in Rein''s hand as he pressed the switch.


    The sword light flashed...


    In a split second, the bolt was broken into pieces while Rein''s limbs were separated from his body. The sword light even slightly touched Rein''s throat and shattered Rein''s vocal cord...


    Due to the extreme pain, Rein rolled from the bed onto the floor. Rein wanted to shout loudly; however, he could not utter any sound at this moment. He opened his mouth only to hear hoarse sobs like broken bellows...


    A lot of fresh blood flew out of his broken limbs rapidly, staining a wide area.


    Rein watched Zhang Tie with a pleading look, expecting for a quick end.


    "Have you thought about being revenged so fast when you chopped off the boy''s hand and sent it to me?"


    Zhang Tie just watched Rein rolling and twitching in the blood pond. Rein drained off his blood in the shortest period and finally died with widely opened eyes...


    ...


    After a few minutes, a black beetle flew out of the chimney of that room. After making a circle above there, he flew towards the east of Upton City...


    One must be thorough in exterminating an evil!

 691 A Conspiracy

    Chapter 691: A Conspiracy


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the deep night, Zhang Tie passed through the streets in Upton City and flew towards the south of the city...


    Below Zhang Tie were numerous houses in tranquility. Many residents had gone to bed at this moment. Lamplights escaped from some houses'' windows. Perhaps, only policemen across the city were still working so late. No matter which city or country, what made policemen most excited was undoubtedly the murder of their colleagues.


    Zhang Tie didn''t have any prejudice against the police. Neither did he believe that all the policemen across Upton City were badass and lackeys of evil forces. However, some badass and lackeys among the police might be more vicious than real villains, ''Now that those sc*mbags encountered me, I have to feel sorry for them.''


    With one more fruit of brilliance on the small tree, Zhang Tie felt pleased for the first time since he came to Upton City. The new fruit of brilliance told Zhang Tie that all those that he killed were guilty. It was Zhang Tie''s accidental achievement in Upton City.


    Benefited from fruits of brilliance, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy grew much faster than that of his battle force. At this moment, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy was definitely more than that of common knights. Zhang Tie didn''t know what would happen if he constantly accumulated his powerful spiritual energy. Based on the current situation, Zhang Tie knew it had great benefits. With powerful knight''s consciousness, it would be as smooth as a fish in the water when he cultivated mysterious methods such as "Soul Capture Skill". Additionally, he could light his surging points in a higher efficiency. These benefits were dreamed by some people as they formed important parts of Zhang Tie''s battle force. Therefore, Zhang Tie had an anxious expectation about his spiritual energy for the future.


    ''After killing that d**chebag called Leeb Angus, I will move 1,000 miles away and live with another look. No matter how influential is Angus Clan in the Free Commercial Federation, they will never harm me.'' Zhang Tie made a decision inside as he considered his body-changing bloodline as his biggest advantage.


    Actually, Zhang Tie felt that he was very adaptable to be a paladin. He could exterminate evil forces everywhere. Soon after he launched a strike would he escape 1,000 miles away. Besides, he had fruits to take. If not in the holy war, it was really nice to have such a life. In usual days, he could be a rich guy who had a castle, some manors and a big farm. He could marry all the favorite women and have a lot of babies. Occasionally, he could come out to be a paladin so as to relax himself. How immortal days...


    Pitifully, it was just a dream within 100 years for him.


    Although Zhang Tie had not come to Upton City before, now that he knew the destination was in the east, it was not difficult for him to find the No. 16, Wealth Avenue in this city. Because there were a lot of guide-boards on the roadsides.


    ...


    In an eastern street of Upton City, two policemen were on duty at a cross and checking passers-by who were still wondering outside at this moment. Due to the dark, they were holding a fluorescent lamp and watching the desolate road with widely opened eyes as they stomped their feet.


    "It''s said that those policemen who were killed were called there by Rein." one of the two policemen whispered when there was nobody in the road.


    "F*ck, Rein''s subordinates in the refugee camp had a wicked idea; however, that guy was tricky who killed them all straightly. After knowing that he was in Gold Coin Pub, Rein wanted some policemen who colluded with him to trouble that guy. However, it was out of their imagination that the guy straightly killed all the policemen outside the pub. Those guys must have received too many rewards from Rein and done too many evil deeds. They deserved to die!"


    "Hush, be careful, don''t forget about Rein''s reliance. Do you want to lose this job?" another policeman persuaded as he looked around.


    "That''s better. I prefer to take my wife to the south in case of worrying about the arrival of demons one day..." The policeman lowered his voice although he stuck to his stance.


    "The guy called Peter might have already escaped out of Upton City. It''s said that he''s a LV 8 powerhouse. How could he still stay in the city now? Whenever similar events happened, we, the most bottom people, would be extremely fatigued to find any result. If that guy really appeared in front of us at this moment, we might have no chance to blow our whistle!"


    "Forgot about that. We have to pretend to be serious!" The other policeman yawned as he put his hands back to his sleeves. When he casually watched a roadside signboard, he saw a black beetle flying towards him from afar which rightly suspended in front of that signboard. After looking at the sigh board seriously for a short while, it flew towards the direction pointed by the signboard.


    ''F*ck, even an insect could identify the signboard. I must have a blurred vision...''


    ...


    After a few seconds, Zhang Tie saw the No. 16 manor-typed villa in Wealth Avenue.


    It was a big garden outside the villa. Due to the high courtyard walls, people outside the manor could only see the luxuriant crowns inside the courtyard. After throwing a glance at that black marble doorplate which was marked as "No. 16 Wealth Avenue", Zhang Tie flew in from the high wall.


    It was strictly defended here. Even in the deep night, Zhang Tie could still see two teams of guards patrolling outside the manor. However, in the incarnation of an insect, Zhang Tie straightly ignored them and flew over their heads.


    It was a luxurious villa which occupied a wide area of the land. There were a fountain and a statue outside the gate of the villa. It was pitch-dark inside the villa while each window was covered with a thick deep-color curtain. All the doors were closed. After flying around the villa for a loop, Zhang Tie finally decided to fly inside from the chimney of the fireplace.


    The chimney was like a pitch-dark tunnel for Zhang Tie. In order to avoid people from climbing in, a firm metal filter was fixed in the chimney. However, the metal filter could never stop Zhang Tie from coming in as the meshes were huge enough for a black beetle.


    It only took Zhang Tie 5-6 seconds to descend silently below the fireplace from the highest point of the chimney.


    The fireplace was set in a guesthouse on the 1st floor of the villa. Two purple crystal columns, each of which was taller than 1 m, displayed the extravagance here. A pile of well-split pine woods, tongs and pine oil were put on a silver rack beside the fireplace. Thankfully, it wasn''t in the winter; it would''ve been far more difficult for him to get down through the chimney if the fireplace had been lit.


    There was nobody in the guesthouse. Zhang Tie just flew out of here in a low-key manner alongside the ceiling.


    There were a lot of rooms on the 1st floor. However, there were very few people in the entire building. Zhang Tie could only hear the breathing sound from a room in the remote corner, which belonged to servants.


    Zhang Tie straightly flew to the 2nd floor from the hall on the 1st floor which hung crystal ceiling lamps.


    Almost all the rooms on the 2nd floor were black, except for one, from the bottom of the door, Zhang Tie saw a faint light escaping out.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly flew over there and landed outside the room. There was a gap of less than 1 cm below that door, which was available for Zhang Tie to drill inside in the incarnation of a flat beetle.


    After drilling into the room, Zhang Tie felt bright at once while all the furniture looked lofty. There was a thick red carpet on the floor. The moment Zhang Tie entered the room and touched the carpet had he turned red all over.


    At this moment, the insect''s qi could almost be ignored; especially when Zhang Tie walked on the thick carpet, causing no sound at all.


    This was the outer room of the study. A man in a half-body metal armor and a face mask was sitting on a chair near the door on Zhang Tie''s side, exposing his mouth and jaw.


    This man reminded Zhang Tie of Leeb''s bodyguard.


    It seemed that the bodyguard of Leeb was guarding outside the study. The door of the study was right behind him.


    This guy didn''t find Zhang Tie who drilled in the room through the gap below the door at all; instead, he was still drinking leisurely.


    Previously, Zhang Tie wanted to show his original body at once and kill this guy; closely after that, he would flash into the room to kill Leeb. However, watching the closed door, a whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind. He didn''t show his original body. He rapidly detoured from the bodyguard''s back along the wall and came to the door of the study. After that, he silently drilled into the study like before.


    It was a bit dark inside the study. It didn''t even have a window. If not the bookshelves, it was more like a backroom.


    "You mean no force in Upton City could prevent us now?"


    A voice drifted from the sofa in the middle of the room while being surrounded by the bookshelves. The moment he heard the voice had Zhang Tie felt his heart racing. He was familiar with that voice. After following the middle corps of demons to sweep over the northern border of Symbian Republic for so many days, Zhang Tie had heard that voice many times. The voice came from a young elite of Arthur Clan of Three-eye Association in the middle corps of demons who worked together with Senel Clan. With a super powerful memory, Zhang Tie would never mistake it...


    ''How could Arthur Clan''s member stay in Upton?''


    Zhang Tie sensed a conspiracy instinctively...

 692 A Dangerous Situation

    Chapter 692: A Dangerous Situation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "At this moment, Upton City indeed has no ability to resist us!" Another voice sounded. Zhang Tie then silently moved to the back of a bookshelf less than 5 m away from them and listened to it quietly. "But I don''t understand why the Demon General has such a sudden plan. This plan is out of the imagination of our Angus Clan. We can barely make any preparations. In this plan, we will suffer a huge loss!"


    "No war would proceed according to one party''s will or plan!" That member of Arthur Clan opened his mouth. Zhang Tie remembered that he was called Tharant, also a LV 12 great battle master, "The Demon General has not predicted that our demonized puppets corps would suffer a great setback in Norman Empire. Actually, many human countries in Blackson Humans Corridor have very great battle forces. Although the Demon General''s super demon corps could destroy all the targets in front of us, we would also pay a great price for this. Additionally, it would waste a lot of our time. Whereas, time counts the most at this moment. Numerous people would climb over Kalay Mountain Range and escape to the south everyday. This indicates potential dangers and less source of demonized puppets for us. In order to keep them in the north and completely destroy the north human countries'' will to resist us, The Demon General decides to implement frog leaping strategy: Sweep over the human bases in the north of Kalay Mountain Range first so as to close the door towards the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. By doing this, we will gain a great number of demonized puppets in the future and lay a solid foundation for our ruling in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. In 1-2 years, after we complete the integration of resources in the north, we will march southwards and rule the entire Blackson Humans Corridor.


    "When will the Demon General''s super demon corps arrive at Upton City?"


    "After 3 days..."


    "Ah? In such a short time..." Another person sighed, who was Leeb for sure, the one whom Zhang Tie was going to kill.


    "Only in this way could it make all parties unable to respond to it. Although your Angus Clan would suffer a loss in Upton City, you would also have some benefits. You can pretend to escape to the south to gather with your father and nobody will doubt that your Angus Clan belongs to Three-eye Association anymore. Your clan will play a bigger role in the future! Additionally, you also know that the Demon General is generous and discriminating in his rewards and punishments. Compared to any reward from the Demon General, your Angus Clan''s loss in Upton City would be nothing serious at all."


    "What about Norman Empire and those humans countries which still resists us in the north?"


    "This time, we''ve already made the maximal mobilization in the north. In half a year, there will be 20 million demonized puppets marching southwards. No matter what preparations have Norman Empire and the other human countries made, they would finally be conquered by the demonized puppets corps. There is no 2nd Imperial Dam in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor!"


    "Does My father know that?"


    "Yes, he knows. As we know each other, your father suggested me to coordinate with you on this action as the liaison of Three-eye Association in Upton City. We need to coordinate with the Demon General to take down Upton City at the minimal price. In order to implement this plan, the Demon General gifted me a double-headed parent demonized worm!"


    "What? A double-headed parent demonized worm?" Leeb looked a bit amazed.


    "Yes, the Demon General expects to convert the millions of refugees outside Upton City into demonized puppets as soon as possible. When his super demon corps arrive at Upton City, they could complete the encirclement with the demonized puppets corps towards the entire Upton City and turn it into a dead city in the shortest period. After that, Those demonized puppets would sweep over all the human bases in the north of Kalay Mountain Range so as to completely freeze the portal of Kalay Mountain Range. Only in this way, could we register a big blow to the northern humans and relieve the loss that we encountered in Norman Empire!"


    "No problem. The food and drinks of more than 3 million refugees outside Upton City are all under my control. As long as we have a double-headed parent worm, I will have those pariahs eat its eggs in 1 day. However, it''s a bit pitiful to spend a rare double-headed parent worm on those pariahs!"


    "If we can take down the north of Blackson Humans Corridor this time, it''s worthwhile for us to use a double-headed parent worm!"


    ...


    After hearing this, Zhang Tie felt chilly inside. He finally knew the whereabouts of the super demon corps which had disappeared two months ago. It turned out that the Demon General was carrying out such a terrifying plan¡ª¡ªfrog leaping strategy; move 10,000 miles away to destroy Upton City and completely close the door towards the south. If this plan succeeded, Upton would become a dead city while the entire north region of Blackson Humans Corridor would collapse. By then, the depressed morale and hope of northern soldiers and civilians would collapse. If that really happened, Zhang Tie didn''t know how chaotic would the entire north region of Blackson Humans Corridor be. However, this was rightly what the demons desired for.


    Zhang Tie was also shocked a bit by that double-headed parent worm. He knew what was a double-headed parent worm, a very rare parent worm. Being different from a parent worm of the common demonized puppets, such a parent worm had two heads. If someone took its eggs or chopped off one of its heads, the eggs in that person''s body would complete their hatch after being activated like that of a common parent worm; however, due to the existence of the other head of the double-headed parent worm, the hatched eggs were still under control.


    From a perspective, a double-headed parent worm was a perfect puppet worm. However, it was too rare; as a mutated species, such a double-headed parent worm was rare even in the 2nd holy war.


    Hearing the details of this action in the study, Zhang Tie felt utterly confused and disconcerted, ''What to do?''


    Facing such a deliberate, large-scale and terrifying plan made by demons and Three-eye Association, Zhang Tie realized that he alone was too weak...

 693 A Quick Battle

    Chapter 693: A Quick Battle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie felt that the God played a joke with him. When he wanted to find the super demon corps, that super demon corps disappeared; however, when he prepared to return to Ice and Snow Wilderness, he was involved with a terrifying plot set by the demons and Three-eye Association.


    Hearing the details of the action in the study, Zhang Tie became flurried. ''What to do? Can I prevent them? Various thoughts occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind.''


    All the thoughts finally led to a firm belief¡ª¡ªKill!


    ''No matter what happens later, at least I should kill all the b*stards at present and prevent them from converting those refugees in Upton City into demonized puppets.''


    With this thought, Zhang Tie, in the incarnation of the beetle, entered Castle of Black Iron. After 10 seconds, Zhang Tie appeared behind the bookshelves silently while concealing his qi like a shadow with the autumn-frost gold sword in the right hand and some palm bolts in the left hand.


    However, the 3 people in the study didn''t find that someone appeared in the study.


    ...


    "Just stay here these days. It''s very safe here. Nobody else can come here. I will arrange things outside. Just give me the double-headed parent worm''s eggs. I will have people provide free porridge to the refugees tomorrow. I''m sure those refugees would take all the eggs of the double-headed parent worm pleasantly!" Leeb said.


    "Alright. We will stay here a couple of days first. We will not go out until the Demon General''s super demon corps arrive at Upton City." Tharant, a member of Arthur Clan said, "I was told that there were a lot of refugees here. You must have enjoyed a lot of fresh beauties here these couple of years!"


    "Hahaha, as many women as possible..."


    They then burst out laughing in the study...


    ...


    Zhang Tie slowly walked out of the bookshelves and saw Leeb, Tharant and a powerhouse on Tharant''s side, who was also LV 13...


    Sitting on the opposite of the sofa, Tharant caught sight of Zhang Tie firstly with a dumbfounded look. He wondered how the study suddenly had one more person, ''Is that another powerhouse on Leeb''s side?''


    Leeb also felt amazed as he turned around to check whether that bodyguard outside the door had come in...


    Only that powerhouse of Arthur Clan touched his weapons at his waist the moment he saw Zhang Tie.


    Of course, Zhang Tie would spare no time to them.


    ''Go die!''


    Benefited from the senior rapid moving skill, Kuafu bloodline and the nimbleness and high speed which he gained after promoting to LV 12, Zhang Tie released the most powerful and most suitable movement in "Meteor Shower Sword"¡ª¡ªMilky Way Sword Cage.


    In a split second, a terrifying, brilliant sword qi river poured down from the sky and covered all the 3 people sitting on the sofa.


    There was a terrifying chill in the terrifying sword qi cage which almost froze the 3 people; meanwhile, the LV 2 cold injury effect of autumn-frost gold sword exploded at once.


    This was definitely the most powerful movement that Zhang Tie could execute today.


    In front of his overwhelming battle force, all the plots, dignity and wealth were like b*llshit.


    It was just a matter of life or death under the attack of the sword, regardless of gender, wealth or dignity.


    No matter how reconciled and amazed was Leeb of Angus Clan, no matter how much he expected to survive on, the awe-inspiring man, as the weakest one among the 3 people had lost his head before he turned around...


    Actually, Leeb was not weak at his age. As a LV 11 battle master, he was already excellent. Pitifully, he met Zhang Tie, whose battle force could match a LV 14 battle demon. It was acceptable for a LV 11 guy to suffer a strike of a powerful rune weapon from a LV 14 battle demon without any preparation.


    The second one being killed by Zhang Tie''s autumn-frost gold sword was that young elite Tharant of Auther Clan. At this moment, Tharant, as a LV 12 great battle master, responded a bit faster than Leeb; however, it was useless in front of Zhang Tie''s sword...


    The terrifying chill released by the autumn-frost gold sword made him stiff a bit unavoidably when he wanted to resist. As a result, the moment he drew out his long sword had Zhang Tie''s sword qi poured down from his head like the dripping ice water, striking him more than 20 times at once.


    The one who blocked Zhang Tie''s strike hastily was that LV 13 powerhouse of Arthur Clan. Although he blocked this strike, he still got a strike on his left shoulder; meanwhile, he uttered a muffled harrumph...


    In less than 1 second, 2 of the 3 people in the study had been killed. At this moment, Zhang Tie finally sensed the cold sense and heroic emotion of Elder Muray when he intruded in the camp of the demonized puppets and killed the head of Senel Clan with one movement.


    After hearing the noise in the room, the bodyguard outside the study instantly broke in.


    When the door was broken, Zhang Tie launched the most brilliant move of "Meteor Shower Sword"¡ª¡ªsparkling fireflies towards the injured LV 13 powerhouse of Arthur Clan...


    In a split second, numerous sword qi flew towards that person like fireflies and a meteor shower...


    At the critical moment, that person shouted loudly as he waved his longsword to resist Zhang Tie''s strike...


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that this man of Arthur Clan was also a great swordsman. That guy also had not imagined that Zhang Tie''s trump card was in his another hand.


    After mastering the skill of mental arithmetic by abacus, Zhang Tie''s battle skill had long become unpredictable. Nobody else could distract their mind in such a fierce battle; however, it was as easy as breathing for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s palm bolts had long upgraded into more terrifying sword bolts...


    Being covered by that movement "fireflies", the small palm bolt passed the gap of the powerhouse''s two sword qi curtains and penetrated through his heart, leaving an unimaginable look on his face...


    It was like how one found the opponent still had bullets in his pistol when they fought by a bayonet. As was expected, that guy fell down in a reconciled way. Of course, this was not a fight by a bayonet, but a fight on the battle skills...


    When the bookshelf on his back was shattered, the bodyguard who was drinking outside launched an attack towards Zhang Tie.


    ¡ª¡ª"Arrogant moons"...


    Two ox-horn sized iron-blood battle qi flew out of the autumn-frost gold sword like two crescent moons and charged towards that bodyguard.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie shot out another 2 palm bolts...


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie threw out his autumn-frost gold sword like throwing a javelin...


    Although that guy was aggressive, Zhang Tie was more aggressive...


    As a powerhouse, that guy blocked away Zhang Tie''s palm bolts at once. After that, he broke Zhang Tie''s iron-blood sword qi of "arrogant moons in the air" as he instantly dodged away from another sword qi. However, he failed to dodge away from Zhang Tie''s autumn-frost gold sword, which flew too fast to be blocked.


    As a result, the sharp autumn-frost gold sword penetrated through that bodyguard''s half-body metal armor like breaking a piece of paper, causing him to spurt out a mouth of fresh blood.


    Before the fresh blood sprayed on the ground, Zhang Tie had already appeared in front of him like a lightning bolt and struck him with a fierce iron-blood punch, splitting that guy''s half-body metal armor into pieces together with his body at once...


    Panting, Zhang Tie stood still while supporting his sword on the floor. He then looked around the study and found it was messy all over¡ª¡ªshattered desks, sofa, bookshelves and 4 corpse''s parts.


    Although it was a transient battle, it was extremely fierce. In over 10 seconds, Zhang Tie had already exerted his full efforts to kill all the 4 people.


    After hearing such a loud noise, the other people in this villa were shocked while dense footsteps drifted from the aisle outside the room. They soon arrived at the door.


    "Stay out there. Nobody is allowed in without my consent..." Zhang Tie shouted in the tone of the [dead] Leeb. It was the simplest imitating ability. As long as Zhang Tie had heard some voice, he could imitate it vividly.


    Narrowing his eyes, Zhang Tie watched the door. As long as the door was pushed open from the outside, he would only kill all of them outside the door. At this moment, a whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind. He wanted to have a try whether it would succeed or not.


    Zhang Tie uttered while all the footsteps on the aisle stopped. It seemed that Leeb was too brutal to his subordinates that his subordinates dared not disobey his order at all.


    "Young master, are you okay?" A voice sounded from the outside in a timid way.


    "It''s okay. I will come out soon. Nobody is allowed in without my consent. All of you could leave now, except for the steward!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "The dense footsteps started to leave orderly, except one who was standing reverently outside the room...


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh at once...


    ...

 694 The Soul-Reading Incarnation

    Chapter 694: The Soul-Reading Incarnation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The room was messy after the battle. After throwing the autumn-frost gold sword into Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie had started to clean the battlefield. Only after 2 minutes, he had already collected all the valuables of the 4 corpses and thrown them into Castle of Black Iron without authentication.


    After that, Zhang Tie looked around and caught sight of a leather trunk as large as a luggage carrier on the side of the sofa where the LV 13 powerhouse had just sat.


    Zhang Tie walked over there and lifted that trunk. He found it was heavy. Therefore, he unzipped the trunk as he saw a safe-like black rectangular metal container inside it. There was a locked lid on the metal container. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie remembered the weird key that he had gotten from Tharant''s corpse. Therefore, he found out that key once again...


    With a "click" sound, the metal container was unlocked. Zhang Tie then opened its lid.


    The greater part of that pitch-dark metal container was filled with glutinous liquid, among which was a creeping purple black two-headed mollusk which was as long as one''s forearm.


    At the sight of this animal, Zhang Tie drew in a mouth of breath, ''A double-head parent worm!''


    Zhang Tie had never imagined such a [weird] look of the parent worm of demonized puppets. Such an animal which could easily exterminate hundreds of thousands of people was as weak as an odd-looking sea cucumber. Even a cat or a dog could kill it, not to mention people.


    Its tail was still secreting a mucus. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie realized that it was not a common mucus; but the eggs of the parent worm; a single drop of mucus contained numerous eggs of the parent worm. If people took them, they would cause a chaos in the world.


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie straightly threw this container along with that double-headed parent worm into Castle of Black Iron.


    "Heller, it''s yours!"


    "Copy that!" Heller briefed.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how could he use it for the time being; however, he believed that it would help him one day. Therefore, he just handed it to Heller.


    After that, Zhang Tie picked up Leeb''s head from the ground and glanced at it for a couple of seconds before touching his [own] forehead onto the icy forehead [of Leeb]; at the same time, he activated the soul-reading skill of bloody soul temple of Taixia Country.


    For bloody soul temple, there were a lot of methods to open one''s mouth, even if he was dead. As long as the person had not died longer than a few hours, the bloody soul temple of Taixia Country could always discover many secrets from the corpse. Perhaps, for bloody soul temple of Taixia Country, humans, even corpses didn''t have any secret at all.


    For many commoners, if one''s head was separated from his neck, he had already died, at least physically. However, for bloody soul temple of Taixia Country, the person had not died; even if his head had been chopped off. Only when his brain had died was he dead for sure.


    As Leeb had just lost his head for a couple of minutes, of course, his brain had not died yet.


    The soul-reading skill was too weird. When the cultivator applied it, he should touch his forehead with that of the dead one. It looked a bit grim and terrifying which wouldn''t be mastered by good people. If there was an audience, Zhang Tie would never exhibit this secret method. However, he was alone here; therefore, he wouldn''t care too much about that.


    The soul-reading skill could also be implemented on a living person; however, the result was that the living person would become an idiot or a lunatic. Such a soul-reading skill was very harmful to the living person''s brain. Additionally, it posed an extremely high requirement on the cultivator''s spiritual energy.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s mass spiritual energy flowed out of his forehead and injected into Leeb''s head like a fine, invisible mercury. It surrounded Leeb''s brain completely. After that, the spiritual energy stabbed in some special locations of Leeb''s brain in the form of sharp, fine needles.


    Closing his eyes, Zhang Tie uttered some weird, obscure syllables. Closely after that, Zhang Tie started to trace Leeb''s memory instantly from the perspective of Leeb. The scenes flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind like slides. Without the super spiritual energy as a buffering and the carrier, Zhang Tie might have already become an idiot. Now, what Leeb had experienced were showing in Zhang Tie''s mind clearly like that Zhang Tie himself had already experienced.


    According to the rules of memory, the more recent it was, the more detailed and colorful the memory would be; by contrast, the older it was, the less detailed and colorful the memory would be; the more important it was, the clearer the memory would be while the people and scenes would be more impulsive to Leeb''s spirit; by contrast, the more average it was, the lighter the memory would be...


    In such scenes, Zhang Tie "saw" many things in Leeb''s life, including influential people, women, sex, wealth, fresh blood, murder, conspiracy, terrifying punishment, pleasure, cruelty and various commoners who feared and flattered him, Angus Clan and its secrets, strikes on opponents in Free Commercial Federation...all the memories, experiences and secrets had been displayed by Zhang Tie''s powerful spiritual energy at an extremely fast speed like a free magazine.


    Only after 10 minutes, Zhang Tie had already traced back to the period before the holy war.


    If Zhang Tie wished, he could keep tracing like this. However, Zhang Tie stopped as the memory before the holy war was not too valuable for him.


    Zhang Tie closed his eyes silently and sorted those important contents in Leeb''s memory for a couple of minutes; after that, he threw Leeb''s head into the Abyss of Chaos.


    After that, Zhang Tie did the same to Tharant. He saw the whole process of this action, including more details. He saw the overwhelming flood in Nein City. In a special tent, Zhang Tie saw Tharant standing behind some rows of people and lowering his body towards a demon with a crocodile tail who was wearing a pitch-dark full-body armor and a bending helmet and saying, "Demon General..."


    ...


    Zhang Tie exited from Tharant''s memory. After being silent for a few minutes, he moved once again. He put off all the clothes and shoes of Leeb before throwing Leeb''s corpse into the Abyss of Chaos. After that, he put off his own clothes and slowly changed his frame and the color of his hair according to that of Leeb...


    ...


    After a few minutes, an alive Leeb reappeared in this study.


    Although feeling a bit disgusting and uncomfortable, Zhang Tie still rapidly put on Leeb''s clothes. After putting on Leeb''s clothes, he seriously cut his own hair using his hand according to the hairstyle of Leeb. Then, he made his hair messy so as to look very embarrassed just like a survivor of a battle. Finally, he checked his current look from the shiny desktop. Even Zhang Tie could not distinguish whether that was him or Leeb. After lightly coughing a couple of times, Zhang Tie returned to a sofa outside the study as he leaned against the sofa in a fatigued look. He then called in the steward using Leeb''s tone.


    The moment the steward opened the door and caught sight of the scene in the room had he been stunned. Before he exclaimed, he noticed Zhang Tie''s grim look as he quivered a bit all over. Closely after that, he swallowed back his words as he lowered his head silently.


    Zhang Tie was very satisfied with this effect. Thankfully, this was not Leeb''s first time to kill people in the villa. On two occasions, he even suddenly changed his face and killed his guests at the table. Therefore, the steward had been immune to this scene.


    This steward had no special background or status. He was just an arduous man. Leeb chose him as the steward because he had two advantages, high-efficient and secretive, which made Leeb very reassured.


    "There''s no guest in the villa tonight, Rex has been dispatched out, am I clear?" After briefing Leeb''s memory, Zhang Tie almost mastered his daily behaviors. Therefore, being benefited by his face-changing bloodline, Zhang Tie was completely an alive Leeb from the look, tone, expressions and movements. Even those on Leeb''s side could not identify that he was the wrong one.


    The bodyguard being killed by Zhang Tie was Rex.


    "Yes, sir!" The steward lowered his head.


    "Clean this place and send someone to inform Sieg; I will see him tomorrow morning..."


    ...

 695 Contacting Family Members

    Chapter 695: Contacting Family Members


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie then left the study with a glassy-eyed look and returned to Leeb''s bedroom.


    Leeb''s bedroom was 300 sq m large which looked like a lobby. Although it was so late, those women in the bedroom dared not go to bed; instead, they all dressed themselves according to Leeb''s choice and waited for his arrival.


    After "briefing" Leeb''s memory, Zhang Tie clearly knew that this guy was a super d*ck. Even Zhang Tie, who was lascivious when he was staying with those girls of Rose Association, was dwarfed in front of him.


    Leeb liked all sorts of women and was proficient in the means to play with women. Additionally, he had some odd special hobbies. He always performed seductive or perverted roleplay in the various scenes. Although those hobbies were excessive in commoners'' eyes, they were "very normal" in Leeb''s eyes. Among his special hobbies, the most abnormal one, the one that all the women on his side were afraid of, was that this guy liked to kill these women with maltreatment in an extremely perverted way when he got excited.


    Since more and more refugees moved to Upton City, there were always fresh beauties on Leeb''s side. Most of these women were daughters from average families who escaped to Upton City. As they could not bear the high living cost in Upton City, many people were sold to Leeb as slaves. A small part of them was robbed by Leeb''s subordinates in a tough way so as to flatter him. However, no matter what kind of women they were, they would not have a good outcome. Those lucky enough would be sold or gifted to others after Leeb got bored of them while those unlucky ones would be killed with maltreatment.


    In the recent years, many batches of women had been changed on Leeb''s side. Even Leeb couldn''t remember how many batches of women had he changed. Leeb had many residences in Upton City, each of which had many such women.


    At this moment, there were 7 women in the room, with special make-up, each of them was very seductive. If not having "experienced such battles so many times", Zhang Tie might have been conquered by such an alluring scene.


    At the sight of Leeb coming back, all the women revealed big smiles. However, Zhang Tie could sense the fear deep in their mind.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s hair was messy while his clothes were tainted with Leeb''s blood when Zhang Tie chopped off his head. He looked pretty grim. However, those women who lived under Leeb''s authority didn''t dare ask what happened. Zhang Tie just threw a glance at them like how Leeb always did, causing some of the 7 women to quiver all over with pale faces.


    "Go out!" Zhang Tie issued his order like how Leeb always treated these women.


    Those women did not dare to ask why, they quickly lowered their heads and put on their capes and left Leeb''s bedroom one after another. As Leeb''s emotions changed so fast, these women finally let out a sigh after knowing that they didn''t need to accompany this vicious king.


    After these women left, Zhang Tie also let out a sigh. He then came to the bathroom being enshrouded with hot steam and put off Leeb''s disgusting clothes quickly. Closely after that, he stepped into the bathing pool which was filled with the live hot spring water being led from the underground; additionally, the water was covered with pedals. After soaking himself in the comfortable hot spring water, covering his neck, Zhang Tie felt completely relaxed.


    Although Leeb the d**chebag deserved death, Zhang Tie had to admit that he was really good at enjoyment. All the things in the bathroom would cost at least 10,000 gold coins. Whether the warm spring water being led from the underground or the ivory bed being carved by an ivory of a huge mutated elephant which could never be afforded by commoners.


    In such a relaxed state, Zhang Tie entered meditation while closing his eyes.


    At this moment, one line that Zhang Tie once read from a book which carried the greatest philosophical meaning loomed in Zhang Tie''s mind¡ª¡ªThe rule of the God is to decrease the surplus to complement the deficiency while the rule of humans is to decrease the deficiency to serve the surplus.


    When the moons became full, they would eclipse; conversely, the stronger and richer the humans were, the stronger and richer they would be; the weaker and poorer the humans were, the weaker and poorer they would be. For humans, as long as one peak or low ebb was reached, an inertia would come into being and push them forward and consolidate your current life state.


    The reason why Zhang Tie came to such a realization was that he discovered that he had gained another unique ability after achieving a certain qualitative leapfrog since the combination of Castle of Black Iron and the "Great Wilderness Sutra". This unique ability combined the body-changing bloodline, imitating bloodline and the secret methods of bloody soul temple. With this unique ability, he could completely imitate everybody else while gaining great achievements and opportunities. Benefited from this, Zhang Tie would grow stronger and stronger.


    It was like playing cards. Zhang Tie felt that he had more and more good cards in his hands at this moment. When those good cards freely combined with each other, they would form an increasingly greater destructive force. Zhang Tie felt that he had more and more methods to play cards in a more relaxed way.


    Closely after killing 4 powerhouses of the clans of Three-eye Association whose level variated from LV 11 to LV 13, Zhang Tie felt that he was indeed different than before. ''If I was like a hard-working laborer before, I am now a vicious capitalist who have completed the preliminary and the most difficult capital accumulation on the road of cultivation. In the future, I can accomplish greater capital accumulation at the speed that is dozens or hundreds of times faster than that of others.''


    When a person accomplished his capital accumulation to a certain degree, he would realize a qualitative leapfrog and enter the track of individual development expansion which was featured by "the more powerful a person was, the more powerful he would be."


    At this moment, the anxiety and concerns he had after knowing that the super demon corps would destroy the Upton City also eased a lot in such a relaxed state. Zhang Tie considered it silently, ''Certainly, it was a great crisis for the humans in Upton City, even for the entire north region of Blackson Humans Corridor; however, a huge opportunity is carried in such a great crisis; namely, I know the trace and plan of the looming super demon corps. If I could take good advantage of this opportunity, I might cause a great blow to the super demon corps in 3 days.''


    As Zhang Tie had not taken a bath for many days, he just took a cool bath in the bathroom as he improved his plan in mind.


    After taking the bath, Zhang Tie walked out of the bathing pool. In the bathroom, he injected Iron-blood battle qi into his two fingers and started to make a final remedy of his hairstyle using his fingers as scissors.


    Zhang Tie could imitate everything but the hairstyle. Although he could change the color and texture of his hair and enable his hair to continue to grow very long in a short time, he could not shorten his hair by using the body-changing bloodline. Therefore, the hairstyle might be the only loophole when he imitated a person. Thankfully, there were only a few hairstyles for men. Additionally, Zhang Tie''s hairstyle was similar to that of Leeb. Therefore, after making his hairstyle messy in the study, he was not identified by those women. At this moment, in order to fix the only loophole, Zhang Tie further improved his hairstyle according to that of Leeb in his memory.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was amused as he found that he could be a qualified barber with the knight''s consciousness. When he cut his hair, Zhang Tie found that he could position each hair precisely. Even though in front of a mirror, he could still complete it smoothly. If he really needed money urgently in the future, he could open a barber''s shop.


    After finishing his hairdressing, Zhang Tie watched that handsome and evil face in the mirror as he made a series of grimaces. Finally, he even stretched out his two fingers and made a "victory" pose which was non-mainstream in Black Iron Age.


    After cleaning the water on his body, Zhang Tie walked out of the bathroom naked. He then came to Leeb''s costume room.


    Although being a man, Leeb''s costume room was even more exaggerating than that of any women. The room covered over 200 sq m, which was divided into 4 layers. It included clothes, hats, shoes and socks and male ornaments. There were more than 70 top quality watches on the hand modules. Four drawers were filled with decorative finger rings and sleeve buttons, each sort of which contained at least 100 types and colors. All of them were top items made of best materials with the best craftsmanship.


    Since he was born, Leeb had been living a noble life. In Upton City, more than 10 senior tailors were serving him. Leeb would retain those watches and ornaments; however, he would never wear the same clothes or shoes for the second time. If he liked one style, he would have people make dozens of the same style. When he tried all of them, he would have people send him new ones.


    Looking around this costume room, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but imagine about moving all of them into Castle of Black Iron, if he did that, he would not worry about having any clothes to wear in the next decades.


    ''Hmm, that''s feasible. Leeb''s frame was almost like that of mine. We even share the same shoe size. In Donder''s words, even locust''s legs had fleshes. So many items in this room would be worth at least 100,000 gold coins...''


    ''But not right now. I will consider it in a couple of days.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    Zhang Tie then quickly put on a set of clothes. Watching himself in the mirror, Zhang Tie had to admit that he was the very Leeb.


    After leaving the costume room, Zhang Tie came to the bedroom. Standing in front of a wall painting, Zhang Tie pressed a part on it. Closely after that, the wall painting slid off slowly, exposing a safe which was connected to the wall.


    Zhang Tie rapidly rotated the button on the safe in the anti-clockwise and clockwise manner. Closely after that, he opened the safe by pulling its handle, causing a light "click" sound.


    There were stacks of wholly-new gold checks, some contracts of Leed''s real estates, his shares of the business groups in Upton City and some other valuable items.


    If the status of Angus Clan as a clan of Three-eye Association was exposed after 3 days, those contracts would become waste papers. However, if he turned these contracts into cash at this moment, Zhang Tie would arouse their doubts even if he could cause those unlucky guys lose all of their capital. Therefore, he didn''t move those contracts; instead, he just moved all the gold checks and valuable items into Castle of Black Iron.


    Two-thirds of those gold checks were issued by Golden Roc Bank, one-third of them were issued by the Continental United Bank. The latter one looked strange as Zhang Tie had never seen it before. After picking a gold check and looking at it, Zhang Tie found that the alleged Continental United Bank came from the Western Continent.


    These gold checks were worth about 5-6 million gold coins in total.


    Zhang Tie felt pretty cool about plundering clans of Three-eye Association while each of his pores was singing.


    Leeb had a private castle in the south of Upton City, which contained a lot of valuable items. Being not in a hurry to take those items, Zhang Tie intended to sweep over this villa first.


    After sweeping Leeb''s bedroom, Zhang Tie took a round in the room before taking out that remote-sensing crystal that he used to contact with his elder brother.


    ...


    "Elder brother, are you there?" Zhang Tie sent a message.


    In less than 2 minutes, Zhang Tie received a message from Zhang Yang.


    "All the family members were worried about you these days as we didn''t receive your message!"


    "I''m fine. I''m still jubilant. Tell dad, mom and my wives to not worry about me. I have a very important thing to tell Huaiyuan Palace, can you contact them now?"


    After over 10 seconds of silence, Zhang Tie received another message.


    "6th granduncle is in our home..."

 696 Being Almighty

    Chapter 696: Being Almighty


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As Zhang Tie''s 6th granduncle was in their home, it would be more convenient for Zhang Tie to pass the message. As an elder of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie''s 6th granduncle had the right to make decisions about major events in Huaiyuan Palace. If this information was passed to Huaiyuan Palace through the mouth of Zhang Tie''s 6th granduncle, it would be more reliable.


    ''Our 6th granduncle came to our home to meet your 3 sons.'' Zhang Yang briefed the reason.


    As Zhang Tie was not in Taixia Country, he didn''t know that his 3 sons had caused a sensation over there. During the months when he cultivated in seclusion in the Misty Ocean, Zhang''s threshold has almost been broken by those who came to propose baby marriage with gifts. Because of the 3 babies, Zhang family became very popular in Fuhai City while Beverly, Linda and Fiona were instantly accepted by the Hua mainstream society in Fuhai City and entered the circle of celebrities and quality ladies in Fuhai City.


    It was very difficult for common foreign girls like Beverly, Linda and Fiona to gain the acceptance of the local Hua mainstream society in Taixia. Without 3 generations'' efforts, without innocent backgrounds, good education or sufficient wealth, foreign common girls could barely enter the mainstream society of Taixia Country. It was not because that Hua people in Taixia Country were biased about them, but the great civilization and confidence that Hua people displayed in this age were at the peak of the whole world. Hua people were the leader and pillar of this world. Without 3 generations'' efforts, common foreign immigrants could barely form that spiritual and civil gene accepted by Hua society.


    After Zhang Tie''s 6th granduncle arrived, he instantly expressed Huaiyuan Palace''s attitude to Zhang family and made Zhang family feel truly flattered.


    With a knight at home, Zhang Tie family became tranquil at once.


    On the 3rd day since he came to Zhang Tie''s house had Zhang Tie''s 6th granduncle declared to instruct the 3 babies in the future with the consent of Zhang Tie''s parents and 3 wives.


    It was a special honor and benefit to have one clan elder instruct his 3 babies. In Huaiyuan Palace, even the clan head''s bloodline might not enjoy such a special treatment. Zhang Tie''s 6th granduncle''s decision indicated that Zhang Tie''s 3 babies would definitely have unusual achievements in the future as long as they were not stupid.


    ...


    Since their 6th granduncle arrived at their house, Zhang Yang had been pretending that he could not contact Zhang Tie as this was the secret between him and Zhang Tie. Additionally, Zhang Yang was also afraid that Huaiyuan Palace would issue some orders or requirements to Zhang Tie through him. Otherwise, he would feel embarrassed to transmit the message to Zhang Tie. Therefore, he straightly lied to his 6th granduncle. However, after receiving Zhang Tie''s message, he could only knock at his 6th granduncle''s door as he realized the importance of this affair.


    The time of Taixia was several hours earlier than that of Waii Sub-continent. At this moment, the sun had not yet risen in Taixia; however, Zhang''s 6th granduncle had already got up and was meditating with crossed legs in his bedroom.


    The moment Zhang Yang opened the door and saw his 6th granduncle''s genial face had he revealed a big smile, "6th granduncle...erm...are you convenient now?"


    "Zhang Yang, what''s up. Come on in!" Zhang Yang''s 6th granduncle replied with a smile.


    Zhang Yang then entered the bedroom.


    "Erm...6th granduncle...Zhang Tie has something to report to you."


    "Say it...argh...what? Zhang Tie has something to report to me?" Zhang Yang''s 6th granduncle''s eyes instantly shined like fluorescent lamps in the highlighted crystal lens of cars.


    "Hmm, erm...no, actually, I can work out remote-sensing communication with him using twin crystals!" Zhang Yang explained in an embarrassed way. Meanwhile, he took out that mini remote-sensing crystal.


    Zhang Yang''s 6th granduncle then looked straight into Zhang Yang''s eyes, making Zhang Yang keep smirking in front of this noble old man.


    Zhang Yang''s 6th granduncle took a deep breath as he watched Zhang Yang''s remote-sensing crystal; at the same time, he isolated the entire room with his battle qi. Nobody else could eavesdrop the talk inside the room...


    "Ask him where is he now?"


    ...


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie received Zhang Yang''s message.


    "6th granduncle asks where are you?"


    "I''m still in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. As I''m in a special situation, I cannot tell you about my concrete location! I''ve got an important thing to report to Huaiyuan Palace!"


    "What''s that?"


    "3 days later, that super demon corps would raid Upton City under the leadership of that Demon General!" Zhang Tie briefed the key information.


    After 5-6 minutes, Zhang Tie received a reply.


    "Repeat what you said just now!"


    "After 3 days, that super demon corps will raid Upton City under the leadership of that Demon General!"


    "How did you know that?"


    "It''s a long story. But my message is reliable for sure. As it would pose a great influence on the overall situation across Waii Sub-continent and the interests of Huaiyuan Palace, I had to report it to Huaiyuan Palace!"


    "6th granduncle said if your message is true, you will make a meritorious deed for Huaiyuan Palace. If not, it would also be a severe outcome..."


    "If my intelligence is false, I would like to accept any punishment of Huaiyuan Palace. I won''t joke with Huaiyuan Palace by such a major event!"


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie received another message.


    "6th granduncle wants to confirm your status!"


    Zhang Tie understood 6th granduncle''s request, as this message was of great significance, even 6th granduncle had to be meticulous about it. Even though Zhang Yang had already confirmed about his status, their 6th granduncle wanted to confirm it once again.


    "You can let him ask me some questions that are exclusive to him and I."


    "Where did you see him for the first time? What was the first sentence that you told him? Where did you see him last time? What was the last sentence that he told you?"


    After receiving the 4 questions, Zhang Tie answered.


    "I met our 6th granduncle in the ancestral bloodline palace of the Clansmen Pavilion for the first time; the first sentence that I told him was "6th granduncle, here''s Zhang Tie on behalf of Zhang Ping, my father"; the last time when I saw 6th granduncle was in the prison of Clansmen Pavilion; the last sentence that 6th granduncle told me was "Watch out later on, don''t do evil things in the name of Huaiyuan Palace; otherwise, you have to face home punishments!"


    After another 2 minutes, Zhang Tie received the reply.


    "Our 6th granduncle warns you to not take action casually. You have to prioritize your own safety!"


    "I will. I will contact you 3 days later!"


    After sending this message, Zhang Tie cut off the link between his spiritual energy and the remote-sensing crystal and teleported that remote-sensing crystal into Castle of Black Iron.


    At this moment, in Zhang Tie''s eyes, among all the familiar people and powers that Zhang Tie knew, only Huaiyuan Palace was qualified to coordinate with the other parties in 3 days and give the super demon corps a surprise outside the Upton City. Even if Huaiyuan Palace didn''t take any action, they would notify Norman Empire with this key message.


    If the super demon corps really cut off the portal towards the south, Huaiyuan Palace would definitely suffer a loss. However, as this action was concerned with the survival of the countries in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor, based on the current relationship between Norman Empire and Huaiyuan Palace, even though Huaiyuan Palace was not sure about the reliability of this message, Norman Empire would never take it lightly.


    If it was a common demon corps that was going to rush towards Upton City, Zhang Tie might want to do something using the double-headed parent worm in his hand. However, he could not have any chance to do that to the super demon corps at all. The only channel that the parent worm''s eggs entered the bodies of the super demon corps was water; however, that super demon corps had very strict regulations on drinking the water. All the fighters only drunk flowing water that had passed the test. ''Even though I know which river would the super demon corps drink in, the parent worm''s eggs would not contaminate the whole river at once.''


    Zhang Tie felt that he had already pushed down the key domino. ''As to what will happen 3 days later, it depends. It would require at least 5 knights to resist that super demon corps. It''s silly to resist such a destructive power by myself alone.''


    ''Facing such a critical situation, I can only do my own job well. The opportunity that I can see will not be invisible to those human elites.''


    Zhang Tie didn''t expose the intelligence that Angus Clan was a clan of Three-eye Association temporarily. If he exposed it to Huaiyuan Palace. Once the alliance launched an attack towards Angus Clan, they might kill the fake Leeb disguised by Zhang Tie. If so, he would not even have a chance to cry for being wronged. After all, Angus Clan would still be here in 3 days.


    Having not imagined that the most important battle on resisting that super demon corps would break out outside Upton City since he left the Selnes Theater of Operations under his guidance, Zhang Tie felt a bit bizarre as if he was still fighting in Selnes Theater of Operations.


    After doing all this, Zhang Tie entered a meditation so as to recover the physical and spiritual energy that he consumed this day.


    ...


    After dawn, the guy called Sieg came for Zhang Tie according to the living habit of Leeb.


    As a subordinate of Leeb, this guy was responsible for the materials supply in the refugee camp. Being accompanied by Rein, who was responsible for the forces of Angus Clan, they were Leeb''s important lackeys to control the Angus Clan''s business of the refugee camp outside Upton City.


    "Ah? Provide free porridge? Young master, you mean you want to provide free porridge to the refugees? Additionally, you want to ensure that each refugee could have it?" Sieg was stunned.


    Zhang Tie didn''t explain it at all. Instead, he just threw an icy and impatient glance at Sieg. Sieg instantly realized that he had asked too much as he hurriedly slapped his own face twice while oozing cold sweat all over, "Yes sir...yes sir...yes sir, I will go arrange it right now. I will start to provide free porridge to the refugees from today and ensure that all the refugees could have it!"


    Zhang Tie waved his hand like chasing a fly while Sieg hurriedly left the room.


    ...


    As an old saying went, "If one wanted to disguise something, he had to disguise well until the end." According to Leeb''s original arrangement, with this opportunity to provide free porridge, he would feed the refugees with all the parent worm''s eggs. However, Zhang Tie didn''t add the parent worm''s eggs in the porridge. He only needed to let others know that Angus Clan was doing public welfare in the refugee camp.


    After issuing the order, Zhang Tie found a hidden place and took out that remote-sensing crystal that he got from Tharant, the dead young elite of Arthur Clan. He then sent a series of complex ID code through that crystal based on the memory of Tharant. After that, he added a line in the secret words as they''ve already appointed with each other¡ª¡ªUpton City''s fruit is getting ripe.


    In this event, Zhang Tie played 3 roles at the same time. Zhang Tie felt being almighty at this moment.

 697 Pre-war Preparation I

    Closely after Leeb''s order, all the refugee camps in Upton City had started to erect big pots and provide free cooked porridge to the refugees. There were over 600 big pots across the city, in front of each of them were long lines of refugees who were queuing up for free food.


    Zhang Tie''s order didn''t arouse any people''s doubt about his motive. Celebrities like Leeb would always look very brilliant even though they were extremely bad. Leeb would attend philanthropic activities such as charity auctions and funding orphanages several times a year. This was the game rule in their circle.


    This philanthropic activity was also regarded as Leeb''s intention to offset the negative influence and gossips about him caused by that murderer "Peter" who killed people outside the Gold Coin Pub two days ago.


    The corpses of Rein and his mistress were found by Rein''s subordinate. Of course, this was owed to "Peter".


    "Peter" seemed to have escaped out of Upton City last night. Leeb dispatched a powerhouse to chase after him, but there was still no message until now.


    All the people who cared about this event were waiting for that powerhouse dispatched by Leeb to bring back Peter''s head. However, nobody knew that Peter had already become Leeb.


    Right in the same morning, Zhang Tie had his steward silently send away all the women that Leeb arranged in Upton City.


    Leeb wouldn''t explain what he did to others. Being afraid of his changing characters and grim means, his subordinates dared never ask why. Those women who met Zhang Tie last night also became one of the luckiest batches among all women of Leeb''s. Zhang Tie had the steward give 1,000 gold coins to each of those women before burning all of their contracts in front of those women. After that, he had the steward arrange that day''s airship to dispatch all the women to the south and set them free.


    Although it was pretty difficult for others to get even one seat in the airship, it was just as easy as moving his lips for Leeb.


    Because of the event that happened in the villa last night, the steward dared not ask about it too much. He just felt that there ought to be some unknown reason between the two events.


    ...


    "Young master, I''ve sent those women away!" The steward came to Zhang Tie''s room to notice Zhang Tie after finishing his job.


    In front of Leeb, the steward even dared not raise his head and look straight at Leeb''s eyes.


    "Very good!" Zhang Tie nodded with a smile. At the same time, his eyes became as deep as black holes. Even his voice sounded irresistible, "Raise your head and look at my eyes!"


    After receiving the order, the steward raised his head and watched Zhang Tie''s eyes. Closely after that, he was mired in Zhang Tie''s deep eyes. After over 10 seconds, Zhang Tie moved his eyes away from that steward. However, the steward found that he was still gazing at the young master. He then became so scared that he hurriedly lowered his head while oozing cold sweat over his forehead. At the same time, he was curious inside, ''How could I become so audacious? How dared I gaze at young master? If I stirred up him, my life would be in danger...''


    The steward quivered all over. Even the steward himself had not realized that he became instantly more scared about "Leeb" after only 10 more seconds.


    "I want to go back to Hunting Castle. Arrange it!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    ...


    Seeing the steward off, Zhang Tie revealed a sneer. Just now, he was using a secret method of bloody soul temple to clean the steward''s memory on what he saw last night in the study room. Besides, he planted a soul seed in the steward''s consciousness, which had already sprouted in his consciousness silently.


    ''After 2 days, the steward will disband all the servants and guards in this villa in the name of Leeb. After that, he will silently escape to the south to be a recluse. Of course, all this is not out of one''s order for that steward; instead, it''s because that the steward awakens his awareness. After 2 days, this steward will realize that he will not be under the control of Leeb any longer, he will feel being very dangerous on Leeb''s side; he will feel that he will not accomplish the orders of Leeb. In order to protect himself, he will pluck up his "courage" to escape away from this evil king and the Free Commercial Federation and find a new place where the memory on Leeb''s side will be regarded as a nightmare in his life. He will never remind it to others any longer; after that, he will start a new life.''


    This indicated the terror of the "soul capture skill", which could unconsciously change one''s awareness and behaviors.


    As a steward of Leeb, Zhang Tie could almost confirm it that if Upton City was collapsed by that super demon corps 3 days later, the status of Angus Clan as a member of Three-eye Association would be exposed. As a result, the steward would definitely be caught by others and be asked about everything he knew about Leeb. ''However, the memory on how he contacted me last night would be the only possible loophole which might expose my real status. As long as the steward could describe the looks of the two members of Arthur Clan and exposed that "Leeb" killed the two people, it would definitely arouse others'' doubt.''


    Commoners might not be able to find any loophole through the steward''s descriptions; however, many professional ones could recover the original looks of the two members of Arthur Clan based on the steward''s description. After that, they could easily confirm the two people''s status based on their looks. As long as they confirm that the two members of Arthur Clan belonged to Three-eye Association, the biggest problem would come¡ª¡ªwhy would Leeb of Angus Clan, a member of Three-eye Association kill the two liaisons of Arthur Clan, another member of Three-eye Association? Such a conflict was forbidden in Three-eye Association. Almost nobody dared disobey it. What was the reason behind it?


    ''It''s already very weird for me to obtain the intelligence that the demons would raid Upton City 3 days later. How could I obtain such a bizarre intelligence?'' Zhang Tie was afraid that the elders of Huaiyuan Palace would link this event to him.


    ''Even though elders of Huaiyuan Palace don''t think so, as long as this intelligence is known by the moles of Three-eye Association, it would be more boring¡ª¡ªafter the liaisons of Arthur Clan were killed, how did I know the information mastered by the liaisons of Arthur Clan? How did I know the ID code of their remote-sensing crystal and send back the false intelligence?''


    ''After combining the two questions, my status and many secrets would be exposed.''


    This was the only loophole that Zhang Tie left in Upton City.


    The simplest way to fix this loophole was to kill that steward.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t want to do that. Because he knew that the steward was just an innocent commoner who worked for Leeb. He felt pitiful about that person.


    Under the request of Leeb, the most "excessive" thing that this steward had done for Leeb was to deal with corpses using a corrosive liquid. Perhaps, it was not morally accepted; however, very few commoners dared say no in front of such a terrifying coercion.


    ''If I was still that common teenager in Blackhot City, if I had not joined the holy war, if the new head dispatched to Blackhot City from Norman Empire was like Leeb, would I dare to oppose him?''


    Zhang Tie''s answer was negative.


    ''If I couldn''t do it, I should not ask others to do it.'' Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t fix this loophole in the simplest method; instead, he kept the steward alive with another method.


    Many people in this villa didn''t know that their fates had changed greatly only after a whim occurred to Zhang Tie.


    After cleaning the only possible trace in Upton City, Zhang Tie left the No. 16 manor in Wealth Avenue by a car for the Hunting Castle in the south of Upton City.


    ...


    The Hunting Castle that Angus Clan built near the Kalay Mountain Range in the south of Upton City symbolized the wealth and social status of the clan. As there were a lot of wild and magical beasts in Kalay Mountain range, the peripheral of the mountain, where low-level magical beasts would always appear, became the sacred hunting region. The Hunting Castle of Angus Clan was rightly for the purpose of hunting. Besides, Angus Clan even trained a great batch of wild hunters so as to accompany Young Master Leeb to hunt in the mountain.


    Of course, this was just the impression of Hunting Castle in the eyes of outsiders. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the Hunting Castle was actually a secret base of Three-eye Association in Upton City. Those wild hunters that Angus Clan trained in Hunting Castle could actually form a powerful maneuver force of Three-eye Association in the Free Commercial Federation. Being different from those servants and guards of Leeb in the No. 16 manor in Wealth Avenue, each person in this Hunting Castle clearly knew about their status and the status of Angus Clan. These people were unswerving allegiance to Three-eye Association.


    Hunting Castle was where Leeb hunted for low-level wild and magical beasts and where he cultivated.


    The Hunting Castle was more than 50 miles away from Upton City, which was right at the foot of a mountain. There was only one rough road from Upton City to the Hunting Castle. Only one part of the rough road was accessible. The road came to an end when there was still over 10 miles left for the Hunting Castle. There was already a team of cavalries on magical horses waiting there for him at the foot of the mountain slope near the end of the road.


    Only Angus Clan''s cars came here all the way along the rough road across Upton City. With a telescope in the Hunting Castle, people would easily observe the trace of the cars. Therefore, each time Leeb came here, those wild hunters in the Hunting Castle would come here to welcome him.


    Watching so many b*stards of Three-eye Association, Zhang Tie felt like seeing fruits of brilliance hanging on the small tree...

 698 Pre-war Preparation II

    More than 20 wild hunters came to welcome Zhang Tie. All of them were wearing clothes and hats made of animal hides. Many of them were carrying crossbows and bolts on their back.


    This was a great force. Of course, there were more wild hunters in the Hunting Castle, 287 people in total, about half of which were LV 5 warriors, while the other half varied from LV 6 to LV 9. The head of these wild hunters was a LV 11 battle master called Hany. Such a combined force definitely ranked high among all the countries in Blackson Humans Corridor.


    In usual time, these people were wild hunters. However, when needed, they were maneuver force of Three-eye Association. These people had already robbed business groups many times nearby the Gusbay Trail of Kalay Mountain Range. Each time, nobody in the business groups survived. Leeb even joined one case. Besides, some murders in Free Commercial Federation were also involved with these people. Angus Clan even used these people to clear many opponents and disobeyed ones.


    "Young Master, please mount the horse!" A tall person with a tattoo in his face invited Zhang Tie as he led a magical horse here.


    "Hany, what''s up in Hunting Castle these days?" Zhang Tie asked as he mounted on the magical horse adroitly. As Zhang Tie had already unveiled the 4th floor of All-spirits Pagoda, he was very sensitive to the senses of all the animals below LV 4 and was able to communicate with them. When that magical horse found a stranger was moving closer to him, it threw a glance at Zhang Tie. However, it instantly recovered its composure when Zhang Tie touched its neck with his hand. Besides, it intimately rubbed Zhang Tie''s arm with its head.


    "With your blessings, everything is well!" Hany answered respectfully.


    "We''ve not hunted for a long time. I''m sure those preys have been impatient. We need to have a big party this time!"


    After hearing this pun, Hany''s eyes gleamed as he licked his lips. Meanwhile, all the others burst out laughing.


    Before Zhang Tie''s cars left, Zhang Tie told them to come here to pick him up 4 days later. Actually, they would have been disbanded by the steward after 2 days.


    "Gya..." Zhang Tie clutched the belly of the magical horse by his legs, making it rush towards the Hunting Castle, followed by others hurriedly.


    ...


    The magical horse moved very fast. In only a couple of minutes, Zhang Tie had already caught sight of the Hunting Castle of Angus Clan, which was a quality castle. As it was featured by hunting, it had a stronger defensive ability and aggressiveness. Its castle wall was higher with more collective firepower than that of common castles. Additionally, its location was steeper. Furthermore, there seemed to be a live spring in the Hunting Castle. On the back of the Hunting Castle, a snowwhite waterfall was descending from the rock of the cliff and falling into the valley below 100 m.


    Zhang Tie kept galloping his magical horse. Noticing Zhang Tie''s arrival, the suspension bridge outside the Hunting Castle had long been put down. Therefore, Zhang Tie directly rushed in. Imitating what Leeb always did, he didn''t jump off his magical horse until he arrived at the stairs outside the lobby of the Hunting Castle. After throwing the rein to a person, Zhang Tie straightly walked upstairs and entered the lobby.


    Those who welcomed Zhang Tie also followed him in the Hunting Castle. Besides Hany, who followed Zhang Tie in the lobby, all the others went to do their own jobs.


    ...


    "Young master, are we going to set off soon?" Hany instantly asked the moment he entered the lobby.


    "Tell everybody to prepare for it these couple of days. There''s a big action after 3 days!" Zhang Tie issued the order routinely. Even if the real Leeb arrived here, he would also say this. According to Leeb''s plan, when the super demon corps were close to Upton City after 3 days, he would have these people disguise themselves and plunder some business groups in the downtown. After that, he would pretend to escape away from Upton City by an airship in the Hunting Castle together with these people and the items plundered by them. After arriving at the south of Blackson Humans Corridor, he would continue to be the young master while hiding his real status.


    "Ah? What''s our target?" Hany asked anxiously.


    "You don''t need to know that for the time being!" Zhang Tie waved his hand impatiently as he added with a grim look while narrowing his eyes, "Tell them to stay here these couple of days and ensure that there''s no tricky person near the Hunting Castle. Additionally, have them check the functions of the airship and maintain it in the optimal state. I want it to fly off as soon as possible when in need!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "As I will also prepare for the action, I will cultivate in the backroom these couple of days. When Aral comes back, tell him to take a rest in the castle for a couple of days and don''t disturb me!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Alright, you can leave now."


    Hany then moved out of the lobby.


    ...


    Until Hany left did Zhang Tie start to glance seriously at this lobby. Watching the expensive crystal generators in four corners, the bear hides on the floor and the beasts'' heads which had been made into specimens hanging on the walls, Zhang Tie swore inside, ''What a f*cking luxurious life...''


    Various animals, which had been captured by these people from Kalay Mountain Range were bred in a place of the Hunting Castle. Now that these people disguised as wild hunters, they had to hunt something when they went out like real wild hunters do. They could use some living animals to tell others that they were not bad wild hunters; additionally, they could eat these animals when they wanted.


    After the space in Castle of Black Iron was upgraded, Zhang Tie had been intending to move some more animals into Castle of Black Iron to make it more vigorous. Meanwhile, he could have some more incarnations in different emergencies. This time, he could make his dream come true.


    ''But this is not the right time to do it. I will do it before leaving.''


    Zhang Tie wanted to make a good preparation for the coming battle in the Hunting Castle. No matter what strategies would Huaiyuan Palace adopt after 3 days, now that he could capture the shadow of that super demon corps in Upton City, Zhang Tie intended to kill a batch of iron-armored demons so as to take one more fruit of source of iron-armored demons.


    ''Besides LV 9 iron-armored demons, there are also numerous demon powerhouses in that super demon corps such as at least 5 knights, a lot of battle spirits and battle demons. It''s very necessary for me to further improve my battle force while risking some dangers. Coincidentally, I''ve just killed so many assh*les these days. I must have new fruits of brilliance and judgment. It is a good opportunity to digest it.


    ...


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie entered Leeb''s backroom in the Hunting Castle.


    There were two tunnels underground in the backroom, one led to Leeb''s bedroom, the other led to a secret emergency escaping tunnel, which was only known by Leeb in the Hunting Castle.


    Zhang Tie entered the backroom from Leeb''s bedroom. Besides millions of gold coins, Zhang Tie saw many practical items that he could use to cultivate, such as various medicaments, over 100 vials of all-purpose medicament and some quality armors and weapons that Leeb collected.


    Without even identifying them, Zhang Tie straightly swept all the items from the backroom and moved them into Castle of Black Iron.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie contacted Leeb''s father who was in the south of Blackson Humans Corridor using the remote-sensing crystal in the backroom. He used Leeb''s tone to communicate with his father and "performed" how Leeb used to do.


    After doing this, Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron...


    There were 3 ripe fruits on the small tree, one leakless fruit, one fruit of brilliance and a fruit of judgment, which contained a medium "cracking" rune...


    Watching the 3 fruits, Zhang Tie grinned.


    ...


    Two days had passed, during which period, besides cultivation, Zhang Tie also studied the map of the north of Upton City. He even silently left the Hunting Castle in his incarnation and checked the terrain carefully in the north of Upton City. If the super demon corps marched towards here, they would definitely come from the north, west-north and east-north. The farther it was away from Upton City, the more difficult it would be to precisely locate the traces of the super demon corps. Finally, Zhang Tie reached a conclusion, ''Huaiyuan Palace could only ambush within a fan region about 150-300 miles away from Upton City in the north. As to the concrete location, it depended on the direction the super demon corps came from.''


    Actually, Zhang Tie was a bit indecisive these two days. Because he failed to find any abnormal situation outside Upton City even though he had circled many times outside there in the incarnation of the thunder hawk. In this case, there were only two possibilities, his intelligence didn''t arouse the attention of any influential figure; the humans'' preparation outside Upton City was out of his imagination. Zhang Tie expected that it was the second one. If it was the first one, it would be a great trouble.


    ...


    On the second evening, Zhang Tie came out of the backroom after making his preparations well.


    The moment Zhang Tie walked out of the backroom had he issued his order, "Re-group all the members of the Hunting Castle in the lobby. I will invite all of you; meanwhile, I have something ''important'' to proclaim..."The sound of galloping a horse.

 699 The Arrival of the Super Demon Corps

    Chapter 699: The Arrival of the Super Demon Corps


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On the evening of August 31st, all the 287 wild hunters gathered in the lobby of the Hunting Castle...


    There were only burning torches that used beast''s oil instead of fluorescent lamps in the lobby, under the reflection of which, all those in the lobby looked red.


    After Zhang Tie proclaimed that the super demon corps was going to raid Upton City tomorrow, everyone in the lobby exclaimed.


    What an amazing news!


    Zhang then told them about their jobs for tomorrow according to the arrangement of the real Leeb. After the exclamation, all of the wild hunters started to pant as they shot out bloody eye light.


    Some barrels of liquor was served. After casually moving his hands over those barrels, Zhang Tie took a barrel and made a glass of liquor for himself; closely after that, the barrel was passed to all the rest.


    After a short while, everyone in the lobby lifted their glasses.


    "After tomorrow, half of the land of Blackson Humans Corridor would belong to our Three-eye Association. All of you at present would be the rulers of this land in the future. You will have countless money and beauties. Let''s cheer for the triumph tomorrow!"


    Watching Zhang Tie finishing his liquor, all the others lifted their glasses and finished them up with a great passion.


    After seeing all of them drinking off the liquor, Zhang Tie let out a sigh, ''How terrifying it is for me to combine the body-changing bloodline, secret methods of bloody soul temple and Castle of Black Iron! With them, I can easily do many things that can never be imagined.''


    "Young master, why do you sigh?'' Hany asked Zhang Tie with a brilliant look as he was sitting right below Zhang Tie''s side.


    "Alas, why did you choose to be the lackeys of demons and Three-eye Association? Remember to be a good person in your afterlife, if there''s a chance!" Zhang Tie said sincerely as he watched Hany.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, everybody became stunned...


    "Young master, you..." Hany''s face immediately turned as black as charcoal. Before finishing his words, he had already fallen on the ground in front of Zhang Tie stiffly.


    Almost at the same time, with consecutive noises, everybody in the lobby fell down like an ear of wheat, except for Zhang Tie. All of them looked as pitch dark as charcoal.


    As a result, the noisy lobby instantly became quiet. Only Zhang Tie was still sitting in the original seat. Hearing the rattling sound of the burning torch that had been immersed in beasts'' oil and seeing the flames swaying in the air, Zhang Tie felt an icy and terrifying qi spreading in the lobby.


    Zhang Tie was also shocked, ''This kind of poison is sometimes more destructive than any other force.''


    Zhang Tie sprayed a poison named Poison of Black Sand in the liquor just now. Zhang Tie got it when he raided Zhen Clan Mansion in Huaiyuan Palace. Such a simple and efficient way occurred to his mind when he thought about how to cope with those b*stards of Three-eye Association in the Hunting Castle these couple of days.


    Thankfully, all the guys were used to drinking alcohol before they were dispatched out to do tasks by Leeb. Therefore, Zhang Tie believed that they would not doubt him if he poisoned them with liquor. Additionally, Zhang Tie found another powerful function of Castle of Black Iron, namely, nobody would find him spraying the poison of black sand into the barrel in front of them. Because nobody else could add the rank poison into the barrel only by touching the barrel.


    As of now, all the forces of Angus Clan in the north of Kalay Mountain Range had been easily swept over by Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie sat there and watched those corpses for a short while. After then, he picked himself up and took a round in the lobby. After throwing all the corpses in the Abyss of Chaos, Zhang Tie opened the gate of the lobby and walked out. Standing on the stairs outside the lobby, Zhang Tie looked up at the brilliant stars.


    It was almost midnight. Being blown by the cold night wind, Zhang Tie finally let out a deep sigh as he recovered his composure from the complex feelings when he killed 287 people at the same time. This was Zhang Tie''s first time to kill people with poison. Compared to punches and blades, it brought Zhang Tie a new feeling. Pitifully, there were too few people at present. If there were hundreds more of them, Zhang Tie might even have tried the effect of the eggs of the double-headed parent worm.


    ''All these b*stards of Three-eye Association deserved death. I just fought poison with poison.'' Zhang Tie comforted himself.


    No matter how many murders had happened on the land and how many pains had it carried; no matter how many species had thought that they could be the owner of the land, the stars in the sky had remained unchanged since the ancient times. Looking up at the brilliant stars, Zhang Tie felt a great, firm power from them.


    The Hunting Castle became quiet at once as Zhang Tie could only hear the twitters of the insects in the mountain and the rustles of the tree leaves outside the Hunting Castle...


    Zhang Tie left the lobby and strode towards the stable of animals. It was beside a small garden in the east of the Hunting Castle.


    There were various animals, birds and beasts in iron cages, big or small. All of them could be seen in Kalay Mountain Range such as tigers, leopards, brown bears, mutated pangolins, huge wolves, lizards, some snakes with bizarre colors and some birds in different sizes. The most special one was an ant''s nest in a huge metal can, while the ants inside were a bit larger than common ants. However, they were shining looming luster all over...


    When Zhang Tie was thinking about moving all the animals into Castle of Black Iron, he was suddenly puzzled by a question. Patting his head, he asked himself, ''It''s easy for those omnivorous or vegetarian animals to survive in Castle of Black Iron, what about carnivores like tigers and leopards? What do they eat? To the final analysis, it seems that Castle of Black Iron has not established a complete ecological system yet. After so many years of collection, the plants inside have been very plentiful; however, it still lacked animals. Besides numerous bees and earthworms, Zhang Tie could almost count all the animals using his 10 fingers, ''I''d better not lock these carnivores in the cages and have people feed them everyday inside Castle of Black Iron. Otherwise, Castle of Black Iron would become a zoo.''


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang straightly moved all the vegetarian and omnivorous animals into Castle of Black Iron including that ants'' nest. As to the other carnivores, he just set them free from the cages.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had been an eligible descendant of the Great Wilderness School. Those carnivores behaved in a docile way in front of Zhang Tie. After sensing some special qi from Zhang Tie, the huge wolf was even a bit scared of Zhang Tie.


    In the dark, Zhang Tie led these animals out of the Hunting Castle and set them free in the wild. After that, Zhang Tie came back to the Hunting Castle and moved all the valuable items into Castle of Black Iron, including over 100 barrels of liquor in the cellar, over 10,000 secret books in the study, numerous grains and seeds in the warehouse, crates of tools and some senior metal and wood processing platforms.


    Leeb also had an extremely luxurious costume room here, where there were hundreds of wholly-new hunting costumes, warrior''s costumes, leather boots, gloves and waistbands. All of them were of top quality. Zhang Tie then straightly moved all of them into Castle of Black Iron. ''Just take them as customized ones. From now on, I don''t need to buy clothes anymore. Actually, I couldn''t buy such high-end costumes from anywhere.''


    ''Ahem..ahem...I have a family now, I have 3 babies to feed. Just save some money.'' Zhang Tie thought stingily as he had completely forgotten that he had gained over an enormous wealth with the unit of 100 million in Tokei City.


    After sweeping over all the valuable items in the Hunting Castle, Zhang Tie set free all the living beings. After producing such a scene that was usually portrayed in detective novels, Zhang Tie incarnated into a black beetle and left out of here.


    One hour later, Zhang Tie reappeared in the pitch-dark No. 16 manor in Wealth Avenue. At this moment, nobody in Upton City had found that everyone in this manor had disappeared. The steward might have disbanded all the members here almost 10 hours ago. After that, the steward himself escaped successfully. The steward would be proud of the courage and awareness that he plucked up today for the rest of his life as long as he''s alive.


    Being afraid of getting murdered by Leeb, the steward dared not take away any item from here when he left, except for his personal savings.


    In this manor, Zhang Tie also moved those costumes that he saw in the costume room two days ago into Castle of Black Iron.


    As men''s costumes remained unchanged for hundreds of years, Zhang Tie knew that he didn''t need to buy any costume for the rest of his life.


    After clearing the last benefit of Angus Clan, Zhang Tie incarnated into a thunder hawk and flew towards the north...


    After flying over 200 miles towards the north of Upton City, Zhang Tie landed on a twig of a huge tree near the peak as he started to look at the front, left and right with his sharp eyes.


    There was a possibility of 33% for the super demon corps to pass by the road beneath this peak. If not, they would rush towards Upton City from the other two directions less than 50 miles away from this road. Therefore, it was easy for him to detect the trace of the super demon corps.


    Zhang Tie then waited for the arrival of the super demon corps silently...


    After 4-5 hours, the super demon corps finally arrived at the dawn of September 1st.


    Precisely, Zhang Tie didn''t see the super demon corps; instead, he saw a familiar bright bolt-shaped light pillar targeting the heaven. It reminded Zhang Tie of the same ground-breaking bolt that Elder Muray shot towards the sky in front of him...


    Closely after that bolt-shaped light pillar, Zhang Tie saw almost 10 powerful battle-qi totems rising up, which almost scared him to death...


    ''F*ck, 10 knights! 10 human knights! What a scene...''


    Zhang Tie instantly showed his original look. Being blessed by his Kuafu Bloodline and senior rapid moving skill, Zhang Tie strode off the peak only by a couple of steps and rushed towards the far straightly.


    When he came out of Castle of Black Iron, he was still "Leeb"; however, after striding off the peak by 3 steps as fast as a lightning bolt, he had already recovered his original look. At this critical moment, Zhang Tie dared never join the battle in the look of a stranger. As there were so many human knights over there, if any of them recognized that he was a member of Three-eye Association or demons, they might launch a strike towards him when they passed by him; it would a tragedy if that really happened. By comparison, in the orthodox look of Hua people, he would be safer...

 700 A Head-on Strike

    Chapter 700: A Head-on Strike


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Nobody had imagined that the fiercest collision between humans forces and the super demon corps would break out on the wilderness over 200 miles away from Upton in the north after the demonized puppets corps broke Humans'' defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was rushing towards the battlefield as fast as a lightning bolt. With the effect of Kuafu Bloodline, Zhang Tie felt that the entire land became a huge spring. Each time he landed on the ground would he spring up and fly over 100 m ahead. He kept springing up and rushing forward in this way like a meteor chasing after the moon.


    With the effect of the senior rapid moving skill, Zhang Tie''s Kuafu Bloodline raised its speed by 3 times, enabling Zhang Tie to almost match a knight in speed.


    In only a couple of minutes, Zhang Tie was just 30 miles away from the battlefield.


    Right then, a large number of fury-level airships dived towards the place where the battle-qi totems rose from behind the clouds like sharks that were chasing after their prey.


    Within Zhang Tie''s vision, those airships started to drop a large number of black spots towards the battlefield like spraying beans.


    Zhang Tie knew that most of the black spots should be combustible gel bombs, while the others might be...


    Right then, some ground-breaking sounds drifted from afar, which were caused by more than one alchemist''s bombs. Closely after that, Zhang Tie saw the fiery flames over dozens of miles away which almost tainted the whole sky.


    ''How fierce!'' Zhang Tie had never imagined that Huaiyuan Palace could launch such a head-on blow towards the super demon corps at the beginning.


    At this moment, all the people inside Upton City had been awakened by the loud sounds. All the garrisons in the airship bases outside Upton City were looking up at the sky with surprising looks as the whole sky had been covered with huge battle airships.


    It seemed that all the huge battle airships were hiding in the mountain near Kalay Mountain Range. At this moment, they all rose up and rushed towards the north at the fastest speed while being covered with a killing qi.


    Over 3,000 airships almost covered the whole sky, making onlookers'' hearts pound.


    "My God, what''s happening?" all the soldiers in an airship base outside Upton City were looking up at the sky with surprising looks. Even those refugees in the constant refugee camps outside Upton City had walked out of their tents and watched the terrifying airship troop rushing towards the north with dumbfounded looks.


    A major general of an airship base hurriedly rushed out from his dorm, improperly dressed, into the highest watchtower of the base. He then grabbed the telescope from the watchtower and targeted those airships.


    "Ah? They are from Jinyun Country and Qilan Country in the south. What''s happening?"


    Nobody could answer him. When a whim occurred to his mind, the military commissioner instantly turned the telescope towards the north...


    Through the telescope, that military commissioner only saw obscure shadows at the beginning. After focusing on the targets, he could almost see those shadows clearly in the north dawn...


    The major general''s face instantly turned pale as he saw over 10 battle-qi totems rising over 200 miles away from Upton City in the north. He knew what did it mean...


    "Ring the battle alert. The super demon corps is attacking us..." The major general roared, which could almost be heard across the airship base. The entire Upton City then became chaotic...


    According to the plan of Three-eye Association and demons, at this moment, Leeb had already chopped off one of the double-headed parent worm''s head and turned millions of refugees outside Upton City into demonized puppets, causing the entire Upton City into a hell. However, because of Zhang Tie''s deed, although many people were growing flurried, none of them turned into a demonized puppet.


    While running, a whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind. He then rapidly took out the remote-sensing crystal that he used to communicate with his elder brother. Benefited from the skill "mental arithmetic by abacus", he sent a key message to his elder brother.


    ¡ª¡ªElder brother, are you there?


    ¡ª¡ªYes, I am!


    Given the rapid response, it seemed that his elder brother and 6th granduncle had been waiting for his message.


    ¡ª¡ªAngus Clan of Free Commercial Federation belong to Three-eye Association, never let them go!


    Zhang Tie knew that this message would be sent back to Huaiyuan Palace at the fastest speed. After confirming that his earlier message was accurate, this message almost sent Angus Clan to the gallows. It was forgivable that humans could not punish those humans clans of Three-eye Association; however, if they could not even catch the exposed humans clans of Three-eye Association in the territory of humans, they didn''t need to fight demons anymore.


    After sending out this message, Zhang Tie put away his remote-sensing crystal as he accelerated towards the battlefield.


    ...


    The battle had started in the fiercest state from the sky to the ground. The human elites that ambushed here didn''t spare any time for demons to respond. The fiercest collision occurred at the beginning.


    In the sky, Elder Muray from Huaiyuan Palace was coordinating with the airship troop as he was shooting out bolts towards wing demons. Each of his bolts was effective within 2,000 m.


    After the wing demons'' threat was cleared, the airship troop that flashed out of the clouds immediately dropped batches of combustible gel bombs towards the super demon corps like how hens laid eggs, causing hot fiery nets rising to the sky on the battlefield.


    No matter how rapid the super demon corps responded to the strike, they were a troop of 100,000 demon fighters. They occupied almost 1-2 sq km on the ground. Given such a great density, even if they were dead rats, they could also be hit by the combustible gel bombs, not to mention that each combustible gel bomb would cause a fire sea within 100 sq m. Even stones could be burned, not to mention living beings. What was more was that some of the ammo were terrifying alchemist''s bombs.


    The first round of strike of the airship troop was the most effective as the formation of the super demon corps had not been fully dispersed. As a result, the first round of strike burned over 5,000 super demons into ruins or exploded them into pieces; meanwhile, almost the same number of super demons were injured. This was the most brilliant achievement that the human airship troop had made across Blackson Humans Corridor since the beginning of the holy war.


    The 4 human knights encountered 4 demon knights, 3 human knights circled the Demon General, 2 human knights were making a massacre in the super demon corps horizontally and vertically. The ground-breaking clashes and booms could be heard dozens of miles away.


    The battle range of knights was quite wide. Between the sky and the ground, they could move miles in a split second and clash with each other dozens even hundreds of times. Besides the 3 human knights who circled around the Demon General, the 4 human knights who fought the 4 demon knights had been dozens of miles away from the main battlefield and dispersed in four directions only after a couple of minutes.


    Together with the dispersing knights were the super demon corps. After suffering a severe loss from the first round of attack of human airship troop, this super demon corps had dispersed at a terrifying speed while displaying a terrifying battle force. As a result, the human airship troop made a poor achievement in the second round of attack.


    After realizing that they had fallen into the delicate trap of humans, the super demon corps had already started to evacuate rapidly towards northeast before greater batches of human airships arrived from afar. At this moment, it was blowing northeast wind in the sky. Being resisted by the wind, the airship troop slowed down. As a result, they could only watch the super demon corps escape farther and farther away...


    Even moving against the wind, the airships could also fly over 140 miles per hour. However, the airships could still not catch up with that super demon corps. What a terrifying super demon corps!


    After Elder Muray issued an order to the airship troop, he had been chasing after the rest wing demons. It was a rare chance to give a severe blow to the airforce of the demons.


    During the evacuation, 8 battle-spirit demons blocked 2 human knights. As a result, the 2 human knights'' destruction to the super demon corps sharply reduced...


    ...


    "Lin Changjiang..." The Demon General in a pitch-dark fully-body armor roared as he glared at that man with its eyes which were as fierce as that of ghosts after the 4 meteors separated from a collision.


    On the opposite of the Demon General, that man was at his 50s. With a faint purple face, sword-sized eyebrows and snowwhite whiskers, he looked pretty dignified. Plus, a pair of heroic, shiny crane-like eyes, he could leave a deep impression on people at the first sight of him...


    Two more human knights were standing in the air behind the Demon General, one was the Lan elder that Zhang Tie had met in the Crystal Battle Fortress, while the other was from Norman Empire who broke out and left Mocco City when it was collapsed by demonized puppets...

 701 The Aiding Strength

    "Nice to see you, Demon General!" Lin Changjiang smiled.


    Although the distances between the 3 knights remained unchanged relatively, actually, all of them were moving rapidly in the air. The Demon General always stayed ahead of the super demon corps.


    "Three-in-One Strength!" The Demon General uttered a muffled voice through the air holes on its mask. It carried the bizarre sense of metal resonance. Commoners might feel disgusting when they heard this sound.


    "We could only use three-in-one tactic to deal with Demon General!" Lin Changjiang said.


    The other two human knights remained silent as they just stared at Demon General.


    "I''ve not imagined that I could fall into your trap once again after the event in Nein City. I really wonder how did you know I would raid Upton City."


    "It''s simple. Your plan is exposed to us through our moles in Three-eye Association! What could be promised by demons could also be increased 10 times by us." Lin Changjiang explained calmly.


    After hearing this, Demon General slightly narrowed his eyes. Whereas, after only 2 seconds, Demon General had burst out laughing, "I was almost fooled!"


    "Really? Are you sure that I don''t know that my lie would be seen through by you right away?" Lin Changjiang''s eyes were filled with profound and mysterious brilliance.


    The red light flickered in Demon General''s eyes, "I admit that I have indeed belittled you this time!"


    "It''s the second time for you to belittle us!"


    "Lin Changjiang..." Demon General''s voice instantly became icy while the red light in his eyes turned dangerous at once, "One day, I will chop off all the males'' heads in your clans and string them together as my collection. All the females in your clans will be my slaves and playthings. Don''t you humans hate clans of Three-eye Association? I will have all the females in your clans give birth to my descendants and have their offsprings as the new clans of Three-eye Association. Hahahaha..."


    After hearing this, Lin Changjiang threw a solemn look as he said, "It depends on whether you can survive today!"


    "Let''s see who survives today!" The Demon General instantly accelerated as he launched the severe battle...


    ...


    The super demon corps moved too fast to be caught up by airships even against the wind. However, it was a piece of cake for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie arrived at the initial battlefield and saw a lot of burning corpses of demon fighters and many other corpses that looked bizarre. After counting it silently, Zhang Tie estimated that at least 5,000-6,000 demon fighters were killed here.


    When he met those who had not completely died, Zhang Tie released his palm bolts to end their lives quickly.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was wearing a special band-waist which was filled with about 1,000 palm bolts. Hanging on Zhang Tie''s body, they formed a special armor.


    It was the most efficient way to kill those iron-armored demons between LV 9 to LV 12. Within 100 m, Zhang Tie could definitely hit over 20 targets per second. This was really a sharp weapon on the battlefield.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t know that all the powerhouses above battle spirits in the super demon corps were busy with their own affairs.


    After passing over that battlefield, within 5 minutes, Zhang Tie had already caught up with the tail of the super demon corps.


    ''God helps me.'' Zhang Tie exclaimed inside after realizing that no powerhouses of super demon corps had paid attention to him. It was more like a customized chance for him.


    ''Fruit of source, here I come!''


    After exclaiming inside, Zhang Tie kept releasing his palm bolts and exploded more than 20 iron-armored demons in a split second. Before the other iron-armored demons in the end of the formation realized what happened, Zhang Tie immediately rushed into the formation of the super demon corps and started his cool massacre.


    At this moment, the moving speed of the super demon corps was mainly determined by LV 9 iron-armored demons. Although they moved faster than commoners, they were crawling as slowly as tortoises in Zhang Tie''s knight''s consciousness. When Zhang Tie was LV 9, he could already easily kill a small team of iron-armored demons, not to mention now.


    With the terrifying speed and the destruction of his palm bolts, Zhang Tie felt as overwhelming as a baby shark breaking in a swarm of tadpoles. Wherever he went, all the iron-armored demons within 200 sq m were his targets.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was more like an unrivaled firepower output platform. In that case, even a knight could not match Zhang Tie''s efficiency in diminishing iron-armored demons.


    After activating his skill "mental arithmetic by abacus", Zhang Tie targeted at iron-armored demons on his left and right sides at the same time while palm bolts flew off his two hands at the same time, making him a terrifying humanoid battery.


    During the 2 minutes, Zhang Tie shocked all the others, either demons or humans. None of them could imagine such a freak.


    During the 2 minutes, Zhang Tie kept rushing forward as he kept releasing his palm bolts. He would release 7-16 palm bolts per second from each hand. As a result, wherever he passed by was always accompanied by the cracking sounds of crackers...


    Mainly, Zhang Tie would kill each target with only one palm bolt. If he failed to do that, it indicated that the target was above LV 12; he would then never waste his time and energy to release the 2nd palm bolt towards the same target; instead, he would get rid of that target as fast as possible. After that, he would continue to kill those weaker ones below LV 12 within 200 sq m.


    What an extremely wretched and terrifying tactic!


    In usual days, Zhang Tie would never have such a chance. He might have already been chased away awkwardly by any demon powerhouse above battle spirit before he got close to the super demon corps. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie caught the God-given opportunity and created an amazing meritorious deed.


    Only in 2 minutes, Zhang Tie had already released all the 1,000-odd palm bolts. Almost 1,000 iron-armored demons fell on the ground. The tail of the super demon corps was severely destroyed. Certainly, Zhang Tie was followed by a big tail, which was composed of LV 13-14 demon powerhouses. Nevertheless, Zhang Tie just ignored them. As they could not catch up with Zhang Tie, they could only growl towards Zhang Tie''s back with furious looks...


    At the sight of this, everybody else was shocked inside, even human and demon knights...


    ''Who''s that guy?''


    At the sight of this, Demon General, who was surrounded by 3 human knights, was instantly driven mad that he even wanted to dive down there and tore Zhang Tie into pieces.


    By contrast, noticing Zhang Tie''s excellent performance, the Lan elder was also extremely stunned.


    ''Zhang Tie...''


    A name flashed across Lan elder''s mind. As the 3 human powerhouses were in a three-in-one state, their knights'' consciousness were closely connected with each other. Therefore, Lin Changjiang and that knight from Norman Empire also knew that the human elite on the ground was Zhang Tie.


    ''Selnes Eagle?''


    ''Yes!''


    Zhang Tie attacked the super demon corps together with 10 human knights across Blackson Humans Corridor and killed over 1,000 enemies individually, namely 1/100 of the entire battle force of the super demon corps. After this battle, Zhang Tie had become a legendary person while his name was well-known across the Blackson Humans Corridor.


    After using up his palm bolts, Zhang Tie started to release his Iron-blood punches like shells. As a result, some LV 13 demon powerhouses were killed by him in an extremely arbitrary way. Additionally, all the iron-armored demons within 30 steps were exterminated by the off-hand battle qi of his Iron-blood Fist, one punch for one demon.


    After his palm bolts, Zhang Tie''s Iron-blood Fist made him eye-catching on the battlefield once again...


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s performance, all the knights from Norman Empire widened their eyes.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt pretty satisfied. He even had a feeling of sacrificing himself. The more demons could he kill this time, the fewer humans would be killed in the future.


    In such a rising, dauntless battle consciousness, Zhang Tie''s Iron-blood Fist evolved once again.


    ...


    Another 1,000 airships appeared in the northeast sky. Following the wind, they were accelerating towards the remaining super demon corps. As if they had long predicted that the super demon corps would rush in that direction, great batches of combustible gel bombs were dropped from the airships, causing a secondary severe casualty to the super demon corps.


    With a boom, the battle qi cloud formed by the 4 knights exploded. As a result, the 3 human knights looked a bit pale. Lin Changjiang''s mouth corners maintained blood stains. The Demon General''s armor was also damaged to a certain degree.


    The Demon General''s eyes looked pretty grim under his helmet.


    "You forced me to do that!"


    A bunch of light rose from Demon General''s back and formed the complex, geometrical halos. Closely after that, an invisible shockwave spread over the entire battlefield from the halos...


    "Aiding Strength!" Lin Changjiang exclaimed as a firm look flashed across his eyes at once. After that, he rapidly took out a vial of rufous medicament and drunk it. The other two human knights also quickly took out vials of medicament or pills and drunk them. Meanwhile, they all looked solemn...


    All the human knights had been shocked by that shockwave. Therefore, they immediately drunk or ate some rare medicament or pills to sharply increase their battle force...


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what happened in the sky. He could only sense a bizarre and invisible strength covering the entire battlefield. If he did not have the knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie could never sense such a change.


    Closely after that shock wave, all the demon fighters facing Zhang Tie had their battle-qi totems risen up. Meanwhile, there was a bizarre rune on each one''s back. As a result, each demon fighter''s speed increased by at least 30% in a split second.


    Zhang Tie immediately felt a sharply increasing stress.


    ''What''s happening?'' Zhang Tie was also shocked...


    "Kill him!" A merciless order drifted from the sky.


    Before Zhang Tie figured out what was happening, the two colliding "meteors" had finished their battle. A human knight flashed away while spurting out fresh blood. The demon knight who had fought the human knight also had a bizarre rune on his back. He straightly flew towards Zhang Tie with a strong killing qi. Zhang Tie instantly felt that he was locked by a powerful spiritual energy...


    ''Demon Knight? F*ck...''


    Zhang Tie instantly turned around and escaped at the maximum speed...


    The battle situation changed abruptly. The two human knights who were wrestled by a number battle-spirit demons rose up and headed for supporting other human knights, leaving the demons on the ground to the airships. No matter how great the three-in-one strength was, it could never enable those below knights to fly. However, the human knights in the sky were mired in a dangerous situation.


    After a few minutes, Elder Muray, who had scared the sh*t out of the wing demons, felt the abnormal situation here as he hurriedly flew towards here from the north. Before he joined the sharp battle qi clouds had he heard Lan elder''s sound.


    "Brother Muray, hurry, Zhang Tie is being chased by a Demon Knight in the southeast direction..."


    ''What? Zhang Tie...''


    After glancing over the battlefield, Elder Muray instantly flew towards the southeast.


    ...


    Zhang Tie had not felt such a feeling for a long time. Last time, this feeling appeared in the Wild Wolf Valley, when he was hunted by 3 wild wolves. However, this time, he was tightly locked by a Demon Knight with its spiritual energy.


    In this state, Zhang Tie felt like a rabbit being chased by a falcon. Although being in a dilemma, he felt pretty calm inside.


    The map about this region that he formed when he flew over this region in the incarnation of thunder hawk a couple of days ago appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind at this moment. Zhang Tie started to rack his mind so as to seek for the chance to escape...

 702 In the Deep Underground

    Chapter 702: In the Deep Underground


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that Elder Muray had rushed towards him. He just exerted his full effort to run with the effect of senior rapid moving skill and Kuafu Bloodline. Additionally, he even triggered his "mental arithmetic by abacus". When he sensed the chaser''s movements and strikes with knight''s consciousness, he kept seeking for the most proper road to escape.


    Any other LV 12 great battle master or powerhouse such as battle general or battle demon would have long died hundreds of times in Zhang Tie''s case. However, Zhang Tie still escaped crazily.


    That demon knight flew over 50 m above the ground while its powerful battle qi booms constantly exploded in all directions near Zhang Tie like meteors. Although being embarrassed, Zhang Tie could always dodge from its strikes.


    In the eyes of that demon knight, Zhang Tie was more like an oily flea with eyes on his back. The demon knight could not attack him.


    Actually, The knight''s flight speed was directly proportional to its height. The higher, the faster. At this moment, Zhang Tie calculated the knight''s flight speed calmly. He could make full use of the conflict between the knight''s height and speed. If that demon knight wanted to catch up with him, it had to stay over 200 m above the ground; however, in that height, the demon knight''s strike posed no threat to him; if that demon knight wanted to launch effective strikes to him, it had to descend its height and speed. As a result, it would lose its advantage in speed, sparing time for him to respond.


    Additionally, the knight was affected by its flight inertia. Previously, his agility was not influenced too much by such an inertia; however, in front of Zhang Tie, its flight inertia was amplified numerous times by Zhang Tie''s extremely swift movements. As a result, its flight feature became a shortcoming. When he sensed that he was going to be caught up by that demon knight, Zhang Tie would mystically change his direction, enlarging the distance between him and the demon knight.


    Although Zhang Tie was embarrassed in this process; that demon knight was also driven mad as it kept roaring.


    That demon knight had also attempted to catch Zhang Tie on the ground; however, the moment it landed had the demon knight realized that it had no advantage on speed and agility compared to that guy who was escaping crazily.


    The longer it chased after Zhang Tie, the more shocked was that demon knight. Gradually, it made its decision to kill Zhang Tie.


    In the beginning, the demon knight was following the Demon General''s order to kill Zhang Tie; however, at this moment, it had become its strong desire and firm target to kill Zhang Tie. The demon knight didn''t know about Zhang Tie''s level; in his opinion, Zhang Tie should be a battle spirit or an exceptionally gifted 5-star battle demon. However, it could do no harm to such a person at all. ''Such a human, who could match a knight in certain aspects before promoting to a knight, would be unrivaled once he promoted to a knight. If such a person is not killed at this moment, he would cause much greater destructions or disasters to demons in the future.''


    ''He has to die today.'' The demon knight made up its mind.


    Zhang Tie also felt the demon knight''s firm killing intent and faster-attacking speed. Heart pounding, he accelerated a bit faster.


    The mountain peak was close as he could already hear the surging river. Zhang Tie became excited.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie felt the air on his back was broken by numerous strands of powerful battle qi. The strike was as fast as a lightning bolt just like the javelins that Zhang Tie had ever thrown out. The powerful battle qi tossed towards Zhang Tie in the shape of a huge net, leaving him nowhere to retreat. This strike almost covered dozens sq m.


    With a roar, Zhang Tie instantly turned around and released over 300 punches towards one point of the huge net before finally making a crack on the fierce battle-qi net.


    Only by such a counterattack, Zhang Tie consumed one-third of his entire battle qi in his qi sea.


    After making a crack on the battle qi net, Zhang Tie instantly popped out of the crack in an impossibly twisted way by huddling up his body as a ball.


    With a sound "boom...", everything within 100 sq m near Zhang Tie was sent flying in all directions, including that hill where Zhang Tie was in just now and the mud and rocks on the ground. The ground quivered a short time while half of the hill was moved away.


    Although that strike didn''t hit Zhang Tie, its aftermath and the shattered mud and broken stones caused numerous holes on Zhang Tie''s warrior''s costume in a split second. If Zhang Tie''s body was not as firm as a stone, those high-speed broken stones would have penetrated through his body. Even though, Zhang Tie still felt salty in the mouth as he almost spurted out a mouthful of blood.


    Zhang Tie didn''t spurt out the blood; instead, he swallowed it back. Closely after that, he stomped onto the ground, stretched out his limbs and straightly flew off the hill like a glider based on the pneumatic effect of the surrounding airflow while being covered by the flying dust. He directly accelerated towards the surging river.


    With such a battle-qi net strike, the demon knight was almost confident to kill a 5-star battle spirit; however, it was out of his imagination that his opponent could dodge away from his strike in such a mystical method; meanwhile, he even gained a greater momentum. Therefore, the demon knight became more afraid of Zhang Tie; furthermore, his killing intent rocketed.


    Right then, shrill sonic booms sounded behind Zhang Tie and the demon knight...


    After hearing the booms, Zhang Tie was surprised inside as he knew that Elder Muray was coming. However, he still dared not postpone; instead, he continued to rush forward.


    It would take Elder Muray at least 2 minutes to arrive here. However, it would take the demon knight less than 2 seconds to kill Zhang Tie. Therefore, Zhang Tie dared not rely on Elder Muray for the time being.


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had rushed to the riverside.


    The surging river was over 200 m in width with snowwhite ripples. The source of the river was the melted snow water on the snowypeak of the Kalay Mountain Range in the distance. It diverted into a pitch-dark mountain cave which was over 200 m in width in the lower reach. The mountain cave was devouring the surging river like an opening of the bloody mouth.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know where would this river lead to; he presumed that it should converge into a subterranean stream. Because there wasn''t another river within 200 sq m.


    As long as it was in the water, Zhang Tie would survive himself.


    The moment Zhang Tie dove into the river had the demon knight launched a strike towards the point where he entered the water.


    Zhang Tie instantly felt that the surrounding water flow became as firm as a steel plate while a great stress pushed towards him. If Zhang Tie didn''t move, he would have been squeezed into a flesh paste.


    Thankfully, Zhang Tie''s diving ability had already reached a terrifying degree. His sensing ability in changing water flows was almost above that of his knight''s consciousness. The moment he found the change of the water flows had he slid dozens of meters away in the water like a slippery loach.


    With a shock in the water, dozens of meters high sprays rose from the water. Feeling breathless, Zhang Tie realized that his innards had been injured once again.


    With the effect of the waterproof body, Zhang Tie''s moving speed in water was even faster than that on the ground.


    Zhang Tie showed his head above the water in the lower reach over 200 m away. Watching that demon knight who was still constantly exploding the river while suspending above the water, Zhang Tie erected his middle finger towards that demon knight before bursting out into laughter. ''Elder Muray is coming. I don''t believe that this guy will dare to loiter here at the risk of his life.''


    The fact was that Zhang Tie and the demon knight were both wrong.


    Zhang Tie misestimated the demon knight''s determination to kill him.


    However, that demon knight had not imagined that Zhang Tie could have such a proficient diving skill. When Zhang Tie jumped into the river, the demon knight felt excited inside as he thought that Zhang Tie had no other choice but to jump into the river. As the density of water was greater than that of air, waves and shocks could be better transmitted in the water. As battle qi attack would be more destructive and influential in the water than that in the air, the demon knight kept striking the water like striking fishes with explosives, causing dozens of meters high snowwhite ripples.


    When the demon knight caught sight of Zhang Tie who was over 200 m away and heard the increasingly closer shrill sonic booms on his back, it was shocked at once. However, after hesitating for a short while, he confirmed his determination and flew towards Zhang Tie immediately.


    Zhang Tie was really scared by the demon knight''s choice. He then instantly dove back into the water and slid away. The demon knight also followed him in as it gazed at Zhang Tie tightly and moved even swifter than fish.


    The alleged knights could walk upstairs and downstairs in the air, would not drown in the water and would not burn in the fire.


    Until then did Zhang Tie know how terrifying were knights in the water.


    The moment the demon knight entered the water had it isolated the water by its waterproof battle qi. With his great strength, only by kicking his feet and drawing his arms had he accelerated towards Zhang Tie.


    Realizing that he was closely followed by that demon knight, Zhang Tie became flurried.


    If it was on the bank, Zhang Tie couldn''t match him; however, as it was in the water, Zhang Tie didn''t believe that anyone else could match him in this world. Because Zhang Tie was not afraid of cold at all. Besides, he could get fresh air from Castle of Black Iron at any time. That was to say, he could stay as long as he wanted in the water.


    Zhang Tie swam in the water, keeping him in the vision of that knight yet out of the striking distance of it. He kept moving towards the pitch-dark mountain cave in the hinterland.


    At this moment, the demon knight thought, ''As a knight, I could never lose the battle to a weaker human in the water.''


    After entering the hinterland, the surging river became more torrential. There was a huge bottomless swirl beneath the mountain hinterland, which devoured the entire river into the underground space. Being dauntless, Zhang Tie straightly dove into the swirl, closely followed by that demon knight...


    ...


    It was a wonderful underground world. Being pushed by the torrential water flow, Zhang Tie felt like falling into an underground maze being composed of water and secret tunnels. After activating his dark vision, Zhang Tie saw clearly numerous underground karst caves, which contained smaller ones which rooted in the deep underground space...


    Zhang Tie was led into a subterranean stream which further led him into a deeper underground space...


    ...


    A couple of minutes later, Elder Muray arrived at the spot where Zhang Tie and that demon knight dove in the water.


    Watching this river, Elder Muray also directly jumped into it...


    ...


    Over 10 hours later, before dawn, Elder Muray finally flew out of the water and landed on the river bank in the distance, with a splash at the entrance of the mountain cave. However, he was dry all over.


    Over the past 10 hours, Elder Muray had searched over hundreds of miles underground, yet got no trace of Zhang Tie at all. Finally, he had to admit that Zhang Tie and that demon knight had disappeared. The underground waterway was as complex as an extremely large maze. As long as someone got lost inside, it would be much more difficult to find him than finding a needle out of the sea. Even if Elder Muray re-grouped all the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace here, they might still not find Zhang Tie in one year.


    Elder Muray just watched the surging river with a sophisticated look. Finally, he let out a helpless sigh and he stomped onto the ground before flying towards the north...


    ...


    After Elder Muray left the river, Zhang Tie felt a bit fear, which didn''t come from the demon knight who was closely chasing after him but from the water flow on his side. Zhang Tie didn''t know where he was while the water flow beside him was sucked into an underground swirl whose diameter was over 10 miles by a great suction towards the bottomless underground abyss in a speed of above hundreds of miles per hour along with him...


    ''F*ck, it''s a big trouble!''


    Zhang Tie looked back and found the demon knight was still closely chasing after him with a strong killing intent. Zhang Tie also saw a flurried look in its eyes. If that demon knight turned around and intended to return at this moment, Zhang Tie even doubted whether it would be able to find the way back...


    Facing such an unknown underground world, even demons would have a bit fear.

 703 An Unknown World

    Chapter 703: An Unknown World


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Under such a great underground suction, Zhang Tie and that demon knight were flushed into the bottomless abyss along with the terrifying huge swirl. In such a sheer terror, even that demon knight could barely balance his body. It could not attack Zhang Tie in such a situation. If not having been granted a super great anti-resistant ability by a great number of iron-body fruits, Zhang Tie might have been collapsed in the great suction and pressure of the terrifying swirl.


    In such a scene, Zhang Tie felt that he and the demon knight were just two trivial insects who were flushed into a huge toilet seat.


    Zhang Tie had never imagined that he could come to such a bizarre place after casually choosing an exit from the numerous underwater turnoffs and karst caves.


    The water flow flushed downwards at a high speed. Zhang Tie estimated that he moved at least 300 miles per hours in the water flow.


    After being sucked in the swirl, Zhang Tie experienced a cliff-like drop like a waterfall. Closely after that, he was involved in another maze-like subterranean river course and continued to flush downwards, followed by another cliff-like drop. The demon knight was still gazing at Zhang Tie tightly from 100 m away. As it had already followed Zhang Tie in such a deep unknown space, if it lost its target and its own life, it would be a great tragedy.


    Zhang Tie also sensed the demon knight''s killing intent; however, he ignored it. As for Zhang Tie, he could always survive in the water with Castle of Black Iron as an auxiliary cheat wherever he was taken by the water flow.


    100 m was a safe distance that Zhang Tie purposefully kept with the demon knight. If it was narrower than that distance, Zhang Tie would be attacked by the demon knight. Even in water, a knight''s battle force was still very destructive. As long as the demon knight pointed towards Zhang Tie with its finger, a strand of battle qi like a bolt of a strong crossbow would penetrate through dozens of meters in the water towards him. If Zhang Tie was hit, he would spurt out blood for sure.


    Although Zhang Tie''s safe distance was 100 m, the actual distance between him and the demon knight was smaller than that in underwater turnoffs and curves. Therefore, 3 hours later, after making some turns in the torrents and entering some turnoffs, that demon knight finally faced a tragedy. The moment Zhang Tie entered a curve had he disappeared in front of the demon knight. Two underwater turnoffs appeared in front of the demon knight. After hesitating for 0.1 seconds, the demon knight chose the left one while balancing his body; then...


    Then, he found he lost his target forever.


    Zhang Tie could hear the roar of the demon knight faintly. He knew that the demon knight had lost its target. So what? In such a case, Zhang Tie preferred to not be the landmark by reappearing in the vision of the demon knight at the risk of his own life.


    Zhang Tie faintly let out a sigh as he felt a bit regretful.


    ''But if that demon knight is suffocated here, it''s also worthwhile for me.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    ...


    After half an hour, Zhang Tie heard the sound similar to that of the waterfall. Before he responded, he had been ejected out of a cave by a torrent and fell in the air...


    In a split second, Zhang Tie saw the glow in the sky and the vast shimmering water, thousands of meters away under his feet.


    Zhang Tie then descended at an extremely high speed along with the water flow. Heart racing, Zhang Tie started to worry about the situation under the water. If there were stones under the water, he would be severely wounded at least, if not dead.


    With a sound "bang", Zhang Tie punched towards a nearby cliff as fast as a lightning bolt. With the reactive thrust, he got rid of the torrent. At the same time, he stretched out his limbs for the greatest resistance in the air flow. When he was about 100 m above the water, Zhang Tie let out a sigh, ''Thankfully, it''s bottomless here.''


    Before entering the water, Zhang Tie immediately launched dozens of punches towards the water. With the reactive thrust, he abruptly slowed down. Closely after a "splash", he dove into the water.


    ...


    After over 10 seconds, Zhang Tie showed his head above the water, 1,000 m away from where he entered the water. Hearing the distant splashes, Zhang Tie started to look around with widely opened eyes.


    This was an underground ocean. According to the falling time and speed, Zhang Tie knew that this underground ocean was at least 1,000 miles beneath the ground''s surface.


    Zhang Tie had long known that there was an ocean beneath the ground. However, it was his first time to see a real one.


    This was a very vast underground space. At least Zhang Tie had not seen its border when he fell off.


    Taking a broad view, Zhang Tie saw some splendid waterfall falling off the dome of this underground space within dozens of miles. Zhang Tie himself was spurt out of the waterfall on his side, which was over 10 miles above the water. After falling on the water, the torrents aroused a large area of sprays, which covered 1 sq km. Being tainted by the glow in the sky, the white sprays also became red, which looked fantastic. If above ground, such a fabulous scenery would definitely become eye-catching.


    The glow originated from the stones that distributed on the rocks at the dome of the space. The highest place of this space was about dozens of kilometers away from the ground surface, which looked like a huge bubble. Zhang Tie predicted that those red stones were a special fluorescent stone or crystal. Those stones were distributed in evident mineral veins and irregular stripes like fabulous huge natural luminous zones embedded in the wall.


    It was between 20 and 30 degrees Celcius here. The air was not muddy here; instead, it was very refreshing. Additionally, the underground ocean was composed of fresh, translucent water. Some odd-looking fish were swimming in the water. Right now, Zhang Tie caught sight of many thumb-sized little fish whose heads were luminous and some bizarre aquatic plants like waterweeds.


    ''Whether that demon knight had also fallen inside here?'' Zhang Tie wondered as he looked around vigilantly before diving into the water...


    The moment he dove into the water had he seen some little luminous fish swarming up out of curiosity. They weren''t afraid of Zhang Tie at all. Neither did Zhang Tie care about them; instead, he just slid faster towards the far.


    When Zhang Tie fell in the water, he saw a broad land over 40 miles away. Before that demon knight appeared, Zhang Tie wanted to take a look at the land first.


    It only took Zhang Tie 7-8 minutes to arrive there. Coming out of the ocean, Zhang Tie walked onto that land and the beach one step after another.


    Besides fine gravels, there were also many plants on the land, some of which were huge fungi in the shape of an umbrella; some were like huge palm trees which were as high as 100 m; some were grey ferns. Additionally, there were numerous purple grasses that Zhang Tie had never seen before.


    As the red luminous zones were not evenly distributed, some places were brighter, some were darker; some were even pitch-dark due to the terrain. The entire space formed a very splendid, three-dimensional light and shadow zone. In brighter places, plants would grow better; by contrast, there were fewer plants in darker places. Some places were empty.


    After a few minutes, with a cracking sound, Zhang Tie broke a rotten leaf and fell into a pit. Zhang Tie was so scared that he even thought that he fell into a trap. However, after realizing that it was just a natural pit, Zhang Tie mocked himself. Lowering his head, he kicked away that dried leaf and moved out of the pit.


    Zhang Tie then became meticulous. After a few more steps, he found another pit. With a smile, Zhang Tie strode over from aside...


    After a short while, Zhang Tie stopped as he frowned. He realized that the two pits were too symmetrical. It looked a bit familiar...


    Zhang Tie then turned back and looked at the two pits carefully as his frowns grew deeper. After moving a few steps back, Zhang Tie waved his hand while his iron-blood battle qi flew over the near ground like a tender razor. As a result, the thick rotten leaves and dust were blown away, exposing the real look of the two pits.


    A huge skull appeared on the ground. Zhang Tie realized that the two pits were just the eye sockets on the skull.


    Given the look of the skull, Zhang Tie predicted that it had existed here at least hundreds of thousands of years. Although only a small part of the skull was exposed above the ground, the two eye sockets were completely like the baby''s bathtubs.


    Zhang Tie drew in a mouth of breath as his trains of thoughts seemed to have been frozen. Because he realized that the skull belonged to a giant instead of a wild beast.


    Zhang Tie then quickly moved away from the nearby rotten leaves and mud using his iron-blood battle qi. Finally, he saw a looming, small half of a giant skeleton as high as 20 m...


    Giants were usually taken as legends by humans before the Catastrophe when their ideology was limited in a narrow space. Giants were usually carved on frescos. However, actually, giants indeed existed. The giants'' skeletons were indisputable evidences. Even before the Catastrophe, humans had discovered giants'' skeletons across the world. As the existence of giants would overthrow the authorized history about humans fabricated by demons and enable humans to re-evaluate themselves in pursuit of their own halos, all the giants'' skeletons and discovery experiences before the Catastrophe were covered along with the truth of human history. Those bribed experts, authorities, alleged biologists, historians, media and governments would emphasize that no giants existed in this world and everything about giants were lies and legends.


    However, that was real. After the Catastrophe, the truths were gradually exposed while more and more evidences were acknowledged by the humans. By then, humans discovered that their history was unimaginably brilliant. Many things that were labeled as legends and myths by the main-stream society before the Catastrophe indeed existed...


    Before Zhang Tie came to this world, a giant'' skull had been discovered in the iron ore area outside Blackhot City. At that time, all the humans in the entire Blackhot City rushed to see the giant''s skull. It even shocked Andaman Alliance. Zhang Tie was told by his natural science teacher in the No. 7 National Middle School. When the teacher talked about this, he even sighed with full of emotions. Later on, that giant''s skull was purchased by a mysterious figure and carried away by an airship after lying there for a couple of days. From then on, nobody across Blackhot City saw the giant''s skull any longer.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could see a giant''s skeleton here. Such a complete giant''s skeleton which represented the real history being hidden by demons would be worth at least 1 million gold coins as the most expensive collection above the ground...

 704 Tower of Time

    Chapter 704: Tower of Time


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As a man who was too frugal to eat a bowl of rice brew made by his own family at the cost of 3 copper coins, how could Zhang Tie let go such a giant''s skeleton which was worth at least 1 million gold coins? Otherwise, Zhang Tie would not even forgive himself. No matter how rich he was, he would never be such wasteful.


    Therefore, after taking a round rapidly and finding nobody was in the neighborhood, Zhang Tie started to excavate the complete giant''s skeleton which was as long as 20 m out of the soft soil in the shadow of the woods at the fastest speed.


    Although the greater part of the giant skeleton was buried in the soil, as long as Zhang Tie moved away from the layer of mud, he would see the original skeleton which was radiating white luster.


    The giant''s bones were as dense in texture as that of white marble. As long as he slightly moved some mud away from above, Zhang Tie would see the faint metallic luster.


    Zhang Tie moved as fast as a steam excavator. However, it still took Zhang Tie 2 hours to finish the excavation of the complete skeleton.


    Watching the complete giant''s skeleton in a huge pit, Zhang Tie was dumbfounded. Even though it was just lying there, it was still almost as tall as Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie could not imagine how powerful it would be when it was alive. It would be even more terrifying if the giant could cultivate.


    In legends, humans once lived in the same age with giants. Giants were also a branch of humans. There were many Hua stories about giants.


    In far-ancient times, there was a big flood. Hua emperor ordered one hundred human clans to regulate rivers and watercourses. There was a giant couple called Pufu. Although they received the order to deal with the flood and drain rivers and watercourses, due to their laziness, they were punished to stand still. Without any food to eat, they could only drink dew until the river turned clear. Due to such a "tender punishment", the giant couple finally succumbed to Hua emperor and started to do labor work diligently...


    After that, another Hua emperor came to the world who ruled the whole world. At that time, 12 giants appeared in Tao river''s bank. The Hua emperor liked them and had people build 12 gold statues for each of them.


    Later on, 2 more giants played major rules in the history of Hua people.


    One was called Weng Zhong. After surrendering to Hua people, this giant became the general of Hua clan. He assisted Hua people to conquer all the alien clans and was well-known across the world. Due to his braveness on the battlefield, Hua clan even built a statue for him to commemorate him. In many Hua regions, Weng Zhong referred to bulky copper or stony statues.


    The second giant who left his name in the history of Hua people was called Wu Ba. This giant once assisted a Hua man Wang Mang to usurp the throne. He was the best general of Wang Mang. Due to his bulky figure, everybody would like to call him Big Wu Ba. Even today, Hua people would say the term "Big Wu Ba" which was derived from this giant.


    Giants were deeply related to Hua people.


    ...


    After recalling those stories about giants in Hua people, Zhang Tie put his hands on the huge skull of the giant''s skeleton and penetrated his spiritual energy into it. Closely after that, he moved it into Castle of Black Iron.


    With 1 million gold coins as a reward, Zhang Tie felt pretty good. He refilled the huge pit and cleaned all the traces before returning to Castle of Black Iron. After that, he flew out of Castle of Black Iron in the incarnation of a little black beetle and started to discover this region..


    After activating the senior hiding rune, Zhang Tie straightly flew 100 m high along the coastline.


    Although the thunder hawk could fly higher and faster, it would be too eye-catching for an animal above the ground to appear in such an underground space. It would definitely arouse the attention of the demon knight if he came here. Therefore, the little black beetle was much safer. Although the beetle could not match the thunder hawk in speed, it was also very swift.


    The land in the underground ocean seemed to be a huge island with mountain ranges on it. The entire island looked pretty vast. It was as broad as tens of thousands of sq km. After flying for 2 hours, Zhang Tie found that he was still in a small corner of the island.


    When Zhang Tie wanted to fly towards the middle of the island, he saw a figure flying over 500 m above his head.


    Zhang Tie was shocked inside, ''It''s the demon knight. It''s also flushed over here. It seemed that the demon knight fell off from the other cave.''


    Although the demon knight was flying high, it kept its eyes closely on the ground so as to seek for Zhang Tie''s trace.


    Zhang Tie hushed, ''Thankfully, I''ve already incarnated into a beetle. If I kept loitering over there in my original body, I might have been caught by that demon knight.'' However, Zhang Tie knew that this demon knight was not sure whether Zhang Tie was also flushed over here. ''Due to the complex underground watercourses, I might be flushed to other places.''


    ''At this moment, I''m invisible while the enemy is visible. This seems to be an opportunity to launch an attack.''


    A glimmer of hope rose in Zhang Tie''s heart once again. Zhang Tie just stayed 1 mile away from the demon knight.


    Because the demon knight was seeking for Zhang Tie''s trace on the ground, he didn''t fly too fast. Therefore, Zhang Tie could follow him up.


    4-5 hours later, after finding no trace of Zhang Tie on the coastline and in the ocean, the demon knight abandoned his mind as it turned around and flew towards a mountain which was as high as 5,000-6,000 m on the side of this island, closely followed by Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie found that the demon knight almost fell off when it flew over the mountain range. Therefore, he instantly followed up it at a speed several times faster than that of before.


    Watching the demon knight hurriedly disappearing on the back of the mountain range, Zhang Tie immediately rushed towards there.


    ...


    When he flew over that mountain range, Zhang Tie finally knew why that demon knight almost fell off just now. Even Zhang Tie himself had forgotten to flap his wings and almost fallen off when he saw the item in the distance.


    On the plain behind the mountain range in the middle of this island, Zhang Tie saw an extremely magnificent pyramid which almost made him suffocated.


    That pyramid was larger than any other pyramid that Zhang Tie had ever seen or heard. It was about 3,000 m in height. It was more like a mountain peak than a building. If not flying over this mountain range, Zhang Tie could never see such a pyramid.


    The pyramid was completely made of crystals. Even being more than dozens of km away from it, Zhang Tie could still see the color and texture of the crystals.


    A huge pyramid completely made of crystals. Such a pyramid could never be made in this age, even through the concerted efforts of all the human countries across Blackson Humans Corridor. The technique that required to build such a huge pyramid had been out of the limit that humans could reach in this age.


    A term occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind¡ª¡ªPre-historical cultural relics.


    How could such a marvelous pre-historical cultural relics exist in the underground space?


    After being stunned for a second, Zhang Tie hurriedly sped up towards that pyramid.


    Compared to Zhang Tie, that demon knight almost exerted its full strength that he used to suck nipples to fly towards that pyramid, which really shocked Zhang Tie.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie was 20 miles away from that pyramid, Zhang Tie sensed a powerful energy enshrouding the space. If he cultivated in such an atmosphere, he would light his surging points much faster than before.


    The closer he was to the pyramid, the more evident the energy field of the huge crystal pyramid would be. With the effect of that energy field, the plants nearby the pyramid grew much better than those in other places. The palm-tree like trees and the fungi on the ground were too huge. Those trees were 200-300 m high while those fungi were completely like booths.


    Besides those plants, there were more animals. It seemed that those animals had also sensed that this place was special...


    At this moment, a loud boom drifted from the front. At the same time, Zhang Tie saw some huge odd-looking birds [whose wings were as long as 3 m] smashed into minced fleshes and sprayed over.


    All the animals seemed to have been used to the long-term tranquility. After hearing such a loud boom, all the animals were so flurried that they instantly escaped in all directions. Batches of colorful little birds flew off the woods and escaped to the distance; some small beasts were escaping everywhere in the 2-m high brushwood.


    The moment Zhang Tie saw those small animals had Zhang Tie known that there were no fierce animals or magical beasts here. Otherwise, there would never be so many small animals here.


    Those odd-looking birds might be the fiercest animals here. After feeling that their territorial airspace was violated by the demon knight, they wanted to warn the demon knight; pitifully, the front two birds were instantly killed.


    Before Zhang Tie reached the pyramid had he heard the demon knight''s extremely blatant laughter.


    "Ha...ha...ha...thanks, Demon God...it''s the legendary tower of time...it''s the tower of time. Bingo...Everything in this tower of time belongs to me...belongs to me..."


    Zhang Tie moved closer and found that this pyramid was not made of crystals at all; instead, it was completely a super huge, ink-colored piece of crystal. There were even some complex runes in the crystal which enabled the crystal to display a bizarre color...


    Zhang Tie was so shocked that he almost turned stonified...


    There were also two giants'' skeletons below the stairs towards the entrance in the middle of the pyramid.


    The two giants'' skeletons were also well preserved as they shined a metallic luster. They were sitting on two huge chairs made of crystals below the stairs like two dignified concierge gods. Each of them was supporting a terrifying battle sword which was as high as 10 m like two huge pillars rooted in the ground. After throwing a glance at them, Zhang Tie knew that they were at least weighed tons.


    If there wasn''t that demon knight, Zhang Tie even wanted to land here and take a look at this place carefully. Everything here was too shocking.


    "Open..." The demon knight''s roar drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears from the middle of the pyramid.


    "This opportunity could not be met in 1,000 years. The first one entering it would get this opportunity. Never let that demon knight in..."


    Heller, who used to be silent, warned Zhang Tie at this moment.


    Zhang Tie then flew forward. He found the demon knight was trying to push open the 40-m high gate while withstanding it forcefully.


    The knight''s physical strength was unrivaled; however, no matter how much strength it exerted while raising its battle qi, he only gradually opened a narrow crack of the gate while a powerful, milky light pillar leaked out of the crack. There seemed to be another splendid world behind the gate...


    Watching that crack, the demon knight was driven so excited that it kept exclaiming. Meanwhile, it exerted all the strength that he used to suck its mommy''s nipples...


    Gradually, the crack expanded, 1 cm, 2 cm...


    The demon knight almost became mad as it kept roaring...


    However...


    Before the demon knight responded, Zhang Tie had already flown inside through the 2 cm crack.


    The gate suddenly became heavier. Finally, it did not move no matter how much strength the demon knight used. The demon knight then became flurried. Closely after that, the gate closed up tightly just like joking with him.


    ''What''s wrong?''


    The demon knight was driven infuriated. Gradually, he became hopeless; finally, he was driven as resentful as a grumbling woman.


    With a growl, the demon knight exerted its full strength to launch a punch onto the gate.


    However, its strike became completely ineffective just like how a mosquito wanted to push down a huge tree. It didn''t even shake off any dust...


    "No..." An extremely miserable shriek sounded outside the pyramid.


    At this moment, the demon knight was like a beggar who had expended all of his money to buy a lottery ticket. When the beggar found that he hit the jackpot of 10 million gold coins, he went to ask for the reward while dreaming about living in an empire. Pitifully, those workers told him strictly that the computers in the lottery center were attacked by hackers last night and the winning numbers were changed temporarily by the hackers. Therefore, the beggar''s lottery became ineffective. How the beggar felt at that moment was coincidentally how the demon knight felt.


    The most terrifying thing was not to have nothing; what was more terrifying was that you lost what you were going to get right away.


    ...


    Watching the huge crystal gate being closed, the little black beetle returned to Castle of Black Iron. Zhang Tie himself then walked out of Castle of Black Iron.


    It was a distant and deep crystal tunnel. Breathing the vigorous energy in the tunnel, Zhang Tie felt comfortable all over while each of his pores became relaxed.


    Walking in the tunnel, Zhang Tie looked around and found no crack on the walls. The tunnel was covered with the light shadow of crystals which contained running runes. Zhang Tie''s shadow was reflected in all directions of the crystal tunnel. Zhang Tie felt like walking in a kaleidoscope.


    Zhang Tie chatted with Heller when he was walking inside.


    "Heller, will that guy break in?" Zhang Tie asked as he looked back.


    "No, only one person is allowed at one time. Additionally, that demon knight cannot destroy this place."


    "How do you know that?"


    Heller''s chuckles drifted from Zhang Tie''s mind sea. Zhang Tie knew it was Heller''s answer; therefore, he didn''t ask him anymore. Whereas, another question occurred to his mind.


    "Umm, I heard the demon knight shouting "tower of time", what''s that?"


    Heller became silent in Zhang Tie''s mind sea for a couple of seconds before replying, "In a far distant age, powerhouses of clans cultivated here. Have you heard an ancient saying that has been spread for thousands of years¡ª¡ªhumans are afraid of time; yet time is afraid of the pyramid!"


    "Yup, I''ve heard it when I was in Blackhot City. But is there any relation between it and this pyramid?"


    "That old saying exists because of this pyramid!"


    "What do you mean?"


    "You will know it when you leave out of here, castle lord. There''s a time barrier in front, the great time and space torsion which would cut off the links between you, Castle of Black Iron and me. But, don''t worry, castle lord. Everything will recover back to normal when you come out of here. Until then, enjoy your time here!"


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what was a time barrier. He only saw a bright yet not dazzling light film in front of the tunnel as was told by Heller. Without any hesitation, he just walked in...

 705 Being Accompanied by Lonely Stars

    Chapter 705: Being Accompanied by Lonely Stars


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After penetrating through that light film, Zhang Tie came to a huge space which was like the size of a football field. He was in the geometrical center of gravity of the magnificent crystal pyramid.


    After hearing the sound, Zhang Tie looked back and found the gate that he entered through had disappeared and turned into a huge piece of crystal. The entire space was sealed from outside, leaving Zhang Tie alone inside.


    ''What happened?'' Zhang Tie became surprised while numerous runes appeared in those crystals and started to run fantastically. The runes ran faster and faster. In a couple of seconds, Zhang Tie, although with his knight''s consciousness, had found that he could not identify those runes. After a few more seconds, those runes turned into the light.


    The countless light was running in the crystals. The entire space was gradually wrapped in a layer of a light cocoon. Inside the light cocoon, the crystals gradually became obscure while a brilliant river of stars appeared above Zhang Tie''s head...


    Zhang Tie was completely stunned by such an exotic scenery.


    However, before Zhang Tie asked the question, he had received a group of spiritual messages from this space.


    ¡ª¡ªThe tower of time starts. The time torsion in this space is the standard difference between the rotation time and the revolution time of this planet. That is to say, one year in this space is equal to one day outside.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter half-monthly phase change period, namely 15 years in this space, 15 days outside, the time torsion value would recover zero, when the tower of time will enter silent energy storage period once again.


    ¡ª¡ªDuring this period, the vital aura value filling this space will naturally maintain all the daily demands for the incomer and prevent the incomer''s living cells from aging.


    ¡ª¡ªIf you want to leave in advance, you can rotate the time ball on the ground in the anti-clockwise direction.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter 60 standard years outside, this tower of time will restart.


    Zhang Tie finally understood the meaning of "tower of time". When this tower opened, it would enable the incomer to cultivate 15 years in this space without eating or drinking. However, it was only equal to 15 days of outside.


    After closing his eyes, Zhang Tie then sensed an extremely pure, tender, delicate and vigorous energy filling this space. Being immersed in such a natural energy, each cell in Zhang Tie''s body was in a very cozy state. Almost one day had passed since the dawn of September 1st. After experiencing the high-intensity battle with demons and being chased by a demon knight, Zhang Tie also was a bit fatigued and hungry. However, at this moment, the exhaustion and hunger were gradually disappearing.


    Even fine dust could enter human''s blood and body through skin cells, not to mention the life energy here.


    After thinking through it, Zhang Tie instantly felt relieved.


    The alleged golden time ball was on the ground in the distance which was as high as Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie walked over there while the entire space was resounding with Zhang Tie''s clear footsteps. The feeling could only be described with one word¡ª¡ªpeace.


    After coming to the front of the time ball, Zhang Tie found it was a complexed rune or an alchemist''s structure made of an unidentified metal. The entire time ball was slowly rotating on the ground in a clockwise manner. Zhang Tie noticed the circles of scales outside the ball, which seemed to represent the time elapse of this space.


    A whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind as Zhang Tie injected some spiritual energy inside the ball. As was predicted by him, he indeed got a precise time since the tower of time started and how much time was left in this tower.


    Besides the precise time, this time ball also contained a line.


    ¡ª¡ªAnts gather to seek for survival while the powerful ones are accompanied by loneliness and the stars.


    After reading the line for a short while, Zhang Tie looked more decisive.


    Besides this time ball, Zhang Tie also saw some square crystal platforms in this huge space. One of the square crystal platforms looked like a bed with nothing on it. Some platforms looked like an operating platform very much. Strangely, those platforms reminded Zhang Tie of someone fabricating various pills and medicaments and cast tools on them. If he had made full preparations, Zhang Tie could have brought many useful items inside and forged his own skills here.


    Thinking of skills, Zhang Tie instantly had an idea. He then closed his eyes and hurriedly attempted to activate a trouble-reappearance situation in his mind sea by running his spiritual energy.


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had appeared on the sea beach of Hidden Dragon Island while the poor little sea snake was swimming towards Zhang Tie forcefully and wanting to bite Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie smiled. Because he ate the trouble-reappearance fruit which naturally contained the trouble-reappearance situation. Therefore, the trouble-reappearance situation was not influenced inside this space. Otherwise, he could only constantly light that stick of spiritual feather and store the ammo to light surging points instead of promoting to new levels inside this space.


    Zhang Tie pointed at that small sea-snake using one finger while the entire trouble-reappearance situation disappeared in light dots.


    After opening his eyes, Zhang Tie took a round in the space. Closely after that, he walked to the stony platform and started to polish that stick of spiritual feature in his Shrine.


    From then on, Zhang Tie entered his deep meditation.


    After 2 days, Zhang Tie''s cultivation rhythm was fixed in the tower of time.


    Each day, he would spend 12 hours to polish the stick of spiritual feather in the Shrine, 5 hours to read the endless great wild true words and cultivate the mysterious methods in the "Great Wilderness Sutra", 2 hours to enter trouble-reappearance situation and 2 hours to forge his battle skills in the vast space of the tower of time, where he could release his battle-qi and battle skills in the most violent and shocking way. As to the remaining 3 hours, he would sleep.


    Actually, besides sleeping, he almost used all the time to cultivate.


    In the tower of time, being nourished by the pure life aura energy of pyramid, Zhang Tie wouldn''t feel thirsty or hungry. He didn''t need to go to the toilet either. Besides sleeping, he could always maintain a very vigorous state. Additionally, Zhang Tie found that the quality of his sleep was really unimaginable. Only after 3 hours of rest, he could recover his spiritual energy and physical strength completely just like sleeping more than 10 hours outside.


    As to the 2 hours in the trouble-reappearance situation each day, Zhang Tie would determine the next surging points to light, read mysterious books in the Secret Knowledge Pavilion or Breaking Heavens Library or take a walk on the seaside to listen to the sea waves and the waving tree leaves...


    Being blessed by the great energy of the crystals, he could light surging points two more times faster than that before. On the 4th day since he came in here, Zhang Tie had already lit the 146th surging point with his great spiritual energy...


    From then on, Zhang Tie gradually made progress towards LV 13 battle monster at the speed of lighting 1 surging point per 4 days...


    In such a cultivation, Zhang Tie almost forgot about time...


    ...


    After 350 days, sitting on the crystal bed with crossed legs, Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he had just lit the 233rd surging point...


    The moment he lit the surging point had he felt his qi sea vibrating while the entire qi sea expanded two more times. At the same time, the battle qi rolled in his qi sea and gradually became more condensed. After filling the entire qi sea, his battle qi overflew his qi sea and covered his whole body. By then, Zhang Tie could release battle qi attack from every part of his body. Additionally, his battle force rose to a new high. Once he was promoted to LV 14, his battle qi would condense and form a powerful protective battle qi outside his body.


    Not only that, when the battle qi rolled all over his body, Zhang Tie felt his eyes turning cold abruptly and as comfortable as being covered with two pieces of ice cubes. By contrast, his ears felt warm like being wrapped in a hot-water bag. After sustaining this feeling about half an hour, Zhang Tie felt that he had gained a great improvement in his visual sense and auditory sense. Undoubtedly, this was the reward gifted by the King Roc Sutra when he promoted to LV 13.


    Having the experience in incarnating into a thunder hawk, Zhang Tie knew it clearly how sharp visual sense did a thunder hawk have. However, at this moment, he found that his visual sense became even sharper than a thunder hawk. His visual sense got a qualitative improvement on the basis of dark vision...


    Zhang Tie picked up himself from the ground and moved his limbs. At the same time, all of his muscles cracked once again.


    Zhang Tie shot out a punch, which was more like a bloody, fierce tiger than a mass of battle qi. The tiger roared as it flashed over 50 steps of distance and disappeared on the mysterious crystal wall of the tower of time...


    Zhang Tie didn''t become disappointed about that. Even the knight''s strike towards the tower of time was like a tickle, not to mention Zhang Tie himself.


    Zhang Tie''s iron-blood fist officially entered the realm of turning battle qi into real shape as was featured in LV 13. This realm was described as "punches are tigers which can sweep over an army of thousands of soldiers" in the mysterious book "Iron-blood Fist".


    ...


    Zhang Tie entered the shadow demon cell once again. This time, Zhang Tie found that Master Abyan turned much clumsier than last time. Not only that, Master Abyan even looked hilarious. Without activating a senior rapidly moving rune, Zhang Tie just collided with Master Abyan face to face based on Kuafu bloodline and his great battle force. Only after a bit more than 10 minutes, Abyan had been torn into pieces by a flock of bloody, fierce tigers...


    Watching Abyan struggling in front of his iron-blood fist, Zhang Tie felt Abyan became aged for the first time.


    The trouble-reappearance situation then broke into light dots...


    ...


    After banging the gate for almost one day, the demon knight finally panted wearily. Being driven extremely mad, the demon knight could not think through how the gate of the tower of time closed after almost being pushed open. It tried its best to think about the possible reasons. Closing its eyes, it racked its mind to recall all the details...


    After a long while, the demon knight seemed to get something with his super great spiritual energy and memory. When it was forcefully pushing open the gate, an insect seemed rapidly drilling into the gate through the crack. However, it didn''t pay attention to that insect due to the great excitement...


    When the demon knight remembered the rules to access the tower of time, it gritted its teeth.


    ''What? I was defeated by an insect?''


    The demon knight roared which could be heard within dozens of squares miles...


    From then on, all the plants and animals in this underground space were in trouble...

 706 Promoting to a Knigh

    Chapter 706: Promoting to a Knight


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As Zhang Tie had eaten too many fruits, he was cultivating at an unprecedented high speed.


    To promote to LV 14 from LV 13, it required him to light 144 surging points. This process took Zhang Tie almost 580 days.


    If he did not have a trouble-reappearance situation, Zhang Tie even wondered whether he could stand such a tough cultivation in such an isolated space. He might have been driven mad in less than 1 year.


    However, during the past 584 days, Zhang Tie learned to sing songs. He always hummed songs alone.


    Previously, Zhang Tie didn''t know how to sing songs. Nobody taught him either. He could only whistle at most or hum one or two lines. As there were music books in Breaking Heavens Library, Zhang Tie read some and learned to sing songs. He could even identify music scores.


    The imitating bloodline granted him an excellent talent in learning music which originated from humans'' far-ancient ancestors; plus Zhang Tie''s precise control about his singing skills and his long-lasting qi, he could dwarf all the human singers before the Catastrophe. When he heard his own song, Zhang Tie was so excited that he almost burst into tears. Zhang Tie had never imagined that he could sing so well.


    After that, Zhang Tie always killed time by singing songs in the tower of time.


    Zhang Tie found that singing songs was the simplest way to make the singer and others forget about loneliness which was least limited to tools and conditions. As long as he input his emotions and feelings, he found that he could release his loneliness, express his ideas, entertain himself and others by singing songs.


    Zhang Tie smoothly gained his protective battle qi before promoting to LV 14. Additionally, his defensive ability was also intensified by the "King Roc Sutra". He also gained a complete fulfillment on his "Soul Capture Skill".


    Zhang Tie promoted to LV 14 while singing songs. After that, he put all the demons and Master Abyan that he had killed into the same trouble-reappearance situation and mistreated them fiercely. This time, he felt the battle rather insipid. He could not seek any pleasure with them. Therefore, Zhang Tie remembered that huge deep-sea monster. He finally found back some feeling of freshness by fighting that huge deep-sea monster which had been killed by Stars and Moons Sword Sage in the trouble-reappearance situation.


    However, such a battle became boring once again after a few months when Zhang Tie promoted to 2-star battle monster.


    As he had realized a complete fulfillment of his "Soul Capture Skill", Zhang Tie found two more secret books from Secret Knowledge Pavilion when he was free. At this moment, Zhang Tie was tapping his interests rather than cultivating in such a lonely space.


    The two secret books were both about how to release hidden weapons. They were not advanced secret books. Due to limited destructive force, hidden weapons were devalued by humans. Therefore, the two secret books were placed on the 5th floor of the secret knowledge pavilion, one was called "Nets Above and Snares Below", the other was called "One Thousand Hands and One Thousand Fingers". The two secret books were not too attractive to commoners. However, for Zhang Tie, the two secret books could raise his original advantages to the utmost. After combining with his strength and his extremely precise throwing skill, Zhang Tie grew stronger. This was how Zhang Tie chose to cultivate himself. He chose those secret books that could raise his advantages to the utmost instead of just choosing advanced secret books.


    It was a distant and lonely journey from LV 14 battle monster to LV 15 battle spirit. Zhang Tie spent 2 years and 7 months on this process...


    It was a tougher test about Zhang Tie''s will and soul from LV 15 battle spirit to a knight. During this process, Zhang Tie almost couldn''t stand to move closer to the time ball.


    ¡ª¡ªAnts gather to seek for survival while powerful ones accompany with loneliness and stars.


    Each time Zhang Tie read this would he grit his teeth and stick to his cultivation. Due to his persistence, Zhang Tie completed the most important metamorphosis in his life from inside to outside.


    After tiding over the toughest 2 years of test, Zhang Tie felt that he had completely become purified inside. He felt like experiencing a sacred baptism as he started to sense a beautiful loneliness and silence under the stars. At the same time, he had a strong, brilliant life experience and recognition about his existence, which surpassed all the subjective senses and the bond in time and space. In such an experience, Zhang Tie knew that he could be free wherever he was and whatever he was doing...


    Zhang Tie knew that this experience was the foundation for him to be a real powerhouse.


    From then on, Zhang Tie completely forgot about time. He just cultivated, cultivated and cultivated...


    Not knowing how long had passed, after lighting the 987th surging point calmly, Zhang Tie watched the 987 burning surging points. He found that those burning surging points had linked with each other and formed a marvelous chakra. A seed rune of "King Roc Sutra" then flew out of his Shrine from the chakra and displayed an image of a golden roc king who stretched out its huge wings...


    Zhang Tie''s qi sea and the Shrine surging point exploded at the same time like how the universe came into being and turned into a void universe. Closely after that, his battle qi turned into solid and became a hot sun whose bright rays endlessly provided a powerful knight''s battle qi for him...


    At this moment, surging waves aroused in his mind sea, from where a bright moon rose up. The All-spirits Pagoda was above the bright moon. The moonlight cast off, breaking the qi sea at once.


    Sunlight surging upward while moonlight pouring down. The two lights converged in Zhang Tie''s chest, where the Chakra''s core rested. Closely after that, the entire Chakra started to rotate like a machine that absorbed the sheer terror in the universe. At the same time, the overwhelming strength entered Zhang Tie''s body. Zhang Tie gradually floated up as he radiated strong luster. Meanwhile, each of the cells in his body started to change qualitatively...


    ...


    On September 1st, the battle of Upton City shocked the entire Blackson Humans Corridor...


    On that day, 10 human knights from Norman Empire, Jinyun Country and Qilan Country, the three powerful human countries in the south and the north of Blackson Humans Corridor, raided the super demon corps outside Upton City. Assisted by over 10,000 human battle airships, the entire battlefield lasted over 1,000 miles from outside Upton City to the north after over 20 hours of fierce battle. The powerful super demon corps suffered a loss for the first time...


    In this battle, one demon knight disappeared, one demon knight was heavily wounded. The entire corps suffered a loss of over 20,000 members. As a result, they had to evacuate towards the north...


    The news that the allied forces of three human countries heavily mauled the super demon corps spread to the entire Blackson Humans Corridor at once.


    On the same day, another elite force of the major clans of Jinyun Country led by knights raided Angus Clan of Free Commercial Federation. Angus Clan''s status as the member of Three-eye Association was exposed. The entire clan was exterminated. When everyone was shocked by the real status of Angus Clan, they also admired the wealth being plundered away by Angus Clan. It was said that the wealth of Angus Clan filled more than 50 airships...


    After the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations was broken through by demons, humans finally won a battle in the north of the Blackson Humans Corridor through the battle of Nein City and the battle of Upton City. After drawing out a hidden force of Three-eye Association in the south of Blackson Humans Corridor, demons'' aggressive momentum seemed to curb temporarily. Many humans saw the beach of hope.


    However, through this battle, the Demon General''s three-in-one strength also shocked everyone. As a result, one of the ten human knights was killed, two were heavily injured. Being blessed by the Demon General''s three-in-one strength, although the super demon corps paid a price for this battle, the super demon corps still slid away from the thick airship encirclement of the three human countries.


    ...


    September 11th, 10 days after the battle of Upton City, Huaiyuan Palace, Jinyun Country...


    Elders of Huaiyuan Palace were sitting on cattail hassocks with solemn looks in the magnificent palace.


    "Do you have any news about Zhang Tie?"


    "No news yet! We''ve had Zhang Yang contact him. But there''s still no response from Zhang Tie on Elder Muyuan''s side..."


    All the elders then let out a sigh inside while bending their brows.


    Right then, they heard a noise outside the palace.


    After seeing Zhang Tie being chased by a demon knight and disappearing into the river, Elder Muray was feeling pretty bad. Therefore, after hearing the noise outside the palace, he roared, "Zhang Shun, who''s outside there. Shut up!"


    "Elder...there...there''s some abnormal phenomena outside the palace. At the sight of the abnormal phenomena, the apprentices couldn''t help but exclaim, "A shadowy figure appeared in front of the elders while his words were full of amazement."


    "What abnormal phenomena?"


    "Erm...please take a look outside, honorable elders!"


    After exchanging glances with each other, all the elders walked out of the palace. Some deacons were watching the sky while widely opening their mouths. After looking up, the elders were left too stunned to utter any word.


    Millions of fowls were hovering in the sky in the shape of a huge circular ring. They were twittering joyfully and circling around the sun. New birds joined them.


    Even the elders had never seen or heard such a bizarre scene. What a great strength was behind those birds!


    "Ah, elders, look!" A disciple abruptly shouted as he pointed at the pool outside the palace.


    There were some golden fish and some precious golden huge turtles in the pool. However, at this moment, all the golden fish had shrunk to the bottom of the water and did not dare to move, they seemed to be scared of something. Being different from the tortoise, golden huge turtles were always high spirited and mighty. It was rare to see golden huge turtles bury their head and limbs in their shells. What was happening?


    ''Numerous birds are hovering in the sky while aquatic living beings are hiding at the bottom of the pool, what does this indicate?'' The elders of Huaiyuan Palace exchanged glances with each other before revealing a shocking look at the same time...


    The same shocking scene happened in all the places where birds and aquatic living beings existed, such as; Qilan Country, Norman Empire, Ice and Snow Wilderness, Taixia Country, even the entire Western Continent.


    ...


    After accomplishing his cultivation, Zhang Tie yawned as he fell asleep. He woke up 3 days later...


    After waking up, Zhang Tie continued to cultivate as usual like nothing had ever happened. Being different from before, Zhang Tie kept stabilizing and consolidating his realm with the time that was once used to light surging points. Gradually, the sunlight in his body grew more brilliant while the moonlight grew denser. Besides, the Chakra''s rotation gradually became stabilized and more powerful like a huge millstone...

 707 Off the Tower

    Chapter 707: Off the Tower


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie''s cultivation pattern didn''t change essentially in the tower of time. From one perspective, Zhang Tie just jumped out of a deep well and could see the outside world more clearly. The sky at the bottom of the well was not the entire world. It was more like a window. This world was much bigger than that Zhang Tie could imagine. The well mouth was not the highest point in this world; instead, it was just equal to the distance from the bottom of the well to the ground. The ground was called Black Iron Age. All those who could stand in this age by feet steadily had climbed out of the well. Those people had a common name¡ª¡ªBlack Iron Knights! They could control their own fates and the fates of others who were still in the well in this age.


    However, that was just a beginning. From the ground outside of the well mouth, black iron knights could overlook all the living beings in the well who were still trying their best to jump and climb out of the well. Besides, black iron knights could also look to the distance. Naturally, they would look up at peaks in the far. Each peak represented the climax of the powerful civilization that had ever existed on the ground. The highest peak even deepened into the clouds and broke the heavens into the immortal nation that was built among the mysterious stars by gods.


    Zhang Tie didn''t overlook; neither did he look up. He chose to look at the front horizontally. After looking at a peak in the distance, Zhang Tie, who had just climbed out of the well mouth, slowly adjusted his breaths as he gradually straightened up his body. Closely after that, he walked towards one peak in his vision firmly step by step. Compared to the distance from the bottom of the well to its mouth, the following trip was longer and more difficult.


    Those levels below knights could be divided by the number of surging points being lit; however, above knights, each peak represented the Chakra of a new element and domain. It was pretty complex to form a new Chakra, which was over 100 times harder than lighting all the surging points. Many black iron knights were limited to this rank in their whole lives for hundreds of years because they could not form the 2nd Chakra.


    ...


    5 years elapsed...


    One day, when Zhang Tie woke up, he found one exit on the crystal wall which had been enclosed for 15 days. It was the entrance from where he came in 15 days ago. The runes on the crystal wall stopped running.


    After blinking his eyes, Zhang Tie sat up from the crystal bed. Patting his a*s, he walked towards the exit.


    When he passed through that energy film, a whim occurred to his mind. Closely after that, he launched a punch towards the wall abruptly. The room then reverberated with a muffled thunder while vibrating for a second. At the same time, the runes in the crystal wall radiated strong luster and offset Zhang Tie''s terrifying strength after quite a while.


    Zhang Tie looked around before yawning and stretched out his limbs. Closely after that, he walked in that crystal aisle once again which looked like a kaleidoscope.


    After coming to the crystal gate of the tower of time which was dozens of meters in height, Zhang Tie stretched out one hand and slightly pushed it open.


    After Zhang Tie walked out of the tower of time, the crystal gate closed automatically. It would take 60 years to open the crystal gate again.


    ...


    Nothing changed in this underground space. It was still how it looked 15 years ago...two weeks ago. Standing at the entrance of the tower of time, Zhang Tie watched the mountain range in the distance and the glow at the top of the space. He then felt that he returned to the real world. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt refreshing once again. Like sprouted seeds and butterflies breaking out of cocoons, he faced this real and living world once again.


    A long-lost smile reappeared in Zhang Tie''s face.


    ''Previously, I slept 3 years in Castle of Black Iron like 1 day; recently, I lived 15 years in the tower of time which were equal to 15 days of outside. What a wonderful world!''


    Being excited, Zhang Tie straightly sang a song loudly. With special tones of ancient Hua language, his song was fervent and passionate about how he felt at this moment. The underground space was like a big theater which could spread Zhang Tie''s song into all directions...


    ...


    In the underground ocean, the demon knight who was extremely infuriated was wresting with a huge monster in the ocean.


    Over the past two weeks, almost all the animals had been killed by this demon knight. Therefore, it transferred its battle field to the ocean. 3 days ago, it met a huge monster in the ocean.


    That huge monster was a bizarre long, narrow fish longer than 50 m. It was covered with thicked-scales. Besides, it had a pair of bulged icy blue eyes and sharp teeth. With a strong killing qi, the water arrow being shot out of its mouth could reach over 1000 m away and penetrate through metals and stones. Additionally, its scales were very defensive. Common strikes could never hurt it. Moreover, this monster could move swiftly in the ocean. It was very smart. Even the demon knight could not catch up with it in the ocean. As long as it was in the disadvantageous situation, it would escape away by drilling into its narrow cave. Meanwhile, it would release rank poison, making the demon knight helpless.


    After wrestling with this huge monster for 3 days, that demon knight still failed to kill it.


    In the beginning, the demon knight just wanted to beat this monster; when it found this monster was very tricky who could release a rank poison to corrode its protective battle qi, another whim occurred to the demon knight''s mind.


    ''Such a magical beast must have lived in the underground space for many years. It must have a high level. Its flesh and blood must contain a very high energy of qi and blood. It is a great supplement for demon knights who were not choosy in food. Additionally, its toxins or poison gland was a rare raw material for Demon General''s cultivation of his all-poisonous battle qi.'' Thinking of this, the demon knight determined to kill this magical beast.


    After concluding the former two days of experience, this demon knight prepared a new set of tactics today. If it went smoothly, this magical beast would not escape today.


    Realizing that the monster had shot out over 100 water arrows towards him at a decreasing speed and power, the demon knight knew that the magical beast had almost exhausted its strength. The demon knight became thrilled inside as it estimated that the magical beast would slow down its speed when it escaped away. Right then, a song drifted over here...


    " Wild gooses come back welcomes the spring 1,"


    "Younger sister has one person in mind yo 2."


    "Yellow and green grasses on the hillside hai 3."


    "Your younger sister is waiting for you here again yo..."


    After hearing the song, the magical beast who was wrestling with the demon knight quivered all over before diving into the water and exerting its utmost effort to escape towards its nestle as fast as a lightning bolt...


    The demon knight was also stunned. As it didn''t know about songs, it could not identify the quality of this song. It only knew that it was a special language of Hua people, the No. 1 enemy of demons. Additionally, it sensed a great strength in this song. Like thunders, the song bounced back from the dome. What was more amazing was that there was someone else in this space, who was even singing a song.


    The demon knight instantly recalled the person that he chased two weeks ago. With narrow eyes, he straightly flew towards the source of the song like a meteor.


    "Morning glory blooms in night yo 4,"


    "Your elder brother has a little secret hai 5."


    "Sunrise brightens the ground yo,"


    "You shine in my eyes hai."


    The song was the best navigation. Flying in the air, the demon knight gradually became amazed about the source of the song¡ª¡ªtower of time.


    ...


    Singing the song, Zhang Tie frankly looked up while the demon knight flew towards here like a meteor.


    "Wild gooses fly towards south yo, twitters miserable hai,"


    "After deserting your responsibility field, you have fertilized household plot."


    "White legs yo, watery holes 6hai,"


    "Why you still leave yo."


    "Aya...yo...aya...yo,"


    "Why you still leave yo..."


    At the end of the ancient Hua song marked as "xintianyou", Zhang Tie raised his voice passionately.


    Soon after he finished the discourse filler "yo" had the demon knight arrived in front of the tower of time. Watching Zhang Tie standing in front of the tower of time safe and sound, the demon knight was pretty shocked.


    The demon knight suspended over 20 m above Zhang Tie and overlooked Zhang Tie while radiating a cruel glow and a bit amazement.


    "As you''re lucky enough to be the first audience of my nice song, you should applaud!" Zhang Tie teased casually.


    The demon knight didn''t realize that Zhang Tie was teasing him; instead, it just looked around rapidly. After finding no abnormal situations in the surroundings and ensuring that Zhang Tie had nowhere to go, the demon knight jeered, "I will see where you go this time."


    Zhang Tie just watched that demon knight calmly as he smiled, "Hmm, it should be my dialogue."


    The demon knight ignored Zhang Tie. It was also afraid that Zhang Tie might play tricks once again. Therefore, it appeared in front of Zhang Tie in a split second and punched towards Zhang Tie''s head at once...


    After being flushed over here and being replaced by an insect from entering the tower of time, the demon knight was always furious these days. When it caught sight of Zhang Tie, it couldn''t wait to mistreat Zhang Tie blatantly.


    The demon knight had determined to have Zhang Tie watch himself being shattered one piece after another...


    However, the demon knight''s terrifying punch didn''t hit Zhang Tie; instead, it was blocked by Zhang Tie''s palm, causing a muffled loud sound. Whereas, Zhang Tie''s palm remained unchanged.


    Before that demon knight responded, Zhang Tie had already kicked onto its lower abdomen. Like a shell being shot out, the demon knight was sent flying backward 100 m. It didn''t stop until knocking down some huge trees.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie gradually floated in the air and stood still. After that, his eyes gradually turned icy while a strong qi covered his body...


    After its protective battle qi was almost collapsed by Zhang Tie''s punch, the demon knight widely opened its eyes...


    "Boom..." Zhang Tie rushed towards that demon knight, causing a loud sonic sound in the air.


    "No way..." The demon knight roared as it rushed towards Zhang Tie face-to-face once again.


    The fierce collision between two knights started in the air...


    ...

 708 The Battle of Knights

    Chapter 708: The Battle of Knights


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the eyes of people below knights, the battle of knights was more like fierce collisions between two meteors. Actually, knights moved and attacked too fast to be captured by commoners'' eyes. Therefore, many people thought that battle of knights was just constant collisions in the air. Whereas, in each split seconds, two knights had already moved and struck over 100 times.


    After promoting to knights, movements and skills were abandoned first. In many battle skills, even if the cultivator had reached 15 LV, the movements and skills were still important in the battle. However, as long as the cultivator reached a knight, all the movements and skills would be nothing but laughingstocks.


    When your opponent could smash you into bullsh*t from 100 m away, who cared about your movements and skills?


    The battle of knights would return to the combat between the most basic battle elements, namely; strength, speed, defensive power, power of battle qi and off-hand striking distance, senses and the sensitive control of the relative relationship between space and time from knights'' heart. Due to differences in such elements, knights'' battle pattern and style were different. As a result, knights with different battle styles would lead to fiercer and more mystical collisions.


    Knights didn''t fight on the ground. Because knights thought that they could suppress the ground and gain faster speed and wider moving space from the air. When on the ground, they could only move horizontally or upwards. Additionally, there was a disadvantage on the ground. Even though others'' battle qi could not hit them, the shattered gravels and broken objects might cause the secondary strike to them; therefore, knights only fought in the air.


    Zhang Tie had never experienced such a battle or had such an enlightenment before. However, the moment he started the battle with this demon knight had he grasped the essentials of the battle of knights.


    The demon knight who chased after Zhang Tie was definitely the top one among the demon knights under the hand of the Demon General, who had rich battle experiences. 15 days ago, when this demon knight hurt the human knight and started to chase after Zhang Tie, it had become the first powerful opponent, the best sharpener and teacher of Zhang Tie after he promoted to a knight.


    If Zhang Tie had promoted to a knight just now, honestly, he might not be able to defeat this trump card demon knight. However, it had been 5 years since Zhang Tie promoted to a knight. After 5 years of assiduous cultivation, Zhang Tie had completely consolidated his knight''s Chakra. Therefore, he displayed his super powerful and steady battle force in this battle and gradually dominated the battle.


    Because each knight''s protective battle qi was as resistant as a natural armor, the first step for Zhang Tie to pose an essential harm to the demon knight was to break its protective battle qi. Even if the protective battle qi was broken temporarily, it would be gradually fixed from the demon knight''s body. That was to say, each knight had a super great ability to resist strike by constantly recovering their protective battle qi. This also interpreted the sheer terror of knights. In such a case, the battle of knights could not be easily solved within a short period if not exerting their utmost effort; instead, knights would always wrestle with each other for a long time.


    They had to fight in close quarters when entering the fiercest state or at the risk of their lives.


    Knights could release long-distance strikes; however the most effective way was to fight in close quarters, in which case, knights would strike each other with naked punches, weapons, and battle qi. Fighting in close quarters would be more destructive to knights'' protective battle qi than pure long-distance strikes. Meanwhile, it posed a higher request to knights.


    If knights were striking each other from a long distance, after one party''s protective battle qi was broken, due to the long distance, the weaker party would have enough buffering time to recover his protective battle qi; however, when fighting in close quarters, if one party''s protective battle qi was broken, the weaker party might face another dozens or hundreds of strikes on the same point before recovering his protective battle qi because of a transient negligence. The result would be very risky in a split second.


    For knights, fighting in close quarters was like how commoners fought with bayonets.


    The knight of Three-eye Association being killed by Zhang Tie outside Mocco City also defeated its opponent in close quarters.


    After the battle really started, the battlefield of Zhang Tie and that demon knight soon moved to the woods from the tower of time. After destroying a wide area of forest, they flew over the mountain range and transferred to the underground ocean. Closely after that, they fought in close quarters.


    The demon knight realized that Zhang Tie was learning to fight. As a knight, Zhang Tie''s battle style was a bit immature at the beginning; however, Zhang Tie soon grew up in the battle. The demon knight clearly knew what did this mean.


    "You''re the one who entered the tower of time?" The demon knight immediately understood it while its eyes turned bloody.


    However, there was one point that the demon knight had not thought through, ''How did he enter? Is there another gate of the tower of time?'' However, no matter how it racked its mind, the demon knight never realized that Zhang Tie was that little black beetle who flew in the tower of time through the crack. Even though Zhang Tie was an animal controller and could control the little beetle to ruin its good plan, the demon knight didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could incarnate into a beetle, who, although might be able to change his look. However, although Zhang Tie was a new knight, his performance was utterly different from a newbie who had just promoted to a knight from aspects such as strength, speed, response and knight''s consciousness.


    Zhang Tie just accelerated his movements silently while the leaking battle qi boiled the sea level within 400-500 m.


    After 20 minutes, Zhang Tie roared as he broke the defense of the demon knight''s hands and retreated quickly. Within 0.01 seconds, he broke its protective battle qi using 20 punches. When the demon knight launched the final counter-attack towards Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie just bore it frankly with his own protective battle qi. At the same time, he broke through the demon knight''s chest with one punch, exposing his punch from its back.


    The demon knight''s body exploded into pieces while its fleshes fell into the ocean...


    Zhang Tie instantly grabbed its storage bag in the air...

 709 A New Star

    Chapter 709: A New Start


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Standing in the void, Zhang Tie watched that demon knight''s flesh falling into the ocean, gradually disappearing in the bloody ripples.


    This was the terror of close combat of knights. If it was a long-distance combat, given the agility and maneuvering ability of knights in the air, Zhang Tie sensed that their battle might not come to an end for a whole day. However, facing such a bayonet-charge, the combat had come to an end in a few hours the moment the demon knight''s protective battle qi was broken through. No matter how majestic was the demon knight before and how many difficulties had it experienced on the road towards a knight, all of its honors and brilliant bygones became bygones the moment its protective battle qi was broken through by Zhang Tie.


    At the critical moment, the demon knight wanted to escape or just intended to enlarge the distance between them so that its protective battle qi could be fixed. But how could Zhang Tie allow that to happen?


    As a combat between two species, mercy didn''t exist.


    ''What if my protective battle qi was broken through by a demon knight one day?"


    Through this battle experience, Zhang Tie realized the cruelty of the combat between knights. He had to consider about counter-measures in the critical situation. ''What if my opponent was the Demon General?'' Zhang Tie had to consider it as it was related to his life during the critical situation.


    The Chakra slowly rotated in Zhang Tie''s body, which offset the gravity from the core of the planet, enabling Zhang Tie to suspend in the void.


    Various thoughts occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind. Those basic elements in the combat of knights revolved in Zhang Tie''s mind like burning lanterns. Each distinctive battle element would develop into different battle styles and be used to respond to different dangers. Zhang Tie felt that each whim was either right or wrong...


    Finally, watching the clear ocean, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh as he forgot all the whims. ''As I''ve just promoted to a knight, in Knights'' ranks, at this moment, I''m nothing. There''s a long way to go and many things to learn in the future. Just take it easy.''


    After thinking it through, Zhang Tie started to fly around this underground space to discover the situation. Since he came to this underground space, he had not made a complete investigation of this space yet.


    After a few hours, Zhang Tie finally had a general recognition of this underground space.


    The entire underground space was about 250,000 sq km. The entire underground ocean covered about 500 sq miles, 1/5 of the entire area of the underground space. In the big island where the tower of time rested, there were 13 waterfalls. All the water that flew into this space penetrated into the earth naturally. Some plants and woods in the island were severely destroyed while many animals had been killed. At the sight of the scene, Zhang Tie had already realized that who did it. ''What a mad!''


    The entire underground space was like an isolated underground bubble, which had no exit at all.


    After flying to the dome, Zhang Tie picked off some stones that were radiating glow. It was a special, pure ore. Given its luminosity, it might be a fluorite. However, it was not as icy as fluorite; instead, it touched a bit warm. Zhang Tie didn''t know its name, neither did he know whether it was valuable or not. As there were so many such ores on the dome, with the great ability as a knight, Zhang Tie casually dug about 7-8 tons of them and threw them into Castle of Black Iron.


    After doing all this, Zhang Tie returned to Castle of Black Iron.


    ...


    "Congratulations, castle lord, you''ve promoted to a knight!"


    Watching Zhang Tie appearing in the palace of the palace tree, Heller greeted Zhang Tie as if he had long expected that Zhang Tie would come in.


    The palace was actually a hollow on the palace tree. However, it was really a magnificent hollow. The entire palace tree was natural, which was full of exotic natural aesthetic feelings. The ground of the palace was paved with a layer of natural, crystal material which was similar to quartz. A string of exotic fruits like huge grapes hanging off the top of the half-round dome about dozens of meters. Of course, they were not grapes, but an exotic nestle of fireflies which were naturally carried by the palace tree. Fireflies drilled into the nestle and danced around the nestle while the string of huge grapes started to radiate tender light and brightened the entire palace like a string of huge crystal lamps.


    No artificial traces such as right angle, squares, cubes and strictly symmetric geometric patterns could be seen in the entire palace tree. Everything here complied with natural rules. Everything here carried a harmonious, natural aesthetic perception. Even the front gate of the palace was in the shape of a tree leaf. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie felt a bit strange; however, the longer he looked around here, the more comfortable he would find everything here to be.


    In the daytime, the fireflies didn''t come out. Two sea-tortoise-sized cute beetles were cleaning all the wastes inside the palace tree with a terrifying appetite.


    The few cabins had now become more than 300 rooms in the palace tree. All the houses were distinctive as they all distributed on the trunk and twigs of the palace tree. Bigger rooms were on the trunk while smaller ones were on the twigs. However, due to different spatial locations, the rooms were not interconnected. The palace tree grew out those rooms naturally along with odd-looking types of furniture and utilities. Zhang Tie''s big bed was a huge shell while Zhang Tie''s costume room was a huge pumpkin that was completely hollowed out and was divided into some layers. All the rooms had different sceneries both inside and outside.


    The palace tree rooted deep in the hinterland of the immortal mountain. Being crisscrossed, they formed an underground maze, there was also a tunnel towards the underground space.


    There weren''t any magnificent ornaments inside here. Everything here could only be seen in fairytales for kids, which was out of humans'' imaginations. Each time Zhang Tie came back would he feel relaxed. If he built such a building in the shape of the palace tree in the outside world, he would arouse a great shock for sure.


    The most marvelous thing was that this palace tree was alive as it could constantly grow out new rooms...


    Zhang Tie felt that he had not come here for 15 years.


    After greeting Heller, he threw a deep glance around before walking towards the small tree.


    The small tree was in the middle of the palace while being tightly surrounded by pedal-shaped stairs, which indicated a sacred aesthetic.


    Zhang Tie walked upstairs and came to the small tree.


    As was imagined by him, due to the great time torsion, the connection between him and the small tree was cut off; although he had passed 15 years in the tower of time, he only got three leakless fruits on the small tree, one of which just became ripe today.


    One iron-body fruit might come into being when he escaped from the demon knight in the subterranean torrents.


    The iron-armored demons'' fruit of source had already grown ripe.


    One trouble-reappearance fruit was also hanging over the small tree.


    The fruit of brilliance of the 287 b*stards of Three-eye Association in the hunting castle of Angus Clan also became ripe. At the sight of the fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie had felt the surging spiritual energy inside. Although the greater part of the 287 b*stards were below LV 6, the total of their spiritual energy became very considerable.


    There were two fruits of judgment, one contained medium "soul consolidating rune", the other contained medium "tracing rune".


    Zhang Tie blinked his eyes twice as he thought that he had a blurry vision. After circling around the small tree, he didn''t see any more fruits. ''These fruits should be formed before I promoted to a knight. But what about the later fruits? After promoting to the knight, I killed a demon knight. Why is there no fruit?''


    Zhang Tie became hopeless when he found no more new fruits on the small tree.


    "Sorry, castle lord, manjusaka karma fruit tree could not produce any fruit concerning the demon knight!" Heller''s voice sounded.


    Zhang Tie turned around and watched Heller, "But why? When I killed that knight of Three-eye Association last time, I was also rewarded with some kinds of fruits, including the rare fruit of bloodline."


    "Any demon, once they became a knight, would follow some powerful rules. Each fruit of manjusaka fruit tree is the result of a rule. It confirms to the rules when there are fruits; it also confirms to the rules if no fruit is produced!" Heller watched Zhang Tie with a kind and wise look, "Manjusaka karma fruit tree won''t create rules; it only comply with and display rules!"


    "What are the rules?"


    "Castle lord, if you grew powerful enough that even the manjusaka karma fruit tree could not produce any fruit for you one day, you would know what are the rules!"


    ''If you grew powerful enough that even the manjusaka karma fruit tree could not produce any fruit for you...'' Zhang Tie became stunned after hearing Heller''s words. He had never heard this before. Therefore, the moment he heard this, Zhang Tie felt terrified inside.


    "Of course, any existence has its own limit in strength. Nothing could break its limit in strength. A person could only raise an item as high as his height plus the length of his arm. There was no exception. Certainly, manjusaka karma fruit tree also has its limit. However, the limit is still far away from your current ability, castle lord. Therefore, castle lord, you don''t need to worry about this problem for a long time. It''s my great honor to see you reach that limit!" Heller explained respectfully.


    "You mean I would not get any fruit no matter how many demon knights could I kill in the future?"


    "You got that!"


    Zhang Tie drew in a deep breath as he accepted this fact...


    After that, Zhang Tie accepted another fact, namely, he felt the small tree could provide him less assistance abruptly.


    The 3 leakless fruits soon integrated into that sun in the void of his qi ocean silently in the form of three strands of energy, making the battle-qi luster to radiate from the sun a bit brighter.


    After eating the iron-body fruit, Zhang Tie didn''t have any special feeling.


    Zhang Tie knew that this was the necessary stage in the process of his growth. After promoting to the knight, those things which had a remarkable effect on improving his battle force turned trivial. When he was in the school of Blackhot City, with 3 leakless fruits, he could light one surging point and become outstanding among his classmates.


    Among those fruits, only iron-armored demons'' fruit of source and that fruit of brilliance could remarkably increase Zhang Tie''s battle force.


    After eating the iron-armored demons'' fruit of source, Zhang Tie felt that his energy, being triggered by his surging points, increased by 1/12 once again while his Chraka rotated in a more powerful way. After eating that fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie felt that his spiritual energy increased by almost 1/10.


    ''It seems to be the last supper. Although I could still have a chance to take fruits of brilliance in the future, it''s less effective to me. Because the base of my spiritual energy has been very huge at this moment, the spiritual energy being increased by the fruit of brilliance becomes relatively less. As for the other fruit of source, it depends. I''ve already eaten the fruits of source of wing demons and iron-armored demons, which are the most popular species of demons and the main arm of services among demons. Other demon species are relatively fewer in quantity. As for rare species such as shadow demon, I could barely eat their fruit of source. There might even not be 360 shadow demons in total in this world.''


    With medium "soul consolidating rune" and medium "tracing rune", Zhang Tie gained a new high in the two skills.


    The trouble-reappearance fruit also became useless. The trouble-reappearance situation was that Zhang Tie chased after demons outside Upton City. Over 1,000 demons existed in the trouble-reappearance fruit. Before Zhang Tie promoted to a knight, such a trouble-reappearance fruit would be very useful for Zhang Tie; however, after Zhang Tie promoted to the knight, the trouble-reappearance fruit became useless to him.


    "Knight" was a new platform, starting from which everything was new.


    It took Zhang Tie 1 day to digest those fruits.


    On the next day, Zhang Tie took a bath in Castle of Black Iron for the first time after staying in the tower of time for 15 years. After that, he laid in his huge bed and had a sound sleep. When he got up, he put on a set of clean warrior''s clothes that he plundered from Upton City and left Castle of Black Iron in a refreshing way.


    ...


    Zhang Tie then came to the tower of time.


    He moved the two giants'' skeletons, their weapons and the two huge crystal chairs into Castle of Black Iron completely. He put them outside the gate of the palace tree. The moment he put them there, the entire palace tree became majestic. Those items were much better than any ornaments.


    As for the tower of time, although Zhang Tie dreamed to put it away in Castle of Black Iron, he finally gave it up after making attempts for a while. Even though he had become a knight, it was also out of his reach to move such a mountain-sized item.


    After glancing at the marvelous crystal tower hundreds of times pitifully, Zhang Tie finally left this underground space.


    There was no other exit in this underground space except for that cave behind the waterfall where he fell off. Therefore, Zhang Tie could only return to the cave while lifting against the current.


    It was out of others'' imagination to do this; even knights could barely overcome such turbulent current. Not every knight could accept such a challenge. However, it was easy for Zhang Tie who had just promoted to a knight.


    Zhang Tie opened the tunnel leading to Castle of Black Iron in front of him. As long as the speed of sucking water flow in Castle of Black Iron was greater than that of the water flow flushing downward, Zhang Tie could be easily pushed upward by the great thrust.


    As Zhang Tie walked in the underground tunnel, he kept leaving marks that could only be identified by himself. When he came down here, he didn''t have time to leave marks. As it was a watercourse at the beginning which was twisted and familiar in many places, even with knight''s consciousness, he could still not remember it clearly. Therefore, when he returned, he had to leave marks. ''As the tower of time would open again after 6 decades, I might come here again then.''


    After promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie felt that he should go back to Huaiyuan Palace and clearly explain everything. ''As Huaiyuan Palace is benevolent to me, I should be grateful...''

 710 A Shock

    Chapter 710: A Shock


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    With a splash, Zhang Tie exposed his head out of the water. Watching the skyline and the surrounding ridges, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh, ''Wuh, finally came out of the water.''


    That was a deep pool in the valley, right on one side of a river. There were flourish woods in the surroundings. A waterfall flushed off in the distance. A brook flew by this place. A subterranean river was under the deep pool. It was 8-9 o''clock in the morning when the sun had just risen up. The thin mist in the valley had not completely faded away.


    Two small beasts like David''s deer were drinking on the side of the deep pool. At the sight of the ripples caused by Zhang Tie, they hurriedly ran away.


    As was imagined, after Zhang Tie rushed out of that huge underwater swirl and circled around the watercourse system which was as complex as a three-dimensional maze, he finally got lost although he racked his mind.


    In that case, as long as he swam against the current and moved upwards, he would get closer to the ground. Therefore, after determining his mind, Zhang Tie rushed upwards along one watercourse.


    On the halfway, the water flow converged into a new surging subterranean river and flew towards the south. Watching this, Zhang Tie became reassured. He just rushed as fast as a bolt along the flow. 2 days later, after seeing a new water flow above the subterranean river, Zhang Tie chose to move upwards once again. After repeating this a few times, he finally saw the sunlight under the water. Therefore, he accelerated towards the sunlight and finally exposed his head out of the deep pool.


    The distance of this journey might match that when Zhang Tie went to Ice and Snow Wilderness by sea-route for the first time. The scenery in the subterranean river was really fantastic.


    With the protection of his protective battle qi, Zhang Tie was still dry all over even though he had traveled 2 days in the water.


    After looking at the surroundings, Zhang Tie instantly flew out of the deep pool like a rocket before the Catastrophe. In a split second, he had already flown 3,000-4,000 m in height, from where he could see everything below his feet clearly.


    At the sight of the undulating mountain range, Zhang Tie knew it was Kalay Mountain Range. However, its location should be the southern edge of Kalay Mountain Range. Therefore, Zhang Tie could see the plain and the outline of a city in the distance from here.


    Zhang Tie bore the surrounding terrain in mind. Besides, he made marks all the way out of the underground space. If he wanted to return to that underground space, he only needed to follow his marks back.


    After identifying the direction, Zhang Tie straightly flew towards the city in the distance.


    As long as he was close to that city, Zhang Tie would be able to identify his precise location after referring to the urban map on the south of Kalay Mountain Range in his memory. After that, he would be able to choose the proper route to go back to Huaiyuan Palace...


    Whereas, Zhang Tie didn''t know that after he appeared in the sky for less than half a minute, his movement had been caught by a pair of bright and sharp eyes.


    ...


    On the top of a bald mountain being covered with gravel and weeds over 10 miles away from Zhang Tie, there was a trivial rock. Two low bushes were on the side of the rock. A pair of sharp eyes were gazing tightly at Zhang Tie behind a high-powered military anti-reflective telescope. Some soldiers in mountainous camouflage uniforms were hiding in a narrow space beneath that rock. They kept gnawing dried rations while gazing at Zhang Tie. They all looked a bit nervous and excited.


    After staying here over 1 month, they felt bored every day. The appearance of Zhang Tie made them spirited at once.


    This was the significance of these soldiers here. Even though they had not found anything useful over the past months, once they found it, they would enable human countries in the north of Kalay Mountain Range to make a response in advance.


    After the human defense in Selnes Theater of Operations collapsed, especially after the battle of Upton City came to an end 2 weeks ago, many human countries close to the south of Kalay Mountain Range and Blackson Central Nations Federation had arranged a large number of scouts and observation posts in Kalay Mountain Range so that they could monitor the situation here around the clock. This observation post was a hidden post arranged by the Blackson Central Nations Federation in Kalay Mountain Range.


    "Speed?"


    The human soldier who was holding the telescope asked his partner who was gazing at the optical velometer.


    "0.6 Mach!"


    "Send the warning right away. An unidentified knight is breaking through D16 observation area and flying towards Barlin City at the speed of 0.6 Mach from the north..."


    Another human soldier in the narrow observation post instantly took out a portable remote-sensing crystal communication device and sent out the message at once.


    Closely after he sent out the message had Zhang Tie got rid of this observation area and turned into a blurry black spot.


    "Knight!" The soldier holding the optical velometer swallowed his saliva and said excitedly, "I''ve not imagined that we could really discover a knight in the sky. It''s my first time to see a knight!" After saying that, the soldier found that his team leader was still gazing at the telescope, "Boss, what are you looking at?"


    The guy, who had just commanded the other scouts to send out the message in the observation post, moved his eyes away from the telescope as he let out a deep sigh, "I was watching whether that guy was flying towards us. If so, we have to escape in different directions! If we''re lucky enough, one of us might survive."


    "Ah? No way. That guy is so far away from us. How could he discover us?" The soldier who was holding the optical velometer asked out of amazement.


    The team leader didn''t say anything. He just pointed at a terrifying scar from his left face all the way to his neck and explained, "Last time, we were 5 miles away from the demon knight. When we gazed at him, we were sensed. That b*stard flew towards us and attacked us from 100 m away like patting flies. As a result, only 1 of all the 24 scouts survived. That was me. I was almost buried alive..."


    After hearing this, everybody in the observation post became shocked.


    "This is...too exaggerating."


    "Dawson, remember, unless you could promote to a knight one day, run away as far as possible when you see a demon knight flying towards you, no matter whether you''re a regimental commander, division head, army commander or corps general. Never think that demon knight could not discover you; never think that you could survive a demon knight''s punch. Small figures like us had better not be too eye-catching in front of a knight. If we could survive a knight''s strike unfortunately, we''d better remain still. In that case, the only way to save ourselves is to disguise to be dead on the ground. In that case, even if the demon knight knew that you''re not dead, he would not waste a strike on small figures like us."


    Everyone in the observation post nodded solemnly at the same time.


    "Alright, hurry, prepare for it. We will transfer to No. 2 observation post. I don''t know whether that knight has discovered us or not. Perhaps he had discovered us, yet he didn''t feel like wasting time on us. Those who can fly at the speed of 0.6 Mach are always tricky among knights. If it''s a demon knight, it might move back to exterminate us all!"


    After hearing the team leader''s words, everyone in the observation post became flurried. They hurriedly prepared to evacuate from the observation post. Before leaving, they set a small colorful smoking jar in the observation post. When this smoking jar was attacked by the demon knight, the smoking jar would crack and release the smoke. They would know that the knight was coming back.


    Scouts always used this trick. Although being trivial, it was very useful.


    ...


    Zhang Tie indeed had sensed that he was being observed by someone, who might be hunters in the mountain, scouts dispatched by human countries in the south of Kalay Mountain Range or wanderers. He ignored them. Because demons'' force had not reached here for the time being, it was unnecessary for him to waste time on killing them.


    Zhang Tie flew at the speed of about 200 m per second, namely 720 miles per hour. Zhang Tie felt that he could fly all the way to Huaiyuan Prefecture at this speed easily.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t know how amazing his ability was among all the knights. After promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie thought that all the knights had such a long-distance flight ability. He thought that all the knights were accomplishing long-distance movement in this manner.


    At this speed, the city soon appeared in front of Zhang Tie. On the east side of the city, there was a big river. After matching the big river to the terrain surrounding the city, Zhang Tie immediately remembered a city called Barlin City among the countries in the south of Kalay Mountain Range.


    Barlin City was still 10,000 miles away from Huaiyuan Palace. After confirming his own coordinates, Zhang Tie slightly adjusted his flight direction and flew towards Huaiyuan Palace.


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how many people had he scared on the way towards the south. After the observation post in the south of Kalay Mountain Range sent out the first message, the intelligence center of the headquarter of Central Nations Federations in Blackson Humans Corridor had become busy. Messages were constantly sent to member nations from the intelligence center one after another. Those member nations gave more feedbacks to the intelligence center. Zhang Tie didn''t know how many eyes were gazing at him wherever he passed.


    The moment he flew over Barlin City had a commissioned officer hurriedly ran off the observation post and sent out another message as fast as possible.


    ...


    "An unidentified knight is flying over Barlin City at the speed of 0.6 Mach per hour; direction angle 14 degrees southwest..."


    ...


    40 minutes later...


    "Investigation airship outside Sedina City of Nio Kingdom finds an unidentified knight flying towards the south at the speed of 0.6 Mach in the direction angle of 14 degrees southwest..."


    ...


    20 minutes later...


    "Observation post on Campbell Mountain, Saint Cru Alliance finds an unidentified knight flying towards the south at the speed of 0.6 Mach in the direction angle of 14 degrees southwest..."


    ...


    30 minutes later...


    "Bronique Star Observation Platform finds an unidentified knight flying towards the south at the speed of 0.6 Mach in the direction angle of 14 degrees southwest..."


    All those who paid attention to this message were shocked inside. ''Flying over 1,000 miles in less than 2 hours. What for?''


    After drawing a straight line along Zhang Tie''s flight route, they found a major city on the line being aligned with the flight direction of that unidentified knight, the capital of Raymlan Empire being not far from Bronique City.


    Given from the map, after leaving Barlin City, that unidentified knight was rushing all the way towards the capital of Raymlan Empire like a sharp bolt!


    After figuring it out, many people became startled.


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how many people had been scared on the ground. After flying over 1,200 miles over the past 100 minutes, Zhang Tie found that his way forward was blocked by almost 1,000 battle airships in different sizes and a knight.


    The knight looked as old as those elders in Huaiyuan Palace. Being strong in a navy blue armor and snowwhite mustache, he was holding a brilliant battle sword while suspending in the sky with a solemn look.


    "Jaray, the No. 1 knight of Raymlan Empire invites the arriver to stop!" The knight said solemnly as he waved his long sword, releasing a sharp sword qi across 200 m in front of Zhang Tie.


    ...

 711 A Misunderstanding

    Chapter 711: A Misunderstanding


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The alleged No. 1 knight was similar to a nationwide employed knight. The only difference was that nationwide employed knights served a nation or royals while employed knights served clans that had not established countries. If demons completely occupied Blackson Humans Corridor in the future, Senel Clan might be rewarded with a nation. If so, that knight employed by Senel Clan might be the No. 1 knight of their nation or a corps leader.


    Any knight would be at least a corps leader in Blackson Humans Corridor if they took an office in the army. However, there were many human countries in Blackson Humans Corridor, none of their armies contained more than 400,000 soldiers. None of the countries were able to establish and sustain the needs of a corps. Therefore, if one country could have one knight on their side, even if the knight could not take the office as a corps leader, he would become the alleged No. 1 knight of the country.


    The No. 1 knight of a country was like a lifetime marshal, which was the supreme battle force of a country. Countries with one No. 1 knight would be much more powerful than those without and weaker than those countries which could establish corps. These countries were the pillar ones with the greatest battle forces in Blackson Humans Corridor.


    The Symbian Republic and Raymlan Empire were both such countries. However, the No. 1 knight of Symbian Republic sacrificed himself outside Mocco City while the No. 1 knight of Raymlan Empire was standing in front of Zhang Tie.


    Some countries and powers had hundreds of thousands of soldiers; however, they still could not attract knights to serve them. Over 70% of the human countries in Blackson Humans Corridor were like this, such as the former Andaman Alliance, the current Free Commercial Federation, Cross Star Commercial Federation, Holland Republic, Titanic Duchy and that Holy Golden Orchid Empire, etc..


    Countries like Norman Empire and Jinyun Country which could establish corps all ranked first in Blackson Humans Corridor, especially Hua countries like Jinyun Country. In Jinyun Country, all the major Hua clans could cultivate knights. The number of knights in the major Hua clans in Jinyun Country also ranked first across Blackson Humans Corridor. The mighty Jinyun Country was also a powerful epitome of Hua people in this age.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that the No. 1 knight of Raymlan Empire could block his way.


    Given the knight''s sword qi, Zhang Tie knew that he was not weak. Such a sword qi could exterminate anyone below "knight" from 200 m away. However, for Zhang Tie, it was just not bad. Compared to the demon knight that Zhang Tie had just killed, this one might even be weaker.


    After promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie''s perception also rose to the level of knights. He started to treat everything with the insight and mentality of knights.


    Although Zhang Tie was flying at the speed of about 200 m per second, at the sight of the sword qi crossing his way, Zhang Tie stopped instantly. He transiently completed his conversion between extreme high-speed movement and extreme static.


    Seeing how Zhang Tie stopped, that knight called Jaray frowned as he made his decision to kill Zhang Tie...


    Zhang Tie''s extremely young look made Jaray more alert.


    Besides being taller and stronger, Zhang Tie''s look remained unchanged. He was still as same as that at the age of 16 in Blackhot City. Those who were familiar with Zhang Tie wouldn''t feel that Zhang Tie''s look was special. However, in the eyes of Jaray, Zhang Tie looked extremely "monstrous", ''A 16-year old knight? No way!''


    Therefore, Jaray was sure that this unidentified knight had hidden his true look purposefully. ''It''s already evil for such a powerful knight to disguise himself as a Hua man; additionally, he wants to raid the capital of Raymlan Kingdom. It will be more dangerous.''


    If such a powerful knight was allowed in the capital of Raymlan Empire, it would be a real catastrophe.


    Similar events once happened in former holy wars. This also indicated the terror of knights. Nothing else could stop a knight except knights.


    Right then, the royals in Saint Maner City, the capital of Raymlan Empire had already started the evacuation procedures. All the royal members were in an emergency evacuation...


    ...


    "What do you want?" Zhang Tie muffled his voice unpleasantly when he was blocked by someone forcefully.


    "Your Excellency, although Raymlan Empire is a small country, you''re still not allowed to enter Saint Maner City, the capital of Raymlan Empire unless you step on my corpse..." Jaray said solemnly as he put his long sword horizontally. Meanwhile, his cyan battle-qi totem rushed to the sky.


    Closely after that, all the battle airships behind him started to change their formation as if they had already received the signal to fight. The huge net gradually transformed into a huge ball. Having served in airship troop for a long time, of course, Zhang Tie knew what did the ball formation mean. It meant that the airships were going to collaborate with each other and fight him to death. So many battle airships in different sizes were going to fight a knight, what a tragic scene!


    Honestly, if this knight Jaray said a jargon such as, "This mountain belongs to me, this tree is planted by me; if you want to pass by, leave your money", Zhang Tie would never feel strange. However, when Jaray thought that Zhang Tie was going to invade Saint Maner City, the capital of Raymlan Empire, Zhang Tie became dumbfounded and almost cried, ''What the hell! I''m just in a rush. How the hell can I be framed in this way?''


    Now that it was a misunderstanding, Zhang Tie''s unpleasure faded away at once.


    "Your Excellency, you must have misunderstood me. I''m just in a rush!" Zhang Tie explained calmly.


    "Hahaha..." Jaray burst out into laughter before glaring at Zhang Tie, "You''re in a rush? That''s the best joke that I''ve ever heard. As a knight, why do you fabricate such a laughingstock? You really think that nobody in Raymlan Empire could stop you? 2 hours ago, you flew over Kalay Mountain Range and Barlin City before flying 1,000 miles towards Saint Maner City in such an aggressive way. You call it "in a rush"? It was Goddess Lake behind Saint Maner City which lasts 2,000 miles. You tell me you''re going to fly over 3,000 miles only "in a rush?" I''ve never heard that any knight across Blackson Humans Corridor could fly over 2,000 miles without a stop. You flew over 1,000 miles in only 2 hours towards Saint Maner City, dare you say it is not a raid?"


    After hearing Jaray''s words, Zhang Tie became stunned as he instantly found the problem, ''Erm...erm...can''t all knights fly forever? I didn''t find any problem in the flight yet. It''s so easy. According to Jaray, it''s uneasy for a knight to fly over 1,000 miles. I just flew at a normal speed, why did it become aggressive in others'' eyes? Why do they think I am targeting Saint Maner City?''


    ''Does it mean that other knights could not have such a great flight performance? Saint Maner City is a major air traffic hub in the south of Blackson Humans Corridor which is closest to Kalay Mountain Range. Therefore, my flight route aroused their misunderstanding.''


    Zhang Tie realized that he had made a low-end mistake. As he had just promoted to a knight, he thought all the knights could have such a great flight performance. Therefore, he just flew wherever he wanted.


    Zhang Tie almost forgot that he was cultivating an emperor-level secret knowledge, the "King Roc Sutra" that nobody else had cultivated in this world.


    In the world, there were totally 2 emperor-level secret books, "Xuanyuan God Sutra", which was cultivated by Xuanyuan Emperor''s clan members in Taixia Country. As to "King Roc Sutra", Zhang Tie was the only one who reached above LV 11.


    ''After returning to Huaiyuan Palace, I have to report to the elders that I''ve promoted to a knight. Additionally, after promoting to a knight, I became more confident to return to Huaiyuan Palace. I could face the elders frankly. However, if the secret that I am cultivating "King Roc Sutra" is exposed to the public, it will arouse an earthquake.


    In a split second, various whims occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, ''It seems that I have to give up the mind to fly towards Huaiyuan palace in case of arousing the attention of the public. If I just flew over 10,000 miles back to Huaiyuan Palace arrogantly, I might never live a peaceful life in the future.''


    Seeing Zhang Tie being silent, Jaray confirmed his hypothesis. Watching Zhang Tie''s young face, Jaray sneered, "Now that we''re going to fight, why not show your real look. It''s heard that the Three-eye Association also have some powerful knights. If you still hide your real look at this moment, it would ruin your dignity as a powerhouse. You''re really whimsy, how can you disguise as a young man."


    Being wordless, Zhang Tie just rubbed his face, ''When I disguised as others, nobody had ever identified my real look; however, when I''m showing my real look, nobody believes in me. How dramatic!''


    Zhang Tie sighed as he watched the No. 1 knight of Raymlan Empire calmly, "Your Excellency, you must have misunderstood me. I''m Zhang Tie. I''m in my real look. I''m from Huaiyuan Palace, Jinyun Country. I want to go back to Huaiyuan Palace by the airship in Saint Maner City!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, Jaray became stunned as it was completely out of his imagination.


    In a split second, Jaray recovered his composure as he burst out into laughter, "Is there any young elder like you in Huaiyuan Palace, Jinyun Country? Now that you''re a human knight, please show me your knight plate."


    "What is a Knight plate?" Zhang Tie became amazed.


    "You''re really good at disguising!" Jaray sneered, "Now that you''re a knight from Huaiyuan Palace, don''t tell me that you''ve not been to the Mountain of Brightness."


    Having just promoted to a knight, Zhang Tie knew nothing about the world of knights. He didn''t know anything about the Mountain of Brightness and knight plate.


    "I''ve just promoted to a knight and I''m about to rush back to Zhang Clan. I''m not an elder of Huaiyuan Palace yet. Therefore, I don''t have a knight plate!"


    Watching Zhang Tie''s calm look and hearing his stable reply, Jaray became dubious...


    ''If Zhang Tie was really a knight on the side of Three-eye Association or demon, he should have started the fight as soon as possible. He doesn''t need to waste time with me here. The longer he stays here, the more disadvantageous it would be for him and the more possible that he might be caught up by other human knights behind him. As a result, he might finally be surrounded in Saint Maner City. I''d also talk with him so as to prolong time. After a few more hours, one of my friends would arrive.''


    Jaray gazed at Zhang Tie with an experienced vicious look as he suddenly asked, "Now that you want to go to Saint Maner City, do you mind us giving you a favor by an airship? In Hua language, Raymlan Empire should show the rite to you as the host."


    Zhang Tie replied with a faint smile as he got Jaray''s intention. ''Now that we''re not enemy, I want to ask this human knight some questions by this chance in case of loopholes.''


    "Alright. I wonder which is your flagship airship, Your Excellency. After traveling so long, I''m a bit tired. I also want to take a rest!" Zhang Tie replied frankly.


    Jaray threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie. Although he was still alert about Zhang Tie, he had already put away his battle-qi totem.


    "Come with me!"


    Saying this, Jaray flew towards the airship troop in the distance at the speed of about 100 m per second.


    Zhang Tie just kept about 100 m away from Jaray.


    As Jaray flew, he kept noticing Zhang Tie. After finding that Zhang Tie was still not anxious, Jaray doubted, ''Is he a real knight of Huaiyuan Palace? But he''s too young. I''ve not heard about such a young knight in Huaiyuan Palace these couple of years. It''s heard that Lan Yunxi, the princess of Huaiyuan Palace is just LV 12. She''s even served in Selnes Theater of Operations as the commander of the airship troop of Jinyun Country. Zhang Tie, hmm, I remembered that someone had mentioned about this name before...''


    "Your Excellency, do you know Lan Yunxi?" Jaray asked tentatively.


    Zhang Tie became stunned as he had not imagined that Jaray also knew about Lan Yunxi, "She''s my elder sister!"


    ''¡ª¡ªand my reserved wife.'' Zhang Tie didn''t pour out the latter half.


    "You know each other?"


    "Very familiar!"


    ...


    Watching Jaray and Zhang Tie flew towards them, one after another, the airship troop of Raymlan Empire didn''t open fire towards Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªof course, even if they opened fire, their strike would almost be ignored by Zhang Tie. The steam bolts on the airship could never break knight''s protective battle qi at all. Among all the steam weapons, only large-scale city-defense steam weapons such as steam centrifugal shells could pose a bit threat to the knight.


    Zhang Tie was directly led to a deck of a huge fury-level airship. Due to his great battle force, Zhang Tie was very confident. He didn''t worry that these people of Raymlan Empire could play any trick in front of him.


    The moment the two knights landed on the deck, some commissioned officers had rushed out.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, one commissioned officer of Raymlan Empire widely opened his eyes, "Ahh? Your Excellency Zhang Tie?"


    The moment that commissioned officer uttered had Zhang Tie became stunned. So did Jaray and the other commissioned officers in the surroundings. They all gazed at that young commissioned officer with a strange look.


    "You know me?" Zhang Tie asked as he pointed at his nose.


    After drawing in a deep breath, that commissioned officer explained, "When in Mocco City, after the failed bomb attempts of Three-eye Association towards you, I saw you wander around the city with a carriage of wing demons'' heads. I remember that the entire depressive Mocco City had been boiling that day. Later on, when I led the airship relief team of Raymlan Empire to Selnes Theater of Operations, we encountered the ambush of wing demons. At the critical moment, Your Excellency appeared by a unique Wind Talker glider and cleaned all the wing demons. I was in the airship at that moment. Before leaving, Your Excellency even waved the wings of the glider. It''s deeply imprinted in my mind from then on. Your Excellency might have forgotten about what you did in Selnes Theater of Operations, but my brothers and I would never forget about that. Later on, you were framed by those b*stards of Three-eye Association. They said you had surrendered to demons after being captured. However, none of the brothers who had served the airship troops and glider troops believed that. None of those who had seen you wander in the streets with a carriage of wing demons'' heads, who had fought together with you, who had seen the wrecked glider which could never fly off would believe that the Selnes Eagle who had safeguarded the entire air territory of Selnes Theater of Operations could be conquered by the mean conspiracy of Three-eye Association by lowering your arrogant head to demons and Three-eye Association."


    After hearing this commissioned officer, Zhang Tie almost dropped his tears. All the other commissioned officer and Jaray were deeply moved. Even the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations had been broken by demons, the Selnes Eagle who once hovered above the entire Selnes Theater of Operations was still an immortal legend in the human airship troops across Blackson Humans Corridor and the pride of all human soldiers who could drive gliders.


    After saying these words, that commissioned officer stood at attention and made a salute to Zhang Tie solemnly, "Your Excellency, welcome to visit Goddess Lake, the flagship of the royal airship troop of Raymlan Empire..."


    Zhang Tie also made a solemn salute to this commissioned officer without saying anything...


    Jaray scanned the faces of Zhang Tie and that commissioned officer before bursting out into laughter...


    "Distribute my order, cancel off the warning. Return to Saint Maner City..."

 712 The Mountain of Brightness

    Chapter 712: The Mountain of Brightness


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In a luxurious lounge of Goddess Lake, the flagship of the royal airship troop of Raymlan Empire, Zhang Tie and Jaray were sitting on a comfortable sofa and chatting casually.


    The airship just moved over 100 miles per hour. In this state, it would take them at least 6 hours to arrive at Saint Maner City, the capital of Raymlan Empire. After Zhang Tie''s status was confirmed by the commissioned officer in the airship, especially after seeing that Zhang Tie was pretty relaxed, Jaray didn''t doubt about Zhang Tie anymore; instead, he started to communicate with Zhang Tie frankly.


    Zhang Tie also knew that the airship troop was moving a bit slowly. However, he didn''t complain about it. After all, he was not in a rush.


    Zhang Tie finally knew how his trace was discovered. ''I''ve not imagined that I have been traced four times by the observation posts and air-defense posts in the flight of over 1,000 miles within 2 hours. Given this point, the countries in the south of Kalay Mountain Range seem to have made better preparations to the holy war than those in the north. The intelligence network of the Central Countries Alliance in the south of Kalay Mountain Range is more established. However, this is also related to my flight route and flight time. If I could be more meticulous, I''m fully confident to not be noticed by anyone. In the evening, as long as I keep my Chakra running slowly, I will not release my battle qi and become as dazzling as a meteor in the sky. As a result, those observation posts and air-defense posts on the ground would barely find my trace.''


    Jaray then sent a feedback to the side of Central Countries Alliance. The content of the message strictly complied with some information feedback rules about knights. Zhang Tie''s status and concrete trace remained confidential¡ª¡ªthe unidentified knight is confirmed as a Hua knight from Jinyun Country. He''s going to take airship in Saint Maner City.


    After this message was sent, it indicated that the crisis was relieved. Even if the major clans of Jinyun Country received such a message, they would also think that other clan''s knight was executing some secret task outside.


    Through Jaray, Zhang Tie knew the final result of the battle of Upton City. Although Zhang Tie was not amazed by this result, he figured out what was happening at that time. He knew why those demons suddenly became as spirited as having eaten viagra.


    What helped the super demon corps save some loss was the Demon General and its Three-in-One Strength. Without the Three-in-One Strength, at least half of the super demon corps would be cleared by 10 human knights and so many airships.


    However, with the Three-in-One Strength of the Demon General, the speed of all the demons could increase by 30% instantly on the battlefield.


    The sacrificed human knight was a royal member of Norman Empire, who was killed by the Demon General when it broke out of the encirclement.


    Through the battle of Upton City, the plan that demons and the Three-eye Association wanted the northern tunnel of Kalay Mountain Range, went into bankruptcy. Norman Empire was the biggest beneficiary in the battle of Upton City, who had made the most contribution in the battle. This was the first human knight that Norman Empire lost since the beginning of the holy war.


    Zhang Tie felt pitiful about the sacrificed knight.


    The holy war was cruel! Even knights would be killed in the holy war. From Mocco City to Upton City, Zhang Tie had experienced two battles when human knights fought to the death. He had also killed one demon knight and one mixed-blood knight of Three-eye Association, one by raiding, one by head-on collision.


    Jaray was a very decent and traditional knight. When he talked about knights, Jaray wanted to ask Zhang Tie about something several times; however, he finally didn''t do that.


    Of course, Zhang Tie knew what Jaray wanted to ask him about. Actually, Zhang Tie had already prepared for that.


    "I''ve also joined the battle of Upton City!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Jaray became stupefied, "Really? I heard only 10 human knights were dispatched out by Norman Empire, Jinyun Country and Qilan Country. Were you hiding somewhere?"


    "I joined it accidentally. After the Demon General released its Three-in-One Strength, I was chased by a demon powerhouse and flurriedly entered an underground tunnel beneath Kalay Mountain Range. The demon powerhouse kept chasing me all the way to an extremely deep, mysterious underground space, where there was a crystal pyramid. After entering the pyramid, I found the time inside the pyramid was much slower than that of the outside. Therefore, I only cultivated inside for many years until I promoted to a knight!"


    Speaking of the tower of time, Zhang Tie didn''t worry about it being uncovered. ''As Kalay Mountain Range is so large, my expression is also blurry, others could never find the precise entrance of the underground space. Even if they did find it, they were definitely seeking for death in the subterranean watercourse if they were below LV 14. Even if they were above LV 14, they could have less than 1/10,000 probability to enter the underground space. Even if someone hit the jackpot, he had to wait 6 decades until the tower of time reopened. Even if it was a human knight, after entering that underground space, he could barely escape out of that underwater swirl which had such a terrifying, great suction. As a result, the human knight could only stay in the underground space for 6 decades, during which period, even if the human knight didn''t turn mad or die, it would depend on whether I agree to spare him such a chance to enter the tower of time when it reopened.''


    ''The tower of time is a big trap, if someone really plans to find it, he deserves to have a big trouble!'' Zhang Tie thought.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Jaray was so excited that he almost sprung up. This No. 1 knight of Raymlan Empire watched Zhang Tie with gleaming eyes, "What? You discovered the prehistorical relics¡ª¡ªTower of Time in a mysterious underground space beneath Kalay Mountain Range? Hurry, tell me something about the Tower of Time. What''s it made of? What''s the time velocity ratio inside it? I was told that the time velocity ratio in some tower of time could reach 10 years:1 day. Is that you met one of these?"


    After hearing Jaray''s questions, Zhang Tie instantly understood it that tower of time was not a big secret in the circle of knights; otherwise, Jaray could never know it so clearly.


    "Ahh? Tower of time is divided into many categories?"


    "Of course, don''t you know that?"


    "Erm...I have not touched such knowledge before!" Zhang Tie shrugged.


    Jaray watched Zhang Tie as he suddenly realized that, "It''s normal. This knowledge could not be touched until you promote to a knight! Now that you''ve already promoted to a knight, I can tell you now." Jaray, who was restraining in words before, suddenly became talkative, "Tower of Time could be divided into many categories according to different methods. If it is just divided by the time velocity ratio, according to some literature, there are 7-8 categories of towers of time in total since the Catastrophe to now. Their time velocity ratio ranges from 1 month:1 day to 10 years:1 day, etc.."


    "You mean some of the discovered towers of time are still in the hand of humans?"


    "Of course!" Jaray threw a glance at Zhang Tie with a special look, "According to my knowledge, Hua people in Taixia have the most towers of time. 80% of towers of time that have been discovered are in the hand of Hua people in Taixia Country. It''s heard that the super clans and schools in Taixia had 7-10 towers of time. Outsiders don''t know about the details about the tower of time. The super clans and schools in Taixia Country call the underground space where the tower of time rested in Dongtian 1. Tower of time was the biggest secret of a clan or a school!"


    "What about other division methods?"


    "Of course, it''s heard that there are better conditions and resources in the tower of time. After entering it, the cultivator could rapidly grasp some skills and abilities with the conditions and resources inside it. In a very short time, the cultivator would become a powerful pharmacist, a rune manufacturer or an alchemist master. However, such a tower of time is just a legend. If there truly was one, no details about it would be exposed to the public!"


    Zhang Tie was shocked by this. However, Zhang Tie understood that the rules to access the tower of time should be the same. For instance, only one person was allowed at one time. It required enough time for the tower of time to restore energy. Even though some super clans or schools had towers of time in some Dongtian, very few people were qualified to access it.


    ''Whether that mysterious underground space that I''ve discovered is a Dongtian?'' Zhang Tie thought out of curiosity.


    "You''d better not expose the secret of the tower of time to the public in case of trouble. I promise to not expose your secret to the 3rd person!" Jaray told Zhang Tie solemnly.


    "Oh yes, nice, thanks for the warning!" Zhang Tie hurriedly appreciated him. As a No. 1 knight of a country who dared defend his duty and honor at the risk of his own life at the critical moment would have a good moral standing for sure, "As I''ve just come out of the underground space today after promoting to a knight, I''m too excited. Therefore, I flew a bit fast. Will I have any side-effects?"


    Zhang Tie asked with a solemn look.


    "Do you feel that your chakras are still functioning properly?" Jaray asked seriously with a bit concern like an old man.


    "Hmm, it''s okay. Only a bit light!" Zhang Tie fabricated. Actually, that flight didn''t pose any influence to him at all. At this speed, even if he flew another 10,000 miles, his Chakra could still run as steadily as a 100 tons'' millstone.


    "You''re still too young!" Jaray let out a sigh, "Average black iron knights have to take a rest after a flight of 700-1,000 miles. Take me as an instance, if I need to take a long-distance journey, I will take a rest in every 1,000 miles. If I fly longer than 1,000 miles one time, I have to consume more battle qi. I can fly over 2,000 miles one time; however, it would cost over 80% of my battle qi. As a result, my battle force would reduce sharply. If so, I will not be able to deal with emergencies. If not use rare advanced medicament or pills, I will not be able to recover my battle qi completely in even a week. For knights, it''s a cool experience in flight. However, the most frugal and safest way is to run on the ground, and occasionally use the flight to assist. In that way, we can move faster while consuming less energy; besides, we can deal with emergencies..."


    Zhang Tie silently swallowed his saliva, ''Even knight''s battle qi could be used up and required some time to recover. Knights could only insist a bit longer than those below knights. I thought that knight''s battle qi could be provided endlessly like me.'' Since the moment he promoted to a knight, even though Zhang Tie had a head-on fight with that demon knight in the underground space, Zhang Tie still didn''t feel any problem with his battle qi provision. The sun in his qi ocean was releasing brilliance, namely, his battle qi was endless. Zhang Tie almost needn''t worry about running out of his battle qi.


    ''Is this the terror of emperor-level secret knowledge?'' Zhang Tie thought inside, ''Thanks to Jaray, otherwise, I might expose my secret to the public in the future.''


    "What about the knight''s plate and the Mountain of Brightness?"


    Jaray smiled, "Do you know Fighters Association, Pharmacists Association and Mercenaries Association?"


    "Yup!"


    "Mountain of Brightness is equal to the association of human knights. It''s the most powerful human organization. After promoting to knights, all the human knights have to ask for their own ID plates, namely knight''s plates from Mountain of Brightness."


    "Can I go there?"


    "You can. You''re free to go there. However, if you don''t go there to register your status, you will isolate yourself from the knights'' world and cut off the road towards higher ranks. I think even the elders of Huaiyuan Palace would not agree with that if you don''t go there!"


    "Why?"


    "Because the founder of the Mountain of Brightness is Xuanyuan Emperor of Hua people. It is right in the territory of Jinyun Country!"


    ...

 713 The Black Iron Effec

    Chapter 713: The Black Iron Effect


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After flying 4 hours by Goddess Lake, Zhang Tie felt a powerful qi moving closer, ''it was a knight''s qi.''


    Like how eagles could notice other eagles hovering in the sky and how tigers could sniff other tigers walking in the woods, knights were also very sensitive to the qi of their same kind, especially when the other knight released a powerful battle qi straightly.


    Although the battle qi was still 50 miles away, Zhang Tie had already sensed it.


    "It''s one of my friends. Several hours ago, when you flew towards Saint Maner City, he received a relief message. Therefore, he''s in a rush towards here to support me!" As he explained, Jaray stood up, "Wait a moment, I will go pick him up. I''m sure my friend will be very happy to meet a young powerful knight!"


    "As you wish, I also want to meet your friend. There''s an old Hua saying, ''True friendship exists at the critical moment.'' A friend who could drop everything and rush towards here to help you in the crisis is worthwhile!"


    Jaray replied with a smile as he felt that Zhang Tie''s words were pretty reasonable. After nodding towards Zhang Tie, he left the lounge. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie felt Jaray flying off the airship towards the qi.


    Zhang Tie just had a cup of tea and waited there quietly.


    Tea leaves from the Eastern Continent were the most expensive drink. Zhang Tie had learned a lot through the communication with Jaray over the past few hours. In Blackson Humans Corridor, knights liked tea leaves from Taixia Country the most. Some senior products could nourish knights'' body and spiritual energy. If knights always drunk them, they could have a better recognition about the power of mother nature and usually maintained clear-mindedness. Benefited from the tea leaves, knights could easily enter cultivation. Such tea leaves were knights'' favorite. They would cost at least 100 kgs of gold per kilo. Additionally, Jaray said such tea leaves were not the best. The best ones could be hardly bought through common channels. Only a very few of them could be traded in senior auctions.


    Watching the bit of golden fine tea leaves in his cup, Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile, ''This tea leaf is called golden scale. It comes from the Eastern Continent. A small cup of this tea leaves would cost at least 30 gold coins. It''s equal to 3 years'' salary of my father in Blackhot City.'' Although Jaray was not a luxurious man, he had to learn something about it at his level. Gradually, the resources of knights became luxuries that commoners dreamed for.


    The tea smelt comfortable and tasted a bit bitter and smooth. Zhang Tie found it carried a special energy and aura, which nourished his body and spiritual energy. This feeling was similar to that of all-purpose medicament. By contrast, the effect of this tea was not as fast as that of all-purpose medicament. However, it felt more exquisite and natural. Besides nourishing his body tenderly, Zhang Tie found that it made his thoughts a bit clearer and more dynamic, ''It would definitely be helpful to knight''s cultivation if they always drunk it. However, I''m afraid that it would cost a knight an astonishing amount of money on such tea leaves each year."


    Right then, Zhang Tie recalled Donder, who said that he had drunk a cup of tea which was worth a few gold coins. Whereas, Zhang Tie thought that he was boasting at that time.


    The most impressive tea leaf was that small common tea leaf from the Eastern Continent that Fattie Barley told him to hold in the mouth when he went for Ms. Anna. Of course, that common tea leaf could never match this golden scale in price and quality. However, Zhang Tie always felt that it was the best tea leaf that he had ever tasted and could not be replaced by any other tea leaves ever.


    When he remembered about his friends in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie added two ladles of sugar in the tea...


    Drinking the sweet tea, Zhang Tie smiled. For commoners, sweet things in daily lives could always bring more pleasure to them than bitterness. Some habits were related to one person''s background. For Zhang Tie, who grew up drinking rice brew never felt that tea tasted good, even though such a cup of tea could not be bought by his family by selling rice brew for even 10 years!


    ...


    Only after 5-6 minutes, Jaray had come back followed by a tall and tough knight in full-body armor. This knight was the No. 1 knight of Berdi Empire. The national strength of Berdi Empire was almost equal to that of Raymlan Empire. The two countries were connected with each other in the territory. Besides, they were harmonious in the relationship. The royals of the two countries got married a few times. Jaray and Way had been bosom friends for over 70 years.


    The arrival of Way made the lounge more boisterous. The three knights had more topics to share.


    Jaray and Way were too much elder than Zhang Tie, who was only 20 years old. However, in the eyes of Jaray and Way, Zhang Tie was not arrogant due to a young age or his background at all. Not only that, Zhang Tie was very modest and frank, which made the other elder knights more comfortable. Therefore, their talks proceeded very smoothly.


    Being different from Jaray, who was restraint, Way was foursquare. Only after 10 minutes later, Way had asked all of his doubts.


    "Jaray and I were 100 years old when we promoted to knights. It''s a young age among knights. But Jaray said you''re just 20 years old. How could you promote to a knight so fast? I asked Jaray just now, but he didn''t tell me about that..."


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Jaray, who replied with a smile silently. As he had promised Zhang Tie that he would not expose anything about Tower of Time to others, he didn''t even expose it to Way unswervingly.


    Zhang Tie also smiled as he repeated what he told to Jaray just now to Way.


    Being same to Jaray, Way also almost sprung up after hearing that Zhang Tie discovered a tower of time in a mysterious underground space.


    "No way, no way..." Way forcefully patted his thigh a few times, "I''ve never imagined that such a mysterious space is hiding deep beneath Kalay Mountain Range, along with a tower of time in it..." After saying that, Way suddenly realized something as he glared at Jaray, "You''ve long known about it, right?"


    "I''ve promised Zhang Tie that I will not expose it to anyone else. Of course, I cannot break my words!" Jaray explained calmly.


    "I rushed all the way here to fight for you at the risk of my life, but you didn''t even tell me that top secret?" Way became furious.


    "You didn''t have to come here, I''ve not begged you to be here!" Jaray smiled.


    After gazing at each other for short while, they both burst out laughing at the same time. Zhang Tie felt that they were tactful and trustful to each other.


    "The tower of time would reopen after 6 decades. It''s hard to come out of there even if you could get down there. Even knights could not get out of there safe and sound. I have some other reasons to come out of there this time!" Zhang Tie warned them sincerely. As that place was a pit, considering that the two knights were decent, Zhang Tie warned them in case they regretted paying a visit there.


    After exchanging glances with each other, Jaray and Way both nodded as they knew what Zhang Tie meant.


    "Don''t worry, I will not expose this secret to the 4th person. Jaray and I once planned to discover the underground world a few years ago, pitifully, as the No. 1 knights of Berdi Empire and Raymlan Empire, we cannot leave at our will. Although we might have a great harvest in the underground world, we know it''s very risky. Additionally, we cannot estimate how much time is needed down there..." Way let out a sigh.


    "You wanted to seek for the tower of time before?"


    "Besides the tower of time, there are actually many secret items in the underground world, which are very attractive to knights!"


    "Secret items?"


    "Right. After promoting to a knight, except for weapons, most of the rune equipment and alchemist''s equipment, especially those which could improve the ability of commoners have become useless for knights. That equipment could exert their full effects on LV 15 battle spirits; however, they could only exert 10% of their full effect on knights!"


    Given Zhang Tie''s look, Way asked out of amazement, "Don''t you know about Black Iron Effect?"


    "As Zhang Tie has just promoted to a knight, he has not touched this knowledge before!" Jaray explained on one side.


    "What do you mean by Black Iron Effect of equipment?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "The Black Iron Effect of equipment is a bottleneck effect on common equipment of Black Iron Knight. For instance, there''s a vat of water in front of you; is it easy for you to increase 10% of the water in it?"


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    "What if there''s a river in front of you. Is it still that easy for you to increase 10% of the water in it? A damp piece of soft mud might be one time harder after being dried two days under the sun; however, it''s not that easy for you to make a piece of steel one time harder only by drying it under the sun for a couple of days." Way explained it straightforwardly. It was very satisfactory for a knight to instruct the other one, "After forming the first Chakra, your energy level and strength system has become utterly different than that of those who had not formed it. Therefore, the rune equipment and alchemist''s equipment that could work on commoners would not have the same effect on you. If an equipment could improve a commoner''s ability by less than 10%, it would be ineffective to knights. Only when its effect on a commoner is higher than 10% could it be a bit effective to fighters in less than one scale. This is the Black Iron Effect of the knight''s equipment."


    After hearing Way''s explanation, Zhang Tie understood it right away. He finally understood why he only got 3 items from two knights outside Mocco City. From that knight of Symbian Republic, Zhang Tie gained an autumn-frost golden sword, whose basic performance and functions are effective to knights in all ranks; however, from the knight of Three-eye Association, Zhang Tie only got a rose finger ring and a full-moon dragon soul waistband.


    ''The rapid recovering rune on the autumn-frost golden sword could help commoners recover their energy 10% faster, which means 1% for knights; the rose finger ring''s rapid recovering rune could help commoners recover their energy 11% faster, and increase their meditating effect by 15%. As the full-moon dragon soul waistband is a bronze secret item used by knights, it''s still lying in Castle of Black Iron.''


    When collecting the booties, Zhang Tie was curious that why the two knights only wore such a few rune equipment. They could at least wear some more finger rings.


    After hearing Way''s explanation, Zhang Tie finally understood that it was not because the two knights didn''t want to wear some more items, but they could only have such few items to wear due to Black Iron Effect. Many equipment that were effective to commoners didn''t work on knights at all. Only those top quality items used by commoners could exert 10% of its effect on knights.


    "If we could promote to a higher level, do you mean that those commoners'' rune equipment would not work on us anymore?"


    "You got it!" Jaray nodded, "By then, except for underground secret items, none of the rune equipment or alchemist''s equipment made by humans in this age would work on a land knight."


    "Land knight?" It was Zhang Tie''s first time to hear the appellation of a rank higher than the black iron knight.


    "Yes, knights in the next rank would be named as land knights after forming the Chakra of land which gathers land, water, wind and fire!"


    Speaking of a land knight, Jaray and Way both radiated sacred eyes at the same time. The land knight was what all the black iron knights strived and dreamed for...


    "Is Demon General a land knight?"


    "No, it has just stridden over the threshold of land knight''s world with one foot. If he was a land knight, at most half of the 10 human knights could survive the Upton Battle..."


    ...


    After chatting with Jaray and Way, Zhang Tie learned more about knights. As Jaray and Way were old human knights who had advanced to knights a very long time ago, their knowledge and recognition of knights'' world benefited Zhang Tie a lot.


    Finally, Goddess Lake, the flagship of the royal airship troop of Raymlan Empire arrived at Saint Maner City. It landed in an aisle being adjacent to Goddess Lake...


    This aisle covered over 10 sq miles. It was where Jaray''s battle palace rested in Raymlan Empire. The imperial palace of Raymlan Empire was just 5-6 miles away with the water in between.


    After promoting to a knight, as long as the knight became the No. 1 knight of a country or a corps leader, its fixed residence would be called battle palace where his subordinates and servants would serve him in. This was the greatest honor of a knight given by the country that he guarded...

 714 The Negotiation

    Chapter 714: The Negotiation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the imperial palace of Raymlan Empire, Jaray was staying in a study with a 50-year-old man in an imperial crown, who was the Alta VII, the emperor of Raymlan Empire...


    At some point in time today, all the royal members of Raymlan Empire had evacuated from the imperial palace silently. Later on, they came back silently. During the process of a few hours, nobody else knew about this event across Saint Maner City. Even now, only a few people knew the whereabouts of the prince for the sake of his safety. If everything went smooth, crown prince would appear in the vision of the public tomorrow.


    The knight''s raid was a grim, sharp guillotine hovering above the heads of weak royal members. In the 2nd holy war, numerous human countries and royals of small countries were chopped off by demons and Three-eye Association.


    "You mean Zhang Tie is that Selnes Eagle, who''s promoted to a knight at 20 years of age?" Alta VII asked in an extremely amazed voice while his mouth could almost hold an egg.


    Alta VII had seen too many people who were born to be emperors, kings and billionaires. However, it was his first time to hear someone promote to a knight at his 20s even in Blackson Humans Corridor, although there might be such cases in the Eastern Continent.


    "Yes! Zhang Tie''s real age is a bit elder than 20. Given his look, he''s just 16-17 years old!" Jaray told Alta VII.


    "No way. Has Jinyun Country and Huaiyuan Palace been so powerful?" Alta VII asked with a bit flurried look.


    "Jinyun Country and Huaiyuan Palace are indeed very powerful. However, I think the reason that Zhang Tie promoted to a knight at such a young age mainly depends on his efforts and luck. He''s favored by the God!"


    "He''s favored by the God?" Alta VII mumbled it twice before sighing with a jealous and admiring look, "Alas, why Alta Clan couldn''t produce such a talent!"


    "Your Majesty, the princes have been very diligent. However, some things could not be made only by individual efforts!" Jaray had to say something for those princes as their private teacher and the No. 1 knight of Raymlan Empire.


    "Facing the great pressure from the clan and the empire, the princes of Raymlan Empire have been very diligent. The 3rd prince has already reached LV 13 battle general; however, knights cannot be cultivated only by money. If the princes can cultivate in the tower of time for enough time, are you sure that they will promote to knights? It''s uncertain!" Although Zhang Tie didn''t say how many years had he stayed in the tower of time, Jaray knew clearly that only real powerhouses with the hearts of real powerhouses could make it in the lonely and distant cultivation environment. "Only strong-willed people could put forth their brilliant flowers of lives in loneliness. Otherwise, you could only get lunatics or corpses after throwing them in the tower of time. Such a case truly existed."


    After hearing Jaray''s explanation, Alta let out a sigh. Closely after that, he became thrilled and asked, "Jaray, do you think we can have my daughters marry Huaiyuan Palace? I have over 10 daughters, whose ages range from 7 to 30. They are all beauties. Erm, that Zhang Tie..."


    "Your Majesty..." Jaray accented his voice...


    Alta VII realized that he was a bit rude just now. Therefore, he closed his mouth at once. It was really a bit whimsical for him to have a Hua knight serve Alta Clan with only a woman called princess. Even a battle spirit with the poor background would not sell himself so easily, not to mention Zhang Tie who had Huaiyuan Palace on his back. In the eyes of many powerful cultivators, the alleged women and princesses were not even as valuable as a useful rune equipment. Of course, unless that man required something from the female''s side, a knight would never treat a princess of Raymlan Empire as something. Princess was just a product of empires. However, a powerful knight could be able to build an empire himself.


    "What''s your opinion?" Alta VII sat on the chair with a frustrated look.


    "Your Majesty, if you looked too anxious, it would make others belittle Raymlan Empire and Alta Clan. Zhang Tie is in my battle palace. Your Excellency could have the 9th prince and one princess take a valuable gift to pay a visit to Zhang Tie in my battle palace. It''s polite and not light-headed to do this."


    "Ahh? Why Kru? He''s just an innocent kid." Alta II asked out of amazement.


    "As Kru is an innocent kid, he''s the best one to go there. Kru likes glider. The best driver of glider across Blackson Humans Corridor is in Saint Maner City. Therefore, he can ask Zhang Tie to teach him!"


    As an emperor, even though Alta VII didn''t mean to be a hegemon, he could understand Jaray''s words at once.


    "Hmm, fine. Just let Kru and Candis go there. As to the gift..." Alta VII hesitated about the gift.


    "Your Majesty, do you believe me?"


    "Of course!"


    "We''d better prepare some special, valuable gift. As Zhang Tie is a Hua man, Your Majesty, you can gift him that item that you brought back from the Eastern Continent last time!"


    "Ahh? Do we have to do that?" Alta VII looked unwilling.


    "Your Majesty, do you know where''s that missing demon knight in Upton battle?"


    "Is there any relation?"


    "The missing demon knight might have been killed by Zhang Tie!" Jaray replied calmly.


    "What?" Alta VII instantly sprung up from his chair like being stabbed by nails.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t say the battle force of the demon who chased after him, Jaray could infer that the one chased after Zhang Tie was a demon knight as Zhang Tie, a human knight, said it was a demon powerhouse. Although Zhang Tie didn''t say the result of the demon knight, he survived back from the underground space. Therefore, the demon knight obviously had been killed by Zhang Tie.


    "Perhaps that gift is valuable for Zhang Tie at this moment. Otherwise, after a few years, that item would be nothing for him. Given Zhang Tie''s deed in Selnes Theater of Operations, he''s a righteous man who treasures friendship very much. In the holy war, even knights would die. If something bad happens to me in the future, I will not be able to guard Raymlan Empire and Alta Clan. By then, I wish Alta Clan could be protected by such a powerhouse. The friendship between us and this man might bring a hope to Alta Clan in the future! Your Majesty, don''t you think it is a proper trade?"


    ...


    After the flagship landed, Jaray went to the imperial palace of Raymlan Empire. Being accompanied by Way, Zhang Tie was visiting the private collections of Jaray in his battle palace. Watching those collections, Zhang Tie finally understood why Jaray was so interested in the tower time. Because almost all the private collections of Jaray were marvelous items left by prehistorical human civilizations, which could be barely seen by commoners in their whole lives...

 715 Picking off Stars

    Chapter 715: Picking off Stars


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    More than 10 colorful light spots were in the mysterious void, large or small. They were sparkling bizarre lights, yellow, blue, red or a crystal-like transparent light. Each light spot was a marvelous geometric crystal which constantly changed its shape. Each geometric crystal was a blooming flower of life. The crystals flew irregularly as fast as a lightning bolt and spirits in the mysterious void. Some crystals would fly out of the mysterious void while some would fly in, both at a very high speed.


    This world of elements could only be seen by knights after forming their Chakra and entering meditation. The four basic elements of earth, water, wind and fire that formed everything in the universe truly existed independently and could be sensed with knight''s consciousness in the free, pure and most basic form.


    Different basic elements were colliding, combining and annihilating in the world of elements under the traction of mysterious strength.


    Of course, they were not really annihilating or disappearing. They were just changing a pattern of existence after combination. They started to appear in the world of materials in the form of sensible material or energy.


    World of elements was a vast sparkling ocean. By contrast, the real world was like the submarine world that deposited in this ocean. All the lives were living in that real submarine world. Only very few lives'' senses and consciousness could get rid of the gravity and bond of the world of materials and enter this colorful ocean of sparkling basic elements when the energy frequency of their spirit and awareness rose to a pole.


    The power of knights originated from their gnosis and recognition about the source energy.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy had become a huge hand and was chasing after a yellow crystal in a tiny "pit", which had a bizarre force field in the world of elements. Due to the existence of that "pit", the elements over there were more than those in the surrounding space. Therefore, it was a bit easier to capture those basic element crystals which were flying everywhere in the void like meteors and spirits.


    The yellow crystals were earth elements, the only element that Zhang Tie''s huge hand could capture in the world of elements at this moment. Red crystals would directly burn a hole in the huge hand and penetrate through it. Blue crystals would depart into numerous parts in front of the hand of spiritual energy and combine with each other behind it like a naughty fish shoal. The crystal-like meteors and spirits directly ignored the hand and penetrated through it like breaking through a broken fish net; only those yellow crystals could be caught by this hand like real objects.


    After chasing them for a long while, the hand finally caught a tiny yellow tetrahedron crystal in the world of elements. After tightly holding it, the hand retreated back to the world of materials and threw the yellow crystal into a huge and complex Chakra which was rotating like a millstone. The Chakra devoured the yellow crystal, crushing it and converting it into the purest energy of land element. Finally, it was output into the void shadow in the peripheral of the solid Chakra.


    A bigger and more complex earth Chakra was looming in the phantom shadow, which was made of numerous complex geometrical patterns like an extremely delicate mandala...


    The yellow crystal was converted into earth element before running into an inconspicuous place on the edge of the solid Chakra and manifesting a line, which was less than 1/10 of a tiny geometrical pattern at its bottom...


    There were over 10,000 basic tower-shaped geometrical patterns in the huge Chakra mandala. The function of the yellow crystal was as trivial as throwing a brick in the construction site of a thousands-meter high skyscraper...


    ...


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes and threw a glance at that wall clock in the cultivation cabin of the airship. It was already been the evening of September 23rd, 4 days after Zhang Tie entered meditation...


    This was Zhang Tie''s first time to enter cultivation as a knight.


    There was only one cultivation task below knights, namely, polishing surging points. By contrast, knights only had one task in cultivation, namely, forming Chakra.


    If the process of polishing surging points was like drilling wood to make fire, the process of forming Chakra could be described in three terms, namely, picking off stars, pushing millstone and casting mold.


    Picking off stars referred to capture earth element in the world of elements; pushing millstone referred to input the land element that the knight had caught into his Chakra and had it crushed into pieces so as to assimilate the knight''s own strength; casting mold referred to pour the assimilated earth element into the peripheral phantom of the earth Chakra. When the peripheral phantom ring of the entire earth Chakra completely turned solid composed of earth elements, it would rotate independently instead of having to follow the first Chakra, the black iron knight would promote to a land knight.


    In the three steps, the first two steps could run automatically. When the knight''s Chakra was rotating automatically, all the steps would run automatically due to the "King Roc Sutra" that he cultivated. It was similar to other knights. After surging their surging points, once the first Chakra came into being, each one''s later cultivation process would be pushed freely by the Chakra like how intestines and stomach digested food and how stars ran on the orbits. You only needed to consider whether your intestines and stomach could enjoy good food or not.


    Therefore, capturing four basic elements using spiritual energy and forming the energy of elements of Chakra, it became the core contents for knights to cultivate and raise their realms.


    It was very difficult for Zhang Tie to enter meditation and sense the world of elements for the first time. It took Zhang Tie two days to do it. In the latter two days, Zhang Tie finally captured three land elements from the world of elements and started his official cultivation since he promoted to a black iron knight after numerous attempts.


    After the first earth element crystal that Zhang Tie captured was crushed into pieces by his Chakra, the mandala peripheral ring of that earth Chakra loomed around the first Chakra. After capturing the other 2 earth element crystals, Zhang Tie had just moved a bit forward towards the earth knight.


    After recalling the cultivation process these two days and watching the second Chakra''s phantom ring in his consciousness, Zhang Tie gradually recovered his composure.


    According to Jaray, the mandala peripheral ring of most of knights'' land Chakra was composed of 300-1,000 geometrical patterns. When Zhang Tie counted his geometrical patterns, he almost passed out. The mandala peripheral ring of the entire earth Chakra of his "King Roc Sutra" was a vast, delicate picture, which contained over 10,000 geometrical patterns in different shapes such as a tower, triangle, square, round and feather, etc.. Such a phantom Chakra looked extremely magnificent. However, it was also extremely difficult to form it. It would require several times even dozens of times more land elements than that required by other knights.


    In this age, commoners could live about 90 years. When one reached LV 9 after lighting all the surging points on his spine, one would be able to live 120 years. With each level higher, one''s life expectancy would increase by 30 years. When one reached LV 15 battle spirit, one''s life expectancy would reach about 300 years. After promoting to a knight, one would live 400 years. Even though knights had great life expectancies, a great number of black iron knights died due to various reasons before promoting to earth knights. Given this point, we knew how difficult it was for black iron knights to form their second Chakra.


    Some black iron knights even failed to form their second Chakra after promoting to black iron knights for 100-200 years.


    ''I wonder how long would it take me to form the second Chakra of "King Roc Sutra".''


    Such a question occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind when he was sitting on the cushion with crossed legs and had not fully recovered his composure from the "pleasure" that was brought by picking off stars. Zhang Tie then felt a headache. After letting out a sigh, he picked himself up. By the way, he put that ''Basic Elements Gathering Matrix'' into a special bag and hung it over his shoulder.


    That "Basic Elements Gathering Matrix" was composed of 3 bronze obelisks, each of which was about 10 cm in height. Being covered with bizarre runes, although they looked trivial, they had a great effect on his cultivation.


    This was a gift from Raymlan Empire''s royal. As a bronze secret item, it was a collection of the royal of Raymlan. Its usage was very simple. Before entering the world of basic elements, Zhang Tie only needed to put the three bronze obelisks in the shape of a triangle on his side. He then sat in the triangle. In this way, the Basic Elements Gathering Matrix could form a marvelous force field "pit" in the world of basic elements. This force field "pit" was like a puddle, which could increase the density of four basic elements around him by 20% in the world of basic elements. Benefited from this, Zhang Tie could capture basic element crystals more effectively.


    After trying it, Zhang Tie sensed an obvious higher efficiency in capturing the four basic elements on his side with the help of Basic Elements Gathering Matrix.


    ''There must be some more methods to increase my efficiency in picking off stars. Now that there''s a Basic Elements Gathering Matrix, it indicates that other knights also met the same problem about low efficiency in cultivation. They must have other methods to deal with it. Thankfully, I''ve already been a black iron knight. I have enough time to do that. '' After comforting himself, Zhang Tie opened the hatch and walked out of the cabin of cultivation.


    This airship was the private airship of Princess Candis, a royal of Raymlan Empire. Although it was not as large as fury-level airships, it was the most comfortable and luxurious one that Zhang Tie had ever taken.


    A luxurious bedroom with a huge princess'' bed inside was next to the cultivation cabin. The bed still maintained the alluring body fragrance of Princess Candis and her groans...


    Princess Candis showed her private airship to Zhang Tie that night. Finally, after spending 15 years in the tower of time, Zhang Tie visited every place on her naked body...


    ''That''s a nice memory.'' Zhang Tie smacked.


    ...


    "Are we arriving at Huaiyuan Prefecture?" Zhang Tie came to the cockpit.


    "Your Excellency, we will arrive at Yuanjiang River after 600 miles!" The coxswain answered respectfully.


    "You can land in Golden Sea City of Huaiyuan Prefecture for some supplies. After landing there, take this letter to the director of Jinwu Business Group. He will prepare something for you as my gift to Princess Candis and Your Majesty Alta VII. By the way, I have to extend my thanks to Princess Candis and Your Majesty Alta VII for their hospitality on behalf of me!" Zhang Tie said as he handed a letter into the hand of the coxswain. Zhang Tie''s gift was 50,000 vials all-purpose medicament.


    "Alright!" The captain carefully took Zhang Tie''s letter.


    ...


    After doing all this, Zhang Tie directly flew off the deck of the airship towards Yiyang City and disappeared into the clouds.


    All the crew members saw Zhang Tie off with admiring looks.


    "What if I can also be a knight one day..." A crew member mumbled.


    "It''s easy. You will make it come true in your dream very soon!" An experienced sergeant first class patted another one''s shoulder.


    After hearing this, all the others burst out into laughter...

 716 Returning to Huaiyuan Palace

    Chapter 716: Returning to Huaiyuan Palace


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie flew towards Yiyang City at the speed of 0.6 Mach. This time, he learned to hide himself by flying above 10,000 m behind clouds. Even in the sunny day, most of the people could barely find such a person flying above 10,000 m, not to mention a knight.


    The head-on sharp airflow was blocked off by that invisible protective battle qi covering him. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t feel chilly in the high altitude. When Zhang Tie was in the underground space, he had tried it. As long as he didn''t accelerate to above 0.6 Mach, his battle-qi brilliance would not be exposed. That was to say, 0.6 Mach was his navigation speed and invisible speed.


    There were many airships in the air. As long as he lowered his head, he would be able to see many of them. Because of the holy war, the powerful Jinyun Country being away from the north theater of operations seemed to become more prosperous.


    After a few years, the demonized puppets troop with above 100,000 members in the south of Kalay Mountain Range had already been dispersed or annihilated. Now, the demonized puppets only existed in small teams in the south of Kalay Mountain Range. They were wandering like bandits and wild beasts in the urban ruins and wild. However, they became more tricky. Many places in the south of Kalay Mountain Range had become depopulated zones. Jinyun Country and Qilan Country were least damaged by demonized puppets as the demonized puppets disasters in the two countries were suppressed at first. At this moment, great batches of people were pouring into the south from north, filling everywhere in Jinyun Country and Qilan Country. In another word, it was boisterous in the two countries. Looking down at the brightly-lit cities in the night, Zhang Tie felt a sharp contrast from those deserted cities being covered with corpses in the north. Zhang Tie felt like returning to the human world from the hell. As a person who had fought demonized puppets in Selnes Theater of Operations and experienced almost 100 battles in 1 year, this was really a warm feeling, Zhang Tie really felt warm at this moment.


    After flying over 500 miles, Zhang Tie saw a huge airship formation of almost 2,000 huge whale-level airships flying towards Yuanjiang River in over 10 rows like 10-odd long dragons and airbuses. The formation lasted over dozens of miles.


    The symbol of the airships was a red bloody-dragon flag.


    This was the airship formation of Norman Empire.


    After flying over the natural chasm of Yuanjiang River, the airship formation entered the air territory of Huaiyuan Prefecture and landed in the large airship base which almost covered 100 sq miles being not far from the river. Zhang Tie slowed down and watched the formation for a short while. After those airships landed, almost 400,000 people got off 2,000 airships...


    Taian City was on the plain being not far from the airship base. Two railways extended out Taian City from east and west. Right beside the railways, a lot of towns and residential areas were coming into being. The ground completely became a huge construction site.


    At this moment, Taian City and its affiliated land which covered 50,000-60,000 sq miles had been sold to Norman Empire. This place had become a general base of Norman Empire in the south of Kalay Mountain Range and an asylum for the population of Norman Empire to migrate to the south. All the Hua people here had been evacuated.


    After checking the layout of Norman Empire here, he continued to fly towards Yiyang City.


    1 hour later, Yiyang City, the most brightly-lit city appeared. Compared to the brightly-lit scenery, what made Zhang Tie more amazed was the 10-odd large ships in a row berthing in the Yiyang Harbor, which Zhang Tie had not seen before. Even when he looked down at them, he was still stunned by the huge body and length of the huge ships. Million-tons ship! Only Taixia Country in the Eastern Continent could produce such super huge ships. Even the tens of thousands tons'' ships were dwarfed by such giants.


    ''F*ck, how many people would such giants hold at one time? Is this the legendary great retreat?''


    Zhang Tie watched Yiyang City for a while as he turned around and scratched his head. At this moment, he didn''t know the whereabouts of the elders of Huaiyuan Palace. Finally, he released his battle qi for a second. Zhang Tie knew that it was equal to a roar outside others'' home with a trumpet by doing this.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie saw two meteors flying off a mountain in Yiyang City towards him.


    "Which friend is visiting Huaiyuan Palace?"


    Before the two meteors drew close to him, a voice had arrived a few seconds ahead.


    Given the sound, Zhang Tie knew it was Elder Muray, whose sound Zhang Tie had heard many times.


    Zhang Tie firstly heard this sound in the ancestral bloodline palace of Clansmen Pavilion, when he felt it pretty lofty and aggressive.


    Zhang Tie heard this sound secondly in the camp of the middle corps of demonized puppets in Stancy City. When Elder Muray scolded, "When you beat the young, the elder would come for revenge naturally", Zhang Tie was pretty moved. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to sense the warmth and loveliness of Huaiyuan Palace on his back. When he was bullied, Elder Muray instantly appeared and boomed his tricky enemy into bullsh*t with a bolt.


    Zhang Tie heard this sound thirdly when he was chased by a demon knight. Elder Muray roared angrily on the way to save him...


    At this moment, it was Zhang Tie''s 4th time to hear this sound, when Zhang Tie felt pretty intimate and blood boiling.


    In the blink of an eye, the two elders had arrived. The one came here with Elder Muray was Elder Muen, whom Zhang Tie had seen before too. The battle that Huaiyuan Palace launched towards Heavens Cold City was led by Elder Muen. When Zhang Tie violated the regulation of Huaiyuan Palace by taking his friends in the Heavens Cold City without the consent of the superiors, he was also punished by Elder Muen.


    Watching the two elders, Zhang Tie felt complex inside.


    The two elders became stupefied at the sight of Zhang Tie, who was suspending in the void. They rubbed their eyes at the same time.


    "Zhang Tie, the unfilial offspring of Huaiyuan Palace, comes back! Honorable elders!" Zhang Tie bowed towards them very respectfully...


    ...


    "What a shadow demon. You dare to disguise the offspring of Zhang Clan, Huaiyuan Palace. I will chop off your head!" Elder Muray roared as he straightly charged at Zhang Tie with a purple face...

 717 Elders

    Chapter 717: Elders


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie was also shocked by Elder Muray''s bayonet-charge.


    Elder Muray moved very fast; however, Zhang Tie also had a quick response. He dodged from the first strike by retreating 300 m away in a split second.


    "Elder Muen, have you also forgotten that I wanted to add sugar to the Top Quality Wild Spring Tea from Eastern Continent in the airship outside the Heavens Cold City?" Zhang Tie roared towards Elder Muen, instead of explaining it to Elder Muray.


    Only Zhang Tie and Elder Muen were at present when this happened. Additionally, such a detail could be barely known by others.


    "Brother Muray, wait for a second!" Elder Muen urged.


    The moment Zhang Tie finished his words had Elder Muen flashed towards Elder Muray as fast as a lightning bolt and stopped him.


    In such a short period, Zhang Tie had dodged three strikes from Elder Muray; however, he didn''t launch any counterattack at all.


    Zhang Tie felt that Elder Muray was just a bit better than that knight who chased after him. Elder Muray''s true trump card was his brilliant huge bow, which was suitable for long-distance fight most.


    "You believe him?" Elder Muray''s face turned completely purple, which looked pretty majestic, "How come Zhang Tie became a knight at such a young age? This demon is obviously disrupting and mocking our Huaiyuan Palace!"


    "The drinking details, a few years ago outside Heavens Cold City, could hardly be exposed to the public!" Elder Muen watched Elder Muray with a solemn look.


    "However, it''s possible. With some secret skills, people could easily get one''s memory. If Zhang Tie fell into the hand of that demon, it''s not strange for the demon to know the details..." Elder Muray urged as he slowed down.


    "If it''s a real shadow demon, we can cooperate to kill it after a short while. He won''t escape!"


    After hearing Elder Muen'' words, Elder Muray finally stopped. However, he was still glaring at Zhang Tie as if he wanted to see what other tricks could this shadow demon play.


    Zhang Tie just suspended about 50 m away from the other two Elders.


    "How can you persuade us that you''re Zhang Tie?" Elder Muen asked Zhang Tie calmly.


    Zhang Tie smiled, "Have you forgotten about it, Elder Muray? You''ve already identified my status in the Ancestral Bloodline Palace of Clansmen Pavilion with bloodline crystal. As you might feel that I''m disguised no matter what I say now, why not identify it once again? I can wait here. You can go back to get the bloodline crystal; I can also follow you in the Clansmen Pavilion. No matter what, it''s not far from here!" Zhang Tie pointed at the location of the Clansmen Pavilion below his feet.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s answer, even Elder Muray became stunned. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie could be such straightforward. If Zhang Tie was really a disguised one, how could he be so confident? In front of the bloodline crystal, any disguised person would expose his original look. Shadow demon could disguise as Zhang Tie. Some people could get Zhang Tie''s memory through some secret skills. However, bloodline heritage could never be disguised.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, the two elders nodded slightly and tacitly. After that, Elder Muray stayed here; Elder Muen turned around and flew towards Clansmen Pavilion as fast as a lightning bolt. In the knight''s speed, it only took him a couple of minutes to come and go. Even if Zhang Tie was the Demon General, Elder Muen believed that Elder Muray could also stand a couple of minutes'' fight with Zhang Tie.


    Soon after Elder Muen left, watching Zhang Tie waiting for him back with a calm look, Elder Muray finally couldn''t help but ask with a dubious look, "You...you''re really Zhang Tie?"


    After letting out a sigh, Zhang Tie watched Elder Muray calmly, "Elder Muray and I met in the Ancestral Bloodline Pavilion for the first time. As we have our own persistence, I made you unhappy at that moment. However, I could also sense Elder Muray''s concern about me when I was chased by the demon knight. I have to extend my thanks to Elder Muray!"


    After saying it, Zhang Tie deeply bowed towards Elder Muray.


    Zhang Tie didn''t tell Elder Muray that he had witnessed how Elder Muray killed Koz, the head of Senel Clan. As he was in the incarnation of a beetle, it would be hard to explain about it.


    After hearing the two relevant events, Elder Muray''s snowwhite eyebrows jumped one time as his aggressive qi instantly relieved.


    "I know your doubt, Elder Muray. As I was chased by the demon knight, I was forced to jump into the subterranean river before you arrived. The watercourse of the subterranean river was very complex. Thankfully, I had a good diving skill which was formed when I was in Hidden Dragon Island. I had a chance to survive myself in the subterranean river. However, I was taken into an underground space by the subterranean river, where I had a marvelous experience and promoted to a knight within 1 month!"


    Elder Muray now looked a bit relieved. However, before Elder Muray said anything, Elder Muen had already returned from the Clansmen Pavilion with the bloodline crystal in his hand.


    Elder Muen directly threw the bloodline crystal towards Zhang Tie, "Now that you''ve used it, you should know how to use it!"


    Watching the crystal which radiated a fantastic brilliance with a drop of blood roiling inside, Zhang Tie directly pierced his finger with the tip of the crystal, having his fresh blood drop onto the crystal.


    When the blood inside the crystal met Zhang Tie''s fresh blood, the bloodline crystal instantly radiated the glow, brightening hundreds sq m, making it like an afterglow. The crystal even floated in the sky weightlessly.


    When the crystal radiated the glow, it indicated that this person was the offspring of the Lord Huaiyuan. The crystal floating in the sky indicated that the drop of fresh blood entering the crystal truly came from the knight.


    At the sight of this scene, Elder Muen and Elder Muray were both surprised and excited as their eyebrows and mustaches both raised.


    Realizing that someone on the ground had paid attention to the glow radiated from the bloodline crystal, Elder Muen waved his sleeve and put away the bloodline crystal before saying, "Go back to the Ancestral Hall first!"


    Zhang Tie then followed the two elders towards the Ancestral Hall of Huaiyuan Palace.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to go to Ancestral Hall. After arriving at the terrace outside the Ancestral Hall, Zhang Tie then followed them in a magnificent hall.


    At the end of the Ancestral Hall, there was an over 20-m high huge metal statue, which was heroically drawing open a crossbow towards the gate of the hall. There were many huge pillars as high as dozens of meters and as wide as 3-4 m in the hall. Some huge purple gold-copper cauldrons were standing in the corners while burning a special whale oil. Without causing any smoke, the burning oil released an exotic fragrance that made people reassured. The power, wealth and family background of Huaiyuan Palace were all exhibited in the hall.


    The moment Zhang Tie caught sight of the characters " »³Ô¶Ìà 1" above the metal statue had he known that this man was Zhang Huaiyuan, the founder of Huaiyuan Palace and his direct ancestor.


    At the foot of the huge statue were over 20 rows of more than 10,000 memorial tablets in total that were tidily and solemnly placed in stages. Beneath these tablets was a worship desk. In the middle of the worship desk was a piece of huge, pure, transparent black crystal as high as almost 1 m.


    Everything here was very solemn and majestic.


    Zhang Tie just watched the ancestral tablets and the statue of his ancestor silently. He then moved forward and took 3 sticks of incenses from the worship desk and lit them.


    "Zhang Tie, apprentice of Huaiyuan Palace worships ancestors. I hope you could safeguard Huaiyuan Palace, keep it prosperous forever and keep my parents safe and happy for the rest of their lives. Please let me shoulder the diseases, aging, sorrows, pains and all the disasters for my parents!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie reverently knelt down and kowtowed three times before inserting the incenses into the incense burners.


    Elder Muray and Elder Muen had long heard that Zhang Tie was extremely obedient to his parents. When Zhang Tie''s family lived in Blackhot City, they were poor. Zhang Tie''s mother sold rice brew to make up his father''s income at the price of 2-3 copper coins per bowl. Zhang Tie liked to eat rice brew very much. However, after 4 years of age, he didn''t eat anymore. When his family members asked why, he said he didn''t want to take too much as he knew his parents were working too hard. Later on, when Zhang Tie''s family returned to Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie then saved his father out of the prison using a "Mental Arithmetic by Abacus". After that, Zhang Tie invented all-purpose medicament and became the pillar of the whole family. Although he could make too much money per day, he still didn''t complain about his parents at all; instead, he always disguised as a naive kid to please his parents.


    As all these things about Zhang Tie were too trivial, of course, the two elders would not pay attention to them until Zhang Tie had 3 outstanding sons.


    Listening to Zhang Tie''s prayer, the two elders felt emotional. As an old Hua saying went, parents were the pillars of a family. If there was an obedient son in a family, the family would naturally be surrounded by fortune qi and always have good lucks. Even if the whole family was in a dilemma, they could still get rid of it due to bliss. As Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang were both obedient sons, although their family had just returned to Huaiyuan Palace from Blackhot City a few years ago, their family lived better one year after another. After promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie made Zhang Clan even the entire bloodline of Golden Sea City of Huaiyuan Palace prosperous. With one more knight, Huaiyuan Palace also became more powerful. Being obedient counted most in Hua culture. What a simple truth!


    Watching Zhang Tie finishing his prayer, Elder Muen had Zhang Tie take a seat and wait for a few seconds. After then, he pointed at a golden jar with a narrow neck while a strand of battle qi flew out, causing a muffled sound. At the same time, Zhang Tie felt a bizarre strength spreading in the hall like ripples.


    "Elder Muen, what''s that for?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    Elder Muen and Elder Muray had long changed their attitudes utterly. After exchanging glances with each other with a smile, Elder Muray opened his mouth, "This is used to transmit sound. As long as it utters a sound, all the other elders of Zhang Clan will receive the signal through their jade chips. Closely after that, they would arrive as soon as possible."


    "Isn''t it as same as remote-sensing crystal?"


    "Almost like that. However, remote-sensing crystals are natural born which could only be used in a pair. However, the sound-transmitting jar and jade chips are alchemist''s objects, many of which could be used at the same time. Besides, they are limited to a distance. They could only resonate, instead of transmitting too many messages like remote-sensing crystals!"


    Zhang Tie nodded. He had not imagined that he could see such a marvelous object in Huaiyuan Palace.


    "Your affair counts most. After Elder Muyu and Elder Muan arrive here, you''d better explain it to them!" Elder Muen added.


    Besides Elder Muyuan, Zhang Tie''s 6th granduncle who had gone to the Eastern Continent, the rest 4 elders were in Huaiyuan Prefecture.


    "Alright!"


    At this moment, Elder Muray, although being bad-tempered, was also sitting quietly and waiting for the arrival of the other two elders. As it was a big event for Zhang Clan, the rest two elders in Huaiyuan Prefecture had to know about it.


    ...


    After 10 minutes, Elder Muen saw Zhang Tie moving his ears. Heart racing a bit, he then asked.


    "You''ve sensed that too?"


    "I feel that an elder is 50 miles away from here. He''s flying at his full speed while releasing his powerful battle qi!"


    Having not imagined that Zhang Tie had already completely stabilized his realm of knight, Elder Muray and Elder Muen glanced at each other out of amazement, ''Those who have not stabilized their realm of knight could never be that sensitive to a knight''s qi. One could not stabilize his realm of knight until he promotes to knight for 10 years at least. Although one person might have a chance to promote to a knight rapidly, one could never save time in stabilizing his realm of knight...


    The two elders both faintly guessed something.


    ...


    Only after a few more minutes, Zhang Tie heard a sound outside the Ancestral Hall, when the elder landed outside the hall and walked in.


    "Zhang Tie..." That elder exclaimed at the sight of Zhang Tie with an amazed look.


    "Brother Muan, Zhang Tie came back, let''s talk about it later when Elder Muyu arrives!" Elder Muen uttered.


    Each elder had reached an extremely deep level in mental and physical cultivation. At that moment, although Elder Muan was amazed, he directly became quiet and took a seat.


    After sitting down, at the sight of Zhang Tie''s easygoing look, Elder Muan abruptly felt something as he drew in a breath, ''Zhang Tie''s qi could almost match that of the other two elders'' qi, has he...''


    Elder Muan looked at Elder Muray, who slightly nodded towards him.


    A few minutes later, Elder Muyu arrived.


    After all the 4 elders arrived, they all moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie.


    ...


    "The task that I accepted from the Allied Force Command was a trap. Senel Clan had long known that I would make an investigation in Tokei City, therefore, they arranged some powerhouses and high-level wing demons to wait for me in Tokei City. Soon after arriving at Tokei City, I had been discovered by some high-level wing demons. In the battle with wing demons, my glider dropped off. I was then captured by Koz, the head of Senel Clan..."


    "What happened later, you might have guessed. Senel Clan and Three-eye Association wanted me to serve them. I refused. They then sullied me in dirty means. Finally, Senel Clan wanted to make me succumb to them by locking me in a castle outside Tokei City.


    "I didn''t succumb to them. Instead, I found a chance to escape out of there. Due to some special reasons, after escaping from the territory of Senel Clan, I recovered and improved my battle force during a period. Later on, I returned to Selnes Theater of Operations. At that moment, Selnes Theater of Operations had been broken through by demons. Therefore, I just followed the demonized puppets corps all the way to revenge them from Selnes Theater of Operations, the Symbian Republic to Norman empire!"


    "However, I failed to find such a chance. The demonized puppets covered everywhere in the camp. I even didn''t know where were the family members of Senel Clan. Later on, the demonized puppets corps suffered a great loss in Nein City, causing a great chaos in the demonized puppets corps. After hiding in the chaotic demonized puppets corps for 2 months, I still failed to find the trace of Senel Clan. Therefore, I left Norman Empire for Upton City!"


    "After that, I met a familiar person Tharant in Upton City, a young elite of Arthur Clan, another clan of Three-eye Association. After following Tharant for a few days, I found a conspiracy that he was planning in Upton City. He wanted to coordinate with the demonized puppets corps to close the south gate in the north of Kalay Mountain Range."


    "After that, I sent the discovery to my elder brother..."


    "Later on, the Upton battle broke out. You all knew what happened then. I was chased by a demon knight and finally jumped into the subterranean river to escape. However, I was led into a mysterious underground space, where I found a huge pyramid being made of crystals. Being shocked, I walked inside unconsciously..."


    When Zhang Tie said this, all the other elders exclaimed, "Ahh? Tower of time?"


    Elder Muray almost stood up as he asked, "What happened then?"


    Zhang Tie shrugged and said with a helpless look, "Honestly, it happened a long time ago. The moment I entered the pyramid had the demon knight arrived. As he was far away from me, he failed to catch me timely. I thought I was going to die as there was no way to escape. However, it was unimaginable that the demon knight could not follow me in the pyramid. He could not open it no matter how forcefully he attacked the pyramid from outside. Therefore, I became a bit reassured!"


    Listening to this, all the other elders nodded inside, ''It''s true. Tower of time could only allow one person at one time. Now that Zhang Tie had entered it, the demon knight could never enter it, neither could the Demon General. Zhang Tie was really lucky enough.''


    "As the demon knight was waiting outside the pyramid, I dared not go out. In the beginning, I thought I was destined to die inside the pyramid as there was no food in it. After staying in the pyramid a few days, I didn''t feel like hungry or thirsty at all. As it was open inside it, I then started to cultivate inside there!"


    "I didn''t know how long have I stayed in the pyramid. I remembered that I was almost driven mad by the loneliness for a few times. However, when I remembered that demon knight was right outside the pyramid, I forced myself to constantly cultivate until I entered a tranquility. I forgot about the existence of time and the demon knight. I just cultivated and cultivated until one day I felt being a bit hungry. I then walked out of the pyramid, when I found that I had promoted a to knight..."


    "Ahh? How long have you stayed in the tower of time?" Elder Muen asked.


    With a serious frown, Zhang Tie shook his head helplessly before letting out a deep sigh, "In that state, I forgot how long had I stayed inside. I felt that I had stayed inside for my whole life. It was too long..."


    Of course, Zhang Tie lied. If he told them that he had promoted to a knight only after staying in the tower of time for 15 years, the elders would definitely burst out clamor as they would be further curious about his cultivation methods and chance. As it was too short for commoners to promote to a knight in only 15 years, Zhang Tie just let them think about it themselves. After all, according to Jaray, different towers of time had different time velocity. Even though Huaiyuan Palace wanted to figure out how long had he stayed in the tower of time, they had to wait another 6 decades at least. By then, it didn''t matter even if they knew that ZhangTie had promoted to a knight in 15 years.


    The elders exchanged glances with each other out of amazement...


    They all knew that Zhang Tie hid some secrets purposefully such as how he escaped out of the prison of Senel Clan and how he increased his battle force so fast. Now that Zhang Tie skipped them, nobody forced him to say that then.


    If a king didn''t keep his secret, he would lose his country; if a chancellor didn''t keep his secret, he would lose his position; if a shi didn''t keep his secret, he would lose his life. In this world, everybody had their own secrets. Even the roadside billboards had a hidden side, not to mention a person. All the elders of Huaiyuan Palace had their own secrets which they didn''t want to expose to the public. Therefore, they didn''t ask Zhang Tie about the details that Zhang Tie covered purposefully. It was also unnecessary. There were only two points that counted most. Zhang Tie was a member of Huaiyuan Palace; he had promoted to a knight.


    "Do you remember the location of the tower of time? When will the tower of time open again?" Noticing everyone else become silent, Elder Muan finally posed the questions that all the other elders were concerned about most.


    "Hmm, I''ve made marks all the way out of there. The tower of time should open once again in 6 decades..." Zhang Tie pretended to rack his mind as he frowned, "When I left the pyramid, a message occurred to my mind. After leaving the underground space, I remembered the message, it said that the pyramid would open 60 years later!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, all the elders let out a sigh.


    "What other questions do you have?" Elder Muen glanced at the other 3 elders before asking.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, all the other elders shook their heads.


    "If so, from today on, our Huaiyuan Palace will have one more clan elder, the only one who has promoted to a knight before 25!"


    Zhang Tie became stunned at once, ''What? Clan elder...''

 718 A Great Plan

    Chapter 718: A Great Plan


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After talking with the other 4 clan elders until midnight, Zhang Tie went to bed in an attic being not far from the Ancestral Hall where only elders could live in.


    Although Zhang Tie went to bed, he was still troubled with too many messages.


    After promoting to a knight, one would be destined to be a clan elder. This was indisputable in Huaiyuan Palace, or any place in Jinyun Country or Eastern Continent. Honestly, Zhang Tie didn''t make any mental preparation about becoming the clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace. However, he could never stop it happening unless he broke himself away from Huaiyuan Palace. If a knight was not a clan elder, it would definitely bring a lot of negative gossips and doubts to Huaiyuan Palace and himself. Therefore, Zhang Tie had to accept the position.


    Actually, Zhang Tie planned to return to Huaiyuan Palace for clearing some misunderstandings between him and Huaiyuan Palace in case of later concerns. He had never imagined that he could become a clan elder, which meant that he directly became a supreme leader of Huaiyuan Palace and a decision-maker on clan events. The conflicts between him and Huaiyuan Palace were nothing serious compared to the position of clan elder. The God joked with Zhang Tie once again.


    Last night, none of the elders asked Zhang Tie about his cultivation, which made Zhang Tie a bit shocked.


    However, what shocked Zhang Tie the most was the arrangement that Zhang Clan made for Huaiyuan Prefecture in the future.


    After the super fleet arrived at Huaiyuan Prefecture from the Eastern Continent, Huaiyuan Palace would accomplish the evacuation of all the Hua population from Huaiyuan Prefecture. This task had been carried out a few years. Up to now, there were still over 2 million Hua people left in Huaiyuan Prefecture. This was a complete transfer of Huaiyuan Palace''s power. Not only this, all the major clans across Jinyun Country had been doing this.


    When the 3rd holy war arrived, no major clan would lay their own clan''s hope in Waii Sub-continent, a remote place. It was an inevitable choice that all the major clans would return to Taixia Country for their origins.


    It was not a hasty decision for Huaiyuan Palace to return to Taixia Country. In Elder Muen''s words, since Lord Huaiyuan founded his first city in Waii Sub-continent, Huaiyuan Palace had been preparing for returning to Taixia Country one day.


    90% of population across Huaiyuan Prefecture would be transferred to Youzhou City, Taixia Country. Youzhou State was a lower state in the north of Taixia Country. It was just an underdeveloped place.. The area of the entire Youzhou State was equal to 2/3 of that of Waii Sub-continent. 5 decades ago, Taixia Country expanded its territory towards the north. When the border of Youzhou State was fixed, Huaiyuan Palace bought almost 1 million sq miles'' land in the southeast coastal area of Youzhou State, Taixia Country. These years, besides Huaiyuan City in Yingzhou State, Huaiyuan Palace also had its undertaking in Youzhou State. They had not founded a city in Youzhou State yet. They just founded a big harbor. This time, after returning to Taixia Country, Huaiyuan Palace would find 8 cities in Youzhou State at one time so as to hold so many people which were transferred there.


    According to the regulation of Taixia Country, after founding the 8 cities, Huaiyuan Palace would have a clan prefecture in Youzhou State, which indicated the official return of Huaiyuan Palace, instead of being overseas refugees. With this honor, Huaiyuan Palace would have a greater potential in development in Taixia Country. In the future, Huaiyuan Palace would help Count Long Wind to ascend to the prefectural governor of Youzhou State, Taixia Country...


    These years, Count Long Wind had been in Taixia Country, preparing for Huaiyuan Palace to return to Taixia Country and accumulate human relationships for him to ascend to the prefectural governor of Youzhou State, Taixia Country.


    It was a great 100-year plan for Huaiyuan Palace to return to Taixia Country!


    Compared to Waii Sub-continent, the remote place, Taixia Country was the real stage of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Zhang Tie felt that everything that Huaiyuan Palace did in Jinyun Country was for this day. The abrupt holy war just stimulated Huaiyuan Palace to reap its harvest in Jinyun Country and return to its home to restart its undertaking with great population and wealth.


    Huaiyuan Palace was just accumulating its power in Waii Sub-continent. When they came back to Taixia Country, they would lay their foundation for greater development potential.


    The other major clans of Jinyun Country had similar plans, including those in Qilan Country. After the holy war broke out, the only choice that all the overseas major Hua clans could make was to return to Taixia Country!


    However, this time, Huaiyuan Palace could not take away its cities, neither could it just leave everything here. At least for the time being, before the demonized puppets corps arrived, the entire Huaiyuan Prefecture was still prosperous. Those cities were still bringing great profits to Huaiyuan Palace everyday. Therefore, the Hurricane Corps of Huaiyuan Palace stayed here and wouldn''t leave Waii Sub-continent until the last moment. As a deterrence, Huaiyuan Palace would also leave an elder to guard its interests in Huaiyuan Prefecture as the head of the Hurricane Corps.


    After promoting to a knight, although his status as a clan elder had not been exposed, Zhang Tie had been qualified to attend the confidential events in the clan.


    Zhang Tie bargained with the other clan elders in the latter half of their talk last night.


    The discussion only contained 2 topics: Zhang Tie''s duties in Huaiyuan Palace after promoting to the clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace; The bloodline heritage of Zhang Tie''s 3 babies.


    The two topics were both major events for Huaiyuan Palace. The first one was involved with the position of the new clan elder in Huaiyuan Palace; the second one was more important. The continuity of ancestral bloodlines was involved with a clan''s prosperity. Especially the latter one, which was the biggest concern of the clan elders.


    "I didn''t know about the secrets of my 3 babies until I contacted my elder brother. I didn''t know why they inherited my ancestral bloodline. I think this is related to my experience when I was once struck by thunderbolts in Blackhot City. After that, I felt my body had experienced subtle changes. I couldn''t describe them in words. Maybe it''s just an accident!"


    Zhang Tie flickered to the elders with the most effective reason¡ª¡ªthunder strike once again.


    It was indeed the best decision for him to owe all the problems to thunder gods and the acquired lightning functional scholar syndrome. Zhang Tie would never admit that he could control the inheritance of ancestral bloodlines. Otherwise, he would never have a "tranquil" life in the future.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, the elders became silent.


    Although they didn''t speak, all the elders reached an agreement that the most important thing that Zhang Tie should do now was not cultivation, but to marry some Hua girls and deliver more babies so as to ensure whether Zhang Tie''s ancestral bloodlines could be inherited again. Especially after Zhang Tie confirmed that he had awakened the powerful Kuafu bloodline and sword affinity in the past one year, the elders opened their mouths so widely as if they wanted to devour Zhang Tie alive.


    When bargaining with the elders, Zhang Tie was also considering his own problems. He was thinking about the relationship between him and Huaiyuan Palace. Finally, they fixed two events.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter promoting to be a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie would serve the office of the head of Hurricane Corps of Huaiyuan Palace and stay in Waii Sub-continent.


    ¡ª¡ªBefore Zhang Tie returned to Taixia Country, Huaiyuan Palace would not interfere with Zhang Tie''s marriage and personal life. However, after returning to Taixia Country, Zhang Tie was obliged to coordinate with Huaiyuan Palace to sustain the ancestral bloodline of Zhang Clan.


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t sleep well that night as he kept digesting the messages that he was told by the clan elders.


    As a knight, one could still be energetic after being awake for a few days; therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t feel sleepy at all. After getting up, he entered meditation with crossed legs for a short while before feeling refreshing all over once again.


    After cleansing his face and teeth, Zhang Tie left the attic.


    ...


    Only after one night, all the deacons and disciples on the Yiyang Mountain had been busy.


    After coming to the Ancestral Hall, Zhang Tie found that a lot of deacons and disciples were cleaning the huge pillars while standing on the huge steel frames that they had put up.


    "Take care, take care..." A deacon told a team of strong men who were carrying a lot of heavy crates into the Ancestral Hall. After that, the deacon told them to put down the crates, take the objects being padded by soft velvet out of the crates and pave them onto the floor of the hall.


    At the sight of those objects, Zhang Tie became stunned. Because all the crates contained extremely brilliant square gold bricks, each of which was 2-3 cm in thickness, 10 cm in length and width. All the gold bricks were covered with brilliant patterns of bliss clouds. As the bricks were heavy, it required 2 deacons to take each brick out of the crate carefully and pave it onto the floor.


    The moment the crates were empty would they be taken away. Closely after that, another team of strong men would carry in another batch of crates.


    ''Cleaning the hall and paving the floor with gold bricks. What for?''


    Seeing Elder Muen standing in the hall and arranging jobs for some deacons, Zhang Tie walked over there.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Elder Muen waved his hand, telling those deacons to leave.


    ...

 719 Rotating Chakra Ceremony

    Chapter 719: Rotating Chakra Ceremony


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After bowing towards Elder Muen, those deacons threw an awe-stricken glance at Zhang Tie before leaving. As they were responsible for taking care of the Ancestral Hall and serving clan elders, of course, these deacons knew what was this for.


    "Elder Muen, what''s this for? Are we holding some ceremony?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "Of course we need to hold a ceremony. Have you forgotten what we talked about last night?" Elder Muen revealed a smile.


    "Ahh? Is that for me?"


    "Of course!"


    "This...is too grand!" Zhang Tie looked around and watched those busy deacons and disciples, those gold bricks with propitious clouds and the prayer flags that were hanging in the hall. That was really too grand. Last night, the other elders said there would be an official ceremony for one more knight in Huaiyuan Palace. Zhang Tie had not imagined that it could be such grand.


    "Rotating Chakra Ceremony is a major event for our clan. Of course, we have to treat it meticulously!" Elder Muen said with a solemn look.


    "Rotating Chakra Ceremony?"


    "After promoting to a knight, you have formed your original Chakra; if the Chakra could rotate forever, it would indicate a great battle force of our clan. The rotating Chakra is not only related to yourself, but also related to the qiyun and prosperity of the entire clan and Huaiyuan Palace. Therefore, we have to hold a rotating Chakra ceremony to celebrate and display the dignity of the knight!" Speaking of this, Elder Muen looked around the entire hall with a narcissistic and emotional look as he lowered his voice, "The last rotating Chakra ceremony was held here 68 years ago. Before Elder Muyu and Elder Muan promoted to knights at the same time, they were called Huaiyuan Double Jades due to great talents. They promoted to knights within 3 years one after another. In that rotating Chakra ceremony, the moment the two knights appeared, our Huaiyuan Palace shocked the entire Waii Sub-continent. In Jinyun Country, Huaiyuan Palace''s prestige even exceeded the other 5 major clans, Lan Clan, Ou Clan, Dantai Clan, Wang Clan and Li Clan. Each member of Huaiyuan Palace was proud about that. Since then, the rotating Chakra ceremony''s ritual instruments had been maintained everyday. Each member of Huaiyuan Palace expected for the moment when we could use those ritual instruments once again. And it came again 68 years later..."


    "68 years!" Zhang Tie also let out a sigh while he was deeply moved by Elder Muen. Zhang Tie had not imagined that it was so difficult to be a knight.


    "The big events of a major clan are warfare and sacrifice. In Taixia Country, each top clan would hold a rotating Chakra ceremony per 10 years or so. In each rotating Chakra ceremony, the cohesive force and influence of a clan would reach a new high. Before Huaiyuan Palace returned to Taixia Country, it''s a good symbol for Huaiyuan Palace to hold another rotating Chakra ceremony in this Ancestral Hall!"


    "When will it start?"


    "November 3rd. It''s a lucky day!" Elder Muen replied, "We have to pay great attention to this rotating Chakra ceremony. It will take Huaiyuan Palace''s side more than half a month to prepare for it. Additionally, we have to send invitations to guests. It would take all the guests at least 1 month to arrive here. Today is September 24th. Although it is still a bit hasty, 40 days is okay !"


    After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie said, "I have something to deal with. I will leave Huaiyuan Prefecture for a while. I will come back before November 1st!"


    As Zhang Tie had not been to Ice and Snow Wilderness for a long time, he planned to take a look back there in this period. As his current swimming speed was at least 10 times faster than that of before, it wouldn''t take him too long to make a round trip.


    After being silent for a second, Elder Muen watched Zhang Tie seriously, "As this rotating Chakra ceremony is related to the dignity of the clan, after sending out the invitations, guests will converge here from all directions. If you didn''t come back on time, the entire Huaiyuan Palace would feel bashful. If it''s a dangerous trip, you can have Elder Muray accompany you..."


    As Zhang Tie usually disappeared, Elder Muen was afraid that Zhang Tie would disappear once again. If so, Huaiyuan Palace would have a big trouble. If Zhang Tie was still the previous one, Elder Muen would have rebuked him; however, Zhang Tie''s status was as same as that of him now. Although Zhang Tie had not become an official clan elder, he could not be looked down by anyone else in Huaiyuan Palace. As a clan elder, unless making an unforgivable mistake when he would be punished by all the other clan elders, he had the right to refuse any order in the clan. Negotiations were available instead of orders for him.


    "Elder Muen, don''t worry. I''m not going to fight demons this time. I will be safe!" Zhang Tie explained with a smile as he understood Elder Muen''s concern.


    "Hmm, come with me..." Elder Muen then led Zhang Tie into a rear court of the Ancestral Hall, where the clan elders usually cultivated in. After that, Elder Muen took out of a mini brocade box from a cabinet in a room.


    Zhang Tie took it and found a finger ring inside. Given its look, the finger ring was nothing different than common finger rings, besides being thicker and wider. However, Zhang Tie knew that common finger rings could never be put away here in such a solemn way. Additionally, Zhang Tie remembered that all the clan elders were wearing a similar common finger ring.


    "This is a top-quality remote-sensing crystal finger ring that could only be worn by clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace. According to our plan, you should wear it when you confirmed the knight character at the end of the rotating Chakra ceremony. Now that you want to leave Huaiyuan Prefecture, you can put it on first. You can contact the other clan elders with it in an emergency."


    Zhang Tie took it and looked at it carefully. However, he found that it didn''t look like a remote-sensing crystal at all.


    "There''s a mini top quality remote-sensing crystal inside this finger ring. You cannot see it without using your spiritual energy!"


    Zhang Tie then sensed a fine hole which was dozens of times narrower than that of needle eye on the surface of the finger ring. After injecting his spiritual energy into that fine hole, Zhang Tie sensed the core of the remote-sensing crystal which looked like a drop of running water.


    The smaller the remote-sensing crystal was, the easier it would be carried and the more precious it would be. After being sealed inside the finger ring, the remote-sensing crystal could almost not be seen by others. Such a delicate craftsmanship and the value of such a tiny remote-sensing crystal was amazing. Compared to that remote-sensing crystal gifted by Zhang Yang, this finger ring was much more advanced. After wearing this finger ring, when a message was transmitted here, he would receive it instantly.


    Furthermore, this finger ring was a rare Knight-level rune equipment. After scanning over the metallic surface of the finger ring with his spiritual energy, Zhang Tie had seen lines of the message in his mind.


    ¡ª¡ªHuaiyuan Finger Ring


    ¡ª¡ªKnight-level Equipment.


    ¡ª¡ªWith this finger ring, the wearer could increase his nimbleness by 2%, his recovery speed by 2% and his perceptive ability by 2%.


    What a rarity! What was more was that there was an in-laid top quality remote-sensing crystal inside the finger ring.


    "This finger ring is produced in the Items Pavilion of Huaiyuan Palace. Only clan elders are qualified to wear it. Each clan elder has one!"


    Zhang Tie took it solemnly. Although the Huaiyuan Finger Ring was light, it was valuable.


    There was an exclusive long-distance communications identification code for this finger ring in the box. After skimming it, Zhang Tie rubbed it into ashes in front of Elder Muen.


    "In the encryption department of the Ancestral Hall, someone was keeping an eye on the other side of this remote-sensing crystal around the clock. Through the transfer of the encryption department, you could contact the other 5 clan elders through this finger ring!"


    The encryption department was exclusive for the long-distance communications among clan elders, which was under the management of royal and reliable clan deacons. This agency displayed the wealth and privileges of clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace.


    "Did Elder Muyuan transmit the message from Eastern Continent to here by Huaiyuan Finger Ring this time?"


    "Hmm!" Elder Muen nodded.


    After becoming a clan elder, according to the regulations of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie could only call other elders'' courtesy names. Even if they were father and son or brothers, they could also not call each other according to their seniority in the family unless at home or privately. Therefore, Zhang Tie could not call 6th granduncle in the public anymore.


    ...


    After 10 minutes, Zhang Tie strode downwards Yiyang Mountain, the center of Huaiyuan Palace alone.


    In Huaiyuan Palace, nobody dared to follow clan elders unless the one was bored of living too long. Additionally, only knights were able to follow knights.


    "Ahh? Are you a new disciple? We''ve not seen you before!" When Zhang Tie went downhill, he met some deacons who were going uphill at the same age of Zhang Tie. Watching the young man who was wearing a different warrior''s costume from that of others, the other deacons asked amazingly. ''As all the deacons, stewards and disciples in the mountain were uniformed costumes respectively, nobody dared wear casual clothes here. Who''s that one? How can he be so audacious?"


    "No..."


    Zhang Tie answered calmly before walking downhill in a handsome way under the amazing gaze of the disciples.


    ...


    After half an hour, Zhang Tie came to an apartment on one avenue of Yiyang City.


    ...


    "Ahh? Mr and Mrs James have already checked out half a year ago. They''ve already left Yiyang City by the sea!"


    The concierge of that apartment was a strong white man. He answered Zhang Tie politely when he found that Zhang Tie was a Hua man in an expensive set of warrior''s costumes.


    At this moment, as a great batch of Hua people were evacuating from Yiyang City, more and more other human species flooded in. Many Siberians found their jobs in Yiyang City, which made up the shortage of labor forces in this city.


    The concierge''s reply was within Zhang Tie''s expectation completely. On the way here, he had guessed that Miss Daina had already moved away. Last time, after he left Yiyang City two months ago, Miss Daina should have married her fiance. As such a long time had passed by, it was impossible for Miss Daina to stay in Yiyang City.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know why would he come here. As a whim just occurred to his mind, ''What''s going with Miss Daina? If she''s living well, I just want to take a glance from the distance without any malicious intention.'' However, after finding that someone else was living in the residence of Miss Daina and her husband, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand to inquire the concierge about the whereabouts of Miss Daina.


    "Do you know their whereabouts?"


    "They might have gone to the Eastern Continent. As to the details, I have to say I don''t know. It''s heard that Doc James is proficient in surgery. Someone dug him out of his previous hospital. His wife got pregnant. Of course, they left here by chance..."


    ''Had Miss Daina got pregnant? Given the time, she should have become a mom.'' Zhang Tie felt complex inside.


    ''I married some girls and became a father; Miss Daina also married a man and became a mother. Is this the so-called life?''


    ...


    After leaving Miss Daina''s residence, Zhang Tie walked for a while in the boisterous streets of Yiyang City. Finally, he recovered his composure and called a taxi for Golden Sea City.


    The driver of the taxi was a black man, who could not speak Hua language fluently. Zhang Tie just pointed at his destination on the map showed by the driver. The driver then understood where he was heading for.


    Zhang Tie prepared to visit Zhang Clan''s head in Golden Sea City. On the way, the driver completely treated him as a tool for practicing Hua language. Hearing his jokes in awkward Hua language, Zhang Tie sighed helplessly, ''Yup, c''est la vie¡ª¡ªeven the woman being loved by a knight married another man; met a driver who joked in awkward Hua language when you were depressed.''


    The taxi driver parked outside the old mansion of Zhang clan. Zhang Tie tossed a gold coin at the driver as he said, "Keep the changes..."


    As the travel fee was less than 10 silver coin, the driver was overjoyed by a gold coin.


    " Xiexie 1...Xiexie..." The driver instantly accelerated away 2.


    Zhang Tie shook his head as he walked towards the old mansion of Zhang Clan...


    A limo drove by Zhang''s old mansion accidentally. When it passed by Zhang Tie, the vehicle suddenly slowed down. The window was rolled down while a beauty in a very womanly skirt watched Zhang Tie''s side with a slight frown. Zhang Tie also looked at her. The woman''s eyes instantly turned bright.


    "Is that you?" The woman exclaimed with an amazement.


    After gazing at her for a few seconds, Zhang Tie remembered who she was, the crazy girl who hugged him and called him hubby when she saw him for the first time...


    ''Nana...''


    After changing her make-up, the little female delinquent almost could not be recognized by Zhang Tie...


    However, based on Zhang Tie''s knowledge about women, the moment he saw her, he knew that her current look was completely disguised...

 720 A Party in the Old Mansion

    Chapter 720: A Party in the Old Mansion


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The guardians outside the gate of the old mansion didn''t know Zhang Tie. Seeing Zhang Tie wandering towards them, they stopped him at once. However, that woman and her car were let in.


    After the car drove inside, Zhang Tie was still standing outside the gate. The woman then threw an interesting look back at him.


    "Nana, how can you stare at a man so rudely. It''s Zhang''s granny''s 70th birthday, you should not be as wild as before. Your Aunt Xue even wants to introduce some young talented men of Zhang Clan to you today." A noble Hua lady at her 40s with an up-do urged, who looked a bit similar to that girl. She looked pretty good. Given the top quality purple beads string over her neck and the jade green bracelets on her wrists which could be family jewels, she was definitely a noblewoman.


    "Zhang Clan of Golden Sea City is really prosperous these years. A couple of years ago, Zhang Clan could not match our Wang Clan. However, Zhang Clan''s undertakings in Golden Sea City developed so fast. Zhang Clan''s Milky Way Shipyard is worth over 10 million gold coins now, which rises to 2nd from 3rd. The old man Zhang Haitian of Zhang Clan is really great!" A 40-50-year-old man with glasses on the woman''s side added as he watched the boisterous scene in Zhang''s old mansion.


    "It''s said that Jinwu Business Group has its channel to get all-purpose medicament. They could even share a business with Longwind Business Group. What a great Zhang undertakings!" Speaking of the all-purpose medicament, the noble woman''s eyes gleamed at once.


    The man slightly frowned as he replied, "It seems that Jinwu Business Group has few business relations with Zhang''s old mansion. However, Zhang Yang, the head of Jinwu Business Group is indeed a grandson of Zhang Haitian, the head of Zhang Clan!"


    "What''s the reason? Doesn''t Zhang''s old mansion have shares of Jinwu Business Group?" The woman became a bit amazed.


    "Hehe, Zhang Haitian the old man has 4 wives, 11 sons and daughters, and dozens of grandchildren. Many of his grandchildren had got married and established their own undertakings. It''s normal to have problems in such a huge family. Every family has its own difficulties. Don''t we?" The man smiled softly.


    The noblewoman then became silent.


    The girl in the car made a grimace by stretching out her tongue.


    Zhang''s old mansion was indeed very boisterous. As there was no vacancy in Zhang''s old mansion anymore, some limos even parked on the road 100 m away from Zhang''s old mansion. The steward of Zhang''s old mansion was guiding servants to help drivers park their cars and lead guests into the old mansion.


    After getting off the vehicle, the girl couldn''t help but throw a glance back at Zhang Tie, who was still standing outside the gate. At this moment, a guardian hurriedly trotted towards here. When he met a guardian of the old mansion, he whispered to the guardian. The moment the guardian heard this had he stridden towards the gate flurriedly.


    ...


    Zhang Tie patiently waited outside the gate a few minutes, during which period, two more limos drove into Zhang''s old mansion. It seemed especially boisterous today in the old mansion. There would never be so many people in usual time.


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie saw a familiar guardian hurriedly walking towards him.


    "Ahh, young master Zhang Tie..." At the sight of Zhang Tie, the guardian became startled at once. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie could appear at this moment. He hurriedly had the concierges let Zhang Tie in, "Ahh, as these guardians are newly employed, they haven''t seen you before. Please don''t blame them, young master..."


    As a great taboo, if guardians made their owner''s family members uncomfortable, they would definitely be laid off. Even Zhang Haitian would not allow such silly guardians to stay in the old mansion.


    After hearing the guardian''s explanation, the two concierges hurriedly apologized to Zhang Tie.


    "It doesn''t matter, it doesn''t matter, you''re also fulfilling your duties. The old man would feel safe living here as he has concierges like you..." Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    Knowing that Zhang Tie was so kind, the two concierges let out a sigh at the same time, ''I''ve not imagined that the old man has such a kind grandson. All the other grandsons usually come here by limos in a very dignified way while being favored by many people. However, this one just came here by taxi. It seems that he has a low position in Zhang Clan. Additionally, he just came here in warrior''s costumes today. It looks too casual...''


    The guardian who knew Zhang Tie directly led Zhang Tie into the old mansion.


    "It''s so boisterous today." Zhang Tie uttered.


    "It''s the 70th birthday of the eldest grandma. So many people are coming here to offer birthday congratulations to her!"


    "Ahh, is Zhang Su here?" Zhang Tie asked out of amazement.


    Although Zhang Su and Zhang Tie both stayed in Hidden Dragon Palace, they just saw each other a few times. Later on, Zhang Su left Hidden Dragon Palace and carried out clan task. After the battle of Heavens Cold City, Zhang Tie left Hidden Dragon Palace. They hadn''t seen each other for 5 years.


    "Young master Zhang Su has come back yesterday..."


    Zhang Tie nodded, ''As Zhang Su is the eldest grandma''s direct grandson, he should come back on her 70th birthday.''


    Watching so many vehicles on the way, Zhang Tie knew that there were many visitors here today.


    After coming to the lobby of the old mansion, Zhang Tie entered it himself.


    ...


    The lobby was refurnished today. It looked happy everywhere. Over 200 people were gathering in the lobby, male or female, young or old. They were chatting together. Besides Zhang''s family members, there were also many guests. Most of the guests were Zhang''s old friends and influential figures in Golden Sea City. Male guests were in tidy clothes; female guests were in shiny jewels. Male and female were communicating with each other in different circles.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the lobby had he caught sight of Zhang Su.


    In a small parlor beside the lobby, Zhang Su was chatting with the other young men and women whose age ranged from 16-20 or so. They were all sitting around Zhang Su and listening to him like how stars embraced the moon.


    Zhang Su in a set of military uniform ranked Lieutenant Colonel of Jinyun Country looked pretty heroic and handsome. Many girls admired him so much that their eyes were sparkling. Even males were showing venerable looks. When Zhang Su was talking about something, some female teenagers at their 16s couldn''t stand to exclaim while covering their mouth with the hand.


    Compared to that 5 years ago, Zhang Su looked maturer and more confident.


    At the sight of Zhang Su, Zhang Tie knew that he was LV 10. It seemed that Zhang Su made a great progress these years compared to other members of Huaiyuan Palace; however, his progress was still dwarfed by Lan Yunxi, the chosen one. Of course, he could never match Zhang Tie, who always had marvelous experiences. Nobody across Waii Sub-continent could promote to knight at Zhang Tie''s age, not to mention Zhang Su.


    Even though, a LV 10 fighter at such a young age was qualified as an elite and backbone. The killer of Zhen Clan who was dispatched to Hidden Dragon Island from Heavens Cold City to kill Zhang Tie was also LV 10. However, Zhang Su''s military uniform and rank indicated his current position.


    Sensing someone on his side, he looked around and caught sight of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie revealed a big smile.


    Zhang Su became a bit stunned. Closely after that, he sprung up and strode towards Zhang Tie, leaving the others alone.


    The onlookers then moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie.


    Some of them were Zhang Tie''s cousins, who saw Zhang Tie in the old mansion a few years ago and still had a blurry memory of Zhang Tie. However, those young guests didn''t know Zhang Tie at all.


    "Ahh, who''s that guy? I''ve not seen him before!" A young man asked a Zhang''s member.


    "Hmm, he''s Zhang Tie, a cousin!" That person answered faintly.


    Besides the troop that Huaiyuan Palace dispatched to Selnes Theater of Operations, few people across Huaiyuan Prefecture knew Zhang Tie''s honor "Selnes Eagle". Because Hua people didn''t pay much attention to such honors that were popular in Siberians. Later on, after Zhang Tie was captured by Senel Clan, rumors spread across Selnes Theater of Operations; Huayuan Palace then didn''t propagate him anymore. The message about Zhang Tie that Zhang''s old mansion gasped was still one and half a year ago when Zhang Tie was chased out of Hidden Dragon Palace. The old man Zhang Haitian of Zhang Clan didn''t express his opinion about Zhang Tie''s performance. As to those peers, some of them felt pitiful about Zhang Tie; some took pleasure in Zhang Tie''s misfortune. In a major clan, young ones always compete with each other.


    "Cousin!" Zhang Tie called him.


    "You''re still alive?" Zhang Su looked very excited as his eyes were filled with tears, "I heard about your experience from junior fellow apprentice Liu Xu when I went back to Hidden Dragon Island last time. I thought...I thought..."


    Watching Zhang Su''s expression, Zhang Tie felt warm, too. When in Hidden Dragon Palace, he knew that this cousin was a bit arrogant; however, generally, he was a sentimental person. Additionally, he was pretty decisive and had a great sense of responsibility.


    Zhang Tie just embraced Zhang Su tightly.


    Given the bloodline, they were cousins. In Hidden Dragon Palace, they were fellow apprentices. When the holy war broke out, Zhang Tie defended demons in Selnes Theater of Operations while Zhang Su cleared demonized puppets in Qilan Country, namely, they were comrades-in-arms. Plus some common experiences in Hidden Dragon Island, they didn''t need to talk too much; instead, they just embraced each other while patting each other''s backs forcefully.


    Zhang Tie was not eye-catching in Zhang''s old mansion. Few people paid attention to him when he entered the old mansion. By contrast, Zhang Su was the pillar of Zhang''s young generation who was widely accepted by the family members in Zhang''s old mansion. When they embraced so fervently at the gate of the lobby, everybody else moved their eyes on them. After recognizing Zhang Tie, a steward hurriedly went to report to Zhang Haitian the old man of Zhang Clan.


    After separating from each other, Zhang Su recovered his composure before drawing in a breath deeply. Closely after that, he guided Zhang Tie into the back drawing room.


    "The grandpa is always thinking about you these days. He also knew what you encountered in Selnes Theater of Operations. Over the past year, having not received your message, the old man has been worried about you. He must be very happy to know that you''ve come today..."


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile. Being silent, he just followed Zhang Su towards the back drawing room. Before they entered the back drawing-room, the old man had been already walking towards them. At the sight of Zhang Tie, the grandpa was so happy that he tightly held Zhang Tie''s hands.


    "Fine, fine, nice to see you back, nice to see you back..."


    The one followed after the old man was his eldest wife. The old woman wore a gold-silk purple skirt with a green emerald as large as a chicken''s egg on her forehead. Meanwhile, she was holding a brilliant crystal ruyi. She looked pretty dignified and rich. Although it was her 70th birthday, only one-third of her hair had turned pale. She looked like only a bit elder than 50.


    "I''ve just returned to Huaiyuan Prefecture last night. As I didn''t know that today was grand madam''s 70th birthday, therefore, I didn''t prepare any gift for you. Please don''t blame me for that!" Zhang Tie explained.


    "Su''er also came back with no gift. As you two fought outside for the clan, it''s my best gift that you came back safe and sound! Your grandpa has not been so happy for a long time..." Grand madam said happily. No matter whether it was true or not, Zhang Tie indeed felt warm inside.


    "Have you registered in the clan when you came back?" The grandpa asked out of concern, which contained deep meaning.


    "Hmm, I''ve already registered. It''s okay..."


    The old man then became reassured. In his opinion, if Zhang Tie could come back and register himself in the clan after being captured and stand safe and sound in front of him, he''s indeed innocent. If there was really some problems with him, Zhang Tie had to undergo a strict interrogation carried out by the clan, even if he could survive back.


    "It''s okay, young men should experience more. As long as there''s a green mountain, we won''t fear about having no firewoods to burn!" The old man comforted Zhang Tie. The old man even wanted to ask Zhang Tie about his experiences after being captured; however, seeing so many people circling around here, he became silent.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile without making any explanation. In most people''s eyes, he was dismissed by Hidden Dragon Palace; after that, he was captured in Selnes Theater of Operations and his current status was definitely disgraced. As all the news in Yiyang Mountain were forbidden to be revealed to the public, even if those deacons and disciples knew something, they dared not expose the news to the public. Except for only a few people, most of the people across Huaiyuan Prefecture didn''t know that he had already promoted to a knight.


    Seeing Zhang Haitian and the grand madam walking out of the back drawing-room to see Zhang Tie, many people in the lobby were surprised as many of them gathered here.


    "Old man, who''s this young man?" A guest asked out of curiosity.


    "This is my grandson, who has been fighting in Selnes Theater of Operations with the airship troop of Jinyun Country. He''s just come back today!" The old man explained faintly.


    At the same time, the old man threw a glance at Zhang Su. Zhang Su instantly got the old man''s meaning as he grabbed Zhang Tie''s arm and explained to the onlookers with a smile, "Uncles, as my cousin has just come back today, I will introduce some friends to him. Some younger female cousins are waiting for listening to my cousin talking about how humans fought demonized puppets in STO. I have to take him away!"


    "Haha...I''ve not imagined that Zhang Clan could have two talents who could fight demons. Old man, you have good fortune. You have so many talented offsprings of literary and military capacity!" The guest replied while all the other guests laughed out loudly. Zhang Su also took Zhang Tie into the back drawing-room.


    Given the performance of the old man and Zhang Su, Zhang Tie could sense that the old man was protecting him. Seeing Zhang Su and Zhang Tie getting along with each other so well, the old man also became relieved. From then on, he always kept a big smile.


    Seeing the old man happy, all the people in the old mansion also looked happy, even though some of them were actually unhappy. Therefore, Zhang''s old mansion became more boisterous.


    Those young men who surrounded Zhang Su just now were indeed interested in Zhang Tie. The moment Zhang Su pulled Zhang Tie over there had a 16-17-year-old girl thrown her curious look onto Zhang Tie. Although Zhang Tie was already over 20 years old, he looked as young as the girl.


    Feeling like meeting a peer, the young girl instantly asked Zhang Tie about his job and military rank in Selnes Theater of Operations vigorously.


    "I fought demons with the airship troop in Selnes Theater of Operations. I''m a glider driver; sergeant first class!" Zhang Tie answered seriously. As the only air cavalry in Selnes Theater of Operations, he was indeed fighting with the airship troop as a sergeant first class.


    Zhang Su turned around and seemed wanting to say something. Zhang Tie then blinked his eyes towards him. After knowing that Zhang Tie didn''t want to mention what happened in Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Su then became silent; he just listened to Zhang Tie flickering the young girl.


    "Ahh..."The young girl obviously looked disappointed. Judging from Zhang Su''s and grandpa''s attitudes towards him, the young girl even thought Zhang Tie was an influential figure. However, she had not imagined that Zhang Tie was just a newbie who drove gliders. Not only that, even the other young women moved their eyes away from Zhang Tie. In this circle, although being young, many people had known it clearly who were valuable to them. Undoubtedly, a sergeant first class who could only drive glider in Selnes Theater of Operations was not their target.


    "What were you doing before serving the army? You''re younger than 18. How could you join the army?" The young girl asked the last question out of curiosity.


    "I stayed in Hidden Dragon Palace for a few days, but I was expelled. So I''m barely qualified as a fighter!" Zhang Tie explained seriously.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, even those men beside Zhang Tie became wordless¡ª¡ªjust a guy who was expelled from Huaiyuan Palace.


    ...


    Zhang Tie then felt quiet. After revealing a smile towards Zhang Su, he sat in the corner of the drawing-room with a glass of wine in hand and listening to young men chatting.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that it was the grand madam''s 70th birthday. Previously, he wanted to leave soon after visiting the old man. It seemed that he had to finish the supper. It would be too merciless if he left now. ''Just wait then.''


    Zhang Tie drunk the wine as he listening to their talk. At the same time, he was imagining 4 golden abacuses and carrying out the four different arithmetic operations.


    Zhang Tie was already able to do two things adroitly at the same time. After promoting to a knight, with surging spiritual energy, he attempted to do different arithmetic operations on 4 abacuses at the same time.


    This attempt was almost as same as that when he just attempted to imagine 2 abacuses in mind at the beginning.


    When he did two things at the same time, Zhang Tie actually had already realized the potential value of "mental arithmetic by abacus".


    The more abacuses he imagined in mind, the more effective "mental arithmetic by abacus" would be to the improvement of his spiritual energy. When he imagined 2 abacuses at the same time, he could improve his spiritual energy by 2 times; when he imagined 4 abacuses at the same time, he could improve his spiritual energy by 3 times.


    The original ''mental arithmetic by abacus" could make a very limited improvement in his spiritual energy; however, after improving the effect by 3 times, Zhang Tie felt that "mental arithmetic by abacus" could almost match the effect of some secret methods on cultivating spiritual energy.


    ''What if I imagine 8, 16, 32 abacuses at the same time?''


    The moment Zhang Tie imagined about the bright future had he faintly become excited inside.


    However, this was not the only effect of "mental arithmetic by abacus". The most important effect of "mental arithmetic by abacus" was that he could do many things at the same time...


    ''What would happen if I could do 2 things, 4 things even 8 things at the same time...''


    Zhang Tie faintly felt a terrifying potential value of "mental arithmetic by abacus"...


    ...


    Suddenly, a gust of fragrance arrived. Smelling the familiar fragrance, Zhang Tie sighed, ''The girl comes again?''


    "Please stay far away from me. Can we just pretend to not know each other?" Zhang Tie sighed as he stopped cultivation.


    "I feel you were just flickering the young girl, right? How could you be that average?" The woman whispered to Zhang Tie.


    Raising his eyes, Zhang Tie looked at the woman in a brilliant womanly skirt. The woman''s eyes gleamed dangerously like how a naughty kid found something funny.


    "So what?" Zhang Tie slightly raised his jaw, "You bit me?"


    "How about this? You tell me your life in Selnes Theater of Operations, I promise to not tell others about that!" The woman called Nana revealed a curious look.


    Zhang Tie just rolled his eyes and ignored such a naive suggestion.


    "Tell me about your requirement. How about racing car once again. If you lost it, you have to follow my order!" The woman rolled her eyes as she said smartly.


    "Little girl, your mom is calling you. Hurry, go meet your Mr. Right in the future. If you are rebellious in your puberty, just race cars with other boys. You can drill as many holes as possible on your ears. After all, you don''t lack money. Just daub some senior recovery medicament on the holes. Additionally, you can also pretend as a fair lady with earrings on them in such a scene. When you get married, remember to give birth to some more babies for your husband as a contribution to humans. You can take care of your babies, walk dogs or make hairdressing at home everyday. Just be your young mistress of the house. As to battles, many people would die there. You''d better not involve in it. Neither should you be interested in the battle. If you are interested in stories, just go read cavalry novels!"


    The woman became stunned. She looked along the direction of Zhang Tie''s jaw as she saw her mom and Aunt Xue standing in the far with a 20-year old man in a formal dress. Her mom was watching him with a worrying look and intending to have her back. ''How...how did he know that I daubed senior recovery medicament on my ear holes.''


    ''Jerk!''


    ...


    However, Zhang Tie made a wrong judgment about this girl''s next movement. Under the gaze of the two women and a man, this girl just took a seat on the sofa beside her like a fair lady silently. At the same time, she threw a sweet smile at Zhang Tie while putting her arms on the handrails of the sofa. Closely after that, she leaned against the sofa and watched Zhang Tie obsessively with her hand on her cheek.


    What a picturesque scene!


    Zhang Tie soon sensed the girl''s destructive force. The man who was waiting for her over there threw a jealous look towards him. Closely after that, the other young men transferred their eyes onto Zhang Tie. Even those girls who lost their interests in him also started to look at him with an amazing look once again.


    Zhang Su also looked weird as he thought, ''What a cousin! You could have dozens of girlfriends and female friends in Blackhot City silently and could have all of them move to Huaiyuan Prefecture voluntarily. But only after sitting here in an extremely low-key way for a few minutes, you''ve already fascinated the princess of Wang Clan...''

 721 Innocent Words

    Chapter 721: Innocent Words


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The girl finally drew away by her mother from Zhang Tie''s side before the banquet. Zhang Su then found a chance to draw Zhang Tie to one side and chatted with him in low voice.


    During a few hours, being gazed by that girl, Zhang Tie almost became the public enemy of those unmarried male men in the old mansion. However, Zhang Tie just treated it as the mischief of that girl and ignored that. He maintained a calm look as he didn''t think that girl could harm him at all. As for those young men who were jealous of him, Zhang Tie was not obliged to explain it to them. What made Zhang Tie feel a bit funny was that even his male cousins were also jealous of him.


    Zhang Tie had an impression in some of his male cousins. While the rest were strange to him. As members of Zhang Clan, who shared the same bloodline, Zhang Tie was really disappointed about them in this scene.


    However, Zhang Tie knew that it was inevitable. The grandpa had 11 sons and daughters. Zhang Tie''s uncles married more than one wife. Therefore, Zhang Tie had at least 50-60 peers, some of which were as excellent as Zhang Su, some were fickle.


    The family members of the two uncles who had a close relationship with Zhang Tie''s family had left for Eastern Continent to converge with their parents one month ago. Zhang Tie''s elder brother also needed people to help his undertaking in Eastern Continent. None of Zhang Tie''s cousins in his two uncles'' family came here. Zhang Lin, Zhang Su''s father had also gone to the Eastern Continent to prepare for the transfer of Zhang''s industry.


    Zhang Tie thought that his two uncles might have left Huaiyuan Prefecture earlier on purpose. In that way, they didn''t have to attend such a birthday party bashfully. The grand madam was smart; Zhang Tie''s biological grandma was the old man''s 4th wife. The grand madam and the 4th madam didn''t get on well with each other; especially after Zhang Tie''s biological grandma passed away, the 4th madam''s offsprings were always pushed aside in Zhang Clan. Zhang Tie''s two uncles didn''t live well at home; therefore, they had been used to be meticulous since they were young. As Zhang Tie''s family gradually developed these years, the relationship between the grand madam and the 4th madam''s offsprings gradually relieved.


    Catching their obviously jealous looks, Zhang Tie understood that the girl had a great family background. Those men''s envy didn''t simply originate from that woman''s beautiful look.


    Actually, for those who could come here to offer birthday congratulations, simply beautiful women were just toys and cheap commodities for them. Nobody would care about their looks at all.


    "How did you know that princess of Wang Clan?" Zhang Su asked Zhang Tie in a low voice.


    "Do you believe if I tell you that I didn''t know her surname until now?" Zhang Tie made a bitter smile.


    Zhang Su slowly nodded as he watched Zhang Tie, "I believe that; but I''m afraid that others don''t believe that!"


    "What''s her family background?"


    "Wang Clan in Fubo City, the largest ores and steel merchant in Huaiyuan Prefecture. They have over 10 mines and more than 1 gold mine in Huaiyuan Prefecture and Jinyun Country."


    Zhang Tie was shocked by the beauty''s wealth, "What''s the relationship between this Wang Clan and the other Wang Clan, one of the 6 major clans in Jinyun Country?"


    "Irrelevant, the wife of the city owner of Fubo City is the biological elder sister of Wang''s old man. Wang Clan is one of best relatives of our Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace, which has a close relationship with Fubo City. These years, our Zhang Clan''s shipyard expanded a lot which meant a great consumption of steel; the business between Zhang Clan and Wang Clan also became frequent. Therefore, Wang Clan dispatched someone here to offer birthday congratulations to my grandma..."


    Zhang Tie understood it right away. From the perspective of the clan elder, of course, Zhang Clan would not allow the steel and ores trade in shipbuilding industry of Huaiyuan Prefecture fall in the hand of the other major clan of Jinyun Country. Although the 6 major clans of Jinyun Country made connections through marriages, some bottomlines could never be broken through. Each clan had to consider their own interests. Such a pillar industry for a clan would never be under the control of the other major clan who were on the equal footing with Zhang Clan.


    "Do you want to make connections with Wang Clan through marriage?"Zhang Tie smiled.


    "The old man doesn''t express his opinion. However, some uncles and aunts are very enthusiastic about this. Before you arrived here, an aunt had already introduced some male cousins to Wang''s princess!"


    "Haha, I think you''re the best one who could make connections with Wang Clan through marriage!" Zhang Tie joked in a low voice.


    Zhang Su threw a glance at Zhang Tie, "I''ve already fallen in love with someone. You know that."


    Zhang Tie then remembered that Zhang Su truly had a beloved senior sister apprentice when he was in Hidden Dragon Island. Zhang Su even borrowed money from Zhang Tie to open a workshop for that senior sister apprentice. Zhang Su felt bashful to talk about it at that time; later on, Zhang Tie knew that Zhang Su already had a beloved senior sister apprentice surnamed Fang in Breaking Heavens Department.


    Zhang Tie patted his head and asked, "Why senior sister apprentice didn''t come today?"


    "She''s not promoted to LV 9 yet. Therefore, she could not leave Hidden Dragon Island!" Zhang Su explained in an embarrassed way.


    When he was in Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Su''s cultivation speed and talent were among the best ones. Therefore, he promoted to LV 10 in 5 years. However, it was already good enough for others to promote to LV 9 before 30 years old.


    "Oh, I almost forgot that, what''s the girl''s name?" Zhang Tie suddenly recalled something.


    Zhang Su watched Zhang Tie a few seconds before saying in a helpless way, "Alright, she''s Wang Shina!"


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter...


    ...


    The grandest banquet finally started at dusk. Over 200 people gathered in a refurnished banquet hall of Zhang''s old mansion, about 20 huge round tables.


    Zhang Haitian and grand madam were sitting in the main seats. After the banquet started, all the juniors went to propose a toast and offer birthday congratulations to the grand madam. The old man and the grand madam talked with the juniors graciously. The grand madam then distributed shoe-shaped gold ingots to them.


    The shoe-shaped gold ingot was an ancient Hua currency, which had not been circulated in this age. In this age, people mainly used standard gold coins while block trades were mainly settled in gold checks or gold bullions. Each gold bullion was lighter than 1 kg and was worth less than 40 gold coins. This was always seen in major clans. Commoners would feel expensive by spending 10-20 gold coins one time.


    It was a major step for juniors to propose toasts to elders in major clans, in which period, what counted most was to show Zhang''s large population and wealth.


    Even generals would hold parade; similarly, in major clans, elders would also hold a special parade such as proposing a toast to elders.


    With the chance of proposing a toast, some were flattering the old man and the grand madam, some were showing their achievement and talent through dialogue and so on and so forth.


    Those guests just watched them silently with a smile as they commented the Zhang''s juniors inside.


    Many major clans across Jinyun Country made connections through marriage since the juniors offered birthday congratulations to the elders.


    ...


    When Zhang Su proposed a toast to the old man and the grand madam, the old man encouraged him to not be proud and fickle and continue to make meritorious deeds for the clan. The grand madam gifted Zhang Su a shoe-shaped gold ingot passionately.


    Offering birthday congratulations were ongoing according to seniority in the clan. The grandchildren of the old man and the grand madam were the second batch. It started from the grandchildren of the grand madam, then those of the 2nd madam, the 3rd madam and the 4th madam. Zhang Tie belonged to the grandchildren of the 4th madam and the only representative of that bloodline. Actually, he ranked last.


    Actually, Zhang Tie didn''t have to attend such a link. However, he encountered it by chance. As he didn''t want to make himself too exceptional and look stiff among family members in the public. ''Just let the bygones be bygones. No need to be that narrow-minded.''


    When others were proposing a toast or waiting to propose a toast, none of Zhang juniors were picking dish by chopsticks, except Zhang Tie, who was enjoying himself at the table. All the others at the table threw a disdainful look at Zhang Tie except for Zhang Su.


    "Since how many days have you not eaten food?" Zhang Su whispered to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie showed 4 fingers while his mouth was filled with food.


    "4 days?" Zhang Su was shocked.


    Zhang Tie nodded...


    A few days ago, Zhang Tie was entering meditation in the airship, during which period he didn''t eat food at all. When he came to Huaiyuan Palace yesterday, he bargained with the elders overnight. Plus today, it was totally 4 days. Seeing so many delicious foods at the table, Zhang Tie preferred to eat them right away.


    Zhang Su thought Zhang Tie was starved all the way back to Huaiyuan Prefecture; therefore, he just threw a sympathetic look at Zhang Tie.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie was eating food, the other 3 people at the table were also peeping at him. However, the two women were interested in him while one man was hateful about him. Besides, the man looked more profound and a bit confused...


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s performance, Wang Shina''s mom instantly turned around and threw a glare at Wang Shina, which indicated "Dead girl, how do you like such a starved ghost in such a scene? Don''t lose face to our Wang Clan..."


    "Mom, don''t you feel that guy is handsome?" Wang Shina mumbled. Watching her mom stretching out her hand to pinch her, she stretched out her tongue before hurriedly disguising as a fair lady. Given her look, Wang Shina''s mom was so angry that she instantly turned around and whispered to a man on her side.


    "Look at your daughter."


    The man smiled silently.


    Women always looked at the surface. If one person stayed calm and unconstrained at this moment, he was either an idiot or a fierce tiger who sniffed the rose in mind.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t look like an idiot or someone who didn''t understand the rites. Additionally, he was too young and didn''t look like being experienced and talented. Therefore, Wang Shina''s father looked a bit confused.


    ...


    10 minutes after Zhang Su proposed a toast to the grand madam and the old man, Zhang Su told Zhang Tie it was his turn by throwing a glance at him. Zhang Tie then cleaned his mouth using a facial tissue and walked towards the seats of the old man and the grand madam with a glass of wine in his hand.


    The moment Zhang Tie stood up had the onlookers moved their eyes onto him. Those who didn''t know Zhang Tie were curious about him.


    After coming to the old man and the grand madam, before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, a crispy and innocent voice abruptly sounded from another table on one side.


    "Ahh, you, coward of Zhang Clan. You were a captive of demons. How dare you propose a toast to 1st grandma?"


    Closely after this voice, the entire banquet hall became quiet while Zhang Haitian changed his face at once...

 722 One Dragon

    Chapter 722: One Dragon


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Closely after the kid''s exclamation, the entire banquet hall became quiet at once...


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside. He had not imagined that someone could be so blinded by lust for money. How could he use a kid to slander him? When the kid said that, Zhang Tie knew that a pleasant sneer must have flashed by someone''s face.


    ''Don''t they know that it will make the old man and the entire Zhang Clan lose their face by doing this? Is it worthwhile only for a potential Wang''s woman by doing this? Do they think that they will have a chance to marry the Wang''s princess by ruining my reputation?''


    That kid was also a member of Zhang Clan. Given the seniority of Zhang Clan, Zhang Tie was even his uncle...


    Seeing Zhang''s old man shooting his furious look towards the kid, the kid''s parents instantly became flurried as the kid''s mother also changed his face, "Xiaoyi, no bullsh*t..."


    "I''m not talking bullsh*t!" The kid raised his head stubbornly as he pointed at Zhang Tie and said, "This man is as timid as a rabbit. He was captured by demons in Selnes Theater of Operations and barely saved himself..."


    "Pah!" The kid''s father slapped the kid forcefully as he noticed the old man''s popped his eyes and felt goosebumps all over.


    "Wah..." The kid instantly burst out into laughter while covering his face in an unbelievable way.


    The kid''s jarring cry reverberated around the entire quiet banquet hall...


    The old man''s look had turned completely icy at this moment. He glanced over all the Zhang''s offsprings. Besides only a few members of Zhang Clan, few of those at present knew that secret. How could a kid know that? Naturally, he was taken as a gun when Zhang Tie proposed a toast to the grand madam and the old man...


    The old man wanted to lose his temper; however, after thinking that Zhang Tie would be more embarrassed if he exposed Zhang Tie''s experience to the public, the old man just threw a glance at Zhang Tie before recovering his composure.


    After feeling the old man''s fury which was going to break out like a volcano, the grand madam looked a bit flurried and surprised. She then threw a strict glance at the other juniors on her side. Those juniors dared not stare at her at all...


    Zhang Tie kept all this in mind. In the beginning, he didn''t want to care about such a trivial thing because he thought it was unnecessary to explain and prove it to these irrelevant people at all. He felt no shame about what he did at all. However, given the current situation, if he didn''t explain or do something, not only his face, even the entire Zhang Clan''s face would be lost. Some people with sh*t in their mind could not care about the face of Zhang Clan, however, Zhang Tie himself should care about it, because there were so many members of Zhang Clan at present.


    If he was required to make a choice between Zhang Clan''s face and those d**chebags'' face, Zhang Tie would definitely choose to preserve Zhang Clan''s face. Therefore, Zhang Tie had to give an unforgettable lesson to those people. ''If you don''t care about Zhang Clan''s face, watch out your face then...''


    ''I don''t need to explain as my words are not persuasive at this moment and would only make those d**chebags more pleased. Someone else should explain it to them...'' Zhang Tie thought.


    Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy. In a split second, he had sent out a message through the finger ring on his hand.


    Right then, Zhang Su instantly sprung up as he glanced at all the other peers of Zhang Clan. Zhang Su realized that someone wanted to strike Zhang Tie so as to ruin the potential marriage between Zhang Tie and Wang''s princess. Zhang Su roared, "Zhang Tie made a meritorious deed in Selnes Theater of Operations. Since he has returned to the clan, it indicates that he''s innocent. Whoever is slandering Zhang Tie, roll out!"


    Nobody stood out. However, the Zhang''s old man''s eyes looked icier. All the guests were stupefied by such an incident as they exchanged glances with each other silently. Nobody had imagined about this incident at the 70th birthday of Zhang''s grand madam. When a clan expanded, there would always be tricks for rights and interests. Such an incident was not strange at all. It was just a good play for the public.


    "Zhang Tie wishes grandpa and grand madam happy and healthy life forever!"


    When everybody became quiet, Zhang Tie uttered as he held the glass of wine by two hands to propose a toast to the grand madam. Closely after that, Zhang Tie bottomed up the glass.


    "Good, good, everything is good, everything is good..." The grand madam recovered her composure as she took a glass of sweet water passed by a female servant and drunk it. After that, she passed a shoe-shaped gold ingot to Zhang Tie...


    After taking that gold ingot, Zhang Tie frankly sat back. However, the others threw different looks at him. Someone took pleasure in Zhang Tie''s misfortune; some were fully sympathetic about him.


    "Come on, cousin, don''t stand there; take a seat; eat something!" After returning to his seat, Zhang Tie pressed Zhang Su, who still looked furious, onto the chair with a smile. After that, he continued to enjoy so many delicious foods like nothing had happened. He even picked a chicken leg for Zhang Su.


    The crying kid was taken out of the banquet hall by his mother. All the guests and Zhang''s family members in the banquet hall pretended that nothing had happened as they recovered their bustle at once. After Zhang''s juniors proposed toasts to the grand madam and the old man, it was other junior guests'' turn. However, the bustle contained a weird sense. Zhang''s old man still maintained a bad look.


    ...


    However, 10 minutes later, before the junior guests finished their jobs had constant, dense footsteps drifted from outside the banquet hall. Before those people in the banquet hall responded to it had the gate been pushed open forcefully. Closely after that, an old man with white mustache slowly walked inside with hands on his back. A big team of people in black military uniform poured in and circled around all the tables with solemn looks while putting their hands on their sword handles. At the same time, they gazed at all the people at present with thunder-like looks.


    At the sight of that old man, all the influential figures of Zhang Clan, including Zhang Haitian in the banquet hall stood up as they showed their respect to the old man.


    "Lord Judge..."


    "Lord Yuanshan..."


    The old man was also wearing a black robe with 5 flame-like golden lines on the wristbands. This old man who looked as firm as iron and mountain was the lord judge of Golden Sea City. He was responsible for the execution of criminal laws across Golden Sea City, the supervision of local government officials and the elimination of evils. Besides, he was also responsible for maintaining the regulation of Huaiyuan Palace. In Huaiyuan Palace, the title of lord judge was directly appointed by the Criminal Laws Pavilion of the clan, who was under the direct leadership of the clan elder who was the head of the Criminal Laws Pavilion and was only responsible for the Elders Association. When necessary, the lord judge had the right to kill any government official or Zhang offspring below the castellans of Huaiyuan Palace before reporting to the clan elder of Criminal Laws Pavilion. Among all the cities of Huaiyuan Prefecture, the title of lord judge was as noble as castellans. The clan elder who ruled the Criminal Laws Pavilion now was Elder Muray. Elder Muray hated evils so much and was bad-tempered. With Elder Muray on their back, the subordinates of Criminal Laws Pavilion became more decisive and strict in law enforcement.


    After recognizing the status of the old man, all the influential figures in the banquet hall couldn''t sit there anymore.


    Zhang Haitian was also shocked very much. Even the grand madam hurriedly stood up and bowed towards the lord judge.


    "Lord Yuanshan, why are you..." Zhang''s old man instantly asked.


    "I''ve just received a message. Remnants of demons and Three-eye Association are hiding in this banquet hall and making rumors to confuse Huaiyuan Palace''s people, even the humans. Therefore, this old fellow especially came here to see who dares to make troubles here under my eyes in Golden Sea City!"


    Closely after the lord judge''s words, the entire banquet hall suddenly became frozen while everybody felt a killing qi.


    "Lord Yuanshan, is...there...something wrong...with the message? It''s my wife''s 70th birthday today. Besides Zhang family members, these are all my friends. How could there be moles of demons and Three-eye Association?" Zhang''s old man asked with a surprised look.


    "When in Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie, on behalf of Huaiyuan Palace, guarded the entire human airship fleet alone. He broke the myth that wing demons were unrivaled in the air by killing numerous wing demons alone in the sky. He made meritorious deeds many times for humans and won the honor "Selnes Eagle". He was well-known across the entire Selnes Theater of Operations and greatly raised the morale of all the human soldiers across the theater of Operations. Zhang Tie had made notable exploits. As a result, demons and Three-eye Association were afraid of him very much. After then, demons and Three-eye Association set him up for the reason that he was a mole of demons and Three-eye Association in the Selnes Allied Humans Command. Zhang Tie deepened into the capital of Titanic Duchy alone to execute the task considering that it was related to the life or death of the allied human forces in Selnes Theater of Operations regardless of his personal life or honor. Finally, he fell into the trap set by demons and Three-eye Association and lost his contact with the troop of Jinyun Country..."


    "During that period when Zhang Tie was captured, demons and Three-eye Association spread rumors across Selnes Theater of Operations, they fabricated that Zhang Tie, the disciple of our Huaiyuan Palace, had been captured by them and surrendered to demons. As a result, it gave a blow to our army''s morale. After then, the demon corps broke through the humans'' defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations. Zhang Tie, our Huaiyuan Palace''s disciple, alone fought over 10,000 miles in the enemy-occupied zone before breaking through their encirclement and joined the battle of Upton with clan elders two weeks ago. In the Upton battle, Zhang Tie killed over 1,000 demons above LV 9. He''s qualified as the number one talent in the young generation of the 6 major clans of Jinyun Country and the pillar of Huaiyuan Palace. He had just returned to Huaiyuan Palace last night. I received a message just now. It''s said that someone dared to sully our Huaiyuan Palace''s talent and confuse the others'' minds. Therefore, I came here to the banquet hall to take a look!"


    Everybody became stunned. Since it was said by the lord judge of Golden Sea City, they all believed that it was true, especially the comment "the number one talent in the young generation of the 6 major clans of Jinyun Country" and "the pillar of Huaiyuan Palace" which shocked everybody else. Even Lan Yunxi was not qualified as the number one talent in the young generation of the 6 major clans of Jinyun Country; even the lord judge himself dared not say that he was the pillar of Huaiyuan Palace. How many military exploits had Zhang Tie made so as to gain such a comment from the lord judge?


    "In order to sully Zhang Tie, our Huaiyuan Palace''s disciple, those demons and Three-eye Association even killed their major general mole in the Allied Humans Command. Hundreds of people were killed one after another. I will see how many moles here dare to sully Zhang Tie, the disciple of Huaiyuan Palace in Huaiyuan Prefecture, for the sake of demons and Three-eye Association!" Closely after lord judge''s words, some people felt soft all over as they almost slipped under the table.


    Hearing these words, Zhang Haitian became dumbfounded. He didn''t know what to say. The grand madam''s face turned pale right away. In this old mansion, she was the noblest one. However, in front of this lord judge, whom even the castellan of Golden Sea City would bow to, she was almost like a common woman...


    The kid who swore Zhang Tie just now and the kid''s mother had been taken into the banquet hall by two subordinates of the lord judge. Facing this, the kid and his mother were so scared that they almost burst out into tears...


    The lord judge looked at the kid mildly as he asked, "I know you''re innocent, it''s nothing to do with you. Just tell me who taught you to say this?"


    "I...I..." The kid stammered. Actually as a 7-8-year-old boy, he had already understood righteousness; otherwise, he would not swear Zhang Tie in the public. Looking at their poor kid, the parents of the kid were so anxious that they almost cried out. As long as they were judged as serving demons and Three-eye Association, their whole family would fall into the hell...


    "Xiaoyi, hurry, tell your grandpa, who taught you to say that. Don''t be afraid. After you tell him, you will be safe..." The kid''s mom held her tears as she told her son mildly.


    The kid then started to search among those people...


    ...


    "Grandpa, save me..." Before that kid pointed at him, a 20-year old young man exclaimed as he instantly rushed out and hugged Zhang Haitian''s leg with tears and nasal mucus, "I didn''t mean it, it''s Junyu and Juntao''s opinion..."


    "Ahh, grandma, save me..." Another two young men charged towards the grand madam with a pale face. Pitifully, they were too far away from the grand madam. The moment they moved had they been caught by some warriors in black costumes. After taking them to the lord judge, the warriors kicked onto their legs; with a screech, the two people knelt down in the same row with the earlier one.


    The lord judge then waved his hand towards the kid''s mother, allowing her to take away that kid. After glaring at the three young men, the kid''s mother bit her lips as she hurriedly took her kid away. Based on seniority in the clan, the three young men were the kid''s uncles, who almost murdered the kid''s whole family...


    "Ahh, dad, mom, save me..." The young man called Junyu called his parents who were sitting on the other side of the table. Hearing his shriek, his parents'' faces turned completely pale as they almost passed out.


    The grand madam''s lips quivered, whose face had also turned pale. Junyu and Juntao were all the biological grandsons of the grand madam. She threw a glance at Zhang Haitian and found he was closing his eyes silently while his hands were quivering.


    Zhang Haitian was both happy and sad at this moment. He was happy about Zhang Tie''s achievements; and was sad about what the three young men kneeling in front of him had done. The three young men were Zhang Tie''s cousins.


    All the guests were watching them silently. What an amazing birthday party! What sharp turns and twists! What a splendid drama...


    The lord judge of Golden Sea City watched the 3 young men with a disgusting look, "What else do you want to say? Clarify it as soon as possible, if you have collusion with demons and Three-eye Association, in case of the bitterness of your skin. Otherwise, after you wear the shackles, you will know how strict the criminal penalty is in Criminal Laws Pavilion."


    "Ahh, we really don''t know anything about demons and Three-eye Association..." The guy called Juntao wailed mournfully as he dropped tears and nasal mucus and kowtowed constantly like pounding garlic in a mortar, "We just found that Wang''s princess had a good impression about Zhang Tie; we were jealous of him; therefore, we worked out a plan to make him embarrassed. I heard my grandma saying that Zhang Tie was captured by demons when he was in Selnes Theater of Operations which made my grandpa very worried about him; therefore, we wanted to strike him based on this point..."


    "Zhang Tie fought for Huaiyuan Palace and humans in Selnes Theater of Operations at the risk of his life for many times. If you don''t appreciate and respect him, you''re not beneficent; as cousins, you want to ruin his reputation by spreading rumors, you''re not even righteous. You cannot even match a dog or a pig. Shameless!" After saying this, the lord judge waved his sleeves, "Take them away!"


    The 3 young men wailed and begged their grandpa and grandma. However, those warriors in black clothes ignored that and directly drew them away by holding their arms...


    Based on the comment of the lord judge, the 3 young men might not survive back.


    "Wait for a second!" Zhang Tie finally uttered at the critical moment.


    Closely after hearing Zhang Tie''s sound had the lord judge turned around. The moment he noticed the ring on Zhang Tie''s finger had his look turned respectful.


    "Lord Judge, now that this event has been clarified, we know it''s not related to demons and Three-eye Association, please don''t take them away. As Zhang Clan has so many juniors, they have different personalities. Although they are mean and not obedient, please forgive them this time for the sake of the face of Zhang Clan!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s persuasion, everybody was stunned by his eloquence and view, ''As lord judge has made the decision, how could Zhang Tie negotiate with him? The lord judge of Golden Sea City is not that easy-going. Hasn''t Zhang Tie seen others'' docile look?''


    What made everyone more surprised was that lord judge of Golden Sea City started to consider about it carefully after Zhang Tie''s persuasion.


    After being silent for a few seconds, the lord judge of Golden Sea City replied, "The 3 b*stards are neither beneficent nor righteous. Although they don''t deserve death, they have to suffer from criminal penalty. Now that you beg for my forgiveness, I will not take them away; however, Huaiyuan Palace has strict laws and regulations. If such kind of people were not punished severely, it''s hard to convince the public!" After saying that, lord judge threw another glance at the 3 young men, "From today on, you 3 could not be government officials in Huaiyuan Palace for the rest of your lives. Besides, all the treatment that Huaiyuan Palace provide for Zhang Clan juniors would be canceled off. From today on, if you dare violate the laws of Huaiyuan Palace, you will suffer 10 times severer punishment according to the Clan laws!"


    All the above punishments were severe. With the first punishment, the 3 young men could never assume any clan position later on; as for the second punishment, even if they were poor and starving in the future, they could never get any help from Huaiyuan Palace; the third punishment was more horrendous, if they violated any law of the clan in the future, they had to stand 10 times severer punishment than that bore by others. That was to say, when others who made the same mistake were beaten 2 times, they had to be beaten 20 times; when others who violated the same law were put into jail 10 years, they had to be put behind upon bars 100 years; when others only got bruised, they would have their heads chopped off.


    "Thanks for your forgiveness, lord judge!" Zhang Tie made an obeisance by cupping one hand in the other before his chest towards the lord judge.


    "You''re welcome!" Lord judge instantly moved aside out of politeness.


    At the sight of this scene, all the people at present raised their eyebrows once again...


    Although nobody welcomed such a big figure when he entered, they dared not stay still at the banquet when he left. All the influential figures saw the lord judge out of the banquet hall.


    The moment lord judge left had the 100-200 people in the banquet moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie knew that he could not stay in Zhang''s old mansion any longer; he also lost his interest in staying here.


    Zhang Su watched Zhang Tie as he wanted to say something; however, he finally didn''t say it. Zhang Su was also scared by the words of lord judge.


    "Cousin, what a disappointing day! I will invite you for a drink in the future!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    Feeling Zhang Tie''s intention to leave, Zhang Su nodded as he let out a sigh.


    Zhang Tie then came to Zhang Haitian and said, "Compared to the faces of those people, Zhang''s face is more important!"


    The old man also nodded. After being silent for a couple of seconds, he asked, "Is it true what the lord judge said...about you?"


    Zhang Tie smiled as he nodded.


    Zhang Haitian''s eyes turned red at once...


    "Take care of yourself, grandpa. I have to go now. I will come back to see you!"


    "Where''re you going? I''ll have someone take you there!" The old man knew that Zhang Tie didn''t want to stay there as he turned around and told the steward to prepare a car for Zhang Tie.


    "No need!" After saying that, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Wang Shina while widely opening his eyes with a complex smile. Closely after that, he raised his head and stepped into the starlight. With another stride, he had arrived hundreds of meters high. Closely after that, he flashed away like a sparkling meteor in front of the public.


    Everybody of Zhang Clan and all the guests were stunned as they raised their heads and watched Zhang Tie flying away with widely opened mouths...


    When Zhang Haitian realized what happened, he had been surrounded by guests while all of them were throwing much more passionate and respectful looks towards him...


    By then, everybody understood what did the remarks "The number one talent in the young generation of the 6 major clans in Jinyun Country" and "the pillar of Huaiyuan Palace" mean¡ª¡ªKnight, only a knight could enjoy such a comment.


    Everybody then bowed to the ground towards Zhang Haitian, "Congratulations to the dragon appearance!"


    According to Hua tradition, if a person in a clan promoted to a knight, it was called "dragon appearance"¡ª¡ªif a dragon appeared in a family, this family would be able to conquer the whole world.


    Dragon appearance was the most important and happy event in Hua families.


    So was it for Huaiyuan Palace. With one more knight, they had to celebrate it by holding a rotating Chakra ceremony, it was a major clan in Golen Sea City though.


    Zhang Su raised his head and watched the direction where Zhang Tie disappeared for quite a while while the congratulations buzzed faintly in his mind like echoes drifting from the skyline.


    Zhang Su had been very arrogant about his own cultivation base. If Zhang Tie was LV 11 or LV 12, Zhang Su might be jealous of him; however, Zhang Su was awe-stricken by him at this moment. If not being real cultivators, people would never know about the terror and power of knights. The higher the level of the cultivator was, the deeper he would understand what did it mean by stepping into the void.


    ''I have a cousin who''s a knight?'' Zhang Su felt absurd instead of ecstasy when this whim occurred to his mind.


    ...


    After a couple of minutes, Zhang Tie had entered the air territory above deep sea region. Closely after that, he instantly dove into the sea like a meteor. After then, he started to penetrate through the sea water like a light bubble as fast as a lightning bolt towards Ice and Snow Wilderness...

 723 Revenge in Demon Snake Island

    Chapter 723: Revenge in Demon Snake Island


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie broke his limit in seawater once again.


    Zhang Tie''s driving force in seawater was provided by the reaction caused by the vacuum effect when seawater was sucked into Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, he adjusted it by his spiritual energy.


    A few years ago, when Zhang Tie arrived at Ewentra Archipelago by sea for the first time, he penetrated through 10,000 miles in the water in 3 days with the help of Castle of Black Iron and ocean currents. At that time, Zhang Tie''s speed was restricted by his bearing capacity about the friction caused by the water flow. Due to the existence of water friction and stress, Zhang Tie could even gain iron-body fruits on the way.


    After promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie could better control the space suction tunnel of Castle of Black Iron through his knight''s heart. His bearing capacity had reached a terrifying level. Additionally, Zhang Tie had a water-proof body, with which, he could do whatever he wanted in the water. Being protected by battle qi, especially with the effect of rapidly moving rune, he moved even faster than his flight speed in the water.


    It was the largest speed that Zhang Tie''s body could stand in the water when Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi and physical bearing capacity encountered an unprecedented challenge and stress that Zhang Tie had never imagined before.


    This challenge and stress came from the tiny bubbles that he had not paid attention to before.


    When Zhang Tie reached a certain speed in the water, a lot of invisible bubbles came into being on the friction surface between his body and the seawater due to the difference in stress before and after his body. They formed and broke in each split second, bringing a great impact force on Zhang Tie''s body.


    When those bubbles broke, they would simultaneously cause a great impact force and high-temperature macro-jets, which eroded Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi like water arrows and hammers with dense high-frequency noise. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt like flying in the volleys of gunfire.


    After such a phenomenon appeared a few times, Zhang Tie realized that the moment he reached a certain speed in the water would he encounter such a strange phenomenon. Therefore, he asked Heller why.


    "Heller, what''s wrong? Why are there so many destructive bubbles around me when I reach a certain speed?


    "It''s because of the cavitation phenomenon and cavitation effect caused by the friction between your body and the seawater!" Heller briefly explained it to Zhang Tie.


    ''Cavitation phenomenon and cavitation effect?'' Zhang Tie became more confused.


    "Cavitation phenomenon is a physical phenomenon. When the partial pressure inside the liquid decreased to the saturated steam pressure of the liquid, a lot of bubbles would form, expand and break inside the liquid or on the surface between the liquid and the solid. In the process of cavitation, bubbles would form, expand and break rapidly, causing shock waves or high-speed micro-jets, heat release, noise and erosion effect, which is called cavitation effect. Castle lord, you can take a look at the paddles of naval ships. The traces of spotted erosion on old paddles of naval ships were caused by cavitation through the friction between paddles and seawater!"


    ''Those invisible bubbles'' appearance and disappearance could cause sharp shockwaves, micro-jets, high temperature and corrosive effect!'' Zhang Tie was shocked, ''Aren''t these the effects of the most destructive battle qi? If knight''s battle qi could have such an effect, it would be 10 times more destructive.''


    As he moved at a high speed in the water, Zhang Tie kept sensing and comprehending how those invisible bubbles came into being with his knight''s consciousness.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s moving speed in seawater was almost 3 times that of his navigation speed in air, namely, almost 600 m/s. That was to say, he could move over 2,100 miles per hour in sea water.


    Last time, it took Zhang Tie 3 days to arrive at the Ewentra Archipelago from the nearby coastal area of Huaiyuan Prefecture. This time, it only took him about 5 hours.


    The vast ocean was an abyss for others; however, it was a highway and super expressway for Zhang Tie that he had ever dreamed for. In the sky, he had to consume battle qi; however, in the ocean, he only needed to open the space suction tunnel of Castle of Black Iron which was both simple and time-saving.


    With a "splash", Zhang Tie flew out of the shimmering sea level and reached over 100 m high above the sea level. After that, he took out a compass and confirmed his location against the stars. After recalling the sea area map of Ewentra Archipelago, he flew towards the southeast.


    Zhang Tie''s first destination was Demon Snake Island.


    ''It''s time to end the animosity between me and Demon Snake Island.''


    ''When those b*stards in Demon Snake Island dispatched people to kill me, they might not have thought that I could come back for revenge so fast.''


    Those people in Demon Snake Island were Zhang Tie''s major targets on the way back to Ice and Snow Wilderness. Actually, he was doing good for Ewentra Archipelago by killing those d**chebags. Besides, he could have new fruits as a reward and further improve his battle force. If he was lucky enough, he might transfer the treasury of those guys in the island into Castle of Black Iron. What a rare opportunity!


    Zhang Tie flew high. Therefore, people on the sea could barely catch sight of him. In the flight, Zhang Tie changed his look into Peter Hamplester. Of course, this Peter Hamplester should never be as same as that 5 years ago. Although Zhang Tie''s own look remained unchanged these 5 years, if Peter Hamplester also remained unchanged in his look, soon after the rotating Chakra ceremony would his real status be exposed. Such two young famous knights, once being compared with each other, would reveal the loopholes, even if they were tens of thousands of miles away from each other.


    Thankfully, Peter was white-colored, who looked strong and mature.


    "Heller, give me a hand, please show me the look of Peter at the age of 21."


    "The period from 16-21 is the most important growth and shaping period of a person. During this period, one''s look would be influenced by many aspects such as environment, mentality, living habit, etc.. One''s look would change greatly in these 5-6 years. Which look do you want?'' Heller said in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "Ahh? Is that real?"


    "Of course, if a young man masturbated 7 years from 15-21, he would look very obscene even though he looked handsome before. However, if a person with an average look always lived in a happy and healthy environment and compromised to everything, he would also be very handsome. Masturbation would make people ugly while being sunny would make people beautiful. Which look do you want?"


    When he heard the word masturbation from Heller, Zhang Tie felt bashful. When he recalled Heller''s look which was as handsome as that of Apollo, a whim occurred to his mind, ''After all, nobody wishes himself to be ugly'', "Just make me look handsome. Suppose I was living 5 years in the best environment. Not let those familiar ones fail to recognize me!"


    "No problem. You will maintain your current charm and face shape. I promise that those familiar ones could still recognize you the moment they see you!" After being silent for a second, Heller added, "I want you to confirm it once again, whether do you want the best change in your look or not?"


    "Yes, the best change!" Zhang Tie confirmed.


    "Alright, please trigger your body-changing bloodline. I will directly project that mobile module into your body-changing bloodline so that you can change your look automatically. Later on, that module will change towards the best look as the time passes by. No worries..."


    "Good!"


    Zhang Tie then triggered his spiritual energy and the body-changing bloodline when he felt Heller projecting a module into his body. Closely after that, his looks and body shape gradually changed subtlely.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how he looked now; however, he believed that Heller wouldn''t cheat him.


    Only after a bit longer than 1 hour, Zhang Tie had seen an island on the sea level in the distance.


    The island covered more than 200 sq miles. Zhang Tie saw a volcano that radiated a glow and erupted black smoke in the island. The black smoke made the greater part of the sky above the island dusky. Besides, Zhang Tie saw a great amount of magma gushing out of the nearby sea while the vapor turned the neighboring sea level into a steaming sea, which looked like the misty sea where he once cultivated in...

 724 A Clean-up

    Chapter 724: A Clean-up


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie slowly moved his hand away from a lackey in Demon Snake Island. The moment he loosened his grip had the corpse fell onto the ground in a hidden sentry post.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that such a small Demon Snake Island could be so heavily guarded. There were observation posts in many places across Demon Snake Island. The moment a stranger was discovered would the observation post send the warning.


    If Zhang Tie was not a knight, these observation posts might play their roles when they discovered Zhang Tie; however, as a knight, the moment Zhang Tie was close to Demon Snake Island had he discovered the observation posts on the seaside. Zhang Tie then swept all of them like patting flies. Closely after that, he even read those lackeys'' memories using the secret method of bloody soul temple.


    After promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie''s "soul capture skill" had already entered the supreme level. He could read people''s memory easily in an efficiency that was over 10 times higher than that before. In a split second, he could skim over one person''s recent memory.


    After taking a round in the Demon Snake Island, Zhang Tie silently cleaned all the hidden observation posts. He then strode towards a place nearby the volcano.


    Zhang Tie was a bit shocked by reading those lackey''s memories. At this moment, there were only a few people in the Demon Snake Island. Berusken, the boss of Demon Snake Island had silently left Demon Snake Island with a great batch of subordinates two days ago.


    Those lackeys left in the island didn''t know where had Berusken gone to. There was only one roundtable fighter in their nestle.


    Zhang Tie soon found the nestle of those roundtable fighters.


    It was in the valley in the middle of Demon Snake Island. There were many grottoes in the valley, where lived those people in Demon Snake Island.


    Zhang Tie soon arrived at the entrance of that valley at the speed of 100 m per stride.


    Zhang Tie didn''t hide himself; instead, he straightly walked inside.


    A bolt was shot towards Zhang Tie from a brushwood. Zhang Tie just pointed towards the bolt while a terrifying battle qi flashed out, shattering the bolt into pieces and entering the brushwood in a fiercer way. As a result, the lackey was exploded into the bloody mist.


    Zhang Tie just walked all the way into the valley while pointing at everyone he saw, one point for one life.


    After Zhang Tie entered the valley for half a minute, the shrill whistle reverberated in the valley.


    The whistle originated from a tree which was over 300 m away from Zhang Tie. Closely after the whistle, Zhang Tie had flicked a copper coin towards the lackey with a yellow light. Before the lackey jumped off the tree had his head been exploded.


    What was shriller than the whistle was the sonic boom caused by the flying copper coin. After exploding that lackey''s head, the copper coin penetrated through the 2 m-diameter trunk, leaving a small hole on it...


    As it was dawn, the moment the shrill whistle and the succedent sonic boom sounded had the entire valley been shocked. Many people ran out of their grottoes in only underwears with weapons in their hands.


    "Enemy..." The lackeys who were awakened instantly exclaimed in the valley.


    With a pile of copper coins in his hand, Zhang Tie just wandered ahead, causing clatters.


    ''For these b*stards in Demon Snake Island, now that they like money so much, just satisfy their demand; one copper coin for one life. It''s a fair trade. If they don''t want it, just force them to do it; after all, these b*stards have been used to do that.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    After mastering the usage of the two hidden weapons, "Heavens Net" and "One Thousand Fingers" and promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie could use any item as a terrifying weapon. The copper coin was almost like his palm bolt.


    After coming to a spacious place in the valley, Zhang Tie just waited there patiently while flicking his copper coins...


    The crispy sound of the copper coin was like a magic which attracted all those people out of their grottoes.


    The clatters of the copper coins should be low; however, in Zhang Tie''s hand, it reverberated throughout the valley in a bizarre rhythm. Even those cunning guys who wanted to hide in the grottoes first couldn''t stand to rush out of their nestles with weapons in hand.


    Only after 2 minutes, Zhang Tie had been surrounded with people within 50 m. After sensing that everyone has arrived, Zhang Tie stopped his secret method of bloody soul temple which had a strong function of mental manipulation.


    All the people of Demon Snake Island were glaring at Zhang Tie with ferocious looks. At this moment, even those cunning guys among them had forgotten how they had rushed out.


    At this moment, a guy with a prosthetic hand, who lacked an ear, walked out of the crowd.


    At the sight of his poor look, Zhang Tie revealed a sneer.


    That was Bonnie, a roundtable fighter in Demon Snake Island whose one hand and one ear were chopped off by Zhang Tie in Navy Blue Castle.


    Bonnie''s eyes turned bloody. Given his smell, he must have just drunken liquor. In the beginning, his eyes were confused while watching Zhang Tie; however, he suddenly popped out his eyes as he exclaimed, "Peter!"


    Bonnie would never forget this man right in front of him.


    Zhang Tie became reassured, ''Now that this guy recognized me; it means that others could also recognize me. It would be no problem when I return to Ice and Snow Wilderness.''


    "Hehe, long time no see!" Zhang Tie greeted Bonnie kindly and passionately just like seeing an old friend, "How do you feel? Have you been used to eat food with one hand these years?"


    Bonnie''s eye corners twitched as Zhang Tie''s words reminded him of the miserable memory like a poisonous needle.


    "Call out everybody that you brought from Ice and Snow Wilderness. I''ve not imagined that Ice and Snow Wilderness could destroy the agreement that they had made with Ewentra Archipelago. Now that the strength of Ice and Snow Wilderness have invaded Ewentra Archipelago, you just wait for the war..." Bonnie said as he glanced over the valley intensely like being afraid of someone suddenly jumping out of somewhere.


    After hearing a bandit talking about credibility with him, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "I was usually told that when a person always used his left hand, he would be much smarter. It seems right. Do you think that I need help from Ice and Snow Wilderness?"


    "You alone?" Bonnie looked around once again.


    "Yup!"


    A fleer instantly appeared on Bonnie''s face, ''5 years ago, this Peter was just a bit sharper than me in Navy Blue Castle. I''ve long promoted to LV 10 now. Additionally, I have over 300 brothers in Demon Snake Island...''


    "Now that you are seeking for death, I will satisfy your demand. Kill him!" Bonnie roared at once.


    All the lackeys in Demon Snake Island then rushed towards Zhang Tie with battle calls. Bonnie himself then moved backward.


    ''Even in Selnes Theater of Operations, I killed so many people easily, not to mention now.''


    Zhang Tie shook his head as he threw out the pile of copper coins immediately.


    With the sharp sonic explosions, a large net being interwoven with lights formed by those copper coins instantly spread in all directions¡ª¡ªHeavens Net!


    Zhang Tie''s "Heavens Net" contained the special strength in his ancestral bloodline, which was many times more powerful than that recorded in the secret book. Additionally, his "Heavens Net" had many changes. This move was very effective to a mass brawl. As for such lackeys, the highest battle level of which was LV 9, of course, they had to die.


    In a split second, all the lackeys that rushed forward had been penetrated through by at least 4 copper coins.


    In less than half a second since the battle calls started, it had already recovered to tranquility.


    A copper coin penetrated through Bonnie''s chest from his back. Bonnie, who was retreating backward, instantly stopped as he knelt down and spurted out blood forcefully. As a strong fighter, he had a greater vitality than that of commoners. Bonnie didn''t die instantly. However, he could not think through how he was shot by someone from his back using a hidden weapon. Peter was obviously standing in front of him. Widening his eyes, he saw all the yellow lights returning to Peter''s hand after cleaning up everybody else without dropping blood. Peter just rocked them in hand, causing another crispy sound...


    It seemed that Peter had just performed a magic as all the battle forces across Demon snake Island had disappeared.


    "You...you..kni...knight..." Bonnie realized it; however, it was too late.


    Zhang Tie walked over there while pressing his hand onto Bonnie''s head. Bonnie then felt that he started to recall what happened before as a strength opened his brains and withdrew his memory so fast that Bonnie felt that his head was going to explode...


    The roundtable fighter''s eyes were full of fear while he quivered all over.


    After a few seconds, Bonnie''s head exploded. Zhang Tie then put his hand back with a distant look. He finally knew where Berusken had gone to...


    ...


    In the secret treasury of Demon Snake Island, there were large boxes of gold coins, pearls and gems and some other valuable items. All these were looted by these b*stards in Demon Snake Island these years...


    The treasury was delicately hidden in a maze-like karst cave in the valley. It was a natural place. Other strangers might not be able to find it even after wandering in those tunnels for a few days, however, it was no problem for Zhang Tie. He had kept its location in mind when he read Bonnie''s memory.


    As there were so many precious items in the treasury, Zhang Tie directly moved all of them into Castle of Black Iron without even counting them.


    There were also kerosene and gel combustible bombs being used for naval battle in the treasury. After moving the greater part of kerosene and gel combustible bombs into Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie burned the nestle of these bandits using the rest kerosene and gel combustible bombs.


    In the rising flames, Zhang Tie flew off Demon Snake Island and dived into the ocean. After that, he instantly increased his speed to above 2,000 miles per hour...


    Berusken had gone to Stars and Moons Island, which was once the territory of the Stars and Moons Sword Sage who was well-known across the Ewentra Archipelago...

 725 A Falling Pillar

    Chapter 725: A Falling Pillar


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Among the hundreds of islands across Ewentra Archipelago, Stars and Moons Island was not the largest one; however, it was the most famous one. Because the only knight across Ewentra Archipelago once came from this island¡ª¡ªSamaranth, the Stars and Moons Sword Sage.


    Samaranth was the pride of the entire Ewentra Archipelago. As he once lived in there, that island was renamed as Stars and Moons Island. Additionally, the largest swordsmanship school across Ewentra Archipelago came into being on this island¡ª¡ªthe Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School.


    Once upon a time, all the powerhouses across Ewentra Archipelago were proud of using swords. Samaranth founded a swordsmanship school in Stars and Moons Island. In the heyday of the school, Stars and Moons Sword Sage had tens of thousands of disciples, when the entire Stars and Moons Island became the sacred land of craftsmanship across Ewentra Archipelago.


    Nevertheless, all the brilliance had come to an end with the death of Samaranth for the sake of the God''s Star.


    In the beginning, nobody across Ewentra Archipelago believed that Stars and Moons Sword Sage would lose his life as they all thought that it was just a rumor fabricated by someone. However, when there was no message about Samaranth from Ice and Snow Wilderness in 3 years, the rumor gradually became the truth. As a result, the entire Stars and Moons Island slowly withered.


    A knight''s offsprings were not destined to be knights; neither a knight''s disciples were destined to be knights. Without a knight as the pillar, the entire Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School collapsed at once.


    Young men who poured into Stars and Moons Island from everywhere in Ewentra Archipelago two years ago also left in large numbers. As a result, Stars and Moons Swordsmanship''s heyday went forever.


    One year ago, Stars and Moons Swordsmanship broke out an internal conflict and split into parts. Consequently, some of Samaranth''s good disciples left Stars and Moons Island and started to found their own swordsmanship schools across Ewentra Archipelago as they proclaimed to get the true knowledge of Stars and Moons Sword Sage.


    Since Stars and Moons Swordsmanship broke out an internal conflict and split into parts, only Samaranth''s clansmen and a couple of disciples were left maintaining the Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School in Stars and Moons Island. As a result, Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School collapsed completely.


    Before the dawn of September 25th, three pitch-dark big ships silently drove into the harbor of Stars and Moons Island in the twilight. Seeing these ships, the customs officer, who had not find pickings for a long time, instantly sprung up from the bed in the harbor''s taxation office and rapidly put on his uniformed clothes. After cleaning his face with water casually, he woke up those tax policemen by kicking them. Closely after that, the group of people hurriedly arrived at the harbor and boarded on the ships to check and levy taxes.


    "Besides freight houses, pay attention to sailors'' berth cabins. Those sailors always hide tobaccos and spices beneath their bedplates. Whatever you get, confiscate them all!"


    When he boarded on one ship, the customs officer who had lost his weight by 10 kg over the past 2 years had his halos back. He was thinking about how much pickings could he find this time so that he didn''t pay attention that these sailors were different from those before. These sailors'' looks were full of banters and cruelty.


    Those tax policemen were also rubbing their palms and fists. Soon after they heard the order of the customs officer had they rushed into the cabin.


    "Captain, where''s your captain? Come out. I will check your logbook..." Standing on the deck, the customs officer ordered while raising his head towards the sky.


    However, the captain didn''t come out; instead, some round objects rolled out of the cabin and reached the foot of the customs officer. Lowering his head, the customs officer saw the heads of tax policemen whose eyes were widely opened with a great fear.


    The customs officer instantly felt cold between his legs because he shat his pants.


    Right then, a man in a black eyeshade with full of terrifying qi walked out of the pitch-dark cabin while grabbing the hair of a tax policeman''s head, which was still spraying blood. The head''s blood sprayed all the way to the customs officer who had been scared too much to move his foot.


    "You''re the customs officer?"


    The customs officer was scared so much that his teeth quivered. He didn''t dare utter any voice in front of such a man, who was almost the code word of terror in Ewentra Archipelago.


    "What a coincidence! I''m also a customs officer today!" The man revealed a terrifying smile, "But I''m here to level head money!"


    Closely after his words, the man swung the head and smashed onto the customs officer''s head, blasting two heads at the same time. As a result, brains and blood sprayed over the deck.


    The man then threw off the hair which was only connected with a skull before kicking the customs officer''s corpse into the ocean. After that, he closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath in an intoxicated way. After a couple of seconds, he opened his eyes and watched the mountain in the distance and the castle on top of the mountain as a bloody killing qi flashed across his eyes, "Brothers, go enjoy it. We have a complete day to enjoy such a grand meal in Stars and Moons Island!"


    The three big ships that anchored in the harbor then rose the bloody demon-snake skeleton flag, which indicated that they were going to start their loot and massacre. Under the leadership of some roundtable warriors, over 1,000 people with ferocious looks from Demon Snake Island wove their weapons and rushed out of the 3 big ships while wailing and howling...


    In a split second, some houses in the harbor and the town were burned down. At the same time, cries and mournful wails reverberated in this town...


    Hearing the urgent bell rings from the castle on the top of the mountain in the distance, Berusken revealed a sneer on his thin face. He then rushed towards that Sage Sword Mountain where the castle rested on with the other roundtable fighters and a team of elite killers...


    Stars and Moons Island covered less than 100 sq miles. It was actually a bit smaller than Demon Snake Island. Across the whole land, there was only one harbor and one town and some buildings left by the Stars and Moons Swordsmanship on the Sword Sage Mountain. The current total population of inhabitants in the island was only a bit more than 30,000 people. Compared to its heyday, Stars and Moons Island at this moment had withered.


    ...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie broke out of the ocean and flew close to the seawater. The black smoke that rose straight to the sky became Zhang Tie''s best coordinates.


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had arrived at the harbor. Watching this town being looted and slaughtered, a killing qi flashed across Zhang Tie''s eyes. He instantly flew across the town as he tossed out his copper coins one after another, exploding a great batch of b*stards'' heads in a split second within 500 m...


    The residents in the town were very sturdy. They didn''t just resign themselves to adversity; instead, they chose to fight back. In the square of the town, a batch of young adults was fighting hundreds of bandits from Demon Snake Island with weapons. As being affected by the living environment, all the young adults in Stars and Moons Island knew some swordsmanship. Some youth who learned in Stars and Moons Swordsmanship even had reached LV 9. However, in the encirclement of the bandits led by a LV 10 roundtable fighter and 2 LV 9 roundtable fighters, these people could barely stand it while youths were constantly killed.


    "Brothers, kill them, you will have the girls in the town!" A LV 10 roundtable fighter of Demon Snake Island exclaimed while he released an off-body battle qi, causing a LV 9 fighter, which was a few meters away, spurt out blood and fly backward.


    All the bandits growled madly...


    At the sight of this, Zhang Tie flew over there. When he flew over that square above 30 m from the ground, he released hundreds of sharp battle qi by his ten fingers in the blink of an eye, exploding all the b*stards, common lackeys or LV 9-10 roundtable fighters into sh*t...


    Before those youths realized what happened, they saw the heads of all the bandits from Demon Snake Island being exploded. Therefore, they widely opened their mouths...


    "Sword Sage, Lord Sword Sage is coming back..." A smart guy exclaimed as he suddenly turned around and saw a faint figure flying towards the Sword Sage Mountain in the far.


    ''Knight, only a knight could have such a great battle force.'' As nobody saw clearly who did it just now, they all thought that was Samaranth. Additionally, who else would come to Stars and Moons Island besides Lord Sword Sage?


    The morale of the youths in the town rose immediately as they sensed a strength that they could rely on. Closely after that, they roared and started to clear the rest lackeys of Demon Snake Island in the town...


    Watching the battle-qi totems rising from the castle on the top of the mountain in the far, Zhang Tie straightly flew towards there.


    ...


    At this moment, a tragic atmosphere was covering the Sword Sage Mountain. Disciples of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School laid all the way from the foot of the mountain to the Stars and Moons Castle at the top of the mountain. With the powerful battle force of a LV 15 battle spirit, the defensive facilities and high city walls of the internal and external castles of the Stars and Moons Castle were as fragile as decorations. Only after half an hour, all the passes of external and internal castles had been broken through by bandits. As a result, a large number of disciples of Samaranth Clan and Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School fought to the death.


    Being covered with others'' plasma, Berusken revealed a brutal faint smile as he led a batch of elites from Demon Snake Island and encircled those who were still resisting into a palace of the internal castle of Demon Snake Island...

 726 Sword Sage

    Chapter 726: Sword Sage


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Hahahaha..." Watching this scene, Berusken couldn''t help but laugh, which reverberated around the entire Stars and Moons Castle, "Samaranth, you must not have imagined today when you forced me into Demon Snake Island. I will kill all your male family members and turn all your female family members into my sex slaves..."


    At this moment, hundreds of underprivileged family members of Samaranth were wailing mournfully in the palace. Outside the palace, there were over 200 people of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School who were defending the last defense line with long swords while being covered with blood...


    In the eyes of Berusken, those people defending outside the palace were nothing but sh*t because the only LV 13 battle general in the Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School, the most talented son of Samaranth and the head of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School in Stars and Moons Island at this moment, had been killed by him just now. After that LV 13 battle general, a LV 11 powerhouse in the Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School was also killed, the highest level among the remains was only LV 9 now.


    These disciples of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School whose highest level was LV 9 couldn''t even release off-body battle-qi attack, not to mention sword qi. Even though they had about 200 people, they were nothing but ants in front of a LV 15 battle spirit. Berusken felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction from the scared looks of the struggling disciples of Stars and Moon Swordsmanship School.


    At this moment, Berusken felt that he should not have killed Samaranth''s son so fast. If that person was still alive, there might be more good plays.


    ''At this moment, although Samaranth could not see it, it was also not bad to be watched by his son.''


    Berusken didn''t know that Zhang Tie had already landed in Stars and Moons Island. A battle spirit''s sense towards knights could never match that of a knight. Additionally, Zhang Tie purposely hid his qi. Even a knight wouldn''t know that Zhang Tie had arrived, not to mention a battle spirit...


    "I only want to revenge Samaranth and his family members. I know not all of you are Samaranth''s offsprings. As for disciples of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School, I know you were just forced to fight us just now, neither did I spare any chance to you..." Berusken watched those disciples of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School who were defending the palace while a weird light flashed across his only eye, "However, as the battle situation has been clear, I will spare a chance to you. As long as anyone being not related to Samaranth''s family members could kill a family member of Samaranth or a disciple of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School in front of me, I would let him leave out of here safe and sound; otherwise, you could only stay here to accompany with Samaranth family members'' corpses!"


    After hearing Berusken''s suggestion, many disciples of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School changed their faces while their eyes flickered a couple of times...


    "Don''t listen to him. He''s already killed so many people today. No matter what, he would never let us go. We''d better fight to the death than be teased by him!" A disciple of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School exclaimed.


    "This is your last chance. When I begin, you will have no time to regret. Do you really wish to fight to the death for Samaranth''s family members?" Berusken continued to bewitch them.


    "This guy not only wants to kill us; he even wants to destroy the reputation of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School, don''t believe him!" The disciple roared once again.


    At this moment, Berusken revealed a faint sneer, ''That guy is right. He wants to destroy Samaranth''s family together with his Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School. As long as the message that the disciples of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School killed Samaranth''s family members at the critical moment was disseminated to the public, there would be no Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School in Ewentra Archipelago any longer as the only honor and influence that Samaranth left in the human world would turn into bullsh*t by then.


    All the smart ones understood it. So what? At this critical moment, what was tested was not humans'' intelligence but humanity.


    Watching Berusken''s sneer, before that disciple said anything more, a shiny sword had penetrated through his chest from his back. Closely after that, a figure jumped out of the crowd at an extremely high speed and moved to Berusken''s side.


    "Othello, what are you doing?" Many disciples of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School roared.


    "I will kill you!" Another disciple of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School jumped out as he rushed towards Othello who was running towards Berusken. At the sight of this, Berusken frowned as he released an off-body battle qi towards the latter disciple who was over 20 m away, causing him to spurt out blood and fly backward.


    In the chaos, some more muffled sounds drifted from those disciples of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School as they were pierced through by those on their sides. Closely after that, some more disciples moved to the side of Berusken...


    In the blink of an eye, the remnants of disciples of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School which was as firm as a Great Wall was collapsed. All the remaining disciples of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School hurriedly jumped off as they watched those on their sides full of vigilance.


    Berusken burst out into laughter...


    "Anthony, what''s that for...you said...you would love me forever..." A female disciple sobbed when she saw a male disciple killing another one, running to the side of Berusken and trembling with a sword in hand.


    "Ruili, I love you. However, I don''t want to be killed together with your Samaranth Clan. Your clan is already over..." That man said mercilessly and decisively.


    ...


    "Even if Samaranth Clan was over, at least it had its glory before. However, even if you became a knight, you''d still be as dirty as a worm!" Another voice drifted from Berusken''s back. Everybody became stunned. Even Berusken turned around.


    They saw a 20-odd-man slowly walking towards them.


    Of course, that man was Zhang Tie.


    Actually, Zhang Tie had arrived a few minutes ago. He just watched quietly on one side as he wanted to see what these disciples of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School would choose.


    Zhang Tie knew it was about humanity. Although Zhang Tie had witnessed thousands of dirtiest and ugliest corpses, he had not seen the dirtiest humanity. Therefore, he just wanted to see what would happen out of his curiosity.


    Zhang Tie felt that he had to appreciate Berusken, because of whom, he learned something new about humanity.


    Zhang Tie knew that Berusken would definitely do more evil and pervert things in front of him if he just waited here. However, he was afraid that the entire Samaranth family would be cleaned and the bloodline of Stars and Moons Sword Sage would be broken off by then. When he recalled how relaxed Samaranth was when he killed the huge deep-sea monster for the sake of all the passengers of the steamer Polar Light, Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside before walking forward to stop this tragedy...


    He did this out of his respect to Stars and Moons Sword Sage.


    "Who are you?" Berusken''s pupils contracted, releasing a great danger. Strangely, he didn''t sense any aggressive qi from Zhang Tie. Given his qi, Zhang Tie was just a commoner.


    "My name is Peter, Peter Hamplester!" Zhang Tie said frankly.


    Although Zhang Tie''s voice was not loud, his name Peter Hamplester was like a dull thunder.


    Peter Hamplester, the king of Ice and Snow Wilderness, this name had been spread across Ice and Snow Wilderness over the past 5 years. All sorts of legends about this name and his marvelous manifestation and brilliance had been spread across Ewentra Archipelago.


    As Zhang Tie said this, he stomped onto the ground with his battle qi, causing a long sword of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School to spring up and fall into his hand.


    Zhang Tie raised the sword as high as his eyebrows...


    In a split second, Zhang Tie''s eyes turned as sharp as a lightning bolt while a terrifying sword qi went up into the sky like a battle-qi totem.


    After promoting to a knight, if one had reached a high level in swordsmanship, the knight would not release his battle-qi totem when using his long sword, but sharp sword qi¡ª¡ªThis is sword sage!


    Having awakened the sword affinity bloodline and spent much time in cultivating swordsmanship, Zhang Tie had long become a sword sage after promoting to a knight in the tower of time.


    The sword qi sprayed over and covered the entire mountain top...


    Berusken felt goosepumps all over. With a roar, he threw some disciples who had already stood on his side towards Zhang Tie before turning around, intending to escape...


    Although it was already late morning, they suddenly felt dark all over. It seemed that night arrived at once while a full moon and a crescent rose in the dark at the same time...


    Berusken moved fast; however, he was not as fast as the moons in the dark. When the full moon and the crescent rose up, the tender moonlights had already cast onto him while his protective battle qi started to crack heavily like frying beans...


    Time flew past.


    It could not be described as a swordsmanship, but as a scenery between heavens and ground, ebb and flow and waxing and waning...


    The crescent and the full moon changed their shapes in opposite directions. The crescent gradually turned into full moon while the full moon slowly turned into a crescent. When the full moon changed into its original crescent look, the crescent also recovered its original full shape. After one cycle, the moons and the darkness disappeared at the same time while the Stars and Moons recovered their original looks too.


    All the guys from Demon Snake Island and those rebellious disciples of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School stood still in strange gestures like being applied with a magic...


    The other disciples of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School just watched all this with widely opened eyes, ''What happened? Was that an illusion? Why did we see moons just now? Why did these people stand still?''


    As the wind blew over, all those [standing still] were blown away by the wind one bit after another, flying into the air without leaving any trace in the air...


    Berusken''s body started to collapse like flour while his head seemed to have disappeared together with Peter...


    Only after 5-10 minutes, everything came to an end.


    Everybody in Stars and Moons Castle felt like dreaming.


    ...


    In the open waters of Stars and Moons Island, Zhang Tie was standing still in the void with his eyes closed while grabbing Berusken''s fresh head by his hand, eyelashes quivering.


    Berusken''s memory was withdrawn by Zhang Tie as fast as a lightning bolt. LV 15 battle spirit was the highest level that the "soul capture skill" could work on.


    After a long while, Zhang Tie opened his eyes while a bizarre light flashed across his eyes. He then slightly frowned.


    After the head was thrown into the ocean, it attracted some sharks at once. Zhang Tie felt bored of watching sharks eating food.


    After recognizing the direction, Zhang Tie straightly flew towards Saint Herner Island...

 727 A Hitchhike

    Chapter 727: A Hitchhike


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When the 50,000-ton ship Narwhal from Sinaira Island to Saint Herner Island was only about 200 nautical miles away from Saint Herner Island, a guest landed on a small observation stand of the highest deck quietly.


    The sea wind at dawn was a bit cold, especially on the highest observation stand of Narwhal. Therefore, besides noontime and afternoon when some travelers would enjoy the seascape over there, nobody was there in the evening and in the morning.


    Except for Zhang Tie.


    Given the direction, Zhang Tie knew that it was heading for Saint Herner Island. Additionally, as this place was not far from Saint Herner Island, Zhang Tie directly landed onto the free passenger liner.


    Narwhal was a luxury liner. The snowwhite lacquer, the rows of tidy huge portholes, the long body, the three multi-functional swimming pools of different sizes on the ship and the lounge chairs and sunshades on the three decks indicated the high ticket price and the economic power of passengers.


    Zhang Tie had traveled by sea many times. He knew that common passenger liner would never have swimming pools.


    There was truly a heavy wind on the highest observation stand. The moment Zhang Tie landed on and put away his battle qi, his hair had been a mess.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he walked towards the stairs on his side.


    The moment he arrived at the stairway had he seen a young sailor thudding upstairs with a bucket and a towel while water was dilapidating inside. They almost collided with each other.


    "Ahh, sorry, sir..." The sailor hurriedly moved to the left of the stairs at the sight of Zhang Tie, giving way to Zhang Tie as he kept apologizing to Zhang Tie.


    "It doesn''t matter!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he walked downstairs.


    Until Zhang Tie reached the bottom of the stairs had the sailor become dubious as he scratched his head and murmured, "Strange, the director said he saw nobody here just now; therefore, he called me upstairs to clean the handrails of the observing stand. Didn''t the director see this man?"


    Of course, the young sailor would not report it to the director as he didn''t want to find trouble. After shaking his head, he didn''t care about it anymore.


    After walking off the observation stand, Zhang Tie saw the schematic diagram of this luxury liner on the wall of the aisle. As it was a large ship, for the convenience of the passengers, many places on this ship were marked with its diagram.


    This passenger liner was matched with dining rooms, bars, theaters, gambling houses, gyms and beauty parlors. After reading the diagram, Zhang Tie knew it was called Narwhal. After finding the location of the bar, Zhang Tie walked towards it.


    The bars and entertainment facilities in this luxury liner were available around the clock.


    The aisle was paved with a bright yellow carpet. Even the deck was paved with a comfortable wooden floor. As it was early morning, most of the passengers had just gotten up. Gradually, the ship became boisterous. He met many passengers on the ship, given whose dresses and styles of conversation, Zhang Tie knew they were rich people.


    "My Barbie and Boddey need to walk half an hour a day. Attention, don''t take them to high places in case they catch cold. Just walk them on the lowest deck. After that, you need to prepare a medium-cooked steak fried with olive oil; no spice. Prepare a fried salmon; remember to remove its bones; daub some cherry jam from Kolin Island onto the fish. After they finish their food, remember to massage them for 20 minutes!"


    "Alright, what else can I do for you, Madam Martina?"


    "Hmm, nothing else for the time being!"


    At this time, a hatch door in front of Zhang Tie opened when a 50-odd servant in formal dress and white gloves waited outside the door. Closely after that, he pulled out two big dogs. At the sight of Zhang Tie, he hurriedly dragged the dogs to one side. Zhang Tie threw a glance at the two dogs. Closely after that, the dogs moved to the left side of the aisle kindly, giving way to Zhang Tie.


    ...


    Zhang Tie came to the bar on the 2nd floor. Although the bar was still running, it only had few guests.


    Only two groups of guests were in the bar. Some gentlemen were sitting around one table while a young couple was sitting at the other table who were leaning against each other, watching the seascape through the window and whispering something.


    A girl in longuette was playing piano in the bar. As a result, the entire bar was filled with a melodious piano music. A beautiful female bartender was wiping glasses behind the counter while a beautiful waitress in an alluring kilt was greeting guests. Those men were attracted by her beautiful legs.


    As soon as Zhang Tie sat on a relatively remote seat next to a window, the beautiful waitress walked towards here while twisting her waist. The waitress released a youthful enthusiasm which could fascinate any men.


    "Sir, what do you want to drink?"


    "Whatever!"


    "Hmm, are you new here?"


    "Yup!"


    "How about a glass of seabuckthorn wine?"


    "Fine!"


    Before the waitress left while twisting her waist, she couldn''t help but throw a couple of glances at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie touched his face. Actually, he had not seen his new look; however, he knew it should be maturer than his original look. ''Based on the template provided by Heller, this new look should not be too ugly.''


    After a short while, the beautiful waitress served a glass of wine to Zhang Tie. The moment he sipped it, he identified the familiar taste¡ª¡ªmutated seabuckthorn fruit, a species that was produced in Castle of Black Iron.


    "Hmm, this wine tastes nice. Did you get it from Ice and Snow Wilderness?" Zhang Tie asked the waitress with a smile.


    "Yes!"


    "The seabuckthorn wine in the Ice and Snow Wilderness didn''t taste so good before!"


    "Yes. Previously, very few seabuckthorn wines in Ice and Snow Wilderness were sold to Ewentra Archipelago. However, a new seabuckthorn tree appeared in Ice and Snow Wilderness a few years ago. The wine brewed by the new seabuckthorn fruits tastes much better than that before. Therefore, it is even sold to Ewentra Archipelago!" The waitress explained passionately as she fondled her hair in a womanly way. From her eyes, Zhang Tie saw a familiar thing, which had nothing to do with wealth and reputation, but full of feminine charm.


    "Oh, thank you!" Zhang Tie smiled as he raised his glass, "May I invite you for a drink as a part of my thanks?"


    "Not now. We''re not allowed to drink in working time!" The waitress shook her head as she added, "But I will be off duty in half an hour. Someone will replace me then. Will your invitation still be effective after half an hour?"


    "Of course!"


    The waitress smiled.


    At this moment, some new guests entered. The waitress then walked towards them before ogling towards Zhang Tie.


    Of course, the new seabuckthorn fruit was different than those before. The new ones were bigger and sweeter with some aura values. The wine brewed by such new fruits would definitely taste much better than those before. As he tasted the wine, Zhang Tie was thinking, ''Now that this buckthorn wine has been exported to Ewentra Archipelago from Ice and Snow Wilderness, the new seabuckthorn trees must have been planted in a large area of Ice and Snow Wilderness; those residents in Ice and Snow Wilderness must have a greater reliance on the new seabuckthorn trees. My dream is gradually coming true.''


    ''Additionally, I''ve left No. 1 earthworms and No. 1 soybeans in Ice and Snow Wilderness. During the past 5 years, they should have expanded.''


    ''Besides blades, there is another mild way to conquer others¡ª¡ªreliance!''


    ''If you rely on something, you will be conquered by it.''


    Zhang Tie''s eyes turned profound...


    As for those gentlemen in the far, they were discussing one thing that Zhang Tie was interested in. Therefore, Zhang Tie just leaned against the sofa and drank the wine as he watched the seascape through the window and listened to their conversation. Meanwhile, he started to recall what he had experienced during the past day.


    ''Last night, I was in the Zhang''s old mansion in the Golden Sea City of Huaiyuan Prefecture; this morning, I arrived at Ewentra Archipelago. After that, I went to the Demon Snake Island, then Stars and Moons Island. After exterminating the dark force that had existed in Ewentra Archipelago for many years, I watched the seascape, listened to the music and drank the wine in the bar of Narwhal. What an unimaginable knight''s life! Perhaps, this was why knights made people crazy for¡ª¡ªfreedom. After becoming a knight, I have few limits. I could change many people''s fates so easily...''


    Zhang Tie was fascinated by such a feeling...


    Those men were discussing a major event that happened in Akray Island these days¡ª¡ªAfter joining hands with each other, the major clans in Ewentra Archipelago wanted to establish an Ewentra Archipelago Parliament in Akray Island. This event was indeed influential for those forces across Ewentra Archipelago which were always in a loose state.

 728 On the Way

    Chapter 728: On the Way


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "It''s said that Renard Clan has a background in the Western Continent. Conor, the head of Renard Clan may take the position as the speaker of the parliament!"


    "Not that simple. Without the corresponding force on his back, it''s meaningless for him to become the head of the parliament. Don''t forget that Willys Clan in Gantiado Island has the largest fleet across Ewentra Archipelago. In Gantiado Island, Willys Clan could control the will of two-thirds of major clans on that island. It''s said that Willys Clan has a close relationship with Spencer Clan in Ice and Snow Wilderness. If the head of Willys Clan becomes the head of the Ewentra Archipelago Parliament, Ice and Snow Wilderness will support him for sure!"


    "Speaking of Ice and Snow Wilderness, don''t forget about the most important person¡ª¡ªthe sexy fox. Isn''t the sexy fox closely related to the Wild Bear Tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness? Isn''t the Wild Bear Tribe more powerful than Spencer Clan? The barbarous tribes in Sinairi Island are still silent about the establishment of the Ewentra Archipelago Parliament. It would be meaningless no matter who became the head of the parliament if the authority of Ewentra Archipelago Parliament could not be guaranteed on the biggest and the most important Sinairi Island of Ewentra Archipelago. It''s said that the sexy fox also has a good relationship with the barbarous tribes on Sinairi Island. What a terrifying woman! She has a relationship with both Ice and Snow Wilderness and Sinairi Island. Even in Saint Herner Island, she could still get the support of Bell Clan. I think that maybe this sexy fox could be the head of the parliament."


    "I disagree with you. Just because of the close relationship between sexy fox and Ice and Snow Wilderness, she could not be the head of the Ewentra Archipelago Parliament. Don''t forget about these major clans'' target to establish Ewentra Archipelago Parliament. If sexy fox became the head of the parliament, it would be inconsistent with the target of the establishment of Ewentra Archipelago. How could those major clans agree with that?"


    "Does Ice and Snow Wilderness pose a threat to Ewentra Archipelago? They''ve maintained peace for so many years..."


    "No idea. Do you think the Ice and Snow Wilderness is unchanged? The tonnage of the North Wind Fleet of Ice and Snow Wilderness has surpassed that of Willys Clan two years ago, although it could still not match the total tonnage of the fleets of major clans across Ewentra Archipelago for the time being. What would those major clans do if that lord of Ice and Snow Wilderness became interested in Ewentra Archipelago one day?"


    "Hasn''t that Peter disappeared 5 years ago? Nobody knows whether he''s dead or alive. Additionally, the bear tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness were still splitting. How could they have a surplus force to cast greedy eyes on Ewentra Archipelago?"


    "When did you go to Ice and Snow Wilderness last time?"


    "4 years ago!"


    "If you go there once again, I promise you will not say so when you come back. Additionally, I have to remind you. If there are Slavs on your side, watch out your words."


    "What words?"


    "You said that nobody knows whether Peter is dead or alive. If you dared say that in Ice and Snow Wilderness, Slavs on your side would definitely spring up to chop off your head!"


    "Erm, is that so serious?"


    "Haven''t you heard those legends?"


    "Yup, but I feel it''s a bit exaggerating..."


    "In Ice and Snow Wilderness, what you hear and see will be much more exaggerating than what you hear and see in Ewentra Archipelago..."


    "Do you mean those fanatics of Ancient God School..."


    "How do you know that?"


    "I met a pioneer last time, who came from far away to make a pilgrimage in Ice and Snow Wilderness. After that, he joined the Ancient God School. These years, there has been a legend that the ancient god of Ancient God School is the patron of pioneers and Peter is the incarnation of the ancient god in the secular world..."


    ...


    Those men didn''t know that the Peter that they were talking about was leaning against the sofa comfortably, sipping the seabuckthorn wine and listening to their talk.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie remained a calm look when he listened to them talking about the parliament of Ewentra Archipelago. Later on, he choked and coughed when he listened to them talking about Ancient God School...


    Those men turned around and thought that Zhang Tie, the young man was choked by his wine; therefore, they threw a despised look at Zhang Tie.


    After recovering his composure, Zhang Tie raised his head and saw three beautiful legs standing in front of him in high-heeled shoes. The girl who played piano, the waitress and that female bartender were standing in front of him and watching him with a curious look. The girl who played the piano was still wearing the same skirt; while the waitress and the female bartender had put on a coat and covered their work clothes, making their legs more dazzling.


    "Can you invite 3 of us for a drink now?" The beautiful waitress asked with a smile.


    "No problem!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile. Closely after that, he recovered his composure and invited them to take a seat. He then called the new waiter for a bottle of seabuckthorn wine and three glasses. Later on, they started chatting.


    The waitress was called Venika; the female bartender was called Daliana; the piano player was called Wallis. They were all students of Sinaira Business College on Sinaira Island. They would graduate next year. As it was the vacation, through the introduction of Daliana''s family members, the 3 girls found a part-time job in the Narwhal. Besides making money, they could also have a free travel and broaden their horizon. They also wanted to find more opportunities for development here.


    Ewentra Archipelago had developed commercial civilization and navigation trade. Besides having business relationships with each other, the islands on Ewentra Archipelago even had trade contacts with Ice and Snow Wilderness and Blackson Humans Corridor. Its trade route reached Western Continent while its developed commercial civilization provided more employment opportunities and more open and inclusive environment for young women here.


    After knowing that Zhang Tie was called Peter, the three girls exchanged glances with each other before bursting out into laughter.


    "What? Is my name so funny?"


    "No, actually too many people have the same name. We have many Peters at school. There''s one more Peter in Ice and Snow Wilderness!" Wallis explained as she threw a bashful look towards Zhang Tie. Compared to Venika and Daliana, this piano player looked more introverted.


    Zhang Tie touched his nose.


    "I''ve not seen you before. Are you new here?" Daliana asked Zhang Tie.


    "Hmm, I''ve just been to Narwhal!" Zhang Tie explained seriously.


    "Just? No way? Nobody could board on this ship as soon as it left the harbor. Did you come here by yacht?"


    "No, I came here by air. When I saw such a ship heading to Saint Herner Island, I just landed to take a hitchhike!" Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly.


    The 3 girls felt that Zhang Tie was very humorous.


    Gradually, Venika had moved close to Zhang Tie''s side. Being closely touched by her beautiful legs, Zhang Tie could even feel the smooth skin and temperature of her legs.


    In less than 1 hour, they had drunk up the bottle of seabuckthorn wine. The 3 girls blushed and looked pretty cute.


    "Well, thanks for your wine, we have to go to bed now. We worked the whole night!" Venika said as she stood up together with the other two girls.


    "You''re welcome. It was my pleasure to invite you for a drink!"


    "Aww, do you want to take a seat in our dorm? I''m afraid that the ship will arrive at Saint Herner Island in about 8-9 hours." Venika suggested as she threw a delightful look towards Zhang Tie.


    After hearing Venika''s invitation to Zhang Tie, Daliana and Wallis exchanged a glance with each other. A bashful look instantly flashed across Daliana''s face while Wallis''s ears turned red at once.


    "Fine!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he knew what did this suggestion mean. After dropping a gold coin, he left the bar with the 3 girls for the rear cabin.


    Walking in the aisle of the rear cabin, Wallis seemed to be a bit nervous while walking ahead of them, Zhang Tie was walking in the middle of Wallis and Daliana while putting his hands on the soft waists of Venika and Daliana. The two girls didn''t refuse him.


    Coming to the door of the dorm, Wallis was too nervous that she even dropped the key. When she lowered her body to pick it up, her butts rightly rested onto Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen as she felt hitting on something hard. With a sound "Ahh", Wallis blushed at once.


    After opening the door flurriedly, Wallis rushed towards her bed like escaping away as she said, "I''m too tired, I will go to bed first..."


    This was a dormitory of staff. Although it was not large, it was tidy. There were 3 beds, 3 wardrobes, 1 desk and 1 washroom.


    The entire dormitory smelt faintly fragrant.


    The moment the door was closed, Venika had started a hot kiss with Zhang Tie. At the same time, she put off her coat. Zhang Tie then put off Daliana''s coat, having it slid off to the ground.


    Venika wanted to put off her underbodice; however, Zhang Tie stopped her as he moved his lips onto her ear, "Don''t do that. Don''t you feel it''s sexy? You only need to undo the top button of your shirt..."


    ...


    After 9 hours, the Narwhal arrived at Saint Herner Island in the sunset afterglow. Zhang Tie also ended his temporary and pleasant journey.


    When Zhang Tie was tapping the potential of uniform in Narwhal, the entire Ewentra Archipela and Ice and Snow Wilderness were boiling as a news was spread there as fast as radio waves with the effect of remote-sensing crystals.


    ¡ª¡ªThe Lord of Ice and Snow Wilderness is coming back. Berusken and the other roundtable fighters'' heads became the first batch of sacrifice for the return of the lord of Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    The entire Ewentra Archipelago and Ice and Snow Wilderness were shocked!

 729 Shocking the Ice and Snow Wilderness

    Chapter 729: Shocking the Ice and Snow Wilderness


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Eschyle City, Ice and Snow Wilderness...


    With remote-sensing crystals, the news was spread so fast. Therefore, in only a few hours, what Zhang Tie did in Stars and Moons Island had been spread to Eschyle City.


    Spencer Clan received the news from a business group in Ewentra Archipelago and transmitted the news to Eschyle City at once.


    In only 5 years, a higher and more magnificent Iron Bear Castle had been built in the original address of Iron Bear Castle of Spencer Clan in Eschyle City.


    Within an underground backroom of Iron Bear Castle, Elder Turin of Spencer Clan was entering a deep meditation.


    After receiving the news, Elder Rodolfo arrived at the backroom of Elder Turin immediately and woke him up urgently.


    After waiting outside the door of the backroom for 10 minutes, the alloy door finally slid away while Elder Turin slowly appeared in front of Elder Rodolfo with a cold look.


    "What happened?" Elder Turin asked calmly which sounded a bit unpleasant.


    Any knight would feel unhappy when his cultivation and meditation was interrupted. In Spencer Clan, everybody knew that the one who could really master the fate of the clan was Elder Turin, who had become a knight. Although Elder Rodolfo was also an elder, he was not a knight. Additionally, his seniority in the clan was utterly different than that of Elder Turin. Especially when there was no outsider on their side, Rodolfo treated Turin meticulously as his elder.


    Rodolfo reported the news instantly.


    After hearing that, Elder Turin''s unpleasant look instantly disappeared as his eyes shot out a shrewd light.


    "Is it true?"


    "It''s true. All the disciples of Stars and Moons Swordsmanship School have seen that. The news came from Stars and Moons Island. All the roundtable fighters in Demon Snake Island have been killed!"


    After taking a deep breath, Elder Turin revealed an aggressive qi while his face turned solemn at once, "Order North Wind Fleet to get prepared in 3 hours, we''re setting out for Saint Herner Island!"


    "Ahh, Prepare North Wind Fleet to leave Oro Strait?" Elder Rodolfo became shocked as such a movement might cause a war between Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago. Additionally, this had broken through the bottom line that was tacitly approved by both parties.


    "I will go there together with North Wind Fleet to welcome our Lord of Ice and Snow Wilderness!"


    "Bu...but this might arouse a war!" Elder Rodolfo had to remind Elder Turin considering the potential severe outcome.


    "It''s time for the war!" Elder Turin replied which shocked Elder Rodolfo so much, "I''m afraid that Peter was waiting in Saint Herner Island for the arrival of North Wind Fleet. If we don''t go there, we may disappoint him!"


    "Ahh..." Rodolfo became dumbfounded.


    "It''s estimated that an elder of Huge Bear Tribe will appear in Eschyle City in 2 hours and go to Saint Herner Island together with me!" Elder Turin revealed a faintly mysterious smile, "Pontiff Sarlin, who has the eye of time, must have seen that and made the corresponding preparation!"


    After thinking for a short while, Elder Rodolfo seemed to remember something as he whispered to Elder Turin, "What about the Fiery Bear..."


    "Just tell them the news honestly, they will make their own choice. Tell the old bear, it''s the final chance for them to clarify their stance!" Elder Turin said faintly.


    ...


    In the hieron of Elzida Mountain, Pontiff Sarlin had also opened his eyes at this moment. Watching Elder Toles in front of him, he nodded.


    Receiving the answer, Elder Toles just bowed towards Pontiff Sarlin and slowly retreated the hieron.


    After 1 hour, the cavalries of Thor''s Hammer set out Gozida Plain, shocking the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness...


    ...


    In a main tent of Wild Bear Tribe...


    On the main seat was sitting a robust mountain-like man, who was tearing a roasted cattle and chewing it forcefully. Meanwhile, he listened to those sitting below him reporting to him. After eating each piece of beef, the man would always clean his oily hands on his bear-hide coat.


    "Clan head Dali, what''s your opinion about it?" A 60-years-old man asked.


    "Hahaha...this is a big event; of course, I need to consider about it..." The one on the main seat put him off.


    "Our whole family have stayed here for 7 days..." Another 20-years-old man interrupted.


    "Hahahaha, you four have stayed here for 7 days; then you want the lives of over 13 million people of my wild bear troop?" The man who was tearing beef narrowed his eyes while releasing a depressive qi.


    The 60-years-old man threw a stern glance at that young man before opening his mouth calmly, "You''re very clear about the power of our Sacred Light School. If you cooperate with us, you will not suffer any loss!"


    "Hah, speaking of Sacred Light School, I remember that a country called Sun Dynasty who believed in the God of Brilliance School have been exterminated by the demonized puppets disaster. Does the God of Brilliance School originate from your school? I wonder what other powers does your school still have in Blackson Humans Corridor now."


    "Sun Dynasty is just a small country!" The 50-odd years man explained calmly, "That country''s God of Brilliance School is just a small branch of our school in Blackson Humans Corridor. Additionally, as they had left the halos of the God of Sacred Light, that branch had been attracted to the evil route by demons. Therefore, they finally came to an end. In Western Continent, our Sacred Light Empire''s power is thousands times greater than that of Sun Dynasty. Our believers are like numerous water drops in the ocean. As long as there''s sunshine, there will be the follower of our school!"


    "Then, what do you want?"


    "Belief, we only need belief!" The 60-odd years man replied with an extremely righteous expression, "Besides belief, we need nothing else. If clan head Dali could promise to cooperate with us, the wild bear tribe would gain the opportunity to share the interests of Ice and Snow Wilderness and have power increase greatly; additionally, the assistance of our Sacred Light Empire would also be transported to Ice and Snow Wilderness through our fleet constantly, helping wild bear tribe grow stronger! Our only condition is to do missionary work in Ice and Snow Wilderness. The creed of Ancient God School is pretty absurd and intolerable. We cannot stand it bewitching people''s minds here!"


    "Hmm! I will think about it for a while, hahahaha..." The clan head of wild bear tribe continued to put him off.


    "We can only stay in the wild bear tribe for another 3 days at most. If clan head could still not make that decision by then, we would have no chance then!"


    ...


    After half an hour, the 4 people left the main tent, leaving that Dali continuing tearing his beef. Chewing the beef, the man narrowed his eyes while flickering weird eye-lights.


    Gangula hurriedly came in from outside. After that, he walked to the man''s side and whispered to that man.


    Gangula was more steady now than he was 5 years ago while he kept a dense mustache.


    After hearing Gangula''s words, the man stopped chewing beef. After a short while, he pounded the cattle''s leg onto the table. Closely after that, he glared at Gangula and issued an order, "Go chop off those b*stards'' heads and send them to the huge bear tribe!"


    Gangula licked his lips excitedly and nodded silently before turning around and leaving the main tent...


    "Wait for a second, where''s Sabrina?"


    "It''s said that she bought a castle of Spencer Clan in Eschyle City last month!" Gangula said.


    "Hmm, you can leave!" The clan head rubbed his mustache with his oily hand while waving another hand towards Gangula. Gangula then strode away.


    Watching Gangula leaving, the clan head of wild bear tribe revealed a sneer, "F*ck, b*stards, preach your sh*t! You just want to share my benefits with some talkative lackeys and a bullsh*t knight from Western Continent. Do you think that this father has not seen a knight or our Slavs have no knights? Peh..."


    ...


    Sabrina was indeed in Eschyle City; precisely, she was outside the military harbor of Eschyle City. Sitting in a black sedan, she was watching the battleships of North Wind Fleet setting off the military harbor together with numerous residents of Eschyle City.


    Only the command iron-blood battleships and heavy cruisers above 10,000 tons of North Wind Fleet could pass by Oro Strait. From the beginning, North Wind Fleet was founded for blocking Oro Strait. Therefore, North Wind Fleet was only matched with the above two kinds of battleships.


    Those common civilians were cheering and watching the battleships setting off the harbor. Sabrina was shocked by the colorful flags that were hung on a battleship which was closest to her while feeling goosebumps all over.


    One triumph flag and two black-iron throne flags...


    Triumph flag indicated that the fleet was ready for battle while the two black-iron throne flags meant that there were 2 black-iron knights in the fleet!


    All the battleships started to whistle at the same time, which reverberated around the Eschyle City like a roar.


    ''What''s that for?'' Sabrina was dumbfounded for a second before telling the driver to go back to the castle...


    After 20 minutes, hearing the latest news, Sabrina revealed a bizarre look¡ª¡ªKnight? The lad became a knight?

 730 Protection

    Chapter 730: Protection


    Translator: WQLEditor: - -


    The sunset afterflow sprey over the sea, turning the sea level of the entire Saint Herner Harbor into glow...


    At this moment, the Saint Herner Island was more prosperous than that 5 years ago when Zhang Tie came here for the first time benefited from the great growth in trade and personnel exchanges in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    The Narwhal anchored in a new berth, allowing passengers to disembark.


    According to the schedule, the Narwhal would stay in Saint Herner Island for 2 days. After then, this luxury liner, which belonged to Sinaira Shipping Company, would set out for Akray Island. After circling around the major islands across Ewentra Archipelago, it would finally return to Sinaira Island and finished its remaining travel.


    Such a relaxed and pleasant travel was the favorite leisure travel of rich people in Ewentra Archipelago.


    Previously, Blackson Humans Corridor was also a favorite tourist attraction of rich people in Ewentra Archipelago. However, as Blackson Humans Corridor was covered with battle flames, those rich people lost their interests in it. By contrast, Ewentra Archipelag and Ice and Snow Wilderness which were far away from the continent became shangri-la.


    The fishery and shipping industry across Ewentra Archipelago gained a momentum in growth these years. Great batches of rich and poor people escaping from Blackson Humans Corridor brought more gold coins, greater consumption capability, demand and cheap labor force.


    As Saint Herner Island was close to Ice and Snow Wilderness, the passengers disembarking Narwhal could buy sufficient specialties of Ice and Snow Wilderness from here at a low price, which was the transfer station of the trade between Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago.


    ...


    "Sir, Narwhal will set off Saint Herner Island on 16:00 pm, September 27th in 2 days. Please carry your ticket and pay attention to the returning time!"


    A staff reminded him kindly at the entrance of the gangway when Zhang Tie walked downstairs.


    Zhang Tie responded with a smile as he left the Narwhal.


    The dock was prosperous and crowded. Those disembarking the Narwhal were surrounded by all sorts of peddlers. Penetrating through the encirclement of the peddlers, Zhang Tie finally walked out of the dock.


    Standing on the street outside the dock where he came several years ago, Zhang Tie felt everything familiar yet strange.


    Right then, Zhang Tie saw a lot of trucks driving into the dock. The moment the trucks parked, those city guards of Saint Herner City had jumped off the vehicles and started to assemble.


    "Company 1 takes charge of security of the east area; company 2 takes charge of west area; company 3 takes charge of the streets nearby the dock; company takes charge of maneuver supervision. Crack down any trouble that you meet!" A major issued his order to those soldiers. Closely after that, he wove his hand towards them, scattering the soldiers at once.


    About 1,000 soldiers'' arrival shocked many people nearby the dock. They exchanged glances with each other and wondered what was happening.


    Zhang Tie was also watching them on one side as he sensed the sudden restless and urgent atmosphere in Saint Herner Island.


    At this moment, a slight chaos drifted from a commodity trading hall nearby the dock. Someone rushed out of there while waving something in hand. Like being stimulated, he shouted loudly, "News from a business group in Ice and Snow Wilderness. The North Wind Fleet of Ice and Snow Wilderness have left Eschyle City a few hours ago..."


    The man''s exclamation puzzled many people on the street. However, someone understood it and changed their faces at once.


    It was a bit chaotic in the street. However, the basic order was perserved. However, after hearing this news, someone accelerated their steps while a vehicle drove out of a parking position outside the gate of the commodity trading hall so fast that it even rubbed a taxi and caused a partial traffic jam.


    Zhang Tie rubbed his jaw and smiled as he raised his hand. A taxi instantly parked in front of him.


    "Sir, where are you going?" The driver turned around and asked him.


    "Navyblue Castle!"


    "It costs you 1 silver coin and 40 copper coins!"


    Zhang Tie nodded. Then the driver started to car.


    ...


    After leaving the dock, the overall situation in the streets was a bit intense while an increasing number of soldiers on duty could be seen everywhere in the street. The driver, who didn''t know what happened, mumbled, "Ahh, what happened? Are they catching criminals?"


    Zhang Tie closed his eyes and started to visualize 4 abacuses. About 20 minutes later, the car parked. Zhang Tie opened his eyes and found the car couldn''t move any more as a group of soldiers from City Guard Administration of Saint Herner City set roadblocks in front of them.


    The driver got off the car and talked with one soldier for a short while before returning with a sad look.


    "Sir, I''m sorry, the City Guard Administration have blocked the way. I have to stop here. If you walk two miles ahead, you will arrive at Navyblue Castle!"


    Zhang Tie slightly frowned as he took out a gold coin and gave it to the driver.


    "Ahh, a gold coin? I have no changes!" The driver explained with an embarrassed look.


    "Keep the changes!" Zhang Tie got off the car.


    For these commoners who survive themselves and their family members by labor work, Zhang Tie always treated them generously since he became a new rich in Tokei City and left Selnes Theatre of Operations. He had no concept about one gold coin at all. However, a gold coin could make commoners happy for a long while. Perhaps, with one gold coin, they could tide over their current difficulties. As it could make both others and himself happy, Zhang Tie felt it was worthwhile to do that.


    After being stunned for a couple of seconds, the driver looked excited, "Ahh, Sir, wherelse are you going to? Even though I cannot get you to Navyblue Castle, I can send you to Basa. I usually work nearby the dock. Remember my plate number. You can enjoy a free ride later!"


    ''What a benevolent commoner!'' Zhang Tie smiled as he waved his hand towards the driver and walked towards the pass.


    The driver didn''t leave; he just parked on the roadside and seemed waiting for Zhang Tie to come back.


    "Stop, this road has been blocked. Nobody could access to it!" Two soldiers blocked Zhang Tie.


    "I''m going to Navyblue Castle!" Zhang Tie explained to the two common soldiers calmly.


    "You''re going to Navyblue Castle?" A first lieutenant instantly turned around and stared at Zhang Tie with a vigilant look. After glancing over Zhang Tie, he asked, "Are you a member of Navyblue Castle Business Group?"


    "No!"


    "What are you going there for?"


    "It''s nothing to do with you!" Zhang Tie answered faintly.


    The first lieutenant commissioned officer became furious as he roared, "Catch him!"


    All the near soldiers surrounded up him. Zhang Tie shook his head as he waved his hand, causing over 10 soldiers fly over 10 m back, including that commissioned officer.


    Before those people climbed up, Zhang Tie had already flown towards the Navyblue Castle.


    ...


    Outside the Navyblue Castle, dozens of armored vehicles and over 5,000 soldiers of the City Defense Administration of Saint Herner City were surrounding the Navyblue Castle. The Navyblue Castle was closed tightly while all the city-defense weapons on the castle were pointing at those soldiers of the City Guard Administration of Navyblue Castle. The current situation was very aggressive.


    Gitta, the tough man was standing on the top of the castle wall with a cold look in full armor as he asked, "Major General Dim, what''s the purpose of the City Guard Administration? Why do they surround our Navyblue Castle?''


    "Nothing, the head of our Fain Clan wants to invite Ms. Olina to visit Saint Herner City for 2 days!" A man in major general uniform replied Gitta while standing on the top of the armored vehicle.


    "F*rt. If that old man wants to see our Ms., just let him come to Navyblue Castle!"


    "I''m sorry, if Ms. Olina doesn''t think through it in one more hour, we will have to use force!" The Major General Dim replied in an icy way.


    "Really?" A sound drifted from the sky. Closely after that, under the gaze of over 5,000 soldiers of City Guard Administration, a figure slowly descended and landed on the top of the city wall of Navyblue Castle. Everybody changed their face greatly.


    Zhang Tie then revealed a smile at Gitta, who was already dumbfounded by what he saw. Closely after that, he watched the over 5,000 soldiers of the City Guard Administration and said, "Let the head of Fein Clan come to see me her in 1 hour; if not, what you told to Navyblue Castle just now would be what I say to Fein Clan!"


    "You...you are..." Major General Dim felt hot all over as he almost fell onto the ground from the top of the armored vehicle.


    "I''m Peter, Peter Hamplester; the lord of Ice and Snow Wilderness, also the master of the entire North Sea Area in the future. From now on, I declare that the entire Navyblue Castle will be under my protection."


    Although Zhang Tie''s voice was not loud, it could reached directly into ones'' hearts. Hearing the name Peter Hamplester, everybody felt a dull thunder rolling by in the sky as they all felt goosebumps all over...


    Behind a window inside Navyblue Castle, a pair of beautiful cyan eyes were tightly gazing at that figure who slowly descended from the sky. After hearing the one''s last words, the pair of beautiful cyan eyes turned wet.


    Ms. Olina then left the window and walked to the dressing table with undulating chest. Closely after that, she told her maids to help her dress up delicately...

 731 A Bloodless Battle

    Chapter 731: A Bloodless Battle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Not until he saw Ms. Olina once again did Zhang Tie understand how much he missed this woman...


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that this woman was just similar to Miss Daina. However, when he saw her once again, he realized that this woman had been inseparable from his heart.


    Perhaps, Zhang Tie was destined to have a deep touch with this woman since he saved her from the ambushed b*stards of Demon Snake Island.


    Actually, when this woman had her warriors kill that guy dispatched from Demon Snake Island decisively for the sake of Zhang Tie''s safety in Navyblue Castle, Zhang Tie had felt an indescribable thing between the two of them.


    When he stayed with those girls of Rose Association, Zhang Tie felt that he was still immature mentally although being mature physically. By contrast, during the days when he stayed with this woman, Zhang Tie became a real man.


    Zhang Tie thought that this was another sort of compensation gifted by the God.


    Although it had been 5 years, this woman still had no wrinkles on her face. Conversely, her fervent, elegant and mature charm was like a delicately brewed rose liquor, which smelt more mellow, sweet and fascinating.


    When he saw her, Zhang Tie knew Ms. Olina had dressed up well.


    Olina was wearing a royal blue, bright heart-shaped long skirt while exposing her breasts in a pair of golden high-heeled shoes. The brilliant diamond necklace hung in the groove between her plump breasts.


    This woman knew what he liked.


    The moment he caught sight of Ms. Olina, the narwhal of Zhang Tie, who had enjoyed 6-7 hours'' ride on Narwhal, became hard once again.


    From 20 m away, by looking into each other''s eyes, the two people had been obsessed.


    When Ms. Olina moved her eyes away from Zhang Tie''s face to the finger ring of awareness, a faint glow appeared on her cheeks, making her more beautiful.


    Gitta, who brought Zhang Tie in, silently left the parlor of Navyblue Castle as he closed the gate.


    With his eyes on her, Zhang Tie walked over there.


    Seemingly having anticipated that something was going to happen, Ms. Olina''s breasts undulated faintly.


    Zhang Tie just walked over there and put one arm over her neck. Closely after that, he kissed Ms. Olina''s lips intensely...


    Gradually, Olina started to respond fervently as her sexy tongue slid into Zhang Tie''s mouth.


    After a long while, the two people departed from each other.


    "Do you want me to wear a ''blindfold'' this time?" Zhang Tie asked Ms. Olina.


    A bashful look appeared on her face.


    ...


    Besides the head of Fein Clan, even the head of Bell Clan, who were the most powerful figures in Saint Herner Island, arrived in Navyblue Castle in 1 hour.


    After waiting for 1 hour in the parlor of Navyblue Castle, the head of Fein Clan became restless as bean-sized sweat started to drop off his half-balded head. He kept wiping off his sweat. By contrast, the head of Bell Clan looked calmer. Sitting in a dignified way, the old Bell sipped a mouth of tea water served by the waiter in Navyblue Castle.


    After 2 hours, Zhang Tie finally walked out with Ms. Olina who wore a purple skirt.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, the head of Fein Clan instantly sprung up while the old Bell looked calmer.


    At this moment, Ms. Olina looked brilliant and charming all over like a honey peach being moisten by morning dew.


    Only after throwing a glance at Ms. Olina had the heads of Fein Clan and Bell Clan bowed towards Zhang Tie.


    As they knew what this woman and this man had done in the past 2 hours from the look of Ms. Olina. As for men with rich experience, Ms. Olina''s look indicated that she had not made love for a long time until just now.


    Zhang Tie nodded towards the two men. Ms. Olina revealed a kind look towards old Bell; by contrast, she turned cold towards the head of Fein Clan.


    The moment they sat down, the head of Fein Clan had sprung up once again as he watched Zhang Tie with a smile, "Erm...what happened today...was a misunderstanding?"


    In Saint Herner Island, Fein Clan might be able to do whatever they wanted; even across Ewentra Archipelago, Fein Clan was still an influential clan. However, in front of the master of Ice and Snow Wilderness, also a knight, Fein Clan was barely a rural rustic new rich. If all the rural new rich across Ewentra Archipelago could join hands with each other, they might form a bit threat to Ice and Snow Wilderness. However, if there was only one new rich like Fein Clan, they dared never fight Peter alone.


    Zhang Tie waved his head as he didn''t want to listen to the boring explanation anymore.


    In the final analysis, what Fein Clan did today was just to protect themselves when they knew that North Wind Fleet was heading towards Saint Herner Island.


    "If there are a number of bandits and demons who do all the evil things outside your home, whom do you expect to help you guard your home; a strong braveman, or a businessman who only pays attention to profit and would escape away the moment they face the danger?"


    The moment Zhang Tie uttered, the heads of Fein Clan and Bell Clan had become silent as they understood Zhang Tie''s meaning right away. Ewentra Archipelago was the portal of Ice and Snow Wilderness. Previously, the Ewentra Archipelago and Ice and Snow Wilderness could maintain a certain compromise and balance; however, after the holy war broke out, the Ice and Snow Wilderness could not allow Ewentra Archipelago to sustain the current state. Because Saint Herner Island was the last station for demons to reach Ice and Snow Wilderness from Ewentra Archipelago, that''s why Zhang Tie appeared in Saint Herner Island.


    "When the demons would arrive here, your entire clan could escape out of here by one ship. But have you thought about the residents in Ice and Snow Wilderness? They have nowhere to escape!" Zhang Tie watched the heads of the two major clans as he added, "I''m not intimidating or threatening you. I just want to give you a choice. You can leave Saint Herner Island right away; I will not hurt you. You can go wherever you want with all the coins that you''ve made here. But if you want to stay here, you have to follow my rules!"


    Ms. Olina remained silent. She just watched Zhang Tie, who exhibited a fascinating masculinity, the only time when Ms. Olina felt that this man had already grown mature.


    After being silent for a second, the old Bell asked, "I wonder what do we need to do and what can we get if Bell Clan agree to stay?"


    "Everything about your clan would run as usual. You could also keep your private forces; however, Bell Clan would need to adopt the following two aspects: first, taxation power. In order to accumulate strength, I have to control the taxation power of Saint Herner Island. Second, military power. As long as the demons arrived here, a powerful and brave army instead of stragglers and disbanded soldiers would protect you and spare time for you to transfer your wealth and family members. If the demons really arrived, I would allow you a free migration! Additionally, each island in Ewentra Archipelago could share a greater autonomy. I would not dispatch my administrative officers to the islands. Your clan interests would be basically guaranteed. Ewentra Archipelago could even find an autonomous parliament..."


    Besides the taxation power and the military power, Zhang Tie promised a great autonomy to the islands and clans across Ewentra Archipelago. Furthermore, he used Ewentra Archipelago to balance the resistance coming from the lower middle class. This was Olina''s advise during the past 2 hours when Zhang Tie made a "deep exchange" with Olina. With this advise, Zhang Tie could control the entire Ewentra Archipelago at the lowest price and face the least resistance. That woman was not only the best lover, but also the best adviser.


    If he unified the taxation power, it seemed that some clans would abandon some rights; actually, from the perspective of the entire Ewentra Archipelago, this measure could further promote the trade of the entire archipelago and enable each clan to make profits. The biggest bottleneck that restricted the development of the maritime trade of Ewentra Archipelago was that taxations had not been unified across the archipelago.


    As for the military power, it was the key for Zhang Tie to control the entire Ewentra Archipelago which reflected Zhang Tie''s authority.


    Additionally, the greater autonomy and the right to migrate when the demons arrived, collapsed most clans'' willingness to resist.


    Through the foundation of the autonomous parliament, he could not only allow the major clans on Ewentra Archipelago to pin down each other, but also handle many internal conflicts in the public. Besides, he could rope in middle class and citizens across Ewentra Archipelago and allow major clans to pin down common class. Apparently, this autonomous parliament could unify Ewentra Archipelago; actually, it collapsed the total power across Ewentra Archipelago, causing local force or clan to not predominate in Ewentra Archipelago.


    After thinking a short while, old Bell asked the final question, "Whether Berusken was...killed by you?"


    Through Ms. Olina, Zhang Tie had predicted that old Bell might ask this question. Because old Bell''s two sons were killed by b*stards in Demon Snake Island, Bell Clan swore to clean Demon Snake Island.


    "Yes, the entire Demon Snake Island will become a history from today on!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    After watching Zhang Tie with a complex look for a while, old Bell finally stood up and made a deep bow towards Zhang Tie. Closely after that, he put his right hand on his left chest and said solemnly, "From today on, Bell Clan will pledge to be loyal to Peter Hamplester!"


    The 6 eyes finally fixed on the head of Fein Clan. The situation had been obvious. Two of the top three major clans in Saint Herner Island had already stood on Zhang Tie''s side. Even if Fein Clan was still controlling Saint Herner City, it had no chance to bargain with the other two major clans, even a knight.


    Bigger sweat dropped off the head of Fein Clan.


    "Fein Clan doesn''t need to answer me at this moment. Before the North Wind Fleet arrives, you have 4 days to make a decision, stay or leave!" Zhang Tie said calmly as he waved his hand to let the head of Fein Clan leave.


    When the head of Fein Clan was going to leave the parlor, he heard Ms. Olina talking to Zhang Tie.


    "Perhaps Fein Clan still wanted a try with tens of thousands of soldiers!"


    Zhang Tie sneered faintly like having heard a joke as he comforted Ms. Olina by lightly patting her hand¡ª¡ªtens of thousands of soldiers were nothing but a sh*t in front of a knight ...


    After hearing this, the head of Fein Clan turned his face immediately, ''Although Peter said I could have 4 days to consider it, would that woman spare 4 days to me? As I''ve already offended that woman by surrounding Navyblue Castle with so many soldiers today, if that woman used any trick during these days or persuaded Peter that Fein Clan''s really going to "struggle", then...''


    ''Other women may not do such a trick but this one is different as she is "Enchanting Fox", who has been used to "kill" people.''


    ''Don''t forget how this woman handled Ballas Clan.''


    Therefore, the head of Fein Clan immediately drew back the foot which had stridden out of the parlor. After that, he turned around and returned to Zhang Tie''s front. Lowering his head, he put his right hand on his left chest.


    "From today on, Fein Clan will pledge to be loyal to Peter Hamplester!"

 732 A Hot Welcome

    Chapter 732: A Hot Welcome


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On September 29th, when the North Wind Fleet of Ice and Snow Wilderness arrived at Saint Herner Island after 4 days of travel, the entire Saint Herner Island had long been dressed up and waiting for it liking holding a festival.


    The average citizens in Saint Herner Island might not know that the 3 major clans in Saint Herner Island had already paid allegiance to Ice and Snow Wilderness. However, the atmosphere of the ceremony made many people who were worried about possible wars reassured. No matter what, it didn''t look like that a war was going to break out.


    All the people in Saint Herner Island had rushed to the harbor to watch the heroic North Wind Fleet of Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    At about 2 pm, a limousine fleet left Navyblue Castle for Saint Herner Harbor. The moment they left Navyblue Castle, they had seen soldiers of Saint Herner City standing on the roadside in a red formal dress while chinning up and chesting out like poplars 1with a distance of 3 m or so.


    Zhang Tie and Olina were sitting in a limousine in a very formal dress.


    Zhang Tie wore a brilliant ceremonial robe, which was a noble grand duke''s costume being matched with black, red and gold according to the rules of Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Olina also wore a beautiful, black ceremonial dress, making her noble and beautiful.


    They were sitting on the back row of the limousine. The windows of the vehicle were composed of one-way glasses, which could not be seen through from outside. The driver was Gitta.


    A lot of onlookers on the roadsides were waving fresh flowers and flags with blushes. They were yelling "Peter...Peter...Peter...". Therefore, the car didn''t move fast.


    After leaving Navyblue Castle for a mile, more and more people gathered on the roadsides with ear-deafening exclamations.


    Although it was only a couple of days since he came here, the news that Zhang Tie visited Navyblue Castle had already shocked the entire Saint Herner Island. Not only residents in the downtown of Saint Herner City, even many people in the remote areas of Saint Herner City had arrived so as to witness the heroic look of the Lord of Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    In Saint Herner Island, Zhang Tie had too many halos on his head. Besides the status as the Lord of Ice and Snow Wilderness, his Knight-level battle force, his heroic deed in Demon Snake Island and so many events about him in Ice and Snow Wilderness and the entire Ewentra Archipelago made Zhang Tie much more brilliant than any superstars before the Catastrophe.


    Zhang Tie became a mixture of authoritarian, hero, idol, superstar and religious leader.


    In the heart of average people, such a person was even more brilliant than the sun.


    Since the limousine fleet drove out of Navyblue Castle had the entire road become boiled. If not all the soldiers in Saint Herner City were maintaining the order, the entire road might have been covered by people.


    "Peter...Peter...Peter..."


    The sound insulation effect in the back row of the limousine was very good; even though Zhang Tie could still hear clearly the ear-deafening exclamations outside the car and see their frenzied and excited looks.


    The onlookers constantly sprayed fresh petals over the road...


    "I''ve been in Saint Herner Island for so many years, but it''s my first time to see them completely boiled up for one person!" Olina watched Zhang Tie with a bizarre look. It seemed that Zhang Tie''s honor was hers.


    "Actually, I''m as same as them!" Zhang Tie smiled at Ms. Olina, "Perhaps you don''t believe it; seeing them, I feel like watching myself!"


    Olina blinked her eyes as she didn''t understand why Zhang Tie said so...


    Watching the average looks on the roadsides, Zhang Tie took a deep breath as he did one thing¡ª¡ªHe opened the windows on both sides. After that, he watched outside with a tender look. He was waiting to be noticed by the roadside people. Zhang Tie would always reveal a genial and simple look to these people.


    ...


    The moment Zhang Tie opened the windows, the onlookers on the roadsides had stretched out their necks to witness the look of the Lord of Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Ms. Olina smiled towards the roadside people while sitting close to Zhang Tie in a beautiful and elegant way.


    "Peter...Peter...that one must be Peter. I saw him!" A roadside girl shrieked as she instantly passed out due to extreme happiness.


    "Ahh, that''s Peter. The one sitting close to Ms. Olina is Peter!" Someone exclaimed with an excited look.


    After catching sight of Zhang Tie, many people started to shout loudly due to the excitement.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie opened the windows, the fleet was always accompanied with much more louder cheers. The moment the other onlookers heard the louder exclamations, they knew that the fleet was arriving.


    The limousine drove in Saint Herner City along the designated route. In Saint Herner City, not only roadsides, even the balconies, windows and roofs of buildings on both sides had been crowded with people. Everyone was exclaiming and cheering. They even didn''t know why they were so happy.


    The fleets of Bell Clan and Fein Clan converged in the fleet of Navyblue Castle before heading for Saint Herner Harbor.


    Hearing the cheers of the entire city, the head of Fein Clan felt lucky and fearful. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie could have such a great influence in Saint Herner Island. Watching such a boisterous scene, some clansmen of Fein Clan who felt unpleasant just now instantly changed their faces as they forcefully swallowed their saliva and didn''t speak anymore.


    Sitting in a car of his own fleet, the old Bell let out a sigh as he turned around and told his grandson with a solemn look, "Remember, Philis, unless you can arouse the same shock in a strange place after leaving Saint Herner Island, never stand on the opposite of such an influential figure if you want to survive Bell Clan. Because you don''t know how many trump cards does this figure have. Many people will send your head to him in order to flatter him!"


    His 20-year old grandson nodded solemnly. Closely after that, he whispered to old Bell, "Grandpa, is that Peter really younger than me?"


    Zhang Tie was staying in Navyblue Castle these days. In the entire Bell Clan, only old Bell was qualified to see Zhang Tie. Even old Bell''s grandson Philis, who was the successor of old Bell, was not qualified to see Zhang Tie. Only on today''s occasion, Philis was able to stand closer to Zhang Tie under the leadership of old Bell.


    "You should believe that someone in this world would always be favored by the God!"


    ...


    The complete fleet then entered the Saint Herner Harbor, the periphery of which had been completely covered by onlookers. More than 10,000 soldiers of Saint Herner City were maintaining orders here.


    After passing by the crowded road, the fleet came to an open dock. Watching the front cars parking, all the big figures of Saint Herner Island followed Zhang Tie off the vehicles.


    A simple yet solemn welcome ceremony was held here while the ground was paved with red carpet. Everyone was waiting for the arrival of the North Wind Fleet.


    After getting off the car, Zhang Tie drew Olina''s hand and walked to the edge of the dock. They then looked into the distance.


    Following some frigates of Saint Herner Island, the North Wind Fleet appeared on the sea level with rising black and dense smoke.


    In this age, a fleet composed of artilleries and huge ships symbolized maritime right and wealth. Without the deep background, a nation could never afford a fleet.


    Two dense glow slowly rose from Zhang Tie''s body spiritually. In a split second, the two glow twisted with each other and shot to the sky. Closely after that, an extremely brilliant heavenly curtain gradually spread like numerous bloody suns while the bloody flames covered the entire Saint Herner Harbor, even the Saint Herner City like a judgment in the doomsday and gods'' fury...


    The bloody heavens curtain reappeared in the world.


    At this moment, watching the sacred, brilliant heavens curtain rising from Zhang Tie, all the influential figures in Saint Herner City standing behind Zhang Tie were dumbfounded...


    When the bloody fiery heavens curtain appeared, two meteors set off the North Wind Fleet in the distance and flew towards Saint Herner Island.


    The numerous suns radiated jarring luster, which poured into Zhang Tie''s scalp. Closely after that, a huge wheel of golden light composed of complex geometric patterns came into being at Zhang Tie''s feet. The moment the huge wheel of light came into being, an invisible strength swept over 100 sq miles like radio waves centered by Zhang Tie.


    Everyone felt that something inside was plucked by that strength...


    Last time when he released Bloody Fiery Heavens Curtain, it was 5 years ago. Zhang Tie had not predicted such a great change in Bloody Fiery Heavens Curtain. When the luster poured into Zhang Tie''s scalp, Zhang Tie was in a bizarre state. Meanwhile, the scene that he released his Bloody Fiery Heavens Curtain in the ruined relics and the unforgettable, heavy feeling shocked Zhang Tie''s soul once again like rebroadcasting a slide...

 733 The Gentle Strength-Supreme Protection

    Chapter 733: The Gentle Strength-Supreme Protection


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie seemed to return to the most contradictory and helpless moment in his life.


    Aurora appeared in front of him and watched him with a sad look...


    "Gangula has already reached a confidential agreement with the heads of other small and medium-sized tribes. As long as the heads of the tribes support him, Gangula promises to survive some influential figures of each tribe. According to Gangula''s plan, only 200-300 people could persist till 3 months later when the rescue would break through the tunnel!"


    "Tomorrow, the allied force will start to clean the pioneers in this ruined relics! In order to survive the fighters in Grey Eagle Tribe, I will join the battle. I prefer to die with my fighters; instead of surviving myself alone!"


    After saying that, Aurora left...


    Sabrina appeared in front of Zhang Tie...


    "My little man. Don''t worry. We could still keep in touch with the outside world. The rescue team of Wild Bear Tribe and other tribes would arrive after a couple of days. We only need to stand here for 3 months. As long as I could survive out, I swear to take you out of here!"


    ...


    Sam and Gerri appeared in front of Zhang Tie with the same sadness.


    "Peter, Sam and I are here to bid farewell to you. After negotiating with Sam, we''ve decided to go back to the team of pioneers. As nobody can leave out of here or wait until the underground tunnel is broken through; we prefer to die as pioneers so that we still retain a bit dignity!"


    ...


    The heart-wrenching pain and helplessness returned to Zhang Tie.


    In the pain, Zhang Tie returned to the distant, dark tunnel in Wildwolf Valley...


    In the distant and deep underground tunnel, he marched forward, followed by a team of miners while holding burning torches...


    He took out his dagger, followed by all the others. Closely after that, he cut through his wrist and dropped the fresh blood into the pit on the stone.


    ...


    "This is the blood of brothers. How can you dry up before the completion of the sacred great blessing skill?"


    "Ahh, no..."


    "Use mine, use mine blood..."


    "Wtf..."


    Strange faces reappeared in front of Zhang Tie...


    ...


    "Brave sacrificers. You sacrifice yourself to your brothers. This is the supreme, righteous deed. This is the most satisfactory love...your names will be carved on that sacred arch door forever. When you can treat your brothers as yourself, you have entered the realm of truth. Time will end; oceans will dry up; high mountains will collapse. However, your names will never fade away. Your sacrifice means eternity. One day, all of us will gather in the sacred realm of eternity. Each perfection that you''ve done for your brothers will finally come back to you. Your brothers will never leave you alone. You know, the light is in your body. Everything that you create will stay along with you like how you stay with the God."


    ...


    Potter who had become the fire holder exclaimed with a sacred look, "I wish to sacrifice myself for my brothers!"


    ...


    Hallan Wood jumped out, "I wish to be the sacrificer!"


    ...


    Jack Jones jumped out, "I wish to be the sacrificer!"


    ...


    Natili Gandi jumped out, "I wish to be the sacrificer!"


    ...


    Francis Franca jumped out, "I wish to be the sacrificer!"


    ...


    Finally, only one word was reverberating in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    ¡ª¡ªSacrificer! Sacrificer! Sacrificer! Sacrificer! Sacrificer! Sacrificer! Sacrificer! Sacrificer! Sacrificer!


    Yes, sacrificer!"


    Turning oneself into the burning torch in the dark¡ª¡ªburning oneself to illuminate the road for others!


    It turned out that the sacred light was buried in everyone''s heart!


    Zhang Tie through it through at once...


    Based on his marvelous perception, each one within 100 sq mile became a fine string that could resonate with Zhang Tie in his consciousness...


    ''This is the Gentle Strength!''


    ''Actually, I''ve already mastered that in the ruined relics. However, as I''ve not reached the Knight level at that moment, I could not display it.''


    When the huge visible halos and the invisible chakra were running, Zhang Tie felt like becoming a bell, a huge bell, which could ring in a certain state and could cause the resonance of other rings of lives.


    The bell rings were the praise for sacrifice while sacrifice was the supreme protection of Zhang Tie and all the others.


    Zhang Tie felt that something was in his body while those awakened genes and abilities integrated into that halos like musical notes and turned into a certain frequency in the halos and the huge bell, which was increased by times...


    ''That is a super great strike-resistant ability that I gained after eating so many iron-body fruits!''


    ''That''s a super effective ability which could accelerate the recovery of all the wounds after activating the preliminary recovery body which I got after setting free so many earthworms!''


    ''And the ability to resist coldness granted by sandscale fish.''


    Zhang Tie opened his gleaming eyes while an invisible strength spread across everybody within 100 sq mile...


    The faint strength that everybody felt being plucked inside just now was intensified this time, causing everyone in Saint Herner Island feel a powerful, dauntless strength rising in their own bodies.


    Being pushed by such a great strength, the battle-qi totems of all the fighters above LV 6 rose up along with one bright, yellow mysterious halos...


    Actually, the halos appeared on everyone''s body, but it was especially obvious on fighters above LV 6. The higher level the onlooker was, the more brilliant halos he would have.


    In a split second, exclamations could be heard everywhere from the harbor to Saint Herner City...


    "What''s happening..." All the fighters in Saint Herner Island shouted.


    At the sight of the sacred totem Bloody Fiercy Heavens Curtain that covered the entire sky, many citizens on the streets suddenly felt an unprecedented strength rising in their bodies which felt pretty comfortable. All the guys who had wounds and pains felt much better. Being shocked by all this, they just felt everything in front of their eyes was like a wonder.


    "It''s Peter, Peter manifests the wonder!" A smart guy immediately felt that he found the right answer when he remembered those legends about Peter.


    "Ahh, wonder!" All the others started to exclaim with full of excitement.


    "Yes, it''s a wonder. I feel full of strength..."


    A middle-aged woman raised her hand with full excitement as she explained, "The wound that was left when I chopped vegetables yesterday healed instantly. What a wonder..."


    More people exclaimed...


    The extremely brilliant sacred totem Bloody Fiery Heavens Curtain became the best note and background of the wonder in the eyes of the innocent people.


    Some people even directly knelt down and started to pray while their faces were covered with tears.


    For those innocent people across Saint Herner Island, very few of them knew the so-called wonder was just the manifestation of the knight''s Gentle Strength.


    Even many commissioned officers above LV 6 in Saint Herner Island didn''t know what was happening when they were experiencing the knight''s Gentle Strength, not to mention commoners. Even common knights didn''t exist in Saint Herner Island, not to mention knights who mastered Gentle Strength.


    Some senior commissioned officers might have thought of the legendary Gentle Strength of knight. However, they were not sure about it. After all, nobody had experienced such a marvelous skill of knight before.


    However, they were sure that this special strength and the bizarre phenomenon in the sky was brought by Peter!


    Among all of them, only Elder Turin of Eschyle City and Elder Gouras of Huge Bear Tribe who flew towards here knew that it was knight''s Gentle Strength.


    The invisible strength also reached the two elders who were still dozens of miles away, causing two huge golden halos. As a result, the two elders became more eye-catching in the sky.


    The two elders had great perceptive abilities on their bodies. In a split second, they felt that their defensive ability and strike-resistant ability had increased by at least 3 times, even their protective battle qi had become about 10% firmer. Additionally, their cell healing and recovering ability increased by at least 6 times. Additionally, the two people felt that the chill instantly disappeared in the air...


    This was knight''s gentle strength, very powerful gentle strength. After being aided by such a strength, it was like wearing a cold-resistant super powerful armor, which could defend harms and accelerate the healing speed of wounds...


    The two elders soon arrived at Saint Herner Harbor. After landing in front of Zhang Tie, they gave a salute to Zhang Tie.


    "Gouras, the elder of Huge Bear Tribe!"


    "Turin, the elder of Iron Bear Tribe!"


    "Sorry for being late, clan head!"


    "It''s okay. Please don''t be that polite. Now that you''ve arrived, just wait here with me for the North Wind Fleet!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    Finding that the two knight elders from Ice and Snow Wilderness respected Zhang Tie so much, many so-called "big figures" in Saint Herner Island forcefully swallowed their saliva before swarming up to greet the two elders.


    The two elders just nodded towards the heads of Fein Clan and Bell Clan, not to mention those so-called "big figures".


    "Clan head, is that your gentle strength?" The Elder Gouras asked Zhang Tie with desired eyes as he tried to recover his composure.


    "Right!"


    "What''s the name of this gentle strength? It''s too powerful!" Elder Turin asked with a respectful look.


    After thinking about it for a couple of seconds, "I want it to be called supreme protection!"


    ''Supreme protection?'' After exchanging a glance with each other, the two elders eyes shined.


    One hour later, the North Wind Fleet finally arrived at Saint Herner Island while being greeted by Zhang Tie''s Bloody Fiery Heavens Curtain.


    Right in the greeting ceremony in Saint Herner Harbor, the 3 major clans of Saint Herner Island issued the joint statement. They declared that Saint Herner Island would be integrated into Ice and Snow Wilderness from today on under Peter Hamplester''s ruling...

 734 The Sacred Light Empire

    Chapter 734: The Sacred Light Empire


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After finishing the ceremony, Zhang Tie finally spared some time to listen to the introduction of Elder Turin and Elder Gouras about Ice and Snow Wilderness in a study of Navyblue Castle. Zhang Tie then slightly frowned...


    During the past 5 years, many unexpected things had happened in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    "Sacred Light Empire? Sacred Light School?" Zhang Tie mumbled this strange name from the Western Continent.


    "Sacred Light School has a branch in Blackson Humans Corridor¡ª¡ªGod of Brilliance School. God of Brilliance School even founded a country called Sun Dynasty, which bordered with Norman Empire. After the holy war broke out, Sun Dynasty encountered a large-scale demonized puppets disaster and had already been exterminated. Therefore, God of Brilliance School and Sacred Light School are the same religion in different regions. Their creed and organization structure are the same." Elder Gouras explained. He even told Zhang Tie about Sun Dynasty and God of Brilliance School as he thought Zhang Tie was unfamiliar with them.


    Zhang Tie was stunned. He had not imagined that God of Brilliance School and Sun Dynasty originated from Sacred Light School. However, he was familiar with God of Brilliance School and Sun Dynasty. When he joined Iron-Blood Camp, he had fought the corps of Sun Dynasty in Kalur Theater of Operations. Additionally, one of his subordinates was the muling of Sun Dynasty.


    Everything about Sun Dynasty and God of Brilliance School made Zhang Tie feel disgusted.


    "The one who founded God of Brilliance School in Blackson Humans Corridor was a red-robe muling of Sacred Light School. Later on, God of Brilliance School founded Sun Dynasty. As Blackson Humans Corridor was far away from Western Continent, plus certain internal problems facing Sacred Light School, Sacred Light School gradually lost its control of God of Brilliance School." Elder Turin added, "Sacred Light School has a tradition; it encourages expansion. This school allows its clergies to leave Sacred Light Empire and duplicate all the regulations of Sacred Light School in all the continents and countries in the name of preaching. Clergies are allowed to establish churches even theocratical states so as to increase the influence and controlling forces of Sacred Light School."


    "Like a virus?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Yes, the expansion mode of Sacred Light School is like how the virus spreads!" Elder Turin nodded.


    "How big is the influence of Sacred Light Empire in Western Continent?"


    "Sacred Light Empire is one of the major states in Western Continent. Its force mainly gathers in the eastern region of Western Continent. The total area of Sacred Light Empire is 5 times more than that of Blackson Humans Corridor with more than 10 billion people!"


    "How''s the relationship between Sacred Light Empire and other states in Western Continent?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Sacred Light School is widely forbidden in many states and regions as a heresy. Sacred Light Empire doesn''t get along with the other major states!" Elder Gouras explained.


    Zhang Tie nodded as he knew clearly about the f*cking tricks of God of Brilliance School.


    In one word, the creed of the so-called God of Brilliance School was that everything in the world was created by God of Brilliance. Therefore, everything belonged to God of Brilliance. All those who didn''t believe in God of Brilliance were guilty and had to go the hell after death. Those who believed in God of Brilliance were righteous and were destined to go the heaven after death. It sounded noble. Actually, if you believed in it, everything of yours would belong to God of Brilliance. As God of Brilliance would not manifest itself in front of commoners; only those mulings who were close to God of Brilliance knew the will of God of Brilliance. Therefore, mulings administered and enjoyed everything that was created by God of Brilliance on behalf of the God of Brilliance.


    Your belongings belonged to God of Brilliance; however, the belongings of God of Brilliance belonged to mulings. Therefore, your belongings belonged to mulings.


    You were the citizen of God of Brilliance; mulings were the servants of God of Brilliance. God of Brilliance expressed his will and ruled his citizens through mulings. Therefore, mulings were the spokesmen of God of Brilliance. Muling''s words were what the God of Brilliance wanted to say; Muling''s will were the will of God of Brilliance and the truth. If you violated mulings'' will, you violated the will of the God of Brilliance and the truth.


    Everything of God of Brilliance School was interpreting how a group of worms, jerk clergies, liars, bandits and thieves bullied and slaved the followers using that God''s statue.


    Such a trick remained unchanged before and after the Catastrophe. However, the things that were worshiped always changed. If it was a God''s statue being worshipped, they said that God created everything and brought people paradise and intelligence; if it was a great man or sage, they said that the great man or sage created everything and brought people truth and fashion; if it was science, they said that science created everything and brought people happiness.


    As the God''s statue remained silent, the mulings'' words were God''s will.


    As the sage passed away, the politicians interpreted the truth.


    As the science was profound, experts said only they understood it.


    Only the God knew how many mean and dirty lies were fabricated.


    Such a trick had been played for thousands of years; however, it still had a great vitality until today. Although age and environment changed, human greed, desire and fear remained unchanged.


    "What are the stances of the major bear tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness?"


    "A few days ago, the wild bear tribe had chopped off the heads of a group of clergies from Sacred Light Empire and sent them to the huge bear tribe. The fire bear tribe and sea bear tribe didn''t express their stances for the time being. Mountain bear tribe, black bear tribe and demon bear tribe might have been roped in by Sacred Light Empire. The commissionary group of more than 200 people dispatched by Sacred Light School to Ice and Snow Wilderness this time was ruled by a mace muling. The mace muling was a knight


    "How many knights do the three tribes have?"


    "Mountain bear tribe, black bear tribe and demon bear tribe have one knight, respectively, who are the most dignified elders in their tribes. Julius, the clan head of demon bear tribe is a 5-star battle spirit, who mastered the skill of secondary instant promotion. After secondary instant promotion, his battle force is close to that of a knight. Plus that mace muling of the commissionary group of Sacred Light Empire, they have 4 and a half knights precisely!"


    ''Four and a half knights, plus Sacred Light Empire on their back, no wonder the tribes dared covet my territory. Actually, huge bear tribe and iron bear tribe have 4 knights. However, the opponent had not imagined that I also became a knight. Additionally, I''ve mastered the gentle strength of knight. Therefore, my party is more powerful.''


    As a wide area of territory in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor had collapsed, the strategic importance of Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago grew. Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could collide with the power of Western Continent here. However, as it had happened, he had to make his decision.


    Besides Sacred Light Empire, through reading Berusken''s memory, Zhang Tie knew that other forces of Western Continent had already reached their tentacles in Ewentra Archipelago. Due to the huge amount of wealth that was accumulated through trades between Ewentra Archipelago and the other parties and its geographical position, which was closer to Western Continent than Blackson Humans Corridor, Ewentra Archipelago had already made some people drool with envy. This crisis in Ice and Snow Wilderness and the will that Ewentra Archipelago would like to establish Ewentra Archipelago Parliament were actually pushed by certain forces from Western Continent. Due to their tacit cooperation, if they made it, one western force would devour Ice and Snow Wilderness while the other western force would occupy Ewentra Archipelago.


    ''However, they have to admit that they have selected the wrong places due to my existence.''


    "After handling affairs in Ewentra Archipelago, we will return to Ice and Snow Wilderness!" Zhang Tie told the two elders.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Elder Turin and Elder Gouras nodded at the same time!


    ...


    On October 1st, after receiving the invitations of Peter Hamplester, all the heads of clans across Ewentra Archipelago, even the elders of barbarous clans in Sinaira Island arrived at Navyblue Castle in Saint Herner Island by airship to negotiate about the future deployment of Ewentra Archipelago.


    Accompanied by the heads of major clans were their own fleets. The allied fleets of Ewentra Archipelago converged in the open water of Saint Herner Island, whose overall battle force was over 3 times than that of North Wind Fleet in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Only 40 people or so were qualified to be invited to negotiate about the future deployment of Ewentra Archipelago by Zhang Tie. They represented the local forces of the entire Ewentra Archipelago.


    Evidently, the battle force of North Wind Fleet could not match that of the allied fleet of Ewentra Archipelago. However, the allied fleet of Ewentra Archipelago and the major clans on Ewentra Archipelago didn''t have knights on their back. In this case, as long as the war between Ewentra Archipelago and Ice and Snow Wilderness broke out, North Wind Fleet would be exterminated for sure; however, Ewentra Archipelago would also suffer a great loss. Additionally, the three knights from Ice and Snow Wilderness would definitely exterminate the local major clans on Ewentra Archipelago as a revenge. As a result, the trade and prosperity of the entire Ewentra Archipelago would be weakened. That was to say, even if Ice and Snow Wilderness won the war in the end, it could still not organize an established navy army in a long period.


    Each major clan could be able to make such a deduction.


    All the major clans on Ewentra Archipelago knew the outcome if they fought Ice and Snow Wilderness; however, they didn''t feel like losing the war in this way. Therefore, after one day of negotiation, the major clans on Ewentra Archipelago dispatched two representatives to tell Zhang Tie about their conditions on October 2nd...

 735 Bet on A Duel

    Chapter 735: Bet on A Duel


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The two who came to propose conditions to Zhang Tie on behalf of the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago were both influential figures in Ewentra Archipelago: Connar, the head of Rainald Clan in Akray Island and Brightman, the head of Willies Clan in Gantiadu Island.


    They were both above 60 years old. In this era, such an age was the heyday of men.


    If Zhang Tie didn''t appear, Connar and Brightman were both hot candidates for the speaker of the Ewentra Parliament. Actually, Connar, the head of Rainald Clan was even the most important person on the back of Ewentra Parliament.


    Zhang Tie watched this guy seriously¡ª¡ªash brown hair, raised hooknose, sunken eyes and thick and plain jaw. Given his special look, he must not be average.


    By contrast, Brightman, the head of Willies Clan looked like a harmless, gentle, dignified engineer in eyeglasses.


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t treat Brightman as a harmless engineer. As Willies Clan in Gantiadu Island was a bosom ally of Spencer Clan in Ewentra Archipelago. Of course, Willies Clan was not average, not to mention Brightman, the head of the clan.


    "Your Excellency. This is the condition proposed by all the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago. If you can adopt this condition, we will proceed according to it. Otherwise, we have to fight Ice and Snow Wilderness at any price for the sake of Ewentra Archipelago!" Connar said as he put one document, which had been signed by all the attendants of this conference, in front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie turned open the document politely. Actually, he had long known the contents of the document. As the owner of Navyblue Castle and Zhang Tie''s liaison with all the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago, Ms. Olina had contacted the major clans many times these couple of days and figured out their bottomlines.


    If Zhang Tie disagreed with their condition, more than 70% of major clans would evacuate from Ewentra Archipelago and establish an exile Ewentra Parliament in Western Continent. After that, they would always find Zhang Tie trouble. It would be very tricky.


    It was Connar, the head of Rainald Clan, who proposed to establish an exile Ewentra Parliament overseas.


    "Make a duel between 1/2 of North Wind Fleet and the same scale of the allied fleet of Ewentra Archipelago on the sea. If North Wind Fleet wins the battle, all the major clans and islands across Ewentra Archipelago will pay allegiance to me. If the allied fleet wins the battle, besides Saint Herner Island which maintained its current situation, all the other islands across Ewentra Archipelago will also maintain their current situations. Additionally, Ice and Snow Wilderness will not seek to annex other parts of Ewentra Archipelago." Zhang Tie skimmed over the contents of the document before watching Connar and Brightman, "I have to admit that your condition is considerate!" Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile, which was confirmative or ironical.


    Although the condition seemed fair, it was unfair to North Wind Fleet. Actually, based on the battle experience and drilling level of the fleet, the North Wind fleet, which had been established for just less than 5 years could still not match the allied fleet of Ewentra Archipelago which lived and trained on the ocean all the year round.


    ''It seems that this condition is especially designed for the possible loss of North Wind Fleet. Even if I was defeated, I would only lose half of the battle force of Ice and Snow Wilderness. Additionally, I would also keep the control of Saint Herner Island. In this way, I wouldn''t look too much embarrassed or arouse more casualties and damages due to extreme fury.


    "This is a bet on the duel between two fleets without the participation of knights from Ice and Snow Wilderness!" Connar added frankly, "Ewentra Archipelago worships ocean, where each one has a special feeling about the ocean and respects the real brave who could conquer the ocean. Therefore, you could not make us succumb to Ice and Snow Wilderness faithfully unless you show an overwhelming power to conquer us on the sea. If you want to conquer Ewentra Archipelago by pure force then the only outcome is to see Ice and Snow Wilderness turn into ruins! I think you''ve already heard a proverb in Ewentra Archipelago!"


    "What''s that?"


    "Knights could conquer the land, yet they could not conquer the ocean!"


    Zhang Tie replied with a faint smile. ''It''s true for common knights. The area of ocean is broader than that of land. Even though knights can fly, their flight ability weakens sharply above the ocean. Because most of the knights can only fly a bit longer than 1,000 miles at most. By contrast, the fleet has better maneuverability and the ability to conceal themselves, which pose greater deterrent force to traffic routes on ocean and ships [on the ocean]. Therefore, this proverb spread in Ewentra Archipelago. However, this proverb is not completely true. It''s just a self-consolation of an archipelago community. However, it''s just a joke for me.''


    Facing the joke, Zhang Tie replied with a smile. He didn''t care or wanted to argue something. He just threw a glance at Brightman, "Do Willies Clan also think like this?"


    "As we are not only defending the interests of Ewentra Archipelago, but also the dignity of Ewentra Archipelago through this bet. If Your Excellency could allow major clans across Ewentra Archipelago to lower their heads in front of you in a dignified way, I think it would be nice for all of us. Otherwise, we could only destroy each other in the end!"


    "Dignity?" Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "Alright, I agree with your condition. I promise that none of the knights from Ice and Snow Wilderness would attend this duel, including me. Just let the two fleets make a duel in the public. The remaining fleet would be the winner! But I''ve also got a condition..."


    "What condition?"


    "I hope it is Rainald Clan''s fleet which fights the North Wind Fleet. I know that Rainald Clan''s fleet will be able to participate in such a bet based on its scale and battle force!"


    A light flashed by Connar''s eyes. However, he still maintained a smile, "I agree! But there''s one thing that I have to remind you. For the fairness of this bet, the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago have already submitted 0.2 billion gold coins as the caution money of this bet and invited Golden Roc Bank as the warrantor of this bet!"


    After hearing this, Zhang Tie swore inside, ''What f*cking rich clans! In order to prevent me from regret, these guys have already gathered 0.2 billion gold coins as the caution money so fast. Additionally, they even roped in Golden Roc Bank as their warrantor. What cunning guys! It seems that they''ve already won the duel. However, if I win, Golden Roc Bank will also supervise these clans to perform their bet.''


    ''Generally, Golden Roc Bank will not interfere with such a battle which strive for territory and power unless the parties of the battle sigh a contract.''


    ''What a valuable contract!''


    After pretending to consider it with a solemn look, Zhang Tie said, "No problem, I agree!"


    After hearing this, Connar revealed a faint smile at his mouth corners. Even Brightman''s eyes contained something else, which was more like a faint sigh towards Zhang Tie''s young age, low intelligence and false judgment than contempt.


    Seeing Connar and Brightman leaving the room, Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile which gradually turned bright...


    ''If you want to play, let''s play something big!''


    Zhang Tie''s eyes instantly turned extremely profound...


    ...


    At this moment, a side door opened slowly while Ms. Olina entered twisting her butts with a sad look. She was auditing in a neighboring room just now.


    "This bet is very dangerous!" Ms. Olina told Zhang Tie.


    "Is this where you usually work in Navyblue Castle? It''s nice." Zhang Tie asked as he looked around.


    Ms. Olina''s face blushed instantly, "Aren''t you worried about that?"


    "Why?" Zhang Tie smiled as he put his arm around Ms. Olina, "Do you want to make money? Make a lot of money?"


    After being silent for a second, Olina watched Zhang Tie with a confused look, "What are you talking about?"


    "Hmm, if I''m your boss and you''re my beauty secretary and a commercial spy who wants to steal commercial intelligence from me, what will you do?" Zhang Tie asked seriously as he threw himself on the chair with open legs.


    Olina blushed as her eyes turned watery and enchanting...


    ...


    After 2 hours, Elder Turin and Elder Gouras stood in front of Zhang Tie, who looked pleasant, with sad looks. Zhang Tie only told them, "I don''t want to explain anything. I just want to tell you that, from now on, you go fetch as much money as possible in the name of the huge bear tribe or iron bear tribe in terms of gold coin, loan, mortgage or gold delivery right. There''s an opportunity for you to make money. It depends how much you can fetch. And I promise to have your money at least doubled in 10 days."


    The two elders were both stunned...


    ...


    On October 2nd, the moment this bet was released to the public, it had shocked the entire Ewentra Archipelago and Ice and Snow Wilderness. Everyone wondered which party would be the winner, Ice and Snow Wilderness or Ewentra Archipelago...


    On October 3rd, Golden Roc Bank accepted the wager from both Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago.


    The bet, which shocked the entire Blackson Humans Corridor, took effect from then on...

 736 Convergence

    Chapter 736: Convergence


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    From October 4th, the entire open water of the Saint Herner Island had started to become boisterous. Besides the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago that converged in Saint Herner Island, all the influential and talented figures had arrived by airship or steamer. Batches of people from all walks of life started to converge in Saint Herner Island so as to witness the rare duel on the sea.


    In Ewentra Archipelago, duels always happened due to animosity or love. Duels were not forbidden in Ewentra Archipelago. As long as the two parties agreed, they could sign a contract on duel when the notary and their friends and family members were at present. Such duels were usually considered as bright and brave deeds, which would even be praised by residents here.


    Even barbarian tribes in Sinaira Island and old major clans in Akray Island paid special tribute to such a duel and the outcome of such a duel.


    In Ewentra Archipelago, even two guys'' duel would become a local hot news, not to mention such a large-scale duel between two fleets. The shock was like a super tsunami caused by Richter magnitude 10 earthquake, which spread across Ewentra Archipelago in the shortest period.


    As for the parties of the duel, one of them represented the most powerful force in Ice and Snow Wilderness, the other one represented the power of the local major clans of Ewentra Archipelago. This duel would determine the belonging of the entire Ewentra Archipelago, the fates of numerous people, even the future of the entire north water. Of course, such a large-scale duel would cause a shock.


    From October 4th, as so many people poured in, all the hotels and inns across Saint Herner Island had been reserved. Even the rent had increased by 10 times. In such a case, all the common households across Saint Herner Island had hung out billboards so that they could rent their own houses at lower prices than that of inns. Due to the developed commercial trade across Ewentra Archipelago, all the residents here had a sensitive commercial awareness.


    Similarly, the prices of berths for ships below 5,000 tons at the dock of Saint Herner Island also surged to 2,000 from 160 gold coins per day. However, the berths had also been occupied by deluxe private yachts.


    For commoners, the berthing cost of 2,000 gold coins a day was astronomical. However, such a bit of money was nothing but sh*t for those rich maritime traders. Even if they stayed in Saint Herner Island for one month, it would cost them about 60,000-70,000 gold coins. However, it was too cheap for them to witness such a great duel.


    In this case, numerous luxury cruises and private yachts arrived from all directions. They just wanted to witness such a historical moment. As no vacant berths were left at the dock, those luxury cruises and private yachts just loitered in the open water of Saint Herner Island. As a result, the entire open water of Sainter Herner Island had been covered with cruises and yachts in a couple of days as dense as woods. When those cruises and yachts needed a supplement, they would anchor at the temporary dock.


    In such a case, being required by almost all the passengers, the Narwhal also changed its route and left Akray Island for Saint Herner Island.


    Being different from last time, this time, Narwhal could not find an available berth at the dock of Saint Herner Harbor anymore. The Narwhal could only anchor in an eastern water being close to the island. If passengers wanted to join the bet, they would be transported to Saint Herner Harbor from Narwhal by small ships. After that, they would be taken back.


    Similarly, besides the major clans of Ewentra Archipelago which started to converge in Saint Herner Island, a lot of big figures in Ice and Snow Wilderness also wanted to witness this duel which could influence the future of the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness and the entire north water.


    Almost when the news reached Ice and Snow Wilderness, Peter Hamplester had raised 270 million gold coins from Golden Roc Bank with his ownership of the Tribal Axis Railway as a mortgage and thought he would win the battle, which completely boiled the stalemate situation in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    5 years ago, the most valuable place across Ice and Snow Wilderness might be Eschyle City, which was the only city in Ice and Snow Wilderness. However, the most valuable city across Ice and Snow Wilderness now was Tribal Axis Railway.


    After 5 years of development, this railway artery that connected the south with the north almost bore its fruits.


    The resources developed by the migrants less than 100 miles away from the railway such as forest farm, mines, pasture and farmland made many people drool, not to mention the great value of the railways itself.


    The region along the Tribal Axis Railway had already become the most developed and active place across Ice and Snow Wilderness. Such a situation made people both envious and fearful.


    They were envious about the constant gold coins and more and more available resources brought by the Tribal Axis Railway. They were fearful because huge bear tribe and iron bear tribe became the largest benefactor of the Tribal Axis Railway Plan. As a result, the two tribes developed much faster and gradually surpassed all the other tribes.


    Because of Tribal Axis Railway, the situation of Ice and Snow Wilderness turned intense. Being instigated and colluded by the commissionary group of Sacred Light Empire, the bear tribes started to covet the Tribal Axis Railway. They wanted to change the pattern of the Ice and Snow Wilderness basically.


    Frankly, since Zhang Tie took the Tribal Axis Railway as the mortgage, this duel had not simply been involved with the future of the entire Ewentra Archipelago, but also the future of the entire north water including Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    All the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago were driven mad by Zhang Tie''s action. It meant that as long as they won the battle, they could not only keep their position in Ewentra Archipelago, but also control the economic artery of Ice and Snow Wilderness. They had never imagined about such a rare opportunity before.


    If Golden Roc Bank didn''t participate in such a duel, nobody dared accept Zhang Tie''s mortgage. Because they were afraid that Zhang Tie would break his words. Nobody dared rob away the Tribal Axis Railway from a knight. However, with Golden Roc Bank as the warrantor, they didn''t have to worry about the credit as they knew Ice and Snow Wilderness never dared repudiate a debt from Golden Roc Bank, no matter how powerful they were.


    In the odds 1:1.1, the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago chipped in 297 million gold coins in the blink of an eye.


    As for the same event, some people were happy while some people were sad. When all the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago were frenzied, mountain bear tribe, black bear tribe and demon bear tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness felt unhappy. If Peter won, he would occupy the entire Ewentra Archipelago and make astronomical gold coins. Besides, he had the huge bear tribe and wild bear tribe on his side. Peter would have everything like people, money, fleet, territory, reputation and authority. By then, nobody dared oppose him. They had to be low-key and look at Peter''s face. Of course, they could not accept it.


    If Peter lost the battle, with Golden Roc Bank on his back, the Tribal Axis Railway would fall in others'' hand. If so, all the efforts that they had made would be in vain. The three tribes would deteriorate to laughingstocks and crowns across Ice and Snow Wilderness and north water for at least 100 years.


    When Peter took Tribal Axis Railway as the mortgage, the three tribes were put on the grill!


    The huge bear tribe and iron bear tribe also chipped in after Peter.


    ...


    On the noon of October 8th, the exclusive 10,000 ton-luxury cruise Chief of the head of Spencer Clan finally appeared in front of Saint Herner Island after 5 days of travel.


    Gangula, the head of wild bear tribe was watching so many cruises and ships in the open water of Saint Herner Island with greedy eyes as he rubbed his hands and drooled, ''F*ck, so many deluxe yachts, so many rich people...''

 737 Big Figures!

    Chapter 737: Big Figures!


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    For many commoners in Ice and Snow Wilderness, they might not be able to cross Oro Strait and wander in Ewentra Archipelago in their whole lives. It was not Gangula''s first time to come to Ewentra Archipelago. As a childe of the wild bear tribe, Gangula had already traveled across Ewentra Archipelago at a young age when he broadened his vision through learning the folklore of the north water.


    Gangula had been to Ewentra Archipelago two times. However, it was his first time to see such a splendid scene while tens of thousands of ships converged on the north waters.


    Watching those cruises and yachts, Gangula felt like watching a herd of cattle which had no master.


    Gangula felt unhappy, ''Why could such guys of Ewentra Archipelago live so well? How could they be so rich? By contrast, the tribes of Ice and Snow Wilderness only have powerful battle force, but we live a poor life. How unfair it is...''


    ''What if I robbed them?''


    "My darling younger brother. Can you wipe off your saliva? Look at you, you must be thinking about robbing them with our soldiers."


    A lazy, female voice drifted from Gangula''s side. The moment he heard the voice, Gangula revealed a brilliant smile as he turned around, watching his elder sister Sabrina, who had the same father with him and was known as a notorious slut across Ice and Snow Wilderness, walking towards him. She was watching him with a languid look.


    "Heh...heh...you think too much, my darling elder sister!" Gangula revealed a brilliant smile as he did not admit that he was thinking this just now, "If I dared do that in this water, that old wild bear would break my legs!"


    "No. If you were caught by others, the old wild bear would break your legs. He would punish you for not running fast enough. If you were not caught by them, that old wild bear would even praise you for your diligence. If you could clean a major clan in Ewentra Archipelago that converged in Saint Herner Island and get 10 million gold coins from them, that old wild bear might even pass the crown to you!"


    After hearing Sabrina''s harsh words which were really destructive. However, Gangula had to accept it. Perhaps Sabrina''s words were closer to the truth. Gangula had always been admiring his elder sister, especially when Sabrina hit on Peter. Previously, he felt a bit uncomfortable about this elder sister who was known as a notorious slut across Ewentra Archipelago; however, since Sabrina became the virgin mary of Ancient God School and made Peter, the lord of Ice and Snow Wilderness as his elder brother in law, Gangula had been completely overwhelmed by Sabrina. As a result, not only Gangula, even Sabrina gained a greater freedom from that old wild bear.


    "Aww, my darling elder sister, erm...can you lend me some money..." Gangula asked with a shameless face.


    Money was another reason that made Gangula admire his elder sister Sabrina. These years, Sabrina had made too much money through monopolizing the sale of all-purpose medicament in Ice and Snow Wilderness. She was a famous rich woman in Ice and Snow Wilderness now. Not only Gangula, even that old wild bear drooled towards Sabrina''s wealth. With those money, Sabrina roped in so many people in wild bear tribe. Even all the tribal elders were standing on her side. Gangula and his brothers always sighed, ''Thankfully, there''s no tradition in wild bear tribe that woman could be the head of the tribe; Sabrina also had been used to be free and doesn''t want to go back to the tribe. Otherwise, the head of the tribe will have nothing to do with Gangula and his brothers.''


    After throwing her blue eyes onto Gangula, Sabrina knew what Gangula wanted to do with the money? She then revealed a faint smile at her mouth corners, "Don''t you have your own cash-dough?"


    "I only get a bit more than 100,000 gold coins per year. Additionally, I have to spend a lot of them to buy all-purpose medicament for my women. Without all-purpose medicament, they would sigh with sad looks in front of me. A small part of my expenditure on all-purpose medicament has flown into your pocket. Furthermore, I have to feed so many subordinates. How come I have any money left?"


    Gangula didn''t lie to her. As a childe of the bear tribe, he could at most get a bit more than 100,000 gold coins a year. In Ice and Snow Wilderness, Gangula was relatively smart. Therefore, he had more chances to make money these years. By contrast, childes of mountain bear tribe, black bear tribe and demon bear tribe were so poor that they would even drool for one copper coin.


    "Don''t you have a seabuckthorn chateau? All of your seabuckthorn wine has been sold to Ewentra Archipelago each year. Additionally, I heard that you and a business group in Eschyle City have discovered a copper mine near Haidela Glacier. Don''t complain of being hard up in front of me." Sabrina revealed the truth mercilessly.


    Gangula then replied with a bitter look, "I''ve not got the payment of my seabuckthorn chateau back this season. The remaining money had been used to expand the chateau. Although we made a bit of money by that copper mine, it was used to build the road that links the copper mine with the Tribal Axis Railway. I only have tens of thousands of gold coins for the time being!"


    "You want money to chip in?"


    "Heh, heh, heh, heh, of course, as Peter spared me a chance to make money, how could I miss it. However, I have very less money available for the time being."


    Since he witnessed Zhang Tie manifesting the "God''s will" in the dilemma of the underground ruined relics, Gangula had blind faith in Zhang Tie. Although it looked that Zhang Tie was in the disadvantageous position for the time being, Gangula was still full of confidence about Zhang Tie. He believed that Zhang Tie would be the winner.


    ''If a person could manifest God''s will, it would be not difficult for him to create some marvel and surprises.'' Gangula thought.


    "Well, darling younger brother. Your reason is legitimate. As I''ve just bought a castle, I don''t have too much money available. I could only lend you 200,000 gold coins. You owe me now." Sabrina put it straight.


    Gangula grinned.


    As Sabrina replied, she directly took out her gold check clip...


    When Gangula was waiting for Sabrina''s gold checks, he found Sabrina became still as she looked in the distance...


    Gangula turned around and saw a huge ship with a special banner in the distance. The banner was a brilliant golden mace that hung in the void...


    "The commissionary group of Sacred Light School..." Gangula slightly changed his face.


    "I''ve not imagined the Saint Herner Island will become more boisterous now. Darling younger brother. I heard you chopped off the heads of Sacred Light School. You''d better not run about in Saint Herner Island. If you died, that old wild bear and I would feel painful for sure." Sabrina sighed faintly as she took out of 200,000 gold checks and passed it to Gangula. After throwing another glance at that huge ship with the banner of the mace muling of Sacred Light School, she entered the cabin.


    Gangula''s face slightly changed and looked a bit solemn. At this moment, everybody could imagine the heads of mountain bear tribe, black bear tribe and demon bear tribe were in that huge ship.


    ...


    The old wild bear and the head of fire bear tribe were sitting in a top cabin of Chief while watching that huge ship which was hanging the banner of the mace muling of Sacred Light School.


    "Old fire bear, did you see that? Someone has already forgotten about the honor of Slavs for the sake of profits. They would flatter any party as long as they could share profits. It''s said that the creed of Sacred Light School was that everything in the world was created by their God, including the followers'' wives and daughters. If Sacred Light School could root in Ice and Snow Wilderness one day, those jerk clerks and mulings would be entitled to enjoy the followers'' wives and daughters on behalf of the God. I wonder whether the wives and daughters of the heads of those tribes have been enjoyed or not!" Old wild bear Dali said scornfully. As he gnawed a fat fish, he wiped the fish oil onto his mustache. Closely after that, he blew his nose using the hand.


    The head of the fire bear tribe blushed as he felt this old wild bear had some implications. If not the last message from Elder Turin which woke up fire bear tribe, he might have been the one who flattered Sacred Light School.


    "Come on, enjoy yourself!" The old wild bear heroically tore apart the fish that had been touched by his hand which had just been used to blow his nose and put one half of it into the plate of the old fire bear.


    Watching the half "juicy" fish in his plate and the old wild bear''s oily hand, the old fire bear then forced a smile, "Hmm, I''ve eaten breakfast, I''m not hungry for the time being..."


    ...


    On the ship of Sacred Light School, the mace muling was holding a golden mace in a golden, brilliant robe that was embroidered with a complex religious pattern which represented sun and brilliance. Meanwhile, he also watched the Chief while a sharp light flashed by his golden pupils...


    "Those in that ship have abandoned the opportunities spared by the God of Brilliance. Therefore, they have to take the punishment of the God of Brilliance!" The mace muling told the other 3 people in the room after turning around.


    "We''ve not seen God at all. However, the duel will start soon. We only want to know what can we get from this bet." One bad-tempered guy couldn''t help but ask.


    Narrowing his eyes, the mace muling of the Sacred Light School accented, "Ally!"


    "Ally?" The three guys repeated as they exchanged glances with each other.


    "After Peter loses the bet. Golden Roc Bak can ensure Peter to perform the contract. However, they cannot ensure whether someone would find the winner some troubles after Peter performed the contract. Doesn''t the winner require some allies from Ice and Snow Wilderness to ensure their rights and interests along the Tribal Axis Railway? Isn''t that what we''re seeking for now?" The mace muling of Saint Light School explained with a profound look.


    After hearing that, the other 3 guys understood it right away. One of them had one more doubt, "As there are 8 bear tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness, why should the winner choose us as their ally? We''re not the most powerful ones."


    "Because we can help them win the battle; of course, we can share the fruits of the victory with them. This is the condition for us to be their allies!" The mace muling explained calmly.


    "But no other party is allowed to join the battle apart from the two fleets!"


    The mace muling didn''t say anything; he just clapped his hands twice.


    A person in the cloak of ascetic slowly walked out of a shadowy corner of the room...


    Meanwhile, an invisible vapor spread over the entire room...


    ...

 738 Another Gathering

    Chapter 738: Another Gathering


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Besides the two heads of the wild bear tribe and fire bear tribe and their entourage, 6 women who were gifted to Zhang Tie by Spencer Clan along with great hopes also arrived here by Chief.


    Seeing Zhang Tie being always together with Ms. Olina and the increasingly shiny skin of Ms. Olina these days, Elder Turin told the 6 women of Spencer Clan to gather with Zhang Tie in Saint Herner Island. The longer they stayed with Zhang Tie, the more likely they would have Zhang Tie''s babies and the safer the Spencer Clan would be in the future.


    The Chief directly anchored in the exclusive berth of Saint Herner Harbor. Closely after that, all the passengers disembarked and headed for Navyblue Castle by cars.


    The moment the luxury fleet set off the dock, Gangula had seen a row of huge rolling numbers on a high building outside the dock.


    When he caught sight of that number plate, it stopped at 715987240.


    "What''s that number?" Gangula asked the driver.


    "It''s the total amount of cash being used for this bet from all parties!" The driver replied.


    ''Seven hundred and fifteen million, nine hundred and eighty seven thousand, two hundred and forty gold coins?'' After counting that number seriously, Gangula almost passed out. He knew that those major clans on Ewentra Archipelago were rich after hundreds of years of accumulation; however, he had not imagined that they could be so rich.


    ''F*ck, compared to those major clans in Ewentra Archipelago, those bear tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness are simply beggars. If Peter won, he would become the richest guy in the north water; the Tribal Axis Railway could bring Peter a bonus of 270 million gold coins. Additionally, among the over 700 million gold coins, the Tribal Axis Railway alone could stimulate at least 70% of the total amount of capital. How terrifying it is! Such an unrestrained gambling could not be met for a millennium. No wonder why so many people arrived here. Even though being just onlookers, they''ve felt it proud to talk about it for the rest of their lives.


    Gangula''s eyes turned red in a split second, even his nostrils expanded.


    "Where to chip in?" Gangula gritted his teeth while touching the 200,000 gold coins that he borrowed from Sabrina.


    "You can do that in Navyblue Castle. Golden Roc Bank set a chip-in point especially in Navyblue Castle!"


    When he recalled the huge ship which hung the banner of mace muling of Sacred Light School, Gangula controlled his impulsion.


    The streets of Saint Herner Island had never been so boisterous before. Barbarians who heft huge axes and young masters of major clans followed by a lot of bodyguards and retinue were crowded closely. Few people had seen such a scene before.


    ...


    The huge ship of the mace muling of Sacred Light School didn''t gain a berth at the dock. Therefore, it only anchored in the open water. Soon after it anchored, a large airship from Saint Herner Island landed on the deck of the huge ship and carried those passengers to the Saint Herner Island...


    ...


    10 minutes later, two big pitch-black ships with sharp steel-clad rams drove in the open water of Saint Herner Island and queued up for the vacant berth. Someone recognized that they were flagships of two pirate forces near Sinaira Island. It seemed that even pirates couldn''t help but watch the battle.


    However, at this moment, Saint Herner Island was converged with powerful forces. By contrast, the two pirate ships were as docile as wolf pubs entering a tiger''s den.


    ...


    After half an hour, over 20 freaks stopped near the dock by mutated billhead sharks.


    The moment these freaks appeared, a small turmoil was aroused in Saint Herner Harbor. Many people poured in and watched those people who rode mutated billhead sharks, each of which was longer than 10 m with frightening dark blue tiger stripes.


    Those freaks just wore a waterproof hide while being covered with grease. Under the gaze of the onlookers, those guys got off the billhead sharks and took off their waterproof package. Closely after that, they took out the clothes from the package and changed their looks soon.


    After changing their clothes, those guys left the dock.


    Soon after those guys left, those mutated billhead sharps that were swimming near the dock sunk in the water and disappeared.


    "These guys are all from sea bear tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Only powerful fighters of sea bear tribes could tame mutated billhead sharks!" Someone shouted.


    With the arrival of the duel on October 10th, more and more people poured into Saint Herner Island.


    ...


    The group of people in Chief soon arrived at Navyblue Castle.


    Elder Turin and Elder Gouras were waiting for those people from Chief in Navyblue Castle. Due to their dignificed status, Elder Turin and Elder Gouras would not go to welcome them at the dock unless the knight elders of the wild bear tribe and the fire bear tribe arrived. However, due to the intense situation in Ice and Snow Wilderness, the knights of the wild bear tribe and fire bear tribe had to stay in their nests in case of an emergency.


    In a backroom of Navyblue Castle, the heads of the wild bear tribe and fire bear tribe were talking with Elder Turin and Elder Gouras.


    "The mace muling of Sacred Light School and the three stupid old bears are on the way!" Dali introduced what he had seen just now to the two elders in a restrained way.


    After hearing his words, a killing qi flashed by Elder Turin''s and Elder Gouras'' eyes at the same time.


    "Does Sacred Light Empire really think that we dare not kill their knight?" Elder Gouras said with a killing intent.


    After knowing that three knights in Saint Herner Island were hostile towards him, the mace muling of Sacred Light School still dared to lead his commissionary group here in Saint Herner Island. If he was not extremely powerful, he must have felt that Ice and Snow Wilderness dared not deal with the mace muling of Sacred Light Empire. What a presumptuous guy!


    Elder Turin also narrowed his eyes, "Let''s talk about it when Peter comes back!"


    "What? Peter is not in Saint Herner Island?" Korman, the head of fire bear tribe asked with an amazed look. He thought that Peter, as the most important person, should stay in Saint Herner Island at this moment.


    After exchanging a glance with Elder Turin, Elder Gouras nodded, "Our head has left Navyblue Castle 3 days ago. We declared that he''s in cultivation these days!"


    "Where has he been?" Dali asked out of amazement.


    The two elders shook their heads.


    "When he left, he said he would come back tonight!"


    ...


    In a parlor of Navyblue Castle, feeling the weird atmosphere, Gangula, whose nickname was "mad dog", shrugged and slipped away as it was not a proper place for a man to stay.


    8 women were sitting in the parlor. 7 of them were looking at the female owner of Navyblue Castle, Olina, who was known as an enchanting fox. Ms. Olina also watched the rest 7 women. The atmosphere was subtle.


    Probably, when all the women who established connections with each other due to a man would be in such a subtle atmosphere when they saw each other for the first time.


    Those women just tried their best to show their elegance and beautiful look by chinning up and chesting out; meanwhile, they glanced over the other women and made comparations stealthily on the figure, breasts, skin, face, temperament, and skills on the bed. At this moment, no women would refer to bullsh*t talents.


    "Now that you are here, Peter is yours tonight. I cannot stand him any longer after these days of torture!" Ms. Olina put it straight firstly as the host of this castle and the one who had a close relationship with Zhang Tie.


    "Given your enchanting look, if he came back tonight, he would never let you sleep alone. How about finding a bigger bedroom?" Matia, the one who looked more like a dowager in Spencer Clan revealed a faint smile.


    "Hmm, good!" Ms. Olina nodded frankly.


    "Sabrina, do you like to join us tonight?" Matia watched Sabrina with a faint smile.


    After hearing this, Sabrina felt bashful, "I''m uncomfortable these days, I will sleep alone!"


    ...


    Zhang Tie really returned to Navyblue Castle quietly in the deep night.


    Elder Turin and Elder Gouras felt that Zhang Tie was a bit fatigued. However, he looked calmer than before. It seemed that he had been fully relaxed about the coming duel.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see the two elders of the wild bear tribe and fire bear tribe. After knowing that Zhang Tie had promoted to a knight and mastered a powerful gentle strength¡ª¡ªsupreme protection, the old wild bear and that relative of Spencer Clan showed their respect to Zhang Tie so much that completely transcend the estrangement of age. In this age, power meant everything. Even a 2-years old knight could win the respect of everybody else, not to mention a 20-years old knight.


    After talking with the other 4 people in the backroom for about 2 hours, Zhang Tie left.


    Before he left, the old wild bear stealthily drew Zhang Tie to one side as he told Zhang Tie with a mournful look, "Sabrina once told me, since she fell in love with you, she could not accept others in her heart any longer. Alas...she''s very regretful about her previous shameful experiences. She''s hoping that you do not mind her past. However, she felt bashful to tell you about that herself; therefore, she was very anguished...As her father, I don''t know what to say...I only hope...you could console her and expect you two could have a complete result!"


    After hearing these words, Zhang Tie became stunned for a couple of seconds. After that, he glanced over this old jerk from his head to toe seriously. No matter what the gossips were, he was the only one who knew Sabrina''s secret. Although they had a close relationship with each other, they had not gone to bed. Actually, Sabrina was still a virgin...


    ''How could Sabrina tell this old jerk about this? Obviously, it''s fabricated by the old wild bear so as to trap me...''


    Looking at the average look of Dali, Zhang Tie finally understood that people could not be identified from his look.


    ''Jerk! What a jerk!'' Zhang Tie swore Dali inside hundreds of times...


    ...


    After leaving the backroom, it was already too late. Under the guidance of a maid of Ms. Olina, Zhang Tie came to the bedroom of Olina. The moment he opened the door and entered, Zhang Tie, even being a knight, almost spurted out his noseblood...


    ...

 739 Take the Bull by the Horns

    Chapter 739: Take the Bull by the Horns


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On the next morning, Zhang Tie saw Sabrina whose eyes turned swollen. After 5 years, Sabrina still remained unchanged. Her change could not match that of Zhang Tie, who had triggered his body-changing bloodline.


    "What''s up? Didn''t you sleep well?" Zhang Tie asked her with a big smile.


    Among those women, although Sabrina was the only one who had not made love with him, the two people had a very tacit understanding. Therefore, after 5 years, Zhang Tie could still greet her in a casual way like how they did 5 years ago.


    "I slept on someone''s neighboring room last night and enjoyed a symphony overnight!" Sabrina rolled her eyes towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he put his arms around Sabrina, "You''ve not changed at all!"


    Sabrina let out a sigh before she cupped Zhang Tie''s face and looked into his eyes seriously, "You''ve changed so much. You were a sunny big boy 5 years ago; however, you''re a real man now!"


    "Isn''t it good?"


    "No, it''s not good at all!" Sabrina shook her head as she added, "I treated you as a naughty younger brother several years ago. I could play with you at that time; however, I dare not play with you now!"


    "Why?"


    "I''m afraid that I will fall in love with you. After that, just like other women, I will treat you as the center of my whole life. From then on, I will lose freedom and be slaved by love. I will treat your sorrow and happiness as mine. This is not the life that I expect for!" Sabrina stroke over Zhang Tie''s lips with one finger as she added, "Each woman is an angel; if a woman falls in love with a man, it''s equal to cutting off her wings. I don''t want to have my wings cut off for the time being!"


    Zhang Tie watched Sabrina seriously before faintly kissing her face. Closely after that, he let off his hand, "You know that I will never force you to do anything. In my heart, you''re always that mermaid who can swim in the river freely!"


    Sabrina responded with a smile.


    A warm feeling surged in their hearts at the same time.


    "And, I saw your father last night. Guess what did he tell me?"


    Before Sabrina opened her mouth had Zhang Tie imitated what the old wild bear told him last night in front of Sabrina. After awakening his imitating bloodline, Zhang Tie''s tone and expression were very vivid when he imitated the old wild bear.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Sabrina gritted her teeth, "The old jerk!"


    "I also felt so at that time!"


    After exchanging a glance with each other, the two burst out laughing once again.


    "Do you know that I''ve chipped in over 1 million gold coins for you? It''s all of my wealth. If you lost it, you would have to compensate it for me!" Sabrina said as she pointed at Zhang Tie''s chest.


    "The opponent is too powerful. That mace muling of the bullsh*t Sacred Light School arrived here yesterday. I''m afraid that he''s here to find me trouble. It seems that I have to compensate for you. If I went bankrupt, could I compensate you with my body?" Zhang Tie sighed with a grevious look.


    "No way!"


    "If not, accompany me to watch the North Wind Fleet in the afternoon!"


    "Nice!"


    "I found that you''ve changed a bit!" Zhang Tie said with a solemn look.


    "Ahh, what has changed?" Sabrina became amazed as she wondered whether it was Zhang Tie''s trick or not.


    "Previously, it''s E-cup, now, it''s bigger. I wonder how it feels!" Zhang Tie lowered his head and watched her breasts.


    Sabrina''s face blushed at once as she instantly pushed Zhang Tie away, "You''re also a jerk!"


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter...


    ...


    In the afternoon, Zhang Tie, Elder Turin, Elder Gouras, the two heads of the wild bear tribe and fire bear tribe, Ms. Olina and the head of Bell Clan left Navyblue Castle for the dock of Saint Herner Harbor. They then embarked the flagship of North Wind Fleet¡ª¡ªSnow Bramble Battleship. After that, the entire North Wind Fleet set out for the open water of Saint Herner Island.


    In less than 1 day, the number on the notice board in Saint Herner Harbor had already reached 800 million gold coins.


    Zhang Tie had no feeling about that terrifying number. As to others'' expressions, only the head of Fein Clan looked a bit anguished.


    Olina and old Bell had chipped a lot in Zhang Tie. In order to clarify his instance, Fein Clan also had to chip a lot in Zhang Tie. However, honestly, Fein Clan looked good on the battle force of the allied fleet of Ewentra Archipelago. As the old saying went, it took 10 years to establish the land army and 100 years to establish the navy. Navy could never be improved simply by steel and gold coins. This could be indicated by the odds in Ice and Snow Wilderness, which was always 10% higher than that on Ewentra Archipelago, no matter how many knights were in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    The 10% was determined by the difference in the battle force between two fleets such as firing rate per minute, firing error, comprehensive strength of sailors, commanding and judging ability of commander...


    The difference of 10% in both literature and military was decisive in a real fight.


    Snow Bramble Battleship was a steel giant whose displacement was 86,000 tons. Its maximum speed was 21 nautical miles per hour while being driven by 4 steam turbines. Its main firepower was three 37 cm-wide supervoltage steam centrifugal cannon; each cannon could fire 2 shells at the same time. Additionally, it was matched with many steam ballistas.


    In the command center of the battleship, the commander and the captain of the North Wind Fleet were reporting to Zhang Tie about the preparations of the fleet during the past few days with solemn looks.


    After knowing that they shouldered such a great task, the North Wind Fleet prepared and trained around the clock these days like having taken viagra.


    "How''s your preparation?" Zhang Tie asked the commander of the fleet.


    "All the crew members of North Wind Fleet have tried their best from the captain to the boilersmith for this duel!" The commander replied.


    "Are you confident to win the battle?"


    After being silent for a second, the commander opened his mouth, "If I tell you that I''m confident to win the battle, it''s like cheating myself. Although Slavs are not the best sailors, we are the bravest sailors for sure. I won''t promise you that we will win the battle, but I can promise you that each soldier of North Wind Fleet will fight to the death for victory!"


    After making the promise, all the captains in the command center of North Wind Fleet looked highly spirited.


    "Good!" Zhang Tie nodded satisfactorily, "As long as we have such a dauntless spirit, North Wind Fleet is always the winner in my heart!"


    Having not imagined that Zhang Tie could comment North Wind Fleet in this way, all the commissioned officers in the command center of North Wind Fleet became spirited as they chinned up and chested out.


    "Have you carried out live-fire drill these days?"


    "We carried out live-fire training every day during the past few days. Navyblue Castle prepared us some targeted ships for us every day so as to ensure the effects of the drill. Please allow me to extend my thanks to Ms. Olina!" The commander faintly bowed towards Ms. Olina who was on his side.


    "Hmm, nice!" Zhang Tie nodded as he threw a faint smile towards Olina. ''What a virtuous woman! She has already taken care of everything well for me.'' When Zhang Tie was going to say something, he suddenly caught sight of the banner of the mace muling of Sacred Light School hanging on a ship in the open water miles away.


    Watching that ship, Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile over his mouth corners. He pointed at that 10,000-ton ship in the distance and asked the commander, "Have you tried such a huge targeted ship?"


    The commander shook his head. Of course, the targeted ships were not complete 10,000-ton ships. If they used such a huge ship as their target, Navyblue Business Group might have already gone bankrupt.


    "Now, that ship is your target, show me how long does it take for you to sink it!" Zhang Tie issued the order which shocked everyone at the present.


    After hearing this, the head of Fein Clan changed his face, "Tha...that is Sacred...Sacred Light Empire''s..."


    Zhang Tie changed his face instantly as he pointed at the commissioned officer of North Wind Fleet, "As an old Hua saying went, soldiers are the braveness of the general. If my soldiers are not afraid of the death, do you think that I''m afraid of the death? Do you think that I''m afraid of Sacred Light Empire?"


    The head of Fein Clan became silent. By contrast, all the commissioned officers of North Wind Fleet became spirited as their faces turned red.


    After saying that, Zhang Tie turned around and watched the commissioned officers of North Wind Fleet as he issued the order, "You can move closer to it and target at it precisely. Just f*ck those b*stards; remember not to have other ships involved!"


    After making a military salute to Zhang Tie at the same time, the commander and all the commissioned officers instantly returned to their own posts. Only after a few seconds, the active alert of the Snow Bramble Battleship had sounded...


    The huge ship with the banner of the mace muling of Sacred Light School could never imagine that they would almost be destroyed in a few minutes before they made any preparations in such a remote area, which lagged behind the western continent so much; although they could be unrivaled in the waters of the western continent...


    ...

 740 Decisiveness and Strength

    Chapter 740: Decisiveness and Strength


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It was a good day with an azure sky and white clouds; seabirds could be seen everywhere...


    The Snow Bramble Battleship issued the combat order to the entire fleet through lamp signals. After receiving the signal, the entire North Wind Fleet silently changed their formation. The four most powerful iron-blood battleships changed their formation into longitudinal from horizontal before cutting into the peripheral of the entire fleet. In this way, the fleet could register the greatest firepower output.


    The key manufacturing techniques of the 4 iron-blood battleships and the 8 cruisers of North Wind Fleet were provided by Golden Roc Bank for free.


    Although iron-blood battleships were not the most powerful battleships in this age, they could match the mainstream battleships of most countries in the Western Continent, besides those in Eastern Continent. In some special performance such as ice breaking ability, wind and wave-resistant ability, they were even better than common battleships.


    After completing its formation adjustment, North Wind Fleet gradually moved towards the 10,000-ton ship of Sacred Light Empire. However, none of the ships in the entire open water of Saint Herner Island had realized its aggressive intention. Because North Wind Fleet always carried out the drill in the open water. It was normal for it to change its formation.


    At this moment, so many luxury cruises were converging in the open water of Saint Herner Island. Many passengers were sunbathing on the cruises as they watched the formation change of North Wind Fleet. Meanwhile, they discussed the wager and the odds.


    The distance between North Wind Fleet and the huge ship Sacred Light Empire gradually narrowed from 7-8 miles to 2 miles.


    At this moment, some people who were watching North Wind Fleet by a telescope on deluxe yachts felt something was wrong.


    They found that all the four battleships of North Wind Fleet were targeting at one direction with killing qi. Additionally, they were on the horizontal line of the formation "T", from where the fleet could output its firepower to the utmost. They all had the same target¡ª¡ªthe huge ship hanging the symbol of Sacred Light Empire which arrived here yesterday.


    ''What''s this for? Are they...''


    In less than 2 minutes, North Wind Fleet had already been less than 1,000 m away from the huge ship of Sacred Light Empire.


    For such battleships which could destroy their target from over 20,000 m away, 1,000 m was almost like the bayonet charge between two people from 1 m away. The moment the bayonet was thrust, it would arrive at the opponent''s stomach.


    The crew on Sacred Light Empire''s huge ship didn''t notice anything was wrong though...


    Nobody could imagine that North Wind Fleet would dare fire towards the ship of Sacred Light Empire under the watchful eyes of the people at this moment...


    With a loud "boom", the entire open water of Saint Herner Island was disrupted over dozens of square miles.


    Common steam centrifugal cannons would not make such a loud noise. Take steam centrifugal cannon for the purpose of city defense as an instance, its shell was driven by the great momentum and speed brought by the carrying flywheel driven by the steam turbine. However, the steam centrifugal cannons on battleships were different than that of common steam centrifugal cannons. After the first acceleration brought by the flywheel, the shell gained the second acceleration through the super high-pressure steam pressure regulating valve inside the turret of the battleship.


    The first acceleration of the shell was granted by the linear velocity through rotating flywheel actuator. The second acceleration of the shell was due to the transient release of the super high-pressure steam inside the long snout. Such a transient release principle was similar to the explosion of boiler due to excessive carrying load, which would also cause a loud boom. Compared to the explosion of a boiler, the release of super high-pressure steam from the snout of the turret was actually imitating an artificial exploding effect by using a complex actuator inside the snout. The secondary acceleration, plus the initial speed and power could grant the shell weighing above 700 kg of the main cannon with a speed of at least 800 m/s, which was very destructive.


    In this age, the super high-pressure centrifugal cannons being matched on battleships were very destructive. Besides, the loud boom could almost match that of the main cannons on battleships before the Catastrophe.


    ...


    All the battleships of North Wind Fleet shot the huge target at the same time. If they missed such a huge still target in the best formation "T", those cannoneers would better commit suicide by jumping into the sea.


    Closely after that loud boom, the huge ship of Sacred Light Empire was hit by 24 armor piercing gel shells, each of which weighed 734 kg, causing fierce flames rising from that huge ship.


    With a great momentum, the armor-piercing gel shells penetrated through the hull of the huge ship before burning it everywhere. The combustibles in the shells were same as the substances in the white phosphorous gel firebombs used by airships. When they were attached to steel, they would keep burning until they melt the steel.


    After being struck, the glass fragments of that huge ship sprayed over 100 m away. The casualties were inestimable...


    In the daytime, the open water of Saint Herner Island seemed like setting off a huge firework.


    All the onlookers on the luxury cruises and deluxe yachts became stunned. At the same time, someone exclaimed due to the excitement.


    After 20 seconds, the battleships of North Wind Fleet shot off another 24 armor-piercing gel 734 kg firebombs towards that huge ship of Sacred Light Empire once again.


    The flames on the huge ship grew fiercer while the high temperature caused by the armor-piercing gel firebombs boiled the surrounding seawater. Closely after that, seawater poured into the cabin through the big holes on the hull. The huge ship started to incline. After only 2 minutes, the huge ship of Sacred Light Empire had disappeared...


    The heavy cruisers of North Wind Fleet warmed up; instead of saving people, they kept shooting off dense high-speed steel beads by the distributed striking weapons on the vessel around the place where the huge vessel had sunk...


    After doing all this, the North Wind Fleet adjusted its direction and headed for the open water like nothing had happened...


    ...


    "Ballsy, motherf*cker ballsy..." Watching all this, a rich guy in a pair of sunglasses and a floral shirt being surrounded by a lot of model-level beauties from Ewentra Archipelago forcefully threw his cigar into the sea as he shouted, "Steward, chip in 2 million gold coins on North Wind fleet for me in Saint Herner Island. F*ck, even if I lost the bet, I would adopt it given that North Wind Fleet dared to fire towards those jerk priests..."


    ''North Wind Fleet sank the flagship of the mace muling of Sacred Light Empire!'' All the onlookers were shocked by such a heroic and dauntless deed...


    Saint Herner Island was shocked all over...


    ...


    In a hotel outside Saint Herner Harbor, all the fighters of sea bear tribe threw their scorching eyes towards one person among them.


    "Check out the rooms of the hotel tonight. We need to go to Navyblue Castle!" That person took in a deep breath before saying, "The prophet pontiff is right, this is the decisiveness and strength that the lord of Ice and Snow Wilderness should have! Only such a person could bring honor and dignity to Slavs!"


    ...

 741 The Arrival of the Airboa

    Chapter 741: The Arrival of the Airboat


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie and North Wind Fleet didn''t return to Saint Herner Harbor until evening. After destroying that huge vessel of Sacred Light Empire, all the crew of North Wind Fleet were in a high morale. They performed extremely high battle skills in today''s training. Of course, they won Zhang Tie''s praise.


    Zhang Tie paid an exclusive visit to the turrets of the main cannons and the core functional areas such as engine room on the battleship Snow Bramble so that he could have an overall recognition about the operation of the battleship. Zhang Tie then verified the name-list of the battleships that would attend the duel on behalf of the entire fleet tomorrow. After that, the fleet returned to the Saint Herner Harbor.


    Zhang Tie watched the afterglow in the distance on the head of the battleship Snow Bramble while facing the sea wind.


    He suddenly missed his family members, his dad, his mom, his elder brother, his wives and sons.


    If possible, Zhang Tie really didn''t like to be involved in such a massacre and conspiracy. ''If it was peaceful across the world, I could build a city on the Eastern Continent and pass it to Zhang''s offsprings so that they could live like a landlord without any concerns. I could live a carefree life with my wives and those girls in the Hidden Dragon Island such as Lan Yunxi. We can go wherever we want and play, eat and buy whatever we want. In the evening, we will try our best to prepare for having babies. After that, I will have my parents be the heads of a kindergarten and teach the babies of mine and my elder brother. What a nice life it would be!''


    ''Pitifully, the damn holy war broke out so fast. Demons and those human b*stards who want humans to succumb to demons have everything involved in such a chaotic world. I could barely find a tranquil place in this world anymore. Therefore, I have to struggle forcefully.''


    At this moment, Zhang Tie heard footsteps drawing closer to him from his back. ''It''s Elder Turin.''


    "The mace muling of Sacred Light School dispatched a person to Navyblue Castle to ask why North Wind Fleet would sink his flagship to the bottom with a very stern look. He even asked whether Ice and Snow Wilderness wanted to fight Sacred Light Empire?"


    "Now that he can stand us sinking his flagship to the bottom, it seems that he has made preparations to handle us tomorrow. Therefore, he doesn''t show himself up right away in case of more loss!" Zhang Tie smiled. Before he turned around had he combed off his train of thought.


    Elder Turin became faintly stunned as he had not imagined that Zhang Tie had such an intention by ordering North Wind Fleet to sink the flagship of mac muling of Sacred Light School. By doing this, Zhang Tie was displaying the decisiveness and strength of Ice and Snow Wilderness and testing the mental bottom line of his opponent. Compared to that juvenile 5 years ago, Peter Hamplester was more formidable from both battle force and mode of thinking. This was what a real lord should have.


    "Do we need to reply to him?"


    Zhang Tie replied with a casual look, "Just fabricate a reason. Just tell him that one of our cannoneers made a mistake and aroused a chain reaction. We''re very sorry about this. That cannoneer was forbidden to eat meat tonight. Hmm...how jerks of that Sacred Light School would be punished after their crimes were exposed...ahh...I got it, confess...raise high the birch for corporal punishment yet fall down slightly. We''ve already had that cannoneer confess about that..."


    Hearing this, Elder Turin frowned. Although it seemed to be an explanation and apology, it was actually nothing different than smacking the face of that mace muling of Sacred Light School. After destroying the flagship of mace muling of Sacred Light Empire, North Wind Fleet just told one cannoneer to confess about it. It was nothing different than insulting them.


    "If we do that, we''re going to be the enemy of that mace muling completely!" Elder Turin reminded Zhang Tie.


    "So what? We''re not friends either." Zhang Tie''s eyes gleamed as his voice turned icy, "After the duel, I will chop off that b*stard''s head. I will see how many missionary groups would be dispatched to Ice and Snow Wilderness by Sacred Light Empire. Maybe they will dispatch a powerful expedition corps composed of over 10 mace mulings to revenge for that b*stard?"


    After taking a deep breath, Elder Turin slightly bowed towards Zhang Tie before leaving with a reverent look.


    ...


    On the distant sea level, a familiar luxury cruise ship appeared in Zhang Tie''s vision¡ª¡ªNarwhal!


    ''Even Narwhal are interested in that?"


    Touching his nose, Zhang Tie entered his exclusive lounge in Snow Bramble.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered, the 8 women who were chatting inside, turned around with tender and enchanting looks.


    "What are you talking about?" Zhang Tie came to one side of a sofa and sat between Ms. Olina and Matia.


    Actually, Zhang Tie had already heard what they were talking about outside the room. They were talking about professional topics about trade and commerce between Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago. Right in the chat, Navyblue Castle had already reached some commercial agreements with the business groups of Sabrina and Spencer Clan.


    All the 8 women were smart.


    "We''re talking about you." Matia peered a small fruit using her tender and slim fingers and faintly pushed it into Zhang Tie''s mouth.


    The moment Zhang Tie came back, those women had transferred their attention to Zhang Tie.


    "What are you talking about me?"


    "We are talking about what other tricks would you play tonight." Matia replied with an alluring voice.


    "Ahem..ahem..." Zhang Tie coughed under the teasing gaze of Sabrina before turning to Olina on his side, "Do Navyblue Castle have commercial relations with Western Continent?"


    "Navyblue Castle will sell some spices and high-end coral products to Western Continent!"


    "The relation between Ice and Snow Wilderness and Sacred Light Empire might be intense after a short while. You need to prepare for it in advance!"


    Ms. Olina replied with a smile, "Navyblue Castle Business Group''s trading partner in Western Continent was Grymes Republic, whose navy is even more powerful than that of Sacred Light Empire. Sacred Light Empire dare not find Grymes Republic trouble!"


    "That''s fine. Erm...does Navyblue Castle Business Group need more people now? I mean female graduates in commerce and accounting who have few internships."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, all the women popped out their eyes. Closely after that, they blinked their eyes as they thought they were mistaken.


    "How many?" Ms. Olina watched Zhang Tie with a faint smile, making Zhang Tie embarrassed.


    "Three, right in the distant ship Narwhal. They''re doing part-time jobs in the bar of Narwhal, their names are Veronica, Dalina and Wallies..."


    With Zhang Tie''s introduction, the other women watched Zhang Tie like having caught a love affair stealthily...


    "Hmm, I need some female assistants. When I disembark, I will have people ask whether they would like to work for Navyblue Castle Bussiness Group or not!" Ms. Olina answered.


    "Neither let them know that I''m helping them nor have them involved in a complex circle. As they live in Sinaira, just give them better jobs with higher treatment..." Zhang Tie hurriedly "rectified" his intention in case of being mistaken. If the 3 girls knew that he was the very Peter, the lord of Ice and Snow Wilderness, everything would change; perhaps he would barely see any passion, naivety, romance and shyness from the 3 girls. However, for Zhang Tie, these qualities were most precious in this world. He didn''t mean to occupy all of them. Therefore, he just wished them and himself to take this as a good memory.


    "Hmm, Navyblue Castle Business Group has a branch in Sinaira Island. I will arrange it for them!" Ms. Olina immediately understood Zhang Tie''s meaning as her eyes turned tender.


    Actually, Zhang Tie could give them more than that. However, for some female students who had just graduated from school, they might not be able to bear some sudden surprises. It might not be good for their later development. They would not feel happy by having so many brilliant things suddenly.


    For each one, the proper luck with some surprises was the best and the most suitable.


    Numerous young people would like to seek for jobs in big business groups such as Navyblue Castle Business Group which could rank among top places in Ewentra Archipelago. It was many young graduates'' dream to enter such great platform and enjoy such good treatment.


    ...


    When North Wind Fleet returned to Saint Herner Harbor, all the people in Saint Herner City, including those on the luxury cruise ships and deluxe yachts raised their heads and watched that object suspending in the air above Saint Herner Island with shocked looks.


    It looked like an airship; however, it had no air sac. Additionally, it looked like a steel battleship in the air.


    Because of that object, the entire Saint Herner Island was shocked...


    After hearing the report, Zhang Tie and the other two elders walked out of the cabin of Snow Bramble. Standing on the deck, they glanced at that object.


    The moment Zhang Tie saw that did he remember a thing that his elder brother told him¡ª¡ªTaixia''s Airboat!


    ...

 742 An Encounter between Acquaintance

    Chapter 742: An Encounter between Acquaintance


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Even Zhang Tie, who had known airboats before, was shocked at the sight of it for the first time, not to mention those commoners.


    Since the airboat appeared, there had been over 100 traffic accidents in the urban streets across Saint Herner City in the next few hours. The moment those drivers caught sight of such an object in the air, they became stunned. As a result, they crashed into neighboring cars.


    The moment Zhang Tie''s group went ashore had he received the report that Golden Roc Bank dispatched a knight and some major figures by an airboat to supervise the duel between North Wind Fleet of Ice and Snow Wilderness and the allied fleet of Ewentra Archipelago for the sake of the fairness of the duel and the effective execution of the agreement after the duel.


    Holy sheer terror!


    At this moment, the power of Golden Roc Bank was well displayed while the airboat suspending above Saint Herner Island became the best showcase of the wealth and background of Golden Roc Bank.


    Soon after Zhang Tie returned to Navyblue Castle, Connar, the head of Rainald Clan, Brightman, the head of Willies Clan and all the representatives of major clans across Ewentra Archipelago had converged in Navyblue Castle once again.


    Previously, as Zhang Tie didn''t come back, Golden Roc Bank didn''t arrange the communication between all parties; after Zhang Tie returned, in order to display Golden Roc Bank''s impartial stance, the airboat landed as the big figures in the airboat would meet both parties on behalf of Golden Roc Bank.


    In order to welcome all the parties, Navyblue Castle prepared a grand banquet tonight.


    When the dusk almost arrived, under the gaze of all the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago and all the big figures of tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness, that airboat slowly descended.


    Everyone, including Zhang Tie, were raising their heads and watching that airboat descending slowly with all sorts of shocking eyes on the side of the airship base outside Navyblue Castle.


    When the airboat was in the air, it made people on the ground less suppressive. However, when it slowly descended and showcased its complete body to the public, many people on the ground felt breathless.


    Superficially, that airboat was completely like a steel battleship which was longer than 200 m. How magnificent it was!


    With a raising, grim golden roc''s head, the airboat''s 4 sharp and beautiful streamlined waistlines and 2 wings were covered with golden plume-shaped grains. Like the relief "four-winged golden roc" of Golden Roc Bank, it was so brilliant that it made people dumbfounded. Meanwhile, it made people greatly depressed like the entire heaven was covered. At the bottom of the airboat were auspicious blue and white clouds which were featured by Chinese characters.


    The airboat slowly descended silently like a stick of light plume.


    "How powerful are Hua people!" Elder Gouras who was standing on Zhang Tie''s side was shocked by that airboat.


    "In front of such a giant, any airship is just a balloon. This airboat can destroy any kind of airships only by hitting them without having to use any weapons." Elder Turin let out a faint sigh.


    In this age, the main raw material of airships, even battle airships was light wood. Even though the armors on the air sacs of hard airships could only be defensive to common bolts and light ballistas outside a certain distance. However, any airship was just like a balloon in front of steel spike.


    All the onlookers showed an awe-stricken look, including Zhang Tie; however, Zhang Tie was more proud of being a Hua people.


    The airboat suspended when it was about 2 m above the ground. Under the illuminance of a lot of fluorescent lamps, the entire airboat became still. Closely after that, a metal hatch door slowly opened outward and finally landed on the ground, providing a ramp for passengers to disembark.


    Zhang Tie walked over there firstly, followed by many big figures of Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago. In such a case, of course, Zhang Tie walked ahead of all of them.


    Xu Tao, the manager of Golden Roc Bank''s branch in Eschyle City, who had met Zhang Tie twice appeared at the hatch door and walked downstairs firstly while being followed by a Hua woman who was wearing a set of brilliant female armor and carrying a pair of swords on her back.


    At the sight of that woman, besides widely opening his eyes, Zhang Tie was shocked because he felt a familiar sense¡ª¡ªKnight!


    That woman was a knight. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see a female knight; precisely, a female Hua knight.


    Besides long, beautiful hair, she looked as tranquil as water with slim eyebrows, raised nose and a hot figure. Her age was unidentifiable. She might be at her 40s or 30s like Ms. Olina. She might also be several times elder than Olina. Knights could live as long as 400 years. As long as one promoted to a knight, one''s physical functions would be activated completely. Knights would grow old very slowly. If that knight paid attention to daily maintenance using some rarities, her real age would be unidentifiable. Therefore, although she looked about 30 or 40 years old, that woman might actually be 130 years old or 240 years old.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see a female Hua knight. Therefore, he couldn''t help but gaze at her for a longer time. The female knight sensed it as she also threw a glance at Zhang Tie. The moment she caught sight of Zhang Tie, the female knight''s eyes gleamed instantly. However, when she found that Zhang Tie moved his eyes onto her breast and stared at it for a short while, she became furious.


    ''Huge boobs. Additionally, they look very elastic.'' Zhang Tie commented. When he moved his eyes back, Zhang Tie sensed the female knight''s killing qi. Zhang Tie then felt a bit embarrassed as he transferred his eyes onto that person behind the female knight.


    The one behind the female knight was an odd-looking man at his 60s in a cyan Hua robe. Zhang Tie noticed that the sleeves of the old man were embroidered with three ancient Hua coins which were round outside and square inside. Given his qi field, Zhang Tie knew that he was definitely a big figure in Golden Roc Bank.


    The old man was followed by some retinues.


    Zhang Tie then moved his eyes back from the hatch door. Closely after that, Zhang Tie saw a very familiar face that he could never imagine among the retinues.


    That face looked a bit rounder after such a few years. It indicated that that guy lived well these years. However, no matter what, Zhang Tie could still identify the extremely familiar crafty and dreadful look.


    In the clothes of the retinues of Golden Roc Bank, Donder looked forward seriously. However, when he caught sight of Zhang Tie, he rapidly blinked towards Zhang Tie.


    ''F*ck!'' Zhang Tie almost sprung up.


    ''How could Donder be here? How could he stay with the people of Golden Roc Bank? Additionally, that guy blinked towards me just now. Obviously, he had identified me. No way! Even Huaiyuan Palace don''t know about my real status, how come Donder know that?''


    A series of questions occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind. Zhang Tie became puzzled immediately.


    "Your Excellency, this is Gongsun Liniang, the knight who''s responsible for the execution of the agreement of this gamble on behalf of Golden Roc Bank..." Zhang Tie recovered his composure instantly when he heard Manager Xu Tao''s introduction.


    Besides Zhang Tie and the other two elders, all the others were shocked when they knew this beautiful Hua woman carrying double swords was a powerful knight.


    All the rustics from Ewentra Archipelago were shocked so much that their mouths were widely opened. The heads of tribes from Ice and Snow Wilderness also popped out their eyes as they shrugged. A female knight, with her powerful qi field, made all the men below knights tongue-tied.


    Zhang Tie cupped one hand with the other as all the other people around him made the same hand gesture towards Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªShaking hands was the greeting rite of Hebrews while cupping hands was the greeting rite of Hua people.


    After throwing a faint glance at everyone else, Gongsun Liniang cupped her hands towards all the others.


    "This is Guan Xiyi, the CEO of Golden Roc Bank who''s responsible for all the affairs across Waii Sub-continent!"


    Zhang Tie cupped his hands once again.


    Compared to Gongsun Liniang''s cold look, Guan Xiyi''s smile was more comfortable when he cupped towards Zhang Tie''s party.


    Seeing such a big figure, all the representatives of major clans across Ewentra Archipelago looked honorable.


    Manager Xu Tao then introduced all the major figures across Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago to that female knight and the CEO of Golden Roc Bank.


    After this process, Zhang Tie welcomed the group of people of Golden Roc Bank into Navyblue Castle.


    On the way, Zhang Tie peered at Donder in the retinue of Golden Roc Bank, who looked less attractive. Zhang Tie then threw a glance at Manager Xu Tao, who revealed a profound smile towards Zhang Tie...


    ''F*ck! How could Golden Roc Bank know my real status?'' Zhang Tie was still puzzled by this question until now...


    ''However, I''m sure that this group of people of Golden Roc Bank is here for me, instead of the battle...''


    Zhang Tie became very depressed about his secret being exposed.

 743 Gold Power Law

    Chapter 743: Gold Power Law


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The welcome banquet in Navyblue Castle lasted over 1 hour. Guan Xiyi, the CEO of Golden Roc Bank, Zhang Tie, Connar the head of Rainard Clan and Brightman the head of Willies Clan who represented the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago, exchanged their opinions kindly in the public. In this banquet, Golden Roc Bank showed its great decisiveness to be the warrantor of the performance of this agreement. At least Golden Roc Bank had performed fairly superficially. Because of this, the representatives of the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago grinned when they left Navyblue Castle. It seemed that they were destined to win this battle.


    Tomorrow, Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago would dispatch 100 people respectively to embark on the airboat of Golden Roc Bank and supervise the combat situation.


    Everything would be clear tomorrow.


    Zhang Tie looked absent-minded as Donder''s look always flashed across his mind.


    At an interval, Zhang Tie drew Ms. Olina''s hand to one side and whispered in her ears. Ms. Olina looked at Zhang Tie and then peered at Donder who was staying with a representative of a major clan from Ewentra Archipelago. After that, she faintly nodded.


    The key figure in the entire banquet was Guan Xiyi, the CEO of Golden Roc Bank and that beautiful female knight called Gongsun Liniang. Besides, Golden Roc Bank had dozens of retinues. Besides some managers like Xu Tao were a bit eye-catching, all the other retinues were low-key. Therefore, just 10 minutes before the end of the banquet, Donder received a glass of wine from a waiter of Navyblue Castle. After noticing that brief note under the glass, he left the banquet silently.


    When the entire banquet ended and all the people left Navyblue Castle, Zhang Tie recovered his composure before returning to a backroom on the 2nd floor of Navyblue Castle.


    After standing a few seconds in front of the door of that backroom, Zhang Tie took a deep breath and entered.


    The moment he entered, Zhang Tie saw Donder enjoying drinks alone near the gradevin with a bit blush. All the glasses of quality wine collected by Ms. Olina had been taken out by this guy. Some were already empty.


    ''What a jerk!''


    After walking over there, Zhang Tie took a glass and grabbed away that bottle of wine from Donder''s hand. After making a full cup of wine for himself, Zhang Tie finished it up.


    "Ahh, don''t waste such a rarity. Such top crystal tequila should be tasted at least half a minute in the mouth before you swallow it down..." Donder shouted as he instantly grabbed away that bottle from Zhang Tie''s hand. Closely after that, he directly had one mouth of it, some of which were even dropped back into the bottle. He then put down the bottle and watched Zhang Tie pleasantly while raising his eyebrows, "Heh heh, nobody will grab it from me now!"


    ''Jerk! He is still unchanged. He''s still a miser and always likes to occupy good items in disgusting manners.''


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "How did you know it was me?"


    "Do you think that only I know the ear-identifying skill?" Donder sparkled his eyes, "We''ve already known your status when you showed your talent in Ice and Snow Wilderness for the first time!"


    "Manager Xu Tao?" Zhang Tie realized it at once.


    Donder nodded, "Previously, Manager Xu Tao didn''t know that you were Zhang Tie. After he passed your message to Taixia Country, we discovered that you were Zhang Tie!"


    "Ahh, no way!"


    "Your ''mental arithmetic by abacus'' helped me make a great meritorious deed. Previously, I was thinking about gifting you some wealth and a bright future when you came back to Taixia for me after a few years. Therefore, I handed your complete information to the organization when I came back to Taixia so that you could register there firstly. That information contained your earprint code!"


    Zhang Tie knew what was an earprint code. When one observed an ear using the ear identifying skill, one would find distinctive features and structures displayed in different parts and regions of the ear, which could actually be depicted by certain numbers. After the numbers were connected, they would form one''s earprint code. In the eyes of experts, as long as they could see the earprint code, they would be able to paint the ear for details. Each one''s earprint was distinctive. The chance that two ears had the same earprint was dozens of times lower than that of two people with the same fingerprint.


    Donder sighed, "Although you used disguising medicament when you came to Ice and Snow Wilderness for the first time, your ear features and structure remained unchanged. Hua people''s earprints are different than that of non-Hua people on some key parts. Therefore, the moment Manager Xu Tao saw you, he had doubted that you might have another status. Manager Xu Tao then passed Peter Hamplester''s earprint code back to the organization for further analysis and confirmation. After Peter Hamplester''s earprint code was input into that huge set of difference engine of our organization, it only took the engine a couple of seconds to identify that Peter Hamplester was actually the teenager called Zhang Tie in Blackhot City..."


    After hearing such a reply, Zhang Tie became wordless. He had not imagined that his real status had been exposed when he came to Ice and Snow Wilderness for the first time. He finally understood what Donder had warned him before, "No matter how skilled the liar was, he could only cheat everyone at some time or someone at any time; however, he could never cheat everyone at any time."


    Zhang Tie also sighed as he took out a bottle of wine from the gradevin. After opening it, he drank a short while like what Donder had just done.


    Donder watched Zhang Tie''s face seriously, "Hmm, you might have used some advanced disguising medicament which slightly adjusted your facial muscles and skeletons. Honestly, if I didn''t watch you carefully, I might not be able to recognize you!"


    After hearing Donder''s words, Zhang Tie recovered a bit confidence. ''Thankfully, no matter how powerful was the organization on Donder''s back, they could not know everything about me. They have not known that I''ve awakened my body-changing bloodline. This leaves a figleaf to me at least.''


    "Is the organization on your back is Golden Roc Bank?" Zhang Tie asked Donder.


    "Actually, Golden Roc Bank is just a part of our organization!"


    Zhang Tie was stunned as he widened his eyes, "Then, what''s the organization on your back?''


    Watching Zhang Tie''s dumbfounded look, Donder revealed an obscene smile. It seemed that he enjoyed Zhang Tie''s current look, "Have you heard about the seven major sects of Taixia Country?"


    "Seven major sects?" Zhang Tie was confused.


    "Heavens Fortune Sect. Demon Killing Valley, Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion, Gold Power Law, Jade Building and Immortal Penglai Realm. Golden Roc Bank and I both belong to Gold Power Law!"


    ''Gold Power Law? How domineering and rich! Compared to other sects which sound like artists, Gold Power Law is more like a nouveau riche.''


    "Is Gold Power Law very powerful?"


    "I can only tell you that 20% of all the properties of Taixia Country are traded through Gold Power Law''s business groups and banks."


    ''What?'' Zhang Tie widely opened his mouth. Even in Jinyun Country and Norman Empire, an organization that could run 20% of the total properties of the country was already terrifying, not to mention that of the entire Taixia Country. Zhang Tie could not imagine how powerful was Gold Power Law. ''No wonder why they dared add the word Law behind Gold and Power, because the extreme strength was close to the law. When the wealth of an organization could reach a great degree, it would be close to the law.''


    "What''s your purpose here?"


    "You should have guessed it!" Donder smiled as he took out a brochure and put it in front of Zhang Tie, "Take a look at the introduction of Gold Power Law and the rights and obligations of its members."


    As there was no word on its cover, Zhang Tie skimmed over the contents of the brochure. Due to his powerful memory and browsing ability, Zhang Tie finished the brochure of over 30 pages in less than 2 minutes.


    After skimming it over, Zhang Tie was really shocked as the power of Gold Power Law had been out of his imagination completely. ''The boss, also the big dragon head of Gold Power Law is the finance minister, one of the top 9 chancellors of Taixia Country, who''s responsible for the finance and trade of the country. The objective of Gold Power Law was as follows: Increase national wealth and absorb foreign wealth. Zhang Tie faintly felt that royal households were on the back of Gold Power Law...


    The entire Gold Power Law was divided into different levels, big dragon head, dragon head, mountain lord, token lord, CEO, manager, deacon and disciple, etc.. 22 levels in total. Besides the big dragon head, all the other levels were further divided into copper, silver and gold; additionally, its members were divided into visible and invisible ones. Those who were exposed to the public were visible members; by contrast, those who were not exposed to the public were invisible members and could only be known by some people in the organization.


    What was amazing was that one could join the other organizations and sects even if one had joined Gold Power Sect. The members only needed to keep the secrets of Gold Power Law. Of course, if you couldn''t keep the secrets, someone would be dispatched to "help" you keep them.


    "What was your status in Blackhot City?" Zhang Tie asked Donder.


    "Invisible silver disciple!"


    "What about now?"


    "Visible gold deacon!" Donder replied with a proud look. After all, his current position was benefited from that "mental arithmetic by abacus" gifted by Zhang Tie. Otherwise, even though having stayed in Blackhot City for so many years, he was at most a visible gold or invisible gold disciple.


    "What would be my level if I joined your organization?''


    "If you joined in, you would be invisible gold CEO and enjoy the same rights with CEO Guan Xiyi. The only difference was that Guan Xiyi is visible gold; however, you are invisible gold!


    "How many people among these arrivers know my real status?"


    "Nobody else besides CEO Guan Xiyi and me! Manager Xu Tao provided some clues to the headquarter; however, the headquarter didn''t give him the feedback. Therefore, he only knows that this trip is related to you; however, he doesn''t know your real status. Of course, if he sees those members in Huaiyuan Palace who have blood-ties with you, he may discover something about you. However, he will not expose your information to the public as the organization has forbidden it."


    Donder''s answer was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination as he thought that at least Manager Xu Tao and Gongsun Liniang had known his secret.


    "Can I join it?"


    "Okay, it''s up to you!" Donder replied casually as he rapidly grabbed back that brochure from Zhang Tie''s hand. Closely after that, he started to dig his nostril like a ruffian, "If you really joined in, this father would have to bow to you. How uncomfortable it would be! If not for the public affair, this father would not come here!"


    "Heh heh heh heh..." Zhang Tie smiled, "Stop, don''t play this trick with me. I will consider it!"


    "Alright. After the public affair, it comes to my private affair now!" Donder clapped as he revealed an obscene smile, "Erm, as you''ve promoted to a knight so fast, you must have your secret. I won''t ask you about that. But you only need to help me a bit. After staying a few years in Taixia, I found some resources and have already promoted to LV 5; if I could be one level higher, I would have a greater physical strength. As you have so many women on your side, you must understand what I mean...look, can you help me promote to LV 6?"


    "Hmm, it''s easy. You could attempt to be struck by thunderbolt a few times. If not being killed, you might obtain some special ability. You might directly promote to a knight!" Zhang Tie replied seriously.


    Donder watched Zhang Tie with a dubious look, "Really?"


    "Of course? But before you go there, you''d better tell me about that. I would buy you some more insurance. You taught me that. Even locust''s legs are flesh. I cannot waste this chance to make money from a dead man, right?"


    Donder watched Zhang Tie while gritting his teeth, "You''ve got so many big beauties around you, don''t you know how to respect the old? Have you forgotten how this father helped you before?''


    Zhang Tie also stared at him, "You old jerk, do you think the surging points on your body is my lanterns? Do you think that I can light your surging points whenever I want? If you want to have a good physical strength, I have a recipe for you. Run 50 miles and do 10,000 push-ups per day and don''t think about making love for 3 years. When you lose your weight, I''m sure you will be as ferocious as a tiger on the bed!"


    The two people stared at each other for a couple of seconds.


    "You jerk!"


    They swore at the same time. Closely after that, they became stunned for a second and burst out into laughter...


    Although so many years had passed, their friendship remained unchanged.


    ...


    After accomplishing the task, Donder silently returned to the airboat which landed outside the Navyblue Castle.


    ''Now that even outsiders know my secret, I should find a proper time and chance to explain it to the elders in Huaiyuan Palace. If I kept covering it in this way, I would be blamed as being unable to identify who''s closer to me.


    After this event, Zhang Tie also understood one thing, some things in the world could not always be under control. Nobody in this world could have everything proceed according to his own will.


    Similarly, those major clans of Ewentra Archipelago who expected that the result of the duel would proceed according to their will tomorrow might be disappointed.


    ...

 744 An Encounter between Enemies

    Chapter 744: An Encounter between Enemies


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    10 am, October 10th, 100 representatives from Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago respectively gathered on the airship base outside Navyblue Castle. They then embarked on the airboat of Golden Roc Bank with various moods.


    Besides Zhang Tie and the two elders, the three heads of the wild bear tribe, fire bear tribe and sea bear tribe also joined in the side of Ice and Snow Wilderness. The sea bear Tribe arrived at Navyblue Castle yesterday, which indicated that the sea bear tribe, which had always been hesitating, finally fixed its stance in this crisis which was involved with the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    After Zhang Tie showed his battle force and gentle strength as a knight, the scale slowly tilted towards his side. Plus the sea bear tribe, Zhang Tie had 5 of the 8 bear tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness on his side¡ª¡ªthe huge bear tribe, iron bear tribe, wild bear tribe, fire bear tribe and sea bear tribe. Because of this, the heads of mountain bear tribe, black bear tribe and demon bear tribe who followed the mace muling of Sacred Light School and the other representatives of major clans of Ewentra Archipelago in the airboat looked embarrassed.


    "Peh..." The old wild bear spat on the ground with a disdainful look at the sight of the three heads and the mace muling of Sacred Light School.


    The mace muling of Sacred Light School watched Zhang Tie with a grim look. Given that Zhang Tie sunk his flagship to the bottom and the casual reply, of course, he didn''t look good today.


    Watching the mace muling''s look, Elder Turin narrowed his eyes while bad-tempered Elder Gouras'' battle qi almost boiled.


    "Today, all the animosity and contradictions between the two parties will be handled by the two fleets. Everything depends on the result of this duel. After boarding the airboat, Golden Roc Bank expects you to not make any obsessive movements. Nobody in the airboat is allowed to find troubles!" Manager Xu Tao hurriedly stood in the middle of the lounge and clarified the rules so as to relieve the intense atmosphere.


    "No problem. Our clans across Ewentra Archipelago will fully respect Golden Roc Bank''s judgment on the result of this duel!" Connar, the head of Rainard Clan revealed a smile generously as he threw a glance towards Zhang Tie.


    After promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie didn''t pay attention to those who were below knight, especially among the opponents. Those who were below knights were as trivial as ants. Even though some of them were a bit powerful, they were still as weak as chicken or dogs. After calmly glancing over the heads of mountain bear tribe, black bear tribe and demon bear tribe, Zhang Tie finally focused on the face of mace muling of Sacred Light School.


    The mace muling wore a whole set of the religious ceremonial robe which was as eye-catching as a peacock. His robe was embroidered with all sorts of patterns such as sun, moons and stars. Additionally, he wore a high golden religious crown which looked like a fish head with a golden mace in hand. It looked like that he was going to preach his religion.


    "Was that you who found trouble in Ice and Snow Wilderness and instigated some idiots to plunder the Tribal Axis Railway?" Zhang Tie put it straight.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, everybody else became quiet.


    "Ice and Snow Wilderness has been covered with evil and dark forces. As long as the sunshine can reach there, I will spread the halos of the God of Brilliance over there. I will lead people out of the dark!" The mace muling explained with a sacred look while he raised his mace, "Peter, what you''ve done yesterday has offended the dignity of the God of Brilliance. As long as you could confess in front of the mace, the God of Brilliance will purify all of your guilts; otherwise, you will have to face the scorching copper pillars and sulfuric flames in the hell. You will wail mournfully in the hell for 10,000 years ."


    Narrowing his eyes, Zhang Tie directly pointed at the mace muling with one finger while his tone grew sacred like making a judgment, "The God says you''re the blasphemer. Your head will be chopped off today. Your fresh blood will spray over the waves of the ocean. Your blood and flesh will be the food of fishes and shrimps. What guilts you''ve made will be judged today!"


    The mace muling of Sacred Light School instantly changed his face as he replied with a cold voice, "Is Ice and Snow Wilderness declaring war towards Sacred Light Empire?''


    "The God says the entire north water would become the tombs of all those people who made evil things and profaned deity in the name of a deity. All the blasphemers will be cursed and punished by the deity after entering the north water. The deity will display his fury in the sea."


    All the onlookers became silent, including the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago. The dialogue was the collision between Sacred Light School and Ancient God School. Religious conflicts and wars were cruelest and most terrible. Nobody dared involve themselves and their family members into religious wars.


    "I''d like to see who will be the winner today and whom the ocean will lose its temper to!" The mace muling of Sacred Light School revealed a grim smile as he walked upstairs on the gangway with full confidence.


    Zhang Tie also boarded the airboat from the other gangway.


    Nobody would like to miss such a rare chance to witness a historical event by the airboat. Zhang Tie spared 10 people for both Bell Clan and Fein Clan. Ten elites and major figures were elected respectively by the two heads and boarded the airboat...


    Ms. Olina, Sabrina and the 6 women from Spencer Clan also followed Zhang Tie in.


    All the major figures on Olina''s side and Navyblue Castle Business Group were so excited about boarding this legendary airboat.


    Zhang Tie was also full of curiosity as it was also his first time to board an airboat.


    The inside of the airboat was really spacious. Due to the complex design of pipelines, turrets and waterproof cabins, even battleships'' inside space was not spacious. However, the inside of this airboat was completely like a spacious theater and steel fortress. All the passengers were shocked. They just looked around out of curiosity. Golden Roc Bank might have known about the mentality of these people who boarded airboat for the first time. Therefore, they arranged for some people to show them around in the airboat, causing exclamations constantly.


    Such an airboat was really much safer than airships. When they saw clouds moving outside, they realized that the airboat had already taken off. The whole process was quiet, comfortable and steady.


    "How did it take off?" The old wild bear touched here and there before asking that question.


    It was Donder who showed Zhang Tie''s party around. Seeing that guy''s solemn look, Zhang Tie felt very hilarious. ''Apparently, Golden Roc Bank arranged Donder to get close to me. From then on, nobody would doubt it even if someone found Donder being close to me later on.


    "The airboat is driven by a special metal in the deep underground world which is called air-floating metal. All the resources of air-floating metal are in the hand of the military and the royal households of Taixia Country!" Donder introduced seriously.


    "Can we buy an airboat in Taixia?" The old wild bear asked while licking his lips.


    "Of course you can. But it''s strictly limited in Taixia. Only after meeting some conditions could you buy it!"


    "What conditions?"


    "Generally, positions above prefectural governors and commanding generals, titles of nobility above marquis, royal members and major chancellors are qualified to purchase it. Some airboats will be gifted by Emperor Xuanyuan in Taixia Country. As it''s a symbol of honor, stricter requirements are made on common major clans!"


    "How strict?"


    "Only when those major clans paid the tax of more than 100 million gold coins per year consecutively for 20 years could they purchase airboats!" Donder replied seriously.


    ''What? After paying the tax of more than 100 million gold coins per year consecutively for 20 years? What the f*ck! Even the total of revenue of the 8 bear tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness might not reach 100 million gold coins per year. However, in Taixia, this figure is just one year''s amount of tax payment of certain major clans.'' All the passengers became dumbfounded by the wealth and prosperity of Taixia Country.


    Right then, exclamations also drifted from the party of Ewentra Archipelago. Someone might have asked the same question.


    Zhang Tie knew that one of the purposes of this airboat was to have the wealthy and prosperous image of Taixia Country deeply rooted in the heart of those people from both Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago. It was a seed, which would sprout sooner or later.


    The airboat flew much faster than airships. Only after a few minutes, it had already reached above the water where the two fleets were going to fight over 100 miles away in the west of Saint Herner Island...

 745 Fire

    Chapter 745: Fire


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The duel was arranged in the water which covered about 900 sq miles. Since this early morning, numerous cruise ships and yachts had followed the selected North Wind Fleet and the Rainard''s clan fleet towards that water.


    The water had been surrounded by buoys as the border. Besides the two parties'' navy fleets which were going to attend the duel, no other ships even airships were allowed to enter this waters.


    North Wind Fleet dispatched two battleships headed by Snow Bramble and four heavy cruisers, which accounted half of the total battle force of North Wind Fleet. Rainard Clan also dispatched 2 battleships and 4 heavy cruisers to participate in the duel. As for the loss of Rainard Clan in this duel, those major clans'' representatives across Ewentra Archipelago expressed that they would provide the fund for Rainard Clan''s fleet to recover its original battle force before the duel.


    The rest navy ships of North Wind Fleet and the allied fleet of Ewentra Archipelago would cruise around the water so as to maintain the order. They would sink any ships who dared enter the duel in the water.


    Of course, the onlooking ships dared not break in the duel. They were all gathering about 2-3 miles away from the duel water. The rich passengers and onlookers climbed onto the masts or stood at high places. They directly took out high-performance telescopes and cameras and prepared to enjoy the big game.


    The airboat of Golden Roc Bank was suspending about thousands meters high above the duel water.


    With many people''s exclamations, a huge cabin roof slowly slid off, exposing a patch of blue and vast sky. As a result, the enclosed cabin instantly became an exposed deck, which allowed people to watch downside through the windows on both sides of the deck. Besides, a huge optical imaging device slowly rose up from the ground of the deck, which was about 5-6 m high. Like a multi-edge crystal pillar, it had many sides, which reflected the complete duel situation. It was much more advanced than the exclusive periscope of the captain. At least it was Zhang Tie''s first time to see such a huge optical imaging device.


    That huge optical imaging device was surrounded by rows of seats. Passengers could sit on the seats and watch the battle. Besides, there were some high-end drinks prepared by Golden Roc Bank. This was like a small amphitheater suspending in the air.


    When the roof was opened, Gongsun Liniang the female knight of Golden Roc Bank had already released a water green enshrouding battle-qi. She directly suspended in the air and monitored the battle situation.


    Guan Xiyi, the CEO of Golden Roc Bank and a group of retinues were also watching here.


    The two fleets whose boilers had not died out were emitting a red flare respectively from the southwest and the northeast corners of the duel water, which indicated that they had already prepared for the duel.


    All the onlookers held their breath when they saw two flares rising into the sky.


    "Your Excellency, can we start now?" Manager Xu Tao asked Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie nodded while the other member of Golden Rob Bank who inquired about the opinion of the representative of Ewentra Archipelago also nodded towards Xu Tao. Xu Tao then nodded towards Guan Xiyi. Guan Xiyi also nodded towards Xu Tao.


    Zhang Tie noticed a faint sneer on the face of mace muling of Sacred Light School when Connar nodded towards Zhang Tie with a genial look.


    Zhang Tie also sneered as he really wanted to see their trump card.


    The airship then emitted a red flare downwards...


    When the flare touched the sea water, the two fleets moved. At the same time, dense smoke came out of their chimneys. Like full-armored cavalries on battle horses, the two fleets started to accelerate towards the opponent.


    In such fixed water, the two fleets were both within the visible range of the opponent. Unless the opposing commander was an idiot or made major commanding mistakes, neither of the two fleets could grab the T-shaped formation.


    Therefore, the two fleets directly surged towards each other at the beginning.


    After a few minutes, when the two fleets were still 15,000 m away from each other, the main cannon on the flagship of Rainard Clan''s fleet had smoked...


    After a few seconds, one main cannon on Snow Bramble of North Wind Fleet also smoked...


    After another a few seconds, two booms drifted to the airboat.


    Almost at the same time, a high water column rose from the sea water over 70 m away from North Wind Fleet...


    A couple of seconds later, the same kind of water column rose from the sea water over 100 m away from the fleet of Rainard Clan...


    The moment they heard the booms, the onlookers had been boisterous¡ª¡ªthe duel finally breaks out.


    Everyone on the airboat became intense...


    "This is just a trial fire of the two fleets'' main cannons. Through the trial fire, they could measure the point of fall and error of the trajectory. They will rectify the fire parameters. After the fire parameters on the flagship are confirmed, they will pass the fire parameters to the other ships through lamplight signals. After adjusting their fire parameters, all the ships could fire at the same time!" Elder Turin whispered to Zhang Tie.


    "Given the trial fire, it seems that Rainard Clan was in a dominant position. That fleet fired 4 seconds earlier than North Wind Fleet. Additionally, the first shell fell closer to the opponent!" Zhang Tie turned around.


    "Yes. The comprehensive strength of the fleet of Ewentra Archipelago is indeed a bit greater than North Wind Fleet. We are not in the dominant position!" Elder Turin looked faintly gloomy.


    "Don''t worry. It''s just the beginning!" Zhang Tie revealed a casual smile.


    After the first round of trial fire, the representatives of major clans across Ewentra Archipelago also whispered to each other after seeing what happened through the imaging device. Connar, the head of Rainard Clan had revealed a faint smile. However, he still nodded towards Zhang Tie in a very gentle way, so did Zhang Tie.


    After over 10 seconds, the two fleet started the first round of fire with the gap of 1 second...


    At this moment, the booms which were much louder than before reverberated across the duel water. As the two fleets accelerated forward, they fired rapidly...


    Within the first minute, the two fleet both finished 3 rounds of the salvo. In the first round, the fleet of Rainard Clan was 2 seconds earlier than that of North Wind Fleet. When the 2nd round of salvo started, the gap expanded to 4 seconds. When the 3rd round of salvo started, the gap increased to 6 seconds.


    The shells fell on the water surrounding the opposing fleet, arousing huge water columns. Given the distribution of those water columns, the commanders of the two fleets both focused their salvo on the opposing battleships. At such a critical moment, as long as they could destroy or disable one opposing battleship, they would have the scale tilt to their side.


    Besides battle force, luck was also a very important factor for the two fleets. It seemed that North Wind Fleet had a good luck. In the 3rd round of salvo, a flame rose from the head of a heavy cruiser in the fleet of Rainard Clan.


    Those on the side of Ice and Snow Wilderness cheered up at once in the airboat.


    "Well done, North Wind Fleet..." The old wild bear shouted.


    Unless a shell could hit the ammunition stowage of the battleship and arouse a big explosion or coincidentally fall onto the key parts near the propeller below the draft line of the battleship, it could never disable a battleship.


    It seemed that the heavy cruiser''s speed was not influenced. The optical imaging device directly targeted at that burning battleship and zoomed in. All the passengers on the airboat could see clearly that the sailors were rapidly putting out the fire so as to reduce the loss. In this critical moment, the fleet''s loss controlling ability was also a key component of the battle force and viability of the fleet.


    "North Wind Fleet is a respectable opponent!" Connar, the head of Rainard Clan talked to Zhang Tie with the same genial look.


    "Connar doesn''t seem to worry about that!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    Connar blinked his eyes with the same faint smile, "It''s just a start, isn''t it?"


    "Do you believe in luck, clan head Connar?"


    "Luck is very important; however, the most important is the battle force!"


    "A good start means a half success. Additionally, luck is a part of the battle force. I feel that luck favors me today."


    "Let''s see it!"


    ...


    Although they argued with each other on the airboat, the duel still didn''t come to an end.


    The loud booms were still reverberating in the water below.


    After 3 minutes, the fleet of Rainard Clan finally showed its advantage in the battle force than North Wind Fleet. During the period, North Wind Fleet completed 9 rounds of salvos; however, Rainard Clan''s fleet completed 10 rounds of salvos. In the 10th round of salvo, one shell precisely fell on the Snow Bramble battleship.


    This time, all those on the side of Ewentra Archipelago cheered up.


    ...


    The first battle lasted 15 minutes. After that, the two fleets both moved out of the opponent''s fire range. During this period, North Wind Fleet was struck by 5 shells while Rainard Clan''s fleet was struck by 4 shells. Both fleets'' losses were not fatal.


    After leaving the opponent''s fire range, the two fleets changed their directions at the same time and prepared for the second battle...


    In the second battle, North Wind Fleet struck the opponent by 7 shells while being struck by 6 shells. The middle main cannon of Snow Bramble was disabled while a battleship of the opponent caught a ferocious fire.


    After the second battle, both parties gradually came into their own, causing a more miserable loss.


    The two fleets changed their directions once again and fired the next round of battle. However, at this moment, the two battleships in front of North Wind Fleet slowed down. The formation of the entire fleet was disrupted at once.


    "What happened?" All the others sprung up from their seats intensely except for Zhang Tie...


    "Zoom in the two battleships of North Wind Fleet!" CEO Guan Xiyi, who was always silent, opened his mouth at this moment.


    Gradually, the Snow Bramble and the other battleship enlarged on the optical imaging device...


    After seeing it clearly, everyone on the side of Ice and Snow Wilderness felt being struck by a lightning bolt.


    Numerous 1-m wide pitch-dark starfish and conches were floating up from the seabed and were attaching to one side of the two battleships of North Wind Fleet. Besides slowing down, the two battleships started to tilt towards one side...

 746 The Will of the God of Brilliance

    Chapter 746: The Will of the God of Brilliance


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In such a fierce duel, as long as one battleship lost its speed, even though it kept firing, it could be easily targeted.


    The starfish was a mutated iron-magnetic species. As heavy as a rock, each of them could firmly attach to the metal bottom of ships. Generally, there were always sea creatures like starfish and conch at the bottoms of those big ships. However, at this moment, there were countless starfish and conchs over the bottoms and one side of the two battleships. As a result, the battleships increased their weight sharply, causing a greater resistance in seawater. Additionally, the two battleships faintly tilted. In this state, the battleships slowed down and had a poorer firing precision.


    When the front 2 battleships slowed down, the other 4 cruisers behind them had to slow down too, causing a chaos in the formation of the entire fleet at once.


    Nobody could imagine such an event before.


    Gongsun Liniang had already rushed downside there as fast as a meteor and directly dove into the sea...


    All the passengers of the airboat could see many sailors rushing to the decks and flushing off the starfish and conchs from the shells using water cannons. However, it seemed not to work. Because the starfish and conchs being flushed off only accounted a small part of the total amount of starfish and conchs. Actually, more starfish and conchs were attached to the bottoms where water cannons could not reach.


    As a result, the speed of two battleships of North Wind Fleet gradually decreased from above 20 nautical miles per hour to about 10 nautical miles per hour.


    Seeing this, not only people on the side of Ice and Snow Wilderness sprung up, even the numerous onlookers outside the duel water were in an uproar. Due to the far distance and poor perspective, many people could not see the true situation facing North Wind Fleet. Therefore, they didn''t know why the North Wind Fleet slowed down abruptly. This was nothing different than committing suicide.


    When the North Wind Fleet slowed down, the fleet of Rainard Clan kept accelerating towards their opponent as heroic as cavalries on battle horses...


    Starting from 15,000 m, the cannons of the two fleets roared once again. When the fleet of Rainard Clan got out of the firing range of North Wind Fleet, a sharp difference appeared between the two fleets¡ª¡ªRainard Clan''s fleet was struck by 3 shells; however, North Wind Fleet was struck by 9 shells.


    All the passengers on the airboat witnessed such a cruel outcome. The big fires on the two battleships seemed to predict the outcome of North Wind Fleet. Given such a situation, with 3 more rounds, the two battleships of North Wind Fleet would be disabled completely. They would be sent to the bottom sooner or later.


    All the people on the side of Ice and Snow Wilderness were driven mad.


    The old wild bear roared as he pointed at those guys on the side of Ewentra Archipelago and asked, "B*stards, did you do that?"


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about." Connar, the head of Rainard Clan replied calmly, "I could only command my fleet; instead of those sea creatures!"


    After Connar expressed his stance, Gongsun Liniang, the female knight of Golden Roc Bank, had already flown out of the sea.


    "Nobody is found at the seabed of the duel water." Gongsun Liniang said icily.


    When the two fleets fired, Gongsun Liniang had already searched over the water. However, she didn''t find anybody else over there. It didn''t mean that nobody found the trouble, though. As for such a vast ocean, if someone really hid underwater away from this narrow duel water, he would be hardly discovered by even 10 knights, not to mention Gongsun Liniang herself. If someone really hid there, he might be a marine animal controller now that he could drive these marine creatures. Given such one''s diving skill, viability and hiding ability underwater, this one must be a rare master among animal controllers. He could even order these marine creatures to make aggressive behaviors from hundreds of miles away.


    Of course, this was just a possibility. As no evidence was discovered, it was not persuasive.


    Elder Turin stood up with a grim look, "This duel has already lost its fairness and justice. I request Golden Roc Bank to terminate this duel!"


    "I disagree!" A representative of a major clan on the side of Ewentra Archipelago stood up, "By far, there''s no evidence of unfairness!"


    "What''s wrong with those starfish and conchs?"


    "Only the sea would answer you!" That representative replied calmly as he bowed towards Guan Xiyi, "According to the agreement, neither of the two fleets are allowed to leave the water since it starts unless someone who has nothing to do with the two fleets appears in the duel and attack one party''s fleet. Only in that situation could the very party proposed to terminate the duel. Otherwise, the two fleets have to fight to the end. Although some interference happened, the interferents were just some marine creatures, instead of the crew of our party. These marine creatures are not exclusive to Ewentra Archipelago. They belong to force majeure. Therefore, Ewentra Archipelago doesn''t have to take the responsibility for it. Neither does the opponent have the right to exterminate this duel due to this reason. Otherwise, it would violate the spirit of the contract which we commonly respect. The spirit of the contract is the foundation of the prosperity of Ewentra Archipelago and the guarantee of the creditability of all parties. As the supervisor of this duel and the warrantor of the implementation of this contract, Golden Roc Bank should maintain the sacredness of the contract."


    When that representative stood up and spoke, Donder, who always served the side of Ice and Snow Wilderness, silently displayed his palm in front of Zhang Tie as he took the glass. There was a line of words in his palm¡ª¡ªAs long as you have any request, we will be able to make another emergency to terminate this duel.


    After reading it, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Donder and kept silent.


    After saying that, the representative sat down. Everybody on the airboat then moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie remained calm as he watched Connar, the head of Rainard Clan and asked, "Do that guy''s words represent the opinion of all the clans across Ewentra Archipelago?"


    "The life of Ewentra Archipelago lies in the prosperity of commerce while the life of commercial prosperity lies in the spirit of the contract. I don''t know whether it is like this in other places; in Ewentra Archipelago, as long as one contract is established, the contract would be most sacred. I''m very sorry for the emergency facing North Wind Fleet. However, the influence of marine creatures in North Wind Fleet indeed belongs to force majeure. Therefore, it''s still fair. Ewentra Archipelago''s choice implies with our contract!" Connar''s eyes sparkled.


    "Spirit of the contract? I like this opinion. Just keep it going. I indeed "admire" your "respect" to the contract..." Zhang Tie smiled as he accented the two words "respect" and "admire", making the representatives of the major clans from Ewentra Archipelago twist their bodies restlessly, "But do you know what is the real force majeure?"


    All the representatives of major clans from Ewentra Archipelago exchanged glances with each other as they were confused about Zhang Tie''s meaning.


    "Only the will of the God of Brilliance is the real force majeure!" The mace muling of Sacred Light School raised his scepter as he rushed to answer Zhang Tie''s question, "You''re still not too late to confess under my mace. The God of Brilliance has already displayed its will through the ocean. This is a warning, also your last chance!"


    Zhang Tie threw a scornful glance towards that mace muling of Sacred Light School like watching a lump of shit being wrapped by brilliant silk, "Do you know why I didn''t ask your name until now? Because all those blasphemers are worms on sacrificial altar in my eyes. They are not worthy enough for me to know their names!"


    "You..." The mace muling of Sacred Light School was so furious that his face turned red. Gongsun Liniang threw a glance at him with narrow eyes. He then panted and glared at Zhang Tie, "I will see how long you can stand!"


    Zhang Tie stood up. Looking up at the sky, he closed his eyes and stretched out his hands with sacred brilliance on his face like praying and embracing the endless void. At this moment, Zhang Tie uttered a magnificent sound, "Poseidon, I order you to display your will in a furious way in the name of the God of gods so that the blasphemers could see the true majesty of God and nonbelievers who only believe in money see the strength of the God..."


    The moment Zhang Tie uttered this, all the representatives from both Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago watched Zhang Tie with a dumbfounded look¡ª¡ªWhat does that mean? Could Peter order the sea god? Are you kidding me? Is he driven mad after seeing that North Wind Fleet is going to lose the battle?''


    The mace muling of Sacred Light School fleered like watching a joke...


    Donder revealed an unacceptable look. He had not imagined that this brat had mastered such a pretending talent only after a few years. ''Given his current pious and dignified look, he''s completely different than the guy who felt guilty even by changing a new package for an old commodity...


    Soon after Zhang Tie''s words, a huge, terrifying shadow swam across the water...


    ...

 747 The Whip of Fury

    "F*ck, this father chipped 2 million gold coins. What''s wrong with North Wind Fleet?" The rich guy of Ewentra Archipelago who chipped 2 million gold coins in North Wind Fleet yesterday roared on the observation post of the luxury cruiser. Given the performance of North Wind Fleet, everyone knew that there was some emergency. However, due to the long distance and poorer visibility, this rich person could not see clearly what happened on the side which was closer to sea level. Therefore, he became very anxious.


    Very few onlookers actually knew what happened. Some of them also caught sight of the huge iron-magnetic starfish on one side of the two battleships of North Wind Fleet; however, they only took in a deep breath.


    "B*stard!" That rich person on the observation post of that luxury cruiser forcefully threw his telescope into the sea while watching the flames and smoke on the two battleships.


    It was a nice day. Under the bright sunshine, the sea water below the luxury cruiser looked crystal and blue. It was of a high visibility.


    When he threw away that telescope, the rich person lowered his head and found that the sea water below the cruiser was a bit deeper than that just now. He thought it was the shadow of the clouds; however, he found no clouds when he looked up.


    "What''s wrong?"


    When others paid attention to the duel water in the distance, that rich person glanced over seriously and found that this water was indeed a bit deeper than those in the surroundings. If he did not observe it seriously, he might not have recognized that. There seemed to be a huge shadow under the sea water.


    All of a sudden, that rich person felt goosebumps all over while a sense of terror rushed to his skull from the sea water along the spine. He was frozen instantly while his face turned pale.


    The shadow under the sea water was moving.


    The front part of the shadow was like a cloud, which extended over 1 mile forward from the bottom of the luxury cruiser towards the duel water. The latter part of the shadow was still covering that water of that cruiser.


    ''This is not a shoal of fish as it is bigger and moving faster than the latter. Additionally, the shoal of fish always changes its shape during movement. However, that shadow is very large and moving as fast as a torpedo under seawater in a fixed shape. It''s more like a moving mountain under the sea; instead of being a shoal of fish. However, mountain under the sea won''t move. Therefore, that shadow must be something alive...''


    ''A living thing? Under the seawater? As large as a mountain?''


    The moment this thought occurred to the rich person''s mind, he froze and almost fell off the observation post.


    Closely after that, the rich person shrieked miserably, "Move the ship, move the ship out of this water at full speed..."


    Ocean was always mild; however, it would also become berserk sometimes. No matter what, this ocean was covered with a thick mysterious veil. Once this mysterious veil was exposed, the object behind the veil would bring people a sheer terror.


    No matter what was that thing under the water, when it was large enough, it made everyone so scared and intend to escape away from it as far as possible.


    When the rich person exclaimed, he slid off the mast and rushed towards the cab of the cruiser. As a result, the steward who was walking towards him with a glass of wine was knocked down, spraying the wine over the ground.


    When that luxury cruiser turned around and started to escape at full speed, the North Wind Fleet in the duel water had to make a tragic choice¡ª¡ªthe four heavy cruisers started to leave the two battleships and accelerated towards the fleet of Rainard Clan.


    Those who had experience in the sea warfare knew that North Wind fleet was going to create a chance for the two battleships to fire at the opponent in a short distance at the risk of losing the 4 heavy cruisers.


    As long as the distance between battleships and target was less than 3 miles, the power, force of penetration and precision of shells would reach a new high. As a result, the battle would be extremely fierce. This was North Wind Fleet''s only choice to have its main battleships offset the advantage of the opponent. Meanwhile, it meant that they had prepared for sacrificing their own vessels so as to attract the attention of the heavy cruisers of the opponent.


    Fighters of North Wind Fleet were performing their promise to Zhang Tie at the risk of their lives¡ª¡ªNorth Wind Fleet might not be the most excellent sailors; however, they are definitely the bravest sailors. North Wind Fleet could not ensure the victory of such a duel; however, it could ensure that each commissioned officer and soldier who participated in the duel would like to die for victory!


    "Why?" A whiskered captain of a battleship of North Wind Fleet outside the duel water punched onto the diamond-shaped 1,000 mm-thick armor of the turret under the main cannon of the battleship, spraying blood all over...


    All the commisioned officers and soldiers on the battleships of North Wind Fleet outside the ring dropped tears and wished to surge forward to replace their partners. They knew that they might lose the battle; however, they had not imagined that they would lose the battle in this way.


    Those common soldiers and commissioned officers didn''t know why so many huge iron-magnetic starfish appeared. But they were sure that it was a mean trap.


    The airboat didn''t send any signal to exterminate the duel, which meant this duel would continue.


    ...


    On the airboat, watching Zhang Tie stretching his arms still, someone thought that Peters was driven mad due to the great stimulation. ''How could he order Poseidon to do something? Is he lunatic or wanting to exterminate this match in an expected way by pretending to be an idiot?''


    The representatives of the major clans of Ewentra Archipelago were recalling that contract. They tried to remember whether there were some loopholes in the contract which could be used by Peter.


    Zhang Tie remained still for 1 minute.


    Even Ms. Olina watched Zhang Tie with a bit of sorrow.


    With a glassy-eyed look, Elder Turin just glanced at that mace muling with a cold look.


    Donder was also full of doubt. ''What the hell is this brat doing? Does he really think that he can change the situation just by pretending to be a jerk here? No way. Even if this brat has some precautions, he should at least have someone pass his message. Otherwise, his personal performance is nothing but a sh*t. None of those at present are passing a message or sending a signal from Golden Roc Bank or Ice and Snow Wilderness. Is this boy playing telepathy?''


    Donder moved his eyes on Guan Xiyi when he found the latter was just watching Zhang Tie with narrow eyes. ''It seems that Guan Xiyi is also confused about Zhang Tie''s plan. Actually, Golden Roc Bank has precautions to exterminate this duel; however, the right lies in Guan Xiyi''s hand. Now that this brat doesn''t need the help of Golden Roc Bank, Guan Xiyi kept silent. Therefore, we could only see what plan does this brat have.''


    Gongsun Liniang had a despised perception of Zhang Tie. Given her look, she was obviously doubting, "How could such a rubbish guy become a knight?''


    Among all the others at present, only Elder Gouras was still a bit confident about Zhang Tie, which didn''t come from Zhang Tie, but from the prophecy of Pontiff Sarlin¡ª¡ªZhang Tie is the ruler of all the oceans in the world. How could such a person suffer a great loss in the north water of Blackson Humans Corridor?


    ''Pontiff Sarlin won''t make a mistake!'' Elder Goura tightly clutched his fist as he constantly implied himself, ''Pontiff won''t make a mistake. Therefore, we will not lose this duel.''


    "Ahh, what''s that?'' Old Bell''s grandson shrieked while the eyes of all those at present moved back to the huge crystal optical imaging device on the airboat.


    However, many people didn''t see anything special.


    "The shadow, the shadow under the sea water..." Old Bell''s grandson shouted which aroused the attention of many people.


    Right on the optical imaging device, they saw a huge, terrifying shadow moving towards the fleet of Rainard Fleet rapidly in the ocean.


    The shadowy color was just a bit deeper than that of the sea water. Therefore, if not observed it closely, they could not notice it.


    ''Is that cloud''s shadow?'' The same thought occurred to many people''s mind. It was really too huge that many people mistook it as a natural phenomenon at the sight of it.


    "Zoom in..." Guan Xiyi uttered while the water where the fleet of Rainard Clan was gradually enlarged and became clear...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he watched the representatives of the major clans of Ewentra Archipelago and said, "The whip of the fury of gods have already arrived!"


    ''What does that mean?''


    Whereas, before the representatives of the major clans of Ewentra Archipelago realized that, an extremely terrifying black pillar rushed to the sky in a ground-breaking manner like a heaven pillar, causing an ear-deafening shrill shriek. When it reached over 1,000 m high above the seawater, it forcefully slashed towards one battleship of Rainard Clan''s fleet like a flexible long whip when everyone widely opened their mouths...


    The terrifying long whip moved so fast that the air above that water shrieked like a piece of cotton being torn apart, which was even louder and shriller than the booms of the salvos of the cannons of the two fleets and could be heard from over 100 miles away...


    When a huge mass multiplied by a great speed, it would cause a terrifying, unimaginable destruction.


    Almost nobody could see clearly what happened at that second. Everybody could only see a long whip slashing into the ocean, which caused a sea wave as high as dozens of meters rolling in all directions. The rest ships of Rainard Fleet were tossed high and fell down heavily. After that, they bumped helplessly like dinghies...

 748 Force Majeure

    Chapter 748: Force Majeure


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The sudden terrorist attack was like spraying water over the burning oil, boiling up the entire duel water.


    On those luxury cruisers and warships in the distance, even if those passengers and crew didn''t use the telescope, they could see clearly the huge, black whip which was longer than 1,000 m. At first, it pointed towards the sky. Closely after that, it slashed down, arousing a huge wave of dozens of meters in height.


    After falling down, the huge wave gradually faded when it reached miles away. However, the surging tide still bumped those luxury cruisers and warships.


    In front of such a terrifying power, all the onlooker became dumbfounded. After that, all of them made the same reaction at the same time¡ª¡ªescape away from that monster under the seawater as fast as possible.


    Those onlooking deluxe yachts and warships were of different sizes. At this moment, they were escaping in all directions like tadpoles being frightened by crocodiles.


    On the airboat, all the clan heads from Ice and Snow Wilderness and representatives of major clans from Ewentra Archipelago even CEO Guan Xiyi of Golden Roc Bank were stunned by what they saw. Connar, the face of the head of Rainard Clan turned pale. Meanwhile, he trembled all over. That mace muling of Sacred Light School widely opened his mouth, which could even hold a goose egg.


    The huge shadow gradually showed its body out of seawater. Meanwhile, seawater flew off its body like a waterfall as it gradually raised as high as a mountain...


    When that marine creature showed itself, Rainard Clan''s fleet''s nightmare didn''t stop right away.


    Before a heavy cruiser fell back onto the seawater, another extremely terrifying, long whip-like tentacle broke out of the seawater and rolled up that heavy cruiser. Closely after that, it directly threw that heavy cruiser over hundreds of meters away in the air like throwing its own toy...


    Those on the airboat might not forget this scene for the rest of their lives¡ª¡ªan over 10,000-ton heavy cruiser flew in the air, rolled and smashed onto the seawater over 1,000 m away. From then on, it didn''t appear anymore...


    All the sailors of the fleet of Rainard Clan cried due to despair.


    In front of a monster, those onlooking deluxe yachts and civilian warships were fragile tadpoles while Rainard Clan''s fleet was at most crayfish in front of a pre-historical crocodile.


    That Rainard Clan''s heavy cruiser being thrown away was lucky; because another two heavy cruisers were rolled up by that kind of terrifying tentacles and smashed against each other at the same time. The later two heavy cruisers were twisted at once. When they were raised up, the despaired sailors on the cruisers shrieked and hurriedly jumped into the sea.


    The two twisted heavy cruisers were like an iron hammer and pontil in two hands. Closely after that, that hammer and that pontil were respectively smashed towards the rest battleship and heavy cruiser of Rainard Clan''s fleet, causing a huge wave once again. When the huge wave relieved, everything came to an end. Rainard Clan''s fleet had disappeared in the sea...


    The whole process only took a couple of minutes.


    Until then did that creature fully reveal its huge head which was as wide as 1,000 m like a hill.


    Black body, monstrous, fiery, huge pupils, once being gazed by which, the crew members on the airboat would feel a great stress.


    "Moo..." That creature uttered like blowing numerous huge conchs on the sea at the same time. The loud sound caused seawater within hundreds of meters to jump like pearls in a jade plate and formed ripples.


    That sound contained a bizarre strength. When it reached to the two battleships whose one side and bottom were covered with numerous starfish and conchs, those starfish and conchs hurriedly left the two battleships like receiving a dignified order...


    When those starfish and conchs left the battleships of North Wind Fleet, a mysterious figure hiding in the seaweeds under the sea 7-8 miles away from the duel water was destroyed by the animal controlling method while his head exploded...


    The bloody smell attracted the neighboring sharks. Only after a short while, that person had disappeared at the seabed.


    ...


    "Poseidon...Poseidon''s...pet..." A representative of a major clan on Ewentra Archipelago''s side stammered while turning pale.


    In Slavs'' myth in the north water, the most powerful huge deep-sea monster was the pet of Poseidon, the sea god. Poseidon always rode this pet and cruised across all the waters. Whenever he reached a new water, he would display his dignity and order all the aquatic creatures by blowing the conch of sea god...


    At this moment, all the representatives on Ewentra Archipelago''s side became extremely flurried when they remembered what Zhang Tie said just now. Many people''s calves were trembling. They dared not even watch Zhang Tie''s face as Zhang Tie became dignified and sacred in the hearts of them.


    "I''m so sorry about the accident facing the fleet of Ewentra Archipelago; however, marine creatures'' influence towards Ewentra Archipelago belongs to force majeure. This will not break the fairness between two parties. Will Ewentra Archipelago continue to respect our spirit of contract?" Zhang Tie became glassy-eyed as he asked in the expression similar to that of Connar.


    Zhang Tie had displayed the so-called force majeure to everybody else!


    With trembling pale lips, Connar looked around and found that all the representatives of Ewentra Archipelago were lowering their heads so as to avoid his gaze. At this moment, Connar realized how ridiculous and naive was what he had done. In front of this man, his tricks displayed nothing but his stupidity and shallow knowledge...


    Connar thought, "Even if the entire allied fleet of Ewentra Archipelago expanded by 10 times, there''s still a pile of building blocks floating on the sea, Do Ewentra Archipelago really expect to protect their interests and safety by a pile of toys?"


    ''Peh...'' Connar forcefully swallowed his saliva...


    Brightman, the head of Willies Clan in Gantiadu Island had already stood up and deeply bowed towards Zhang Tie. After that, he put his right fist onto his left chest, "Ewentra Archipelago will respect the sacred contract between us. From today on, the entire Ewentra Archipelago will be under the ruling of Peter Hamplester. You will be the only ruler of Ewentra Archipelago. I pledge to be loyal to Peter Hamplester on behalf of Willies Clan in Gantiadu Island!"


    Closely after Brightman were the other clans'' representatives of Ewentra Archipelago, who hurriedly stood up and expressed their stance, "On behalf of Gantis Clan..."


    "On behalf of Sevey Clan..."


    "On behalf of..."


    If struggle became meaningless, no clan would be as silly as a mantis which ran towards the rolling wheels of vehicles. This was the survival of law of all the major clans of Ewentra Archipelago. With the protection of such a great man, it was actually good for all the major clans of Ewentra Archipelago.


    None of the representatives were idiots.


    Connar, the head of Rainard Clan also stood up slowly, "On behalf of Rainard Clan in Akray Island, I pledge to be loyal to Peter Hamplester!"


    At this moment, Connar finally understood why Peter selected his fleet to fight North Wind Fleet as it was a severe warning to Rainard Clan and the force on its back. ''Perhaps from the beginning, Peter had not planned to let Rainard Clan''s fleet leave this water...''


    After throwing a deep glance at Zhang Tie, Guan Xiyi''s eyes flickered before he opened his mouth, " Now that both parties have no objection about the result of this duel, as the supervisor of this bet and the warrantor of the performance of this contract, Golden Roc Bank officially declares that Peter Hamplester and Ice and Snow Wilderness have become the winner of this duel. After that, Golden Roc Bank will continue to perform its duties and supervise both parties to fulfill the contract." Guan Xiyi then smiled at Zhang Tie, "Congratulations, Peter Hamplester, from now on, you will be the richest person in the entire north water of Waii Sub-continent. After deducting 0.5% of the 270 million gold coins that you won as the service charge, Golden Roc Bank will transfer the rest of money into your personal account. You can withdraw them from any branch of Golden Roc Bank on any continent. We can arrange a professional financial management team to serve you in the administration and use of such huge amount of money."


    After hearing this, everyone on the airboat remembered that Peter Hamplester had taken his Tribal Axis Railway as a mortgage for this bet. Through this duel, Peter Hamplester still held the Tribal Axis Railway; besides, he made an additional enormous amount of money...


    "Thanks!"


    Soon after Zhang Tie''s words, the mace muling of Sacred Light School noticed that Elder Turin and Elder Gouras threw malicious glances at him. Therefore, he instantly flew out of the airboat as fast as a meteor...


    ''You want to escape? No way!'' Zhang Tie''s eyes turned cold as he followed the mace muling out...

 749 Killing the Mace Muling

    Chapter 749: Killing the Mace Muling


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Elder Turin and Elder Gouras also flew out of the airboat closely after Zhang Tie.


    It seemed that mace muling had mastered a secret method to fly at a high speed. In a split second, he had reached 400-500 m away. Average knights could barely catch up with him; unfortunately, he encountered Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie had been noticing his movement. Therefore, the moment the mace muling moved had Zhang Tie moved as fast as him.


    Holding the sword in his hand, Zhang Tie closely chased after that mace muling of Sacred Light School while his sword qi rushed to the sky and grew fiercer. When he narrowed the distance to less than 100 m, Zhang Tie wove his longsword while a sharp sword qi turned into dozens of sharp sword-shaped qi and flew towards the back of that mace muling, which directly blocked many directions around that person.


    After feeling the power sword qi behind him, the mace muling had to change his direction. However, in such a split second, he was caught up by Zhang Tie, who had long prepared for that moment.


    Zhang Tie directly accelerated and started the adventurous and cruel close combat while his longsword radiated the strong brilliance.


    That mace muling of Sacred Light School greatly changed his face as he had not imagined that Zhang Tie could attack him so ferociously. For knights, the close combat was like a bayonet-charge. It was completely a match on strength, speed, defensive power, the power of battle qi, striking distance, perception and knight''s consciousness on battle elements such as the relative relation between space and time. If any party made a mistake, he would explode into pieces.


    "Would Ice and Snow Wilderness fight Sacred Light Empire?" That mace muling shrieked with a solemn look when he responded to Zhang Tie''s ferocious attack.


    If his opponent was not Zhang Tie, that mace muling might be able to escape away; however, in front of Zhang Tie, who cultivated King Roc Sutra, he lost his advantage in speed.


    After finding that Zhang Tie was not moving slower than him, that mace muling completely changed his face.


    "What you''ve done in Ice and Snow Wilderness is no different than seeking for a war. Do you think that you can access to Ice and Snow Wilderness freely? From today on, the entire north waters will be the tomb of blasphemers like you!" Zhang Tie scolded as he kept releasing sword qi towards the mace muling.


    At this moment, Elder Turin and Elder Gouras arrived. They didn''t join the battle; instead, they just kept their eyes on Zhang Tie and the mace muling. When the two knights started the battle, the airboat had already retreated over 1 mile away. Gongsun Liniang was watching this battle without blinking her eyes above the airboat.


    The words between Zhang Tie and that mace muling were transmitted to the airboat clearly.


    "Attention, please. Golden Roc Bank will not interfere with the disputes between Ice and Snow Wilderness and Sacred Light Empire. Those who want to interfere with this dispute, please leave the airboat" Guan Xiyi glanced around and said faintly.


    After hearing this, all those at present swore inside, ''Leave the airboat? What the f*ck! The airboat is still in the air. Besides knights, who else could be able to leave it? All the knights are staying outside the airboat.''


    However, more than 99% of those at present had witnessed a battle between knights before.


    Compared to the duel between two fleets, the fight between two knights was more intriguing.


    Commoners could not see clearly the battle process in the distance. They could only sense two illuminating objects colliding with each other ferociously in the distance. When the two illuminating objects crashed, powerful, sharp sword qi and battle qi flew in all directions, all of those flying towards the airboat was blocked away by the female knight.


    ''What the hell! How could the aftermath of the battle reach beyond 1 mile?''


    Everyone in the airboat was shocked by such a battle.


    The heads of bear tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness and the representatives of major clans across Ewentra Archipelago were all fascinated by such a battle, ''Compared to steel and steam, this is the real top strength in this age.''


    Watching the battle in the distance, Guan Xiyi''s eyes flickered. Nobody knew what he was thinking about.


    After experiencing the "life or death" duel with the demon knight, Zhang Tie had completely consolidated his knight''s realm. Additionally, during this period, Zhang Tie didn''t stop his cultivation. Although having not formed his earth chakra yet, Zhang Tie''s cultivation base still improved a bit.


    The mace muling was powerful. At least in Zhang Tie''s knight''s consciousness, this mace muling was a bit more powerful than Jaray, the No. 1 knight of Raymlan Empire. Zhang Tie made his conclusion from this mace muling''s speed and responding ability in the air.


    However, he was still unable to defeat Zhang Tie as Zhang Tie''s strength was also in speed and responding ability. By contrast, that demon knight, who had been killed by Zhang Tie, was more powerful and robust.


    Perhaps having been used to the dignified and tricky life, this mace muling lacked rudeness a bit.


    Rudeness could only be formed on the battlefield at the cost of countless blood and lives. It was the coagulation of arrogance, confidence, killing qi, fierce and powerful battle force.


    All the knights were powerful. However, Zhang Tie felt that the most important spiritual quality of knights should be rudeness instead of power.


    In others'' eyes, Zhang Tie was very rude. Besides his powerful and sharp swordsmanship, Zhang Tie could attack his opponent through each part of his body. Sometimes, he could collide with others at a high speed...


    Through constant collisions, the mace muling''s battle qi gradually grew thinner and tumbled-down...


    However, Zhang Tie''s killing intent remained unchanged...


    At the same time, the mace muling''s face turned grimmer.


    ...


    Seeing Zhang Tie slashing his longsword towards him, the mace muling of Sacred Light School suddenly clasped the blade using his hands at the risk of wounds as he shot his eye light towards Zhang Tie and roared, "Go die..."...


    At the sight of this, Elder Turin and Elder Gouras changed their faces at the same time.


    Right then, Zhang Tie felt something rushing into his mind and targeting at his mind sea. However, it was blocked by that shield incarnated by his god''s rune "Fixing Soul" and disappeared immediately, leaving a bell ring reverberating in his mind.


    Zhang Tie became shocked, ''Spiritual attack?''


    Zhang Tie didn''t stop his movement. He continued to push forward his longsword and stabbed it into mace muling''s body after breaking through the remaining protective battle qi.


    "You..." The mace muling widely opened his eyes which seemed to say that he didn''t believe that Zhang Tie was not influenced by his spiritual attack.


    ''No way, no way!'' If he could, he really wanted to ask Zhang Tie about the reason...


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t spare any chance to him. He drew out the longsword and chopped off his head right away with a sparkling light...


    Zhang Tie caught his head by another hand while the headless corpse of the mace muling dropped off. When it reached about 1,000 m above the sea level, a huge tentacle broke out of the water and rolled it into the bottomless mouth...


    After that, the legendary marine lord, the pet of Poseidon raised his huge eyes and looked up into the sky. Closely after that, he slowly sank to the bottom and disappeared in the vision of the public.


    WIth the mace muling''s head in his hand, Zhang tie flew back to the airboat.


    Watching Zhang Tie kill a knight of Sacred Light Empire within half an hour in front of the public, all the representatives of Ewentra Archipelago looked at Zhang Tie with an indescribable look, which contained too many things such as awe, shock, fear, excitement, worship, etc..


    "Bang!" Zhang Tie threw that head with open eyes onto the ground, which rolled towards the feet of the heads of mountain bear tribe, black bear tribe and demon bear tribe.


    The three guys were on the side of the representatives of Ewentra Archipelago. However, when the representatives of Ewentra Archipelago pledged to be loyal to Zhang Tie, the three guys became isolated like dirt instantly. They just stood in the airboat in an embarrassed way. Even though they wanted to leave, they couldn''t do it.


    At this moment, watching the head in a brilliant fish-head hat rolling to the side of their feet, the three heads felt weak all over. They even had no ability to resist if Peter wanted to kill them.


    "We..." The head of mountain bear tribe finally squeezed out a word.


    However, Zhang Tie wove his hand to stop him.


    "In front of the tomb outside Eschyle City where over 1.3 million Slavs are buried in. I''ve said that I will not have Slavs chop Slavs. Therefore, I will not kill you. After the airboat lands, you can leave for free. However, from today on, you [three tribes] are not allowed to be crowned with the name of bear tribes. Because you''ve betrayed the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness and all the Slavs instead of me. You are not qualified to use the totem and symbol of Ice and Snow Wilderness and Slavs as the name of your tribe..."


    Under the disgusting gazes of other tribes'' heads and retinues of Ice and Snow Wilderness, the three heads of bear tribes quivered...

 750 If I Come

    Chapter 750: If I Come


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On October 12th, after having a crazy day in Saint Herner City, Zhang Tie and 1,000 people of Ice and Snow Wilderness boarded the airboat of Golden Roc Bank and passed through the demon north wind belt of Oro Strait, targeting for Eschyle City.


    On that day, although it felt a bit cold, the entire Eschyle City held a carnival. All the residents of this city came out of their homes. Even the neighboring tribes and foreign immigrants poured into Eschyle City as they wanted to witness the dignified lord of Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Since the result of the duel was transferred back, the entire Eschyle City had been boiling up. Peter Hamplester''s reputation reached a new high.


    Exterminating Demon Snake Island, having Poseidon''s pet appear in the duel water, cleaning the fleet of Rainard Clan in a split second, conquering Ewentra Archipelago and chopping the mace muling of Sacred Light Empire, all the above were major events in the north waters and were extremely mysterious and legendary. Through mouth-to-mouth talk, it evolved into many versions. No matter which version it was, Peter Hamplester was always resplendent. In some versions, Peter Hamplester almost became the incarnation of God; especially the process of the appearance of the intriguing huge deep-sea monster was regarded as a sacred symbol and an indisputable god''s manifestation.


    After 5 years, when Zhang Tie reappeared in Ice and Snow Wilderness at this moment, his dignity and influence had reached a new high and shocked the entire north waters.


    Although Zhang Tie''s airboat had not arrived, this didn''t weaken the onlookers'' passion. Additionally, besides witnessing Zhang Tie, they also wanted to take a look at the legendary aircraft from Eastern Continent which passed through the devil north wind belt.


    ...


    "It''s time to establish a country!" Guan Xiyi told Zhang Tie as he pointed at the territory of Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago in front of a huge map in a room of the airboat, "The land area of Ice and Snow Wilderness covers more than 20 million sq mile; plus 10 million sq mile of water in Ewentra Archipelago, as long as you decide to establish a country, your country will cover 30 million sq mile which contains both water and land. Oro Strait will become the inland sea of your country. In a long period after Waii Sub-continent collapses, this territory will become the key tunnel that connects Eastern Continent and Western Continent. The value of Ice and Snow Wilderness will also stand out. Additionally, this territory can be a key base for humans to pin down demons on Waii Sub-continent! Based on the current situation, the relation between Ewentra Archipelago and Ice and Snow Wilderness has to be unified and administered by an alliance, administration or nation so as to make everything official."


    It was a secret talk between Guan Xiyi and Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie had already joined Gold Power Law of Taixia Country and become an invisible gold CEO of Gold Power Law in Waii Sub-continent. Therefore, Guan Xiyi, as a visible CEO, became Zhang Tie''s only contact person.


    After joining God Power Law, Zhang Tie had to pass a period of probation, after which, Gold Power Law would open more secrets and resources to Zhang Tie. After joining this organization, the higher one''s position was, the more one would know, the more resources one would be able to use and the more power one would have in the organization. In the words of Guan Xiyi, if one reached the level of mountain head, that person would have a great influence in position and energy in Taixia Country, not to mention Gold Power Law. If one wanted to reach higher levels, besides comprehensive strength, his contribution to Gold Power Law would also be referred to. There were always many confidential organizational agendas in Gold Power Law, which determined many people and powers'' life or death, rise or fall. Those who were able to push these agendas would gain according to contribution values. When one''s contribution values reached a certain degree and other hard conditions were satisfied, that person''s level in Gold Power Law would be raised.


    Watching that huge map behind Guan Xiyi, Zhang Tie faintly nodded to Guan Xiyi''s analysis. ''It''s indeed the right moment for Ice and Snow Wilderness to establish a country. Elder Turin and Elder Gouras have implied it to me for many times these days. The heads of the wild bear tribe, fire bear tribe and sea bear tribe also implied almost the same thing to me. I have to integrate the power between Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago so as to have my followers being confident to face the increasingly more severe situation. The trouble and crisis caused by the mace muling of Sacred Light School in Ice and Snow Wilderness is the best warning. If Ice and Snow Wilderness was already a nation, the mace muling of Sacred Light School would not bring such a shock to the tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness, even if he was a knight. Because Ice and Snow Wilderness is not unified, that jerk found chances to make troubles in Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago. ''


    The nation was a barrier and fortress towards foreign forces and a set of stable profit distribution and guarantee system inwards.


    ''The current situation is as follows: outwards, Ice and Snow Wilderness faces the growing fierce battle flames across Blackhot Humans Corridor; inwards, Ice and Snow Wilderness faces the new development opportunities and the increasingly larger cake of interests due to the Tribal Axis Railway, a lot of immigrants and the improved survival conditions of Ice and Snow Wilderness. As a result, Ice and Snow Wilderness reaches a key cross.''


    All the clans'' heads and elders in Ice and Snow Wilderness had figured this out.


    "This time, my most important target is to integrate the strength between Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago!" Zhang Tie admitted frankly.


    Zhang Tie didn''t mention establishing a nation. It was acceptable for a knight to establish a nation though, actually, many nations across Blackson Humans Corridor didn''t have knights at all. However, Zhang Tie didn''t have such an ambition to establish a nation. So many people''s belief in him became a heavy responsibility for Zhang Tie, which drove him to do something. When what he wanted to do became difficult, he might encounter powerful opponents at any time. Therefore, he had to handle them with tricks. This stimulated him to grow mature.


    Zhang Tie didn''t have the ambition to establish a nation; however, the reality forced him to display a great ambition. Because if he didn''t have such an ambition, it was equal to sparing chances to other ambitious guys. Actually, many times, when you learned to do what you didn''t want to do, you were growing mature.


    Every time he came to Ice and Snow Wilderness, Zhang Tie felt that he would grow mature a lot.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Guan Xiyi burst out into laughter, "I''m always curious that those major clans of Ewentra Archipelago actually have other solutions to deal with this conflict. However, it seems that their proposal of betting on the duel seems to be especially prepared for you. Through this bet on the duel, you could not only handle the problems facing Ewentra Archipelago instantly at the minimal price, but also handle the crisis facing Ice and Snow Wilderness at the minimal price when you put the Tribal Axis Railway as the mortgage. If this is a trick, it''s really perfect. You alone have played it so well. How terrifying you are, young man!"


    "Ho...ho...perhaps this is the so-called coincidence!" Zhang Tie put it off.


    Actually, whether it''s in Eastern Continent or Western Continent, there are some secret methods that could influence others'' minds without being discovered. They could influence someone to do something in the unconsciousness according to the will of the caster..." Guan Xiyi explained faintly.


    Zhang Tie was shocked; however, he still pretended to be innocent, "Ahh, is there such a secret method?"


    "Affection Fascinating Valley, Bloody Soul Temple, Dream Stealing Sect, all of these marvelous sects from Eastern Continent have such secret methods!"


    "Ahh, If I come to Eastern Continent, I will definitely pay a visit to the three sects for such secret methods. How amazing they are!"


    Guan Xiyi revealed a benign smile...


    Zhang Tie also replied with a smile...


    The topic then came to an end. The two people had a privity.


    Since the beginning, Guan Xiyi didn''t ask Zhang Tie how he could control that terrifying huge deep-sea monster. Neither did Zhang Tie explain it to him. Each person had his own secrets, especially knights.


    At this moment, a faint knock drifted from outside. Xu Tao''s voice sounded outside the backroom, "We''re arriving at Eschyle City!"


    Before the two people walked out of this room, Guan Xiyi told Zhang Tie, "If you want to establish a nation, the three bear tribes will be a trouble. If you did not handle them properly, you might have a big trouble later on!"


    Zhang Tie smiled, "When I step into Eschyle City, the three bear tribes will not be any trouble anymore; instead, they will be guilty!"


    Guan Xiyi faintly frowned as he didn''t know how Zhang Tie could be so confident.


    ...


    After a few minutes, under the cheers and gazes of numerous people in Eschyle City, the airboat of Golden Roc Bank slowly landed on a large-scale airport outside Eschyle City.


    When the cabin was put down, Zhang Tie appeared outside the hatch door firstly.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, the entire city burst out ground-breaking exclamations.


    After waving towards them, Zhang Tie walked downwards along the gangway...


    When Zhang Tie''s feet touched the ground of Ice and Snow Wilderness once again, all the golden sea-buckthorn trees in the periphery of the entire airport, on the roadsides and in the wild of Eschyle City put forth blossoms at the same time ahead of the flowering phase...


    The entire Eschyle City was like a dreamland in a split second...


    The loud cheers and uproar slowly stopped while everyone was shocked by what they saw.


    The followers of Ancient God School outside the airport, especially the earliest followers of Zhang Tie had burst out into tears due to extreme excitement. At the sight of Zhang Tie, all of them felt the real God descending as they all knelt down piously...


    Someone started to recite the contents in "Book of Eternity". Gradually, the sound could be heard all over the Eschyle City as loud as thunderbolt...


    "The God says, I stand among you in the face of a commoner. I am a member of you. The divinity is also in your hearts and in everything else!"


    "The God says, I will not manifest my dignity in terms of my throne. However, if I come, you will see it for sure. Because that''s a marvel. Even grasses and woods will know it..."


    ...


    Almost at the same time, all the golden sea-buckthorn trees'' petals withered within the territory of the demon bear tribe, mountain bear tribe and black bear tribe in Ice an Snow Wilderness...

 751 The Power of Belief

    Chapter 751: The Power of Belief


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On October 13th, only after less than 1 day in Eschyle City, Zhang Tie had already left for Gozdari Plain in the north once again along with all the representatives of Ewentra Archipelago and the heads, elders of all the bear tribes and priests of hierons of Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    It could be said that all the big figures in the north waters of Blackson Humans Corridor were sitting in this exclusive luxury train.


    Those who guarded this train on both sides were the cavalry regiment¡ª¡ªThor''s Hammer, the most powerful force in Ice and Snow Wilderness. As the train set off, more than 7,000 strong xiphodons also started to move, causing a ground-breaking sound.


    At this moment, even without the protection of Thor''s Hammer, no force across Blackson Humans Corridor dared find this train any trouble. Because almost 6 knights from Ice and Snow Wilderness were on this train, which could scare anyone else.


    After getting on the train, Zhang Tie relaxed himself in the luxury carriage after leaving the most important question to those clan heads, knights, priests of Ice and Snow Wilderness and those representatives of Ewentra Archipelago¡ª¡ªHow to establish the nation.


    Zhang Tie clarified two principles about establishing the nation.


    First, he would fulfill his promise to the major clans on Ewentra Archipelago. After establishing the nation, Ewentra Archipelago would have an autonomous parliament. The basic rights of major clans and the commercial prosperity and vitality on Ewentra Archipelago would be guaranteed.


    Second, Ancient God Church would be the national religion of the new country and the largest religion in the north waters of Blackson Humans Corridor. The new country would unify the state and the religion.


    After posing the above two principles, Zhang Tie left the other questions to those people such as the garrison, taxation on Ewentra Archipelago, the adjustment of the trade relationship between Ewentra Archipelago and Ice and Snow Wilderness, the integration of the battle forces of both parties, the guarantee of the interests of all the tribes on Ice and Snow Wilderness and the manifestation of the rights of clan heads and elders in the new country...


    As long as those people being involved with these topics reached their agreement, Zhang Tie would accept their consensus.


    Everybody was clear that Zhang Tie had made a great sacrifice and concession to the reunification of the Slav tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness. In the eyes of all the Slavs, this was a great, brilliant decision. As for the two principles that Zhang Tie had posed, they were actually almost the established facts.


    After the train set off for less than 5 minutes, even though it was a few carriages away, Zhang Tie could still hear the old wild bear roaring, "If all the bear tribes divide their own territory clearly, who will manage those small and medium-sized tribes on their territory?"


    "Small and medium-sized tribes should have the right to free migration. They would be under the control of that bear tribe whose territory they entered!" Elder Rodolfo replied.


    "If so, your iron bear tribe will have a great benefit. Because of the existence of the Tribal Axis Railway, most of the small and medium-sized tribes will choose to settle down near the railway. In this way, your power will expand greatly. By contrast, no small and medium-sized tribe would like to settle down in our sea bear tribe as we even lack food. If you have the right to manage those small and medium-sized tribes within your territory, we will be lagged far away by you in the future!" The head of Sea Bear Tribe protested.


    "Iron bear tribe always develops fast due to many reasons; instead of our right to manage small and medium-sized tribes. Even five fingers on a palm have different lengths, when do the tribes have the same strength?"


    "Can we make a compromise? Fox and leopard tribes are not allowed to migrate without the consent of bear tribes whose territory they are in. Wolf, eagle and rat tribes have the freedom to migrate!" The head of fire bear tribe opened his mouth.


    "This would cause a big chaos. As fox and leopard tribes are free in Ice an Snow Wilderness, bear tribes have no right to manage fox and leopard tribes. We cannot forbid them to migrate freely!"


    "What else? Do we need to spare a territory for each tribe starting from rat tribes?"


    "I disagree!" Elder Rodolfo protested, "Iron bear tribe has so many small and medium-sized tribes in its territory, what else do we have if each small and medium-sized tribe has one territory? As we all need to submit the same exit fee when we leave Eschyle City, why do we have different territories?"


    "Don''t distinguish territory then?" The head of fire bear tribe murmured.


    "Without clear division of territory, how do our bear tribes protect our rights?" Some elders instantly protested.


    ...


    In another carriage...


    "Ms. Olina, through the negotiation of the major clans in Ewentra Archipelago, we decided to select you as the speaker of the autonomous parliament in Ewentra Archipelago. Please take our advice!"


    "Yes, this position is very suitable for you, Ms. Olina!"


    "Only when Ms. Olina takes this position will it be the largest guarantee for the interests of Ewentra Archipelago!"


    Closely after that were the praises in unison...


    ...


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile as he shook his head. Compared to the party of Ewentra Archipelago, the party of Ice and Snow Wilderness was in a chaos, which made Zhang Tie puzzled.


    ''Forget it, let them go and quarrel, as long as they could reach the conclusion.''


    After putting his powerful knight''s consciousness from all the carriages, Zhang Tie started to appreciate the scenery on both sides of the railway.


    In each a few meters, a tall and strong fighter stood on both sides of the railway.


    Compared to 5 years ago, Ice and Snow Wilderness had changed a lot.


    Zhang Tie saw towns and villages and smoking plants on both sides of the railway after leaving Eschyle City. Many villages had roads while more vehicles were running on the road in the wild. It was prosperous everywhere, which could not be seen several years ago.


    Watching the train passing by, many people waved their hands towards the train. Many of them knelt down on both sides of the railway and prayed piously.


    Zhang Tie even saw the emblem of Ancient God Church on the roofs of the churches in those villages and towns.


    Actually, Zhang Tie didn''t know the emblem of Ancient God Church until yesterday. However, each time he saw it, Zhang Tie would look strange; because the emblem of Ancient God Church was square outside and round inside compared to the emblems of other religions such as a cross. It looked like a copper coin in ancient Hua times. However, an ancient copper coin was round outside and square inside.


    The emblem of Ancient God Church originated from the big stony tanks being used to store water when Zhang Tie manifested the God''s will in the underground ruins. At first sight, it was absolutely the vertical view of a big stony tank. However, as an emblem of Ancient God Church, it was also granted with a sacred religious meaning like a cross.


    ¡ª¡ªThe round shape symbolizes each one''s complete divinity while the square shape symbolizes that the divinity is indestructible. Additionally, the four corners of the square symbolizes the four sacred, brave deeds recorded in the "Book of Eternity", namely, one''s sacred deed to himself; one''s sacred deed to others; one''s sacred deed to all the creatures in the world and one''s sacred deed to the mother nature and the universe. The first sacred deed refers that one could completely abandon all the evil things; the second sacred deed indicates the perfection of righteousness; the third sacred deed implies the perfection of affection while the fourth sacred deed means the perfection of intelligence.


    Even though the "Book of Eternity" was expressed by Zhang Tie orally, Zhang Tie was still dumbfounded by that pattern and its meaning. All this was "discovered" by his followers, who believed that everything that Zhang Tie did in the underground ruins contained fantastic meaning, including the 7 tanks being used to hold water. After their careful study around the clock, they finally "deciphered" the sacred code hidden in the big tanks. They were driven ecstatic like having discovered the truth.


    As to why there were 7 big tanks instead of 6 or 8 or other numbers, in the eyes of the followers of Ancient God Church, this also contained a sacred meaning. Everyone believed that Zhang Tie was actually telling everybody else that the ancient god created everything¡ª¡ªbecause all the lives of pregnancy cycle were integral multiple of 7; for instance, mice''s pregnancy cycle was 3 multiple of 7; rabbit''s pregnancy cycle was 4 multiple of 7; cat''s pregnancy cycle was 8 multiple of 7; dog''s pregnancy cycle was 9 multiple of 7; lion''s pregnancy cycle was 14 multiple of 7; human''s pregnancy cycle was 40 multiple of 7. Humans had 7 holes on their face; ladybug had 7 spots on their back...


    The ancient god created sound; therefore, music was composed of 7 musical notes...


    The ancient god created colors; therefore rainbow had 7 colors...


    The ancient god created everything; therefore, the periodic table of elements took 7 as a cycle...


    After returning to Ice and Snow Wilderness this time, Zhang Tie sensed the terrible strength of that religious seed that he had sowed for the first time...


    ...

 752 Better Men

    Chapter 752: Better Men


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After hearing the knocks from the door of the carriage, Zhang Tie moved his eyes away from the roof of a church in the distance.


    Before any person came in, given the footsteps, Zhang Tie knew whom they were.


    "Come in!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    Waajid, Zhang Tie''s bodyguard, also a bear-killing fighter of the huge bear tribe, pushed open the door and took some guys in.


    "Lord, I''ve brought them here!"


    "Hmm, you can leave now!"


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s order, Waajid threw a glance at those guys as he seemed to warn them to be polite, before moving back quietly. After that, he closed the door.


    Zhang Tie was familiar with those guys, those condemned criminals who were sent to Selnes Theater of Operations as cannon fodder¡ª¡ªHillman the old dog, Michelle the warehouse keeper, Figo the vet, Dinar the manager and Da Vinci, the broker of the slave trade in Stars Viewing City of Huaiyuan Prefecture.


    Zhang Tie saved these guys in Selnes Theater of Operations and took them to Huaiyuan Prefecture and told them to execute a task with Da Vinci¡ª¡ªbuy a steamer ticket for those poor slaves and transport all of them to Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Over the past two years, they had been doing this. With the coordination of Spencer Clan, they had already transported more than 200,000 slaves to Ice and Snow Wilderness. Furthermore, they established 3 towns outside Eschyle City to hold those slaves.


    After 2 years, all of these guys had changed. Hillman the old dog looked like a real businessman of a major clan; Michelle the warehouse keeper looked a bit more shrewd; Figo the vet looked as tender as a real doctor; Dinar the manager looked a bit merciful while Da Vinci the broker in the slave trade in Stars Viewing City looked fat.


    They all wore wholly new elegant clothes. When they entered the carriage, after knowing that Peter Hamplester was going to meet them, they all looked a bit restraint and scared. After all, there was such a great gap between them and Peter Hamplester in status. Peter Hamplester was the Lord of Ice and Snow Wilderness. They had heard about the legends of this person on the first day they came to Ice and Snow Wilderness. By contrast, they were just small figures who worked with slaves. In their eyes, even the steward of Spencer Clan was a big figure, not to mention Peter Hamplester.


    They wondered how Peter Hamplester knew their names and why would Peter Hamplester want to meet them.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, these guys were all shocked as they found that this Peter looked similar to Zhang Tie.


    When the others still looked unbelievable, Hillman, who responded it firstly lowered his head and dared not see Zhang Tie''s face any longer. The others also discovered something as they lowered their heads too. Da Vinci immediately changed his face. In a split second, his forehead had been covered with fine sweat beads.


    They all understood what outcome they would face if small figures like them discovered something that they shouldn''t have known.


    "Take a seat..." Zhang Tie said kindly as he pointed at the two rows of luxury sofa inside the carriage.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s raw voice, these guys'' hearts palpitated at once. Hillman the old dog''s lowered his head while Da Vinci almost fell down.


    "You..." Figo the vet became stammered while being kicked slightly by Dinar on his side. He then hurriedly shut up.


    Sitting on the sofa in a restraint way, they all looked strange which contained both shock and fear. They dared never see Zhang Tie''s face.


    "I''m very satisfied with what you''ve done these couple of years!" Zhang Tie opened his mouth.


    Although Zhang Tie was sitting still inside the carriage, his battle qi had already penetrated through the walls and deck and covered all the sounds and shocks inside the carriage. This was a usage of battle qi which could only be mastered by knights, also a practical skill being used to prevent eavesdropping during conversations.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, these guys didn''t know what to say. Only Hillman the old dog sighed as he raised his head once again, "Your Excellency, we''ve not lived up to your expectation; perhaps this is the only thing we feel a bit proud of!"


    "I heard you''ve changed a lot!"


    "Actually, during the past two years, many people said we changed many slaves'' lives; truthfully, we were changed by slaves!" Hillman watched Zhang Tie as he said, "Michelle married a girl who lost all of her family members in the war. He''s now a police sergeant of a police station. He has become a father this year. Figo became a real vet; he teaches many students how to cure diseases for livestock and how to survive in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Dinar invented a senior papermaking technology with twigs and leaves of sea-buckthorn trees. He''s now a boss of a factory with over 3,000 employees. In some harbor cities in the south of Blackson Humans Corridor, the name Da Vinci has become many slaves'' hope to shake off pains!"


    "What about you?"


    After thinking for a second, Hillman replied, "Previously, my only target was to make money; however, now I find that there''re many other things that one desires for. When you walk in a small town, if all the residents that you see smiles towards you, appreciates and respects you, trusts you and watches you with their sparkling eyes, shakes your hands with warm, exciting and quivering hands, you will also change. Although it''s good to have money; it''s even better to be appreciated and respected by others!"


    Zhang Tie knew that Hillman''s words were true. When they took those slaves to Ice and Snow Wilderness by ship, they were actually changed by those slaves. These condemned criminals who were destined to be cannon fodder on the battlefield seemed to find back their lives as they entered another stage of life.


    After Michelle, the former thief lord, became the police sergeant of a police station, all the thieves disappeared from the town. The security of the town almost became the model of Ice and Snow Wilderness. Figo the pervert reaper had become the most respectful vet in the places neighboring Eschyle City. Besides those slave students, many small and medium-sized tribes and villages dispatched young men to learn vet skills from him. Dinar, who survived on making and selling fake certificates and documents had also put his talent in the right place. The senior paper that he made with golden sea-buckthorn twigs and leaves were exported to Ewentra Archipelago and became the best printing paper for high-end commercial documents. Da Vinci founded two primary schools in those slave towns. Hillman the old dog who had almost made Cross Star Commercial Bank go bankrupt became the key person in the overall plan of slave redemption.


    The redemption of those slaves and those righteous deeds made every one of them strive to be a better person.


    Actually, anyone could become a better person as long as he wished to change.


    Zhang Tie was very pleasant as he witnessed these people''s change. Although these guys'' quick development was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination, they were doing something meaningful to the final analysis.


    "Hmm, we have no vet school in Ice and Snow Wilderness, Figo, do you wish to be the headmaster of the first vet school in Ice and Snow Wilderness?" Zhang Tie asked which shocked everyone else at present.


    Figo raised his head immediately with an unbelievable look, "You won''t kill us?"


    "Killing is not the reward for those who are loyal to me! Additionally, you did pretty well, why would I kill you?" Zhang Tie blinked his eyes.


    "Because..." Figo became silent at once.


    "Because I look similar to someone that you know?" Zhang Tie smiled, "Do you think that one who took you out of Selnes Theater of Operations is that cruel and terrifying?''


    ''How could small figures still survive themselves after knowing this secret?'' Hillman looked at Zhang Tie with a surprised expression.


    "Perhaps, when you walk out of this carriage, you will forget about that secret completely!" Zhang Tie''s voice became faintly penetrative.


    Even senior hypnotism could help people forget about some specific memory, not to mention secret methods such as "Soul Forbidden Skill".


    "Do...do I continue to do that?" Da Vinci stammered.


    "Yes, you can. You can expand it but in a different way. You may have a better effect if you do this on behalf of the government!"


    "On behalf of the government?" Da Vinci watched Zhang Tie with a dubious look.


    "For instance, you can do that as a deputy director general of National Immigration Affairs Bureau!"


    After hearing this, Da Vinci became thrilled as his face blushed at once.


    Zhang Tie then moved his eyes on Dinar, "I was told that your paper has a good market. You can expand the production scale and employ more people. If you could have some more inventions, I would consider to grant you with the patent right!"


    Dinar also became thrilled.


    "What about me?" Michelle asked in a bashful way.


    "Don''t you think it''s the greatest undertaking for a man to be a good father and a good husband?'' Zhang Tie watched Michelle.


    Michelle''s face blushed at once.


    "But if you had too many babies and could not feed them in the future with your salary, I have a position for you which has a high payment. You can consider it!"


    "What position?"


    "Senior security advisor of the police station of Eschyle City. This title allows you to feed more than 20 babies!"


    "Ahh..." Michelle also became thrilled as his lips quivered. He didn''t know what to say while his eyes became watery.


    Zhang Tie looked at Hillman, "I have many things to deal with in Ice and Snow Wilderness. I need a steward now..."


    Hillman instantly stood up as he bowed towards Zhang Tie deeply by putting his right hand on his left chest, which was both elegant and noble, "Your Majesty, it''s my greatest honor to win your favor."


    ''Your Majesty?'' After hearing this appellation, the others just watched Hillman with a dumbfounded look. Only Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "What a cunning old dog! You really have a sharp observation..."


    ...


    When they left the carriage, besides Hillman, all the others felt that something had disappeared from their mind. However, they couldn''t remember what had disappeared. They were all very excited about having met Peter and longing for their bright future...


    Hillman felt a bit strange; because since they left the carriage, given their tones and looks, all the others seemed to forget some things when they talked about Peter...


    A sound appeared in Hillman''s ears at this moment, "As my steward, you can know a bit more than the others. You will have a broader vision and become clearer about your own instance. Never let me down!"


    Hillman''s heart pounded as he bowed deeply towards the carriage once again...

 753 Arrival

    Chapter 753: Arrival


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The xiphodons'' clop broke the tranquil wild of Ice and Snow Wilderness. Being escorted by Thor''s Hammer, Zhang Tie rode a tall and mighty xiphodon and looked around the familiar wild while feeling hot.


    At this moment, with a wind blowing over his face, Zhang Tie seemed to see the cold, stubborn and beautiful face under the mask.


    It only took Zhang Tie one day to arrive at the south of Ice and Snow Wilderness by xiphodon since he got off the train. All the golden sea-buckthorn trees in the south wild of Ice and Snow Wilderness blossomed at the same time. All the golden sea-buckthorn trees were greeting their creator, the Lord of Ice and Snow Wilderness in their own pattern.


    On the way, wherever Zhang Tie passed by the train, the roadside golden sea-buckthorn trees blossomed in advance like a carpet being paved with fresh flowers.


    Needless to say, at the sight of such a scene, everyone knew that it indicated the arrival of the most sacred God''s manifestation and the God.


    Each mile northward, Zhang Tie''s great reputation would spread to all directions with the sacred halos. People would come from all directions and gather on the roadside of the railway in order to look at this fairytale in the secular world even from afar. Even if they could not see Peter, they would also feel satisfied when they saw his train.


    The elders, heads of tribes and priests were still quarreling and bargaining with each other in the carriages when the twilight of the reunification of Ice and Snow Wilderness had already illuminated the land and made numerous Slavs blood boiled.


    Gangula and a team of the wild bear cavalries were riding xiphodons ahead as Zhang Tie''s vanguard. They passed by some small tribes and villages. All the residents poured out of their tribes and villages. Many of them were kneeling down in the wild and watching the mighty xiphodon cavalries rolling over.


    Even if some tribes and villages didn''t know what happened these days, at the sight of Childe Gangula the mad dog of wild bear tribe acting as a vanguard ahead of the team, they would know that the one behind Gangula and the xiphodon cavalries of the wild bear tribe was unusual. It would not be so majestic even if the head of wild bear tribe arrived.


    Those who didn''t know what was happening were just watching aside while those influential ones such as heads of small and medium-sized tribes within 1,000 sq miles had been spirited in most brilliant and solemn clothes and converged in the grey eagle tribe with their most trustful subordinates in the most humble way.


    When Gangula''s banner was still over 20 miles away from the grey eagle tribe, the vedettes of the grey eagle tribe in mountains had already rushed back one after another. When he arrived at the periphery of the base of grey eagle tribe, he couldn''t stand but shout, "They''re arriving; they''re arriving; they''re just 30 miles away..."


    "They''re arriving; they''re arriving; they''re just 29 miles away..."


    "They''re arriving; they''re arriving; they''re just 28 miles away..."


    The vedettes rushed into the grey eagle tribe one after another, boiling up all the people in the grey eagle tribe.


    Meanwhile, some guys were as anxious as ants on a hot pan.


    ...


    Soon after Setton walked out of the residence of O''Laura had a lot of guys swarmed up.


    "What''s that? Doesn''t O''Laura wish to come out?" Elder Juventus, in a grand dress, was oozing sweat all over his forehead.


    Setton just shook his head.


    "What should we do then?" Elder Olier became flurried as he threw his glance at Elder Mocco.


    Elder Mocco glanced at those big figures from all the other tribes, then the residence of O''Laura. Finally, he let out a sigh, "Let''s go greet them. O''Laura could wait for that person here but we cannot!"


    After hearing Elder Mocco''s words, all those surrounding O''Laura''s residence let out a sigh like being remitted from a punishment as they hurriedly nodded.


    "Elder Mocco is right. If we also waited here, it''d be really impolite to our Lord!" The head of wind wolf tribe, an uncle of O''Laura, who came here first also uttered with a benign look, "As O''Laura''s uncle, I saw her growing up. Perhaps, O''Laura is still a bit nervous at this moment, we''d better not force her to do that. I will have some of her female cousins accompany her here; just spare some free time for her!"


    As the head of wind wolf tribe explained, he threw a glance at a noblewoman on his side. The woman then called three 16-20-years-old beautiful girls to enter O''Laura''s residence.


    Watching all these, although those people from small and medium-sized tribes remained silent, they despised it very much, ''5 years ago, without Peter, the grey eagle tribe had long been annexed by the wind wolf tribe. You want to show your friendship to O''Laura now? When O''Laura was struggling in the grey eagle tribe, where were you?'' But it was a marvelous world. If O''Laura didn''t go to work as a rewarded hunter for money, she would not recognize Peter and would not have all these today. Perhaps, this was the God''s will.


    Although they were having all sorts of thoughts, nobody was stupid enough to mention what happened 5 years ago. Otherwise, the shameless affairs about Elder Juventus and Olier might be exposed, which would be too embarrassing in such a situation. If anyone dared to make others unhappy at this moment, he had to escape away from Ice and Snow Wilderness from then on.


    "Whether do we need to...greet them...now?" Elder Juventus looked at them one after another with a poor expression. The one standing in front of Juventus was much nobler than him. He dared not offend these people even when he held immense power in the grey eagle tribe, not to mention now.


    "Let''s go!" Elder Mocco nodded as all the others rode on their own horses and rushed out of the grey eagle tribe.


    ...


    O''Laura in a mask was watching that "eagle''s eye" finger ring on her finger in the room. Since she put on this finger ring 5 years ago, this finger ring had not left her finger.


    At this moment, a maid reported to her from her back. O''Laura turned around and saw her aunt and some female cousins walking into the room with a big smile.


    Watching these relatives, O''Laura recovered her composure as she asked, "What are you here for?"


    "We are here to help you!" That noblewoman twisted her butt over here.


    "Help me?" O''Laura asked with an amazed voice behind the mask like having heard something ridiculous.


    That noblewoman then revealed a thorough smile as she comforted O''Laura faintly, "Don''t you know that the man''s 9 women could never match you? The enchanting fox is a widow, who''s destined to be that man''s mistress in Ewentra Archipelago. Sabrina''s dissolute personality had been spread across Ice and Snow Wilderness before she met that man. The 6 woman of Spencer Clan stays with him just for the interests and political demand of the clan. Therefore, you will definitely become the first queen of Ice and Snow Wilderness. Woman''s fight in the imperial harem of the king is as ferocious as that between men on the battlefield. You will meet many opponents in the future. You need cousins to help you. As they are from the same clan as you, they will not betray you. Having them on your side, they will become your eyes and ears; they will help you manage the imperial harem of Ice and Snow Wilderness and enable you to be the most powerful woman across Ice and Snow Wilderness!"


    ...


    Gangula''s team encountered those who came out of the grey eagle tribe to greet them from 10 miles away. Although Gangula looked docile in front of Zhang Tie, it didn''t mean that he also treated these people kindly. At the sight of them, Gangula didn''t get off the xiphodon; instead, he just looked down at these guys in the grand dress who were trying their best to make a bitter smile.


    These people also looked at him in the same way as in usual days. Therefore, Gangula didn''t pay attention to these people.


    After looking around, Gangula frowned, "Where''s O''Laura?''


    "We...the head...feels uncomfortable!" After the three elders of the grey eagle tribe exchanged glances with each other, Elder Juventus plucked his courage to reply.


    Gangula''s face changed. However, after thinking about something, he bore it.


    After exchanging glances with each other, those people confirmed their suspicion.


    ...


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie arrived with Thor''s Hammer. Everybody here was shocked by the mighty Thor''s Hammer. The Thor''s Hammer was once the most powerful Cavalries Group in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Now, after Zhang Tie, they looked as overwhelming as being capable of breaking everything in front of them.


    The arrival of Thor''s Hammer made the horses of those who welcomed Zhang Tie moved backward out of panic. Their owners could almost not control them.


    Zhang Tie stopped 20 m away from those people. After glancing over them from his xiphodon, Zhang Tie saw many familiar faces, Elder Juventus, Elder Olier and Elder Mocco who once tortured him a lot, Nurdo and Salem were also behind the crowd, who dared not look into Zhang Tie''s eyes out of awe. Besides, many of them were unfamiliar to Zhang Tie. However, Zhang Tie could probably judge their status from their costumes.


    "Setton, you look darker!" Zhang Tie smiled at Setton.


    After hearing Zhang Tie talking to him firstly, Setton instantly chested out as he smirked and didn''t know what to say.


    "Elder Mocco, you look more spirited!"


    Elder Mocco put his right hand on his left chest with a smile.


    After hearing Zhang Tie greeting Setton and Elder Mocco, numerous admirable eyes fell on the two guys.


    "Where''s O''Laura?" Zhang Tie asked Setton.


    Setton just threw a glance at Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then understood that O''Laura remained unchanged.


    "Well, we will talk later when we come back!" Zhang Tie watched those who greeted him and issued the order. Closely after that, he clamped the belly of the xiphodon by his legs and rushed towards the base of the grey eagle tribe.


    In this case, it seemed that they could be satisfied only by Zhang Tie''s one word. Those guys then chested out and rushed back towards the base of grey eagle tribe together with Thor''s Hammer.


    When they reached less than 2 miles away from the base, Zhang Tie caught sight of O''Laura.


    O''Laura in a mask was riding a Xiphodon which was gifted by him and looking in this direction on a green hill, skirt waving in the air.


    Zhang Tie raised his hand while the entire Thor''s Hammer stopped.


    Zhang Tie and O''Laura then looked into each others'' eyes for quite a while silently.


    Zhang Tie''s blood boiled as he felt that they had departed for 2 decades instead of 5 years.


    How many 20 years does a person have?


    In the entire north waters, Zhang Tie only had 2 women in his heart, namely Olina and O''Laura. The latter''s unlucky bygones and sensitive and lonely heart under the camouflage of her icy and stubborn appearance made Zhang Tie''s heart ache.


    Everything came to an end at this moment.


    O''Laura moved. She didn''t move towards Zhang Tie; instead, she rushed towards the wild in the distance, closely followed by Zhang Tie.


    Without receiving Zhang Tie''s order, nobody dared to move. Until Zhang Tie disappeared in front of them did they exchange glances with each other.


    "Ahem...ahem...everybody, go back to the base of grey eagle tribe!" Zhang Tie''s bodyguard Roslav coughed faintly.


    "Erm...is that okay...do we need to dispatch someone to protect them..." A head of a small tribe uttered.


    "Do you think that a knight who killed a mace muling of Sacred Light Empire need any bodyguard?" Waajid replied faintly.


    Everybody was shocked and remained silent...


    ...


    When the two xiphodons kept running at full speed, Zhang Tie and O''Laura soon rushed into the wild over 30 miles away from the base of grey eagle tribe. Additionally, Zhang Tie gradually caught up with O''Laura.


    As Zhang Tie whistled, O''Laura''s xiphodon stopped right away, causing O''Laura to exclaim. Zhang Tie instantly flew off his xiphodon and hugged O''Laura. Closely after that, they rolled into the 1.7 m high brushwood in the wild. Zhang Tie then pressed O''Laura under his body.


    O''Laura struggled and started to kick and punch Zhang Tie. However, Zhang Tie tightly hugged O''Laura.


    "Do you know when I cultivated in the tower of time, I always thought about you? During that period, I even dreamed about being beaten by you like this!"


    Closely after hearing Zhang Tie''s words, O''Laura stopped. With undulating chest, she just gazed at Zhang Tie firmly.


    Zhang Tie watched her eyes behind the mask and said, "You missed me for 5 years; however, I missed you for 20 years!"


    This word completely broke O''Laura''s icy mental defense line...


    They just watched each other in this way...


    Some liquid flew off O''Laura''s cheeks. Zhang Tie slightly took off O''Laura''s mask, exposing that cold, beautiful face which had been covered with tears.


    "I''m telling you that from today on you don''t need to wear this mask as nobody can dare harm you anymore!"


    The metal mask changed into iron filings and fell off Zhang Tie''s hand...


    They started to kiss forcefully. It tasted a bit salty...


    ...


    On October 25th, that luxury exclusive train drove into Gozidari Plain, causing all the golden sea-buckthorn trees to blossom across Gozidari Plain on the same day...


    Two hours before they got off the train, a complete plan for establishing the nation was finally brought to Zhang Tie. After Zhang Tie read it, with a distant steam whistle, the train slowed down and finally arrived at the terminal station in the north of Tribal Axis Railway.


    When Zhang Tie read the plan, all the heads, elders of tribes of Ice and Snow Wilderness and the representatives of major clans of Ewentra Archipelago stood in Zhang Tie''s carriage with solemn looks. They focused on Zhang Tie and waited for this man to make the final decision.


    In usual days, nobody could allow these people to stand still for 2 hours. However, at such a critical moment, nobody complained about that. Because the 2 hours determined the future of a nation and refreshed the history of north waters of Blackson Humans Corridor. It would turn on a wholly new page of Slavs'' history.


    It was a great honor for them to stand here and witness how all this happening.


    Nobody would feel tired at this moment...


    After the train stopped, Zhang Tie raised his head and rubbed his temple by one hand. Closely after that, he replied, "I agree!"


    ...

 754 Sacred Iceland Kingdom

    Chapter 754: Sacred Iceland Kingdom


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s opinion, everyone in the carriage felt relieved.


    In this plan, besides the autonomous parliament in Ewentra Archipelago which enjoyed a great autonomy, the bear tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness also had a great autonomy. In this situation, even though Zhang Tie was coronated, he still didn''t have too many rights on the internal affairs of bear tribes such as human transfer right, military power, property right and arbitration, except for that of the huge bear tribe and iron bear tribe. The power over major issues of bear tribes was still in the hand of tribe''s heads and elders.


    This was the bottom line for the fire bear tribe, sea bear tribe and wild bear tribe to support Zhang Tie.


    Spencer Clan of the iron bear tribe had a neutral attitude while Elder Gouras of the huge bear tribe was a bit radical, who was unsatisfied with the three bear tribes'' conservative opinions. However, Elder Gouras knew that it was already great for the three bear tribes to admit Zhang Tie''s authority and have them support Slavs'' great undertaking of unification. Without Peter and Peter''s unusual battle force and marvels, the three bear tribes would never make such a compromise.


    Peter Hamplester had been more like the great image of Lord of Slavs in the prophecy of the great prophet pontiff. Any person or tribe would face a great stress if they stood opposite to Peter Hamplester.


    However, the fire bear tribe, sea bear tribe and wild bear tribe made the compromise on certain conditions. This plan of establishing a nation was actually built on an exchange. They would support Zhang Tie to be the supreme ruler of Ice and Snow Wilderness; Zhang Tie would support them to consolidate their ruling on their own tribes. In the frame of the unification of state and church, the heads of the three tribes requested Zhang Tie to bestow on them the title of the supreme priesthood of Ancient God Church in the territory of their own tribes. The knight elders of the three tribes would take this chance to join the "College of Elder Cardinals". The position of "College of Elder Cardinals" was equal to the combination between the cabinet and the tribal joint meeting of the new country, which was entitled to interfere with the major affairs of the entire country. The three tribes actually expanded their tribes'' influence and deepened the basis of their heads'' power by this chance.


    This was a bald exchange.


    Only the huge bear tribe supported and trusted Zhang Tie completely. The powerful and mysterious knowledge left by prophet pontiff Elzida to the huge bear tribe was also requested to be integrated into the inheritance system of Ancient God Church by the huge bear tribe. From today on, all the priests across Ice and Snow Wilderness could only gain the mysterious knowledge from priests. The Ancient God Church which only had an inheritance in religious creed before would have an established powerful mysterious knowledge inheritance system now. This was an almost unnecessary step for all the powerful religions in Black Iron Age.


    In this age, if the clergies of a religion couldn''t master a powerful, unique mysterious knowledge, such a religion would be considered as a heresy or an informal religion, which could only be used to cheat others in small places. Being basically different than various battle-qi oriented mysterious knowledge and battle skills systems, religious mysterious knowledge inheritance system included various spiritual-energy oriented mysterious knowledge and skills. Higher requirements were posed on the inheritance in such mysterious knowledge and skills with the religious background than that in battle skills.


    Compared to the complex situation on the side of Ice and Snow Wilderness, the situation facing Ewentra Archipelago was simpler. At this moment, the representatives of major clans in Ewentra Archipelago had no good card to play in front of Zhang Tie. They were only concerned about two aspects in the nation establishing plan, namely the tax rate and the social status of the private army in each clan in Ewentra Archipelago after establishing the nation.


    With Zhang Tie''s consent, the two aspects were finally fixed through Ms. Olina''s intermediate communication.


    In the future, Ewentra Archipelago''s scot would be unified. Additionally, the upper limit of the scot in Ewentra Archipelago should not exceed 80% of the average scot across Ewentra Archipelago. Furthermore, the private army and fleet of each clan would be adapted to the mixed fleet of Ewentra Archipelago. The nature of the fleet belonged to local armed garrisons, whose expenditure would be paid by each major clan. Besides, the commander of each local armed garrison would be nominated by each major clan and appointed by the autonomous parliament of Ewentra Archipelago. Usually, these armed garrisons could only be dispatched and commanded by the autonomous parliament of Ewentra Archipelago. During the wartime, especially when Ewentra Archipelago was invaded by demons, these armed garrisons would accept Zhang Tie''s unified command.


    Compared to the bear tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness, the major clans in Ewentra Archipelago knew their own limitations. They knew that they were not qualified to pose any request about Ancient God Church to Zhang Tie.


    The full name of the new nation was Sacred Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago United Kingdom, briefly, Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Ancient God Church would become the national religion of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. The pope of Ancient God Church and the King of the kingdom would be unified into a wholly new name tsar, which represented the inheritance of the bloodline of the ancient god and the supreme ruler of Slavs.


    Zhang Tie would become the first tsar of Slavs in Black Iron Age and rule the entire Sacred Iceland Kingdom and Ancient God Church.


    These were the outlines and general contents of the plan. More details about the system would be further improved after Zhang Tie was coronated. Additionally, as of now, Zhang Tie hadn''t posed the concrete division of priesthood in the Ancient God Church. As Ancient God Church was founded by Zhang Tie, only Zhang Tie could determine the division of priesthood inside the church.


    After Zhang Tie replied "I agree", the heads and elders of fire bear tribe, sea bear tribe and wild bear tribe actually were a bit shocked as they thought that Zhang Tie would make some limitations on the autonomy of the three bear tribes in the plan. They had negotiated privately. If Zhang Tie was really dissatisfied with the plan, the three tribes could actually make some compromise on some aspect.


    Nobody had imagined that Zhang Tie could agree with their plan so fast.


    Many people were amazed by that.


    Zhang Tie smiled towards the heads and elders of the three tribes and said, "Let''s get off the train. Pontiff Sarlin might be waiting for us in the railway station!"


    ...


    Pontiff Sarlin indeed had waited a long time in the railway station.


    The moment Zhang Tie got off the train, he caught sight of the familiar face of Pontiff Sarlin. Although it had been 5 years, Pontiff Sarlin, who had been a knight, didn''t change at all. His eyes were still as profound as the ocean which seemed to contain many secrets.


    The platform of the railway station was refreshed. Bear-killing warriors were standing on the platforms solemnly in two rows. There was no fresh flower, no cheer in the station. In the unusual silence, everything looked magnificent and solemn.


    O''Laura followed Zhang Tie off the train.


    Sabrina walked into the team of the wild bear tribe; Ms. Olina also walked together with the representatives of major clans in Ewentra Archipelago. Only the glamorous O''Laura closely followed Zhang Tie.


    This time, O''Laura was accompanied by Setton, her two maids and 10 strongest fighters of the grey eagle tribe and her four cousins. Zhang Tie didn''t know why O''Laura brought her cousins here. Whatever, as long as she liked it. As O''Laura was going to live in Gozidari Plain, Zhang Tie thought that O''Laura would not feel lonely with some relatives and friends on her side.


    Zhang Tie didn''t have any impression of O''Laura''s cousins during so many days on the train. However, O''Laura''s uncle and aunt who ruled the wind wolf tribe of about 300,000 people deeply impressed Zhang Tie only with a short contact. O''Laura''s uncle was shrewd while O''Laura''s aunt was also a smart woman.


    All of them were scared by that solemn atmosphere when they got off the train and remained silent.


    "Why is it too quiet?" Pontiff Sarlin revealed a faint smile when Zhang Tie walked towards him, "Please forgive their silence. Because the entire huge bear tribe had been expecting for your arrival for hundreds of years. When such an expectation finally turned into reality, each one here couldn''t cheer up. Because cheers mean pleasure. However, for each member of the huge bear tribe, this is not a pleasure, but a destined nirvana!"


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to land on the territory of the huge bear tribe¡ª¡ªGozidari Plain. 5 years ago, even though Zhang Tie had become the leader of the huge bear tribe, he still had not been to Gozidari Plain until he left Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    "A destined nirvana!" Zhang Tie murmured as he sensed the deep meaning of this word. He then watched Pontiff Sarlin seriously, "Hopefully, I''m not late!"


    Pontiff Sarlin replied with another faint smile as he stretched out his hand to invite Zhang Tie to mount a tall xiphodon...


    ...


    After mounting a tall xiphodon, Zhang Tie left the railway station while being escorted by rows of cavalries of Thor''s Hammer like a moon being circled by stars.


    Both sides of the roads outside the railway station were crowded. However, nobody made any noise. Although tens of thousands of people gathered there, it was as tranquil as an open forest. Only xiphodon''s tidy and crisp footsteps could be heard on the streets. When Zhang Tie went out of the railway station, wherever his xiphodon arrived, those people over there would kneel down like dominoes being pushed down.


    In the crowd, Zhang Tie saw many people cupping cinerary caskets and their ancestors'' portraits. Those people were witnessing the arrival of the Lord of Ice and Snow Wilderness with their ancestors'' ashes and portraits.


    "Dad, grandfather, the person that the great prophet pontiff predicted finally arrives. Look, this is your will. Today, your ashes could also return to the land in a tranquil way. This person will lead our tribe and all the Slavs towards a bright and powerful future!" A kneeling tall man was cupping high two cinerary caskets among the crowd, seemingly wanting the dead ones in the caskets to see Zhang Tie clearly.


    With knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie clearly heard that person''s words. Watching those onlookers of the huge bear tribe on both sides of the road who were welcoming him together with the remains of their ancestors, Zhang Tie looked more solemn.


    This trust was too heavy that Zhang Tie felt a bit of stress.


    ''Can I save all these people in this holy war?'' Zhang Tie wondered.


    However, he would live up to these people''s trust in him on this land.


    Zhang Tie made a decision inside.


    A prosperous town came into being around the railway station. The town was covered with high warehouses and commodities as high as hills, which indicated the great effect of Tribal Axis Railway to Gozidari Plain.


    The two sides of the road as long as 40 miles had been crowded by solemn onlookers from the small town to the foot of the Elzida Mountain. Those people were standing in the wild and the farmland and watching Zhang Tie passing by.


    It took Zhang Tie over 3 hours by xiphodon to finish the 40 mile''s trip.


    Right in the plain at the foot of Elzida Mountain, Zhang Tie caught sight of a magnificent hieron made of grey granites.


    "This hieron is built by your followers. When in the great crack of Haidela Glacier, you told each of your followers to exploit a piece of grey granite as heavy as 200 kg and carried it to the huge bear tribe after passing through thousands of miles of wild. It was a rigid test of one''s physique, spirit, will and religion. Many people have made it. As of now, all the followers of Ancient God Church take this process as a journey towards pilgrimage which can check their own souls. After carrying dried rations and tools, those pious followers will head for the grey hill and exploit a piece of granite as heavy as 200 kg. After that, they will come here with that piece of granite. As a result, more and more granites will gather here. Your followers then build a magnificent hieron using those granites. This hieron is called the grey palace, also the hardcore of Ancient God Church!"


    Pontiff Sarlin''s voice entered Zhang Tie''s ears secretly.


    In the square outside the grey palace, Zhang Tie saw many earliest followers who looked totally different than that 5 years ago. In grey robes, they were holding a "Book of Eternity" and waiting for Zhang Tie''s arrival.


    The huge stony tanks were still standing in the square. The rims of the huge tanks had long been smooth like having been polished carefully.


    Of course, they were not polished by people purposely; instead, they were the traces left by the followers of Ancient God Church. As followers came here for pilgrimage every day, each of them would touch the rim of each huge tank so as to sense the power of the God. Gradually, the coarse rims became smooth and radiated a special brilliance.


    The power of religion could create miracles.


    At each sunset, the earliest batch of followers of Zhang Tie who hosted the grey palace would inject fresh water into the sacred tanks by solemn awareness. On the next day, those followers who came from afar would scoop and drink a cup of sacred water from the sacred tank when they observed and touched the sacred tanks in a queue.


    The legend that the sacred water in the sacred tanks could cure diseases and clean souls and evils gradually spread across Ice and Snow Wilderness. More and more people who had tasted the sacred water declared that it carried an unimaginable power. As more and more people visited here, Ancient God Church became more and more well-known.


    When Zhang Tie arrived at the grey palace, he saw many people who looked fatigued yet fortitude while moving towards here from the plain in the distance with a heavy piece of grey granite on their back. Those people were queuing up miles long outside the square so as to drink a cup of sacred water.


    If one wanted to drink a cup of sacred water, he had to queue up here one day earlier. Therefore, the team always remained so long. Even if one day''s sacred water was used up, those people would still wait there until the next day.


    Watching the scenes outside the grey palace and witnessing the power of the religion, those representatives of major clans of Ewentra Archipelago who worshipped money were shocked, the heads and elders of tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness were more dumbfounded as they saw three bare-chested guys confessing in front of the statue of the Ancient God Church with rods on their backs. They were heads of the demon bear tribe, black bear tribe and mountain bear tribe...


    Bearing rods and willingly taking the punishment was a Hua tradition. However, in Black Iron Age, under the influence of the Hua people and the domineering right of speech on Hua culture, this tradition had long been spread to each corner of the world.


    2 days ago, the heads of the three tribes had come to the grey palace while being escorted by their own elders and started to confess as guilty ones. They had already knelt down here for 2 days without eating or drinking.


    Watching the 3 people kneeling down there, everybody knew that all the obstacles before the coronation of Peter Hamplester had been cleared.


    Zhang Tie ignored them just like having seen nothing.


    The heads of the three tribes dared not raise their heads to look at Zhang Tie at all. They just knelt down there like waiting for the punishment.


    Pontiff Sarlin whispered to Zhang Tie.


    After hearing it, Zhang Tie raised his eyebrows and faintly nodded.


    In the grey palace, Zhang Tie formally met the earliest batch of followers. Although Zhang Tie just encouraged them simply, it made them extremely spirited.


    "After 2 days, in the hieron of Elzida Mountain, I will formally be coronated, the Ancient God Church will become a wholly new national religion by then."


    In the grey palace, Zhang Tie formally declared the shocking news to his earliest followers.


    After that, they left the grey palace and went up the Elzida Mountain...

 755 The Eve of Coronation I

    On the evening of October 26th, Zhang Tie sat together with the three elders of the huge bear tribe once again after 5 years.


    Since Zhang Tie arrived at Elzida Mountain yesterday, he had been meeting all sorts of people the entire day.


    Those who came to see Zhang Tie were major figures below the three elders of the huge bear tribe, backbones of Ancient God Church and the three elders of the demon bear tribe, mountain bear tribe and black bear tribe.


    It was a necessary step for Zhang Tie to be completely familiar with the huge bear tribe and turn Gozidari Plain into his own territory by meeting the major figures of the huge bear tribe.


    Gozidari Plain was the basis for the huge bear tribe to be the most powerful tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    In Ice and Snow Wilderness, Gozidari Plain, which covered over 1.8 million sq mile, was a treasured place which contained rich water and plentiful resources. This treasured land bred the most powerful huge bear tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Now, this treasured place would become the most important foundation for Zhang Tie to ascend to the throne of Tsar. If he wanted to control this foundation, he could not only rely on the three elders. After all, the three elders could not determine all the things across Gozidari Plain. Those who mastered the real power in huge bear tribe below the three elders were the heads, generals and priests. Priests were noble in the huge bear tribe, who directly influenced and controlled over 70% of the population and economic resources of Gozidari Plain. It was of great importance for Zhang Tie to get their allegiance.


    When Zhang Tie settled down at the foot of Elzida Mountain, these heads, generals and priests queued up outside the hieron to be called in by Zhang Tie.


    In such a case, in order to display that he thought highly of the huge bear tribe, Zhang Tie promised that each of them had a chance to talk with Zhang Tie alone. In this way, Zhang Tie could have a deeper impression of these major figures. Meanwhile, those guys could also have a chance to express their allegiance to Zhang Tie.


    With the super great memory of knight, as long as Zhang Tie met these guys, he would be able to bear their names, looks, abilities and features in mind completely. Additionally, Zhang Tie''s majestic image and authority would root in these guys'' hearts.


    It only took Zhang Tie a couple of minutes to meet each of them. However, It took him over 10 hours to meet all the 100-odd people.


    After then, Zhang Tie called in the backbones of Ancient God Church, who were Zhang Tie''s die-hard fans and treated Zhang Tie as the Ancient God. Zhang Tie fixed the sacred orders and classes in Ancient God Church with them.


    After that, Zhang Tie met the elders of the demon bear tribe, mountain bear tribe and black bear tribe.


    Nobody knew what Zhang Tie talked with the three elders. After their talk, the heads of the three tribes who had been kneeling down in the grey palace finally gained Zhang Tie''s forgiveness and picked themselves up from the ground in an embarrassed way one after another.


    ...


    After the secret talk with the elders of the demon bear tribe, mountain bear tribe and black bear tribe, it was already the evening of October 26. Soon after the three elders left, Elder Gouras, Elder Toles and Pontiff Sarlin had already entered the room.


    It was a study room being used for holding classics in the hieron of Elzida Mountain, which was solemn and mysterious. Usually, the three elders of the huge bear tribe would negotiate about major issues here. After Zhang Tie arrived here, this place was used to receive guests for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie had been receiving all sorts of people around the clock. Therefore, when the three elders came in, they had waiters served some food and drinks.


    Watching the food in the room, Zhang Tie made a bitter smile. Thanks to the three elders, otherwise, he had forgotten that he had not eaten for a day.


    As a knight, he could not eat or drink for 1 week. However, due to the super great ability of knight, he also had a much greater appetite and demanded more food that could supply his physique and energy.


    Now that they had served the food and drinks. Zhang Tie directly devoured them like a wolf. As he would be coronated tomorrow, Zhang Tie wanted to be in the optimal state.


    After eating some exotic fruits, two pieces of bread and some sea-buckthorn wine which carried some aura, Zhang Tie finally stopped.


    "Across the Ice and Snow Wilderness, the golden sea-buckthorn in Gozidari Plain is the best. Compared to that in other places, the golden sea-buckthorn wine in Gozidari Plain is worth 20 more silver coins per barrel!" Elder Toles opened his mouth when he saw that Zhang Tie stopped eating.


    When Zhang Tie was enjoying the meal, the three elders were waiting silently on one side. Perhaps, nobody else across Ice and Snow Wilderness dared let the other knight elders watch him eating.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile to Elder Toles as he had not imagined that people in Ice and Snow Wilderness could rename his mutated iron-black sea-buckthorn as golden sea-buckthorn. In the lab of Castle of Black Iron, for the convenience of classifying and differentiating these mutated plants from its biological families, Zhang Tie marked it as sea-buckthorn No. 1.


    Although the seeds of the golden sea-buckthorn trees were gifted by Zhang Tie, the three elders had reached a privity and didn''t ask Zhang Tie anything about the seed.


    "This golden sea-buckthorn wine is indeed nice!" Zhang Tie nodded as he put down the glass and started to watch the three elders, "Coincidentally, as the three elders are here, I have something to tell you!"


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Elder Gouras uttered, "We also have something to tell you!"


    Zhang Tie acted in an easygoing way in front of the three elders. Soon after Elder Gouras finished his words, Zhang Tie had continued, "Now that I mentioned first, I will tell you about that first. Hopefully, you will not be too amazed!"


    The three elders nodded.


    Zhang Tie triggered his spiritual energy and isolated the room from the outside with his battle qi in a split second. In this way, whatever they talked about would not be eavesdropped by others.


    Before telling that, Zhang Tie hesitated, "Hmm, actually I''ve some secrets that you don''t know!"


    After hearing this, Elder Gouras'' and Elder Toles''s eyes flickered. Only Pontiff Sarlin revealed a faint smile. At the sight of his smile, Zhang Tie felt that Pontiff Sarlin seemed to have long known about that.


    "My current look is not my original one. I''m neither Hebrew or Slav. I''m actually Hua. When I came to Ice and Snow Wilderness, I applied disguising medicament. My current look has also been disguised. I''ve not imagined that I''m the very person in the prophecy of Pontiff Elzida. Therefore, please forgive me for my disguised look. I don''t want to cheat you!"


    After pouring out his secret frankly, Zhang Tie felt relieved inside.


    Perhaps, he should keep this secret to others across Ice and Snow Wilderness; however, if he even didn''t expose it to the three elders of the huge bear tribe, Zhang Tie didn''t know who else could he believe in. Even after becoming a tsar, if he didn''t have someone to trust in, it was actually a grief. It would be meaningless no matter how much power did he have. It was not even as cool as becoming a landlord with the billions of gold coins back on the Eastern Continent.


    Whereas, although Zhang Tie exposed his secret, he had his bottom line. Zhang Tie didn''t expose the secret of the body-changing bloodline, which he didn''t mean to tell anybody else temporarily.


    If a person didn''t have anyone to expose his secret to, it would be a grief; however, if a person exposed all of his secrets, it would be silly.


    Needless to say, given the expressions of Elder Gouras and Elder Toles, Zhang Tie knew they were shocked; however, Pontiff Sarlin looked relatively calm.


    "Is that the meaning of the prophecy of Pontiff?" Elder Gouras slowly murmured after a short while.


    "What prophecy?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "Although our lord''s look belonged to himself, his original look could not be identified by others..." Elder Toles murmured, "This was a prophecy revealed by Prophet Sarlin when you came to Ice and Snow Wilderness 5 years ago."


    "Pontiff Sarlin, you''ve long known that?" Zhang Tie looked at Pontiff Sarlin as he had not imagined that Pontiff Sarlin could see this.


    "I just saw an obscure part, not all of them. I could see your two faces in different scenes!" Pontiff Sarlin said calmly, "Your original look is not important to Ice and Snow Wilderness. The most important is that you''re the very person who could bring hope to everybody else. You are the only one who could change the fate of Slavs in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Your original status and look are just your appendages. Take your current name Peter Hamplester as an instance, it''s just a symbol of you, but it doesn''t represent all of you!"

 756 The Eve of Coronation II

    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Pontiff Sarlin had long known something. He was a bit shocked by Pontiff Sarlin''s precise prophecy and these elders'' fast reaction. It turned out that nothing was serious when his secret status was exposed. He couldn''t bear the stress brought by the double status in Huaiyuan Palace and in Ice and Snow Wilderness 5 years ago. However, after promoting to a knight and mastering the gentle strength, Zhang Tie didn''t feel anything serious by exposing the secret to these elders at least.


    With a bitter smile, Zhang Tie watched Pontiff Sarlin, "I''ve not imagined that you''ve already known that. I wonder what else can you see about my future!"


    "Future is a maze of time and space. Even the great prophet pontiff had limited control over the future, not to mention me. Last time, when I saw parts of your two looks, I gathered too many people''s strength; meanwhile, it had reached my upper limit. After you promote to a knight, nobody can penetrate through the power of time and space which is full of possibilities and changes on you. By then, even if the prophet pontiff revived, he could not see clearly your future road, either." Pontiff Sarlin explained as he shook his head.


    After hearing Pontiff Sarlin''s words, Zhang Tie became faintly stunned as he had not imagined such an effect after promoting to the knight. However, Zhang Tie became reassured completely. No matter who he was, if he knew that his secret might be exposed by someone else at any time, he would always feel uncomfortable and feel being monitored.


    "My true name is Zhang Tie, a member of Zhang Family, Huaiyuan Palace in Jinyun Country!" Zhang Tie put it straight.


    After unveiling the secret of disguised look to the three elders, Zhang Tie didn''t need to continue to conceal his real status to the three elders. Even though they didn''t know his true status for the time being, as long as he returned to Huaiyuan Palace to attend the chakra rotating ceremony and became one clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace, the three elders would guess something for sure. Additionally, the three elders had many methods to figure out his true status. Therefore, it was not as good as exposing it to them at this moment.


    The three elders exchanged a glance with each other once again.


    "What will you do if we cannot accept your true status?" Elder Gouras asked all of a sudden.


    "It''s simple. After the coronation, we can make a performance, telling others that Peter Hamplester committed suicide during meditation due to distractions!" Zhang Tie replied casually, "After all, by then, Ice and Snow Wilderness have been unified. Without me, the college of elders would also be able to manage all the affairs in the Sacred Iceland Kingdom. I''ve already finished the job that was entrusted by the Elzida, the great pontiff. I''ve also tried my best to change myself. As for the future, we have our own things to deal with. I''m now the creator who could save everyone. I will leave the Tribal Axis Railway to you. As I''ve gained too much here, I will not take anything away from here except my beloved women. I want them to deliver babies for me in the Eastern Continent!"


    It was the three elders'' turn to make a bitter smile this time. Only Zhang Tie could do that in such a handsome way. Actually, if a knight didn''t feel free in Ice and Snow Wilderness, he didn''t have to stay here. Wherever a knight was, he would always be a top person and would enjoy the best treatment. In his clan, he could become an elder; if he wanted power, he could command a corps of about 400,000 people. He could also establish a country in a remote place. If he wanted a social position and privilege, a lot of countries would strive for supporting a No. 1 knight. There were really not too many things to recall with nostalgia in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Additionally, Zhang Tie was not obsessed with power and wealth since the beginning. Otherwise, he wouldn''t go away from here for 5 years. During the past 5 years, Zhang Tie had a lot of chances to share the great benefit brought by Spencer Clan and the Tribal Axis Railway, even in Gozidari Plain. Actually, Zhang Tie didn''t take away even one gold coin from Ice and Snow Wilderness these years; instead, he left the seeds of golden sea-buckthorn trees and golden potatoes, which deserved to be priceless treasures in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    "Only we three know your real status now. It''s the top secret in Ice and Snow Wilderness. We will help you conceal it. As Peter Hamplester is rooted in people''s hearts deeply. Many commoners will not accept it if you suddenly change to Zhang Tie, which will also arouse a great turmoil in Ice and Snow Wilderness. You''d better continue to perform as Peter Hamplester. As for whether do we expose it to the public in the future..." Pontiff Sarlin also rubbed his forehead as he let out a sigh, "It depends!"


    The other two elders both nodded.


    Zhang Tie also nodded.


    After putting it straight, the last concern after becoming the tsar was also handled.


    They all let out a sigh then.


    "What else do you want to talk with us?" Elder Toles asked.


    Zhang Tie smirked as he rubbed his face, "Of course, I''ve got two more things to tell you!"


    "Go ahead!"


    "I want to build a capital city for the Sacred Iceland Kingdom in Gozidari Plain!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s wish, the three elders were shocked once again, ''It''s truly a major event.''


    After carding his train of thoughts, Zhang Tie expressed his opinion, "The only city in Ice and Snow Wilderness now is Eschyle City. It''s the foundation of Spencer Clan. According to the agreement between us and Spencer Clan, although we cannot use Eschyle City as the capital, it''s not proper as it feels like we''re bullying them. It works for a short period; however, the relationship between us and Spencer Clan will be broken sooner or later. Father should not rob his son. Additionally, Eschyle City is too close to the sea. As long as demons attempt to break in Ice and Snow Wilderness, Eschyle City will be the destroyed firstly. As this city lacks strategic depth, it''s not proper to be the political center of Sacred Iceland Kingdom."


    The three elders just listened to him while nodding seriously.


    "When I came here by train these days, I was always thinking about this question. After meeting the heads, generals and priests of the huge bear tribe, I fixed my decision!"


    ''If I want to rule the entire Sacred Iceland Kingdom, I have to build a magnificent capital city. Put it straightly, like how a booth is required for a roadside stall and a fixed office is required for a business group, how can I manage the entire country without a city as the reliance? If not build a magnificent capital city in Ice and Snow Wilderness, how can the ruling authority of the tsar be displayed?''


    ''If I want to rule the Sacred Iceland Kingdom, I have to rule Gozidari Plain first. If I want to rule Gozidari Plain, I have to build a magnificent capital city in Gozidari Plain first so as to convince all the members of the huge bear tribe and stabilize my dominant position.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    ''Additionally, when we build a capital city in Gozidari Plain, the steel, cement, coal and mechanical equipment required by this city will greatly push forward the industrialization of Ice and Snow Wilderness and further release the development and war-making potential across Ice and Snow Wilderness. Over these years, although that industrial area neighboring Eschyle City developed very fast, its scale has expanded by many times. However, a small industrial area covering over 100 sq miles is far from enough for the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness and the Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Additionally, that industrial area and Eschyle City are facing the same problem¡ª¡ªbeing too close to the sea. As long as they are attacked by demons, the entire industrial area would stop its production, causing a series of chain reactions. By contrast, if we build a city in Gozidari Plain, we can play the full role of steel and steam based on the abundant resource in Gozidari Plain. After that, there would be an expectation for the industrialization of Ice and Snow Wilderness. Even a rabbit has three nests, not to mention a country''s industrial development layout, which requires us to consider more factors.''


    ''Finally, a city requires many labor forces, which will create a lot of jobs. Besides, it could digest the surplus labor forces of the immigrants that keep pouring into Ice and Snow Wilderness and clear up some unstable factors. Additionally, it will drive more investment, consumption and inject new vitality into the development of Ice and Snow Wilderness.''


    After being silent for a short while, Pontiff Sarlin coughed twice, Elder Toles then opened his mouth with a bit embarrassed tone, "Previously, the huge bear tribe was relatively isolated with poor commerce. We had fewer chances to make money. These years, after building the Tribal Axis Railway, the financial standing of the huge bear tribe indeed improved; however, the huge bear tribe could only afford about 40 million gold coins at this moment. It requires at least 60 million gold coins to build a large-scale city, especially a capital city. I''m afraid..."


    ''A huge bear tribe could only afford 40 million gold coins?'' Zhang Tie finally understood how poor were these guys in Ice and Snow Wilderness...

 757 Imagination about the Capital City

    Chapter 757: Imagination about the Capital City


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    If a clan could afford over 40 million gold coins, it was definitely a top clan as it was an enormous amount of money in Ewentra Archipelago. Very few clans and business groups could afford such a huge amount of money. However, it would be too poor if an independent kingdom with about 20 million people could only afford such an amount of money.


    Zhang Tie knew that such an amount of money included the profit of about 10 million gold coins that huge bear tribe had just won from the bet. After deducting this profit, it meant that the entire huge bear tribe could only afford 30 million gold coins, which could not be able to build half a capital city.


    After hearing Elder Toles''s report, Zhang Tie realized how poor were these tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness. ''Among all the bear tribes, the iron bear tribe is the richest tribe, followed by the huge bear tribe. However, the huge bear tribe could only afford a bit more than 30 million gold coins, not to mention other smaller tribes. No wonder the other tribes would covet the Tribal Axis Railway. As long as they were instigated by someone else, they would be driven mad. How motherf*cking poor!''


    ''In this age, wealth accumulation could only be completed in two ways: first, through prosperous commercial trade, such as Ewentra Archipelago; second, through industrialization. A high-efficient industrial production could create wealth. Pitifully, before I came to Ice and Snow Wilderness, the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness far lagged behind the average level in this age from both commercial trade and industrialization. Otherwise, this place will not be named as wilderness. Whereas, without prosperous commerce and industry, how could they make money? Only by exchanging wool for herbal medicine? Of course not.''


    "I wonder how the financial income of the huge bear tribe is accumulated?" Zhang Tie asked the three elders.


    "The huge bear tribe is located in the hinterland of the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness. Although Gozidari Plain has fertile land, it''s relatively isolated. Foreign businessmen could barely come in. Therefore, our trade is not developed. Previously, Ice and Snow Wilderness mainly had three sources for financial income: first, our tribe controlled the trade of xiphodons across Ice and Snow Wilderness; second, we sold surplus grains each year; third, we discovered a large-scale gold mine in the north of Gozidari Plain¡ª¡ªHarimace Gold Mine. This mine provides us over 800,000 gold coins each year! Besides, we have silver and copper mines, which can produce about 150,000 gold coins in total per year..." Elder Toles replied as he took out a gold coin and gave it to Zhang Tie.


    ''Over 800,000 gold coins meant more than 20 tons of gold per year. It''s good.''


    After taking that gold coin, Zhang Tie found that its front side was marked with a huge bear while its backside was marked with Elzida Mountain. The two patterns were both composed of simple lines. The gold coin''s toothing was not fine. Besides, there was a line of small Hebrew words around the two patterns¡ª¡ª"Pure Gold Coin Cast by Huge Bear Tribe, 25 Grams in standard weight".


    Compared to the delicate locomotive gold coins produced in Andaman Alliance, besides being enough heavy which allowed it to be circulated in the market, the gold coin cast by huge bear tribe didn''t look nice. It might be related to the poor industrial power of the huge bear tribe.


    After giving it back to Elder Toles, Zhang Tie let out a sigh, "As I made some money from this bet, I will assume all the fund for building this capital city. I prepare to spare 90 million gold coins to establish the new capital city. The huge bear tribe only need to fix the address in Gozidari Plain for me!"


    At present, Zhang Tie was qualified to be the No. 1 tall, rich and handsome guy in the north water of Blackson Humans Corridor. As Zhang Tie joined Gold Power Law, Golden Roc Bank didn''t ask for any service charge from him at all. Therefore, all the 297 million gold coins were transferred into Zhang Tie''s personal account. He could withdraw them in the name of Zhang Tie or Peter Hamplester. Besides, he plundered an enormous amount of money from Senel Clan in Tokei City, the capital city of Titanic Duchy which was put in the safe of the palace tree in Castle of Black Iron. Those items contained 540 tons of gold, 14.68 million gold coins, gold checks which were worth 47.6 million gold coins and over 600 crates of all sorts of gems, jewelry and rare metals, the total of which were worth above 210 million gold coins. Thanks to the plunder, Zhang Tie almost gathered all the wealth of Titanic Duchy. As it was inconvenient for him to take them out, Zhang Tie just put them in Castle of Black Iron. Plus 297 million gold coins that he won in the bet, Zhang Tie''s personal wealth had reached above 500 million gold coins. He was really as rich as a country!


    He could completely bear it by taking out 90 million gold coins from such an amount of money to build his own capital city in Ice and Snow Wilderness. By doing this, he could consolidate his dominant position in Ice and Snow Wilderness and increase his influence in Gold Power Law.


    ''Additionally, after establishing this city, I could make money through many channels. I will make profits sooner or later. Eschyle City could bring over 2.8 million gold coins to Spencer Clan each year. I don''t think the capital city of Sacred Iceland Kingdom at the cost of 90 million gold coins would bring me less income than that.''


    After realizing that Zhang Tie was so generous, the three elders of the huge bear tribe became silent as they didn''t know what to say. Even the total amount of money of the 8 bear tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness might not match Zhang Tie''s total private wealth.


    "I suggest establishing the capital city in the delta region at the foot of Elzida Mountain which is close to Mari River and Ginqing Lake. This region covers over 80,000 sq miles. It is surrounded by a wide area of woods. There are some large-scale coal mines, iron mines, copper mines and silver mines not far from it. We only need to build two short-distance railways to connect these mining areas with the capital city and the Tribal Axis Railway. Given its good environment and great potential in development, after establishing the capital city, a lot of towns and industrial parks could form rapidly in Ginqing Lake Delta Region. Additionally, after establishing the capital city, the city could develop its water transportation based on the abundant water resource of Mari River and Ginqing Lake. Furthermore, Mari River is linked with Lankast Gulf in the northeast of Ice and Snow Wilderness. Although Lankast Gulf is very cold, it thaws in 8 months of each year, during which period all the vessels below 1,000 tons could access to the ocean..." Elder Toles said seriously. Although nobody was richer than Zhang Tie across Ice and Snow Wilderness, nobody was more familiar with Ice and Snow Wilderness than these elders at present.


    After recalling the scene on the way here, Zhang Tie asked, "Isn''t the grey palace situated in this region?"


    "Yes!"


    "Alright. Just establish the capital city in this Ginqing Lake Delta Region. It''d better contain the grey palace. I will entrust Golden Roc Bank to be responsible for the establishment of this city. You only need to supervise their work!"


    "90 million gold coins. It''s enough to build a much more magnificent city than Eschyle City. The urban area of the entire city could cover over 1,000 sq miles..." Elder Gouras sighed with full emotions.


    The moment he imagined that he would have his own city in Ice and Snow Wilderness after a few years, Zhang Tie became a bit thrilled. However, he soon forgot about this event. Actually, he only needed to pay for that. All in all, in Zhang Tie''s memory, Golden Roc Bank could make use of too many resources. As Zhang Tie didn''t know how to build a city, he just left the work to experts.


    Right then, Zhang Tie heard a voice which he had not heard for a long time in his mind, "Castle Lord, have you forgotten about that? Agan is the best building expert. If you hand the task to Agan, he must be very happy!"


    In a split second, Zhang Tie became faintly stunned, "But can Agan leave Castle of Black Iron?"


    "Agan cannot leave Castle of Black Iron; however, he could design the blueprint of the capital city for Castle Lord. As long as you spare some time to fly around the Ginqing Lake Delta Region, I will tell Agan about the topography of that region. Agan will then design the blueprint for you. You then hand the blueprint to the part of Golden Roc Bank!"


    Zhang Tie really looked forward to the abilities of his three servants. ''Now that Heller, who''s always meticulous, recommend Agan to finish such a task, I think Agan will never let me down.''


    Zhang Tie then promised Heller...

 758 A Real Piece of Gods Star

    Chapter 758: A Real Piece of God''s Star


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After fixing the matter of the capital city, Zhang Tie told the three elders about the sacred order, items and classes in Ancient God Church.


    The entire Ancient God Church was divided into three classes and contained 14 sacred items according to the feature of Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ancient God Church.


    The commonest believers of Ancient God Chruch was the first class.


    Among believers, those who could comply with the four sacred disciplines and four sacred deeds would promote to clergymen through sacrificial rites and church''s consent.


    Those who practiced the "Book of Eternity" at home and in their daily lives instead of taking positions in Ancient God Church could be White Clothes Clergymen. Those who joined in the branches and agencies of Ancient God Church and wished to be clergies of Ancient God Church were called Black Clothes Clergymen.


    Black Clothes Clergymen were divided into four classes based on the length and performance when they did the four sacred deeds, iron-star clergyman, copper-star clergyman, silver-star clergyman and gold-star clergyman. It would take an iron-star clergyman at least 4 years to promote to a gold-star clergyman.


    A clergyman was the second class in Ancient God Church and the foundation for the development of Ancient God Church.


    Above clergyman was the most attractive magisterium class, also the third class of Ancient God Church.


    The lowest rank of magisterium class was acolyte, which was closely above the gold-star clergyman. Acolytes could work as subsidiaries in rituals or branches of churches. They had certain rights just like deacons.


    After accomplishing practice in the Grey Palace, acolytes could take the position of priest, who was entitled to build churches in villages which had less than 10,000 villagers so as to disseminate the creed of Ancient God Church.


    The position above priest was "bishop", who could rule parishes of different ranks in the territory of tribes according to the power of each tribe.


    Those who could rule rat-class tribal parishes were bishops of glory.


    Those who could rule eagle-class tribal parishes were titular bishops.


    Those who could rule wolf-class tribal parishes were diocesans.


    Those who could rule Leopard-class tribal parishes were metropolitan bishops.


    Those who could rule fox-class tribal parishes were garrison bishops.


    Those who could rule bear-class tribal parishes were patriarchs.


    The position above patriarch was helm bishop who could manage all the affairs across the Ancient God Church.


    The position above helm bishop was pope, which, after being integrated with the secular diadem of Sacred Iceland Kingdom was called Tsar, like Zhang Tie.


    The original priests in each tribe of Ice and Snow Wilderness were awarded the same ranks as that of their tribal bishops, namely, priest of glory, titular priest, parish priest, metropolitan priest, garrison priest, sect priest and pontiff.


    Elder Mocco of the grey eagle tribe who once punished Zhang Tie was awarded "titular priest". Although Pontiff Sarlin maintained his title, his social status raised, who nominally ruled all the priests across Ice and Snow Wilderness and was only responsible for Zhang Tie.


    Once the framework of the Ancient God Church was confirmed, the entire Ancient God Church would enter a new stage.


    ...


    "How are you going to deal with Ewentra Archipelago? Based on its scale, we need to dispatch at least one patriarch over there. Do you have a suitable candidate?" Elder Gouras asked Zhang Tie after listening to Zhang Tie''s introduction.


    "I don''t mean to dispatch any bishop to Ewentra Archipelago. I will just dispatch a batch of priests over there!" Zhang Tie replied calmly.


    "Ahh, just priests?" Elder Gouras became faintly stunned.


    "Yes, priests!" Zhang Tie nodded, "Actually, besides awarding the heads of the fire bear tribe, wild bear tribe and sea bear tribe as patriarchs, I will not promote any other members of Ancient God Church. I will just confirm their titles based on their achievements. Although Ancient God Church is disseminating widely across Ice and Snow Wilderness, its foundation is still weak. In the past 5 years, the best rank among my followers in Ice and Snow Wilderness was bishop of glory. Therefore, besides the three heads and the priests who paid allegiance to us, I will not award any other clergymen with ranks above bishop of glory. I will give them some time to show them the bright future. Their titles in the future will depend on their achievements!"


    The three elders were all smart. Soon after they heard this did the three elders understand Zhang Tie''s meaning. The reason why Zhang Tie didn''t award others with high titles was that he didn''t want to identify horses; instead, he wanted to race horses. He wanted all those above clergymen to compete fairly and display their own abilities. He wanted to have the real talented ones to stand out. If one could consolidate the belief of Ancient God Church and his status in a rat-class tribe, Zhang Tie would award him with a bishop of glory. If one could consolidate the belief of Ancient God Church and his status in a wolf-class tribe, Zhang Tie would award him with a diocesan. Each one''s title depended on his ability and achievements. In this case, Ewentra Archipelago would become the untilled virgin land and training field in the eyes of all the clergymen of Ancient God Church.


    "If someone could really consolidate the belief of Ancient God Church and his status across Ewentra Archipelago, I would even award him with a helm bishop, not to mention a patriarch. However, if nobody has such an ability in Ewentra Archipelago..." Zhang Tie shrugged and said casually, "Just leave those bishops vacant. I prefer them to be vacant than use the wrong person! All in all, it would take a religion at least 10 years to consolidate its foundation."


    The three elders nodded at the same time.


    "Umm, I intend to adopt the 10,000 fighters of the bear-killing camp of the huge bear tribe into grey palace warriors as the direct force of Ancient God Church, how about it?" Zhang Tie asked.


    Zhang Tie already had the Thor''s Hammer. Plus the bear-killing camp, the two most powerful forces across Ice and Snow Wilderness would be in Zhang Tie''s hand. The two forces were the pillar forces of the huge bear tribe.


    "Sure!" The three elders agreed at once.


    Zhang Tie became reassured completely as he patted his hands and said leisurely, "Well, that''s what I wanted to tell you. I wonder what you want to tell me?"


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Elder Sarlin slowly said, "Before the formal coronation, you should know something!"


    "Ahh, go ahead?"


    "This is the biggest secret of the huge bear tribe. Since so many generations, only tribal elders of huge bear tribe knows it!" Pontiff Sarlin said with a solemn look.


    "Ahh..." Zhang Tie became amazed as he asked, "What''s that?"


    "You will know it, come with us!" Pontiff Sarlin replied as he stood up. Watching the other two elders standing up, Zhang Tie also stood up.


    Elder Toles left the room ahead of them, Zhang Tie just stayed with Pontiff Sarlin and followed Elder Toles.


    This room was in the hieron, while the hieron was in the hinterland of Elzida Mountain. Therefore, the moment they left the room, Zhang Tie had entered the hinterland which had been excavated by people. Both sides of the aisle were inlaid with fluorescent crystals, which were of the highest quality and could only be found in the ice-capped continent. The tender, milky luster radiated by the fluorescent crystals illuminated the entire artificial aisle.


    Elder Toles led them towards the depth of the hinterland. The crisp footsteps of the four people reverberated around the entire hinterland.


    At the beginning, there were guards of the hieron on both sides of the aisle. Gradually, after entering a turnoff, the guards started to grow sparse with more doors on the road. Elder Toles had the keys of the doors. Each time he opened a door, Elder Toles would carefully close it after all of them passed through it. He acted very meticulously.


    "Where are we heading for?"


    "The backroom where the elders of the huge bear tribe enter meditation!" Pontiff Sarlin replied.


    After moving about 1 mile ahead and opening more than 10 doors, they finally arrived at the backroom of elders. Elder Toles opened the hard alloy door with a key and entered it, followed by Zhang Tie and the other elders.


    With a loud sound "bang...", the thick alloy door of the backroom was closed from inside. Zhang Tie started to look around the backroom.


    This was an empty space being excavated, which covered over 5,000 sq meters. Like a big warehouse, it contained many simple tools. It indeed looked like where the elders usually entered meditation.


    After looking around, Zhang Tie found nothing special about it.


    When Zhang Tie was still curious, the three elders moved to three different places and put their hands on three trivial pieces of rocks on the walls of the backroom with a distance of dozens of meters. After that, they nodded towards each other and forcefully pressed down their own rocks.


    At the same time, a stony table slid away more than 20 m from Zhang Tie, exposing a well to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie walked over there and found the well was hundreds of meters in depth while a faint orange ray shot out of the pitch-dark underground space.


    Zhang Tie looked at Elder Sarlin. Elder Sarlin nodded. Zhang Tie then jumped off.


    As a knight, Zhang Tie directly flew downwards instead of free landing.


    The closer he was to the entrance of the well, the brighter the orange ray was, Zhang Tie instantly rushed out of the entrance of the deep well and entered a natural mountain cave which was 2-3 times bigger than that of the backroom.


    When he noticed the source of the orange ray, Zhang Tie widely opened his mouth.


    A piece of orange crystal, which was as large as a 7-8-year-old boy, was suspending in the air over 50 m away from the entrance in the shape of a huge crystal bamboo shoot. It radiated the orange ray, turning this underground mountain cave into a dreamland.


    The moment he caught sight of that thing, Zhang Tie sensed the powerful and special energy filling this space. In a split second, that energy had penetrated into his body. It seemed to carry some exotic property, that energy penetrated through Zhang Tie''s body like how the water flow penetrated through a broken ladle; however, it didn''t cause any damage to his body.


    Gradually, the ray of that item had turned into cyan from orange...


    The three elders had already followed Zhang Tie in this space. They were suspending in the air beside Zhang Tie. The special energy also penetrated through their bodies freely...


    "What''s this?" Zhang Tie asked out of amazement.


    "This is the piece of God''s Star!"


    "What?" Zhang Tie watched that huge crystal bamboo shoot floating in the air with an unbelievable look, "This is a piece of God''s Star?"


    "The one who discovered it first was Elzida, the Great Pontiff. It''s also the most precious wealth left by the Great Pontiff to the huge bear tribe!" Elder Gouras watched that huge crystal bamboo shoot with an awe-stricken look as he explained with full respect.


    ''Alight. I remember that when I came to Ice and Snow Wilderness for the first time, Samaranth the Stars and Moons Sword Sage also came here for the God''s Star. Pitifully, he didn''t have a chance to even see the piece of God''s Star after being trapped by Three-eye Association. It turns out that there''s indeed a piece of God''s Star in Ice and Snow Wilderness. However, it''s in the secret cave of the hinterland of Elzida Mountain in the hand of huge bear tribe instead of the underground space of Haidela Gracier Crack. Of course, nobody else could discover it.''


    Watching this huge crystal bamboo shoot floating in the air, Zhang Tie became puzzled, "What''s it used for?"


    "This piece of God''s Star contains a special energy, which could work in the realm of elements. The realm of elements in the place where the piece of God''s Star lies in will experience some marvelous changes. After having this piece of God''s Star, Slavs could promote to a new high in their battle force in a split second. The source that could drive bear-killing fighters mad came from this piece of God''s Star. After your coronation, you will have this piece of God''s Star according to the will of Elzida, the Prophet Pontiff..."


    ...

 759 Double Statuses

    Chapter 759: Double Statuses


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On the evening of October 31st, the Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace, Yiyang Mountain...


    Elder Muen, Elder Muray, Elder Muan and Elder Muyu were sitting together with crossed legs.


    "The chakra rotating ceremony will start in 2 days, do we contact Zhang Tie at this moment?" Elder Muan asked with a faint frown. As Zhang Tie had left Huaiyuan Palace for over 1 month without any message, it was only 3 days left. If not Zhang Tie had already promoted to a knight, the 4 elders might have dispatched people to find him.


    "As Zhang Tie said he would come back before November 1st, we will wait for another 3 hours. If he still doesn''t come back at the dawn, we will contact him!" Elder Muen suggested.


    As a clan elder, of course, Zhang Tie would not eat his words. Now that he said he would come back before November 1st, he would come back for sure unless there was an accident. Even if Zhang Tie had to prolong his schedule, he would also contact the clan elders in advance. Now that Zhang Tie didn''t contact them, it meant that everything went well. If the elders asked him in advance, it would indicate that they were doubting his self-protection ability. It was okay if Zhang Tie was still the innocent teenager like before. However, as Zhang Tie was going to be a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace formally, they should pay attention to the degree. If elders had conflicts due to such a trivial affair, it would be embarrassing.


    All the 4 elders thought about this point. Therefore, the moment Elder Muen mentioned it, the other elders nodded right away. They only needed to wait for Zhang Tie another couple of hours. They would contact him if Zhang Tie was still not back by then. In this way, they looked more meticulous and would not arouse Zhang Tie''s misunderstanding.


    "Today, the elders of all the other 5 major clans of Jinyun Country have arrived at Yiyang City with their representatives. They''ve settled down in their own clan mansions. The elders of Li Clan and Dongfang Clan of Qilan Country also came to Yiyang City with their representatives. Norman Empire dispatched their crown prince to attend the chakra rotating ceremony. All the other heads of major clans or representatives of countries across Waii Sub-continent who had close ties with Huaiyuan Palace have arrived these days as well. Raymlan Empire and Berdi Empire also dispatched their royal members to Yiyang City with precious gifts!" Elder Muyu said.


    "Raymlan Empire and Berdi Empire? But why?"


    All the other elders became shocked when they heard the names of the above two countries. Although they were called empires, like the other empires of different sizes across Waii Sub-continent, their empires were not widely accepted by the outsiders. The two countries were in the poor national strength. Each of them only had one knight, namely their No.1 knights. Huaiyuan Palace didn''t have close ties with the two countries either. Long Wind Business Group only had some trade contracts with the two countries. What were they here for?


    "It''s said that Zhang Tie met the two No. 1 knights on the way back to Huaiyuan Palace. Therefore, although their No. 1 knights didn''t have free time to attend the chakra rotating ceremony, they still dispatched some people here to attend it!" Elder Muyu explained.


    After knowing the reason, the other elders smiled. ''After having one more knight, even two strange countries came here for establishing relationships by dispatching royal members, how majestic is the Huaiyuan Palace!''


    "Pitifully, if not the holy war, the chakra rotating ceremony would be much more solemn. Due to the threats of demons, many people could not attend it. The entire north region of Waii Sub-continent was in a chaos. Only Norman Empire arrived here from the north. I remember that 5 countries'' representatives attended the chakra rotating ceremony from the north when Elder Muyu and Elder Muan promoted to knights!" Elder Muray sighed.


    "In a chaotic world, knights would be more valuable. Although fewer people could attend this chakra rotating ceremony, everyone knew what it meant by having one more young clan elder in Huaiyuan Palace!"


    "Umm, how''s the battle situation in the north these days?" Has the super demon corps been discovered?"


    "Since the battle in Upton City, the Demon General and the super demon corps have been disappeared. I''m afraid that they are recovering their loss. I''ve not heard any mesage about them these days. Those Three-eye Association clans in the north are reorganizing a lot of demonized puppets so as to gradually and steadily approach to Norman Empire. Norman Empire and all the other human countries in the north also accelerated their pace to evacuate the population. No major events happened in the north these days. However, there was an intelligence from Long Wind Business Group yesterday. The Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago in the north water had declared to be unified on October 27th. A new country called the Sacred Iceland Kingdom was founded. A person called Peter Hamplester has already been coronated as the tsar of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. He has ruled the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago and been unrivaled across the north water."


    "I remember that each Slavs'' bear tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness has at least one knight. The most powerful huge bear tribe is said to have 3 knight elders. How did Peter Hamplester unify the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness?" The other elders were faintly shocked by the news.


    "According to Long Wind Business Group, Peter Hamplester is the very hero who saved all the Slavs according to the prophecy of the Prophet Pontiff of Slavs. When he came to Ice and Snow Wilderness 5 years ago, he gained the allegiance of the huge bear tribe. Additionally, he pacified a tribe''s demonized puppets disaster. Besides gaining the trust of the two major tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness, he even founded Ancient God Church and won numerous believers across Ice and Snow Wilderness. This time, he convinced the entire Ewentra Archipelago. According to the lengend, the process that Peter Hamplester convinced Ewentra Archipelago was marvelous. All the witnesses said that Peter Hamplester was the incarnation of the Ancient God. It was said that he even had Poseidon serve him by exterminating a fleet of Ewentra Archipelago. After that, he beheaded a knight of Sacred Light Empire. From the on, he convinced all the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago!" Elder Muan explained.


    The so-called God''s will was nothing but sh*t in the eyes of the elders of Huaiyuan Palace. They knew clearly the rules in this world. If God''s will indeed existed, there would not be a holy war. Just let the Ancient God clear all the demons.


    "It turns out that Peter Hamplester is a fierce and powerful person. We''d better have Long Wind Business Group pay more attention to him!" Elder Muray suggested seriously.


    "Guan Xiyi the CEO of Golden Roc Bank went to Ewentra Archipelago by airboat. Later on, he sent Peter Hamplester to Ice and Snow Wilderness by airboat. Guan Xiyi even attended the coronation ritual of Peter Hamplester in the hieron of the sacred mountain of the huge bear tribe..."


    After hearing this, the other elders became faintly dumbfounded. They exchanged a glance with each other before forcing a bitter smile, ''Golden Roc Bank is really something. Now that CEO Guan Xiyi was there, it means that the Sacred Iceland Kingdom is supported by Golden Roc Bank. The two parties might have already reached privity. The Sacred Iceland Kingdom might become a key base and spokesmen of Hua people in Waii Sub-continent...''


    In this case, Long Wind Business Group should better make a plan ahead of Ice and Snow Wilderness and find an exit in north water for Huaiyuan Palace. It might have a great effect in the future.


    "In this case, we can have Long Wind Business Group contact the Sacred Iceland Kingdom first and set a senior officer for the business group in Ice and Snow Wilderness. We can dispatch our right hand over there..."


    "Hmm, we can have Zhang Taibai pay a vist to Peter Hamplester on behalf of Huaiyuan Palace at a proper time..."


    "Fine!"


    The elders determined a major event for Huaiyuan Palace briefly.


    Right then, the four elders'' hearts pounded as they exchanged a glance with each other. Closely after that, they walked out of the Shrine Palace at the same time...


    When they reached the gate, they raised their heads at the same time and saw a meteor flying towards them in the dark sky.


    "Whoo..." Elder Muen let out a deep sigh, "Thankfully, he''s back!"


    The 4 elders exchanged a smile with each other before feeling relieved.


    The meteor soon arrived at Yiyang Mountain when a figure landed in front of them.


    "Sorry for being late, 4 elders!" Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards the 4 elders with a smile when he stood outside the Shrine Palace.


    Zhang Tie had just left Ice and Snow Wilderness before dawn today, after over 9 hours of flight and 7 hours of journey in the ocean, Zhang Tie finally reached Huaiyuan Prefecture. Nobody would believe at such an amazing speed.


    The 5 people returned to the room in the Shrine Palace where elders usually negotiated about events.


    The moment Zhang Tie took a seat, Elder Muyu smiled, "We were talking about you just now. You''ve left for over 1 month; if you didn''t come back in a couple of hours, we would have to contact you by the remote-sensing crystal!"


    "Hmm, I''ve been to Ice and Snow Wilderness these days!" Zhang Tie replied as he rubbed his face. He thought that it was time to tell the truth to the elders of Huaiyuan Palace.


    The other elders were stunned at the same time. As they were talking about Ice and Snow Wilderness just now, they had not imagined that Zhang Tie had been to Ice and Snow Wilderness these days.


    "A big event happened in Ice and Snow Wilderness these days, have you met that Peter Hamplester?" Elder Muray couldn''t wait but ask.


    "Erm..actually...I''m that Peter Hamplester!" Zhang Tie scratched his head in a bashful way.


    "Pah..." The teacup fell off Elder Muen''s hand, spraying the tea water over the ground...

 760 Long Sight Peak

    Chapter 760: Long Sight Peak


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The 4 elders felt like listening to a legendary story when Zhang Tie described his experience on the way from Huaiyuan Prefecture to the Ice and Snow Wilderness 5 years ago.


    Zhang Tie only explained the God''s will in the underground relics by a word "magic". Although being a magic, only Zhang Tie knew its true secret. As it was Zhang Tie''s secret, the 4 elders didn''t force him to expose it to them.


    As for the huge deep-sea monster, Zhang Tie said it was a pet that he subdued in the deep sea.


    ''Pet?'' The 4 elders had to accept this explanation.


    As for others, Zhang Tie didn''t want to depict the details. Therefore, he just briefed them all.


    After telling them about his experience of establishing the Sacred Iceland Kingdom, Zhang Tie became unpredictable in the eyes of the 4 elders. Zhang Tie was like being covered by a mist. When they thought that they could see him clearly, actually they just caught sight of one small corner of the iceberg.


    ''Thankfully, this guy is a true offspring of Huaiyuan Palace!''


    The 4 elders comforted themselves inside.


    "That''s all. Now, only CEO Guan Xiyi of Golden Roc Bank and the three elders of huge bear tribe know my true status, ahem...ahem...nobody else!" Zhang Tie concluded.


    "You mean you could command all the tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness and the major clans across Ewentra Archipelago?'' Elder Muray watched Zhang Tie with an unimaginable look.


    "The Sacred Iceland Kingdom is facing a complex situation right now. Those forces on my side can be divided into 5 parts according to the relationship between us: First, the huge bear tribe. I''m the most influential in this tribe. The 3 knight elders of this tribe can provide me with the largest support when in need. However, I cannot have an absolute authority in this tribe until the capital city of Sacred Iceland Kingdom is established. Second, Ewentra Archipelago. None of the major clans on Ewentra Archipelago will be able to resist me. As long as my requests are not too excessive, they can always follow my commands and meet my requests. Third, the iron bear tribe. Nominally, this tribe belongs to me. I''m their protector. Additionally, this tribe will not have conflicts with me about interests. However, Spencer Clan, the domineering clan in this tribe has their own clan interests. Additionally, this tribe has a knight elder who''s tricky and aggressive. Therefore, essentially, I''m cooperating with this tribe. Fourth, the mountain bear tribe, black bear tribe and demon bear tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness. As these three tribes made a mistake before, they were compromising to me on certain conditions. To a certain degree, I could determine the candidate of the heads of the three tribes in the future. They would follow my order on trivial things. However, when it comes to big issues about interests, my words will not work. Fifth, the wild bear tribe, fire bear tribe and sea bear tribe. The three tribes still remain independent right now. They supported me to unify Ice and Snow Wilderness. I also supported them to establish their own regime. Everything between me and the three tribes is founded on common interests exchange. If I wanted them to do something, I could present the equal conditions for the exchange."


    After hearing the introduction of Zhang Tie, the 4 elders of Huaiyuan Palace finally understood that the Sacred Iceland Kingdom was not as unified as it looked. Actually, the internal forces of each part had subtle relations with Zhang Tie. However, now that Zhang Tie could see through the camps in the Sacred Iceland Kingdom so precisely, it indicated that he had already been truly mature. He had a very precise judgment on the domestical situation facing the Sacred Iceland Kingdom. It seemed that the throne of tsar didn''t make him puzzled.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, it became a bit quiet as the 4 elders didn''t know what to say for the time being. After being quiet for over 10 seconds, Elder Muyu faintly coughed, "This thing is about the top secret of Huaiyuan Palace. Only elders and head of Huaiyuan Palace know that, do you agree?"


    "I agree!"


    "I agree!"


    "I agree!"


    The elders nodded at the same time.


    "Hmm, let''s come to an end today. I''m afraid that Zhang Tie must be tired all the way from Ice and Snow Wilderness. Just have a good rest tonight!" Elder Muen told Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie nodded. Now that it was a sincere suggestion, he could not tell them that he was not tired at all. Neither could he tell them it only took him a bit more 10 hours to be here.


    At this moment, something occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "Umm, I was told that knights should get their own crystal plates in the Mountain of Brightness, where''s the Mountain of Brightness then?"


    "The Mountain of Brightness is in Tianfang City within the territory of Lan Clan. It''s indeed an unnecessary step for humans to promote to knights. If you are free tomorrow, I can take you there!" Elder Muray said enthusiastically.


    "Fine, when?"


    "6 am. Right in the Shrine Palace, we will fly towards there!"


    "Good, I will wait for Elder Muray right here at 6 am tomorrow!" Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards Elder Muray.


    Elder Muray replied with a smile...


    ...


    Elder Muen took Zhang Tie away from the Shrine Palace towards the mountain peak behind Yiyang Mountain.


    The two sides of the mountain path were covered with dense woods or flowers. The mountain path was composed of tidy stony stages. On both sides of the stony stages, there was a roadside lamp in each fixed distance, which illuminated the path. Some deacons on duty would pass by them with disciples. When they caught sight of Elder Muen, they hurriedly bowed towards Elder Muen and greeted him.


    Zhang Tie found that they were heading for a different place than the attic where he lived in last time.


    "Elder Muen, where are we heading for? It''s not the same way that I walked last time!"


    "There are 11 mountain peaks on Yiyang Mountain, each elder of Huaiyuan Palace has one mountain peak on Yiyang Mountain. As you''re the 6th elder of Huaiyuan Palace, you deserve to live in Long Sight Peak, the 6th peak of Yiyang Mountain. When you came back last time, your elder''s pavilion on Long Sight Peak had not been established, now it''s okay. I will take you there. You will live in Long Sight Peak from then on!"


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he had not imagined that elders of Huaiyuan Palace could enjoy such a great treatment here.


    ...


    Only after a couple of minutes, they had arrived at his elder''s pavilion on Long Sight Peak.


    The elder''s pavilion covered over 6000 sqm. It was a traditional Hua complex composed of terraces and open halls and crisscrossed gardens and bamboo woods. From the best location of Long Sight Peak, Zhang Tie could watch the ocean and the entire Yiyang City in the distance. He could also see the elder''s pavilions of the other 4 elders.


    Over 20 people were waiting for Zhang Tie and Elder Muen outside the gate of the elder''s pavilion.


    "These people are your servants and clan deacons who will serve you exclusively. From now on, you can have them do everything for you on Yiyang Mountain!" Elder Muen told Zhang Tie.


    At the sight of them, Zhang Tie''s look turned extremely strange at once. Because all of them were beautiful Hua girls in skirts aged between 20 to 30. At the sight of them, Zhang Tie felt entering a Shangri-la.


    ''Are all the elders'' pavilions matched with so many beautiful girls? But they don''t seem to have an interest in women...''


    Zhang Tie glanced at Elder Muen in a strange look. Elder Muen blushed faintly as he seemingly had already guessed what Zhang Tie was thinking about. He then glared at Zhang Tie, "Erm..these are specially prepared for you. The servants in other elders'' pavilions are mainly male!"


    ''For me?'' Zhang Tie understood the intention of these elders right away. It seemed that these elders expected him to have more babies. Watching those beauties who glimpsed at him, Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside, ''The clan elders really think too much about this thing.''


    Closely after that, Elder Muen escaped away.


    The moment Elder Muen left, those glimpses became audacious. Zhang Tie could almost not stand that. However, after staying in Ice and Snow Wilderness for so many days, Zhang Tie was more immune to such romantic affairs. Zhang Tie just replied with a faint smile. After that, Zhang Tie told a plump woman in the deacon''s skirt among them, "I''m a bit tired today. I want to take some rest first. Take me to my bedroom."


    "Yes, sir!" That female deacon raised her head and glanced at Zhang Tie before leading Zhang Tie into his elder''s pavilion. She led Zhang Tie into a tranquil courtyard, where there was a 3-storey delicate attic. Zhang Tie lived there.


    Everything in the attic was comfortable, simple and exquisite. Zhang Tie felt very satisfied with them. As elders had seen all sorts of scenes, being comfortable counted most in their own bedroom.


    "Elder, do you like this layout and style? If not, this disciple will have someone change a new set tomorrow!" The female deacon told Zhang Tie respectfully.


    "Hmm, nice, it''s fine. No need to change. Is there a training room here?"


    "The training room is in the basement. The entrance is in the study. Do you need me to show you there?"


    "Hmm, no need. By the way, what''s your name?''


    "You can call me Yu Youlan, elder!" The female deacon rapidly glimpsed at Zhang Tie with a faint blush.


    Zhang Tie rubbed his face as he was not used to listen to a woman who was much elder than him calling herself "disciple" in front of him, "You don''t need to call yourself disciple in front of me in Long Sight Peak from now on. Just call yourself I or Youlan. The same to all the other girls."


    "Yes, this disciple got it!"


    Zhang Tie watched her helplessly for a second. She then realized what mistake had she made. Her cheeks became redder as she hurriedly corrected, "Yes, sir, You...Youlan got it!"


    "Do you know why the others have dispatched you here?"


    "Yes...I know a bit!" Deacon Yu lowered her head as her face turned completely red.


    Zhang Tie patted his forehead, ''It seems that Huaiyuan Palace really takes me as a stud. I really want to know how those elders issued this "order" to these women. No wonder why those women threw such a strange and bashful glimpse at me just now. It turns out that they have been ready to "sacrifice" themselves.'' The moment Zhang Tie caught sight of these women, he had known that all the female here were virgins, including this deacon Yu.


    "Given your look, you should have been LV 11. Where did you learn your battle skills from?" Zhang Tie asked casually.


    "Youlan trained in Hidden Dragon Island 8 years ago!" Deacon Yu replied in a bashful look.


    Zhang Tie faintly widened his mouth, ''It seems that this Yu Youlan is my senior sister apprentice when I was in Hidden Dragon Island...''


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what to say.


    "Ahem...ahem...it''s too late. I will go to bed. You go take a rest too!"


    Deacon Yu bit her lips with a blush as she asked in a very low voice, "Elder, which girl do you prefer? I will have her here to accompany you!"


    After being asked by a senior sister apprentice from Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie blushed, "Erm...no need. You can leave now!"


    "Yes, sir..." Deacon Yu threw another glance at Zhang Tie before leaving the room in a restraint way. She closed the door, leaving Zhang Tie alone in the room.


    Zhang Tie rubbed his face with a bitter smile, ''After the chakra rotating ceremony, I will become a clan elder. By then, I will find a chance to dispatch these girls to their original whereabouts. I really cannot bear such a special treatment...''


    At this moment, Zhang Tie realized that he had not entered Castle of Black Iron for over one month. He wondered how many fruits could he get from the small tree after his trip to Ice and Snow Wilderness...


    ''However, considering that I will go to the Mountain of Brightness tomorrow; additionally, it''s inconvenient for me to enter Castle of Black Iron right on the Long Sight Peak. As the other 4 elders were on Yiyang Mountain, it''d be hard to explain it to them if I was found disappeared under their eyes.''


    Therefore, Zhang Tie threw himself onto the comfortable big bed and fell asleep...


    ''To be honest, it was pretty comfortable to sleep on a bed alone...''


    ''Since I arrived at Ewentra Archipelago, I''ve not been sleeping alone on a bed for over 1 month.'' Such a whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind...


    ''Hmm, it sounds a bit shameless...''


    He gradually entered a sweet dreamland...

 761 Tianfang City

    Chapter 761: Tianfang City


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After having a sound sleep last night, the bit of fatigue caused by over 1 month''s journey outside was cleared. Zhang Tie became spirited once again.


    Knights could not just cultivate and fight. With proper relaxation, they could even maintain a greater vitality and more sensitive thinking.


    So did Zhang Tie. As it was still far away from the formation of his earth chakra, Zhang Tie became relaxed. He just kept the regular rhythm. Many black iron knights could not break their realm for 100-200 years.


    The morning air in Yiyang Mountain was as fresh as the crystal being cleansed by the thawed ice from the Elzida Mountain. After taking a breath of the refreshing air, Zhang Tie felt spirited all over.


    After getting up, Zhang Tie took a bath. He then put on a new set of clothes before leaving the elder''s pavilion on Long Sight Peak for the Shrine Palace.


    There were all sorts of items in the elder''s pavilion, including hundreds of clothes, hats, shoes and socks in different styles. All the daily goods provided for the clan elders by Huaiyuan Palace were real, top customized items. Take the black robe on Zhang Tie as an instance, although it looked similar to common silk robes, Deacon Yu told him that it was made of a special python silk in Eastern Continent. Python silk was a rarity. It was said that 50 g of python silk was worth 5 kgs of gold. In Waii Sub-continent, as python silk products were imported from Eastern Continent, they were more expensive and rarer.


    Python silk could not be attacked by dust. Due to its special, dense flexibility, it could not be penetrated through by powerful bolts. It looked nice, clean and tidy like a piece of natural soft armor. In Huaiyuan Palace, python silk products were special provisions. Only the clan elders and some big figures in Zhang Clan could use them.


    Besides the robe, even the upper outer garment, lining and trousers were made of top raw materials in excellent workmanship. Even Zhang Tie''s pair of cloud-ascending shoes was customized artificially, which was very delicate all over.


    Since he came to Yiyang Mountain last night, only after half a day, Zhang Tie already had a feeling¡ª¡ªHow good it is to be a clan elder!


    It was just the beginning. Zhang Tie knew that the privilege of elders of Huaiyuan Palace would not just be such a small material treatment and some beauties...


    As he kept breathing the fresh air on Yiyang Mountain, Zhang Tie strode off the Long Sight Peak leisurely. When he arrived at the Shrine Palace, it was not 6 am yet. After waiting there a couple of minutes, Elder Muray arrived on time.


    Realizing that Zhang Tie arrived here a couple of times earlier, Elder Muray nodded faintly as he appreciated Zhang Tie a bit more. Although it was a trivial thing, it indicated the importance of Huaiyuan Palace in Zhang Tie''s heart.


    Although he was satisfied, Elder Muray didn''t show it on his face. After greeting Zhang Tie, he put it straight, "Let''s go!" Closely after that, he rose in the air, followed by Zhang Tie.


    Elder Muray kept flying ahead of Zhang Tie. After rising above the clouds tens of thousands of meters high, the two people rushed towards north like meteors.


    Xian Prefecture of Lan Clan was neighboring Huaiyuan Prefecture. Taian City in the northernmost part of Huaiyuan Prefecture was adjacent to Shunjiang City of Lan Clan with Yuanjiang River between them. However, Taian City had been sold to Norman Empire by Huaiyuan Palace.


    Over the past 1 month, with the evacuation of a lot of Hua people, besides Taian City, Yunzhou City, Xince City and Qihai City were also sold by Huaiyuan Palace to Norman Empire. Norman Empire had connected Taian City, Yunzhou City and Qihai City and formed a firm base on the north bank of Yuan Jiang River.


    Xince City was sold to the Mercenary Union of Blackson Humans Corridor. After selling the above 4 cities, Huaiyuan Palace only had 3 coastal cities, respectively Yiyang City, Golden Sea City and Stars Viewing City. Among them, Yiyang City was the core region of Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Clan. Golden Sea City was the significant industrial and manufacturing base of Huaiyuan Palace. Stars Viewing City was the northernmost portal and the encampment of the Hurricane Corps of Huaiyuan Palace. Like a firm steel tripod, the three cities became Huaiyuan Palace''s final base on Blackson Humans Corridor.


    Elder Muray moved as fast as 800 miles per hour which was higher than Zhang Tie''s "cruising speed". After thinking for a second, Zhang Tie had realized that Elder Muray was testing his flying ability. This speed had already been much faster than the average speed of most of the black iron knights. ''As the Mountain of Brightness is not far away, Elder Muray doesn''t need to fly so fast at the cost of his vigor.''


    It might work if Elder Muray tested other new knights with this high speed; however, it was like testing whether a fish could swim for Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie''s "cruising speed" would reach above 700 miles per hour, it was very easy for him to increase by a bit more than 10%.


    It only took the two knights more than half an hour from Yiyang City to Taian City.


    From their perspectives in the air, airships landed in Taian City from north one after another, unloading passengers.


    At this moment, over 70% of fury-level airships produced by Huaiyuan Palace were sold to Norman Empire and were used for the evacuation of the population in the entire empire.


    Anything, once reaching a scale, would be splendid just like the airships below Zhang Tie''s feet at this moment.


    Watching those airships, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but imagine how he would shoot down these airships rapidly if they belonged to demons.


    They soon flew over Yuanjiang River. After that, Elder Muray realized that Zhang Tie was not flying hard. Therefore, it refreshed his opinion about Zhang Tie''s ability. He then decelerated to 600 miles per hour.


    "You''re cultivating Five-elements Earth-look Sutra?" Elder Muray talked to Zhang Tie in a secret soul-transmitting manner.


    "Hmm, yes!" Zhang Tie replied calmly.


    Elder Muray then watched the white protective battle qi over Zhang Tie with a dubious look, "Could Five-elements Earth-look Sutra improve one''s flying ability?"


    "I don''t know. Perhaps, my physique has improved after being struck by that lightning bolt. I also feel the difference between this "Five-elements Earth-look Sutra and the contents in the secret book!" Zhang Tie replied as he started to convert his battle qi. In a split second, the protective battle qi became as flexible as water as the white light which represented gold turned into purple-black which represented water. Closely after that, it turned into green which represented wood. Then, it turned into red like fire. Finally, it turned into yellow which represented earth.


    Each level higher the cultivator reached, he would have a power of the five elements. After promoting to the knight, the cultivator could freely convert his battle qi among the five elements and advance his battle qi to five-elements battle qi. Zhang Tie was displaying this ability.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s performance, Elder Muray didn''t doubt him anymore; instead, he let out a sigh, "You''d better not reveal the secret that you were struck by a lightning bolt in the future. Otherwise, I''m afraid that many disciples of Huaiyuan Palace would like to be struck by the lightning bolt on purpose!"


    "Haha, fine!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    King roc could be a fish in the water, a bird in the sky; King roc could go deep into the abyss and suppress all the evils or fly as fast as wind and thunders in the sky so as to devour the stars. It had numerous, mysterious changes. After promoting to the knight, Zhang Tie was granted with a special "knight''s consciousness" by the "King Roc Sutra". He could almost imitate all kinds of battle qi below emperor-level secret knowledge that he was familiar with. As long as he read that secret knowledge of any battle qi, he would be able to imitate it easily. According to the difficulty of the secret knowledge, he could at least imitate 60% of them.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to display the powerful ability of "King Roc Sutra" in front of an elder of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Real powerhouses usually hid their true talent. Therefore, Zhang Tie just imitated the "Five-elements Earth-Looking Sutra" by the "King Roc Sutra".


    ...


    After flying over 700 miles towards northeast along Shunjiang City, Zhang Tie saw a city being surrounded by green mountains. It was not large but was featured by the nonchalant elegance of Lan cities.


    Elder Muray landed on the top of a mountain outside the city, followed by Zhang Tie. After that, they went downhill and entered the city from a gate in the south.


    The moment Zhang Tie stepped onto the cyan stony road in the city, he had sniffed a rich fragrance of flowers. All sorts of exotic flowers were on both sides of the urban roads. The entire city was like a big garden as was indicated by its name Tianfang City.


    ''Is the Human Knights Union Mountain of Brightness on Waii Sub-continent located here?''


    Zhang Tie had a limitless curiosity about the Mountain of Brightness as he imagined about the magnificent scenery on Mountain of Brightness.


    After walking through the roads for over 20 minutes, Elder Muray stopped in a remote lane, "Here we are!"


    Zhang Tie looked around with a vacant expression...


    Elder Muray pointed at a medium-sized pawnshop in front of them...


    There were three Hua characters on the signboard outside the pawnship¡ª¡ªÔÚÈ˼ä. Almost half of its primer faded away. It seemed a bit miserable.


    Zhang Tie became stunned for quite a while...


    ''Is this...the Mountain of Brightness? The most powerful Human Knights Union on Waii Sub-continent?''


    ''My God, even the Sacred Golden Orchid Empire''s embassy in Jinyun Country looks much more advanced than this place.''


    If not the solemn look of Elder Muray, which reminded Zhang Tie that it was not a joke, he had long turned around and left...

 762 Pushing Open the Door of Knights World I

    After entering the pawnshop, Zhang Tie saw a lad in cyan clothes and a hat dozing off behind the counter, leaving a puddle of saliva on the counter.


    All the furnishings in the pawnshop seemed to have been old as they lost their gloss. The entire pawnshop was still filled with looming smoke and tea fragrance.


    Besides some cheap items scattering in the containers behind the counter, nothing else could be found in the pawnshop.


    After comparing the formidable term Mountain of Brightness to such a broken pawnshop, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Elder Muray.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Elder Muray coughed.


    But the lad still did not wake up.


    Elder Muray looked a bit embarrassed as he coughed twice forcefully once again. This time, the lad finally woke up. When the arm that supported his head slid away, his head instantly pounded on the counter while his face fell into the puddle of saliva.


    "Who...who''s spraying me with water?" The lad shouted as he waved his limbs. When he saw Zhang Tie and Elder Muray clearly and noticed his saliva on the counter, he wiped it away from his face and tidied his sleeve.


    ''This is really...really...amazing'' Zhang Tie was so shocked that he became silent.


    "Where''s your boss?" Elder Muray asked politely.


    "6 new virgins arrived in Yihong Pavilion last night. The old thing has not come back yet!" The lad seemingly complained that the "old thing" didn''t take him there. After losing his temper for a short while, he looked Zhang Tie and Elder Muray up and down. When he gazed at Zhang Tie, his eyes gleamed, "Ze...ze...I''ve not imagined seeing a knight in Waii Sub-continent!"


    Zhang Tie was doubting that this place had nothing to do with that Mountain Brightness. However, the latter words of that lad wavered his mind.


    When Zhang Tie concealed his qi, even a knight could not recognize his status as a knight. How did this lad know?


    Zhang Tie instantly cleared his suspicion.


    "You are lucky. Now that a big deal came, the old thing would definitely know it. He will come back soon!"


    Soon after the lad''s words, Zhang Tie heard footsteps outside the pawnshop. Closely after that, an old, thin guy rushed in with white mustache in a scarlet robe with floral patterns on it. Besides, there was a faint mark of lipstick on his face...


    What a shameless old thing!


    "Ahh, who''s that? Why did you come here at such a critical moment? What a killjoy..." The old guy kept swearing when he entered.


    Even Elder Muray, the worst-tempered elder in Huaiyuan Palace was silent with a big smile in front of this old guy.


    After throwing a glance at Elder Muray and Zhang Tie, the old guy muttered. After that, he told the lad to open a narrow burglarproof door beside the counter and entered.


    The moment he entered the counter, the old guy knocked the lad''s head with his finger, causing the lad to spring up due to a sharp pain, "You sleepyhead, whether you were speaking ill of me just now?"


    "Ahh, never!" The lad touched his head with a pair of gleaming eyes like an innocent rabbit.


    "Work hard. Don''t always think about women. Look at you. You do not even have your pubic hair. As it''s chaotic now, I will increase your salary by 2 silver coins next month. When you have 20 gold coins, I will find a class A virgin for you..."


    After saying that, the old guy chased away the lad before sitting on the seat behind the counter and watching Zhang Tie and Elder Muray.


    After this old thing entered, Zhang Tie realized through his knight''s consciousness that the entire space of the pawnshop had been sealed. Although the door was open, all the sounds inside the door could not be leaked.


    Elder Muray threw a glance at Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then walked to the counter.


    The old thing threw a serious glance at Zhang Tie before asking with an impatient look, "Name?"


    "Zhang Tie!"


    "Age?"


    "22!"


    "Your nominal age?" The old guy glared at Zhang Tie like watching an illiterate, "How could you not count the 10 months in your mom''s womb? You, young men, who grew up in remote areas such as Waii Sub-continent are fickle. You know sh*t! How do you not learn the essence of Hua culture? Again, age..."


    This time, Zhang Tie was completely conquered by this old thing, "23!"


    "Which clan were you born in?"


    "Huaiyuan Palace, Jinyun Country!"


    "Put out your right hand horizontally..."


    Zhang Tie put out his right hand. The old thing then pinched each finger of Zhang Tie''s right hand like touching his bones. After that, he took out a needle from below the counter and rapidly injected into Zhang Tie''s one finger. After squeezing out some blood, he took out a white dragon-shaped crystal plate from below the counter and dropped that blood onto the two eyes of the dragon-shaped crystal. After being immersed in Zhang Tie''s blood, the white crystal instantly turned as blue as a sapphire.


    "Inject your spiritual energy into the dragon-shaped crystal!"


    Zhang Tie then injected his spiritual energy into the dragon-shaped crystal plate from his finger. The crystal then started to illuminate. Finally, dragon-shaped totem halos appeared above the crystal. After flying around the crystal for one circle, the halos finally entered the crystal and turned into a shiny dragon scale on the crystal. What a marvel!


    After doing all this, the old thing fumbled out a bright yellow crystal from the counter and gave it together with the dragon-shaped crystal plate to Zhang Tie, "It''s okay!"


    Watching the bright yellow crystal, Elder Muray faintly frowned, "Why there''s only one earth-element crystal? Shouldn''t it be two?"


    "The earth-element realm is breaking out a fierce war. Bless the God that you can have one earth-element crystal. It''s just a benefit being used to encourage human knights. It''s normal even if you could not get one. How many do you want, a crate?" The old thing rolled his eyes, which choked Elder Muray so much, "Well, where''s the money?"


    Elder Muray took out some gold checks and put them on the counter.


    At the sight of the par value, Zhang Tie was dumbfounded, ''Each of 4 gold checks is 1 million gold coins. It''s the largest par value that Golden Roc Bank could issue!''


    ''Are such trivial items worth 4 million gold coins? 100 tons of gold?''


    Zhang Tie watched the two items which weighed less than 250 g in total with an unbelievable look. He could not connect the two items with the 4 million gold coins for the time being.


    Even though Zhang Tie had a wealth of 500 million gold coins, as he lived a tough life when he was young, he knew clearly about the value of 4 million gold coins.


    Even so-called major clans in many small countries could not afford 4 million gold coins. Even the major clans in Blackhot City could barely afford 4 million gold coins.


    After putting away the gold checks, the old thing seemingly knew what Zhang Tie was thinking about. He then threw a glance at Zhang Tie before explaining unsatisfactorily, "Do you think that knight''s crystal plate is common? You can never find the second one across the world except for the Mountain of Brightness. It''s already deducted given that you''re a human knight. This item is your access to the knight''s word. After injecting your spiritual energy in it, you will see whether it''s worth 4 million gold coins or not."


    After hearing this, Zhang Tie directly injected his spiritual energy into the knight''s crystal plate.


    After entering the knight''s crystal plate once again, Zhang Tie saw a paragraph of words in his mind sea. It introduced the significance and usage of this knight''s crystal plate to Zhang Tie.


    Due to his powerful spiritual energy, it only took Zhang Tie less than 1 second to figure out the entire paragraph. He then widened his mouth.


    Generally, this knight''s crystal plate had three functions.


    First, this knight''s crystal plate indicated Zhang Tie''s status as a knight. Now, the knight''s crystal plate had been completely bundled with Zhang Tie. Only Zhang Tie could use and activate some special functions of this crystal plate. Only people with human''s knight''s crystal plates could access to many mysterious human regions in the underground world. It was like each human knight''s legit certificate. Additionally, this knight''s crystal plate had established a certain mysterious contact with Zhang Tie. If Zhang Tie died, the Mountain of Brightness would know that first.


    The second function of this knight''s crystal plate was more marvelous...

 763 Pushing Open the Door of the Knights World II

    Although being a knight, Zhang Tie only had an obscure feeling about his cultivation progress. However, he could see his cultivation progress and level clearly on the knight''s crystal plate.


    Black iron knight''s crystal plate was blue. When the knight was going to form his earth chakra, the shape of the chakra would be displayed as a round pattern on a plane. Due to different cultivation methods, some round patterns were simple, some were complex. Now that they were round, they were composed of 360 degrees. That was to say, generally, all the chakras could be divided into 360 smaller parts equally. After lighting the 360 parts, it meant that the knight had formed a new chakra and promoted to the next level.


    The 360 parts of a round pattern referred to a concrete division of ranks and cultivation progress.


    In knight''s word, 360 units of a chakra were called scales, dragon''s scales. 360 scales referred to the number of stages that a black iron knight needed to go up before promoting to an earth knight.


    The forming progress of the chakra could be sensed and reflected on the knight''s crystal plate.


    On the dragon-shaped crystal plate, there was a dragon relief which had 360 fine dragon scales. When Zhang Tie activated the knight''s crystal plate just now, one dragon scale turned into bright yellow. It indicated that Zhang Tie had just lit 1 of the 360 scales which were required to form the earth chakra.


    If Zhang Tie formed the second chakra, all the 360 dragon scales on the dragon-shaped crystal plate would turn into bright yellow. The moment the earth chakra started to run, the entire knight''s crystal plate would turn into bright yellow from blue.


    After water chakra, the third chakra was formed, all the dragon scales on the knight''s crystal plate would turn into black...and so on.


    By displaying the cultivation progress to the knight, the knight''s crystal plate could urge each knight to continue their cultivation and fix the target of each knight in the distant cultivation process.


    What an exceptional function! However, after figuring out the third function of the knight''s crystal plate, Zhang Tie became more dumbfounded.


    The third function of the knight''s crystal plate reminded Zhang Tie of the description about the information network that humans established in technological means before the Catastrophe that he read in the library. Before touching the knight''s crystal plate, Zhang Tie had not imagined that there could be such an item in this age. He thought that the remote-sensing mirror crystal was already high-tech.


    The remote-sensing crystal that could be used for one-to-one information transfer was already rare. By contrast, this knight''s crystal plate was more powerful with more specialized functions. Especially after combining with the super powerful spiritual energy of knight, this knight''s crystal plate had some exceptional functions that Zhang Tie had not even heard about before.


    After being shocked for 2 seconds, Zhang Tie injected his spiritual energy into the mirror space of the knight''s crystal plate in front of Elder Muray and that old guy.


    The moment his spiritual energy entered the mirror space of the knight''s crystal plate, Zhang Tie had sensed his spiritual energy being linked to a special information sea through the mirror space inside the crystal plate after being elongated as slim as a noodle. His spiritual energy then turned into a special wave.


    That information sea was filled with a special brightness, which seemed to be billions of miles away from Zhang Tie but felt like it was right in front of Zhang Tie.


    "Welcome to the Mountain of Brightness, human knight!"


    A masculine, dignified voice drifted in Zhang Tie''s mind through the feedback of his spiritual energy.


    After the voice disappeared, a paragraph of words about Zhang Tie appeared in the astronomical information sea. The words were radiating faint, blue light.


    Owner of the knight''s crystal plate¡ª¡ªZhang Tie


    Race¡ª¡ªHua


    Clan¡ª¡ªHuaiyuan Palace


    Current Level¡ª¡ªBlack Iron Knight


    Cultivation progress¡ª¡ª1 scale


    Byname in Mountain of Brightness¡ª¡ªChakra''s Lion


    Personal account¡ª¡ª100,000 gold coins.


    This information appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind sea in blue words.


    Zhang Tie knew that only he could see his individual information.


    The byname in the Mountain of Brightness was fixed with each knight''s crystal plate. Instead of being selected by individuals, it''s completely optional. This byname was one each human knight''s secret. They could not even expose it to their parents, wives or children. More than one human knight had been killed after leaking their byname in Mountain of Brightness.


    The personal account was Zhang Tie''s individual account in the organization of Mountain of Brightness. Needless to say, the 100,000 gold coins was spared from the 4 million gold coins that Elder Muray had just paid for him. He had to pay to activate some functions of this knight''s crystal plate.


    Each human knight''s personal account in Mountain of Brightness could freely flow. They could deposit in or withdraw from it. Four banks were available for human knights in Mountain of Brightness, namely Golden Roc Bank, Xuanyuan Bank and Pangu Bank in Taixia Country and Intercontinental Bank in Western Continent. With their own knight''s crystal plate, human knights could deposit in or withdraw out money from their exclusive personal account in any of the above banks.


    After this information faded away, with the constant injection of his spiritual energy, Zhang Tie opened a wholly new paper''s front page.


    On the top of the front page, there were 4 Hua characters which radiated golden light¡ª¡ª¹âÃ÷֮ɽ.


    There were some notices in the scarlet letter right in the most eye-catching place below the 4 Hua characters "¹âÃ÷֮ɽ".


    The first notice was¡ª¡ª"Lion Fortress in Earth-element Realm wants No. 1 knights"


    The second notice was¡ª¡ª"Knights who head for the 3rd abyss for capturing underground dragons, attention, please. Bronze-class far-ancient demon beasts are discovered in the 3rd abyss.


    The third notice was¡ª¡ª"Severe demonized puppets disaster broke out in Blackhot Sub-continent. 180 million people turned into demonized puppets. Mountain of Brightness and 37 human countries across Blackhot Sub-continent off a reward to suppress it"


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what earth-element realm was.


    He didn''t know where was the 3rd abyss either.


    He knew that Blackhot Sub-continent was far away from Waii Sub-continent. It was much larger than Waii Sub-continent. However, Zhang Tie just read it on the map. As for the terrifying demonized puppets disaster being involved with 180 million people, Zhang Tie felt goosebumps all over.


    Zhang Tie injected a bit of spiritual energy into the first notice while some new lines of words gradually appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind sea.


    It was a very fine map, which led people from the world above ground to the Lion Fortress in the Earth-element Realm. Right below the map was the treatment for No. 1 knights.


    Black iron knight¡ª¡ª2 earth-element crystals per month; keep all the booties; only after staying in Lion Fortress for 5 years, you will be qualified to leave your name on the Heavens Fortune Namelist and be awarded as a lord.


    Earth knight¡ª¡ª1 water-element crystal per month; keep all the booties; only after staying in Lion Fortress for 2 years, you will be qualified to leave your name on the Heavens Fortune Namelist and be awarded as a lord.


    The map was valuable. After glancing over it, Zhang Tie bore those details in mind. Closely after that, he retreated from the first notice and returned to the front page.


    Below these notices were three green words, respectively reward for hunting; goods trade; information exchange.


    Zhang Tie skimmed all of them by his spiritual energy.


    As for Zhang Tie, everything in the knight''s world was strange. It seemed that he had entered a new world.


    In the section "reward for hunting", Zhang Tie saw a live, grim image of a demon knight, below which was an introduction in two lines and some photos. The background of those photos was an urban relic and numerous human corpses...


    ¡ª¡ªDaruba, a black iron demon knight raided the capital city of Filin Kingdom, a state of the Saint Dias Humans Countries Alliance on September 27th, the 895th year of Black Iron Calendar and exterminated the royal members of Filin Kingdom. Besides, it killed over 267,000 innocent humans in total.


    ¡ª¡ªDaruba, who cultivates Black Demon Sutra, is powerful. It''s estimated that he has lit at least 200 scales on its earth chakra.


    ¡ª¡ªAmount of reward¡ª¡ª45 million gold coins.


    After promoting to a knight, people could issue and receive reward tasks.


    Of course, if you really didn''t like someone, you could add 10 million more gold coins under that guy''s reward for hunting notice so as to have him killed as fast as possible.


    Under this demon knight was a long name-list of demon knights or knights of Three-eye Association. The minimal amount of reward for them was 10 million gold coins.


    When in Waii Sub-continent, Zhang Tie saw less than 10 demon knights and knights of Three-eye Association in total. However, the name-list for hunting contained at least 300 demon knights and knights of Three-eye Association...


    Watching this name-list, Zhang Tie indeed sensed the sheer terror of the holy war and great threat facing humans. The over 300 knights were just identified at the beginning of the holy war. However, many demon knights were unidentified among the super demon corps. Many demon corps were still on the way. For instance, Zhang Tie didn''t know the name of that demon knight whom he killed in the underground world where he discovered the tower of time. Additionally, many human knights who had surrendered to demons were not unveiled yet.


    ''The key point is that I can only see this name-list as a black iron knight. I cannot see those names which could be seen by earth knights.''


    As for any black iron demon knight whose name was not recorded on the name-list, as long as you could kill it or had a certificate of killing it and brought its head to any branch of Mountain of Brightness, you would be able to get 5 million gold coins as a reward.


    After reading this introduction under the name-list, Zhang Tie realized that he had wasted 5 million gold coins when he killed that demon knight in the underground world.


    In the section of "goods trade", Zhang Tie saw all sorts of demands and ads for rare materials and equipment. Each ad was involved with an amazing trading volume.


    These ads, or posts before the Catastrophe could not be issued for free. According to the service regulations, each ad should be verified by Mountain of Brightness at the cost of 50,000 gold coins before being displayed in this section and be available to all the knights through the spiritual ties with their crystal plates.


    This section contained many pages, which was more similar to that information stored in crystal books. The difference was that the contents in the crystal books always remained unchanged, however, the contents in this section kept updating around the clock.


    It would cost a reader 1000 gold coins to leave any comment behind any post. Additionally, that reply could not be displayed under that post without the consent of the administrator of the Mountain of Brightness.


    All the human knights could contact other human knights through the Mountain of Brightness. However, this contact had to go through the Mountain of Brightness. Each message would cost 1000 gold coins too. Additionally, it would have a time lag.


    All the knights issued messages and joined all the activities in Mountain of Brightness by their bynames.


    ...


    As for the section "information exchange", Zhang Tie saw the notices on the top of the section that No. 1 knights were needed by over 100 countries on all continents and subcontinents. Those black iron knights who wanted to enjoy a respected life could select a country to serve.


    There were all sorts of posts in the latter. Only by skimming over those posts'' topics, Zhang Tie had felt like widening his vision.


    Among the posts, the most remarkable one was called "The Comparative Analysis about the Battle Forces of the Knights in the Seven Major Clans of Taixia Country"...


    This was a paid read. A great part of posts was paid read in the entire section "Information Exchange". Some of these posts were passages, some were photos, some were sections of scenes that knights kept by secret methods. Such sections of scenes could also be transferred to Mountain of Brightness by knight''s crystal plates through remote spiritual links, the price of which varied from thousands to tens of thousands of gold coins.


    The byname of the author of the famous post "Comparative Analysis about the Battle Forces of Knights in Seven Major Clans of Taixia Country" was ¡ª¡ªStudent Informed Black Iron. Its price was 10,000 gold coins. Its overall rating was 87 points. At the sight of the viewing times of paid read, Zhang Tie''s eye corners twitched¡ª¡ª13614.


    ''A passage is worth above 100 million gold coins?''


    When Zhang Tie retreated from the knight''s crystal plate, he was still shocked by the value of the passage.


    ''Is this the knight''s world?''


    Although that passage was eye-catching in the section Information Exchange, not all the paid reads could be marked at such a high price. Some posts even had no view. However, Zhang Tie was still shocked.


    Zhang Tie finally understood why a knight''s crystal plate was worth 4 million gold coins. Because the only crystal information network was established in Mountain of Brightness, the exclusive circle of the top figures in this age.


    ...


    After half an hour, Zhang Tie and Elder Muray left Tianfang City. After walking out of the city, they blasted off and flew towards Huaiyuan Palace.


    "Elder Muray, I will have Golden Roc Bank transfer 4 million gold coins to you when I come back!" Zhang Tie told Elder Muray after recovering his composure.


    "No need. It''s paid by Huaiyuan Palace out of respect. If Huaiyuan Palace couldn''t afford such a payment, it''s destined to be exterminated!" Elder Muray recovered his bad-tempered personality. After replying to Zhang Tie, he sighed, "But there''s only one earth-element crystal!"


    "Ahh, what''s this crystal used for?" Zhang Tie took out that golden crystal and asked Elder Muray.


    "Whether you could only get earth element from elements realm now?"


    "Yes!"


    "Earth-element crystal is a rarity exploited from the earth-element realm. It contains a large number of pure earth elements. It''s the best tunic for black iron knights. When you enter meditation next time, you can hold this crystal by hand so as to extract the pure earth elements from it. After that, you can inject it into the earth chakra. In this way, you could accelerate your cultivation speed greatly!"


    "Oh, I see!" Zhang Tie tightly held that earth-element crystal.


    "As a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace, you can get 4 earth-element crystals per year. They could accelerate your cultivation speed greatly, although being less!"


    "Can we buy it from somewhere?''


    "As such crystals contained pure elements, no knights would sell them; instead, they will all keep them for themselves. Therefore, you can not buy them no matter how rich you are!"


    "Mountain of Brightness is generous!"


    "Ha...ha...if you want more earth-element crystals to accelerate your cultivation speed, you have to fight in the earth-element realm. It''s also an incentive!"


    "Earth-element realm?"


    Zhang Tie recalled this name while the map that he saw through his knight''s crystal plate reappeared in his mind. Zhang Tie remembered that there was an underground cave in Lanzhou Province, Taixia Country that led to the Lion Fortress in Earth-element Realm...


    When he thought about Taixia Country, Zhang Tie waved his head once again. ''Based on my current situation, even though I want to go to the Earth-element Realm, I would not make it in a short period. Step by step. Just handle the current things first.''


    The passage which was worth over 100 million gold coins reappeared in Zhang Tie''s mind...


    ''What an interesting knight''s world...''Mountain of Brightness

 764 Decision

    Chapter 764: Decision


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie rubbed his eyes as he raised his head from the pile of books.


    He was occupied in books for a whole day.


    All the books were about human lives and network before the Catastrophe. Besides, there were some gnosis about cultivation and notes of clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace. Those books were collected in the library of Hidden Dragon Island while those gnosis and notes were collected in Yiyang Mountain; especially the gnosis and notes which contained many secrets of Huaiyuan Palace and various knowledge of the knight''s world and could only be read by elders of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Although it took Zhang Tie one day to read them, it was worthy.


    Mountain of Brightness was human knights'' union and the most powerful human organization. Additionally, the Mountain of Brightness could be described as a web server in the network term before the Catastrophe. The knight''s crystal plate was the information access of this web server. Each knight could connect their spiritual energy with the web server of Mountain of Brightness through their own knight''s crystal plate and shared the resources inside it.


    Each knight was the registrant of this network forum. Each one''s byname in Mountain of Brightness was their username or web name. Based on their levels, they could have different accesses. All the resources were open freely to the knights with higher levels; namely, knights with lower levels could not access to higher-level resources.


    Earth knights could browse all the resources about the section of black iron knights; however, black iron knights could not access the resources which were open to earth knights.


    That was a network!


    The information network before the Catastrophe was electrical network; however, this network constructed by crystals was a quantum network.


    Knights'' strong spiritual energy, knights'' wealth and purchasing power and knights'' importance to humans determined that only knights could access to Mountain of Brightness.


    Those with weak spiritual energy could not access to it; those lacking money could not afford it. What a reality!


    This network could not be built by humans in this age. According to the notes of those clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace, Mountain of Brightness was actually a prehistorical secret treasure excavated from the underground world together with Xuanyuan Hill. It was a product of crystal civilization that humans developed by crystals numerous years ago. According to the legend, this Mountain of Brightness was an extremely huge piece of crystal right in Xuanyuan Hill of Taixia Country. Since the Mountain of Brightness was discovered, numerous elites in Taixia Country had been studying about its usage.


    The main component of the crystal was silicon, which was the best carrier for information storage and transfer. Silicon was the most abundant element in this world. Actually, the entire land was mainly composed of silicon. Therefore, according to the opinion of an academism which was obsessed with the study about the functions of crystal, this world could be treated as a huge crystal in the universe. The pieces of this huge crystal were not independent; instead, they were exchanging information around the clock. These pieces of crystal could form a huge crystal information network in the unified energy field of the universe through intercommunication. In a certain period of human history, people used special functions of crystal to develop a brilliant civilization.


    In black iron age, humans excavated and inherited some functions of crystal such as lighting surging points, making long-distance communications and building the only information network.


    In black iron age, human civilizations vanished and gained rebirth.


    Zhang Tie''s byname in Mountain of Brightness was Chakra''s Tiger. Zhang Tie was curious about the bynames of the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace.


    However, this question was forbidden in the knight''s world. All the information about a knight in the Mountain of Brightness were confidential.


    Those materials left by the elders benefited Zhang Tie a lot. Until then did Zhang Tie realize that he had entered the Knight''s world completely.


    Zhang Tie looked outside and found a golden sunglow hanging over the skyline, illuminating the windows of the study room on the entire second storey of the attic.


    Zhang Tie picked himself up and leisurely went off the attic.


    Deacon Yu and two beautiful servants of Long Sight Peak were waiting outside the attic. Watching Zhang Tie coming downstairs, the three women put their crossed hands on the left waists. After that, they lowered their bodies and faintly bowed towards Zhang Tie.


    "Elder!"


    Besides beautiful looks, their etiquette also made Zhang Tie comfortable.


    When they lowered their bodies and faintly bowed towards Zhang Tie, they were displaying their delicate curves and special, enchanting feminine temperament. Each time Zhang Tie saw the greeting etiquette of Hua women, he would feel very special and polite.


    All the women on Long Sight Peak had excellent figures, white skin and black hair, which fit the aesthetic standard of Hua people very much. Deacon Yu made a peony-shaped bun while the other two made a double conch-shaped bun and a flying fairy-shaped bun respectively. The peony-shaped bun was mature and elegant, the double conch-shaped bun was naive and witty, the flying fairy-shaped bun was brilliant and flexible. The three women''s hairstyle matched with each other. Additionally, all of them were wearing fluttering long skirts while faintly exposing their plump breasts. Zhang Tie glanced over their bulged chests and curved butts as he stealthily swallowed his saliva faintly.


    Honestly, Zhang Tie was impulsive to raise the three women''s jaws by his finger.


    "Ahem...ahem...get up!" Zhang Tie issued the order as he moved his eyes from their bodies. Meanwhile, he exclaimed inside, ''How sharp is the beauty trick of the elders! No man could bear not opening up and sowing on the ''fertile land'' 1while facing them all the year round.''


    The three women got up with a faint blush. Due to the sharp instinct, they had sensed Zhang Tie''s glance although they didn''t raise heads.


    "Elder, you''ve not eaten food for a whole day. Do you want to eat some?" Deacon Yu asked with a faint blush.


    Zhang Tie touched his belly as he replied, "I will have some then. And, put away those books and secret gnosis and send them back to Hidden Dragon Island!"


    Closely after Zhang Tie''s order, someone had collected the books.


    "Hmm, fine, are you going out now, Elder?"


    "No, I''m just going to take a walk on the Long Sight Peak and breathe some fresh air!" Zhang Tie explained as he walked out of the attic.


    Seeing Zhang Tie walking out, Deacon Yu threw a glance at the two women on her side. With a faint blush, the two women lowered their heads and followed Zhang Tie out.


    When Zhang Tie came to a lookout pavilion in the courtyard, he looked at the beautiful mountainscape and the shimmering sea level at the foot of the mountain in the distance and let out a long sigh.


    Standing on the Long Sight Peak, the scenery was pretty good with an open vision. Besides the scenery on Yiyang Mountain, the ocean in the distance could also be enjoyed. All in all, Zhang Tie felt pretty open-minded and relaxed here.


    Zhang Tie felt that he had gotten rid of the pile of books and secret gnosis spiritually.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie heard faint footsteps from his back. He looked back and found he was followed by 2 beautiful girls.


    "Elder, as you''ve read books for a whole day, you must be tired. Ziyun and Ruxuan wish to help you relax yourself..." The beautiful girl in the flying fairy-shaped bun asked bravely with a blush.


    "Fine!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, the two girls moved into the lookout pavilion in an enchanting way. After that, one of them took out a jade flute from the wall of the lookout pavilion while the other took out a qin, a seven-stringed plucked instrument in some ways similar to a zither. In a split second, the flute and the qin sounded while a distant music reverberated around the lookout pavilion. The music was as melodious and soothing as white clouds in the air and as natural and elegant as pines in the breeze which matched with the scenery pretty well. Watching the golden sunglow in the distance and listening to the melodious rhythm, Zhang Tie was immersed in the nice realm.


    ''Knight is just the first step for me to climb towards my peak. It''s just a beginning. For the rest of my life, I will never live up to this body. I will definitely reach the highest mountain peak and see the scenery under it.'' Zhang Tie muttered to himself.


    After making this decision, Zhang Tie felt that he became spirited at once while an ecstasy filled his body.


    After a while, the sun set off while the golden sunglow gradually faded away. The night breeze felt a bit cold. After hearing a pause in the music, Zhang Tie turned around while the two women stopped too.


    The woman who was playing the qin was that with the flying fairy-shaped bun. Facing the cold night breeze, her movement slowed down a bit, causing a musical note to lose its agility faintly. However, she had not imagined that Zhang Tie could observe it. Watching Zhang Tie turning around, the woman''s face became completely red. She had not imagined that this young elder was so proficient in music. Of course, she didn''t know how Zhang Tie lived for 15 years in the tower of time with the imitating bloodline.


    Zhang Tie came to the front of the woman. After that, he pressed down a string with one finger and plucked it by another hand, causing an agile, nice note from the long qin, leaving an elegant sound curl.


    Both girls blushed. Only after hearing the very musical note, the two girls had already known that they met the real music master. They had not imagined that Zhang Tie was proficient in music besides having promoted to the knight at such a young age.


    "Please forgive us!" The two girls exchanged a glance with each other before hurriedly getting up and asking for Zhang Tie''s punishment by lowing their body.


    "Ha...ha...ha, nice scenery, nice music and better people. How innocent you are!" Zhang Tie burst into laughter, "Get up!"


    When the two women got up, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but pat their curved butts...


    "Ahh..." They exclaimed at the same time as they almost sprung up.


    "Hmm, it''s getting cold. Remember to put on warm clothes later on. Although your skirts are nice, they are a bit thin. I''m enjoying such a good scenery, but I cannot make you catch a cold!" Zhang Tie joked as he left.


    The two women blushed at once as they exchanged a glance with each other. As they realized that Zhang Tie was so fickle, they silently reminded each other.


    ...


    In the dining hall, Deacon Yu had prepared well the supper for Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie ate, Deacon Yu just served him on one side.


    "Have you eaten? Come on, let''s have it together!" Zhang Tie asked casually.


    "Youlan has finished supper!" Deacon Yu shook her head as she explained, "As we''re going to hold the rotating chakra ceremony tomorrow, this supper should be made of vegetables according to the regulation. Are you accustomed to it, elder?"


    Zhang Tie watched the over 10 assorted vegetable dishes and revealed a smile, "It doesn''t matter. From today on, just prepare 3 dishes and 1 soup for me in each meal. No need to be so wasteful!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    ...


    After dinner, Zhang Tie took a bath and changed his clothes. He then entered meditation with closed eyes in the elder''s pavilion and waited for the rotating chakra ceremony...


    Incenses were burning in the elder''s pavilion.

 765 The Rotating Chakra Ceremony

    Chapter 765: The Rotating Chakra Ceremony


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Entering the void realm without any desire!


    Zhang Tie entered meditation overnight with a clear mind. He became relaxed all over in a special state. Gradually, the day broke.


    When the sound of footsteps drifted from outside the attic, Zhang Tie was muttering¡ª¡ªThe law of the heavens is mysterious; the law of the earth is stable. If the heaven was not extremely mysterious, the spirits of all things would not exist; if the earth was not extremely stable, all things would not be carried out. Due to the mystery of the heavens and the stability of the earth, all sorts of mysterious phenomena of sun, moons and stars appeared in the sky and elements of water, fire, soil and rocks formed on the earth. Due to the changing phenomena in the sky, all things were nourished. Due to all things'' mysterious responses to the phenomena in the sky, they finally showed themselves to us. Therefore, the mysterious and stable abstruseness led to everything, accepted everything and contained everything.


    "Elder, the blessed moment has arrived!" Deacon Yu''s voice sounded outside the room.


    After opening his eyes, Zhang Tie saw two teams led by Deacon Yu and Yiyang Mountain and those women in the elder''s pavilion of the Long Sight Peak cupping all sorts of clothes and tools and watching him with a respectful look.


    Zhang Tie had been familiar with today''s procedure. At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie just stood up silently while stretching out his arms.


    Those women swarmed up at once and started to dress up Zhang Tie as soon as possible.


    After a few minutes, those women left. A deacon then passed a mirror to Zhang Tie to let him watch himself.


    A crown made of violet gold which symbolized the good fortune of a fighter, a robe with a python pattern, a jade belt and gold hooks on it; a double-colored jade pendant, a pair of shoes with auspicious clouds and a unicorn pattern on it, a demon-killing sword on his waist. Watching such an image in the mirror, Zhang Tie, aged just 16, was shocked by his majesty.


    All the women in the elder''s pavilion were obsessed with Zhang Tie''s new image.


    As the old saying went, "People became dignified by high-end clothes while horse became excellent by its saddle. Even Zhang Tie felt that he looked pretty handsome at this moment."


    Zhang Tie nodded, "It''s fine!"


    After that, Zhang Tie followed the two teams of deacons out of the elder''s pavilion on the top of Long Sight Peak.


    When Zhang Tie walked out of the elder''s pavilion on Long Sight Peak, the first ray of sunshine reached the Shrine Palace of Yiyang Mountain.


    "Dong..."


    A distant yet vigorous and firm bell ring drifted from the highest peak of Yiyang Mountain and reverberated around the entire Yiyang Mountain. Even residents in Yiyang City heard the sound.


    When the bell rang reached the foot of the mountain, it sounded across Huaiyuan Prefecture at the same time.


    At that moment, both sides of the square outside the Shrine Palace of Yiyang Mountain had been crowded with people. However, nobody uttered any sound. They were just waiting for the major character.


    When the first bell rang, Zhang Tie, on the mountain path, started to release his battle-qi totem.


    Even though it was daytime, a brilliant battle-qi totem could still be seen above Yiyang Mountain. Just like wanting to match with the sun''s brilliance, it could be seen from 100 miles away.


    It was a five-element battle qi that Zhang Tie imitated according to the "Five-element Ground-look Sutra". The "Five-element Ground-look Sutra" was just a viscount-level secret knowledge. Although it was not the most powerful one, it was extremely brilliant.


    At the sight of the battle-qi totem rising in the sky from the mountain, all the onlookers on both sides of the square outside the Shrine Palace became faintly excited. Although so many people came to attend the chakra rotating ceremony, not every one of them had a chance to watch the knight''s battle-qi totem rising in the air from such a short distance.


    Watching the rising battle-qi totem, many people''s eyes became eager.


    "Dong..."


    With another bell ring from Yiyang Mountain, everybody across Yiyang Mountain felt like their hearts were pounding.


    With the constant bell rings, Zhang Tie walked frankly towards the Shrine Palace one stage by another on the golden carpet which extended from the Long Sight Peak. At every few meters, there was a disciple of Huaiyuan Palace in a ceremonial robe on one side of the mountain path, who would give a salute to Zhang Tie when Zhang Tie passed by them.


    Under the guidance of the two rows of deacons, when Zhang Tie reached the outside of the Shrine Palace, the bell had rung 27 times as was scheduled.


    Zhang Tie saw all sorts of onlookers on both sides of the square of the Shrine Palace, male or female, old or young, familiar or strange.


    Zhang Tie instantly caught sight of those family members from the old mansion in Golden Sea City. They were in a special location. Zhang Haitian, the head of Zhang family, Zhang Haitian''s wives, Zhang Tie''s uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews and nieces, 50-60 people in total.


    Zhang Tie was so thrilled that his face turned completely red. Even his mustache was quivering. All the other members of Zhang family were chinning up and chesting out and watching Zhang Tie with enthusiastic looks. Zhang Su was also watching Zhang Tie with an intricate and awe-stricken look.


    Zhang Tie''s powerful knight''s battle-qi totem was oppressive to everybody below the knight. Those cultivators could sense Zhang Tie''s power especially.


    Zhang Tie faintly nodded towards those people from Zhang''s old mansion, which made many of them excited.


    What a clan''s honor! From today on, Zhang family in Golden Sea City would be dignified and respected.


    Actually, the family members in the old mansion of Zhang Clan had already sensed the honor from the number of onlookers.


    Zhang Tie noticed familiar faces one after another from the crowd.


    Zhang Tie caught sight of Zerom and Captain Kerlin standing in the stand area below the banner of Armes, the empire of mercenary. Zerom looked more mature than before with a mustache, who was able to control his facial expression at the sight of Zhang Tie. Captain Kerlin the cyclops widely opened his mouth which could even hold an ostrich''s egg as he constantly rubbed his eyes.


    "Zerom, it''s truly that little jerk. Do I see the wrong person?" Captain Kerlin whispered to Zerom.


    "You jerk. Shut up if you don''t want to die. Do you want Huaiyuan Palace to chop us and feed our meat to sharks?" Zerom maintained a faint smile as he stomped onto the Cyclop''s foot, causing him to show his teeth in pain.


    Zhang Tie sniggered inside. How could the two guys'' little tricks and whispers escape from his senses?


    Zhang Tie still revealed a smile towards them. Many people in the area of Armes revealed a shocked expression like being favored.


    In the stand area for Norman Empire''s onlookers, Zhang Tie saw some familiar faces too¡ª¡ªReinhardt, Leibnitz, Guderian of No. 39 Regiment of Iron-horn Corps were standing on the side of a 40-year old blonde man in a royal dress. Watching Zhang Tie passing by them, they all gazed at Zhang Tie with widely opened eyes. It seemed that they wanted to identify whether Zhang Tie was the same person that they were familiar with.


    The 40-year old blonde man moved his eyes from Zhang Tie to the 3 people who were familiar with Zhang Tie. The three guys exchanged a glance with each other before faintly nodding. It seemed that they had confirmed Zhang Tie''s status at the same time. The 40-year old blonde man then revealed a brilliant smile towards Zhang Tie.


    After the stand area of Norman Empire''s onlookers, Zhang Tie noticed Princess Candis of Raymlan Empire. Seeing Zhang Tie walking in front of her, dignified Princess Candis even ogled Zhang Tie.


    Then, he saw an old friend, Taishi Ci, whom he met in Heavens Cold City with a slim-leg beauty on his side. A purple-faced old man who looked similar to Taishi Ci was standing in front of them. At the sight of the old man, Zhang Tie knew that he was the head of Taishi Clan.


    Zhang Tie nodded towards Taishi Ci, who immediately became excited as he whispered to that beauty on his side, "Look, I''ve told you that my brother Zhang Tie is very loyal. He still remembers me!"


    "Who knows whether he''s greeting you or not?" That beauty argued in a low voice as she gazed at Zhang Tie like being drawn by a magnet on Zhang Tie''s body.


    "Brother Zhang Tie..." Taishi Ci wanted to argue...


    "Shut up, Zhang Tie is now an elder of Huaiyuan Palace. Who''s your brother?" That purple-faced old man turned around and swore. Taishi Ci instantly shut up; however, he still made a grimace towards Zhang Tie.


    After that, Zhang Tie noticed the representatives of elders and young men from the other major clans of Jinyun Country. The only one that Zhang Tie was familiar with among those elders was the Lan elder whom he met in Selnes Theater of Operations. However, Zhang Tie also saw some familiar faces that he had ever met in Selnes Theatre of Operations among those young men.


    Besides the Lan elder who maintained a smile towards Zhang Tie, all the others revealed intricate expressions. With one more young knight and a clan elder at 20 years of age, Huaiyuan Palace immediately overwhelmed the young generation of all the other clans, causing a great stress to all the other clans...

 766 Elder Mushen

    Chapter 766: Elder Mushen


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The four elders of Huaiyuan Palace were all standing outside the Shrine Palace in auspicious clothes today


    According to the strict procedure of the rotating chakra ceremony, Zhang Tie burned incenses in the Shrine Palace in the solemn atmosphere. After that, Elder Muen as a ritual officer shouted, "Lower your body!"; Zhang Tie then started to bow towards the heavens and the earth. Finally, he inserted the burning incense into the copper cauldron which was placed right outside the gate of the Shrine Palace. After that, he walked into the Shrine Palace.


    The entire Shrine Palace was extremely brilliant.


    The ground was paved with gold bricks with a pattern of auspicious clouds. All sorts of ceremonial banners and prayer flags were hanging on the pillars inside the palace. Expensive heaven-star sandalwood was burning in the copper cauldron, which did not only light the entire palace, but also covered the entire palace with a special fragrance. The entire Shrine Palace was magnificent and looked more like an imperial palace.


    Zhang Tie was the first one who strode into the palace from the front gate. The moment he entered the palace had Zhang Tie put away his battle-qi totem.


    The 4 elders of Huaiyuan Palace followed Zhang Tie in; then the other deacons and clan members of Huaiyuan Palace. The others entered in the end. However, except for Zhang Tie and the other four elders, all the others were forbidden to enter from the front gate; instead, they could only enter from the two side doors in an orderly and rigorous way.


    Nobody else was allowed to enter the front gate of the Shrine Palace except for the clan head and elders.


    Zhang Tie slowly walked on those gold bricks with full emotions. At this moment, Zhang Tie expected that his parents were watching him from aside.


    After entering the palace and passing a long way, Zhang Tie came to the statue of Lord Huaiyuan and the memorial tablets of the ancestors and martyrs of Huaiyuan Palace. With the assistance of the clan deacons, he started to light incenses and offer sacrifice to all the ancestors and martyrs step by step.


    When Zhang Tie was offering sacrifice, Elder Muen took out a gold brochure and started to read an elegiac address loudly on Zhang Tie''s side.


    "The god''s descendant in Taixia Country benefits the world. Xuanyuan bloodline the unrivaled, we''re majestic and vigorous; Long Bow grants us the surname..."


    It took Zhang Tie 3 minutes to finish offering the sacrifice to all the ancestors and martyrs in a solemn and strict way.


    After Zhang Tie finished it, the elegiac address also almost came to an end...


    "We have an offspring called Zhang Tie. He could swim as fast as a fish in the water and fly as fast as a dragon in the sky. He could rotate his chakra and protect the country and its countrymen. As ancestor Huaiyuan Lord is at present, the righteousness will exist forever. Wish it prosperous forever!"


    Soon after the word "forever", Zhang Tie rightly finished the last bow and inserted the final 3 incenses into the censer which represented the memorial plates of Zhang''s bloodline in Golden Sea City. Some new memorial plates had been put there, which were the memorial plates of Zhang Haitian''s father, grandfather and grand-grandfather.


    When one person rotated the chakra, he would bring honor to his three elder generations. His ancestors'' memorial plates would also enter the Shrine Palace and enjoy the burning incenses.


    Watching this scene, Zhang Haitian was so excited that his eyes were even filled with tears.


    Zhang Tie stood up and turned to the big cauldron in the middle of the palace. Deacons then carried gold basins of milk, grease, grains and sesame from both sides and walked towards the cauldron in the middle of the palace.


    Zhang Tie grabbed the grains and sesame from the gold basins and scattered them into the fiery flames in the big cauldron one handful after another.


    Each time he scattered them into the cauldron, the fiery flames would grow higher while the top flames turned golden and surged out of the cauldron as fantastic as a dragon. Sparkles constantly flew out of the cauldron, causing flowing light and cracking sound.


    It was a ritual for blessing.


    Seeing the flames growing fiercely in the shape of a dragon and sparkles surging out of the cauldron, the elders and deacons of Huaiyuan Palace became so excited as it was a rare auspicious sign. At least it didn''t appear when the earlier elders of Huaiyuan Palace held the rotating chakra ceremonies.


    All the elders of major clans from Jinyun Country were shocked by such a rare, auspicious phenomenon.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what was an auspicious phenomenon. He just completed the rotating chakra ceremony step by step.


    After scattering all the grains and sesame into the cauldron, Zhang Tie started to wash his hands in a silver basin of water.


    "The blessing ritual is over. Carry out the gold chakra!" Elder Muen said as a huge sacrificial vessel was carried to the middle of the palace by 30 tough men.


    Being over 6 m in height and over 2 m in width, the sacrificial vessel looked like a huge round metal barrel with all sorts of flowers, birds, insects and fishes and characters on it. On two sides of the barrel, there were two huge Hua characters " ÄÂ 1". Its weight could be imagined from the number of carriers.


    Zhang Tie knew that an important step in the entire rotating chakra ceremony was to select a character by rotating the chakra.


    This word "chakra" in the rotating chakra ceremony referred to both knight''s chakra and this rotating gold barrel which was used for selecting a Hua character for the very knight.


    As a Hua tradition, it was a great honor for knights to rotate a gold barrel so as to fix their characters.


    For instance, the name Zhang Tie was very average. There were billions of people surnamed Zhang in this world. There were at least 1000 living people who were called Zhang Tie. If you said Zhang Tie was a knight, nobody would know which one did you refer to.


    Therefore, knights had to rotate the gold barrel to select a character for themselves. As long as they selected the very character, nobody else was allowed to use this name in 1000 years unless humans were exterminated.


    When wild gooses flew over, they left their quacks; when knights died, they had to leave their names, which was the paramount glory of knights.


    Of course, Elder Muen 2, Elder Muray 3and Elder Muyu 4were not their raw names. The character "ÄÂ" was "grabbed" by Lord Huaiyuan for knights of Huaiyuan Palace. Besides the knights of Huaiyuan Palace, no Hua people surnamed Zhang in this world could use the character "ÄÂ" as the second character in their names. Each elder would also "grab" the last character for their name in the rotating chakra ceremony. When the last character combined with the character "ÄÂ", it would form the unique name of knights of Huaiyuan Palace. As Elder Muray, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu had promoted to knights for so long, everybody just called their formal names. As a result, their raw names were rarely mentioned.


    There were 999 Hua characters left on the gold barrel. It depended on which one would Zhang Tie select.


    Everyone wondered which Hua character could the youngest knight of Zhang Clan would select.


    After slowly walking to the gold barrel, Zhang Tie raised his head and watched this gold sacrificial vessel. He then took a deep breath and put one hand on the gold barrel.


    Zhang Tie also wondered which Hua character could he select.


    Zhang Tie then released his battle qi to rotate the gold barrel rapidly.


    When it rotated, clattering sounds drifted from inside the gold barrel like numerous metal balls being stirred up. Zhang Tie just waited on one side silently together with all the others.


    Only the clattering sounds could be heard in the entire Shrine Palace.


    Only when the gold barrel rotated above 36 circles could a Hua character be "selected". Nobody could see through the gold barrel. It depended.


    After 2 minutes, the gold barrel slowed down. When it finally stopped, with a click, a silver round ball was spat out of the mouth of the gold barrel.


    Elder Muen walked forward and took out that silver ball. At the sight of that golden character, he raised high the silver ball and showed it to all the onlookers at present.


    At the sight of that character, all the onlookers widened their eyes, ''No way!''


    It was the character " Éñ 5", which was majestic.


    " ÄÂÉñ 6"¡ª¡ªthe formal name of Zhang Tie as a knight. From then on, Zhang Mushen would be a unique name in the world.


    Zhang Tie also felt a bit surprised, ''Did the gold barrel know that I''ve long been a jerk god in Ice and Snow Wilderness?''


    ''Zhang Tie...Zhang Mushen...Zhang Tie...Zhang Mushen...'' Zhang Tie muttered twice inside as he still felt the name Zhang Tie was easy to read aloud. Now that it was a tradition, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to be bizarre; instead, he just accepted it frankly.


    "Please take a seat, Elder Mushen!" Elder Muen cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie, followed by all the elders of all the other clans at present.


    From then on, Zhang Tie was on the equal footing with all the other elders of Zhang Clan.


    ...


    The seat was a black, steel high-back chair, a sacrificial vessel which was specially designed for the rotating chakra ceremony. It was square and straight without any surplus decoration. It was called the black iron throne. Being put on the three-stage high platform which was paved with gold bricks, it looked pretty dignified.


    With a gold tray in hand, a deacon was standing in front of the gold-stage platform respectfully. Zhang Tie walked over there. Elder Muray then unveiled the red silky cover and put a tiger-shaped seal 7into Zhang Tie''s hand.


    "From now on, you are the commander of Hurricane Corps!"


    Zhang Tie received the tiger-shaped seal of Hurricane Corps and nodded towards Elder Muray. After that, he walked onto the stages one step after another and sat on the black iron throne steadily.


    "Congrats!" Elder Muen shouted loudly while his voice drifted in the entire Shrine Palace.


    Zhang Taibai, Lan Yunxi''s 4th uncle solemnly walked out of the crowd and bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie.


    "Zhang Taibai wishes Elder Mushen a good fortune in battle force and hopes that your chakra rotates forever on behalf of Huaiyuan Palace. In order to congratulate for the rotating chakra ceremony of Elder Mushen, we especially present 500 tons of gold, 200 crates of pearls, 100 crates of gems, 30,000 m python silk cloth, 1 manor in Yiyang City, Golden Sea City and Stars Viewing City respectively."


    Watching those big figures of Long Wind Business Group and Huaiyuan Palace bowing and presenting gifts to him respectfully, Zhang Tie had an unspeakable feeling...


    After saying this, Zhang Taibai passed the list of gifts to Deacon Yu before moving to one side silently while another 40-year old man walked forward and bowed towards Zhang Tie...


    "Wang Juan wishes Elder Mushen a good fortune in battle force and hopes that your chakra rotates forever on behalf of Wang Clan of Shuyu Palace, Jinyun Country. We especially present 100 tons of gold, 100 pairs of flat round jade wares with a hole in the center and 100 rhinoceros dragons."


    After saying that, Wang Juan passed the list of gifts to Deacon Yu.


    Another person walked out and bowed towards Zhang Tie...


    "Lan Xiuchuan wishes Elder Mushen a good fortune in battle force and hopes that your chakra rotates forever on behalf of Lan Clan, Banxin Palace, Jinyun Country. We especially present 100 tons of gold, 1,000 high-end crystals and 100 kg''s god-favored incenses."


    After Lan Clan, Ou Clan of Chuixue Palace, Dantai Clan of Tuisi Palace, Li Clan of Qingmu Palace and Dongfang Clan of Qilan Country presented their wishes and gifts respectively...


    Those congratulators passed by Zhang Tie one after another while the list of gifts in the hand of Deacon Yu grew thicker. She had to put them into a gold plate...


    Zhang Tie was shocked inside, ''What the hell! This is more like a plunder ceremony than a rotating chakra ceremony. Zhang Tie was familiar with some of the items on the list of presents, as for others, they had not heard about them at all...


    When it was Norman Empire''s turn, the congratulator was that middle-aged blonde man who was in front of Reinhardt and Leibnitz just now.


    "Filis, the crown prince of Norman Empire wishes Elder Mushen a good fortune in battle force and hopes your chakra rotates forever on behalf of the royal household of Norman Empire. We especially present a small gift for Elder Mushen, 200 tons of gold, 20 earth-element crystals, 100 crates of all sorts of jewelry and 100 beauties!"


    The crown prince spoke Hua language very fluently. His gifts could even match that of Huaiyuan Palace, especially the earth-element crystals. Everybody else was shocked by the 20 earth-element crystals. They wondered why Norman Empire would establish a relationship with this young elder of Huaiyuan Palace, especially with the 100 beauties. In such a case, if not having known the temperament of Zhang Tie, nobody dared present women to him at the risk of aggravating him...


    When he heard "100 beauties", Zhang Tie threw a helpless glance at Leibnitz and Reinhardt in the distance. Colonel Leibnitz even revealed a humble smile to Zhang Tie. Needless to say, Zhang Tie realized that his "romantic affairs" must have been known well by them. Therefore, they catered to his pleasure...


    After the words of the crown prince of Norman Empire, Zhang Tie sensed a resentful look. He chased after the look to its owner and found Princess Candis was faintly pouting her petite mouth towards him...

 767 Bidding a Farewell

    Chapter 767: Bidding a Farewell


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On November 9th, an airship base outside Yiyang City...


    Before boarding the airship, Princess Candis turned around and ran into Zhang Tie''s arms and gave him a deep kiss.


    "Darling, I miss you so much, will you come back for me?"


    "I will!" Zhang Tie patted her butt with a smile.


    Watching the two people embracing each other, all the other representatives of Raymlan Empire disappeared.


    Princess Candis was a stunner. In the past one week in Huaiyuan Prefecture, this woman brought Zhang Tie a lot of pleasure. As a result, Zhang Tie had a deeper understanding of the word princess. In one word¡ª¡ªall the princesses in fairy tales were deceptive!


    "You promise me..." Princess Candis urged.


    "I promise!"


    Princess Candis instantly held the thing in Zhang Tie''s crotch in an audacious way. Like shaking hands, she started to wave it as she licked Zhang Tie''s earlobe faintly and held it in her mouth. She then faintly bit it and slid her tongue on it. The hot and sweet air was exhaled directly onto Zhang Tie''s ear, "Darling, you can accompany me for another distance, when the airship leaves Huaiyuan Prefecture, you can fly back. We''ve got 3 hours left..."


    Princess Candis'' audacity made Zhang Tie embarrassed in the public.


    Thank god, this woman in a brilliant princess'' longuette and sable shawl finally boarded the airship. Watching the airship setting off, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh.


    Only after less than a week since the rotating chakra ceremony, the wind coming from northwest had become abruptly cold in Yiyang City, especially in the open airship base.


    Princess Candis was the last one who left Yiyang City among all the guests. On November 5th, Zerom and Captain Kerlin had already left Yiyang City. On the same day, Zhang Tie invited them for dinner. Finally, Zhang Tie saw them off in the airship base. Due to this reason, the two people instantly became stars among the representatives of Armes, the mercenary empire.


    Due to the all-purpose medicament, the exchange between Armes and Huaiyuan Palace grew more intimate these years. Armes required more help from Huaiyuan Palace; therefore, the major mercenary groups in Armes brought Zhang Tie a big gift.


    Due to the sparse demonized puppets disasters across Waii Sub-continent and the demand of rich men and business groups for safety brought the heyday of mercenaries and mercenary groups at the beginning of the holy war. Mercenaries and mercenary groups might be the only human professions and organizations that would appreciate the arrival of the holy war and chaotic world. In the former holy wars, many fierce and powerful people appeared in mercenaries and mercenary groups. After each holy war, there would always be a lot of mercenary groups or excellent figures in mercenary groups who registered their ambitions to be kings by establishing countries.


    Zerom was now the head of the logistics department of Thor Mercenary Group, who had already established his position in Thor''s Mercenary Group. Captain Kerlin who went to seek refuge with Zerom after "being crossed in love" had become a battalion chief in Thor''s Mercenary Group.


    Actually, Zhang Tie always felt that Captain Kerlin would not feel comfortable in school or regular army based on his temperament. Perhaps, he would feel freer in a mercenary group. After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie really felt that he was destined to share some feeling with Captain Kerlin. After Miss Daina married a doctor, Zhang Tie and Captain Kerlin were both disappointed.


    After meeting Captain Kerlin and Zerom, Zhang Tie understood many things. All the successes and growths needed to be paid. Some could be seen, some could not. Some could be kept after you made efforts; however, some could not be kept even if you made efforts.


    Previously, he was their students; now, he was the knight elder of Huaiyuan Palace. What a sharp difference between their positions! Therefore, Zerom and Captain Kerlin both looked a bit restrained in front of Zhang Tie. Actually, Zhang Tie preferred that former Captain Kerlin who was always careless in front of him. Pitifully, Captain Kerlin could never be careless in front of a knight, especially when the knight was his student.


    Perhaps, the only thing that Zhang Tie felt unchanged was the trust and friendship between them which was established in Blackhot City. Even though such a trust and friendship was inevitable and utilitarian, it was better than nothing.


    The representatives of Norman Empire left Yiyang City on November 6th. Before they left, Zhang Tie held an independent meeting with Filis, the crown prince of Norman Empire, which made the relationship between Zhang Tie and the royal household represented by Filis much closer.


    Filis didn''t leave Yiyang City by an airship, but by a train.


    Filis was responsible for Taian City on behalf of the royal household of Norman Empire. The area combining Taian City, Yunzhou City and Qihai City that Norman Empire bought from Huaiyuan Palace was called Bennolisburg, which meant the fortress of hope in the language of Norman Empire.


    Norman Empire''s royal household took Bennolisburg as a hope to stabilize people''s heart domestically and seek for rejuvenation in the future.


    Colonel Leibniz was left in Yiyang City by Filis and became the head of an agency of liaison of Norman Empire in Yiyang City. It was needless to say whom this agency of liaison was going to contact. In 2 months, with the evacuation of the forces of Huaiyuan Palace and elders, Zhang Tie, the head of Hurricane Corps and a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace would become the most powerful figure of Huaiyuan Palace in Waii Sub-continent. Although Norman Empire didn''t have to flatter Zhang Tie, they had to establish a good relationship with him at least.


    Although Colonel Leibnitz was left in Yiyang City, the 100 beauties whom Zhang Tie had not seen was returned to Filis. Zhang Tie was even thinking about returning those women on Long Sight Peak to the elders of Huaiyuan Palace, not to mention those women gifted by Norman Empire. Zhang Tie thought free love was the best. Additionally, Zhang Tie was sure that if he took these beauties from Norman Empire, Lan Yunxi would never marry him in the future. On this aspect, it was nothing different between Lan Yunxi and the other women as they were all possessive, ''My love affairs in Blackhot City had made Lan Yunxi very unhappy. If I remained unchanged, Lan Yunxi might be disappointed with me.''


    ...


    Taishi Clan''s representatives also left Yiyang City on November 6th. This time, Taishi Clan gifted 25 tons of gold and a top-class rune longsword with double attributes to Zhang Tie. It was already a big gift for small clans like Taishi Clan in Jinyun Country. Therefore, before they returned, Zhang Tie asked Jinwu Business Group to load 50,000 vials of all-purpose medicament on the airship of Taishi Clan as a gift.


    Taishi Ci''s eyes turned a bit red before he boarded on the airship. His dad also had a good impression of Zhang Tie. However, Zhang Tie felt a bit embarrassed by Taishi Ci''s long-leg younger sister Taishi Nichang, who looked back at him a couple of times before leaving...

 768 Responsibilities

    Chapter 768: Responsibilities


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After seeing off Princess Candis, Zhang Tie saw a black sedan parking on his side silently.


    This was an exclusive vehicle for the elder of Huaiyuan Palace, a super luxurious sedan imported from Taixia Country, Eastern Continent.


    This sedan shared the same brand with the super sports car Faire Dragon T9 that Zhang Tie once drove. However, they had utterly different styles. If Faire Dragon T9 with sharp lines belonged to those rebellious youngsters, this square, stable vehicle was definitely the favorite of elders.


    Being lowkey, its 5 m-long and 2 m-wide body and the square silver and crystal grates of its head made it dignified. However, what made this car more majestic was its license plate. Compared to the other license plates in Huiayuan Prefecture, this one only had a golden bow instead of any number on it. Across Huaiyuan Prefecture, only the license plate of elders'' sedans was the symbol of power and majesty.


    After the car parked, the driver hurriedly got off and pulled open the door for Zhang Tie.


    This driver was not a commoner, but a LV 12 great battle master who had accepted strict training. The driver himself was enough to handle many troubles.


    The driver''s name was Zhang Long, the offspring of Zhang Clan in Huaiyuan Palace. He was definitely loyal to Zhang Clan.


    After Zhang Tie entered the car, Zhang Long closed the door from outside. After that, he returned to the driver''s seat and drove the car out of the airship base.


    "Elder Mushen, where are you heading for?" Zhang Long asked respectfully.


    "Take me to Yiyang Mountain first!" Zhang Tie replied as he leaned against the comfortable pillow on the backseat and gradually relaxed himself.


    Zhang Long then drove towards Yiyang Mountain. Meanwhile, the double glass between the cab and the backseats silently rose up, enabling Zhang Tie to have a good rest.


    Until he saw Candis off did Zhang Tie feel like truly completing the rotating chakra ceremony, which had actually come to an end one week ago, though.


    The Faerie-dragon vehicle had very luxurious trim¡ª¡ªbright platinum and ceramic decorative sheets, dark purple sandalwood grains and comfortable crocodile-skin seats. As for commoners, over 5,000 gold coins was already a high price; however, it was trivial to Zhang Tie. In this rotating chakra ceremony, Zhang Tie had received over 1500 tons of gold, which were worth at least 60 million gold coins. Plus all the other gifts, he had received over 100 million gold coins for sure.


    However, not each knight could receive so many gifts when holding the rotating chakra ceremony. Zhang Tie understood that most of his achievements were benefited from the brand "Huaiyuan Palace". Like celebrating babies'' birthday, the gifts that he received on his birthday could never match that of those babies in Gregory Clan. This displayed the different influences of different clans.


    With the license plate of golden bow, the vehicle "Faerie-dragon-Elder" went through Yiyang City without hindrance. On the way, many vehicles in front of this vehicle gave way to it voluntarily. At the cross, traffic policemen would even block the other vehicles from the roads on the left and on the right, allowing this sedan to access to it in advance. Zhang Tie watched the flow of people on the streets.


    He could sense the change in Yiyang City¡ª¡ªthe number of Hua people on the streets was decreasing while the number of people coming from outside was increasing. A lot of Hua people would leave Yiyang City by passenger liners every day for Eastern Continent. Meanwhile, a lot of people would pour in this city from the north of Blackson Humans Corridor each day. Some were seeking for a shelter, some were seeking for a chance to move their whole families away.


    The housing price in Yiyang City had already increased 3 times compared to that 5 years ago when the holy war broke out. It was even hotter than cooking oil by fire.


    A large number of properties and industries of Huaiyuan Palace in this city had been sold out constantly in the past couple of years at high prices. Due to the abnormal prosperity brought by war, most of Hua people in Huaiyuan Palace and Huaiyuan Prefecture realized a nice evacuation.


    Those who first bought industries and properties of Huaiyuan Palace and the other Hua clans had sold them at higher prices. However, many people were still craving for that, which indicated a thriving market demand.


    Nobody knew when demons could reach here. Therefore, nobody knew who would pick up the last plate. It was like beating the drum to pass the parcel. Until the one stopped beating the drum would someone else be the final idiot.


    Watching the prosperous scene in Yiyang City, Zhang Tie faintly narrowed his eyes. He knew that the prosperity here would not stagnate until the demonized puppets corps climbed over Kalay Mountain Range. As the final protector of Huaiyuan Palace in Waii Sub-continent and the leader of Hurricane Corps, Zhang Tie was actually not responsible for fighting demons at the risk of his life; neither would he be the savior. Instead, he preferred that these cities could maintain prosperity as long as possible and Huaiyuan Palace could extract the value of these cities to the utmost. In a euphemistic and noble expression, his responsibility was to keep smooth the southernmost tunnel in Waii Sub-continent, it might be the last maritime escape tunnel for many people to have a chance to leave out of here before the arrival of demons.


    The other clans of Jinyun Country almost adopted the similar strategies.


    Zhang Tie was clear about his responsibility.


    A knight was enough to safeguard 3 cities.


    After arriving at the foot of Yiyang Mountain, Zhang Tie got off the car and came to the Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Compared to the extreme, brilliant Shrine Palace 6 days ago, the Shrine Palace at this moment looked completely different. Dense steel frames and a ceiling were put up outside the entire palace like a bird''s nestle. A lot of craftsmen in Huaiyuan Palace were busy disassembling the entire Shrine Palace in a very high efficiency.


    As Huaiyuan Palace would leave Waii Sub-continent, all the items of this Shrine Palace would be disassembled, marked with serial numbers, packaged and transported away by the sea. After they reached Youzhou Province, Taixia Country, the entire Shrine would be restored vividly.


    As one of the elders left on Yiyang Mountain, Elder Muen was standing out of the Shrine Palace with hands on his back. Raising his head, he faintly narrowed his eyes and watched the Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace with a reminiscent look.


    The dusk almost fell, Elder Muen was bathing the sunshine, showing a longer yet lonely shadow on the ground. He was watching workers dismantling the Shrine Palace with an intricate feeling.


    Until Zhang Tie walked to his side did Elder Muen move his eyes away from the Shrine Palace to Zhang Tie. He sighed, "When we built the Shrine Palace, even Lord Huaiyuan had not imagined that this Shrine Palace would be dismantled. This palace witnessed the vicissitudes of Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace over the past two centuries. I really feel a bit sorry about it being dismantled!"


    Zhang Tie could understand Elder Muen''s mood faintly. After all, there were so many guests in such a brilliant palace a few days ago; but now it was going to be dismantled and taken away, leaving nothing else. Such a sharp change from prosperity and brilliance to tranquility would indeed bring people a sense of vicissitude.


    "I think Huaiyuan Palace and this Shrine Palace would definitely root in Taixia Country and have a bright future. More and more knights of Huaiyuan Palace would hold their rotating chakra ceremonies here!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Elder Muen instantly got rid of the sentimental state with a smile on his face. As elders of Zhang Clan, their mentalities were much more mature than commoners. Few of them would be mired in such a poetic, sentimental state. Elder Muen was just sighing due to the scenery. After hearing Zhang Tie''s word, Elder Muen recovered his composure at once.


    "It''s already a perfection that this Shrine Palace had witnessed another knight of Huaiyuan Palace before leaving Huaiyuan Prefecture!" Elder Muen said as he touched his long mustache. After that, he threw a glance at Zhang Tie, "Has that princess from Raymlan Empire left?"


    "Yup!" Zhang Tie answered frankly. He knew that the romantic affair between him and Princess Candis could not escape the eyes of the other elders. As that woman always stayed with him these days, he didn''t mean to disguise to be innocent in front of the other elders. Additionally, such an affair could not ruin his image at all, "I''m back to bid farewell to Deacon Yu and the other girls on Long Sight Peak. I will go to Stars Viewing City tomorrow. Besides cultivation outside the city, I would always stay in the encampment of the Hurricane Corps. Later on, I will have less time to visit here. Elder Muen, can you take those beautiful girls away? As they are at such a nice age, I don''t want to harm them. Please take them back and give them a rearrangement in Taixia!"


    Elder Muen became silent. He knew that Zhang Tie had stuck to his limit when in the elder''s pavilion on Long Sight Peak these days. Besides, Zhang Tie even returned the 100 beauties gifted by Norman Empire without even looking at them. Although Zhang Tie liked beauties, he also had his bottom line. Although being a bit romantic, he was far from lady killers.


    ''As Zhang Tie is on the equal footing with the other elders, if he dislikes it, nobody else can force him to do that. Now that this way doesn''t work, just call it an end. Anyway, after promoting to a knight, he has a greater longevity. If he wants to have a baby, he will have no problem for 200-300 years. Just consider it later. Additionally, Zhang Tie has already got 3 babies, which is a contribution to Huaiyuan Palace. Take it easy!''


    Elder Muen nodded.


    ...


    After handling the affair on Long Sight Peak, Zhang Tie directly had Zhang Long drive him back to the old mansion of Zhang''s family in Golden Sea City.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to go back to the old mansion after becoming a clan elder...


    When he arrived there, it was already dark. Even though, the guards of the old mansion became spirited at once at the sight of the golden bow-shaped license plate. Two people hurriedly opened the gate for Zhang Tie. After that, one of them hurriedly went to report to the family members in the old mansion.


    When Zhang Long parked the car and opened the door for Zhang Tie. All the family members of the old mansion had been waiting for Zhang Tie in the courtyard, some of them were Zhang''s guests.


    "Elder Mushen..." Watching Zhang Tie getting off the sedan, everybody hurriedly bowed towards Zhang Tie except for Zhang Tie''s grandpa.


    Zhang Tie sighed inside at the sight of their movements as he revealed a genial smile, "Ahh, I''ve just come from Yiyang City. I''m expecting to have a meal at home. Just prepare a couple of dishes for me. No waste..."


    The words "I''m expecting to have a meal at home" made everybody hyper.


    The grand madam walked out of the crowd first. She went to take a look in the kitchen and had the cooks prepare supper for Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie''s two aunts also hurriedly went to help grand madam.


    After Zhang Tie posed his requirement, it became a major event in the old mansion.


    Under the excited look of Zhang Haitian the old man, Zhang Tie walked to his front and called grandpa. After that, he supported the old man by his arm and returned to the main hall which was crowded with all the other family members.


    Even the guards and servants became spirited, not to mention those family members in the old mansion.


    The two guests in the old mansion found a chance to introduce themselves to Zhang Tie. After that, they left satisfactorily.


    What an intricate feeling for Zhang Tie!

 769 Ism the Leader of the Hurricane Corps

    Chapter 769: I''m the Leader of the Hurricane Corps


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    At 10 am, October 10th, Zhang Tie came to the encampment of Hurricane Corps outside Stars Viewing City after holding the rotating chakra ceremony.


    The moment Zhang Tie''s vehicle arrived at the gate of the encampment of Hurricane Corps, he had seen two rows of senior commissioned officers standing outside the gate, waiting for him.


    Zhang Tie let Zhang Long park at the gate. After that, he got off the vehicle.


    "Corps Leader Mushen!" All the senior commissioned officers gave a salute to Zhang Tie at the same time.


    In the corps, all the commisioned officers would call Zhang Tie corps leader, instead of elder regardless of their titles and ranks.


    After glancing at them, Zhang Tie nodded. As he had seen some of them at the rotating chakra ceremony, he didn''t feel strange about them.


    Zhang Su, Zhang Tie''s cousin was also in the greeting crowd in a military uniform of lieutenant colonel. According to his rank, Zhang Su was standing behind the team as a lot of colonels, senior colonels and major generals were in front of Zhang Su.


    Zhang Tie knew that this Hurricane Corps must know the relation between him and Zhang Su. Watching Zhang Su didn''t come out to flatter him, Zhang Tie nodded inside. Through such a small detail, Zhang Tie could see the strict discipline and style of Hurricane Corps.


    Half of them were Hua commissioned officer, the other half were of other human races.


    Hurricane Corps was composed of slaves when it was established by Huaiyuan Palace. Therefore, many commissioned officers in the corps were slaves originally. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not surprised at the sight of these commissioned officers with colorful skins. The Breaking Sun Corps composed of the disciples of Huaiyuan Palace and other Hua disciples had long been dispatched to the Eastern Continent by Huaiyuan Palace as the trump card of Huaiyuan Palace to safeguard the undertaking of Huaiyuan Palace in Youzhou Province, Taixia Country.


    Zhang Tie also saw some other familiar faces among these commissioned officers who were greeting him. They were all influential figures on the Hidden Dragon List in Hidden Dragon Island. Although Zhang Tie didn''t make an exchange with them, he could remember their looks. He could even remember the name of that tall and robust guy¡ª¡ªZhang Wumu 1.


    When Zhang Tie was in Selnes Theater of Operations, this guy was also there. However, Zhang Tie was in the airship troop. This guy was in the demon-hunting squads on the ground. Although they were fellow apprentices, they didn''t have a chance to see each other after staying in Selnes Theater of Operations for over one year. They could only see each other''s name on the Military Exploits Namelist.


    This time, their statuses were utterly different.


    Zhang Wumu watched that former "junior fellow apprentice" in Hidden Dragon Palace with an intricate look.


    Zhang Tie watched these commissioned officers; these commissioned officers also watched the youngest knight clan elder in Huaiyuan Palace. After all, only a few senior commissioned officers were qualified to attend the rotating chakra ceremony; therefore, most of these commissioned officers had not seen Zhang Tie.


    In the eyes of these commissioned officers, Zhang Tie was excessively young. According to the legend, Zhang Tie was 23 years old. However, everyone thought this new corps leader was just 16-17 years old. He was completely a handsome boy. At such a young age, commoners were not even allowed to join the army, not to mention taking the position of the leader of Hurricane Corps.


    Zhang Tie knew what these commissioned officers were thinking about. However, he didn''t care about that. After promoting to a real knight, Zhang Tie had understood the first law in knight''s world¡ª¡ªjust ignore the thoughts of all those below LV 15. Because that was meaningless to knights.


    "As it''s my first time to see Hurricane Corps, you can show me around the camp first!" Zhang Tie directly walked into the camp. After exchanging a glance with each other, those commissioned officers hurriedly followed up.


    Many people were a bit amazed as they had not imagined that the new corps leader could have such a strong qi field. ''It''s far from the innocence that should be owned by a young man at his age. Even though this new corps leader had stayed in Selnes Theater of Operations, he was just a common soldier, how could he form such a strong qi field and confident attitude?''


    If they knew what Zhang Tie had experienced these years, they would not have thought this way.


    What Zhang Tie had experienced could overwhelm everybody else at present, whether in Ice and Snow Wilderness, Selnes Theater of Operations or in trouble-reappearance situations. This explained why Zhang Tie was so confident.


    Wouldn''t a guy who had killed 3 knights be able to overwhelm these commissioned officers?


    The encampment of Hurricane Corps covered over 30 sq miles. Over 400,000 soldiers gathered here. All the living and training facilities were well matched here. The entire encampment was like a base and a fortress. It was full of killing qi everywhere. On the way here, Zhang Tie saw numerous soldiers of Hurricane Corps training themselves to the utmost. Looking in the distance, Zhang Tie saw battle-qi totems rising from the training ground. The fierce battle calls and collisions kept going.


    Zhang Tie just looked around as he listened to the introduction of the commissioned officers on his side.


    If it was not compared to that super demon corps, Hurricane Corps was a powerful force among all the human corps across Waii Sub-continent. The comprehensive quality and battle force of its commissioned officers and soldiers could definitely match the trump card of Norman Empire which had been dispatched to Selnes Theater of Operations.


    Zhang Tie felt pretty satisfied.


    They soon came to the training field of armored forces. This training field was below the hillside. Hundreds of armored vehicles and steaming tanks were running on the training field, causing the dust to cover the entire training field. There was a discarded armored vehicle in the middle of the training field which was taken as the target. When those armored vehicles and tanks rushed towards here, they all aimed and fired at the targeted vehicle...


    A broken-down steaming tank was parked on one side of the training field while the members of that tank were trying to repair it intensely. Zhang Tie then walked towards that broken-down tank, followed by all the commissioned officers of Hurricane Corps.


    "Stand at attention..." At the sight of so many commissioned officers, the captain with the rank of the second lieutenant who was repairing the tank with a sweaty face hurriedly issued an order to all the other members of that tank. Closely after that, he stopped what he was doing and stood at attention, causing a sound "Pah".


    "What''s the matter with the tank?" Zhang Tie asked.


    That second-lieutenant platoon leader didn''t know who was this young man. However, watching no other commissioned officers dared to speak, he knew that this young man had a great background.


    "Sir, something is wrong with the steam pressure-limit lock inside the turret of the tank. We''re repairing it!" The second lieutenant looked a bit elder than 30. Although he was a white, short man, he had a loud voice.


    Zhang Tie nodded as something was wrong with the steam pressure-limit lock inside the turret of the tank. Therefore, the javelin-shaped ballistas were taken out of the tank and put on the ground beside the tank tidily.


    Zhang Tie picked one and weighed it in hand, "Can you penetrate through that targeted tank with this?"


    ''Alright, just a newbie with some background who wants to take a visit to the camp of Hurricane Corps...''


    The second-lieutenant platoon leader complained inside; however, he dared not show his mood on his face; instead, he replied loudly, "No, sir, if we want to attack the armored target of the enemy, common steam ballistas are a bit weak. We can disable the maneuverability of the enemy''s armored vehicles with customized gel flame ballistas."


    "Actually, as long as we''ve got enough strength and speed, even a common ballista could destroy an armored vehicle!" Zhang Tie said as he threw the ballista towards that abandoned armored vehicle over 1 mile away.


    With a thunder above the training field, it took the ballista less than 1 second to tear apart that target armored vehicle like a terrifying lightning bolt falling from the sky after flying over 1,000 m. Besides, that target flew dozens of meters away like a toy being kicked by a kid and turned into pieces completely...


    Besides, a big hole of over 3 m in width and over 2 m in depth formed at the ground where the armored vehicle had just stayed.


    After hearing the loud sound, all the armored vehicles and tanks which were training, scattered right away as their drivers thought the camp was suffering an attack. Watching them from afar, those armored vehicles were like tadpoles being scared away by a shark which suddenly intruded in the fish tank...


    The common ballista became destructive by Zhang Tie''s hand.


    Those commissioned officers behind Zhang Tie and that second-lieutenant platoon both who had just answered Zhang Tie''s question became dumbfounded as they trembled and felt breathless.


    With such a terrifying bow, even a LV 15 battle spirit would be killed right away.


    Elder Muray, the former corps leader of Hurricane Corps, also had such a great battle force. However, nobody could do it so easily.


    ''Is this man the new corps leader?''


    Until then did all the commissioned officers of Hurricane Corps refresh their recognition of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie patted the dust off his hands as he smiled towards those commissioned officers, "Well, I''ve almost looked around the entire camp. Show me the conference room. Let''s have a meeting. I will declare some decisions!"

 770 Three Lines

    Chapter 770: Three Lines


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In a large conference room of Hurricane Corps, hundreds of commissioned officers were sitting still, chesting out and gazing at Zhang Tie.


    Many of them were guessing about the decisions that the new corps leader would make.


    Until then were many commissioned officers still immersed in Zhang Tie''s lightning bolt-strike.


    There was a huge military battle map on the wall behind Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie watched that map with his back against the commissioned officers. After a short while, he took three colorful marker pens and drew three lines, one in red, one in yellow and one in green...


    The red line cut through the Kalay Mountain Range in the middle of Blackson Humans Corridor.


    The yellow line cut through the boundary between Jinyun Country and the north of Qilan Country.


    The green line cut through Yuanjiang River in the north of Huaiyuan Prefecture.


    Watching the 3 lines, all the commissioned officers became silent. Many of them even faintly frowned as they had no idea about the three lines.


    After dropping the colorful marker pens, Zhang Tie turned around and watched those commissioned officers of Hurricane Corps, "Two months later, the main force of Huaiyuan Palace will complete its evacuation from Waii Sub-continent. By then, our Hurricane Corps will become the last remaining force of Huaiyuan Palace on Waii Sub-continent. Many among you might wonder about the tasks of Hurricane Corps in the future. I will explain it to you in the simplest way!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie turned around and pointed at that red line, "Kalay Mountain Range is the watershed of Waii Sub-continent and will be the first battlefield of Hurricane Corps. In the future, when demons completely occupy the north of Waii Sub-continent, Kalay Mountain Range will be the last natural barrier for the demonized puppets corps to move southward. That was to say, countries in the south of Waii Sub-continent would definitely encounter a sharp collision with demonized puppets corps. Kalay Mountain Range would be the second Selnes Theater of Operations. However, due to its special terrain, few human troops could enter this region. My first requirement is that fighters above LV 9 across Hurricane Corps should divide into 3 batches. Each batch will enter Kalay Mountain Range in every 4 months so as to be familiar with the combat environment in Kalay Mountain Range. They could make preparations for the battle in the future. Kalay Mountain Range is the guerrilla battlefield of the fighters above LV 9 of Hurricane Corps. I authorize all the commanders of the 3 batches entering Kalay Mountain Range the right to make decisions at his will. In this region, you''re absolutely free and don''t have to listen to anyone''s guidance. Everything on the battlefield will be determined by the commander according to the situation."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the commissioned officers at present were shocked. It meant that all the fighters above LV 9 entering Kalay Mountain Range could have a great freedom. What a right!


    "As for the region from the north of Jinyun Country to Kalay Mountain Range!" Zhang Tie said as he pointed at that region between the yellow line and the red line, "This is the second battlefield of Hurricane Corps. Demonized puppets corps have not been completely suppressed in this region. Sparse demonized puppets disasters still break out here and there. This region is the battlefield of the airship troop and maneuverability troop of Hurricane Corps. You only need to stick to one principle in this region¡ª¡ªHurricane Corps don''t need to pay for the battle in this region. You can refer to how those mercenary groups adopt tasks or directly cooperate with those mercenary groups. I''m not interfering with the details!"


    After hearing this, a major general couldn''t help but raise his hand. Zhang Tie nodded towards him. That major general stood up and asked, "Corps Leader Mushen, did you mean that our Hurricane Corps could take risks like those mercenary groups?"


    "Why not?" Zhang Tie had the commissioned officer take a seat before saying, "How could Hurricane Corps fight without money? What would fighters eat and drink without money? How would our equipment be maintained and updated without money? Huaiyuan Palace is not a charity that can save the entire Blackson Humans Corridor. If you can exterminate demonized puppets and save humans, you deserve to make money! Why couldn''t we do that like mercenary groups? As a human corps, we will definitely disptach elite troops to kill demonized puppets for humans so as to safeguard the human barrier Kalay Mountain Range. I, on behalf of Huaiyuan Palace, declare that all the copper coins that Hurricane Corps make on the battlefield from today on will be kept and distributed freely in Hurricane Corps. You don''t need to submit them to the clan."


    At the beginning, those commissioned officers thought that Zhang Tie was just a merciless clan knight. After hearing Zhang Tie''s declaration, most of them exchanged a glance with each other before becoming excited. Nobody disliked money, emperors, pedlars or soldiers. ''If the corps leader really issued this order, Hurricane Corps will have a "bright" future.'' As for the ability to exterminate demonized puppets, of course, Hurricane Corps was much powerful than those mercenary groups. Additionally, the honor of Hurricane Corps could not be matched by common mercenary groups.


    Speaking of money, the atmosphere across the conference room became different.


    Zhang Tie then pointed at the red line, "This area in the south of Yuanjiang River is the base that Hurricane Corps need to safeguard now as the 3rd battlefield of Hurricane Corps. On the 3rd battlefield, Hurricane Corps should maintain the security and order of the three cities. In the adjustment of the establishment of the corps, the troops that safeguard the three cities should strengthen their fielding ability and the ability to handle emergencies!" Zhang Tie then pointed at that red line on Yuanjiang River forcefully, "This red line on Yuanjiang River is the lifeline of our corps, Huaiyuan Palace will not have Hurricane Corps be their cannon fodder. Therefore, when the vanguard of demons arrives at Yuanjiang River, it will be time for the entire Hurricane Corps to leave Waii Sub-continent for Eastern Continent by sea. Hurricane Corps will not fight demons to the end on Waii Sub-continent. Whereas, we should also try our best to fight demons. If that day really arrives, I expect to see such a scene¡ª¡ªOver 90% of commissioned officers and fighters in the corps are still alive. Additionally, as men, none of you is regretful as you''ve done what you should do. Some of you grow stronger, some have more money. We all stand on ships and erect our middle fingers towards those demon b*stards and shout loudly, ''The war has just come to a start, we''ve not been defeated yet!''"


    All the commissioned officers of Hurricane Corps immediately understood what they should do in the future.


    After figuring out the three lines which were drawn by their new corps leader, everybody in Hurricane Corps knew what they should do in the future. Each commissioned officer could see the future of Hurricane Corps. Due to the holy war, Hurricane Corps would be more powerful and more cohesive. Perhaps, they would have troubles, they would not lose their lives. This was rightly what each commissioned officer and soldier of Hurricane Corps looked forward to.


    With three lines, three battlefields and three tasks, the man had fixed the tone of this adjustment in the establishment of Hurricane Corps, namely, to be practical, free and intelligent.


    By then, all the commissioned officers of Hurricane Corps were conquered by this new corps leader.


    It was really Hurricane Corps'' fortune to have such a nice corps leader from the battle force, means, intelligence and styles.


    After glancing over all the commissioned officers in the conference room, Zhang Tie asked, "Is there any more question?"


    All the commissioned officers then shook their heads at the same time.


    "Alright, you can go to work now!" Zhang Tie waved his hands like a class monitor who had just assigned the homework, "From today on, I will always cultivate in the moving palace of corps leader. You can handle the remaining things yourselves. Remember to give me a brief report about the corps in each half months. Don''t report trivial things to me!"


    Of course, Hurricane Corps had its own running mechanism. Zhang Tie didn''t want to waste time caring about those details. He only needed to determine the overall strategy for the corps. As a knight, the key was to improve his battle force. If he could promote to earth knight, it would be more powerful than having 10 corps. Of course, Zhang Tie would not lose the substance.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, the commissioned officers of Hurricane Corps stood up and gave a solemn salute to Zhang Tie. After that, all of them left the conference room except for a major general director and a senior colonel counselor of the moving palace of the corps leader. The two commissioned officers were both chief commanders in the moving palace of the corps leader of Hurricane Corps who were directly responsible for Zhang Tie.


    "Cousin, wait a second!" Zhang Tie uttered.


    After throwing a glimpse at Zhang Su, all the other commissioned officers left, including the major general director and the senior colonel counselor.


    Watching all the commissioned officers leaving the conference room, Zhang Su came to Zhang Tie''s front in a bashful way. He didn''t know what to call Zhang Tie, elder, corps leader or cousin...


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he patted Zhang Su''s shoulder, "Do you believe that I could still steal food from the table before our family members start to eat at home? Do you believe that my mom could still pinch my ears and my nephew could still have a sh*t or pee on my head? Although being a knight, I''m also a human; I''ve also got my family members and brothers. If you keep acting in this way, I will complain to the other clan elders that you''re discriminating elder!"


    With a faint smile, Zhang Su finally took off his cap in a bashful way as he scratched his hair, "Honestly, if you don''t utter, I will not dare speak to you!"


    Zhang Tie replied with a big smile, "I returned to the old mansion last night. I had a supper and a good sleep there. After knowing that I would come to Hurricane Corps today and stay with you, the old man and all the other family members were reassured!"


    Zhang Su revealed a bitter smile, "My mom must have requested you to dispatch me out of the frontline troop. She was always worried about that before. With such a good chance, she would not give it up!"


    "Hahaha, son knows his mom well. Aunt has already told me about that. But I did not agree with her!"


    Zhang Su became faintly stunned as Zhang Tie''s reply was out of his imagination.


    "I told aunt last night¡ª¡ª my elder brother is a righteous man, who''s arrogant and unyielding. If you did this, you would destroy him. He would definitely be unhappy about what you did. However, If I did that, I was not taking care of him; instead, I was looking down upon him and would not be his brother from then on. Therefore, I can''t promise you. As I''m his brother and idol and I want to continue to be his brother and idol, I won''t interfere with his life in the camp, whether he was to be promoted or punished. If he fought to the death, as his brother, I will revenge for him by chopping off one demon knight''s head and take it to sacrifice him!"


    Zhang Su''s eyes turned red at once. However, he didn''t drop off tears; instead, his smile became more brilliant. He patted Zhang Tie''s shoulder forcefully for three times and said, "That''s my good bro!"


    Zhang Tie then took out a medicament container and passed it to Zhang Su, "Take it!"


    "What''s this?" Zhang Su asked out of curiosity.


    "I''ve made a lot in this rotating chakra ceremony. It contains some vials of high-performance medicament, which might be useful on the battlefield!" Zhang Tie found that Zhang Su was a bit hesitated. Zhang Tie then revealed an exaggerated look, "Are you expecting me to fight demons to death?"


    "Hahaha..." Zhang Su burst out laughing as he instantly grabbed that medicament container...


    ...


    After half an hour, being accompanied by the major general director and the senior colonel counselor, Zhang Tie came to the moving palace and took a look around there.


    As the moving palace of corps leader was where clan elders always lived and worked. Of course, it was not bad.


    The moving palace had a very good environment. Being located in a valley, it was like a park in the encampment of Hurricane Corps.


    The front part of this moving palace was where the corps leader worked while its latter part was where elders lived.


    The cultivation center of elders was in an underground palace below the residence of elders. The underground palace was designed as a strict military facility, which could prevent from alchemist''s bombs.


    Zhang Tie was very satisfied with this environment.


    After saying something to the major general director and the senior colonel counselor, Zhang Tie entered the underground palace alone.


    When elders cultivated in the underground palace, the gate of the underground palace could only be opened from inside. Additionally, there was an emergency escape passage in the underground palace, which only elders knew about.


    This underground palace was over 100 m in depth. It was pretty hidden. If clan elders were cultivating here, nobody could wake them up unless through the special communication means from outside during an emergency.


    ...


    With a muffled sound "bang...", Zhang Tie closed the gate of the underground palace and locked the thick alloy gate from inside. After that, he started to look around this place carefully.


    This underground palace looked very strange in a very special structure. It was a colossal round space which covered tens of thousands of sqm. It looked like the Taichi diagram of Hua people. The yang part referred to the artificial building while the yin part maintained the look of a natural underground cave. The two parts felt pretty coordinated.


    On the side of the artificial building, there were a lot of rooms with different living functions. The space here was illuminated by many senior fluorescent stones on the walls. By contrast, the other side maintained a pitch-dark natural look.


    There were a lot of 1.7 m-high high-end crystal columns, which were placed here from outside. Due to the crystal generators, this underground palace contained a very active energy which felt pretty comfortable. Undoubtedly, one would maintain his best state when cultivating in such an environment.


    Besides those crystal columns, the ground of the other half of this underground palace was covered with sorts of plants which produced fresh oxygen without natural light. Due to the existence of those plants, the air in the underground palace was very fresh.


    Two brooks with different sources and flowing directions flew by those plants. There was a shoal of red petite fish swimming in each brook jubilantly while those plants'' black pine nut-shaped fruits and exotic pedals which fell into the brook became their food.


    The water sources came from subterranean streams, which was drinkable. The fish was also special which was extremely picky and sensitive about their living environment. If something was wrong with the water, the fish would die firstly, sending a warning to the people who wanted to drink water. As there were two brooks, when one had a problem, the other one could be used as a substitute.


    When the underground gate was closed, the living materials here was available for a clan elder to cultivate up to 50 years here.


    Zhang Tie sensed the privilege as a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace once again. Such a place was luxurious for anyone who wanted to enter meditation here. Such a delicate, distinctive underground palace without any loophole in 100 m depth could not be made by common clans.


    After taking a round in the underground space, Zhang Tie became completely reassured.


    Zhang Tie saw 21 earth-element crystals shining a golden light on a stony table in a room of the artificial complex.


    After taking one, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. He waved his hand and transferred all the earth-element crystals into Castle of Black Iron. After that, he also entered Castle of Black Iron...


    Since he left for Ice and Snow Wilderness, Zhang Tie had not entered Castle of Black Iron for a long time.


    ''It has been over 50 days. It''s time for me to enjoy the fruits of the small tree...'' Zhang Tie thought.

 771 Surprises

    Chapter 771: Surprises


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The area of the palace tree in Castle of Black Iron was as bright and magnificent as before. Besides, it felt natural and comfortable. Some cute beetles were running here and there on the smooth floor and cleaned the floor like automatic vacuum cleaners.


    After greeting Heller, Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to run to the high platform where the small tree was located.


    After over 50 days, when Zhang Tie stood under the small tree once again which brought him his current achievement, he felt as warm as seeing a friend, a teacher and a relative.


    ''Without this small tree, I would not be able to enjoy all the current achievements. According to my previous performance in Blackhot City, without this small tree, I might still be struggling for food as a LV 4-5 small figure in the clan of Huaiyuan Palace who did a common job. Perhaps, I might have been transported to Eastern Continent by Huaiyuan Palace...as I was 23 years old. Dad, mom and elder brother must be concerned about my marriage. They must be saving money to marry me a wife. I might also be struggling for a decent life every day. My friends in Blackhot City who left a deep impression in my youthhood such as Barley the Fattie and Miss Daina might have moved to somewhere else facing the stress of living and the chaotic situation. I might not be able to see them for the rest of my life...''


    ''This is the lifestyle of small figures.''


    ''However, now I''ve been a knight clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace. Dad, mom and elder brother are living happily, firmly without having to concern about money. My friends, Miss Daina, those cute girls of Rose Association also have a stable and comfortable life in this chaotic world.''


    Zhang Tie appreciated this small tree very much as it enabled him to live up to his life and the hope and trust of those beside him. Additionally, it enabled him to live a better life and change the fates of those commoners. Furthermore, it enabled him to experience such a brilliant life and enjoy the feelings brought by power, wealth and strength.


    "If you were a person, I would live up to you for the rest of my life even if I betrayed the whole world!"


    The small tree''s exotic leaves waved, causing a nice sound like a breeze fondling a zither...


    Besides enjoying the changes brought about by the small tree, Zhang Tie should also assume liabilities by strength and power.


    When he recalled the liabilities, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. After recovering his composure, he started to glance at the fruits on the small tree.


    There were 4 iron-body fruits on the small tree, which were due to the great stress and cavitation damage that he faced when he swam in the ocean. It was more than he had expected. He thought there might be 2 at most. ''It seems that the cavitation damage really has an amazing effect on strengthening my body.''


    After taking 4 iron-body fruits, Zhang Tie knew that his defensive ability was further improved, which became obvious in close combat between knights.


    Besides the iron-body fruits, Zhang Tie saw 8 leakless fruits, 7 of which had been ripe while the rest one was unripe.


    Additionally, the most eye-catching one was the new fruit of brilliance. It was the biggest and most brilliant one that he had ever seen. It was even bigger than the fruit of brilliance which contained the knight''s consciousness that he had ever gained. Additionally, this fruit was as transparent as a colorful crystal which contained flowing luster.


    At the sight of this fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie knew that it contained all the spiritual energy of that mace muling of Sacred Light Empire who was a knight, Berusken, the head of Demon Snake Island who was a LV 15 battle spirit, those roundtable warriors in the Demon Snake Island as well as hundreds of lackeys. It must contain the highest spiritual energy that Zhang Tie had ever seen.


    With a growing spiritual energy, Zhang Tie''s knight''s consciousness would also grow stronger; additionally, Zhang Tie would make a further improvement in "mental arithmetic". The value of this fruit of brilliance was incalculable.


    Zhang Tie was driven mad by this fruit.


    He did not find any fruit of bloodline this time, ''It seems that the knight of Sacred Light Empire was different from the human knight who surrendered to Three-eye Association that I''ve killed.'' Zhang Tie didn''t know the reason. ''Is it because the knight of Sacred Light Empire didn''t surrender to demons although being guilty or is it because that I killed a knight of Three-eye Association at the high risk although having not promoted to a knight?''


    ¡ª¡ªThe brave man who dares to wave the saber towards the dark. When you overcome your fear and change impossibilities into possibilities, when you create marvels in the dark, the marvels and possibilities will definitely be manifested in the bright place. This fruit of bloodline is a marvel for you as the largest reward. It could enable you to know the secrets of numerous treasures in your body and control your own fate. The prowess doesn''t come from your physical strength, but from your will and your heart as a real brave man.


    The description of the fruit of bloodline reappeared in Zhang Tie''s mind. After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie couldn''t figure out the conditions required to form the fruit of bloodline, ''It seems that I have to kill another knight of Three-eye Association so as to verify it. Given the description, if the next knight of Three-eye Association doesn''t lead to a fruit of bloodline, I''m afraid that it requires stricter conditions than that I imagined to form the fruit of bloodline. Do I need to kill an earth knight or a knight with higher levels by chance then?''


    The forming conditions of the fruit of bloodline seemed to validate a law¡ª¡ªthe more powerful the fruit was, the harder it would be achieved.


    Besides, there were 4 fruits of judgment on the small tree.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of judgment; already been ripe. This fruit of judgment contains an advanced rune effect¡ª¡ª"senior waking effect"...


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of judgment; already been ripe. This fruit of judgment contains an advanced rune effect¡ª¡ª"senior soul-fixing effect"...


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of judgment; already been ripe. This fruit of judgment contains an advanced rune effect¡ª¡ª"senior tracing effect"...


    Three of the six god''s runes that Zhang Tie mastered had advanced to senior effects. The 4th fruit of judgment was a bit different than the other three. Compared to the swarthy surface of other fruits of judgment, this one looked silver.


    Zhang Tie put his hand on this fruit of judgment.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of judgment; already been ripe. This fruit of judgment contains an advanced rune effect¡ª¡ª"super binding effect"...


    ''Binding effect?'' It was completely out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that senior binding effect had already reached its limit. However, now, he could even bind LV 10 targets, not to mention LV 9; besides, his striking radius also increased to 150 cm from 75 cm. The maximal number of the binding chains that he could produce also increased from 36 to 72.


    Only by using his spiritual energy could he conquer a LV 10 strong fighter silently, what a great improvement in the power of his binding skill!


    At the beginning, when he was chased by a LV 10 strong fighter from Zhen Clan, he was as embarrassed as a dog in the underground space of Dragon Cave. However, he could easily conquer a LV 10 strong fighter with his super binding chain now. What a great improvement!


    Additionally, the god''s rune "super binding skill" also reminded Zhang Tie that he might have a higher binding effect afterward. The 6 god''s runes that Zhang Tie mastered by far had greater space to improve.


    ''That''s the best news that I''ve ever got!''


    But soon, Zhang Tie found he was wrong as there was one better news waiting for him on the small tree.


    He found a red heart-shaped fruit hiding behind some leaves on the other side of the small tree.


    It was a fruit of redemption that Zhang Tie had not eaten for a long time. As it was already red, it meant that it had been ripe and Zhang Tie could taste the return brought by his benevolence and payment.


    Zhang Tie put his hand on the heart-shaped fruit...


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of redemption. It contains the strength of golden uangs. Already been ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ''Strength of golden uangs?''


    ''Strength of golden uangs!''

 772 Cultivation

    Chapter 772: Cultivation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    At the sight of this fruit of redemption, Zhang Tie knew that Paul must have found the channel to buy and release golden uangs.


    He had not imagined that Paul could do it.


    If not emergencies, Zhang Tie could have had so many fruits of redemption of golden uangs 6 years ago.


    Fruit of redemption of golden uangs was the earliest fruit of redemption on the small tree. Although having appeared on the small tree for so long, it grew ripe at latest.


    When Zhang Tie set up Samira in Blackhot city, he gained a lot of golden uangs which were used to produce all-purpose medicament. As those golden uangs were useless to Zhang Tie, they were set free by Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could have a new powerful fruit¡ª¡ª Fruit of redemption due to that. Zhang Tie was also thrilled by discovering the mystery of setting free animals.


    Later on, Zhang Tie bade for 4 groups of golden uangs in the auction house of Kalur City. Previously, Zhang Tie intended to set them free; pitifully, before those golden uangs arrived, the whole clan of an elder of Karol Federation Pharmacist Union, who was the supplier of golden uangs, was cleared by Three-eye Association overnight.


    That elder''s clan was the only one that mastered the techniques of raising golden uangs across Blackson Humans Corridor. The sudden extermination of this pharmacist''s clan was a great strike to all the pharmacists who needed golden uangs to produce medicament. From then on, no golden uangs would be sold in batches across Blackson Humans Corridor. If anyone needed golden uangs, they could only capture them in the wild one after another.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie''s wish to taste the fruit of redemption of golden uangs was destroyed.


    Until Paul settled down in Taixia did Zhang Tie start to think about having him set free golden uangs once again.


    Although there was no golden uang in Blackson Humans Corridor, it didn''t mean that there was no golden uang in Taixia Country either.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter taking this fruit, Castle Lord''s strength could increase by 71.5 kg.


    ¡ª¡ªGolden uangs could lift an object which is 1800 times heavier than itself. Therefore, the small tree could at most produce 1800 fruits of redemption. Each fruit would activate 1/1800 of the same gene fragment in the body of Castle Lord.


    ¡ª¡ªThe current number of fruits of redemption¡ª¡ª4


    After skimming over the above words, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter.


    Although each fruit of redemption could not increase too much strength for Zhang Tie, it was uneasy for a knight to increase 71.5 kg through normal means or secret methods in a short period. One''s strength could be increased by taking some senior medicament; however, that senior medicament could only work limited times on one person. Additionally, people might become immune to the same medicament if they always took it.


    By contrast, the fruit of redemption of golden uangs would not face such a problem.


    The effect of 4 fruits of redemption was equal to increasing 286 kg'' strength for Zhang Tie himself. Although such a bit increase in strength was trivial for a knight, if he ate the next 1796 fruits of redemption one after another, he would make a stable improvement in his strength along with his battle force.


    Zhang Tie felt that all of his cells were so excited as if they were going to sing a song.


    Zhang then hummed.


    "When the sun rises, I go up the mountain"


    "When I reach the top, I want to sing"


    "My song drifts to my younger sister"


    "She giggles all the way"


    "All blossoms in the spring"


    "My younger sister and I, hand in hand"


    "When we come to the top of the mountain"


    "We see red azalea all over"


    " Yohoyohoyo 1"


    " Lang li ge lang 2..."


    ...


    As he sang, Zhang Tie picked a leakless fruit and bit it. With full fragrance in the mouth, he continued to hum.


    This leakless fruit turned into an extremely pure energy and flew into the hot sun in the void of Zhang Tie''s qi sea, adding a bit more heat to the hot sun...


    ...


    Two days later, with a faint smile and a deeper look, Zhang Tie reappeared in the underground palace.


    Zhang Tie then directly came to a cultivating room in the underground palace and took out the elements gathering tower and earth-element crystals from Castle of Black Iron before starting the cultivation of his 2nd chakra.


    Earth-element crystal was like a crystal peak completely composed of earth elements in elements realm. It was surrounded by all sorts of gleaming geometrical element crystals.


    In different sizes, some crystals flew as rapid as meteors, some were doing an irregular Brownian movement like how fine particles always did.


    This was a vast ocean of elements.


    Four elements annihilated and came into being constantly.


    At this moment, a huge hand composed of Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy appeared in the elements'' realm and started to tightly grab the earth elements above that crystal peak one after another; after that, it returned to the material world and threw those yellow crystals into that huge rotating millstone-shaped chakra...


    That huge knight''s chakra kept devouring, grinding and converting the yellow crystals to the purest energy of earth elements and transmitted them into the second chakra of Zhang Tie.


    At the same time, another hand gradually came into being and started to chase those distributed earth element crystals in the material realm.


    The two hands just did their own jobs respectively in the elements'' realm and the material''s realm like being controlled by two people at the same time.


    If other knights caught sight of this, they would be dumbfounded. According to common sense, each knight could only form one hand of all of their spiritual energy. Actually, what knights could "see" in elements realm were the senses of that hand of spiritual energy in elements realm. It was easy for people to use their hands in the reality; however, in elements realm, unless having extremely powerful spiritual energy, nobody could control two hands of spiritual energy to capture the elements in the elements realm at the same time.


    What happened next would make the other knights even more amazed.


    Because when the 2 hands of spiritual energy were working independently, the 3rd hand gradually came into being and started to catch those earth elements.


    Only after a few minutes, the 4th hand of spiritual energy came into being...


    The 4 hands had distinctive jobs. One of them was carrying that fixed crystal peak, the other 3 were traveling freely in the elements realm and capturing those yellow crystals. Occasionally, the 3 hands of spiritual energy would coordinate with each other and capture those yellow crystals like how hounds captured rabbits...


    Zhang Tie''s cultivating efficiency was 4 times than that of common knights...


    He kept cultivating in this state in the underground palace...


    ...


    On December 23rd, soon after the Winter Solstice, the yang qi started to rise from the ground while the yin qi started to descend from the sky.


    On this day, the last batch of Hua people of Huaiyuan Prefecture had left Waii Sub-continent. Meanwhile, Huaiyuan Palace returned to Taixia Country formally.


    Due to the wuthering north wind, the waves in the open waters of Yiyang Harbor were surging, which appeared insignificant in front of those million-ton passenger liners coming from Taixia Country.


    It was a bit solemn in Yiyang Harbor as soldiers of Hurricane Corps filled the harbor.


    Elder Muen and Elder Muyu were standing at the prow of a million-ton passenger liner and watching the Yiyang Mountain in the distance with an intricate, reminiscent look.


    Elder Muray and Elder Muan had left with two earlier fleets in November in advance. This was the last fleet, which was escorted by Elder Muen and Elder Muyu.


    Over 100 trucks drove out of Huaiyuan City and entered the huge warehouse of a huge passenger liner and disappeared. After that, the hatch of the entrance of the warehouse gradually closed.


    After these trucks entered the huge passenger liner, nobody could be seen across the dock except for those soldiers of Hurricane Corps.


    "If I knew that I''d feel so reminiscent to leave, I should have gone in November on behalf of Elder Muray. It feels so intricate!" Elder Muyu let out a sigh.


    "Nothing to be reminiscent of. Elder Mushen said he believed that Huaiyuan Palace would have a bright future and new knights would complete their rotating chakra ceremonies in the Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace one after another!" Elder Muen smiled.


    "Yes, it seems that Elder Mushen didn''t come here today..." Elder Muyu asked.


    "He''s been to Hurricane Corps last month. He held a conference for those commissioned officers and drew three lines on the map. After that, he has been cultivating in the underground palace of the base of Hurricane Corps till now!" Elder Muen said with full of admiration. ''A young knight who can calm down and seek for the truth in his heyday after holding his rotating chakra ceremony for 7 days while ignoring sex, power and wealth is qualified to be a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace. Compared to this, it''s nothing even if Elder Mushen didn''t come here today! With such a person in Huaiyuan Prefecture, it''s the best farewell for everyone else.''


    "Hoho, I remember that after my rotating chakra ceremony, I kept drinking and making love with 10 women for 3 months. I released all of my depression that had been accumulated in the dozens of years'' lonely cultivation. By contrast, Elder Mushen is indeed much better than me!" Elder Muyu also sighed.


    After promoting to knights, these clan elders had been used to drinking and sex. As they had experienced too much of that, they disliked it. They felt that drinking tea and listening to the wind sounds much easier...


    "People become knights due to reasons!" Elder Muen revealed the proverb in the knight''s world. After that, he looked at Yiyang City in the distance and said, "Let''s go. Just leave this place to youngsters..."


    "I can''t wait to see the look of Elder Mushen when he returns to Youzhou Province of Taixia Country!"


    The two elders smiled at each other before returning to the cabin.


    Half an hour later, the fleet left...


    One hour later, the three new garrisons armies under Hurricane Corps took over Yiyang City, Stars Viewing City and Golden Sea City.


    Zhang Tie''s age arrived at the southernmost corner of Waii Sub-continent...

 773 Shocking Strategies

    Chapter 773: Shocking Strategies


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After a long time, Zhang Tie finally opened his eyes.


    Watching the earth-element crystal which had completely lost its golden luster and revealed its milky color. Zhang Tie faintly shook his head and forced a bitter smile. After that, he put that useless crystal on the table.


    There were 7 rows of earth-element crystals on the table, 3 ones in a row. As of now, all the earth-element crystals had become as milky as that one in Zhang Tie''s hand while all the pure earth elements in this crystals had been used up. These milky earth-element crystals were as useless as empty bottles.


    Zhang Tie looked at the clock on the wall.


    ¡ª¡ªDecember 29.


    ''I''ve practiced 45 days in the underground palace at the cost of 21 earth-element crystals. I''ve only used 1/4 of my full ability to withdraw the earth element from the crystals. If I had exerted my full effort, I would have used up 21 earth-element crystals in just 2 weeks.''


    Through this cultivation, Zhang Tie completely understood how painstaking and distant it was to form his second chakra.


    After taking that fruit of brilliance which increased his spiritual energy by two times, Zhang Tie could make 4 hands in the elements realm to capture earth-element crystals at the same time. That was to say, his cultivation speed was 3 times higher than that of common knights. Even now, he had just lit 1/6 of the first scale of his second chakra.


    Zhang Tie estimated that it would take him at least 11 months to promote to the 2nd scale of the second chakra if he kept cultivating in the current state without the help of earth-element crystals.


    ''It means that it will take me 330 years of painstaking cultivation to form the second chakra according to "King Roc Sutra" based on the current state.


    ''This is the benefit of being able to use 4 "hands" at the same time. If I stuck to cultivate by one "hand", I would not be able to light 100 scales for 500 years, not to mention that I could only live 400 years as a black iron knight.''


    It was very difficult for black iron knights to form their second chakra. It was a very long trip. Additionally, the second chakra had very complex patterns according to the Emperor-class "King Roc Sutra", which made it many times more difficult than forming the second chakra according to other sutras.


    It would take him more than 330 years to promote to earth knight by only using one "hand". Zhang Tie became completely disappointed about this. He knew that people didn''t cultivate so painstakingly in the far-ancient brilliant human civilization. ''In that age, there must be many methods that people could use to cultivate at a fast speed. With abundant high-quality earth-element crystals, higher-performance elements-gathering matrix and more secret cultivation methods, knight cultivators would be able to improve their realm to a higher level in that age; otherwise, "King Roc Sutra" and "Breaking Sun Sutra" would not be left.


    However, in this age, the resources that could enable knights to accelerate their cultivation speed became scarcer. Therefore, knights had to seek and monopoly more resources so as to accelerate the formation of their chakras. Otherwise, most of the knights could not promote to earth knights in their whole lives.


    When the younger generations imitated their predecessors, they could not reach their targets as easily as that of their predecessors due to the changing cultivation environment.


    After getting off the bed, Zhang Tie came to an open land outside the room and finished one set of an iron-blood fist in a slowly and solemnly way so as to relax his limbs.


    However, his iron-blood fist entered an utterly different realm than before. It had turned mild after reaching yang and rigidity. However, a terrifying power was hidden in the mild movements. Although he moved slowly, he could make the air in the entire underground palace move, arising small cyclones one after another beside him. Like swirls caused by ocean currents, those cyclones appeared and disappeared from time and then.


    As Zhang Tie moved with his fist intention, he was considering about his cultivation means in the future and carding the achievements and gnosis of this cultivation.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie clearly knew about the problems facing him and the corresponding solutions. ''As of now, the most effective way to accelerate my cultivation speed was earth-element crystals. As long as I could gain sufficient high-quality earth-element crystals, I could accelerate my cultivating speed to form the second chakra. However, an earth-element crystal is a rarity, it''s already a bounty gift for Norman Empire to present 20 earth-element crystals to him in the rotating chakra ceremony. Each clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace could have 4 earth-element crystals per year. It''s far from enough.''


    ''It seems that I have to concern more about earth-element crystals from then on.'' Zhang Tie murmured.


    ''Besides earth-element crystals, the second method to accelerate my cultivation speed is to form as more "hands" as possible in the elements realm. At present, I''ve already been able to form 4 "hands" at the same time. It benefits from my long-term practice. It seems that it will take me a bit longer time to form the 5th one.''


    ''Finally, I could only improve my cultivation speed by other items such as elements gathering matrix or other unknown secret methods. There are some information about trading these items in Mountain of Brightness. However, the trading sites are mainly in Eastern Continent and Western Continent. They are face-to-face trades between knights. There''s no trading information in the remote place such as Waii Sub-continent in Mountain of Brightness. Additionally, over 70% of the traders are exchanging for earth-element crystals. Earth-element crystal seems to become a hard currency among black iron knights. Few items could be bought by golds. As of now, besides elements gathering matrix, I don''t have anything valuable to exchange for earth-element crystals.''


    ''As Three-eye Association and demons could bribe human knights, they should have got some good things.''


    Zhang Tie suddenly recalled the equipment and medicament from the knight of Three-eye Association whom he had killed...


    All in a sudden, a killing intent appeared in his punches...


    After relaxing his limbs, he made his qi and blood active once again. Meanwhile, he had a clearer framework on his cultivation in the future. After that, Zhang Tie flicked his clothes for a couple of times and walked out of the underground palace.


    The moment he opened the gate of the underground palace, the bodyguards outside the gate had known that; therefore, when Zhang Tie returned to the ground, he saw the director of the moving palace of corps leader.


    The sun had just set while it was a bit cloudy. It was chillier than when he entered the underground palace.


    When the director watched Zhang Tie once again after over 1 month, he felt Elder Mushen was more profound than before, especially his eyes which seemed to penetrate through everything. This was mainly because that Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy had surged after taking the fruit of brilliance. Of course, other fruits also contributed to Zhang Tie''s qi field. However, that director thought that it was due to Zhang Tie''s cultivation. Therefore, he treated Zhang Tie more respectfully.


    "Is everything going smooth?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Yes!" The director replied as he passed three brief reports to Zhang Tie.


    After taking them, Zhang Tie spent less than 20 seconds in skimming over the 3 brief reports.


    In fact, only two major events happened in Hurricane Corps during the past 45 days¡ª¡ªHurricane Corps have divided into three-level combat troops; the subordinate army of Hurricane Corps started to enter the three cities and take over the city defense and security of the three cities.


    "After the lantern festival, dispatch the first batch of an elite troop to Kalay Mountain Range to prepare for the battle in the future!" Zhang Tie fixed the time for the batch of fighters above LV 9 to enter Kalay Mountain Range.


    After adjusting the establishment, on the premise of not influencing the battle forces of the other troops, only 418 fighters in Hurricane Corps were between LV 9 and LV 13. These fighters would form the elite special operations brigade of Hurricane Corps. The brigade was further divided into 3 squads, who were responsible for the battle in the theater of operations Kalay Mountain Range.


    Zhang Tie sighed inside, ''The number of fighters between LV 9 and LV 13 in the entire Hurricane Corps only equals to two battalions of the demon corps. What a great disparity in strength! Only when the strength of all the countries across Waii Sub-continent unites with each other can they barely defeat the demon corps. Otherwise, no human corps could defeat the demon corps.''


    For these fighters, they would face a fierce battle in Kalay Mountain Range in the future.


    The director jostled down Zhang Tie''s order.


    "Additionally, the maneuver teams who receive battle tasks should make financial statements every season independently. The fighters of the maneuver teams should be paid in terms of 5 times that of the average compensation of the mercenaries of the major mercenary groups in Armes. Now that you''re making money privately, show me some performance. If one maneuver team suffers a loss for consecutive 2 months, I will lay off the commander and replace him with an able man!"


    Zhang Tie instructed as he walked. The director kept jostling down Zhang Tie''s words on his side.


    "Distribute my order to the garrisons, from next January 1st, in the three cities of Huaiyuan Palace, any person who traffick humans, kill slaves, force women to be prostitutes, rape women, plunder others'' properties should be punished with the death penalty. Any officer who colludes with businessmen should be punished to swallow gold coins which equates to the value of the properties that he received illegally. If the gold-eater doesn''t die, he''s free. Otherwise, all the properties of his whole family will be confiscated. Thieves'' fingers should be cut off; defrauders'' ears should be cut off. All those who violate the laws should be punished twice the severity of Huaiyuan Palace! Additionally, the Department of the Military Law and the Moving Palace of Corps Leader should find an itinerant military court so as to supervise the disciplines of the garrisons in the three cities. All the judgments and cases should be released on paper. I should see all the second instance cases on bulletins. If the garrisons severely disturb the residents or violate disciplines, call the head of the garrisons to interpret it to me in the moving palace."


    The three orders were full of killing intent, especially the collusion between officers and businessmen. It was a way of committing suicide by swallowing golds. When gold entered one''s mouth, it would penetrate through one''s intestines. If the officers swallowed the golds they were bribed, they would have a disaster. If they took more than 10 gold coins from businessmen illegally, they would hardly survive themselves. This was equal to draw a line between officers and businessmen, which was used to differentiate between normal trades and taking bribes. Those who dared take bribes had to consider whether could they hold that illegal income into their stomach in advance.


    The itinerant military court would pay special attention to second instance cases. As a sword of Damocles above the heads of all the soldiers and commissioned officers of Hurricane Corps, it could punish anyone who dared violate the laws.


    Zhang Tie, who was born in a common family of Blackhot City, clearly knew how hard small figures lives were. When they ran a rice brew store in Blackhot City, a taxman came to ask for a bride from them. Although that taxman was just a small figure in Blackhot City, he made Zhang Tie''s dad and mom sorrowful every day and almost made the rice brew store wind up. Later on, after Zhang Tie''s elder brother joined the city guards of Blackhot City, he found some friends to give that taxman a lesson. From then on, the taxman became a good man...


    At that time, as the holy war had not broken out, Blackhot City was still peaceful. However, even in such a peaceful environment, small grassroots could still not be able to survive themselves. By contrast, in such a chaotic world, numerous small figures were wondering here and there to survive themselves. Those commoners who came to Huaiyuan Prefecture from other places might be killed by some swashbuckling b*stards or corrupt officers and illegal businessmen at any time.


    However, Zhang Tie felt like living up to his so many years of life in Blackhot City and his title as a knight by using such shocking means to deter the bad guys and protect the underprivileged ones.

 774 Motherliness

    Chapter 774: Motherliness


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As a clan knight, Zhang Tie could enjoy as good resources and services as emperors in the camp.


    On the same evening, since he left the underground palace and lived in the temporary palace of corps leader, Zhang Tie had genuinely enjoyed the quality resources and services.


    Almost when Zhang Tie entered his residence, a lot of people had been swarming up and serving him effectively and precisely.


    Zhang Tie''s dinner was strictly matched with all sorts of nutritions and medicinal food according to his physical state after a long-term enclosed cultivation. The staple food of the dinner was an assorted millet congee plus over 10 medicinal dishes. Although they all tasted mild, each of them was in chef class. This supper met well the standards of color, flavor and taste.


    After supper, Zhang Tie felt that his tiredness had faded away.


    He then took a walk in the tranquil garden of his temporary palace for half an hour before returning to his residence.


    There was a hot spring bathroom in the residence. The hot spring came from underground. After being processed specially, it was added with some valuable, special medicines. Finally, it was injected into the crystal bathtub at a proper temperature.


    After taking a comfortable hot spring bath, Zhang Tie entered the comfortable hot lounge beside the bathroom. At this moment, two beautiful masseuses in tutu appeared. They then started to provide special maintenance and massage for Zhang Tie physically and spiritually.


    When the two beautiful masseuses touched Zhang Tie by fingers, they started to release utterly different special battle qis so as to provide a better massage and maintenance on Zhang Tie''s body. Zhang Tie knew that these pair of beautiful masseuses must have been trained at a high cost.


    Those who could release battle qi must be above LV 6. Additionally, the two masseuses both had top looks. What was more was that when Zhang Tie saw them, he knew that this pair of twins were still virgins. It was not easy to train this pair of trains into senior masseuses only with money.


    One battle qi had the attribute of water while the other had the attribute of wood. Both battle qis were extremely mild. They should be relatively unpopular, auxiliary battle qis. Zhang Tie had not heard about these battle qis before.


    Although auxiliary battle qis could not be used in the battle; they could play other effects. The combination of the two battle qis and the massage techniques could solidify one''s essence and cultivation base. That was definitely a supreme treatment.


    "What are your names?"


    Zhang Tie asked the two beauties while lying on his stomach.


    "I''m Aimei!"


    "I''m Aixue!"


    The two beauties replied quickly with sweet voices.


    Aimei used wood-attribute auxiliary battle qi; Aixue used water-attribute auxiliary battle qi.


    "Which one is elder?"


    "I am!" Aimei answered.


    "Where are your family members?"


    "We have been orphans since we were young. We lived in Fubo City in the beginning. When we were 9 years old, our parents passed away due to an accident. Huaiyuan Palace then took us in and imparted techniques to us. We left the training center and were dispatched to the temporary palace of the corps leader to serve you one week ago. According to our master, our senior sister apprentices were all on the sides of other elders. It''s the great honor for my elder sister and I to serve Elder Mushen." Aixue replied.


    Aixue, as the younger sister, was more clever. In her reply, she had clarified two meanings: first, we''re innocent; second, we''re still virgins.


    As she replied, Aixue started to rub the place between Zhang Tie''s shoulders and neck. Due to the special technique, Zhang Tie felt so pleasant and comfortable that he almost hummed.


    The whole process lasted about 2 hours. After the massage and maintenance, Zhang Tie felt that he had become wholly new.


    Even though Zhang Tie was against them in naked body, he still didn''t do anything to them. However, after doing that, Aimei and Aixue blushed with sweet drops on their faces. They looked a bit fatigued.


    ''Although people should cultivate, they need to relax themselves. After all, it would take me at least 300 years to form the earth chakra. If I was always busy cultivating, I might be driven lunatic before forming the earth chakra''.


    It was reasonable for clan elders to relax themselves. Additionally, this was the experience of numerous predecessors.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie just did as the Romans did.


    In the evening, Zhang Tie threw himself onto the bed and had a sound sleep. He got up on the next morning around 10 am.


    After getting up, Zhang Tie cleansed himself and ate something. Finally, he selected a set of relatively common clothes and left the encampment of Hurricane Corps by a car.


    Zhang Tie told Zhang Long to park in a remote place being not far from Stars Viewing City. When there was nobody nearby, he got off the car and told Zhang Long to drive back. After that, he strode towards Stars Viewing City.


    All the people in Huaiyuan Prefecture knew that Zhang Clan had a young elder. However, few people had seen him, especially for commoners. Even most of the common soldiers of Hurricane Corps had not seen their corps leader.


    Zhang Tie was not afraid of being recognized by others.


    In the period of enclosed cultivation, Zhang Tie had contacted his elder brother once.


    All the family members of Zhang Clan knew that Zhang Tie had become a clan elder. In Zhang Yang''s words, everybody felt like dreaming when they heard this news. Even though this news was told by Elder Muyuan. It still took Zhang family 1 week to accept this fact.


    After knowing that Zhang Tie became the clan elder, Zhang Tie''s mom instantly told Zhang Yang to let Zhang Tie do the good as more as possible. Zhang Tie''s mom was not happy but worried about Zhang Tie when she heard the news that Zhang Tie became a clan elder. In the eyes of Zhang Tie''s mom, if one didn''t have good merits, one would never take a high position for a long time. Those who didn''t have good merits would face a miserable outcome even if they took the position temporarily. If one wanted to accumulate his merits and gain the respect of everything else, he had to do the good and save people.


    Zhang Tie''s mom and dad even swore to not eat meat from then on for the safety of Zhang Tie. During this period, Zhang Tie''s mom and dad took out the private money that they had accumulated these years and started to provide free porridge to poor and refugees in Fuhai City, Yingzhou Province, Taixia Country together with Linda, Beverly and Fiona so as to accumulate merits for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s mom even told Zhang Yang to warn Zhang Tie that he could never do immoral affairs as a clan elder. Additionally, she told Zhang Tie to provide free porridge to the poor in Huaiyuan Prefecture...


    After knowing what his mom and dad were doing for the sake of his safety, Zhang Tie burst out into tears in the underground palace...

 775 The Liaison

    Chapter 775: The Liaison


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As tomorrow was the day before the new year, no store would run anymore. Today was almost the most boisterous day before the new year in Stars Viewing City. There were many shops that offered a variety of discounts to attract customers to spend.


    Even though the holy war was ongoing and many people were suffering pains, people in this place which was far away from the battlefields had forgotten about the holy war today.


    In the Stars Viewing City, people came and went. Zhang Tie was not eye-catching among them at all.


    Previously, there were mainly immigrants in Stars Viewing City; although, the number of Hua people still accounted for 80% of the total population in this city. However, the demographic structure in this city had already reversed today. As a lot of Hua people were leaving and more outsiders were pouring in, the number of Hua people in this city was less than 1/5 of the total population now. As to those Hua people who stayed here, some of them had been used to live in this city and didn''t want to leave here for the time being; some of them were dispatched here by companies or wanted to seek for a fortune here; some of them were escaped from Northern region of Waii Sub-continent and came here; the last kind was those from large business groups or major clans who could leave out of here whenever they wanted but chose to stay here for the time being due to various reasons.


    The last kind of people didn''t require others'' concern, but the first three kinds had to abide their own destiny. Actually, huge ships left the harbor of Yiyang City for Eastern Continent every day. Hua people could enjoy 40% off. Even though Hua families with financial problems could afford a ticket after a couple of years'' work here. However, if they didn''t want to leave, they had to be left to God''s mercy.


    In a chaotic world, when everyone was struggling for survival, nobody could control their own destinies.


    Walking in the Stars Viewing City, Zhang Tie suddenly felt like coming back to Blackhot City. When he was in Blackhot City, the streets in Blackhot City would always be boisterous on this day every year.


    Those refugees who had just poured in Stars Viewing City were easily identified, as those people were incongruous with such a festival atmosphere. They always stayed alone, in a couple or with their family members while lifting heavily worn suitcases in half-new clothes. Meanwhile, they explored this strange city with vigilant and careful eyes. They looked a bit restless and faintly helpless. Whenever their kids passed by the bakeries or restaurants, they would always gaze at the items through the windows. Adults would always wander nearby those low-end inns so as to compare the prices one after another. They would pay special attention to the ads about house renting and jobs in the streets. When the patrolling soldiers of Hurricane Corps passed by, these people would become especially intense as they would stay far away from them. Those little girls and female family members among them would directly lower their heads in case of direct eye contact with them...


    These refugees had become very vigilant due to the displaced life. After coming to a new place, they all looked like flurried birds and felt full of crisis.


    "Papa, I''m hungry. I''ve not eaten food for a whole day..." A 7-year old little girl with brown hair stood still outside the showcase of a noodle shop. Raising her poor, petite face, she was watching a couple at the 30s who were lifting simple suitcases which were made of canes while widening her bright eyes on the thin face.


    Her eyes were full of earnest hopes.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, the couple looked pretty sad and helpless.


    "I hid a necklace in the suitcase..." The woman whispered to the man.


    "No, keep it. We don''t need it right now..." The man replied as he cradled the little girl hardly, "Wait a moment baby, papa will find food for you when we settle down..."


    Finally, with tears in her eyes, the little girl was taken away from the door of the noodle shop.


    When he remembered what his mom required him to do, Zhang Tie sighed faintly as he paced up.


    10 minutes later, Zhang Tie appeared at the gate of Golden Roc Bank in Stars Viewing City. After looking up at the symbol of 4-wing gold roc on the stages, Zhang Tie walked inside directly.


    Golden Rock Bank was always magnificent wherever it was.


    "Welcome!" Two beautiful clerks in business-wear in the hall of Golden Roc Bank bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie.


    "Sir, what can I do for you?" The female clerk on the left asked him.


    Zhang Tie directly took out a plate which represented that he was a senior customer of Golden Roc Bank and showed it to the female clerk, "Take me to your manager!"


    Watching that symbol of a platinum customer in Zhang Tie''s hand, the two female clerks became dumbfounded. They immediately fetched here their superior, the lobby manager.


    After throwing a glance at the plate in Zhang Tie''s hand, the lobby manager became much more respectful. The lobby manager led Zhang Tie to the internal region of the bank through the VIP tunnel on one side of the gate and invited Zhang Tie to wait for a second in a tranquil parlor. After that, he went to call the bank manager.


    Zhang Tie''s face gradually turned weird...


    The perception of a knight was so powerful. Even if he didn''t want to know what was happening, as long as he released his spiritual energy, he would know it for sure.


    According to Zhang Tie''s perception, what was happening in an office over 40 m away from here was almost like as if it was happening right in front of his eyes. "Damn it!" Zhang Tie swore.


    After waiting in the parlor for less than 3 minutes, the door was pushed open. After that, Donder in a different dress entered in a noble way with a red face.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Donder''s eyes gleamed. Closely after that, he locked the door from inside.


    "I thought you brat wanted to leave me here forever." Donder directly threw himself onto the sofa on the opposite of Zhang Tie. He even complained, "This position is much more carefree than when I opened the grocery store before. I feel that I''m like a eunuch, who''s waiting for your order at any time. I just wait here for you day after day. I''ve not imagined that you could cultivate for over 1 month!"


    ''F*ck, this j*rk!'' Zhang Tie glared at Donder with a despised look, "Alright, don''t disguise in front of me. Do you think that I don''t know what you were doing in your office just now? Do you think that knights are nuts? You''ve not even pulled on the zipper of your trousers. If eunuchs really looked like you, the one who castrated you should be killed together with all of his family members and relatives!"


    Donder lowered his head and found the zipper was indeed not pulled on yet. With an embarrassed look, he hurriedly pulled it on. Righ then, he realized that something was wrong. He raised his head right away and looked at Zhang Tie with an amazed expression, "The walls of this room and my office are specially designed. As long as the door is closed, nobody can hear what is happening inside. F*ck, are you a human or something else? How could you hear that from here?"


    After taking that fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie''s knight''s consciousness reached a new high. If it was before, Zhang Tie might not have such a sensitive sense. However, it was not a problem for him now. Whereas, Zhang Tie didn''t need to explain it to Donder.


    "You will understand it when you promote to a knight!" Zhang Tie answered obscurely. After that, he left alone the "part-time hobby" of Donder; instead, he took out a small piece of information crystal and threw it to Donder.


    "What''s this?'' Donder asked with a curious look.


    "You will know it when you inject your spiritual energy in it!"


    The information crystal contained the blueprints of the buildings in the capital city of the Sacred Iceland Kingdom designed by Agan. If that information were restored on papers, the papers would fill a big wardrobe. However, it became portable in the information crystal.


    In this age, all the senior, rare information were stored in such expensive information crystals. Like those secret books, such building blueprints of the capital city of Sacred Iceland Kingdom were qualified to be stored in such expensive crystals.


    Zhang Tie had read those blueprints and was shocked by the design. In one sentence of Zhang Tie, ''It''s like I''ve not known the talents of the three slaves in Castle of Black Iron at all. '' When Zhang Tie recalled how he had them work like common farmers for him before, he felt guilty. It was like having a great beauty carry bricks in an illegal kiln or having a knight knock stones in a quarry. As it was extremely wasteful, it became shameless and guilty.


    ''Thanks to Heller''s warning, I stopped the shameless and guilty deed.''


    After injecting his spiritual energy into that piece of crystal, Donder slowly widened his mouth...

 776 The Mysterious Suitcase

    Chapter 776: The Mysterious Suitcase


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Is...this the complete planning and design of the entire capital city of Sacred Iceland Kingdom?'' Donder asked with an unbelievable tone.


    "Hmm!" Zhang Tie nodded, "My major goal here is to hand it to you. You can have someone carry it to Ice and Snow Wilderness through the channel of Golden Roc Bank and tell them to start building according to this plan!"


    Donder let out a sigh before saying with an amazed look, "Huaiyuan Palace really have great talents. I''ve not imagined that they could present such a complete urban planning design so fast. It seems that you''re not living bad in Huaiyuan Palace!"


    Realizing that Donder mistook this as the masterpiece of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile, ''if everyone could think like Donder, I wouldn''t need to explain it to them one after another.''


    "Can Gold Power Law get earth-element crystals?" Zhang Tie watched Donder with a serious look. If he could get earth-element crystals from Gold Power Law, he would have one more channel for earth-element crystals so as to improve his cultivation speed.


    "Earth-element crystals?" Donder became serious, "It''s impossible for Gold Power Law to not have a channel to get earth-element crystals. However, as earth-element crystals are of great importance to knights, you couldn''t get as many as you want. As the hidden god CEO of Golden Roc Bank, you have the access to buy some earth-element crystals every year through Gold Power Law!"


    "How many?"


    "Discounted price, 100,000 gold coins for one, you can get four per year!"


    "Can I buy some more?"


    "Unless you promote to a higher class in Gold Power Law. When you become a hidden copper lord, you will have the access to 8 earth-element crystals per year!"


    ''4? It''s the same as that provided by Huaiyuan Palace to its clan elders per year.'' However, such a small number of earth-element crystals was far less enough for forming the second earth chakra of Zhang Tie. However, it was better than nothing.


    As to the hidden copper lord, Zhang Tie shook his head. Based on his current position and contribution to Gold Power Law, it would take him at least 10 years to promote to a hidden copper lord.


    Zhang Tie sighed helplessly, "Erm, I will buy the 4 earth-element crystals of this year first. Later on, you can directly have people deduct the payment from my account in Golden Roc Bank every year!"


    "Well, but you need to wait for a period. After the order is delivered, it will take us three months to transport those earth-element crystals to Huaiyuan Prefecture from Eastern Continent!"


    "Alright, I will wait!" Zhang Tie shrugged.


    Donder watched Zhang Tie with full emotions...


    "I do not owe you, right? Why do you watch me that way?" Zhang Tie felt goosebumps all over.


    "When in Blackhot City, have you imagined that you will spend 100,000 gold coins on one earth-element crystal as easy as buying a radish? Have you imagined that you could spend hundreds of thousands of gold coins without a blink? When I told you that I''d tasted a cup of tea at the price of a couple of gold coins, you treated that as a joke and brag back then!"


    Zhang Tie was also moved when he recalled what Donder told him at Blackhot City.


    ''When in Blackhot City, my parents found that I was just a commoner; therefore, they spent a lot to request the local chamber of commerce of Hua people to find a part-time job for me in a grocery store so that I could survive myself and broaden my vision. Due to such a reason, I met Donder. Besides the part-time job in the grocery store, I worked as a human flesh sandbag in Iron Thorns Fighting Club only for some silver coins. Being stimulated by young hormones, I wanted to hook-up a training beauty partner in the fighting club. However, I was despised by her. What a miserable puberty...''


    ''Except for the warmth brought by my family members, the only warm memory in my puberty was those kids'' innocent smiles when I sent rice or millet gruel to the orphanage of Grandma Teressa. When those kids swarmed up for food like a pack of petite dogs or kitties, I felt pretty distressed...''


    After being silent for quite a while, Zhang Tie let out a sigh. He then opened his mouth while watching Donder, "Don''t you feel bored now? How about doing a job for me?"


    Donder became vigilant at once as he watched Zhang Tie and asked with a cunning look, "Go ahead!"


    "After knowing that I''ve become a clan elder, my parents are not reassured about me. They want me to accumulate merits in Huaiyuan Prefecture by providing free porridge to refugees and poor ones here. After a deep consideration, I think you can do it well!"


    "Ahh? Why not have those people in Huaiyuan Palace do it for you?"


    "If I issued the order in Huaiyuan Palace, nobody in Huaiyuan Palace would take one copper coin from me for it?" Zhang Tie sighed, "But my mom says, I have to use my own money to do merits. I should not use the money of Huaiyuan Palace with my power. That''s what my mom warned me about. Do you know what she told my elder brother? She was worried that I did not have enough money. She even told my elder brother that if I did not have enough money to provide free porridge to the refugees and poor ones, she would mail the private money of her and my dad to me so that I could do more merits here!"


    Donder was dumbfounded, ''Zhang Tie''s parents would never know how rich was Zhang Tie. In the north waters alone, this guy has got 300 million gold coins by tricks. After deducting the 90 million gold coins which were used to build the Sacred Iceland Kingdom from it, there are still over 200 million gold coins. Now, all these money are in his account of Golden Roc Bank. Golden Roc Bank makes a financial management for this guy and enables this guy to enjoy 18 million gold coins'' interest each year. It indicates that this guy could make 50,000 gold coins a day without having to do anything. Without this interest, he could also enjoy over 1 million gold coins from Huaiyuan Palace as a clan elder. How could Zhang Tie''s parents still worry that this guy is poor? What a pathetic parents'' heart!''


    "What do you want me to do?" Donder asked.


    "I will give you 50,000 gold coins a year. You can employ some female servants who escaped to Huaiyuan Palace and open some porridge provision centers in the three cities. Just deliver porridge, dried dishes, steam buns and bread to those hungry people two times a day!"


    After deducting the cost for employees and operation, only 25,000 gold coins could be turned into food. It could barely survive the poorest people in the 3 cities. Zhang Tie had calculated it carefully. If he provided less money, some people would be starved to death; if he provided more money, some people would do nothing else but rely on the porridge.


    Based on Donder''s shrewd temperament, Zhang Tie knew that such a charity fund would definitely play its greatest role.


    "Well, I will do some merits together with you. We''re on the same line, though!" Donder knew that Zhang Tie treated him as his family member. Therefore, Donder felt warm inside, "How long will you stick to it?"


    "Until the demon''s vanguard arrive at the north bank of Yuanjiang River!"


    Donder became a bit stunned before revealing a bitter smile, ''This is indeed the style of a new rich. Actually, 50,000 gold coins mean nothing for Zhang Tie.''


    ...


    After a couple of minutes, Zhang Tie left Golden Roc Bank.


    After leaving Golden Roc Bank, Zhang Tie took a round in Stars Viewing City. He then bought a suitcase from a store. After that, he came to a relatively remote clothing store. He spent one gold coin in buying a lot of extremely common clothes which didn''t fit his current figure and put them into his suitcase. After that, he left Stars Viewing City with that huge suitcase and returned to the encampment of Hurricane Corps.


    Watching Zhang Tie coming back with a suitcase alone, those people in the temporary palace thought Zhang Tie had gone for a "shopping spree" in Stars Viewing City with extremely odd looks.


    As a clan elder, he only needed to open his mouth for whatever he wanted. He didn''t need to buy items himself at all. However, Zhang Tie came back with a bulged suitcase.


    Nobody knew what was inside the suitcase.


    Although being curious, nobody dared ask.


    Before the arrival of the new year, the items in the suitcase of corps leader became the hot topic of those high-level commissioned officers of Hurricane Corps.


    Some guessed that it was a mysterious, sharp weapon; some guessed it contained a lot of senior secret books; some guessed it contained senior medicaments. All the guesses were based on a presumption that was silently adopted by everyone¡ª¡ªThe items inside the suitcase must be available to knights.


    Nobody could imagine that the suitcase contained a lot of improper clothes which were bought at discounted prices.


    Even though they were curious about that, nobody dared make an investigation in the Stars Viewing City¡ª¡ªit was nothing different than committing suicide by privately investigating the trace of the clan elder or the corps leader.


    ...

 777 The Eve before the New Year

    Chapter 777: The Eve before the New Year


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    During the 45 days when Zhang Tie cultivated in the underground palace, Colonel Leibnitz was dispatched by Filis the crown prince of Norman Empire to invite Zhang Tie to visit Taian City twice. However, he was refused by Zhang Tie''s director in the temporary palace for consecutive two times.


    On December 31st, Zhang Tie sent people to fetch Colonel Leibnitz and paid a return visit to Filis the crown prince of Norman Empire together with Colonel Leibnitz.


    Zhang Tie''s arrival made Filis thrilled. They had a lunch together.


    This was the second time for both parties to meet alone, which made the relationship between Zhang Tie and Filis the crown prince of Norman Empire a bit closer.


    Filis even introduced his teacher, a royal employed knight to Zhang Tie.


    That knight called Leo was in the Benolis Castle. He was the most powerful figure of Norman Empire in Benolis Castle as Filis'' teacher and bodyguard.


    Norman Empire had already accelerated the evacuation of its domestic elites to Benolis Castle.


    According to the current situation, Zhang Tie seemed to understand something about the plan of Norman Empire. Norman Empire''s royal household didn''t mean to stay in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor and fight demons to the death as Norman Empire was not powerful enough to do that. However, if they just gave it up, they would feel unreconciled. After losing their land, the royal household of a country would become meaningless. They would be called royal household in exile.


    At this moment, the royal household of Norman Empire seemed to balance their current interest and their future interest and to adjust their plans and countermeasures in the holy war.


    When they had lunch, Filis suddenly asked Zhang Tie a question in front of his teacher Knight Leo.


    "What would you do if you were the royal household of Norman Empire?"


    After hearing this question, Zhang Tie put down his knife and fork and wiped his mouth with a piece of snowwhite napkin. He became silent for a couple of seconds before answering,


    "If I was the emperor of Norman Empire, I would give up Norman Empire at once!"


    Soon after hearing Zhang Tie''s response, Knight Leo gazed at Zhang Tie with shrewd eyes. Filis also looked extremely solemn.


    "Can you tell me your reason for doing so?"


    "An ancient Hua emperor had a proverb¡ª¡ª''If there''re people, even though the land is lost, it can be grabbed back; if there is no people, even though the land is preserved, you will lose it sooner or later.'' Now that the demon''s vanguard was already irresistible, why would you stick to the land and the honor of the royal household? Demons could not take away the land as long as people were alive, the lost honor and destroyed homeland would be recovered sooner or later. By contrast, if people died, nothing will be left! People will always have low valleys in their lives; the sun would rise and fall or be covered by clouds. Even being royal household, it''s nothing serious for you to experience some frustrations."


    "You mean just give up the battle?" Filis frowned.


    It was Filis''s first time to hear the words "Even though royal households could fall" since he was born. It was completely against the education that he had received since he was young.


    "No, of course not. Instead, you need to fight in a flexible way on the premise of preserving your own battle force. There''s an old Hua saying, ''When trees were moved, they would die; however, when people moved to another place, they would survive.'' Although demon corps are powerful, not each of them is powerful. Demons also have weaknesses. If I can''t defeat the demon general, I will fight those whom I can defeat. If I can not defeat you, I will beat those who are related to you. If I''m not advantageous here, I will defeat you in advantageous aspects. If I cannot defeat you physically, I will bribe you with money; if I cannot bribe you with money, I will set you up; if I cannot set you up, I will make you disgusted; if I cannot defeat you in the sky, I will defeat you on the ground; if I cannot defeat you on the ground, I will defeat you on the sea; if I cannot defeat you on the sea, I will defeat you under water; if not, I will run faster and see farther than you. In this world, lions could survive, monkeys could also survive. However, lions might not be able to defeat monkeys on the tree; tigers could be commanding; mice could also be free. When being targeted by a hunter, tigers would definitely die earlier than a mouse. Whales could be full in the sea; fleas could also survive on pig''s body. You need to identify your abilities and fix your advantageous aspects.''


    Zhang Tie smiled as he saw Filis considering his words carefully. He then took the knife and fork once again, "This is just my personal opinion. Hmm...the royal cooking skills are good..."


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how his words would influence Filis, but it was none of his business. In that case, now that Filis asked him, he had to put it straight. Those words were his real feelings. Zhang Tie thought that those who died for dead things such as money, land and imperial throne were silly.


    After refusing Filis'' invitation for the new year''s evening party, Zhang Tie returned to the temporary palace of Hurricane Corps on the same day.


    Hua people used to stay with their family members on this evening.


    Zhang Tie''s family members were in Taixia Country. Zhang Tie was in Waii Sub-continent. Thanks to the remote-sensing crystals, Zhang Tie could keep in touch with his family members on such a special day.


    ...


    Zhang''s manor, Fuhai City, Yingzhou Province, Taixia Country...


    The family reunion dinner was very boisterous. Watching their grandchildren running here and there in the dining hall, Zhang Tie''s mom and dad were so happy.


    Zhang Yang had 4 kids now, the eldest son, Zhang Chengan, the second son Zhang Chengxu, the third son Zhang Chengze and the youngest daughter Zhang Shiyu. Zhang Chengan was 6 years old while Zhang Shiyu was just 2.5 years old.


    Zhang Tie had 3 kids. The eldest son Zhang Chenglei was delivered by Linda, the second son Zhang Chengting was delivered by Beverly while the third son Zhang Chengpei was delivered by Fiona. Zhang Tie''s dad named all of them. They were over 9 months old. With tender skins and delicate looks, they were stronger than those of their same age. They could climb very fast on the ground. Each of them was matched with 2 babysitters and 1 nurse.


    There was a vermeil, huge round table in the dining hall, which could hold over 20 people. Besides Zhang''s family members, Elder Muyuan was sitting in the main seat. The parents of Beverly and Fiona were also sitting at the table.


    After delivering babies, Linda, Beverly and Fiona looked a bit maturer than before. However, they didn''t look old at all. Due to distinctive dresses, they looked more fascinating.


    Besides, there were over 20 servants and babysitters in the dining hall.


    The entire Zhang family displayed a rich and noble scene at this moment.


    When the female servants served the dinner onto the table, the dining hall was immediately filled with various aroma. After smelling the aroma, the kids ran over here and started to look around the dishes and food on the table.


    The parents of Beverly and Fiona came here to see their daughters after they delivered the babies. At the sight of such a brilliant Hua mansion, they became a bit restraint at the beginning as they came from common families. However, they gradually found that their son-in-law''s family members were very easygoing, especially Zhang Tie''s parents, who were genial and open-minded instead of being arrogant. They treated their daughters very well. After knowing that the parents of Beverly and Fiona lived in Blackhot City before, they had more common topics. The parents of Beverly and Fiona soon adapted to this environment and lived very comfortably in Zhang''s mansion for a few days.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s mom whispered to her two son''s mothers-in-law.


    Zhang Tie''s two sisters-in-law and wives were paying attention to those kids.


    Watching them, Elder Muyuan whispered to Zhang Tie''s father, "We will move to Huaiyuan City after the new year festival. We''ve already prepared a bigger mansion over there. When these kids grow a bit elder, 2-3 years at most, we will go to Youzhou Province. That''s the foundation of Huaiyuan Palace in Taixia Country. As Zhang Tie is the clan elder and also belongs to the bloodline of Golden Sea City of Huaiyuan Palace. When we establish Golden Sea City in Youzhou Province, you could have a 15% share of the new city. Later on, your family could have a fixed bonus in golden Sea City each year. If these kids wish, they could find a job in Golden Sea City as their starting line in Taixia Country. This is also how offsprings from major clans in Taixia Country develop their undertakings. I''ve talked with Zhang Yang a couple of days ago, Zhang Yang wishes to buy shares of Golden Sea City..."


    Zhang Tie''s dad was always meticulous. After hearing that Zhang family could have a share in Golden Sea City in Youzhou Province, Taixia Country, Zhang Tie''s dad became a bit timid as he asked faintly, "6th uncle, is...this a bit excessive?"


    ''Excessive?'' Elder Muyuan became silent. Watching Zhang Ping, he said, "Don''t you know that your son Zhang Tie has become a king in the north waters of Waii Sub-continent?"


    ''Although Zhang Ping has an ordinary natural disposition, his two sons are both greater than him, not to mention his grandchildren. It''s told that when Zhang Ping''s family were living poorly in Blackhot City, they still kept doing merits. Is this the so-called "families with merits are destined to have a bright future!"?''


    Elder Muyuan thought. The moment he wanted to say something, Zhang Yang pushed open the gate and entered the dining hall. He said one word, which made everybody in the dining hall quiet...


    "Dad, mom, Zhang Tie has just sent a message to me. He wants me to wish you a happy new year!"

 778 Triggering Body-changing Bloodline

    Chapter 778: Triggering Body-changing Bloodline


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the balcony, Zhang Tie put away the remote-sensing crystal and looked up in the eastern sky. The most brilliant faerie-dragon star was shining over there...


    It was already the latter half of the night...


    When he realized that his elder brother had been messaging for so long and must have been very tired, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. After that, he turned around and returned to his bedroom.


    It was a special new year''s eve. Zhang Tie passed messages one after another with his family members in Taixia using his remote-sensing crystal and waited for the arrival of the 896th year of Black Iron Calendar with his family members.


    The last message from his elder brother was that his three sons were too sleepy after playing all day and had gone to bed.


    When he imagined the happy life and bright future of his three sons whom he had not seen yet and his family members in Taixia country, Zhang Tie felt warm.


    It was a historical leapfrog for Zhang Tie''s family that Zhang Yang determined to buy a share in Golden Sea City in Youzhou Province. It meant that Zhang Tie''s family had almost entered the list of major clans in Huaiyuan Palace.


    Although it was not difficult for Zhang Tie to build another city in Taixia Country based on his current wealth accumulation, it was complex to run a city and have it turn into the territory and property of his own clan, which required power, human relationships and wealth. Zhang Tie''s family members lacked such experiences in running a city as they had just settled down in Taixia Country. Zhang Tie''s elder brother needed time to expand the influence of Jinwu Business Group and accumulate resources in all aspects. At this moment, it was a wise decision to stand on the side with Huaiyuan Palace and buy a share in the new Golden Sea City.


    Through the warm interaction with his family members on the new year''s eve, Zhang Tie saw clearly the responsibilities that he should shoulder for the whole family.


    ''Although I''m not in Taixia Country, my deeds here is closely related to happiness and future of my family members in Taixia Country.''


    ''Therefore, I have to survive on. Additionally, I need to be more and more powerful so as to be the reliance of this family.''


    ''Basically, in a chaotic world, power is everything.''


    ...


    As Zhang Tie didn''t sleep, none of those in the entire temporary palace dared go to bed. Everyone, including the cooks, Aimei and Aixue and the other servants were waiting for Zhang Tie''s order.


    "Elder Mushen, it''s a bit late, do you want some midnight snack or some other services?" The steward hurriedly asked respectfully the moment Zhang Tie walked out of the room.


    "No need, I will cultivate in the underground palace, just tell them to go to bed!" Zhang Tie waved his hand while walking towards the underground palace.


    The steward looked at Zhang Tie with full respect. Only after 2 days since he finished his last cultivation did he continue to cultivate. Such a diligent corps leader was indeed respectable. As the pillar of a corps, it was the corps leader''s main responsibility to stay powerful.


    After a few minutes, the news that Zhang Tie entered a closed cultivation once again spread across the temporary palace.


    ...


    After coming to the underground palace once again, Zhang Tie glanced over it with his spiritual energy and found that everything here remained unchanged. He then closed the gate of the underground palace forcefully from inside.


    After that, Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron.


    It was also night in Castle of Black Iron while the flying fireflies decorated the palace as a fairytale dreamland.


    Everyone had fallen asleep as of now. After throwing a glance at the small tree, Zhang Tie directly went upstairs towards his bedroom.


    Hundreds of fireflies then flew around Zhang Tie like some floating lanterns, making everything poetic in this space.


    Heller was waiting for him outside his room. When he saw Zhang Tie coming close, he bowed towards Zhang Tie, "Castle Lord!"


    "I''m okay, I will leave soon. You can go to bed now!"


    After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, Heller knew what Zhang Tie was going to do, "Castle Lord, are you going to the north?"


    "Hmm, right!" Zhang Tie confessed.


    "The second chakra of "King Roc Sutra" requires very huge resources. Although there are less such resources on the ground, it doesn''t mean that the underground world is also scarce. As long as you''re alive, Castle Lord could have numerous possibilities and chances to gain them!" Heller reminded Zhang Tie faintly.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "I know, I will not risk my life. When I see the Demon General, I will escape right away. In the worst case scenario, I will seek for shelter in Castle of Black Iron instead of trying to show my power. Those Three-eye Association clans in the north have been too comfortable recently. I will find some troubles for them. By the way, I will make some new year lucky money for myself!"


    "Good luck to you, Castle Lord!" Heller left gracefully.


    ...


    After pushing open the door, Zhang Tie entered his room. After that, he took off his clothes. He then selected a set of black clothes from those he bought from Stars Viewing City yesterday.


    This set of black robe was indeed a bit larger than Zhang Tie''s figure. It looked fat and funny. Zhang Tie''s palms were completely covered by his sleeves, only exposing some fingers. The lower hem of his robe almost touched the ground. The waist part of the robe was also loose like a life buoy which leaked air. The clothes under the robe were also much larger. He looked like a comedy performer on the stage.


    After looking into the mirror, Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile...


    Zhang Tie instantly triggered his body-changing bloodline...


    He started to grow higher while the lower hem of his robe gradually rose. Besides, Zhang Tie''s hands were also exposed.


    Zhang Tie''s pupils and skin started to change colors. His hair started to change color and elongate. Zhang Tie''s face also started to change while his muscles all over uttered faint cracking sounds.


    Only after 3 minutes, the person in the mirror looked utterly different than Zhang Tie. That was a grey-haired 50-year old man with the gloomy and icy look in a black robe.


    This man looked similar to Master Abyan. However, he looked gloomier than Master Abyan.


    After looking into the mirror, Zhang Tie grinned.


    It was an utterly different change of his look since he had his body-changing bloodline. He had to admit that this body-changing bloodline was very powerful.


    This look was consuming Zhang Tie''s minor spiritual energy per second. If Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy was insufficient, he would recover his original look. However, Zhang Tie felt that he could maintain this new look for a decade based on his powerful spiritual energy. Additionally, it was very simple for him to maintain this look forever. Only by practicing "mental arithmetic" for over 10 minutes, he would be able to sustain his current look for a long time.


    Facing the mirror, Zhang Tie made some remedies. He touched his nose and made it a raised, sharp hawk nose. He blinked his eyes and made his eye corners elongate. His eyes then looked more profound and malicious. He looked at his hands and made his hands larger with longer fingers and sharper fingernails. They looked like two sharp claws that could control everything. Finally, Zhang Tie rubbed his ears and changed their looks. Nobody could see Zhang Tie''s background from his ears any longer.


    "Ahem..ahem...ahem...ahem..." Zhang Tie coughed a few times to change his voice gradually.


    Zhang Tie smirked and flicked at his clothes to make them tidy. After that, he buckled the elder''s finger ring onto a firm alloy necklace and wore it over his neck. In this way, he could keep in touch with Huaiyuan Palace at any time without worrying about being noticed.


    "Your name is Gorath¡ª¡ªa human knight who mastered the sacred light battle qi of Sacred Light Empire. Meanwhile, you''re an insidious, brutal, selfish and cunning devil who only believes in yourself. You''re not recorded in the Mountain of Brilliance. You''re just a ghost in the dark." Zhang Tie said in a hoarse voice.


    Zhang Tie smiled towards himself in the mirror, which looked terrifying...


    ...


    After a few minutes, the black beetle appeared in the underground palace out of the void. After flying around in the underground out of curiosity, he drilled into an air hole and left the underground palace. After moving a short while in the air hole, he appeared on the back of a rockery in the garden of the temporary palace.


    The black beetle instantly flew into the sky and left the encampment of Hurricane Corps.


    It soon arrived in the wild. From 1,000 m high in the sky, when a piece of cloud covered the moonlight and it turned darker on the ground, the small beetle disappeared. Almost at the same time, the thunder hawk flashed out of Castle of Black Iron. The thunder hawk abruptly accelerated its speed and ascended above the clouds. After that, it flew towards the north.


    After 3 hours, the thunder hawk flew out of the air territory of Jinyun Country. From 10,000 m high, the thunder hawk disappeared. At the same time, Gorath appeared...


    "Gorath" flew over 200 m per second above the clouds, however, he didn''t show any battle qi luster. He just flew silently like a ghost in the dark...

 779 Deepening into Enemy‘s Rear

    Chapter 779: Deepening into Enemy¡®s Rear


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As he had just promoted to a knight, Zhang Tie was discovered by scouts last time as he was inexperienced. Actually, as long as a knight was not in a rush with his journey by turning himself into a meteor or releasing a powerful knight''s qi on purpose in the evening, he would be barely discovered by people at over 10,000 m above the ground.


    At this height, even common airships would be barely discovered, not to mention a person.


    Especially in the wild, as long as he avoided the major human cities and agglomerations, he could barely be discovered by people. After triggering a senior concealing skill, Zhang Tie''s qi abruptly reduced by some levels. Even knights could not sense his existence.


    Before daybreak, the brilliant Faerie-dragon Stars had already risen to the highest point in the sky. When the first sunglow reached the land, Zhang Tie had been over 4,000 miles away from Huaiyuan Prefecture.


    Zhang Tie was not concerned about the affairs in Huaiyuan Prefecture. As Huaiyuan Palace and the other major clans in Jinyun Country, Qilan Country and Benolis Castle had already reached a privity on common defense. If any of the above parties encountered the raid of demon knights, the knights of the other parties would rush there for support as soon as possible.


    Even though the major forces of all the clans had evacuated from Waii Sub-continent, each clan still left a clan knight and a corps to safeguard the interest of their own clan. Therefore, no matter what, Qilan Country and Jinyun Country had at least 8-9 knights at present. Therefore, before Kalay Mountain Range was broken through by demons, the entire Qilan Country and Jinyun Country were as firm as the Mountain Tai. Unless the knights of demons or Three-eye Association were idiots, they would never enter the encirclement of human knights of the same rank and wait to be beaten. Even the demon general would not do such a stupid thing without having an absolute advantage.


    Unless being raided by knights, Hurricane Corps would not disrupt Zhang Tie from enclosed cultivation. Additionally, in a short period, it was almost impossible for Huaiyuan Prefecture to be raided by the knights of demons and Three-eye Association. This was a major reason why Zhang Tie dared leave Huaiyuan Prefecture without any concern.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie was not used to be waiting for troubles from demons and Three-eye Association. He preferred to take the initiative.


    Zhang Tie had been considering seriously before he headed for Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Zhang Tie had three reasons to do this.


    First, If he took the initiative, he could beat demons and Three-eye Association and weaken the power of demons so as to slow down their pace towards the south.


    Second, if demons and Three-eye Association broke through Kalay Mountain Range one day later, more commoners in Blackson Humans Corridor would be able to escape away from this continent. Meanwhile, Huaiyuan Palace could maintain its prosperity for a longer period.


    In the holy war, it was each human knight''s responsibility to weaken the power of demons and Three-eye Association. The above two reasons were for the public interest.


    Privately, there was a more important reason, namely, Zhang Tie wanted to rip off demons and Three-eye Association greatly, whether for wealth or resources for cultivation.


    Zhang Tie once plundered a lot from Senel Clan. He also gained some useful knight''s widgets from that knight of Three-eye Association. Zhang Tie believed that the other Three-eye Association clans and knights also had a lot of wealth and resources.


    Of course, he should do that for both public and private interests.


    Other human knights had also thought about this before. However, nobody dared do that by deepening into the demon''s area alone and fighting many knights of demons and Three-eye Association at the risk of his life. The reason was that no knight of demons and Three-eye Association dared deepen into the territory of Jinyun country and Huaiyuan Palace and launched a raid.


    If he had no Castle of Black Iron and the soul-based incarnation skill, Zhang Tie would not do it either. It was too dangerous, as long as he was besieged by knights of demons or Three-eye Association, he might be killed. No human knight dared do that. As long as a knight was besieged by more than 3 enemy knights of the same rank, he would probably be killed.


    Additionally, Zhang tie had the body-changing ability and "King Roc Sutra" which enabled him to change his look freely. Otherwise, even if he made it, he might also expose his ability. Meanwhile, he would arouse an animosity between Huaiyuan Palace and demons and Three-eye Association. He might push Huaiyuan Palace into a dangerous situation and have it mired in the crazy revenge of demons and Three-eye Association.


    However, with all these conditions, Zhang Tie would feel sorry about himself if he didn''t do it.


    ''No matter what I will do, just let Gorath find demons and Three-eye Association some troubles. Since I was in enclosed cultivation in Huaiyuan Palace, nobody would doubt me for that!''


    After leaving Huaiyuan Prefecture once again, Zhang Tie felt free.


    At a navigation speed of 700 miles per hour, Zhang Tie had already flown across Kalay Mountain Range in the middle of Blackson Humans Corridor and arrived at the north region of Blackson Humans Corridor at dusk. Such a constant high speed would definitely make all the knights dumbfounded.


    After flying across Kalay Mountain Range, Zhang Tie continued to fly towards the north at the same speed. The closer he was to the north, the more ruined scenes would he see on the land.


    He could see burning villages and farmlands and deserted cities everywhere.


    The entire north region of Blackson Humans Corridor was chaotic. Besides demons, the small squads of thieves and bandits were as many as locusts after autumn. They could occupy mountains or cities themselves. Even though half of the north human region was not collapsed, it was actually in an anarchic state. The law of jungle prevailed.


    After flying across Kalay Mountain Range, it took Zhang Tie 6 hours to arrive at the Selnes Plain.


    Millions of dead bodies could not be eliminated in just a couple of years. Even during the night, from 10,000 m above the ground, Zhang Tie could still see the weird, colorful ptomaine miasma covering the entire Selnes Plain.


    That ptomaine miasma reminded Zhang Tie of Tirsiris the dangerous woman, ''I wonder where is that woman.''


    On the way, Zhang Tie saw a lot of demonized puppets troops moving southwards. However, he didn''t stop.


    After flying over Selnes Plain, Zhang Tie arrived at Titanic Duchy. It took him less than 1 hour to fly across Titanic Duchy and arrive at the Verov Federation which was neighboring Titanic Duchy and deepened into the hinterland of demon''s region.


    When he noticed those high rising grave tower demons, a city appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    It was a key city, which could be judged by its scale and the number of grave tower demons around the city.


    Except for a few places, the entire city was pitch-dark under demon''s ruling in the evening. It was pretty silent. Those commoners who were forced to become slaves didn''t have night lives. Curfew took effect in the evening. Those bright places in the evening were the major agencies of this city.


    After flying over 10,000 miles, Zhang Tie finally found a target city. Therefore, he became spirited at once.


    After referring to the map in his memory, the information about this city became clear at once¡ª¡ªGlivec City, a major industrial city in the south of Verov Federation. It was the second largest city of Verov Federation after the Democracy City, the capital city.


    In Zhang Tie''s memory, Verov Federation belonged to Arthur Clan.


    In the last 100 years, three presidents of the Verov Federation came from Arthur Clan. Additionally, Arthur Clan controlled the largest military-industrial complex in the territory of Verov Federation. However, such a clan chose to betray humans instantly the moment the holy war broke out. They converted three corps of federal defense army into demonized puppets and helped demons control this country in the shortest period.


    Arthur Clan''s power was much more powerful than that of Senel Clan.


    Zhang Tie pretty much hated such Three-eye Association clans who hid among humans with great power and betrayed humans at the critical moment.


    It could be said that each Three-eye Association clan was founded on millions of innocent people''s corpses.


    Zhang Tie descended silently. The bright places in this city became Zhang Tie''s best beacons and targets.


    He flew towards a very magnificent building.


    The moment he came close to that building, Zhang Tie had already heard the melodious music from the building. There might be a party in the garden of the building.


    Zhang Tie silently landed in the shadow of some cherry-apple trees with shrewd light in eyes. His powerful spiritual energy silently covered the entire building like a breeze, enabling him to acknowledge everyone''s movement in this building.


    Zhang Tie had not seen such a ridiculous party before: all men were drinking and laughing loudly in a formal dress on the lawn; however, all women, including those female servants were naked and quivering in the chilly night wind...


    After a few seconds, a shrieking man with disheveled hair in a cage like a beast was carried into the garden by some strong guards...


    "Musker...I will curse you even if I die. I curse Arthur Clan to die in one''s boots...you devils..."

 780 A Massacre

    Chapter 780: A Massacre


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Watching that man being carried out, all the other gentlemen stopped doing what they were doing. With a brutal smile, they just watched him roar exhaustively in the cage.


    "Ding...ding..." A man with a beautiful handlebar mustache knocked at his glass. All the others then became silent. That man then looked around with a satisfactory smile, "May I have your attention, please? I will introduce a person to you, this is Mr. Fiddes, the chief editor of "Federal Democracy Daily". Mr. Fiddes always found Arthur troubles. He used to magnify the problems of Arthur Clan. Do you remember the Black Hole Case about the military expenditure of Federation which was published by "Federal Democracy Daily" in the year 890 and the president impeachment closely after that? That time, Mr. Fiddes almost brought us a big trouble. On the year 891, when I became the major of Glivec, the Federal Democracy Daily criticized that I was elected as the major through electoral fraud. He even appealed to the Federal Parliament to set up an investigation committee so as to investigate the major election of Glivec City. How brave was Mr. Fiddes!"


    That cage was put on the ground while that man roared inside the cage, "I''ve not imagined that you Arthur Clan belong to Three-eye Association...You''ve already got everything, why do you betray the federation and have so many people die for you?"


    "Everything?" The man with a handlebar mustache burst out into laughter, "Mr. Fiddes, you''re really naive. Do you think that the so-called votes in the hands of the slaves could have any decisive role? Do you really think that Arthur Clan would like to hand their own fate to those silly, vulgar, dirty and short-sighted slaves and mobs? Do you really think that the so-called democracy of the federation and those thin paper in your hand could bring you something? There''s indeed a black hole in the military budget of the federation. However, it has lasted more than 100 years, instead of 7-8 years. All the military budget of the federation have flown into our Arthur Clan. My vote calculation was also fake. So what?" The man shook his head as he watched that man in the cage with a sarcastic look, "You don''t know that, the life or death of human slaves like you can only be determined by us. This is the real order..."


    "I swear you to die in one''s boots!" That man called Fiddes swore loudly in the cage.


    "Although Mr. Fiddes is naive, you''re brave enough. Therefore, I will reward you with something. You can enjoy a free show!" The man patted his hands while two naked women with collars over their necks were pulled out by someone like pulling dogs by iron chains. Additionally, a strong male dog was pulled out. The two women looked delirious.


    "Meara, Helena..." That man in the cage became excited when he watched the two women. He started to ram the steel bars on the cage forcefully as he asked, "Fitrich, what did you do to them? You beast. What did you do to them? If you are a man, just fight me..."


    "Hahahaha..." That man called Fitrich burst out into laughter, "As you called me a beast, I will show you how your wife and daughter enjoy making love with a real beast. Honestly, your wife and your daughter don''t taste bad. But I''ve been tired of playing with them. So I will just gift them to my dog..."


    After hearing this, the others burst out into laughter too. Many men at present became excited about what would happen next. Some of them couldn''t wait to catch those naked female servants on their sides and start to harass them. Those women just quivered. None of them dared resist them. This party immediately became extremely licentious.


    "Beasts...you beasts of Three-eye Association..." That man being closed in the cage swore loudly while widening his eyes.


    When that man was swearing, a servant fed something to the dog. That male dog''s eyes instantly turned red. He started to pant towards the two women. The two women''s skins also turned red as they laid on the grassland and started to touch themselves with their hands. At the same time, they groaned and twisted their bodies.


    "Beasts...you beasts...you beasts of Three-eye Association will die in one''s boots!" The man in cage forcefully rammed the steel bars while bleeding all over and breaking his skull. He started to burst into loud sobs...


    This might be the cruelest thing for a man.


    When the male dog started to gaze at the two lying women and became crazy, it was set free by that manservant. The male dog instantly charged towards the two women.


    All the men at present were waiting for the next show. It was not the first time to watch similar shows. They all knew what would happen next. All the men in the party became thrilled.


    Being stimulated by medicine, when the male dog arrived at less than 0.5 m away from the two women, it suddenly stopped. Closely after that, it started to sob as it moved back one step after another as if it had seen something extremely terrifying...


    "What''s the matter?" The man called Fitrich threw a glare towards that servant.


    The lackey instantly turned his face, "Ahh, young master, I''ve just fed it medicine, I don''t know why it''s different than before..."


    Soon after that man finished his reply had his head exploded, spraying his white brain over Fitrich''s face and glass. Fitrich became stunned. Before he shouted, "assassin", an extremely terrifying qi had covered this place and frozen the entire garden.


    Fitrich turned his face abruptly. Under the powerful qi, each one felt like carrying a mountain while the movement became difficult. He tried his best to faintly rotate his pupils as he saw a hook-nosed old man in a black robe slowly walking out of the shadow of the cherry-apple tree with chilly eyes.


    The old man raised his hand once again while a snake-shaped sharp battle qi instantly flew out of his finger and penetrated through the head of the major general, the most powerful one among the guests, spraying his colorful brain over the grassland.


    ''He''s a knight, a powerful knight.'' Given the powerful battle skill and the terrifying snake-shaped battle qi that flew out of the old man''s finger, Fitrich instantly recalled a powerful battle skill¡ª¡ªFlexible Snake Finger. It was the most difficult one among all the finger battle skills. As long as it was mastered, it would be very powerful. According to the legends, after mastering this battle skill, as long as one pointed at something, a flexible snake would fly out of his finger as fast as a lightning bolt, which could even match steam ballista.


    Zhang Tie pointed his finger at each step. Each time, he would explode a guest''s head in the garden while the plasma and brain blossomed like brilliant flowers over the grassland.


    None of these people who colluded with Three-eye Association and did such brutal things would be innocent.


    Zhang Tie made a massacre.


    The battle skill he used was actually not flexible snake finger.


    Zhang Tie had read the secret book about flexible snake finger in Huaiyuan Palace. In the trouble-reappearance situation, Zhang Tie had almost read all the secret books in the Secret Books Pavilion.


    He was just imitating the flexible snake finger based on "King Roc Sutra". Although being similar, it was enough for him to deal with these fishes.


    When Zhang Tie walked to Fitrich, all the guests who were waiting for the good show had been killed.


    There were over 70 corpses in the garden while the rich bloody smell started to cover the garden...


    Zhang Tie triggered his spirit while all the naked women passed out.


    "I''m...a member of Arthur Clan...if you kill me...Arthur Clan will revenge you...our clan has knights too..." Fitrich stammered with a pale face.


    Like having not heard that, Zhang Tie just watched Fitrich with a cruel expression. His terrifying, weird claws instantly caught Fitrich''s head. In a split second, Fitrich had started to quiver all over like getting an electric shock. At the same time, he rolled his eyes...


    With his powerful spiritual energy, Zhang Tie read Fitrich''s mind in a faster way. Only after a few seconds, Zhang Tie had already got what he wanted. After that, he forcefully broke this b*stard''s head.


    Until he saw Zhang Tie breaking Fitrich''s head did that man in cage slowly close his eyes and died.


    Watching the two women twisting their bodies with red skins on the ground, Zhang Tie knew that they had been destroyed by medicine physically and spiritually. They were just shells whose vitality had been exhausted. Even if he didn''t show up, they could only survive 2 hours at most.


    Zhang Tie broke their heart vessels and ended their pains by pointing at them.


    ...

 781 Setting a Trap

    Chapter 781: Setting a Trap


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to kill two common women. Although Zhang Tie''s reason was that such a tragedy happened in demon''s area every day in the holy war, he still felt frustrated when he saw the two women died.


    After that, a killing intent filled his heart.


    Besides those naked women who had passed out and laid on the ground, none of those at present were alive. Those naked women were sex slaves in the mansion of the major. They were commoners at the beginning. But now, their only responsibility was to be f*cked by these b*stards of Three-eye Association. They could not even survive themselves, not to mention dignity.


    Zhang Tie closed his eyes and recalled the things in Fitrich''s memory. After that, he revealed a faint, terrifying sneer.


    After throwing a glance at the scene, Zhang Tie instantly released 10 tracing tentacles onto the grassland.


    Tracing tentacle was a special, hidden spiritual mark which could only be seen by Zhang Tie. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the tracing tentacles were like golden dandelion seeds. They just silently landed in the grass with the breeze.


    As long as Zhang Tie could see them, he could control the movement of these tracing tentacles and attach them to specific objects or humans. Zhang Tie had tried that and found that even if he was in the state of his incarnation, as long as his original body could release tracing tentacles, his incarnation could also pass his will and act on these tracing tentacles. Among all the rune skills that Zhang Tie mastered, this was the only one that Zhang Tie could use through his incarnation indirectly.


    After releasing the tracing tentacles, Zhang Tie started to walk around the mansion of the major. Only after a few minutes, he had plundered the entire mansion.


    All the atrocious b*stards and lackeys of Three-eye Association in the mansion according to the memory of Fitrich were cleared by Zhang Tie.


    In front of Zhang Tie''s powerful spiritual energy, all those b*stards in the major''s mansion could not resist. All of their heads were exploded by Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie killed 317 people in the major''s mansion, 34 of which had blood ties with Arthur Clan, including Fitrich''s two sons. The younger son was only 12 years old; however, that no-good son of a b*tch had killed over 30 commoners in Glivec City in the last couple of years, over 10 of which were 20-year old beauties. He was brutal, lascivious and cunning. Zhang Tie didn''t show his mercy to this remnant of Three-eye Association. In the terrifying look of that son of a bitch, Zhang Tie pointed at him and sent his skull flying away, spraying his brain over his bed.


    All the remnants of Three-eye Association clans should be killed! If such a person survived, he would kill numerous commoners in the future.


    Zhang Tie made his determination.


    There was a safe in the study of Fitrich. Although Zhang Tie knew the code of the safe, in order to not expose the secret that he mastered the "soul capture skill", Zhang Tie broke the safe by force. He then moved the 4 million-odd gold checks and some senior vials of medicament into Castle of Black Iron.


    After clearing the mansion of the major, Zhang Tie burned everything in the mansion. Closely after that, he woke up all the innocent servants and naked women in the mansion and let them escape.


    With shrill shrieks and the rising flames from that building, the Glivec City became chaotic.


    Zhang Tie just stood on the tip of a bartizan in the major''s mansion like an owl. His black robe and silver hair flew with the night wind with a great killing qi.


    However, none of those escaping slave servants noticed such a person on the tip of the bartizan.


    When the major''s mansion burned down, a camp less than 1 mile away from it sounded the miserable clarino.


    It was the encampment of the elite city guards regiment of Glivec City, which was controlled by Fitrich himself. It was the devoted troop of Arthur Clan. As Arthur Clan treated it as a major force for stabilizing the situation and suppressing the rebels, therefore they arranged it in Glivec City.


    Zhang Tie didn''t rush over there right away; instead, he just watched that main building burning like a huge torch. After about 3 minutes, Zhang Tie revealed a sneer and he rushed towards that camp.


    An elite troop could almost finish its convergence in 3 minutes.


    When Zhang Tie arrived above the camp, he saw about 6,000 soldiers in the square of the camp. Many people were running here and there. As the commissioned officers issued the orders, all of the soldiers had already converged there. The fastest squad had already rushed towards the gate of the camp.


    That was what Zhang was waiting for.


    With weird laughter, Zhang Tie descended to 100 m above the gate of the camp. He rubbed his hands and launched his first attack in an overwhelming way.


    A black boa-shaped battle qi was immediately released. As long as over 20 m, it charged towards that squad like a falcon hunting for chicks. When it reached the squad, it instantly opened its bloody mouth and revealed its grim fangs and devoured the entire vanguard of the squad.


    The commissioned officers and dozens of soldiers in front of this squad had become flesh and blood before they realized what happened.


    It was not over. After devouring dozens of people ahead of the squad, the boa kept surging forward. After sweeping over 200 people, it exploded onto the ground, causing a huge pit with a diameter of several meters with a ground-breaking loud sound like dropping an alchemist''s bomb. The rocks flew out of that huge pit and swept soldiers one after another. Being affected by the fragile rocks, those soldiers were injured or killed at present.


    Over 100 soldiers being closest to the huge pit wailed and fell on the ground at once.


    "Knight..."


    "Knight!"


    "Knight''s assassin!"


    When the commissioned officers and soldiers of the city guards regiment found Zhang Tie in the sky, they shrieked at once. Meanwhile, all the city guards who were rushing out to control the situation of the major''s mansion became flurried.


    If a knight was a prehistorical huge crocodile in the water, they were just plankton in front of a knight. It was meaningless even though they outnumbered the knight.


    Zhang Tie charged downwards and started the bloody massacre...


    From then on, the entire city guards'' camp was filled with flurried and terrifying roars and sounds of breaking bodies. No more battle calls could be heard.


    Before Zhang Tie promoted to a knight, he could slaughter those LV 9 fighters of demons corps like killing dogs outside Upton City, not to mention these newbies. His moving speed of over 100 m per second, attacking frequency of over 100 times per second, attacking range of over 100 m and his knight''s consciousness which could cover the entire camp became the nightmare of this elite city guards regiment in Glivec City.


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie glanced at the slaughterhouse where there were lying thousands of incomplete corpses and rushed to the sky before flying towards the city gates as fast as a meteor, ignoring the remaining alive fishes.


    After breaking the two city gates and clearing all the city guards near the city gates, he flew towards those high grave tower demons.


    There was a troop of over 200,000 demonized puppets outside the city gates of Glivec City. They were encamped near the grave tower demons. As those demonized puppets outside the city had sensed the chaos in the city, they started to converge and prepare for the emergency.


    However, those commissioned officers who commanded these demonized puppets had long been killed by Zhang Tie in the major''s mansion. Therefore, those demonized puppets became a bit chaotic.


    Zhang Tie''s targets were those grave tower demons instead of those common demonized puppets. Even if those demonized puppets noticed him, they could do nothing but shriek on the ground.


    Any powerful living beings would have their own weaknesses. The typical example was the parent worm of demonized puppets. No matter what state was this parent worm in and how many demonized puppets could this parent worm control and convert, the parent worm itself had no ability to protect himself at all.


    When Zhang Tie came to the first grave tower demon, the latter had already sensed Zhang Tie''s killing intent as it started to shrink itself by creeping its body...


    Zhang Tie rubbed his hands while another black boa-shaped battle qi flew out of his hands towards that grave tower demon. It exploded the entire grave tower demon from its root, causing it to fall down like a flesh mountain...


    Numerous demonized puppets started to wail...


    The 7 grave tower demons outside the city gates of Glivec City were turned into piles of smelly, suppurating and bleeding flesh.


    After killing these grave tower demons, Zhang Tie rushed into the demonized puppets'' camp and killed almost 30,000-40,000 demonized puppets. After that, he rushed towards northwest like a white meteor and disappeared in a split second...


    ...


    After over 10 minutes, a black beetle arrived at the Glivec City silently and rested on a leaf of a cherry-apple tree in the garden of the major''s mansion...

 782 Big Trouble

    Chapter 782: Big Trouble


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    All the servants and slaves had escaped away from the major''s mansion. Otherwise, they would die for sure as the funeral objects and the victims facing the fury of Arthur Clan.


    Zhang Tie was resting on a leaf of a cherry-apple tree in the garden of the major''s mansion in the incarnation of a beetle. The beetle turned into the same color as the trunk of the cherry-apple tree. Even if a knight was standing under the tree and noticed such a small insect on the back of the leaf, he would never pay special attention to it. Because there were so many small insects in this garden. This garden was a mini ecological system.


    Some smart and brave servants even slid into other rooms of the major''s mansion and took some belongings. After that, they set a fire and burned all the evidence.


    Before leaving, Zhang Tie just burned the main building of the major''s mansion; however, when Zhang Tie came back, a small half of the buildings in the major''s mansion had been burning. Thanks to the artificial lake which covered about 2,000 sqm between the garden and those buildings, the garden was not influenced by the fire accident in the major''s mansion.


    The Glivec City became completely chaotic tonight. For many people, this was a good chance for them to escape away from this city.


    The elite city guards regiment that was cleared, the city towers that Zhang Tie had destroyed and the disordered demonized puppets spared a chance for those people to escape away from this city.


    In the ruling area of demons and Three-eye Association, each city was actually a huge prison. The b*stards of Three-eye Association were the managers of the prison. Demonized puppets and the army of Three-eye Association clans were jailers and hatchet men in the prison. Demons were the owner of the prison. However, most of the people became slaves and food of demons and prisoners who were waiting for death. Nobody would like to live in such a prison.


    After escaping away from Glivec City, those people could only depend on themselves. Generally, as long as they had sufficient preparations, they could choose to hide in mountainous areas in the wild being far away from the city.


    ...


    In the shadow of the flames, a man and a woman ran into the garden with simple luggage on their back who dressed like servants of the major''s mansion.


    "Lily, wait for me a moment..." That man told the woman.


    "Ahh, Noah, what''re you going to do? There''re corpses all over here..." Watching those headless corpses in the garden, that woman was very fearsome and looked pale.


    "I remember that the keys of the blood slaves camp in the south of the city are carried by Atlie. I have to save my dad and mom out of the blood slave camp. As it''s chaotic tonight, I have to seize the mere chance." That man said with a bad look. After that, he kept identifying those corpses and searched their clothes one after another, "This food should be eatable, Lily, hurry up, take away the food on the tables. In the next few days, we need to rely on this food before entering the mountain. Take some more salt..."


    After hearing the man''s words, that woman hurriedly ran to the tables and started to pack those food on the tables with quivering hands.


    The man took all the purses that he found from those corpses without any hesitation. Finally, he found a bunch of keys from a corpse in a purple ceremonial robe.


    "I got them..." That man uttered a low voice. Closely after that, he stood up and ran to the side of that woman. After carrying the packed food, he hurriedly left with that woman.


    1 hour later, two batches of people arrived here. After searching over those corpses, they left too. The last batch of people even peeled off the clothes of some corpses, leaving them lying on the grassland in only underwears, which looked pretty weird.


    Zhang Tie knew that someone would come here for investigation for sure. When he withdrew out of Fitrich''s memory, Zhang Tie had known that Arthur Clan had independent clan intelligence and detectives in Glivec City. Even Fitrich didn''t know some of those intelligence and detectives. Their job was to report some major events in Glivec City to Arthur Clan. It was also a means that Arthur Clan adopted to control this country and its clan members.


    The news that Glivec City was attacked by a human knight must have been transmitted to Democracy City.


    Democracy City was the capital city of Verov Federation, the biggest city in the federation and the nestle of Arthur Clan. After being the actual ruler of Verov Federation, Arthur Clan kept the name unchanged, making it sound a bit ironical.


    Arthur Clan, with 4 knights, was the most powerful clan among all the Three-eye Association clans.


    Yonas Arthur was the key figure in the entire Arthur Clan. He was both a knight and the ancestor of Arthur Clan, who pushed Arthur Clan to the first clan in Verov Federation.


    110 years ago, when Yonas Arthur promoted to a knight, it shocked the entire Verov Federation. This person had always been the pride and symbol of the entire Verov Federation. Even a city in the east of the federation was named after him.


    After Yonas Arthur promoted to a knight for over 100 years, 3 of his offsprings became the presidents of the federation, 4 became the chief justices of the federation and 2 became the speaker of the federal parliament. Right in 100 years, Arthur Clan absolutely consolidated its position in Verov Federation.


    Besides Yonas Arthur, Arthur Clan had 3 more employed knights, one of whom went on an expedition with the demonized puppets corps of Arthur Clan and "disappeared" after fighting human knights outside Mocco City. After that, Arthur Clan dispatched another employed knight called Dimma to join the clan''s demonized puppets corps.


    Zhang Tie learned it according to Fitrich''s memory. That "missing" knight of Arthur Clan was killed by Zhang Tie when he was almost dead. Zhang Tie also met that knight called Dimma in Mocco City. The moment he killed Scala, that knight had appeared. Thankfully, he played a trick to escape successfully.


    To be honest, Zhang Tie had a "bosom relationship" with Arthur Clan.


    The fourth knight of Arthur Clan was a mysterious figure called Sigri. Even Fitrich didn''t know much about Sigri. Even though Fitrich had met Sigri three times, each time they met in major occasions of Arthur Clan when Sigri just stood silently on the side of Yonas in a black robe and grim look.


    Zhang Tie wondered how many clan knights of Arthur Clan would arrive here.


    In the demons'' area, given such events which had caused a major loss to their own cities, the demons and Three-eye Association''s emergency response was consistent with that adopted by humans in similar situations¡ª¡ªAs long as they found such a person, demons and Three-eye Association would mobilize all of their advantageous forces within the whole territory and besiege that human knight so as to kill him. They would dispatch at least 3 knights as powerful as that human knight.


    Zhang Tie waited there silently.


    After the last batch of people left with the corpses'' clothes, a powerful qi darted towards here from the north in the sky.


    After circling around the air territory of Glivec City, he landed in the garden of the major''s mansion. Right in those corpses, he looked at those corpses with chilly eyes. He even squatted down to check the death cause of those corpses.


    This knight was about 100 m away from the beetle.


    At the sight of this knight, Zhang Tie narrowed his pupils slightly, ''This man was the very employed knight called Sigri in Arthur Clan.'' Zhang Tie sensed a profound, weird qi from this employed knight.


    The way Sigri checked those corpses was extremely disgusting. Besides observing them with eyes, this knight even dipped the brains by fingers and tasted them.


    After checking those corpses, Sigri in a chilly and solemn robe stood up and closed his eyes silently.


    Zhang Tie felt that Sigri''s knight''s consciousness was sweeping over the major''s mansion.


    At this moment, no more living beings could be found except for some insects in the major''s mansion. Even the dog had run away, not to mention humans.


    Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy and had one tracing tentacle attach to Sigri''s robe as light as a feather.


    Due to the powerful sense of black iron knight, Zhang Tie could not attach the tracing tentacle to the body of a black iron knight; however, he could have it attached to the black iron knight''s belongings or clothes. This was the strength of the god''s rune.


    Less than 10 minutes after Sigri landed here, another knight''s qi darted towards this city from the south. After sensing the knight''s qi in the major''s mansion, that knight directly flew towards the major''s mansion.


    The second knight was another employed knight of Arthur Clan called Dimma, whom Zhang Tie was familiar with.


    In the next half an hour, 2 demon knights and 2 more Three-eye Association knights arrived in the major''s mansion...


    When these knights landed, those tracing tentacles had been attached to these knights'' soles, clothes or weapons.


    Watching the 6 knights, Zhang Tie silently swallowed his saliva as he realized that he had made big trouble...

 783 Killing Unther

    Chapter 783: Killing Unther


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The 6 knights rushed towards here from 6 directions. If Zhang Tie just left Glivec City in a certain direction blatantly, he might have collided with some of these knights.


    "According to the intelligence of Arthur Clan, a human knight in a black robe and silver hair raided Glivec City!" Dimma explained to the other 5 knights.


    "Is he from the southern human countries?" The knight who came here in the end asked.


    "I''m not sure about that. We have to carry out investigation! Based on his look, he didn''t fit those knights in the southern human countries!"


    "I don''t care who he is, I will just chop off his head!" The demon knight uttered a muffled voice with full killing qi.


    "The ground troops of 17 northern countries have already moved. They were paying attention to any suspected person at any time. Numerous eyes were gazing at the sky now. All the other No. 1 knights have become vigilant. Even some neighboring countries including Verov Federation had dispatched over 1,000 ground scouting units to carry out an encirclement around the Glivec City. That man could never leave out of here!"


    "Alright, let''s move. Two in a unit. The two knights in one unit should not exceed 100 miles. As we''ve not met that guy on the way here, it indicates that he''s still not far from here. When any one of us finds the target, stop him right away, all the others will arrive there soon! Arthur Clan will be left to protect Glivec City!"


    After over 10 seconds of communication, the 6 knights looked at each other before nodding. After that, they immediately rushed to the sky and rushed in directions as fast as meteors.


    Watching the 6 knights leaving the major''s mansion, Zhang Tie showed his head out of that leaf of the cherry-apple tree. Watching the 6 knights leaving, Zhang Tie thought for a second before following after one of the six knights.


    Among all the 6 knights, that knight''s qi was weaker.


    Through reading Fitrich''s memory, Zhang Tie knew the information about that knight. He was called Unther, an employed knight of Avice Clan, another Three-eye Association. He had just promoted to a knight less than 3 decades ago.


    Zhang Tie was also familiar with Avice Clan. After the demonized puppets corps broke the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie once killed a batch of young elites of Avice Clan in the rear of Avice Clan''s corps.


    Avice''s territory was Highcloud Empire, a country in the 17 collapsed human countries in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. This clan had 2 knights, a clan elder had gone on an expedition with the army, the rest one Unther was left in the rear.


    According to Fitrich''s memory, Zhang Tie gradually figured out the situation facing the entire enemy-occupied area. He knew the major clans of Three-eye Association very well. This information was indeed precious.


    As an old Hua saying went, "People always eat soft persimmons first." Of course, Zhang Tie would choose the weakest one to kill.


    After raiding a city, if he could kill another knight of Three-eye Association, he would deter all the Three-eye Association clans and demons across Blackson Humans Corridor.


    ...


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that demons and Three-eye Association would make such great efforts to chase him in the past 10 days, during which period the entire north region of Blackson Humans Corridor took actions to search for him.


    After chasing Unther for 3 days, Zhang Tie in the incarnation of the small black beetle became pretty tired.


    After sensing the decisive attitude of demons and Three-eye Association, Zhang Tie directly changed his strategy. He took the initiative instead of following after Unther. After incarnating into the thunder hawk, Zhang Tie landed on the top of a mountain over 100 miles away from the capital city of Highcloud Empire which neighbored Verov Federation and waited for his target.


    ''As long as demons and Three-eye Association think that I have left the north region of Blackson Humans Corridor, and ended their search for me, the group of 6 knights would disband and return to their own homes.


    Those scouting units might continue to carry out their scouting tasks; however, they would not waste advanced resources like knights in this way only for an unidentified knight.


    After Zhang Tie raided Glivec City, the atmosphere in the capital city of Highcloud Empire became intense for a few days, during which period, Highcloud Empire also organized hundreds of scouting units to search for the target like headless chickens. However, after achieving nothing for a few days, the intense atmosphere gradually relieved.


    Zhang Tie was on a thousand meters high steep peak, which was covered by clouds. Almost nobody else could be found here, not to mention any scouting unit. Even if any scouting unit arrived here, they would not search carefully, either.


    A hidden knight was more difficult to be found than a knight flying in the sky.


    Zhang Tie found a cave to cultivate on the mountain peak casually as he waited for that knight of Avice Clan.


    ...


    After 7 days, Zhang Tie, with crossed legs in the cave, opened his eyes and ended the illusion of 5 abacuses in his mind. In his mind sea, he had already sensed two tracing tentacles moving close to 500 miles away from this place.


    The two tracing tentacles came from Unther.


    There was no other knight within 500 miles from Unther.


    Zhang Tie knew that the knights'' scouting units must have disbanded. Given the direction, Unther was flying towards here from the capital city of Highcloud Empire at a speed of about 300 miles per hour. For common knights, with this speed, they could maintain their own physical strength to the utmost.


    Zhang Tie got up and warmed up his limbs, causing cracks all over. After that, he walked out of the mountain cave and watched the shrouding clouds. Meanwhile, he issued an order to the thunder hawk who was playing and scouting outside these days and waited for it to come back silently.


    It was daytime. However, It had been snowing in the entire north for 2 days, causing a sharp decline in the temperature. Therefore, the mountain range was already covered with snow.


    After 7-8 minutes, with the sound of flapping wings, the thunder hawk came back and landed on Zhang Tie''s side. It kept whooping and rubbing its furry head to Zhang Tie''s shank.


    The thunder hawk didn''t come back alone; instead, it carried a female partner. Watching the other thunder hawk which looked faintly slim and had just molted its fur, Zhang Tie smiled, ''Are you kidding me? You brought back a beauty?''


    After sensing some qi on Zhang Tie, that female thunder hawk rubbed her furry head with Zhang Tie''s other shank in an intimate way too.


    "Alright, build your nestle in Castle of Black Iron!" Zhang Tie smiled as he moved the two thunder hawks into Castle of Black Iron.


    After doing that, Zhang Tie flew in the air and rushed towards the two tracing tentacles.


    In Zhang Tie''s consciousness, the two tracing tentacles were like a high-precision radar before the Catastrophe. They could tell him the speed, height and coordinates of that arriver.


    After hiding his qi, Zhang Tie kept flying ahead casually. Only after half an hour, he had already caught sight of Unther.


    Zhang Tie was at 7,000 m in height while Unther was at 6,000 m. As Zhang Tie was behind a thin cloud, he was not noticed by Unther when he caught sight of Unther.


    ''As I''ve imagined, he''s alone.'' Zhang Tie''s eyes turned cold at once.


    Zhang Tie knew that this guy had a knight''s remote-sensing device. ''If this guy found me, he would send the rescue signal right away. So what? The latest opponent knight is over 900 miles from here. It will take him at least 1 hour to arrive. However, it''s enough for me to kill two knights like him in such period.''


    Zhang Tie stood still in the air and watched that Unther arriving at his feet.


    After that, Zhang Tie accelerated his speed to the utmost and rushed towards Unther with a terrifying qi like a meteor.


    ...


    The moment Zhang Tie released his battle qi, Unther immediately felt his feet being pinched by a hot red needle. He looked up as he shouted, "Who''s that?"


    The answer was a boa-shaped battle qi which was widening its bloody mouth and exposing its fangs...


    As a knight, Unther was not slow-witted. He moved back and launched punches as fast as a lightning bolt with surging battle qi. In a split second, he had collapsed that boa-shaped battle qi...


    When the boa faded away, Zhang Tie, in a black robe and swaying silver hair, had already charged towards him like a monster being incarnated by a vulture with sharp killing qi.


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t expect that one off-body battle qi could have any effect. This strike was just saving some time for him to warm up.


    "You did that!" Unther narrowed his pupils as he moved back as fast as a meteor.


    With weird sound, "jye jye", Zhang Tie charged forward and launched his second round of attack...


    Unther moved at a high speed in the sky; however, it was not fast compared to that of Zhang Tie.


    With Unther''s roars, the close combat between knights broke out. Being constantly attacked by Zhang Tie, Unther was like a buffalo falling into the mire, who could not leave for free. Even his procrastination tactic could be seen through by Zhang Tie.


    The two knights started the fiercest combat. The moment their combat broke out, two battle qis had rushed into the air and collided with each other fiercely...


    Unther''s battle qi was as azure as the sky; however, Zhang Tie''s battle qi was magnificent, bright and sacred. If some experts were watching them, they could identify that Zhang Tie''s battle qi was the secret skill of Sacred Light Empire.


    After killing 2 knights through the close combat, Zhang Tie''s close-range attacking strength and comprehensive battle force had improved and became extremely powerful.


    Only after 10 more minutes, with a miserable shriek of Unther, Zhang Tie penetrated through Unther''s chest by his sharp claws before stretching out Unther''s entire spine, destroying his body in a split second. Unther''s corpse fell off. However, Zhang Tie caught it in the air.


    Zhang Tie plundered all the valuable items from Unther''s body. After that, he threw off the corpse and rushed towards the capital city of Highcloud Empire as fast as a meteor.


    After 20 minutes, Zhang Tie cleared over 10 grave tower demons in the periphery of the capital city of Highcloud Empire and destroyed two major castles of Avice Clan outside the city and the greater part of the imperial palace of Highcloud Empire. After collecting all the valuable items, he faded away like a meteor once again.


    After Zhang Tie disappeared for half an hour, the meteors arrived at the capital city of Highcloud Empire one after another once again.


    This time, the entire demon area in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor became shocked...

 784 Fruits and Butterfly

    Chapter 784: Fruits and Butterfly


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When a large batch of knights of demons and Three-eye Association arrived at the capital city of Highcloud Empire, Zhang Tie had long entered Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie just left the capital city of Highcloud Empire at his navigation speed. In order to confuse his enemy, Zhang Tie even turned into a brilliant meteor, which looked like leaving at its full speed.


    As the old Hua saying went, ''Deceit is not to be despised in war.''


    After leaving the capital city of Highcloud Empire, Zhang Tie found a remote valley and landed in a cave of two wild bears. The moment he entered the cave had Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron.


    After attacking Glivec City for 10 days, he raided the capital city of Highcloud Empire and killed a knight of Three-eye Association, Zhang Tie knew that demons and Three-eye Association would be driven mad by him this time.


    ''Although I could imagine how demons and Three-eye Association would respond to it. It''s nothing to do with me. I will just cultivate in Castle of Black Iron for a few days. I don''t care how furious they are; as long as I''m in Castle of Black Iron, it''s nothing to do with me. Demon General? So what? Can he bite this father''s butt?'' Zhang Tie thought.


    ...


    As it was daytime outside, it was daytime in Castle of Black Iron too. The moment Zhang Tie appeared in the palace of the palace tree had he caught sight of Heller.


    "Congratulations, Castle Lord, you''ve got new achievements!"


    Zhang Tie smiled, "It was risky this time; thankfully, I''m safe. I know what you want to say. I will watch out. I will cultivate in Castle of Black Iron for a while, leaving demons and Three-eye Association fly into rage. I want to see how long could demons and Three-eye Association be intense this time!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, Heller revealed a smile, "It''s nice to hear Castle Lord think in this way. When you killed that knight of Three-eye Association, you had actually disrupted the fighting rhythm of demons and Three-eye Association in the holy war. Castle Lord, you have actually made a great military exploit for the human countries across Blackson Humans Corridor. Sometimes, the so-called war doesn''t require the real fight. If you could restrict the moving party by staying still, it would be the best!"


    "Fine, thanks for your warning. I understand. ''Restrict the moving party by staying still'', I like that expression!" Zhang Tie replied as he walked towards that small tree.


    "In former two holy wars, demons and humans had already concluded and developed a set of methods to deal with the raid from an opponent knight. Now that demons could wrestle with humans for such a long time, they would definitely have their means to deal with you. Please pay attention to this point, Castle Lord. Don''t be careless only because of two times of success. If a powerful knight could destroy the rear cities and bases of the opponent casually, demons or humans could determine the result of a war only by dispatching an earth knight to the opponent''s territory. Actually, given the former two holy wars, neither party would suffer from a destructive strike caused by an advanced opponent knight. The decapitation action and the island hopping action are not impossible. Castle Lord, you should consider about the reason!" Heller reminded Zhang Tie with a profound look.


    Zhang Tie stopped his footsteps.


    Zhang Tie faintly frowned and turned around to look at Heller, "You mean demons have methods to deal with me?"


    "Castle Lord, I mean that you were definitely not the first advanced knight who went to find trouble in the rear of the opponent. In holy wars, any advanced knight might be killed. As demon is a powerful race, Castle Lord, you better not take it lightly!"


    Zhang Tie knew about Heller''s style. Heller might know something in many cases; however, he would not put it straight. Instead, Heller just implied him in other methods.


    Heller''s words made Zhang Tie''s heart pound. As a result, Zhang Tie recovered his composure as he nodded seriously, "I''ve remembered your words. Thanks, I will watch out!"


    Heller then bowed elegantly towards Zhang Tie, "That''s what everybody who cares about you would like to hear!"


    ...


    Zhang Tie came to the small tree and reviewed his achievements.


    The fruit of brilliance which was as brilliant as a rainbow¡ª¡ª


    The fruit of judgment which contained super rapid moving skill¡ª¡ª


    The fruit of judgment which contained super hiding skill¡ª¡ª


    The fruit of source of the parent worm of demonized puppets¡ª¡ª


    Two ripe leakless fruits¡ª¡ª


    A fruit of redemption of golden uangs which could increase his strength by 71.5 kg once again¡ª¡ª


    ''No fruit of bloodline?''


    Zhang Tie became a bit disappointed after circling around the small tree and found no fruit of bloodline. The presumption that he didn''t want to see most came true, ''The forming conditions of a powerful fruit of bloodline is indeed much more difficult to gain than that I''ve imagined.''


    Zhang Tie carefully recalled all the details about that knight of Three-eye Association whom he killed for the first time and the hint of the first fruit of bloodline. Finally, he fixed two conditions: the first condition was that he should kill knights who betrayed humans; the second condition was that he should kill knights who were more advanced than Zhang Tie given the words in the hint "brave", "curving fear", "creating marvels", "turning impossibilities into possibilities".


    ''As I''m a black iron knight, it means that I have to kill the earth knight of Three-eye Association so as to gain the powerful fruit of bloodline.''


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile, ''Earth knight? I cannot even defeat the demon general, it''s impossible for me to kill an earth knight in a short time. It seems that I have to improve my battle force gradually. When my battle force surpasses that of demon general, I will search for earth knights of Three-eye Association.''


    Speaking of the "improve", the contents in the hints of the two fruits of judgment made Zhang Tie spirited up, not to mention the fruit of brilliance which contained powerful spiritual energy.


    With the super rapid moving skill, Zhang Tie gained an effect that he dreamt of¡ª¡ªan increase of 5% in flying speed.


    Zhang Tie felt that he had made a great achievement because of the improvement in flying speed, not to mention other achievements.


    With the super hiding skill, Zhang Tie could hide his qi at a higher level.


    Watching these fruits, Zhang Tie became reassured. He then started to cultivate carefully in Castle of Black Iron...


    ...


    After 2 days, a colorful butterfly which was 4-5 times larger than that of common butterflies flapped its wings and loomed in the windy and snowy valley where Zhang Tie disappeared like not being affected by the heavy wind and snow...


    Behind that butterfly was the demon general''s extremely gloomy face in the void...

 785 Digging the Ground

    Chapter 785: Digging the Ground


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As Castle of Black Iron was not a complete world, there was no elements realm in Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, Zhang Tie could not form chakra in the Castle of Black Iron by entering elements realm. Thankfully, Zhang Tie got 4 earth element crystals from Unther, which barely enabled Zhang Tie to stay three days in Castle of Black Iron. Three days later, Zhang Tie continued to imagine 5 abacuses in his mind at the same time.


    After eating the new fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy surged once again. The increase of his spiritual energy enabled him to form a hand of spiritual energy in the elements realm to capture earth element. However, as Zhang Tie had not been able to do calculations on 5 abacuses at the same time adroitly, even though he could form the 5th hand of spiritual energy, he could not use all the 5 hands of spiritual energy to capture element crystals at the same time in the elements realm. Therefore, Zhang Tie wanted to master the skill of doing calculations on 5 abacuses at the same time during the period in Castle of Black Iron.


    The most difficult part of mental arithmetic by abacus was to imagine 2 abacuses at the same time. As long as he passed that stage, with correct method and sufficient spiritual energy, he would make progress gradually. What he needed was constant training.


    Besides practicing distraction, "mental arithmetic by abacus" could also enhance the spiritual energy of the cultivator. Therefore, this secret skill was worthwhile and would bring rich rewards to the cultivator. Even though Zhang Tie could not form his earth chakra, he was not worried about wasting time by practicing ''mental arithmetic by abacus". As long as he mastered the "mental arithmetic by abacus", he could accelerate the speed of capturing elements in the elements realm. As the old Hua saying went "When you want to chop woods, you''d better polish your knife". As it required a black iron knight at least 300 years to form the second chakra, Zhang Tie took the cultivation of ''mental arithmetic by abacus'' as the second most effective means for him to form his earth chakra.


    Through this journey, Zhang Tie advanced his senior rapid moving skill to super rapid moving skill; additionally, he further improved his ''mental arithmetic by abacus''. Therefore, even if he left the demon''s area right now, Zhang would still feel to have a worthwhile trip.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t want to leave out of here for the time being. He felt that he could kill 1 or 2 more knights of Three-eye Association by chance. However, Heller''s words were reverberating in his mind. Zhang Tie became vigilant to demon''s means. Zhang Tie had made the determination, ''As long as I find anything wrong, I will escape right away.''


    After staying in Castle of Black Iron for 36 days and eating 5 leakless fruits, Zhang Tie could finally do calculations on 5 abacuses adroitly at the same time. Therefore, Zhang Tie decided to leave Castle of Black Iron.


    It was already February 17th, the 896th year of Black Iron Calendar, half an hour after Zhang Tie left Huaiyuan Palace.


    ''When I raided Glivec City for the first time, demons and Three-eye Association''s order was disrupted for 10 days. This time, over 1 month has passed since I killed a knight of Three-eye Association and raided the capital city of Highcloud Empire. It''s time to have some fun with Three-eye Association and demons.''


    Zhang Tie chose to leave Castle of Black Iron at night.


    Before leaving, Zhang Tie had been used to check the situation outside through the marvelous arch door in his mind sea...


    Standing in the palace of the palace tree, Zhang Tie closed his eyes when the scene across the valley appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    The entire wild bear''s cave had already become a huge, deep pit. The two wild bears'' flesh and furs had scattered over the cave. At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie became stunned at once. It was completely out of his imagination.


    ''What happened?''


    Zhang Tie continued to broaden his vision. After over 1 month, the valley where he hid in had changed its look completely¡ª¡ªthe two hills on both sides of the valley had almost been bulldozed. Those rocks in the valley had been shattered and moved away. The entire valley had been dug, exposing high-density huge pits on the ground like having been hit by meteors.


    Of course, the huge pits were not caused by meteors. Zhang Tie knew they were caused by powerful battle qi of knights.


    Facing such a fierce strike, no ant would survive in the valley, not to mention the two wild bears.


    There were still many huge braisers in the valley. Tens of thousands of humans slaves were digging something forcefully facing the heavy wind and snow. They were leveling the two hills on both sides of the valley. In the periphery of these human laborers were the camp of over 70,000 demonized puppets. It felt that they were looking for something.


    ''In the barren wilderness, what are demons and Three-eye Association looking for? Needless to say, they are looking for me!''


    Although there were other possibilities, Zhang Tie realized that knights of demons or Three-eye Association must have discovered that he was hiding in this valley.


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded when he became vigilant. Zhang Tie had not imagined that demons could have such means to find him here. If he didn''t have Castle of Black Iron and just hid here, he must have become a corpse.


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes in the palace of the palace tree with a shrew light in eyes. After that, he ran his spiritual energy and woke up that small, black beetle who was having a sound sleep in the cave on the cliff next to the Abyss of Chaos. The beetle moved its tentacles and climbed out of its cave right away. Closely after that, it flew towards the palace tree rapidly.


    Only after over 10 seconds, the small, black beetle had flown by the gate of the palace tree and appeared in Zhang Tie''s vision. Zhang Tie stretched his arms while the beetle landed on his palm.


    Zhang Tie came to the platform under the small tree and sat down there with crossed legs. After applying a super hiding skill on the little thing, he incarnated into that little, black beetle.


    After flying around his original body, which was sitting there with closed eyes, it left Castle of Black Iron and appeared in the deep pit where was once the cave of the two wild bears.


    Zhang Tie flew at a low height. In the pitch-dark night, he was only about 3 cm away from the ground. After flying out of the deep pit, Zhang Tie saw two human slaves passing by that deep pit with a wheelbarrow which was filled with soil and rocks. He then hid still at the bottom of the wheelbarrow while concealing his qi.


    Although Zhang Tie remained still, his consciousness was still active. He sensed two tracing tentacles right on the side of this valley, which was very close to him.


    The tracing tentacles were attached to the weapons of two knights of Three-eye Association over 1 month ago in the major''s mansion of Glivec City. They were still there now. The tracing tentacles released by senior tracing skill could be effective for 100 days independently and sensed in 1,000 miles. As knights didn''t frequently change their weapons, they probably were the very two knights of Three-eye Association.


    After that, Zhang Tie was sure that his trace had been exposed.


    Zhang Tie then became more careful. He didn''t fly around; instead, he just stayed at the bottom of that wheelbarrow and observed the surroundings.


    As Zhang Tie didn''t know how did the demons and Three-eye Association trace him, he had to respond to them carefully.


    The two human slaves looked so miserable¡ª¡ªfour scrawny shanks, four heavily worn shoes which exposed the greater part of their feet. They pushed the wheelbarrow hardly while stepping into the muddy valley one step after another.


    It was the coldest weather in the north; additionally, it was in the evening when it was below zero degrees in the wild. The partly melting snow was icy, causing chilblains and wounds of different sizes on the four feet. One of the slaves'' feet had been swollen and turned into black green.


    At the sight of that, Zhang Tie knew that the pair of feet would almost be paralyzed. Even if this person was moved in good conditions, he had to have his shanks amputated to survive himself.


    It was out of many people''s imaginations to see such a pair of feet walking on the ground in such a worse situation.


    Zhang Tie could hear them faintly panting.


    "Harvey...I...I cannot stick to it..." Given the source of the voice, it was from that guy whose feet had turned black green, "Wi...wish you live well...if possible...leave out of here...to the south..."


    "Schuck, don''t say that...we...we will survive...stick to a few more days...stick to a few more days..." Another one cried.


    "No...my two legs...have become numb, not to mention my feet...I feel that my legs have turned into logs...additionally...I''ve just seen Beneya...she''s pulling Tess''s hand...Tess is cradling her furry toy, a small Barbie bear...they are waiting for me in front and waving their hands to me..." The voice became weaker and weaker...


    "Tomorrow...tomorrow it will be sunny...your feet will be..."


    Before that one called Harvey finished his words, the two feet on his side had staggered while Schuck fell down...


    "No..." As Harvey shouted, some demonized puppets had charged at Schuck and torn open his chest and body. At the sight of this, ten more demonized puppets rushed towards here...


    Followed by terrifying chewing sounds...


    With a sound "Pah..." the slave called Harvey was whipped while a man in leather boots walked towards him and scolded, "What are you looking for, keep working if you don''t want to die. You might be that one tomorrow...you, the yellow-haired one, yes, you, come here, push the wheelbarrow together with him..." The man in leather boots pointed at a slave a few meters away. After receiving the order, that slave hurriedly paced up towards here.


    With faint sobs, the wheelbarrow moved again...


    Resting at the bottom of the wheelbarrow, Zhang Tie just watched that human slave to fall in front of him and became the food of demonized puppets...


    That human slave just watched the bottom of the wheelbarrow until he was dead...


    Zhang Tie felt that that man was looking at him silently. Zhang Tie''s heart then became colder than snow.


    ...


    After over 20 minutes, the soil and rocks on the wheelbarrow were finally dumped into a deserted place away from the valley after passing 3 checks...


    It was snowing in great flakes once again...


    Zhang Tie left the wheelbarrow and flew towards a tent in the far in the dancing snowflakes.

 786 Soul-chasing Butterfly

    Chapter 786: Soul-chasing Butterfly


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The tracing tentacles were right in the tent, which meant the two knights of Three-eye Association must be in the tent.


    If Zhang Tie''s hiding skill had not advanced to the super level, Zhang Tie would never dare to move closer to the two knights in the incarnation of a little, black beetle given the sharp perception of knight''s consciousness.


    Flying in the snowflakes, the beetle''s qi became as light and white as snowflakes. He gradually moved closer to the tent.


    There was a camp of over 10,000 soldiers outside the tent. A burning braiser was set outside the tent. When Zhang Tie got close to the tent, he saw two soldiers walking towards the tent with two food containers.


    The two containers obscured the direction of the two people in front of them. Zhang Tie took advantage of this and rested on the bottom of a container and followed the two soldiers in the tent.


    At the sight of two soldiers with food containers in hand, one bodyguard outside the tent stopped them.


    "Stop, what are you doing here?"


    "Two lords want to take some night snacks. There are two cooked snowcocks. We''re told to send them here!" One of them answered.


    The moment the bodyguard opened the food containers had the aroma of cooked chicken drifted out. Zhang Tie could almost hear the bodyguard silently swallowing his saliva.


    "Alright!" The bodyguard opened the curtain of the tent and let the two soldiers in.


    They then entered the tent.


    When the second soldier entered the tent, Zhang Tie who rested on the bottom of his container lightly "flew" onto the bottom of an armrack like a snowflake. In the first soldier''s shadow, he was not noticed by anybody.


    Compared to that of outside, it was brightly-lit inside the tent. Besides, there was an aroma of liquor and meat.


    After staying in the tent for over 10 seconds, the two soldiers hurriedly left.


    ...


    "Hmm, I''ve not imagined that the snowcocks here taste so good!"


    A sound drifted from 20 m away from Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie exposed his little head from the bottom of the armrack and looked around the tent.


    Two knights were drinking and eating at a table opposite to Zhang Tie.


    They were the very two knights of Three-eye Association that Zhang Tie had met in Glivec City before. One of them used a sword, the other used a saber. Their weapons were put beside the table, where they could reach easily.


    "How many more days will we stay here?" A knight tore apart a snowcock''s leg and gnawed it while saying, "We''ve already stayed here for over 1 month. Sethi, do you think that the demon general has made a mistake?"


    "Cologne, demon general could make a mistake; however the soul-chasing butterfly of demon general won''t make any mistake. That black-robe knight must have been here after killing Unther!" The other one replied.


    "If so, why we''ve not found him for so many days?"


    "There are three possibilities. First, that guy is still here, but with the protection of a secret method; therefore, we couldn''t find him yet. This is why we''re here. Second, that guy has been killed by someone in a split second here and left no remains at all. Therefore, the soul-chasing butterfly failed to find him. However, this possibility is very low. Third, that guy might have cultivated a weird spiritual, secret method. He used a small piece of his soul to attract the soul-chasing butterfly to this place; however, he has already escaped in another direction!"


    Cologne shook his head, "During the past one month, our Three-eye Association''s intelligence system have already excluded all the knights across Blackson Humans Corridor. Obviously, that guy doesn''t belong to any human country in Blackson Humans Corridor. I really wonder where does that black-robe guy come from?"


    "Only in such a chaotic world could such knights who wander across all the Sub-continents like wild wolves and vultures only for cultivating resources be nerve-wracking. Afraid of being wanted by the Mountain of Brightness, these knights dare not find trouble in humans'' territory. Therefore, they could only find trouble in our territory. In each holy war, such guys were very tricky. Being influenced by this guy, demon general has to suspend the plan of the south. He has to spend his efforts to kill this guy. Demon general doubts that this guy is still within our territory, therefore, he is using his soul-chasing butterfly to find the trace of that guy. As long as that guy is less than 300 miles away from the soul-chasing butterfly, his location could definitely be locked by the soul-chasing butterfly once again. Even if he masters some soul-based secret skill and dropped a bit of soul as the bait every time, he could only stand a few times."


    "Pitifully, that soul-chasing butterfly could only last for 60 days since it was hatched!"


    "Therefore, the Class-II warning in the territory might last another one month. Unless we can catch that guy in this period, the red warning won''t be canceled off!"


    "Due to that guy, many plans have been disrupted..."


    "That guy is really powerful. He has definitely lit over 100 scales. He killed Unther in less than half an hour!"


    "Therefore, this Class II warning was very necessary. Any knight, when meeting that guy, might lose his life!"


    ...


    Through their talk, Zhang Tie learned many key information right away.


    Zhang Tie finally understood how his location was locked by demons and Three-eye Association. ''The soul-chasing butterfly must be an odd living being. It seems to be able to sense and perceive certain people''s qi within 300 miles. That''s powerful!'' Zhang Tie was a bit scared when he realized that the demon general chased after him using a soul-chasing butterfly. ''Although it''s very cool to go deep into the enemy''s rear which may bring a great achievement, it''s also very risky.''


    ''Besides soul-chasing butterfly, demons and Three-eye Association have another method to deal with me. They triggered the Class II warning across their territory. After that, all the knights of demons and Three-eye Association across their territory started to combine with each other, 2 in a unit in case of risks in independent action. Therefore, I also lost my chance to attack them one after another.''


    ...


    After being full, the two knights in the tent decided to take a round in the valley.


    After they left the tent, the little beetle instantly slid out of the tent and entered Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie in the palace of the palace tree opened his eyes right away.


    ''Soul-chasing butterfly?''


    ''This soul-chasing butterfly really poses a great threat to me.'' Zhang Tie didn''t know whether this thing could sense the existence of his incarnation. He wanted to learn about this living being first.


    Zhang Tie took out his knight''s plate and entered the Mountain of Brightness at once.


    Whenever Zhang Tie used his remote-sensing crystal and knight''s plate in Castle of Black Iron, the marvelous arch door in Zhang Tie''s mind sea would send a special energy to cover Zhang Tie''s communication tools. Only in this case could the remote-sensing crystal and knight''s plate be used to contact the outside world. In Heller''s words, only Zhang Tie could contact the outside world in Castle of Black Iron.


    Mountain of Brightness was inclusive, which could not be touched by commoners. Zhang Tie believed that he could find an introduction about soul-chasing butterfly in the Mountain of Brightness.


    ¡ª¡ªChakra''s tiger, welcome to Mountain of Brightness.


    A line appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind sea.


    After entering the Mountain of Brightness, Zhang Tie felt like entering a web forum that humans established by scientific means before the Catastrophe. The Mountain of Brightness even contained retrieval service.


    After inputting soul-chasing butterfly in the retrieval box by his spiritual energy, Zhang Tie clicked "enter" by his spiritual energy.


    A dialogue box then appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    ¡ª¡ªThis retrieval service fee is 1,000 gold coins. You''ve got 100,000 gold coins left in your account, will you continue?


    ¡ª¡ªYes¡ª¡ªNo


    ''1,000 gold coins? It would cost my dad''s 90 years of salary in Blackhot City. That''s too expensive.''


    ''However, that''s the value of information, especially when this information is involved with my life, it''s not expensive.''


    After swearing inside, Zhang Tie clicked "Yes" without any hesitation.


    After a few seconds, many titles about purchasing or eggs of soul-chasing butterflies appeared. Each egg of soul-chasing butterfly was worth about 1 million to 1.5 million gold coins.


    Some posts were about organizing teams so as to hunt for soul-chasing butterflies in the abyss of the earth-element realm sent by some knights.


    A few messages were paid to read at a high price which ranged from tens of thousands of gold coins to hundreds of thousands of gold coins. They were about how to extend the service life of soul-chasing butterflies by 3-5 days using medicine.


    When Zhang Tie noticed a title "Soul-chasing butterfly and the extermination of the Great Wilderness Sect in Taixia Country", he quivered all over...


    ...

 787 Being Firm

    Chapter 787: Being Firm


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The article "Soul-chasing butterfly and the extermination of the Great Wilderness Sect in Taixia Country" was free to read. The author of the article was anonymous. It took Zhang Tie over 10 minutes to read that article three times carefully. After that, he started to consider about it.


    Soul-chasing butterfly was an exotic species in the abyss of the underground world. It had very special property¡ª¡ªafter a knight gained its egg, the knight would have a telepathy with the soul-chasing butterfly after it hatched as long as he fed it with a bit of his own blood. With the help of the soul-chasing butterfly, the knight would be able to find or lock anyone.


    A person would leave his odor in a certain territory or space. Gundogs and military dogs might easily identify a person''s odor and find the owner through his odors. In addition to such an odor, there was another invisible odor, which came from one''s inner properties. It was released from one''s spiritual energy or soul. Soul-chasing butterfly''s strength was that it could sniff such an invisible "odor" like gundogs and find its owner through this special "odor".


    Through many studies, as long as one had stayed in one place, his "soul''s odor" would remain there for 72 hours after he left there. After putting one soul-chasing butterfly in that place where the man had stayed, the soul-chasing butterfly would be able to precisely identify that one''s "soul''s odor". After that, it would be able to sense that one''s location within 300 miles.


    Zhang Tie remembered two key data about soul-chasing butterfly¡ª¡ª3 days and 300 miles.


    Of course, the two data would variate slightly due to physical differences between different soul-chasing butterflies. For instance, some soul-chasing butterfly would be able to sense their targets within 310 miles while some could only sense their targets within 290 miles; some soul-chasing butterflies could still precisely identify the person''s "soul''s odor" after the person left the place for 74 hours; some could not precisely identify the person''s "soul''s odor" after the person left the place for 65 hours.


    According to the presumption of Northmountain Cloud in the article "Soul-chasing butterfly and the extermination of the Great Wilderness Sect in Taixia Country", there were two reasons about the relevance between soul-chasing butterfly and the extermination of the Great Wilderness Sect in Taixia Country": First, it was said that an elder of the Great Wilderness Sect deepened into the underground abyss and controlled a mutated soul-chasing butterfly by soul-based animal controlling skill. Compared to common soul-chasing butterflies, the mutated soul-chasing butterfly not only had a longer service life but also had a terrifying ability in chasing souls, which was 20 times better than common ones. After getting that special soul-chasing butterfly, that elder of the Great Wilderness Sect cooperated with some people and did some major events by that mutated soul-chasing butterfly. He became famous at once. However, due to the "major events", he enraged some powerful forces in Taixia Country. Finally, those forces joined hands with each other and exterminated the Great Wilderness Sect.


    Second, although soul-chasing butterfly could identify everyone''s soul''s odor, it could do nothing to the soul-based animal-controlling skill of the Great Wilderness Sect. The soul-chasing butterfly could not identify and lock the souls of humans on animals. In the second holy war, the members of the Great Wilderness Sect adopted the soul-based animal-controlling skill to deepen into the demons'' territory so as to seek for key intelligence and destroy many actions of demons. Due to this reason, demons and Three-eye Association cleared the Great Wilderness Sect from both inside and outside.


    To be honest, this article was very gossipy. Some details were obscure. However, it was useful to Zhang Tie more or less as Zhang Tie learned two information about soul-chasing butterfly¡ª¡ªHow''s the ability of soul-chasing butterfly? Whether he would be found by the soul-chasing butterfly in the state of soul-based animal controlling state or not?


    Zhang Tie wondered what he would do if the demon general had more than one egg of soul-chasing butterfly. ''Unless I hide myself in Castle of Black Iron for 60 days after each action, I probably will be besieged by demon general and the other knights. Today, the demon general has 1 soul-chasing butterfly to chase after me, who knows whether he will send 3-5 soul-chasing butterflies to chase after me in the future? As long as he sends over 3 soul-chasing butterflies to chase after me, each of 3 groups of knights could extend their search range to 1,800 miles with one soul-chasing butterfly. In that case, the 3 groups of knights only need to fly towards the north in a line. The moment any group of them found me, they would instantly lock me. I would face tens even hundreds of times more risks by then.''


    ''Even though I could turn into an incarnation or directly hide in Castle of Black Iron at the critical moment, I would suffer by exposing my secrets. The moment those secrets were exposed, I would have endless troubles.''


    ''Nothing is free. Emperors will risk their life in common restaurants; handsome boys will lose their semen fluid in brothels; even I will risk exposing my secrets while deepening into the enemy''s rear even though I have Castle of Black Iron.''


    Zhang Tie considered to leave out of here. He wanted to stop this action. ''To be honest, I''ve already made a great military exploit¡ª¡ªI almost destroyed two cities of demons and Three-eye Association, killing over 10 precious grave tower demons and one knight. Besides, I disrupted the plan of demons and Three-eye Association. With such a glorious achievement, it''s reasonable for me to leave even if I face dangers.''


    However, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled the pair of swollen and mattery feet and how the owner of that pair of feet was shared by the demonized puppets on the snow land.


    ''What should I do at this moment so as to make my parents proud and relieved?''


    Zhang Tie would always ask the same question whenever he met the situation where he could hardly make a choice...


    After being tortured by this question for many times, Zhang Tie''s eyes gradually became firm...

 788 A Protracted Guerrilla

    Chapter 788: A Protracted Guerrilla


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Three days later, at dusk, in the Knights'' tent outside the valley...


    "Elder Cologne, here are this month''s earth-element crystals..." a 50-year old man in a brilliant silk robe took out a crate and opened it in front of Cologne. There were 3 golden earth-element crystals in the crate. "As the Class II warning has not been canceled off, these crystals arrived here a bit late, sorry for that!"


    "Is everything okay with Bayon Kingdom?" The knight Cologne put away the crate as he asked.


    "Everything is okay. Several days ago, the demon general traveled to Bayon Kingdom and didn''t find nothing abnormal!" That 50-year old man replied respectfully.


    "Hmm, please tell the head, Adam, to be more vigilant these days. When the Class II warning is canceled off, I will return to Salent City!"


    "Yes, sir, thanks for your warning!"


    Elder Cologne waved his hands. The 50-year old guy then moved backward and left the tent.


    After seeing off that guy, Cologne rubbed the 3 earth-element crystals in his hands as he told Sessie with a smile, "Thank God, my February''s earth-element crystals finally arrived. I will not waste time in the next few days. When will your earth-element crystals arrive?"


    "Hoho, I''ve already received the February''s earth-element crystals before I came here!" Knight Sessie smiled, "You can cultivate here, I will take a look outside for a while!"


    "Okay!"


    Sessie then left the tent. With two earth-element crystals in the left hand, one in the right hand, Cologne started to cultivate with closed eyes. The tent was gradually filled with knight''s enshrouding battle qi...


    After Sessie left, a little, black beetle threw a glance at Cologne before flying away from the bottom of the arm-rack to the outside of the tent through a tunnel that he had just dug these days.


    As a knight, Cologne could maintain a powerful perceptive and protective ability even if he was cultivating in elements realm. The enshrouding battle qi over this tent was equal to his tentacles and armor. Anyone appeared in the tent would be sensed by him. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t think this was a good chance to launch an attack on him.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t waste time in the tent in the past three days as the one whom he was waiting for arrived just now.


    The exit of the tunnel dug by the little, black beetle was right below a rock over 5 m away from the tent. After leaving the tent silently, the beetle appeared below that rock. After throwing a glance at Knight Sessie above the valley, the beetle set off too and flew towards a medium-sized airship which had landed in the far.


    That man in a brilliant silk robe put on a bear-hide coat after leaving the tent. He directly strode towards that airship. After shaking off the snowflakes from his coat, he looked up at the cloudy sky before boarding the airship.


    "Go back to Salent City!"


    The man whose voice was humble in the tent became imposing at this moment.


    The crew of the airship became busy right away. After 2 minutes, the airship set off towards Salent City.


    Nobody found that one more person had boarded this airship.


    Zhang Tie had determined his mind to have a fierce protracted guerrilla with demons and Three-eye Association in the demon''s area across the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. As long as he was in the demon''s zone, he would not let demons and Three-eye Association live well.


    ''As long as I could restrict the most part of forces of demons and Three-eye Association within the north of Blackson Humans Corridor, it''d be equal to saving numerous humans'' lives.'' Zhang Tie knew that what he chose would make his parents proud of him.


    ''It''s just a soul-chasing butterfly. I don''t think that I would be defeated by a butterfly. From today on, after doing each killing spree, this father will stay in Castle of Black Iron or wander in the outside in my incarnation for 2 months. Until the soul-chasing butterfly dies will I come out of Castle of Black Iron and do another killing spree. Even if the demon general has 10,000 soul-chasing butterflies, he''s destined to eat my sh*t behind me. Although I was unable to defeat the demon general by force, as long as I don''t collide with it, it would be useless.''


    Zhang Tie didn''t believe that the Class II warning across the demon''s zone would not be canceled off.


    By adopting this tactic, the only cost of Zhang Tie was 2 months'' lifespan of soul-chasing butterflies, during which period, he could not cultivate to form his chakra in Castle of Black Iron or in the state of incarnation.


    After promoting to a knight, the priority of Zhang Tie was to form his chakra. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s next step was mainly targeting at earth-element crystals of Three-eye Association.


    Those Three-eye Association clans with employed knights would provide some earth-element crystals to their employed knights per month. The earth-element crystals could not be gained from earth-element realm whenever they wanted; therefore, those clans must have some storage of earth-element crystals in confidential places.


    Zhang Tie''s next target was Lukas Clan in Bayon Kingdom.


    Zhang Tie had enough time to discover the stored earth-element crystals of Lukas Clan. When he discovered them, Lukas Clan had to exterminate.


    ...


    When the airship set off at dusk. After flying for less than 2 hours, it became completely dark. Besides the crew, all the guards and that 50-year old deacon of Lukas Clan who brought the 3 earth-element crystals to Cologne in Highcloud Empire went to bed after having some food.


    At midnight, that airship was still flying in the heavy snow and the chilly, wuthering wind. By contrast, the berth cabin of that deacon of Lukas Clan was pretty warm. It was the only room connected to the boiler engine room of the airship.


    The blinds of the window were pulled down, the crystal fluorescent lamp was shaded. As a result, the entire berth cabin was pitch-dark, except for the faint sounds caused by the friction between the chains and the gears that drifted from the boiler engine room.


    Zhang Tie appeared in the deacon''s berth cabin silently while his eyes radiated a weird light. After touching the head of the deacon who had fallen asleep, Zhang Tie disappeared at once. It took him less than 0.5 second to finish this action...


    That deacon turned over on the bed and had good dreams one after another...


    On the second day, when he got up, he found a little, black beetle lying on his stomach on the table. All in a sudden, the deacon who always hated insects, felt happy inside. He felt that little beetle was very cute. Coincidentally, he was thinking about feeding a special pet food so as to relieve his mood when he was free. This little beetle looked proper.


    After putting on his clothes, that deacon carefully took that little, black beetle and put it in his sleeve. After finding that the insect just stayed in his sleeve, he burst out into laughter at once as he felt this little beetle was destined to be his pet...


    ''I have to keep this as a secret. If someone else finds out that I have a pet in my sleeve, those members of Lukas Clan may not feel that I''m reliable. In that case, I will end up losing my bright future.'' The Deacon thought.


    ...


    Two days later, this medium-sized airship finally arrived at Salent City, the capital city of Bayon Kingdom after accomplished its task.


    Being close to Golan Empire and one of the earliest countries that were collapsed by demons in Blackson Humans Corridor, Bayon Kingdom was severely managed by demons, especially its capital city, Salent City.


    Right outside Salent City, over 30 grave tower demons were standing, the number of which was larger than that in any place that Zhang Tie had ever seen.


    Only less than 2 million of the former 6 million people survived in this city, which was once prosperous. All the remaining people had been converted into demonized puppets, who had surged towards the south 1 month ago.


    Therefore, Salent City looked a bit deserted at this moment.


    ...


    After getting off the airship, Prudden, the very deacon of Lukas Clan became spirited and hurriedly headed for the imperial palace.


    In the car, Prudden watched the streets which looked emptier after the snow. He then touched the inside of his sleeve and found that cute, little, black beetle was still there. Therefore, he became happy at once.


    After passing some checks, Prudden finally met Adam, the head of Lukas Clan and the king of Bayon Kingdom in a warm room with fresh flowers.


    After reporting to the head, Prudden left the imperial palace.


    Before he left the imperial palace, he touched the inside of his sleeve and found that little, black beetle had disappeared.


    ''Perhaps, that little thing went for food. It might come back soon!'' Prudden thought...


    ...


    Two days later, when Prudden came to the imperial palace once again, he saw the little, black beetle entering his sleeve directly.


    Prudden was deeply moved...

 789 Will You Continue Your Dig?

    Chapter 789: Will You Continue Your Dig?


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The Class II warning in the demon''s zone was not canceled off until March 12th. After almost 2 months of extensive search, even though the demon general himself attended the investigation and the soul-chasing butterfly died, they still failed to find that black-robe knight. Thus, the demons thought that the black-robe knight had already escaped far away by a secret method after killing Unther.


    Cologne, the employed knight of Lukas Clan also returned to Salent City, the capital city of Bayon Kingdom on March 13th.


    In March, the chilly winter had finally come to an end while the spring approached, which was featured by tender sprouts and grasses and melting ice. It was believed that the weird black-robe knight had already left together with winter. After over 2 months of search, it seemed to be the last small frustration facing demons and Three-eye Association before they completely conquered the north of Blackson Humans Corridor.


    All the Three-eye Association clans understood that demon general had fixed the 896th year of Black Iron Calendar as the year when demons and Three-eye Association would completely conquer the north of Blackson Humans Corridor.


    ''Lord Demon General is ambitious. Although Lord Demon General''s super demon corps faced a setback in the War of Upton City last year, it didn''t damage the foundation of the entire demon corps. In front of the power of Three-eye Association, that was just a small failure in the entire holy war.''


    All the Three-eye Association clans were dreaming for the moment when they completely conquered the north of Blackson Humans Corridor, including Lukas Clan.


    Those humans and wealth which had not evacuated and transferred away from human countries in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor would soon become the population and wealth of Three-eye Association clans. Therefore, the Three-eye Association clans across Blackson Humans Corridor would soon have an expansion for the second time.


    On the evening of March 15th, namely, the 3rd day since Cologne came back, the king held a banquet to welcome the harvest in the coming spring in the harvest palace of the imperial palace. All the major members of Lukas Clan and advanced officials of Bayon Kingdom were invited to join the spring banquet.


    Spring banquet was the tradition of Bayon Kingdom. It would be held in the harvest palace of the imperial palace for the coming harvest in each year. Due to that boring black-robe knight, this year''s spring banquet was delayed for over 10 days. However, nobody would like to mention about it tonight.


    Soon after the banquet started, the atmosphere gradually upsurged. Those members of Lukas Clan and the advanced officials of Bayon Kingdom, who had been depressed for over 2 months, cheered up with big smiles.


    Adam, the head of Lukas Clan, who had usurped the throne as a health minister, was sitting high on the throne of the harvest palace and watching the boisterous scene in the palace with a big smile.


    Nobody across Bayon Kingdom could have imagined that the health minister of this country belonged to Three-eye Association before the holy war. Right under the push of this former health minister, the entire medicare system of Bayon Kingdom deteriorated into the agency for the growth of the eggs of the parent worm and the entire Bayon Kingdom was collapsed at the fastest speed when the demon corps arrived. Even the former royal members of Bayon Kingdom had turned into demonized puppets.


    "Prudden..."


    The one on the throne opened his mouth as he implied Prudden with his eyes. Prudden who was serving in the palace instantly became spirited as he hurriedly cupped a tray being covered by a piece of red silk cloth and walked to the front of Cologne. He then slightly put the tray in front of Cologne.


    After hearing the king''s voice, all the others in the harvest palace became silent as they looked at Cologne.


    "Elder Cologne, thank you for your hard work during the past 1 month, with Elder Cologne in Salent City, we feel much reassured. When we occupy the entire Blackson Humans Corridor, if Lukas Clan promoted to a higher stage, we will never forget about the great contribution made by Elder Cologne!" Adam said in an elegant, majestic tone just like a king.


    After throwing a look at the tray, Cologne instantly knew that there were 4 earth-element crystals in the tray given the raised outline of the red silk cloth. It was one more than that in previous months, which meant that his treatment had increased by 33% at once. Elder Cologne became excited immediately as he got up and faintly bowed towards Adam. After that, he looked around and raised his jaw before saying firmly, "Trust me, Your Majesty, as long as I am here, nobody will dare to hurt Lukas Clan!"


    After hearing this reply, the man on the throne nodded satisfactorily. After that, he slightly raised his glass, followed by all the others in the palace. They all proposed a toast to Elder Cologne at the same time, making the atmosphere boisterous once again...


    At this moment, Prudden put his hand into that sleeve once again; however, he found that little, black beetle had disappeared once again...


    Prudden then mumbled inside, ''Maybe that little thing went to eat something again!''


    ...


    "Puff"...


    With a faintly muffled sound, the dare-to-die corps member''s head was shattered completely like falling onto the ground from above 20 floors, spraying the bloody brains onto the alloy wall and those operating arms beside that guy.


    Zhang Tie hadn''t imagined that Lukas Clan''s backroom was so confidential until he came here.


    The backroom was not in the imperial palace of Bayon Kingdom but in the underground of a common castle outside the imperial palace of Bayon Kingdom.


    Who could imagine that Lukas Clan would put the most important objects in here; instead of the secret warehouse in the imperial palace.


    This backroom was 100 m deep under the castle. People could only access to it by one tunnel. The walls were made of alloy which was as thick as 2 m. If a person inside the backroom locked the alloy door from the inside, even a knight could barely break it in from the outside.


    People could only open this door by a key, code and facial recognition system...


    The facial recognition system here was not the same one before the Catastrophe; instead, it was a more time-honored, more advanced and safer facial recognition system¡ª¡ªA dare-to-death corps member of Lukas Clan who was controlled by a special medicine was in the room. When the key and code were right, this guy would check the look of the person outside the room through an imaging device like a periscope. If that person outside the door was Adam alone, this guy would manipulate the hydraulic device in the room to open the door.


    As Zhang Tie knew that Lukas Clan would hold a spring banquet today, he came here with Adam, the head of Lukas Clan in the incarnation of the little, black beetle ahead of the spring banquet.


    As Adam was just LV 9, he couldn''t find Zhang Tie even though Zhang Tie was on the tail of his robe.


    After Adam took 4 earth-element crystals and left out of here half an hour ago, Zhang Tie showed himself in the room and killed that dare-to-death corps member of Lukas Clan in a split second.


    Looking at this backroom, Zhang Tie took a deep breath as he felt that his patience and efforts over the past over 1 month were worthwhile.


    Zhang Tie dared say that he knew the secrets of Lukas Clan better than anyone else.


    With the incarnation of a beetle and the power of the secret skill "soul capture skill", Zhang Tie, who had traveled between the deacon of Lukas Clan and many major clan members of Lukas Clan in the imperial palace these days, finally completed his "anatomy" of Lukas Clan.


    ''Although it is cool to chop off their heads, if I want to uproot a Three-eye Association clan and shake the ruling of demons in the demon''s zone, I have to collect detailed intelligence and information. Otherwise, even being a knight, I could barely destroy a Three-eye Association clan and demons.''


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh.


    He would launch the fatal strike today.


    He knew that he had made the right plan.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt like falling into the barn as a hungry mouse.


    Over 200 earth-element crystals were piled up tidily in the backroom. Of course, Lukas Clan was not the owner of these earth-element crystals. Zhang Tie estimated that these items might be used by demons to bribe Lukas Clan. Of course, they might be the previous stockpile of Bayon Kingdom.


    ''I don''t care whom these objects belonged to. The key is that they belong to me now.''


    Zhang Tie forcefully swallowed his saliva before walking over there. After waving his hand, he moved all the earth-element crystals into Castle of Black Iron.


    Besides earth-element crystals, this backroom contained some crates and boxes.


    Zhang Tie opened a box and found a pile of gold checks lying inside tidily. He then opened some crates and found jewelry, sorts of medicament and other precious items inside.


    Those items lying here should not be common. Therefore, Zhang Tie moved all of them into Castle of Black Iron.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie found 9 huge boxes in the backroom, each of them was as high as 0.8-0.9 m. Zhang Tie opened the boxes and found huge ostrich eggs with spiral, black and white decorative patterns on their smooth surface.


    Zhang Tie seemed to have seen such objects before.


    Heart racing, Zhang Tie injected some spiritual energy into one black and white ostrich egg.


    ¡ª¡ªHigh-performance alchemist''s bomb, TNT equivalent, 1000 kg.


    ¡ª¡ªThis bomb could be detonated in two modes. It supports time and collision detonation!


    Followed by the usage of an alchemist''s bomb...


    ''Alchemist''s bomb? These are alchemist''s bombs...''


    Zhang Tie''s eyes gleamed at once...


    ...


    After 10 minutes, Zhang Tie came to the gate of the harvest palace of Bayon Kingdom.


    Before the two rows of guards outside the gate of the harvest palace asked who this guy in black robe was, Zhang Tie had chopped off all of their heads by waving his hand...


    Cologne instantly raised his head and threw a glance at the gate.


    With a weird laughter, Zhang Tie rushed into the harvest palace as fast as a lightning bolt. Closely after that, the entire harvest palace was filled with dense roars and cracks of limbs...


    In less than 1 minutes, the harvest palace had collapsed while two meteors shot to the sky from the ruins and started a fierce combat above the imperial palace. The entire city was shocked.


    After over 20 minutes, with a miserable shriek of Cologne, his one arm was broken off by Zhang Tie.


    In a split second, Cologne turned into a bloody rain.


    After catching all the valuables of Cologne in the air, Zhang Tie rapidly flew away from the city.


    Those grave tower demons couldn''t even stand 5 minutes under Zhang Tie''s fierce attack.


    After turning those terrifying grave tower demons into smelly flesh, Zhang Tie disappeared in the night sky as a meteor...


    ...


    After 1 hour, many meteors landed in Salent City while the entire Salent City reverberated with an extremely, terrifying roar.


    Closely after that roar, a fiery figure rushed to the sky and accelerated towards where Zhang Tie headed for, hurriedly followed by all the other meteors...


    The soul-chasing butterfly loomed in the sky ahead of them. When the soul-chasing butterfly stopped, a broken valley, which they had excavated severely, appeared in front of all the knights of Three-eye Association and demons...


    This was where Zhang Tie left from, also the very valley that demon general''s soul-chasing butterfly had reached last time.


    Demon general became dumbfounded like having being stricken by a lightning bolt.


    All the other knights who followed demon general here dared not see the extremely furious look of demon general...


    ''The same valley!''


    Zhang Tie heavily slapped the demon general''s face as if he was asking in a frivolous look¡ª¡ªwill you continue your dig?

 790 A Nightmare

    Chapter 790: A Nightmare


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On June 4th, the 898th year of Black Iron Calendar, in the demon''s camp outside Tokei City, the capital city of Titanic Duchy...


    It had been two and a half years since Zhang Tie left Huaiyuan Prefecture in the excuse of enclosed cultivation. During this period, the grasses and woods had withered twice. After each winter, the grasses and woods would recover vitality once again. However, for demons and Three-eye Association clans in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor, the demon''s zone kept "withering" instead of recovering "vitality".


    Since January 1st, the 896th year of Black Iron Calendar, the entire demon''s zone in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor had been in a nightmare.


    Neither demons nor Three-eye Association clans would like to face a such a nightmare¡ª¡ªthe most painful nightmare caused by a human knight called Gorath.


    During the two and a half years, over 80% of grave tower demons were destroyed in the demon''s zone. 7 of the 18 Three-eye Association clans in the demon''s zone were cleared, while all the other 11 were severely struck. Numerous elites and bloodlines of Three-eye Association clans were killed by that human knight.


    One demon knight and 3 knights of Three-eye Association clans were killed. Across the entire demon''s zone, everybody was in a great danger. Even the demon general''s super demon corps became that human knight''s target 1 year ago. When the demon general and its subordinate knights were seeking for that human knight, that Gorath appeared in the super demon corps and made a killing spree, making them suffer the second major frustration since the Upton Battle. Almost the entire wing demon troop of the super demon corps was cleared by that human knight.


    That loss was regarded as the extreme shame by the demon general.


    For commoners, all the members of Three-eye Association were as terrifying as demons; however, for those members of Three-eye Association, that guy called Gorath, was the real demon.


    Nobody could catch that devil''s trace. However, that devil always jumped out of the dark hell and brought them a terrifying destruction and massacre before disappearing.


    During the past two and a half years, many things were changed.


    Except for the demon general, no other knights dared move alone across the entire demon''s zone. The Three-eye Association clans which were bossy in the demon''s zone also dared not show themselves in the public like a bird being startled by the mere twang of a bow-string. All the Three-eye Association clans had canceled off the large-scale party of clan members. Their clan members scattered around the demon''s zone.


    ...


    The demon general was standing in the main tent of the camp of the demon corps and watching one map and a drawing while his grim qi filled the tent like an icy, black cloud.


    The map was the military map of Blackson Humans Corridor. In the demon''s zone, dozens of cities were covered with black crosses, which meant that they had been severely destroyed during the past two and a half years. Starting from Glivec City, he moved to the capital city of Highcloud Empire, then Salent City, the capital city of Bayon Kingdom, then the Trisi City of Golan Empire, Malkalden City, Esener City, Democracy City, Delfo City, Eshwigen City, Milson City, Direnburg, Marmedi...


    The black crosses covered the entire north of Blackson Humans Corridor. Some cities were even crossed twice, which meant they suffered two raids from that guy consecutively. Democracy City, the capital city of Verov Federation was attacked 3 times by Gorath. Although Arthur Clan, the ruling clan in Democracy City was not exterminated, it had been severely uprooted.


    It seemed that Gorath was warning them to not think that he would not come here for the second time, even the third time in such an ironical method.


    At the beginning, many people were studying Gorath''s movement rules; however, they finally found that that guy''s movement didn''t have any rule at all. All the bases and key towns of Three-eye Association clans across the demon''s zone were his knacker''s yards.


    Next to this military map was a drawing of Gorath, which was drawn according to the memory of those who had seen Gorath. With a black robe, raised insidious hooknose, weird flickering eyes, flying silver hair and ghost-like claws, the drawing was especially vivid.


    A year ago, Gorath''s drawing was fixed in the main tent of the demon general and had not been removed until now.


    Watching the figure in the drawing, the demon general seemed wanting to devour this guy.


    For others, Gorath was a demon; however, for the demon general, this guy was a ghost.


    Demon general was not afraid of demons, because it was the prototype of a demon in human legends. As this ghost always stayed near the demon general and paid attention to its movements in the hidden place, the demon general tasted the real failure.


    Over the past two and a half years, the demon area became completely chaotic. As the rear was unstable, the ruling foundation of demons and Three-eye Association was shaken by Gorath. In this state, the demon corps''s movement towards the south became stagnated. Benefited from this, those human countries in the north of Kalay Mountain Range had a chance to move their population and materials to the south of Kalay Mountain Range during the past two and a half years. By now, humans had built a new defense line in Kalay Mountain Range. Across the north of Kalay Mountain Range, except for those increasingly active human paladins and demon hunting squads, demons and Three-eye Association were only left with destroyed empty cities and wild land. Additionally, thieves and brigands existed everywhere. Therefore, demons'' strategic plan¡ª¡ªto occupy the north of Blackson Humans Corridor and plunder a lot of humans and materials in the shortest period failed.


    Over the past two and a half years, the demon''s power in the demon area was not intensified; instead, it was weakened. Whenever that human knight attacked a city, he would uproot the forces of demons and Three-eye Association in that city. After his attack, those human slaves in the city would escape or arouse a riot, which was barely handled by demons and Three-eye Association clans.


    In order to catch this guy, demons and Three-eye Association had tried every method that they could come up with such as setting traps and bribery at a high price in the public, etc.. They even hatched 7 soul-chasing butterflies and made them chase after Zhang Tie at the same time; however, they gained nothing. That guy was never taken in. He kept stabbing into the soft underbelly of demons and Three-eye Association, causing a great loss to demons and Three-eye Association physically and spiritually.


    ''That guy succeeded. Black-robe Gorath''s name is well known across Blackson Humans Corridor. However, I became the poor foil of this guy.'' The demon general sighed.


    Watching the image of Gorath, the demon general became confused, ''Although this guy''s image is hanging in front of me, I''m doubting whether this guy really exists or not.''


    ¡ª¡ªBeing proficient in the secret skills of Sacred Light Empire; being able to use some powerful battle skills and saber skills; being able to exterminate a Three-eye Association clan with poison in a split second; having rich experience in close combat; being brutal, cunning, witty, selfish and powerful; additionally, he mastered a secret skill which could help him get rid of the chase of soul-chasing butterfly; probably carrying an expensive, rare teleportation equipment.


    The above information was all about Gorath that had been gathered over the past two and a half years. In order to find this guy''s origin, demons had mobilized all the forces of Three-eye Association in humans; however, they still got no useful information. Among all the human knights, none of them could fit the traits of Gorath. This guy was like coming from the underground all of a sudden.


    Generally, human knights could be divided into two camps, namely, human camp and Three-eye Association camp. According to the division method of humans, the two camps were hostile, one in public, one in dark. Besides, there was the 3rd knights camp, which was called evil or grey light knights. These knights were featured by always being alone. They cultivated and moved alone. They didn''t join the party of Three-eye Association at the price of betraying humans or the human force even the Mountain of Brightness; instead, they chose a mediocre way which was free of restrictions. They had no bottom line in actions. They did everything for themselves. They were extremely selfish and dangerous.


    According to the investigation of Three-eye Association, Gorath probably was a grey light knight who had been cultivating secretly in somewhere.


    The demon general''s dubious look gradually faded away; instead, a firm and berserk look appeared.


    ''I can''t keep going like this. If I cannot have Blackson Humans Corridor, I will destroy it completely. I won''t let humans recover their vitality; neither would the entire demon corps and Three-eye Association across Blackson Humans Corridor be mired in the trap set by a human knight, no matter whether he was righteous or evil...''


    After watching the map and the drawing for half an hour, the demon general looked icier. Finally, he clenched his fist, filling the main tent with a berserk, decisive atmosphere.


    A close guard entered the main tent meticulously and reported the latest message to the demon general.


    "Lord Demon General, we''ve just received the intelligence. Two hours ago, Gorath raided Moorne City of Golan Empire. Timothy clan suffered a great loss in Moorne City. The second in line heir of the clan was killed. Besides, the grave tower demons outside Moorne City were destroyed by Gorath..."


    This was not a good news. Therefore, that close guard was very meticulous when he reported it to the demon general. Although being intense, he tried to remain silent. Over the past two and a half years, the demon general was always berserk. As the close guards of demon general, they always risked their own lives to report any news about Gorath. Three months ago, a close guard was punched into powder when he reported the news about Gorath to demon general.


    After reporting it, the close guard thought Lord Demon General would be angry. However, he had not imagined that Lord Demon General just replied calmly, "I know!" like having heard a trivial information.


    The close guard dared not leave. He just stayed there, lowering his head, he waited for the order of Lord Demon General.


    "Notice the heads of all the Three-eye Association clans and the directors of all the demonized puppets corps. Tell them to come to Tokei City 3 days later. I have an order to issue!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    Although the close guard became dubious inside, he just left silently.


    After the close guard left, the demon general burned the military map and the drawing of Gorath into ashes...


    ...


    Three days later, although the aftermath of Moorne City had not come to an end, the heads of all the Three-eye Association clans and directors of demonized puppets corps still arrived at Tokei City accompanied by a lot of clan powerhouses, including knights.


    Compared to three years ago, none of them could imagine that they would not go out without having at least 2 knights on their side in the demon''s area.


    Compared to the boisterous scene in the main tent of the demon general, only small representatives of Three-eye Association clans could arrive here this time.


    Watching the current situation, all the heads of Three-eye Association clans felt a bit embarrassed.


    The black-robe Gorath was the real nightmare of all the Three-eye Association clans.


    All of them believed that Lord Demon General fetched them here to talk about how to deal with Gorath.


    However, none of them were optimistic about this. Because they had tried all the methods. However, none of the methods were effective. That guy seemed to know what they wanted to do in advance each time.


    They just threw a glance at each other silently, causing an extremely depressed atmosphere in the main tent.


    Being accompanied by another two demon knights, the demon general entered the main tent with a calm look. After that, he briefed his order in one word.


    After hearing that order, all the heads of Three-eye Association became still as if they had lost their thinking abilities.


    "This time, we will have no rear any longer. I will lead all of you all the way towards the south without any stop until our army reaches the coastline of Jinyun Country in the southernmost part of Blackson Humans Corridor!" The demon general''s icy voice reverberated inside the tent, "Who disagrees?"


    Everybody became silent. Some of them even quivered all over...

 791 The Changes

    Chapter 791: The Changes


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After raiding Moorne City, Zhang Tie didn''t leave right away.


    After combating demons and Three-eye Association for over two years, Zhang Tie had experiences in responding to the investigation of demons and Three-eye Association.


    Zhang Tie knew that if soul-chasing butterfly found that he was still in Moorne City, Timothy Clan would not dispatch major figures and elites to take over this city in the next three months.


    They had learned about it at the price of a great loss.


    Before Moorne City restored its order, many brave humans had enough time to escape.


    This was the maximal effort that Zhang Tie could make.


    Zhang Tie had been in this city for over 20 days. He made a harvest this time. Besides killing a major figure of Timothy Clan, he also gained a great amount of wealth that this clan had transferred to Moorne City and over 50 earth-element crystals.


    Although there was no elements realm in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie could directly absorb earth elements from earth-element crystals. It took him 2 weeks to consume all the 50-odd earth-element crystals.


    On June 18, Zhang Tie opened his eyes under the small tree while the last earth-element crystal became as purely white as milk in his hand.


    After standing up, Zhang Tie took out his knight''s scale and found that 6 golden scales had been lit on it. It indicated that Zhang Tie had been a 6-scale black iron knight after over 2 years of practice.


    It was an extremely high speed for Zhang Tie to advance to a 6-scale black iron knight in 2 years. All this was benefited from the earth-element crystals that he had collected from the Three-eye Association clans during the past two years.


    Zhang Tie knew that it required him to consume 318 earth-element crystals before advancing to one more scale. If he wanted to light all the entire earth chakra, he needed to consume over 110,000 earth-element crystals.


    If it was 110,000 gold coins, it was pretty easy for Zhang Tie. However, if it was 110,000 earth-element crystals, it would be an astronomical figure for any clan.


    When he recalled his distant cultivation road, Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile. After that, he walked out of the palace of the palace tree.


    The moment Zhang Tie walked out of the palace and took a deep breath of the fresh air, an oily, smooth 30-cm longer rat had jumped to Zhang Tie''s side and looked up at Zhang Tie while uttering a sound "Tzi Tzi Tzi Tzi".


    Zhang Tie lowered his body and stretched out his hand. That rat jumped onto his hand right away.


    Zhang Tie cradled the rat and lightly fondled its head. The rat then narrowed its eyes satisfactorily.


    It was a good weather in Castle of Black Iron, which also indicated a good weather outside.


    This rat was the first animal that Zhang Tie applied his soul-based animal controlling skill to. It could be treated as Zhang Tie''s "savior". It lived so well in Castle of Black Iron. It drank spiritual spring, mutated juicy fruits, flesh of a huge deep-sea monster and ran around everywhere every day. It was definitely living like an immortal being in rats. Sometimes, it would play cute in front of Zhang Tie.


    However, this rat was a bit special today. Only after being fondled for a short while, it had already raised its head and uttered a sound "Tzi Tzi Tzi Tzi" towards Zhang Tie. It seemed wanting to tell something to Zhang Tie.


    After being silent for a second, Zhang Tie had already known the rat''s intention, "You want to leave out of here?"


    The rat nodded like a man as it watched Zhang Tie with an eager look.


    "But why?"


    "Tzi...Tzi...Tzi...Tzi..."


    "You want to find many female rats and have a lot of babies? You want to have a harem?"


    That rat nodded seriously.


    Zhang Tie laughed as he faintly patted his forehead, ''Oh, my god. I''ve almost forgotten about it. Although it lived well these years, I ignored its demands in some aspects. I forgot that a rat would also dream about having a clan and kingdom.''


    "Alright. When I leave out of here, I will let you go to a proper place. But I have to warn you that the outside world is dangerous than here!"


    The rat directly rolled backward twice on Zhang Tie''s hand which looked difficult for rats. After that, he revealed its fangs and raised its claws. It seemed to tell Zhang Tie that it had already been ready for that. It was powerful enough.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter...


    Right then, the sound of flapping wings drifted from the sky. Hearing that sound, the "powerful" rat quivered all over and immediately jumped onto the ground from Zhang Tie''s hand. Closely after that, it rushed into a hole of a phoenix tree and dared not come out anymore.


    In a split second, a huge thunder hawk and four smaller thunder hawks landed in front of Zhang Tie while flapping their wings. Like puppies who saw their owner, they started to warble around Zhang Tie with their mouths widely opened like waiting for Zhang Tie to feed them.


    The bigger thunder hawk then turned around and warbled towards the tree hole, scaring that rat''s head back inside at once.


    Watching these cute guys, Zhang Tie felt pretty good in a split second. With laughter, he squatted down and fondled those little thunder hawks'' furry heads, "I''m sorry. I forgot to bring food for you. After a while, I will have Aziz bring you some tasty food!"


    Those cute little thunder hawks seemed to have understood Zhang Tie''s words as they all closed their mouths and started to rub their furry heads onto Zhang Tie''s body.


    During the past two and a half years, the male thunder hawk that Zhang Tie brought in Castle of Black Iron at the beginning had established a family and became a father of four babies.


    The four cute thunder hawks were just a bit over one year old. Their feathers looked a bit tender. They had just learned how to fly. Compared to their father, although they had not been mature, they had already looked different than their father¡ª¡ªbrighter feathers, stronger bodies and sharper eyes.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether it was because these thunder hawk babies grew up by eating the flesh of the huge deep-sea monster or the special environment in Castle of Black Iron or both of them.


    Aziz came here with a plate of the flesh of huge deep-sea monster.


    Aziz fed these thunder hawk babies in a special method. He walked to the edge of the cliff and directly threw off the plate of the flesh of huge deep-sea monster so that those thunder hawk babies could dive sharply towards those falling flesh while competing with each other...


    Watching Aziz taking care of these thunder hawk babies, Zhang Tie took a walk on the immortal mountain. He used to relieve his stress in this way.


    At this moment, the immortal mountain and Castle of Black Iron had been lush all over. Taking a broad view, Zhang Tie saw huge trees, exotic flowers and fruits everywhere. A waterfall of melting snow flew off the peak of the 12,000 m high immortal mountain, which was extremely splendid.


    Below that high waterfall was the place where Zhang Tie cultivated his battle skills and stimulated the production of iron-body fruits. Over the past two and a half years, Zhang Tie ate another 20-30 iron-body fruits.


    When Zhang Tie appreciated the landscape on the hillside of the immortal mountain where the palace tree was, a team of hundreds of people arrived at the foot of the immortal mountain.


    The team came from that human town far away from here. The team members carried a lot of items. At the foot of the immortal mountain, they started to kneel down and offer sacrifice to the immortal mountain.


    Zhang Tie was attracted by these people''s weird behaviors.


    Heller had already been on Zhang Tie''s side.


    "What are they doing?" Zhang Tie turned around and asked Heller with a curious look.


    "They are worshipping their God, you!" Heller watched downside there with a smile while his eyes were filled with endless mysteries, "They even brought you some sacrifices!"


    "Sacrifices?" Zhang Tie became shocked. As he always set fires, plundered everywhere during the past two and a half years, he had been used to plunder the territory of Three-eye Association clans for what he needed. What he did was completely like the style of pirates. Therefore, when he heard that some people were offering sacrifice to him, he felt a bit weird. ''It is like how pirates feel when they are pushed onto the altar by people.'' Zhang Tie mumbled as he touched his insidious, raised hooknose.


    "They are the best items that those villagers could produce, such as cloths, drinks, fruits, grains and daily utensils."


    Zhang Tie knew that their sacrifices indicated that they had settled down in Castle of Black Iron. When he recalled how he saved these people out of the miserable underground mountain cave of Misty Moon Woods in Selnes Theater of Operations a few years ago, Zhang Tie sighed with full moods. ''If possible, who the motherf*cker would not like to live a safe and sound life; instead of risking their lives every day?''


    "Take their sacrifices!" Zhang Tie nodded towards Heller. After that, he added, "Erm, let them select some of the cultivation secret books and professional books that I''ve got from the demon area over the past two and a half years. If these guys have offsprings, they could pass some knowledge to their offsprings, which might be useful in the future!"


    Zhang Tie had already moved numerous, inclusive secret books from Three-eye Association clans into Castle of Black Iron, which were even more than that he collected in Huaiyuan Palace. Many of these books were collections of the royal households or major clans in the former 17 human countries in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. After the 17 human countries were collapsed, these items fell into the hand of Three-eye Association clans and finally entered Castle of Black Iron.


    Those Three-eye Association clans robbed the 17 human countries in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. Zhang Tie then robbed those Three-eye Association clans.


    Zhang Tie had read some of those secret books. In Heller''s words, as long as those secret books entered Castle of Black Iron, it was equal for them to enter Zhang Tie''s private warehouse. Even if they were destroyed, they could still be recovered at any time.


    Heller could not create or take out any secret book or professional book; however, as long as these secret books entered Castle of Black Iron, it was equal for them to enter Heller''s head. Zhang Tie didn''t need to worry about losing them at all.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t think too much about that, he just issued an order to Heller...

 792 A Disaster across the Blackson Humans Corridor

    Chapter 792: A Disaster across the Blackson Humans Corridor


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When the colorful fog in Castle of Black Iron gradually faded away and the night fell, Zhang Tie left Castle of Black Iron and appeared in a pine forest on a hillside outside Moorne City.


    Like before, he came out in the incarnation of the little, black beetle.


    It was a good weather outside Moorne City. Two bright moons were hanging in the sky; plus the dense stars and clear air, the ground across Mourne City was covered with a silver light, with which, Zhang Tie could see far away.


    Singing Bugs and the warm breeze made the whole hill especially tranquil.


    The Moorne City in the distance was pitch-dark like falling asleep.


    Zhang Tie felt a bit weird. Even if Timothy Clan and demons were preparing for preventing his second raid, Moorne City could not be so silent.


    Zhang Tie flapped his wings and flew towards Moorne City together with some fireflies.


    The black beetle moved very fast. It took it only 5 minutes to arrive at the city wall from the pine woods.


    The city wall was wide open. However, nobody was on the city wall. At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie felt strange.


    He accelerated and flew into the city.


    Only some stray dogs and cats were loitering on the broad avenues and sobbing in a low voice. Even stray dogs and cats might not be adapted to such a weird scene.


    The black beetle ascended to over 200 m high and flew around Moorne City rapidly.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie thought it was another trap set by demons as he had experienced various traps during the past two and a half years. However, after flying around the city, he found that it was not a trap at all. Instead, the entire Moorne City had completely become an empty city.


    All the humans had disappeared. This city seemed to have been deserted.


    ''What happened'' Zhang Tie asked himself. The beetle instantly arrived at a hidden place. Closely after that, Zhang Tie incarnated into the male mature thunder hawk and rushed to the sky. He then flew towards the neighboring city.


    Watching the empty city, Zhang Tie felt extremely restless and sorrowful.


    It took Zhang Tie less than half an hour to reach Sessie City.


    Hovering above Sessie City, Zhang Tie glanced over the ground with sharp eyes.


    Like Moorne City, the entire Sessie City also became empty. The city gate was wide open while nobody was in the city.


    All the demonized puppets in the city just disappeared, leaving no trace of massacre and riot.


    Of course, these humans would not disappear out of no reason. A possibility occurred to Zhang Tie. However, Zhang Tie tried to not think about it as it was too miserable for the humans in the two cities.


    ''No way, no way. It should be some other reason...''


    Zhang Tie warned himself repeatedly as he rushed to the sky and flew towards the south.


    After a few hours, Zhang Tie saw more and more empty human cities like Moorne City, including Milvo City, Saint Paul City, Gofa City, Delus City, Wilisdon City and Conjiken City...


    Zhang Tie became disappointed completely while the temporary, warm pleasure that he felt in Castle of Black Iron was shattered.


    More and more empty cities made the possibility of which Zhang Tie was scared the most turn into a fact.


    Zhang Tie continued to fly towards the south. After a few hours, he passed through the entire Golan Empire and the neighboring country Basas Kingdom and came to the Dicalo Plain in the north of Verov Federation.


    With the starlight, Zhang Tie saw dense population walking towards the south on the Dicalo Plain. They were not humans but demonized puppets.


    Wherever they passed by, they would gnaw everything, including grassroots, barks and animals such as rhinos, wild elephants, even mice and cockroaches.


    Endless demonized puppets rolled over the entire Dicarlo Plain. Everywhere they passed by, they would leave nothing alive. Watching them from the sky, Zhang Tie felt they were surging worms in shit holes.


    With bloody eyes, the demonized puppets walked and gnawed everything they could eat. Some wore simple protectives such as armors and held weapons such as sabers and swords; some held a kitchen knife or a manure fork...


    There were over 20 million demonized puppets across Dicarlo Plain. All the demonized puppets were heading for the south!


    The thunder hawk disappeared when Gorath appeared tens of thousands of meters high in the sky. Lowering his head, he watched those endless demonized puppets with widely opened, teary eyes.


    For Zhang Tie, those walking deads were not demonized puppets but commoners who were killed by demons.


    Zhang Tie finally understood that nobody was alive across the demon area. However, before this, there were almost 200 million humans under the ruling of demons and Three-eye Association in the demon area, who were striving to survive themselves.


    This was the cruelest aspect of holy war.


    After dropping off his tears with the wind, Zhang Tie roared towards the sky and disappeared into the sky.


    ...


    Two hours later, in a hidden place outside Williamslack City in the south of Verov Federation, a subordinate member of Arthur Clan quivered under Zhang Tie''s wrinkled claws. Rolling up his eyes, he seemed wanting to look at Zhang Tie''s wrinkled claws...


    In less than half a minute, Zhang Tie had already known everything that happened these days.


    Zhang Tie intensified his battle qi and broke all the bones of that guy into powder at once. After that, he threw that guy''s corpse into the Abyss of Chaos and disappeared once again...


    ...


    Titanic Duchy...Selnes Plain...Symbian Republic...north of Norman Empire...


    Endless demonized puppets poured towards Kalay Mountain Range. No human force could block such a destructive flood across Blackson Humans Corridor...


    When his tears dried up, Zhang Tie''s heart was full of fury and animosity.


    ''Demon general... Three-eye Association...''


    Zhang Tie kept the two names deeply in his mind...


    ...


    On the evening of June 19th, Zhang Tie finally returned to the encampment of Hurricane Corps of Huaiyuan Prefecture silently after two and a half years.


    The black beetle drilled into the underground palace through that hidden air hole on the rockery in the temporary palace of the corps leader. Zhang Tie recovered to his original look.


    The underground palace remained unchanged. Nobody had broken in during the past two and a half years. The emergency device which was used to wake him up in the underground palace had not been triggered either...


    After taking a walk around the underground palace, Zhang Tie threw some daily goods that were stored in the underground palace into Castle of Black Iron, making it look like having been consumed during the past two and a half years.


    After that, Zhang Tie stood still there with his eyes closed for a short while so as to recover his composure. Closely after that, he sat on the ground with crossed legs and started his cultivation in the elements realm.


    Zhang Tie knew that the real test was coming.


    ''In the future war, as long as I''m a bit more powerful, I will have a greater possibility to kill enemies and survive myself.''


    Zhang Tie had not been craving for power so much before.


    In the elements realm...


    After entering his meditation, the first spiritual hand appeared and started to capture those golden, polyhedral earth elements...


    Soon, the second spiritual hand appeared...


    Then the 3rd, the 4th, the 5th, the 6th, and the 7th...


    Seven spiritual hands appeared in the elements realm in total. They were very agile like being controlled by 7 knights. Sometimes, the 7 spiritual hands worked independently; sometimes, they cooperated with each other so as to capture those golden earth crystals, throwing them into the rotating chakra and having them crushed into pieces. As a result, the complex geometric patterns on the second earth''s chakra gradually became bright.


    Zhang Tie''s cultivation speed was 7 times more than that of common black iron knights.


    ...


    In the process of cultivation, Zhang Tie could almost not sense the elapse of time. Not knowing how much time had passed, Zhang Tie heard a loud bell ring. He then opened his eyes.


    The emergency awakening device in the underground palace was triggered from the outside. Besides the loud bell ring across the underground palace, red fluorescent lamps moved out of the top of those rooms in the underground palace, rendering the underground palace with amazing red color. Even his tiger-shaped command plate was vibrating due to the remote-sensing message.


    The bell rung once again while the distant and silvery bell rings reverberated around the underground palace.


    Zhang Tie looked at the clock on the wall and found it was already 7 am, June 21st. He then picked himself up from the bed. After that, he flicked his clothes and opened the gate of the underground palace calmly after two and a half years of ''cultivation''...

 793 Conference

    Chapter 793: Conference


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the conference of Hurricane Corps, all the commissioned officers with ranks above colonel were sitting at the long desk with very solemn looks.


    Everyone was silent except for the "rustle" sound between papers when one person flipped through bulletins.


    The morning sunglow shone onto the excessive young face of the man in the main seat of the conference room through one window. Although over 2 years had passed, that man''s face remained unchanged, his skin looked a bit white due to over 2 years of cultivation in the underground palace.


    When he was browsing the bulletins of the corps over the past two years, all the commissioned officers in the conference room were stealthily throwing a glance at that man.


    For many commissioned officers, it was the second time for them to see this guy since he came to Hurricane Corps about 3 years ago.


    Compared to November 10th, the 895th year of Black Iron Calendar when this guy came to Hurricane Corps for the first time, his qi seemed to have changed. Last time, he felt aggressive and profound; however, after over 2 years of cultivation, his aggressive and profound qi had completely disappeared. Now, he looked like an extremely common juvenile. People could hardly feel any danger from him.


    For those commissioned officers who had not promoted to knights, they didn''t know what this change meant. Many people were amazed and puzzled about this. They even thought that Zhang Tie met some problem in the process of cultivation and degraded in battle force. However, if there was a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace at present, he would definitely be shocked by Zhang Tie''s change.


    Those poor ones liked to show off their money; however, the real rich ones preferred to be low-key.


    A new top quality sword couldn''t wait to show off his sharp blade to the whole world; however, the real unrivaled blade would hide its sharpness inside the thick sheath.


    The most agile state was like being clumsy. Such a state could not be reached by knights without experiencing life or death situation for numerous times. One had to constantly improve his battle force physically and spiritually. Without over 20 years of deep cultivation, many black iron knights could not even touch this state at all. However, it only took Zhang Tie two and a half years to reach this state. Although it was a long time for commoners, it was not long for knights as it was even shorter than 10 years.


    The commissioned officers of Hurricane Corps didn''t understand what Zhang Tie''s current calm state meant. However, due to his invisible, powerful qi field, he could still influence the others although he just sat there and checked the bulletins silently.


    It was a tranquil and detached temperament which would remain unchanged even when the Mountain Tai collapsed.


    Although sun rose in the east and set in the west, moons waxed and waned, the sun and the moon didn''t change their trajectories for foreign bodies.


    Being influenced by Zhang Tie''s calm, those anxious commissioned officers also gradually recovered their composure.


    "Not bad!" Zhang Tie made a brief comment after browsing the bulletin, "You''ve done a good job during the past two and a half years!"


    Some maneuver troops had gained more than 7 million gold coins in the mode of mercenary groups. The garrisons who were responsible for the military management and defense of the three cities didn''t break out any major event of violating the military disciplines. All the three cities were running well. The taxations and number of immigrants broke records year after year. Even though last winter was the coldest winter during the past dozens of years in Blackson Humans Corridor, the three cities below Huaiyuan Prefecture still didn''t find anyone being starved to death. Additionally, all the members of the special elite troops of Hurricane Corps had accomplished two rounds of training in Kalay Mountain Range. They had built 117 hidden materials supply points. Even if their supplies were cut off, they could still stick to over 2 years of fight in Kalay Mountain Range independently.


    It could be said that the current situation of Hurricane Corps had gradually aligned with Zhang Tie''s designing. That was what Zhang Tie demanded.


    ''Pitifully, if not the emergency, Hurricane Corps would have made more contributions across Blackson Humans Corridor. However, due to the decisive strike of the demon general and Three-eye Association, Hurricane Corps have to stop enjoying the brilliance in advance. Whereas, what Hurricane Corps have done is not useless. It''s like a seed which would sprout sooner or later. Even if Hurricane Corps had to leave Waii Sub-continent in the end, they would also play a great role in the new place. They would be favored by all the honors and brilliance.'' Zhang Tie told to himself.


    Zhang Tie had already known why the commissioned officers woke him up from the underground palace; however, he still pretended to know nothing about it. After controlling his pain and grief, Zhang Tie asked in an indifferent tone, "Why did you wake me up?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, all the commissioned officers moved their eyes onto the chief of staff of Hurricane Corps.


    The lieutenant general chief of staff of Hurricane Corps stood up. After taking a deep breath, he told Zhang Tie with a solemn look, "Because the major emergency in the north theater of operations of Waii Sub-continent has already posed a rudimentary influence to the overall situation of the holy war across Waii Sub-continent, we had to wake you up, Elder Mushen. We needed to report it to you!"


    "Go ahead!"


    "According to our intelligence, over half a month ago, namely between June 6 and June 10, with the request of demon general, all the 17 Three-eye Association clans across the north demon area had already killed all their human captives and slaves and converted them into demonized puppets. According to our estimation, 190 million to 210 million humans were killed across the north demon area. These demonized puppets were pouring towards Kalay Mountain Range ceaselessly..."


    Closely after the chief of staff''s report, the atmosphere in the conference room became gloomy...

 794 A Confidential Task

    Chapter 794: A Confidential Task


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    With the impact of about 200 million demonized puppets, Kalay Mountain Range would be broken through sooner or later.


    The Three-eye Association clans across the demon rear had already given up the northern cities. The powerhouses including knights of those Three-eye Association clans were pouring southwards together with the demon corps and the over 200 million demonized puppets.


    Nobody could block such a terrifying flood, not even knights.


    Given the base force, the population of the demon corps was over 20 times more than that of the total population of human soldiers in the south of Kalay Mountain Range.


    Due to the dauntless madness, common demonized puppets'' battle force was greater than that of common human soldiers. Additionally, the number of LV 9 demon fighters in the demon corps was even more than the summation of LV 9 human fighters in southern human countries.


    The only strength of humans on the battle force was that humans had slightly more knights than demons and Three-eye Association.


    According to the intelligence of Hurricane Corps, demons and Three-eye Association had 17 knights in total; besides, the demon general had mastered the aiding strength, which could increase the battle force of all the other demons on the battlefield by 30% at once. By contrast, there were 21 human knights in the south of Kalay Mountain Range.


    Although human knights slightly outnumbered the knights of demons and Three-eye Association, it was almost meaningless.


    The 17 knights of demons and Three-eye Association could unite with each other and follow the rule of the demon general completely; however, human knights in the south of Kalay Mountain Range could barely unite with each other. Many human knights, especially those No. 1 human knights in a country had their own plans. Those human knights would fight demons; however, they would never risk their lives making confront combat with knights of demons and Three-eye Association.


    Additionally, over the past two and a half years, many human knights had left Waii Sub-continent.


    For many human knights, Waii Sub-continent was just a station, a scenery or a memorable place in their lives; therefore, they would never lose their lives here.


    As many knights and powerhouses had already seen clearly the poor future of this Sub-continent and had already left one after another. The holy war had just started, it was very hard for many knights to determine to fight demons to the death on this remote sub-continent where humans were outnumbered by demons. Even major Hua clans such as Huaiyuan Palace would not make such a stupid choice; instead, they would return to Taixia Country. Nobody would like to put their whole lives in a hopeless place. Even experienced gamblers would not bet all their bets when they were unlucky, not to mention knights and major clans.


    Even if someone bet all of his bets and made a victory for the time being here, it would just buffer the momentum of demons and consume a part of the strength of demons. However, it didn''t mean that he could smile at the end. Because more and more demon knights and demon corps would constantly arrive at the Waii Sub-continent from the underground world. ''Although you were dauntless and admirable, it didn''t mean that you could survive on and ensure your clan to be vigorous forever.''


    Holy war was between demons and humans. In such a war, each one was balancing his interests, demons or humans, especially high-end knights. Nobody would like to be cannon fodder and die before the holy war.


    Huaiyuan Palace and those knights who had left Waii Sub-continent were very realistic and selfish. Instead of shouting any battle calls, they were just striving for their own future in this holy war, major clans or knights.


    Even Norman Empire, which was regarded as the most powerful country for defending demons in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor had deserted Blackson Humans Corridor and accomplished the evacuation and transfer from the north at once since the new tactic was adopted by demons. Norman Empire had moved most of its royal members and elites to the Western Continent. A small part of its royal members and elites headed for the Eastern Continent. Now, the remaining force of Norman Empire was restricted in the three cities of Benolisburg across Blackson Humans Corridor.


    Compared to three years ago, Benolisburg had become as trivial as the remaining three cities of Huaiyuan Palace. It became the place where Norman Empire made money from.


    Zhang Tie was thinking about something while listening to the report and situation analysis of the chief of staff of Hurricane Corps. He knew that the real large-scale evacuation and escape in the south of Blackson Humans Corridor would arrive. Everybody was involved in.


    "According to the comprehensive intelligence, the Staff has made a deduction. We''ve got the following key points: after 10 days, namely, at the beginning of July, the vanguard troop of the corps of about 200 million demonized puppets would arrive at Kalay Mountain Range. It would take the vanguard of demonized puppets corps 2 months to penetrate through Kalay Mountain Range. That''s to say, before October, the vanguard of demons would enter the south of Waii Sub-continent and move all the way towards the south. In next January, the vanguard of the demon corps would push to the north bank of Yuanjiang River. The demon corps would choose to break through Yuanjiang River from the northwest of Qilan Country due to the frozen river over there. Closely after that, they would attack Huaiyuan Prefecture!"


    "Do you mean we only have half a year left?" Zhang Tie asked calmly. He didn''t even ask how could the demonized puppets penetrate through Kalay Mountain Range so fast, which had carried high hopes from the southern countries.


    No matter how many hopes did southern countries even Zhang Tie hold on Kalay Mountain Range, the so-called human defense line was as thin as a piece of paper facing 200 million demonized puppets. Only by surging forward ceaselessly could they destroy the human defense line in Kalay Mountain Range which was used to handle millions of demonized puppets. Actually, it would take most of the demonized puppets about 2 months to walk through Kalay Mountain Range.


    The demon corps didn''t even need to concern about their logistics and supply. They would eat everything on the way, including corpses. If there was no corpse, they would eat those weak or wounded demonized puppets. Each demonized puppet was a dauntless soldier and mobile dried humanoid rations. That was the sheer terror of the demonized puppets corps.


    "I''m afraid...yes!" The chief of staff hesitated a bit, "Demons might have already considered the factors like season and climate. From July to September, demons could easily pass by Kalay Mountain. In winter, the frozen Yuanjiang River would provide convenience for demon corps to pass by. Given the emergency facing Waii Sub-continent, we especially invite corps leader to determine how to respond to the demons!"


    Soon after the chief of staff finished his words, everybody in the conference room had moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie.


    "From now on, the rotating operations of special elite troops is canceled off. All the special elite troops of Hurricane Corps should set out for Kalay Mountain Range. The evacuation time will be determined by the special elite troops themselves!"


    As it would take demons less than 3 months to pass by Kalay Mountain Range. It became meaningless for the special elite troops of Hurricane Corps to execute rotating operations. As Hurricane Corps had already prepared in Kalay Mountain Range for a couple of years, they should have a real fight more or less so as to live up to their military uniforms.


    All the commissioned officers in the conference room were shocked by Zhang Tie''s first command.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t stop.


    "After the conference, you can arrange the camp families of Hurricane Corps to leave Waii Sub-continent for Taixia Country!"


    The second command made many commissioned officers reassured as they watched Zhang Tie with appreciative looks. Because Hurricane Corps was still in Huaiyuan Prefecture, the camp families had not left here. Therefore, many people were reassured by Zhang Tie''s command. At such a critical moment, as long as their family members could survive on, they would have no regret to fight demons to the death.


    "The Staff of the corps, show me the evacuation plan of Hurricane Corps as soon as possible. I have three principles for this evacuation plan: first, orderly; second, by batches; third, prepare for emergencies. If there''s no emergency, we need to ensure that Hurricane Corps evacuates completely from Waii Sub-continent by December 1st..."


    A Hurricane Corps of over 400,000 soldiers would be fully digested by over 200 million demonized puppets for sure. Zhang Tie could fight demons to the death; however, he was not allowed to sacrifice the precious force of hundreds of thousands of soldiers of Huaiyuan Palace for his impulsion and the so-called heroic reputation. With the strength of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie knew clearly that it was not his turn to be a hero in the holy war. In order to ensure the safe evacuation of Hurricane Corps, Zhang Tie could even give up the ''last piece of bloody flesh'' 1in the three cities of Huaiyuan Palace.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s three commands, all the advanced commissioned officers in Hurricane Corps exchanged a glance with each other as they became completely reassured.


    "Well, you can leave now. And, don''t forget to report this conference to Long Wind Business Group!" Zhang Tie waved his hand. Long Wind Business Group was used by Huaiyuan Palace to make profits in Waii Sub-continent. All the current businesses of Huaiyuan Palace in Waii Sub-continent was managed by Long Wing Business Group.


    When the commissioned officers stood up and walked towards the door, Zhang Tie opened his mouth once again.


    "The chief commander of engineer troops, wait a moment..."


    The moment a colonel officer was about to step out of the gate of the conference room, he stopped.


    ...


    After two minutes, everybody left except for that colonel officer of the engineer troop, who was standing in front of Zhang Tie with a solemn look.


    "I give you a class A confidential task. You''re only responsible for me. You could allocate all the materials and personnel across Huaiyuan Prefecture. After accomplishing this task, all the personnels who had attended this task should leave Waii Sub-continent by sea at once!" Zhang Tie told the colonel.


    After hearing this, the colonel straightened up immediately, "Please issue the order, corps leader!"


    "Do you know how to make alchemist''s bomb exert its utmost effect?"


    Zhang Tie asked with an indifferent look while the colonel''s eyes radiated a shrewd light at once...

 795 The Smell of Doomsday

    Chapter 795: The Smell of Doomsday


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Walls had ears. In the holy war, nothing spread faster than gossips.


    Only after one week since Zhang Tie came out of the underground palace, the news that demons slaughtered all the humans in the north Blackson Humans Corridor and almost 200 million demonized puppets and the super demon corps were approaching Kalay Mountain Range had spread over the southern human countries. Even commoners had already known about it.


    All the human countries in the south of Kalay Mountain Range were in a panic.


    It was paladins, demon hunting squads and bandits who brought the news to the south from the north battlefields. After escaping to the south, all the bandits became the "brave forces" who had resisted demons in the north demon area.


    A few smart guys sniffed the smell of doomsday from those real rulers and major clans'' movements in the southern countries.


    For several consecutive days, the major clans even royal members of some countries being closest to the south edge of Kalay Mountain Range had evacuated to the south. People in the southern human cities found more and more airships flying towards the south in these days. However, very few airships flew towards the north.


    The entire Blackson Humans Corridor was shocked.


    ...


    On June 28th, Qihai City, Huaiyuan Prefecture...


    The harbor of Qihai City had enlarged a lot after three years of expansion. However, compared to Yiyang Harbor, the largest harbor in Huaiyuan Prefecture, the harbor in Qihai City was still much smaller. Whereas, Qihai Harbor had been able to hold 50,000-ton ships.


    Although having been in Huaiyuan Prefecture for many years, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to come to Qihai City.


    However, the name Qihai City had changed to Hellnar City by Norman Empire.


    However, Zhang Tie had been used to call it Qihai City.


    A 40,000-odd ton battleship with flying colorful flags anchored at a pier. A military band in tidy uniform was playing a cheerful fleet marching music on the pier.


    Only a few people were on the pier. The soldiers of Norman Empire had already blocked the entire pier. Zhang Tie was one of them.


    Zhang Tie came here to bid a farewell to Filis, the crown prince of Norman Empire. Even at such a critical moment, it was like holding a cheerful and solemn ceremony.


    Filis was leaving in a very low-key manner. Besides some subordinates of Filis, Zhang Tie was the only one who came here to bid a farewell to him.


    After knowing that 200 million demonized puppets were pouring towards the south, Filis, the crown prince of Norman Empire who was staying in Benolisburg finally received the command of the royal household of Norman Empire who requested him to leave Waii Sub-continent.


    Donder once said that when one''s enemy was powerful enough, one would always be collapsed without having to fight. Facing such a powerful enemy, those people outside the battlefield lost their confidence earlier than those soldiers on the frontline.


    When there was no hope of winning the war, nobody would like to stick to it. When the decisive strike of demons and Three-eye Association completely overdraft the war potential across the demon area and the power and wealth of Three-eye Association clans, it also collapsed most southern countries'' will to resist.


    Through this decisive strike, 17 northern countries'' strength was mobilized.


    The number 200 million alone was already astonishing, not to mention that it was followed by extremely terrifying demonized puppets. Even if it was followed by fleas and mice, it would also be frightening enough.


    What a decisive strike!


    Filis was not the first important person who would leave out of here. Zhang Tie knew that two knights of southern countries had already left Waii Sub-continent in the past week. The human knights'' advantage in number was reduced, which accelerated the mental collapse of more people. All the southern countries seemed to fall into a frustrating vicious circle.


    It was meaningless for Filis to stay in Benolisburg.


    Knight Leo, the teacher of Filis, would escort Filis out of here. Therefore, 3 of the 22 human knights had left Waii Sub-continent as of now.


    Zhang Tie didn''t make any comment about this. It was their personal choice. Although it was not a noble behavior, there was no ground to blame them.


    As the last royal member of Norman Empire to leave Waii Sub-continent, Filis'' performance today looked a bit sentimental. Facing Zhang Tie, the only one who came to bid a farewell to him, he revealed some true moods.


    "I believe it now, good luck would always be used up whether for a person or a country!" Filis sighed with full emotions while watching the harbor in front of him, "Two years ago, when the black-robe Gorath appeared in the demon area and made big trouble over there, I thought that Norman Empire''s good luck was coming. Due to the appearance of Gorath, the human countries in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor and the Norman Empire won the most precious two and a half years to evacuate. Many people survived. There was a period when I even thought that we could confront with demons in this way with Kalay Mountain Range as our shield. We might gradually take advantages and restore the homeland of Norman Empire by the end of the holy war. However, I understand it now that no good luck could match genuine battle force. Even if there was one more Gorath, what''s coming would still come. I heard that the special elite troops of Hurricane Corps had already driven into Kalay Mountain Range and prepared to fight demons. Will you jeer at me for my leave?"


    "No!"


    "Really?" Filis seemed to mind the opinion of the youngest Hua knight of Huaiyuan Palace about him.


    "If I were in your position, I would have left even earlier than you. Additionally, the holy war would last for a long time. As long as we''re alive, we will have a chance to win!" Zhang Tie said seriously.


    With a faint smile, Filis continued, "I will go to the Western Continent, I wonder when will we see each other next time?"


    "When we win the holy war, we can meet here again!"


    After being silent for a second, Filis burst out into laughter, "Fine, we will meet here on the day we win the holy war!"


    "That''s the deal!"


    "That''s the deal!"


    The two parties clapped.


    "If you returned to the Eastern Continent one day, remember to take a look in Bloody Dragon City in Guizhou Province..." Filis said.


    "Bloody Dragon City?"


    "My two brothers are there. When they left, I had talked to them about you. Bloody Dragon City is built by Norman Empire in Taixia Country. You know, for our royal members, if we could maintain a branch of the bloodline in the Eastern Continent, our bloodline would not break off even if Western Continent was collapsed!"


    "Alright, I know!" Zhang Tie nodded. Zhang Tie knew that Filis wanted him to look after his two brothers. After all, Norman Empire didn''t have knights in the Eastern Continent, although they didn''t lack money.


    Eastern Continent was ruled by Hua people. With Zhang Tie''s help, the royal members of Norman Empire who exiled to Taixia Country might face fewer troubles.


    "Watch out the demon general!" Filis warned Zhang Tie as they embraced each other. After that, he boarded the battleship in the cheerful music.


    Before leaving, Filis'' teacher threw a deep, amazed look at Zhang Tie. Although he had met Zhang Tie twice in the past 3 years, he had sensed the change of Zhang Tie. For a young man who had just promoted to a knight 3 years ago, this was a very terrifying change.


    ...


    The battleship soon left. Standing on the deck of the battleship, Filis and Knight Leo were watching the scene over the dock. They were clear that the Norman Empire had abandoned this place completely.


    Norman Empire''s royal members would leave their homeland and build their country in the Western Continent once again. Thankfully, the royal members of the Norman Empire had a deep root in the Western Continent. Just like Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace had a deep background in Taixia Country, Leminy Clan, also had a deep background in the Western Continent.


    In each holy war, major human clans would have a chance to divide their clan forces once again. Some clans would fall, some would rise. Norman Empire''s royal members had not fallen completely. They had a chance to rise again.


    Remembering the appointment that he had made with Zhang Tie just now, Filis became a bit thrilled.


    "Zhang Tie is very terrifying!" Knight Leo opened his mouth suddenly.


    Filis turned around and watched his teacher with a bit dumbfounded look.


    "Don''t be hostile to such a person!" Knight Leo watched Filis with a solemn look.


    "Ahh? Why do you say so, Mr. Leo? I feel that Zhang Tie became more genial after two and a half years. He lacks arrogance now compared to that in the Rotating Chakra Ceremony. I almost mistook him for another person. Perhaps, he has some problem in cultivation!" Filis replied with an amazed look.


    ''Genial? Some problem in cultivation?'' Knight Leo revealed a bitter smile when he listened to such a description and recognization about Zhang Tie''s change, "You''re not a knight. I cannot explain things about knights to you. However, you need to believe in my judgment and feeling. The cultivation method grants me with a powerful perception of the unknown things, this guy is very terrifying. Perhaps, his name would be well known across Western Continent in the near future!"


    Filis completely changed his face...

 796 The Unspoken Words

    Chapter 796: The Unspoken Words


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that Knight Leo, the teacher of Filis, could speak highly of him. Seeing off the battleship, Zhang Tie recalled his friends and partners in Norman Empire who had separated with each other; therefore, he felt like he lost something.


    This was common in holy war, numerous departures happened at each second. Some of the departures could not be sensed at the beginning; however, as time went by, it might become a farewell forever.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether he could see his friends anymore¡ª¡ªReinhardt, Guderian, Alice, Hanna and Pandora who had disappeared since he caught sight of her last time...


    If he couldn''t see them in the future, Zhang Tie only hoped them to live well, especially the three girls. As Hanna had already married, Zhang Tie hoped her to have a happy family; as for Alice, Zhang Tie hoped her to get her real love; as for Pandora...


    When he thought about Pandora, Zhang Tie had complex moods. Zhang Tie always had three women in his heart, one of them was Pandora.


    Compared to Hanna and Alice, who were common girls, Pandora had too many secrets. If he could return to the period before the holy war, Zhang Tie would definitely rush to Sacred Golden Orchid Empire to meet Pandora. However, due to the Abyan event, Zhang Tie might not see her for the rest of his life. Whenever he thought about this, he would feel a pain in his heart.


    Zhang Tie would not forget that appointment he made with Pandora at the small bus station in the rainy night when he left Blackhot City for Kalur Theater of Operations¡ª¡ªWhen I grow as beautiful as Miss Daina, could you marry me on behalf of her if you''re still alive?


    Zhang Tie remembered that he put the black seal ring on Pandora''s middle finger while dropping tears...


    Zhang Tie knew that he would not make the same appointment with another woman for the rest of his life. Because this appointment was exclusive to Pandora.


    At that time, they were still young, passionate, pure and as nice as the wildflowers all over the hillside...


    Time would not fly back.


    Due to the cruel and chaotic holy war, the goodliness which could have lasted faded away earlier. Even animals had disappeared, not to mention humans...


    "Motherf*cking demons; motherf*cking Three-eye Association; motherf*cking holy war!" Zhang Tie swore at the pier, arousing the attention of some commissioned officers of Norman Empire who came here together with him. They exchanged a glance with each other and didn''t know why this youngest clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace was losing his temper.


    "Elder Mushen..." A garrison commissioned officer moved close to Zhang Tie.


    If he could sweet-talk a knight at this moment, his family members might be saved at a critical moment.


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel like saying anything at this moment. He even didn''t want to put off that guy. Those who were left by Norman Empire to fight demons at this critical moment must be poor.


    "Leave out of here before the start of this December. Save as more people as you can. Good luck to you!" Zhang Tie issued the order after throwing a glance at that commissioned officer and the surrounding guys. After that, he turned around and left.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s warning, all the commissioned officers exchanged a glance with each other as they seemed to have understood something.


    ...


    A wholly-new black Faerie-Dragon T9 sports car was parking in the dock. Zhang Tie entered the car and started it. With a roar, he drew a U-shaped line in the dock before turning around and leaving under the gaze of numerous soldiers of Norman Empire...


    An elder who drove a sports car...


    If not at the present, many people would not believe that there was such a knight, a clan elder in Huaiyuan Palace...


    ''Perhaps he''s still too young and lacks experience. It''s heard that this clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace has just promoted to a knight lately. He might not have killed any demon at all. '' At the sight of this, many commoners became more pessimistic about the future in Waii Sub-continent. Such a flirtatious knight and clan elder really made people restless.


    ...


    The black Faerie-Dragon T9 soon entered the Qihai City-Yiyang City highway.


    Although Huaiyuan Palace had sold Qihai City to Norman Empire, the two cities still maintained their usual traffic intercourse. Goods and personnels could access to each city for free.


    Zhang Tie had guessed what those commoners thought about him. If he watched elders of Huaiyuan Palace driving such a sports car everywhere, he might also have the same thought. As sports cars belonged to young people, which didn''t match the steady and respectable image of elders and knights.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t care about that.


    During the past two and a half years, Zhang Tie had killed more than one knight of demons and Three-eye Association in the demon area in the north of Kalay Mountain Range. Besides, he had exterminated at least 6 Three-eye Association clans, big or small. Of course, he would not care about his image in others'' eyes.


    As for the reason that he drove the sports car, it was simple. He had been tired of flying in the sky; therefore, he wanted to review the feeling of driving a car on the ground so as to relax himself.


    After staying outside for so long, Zhang Tie had been used to enjoy such a free feeling.


    ''Filis has gone. However, I will stay here to respond to the toughest situation in the next half a year...''


    In the next half a year, more and more humans would die and the overall situation across southern countries would deteriorate. Even Zhang Tie didn''t know how bad the situation would be.


    In the next half a year, not all the humans in the south of Kalay Mountain Range could evacuate from Waii Sub-continent safely. This was the source of the coming chaos. In such a critical moment, humans'' dirtiest and most selfish side would be revealed. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not optimistic about this at all.


    As Zhang Tie was considering something, he accelerated unconsciously. However, Zhang Tie had no sense about the increasing speed; because he could move much faster than this sports car in the sky, on the ground and underwater; especially in his knight''s consciousness, he felt that this car was as slow as walking even if it had reached its highest speed.


    The Qihai City-Yiyang City highway was built along the coastline. This road had the best scenery in Huaiyuan Prefecture. If not those tricky things in mind, Zhang Tie would definitely feel good on this road.


    A red Faerie-Dragon T9 sports car gradually caught up with Zhang Tie and drove neck and neck with Zhang Tie''s black Faerie-Dragon T9 sports car.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie just ignored it. As for young men, it might be stimulative to race cars; however, for Zhang Tie, it was extremely boring.


    After driving neck and neck for about 8 miles, that red car started to provoke him. It moved ahead of Zhang Tie and started to shift to different lanes frequently. Zhang Tie ignored it and directly pressed the accelerator to surpass that red car...


    However, that red car kept chasing after Zhang Tie. After maintaining the current situation for a few miles, they reached a turn. Closely after making a turn, Zhang Tie had seen a guy repairing a truck right in front. Of course, Zhang Tie could easily shift to another lane based on his responsiveness and driving skills. However, the driver behind him responded a bit slowly. The driver behind him didn''t find that truck until Zhang Tie shift to a new lane. In an emergency, the driver''s left hand used a bit more force; plus, she pressed the brake. As a result, the red Faerie-Dragon T9 lost its control and rushed towards the cliff...


    With a powerful knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie had heard a familiar shriek from the red car the moment it lost its control.


    ''Sh*t!'' Zhang Tie swore inside as he forcefully swiveled the steering wheel. His black Faerie-Dragon T9 then leaned against the red one so as to prevent it from diving into the cliff. However, the red car moved so fast; even though Zhang Tie tried to block it ahead of it, the red car still pushed Zhang Tie''s black one towards the cliff. Realizing that this method didn''t work, Zhang Tie directly broke the steel plate of the chassis and braked his car in a knight style by his foot together with the other red one.


    When Zhang Tie pulled his feet out of the ground, there was a huge hole in the chassis of his black Faerie-Dragon T9. He opened the door and got off his car. After that, he walked to the side of the red one and pulled open the door on one side of the T9 car before pulling out that woman whose face had turned pale due to extreme panic.


    "Are you crazy? If you wanna die, please don''t involve me in it. Why not bump into a bean curd to commit a suicide? Why do you imitate others to race cars? Why did you disguise as a tomboy? Other women have breasts yet no brains; however, you neither have breasts nor brains. If you''re free, why not marry a man and nurse some babies? By doing this, you could even make contributions to the holy war and stimulate your secondary physical growth. If you''re lucky enough, you can directly enter the list of having plump breasts yet no brains..." Zhang Tie swore loudly.


    Even having promoted to a knight and clan elder, Zhang Tie''s words were still acrid yet contained no dirty words; however, he could always realize a good effect.


    At this moment, if someone heard a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace criticizing a woman in this way, he would definitely giggle out his eyes.


    That woman was Wang Shina. After two and a half years, Wang Shina had recovered her hot dress¡ª¡ªa sexy, black, leather skirt; a pair of crystal high-heeled shoes; short hair; a pair of red lips; a pair of eyes which were as large as that of panda''s; a pair of ears with 4-5 colorful earrings on each...


    Zhang Tie made a mistake, Wang Shina''s breasts were not small. Being restricted by her white braces skirt, the two "white rabbits" looked like two ripe pawpaws which would fall off at any time.


    Wang Shina had not imagined that it was Zhang Tie who pulled her out of the vehicle. As the two cars'' windows were deep-colored, she didn''t know that it was Zhang Tie whom she was racing with just now. She just watched Zhang Tie stupidly as her pale face gradually blushed. Her eyes seemed to be misty. All of a sudden, she put her arms around Zhang Tie''s neck. Meanwhile, she stood on her toes and kissed Zhang Tie forcefully with her red, hot lips...


    Zhang Tie became stunned as he watched Wang Shina with widely opened eyes.


    It was his first time to be forced to kiss a woman...


    Zhang Tie''s spirit was shocked more than his body and senses.


    Zhang Tie could sense that this woman had used all of her strength to kiss and embrace him.


    Wang Shina also watched Zhang Tie with widely opened eyes, eyelashes against eyelashes and eyes against eyes.


    They remained still for about 10 seconds.


    After about 10 seconds, Wang Shina separated from Zhang Tie. After that, she moved back one step and faintly raised her face, "Your lips were a bit dry. I daubed some lipstick on them. You saved me and I daubed your lips with my lipstick, we''re even now!"


    Touching his lips, Zhang Tie watched this woman with a strange look. Zhang Tie knew that she was just pretending to be calm. With his knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie could clearly sense the woman''s current state¡ª¡ªher voice was quivering; her palms were oozing sweat; her face was red and hot; her ears were as red as being cooked; even her heart was pounding like beating a drum. Besides being forceful, her kissing skill was actually clumsy.


    "Even?" Zhang Tie watched Wang Shina with a strange look, "I saved your life, you daubed your lipstick on my lips. We''re even?"


    "What do you want then?" Wang Shina asked as she raised her head.


    Before Zhang Tie replied, the truck driver had already run towards here with a concerned look, "Are you alright?"


    "We''re okay!" Zhang Tie answered.


    The truck driver was a short, fat man. Although running a short distance, he was already panting, "Thank God, you''re safe; Thank God, you''re safe. My truck had just broken down. I could only park there and repair it for the time being. Your cars..."


    At the sight of the two beautiful sports cars, the truck driver''s face turned pale. If he was held responsible for this accident, he could not afford it even if he sold his truck. Honestly, that second-hand truck was worth a bit more than 10 gold coins at most. However, a slave like him was not even valuable than that second-hand truck.


    At the sight of the truck, Zhang Tie had already known what he was thinking about.


    "Don''t worry. This accident has nothing to do with you, you don''t need to pay for that!" Zhang Tie comforted him. After hearing Zhang Tie''s word, the truck driver became reassured at once. However, another surprise was waiting for him. Zhang Tie pointed at his black Faerie-Dragon T9 and told him, "Although that car has some problem; it could still work. After repairing it, you could still sell it at a high price. As we almost brought you big trouble just now, I gift that car to you as a compensation!"


    The truck driver was shocked. ''Given the wholly new body of this black Faerie-Dragon T9. Although it had some problem, it would also worth a lot after being repaired. Why would that guy gift it to me?''


    Zhang Tie didn''t want to explain anything to him. Instead, he just watched Wang Shina as he pointed at her car,"Get in!"


    The moment Wang Shina wanted to pull open the door next to the driver''s seat, she had heard, "Sit on the back!"


    After hearing this, Wang Shina pouted her mouth as she sat on the back of the red Faerie-Dragon T9. After sitting on the driver''s seat, Zhang Tie waved his hand towards that truck driver who was still dumbfounded outside the car. After that, he drove away.


    Although he drove far away, Zhang Tie could still see that truck driver being dumbfounded there.


    Wang Shina, who was sitting on the back of the car, became silent...


    Zhang Tie didn''t speak; neither did Wang Shina. They just exchanged glances with each other through the same rearview mirror.


    After 5-6 minutes, that woman finally asked, "What do you want?"


    "Cut the crap! I saved you. According to the rules of street racers and tomboys, what do you think I want?" Zhang Tie couldn''t stand to catch a glimpse of Wang Shina''s big pawpaws and beautiful legs.


    After realizing where Zhang Tie was looking at, Wang Shina''s face blushed once again. However, she still acted in a mighty way, "So what? At most making love with you!"


    Zhang Tie just replied with a smile. Wang Shina didn''t say anything. Therefore, the atmosphere in the car became a bit weird.


    The car soon arrived at Yiyang City. After Zhang Tie parked the car, he led her to a roadside luxurious hotel. Wang Shina then became completely frustrated. She had not imagined that Zhang Tie could bring her to such a place...


    "What? You''re afraid of that?" Zhang Tie watched her.


    "No...no way!" Wang Shina watched Zhang Tie in a bashful way, "I...I have an apartment in Yiyang City...Can we...not...do it...here? I''m not used to this place..."


    "Apartment? That''s not sentimental. I''ll show you a new place this time. I''m sure you will have a memorable experience!" Zhang Tie said with a glassy-eyed look.


    "A memorable experience?" Wang Shina became still when she remembered Zhang Tie''s terrifying "strength" as a knight. Actually, she didn''t have any experience in making love.


    "Will...will I...get pregnant?" Wang Shina lowered her voice as that hotel was close to her.


    "Pregnant? As long as you''re cooperative, you will not get pregnant!"


    After thinking about those weird things that she had heard of, Wang Shina''s face turned completely pale...


    ...


    After half a minute, Zhang Tie handed Wang Shina to a team of soldiers of Hurricane Corps who were on duty near the luxurious hotel. After that, he showed his tiger-shaped plate to them.


    "This woman drove on a highway at an excessively high speed. Hold her in custody and call Wang Clan to take her away!"


    After being taken away by that team of soldiers of Hurricane Corps like a national treasure, Wang Shina suddenly turned around and shrieked, "B*stard, do you know that I will leave for Taixia Country with my family members next week? Do you know why I drove alone outside there? You know nothing about that. You bastard, you idiot..."


    "Don''t race car in this way when you come back to Taixia Country. Follow your parents'' words. Additionally, thanks for your lipstick!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile. After that, he waved his hand towards her before turning around to leave...


    Watching this man''s back, Wang Shina burst out into tears...


    Wang Shina finally understood one thing that Zhang Tie had understood well before¡ª¡ªMany nice things were meant to be lost...

 797 Breaking Through Kalay Mountain Range

    Chapter 797: Breaking Through Kalay Mountain Range


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On September 3rd, south of the Kalay Mountain Range...


    Watching a team of hundreds of demonized puppets in the woods, Zhang Su sprung up and rushed towards those demonized puppets as fast as a lightning bolt with a battle call. When he was 10 m away from them, he had already released his battle qi. Before the front row of demonized puppets realized what happened, they had been exploded into pieces by Zhang Su.


    The demonized puppets shrieked and rushed towards Zhang Su dauntlessly...


    Closely after Zhang Su, the other 7 elites of this demon hunting squad charged out of the brushwood from both sides of the hillside and darted into those demonized puppets with weapons in hands like tigers entering the flock of sheep.


    In a split second, a fierce battle broke out on that hillside, which was filled with shrieks of demonized puppets and roars of human fighters...


    Over the past two months, such ambush operations would break out many times a day for these senior fighters above LV 9 dispatched by Hurricane Corps in Kalay Mountain Range. However, no matter how many demonized puppets did they kill, they would always see more and more demonized puppets. As a result, they had to retreat, retreat, and retreat. During the past two months, the special elite troops of Hurricane Corps retreated all the way from the northernmost part of Kalay Mountain Range to its southernmost part. After retreating another 100 miles, they would enter the south of Blackson Humans Corridor...


    During the past two months, this demon hunting squad of 10 elites had lost 2 members when they met a squad of demon corps. They collided with each other in less than half a second. In a split second, the woods were filled with shiny blades.


    The squad of demons was composed of 10 LV 9 iron-armored demons. By contrast, the demon hunting squad was composed of 9 LV 9 fighters and 1 LV 10 strong fighter.


    The result of that battle was that the demon squad was cleared at the cost of losing 2 members of the demon hunting squad.


    After the battle came to an end, before they started to collect their battle companion''s corpses, numerous demonized puppets had appeared in the woods. Therefore, Zhang Su had to issue the order to leave. Before leaving, the only thing they could do was to light the "glorious bombs" on their battle companions. "Glorious bomb" was like a super tiny white phosphorous gel bomb, which was carried by the elite squads of Hurricane Corps. With them, the members of the squad could set a fire when needed. In this case, the "glorious bombs" would turn the corpses into ashes as soon as possible in case of being profaned by demonized puppets.


    ...


    Like each ambush that happened before, this time, it took the elite squad less than 10 minutes to kill over 100 demonized puppets on the hillside. After that, Zhang Su had to issue the order to retreat.


    More and more demonized puppets were rushing out of the woods, followed by the endless demonized puppets corps.


    "Retreat!" Zhang Su issued the order while he released his battle qi and exploded some demonized puppets in front of him into pieces.


    When Zhang Su brought up the rear, the other members of the elite squad quickly sprung up and broke the encircling demonized puppets while stepping on their heads and shoulders and evacuated towards southwest...


    With weird shrieks, the demonized puppets kept chasing after the elite squads. However, they were gradually lagged behind. Therefore, they could only roar towards the back of the squad...


    When the following demonized puppets corps arrived, the sparse corpses of demonized puppets on the hillside became the rations of the demonized puppets corps. After picking up the bloody flesh, those following demonized puppets with grim, bloody eyes kept chewing them while blood flew out of their mouth. Meanwhile, they moved towards the south.


    After the elite squad disappeared behind a hill, the over 1,000 demonized puppets who kept chasing after the elite squad finally slowed down and started to move towards the south at a normal speed. These demonized puppets became the vanguard of this troop then...


    After two hours, this hillside where the battle broke out just now had been covered with demonized puppets. Numerous demonized puppets moved out of the woods and poured towards the south while releasing a disgusting and terrifying smell. No living being was left wherever those demonized puppets passed by.


    The same horrifying scene was happening in many places in the thousands of miles of long Kalay Mountain Range from west to east.


    About 200 million demonized puppets would move out of Kalay Mountain Range and enter the south of Blackson Humans Corridor...


    ...


    After 3 hours, Zhang Su''s squad arrived at a secret supply point about 50 miles away from the battlefield just now. While the two members stood sentry, the others started to take a rest and eat food.


    Zhang Su checked the wounds of the members of the squad one after another; at the same time, he shared the remaining all-purpose medicament and pressed meat with them.


    Even LV 9 fighters would also suffer wounds in such a fierce battle. Those demonized puppets showed their extremely undying vitality in such a battle. Thankfully, they were just bruised. Only one squad member had a deep wound on his shank.


    After 3 hours, the periphery of the wound had started to turn black. Taking a deep breath, the wounded member cut off those black skin and flesh from his shin.


    "What''s the matter, Brad?" Zhang Su walked towards him and gave him a vial of all-purpose medicament. After that, he started to clean the wound for that battle companion.


    "Si..." The man gritted his teeth as his forehead was oozing sweat, "A demonized puppets'' head had been chopped off for quite a while so I thought it was already dead. However, when I moved to its head, I got a bite on my shin. F*ck, it bit off a piece of flesh..."


    Although being a white tough guy, he could speak Hua language very fluently.


    As demonized puppets carried a special biotoxin, whenever being bitten or scratched by them or being sprinkled by their blood on one''s wounds, humans would suffer a risk of being infected. Although they would not die at once, their battle force would be sharply weakened as a result.


    After daubing a vial of all-purpose medicament onto Brad''s wound, Zhang Su dropped his own vial of all-purpose medicament to Brad.


    "Ahh, head, what about you then?" After catching the medicament, Brad asked with a bashful look.


    "It''s okay, I don''t need it for the time being..."


    Brad didn''t say anything. He just raised his head and bottomed up that vial of all-purpose medicament.


    "After resting for half an hour, we will evacuate..." Zhang Su issued an order after taking a look at the watch on his wrist.


    Everybody knew what did the word "evacuate" mean. Therefore, they all let out a deep sigh.


    It was indeed the time to evacuate. Based on the moving speed of demonized puppets, the vanguard of demonized puppets corps would enter the south of Kalay Mountain Range by the next sunrise.


    After issuing the order, Zhang Su leaned against a rock and started to gnaw his pressed meat.


    After fighting over 2 months in Kalay Mountain Range, the entire squad understood that they had to keep their minimal battle force so as to survive themselves no matter how many demonized puppets were in front of them. With the minimal battle force, they should at least be able to handle super iron-armored demon squads or escape. Compared to those demonized puppets, the iron-armored demon squads were real tricky forces of the super demon corps. Sometimes, iron-armored demon squads were mixed in demonized puppets; sometimes, they acted independently. Therefore, they were very tricky.


    Over the past two months, Zhang Su''s beard had been as long as 3 cm. His skin became a bit swarthy. Besides, he turned thinner than before. His combat uniform was so dirty that its color could almost not be identified while releasing a dense smell. All the other members of the elite squad were like him. They had not taken off their clothes during the past two months at all. Fleas could be seen on them while their hair contained white flea eggs. Even immortals would look like beggars after fighting over 2 months in such an environment.


    All the elites looked like savages and beggars. However, they became more capable and vigorous than before.


    By this chance, the members of the squad started to catch fleas and insects by fingernails. They would squeeze those fleas and insects to the death. Although his eyes were closed, Zhang Su always heard faint claps "Pah" "Pah" "Pah" "Pah" beside him.


    It became this squad''s only interest to squeeze fleas and flea eggs by their fingernails when they were relaxing themselves during the past two months.


    Only after less than 10 minutes, they had heard two cries of chickadees from afar.


    The moment they heard that had all of them sprung up at once and entered the combat mode. After seeing Zhang Su''s gestures, they silently formed a combat formation and moved towards the far while lowering their bodies...


    ...


    Zhang Su and his team members ambushed behind a thorn bush at the end of the reeds on the riverside. Everybody held their breath and watched the swaying reeds silently...


    Some living beings were moving towards here from the reeds. As there was a supply point in the nearby, if the arrivers were also an elite squad of Hurricane Corps, they should have sent a secret signal so as to confirm their status in case of misunderstanding.


    However, there was no secret signal.


    Having just cut off more than 0.5 kgs of flesh from his shin, Brad seemed to forget about the pains. Narrowing his eyes, he licked his lips and grasped tightly the black matte long sword. Meanwhile, he faintly lowered his body and prepared for launching the fatal attack towards his target.


    According to the swaying reeds, they realized that the opponents might contain 5-10 living beings.


    ...


    When the first person drilled out of the reeds, all the onlookers became stunned.


    Six people drilled out of there in total, instead of being iron-armored demons or demonized puppets. In combat uniforms, they all looked extremely fatigued.


    Zhang Su''s squad didn''t rush towards them; instead, they just observed them in the hidden place...


    A thin and short guy raised his head and sniffed forcefully before murmuring something. The other 5 people with collars over their necks then became intense at once as they prepared for defense.


    "We''re demon hunting squad of Guang Republic, I''m Lieutenant Colonel Prague, the head of the squad. Can the surrounding friends show yourself? As we''re all humans, please give way to our brothers." A tall, tough guy muffled as he kept glancing around with shrewd eyes and ax in hand.


    After making a gesture, Zhang Su and the other members stood up one after another.


    "We''re the 27th squad of the special elite squad of Hurricane Corps, Huaiyuan Palace, Jinyun Country. I''m Zhang Su, the head of this squad..."


    Out of military etiquette, Zhang Su also revealed their background as he stood up.


    Watching Zhang Su and the surrounding guys and hearing their background, those guys became reassured at once as they hushed and put away their weapons.


    "Son of a b*tch. One of your squads set a fire in the mountain over 600 miles from here. Thankfully, we ran faster than those demonized puppets; otherwise, we''ve long been charred flesh!" The tough guy with ax swore as he gazed at that supply bag at Zhang Su''s waist and forcefully swallowed his saliva.


    Zhang Su directly threw that supply bag to him, which still contained some pressed meat.


    That tough guy instantly caught the supply bag and opened it. He then shared some pressed meat with his brothers. After that, he put one piece into his mouth and chewed it.


    "Any more?" The tough guy asked unclearly as he chewed forcefully.


    Zhang Su threw a glance at the other two team members. Two more supply bags flew towards them.


    "What about your partners?"


    After hearing this question, those guys became silent for a second as they stopped chewing. The tough guy replied with red eyes, "They''ve gone!" After that, he started to tear off his pressed meat while gritting his teeth...


    Zhang Su and his team members became silent too. Over the past two months, far more than these guys of Gung Republic had sacrificed in Kalay Mountain Range...


    In less than 2 minutes, those guys had eaten up their pressed meat as they looked a bit more spirited.


    Watching them finishing the food, Zhang Su opened his mouth, "Where are you going? Back to Gung Republic?"


    Lieutenant Colonel Prague became silent for a second before replying, "One month ago, our demon hunting squad received a piece of domestic information for the last time when Gung Republic was experiencing a large-scale riot. The president disappeared overnight. The greater part of the congressmen had escaped away. I''m afraid that Gung Republic has already perished. Since the riot broke out, our supply has been cut off. Therefore, we don''t know where to go. As human fighters, we''ve already been conscientious and responsible. The demons will break through Kalay Mountain Range in two days. We just want to leave out of this motherf*cking place..."


    Watching their frustrated faces, Zhang Su suddenly asked, "Do you want to join Hurricane Corps?"


    "Do you want to keep fighting here?" After exchanging a glance with the others, Lieutenant Colonel asked.


    "No, we will also evacuate from here. We''ve tried our best. We will go back to Huaiyuan Prefecture!"


    "What about the future? Do you plan to fight demons to the death or leave Waii Sub-continent?"


    "Leave first. We will have a chance to fight demons in the future. The holy war has just come to a start!" Zhang Su replied without any hesitation.


    Prague threw a glance at his partners. After exchanging a glance with each other, they faintly nodded.


    "Well, we''re in!"


    "After joining Hurricane Corps, the corps will make an investigation about your background. If you''re innocent, you will be the official soldiers in active service of Hurricane Corps. After that, you will take the positions which could match your abilities. However, now, we have to leave out of here. You have to follow my command for the time being. Am I clear?"


    "Do we have food?"


    "Of course, enough food!"


    "If we encounter demons, who will fight?"


    "Together, I will bring up the rear!"


    "I agree!" The Lieutenant Colonel Prague gave a salute to Zhang Su solemnly. Zhang Su gave one salute to him too.


    After making brief introductions to each other, the two squads converged into one and evacuated towards the south...


    "By the way, how did you find us just now?" Zhang Su asked Lieutenant Colonel Prague.


    "Jessie, his nose has saved us more than once in Kalay Mountain Range!" Prague patted the short guy''s shoulder.


    ...


    At midnight, after 8 hours of rapid march, Zhang Su finally led the 10 people out of Kalay Mountain Range.


    The moment they left Kalay Mountain Range had they felt something flying over their heads. Closely after that, they heard rumbling thunders...


    All of them raised their heads as they saw six colorful meteors colliding in the sky...


    ''Knights'' combat?'' Zhang Su instantly led all the others to a hidden place as they held their breath and watched the fierce battle in the sky with widely opened eyes...


    The 6 meteors were fighting in two groups, 3 ones in one group. They moved so fast just like two groups of triangles which constantly changed its shape. The colorful knight''s battle qi and battle skills shot into the sky, making all the stars lose their brilliance...


    After one hour, the two groups of meteors separated from each other. One group moved towards the north while the other became a bit stagnated before moving towards the south. However, when the three meteors flew above the heads of Zhang Su and the other guys, one of them suddenly lost its brilliance...


    Before Zhang Su and the others realized what happened, the meteor had already appeared right a few meters above them.


    "Ahh, fight them to the death!" After knowing that he was discovered by a knight, Prague became stiff all over as he was going to pull out his saber. However, he was stopped by Zhang Su at once.


    In the next second, all the members of special elite squad of Hurricane Corps including Zhang Su walked out of the woods and gave a salute to the knight, "Corps leader!"


    ''Corps leader?'' All the other guys who had just joined Hurricane Corps were so shocked that they widely opened their mouths.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could see Zhang Su here. Therefore, he became reassured. As he descended and watched those elites of Hurricane Corps like savages and beggars, he gave a solemn salute to them.


    "Well done. The No. 7 evacuation point is not far from here. There''s an airship waiting for you. The 27th squad is the last batch of Hurricane Corps in Kalay Mountain Range. Hurry up. As I''m here, demons and wing demons would not arrive here for the time being. You can have a good sleep in the airship tonight!"


    After hearing that Zhang Tie was going to bring up the rear for the elite squad of Hurricane Corps in the south edge of Kalay Mountain Range, all the elites became moved, including Zhang Su. With red eyes, they felt something rolling in their throats; however, they could not say it.


    Everybody gave a military salute to Zhang Tie once again before continuing to evacuate towards the south.


    Since the beginning, Zhang Tie and Zhang Su exchanged a glance with each other.


    Zhang Tie saw them off...


    With a sound of the wind, Elder Lan of Lan Clan who had met Zhang Tie in Selnes Theater of Operations and an elder of Ou Clan had arrived at Zhang Tie''s sides.


    They both watched Zhang Tie with a dubious look.


    The two elders also noticed the squad of soldiers downside here just now; however, they didn''t understand why Zhang Tie came down here.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile towards the two elders, "Zhang Su, my cousin was here. I came to greet him and let them go back as soon as possible!"


    Although it was not difficult for a knight to identify people downside there; however, Zhang Tie did it when he was in a 3-in-1 state. It was amazing.


    Elder Lan and Elder Ou found an amazed look from the opponent''s eyes.


    "The vanguard of demonized puppets would enter the south of Kalay Mountain Range tomorrow. After staying in the south edge of Kalay Mountain Range for over 2 months, it should be the last night we stay here. Two squads of Lan Clan are still inside. I''m afraid they''ve already sacrificed. After tonight, we will go back to Jinyun Country and arrange Lan''s corps to evacuate from Waii Sub-continent. We should leave out of here sooner or later!" Elder Lan let out a sigh.


    Elder Ou faintly nodded, "As we''ve lost the support of humans, we should leave out of here as soon as possible."


    Watching the gloomy Kalay Mountain Range in the far, Zhang Tie faintly frowned as he nodded. Over the past two months, the situation in the southern human countries had been deteriorating. When the vanguard of demonized puppets corps entered the south of Waii Sub-continent tomorrow, it would be the last straw which crushed the camel...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what would happen after tomorrow. There was one point that he was sure of that more and more people would die after tomorrow...

 798 Secondary Mutation

    Chapter 798: Secondary Mutation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie and the other two knights of Jinyun Country had already encamped on the south edge of Kalay Mountain Range for over one month.


    At such a critical moment, as knights on Waii Sub-continent, although they would not fight demon corps and demon general to the death, they also had a lot of things to do. They could at least prevent some knights of demons and Three-eye Association clans from passing over Kalay Mountain Range and threatening southern human countries in a period.


    As the demon general had suffered losses twice from humans in front of Nein City and Upton City, it chose to steadily push forward with demonized puppets as the vanguard of the corps this time. Besides, the knights of demons and Three-eye Association became relatively prudent in actions. As a result, the knights of humans and the knights of demons and Three-eye Association had been in a stalemate for over one month.


    As the demon general felt that he would definitely win the battle this time, he didn''t expect to risk dangers with precious knights and soldiers of demon corps in case of falling in the trap of humans once again.


    In the eyes of the demon general, the corps of about 200 million demonized puppets could overwhelm everything. Therefore, the minimal cost for them to occupy Blackson Humans Corridor was to have its elites follow the demonized puppets corps.


    For human knights in southern countries, few of them would like to fight the knights of demons and Three-eye Association clans to the death.


    If not because of the special honor and responsibilities of knights, most of the human knights might have left Waii Sub-continent.


    On September 4th, the vanguard of demonized puppets had exited Kalay Mountain Range completely, which indicated a worse situation facing southern countries...


    Right on the same day, Zhang Tie and the other human knights started to evacuate from the south edge of Kalay Mountain Range...


    After retreating hundreds of miles, Zhang Tie, Elder Lan Yuchen and Elder Ou Geqing finally boarded a fury-level airship and returned to Jinyun Country.


    Like how knights of Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace used the character " Ä 1" as the exclusive middle character of their official appellations, knights of Lan Clan of Banxin Palace used " Óñ 2" as the exclusive middle character of their official appellations while knights of Ou Clan of Chuixue Palace used " ¸ê 3" as the exclusive middle character of their official appellations. None of the other clans'' knights could use characters "ÄÂ", "Óñ" and "¸ê" as the middle characters of their official appellations.


    Although Zhang Tie could fly all the way to Jinyun Country, he was not that stupid to expose such a shocking ability to the public at this moment.


    The airship which would carry the three knights back to Huaiyuan Prefecture was waiting for them in Silverpine City, the capital city of Riska Duchy, a small country in the south of Kalay Mountain Range. When they left Silverpine City by that airship, the entire city had become empty except for the 40,000 city guards.


    When the airship lifted off, all the 40,000 city guards then saw off this airship while chesting out and giving a salute to the airship.


    Standing on the deck of the airship, Zhang Tie watched the city guards in Silverpine City with complex moods.


    These city guards had to sacrifice themselves here. They stayed here to fight demons to the death so that their family members could have a chance to leave Waii Sub-continent.


    Each one who stayed here could have 5 of their family members leave Waii Sub-continent. There were 20 days''grains left in this city for these city guards. As long as they blocked the demonized puppets for 7 days, they could escape.


    Many soldiers saw a faint hope of "7 days". Actually, as Zhang Tie had experienced the battle in Selnes Theater of Operations, he knew that these city guards could at most stand 3 days even if they used the city-defense facilities of Silverpine City to resist demons, not to mention 7 days. Therefore, these guys could barely survive themselves. Additionally, they could only stop a small part of the total demonized puppets. More demonized puppets would continue marching southwards while ignoring the existence of this city.


    All the other human cities in the south of Kalay Mountain Range adopted the same simulative policy to encourage their soldiers to stay in their cities to fight demons even in the previous two holy wars.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether this policy was fair or not. All those human soldiers who stayed here to fight demons had common family conditions. None of the rich or powerful guys would like to stay to fight demons to the death. Additionally, policymakers had to make a decision when not everyone could leave out of here safe and sound. In such a critical moment, they had to follow the purest survival of law by exchanging lives for lives. It was icy yet realistic. No sacrifice, no new lives. Everything complied with the simplest numbers game¡ª¡ªas one soldier could at least eliminate 5 enemies with the advantage of city-defense weapons and city walls, they could have 5 of their relatives leave.


    Those commoners or their family members, who would not like to stay to defend cities, would have a rare chance to survive themselves if they wanted to leave Waii Sub-continent. They would be killed by demons or had to escape to the wilderness which was not marked on the map or had not been explored by humans for good luck.


    The so-called phrases like priceless life or life''s dignity became especially ridiculous at this moment.


    In holy wars, humans realized that lives could be bought at the lowest prices. The poorer the humans were, the cheaper their lives would be.


    As a knight who grew up from a grassroot, Zhang Tie couldn''t recover his composure for a long time when he realized that numerous grassroots were destined to be killed by demons.


    "Come on in the cabin. It''s their own choice. Even though we are knights, we can do nothing for them. An individual''s strength is too trivial in the holy war. If you want to master more people''s fates, you have to be more powerful!" Elder Yuchen persuaded Zhang Tie in a low voice as he seemed to have sensed Zhang Tie''s complex moods.


    Tightly clenching his fists, Zhang Tie took a deep breath. Closely after that, he entered the cabin together with Elder Lan.


    ''If you want to master more people''s fates, you have to be more powerful!''¡ª¡ªZhang Tie kept this word deep in mind.


    After entering his own berth cabin, Zhang Tie instantly entered elements realm to start his cultivation.


    ...


    After 3 days, the fury-level airship landed in a city for supply. At midnight, Zhang Tie suddenly heard a rustle outside the airship. Therefore, he exited the elements realm. After that, he pushed open the hatch and walked out to take a look.


    Almost at the same time, Elder Lan Yuchen and Elder Ou Geqing also ended their cultivation and walked out of their own cabins. The three knights then exchanged a glance with each other.


    "Let''s take a look on the deck!" Elder Geqing suggested.


    When they came to the deck, they saw the night was tinged with a glow of flames. The entire city was in a chaos while a riot and a killing spree were fermenting in the night. Like fangs of poisonous snakes, they stabbed into the nerve center of this city while injecting their venom in it, causing everything to go berserk.


    The captain of the airship hurriedly rushed to the deck with a solemn look.


    "Sir, a riot is breaking out in Xinwu City. More and more mobs were gathering outside the airship base!"


    "How long will it take the airship to finish its supply?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "1.5 hours!"


    "Tell the crew to prepare for the attack. Finish the supply and set off as soon as possible!" Zhang Tie issued the order.


    "Yes, sir!" The captain gave a salute to Zhang Tie. Closely after that, he rushed back to convey Zhang Tie''s instructions.


    "Sometimes, humans are more terrifying than demons!" Elder Ou Geqing shook his head as he watched the grim flames in the distance.


    "Many people would die in each holy war. In the second holy war, 1/5 of the total number of corpses were from humans. Greed, fear, desire, hatred, all this made humans more terrifying than demons!" Elder Lan Yuchen said with full wisdom, "Facing demons, if humans don''t have a cohesiveness, the greater part of them will kill each other before the arrival of demons!"


    "Therefore, we have to go back to Taixia Country!" Ou Geqing put it straight, "This young generation is not qualified to cooperate with."


    Elder Lan Yuchen nodded.


    Narrowing his eyes, Zhang Tie watched the flames outside the airship base silently...


    ...


    One hour later, before the airship finished its supply, the periphery of the airship base had been broken through by mobs. When the walls were pushed down, over 10,000 mobs poured in with torches and weapons.


    Under the leadership of a commissioned officer, a team of soldiers blocked those mobs.


    Watching these full-armored soldiers, those mobs became stagnated.


    "Outsiders are forbidden in this prohibited military zone..." a commissioned officer in glasses shouted towards those mobs. Closely after saying this, he turned around and issued an order to his subordinates, "These people are citizens of Xinwu City. They are not demons. You''re not allowed to move without my consent!"


    Those armored soldiers with spears exchanged glances with each other.


    The mobs slowed down; however they still kept moving closer towards these soldiers.


    "There are airships and we also have the right to leave..." A leader of the mobs shouted to instigate others to swarm up.


    "You can leave. However, this airship is not available to you. You have no right to use it..." That young commissioned officer in glasses reproached with a solemn look, "Please stop, don''t move closer!"


    "We just want to survive ourselves. We''re the citizens of Xinwu City. We''re also entitled to leave out of here..." The leader of mobs tore off his buttons and exposed his chest. Closely after that, he patted his chest and kept moving forward, "You''ve not even killed one demon. Do you think it is reasonable to let us bleed for you? Come on! Kill me! Kill us! We''re all citizens of Xinwu City. Come on! Kill us..."


    "Repeat. Please stop. This is the prohibited military zone..." The young commissioned officer in a pair of glasses shouted once again with sweat all over his forehead. He attempted to make more people hear his words. Watching those mobs moving closer, those soldiers behind him became restless.


    When they were only a few meters away from each other, the young commissioned officer in glasses still stretched his arms and shouted...


    "Take easy, easy. As the demons have not arrived here, you also have a chance to leave. Xinwu City should not be chaotic at this moment..."


    With weird eyes, the head of mobs suddenly sprung up with a dagger in hand. In the next 0.1 second, he forcefully stabbed into the commissioned officer''s heart. Widely opening his eyes, the commissioned officer watched that mob, who patted his chest with a generous look and had just stabbed into his heart with a dagger with widely opened eyes, spurting out blood.


    Although the young commissioned officer wanted to say something, he failed to do that.


    With an extremely grim look, the head of mobs drew out his dagger and stabbed into the neck of that young commissioned officer, who didn''t allow soldiers to attack him just now. He then fell down together with that commissioned officer.


    Blood spurted out of the commissioned officer''s neck and sprayed over the face of the head of mobs. Watching someone launching the attack, all the other mobs swarmed up and covered those soldiers in the airship base all of a sudden.


    In such a short distance, as long as the soldiers who were holding spears lost their initiative, they were destined to experience a miserable loss facing the mobs whose number was many times more than that of theirs.


    ...


    After stabbing dozens of times over the body of that young commissioned officer in glasses, the face of the head of the mobs was completely covered with the blood from the neck of that young commissioned officer.


    The mob head got up and broke the pair of glasses into pieces by his foot. After that, he wiped off the blood over his face. He then drew out the sword from the waist of that young commissioned officer before roaring, "Go get them. As long as you get the airships here, you will leave. Keep the crew alive and have them serve us. Kill all the others!"


    The head mob raised his arm as numerous citizens rushed towards those airships.


    ...


    Standing on the high deck of one airship, Zhang Tie just watched the chaotic scene in the far. He saw how that young commissioned officer was killed and fell down in front of those people whom he wanted to protect.


    Zhang Tie''s face gradually turned gloomy...


    ...


    The huge body of fury-level airship looked outstanding among all those small and medium-sized airships in the airship base.


    At the sight of fury-level airship where Zhang Tie was in, some head mobs'' eyes brightened. After exchanging a glance with each other, they ran towards here at once.


    The retinue of that airship had formed a cordon around that airship.


    This airship was the war airship of Hurricane Corps, which was the exclusive traffic tool of the corps leader. Each one of the crew was a powerhouse. There were many fighters above LV 10 inside the airship. Sensing those guys'' iron-blood battle qi and shiny weapons, those mobs who ran over here became stagnated at once.


    "We''re citizens of Xinwu City. This city has been taken over by the Citizens Committee. We will expropriate your airship!" The head mob watched that beautiful fury-level airship with greedy eyes as he slowed down.


    "Stop!" A black-face commissioned officer shouted icily.


    "I''ve told you, this place has been taken over by our Citizens Committee..." The head mob shouted as he moved forward with greedy eyes.


    "Ready!" The black-face commissioned officer of Hurricane Corps just raised his arm and ordered those soldiers to get ready for the coming combat.


    With a sound of "Huala", all the soldiers around that airship strode one step forward and targeted their bright weapons towards those mobs who were moving towards them.


    At the sight of this, those mobs stopped.


    "What? You want to slaughter the citizens..." The head mob kept urging in the same trick as he tore off his clothes and exposed his chest, "Come on, come on, come on..."


    Those mobs echoed.


    Elder Lan and Elder Ou then looked at Zhang Tie...


    With a glassy-eyed look, Zhang Tie just raised his hand while a battle qi flew off his finger and blew up this head mob into pieces.


    Zhang Tie issued an order icily, "As they are influencing the supply of the airship, kill those within 50 m range of the airship!"


    Soon after Zhang Tie''s words, those soldiers of Hurricane Corps had charged towards those front mobs like how a tiger entered a flock of sheep. In a split second, those leading mobs had been chopped off their heads.


    In less than 2 minutes, all the mobs being less than 50 m away from the airship had been swept while their corpses covered the periphery of the airship. All the other mobs just cried and ran away. When they found those guards of that airship didn''t chase after them, they started to watch those dead partners who had turned into corpses within 50 m of that airship. Nobody of them dared approach that airship again...


    After half an hour, the airship finished its supply. All the crew and guards boarded. Under the gaze of those mobs, The fury-level airship left for Huaiyuan Palace...


    ...


    After passing by Kalay Mountain Range, the demon corps rolled towards the south like a fierce flood...


    As a result, human cities were collapsed one after another; human countries perished one after another. The entire Waii Sub-continent quivered under the overwhelming attack of demons. Men and beasts were involved in calamities...


    The Hurricane Corps in Huaiyuan Prefecture started to evacuate by batches...


    By the latter part of October, the greater part of countries and regions in the south of Kalay Mountain Range had collapsed.


    By the end of November, some major Hua clans in the north of Jinyun Country had evacuated completely...


    Zhang Tie had also made preparations for the final combat.


    ...


    On November 23, in the temporary palace of the corps leader of Hurricane Corps...


    "The 1st company of the vanguard of the demon corps has already arrived at the north bank of Yuanjiang River one hour ago..." The director of the temporary palace hurriedly came to the office of the corps leader and reported it to Zhang Tie calmly.


    Zhang Tie put away his remote-sensing crystal. Just now, he had contacted his elder brother. His family members were concerned about him very much. In the late month, Zhang Tie''s mom requested Zhang Tie''s elder brother to contact Zhang Tie three times a day for the sake of Zhang Tie''s safety.


    "The garrisons of Hurricane Corps boarded right away. Be ready to leave in 2 hours..."


    "Yes, sir!" The director of the temporary palace gave a salute to Zhang Tie before turning around quickly.


    Zhang Tie stood up and glanced over this office for the last time as he prepared to leave...


    Right then, Heller, who had not contacted him for a long time, uttered in Zhang Tie''s mind, "Castle Lord, there''s a news I think you should know!"


    Zhang Tie kept walking forward as he asked Heller in mind, "Go ahead?"


    "The mutated ptomaine miasma that you sent in Castle of Black Iron last time has already accomplished its secondary mutation..."


    Zhang Tie was shocked as he stopped his footsteps...

 799 Leave and Return

    Chapter 799: Leave and Return


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It was quiet and solemn at the piers of Yiyang Harbor. Besides the last batch of soldiers of Hurricane Corps, tens of thousands of citizens of Yiyang City would leave by the fleet. After leaving, the entire Yiyang City and the three cities in Huaiyuan Prefecture would almost become empty.


    If demons could arrive here, it meant that the entire Waii Sub-continent would collapse by then. Zhang Tie felt that it was meaningless to see over 100,000 people die in the three hopeless cities only to consume a few times more demonized puppets. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t arrange "volunteers" to safeguard the three cities. He had all of them transported away.


    A row of huge ships which varied from 10,000 tons to 1 million tons were anchored at the piers while passengers were walking towards their targeted ships silently.


    After all of them boarded, the ships left for the east with whistles.


    In front of some 1 million-ton huge ships, passengers were boarding in long queues. They were not holding tickets which had certain prices; instead, each one of them was holding a contract in Hua and Hebrew languages with their fingerprint on it. In this contract, they agreed to give up a part of their freedom and rights, to live in some lower provinces or remote places on the Eastern Continent and follow the partial arrangement of Party A.


    Everything had two sides. Although it was a disaster for Waii Sub-continent, it was the best chance for numerous major clans, business groups, even local governments in lower provinces and remote places of Taixia Country to gain labor resources at the cheapest price and carry out fundamental development in their wild and barren land.


    This policy was called "serving the border areas" in Taixia Country.


    As a national policy in Taixia Country, in each holy war, Taixia Country would gain a lot of foreigners from other Sub-continents. These foreigners would be used to reclaim their wastelands.


    Most of the wastelands were in lower provinces of Taixia or more primitive, wild provinces.


    Taixia Country had already formulated a complete package of laws and mechanism so as to ensure the smooth implementation of this national policy.


    In holy wars, the labor force was also a special, powerful resource. Those foreigners who headed for border areas of Taixia Country might not be able to fight on battlefields; however, as long as they were alive, they would be valuable by doing labor work or delivering babies.


    In Taixia Country, whenever the holy war broke out, "serving the border areas" would become a big business. Those major clans which were ambitious to expand their clans'' territories in Taixia Country and make a pile would focuse on these foreigners.


    When they arrived at Taixia, although these foreigners were not slaves, they were only one level higher than slaves. They were inhabitants in border areas of Taixia Country.


    It was a trade for these foreigners to become inhabitants in border areas of Taixia Country. Those major clans and business groups took them away from dangerous sub-continents and avoided them from being killed by demons. As a compensation, they needed to serve those people on the contract as members of the "serving the border areas" contingent in Taixia Country. They would contribute their loyalty, sweat, wisdom even lives to Taixia Country.


    Since the start of this holy war, those huge ships had been constantly arriving at Yiyang Harbor to do the business of "serving the border areas". Half a year ago, this phenomenon reached its climax. They left Yiyang Harbor each day with 10,000-100,000 non-Hua people towards Taixia Country for "serving the border areas".


    About 700,000 non-Hua people were transported to Youzhou Province of Taixia Country from Huaiyuan Palace. Most of them were talented workers, technicians, engineers and handicraftsmen.


    Over the past half a year, as the corps leader of Hurricane Corps, Zhang Tie''s most important responsibility was to ensure that those "serving the border areas" ships could return with full loads smoothly.


    Those "serving the border areas" ships had made agreements with Huaiyuan Palace. In this business, Huaiyuan Palace made great profits.


    Zhang Tie''s responsibility was to save as more people as possible while ensuring the interest of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Not everybody could serve the border areas of Taixia Country as they would. In such a critical moment, it became an extravagant desire, a welfare which could save their lives and a special treatment for many commoners to become inhabitants in border areas of Taixia Country. Those who could have the access to serve the border areas in Taixia Country were those whose family members were left to resist demons in their own cities. These people hated demons; meanwhile, they knew that it was a rare chance for them to leave Waii Sub-continent. Therefore, they would especially treasure the chance to serve the border areas of Taixia Country. For those people, they would be satisfied as long as they could arrive at Taixia Country and live steadily and safely with the protection of Taixia Country, the most powerful human country in this age.


    Compared to those commoners displaced by the war, the hard work that they should do in the border areas of Taixia Country was nothing serious at all. They had long deleted the words "hard work" and "tired" from their life dictionary.


    As long as they boarded the "serving the border areas" ships, the kids would be separated from their parents. Take a 1 million-ton huge ship Flyingwhale as an instance, the moment the ship set off, those kids would be taken into different classrooms in different sizes. Each kid would get an exercise book and a pencil when they entered the classroom. A 60-year-old black-skinned teacher in glasses with gray hair wrote two Hua characters on the blackboard by chalk¡ª¡ªÌ«ÏÄ!


    After experiencing so many troubles with their family members, these kids were maturer than those of the same age. Although hundreds of kids were in this classroom, it was pretty quiet.


    After writing down the two characters, that black-skinned teacher turned around and watched those kids whose age ranged from 7 to 15 years old and spoke in Hebrew.


    "When the ship sets off, each inch of the deck and cabin in this ship belongs to Taixia Country. You''re already standing on the land of Taixia Country. Taixia has become your homeland. From today on, you have to learn everything about Taixia Country from me before you disembark. After disembarking, you will find that the more Hua words you learn, the better life you will have than others in the future and the faster you will upgrade from your current class to the mainstream society of Hua people and gain more social respect and approval. I hope you to upgrade from your current status as inhabitants in border areas to the official citizens of Taixia Country. I hope you could expand broader space for your families and your kids in the future." That teacher said as he watched those kids. He knew that these kids might not understand his words for the time being. However, they would understand it sooner or later. He then turned around and pointed at the two characters on the blackboard by his pointer, "Read after me¡ª¡ªTAIXIA..."


    "TAIXIA"¡ª¡ªHundreds of kids read after him in a non-fluent way.


    "This is where we''re heading for. The greatest and most prosperous human country in this age and the only human country which could defeat demons. Without Taixia Country on the back, there would be no human. If you left Taixia by chance in the future and if someone asked you which country did you come from, you could tell him loudly that you come from Taixia Country. Read after me¡ª¡ªTAIXIA"


    "TAIXIA"


    This time, these kids had a more accurate pronunciation.


    After half an hour, the teacher started to check the two Hua characters "Ì«ÏÄ" on their exercise books. The one with the best characters and the most accurate pronunciation would gain an apple as a reward.


    Watching that red apple, all the kids'' eyes brightened up.


    ...


    At night, the last huge ship where Zhang Tie was in left Yiyang Harbor, which meant that the entire Yiyang City was deserted.


    Standing on the deck, Zhang Tie watched this city which was going to be occupied by demons with a strange eye light.


    ...


    After the fleet had set off Waii Sub-continent and sailed 3 days on the vast ocean towards the Eastern Continent being escorted by Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie knew that the fleet would not be raided by demon knights anymore. Therefore, he declared his decision to the commissioned officers of Hurricane Corps.


    After declaring this decision, Zhang Tie revealed a smile towards the confused and shocked commissioned officers, "I''ve already contacted the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace and told them about my decision. It was my honor to be the corps leader of Hurricane Corps these couple of years and stick to the end on Waii Sub-continent with you. Your performance is perfect. Honestly, I don''t think that I''m a good corps leader. Thankfully, I''m reassured after taking you out of there. When you arrive at Youzhou Province, you will have a new corps leader and a new start. I have one sentence for you, "With your fists, you could launch a more powerful strike tomorrow!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie stood up and gave a military salute to all the commissioned officers of the corps.


    Facing the silent gaze and solemn salute, Zhang Tie put his tiger-shaped military plate of Hurricane Corps on the table of the conference room before turning around to leave.


    After leaving the conference room, Zhang Tie found Donder who was also in this huge ship and told Donder about his plan, as a kind of farewell.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s decision, Donder sprung up at once. Being driven extremely furious, he directly pointed at Zhang Tie''s nose with a red face and swore him regardless of Zhang Tie''s current noble status, just like how he blamed Zhang Tie in Blackhot City as Zhang Tie''s boss, "Do you know how many knights do demons and Three-eye Association have? Do you know that the demon general could kill you multiple times by just one hand? Do you really think that you''re unrivaled after becoming a bullsh*t knight? Do you think you''re the incarnation of the savior or what? Or do you think that you''ve already formed 3-5 chakras? How could this father have such a stupid student like you? How could you make such a stupid choice?"


    Zhang Tie wiped off the saliva that Donder sprayed on his face and gave a big hug to Donder. As a result, Donder could not even move. He then forcefully patted Donder''s shoulder and told him in a low voice, "Don''t worry. I will not die. I''ve not even seen my wives and kids on the Eastern Continent yet. How could I die on Waii Sub-continent?"


    "Why do you..."


    "Trust me!"


    Watching Zhang Tie''s face seriously, Donder finally let out a sigh, "If you really want to go back, I have one sentence to tell you. You''d better always keep it in mind!"


    "What''s that?"


    "If you die, another man would definitely make love with your women and have your kids!"


    Zhang Tie''s face twitched as he replied, "Why not say something good?"


    "Good words cannot hurt your soul!" Donder said with a solemn look.


    F*ck¡ª¡ª


    Zhang Tie almost wanted to give up his plan after hearing Donder''s words. However, after struggling for a while, Zhang Tie finally stuck to his plan. ''I have to do this.''


    Nobody else knew that Zhang Tie would leave except for Donder and those senior commissioned officers of Hurricane Corps...


    After leaving the fleet, Zhang Tie returned to Waii Sub-continent without any concern...

 800 The Reappearance of Gorath

    Chapter 800: The Reappearance of Gorath


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The winter grew increasingly colder. In late December, it was snowing heavily. The river in the upper reach of Yuanjiang River in the territory of Qilan Country had already been frozen. The cold wave spread over Blackhot Humans Corridor. Additionally, the demonized puppets corps which had wandered in the south bank of Yuanjiang River for over one month finally stepped on the frozen river and rushed into the territory of Qilan Country like black locusts.


    When the first batch of demonzied puppets rushed over Yuanjiang River, the demon general was standing on a hill in the south bank of Yuanjiang River. The bloody cape of demon general flew in the chilly north wind and sounded like fierce flames, which looked terrifying. The snowflakes had been vaporized by its invisible battle qi before falling on its body...


    Watching more and more demonized puppets crossing over Yuanjiang River, the demon general became extremely ambitious.


    He finally conquered this sub-continent.


    The current situation was not the best one as was designed by the demon general. According to the best design, at least over 300 million humans were preserved on Waii Sub-continent at this moment. Under the rule of Three-eye Associations, the 300 million humans would release a great war potential. Under the rule of demon general, the demon corps and those Three-eye Association clans would constantly occupy the entire Waii Sub-continent and all the nearby human territories and countries; turn this sub-continent into a fortress that could constantly confront humans and consume humans'' strength on the ground.


    However, all these illusions vanished at this moment.


    Everything had to be paid.


    The price of gaining 200 million demonized puppets was to overdraft and consume the war potential across this sub-continent under the rule of demons and Three-eye Association.


    Demonized puppets were the best gears of war. However, they could not be created without humans as raw materials or deliver to babies. To put it straight, they could not even match the lowest-end beasts. By contrast, humans had endless creative thoughts and imaginations which were what demons lacked.


    Humans could smelt metals and invent various machines and tools. They could also build cities and make overall yet detailed plans about everything. They could even create poems, music and beautiful drawings. However, demonized puppets could not do it. More than that, demonized puppets could not do many other things that humans could do. All the demons were very jealous of all these instincts of humans.


    Through the so-called holy wars, demons and their human agencies would force humans to be their slaves and take humans'' wisdom and talents even secrets in their bloodlines and genes whenever they wanted. Only in this way could demons grow brilliant and powerful and restore the honor of their ancestors. This was the most solemn pledge that each demon had made towards the supreme demon god. It was the mission and fate for each knight of demons and Three-eye Association to conquer humans.


    The demon general moved its eyes away from Yuanjiang River and looked to the east. Waii Sub-continent was just a beginning of the holy war. The most powerful enemy of demons was on the vast Eastern Continent.


    The north bank of Yuanjiang River was just a corner of the southernmost part of Waii Sub-continent. However, as the power that once occupied this corner came from Eastern Continent, it was of a special importance for demons knights and demon corps to occupy this corner.


    As for the demon general, only when they could drive all the forces of Hua people away from Waii Sub-continent or exterminate them would they really win the war on this sub-continent and the demon general itself have a sense of achievement and pride.


    Like a ritual, it was of a special importance for demonized puppets to cross over Yuanjiang River in the eyes of the demon general.


    At this moment, all the major clans of Three-eye Association and the remaining 16 knights of demons and Three-eye Association were standing behind the demon general.


    All the clans'' heads and major figures of Three-eye Association clans just watched the demon general silently. Although they had long dreamed of this day, they didn''t feel happy at this moment.


    Compared to rule humans, it was much boring and meaningless to rule beasts. They didn''t even regard it as a real victory. As long as they thought that they would only have a few domestic slaves to serve them, even need to use a lot of their own subordinates to do a lot of things, it became an extravagant hope for them to build large-scale luxurious palaces and residences. Their hearts pounded as such a living standard could not even match that before the holy war.


    ''Is this the so-called power? If there''s no servant, what is such power used for?''


    "When we consolidate our rule in Waii Sub-continent, we will transport humans slaves from other demon areas and have this sub-continent thrive once again. In only dozens of years, you will enjoy your high position and great wealth once again..." The demon general didn''t turn around; however, he knew what these Three-eye Association clans were thinking about.


    Those Three-eye Association clans became shocked. Almost at the same time, they all bowed towards the demon general in an impassioned way, "Compared to the great undertakings of the holy war, such a bit sacrifice and payment was nothing. It would take us less than 100 years to conquer all the humans. By then, we will reach our heyday!"


    "Hahahaha..." The demon general burst out into laughter as he turned around and asked, "How many people are resisting us in Qilan Country on the south bank of Yuanjiang River?"


    "Qilan Country is much smaller than Jinyun Country. It''s ruled by only two major Hua clans. This country only has 11 cities. Among those cities, besides a bit more people left in the capital city of Qilan Country, each of the other cities has about 30,000-50,000 people. They want to consume our strength with the city-defense equipment. Besides Qilan Country, 3 cities of Norman Empire are still resisting on the south bank of Yuanjiang River..." A Three-eye Association clan head bowed and replied.


    "What about Huaiyuan Palace? Are there any people in Huaiyuan Palace''s cities resisting us?" The demon general released a shrewd eye light.


    "Hua people are too cunning. Huaiyuan Palace''s strength had been evacuated from Jinyun Country last month. Nobody was left except for some empty cities!"


    "Isn''t there a young knight of Huaiyuan Palace called Zhang Tie?" the demon general suddenly asked.


    "Yes! It''s said that Zhang Tie is the youngest knight in Huaiyuan Palace. Because he discovered a tower of time underground Kalay Mountain Range and stayed inside it for a period, he promoted to a knight at a young age! However, after promoting to a knight, this guy seemed to have no achievement. He was just appointed as the corps leader of Hurricane Corps by Huaiyuan Palace. He''s always in cultivation. A few months ago, he cooperated with each of the other two clans'' elders of Jinyun Country in the south edge of Kalay Mountain Range to block our knights from going southwards. His battle force is common. He''s cultivating the "Five-elements Ground-look Sutra". It seems that he has just entered a stable state. This guy had even been captured by Senel Clan in Selnes Theater of Operations. Later on, he escaped away..." The clan elder who replied to the demon general in a despised way didn''t understand why the demon general would care about such a common human knight.


    ''Common battle force?'' The demon general faintly frowned. There was always one concern in its mind. Outside Upton City, its subordinate knight chased after Zhang Tie and had been disappeared from then on. It would never believe that a guy who had just promoted to a knight and cultivated "Five-elements Ground-look Sutra" could kill its man. It was also a miracle for that guy to escape away from a knight. Although its subordinate might be trapped underground, the demon general preferred to believe that the Hua knight called Zhang Tie had some secrets.


    ''At that time, Zhang Tie had not promoted to a knight. It seemed to be a bit abrupt for him to appear on the battlefield outside Upton City. Additionally, he seemed to be excessively powerful than he looked.'' The demon general didn''t know whether that guy had gained the special treatment from Huaiyuan Palace. As Hua people had so many trump cards, even demons were afraid of that. Not knowing why, every time Zhang Tie came to its mind, the demon general would feel fretful.


    The demon general''s fret finally turned into a killing intent. Its eyes instantly turned bloody. Watching his subordinate knights, he pointed at the south bank of Yuanjiang River and issued his destructive order, "There''re 14 human cities resisting us. Today, we will sweep over those human cities and draw a period for the battle on this sub-continent!"


    Those knights behind the demon general exchanged a glance with each silently. Closely after that, they shot into the sky and flew towards the south bank of Yuanjiang River.


    With three demon knights in one group, they flew towards the capital city of Qilan Country. The remaining 13 Three-eye Association knights flew towards different human cities respectively.


    In the eyes of the demon general and all the other knights of demons and Three-eye Association clans, they would win the last victory smoothly. Based on the battle forces of knights, each knight could conquer a human city which was only defended by tens of thousands of common soldiers. Additionally, it was time for the knights of demon corps and Three-eye Association to lose their temper which had accumulated over the past half a year. In order to prevent from being raided by Gorath, all the knights under the rule of demon general moved in a relatively conservative way over the past half a year; especially those knights of Three-eye Association, who had been driven mad by Gorath. If not lose their temper at this time, they might even shake their conviction.


    ''Gorath!'' The demon general gritted his teeth as he thought about this name...


    Over the past half a year, Gorath didn''t appear anymore. Based on Gorath''s style, everybody guessed that Gorath had long left Waii Sub-continent after realizing that demons had destroyed the entire north territory of Waii Sub-continent and had poured in the south.


    So did the demon general.


    The demon general made his decision that he would definitely eat Gorath alive if he saw him in the future.


    After those knights flew off, the demon general, Three-eye Association clans and that super demon corps slowly crossed over Yuanjiang River. Following after tens of millions of demonized puppets, they just walked towards the first city of Qilan Country like having been the winner.


    The demon general didn''t know that when his subordinate knights flew towards different cities on the north bank of Yuanjiang River, a thunder hawk also flew off a mountain range from afar towards the south bank of Yuanjiang River...


    In winters, birds would barely find their preys. There were many kinds of eagles hovering in the sky; especially in the wild; therefore, the demon general was unable to trace each bird''s movement.


    Only after two hours, the demon general was slapped loudly once again; meanwhile, all the Three-eye Association clans became depressed once again...


    A knight of Three-eye Association who was raiding Qihai City sent an SOS through the remote-sensing crystal. It met Gorath who was thought to never appear again.


    After sending that SOS, the knight of Three-eye Association lost its contact with the demon general...


    When they realized that Gorath was always hiding on their side, all the Three-eye Association clans were shocked and looked pale. The demon general roared while snowflakes within dozens of meters flew backward.


    At this moment, the demon general acted like a horny beast whose erecting genital was chopped off by someone when it wanted to mate with a female beast. After that, the opponent even sprayed a handful of salt over its wound.


    What an extremely insidious, vicious and shameless Gorath...


    "I will kill you, kill you..." The demon general shot to the sky. At the same time, he ordered all the other knights of demons and Three-eye Association to hunt for Gorath in all directions...


    This time, the demon general swore to tear Gorath into pieces wherever Gorath escaped to...


    Even mud men had soil''s attributes, let alone the demon general.


    After being humiliated and deceived by Gorath for so many times, the demon general finally had enough.


    Very few of people who were standing on the medals podium or in the winner''s position could stand being slapped mercilessly at this moment.


    After releasing its battle qi completely, the demon general flew towards Qihai City like a burning meteor even in the daytime...


    Only after half an hour, before he arrived at Qihai City, the demon general had already received another message sent from his subordinate¡ª¡ªsoon after Gorath killed the knight of Three-eye Association who raided Qihai City, he had been noticed by the other knight of Three-eye Association who came from Yunzhou Province on his back. Gorath didn''t mean to fight the second knight. Being chased by that Three-eye Association knight, he was flying towards the ocean.


    After receiving this news, the demon general and all the other knights of demons and Three-eye Association clans became spirited. Taking a vial of medicament in the air, they accelerated once again at the same time...


    ...

 801 Being Trapped Once Again

    Chapter 801: Being Trapped Once Again


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    What a risky experience!


    In order to trap the demon general, Zhang Tie actually had been wandering near the core area of the demon corps for about one month. During the past one month, he had been waiting for the very chance patiently. There were two times when Zhang Tie almost wanted to attack by force so as to attract the attention of the demon general. However, given that the demon general was very cunning and might not be trapped if he did that too excessively, Zhang Tie didn''t do that.


    When Zhang Tie returned to Waii Sub-continent, this sub-continent had already become his hunting ground. As a qualified hunter, besides hunting beasts, he should also be patient enough for the optimal chance to launch an attack.


    Here it came.


    When the demon corps were crossing the Yuanjiang River and almost occupied the entire Waii Sub-continent, the demon general was so ambitious and arrogant that it dispatched his subordinate knights to raid those remaining human cities respectively¡ª¡ªThat was the chance that Zhang Tie had been waiting for.


    As long as those knights departed from each other, Zhang Tie would get his chance.


    Everything was in Zhang Tie''s plan.


    That knight of Three-eye Association who raided Qihai City was not powerful at least for Zhang Tie.


    In close combat, Zhang Tie was confident to end the battle in 20 minutes; especially when Zhang Tie appeared in the branded black robe and raided that guy fiercely, that knight of Three-eye Association had long been scared too much and only wanted to escape. Therefore, that guy could only exert 80%-90% of its total battle force. In such a case, the battle could have come to an earlier end; however, according to his plan, Zhang Tie purposely delayed the battle process by about 7-8 minutes. Until Zhang Tie felt the second knight of Three-eye Association came here to rescue the first guy did he pretend to kill that knight of Three-eye Association in a very narrow way. After that, he released long-distance attacks twice towards the second knight before turning around to escape.


    The second knight of Three-eye Association knew that as long as it kept Zhang Tie in its vision, a lot of knights would arrive soon. Therefore, it tried its best to chase closely after Zhang Tie.


    The black-robe Gorath had already become the heart disease of all the knights of demons and Three-eye Association clans. If it could chase closely after Gorath until the demon general arrived and killed him together with the other knights, it was definitely a great meritorious deed for it.


    Zhang Tie flew towards the ocean, closely followed by that knight of Three-eye Association.


    Soon after Zhang Tie flew less than 200 miles away from the bank had the number of meteors behind him increased to four. The opponents had outnumbered him absolutely. With three enemy knights, they could use 3-in-1 battle skill and smash Zhang Tie''s teeth, not to mention 4 of them.


    At the sight of the black-robe knight Gorath, all the other knights became thrilled.


    "Gorath, you cannot escape this time..." a knight''s furious voice drifted from Zhang Tie''s back, which reverberated in the sky.


    Zhang Tie only replied to them with a weird laughter "Jye Jye Jye..."


    Soon after the weird laughter, a fiery meteor had sped up and narrowed the distance between it and Gorath. Given the aggressiveness of that meteor, Zhang Tie knew that it was the demon general.


    Zhang Tie was shocked inside. He knew that it was time to risk his life and test his talent in performance.


    As the demon general arrived, all the other knights became spirited; however, Zhang Tie changed his face at once. Right under the gaze of those knights, he hurriedly took out of a vial of medicament and poured it into his mouth. Closely after that, Zhang Tie accelerated by 10%.


    Hidden Dragon Island was right on the sea in front of him.


    The demon general passed by the other knights in a split second and narrowed the distance between it and Zhang Tie to about 200 m. It kept gazing tightly at the black robe.


    "Go die!" The demon general roared as it released a battle qi in the shape of a huge round brilliant ball towards Zhang Tie like firing a shell.


    Of course, the battle-qi attack was faster than the people''s moving speed. After feeling the unrivaled strength drawing close to him from his back, Zhang Tie rapidly turned around and punched out a fierce boa-shaped battle qi towards the demon general''s attack with a widely opened mouth.


    The brilliant ball torn apart Zhang Tie''s fierce boa and constantly rushed towards Zhang Tie at the same high speed. Zhang Tie roared as he split towards that brilliant ball by his hand with swaying silver hair.


    A huge, 10-m higher machete-shaped sharp light torn apart the air and collided with the demon general''s battle qi once again.


    Huge Blade Splitting-Air Palm, a powerful battle skill of knights, was simulated by Zhang Tie according to the King Roc Battle Qi. Zhang Tie exerted 70-80% of the total strength of that battle skill.


    Closely after that, a thunder-like loud boom reverberated through the air...


    The demon general''s brilliant ball was shattered. Zhang Tie quivered all over for a second. At the same time, his protective battle qi started to vibrate like a pitchfork in a high frequency. Closely after that, Zhang Tie spurted out a mouthful of blood.


    This was not a performance. With this strike, Zhang Tie had already figured out the demon general''s real battle force. Zhang Tie changed his face.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie finally understood how the demon general fought three powerful human knights'' 3-in-1 tactic alone outside Upton City. The demon general was overwhelming towards a black-iron knight of the same rank.


    With his current strength, Zhang Tie knew that he could never defeat the demon general except for speed.


    High speed was Zhang Tie''s trump card and what he was relying on at this moment.


    Zhang Tie just pretended to escape with his full effort. Actually, he could move faster but he didn''t use his super rapid moving skill yet. Without a trump card, Zhang Tie didn''t dare risk his life doing this so as to manifest his greatness.


    "You''re really something!" The demon general further narrowed the distance between it and Gorath with two bloody flames in its eyes.


    In the next second, Zhang Tie made a sudden turn and dove into the ocean. The demon general faintly changed its face; however, it also followed Zhang Tie immediately.


    Only 2 of the rest knights followed them in. As for the others, at the order of the demon general, they continued to monitor the situation above the sea in case that black-robe Gorath played any trick and escaped again.


    The demon general was always meticulous in front of Zhang Tie as it had already learned about Zhang Tie''s cunning and tricky temperaments.


    If Gorath escaped again this time, the demon general would feel extremely embarrassed.


    ...


    After 10 minutes, Zhang Tie rushed into the sky from underwater being close to Hidden Dragon Island...


    After 2 seconds, the demon general also followed him out.


    Noticing this, those knights who were patrolling above the sea hurriedly rushed over there.


    All the 15 knights of demons and Three-eye Association had already arrived here.


    As Zhang Tie fought the demon general in the air quickly, he flew towards Dragon Cave in the Hidden Dragon Island.


    After 1 minute, the huge hollow of Dragon Cave appeared in front of Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie immediately dove into it.


    Honestly, the demon general hesitated a bit when he followed Zhang Tie in the Dragon Cave. He doubted that this might be a trap set by Gorath. However, that whim was soon denied by it. The demon general convinced itself with the following 3 reasons, ''First, Gorath didn''t know that my subordinates would attack the remaining human cities respectively today. Therefore, it was almost impossible for Gorath to set a trap here; second, almost all the knights across Blackson Humans Corridor have already left. With the strength of me and my subordinate knights, we don''t need to fear about any ambush; third, even if he had any other tricks or traps, Gorath would not escape under my gaze. Selfish guys like Gorath would never fight knights of demons or Three-eye Association to the death. Obviously, Gorath is not an idiot or a lunatic.''


    ''Apparently, Gorath wants to escape with the complex, dim terrain of the underground world.''


    After making this conclusion, the demon general accelerated towards Zhang Tie. As for all the other knights behind the demon general, although some of them became a bit hesitated, after seeing that demon general entering it, they also followed it in with the same thought. Totally 15 knights including the demon general were chasing after Zhang Tie.


    The demon general was right; however, it was not the almighty God. He failed to realize three points: first, it didn''t realize that the so-called Gorath was the very Zhang Tie who had escaped from the knight who was dispatched by it; second, it didn''t find that Zhang Tie had been observing the actions of all the knights of demons and Three-eye Association over the past one month only for this chance; third, it could never imagine that Zhang Tie had a marvelous item¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron. With Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie could tide over any dangerous and hopeless dilemma easily.


    Besides a wild and sluggish scene, nobody else was in Hidden Dragon Island at this moment. If someone was here, they would see many meteors falling into that bottomless Dragon Cave one after another.

 802 A Fatal Strike

    Chapter 802: A Fatal Strike


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie remembered a thing called film among the rich entertainments of humans before the Catastrophe.


    If what happened today was made into a film, Zhang Tie had already got a name for this film¡ª¡ªCrossfire¡ª¡ªFight of Caged Beast.


    After 2 hours, Zhang Tie had already reached over 100 miles under Dragon Cave while being closely followed by the demon general and the 14 knights of demons and Three-eye Association.


    Zhang Tie had almost been encircled more than once. However, whenever that happened, he would reveal his extremely sharp side and find a chance to break out their encirclement.


    The demon general thought that he was right. In such an underground environment, knights'' flying ability was restricted to the complex terrain; therefore, they had to fight on the ground. The black-robe Gorath became more tricky and terrifying; with the unpredictable moving skill and high speed, Gorath was able to enlarge the distance between him and all the other knights of demons and Three-eye Association except for the demon general. If not the demon general, Gorath would have escaped once again this time even though he was chased after by over 10 knights.


    Gorath had broken out of their encirclement twice. In the first time, Gorath showed his powerful hidden weapon skill and wounded a knight. In the second time, he showed his terrifying poisoning skill, which scared all the other knights so much. Even the demon general was shocked by that black-robe Gorath''s battle force. At the same time, the demon general became more decisive to kill Gorath.


    In the eyes of all the other knights, Gorath had been heavily wounded after breaking out of their encirclement twice as his black robe had been soaked by his blood.


    Zhang Tie was truly wounded; however, his wound was not as severe as was imagined by others. A small part of those blood was caused by Zhang Tie himself. If he was indeed making a film, Zhang Tie felt that he could be regarded as a movie king due to this trick.


    Right then, Gorath showed his sharp, fierce temperament like how a caged beast would do. His attacks were more terrifying and weird in a life for life way.


    Except for the demon general, all the other knights were afraid of losing their life at this moment; otherwise, it would be a great misfortune.


    After breaking out the secondary encirclement, Zhang Tie confronted the demon general''s another punch and spurted out another mouth of blood. One of his sleeves was burned into ashes by the demon general''s battle qi. At the same time, he staggered faintly.


    "Gorath will be over soon..." The demon general roared, "Watch out, he might have other tricks!"


    If one or two knights were still killed by Gorath while so many knights were chasing after the latter, the demon general would feel very shameful.


    As Zhang Tie accelerated on the ground, he swore inside; meanwhile, he became shocked. He had not imagined that the trap that he set for the demon general could be available to 15 knights at the same time. In another word, Zhang Tie had not imagined that those knights of demons and Three-eye Association hated the role black-robe Gorath so much and would kill him the moment they got a chance.


    The role Gorath was really a success.


    It was the second time for Zhang Tie to be chased in Dragon Cave as embarrassed as a stray dog since the last time when he was chased by that b*stard of Zhen Clan. When he recalled that despaired dilemma, Zhang Tie''s performance became more vivid.


    None of the other knights realized that Zhang Tie had been camouflaging since the beginning.


    Zhang Tie rushed downwards in a flurried way. After a few minutes, he passed a distant, low underground tunnel, closely followed by the demon general and the other knights of demons and Three-eye Association.


    That tunnel was too narrow and a bit risky even for knights. When the demon general entered it, it hesitated a bit. As it was vigilant about Zhang Tie''s tricks and ambush, the demon general kept his eyes closely on Zhang Tie. After passing that tunnel safely, the demon general found that nothing happened; therefore, he became completely reassured.


    After rushing out of that distant tunnel, the demon general felt pretty bright in front of its eyes. It was a space behind that tunnel. Although it was not spacious, it could almost cover two football fields. Besides this tunnel, there was no other way out of here.


    Watching Gorath rushing out of this tunnel with a dumbfounded look, the demon general burst out into laughter while an unspoken cool sense spread over its body, "Hahaha...Gorath, keep going!"


    At this moment, all the other knights rushed out of that narrow tunnel.


    Gorath turned around and threw a fierce and forlorn glance at the demon general before flying into the air once again.


    All the other knights flew off and started to besiege and intercept Gorath from all directions.


    After a short, close combat, Gorath''s moving space kept shrinking while more and more wounds appeared over his body.


    Gorath released a fierce boa-shaped battle qi towards a knight of Three-eye Association. After that knight of Three-eye Association dodged away, the battle qi hit a piece of rock wall on the top of this space. As a result, that piece of rock wall collapsed and exposed a cave.


    At the sight of that cave, Gorath shot out a shrewd eye light; almost at the same time, he poured in a vial of medicament. Closely after that, he roared and grew berserk as he immediately released over 20 fierce boa-shaped battle qi, causing an undifferentiated large-range attack. When his opponents'' movements were delayed, he darted towards the cave as fast as a meteor.


    After breaking the surrounding fierce boa-shaped battle qis, the demon general also noticed that cave on the top of this space. It became shocked inside. At the same time, it accelerated towards Gorath.


    In the eyes of the demon general, Gorath had been an arrow at the end of its flight and had no more tricks. Of course, it would not let him escape away at such a critical moment.


    After entering the final cave, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh.


    That cave''s entrance was less than 2 m in width. After extending upwards for less than 100 m, it came to a dead end.


    Floating in the air, Zhang Tie leaned against the wall on the top of the cave and panted heavily as he watched the demon general moving closer with a grim look.


    At this moment, the demon general was not anxious anymore. After coming to the point over 50 m away from Zhang Tie, it also floated in the air as it watched Zhang Tie who was quivering all over in a commanding, brutal smile, "I was always wondering where did you come from; from now on, I will not be curious about you as I will draw out each bone, each piece of muscle and your guts from your body. I will chew you alive. You should feel honored to be the first human knight being eaten alive by me in this holy war."


    Zhang Tie was indeed quivering at this time; however, it was not because of fear or weakness as was thought by the demon general; but because of the excitement in Zhang Tie''s heart which almost drove him to howl.


    If possible, the demon general could only hear one repetitive sentence in Zhang Tie''s mind¡ª¡ªf*ck, I''m rich, I''m rich...f*ck, I''m rich, I''m rich...


    Zhang Tie watched the demon general as he erected his bloody middle finger towards it and swore, "F*ck you!"


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie disappeared right in the eyes of the demon general like a bubble that suddenly broke out and disappeared in the air...


    For the time being, the demon general had not figured out how Zhang Tie disappeared in front of its eyes. Before it revealed a dumbfounded look, its body had been reached by shock waves of the terrifying explosion...


    The other knights who had just entered this cave were also pushed out of this cave.


    After hearing the loud explosion, those knights who had not entered the cave were so scared that they hurriedly moved backward.


    Two explosions occurred at the same time, one from that cave at the top of the space, the other from the long and narrow tunnel from where they entered this space...


    Due to the violent explosions, the entire underground space vibrated heavily while a lot of rocks fell off the surrounding walls and the dome, which was really frightening...


    "F*ck, it''s alchemist''s bombs. We fell into an ambush..." A knight shouted as it kept moving backward quickly.


    "Is demon general okay?"


    When the 8-9 knights who were not affected by the first round of explosions changed their faces and appreciated for being lucky, they heard a strange sound from above their heads.


    A knight looked up and saw a thick, red waterfall flushed off the dome of this space while radiating a white brilliance.


    That was the high-temperature magma in the underground space. In less than 10 seconds, more and more caves and walls over the entire space collapsed while hundreds of billions of tons of magma poured down, making the entire underground space hotter and hotter and increasingly crowded...


    The knights of demons and Three-eye Association started to shriek miserably like flies in bottles which was being filled with boiling water...


    ...


    In Castle of Black Iron, Heller was standing in front of Zhang Tie with a set of clothes in hands. Instead of putting on that set of clothes at once, Zhang Tie slightly raised his head and closed his eyes, allowing his blood to drop off his body. Meanwhile, he was sensing the situation in the space outside Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie knew what would happen after those alchemist''s bombs were detonated as all this was designed by him.


    3 alchemist''s bombs were used to collapse the long, narrow tunnel leading to this space while the remaining 6 alchemist''s bombs were buried in the tunnel in the dome. When the 6 alchemists'' bombs were detonated, the demon general, who followed him into the tunnel in the dome, would be heavily wounded. More than that, when the 6 alchemist''s bombs were denoted, they would break the dome of this space and cause that huge magma lake in the dome to pour down. In 10 minutes, the high-temperature magma would fill this space and turn it into a hell...


    Zhang Tie had tried it himself. In such a high-temperature magma, black iron knight''s protective battle qi could at most stand 3 minutes. None of those black iron knights who had entered this space could escape from this space in half an hour, upward or downward.


    The terrain here was like a gourd which was placed upside down. Its upper space was larger than its lower space. However, a greater part of the upper space was filled with magma which was about 1,000 degrees Celcius.


    What a dragon cave! What a dragon cave of Huaiyuan Palace...


    All these had been calculated precisely. Many parameters had been considered, such as the sizes of the upper and lower space, the temperature of the magma, the capacity of the space, the velocity and impact force of the magma flow, knights'' bearing capabilities, escaping time, time to detonate the alchemist''s bombs and the locations of the alchemist''s bombs, etc....


    Through precise calculation and design, it took 800 elites of the engineer troop of Hurricane Corps two months to accomplish this trap according to Zhang Tie''s request. After that, Zhang Tie either changed or wiped off the memory of this task of all those who had participated in this task. In the memories of those engineers, they indeed had been dispatched to execute a confidential task by Zhang Tie in Hidden Dragon Island; however, it was not setting a trap using alchemist''s bombs in Dragon Cave, but building a secret place for soldiers of Hurricane Corps to hide and some supplies storage bases which could be used at crucial moments in Hidden Dragon Island.


    Soon after they accomplished this task, those people had been transported away from Waii Sub-continent by Zhang Tie. Except for Zhang Tie, nobody else knew that he had set a trap for the demon general inside Dragon Cave.


    In this trap, both the destruction caused by the alchemist''s bombs and the impact force of the high-temperature magma were fatal to common knights.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie only thought to blow up the demon general using alchemist''s bombs; however, the engineer troop of Hurricane Corps posed a plan that could exert the destructive power of alchemist''s bombs to the utmost. Zhang Tie immediately adopted the optimal plan which could strike his enemy for two consecutive times.


    This trap was set for the demon general. However, 15 knights were trapped, including the demon general, 4 of them were demon knights, 11 of them were from Three-eye Association. As long as Zhang Tie thought about this, he would quiver all over due to the extreme excitement.


    ...


    After half an hour, Zhang Tie put on a new set of clothes and poured in a vial of precious, senior recovery medicament. After that, he told Heller, "Let''s start pumping!"


    Heller replied with a faint smile as a waterfall of magma started to dive into the Abyss of Chaos.


    As long as it was a liquid, it would be pumped into Castle of Black Iron, whether it was sea water or magma.


    Only after a few minutes, Heller had nodded towards Zhang Tie while the waterfall of magma came to a stop.


    "Watch out!" Heller reminded Zhang Tie.


    Holding a long sword, Zhang Tie took a breath and walked out of Castle of Black Iron...

 803 Showing All the Trump Cards

    Chapter 803: Showing All the Trump Cards


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Only after half an hour, the entire underground space had changed greatly.


    Castle of Black Iron sucked in most of the magma, leaving 20-m high magma residue on the ground. Additionally, all the walls were radiating a dull, red glow in a high temperature like a brick kiln which had just been opened after finishing a round of production of bricks.


    Half an hour ago, it was indeed like a closed kiln.


    The closed kiln was used to make porcelain or bricks. 15 knights were trapped in here.


    Few bloody magmas were flowing off the rock walls on both sides from the broken dome. The huge magma lake above the dome led to a geographical position of magma. By now, three-quarters of the magma had flown out of the magma lake. However, the magma was still gurgling like spring water. It might take the geographical position a few weeks to completely fill the palace downside there and refill the magma lake.


    The partial topographic feature of this underground space had completely changed.


    The entire space was filled with a strong smell of sulphur.


    After coming out of Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie took a look around and started to look for the trace of demon general carefully.


    Zhang Tie believed that those common black iron knights had already been killed. Even though those guys could survive the explosions, they could barely survive the high-temperature magma. Whereas, Zhang Tie was not sure whether the demon general could survive the magma.


    Zhang Tie had learned one thing from the demon general¡ª¡ªwhen you cannot do it, don''t think that others cannot do it either. Each one has trump cards. Never think that you could control everything.


    ''The demon general was trapped again by me due to the following two main reasons: first, he was over-confident; second, he lost his reason due to his animosity about Gorath.''


    In the magma of over 1,000 degrees Celcius, those knights'' bones might have been melted into ashes. Aluminum''s melting point was 660 degrees Celcius, silver''s melting point was 962 degrees Celcius, the melting points of gold and copper varied from 1,000 to 1,100 degrees Celcius, steel''s melting point was above 1,200 degrees Celcius. Those guys'' rune weapons, medicaments or rune equipment must have been melted, softened or been completely destroyed by the magma within half an hour. If rune equipment''s physical structures were destroyed, their rune effect would be lost or sharply weakened.


    Zhang Tie felt pitiful when he thought about the equipment of those knights. If he could get their rune equipment, he would make a pile for sure. However, it was already a great achievement for Zhang Tie to allure them into this trap. ''People cannot have all the benefits.''


    ''The demon general was wearing a black armor, If it died, its armor should be left, at least a part of its armor would remain, even after having been softened or broken. As armor was always made of an alloy, which had a relatively high melting point. It would not disappear in only half an hour.


    ''I will look for the demon general and its armor!'' Zhang Tie would never allow the demon general to survive on at this moment.


    Zhang Tie started to search over the space.


    Zhang Tie noticed some broken weapons of knights floating on the magma partly or completely. However, he didn''t see any item from the demon general.


    After taking a round, Zhang Tie''s face gradually turned solemn as he watched the magma below his feet.


    Zhang Tie took a deep breath. Standing in the air, he started to slash towards the magma by his autumn-frost gold sword.


    In a split second, he had already slashed over 100 times.


    Over 100 sword qi formed a sword qi net as they ferociously exploded the magma.


    The magma rose dozens of meters high. Even the magma at the bottom was exposed. Right from the rising magma, a figure flew out of the magma at the bottom and suspended in the air with a yellow brilliance.


    With a sound of "Hualala...", the magma fell down like the rain. In the air, Zhang Tie and the demon general watched each other silently with a distance of 100 m between them.


    Narrowing his pupils, Zhang Tie just watched the demon general silently.


    As was judged by Zhang Tie, the demon general didn''t die. However, it looked extremely miserable as its body was covered with wounds. One of its hands had been broken. Its armor had been severely damaged. The demon general''s body was wrapped in a yellow light. The yellow light came from an odd shield in his hand. Zhang Tie didn''t know where did that shield come from. He remembered that the demon general didn''t hold a shield when it chased after him. Neither did the other knights have. However, the yellow light from that shield reminded Zhang Tie of the scene when a long bow with the same brilliance appeared in the hand of Elder Muray with which he killed the head of Senel Clan in the demon corps.


    A term occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind¡ª¡ª"Silver Secret Items".


    In the knights'' world, "silver secret items" made every knight drool. They were almost the best items that knights could get. It was said that there were "gold secret items" above "silver secret items". However, as of far, Zhang Tie had not seen any black iron knight who had a "gold secret item" even in Mountain of Brilliance.


    It required a great power and an unusual fortune for a knight to get a "silver secret item" somewhere in the underground world. It was said that "silver secret items" were products of the brilliant silver age which existed a long time ago. The most important feature of "silver secret item" was that all the "silver secret items" could combine with their owners besides their powerful, special abilities. When their owners needed them, they would show themselves.


    Those who had "silver secret items" were all lucky dogs among knights.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that the demon general also had a "silver secret item"¡ª¡ªthe shield.


    With this shield, the demon general survived the high-temperature magma. Zhang Tie guessed that demon general might fail to call out its shield timely; therefore, the demon general suffered from the damages of the alchemist''s bombs.


    Everyone had their own trump cards. Zhang Tie knew that the shield was the trump card of the demon general. A guy who had almost promoted to a land knight was really something.


    The demon general watched Zhang Tie who appeared in front of him in the look of Gorath. Besides animosity, its eyes were radiating a weird light. Behind the weird eye light was some fear and greed which was even hotter than magma.


    "You''re not dead!" Zhang Tie said calmly as he watched demon general. Closely after that, he took a deep breath and released his battle qi, which grew more and more aggressive.


    The demon general revealed a grim, yet genial smile like a crocodile who opened its bloody, big mouth, "Gorath, I''ve not imagined that you could have such a secret. You have the last chance. As long as you surrender to demons and be loyal to me, I will grant you with supreme power and influence. You can rule all the Three-eye Association clans across Waii Sub-continent!"


    Zhang Tie revealed a ridicule, "Your benefits would be more persuasive if you told me earlier instead of being reluctant like now!"


    The demon general''s smile grew extremely grim. It stretched out its long tongue like that of vipers and licked around its mouth rapidly. At the same time, its eyes turned bloody, "Innocent human, wisdom is utterly different than timidity. Do you think that I cannot defeat you with my current look? You will soon know about the great difference between a common black iron knight and a guy who will soon promote to a land knight. Even though I only have one hand left, I will kill you easily. I will explore your secrets one after another."


    "Let''s start then!" Zhang Tie roared as his battle intention surged to the highest level. Closely after that, he accelerated towards demon general as fast as a lightning bolt.


    ''Kill it when it''s injured, it''s the best time to try my best to kill demon general.''


    After shooting out a shrewd eye light, the demon general put away its shield immediately and rushed towards Zhang Tie.


    They chose close combat, the fiercest collision mode.


    In the first collision, Zhang Tie''s wounds which had not been healed were broken once again while spraying his blood over the magma; so the did demon general''s wounds...


    The moment their blood touched the magma, it had been evaporated.


    With the first collision, Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi rocked for a while. By contrast, the demon general''s protective battle qi just rocked one time. They were both sent flying backwards by the opponent''s sheer animal strength. In a wink, they roared and flew towards the opponent once again. They collided for over 100 times in a split second, causing constantly loud sounds in the air...


    It was definitely the toughest combat that Zhang Tie had experienced since he left Blackhot City at 16.


    After being severely wounded by alchemist''s bombs, one of the hands of the demon general had been broken. Even in this case, the demon general''s battle force was still as awful as a mountain peak in front of Zhang Tie.


    It was Zhang Tie''s choice. In one''s whole life, one had to face some combats. Even if it was a mountain peak in front of him, Zhang Tie still chose to collapse it even with his broken bones while gritting his teeth.


    ...


    At this moment, neither the demon general nor Zhang Tie knew that the last knight of Three-eye Association had arrived at the underground world.


    This knight was Quintin, the employed knight of Senel Clan whom Zhang Tie had met twice, the very one who should have been killed by Elder Muray''s longbow and the one who survived to the last among all the knights of Three-eye Association.


    The sharp collisions between Zhang Tie and the demon general reverberated in the underground like thunders.


    After hearing the reverberating sounds, Quintin stopped at once as a brilliance flashed across his eyes.


    Standing in the dark underground cave, Quintin just listened to their fight quietly. After staying there for half an hour, he revealed a sinister smile. Closely after that, he disappeared into the dark cave...


    ...


    Zhang Tie''s autumn-frost gold sword was sent flying backward by his opponent...


    At the same time, Zhang Tie''s right arm became numb all over from his fingers to his shoulder. After uttering a hum, the autumn-frost gold sword flew off as fast as a light nail and nailed onto the cliff over 100 m away.


    For the first time, Zhang Tie''s another hand broke the demon general''s protective battle qi and ferociously exploded demon general''s body. He even tore off a piece of bloody muscle fiber from the demon general''s body through the wound on its shoulder.


    The demon general also struck into Zhang Tie''s chest ferociously...


    With a roar in unison, the demon general kicked Zhang Tie forcefully; before Zhang Tie was sent flying back, he turned around in the air and kicked the demon general''s head heavily in a movement called ''lying dragon facing the moons''...


    They both spurted out blood and fell into the magma lake, arising a magma wall of dozens of meters in height...


    After a couple of seconds, they both flew out of the magma.


    "You''re seeking for death!" Demon general glared at Zhang Tie with bloody eyes. All of a sudden, a light beam rose from his body. At the same time, a complex, geometrical light ring appeared below his feet. The demon general looked complacent.


    However, the demon general''s fierce and complacent look lasted less than half a second, it turned into a shock; because it saw the same light beam and light ring rising from Zhang Tie''s body.


    The knight''s aiding strength could increase the strength for both others and themselves.


    In the next, it was a duel between knights'' aiding strengths on both speed and defensive ability...


    When he triggered his aiding strength, Zhang Tie also triggered his super rapid moving skill.


    Roars and fierce collisions sounded once again...


    The demon general accelerated its speed. However, as one of his hands had been crippled, his attacking frequency was limited. Additionally, Zhang Tie''s counterattack was very fierce; especially Zhang Tie''s terrifying sheer animal strength. As long as the demon general was hit by Zhang Tie''s sheer animal strength, it would feel a steel plate being broken through by Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s defensive and recovering ability intensified in a split second. However, facing the powerful strike of the demon general, in each collision, Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi would rock and almost collapse. Besides, the demon general''s battle qi kept drilling into Zhang Tie''s body as erosive as weird poisons.

 804 The Reversal

    Chapter 804: The Reversal


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The fierce battle lasted for 6 hours...


    In the final collision, Zhang Tie forcefully broke the other hand of the demon general. With a ground-breaking howl, the demon general skewered through Zhang Tie''s left chest by its single horn, picking up Zhang Tie and threw him away...


    Before Zhang Tie was sent flying backward, Zhang Tie rammed the demon general''s face with his knee due to his experienced, powerful battle skills and fast responsiveness.


    The two knights sprayed their blood while their "aiding strength" halos disappeared at the same time. They then fell onto the dry and hot lava from 100 m in height.


    A large area of blood stained the rocks beneath their bodies and was further evaporated by the rocks...


    ...


    Zhang Tie even thought that he was dead because he lost his senses and consciousness. When his senses and consciousness returned to his body, he felt extremely painful all over like being torn apart.


    Zhang Tie even didn''t know how many of his bones were still intact.


    It took Zhang Tie 2 minutes to kneel down with one leg. Being soaked by the blood flowing down the wounds on his forehead, Zhang Tie''s sight turned completely red. He almost could not open his eyes. Panting heavily, Zhang Tie felt that the air which carried the smell of sulphur also dried up and turned hot. Each time he took a breath, he would feel like eating a handful of hot red sand.


    Compared to the scorching sense in his throat and lungs, Zhang Tie felt that his left half of body turned wet like being soaked in water.


    Lowering his head, Zhang Tie took a look at his left chest. There was a bloody hole of about 3 cm above his heart, causing his left half of body to soak in the gurgling blood from there.


    If he didn''t lower his left shoulder just now, his heart must have been penetrated through.


    The demon general''s single horn penetrated through the point which was close to Zhang Tie''s heart and left lung. As a result, Zhang Tie''s left hand could not move at all.


    Zhang Tie attempted to control the blood vessels, muscles and tissues on his left shoulder; however, it became extremely difficult for him to do this, which was very simple in normal times. Zhang Tie felt that this body didn''t belong to him anymore.


    Finally, he hardly pressed the blood vessels around the hole by his right hand. After slightly recovering his abilities and senses, Zhang Tie slowly prevented his wound from bleeding.


    Kneeling down on the ground by one knee, Zhang Tie could hardly pick himself up.


    He had not imagined that the demon general who had suffered from the attack of six alchemist''s bombs and stayed in magma for half an hour with one broken hand could still have such a terrifying battle force.


    ''Is this the battle force of a senior black iron knight who has almost promoted to a earth knight?''


    ''If not because of my strong body, my powerful strength and my emperor-level secret skill''s restrictions about the weird, poisonous battle qi in my body, I would have long died. Perhaps, any other black iron knight would have been killed.''


    Zhang Tie wanted to force a bitter smile; however, before he twitched his facial muscles, he had spurted out blood once again...


    After spurting out blood, Zhang Tie felt like he lost all of his strength. Feeling kneeling on a bunch of cotton, Zhang Tie vacillated to the left and to the right and almost fell down.


    This was a response that his body made when his physical strength, spirit and will were overdrawn.


    At this moment, a faint sound drifted from afar. Zhang Tie raised his head and found that the demon general was struggling to pick himself up. However, he failed. After swaying for a while, its hands could not keep balance for it, causing it to fall down once again.


    After over 10 seconds, the demon general struggled to pick himself up once again. Finally, it knelt down on the ground by one knee as it panted heavily with rising and falling chest.


    Being over 100 m away from each other, the two knights ferociously gazed at each other.


    The demon general was more shocked than Zhang Tie. It didn''t believe that Gorath could break his hands and make it so embarrassed. It could not believe that Gorath would match it on the battle force in the close combat.


    It was the demon general''s first time to see such a human knight.


    Even though the demon general''s two hands were broken, if it could only move one foot, it could continue fighting.


    The two knights were both severely wounded. They could barely stand up. In this case, they were not matching their battle forces, but their recovering abilities. As long as one of them could recover the standard of a LV 6 fighter, the one would be able to determine the other''s fate.


    The two knights just gazed at each other tightly. At the same time, they started to pant heavily and gradually recover their physical strength...


    ...


    Only after 10 more minutes, a loud sound reverberated around this space, which originated from outside. After hearing this loud sound, Zhang Tie and the demon general both became stunned.


    The demon general watched Zhang Tie as it sneered with a hoarse sound, "It''s my...subordinate...one more knight...you...you''re dead!"


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded.


    There were two points that he had not imagined today: first, he could kill over 10 knights with this fatal trap; second, there was one more demon knight left, who would appear at this moment.


    Zhang Tie realized that all of his spiritual energy had been overdrawn while hopelessness occurred to his mind...


    ''Is this my destiny?''


    ''No, no way, no way...'' Zhang Tie roared inside.


    The combat of aiding strength between two knights was very abstruse. It was not a pure comparison on isolated strength. It was more like how two huge bells compared with their resonating strength. When the two bells of different sizes sounded, their resonating strength and invisible soundwaves would not only influence themselves but also influence the other opponent.


    The smaller bell had to avoid from being influenced by the bigger one with a greater energy at a higher frequency.


    Due to the difference in battle force and level, if he wanted to resist the demon general''s aiding strength, Zhang Tie had to consume 10 more times'' spiritual energy than the demon general.


    Additionally, they had to consume their spiritual energy to maintain the calculation and perception of their powerful knight'' consciousness. As they were heavily wounded, their spiritual energy was also sharply weakened.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how much spiritual energy did demon general have, he only knew that his spiritual energy had been overdrawn. He felt empty in his mind.


    Gritting his teeth, Zhang Tie tightly gazed at the wall where the loud sounds drifted from. He hoped that those walls could stand a bit longer or a guy whom neither Zhang Tie nor the demon general knew would appear...


    ...


    Only after a few minutes, Zhang Tie had been nearly hopeless. After the last loud sound, a rock wall in the distance was blown up into pieces while a figure rushed out of the dust.


    At the sight of that guy, the demon general burst out into laughter, making Zhang Tie completely hopeless.


    That guy was a knight of Three-eye Association. Zhang Tie even knew him. Zhang Tie met him in Tokei City, the capital city of Titanic Duchy last time.


    Zhang Tie remembered that that guy was Quintin, the employed knight of Senel Clan which had been exterminated by him. After the extermination of Senel Clan, this guy directly became a subordinate of the demon general.


    Suspending dozens of meters high in the air, Quintin was holding a longsword and watching the underground space with a dumbfounded look and a brilliant battle qi. He looked both shocked and vigilant. It seemed that he had not imagined about such a scene before.


    "Demon general, what happened?" Quintin asked with a shocked voice.


    "Hurry up, kill Gorath..." The demon general barely stood up after recovering some physical strength and spiritual energy. It seemed that it didn''t want its subordinate to see it kneeling down on the ground by one knee.


    The moment it stood up, the demon general had gazed at Zhang Tie and issued an order to him.


    The demon general just kept its eyes on Zhang Tie. It didn''t pay attention to the weird look that flashed by Quintin''s eyes when Quintin noticed its weak look.


    Zhang Tie became silent completely at this moment. Since Quintin flew in, Zhang Tie had been keeping his eyes on this new visitor...


    Quintin hurriedly descended to the side of the demon general with a concerned look, "Where are other knights? What happened to your hands, demon general?"


    "Other knights have already died. It was a trap. My hands have been wounded by alchemist''s bombs. I''m okay. Hurry, kill Gorath. This guy has a very terrifying recovering ability. Kill him right now..." The demon general urged.


    A shrewd light flashed across Quintin''s eyes as he replied, "Yes, sir...". He camouflaged to rush towards Zhang Tie; however, it slashed at the demon general...causing the latter''s head to fly off. Spurting out 30-cm high blood from its neck, it fell onto the magma with widely opened eyes. It seemed that the demon general had not imagined that its head would fly off. Neither did it believe that its subordinate human knight could kill it at this critical moment...


    After swaying a short while, the tall figure of the demon general finally fell down, causing a loud "bang". Its head was sent flying dozens of meters high. Before it landed, Quintin had punched it into blood mist. After that, it slashed the demon general''s body into two halves...


    Two blood points sprayed onto Zhang Tie''s face.


    Zhang Tie kept his eyes tightly on Quintin without a blink...


    After killing the demon general completely, Quintin let out a deep sigh. After looking around, he moved his eyes onto Zhang Tie before finally bursting out into laughter "Hahahaha..."


    In the laughter, Quintin lowered its body and tore off half of the demon general''s clothes and took a necklace with a plate from its neck. After that, he stopped his movement. After being still for a few seconds, it burst out into louder laughter...


    Zhang Tie had never imagined that the demon general would be killed by its subordinate knight of Three-eye Association.


    However, Zhang Tie knew now that a greater crisis was coming.


    ...


    "You''ve long arrived outside there, right?" Zhang Tie asked calmly as he struggled to stand up.


    Quintin stopped laughing. Narrowing his eyes, he watched Zhang Tie with a complacent look, "Right, Gorath is indeed smart. Then, guess why I killed the demon general?"


    "Of course it was because of me!" Zhang Tie barely twitched his facial muscles and forced a smile, "But I don''t understand what do you want from me?"


    "Cause you have one thing that I need!" Quintin replied as he slowly walked towards Zhang Tie. At the same time, he started to scan over each place on Zhang Tie''s body with greedy eyes, especially Zhang Tie''s fingers and neck where pendants or rings would always be worn, "I remember that we met in Tokei City last time, right?"


    Zhang Tie quivered all over as he watched Quintin with an unbelievable look. At the same time, a big question mark occurred to his mind, ''How could this guy know that?''


    "Last time, you induced me away from the airport and transferred all the wealth that Senel Clan had gained from Tokei City. From then on, I have been seeking for you. I thought that I would not see you ever. Heh, heh, I''ve not imagined that you reappeared after a few days. You must be curious about how did I know that was you, right? It''s simple, you''ve exposed that you had a space teleportation equipment when you moved all the wealth of Senel Clan away in such a short while. After a few days, the black-robe Gorath appeared on this sub-continent, who killed and plundered Three-eye Association clans. However, those Three-eye Association clans'' wealth always disappeared. From then on, I had confirmed that Gorath was you, the very person who robbed away the wealth of Senel Clan outside Tokei City. There should not be two guys who possessed space teleportation equipment and were hostile to demons and Three-eye Association on this sub-continent at the same time. Therefore, I knew you must be a cunning one. You must have many tricks. Therefore, I came here a bit later on purpose, wanting to see whether I could make some profits from your battle. As I''ve imagined, here it is." Quintin explained with a complacent look.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Quintin had been looking for him since Tokei City and had figured out that he was the very person who teased Quintin outside Tokei City. Quintin looked bad-tempered. In fact, this guy was especially thoughtful.


    Although Zhang Tie looked calm, he was actually extremely anxious. He was trying his full effort to squeeze out the last bit of spiritual energy in his mind sea.


    With a bit of spiritual energy, he would be able to return to Castle of Black Iron and survive himself.


    However, no matter how hard Zhang Tie tried, his mind sea was like a lemon which had completely squeezed out its juice or had been dried up under the sunshine which could never provide any more juice...


    Zhang Tie didn''t give up. He kept squeezing while striving for more time.


    "Are you afraid of being revenged by demons after killing the demon general?"


    "Haha, why? All the other knights have been killed by the black-robe knight Gorath, including me and the demon general. After killing all of us, Gorath had disappeared. They would revenge Gorath, not me, if they want!" A smile appeared on Quintin''s face. He had been only 10 m away from Zhang Tie. He raised that necklace he got from demon general and pointed at Zhang Tie, "I serve Three-eye Association only for their cultivation resources. Now, the best cultivation resources and most wealth were in the hands of you and the demon general. As long as I get your space teleportation equipment, I will find a new place and restart my life in a strange face and status. I will have everything that I want. All the responsibilities will be shouldered by you. Thankfully, both you and the demon general were severely wounded. Why do I miss such a good chance?"


    Fine sweatdrops oozed over Zhang Tie''s forehead.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s embarrassed look, Quintin sneered as he asked jokingly, "Do you want to strive for more time so as to recover your spiritual energy? Hahaha, very good, I will give you some time then. You have 10 seconds. If you presented your space teleportation equipment in 10 seconds, I will promise you an easy death; otherwise, I could only cut you off one piece after another. But you would have a great pain."


    "One..."


    "Two..."


    "Three..."


    Quintin slowly narrowed the distance between him and Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie''s sweatdrops had started to drop off his forehead while gazing at Quintin tightly...


    ''Come out, come out, my spiritual energy, come out...''


    Zhang Tie roared inside while he gathered all the will, strength from all the cells and blood drops and turned them into an unyielding fist intention of iron-blood fist before striking onto his mind sea.


    Zhang Tie determined to squeeze oil out of rocks in magma, not to mention dried lemon. If not, he would die. ''As for Quintin, he could kill the demon general without any hesitation, not to mention me...''


    "Four..." Quintin had already raised his longsword...


    "Five..." Quintin had just been 5 m away from Zhang Tie...


    "Six..."


    Right then, Zhang Tie heard a faint sound of "cracking glasses" in his mind sea. Closely after that, his mind sea experienced an unimaginable, great change like when the universe came into being...


    Zhang Tie became stunned for a second, which period was like passing by a distant time tunnel...


    After this second, the entire world had become utterly different, including this karst cave. Zhang Tie felt that he existed everywhere.


    He recovered his composure in a split second. Because he knew that Quintin had missed his last chance to kill him.


    "Seven..."


    Zhang Tie just watched Quintin with a strange look while his autumn-frost gold sword which was inserted into the rock wall hundreds of meters away suddenly radiated a golden luster. At the same time, it left the rock wall just like drawing out a piece of bean curd. After leaving the rock wall silently, it floated in the air like a piece of plume...


    "Eight..." A fleer appeared on Quintin''s face.


    The autumn-frost gold sword changed its direction and targeted at Quintin in the air...


    "Nine..." Quintin moved to 2 m ahead of Zhang Tie while he was going to slash off his longsword.


    "Thank you. You told me that I should not belittle any small figure in this world. There might be no small figure in this world!" Zhang Tie suddenly opened his mouth.


    Quintin became stunned as he launched his attack...


    ...


    However, Quintin''s head flew off. In the next 0.1 second, his head and body were split into blood mist over the ground by tens of thousands of sword qi...


    The blood mist evaporated at once while a stink started to fill the entire space, leaving osseous ashes on the ground...


    Quintin disappeared. That necklace that he got from demon general also floated in the air in a weird way. It suspended in front of Zhang Tie like being pulled by an invisible hand.


    Zhang Tie stretched out his hand. The necklace then fell onto his hand.


    After injecting a bit of spiritual energy into the necklace, Zhang Tie had sensed what was inside it.


    A space teleportation equipment, whose length, width and height were 3 m respectively. A lot of resources were piled inside it...


    "Hahahaha..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter...


    Being influenced by his laughter, Zhang Tie''s wounds ached once again. He then frowned and couldn''t stand to take a breath...


    Before entering Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie took the final look at the demon general and sighed¡ª¡ªAlas, humanity...


    ...

 805 Goraths Shield

    Chapter 805: Gorath''s Shield


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    9 days later, Castle of Black Iron, Immortal Mountain, Sky Waterfall...


    The silver dragon-like waterfall from the hillside of the main peak of the Immortal Mountain formed the most splendid scenery in Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie named this waterfall as Sky Waterfall.


    The water of the Sky Waterfall originated from the thawed snow. After flushing off the waterfall, the snow water converged into rivers and lakes. The moisture then evaporated and condensed into snow on the top of the Immortal Mountain. The snow froze and condensed into the ethereal cloud; after that, it thawed and flushed off the waterfall once again...


    Castle of Black Iron had already formed a macrocyclic ecosphere.


    The Sky Waterfall was surrounded by verdant woods, splendid scenery and fresh air. It became Zhang Tie''s favorite cultivation site.


    In the past 9 days, Zhang Tie sat down there for recovery every day.


    At present, Zhang Tie was sitting on a huge, cyan rock being not far from the Sky Waterfall with crossed legs and closed eyes to recover quietly.


    Zhang Tie remained still and silent; however, the King Roc Battle Qi which had recovered was rushing here and there in his body. Like an emperor, Zhang Tie was commanding thousands of soldiers and horses to cleanse the final threats and bandits in his body. The final threats were gradually driven away from his cells and entered his right hand''s index finger, causing it to turn pitch-dark and bright.


    After sitting there for almost 10 hours, Zhang Tie opened his shiny and clear eyes. He stretched out his right hand, releasing a black battle qi and hit onto a rock in the far. As the rock was smoking, it reduced to its half in a split second.


    Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh as he watched his finger which had completely recovered its original color, ''What a powerful all-poisons battle qi!''


    When he was fighting the demon general that day, he was invaded by the all-poisons battle qi of the demon general. In that case, he tried his best to suppress the all-poisons battle qi; however, he didn''t completely clean them off. A few of all-poisons battle qi was still left in his body. Lately, as Zhang Tie gradually recovered and rehabilitated, he finally cleaned up this remaining threat.


    Besides being very destructive, the demon general''s all-poisons battle qi was capable of eroding other''s body. It was very terrifying. If common black iron knights were severely wounded by the demon general like Zhang Tie, even if they could recover their wounds, they had to suffer a great loss so as to eliminate the remaining all-poisons battle qi in their body. By contrast, as Zhang Tie was cultivating an emperor-level secret skill, it was easy for him to eliminate all-poisons battle qi when he was in a good physical condition. In less than 1 day, the dignified emperor-level battle qi had already driven out the remaining all-poisons battle qi from Zhang Tie''s body.


    After cleaning up the all-poisons battle qi, Zhang Tie became reassured. Picking himself up from the rock, he moved his limbs for a short while. After that, he took a deep breath of the fresh air. Breathing the translucent, cool moisture in the air, Zhang Tie was spirited up all over.


    Being aided by his medium-level recovery body and a lot of vials of all-purpose medicament, after consuming another vial of senior recovery medicament, Zhang Tie had completely recovered after 9 days.


    Zhang Tie revealed a brilliant smile. Closely after that, he left off the cyan rock and walked towards the palace tree in the distance alongside the mountainous path.


    Like how he named the Sky Waterfall, Zhang Tie named the palace tree as Savage Tree House, which sounded average and mischievous; however, it was very vivid. What was more was that this nickname felt warm, which, as a result, would reduce the spacious yet desolate atmosphere in the palace tree. Zhang Tie''s initial intention was to make the palace tree the doomsday shelter for his family members. However, there were only Zhang Tie, Heller and his three servants inside it now. Of course, it felt too spacious. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt like a savage living inside it.


    The earlier cabins felt a bit crowded; however, the current palace tree felt too desolate.


    Zhang Tie thought, ''This might be humanity. People would never be satisfied.''


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the palace, he had seen Heller walking towards him.


    Heller was holding the space teleportation necklace of the demon general.


    "Castle Lord, this space teleportation necklace has been renovated by Edward. It costs some mithril and a blue, golden gem which had been processed by an alchemist!"


    After taking the necklace, Zhang Tie found that it had been completely different than its black look before. Even those who had seen that necklace before would not be able to identify it.


    The major part of the former necklace was a diamond-shaped three-dimensional pendant. However, it became an angel with open wings now. Although Zhang Tie didn''t have an eye for art, he could feel that the angel pendant was unusual. Being only as long as one''s thumb, the angel''s facial expression and plumes were vivid and sacred. What an amazing artwork! With hands cupping above her head, the angel cupped a top-quality brilliant blue, golden gem like cupping the sun.


    The top-quality blue, golden gem was plundered from the warehouse of a Three-eye Association clan. Under the sunshine, it showed four brilliant stony flowers which had a similar effect with that of a cat''s eye. It indicated that the gem''s strength had been completely activated by the alchemist master.


    After being activated by the alchemist master, the blue, golden gem would carry a natural ability to purify poisons in his body. Usually, a single top-quality blue, gold gem would be worth about 300,000 gold coins. However, if it was attached to this necklace, plus the artwork and the space teleportation attribute of this necklace, this necklace would be priceless.


    Holding the necklace, Zhang Tie looked around it as he kept nodding, "Nice, nice!"


    As he praised it, Zhang Tie directly put it on his neck.


    "Castle Lord, you''d better check the items inside the necklace. When Edward processed it, he didn''t take out the items from this necklace as he was afraid of destroying the space teleportation function of this equipment. Otherwise, he could have finished processing it for 6 days."


    Zhang Tie patted his forehead as he remembered that he indeed had not checked the items inside this equipment. He had not imagined that Edward worked 3 days more due to such a trivial negligence.


    "Will space teleportation equipment be destroyed?" Zhang Tie asked Heller as he injected some spiritual energy into the equipment. He then poured all the items from the space onto the ground. Zhang Tie didn''t have to worry about losing those items as they were in Castle of Black Iron, regardless of their values.


    In a split second, a lot of items had been piled in front of Zhang Tie and Heller.


    The comfortable golden luster of earth-element crystals tinged the entire palace golden.


    The space in the necklace was about 27 cubic meters. As a small warehouse, it could hold many items.


    Most of the items in the space were earth-element crystals, which almost occupied half of the space. A crystal wall as high as 3 m piled up in front of them.


    "Even different universes and planes would be collapsed, not to mention a tiny space teleportation equipment." Heller replied calmly. After that, he picked up one earth-element crystal and looked at it carefully, "Castle Lord, You will not worry about the supply of earth-element crystals for a long while!"


    "There are 5879 earth-element crystals in total. I can light another 18 scales with them!" Zhang Tie became a bit thrilled as he watched those earth-element crystals. ''How rich was the demon general! Although it''s a prize for common black iron knights, it could only help me make a bit progress. Emperor-level secret skill''s chakra is a bottomless hole which could be barely filled.''


    "Step by step. Better than nothing! Common black iron knights could not afford so many earth-element crystals even if they sold their underwear." Heller joked.


    This time, Zhang Tie made a great achievement. Heller also felt happy for Zhang Tie sincerely as if Zhang Tie''s achievement was like that of his, which drove him extremely excited.


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter. He then stretched out his hand when an earth-element crystal flew off and landed on his hand lightly like a piece of the plume. Touching the earth-element crystal and sensing the familiar texture, Zhang Tie sighed satisfactorily.


    The earth-element crystal then flew off Zhang Tie''s hand and returned. Zhang Tie scanned over the remaining items and finally focused on a shield.


    That was the very shield that the demon general held before the fight. It used the shield to defend the high-temperature magma. There were circles of decorative figures which looked like sunflowers on the surface of that shield, making it pretty special.


    Compared to its brilliant look in the demon general''s hand, this shield had recovered its original color now. It was lying silently on the ground like a common, excellent metal shield. The "sunflowers" surface was reflecting the luster of those earth-element crystals.


    ''When in close combat, the demon general didn''t put away this shield in its body; instead, it put this shield into this space teleportation equipment. It seemed that the demon general intended to use it in emergencies. However, even if the demon general might not have imagined that it was its last time to put it in.''


    Under Zhang Tie''s gaze, that shield slowly flew off the ground and landed on Zhang Tie''s hand.


    Seriously, among all the weapons, Zhang Tie was most excel at using shields. When he cultivated in Hidden Dragon Island, he made progress in the highest efficiency on shield defense skill.


    This shield weighed about 100 kg. Holding it, Zhang Tie didn''t find it being any special.


    ''It looks common. I just wonder about its raw material. How could it play such a marvelous effect in the demon general''s hand? Additionally, how could it integrate with the demon general''s body?'' Holding the shield, a lot of questions occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "How do I use it?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    Zhang Tie knew that as long as his questions were above Heller''s bottom line, Heller would always feel content to answer them.


    "In this state, this shield could also work. Like common shields, it could be used to resist physical attacks. However, compared to common shields, it is irresistible. Even if a knight who had formed four chakras would not be able to destroy it!"


    "Even if a knight who had formed four chakras would not be able to destroy it?" Zhang Tie became stunned. ''Four chakras? Does it mean that even knights who have formed the wind chakra would not be able to destroy it? Is it a silver secret item? How powerful it is!''


    "Right!" Heller nodded, "After injecting your battle qi into it, you could activate its second state. You could have a try. In its second state, you could use it to resist your enemy in 360 degrees. Additionally, in this state, it could completely isolate spiritual attack, not to mention physical attack!"


    Zhang Tie injected some battle qi into the shield. The shield then turned brilliant and released a golden luster. Together with Zhang Tie''s battle qi, the golden luster tightly wrapped Zhang Tie like how a shell covered a yolk. The current state of the shield was as same as that the demon general used to defend the high-temperature magma surrounding it.


    The second state of the shield was very powerful; however, it had to consume Zhang Tie''s battle qi. Zhang Tie sensed that his battle qi could stand common black iron knight''s uninterrupted dense attack with the shield in its second state for about 10 hours. If he faced a more powerful attack, he would consume more battle qi in the same period. The length of period that he could stand depended on how powerful was the opponent''s attack. If his battle qi could not stand the attack, neither would the shield in its second state. Additionally, although his enemy could not hurt him with the shield in its second state, he could not use any battle skill, either. The protective cover formed by the shield could not even be penetrated through by Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy...


    The second state of this shield was indeed like an all-round irresistible iron tortoise. When in extreme situations, the second state of the shield would play a great role.


    "When you injected your battle qi and spiritual energy into the shield at the same time, you could choose the third state of the shield..."


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie tried to inject his battle qi and spiritual energy into the shield at the same time. Closely after that, the brilliant shield disappeared. Almost at the same time, Zhang Tie felt that the sun in the void of his Shrine Palace started to rotate slowly like how a planet revolved around the sun. Meanwhile, it kept releasing brilliant battle qi which seemed to smooth the shield...


    Zhang Tie was really startled by the third state of the shield, ''How could my body hold such a shield whose diameter is about 0.5 m? My lower abdomen is not even as wide as 0.5 m.''


    Heller understood what Zhang Tie was thinking about.


    "It''s nothing strange. I''ve told you before. If you really understand the universal rules, you will know that the so-called size of space and universe are meaningless. Size is just a ruler that humans use to recognize objects. However, rulers are always limited to the cognitive levels of humans'' senses! Materials are just forms of energy. However, do you think that the size of energy could be measured by volume?"


    Zhang Tie was stunned by Heller''s question. After thinking about it for a short while, he moved the shield from his lower abdomen into his hand once again. This time, Zhang Tie finally sensed something abstruse.


    The shield didn''t appear in Zhang Tie''s hand in the form of a material object in a split second; instead, after he injected his spiritual energy into it, the shield gradually turned into a material object. Additionally, the material object was not made of his spiritual energy, but a powerful quake and energy response. He realized that his spiritual energy was just a media. Through the quake and the energy response, Zhang Tie sharply sensed the rapid, surging and converging qi of the four elements in the elements realm.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie felt that he was not holding a shield, but a weightless shield mold whose parameters and conditions had been fixed. When the shield mold appeared in his hand, the four elements in the elements realm were cast into a material object according to the preset parameters and conditions just like casting something in a mold with red, hot liquid steel...


    Zhang Tie had visited those ironworks and die shops in Blackhot City; he knew it clearly how to cast those molds with red, hot liquid steel. Similarly, they radiated the same brilliance and heat; the difference was that ironworks and die shops were full of sparks of molten steel.


    The process that he put the shield in his body was similar to that of casting molds with liquid steel.


    ''It turns out that silver secret item could exist both in material realm and elements realm; it could exist in both the material state and the non-material state.''


    Zhang Tie understood the mystery of the silver secret item at once.


    "Can Edward change the shape of this shield?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    "Unless you determine to let this shield remain in its first state forever and not activate its second state or put it in your body; otherwise, it''s out of Ewards''s capability. Everything about this shield was preset. Only the one who produced it could change its look!" Heller shook his head.


    ''It seems that I cannot use this shield; otherwise, everybody would know that I''m the very Gorath. If so, I would have a great trouble and become the target of demons and Three-eye Association.'' Zhang Tie thought, ''It seems that this shield is exclusive to "Gorath"...''


    As this shield had no name on its surface, neither did it have a name that could only be read by spiritual energy, Zhang Tie didn''t know what to call it. However, according to Zhang Tie''s habit, now that this shield could only appear in the hands of Gorath from then on, just call it "Gorath''s shield" then...


    After putting the Gorath''s shield in his lower abdomen, Zhang Tie looked at the small tree in the far. The rich fruits on the small tree were greeting him...


    At the sight of so many fruits, Zhang Tie felt pretty good, ''No matter what, even if there was no such a silver secret item, the space teleportation item or a single fruit on the small tree, I''ve already been satisfied by the great achievement...''


    Zhang Tie had not dreamed that he could promote to the most powerful and mysterious profession among knights.


    If not having read the book-notes of elders of Huaiyuan Palace and the various information about knights which were collected by Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie didn''t even know there was such a mysterious, powerful profession among knights at all. The number of knights who could promote to such a profession was even less than that of alchemists.


    ''All this were benefited from the spiritual strength and the strength of God. After eating so many fruits of brilliance, I finally realized a qualitative change from quantitative change. After making a breakthrough and radiating the brilliance of the strength of God, I finally enter another sacred gate.''


    ''Besides Castle of Black Iron, this profession will be my greatest trump card and dependence.''


    Watching that resplendent fruit of brilliance on the small tree which contained all the spiritual energy of the 13 late Three-eye Association knights, Zhang Tie revealed a smile once again. It made Zhang Tie more excited than having promoted to a powerful, mysterious profession¡ª¡ªhe could make a big leapfrog on the road of this profession.

 806 Prelude to Extermination

    Chapter 806: Prelude to Extermination


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    2 leakless fruits which could reinforce the battle qi in the void of his qi sea, 3 iron-body fruits which could make him stronger, 1 fruit of redemption from the appreciation of golden uangs which could increase his strength, 1 fruit of brilliance which contained the spiritual energy of 13 late Three-eye Association knights, 4 fruits of judgment which advanced Zhang Tie''s soul fixing skill, cracking skill and tracing skill to super level and his super binding skill to master-level binding skill. It took Zhang Tie 6 days to digest all the above fruits.


    It took Zhang Tie 5 days to digest that extremely powerful fruit of brilliance. After digesting it, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy surged to an unimaginable level.


    After eating these fruits, Zhang Tie''s potential battle strength and fundamental battle force rose to a new record. Zhang Tie then left Castle of Black Iron.


    When Zhang Tie was recovering in Castle of Black Iron, the new year of Black Iron Calendar had arrived. When Zhang Tie left Castle of Black Iron, it was already over 9 pm, January 8th, the 899th year of Black Iron Calendar.


    After exiting Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie reappeared in the underground space where he fought the demon general.


    The place remained unchanged. The magma lake was still gurgling while the space downside there was not full yet. The demon general''s corpse was still lying on the ground in two halves. Whereas, the moisture and blood of the demon general''s corpse had been evaporated completely. As a result, the demon general''s corps shrunk greatly. It looked like a broken, dried, salty fish. It had lost its previous dignity completely. As for Quintin, his corpse had almost disappeared, even though its ashes remained.


    A tiny, fiery lizard was tearing off the demon general''s corps. It seemed that it regarded the corpse as a rare, tasty food. When Zhang Tie appeared out of the void, the tiny lizard was scared too much that it instantly turned around to escape.


    ''Is this the 8th year since the holy war broke out?'' Zhang Tie sighed with complex moods as he exited Castle of Black Iron and watched this familiar place.


    The tiny lizard had already broken and disordered the demon general''s corps. Zhang Tie noticed a piece of sparkling thumb-sized remote-sensing crystal which had broken into two halves in the broken armor of the demon general. It seemed that the piece of remote-sensing crystal had been damaged when the alchemist''s bombs were detonated. At the sight of the broken remote-sensing crystal, Zhang Tie realized that Three-eye Association clans might not have known that their demon general had been killed by me yet.


    ''It''s possible.''


    ''It was actually very transient and chaotic since the alchemist''s bombs were detonated to the time when the high-temperature magma poured down and filled the entire space. The demon general''s remote-sensing crystal had been damaged the moment the bombs were detonated. The other Three-eye Association knights were all striving for surviving themselves. At the critical moment, very few of them would consider sending a warning to Three-eye Association clans. Even though some of them did that, they could only brief it; they had no time to predict or clarify anything happening here. They could not clarify how were they, whether the demon general was still alive and the situations facing the other kights of Three-eye Association clans.


    Therefore, those Three-eye Association clans might still be in chaos and waiting for the message of the demon general and the other Three-eye Association knights.


    ''God bless me.'' Zhang Tie became spirited.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie left this space and rushed upwards.


    ...


    In less than half an hour, the black-robe Gorath with a gloomy face had flown out of Dragon Cave. After suspending in the sky for a short while, he flew towards Huaiyuan Prefecture like a legendary vampire facing the moonlight as fast as a ghost.


    Zhang Tie arrived at Qihai City first.


    Qihai City was pitch-dark all over. Looking over it from the air, this city had been filled with demonized puppets both inside and outside. Additionally, many places had traces of being burned.


    It seemed that demonized puppets had just occupied Qihai City. The four city walls had been damaged to a certain degree. There were at least 300,000-400,000 corpses outside the city.


    As it was built by Huaiyuan Palace, it was matched with powerful city-defense equipment which could kill more demonized puppets.


    Millions of demonized puppets were wandering among the corpses inside and outside the city. They were tearing off bloody flesh from those corpses like wild beasts, making the city a hell.


    Zhang Tie didn''t see any camp of Three-eye Association clans or humans'' trace across Qihai City.


    An icy eye light flashed across Zhang Tie''s eyes when he watched those demonized puppets. Like a black ghost, he descended to that place with the most corpses and released a black smoke over there only by waving his hand.


    With Zhang Tie''s manipulation, that wisp of smoke swayed for a short while in the air before charging at those corpses of demonized puppets like how a gundog discovered its prey.


    Zhang Tie was surrounded by dense demonized puppets. However, being affected by Zhang Tie''s super hiding skill, those demonized puppets seemingly treated Zhang Tie as a demonized puppet and ignored him completely. They just sought for food from the corpses; they would bite their partners and growl occasionally.


    Zhang Tie silently watched his black smoke drilling into a corpse of a demonized puppet.


    Only after two minutes, that corpse had started to decompose gradually while excreting out black pus. The first bubble came into being on the corpse. When the first bubble broke, more and more surrounding corpses started to decompose and excrete out black pus. Silently, more and more disgusting bubbles came into being on the corpses of those demonized puppets...


    However, none of the surrounding demonized puppets had noticed that.


    This was a ptomaine miasma, which, after being mutated, could be taken as a terrifying biochemical weapon. It was ten times more destructive than its former species. Over the past years, through the cultivation of Heller, Zhang Tie had gained over 1,000 mutated species of the ptomaine miasma. However, not all of them were more destructive and practicable than their parent species. The ptomaine miasma that Zhang Tie released was the most destructive and terrifying species which was cultivated by Heller with over 20 mutated ptomaine miasmas in Castle of Black Iron.


    Its infection and propagation were silent without any omen. Besides direct contact, this ptomaine miasma could also be spread through the air. Additionally, its viability was more shocking.


    ''It''s more like how a ghost was released!'' Zhang Tie felt calm as he watched the silent change in the surroundings.


    ''Go get them, kill them all, turn this sub-continent into the most terrifying forbidden zone for living beings; turn all the living beings with dirty blood into corpses and dust over the ground; turn all the cities over the continent into invaders'' tombs. Go, go get them, go destroy them. You''re my soldiers. From today on, Waii Sub-continent will be your paradise...''


    Zhang Tie issued an order to those microorganisms which could not be seen by commoners...


    As a response to Zhang Tie''s command, all the bubbles over the surrounding corpses broke at the same time.


    All the living beings had spirits. As for those terrifying mutated ptomaine miasma, Zhang Tie was their creator, their God and absolute ruler.


    ...


    Zhang Tie flew off once again. ''Qihai City has been occupied. If those Three-eye Association clans are not here, they must be in Yiyang City.''


    If they occupied Yiyang City, the southernmost part of Waii Sub-continent, it meant that they had occupied the entire Waii Sub-continent. According to the demon general''s plan, Yiyang City was where he held a banquet to celebrate their victory and award those Three-eye Association clans.


    Zhang Tie was right. The moment he arrived at Yiyang City, he had caught sight of the tents of those Three-eye Association clans, including that super demon corps.


    Those guys had taken Yiyang Mountain as their encampment arrogantly. The largest tent was placed where the former Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace had been in. Given his current battle force, even if Zhang Tie was above the main tent silently, he would not be noticed by anybody as the opponents had no knight left.


    The main tent was crowded. All the heads of the remaining 11 Three-eye Association clans across Waii Sub-continent and some LV 15 battle spirits of the demon corps were in the main tent.


    As was predicted by Zhang Tie, a fierce quarrel drifted from the main tent.


    After the demon general and all the knights of Three-eye Association had gone missing for over 10 days, these Three-eye Association clans became flurried. The entire demon corps lost their leader. Nobody knew what was next.


    Some proposed to dispatch someone to seek for the demon general and those knights. However, some insisted on waiting for the demon general''s return. Some even suggested the army to evacuate right away...


    All the LV 15 battle spirits of demons kept silent.


    Zhang Tie had thought about killing all of them. However, after considering it for a while, Zhang Tie gave up this thought...


    Right then, a plan with which he could clean up the entire super demon corps and all the Three-eye Association clans occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind.


    Zhang Tie''s weird, powerful, hidden spiritual wave of "soul capture skill" gradually spread over the main tent...

 807 A New Strategy

    Chapter 807: A New Strategy


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    There was an old Hua saying¡ª¡ªIf you don''t take the benefits that the God gifts you, you will be punished by the God; if you don''t do it at the right time, you will have troubles!


    All the knights of demons and Three-eye Association were exterminated across Waii Sub-continent. Before the arrival of the new knights of demons and Three-eye Association, even before they knew the message that these guys had been cleaned up, Zhang Tie thought that the God was going to gift him something and allow him to do something.


    ''What does the God want to gift me?''


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie realized that the God was going to gift him two things.


    First, the wealth that all the Three-eye Association had plundered from the demon''s area in the north of Waii Sub-continent.


    During the past years in the incarnation of Gorath, Zhang Tie had already gained too much wealth from those Three-eye Association clans which had been struck or exterminated by him. Honestly, that wealth was just a small part of Three-eye Association clans. The greater part of wealth was in the hands of the remaining 11 Three-eye Association clans, which included most of the wealth of the 17 collapsed human countries in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. The wealth was still scattered in hidden places by these Three-eye Association clans. Therefore, Zhang Tie thought that the God aimed to gift that wealth to him.


    As for the second gift, Zhang Tie thought that the God was going to gift him the super demon corps which had overthrown the overall situation of Waii Sub-continent. On the premise of having the double-headed parent worm, the key to control this super demon corps for Zhang Tie was to feed those demon fighters with the double-headed parent worm''s eggs.


    When the demon general ruled this super demon corps, it was almost impossible for Zhang Tie to do this. Although there was only one knight in the super demon corps, he could still not play any trick. However, now, Zhang Tie got a chance¡ª¡ªhe could have many methods to feed those demon fighters with that double-headed parent worm''s eggs as there was no knight in the opposite camp.


    To gain the above two gifts and exterminate all the demonized puppets so as to return the entire Waii Sub-continent to its tranquility was what Zhang Tie should do at present.


    ...


    3 days later, namely January 11th, the remaining Three-eye Association clans and the entire demon corps were scared by a message even though they had not received any message about the demon general, all of their knights, even those scouts who had been dispatched to Hidden Dragon Island.


    Whereas, it was already too late.


    Even at noon on a sunny day, watching over 10,000 demonized puppets to fall down and struggle on the ground for a while before death, all the members of Three-eye Association clans at present felt that something was wrong.


    "Is it done by that b*stard?" A member of Three-eye Association clan whispered as it watched those corpses.


    "I don''t think so. It''s not worthwhile for Gorath to poison these demonized puppets!" Another member of Three-eye Association clan whispered.


    When some corpses of demonized puppets were carried over here, they all swarmed up and wanted to figure out what happened.


    It was a major event for these Three-eye Association clans which expanded by demonized puppets to watch their subordinates die in this way.


    Those demonized puppets had just died over 1 hour ago. Following the order of a head of a Three-eye Association clan, some members moved forward with scalpels and kits and started to dissect those corpses in front of them. Of course, it was not difficult for so many Three-eye Association clans to find some talents who were similar to forensic doctors and coroners.


    They should be very meticulous to complete such a complex autopsy and death verification process; it would usually take them at least 1 hour to reach the conclusion for a similar autopsy, except for this time. Before they reached their conclusion through autopsy and experiment, everybody at present had seen changes on those corpses.


    "I remember that there was no such a black spot on the face of this corpse!" A member of a Three-eye Association clan questioned.


    "Are you sure?"


    "I''m sure. There was no such a black spot on that corpse''s face just now...look, look, the number of black spots is increasing!" That guy screamed as it pointed at that corpse. Even the one who was dissecting the corpse stopped its work at once.


    Right then, numerous black spots appeared on those corpses of demonized puppets lying on the ground. Closely after that, under the gaze of everybody at present, the number of those black spots kept increasing...


    Watching the increasing black spots, all the members of Three-eye Association clans at present moved backward at the same time. They started to change their faces. Even those forensic doctors had taken off their uniforms, gloves and tools and floundered and crawled away with scared looks.


    In a couple of minutes, small bubbles had come into being on the black spots of the corpses. In the sunshine, the small bubbles soon broke and poured out some black blood. Meanwhile, more and more black spots came into being and the bubbles grew increasingly larger, accelerating the decomposition of those corpses.


    "Ptomaine miasma!" One forensic doctor screamed out of fear. Even his voice had changed like how a duck''s neck was pinched by a person''s hand. All the members of Three-eye Association clans felt a killing qi. As they changed their faces, they started to retreat.


    What was worse was that 1,000 more demonized puppets had fallen down and started to struggle outside Yiyang City during this short period.


    For these Three-eye Association clans which had joined the war in Selnes Theater of Operations, ptomain miasma was nothing new. However, such a ptomaine miasma was a mutated species which they had not seen before. The ptomaine miasma in Selnes Theater of Operations was colorful; however, this one was colorless, which played a very terrifying effect on demonized puppets.


    No commander or commissioned officer would like to have their troops stay in a region being affected by high-risk virus or bacteria, even demons.


    After discovering the mutated ptomaine miasma, all the Three-eye Association clans and demon corps had reached an agreement within half an hour¡ª¡ªevacuate from Yiyang City as soon as possible; wait for the demon general in a safe place.


    Therefore, the contingent of demonized puppets and the demon corps started to evacuate rapidly only after they arrived at Yiyang City for a few days.


    For the sake of safety, the members of the 11 Three-eye Association clans and the demon corps even didn''t take their demonized puppets troop away with them. Instead, they left ahead of those demonized puppets.


    The demon corps evacuated from Yiyang City together with Zhang Tie who was responsible for the safety of logistic supply, water source and food in an incarnation of a LV 12 commissioned officer of iron-armored demons. Across the demon corps, no demon caught the weird look and the wisp of a smile at the mouth corner of the LV 12 iron-armored demon when it evacuated.


    In the beginning, Three-eye Association and the demon corps just thought that this ptomaine miasma just broke out in Yiyang City; however, they soon realized that they were wrong¡ª¡ªthe terrifying mutated ptomaine miasma started to spread over all the cities in the south of Yuanjiang river, including Huaiyuan Palace and Qilan Country. In only one day, over 200,000 demonized puppets had been killed by this mutated terrifying ptomaine miasma.


    Evacuation turned into an escape. The demon corps which crossed over Yuanjiang River arrogantly half a month ago started to cross over Yuanjiang River once again. However, this time, they were escaping towards the north.


    Those members of Three-eye Association clans and those commissioned officers of that demon corps thought that they could find a safe place to wait for the arrival of the demon general; however, they didn''t know that they could not find such a place across Waii Sub-continent unless in the hell...


    The terrifying ptomaine miasma just followed the demon corps all the way towards the north. A lot of demonized puppets would fall down every day. More and more demonized puppets died day after day. The terrifying ptomaine miasma started to break out among the demonized puppets in an all-round manner. Every city on their way back would break out ptomaine miasma like dominoes. Whenever they thought that they had already arrived at a safe place would the ptomaine miasma break out once again in a couple of days.


    Demonized puppets fell down; members of Three-eye Association fell down; even many LV 9 fighters in that powerful super demon corps were in poor conditions. The entire super demon corps'' battle force was sharply weakened.


    This time, the demon corps evacuated faster than when they marched southwards.


    At the end of February, after abandoning over 80 million demonized puppets, the demon corps reached Kalay Mountain Range once again. Being different, this time, they escaped towards the north as embarrassed as homeless dogs. In the eyes of all the Three-eye Association clans and the demons, the south of Kalay Mountain Range had already deteriorated into a terrifying hell of ptomaine miasma...


    ...

 808 The Capital City of Sacred Iceland Kingdom

    Chapter 808: The Capital City of Sacred Iceland Kingdom


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In each June, the beginning of summer, Gozidari Plain in Ice and Snow Wilderness would welcome the most beautiful season of the year.


    This summer, Gozidari Plain was both the most beautiful and the most boisterous place in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Since the 896th year of Black Iron Calendar, a majestic city had already been built on Gozidari Plain after about 1 million workers'' 3.5 years'' around-the-clock work.


    This city was the 2nd city in Ice and Snow Wilderness and the capital city of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Before this magnificent city was named by its owner, it had been known as Saint Petersburg by all the Slavs across Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Everybody thought this name was very good, including the elders of the huge bear tribe.


    Over the past 3.5 years, steel plants, cement plants, machinery plants, foundries and workshops of different sizes started to sprout up like mushrooms after rain across Gozidari Plain so as to build Saint Petersburg. As a result, the entire Gozidari Plain became much more prosperous than before.


    As over 10 million immigrants poured in Ice and Snow Wilderness, they brought sufficient, cheap labor forces, lots of technicians, engineers and talents from all walks of life. Meanwhile, these people released a vast market demand. Additionally, the 90 million gold coins that Zhang Tie invested in building Saint Petersburg released a powerful cash flow in the hinterland of Ice and Snow Wilderness. The very cash flow guaranteed the economic prosperity.


    With the construction of Saint Petersburg, the cash flow of 90 million gold coins flew in all directions from the hinterland of Ice and Snow Wilderness like trickles. As a result, Saint Petersburg''s orders spread over the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness from the most remote mountain bear tribe to the most prosperous Ewentra Archipelago. The entire Ice and Snow Wilderness started to rotate slowly like a steam engine being activated. Meanwhile, it released a vast development potential and led to a vigorous scene all over.


    When Blackson Humans Corridor was in its worst situation, the Ice and Snow Wilderness, which had been regarded as a wilderness by numerous people, started to reach its heyday.


    ''Who brought Ice and Snow Wilderness to its heyday?''


    Even a 3-year old kid in Ice and Snow Wilderness could answer this question¡ª¡ªHis Majesty Peter.


    As Saint Petersburg was going to be completed, Peter Hamplester''s authority as the tsar of Saint Petersburg was gradually adopted by more and more people.


    ...


    At dawn, a xiphodon cavalry team finally arrived at Ginqing Lake Delta Region of Gozidari Plain after one night''s gallop where Saint Petersburg, the capital city of Sacred Iceland Kingdom, was located. From here, they could see Elzida Mountain in the distance.


    This cavalry team consisted of less than 30 people. All the cavalries wore an armor made of mutated whale''s leather. They even smelt fishy. If you looked at them carefully, you might see white salt as fine as sand on the binding sites between the pieces of their leather armors. Generally, such a phenomenon was caused by three reasons: first, their leather armors were picked up from the ocean; second, their leather armors were soaked with their sweat; third, the combination of the above two situations.


    At the sight of Saint Petersburg, the head of the cavalry team stopped his mount, followed by all the others. Watching the preliminary contour of Saint Petersburg in the distance, they all felt shocked inside.


    The city wall was made of white steel rocks which were extracted from Elzida Mountain. In the morning sunshine, it looked as pure and white as the cleanest snow on the top of Elzida Mountain which had existed there for over 1,000 years. Being different than the natural greatness of Elzida Mountain, this city''s contour presented an artificial magnificence.


    "Here we are!" The head of the cavalry team turned around and watched his subordinates. He then accented, "The city built by His Majesty Peter, also the capital city of Sacred Iceland Kingdom!"


    All the cavalries'' eyes radiated a special brilliance. Watching this city, many of them felt proud. Over 3 years ago, this sense of pride just belonged to their tribe, though.


    The head just clamped the stomach of his xiphodon by his legs. Closely after that, his xiphodon had rushed forward, followed by all the other cavalries...


    This cavalry team then rushed towards Saint Petersburg along the Marly River. After a few minutes, they met another cavalry team who were galloping their xiphodons towards them. The population of the new cavalry team was twice that of theirs. Besides, the members of the new cavalry team looked more capable than them with more excellent equipment.


    "Stop, report your status, please!" The commissioned officer of the new cavalry team raised his arm to stop this travel-stained team when they were 50 m away from each other.


    "I''m Hags, the head of the sea bear tribe!" The head of the travel-stained cavalry team raised up his identification plate and shouted, "I have an emergency military intelligence to report to His Majesty Peter!"


    After knowing their purpose and checking their identities, the commissioned officer gave way to them. Not only that, he even led them to Saint Petersburg.


    With the convoy of this cavalry team, the sea bear tribe''s cavalries smoothly passed another two cavalry teams'' obstruction and one roadblock and finally arrived at Saint Petersburg after over 40 minutes of travel.


    This city looked utterly different than they saw from afar just now.


    The design of Saint Petersburg was very special. Looking down at it from the air, you would see that the contour of this city was like a special snowflake. This city was surrounded by six inter-connected huge, outstanding diamond-shaped battle fortresses. Being linked with the 6 diamond-shaped battle fortresses was a standard hexagonal city wall. The city gates were on the hexagonal city wall behind two diamond-shaped battle fortresses.


    With this structure, Saint Petersburg looked especially beautiful. What was more, with such a design, this city had a terrifying defensive ability. Each and every enemy had to face the counterattack from the city-defense weapons on two battle fortresses and one part of city wall at the same time. If the opponent wanted to attack any battle fortress, they had to suffer a great loss; additionally, after destroying any one battle fortress, they would definitely ram onto the sharpest and the firmest joint between two parts of the city wall and be struck by weapons from the two parts of the city wall at the same time.


    The cavalries of the sea bear tribe felt that the design of Saint Petersburg was very fabulous. However, at this moment, these cavalries didn''t have time to appreciate it. After entering the city from a southeast city gate, they directly rushed towards the Summer Palace of the tsar in the center of this city.


    Saint Petersburg had 6 thoroughfares, all of which converged in the core area of this city.


    The core area of this city was the Summer Palace of Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    In Ice and Snow Wilderness, summer was the nicest and most precious season; therefore, that man''s residence, also the hub of the authority of Sacred Iceland Kingdom was called Summer Palace by people.


    It was very boisterous in the city. Over 2 million people were living in Saint Petersburg. Many new buildings appeared on the two sides of the thoroughfares which could hold 12 vehicles in a row. Additionally, new buildings were rising everywhere, making the entire city vigorous.


    Besides private cars, there were also public buses on the thoroughfares of Saint Petersburg.


    After entering the city, all the cavalries slowed down.


    In Saint Petersburg, besides Grey Palace warriors and fighters of Thor''s Hammer, only heads and elders of tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness and their retinue could ride their mounts on the thoroughfares. What a special honor!


    When they passed by the square of Grey Palace, Hags, the head of sea bear tribe found that Grey Palace was holding a grand ritual today as numerous clergymen in white costumes and black costumes were gathering on the square. Mountain people, mountain sea! Everybody was waiting for something with a solemn and desired look...


    "Are they holding a ritual?" Hags asked the commissioned officer of Thor''s Hammer who escorted them all the way here.


    "His Majesty had just conferred His Excellency the Maxim as the archbishop of the entire Ewentra Archipelago a few days ago. It''s the first time for His Excellency the Maxim to hold the mass of ode after advancing to the archbishop. Therefore, so many clergymen were attracted and gathered in the square!" The commissioned officer answered respectfully.


    As the cavalry team of the sea bear tribe had been on the way during the past few days, they had no connection with the outside. Therefore, Hags was shocked inside when he was told that the first archbishop of Ancient God Church had appeared, but not the heads of the major bear tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Hags had heard about Maxim before. In less than 4 years, this guy had already consolidated the supreme position of Ancient God Church in Ewentra Archipelago and developed numerous believers of Ancient God Church in Ewentra Archipelago. Even many bigwigs and councilmen had been developed into clergymen and believers of Ancient God Church by him.


    Maxim was once just a logistics clerk of a small, remote tribe in Ice and Snow Wilderness. What made him well-known was his precious note called "God''s Favor is the Spring", which recorded how Peter presented the God''s will in the underground ruins of Haidela Glacier Crack as the one had witnessed and experienced it himself.


    In Ancient God Church, besides the sacred book "Book of Eternal", Maxim''s "God''s Favor is the Spring" was almost the most favorite book of all the believers and clergymen of Ancient God Church.


    Of course, Maxim became outstanding not only because of a note and a sacred book but also because of his wisdom and talents. Hags knew that another powerful star who was on an equal footing with the heads of the bear tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness would rise in Saint Petersburg from today on.


    If not an emergency, Hags even wanted to stop to take a look at the ritual. By the way, he intended to scrape acquaintance with the first archbishop who came from Peter''s followers.


    The entire Summer Palace occupied over 200 hectares. It was absolutely a scaled-down Saint Petersburg. The blocks near the Summer Palace had already been converged with mansions and castles of bigwigs of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Not only those rich ones from Ewentra Archipelago who strove for buying real estates here at high prices, even the heads and elders of bear tribes were proud of having one castle or mansion near the Summer Palace.


    The Summer Palace was strictly guarded by Grey Palace warriors and the elites of Thor''s Hammer.


    The cavalry team of sea bear tribe stopped outside Summer Palace. After reporting their intention here, only Hags, the head of the sea bear tribe and two of his subordinates were allowed in. All the other soldiers of the sea bear tribe had to wait outside Summer Palace.


    The Summer Palace was divided into front palace and harem. The front palace was where the hub of the authority of Sacred Iceland Kingdom was located and where the Helm Elders worked.


    Under the guidance of a commissioned officer of the front palace, Hags finally came to the palace where the helm elders worked after many passes and saw the 5 helm elders.


    The five helm elders of Sacred Iceland Kingdom were knight elders of three tribes.


    Besides the 3 elders of the huge bear tribe, two elders of the iron bear tribe and wild bear tribe also had arrived in the helm palace after receiving the message.


    The 5 elders had been long waiting for the arrival of Hags.


    At the sight of the 5 elders, Hags hurriedly told the 5 elders about the latest news.


    After listening to Hags'' words, the 5 elders exchanged a solemn and amazed glance with each other. Watching Pontiff Sarlin slowly nodding his head, the 5 elders then stood up at the same time. Elder Toles watched Hags, "Let''s go tell the news of the sea bear tribe to His Majesty!" After saying that, Elder Toles glanced at Hags'' two subordinates.


    "They are the bravest fighters of the sea bear tribe. After landing, they deepened into the demon''s area in Blackson Humans Corridor for investigation and got the latest, detailed intelligence! They could explain what they saw to His Majesty." Hags hurriedly introduced.


    After listening to Hags'' introduction, the two fighters of the sea bear tribe both chested out. No fighter would miss such a special honor to show off themselves in front of His Majesty.


    The 5 elders then became silent. They then hurriedly took Hags and his two subordinates away from the Helm Palace. After passing by a long winding corridor and a royal garden in the front palace, they finally came to a magnificent parlor.


    "Where''s His Majesty?" Elder Gouras asked a beautiful, female commissioned officer who was serving them in the parlor.


    "His Majesty is taking a rest!" The tall and plump female commissioned officer in a purple longuette answered respectfully.


    Although eunuchs still existed in some palaces, there was no eunuch in Summer Palace. The harem of Sacred Iceland Kingdom adopted female commissioned officers as servants in the harem of Summer Palace. Most of these female commissioned officers and maids came from tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness, a few of them even came from major clans of Ewentra Archipelago.


    ''He''s still taking a rest?'' Those elders forced bitter smiles at the same time. As His Majesty Peter had returned to Ice and Snow Wilderness for over 1 month, his gossips in the harem had also drifted into the elders'' ears, they had not imagined that His Majesty Peter was still taking a "rest" when the sun had risen such high.


    When that female commissioned officer went to report to Peter about their arrival, the 5 elders and the 3 representatives of the sea bear tribe could only wait in the parlor silently.


    After that tall and plump female commissioned officer in a purple longuette left the parlor, she entered the harem. A few minutes later, she came to a magnificent palace.


    Some maids and two female commissioned officers were standing outside a room with solemn looks inside the palace. Listening to the exotic sounds drifting from the room, they all blushed; however, they still "stuck to" their own posts and pretended to be calm.


    Over the past 1 month, there were always groans, sounds of "pah pah pah" and occasionally screams drifting from the room between 10 pm and 12 am, except for some hours in the midnight.


    Only Queen O''Laura entered the room at the beginning; however, after a couple of days, more and more madams were called in.


    As for those maids and female commissioned officers who had always been serving Peter outside the bedroom over the past one month, most of them could even judge which madam was being favored based on the groans.


    "Is His Majesty still inside?" That tall and plump female commissioned officer asked another female commissioned officer in a low voice.


    "Listen..." That female commissioned officer implied her with her eyes while her face blushed.


    After listening to that for half a minute, that tall and plump female commissioned officer''s face also blushed.


    Loud frequent sounds "Pah Pah Pah Pah" drifted from the bedroom. Meanwhile, sobs reverberated in the bedroom.


    "Who''s that?"


    "Madam Sabrina who was taken in by His Majesty last night!" That female commissioned officer answered.


    Of course, that tall and plump female commissioned officer was familiar with the name Sabrina. However, it was out of her imagination that this notorious woman could sob like a virgin.


    "Perhaps, His Majesty could enjoy a fresh sense of conquering a virgin from a mature woman like Madam Sabrina. That''s why he loves her so much!" The female commissioned officer whispered.


    "Some elders want to see His Majesty!"


    "According to the rules set by Queen O''Laura for the harem, if elders have something urgent to report, they could have female commissioned officers enter the bedroom and pass it to His Majesty directly!"


    After hearing that, the tall and plump female commissioned officer bit her lips before plucking her courage to open the door and enter it.


    Sabrina stopped sobbing...


    After 2 minutes, the bell outside the bedroom finally rang. Hearing this, those maids and female commissioned officers who were waiting outside the bedroom swarmed in at once...


    ...


    After 10 minutes, Zhang Tie left his resting palace and walked towards the parlor where the elders were waiting for him.


    It had been over 1 month since Zhang Tie completed his action and left Blackson Humans Corridor. Zhang Tie estimated that the situation in Blackson Humans Corridor should have been discovered by humans...


    If they didn''t know about the current situation facing Blackson Humans Corridor till now, it was unnecessary for them to continue fighting demons anymore.

 809 Preparation and Shock

    Chapter 809: Preparation and Shock


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Right in the parlor, when Zhang Tie entered, the 5 elders and the 3 representatives of the sea bear tribe stood up and bowed towards Zhang Tie at the same time.


    "Your Majesty!"


    "Hmm, relax yourselves, take a seat!" Zhang Tie glanced over the 5 elders and Hags, the head of the sea bear tribe.


    When he caught sight of Hags, Zhang Tie had almost got their intention. The sea bear tribe had been responsible for spying on the northern coastal areas of Blackson Humans Corridor during the past few years so as to master the recent situation of demons near Sacred Iceland Kingdom. If demons prepared to attack Ice and Snow Wilderness, they would definitely take drastic measures in the northern coastal areas of Blackson Humans Corridor.


    Watching them taking seats, Zhang Tie sat on the main seat.


    "A female commissioned officer told me that you have an urgent military intelligence to report to me. Are demons taking drastic measures in Blackson Humans Corridor once again?" Zhang Tie asked with a solemn look.


    Zhang Tie exerted his disguise talent to the utmost. When he spoke, his facial expression and tone were both vivid.


    When he asked, Zhang Tie prayed inside¡ª¡ªGod, forgive me. Although it''s not kind to do that, please allow me to be innocent this time given that I was always honest before.


    Elder Toles opened his mouth, "This intelligence is indeed about demons. We were also shocked when we got this intelligence. All of us thought it was of great significance; therefore, we came here to report it to you, Your Majesty!"


    "What''s that?'' Zhang Tie faintly frowned as he asked in a muffled and dignified way.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, the 5 elders finally moved their eyes on Hags.


    After taking a deep breath, Hags stood up and uttered, "The demon corps in Blackson Humans Corridor might...might have been exterminated. Even that demon corps and those Three-eye Association clans in Blackson Humans Corridor had disappeared!"


    Zhang Tie sprung up from his chair due to an extreme shock. After that, he slowly sat back. Watching Hags with a solemn look, he asked in a slightly icy tone, "As the head of sea bear tribe, do you know what responsibility you should assume when you talk about that in front of me and the helm elders?"


    Under the "dignified" gaze of Zhang Tie, Hags gritted his teeth, "I know, I will be responsible for each word that I said here today. I would like to take the punishment for any mistake in my intelligence!"


    "Fine, tell me about your reference and how did you know that!"


    "After the demon corps passed by Kalay Mountain Range last year, sea bear tribe had received the order of helm elders. We were requested to strengthen the surveillance over the northern coastal areas of Blackson Humans Corridor. From then on, I had dispatched mutated-shark cavalry elites to strengthen our surveillance over the northern coastal areas of Blackson Humans Corridor. This March, the abnormal phenomena in northern coastal areas of Blackson Humans Corridor aroused our attention. Our soldiers'' cavalries found that the demonized puppets which had reached the south of Blackson Humans Corridor started to retreat towards the north since March. As a result, those empty coastal areas were crowded with numerous demonized puppets surging northwards in a short period. After verifying this intelligence, we reported it to the helm elders immediately..."


    Elder Gouras interrupted at this moment, "When we got the intelligence from the sea bear tribe, the helm elders were very intense. At that time, demon corps had already occupied Blackson Humans Corridor completely. Therefore, their sudden abnormal movement reminded us that demon corps were going to prepare for attacking Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Therefore, we even let Ewentra Mixed Fleet enter Class II readiness posture. However, what happened next was more abnormal..." Elder Gouras threw a glance at Hags to let him continue.


    "The soldiers of sea bear tribe kept monitoring the northern coastal areas of Blackson Humans Corridor. We found that the demon corps didn''t prepare for the war in the northern coastal areas; instead, they kept moving northward and retreated into the northern inland regions. Because there were demonized puppets all over on the land, our soldiers didn''t deepen into the inland regions. By mid-April, something more abnormal happened. All the demonized puppets disappeared from the northern coastal areas of Blackson Humans Corridor. At the beginning, we thought that demons were playing tricks. Therefore, we observed it for two weeks meticulously. By late April, after not seeing any demonized puppet for over 10 days, some brave soldiers of sea bear tribe finally deepened into the inland cities to investigate!"


    "They didn''t see any alive demonized puppet in those inland cities; instead, they saw numerous broken corpses of demonized puppets with terrifying looks. Given their looks, those demonized puppets might have been affected by a terrifying ptomaine miasma. After finding this situation, we reported it to the helm elders at once; meanwhile, some bravest soldiers of sea bear tribe started to deepen into inland cities. Their report was very shocking. All the demonized puppets across Blackson Humans Corridor might have disappeared. There were only a large number of decomposed corpses in those cities where those demonized puppets had stayed. As for the two bravest soldiers on my side, one of them deepened into Hurricane Plateau of Golan Empire in the past one month, the other entered Kalay Mountain Range; however, they did not find any trace of demonized puppet..."


    As Hags introduced the two soldiers, Zhang Tie moved his eyes onto them on Hags'' side. One of them was LV 11, while the other was LV 12. Watching their tough looks and strong figures, Zhang Tie nodded inside. ''Given their looks, they are definitely dauntless fighters. No wonder they dared deepen into Golan Empire and Kalay Mountain Range to spy on the movements of demon corps.''


    "Tell me what did you see." Zhang Tie asked the two fighters.


    Starting from the fighter on the left of Hags, the two fighters started to depict what they saw when they deepened into Hurricane Plateau of Golan Empire and Kalay Mountain Range.


    Corpses! Corpses! They saw nothing but corpses.


    "How did you know that those corpses were of demonized puppets? How did you confirm that those corpses died of a terrifying ptomaine miasma?"


    "When demonized puppets surged southwards, there wasn''t any alive person across the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. When they moved southwards, all the humans had fought to the death or turned into the food of demonized puppets. We saw too many corpses, some of which might be of humans; however, we believe that most of those corpses were of demonized puppets!"


    "Additionally, the skulls of those decomposed corpses were black. Therefore, we''re sure that those corpses died of a terrifying ptomaine miasma. In Kalay Mountain Range, even wild beasts or insects dared not draw close to those corpses..."


    The two fighters of sea bear tribe replied in muffled and well-organized way.


    "How many corpses do you think were there in Kalay Mountain Range?"


    The two fighters exchanged a glance with each other.


    "We cannot tell you the concrete figure. However, according to our speculation, there should be at least 100 million corpses. We saw corpses from the north of Kalay Mountain Range all the way to the entrance of the underground world on Hurricane Plateau where the demon corps had been discovered!"


    ''They almost got the concrete figure!'' Zhang Tie was more shocked by the two fighters'' abilities. They were both brave and smart. No wonder they were favored by Hags.


    "Brave fighters of sea bear tribe, tell me your names!" Zhang Tie''s voice turned genial.


    "I''m Hirokov!"


    "I''m Alkin!"


    The two fighters answered while chesting out.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he pointed at two longswords hanging on the wall of the parlor, "These are rune swords gifted by a major clan in Ewentra Archipelago. From now on, they belong to you, one for one. Only real fighters could live up to such excellent weapons! From today on, you could enter Summer Palace with them."


    "Thanks, Your Majesty!" The two fighters of sea bear tribe took a deep breath before forcefully punching their chests. Trying their best to not look too excited, they strode towards the wall and picked off the two longswords in a decent way. After that, each of them put one sword on one side of their waist and returned to Hags'' sides.


    Being gifted with longswords in the parlor and were promised to enter Summer Palace with the gifted swords was a great honor for any tribal fighter, which made their family members and them proud.


    Zhang Tie''s award made Hags look more confident. He knew that this award meant the tsar''s confirmation about his subordinate fighters and the entire sea bear tribe.


    Zhang Tie pretended to think about something. After being silent for a short while, he asked Pontiff Sarlin and the other elders, "What do you think about it, elders?"


    "There must be a major accident across Blackson Humans Corridor which even demons could not have predicted. The only problem is that we don''t know the whereabouts of the demon corps and the demon general. The demon corps might have been exterminated by the terrifying ptomaine miasma; however, the 17 knights of demons and Three-eye Association couldn''t be killed by ptomaine miasma, including the demon general!" Elder Gouras said as he frowned.


    "No matter what, the news that all the demonized puppets were exterminated across Blackson Humans Corridor could shock the entire human world. We don''t need to risk our lives to explore the whereabouts of the demon general and its subordinate knights and that super demon corps. We only need to release the news that almost 200 million demonized puppets were killed by ptomaine miasma. Someone will help us figure out the reason. It''s a good thing for Sacred Iceland Kingdom." Elder Turin said in an experienced way.


    "I will do that!" Pontiff Sarlin smiled, "After all, many people have known my byname in the Mountain of Brightness. Additionally, Sacred Iceland Kingdom needs a channel to pass its voice to the public."


    All the other elders nodded.


    "Could Elder Sarlin see the future of Waii Sub-continent?" Zhang Tie suddenly asked.


    "Since half a year ago, the entire Waii Sub-continent had been covered by a dense black fog. From then on, I could not see anything about this Sub-continent. In the beginning, I thought that this black fog symbolized demons. I had even been worried about that for a long time. However, given the current situation, the black fog might be another unknown power!" Elder Sarlin sighed.


    Zhang Tie didn''t speak anymore. He knew that he had already built the channel, what he needed to do was to wait for the result.


    ''The threats facing Ice and Snow Wilderness and Sacred Iceland Kingdom were finally eliminated. As demon corps could not occupy Waii Sub-continent for the time being, they would not make their preparations to fight Ice and Snow Wilderness. Therefore, they could not pose any substantial threat to Ice and Snow Wilderness. Given the current situation, unless the demons'' heads were idiots, they would never have their demon corps appear on the sub-continent which had been absolutely desolate with over 200 million corpses of demonized puppets due to fatal ptomaine miasma. They could not get any resource from this sub-continent anymore.''


    ''Compared to the other sub-continents, the Eastern Continent and the Western Continent, Sacred Iceland Kingdom is just a sesame in this world, which is in such a cold and barren land. Demons will never pick up such a sesame at the cost of some watermelons. Nobody would like to do that. As for demons, the entire Sacred Iceland Kingdom had lost its value. After Waii Sub-continent became a wasteland, Sacred Iceland Kingdom had become a Shangri-La. Before occupying Eastern Continent or the Western Continent, demons would not organize its power to launch such an expedition to this place.''


    ''However, Sacred Iceland Kingdom should keep an eye on moles of Three-eye Association clans. They might want to root, reproduce and expand here like parasites so that they could overthrow the ruling of Sacred Iceland Kingdom in another manner. It was another form of war to handle Three-eye Association clans. Whereas, after the Three-eye Association clans on Waii Sub-continent were exterminated, it would take new Three-eye Association clans at least dozens of years to consolidate their positions and powers in this country. Those Three-eye Association clans don''t have a chance to break in Sacred Iceland Kingdom for the time being.''


    Zhang Tie fulfilled his promise that he would support Ice and Snow Wilderness to the end in another pattern.


    These were the final preparations that Zhang Tie made before returning to Eastern Continent, including the crazy things he had done these days. As Zhang Tie didn''t know when would he come back here next time, he took the crazy things that he had done as a communication, compensation, carnival, gift and comfort.


    ''When O''Laura, Olina or Sabrina made love with me, they desired for sustaining my bloodline, although they didn''t say it.'' Zhang Tie would sustain his bloodline in Sacred Iceland Kingdom. However, he had to leave for Taixia Country.


    Without the holy war, Zhang Tie might pick up his family members from Taixia Country to Sacred Iceland Kingdom or his beloved ones from Sacred Iceland Kingdom to Taixia Country. However, in the holy war, Zhang Tie couldn''t bear his friends, family members and clansmen being threatened by demons while he was in a safe place. ''O''Laura, Olina and Sabrina belong to this place, they have everything here. They won''t feel like leaving out of here.''


    At present, Sacred Iceland Kingdom might be as safe as Taixia Country; however, such a safety was temporary if humans didn''t win the holy war.


    Donder once said, "One could betray everything but his bloodline."


    Faithfully, Zhang Tie could not betray his bloodline.


    In the future, the fiercest battle between demons and humans would break out in Taixia Country.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie had to return to Taixia Country.


    If Taixia remained safe, humans would survive forever.


    Even if he was not here, as long as he fought demons and Taixia remained safe on Eastern Continent, it would be a protection for Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    "Over the past years, the Tribal Axis Railway Corporation (TARC) has gathered a great number of profits and assets. With the increasing population across Ice and Snow Wilderness, many more places are to be developed. A few days ago, the TARC and Golden Bank have proposed to build a new railway. How about connecting the next section of the Tribal Axis Railway to sea bear tribe? This section of railway lasts over 1,700 miles. Sea bear tribe could raise fund or dispatch tribal labor forces to participate in the construction of the railway. Sea bear tribe could share 40% of this section of railway and participate to run it!"


    It was Zhang Tie''s principle to award those who have military exploits. As the sea bear tribe had made a great performance in the past few years, Zhang Tie had to set the sea bear tribe as a good model for all the other tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Hags, the head of the sea bear tribe sprung up with an excited look immediately as he punched his chest, "Thanks, Your Majesty!"


    Of course, Hags was excited. Because he knew that this award meant millions of more gold coins'' income for sea bear tribe each year. Although the sea bear tribe was poor, they had a lot of labor forces and could gather some money. In the worst scenario, as long as Hags agreed to use the potential benefits or stock options of the new section of the railway as the mortgage, he could raise a great amount of gold coins from those newly riches in Ewentra Archipelago and Golden Roc Bank.


    ...


    Only after a few hours, an article called "Latest News: Terrifying Ptomaine Miasma Exterminated over 200 Million Demonized Puppets across Waii Sub-continent" was issued in the Mountain of Brightness.


    The entire Mountain of Brightness was shocked...

 810 Returning to Taixia Country

    Chapter 810: Returning to Taixia Country


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After the news that over 200 million demonized puppets across Waii Sub-continent were exterminated was released in the Mountain of Brightness, Sacred Iceland Kingdom also dispatched a large war airship to Waii Sub-continent for further investigation at the order of Zhang Tie. According to the intelligence of the airship, they found 2 airboats above Waii Sub-continent which were moving at very high speeds. Additionally, each of the two airboats was safeguarded by a knight. The knight of one airboat even made a close touch with the scouting airship of Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    However, fighters on the scouting airship could not identify the background of the airboats from the knights on the two airboats. Undoubtedly, the amazing event on Waii Sub-continent had already shocked the rest of the world and attracted the attention of major forces. Those who could arrive at Waii Sub-continent in the shortest period were definitely top forces across Eastern Continent or Western Continent.


    With the focus on Waii Sub-continent from all parties, the event that happened on Waii Sub-continent was gradually revealed; meanwhile, more and more mysteries appeared.


    From January to June of the 899th year of Black Iron Calendar, human forces evacuated from Waii Sub-continent. What happened on Waii Sub-continent, which had been occupied by demon corps, might become the largest mystery since the start of the 3rd holy war.


    Nobody knew the whereabouts of that super demon corps which was composed of demon fighters above LV 9!


    Nobody knew the whereabouts of the 17 knights of demons and Three-eye Association clans!


    Nobody knew the whereabouts of those Three-eye Association clans on this sub-continent!


    Nobody knew the whereabouts of that wealth that had been plundered by Three-eye Association Clans on this sub-continent!


    Many people seemingly had disappeared out of the void...


    Everybody only knew that this sub-continent was covered with the terrifying skeletons of demonized puppets.


    All the skeletons of animals even humans looked white or light-colored, except for that of those demonized puppets which looked as black as ink, which made people scared.


    The terrifying ptomaine miasma was named as Full Moons Demon Miasma.


    At the beginning, some people doubted whether those demonized puppets died of ptomaine miasma. Compared to those widely-accepted ptomaine miasmas, the latest ptomaine miasma over Waii Sub-continent was colorless and intangible, which didn''t have the features of many common ptomaine miasmas at all. It looked more like a rank poison. If not those black bones, people could almost not identify it. Nevertheless, in July, all the doubts had faded away.


    When the double full moons appeared, black miasma covered wherever there were black bones across Waii Sub-continent. The black miasma was like the crazily dancing flame in the hell, which almost wanted to devour all the living beings across the sub-continent.


    Therefore, the name Full Moons Demon Miasma spread throughout the humans in the shortest period.


    With the appearance of Full Moons Demon Miasma, all the doubts in Waii Sub-continent were finally focused on a mysterious knight¡ª¡ªBlack-robe Gorath!


    Based on the traces across Waii Sub-continent, some people even speculated that it was the very mysterious black-robe knight Gorath who had been wrestling with demons across Waii Sub-continent and making demons run here and there helplessly for many years. Besides being a knight, Gorath was an extremely terrifying voodoo pharmacist. The terrifying Full Moons Demon Miasma was controlled by the black-robe knight Gorath. When humans left this sub-continent, the Waii Sub-continent finally became the testing field of Gorath''s Full Moons Demon Miasma. All the demons across the sub-continent were finally devastated by Gorath.


    Actually, this speculation was close to the truth. However, it could still barely interpret why the demon corps, the 17 knight and Three-eye Association clans disappeared.


    There was one point that they could confirm that the Full Moons Demon Miasma was the killer of all the demonized puppets.


    Given the lethality of the ptomaine miasma, demonized puppets who were converted by human corpses were most easily affected by ptomaine miasma.


    What happened on Waii Sub-continent had already approved this point. When this sub-continent was covered with demonized puppets, it was also turned into a terrifying hell by the Full Moons Demon Miasma.


    The reputation of the mysterious black-robe knight Gorath soon spread across the world. Meanwhile, he became the target of all parties such as humans, demons, Three-eye Association and someone who had ulterior motives. Even Zhang Tie pretended to issue a secret order to seek for the black-robe knight Gorath in Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    Nobody could imagine that Gorath was Zhang Tie. Nobody would match Gorath to Zhang Tie given the looks and abilities. Additionally, according to the public information, when Gorath appeared on the demon''s area of Waii Sub-continent for the first time, Zhang Tie was staying with the crown prince of Norman Empire in Huaiyuan Prefecture. Given the distance between them, nobody would match Gorath to Zhang Tie.


    When everybody focused on the mysterious black-robe knight Gorath, Zhang Tie was relieved...


    Besides the speculation about Gorath, there were many more versions of what happened across Waii Sub-continent. Some thought that a more powerful human knight had cleaned everything; some thought that Three-eye Association clans on Waii Sub-continent betrayed demons and finally fought demons to the death...


    There was even one more reasonable explanation¡ª¡ªthe demon general collected the ptomaine miasmas that once appeared in Selnes Theater of Operations and cultivated the terrifying Full Moons Demon Miasma so as to improve its all-poisons battle qi. However, the demon general failed to control the Full Moons Demon Miasma. As a result, the demon general lost its consciousness and started to kill the knights on its sides. Finally, it even devastated the demon corps and all the demonized puppets. In order to survive themselves, those Three-eye Association clans and the remaining knights joined hands with each other so as to kill the demon general. Afraid of being revenged, they could only leave Waii Sub-continent for remote areas to survive themselves with the wealth that they had plundered while concealing their identities.


    Compared to the explanation about Gorath, the latter explanation was more reasonable and widely accepted.


    In the discussions, the truth of that event was buried in the course of history. It soon came to August.


    During this period, besides pretending to pay attention to the message about Waii Sub-continent and Gorath, Zhang Tie spent most of his time playing with those women in the harem of the Summer Palace of Saint Petersburg.


    In such a carnival, O''Laura, Sabrina, Olina and the 6 women of Spencer Clan were all pregnant.


    Zhang Tie gifted every woman a boy.


    After consideration, Zhang Tie only left two ancestral bloodlines in Sacred Iceland Kingdom¡ª¡ªa sword affinity, a Kuafu bloodline. Plus the leakless body that those kids would have when they came to this world, these kids would be much more excellent than their peers since they were born.


    Zhang Tie didn''t leave his pupil-changing bloodline. If pupil-changing bloodline appeared in Sacred Iceland Kingdom, it would easily remind people of Zhang Tie. As a result, it would bring a lot of troubles and dangers to Zhang Tie, even his kids. As their father, if Zhang Tie could bring a lot of troubles to demons like "Gorath" in the future, he was not sure whether demons and Three-eye Association would revenge his kids. Zhang Tie didn''t have to worry about this problem in Taixia Country; however, he had to consider it in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Out of this consideration, Zhang Tie didn''t even leave his precise throwing bloodline in Ice and Snow Wilderness, not to mention his body-changing bloodline. Body-changing bloodline was Zhang Tie''s unrivaled trump card. Before the end of the holy war, Zhang Tie didn''t think that he should expose this secret to anybody else. As long as this immortal bloodline appeared on a kid, Zhang Tie was sure that he would immediately become more famous than "Gorath". By then, he would be the top target of his enemies. ''Gorath could disappear himself, what about me and my family members?''


    After knowing that they were pregnant, all the other women intended to leave Sacred Iceland Kingdom except for O''Laura.


    Olina wanted to go back to Ewentra Archipelago; Sabrina wanted to go back to wild bear tribe; Mattia and Beryl wanted to go back to Eschyle City.


    This was the nature of women. Each woman would choose the safest place to welcome the new life. Even cats and dogs acted in this way, not to mention humans.


    Zhang Tie knew that he was almost going to leave here after sowing his seed in Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    On August 21st, Zhang Tie called all the women in a brilliant dining hall of the harem of Summer Palace and started a romantic candlelight dinner with them alone.


    At dinner, those women wore brilliant imperial bobtails and presented their arrogant and sexy figures while exposing half of their breasts. Even Sabrina had put up her hair and wore a brilliant diamond necklace. Watching the 9 beautiful ladies in front of him, Zhang Tie became a bit dazzled. He could not imagine that his dream had come true.


    Through 9 months of reclamation and nourishment, all the 9 women had turned maturer and more enchanting with finer and redder skins and more brilliant eyes like delicate and charming roses and peonies.


    Watching the 9 distinctive women sitting together and eating in front of him, Zhang Tie felt hot all over as he started to glance over their plump breasts and cherry lips.


    Those women, who had been extremely familiar with Zhang Tie, sensed his restless look as they revealed smiles. Zhang Tie''s desired eyes indicated that he was obsessed with their sexy and charming looks very much.


    Previously, they all knew that even a blink would cause a "fight" in such a case. As they knew that Zhang Tie was very "destructive" when he was extremely excited, they didn''t want to risk doing this.


    "Do you need me to call in some female commissioned officers?" O''Laura, sitting on Zhang Tie''s side, wiped her mouth with a piece of napkin gracefully before asking "delicately".


    Of course, Zhang Tie knew O''Laura''s meaning. His face blushed as he realized that he had been very dissolute in the harem these days that the 9 women had been used to such cases which were extremely embarrassing for commoners.


    Shaking his head and waving his hand, Zhang Tie immediately recovered his composure due to his powerful knight''s consciousness. After thinking for a short while, he uttered, "I will soon leave Sacred Iceland Kingdom for Taixia."


    The 9 women became silent at once. As they stopped doing what they were doing, the dining hall recovered its tranquility.


    "Will...will you come back?" O''Laura asked with a faint, trembling voice.


    "As long as I''m alive, I will come back for sure. If I''m dead, you..." Zhang Tie paused as he glanced over the 9 women''s faces, "Take care of our kids! They will remind you of me!"


    "Can you...not go there?" Sabrina watched Zhang Tie with a plaintive look.


    Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh before saying, "The holy war has just started. Although Sacred Iceland Kingdom looks safe for the time being, it is actually not safe as long as humans don''t win this war or don''t eliminate all the demons and Three-eye Association; you and our kids would face the threat of demons forever. You might even become others'' slaves and food one day and be spoiled and fed by pen-like beasts. You would have no dignity at all. As a human fighter, a knight and a father, I could not just wait here for the demons. I have to do something. As Eastern Continent and Taixia Country would be the fiercest battlefield between humans and demons, I have to go back!"


    "If you die, I promise to cultivate your kid into the most powerful fighter and commander and let him revenge for you on the battlefield!" O''Laura said with the firm and persistent eyes as she watched Zhang Tie...


    2 days later, Zhang Tie left Sacred Iceland Kingdom for Eastern Continent...


    ...

 811 Bounty Hunters

    Chapter 811: Bounty Hunters


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    An isolated island, blue sky, white clouds, blue ocean, beach and chirping seabirds...


    The sea waves were petting the beach. Numerous finger-nail sized sea crabs were climbing out of the dense thumb-sized caves and rushed towards the sea waves at the fastest speed.


    As for these sea crabs, the distance from the caves to the sea waves was the first survival test in their lives. If they could reach the sea waves after climbing over dozens of meters, they would survive themselves; if not, they would die.


    When the tide came in, these tiny sea crabs would hurriedly climb out of their caves and rushed towards the ocean and the sea waves with snow-white ripples.


    A lot of red-mouth seamews were chirping out of excitement and peaking those tiny sea crabs on the beach. As for these red-mouth seamews, these tiny sea crabs were their most bumper food.


    Many tiny sea crabs even didn''t touch a drop of seawater from their birth to death.


    When a sea wave arrived, one more person appeared on the beach.


    After climbing out of the sea water, that person, being wet all over with disheveled hair, picked up a shell from the beach.


    When someone appeared, the red-mouth seamews who were chasing after tiny sea crabs flew off while chirping.


    The person threw the shell at one red-mouth seamew. With a plaintive whine, the red-mouth seamew dropped off right in front of that person. He then caught it and brutally broke its head. Closely after that, he raised his head and started to drink its blood.


    After drinking up the blood of the red-mouth seamew, that person seemingly recovered some strength. He then plucked out the plumes from its chest and legs and started to eat the seabird alive like how savages usually did.


    After a short while, he had eaten half of that red-mouth seamew.


    All of a sudden, that person stopped and turned around with a ferocious look. After looking at the sea level for a short while, he instantly sprung up like a big bird and reached over 20 m away. In two movements, he had disappeared in the coconut woods.


    Only after half an hour, another person showed up from the sea waves and gradually went ashore.


    Compared to the former guy, who looked a bit embarrassed, this one looked much more graceful. Although being wet all over, this one wore a suit of water-proof clothes. The moment he left the seawater had he looked to dry up. What was more impressive was his eyebrows, which were dense, black, shiny and were like two longswords, making him very dignified.


    When he went ashore, he lowered his head and noticed some faint bloodstains and footprints on the beach. His eyes shot out a shrewd light at once.


    He just waited there for over 10 seconds before another person, in the same water-proof clothes, appeared and walked towards him.


    "Elder brother, where''s that b*stard?" The new arriver asked in a muffled voice.


    "That b*stard had already gone ashore. He''s right on this island!" The one with two dense eyebrows replied, "It seems that the b*stard wants to fight us to the death here!"


    "That son of b*tch, we brothers have chased him for over 80,000 miles from Yongzhou Province to Qiongzhou Province in the past half a year after climbing over mountains and crossing seas. If not elder brother''s top tracing skill, that son of b*tch might have escaped this time!" The new arriver swore as he pulled out his waistband. Only with a shake, the waistband had turned into a shiny soft sword full of killing intent together with a hum. He continued, "Just kill that son of b*tch; we only need to take his head back for the bounty!"


    "Second brother, we have to be careful. Zhu Liang, the Ferocious Wolf, has killed and robbed so many people and raped women so many times. However, he could still stay alive after being wanted by the Ministry of Penalty for so many years. Besides being good at disguising, he must have other talents. He could never be matched by common LV 11 battle masters. We''d better watch out; otherwise, we might fail our task!"


    "You''re right, elder brother. Our reputation that has been gained through so many years'' hard work as bounty hunters could not be ruined on this uninhabited island. We have to prevent from being bitten by the Ferocious Wolf. I will follow your order, elder brother!" That tough guy who had pulled out his waistband put it straight.


    "Fine, we will take a rest here first!" The guy with dense eyebrows said as he took out a sealed vial. After opening it, he took out two pills and threw one of them to his partner, "Take one qi and blood recovery pill first before going to seek for Zhu Liang, the Ferocious Wolf. I estimate that he has killed a seabird and taken some blood and flesh. He must be hiding somewhere to recover his strength. If we spent physical and spiritual strength to look for him at this moment, we might be trapped by him. The qi and blood recovery pill is more effective than raw and cold blood and flesh. We can go for him after recovering our strength. By then, we will not be afraid of his tricks anymore!"


    "Elder brother is really considerate!" That guy with a longsword in hand praised as he took the qi and blood recovery pill.


    They then quietly recovered their spiritual and physical strength on the beach.


    "Elder brother, when I was in Bright Road Pavilion of Blue Jades City in Qiongzhou Province last time, I saw an item called all-purpose medicament. Some lads in Bright Road Pavilion bragged that this medicament was much more effective and could work faster than qi and blood recovery pill. Additionally, it could detoxify and recover wounds. I didn''t pay too much attention to it last time. How about we go and get some after finishing this task? It might be useful in the emergency!"


    "Really? If it''s true, we will definitely buy some. Compared to our lives, money is secondary!"


    "Elder brother, why do you think the Ministry of Penalty raised the bounty so much on the wanted list? Besides Ferocious Wolf, the bounty on the top 10,000 wanted criminals increased by at least 3 times. Those after top 10,000 wanted criminals increased by 2 times. When I returned to Iron Sword Sect last time, I was told that it was a profitable job to be bounty hunters; some fellow apprentices of Iron Sword Sect even wanted to be bounty hunters!"


    "As the holy war has broken out, battle flames spread everywhere. Except for Taixia Country, nowhere else is peaceful. I was told that Waii Sub-continent and Blackhot sub-continent had been exterminated by demons. We have to rest the domestic unstable factors before fighting demons. If not eliminate these bandits and criminals in Taixia Country, they might cooperate with demons and Three-eye Association and cause big troubles in Taixia Country in the future. In the last few years, although Taixia had not broken out any war, it had been troubled by some hidden, evil forces. In order to make the overall national situation clear and stabilize local areas, the Ministry of Penalty had to sharply raise the amount of bounty for hunting the criminals on the wanted list. Therefore, the bounty hunter had become the most profitable and hot profession in the last few years. Although we could not kill demons on the battlefield for the time being, if we could do a good job as bounty hunters and protect the local citizens by hunting evil criminals and scaring small evil forces, we''re also making a contribution to the holy war. One day, if we have to go to the battlefield, we will join a powerful army and strive for honors on the battlefield, even at the risk of our lives. We might even be awarded noble wives and have babies. Our ancestors might be honorable for us!"


    The tough man with dense eyebrows said as the one with longsword felt excited.


    After resting on the beach for over 10 minutes, the two people became spirited as they slid in the coconut woods and prepared to hunt Zhu Liang, the Ferocious Wolf.


    Zhu Liang, the Ferocious Wolf, ranked below the 9000th place on the wanted list as posted by the Ministry of Penalty in Taixia Country. He had killed more than one bounty hunter who wanted to kill him so as to be well-known over these years. Therefore, the two bounty hunters were very meticulous. They were preparing for a fierce battle.


    The tough guy with dense eyebrows was proficient in tracing skill. Based on the faint traces on the ground, the two guys meticulously deepened into the island.


    It was a huge island. The verdant and crisscrossed coconut woods seemed to contain endless killing intents.


    ...


    Zhu Liang the Ferocious Wolf was very smart. After identifying Zhu Liang''s few tricks on the island, the two bounty hunters finally arrived at a mountain cave in the coconut woods based on the traces of Zhu Liang.


    Watching the mountain cave, that tough guy with dense eyebrows exchanged a glance with that guy who used a longsword before making two hand gestures. The guy with longsword nodded towards him. Closely after that, the tough guy with dense eyebrows took out something and threw it towards the entrance of the cave. They followed the object in.


    The object that was thrown in was called a phosphorous smoke bomb. It was a special equipment. Although being trivial, it worked well in such cases.


    When the phosphorous smoke bomb fell at the entrance, it aroused a wisp of white smoke and light at once. In a split second, the two bounty hunters rushed inside shoulder to shoulder.


    "Go die..." The tough man with longsword roared as he protected his body with numerous sword qi. The tough guy with dense eyebrows then sprung up like a furious eagle and charged down from the air.


    However, the imagined attack didn''t arrive, which shocked the two guys so much. The moment they entered the cave had they turned around and leaned against the cliff inside the cave. One in a defensive state, the other in an attacking state. Closely after that, they looked around the cave.


    They then widely opened their mouths at once.


    They had not imagined such a scene in the mountain cave.


    An innocent 17-18-year-old juvenile was sitting beside a bonfire with a longsword in hand. However, the longsword was covered with flesh which was being roasted above the fire. However, Zhu Liang the Ferocious Wolf that they were chasing after was lying on the ground over several meters away whose neck had been twisted with a dumbfounded look. Watching his back, he had been dead...


    That juvenile turned around and watched the two bounty hunters with an interested look. Under the gaze of that juvenile, the two tough men felt like idiots who had just jumped onto the stage. They felt embarrassed right away as they didn''t know whether they should put down their postures or not...

 812 The Notorious Alchemist Demon

    Chapter 812: The Notorious Alchemist Demon


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After staying still over there in an embarrassed way, the two bounty hunters found that the juvenile was not dangerous at all. He was still roasting his kebab using his sword. After exchanging a glance with each other, they put down their battle postures.


    However, the two bounty hunters dared not move closer to the juvenile in case of any misunderstanding. Anyone would feel a bit vigilant if they met such a stranger on the isolated island.


    "Ahem...ahem..." The tough man with dense eyebrows pretended to disguise twice as he pointed at the corpse on the ground and asked, "Little brother, did you kill this man?"


    "Hmm, yes. Is there anything wrong?" The juvenile answered frankly.


    Watching him answer so easily, the two bounty hunters became faintly shocked inside.


    "Little brother, do you know the man you killed?"


    After hearing this question, the juvenile rolled his eyes as he shrugged, "I don''t care, I was roasting meat in the cave. However, this guy rushed inside and wanted to kill me. As I found he was not a good person, I just killed him!"


    ''Just? Just killed him?''


    Watching Zhu Liang''s broken neck and shocked look once again, the eye corners of the tough man with dense eyebrows jumped a couple of times.


    "This guy is Zhu Liang. His nickname is Ferocious Wolf. He''s the criminal being wanted by the Ministry of Penalty. As he''s lascivious, he has raped many women. We two are bounty hunters in Yongzhou Province. I''m Li Butian. This is Yang Zhigang, my brother. We have been chasing after Zhu Liang for a long while. We followed him to this island. We''ve not imagined that he had been killed by you, little brother. He deserved that!"


    The juvenile rotated his longsword as he blinked his eyes, "Is it okay for me to do that?"


    "Of course. According to the regulations of bounty hunters, as we''ve chased him for half a year, though he was finally killed by you. If we give his head to the Ministry of Penalty, we can get a reward of 100,000 gold coins. You can have half of it!" Li Butian said while being neither humble nor pushy.


    After hearing Li Butian''s words, the juvenile revealed a smile. He seemed to feel okay with it. Waving his hand, he said,"Since you''ve chased after him for half a year and I''ve just met him for less than half a minute so it''s just an accident. I won''t take the money. You can just take away his head. I just find pleasure in helping others, getting rid of the cruel...and pacifying the good people."


    The juvenile felt a bit strange while speaking such a phrase which was full of Hua characteristics.


    "You really don''t want to take the money?" Yang Zhigang moved one step forward with a happy look. When he saw Li Butian''s solemn look, Yang Zhigang smirked as he scratched his head and moved back.


    It was Li Butian and Yang Zhigang''s first time to hear someone who could present 50,000 gold coins without any hesitation. For most of the bounty hunters, 50,000 gold coins was not a small figure. Many LV 6-7 bounty hunters could not even make 50,000 gold coins after many years of work.


    "Little brother, may I know your name? If you feel troublesome to take the 50,000 gold coins, you can tell us your address. After taking the reward, we will remit the 50,000 gold coins to you through the bank. Although it''s a dangerous job, we''ve not taken any ill-gotten gains over the past years." Li Butian asked while cupping his hands with a much more solemn look.


    "I''m Zhang Tie! As Zhu Liang escaped here, he only had a small part of strength left like an arrow at the end of its flight; therefore, I killed him accidentally. I could barely take the 50,000 gold coins." Zhang Tie also stood up and cupped his hands with a solemn look as he watched Li Butian cupping his hands towards him. Although this bounty hunter was just a LV 11 battle master, he had an awe-inspiring righteousness. Zhang Tie would treat such a person politely even if he was just a lad in a store. Zhang Tie would not grab the jobs of these guys who risked their lives every day even when he served as a human-flesh bag in Blackhot city, not to mention now.


    After listening to Zhang Tie''s modest words and seeing his polite movements, Li Butian and Yang Zhigang relieved their vigilance about Zhang Tie greatly. They just felt that this juvenile was very righteous.


    "Hahahaha, now that little brother says so, we will take the money. Honestly, we''ve been chasing after Zhu Liang over the past half a year. We planned to purchase some equipment and pills with the reward of this task so that we could have a higher probability to survive ourselves in an emergency. This time, we almost suffered a great loss from Zhu Liang at the cost of many pills and equipment..." Li Butian said generously.


    After Li Butian said that, Yang Zhigang''s stomach uttered "gulugulu". Although they became spirited after taking the qi and blood recovery pills, as they had not eaten food for so long, Yang Zhigang''s stomach finally protested.


    At the same time, the flesh on Zhang Tie''s sword was turning golden and spitting oil, which started to drop off the roasted flesh onto the bonfire. The entire mountain cave was filled with a special rich aroma. Sniffing it, Yang Zhigang had silently swallowed his saliva for many times.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he raised his longsword, "Why not eat together with me, two elder brothers?"


    "Haha, what a nice day..." Li Butian replied as he walked over there and sat opposite to Zhang Tie, followed by Yang Zhigang.


    Zhang Tie divided the flesh into 3 parts and wrapped them with coconut leaves. He then gave two parts of them to Li Butian and Yang Zhigang. After that, 3 of them started to enjoy the food.


    Li Butian and Yang Zhigang thought that the roasted flesh was just common sea fish; however, they had not imagined that the flesh was so tasty. It was hard to describe the taste. Although they had eaten too many exotic food from the mountains and seas, they had not eaten such delicious food before. Not only that, the moment the flesh entered their stomach, a warm current had started to spread across their bodies. They soon felt being fully energetic.


    The well-roasted flesh had been eaten up by the 3 people in only 5-6 minutes.


    "Brother Zhang, what''s this flesh of? How could it be so tasty?" Yang Zhigang asked as he glanced at Zhang Tie with shiny eyes as if he wanted to find another piece of roasted flesh, he even wanted to lick off the oil on the coconut leaves.


    "It''s a mutated octopus that I caught by the sea!" Zhang Tie fabricated. Actually, it was the flesh of the huge deep-sea monster that he got from the refrigerator of Castle of Black Iron. Of course, it was tasty.


    "Oh, no wonder my elder brother and I have not eaten it before. Mutated octopus is indeed a rarity!" Yang Zhigang just believed in Zhang Tie''s benign lie.


    Yang Zhigang didn''t notice that Li Butian''s eyes turned bright as the latter watched Zhang Tie wiping off the oil from his longsword using coconut leaves.


    After cleaning his longsword, Zhang Tie inserted that sword into the ground beside him and revealed a smile.


    "Does brother Zhang Tie belong to one of the 7 major sects?" Li Butian suddenly asked.


    After hearing Li Butian''s question, not only Zhang Tie became faintly stunned, even Yang Zhigang widely opened his eyes and gazed at Zhang Tie with his shocked eyes.


    "Ahh, why do think so, brother Li?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    Li Butian shook his head with a bitter smile, "I finally know why brother Zhang Tie doesn''t treasure tens of thousands of gold coins. I think his longsword would be worth at least 200,000 gold coins."


    Yang Zhigang widely opened his mouth as he watched Zhang Tie with a dumbfounded look. Even though he had just eaten the roasted flesh on the longsword, he still could not believe that Zhang Tie''s longsword was worth over 200,000 gold coins. Such a rune weapon was far out of their imagination.


    "Hoho, you really have a good eye, elder brother Li!" Zhang Tie revealed a modest smile. The longsword was indeed a top-quality rune weapon. It was plundered from the warehouse of a Three-eye Association clan. Zhang Tie had plundered over 100 swords like this one. After their shapes were slightly changed by Edward, they were just put in Castle of Black Iron. Such weapons were competitive products for those who were not above the battle spirit. However, they were a bit useless for knights, even though it was priceless. Zhang Tie just took one for free. Among his weapons, only the autumn-frost gold sword could play a great role for him. All the other swords were a bit worse than the autumn-frost gold sword.


    "Given the top-quality rune weapon which is worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins, the great battle force that you could kill Zhu Liang the Ferocious Wolf so easily and be alone in this isolated island, you must be practicing outside here. Across Taixia Country, only the 7 major sects could have such young elites!"


    "Elder brother Li, why not think that I''m a disciple of a clan?"


    "The major clans across Taixia Country have very strict requirements on their disciples. Before clan disciples could undertake tasks alone, they would barely be such indulgent. Young disciples of major clans at your age would always be very low-key. Even if their weapons were exquisite, they would not be as extravagant as you. Generally, only disciples of the 7 major sects would practice alone with such top-quality rune weapons which were rewarded by their sects. Although being very luxurious for commoners, such rune weapons were average for the 7 major clans. After staying in their sects for so long, those disciples get used to carrying such top-quality rune weapons; instead of showing off them! Such rune weapons indicate the background of those young powerhouses above LV 11 and pose a deterrence to those with a good taste."


    Li Butian was really an experienced bounty hunter as his analysis was very rigorous. His analysis probably fitted others very well, except for Zhang Tie.


    Actually, Li Butian had mistaken Zhang Tie''s age, which was actually about 10 years elder than Zhang Tie''s look. As a result, all the other speculations about him were wrong.


    "Pitifully, elder brother Li guessed wrong. I''m not coming from any of the 7 major sects; instead, I just came from a common clan!" Zhang Tie shook his head as he said with a smile. Huaiyuan Palace which was well-known across Waii Sub-continent also became common in Taixia Country; therefore, Zhang Tie was not modest.


    "Ah, which clan does brother Zhang Tie come from? Tianlu Palace, Guanying Palace or Bairen Palace?" Yang Zhigang interrupted.


    Zhang Tie knew that Tianlu Palace, Guanying Palace and Bairen Palace were the top major Zhang clans in Taixia Country. Zhang Tie had heard the names of the three palaces in Waii Sub-continent. The elders of Huaiyuan Palace also took the above three palaces as their idols. The three major Zhang clans were much more powerful than Huaiyuan Palace. Based on the current development speed of Huaiyuan Palace, it could never match the three major Zhang palaces in 100 years even after 10 times'' expansion on the premise that everything was developing smoothly at a higher speed.


    There was one point that could indicate the power of the three major Zhang palaces: Huaiyuan Palace had elders; however, the three major Zhang palaces had House of Lords.


    "I am from Huaiyuan Palace!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s background, Li Butian and Yang Zhigang exchanged a glance with each other in an embarrassed way. Because they had not heard about Huaiyuan Palace before. In Taixia Country, besides those who studied the learning of ancestral bloodlines, nobody could clarify the tens of thousands of palaces in Taixia Country.


    "Huaiyuan Palace was once on Waii Sub-continent. After the holy war broke out, it transferred to Taixia Country for further development. It''s not strange even if two elder brothers have not heard about it!"


    After listening to Zhang Tie''s explanation, the two bounty hunters both let out a sigh at the same time. Now that Huaiyuan Palace was once on Waii Sub-continent, it was not discourteous for them to be confused about that name.


    Later on, the three guys started to chat freely and learned more about each other.


    Li Butian and Yang Zhigang learned more "experiences" about Zhang Tie. In Zhang Tie''s mouth, he was amongst the people on Waii Sub-continent, who didn''t leave Waii Sub-continent with the fleet until the arrival of the demons. As Zhang Tie could not bear the distant travel on the ocean, he just left the fleet and swam in the ocean. Previously, Zhang Tie wanted to come back alone; however, after swimming for 8-9 months in the ocean, he almost got lost. Two days ago, he came to this isolated island. He didn''t know how far was this place to Eastern Continent. Just now, when Zhu Liang came in, Zhang Tie even felt happy instead of being afraid because he thought that he could finally have someone to talk to. However, it was out of his imagination that Zhu Liang directly rushed towards him with vicious eye light and wanted to kill him. Therefore, he had to kill Zhu Liang.


    Li Butian and Yang Zhigang were both speechless about Zhang Tie''s experience.


    Through Li Butian and Yang Zhigang, Zhang Tie learned about the specialty of the profession "bounty hunter". In the beginning, Zhang Tie thought that bounty hunters were official employees of Taixia Country. Whereas, through the two guys'' explanation, Zhang Tie understood that bounty hunter was like a private detective on Waii Sub-continent. In Taixia Country, any innocent warriors above LV 6 could become bounty hunters after going through approval and confirmation. This was also an employment channel for warriors in Taixia Country. The Ministry of Penalty was in charge of the penalty judiciary of Taixia Country. The chief officer of Ministry of Penalty was one of the 9 chancellors of Taixia Country, who was a high-ranked official in Taixia Country. All the bounty hunters were registered in and managed by the Ministry of Penalty to a certain degree.


    Zhang Tie was very interested in the episode about how they chased after Zhu Liang the Ferocious Wolf and the wanted list of the Ministry of Penalty.


    Later on, a question occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, "Zhu Liang ranks below the 9000th place on the wanted list of the Ministry of Penalty in Taixia Country, who ranks first on the wanted list of the Ministry of Penalty?"


    "Zhao Yuan the alchemist demon!"


    When Zhang Tie heard this name, his heart almost stopped beating.


    Although being shocked inside, Zhang Tie kept his look unchanged. He continued to ask, "What''s this guy''s talent? How could he rank first on the wanted list of the Ministry of Penalty?''


    "Zhao Yuan the alchemist demon is a ground-breaking figure. 87 years ago, he made a killing spree in Mojiang City of Songzhou Province and killed 7 knights including the deputy head of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and the young master of the Heavens Holding Pavilion. His crime shocked the entire world. From then on, Zhao Yuan the alchemist demon had been ranked on the 1st place on the wanted list of the Ministry of Penalty and started a feud with Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion. Anyone who could kill Zhao Yuan the alchemist demon would be rewarded with 100 cities!"


    One person for 100 cities. Such a reward was able to drive everybody mad. Li Butian''s tone turned ethereal when he mentioned the reward for killing Zhao Yuan.


    However, Zhang Tie was more shocked inside.


    ''Taiyi Fantasy Sect?''


    It sounded a bit familiar. After thinking about it for a few seconds, he suddenly remembered that it was the very sect that Lan Yunxi had joined in Taixia Country.


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded.


    ''What the hell!''...


    ...

 813 Arriving at Youzhou Province

    Chapter 813: Arriving at Youzhou Province


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Covering over 10 square miles, this isolated island was located in the open waters in the southeast part of Qiongzhou Province of Taixia Country. It belonged to the offshore area of the Eastern Continent as it was only over 1,000 miles away from the land.


    Being in the east of Taixia Country, Qiongzhou Province was one of the medium-sized provinces in Taixia Country. In Taixia Country, Qiongzhou Province was known as the Province of Tens of Thousands of Islands. The open waters of the entire Qiongzhou Province contained tens of thousands of islands and reefs in various types, big or small. Those isles of Ewentra Archipelago were sharply dwarfed by such islands in the open waters of Qiongzhou Province.


    On the map, those islands in the open waters of Qiongzhou Province were spreading over the vast waters like a broken small sub-continent. Such an open waters was called Qionghai Ocean. Li Butian and Yang Zhigang had chased after Zhu Liang the Ferocious Wolf on these isolated islands in Qionghai Ocean like playing hide-and-seek game for over 2 months.


    If he kept going northwards from Qiongzhou Province, he would arrive at Youzhou Province after passing Mozhou Province and Gaozhou Province.


    Mozhou Province and Qingzhou Province were both medium-sized provinces of the same level. Gaozhou Province was a lower province. Of course, Youzhou Province, which was in the north of Gaozhou Province, was also a lower province.


    After knowing that his general orientation was not incorrect, Zhang Tie finally recovered his composure. It was only a distance of a bit more than 17,000 miles between the two provinces in the middle though.


    Zhang Tie, Li Butian and Yang Zhigang talked overnight. Through Li Butian and Yang Zhigang, Zhang Tie knew a lot of information about Taixia Country. Li Butian and Yang Zhigang were also interested in the exotic situation about Waii Sub-continent.


    Before the day broke, they took a nap. After that, they became spirited once again.


    When the sun rose, Yang Zhigang chopped off Zhu Liang''s head and immersed it in a medicament. After that, he put it in a waterproof bag. Li Butian ignited a cracker in an open land outside the mountain cave.


    With a shrill sound, the cracker flew into the sky and exploded at over 300 m above the ground. The red smoke formed a red longsword, which remained unchanged for a long time in the sky.


    In order to catch Zhu Liang the Ferocious Wolf, Li Butian and Yang Zhigang had employed a mini airship which kept circling around the neighboring airspace.


    As was predicted, a mini airship had appeared in the distant airspace and flown towards here in less than half an hour.


    "Brother Zhang Tie, aren''t you leaving with us? When you arrive at Qionghai City, you can reach Youzhou Province by train in a few days." Li Butian turned around and asked Zhang Tie who was watching them at the entrance of the mountain cave after releasing the cloud-penetrating cracker.


    Li Butian and Yang Zhigang would exchange their booty for the bounty in Qionghai City. However, Zhang Tie insisted on moving northwards so as to unite with his family members. The three people would separate from each other soon.


    "No, I''ve got some enlightenment about the cultivation after these days of practice. As Qionghai Ocean has so many islands, its environment is very good and tranquil. I want to meditate and cultivate a few more days!" Zhang Tie fabricated a benign lie.


    Although Zhang Tie had long been expecting to reunite with his family members, he had to refuse the suggestion of Li Butian and Yang Zhigang. Because it would take him longer time to return by train. Additionally, if he told them he was going to "swim" back to Youzhou Province from here, he was afraid of scaring them. In this age, even black iron knights who were good at swimming could barely swim 2,000-3,000 miles not to mention Zhang Tie who treated the ocean as a broadway and a highway.


    Until then did Li Butian and Yang Zhigang think that Zhang Tie crossed the ocean alone by a canoe or a sailing boat. Such a "heroic deed" already made the two guys admire Zhang Tie too much; if they were told that Zhang Tie was going to "swim" across the surging ocean alone from another sub-continent, they might be scared stiff.


    In order to not be that shocking and not expose his trump card, Zhang Tie could only fabricate a lie.


    "It''s a rare chance to have insight about cultivation. As this waters is tranquil, it may be a good place for insight. It could not be bought by 10,000 gold coins for each cultivator. Now that brother Zhang Tie wants to continue to meditate here, we will not bother you anymore. We two are a bit famous among the bounty hunters in Yongzhou Province. If brother Zhang Tie needs us in the future, you only need to send a message to the Bright Road Pavilion in Youzhou Province, we will arrive there as soon as possible!"


    Zhang Tie felt that the so-called Bright Road Pavilion was similar to the union and industrial organization of bounty hunters in Taixia Country, which was responsible for the identity management, task distribution and information dissemination among bounty hunters. This was a semi-official organization, on the back of which was the Ministry of Penalty of Taixia Country. In Taixia Country, any city of scale would have Bright Road Pavilion.


    Zhang Tie didn''t take the 50,000 gold coins, which made Li Butian and Yang Zhigang admire him so much. Additionally, through one night''s talk, they felt that Zhang Tie was a reliable friend. Therefore, they said that before departure.


    "If two elder brothers need my financial assistance, just tell Golden Roc Bank!" Zhang Tie also cupped his hands towards Li Butian with a solemn look. There was an old Hua saying, ''Give a plum in return for a peach.'' As Li Butian and Yang Zhigang were sincere, Zhang Tie also treated them faithfully.


    Li Butian and Yang Zhigang then revealed a smile at the same time...


    ...


    After over 10 minutes, the mini airship arrived above the isolated island. After confirming the identities of Li Butian and Yang Zhigang, the crew threw off a rope ladder from the airship. The moment Li Butian and Yang Zhigang boarded the airship had they waved their hands towards Zhang Tie. Closely after that, the mini airship left towards the land.


    Zhang Tie didn''t move away his eyes until the airship disappeared in his vision.


    When Zhang Tie remembered the information about his master Zhao Yuan the Alchemist Demon that Li Butian and Yang Zhigang told him last night, Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile.


    If his master fought his wife, Zhang Tie didn''t even know whom to help.


    ''According to the introduction of Li Butian and Yang Zhigang, my master''s killing spree in Mojiang City of Songzhou Province was ground-breaking and lunatic. Besides the 7 knights, over 170,000 civilians were killed by my master. 10 generations of over 20,000 people of Han Clan in Mojiang City of Songzhou Province were exterminated by Zhao Yuan.''


    In Zhang Tie''s impression, although Zhao Yuan''s behavior was inconsiderate, he didn''t look like a cold-blooded guy, not to mention that he could kill tens of thousands of civilians. Zhang Tie remembered that Zhao Yuan was almost beaten on the street by some servants of a mansion in Hidden Dragon Island as he broke in their mansion by mistake. However, he didn''t kill those servants. Those servants also lived well after that. How could such a man kill over 100,000 innocent people?


    ''As to what happened in Mojiang City of Songzhou Province, I could only figure it out slowly. If my status as the disciple of Alchemist Demon was exposed, I would definitely be chased by those super sects in Taixia Country. Even Li Buttian and Yang Zhigang had not heard about Huaiyuan Palace, not to mention those super sects in Taixia Country.''


    ''Alright, forget about that. I will go back home first!''


    When he recalled his parents whom he had not seen for many years and his 3 sons whom he had not seen since they were born, Zhang Tie''s heart raced.


    As a sea wave arrived at the bank, Zhang Tie disappeared...


    ...


    In the ocean, it only took Zhang Tie a few seconds to accelerate to about 650 m per second, which was about 10% higher than when he headed for Ice and Snow Wilderness by sea for the second time.


    In each split second, numerous tiny bubbles would come into being and break over Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi. The powerful cavitation effect started to present while numerous tiny shock waves, jet flows, high heat and corrosion started to beat and shock Zhang Tie''s body and protective battle qi...


    As Zhang Tie moved forward, he started to taste the formation and disappearance of each tiny bubble...


    With his powerful knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie immediately entered an exotic world by the forming and vanishing tiny bubbles. In this world, all the formation and disappearance were calculated in milliseconds...


    ...


    After 7 hours, Zhang Tie rushed into the sky from the ocean and reached a high altitude in a split second...


    "Ah, I saw something fly out of the sea and disappear in the sky..." A young sailor who was arranging the wire cables on the deck of a huge liner suddenly screamed when he raised his head. The liner was driving on the shimmering sea when the sun moved to the west.


    "Gangzi, are you blinded? You''ve just not f*cked a woman for a few days!" Another sailor teased him as they found nothing abnormal in the sky.


    "No, I really saw something fly out of the sea ahead of us. It even aroused a spray. It moved so fast that it immediately disappeared the moment it entered the sky..."


    "Like how you did on the Hebrew beauty?" Another sailor winked before bursting out into laughter...


    The young sailor blushed at once.


    "Quiet, no more kidding. We''re arriving at Youzhou Province. Cheer up. After delivering the Fuxi Type-1 difference engine to them, we can rest a few days. By the end of this year, your bonus would increase by at least 1/3 than that of the last year!" A steward with whiskers walked out of the cabin as he told those sailors. These sailors were all members of the same business group, therefore, the steward revealed a message to them when they almost finished their task.


    "Steward Liu, Youzhou Province is just a lower province. Which business group is so ambitious? Fuxi Type-1difference engine has over 200,000 calculating gears. It''s more powerful than Xuanyuan Type-7. Is there any business group in Youzhou which could use such a big machine?" A shrewd sailor asked.


    "It''s ordered by Jinwu Business Group!"


    "Jinwu Business Group? I''ve not even heard about that. It does not seem to be that famous. I only heard about Long Wind Business Group in Youzhou Province." That sailor doubted.


    "The two business groups are closely related with each other as they belong to the same clan" The steward smiled, "Have you heard about the all-purpose medicament?"


    "Yup!"


    "After delivering this big machine to them and doing a preliminary test to it, we will carry back 100,000 vials of all-purpose medicament. It''s a big deal that has been signed by our CEO, we''d better not ruin it..."


    All the sailors on the deck became spirited...


    ...


    Although Zhang Tie concealed his battle-qi luster, his speed was also very amazing in the sky.


    After a short while, he had already seen a coastal city and a prosperous harbor. The harbor was located between two mountains, which was an advantageous geographic location. Watching the two mountain ranges that surrounded the harbor and extended from the land to the ocean like two sharp claws, Zhang Tie knew that his destination finally arrived.


    Huaiyuan Palace bought over 1 million square miles in the southeast of Youzhou Province and built that harbor, which was called Embracing Tiger Harbor or Embracing Tiger Mountain. As a clan elder, Zhang Tie once saw its photo when he was in Huaiyuan Prefecture.


    The city behind Embracing Tiger Harbor was called Embracing Tiger City, which was the undertaking that Huaiyuan Palace had gained in Youzhou Province from the scratch.


    At present, 8 branches of Huaiyuan Palace had built 8 cities on the 1 million square miles of land in the southeast of Youzhou Province, which was linked with each other and formed a prefecture called Yanghe Prefecture.


    According to the Hua tradition, Yanghe Prefecture became the private prefecture of Huaiyuan Palace and the forever foundation of Zhang Clan. According to the strict regulation of Taixia Country, the land that Huaiyuan Palace occupied in Waii Sub-continent was not Huaiyuan Palace''s prefecture. Hua clan''s prefecture could only be in Taixia Country on the Eastern Continent, instead of in wild places.


    In Taixia Country, the so-called major clans and young members of families holding official ranks for generations would always call the name of their prefectures and families, which indicated the foundation of a person or a clan.


    Later on, Zhang''s offsprings of Huaiyuan Palace could call themselves Zhang''s branch in Yanghe Prefecture.


    As his family members didn''t live in Embracing Tiger City, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to stay here; instead, after throwing a couple of more glances at the city, Zhang Tie continued flying towards the northwest of Embracing Tiger City...


    ...

 814 A Reunion

    Chapter 814: A Reunion


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie looked down and saw the vast, sparsely populated land and mountain forest. There was a large area of tidy farmlands outside Embracing Tiger City. So many docks and shipyards were in the north of Embracing Tiger Harbor. It was a well-planned industrial area over 30 miles away from Embracing Tiger City which was linked to other places through railways and highways. One could even see some sparse villages and towns along the railways, highways and farmlands.


    As it was daytime, many people were still doing farming work in the farmlands.


    The scenery of Yanghe Prefecture in Youzhou Province under his foot reminded Zhang Tie of the former Andaman Alliance. They had too many similarities, except for some obvious differences.


    The first difference was that the farmlands under his foot evidently had a higher mechanization than that of the former Andaman Alliance. Even though he was in the sky, Zhang Tie could still see many steam tractors and agricultural equipment running in the farmlands. The second difference was that the urban and rural buildings here had a rich Hua feature.


    Of course, the largest difference could not be identified by eyes¡ª¡ªThere were so many knights in Yanghe Prefecture; however, there was no knight across Andaman Alliance.


    Zhang Tie was thrilled more or less. Because he was flying above the homeland of Hua people¡ª¡ªTaixia Country, the most powerful country in this age.


    Zhang Tie kept flying northwest. Only after flying over 400 miles in half an hour, another city had appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    This city was not large. Looking down from the sky, it was only of about 60 square miles. The city wall was divided into 8 parts like pedals, making it especially exquisite.


    At the sight of this city, Zhang Tie knew that he had arrived at home.


    This city was called Golden Light City, the foundation that Golden Sea City branch of Huaiyuan Palace built in Yanghe Prefecture.


    When in Waii Sub-continent, the 8 branches of Huaiyuan Palace prepared to use the former names such as Yiyang, Xince, Stars Viewing, Qihai in Huaiyuan Prefecture for the new cities in Yanghe Prefecture. However, someone in Youzhou Province said that this might cause a bad influence for Lord Long Wind who was competing for the governor of Youzhou Province. Therefore, Huaiyuan Palace decided to use the new names for the new cities.


    Zhang Tie felt good about using new names, which symbolized new start-ups. When in Waii Sub-continent, Huaiyuan Palace had advantages in both timing and geographic locations. As Golden Sea City, Yiyang City and Qihai City were on the coast, Huaiyuan Palace could enjoy the benefits of sea trade by building harbors in these cities. However, in Youzhou Province of Taixia Country, it was already a great achievement for Huaiyuan Palace to gain almost 1 million square miles in the southeast of Youzhou Province. All the other cities of Huaiyuan Palace in Youzhou Province were not coastal cities except for Embracing Bear Harbor. Therefore if they kept using the former names, it would feel a bit strange. Additionally, these new cities'' locations were carefully selected so that Huaiyuan Palace could better control the entire Yanghe Prefecture.


    Flying in the sky, the entire Golden Light City was in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    There was a brilliant mansion covering over 130,000 square meters in the east of Golden Light City, which contained a huge garden of over 30,000 square meters. Many fiery plants formed a huge attractive circle in that garden.


    At the sight of that garden, Zhang Tie felt like crying as he knew that he finally arrived home.


    Although it was his first time to be here, Zhang Tie knew that there was a kind of red maple in the garden of his home. The maples were red all the year round and formed an obvious circle. They were especially planted by Zhang Tie''s parents so that Zhang Tie would spot his home from the sky when he came back.


    "I''ve already arrived at my home in Golden Light City. Everything went smooth!" Before Zhang Tie descended, he sent a message to Huaiyuan Palace through his elder''s finger ring.


    ''As I''ve arrived at the gate of my home, I had better notify Huaiyuan Palace in advance.''


    After sending the message, Zhang Tie directly darted downwards from over 10,000 m high without covering his qi.


    When he was 3,000-4,000 m away from his home, Zhang Tie felt that he was locked by a knight''s consciousness in the mansion downside there. Closely after that, a figure shot into the sky and accelerated towards him.


    Zhang Tie just stopped there and waited for that figure.


    Elder Muyuan the 6th granduncle appeared in front of Zhang Tie in a split second.


    "6th granduncle!" At the sight of the 6th granduncle''s solemn look, Zhang Tie bowed towards him deeply.


    Zhang Tie had been a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace, he didn''t need to bow towards his 6th granduncle according to the regulations; however, as Zhang Tie appreciated his 6th granduncle''s care about his family over these years, he insisted on bowing deeply towards his 6th granduncle out of the etiquette as a junior.


    "You''re...Zhang Tie!" Elder Muyuan looked extremely shocked when he drew closer and identified Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie''s rotating chakra ceremony was held, Elder Muyuan was in Taixia Country; therefore, he didn''t see how Zhang Tie looked after promoting to a knight. Watching Zhang Tie bowing towards him in the sky which indicated his cultivation base as a knight, Elder Muyuan felt complex. After only such a few years, the juvenile who knelt down and kowtowed for appreciating him at the beginning had already become a clan elder like him. What an amazing change! What was more shocking was that Zhang Tie''s look remained unchanged after these years. He still looked like a 16-17-year-old.


    "Yes, I''m Zhang Tie!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile towards his 6th granduncle, "I really appreciate 6th granduncle for taking care of my family members over these years. Zhang Tie will definitely repay you for your kindness!"


    Elder Muyuan glanced at Zhang Tie''s face with his sharp eyes. Finally, he noticed the elder''s finger ring of Huaiyuan Palace and confirmed Zhang Tie''s status.


    Elder Muyuan then recovered his composure as he looked calm.


    "Do other elders know that you''re back?" Elder Muyuan asked.


    During the past almost one year since Zhang Tie left Hurricane Corps, Zhang Tie just contacted Huaiyuan Palace occasionally and told them about his schedule and that he was safe. Nobody in Huaiyuan Palace could imagine that Zhang Tie would come back at this moment.


    "I''ve just notified them!"


    After getting that answer, Elder Muyuan realized that Zhang Tie was good at handling human relations. Therefore, he didn''t ask anymore; instead, he let out a deep sigh, "Since you left Huaiyuan Prefecture for Selnes Theater of Operations last time, you''ve not come back home for over 5 years. You''d better go back home for a reunion as soon as possible. As for the affairs in Yanghe Prefecture, Huaiyuan Palace and the key factors in Youzhou Province and Taixia Country, we will talk about them later!"


    After saying these words, Elder Muyuan directly turned around and flew away; instead of returning to Zhang Tie''s home.


    Zhang Tie deeply bowed towards his 6th granduncle''s back once again. He knew that Elder Muyuan didn''t want him to be restrained at home.


    Zhang Tie didn''t come back home until he saw off his 6th granduncle.


    ...


    "Who''re you?" Some guards instantly sprung up and watched Zhang Tie with vigilant looks as they tightly held the handles of their swords and sabers the moment Zhang Tie landed in the courtyard of his home. If they did not find that Zhang Tie was talking with Elder Muyuan just now, these guards might have charged at him.


    After looking around, Zhang Tie found these guards were all Hua people. Although being strange, they were all above LV 9 and very capable. Therefore, Zhang Tie nodded inside.


    "I''m Zhang Tie!" Zhang Tie replied frankly.


    After hearing this reply, all the guards changed their faces at once out of amazement...


    However, before those guards continued to ask him, 3 boys of 4-5 years of age had rushed out of the porch.


    "Ah, master has flown off like a bird; master has flown off like a bird; I will also learn to fly; I will also learn to fly..."


    The 3 boys looked so cute with black hair, black eyes and jade-like white skins. With a special qi, they looked like half-breeds more or less.


    The moment the 3 boys appeared had Zhang Tie focused on them without a blink.


    Zhang Tie felt a bit mysterious resonance between his bloodline and that of the 3 boys.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, the 3 boys became stunned for a second.


    "Uncle. Have you seen our master?" The boy in the front asked dauntlessly.


    Although those guards who surrounded Zhang Tie wanted to say something, after seeing Zhang Tie''s undeniable dignified look, they shut up at once.


    The 3 boys looked a bit like Linda, especially their eyes.


    When he heard what they called him, Zhang Tie didn''t know what to say.


    With a genial smile, Zhang Tie squatted down in front of the 3 boys, "Who''s your master?"


    "Our master is Grandgranduncle Muyuan!" The boy in the front replied without any fear.


    ''Grandgranduncle Muyuan?'' Zhang Tie almost laughed at such a naive appellation about Elder Muyuan. Such an appellation included Elder Muyuan''s name and seniority in Zhang clan. Perhaps, only these little guys could call him in this way.


    "Isn''t your Grandgranduncle Muyuan an old man with white hair and beard?" Zhang Tie asked with the same naive tone as that of the kid.


    "Ahh, yes, yes, Grandgranduncle Muyuan gave us a lesson today. However, don''t know why but Grandgranduncle Muyuan suddenly flew off the courtyard just now!"


    "What did you learn today?"


    "Grandgranduncle Muyuan brought us a jar of ants. He showed us how small ants caught big insects and taught us how to breathe like a tortoise. That''s too funny!" The 3 kids clapped happily as they replied.


    "Let me guess, are you Zhang Chenglei?" Zhang Tie watched the 3 kids and asked, "You''re Zhang Chengting, you''re Zhang Chengpei!"


    As the 3 kids had the traits of their moms, Zhang Tie immediately identified them.


    "Yes, how do you know our names? We''ve not seen you before!" Zhang Chengting asked with a vigilant look. Meanwhile, he stealthily drew Zhang Chenglei''s clothes'' corner and whispered to him, "Elder brother, mom doesn''t want us to talk with strangers!"


    "It''s fine. Don''t you see the guards here? If this man could enter our home and tell our names, he must be our relative or a friend of our elder uncle!" Zhang Chenglei also turned around and whispered to Zhang Chengting.


    Hearing the two little guys whispering in front of him, Zhang Tie almost burst out into laughter.


    "Ahh, you''ve not even told us whether you''ve seen our Grandgranduncle Muyuan." Zhang Chengpei asked as he raised his petite face. Even though they''ve chatted for a short while, the little guy still insisted on figuring out the first question.


    Before Zhang Tie replied, a familiar sound and footstep had drifted behind the porch.


    "Chenglei, why did you take two younger brothers out?"


    With this voice, a grande dame in light green longuette and elegant and exquisite make-up appeared.


    The moment that person moved out of the porch, she had caught sight of Zhang Tie. Closely after that, she was fixed...


    After touching Zhang Chenglei''s head, Zhang Tie stood up and watched Linda in front of him.


    Since he left Huaiyuan Prefecture on the 894th year of Black Iron Calendar, they had departed for almost 6 years. During this period, Linda, after giving birth to a baby, looked a bit plumper due to a noble living style. She looked more like an elegant, mature wife and mother.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Linda instantly covered her mouth with hands. In a few seconds, she burst out into tears...


    Zhang Tie just walked forward and lightly embraced Linda.


    "Bad man, you made my mom cry, let go of my mom..."


    In such a warm moment, an inharmonious voice sounded on Zhang Tie''s side. Zhang Tie felt being kicked by someone. Lowering his head, he saw Zhang Chenglei watching him with a furious red face. Meanwhile, Zhang Chenglei was clutching Zhang Tie''s clothes and kicking Zhang Tie forcefully. Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei also rushed towards here to give Zhang Chenglei a favor as they started to attack Zhang Tie at the same time, "Let go of Aunt Linda!"


    Linda hurriedly wiped off her tears as she squatted down and prevented the three kids from attacking Zhang Tie furiously, "Chenglei, Chengting, Chengpei, this is your papa; hurry, call papa..."


    The three little guys were shocked at once. Watching Zhang Tie, they seemed to have not imagined that the "big hero" who was fighting demons in their minds could appear in front of him at this moment...


    ...


    Only after a few minutes, the entire Zhang''s mansion had become as boisterous as celebrating the new year''s festival...

 815 An Enchanting Nigh

    Chapter 815: An Enchanting Night


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    At night, in the dining hall of Zhang Tie''s mansion, all the family members gathered at a huge round table. This dinner lasted from 7 pm to 11 pm. Many dishes had been heated more than once. However, the atmosphere remained extremely fervent...


    At 10 pm, Zhang''s next generation was taken to bed by babysitters and servants, leaving Zhang Tie''s parents, Zhang Yang who had just arrived at home hurriedly and the wives of the two brothers in the dining hall.


    During the past few years, Zhang Yang added two more nephews and one more niece for Zhang Tie. The three kids were both born in Taixia Country. The two new nephews were named Zhang Chengtai and Zhang Chengxia respectively while the new niece was named Zhang Shiqing. As of now, Zhang Tie''s elder brother already had 5 sons and 2 daughters; plus Zhang Tie''s 3 sons, Zhang family already had 10 juniors.


    Zhang Chengtai was delivered by Zhang Tie''s eldest aunt Wang Huizhen; Zhang Chengxia was delivered by Zhang Tie''s second aunt Lu Shixun; Zhang Shiqing was delivered by Zhang Tie''s third aunt Wang Huayin.


    Over the past few years, Zhang Yang had been busy running Jinwu Business Group in Taixia Country. Therefore, he didn''t marry any more wife.


    With the 10 kids at home, Zhang Tie''s parents felt less lonely.


    As for Zhang Tie, everybody wondered how could Zhang Tie promoted to a knight at such a young age.


    When Zhang Tie''s dad asked him about this, all the family members watched Zhang Tie with curious looks including Linda, Beverly, Fiona, Zhang Tie''s elder brother and eldest aunt.


    As no outsider was at home, Zhang Tie talked about the overall process of Upton Battle.


    Of course, Zhang Tie briefed those dangerous experiences. As for the extremely dangerous experience of being chased after by a demon knight, Zhang Tie just briefed it with one sentence¡ª¡ªI wrestled with a demon powerhouse and fell into a subterranean stream with it. Speaking of the tower of time, Zhang Tie emphasized its marvel instead of mentioning the loneliness that he felt when he cultivated in it.


    Everybody felt like listening to an interesting knight novel.


    "You mean...you alone...floated over hundreds of miles in the subterranean stream and stayed in the tower of time for...15 years?" Zhang Tie''s mom asked him with a faintly trembled voice.


    Watching his mom''s shocked look, Zhang Tie purposefully raised his voice, "Ahh, almost like that, it''s interesting to float in the subterranean stream. I cultivated in the tower of time every day. Therefore, time flew past quickly. I don''t remember how many years did I stay inside!"


    After listening to Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie''s mom burst out into tears at once, making Zhang Tie a bit flurried.


    "Mom, don''t worry about me, I''m fine..." Zhang Tie hurriedly comforted his mom.


    Zhang Tie''s mom hurriedly wiped off her tears and revealed a smile, "I''m fine. It''s too late. I''m a bit tired. You''d better go to bed earlier!"


    Zhang Yang wanted to say something. However, Zhang Tie''s eldest aunt drew his clothes and threw a glance at Zhang Yang. After glancing at Linda, Beverly and Fiona, Zhang Yang realized something at once, "Yes, it''s too late. Younger brother, as you have just come back, you must be tired. You''d better go to bed now!"


    Linda, Beverly and Fiona faintly blushed.


    "Ahem..ahem..." Zhang Tie''s dad coughed twice in a dignified way as he looked around, "Hmm, your mom and I are a bit tired. If you have any story, talk about it tomorrow!"


    After watching the bashful looks and alluring figures of Linda, Beverly and Fiona, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded...


    Therefore, all the family members went to bed.


    ...


    In Zhang''s mansion, in order to avoid troubles, especially as Zhang Tie was not at home all year round, they lived separately. Zhang Tie''s parents lived in the main courtyard where all the family members always held parties and various activities; Zhang Yang''s family lived in the courtyard on the left of the main courtyard which was matched with an independent gate; Linda, Beverly and Fiona lived in the courtyard on the right of the main courtyard. All the female servants and guards in the courtyard on the right once served Zhang Tie in Jinwu Castle such as Sonia, Runo and Paul, etc..


    Only 21 of the former 52 female servants from Varner Empire who once served Zhang Tie in Jinwu Castle were with Zhang Tie now. All the others had been set free by Linda, Beverly and Fiona. Many female servants married the Spirits guards of Zhang Tie and settled down in Jinyang City.


    Sonia served as the head of servants in Zhang Tie''s inner chamber; Runo served as the head of guards while Paul served as the steward.


    Zhang Tie''s inner chamber covered over 6,000 square meters including the courtyard, which was as same as the size of Zhang Yang''s inner chamber. It could hold 100-200 people easily.


    Over the past years, although Zhang Tie was not at home, he knew pretty well about what happened at home, especially everything about Linda, Beverly and Fiona through Zhang Yang.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie left the main room, it was already dark while the two crescents were hanging high in the sky. The courtyard outside the main parlor had been lit up by lamps. Insect chirps were drifted from the grasses in the garden. Some teams of guards were patrolling in the courtyard. Linda, Beverly and Fiona led Zhang Tie across the winding corridor towards Zhang Tie''s inner chamber. Zhang Tie had not come to his inner chamber since he arrived home.


    At night, the fluorite lamps turned dim. Zhang Tie then put his right arm around Linda''s neck while pulling Fiona''s hand by his left hand, with Beverly in the middle of them. Zhang Tie felt complex.


    "Thanks to your hard work for these years!"


    Zhang Tie finally spared a chance to appreciate his wives since he met them in the main parlor.


    Linda, Beverly and Fiona had not imagined that Zhang Tie would say such warm words to them. Hearing this, they were deeply moved inside.


    Although this man fought demons on the battlefield with millions of corpses at the risk of his life so many times, when he came back home, he firstly appreciated his women''s hard work at home.


    When the three women were deeply moved, Zhang Tie''s next sentence exposed his nature as a rogue.


    "I will compensate you well tonight. You can eat as long as you want!"


    When he said this, Zhang Tie started to move his hands on the three women''s plump butts, making them flurried at once.


    "Let''s talk about it back in the room. We...might be seen by others here!" Linda twisted her waist bashfully.


    ''We might be seen by others?'' Zhang Tie looked around the winding corridor which was featured with Hua buildings and burst out into laughter...


    Winding corridors of Hua people were zigzag. On both sides of the winding corridors, there were always garden buildings such as rockeries, pines and bamboos. Although being winding corridors, they were implicit with lingering charm. Outside people could only see the figures in the winding corridors through the crisscrossed pedal-shaped and diamond-shaped corridor windows. Those corridor windows were all higher than 1.5 m. Watching it in the distance, outsiders would feel people walking in the photo, which was fully aesthetic.


    ''As a knight, won''t I know if I''m followed?''


    Linda''s mature, beautiful, elegant feminine taste made Zhang Tie fascinated.


    "I''ve told you that he must have other women outside. Look at his stroking skill. It''s much more proficient than before. Are all knights good at flirting with women?" Fiona threw a glance at Zhang Tie as she whispered to Beverly, faintly panting. Her sound could rightly be heard by Zhang Tie and Linda.


    Zhang Tie''s hands became slightly stiff. The three women exchanged a glance with each other before giggling at the same time...


    ...


    Although it was a deep night, all the servants and guards were still waiting for Zhang Tie and his wives in the inner chamber. Watching Zhang Tie walking out of the winding corridor and entering the gate of the inner chamber, all of them knelt down on one knee towards them.


    Zhang Tie glanced at Paul, Runo and Sonia in the front of the team.


    Paul looked calmer and deeper. After glancing at Paul, Zhang Tie realized that he would soon promote to LV 12. Zhang Tie was really amazed by such a high cultivation speed.


    Compared to Paul, all the other Spirits guards'' cultivation situations were within Zhang Tie''s expectation. Runo had promoted to LV 8 while the other guards were between LV 5 and LV 7.


    Sonia was still very sexy. Her younger sister had been set free and married a man, who was still serving Jinwu Business Group though.


    "I''m very satisfied with your performances these years. Get up!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    All of them then stood up and watched Zhang Tie with excited looks. The news that Zhang Tie had promoted to a knight was remarkably meaningful to them.


    Linda, Beverly and Fiona returned to their bedrooms ahead of Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie controlled his impulsion to make love with them as he let all the female servants and guards go back to their posts or take a rest except for Sonia, Runo and Paul.


    ...


    Sonia took Zhang Tie to the study of the inner chamber, where Zhang Tie was going to call them in alone. The first one entering the study was Runo.


    Of course, Runo was very excited as the first one being called in by Zhang Tie.


    After encouraging Runo for a short moment, Zhang Tie picked up a pen and a piece of paper and started to write something on the desk.


    "These are my friends'' names and their addresses in Taixia Country. Take some subordinates to contact them according to these addresses. Over these years, they might have moved; however, you should be able to find them if you ask others about their whereabouts. When you find them, tell them I''ve been back to Taixia Country!" Zhang Tie passed a slip of paper to Runo, which included the names of the other members of God Blessing Brotherhood and their addresses¡ª¡ªTwilight City, Anping Prefecture, Guizhou Province, Taixia Country.


    Guizhou Province was the largest medium-sized province in Taixia Country, which was over 100,000 miles away from Youzhou Province. It gathered most of the foreigners, who immigrated to Taixia Country from all the other continents or sub-continents due to various reasons. Many exiled royals and nobles would like to live in Guizhou Province. In a Hua phrase before the Catastrophe, Guizhou Province was the biggest China Town in Taixia Country. Guizhou Province contained over 10 billion people, almost half of which were foreigners.


    Zhang Tie wondered whether Barley and the other members of God Blessing Brotherhood were still in Guizhou Province and how were they doing. Zhang Tie wanted to contact them first and tell them he was back.


    Many things would change as time went by, but some things wouldn''t. Zhang Tie believed that those guys of God Blessing Brotherhood would definitely come here to meet him if they knew that he was back.


    Zhang Tie had some plans and thoughts which he would tell them when they came here to meet him.


    ''Although being young and frivolous at that time, as time goes by, it becomes our unforgettable memory. If they have been used to their average lives, I will not ruin their tranquil lives; instead, I will bless them; however, if they are still unwilling to be mediocre, the God Blessing Brotherhood will be the first force and helper of me that I am going to support in Taixia Country.''


    ''As a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace, I have to rely on the Zhang clan in many cases. However, I cannot fully depend on my clan. Not only myself, all the other clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace have their own forces and connections, the most powerful force and connection among which is the background of the clan elders in Huaiyuan Palace. The 8 branches of Huaiyuan Palace left by Lord Huaiyuan are the natural stigma on the elders. Before I promoted to a knight, the Golden Sea branch, also the current Golden Light branch of Huaiyuan Palace always followed the rule of Elder Muyuan. The major of Golden Sea City, also the current Golden Light City was always assumed by the direct descendants of Elder Muyuan. As to others, Elder Muen comes from Yiyang branch, also the branch of the eldest wife of the clan head; Elder Muray comes from Stars Viewing branch; Elder Muan comes from Taian branch; Elder Muyu comes from Qihai branch. All the majors of those cities were assumed by the descendants of the elders respectively. Besides, the elders'' own clans also run many business groups. They all have their own needs for interests. The other branches of Huaiyuan Palace which don''t have any knights have to depend on the branch of the eldest wife of clan head.''


    ''After promoting to a knight, if I want to make a further progress in cultivation, I cannot only depend on the cultivation resources provided by the clan, which is equal to each elder. Elders have to seek for cultivation resources themselves. They have to establish and develop their own forces and compete for more resources outside with other knights. Objectively, this makes the clan full of vigor, innovation and ambition, which is the basic driving force for a clan to sustain and further develop. Even clan elders and clan head are expanding their clan forces for more resources, of course, the others are not qualified to live off their past glory.''


    ''All the other major clans in Jinyun Country and Taixia Country are facing the similar situation as Huaiyuan Palace. Even though I have become a clan elder and a knight of noble status, I should not just wait for everything provided by the clan. The so-called knights are the trump cards that a clan uses to compete with the other major clans.''


    Zhang Tie knew that he had increased the influence of Golden Sea branch in Huaiyuan Palace after promoting to a knight. Meanwhile, he formed a competitive relation with Elder Muyuan in Golden Sea City.


    ''It was definitely not a hasty decision for Elder Muyuan to teach my three sons given their talents and bloodlines. What was more, it indicated my compromise in Golden Sea City.''


    After becoming a clan elder, Zhang Tie never cared about the affairs in Golden Sea City. He didn''t even care about how his family became the shareholder of Golden Light City. He entrusted his elder brother to handle it.


    After promoting to a knight, with his increasingly deep understanding about Huaiyuan Palace and his clan, Zhang Tie had deeper opinions about many problems from more perspectives.


    As he had returned to Taixia Country, it was time for Zhang Tie to establish his own force and expand his own influence in Taixia Country.


    ''Sacred Iceland Kingdom is one of my cards. However, as it''s too far away from Taixia Country, it''s almost useless. Additionally, I don''t mean to show it to the public. Even though this secret is known by Gold and Power Law, I could only be a dark gold CEO in Gold and Power Law.''


    Therefore, Zhang Tie considered this return as a new start. He had to establish his own force from the scratch step by step.


    Feeling being valued by Zhang Tie, Runo made a bow towards Zhang Tie before leaving the study while chesting out.


    After Runo left, Sonia entered. With crossed hands below her lower abdomen, she stood gracefully in front of Zhang Tie.


    "Master!" The beautiful head of female slaves of Varner Empire still maintained the same appellation of Zhang Tie.


    After a few years, Sonia had become more beautiful and maturer. She looked tranquil and bright. Due to different human species, women from Varner Empire had especially outstanding hipbone and slim waist. Therefore, they looked pretty charming. Due to the plump butt, Sonia looked concave-convex. In the black and white longuette of the head of female servants, Sonia looked very womanly.


    After sizing this woman up in an appreciative way from a pure man''s perspective, Zhang Tie said, "I appreciate your loyalty these years. As a compensation, I can fulfill one of your requests!"


    "I have no request. I only want to stay on your side and serve you forever, my master!" Sonia lowered her eyes as she said calmly.


    Sonia''s words made Zhang Tie faintly stunned. ''If she sticks to be my domestic chancellor, it means that she gives up the chances to change her own fate and promote to higher positions. Over the past years, as I became a clan elder and the business of Jinwu Business Group grew better, she could have a better platform and development chances; however, Sonia gave them up so decisively.''


    "Are you sure?''


    "This is my only request. If my master has no more request, I will go back to work in case of wasting your time!"


    Watching Sonia stealthily moving her eyes away from him and sensing her intense heartbeat since she entered the study, Zhang Tie immediately understood something. After touching so many women, Zhang Tie had understood women so well.


    He had not imagined that Sonia could fall in love with him.


    After being silent for a second, Zhang Tie stood up from behind the desk and slowly walked towards Sonia.


    As he moved closer to Sonia, Zhang Tie could sense her tension under her calm look.


    Zhang Tie slightly raised Sonia''s jaw and watched her beautiful, pure and amber eyes with faint jumping flames.


    After being touched by Zhang Tie''s finger, Sonia quivered all over as her raised breasts started to undulate due to the quick breathing rhythm.


    Zhang Tie gently moved his finger from her delicate jaw onto her lips and started to stroke them...


    Sonia''s eyes turned blurred. She faintly opened her mouth and held Zhang Tie''s finger. She then started to suck Zhang Tie''s finger in a very skilled way. Her soft and wet tongue slipped between Zhang Tie''s fingers in a dexterous way with the sweetness of her lips. It kept rapidly rubbing and rotating in a piquant way. Zhang Tie felt like getting an electrical shock.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie felt that a part of his body became extremely bulgy. After taking in a deep breath, he drew back his finger, "When did you fall in love with me?"


    "I don''t know...maybe when you let me put on my clothes in slaves market and not show my naked body to others; since you took me away from the slaves market, you have started to appear in my dreams...It''s my happiest moment whenever I meet you in my dream..." Sonia''s eyes started to turn wet, "Because I''m more beautiful than others since I became a slave, I had been learning to please men. In order to sell me at a high price, although I''ve not been touched by any man, my fertility has been destroyed by medicines. I''m a hapless and dirty woman. I was destined to be men''s plaything and the container of their sperm. It''s you my master who helped me find my dignity back. It''s you my master who changed my younger sister''s fate. Therefore, I''m already very satisfied now. As long as I could serve you, my master, my life would be meaningful. Please don''t chase me away."


    Sonia''s tears streamed down her cheeks.


    Watching this woman''s watery eyes, Zhang Tie held her face and gently wiped off her tears. What a poor woman!


    "Sonia, you''re hapless but you''re not dirty. You''re very pure. Those who made you hapless are really dirty ones. Your haplessness was not your fault. If you want to stay, just stay on my side forever!" After saying that, Zhang Tie gently kissed her face.


    Being immersed in Zhang Tie''s kiss, Sonia started to quiver all over once again due to the excitement.


    Such a kiss only appeared in her dreams. When Zhang Tie kissed her, she couldn''t help but tightly embrace Zhang Tie as she laid her head on Zhang Tie''s chest.


    Zhang Tie didn''t move. Until one minute later, he gently patted Sonia''s butt and said, "Alright, go to bed now. It''s too late. Call in Paul by the way!"


    Sonia opened her eyes as she moved one step back. She seemed to have absorbed a strong energy from the embrace as she recovered her composure.


    After wiping off her tears and making herself look good, Sonia revealed a smile at Zhang Tie before pushing open the door.


    With the enchanting feeling from his finger lingering in his mind and the residue of tears on his chest, Zhang Tie watched Sonia''s graceful and sexy back as he became a bit puzzled. He didn''t know whether the kiss was right or not.


    ''This woman lives in a face mask. Others could only see her one side; however, I could see both sides of her.''


    Zhang Tie shook his head...


    Paul entered...


    ...


    After talking with Paul for over 10 minutes, Zhang Tie finally left the study.


    Nobody else knew what did they talk in those 10 or more minutes.


    When Zhang Tie left his study, all the others had left, except for Sonia, who was still waiting outside the study quietly, sticking to her final responsibility¡ª¡ªleading Zhang Tie to the bedrooms of Linda, Beverly and Fiona.


    There were over 70 rooms in the three-storey building of the inner chamber. If not being led by someone, Zhang Tie might not be able to find the right bedroom.


    After throwing a glance at Sonia, Zhang Tie found that she had already recovered her tranquility.


    The study was on the 1st floor while the bedrooms of Linda, Beverly and Fiona were on the 2nd floor. Holding a brass lantern, Sonia led Zhang Tie all the way from the 1st floor to the 2nd. They didn''t speak on the way. However, a special qi seemed to flow between them.


    In the inner chamber, the bedrooms of Linda, Beverly and Fiona were interlinked with each other. When Zhang Tie came to the 2nd floor and pushed open the door of the bedroom, he heard someone playing water in the bathroom.


    After closing the door from inside, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. As he walked towards the bathroom, he started to take off his clothes. When he arrived at the door of the bathroom, Zhang Tie had been naked all over...


    Soon after Zhang Tie entered the bathtub for less than 2 minutes, an extremely "enchanting" voice had drifted from the bathtub...


    ...

 816 Mothers Disease

    Chapter 816: Mother''s Disease


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie returned home on September 13th; however, his mom fell sick on September 15th.


    Her disease occurred without any symptom.


    On September 14th, in case of being teased by the family members, Linda, Beverly and Fiona, who had made love with Zhang Tie overnight, got up early as usual and greeted their parents-in-law. After that, they had breakfast together. In the morning, Zhang Tie''s mom looked good. However, when they had supper at night, Zhang Tie''s mom had a poor appetite. She ate lesser than before. The family members didn''t think it was abnormal as Zhang Tie''s mom was always healthy. However, they could never believe that Zhang Tie''s mom would fall sick on the morning of September 15th. When she ate breakfast, she suddenly felt giddy. Soon after that, she sat on the ground.


    Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang were both startled as the mansion became chaotic at once.


    ...


    On the noon of September 15th, Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang and their wives were waiting quietly outside the bedroom of their parents.


    The best doctor in Huaiyuan Palace was diagnosing Zhang Tie''s mom by touching her pulse. In order to not disturb the doctor, all the family members exited the bedroom for the time being, except for Zhang Tie''s dad.


    Although Zhang Tie had promoted to a knight, he was not a doctor. Therefore, he was not proficient in diagnosis. Zhang Yang, as a pharmacist, knew something about medicine; however, he could not confirm the cause of his mother''s disease either; therefore, they could only invite the best doctor.


    "How''s mom lately?" Zhang Tie asked Zhang Yang.


    Zhang Yang forced a bitter smile, "You know, mom has always been in good health; plus mom and dad always ate all-purpose medicament these years; neither do they have to care about the affairs about the family, I don''t know how mom fell sick!"


    When the two brothers talked with each other, the bedroom''s door was pushed open as Zhang Tie''s dad walked out with a grey-hair doctor and his female assistant.


    "Elder Mushen..." The doctor and his assistant hurriedly cupped their hands towards Zhang Tie the moment they saw Zhang Tie. The status of clan elder could already make people suffocate.


    "Mr. Sun, how''s my mom?" Zhang Tie hurriedly moved one step forward and asked anxiously.


    "Hmm, erm..." The doctor stopped as he looked around.


    "Let''s talk about it in the small parlor!" Zhang Yang exchanged a glance with Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then nodded and told Linda, Beverly and Fiona, "Go inside with my eldest sister-in-law to talk with my mom, I will be back soon!"


    After exchanging a glance with each other, the 4 women entered the bedroom.


    Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang, their dad Zhang Ping and Dr. Sun then came to a small parlor. Under the guidance of Zhang''s servant, Dr. Sun''s assistant was arranged to take a rest in another room for the time being.


    After entering the small parlor, Dr. Sun told them the truth.


    "Old madam''s disease is not physical but mental!" Dr. Sun said with a solemn look.


    Dr. Sun was elder than Zhang Tie''s parents. However, as Zhang Tie was a Clan elder, who was very honorable, Dr. Sun could only call Zhang Tie''s mom old madam.


    ''Mental disease?'' Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang and Zhang Ping exchanged a confused glance with each other.


    "Dr. Sun, can you tell me the details?" Zhang Ping asked.


    "After touching old madam''s pulse, I found that her guts were healthy, except for her heart meridian, which felt sorrow. She must be worried about something all the year round!"


    "Ahh? No way!" Zhang Yang''s eyebrows raised as he sprung up. Dr. Sun was evidently indicating that his mom was unhappy while being together with him. Therefore, Zhang Yang could not accept it like having been extremely insulted. He almost lost his temper, "Dr. Sun, you know about our living conditions, my mom doesn''t need to worry about anything at home. All the daughters-in-law and grandchildren are obedient and filial to her. Nobody dares violate her intention. My mom was always smiling in front of her grandchildren in normal times. She looked very happy. How could she feel sorrowful about anything?"


    "Old madam''s disease has nothing to do with living conditions because she was always worried about somebody or something. Therefore, after so many years, she finally fell sick. As a result, old madam feels weak all over and is in low spirits. Additionally, old madam''s blood meridian felt sorrow, which was not formed in a couple of years; instead, in almost 10 years. In the decade, old madam was always worried about someone or something and finally fell sick."


    After hearing this cause, Zhang Tie felt like getting a thunder strike as he became frozen at once. ''10 years? Isn''t it 10 years since I joined the Iron-Blood Camp of Norman Empire and fought in Kalur Theater of Operations on the 889th year to the present?''


    Dr. Sun explained carefully. However, he didn''t notice that Zhang Tie''s face turned pale abruptly. He even turned around to ask Zhang Ping, "Wasn''t old madam always worried about someone or something in the evening during the past 10 years? Mental disease has to be cured with mental medicine. As the heart is the master of the body, if the heart meridian was not smooth, one would be affected by many diseases. If old madam''s mental disease was not cured from the root, she might feel better in a short period due to medicine; however, her disease might aggravate in the future."


    Zhang Ping wanted to say something; however, after exchanging a glance with Zhang Tie, he let out a sigh, "Thanks, Mr. Sun, I got it. Please leave a prescription. We will take care of her for a few days. If there''s any problem, we will invite Dr. Sun once again!"


    Dr. Sun nodded as he wrote a prescription on a swab on the desk. Zhang Yang took it and glanced at the prescription. Closely after that, he nodded.


    "Zhang Yang, send Dr. Sun back!" Zhang Ping said.


    After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang nodded as he sent Dr. Sun away politely.


    Leaving Zhang Tie and Zhang Ping alone in the small parlor. Zhang Tie then moved his eyes on his dad as he asked in a trembled voice, "Dad...whether...mom was always worried about me these years?"


    Zhang Ping''s face changed at once, "Although your mom doesn''t say it at ordinary times, she would always call your pet name guoguo in dreams. Sometimes, she would wake up suddenly. As you always fought outside, since you left Blackhot City and joined the war between Norman Empire and Sun Dynasty, your mom has started to be a vegetarian and bless you day by day. As it was risky on the battlefield, your mom didn''t let me tell you about that in case you got distracted. Over the past years, only when you came back home, your mom would sleep well. Last time, you had Linda, Beverly and Fiona to Huaiyuan Prefecture and got lost a few years, during that period, your mom''s pillow was always wet each morning. When you returned home two days ago and spoke of your experience in Selnes Theater of Operations and outside Upton City, your mom dropped tears once again when she went back to the bedroom. She said that if this family''s wealth had to be exchanged for your life, she preferred to sell rice brew..."


    Hearing his dad''s words, Zhang Tie''s eyes turned red as tears coursed down his cheeks. Zhang Tie had not imagined that his mom was so worried about him that she didn''t even sleep well during the past decade when he left home.


    ''With Castle of Black Iron, I have been drawn back from the hell and dancing on the blades for so many times these years; however, I''ve not imagined about my mom''s concern about me. What a jerk!''


    ''My parents treat me so well; however, I''m not a qualified son.''


    ''As mom has lost one son, I can feel how she was worried about me and hoped me to go back to her side once again.''


    ''Even though I have promoted to a knight, if I could not keep the most important people in my life happy, it''s meaningless for me to fight and kill outside every day.''


    At this moment, Zhang Yang''s footsteps sounded outside the door. Zhang Tie wiped off his tears and smiled towards his dad, "Dad, don''t worry, I know what to do next. I will cure mom''s mental disease!"


    Zhang Yang pushed open the door and entered. At the sight of the remaining tears on Zhang Tie''s face, he had understood what happened, "Dr. Sun has been sent away!"


    "Have you handled the affairs in the business group?" Like all the other common parents, Zhang Tie''s dad also asked Zhang Yang out of concern.


    "Hmm, there''s nothing special in Jinwu Business Group today. A difference engine that we ordered a few days ago had arrived at Embracing Tiger Harbor yesterday!"


    It was definitely a milestone for a business group to use a senior difference engine to help handle the complex trades and all the other information. If not being large enough, a business group would never use an expensive difference engine which required a lot of professionals to take care of.


    "Elder brother. Give me the prescription. I will cook medicine for mom. Dad and I will take care of the domestic affairs, you can go handle the affairs of the business group!"


    After being silent for a second, Zhang Yang gave the prescription to Zhang Tie, "Well, you can get all the medicines in the medicine storage. As you''re home, I''m reassured. The business group that transported this difference engine here is a business group of Fan Clan in Yingzhou Province. It was escorted by a CEO of the business group. Fan Clan might be our relative in the future. Therefore, I''d better go greet them!"


    "Relative?" Zhang Tie threw a glance at Zhang Yang, "Elder brother, you''re marrying other girls?"


    "It''s you, not me!" Zhang Yang smiled.


    "Me?" Zhang Tie became surprised.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Zhang Tie''s dad coughed twice in a bit bashful way, "It''s preset by your mom and I in Fuhai City a few years ago. We planned to tell you in a few days. When your mom gets better, ask your mom about that. Go cook medicine now!"


    As marriage was always arranged in that age, Zhang Tie didn''t ask too much about that. He then left the small parlor with the prescription.


    ...


    Zhang Tie found the medicine and cooked them himself. Finally, he held a kettle of cooked medicine which had cooled down and served it to his mom.


    "I''m always good. Don''t know why, when I got up this morning, I felt sick. I''m getting old!" Zhang Tie''s mom smiled towards Zhang Tie with a benign look after drinking up the medicine.


    "Mom, why do you say that? I was told that only with some ailment occasionally could one not be affected by a disease. The doc said you''re okay. You just had a poor sleep quality lately. You must be thinking too much. Just take a rest for a few days at home, you will recover!" Zhang Tie said with a relaxed look as he put away the wares, "As I''ve been back, I will not leave soon. I will have a lot of free time to accompany you at home. I''m waiting for your rice brew when you recover. As I was outside these years, I was always dreaming about your rice brew! Previously, I would not eat rice brew in case of cost; however, now, as a clan elder, I cannot buy one bowl of rice brew that could match with that made by my mom even at the cost of hundreds of gold coins. How poor I am!"


    Zhang Tie pretended to let out a sigh with a sorrowful look.


    Zhang Tie''s elder sisters-in-law all burst out into laughter after hearing Zhang Tie''s words, making the atmosphere in the room much more relaxed.


    Zhang Tie''s mom also smiled with a brilliance in her eyes. She sat up and gazed at Zhang Tie, "You won''t leave this time?"


    "Unless mom chases me away, I will not leave. I will definitely eat up your rice brew for the compensation that I wandered outside these years!" Zhang Tie grinned.


    "Are you cheating me?" Zhang Tie''s mom asked seriously.


    Zhang Tie shrugged, "As Taixia is as solid as rocks, the entire country is safe without any warfare. Waii Sub-continent has long become a deserted land. Where else am I going to? I''ve been fed up with fighting outside these years. If anyone wants to fight demons, just let them go there, I will not go there anymore. The world doesn''t belong to me. I don''t need to worry about it so much. If the heavens collapse, taller guys will be the pillars. It''s none of my business. After all, we don''t lack anything now. I will just be a leisure clan elder in Huaiyuan Palace. When I''m free, I will help my elder brother take care of Jinwu Business Group, what do you think, mom?"


    "Fine, fine, of course fine, of course fine..." Zhang Tie''s mom revealed a smile. Perhaps due to the effect of the medicine, her face had turned a bit red only after a few minutes. She looked a bit spirited, "You and Linda are both young, you can give birth to more babies. Look at your elder brother''s family, how boisterous it is with so many babies!"


    "Mom, trust me, you will definitely be the head of Zhang''s kindergarten. Elder brother has 7 babies now. I swear to catch up with him; otherwise, I will lose my face. Isn''t it? Darling? Don''t be lazy at night!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Linda, Beverly and Fiona turned red. Over the past two nights, they were too diligent instead of being lazy. They didn''t let Zhang Tie''s mummy be free at all.


    The mating affair on the bed was always a secret in the public. Linda, Beverly and Fiona had not imagined that Zhang Tie the bad thing could expose it in the public; since they could not explain, they could only blush.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s blue joke, even Zhang Tie''s three elder sisters-in-law blushed a bit; however, they all forgot about Zhang Tie''s supreme status as a clan elder and felt him being an intimate younger brother-in-law.


    Zhang Tie''s mom flicked at Zhang Tie''s head with one finger before throwing a tragicomical glance at him, "Thankfully, the kids were not here. Otherwise, even the kids would be spoiled in such a way!"


    "Yes, yes, yes. I will watch out later on. Mom, you''re flicking at a knight''s head; however, speaking of the battle force, you could not even match a demon general!" Zhang Tie grinned cheekily for forgiveness.


    Zhang Tie''s mom might not remember Zhang Tie''s another status until then. After being quiet for a second, all the women in the room burst into laughter...


    As the medicine calmed the nerves. After taking it a few more minutes and chatting with Zhang Tie for a while, his mom had felt sleepy and gradually closed her eyes.


    "Elder sisters-in-law. You can go back with Linda, Beverly and Fiona for a rest. Don''t call me at supper time. I will just stay here with mom..." Zhang Tie turned around and told those women after covering the blanket for his mom.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, those women then walked out of the bedroom quietly.


    Zhang Tie then held his mom''s hands which were still coarse even now after working hard for dozens of years. Watching the silver hair at her mom''s ears, Zhang Tie dropped off tears...


    Zhang Tie felt that it was more meaningful than anything else to hold his mom''s hand and watch her sleep safe and sound...


    ''Holy war, earth-element realm, demons, Three-eye Association, f*ck you...''


    ...


    Although Taixia Country was still as solid as rocks, it was definitely not peaceful as there were all sorts of hidden evil forces across the country. As Youzhou Province was far away from the prosperous heartland of Taixia Country, it was not peaceful either...


    On 17th September, a majestic dragon-shaped golden airboat over 500 m in length flew by Gaozhou Province and arrived at Youzhou Province...

 817 A Grand Show

    Chapter 817: A Grand Show


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The dragon-shaped airboat flew over the border between Gaozhou Province and Youzhou Province as swiftly as a bolt like a majestic golden dragon...


    The mouth of the airboat was a huge, top-quality crystal cover which was made up of natural polished crystals. Although it could prevent wind, rain and airflow, it could not block one''s vision.


    Two people were standing in the crystal cover and looking down at the mountains, rivers and white clouds with glasses in their hand...


    "We''ve already passed Yangui Mountain Range. We must be in Youzhou Province now!" A young man at his 20s with sword-shaped eyebrows and sparkling eyes in white clothes with a longsword at his waist overlooked the land and uttered with a calm and arrogant look.


    "Brother Cangwu, have you been here before?" the other man of the similar age with narrow and long blue eyes turned around and asked with a smile. Although this man looked young, his narrow and long eyes looked very scheming.


    "It is my first time!" That young man in white clothes replied, "This lower province could barely have any splendid figure. Besides the 10,000 miles'' mountains and rivers, all the other things are really boring."


    "As Brother Cangwu is very ambitious, few commoners could be favored by you! However, there may be someone splendid in this lower province. As Youzhou province is established, some splendid figures in the local major clans of Youzhou Province may compete for the governorship of Youzhou Province!"


    With a shrewd light in eyes, the youth in white clothes asked, "Brother Tianqi, what do you mean?"


    "I was told that Zhang Taixuan the Count Longwind had made a lot of military exploits in the earth-elements realm in order to compete for the governorship of Youzhou Province. He had awakened many powerful ancestral bloodlines. His rune equipment craftsmanship and "Breaking-sun Sutra" also reached an unrivaled level. Isn''t such a person splendid?"


    The youth in white clothes sneered, "As for the branch of Count Longwind, only Lord Huaiyuan is an influential figure. After Lord Huaiyuan, the branch of Count Longwind has vanished in the public. Although Huaiyuan Palace has rooted in Waii Sub-continent so many years, they only occupied a corner; they didn''t even take a half of the sub-continent. Although this holy war has broken out for less than 10 years, Huaiyuan Palace has already retreated to Taixia Country. Although the clever rabbit has three burrows, plus he founded Yanghe Prefecture in a short period, which is admirable; he still lacks the arrogance of Lord Huaiyuan. Lord Huaiyuan could be promoted to General West Expedition in the God''s Will Army, one of the top four imperial armies in Taixia Country. Look at his offspring, who could only compete for the governorship of a lower province, which is even lower than Class 5. Even though Zhang Taixuan had tried his best, he still could not promote to an earth knight. His achievements are too common. Although being talented and ambitious, he is only limited to one province. He might be splendid; however, it''s just like a flash in the pan!"


    "How about Lu Dingzhi in Spiritualmaple Prefecture? This guy has promoted to a knight before 30. He served as the coin-casting commissioner of Ministry of Finance of Taixia Country in Gold Rock Sub-continent. He has made a lot of achievements. I was told that Lord Hong of the Ministry of Finance favored him so much. Spiritualmaple Prefecture is also a deep-rooted local major clan in Youzhou Province. He also intends to compete for the governorship of Youzhou Province. Isn''t this guy splendid?"


    "I was told that Lu Dingzhi 1had awakened his ancestral bloodline the moment he came to this world. As he was born with the fragrance of irises, he was named Dingzhi by elders. When he was young, Lu Dingzhi had a great potential to make military exploits in the earth-elements realm. Pitifully, he only served as a coin-casting commissioner in the Ministry of Finance. Gold Roc Sub-continent is just a remote area with barbarous people. They could barely have a knight. They admired the majesty of the Hua people in Taixia Country and became very docile and peaceful. Lu Dingzhi was like an emperor in Gold Roc Sub-continent. After becoming a coin-casting commissioner there for so many years, his arrogance had weakened greatly. He''s just a guard. Lu Clan in Spiritualmaple Prefecture has run business in Youzhou Province for so many years, they might be more powerful than Zhang Clan in Yanghe Prefecture. However, Lu Dingzhi has lost his masculinity. Splendid what?" The youth in white clothes said.


    "What about Gu Qingyun in the Gu''s Valley of Eastriver Prefecture? Gu Qingyun is very famous across Youzhou Province. He has promoted to battle spirit at the age of 16 and is regarded as a genius who appears once in a 100 years. He was taken as a disciple by an elder of Heavens Holding Pavilion. It shocked the entire Youzhou Province when Gu Qingyun entered Heavens Holding Pavilion. There were always messages about Gu Qinyun these years, all of them were amazing. It was said that Gu Qingyun had promoted to a knight. Isn''t this guy splendid?"


    "Just because he was talented at a young age doesn''t mean that he will become great when he grows old. It''s never too late to judge him when he chops off over 10 heads of demon knights!"


    The youth in blue clothes let out a sigh, "After listening to your analysis, brother Changwu, our journey to Youzhou Province became meaningless!"


    "Yes, even I think so!" The youth in white clothes shook his head as he continued pitifully, "I was told that the black-robe knight Gorath who had exterminated all the demons across Waii Sub-continent with the terrifying ptomaine miasma reappeared in Blackhot Sub-continent and devastated the demonized puppets corps there with the same terrifying ptomaine miasma once again. He even killed a demon knight in Blackhot Sub-continent and exterminated two Three-eye Association clans. I was preparing to look for Gorath in Blackhot Sub-continent; however, I received the command of my master; therefore, I have to escort the Heavens Ball to Youzhou Province!"


    "It turns out that brother Cangwu thinks that the black-robe knight Gorath is the very splendid person!" The youth in blue clothes was suddenly enlightened, "Gorath is indeed an able man. His terrifying ptomaine miasma shocked the world and scared all the demonized puppets and demons away. Besides the Eastern Continent, there are so many exotic talents in this world. However, voodoo pharmacists who have promoted to knights like Gorath are rarely seen in Taixia Country. I really wonder where does this guy come from. As he came to Blackhot Sub-continent this time, all the Three-eye Association clans in sub-continents might not sleep and eat well. They will feel like being on tenterhooks. This guy might have become the eyesore of demons. Demons must hate him very much and want to kill him as soon as possible!"


    "How do you know that Gorath is not a Hua man in Taixia Country? Why do you think the so-called Gorath is just a fake one who confuses others?" The young knight in white clothes asked suddenly.


    With a shrewd light in his narrow and long eyes, the youth in blue clothes replied, "You mean..."


    "There''s an old man in my sect, who once traveled in Western Continent for many years. He''s proficient in voodoo skills and knows about the voodoo pharmacists and their sects in Western Continent. A few months ago, he went to Waii Sub-continent alone and collected the Full Moons Demon Miasma in Waii Sub-continent for study. After studying the Full Moons Demon Misama, the elder asserted that no voodoo pharmacist or sect in Western Continent could cultivate such a terrifying ptomaine miasma. Gorath is definitely a master-level hermit among the voodoo pharmacists!"


    "Ahh, I see!"


    "Topple over an entire subcontinent with his own ability; drive demons and numerous voodoo pharmacists mad for him; scare Three-eye Association; curb the puppet worms of demons with a Full Moons Demon Miasma. Such a person, although we don''t know whether he''s righteous or evil, is undoubtedly splendid. What a hero!" The youth in white clothes praised in a heroic way.


    ...


    When the two young men stood on the head of the dragon-shaped airboat, the other two elders were drinking playing the game of go in a room of the airboat. They were leisurely immersed in the world between black and white.


    "Young men..." An elder smiled as he shook his head. At the same time, he put a white piece on the checkerboard.


    "Didn''t we also belittle the bigwigs at such a young age?" Another old man with a swarthy face revealed a tolerant smile. After thinking for a second, he put a black piece on the checkerboard, "Without these ambitious young men, our Taixia Country would be lifeless. Whatever, we could not perform on the stage. I like Cangwu among the new elites of your Heavens Fortune Sect. This boy will be an able man in the future. How about lending him to me for some years? I will give you back a governorship of a medium-level province!"


    "Too insolent, he needs more practice!" The old man put down a white piece as he replied.


    "If he needs practice in the earth-elements realm, why don''t you let him escort the Heavens Ball to Youzhou Province? This Youzhou Province is just a lower province. Even if I want to select a governor for Youzhou Province from some local rascals and want to borrow the treasure of your Heavens Fortune Sect, the best candidate has nothing to do with you motherf*cking Heavens Fortune Sect. How dare you Heavens Fortune Sect interfere with my domestic affair? Do you believe that I will lead my army to destroy your nestle?" The old man who was using the black piece suddenly goggled his eyes, which looked as threatening as the king of hell.


    The old man using the white piece just stroked his mustache and smiled. He didn''t care about the other old man with a swarthy face at all.


    Watching the smiling old man for a few seconds, the old man using the black piece finally let out a sigh. At the same time, his "threatening" look faded away; instead, he started to roll his eyes in a cunning way, "Alright, all the things in the world have been guessed by your Heavens Fortune Sect. You will never suffer a loss. I will see what you have come with to Youzhou, where, even birds would not like to take a shit in!"


    Only after 10 more minutes, the black dragon on the checkerboard was going to be chopped. Pinching the black piece, the old man with a swarthy face frowned and formed a character "´¨" on his forehead. Suddenly he pointed at the window and said, "Ahh, look, Yang Feiqing the old woman is coming for you..."


    After hearing his words, the old man using a white piece faintly turned his face. He turned around only to see nobody. When he realized that something was wrong, he had heard a thunder-like sneeze, which almost caused the entire airship to shake. After turning back, he found all the crystal pieces on the checkerboard had been shattered. Rubbing his nose, the old man using the black piece revealed an embarrassed smile, "Erm...it''s too windy. I caught a cold. My sneeze has destroyed all the pieces on the checkerboard. How about having another round..."


    The old man using the white piece was so angry that he even started to quiver all over. He pointed at the old man using the black piece and swore, "You timid old Cheng, you''re too impudent. You''ve formed 3 chakras, you tell me you caught a cold? You''ve already lost the game. Hurry! 5 kgs'' imperial falling frost tea leaves. If it''s one bit less, I will fight you to death..."


    "We did not come to the end. My dragon was still on the checkerboard. Why do you say so?" The old man who held black pieces justified while straightening up his neck.


    "I remember the former battle situation, how about reappearing them on the checkerboard and continuing it?"


    "Haha, I don''t remember it. I have a bad memory. What if you fabricate a false battle situation for your benefit..." The old man with a swarthy face insisted on his opinion.


    A powerful, dangerous qi appeared over the old man using the white piece, "Do you believe that I can stomp your ugly airboat into pieces?"


    "Just do that. It''s just an airboat. I have too many such airboats at home. But, as your Heavens Ball is in the airboat. If this airboat was destroyed, it would drop off. I will not care about the loss!"


    The old man using white pieces couldn''t stand the opponent anymore as he punched the other old man''s eye socket...


    With this punch, the eye socket of the old man with a swarthy face became as swollen as that of a giant panda. However, he was not angry at all; instead, he burst out into laughter, "Well, one punch for 10 imperial falling frost tea leaves. If you don''t agree, I will gift you 5 kgs'' falling frost tea leaves. You owe me a punch now. I will punch you back whenever I want...how about...continuing..."


    The old man using white pieces glared at the old man with a swarthy face for quite a while. Finally, he took a seat. The old man with a swarthy face moved his lip faintly. The door was then opened while someone carried in a new checkerboard and two jars of pieces. The two old men started a new round.


    ...


    The airboat moved almost 700 miles per hour in the sky. After entering the territory of Youzhou Province, it flew 2 hours before arriving at a plain with beautiful landscape, lush water resources and grasses. A magnificent city appeared on the plain.


    It was a big city, a genuinely magnificent city. It was the only Class A city in Youzhou Province as of far and the capital city of Youzhou Province¡ª¡ªYouzhou Province.


    The entire Youzhou city was as square as a square imperial jade seal. The length and width of the city wall lasted over 25 miles respectively. The inner area of the city covered 1,000 square miles. The city wall was higher than 70 m while being matched with powerful city-defense weapons. Even large-scale airships could directly take off from and land on the city wall. Such a magnificent city was very overwhelming on the plain.


    Youzhou City had just been founded for less than 5 years. The founding of this city also symbolized that Youzhou Province was promoted to an official lower province of Taixia from a wild province.


    If in Waii Sub-continent or other remote places, this city would definitely make any country and clan proud of. However, in Taixia Country, as was commented by the old man with a swarthy face, even birds would not take a shit in Youzhou Province.


    The over 500-m long dragon-shaped airboat landed in a location of Youzhou City quietly. All the officers of the city had been long waiting for them on both sides of the hatch of the airboat and dared not even breathe smoothly.


    When the hatch was opened, the black-face old man appeared while an extremely powerful qi covered the entire Youzhou City at once.


    He wore a fiery costume with a Kylin on it in a 10 cm-wide purple-gold rune jade waistband. His current majestic look could never be matched by that when he played the game of go with the old man who held white pieces.


    The old man looked around with his shrewd eyes while all the officers in Youzhou City hurriedly bowed deeply towards him.


    "Commander, Your Majesty!"

 818 Killing Time

    Chapter 818: Killing Time


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "In Taixia Country, the supreme officer of a province is a provincial governor; a province includes prefectures, the supreme officer of which is a prefectural governor. A prefecture includes cities, the supreme officer of which is a municipal major; a city includes countries, the supreme officer of which is a county magistrate."


    "A country includes towns, the supreme officer of which is a town mayor; a town includes villages, the supreme officer of which is a village chief, which, as the smallest officer in Taixia Country is usually selected by the villagers themselves. It''s an exiled class 7 official position!"


    "Above provinces are military regions, the supreme officer of which is a military commander! The military commander is an influential supreme chancellor in Taixia Country. A military region always includes 4-9 provinces. Youzhou Province, Gaozhou Province, Mozhou Province, Tongzhou Province, Qiongzhou Province, Yanzhou Province, Huizhou Province and Chaozhou Province in the northeast of Taixia Country are under the jurisdiction of Northeast Military Region of Taixia Country!"


    Zhang Tie was leaning against a deck chair in a pavilion of the garden of the inner chamber in Golden Light City. He was listening to the chapter "establishments" in the book "Regulations about Taixia Country" read by Beverly while eating the fruits which had been peeled by Linda. Fiona was standing behind Zhang Tie so as to let him rest on her half-exposed raised plump breasts by his head; meanwhile, she was gently massaging Zhang Tie''s shoulders.


    It was daytime in September. The hot sun was suspending high above their heads while the cicadas were chirping in the garden. Although the dog days of summer had passed, it was still almost 30 degrees Celsius in Yanghe River as it was at the end of the sultry summer. It would not turn cold in Yanghe Prefecture until October.


    The pavilion, where Zhang Tie and his wives were, was a hidden and tranquil place in the garden of their inner chamber, which was surrounded by rockeries, streams, springs, verdant bamboos and willows. They could only access to this pavilion through a path that was led to the place behind the rockeries.


    Zhang Tie''s mom had recovered a bit lately. Just now, after serving his mom with medicine and watching her fall asleep, Zhang Tie left the main room and returned to his inner chamber. He was killing time with his three wives in the pavilion in case of heat stroke. His three energetic sons had been taken away by some children education experts, who played various games with Zhang Tie''s nephews and nieces in the playground of the backyard. By playing games, they learned happily.


    With the knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie could hear children laughing and playing in the backyard although he was in the inner chamber.


    When he stayed with his three sons at home these couple of days, only after half an hour, Zhang Tie would ooze sweat all over. As for Zhang Tie, it was more difficult than handling some Three-eye Association knights. The three little guys even felt that this man called papa was boring as he could tell few stories and play few games. Therefore, Zhang Tie realized that he was not good at playing with kids. In normal times, besides teaching them about martial arts, he mainly let his mother or babysitters or teachers play with them.


    Elder Muyuan had not been here for a few days. It seemed that he wanted Zhang Tie to relax himself for a few days at home.


    After living in Taixia Country for so many years, Fiona, Beverly and Linda had learned to speak as fluently as Hua people. Besides, they knew "Regulations about Taixia Country" much better than Zhang Tie. After knowing that Zhang Tie wanted to learn about the contents in the "Regulations about Taixia Country", Beverly took one version and interpreted it for Zhang Tie.


    When he heard the Northeast Military Region Headquarters, Zhang Tie, whose mouth had been foisted with a watery lychee by Linda, became faintly dumbfounded as he widely opened his eyes. He even forgot to chew, "F*ck, you mean, a commander of a military region in Taixia could govern many provinces. Isn''t it similar to govern some sub-continents? How powerful it is!"


    "Of course. Taixia is the most powerful human country!" Beverly threw a pleasant look at Zhang Tie before saying, "Don''t interrupt me!"


    "Alright, alright, go ahead, go ahead..." Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he realized that he might not see the shy look of Beverly who had become a mother until now.


    As it was hot and they were in the inner chamber, Linda, Fiona and Beverly just wore a thin, one-piece short-arm skirt with rich Hua characteristics, which had a narrow upper part and a wide lower part. There was a tiny boob tube top inside the skirt. Their waists were lightly tied with two waistbands. Besides half-exposed plump breasts, their milk-like delicate skins were looming under the thin skirt yarn. Although being not coquettish, they were definitely super hot moms before the Catastrophe.


    Zhang Tie sighed with full moods inside, ''That''s what I always dreamed of.''


    "The officials in Taixia Country are divided into 10 classes and 19 ranks. Class 10 is immortal which is usually conferred to the three top chancellors of Taixia Country, namely, the Dasima who''s responsible for the army and warfares of the country, the Dasitu who''s responsible for the political affairs of the country and the Dasikong who''s responsible for national supervision, education, rituals and sacrifice. Those officials from class 9 to class 1 are further divided into 18 ranks; each class contains two ranks, namely, *** or deputy***. Besides the 19 ranks of the 10 classes, there were additional exiled 9 ranks, which were conferred to civil servants on all levels in Taixia Country. In Taixia Country, besides officials and civil servants who could be granted with classes and ranks, all the other technicians who have special abilities and made excellent contradictions to Taixia Country in one industry would also be awarded with classes and ranks..."


    ...


    After 2 hours, the sun started to move towards the west. When Beverly was reading the "Chapter of City Construction", Zhang Tie''s ears moved as he instantly sprung up from the comfortable deck chair and rapidly kissed his three young and beautiful wives, "Mom is going to wake up. I have to prepare the medicine before the supper for her!" Zhang Tie said as he threw a glance at the three women with a lascivious look, "Hmm, your dress looks nice. I''ve not imagined that you could look so nice in Hua clothes. Remember to wear these sets of clothes when you work tonight. Don''t be lazy..."


    "You''re disgusting..." The three hot moms uttered a womanly voice in unison. Zhang Tie then burst out into laughter and trotted away from this pavilion towards the kitchen of the main courtyard.


    ...


    Within half an hour since Zhang Tie left his inner chamber, two black limos had driven into the gate of the Zhang''s mansion.


    When the two limos parked outside the gate of the mansion, Zhang Yang and a gentle 50-year old man with three strips of mustache got off the first limo.


    "Mr. Fan, please come in!" Zhang Yang invited the old man into the main courtyard politely.


    The moment they entered the main courtyard, CEO Fan had already seen a handsome juvenile at the age of 16 or so walking out of the parlor on one side with a bowl of medicine soup in hand.


    The medicine soup seemed to have just been cooked as it was still steaming. The juvenile blew off the medicine soup so as to cool it down as he walked forward.


    "Elder brother, you''re back!" The juvenile greeted Zhang Yang casually before throwing a glance at CEO Fan and nodding towards him, "I''ve just cooked mom''s medicine soup, I will send it to her right now!"


    "Fine, how''s mom today?"


    "She''s much better. After taking medicine in the morning, she took a walk in the garden for a while. She was spirited in the afternoon and felt much more powerful than yesterday!" Zhang Tie replied as he went upstairs with the medicine soup, causing a sound "Dong dong dong dong".


    Hearing the dialogue between Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang, CEO Fan became stunned as he watched Zhang Yang with a dubious look, "This is..."


    "This is Zhang Tie, my younger brother!" Zhang Yang smiled.


    CEO Fan was shocked inside. He could never imagine that the juvenile who served medicine soup upstairs just now was Zhang Tie, the very one who would marry Fan''s rich young lady.


    Zhang Tie''s look and what he was doing was out of CEO Fan''s imagination greatly.


    According to Zhang Tie''s parents, Zhang Tie should have been 26 or 27 years old; however, given Zhang Tie''s look, he was absolutely a juvenile; instead of a youth.


    What made CEO Fan more shocked was that Zhang Tie was still doing what should be done by servants although having promoted to a knight.


    "My mother feels not good lately. Coincidentally, my elder brother is back. Therefore, Zhang Tie serves my mom at home these days. He selects medicine in the drug storage and cooks it himself!" Zhang Yang explained.


    Hearing Zhang Yang''s words, CEO''s eyes gleamed...


    ...


    The chief household register officer of Fuhai City who urged to marry his daughter to one of Zhang Tie''s three sons when he found Zhang Tie''s sons were especially talented was a member of Fan Clan in Heavenly Water Prefecture of Yingzhou Province. Fan Clan was not a common clan in Yingzhou Province; instead, it was a local major clan. Fan Clan had 4 cities in Heavenly Water Prefecture. Although Fan Clan could not match Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace, it was deeply rooted in Taixia Country. In some aspect, Fan Clan was a bit more powerful than Zhang Clan.


    Due to this marriage relationship between Fan Clan and Zhang Clan, Fan Clan''s Darun Business Group had established trade ties with Zhang Clan''s Jinwu Business Group. It was a win-win situation.


    By the chance that Darun Business Group traded with Jinwu Business Group, Fan Clan dispatched a CEO to Zhang Clan. Besides completing the trade, they intended to fix the marriage between Zhang Tie and the rich young lady of Fan Clan. Although the male party could postpone a marriage, the female party could not. When ladies turned older, they would hardly marry a man.


    At supper, although being gentle and graceful at the table, CEO Fan spent 20 minutes of half an hour in stealthily sizing up Zhang Tie.


    As it was his first time to visit Zhang Clan, CEO Fan felt a bit weird as he found Zhang Tie being just a 16-17-year-old juvenile with 3 beautiful foreign wives on his side. Linda, although being coquettish, looked 2 times elder than Zhang Tie; she was more like Zhang Tie''s elder than his wife. However, Linda always watched Zhang Tie with a sweet expression.


    Zhang''s family members had been used to all of this; however, CEO Fan felt especially weird.


    Almost the moment they finished the supper, Zhang Tie had become still for a second as he received the call-up through his elder''s finger ring from Huaiyuan Palace.


    "What happened?" Zhang Tie''s mom asked out of concern when she noticed Zhang Tie''s sudden changing face, although feeling much better.


    "Huaiyuan Palace is calling up elders back in the Shrine Palace for something important. I''ve just received the call-up!"


    "Now that Huaiyuan Palace is calling up, you can leave now!" Zhang Tie''s dad immediately uttered with a sense of pride.


    "Do you need your elder brother to arrange an airship or a vehicle for you?" Zhang Tie''s mom asked out of concern.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "No need, I will fly, it''s a bit faster!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie threw a glance at his elder brother, CEO Fan, Linda, Beverly and Fiona before walking out of the mansion. His family members saw him off.


    After Zhang Tie promoted to a knight, none of his family members had seen him showing off his amazing flying talent, even when Zhang Tie returned home. After hearing that Zhang Tie was going to fly off himself, all of his family members and CEO Fan came out to see how he would fly off.


    Linda, Beverly and Fiona came out of the mansion while cradling their kids. Zhang Tie''s nephews and nieces also kept their widely opened eyes on him as they wanted to see their uncle "flying off".


    After coming out of the mansion, Zhang Tie reminded his mom to not forget to take the bowl of medicine soup before going to bed. After that, he pinched Zhang Chenglei''s petite face and smiled. He then flew off immediately with a sparkling light in front of all of them.


    "Look, uncle is over there!" Zhang Chengan said as he pointed at the sky.


    All of them raised their heads and saw Zhang Tie waving his hand towards them from hundreds of meters high. Closely after that, with a lightning bolt, he flew towards Embracing Tiger City like a meteor.


    Zhang Tie''s family members were all shocked by the meteor; especially Zhang Tie''s three sons, who were watching their dad performing "magic" in front of them with widely opened eyes.


    "Is this a knight''s strength?" Zhang Tie''s dad watched the sky with a shocked look. He was stunned for a while, "Is this guy my son?"


    ''...Is this guy my younger brother?''


    ''...Is this guy my uncle?''


    ''...Is this guy my husband?''


    Zhang Tie''s family members were thinking the same thing. When Zhang Tie was at home, he was always easy-going. As a result, his family members usually forgot about his status as a clan elder; additionally, the status of clan elder was really a bit abstract for them. Until they saw Zhang Tie flying off in front of them, Zhang Tie''s status and image as clan elder became vivid in their minds.

 819 Call-up

    Chapter 819: Call-up


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie slightly accelerated his flying speed. It took him a bit more than 20 minutes to arrive at Embracing Tiger City from Golden Light City.


    Among the former 8 cities of Huaiyuan Palace in Waii Sub-continent, Yiyang branch built a new city in Yanghe Prefecture¡ª¡ªEmbracing Tiger City.


    Geographically, Embracing Tiger City looked a bit similar to the former Yiyang City as they were both coastal cities and depended on marine trade. Yiyang City leaned against Yiyang Mountain while Embracing Tiger City cradled Embracing Tiger Mountain. Although Embracing Tiger City had just been established, its potential was greater than that of Yiyang City. The environment of Embracing Tiger Harbor was better than that of Yiyang Harbor. All this indicated that Huaiyuan Palace had spent a lot here.


    The coastal area of Youzhou Province in the east was mountainous. Embracing Tiger Harbor was one of the two big harbors of Youzhou Province. Besides being used to develop marine trade with the other coastal provinces in the territory of Taixia Country, Embracing Tiger Harbor was also an important harbor hub that linked the Chaosang Sub-continent in the northeast of Eastern Continent to Taixia Country. It had a distinctive geographical strength, namely, exchanging south with the north in Taixia Country and link Chaosang Sub-continent, which was the real description of Embracing Tiger Harbor and the foundation of its prosperity.


    During the period when he was in Golden Light City, Zhang Tie gradually learned about Youzhou Province and Taixia Country.


    On the land, Youzhou faced a vast wild province in the north. Having not been established, the wild province only included some sparse small cities and human inhabited areas. The borders of the wild province had not been clearly marked in the north, east and west. There were vast grey and black regions which had not been explored or developed in the wild province on the map. As the largest city in the wild province was called Liaocheng City, according to the customs of Taixia Country, the wild province was called Liaozhou Province for the time being.


    The policy that Taixia Country adopted about wild provinces completely followed the thoughts of Taoism¡ª¡ªtake actionless action that had been carried on since ancient times. Taixia Country didn''t dispatch any officer to wild provinces or levy a single copper coin from wild provinces. Wild provinces had to maintain the social orders themselves or depend on the bounty hunters of the local Bright Road Pavilion. With this policy, all the wild provinces across Taixia Country would develop at the fastest speed and display a great vitality. Wild provinces in Taixia Country always gathered various talents. Besides Gold and Power Law, all the other 6 of the top 7 major sects in Taixia Country occupied one wild province like the local emperors. Taixia''s ruling power also made a compromise to the 6 major sects in this way.


    Taixia Country treated lower provinces such as Youzhou Province with slightly stricter policies. However, it was still too loose compared to that of medium-sized or upper provinces. The imperial court of Taixia Country barely interfered with the underdeveloped regions and granted them with greater freedom than that of medium-sized or upper provinces. Take selecting provincial governor for Youzhou Province as an instance, only lower provinces could enjoy such a special treatment. In medium-sized or upper provinces, provincial governors were usually appointed by the imperial court, although there were also competitive relations between the candidates. The opinions of the imperial court were critical in appointing provincial governors for medium-sized provinces or upper provinces. As the 9 major immortal provinces of Taixia Country were directly affiliated to the imperial households of Taixia Country, their provincial governors, namely imperial chancellors were directly appointed by Emperor Xuanhuan.


    Chaosang Sub-continent was bizarre. After coming to Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie was told that Chaosang Sub-continent admired the prosperity and profound culture of Taixia Country so much that they would dispatch diplomatic corps to Taixia Country every year and requested to merge in the territory of Taixia Country. They expected Taixia Country to dispatch a provincial governor to Chaosang Sub-continent so that citizens in Chaosang Sub-continent could call themselves citizens of Taixia Country. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, Taixia Country had no reason to refuse such a request. However, Zhang Tie was shocked by Taixia Country''s response¡ª¡ªall the imperial chancellors in the imperial court of Taixia Country directly ignored their request.


    ''Even Taixia Country was picky about benefits!'' Zhang Tie finally learned about Hua people''s honor and pride after arriving at Taixia Country.


    The Embracing Tiger City at the foot was brightly lit and very boisterous at night. Even though other sub-continents were troubled with battle flames, Youzhou Province, as a remote lower province in Taixia Country, was still as prosperous as usual. The so-called holy war could not influence this place even a bit.


    Zhang Tie was shocked by the greatness of Taixia Country.


    Someone might have noticed Zhang Tie''s arrival as a knight''s qi loomed in the Embracing Tiger Mountain as if it was greeting Zhang Tie. After sensing that qi, Zhang Tie directly flew towards Embracing Tiger Mountain like having received a cruise signal.


    A complex of pavilions and palaces with cyan tiles and flying eaves were seated in the most magnificent place of Embracing Tiger Mountain. Among the buildings, Zhang Tie caught sight of the Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace at once, which remained unchanged.


    Elder Muen was waiting on the stage outside the gate of the Shrine Palace. Zhang Tie landed on the terrace outside the gate.


    "Elder Muen!" Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards Elder Muen.


    "Elder Mushen!" Elder Muen replied with a smile as he also cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie, "Congratulations! After a few years, given the momentum of Elder Mushen in the sky, I know that you''ve already made a great progress in cultivation base!"


    "Thanks, Elder Muen!" Zhang Tie smiled modestly, "I wonder about the reason for calling us here."


    "As Elder Mushen had just returned to Yanghe Prefecture from Waii Sub-continent and reunited with family members, Huaiyuan Palace would not call you up if not a major event. This event is about competing for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province; it''s related to the development of Huaiyuan Palace in the next 100 years; therefore, we needed to call up all the elders of Huaiyuan Palace to negotiate with the next plan after receiving the message!"


    Zhang Tie was shocked inside, "Have other elders arrived?"


    "Elder Muray is in Liyuan City, which is a bit far from here. Besides Elder Muray, all the other elders have arrived!" Elder Muen replied.


    Liyuan City was established by Huaiyuan Palace''s Stars Viewing branch in the westernmost part of Yanghe Prefecture. After moving to Youzhou Province, the former Stars Viewing branch which ran the largest slave-trading center in Huaiyuan Prefecture restarted their slave trade in the Yanghe Prefecture. Non-Hua slaves also existed in Taixia Country. Additionally, the slave trade was legal here. Youzhou Province and Liaozhou Province were both vast but sparsely populated; especially Liaozhou Province, which had a high demand on slaves. Non-Hua people who sold themselves as slaves in the territory of Taixia Country and those slaves from Chaosang Sub-continent and the other sub-continents even people in border regions of Taixia Country were greatly demanded in the slave trading market of Liaozhou Province and Youzhou Province.


    After hearing Elder Muen''s words, Zhang Tie nodded before entering the Shrine Palace.


    After entering the Shrine Palace, Zhang Tie gasped in admiration. This Shrine Palace remained as same as before. When he entered it, Zhang Tie thought that he had returned to Yiyang Mountain.


    "Elder Mushen..."


    Elder Muyuan, Elder Muan and Elder Muyu had already arrived. Watching Zhang Tie coming in, they all moved their eyes on Zhang Tie and greeted him.


    After greeting the three elders, Zhang Tie sat on his seat.


    Those elders gasped in admiration about Zhang Tie''s mediocre and majestic look, ''All knights are top elites!''


    "Before Elder Mushen arrived, we were discussing the event in Waii Sub-continent. During those years when Elder Mushen guarded in Huaiyuan Prefecture, Hurricane Corps made a great progress; Huaiyuan Palace''s interests in Waii Sub-continent were also guaranteed to the largest degree. In the holy war, Huaiyuan Prefecture ran in good order under the rule of Elder Mushen; our forces also evacuated from Huaiyuan Prefecture with the least losses among those major clans in Jinyun Country. Those border Hebrew people in Youzhou Province are eulogizing the majesty and mercy of Elder Mushen. Because Elder Mushen handled Huaiyuan Prefecture properly, those people are very docile; they settled down here soon. Elder Mushen has made the greatest contribution for Huaiyuan palace to settle down in Youzhou Province!" Elder Muan watched Zhang Tie and said seriously. The other two elders nodded at the same time.


    Honestly, Zhang Tie''s achievements were completely out of the elders'' imaginations during those years when Zhang Tie guarded in Huaiyuan Prefecture; especially after making a contrast with that of the other major clans in Jinyun Country. In the later phase before Waii Sub-continent was collapsed by demons, after realizing that the methods adopted by Huaiyuan Palace were very effective, all the garrison elders and corps of the other major clans in Jinyun Country almost copied Zhang Tie''s methods in Huaiyuan Prefecture, including the mode that he divided Hurricane Corps into three levels, the special military administration and circuit military courts that he adopted in garrison cities, even stabilizing refugees'' heart by providing free porridge to them. They made the same nice achievements. After his rotating chakra ceremony, Zhang Tie''s reputation spread over the major Hua clans in Jinyun Country and Qilan Country once again, making Huaiyuan Palace extremely outstanding.


    "In the battle, you defended demons and strengthened forces; in defense, you stabilized commoner''s hearts and created wealth. Elder Mushen, you indeed made great achievements during the period when you guarded Waii Sub-continent!" Elder Muyu praised as he stroked his mustache.


    "I was just lazy. All the achievements that I made were benefited from the forever majesty of Huaiyuan Palace and the dauntless commissioned officers and soldiers of Hurricane Corps. I believe that you would have done it better if you guarded it!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    Watching Zhang Tie being so humble and easy-going, the other elders liked him more. They started to approve Zhang Tie''s position as a clan elder deep in their hearts. To be honest, even though Zhang Tie had promoted to a clan elder after the rotating chakra ceremony, the other elders still felt a bit uncomfortable to see him being on the equal footing with them. The achievements that Zhang Tie made during the period that he guarded Waii Sub-continent helped him completely consolidate his place in Huaiyuan Palace.


    "We heard that Waii Sub-continent had been turned into a hell by a black-robe knight Gorath. As Elder Mushen returned to Waii Sub-continent recently, can you tell us about the situation over there?" Elder Muyuan uttered while the 3 elders moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie once again.


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie exposed all the information that he heard about Waii Sub-continent from Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    After hearing such a miserable situation facing Waii Sub-continent, Elder Muyuan became speechless, Elder Muan let out a sigh of relief while Elder Muyu let out a deep sigh.


    Closely after that, with two light beams outside the Shrine Palace, Elder Muray and Elder Muen entered with the familiar qis...

 820 The Conference

    Chapter 820: The Conference


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Knights could hear a sound clearly from hundreds of meters away with the powerful perception of knight''s consciousness as long as the sound was not intentionally covered. Some knights who cultivated special secret methods could even hear farther. Therefore, Elder Muen had almost heard the talk about what happened in Waii Sub-continent between Zhang Tie and Elder Muyuan before entering the Shrine Palace. Even Elder Muray who came in the end also heard a part of their talk.


    At this moment, besides the head of Zhang Clan, all the other 6 clan eldrs of Huaiyuan Palace had arrived at the Shrine Palace.


    "I did not imagine that Waii Sub-continent would deteriorate into such a lifeless land being covered with Full Moons Demon Miasma only after we left Waii Sub-continent for a few years. I wonder whether Sacred Iceland Kingdom has been influenced by the miasma over Waii Sub-continent." Elder Muen asked Zhang Tie.


    "As there is an ocean between Sacred Iceland Kingdom and Waii Sub-continent, the terrifying Full Moons Demon Misama didn''t extend to Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Before I came back from Sacred Iceland Kingdom, I had issued an order to forbid people to land on Waii Sub-continent once again except for soldiers and other special forces who had to execute their tasks!" Zhang Tie answered.


    "It seems that Sacred Iceland Kingdom don''t need to worry about being attacked by demons in a short period. The accident in Waii Sub-continent makes Ice and Snow Wilderness a Shargri-la. Misfortune may be a blessing in disguise."


    "If not the threat facing the Sacred Iceland Kingdom had been cleaned off for the time being, I might still be in Sacred Iceland Kingdom! I promised those guys in Ice and Snow Wilderness that I would fight demons to the death with them shoulder to shoulder. Trust is the coin of the realm. I was also worried about their safety when I came to Sacred Iceland Kingdom. However, I had not imagined that the black-robe knight Gorath could have such a trump card. Benefited from that, I could return to Taixia Country without eating my words!" Zhang Tie gasped with admiration as he felt lucky. He performed his disguising ability to the utmost. Nevertheless, none of the elders at present could imagine that Zhang Tie was the very Gorath.


    "Have you handled the affairs in Sacred Iceland Kingdom?" Elder Muray asked.


    "Sacred Iceland Kingdom is just a combination of tribes and Ewentra Archipelago. The clan elders of those tribes and the major clans in Ewentra Archipelago are still managing the affairs in their own territory. I don''t need to worry about that at all!"


    Honestly, Zhang Tie felt a bit pleasant when he became the tsar of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. However, when he came to Youzhou Province, he found that a province of Taixia Country was almost as large as a sub-continent and a provincial governor governed the region as large as a subcontinent with military region commander who had extremely great power above them. After that, Zhang Tie''s pleasure eased. Taixia even ignored the Chaosang Sub-continent who hoped to merge in Taixia Country and pay tax to Taixia Country, not to speak of a tiny Sacred Iceland Kingdom. ''Sacred Iceland Kingdom could only be a wild province in Taixia Country at most and I could only serve as a Class 6 Prefectural province in Taixia Country at most with the foundation of Sacred Iceland Kingdom, not to mention that Sacred Iceland Kingdom was in the north of the remote Waii Sub-continent.''


    "Sacred Iceland Kingdom could serve as a trading center and connection between Eastern Continent and Western Continent and grow increasingly prosperous. It could also trade with Huaiyuan Palace and benefit both parties!" Elder Muan suggested while the other elders nodded at the same time. Zhang Tie also nodded.


    Elder Muen let out a sigh, "There are so many unexpectations in this holy war. The super demon corps which swept over Waii Sub-continent; the black-robe knight Gorath who exterminated so many Three-eye Association clans and released the terrifying ptomaine miasma over Waii Sub-continent; either the hundreds of millions of demonized puppets or the terrifying ptomaine miasma could topple over a sub continent. Whenever I thought about the current situation facing Waii Sub-continent, I would feel both lucky and worried. I feel lucky that Huaiyuan Palace left the lifeless land in advance and laid our foundation in Youzhou Province of Taixia Country; I''m worried that we cannot predict the progress of the holy war. We cannot see clearly the future of Huaiyuan Palace. In the holy war, numerous clans would be exterminated; numerous clans would grow prosperous at the same time. All the elders at present are shouldering responsibility for the prosperity of Huaiyuan Palace. There''s a major event that could determine the future of Huaiyuan Palace, which Huaiyuan Palace have planned for a long time. We, as Clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace, should negotiate about it."


    "Have the Northeast Military Region Headquarter of Taixia Country set the regulations about the selection of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province?" Elder Muyu asked.


    "Yea, I''ve just received the message that Lord Cheng Honglie, the commander of Northeast Military Region Headquarter, had already arrived at Youzhou City, the capital city of Youzhou Province by an airship yesterday. He had already set the regulations about the selection of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province!" Elder Muen said.


    Hearing Elder Muen''s reply, all the others at present straightened up, including Zhang Tie. After throwing a glance over the other elders, Elder Muen continued, "Lord Cheng borrowed a special object from Heavens Fortune Sect¡ª¡ªHeavens Ball. He will use this Heavens Ball to select the provincial governor of Youzhou Province."


    "Heavens Ball? What''s that?" Elder Muray asked while widely opening his eyes.


    Elder Muen forced a bitter smile, "I don''t know. I was just told that it was a treasure that Heavens Fortune Sect got from the earth-elements realm. A marvelous world and many eccentric objects could be imitated in this Heavens Ball. People could enter it by their spirits and souls and do whatever they want in the Heavens Ball just like how they do in the outside world. It''s told that Heavens Ball was like a senior training field in Heavens Ball Sect, which was used for elders and disciples of Heavens Fortune Sect to compete in military skills or practice their battle skills. They could exert their utmost efforts in the Heavens Balls without concerning about losing their lives."


    After hearing the introduction of the Heavens Ball, all the elders exchanged glances with each other. As they were in Waii Sub-continent, although they might have heard about the secret treasures of the 7 major sects of Taixia Country, they had not seen that beofre. Therefore, they all became stunned by this treasure.


    This time, Zhang Tie was really shocked. Because he realized that the Heavens Ball was completely like the trouble-reappearance situations in trouble-reappearance fruits.


    When Zhang Tie felt complex, he abruptly realized that one object of Heavens Fortune Sect, one of the seven major sects on Eastern Continent, was somewhat related to his biggest secret.


    "Does Lord Cheng want all the candidate clans to fight in the Heavens Ball?" Elder Muyuan asked with a solemn look.


    "Yes, I''m afraid so. As the holy war has broken out, it''s the right time to select talents, especially in military skills. I was told that Lord Cheng was bold and dauntless. I''m afraid that he would have us fight the other Clan elders in the Heavens Ball. We will know the details when we arrive at Youzhou Province. According to the message from Youzhou Province, the powerhouses of candidate clans who want to compete for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province have to arrive at Youzhou Province before 5th of October. The head of Zhang Clan has received the notice in advance. He has left the earth-elements realm for Youzhou Province. He would come back to Youzhou Province before 5th October. We will have to converge with our head before that date and help our head to ascend to the provincial governor of Youzhou Province. After that, our Huaiyuan Palace would be able to officially take over Youzhou City, the most magnificent city in Youzhou Province and control the surrounding hundreds of thousands of square miles of land; meanwhile, Huaiyuan Palace would become a clan with provincial governor in Taixia Country. Huaiyuan Palace''s offsprings would be awarded as officials with certain classes and ranks by the head of Huaiyuan Palace..."


    According to the explaination of Elder Muen, Zhang Tie gradually realized the importance of this competition for Huaiyuan Palace. It could be said that if Huaiyuan Palace won this competition, Huaiyuan Palace would have a great influence in Youzhou Province, even Taixia Country. As for a clan which had just rooted in a lower province of Taixia Country, the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province was of great significance.


    If they won the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province, they would have the entire Youzhou City, which meant that they would have the most prosperous region in Youzhou Province. Meanwhile, they would open a shortcut for their offsprings to promote to higher-class officials in Taixia Country and help Huaiyuan Palace root in Youzhou Province, even Taixia Country more deeply. The power, honor and interests being related to the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province really made people drool.


    Besides Huaiyuan Palace, at least 7 powerful clans cast greedy eyes on the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province, some of them had deep roots in Youzhou Province just like that of Huaiyuan Palace. They were even a bit more powerful than Huaiyuan Palace.


    As the first provincial governor of a lower province which had just been established, the first session would last 20 years, during which period, the provincial governor would have enough opportunities to lay a solid foundation for his clan and himself in a lower province. To put it straight, if any clan could take the position provincial governor of Youzhou Province, it would be the first clan in Youzhou Province for sure. The competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province was actually the competition for the number one clan in Youzhou Province in the future.


    As it was a major event for Huaiyuan Palace, of course, Zhang Tie had to be the vanguard.


    ...


    After Elder Muen introduced it, a question occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, "How many chakras have Commander Cheng formed?"


    "Commander Cheng have already formed both earth chakra and water chakra. He''s a shadow knight for sure!" Elder Muen answered with an admiration.


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he took in a cold breath.


    After black iron knights formed their earth-elements chakra, they would promote to earth knights; after forming their water-element chakra, they would promote to shadow knights, whose name originated from the changing feature of water. Water could form ocean, river, stream, dew, ice, mist, cloud, even disappear in the air. Water was colorless and variable. Therefore, those who had formed water-element chakra were called shadow knights.


    Even the demon general who had almost promoted to an earth knight was unrivaled across Waii Sub-continent, Zhang Tie could not imagine how powerful was a knight who had formed his water-element chakra.


    After recalling his "weirdo" master Zhao Yuan and this Commander Cheng, Zhang Tie gasped with admiration inside, ''How many talents are there in Taixia Country...''


    "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Elder Mushen, now that you could promote to a black iron knight at such a young age, as long as you could practice hard, Elder Mushen would definitely form the second chakra. You might even form the third chakra!" Elder Muan comforted Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie smiled, "Thank you for your auspicious words, Elder Muan. As for the cultivation road forward, it''s a distant way, I could only explore it at my full efforts. As there are all sorts of scenery on the roadside, the cultivation road is not the only one which could lead me to a wonderful scenery in my life. It depends!"


    All the other elders had not imagined that Zhang Tie could be so open-minded. Only a sorrowful look flashed by Elder Muyuan''s face after hearing Zhang Tie''s words...

 821 Creating a New Battle Skill

    Chapter 821: Creating a New Battle Skill


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It was too late when Zhang Tie came back home from the Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace in Embracing Tiger Mountain. Zhang Tie had a new plan. However, as he found his parents had gone to bed, he didn''t say it to them; instead, he went back to his inner chamber and had a big fun with his wives.


    Beverly and Fiona were very diligent. After playing a game with Zhang Tie for almost one night, the three women finally fell asleep with a fatigued and satisfactory look.


    Like charging, sleep was the best way for a person to recover his spiritual energy and vitality. Knights'' sleep pattern was different than that of commoners.


    Commoners'' sleep was shallow. A part of the region and cortical tissue of commoners'' brain was half excited in sleep, which consumed human''s energy and vitality like an idling engine. Therefore, commoners would have a long sleep. Usually, it would take a commoner 7-8 hours to recover the vitality that he had consumed in the past day. There was a Hua phrase called sitting in repose with ones'' eyes closed, the principle of which was that one could decrease the degree of excitement of a part of the region and cortical tissue of his brain by closing his eyes so that he could consume less physical and spiritual energy.


    Knights'' sleep pattern was different than that of commoners. Almost every knight had mastered a deep sleep skill when they promoted to knights. Like rapid charging, in such a deep sleep, it would take a knight only 3-4 hours to recover his spiritual energy better than that of commoners who would sleep 7-8 hours.


    When he promoted to a knight, Zhang Tie had mastered a deep sleep skill. After his spiritual energy made a breakthrough once again, Zhang Tie''s sleep skill further improved as he would enter a sleep state that he could not tell.


    In this special sleep state, besides maintaining some senses and vigilance to the environment, his full brain and cortical tissue would enter an absolute tranquility. In this sweet and ethereal state, he didn''t watch any dream or have any distracting thoughts like returning back to the huge placenta, which was comfortable and pleasant. Besides his consciousness becoming still, his guts seemingly started to "hold" things such as his qi, blood, vitality and spiritual energy, which formed and vanished in the dark quietly and established subtle relations with the energy between the sky and the land. They just quietly nourished, strengthened and purified his body; made him more vigorous and granted him with the greatest energy in the tranquility.


    In such a quality sleep, Zhang Tie only needed to sleep 2 hours a day, which was many times more effective than sleeping 9 hours per day when he was in Blackhot City. Whenever he slept, he would feel like taking a special tonic. Whenever he woke up, his body and each surging point in his body would display a wholly new and great vitality, which always brought him a big surprise.


    Sometimes, Zhang Tie even doubted that he only needed to take a nap one day in such a deep sleep mode so that he would root deeply in the ground and grow stronger like the big trees in the woods without having to do any cultivation or practice.


    Now, Zhang Tie only needed to sleep 3 hours a day when he would feel being "full". After sleeping 3 hours, Zhang Tie would feel his vitality, qi and blood spilling out of his guts and being full of strength. He then could not fall asleep or become still any longer except for entering meditation. He could only radiate his brilliance. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether other knights had the same feeling when they got up, he didn''t know how to describe it. However, each time Zhang Tie got up, he would feel his body blooming like flowers and full of pleasure while another wholly new and nice day was coming.


    ...


    It was September 19, when he woke up, Zhang Tie laid on the bed for a short while. After tasting the nice feeling of his blooming body, Zhang Tie opened his eyes.


    It was 5 am. His bedroom was pitch-dark. It was still dark outside.


    Linda was resting on his right arm; Fiona was lying on his chest; Beverly was leaning against his left arm. There was a pleasant complex smell in the room, which carried the fragrances of the three women''s bodies and the faint, elegant fragrance of some purple rosemary in the vase. What was more, the smell of protein which had been sprayed by Zhang Tie also evaporated in the air.


    The three women were in a sound sleep. Zhang Tie carefully drew his arms away from the heads of Linda and Beverly. After that, he moved Fiona''s head onto the pillow lightly. He then kissed the three women''s foreheads and covered the quilt for them before getting off the bed. After that, he left the bedroom and came to the outside bathroom. After taking a bath, he put on his clothes and left the room.


    The female servants in the mansion would get up at 6 am. Therefore, it was pretty tranquil in the inner chamber. Besides those guards who were sticking to their posts, nobody else had gotten up in the mansion.


    Zhang Tie came to the grassland in the backyard which had been covered with red maple. After warming up his body, he started to practice fist position slowly.


    Zhang Tie moved slowly and naturally like moving clouds and flowing water. Although it didn''t look powerful, it made onlookers comfortable. In the eyes of outsiders, Zhang Tie''s fist position was nothing different than those performed by old men and women in the urban squares and parks in the morning.


    After promoting to a knight, the so-called practice such as forming chakra or improving battle skills was always like deep water flow, which could not be sensed by outsiders.


    As a knight, he was always different than commoners. Only after practicing fist position for over 10 minutes, his invisible qi had gradually spilled out his body while all the red maple''s leaves and twigs and grasses within 20 m swayed themselves along with Zhang Tie''s movements with an extremely strong sense of rhythm. When Zhang Tie''s hands were facing upward, those twigs, leaves and grasses would face upward; when Zhang Tie''s hands were facing downward, those twigs, leaves and grasses would face downward; when Zhang Tie faced east, they would face east; when Zhang Tie faced west, they would face west. It seemed that there was an invisible line between Zhang Tie''s hands and those twigs, leaves and grasses, causing them to move with Zhang Tie.


    The morning dew jumped off the twigs, leaves and grasses; broke apart and evaporated, causing the area within 20 m to become misty and weird. With Zhang Tie''s movements, the mist formed and disappeared from time and then in a very unpredictable way. Like a drawing board, it showed dragons and snakes in the mist time and then. If some rustic villagers witnessed this scene, they might fabricate some stories about mountain spirits and wild monsters.


    Zhang Tie''s elder brother Zhang Yang had stood over 20 m away from Zhang Tie and watched Zhang Tie practicing fist position for quite a while.


    Over the past years, Zhang Yang had formed a stable daily routine. When he got up, he would always do morning exercise. However, he had not imagined that he could meet Zhang Tie here.


    The moment Zhang Yang entered the backyard, he had been attracted by Zhang Tie''s movements. Although Zhang Yang wanted to move closer, he was blocked by Zhang Tie''s invisible qi wall over 20 m away.


    Watching the twigs, leaves and grasses swaying with Zhang Tie''s movements and the changing mist beside Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang was more astonished than that when Zhang Tie flew off in front of him last night.


    This was Zhang Yang''s first time to see Zhang Tie practicing his battle skills over the past years.


    Zhang Yang had no talent in cultivation. He could not identify which kind of fist position was Zhang Tie practicing. Although it was similar to iron-blood fist, it was different than that as it contained forming and vanishing intentions like the ebb and flow in Zhang Tie''s movements and sudden pauses.


    The forming and vanishing intentions were very terrifying. Zhang Yang could sense that as long as Zhang Tie liked, he could shatter everything around him including Zhang Yang himself. As he knew that Zhang Tie would never do that; therefore, he just felt relieved while watching Zhang Tie''s performance on one side.


    After practicing for a while, Zhang Tie moved to the original place and stood well. Closely after that, he leveled up his hands before his chest and let out a breath of relief while the surrounding mist disappeared at once. Meanwhile, Zhang Yang felt that the invisible qi wall disappeared too.


    The stars in the sky had almost faded away while some rooms in the mansion had been lighted up. Some female servants were getting up.


    Zhang Yang walked over there.


    "What''s this fist position? It did not look like the iron-blood fist that you usually practiced before." Zhang Yang asked.


    "It''s not the iron-blood fist. I was just warming up my limbs. It could relax tendons; stimulate the blood circulation and improve my health." Zhang Tie answered in a bashful way.


    Actually, it was not a casual fist position. Zhang Tie attempted to simulate and reappear the cavitation effect that he had sensed underwater using this fist position and battle skills. Zhang Tie had realized the great destruction of the cavitation effect, he thought that if his fist position and battle skills could be as destructive as that of the cavitation effect, it would be awesome. Even if common bubbles'' formation and vanishment in water could make him unbearable, not to mention the formation and vanishment of battle qi and fists.


    Zhang Tie lately realized that the situation that the five elements in his Five-element Ground-look Sutra were mutually generated and constrained was similar to the formation and vanishment of bubbles in water; therefore, he tried to simulate it just now. However, as he had not made it, Zhang Tie felt too bashful to tell his elder brother that he wanted to create an extremely powerful battle skill as it would be too amazing. Even knights could not create a battle skill, especially a powerful battle skill as easily as they would. Most of those battle skills that were popular in this world had two origins, the pre-historical secret skills that had been excavated by people from the underground world and the battle skills and martial arts of humans before the Catastrophe which modern humans had inherited and made the breakthrough. Iron-blood Fist belonged to the first category; the inheritance and breakthrough that Hua people had made to the battle skills and martial arts of humans before the Catastrophe led the humans. Although humans had created some battle skills in that age, very few of them were popular among humans and posed a great influence on humans. The creators of new battle skills were always masters of certain sects.


    After hearing that Zhang Tie was just warming up his limbs, Zhang Yang forced a bitter smile, "Warming up limbs? That hurts my self-esteem so much! If you were warming up your limbs, we were practicing sh*t."


    "Of course, elder brother is practicing something much better than me. When you promote to a knight, you could also warm up your limbs!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s witticisms, Zhang Yang burst into laughter, "As you''re here, how about guiding your elder brother''s kungfu?"


    "Fine, elder brother, just show it!" Zhang Tie replied as he moved a few steps back.


    When in Blackhot City, before Zhang Tie graduated from the 7th National Middle School, his battle skills and cultivation were always guided by Zhang Yang. This time, although being completely opposite, the two brothers didn''t feel anything wrong.


    Zhang Yang was not talented in cultivation; additionally, he spent most of his time running Jinwu Business Group these years, he would have less time to cultivate. As for Zhang Yang, the battle skills and cultivation completely deteriorated into morning exercises. It was more like a lump of sh*t than being average in Zhang Tie''s eyes. Any LV 9 demon fighter would kill Zhang Yang countless times.


    Watching Zhang Yang''s fist position, Zhang Tie completely gave up the idea of guiding him. ''Alright, no matter how much time elder brother will spend in battle skill, he could at most fight a LV 9 iron-armored demon to death. Don''t waste time anymore. Just consider how to light more surging points! He should just take this battle skill as an aerobic exercise.''


    After performing twice forcefully, Zhang Yang finally stopped when he started to ooze sweat over his forehead with a red face. After that, he watched Zhang Tie and asked with a bit pleasant look, "How do you feel about my Heavens and Land Palm?"


    Rubbing his face, Zhang Tie answered, "Elder brother, do you remember how you described my fist position before? Ahh, I got it, it makes me excited. Your Heavens and Land Palm makes me too excited to provide you with any guidance!"


    After being stunned for a second, Zhang Yang burst out into laughter, followed by Zhang Tie.


    "I need to go to Youzhou City!" Zhang Tie said with a big smile, "As the selection of the provincial governor for Youzhou Province is going to be hosted in Youzhou Province by Commander Cheng, we elders have to go there; the Clan elders were talking about this last night!"


    Zhang Yang stopped smiling at once as he asked, "Is it dangerous?"


    "It''s safe. It''s said that Youzhou City is very boisterous. Therefore, I plan to take mom, dad and my wives there!"


    "Together?" Zhang Yang became confused...


    "Yup!" Zhang Tie nodded...

 822 The Traveller

    Chapter 822: The Traveller


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Dad and mom, have you been to Youzhou City?" Zhang Tie asked at breakfast. Zhang Tie''s dad and mom stopped their chopsticks at once. Even Linda, Beverly and Fiona moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s mom had recovered as she looked as spirited and healthy as before. Therefore, the family members were very happy. They talked and laughed, making the atmosphere in the dining hall very fervent.


    Zhang Tie''s and his elder brother''s kids ate breakfast in their own inner chambers. As these kids'' age and physical growth were inconsistent, their breakfasts were especially allocated by nutritionists according to their demands. Therefore, kids didn''t eat breakfast together with adults.


    "As we''ve just moved to Golden Light City, we''ve not been to Youzhou City yet!" Zhang Tie''s dad threw a strange look at Zhang Tie when he was drinking black rice porridge, "Why do you ask this?"


    "Haha, I''m free lately. As I''ve been outside so many years, I''ve not traveled with you for a long time. I just want to travel to Youzhou City with you. Additionally, I owe Linda, Beverly and Fiona a honeymoon. Therefore, I think we can have fun in Youzhou City for a few days and learn more folklore about Taixia Country!"


    Closely after Zhang Tie''s suggestion, Linda, Beverly and Fiona eyes were brightened up. Even Zhang Tie''s mom sat up straight and looked interested in it. Zhang Tie''s dad was greatly attracted by Zhang Tie''s suggestion.


    Although they had moved to Youzhou Province, as Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang had babies one after another, Zhang Tie''s parents had spent most of the time with those babies at home. In the beginning, they lived in Fuhai City; later on, they moved to Huaiyuan City; finally, they settled down in Golden Light City. Zhang Tie''s suggestion was very attractive to all of them.


    "Dad and mom, you can have fun outside for a few days. You don''t need to worry about the domestic affairs. Mom, the doctor said you would recover faster if you could always take a walk!" Zhang Yang added on the other side, "As the capital city of Youzhou Province, Youzhou City is very boisterous. You can have fun there with Zhang Tie for a few days!"


    "Didn''t Huaiyuan Palace convene you yesterday?" Zhang Tie''s mom asked Zhang Tie with a smile.


    "Haha, mom knows me the best. The Northeast Military Region Headquarter of Taixia Country have fixed the regulations about competing for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province. At the beginning of next month, elders of Huaiyuan Palace will arrive at Youzhou City to help Huaiyuan Palace compete for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province. We can travel there by the way!" Zhang Tie grinned cheekily.


    "Ahh, the competition for the position of provincial governor is of great significance. Is it dangerous?" Zhang Tie''s dad asked out of concern immediately.


    "It''s safe. It''s told that the Commander Cheng of the Northeast Military Region Headquarter borrowed a treasure from a sect of Taixia Country, which will be used to select the provincial governor of Youzhou Province! It''s very simple!" Zhang Tie put off his dad as it was unnecessary for him to explain the working principle of the Heavens Ball to his family members. "If it was dangerous, I would never ask you to go with me. Additionally, Youzhou City is more boisterous than before because of this selection. People from all areas of Youzhou Province will converge in Youzhou City. There must be a lot of fun and tasty food over there!"


    "Will we go there by airship?" Zhang Tie''s mom started to long for that.


    "Airship is boring. We cannot appreciate the roadside scenery. We will travel there by a touring car and stop wherever we want!"


    "Touring car?" Although being surprised, they were more excited.


    "Yup, there are highways and railways between Golden Light City and Youzhou City. It''s just about 2,000 miles. Additionally, there are many rural areas and towns on the roadside which could serve as supply points. It''s said that many people in Taixia just took a round in Taixia Country by touring cars all year round. They enjoyed traveling everywhere. We can also have a try. Buy a luxurious super touring car and travel all the way to Youzhou City. After that, we will travel all the way back."


    Watching the brilliance in the eyes of his mom and the three women, Zhang Tie knew that this plan had been approved. As they were dreaming for that, if anyone dared say no at this moment, Zhang Tie believed that his parents would reprimand that one for sure.


    ...


    However, Zhang Tie had not imagined that his mom and wives could be so excited; even if Zhang Tie''s dad was driven mad by that. Soon after breakfast, they had rustled to buy a touring car in Golden Light City. Zhang Tie had a servant prepare a vehicle for his family members. After selecting a big car trading center, he drove those 5 people to that place.


    Being a new city, Golden Light City''s population could not match that of Golden Sea City. However, it was still vigorous. Driving in the streets of Golden Light City, Zhang Tie could see new stores, shopping malls and high buildings on roadsides. Even the urban residential area was well planned. The urban roads were broad with no traffic jam. Under the guidance of his dad, Zhang Tie had arrived at the biggest touring car shop in Golden Light City in less than 20 minutes.


    This touring car shop almost occupied half a football field. Being made of reinforced steel and iron frameworks, the entire shop looked modern, magnificent and nice.


    The moment Linda, Beverly, Fiona and Zhang Tie''s mom got off the car outside the touring car shop, a sales manager at his 50s had brightened up his eyes at the sight of the modern and noble women and Zhang Tie''s car. He then instantly passed by some salesmen and walked towards them, "Madams, you''re in the right place. We can provide you with the most complete types of touring cars and the best services. We can satisfy you whatever touring car you want. We can even customize one for you!"


    Those women smiled before moving their eyes onto Zhang Tie.


    "We will not see small types. Show us the best, largest, most luxurious and comfortable one which is suitable for family travel!" Zhang Tie said like a newly rich, causing them to burst out into laughter, including his mom.


    ...


    Zhang Tie had seen touring cars in Waii Sub-continent. However, being restricted to traffic facilities and consumption capacity, very few people in Waii Sub-continent liked touring cars. Zhang Tie just saw 3-4 types of touring cars over there. However, this largest touring cars shop across Golden Light City greatly widened his horizon.


    There were dozens types of touring cars in this shop.


    As people were rich and lived well in Taixia Country, many of them chose to purchase touring cars. Most of those who were rich, free and liked to travel across Taixia Country to experience different natural sceneries and human cultures would choose a touring car. Even though they just stayed in one city, many families with good economic conditions would also purchase a touring car for family travel. This point could never be matched by Waii Sub-continent.


    When they arrived, there were already some groups of people selecting touring cars in the shop. That sales manager directly led Zhang Tie''s group to the exhibition hall with the largest touring cars.


    All the touring cars were longer than 15 m with odd types.


    It seemed that his family members had reached a tacit understanding. The moment they arrived there, Zhang Tie''s family members had focused on the same, most special touring car.


    Being very huge and nice, that yellow and green touring car was longer than 20 m. Its type was very exquisite. Like a cute caterpillar which had been enlarged for so many times, the car''s body rested on 4 rows of 1.7-m high tires. The entire touring car was about 7-8 m in height. The car''s chassis was over half a meter high. It seemed to have a great gradeability. Looking through the windows, they found that the inner space of the touring car was divided into two floors. There was a sightseeing platform with a movable, transparent dome made of reinforced steel...


    "You really have a good taste. This "Traveller" is the best and the most luxurious touring car in our shop. It''s suitable for an over 10-people''s travel. Given its chassis, you would know that this car could almost match off-road vehicles in trafficability and road adaptability. Not only that, its internal design would make your travel pleasant and comfortable..."


    ...


    The inner space of the "Traveller" was completely like a miniature palace, which was both luxurious and comfortable. It was matched with a parlor, a kitchen, a bar, a sightseeing platform and 4 bedrooms which were in different cabins and a toilet which was satisfactorily designed. They would not face any "embarrassing" situation in the travel.


    The touring car had a good performance. It could reach a speed of 70 miles per hour. It could run more than 250 miles in one-time.


    In a few minutes, after looking around the touring car from both inside and outside and watching the happy looks of his mom and wives, Zhang Tie asked, "How much?"


    "Each detail about this touring car is perfect. Its internal materials are of great learning; especially those immortal fantastic ice cubes in the insulating layer of the refrigerator of the touring car which are of a high price, this touring car is a bit expensive!" The sales manager replied as he stealthily glanced at Zhang Tie and his wives, "If you want to pay off it in one-time, you need to pay 27,600 gold coins!"


    After the sales manager finished his words, Zhang Tie and his mom almost uttered at the same time...


    Zhang Tie, "So cheap!"


    Zhang Tie''s mom said, "Ahh? So expensive!"


    Noticing his mom''s glare, Zhang Tie hurriedly coughed twice, "Erm...it''s indeed a bit expensive!"


    In the next 10 minutes, Zhang Tie shut up. Through bargaining with the sales manager, they finally fixed the deal with 27,460 gold coins.


    Zhang Tie paid it off at present. In the afternoon, a wholly new "Traveller" was driven into Zhang''s mansion.


    ...


    On the morning of September 21, Zhang Tie happily drove his parents, wives and three kids away from Golden Light City towards Youzhou City...


    When the touring car was running on the ground, it was followed by a fury-level airship in the sky, which would provide them with logistics at any time. What an extravagant travel...


    Zhang Tie had not watched the brilliant smiles of his family members for a long time.


    ...


    Right on the same day, All the elders were shocked so much by that message that Zhang Tie was taking his family members to Youzhou City by a touring car that they became speechless for quite a while.

 823 An Encounter by the Riverside

    Chapter 823: An Encounter by the Riverside


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Golden Light City was over 2,000 miles away from Youzhou City. It was vast but sparsely populated with beautiful scenery on the way. However, it was not wild. In each dozen miles, there would be a village or inn along the roadside for the convenience of vehicle replenishment. They could occasionally enjoy Hua food with extremely distinctive local features. Since they left Golden Light City on September 21st, Zhang Tie and his dad would drive the touring car alternatively, each one a few hours per day. Whenever they found a fun place somewhere, they would park and loiter over there. Sometimes, Zhang Tie would go hunt some wild animals such as pheasants and made a barbeque on the sightseeing platform of the vehicle. The family enjoyed the trip so much.


    On the second day, since they left Golden Light City, Zhang Tie''s mom had completely recovered with higher spirit and greater strength. Watching his mom becoming better, Zhang Tie knew that it was a right trip.


    After leaving Golden Light City for 10 days, on the evening of 1st October, their "Traveller" had reached at plain being less than 200 miles away from Youzhou City.


    In the twilight, when they watched the grass waves in the breeze and the wild antelopes eating grass being not far away in the endless prairie, Zhang Tie drove off the highway and parked it at the bank of a shallow river beside the road. The limpid river water could only reach his knees. The river shoal was covered with cobblestones. This place was suitable for cooking food and having a rest.


    "Dad and mom, how about sleeping here tonight?" Zhang Tie turned around his head and shouted towards the sound-transmitting brass pipe on his side. Zhang Tie''s family members were appreciating the beautiful scenery on the sightseeing platform at the top of the touring car. When the touring car drove off the highway, Zheng Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei exclaimed in the sightseeing platform.


    "Fine, your mom agreed to sleep here tonight!" Zhang Tie''s dad replied through the other end of the brass pipe together with Zhang Chengting''s exclamation.


    Previously, Zhang Tie had just seen a sound-transmitting brass pipe in an airship, he had not imagined that there was also such a facility in the touring car. How considerate it was!


    Zhang Tie braked on a plain ground over 20 m away from the riverside and adjusted the power boiler to parking state. Closely after that, he opened the door of the car and jumped out of it.


    Zhang Tie went to the riverside to check the quality of the river water first. After finding it was clean, he took a barrel from the vehicle and started to fill the barrel with river water for the power boiler of the touring car. If in a motel, he only needed to link the touring car with a water pipe. However, as it was in the wild, he had to lift water from the river. Additionally, they needed water to wash vegetables in the kitchen and cleanse themselves before bed. Water became especially important in the wild.


    When Zhang Tie filled the barrel with water, his three sons couldn''t wait to run away from the sightseeing platform and started to catch fish in the river. Zhang Tie''s dad took a fish pole and urged that he would compete with the three kids for catching fish.


    It was full of cheers and laughter.


    When Zhang Tie charged water for the touring car, he dug a pit on the ground near the touring car to bury the boiler ash. After doing this heavy labor work, the ladies had prepared the dinner. On the sightseeing platform of the touring car, they opened its movable sunroof and watched the beautiful scenery in the distance while enjoying the supper in the pleasant night breeze under the twilight.


    The competition between Zhang Tie''s dad and the three kids ended with Zhang Tie''s dad catching over 30 cm-long fish. Therefore, they had one more fresh fish soup.


    ...


    After supper, Zhang Tie washed bowls. After Linda, Beverly and Fiona cleaned the table, he carried a pile of bowls and chopsticks to the riverside and carefully washed them.


    Only after a few minutes, ground-breaking clops drifted to Zhang Tie''s ears from the distance of the plain. Zhang Tie was still washing his tableware. Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei who were playing beside the vehicle were called in the car by Linda and Zhang Tie''s mom.


    Taixia Country had a very good security. After traveling for a few days, they had not met any bad people. However, as it was in the wild, they''d better watch out. It seemed that the clops came from a team of cavalries. After hearing the thunder-like clops, the flock of wild antelopes in the distance were scared away in a flurried way.


    Only in a few minutes, the thunder-like clops had drawn closer. The clops didn''t stop until they reached the riverside.


    It was a team of over 50 Hua cavalries. It seemed that they had long known about this river. They just came here to let their mounts drink water, which were bigger and stronger than iron-horn beasts with a bent horn on their head.


    As Zhang Tie washed his tableware, he observed those people and their mounts over 20 m away.


    The heads of the team of cavalries were two youths, followed by those ferociously intrepid cavalries. What was more attractive was their mounts which were bigger and stronger than iron-horn beasts with a bent horn on their head. Those mounts looked very mighty.


    Zhang Tie knew that this animal was called rhino-dragon horse. It was a LV 6 living being. Like xiphodon, this kind of animal was much more ferocious than iron-horn beasts. However, xiphodon was a carnivore while the rhino-dragon horse was a herbivore, which meant that rhino-dragon horse was more senior. In Eastern Continent, the rhino-dragon horse was the standard mount of Taixia''s cavalries. Except for very few special troops, all the cavalries across Taixia Country rode rhino-dragon horses. Zhang Tie heard that there was a huge military breeding farm of rhino-dragon horses outside Youzhou City. There were 600,000 rhino-dragon horses in the entire military breeding farm. Such a scale could never be matched by Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Many provinces in Taixia Country were feeding rhino-dragon horses. Rhino-dragon horses were also slightly different in abilities in different regions due to different living environments, breeds and lineages. Rhino-dragon horses in Youzhou Province ranked top in the territory of Northeast Military Region of Taixia Country. It was well-known even across Taixia Country.


    A common rhino-dragon horse would be worth over 600 gold coins in Taixia Country. Special rhino-dragon horses would be worth more. Rhino-dragon horse was very important in the foreign trade of Youzhou Province. Over 400,000 rhino-dragon horses would be sold out from Youzhou Province every year, which meant a total trade volume of about 300 million gold coins. After arriving at Youzhou Province, Huaiyuan Palace had intended to trade rhino-dragon horse. Until then, Huaiyuan Palace had not gotten through the joints of this business. If Huaiyuan Palace could help Zhang Taixuan win the position provincial governor of Youzhou Province, those problems facing Huaiyuan Palace, especially the source of rhino-dragon horse would be handled immediately.


    Zhang Tie and was glancing at those cavalries and rhino-dragon horses on the other bank of the river. Those cavalries were also gazing at Zhang Tie. However, when they caught sight of that touring car and Zhang Tie who was washing bowls on the riverside, they lost their interest in Zhang Tie at once.


    "Brother Cangwu. What do you think about the rhino-dragon horse in the military breeding farm of Youzhou Province?" One of the two young men on the other bank asked, which could be clearly heard by Zhang Tie.


    "Rhino-dragon horse in Youzhou Province could run 700 miles a day. They''re indeed as excellent as their reputation. Whereas, they were still a bit dwarfed by those in Jianzhou Province, Hezhou Province, Liangzhou Province and Ganzhou Province in speed and endurance. Compared to those in Chuanzhou Province, Tangzhou Province and Yunzhou Province, these rhino-dragon horses don''t take advantage in carrying capacity. If they could be further modified and make a further breakthrough in one aspect, they might enter the list of top horses in Taixia Country!"


    "It''s not easy to modify a horse breed. Very few animal controllers could have such a talent. It depends!" The youth sighed.


    "Hahaha, brother Tianqi is right. I''m more like an armchair strategist!"


    "Brother Cangwu''s opinion goes right to the heart of the matter and matches that of Commander Cheng. If you''re an armchair strategist, the think tank of Commander Cheng would be driven mad."


    "I''m flattered. It''s late. Let''s go back!"


    "Fine, the rhino-dragon horses have drunk enough, let''s go back to Youzhou City then..."


    The two young men threw another glance at Zhang Tie before turning around the heads of the rhino-dragon horses and leaving, closely followed by the team of cavalries...


    Few minutes after those people left, Zhang Tie finished washing his tableware and returned to the touring car with them.


    "Hubby, who are they? They look aggressive!" Fiona asked him while patting her plump breasts.


    "They might be cavalries in Youzhou City!" Zhang Tie answered.


    When he replied, the two youths'' faces flashed across his mind once again. Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside. ''Taixia is really full of talents and resources. It could never be matched by Waii Sub-continent. I met two young Hua knights even when I washed bowls at the riverside. I really have not seen anyone who could promote to knight at such a young age in Waii Sub-continent except for me.''


    ...


    After over 1 hour, that team of cavalries had been over 70 miles away from the riverside. Suddenly the young man called Cangwu grabbed the rein. With a neigh, his rhino-dragon horse suddenly raised high its front legs and stomped onto the ground forcefully. Closely after that, it stopped.


    As the other cavalries were very good at horsemanship, watching this young man stop, the entire team stopped in a split second.


    "Brother Cangwu, what''s wrong?"


    "Nothing, I was just recalling something. It''s okay; it''s okay!" The young man called Cangwu revealed a smile. Without giving any explanation, he continued to gallop his rhino-dragon horse. After exchanging a glance with each other, the others followed him up towards Youzhou City at once.


    The scene that Zhang Tie was washing tableware at the riverside always loomed in Cangwu''s mind.


    ''The 16-year old boy was too calm.''


    ''That young man didn''t even stand up when he watched us galloping towards him until we left...''


    ''He just squatted down there...''


    ''Squatting down there... all the way!''


    ''This is where the problem lies!''


    ''Youzhou City is becoming more and more boisterous these days!''


    The younger elites of Heavens Fortune Sect sighed with emotions inside...


    ...


    It felt very special sleeping overnight in the wild. In the evening, after closing the sunroof of the sightseeing platform, they could watch the countless stars in the sky as long as they lay in their bedrooms.


    There were 4 bedrooms in the touring car, two 2-people bedrooms, one 3-people bedroom and one 5-people bedroom. Zhang Tie, Linda, Beverly and Fiona lived in the 5-people bedroom; his dad and mom lived in the 2-people bedroom while the 3-people bedroom was for the 3 kids.


    Zhang Tie put his arms around the necks of Linda, Beverly and Fiona on the bed and watched the stars. Zhang Tie talked about the embarrassing things that he did in Blackhot City and the 7th national male middle school, especially when he went for Ms. Anna, which made the three women giggle for quite a while.


    "Well, well, I was doubting how could you be that docile when joining the survival training in Wild Wolf Valley. We thought that you were a gentleman. It doesn''t seem now!" Beverly smiled.


    Zhang Tie''s face blushed faintly as he replied, "Ahem...ahem...I was very innocent at that moment. I indeed had no evil thought!"


    "What about now?" Fiona watched Zhang Tie with an enchanted look while her hands started to fumble over Zhang Tie''s body.


    As it was turning cold outside, Zhang Tie''s room turned hot...


    What satisfied Zhang Tie the most was this touring car''s expert-level sound insulation...


    ...


    On the second day, after catching fish with the three kids in the morning, they set off once again in the afternoon.


    When the night fell on October 2nd, they finally arrived at Youzhou City.


    Although not being rustic, Zhang Tie was still stunned for quite a while when he caught sight of Youzhou City for the first time.


    When people saw a Class A city in front of them since they came to Taixia Country, they would definitely be greatly shocked.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, Youzhou City was really large.


    This was a shocking, magnificent city.


    In the nightscape, the shocking light effect of the immortal fluorite lamps on the city walls made Youzhou City a huge fortress made of jadeites...


    The airships above Youzhou City were as many as crucians in the river. What a dreamlike, prosperous city!


    ...

 824 Count Long Wind

    Chapter 824: Count Long Wind


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie''s family arrived at Youzhou City on the evening of October 2nd. In less than 3 days, the competition for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province would start. The entire Youzhou City had become the focus of everybody in Youzhou Province as all the talents across Youzhou Province had gathered in Youzhou City. Besides those clans which wanted to compete for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province, even though those who wanted to join the fun and take advantage had also converged in Youzhou Province.


    The selection of the first provincial governor of Youzhou Province was of great significance to all the people across Youzhou Province. Additionally, Commander Cheng also came here by airboat. It was said that the Heavens Ball of Heavens Fortune Sect was also carried here. Due to various reasons, Youzhou City was as hot as holding a grand lantern festival, which was even more boisterous than the new years festival.


    Actually, Zhang Tie was the latest elder of Huaiyuan Palace who arrived at Youzhou City.


    Yesterday, Elder Muyuan, Elder Muan, Elder Muray, Elder Muyu and Elder Muen of Huaiyuan Palace had arrived at Youzhou City by airship on the same day, including Count Long Wind Zhang Taixuan, the head of Huaiyuan Palace who had just come from the earth-elements realm.


    Actually, someone was more worried whether Zhang Tie could arrive at Youzhou City on time more than Zhang Tie himself.


    When Zhang Tie was about 10 miles away from Youzhou City, he had already met some deacons of Huaiyuan Palace who were raising their heads and waiting for him.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s touring car, those deacons and disciples almost burst out into tears.


    "God bless us!" They had arrived at Youzhou City earlier than elders; especially those clan deacons and disciples who were ready to receive Zhang Tie, who had been waiting for Zhang Tie outside Youzhou City for almost a week.


    As Zhang Tie left Golden Light City by a touring car, they didn''t know when would he arrive at Youzhou Province. Therefore, these deacons and disciples just waited here for him. As Zhang Tie was very engrossed in this travel, they dared not urge him. If they made Elder Mushen unhappy, they would never dream about having a bright future in Huaiyuan Palace. However, if Elder Mushen was late and failed to join this competition timely, they, who were responsible for receiving Zhang Tie, would definitely be regarded as being incompetent and would not have a bright future in Huaiyuan Palace either, the other clan elders might not reprimand Elder Mushen though; they might even be severely punished due to this.


    They had almost been driven mad when Clan head arrived yesterday.


    When they caught sight of the touring car "Traveller" with the driving plate of Golden Light City of Yanghe Prefecture 12345 on the highway, they finally became reassured.


    They waved their hands to block the touring car. Zhang Tie then jumped out of his cab swiftly.


    Zhang Tie felt that he had seen them on Yiyang Mountain before.


    "You''re..."


    "Elder Mushen, I''m Zhang Desheng, a clan deacon of Huaiyuan Palace. We''re dispatched here to receive you!" That deacon and three disciples bowed towards Zhang Tie respectfully. At this moment, only the deacon was qualified to speak; the other 3 disciples didn''t even have a chance to introduce themselves.


    "Hmm, it''s late. I''m thinking about finding an inn!" Zhang Tie smiled as he let out a sigh of relief.


    "Huaiyuan Palace has a mansion in Youzhou City. We will take you there right now, Elder Mushen!" Zhang Desheng said as he threw a glance at the touring car behind Zhang Tie. He then pointed at the Faerie-Dragon elder-level cars behind him, "Would Elder Mushen and family members like to take a ride in these cars? I will have a disciple drive the touring car into the mansion!"


    "No need. You can just lead the way in front of us. I will follow you!" Zhang Tie jumped into the touring car once again after saying that.


    The deacon and the 3 disciples threw a glance at each other as they had not imagined that Zhang Tie was so easygoing. Without saying anything, they just got on the cars and escorted Zhang Tie''s touring car towards Youzhou City.


    In the touring car, a small window behind Zhang Tie''s cab was opened, showing his dad''s face.


    "Zhang Tie, what happened?"


    "Nothing, dad, some deacon and disciples of Huaiyuan Palace were waiting for me!"


    "Hmm, fine!" Zhang Tie''s dad let out a sigh of relief obviously, "Your mom wants to know whether will we live in the car or in a hotel tonight?"


    "Huaiyuan Palace have a mansion in Youzhou City. We will go to the mansion of Huaiyuan Palace!" Zhang Tie answered as he turned around his head.


    "It''s crowded on the way, watch out when you drive!"


    "Don''t worry, dad. I could even drive with closed eyes!" Zhang Tie replied casually like talking something big.


    "You, bad boy!" Zhang Tie''s dad forced a bitter smile before closing the window.


    Zhang Tie then followed the limos in Youzhou City.


    Before entering Youzhou City, Zhang Tie raised his head and watched the towering city wall as he drew in a cold breath. The city wall was above 70 m in height. The deep passage beneath the city wall was at least 100 m in strength.


    Higher than 70 m, wider than 100 m and longer than 25 miles. Zhang Tie had not seen or heard such a magnificent city wall before. He could imagine about the terrifying defense capability of such a city wall.


    In Waii Sub-continent, all the city-defense forces had camps and encampments inside cities; however, in Taixia Country, all the city-defense forces lived in the city walls. City walls were both an urban defense facility and the camp of Taixia soldiers. In Taixia Country, except for the camps of city-defense forces, all the other city-defense forces were built outside the cities.


    This was the "military code" in "Regulations about Taixia Country". Taixia soldiers'' responsibility was to protect the country and the cities; instead of being protected by the country and the cities. Therefore, no camp would be stationed in cities across Taixia Country as it would be regarded as a shame by Taixia soldiers. Brave Taixia soldiers regarded quartering camps at dangerous places as a great honor and responsibility. The more dangerous the camps were stationed in, the higher respect those troops would have in Taixia Country. Among humans, only Taixia Country had established troops based in the earth-elements realm.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Youzhou City could be so boisterous and prosperous; especially in the evening when the big Youzhou City was brightly lit and crowded with vehicles on the roads. Roadside hotels were filled with a confused noise of voices; righteous and heroic men were drinking and knocking jars while singing songs generously; playboys were calling their friends and partners in the restaurants; female dancers in colorful frocks were contending in beauty and fascination, who were surrounded by many playboys; acrobats were showing off all sorts of talents on the streets and attracting a lot of onlookers.


    Zhang Tie had not seen such a prosperous and boisterous scenery in such a magnificent city before. It was the most vivid exhibition in Taixia Country.


    Although it was Zhang Tie''s first time to see all this, Zhang Tie always felt everything here being very intimate perhaps because of his blood and genes of Hua people.


    ...


    Huaiyuan Palace''s mansion was located nearby an unknown avenue in Youzhou City. Occupying over 66,700 square meters, it was pretty magnificent.


    It took Zhang Tie more than half an hour to arrive here under the guidance of the Faerie-dragon vehicles.


    There was a huge 5-6 m long board on the front gate of the mansion, which was marked with four big, powerful golden Hua characters " »³Ô¶»á¹Ý 1".


    The characters reminded Zhang Tie of the scene when he raided the Zhen''s Mansion in Heavens Cold City. After making a comparison with it, Zhang Tie sensed a vicissitude.


    However, the moment Zhang Tie''s vehicle arrived at Huaiyuan Mansion, he had sensed a weird atmosphere around the front gate of the mansion¡ª¡ªat least 7-8 groups of people were gazing at those people accessing to Huaiyuan Mansion. Zhang Tie realized that they must be dispatched by Huaiyuan Palace''s opponents. Those people just gathered on the streets within 100 m of the front gate of Huaiyuan Mansion fearlessly while pretending to taste the tea and sell goods on the roadside; some even directly squatted down on the opposite of the street and gnawed fruits while stealthily throwing a glance at the Huaiyuan Mansion time and then.


    Until Zhang Tie drove in the mansion were those eyes isolated by the courtyard walls and tree shadows did Zhang Tie feel a bit comfortable.


    Zhang Tie parked in the parking lot. His family members then got off the touring car and glanced over here with curious looks.


    "Huaiyuan Mansion doesn''t look bad!" Zhang Tie''s dad said pleasantly when he looked around this mansion which was almost like a park.


    "Have you prepared for the bedrooms?" Zhang Tie asked Deacon Zhang.


    "The mansion has prepared an exquisite courtyard for Elder Mushen''s family members. All the female servants in it are loyal to Huaiyuan Palace. Elder Mushen can use them at your will!"


    "Fine, lead us there then!" Zhang Tie waved his hands while Deacon Zhang led them to an exquisite courtyard beside the lake inside the mansion. It was as delicate as their own courtyard. Given that Zhang Tie took his 3 kids here, there was even a mini children''s playground on the lawn. Zhang Tie''s parents and wives were also very satisfied with the designs.


    After settling down his family members, Zhang Tie left that exquisite courtyard and told that deacon to lead him to the other clan elders and the head of Huaiyuan Palace.


    The other clan elders and the head of Zhang Clan were rightly negotiating something in the conference room of the mansion.


    When he realized that he would meet Lan Yunxi''s dad for the first time, Zhang Tie became a bit intense.


    ...


    "Clan head, elders, Elder Mushen has arrived!"


    After hearing a deacon''s report, the 6 elders in the conference room stopped talking at once.


    "Call Elder Mushen in!" A man in the chief seat of the conference room issued an order faintly.


    "Yes, sir!" The deacon exited.


    ...


    After over 10 seconds, under the gaze of 6 pairs of eyes, Zhang Tie entered the conference room frankly and saw Zhang Taixuan the Count Long Wind, the head of Huaiyuan Palace for the first time...

 825 Why Not Replace him?

    Chapter 825: Why Not Replace him?


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    At the sight of Zhang Taixuan, Zhang Tie had found that Lan Yunxi was similar to him.


    To be honest, if Zhang Tie was requested to select a middle-aged man who was the most charming to women, Zhang Tie would choose Zhang Taixuan first.


    Given his look, this man was between 40 and 50 years old. Besides, he had a pure white and flawless face, well-combed hair, sparkling eyes and the dignity as the head of a major clan and a gentleman.


    Although Zhang Taixuan didn''t look strong, he had an extremely powerful qi field among those elders in this room. After sensing it carefully, Zhang Tie was slightly shocked as he felt that the knight qi of Zhang Taixuan was even more powerful than that of the demon general.


    Zhang Tie sensed that Zhang Taixuan was going to promote to an earth knight, ''No wonder he dares compete for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province.''


    Zhang Tie and Zhang Taixuan just watched each other.


    Among the clan disciples of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie didn''t have an outstanding look. He was not as handsome as Apollo. He just looked straight and frank. However, Zhang Tie''s age made him very special among all the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Even Zhang Tie didn''t know why he maintained his look of 16-17 years old. His look was 10 years younger than his factual age.


    "Clan head!" Zhang Tie crossed his hands and bowed towards Zhang Taixuan.


    Zhang Tie was very polite as it was his first time to meet Zhang Taixuan. As for this man who might be his father-in-law, Zhang Tie wanted to leave a good impression on him. If he made this man feel that he was too arrogant and fickle, this man would be a high mountain between him and Lan Yunxi in the future.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s good performance, Zhang Taixuan revealed a bit smile and uttered kindly, "Elder Mushen, please take a seat!"


    Zhang Tie then sat next to Elder Muyuan.


    "Elder Muen, as Elder Mushen has just arrived, he might be confused about something. You can introduce what we talked to Elder Mushen!"


    "Yes, sir!" Elder Muen replied before briefly introducing what happened in Youzhou City lately to Zhang Tie.


    As the competition for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province was going to start, all the details about the competition gradually became clear.


    This competition would indeed proceed in the virtual battlefield of Treasures Ball.


    There were 9 candidate clans, only 2 of which could match Huaiyuan Palace, namely Lu Clan of Spiritualmaple Prefecture in Youzhou Province and Gu Clan of Easternriver Prefecture in Youzhou Province.


    With 10 knights, Lu Clan was a noble clan in Youzhou Province. Its clan head Lu Dingzhi was a hereditary count, who had a high reputation in Youzhou Province. He once promoted to the coin-building officer of the Ministry of Finance. With a deep background, he could probably win this competition.


    Gu Clan of Easternriver Prefecture was also a local major clan. Although being not a hereditary noble clan, Gu Clan was also well-known across Youzhou Province. Gu Clan had 8 knights, the most able ones of which were the clan head and the young master. Gu Dashou the head of Gu Clan and Gu Qingyun the young master of the clan, were both knights, which were unique in Youzhou Province and were always praised by people. Gu Dashou had Gu Qingyun at an old age. Among knights, Gu Dashou was not tough, Gu Qingyun was much more talented than his dad.


    In Youzhou Province, Gu Qingyun ranked first in cultivation talent. Gu Qingyun had promoted to a battle spirit at 16. Closely after that, he learned from the elders of Heavens Holding Pavilion, one of the top 7 major sects in Taixia Country. After entering Heavens Holding Pavilion for 6 years, he had promoted to the black iron knight at 22, when his name shocked Youzhou Province. It was said that Gu Qingyun was pretty appreciated by the elders in Heavens Holding Pavilion. He would have a limitless bright future for sure.


    Lu Clan and Gu Clan were better than Huaiyuan Palace which had just settled down in Youzhou Province in all aspects.


    Besides the above two clans, the other 6 clans were Yan Clan of Chaoyang Prefecture, Liu Clan of Changshan Prefecture, Simon Clan of Xingbei Prefecture, Sun Clan of Guide Prefecture, Guo Clan of Sanquan Prefecture and Li Clan of Miyun Prefecture.


    All of them were local major clans. With special forces on their back, they were most powerful in their prefecture. Each of them had at least 3 knights. They had also prepared well for this competition.


    Given all aspects, Huaiyuan Palace could only rank 3rd. Huaiyuan Palace had a poor chance to win. Among those onlookers, none of them thought that Zhang Taixuan could win the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province. The odds for Huaiyuan Palace in the gambling house of Youzhou Province was 1: 1.35, which meant that most of the people thought that Huaiyuan Palace only had a chance of less than 30% to win the battle. Those who were keeping their eyes on Huaiyuan Mansion included those who were dispatched by Huaiyuan Palace''s competitive opponents and those in the gambling house of Youzhou Province; especially the latter who were concerned about Huaiyuan Palace''s actions very much.


    After hearing the brief introduction of Elder Muen, Zhang Tie turned solemn too. Youzhou City was really full of talents and powerhouses, who were all drooling about the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province.


    After saying that, Elder Muen paused before continuing, "This is the situation facing Youzhou City which had been told by the Clan head. After that, when the Clan head was talking about Heavens Ball with the other elders, you arrived!"


    Zhang Tie nodded. After hearing the Heavens Ball, he became spirited once again.


    After Elder Muen''s introduction, Zhang Taixuan coughed twice faintly. When the other elders moved their eyes onto him once again, he uttered, "Heavens Ball is a marvelous treasure. As it was excavated from the underground world, it was not exclusive to the Heavens Fortune Sect. It is not unique as I''ve seen such an item in the Taihang Fortress of Earth-elements Realm during these years when I fought in the Earth-elements realm. I have even experienced inside it. Therefore, I knew how it works. I will tell you about that for your reference..."


    ...


    After over 20 minutes, the conference came to an end. After bidding a farewell to Zhang Taixuan politely, all the elders left the room one after another while feeling gloomy.


    Zhang Tie''s mind had been filled by the Heavens Ball. After listening to Zhang Taixuan''s introduction, Zhang Tie was not thinking about this competition for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province, but the mysterious Earth-elements Realm.


    Zhang Tie didn''t notice that Count Long Wind was stroking an odd-looking brilliant jade ring and watching his back while a sorrowful look flashed by Zhang Taixuan''s eyes.


    ...


    "Elder Mushen!" Elder Muyuan stopped him when he was leaving the pavilion.


    "Elder Muyuan!" Zhang Tie stopped as he faintly bowed towards Elder Muyuan.


    "Did your mother get better?" Elder Muyuan asked out of concern.


    "Thank you for your concern, Elder Muyuan. My mother felt very pleasant on the way here. She has almost recovered!"


    "Hmm, that''s good!" Elder Muyuan let out a sigh of relief, "This competition for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province is of great significance, Elder Mushen should think more about it!"


    "I know, I will exert my full efforts for sure!"


    Elder Muyuan nodded as he touched his mustache and asked Zhang Tie suddenly, "I wonder what do you feel about Gu Qingyun, Elder Mushen?"


    Zhang Tie became confused about Elder Muyuan''s intention. After being silent for a couple of seconds, he uttered, "He''s talented. Additionally, he relies on Gu Clan and the 7 top major sects of Taixia Country. He lives up to his reputation."


    "Everybody in Youzhou Province knows about Gu Qingyun, don''t you want to replace him?"


    ''Replace him?'' Zhang Tie was startled by Elder Muyuan''s words. To be honest, he had really not thought about such a domineering opinion.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s dumbfounded look, Elder Muyuan revealed a wisdom and experienced smile, "When we could strive for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province for Huaiyuan Palace in the Heavens Ball, why not strive for yourself, Elder Mushen? Haven''t you learned something from Gu Qingyun who became famous across Youzhou Province at 16 and grew more and more famous from then on? Humans would always belittle the weak ones and praise those stronger ones. Aren''t reputation, wealth and power circling around vanity? After promoting to a knight, your cultivation road forward would grow narrower. It would be more difficult for you to reach a new level. You need greater strength to reach a new high. Whether in Waii Sub-continent or Taixia Country, have you seen any one form 2 or 3 chakras silently?"


    Zhang Tie became stunned as he felt that Elder Muyuan''s words were very meaningful.


    "Retrospecting to the past 5,000 years, you would find that very few people became something silently! Whether it was because they were not making their full efforts? Whether it was the God''s will or humans'' will?" After leaving this sentence, Elder Muyuan sighed with emotions before leaving.


    After standing still for a few seconds, Zhang Tie deeply bowed towards the back of Elder Muyuan...

 826 Preparation for the Competition

    Chapter 826: Preparation for the Competition


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie''s family members had left on the second day since they arrived at Youzhou City.


    Previously, Zhang Tie intended to take a look around Youzhou City with his family members on the second day; however, after arriving at Huaiyuan Mansion, Zhang Tie sensed the intense atmosphere that all the other elders were trying their utmost best to prepare for the coming competition for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province. After knowing the importance of Zhang Tie''s task, Zhang Tie''s dad and mom didn''t want to travel in Youzhou City anymore as they were afraid of distracting Zhang Tie from the competition. Therefore, they determined to leave Youzhou City for Golden Light City by airship on the next morning.


    "Son, your mom and I really had a good time these days. We''ve not been so happy for many years. No need to worry about us. No matter what, your mom and I belong to Huaiyuan Palace. Although we cannot help you; if we influenced your preparation, we would feel restless even though we were not condemned by others. Therefore, your mom and I have negotiated with Linda, Beverly and Fiona last night that we would return to Golden Light City today in case of distracting you from the competition. Once the competition comes to an end, we will find another chance to travel here!"


    Zhang Tie''s dad said.


    Realizing that his family members had determined to leave, he could only have the fury-level airship, which had been escorting them all the way here, carry his family members back to Golden Light City together with the touring car "Traveller".


    The airship then landed in the airship port of Huaiyuan Mansion.


    It would take them only 1 day to return to Golden Light City by airship. Before departure, after confirming that Zhang Tie would not have any dangers in this competition, Zhang Tie''s parents and wives became reassured. After Zhang Tie bade a farewell to his parents, he was kissed by his three wives on his cheeks.


    "Dad, come on!" Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei encouraged Zhang Tie in unison before leaving. Zhang Tie replied with a big smile.


    At this moment, the clan elders and head of Huaiyuan Palace had closed their doors and entered meditation in Huaiyuan Mansion so that they could handle the fierce battle in Heavens Ball in the best state two days later.


    Zhang Tie raised his head and saw the airship flying towards Golden Light City. Until the dazzling morning glow reached his eyes did he move his eyes away and returned to the backroom in the exquisite courtyard.


    There was one point that Zhang Ping was right about. After they left, Zhang Tie could indeed try his utmost best to prepare for the battle in 2 days without any concern.


    ...


    Beneath the courtyard, the backroom only covered more than 40 square meters. As for Knight-level powerhouses, it was a bit small for long-time closed meditation; however, it was available for short-term closed meditation.


    The backroom had been matched with enough water, food, some kinds of possible medicament and 4 earth-elements crystals which were specially prepared for this competition. After arriving at Youzhou City, each clan elder was rewarded with 4 earth-elements crystals. The 4 earth-elements crystals for Zhang Tie just lay in the backroom of this exquisite courtyard.


    When he caught sight of the 4 earth-elements crystals, Zhang Tie remembered those achievements that he had made in Waii Sub-continent. Besides the 5879 earth-elements crystals in the space teleportation equipment of the demon general, he gained 3511 more earth-elements crystals from the secret warehouses of those Three-eye Association clans. All the 9390 earth-elements crystals could not even light 30 scales on his earth-elements chakra.


    ''Although almost 10,000 earth-elements crystals is already a great figure for the other knights; it''s still far away from the 100,000 earth-elements crystals that I need to form the second chakra of King Roc Sutra.''


    ''100,000 earth-elements crystals? Even if I''m always as lucky as when I was in Waii Sub-continent, I might have to plunder 10 subcontinents at least so as to gain 100,000 earth-element crystals. It''s impossible for me. Three-eye Association and demons are not idiots. They will not provide me with so much convenience.'' Gorath had been the target of demons and Three-eye Association. After disguising as Gorath and releasing the terrifying ptomaine miasma across Blackhot Sub-continent, Gorath had completely disappeared as Zhang Tie sensed the danger facing Gorath. Demons and Three-eye Association would at least dispatch an earth knight to handle Gorath; instead of a black iron knight.


    After picking up one earth-elements crystal, Zhang Tie touched its smooth and brilliant surface before letting out a sigh. He then sat on the bed with crossed legs and took out the Elements Gathering Matrix from that space teleportation equipment of the demon general and put it in front of him. Closely after that, he entered the Elements Realm...


    In the Elements Realm, spiritual hands started to form one after another, 1, 2, 3...10,11...18.


    9 spiritual hands were carrying earth elements from earth-elements crystal while the other 9 spiritual hands were capturing those polyhedral earth crystals which were moving swiftly in the Elements Realm.


    Anyone would be dumbfounded by such a high efficiency. However, as Zhang Tie had made a breakthrough in this spiritual energy in the Dragon Cave and spent almost half a year to digest that fruit of brilliance which contained the spiritual energy of 13 Three-eye Association knights and practice, he had felt as easy as taking a walk by doing this.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether he had reached a limit in multitasking. Even though he felt that he had surplus spiritual energy, he could not make any progress in multitasking anymore. Whenever he tried to make a breakthrough by visualizing 19 abacuses in his mind, he would feel his brain blowing up with deafening ears, sparkling eyes and disordered spiritual energy. After attempting twice, Zhang Tie did not dare do that any longer. Therefore, he only maintained the current frequency.


    18 was 2 times that of 9. In Hua people''s recognition, 9 represented an upper limit in mathematics. When he remembered that those fruits on the small tree were always limited to mathematical laws, Zhang Tie speculated that 18 might be the upper limit of multitasking of black iron knights. He didn''t know whether he could make the breakthrough after promoting to an earth knight. Currently, if he didn''t use earth-elements crystal and just captured those earth-elements crystals in the Elements Realm with the help of Elements Gathering Matrix by spiritual hands, he would capture them faster than the frequency that those earth-element crystals appeared in the range of his perception. 9 spiritual hands were the upper limit that Elements Gathering Matrix could support as of now.


    With the concerted efforts of the 9 spiritual hands, the earth-element crystal was consumed very fast. Each earth-element crystal could only stand less than 4 hours.


    In 2 days, Zhang Tie consumed 12 earth-element crystals in the backroom in total.


    After 2 days of cultivation, the 10th dragon scale on Zhang Tie''s knight''s crystal plate slowly turned bright...


    11 of the 12 earth-elements crystals that Zhang Tie had consumed came from his storage. He only used 1 of the 4 earth-elements crystals that Huaiyuan Palace placed in the backroom for each clan elder.


    In this way, if someone else entered the backroom, he would find that Zhang Tie had consumed 1 of the 4 earth-elements crystals in the past 2 days, which was normal for a new knight.


    Zhang Tie was usually meticulous in such details.


    On the evening of the second day, Zhang Tie entered the trouble-reappearance situation and activated Master Abyan and a lot of demon fighters in Dragon Cave. After reviewing that battle, he drank up two vials of all-purpose medicament and threw himself onto the bed.


    Zhang Tie slept 4 hours, which was the longest period that he had slept lately.


    At 5 am, October 5th, Zhang Tie exited the backroom as energetic as a horny buffalo with sparkling eyes.


    A team of female servants had been waiting in the exquisite courtyard. At the sight of Zhang Tie coming out of his bedroom, they started to help him bathe and cleanse up. They also helped him to put up a set of a brilliant robe of python silk, making him look refreshed all over.


    After doing all this, Zhang Tie burned a stick of incense in the exquisite courtyard and entered meditation with closed eyes. When it was 7 am, Zhang Tie opened his eyes and left that exquisite courtyard.


    The sky was bright as the first ray of sunglow had reached Youzhou City.


    Youzhou City today looked like a still pendulum clock. Previously, the street outside Huaiyuan Mansion used to be boisterous at this time; however today, the street was pretty quiet.


    Zhang Taixuan and the other 5 Clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace left their own exquisite courtyards at the same time. Watching Zhang Tie''s energetic look, all of them nodded inside, ''It seems that Elder Mushen has made good preparation during the past two days. He''s already reached his best state.''


    All the members in the Huaiyuan Mansion had gathered solemnly in the main courtyard in rows like muddy sculptures.


    "Let''s go!" Zhang Taixuan uttered while all the other Clan elders left the ground...


    "We hope Clan head and elders to win this battle so as to make Huaiyuan Palace more awe-inspiring!" All the members of Huaiyuan Palace bowed deeply to the ground and saw them off respectfully...

 827 A Shock Before the Battle

    Chapter 827: A Shock Before the Battle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After Zhang Tie and the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace flew off, they could clearly see the sceneries on the streets below them.


    Youzhou City today indeed looked different than before. It was especially solemn. As almost all the citizens knew that the provincial governor of Youzhou Province would be selected in White Tiger Complex, they had gathered in pubs, tea houses or urban squares and parks for the latest news in the early morning.


    As a grand event in Youzhou City, it was even more solemn than celebrating a festival.


    The area within 20 square miles of White Tiger Complex had become the focus of the entire Youzhou City. Numerous people were surging towards White Tiger Complex. Garrisons of Youzhou City had to maintain orders on streets in case of a stampede.


    Soon after Zhang Tie and the other clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace left Huaiyuan Mansion, Zhang Tie had seen a light beam shooting into the sky near White Tiger Complex. Like a mirage, it stretched and formed a vast heavenly curtain, tinting the sky above Youzhou City to glow.


    As the light beam rose, the entire Youzhou City began to boil.


    The heavenly curtain reminded Zhang Tie of the artificial thing "film" before the Catastrophe.


    The light beam and the heavenly curtain originated from the Heavens Ball. Zhang Tie was told that the battle in the Heavens Ball between 9 clans would be reflected into the sky. Therefore, all the people across Youzhou City would be able to watch it live.


    If it was a film, the grand show today might be a free super action movie starred by knights that could be enjoyed by everybody.


    This was why Youzhou City was so boisterous now. Being attracted by such a grand show, all the major clans across Youzhou Province had gathered in Youzhou City; even many people from neighboring provinces had arrived in Youzhou City by various traffic tools such as airship.


    As this film could be seen for free as long as one was in Youzhou City, the hotels in Youzhou City had been crowded lately. Even if it was a paid film, who could have so many knights of major clans across Youzhou Province participate in such a grand show pleasantly?


    When he recalled his family members who left Youzhou City in advance, Zhang Tie was deeply moved as he felt like crying. In order to not influence his performance in the ring, his family members didn''t even stay here for two more days. In order to support him, they even ignored such a grand show. When he recalled what his parents had done for him in their lives, Zhang Tie felt complex; however, being gazed by numerous pairs of eyes, Zhang Tie felt a bit excited faintly.


    At this moment, Elder Muyuan turned around and threw a profound glance at Zhang Tie.


    Watching Elder Muyuan''s expression and remembering what Elder Muyuan told him last night, Zhang Tie slightly nodded.


    This competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province was not only for Huaiyuan Palace but also for Zhang Clan and Zhang Tie himself. Zhang Tie had determined to do something in the ring.


    ''Elder Muyuan is right. Sometimes, I should not be silent when I could show off myself. Over these years, my elder brother has been running Jinwu Business Group meticulously in Taixia Country. He limited the production of all-purpose medicament to only a bit more than 2 million vials per year, even though all-purpose medicament''s supply could not meet its demand. The reason was that elder brother was afraid of being envied by people as Jinwu Business Group had no powerful forces on its back. With Huaiyuan Palace on its back, Jinwu Business Group indeed developed fast these years with increasingly deeper root. Jinwu Business Group could make about 10 million gold coins per year through cooperating with Long Wind Business Group; it''s easy for Jinwu Business Group to expand this business by 10 times or 100 times; whereas, what then? Can Jinwu Business Group avoid from being envied by competitors?''


    Actually, Zhang Tie''s elder brother was not worried about making money for the time being but to keep the business growing sustainably.


    As Zhang Tie had returned home, Zhang Yang let out a sigh of relief. Through private communication, Zhang Yang had intended to build a city.


    Zhang Tie felt that someone should stand out and shoulder the responsibilities for the Zhang Clan in Youzhou Province, Taixia country.


    ''Who else the person would be except for me? We cannot depend on those kids.''


    Actually, it was not a matter of "to be or not to be", but a matter of degree for Zhang Tie.


    ''It is a matter of degree for me to show off myself in the ring on the premise of keeping a part of my trump cards; especially my most powerful trump card.''


    ...


    As knights flew very fast, soon after they left Huaiyuan Mansion, they had arrived at White Tiger Complex.


    "Ahh, knights!"


    Watching knights flying over there, so many people exclaimed loudly in the nearby streets of White Tiger Complex.


    For many commoners in Youzhou City, although the number of knights in Taixia Country ranked top among all the human places, there was still a sharp disparity between knights and commoners. Commoners might only see knights a few times in their whole lives. Therefore, so many people came to White Tiger Complex to watch the grand show being performed by so many knights across Youzhou Province.


    White Tiger Complex was a Hua palatial complex where central organs of power were located. The provincial governor of Youzhou Province which was selected today would live and work in White Tiger Complex and rule the entire Youzhou Province.


    When Zhang Tie and the other clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace arrived at White Tiger Palace, all the other clans'' knights had also arrived there consecutively, causing a series of exclamations among the nearby onlookers. Perhaps many people dreamed to fly; therefore, they felt watching people flying in the sky much more interesting than watching acrobatics in the streets of Youzhou City.


    When they saw knights flying over, many kids exclaimed while riding on their fathers'' shoulders, "I will fly too, I will fly too..."


    "If you learn well at school and practice hard, you will also fly like a knight in the sky like them one day. Do you want to be a knight?" A father asked his kid who was riding on his shoulders.


    "I want to be a knight!"


    Many kids clapped their hands happily with gleaming eyes as they set a lifetime dream.


    This was why many parents would like to take their kids here¡ª¡ªEach kid in Taixia Country dreamed to be a knight. Each parent hoped their kids to be elites. Even the singles across Youzhou City had crowded here since last night in order to watch that grand show to boost in front of others in the future. All the fathers who took their kids here so as to give a lesson to their kids by this chance.


    ''Just because this father failed to be a knight doesn''t mean this father''s son could not promote to a knight either. I will show knights to my kid today from a short distance. Maybe my son could also promote to a knight in the future.'' All the fathers thought inside.


    ...


    There was a huge square covering about 1 square mile being made up of white marble stones outside White Tiger Palace, which was over 1 m higher above the ground. It was the portal of White Tiger Complex to the outside. The four corners of the square were guarded with ferocious white-marble tigers, which indicated the majesty of this square and the origin of its name.


    At present, over 200,000 commoners were circling around the White Tiger Square. Two rows of strong city guards in iron armor isolated those onlookers from the square.


    Almost the moment Zhang Tie and the other clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace landed on the White Tiger Square, onlookers'' sigh with emotions had drifted from around the White Tiger Square. Almost at the same time, numerous people attempted to surge forward; however, they were blocked by the city guards.


    "Is that young man Gu Qingyun?"


    "He''s too young. He looks only 16 or so. How could he become a knight at such a young age?''


    In a split second, tens of thousands of exclamations sounded.


    "Show me, show me, where is that 16 year-old knight?"


    Almost the moment Zhang Tie landed on White Tiger Square, he had shocked those commoners around the White Tiger Square. As Zhang Tie was really too young. He was more like a neighborhood juvenile than a knight. As for those who had seen Zhang Tie, they were greatly stunned by Zhang Tie''s age.


    "No, that''s not Gu Qingyun. Gu Qingyun is not that young. That''s a knight of Zhang Clan in Yanghe Prefecture!" Someone shouted...


    "Zhang Clan? Which Zhang Clan?"


    "Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace!" More and more people identified the status of Zhang Tie and the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace...


    Listening to the exclamations among the crowd, Zhang Taixuan and the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace threw a glance at Zhang Tie with a faint smile. What a shock before the battle! The shock that Zhang Tie brought to the onlookers was beneficial for Huaiyuan Palace to consolidate its position in Youzhou Province at a higher speed. It was a great assistance for Zhang Taixuan who aimed to compete for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province. With such an elite in Zhang clan, of course Zhang Taixuan felt very pleasant inside. Because the honor of Huaiyuan Palace was the honor of the clan head...

 828 The Arrival of Knights

    Chapter 828: The Arrival of Knights


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Are you Count Long Wind from Huaiyuan Palace, Yanghe Prefecture?" When Zhang Tie aroused exclamations outside White Tiger Complex, a middle-aged officer walked over there and bowed towards Zhang Taixuan with crossed hands before asking politely.


    "Yes, I''m Zhang Taixuan!" Count Long Wind answered.


    "Please wait for a second. It''s already well prepared inside. We can go inside at scheduled time!" That middle-aged officer said politely as he stealthily threw a glance at Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie''s young look shocked both those onlookers outside White Tiger Complex and those inside White Tiger Complex.


    "It''s okay!" Count Long Wind looked gentle and easy-going, making Zhang Tie shout "bravos" for him inside.


    The competition would start at 8 am. At 7:15, they would enter White Tiger Complex to learn about the rules. After that, they could prepare for half an hour or so. As Commander Cheng was sitting in the White Tiger Complex, nobody dared be late today. In order to show their respect and prudence, all the clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace and Count Long Wind had arrived at 7:10 am, 5 minutes ahead. The other clans also arrived consecutively in a few seconds.


    "Wow, so handsome, so handsome, Huaiyuan Palace''s knights are so handsome..." Louder and shriller exclamations drifted from the girls and middle-aged women among the onlookers.


    Any men, who appeared in such an open land in a set of brilliant boa-silk costume as a knight, would look extremely handsome in the eyes of women, as long as his original look was not too ugly. As Zhang Tie was not ugly; plus the make-up in Huaiyuan Mansion, he drove hundreds of thousands of women mad at once the moment he arrived.


    When the next two teams of knights landed, they were also stunned by Zhang Tie''s young age as they started to stealthily glance at Zhang Tie.


    In a wink, two more teams of knights arrived.


    Given the population of the two teams of knights, Zhang Tie knew that the real opponents of Huaiyuan Palace had arrived.


    One of the two teams included 10 knights, which was the greatest population among all the teams of knights at present. The head knight of the two teams was a genial middle-aged man with an unbearded white face. He looked as majestic and handsome as Zhang Taixuan the Count Long Wind.


    At the sight of them, Zhang Tie had known that they were from Lu Clan of Spiritualmaple Prefecture in Youzhou Province. That middle-aged man should be Lu Dingzhi.


    Besides a good look, Lu Dingzhi''s qi was almost as that of Count Long Wind. ''Another would-be earth knight.'' Zhang Tie was faintly shocked inside, ''Although being just a lower province in Taixia Country, Youzhou province has so many talents. If in Waii Sub-continent, such people would be greatly influential too.'' However, Zhang Tie had not seen anyone else in Waii Sub-continent who was going to promote to an earth knight except for the demon general. What a grand show!


    The other team included 8 knights, the two heads of which looked like a father and a son. The father had whiskers, which made him very heroic. The son looked 27-28 years old. He was almost the youngest one among the knights at present except for Zhang Tie. Needless to say, this team belonged to Gu Clan of Easternriver Prefecture. The father was Gu Dashou while the son was Gu Qingshan.


    After Gu Clan''s knights arrived, they were a bit shocked by the crazy onlookers and Zhang Tie in the team of Huaiyuan Palace.


    At this moment, some bold women among the onlookers were exclaiming loudly.


    Zhang Tie noticed that they were hailing his handsome look. After throwing two glances at Zhang Tie, Gu Qingshan''s eyes turned gloomy.


    As for a man who had been used to be eye-catching in the public, if he found that others changed their idol in front of him, he might feel a bit disappointed.


    After noticing Gu Qingshan''s changing look, Zhang Tie had an evil thought, ''According to the suggestion of Elder Muyuan, Gu Qingshan should be my first stepping stone in Youzhou Province today. I hope Gu Qingshan doesn''t turn today''s disappointment into a psychological shadow in the future.''


    ...


    "Are you Brother Taixuan?" Lu Dinzhi hailed Zhang Taixuan the Count Long Wind after landing on the White Tiger Square.


    "Ahh, hoho, Brother Dingzhi!"


    "I''ve long heard about your reputation, Brother Taixuan. You look even more majestic than the legend. The "Early sunshine after light snow" in the White Dear Building on the Long Dragon Mountain outside Youzhou City ranks top in Youzhou Province, after leaving White Tiger Square, how about having a cool drink there?"


    "Fine. I was told that "Early sunshine after light snow" was brewed by the first drop of melted snow from the plum blossom petals on the Long Dragon Mountain. I''ve long been dreaming of that. Now that I met Brother Dingzhi today, we will have a cool drink tonight! It''s pleasant for us to drink liquor and appreciate the moons tonight."


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Lu Dingzhi and Zhang Taixuan burst out into laughter at the same time...


    Although the competition would start soon, the two most capable competitors were neither talking about the position of provincial governor nor the competition, but the cool drink in White Deer Building. Their open-mindedness was really awe-inspiring like real gentlemen. Even Zhang Tie was applauding for them inside.


    "How could we just drink liquor without meat? Occasionally, I brought some cyan-horn deer from Gu Clan. I will roast some cyan-horn deer and send them to White Deer Building today for our pleasure. Will you welcome me?" Gu Dashou interrupted with a laugh.


    "Why not, Brother Gu?" Lu Dingzhi replied with a smile.


    "I''ve long heard about the cyan-horn deer of Gu Clan in Easternriver Prefecture, which was well-known in Youzhou Province. If I could taste the two delicacies in Youzhou Province tonight, I would have no regret here!" Count Long Wind sighed with emotions.


    The three men burst out into laughter at the same time. Watching this, the other clans'' heads who had intended to swarm up stayed silent on one side. Because 3 people would form a group. However, If others swarmed up too, they would be disadvantageous.


    Someone became silent; someone replied with a cold harrumph. After hearing the obvious cold harrumph, Zhang Tie turned around and saw 3 knights landing on.


    The head of the 3 knights was a female whose qi field could even match that of a male.


    She looked about 30-40 years old. In a set of red clothes, she looked hot with a pair of golden hooks on her back. Her look and figure would make men''s dicks turn hard. Even men would be dwarfed by her powerful qi field and cold face. She was the very one who uttered a cold harrumph.


    ''Even a female dares compete for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province?'' Zhang Tie was really startled. What made Zhang Tie more amazed was that aggressive cold harrumph. Lu Dingzhi coughed twice slightly as he dared not speak to her. Gu Dashou also smirked in silence. Count Long Wind slightly nodded towards the latest three knights.


    After sensing Zhang Tie''s gaze, that woman threw her sharp eye light at Zhang Tie. After finding that Zhang Tie was too young, her look turned a bit tender. After throwing two more glances at Zhang Tie, she continued to leave a cold harrumph to Zhang Tie, "Hmm..."


    Watching that woman turning around, Zhang Tie scratched his head as a question occurred to his mind, ''Who''s she? She''s really a tantrum thrower.''


    "This woman is Guo Hongyi, the head of Guo Clan in Sanquan Prefecture. Guo Clan is not the most powerful clan in Youzhou Province; however, this woman is extremely tricky. She''s completely a troublemaker. Don''t irritate her!"


    Elder Muen whispered in Zhang Tie''s ears in a secret way. Zhang Tie nodded as he replied in the same secret way, "Even women could compete for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province?"


    "Of course, it''s normal for women to be officials in Taixia Country. It''s told that there are even female chancellors in Taixia Country. Additionally, female provincial governors exist in other upper and major provinces. Therefore, you''d better not belittle women in Taixia Country!"


    ''Female provincial governors? Female chancellors?'' Zhang Tie became speechless. Taixia Country really brought him constant surprises. When he recalled Gongsun Liniang in Golden Roc Bank, Zhang Tie realized that any female knight might be tricky in Taixia Country. He really wondered what those people who supported the feminist movement in Waii Sub-continent would think when they saw these female knights and provincial governors.


    ''However, she might be elder than her look. After promoting to a knight, her physical functions would be greatly improved; especially for many female knights, they paid more attention to their look and figure than their battle strength. Therefore, their real age was more elusive than that of male knights. With a look as young as Linda and qi like that of 30-year old women, her real age might have been over 100 years old.


    ...


    As everybody had arrived, after waiting for a few minutes, each clan team had been led into the White Tiger Complex by an official.


    If it was in Waii Sub-continent, White Tiger Complex would definitely be more magnificent than many international imperial palaces.


    After passing through many gates and squares and stepping on many steps, they saw a square like temple of heaven.


    A huge ball on a base in about 3 m high was placed in the middle of the square. The light beam which shot to the sky just now was originated from the top of this ball...


    ''Heavens Ball!'' Zhang Tie knew what it was the moment he caught sight of it.


    Its diameter was over 2 m. He didn''t know what the ball was made of. It looked somewhat like crystal or metal. It was misty with changing colorful luster inside the ball. The base of the Heavens Ball was made of certain metal, which was full of classic sense. The base was covered with dense runes and lines.


    In the palace being not far from this square, a man with a swarthy and profound face was sitting on the high seat and watching the 9 clan teams.


    What made Zhang Tie more amazed was the two young knights on two sides of that man. At the sight of Zhang Tie, the two young knights were stunned at the same time while shooting out a shrewd eye light...


    "Commander Cheng!" Everybody bowed towards that man with a swarthy face including Zhang Taixuan and Lu Dingzhi.


    "Hmm, stand up!" Commander Cheng glanced over the 9 clan teams. Zhang Tie felt a great pressure facing him. After promoting to a knight, he had not felt such a feeling for a long time.


    "You''re here today for the seal of provincial governor in my hand. Show me your talents now!" Commander Cheng put his hand upside down while a brilliant adult''s head-sized seal appeared in his hand abruptly.


    With a loud sound "bang", Commander Cheng put the seal on the desk and stimulated their hearts, "Alright, cut the crap, read the rules and prepare for the battle!"


    Closely after Commander Cheng finished his words, the atmosphere across White Tiger Complex turned intense immediately...

 829 Rules and Star

    Chapter 829: Rules and Start


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "The rules for the selection of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province are as follows..."


    A young man on one side of Commander Cheng moved one step forward and started to read the concrete rules of this selection. The moment he started, all the knights at present pricked up their ears.


    This young man was rightly one of the two young men whom Zhang Tie had seen that day. Given his clothes, he should be a young officer beside Commander Cheng. ''Such a young knight on the side of Commander Cheng on such an important occasion must have a bright future. He must have a deep background.''


    Zhang Tie thought, ''I heard the other one call him "Brother Tianqi" that day. However, I don''t know his surname.''


    "This competition will proceed in Heavens Ball. Each clan could have limitless knights access to Heavens Ball at the entrance fee of 10 million gold coins per person. You can give up if you want now!" When the youth said this, he waited for a few seconds and wanted to see whether someone would give up the opportunity.


    "Hmm, cut the crap. They''ve already known that. If you want to compete for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province, of course, you need to be rich and powerful; otherwise, you''d better roll back home to take a pee and play mud with your pee!" Commander Cheng waved his hands impatiently as he revealed the essence of this competition in the most coarse humor¡ª¡ªOnly the richest and powerful people could take the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province.


    Without money and power, did you think you could hold the position of provincial governor? The admission fee of 10 million gold coins scared off those who just wanted to join the fun. ''You want to enter Heavens Ball? Go get 10 million gold coins first.''


    Of course, there were more than 9 major clans in Youzhou Province. However, after considering their own power and the expensive admission fee, they were all scared off. As it were, the nine clans which joined in the competition for the position provincial governor of Youzhou Province were excellent in both power and boldness.


    When Zhang Tie heard this, he threw a glance at Guo Hongyi in the distance as he started to admire her boldness and battle strength. The young man on the side of Commander Cheng forced a bashful smile before coming to the key points.


    "The head of the clan with the highest points in Heavens Ball will take the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province!"


    "After Heavens Ball is triggered, it will simulate a spatial topography covering 100,000 square miles in the earth-elements realm. The clans of each clan will appear in any place across that space. After entering it, you will have 3 minutes to adapt to its environment. After 3 minutes, you will see your enemies. In the beginning, you will see 53 LV 15 demon battle-spirits in total, one point for killing each demon battle-spirit!"


    "After eliminating the first batch of demon battle-spirits, you will see the second batch of enemies, whose number is twice that of yours!"


    "After eliminating the second batch of demon battle-spirits, you will face the third batch of enemies, whose number is thrice that of yours. After you clean up the third batch of demon battle-spirits, you will see standard black iron demon knights in the Heavens Ball. 5 points for each black iron demon knight. When the 4th batch of demons appears in the Heavens Ball, you will experience the cruelest test!"


    "The number of black iron demon knights in the 4th round is 10 more than that of the living human knights before they appear. That is to say, if you don''t suffer from any casualty before the 4th batch of demon knights appear in Heavens Ball, you will have to fight 63 demon knights in the next round!"


    "After the 4th round, the number of demon knights in each round will be 10 more than that of the living human knights in the Heavens Ball!"


    "This selection will come to an end when the last human knight is killed inside. By then, the head of the clan with the highest points will take the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province. If two clans have the same highest points, they will start a fiercer overtime!"


    "There is one point that you should bear in mind, namely, you could not attack any human knight in the Heavens Ball. Commander Cheng will enter Heavens Ball to supervise your live performance. Meanwhile, your performance and clan points will be reflected on the mirage above Youzhou City by the Heavens Ball, which will be watched by all the people in Youzhou Province!"


    "You''re not allowed to take your own weapons and equipment in the Heavens Ball. Your weapons are limited to those provided inside the battlefield. Additionally, it only takes you a bit spiritual energy and a fraction of vigor to die inside the ball, instead of causing a damage to your health. You will be okay after taking a rest for 2 days. Those who are killed inside will exit Heavens Ball!"


    "Additionally, remember, you could not get points unless you kill your enemy. Wounds don''t work. If you wound an enemy, who''s finally killed by another one, you will not get that point!"


    "Each of you will get a copper plate. You only need to hold the copper plate and trigger it by injecting your spiritual energy into it before entering the Heavens Ball!"


    After saying that, that youth waved his hands while 9 servants served trays in front of the 9 teams respectively so that knights of each clan could get one copper plate from one tray to access to the Heavens Ball.


    When one servant came to Zhang Tie''s front, Zhang Tie also picked one copper plate from the tray. Zhang Tie found it was purple. Being not like common copper, it felt cold and was covered with dense odd-looking runes. Additionally, there were 4 holes on the copper plate, which were specially set for people''s fingers.


    That man called Tianqi made a demonstration in front of them. After putting his 4 fingers into the holes, he clenched his fist and held the copper plate tightly.


    "You need to hold the copper plate like this. If it drops off your hands, you could only exit the Heavens Ball and not access to it any longer!"


    After hearing that youth''s warning, all the clan knights at present clenched their fists.


    In the period of a few breaths, they had almost prepared for the battle.


    There were some cattail hassocks in front of each clan team, where sat those knights.


    "After 30 seconds, the Heavens Ball will be triggered. The adaptive period of 3 minutes will start to count down since the first knight enters it!"


    Soon after this guidance, the Heavens Ball in front of them started to change its luster. At the sight of this scene, all the clan knights began to prepare for activating their own copper plates immediately, including Zhang Taixuan and Lu Dingzhi, etc..


    Zhang Tie also started to inject his spiritual energy into that copper plate.


    Based on his current spiritual energy, Zhang Tie could activate his copper plate in a split second. However, as he found others were "slowly" activating their plates, he slowed down his speed too.


    With the injection of the spiritual energy, the copper plates in the hands of those knights started to radiate faint blue light...


    "Brother Taixuan, please!" Lu Dingzhi revealed a smile.


    "Please!" Zhang Taixuan replied with a smile.


    Closely after that, the two people closed their eyes and entered the Heavens Ball at the same time.


    After their copper plates radiated blue light one after another, all the knights at present closed their eyes and entered the Heavens Ball.


    After over 20 knights entered the Heavens Ball, Zhang Tie finally activated his copper plate...


    Before entering the Heavens Ball, Zhang Tie evidently felt that Commander Cheng threw a glance at him once again.


    After a few seconds, all the knights entered Heavens Ball spiritually while sitting around the Heavens Ball physically with eyes closed.


    "Who''s that juvenile of Huaiyuan Palace?" Until all the knights entered the Heavens Ball did Commander Cheng turn round to ask an officer on his side.


    "According to the information submitted by Huaiyuan Palace, that person is Zhang Mushen, the elder of Huaiyuan Palace. His original name is Zhang Tie, who promoted to a knight in Waii Sub-continent. He was born on March 26th, the 873rd year of Black Iron Calendar. He''s actually 26 years old!" The officer answered strictly, "Through our approval, his information is true."


    "Ahh? I''ve not imagined that there could be such a young knight in the offsprings of Lord Huaiyuan! Additionally, he''s good at preserving his youth!" Commander Cheng uttered a strange voice as he stroked his mustache with his hand. Closely after that, he turned around and asked that elder of Heavens Fortune Sect, "Which one is better in your eyes, Zhang Tie or Gu Qingyun?"


    With a cold face, the elder of Heavens Fortune Sect replied like having been ripped off by Commander Cheng lately, "Sometimes, knights win by the thickness of their face; instead of battle strength. If anyone''s face is thicker than the city wall of Youzhou City, he may be unrivaled when the other conditions between him and the others are the same!"


    After hearing this sentence, all the officers in White Tiger Complex lowered their heads like having not heard that at all.


    "Ahem...ahem...I''ve not imagined that elder of Heavens Fortune Sect could have such a deep study on the learning of face. You''ve exposed the essence of the learning of face." Commander Cheng coughed twice and made a counterback. However, before the elder of Heavens Fortune Sect lost his temper, he hurriedly said, "I will take a look inside..."


    Soon after Commander Cheng''s words, the light beam of Heavens Ball had changed its color. Closely after that, a splendid scene slowly spread in the misty mirage like a huge curtain. Numerous onlookers in and out Youzhou City raised their heads. At this moment, all the people''s hearts across Youzhou City seemed to come to a stop...

 830 The Lion in Youzhou Province I

    In the simulated earth-elements realm...


    Zhang tie had heard the name earth-elements realm for many times. However, it was his first time to enter it and see its real look.


    When he entered the Heavens Ball, Zhang Tie felt very familiar as he had experienced the same feeling for many times during the past years.


    It was like entering a trouble-reappearance situation.


    The copper plate in the hand of each knight was a tool that linked each one to the Heavens Ball.


    When he landed on the ground, Zhang Tie looked at his hands and body and found that he didn''t take in any equipment with him except for his clothes.


    After finding that he was in normal conditions, Zhang Tie looked around before taking in a deep breath.


    Zhang Tie found that he was in a huge space.


    Zhang Tie was really shocked by the look of the earth-elements realm.


    Standing on the ground, he could not see the upper limit of the height of the sky. The clouds in the earth-elements realm were fiery, golden, blue and purple in the shape of those outside, illuminating the entire earth-elements realm.


    The clouds were floating like being blown by the wind. There was indeed wind in the earth-elements realm, which indicated that there was atmospheric motion in the earth-elements realm.


    The plants above the ground looked a bit strange. Within the range of his vision, Zhang Tie saw at least 10 kinds of plants, which grew very well. Rooting in the soil of the earth-elements realm, some plants were very huge. After wind blew over, the umbrellas on a plant like dandelion flew off in front of Zhang Tie. However, compared to the dandelion outside, this dandelion was almost as large as a millstone. When its plume-like seeds flew off, it was especially beautiful and full of fairy-tale colors.


    Besides these plants, there were many cone-shaped natural stone pillars on the ground, big or small. Smaller ones were only dozens of meters high while bigger ones were higher than 1,000 m. Zhang Tie was really shocked by these items which didn''t exist outside.


    After entering the Heavens Ball, Zhang Tie understood something.


    Heavens Ball was not a trouble-reappearance fruit. The two items might be related to each other; however, they were not the same.


    When Zhang Tie entered the trouble-reappearance fruit for the first time, he was just a rookie as he had just lit two surging points. However, Zhang Tie felt that only knights could enter this Heavens Ball. This Heavens Ball could faintly sense and resonate with the chakras of knights entering it. It seemed that the energy that could run the chakras of knights could support the knights to manifest their complete bodies inside Heavens Ball. Therefore, those who had not formed their chakra could not access to it.


    Besides this point, this Heavens Ball had some advantages over the trouble-reappearance fruit. For instance, Heavens Ball could hold many people at the same time; additionally, it could freely adjust the number and level of enemies. It could even hold demon knights, which was never available to the trouble-reappearance fruit.


    However, Zhang Tie preferred the trouble-reappearance fruit, because the trouble-reappearance fruit could fully recreate the scene. Additionally, the trouble-reappearance fruit had an amazing ability, namely, it could help Zhang Tie restore an emperor-level secret knowledge. Given this point, the trouble-reappearance fruit was more advanced than the Heavens Ball.


    When he recalled the mirage above Youzhou City, Zhang Tie even had a weird thought, ''Is this Heavens Ball similar to a "recreational machine" in the former brilliant age? The function of the mirage is not designed for people entering it, but for the demand of those onlookers.''


    Although the thought was a bit weird, it might be true.


    As Zhang Tie was thinking about these strange things, he flew off and started to be familiar with the surrounding environment. The real combat would start in 3 minutes even though he had already spent half a minute just looking around.


    Zhang Tie flew off while releasing his battle qi. He hoped that the elders of Huaiyuan Palace could gather together at the sight of his battle qi.


    Actually, most of the knights were thinking the same. The moment Zhang Tie released his battle qi, he had seen some battle qis shooting into the sky within 70 miles. Apparently, the other knights were also hailing their own partners. Pitifully, all the other battle qis were strange to Zhang Tie.


    In the space of 100,000 square miles, as knights appeared in optional places, it was almost impossible for Zhang Tie to meet the other elders of Zhang Clan in 2-3 minutes. All the knights were just making an attempt. As the battle was going to break out, they didn''t have time to hail their friends at all.


    In another half a minute, the sky in the earth-elements realm changed its color suddenly while a pair of shadowy eyes appeared in the sky like a mirage and overlooked everybody in this space. It seemed that everything in this space was within the range of his vision.


    That pair of eyes reminded Zhang Tie of Commander Cheng as they were the same as that of the latter.


    Together with the pair of eyes were rows of huge words in the sky¡ª¡ªLu Clan of Spiritualmaple Prefecture, Gu Clan of Easternriver Prefecture, Zhang Clan of Yanghe Prefecture, Yan Clan of Chaoyang Prefecture, Liu Clan of Changshan Prefecture, Simon Clan of Xingbei Prefecture, Sun Clan of Guide Prefecture, Guo Clan of Sanquan Prefecture and Li Clan of Miyun Prefecture. Below these words were respectively the names of the clan heads and elders. Each elder''s name was followed by points while each clan was followed by total points. Onlookers could see clearly each clan''s ranking and points in this earth-elements space.


    Zhang Tie saw his name at the end of Zhang Clan''s column¡ª¡ªZhang Mushen, points: 0.


    At this moment, a red figure flew towards him and arrived at Zhang Tie''s front in a split second.


    "It''s you?" Guo Hongyi threw a faint, amazed glance at Zhang Tie. Actually, Zhang Tie left a deep impression in Guo Hongyi''s mind among the clan elders of Zhang Clan.


    "Elder sister Guo!" Zhang Tie grinned cheekily. He was not flattering her as he indeed admired her to a certain degree.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s "appellation", Guo Hongyi slightly relieved her cold facial expression; at the same time, she slowed down her flying speed.


    "What''s your name?" Guo Hongyi asked.


    "Zhang Tie, Zhang Mushen!" Zhang Tie pointed at the last rank of Huaiyuan Palace in the sky and replied, "The one at the bottom of Huaiyuan Palace."


    "It seems that you''re clear-minded!" Guo Hongyi replied in a malicious way. Closely after that, she threw a glance at Zhang Tie and made a cold harrumph, "Hmm, given your look, you must have spoiled a lot of Hua women. After promoting to the knight at a young age, men would never lack money. All of you are assholes!"


    "Hahaha, Elder Sister Guo, you must be kidding me. I''ve not even spoiled one Hua woman since I was born. I embraced and kissed one at most; however, I was still almost beaten out sh*t by her!" Zhang Tie explained with a smile. Meanwhile, he added one sentence inside, ''Although I''ve not spoiled any Hua women, I''ve indeed experienced some absurd things with some non-Hua women. But, I''ve not spoiled any of them.''


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, Guo Hongyi became really shocked. She threw her glance at Zhang Tie twice before further relieving her serious look, "I feel that you are much better than Gu Qingshan among the knights in Youzhou Province. I hope Gu Qingshan doesn''t defeat you!"


    "Haha, I will try my best!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie and Guo Hongyi found something sparkling especially on the ground in the distance at the same time. After throwing a glance at each other, they flew towards that place.


    It was an open mini-arsenal on the ground. The special luster that they saw was reflected by various weapons in the arsenal.


    There were all sorts of weapons in the arsenal which were available for the knights entering the Heavens Ball in case that someone won the competition by practicing fraud with equipment or weapons.


    Two more knights caught sight of the sparkling luster over here and also arrived here soon. Although knights would cause a remarkable greater destruction with weapons in hands than without weapons, nobody forced them to use weapons.


    Guo Hongyi charged at a pair of golden hooks as they were her well-content weapons.


    Zhang Tie picked up one longsword and read its attributes.


    ¡ª¡ªFantasic Iron Long Sword


    ¡ª¡ªAttributes, Class III sharpness, Class III firmness.


    Zhang Tie then picked up one long saber.


    ¡ª¡ªFantastic iron long saber.


    ¡ª¡ªAttributes, Class III sharpness, Class III firmness.


    Without having to check all the other weapons, Zhang Tie knew that all the weapons in this arsenal were only granted with Class III sharpness and Class III firmness. Only in this way could it be fair for this competition.


    At the sight of that metal spear container in the corner of the arsenal, Zhang Tie''s eyes sparkled as he instantly caught that metal spear container by his hand.


    The moment he caught it, Zhang Tie saw another hand stretching towards the spear container with an anxious and furious voice, "Put it down, it''s mine!"


    ...

 831 The Lion in Youzhou Province II

    Zhang Tie chose spears as they were the sharpest and most effective weapon for him to handle demon battle spirits.


    To be honest, if anyone among the knights entering the Heavens Ball really wanted to use these spears, Zhang Tie could give them to him if that knight asked him politely. Because the pass of demon battle-spirits was just the appetizer of this competition, Zhang Tie could handle them even in other means. However, this knight was very rude and wanted to rob it away from Zhang Tie''s hands. Zhang Tie hated such kind of a person the most.


    Zhang Tie could be persuaded by reason but not be cowed by force. At the sight of that hand stretching out towards his spear container, Zhang Tie immediately punched towards him.


    With a loud sound "Bang", Zhang Tie slightly flew backward while that man who wanted to rob away the spear container from Zhang Tie responded with a muffled harrumph and flew backward at the same time. The powerful qi, which spilled out of this collision, blew off those weapons at this corner in a split second.


    A knight with gray hair, thick eyebrows and leopard''s eyes stretched his beard and hair while standing in the air and watched Zhang Tie with a furious look. Zhang Tie also watched him with a cold look.


    Zhang Tie had a bit impression about this man¡ª¡ªa knight in Gu Clan.


    "Hmm, Elder Gu Qingyun is really majestic. You dare even rob other''s weapon in the Heavens Ball. Gu Dashou is not the provincial governor of Youzhou Province yet!" Guo Hongyi ironized as she stood on Zhang Tie''s side.


    Zhang Tie faintly felt something special about Guo Hongyi''s cold harrumph.


    When Gu Qinglong heard Guo Hongyi''s words, he faintly changed his face. Closely after that, he watched Zhang Tie with a sneer, "Zhang Clan in Yanghe Prefecture is really insidious. You know that my nickname is 1,000-step Immortal Spear; however, you still grabbed spears ahead of me. Don''t you think it shameful to do that?"


    Zhang Tie picked his ears by his hand and flicked his fingernail, making Gu Qinglong''s eyebrows keep jumping, "What a coincidence. I''ve also got a nickname Demon-killing Immortal Spear. I excel at using spears. As I got it ahead of you, of course, it should belong to me. Do you think that you''re too arbitrary?"


    "How could it be so fortuitous?" Gu Qinglong felt Zhang Tie was fabricating a lie.


    With a sparkling light in the eyes, Zhang Tie asked, "You don''t believe that, Elder Gu Qinglong?"


    As Elder Gu Qinglong was always emulative, how could he admit his mistake to this juvenile orally? Therefore, he answered immediately, "Of course not!"


    Zhang Tie almost burst out into laughter. However, apparently, he let out a deep bitter sigh, "Now that Elder Gu doesn''t believe in me. In order to preserve the reputation of Zhang Clan in Yanghe Prefecture, I have to show off my spear throwing skill in front of you; otherwise, if the head of Zhang Clan in Yanghe Prefecture wins the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province in a fluky way, Elder Gu might fabricate that our Zhang Clan won the competition by playing tricks. Such a victory is shameful, our Zhang Clan usually win people by virtue!"


    Before Elder Gu Qinglong responded, a roar had drifted from afar. Hearing that, everybody''s heart pounded as the competition finally started.


    The roar came from a demon battle spirit less than 15 miles away from here.


    Hearing that sound, Gu Qinglong threw a glare at Zhang Tie as he immediately picked up a huge saber and darted towards the source of that roar.


    Of course, Guo Hongyi and Zhang Tie also accelerated towards there. The remaining knight flew towards the demon battle spirit after selecting a weapon too.


    Gu Qinglong, Zhang Tie and Guo Hongyi could fly almost at the same speed. Of course, Zhang Tie could fly faster. However, he didn''t think it was necessary to show off his trump card at this moment.


    There were also 53 LV 15 demon battle spirits. After they appeared in the Heavens Ball, it seemed that they could sense and lock the locations of the surrounding human knights. When Zhang Tie, Gu Qinglong and Guo Hongyi rushed towards them, those demon battle spirits also darted towards them.


    4 demon battle spirits flew towards them. After flying a couple of miles, they had seen the first demon battle spirit. Guo Hongyi accelerated in a split second and rushed towards the nearest demon battle spirit.


    Gu Qinglong and Zhang Tie didn''t compete with Guo Hongyi as the first battle spirit could only help her be familiar with the battle sense in this space. Although she could get a point ahead of them, it had not come to the grand show. Additionally, if they competed with Guo Hongyi even for only one battle spirit, they might be revenged by her.


    Noticing that Gu Qinglong gave up the first demon battle spirit, Zhang Tie abandoned the chance too. He then continued to fly towards far neck and neck with Gu Qinglong.


    In the flight, Gu Qinglong became faintly shocked as he found that Zhang Tie could fly easily as fast as him with a metal spear container which contained 18 heavy spears weighing at least 300 kg on his back. Although such a bit weight was nothing for a knight on the ground, it tested his flying ability in the sky at such a high speed.


    ''It seems that this junior is something!'' Gu Qinglong made a cold harrumph inside. He still didn''t believe that Zhang Tie''s nickname was Demon-killing Immortal Spear until now. ''How could it be so fortuitous! The moment I told him that my nickname was 1,000 Step Immortal Spear, he had exposed his nickname. He dares plagiarize two words of my nickname, how disgusting he is!''


    That was how men always felt. As long as they had an impression of something, they would form a fixed opinion about that thing and would stick to their opinion.


    The two knights flew over 50 m above the ground while there were undulating hills below their feet. The hills were covered with 1 m high odd-looking bluegrasses.


    In front of their eyes, two LV 15 iron-armored demon battle spirits flashed out of a hill from 200 m ahead of them and rushed towards Zhang Tie and Gu Qinglong. The battle qis of the two iron-armored demons pushed bluegrass waves towards two sides.


    With bold temperament, bloody eyes, grim expression, exposed fangs, they were same as real iron-armored demons. Commoners, at the sight of two iron-armored demons rushing towards them, would feel terrified, except for Zhang Tie.


    At the sight of the two iron-armored demons, Elder Gu Qinglong growled as he sped up immediately towards the first iron-armored demon, leaving Zhang Tie behind.


    When he surpassed Zhang Tie, Elder Gu Qinglong sneered inside, ''That''s what a junior should be! However, he had not noticed the faint smile on Zhang Tie''s face when Zhang Tie slowed down his speed on purpose.


    Zhang Tie took out two spears from his spear container.


    ...


    "Go die!" Elder Gu Qinglong roared when he was over 50 m away from the first demon battle spirit. At the same time, he waved his big saber, causing a powerful saber qi to roll towards the nearest demon battle spirit. It seemed that he wanted to kill that demon battle spirit in a split second.


    This Gu Qingyun was also a saber sage.


    Generally speaking, although the black iron knight''s battle strength was above that of the demon battle spirit, the battle spirit was able to wrestle with the black iron knight. Common black iron knight could barely kill a battle spirit easily. However, sometimes, powerful saber sage and sword sage could also kill a demon battle spirit in a split second based on his powerful battle strength and battle skills.


    Elder Gu Qinglong''s saber qi was like a huge sickle''s sharp blade. With sparkling white light, it cut through the 1-m high purple prairie and rolled towards the demon battle spirit. When the saber qi was less than 20 m away from that demon battle spirit, it split into halves and blocked all the dodging space of that demon battle spirit from top to bottom.


    This movement displayed Gu Qinglong''s powerful battle strength and control force as a saber sage.


    It seemed that the demon battle spirit was destined to be killed by Gu Qinglong. Elder Gu Qinglong even revealed a faint smile.


    Right then, a flame flashed across...


    When Elder Gu Qingyun''s saber qi was only 3-5 m away from that demon battle spirit, the target was suddenly shattered like being struck by a lightning bolt, causing a loud sound "Boom".


    A fiery line burned in the air...


    As a powerful knight who also excelled at throwing spears, Gu Qingyun knew what did that fiery line mean. It indicated that someone''s spear throwing skill had reached a legendary realm, in which, it would not produce any sonic boom; instead it would cause a flame, which was due to the ignition of the free hydrogen and oxygen in the air when in flight. The remaining flame was the only evidence of the flying spear while the thunder-like sound would not be heard until the spear hit the target. Such a realm of spear throwing skill enjoyed a name in Taixia Country¡ª¡ªthunder in a palm.


    It was far more than awakening ancestral bloodline. It was the perfect combination of unrivaled strength, knight-rank battle qi, insight and transcendental skills. Even though the energy of the explosion was reduced. How powerful was that spear!


    "Zhang Clan used to win people by virtue!" Zhang Tie''s sound drifted into Gu Qinglong''s ears. At the same time, Zhang Tie had passed Gu Qinglong and released another fiery line towards the 2nd demon battle spirit hundreds of meters away as fast as a lightning bolt. With another thunder, the 2nd demon battle spirit was shattered too. Zhang Tie waved his hands for the 3rd time while another flame flew off and hit another battle spirit. With another boom, the 3rd demon battle spirit was shattered.


    At the sight of this, the other knight who had arrived here a bit later instantly turned around and went to seek for other battle spirits. Because he realized that he could not even have soup behind such a domineering guy, not to mention eating flesh.


    The points in Zhang Mushen''s column in the sky surged from 0 to 3 almost in a second...

 832 The Lion in Youzhou Province III

    The mirage above Youzhou City could simultaneously manifest the battle situation in the Heavens Ball. However, as the Heavens Ball''s space covered over 100,000 square miles, it could not be fully manifested in the mirage at the same time. Therefore, the mirage only manifested the battle situation in the eyes of the controller of the Heavens Ball, namely Commander Cheng.


    Almost the moment Zhang Tie threw his first spear, the pair of eyes in the sky of earth-elements realm had narrowed and moved onto Zhang Tie. Closely after that, Zhang Tie''s image in the pair of eyes was manifested clearly in the mirage. After that, everybody in and out of Youzhou City could see it.


    It was like making a live aerial video using a special apparatus in a glider or an airship from a certain visual angle. When Zhang Tie showed his trump card thunder-in-palm, onlookers were really shocked.


    Although nobody saw Zhang Tie''s first blow, everybody across Youzhou City caught sight of Zhang Tie''s second and third blows.


    Two LV 15 ferocious demon battle spirits with full killing qi were crossing over the prairie and rushing towards a juvenile and an old man from hundreds of meters away. Although they were still hundreds of meters away, all the onlookers across Youzhou City had sensed the power of the two battle spirits. However, nobody across Youzhou City could see clearly how that juvenile launched an attack while a fiery line suddenly appeared between the juvenile and a powerful demon battle spirit. Closely after that, the demon battle spirit was shattered like a broken balloon...


    With the appearance of another fiery line, the second further demon battle spirit was shattered too.


    ''Second Kill!''


    ''Killed two LV 15 demon battle spirits in a split second?''


    ''Demon battle spirits who were almost as powerful as knights were killed like shi*t?''


    Amazing! After a transient tranquility, the entire Youzhou City was in an uproar. Nobody could imagine such a shocking scene at the beginning of the competition. Many people who came to Youzhou City especially for watching the competition for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou City instantly became spirited like winning the lottery. ''What a worthwhile trip! Otherwise, I would never see such a splendid scene in the future.''


    Almost at the same time, the same question spread across millions of people in and out of Youzhou City.


    ''Who''s that juvenile knight?''


    ''What''s that battle skill?''


    ''How could he kill a LV 15 demon battle spirit from 500 m away in a split second? That''s terrifying!''


    "That''s cool..." Many ladies and girls who had seen Zhang Tie land on the White Tiger Square just now almost passed out when they watched Zhang Tie''s majestic battle performance in the mirage. Zhang Tie''s image was much more shocking and exciting than those so-called superstars before the Catastrophe.


    ...


    In Huaiyuan Mansion, after watching how Zhang Tie killed two demon battle spirits in a split second in a cool way, some deacons and disciples of Huaiyuan Palace in the Huaiyuan Mansion were stunned immediately. Closely after that, they jumped up due to excitement, "That''s Elder Mushen, that''s Elder Mushen..."


    All the other people in Huaiyuan Mansion became thrilled too. They all knew that it was uneasy for Huaiyuan Palace to compete for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province. Apparently, Lu Clan and Gu Clan were both a bit more powerful than Huaiyuan Palace. However, all the deacons and disciples of Huaiyuan Palace had not imagined that the first one who showed up in the mirage was Elder Mushen, the youngest elder in Huaiyuan Palace.


    When Zhang Tie took his family members to Youzhou City two days ago, although the deacons and disciples in Huaiyuan Mansion didn''t dare complain about Zhang Tie apparently, they felt a bit unhappy inside; some even felt that Elder Mushen was a bit slack about the competition which was related to the benefits of everybody in Huaiyuan Palace. However, given Zhang Tie''s current performance, all those deacons and disciples had to digest their bad thoughts in an extremely shameful way. Meanwhile, hearing the exclamations across Youzhou City, everybody in Huaiyuan Mansion felt proud and honorable. Even the eldest deacons of Zhang Clan became so thrilled that their facial muscles started to quiver. They kept shouting "cool" many times forcefully.


    ...


    "Thunder-in-Palm, Thunder-in-Palm..." The two young knights on both sides of the original body of Commander Cheng in White Tiger Complex exchanged a glance with each other and found the other''s shocked look¡ª¡ªThunder-in-Palm, virtual flame in the air. It''s extremely irresistible and indestructible. All those below knights were nothing but sh*t. Few knights in Taixia Country could reach such a supreme realm in spear throwing skill. They had not imagined that they could see such a talent in Youzhou City.


    Flames appeared in the eyes of the disciple of Heavens Fortune Sect...


    ...


    Watching the points behind Zhang Mushen of Zhang Clan from Yanghe Prefecture to surge from 0 to 3 in a split second in the sky of earth-elements realm simulated by the Heavens Ball, all the other knights in the Heavens Ball were slightly shocked, including Lu Dingzhi and Zhang Taixuan.


    As for those knights in the Heavens Ball, they could not see the scene that could be watched by people outside the Heavens Ball. Zhang Tie''s efficiency was so high that no other knight knew the reason. Because at this moment, even Lu Dingzhi and Zhang Taixuan had just killed two demon battle spirits in total.


    In the blood rain of demon battle spirits, Gu Qinglong raised his head and took a look at the list in the sky. His eyes then twinkled once. Closely after that, he became firm and persistent once again...


    ...


    Guo Hongyi had a ferocious battle strength. With the pair of golden hooks, the demon battle spirit only stood for half a minute before being torn apart. Guo Hongyi felt her efficiency was high. ''As there''re 3 more battle spirits over there, if I moved faster, I might kill one more.''


    ''Hmm, battle spirit is the point. Of course, the talented one will get the point. This grandma will not care whom it belongs to!'' Guo Hongyi made a cold harrumph inside before flying towards Zhang Tie.


    However, she saw nothing but blood and shattered bones over the grasses. The 3 demon battle spirits had long disappeared.


    "Ahh, who did that?"


    Watching Gu Qinglong''s furious and a bit shocked look, Guo Hongyi glimpsed at the list in the sky. Closely after that, she moved her eyes onto Zhang Tie when she found Zhang Tie''s spear container lacked 3 spears.


    "Is that you?" Guo Hongyi looked at Zhang Tie with an amazed look. She immediately understood something. However, before Zhang Tie uttered, Guo Hongyi instantly turned her face. In a wink, she flew towards another direction. Before leaving, she even left a warning, "Whoever dares to rob this grandma''s point, this grandma swears to beat him after this competition!"


    There were 53 battle spirits in the first round. Each knight could share one fairly as a practice. Any knight could almost kill a battle spirit. However, knights appeared in different locations optionally; so were those battle spirits. After the first batch of battle spirits appeared, nimbler and more powerful knights might get two battle spirits while poorer ones could get nothing. Only in this way could there be a difference between points on the list.


    Only after a short while, all the 53 demon battle spirits had turned into the points of each clan.


    As was imagined, 7 of the 53 knights got no point, including Elder Gu Qinglong of Gu Clan. After killing 3 knights, Zhang Tie ranked first on the list.


    Before the 2nd batch of battle spirits appeared, Elder Gu Qinglong roared and flew towards afar, closely followed by Zhang Tie in a leisure way.


    Gu Qinglong was driven mad as he glared at Zhang Tie, "Why are you following me?''


    Zhang Tie replied with a gentle look, "Now that Elder Gu has a misconception about me, of course, I will win you by virtue by showing my spear throwing skill in front of you. Meanwhile, I have to wash off the possible bad reputation that Huaiyuan Palace might suffer from. As long as Elder Gu apologizes to Huaiyuan Palace for your words and deed, I will leave you!"


    "Junior, don''t dream!" Elder Gu was so furious that he almost spat out blood. Every clan elder was arrogant. Even if elders spoke or did something wrong, none of them would apologize to juniors. Additionally, Zhang Clan and Gu Clan were competing for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province, if he admitted his mistake, it would indicate that Gu Clan admitted defeat to Zhang Clan. Therefore, Gu Qinglong would never do that at this critical moment.


    "Now that Elder Gu is so persistent, it seems that I''m not excellent in your eyes. I could only continue to win you by virtue and help you to change your bias towards me and Zhang Clan through actual movements!" Zhang Tie said solemnly although being extremely thrilled inside.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that in a cyber game before the Catastrophe, there was a behavior which made people disgustful¡ª¡ª"Robbing Monster". However, it was a knight''s commitment to kill demons. It was aboveboard for Zhang Tie to "win Elder Gu by virtue" instead of "robbing monster"...


    As for the essence of this competition for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province, long story short, defeat the knights of all the other clans. All the competitions in this secular world were like this such as battle between humans, parties, regimes, nations even races to the final analysis. As Zhang Tie had a chance to defeat an elder of Gu Clan, why not take that chance of winning him by virtue?


    Soon, Zhang Tie''s effect of "winning Elder Gu by virtue" started to manifest.


    After the first batch of 53 battle spirits was exterminated, the second batch of 106 demon battle spirits appeared almost in a split second...


    Another demon battle spirit entered the visions of Zhang Tie and Gu Qinglong. However, with a fiery line, before the battle spirit drew close to them, it had been blown up.


    In the next few minutes, accompanied by Elder Gu''s roar, Zhang Tie not only killed those battle spirits which belonged to him but also killed those which belonged to Elder Gu. Additionally, none of those battle spirits on the way could escape away from Zhang Tie''s thunder-in-palm. In a wink, Zhang Tie''s points had surged to 9, which was really eye-catching on the list. By contrast, Elder Gu''s point was still 0.When a player was beating a monster, another player was lurking in the grasses on one side. When the monster was almost being killed, the other player jumped out and killed it instantly ahead of the first player so as to gain the point.

 833 The Lion in Youzhou Province IV

    It grew increasingly fiercer in the Heavens Ball. After the 106 demon battle spirits in the second round were exterminated, the third batch of 159 demon battle spirits appeared in this ground covering 100,000 square miles in a wink.


    100,000 square miles sounded being a large area; however, if it served as the battlefield between over 50 human knights and demon battle spirits, it would not be that large. On average, it would take each human knight about half an hour to fly from one end to the other end of this earth-elements realm. However, those faster ones only needed 20 minutes.


    Elder Gu Qinglong was so furious that his eyes seemed about to pop out. When Zhang Tie shattered demon battle spirits one after another in front of him with his terrifying spear throwing skill, Gu Qinglong could do nothing but widely open his eyes because his moving speed could never match that of Zhang Tie''s spear.


    Elder Gu Qinglong finally realized that he had become the bait of a guy whom he called junior. Even if he stayed still, those demon battle spirits would also come for him within a certain range according to the rule of Heavens Ball. He attempted to stay still in one place; however, the result was that Zhang Tie flew around him and killed demon battle spirits one after another as usual.


    If they were outside the Heavens Ball, Elder Gu Qinglong would have long fought Zhang Tie ferociously; however, at this moment, Zhang Tie''s deeds were allowed. If Gu Qinglong launched an attack towards Zhang Tie, he would be driven out of the Heavens Ball right away, causing a major loss to Gu Clan.


    Actually, Zhang Tie and Elder Gu Qinglong had long realized that the pair of eyes in the sky belonged to Commander Cheng, who was watching them to fight demons and knew everything in the Heavens Ball clearly. Nobody could play any trick in front of Commander Cheng.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s surging points and his 0 points, Elder Gu Qinglong felt especially regretful. ''If I have known about this result, I would not ask for any spear from this pervert of Zhang Clan. Perhaps, I could show my tolerance and beg for his forgiveness, which would be better than being troubled by this Zhang b*stard.'' However, as he had made the wrong decision, even if he wanted to beg for Zhang Tie''s forgiveness at this moment, it would be meaningless.


    Because Zhang Tie had almost used up all of his spears, winning 18 points for himself. By contrast, Gu Qinglong''s point was still 0, which was very eye-catching.


    "Junior, you''re so despicable!" Elder Gu Qinglong swore Zhang Tie while gritting his teeth.


    "I''m winning you by virtue!" Zhang Tie said solemnly while throwing away the last spear. Closely after that, he rushed forward and threw that metal spear container towards that demon battle spirit. When the demon battle spirit dodged away, Zhang Tie sped up abruptly and punched that demon battle spirit. After breaking its protective battle qi with the first punch, Zhang Tie smashed it into pieces by the second punch, setting his points in the first three rounds at 19.


    Elder Gu Qinglong was shocked by Zhang Tie''s strength.


    That demon battle spirit might be the last one of the 159 demon battle spirits in the 3rd round. Because after that battle spirit was killed by Zhang Tie for less than 1 second, black lights had flashed in the earth-elements realm. The demon knights finally appeared.


    Watching those black lights and the powerful qis of demon knights that filled this earth-elements realm, all the human knights in the Heavens Ball realized that the true test had arrived.


    As none of the human knights had been killed in the first 3 rounds, 63 demon knights appeared in the 4th round.


    Although the number of opponents decreased compared to that in the 3rd round, the demon knights were much trickier than LV 15 battle spirits. Additionally, in such a simulated duel, the 10 more demon knights caused a great stress to all the human knights.


    Zhang Tie and Elder Gu Qinglong were surrounded by 3 black lights, closely after which, three iron-armored demon knights showed their terrifying figures while releasing their powerful black battle qis into the sky.


    The 3 demon knights darted towards the 2 people from 3 directions.


    Zhang Tie retreated at a higher speed than that of Elder Gu Qinglong.


    Neither of them hoped to be surrounded by over 2 demon knights at this moment.


    Pitifully, Elder Gu Qinglong was a bit slower than Zhang Tie. Finally, one demon knight chased after Zhang Tie while Elder Gu Qinglong was surrounded by 2 demon knights. Gu Qinglong revealed a bitter smile.


    ''Why? Why an old fellow like me didn''t even kill one demon battle spirit just now but got surrounded by 2 demon knights at this moment? Why didn''t these 2 demon knights go after that b*stard of Zhang Clan? Why?''


    Elder Gu Qinglong felt very indignant at this moment.


    The 3 demon knights might be attracted by Zhang Tie.


    After flying away from the battle cloud between Elder Gu Qinglong and the other two demon knights for dozens of miles, Zhang Tie instantly turned around and collided with that demon knight.


    The moment the collision started, Zhang Tie had realized that these demon knights could match those demon knights whom he had fought in Waii Sub-continent. All of these demon knights were above average.


    ''This will be a fierce battle!''


    However, Zhang Tie was not afraid of such a fierce battle; instead, he was extremely thrilled. At this moment, he sensed that he was not in the Heavens Ball but in his trouble-reappearance situation, which could provide him with demon knights for his practice.


    Among all the human knights, Zhang Tie might be the most excited and relaxed one. As a result, he could exert his battle strength to the utmost.


    From the beginning, Zhang Tie had chosen the fiercest and riskiest close combat.


    ...


    Almost the moment the demon knights appeared, Zhang Taixuan and Lu Dingzhi who were going to promote to earth knights as the most powerful ones among the 53 human knights had been surrounded by 4 demon knights respectively. 3 of each group of 4 demon knights formed a 3-in-1 matrix as the main attacking force while the remaining demon knight would serve as the aiding strength. A much fiercer battle came to a start in a split second. The space of the earth-elements realm was filled with roars everywhere. As a result, the land covering 100,000 square miles turned into a battlefield of over 100 knights at once.


    Compared to Lu Dingzhi and Zhang Taixuan, Gu Dashou, the head of Gu Clan whose battle strength was a bit weaker was surrounded by 2 demon knights.


    As a result, the remaining 50 human knights would only have a probability of about 1/17 to be attacked by 2 demon knights at the same time.


    Given this point, Elder Gu Qinglong was really hapless.


    ...


    The appearance of demon knights made the entire Youzhou City boil once again.


    Although Zhang Tie''s performance was best among all the human knights just now, Commander Cheng would not just keep his eyes on him. After demon knights appeared, the fierce battle between knights broke out. All the human knights started to show off their talents. Therefore, Commander Cheng was attracted by the fiercest battles.


    ...


    Being surrounded by 4 demon knights at the same time, Lu Dingzhi released golden flames, which kept circling around him rapidly. With the appearance of these flames, the temperature of his surrounding air started to go straight up while being twisted. As a result, the 4 demon knights felt like being roasted above the furnace fire with splitting skins and broken flesh. With smoke, the demon knights started to howl miserably...


    Watching Lu Dingzhi''s burning body, the onlookers across Youzhou City boiled once again. While being circled by 6 golden flames, Lu Dingzhi was fighting 4 demon knights at the same time, making him look like a commanding fire God.


    Many people on the side of Commander Cheng in White Dear Complex drew in a cold breath at the same time.


    "Lu''s ancestor took the position of Zhu Rong, the Hua fire god in the regime of Emperor Yao, who managed the immortal flames across the world. The most powerful ancestral bloodlines of Lu Clan are all related to fire. However, I''ve not imagined that Lu Dingzhi has awakened the 6-yang Immortal Flame. It seems that he was not only building coins for the Ministry of Finance but also cultivating during the years when he served as the Coin Building Officer in Golden Rock Sub-continent, not bad, not bad!" Commander Cheng opened his mouth with full admiration.


    As the 6 golden flames circled around Lu Dingzhi, the 4 demon knights'' matrix was broken by Lu Dingzhi at once. Closely after that, the 6 golden flames circled around one demon knight and burned it into ashes immediately...


    It was the first demon knight being killed in the 4th round.


    Watching this scene, all the people of Lu Clan cheered up in Youzhou City.


    ''Compared to killing demon battle spirits, killing demon knights is the real talent.''


    However, before Lu Clan''s people finished their exclamations, the focus in the mirage was shifted to Zhang Taixuan the Count Long Wind...


    Compared to Lu Dingzhi, Zhang Taixuan''s performance made the entire Youzhou City silent.


    It seemed that each cell of Zhang Taixuan the Count Long Wind was giving vent to his domineering temperament.


    With the roars of the surrounding 4 demon knights, Zhang Taixuan darted forward like a bolt. Closely after that, he punched a demon knight''s head and penetrated through another demon knight''s chest. The demon knight whose head had been blown up by Zhang Taixuan turned into Zhang Taixuan''s crossbow while the demon knight whose chest was penetrated through turned into Zhang Taixuan''s bolt. Zhang Taixuan triggered his bolt and blew up the 3rd demon knight...


    "Use everything in the universe as crossbow and bolt. What a Heavens Crossbow Bloodline of Zhang Clan!" Commander Cheng praised loudly, "Besides a picturesque landscape, Youzhou City contains so many heroes!"


    The focus was then shifted to another place, as a light rose up, Gu Qingyun of Gu Clan activated his aiding strength...

 834 The Lion in Youzhou Province V

    After fighting the demon knight for over 20 minutes through close combat, Zhang Tie finally broke its protective battle qi. With a roar "go die", he punched his two fists onto the demon battle knight''s chest and smashed it into pieces with vigorous battle qi.


    It was the first demon knight that Zhang Tie killed in the Heavens Ball.


    After killing it, Zhang Tie raised his head and took a look at the list. The most powerful battle strength among the 53 human knights had been manifested on the list. Undoubtedly, Lu Dingzhi and Zhang Taixuan were the most powerful ones.


    Lu Dingzhi¡ª¡ª26 points.


    Zhang Taixuan¡ª¡ª29 points.


    Zhang Tie remembered that Lu Dingzhi''s points were 11 while Zhang Taixuan''s points were only 9 after the 3rd round. Given their current points, Zhang Tie knew that Lu Dingzhi had killed 3 demon knights and Zhang Taixuan had killed 4 demon knights in the past 20 minutes.


    Zhang Tie was really shocked by the battle strength of the heads of Lu Clan and Zhang Clan.


    After killing one demon knight, Zhang Tie''s points also rose to 24 points. As a result, Zhang Tie ranked 3rd on the list, making him eye-catching too.


    As Gu Dashou had just killed two demon knights, his points were 21. Therefore, he ranked below Zhang Tie.


    Just now, Zhang Tie had sensed that someone activated his aiding strength; however, he didn''t know who did it. It reminded Zhang Tie that he should converge with the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace and activate his aiding strength as soon as possible.


    In a couple of seconds, Zhang Tie saw another black light a few meters away. Closely after that, another demon knight appeared and darted towards Zhang Tie with red eyes.


    From the 4th round, all the human knights had to fight demon knights ceaselessly. As long as they killed one demon knight, they would face a new one at once.


    After swearing it inside, Zhang Tie escaped right away.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie caught sight of two familiar battle qis gathering with each other over 70 miles away. Zhang Tie knew that Elder Muray and Elder Muyuan had met each other.


    Right then, a loud boom and roar drifted from afar while a knight''s battle qi suddenly rose up and scattered in all directions. Closely after that, the name Gu Qinglong disappeared from the list, leaving 10 points on the list.


    Zhang Tie was a bit stunned as he had not imagined that Elder Gu Qinglong could be the first human knight killed in the Heavens Ball. ''He died together with the two demon knights. Elder Gu Qinglong is not weak in battle strength. Pitifully, he''s too hapless today. As he annoyed me, he failed to gain even one point in the first 3 rounds; I "won him by virtue". At the beginning of the 4th round, he was wrestled by 2 demon knights. He encountered the most ferocious battle at the beginning; therefore, he had to leave pitifully in the end.''


    By then, although Elder Gu Qinglong didn''t feel pitiful, he gained 10 points more or less. Therefore, he was not too disgraced.


    Zhang Tie knew that it was just a beginning. After Elder Gu Qinglong exited, demon knights'' numerical superiority would be more evident. As a result, more and more human knights would be eliminated.


    With the gradual decrease of human knights, demon knights would have greater advantage in number. 63:53 was totally different than 23:13 even 11: 1 in the end.


    ...


    Closely after Elder Gu Qinglong, who was sitting on the Heavenly Altar beside the Heavens Ball, opened his eyes had he been invited by a young man on Commander Cheng''s side to the high platform beside Commander Cheng. This was a courteous reception for him. After leaving the Heavenly Altar, Elder Gu Qinglong was extremely furious. Before getting off the Heavenly Altar, he even threw a glare at Zhang Tie in the team of Huaiyuan Palace. He must have sworn Zhang Tie numerous times. If not Zhang Tie, Elder Gu Qinglong felt that he could at least gain 20 points in the Heavens Ball. However, due to Zhang Tie, he could only exit in advance. However, what made him reassured was that Gu Qingyun, the future star of Gu Clan, had manifested his powerful aiding strength and killed a demon in the mirage.


    ''Alas, what if I was on Gu Qingyun''s side just now? If I gained the aiding strength, I would not have used such an extreme means to sacrifice myself together with the two demon knights.'' As Elder Gu Qinglong thought about this, he reached below the high platform where Commander Cheng was sitting in. After bowing towards Commander Cheng, he took a seat on one side of Commander Cheng and watched the combat patiently.


    ''I will see how many tricks could that b*stard junior of Zhang Clan play. I will show that junior that he''s nothing in front of the excellent disciples of Gu Clan.'' Elder Gu Qinglong gritted his teeth.


    As he lost the battle, Elder Gu Qinglong found that it was meaningless to haggle over what happened in the Heavens Ball. Additionally, Zhang Tie didn''t violate any rule since the beginning. If he really exposed what happened just now to the public, he would be the laughingstock instead of Zhang Tie. It was Gu Qinglong himself who intended to rob Zhang Tie''s spear container, therefore, he should not blame Zhang Tie for what happened after that.


    At this moment, Elder Gu Qinglong was like an angry commoner. Although he despised Zhang Tie, he still pinned his hope on Gu Qingyun, the most brilliant junior of Gu Clan and hoped Gu Qingyun to revenge for him.


    Many people in White Tiger Complex were discussing Gu Qingyun''s aiding strength in low voice and exclamation. Hearing their talks, Elder Qingyun gradually felt spirited, relieved and mentally balanced.


    Human knight''s aiding strength was always most eye-catching wherever it was. It was Gu Qingyun''s first time to manifest his aiding strength in the public. Therefore, his performance won him numerous exclamations. Due to his excellent performance, Gu Qingyun''s halos as the "No. 1 youth in Youzhou" which had just faded away due to Zhang Tie''s excellent performance became bright once again.


    ''No matter how sharp was the thunder-in-palm of that shameless junior of Zhang Clan, it was greatly dwarfed by knight''s aiding strength. They are not on the same level at all.''


    With the aiding strength of Gu Qingyun, the battle strength of Gu Qingyun himself and the other 4 elders of Gu Clan besides Gu Qinglong were greatly improved. Gu knights felt like wearing advanced rune equipment with rapid recovery effects which were really admirable. As a result, Gu knights gained an advantage in the Heavens Ball at once.


    After a short while, an elder of Lu Clan also manifested his aiding strength. As a time-honored major clan in Youzhou Province, Lu Clan also started to manifest their muscles and background. With the aiding strength of that Lu elder, the battle qis of Lu knight''s near him started to burn like flames. The fire element in the battle qis of Lu knights was activated at once, granting them with greater battle strength.


    The third knight who manifested her aiding strength was Guo Hongyi, the woman who scared all the other knights in Youzhou Province.


    When Guo Hongyi appeared in the mirage, numerous women across Youzhou City felt arrogant. The exclamations of female filled the whole city.


    All the female across Youzhou Province took Guo Hongyi, the head of Guo Clan, Sanquan Prefecture as their model. She really had a great prestige among the women in Youzhou Province.


    Guo Hongyi''s aiding strength was more special, which didn''t act on the knights of her party but on those demon knights who fought her. With the effect of Guo Hongyi''s aiding strength, a black rune appeared above the heads of the 3 demon knights who were fighting her and the other Guo elders. As a result, the three demon knights'' movements turned slower evidently...


    "I''ve not imagined that I could see the trickiest dark aiding strength in Youzhou Province. No wonder someone said that Youzhou abounded with heroes since ancient times. There''re so many female heroes in Youzhou Province!"


    Hearing the talks on his side, Elder Gu Qinglong felt a bit uncomfortable; however, he had to admit Guo Hongyi''s ability.


    Guo Hongyi was the biggest trouble-maker in Youzhou Province. Her battle strength was above average, not to mention her background; especially her dark aiding strength, which made many knights across Youzhou Province embarrassed. Therefore, Guo Hongyi''s influence among male knights across Youzhou Province also increased.


    Aiding strength was the supreme strength that a knight could master. Only less than 1/20 of knights across Taixia Country could master aiding strength. Aiding strength was not roadside cabbage. If not the competition, many commoners might not be able to see the effect of aiding strength in their whole lives, not to mention 3 times today. However, when Elder Gu Qinglong thought that there would not be the 4th aiding strength in the Heavens Ball today, he abruptly heard a surprised sound of Commander Cheng, "Yi?"...


    With that sound, the most disgusting guy appeared in the mirage.


    An extremely brilliant, golden light beam appeared on Zhang Tie''s body like a huge golden string of a musical instrument. Closely after that, the golden light beam turned into a brilliant, rotating aura with complex geometrical patterns on it like a mysterious huge wheel which represented knight''s aiding strength. After that, the huge aura spread over the battlefield, causing the same brilliant golden aura to appear on the other two Zhang elders who were fighting demon knights. The other two Zhang elders became more thrilled and intrepid at once.


    The lighting effect of the aiding strength alone was many times more powerful than that of Gu Qingshan; especially its golden light beam and aura which were extremely dignified. Among all the colorful aiding strengths, golden was the purest and most dignified color as it represented that the owner of this special strength had soul and spirit as pure and dignified as gold. Those who were sordid inside could never resonate with such an aiding strength.


    In Taixia Country, golden aiding strength''s aura represented not only the greatest aiding strength but also the pure and dignified soul and perfect personality of the owner of this golden aiding strength.


    Those who had such a noble name-card was called gentleman in Taixia Country!


    Among Hua people before the Catastrophe, the appellation "gentleman" had been abused for a long time. Any famous one who had read some books, fished for fame, had a higher morality than average ones and did something good would call themselves or be called gentlemen. In this age, the appellation "gentleman" recovered its original meaning.


    In Taixia Country, a gentleman was not definitely a knight; however, the so-called gentleman was definitely was more respectable than knights even officers.


    Gentleman in this age referred to those who tried their best to be sages from both their words and deeds.


    Sages referred to those who were free from universal rules and emancipated humans.


    Each Hua people had the potential to be a gentleman and a sage. It was also why a part of Hua people called themselves an immortal clan. Among the billions of humans, which other human races pursue the freedom of universal rules and the emancipation of humans? From ancient times to the present, only Hua people had such a supreme pursuit. After hundreds of millions of years, the supreme pursuit had been branded in the genes and bloodlines of each Hua offspring forever.


    Elder Gu Qinglong was shocked...


    Together with many other people in the White Tiger Complex...


    It took a few seconds for the uproar across Youzhou City to turn into silence.


    Nobody had imagined that there was a "gentleman" among the 53 human knights in the Heavens Ball.


    Elder Gu Qinglong felt like his chest was being stomped by dozens of buffaloes constantly for a few days as he almost wanted to spurt out blood. He could accept that others manifested their aiding strengths, including that shameless junior of Zhang Clan; however, he could never accept that the "shameless junior of Zhang Clan" was manifesting a gentle strength which could only be manifested by a gentleman. The dazzling golden brilliance of this gentle strength almost made his eyes turn red out of jealousy. Meanwhile, he felt being smacked on his face.


    ''If that "shameless junior of Zhang Clan" was a gentleman, who was that guy who prevented me from touching even one battle spirit in the first 3 rounds with the excuse of "winning you by virtue"?''


    ''Was that shameless junior really thinking about "winning me by virtue" at that moment? Did I measure the stature of a gentleman by the yardstick of a villain?''


    When Elder Gu Qingyun thought about this, his face twitched.


    "Fabulous!" Commander Cheng growled as he punched onto the table in front of him, turning it into dust in a split second. Commander Cheng was so happy that he burst out into laughter which could be heard across the White Tiger Complex. Swarthy face turned bright as he uttered, "Hahahaha, from today on, those b*stards would dare not mock my subordinates as bandits. I have another gentleman with me, f*ck..."


    Among those people at present, another one was shocked most.


    The young elite of Heavens Fortune Sect watched Zhang Tie''s golden aura in the mirage, which seemingly turned to the shimmering ripples on the river under the sunglow¡ª¡ªa junior was squatting down on the riverside and washing his tablewares while watching him with a curious look...


    ''How fabulous it is! If the gentleman was not fabulous, who else would be fabulous in the world?''


    Realizing that the image of the junior who washed tablewares on the riverside was greatly different than that in his imagination, the young elite of Heavens Fortune Sect felt that his head was going to blow up.


    The elder of Heavens Fortune Sect had been watching Zhang Tie silently with his intelligent and profound eyes since Zhang Tie manifested his gentle strength.


    After a short while, the young elite of Heavens Fortune Sect raised his head with a faintly pale face while his eyes were sparkling a bizarre light. He then asked his elder in a decisive, secret way, "Master, I want to go inside!"


    He received one word, "Wait!"


    ...


    The battle between human knights and demon knights continued in the Heavens Ball; however, as 4 human knights had manifested their aiding strengths, the battle became fiercer.


    Demon knights were like endless demonized puppets. Whenever you killed one, new demon knights would arrive. Even 53 earth knights could not stand that, not to mention black iron knights.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that his gentle strength had brought a great shock to the outside. Nobody described his aiding strength to him before. Besides that insight in Ewentra Archipelago, he had not manifested it in another place before. Even though elders of Huaiyuan Palace knew that he had aiding strength, they had not seen it.


    After Elder Gu Qingyun exited the Heavens Ball for a few minutes, other clans'' knights constantly exited it.


    After one hour, all the 4 knights of Liu Clan in Changshan Prefecture exited the Heavens Ball...

 835 The Lion in Youzhou Province VI

    In the Heavens Ball, Zhang Tie didn''t know that his aiding strength¡ª¡ªSupreme Protection had aroused a great shock on the outside as he had no time to care about that.


    The other 5 elders of Huaiyuan Palace had long gathered on Zhang Tie''s side. With the effect of Zhang Tie''s Supreme Protection, they were fighting demon knights ferociously.


    More and more human knights were killed in the Heavens Ball; as a result, they had to exit and became the onlookers of this competition. As more and more human knights exited the Heavens Ball, demon knights'' advantage turned more and more evident. The remaining human knights felt an increasingly greater stress. In the simulated earth-elements realm covering 100,000 square miles, with the great stress, the selection of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province turned into a cruel elimination match, the weaker clans with fewer clan knights would be kicked out of the Heavens Ball earlier, causing a greater stress to the other clans at the same time and making demon knights more advantageous. All the human knights in the Heavens Ball was sent in a vicious circle where they would collapse and become powerless to resist.


    Only the clan which could stick to the end in such a dangerous dilemma with the biggest achievement would be able to take the position of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province.


    Zhang Tie glimpsed Lu Dingzhi and Zhang Taixuan twice in the 8 hours of fierce battle, each time, he found that the most powerful ones among the 53 human knights were besieged by a pile of demon knights in the 3-in-1 matrix.


    Although those demon knights who besieged Lu Dingzhi were burned into ashes by Lu Dingzhi''s rotating flames, new ones appeared and kept rushing towards Lu Dingzhi ceaselessly.


    Demon knights who besieged Zhang Taixuan constantly became Zhang Taixuan''s crossbows and bolts. Meanwhile, the head of Zhang Clan was surrounded with shattered flesh and blood of demon knights. Whereas, black light constantly sparkled.


    If it were others, they had long been killed over 100 times in such a dilemma. However, Lu Dingzhi and Zhang Taixuan were still fighting.


    Facing such a 3-in-1 wheel war, even earth knights would collapse, let along black iron knights.


    Therefore, with the first glimpse, Zhang Tie found that the two people had turned a bit fatigued; with the second glimpse, Zhang Tie found that the two people had been wounded all over.


    Aiding strength could arouse resonance, which could only be passed from top to bottom. Aiding strength was like a huge bell. When you rang it, it could resonate with the other huge bells which were of the same size; however, you could not have it resonate with another bell which was many times greater than it. Therefore, Lu''s aiding strength and Zhang Tie''s aiding strength could not work on Lu Dingzhi and Zhang Taixuan, because the latter ones were even closer to earth knights than the demon general.


    Lu Dingzhi and Zhang Taixuan were very powerful. One''s points were always closely followed by that of the other. The number of demon knights they killed was always close. Sometimes, in a very short period, the number of demon knights they killed would have a gap of 2; however, the other one would soon catch up with it, even surpass it. Therefore, the two people were like marathon runners, who were always close to each other.


    As the fierce competition between Lu Clan and Zhang Clan proceeded, Gu Clan disappeared.


    Actually, Gu Clan didn''t disappear. They were just forgotten by onlookers. It seemed to be a law. In those sharply competitive industries and sites, the collisions and wrestles between the most powerful two forces would have the third powerful force fade away from the public. It was called Iceberg Crowding-out Effect¡ª¡ªWhen some floating icebergs collided with each other, those being shattered firstly were those smaller icebergs between the two biggest ones.


    As Gu Clan outnumbered Zhang Clan, they should not be over so fast; however, they met Zhang Tie.


    From the beginning, Zhang Tie had overwhelmed Gu Clan.


    At the White Tiger Complex, Zhang Tie overwhelmed Gu Qingyun with his young age and handsome look.


    After entering the Heavens Ball, Zhang Tie''s thunder-in-palm shocked the onlookers and made him a superstar. He even attracted the attention of Commander Cheng. With his trump card¡ª¡ªthunder-in-palm, Zhang Tie gained 19 points, the highest points in the first 3 rounds, which were even higher than that of Lu Dongzhi and Zhang Taixuan.


    After that, Elder Gu Qinglong was eliminated due to the conflict between him and Zhang Tie, causing Gu Clan to lose its numerical advantage over Zhang Clan.


    Then, Gu Qingyun manifested his aiding strength and saved some face for Gu Clan. If Zhang Tie didn''t manifest his aiding strength, with the effect of Gu Qingyun''s aiding strength, even though Zhang Taixuan''s battle strength was above all the Gu elders, Gu Clan could also match Zhang Clan for the time being; however, with Zhang Tie''s manifestation of his aiding strength, Gu Clan lost its biggest advantage over Zhang Clan. Additionally, simply given the effect of aiding strength, Zhang Tie''s Supreme Protection had fully overwhelmed that of Gu Qingyun, not to mention the meaning of gentle strength and its shock to the public.


    From then on, Gu Clan had deteriorated into a certain minor role from a possible protagonist in this competition. As Lu Dingzhi and Zhang Taixuan killed more and more demon knights, Gu Clan gradually faded away from the vision of the public.


    Men of letters were all modest; however, fighters had to compete for the 1st place. When the two moons turned full, all the stars would be cast into the shade. Even powerful knights or talents who were well known across the province would deteriorate into minor roles at this moment.


    After Liu Clan in Changshan Prefecture exited, Simon Clan in Xingbei Prefecture, Sun Clan in Guide Prefecture, Guo Clan in Sanquan Prefecture, Li Clan in Miyun Prefecture, Yan Clan in Chaoyang Prefecture also exited one after another and became onlookers.


    Besides, Zhang Clan, Lu Clan and Gu Clan also suffered from the loss of their knights.


    After all, Zhang Tie''s aiding strength could not avoid humans from being wounded by sabers and spears. Even Zhang Tie''s Supreme Protection also had a limited effect. Facing the attack of endless demon knights, Zhang Tie''s aiding strength would also lose its effect.


    Starting with Elder Muen, Zhang Tie had seen clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace being constantly killed in front of him. Elder Muyuan, Elder Muan, Elder Muyu, finally Elder Muray...


    A few minutes after Elder Muray died, the name of Gu Qingyun, the last alive knight of Gu Clan was erased from the list.


    Before being killed by a demon knight, Gu Qingyun even threw a glance at Zhang Tie. After watching Zhang Tie''s brilliant, golden aura, Gu Qingyun couldn''t help letting out a sigh inside.


    As for others who had entered the Heavens Ball for the first time, they might be a bit agitated even lamented when they saw their clan elders die as it was such a genuine scene. However, Zhang Tie''s brain remained as cold as ice. He didn''t even have any mood swings. Of course, it was not because Zhang Tie was cold-blooded; but because he had experienced similar life or death situations for thousands of times in the trouble-reappearance situations over these years. Everything here was just like a real dreamland for him. Even though he saw elders of Huaiyuan Palace die in front of him, he knew that they would never suffer any loss actually. Therefore, he was not agitated at all.


    Instead, as more and more elders of Huaiyuan Palace were killed, Zhang Tie turned calmer. He knew that the key battle that would determine the position of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province was yet to arrive.


    Only 5 knights were left alive on the battlefield of the simulated earth-elements realm, Zhang Tie, Zhang Taixuan, Lu Dingzhi and the other two elders of Lu Clan.


    Zhang Tie recognized that one of the 3 Lu elders was the one who mastered the aiding strength.


    Lu Clan had a deep root in Youzhou Province. Such a major clan would definitely have great knights. In the final moment, all the other clans'' elders had died except for Zhang Clan, however, Lu Clan still had 3 living knights left, which indicated the background and the deep root of Lu Clan very well.


    When there were 5 human knights left, the number of demon knights was adjusted to 15 while the surplus one disappeared in a black sparkling light.


    Compared to Lu Clan, Zhang Clan, which had 3 knights fewer than Lu Clan, still had 2 elders left, making Zhang Clan more eye-catching. It could be said that Zhang Clan was glorious even if they lost this battle.


    However, Zhang Tie and Zhang Taixuan were not here to lose the battle, so were the alive Lu elders.


    3 demon knights rushed towards Zhang Tie. After throwing a glance at Count Long Wind and the points of Lu Clan and Zhang Clan, Zhang Tie concealed his battle qi and landed on the ground. Instead of flying, he started to run on foot. He moved hundreds of meters ahead with one stride as he had fully activated his Kuafu Bloodline...


    In running, Zhang Tie adjusted his breathing rhythm as he tried to recover his physical strength as soon as possible...


    After activating his Kuafu Bloodline, Zhang Tie''s moving speed could not be matched by that in the Upton Theater of Operations.


    It had come to the final stage of both Zhang Taixuan and Lu Dingzhi...

 836 The Lion in Youzhou Province VII

    Generally, in a duel between two knights, the one on the ground was in the disadvantageous position compared to that in the sky. Therefore, knights would always choose to fight in the sky. None of them would like to stay on the ground in a duel. Like two boxers in the ring, the one being backed into a corner would always be in the disadvantageous position.


    Knights'' attacks depended on free movements in the sky.


    Therefore, at the sight of Zhang Tie landing on the ground, all the other clans'' knights, who had exited the Heavens Ball and were watching the battle in White Tiger Complex, were in an uproar at once.


    When there were only 8 human knights in the Heavens Ball, the mirage had long been divided into 8 squares so that onlookers could see how the 8 human knights fought demon knights ferociously. Similarly, when the 8 human knights reduced to 5, the mirage was divided into 5 squares so that everybody else could watch their fights clearly.


    Zhang Tie had long become the focus of the people across White Tiger Complex and those in and out Youzhou City. Even if Zhang Tie didn''t kill demon knights anymore and just exited the Heavens Ball, his name Zhang Mushen had long shocked Youzhou Province.


    However, Zhang Tie kept fighting inside. His persistence was really praiseworthy and unpredictable.


    It could be said that onlookers in the White Tiger Complex and across Youzhou City had long paid more attention to Zhang Tie the gentleman than Lu Dingzhi and Zhang Taixuan.


    Like a dark horse which would win most attention in any racing competition, Zhang Tie was the very dark horse in this selection for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province.


    The amazement aroused by this dark horse could be judged by the facial expressions of the elders of Huaiyuan Palace, who had not imagined that Zhang Tie could have such an excellent performance.


    Elders of Huaiyuan Palace knew that Zhang Tie excelled at spear throwing skill; however, they had not imagined that Zhang Tie could reach the degree "Thunder-in-Palm".


    Although Zhang Tie had not manifested his aiding strength in front of the elders of Huaiyuan Palace, elders of Huaiyuan Palace knew that Zhang Tie possessed aiding strength. Because when Zhang Tie manifested his aiding strength in Ewentra Archipelago, it aroused an extreme uproar; although he did that as Peter, it was not a secret for elders of Huaiyuan Palace at all. There were only two points that elders of Huaiyuan Palace had not imagined: first, they''ve not imagined that Zhang Tie''s aiding strength¡ª¡ªSupreme Protection was that powerful. With the effect of his Supreme Protection, the 5 elders of Huaiyuan Palace had outdone themselves, which was really a surprise for them. What shocked them much more was that dignified "gentleman" name-card manifested by the aura of the aiding strength.


    Although Huaiyuan Palace had nobles and knights, it didn''t have a gentleman yet, who was destined to be sage.


    In Taixia Country, nobles'' titles of nobility were divided into duke, marquis, count, viscount and baron, which were generally called Human Knights, namely, knights being awarded by humans.


    However, "gentleman" was also called Heavenly Knight, namely, knight being awarded by the God.


    In Taixia Country, there was a classic maxim which almost everybody agreed upon.


    ¡ª¡ªHeavenly knights would definitely be followed by human knights.


    This was the so-called extreme nobility of gentleman!


    In the future, Huaiyuan Palace would definitely have an eminent noble who was awarded both human knight and heavenly knight. Such a hereditary major clan would definitely be influential and respectable in Taixia Country. The nobility of double knights indicated the remarkable military exploits of ancestors and the inheritance of the bloodline and culture of this clan while the latter was most frequently valued by others as the manifestation of the real deep background of a clan.


    At this moment, looking at the amazed eyes of the other major clans'' elders, the elders of Huaiyuan Palace felt proud of themselves.


    The elders of Huaiyuan Palace also knew that Zhang Tie had cultivated in a tower of time and killed a chief priest of Sacred Light Empire; however, they had not imagined that Zhang Tie could stand so long in the Heavens Ball. They all thought that the one who could stand so long should be Elder Muray.


    As Zhang Tie could stand so long, it indicated his battle strength very well.


    Nobody could imagine that Zhang Tie would suddenly land on the ground. In the opinion of those elders of clans across Youzhou Province, he was seeking for death.


    Being excited, at the sight of Zhang Tie''s movement, the elders of Huaiyuan Palace who had exited the Heavens Ball immediately exchanged a glance with each other as they didn''t know why Zhang Tie suddenly made such a foolish decision.


    Almost the moment Zhang Tie landed on and started to run, the White Tiger Complex was in a din.


    "Ahh? Why did Zhang Mushen land on the ground? Is he seeking for death?" Perhaps those people in the White Tiger Complex didn''t know about Zhang Mushen a few hours ago; however, they had already known his name now.


    "Was it because he could not continue flying?"


    "That''s possible. It''s already out of our imaginations that Zhang Mushen could stand so long. Even if he could not continue flying, it''s nothing strange. As for a young knight, it''s already very uneasy!" Someone waved his head and sighed with emotion.


    "Alas, pitifully, Lu Clan has 3 knights. On the ground, Zhang Mushen will be killed by demon knights soon. It seems that Lu Clan will finally take the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province!"


    Even Commander Cheng faintly frowned when he saw Zhang Tie landing on the ground. ''By landing on the ground at this time, it''s nothing different than giving up the resistance. Even though he could dodge from the chase of demon knights for a short while, he would hardly make any points.''


    Commander Cheng felt a bit disappointed...


    In the mirage, Lu Dingzhi''s and Zhang Taixuan''s battlefields suddenly became fiercer, which immediately attracted the attention of most of the people in the White Tiger Complex.


    "Lu Dingzhi and Zhang Taixuan could not stand it any longer!" The elder of Heavens Fortune Sect murmured.


    ...


    In the Heavens Ball, undoubtedly, the most powerful knights must kill the most demon knights; however, the most powerful knights might not stick to the end as they bore the greatest stress in the Heavens Ball too.


    Through endless collisions between Lu Dingzhi, Zhang Taixuan and 3-in-1 demon knights matrix, although more and more demon knights were killed, Lu Dingzhi and Zhang Taixuan were also suffering more and more wounds. As for the two human knights, this was a bloody and desperate fight. They should not have any fluke mind.


    Their sides were piled with broken corpses of demon knights. However, since the beginning, they had been attacked by more and more demon knights.


    Now, 10 demon knights were attacking Zhang Taixuan and Lu Dingzhi.


    If they could stick to the end, they would face two 3-in-1 demon knights matrices, namely 6 demon knights respectively. This explained why demon knights would always be 10 more than that of human knights. Everybody had guessed that 12 demon knights could form four 3-in-1 matrices.


    After a few minutes, Zhang Taixuan took his body as the crossbow and his qi, blood and spirit as the bolt...


    By contrast, the 6 golden fireballs flying around Lu Dingzhi had turned increasingly smaller. Finally, those fireballs entered Lu Dingzhi''s body and turned Lu Dingzhi and his battle qi into a burning torch.


    In the final moment, Lu Dingzhi uttered a roar which could be heard over 100 miles away while his flames turned fiercer instantly, wrapping 3 demon knights into his flames. He then burned into ashes with 3 demon knights at the same time...


    Almost at the same time, Zhang Taixuan triggered his last bolt in the Heavens Ball with his body as the crossbow and the bolt. After drawing a fiery line in the cloud and wind, Count Long Wind and the 5 demon knights turned into blood foam and disappeared at the same time...


    Watching Zhang Taixuan applying his Heavenly Crossbow Bloodline in such a heroic and decisive way, the entire Youzhou City, including White Tiger Complex became silent immediately.


    ...


    On two sides of the Heavens Ball, Lu Dingzhi and Zhang Taixuan opened their eyes and stood up at the same time.


    "It was really a cool fight, shoulder to shoulder with Brother Lu today. I hope to give a cool blow to the demons on the real battlefields in the future!"


    "Brother Taixuan''s Heavenly Crossbow Bloodline was indeed extremely destructive. I candidly admit defeat!" In the end, Zhang Taixuan killed two more demon knights than Lu Dingzhi. Therefore, his points were a bit higher than that of Lu Dingzhi.


    After throwing a glance at each other, they burst out into laughter at the same time.


    Zhang Taixuan killed 29 demon knights; plus 9 battle spirits, he got 154 points on the list.


    Lu Dingzhi killed 27 demon knights; plus 11 battle spirits, he got 146 points on the list.


    Lu Dingzhi was 8 points lower than that of Zhang Taixuan.


    However, Lu Clan gained 16 points more than that of Zhang Clan due to an advantage in population.


    Lu Clan gained 339 points while Zhang Clan gained 323 points in total. However, Gu Clan, which was thought highly of before the competition only gained 277 points on the list.


    Lu Clan had 2 more knights in the Heavens Ball while Zhang Clan only had Zhang Tie inside...


    Everybody thought that Lu Clan would win the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province...

 837 The Lion in Youzhou Province VIII

    After Zhang Taixuan and Lu Dingzhi exited the Heavens Ball, the situation in Heavens Ball changed greatly.


    In the last 5 human knights, Zhang Taixuan and Lu Dingzhi had borne the most stress. However, the moment the two human knights exited, there were only three human knights in the Heavens Ball. The three human knights had to face thirteen demon knights; on average, each of them had to face the attack from 4 demon knights. What a great stress!


    The Lu elder who mastered the aiding strength was killed by demon knights in 2 minutes, leaving the last Lu elder and Zhang Tie in the Heavens Ball.


    The last elder of Lu Clan was emaciated and silent. Even in the fight, his eyes were half-closed like having not woken up. He was almost the least attractive one among all the elders of Lu Clan. Like Zhang Tie, this elder''s long vitality was out of the expectation of too many people. However, just like in the real battlefields, those who could survive at the end were always not those who were most attractive at the beginning of the battle; instead, those who had both great battle strength and good luck.


    Only Zhang Tie''s and that Lu elder''s battle situation was manifested in the mirage.


    Zhang Tie was running fast and jumping like a flexible ball on the ground while being chased by 6 demon knights.


    The other 6 demon knights were chasing after that Lu elder.


    Nobody had imagined that the two common knights could make any achievement in such a situation.


    Almost everyone thought that Lu Clan''s and Zhang Clan''s points would remain unchanged. Even though the elders of Huaiyuan Palace were letting out a sigh inside. Unless Zhang Tie killed over 4 demon knights, Zhang Clan could barely turn the table. However, being besieged by 6 demon knights, it was almost impossible for Zhang Tie to kill over 4 demon knights. Any other knights in White Tiger Complex could barely do that while being chased by 6 demon knights, even Zhang Taixuan the would-be earth knight could only bear 5 demon knights'' besiege at the same time, not to mention Zhang Tie.


    However, the fact was always out of everyone''s expectation.


    The last moment of the remaining Lu elder was pretty tragic. After his protective battle qi was broken through, his legs were shattered into pieces by a demon knight while his chest and lower abdomen were penetrated through by two demon knights'' 4 sharp claws; his head was kicked forcefully by another demon knight and almost transformed while his skull was broken...


    The time seemed to stand still...


    Everyone thought that that Lu elder was destined to die with such a heavy wound.


    However, in the next second, a terrifying qi appeared on the body of that Lu elder. Closely after that, his battle qi expanded many times in a split second while an extremely giant figure''s shadow with extremely ferocious killing qi appeared behind him. Although his head had been chopped off, he was still patting his beating his chest by two huge axes in hands, causing a thunder each time. Everything in the world was like an ant in front of such a headless giant.


    Being scared by the huge giant''s shadow, the 6 demon knights besieging the Lu elder became still like frogs being gazed by a ferocious boa in a split second.


    When the giant''s shadow appeared in the distance, Zhang Tie, who was running, became stunned immediately as he sensed an extremely bold and powerful qi with endless fighting will and killing qi descending in the space of the simulated earth-element realm like a sea of magma...


    "Xing Tian waves axes with full ambitions, good..." Commander Cheng patted the desk and sprung up with raised eyebrows.


    ''It''s Xing Tian Bloodline, it''s Xing Tian Bloodline...''


    At this moment, all the onlookers in the White Tiger Complex felt blood boiling while many of them became dumbfounded by what they saw.


    Like how nobody had imagined that Zhang Tie could be a gentleman, perhaps, nobody had imagined that that emaciated and silent Lu elder could be so dauntless except for the other elders of Lu Clan. Those who could awaken Xing Tian bloodline were the real dauntless men. Fewer than one of 100 million Hua people could awaken Xing Tian bloodline. These dauntless men were always extremely resolute, indomitable. Although their bones were ground into ashes, they would have undying, strong will. These dauntless men were the backbone of Hua people and the spiritual pillar of Taixia Country. They were the most respectable in Taixia Country.


    Xing Tian was the battle god of Hua people. Under the influence of a heavy wound, Xing Tian Bloodline would be activated. The heavier the wound was, the more powerful and terrifying would the bloodline be.


    With broken legs, transformed head and 4 sharp claws into his chest and lower abdomen, in the next second, the 4 arms were broken. Closely after that, with the broken 4 arms of the 2 demon knights, the Lu elder tore all the 6 demon knights into pieces like tearing roasted chickens by inserting his hands into their chests.


    After killing the 6 demon knights, that emaciated body swayed in the air for a second before bursting out an extremely masculine bloody battle qi, which covered the space for a long time...


    ...


    At this moment, the Lu elder opened his eyes on one side of the Heavens Ball in the Heavenly Altar.


    Lu Dingzhi bowed deeply towards that elder, who did the same to Lu Dingzhi. After that, he returned to the team of Lu Clan as silently as before without any pleasant look just like withered wood.


    Everybody knew why Lu Dingzhi deeply bowed towards that elder, because that elder increased another 30 points for Lu Clan, making it 369 points, which fixed the winner of this competition.


    ''It turns out that this elder is the trump card of Lu Clan. Lu Clan in Spiritualmaple Prefecture is really unfathomable!'' Many people in the White Tiger Complex thought inside.


    ''If Zhang Clan wants to turn the tide in this case, Zhang Tie had to kill over 10 demon knights. However, it''s too unrealistic. Unless I could enter it once again, Zhang Tie could barely kill over 10 demon knights alone.''


    Zhang Taixuan let out a sigh inside too...


    This competition was really full of splendid climaxes while each Clan had their own brilliant means.


    Through this competition, people witnessed a gentleman and a dauntless fighter. Even if it was many years later, this competition would also be a much-told tale in the history of Youzhou Province.


    ''Although Gu Clan failed to make enough impact in the competition, it seems that we''re not wronged!'' After throwing a glance at the teams of Zhang Clan and Lu Clan, Gu Dashou sighed inside, ''Zhang Clan and Lu Clan have their own means, which could never be matched by common hereditary major clans. Although Gu Clan had tried our best, we still lagged behind others.''


    However, when he realized that Lu Clan or Zhang Clan would also lose the battle like Gu Clan in the end, Gu Dashou recovered his composure, but...


    Gu Dashou moved his eyes onto Gu Qingyun.


    Gu Qingyun looked a bit pale, his lips pressed together. At the same time, with burning flames in his eyes, he kept his eyes close on that guy who was jumping in the mirage.


    Gu Dashou lightly patted Gu Qingyun''s hand and didn''t say anything. Gu Qingyun''s look made Gu Dashou a bit sad. ''Growing up with the halos of talent, he suddenly trod under the foot of another guy. I hope Qingyun could tide over this pass. It''s better for him to suffer a frustration at this moment than suffering a frustration in front of real demons in the future.''


    Gu Dashou sighed inside with emotions.


    Along Gu Qingyun''s eyes, Gu Dashou moved his eyes back on the mirage. After watching Zhang Tie for a few seconds, he had started to frown faintly, ''How could Zhang Mushen constantly run so fast? Has he drunk dragon blood or what?''


    The same question occurred to the minds of many people in the White Tiger Complex.


    Zhang Tie was chased by 11 demon knights. All the other onlookers thought that Zhang Mushen could stand at most 2-3 minutes in the Heavens Ball; however, they had not imagined that Zhang Mushen became increasingly spirited. Although being chased by more demon knights, he ran faster and faster...


    ''What the hell?''


    Watching Zhang Tie running on the ground, the elders of Huaiyuan Palace who had been hopeless suddenly had a little hope in their hearts. Even Zhang Taixuan''s heart started to pound as he moved his eyes onto Zhang Tie once again...


    Watching Zhang Tie running on the ground, the deacons and disciples in Huaiyuan Mansion didn''t even dare breathe smoothly.


    Everyone in and out of Youzhou City finally moved their eyes onto that guy who was still persistent in the Heavens Ball...


    Watching Zhang Tie running on the ground, Commander Cheng gradually deepened his frown. All of a sudden, he relieved his frown and turned round to ask the elder of Heavens Fortune Sect, "With which ancestral bloodline could people run faster and faster?"


    After throwing a glassy-eyed look at Commander Cheng, the elder of Heavens Fortune Sect replied, "Kuafu Pursues the Sun..."


    The moment he revealed the bloodline, the four words had spread over the White Tiger Complex like an invisible shock wave...


    ...

 838 The Lion in Youzhou Province IX

    Zhang Tie was running as fast as the wind on the land covering 100,000 square miles while the 11 demon knights were chasing after him like falcons that chased after a fierce beast.


    In the Heavens Ball, Zhang Tie could clearly see the total points of Lu Clan and Zhang Clan, the difference between points of the two clans stimulated Zhang Tie greatly.


    The bloody battle qi left by the last Lu elder had not faded away. Watching that battle qi, Zhang Tie only forced a bitter smile inside. Although he didn''t see what happened over there, the sudden increase of 30 points of Lu Clan reminded Zhang Tie that the last Lu elder had just killed 6 demon knights in a split second.


    It was not important how he killed them. What was important was that 5 more black lights had joined in the chase for Zhang Tie in a split second. Wherever Zhang Tie passed by, he would be attacked intensively from the sky, causing huge pits here and there on the ground. How shocking it was! However, Zhang Tie was just like a sea swallow who could escape from the storm and furious billows safe and sound, causing those demons to be in vain.


    Zhang Tie knew that Lu Clan indeed made a trouble for him. Previously, Zhang Tie considered that whether he might be a bit special if he continued to kill 4 demon knights; however, after he made his determination to kill 4 more demon knights, that Lu elder made an even bigger trouble for him by turning the number of demon knights that he should kill from 4 to 10. As a result, Zhang Tie felt like failing a tongue twister.


    ''If I want to make Zhang''s total points surpass that of Lu Clan to win the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province for Zhang Taixuan, I have to kill at least 10 demon knights.''


    However, this seemed to be an impossible task and test for any black iron knight.


    As for Zhang Tie, he was not thinking about whether he could kill the 10 demon knights; but how many trump cards he had to expose.


    ''For the benefit of Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Clan, I have to pay a price; however, I should not expose too many trump cards. I''ve just been to Taixia Country and am already very eye-catching; if I exposed too many trump cards, I would become too attractive in Taixia Country. It''s not what I want. Many times, it''s definitely necessary for me to be low-key and keep some secrets. There was an old Hua saying, common fame is seldom to blame.''


    As for the 5 more demon knights, Zhang Tie just spared 5 more parts of his knight''s consciousness to focus on them.


    Nobody could imagine Zhang Tie''s current state. If those onlookers in White Tiger Complex realized Zhang Tie''s current state, they would definitely be dumbfounded.


    Zhang Tie split his knight''s consciousness into 12 parts, 11 parts of which for the 11 demon knights respectively. Each demon knight''s movements were locked by Zhang Tie; each demon knight''s speed, height, location and attack were in Zhang Tie''s close concern.


    To be honest, although this feeling was very shocking to the public and even nobody would believe that, it was very simple for Zhang Tie. Because Zhang Tie felt that he only needed to treat the 11 demon knights as 11 element crystals which were flying rapidly in the elements realm. It was actually not difficult for him to get the movements of those demon knights.


    Besides the 11 parts of his knight''s consciousness for the 11 knights, Zhang Tie spared one more part for paying close attention to the surrounding terrain.


    In such a state, the information of all the 11 demon knights, the topographical information and other factors such as wind speed converged in Zhang Tie''s mind constantly at a high speed. After combining this information, Zhang Tie made an analysis about them with his powerful knight''s consciousness before outputting the optimal solution¡ª¡ªadjust his speed, step, direction, location and height to the "one move, one scenery" state at any second. No matter how his enemy chased after him flurriedly, he was just running leisurely.


    This time, Zhang Tie combined his Kuafu Bloodline, "one move, one scenery state", distraction ability, great physical strength and knight''s consciousness and showed his terrifying, great ability on the ground once again, which shocked all the onlookers.


    ...


    In the White Tiger Complex...


    Many onlookers just watched the mirage without a wink.


    Normally, all the onlookers would feel bored about such a pure chase if it lasted too long, except for this time.


    At the beginning, when Zhang Tie was chased by 6 demon knights, many people didn''t sense Zhang Tie''s specialty; however, when the number of demon knights chasing after Zhang Tie reached 11, Zhang Tie gradually revealed his specialty to the public, facing the sudden two times greater attacking density.


    The 11 demon knights'' powerful battle qis struck the ground near Zhang Tie like lightning bolts, causing a lot of huge dense smoke and destroying all the objects on the ground near Zhang Tie''s whereabouts. In the tyrannical and destructive scene, whenever everybody else thought Zhang Tie had been killed, Zhang Tie would stride out of the dense battle qi attacks like a phoenix of nirvana in the legends, which never disappointed onlookers.


    Zhang Tie''s every step was full of an indescribable meaning and artistic conception. He would always land on the most delicate and beautiful point in the most suitable time. The moment he landed on one point, the surrounding scene would be brilliant at once like lotus flowers breaking out of the water, making onlookers delighted.


    He was not running; instead, he was dancing like the wind and lightning bolt.


    Although Zhang Tie was moving like the wind, he would cause thunders like huge hammers knocking at the ground the moment he landed on the ground.


    Although Zhang Tie was moving like a lightning bolt, he moved as slowly as fog and as fast as a shadow.


    In the mirage, Zhang Tie''s every step forward would germinate a lotus flower and bring onlookers into the "one move, one scenery state". Although passing by numerous lotus flowers, he didn''t touch any leaves.


    Compared to the boring chase which would make everyone weary, such a dance made everybody crazy.


    ...


    "What the hell? No way! How could he land over there? How could he appear over there?" An elder of Yang Clan in Chaoyang Prefecture murmured with a thrilled look as he kept his eyes close on Zhang Tie''s shadow.


    ''Does he have eyes on his back? No way! Even if he had a pair of eyes on his back, he could not do it either. It was not enough at all. Even if he had an extremely powerful knight''s consciousness, he could not do that either. Why do I feel that the 11 demon knights are passive in front of him? What the hell?'' An elder of Simon Clan in Xingbei Prefecture scratched his hair with a sad look.


    "No way, no way, I''ve seen Kuafu Bloodline before. Even Kuafu Bloodline is not that exaggerated. His movements carry a special artistic conception. It must contain something else..." The head of Li Clan in Miyun Prefecture shouted.


    "Do you really think that he''s just running? Hmm..." Guo Hongyi kept her eyes close on Zhang Tie with a disdainful cold harrumph, "Although he doesn''t seem to launch an attack, he''s fighting in each stride; he''s fighting by running; he''s taking the initiative by running!"


    ''Fighting? Fighting by running?''


    Some people else seemed to understand something but some were still confused...


    "Ahh? No way..."


    In the uproar, the elder of Heavens Fortune Sect suddenly turned around and posed a question to his disciple, "You''ve learned the book of changes? How to apply no-change, simple-change and great-change on the battlefield at the same time? Turn passive into active with the law of great-change; simplify difficult steps through simple-change; the law of no-change is like how the universe runs constantly. Am I clear?"


    The elder of Heavens Fortune Sect didn''t mean to lower his voice. Therefore, after hearing his words, all the others at present became silent.


    "As for the great-change, in the duel of knights, the one on the ground is in the disadvantageous position; however, it''s not absolute. Sometimes, the disadvantageous position could also convert into an advantageous position. Like how two boxers fight, the one being forced back in a wall corner would be very passive and lose his moving space. However, if one faced a flock of wolves or was besieged, he could move back to the wall corner purposefully in case of being harmed from the back. The wall and the ground remain unchanged, which would show different functions facing different enemies and situations. However, wall and ground don''t exist forever, the one who''s good at defense could hide wherever he wants. Although he''s defending; actually, he''s attacking. The demon knights could offend him from high positions; however, they could also succumb to him due to his great-change. That''s the law of great-change!" A disciple of Heavens Fortune Sect replied fluently after thinking for a short while.


    The elder of Heavens Fortune Sect nodded, "Not bad, what about simple-change?"


    "Just defend his enemies by running. Through running, he could gradually turn stronger and recover his physical strength just like how fierce tigers deepen into the mountain. By contrast, his enemies would turn increasingly weaker while gradually using up their battle qi and physical strength like how fish and shrimps come to the land. Only by running on the ground, he would be able to kill his enemies and convert the battle situation between defense and attack!"


    "What about no-change?"


    "Those who could use no-change are sages. They could follow the universal laws; retrospect themselves; watching samsara of everything and keep making unremitting efforts to improve themselves!"


    Everyone felt enlightened immediately. Watching that person in the mirage, they all sighed inside, ''What a talent! What a talent! I''ve not imagined that there''s such a talent in Youzhou Province.''


    ...


    After 2 hours, when Zhang Tie passed by a small arsenal on the ground, he quickly picked up a shield and a longsword. The moment he left it, the arsenal had been exploded into pieces by the attacks from the sky, causing a huge pit after a great earthquake...


    The number of the 11 demon knights remained unchanged. However, they were not as energetic as that 2 hours ago.


    In order to catch up with Zhang Tie, those demon knights'' battle qis and physical strengths had gradually come to the critical points due to constant flight and attacks at high speed. These demon knights constantly fought Zhang Tie for 2 hours.


    Although the demon knights'' battle strengths were similar to that of real demon knights, they were not real. Their intelligence and ability could not match that of real demon knights. Now that he was not forbidden to make use of such a trivial difference, Zhang Tie just made use of it...


    At this moment, the elder of Heavens Fortune Sect stealthily passed a jade plate to his disciple.


    Receiving that jade plate, that disciple directly disappeared in front of the public.


    Nobody noticed that, except for Commander Cheng who turned around. At this moment, the elder of Heavens Fortune Sect moved his lips, after hearing something, Commander Cheng became silent...


    ...


    After a few minutes, a powerful sword qi rushed into the sky from Zhang Tie''s body. At the same time, the golden aura of aiding strength reappeared as Zhang Tie activated his aiding strength once again...


    With a roar, Zhang Tie rushed towards the 11 demon knights like a fierce tiger entering a flock of sheep...


    Only after a few minutes, a demon knight''s body had been shattered into pieces by Zhang Tie''s sword lights...


    Zhang Clan''s points rose to 328 while the hearts of all the onlookers across Youzhou City started to pound. Elder Muray of Huaiyuan Palace almost sprung up from the ground. The elders of Lu Clan felt their hearts stop beating at once.


    At the same time, numerous attacks fell onto Zhang Tie; however, they were all blocked by Zhang Tie''s shield like a miracle.


    Zhang Tie used his shield and sword at the same time. He hid the sword behind his shield. The shield in his hand was like a spiritual living being. The onlookers felt that the shield could block all the attacks automatically. What a marvel!


    Another demon knight''s head flew away...


    The points of Zhang Clan rose to 333...


    ''8 left.'' Zhang Tie muttered.


    In the bloody battle, another black light flashed while a new demon knight as same as other demon knights appeared in the simulated space of earth-elements realm...

 839 The Lion in Youzhou Province X

    Zhang Tie forcefully smashed a demon knight as fast as a light. Meanwhile, his shield weirdly moved to his rear flank. After a few times of rapid movements, he had blocked the attacks of two demon knights who were drawing closer to him.


    While blocking attacks using the shield, Zhang Tie''s another hand penetrated through a demon knight''s physical defense fiercely as fast as a lightning bolt. In only a few seconds, his longsword collided with the demon knight''s weapon for over 100 times.


    Chasing after Zhang Tie consecutively for a few hours, those demon knights had consumed their battle qis and spirits so much. Therefore, after being shocked by Zhang Tie''s sword qi, the demon knight''s protective battle qi had started to rock like ripples. Watching that, the demon knight changed its face greatly as it instantly moved backward while changing its movements rapidly. However, Zhang Tie kept chasing after it like a worm gnawing its bone at the same speed.


    When that demon knight was retreating rapidly, it was moving upwards, downwards, leftwards or rightwards, frontwards or backwards. However, he was relatively still to Zhang Tie as the distance between it and Zhang Tie remained unchanged.


    After colliding it over 100 times, Zhang Tie''s longsword finally broke the demon knight''s double-hand defense and fell on its protective battle qi.


    In the next second, the longsword which was filled with the metal-attribute battle qi representing sharpness in the 5-elements battle qi radiated a white luster while being slashed onto the same part of the demon knight for over 100 times in ear-deafening explosions.


    The protective battle qi of the demon knight turned into surge billows, waves, cracked glasses and was finally broken into pieces...


    The longsword was then stabbed into the mouth of the demon knight and penetrated through its hindbrain. Zhang Tie then smashed its head into pieces like shattering a watermelon with an air hammer.


    With the death of this demon knight, Huaiyuan Palace''s points rose to 358...


    This was the 7th demon knight that Zhang Tie had killed...


    At the same time, 9 battle qis struck onto Zhang Tie''s body.


    After blocking 3 of the 9 battle qis, the shield with Class III consolidating rune effect finally broke apart...


    If such a shield could end its "life" in this way on the battlefield, it definitely deserved it.


    Zhang Tie then drew a light curtain with his longsword and blocked another 2 of the 9 battle qis. 4 more battle qis struck on the protective battle qi on Zhang Tie''s back directly, causing Zhang Tie to spit out a mouth of blood...


    ...


    Before those onlookers in White Tiger Complex and in and out of Youzhou City who were overwhelmed by the fierce battle between Zhang Tie and the demon knights sighed, Zhang Tie had flown away at a faster speed with the great inertia of that severe strike.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie threw out his longsword like throwing a javelin.


    A fiery line appeared in the air and shot towards a demon knight.


    With a roar, the demon knight expanded its scales all over its body with its bulgy protective battle qi. At the final critical moment, it nipped the longsword by its bare hands, which indicated its great battle strength as a demon knight obviously.


    In the split second, Zhang Tie had arrived in front of it and stretched out his hands...


    ...


    When Zhang Tie threw out that longsword and darted towards that demon knight in front of him while bumping into the chest of that demon knight, all the onlookers exclaimed in unison, ''Zhang Tie got the strike purposefully in order to gain a greater accelerated speed. Zhang Tie threw out that longsword so as to offset that demon knight''s simultaneous counter-attack. This created a condition for his next movement.''


    Zhang Tie instantly tightened that demon knight''s body and pushed it back as fast as a rocket.


    Due to a super high speed, all the other demon knights lagged behind.


    Zhang Tie''s physical strength was so terrifying that he could even transform an iron man. As a result, that demon knight''s protective battle qi uttered a "cracking" sound like a fresh bamboo being roasted above the fire.


    Within his tight clasp, the demon knight couldn''t move at all, neither could it launch a counter-attack; instead, it could only try its best to resist Zhang Tie''s powerful hands.


    The two knights swept over the ground in the simulated earth-element realm like a shell being fired from a cannon. They broke numerous huge cone-shaped stony pillars as high as dozens of meters even over 100 m.


    Wherever they passed by, those huge stony pillars would break and utter a sound as loud as those falling skyscrapers, causing dust all over the earth-elements realm and constant earthquakes. As a result, the complete landform was severely destroyed in a short period.


    The demon knight being tightly held by Zhang Tie interpreted a word "scapegoat".


    Zhang Tie''s moving speed was over 700 miles per hour. However, 90% of the impact on those cone-shaped huge stony pillars were resisted by the body and the protective battle qi of the demon knight. Each collision was no different than a fierce blow from a knight at the same level as the demon knight.


    Watching such a splendid battle scene in the mirage, all the commoners in and out of Youzhou City exclaimed out of excitement, sending the entire Youzhou City in an uproar.


    "The inexperienced ones are going to see the appearance while the experienced ones appreciate the contents!" As for those commoners, of course, the louder and the more destructive the fight between knights was and the stronger the audio-visual effect was, the cooler would be the fight.


    Watching Zhang Tie tightly clutching that demon knight and knocking down so many huge stony pillars one after another, all the onlookers felt it was pretty stimulative. Such a battle situation could definitely match that between Lu Dingzhi, Zhang Taixuan and demon knights just now.


    ...


    Even Zhang Tie didn''t remember how many stony pillars had that demon knight broken. After flying over 10 minutes with that demon knight, Zhang Tie suddenly felt no resistance against his hands...


    ¡ª¡ªBang


    That demon knight was blown up while its plasma sprayed over Zhang Tie''s body, making Zhang Tie extremely grim.


    That demon knight became the first demon knight to be tightened to death by someone in the simulated earth-elements realm.


    363 points, Huaiyuan Palace''s points rose again.


    Like the bloody demon god, Zhang Tie raised his head and roared with full killing intent. Before those knights followed up, he had rushed back towards them...


    ...

 840 The Lion in Youzhou Province XI

    Gradually, those demon knights on Zhang Tie''s side disappeared one after another...


    In the sky of the simulated earth-elements realm, the total points of Zhang Clan reached 373, which had surpassed 369, the total points of Lu Clan.


    With his own efforts, on the premise that Zhang Clan''s points lagged behind that of Lu Clan, Zhang Tie constantly killed 10 demon knights in the earth-elements realm and increased the points of Zhang Clan to 373 from 323 and finally fixed the winner of this competition.


    Nobody could have imagined such a reversal.


    If this competition was a black casework, nobody would be convinced by this result. However, this competition happened under the gaze of all the major clans across Youzhou Province. They were participants and witnesses. The whole process was transparent. Especially in the end, when the last human knight fought demon knights in the Heavens Ball, his movements became the focus of onlookers in White Tiger Complex and across Youzhou Province.


    It was really the very moment to witness marvels.


    Since the guy landed on the ground and started to run, he had been creating marvels.


    Being chased by 11 powerful demon knights, that man ran for over 2 hours. In running, he gradually reversed the course of action and took the initiative of the entire battlefield.


    It was not a pure fight, but had sublimed to a wholly new realm.


    The dialogue between the elder of Heavens Fortune Sect and his disciple brought an insight to a lot of people in the White Tiger Complex.


    However, it had not come to an end yet. When that man had the initiative, his longsword and shield shocked onlookers once again.


    That man was a sword sage. However, after being shocked so many times, the status sword sage could not shock people too much.


    What shocked people more than his status as a sword sage was his shield. Before watching Zhang Tie''s performance, none of the knights across Youzhou Province had imagined that a knight could use a shield so brilliantly. The shield seemed like it possessed its own consciousness and was alive. When in a fight, that shield could automatically block all the attacks as if it was not under Zhang Tie''s control.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie kept fighting at his will. Watching such a splendid fight, all the onlookers had an illusion. It seemed that Zhang Tie separated into two people in the fight. One was attacking demon knights in a dedicated way while the other was defending demon knights in a single-minded way.


    Attack and defense worked independently and combined with each other perfectly, greatly widening onlookers'' horizon.


    With a shield in hand, Zhang Tie''s battle strength increased by at least 50% at once.


    Such a skill combining shield and longsword was really a marvel. It was all the onlookers'' first time to watch it, including Commander Cheng.


    There were shield powerhouses; however, nobody else could turn a shield into a living being across Youzhou Province, even the entire Northeast Military Region.


    When Zhang Tie''s shield was broken due to excessive defense, those in the White Tiger Complex felt like watching a beautiful flower withering as they were sighing for not being able to enjoy such a unique skill anymore.


    Closely after that, everyone witnessed how a powerful demon knight was strangled by a man...


    Being strangled? Such a death method was humiliating even for a common fighter, not to mention a demon knight. Because only the emaciated ones might be strangled.


    In front of Zhang Mushen, the youngest elder of Zhang Clan, even a powerful demon knight would be strangled like a woman being strangled by a robust thug.


    The onlookers were really stimulated at that moment.


    "F*ck! Is he even a human?" Many people exclaimed inside when they watched Zhang Tie standing still in the air while being covered with blood, broken innards and intestines, even the demon general''s eyes were stuck to his shoulder.


    After losing his weapon, Zhang Tie manifested his bolder and fiercer side. When he released his iron-blood fist with full killing intent which had been quenched by numerous deaths and countless blood, Zhang Tie turned more terrifying like a mad lion.


    The next two demon knights were torn apart by Zhang Tie alive...


    When he tore apart the second demon knight, he bore other demon knights'' attack and broke through the protective battle qi of the demon knight. At the same time, he inserted his hands into its chest. Closely after that, he tore it apart like tearing a roasted chicken. With a crash, blood rain sprayed everywhere...


    Zhang Clan''s points rose once again, calming down the entire world, including the White Tiger Complex.


    Even being older, the elders of Zhang Clan couldn''t help but quiver due to extreme excitement. They were even in tears...


    This was the tear of pleasure and excitement, which witnessed that Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace created a marvel out of impossibility¡ª¡ªFrom today on, Zhang Clan would be the first clan in Youzhou Province, Taixia Country to root in Taxia Country completely and proudly...


    By contrast, Lu elders became silent, Lu Dingzhi let out a sigh inside, ''Lu Clan didn''t fail due to our poor battle skills, but because of such a weirdo in Zhang Clan, who turned the tide at the final moment. With such a great figure in Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Clan in Yanghe Prefecture is destined to flourish!''


    ''What a figure! What a figure...''


    "Brother Taixuan, congratulations!" After recovering his composure, Lu Dingzhi cupped his hands towards Zhang Taixuan with a generous smile.


    Zhang Taixuan took a deep breath as he cupped towards Lu Dingzhi with a glassy-eyed look.


    When Zhang Tie tore apart the 10th demon knight, Gu Qingyun''s face turned pale once again. Like being punched forcefully by someone, Gu Qingyun felt that his pride and reputation was destroyed together with that demon knight...


    Gu Dashou threw a worried look at Gu Qingyun.


    ...


    In the Heavens Ball, after the final result came out, all the remaining demon knights had disappeared, except for one, who was standing on the opposite of Zhang Tie in the distance. Outsiders seemingly felt that something special at the end of the battle was normal. Therefore, they just waited for the coming battle.


    ...


    Zhang Tie was also very amazed at this moment. When all the demon knights disappeared, he thought that he could also leave. However, after waiting for a short while, when he wondered whether he could not leave until committing suicide, he felt a hot flow inside his body. Like having drunk a vial of advanced recovery medicament, he felt that his physical strength and spirit had rapidly recovered to the highest level when he entered the Heavens Ball.


    ''What happened?'' Zhang Tie was shocked as he felt being locked by one eye light. Zhang Tie looked along the eye light and found the last demon knight was gazing at him while its battle intention was gradually rising up...


    Zhang Tie realized that the last battle was waiting for him here...


    ''F*ck!'' At such a critical moment, Zhang Tie would never waste time on this demon knight; therefore, he instantly darted towards it...


    The moment Zhang Tie moved, that demon knight also moved.


    Their fierce battle qis collided from over 200 m away, causing a big earthquake over hundreds of square meters.


    The moment he collided with that demon knight, Zhang Tie had felt that this one was different than the former demon knights, ''This one is definitely not common...''


    In a split second, the demon knight flashed through their collision region and came to Zhang Tie''s side. He ferociously punched Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi and sent Zhang Tie flying backward...


    "Ho..." The demon knight roared as it rubbed its hands. Closely after that, a strong light beam appeared in its hands and fell onto Zhang Tie''s body directly, sending Zhang Tie flying backward like a shell once again...


    Closely after that, the demon knight moved like a ghost and appeared on Zhang Tie''s side once again. It then directly kicked Zhang Tie''s chest in an overwhelming way from above Zhang Tie, smashing Zhang Tie onto the ground like a meteor, causing a huge pit with a diameter of dozens of meters...


    Being shocked by this, the air above the ground was covered with dust while those huge, white dandelion fine hair within hundreds of meters was floating...


    ...


    Those people in and out of Youzhou City who thought that the battle would soon come to an end in the Heavens Ball became stunned. The last fight had made everyone spirited once again. They had not imagined that the last fight in the Heavens Ball could be more splendid at the last critical moment.


    Zhang Taixuan slightly frowned as he threw a glance at Commander Cheng. He then found the disciple of Heavens Fortune Sect had disappeared...


    The elder of Heavens Fortune Sect revealed a sudden smile at Zhang Taixuan. Zhang Taixuan then understood something; he became silent and continued to watch the fight in the Heavens Ball.


    Since the last fight broke out, the onlookers in the White Tiger Complex who had just become relaxed turned solemn gradually...


    Although there was only one demon knight left, the fight became 10 times fiercer than that just now...


    ''Did Zhang Mushen meet a powerful opponent in the Heavens Ball?''


    ...


    That demon knight just stood still in the sky and waited for the dust to fade away.


    Zhang Tie spat out dust as he picked himself up from the ground. After that, the moment he raised his head and saw that demon knight, Zhang Tie''s eyes had turned red, "D*mn, you want a real fight, right..."


    "Boom", Zhang Tie stomped onto the ground, making a crack on the ground. At the same time, he shot himself into the sky and collided with the demon knight.


    ...


    After fighting the demon general, Zhang Tie had not experienced such a miserable battle for a long time. ''This demon knight is just a bit weaker than the demon general. Among black iron knights, this one is definitely a powerhouse. It might soon promote to an earth knight.''


    Not only that, Zhang Tie found that this demon knight had rich battle experiences, which could even match his battle skills which he had formed due to rich experiences in the trouble-reappearance situations.


    ''This is a powerful enemy, a real enemy!'' Zhang Tie exerted his utmost efforts since they collided with each other.


    ...


    1 hour later, the two knight''s protective battle qis were both collapsed. Zhang Tie and that demon knight then rolled, wrestled and fell onto the ground forcefully, causing another huge pit...


    Zhang Tie broke its right arm while Zhang Tie''s left arm was smashed into pieces.


    The moment they fell onto the ground, the demon knight hit Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen with its left knee, causing a severe damage to Zhang Tie''s body; closely after that, he swept his leg towards Zhang Tie''s leg, breaking Zhang Tie''s left leg at once.


    With bloody eyes, Zhang Tie hit onto its lower abdomen with his right knee ferociously. Closely after that, he butted onto the demon knight''s face with his head, causing its head to raise up.


    They then spat out blood at the same time...


    The demon knight''s one hand got rid of Zhang Tie''s wrestle and gave a severe blow to Zhang Tie''s heart, although having not penetrated the latter''s body.


    Watching that demon knight''s raised face, Zhang Tie roared and ferociously bit its throat.


    Being benefited from so many seven-strength fruits and fruit of source, Zhang Tie''s teeth, which represented the strength of marrow, was as firm as blades made up of polished diamonds.


    The moment he put forth his strength, Zhang Tie had penetrated through the fine scales over the demon knight''s neck and cut through its windpipe...


    Zhang Tie ferociously tore it with his teeth, causing its blood to spray over Zhang Tie''s face. Some blood even entered Zhang Tie''s mouth...


    This time, Zhang Tie sensed the "quiver" of this demon knight due to fear...


    "Ahh..." In crazy cries, that demon knight started to attack Zhang Tie more ferociously. Spitting out a mouth of blood, Zhang Tie tightly seized this demon knight. Closely after that, like a fierce animal, he bit its main blood vessel on the side of its windpipe and cut through it with his sharp teeth. He then tore off a large piece of bloody flesh and broke its main blood vessel on its neck. Meanwhile, he swallowed its flesh...


    3 minutes later, only half of the demon knight''s neck was stuck to its head. Before death, the demon knight still looked scared.


    "Pah..." Zhang Tie spat out the blood and dogmeat of the demon knight and roared as he stood up in the huge pit in a groggy way with blood stains all over his face, "Who else?"


    378, Zhang Clan''s points rose once again and fixed there.


    In the next second, Zhang Tie felt that he exited the Heavens Ball and returned to his own body...

 841 The Lion in Youzhou Province XII

    It felt the same as leaving trouble-reappearance situations when he left the Heavens Ball. After returning to his body spiritually, Zhang Tie felt pretty quiet in the surroundings except for the sounds of breath.


    After opening his eyes, Zhang Tie saw people watching him with various expressions.


    The elders of Huaiyuan Palace, including Zhang Taixuan, were bowing deeply towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie hurriedly bowed deeply towards them too. After that, he returned to the team of Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace while being treated as a pre-historical animal.


    After quite a while, Commander Cheng finally let out a deep sigh.


    "I''ve been fighting in real earth-elements realm for about 60 years and have seen numerous human and demon powerhouses; but I have only seen demons eat hundreds of millions of humans in each holy war; today, I find such a special knight who could be as fierce as a lion while fighting demons. At the critical moment, even though his limbs were broken, he still ate demon alive and drank demon''s blood, how heroic he was!" Commander Cheng''s swarthy face turned bright out of pride amd excitement. He then clapped his hands, which was as loud as thunder, "If all the Hua people behaved like him, demons would be exterminated. Come on, bring me my dragon-marrow liquor!"


    The moment Commander Cheng finished his words, his attendants had brought in two jars of liquor, one to Commander Cheng, the other to Zhang Tie.


    All the people at present, officers or heads and elders of all the clans were watching Zhang Tie with extremely "admiring" looks.


    The biggest winner of this competition was Zhang Taixuan, Count Long Wind of Zhang clan in Yanghe Prefecture; however, the most brilliant one was this Zhang elder who looked just 16-17 years old. Being praised by Commander Cheng and gifted with dragon-marrow liquor, Zhang Mushen would definitely have a bright future in Taixia Country.


    "This liquor was gifted by His Majesty when I went to Xuanyuan Hill many years ago. It could relocate your tendons and purify your marrow; maintain and improve your physical health and spirit; consolidate your chakra... One drop of this liquor would be worth 10 kgs of bright pearls. With one drop of this liquor, commoners would feel burning sensations all over their body with relocated tendons and broken bones. They would feel too painful and might even commit suicide. Therefore, only knights could drink such a liquor. Even though knights could barely become drunk after drinking 3 glasses constantly. I''ve preserved these two jars of liquor for so many years. As I feel pretty happy today, I want to share it with you. Dare you compete with me?"


    The jar was purple with dragon patterns on it. It was as large as a ripe common pumpkin. It looked like being made of purple crystal; however, it felt very heavy. After weighing it by one hand, Zhang Tie felt it was about 50-60 kgs with a line of lower small seal characters on it¡ª¡ªÐùÔ¯Ö®ÇðÉÙ¸®Ì«¹ÙÃØÖƳʹ±! Zhang Tie was stealthily glancing at this jar of liquor just now; after listening to the explanation of Commander Cheng and watching the thirsty eyes in the surroundings, Zhang Tie was sure that this dragon-marrow liquor was definitely a top drink. ''Evidently, Emperor Xuanyuan usually drinks it. Even though Commander Cheng only has two jars. A drop of such liquor would be worth 10 kgs of bright pearl, who will miss such a precious chance?''


    ''Elder Muyuan is right. The moment I become famous, the benefits would arrive. Given the dragon-marrow liquor, I''m afraid that I could not buy it even if I have money.''


    "Please, Commander Cheng!" Zhang Tie raised his jar and put it straight.


    "Hahahaha..." Commander Cheng burst out into laughter while he released his battle qi and opened the cover of one purple jar, followed by Zhang Tie.


    The moment they opened the cover, an extremely rich fragrance of liquor had spilled out of the jars; filled the Heavenly Altar and entered people''s brains. Besides the exotic fragrance, the dragon-marrow liquor was enshrouding while a dragon-shaped light floated out of each jar. Given such an image, they could imagine how precious was such liquor.


    Among the elders of each major clan, especially those, who loved drinks so much, were forcefully sniffing the exotic fragrance while gazing at the two jars of dragon-marrow liquor like how hungry wolves stared at fat sheep. At the same time, they forcefully swallowed their saliva.


    Zhang Tie found that Elder Gu Qinglong, whom he met in the Heavens Ball couldn''t move his eyes away from the jar in his hand. Gu Qinglong had swallowed his saliva for hundreds of times. He seemed longing to drink it on behalf of Zhang Tie.


    Whereas, everyone knew that it was gifted by Commander Cheng. Even if they were drooling about that, they could only watch him drink.


    Watching Commander Cheng raising his head and pouring the amber liquor into his mouth straightly, Zhang Tie imitated him and also controlled the dragon-marrow liquor to flow into his mouth by battle qi like drinking water under a water faucet.


    Zhang Tie felt that he was not drinking a liquor, but a fire with exotic fragrance. The moment the liquor entered his mouth, Zhang Tie''s qi, blood, bone, marrow, tendons and meridians all over had started to thunder. Closely after that, Zhang Tie''s chakra started to rock while each pore across Zhang Tie''s body started to release a burning heat like smoking chimneys...


    After drinking up that jar of liquor, Zhang Tie felt burning all over while his face turned red. Feeling a bit dazzled, he slightly rocked for a short while and almost fell down.


    "Thanks for your liquor, Commander Cheng!" Zhang Tie appreciated.


    "Fine!" After drinking up a jar of liquor, Commander Cheng''s swarthy face just turned red. He became more excited and liked Zhang Tie even more. ''He''s good at fight and drink; he could defeat that brat of Heavens Fortune Sect; what''s more, he''s a gentleman. What a talent!'' Commander Cheng sighed with emotions inside. He then asked in a genial tone, "I know you got Mushen as your characters after the rotating chakra ceremony, what''s your former name?"


    After hearing that Commander Cheng asked Zhang Tie''s private name, the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace exchanged a glance with each other as they all felt that Commander Cheng favored Zhang Tie. The others'' looks turned even more "admiring".


    "My parents named me Zhang Tie!"


    ''Zhang Tie?'' Everyone became stunned. This name was too common. Like the character Tie, the name Zhang Tie existed everywhere.


    However, at this time, this common name became unusual.


    "Fine, I will call you Zhang Tie from then on, I could bear it in mind easily!" After being silent for less than 1 second, Commander Cheng had expressed his opinion, "I lack a commissioned officer Duwei Sima, Class 5, General Eagle, would you like to take it?"


    ''Duwei Sima?'' After thinking about it for a short while, Zhang Tie remembered its meaning¡ª¡ªin Taixia Country, all the commissioned officers with Sima were related to the military. Major Sima, one of the top three chancellors in Taixia Country was mainly in charge of the war expeditions and military forces across Taixia Country. Duwei Sima was responsible for the imperial guards of Commander Cheng. Imperial guards of Commander Cheng was the most elite force of Northeast Military Region Commander in Taixia Country.


    Even though the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province, a lower province in Taixia Country was just Class 5, the power of Class 5 Duwei Sima could be imagined. What was more, this position was on the side of Commander Cheng. It was closer to Commander Cheng than a common provincial governor of a province. If he could do a good job, he would definitely have an inestimable, bright future. To put it straight, even if Zhang Tie resigned later on, as long as he had made some military exploits and had some experiences in his term of office, he could easily promote to a provincial governor or become a general cheji, which was on the same class as Duwei Sima.


    Soon after hearing Commander Cheng''s words, the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace and the elders of the other 9 major clans took a deep breath at the same time.


    Without having to turn round, Zhang Tie had already felt the scorching eyes of the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace on his back. He knew what they were thinking about. If being not afraid of Commander Cheng''s power and majesty, they might have long told him to accept it in a secret voice-transmit way. After taking this position, it would be no worse than winning the position of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province for Huaiyuan Palace. Additionally, with one person on the side of Commander Cheng, Zhang Clan would never be matched by the other clans across Youzhou Province.


    If Zhang Tie was docile, he might have succumbed to the surrounding scorching eyes.


    "I really appreciate your favor, Commander Cheng, but I''m afraid that I cannot accept this position!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, the entire White Tiger Complex became quiet.


    Commander Cheng faintly frowned while a dignified qi started to suffuse which brought a great stress to everyone at present.


    "Why?" After Commander Cheng asked the reason calmly, everyone else felt that the White Tiger Complex turned cold.


    Zhang Tie looked straight in the majestic eyes of Commander Cheng frankly as he replied in a depressed way, "I left home to join the army at 16, during the period when I fought demons almost 10 years in Waii Sub-continent, I rarely united with my family members. After coming to Youzhou Province, I realized that my mother was concerned about my safety almost every day during the past decade and had turned sick due to that. When I returned home a few days ago, my mother suddenly became ill due to extreme delight. As the old Hua saying went, when the son travels long away, his mother will always worry about him. I really cannot stand my mother worrying about me day by day while growing increasingly elder. Therefore, please forgive me for that! I don''t care about my bright future and honors. I only expect to stay in Youzhou Province and accompany my mother every day; I only hope that my mother doesn''t worry about me and have a good dream every night.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the surrounding looks became strange. Guo Hongyi''s look was strangest.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s face and listening to Zhang Tie''s explanation, Commander Cheng finally lowered his head and let out a deep sigh after quite a while, "Mother is kind, son is obedient, gentleman''s virtue could never be taken away!"


    "Thank you, Commander Cheng!" Zhang Tie bowed deeply towards Cheng Honglie.


    In the next second, Commander Cheng narrowed his eyes while a qi shot into the sky. He opened his mouth while his sound reverberated in Youzhou City. Everyone could hear that.


    "As Youzhou has promoted to an established lower province, Zhang Clan wins the competition by force and gains the position of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, I appoint Zhang Tiaxuan the Count Long Wind as the first provincial governor of Youzhou Province!"


    Without the assistance of any alchemist equipment and rune equipment, Commander Cheng''s voice sounded like a muffled thunder in White Tiger Complex. Closely after that, it reached the clouds and was reflected onto the ground. Then, it spread across Youzhou Province in an extremely majestic way.


    "Zhang Taixuan!"


    "Here!" Count Long Wind strode out of the team of Huaiyuan Palace under the gaze of all the people at present.


    "Get my seal!"


    The seal of provincial governor of Youzhou Province which symbolized the supreme majesty of Youzhou Province flew off Commander Cheng''s hand and landed on Zhang Taixuan''s hands steadily which had been raised high above his head.


    After receiving the seal, Zhang Taixuan instantly broke the tip of his tongue by his teeth and sprayed a mouth of blood over the seal. The seal then immediately radiated a strong light, which covered the entire White Tiger Complex.


    ''I''ve not imagined that this seal of a provincial governor is a secret silver item!'' A thought occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind after Zhang Tie caught sight of this scene. Almost at the same time, Zhang Tie felt that a warm sense had flown across his body. The extremely overbearing feeling of getting drunk started to radiate. Feeling dazzled, Zhang Tie lost his consciousness at once.


    ...


    "Congratulations, provincial governor!" The other commissioned officers of Youzhou City in the White Tiger Complex bowed deeply towards Zhang Taixuan.


    After that, Zhang elders called Zhang Tie''s name yet received no response. They then found that Zhang Tie had already fallen asleep.


    "The effect of dragon-marrow liquor is too strong. As Zhang Tie has just formed one chakra, after drinking up this jar of liquor, it will take him a few days to wake up!" Commander Cheng''s genial voice sounded, making the other elders of Zhang Clan reassured. They felt circling around a treasure.


    After throwing a few more glances at Zhang Tie, Commander Cheng appreciated Zhang Tie more. Finally, he let out a sigh, "Well, with this lion in Youzhou Province, citizens here would be safe..."


    ...


    On the same day, Commander Cheng left Youzhou City towards southwards by airboat.


    The fierce competition for the position of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province finally came to an end.


    ...


    In the evening, Commander Cheng watched Youzhou City which was becoming farther and farther away from him, he felt a bit regretful.


    At this moment, a strong wave of earth elements drifted from Youzhou City, an aurora appeared in the distant sky in the shape of especially splendid changing light belts...


    The elder of Heavens Fortune Sect had moved to Commander Cheng''s side silently. Watching in the distance, he let out a sigh, "Zhang Taixuan is promoting to earth knight!"


    "For the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province, he purposefully chose to not promote to earth knight. Zhang Taixuan is really single-minded. After promoting to earth knight, he will hold steadily his position in Youzhou Province. Lu Dingzhi is only a bit weaker than Zhang Taixuan!" Commander Cheng said with a wise look, "There''s one point that I''ve not imagined. Lord Huaiyuan is so bad-tempered and straight-forward; however, his offspring is so shrewd!"


    "If Lord Huaiyuan was as half tolerant as Zhang Taixuan, he would not be forced to go to Waii Sub-continent and lay the foundation of Huaiyuan Palace in that uncivilized area. Offsprings of Lord Huaiyuan must have learned from their ancestor''s deeds. However, after Huaiyuan Palace roots in Youzhou Province, they have to be involved in the former swirl!" The elder of Heavens Fortune Sect replied with a sorrowful look while his words contained endless meanings.


    "F*ck, the northeast military region is this father''s territory, Zhang Taixuan is this father''s provincial governor, a class 5 imperial officer of Taixia Country. Anyone who dares find trouble in this father''s territory, this father will beat out his sh*t for sure!" Commander Cheng turned his face with full killing intent, "Although this father didn''t come from the God''s Will Army of Emperor Xuanyuan, this father served Black Armor Army, which cooperated with God''s Will Army to crack down demons at the cost of countless blood and demon lives. This father still has numerous comrades-in-arms in Black Armor Army now. I also have people favor me in Xuanyuan Hill. If anyone dares find me trouble, this father will beat him at once!"


    "I know. But, now that Zhang Taixuan has taken the position, you should not control everything for him. Everyone knows that you have a bad temper. Even if you want to lose your temper, nobody would like to spare a chance for you!"


    "Zhang Taixuan''s face is not that thin. As long as he could hold the position steadily and maintain Zhang''s foundation in Youzhou Province, it''s nothing serious even if he was teased by someone!" Commander Cheng concealed his killing intent as he instantly changed a topic, "How''s your disciple?"


    "It''s a mental obstacle and a test for him. If not the break through it, he might be dangerous in the future!"


    "You geezers would speculate everything, including your own people. I wonder whether you would speculate before going to bed with your women. If you treat everything so seriously, how do you feel any pleasure?"


    "You would never know the pleasure. It''s nothing different than playing the flute to a cow and telling summer insects about ice. Don''t speak dirty words to pollute my hearing!" The elder of Heavens Fortune Sect threw a despised look at Commander Cheng...Made and presented by imperial food and drink officer from Xuanyuan Hill!Ìú, iron.¶¼Î¾, a military officer, which is usually followed by Sima, ˾Âí.˾Âí, a military officer in Taixia Country.³µÆｫ¾ü, a senior general in Taixia Country, which is closely subordinate to major general and general piaoji, æôÆｫ¾ü.

 842 The First Clan in Youzhou Province

    Chapter 842: The First Clan in Youzhou Province


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In dizziness, Zhang Tie felt like waking up from a comfortable, indolent, long sleep in a spring morning.


    He was woken up by the twitters outside the bedroom.


    When the twitters turned clear, Zhang Tie finally woke up.


    After opening his eyes, Zhang Tie found he was lying on the bed of a traditional and brilliant bedroom with full Hua characteristics. There seemed to be a courtyard just outside the bedroom, from where the twitters drifted into the bedroom.


    Zhang Tie got up and found that he had put on a suit of soft and comfortable white night robe. He didn''t know how long he had slept.


    Sitting on the bedside, Zhang Tie felt like having a wholly new body. Each cell across his body was surging while his spine felt warm and comfortable. After sensing it carefully, he made some movements in the room and found that his physical strength, speed, resilience and the seven strengths of qi, blood, tendon, meridian, bone, marrow and spirit had increased in different degrees. His physical strength increased the most. What was more, his first chakra was running in a thicker and more steadier way, which felt like a huge steam flywheel being applied with lubricating oil.


    ''Dragon-marrow liquor is really a good thing. With a jar of dragon-marrow liquor, my battle strength has reached a new high.'' Zhang Tie licked his lips as a question occurred to his mind, ''I have benefited so much from one jar of dragon-marrow liquor, I wonder how strong is Emperor Xuanhuan who drinks dragon-marrow liquor every day.''


    Zhang Tie just asked himself about that. He knew that he was far from the realm of Emperor Xuanyuan, where there might be better things than dragon-marrow liquor. ''This question is like how a rustic wonders how many meat pies would an urban landlord eat after eating a tasty meat pie.''


    With a self-deprecating smile, Zhang Tie pushed open the door of the bedroom and left.


    There was indeed a courtyard outside the door. It was already about 10 am as the sun was hanging high. There were some spiritual banyan trees with green crowns and a pond. Some birds were singing on the trees while a shoal of golden fish was playing water cheerily below the lotus leaves.


    This courtyard was very tranquil with great ambiance. However, it was not in Huaiyuan Mansion. Due to the tree shades and tall walls, Zhang Tie couldn''t figure out his whereabouts. But he knew that he was in Youzhou City.


    Elder Muen was in meditation with closed eyes in the pavilion under one spiritual banyan tree.


    At the sight of Elder Muen, Zhang Tie realized that Elder Muen was especially working as a bodyguard for him here.


    ''Thankfully, I had an elder of Huaiyuan Palace to protect me after I got drunk. If I got drunk in another place, I''m afraid that any commoner could kill me.''


    When Zhang Tie came out of the bedroom, Elder Muen opened his eyes.


    "Erm, I''m really sorry. I''ve not imagined that the dragon-marrow liquor has such a strong after-effect. Sorry to trouble Elder Muen..." Zhang Tie scratched his head bashfully.


    Elder Muen stood up. Watching Zhang Tie''s bashful look, he burst out into laughter at once, "No trouble, no trouble, I could also enter meditation here, one stone for two birds!"


    "Thank you, Elder Muen, how many days have I slept in here. Where are we?"


    "You''ve slept 7 days. It''s October 12 today. We''re in White Tiger Complex, Youzhou City. Ohh, White Tiger Complex serves as the official mansion of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province now!" Elder Muen told Zhang Tie with a smile.


    Compared to the majestic look of Elder Muen when Zhang Tie met him for the first time, Elder Muen looked much more genial now.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could sleep straight for 7 days. The competition had ended a week ago, the White Tiger Complex had been branded with the Mansion of Provincial Governor of Youzhou Province. It indicated that the result of the competition had fixed.


    "How''s everything going?"


    "Everything is smooth. Youzhou City has been under the control of Zhang Clan, Huaiyuan Palace!" Elder Muen replied cheerily with a bit pride, "How do you feel now? I was told that the dragon-marrow liquor has a special effect!"


    Elder Muen asked out of concern and curiosity.


    "I feel very good now. My chakra runs more steadily. Besides, I feel that my physical strength has increased by almost 500 kg; even my battle strength has further increased!" Zhang Tie warmed up his limbs.


    Elder Muen nodded with a bit solemn look, "That''s great. As Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace have just taken charge of Youzhou Province and our clan head has just ascended to the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province. We clan elders have to favor many affairs in Youzhou Province for Huaiyuan Palace so that Huaiyuan Palace could deeply root in Youzhou Province. As you''ve become well-known in Youzhou Province, each of your movements would be observed by many people. You should be incumbent upon duties! We elders of Huaiyuan Palace are outnumbered by Lu Clan and Gu Clan; additionally, our root in Youzhou Province could not match that of theirs, if you shirked your responsibilities, Huaiyuan Palace would be a laughing stock in others'' eyes."


    Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile, ''When I refused the invitation of Commander Cheng 7 days ago, the elders and head of Huaiyuan Palace had thought that we missed an extremely good chance. After I woke up, it looked that Huaiyuan Palace would never allow me to loiter outside anymore. I''m afraid that Elder Muen''s words have been agreed by the other elders and Zhang Taixuan in advance. He told me about that so that I would not find any excuse to shirk my responsibilities.''


    ''Alright, it will indeed be improper if I just stay at home. I''m afraid that my parents would sustain a great stress about that. I''d better do something for the clan.''


    "Where''s the head of Zhang Clan? May you take me there, Elder Muen?"


    After checking Zhang Tie''s facial expression carefully, Elder Muen finally let out a sigh inside.


    In the next minute, a group of female servants poured into the courtyard and started to help Zhang Tie cleanse up. After that, Zhang Tie ate and drunk some porridge. He then changed a new suit of black boa-silk robe before leaving the courtyard with Elder Muen for Zhang Taixuan.


    ...


    The White Tiger Complex could match the imperial palaces of those countries in Waii Sub-continent. Zhang Tie''s residence was just in a small corner of the residential area of the White Tiger Complex.


    Walking in the White Tiger Complex which was branded with the Mansion of Provincial Governor of Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie felt that it had been utterly different than that 7 days ago.


    7 days ago, those in the White Tiger Complex were all strangers for Zhang Tie. Now, a lot of people of Zhang Clan were walking in the White Tiger Complex with pleasant and spirited looks. In wholly-new official suits, they were walking hastily. At the sight of Zhang Tie and Elder Muen, they would hurriedly give way to them from a long distance away. Standing on both sides of the corridor and the aisle, they would bow to them respectfully.


    Feeling their genuine respectful and admiring looks, Zhang Tie knew that his position in Huaiyuan Palace had been stabilized.


    "How many people of Huaiyuan Palace are going to be officers this time?" Zhang Tie asked Elder Muen when he watched their official suits.


    "Youzhou Province is too large!" Elder Muen let out a deep sigh, "Actually, Huaiyuan Palace''s people are not enough. However, after managing in Waii Sub-continent for so many years, we''ve cultivated a lot of clan elites and disciples in all walks of life. Since Huaiyuan Palace rules Youzhou Province, our junior disciples could also work. We have selected over 1,000 clan disciples to be officers from class 1 to class 9 and over 20,000 people to be civil servants from exiled class 1 to exiled class 9."


    The two numbers really shocked Zhang Tie. He finally realized how this competition greatly influenced Zhang Clan. After Count Long Wind ascended to the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, Huaiyuan Palace had over 1,000 officials and over 20,000 civil servants in Taixia Country. These people would enter from all walks of life in Youzhou Province. Therefore, the competition for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province was competing for the first clan of Youzhou Province. However, without a deep clan root and background, Zhang Taixuan might not hold his position steadily.


    ...


    The provincial governor was handling public affairs in the Bright Palace of White Tiger Complex. Zhang Tie saw various people in the courtyards, side halls and corridors outside the Bright Palace who were waiting to present themselves before the new provincial governor.


    Almost all those who could come here to present themselves before the new provincial governor were commoners.


    Some were dressed like gentlemen; some were officers in official uniforms; some were businessmen in luxurious costumes, some were military officers in a suit of armor; some were heads and elders of minor clans in Youzhou Province. As Youzhou was so large, of course, its local major clans were more than the 9 major clans which had joined the competition for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province. Those weaker ones who knew that they had no abilities to compete for such a high position were scared off by the high-price ticket of the Heavens Ball. Of course, they dared not join the competition.


    Among those people, Zhang Tie felt that some strangers were even knights.


    ''Taixia Country really has a lot of talents. Those who could at least be a No.1 knight in Waii Sub-continent could only wait outside the Provincial Governor Mansion to be received by the provincial governor.''


    The arrival of Zhang Tie and Elder Muen attracted the others'' eyes, causing a little change in their looks at once.


    "Ahh, that excessively young guy is Zhang Mushen the lion in Youzhou Province who ate a demon knight alive!" Zhang Tie heard someone exclaiming in a low voice behind him. As that man was not a knight, he didn''t know that Zhang Tie, as a knight, could hear his whisper as loud as hearing a voice from a loudspeaker although they were dozens of meters away from each other.


    "Yes, he''s the lion in Youzhou Province..."


    "That junior is the lion in Youzhou Province..."


    "That junior is Zhang Mushen, the lion in Youzhou Province who could sec-kill all the people below knights with his thunder-in-palm javelin throwing skill, the most powerful black iron knight..."


    "I was told that Zhang Mushen was also a gentleman, he''s too young!"


    Zhang Tie heard all sorts of whispers on the way...


    ''Lion in Youzhou Province? Is that my nickname?''


    ''What a coincidence, my byname in the Mountain of Brightness was Chakra''s Lion. And, I became the lion in Youzhou Province here...''


    ...

 843 The Dean of Supreme Court in Youzhou Province

    Chapter 843: The Dean of Supreme Court in Youzhou Province


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    White Tiger Complex had been hierarchical as the Provincial Governor''s Mansion of Youzhou Province. Right outside the Bright Palace where the provincial governor worked, Zhang Tie and Elder Muen saw two rows of 72 guards of honor, who were tall in golden armors.


    All the guards of honor were clan disciples of Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace. Besides being tall and handsome, they were at least LV 9.


    In golden armors and helmets, they were standing outside the Bright Palace in uniformed javelins, spears, ji, yue and shields with solemn looks, which was very deterrent.


    With a tidy sound of "Hua", the guards of honor raised their arms and leveled their weapons at their chests at the same time at the sight of Zhang Tie and Elder Muen. Most of them stealthily glanced at Zhang Tie through the gaps of their helmets.


    As guards of honor beside the provincial governor, of course, these people knew who was the biggest contributor in the competition for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province, who turned the tide in the dilemma and finally won the position for Huaiyuan Palace.


    Elder Muen nodded towards them. Without sending someone to report to Zhang Taixuan, Elder Muen and Zhang Tie stepped onto the jade stages outside the Bright Palace and entered the Bright Palace.


    The moment he was close to the Bright Palace, Zhang Tie had sensed a weird qi in Bright Palace. He found that the sound inside the Bright Palace would not leak out. After sensing it carefully, Zhang Tie found a faint, special feeling beneath the jade bricks. Being totally different than the function of alchemist''s loudspeaker, the item beneath these jade bricks could constrain sound in this fixed space. Zhang Tie immediately understood something, ''F*ck, that''s too luxurious. A super large alchemist''s equipment is buried in the Lord provincial governor''s office so as to keep the dialogue inside the Bright Palace confidential. Zhang Tie could never imagine that before.


    This was the uniformed equipment in the Provincial Governor''s Mansion of Taixia Country.


    This Bright Palace was very large. Afer crossing the threshold and passing by the wall in front of the gate, they entered the palace, which was higher than 50 m. On both sides of the palace were two rows of Hua chimes.


    After the chimes were rows of huge weapon stands.


    Until he drew close to the rows of huge weapon stands did Zhang Tie hear a sound from afar in the Bright Palace.


    "...Cangshan Prefecture is abundant in mining deposits. Among the mining deposits which have been ascertained, Cangshan Prefecture gathers 1/3 of iron ores, 1/4 of coal ores and 1/2 of copper ores, almost 70% of crystal ores and 40% of gold ores across Youzhou Province. Besides, it contains over 100 kinds of more mining deposits. Lu Clan in Spiritualmaple Prefecture, Gu Clan in Easternriver Prefecture, Sun Clan in Guide Prefecture and Guo Clan in Sanquan Prefecture share interests in Cangshan Prefecture. Ouyang Clan is a local major clan in Cangshan Prefecture. As Ouyang Clan only has one knight, its battle strength could not match that of the others; however, Ouyang Clan controls many mineral reservoirs. Over these years, under the stress caused by Lu Clan, Gu Clan, Sun Clan and Guo Clan, Ouyang Clan always behaved very meticulously and lived hard. This time, Ouyang Clan''s head and elders came here for the position of the provincial housing minister of Youzhou Province. Perhaps, they even cast greedy eyes on the prefectural head of Cangshan Prefecture..."


    After passing by the rows of weapon stands, Zhang Tie saw Zhang Taixuan sitting behind a table while some clan deacons in uniformed costumes were reporting something to Zhang Taixuan on his side.


    All the positions in the Provincial Governor''s Mansion such as librarian, utterance record officer, clerk, harem affairs officer, classics officer, music officer, guest reception officer, ritual officer, seal officer, costume officer, decoration officer, guards of honor officer, food and drink officer, drink brewing officer, medicine officer, wedding ceremony officer, furnishings officer, atlas officer, park officer, lantern officer, rules making officer, gems collection officer and property management officer were assumed by reliable deacons. The moment they arrived, they had gradually mastered the daily operations of the entire White Tiger Complex, the Provincial Governor''s Mansion.


    After throwing a glance at that clan deacon who was reporting, Zhang Tie felt he was a bit familiar with a shred look. Zhang Tie seemed to have seen him in the rotating chakra ceremony. After looking at his uniformed costume, Zhang Tie knew he was the utterance librarian in the Provincial Governor''s Mansion. Although he could not match clan elders, he was definitely a necessary strength in the clan. Additionally, some people like them could always undertake tasks alone.


    After noticing Elder Muen and Zhang Tie, Zhang Taixuan raised his hand to stop that librarian. At the sight of Elder Muen and Zhang Tie, the deacons hurriedly bowed deeply towards them. Before Zhang Taixuan told them to leave out of here, they had left silently.


    Zhang Taixuan stood up with a smile...


    "Clan head!" Zhang Tie uttered. Closely after that, he bowed towards Zhang Taixuan according to the seniority in the clan without any arrogance. After that, Zhang Tie raised his head and threw a glance at Zhang Taixuan carefully.


    In a uniformed costume with mountains, rivers and a unicorn on it, a purple-jade upturned crown with a mysterious rune of the seal of provincial governor of Youzhou Province between his eyebrows, Zhang Taixuan looked perfectly dignified.


    Besides his costume which was utterly different than that 7 days ago, Zhang Tie found that Zhang Taixuan''s knight qi had also changed. He remembered that Zhang Taixuan was just a black iron knight 7 days ago when he was just a bit more powerful than the demon general; however, he felt Zhang Taixuan''s qi was repressive now, which was utterly different than that 7 days ago. ''Has he...''


    Noticing Zhang Tie''s dubious look, Elder Muen explained, "According to the rules of Taixia Country, earth knight could not join in the competition for the position of provincial governor of a new province. Clan head has already been able to promote to an earth knight 2 years ago; however, due to this position, he had been constraining himself. After winning this position, he officially promoted to an earth knight. Even Lu Dingzhi had promoted to an earth knight after that competition!"


    Zhang Tie''s heart faintly pounded as he understood it right away, "Congratulations, clan head, you will have no obstacles in ruling Youzhou Province!"


    "I have to appreciate Elder Mushen. Without Elder Mushen''s assistance at the critical moment, I would not be able to take this position!" Zhang Taixuan smiled as he invited Zhang Tie and Elder Muen to take a seat with a genial and natural look. He looked kinder than before, "It seems that Elder Mushen has fully absorbed the effect of dragon-marrow liquor and made further improvement in the battle strength. This is beneficial for Huaiyuan Palace!"


    Regardless of Zhang Taixuan''s current position, Zhang Tie felt his words were very comfortable. While being modest orally, Zhang Tie warned himself that this provincial governor of Youzhou Province and the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace was really great. Otherwise, he would not have an excellent daughter like Lan Yunxi.


    As there''s no outsider at present, Elder Muen put Zhang Tie''s intention straight.


    After hearing Elder Muen''s explanation, Zhang Taixuan replied before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, "There''s a crucial position in Youzhou Province which could barely be handled by outsiders. I feel that it fits Elder Mushen pretty well. You will work in Youzhou Province instead of fighting outside in for the sake of your filial obedience. Meanwhile, you could be a deterrent to the other major clans and knights across Youzhou Province. I really could not find another person except for Elder Mushen. Would you like to take it?"


    Hearing Zhang Taixuan''s words, Zhang Tie knew that this position must have been fixed by all the clan elders and Zhang Taixuan when he fell asleep these days. ''Elder Muen and Zhang Taixuan are definitely putting on a play in front of me. I have no reason to refuse it. What else can I say?''


    "What''s that position?" Zhang Tie asked helplessly.


    "Dean of Supreme Court in Youzhou Province!"


    ''Tingwei of Youzhou Province?'' Zhang Tie was shocked as he had not imagined that Zhang Taixuan and the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace could grant such a position to him, ''Tingwei of Youzhou Province takes charge of the penalty, judgment and administration of justice in Youzhou Province. It''s definitely a high position.''


    "I feel Elder Muray fits this position better!" Zhang Tie hurriedly declined it.


    "As Youzhou has just promoted to a province; additionally it''s in the holy war, military affairs are most important; I''ve already appointed Elder Muray as the commander of Youzhou Province. He''s responsible for the establishment of a new army in Youzhou Province. Elder Muray already has a heavy burden and could not accept this position anymore!" Zhang Taixuan sighed.


    "Why not Elder Muyu or Elder Muen?"


    "Elder Muyu is going to stay in Youzhou City. As the pivot of Youzhou Province, Youzhou City has to be protected by at least one clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace. Besides, Elder Muyu has to handle the position of chief procurator of the supreme procuratorate and aid me to rule Youzhou Province. Elder Muen is the new prefectural governor of Yanghe Prefecture. He has to stay in the foundation of Huaiyuan Palace, which is a very important position. Therefore, he could not accept it either anymore. Elder Muyuan is in charge of the rites and music of Youzhou Province; Elder Muan is in charge of agriculture of Youzhou Province. All these are critical positions which could not be handled by outsiders!"


    Zhang Tie wanted to continue declining it; however, he suddenly remembered his weirdo Master Zhaoyuan. Therefore, he nodded slowly...


    ''Whether the God is kidding me or not? How could a disciple of a person, who ranks first on the wanted list in the Supreme Court, become the dean of the supreme court of a province in Taixia Country.?''


    ''Whether I''m colluding with the bandit on behalf of the government or not?'' Zhang Tie asked himself inside...

 844 Leaving Youzhou City

    Chapter 844: Leaving Youzhou City


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie woke up on October 12th. After staying in Youzhou City for less than 2 days, he had returned to Golden Light City by an airship of Huaiyuan Palace.


    During the 2 days, as the new dean of the supreme court in Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie visited the supreme court and learned about his responsibilities and the obligations of his subordinate agencies although he took a passive attitude towards his work.


    The position Tingwei was difficult to understand for those who came to Taixa Country from other sub-continents; however, as long as they knew the meaning of the two Hua characters respectively, they would easily understand the responsibilities of this position.


    The character "Í¢" means fairness. Those being broad-minded fit the character "Í¢". Guards in armors were "ξ". Literally, "͢ξ" referred to those who safeguarded fairness. According to the explanation of Siberians, "͢ξ" could also be translated into a fashioned term¡ª¡ªmessenger of justice. Zhang Tie thought that if a country could name the most solemn official position as the messenger of justice, this country definitely carried a deep-rooted romatic gene.


    The supreme "͢ξ" agency in Taixia Country was the supreme court; those on state-level were called court temple; those on prefecture-level were called court yamun; those on city-level were called court administration; those on county-level were called court branch; villages and towns didn''t have "͢ξ" agency. As the dean of the supreme court of Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie ruled all the court temples across Youzhou Province.


    Court temple contained three subordinates: first, prison temple, which literally was in charge of the prison system across Youzhou Province; second, judgement temple, which was responsible for the judgment and litigation across Youzhou Province; third, penalty temple, which was responsible for arresting criminals, deterring evil forces and maintaining local security. Due to the three subordinate agencies, court organ was also named Three-Temple Yamun in Taixia folklore. The main officers of courts at different levels were called heads of three temples.


    The dean of the supreme court in Youzhou Province was Class 5, who would be paid by 75000 kgs'' grains a year and be awarded the silver seal and cyan ribbon.


    The supreme court in Youzhou Province was located on an avenue 1.5 miles away in the west of White Tiger Complex. Although being smaller than that of White Tiger Complex, it still occupied about 200,000 square meters. Being solemn, it manifested the majesty of the supreme court everywhere.


    When Zhang Tie asked about his compensation in the supreme court, he was shocked by the answer "1,000 shi 1per year".


    "Is Youzhou''s fiscal income so poor? How could they just deliver grains to the dean of the supreme court?"


    Zhang Tie knew that ancient Hua officers'' compensations were not in terms of gold or silver coins; instead, they were measured in terms of shi of grains. Zhang Tie had not imagined that he would have such a day either. Zhang Tie became confused, ''Although Youzhou Province is the lower province of Taixia Country, its officers should not be that embarrassed. Does Taixia Country really treat officers as its civil servants? Referring to the historical facts, the so-called civil servants were nothing but the biggest humor in the human history before the Catastrophe.


    After Zhang Tie asked that, he found that all those beside him in the supreme court looked weird while their faces turned red.


    "Ahem...ahem..." An officer in the court coughed twice after a short while before replying Zhang Tie, "Lord, you might not know it''s different here than many countries in other continents, although your compensation was about 1,000 shi a year, it''s not grains, but golds! In this lower province, even the lowest Class 9 officer could enjoy 120 kg of golds a year."


    ''Golds? Is my compensation about 1,000 shi golds a year? 2,400,000 gold coins a year? It would take my father over 200,000 years to work in Blackhot City. How rich is Taixia Country? Officers'' compensations could be measured by shi of golds? Perhaps, only Taixia Country could make it in the human world...''


    When Zhang Tie occasionally heard the word "shi receiver", he was confused about its meaning. When he heard the explanation, he understood it right away, ''shi receiver is a graceful appellation to officers from Taixia folklore. Even the lowest Class 9 county magistrate could have 120 kg, namely 2,400 gold coins a year. It seems that Taixia officers live pretty well.''


    However, although Taixia officers'' compensations were high, all of them had to register their family properties from the chief procurator general, the prime minister and the premier of the state council to the village constable in their regimes. Taixia Country would punish those corrupt officers severely by letting them swallow the golds that they had accepted as bribes. If they were not dead, they would be set free; if they were dead, their family properties would be confiscated. Those who reported the corrupt officers could gain all the family properties of the corrupt officers. Therefore, very few officers in Taixia Country dared take bribes of over 10 gold coins.


    Finding that Zhang Tie became silent, they thought that Zhang Tie was complaining that the compensation was too low.


    "As Youzhou has just promoted to a province, the lord''s compensation is indeed a bit low. But as the lord is still young, you will have an infinitely bright future. With the lord in Youzhou Province, the evil forces in Youzhou Province would be deterred. If Youzhou Province has a good social security, the lord will get a good comment. After that, the supreme court even the imperial court would present your annual bonus, which was usually several times more than that of your compensation, including priceless treasures. Even our subordinates could be benefited from it!"


    ...


    After staying in the supreme court in Youzhou City for a short while, Zhang Tie had left Youzhou City on the second day.


    Court agencies had existed in Taixia Country for over 800 years, during which period, all the regulations in these agencies had been established. All of their daily operations were referred to concrete regulations. Even if Zhang Tie was not there, the supreme court of Youzhou Province could also run normally.


    As the dean of the supreme court in Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie had the right to appoint many officers in the courts across this province; however, Zhang Tie was not interested in it. Additionally, Zhang Tie didn''t need any helper on his side; therefore, Zhang Tie just handed it over to the head and the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace. Zhang Tie didn''t care whether the officers on different levels in the court temples were from disciples of Zhang Clan, through exchanges with other major clans in Youzhou Province or selected from local people. He knew that Huaiyuan Palace would consider it well for himself.


    Those who loved power might rack their minds to consider about it; however, Zhang Tie didn''t love power. He knew that the biggest power for a knight didn''t come from outside but from long-term accumulation of his own power. Peaches and plums didn''t speak, however, there were always paths under them which were caused by travelers who were attracted by their fragrance and beautiful scenery.


    As the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province had just been fixed, everything was back on the right track. Zhang Tie estimated that he didn''t need to concern about anything in the supreme court for the time being. After making some rules for the supreme court, Zhang Tie left for Golden Light City by airship.


    ...


    On the noon of October 14th, soon after Zhang Tie left Youzhou City by airship...


    "Clan head, Elder Mushen has already left Youzhou City by airship!" An officer bowed and reported to Zhang Taixuan in the Bright Palace of the Provincial Governor''s Mansion.


    "Hmm, I know!" Zhang Taixuan replied with a glassy-eyed look. After that, he put down a document and asked calmly, "Has Elder Mushen left any words in the supreme court yesterday?"


    "Elder Mushen just requested the supreme court to make a brief report to him monthly. Elder Mushen said that he once encountered Zhu Liang the Fierce Wolf who was wanted by the supreme court in the open waters of Qiongzou Province before he came to Youzhou Province. Zhu Liang was being chased by two bounty hunters. However, he still didn''t change his cruel and fierce personality. Therefore, Zhu Liang left a deep impression in Elder Mushen''s mind. Elder Mushen requested the supreme court to pay special attention to those figures on the wanted list and the messages about them. He told us to prevent any figure on the wanted list from entering Youzhou Province to make troubles here. He would like to know every message about those figures on the wanted list the moment we received it."


    After hearing this, Zhang Taixuan slowly waved his hands towards that officer. That officer then lowered his body and slowly left the Bright Palace by moving backward...


    When that officer left the Bright Palace, Zhang Taixuan faintly rubbed that odd-looking, colorful finger ring once again. After thinking about it for half a minute, he picked up his document once again...


    ...


    After boarding the airship, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like enjoying the scenery below; instead, he directly entered his cabin and took out his earth crystals to cultivate.


    Zhang Tie was greatly shocked by this competition for the position of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province. He also felt a bit sense of crisis; especially in the wrestle with the last demon knight in the Heavens Ball. That demon knight was so powerful that Zhang Tie almost showed his trump card. Therefore, as long as he was free, Zhang Tie would enter cultivation.


    Previously, in order to reduce the consumption of his earth-element crystals, Zhang Tie spent half of his spiritual energy in consuming earth-element crystals while the other half of his spiritual energy in capturing those swimming multi-faceted crystals in the elements realm at the same time. After this competition, Zhang Tie had changed his cultivation method and realized the fault of his "frugality". He spent all of his spiritual energy in forming 18 hands so as to carry the earth elements from the earth-elements crystals at the same time. In this way, he would consume earth-elements crystals quickly at an efficiency which was almost two times higher than that before.


    ''As Taixia Country has numerous powerhouses, I might meet dangers in the future. I should absorb my present earth-elements crystals as fast as possible so as to reinforce my battle strength in the shortest period. As for the earth-elements crystals...I will consider about it after consuming all of my reserves...'' Zhang Tie thought.


    In such a high efficiency, it only took Zhang Tie 2 hours to use up one earth-elements crystal...


    By contrast, it would take other knights 1.5 days to use up one earth-elements crystal. Zhang Tie''s high efficiency was really shocking.


    ...

 845 A Solemn Reception

    Chapter 845: A Solemn Reception


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After hearing the gentle knocks of the door, Zhang Tie moved his consciousness out of the elements realm.


    After throwing a glance at the half-consumed earth-elements crystal in his hand, Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy and teleported it into Castle of Black Iron immediately.


    "What''s the matter?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Elder Mushen, there''s a greeting team dispatched by Huaiyuan Palace in the sky ahead of us, would you like to take a look outside?" The captain''s respectful and careful voice drifted from outside the door.


    ''A greeting team?'' Zhang Tie became stunned for a second. When he took out that earth-elements crystal 1 hour ago, he remembered that the airship was at least 500 miles away from Yanghe Prefecture, how could they meet the greeting team of Huaiyuan Palace here in the sky?


    "Yes, I will take a look outside!" Zhang Tie replied as he stood up and opened the hatch door. Under the guidance of the captain respectfully, he came to the command module.


    Watching the scene outside from the command module, Zhang Tie was too shocked that he became speechless for quite a while.


    Right in the air ahead of them, numerous fury-level airships were suspending in the air in two rows tidily like fighters who stood there in awed silence, leaving a tunnel in the sky and greeting Zhang Tie.


    Colorful greeting flags had been exhibited on the huge fury-level airships. The front two airships even put down two broad banners with huge red words on them. Each word on them was dozens of meters in size, which looked extremely brilliant in the air.


    The left slogan was¡ª¡ªElder Mushen, the Lion in Youzhou Province!


    The right slogan was¡ª¡ªElder Mushen, the Pillar of Zhang Clan!


    "After knowing that Elder Mushen is coming back, Huaiyuan Palace dispatched 2,000 fury-level airships to greet Elder Mushen after flying 400 miles away from Yanghe Prefecture!" The captain of Zhang Tie''s airship explained to Zhang Tie.


    Honestly, Zhang Tie was really moved by such a solemn welcome ceremony. Even though he was always indifferent about such things, Zhang Tie''s heart still pounded when he faced their sincerity.


    "Send a signal by flags to them¡ª¡ªHuaiyuan Palace is Majestic, Our Wills Unite Like a Fortress!" Zhang Tie told the captain after recovering his composure. Zhang Tie knew that he should never be cocky at this moment; otherwise, he might be reproached and cause an enmity between him and the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace. After all, he was not the only contributor to this competition. Unless he exposed his trump card in the competition, Zhang Taixuan would never gain such a position without the help of any other elders of Huaiyuan Palace, not to mention that Zhang Taixuan gained most points in the Heavens Ball on the side of Huaiyuan Palace. Of course, Zhang Tie dared not take credits.


    Seeing Zhang Tie''s response, all those in the greeting team became especially spirited. Many of them even cheered.


    ...


    After 4 hours, Zhang Tie''s airship landed in the airship base outside Golden Light City. The moment he got off the airship and stepped onto the red carpet, Zhang Tie had caught sight of his parents, elder brother, his elder sisters-in-law, his wives and Zhang''s juniors. All of them were wearing formal suites. Standing in front of his mother, Zhang Tie found that his mother was looking at him with a thrilled expression. Besides these family members, Zhang Tie saw his elder uncles, cousins. Even Zhang Su was among them.


    Additionally, he saw the major of Golden Light City, the heads of many clans in the branch of Golden Sea City and those celebrities in Yanghe Prefecture.


    Zhang Tie had seen such a scene for so many times; however, at the sight of the brilliance on the faces of his family members, Zhang Tie felt like coming home with full of honors.


    "Elder Mushen, after knowing that you''re coming back today, all the people across Golden Light City are waiting for you here!" The major of Golden Light City moved one step forward and bowed towards Zhang Tie respectfully.


    The major of Golden Light City was called Zhang Haicheng, the grandson of Elder Muyuan. He was on the same seniority with Zhang Tie''s grandpa. After throwing a glance at the major of Golden Light City, Zhang Tie found that his face was indeed somewhat similar to that of Elder Muyuan.


    ''If I were not the clan elder, I''m afraid that he would not respond to me even if I called him grandpa. However, now that the social status between him and I are reversed, I don''t have to be too modest.'' He just nodded genially, "Thanks for your work!"


    "It''s my pleasure; it''s my pleasure. After hearing that Elder Mushen overwhelmed all the elites of other clans across Youzhou Province and helped the clan head gain the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province, I made a decision myself to prepare such a welcome ceremony for Elder Mushen in Golden Light City. I hope Elder Mushen doesn''t get offended with that!"


    Being outstanding in the branch of Elder Muyuan and selected as the major of Golden Light City by Elder Muyuan, Zhang Haicheng must be a very meticulous figure. Watching Zhang Tie getting off the airship, he hurriedly moved out and greeted Zhang Tie, Closely after that, he left the rest time to Zhang Tie''s family members.


    "Papa!"


    "Papa!"


    "Papa!"


    Linda, Beverly and Fiona lost their grips while Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei rushed towards Zhang Tie like three little lions.


    They were all wearing decent black formal suites like three little adults. With pink skins, they looked pretty cute. Watching them swarming up, hugging his legs and calling him papa, Zhang Tie felt much better at once with a big smile on his face.


    Holding his three sons'' hands, Zhang Tie walked towards his parents, "Dad, mom! Why are you here?"


    "After being told that you will come back today, we couldn''t stand to welcome you here!" Zhang Tie''s dad replied.


    Zhang Tie watched Zhang Ping and found his dad''s eye corners were a bit wet. In such a scene, parents might be a bit thrilled. His parents missed his rotating chakra ceremony. This time, they were all at present and felt happy, proud and excited about Zhang Tie.


    As it was not the right moment to chat with his family members, after simply nodding towards and exchanging glances with his elder brother, elder sister-in-law and his wives, Zhang Tie greeted his grandpa and Zhang Su briefly. After that, he held his sons'' hands and exchanged a few words with those elders and celebrities in Golden Light City.


    After waiting for Zhang Tie in the airship base for quite a while, they felt pretty honored to talk with Zhang Tie; especially after finding that Zhang Tie was so genial. The major of Golden Light City was introducing these celebrities to Zhang Tie, the greater part of whom were Zhang Tie''s relatives of the same branch precisely.


    Watching Zhang Tie holding Zhang Chenglei''s tiny hand and exchanging words with these celebrities in Golden Light City, Linda instantly dropped off tears as she covered his mouth by her hand.


    "Elder sister, what''s wrong?" Fiona whispered.


    "Nothing, I''m alright. I''m just too happy!" Linda recovered her composure as she hurriedly wiped off her tears.


    After throwing a glance at Linda, Beverly stealthily passed a piece of facial tissue to Linda. Beverly could understand why Linda dropped tears more or less. Perhaps, only Linda, who had lost her father when she was young and experienced so many difficulties and frustrations in life could have a special feeling facing such a scene.


    Watching Zhang Tie, Beverly suddenly realized that it was the most right thing that she had ever done by meeting Zhang Tie in the Wildwolf Valley in her life.


    Who else could imagine that the civilian''s daughter in Blackhot City could become a wife of the dean of the supreme court of a province in Taixia Country? Given her social status, those rich ladies of the major clans in Blackhot City were not even qualified to lick her shoes.


    Beverly faintly raised her head and proudly showed her beauty...


    ...


    "Elder Mushen, we''ve prepared a reception banquet for you in the Major''s Mansion, erm..." The major of Golden Light City whispered to Zhang Tie after introducing the major figures.


    "Now that you''ve prepared that, let''s have a dinner then!"


    Even though he had become a clan elder and the dean of the supreme court of Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie still had to establish human relationships although he disliked that.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s response, the major of Golden Light City looked brilliant at once. He definitely felt pretty honored to have Zhang Tie join the banquet in the Major''s Mansion.


    Closely after that, they left the airship base for the Major''s Mansion. Being surrounded by hundreds of people, Zhang Tie and his family members had a meal with the major of Golden Light City.


    Before the banquet, the major of Golden Light City flattered Zhang Tie for quite a while in the banquet hall. He even invited Zhang Tie to give a brief speech. Zhang Tie stood up as he gave a brief speech.


    Zhang Tie''s first sentence was, "In this competition, the clan head gained most points and overwhelmed Lu Dingzhi, the head of Lu Clan. Thanks to the dauntless fights of the other elders of Zhang Clan in the Heavens Ball, Huaiyuan Palace made concerted efforts to win the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province and to lay a solid foundation in Youzhou Province for Huaiyuan Palace!"


    Zhang Tie''s second sentence was, "I''m hungry. Don''t just sit there, pick your chopsticks!"


    After Zhang Tie finished his brief speech, the banquet hall became silent for a couple of seconds. After that, a fervent applaud sounded in the banquet hall. Everyone praised that Elder Mushen was very modest and humorous.


    ...


    After eating the supper in the Major''s Mansion, Zhang Tie''s family members, his grandpa Zhang Haitian and his elder uncles and cousins left the Major''s Mansion and returned to Zhang''s mansion in Golden Light City.


    Everyone was okay except for Zhang Tie''s grandpa, who was hyper today that he even got drunk in the banquet, which was really out of the imagination of his family members...

 846 Rapid Developmen

    Chapter 846: Rapid Development


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After returning to Golden Light City, Zhang Tie became relaxed completely...


    Since he joined Iron-Blood Camp and went to Selnes Theater of Operations, this was the only time when Zhang Tie felt reassured and relaxed after returning to Taixia Country and staying with his family members.


    Zhang Tie had been running like an engine for so many years. After almost one month since he returned to Golden Light City on October 15th, this engine finally stopped running.


    Zhang Tie even felt like having a winter holiday.


    During the past one month, Zhang Tie didn''t even enter Castle of Black Iron. He just stayed at home with his wives and his mother or played with his three sons in and out Golden Light City.


    When Zhang Tie was at home, his mother looked more and more brilliant. Her mental disease was healed too. Through the nourishment of Zhang Tie, Linda, Beverly and Fiona looked more and more beautiful. Compared to the estrangement between his sons and him when they met each other for the first time, the three kids just wondered where they were going to play with their dad the moment they got up. Sometimes, as they were too excited about Zhang Tie in the daytime, they could not even sleep well. Therefore, Zhang Tie was always blamed by his parents and wives.


    Over the past one month, Zhang Tie almost forgot that humans and demons were still in the holy war.


    Not only that, over the past one month, since Count Long Wind promoted to the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, the entire Huaiyuan Palace, even the entire Yanghe Prefecture had been vigorous. Even though the winter had arrived, the sudden, cold current in the air could still not resist the great passion across Yanghe Prefecture.


    Certainly, he was just reassured mentally and physically; it didn''t mean that he had fewer affairs to handle. Actually, since Zhang Tie returned to Golden Light City, Zhang Clan had started to be busier as they started to welcome a great change.


    Zhang Tie''s grandpa''s foundation was in the shipbuilding industry in Embracing Tiger City.


    Over the past years, from Waii Sub-continent to Youzhou Province in Taixia Country, Zhang Clan''s Milkway Shipyard finally entered its heyday due to the holy war. After moving to Youzhou Province, the Milkway Shipyard had been expanded by at least one times compared to that a few years ago.


    Through negotiating with Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang, Jinwu Business Group injected 5 million gold coins into Milyway Shipyard and became a shareholder of Milkway Shipyard, which occupied 20% of the total shares of Milkway Shipyard. After Jinwu Business Group''s investment, the Milkway Shipyard was renamed as Jinwu Shipyard directly.


    Zhang Tie''s elder uncle still occupied the greater part of shares of Jinwu Shipyard along with the control power of this shipyard. However, actually, Jinwu Shipyard had been affiliated to Zhang Tie.


    Everyone across Yanghe Prefecture and Huaiyuan Palace knew that "Jinwu" was the brand of Elder Mushen. The meaning of renaming Milkway Shipyard into Jinwu Shipyard became evident¡ª¡ªthe other branches of Zhang Haitian, the old man of Zhang family were approaching Zhang Tie. It indicated that Zhang Tie officially became the pillar of Zhang Clan.


    There was an old Hua saying, when the tree fell, the monkey would scatter. Zhang''s Clan was facing the opposite situation.


    Zhang Tie was like a huge tree, which was growing faster than that Zhang Clan could ever imagine. With luxuriant foliage and spreading branches, this huge tree had manifested its exuberant vitality. Its look would be inestimable in the future. It was already able to serve as a shelter for all the members of Zhang Clan.


    Actually, when Zhang Tie held his rotating chakra ceremony and became a clan elder in Yiyang City, those relatives on the side of Zhang Haitian, the old man of Zhang family had intended to approach Zhang Tie. However, due to the reason of the holy war, plus Zhang Tie stayed in Waii Sub-continent for garrison, they didn''t do that timely. After Huaiyuan Palace rooted in Youzhou Province, with the stabilization of Milkway Shipyard and Jinwu Business Group in Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle''s family gradually increased their exchanges with Zhang Tie. After Zhang Tie came to Taixia Country for a few days, he had already become famous across Youzhou Province as the dean of the supreme court of Youzhou Province. He even won the favor of Commander Cheng. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s elder uncle''s family accelerated their steps to approach Zhang Tie.


    As for a big clan, such a thing was definitely indisputable. No matter whether a clan was rich or poor, it had to stick to one principle, namely, to be harmonious. The more cohesive the clan was, the greater achievements and brighter future it would have. No only Hua people, even many local major clans across Waii Sub-continent and Western Continent had traditions and domestic disciplines to maintain cohesiveness and influence. In some pervert, huge clans, in order to prevent their family wealth from being separated by outsiders, they even insisted on endogamy.


    After Milkway Shipyard was renamed as Jinwu Shipyard, the happiest ones were not Zhang Haitian the grandpa of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie''s elder uncles, cousins, Zhang Tie or his elder brother but Zhang Tie''s dad Zhang Ping.


    Zhang Tie''s dad had never been so proud even when Zhang Tie became a clan elder.


    The disputes between Zhang Tie''s dad and his family and between the last generation had been entangled in Zhang Ping''s heart for dozens of years. This time, the burden in the heart of Zhang Ping was completely unloaded by Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang in this way.


    The moment he unloaded his burden mentally, Zhang Tie''s dad had been reassured. Benefited from this, he even lit the 8th surging point on his spine and promoted to LV 6 fighter at 60, which made Zhang family boisterous for a few days.


    Zhang Tie''s relatives on the side of his grandpa were busy approaching Zhang Tie''s family while Zhang Yang was busy doing another thing.


    After returning to Golden Light City, Zhang Tie realized that Zhang family needed to build a city independently...


    ''Although it''s too early to describe the current situation in the proverb "Two tigers cannot live on the same mountain", Elder Muyuan''s sense of existence has reduced a lot under my halos. Although it will not be a problem for a short time; but, after some time, Elder Muyuan''s branch and my branch would definitely have conflicts in Golden Light City. I prefer to give way to Elder Muyuan at present than to wait for big trouble. By doing this, I could show my respect to Elder Muyuan''s branch and leave a greater space for the development of Jinwu Business Group and my branch...''

 847 Purchasing Land

    Chapter 847: Purchasing Land


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On November 27th, heavy snow, in the wilderness over 250 miles away in the southwest of Golden Light City...


    This region was not affiliated to Yanghe Prefecture; however, it bordered with Yanghe Prefecture. As a wasteland in the territory of Youzhou Province, it''s closer to Youzhou City than Yanghe Prefecture.


    Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang and a group of people of Zhang family were watching this land in the command module of a fury-level airship in the sky.


    Compared to Yanghe Prefecture, this land was undulating and untraversed. Such a land existed everywhere in lower provinces like Youzhou Province.


    Due to heavy snow, the woods in the mountains were rimy while some rivers and brooks had been frozen. Zhang Chengze, Zhang Chenglei and the other little guys were lowering their bodies in front of an optical imaging device in the command module and adjusting the focal distance and display area in the optical imaging device. At the same time, they exclaimed due to the excitement.


    Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang and Zhang Ping were standing on the other end of the command module and watched the land through the lower view porthole.


    "Dad, how do you feel about this land?" Zhang Yang asked Zhang Ping.


    Zhang Tie felt that his dad''s crow''s foot had disappeared greatly while his face had turned florid perhaps because he had promoted to LV 6 and felt cheerful lately.


    "I just followed you here to take a look. As for the details, you brothers could make decisions by yourselves; I will agree with you!" Zhang Ping said cheerily.


    "Dad, there''s a herd of deer below us..."


    Before Zhang Yang replied, those little guys had shouted and applauded as they found a herd of deer galloping in the wilderness.


    "Follow the herd for a while for these little guys!" Zhang Tie issued an order to the captain of the airship.


    "These little guys have already turned crazier after following you for only a few days. Other fathers are strict, look at you, you''ve spoiled our sons!" After hearing Zhang Tie''s order, Linda, who was chatting with Zhang Tie''s elder sisters-in-law started to blame Zhang Tie, causing the other women to giggle.


    As it turned colder, the women of Zhang''s family wore thicker clothes. With scarfs made of hides of sables and silver foxes over their necks, plus those expensive and delicate runes or alchemist''s jewelry on their hands, these women looked more like rich ladies.


    "After all, the airship has to travel in the sky, however, we need to please these little guys!" Zhang Tie explained with a smile. After that, he turned around and asked Zhang Yang, "What''s the price of the land below?"


    Although being the dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie still didn''t know too much about commerce. He rarely cared about money. It seemed to be the "Sequela of Gorath". Speaking of money, the first thought that occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind was to rob Three-eye Association clans, which was the fastest way to make the most money.


    "Youzhou Province is a lower province. All the lands below are wastelands being 140 miles away from cities. 2/3 of them was a mountainous area, while 1/3 of them was plain. According to the regulations, the land here is just Class C level II. Such a land is priced as 600 gold coins per square mile by the Land Resources Bureau in Youzhou City.


    "So cheap!" Zhang Tie replied after being stunned for a few seconds.


    "It''s not cheap if you compare it to the wild provinces in the north. All the lands over there were ownerless. According to the laws of Taixia Country, as long as you build a city over there, you will have 3 square miles of land surrounding the city for free as the affiliated land. If mining ores were discovered in those wild provinces, the major clans would always build a city in the nearby so as to occupy the mining ores. Besides levying taxes, the imperial court would not interfere with them at all. Therefore, wild province reclamation is a big business in Taixia Country." Zhang Yang made a further explanation to Zhang Tie as his eyes glittered. It seemed that Zhang Yang was interested in land reclamation in Taixia Country.


    After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie realized that what Zhang Yang said was true. The wild provinces in Taixia were truly in an anarchic state. Even though there were still people in these wild provinces. As long as there were people, there would be conflicts such as disputes about the right of attribution of mining ores being discovered in the wild provinces which different pioneering clans were involved in. As wild provinces could not hear litigation cases, according to the regulation of the judiciary jurisdiction in Taixia Country, the litigation cases in Liaozhou Province, which was near Youzhou Province in the north would be heard and tried by the judgment court under the court temple in Youzhou Province. Namely, Zhang Tie would take charge in such cases. Actually, the dean of the supreme court in Youzhou Province was also responsible for the litigation cases in Liaozhou Province before Liaozhou Province was established.


    However, wild provinces also had their own rules of survival. Generally, conflicts in wild provinces would be handled inside the provinces. Bounty hunters and major clans in Taixia Country would manifest their power in wild provinces.


    "How about this land? After a few days, we can fetch someone here to fix the border. Let''s buy about 100,000 square miles of land first." Zhang Tie suggested calmly as if he was talking about buying 5-10 kg of white cabbages.


    After saying that, Zhang Tie found that the command module became silent immediately. Zhang Ping and Zhang Yang were watching him with dumbfounded looks; even those women stopped their talks as they turned around to see him.


    "What''s wrong?" Zhang Tie touched his face with a confused look. His dad almost popped out his eyes while Zhang Yang looked bashful.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Zhang Yang coughed, "Although Jinwu Business Group has developed really fast these couple of years, Jinwu Business Group only has over 60 million gold coins as floating capital. It might not be enough for such a big investment. We might need bank loans. If the loan amount was too large, Jinwu Business Group would have a greater financial stress."


    "Wuh, I see!" Zhang Tie moved his hand onto his jaw. He almost forgot about the financial stress facing Jinwu Business Group and his family if they wanted to buy such a wide area of land.


    "I''ve calculated it. I feel that we can buy about 150,000 square miles of land first. We can build a small Class D city with distinctive features. When these kids grow up in the future, we can further expand it if there''s any demand!"


    Stroking his jaw, Zhang Tie was thinking about those women and the babies in their wombs in Ice and Snow Wilderness. As he felt sorry about his mom, Linda, Beverly and Fiona, he didn''t tell them about that. Zhang Tie was considering whether Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Tingpei would feel that he didn''t love them the most if they knew that their brothers who shared the same father yet different moms with them were left in Ice and Snow Wilderness which covered tens of millions of square miles.


    Zhang Yang was right. However, when he considered about the future, Zhang Tie felt that they should buy as more lands as possible. It was just a matter of money. Besides those he deposited in Golden Roc Bank, he could afford the territory which was 5-10 times that of Yanghe Prefecture with the money that he had robbed from Three-eye Association clans and stored in Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, money was not a problem for him at all.


    "I agree with you on building a small city, elder brother. As it''s our family''s first time to build a city, given the situation facing Jinwu Business Group and Youzhou Province, the city doesn''t need to be too large. Just fix it within 70 square miles based on the requirements of a Class D city. However, I don''t think that we should buy the surplus land in the future!" Zhang Tie stopped for a second, "Nobody could tell what would happen in the future. After 1-2 decade, Youzhou Province might change greatly. It''s hard to say whether will we have such a good chance by then. We can buy the surplus land first. In this way, we can expand the city whenever we want. As there''re so many wastelands, mountains and resources in this region, which have not been exploited yet; plus it neighbors Yanghe Prefecture, why not take them as our hereditary land. If Jinwu Business Group meets any trouble and goes bankrupt in the future, the juniors could also live a wealthy life without any concern!"


    The word "trouble" reminded Zhang Yang something. As his brother, Zhang Yang knew that Zhang Tie referred to some unpredictable dangers that he might encounter. After all, the holy war had just broken out for a few years, knights might go to the battlefield in the future in Taixia Country. In this family, all the movable wealth might be lost except for this land. As long as Taixia Country and Hua people were not defeated by demons, nobody could take away this real estate.


    "You''re right, but..."


    "I joined a bet with humans in Waii Sub-continent a few years ago and made more than 200 million gold coins. I deposited the money in Golden Roc Bank. I could have Golden Roc Bank transfer 100 million gold coins to the bank account of Jinwu Business Group. Elder brother, you can use the 100 million gold coins to buy the land!" Zhang Tie said.


    Everybody in the command module was startled by Zhang Tie''s words.


    "How much have you made?" Zhang Tie''s dad almost sprung up as he asked with an unbelievable look.


    "Over two hundred million gold coins!" Zhang Tie said frankly.


    Linda, Beverly, Fiona and Zhang Tie''s elder sisters-in-law watched Zhang Tie with shocked looks at the same time.


    No matter what, hundreds of millions of gold coins was definitely a terrifying figure. Although Zhang Tie''s current annual compensation as the dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province ranked top in Taixia Country, he should also work over 40 years to make 100 million gold coins. Try to imagine how difficult it was to make 100 million gold coins even in Taixia Country...

 848 Reunion of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood

    Chapter 848: Reunion of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Over these years, due to the holy war, the prices of commodities, especially grains had risen. In Golden Light City, a steam bun would cost 2 copper coins and 5 hao 1. 1 kg''s fine beef would cost about 1 silver coin and 20 copper coins; a 100 sq m house in Yanghe Prefecture would cost about 200 gold coins. If a common family of four could make 40-50 gold coins a year, they would live well in Golden Light City.


    All of Zhang Tie''s family members were once commoners. Although Zhang Tie''s two elders sisters-in-law had better living conditions since they were young, they also knew the concept of "frugality". Therefore, when Zhang Tie mentioned that he had won over 200 million gold coins in a bet, he shocked everybody at present.


    Although Zhang Tie''s dad racked his mind, he could still not imagine how much was over 200 million gold coins. Zhang Yang remembered that Zhang Tie had mentioned that he made a pile by setting a trap in Ewentra Archipelago through remote-sensing crystals; however, he had not imagined that Zhang Tie made over 200 million gold coins.


    When his family members became dumbfounded and didn''t know what to say, Zhang Tie''s mom pushed open the hatch door and entered the command module cheerily, followed by two female servants, who were pushing a dining trolley. The command module was filled with fragrance at once.


    "Come on, I''ve just cooked the eight-treasures porridge 2, it could nourish your body in winter!" Zhang Tie''s mom said with a big smile.


    Zhang Tie''s mom treated cooking dinner for her family members as an enjoyment which could not be deprived by anyone else.


    This airship was a private, luxurious one which was modified by a fury-level airship. It was also matched with a kitchen and a dining hall. Therefore, during these days, as long as the whole family went out by airship, Zhang Tie''s mom would be the boss in the kitchen.


    Seeing the porridge, they all put aside the previous topic and went to eat it. If anyone dared to violate Zhang Tie''s mom''s intention, it was nothing different than doing a crime. Even though Zhang family''s kids had learned to flatter their grandma. However, when their grandma had the food prepared, they would instantly swarm up and cram the food into their mouth. The one who ate more would gain more favor from grandma.


    "What were you talking about?"


    Zhang Tie''s mother asked them as he watched her grandsons eating eight-treasures porridge with a smile.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Zhang Yang told their mom what Zhang Tie said just now.


    "Duang..." Zhang Tie''s mother dropped her spoon when she heard "over 200 million gold coins".


    "Grandma, grandma, you dropped your spoon. I will change one for you!" Zhang Shiyu wisely picked up that spoon; closely after that, she ran towards the dining trolley and brought back a new one.


    "Guoguo, have you done anything bad in Waii Sub-continent?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s mother''s words, Zhang Tie was almost chocked by the porridge...


    "Mom, you''re thinking too much. How could I be that bad? Although I''ve won it through gambling, each gold coin is legal. Golden Roc Bank even has a record of that. The other elders of Huaiyuan Palace also know about that." Zhang Tie explained to his mom after patting his chest.


    "No way, how could you make so much?" Zhang Tie''s mom continued out of concern.


    "Your son is a knight. Mom, you don''t know everything in the world of knights. Some knights could make over 100 million gold coins only by writing an article. It''s nothing strange for your son to make some money by betting with others!"


    "Some knights could make over 100 million gold coins by writing an article? Are you kidding me?" Zhang Tie''s dad asked as he thought Zhang Tie was bragging.


    When he recalled that article "The Comparative Analysis on the Battle Strength of Knights between Seven Major Sects in Taixia Country" in the Mountain of Brightness, Zhang Tie let out a sigh, "I''m telling the truth. It takes one knight 10,000 gold coins to read the article for one time. If over 10,000 knights read it, won''t the writer win 100 million gold coins? One word for 1,000 gold coins is not excessive at all!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, Zhang Tie''s parents finally realized that Zhang Tie was not bragging.


    However, after knowing that Zhang Tie was going to buy over 100,000 square miles of land in Youzhou Province, the whole family was greatly shocked. Actually, they were more excited than being shocked. Even Linda, Beverly and Fiona blushed due to the excitement.


    Zhang family''s feeling was like how a common family felt when they bought a super mansion which covered tens of thousands of square meters without having to pay by installment.


    "Why do we buy such a mountanious area? Why not choose the plain area instead?" Zhang Tie''s mom asked.


    Zhang Yang replied, "Mom, I''ve had people surveyed this region. Besides being mountainous, this region doesn''t lack water resource. Additionally, this region is abundant in fruits and medicines. Right in the land and mountain forest below us, there are over 70 fruits and over 1,000 medicines. I''ve negotiated with Zhang Tie. If we build a city here, Jinwu Business Group could pick raw materials from here so as to expand the production scale of all-purpose medicament rapidly. We will not have to worry about the supply of raw materials anymore."


    "I mean, we can choose the mountainous area as the production base of Jinwu Business Group. We don''t need to build the entire city on the plain. As a Class D city that covers 70 square miles is not large, half of it could be built on plain while the other half of it could be built on mountains. After the city is built, we can settle down with the best urban scenery and the best environment. Isn''t it good?" Zhang Tie added, "When these kids grow up, they can also build their own cities on the surrounding land!"


    The beautiful blueprint that Zhang Tie depicted for his family made all the women''s eyes turn bright.


    "How could you find such proper places so easily?" Zhang Tie''s mom discouraged Zhang Tie although she was happy inside.


    "Wow, deer are taking bath; deer are taking bath, and monkeys, monkeys are taking bath too..." Those kids had returned to the imaging device after swallowing up their eight-treasures porridge when the adults were chatting over there. Closely after Zhang Chengting, all the other kids exclaimed.


    "It''s winter, how could deer and monkeys take bath?" Zhang Yang smiled.


    "Dad, it''s real. You can take a look over here." Zhang Chengze told Zhang Yang.


    The whole family then swarmed up and looked down by the imaging device...


    It was a towering mountain peak below the airship, which was extremely magnificent. There was a deep and serene valley below the mountain peak. The mountain peak had been covered with snow. However, the valley was still surrounded with red blossoms and green willows, which looked pretty exotic. How amazing it was!


    There was mist rolling in the valley, below which was a large area of warm spring. A lot of monkeys were immersing themselves in the warm spring cheerily; some of them were even holding wild berries. They just lay there like rich men on vacation. The herd of over 20 deer also entered the warm spring one after another and started to take a bath.


    This mountain range and valley stretched over 7 miles and covered about 30 square miles. It was pretty nice and magnificent. Being abundant in water and grasses, they were surrounded by plain. Looking down at it from the airship, they found that it looked like a shoe-shaped gold ingot, the very kind of gold ingot that Zhang Tie''s eldest grandma delivered to Zhang juniors at her birthday.


    "Where are we?" Zhang Yang asked.


    The captain hurriedly took out a map and pointed at a pale grey region which had not been precisely surveyed and drawn before replying, "Our airship is here. This region has not been developed yet. Few people come here during normal times. Therefore, it''s not drawn precisely on the map!"


    The captain was pointing at a place over 350 miles away from Golden Light City. Even the nearest railway and highway were over 300 miles away. Therefore, very few people would visit here. Even if there was, they would barely come here by airship.


    "It''s the God''s will!" Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh as he drew a circle around the pale grey region which covered over 150,000 square miles on the map before pointing at that region with his pen forcefully and saying, "I like this region!"


    ...


    After a few hours, the family finally returned to their mansion in Golden Light City by airship before dusk. The airship just landed in the airship port in the backyard of the Zhang''s mansion.


    "I will have someone register it in the urban area of Youzhou Province tomorrow!"


    "Hmm, good. I will have Golden Roc Bank..." Zhang Tie suddenly stopped as he saw some familiar guys on the path in front of him. Those guys also noticed him with tears in eyes.


    Beside them was Runo whom Zhang Tie had dispatched to Youzhou Province.


    Before Zhang Tie figured out how could Runo bring them back so quickly, those guys had rushed towards him while waving their arms.


    "Bighead..."


    The horny fat shouted...


    After hearing such a strange yet familiar nickname, Zhang Tie felt as if two decades had passed...

 849 Current Situation Facing Hit-Plane Brotherhood

    Chapter 849: Current Situation Facing Hit-Plane Brotherhood


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Only after more than 2 months, before Runo and his subordinates left the territory of Northeast Military Region, they had met Barley and the other members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood in Huizhou City, the capital city of Huizhou Province.


    Huizhou City was the largest air hub in Northeast Military Region of Taixia Country. It took Runo and his subordinates over 1 month to arrive at Huizhou City by airship. When they were about to move to Guizhou Province, they met the group of Barley in the departure lounge of the airship base coincidentally.


    According to Runo, the group of Barley was talking loudly about Huaiyuan Palace of Youzhou Province in the departure lounge. One of them even spoke of Jinwu Business Group and Zhang Yang. Out of curiosity, Runo inquired about their background and found that they were the very people whom he was looking for.


    According to Zhang Tie''s estimation, it would take Runo''s team at least 3 months to come back with the group of Barley from Guizhou Province as it was a journey of 250,000 miles in total. He could not imagine that they would come back only in 2 months.


    According to Barley, when they were in Guizhou Province, they heard about all-purpose medicament; through inquiry, they learned that Jinwu Business Group had been well-known across Youzhou Province; additionally, Huaiyuan Palace had already rooted in Yanghe Prefecture of Youzhou Province. Through negotiation, Barley, Doug, Sharwin, Hista, Leit and Bagad then determined to find Zhang Tie in Youzhou Province; at least they wanted to know Zhang Tie''s whereabouts.


    Since Zhang Tie sent them away from Blackhot City and disappeared from then on, he had always been the topic of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. When they came to Taixia Country at the beginning, they had contacted Zhang Yang; however, after a period, they failed to contact Zhang Yang anymore due to various reasons. Of course, they lost the information about Zhang Tie.


    Actually, before they met Runo, they were not even sure whether Zhang Tie was still alive. After hearing that Zhang Yang and Jinwu Business Group had rooted in Youzhou Province, they hurriedly came to Youzhou Province to ask about Zhang Tie''s whereabouts from Zhang Tie''s family members.


    No matter how long had passed, what happened during the period when they called each other brothers had long become the deepest brand in their lives and would never fade away.


    Without Zhang Tie, they even couldn''t imagine the current lives facing them and their family members. They might have long been stranded in other continents or become one of those corpses in Waii Sub-continent.


    In a sense, Zhang Tie was not only their brother but also their savior. Even their parents usually asked Zhang Tie''s whereabouts, not to mention them.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Sharwin, who used to be sentimental, turned his eyes red at first, closely followed by all the others of Hit-Plane Brotherhood including Zhang Tie. They called each other''s name and tightly embraced each other and patted the other''s shoulder forcefully without saying anything else.


    ...


    Besides Zhang Tie, the other members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood had changed a lot physically. They were not that innocent juniors anymore; instead, they all grew tall and strong. After a couple of years, they would be 30 years old.


    Bagad looked stronger than before; besides, he had dense whiskers...


    Barley the Fatty''s stomach was like that of a pregnant woman with twins...


    Sharwin had grown taller. Previously, Sharwin was average in height in the Hit-Plane Brotherhood; however, now he was even 2 cm taller than Bagdad.


    Doug was bald with a grim knife-cut scar on his left face. He really looked like an experienced hatchet man when he closed his mouth.


    Leit had turned more adultly. In a pair of wire-rimmed glasses, he looked more like a scholar.


    Hista looked still like a major d*ck. His face turned a bit pale. He was wearing a play-boy shirt and a pair of eye-catching white western style pants. What was more attractive was that 2 cm wide gold necklace.


    In the study, Zhang Tie and the other members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood glanced at each other for quite a while. Finally, Barley let out a sigh as he rubbed his fat face, "Doesn''t Hua people get old? How could you be so excessive? Why can I not see any trace of time elapse on your face? You look no different than that time when you left Blackhot City."


    Sharwin and the other guys nodded forcefully at the same time.


    Those who were always on Zhang Tie''s side couldn''t find that Zhang Tie was a weirdo. Only those who were very familiar with him and had not seen him for many years could sense Zhang Tie''s terror¡ª¡ªZhang Tie''s look almost remained unchanged since the last time they saw him.


    "I have no idea. Maybe it''s the sequela of thunder strike!" Zhang Tie could only fabricate it as he didn''t know how to explain it to them at all.


    "You know what, the moment I imagined that you could sleep with young girls at your 50s, I preferred to be stricken by the thunder on behalf of you!" Hista let out a sigh.


    "What happened in Blackhot City? Why didn''t you come back after leaving the airship?" Doug asked anxiously after Hista''s words.


    They had been puzzled by this question for so many years. On the way here, besides telling them that Zhang Tie was still alive and had just come to Taixia Country, Zhang Yang exposed almost nothing else about Zhang Tie to them. Therefore, they didn''t know anything about Zhang Tie''s current situation until now.


    "I left the airship to kill Abyan the b*stard! Later on, due to some accidents, I was almost killed by Abyan. It''s hard to describe the process. It took me a few years to get rid of that event completely and gain freedom. After the holy war broke out, I returned to Huaiyuan Prefecture and was told that you''ve already arrived at Taixia Country; therefore, I became reassured. I then stayed in Waii Sub-continent to resist demons for Huaiyuan Palace for a few years!" Zhang Tie explained it to them as he came to the gradevin of the study and got a bottle of liquor. After that, he came back and made a glass of liquor for each of them.


    "Have you...promoted LV 10? So fast?" Bagdad had been gazing at Zhang Tie since he caught sight of the latter. As Bagdad failed to figure out Zhang Tie''s qi, he just made a "brave" guess.


    In Bagdad''s opinion, based on Zhang Tie''s cultivation speed, he should have a probability to promote to LV 10 during the past few years.


    No wonder Bagdad would mistake it because even very few people in Huaiyuan Palace could break through LV 9 at the 20s. Additionally, Bagdad could never imagine what Zhang Tie had experienced in the past years.


    Compared to Zhang Tie the weirdo, although Bagdad had been very diligent over these years, he had just promoted to LV 6 and lit 10 surging points on his spine. He was still 3 surging points away from LV 7 fighter.


    After throwing a glance at Bagdad, Zhang Tie had kept all the information about Bagdad in his mind. Given the fine grains between the thumb and the index finger of Bagdad, Zhang Tie knew that Bagdad was practicing an extremely common saber skill "10-step constant saber". Bagdad had just become familiar with this saber skill. Additionally, as Bagdad practiced "Iron-blood Fist" at the beginning, even though he failed to make it, he had indeed spent some time in the basic movements of Iron-blood Fist, especially the Lying-tiger Movement, which could increase his strength and anti-strike ability. With Lying-tiger Movement as his foundation, given the features on Bagdad''s back and neck and the faint, special smell of medicine over his body, Zhang Tie knew that Bagdad was practicing another anti-strike kungfu of Hua people¡ª¡ª"Iron-back Skill".


    With the strong knight''s consciousness, Bagdad''s information was almost transparent to Zhang Tie.


    Bagdad was persistent and diligent, who was the typical representative of most of "excellent youths" at his age. Through his persistent efforts, he would soon promote to LV 7 as the strongest one among the other members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood but Zhang Tie.


    "I indeed have broken through LV 9!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile. As he didn''t want to scare them too much, he just shifted the topic, "How do you live in Guizhou Province?"


    After hearing that Zhang Tie admitted that he had broken through LV 9, the others threw a glance at Zhang Tie as they thought that Zhang Tie had promoted to LV 10.


    Speaking of Guizhou Province, all the other members of Hit-Plane Brotherhood looked bright at once, including Barley.


    "We live pretty well in Guizhou Province. It took us a few years to adapt to the environment in Guizhou Province. God''s Will Brotherhood opened 3 chain deluxe hotels and 5 dining halls. We have a good business here! We''ve already made over 600,000 gold coins using the 200,000 gold coins that you gave us at the beginning. You have 50% of the total shares of the 3 grand hotels and 5 dining halls!" Doug explained out of excitement as he patted onto Zhang Tie''s shoulder forcefully and invited Zhang Tie passionately, "Bighead, if you''re no longer able to carry on in Youzhou Province, work with us in Guizhou Province! As long as we stay with each other, we will have a bright future in Guizhou Province for sure."


    ...

 850 Laying a Foundation in Youzhou Province

    Chapter 850: Laying a Foundation in Youzhou Province


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In this world, only very few people could be legendarily featured by radical life. Most of the people lived very common lives. Each individual''s fate trace had a strong inertia. After many years, this inertia was manifested in Zhang Tie''s friends once again.


    The members of God''s Will Brotherhood neither lost their "ambition" that they used to carry in Blackhot city and succumbed to the common life nor be unrivaled in the region. Like many other commoners, they were still trying their best to climb up on the way that they could see.


    ''With my support, it took a group of foreign young people a few years to root in a strange place. Through concerted efforts, they even accumulated 600,000 gold coins using the 200,000 gold coins that I gave them at the beginning. It''s already a great job for them. In this age, most of the young men could not make such a great achievement.'' Zhang Tie praised them inside. However, compared to what Zhang Tie had experienced, such an achievement was nothing great at all.


    Zhang Tie started to rethink profoundly.


    The sharp contrast between Doug''s passion and Zhang Tie''s calm feeling inside reminded Zhang Tie, ''Barley, Doug and the other members of God''s Will Brotherhood remain unchanged; the one who has changed is me. Therefore, I could not maintain the same passion as them facing the undertaking that drives them crazy.''


    Over the past years, after experiencing so many things such as exterminating all the demons in Waii Sub-continent and establishing the Sacred Iceland Kingdom, what the God''s Will Brotherhood was doing was not on the same level as Zhang Tie at all. The business of hundreds of thousands of gold coins could almost be ignored by Zhang Tie.


    ''Perhaps, the strong inertia could also be called fate. What if I did not have Castle of Black Iron?'' Zhang Tie asked himself while sighing with emotion.


    Such a sharp difference between him and his friends didn''t cause any sh*t superiority complex to Zhang Tie; instead, he treasured this friendship more than ever.


    Barley, Doug, Hista and the other members of God''s Will Brotherhood watched Zhang Tie with scorching eyes and waited for his answer.


    After being silent for a few seconds, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh and watched them with a sincere look, "I''m afraid that I cannot leave Youzhou Province for the time being. I''ve experienced too much these years and shoulder greater responsibilities than before. I cannot live as free as before anymore!"


    "I get it. Is it because of your family? I''ve not expected that you already have 3 sons. You''re the best one among us!" Bagdad praised in an unconstrained way.


    "Not only that!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    "Are you still following the order of Huaiyuan Palace?" Sharwin asked.


    "Not completely. But I cannot separate from Huaiyuan Palace so easily!"


    "What''s the reason then?" Leit opened his mouth.


    "Promise me, you will not be surprised by that!" Zhang Tie watched them with a solemn look.


    "No problem, go ahead!" The other guys also replied with a rare, solemn look.


    "I already promoted to a knight when I was in Waii Sub-continent. My current title is the dean of the supreme court in Youzhou Province. After staying in Taixia Country for so long, you must have known the responsibilities of the dean of the supreme court." Zhang Tie said with an extremely serious look.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, the atmosphere in the room turned strange at once.


    After being silent for a few seconds, "Hahahahaha..." those guys suddenly burst out into laughter as they staggered forward and back.


    Doug even shot out his saliva. As they laughed, they patted their bellies and thighs forcefully.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that these guys would respond in such a way when he exposed the truth.


    ''F*ck, doesn''t this father look like a knight? I''ve practiced a lot to promote to a knight. What are you guys laughing at?'' Zhang Tie swore inside with a confused look.


    "Bighead, you''re really humorous!" Hista burst out into laughter as he forcefully patted Zhang Tie''s shoulder and said with a wink, "If you were a knight, you must have been a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace. In Waii Sub-continent, a knight could be the head of a corps. Actually, there''s not a single knight in the former Andaman Alliance at all!" After saying that, Hista revealed an obscene look as he lowered his voice, "Actually, I had also used this trick before to cheat women to sleep with me. Later on, I found this trick didn''t work anymore as none of them believed that. One time, I finally encountered one. However, when I woke up the second morning, I found my purse and that woman had long gone. From then on, I stopped playing such a trick!"


    "I''m indeed a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace. I also took the office of corps leader of Hurricane Corps over those years when I was in Huaiyuan Prefecture in Waii Sub-continent!" Zhang Tie explained with a helpless look.


    "Hahahaha..." The other guys smiled more excessively.


    "This is our familiar "bighead". You''re as humorous as the very, very special one before..." Barley laughed so heavily that his belly started to quiver like ripples.


    "Hmm, it''s good for you to have such an idea. At least you have a target!" Sharwin said implicitly.


    "Just like how we used to dream that we were childes and young masters of the 4 major clans in Blackhot City and had the endless braised beef with potatoes!" Doug nodded with a serious look.


    "Knight is also my lifetime target!'' Bagdad chested out as he said this.


    "If you were a knight, our brotherhood would have a reliance in Taixia Country. Our business would be..." Leit suddenly stopped as he and the other guys suddenly felt that Zhang Tie had changed greatly while releasing an extremely strange qi, which almost froze each cell of them in a split second.


    All of them had sensed that their awareness had been separated from their body by that overwhelming force. They felt that their awareness and body might be imprisoned in a firm and hopeless cage. If Zhang Tie liked, he could blow up their heads only by throwing a glance at them. In this state, they would definitely be suffocated in the end.


    In only a few seconds, after Zhang Tie concealed his overwhelming qi, the laughter in the room had stopped while the other guys had been wet all over even in the winter as they felt their clothes were sticking to their body tightly.


    They looked like as if they had seen a ghost in the daytime with their mouths widely opened, which could almost hold an egg.


    "Rea...real...kni...kni..kni...knight!" Dough became stammered, "I''m still alive after pa...pat...patting a knight''s shoulder?"


    "Our God''s Will Brotherhood ha...have a kni..kni..knight!" Barley the Fatty was affected by Dough as he stared at Zhang Tie, causing goosebumps all over Zhang Tie''s body.


    "Huaiyuan Palace have just won the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province. The current provincial governor of Youzhou Province is Zhang Taixuan, the head of Zhang Clan. I was appointed as the dean of the provincial court in Youzhou Province. As you''ve been in Taixia Country for so long, you must have known the responsibilities of the dean of provincial court!" Zhang Tie watched them silently, "As it''s a chaotic world, Taixia Country might be the last pure land of humans. I know you live pretty well given your looks. I know each of you has a bright future. I''m happy to see you living well which is also what I expected for when I founded the God''s Will Brotherhood. I don''t want to disrupt your living pattern; neither do I want to force you to make any choice or decision. If you like, you can come to Youzhou Province to give me a hand. However, although the knight''s world is full of chances, it''s also very dangerous. I cannot guarantee you anything. With this decision, you might be involved in a greater crisis in the future; even at the cost of your lives. Therefore, you should think about it carefully. If you agree to come here, I will welcome you. If you want to maintain your current living pattern, I will also be happy about you!"


    "What...what can we do...here in Youzhou Province?" Barley asked in a hesitated and unconfident way after exchanging a glance with the others.


    They all knew that they were nothing in front of a knight and the dean of the provincial court in Youzhou Province. If they had ruled a city, they might win the favor of the dean of the provincial court in Youzhou Province; however, their current achievement was totally like how kids playing sands in front of Zhang Tie.


    "What are you adept at?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "When we came to Youzhou Province, we had analyzed our strengths carefully. As we had just graduated from middle school, we didn''t have skills, battle strength or human relationship. What we could rely on was the capital that you had gifted us, our intelligence and diligence; therefore, we finally chose the service industry. We invested an inn and a mini bar at first. After accumulating enough experiences in this industry, we opened hotels, which is also what we are adept at!" Barley replied.


    "If so, why not open hotels in Youzhou Province?" Zhang Tie smiled, "But you should not only open 3 hotels here; instead, you should open at least 300 hotels across Youzhou Province..."


    Zhang Tie said while the other guys'' eyes gradually turned bright...


    "You''ve already been a dean of the provincial court in Youzhou Province, what do you open so many hotels for?" Doug asked like an idiot.


    "Now that it''s an investment, of course, our first goal is to make a lot of money. Even I want to make money; it''s legitimate as money is a symbol of strength and power. The simplest method to accumulate strength and power is to make and save money!" Zhang Tie smiled, "In the future, our hotels could even spread across Taixia Country. We could contact people from all walks of life. Each hotel works as eyes and ears, which could help us ask about and collect information in the most convenient way. In most cases, a key message is even more important than a corps. Additionally, the hotel is a comprehensive service industry, which would be involved with clothes, food, accommodation and transportation; furthermore, it''s a labor-intensive industry. The more hotels we open, the more places will we occupy, the more stakeholders will we have and the more people will rely on us, the greater influence will we have. We shall lay a solid foundation here by making our undertaking better, greater and stronger. Now that we''ve decided to scrape a living in Taixia Country, we have to root deeply in this place."


    Zhang Tie had learned from Golden Roc Bank how to exert one''s utmost efforts to do a good job or develop an industry. Over these days, Zhang Tie had been considering how to root in Taixia Country. Besides building a city and expanding Jinwu Business Group, Zhang Tie felt that he could do something else. Besides hotel industry, Zhang Tie had also considered about mining ores, architecture and machinery manufacturing. Of course, Zhang Tie longed most for having a private bank like Golden Roc Bank. Whereas, given the strict requirements for opening a private bank in Taixia Country and the limited resources of him and Zhang Clan in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie gave it up for the time being.


    In Taixia Country, a provincial bank would require at least 10 billion gold coins as an initial capital, this condition had disappointed most of the major clans.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that those guys of God''s Will Brotherhood could arrive here suddenly and run their hotel industry well in Guizhou Province from a scratch. Zhang Tie then poured out his original thought.


    Now that Zhang Tie had poured it out, he had almost made a determination. Even if they didn''t agree, Zhang Tie would also have someone else do it. Even if dozens of hotels suffered a loss, Zhang Tie could still stand that. Therefore, Zhang Tie was confident to tell them that he wanted to open over 300 hotels across Youzhou Province, which number was too small for Youzhou Province, even being a lower province.

 851 Ceaseless Troubles

    Chapter 851: Ceaseless Troubles


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The group of Barley left after staying in Golden Light City for 4 days, during which period, they learned about Zhang Tie''s recent developments; especially the message that Zhang Tie was going to buy a land and build a city in Youzhou Province. Through a short negotiation, they had determined to settle down in Youzhou Province and restarted their new life here.


    Even though, they needed to handle a lot of problems.


    The first problem was in the God''s Will Brotherhood.


    There were 28 members of God''s Will Brotherhood totally, among whom only the 6-7 guys headed by Barley knew Zhang Tie''s recent developments. All the others still knew nothing about Zhang Tie''s current situation. As the achievement that they had made in Guizhou Province also benefited from all the other members of God''s Will Brotherhood, they needed to notice the other members of God''s Will Brotherhood about their choice so that the others could make their decisions.


    As of now, besides the group of Barley which was still single, many members of God''s Will Brotherhood had gotten married and established families in Guizhou Province. Therefore, it was actually uneasy to convince others to develop in Youzhou Province together with the group of Barley.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to move all of them to Youzhou Province, because he didn''t want to destroy their recent lives by having them move to a strange place and restart a new life. He was not entitled to make such a selfish decision.


    Zhang Tie asked Barley to only tell them that he had already returned to Taixia Country and was going to do something; instead of telling them about his recent developments. Those who wanted to come could come here to develop their new undertakings; those who didn''t, just stay there to maintain their current lives.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s suggestion, Barley and the other guys nodded. It would be much easier to handle it in this way. However, they all knew that the members of God''s Will Brotherhood would divide into different ways after they made such a decision. The God''s Will Brotherhood that they founded in Blackhot City would also come to an end soon after they made their choices.


    Perhaps, nobody would declare about the dissolution of the God''s Will Brotherhood; actually, after they made such a decision, they would divide into different ways completely. What linked them would be the friendship between them instead of interests and honors. As a result, God''s Will Brotherhood would become a countrymen organization and club.


    Anytime, only the binded interest was the firmest foundation.


    He could not force all of them to follow his leadership because each person had his own lifestyle. Some liked to conquer the world; some felt that the greatest pleasure lay in mountainscapes and rivers. If the two kinds of people were bound with each other, besides being embarrassed, there would be a series of side effects. The final outcome might be that they could not even be friends.


    Zhang Tie didn''t dream about conquering the world. It was normal for him to have such a dream in other sub-continents; however, if he still thought about this in Taixia Country, he must have been insane. Nevertheless, given his current social status, what he should consider and face was still different than that of commoners. This also caused the greatest difference between him and the other members of God''s Will Brotherhood.


    "The original intention of God''s Will Brotherhood was to survive our friends in Blackhot City in the holy war. It seems that we''ve already reached this target now. All the members who joined the God''s Will Brotherhood are living pretty well. It indicates that our decision to establish the God''s Will Brotherhood is right. Our brotherhood also played its role. I''m very happy about this point. From then on, I hope our friendship remains unchanged and God''s Will Brotherhood to be preserved. Those who come to Youzhou Province will have a wholly new start. I feel that Jinwu Hotel Group would be a nice name. I hope Jinwu Hotel Group would be the largest hotel group in Youzhou Province in one decade."


    The bright future that Zhang Tie described just now made Barley and the other guys spirited; therefore, after confirming some details with Zhang Tie, they had hurriedly returned to Guizhou Province by the fury-level airship dispatched by Zhang Tie. After ending their business in Guizhou Province, they would soon return to Youzhou Province by that airship. By then, they would show their talents in Youzhou Province.


    During the 4 days, Zhang Tie also got the news about those girls in Rose Association who had come to Taixia Country. Most of them had married others and delivered babies. Some moved to other places in Guizhou Province with their parents and had lost their contact with the God''s Will Brotherhood.


    Guizhou Province was larger and more prosperous than Waii Sub-continent. The total population in Guizhou Province was over 10 billion. A lot of foreigners were living there. With the financial management income of 580 gold coins from Golden Roc Bank annually, plus their nice looks, they could live like rich ladies even with their family members. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not worried about them.


    This message also drew a full stop for the crazy deed between Zhang Tie and those girls of Rose Association in Blackhot City.


    ...


    On December 1st, Zhang Tie stood in the open land in the backyard in the heavy snow and saw Barley and the other guys of God''s Will Brotherhood slowly rising up and flying towards the south.


    On the deck, Barley and the other guys were waving their hands towards Zhang Tie with full ambitions. Even Beverly, Fiona and Linda had come out to bid a farewell towards them together with Zhang Tie.


    Seeing off the airship, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh.


    "Alas, I''ve not imagined that those beautiful girls of Rose Association have married others. Hubby, are you missing them? If those girls were here, we would have a lot of games to play!" Fiona looked around and watched Zhang Tie while pouting her petite mouth faintly.


    "You know that." Zhang Tie watched Linda and Beverly with a sense of guilt.


    "I''ve long known Barley and the other guys, do you think that I don''t know what you enquired from them?" Beverly watched Zhang Tie with a faint smile.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Zhang Tie coughed in an embarrassed look, "Erm, I just care about them, don''t think too much!"


    Fiona suddenly let out a sigh, "Actually, we know that you''re a nostalgic person. Hubby, if you want to find those sisters of Rose Association or pick them to your side, as long as they like, Beverly and I will not oppose it, if some more people could serve you, we don''t need to be that painstaking anymore!"


    ''Say yes and mean no; definitely say yes and mean no.'' The moment he heard Fiona''s tone, Zhang Tie had known what this ladykin was thinking about. Women were all jealous; especially those women who had married and delivered babies would have a strong territorial consciousness in the family; perhaps, Fiona and Beverly didn''t feel anything special when Zhang Tie killed time with those girls in Rose Association previously; they would even join them; however, if any more women dared break in his life circle at this moment, Zhang Tie was sure that his harem would get a big fire.


    "Don''t worry. It''s enough for me to have 3 of you!" Zhang Tie patted Fiona''s raised butt under her fox-fur robe and said seriously.


    "Really? I don''t think so!" Beverly watched Zhang Tie with her flickering eyes, "I remember that Sonia stayed in your study a bit longer than before a few days ago!"


    "Alas!" Zhang Tie suddenly shouted as he heavily patted his head and said, "I forgot I promised Chenglei to teach the little guys rollerskating!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie had escaped away.


    Fiona, Beverly and Linda became silent for a few seconds as they had not imagined that Zhang Tie could be so shameless. After exchanging a glance with each other, they burst out into laughter at the same time.


    ...


    After the group of Barley left Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie recovered his "home-staying" mode.


    Even in such a "home-staying" mode, besides accompanying his family members and negotiating with his elder brother about purchasing a land to build a city, Zhang Tie also kept an eye on the holy war, the situation facing Taixia Country and various messages. Additionally, he kept cultivating every day.


    As the old Hua saying went, be prepared for danger even in times of peace. Even though Youzhou Province in Taixia Country could not sense the battle flames of the holy war, Zhang Tie, who had witnessed the cruelty of the holy war, dared never forget about the greatest threat from demons. Zhang Tie knew that there was no Shangrila across the human territory facing the holy war; even in Taixia Country, there were also a lot of surging hidden forces...


    The notice "Long-term Garrison Knights Wanted in the Lion Fortress of Earth-element Realm" was still hanging on the top of the notice board in the Mountain of Brightness. Being different from that a few years ago, the treatment for garrison knights in the Lion Fortress grew from 2 earth-element crystals per month to 6...


    This was not a good signal as it revealed that the situation facing Lion Fortress in the Earth-element Realm was growing more and more dangerous.


    Demon disasters started to break out in Golden Roc Sub-continent. The National Defense Department of Taixia Country had dispatched knights over there to crack down the demons...


    Plague broke out in the dozens of cities of Chaosang Sub-continent at the same time. The Northeast Military Region Headquarter had issued the order to the navies in each province within its territory to prevent ships from stealing into Taixia Country from Chaosang Sub-continent and strictly control population and commodities smuggling...


    These were the major events that happened in the border of Taixia Country during the past a couple of months. As to the inland of Taixia Country, the heresy Heavens Reaching Church aroused a riot in Ganzhou Province in Taixia Country at the bottom of November, which was pacified in Mid-December. However, the court temples in Youzhou Province also received the documents about catching the dregs of the Heavens Reaching Church from the Supreme Court in Taixia Country...


    In Mid-December, a LV 13 important criminal on the 8369th place of the wanted list in the Supreme Court of Taixia Country sneaked in Youzhou Province and fought ferociously with 4 bounty hunters in the wild of Threespring Prefecture. Finally, the important criminal was killed at the cost of the lives of 2 bounty hunters.


    In such ceaseless troubles, they welcomed the first spring festival of the 900th year of Black Iron Calendar...

 852 On the Way

    Chapter 852: On the Way


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After leaving Youzhou City 2 months ago, Zhang Tie returned to Youzhou City by airship once again on December 30th, the 899th year of Black Iron Calendar.


    Zhang Tie was a bit depressed on the journey as he had to stay in the airship for a whole day. By contrast, if he could fly there himself, it would only take him 4-5 hours from Yanghe Prefecture to Youzhou City. For the sake of convenience, he could directly fly over there; however, as a black iron knight, it would be too shocking if he just flew there himself. As he had already been very famous in Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie didn''t want to be any hotter anymore; therefore, he just chose to go there by airship.


    Thankfully, he could spend almost 20 hours to absorb about 10 earth-element crystals in the flight.


    Over these days, although Zhang Tie looked free, he didn''t slow down his cultivation speed. Even at home, he would also spend at least 10 hours a day in cultivation. He constantly formed his earth chakra at the speed of using up 1 earth-element crystal per 2 hours.


    Zhang Tie absorbed earth-element crystals at a very shocking speed. He would consume at least 5 earth-element crystals a day. Therefore, he had consumed over 300 earth-element crystals over the past 2 months.


    ...


    In the berth cabin of the airship, after absorbing one earth-element crystal in his hand, Zhang Tie felt that a complex geometric pattern composed of triangles and rounds on the rim of a part of the earth chakra of the King Roc Sutra finally turned bright. It was like assembling a huge machine. After it was assembled, Zhang Tie felt that one dragon scale on his knight''s crystal plate turned golden at once. Zhang Tie knew that he had already lit 11 dragon scales.


    It was the 8th earth-element crystal that Zhang Tie had used up since he boarded the airship. It indicated that Zhang Tie had already cultivated in his berth cabin for 16 hours silently. Such a period was not long for a person who had stayed in the tower of time for 15 years. However, he needed to relax too. After lighting the 11 dragon scale, he had improved his battle strength a bit more. Therefore, Zhang Tie stopped today''s cultivation.


    After opening his eyes, Zhang Tie threw the useless earth-element crystal into Castle of Black Iron. After that, he picked himself up; warmed up his limbs and sensed his physical and spiritual changes before opening the hatch door and walking out of his berth cabin.


    "Elder Mushen!" Two bodyguards on the airship hurriedly gave a salute to him when they saw Zhang Tie coming out of his berth cabin.


    According to the schedule, this airship should arrive at Youzhou City at about 9 am. It was about 5 am when the day had just broken. It was still far away from the estimated arrival time. Given the distance, this airship should still be about 500 miles away from Youzhou City.


    "Tell the captain, I will arrive there ahead of you. You can just arrive at Youzhou City on time!" After leaving a message to the two guards, Zhang Tie came to the open deck. After breathing the chill air, he directly flew off the deck towards Youzhou City.


    Even if someone saw him flying towards Youzhou City from here, it would not arouse any doubts.


    After flying in the air once again, Zhang Tie felt as free and pleasant as fish in the sea and bird in the sky.


    With the protection of his protective battle qi, Zhang Tie could almost not sense the chill wind in the high altitude.


    In heavy wind and snow, Zhang Tie gradually elevated and deepened into the thick, grey clouds in the troposphere.


    Snowflakes were coming into being in the thick, grey clouds. With the strong knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie was meticulously tasting how the virtual vapor gradually became glittering snowflakes. ''What a nice process!''


    In each second, hundreds of millions of beautiful snowflakes would fall off the thick, grey cloud with the chilly wind...


    Penetrating through the thick, grey cloud where snowflakes were gradually coming into being, Zhang Tie felt like flying in a brilliant park. He could see and sense numerous glittering nice snowflakes silently blossoming in the air in each split second. Watching those "water spirits" blossoming, floating in the air and landing on the land, Zhang Tie felt vacant inside...


    In Zhang Tie''s consciousness of knight, such a scene was super splendid.


    Who else could enjoy such a realm of super greatness in the universe except for knights?


    It required sun''s temperature, namely the strength of fire, to evaporate water from the surface of the ground. Due to evaporation and desublimation, water manifested its different forms in different spatial locations. After that, snowflakes would return to the land by wind. The whole life of a small piece of snowflakes was affected by the four elements such as earth, water, wind and fire in the universe.


    In the vacant state, Zhang Tie had a new insight from these snowflakes, which reminded him of the forming and disappearing bubbles in water.


    On the vast white land, the undulating mountain ranges were like silver snakes while the plains were like running white elephants. In such a vacant state, Zhang Tie gradually saw the contour of Youzhou City when he was already 70 miles away from Youzhou City.


    At the sight of Youzhou City, Zhang Tie almost forgot something.


    In the thick, grey cloud, Zhang Tie directly called 6 thunder hawks out of Castle of Black Iron.


    The two bigger thunder hawks had been very familiar with the outside world; however, the other 4 smaller ones were very curious and excited about this new world; especially the snowy day. They kept chirping while flying around Zhang Tie.


    At the request of their "father", the 4 younger thunder hawks had to accept the baptism of a lightning bolt in their lives like why a flying moth would dart into the fire. It originated from their instinctive impulse.


    If thunder hawks could survive the baptism of a lightning bolt, they might accomplish an evolution in their lives. If they failed, they might be heavily wounded or lose their lives. The first thunder hawk that Zhang Tie raised was caught by someone in the Selnes Theater of Operations after being struck by the lightning bolt. The 4 younger thunder hawks'' mother was also wounded when she accepted the baptism of a lightning bolt. However, she was lucky as she was not captured by people.


    Standing still in the air, Zhang Tie watched these thunder hawks who came to Taixia Country with him from Waii Sub-continent with a tender look.


    These thunder hawks were not only his pets but also his partners and comrades-in-arms...


    "Go, go to the north, there are fewer people over there. Remember to survive back!" Zhang Tie instructed them while pointing at the sky in the north.


    It was Liaozhou Province in the north of Youzhou Province, which was a wild province with fewer people.


    Thunder hawks were born to be hardly captured. These thunder hawks were smarter and stronger due to the training of Aziz in Castle of Black Iron while those younger thunder hawks had mastered hunting skills. In Liaozhou Province, they would have a fewer chance to meet people. Even if they were struck by a lightning bolt, they didn''t need to worry about being captured by people.


    Those thunder hawks chirped and flew around Zhang Tie for a short while. Finally, Zhang Tie waved his hand towards them. After knowing Zhang Tie''s intention, they instantly penetrated through the clouds and flew towards the north as fast as a lightning bolt facing the heavy wind and snow.


    Seeing them off, Zhang Tie felt a bit sad. Because he didn''t know how many among the 4 younger thunder hawks could survive back. However, it was their fates. They had to accept the challenge from their fates like how Zhang Tie was coming here to accept the challenge from his own fate. They could not avoid that; instead, they could only face that.


    Until the 6 thunder hawks disappeared in his vision did Zhang Tie move his eyes to Youzhou City in the distance. He then accelerated towards Youzhou City.


    Zhang Tie came here today after receiving a message from Huaiyuan Palace that the Clan head had something to negotiate with the other elders of Zhang Clan yesterday.


    As Count Long Wind had been the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, no matter how influential and great Zhang Tie was in Youzhou Province, he should never think about having Zhang Taixuan invite him to Golden Light City. Nobody else across Youzhou Province had such a right. In the Northeast Military Region, only Commander Cheng was qualified to call a provincial governor of Youzhou Province.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know why Zhang Taixuan summoned him; however, he knew that it must be a major event.


    2 days ago, all the procedures about purchasing the land had been handled. Through this journey, he could bring back those documents about land ownership, atlas and certificates about property right and title deed for land. From then on, Zhang Tie''s family would enter the list of major landlords in Youzhou Province; the land area of Zhang Tie''s family would reach 200,000 square miles, which was equal to 1/4 of that of Yanghe Prefecture.


    The new land was also incorporated into the administrative area of Yanghe Prefecture. After the city was built, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang planned to have their dad be the major of Jinwu City...

 853 Reason

    Chapter 853: Reason


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When in Huaiyuan Prefecture, Zhang Tie''s dad ran a medium-sized airship corporation as his new undertaking. However, after moving to Taixia Country, his airship corporation became disadvantageous completely because its manufacturing skills were greatly lagged behind in Taixia Country. Not only that, the airships that were produced by large-scale airship production bases and factories in Spiritualmaple Prefecture and Chaoyang Prefecture were even much cheaper than that produced by Zhang Ping''s corporation due to the effect of scale.


    As they could not match their competitors on quality and price, of course, their products had no market in Taixia Country; therefore, Zhang Ping''s airship corporation could only wind up.


    Actually, across the Yanghe Prefecture, only the Huaiyuan Airship Manufacturing Plant affiliated to Huaiyuan Palace was a bit competitive in this line in Youzhou Province on both scale and skills. All the other small and medium-sized airship manufacturing enterprises could not match the local airship manufacturing enterprises in Taixia Country. Therefore, these foreign enterprises could only be merged by Huaiyuan Airship Manufacturing Plant, cooperate with each other to be the downstream suppliers of Huaiyuan Airship Manufacturing Plant or wind up.


    After moving from Waii Sub-continent to Taixia, Huaiyuan Palace also suffered pains from adapting to the integrated demands from all aspects in Taixia Country. On one hand, Huaiyuan Palace''s certain industries had overcapacity and labor surplus; on the other hand, Huaiyuan Palace''s products lacked core-competitiveness in Taixia Country.


    Not only the airship manufacturing industry, even the entire manufacturing industry that Huaiyuan Palace was involved in was experiencing such a sharp pain.


    The method that Huaiyuan Palace used to relieve pain was to build a city. They intended to stimulate the great domestic demand by building a city so as to gradually advance and integrate the overall strength of the manufacturing industry in Yanghe Prefecture.


    As a clan elder and the one who suggested to build a private city for his family, Zhang Tie could pay attention to these domestic affairs facing Huaiyuan Palace from a higher point.


    ''By buying land and building a city, I intend to meet my family''s demands and give a hand to my clan at the critical moment. Given the current layout of Yanghe Prefecture, if it contained one more city, it would welcome an all-round development. Additionally, my father who has "lost his job" and is staying at home could take the office of the major of this new city, which could spice up his living. My mother could live a life as a major''s wife. That would be better.''


    The reason that Zhang Tie''s elder uncles'' families drew closer to Zhang Tie''s family was that the Milkway Shipyard was facing the same question as Huaiyuan Palace''s airship manufacturing industry. Milkway Shipyard had to realize promotion and resources integration so as to survive on and further develop given the internal situation facing Zhang Tie Clan and the macro environment facing the entire shipbuilding industry across Taixia Country. Milkway Shipyard and Zhang Tie''s elder uncles'' families didn''t have such a strength. Milkway Shipyard could not have a bright future without Zhang Tie''s protection and support.


    A clan should have a strong economic lifeline. However, as Huaiyuan Palace had just settled down in Taixia Country, the only two competitive businesses of Huaiyuan Palace in Youzhou Province and Taixia Country were rune weapons, equipment manufacturing and the all-purpose medicament of Zhang Clan.


    Rune weapons and equipment manufacturing was the trump card of Huaiyuan Palace. Rune weapons and various types of equipment were always badly needed in both Waii Sub-continent and Taixia Country. They were always shopping-rush goods at proper market prices regardless of their quantities. The problem facing Huaiyuan Palace was that the rune weapons and equipment produced by Huaiyuan Palace could not meet the market demand.


    The key manufacturing process of rune weapons was artificial; precisely, they were made by rune equipment''s handicraftsmen. Rune equipment''s handicraftsman was a high-end profession in this age and the most precious resources of Huaiyuan Palace. The number of rune equipment''s handicraftsmen who were cultivated by and served Huaiyuan Palace grew at a limited speed. Therefore, they could not compare with the industrial streamline.


    In such case, as the market of all-purpose medicament was gradually opened in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie''s family would also become increasingly important in Huaiyuan Palace even though without Zhang Tie''s help. Like a gold mountain which could not be used up, all-purpose medicament would grow more and more valuable in Huaiyuan Palace.


    Although outsiders didn''t know that the all-purpose medicament was invented by Zhang Tie and its production was completely within Zhang Tie''s control, the management of Huaiyuan Palace knew it clearly. During the 2 more months when Zhang Tie stayed in Golden Light City, Elder Muen who had become the prefectural governor of Yanghe Prefecture had paid a visit to Zhang Tie two times so as to talk about the Jinwu City and the all-purpose medicament.


    Huaiyuan Palace hoped Zhang Tie to expand the production of the all-purpose medicament.


    Half of the 2 million-odd all-purpose medicament that was produced by Jinwu Business Group were sold out through the channels of Long Wind Business Group according to the agreement. If Zhang Tie could expand the production scale of all-purpose medicament, those business groups and commercial networks under the affiliation of Huaiyuan Palace would be the beneficiaries.


    In Waii Sub-continent, the Long Wind Business Group of Huaiyuan Palace was famous. After moving to Taixia Country, Long Wind Business Group had deteriorated to be average. If they wanted to expand the clan business and commercial network, Long Wind Business Group urgently needed a unique knockout product, which was rightly within Zhang Tie''s control. As Zhang Tie directly controlled the annual production scale of all-purpose medicament, Huaiyuan Palace could only dispatch one elder to pump Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie didn''t reply to Elder Muen''s request clearly, because Elder Muen could not handle too many affairs in Huaiyuan Palace. Additionally, in a clan, affairs being involved with the interest of tens of millions of gold coins must be clarified. Even two brothers would keep careful accounts in some families, not to mention Huaiyuan Palace which was such a complex, huge clan.


    This time, Zhang Tie estimated that Zhang Taixuan was going to negotiate with him about this thing in Youzhou City.


    ''Zhang Taixuan has been very busy since the beginning of October. When in Golden Light City, I was told that Zhang Taixuan had not exited White Tiger Complex for three months and worked about 20 hours a day. Therefore, it''s reasonable that Zhang Taixuan wants to negotiate with me about the provision of all-purpose medicament after handling the major affairs in White Tiger Complex.''


    Through Zhang Taixuan''s 3-month efforts, the entire Youzhou Province had entered the normal track; the government''s organs at different levels gradually ran normally, making Youzhou Province a bit like a province in Taixia Country.


    If it was other lower provinces which had just been established, it would take them at least 1 year to enter the normal track. It would take a new lower province at least half a year to be equipped with all the officers, not to mention having all the affairs enter normal tracks. However, it only took Zhang Taixuan less than 3 months to make all of this. As a result, everybody admired his high-efficient ability. Even Commander Cheng was shocked by his excellent achievement.


    It could be said that Youzhou Province had become a real lower province in Taixia Country by now.


    Overlooking the city from the sky, the magnificent Youzhou City didn''t look different than that 3 months ago. However, although the snow outside the city had been several feet in thickness, there was no snow on the city wall of Youzhou City. Given this point, Zhang Tie knew that Huaiyuan Palace had fully controlled this city over the past 3 months. Without a powerful ruling ability over the city guards of Youzhou City, the city wall of this city could never be so clean during the daybreak.


    Zhang Tie landed on the wild outside Youzhou City with the heavy snowflakes. Closely after that, he strode towards Youzhou City in a relaxed way.


    Unless wartime or due to public affairs, generally, Class A cities in Taixia Country forbad knights to fly inside without consent. Otherwise, as long as they flew over the city wall, they might be attacked by the city guards. In order to not make any trouble or joke, Zhang Tie just landed outside the city and strode inside the city.


    It was his second time to visit Youzhou City. He felt pretty special.


    When he came to Youzhou City for the first time, Zhang Tie didn''t even take a round in the city. He took his family members into Huaiyuan Mansion. After that, his family members left Youzhou City. He then entered White Tiger Complex to attend the competition. Later on, he got drunk by a jar of dragon-marrow liquor gifted by Commander Cheng. When he woke up, he took the office of the dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province. After being familiar with his responsibilities, he left Youzhou City. Therefore, he almost had no impression about this city which covered over 1,000 square miles.


    When Zhang Tie arrived at an east city gate of Youzhou City at over 6 am. He found that the city had been boisterous as over 10 trucks were entering the city gate at the same time...


    Each city wall of Youzhou City had several city gates, which assumed different responsibilities. Through different city gates, they separated human flows from vehicle flows. The city gate where Zhang Tie stood was mainly available for vehicles that transported materials, which included grains, meats and vegetables that were produced in the farms outside the city...

 854 Thef

    Chapter 854: Theft


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Uncle Man, have you sold out your mutton? It''s so fast!" A young man who was waiting for entering the city in a medium-sized steam truck lowered down the window and shouted towards an old man who was wrapped in a goat-hide coat and a goat-hide hat on an oxcart.


    It seemed that they were familiar with each other. They might both live in the nearby farm villages and towns which were subordinate to Youzhou City.


    "The new year is coming. I''ve sold them to my old customers at a discount. The moment they entered the market, they had been taken away!" The old man pulled down his hat before exhaling a cold breath, "Why are you alone here? Where''s your elder brother?"


    "My elder brother is strong. He used to practice battle skills. Last night, my uncle came back and said that some archers were wanted in the new archers'' station in the town with the compensation of over 10 gold coins a year. He might be promoted to a village constable in the future if he had a good performance there; therefore, my elder brother has gone there before daybreak. If he''s got good luck, he might be a civil servant from then on. As the snake butter and cabbages are ordered by Steward Liu of Dainty Building, my elder brother doesn''t need to give me a hand. When I send them over there, the buddies of Dainty Building will help me unload them!" The young man replied as he moved his car a bit forward when he saw one more vehicle ahead of him entering the city.


    "Hahahaha, brat, you look diligent. I will introduce a beautiful and able girl to you next year!" The old man teased. Closely after that, he waved his hand and said, "Well, hurry up, if you''re late, Steward Liu will not show you a good look!"


    "Thanks, Uncle Man. Uncle Man, watch out on your way back. I will invite you for a drink when I come back!" The young man revealed a cheerful look as he stretched his hand out of the window and bid a farewell to the old man. After that, he drove into the city.


    The old man on the oxcart took out a small metal pot from inside his coat and had a small mouth of drink. Closely after that, he drove the oxcart out of the city.


    When the young man entered the city gate, Zhang Tie was also going through the pedestrian passageway beside the vehicle.


    Zhang Tie was wearing a fur cashmere with hood. After putting on his hood, he almost covered half of his face. Therefore, nobody could identify Zhang Tie at all.


    The soldiers outside the city gate were just checking whether those vehicles carried contrabands or not. However, most of the trucks entering the city were carrying vegetables and meats, which could access to the city gate very fast. As there were 8 driveways entering the city, it was not crowded over there.


    Above 80% of the vehicles were small and medium-sized steam trucks and tractors. Some were drawn by animals such as long-horn yaks and tall and strong david deer, even rhino-dragon horses.


    At the sight of the vehicle drawn by a rhino-dragon horse, the soldiers outside the city gate threw two more glances at it in order to check whether it was an army horse. Rhino-dragon horses in army horse-breeding farms always had marks on their bodies, which could not be used by commoners. Those army horses would not be sold to commoners. However, there were wild colts in the wild of Youzhou Province, which were usually captured by local people. It was very dangerous to catch a rhino-dragon horse, even a colt. If someone caught it, he could show off his ability for sure.


    Most of the wild rhino-dragon horses would be sold to army horse-breeding farms for mating. Few of them were raised by their conquerors, who were usually pioneers, professional hunters and part-time rhizotomists in the wild.


    If there was any need, these people would draw maps in the wild; survey the topography in the wasteland or hunt something in the wild and sell them. However, they liked to serve major clans and rich people by hunting some exotic animals or pets in the wild at their requests. Pharmacists were also their customers. Pharmacists would always entrust them to seek for some animals and plants for refining some special pills or medicaments. These guys would even be employed to drive dangerous wildlife away from the region where a city was going to be built.


    As Zhang Tie knew that these guys were active in the wild of Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie told his thunder hawks to accept their baptism in Liaozhou Province.


    "Show me your face!" A soldier stopped Zhang Tie and ordered him with a solemn look.


    Zhang Tie then put off his hood and showed his face.


    Zhang Tie thought that he would be recognized; however, after looking at Zhang Tie for a short while, the soldier directly waved his hand and let him in.


    ''It turns out that I think too much.'' Zhang Tie mocked himself before putting on his hood once again.


    Until Zhang Tie had entered the city gate for a half minute did the soldier who checked him just now suddenly feel something wrong as he scratched his head and murmured, "Yi? That young man looks familiar. But I don''t know him. What the hell!"


    Over 2 months ago, when Zhang Tie shocked the entire Youzhou City, many people had seen him in the mirage. However, due to different perspectives, they could only see what happened in the cony domain from top to bottom within 45 degrees. They could not see his face clearly. Therefore, this soldier just felt Zhang Tie''s face was familiar.


    Nobody could imagine that the dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province whose nickname was the Lion of Youzhou Province appeared outside the city gate of Youzhou City and directly strode into the city without any retinue.


    After entering this city gate for a short while, Zhang Tie had seen a boisterous trading market. Most of the vegetables and meats that were carried in the city from outside were sold here...


    Although the day had just broken, it had been filled with bargaining voices in the trading market, although they were just bargaining for a few haos or copper coins...


    Hearing the boisterous bargaining sounds, Zhang Tie felt tender instead of being annoyed.


    When he was in Blackhot City, he used to buy grains in such markets by tricycle...


    At this moment, a kid knocked into Zhang Tie and soon disappeared in the crowd...


    With a smile, Zhang Tie just saw him disappearing into the crowd...


    A thief dared steal money from the dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province, how hilarious!


    Of course, what was funnier was that when the thief fumbled across his body, Zhang Tie suddenly moved a purse containing over 10 gold coins out of Castle of Black Iron. Precisely, Zhang Tie "foisted" the purse into the thief''s hand...


    The thief really thought that he had made it. After pinching the purse, he instantly ran away and soon disappeared into the crowd. However, he didn''t know that it was Zhang Tie who foisted the purse into his hand; neither did he know that his body, that purse and each gold coin in the purse had been attached with a tracing tentacle by Zhang Tie in the split second.


    Zhang Tie just felt that it was funny to do this. Of course, as he had not been to Youzhou City for over two months, he wanted to check the efficiency of breaking a criminal case of the court temples within his territory. By the way, as the new year was coming, he wanted to give a favor to the security in Youzhou City. As that thief was still young, it was not late to save him and send him on a right path.


    Zhang Tie didn''t think too much about this thing...

 855 Jia Farmland

    Chapter 855: Jia Farmland


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Youzhou City covered 1,000 square miles, almost half of which were high-yielding farmlands. Additionally, there were abundant water resources in the city. Under the protection of the high city walls, the farmlands were forbidden to be developed for commercial use.


    Perhaps, only Hua people could build such a city.


    Having just lit a new dragon scale on his knight''s crystal plate, Zhang Tie was loitering in the city and enjoying the magnificent scenery of the only Class A city in Youzhou Province.


    After leaving those crowded commercial areas, Zhang Tie entered the neighborhood of those farmlands.


    Compared to those buildings with Hua characteristics and various strange places, those farmlands in the city attracted Zhang Tie the most.


    In Taixia Country, farmlands in Class A cities were specially called jia farmlands.


    According to the Laws of Taixia Country , those who dared violate or destroy any farmland in Taixia Country would be punished to starve to death in the prison of court temples just as brutally as those corrupt officers were punished to swallow golds after being reported.


    Jia farmland was an important symbol of a Class A city.


    It could be said that Hua people used jia farmland to respond to holy wars.


    In holy wars, the jia farmlands which were divided into several pieces in Youzhou City could realize self-sufficiency for its 3 million people when this city was surrounded by demons and constantly fought demons until the end.


    Actually, each Class A city in Taixia Country could be a self-sufficient fortress in dilemma. Even though being the toughest battle, as long as the city was not broken through, the millions of survivors inside the city would be able to sustain the bloodline of Hua people.


    Besides containing the meaning "first", the word "jia" also meant armor and helmet.


    As Zhang Tie''s family wanted to build Jinwu City, Zhang Tie gradually learned more about city planning.


    Besides jia farmlands, Youzhou City contained 6 strategic materials warehouses which were buried underground and were built together with this city as the basic allocations of a Class A city. Among those strategic materials warehouses, the first warehouse stored 30 million tons of standard coal; the second warehouse stored 3 million tons of various metals predominated by steel and iron; the third warehouse stored 10,000 whole sets of machinery equipment and tools; the fourth warehouse stored crops'' seeds and table salt; the fifth warehouse stored ordnance and weapons; the sixth warehouse stored other necessary or major strategic materials. These 6 warehouses were called Six Warehouses of a Class A city. Each Class A city should ensure the safety and sufficiency of the strategic materials in the six warehouses.


    When a city was besieged by demons, it would enter a state of emergency. These strategic materials warehouses would be activated at once. With the help of the jia farmlands in the city, this city would become a firm wartime fortress.


    Without the extremely miserable historical lessons before the Catastrophe, Hua people would not pose such a strict requirement on their Class A cities. After experiencing the constant disasters before the Catastrophe, Hua people genuinely understood what were the most important resources that Hua people could survive on.


    If a nation wanted to survive on, it must rely on its cultivated lands rather than its real properties being made of steel reinforced concrete. The genuine mineral resources were much more reliable than the colorful paper notes; with crops'' seeds in hand, they would feel much safer.


    Cultivated lands, resources and crops'' seeds were the three basic elements that a nation survived on at the cost of countless blood and tears. If a nation lacked any one of the 3 elements, it would deteriorate into the dust in the long course of history for sure.


    Perhaps some small countries could still survive on if they lacked one or two of the three basic elements. Even if they lacked cultivated lands or crops'' seeds, they could also be traded for their demands with others. However, it didn''t fit Hua people. As Hua people was too powerful as the pillar of humans, also the implacable foe of demons. If Hua people lacked any of the 3 basic elements, the entire human race would not survive on.


    Hua people almost deteriorated into dust before the Catastrophe.


    Therefore, after the Catastrophe, when the first Class A city of Hua people appeared, they prioritized the protection of four elements, namely, Hua population, cultivated lands, resources and corps'' seeds.


    No matter how terrifying was the war, as long as there was a Class A city remaining in this land, Hua people would survive on.


    When other continents or sub-continents were protecting rich people with high city walls, the largest cities of Hua people were protecting the most basic elements, also the hope of the rejuvenation of the nation with high city walls. This might be the reason why Hua people was the most powerful and awe-inspiring nation.


    Only at this moment did Zhang Tie feel something familiar with this city when he watched the tidy aqueducts in the jia farmlands of Youzhou City.


    Rich people would not cultivate land themselves; however, jia farmland could not be left uncultivated; therefore, only common farmers would choose to cultivate farmlands in the city. Because of this, if the city was besieged, many of these farmers would survive on due to their ownership of the jia farmlands.


    In normal times, after the wastes in the sewers and the domestic garbage were fermented and dried in the sun in a concentrated way, they would become the fertilizers of the jia farmlands. In this way, the urban resources were gradually recycled.


    As the competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province had just come to an end a month ago, the greater part of jia farmlands in Youzhou City had not been sold out yet.


    All the jia farmlands in Youzhou City were high-yielding farmlands. Additionally, the irrigation engineering in the jia farmlands had been established. The price of such farmlands was as same as that outside the city walls. Additionally, they were in city walls, which meant that the grains produced from such farmlands could be sold directly in the city. Given so many benefits, they should have been in urgent demand; however, they had not been sold out yet over the past 3 months. Because Taixia Country posed very strict requirements on the qualification of the purchasers.


    As the dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province, even though Zhang Tie could buy hundreds of thousands of square miles on the border of Yanghe Prefecture, he was not qualified to buy any jia farmland in Youzhou City.


    According to the Laws of Taixia Country , the purchasers of jia farmlands had to be farmers who had cultivated lands for over 10 years with adroit farming skills; besides, they had to have the preliminary farming gentry qualification certificate. Each preliminary farming gentry could purchase 10,000 square meters'' jia farmlands; farmers with medium farming gentry qualification certificates could buy 20,000 square meters'' jia farmlands; farmers with senior farming gentry qualification certificate could purchase 30,000 square meters'' jia farmlands. Farming masters who were one level higher than senior farming gentry could purchase 150,000 square meters'' jia farmlands.


    In Taixia, if farmers could cultivate lands well, they could promote to farming gentries. After purchasing jia farmlands, farming gentries would become townspeople and enjoy a lot of benefits. After promoting to half landlords, they would win a sharp increase in honor, social status and wealth. In wartime, farmers who had jia farmlands could be real farming gentries as long as the city walls were not broken through. For most of the common farmers in Taixia Country, they could win higher social status by owning jia farmlands.


    Although it was snowing, some places near the jia farmlands were still pretty boisterous. A lot of purchasers were converging there from all the other prefectures of Youzhou Province. They were checking the topography and fertility of the farmlands before purchasing them. Zhang Tie also swarmed up and gained more knowledge about that.


    After joining in the fun, Zhang Tie suddenly thought of his No. 1 earthworm, ''I wonder how many grains could be increased across Taixia Country if I placed several kgs of No. 1 earthworms in each piece of Jia farmland?''


    After Zhang Tie took a walk around Youzhou City in a leisure way, it was 10 minutes away from 12 am. Zhang Tie came to White Tiger Complex on time with high spirit.


    As the new year was coming, the outside of White Tiger Complex had also been faintly decorated with red lanterns, which represented a festive atmosphere.


    According to the appointment, Zhang Taixuan and Zhang Tie would meet at the lunchtime. It felt both genial and important to talk about it at lunchtime.


    To tell the truth, Zhang Tie really felt a bit hungry after exploring around the city for an entire morning.


    Less than 10 people could be qualified to be invited by the provincial governor across Youzhou Province. When he thought that his father-in-law was going to invite him for a lunch, Zhang Tie felt especially strange.


    After putting off his hood, Zhang Tie had been recognized by some fighters from Huaiyuan Palace who were standing outside the White Tiger Complex. Therefore, he was invited into the Provincial Governor''s Mansion respectfully.


    After over 2 months, Count Long Wind looked more dignified as the provincial governor of Taixia Country.


    In a tranquil place of the Provincial Governor''s Mansion which was full of plum blossoms, Zhang Tie and Zhang Taixuan were talking about the affairs in Youzhou Province while drinking and enjoying the beautiful scenery.


    "How do you feel about Huaiyuan Palace''s position in Youzhou Province now?" After proposing toasts to each other for three rounds, Zhang Taixuan put down the glass and suddenly watched Zhang Tie with a solemn look.


    Zhang Tie murmured inside, ''Here it is...''


    "After taking a round in Youzhou City, I learned that Huaiyuan Palace is growing increasingly vigorous in Youzhou day after day!" Zhang Tie replied leisurely.


    However, Zhang Taixuan suddenly let out a sigh, "Although Huaiyuan Palace looks vigorous in Youzhou Province, it''s actually treading as if on thin ice. It might be at stake at any time!"


    After hearing this answer, Zhang Tie became stunned at once...

 856 Treading as If on Thin Ice

    Chapter 856: Treading as If on Thin Ice


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    ''Although Huaiyuan Palace looks vigorous in Youzhou Province, it''s actually treading as if on thin ice. It might be at stake at any time?''


    When Zhang Tie heard these words from Zhang Taixuan the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, he almost wanted to touch Count Long Wind''s forehead to check whether he had fever or not.


    ''Are you kidding me? Huaiyuan Palace is growing pretty well now. How could Zhang Taixuan be so passive?''


    It seemed that Zhang Taixuan had known what Zhang Tie was thinking about; he then called a clerk to bring a document here.


    After the clerk left, a document appeared in front of Zhang Tie. Count Long Wind then implied Zhang Tie to read it by throwing a glance at Zhang Tie. Out of curiosity, Zhang Tie took up the document.


    "This is a document that Commander Cheng sent to the Xuanyuan Hill. Commander Cheng copied one over here. You can take a look at its contents."


    Out of curiosity, Zhang Tie opened it. Only after reading a few lines, he had been shocked. The upper part of the document was the imperial to the throne of an impeachment; the lower part of it was the reply and denouncement of the Northeast Military Region.


    Zhang Tie could never imagine that he would become the main character in the memorial to the throne.


    ¡ª¡ª"Su Qianling, the official in charge of the discipline of the public functionaries impeaches Zhang Mushen the dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province for dereliction of duties"


    At the sight of the title of the memorial to the throne, Zhang Tie had widely opened his mouth.


    After composing himself, Zhang Tie read the contents carefully while growing increasingly furious...


    The contents contained two events: first, Zhang Tie rarely handled the public affairs in the court temple after taking the office for over 2 months. He didn''t even know whether the gate of the court temple was facing south or north; those officials in the court temple didn''t even know the look of the new dean of the provincial court in Youzhou Province at all.


    Second, Zhang Tie was taking liberties with his beautiful wives and concubines, traveling leisurely, drinking and amusing himself with them every day in Golden Light City; besides, he even bought land and stored wealth and goods in Youzhou Province excessively.


    The expressions in the memorial were very delicate. After deleting the other relevant reasons and linking the two affairs with each other, the impeacher precisely depicted an image of a newly rich who was fickle, rude, horny, avaricious and lazy. Anyone who caught sight of this person might spit towards him.


    Closely after that, he started to criticize Zhang Tie viciously.


    "If it were in peaceful time, it''s good to see the dean of the provincial court being leisure; however, it''s the wartime. Given the situation outside Taixia Country, our vast country is constantly being disrupted by demons. War flames could be seen almost everywhere; hundreds of millions of commissioned officers and soldiers are awaiting eagerly the order for battle or fighting forcefully with demons on the battlefields. Given the situation inside the country, the Heavens Reaching Church is making troubles everywhere; crafty and evil forces were surging, afflicting commoners severely...however, in such a chaotic period, the dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province is only indulged in beauties, drinks, wealth and goods. What a misfortune it is for the commoners..."


    "I, Su Qianling now propose to impeach Zhang Mushen the dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province for the sake of the commoners in Youzhou Province. Please punish him with the crime of dereliction of duties..."


    If the names of Youzhou and Zhang Tie were changed in the memorial, Zhang Tie would smite the table and rise to his feet for sure. Besides, he would swear that dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province for holding down his job without doing a stroke of his work. Given the memorial, the commoners in that province under the governance of that dean of the provincial court were definitely living a miserable life. However, when that main character became Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie was driven extremely furious as his chest rose and fell.


    After composing himself gradually, a question occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, ''Who''s that motherf*cking Su Qianling? I''ve just been to Taixia Country for a few months but I don''t know him at all. What does this guy bite me for?''


    ''I''ve not offended anyone surnamed Su, not to mention Su Qingling. What''s the reason then?'' Although Zhang Tie was longing for the Xuanyuan Hill, before he caught sight of its look had someone in the Xuanyuan Hill started to attack him.


    This memorial was directly presented to the dasikong, one of the top three chancellors of Taixia Country from the Central Censorate of Xuanyuan Hill. After reading it, the dasikong left no comment; instead, he directly sent it to the Northeast Military Region for further response. However, the reply from Northeast Military Region was of one word, "F*rt!" What an aggressive reply! At the sight of the reply "F*rt!", Zhang Tie instantly recalled the cold, black face of Commander Cheng. He then immediately felt warm inside.


    After taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Zhang Taixuan. He knew that Zhang Taixuan must have something to say.


    "Do you know what punishment you will face in Taixia Country as a knight with the crime of dereliction of duties?" Zhang Taixuan asked with a gloomy look.


    Zhang Tie shook his head. As it was not written in the Laws of Taixia Country, Zhang Tie also wondered about that.


    "If a knight commits the crime of dereliction of duties in Taixia Country, he would be chopped off his head in the army; or removed from his post and dispatched to the abyss of the earth-elements realm to fight demons for 6 decades. However, in the abyss of the earth-elements realm, a common knight only has less than 20% of possibilities to survive the battle with demons for 6 decades. As the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, I shall also assume the joint responsibilities because of your deed. I will not promise you any higher post within 6 decades! Additionally, from then on, the key position dean of provincial governor of Youzhou Province will be assumed by other people but Zhang Clan."


    After hearing Zhang Taixuan''s words, Zhang Tie changed his face, ''What a memorial! My mom has been so worried about me when I''m above the ground; if she knew that I was punished with the crime of dereliction of duties and dispatched to the abyss of earth-elements realm, she might get scared to death.''


    ''Even if I returned to the ground after 6 decades, what would my family members look like?'' Zhang Tie dared not imagine that.


    The vicious intention between the impassioned lines really frightened Zhang Tie.


    ''What a bloodless massacre!''


    Zhang Tie finally understood why Zhang Taixuan sighed that Huaiyuan Palace was treading as if on the thin ice.


    "Who''s Su Qianling? I''ve not provoked him; I''ve not even seen him or heard about him before. Why did he frame me?" Zhang Tie asked as he looked straight into Zhang Taixuan''s eyes and tamed his anger.


    After letting out a sigh, Count Long Wind shrugged, "The 360 censors in the Central Censorate of the Xuanyuan Hill are responsible for supervising all the officials in the territory of Taixia Country. They are called around-the-clock imperial censors. Before reading this memorial, I also didn''t know Su Qianling."


    "Really?" Zhang Tie replied with an amazed look.


    Count Long Wind nodded, "Actually, Su Qianling is not the point as he''s just a tool and piece in the hands of others. However, you''ve missed a point. Su Qianling didn''t target at you, but Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace. If he could defeat you, he would defeat the entire Huaiyuan Palace too. Because you''re the youngest and most hopeful elder in Huaiyuan Palace. They want to humiliate Huaiyuan Palace and further rock the foundation of Huaiyuan Palace by tearing a wound on you!"


    "They? Who''re they?" Do Huaiyuan Palace have an enemy in Taixia Country?"


    "As we''re in the secular world, each of us has personal enemies." Zhang Taixuan let out a sigh as he watched Zhang Tie seriously, "Have you considered why our ancestor Lord Huaiyuan would leave Taixia Country and lay a foundation in Waii Sub-continent?"


    Zhang Tie was shocked once again as he had not imagined that the enemies of Huaiyuan Palace were left by Lord Huaiyuan.


    "They were the opponents of Lord Huaiyuan!"


    "Besides being the opponents of Lord Huaiyuan, they are also the enemies of the Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace. Because of them, Lord Huaiyuan was killed in the earth-elements realm!" Zhang Taixuan revealed a sense of animosity, "Too many people in Taixia were involved in this event. It''s the secret of Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace. Only elders and some other figures knew it. I planned to tell you about that after a few years; however, I''ve not imagined that they couldn''t wait to frame you in such a vicious way after knowing that Huaiyuan Palace won the position of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province. If I still didn''t tell you about it, you might suffer a big loss." After a pause, Zhang Taixuan watched Zhang Tie with a serious look and continued, "It''s Gobbling Party who framed you and Huaiyuan Palace!"


    "Gobbling Party?" It was Zhang Tie''s first time to hear such a strange name.


    "Lord Huaiyuan offended the Gobbling Party in Taixia Country, the head of which has become the master of the crown prince in the east palace of Xuanyuan Hill. It''s a class I position, the most dignified position below the three top chancellors, namely; dasima, dasitu and dasikong. He might probably promote to one of the three top chancellors. He has numerous apprentices, ears, and eyes in Xuanyuan Hill. His family has hundreds of cities in the upper provinces. His clan forces are dozens of times greater than that of Huaiyuan Palace..."


    After hearing that, Zhang Tie felt like swearing that b*stard...

 857 The Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele

    Chapter 857: The Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As the party originated from Gobbling Province, one of the 36 upper provinces in Taixia Country, it was gradually called Gobbling Party by the public.


    On the 687th year of the black iron calendar, the mysterious stele which was unearthed from the Gobbling Party of Taixi Country shocked the world.


    Nobody knew what was the stele. It could not be damaged a bit by any means, even by powerful, high-rank knights. Therefore, it aroused a sensation in Taixia Country. Many high-rank knights across Taixia Country poured into Gobbling Province and wanted to try whether the mysterious stele was as firm as that in the legend. However, although they tried all the possible means only to damage even a bit of it. Not only common high-rank knights, even the 7 major sects in Taixia Country and the Xuanyuan Hill were shocked and dispatched powerhouses to Gobbling Province.


    The mysterious stele was indeed completely out of people''s imagination. No matter how many chakras had the knights formed, they could not damage the stele a bit.


    Later on, through the authentication of some top alchemist masters in Taixia, they reached a more shocking conclusion¡ª¡ªthe substance of that mysterious stele violated all the ionization laws of substances on the planet. The stele could resist any element, energy and substance. The atoms and porous structure of the substance of that stele were always fixed. In another word, time didn''t exist compared to that stele. That stele was really immortal.


    "Immortal?" This word drove everybody mad; especially Hua people who used to treat themselves as immortals and keep pursuing the natural laws as the ultimate target. After that mysterious stele was unearthed, it aroused a storm in Taixia Country. In the opinion of all the Hua people, being immortal was a reflection of freedom. Only those being immortal could be free and produce such an immortal object.


    After the mysterious stele was unearthed for 3 months and aroused a sensation in Taixia Country, a paragraph of Hua characters loomed on the unlettered stele, which could be translated in the following words¡ª¡ªwith benevolence as the core, morality as the body, ritual as the use and righteousness as the driving force, natural laws would loom on objects while containing objects. The essence of natural laws is real and reliable. Natural laws could not be described by words but shall be followed.


    The paragraph of characters on the mysterious stele shocked the entire Taixia Country once again. The mysterious stele was therefore called Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele. The characters on it drove numerous people mad. Many people even treated the characters on the stele as the truth towards the natural laws.


    In the beginning, the Gobbling Party was just a non-governmental organization or a group of people who studied the contents of the characters on the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele in Gobbling Province. Later on, this organization gradually expanded. It even had leaders. Therefore, the name of Gobbling Party gradually spread across Taixia Country.


    By now, the so-called Gobbling Party was definitely not a local force in Gobbling Province; instead, it had developed into an organization that didn''t belong to any sect and had a great influence among the people and in the imperial court of Taixia Country.


    When the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele was unearthed in Gobbling Province, Zhang Huaiyuan the former West Expedition General of the God''s Will Army, one of the top 4 armies in Taixia Country even went to investigate the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele himself. When the inscriptions appeared on the stele, Zhang Huaiyuan even wanted to carry the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele back into the abyss of the earth-elements realm with his God''s Will Army despite world condemnation, which aroused a big trouble and offended Gobbling Party from then on.


    "Why would Lord Huaiyuan move the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele back to the abyss of earth-elements realm?" Zhang Tie couldn''t stand to ask Zhang Taixuan.


    "Our ancestor Lord Huaiyuan was straightforward and candid. He thought that the inscriptions on the stele were casting spells on people. If the mercy, morality, rituals and righteousness advocated by the words spread over Taixia Country and became the truth that was pursued by people, it would cause limitless damages to Taixia Country. Before demons arrived, Hua people would have been exterminated. Because of this, in order to preserve the spirits of Hua people, Lord Huaiyuan preferred to move the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele back into the abyss of earth-elements realm despite world condemnation!" Zhang Taixuan let out a sigh.


    ''I''ve not imagined that Lord Huaiyuan was so heroic in Taixia Country. When hundreds of millions of people were watching the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele and wanted to laud it to the skies, he dared lead the God''s Will Army to rob it and intended to move it back to the abyss of the earth-elements realm.'' Zhang Tie felt blood boiling when he recalled the heroic look of his ancestor.


    "Has he made it?"


    "If he could make it, there would not be Gobbling Party now!" Zhang Taixuan sighed, "The stele itself had been regarded as the immortal object of Taixia Country and the symbol of natural laws by many people regardless of the inscriptions on it. If Lord Huaiyuan wanted to seal it, he would shock the Gobbling Province even the whole country at once. Therefore, the entire Gobbling Province was at loggerheads. A great number of people who wanted to seek for the secrets of the natural laws from the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele didn''t want it to be sealed. Thus, they started to prevent Lord Huaiyuan and the God''s Will Army, almost deteriorating the entire Gobbling Province into a battlefield. The entire country was shocked. Later on, Emperor Xuanyuan issued the decreed and dispatched the commander-in-chief to appease this event in Gobbling Province!"


    "Ahh? Who''s the winner?"


    "Before Lord Huaiyuan wanted to seal the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele with God''s Will Army, people across the country wanted to consecrate it in the Xuanyuan Hill and fix its position as the immortal object of Hua people. However, after this event was appeased, Lord Huaiyuan and his God''s Will Army were dispatched away from Gobbling Province. The Gobbling Party then instigated the public opinion to force Lord Huaiyuan to exit the God''s Will Army and leave Taixia Country for Waii Sub-continent. Additionally, the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele is still in Gobbling Province; instead of being consecrated in the Xuanyuan Hill!"


    "In this case, how could the leader of Gobbling Party be the master of the crown prince in the east palace of Xuanyuan Hill?"


    "After the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele was unearthed for many years, one guy entered meditation and cultivation 3 years before the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele and promoted to the black iron knight at 18. After that, he continued to enter meditation and cultivation for 30 years before it and promoted to an earth knight, which shocked the entire country. After promoting to an earth knight at 48, it took him 5 years to finish his masterpiece The Morality and The Classic on Returning to the Nature . He even made annotations to the 12 classics of Taixia Country, which had been widely accepted by scholars and intellectuals across Taixia Country. It was said that The Classic on Returning to the Nature was the supreme truth that he had learned through medication. Anyone would improve his cultivation progress by cultivating The Classic on Returning to the Nature. Therefore, The Classic on Returning to the Nature was regarded as the treasure for cultivation by the members of Gobbling Party. Outsiders could not even have a chance to read it. After finishing his masterpieces, he entered the earth-elements realm and fought another 6 decades. Due to the great achievements that he had made during the 6 decades, he was awarded as the duke; besides, he promoted to a shadow knight. After leaving the earth-element realm, he refused all the high positions and rich compensations and entered his meditation in front of the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele once again. After another 6 decades, he promoted to a heavens knight. After that, he entered earth-elements realm and killed the demon duke and destroyed a fortress of demons with his own battle strength. By then, this guy had been well-known across the world for both political and military achievements. Plus, he had been longing for that position for a long time and the Gobbling Party had reached a scale, he naturally became the master of the crown prince in the east palace of Xuanyuan Hill and the leader of the Gobbling Party!"


    ''What a weirdo! What a weirdo!''


    "Was Lord Huaiyuan killed by this guy?" Zhang Tie clenched his fist as he asked Zhang Taixuan.


    "Although this guy didn''t launch an attack himself, it''s also related to this guy. When this guy promoted to an earth knight in 30 years and shocked the entire country, Lord Huaiyuan had been exiled to Waii Sub-continent. As this guy and Lord Huaiyuan were both earth knights by then, when this guy headed for the earth-elements realm, the Gobbling Party also instigated the public opinion to force Lord Huaiyuan to enter the earth-elements realm too. Their competition had been faintly carried on since then. Finally, that guy returned from earth-elements realm; however, Lord Huaiyuan fought to the death over there."


    This was the history of the resentment between Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace and the Gobbling Party. Although Lord Huaiyuan had passed away, the resentment between Gobbling Party and Huaiyuan Palace had not come to an end. The competition between Lord Huaiyuan and Gobbling Party was more like a competition between beliefs and ideas than a piece of Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele. Because of this, the two parties were always hostile against each other. Given the current situation, unless the offsprings of Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace joined Gobbling Party regardless of their face and bowed towards the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele, it was impossible for Gobbling Party to not cause Huaiyuan Palace troubles.


    If not, even though the offsprings of Zhang Clan survived well with both honor and wealth, it was nothing different than death.


    Therefore, Huaiyuan Palace could only continue to turn hostile against Gobbling Party. If Huaiyuan Palace became scared at this moment, not only the Gobbling Party would turn pleasant and rampant; even those who supported Huaiyuan Palace such as Commander Cheng would belittle Huaiyuan Palace.


    When the ancestors planted the tree, the posterity would enjoy the cold. Similarly, when the ancestors beat the tiger, the posterity would be prepared to be attacked by the tiger. As an offspring of Lord Huaiyuan, Zhang Tie knew that he didn''t have the right to choose something. Since the day he came to this world, he had been branded as the offspring of Lord Huaiyuan, who should not only carry the honor in Waii Sub-continent but also the resentment in Taixia Country. On such a critical issue, Zhang Tie could only stand firmly on the side of Huaiyuan Palace; share honors and humiliations with Huaiyuan Palace.


    After being silent for a short while, Zhang Tie made his determination, "Next year, the output of all-purpose medicament of Jinwu Business Group would increase to 15 million vials, half of which would still be sold by Long Wind Business Group without any surplus condition. Long Wind Business Group could get commodities from Jinwu Business Group at 50% off!"


    Zhang Tie''s decision meant the benefit of tens of millions of gold coins a year. This figure was not small even in Taixia Country.


    ''Now that Gobbling Party said I was greedy about money and liked to stock land and commodities, I will show them what they want to see. I will show them money makes the mare go.''


    When wealth reached a certain scale, it would become a terrifying, overwhelming strength.


    Zhang Tie revealed a tameless sneer at his mouth corners, ''F*ck you, Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele; f*ck you, Gobbling Party; f*ck you, heavens knight! This father even dared to fight the entire demons and Three-eye Association, do you think that I''m afraid of you? F*ck! Do you really think that you''re Emperor Xuanyuan?''


    Zhang Tie always accommodated himself to circumstances. He had been very satisfied with the living during the past two months when he just read brief reports from the court temple in Youzhou Province and played with his sons. However, Zhang Tie was also very unyielding and unruly. He would turn more unyielding and unrulier if he met a more powerful enemy. Facing those great challenges, Zhang Tie''s ambition and spirit would also rise.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt that he had returned to the No. 7 National Male Middle School. Although he just sat below a small tree leisurely and didn''t mean to incur someone; some b*stards still came to his side and threw some service plates in front of him so as to reflect their lofty images.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s decision, Count Long Wind became silent for a short while. As the head of Huaiyuan Palace, he knew the importance of Zhang Tie''s decision, "As Taixia''s industrial development is much more advanced than Waii Sub-continent, the shipbuilding industry in Yanghe Prefecture should also be integrated so as to be more competitive. You can have Jinwu Shipyard merge Long Wind Shipyard!"


    Long Wind Shipyard had an asset of over 50 million gold coins. After Jinwu Shipyard merged Long Wind Shipyard, Zhang Clan''s Jinwu Shipyard immediately became the largest shipbuilding enterprise in Youzhou Province. Zhang Tie''s family would also become the largest shareholder of Jinwu Shipyard.


    Count Long Wind just presented Long Wind Shipyard to Zhang Tie so forthrightly.


    Zhang Tie nodded without any hesitation...


    ''I wonder how would my grandpa feel after knowing that Count Long Wind presented the largest shipyard in Yanghe Prefecture to me.''


    ...


    After half an hour, Zhang Tie left White Tiger Complex vigorously under the escort of some officials of Zhang Clan.


    After raising his head and throwing a glance at the snowflakes in the sky, Zhang Tie didn''t put on his hood; instead, he directly strode towards the Land Bureau which was less than 1 mile away from White Tiger Complex.


    In the heavy wind and snow, all the snowflakes just stayed 10 cm away from him...


    At the sight of this scene, all the passers-by thought that they mistook it as they all kept their eyes on Zhang Tie...


    ...

 858 Another Form of Counter-attack

    Chapter 858: Another Form of Counter-attack


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    There were 4 red lanterns outside the gate of the Land Bureau, which were used to set the festival atmosphere. The arrival of Zhang Tie made those in the Land Bureau busy at once.


    As the new director general of the Land Bureau in Youzhou Province, Elder Muan was not there. The deputy director and two hierarchical superiors came out to receive Zhang Tie.


    The position of deputy director was assumed by a deacon of Huaiyuan Palace. The two hierarchical superiors were from two subordinate departments of the Land Bureau respectively.


    In a magnificent parlor of the Land Bureau, Zhang Tie was drinking tea leisurely and talking with the deputy director and the two hierarchical superiors. The others were trotting here and there in the Land Bureau. In a couple of minutes, a field register official had entered the parlor with a pile of documents. He then placed those documents in front of Zhang Tie.


    After waving his hand to let the field register official leave here, the deputy director started to introduce the documents to Zhang Tie one after another.


    "Elder Mushen. This is the general agreement of the land that you''ve purchased. With the general agreement, the title deed that you sigh when you want to divide and sell this land would be legitimate; this is the trading document approved by the Land Bureau of Youzhou Province; this is your receipt; this is the map of that land that you''ve bought..."


    With the introduction of the deputy director, Zhang Tie reviewed all the documents one after another. The material of the title deed was similar to silver-based paper. However, it was more ductile than silver-based paper. The title deed for the land was watermarked with complex, colorful, secret patterns. The secret patterns would change their colors from different perspectives. Touching the grains, Zhang Tie could feel evident three-dimensional lines. This should be a very senior anti-fake printing means. There were the location, area of the land, the corresponding identifiers of the subsidiary files, maps and a scarlet stamp of the Land Bureau of Youzhou Province on the title deed for land.


    The names of Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang were written in the column of owners of the title deed. Because the land was paid by Zhang Tie, when his elder brother handled it, he only wanted Zhang Tie''s name to be left in the column of owners of the title deed. Later on, at Zhang Tie''s insistence, Zhang Yang''s name was added as well.


    This bit of land was really nothing for the two brothers. The common title deed symbolized the common undertaking of the two brothers.


    The entire land that Zhang Tie purchased covered 257,970 square km. In the beginning, Zhang Tie thought that he could buy an integral area of land such as 250,000 square km. Later on, he knew that plain countries in Taixia Country could be easily sold integrally; however, such mountainous areas were always sold according to the trends of the mountains and rivers and topography within the territory. A river, a mountain or a remarkable topographical symbol would serve as the boundary of the territory, which could be easily identified. Because of this reason, the area of the mountainous region could only be measured according to details.


    As the attached document of the title deed, the map of this private territory was composed of over 40 pages.


    The turnover on the receipt presented by the Land Bureau was 110,927,100. According to the preferential policy formulated by the Land Bureau of Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie could enjoy 5% off. However, Zhang Tie felt that Huaiyuan Palace might be framed as being greedy for small gains due to this, especially when Huaiyuan Palace wielded the scepter of Youzhou Province; therefore, he ignored the benefit of millions of gold coins. Compared to the reputation of Huaiyuan Palace, such a preferential policy was really trivial. Given the overall situation, Zhang Tie ignored the small gains.


    Watching the figure on the receipt, Zhang Tie felt that he was too innocent, ''If others want to attack me, they could. It''s nothing to do with my caution.''


    As the dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province, only those people above LV 15 on the wanted list or events that aroused a shock across a prefecture could attract Zhang Tie''s attention, ''Knights should not pay attention to trivial affairs or bury themselves in these documents all day long. Knights in Taixia Country are not that cheap. Even if I did that, I''m sure that they would impeach me too with the reasons such as "has no appreciation of things'' importance", "Being busy doing trivial affairs all day long", "sees only tree leaves instead of Mountain Tai", "has no experience and is only limited to counties and cities". Given their reasons, facing demons outside the country and evil forces inside, it''s the countrymen''s misfortune to have me take the office of the dean of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province.''


    At the sight of the figure 110,927,100, Zhang Tie felt that the zeros in this figure were like ripping mouths that were deriding him as an idiot. After running his spiritual energy, Zhang Tie instantly got a figure 5546355, "F*ck, over 5.5 million gold coins, over 2 years of compensation for this father. Even many dogs would wave their tails towards me if I bought steamed buns for them with this amount of money; however, those b*stards still want to ruin my family."


    ''Being meticulous? That''s bullsh*t!''


    The deputy director was always observing Zhang Tie''s facial expressions carefully. Watching his slightly complex expression at the sight of the receipt presented by the Land Bureau, the deputy director lightly coughed twice and comforted Zhang Tie meticulously, "Don''t worry about that, Elder Mushen. Although it''s a high price, when Youzhou Province develops into a medium-sized province, this land will definitely pay off. Additionally, all the mineral resources beneath this land have not prospected. If you discovered large-scale mineral ores in your territory, you would further make a great profit. Based on the information mastered by the Land Bureau, Youzhou Province is not a barren province. We''ve found various rare mineral resources in Youzhou Province. Many major clans in Taixia Country also usually make such enclosure investments on large scale in lower provinces and have made great profits. As there''re more and more people in Taixia Country, after a few years, this land would become more and more valuable. Your offsprings would have something to rely on by then."


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he felt a bit better. He then threw a satisfactory glance at this deputy director.


    After telling the deputy director to put away these materials for him, Zhang Tie said, "Did any other clans purchase a lot of land like me lately?"


    "Over the past two months, the Land Bureau has received a lot of records of land purchase cases. Many major clans from Tongzhou Province, Qiongzhou Province, Yanzhou Province, Huizhou Province and Chaozhou Province were purchasing lands which ranged from hundreds of square miles to tens of thousands of square miles. Besides being used for domestic investment, these lands are always provided for the branches of those major clans! Aww, Zhu Dabiao 1the grandson of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province had also bought one patch of land in Youzhou Province. His private land covers over 200,000 square miles, which is the largest patch of land being traded by now. Yesterday, he had already paid it off through the bank. After the new year festival, the Land Bureau will dispatch people to survey that land, draw a map and set boundary marks for it."


    After hearing his words, Zhang Tie realized that a climax of land enclosure was aroused after Youzhou was promoted to be an established lower province. However, the name of the grandson of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province really...really...had a strong personality...


    Zhang Tie smacked his mouth...


    "Lands in lower provinces are the cheapest in Taixia Country; especially those which have just been established. According to the regulations of Taixia Country, after one purchases a patch of land and builds a city there, he will take the office of the mayor of this city and become an official of Taixia Country. In Taixia Country, many major clans choose such a method to help their juniors become officials! If one buys a patch of land in a wild province, even though he builds a city there, he could not be an official of Taixia Country. By implementing such a policy, Taixia is guiding folklore major clans'' capital to flow in lower provinces for the sake of the development of lower provinces." The deputy director explained.


    "Hmm, not bad!" Zhang Tie nodded as he stroked his jaw with hand, "I want to buy one more patch of land. Do you have the map of Youzhou Province? Bring it to me, please. I want to select one more patch of land and register it here today!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the deputy director became stunned, ''How rich is Elder Mushen?''


    After being silent for a second, he composed himself at once as he hurriedly threw a glance at a hierarchical superior on his side and let him fetch the map of Youzhou Province.


    After drinking two mouths of tea water, the hierarchical superior had already fetched the map of Youzhou Province and paved it directly over a huge square desk in the room. Zhang Tie walked closer to the desk and could see the whole territory of Youzhou Province on the map.


    Youzhou Province''s map was like a fat eggplant. It was almost 15,000 miles from east to west and about 7,500 miles from south to north. With Liaozhou Province in the north, it connected other provinces in the territory of Northeast Military Region in the south and west; besides and was close to the ocean in the east. The entire area of Youzhou Province was about 200 million square miles.


    The topography of Youzhou Province was predominated by mountains and plains, which were in disorderly distribution. All the lands that had been purchased on the map were marked in blue while those that were available were marked in green. Given the map, the blue areas were mainly in the prefectures of Youzhou Province while the green areas occupied over 95% of the total area of Youzhou Province.


    ''Aren''t you impeaching this father for being immersed in stocking lands and wealth? This father will show you about greed. F*ck! I don''t believe that you could bite off my ass for that. There''s no regulation in the Laws of Taixia Countrythat officials are forbidden to buy land. Additionally, the more land I buy, the deeper Huaiyuan Palace will root in Youzhou Province.''


    Zhang Tie bought more land especially for those members of Gobbling Party. As the old Hua saying went, humans and buddhas both strove for vindication. Although Zhang Tie could not defeat the Gobbling Party right now, it didn''t represent that he would not launch a counterattack.


    Being supported by Commander Cheng and some big figures in the Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie felt reassured. ''Although the Gobbling Party is powerful, someone dares ignore it too. As long as I don''t do anything excessive so that the Gobbling Party could get my alibi, I don''t need to worry about anything at all.''


    As he purchased this patch of land mainly for giving vent to his anger and making his enemy uncomfortable, what was important was not where that patch of land was located but that the patch of land should be large; the larger the better.


    "Which land is cheapest in Youzhou Province? Even cheaper than the patch of land that I''ve already bought?" Zhang Tie put it straight.


    "Elder Mushen, the patch of land that you''ve bought is wasteland over 150 miles away from Yanghe Prefecture. It''s Class C Level II. The cheapest land in Youzhou Province is here. The mountainous areas here are Class D Level IV!" The deputy director pointed at the green mountainous area nearby the border of Liaozhou Province which covered tens of hundreds of square miles, "This mountainous area is a depopulated zone. There''s no city within 1500 miles. It borders Liaozhou Province with a large area of wilderness in the west. Additionally, the greater part of this mountainous region is covered with rocks. Few plants could be found there. Few lands could be cultivated over there. Therefore, the land over there is Class D Level IV. Its price is only 30 gold coins per square mile!"


    ''30 gold coins per square mile?'' Zhang Tie watched the map as he thought about the money that he could use. He then directly patted onto a gourd-shaped plateau which covered almost 2 million square miles, two times the size of that of Yanghe Prefecture before saying, "Here, I will buy it. Register it today. Go prepare for it, I want to handle the procedures as soon as possible!"


    After Zhang Tie moved his palm away from the map, the deputy director was shocked by the words below Zhang Tie''s palm¡ª¡ªZanggu Plateau.


    The Zanggu Plateau was a bit larger than 1% of the total area of Youzhou Province on the map.


    "Elder Mushen...are...are you sure? You''re buying Zanggu Plateau?" The deputy director watched Zhang Tie with a shocked expression, "There''s nothing here. It''s too difficult to develop it. Even if Youzhou develops into a medium province or big province in the future, this place will still be of a very low value..."


    "I don''t care, as long as it''s large enough!" He then gritted his teeth and added, "And, I will take all the discounts! F*ck..."


    The deputy director didn''t even know why Zhang Tie suddenly swore. After all, less than 10 people had read the memorial that Zhang Taixuan showed Zhang Tie across Youzhou Province.


    Zhang Tie took all the documents away from the Land Bureau, leaving a lot of exclamations once again.


    After leaving the Land Bureau, Zhang Tie came to his territory with a cold face¡ª¡ªProvincial Court of Youzhou Province.


    Forbidding agencies like the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province remained unchanged even though the new year was coming while the other yamuns had hung red lanterns at the gates. On such a cold day, it still looked like "Business Only".


    In the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie was sitting in the main seat of the main hall while hundreds of officials were lowering their bodies towards him for the first time.


    After stealthily throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, the officials in the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province found Zhang Tie didn''t look good. Therefore, they dared not breathe smoothly.


    After running his eyes over the officials, Zhang Tie sipped a mouth of tea water and put down the teacup. As a result, the officials felt much colder in the hall.


    "I''ve not been to Youzhou Province for over 2 months. While taking a round in Youzhou City this morning, my purse was stolen..."


    ...

 859 The Heavens Reaching Church

    Chapter 859: The Heavens Reaching Church


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Only after 2 more hours, Zhang Tie had seen the young thief who had stolen his money at the end of a remote alley in a residential area in the east of Youzhou City.


    When Zhang Tie arrived here, although it was still windy and snowy, the alley had been surrounded by criminal hunters in solemn, black uniforms with crossbows and sabers in hands like ghosts within 100 m, even on the walls and the roofs.


    "Tell them to get off the walls and roofs. The new year is coming, don''t scare others!" Before entering the alley, Zhang Tie instructed the one beside him.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the one on Zhang Tie''s side made a hand gesture while those criminal hunters disappeared from the roofs and walls at once.


    The one on Zhang Tie'' side who waved his hands towards those criminal hunters was an old man, who looked solemn and a bit aggressive. This old man was Zhang Tie''s assistant. When Zhang Tie was not in the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province, this assistant took charge of it.


    Actually, this assistant had known Zhang Tie in Huaiyuan Prefecture in Waii Sub-continent. At that time, Zhang Tie returned to Zhang''s old mansion after promoting to a knight. Coincidentally, Zhang Haitian''s eldest wife was celebrating her birthday. Out of jealousy, some unworthy descendants of Zhang family aroused some filthy troubles in the banquet. In order to clarify his innocence, Zhang Tie fetched Zhang Yuanshan, the grand justice of Golden Sea City; by the way, those unworthy descendants of Zhang family were severely punished.


    Given Zhang Yuanshan''s position in Huaiyuan Prefecture, Huaiyuan Palace arranged for him to be Zhang Tie''s assistant and cooperate with Zhang Tie to handle criminal cases.


    Compared to Zhang Tie, Zhang Yuanshan was more experienced in criminal justice. Being severe and capable, he was the best supplement to Zhang Tie.


    Count Long Wind was good at choosing people for jobs. During the period when Zhang Tie was not in Youzhou City, under the rule of Zhang Yuanshan, the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province ran orderly and no chaos occurred within the scope of the official duty of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province.


    Because of this, Zhang Tie was extremely furious about the malicious impeachment of Gobbling Party.


    The alley was piled with some sundries such as hencoops, honeycomb briquet and broken cases. Like other places, even though Taixia Country was good enough and Youzhou City was big enough, there were still poor people in this city. Some families lived in brilliant residences and pavilions while some families only crowded in humble abodes. Here was the second kind of residence.


    Even big cities like Youzhou City were not full of fresh flowers or sunshine everywhere. There were also people living in dim places.


    Those sundries were covered with snow as thick as 3 cm.


    The ground in the alley was a bit dirty, which was muddy, thawy snow caused by numerous people''s footsteps. They could even see the clear grains left by the soles of the leopard-headed battle boots of those criminal hunters in Youzhou Province on the snow...


    The footmarks on the snowfield also implied that many criminal hunters had entered this alley before Zhang Tie''s group arrived.


    Even the residents in the neighboring residential area could not imagine that so many ferocious criminal hunters from yamuns could gather in such a remote place one day. Few people with a genial look could do a good job in this profession. Because those who looked genial could never frighten those evil and brutal people.


    In such a snowy day, the criminal hunters dispatched by the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province were like black vultures with an awe-inspiring inauspicious qi. The residences in the neighborhood had long closed their curtains. Some brave guys dared only throw stealthy glances at them from behind the curtains.


    At the end of the alley, Zhang Tie made a turn and caught sight of that young man whom he had met in the early morning.


    Like a section of a deserted broken tree stump, that young man''s corpse was lying beside some railway sacks of sundries, facing down. His body had almost been covered by snow.


    It became silent in the surroundings.


    After letting out a sigh, Zhang Tie squatted down in front of that corpse and turned it over.


    Given his angular look, he was just 13 or 14 years old. Zhang Tie found his face had turned totally pale. By contrast, the location of his heart had been covered with blood. Due to the cold weather, his blood had been frozen before flowing out. Therefore, a few blood drops were left on the ground beside his corpse.


    He was still looking up at the sky with an anguished and amazed look.


    Zhang Tie watched this face seriously as he had not imagined that this juvenile whom he had met in the early morning could become an icy corpse. ''It''s just a common crime of theft. He would be set free after being put behind the bars for about a year. Why are you so brutal?'' Zhang Tie sighed inside.


    "This man is called Lu Xiaoshuang. He had been jobless for many years and lost his family. When the Northeast Military Region decided to build Youzhou City, millions of people poured in the territory of Youzhou City. He followed the contingent of builders in and wanted to seek for a chance to survive himself. He was just a beggar and went on errands for people in the city. 2 years ago, a local ruffian called Wang Wu had him in his care and taught him how to be a thief; Lu Xiaoshuang then survived on theft. 2 hours ago, someone saw Wang Wu and Lu Xiaoshuang enter this alley. Finally, Wang Wu left here alone!" Zhang Yuanshan introduced this thief to Zhang Tie, "Wang Wu''s corpse was also discovered in his home. He has already committed suicide by taking poison. Besides Lu Xiaoshuang, 7-8 thieves who worked for Wang Wu had been arrested and were being interrogated!"


    Zhang Tie just put his hand on Lu Xiaoshuang''s face as if he intended to close Lu Xiaoshuang''s eyes.


    In others'' eyes, Zhang Tie''s movement was nothing strange but driven by the mercy. Therefore, although Zhang Tie put his hand on Lu Xiaoshuang''s forehead for a couple of seconds, he didn''t arouse the doubts of those beside him.


    Nobody knew what Zhang Tie was "seeing" and "hearing" in his mind.


    Lowering his head as if he was gazing at Lu Xiaoshuang; however, nobody could notice Zhang Tie''s glittering, exotic eye light.


    After Zhang Yuanshan finished his words, Zhang Tie''s fingers slightly trembled. Closely after that, he moved his hand away from Lu Xiaoshuang''s face, when the latter''s eyes were closed.


    Zhang Tie picked himself up before sighing once again with emotions, "Buy a good coffin using the gold coins that he had stolen from me and bury him. Stop interrogating the other thieves. They''re just poor people without any reliance. Have people send them to the Righteous Palace in Youzhou City and instruct them with knowledge; Confiscate Wang Wu''s family property for public use. Send all the money to the Righteous Palace. Additionally, spare 100,000 gold coins from my compensation this year and send them to the Righteous Palace of Youzhou City too so that the Righteous Palace could have more homeless juveniles and beggars in. Prevent them from being misled by evil people anymore!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Yuanshan instantly cupped his hands and bowed towards Zhang Tie, "Benevolent Lord!"


    It could be said that all the homeless juveniles and beggars across Youzhou City would survive themselves with the 100,000 gold coins donated by Zhang Tie. 100,000 gold coins was not a small figure. Even though they were deposited in the bank, their interests could also afford over 1,000 orphans and beggars each year.


    The Righteous Palace of Youzhou City had just been in place lately after Huaiyuan Palace won the competition for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province. Of course, as it started from scratch, it could not take many people into its care. Before Youzhou promoted to an established province, there was no Righteous Palace in Youzhou City.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as if he had forgotten about this "trifle", "Well, let''s go back. Take a round across Youzhou City with me. As the new year is coming, we''d better guarantee a peaceful year for the commoners in Youzhou City!"


    ...


    After knowing that the dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province was going to leave, a fierce criminal hunter from the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province and the officials from yamuns left with him too. Of course, the orders that Zhang Tie had issued would be executed by someone else.


    In over 1 hour, Zhang Tie truly took a round across Youzhou City with those officials and a criminal hunter from the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province facing the heavy wind and snow. Although they were not awe-inspiring enough to arouse a general turmoil like lions in streets, they also scared commoners away.


    During the past few hours, Youzhou City had finished a temporary yet sharp "crackdown of evil forces" before the new year festival. As a result, over 100 ruffians who preyed upon people and fattened themselves had to celebrate the new year in the cells. These b*stards were domineering in front of commoners yet were as docile as rats in front of cats facing these criminal hunters and officials from the yamuns.


    After taking a round in Youzhou City, Zhang Tie had returned to the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province.


    When the others left, Zhang Yuanshan moved closer with a bit more solemn look, "Lord, whatever happened today was a bit weird!"


    After rolling his eyes, Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile, "Yup, the moment we wanted to find them, they had been killed. It seems that someone was leaking message from the yamuns. If they keep doing this, even trifles would deteriorate into big events. After the new year, you''d better screen them carefully. Although some officials in the Provincial Court are closely related to people from all walks of life, it''s not good if the human relationship is too complex. We''d better dismiss some of them!"


    Although Zhang Yuanshan wanted to see something more, Zhang Tie had waved his hand, "No more words. As the new year is coming; don''t make our fellows depressed!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Yuanshan swallowed his words back before bowing towards Zhang Tie and intended to leave. As an experienced person, especially in forbidding agencies like the Provincial Court, he clearly knew what he should speak and do as the assistant of Zhang Tie. Although this event was a bit weird, now that the dean of the Provincial Court didn''t want to continue to investigate it in the spring festival, he didn''t need to think too much about that. After all, only 2 trivial people had died.


    "Ahh, is there any people on duty in the Provincial Court during the spring festival?" Zhang Tie casually asked when he found Zhang Yuanshan was going to leave.


    "I will be on duty in the Provincial Court during the spring festival. The officials in the other yamuns would also be on duty by shift."


    "That''s fine. The deacons and disciples in the Provincial Court from Huaiyuan Palace would better not come back during the spring festival. They should practice more and be familiar with their services. So many forces are gazing at Huaiyuan Palace. If we don''t work hard, people will laugh at us. In major agencies like Provincial Court, deacons and disciples of Huaiyuan Palace should make greater achievements!"


    "Yes, sir. I will make an arrangement soon!" Zhang Yuanshan received the order.


    Zhang Tie nodded as he said with a self-mockery expression,"Today, I planned to show my face to those who had not seen me in the Provincial Court in case of being spoken ill of by them; I''ve not imagined about such boring things. Alright, I will go back to Jinwu City..."


    Although Zhang Tie dared order the disciples and deacons of Huaiyuan Palace to stay in the Provincial Court during the spring festival, nobody dared order Zhang Tie to do the same. Even Zhang Taixuan dared not say such words to Zhang Tie.


    ...


    After half an hour, Zhang Tie left Youzhou City by airship under the gazes of the officials from the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province.


    After traveling to Youzhou City, Zhang Tie made the officials in the Provincial Court cheer up; besides, the number of thefts across Youzhou City would greatly reduce for sure during the new year festival.


    Watching Zhang Tie boarding the airship, someone in the Youzhou City let out a sigh of relief.


    In the airship, Zhang Tie''s eyes flickered and revealed a bit cold light as he saw Youzhou City diminishing under his foot. At the same time, he pursed his mouth tightly.


    His subordinates told him that his purse and gold coins had been discovered and even showed them to him. The purse and the gold coins inside it were both real; even the quantity of the gold coins remained unchanged; however, Zhang Tie knew that those gold coins didn''t belong to him as the gold coins that he had marked with tracing tentacles were still in a place in Youzhou City.


    After Lu Xiaoshuang submitted the gold coins, those gold coins had long been shifted among them for two rounds.


    Those people were strictly organized at a high efficiency.


    After following Wang Wu for so many years, Lu Xiaoshuang had known something more or less.


    Especially before his death...


    In the last moment, Lu Xiaoshuang saw Wang Wu''s face which suddenly turned grim, closely followed by a sharp pain.


    When Lu Xiaoshuang fell down, he heard another strange voice talking with Wang Wu¡ª¡ª


    "5 days later, we will do great things in Youzhou Province. Remember to not make any mistake at this critical moment. Zhang Mushen is called Lion of Youzhou Province. A new broom sweeps clean. As the Provincial Court''s prison has a lot of means to investigate you; we have to prepare for that. I feel sorry for you. Just tell me what you want to say now!"


    "I hope Heavens Reaching Ancestor to descend to the world. This disciple expects to be the lad cupping flowers on the Ancestor''s side..." A panting and frenzied voice sounded.


    "Fine, I will tell the Heavens Reaching Ancestor. Here''s the Brain Shattering Pill gifted by the altar head. Take it and you will get relieved without any pain..."


    "Thanks, Law Protector Zuo, please pass on the message to the altar head that Wang Wu could not propose a toast to him in his "Washing Hands Ceremony" on the first day of the lunar new year...


    "I know, you can leave now..."


    Only after a short dialogue between Wang Wu and the other strange voice, Lu Xiaoshuang''s consciousness had entered into total darkness with unwillingness...


    Zhang Tie knew that Brain Shattering Pill was a rank poison. Compared to common poisons, Brain Shattering Pill could not only destroy one''s vitality rapidly but also destroy one''s brain structure, causing one''s brain to die at the fastest speed. This was the fastest way to die. After one took that pill and died, nobody else could get any message from his brain anymore.


    In Waii Sub-continent, those who took Brain Shattering Pills were all dauntless fighters or spies. Once being caught, they would commit suicide by taking Brain Shattering Pills. Additionally, the performance of Brain Shattering Pill was no different than that of "powerful rat poison". Unless making brain anatomy, it was hard to identify what they had committed suicide with.


    Therefore, in order to not frighten the tiger, Zhang Tie even didn''t check Wang Wu''s corpse; he just handled this thing in a distant way...


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that his casual movement could have him involved in the plot of the Heavens Reaching Church.


    The big things mentioned by the strange person from Heavens Reaching Church referred to riot and rebel for sure.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether it was his fortune or the misfortune of Heavens Reaching Church...


    ''Someone must be keeping an eye on my movements from time and then in Youzhou City...''


    Therefore, Zhang Tie just ignored the crime scene so as to make his enemy reassured...


    However, Zhang Tie felt a bit chilly when he realized that the Heavens Reaching Church could control his subordinates like Wang Wu to sacrifice himself for the sake of the church at the critical moment...


    ...

 860 A Back Thrus

    Chapter 860: A Back Thrust


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    This family reunion dinner was the most boisterous one in the late decade.


    Besides safe reunion, Zhang family''s undertakings were flourishing; plus so many kids, Zhang Tie''s father and mother were very happy.


    It would be the first day of the 900th year of black iron calendar next day, the beginning of a new century.


    In the next year, Zhang Tie''s family would build Jinwu City, their first private city in Youzhou Province, Taixia Country and lay a foundation for their descendants. This was also a new century for Zhang Tie''s family.


    Therefore, this family reunion dinner became pretty boisterous.


    Before dinner, the cheers and laughter in the dining hall had started.


    Sitting in the dining hall, Zhang Tie''s mother and father were giving heavy red packets to each servant, maid and guard. After taking the heavy red packets, all the servants and guards of Zhang family spirited up and did things more swiftly.


    Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie had already had their wives and concubines give the red packets to their servants this noon. The two side mansions were both cheerful and festive.


    At the table, when they talked about the Jinwu City that they were going to build next year, everyone became highly spirited; especially Zhang Tie''s father. After knowing that he would be the mayor of Jinwu City, Zhang Ping almost returned to his youthhood and became more energetic. As a result, he kept talking at dinner.


    Watching their father''s excited look, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang exchanged a glance with each other before revealing a tacit smile.


    ''It seems that I''ve made a wise decision to have dad be the mayor of Jinwu City.''


    When it gradually turned dark, they could hear cracking drumbeats from other houses across Golden Light City. Those kids couldn''t stand the lure and immediately rushed into the courtyard to beat drums.


    According to the custom in Taixia Country, people needed to beat drums in the new year''s eve. Therefore, to beat drums in new year festival became kids'' favorite activity.


    "Have you got enough money to build the city? If not, I''ve got some case-dough, you can...take it away!" Zhang Tie''s father became a bit drunk.


    After hearing Zhang Ping''s words, before Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang made a response, Zhang Tie''s mom had raised her eyebrows while asking in a tender voice on Zhang Ping''s side, "How many case-dough have you saved?"


    "About 500,000-600,000 gold coins...erm..." Zhang Ping suddenly realized that he had fallen into the trap. He immediately turned around and watched her glassy-eyed look while quivering all over a bit before crying inside, ''Sh*t, I''m over...''


    "Well, well, well, Zhang Ping, how dare you save so much case-dough these years? If you were not drunk today, how long did you prepare to cover it in front of me? What do you plan to use this money for? To find another younger mother for Linda, Beverly and Fiona? Where''s the deposit book?"


    Zhang Tie''s mom watched Zhang Ping with an aggressive look while stretching out her hand. At the sight of her majestic look, the mayor of Jinwu City in the future instantly turned pale and dared not look straight into her eyes. He then answered in an embarrassed way, "Erm...erm...it''s just a bit pin money!"


    "Pin money? You could buy hundreds of beautiful female slaves with these pin money! Give me the passbook! You can ask pin money from me!"


    After hearing this, Zhang Ping instantly became disappointed like a cock who had lost a battle...


    After throwing a glance at each other, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang sighed inside and could only wish good luck to their dad, ''Besides being too strict to dad''s pin money, mom is always good.'' Since they were in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie''s father''s money had always been in the hand of Zhang Tie''s mother. After saving some case-dough these years, he suddenly revealed it after being drunk due to the overexcitement. How poor was Zhang Ping!


    "Ahem...ahem...we don''t need your money, dad and mom. Jinwu Business Group has sufficient capital for building Jinwu City. Even if there''s any problem, I will work out a solution with Zhang Tie too. Am I right?" Zhang Yang threw a glance at Zhang Tie.


    "Hmm, right, right..." Zhang Tie replied in a blurry way.


    Actually, Zhang Tie had been a bit regretful about buying another patch of land in Youzhou City. ''Zanggu Plateau is too large, the cost of which has already surpassed my remaining deposit in Golden Roc Bank. I still lack tens of millions of gold coins. I could only borrow them from Golden Roc Bank. If my parents know that I''ve bought such a useless patch of land at such a high price, they would feel very pitiful about that.''


    ''Although I have so much money in Castle of Black Iron, I could not take them out of the air in the bank or in front of others. Therefore, I need a public reason to gain space teleportation equipment.


    Zhang Tie had already seen space teleportation equipment on Commander Cheng''s body. However, given Commander Cheng''s status, Zhang Tie knew that space teleportation equipment was in short supply even in Taixia Country, which could not be enjoyed by common knights.


    ...


    After entering the new year, the whole family went to bed.


    Before leaving the dining hall, Zhang Tie passed a secret message to Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang threw a glance at Zhang Tie before nodding silently.


    After sending Linda, Beverly, Fiona and his kids back to his private mansion and watching his sons falling asleep, Zhang Tie left some words to Linda, Beverly and Fiona before changing a set of relatively common clothes and leaving his private mansion. He then came to the garden of Zhang''s mansion.


    At this moment, only two lanterns were lit in the garden. It was tranquil in the garden except for the drumbeats from distance.


    Zhang Yang had long been waiting over there.


    "It''s so late, what do you want to negotiate with me here?" Zhang Yang asked Zhang Tie out of curiosity.


    Zhang Tie put it straight. He told Zhang Yang that he found the trace of Heavens Reaching Church in Youzhou City two days ago. As it was of great importance, Zhang Tie used secret voice transmitting skill in case of being eavesdropped.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s message, Zhang Yang changed his face. He had also heard that the Heavens Reaching Church was staging an armed rebellion in a province of Taixia Country. The members of Heavens Reaching Church were all lunatics, they could even overthrow a sub-continent. Therefore their hidden strength was very terrifying.


    "Now that I know it, I have to go back to exert my full efforts so that the commoners in Youzhou Province could face less trouble. I will not face any danger and won''t flaunt my superiority. When I cannot handle it, I will notice Count Long Wind and Commander Cheng. Therefore, you don''t need to worry about my safety. However, I don''t know about the scale of the Heavens Reaching Church''s riot and whether the riot would influence Golden Light City. Elder brother, you just stay at home; Elder Muyuan will also stay at home in Golden Light City these days. If there''s something wrong, you can seek for Elder Muyuan''s favor. If dad and mom ask you about my whereabouts, just tell them that I needed to go out for public affairs for a few days. Remember to not make them worry about me!"


    Zhang Yang nodded with a solemn look.


    Watching Zhang Yang''s response, Zhang Tie cut the crap, "See you then!"


    Closely after that, Zhang Yang felt dazzled as he found that Zhang Tie had disappeared. He looked up and found no trace of Zhang Tie in the dark sky. He then moved his eyes to the ground and saw no footmark in the snowfield either.


    ''Is this what a knight is supposed to be?'' Zhang Yang felt complex inside before taking in a deep breath. After checking those invisible sentries in the mansion, Zhang Yang then returned to his private mansion.


    ...


    In a short moment, Zhang Tie had already arrived at the wild outside Golden Light City. He landed in a open land. Closely after that, he started to stride towards Youzhou City at a terrifying speed of 100 m per step like a black shadow, which could even match the flying speed of common knights. Additionally, his moving method was more hidden...


    ''It''s too eye-catching if I just fly towards Youzhou City; however, there would be no problem if I strode towards Youzhou City after activating my Kuafu Bloodline. After all, almost all the people across Youzhou Province have seen that I''ve awakened Kuafu Bloodline after the competition for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province.''


    Even now, Zhang Tie was still rigorous in thinking.


    As the scenes flashed back on his sides, Zhang Tie put on the disguising face mask that Donder had gifted to him.


    Zhang Tie had not used this face mask for many years. However, It was suitable this time.


    ...


    After 6 hours, a Hua youth with a faintly sick look slowly arrived at a city gate in the north of Youzhou City with a common iron-sheath longsword in hand...


    Nobody across Youzhou City could imagine that the dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province who had just left 2 days ago could make a nice back thrust by returning to Youzhou City silently once again...

 861 The Master Artisan

    Chapter 861: The Master Artisan


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As it was the first day of the new year, there was almost nobody on the streets across Youzhou City in such an early morning.


    The guards were still sticking to their posts. When Zhang Tie approached the city gate, that soldier just threw a glance at him before allowing him in.


    In Taixia Country, the ceremony of "washing hands in gold basin" was very solemn, which indicated that the main characters were going to exit that industry by washing their hands in a gold basin in the public. Generally, two kinds of people would hold such a ceremony: first, the important figures of non-governmental organizations in Taixia Country, who held such a ceremony so as to declare to the public that they were going to make a clean break with his past; second, some senior professionals in Taixia Country such as master swordsmith, rune equipment maker and appraisers who held such a ceremony so as to express that they would not return to their former careers from then on.


    Both the first and the second kinds of people had a commonplace, namely, they were both big, respectable figures in local areas or in certain industries. Trivial people didn''t need to hold such a ceremony at all; as they could leave as long as they wanted and nobody would remember them.


    Wang Wu was the local snake, a rascal who was familiar with Youzhou City. Of course, that altar head who would hold the "washing hands in a gold basin" ceremony, timely got hang of Zhang Tie movements and could have Law Protector Zuo gift Brain Shattering Pill to Wang Wu was in Youzhou City; otherwise, if he was in another prefecture, his subordinates could not make any response to Zhang Tie''s movements so fast.


    As it was the first day of the 900th year of the black iron calendar, we had to say today was a good day for holding the "washing hands in a gold basin" ceremony.


    ...


    Like taking a casual walk, Zhang Tie was loitering on the streets of Youzhou City while the map of Youzhou City occurred to his mind. While some areas were gradually moved out of the map in his mind, Zhang Tie selected the optimal routine in his mind and continued to loiter in the remaining areas.


    Although Youzhou City was large, its urban planning was very methodical. Except for the jia farmlands, the locations of government agencies, the residential areas of commoners, the industrial and commercial areas, few were left.


    It had stopped snowing. A small part of a smile had appeared in the sky, which indicated a nice weather.


    After loitering in Youzhou City for over 2 hours, Zhang Tie knew that he finally arrived at his destination.


    It was less than 10 miles away from Huaiyuan Mansion, which was close to the Fengyang Lake in Youzhou City. The bank of the lake was planted with 7 miles'' willows, which looked pretty nice. This was the habitation of rich people across Youzhou City. What attracted Zhang Tie''s eyes was an extremely remarkable manor and courtyard in this habitation, which covered about 470,000 square meters. The high, vermilion wall of the manor occupied 1/3 of the street outside.


    As it was the first day of the lunar new year, many stores didn''t open today. However, a lot of vehicles and servants in tidy uniforms had been busy receiving guests outside the manor. Some airships directly landed at the airport behind the manor. After someone got off it, it flew off.


    This was the most boisterous place across Youzhou City today.


    "As master will wash his hand in a gold basin today, about 1,000 influential figures would arrive here today. We''d better be spirited up. Don''t make any trouble. After today, Steward Zuo said he would award each of us 3 gold coins." A person in the uniform of steward shouted at the side door outside the manor while guiding those servants to carry the food ingredients into the kitchen of the main mansion from the side door. Of course, the guests could not just watch the performance here, they had to enjoy food and drinks here, "Did Jiang Si''s group come back? I told them to take fresh venison from Linjia Village."


    "Not yet."


    "Take some people to find them. Hurry, the cooks are waiting for it. Venison and deer blood are required for two dishes tonight!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    After hearing this, Zhang Tie turned around and entered a teahouse on one side.


    Like hotels and pubs, this teahouse still ran in the new year festival. There were also many people inside it when Zhang Tie entered.


    Gathering around a circle in the courtyard in the teahouse, those people were having tea water, desserts, melon seeds, peanuts and listening to a man in a madarin jacket over a gown telling a story vividly with a fan in hand in front of a small square table. In the expression of Taixia Country, they were not listening to a story, but pingshu.


    The roof of the courtyard was half sealed. Although it was precious to light and air, it didn''t leak rain or snow; there were still some vigorous green plants in the courtyard, making it a special scenery.


    Of course, many people were also watching the grand occasion in the manor. Some were whispering or discussing the event in the manor which was not far from here with low exclamations.


    "Welcome, welcome, come in!"


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the teahouse, an argute lad had walked towards him and greeted Zhang Tie with a big smile.


    Zhang Tie flicked a silver coin towards him.


    "Give me a tranquil private room. I don''t wanna be bothered. By the way, bring me your best tea water and pastries!"


    The lad immediately caught the silver coin before turning around and shouting, "VIP in No. 17 Heavens private room, Floor 3!"


    Zhang Tie directly went upstairs to the 3rd floor while another lad greeted him at the end of the staircase and led him directly to a private room which was a bit farther than the courtyard. After opening the door of the private room for Zhang Tie, he invited Zhang Tie in.


    This private room covered over 20 square meters while being matched with soft seats and a teapoy. There was also a window inside, from where Zhang Tie could watch the manor in the opposite. Zhang Tie was very satisfied with this room.


    "Sir, what can I do for you?"


    "Bring me the best tea water and pastries!" To be honest, as it was Zhang Tie''s first time to enter such an entertainment venue in Taixia Country; therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t know what to order.


    "Okay, sir, I find you''re new here, you might not know the price of this private room; being different from those seats outside, you need to pay 50 more copper coins per hour here. You can stay here until we close it for the night. As "honesty and integrity management" is our service ideology, we don''t cheat any customer!"


    "Good, no problem, you can leave!"


    After the lad left the private room for a short while, he took in a pot of tea and some plates of pastries. After arranging all of these items on the teapoy, he asked whether Zhang Tie needed any other service or not. Watching Zhang Tie nodding his head, he left the room while closing the door for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie picked a piece of tea cake and ate it. At the same time, he listened to the discussions of those people in the teahouse. When he ate one plate of tea cakes, he almost got the information that he needed. Zhang Tie finally learned about the background of the "altar head of Heavens Reaching Church" who was going to wash his hands in a gold basin here today.


    The altar head surnamed Jiang. Everyone called him Master Jiang. This person was famous in Youzhou Province, even in the entire Northeast Military Region.


    Master Jiang''s ancestors were all blacksmiths. He started to help his father in the smithy when he was only 8 years old and showed a very high talent for casting. His experience was amazing. He became an artisan apprentice at 12, an artisan at 16, when his casting skills exceeded that of his father; when he was 20 years old, he had promoted to a copper hammer artisan. In the next 100-odd years, Master Jiang constantly promoted to a silver hammer artisan, a gold hammer artisan, a mithril artisan and a secret runes artisan. Master Jiang had promoted to a master artisan 4 decades ago.


    If one person could promote to a master artisan, he would be famous wherever he was, even in Taixia Country.


    Before promoting to a master artisan, Master Jiang had taken the office of deputy director of the Provincial Construction Administration in Tongzhou Province. After promoting to a master artisan, Master Jiang took the office of director general of the Provincial Construction Administration. He worked 2 decades in this position before applying for resignation and gaining his freedom once again.


    Master Jiang didn''t stop cultivating these years after he resigned. As a result, his reputation grew louder. He used to produce elite rune products. As Master Jiang was excelled at casting weapons, especially at casting swords, his mansion was frequently visted by people who invited him to cast weapons for them. Therefore, Master Jiang had established deep human relationships over the past years; additionally, his reputation grew louder and spread farther.


    Master Jiang''s old home was in Youzhou Province. After Youzhou became established, Master Jiang moved to Youzhou Province and settled down there.


    The great part of the industry in the craftsmen''s street in Youzhou City belonged to Master Jiang, his apprentices or his apprentices'' apprentices. This indicated Master Jiang''s influence in Youzhou City.


    When Master Jiang was celebrating his 149th birthday last year, he declared to wash his hands in a gold basin and would not touch tools that were used to cast rune equipment this year. He wanted to improve his health physically and mentally and sense the natural laws so as to make further progress in casting rune equipment.


    The day arrived today when the entire Jiang Mansion became busy.


    Master Artisan¡ª¡ªeven Zhang Clan which was famous for casting rune equipment in Waii Sub-continent only had one Master Artisan!


    After knowing this guy''s background, Zhang Tie became excited immediately as he knew that he caught a big fish...

 862 Another Breakthrough

    Chapter 862: Another Breakthrough


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    At 10 am, more and more people entered Jiang Mansion while the street outside the mansion became more boisterous. Jiang Mansion''s subordinates, stewards and Master Jiang''s apprentices were welcoming and seeing off guests outside the manor. What was more boisterous was the airport behind the manor where so many airships landed and flew off, transporting influential figures from afar.


    When Zhang Tie was thinking about finding the breakthrough, a tall, thin man with long and thin eyes in cyan long gown walked out of the gate while a lot of stewards and disciples outside the gate of Jiang Mansion hurriedly bowed towards him, "Steward Zuo!"


    The man just nodded in a reserved way, "Jiang Ping, Jiang Sheng, Master Jiang summoned you. The CEO Gu of Bailian Palace of Gaozhou Province has arrived, Master Jiang wants to introduce him to you!"


    After hearing Steward Zuo''s words, the other disciples of Master Jiang who were welcoming guests outside the gate threw "admiring" looks at two of them. After taking a deep breath, Jiang Ping and Jiang Sheng both followed Steward Zuo in with high spirits.


    It was normal for influential figures like Master Jiang to introduce his excellent apprentices to others when he washed his hands in a gold basin.


    Master Jiang lost his wife at a young age. Due to deep affection between them, he was severely stricken by it. He became very depressed for a long time. Later on, Master Jiang put all of his efforts into studying about rune equipment. Over these years, he didn''t marry any woman. Therefore, he didn''t have any posterity. All of his apprentices were his adopted children who followed his family name.


    The spoony experience of Master Jiang also became a much-told tale in his life. Of course, someone felt pitiful about Master Jiang.


    Although the distance between Steward Zuo and the teahouse was over 100 m, with his strong knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie could hear each of his words clearly.


    This voice was the same as that Lu Xiaoshuang had heard before death.


    Zhang Tie knew that Steward Zuo was his target.


    Watching Steward Zuo entering the mansion once again, Zhang Tie''s eyes glittered. Closely after that, he disappeared from the private room. At the same time, a tiny beetle appeared in the room and flew towards afar.


    It was pretty tranquil in the private room; additionally, those people outside could not see what happened inside the private room. He found that nobody was paying attention to him; therefore, he entered Castle of Black Iron and called his incarnation out of there.


    After a few hours, when the lad opened the door and wanted to ask whether Zhang Tie needed to add tea and pastries, he found nobody was inside except for a gold coin on the table. Scratching his head, the lad became confused as he had not seen anyone exiting the private room at all. However, when he noticed the open window and the weapon in Zhang Tie''s hand, he understood something, ''It turns out that the young man is a powerhouse...''


    The Stewards Zuo didn''t find that he had been followed by a white, trivial beetle when he entered the Jiang Mansion once again.


    Jiang Mansion today was indeed much more boisterous than that outside.


    There was a temporary canopy on a patch of open land in Jiang Mansion, which covered at least 200 tables. There was a very solemn hathpace in the middle of those tables, which held a 1-m high stone table. A gilded basin full of water was placed on the stone table.


    Numerous servants and maids were penetrating through those dining tables while a team of strong guards was standing against the hathpace while holding swords.


    This was where Master Jiang would wash his hands tonight; by then, all the 200-odd tables would be occupied.


    Steward Zuo was also very busy.


    As Master Zuo was talking with his VIPs kindly in the mansion, all the affairs across Jiang Mansion would be managed by Steward Zuo. Thankfully, Steward Zuo had been familiar with all the procedures. He kept his eyes on Master Jiang and his subordinate stewards, who would attend to their own duties. Therefore, all the affairs across Jiang Mansion ran in the order.


    Zhang Tie just gazed at Steward Zuo. Although Steward Zuo was busy, Zhang Tie believed that he would have a chance sooner or later. It only took him 1-2 minutes to extract all the messages and secrets from the brain of Steward Zuo without arousing the attention of others.


    As there was no knight in Jiang Mansion, Zhang Tie became totally reassured.


    As a person who could cultivate alone in a tower of time for 15 years, he was patient enough to wait.


    Steward Zuo walked around Jiang Mansion and constantly handled various affairs followed by Zhang Tie.


    After 2 hours, it was almost 12 am. After receiving the report of a subordinate steward that the lunch had been prepared well in the dining hall, Steward Zuo entered a parlor and invited Master Jiang and those VIPs who had arrived here earlier to have lunch in the dining hall.


    When Steward Jiang entered the parlor of the inner mansion, Zhang Tie was resting on a plum blossom in the garden outside the parlor.


    A faint forthright laughter and the voices of talks with someone drifted from the parlor. After half a minute, Zhang Tie saw a genial, old man with white hair and whisker in plain robe leaving the parlor with some people who also looked noble for the dining hall.


    ''This old man is Master Jiang. Given his look, who could imagine that he''s the altar head of Heavens Reaching Church?''


    ''You could not identify a person from his face.'' Zhang Tie sighed with emotion inside.


    As not too many people have arrived this morning, they had lunch in the dining hall instead of the venue where Master Jiang was going to wash his hands in a gold basin. The venue would turn boisterous in the evening.


    At lunch, Steward Zuo just stood not far from behind Master Jiang and waited for his order at any time. The table was full of dainties. However, Master Jiang only ate a vegetarian diet.


    When someone asked out of curiosity, Master Jiang sighed with a pitiful look. Steward Zuo answered on one side, "Mrs. liked to eat a vegetarian diet before; since Mrs. passed away, Master Jiang had started to eat the vegetarian diet and didn''t kill living beings anymore!"


    "Master Jiang is really the No. 1 spoony man in the world!"


    "Master Jiang is too merciful!"


    All the guests at present praised him in unison.


    Hearing this praise outside the dining hall, Zhang Tie became speechless at once...


    In the brief report from the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie learned that Heavens Reaching Church coerced commons to rise in revolt in Ganzhou Province. Those commoners who refused to follow their orders would be chopped off their heads together with their family members. Finally, when the Heavens Reaching Church in Ganzhou Province was cracked down, almost 1 million people were wounded or killed. ''How could such an old d**chebag be praised as merciful? F*ck...''


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt that all the reputations in the secular world were nothing but a sh*t.


    When he recalled his master Zhao Yuan, who was blamed by all the commoners across the world, Zhang Tie realized that something must be hidden inside.


    ''Even the old d**chebag of Heavens Reaching Church could be praised when he didn''t expose his real status, how could those be sworn by the public be heinous?''


    ...


    This lunch lasted about 1 hour. After lunch, Steward Zuo left Master Jiang and hurriedly walked towards a tranquil place in the manor. Zhang Tie knew that his chance finally arrived.


    People had to take a pee or sh*t. After the entire morning, this guy should take his pee. Zhang Tie didn''t believe that this guy would be followed by a lot of people when he was taking a pee or directly solved it in the public.


    Zhang Tie was right, Steward Zuo was indeed heading for the washroom.


    As a lot of servants were in the Jiang Mansion, even the washroom of management was separated from that of servants. The washroom that Steward Zuo entered was more advanced and tranquil where he would not be bothered by others.


    At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie realized the thing would proceed even faster than he had imagined.


    After taking a pee, Steward Zuo quivered twice. The moment he had put his mummy into his trousers, Steward Zuo had faintly frowned. He turned around and saw a pair of eyes. From then on, he could not move his eyes away anymore...


    Zhang Tie slowly put his hand onto the forehead of Steward Zuo...


    The breakthrough that Zhang Tie made in the Dragon Cave not only promoted him to the rarest and most powerful profession among knights but also advanced his Soul Capture Skill to a realm that Zhang Tie had not imagined. In this realm, Zhang Tie made another breakthrough to the secret methods in the Soul Capture Skill and directly entered the supreme realm.


    After 2 minutes, Steward Zuo walked out of the washroom like nothing had happened and continued to do his work. He didn''t look abnormal at all; he had already totally forgotten about what happened in the washroom just now...


    He just took a pee, nothing strange at all!


    ...


    10 minutes later, the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province...


    After feeling that one more person appeared in the room, Zhang Yuanshan who was lowering his head and reading a document immediately raised his head while his qi turned aggressive...


    "Argh, chief justice!" Zhang Yuanshan was shocked by Zhang Tie.


    However, what shocked him more was Zhang Tie''s words.


    "Heavens Reaching Church will rise in revolt in the Northeast Military Region, it''s time for the Provincial Court to render meritorious service in Youzhou Province..."

 863 Making Trouble

    Chapter 863: Making Trouble


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    At night, the Jiang Mansion was filled with human voices. All the guests had almost arrived.


    Most of these guests came from Gaozhou Province, Mozhou Province, Tongzhou Province, Qiongzhou Province, Yanzhou Province, Huizhou Province and Chaozhou Province. Over 2/3 of the almost 2000 guests came here by airship. After receiving the invitation, many people had set off a month ago.


    Besides Master Jiang''s old friends, even those who had invited Master Jiang to make rune equipment for them had arrived. A few of them were of the same trade as Master Jiang. What Zhang Tie had not imagined was that even the Provincial Construction Administration of Tongzhou Province had dispatched an official to witness Master Jiang''s ceremony with one gift. What a great respect it was!


    A master artisan''s powerful influence and human relationship were clearly manifested at this moment.


    After leaving Jiang Mansion a few hours ago, Zhang Tie finally arrived at Jiang Mansion once again in a disguised look half an hour ahead of the ceremony.


    This time, he directly swaggered inside without using his incarnation.


    Finding that Zhang Tie was strange in average dress and came with no gift, a steward frowned as he immediately blocked Zhang Tie.


    "Brother, may I know your name and your purpose here?"


    Zhang Tie blinked his eyes and replied, "Won''t Master Jiang wash his hands in a gold basin today? I also came here to join in the fun and witness that!"


    "You''ve met our Master Jiang? Brother?" That steward watched Zhang Tie with a dubious look.


    "Only once. Master Jiang looked kind; he''s even a vegetarian!" Zhang Tie answered seriously.


    ''It seems that he has indeed met Master Jiang.'' The steward murmured as he waved his hand. Two servants then walked over here, one with a roll, the other with a tray.


    The roll had been filled with names of guests. After throwing a glance at it, Zhang Tie picked the pen and jostled down his name "Zhang Tie" on it.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s scrawl which looked like an ox''s dung in blossoms, the steward even wanted to slap his face.


    After the signature, Zhang Tie wanted to enter; however, he found the other guy who was cupping the tray and staring at him.


    "Ahem...ahem..." The steward coughed twice after composing himself, "According to the regulation, all the friends who come to witness Master Jiang wash his hands should present a gift, which represents their admiration to Master Jiang, regardless of its value!"


    "I see, I see..." Zhang Tie nodded while smiling like a rat genius with narrow eyes. At the same time, he stretched out his hands and fumbled over his upper coat for a while. After that, with a crash, he threw his "ritual" into that tray.


    Watching the three copper coins circling around the tray, the steward opened his mouth which could almost hold an egg as he frowned. All the servants of Jiang Mansion outside the gate were glaring at Zhang Tie as if they were ready to drive Zhang Tie away the moment the steward issued the order.


    "May I come in? I think Master Jiang would not blame me for such a little gift. No matter what, it''s my sincerity!"


    After gazing at Zhang Tie for a couple of seconds, the steward took in a deep breath before waving his hand with a glassy-eyed look, "Take this guest to the 11th average table!"


    After hearing the steward''s order, a servant invited Zhang Tie in with a reluctant look


    Watching Zhang Tie moving away, a servant on one side couldn''t stand to ask, "Steward Wu, the b*stard obviously came here for free food, why not drive him away?"


    "If we didn''t let such a sophisticated person in, he might make some trouble. If such a toad climbed onto your foot, he would be disgusting even if he did not bite you. We''d better not provoke him. Even though our dog doesn''t lack these copper coins. Just let him in. Those average tables are especially set for such people from all walks of life. Just hope him to speak high of Master Jiang after having the food!" Steward Wu said. After throwing a glance at the 3 copper coins in the tray, he directly threw them into the grass of the parterre beside the gate. After that, he gazed at the two ox dungs on the roll for quite a while before recognizing that they were "Zhang Tie".


    ''It sounds a bit familiar; I remember that Zhang Mushen the dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province is called Zhang Tie...''


    ''I''ve not imagined that such a rascal dare share the same name with the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province.'' Steward Wu ridiculed inside, ''It''s really a humiliation to this name...''


    However, he could never imagine that the one who had just dropped 3 copper coins in the tray was Zhang Tie the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province.


    When he recalled the two words "Zhang Tie", Steward Wu couldn''t stand to look at them on the roll once again. This time, he felt the other signatures were repressed on the page and became inconsistent and abrupt. What a weird feeling!


    Although being not a knight, Steward Wu couldn''t taste the realm of knights. As Zhang Tie was here to make trouble; therefore, his signature carried his spirit and awareness no matter how ugly it was. Although it was a casual scrawl, the spiritual realm that the words contained had destroyed the brilliant qi field on the roll. Because of this, Steward Wu felt the entire page becoming weird.


    However, Steward Wu had two servants to pay special attention to "Zhang Tie" silently. As long as "Zhang Tie" made any excessive movement, they should drive him away at once.


    Although being far away from Steward Wu, Zhang Tie could still hear clearly what Steward Wu ordered the two servants to do.


    Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile...


    On such an occasion, the so-called average tables were in the most remote places which were specially set for those who came to join in the fun from Youzhou City.


    Those at the average tables were all small figures compared to those guests being invited. They could make the banquet more boisterous.


    If Wang Wu didn''t die, he might have been at an average table.


    Those who sat on the average tables were from all walks of life who liked to join in the fun. Although they had certain social statuses, their statuses were dwarfed on such an occasion. Therefore, they could only stay at the average tables.


    When Zhang Tie arrived there, he saw those guys in brilliant clothes sitting seriously at those average tables who were watching that hathpace where a gold basin was placed on it and those figures at those main tables beside that hathpace. Additionally, they were whispering to each other. Although being tough, they had to disguise to be reserved. Some of them were twisting their bodies at the tables as they didn''t fit their new clothes.


    "Boss, this new pair of deer hide boots aches my foot. Can I take them off? I feel the wooden slippers in our outdoor bathing place was more comfortable!" A guy complained to a tough guy on his side in a low voice.


    "F*ck, if you dare take off your boots at this moment, this father would let you have no feet to wear boots. Do you believe that?" The boss swore in a low voice as he threw a glare at his subordinate.


    "10 gold coins is really wasteful for two of us. I think 3 gold coins is enough. It''s 10 gold coins, boss, you cannot make so much in one month. With so much money, we can even rent a courtyard of girls and play with them for one week, if we don''t nitpick!"


    "Shut up! Dogs only know to eat sh*t!" The boss raised his eyebrows as he added, "One pile of sh*t for one teeth!"


    The other guy hurriedly shut up.


    Hearing this funny dialogue, Zhang Tie laughed inside.


    "Here, just sit here!" The servant took Zhang Tie to the table on the edge as he pointed at a chair to him. After throwing a sick glance at Zhang Tie, he turned around and left at once.


    After throwing himself onto the chair, Zhang Tie started to glance at the other guys at this table. Given the dress, only Zhang Tie''s clothes were the most average. Besides, Zhang Tie''s "look" was also average.


    "Bro, you look a bit strange, do you scrape a living in Youzhou City?"


    The moment Zhang Tie took a seat, a 50-year odd guy on his opposite had thrown a glance at him and asked.


    "Hmm, almost like that!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s answer, that man frowned as he said frankly, "What do you mean by almost like that? If you''re, just say yes; if not, just say no. Whether you''re or not?"


    Rubbing his face, Zhang Tie replied, "Yes, then. But my job is arranged by my family. It''s not stable. Some people even speak ill of me and want to drive me away!"


    "Where do you work, bro?"


    "Yamun!"


    After hearing that Zhang Tie worked in yamun, the other guys at the table revealed a clear look at the same time. In their opinions, Zhang Tie, as one who went on errands in yamun would always be pushed aside if he was dumb, not diligent and didn''t have a deep background. As yamun was a profitable place, even though boilersmith and dustman should have a background. Those who could stay long inside were not average.


    "Bro, do you know Zhao Long? He''s my friend, also a criminal hunter in yamun." The other guy asked in a tentative way.


    "No!" Zhang Tie shook his head directly.


    After finding that Zhang Tie didn''t even know Zhao Long, those guys lost their interest in Zhang Tie at once and continued to chat. Through their chat, Zhang Tie learned that they were in the coal trading industry in Youzhou City. They had trade ties with those smithies and foundries which belonged to Master Jiang. They were the coal suppliers of those smithies and foundries. Therefore they were here to join in the fun today...

 864 Washing Hands in the Gold Basin

    Chapter 864: Washing Hands in the Gold Basin


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Soon after Zhang Tie took a seat, the servants of Jiang Mansion had started to serve dishes.


    Generally, on this occasion, after the dishes were served, Master Jiang would wash his hands in the gold basin and say something. After that, he would get off the hathpace and sit in the chief seat of the main table. After toasting each other, this ceremony would come to a successful end.


    The moment the dishes were served, Zhang Tie had started to enjoy them with chopsticks, splashing soup and oil everywhere.


    "Come on, they''re turning cold!" With braised venison in the mouth, he told those on his side while moving his chopsticks across the table.


    He was the first one who moved his chopsticks among the over 200 tables.


    All the others were gazing at Zhang Tie. They didn''t know whether Zhang Tie was an idiot or really didn''t know about the rite. On this occasion, Master Jiang should be the first one to move his chopsticks. How could a guest move his chopsticks first and watch Master Jiang to wash his hands on the hathpace? Did he really take it as a performance?


    When the two servants wanted to walk towards him, Zhang Tie threw a glance at them. They then stood still at once.


    At the sight of this scene, those on the neighboring tables who wanted to stand up and give Zhang Tie a lesson became silent at once. ''Now that people in Jiang Mansion don''t care about him, if I steal Master Jiang''s thunder, people in Jiang Mansion may think that I''m playing an act with him to destroy the atmosphere here.'' Therefore, when Zhang Tie was enjoying his dishes, the others just watched him while forcefully swallowing their saliva by moving their throats.


    Especially those who sat at the same table with Zhang Tie. Watching Zhang Tie messing up the entire table of good dishes, they all glared at him while swearing him "b*stard" tens of thousands of times inside.


    The dishes tasted really good. Besides the cooks in Jiang Mansion, some cooks from famous bo?tes in Youzhou City were also giving a hand in the kitchen of Jiang Mansion. Of course, the dishes were perfect in color, fragrance and taste.


    Zhang Tie was really hungry. From the time he left home last night to now, he had not eaten anything. At first, he traveled 2,000 miles; later on, he made an arrangement in the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province and distributed jobs to his subordinates. Now that the dishes had been served, how could he wait until Master Jiang finished washing his hands in the gold basin? Because he knew that Master Jiang could not wash his hands in the gold basin forever.


    Zhang Tie had made the arrangement well. His forces could have started work one hour ago; however, Zhang Tie felt that it would be more effective when Jiang Mansion became more boisterous.


    Why would he choose this moment? Because there were more people in the Jiang Mansion at this moment. If Master Jiang was taken away silently, how could Zhang Tie publicize that Zhang Mushen the dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province crackdown Heavens Reaching Church? Additionally, the box on the ears of Gobbling Party would not be loud enough. The greater part of these guests at present were my best witnesses.


    Zhang Tie felt that he had grown more and more insidious. So what? There were many insidious people in this world!


    After thinking about it carefully, Zhang Tie was actually a bit afraid about that. ''If the Heavens Reaching Church rose in revolt closely after the memorial that Gobbling Party used to impeach me, my crime would be confirmed. If so, not only me, even the entire Huaiyuan Palace and Commander Cheng who was on my side might be involved.''


    ''The time when Heavens Reaching Church rise in revolt in Youzhou Province really coordinates well with the time when Gobbling Party impeached me.'' If having not gotten the evidence, Zhang Tie almost thought that Gobbling Party and Heavens Reaching Church had reached an agreement in advance. However, he could only think about it instead of revealing it to the public. Even though the top three chancellors in Taixia Country dared not blame that Gobbling Party colluded with Heavens Reaching Church. Because this would arouse a big chaos in Taixia Country.


    ''However, every coin had two sides. Heavens Reaching Church could work as Gobbling Party''s dagger towards me and my sharp bolt towards Gobbling Party. The memorial that Gobbling Party used to impeach me could be farsighted words of concerning about the safety of the country and the countrymen and the insidious words for framing me.''


    ''The property of the memorial could not be determined by the memorial itself, but the result of the wrestle between Heavens Reaching Church and me in Youzhou Province.''


    The change in Youzhou Province being hundreds of thousands of miles away could influence the decision-making of Xuanyuan Hill and disturb the public opinions across the country. This was how politics ran! Zhang Tie could not imagine this since he had just come to Taixia Country for a few months. ''Taixia Country was a bigger quagmire than Waii Sub-continent. Now that I''ve fallen into it, I have to face a lot of uncertainties.''


    ...


    When Zhang Tie was enjoying his food, Master Jiang''s old friends and disciples had gone up onto the hathpace and praised the meritorious deeds and achievements that Master Jiang had made these years as the prelude and pavement to this ceremony. Later on, even that official from the Provincial Construction Administration of Tongzhou Province spoke highly of Master Jiang''s meritorious deeds and achievements on the hathpace on behalf of the Administration.


    ''I wonder whether these guys would like to swallow their words when they knew the real status of Master Jiang as the altar head of Heavens Reaching Church.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    Knights always had a good appetite. Additionally, Zhang Tie ate fast. When Master Jiang went up onto the hathpace under the gaze of so many people at present and prepared to wash his hands in the gold basin, Zhang Tie had almost finished 2/3 of the dishes on the table.


    "Erm", Zhang Tie burped as he touched his belly with a satisfied look and watched the others at the table who were glaring at him, "Come on, it''s getting cold!"


    ''F*ck!'' Those guys'' eyebrows jumped as they even wanted to spring up and cover the remaining dishes onto Zhang Tie''s head, ''Since how long has this b*stard been starving? He''s definitely here for food...''


    ...


    On the hathpace, Master Jiang bowed towards all directions with a kind look before straightening up his body.


    "My fellowmen, thanks to your favor, I was born in a poor family and had been diligent in my work for over 100 years. I''m already very satisfied with my current achievements. After washing my hands in the gold basin today, I will be free and immerse myself in a landscape. Before washing my hands in the gold basin, according to the custom, I have to ask whether there''s any resentment between you and me? If there is, in front of so many friends, we can end it now. Otherwise, after I wash my hands in the gold basin, I don''t want to mention it anymore!"


    Actually, these were just words out of rite. Of course, he had already ended his resentment with others before this ceremony.


    However, he had to ask about it.


    Finding that nobody responded below, Master Jiang was very satisfied. With a big smile, he then walked towards the gold basin which was filled with fresh water. When he wanted to put his hand in the gold basin, an abrupt and loud voice sounded among the crowd below in a lazy way.


    "Master Jiang, wait a minute please, there''s a resentment that you''ve not ended yet!"


    After hearing this voice, Master Jiang frowned as he glanced over the guests. With a "buzz", all the guests turned around and threw their eye lights towards the origin of the voice.


    On the edge of the banquet, a guy slowly stood up as he touched his belly.


    Of course, he was Zhang Tie.


    Watching Zhang Tie standing up leisurely, all the people at the table widely opened their mouths like seeing a ghost in the daytime.


    ''Is...is...this guy...making...making trouble here? How dare he make trouble in the ceremony of Master Jiang?''


    Feeling the eye lights from Master Jiang and the guests at over 200 tables, those at the same table with Zhang Tie twisted their bodies like sitting on a piece of red-hot iron. It would be too inauspicious if they were mistaken by Master Jiang as the accomplices of Zhang Tie. If they left there right away, under the gazes of over 200 tables of guests, they would look too timid.


    Therefore, they felt extremely embarrassed as their faces turned as dark as coal.


    Nobody dared to use chopsticks anymore on this occasion.


    "Friend, you look a bit strange. Sorry for my poor vision, I don''t remember that I met you before. I wonder about the resentment between you and me?"


    As he had experienced many big scenes, only after being silent for a couple of seconds, Master Jiang had opened his mouth in a calm pattern like a king. Given his calm look, many guests at present hailed him.


    On this occasion, thousands of guests could only widely open their eyes while pricking up their ears.


    "There''s no resentment between Master Jiang and me. But at the request of others, I have to make trouble here!" Zhang Tie let out a sigh.


    "I wonder who told you to do that, my friend?" Master Jiang asked with a big smile.


    "It''s 2700 million commoners across Youzhou Province. Now that Master Jiang wants to kill them, I have to kill you as a compensation!"


    Soon after Zhang Tie''s words, a cold breeze had blown over the entire Jiang Mansion. At the same time, the temperature in Jiang Mansion dropped below zero at once.


    Closely after that, with a boom, the courtyard wall in the length of over 300 m outside this banquet venue collapsed at once...


    All the elite forces of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province poured inside like a black tide...

 865 Trampling the Old D**chebag to Death

    Chapter 865: Trampling the Old D**chebag to Death


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The elite forces in black helmets and armors of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province poured in with shields and battle tools in hands...


    In the blink of an eye, some more parts of the courtyard walls of Jiang Mansion had been pushed over while a lot of elites of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province poured in like a black fiery flame and besieged the entire venue.


    At the sight of such elites, all the guests felt cold all over as they could only stay still.


    "Xiezhi Camp!" Many people at Zhang Tie''s table turned pale; some even started to quiver all over.


    It was the Xiezhi Camp which pushed over the exterior wall of Jiang Mansion.


    Xiezhi was a far-ancient immortal beast worshipped by Hua people. According to the legend, Xiezhi was as large as an adult ox. Besides being covered with black fur, it had a pair of fiery eyes and a horn on its forehead. It was very intelligent and could distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, allegiance and crafty; abhor evils as deadly foes. At the sight of the evil and treacherous ones, it would kill them with its horn before eating them.


    The totem of the yamuns in Taixia Country was Xiezhi. As the dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie''s official hat was called Xiezhi Hat, which was similar to the horn of a Xiezhi. As it would take him some time to put it on, Zhang Tie didn''t wear it.


    The most forcible and deterrent force among the subordinates of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province was Xiezhi Camp.


    After Huaiyuan Palace took control of Youzhou Province, the greater part of Breaking Sun Corps and a part of Hurricane Corps had been arranged into Xiezhi Camp and spread over Youzhou Province. They became the most powerful force that Huaiyuan Palace used to rule the province.


    In Taixia Country, armies were used to defend enemies from outside while Xiezhi Camp was used to resist enemy from inside.


    Based on the standards of Western Continent or Waii Sub-continent, Xiezhi Camp was similar to a super armored police force.


    Being composed of the pillar forces of two major corps of Huaiyuan Palace and some local powerhouses in Youzhou Province, although it was called camp, it actually contained 900,000 people, which was equal to the total population of two corps. This was the most powerful force in Zhang Tie''s hand. As the dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province, of course, Zhang Tie had a good card. Among the judicial agencies in Taixia Country, average criminal hunters were responsible for arresting disperse bandits and criminals while Xiezhi Camp was used to crack down riots.


    Over the past 3 months, Xiezhi Camp which was composed of the pillar forces of two major corps of Huaiyuan Palace had already spread over Youzhou Province.


    After knowing that Heavens Reaching Church was going to riot in revolt, Zhang Tie directly mobilized the entire Xiezhi Camp.


    As the soldiers in Xiezhi Camp had the experience in fighting demons in Waii Sub-continent, undoubtedly, they had a great battle strength; especially the commissioned officers in Xiezhi Camp, most of whom had fought demons. Therefore, their killing qi made people suffocate.


    During the period Zhang Tie engulfed the food, the force under the affiliation of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province had already cleaned up the exterior guards of Jiang Mansion. 30,000 elites of Xiezhi Camp had already been in place around Jiang Mansion. The moment Zhang Tie stood up, those elites of Xiezhi Camp had Jiang Mansion under control.


    Besides Xiezhi Camp, a lot of powerhouses among the criminal hunters of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province had appeared on the roofs and courtyard walls. With immortal crossbows and heavens tearing nets which could even scare powerhouses, they were glaring at those people in the Mansion.


    "At the order of our superior, the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province are here to take down the heretics of Heavens Reaching Church. Anyone who dared move would be killed!" Zhang Yuanshan shouted with a solemn look while entering the venue being escorted by a lot of powerhouses.


    At the sight of the soldiers of Xiezhi Camp and Zhang Yuanshan, Master Jiang became still on the arch. He just watched Zhang Tie and replied with a calm voice, "Who''re you?"


    Zhang Tie slowly pulled off his mask and revealed his original look.


    "The dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province!"


    "Zhang Mushen!"


    "Lion of Youzhou Province!"


    At the sight of the excessive, young face, the guests exclaimed at once.


    3 months ago, Zhang Tie''s image had deepened into people''s heart in the competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province. On this occasion, the moment Zhang Tie showed his original look, he had been recognized by many people.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile at Master Jiang in the distance before saying, "All the 900,000 soldiers of Xiezhi Camp across Youzhou Province have swarmed out and cleaned up all the bases and heads of Heavens Reaching Church across Youzhou Province. You will have no time to notice them. Altar Head Jiang, why not fold your hands for capture?''


    Master Jiang let out a long sigh of grief before saying, "I''ve been working so hard in my life so that I could have such properties. I know that wealth could incur disasters. My properties make people jealous. As Huaiyuan Palace has just laid a foundation in Youzhou Province, it needs to expand in all aspects. I planned to wash my hands in the gold basin for the sake of my safety; I''ve not imagined that I was still one step late. Now that you liked my properties which were made during the past 100 years, you could have just told me about that. I would have directly gifted them to you. Why do you have to kill so many innocent ones and fabricate these crimes for me? I will gift my properties to you only expecting that you could let my old friends and disciples leave safely. From then on, I will be a hermit in deep mountains; pick tea leaves and plant chrysanthemum. How about that?"


    After hearing Master Jiang''s sigh, the guests were in an uproar.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that this old D**chebag could still make unfounded countercharges at this moment and exonerate himself from the charge while framing Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Tie at the same time. How incorrigible he was!


    Zhang Tie sneered, "No matter how talkative you''re, you could not escape today. As for whether you''re the heretic of Heavens Reaching Church, we only need to take you down and search around Jiang Mansion. To prevent commoners from being killed by your b*stards, I will chop off the head of anyone who dares to block me. Do you think that I will be scared by your brief words? Come on!"


    "It seems that you''ve determined to embezzle my properties and don''t intend to leave me alive!" Master Jiang lowered his voice...


    "Take him down!" Zhang Tie shouted.


    Zhang Yuanshan and two criminal hunters of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province instantly charged at Master Jiang at the same time.


    "Zhang Mushen the dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province wants to embezzle the properties of our master and kill all of us. Brothers, let''s fight these sons of bitches officials to death!"


    The moment Zhang Yuanshan moved, one of the old d**chebag''s disciples had shouted of extremely grief as he directly took a weapon and rushed towards those soldiers of Xiezhi Camp.


    Many disciples and servants of that old d**chebag moved too as they wanted to cause a bigger chaos here.


    However, they were in Taixia Country. Although not all the officials were good-hearted here, the local administration of civil affairs was clean in compliance with the strict laws and complete system. Few officials dared bully commoners or plunder the properties of commoners across Taixia Country.


    Those who attended this ceremony were not silly. They would not directly rush towards those soldiers of Xiezhi Camp at the risk of their lives only because of some guys'' instigation. Actually, even if Zhang Tie was arresting those guys'' parents and brothers, these guys would hurriedly disassociate themselves from them regardless of the so-called righteousness once the latter ones were related to the Heavens Reaching Church, not to mention that Zhang Tie was catching Master Jiang.


    Those who wanted to provoke chaos and charge at soldiers of Xiezhi Camp were waiting for the storm-like bolts of the immortal crossbows.


    In a split second, some corpses had lain on the ground like hedgehogs. The small turmoil was appeased at once.


    ...


    Suddenly, two longswords appeared in the hands of Master Jiang on the arch.


    Nobody could imagine about such a change. With a sword qi, Zhang Yuanshan and two powerhouses were sent flying backward from the arch after uttering a muffled harrumph at the same time...


    Even one LV 15 battle spirit and two LV 14 battle demons could not defeat Master Jiang.


    Zhang Yuanshan''s face turned red while a part of his sleeve had been left on the arch. After landing on the ground, Zhang Yuanshan''s fingers were still dropping blood while the two LV 14 powerhouses both moved some steps backward and spat out blood at the same time.


    With a cracking sound, the long gown of Master Jiang was broken while a pair of wings and a tail suddenly stretched out of his back. He flew off at once.


    Among humans, besides knights, no one else could fly. As for those who could speak human words with wings, they could only be minas, parrots or demons.


    "Ahh, shadow demon!"


    One guest cried as if his anus was being stabbed by someone.


    Everyone else was shocked by the words "shadow demon" like suffering from a magnitude Richter 10 earthquake.


    Zhang Tie was shocked too. Closely after that, he became excited while a great trembling sense flashed by his spine like current. He soon caught a longsword on his side and threw it towards the shadow demon...


    With a fiery flame, the longsword hit that shadow demon who was flapping its wings immediately.


    After that, they heard a thunder, which shocked almost the entire Youzhou City. At the same time, its bloody flesh and body parts fell into the arch, which included broken and burned wings, a greater part of the tail and a strange body being covered with scales whose chest had been penetrated through with a horn on its head. Besides, its eyes were very terrifying...


    "...Hua people...''s doomsday is coming...I''m waiting...for you in the hell...ha...ha..."


    Although the voice belonged to Master Jiang, the remaining body where the words came from made people tremble with fear.


    The pleasant laughter came to an end at once...while that ugly head was trampled to pieces by Zhang Tie...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that his image had become extremely brave and fierce in the eyes of the guests.


    After moving his foot away from it, Zhang Tie flicked off the blood stains on his clothes...


    "Congratulations, Castle Lord, you got one more fruit of plunder!" Heller, who had not talked with Zhang Tie in a while, uttered a voice in Zhang Tie''s mind sea...


    ''Great...''


    Zhang Tie couldn''t help raising his mouth corners. He then continued to shout with a dignified look, "Topple over the entire Jiang Mansion..."

 866 Defeating the Heavens Reaching Church

    Chapter 866: Defeating the Heavens Reaching Church


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    At least by now, Taixia Country was still scared by this heresy''s ability to mislead people and the indirect harm that it posed to commoners instead of its direct battle strength.


    Last November, after the riot caused by the Heavens Reaching Church in Ganzhou Province was pacified, it was said that the highest level among those insurgents was just LV 13 battle general; even though, the riot in Ganzhou Province still caused a great harm to commoners in Ganzhou Province; even the entire Taixia Country was shocked.


    Throughout the past hundreds of years, there were always guys in remote rural areas who liked to play religions; however, those guys were more like spicing up the daily life of provincial courts than being heresies. They used to hide in a small room in a group of ten to dozens. After that, some brain-damaged guys would disguise to be gods or something like "Emperor**", "Heavensman**", "Incarnation of **", etc.. More than 10 cases like this could be found in the archives of each provincial court.


    As for such cases, even some bowmen under the leadership of the village constable could clean them up, not to mention those criminal hunters in the provincial courts. Local officials liked these guys the most. Because it would not take them too much time to handle these guys. Additionally, after reporting the cases to the superiors, they could be awarded a lot due to their so-called big achievements. Therefore, those village constables, heads of a group of households and county magistrates would be in an ecstasy of delight like hitting the jackpot.


    Whereas, the Heavens Reaching Church was different from the other "heresies" in Ganzhou Province. In only a couple of days, it had heavily inflicted over 10 suburban counties. Even commoners were threatened to join in the riot. Anyone who disobeyed them would be killed together with his family members. In the suburban counties, all the officials and civil servants in Taixia Country would be killed together with their family members in an extremely cruel way once they fell into the hand of Heavens Reaching Church.


    Over the past hundreds of years, the Heavens Reaching Church was the first heresy which caused over 1 million casualties. Therefore, it shocked the entire Taixia Country. Even though the supreme court of Taixia Country had to dispatch their right-hand criminal hunters and powerhouses to Ganzhou so as to handle the follow-up events. Additionally, they dispatched documents to the entire country for arresting the leftover evils of the Heavens Reaching Church.


    Until today, even the supreme court of Taixia Country had not imagined that the Heavens Reaching Church was supported by demons, not to mention Zhang Tie.


    From today on, Zhang Tie knew that the Heavens Reaching Church would shock the entire country once again.


    Because it was not simply a civil strife among humans, but with a more complex background. They had sharply different properties.


    Clearly, Zhang Tie knew that he had made another great meritorious deed this time. If not him, nobody across Taixia Country would ever know that the Heavens Reaching Church was supported by demons.


    All the subordinates of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province were throwing an eager look at Zhang Tie. Because all of them knew that the dean of the Provincial Court had made a great meritorious deed this time; of course, they also benefited from Zhang Tie''s halos.


    Although having made a great meritorious deed, Zhang Tie didn''t become conceited; instead, he was faintly worried about the last words that the "Master Jiang" roared when he trampled its head into sh*t.


    ''The doomsday of Hua people?''


    ''Is that the old d**chebag''s alarmism at the final moment or the shaper means that demons would use to attack Taixia Country and Hua people?''


    Zhang Tie thought.


    ''Pitifully, as the brain structure of demon is greatly different than that of humans, my "Soul Capture Skill" is ineffective to the shadow demon; otherwise, I could even know what other messages does that shadow demon know. This shadow demon is even more advanced than Master Abyan. It''s already a battle-spirit demon, which was close to a knight. Such a guy must know a lot after lurking in humans for so long!


    Zhang Tie had made a great achievement today; however, a great sense of crisis woke up Zhang Tie who had immersed in the warm family life for a couple of months once again.


    Both demons and Gobbling Party were very terrifying forces.


    ''In order to respond to the situation in the future, I need to improve my battle strength.''


    ''Come on!'' Zhang Tie encouraged himself.


    In such a short while, the elites of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province had started to search the Jiang Mansion one inch after another. Zhang Tie was not concerned about that because the Provincial Court had exclusive professionals in this line.


    Zhang Tie knew that some items were still buried underground the Jiang Mansion; however, he didn''t want to mention it. As the superior, if he considered everything well for his subordinates, his subordinates would have no chance to make meritorious deeds and play their roles. By pretending to be "blind and deaf", he could trigger the initiative of his subordinates.


    All the guests and the servants in Jiang Mansion had been isolated by the soldiers of the Provincial Court.


    The moment there was a commotion among the guests, the criminal hunters had charged at them. In a split second, they had arrested some guests who came from Gaozhou Province, Yangzhou Province, Mozhou Province and Tongzhou Province; dislocated their jaws and joints all over; bundled them; dragged them onto the vehicles outside and interrogated them on the spot. These people were all members of the Heavens Reaching Church from the other provinces in the territory of the Northeast Military Region who were preparing to contact the old d**chebag Jiang by this chance.


    Standing on the arch, Zhang Tie watched the 200-odd dining tables which remained unchanged. He then shook his head. Who would dare continue to eat at this moment? Therefore, all the dining tables have cooled down.''


    Each part of that shadow demon''s body had been gathered onto the arch. Right on Zhang Tie''s side, Zhang Yuanshan observed two experienced coroners examining the corpse of the shadow demon.


    When this shadow demon fought Zhang Yuanshan and the two criminal hunters, it suddenly had two longswords in its hands, which were not silver secret items that could be formed in the elements realm which were usually used by knights; but high-end rune weapons. Now that this shadow demon could have 2 weapons out of the air, it must carry a rare space-teleportation equipment. After finding that those ornaments on the corpse of the shadow demon were just common rune equipment, Zhang Yuanshan fetched two experienced coroners and asked them to examine the inside of this corpse carefully.


    As long as the space-teleportation equipment was close to the body of its user, it would be effective whether it was on or in the user''s body. Of course, people could barely hide a space-teleportation equipment in their body.


    When a coroner cut open the skin of the shadow demon''s left carpal, a bead as large as a common pearl with exotic metallic luster appeared.


    The bead was still bloody. After taking it out using a pair of tweezers, the coroner cleaned it in alcohol. After wiping up it with a piece of dried cloth, he handed it to Zhang Yuanshan. Without examining it, Zhang Yuanshan directly passed it to Zhang Tie respectfully, "Lord, look!"


    After taking it, Zhang Tie looked around it in his hand when he found the exotic runes on the surface of the bead.


    Zhang Tie then injected his spirtiual energy into the bead.


    As the demon shadow had just been killed, a part of its spiritual energy still remained in the space tunnel in the bead. Nevertheless, how could Zhang Tie care about such a bit foreign spiritual energy? The moment he ran his spiritual energy, it had charged at the remaining spiritual energy of the demon shadow like a ground-breaking tsunami. As a result, the remaining spiritual energy in the bead instantly disappeared like how a sand fortress was destroyed by a flood.


    A space appeared in front of Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    This space was about 5 m in length, width and height respectively, which was nearly 4 times larger than that of the demon general.


    Like what he had seen in the space of the portable space-teleportation equipment of demon general, Zhang Tie also saw a pile of gold coins, weapons, food, fresh water, vials, jars and mirrors. Right, mirrors, the same as that in the backroom of Master Abyan. It seemed to be a peculiarity of shadow demons. At the sight of something else, Zhang Tie was so scared that he even felt goosebumps all over his body.


    Zhang Tie then moved over 20 naked, well-preserved female human corpses onto the arch out of the space-teleportation equipment, which scared those in the surroundings.


    Zhang Tie had people cover those female corpses before letting out a sigh, "Go investigate the cases of missing women in the residence of this old d**chebag. If their information matched those in the cases, contact their family members; as for the unidentified ones, just bury them properly!"


    Zhang Tie sighed inside, ''All the shadow demons are abnormal. Just like Master Abyan, this old d**chebag had lost its wife and didn''t marry any woman over for many years; although it disguised to be sentimental in the public, it had done so many evil things secretly.''


    Those female corpses were soon carried away by the soldiers of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province.


    "Lord, we found something over there!"


    The moment the female corpses were carried away, an official of the Provincial Court had trotted towards Zhang Tie and invited him to take a look over there.


    ...


    In the basement of Jiang Mansion, there was an extremely hidden dungeon. The moment Zhang Tie entered the dungeon, he had heard a hysterical roar like pigs which were going to be slaughtered.


    "B*stard, you old d**chebag. Let me off. Do you know who I am? When this father is out of here, I will kill all your family members and pick off your head and make it a urinal; I will explode your anus with a red-hot iron rode and rape all of your women tens of thousands of times before selling them to the lowest-rank brothels. This father will pay 100 gold coins to anyone who could f*ck them for. You old d**chebag, old dick, let me out of there..."


    Along the source of the voice, Zhang Tie saw a disheveled fat roar in the dungeon-like being mad.


    It seemed that this guy had suffered a lot of tortures here. However, he still looked energetic. His original clothes were not bad; however, they had become cloth strips. Hanging over his body, they seemed to have been caused by whips, because the blood traces could be seen under those stripes...


    "Who''s him?"


    "He said he was Zhu Dabiao, the grandson of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province. As I dare not make the decision, I invite Your Lord to deal with him!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he knew what the official meant. ''If this guy is really the grandson of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province, I''d better save him out of there myself so as to indicate that I paid special attention to him.''


    ''Yangzhou Province is one of the upper 36 provinces in Taixia Country and the most prosperous part in the Northeast Military Region. Even though the Northeast Military Region Headquarter is located in Yangzhou Province. If this guy is really the grandson of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province, he must be rich. But why would Zhu Dabiao stay here? Wait...Zhu Dabiao...this name sounds a bit familiar, it seems that I''ve heard about it before...Ahh...I got it...When I was in the Land Bureau of Youzhou Province, the clerk said that the grandson of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province had bought a patch of land which covered over 200,000 square miles in Youzhou Province...''


    When Zhang Tie walked over there, Zhu Dabiao who was roaring instantly caught sight of him and those subordinates on Zhang Tie''s side. When he saw them wearing togas of Provincial Court, Zhu Dabiao instantly stopped roaring as he widely opened his eyes...


    "Who''re you?" Zhu Dabiao asked Zhang Tie.


    Zhu Dabiao was really fat. Even though he opened his eyes, he could only show a narrow gap between his eyelids; when he tried to widely open his eyes, his eyes were just as large as that of normal people, which looked a bit ridiculous.


    "Help Childe Zhu open the door!" Zhang Tie waved his hand instead of answering him.


    "Humph, humph, whether you were dispatched by that old d**chebag surnamed Jiang? Do you think you could get this father hooked only after changing some sets of clothes to the uniform of Provincial Court?" Zhu Dabiao sneered as he crossed his arms and continued, "Do you really take this father as an idiot? This father had already been fed up with this trick at the age of 8! It might be better if you use honey-trap at this moment."


    "Shut up, this is Lord Zhang, Zhang Mushen, the dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province!" Zhang Yuanshan scolded him.


    The provincial governor of Yanzhou Province might scare him a bit; however, honestly, the grandson of the provincial governor of Yangzhou Province was not qualified to be arrogant in front of Zhang Yuanshan. Even a spirited LV 9 county magistrate in Taixia Country didn''t need to be polite to the grandson of a provincial governor. This was a feature of Taixia Country. Although descendants of major clans were rich, they were not qualified to be arrogant in front of the officials of Taixia Country.


    With a cracking sound, the door of Zhu Dabiao''s cell was opened.


    Zhu Dabiao changed his face and attempted to walk out of the gate of the dungeon; after finding that the others were just watching him instead of catching him, he moved his eyes onto Zhang Tie, "Are you...the real...Lion of Youzhou Province?"


    Zhang Tie responded with a smile, "When I went to the Land Bureau of Youzhou Province a couple of days ago, I was told that Childe Zhu had purchased over 200,000 square miles'' land in Youzhou Province and had just paid it in the bank. How did you get here?"


    Zhu Dabiao gazed at Zhang Tie as his eyes gradually turned wet. All of a sudden, he rushed forward and embraced Zhang Tie like a person who was going to be drown suddenly caught a buoy or someone who suddenly embraced his relative after departing with him for decades. Closely after that, he burst out into tears while dropping nasal mucus, "Ahh, my god, thankfully, you came. If you were two days late, I would have been killed or tortured to death by that old d**chebag. I almost collapsed mentally and physically. I''ve not enjoyed many things. I''m only 27 years old; I''m still a virgin. I don''t wanna die. Even though when I was surrounded by 7 beauties in the Heavens Leaning Pavilion last time, I had stuck to my bottom line. I don''t wanna die here. I''ve made appointed with Chunlian that I would be a real man at 30, wuhwuhwuhwuh..."


    Childe Zhu''s "cries" sounded so miserable that those onlookers even felt like crying for him. When he cried, he kept grumbling. Not knowing how long he had been locked in here and what mistreat had he experienced, Zhang Tie became wordless about how Zhu Dabiao vented his emotions. Zhang Tie could not imagine that a tough guy who had been clamoring and swearing in the cell suddenly turned into a such a tearful person...


    "Ahem..ahem..." Zhang Tie cleared his throat as he felt that he would have to change his clothes if he was further embraced by Zhu Dabiao. After comforting Childe Zhu by patting his back, Zhang Tie slowly moved the hands of Childe Zhu away, "Childe Zhu, the old d**chebag that you mentioned has been executed. I suggest you have your doctor examine your health after exiting. As you''ve stayed here for a few days, you''d better ensure that you''re not inflicted by any disease!"


    After hearing this, Zhu Dabiao hurriedly stopped crying. After venting his emotions, he looked around before wiping his tears off. Zhu Dabiao then suddenly felt being a bit embarrassed as he watched Zhang Tie and asked with an unconfident voice, "What I said...just now..."


    "Have you heard about that?" Zhang Tie asked those on his side.


    "Besides hearing that Childe Zhu swore the old d**chebag Jiang heroically in the cell, we heard nothing else!" A guy said wisely after exchanging a glance with all the others while the others nodded.


    Zhang Tie then smiled, "Although being in a dilemma, Childe Zhu still defied steadfastly all brutal forces heroically. You''re really an admirable posterity of the famous clan! In this world, those merciless are all contemptible; those who drop tears are all heroes; we don''t need to care too much about the trivial things such as dropping tears."


    After hearing this, Zhu Dabiao was deeply moved as his eyes turned red. While Zhang Tie was worried that he would burst out into tears once again, Zhu Dabiao forcefully patted his thick, big hands onto Zhang Tie''s shoulder twice before saying, "From today on, you''re my good brother!"


    ...


    The moment he came to the ground, Zhu Dabiao had started to sniff the air while forcefully swallowing his saliva, "This is braised venison...this is bear palm with honey...f*ck, and...and Eight-Treasure mountainous delicacies..."


    Before Zhang Tie invited him to eat, Zhu Dabiao had darted towards the banquet like a wild ox...


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yuanshan both wondered inside, ''Is this grandson of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province a dog or something? How could he have such a sharp smell? He''s over 100 m away from the banquet...''


    Zhang Tie shook his head...


    When Zhang Tie and Zhang Yuanshan arrived there, they found Zhu Dabiao was holding a bear palm with one hand and a roasted chicken with another hand while chewing something; at the same time, he was trampling the corpse of that shadow demon forcefully like a witch on the arch, causing the corpse to badly mutilate. Besides, he kept swearing, "You whip me...whip me..."


    At this moment, Zhang Yuanshan whispered to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie became faintly stunned before asking, "Does this work?"


    "If you hunt and kill an evil person, these properties should be confiscated and submitted to the government. However, according to the regulation in the Laws of Taixia Country, now that the old d**chebag Jiang is a demon, all of its properties will become your trophies, Your Lord. As the Laws of Taixia Country are supreme in Taixia Country, we need to handle affairs according to the supreme law. Therefore, everything in the Jiang Mansion, even those under the name of the old d**chebag Jiang belong to you, Your Lord!" Zhang Yuanshan whispered.


    Touching that space-teleportation equipment in his hand, Zhang Tie considered about it for a couple of seconds before saying, "You can make a plan to share those trophies with all the subordinates of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province. Just take it as my red packet, which symbolizes a good start!"


    After taking a deep breath, Zhang Yuanshan bowed towards Zhang Tie respectfully, "Yes, sir, Your Merciful Lord!"


    ...


    In such a short period, being tortured by the strict means of the Provincial Court, those members of Heavens Reaching Church who had been taken away for interrogation had admitted their background and their target here...


    "It''s time to notice the Northeast Military Region and the other provincial courts. Celerity is the most important affair in war. Don''t let those guys escape in advance..." Zhang Tie issued the order...


    ...


    On January 1st of the 900th year of Black Iron Calendar, namely, the first day of the lunar new year...


    In one day, Zhang Mushen the dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province had dispatched over 900,000 soldiers of Xiezhi Camp across Youzhou Province and coordinated with elite criminal hunters to arrest and kill over 17,000 believers of Heavens Reaching Church in Youzhou Province and destroy 37 secret bases...


    On the same day, after receiving the intelligence from the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province, the powerhouses from all the provincial courts in Northeast Military Region had launched an emergency action on the same evening and captured so many believers of Heavens Reaching Church lurking in the territory of Northeast Military Region. As a result, the forces of Heavens Reaching Church across the Northeast Military Region had almost been destroyed.


    After a couple of days, the plot that the Heavens Reaching Church was going to rise in revolt in Youzhou Province, even the entire Northeast Military Region was revealed to the public.


    After knowing that the Heavens Reaching Church was going to rise in revolt across Northeast Military Region in the new year festival, many people oozed sweat.


    After coming to Taixia Country for a few months, Zhang Tie''s name had become well-known even out of the Northeast Military Region. The nickname Lion of Youzhou Province started to spread across Taixia Country for the first time...


    On January 4th, Commander Cheng''s airship arrived at Youzhou City once again...


    ...

 867 The Second Arrival of Commander Cheng

    Chapter 867: The Second Arrival of Commander Cheng


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    If the Heavens Reaching Church was just a heresy, even though Zhang Tie made much greater achievements in Youzhou Province, he would not attract Commander Cheng here; however, Zhang Tie unveiled the existence of "demons" in the Heavens Reaching Church. Therefore, the property of the Heavens Reaching Church was far more than a heresy...


    Actually, it was a big event that shocked the entire Taixia Country.


    On September 4th, Commander Cheng''s airboat landed in White Tiger Complex.


    Zhang Taixuan, Zhang Tie, Elder Muyu and a lot of officials in Youzhou City were welcoming the arrival of Commander Cheng.


    Zhu Dabiao, the grandson of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province was also standing on Zhang Tie''s side.


    As his grandson was captured by demons, Zhu Tong the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province followed Commander Cheng to Youzhou City too.


    After coming out of the dungeon for only a few days, Zhu Dabiao''s face had turned oily smooth once again. In a white bear cloth and an Aleutian mink scarf, he was standing on Zhang Tie''s side while his face turned red due to cold.


    The news that Zhang Tie cracked down the Heavens Reaching Church in Youzhou Province had been spread over the entire country; however, Zhu Dabiao was ignored in both public news or gossips.


    The provincial governor of Yanzhou Province owed Zhang Tie a lot. If his grandson fell in the hand of the Heavens Reaching Church and demons, regardless of the result, Zhu Clan would lose their face due to the public opinions; if some bad guys took advantage of this event, Zhu Clan might have a lot of troubles.


    ''Taixia Country is not a Shangrila.'' This was what Zhang Tie learned during the past few months.


    When the airboat slowly descended, all those on the ground were spirited, except for Zhu Dabiao who faintly let out a sigh.


    "Aren''t you happy?" Zhang Tie turned around and asked him.


    Zhu Dabiao had been staying in the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province these days. As he had been tortured so much in the dungeon of Jiang Mansion, he felt that nowhere else in Youzhou City was safe. According to his description, he was living in a deluxe hotel in Youzhou City; however, when he woke up, he found that he had come to the dungeon of Jiang Mansion. His bodyguards might have been killed. After such an experience, this guy would never go to other hotels in Youzhou City anymore.


    The Provincial Court was also cleaning up the remnants of the Heavens Reaching Church these days. As the one who was abducted by the Heavens Reaching Church, Zhu Dabiao had touched that old d**chebag for a few times; therefore, he knew about the old d**chebag more or less. He then made a confession in the Provincial Court and stayed there for a few days so as to tide over this event.


    During the period he stayed in the Provincial Court, Zhu Dabiao became familiar with Zhang Tie. They had the same likes and dislikes. Therefore, they dispelled their misgivings in the talk.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Zhu Dabiao let out a sigh with a sorrowful look before replying, "You might not believe in it. I''ve not seen my grandpa for 5-6 years. I might not have talked with him much. If not I was abducted in Youzhou City, he might not even know me."


    "Ahh? Are you kidding me?" Zhang Tie blinked his eyes. Based on his warm family atmosphere, Zhang Tie could not imagine what Zhu Dabiao depicted could exist in a family.


    "My grandpa has 87 children. My dad ranks 63rd in the family. He''s not outstanding among the rest. Besides my mom, my dad married other 20-odd women. My mom ranks 14th among the women of my dad. I have 34 sisters and brothers and I rank 24th. Plus my dad''s branch, by last year when I left Youzhou Province, my grandpa almost had 800 grandchildren. The figure keeps rising. You tell me who I am?" Zhu Dabiao rubbed his face as he continued, "The old thing is the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province. Besides handling documents, he would enter meditation. Therefore, I''ve met him less than 20 times since I was born. In most cases, I only saw him in the new year festival or when we offered sacrifices to our ancestors. I remember that the old thing talked with me when I was 6 years old. He asked my name in the Shrine Palace at that time. When he talked with me for the second time, I had already been 12 years old and awakened my first ancestral bloodline..."


    ''Old thing?'' Zhang Tie was wordless when he heard the "respectful form of address" from Zhu Dabiao. Given his words, Zhang Tie finally knew why major clans always had different affections.


    But it was reasonable. Nobody could look after each of his 80-90 sons well if he had. Although knights were powerful, they only had 24 hours a day too, unless the family was living in a tower of time. In the position of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province, he had to handle public affairs, meditate, eat and sh*t; occasionally, he had to focus on either producing more babies or relax himself. Therefore, he had less time left in the day. Even if he had some time left, he had to divide it into 80-90 units. When the 80-90 people had babies, how much attention would the juniors get from him?


    Zhang Tie knew that Zhu Dabiao''s words were not peculiar; instead, it was a common phenomenon in major clans of Taixia Country. It was too normal for a knight to have over 100 babies in a major clan. Sometimes, the continuation of a knight''s bloodline was not only related to the knight himself; but also to the multiplication of the entire clan; especially the knights who had awakened ancestral bloodlines had to assume responsibility to give birth to babies for the clan. It was not a joke.


    Actually, after settling down in Taixia Country for a few months, Zhang Tie had already sensed the stress from Huaiyuan Palace. The elders in the Palace had already started to imply him to marry more concubines and have more babies. If not Zhang Tie had become an elder of Huaiyuan Palace and made a great meritorious deed in the competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, he might have been f*cked by a lot of women arranged by the other elders.


    "No way! Haven''t you just bought over 200,000 square miles'' land in Youzhou Provincie? It''s worth at least 20 million gold coins. How could you be so poor in your family?" Zhang Tie asked.


    Compared to the patch of land that Zhang Tie bought on the side of Yanghe Prefecture, the patch of land that Zhu Dabiao bought was a bit more remote; therefore, it was cheaper. Additionally, given that he was the grandson of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province, the Land Bureau of Youzhou Province had made a discount for him.


    When Commander Cheng''s airboat was about dozens of meters above the ground, Zhang Tie, Zhu Dabiao, Zhang Taixuan and Elder Muyu walked forward.


    "I''m the only son of my mom. That money came from my mother''s case-dough, my brothers, my friends, my mother''s father and my mother''s brothers. Given that I''m the grandson of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province, the Yanzhou Bank even lend a loan to me!" As Zhu Dabiao explained, he silently daubed some pepper oil that he had prepared onto the place below his lower eyelids. In a split second, his eyes had turned red while his face had been covered with tears, "For this trade, I even gotten my 9th younger sister''s "lucky money" by cheating her. How poor I am! In order to be not found by her, I even dared not come back in this new year festival..."


    ''F*ck! How could this j*rk use a little girl''s lucky money as an investment?''


    The moment the hatch door of the airboat was opened, before those inside came out, Zhu Dabiao had wailed mournfully and charged at that direction like having felt wronged in a gesture like how a young swallow returned to its nestle, "Grandpa..."


    At this moment, some figures appeared at the hatch door of the airboat, one was the commander of the Northeast Military Region, one on the side of Commander Cheng was Zhu Tong, the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province who had a high forehead, slim eyes and white snow hair on the temples. Behind them were the two young knights whom Zhang Tie had seen on the other bank of the river when he washed tablewares at the riverside.


    "Welcome, Mr. Commander!"


    All the officials of Youzhou Province bowed towards Commander Cheng while Zhu Dabiao instantly held Zhu Dong closely and burst out into tears, "Grandpa...as grandson is low in battle strength, I fell into the hand of demons; thankfully, grandson always kept grandpa''s instructions in mind and didn''t lose face for Zhu Clan. I didn''t agree with the old d**chebag''s request and swear to not betray Taixia Country...grandson had determined to die for righteousness; I''ve not imagined that I was finally saved by the dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province at the crucial moment..."


    After hearing his grandson''s words, Zhu Tong faintly relieved his solemn face.


    He then directly moved his eyes on Zhang Tie.


    "When we found Childe Zhu, he was locked in the dungeon of Jiang Mansion by the shadow demon of Heavens Reaching Church. Although Childe Zhu''s clothes had been whipped into stripes, he still didn''t succumb to the demons. How righteous he was! Additionally, he kept swearing that old d**chebag in the dungeon. What an admirable man!" Zhang Tie said with a solemn look.


    Although it was a praise, Zhang Tie was not telling a lie, though he omitted the later embarrassed deeds of Zhu Dabiao. Although Zhu Dabiao came from a major clan, he could still stand being tortured at the key moment, that was why Zhang Tie liked him. If Zhu Dabiao was a timid guy and was not righteous in the key place, even if Zhang Tie had saved him out of there, Zhang Tie would directly ignore him. How could he allow such a person to live in the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province?


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Provincial Governor Zhu completely relieved his solemn look. After slightly patting Zhu Dabiao who was crying aloud, "These years, grandpa didn''t pay much attention to you. Sorry for what you''ve experienced. Through this event, I find that you have a bit of masculinity. Although you don''t have a talent, you have health. Hmm, not bad, not bad..."


    ...


    In the hub of the White Tiger Complex, Zhang Tie''s words shocked Commander Cheng.


    "Mr. Commander, I plan to resign the position as the dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province!"


    ...

 868 No Zuo No Die

    Chapter 868: No Zuo No Die


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Based on Zhang Tie''s temperament, he would definitely fight back after being beaten. Now that the resentment between Zhang Clan and the Gobbling Party could not be resolved and the Gobbling Party provoked Zhang Tie in such a vicious way, Zhang Tie had to launch a counterattack.


    ''Eye for an eye. The public opinion is not controlled by the Gobbling Party. Now that the Gobbling Party could take advantage of the public opinion, I could also take advantage of it.''


    ''In order to help Huaiyuan Palace root in Taixia Country deeply, I have to take this chance to make Gobbling Party the target of public criticism.


    ''Someone in Zhang Clan has to stand out to be diametrically opposed to the Gobbling Party. It seems that I''m the most proper person as of now. The Gobbling Party is targeting at me. I am also the most competent one who could launch a counterattack to the Gobbling Party.''


    Zhang Tie had communicated with Zhang Taixuan and the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace about this plan. All of them supported his decision.


    Before Zhu Dabiao met Zhu Tong, he daubed some pepper oil on his lower eyelids. Zhang Tie did the same thing when he requested to resign his position as the dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province.


    The function of the pepper oil remained unchanged. Zhu Dabiao used it to move his grandpa while Zhang Tie used it to move the commoners across Taixia Country and the tycoons in the Xuanyuan Hill on behalf of Huaiyuan Palace.


    "Now that I could resign this position, I could also take it up again. After all, nobody else could grab it away from me in Youzhou Province. However, there''s a big learning about the resignation. As the old saying went, you take a step back to have a bigger world in front of you."


    Zhang Tie was not taking a step back.


    It was Zhu Dabiao who taught Zhang Tie to do this.


    As the grandson of the Provincial Governor of Yanzhou Province, Zhu Dabiao was very familiar with the affairs in the imperial court and the official circles.


    The event that Su Qianling the imperial official in charge of the discipline of the public functionaries in the censorate of Xuanyuan Hill was not a secret in a certain circle of the Northeast Military Region in Taixia Country. The resentment between Huaiyuan Palace and the Gobbling Party was not a secret either. Before coming to Youzhou Province, Zhu Dabiao had heard his father talk about it. Therefore, he was familiar with this event.


    Therefore, during the days when Zhu Dabiao lived in the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province, he worked out such an idea for Zhang Tie.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie felt that Zhu Dabiao was joking; whereas, he gradually realized the subtlety of this idea. After considering it for some time, Zhang Tie finally adopted this idea.


    On January 6th, after Commander Cheng arrived at Youzhou City, Zhang Tie officially resigned.


    As he had long made some preparations, on the same day when Zhang Tie resigned, the entire Youzhou City had been shocked. Along with the message that Zhang Tie resigned was the memorial that Su Qianling used to impeach Zhang Mushen, the new dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province for the dereliction of his duty and the resentment between the Gobbling Party and Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace...


    In one day, the reputation of Su Qianling the imperial official in the censorate of Xuanyuan Hill had become notorious in Youzhou City. Numerous commoners were swearing the Gobbling Party in all the pubs and hotels across Youzhou City.


    Before the Heavens Reaching Church rose in revolt, they had been nipped by Zhang Tie. As a result, numerous commoner families survived. However, such a talented dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province had been forced by the Gobbling Party and an insidious villain in the censorate to resign only after taking the office for less than 3 months. After hearing this news, of course, all the commoners across Youzhou City became infuriated.


    On the same day, the Gobbling Party and Su Qianling the imperial official in the censorate of Xuanyuan Hill were sent above the grill. As this message gradually spread over, the fire below the grill grew fiercer. The more troubles did the Heavens Reaching Church make, the greater destruction it would cause to the Gobbling Party as more furious would the official circles and folks in Taixia be about the Gobbling party. Because the only dean of Provincial Court in Taixia Country who cracked down the Heavens Reaching Church was pushed aside by the Gobbling Party for the sake of its own benefit, Heavens Reaching Church grew more and more aggressive. The fury of commoners and officials in Taixia Country was not only stabbing the Gobbling Party; it could rock the foundation of the Gobbling Party in Taixia Country like a bloodless saber.


    This time, Zhang Tie knew that he had completely offended the Gobbling Party in Taixia Country.


    ''From the start, the Gobbling Party has not spared any chance to me and Huaiyuan Palace to negotiate with them. Even though I could stand it this time, I would only be regarded as weak and easily bullied by the Gobbling Party. Kind-hearted men would always be bullied while kind horses would always be ridden by people. This rule always works.''


    However, the Gobbling Party might not imagine that they could encounter such an overwhelming counterattack so fast.


    ''No zuo no die¡ª¡ªAfter this time, the Gobbling Party must know the meaning of this proverb. When the Gobbling Party wants to deal with me and Huaiyuan Palace, they have to think well about it. How could the posterities of Lord Huaiyuan be easily bullied by others? Now that Lord Huaiyuan could slap the face of the Gobbling Party and almost seal the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele, his posterities must be not easily bullied.


    The day before yesterday, after knowing that Zhang Tie was going to resign in the White Tiger Complex, Commander Cheng didn''t express his opinion. After a couple of days, when Zhang Tie put this event into effect, Commander Cheng had people summon Zhang Tie. He wanted to talk with Zhang Tie before Zhang Tie left Youzhou Province.


    After arriving at Youzhou City, Commander Cheng had been focusing on the event of the Heavens Reaching Church. Besides listening to the report from all parties, he even reviewed all the material evidence about the Heavens Reaching Church''s riot. Additionally, he entered the prison of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province to interrogate the believers of the Heavens Reaching Church and check the corpse of that shadow demon.


    When he escorted Commander Cheng, Zhang Tie didn''t see any smile on the black face of Commander Cheng.


    On the evening of January 5th, Commander Cheng''s airboat left Youzhou City for Changshan Prefecture.


    This time, the Heavens Reaching Church developed a force of over 10,000 people in some suburban counties of Changshan Prefecture. Pitifully, before those guys rose in revolt, their nestle had been destroyed by the Xiezhi Camp dispatched by Zhang Tie. As a result, all the heads of Heavens Reaching Church in Changshan Prefecture were under arrest. All the others were caught according to the name-list too. During this couple of days, before the backbone figures of Heavens Reaching Church were escorted to Youzhou City from Changshan Prefecture, a well-preserved sacrificial altar was discovered in Changshan Prefecture. Therefore, Commander Cheng couldn''t wait to fly towards Changshan Prefecture overnight.


    Zhang Tie should go there together with Commander Cheng; however, as he had determined to resign, he had to play it to the end. At this critical moment, the words of resignation would have the best effect and make people feel being wronged the most; therefore, Zhang Tie resigned on the same day.


    When Commander Cheng''s airboat returned from Changshan Prefecture, it passed by Youzhou City; therefore, Commander Cheng wanted to see Zhang Tie. After receiving the message, Zhang Tie, who was in the Huaiyuan Mansion looked up and found that huge dragon-shaped airboat was hovering about 3,000 m above Youzhou City. Zhang Tie then directly shot into the sky. In a split second, he had arrived at the airboat.


    At this moment, the movable half-closed crystal cover on the deck of airboat slid off. Seeing the young knight on the side of Commander Cheng nodding towards him, Zhang Tie directly landed on the deck.


    Zhang Tie had met this young knight 3 times, once on the riverside, twice in White Tiger Complex.


    This young man was called Gao Tianqi, the trusted subordinate of Commander Cheng. His position was military governor under Commander Cheng in Northeast Military Region. He took charge of the soldiers and guards in the Northeast Military Region and work as the inspective attendant. In Taixia Country, all those who could take this office on the side of the commander were cultivated by the commander himself. They would probably take the office of a provincial governor in the future. Therefore, this position was also called "Provincial Governor''s Seed" in Taixia Country.


    This was told by Zhu Dabiao. If not, it would take Zhang Tie some days to understand it.


    "Brother Tianqi!" Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards Gao Tianqi modestly.


    "Young elder Mushen, Commander Cheng is waiting for you. " Gao Tianqi always looked kind and didn''t put on airs as the trusted subordinate of Commander Cheng. It felt pretty comfortable to be with such a kind person.


    Zhang Tie also wondered why this guy''s temperament was not influenced by Commander Cheng''s bad temper after staying with Commander Cheng for so many years. It was hard for commoners to maintain their temperaments unchanged in front of a shadow knight.Gao Tianqi directly led Zhang Tie into the airboat.


    Although Zhang Tie had taken airboat many times, he was still shocked by this one. It was too large. Zhang Tie kept exclaiming inside.


    It was spacious and bright inside the airboat. Part of the inner space of the airboat looked larger than a football court. Besides plants, there was also a fountain pond inside. The highest tree was over 10 m in height. Additionally, Zhang Tie saw colorful carps slowly swimming in the fountain pond. In the airboat, you could not identify whether you were in the sky or in the park on the ground at all.


    In front of such an airboat, all the so-called luxurious aircraft and airboats were nothing but sh*t.


    When Zhang Tie walked, he looked around out of his curiosity.


    "How many soldiers could this airboat carry one time?"


    "Hehe...if there''s any need, this airboat could throw 50,000 full-armored elite soldiers into any place within the territory of 30,000 square miles in 24 hours or carry the same number of soldiers to any place in the territory of Taixia Country within 2 weeks."


    "You mean two airboats like this could throw a super demon corps into any place of Taixia Country in a short period?"


    Gao Tianqi replied with a smile...

 869 A Soldier Crossing the River

    Chapter 869: A Soldier Crossing the River


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In a very spacious room of the airboat, Zhang Tie saw Cheng Honglie.


    Commander Cheng was standing in front of a porthole with his hands crossed on his back and watching the ground below. After taking Zhang Tie inside, Gao Tianqi silently closed the door and left the room.


    As Commander Cheng was tall and robust, even though he stood still over there, he was still like a pillar and made Zhang Tie feel dejected.


    Zhang Tie was guessing the intention of Commander Cheng. Right then, a faint qi of a shadow knight caused a great stress to him. Being influenced by such a great stress and the rotating chakras of Commander Cheng, Zhang Tie''s chakra slowed down.


    ''Is this the power of a shadow knight?'' Zhang Tie was shocked inside.


    All of a sudden, Commander Cheng''s battle qi expanded and started to push towards Zhang Tie like an iron wall.


    It was like bulldozers driving towards him from all directions. In this space, Zhang Tie felt that four-iron walls were gradually moving towards him like wrapping a dumpling. He almost became suffocated.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what Commander Cheng meant by doing this to him. However, he had no time to think too much about that at this moment. If he didn''t take any measures to respond to it, Commander Cheng''s battle qi would definitely wound him severely.


    With a roar, Zhang Tie widely opened his furious eyes; at the same time, he released his protective battle qi and punched hundreds of times in one second towards his surrounding space so as to completely seal it by imitating the metallic battle qi of the "Five-element ground-look sutra", colluding with Commander Cheng''s battle qi ferociously.


    With the property of sharpness, metallic battle qi as firm as the iron wall was used to defend which could not be rocked by commoners.


    At this moment, a rumbling of muffled thunders rolled in the room; however, the rumbling was limited in a small space around Zhang Tie.


    The battle qi that pushed towards Zhang Tie was repelled. However, when Zhang Tie thought that it really moved back, it came back in a more berserk way. The moment it touched Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi, it had made Zhang Tie''s heart pound due to the amazement. When Zhang Tie wanted to launch a counterattack once again, the battle qi disappeared at once like a life-giving spring breeze and rain.


    In only a few seconds, Zhang Tie''s back had oozed fine sweat drops...


    Zhang Tie had not experienced such a life or death feeling for a long time. It was a wrestle between knights. As Zhang Tie knew that Commander Cheng wouldn''t wound him, he didn''t make his full efforts to respond to it just now. However, Zhang Tie was a bit scared by the helpless constriction caused by the sharp difference in realms and levels between him and Commander Cheng. It was his first time to sense the terror of a shadow knight.


    Commander Cheng turned around and watched Zhang Tie with an extremely profound look, "If it were a heavens knight just now, you would have already died!" Commander Cheng told Zhang Tie after pausing for 2 seconds, "Am I clear? For a heavens knight to kill a black iron knight is as easy as a LV 9 fighter killing a commoner."


    After being silent for a second, Zhang Tie replied, "Commander Cheng, Are you reminding me that I''m risking my life by doing that? I heard the head of the Gobbling Party is a heavens knight who has formed 4 chakras."


    Commander Cheng replied with a solemn look, "Since the day you promoted to a knight, you should have known that your punch is the most reliable thing in this world. Because all the disputes in this world have their rules. For the final analysis, the one with the most powerful punch would win the battle. If Lord Huaiyuan was already a heavens knight at that time and directly sealed the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele by force, there would not be any Gobbling Party. However, Gobbling Party has controlled the imperial court; how could you defeat them?"


    "So what?" Zhang Tie raised his head stubbornly as he watched Commander Cheng in a recalcitrant expression, "I don''t care whether the Gobbling Party has controlled the imperial court or not; I don''t care whether do they have a heavens knight or not. Perhaps, a heavens knight could be an unrivaled overlord in other sub continents and continents, I don''t think that the Gobbling Party and a heavens knight could shout out the heavens with one palm in Taixia Country. As long as I don''t violate the Laws of Taixia Country , I don''t believe that the head of the Gobbling Party dares to hurt me. He''s just the master of the crown prince; he''s not one of the top three chancellors yet. As the Gobbling Party dare attack Huaiyuan Palace, I dare launch a counterattack towards them. Huaiyuan Palace was forced to leave Taixia Country before; in the worst scenario, we will leave once again. If Lord Huaiyuan dared do that, his offsprings would dare do that too!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Commander Cheng slowly raised his dense eyebrows, "If the Gobbling Party request to reconcile with you and promise you a bright future, what will you do then?"


    After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie replied solemnly, "I didn''t read too many books. However, I remember a paragraph in a book that I''ve ever read. It was told by a historian before the Catastrophe¡ª¡ªIn a dirty country, if everyone was in compliance with the rules instead of just talking about morality, the dirty country would finally become a human-friendly normal country and everyone would be moral. However, in a clean country, if everyone was not in compliance with the rules but speak highly of morality, righteousness and selflessness every day, this country would finally deteriorate into a dirty country being covered with hypocrites. At least 8 of 10 people who speak highly of morality, righteousness and selflessness every day are thinking about behaving like thieves and prostitutes. The most shameless thing is always done by those who speak highly of mercy, righteousness and morality. I feel dirty to be with them even if you give me a continent. It''s not even as clean as my courtyard!" Zhang Tie gradually became generous, "If I could be born hundreds of years earlier, I would definitely try my best to seal the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele together with Lord Huaiyuan in case the Gobbling Party abducted the natural rules to scourge the entire country!"


    "You mean you''re sniffing at the mercy, righteousness and morality?"


    "In this world, some things could only be done practically instead of being mentioned every time and then. You could not show it off and request others to do this. Mercy, righteousness and morality are like making love, which is used to sustain human bloodlines; during this period, the couple should respect each other as a human ethic. It''s of a great significance and you could make it; however, if you talk about it every time and then; even just perform it in the public, you''re obscene, shameless and demoralizing. If you perform it yourself and force others to perform it like you, you are bewildering the countrymen. The Gobbling Party is using the mercy, righteousness and morality advocated by the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele to rule the entire world. If the Gobbling Party became the ruling party in Taixia Country, Taixia would definitely deteriorate into a country full of beasts. I don''t feel that I''m noble; I show my respect to those who could practice mercy, righteousness and morality very much; however, I''m too ashamed to be with the Gobbling Party!"


    "Hmm, great!" Commander Cheng couldn''t stand clapping his hands forcefully with gleaming eyes, "Mercy, righteousness and morality are like making love, which could only be done privately instead of being performed in the public. What a great metaphor!" Commander Cheng felt moved as he started to look at Zhang Tie in a different eye light, "What an offspring of Huaiyuan Palace! You have such a deep understanding about the essence of the Gobbling Party and maintain such a firm and evident stance. Additionally, you have both braveness and intelligence. Hmm, you don''t let me down!"


    Zhang Tie felt a bit embarrassed. Even an outsider like him sniffed at the vicious trick of the Gobbling Party, not to mention the resentment between the Gobbling Party and Huaiyuan Palace, "Thanks for your excessive appreciation, Commander Cheng!"


    "It''s not an excessive appreciation, you do good and I say good; you do bad and I say bad. Very few people could win my appreciation, you''re one of them!" Commander Cheng put it straight, "I have things to tell you so that you could know better what you''re doing; otherwise, you might not know if you''re trapped!"


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced at once as he hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Thanks for your guidance, Commander Cheng!"


    "You''re not the only one who could figure out the essence of the Gobbling Party. However, do you know why nobody dared to oppose the Gobbling Party till now? Do you think that the top three chancellors and 9 ministers in Xuanyuan Hill are good for nothing?" Commander Cheng asked with a deep meaning.


    After being silent for a second, Zhang Tie replied, "The Gobbling Party take the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele as the natural laws; their head is the master of the crown prince who has made great meritorious deeds. Additionally, although the Gobbling Party has a great influence across the country, the dangers of the theories that it poses have not been manifested; therefore, the moguls in Xuanyuan Hill does not have an antagonist to the Gobbling Party.


    Commander Cheng let out a sigh, "You''re right. The Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele, the crown prince and the leader who has made great meritorious deeds and is famous across the country. At present, the Gobbling Party has a great influence while their dangers have not been manifested now. Therefore, the moguls in Xuanyuan Hill wouldn''t adopt excessive means against the Gobbling Party. On this occasion, any excessive response to the Gobbling Party would be expounded by the Gobbling Party as the doubts against the natural laws pursued by the Taixia Country and the denial of the crown prince in the east palace of Xuanyuan Hill. It would arouse a series of chain reactions. Among the people, anyone who dared oppose the Gobbling Party would be regarded as the protester of the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele, which means you disagree with the natural laws, namely, the belief pursued by Hua people. It means that you want Hua people to stand on the opposite of mercy, righteousness and morality, which is advocated by the demons. If so, a great chaos would be aroused among people. In Xuanyuan Hill, anyone who dared attack the Gobbling Party would be regarded as attacking the master of the crown prince, which would be further expounded as disagreeing with the current crown prince. It would arouse a great chaos in Xuanyuan Hill too. When the holy war arrives, nobody dares bear the outcome of the great chaos in Taixia Country, even the three top chancellors and nine ministers. Therefore, many people must be cheered secretly by your sharp blow to the Gobbling Party and add fuel to the flame so as to further strike the Gobbling Party. Whereas, in the meantime, you will also be the thorn in the side of the Gobbling Party. The entire Gobbling Party might target at you. According to the game rule of Taixia Country, although the Gobbling Party won''t dispatch powerhouses to kill you, as long as you make a mistake, the Gobbling Party will kill you in a lot of bloodless means!"


    "Commander Cheng, are you telling me that I''ve already become a soldier crossing the river and could only move forward while preventing from being others'' cannon fodder?" Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile.


    "Not necessarily a cannon fodder. It''s a rare chance for those who want to strike the Gobbling Party in Taixia Country to have one soldier crossing the river. Therefore, they will protect you from being killed by the Gobbling Party. Additionally, they will assist you to give tit for tat to the Gobbling Party both in the public and in the dark so as to shape you into the vanguard and representative of those who want to strike the Gobbling Party. This is what you should face on this position. It''s like wirewalking, which has both benefits and shortcomings. Someone will push you forward while someone can''t wait to trample you to the bottom of the hell. As to the degree to move forward or backward, it depends on you. I just want to warn you. You''re just a black iron knight. No matter how you strike the Gobbling Party, you have to stick to one bottom line, you''d better not involve yourself in any dispute about the East Palace of Xuanyuan Hill. If not, even I could not stand that, not to mention you. When you realize that you''re going to be involved with the dispute about the East Palace of Xuanyuan Hill, run as fast as possible."


    "Thanks for your warning, Commander Cheng!" Zhang Tie deeply bowed towards Commander Cheng. After that, he watched Commander Cheng with gleaming eye light and asked, "Commander Cheng, whether do you treat me as a soldier crossing the river towards the Gobbling Party or not?"


    "F*ck!" The black-face commander swore as he glared at Zhang Tie with a terrifying look, "You''re the very soldier crossing the river from this father''s camp. When you mentioned it to me the day before yesterday, I didn''t express my opinion as I wanted you to consider it well. Now that you''ve already crossed the river, of course, this father will support you. No matter what, I could not watch those b*stards of the Gobbling Party engulfing you without leaving a bone. If not, I would lose my face. Won''t it indicate that I, the Black Cheng is incompetent? As you''ve given a heavy blow to the Heavens Reaching Church, you should have a great reward. Even though you will resign, you will also enjoy the reward. Tell me, what do you want? This father will give you a favor."


    "Any reward?" Zhang Tie couldn''t adapt to the outright temperament of Commander Cheng as the tone of Commander Cheng sounded like sharing the bribe with his subordinate.


    "As long as it''s within the limit of my authority, everything is available including, wealth, jewelry, medicinal pills, secret books, land, honor, even official position!" Commander Cheng said arrogantly.


    "Erm, may I buy one airboat? I don''t need one as large as yours, may I have a smaller one?" Zhang Tie put it straight. After boarding on this airboat, Zhang Tie had a deep feeling on the benefit of an airboat. If he could have one airboat, it would be more convenient for him to travel between Taixia Country and the Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Additionally, it would be too convenient for him to travel with his family members.


    Zhang Taixuan''s official airboat would be handed over to Youzhou City by March.


    "Do you think that the airboat is built by me or white cabbages on the roadside? Do you think that it could be sold and bought at our will? Do you really think that the Taxation and Craftsmanship Ministry of Xuanyuan Hill is good for nothing..." Commander Cheng threw a glare at Zhang Tie as he waved his hand, "Change one!"


    Zhang Tie rubbed his nose, "Alright, I will choose earth-elements crystals then!"


    "It''s told that you''ve got a space-teleportation equipment from that shadow demon? Have you got it with you?"


    Zhang Tie took out of that exotic small bead and directly threw it to Commander Cheng. Zhang Tie knew that Commander Cheng must have something better than this item. Therefore, Commander Cheng would not be jealous of such a small item.


    After catching the small bead, Commander Cheng nodded inside as he murmured inside, "This brat is really alluring."


    After taking a look at it in hand, Commander Cheng threw it back to Zhang Tie, "It''s a nanobead with a good space. Brat, you are really lucky! This father could not get a space-teleportation equipment after killing so many demons in the earth-element realm for one decade; however, you got one only after killing one shadow demon, f*ck..."


    "It''s called nanobead?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Yup. Zhang Taixuan''s nanobead, which is especially for the provincial governor will arrive with his airboat. This item could only be found in the earth-elements realm. Additionally, it''s very rare. It''s inconvenient to take it with you. You''d better have someone process it into a finger ring or something!"


    ''It turns out the provincial governors of Taixia Country also have such an item.'' Zhang Tie nodded after throwing a glance at those finger rings of Commander Cheng.


    "300 earth-elements crystals. This is your reward from the Northeast Military Region Headquarter!" As Commander Cheng said it, he waved his arm while 300 golden earth-elements crystals appeared in front of Zhang Tie at once.


    Zhang Tie knew that 300 earth-elements crystals were definitely a great reward. With them, a common black iron knight might form the greater part of his earth chakra. ''Commander Cheng gave me a great favor.''


    "Thanks, Commander Cheng!" Zhang Tie then moved those earth-element crystals into the nanobead in front of Commander Cheng.


    "Watch out yourself. And, there''s one thing that I want to ask for your help!"


    "Please!" Zhang Tie asked outrightly.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Commander Cheng coughed twice while a guy with a glassy-eyed look pushed open the door and entered.


    At the sight of him, Zhang Tie was shocked once again.


    "He''s Feng Cangwu; he needs to stay in Youzhou Province for some days. As you''re in Youzhou Province, may you help me receive him?"


    ''Receive? What does he mean?'' Zhang Tie watched Commander Cheng in a dubious look, ''Is it necessary? This guy is a knight! He''s not handicapped. Does he need to be received? Is there some special reason or this guy has some abnormal "hobby"...''


    "You are unwilling?" Watching Zhang Tie being silent, Commander Cheng''s face turned more black at once, "Wait, did I give you too many earth-elements crystals just now?"


    "Hahahaha, Brother Cangwu, I felt I saw an old friend at the sight of you!" Zhang Tie instantly changed his face and burst out into laughter like a hospitable rural rustic. Before Feng Cangwu made any response, Zhang Tie had walked forward and gave a passionate hug to Feng Cangwu and patted his back kindly. After that, he turned around and told Commander Cheng with a big smile, "Don''t worry, Commander Cheng, Brother Cangwu can stay in Youzhou Province as long as he wants. He will live and eat with me. I promise you that I will return a white, fat buddy to you..."


    After hearing the expressions "white, fat", Feng Cangwu''s face twitched a bit; however, he didn''t say anything...


    "Well, I have to go back to Yanzhou Province now. You can leave too!" After handing over Feng Cangwu to Zhang Tie, Commander Cheng directly drove them away...


    ...


    In 2 minutes, Zhang Tie and Feng Cangwu had flown off the airboat and landed in the Huaiyuan Mansion of Youzhou City.


    Before they landed, the airboat had long disappeared.


    After landing on the ground, Zhang Tie seriously watched Feng Cangwu as he stroked his jaw. Nobody knew what he was thinking about.


    When Zhang Tie didn''t speak, Feng Cangwu just stood still with a cold, arrogant look while he tightly closed his mouth.


    "Brother Cangwu, what requirements do you have on accommodation? Tell me about that. I will have people arrange it for you!"


    "I will eat what you eat, live where you live and go wherever you go!" Feng Cangwu replied mechanically while Zhang Tie tightened his anus.


    However, before Zhang Tie replied, Zhu Dabiao had run over there with a red face, "Ha...ha...Tiezi. I have a good news for you. The old thing has left. Before leaving, he gave me 20 million gold coins and paid off my debt. Additionally, he gave me another 10 million gold coins and told me to run well the land in Youzhou Province. You know what, the trick by daubing pepper oil under my lower eyelids really works. Ahahaha, I will invite you to Yicui Building tonight. I''ve booked some beauties over there..."


    Until Zhu Dabiao finished his words did he find one more person on Zhang Tie''s side.


    When Zhu Dabiao wailed mournfully in front of his grandpa, he didn''t notice Feng Cangwu behind Commander Cheng. At the sight of Feng Cangwu, Zhu Dabiao just felt that he was a bit familiar; however, he could not remember whom he was. Based on Zhu Dabiao''s ability, he could never recognize that Feng Cangwu was a knight.


    "Ahh, Tiezi, is this your attendant? I''ve not seen him before!" Zhu Dabiao put it straight. Closely after that, Zhu Dabiao quivered all over, "Ahh, it''s a bit strange, why do I feel a bit cold suddenly?"


    "Ahem...ahem..." Zhang Tie coughed twice before explaining, "Dabiao, this is Brother Cangwu, one of my friends. He needs to be...looked after by me in Youzhou City for a few days..."


    "Okay, I see, I see. Anyone would need a friend when in dilemma!" Zhu Dabiao said as he instantly put his fat claws onto Feng Cangwu''s shoulders forcefully like a new rich, "Younger brother Cangwu, if you need any help, just find this elder brother; this elder brother has nothing but money now. If anyone dares to bully you, just tell him that you''re on my side, I, Zhu Dabiao will protect you, gagagaga..."


    Zhang Tie covered his face by hands as he almost wailed...


    Feng Cangwu was tightly clenching his fists while his hands were quivering...


    ...

 870 Bidding a Farewell

    Chapter 870: Bidding a Farewell


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After staying in Youzhou City for one day, Zhang Tie returned to Golden Light City by airship.


    He came to Youzhou City with nothing; however, he left Youzhou City with a full load of gifts which were presented to the old d**chebag Jiang by the guests from all walks of life.


    There were almost 1,000 gifts in different cases, big or small, which filled the entire warehouse of the airship.


    In the "Washing hands in the gold basin" ceremony of a master artisan, even the gifts of those guys sitting at the average tables were at least worth 10 gold coins.


    Many gifts packages had not been opened yet; some of them which had been unpackaged were packaged in cases. Even the gift-list had made people dazzled, including various pearls and gems, rune equipment, various exotic goods in Taixia Country, top-quality crystals, tea leaves, medicinal pills and medicaments, boa silk and rare linings, expensive tools and equipment for rune equipment masters, scripts and paintings and antiques, etc..


    It seems that Zhang Tie had robbed an exhibition of luxuries and exotic items.


    Zhang Tie had the Provincial Court share the "Master Jiang"''s cheques in cash and gold cheques which were worth over 40 million gold coins with the almost 1 million brothers of the Xiezhi Camp across the province including criminal hunters, officials on all levels and bowmen. Each bowman could share at least 7 gold coins while each member of Xiezhi Camp could share at least 30 gold coins. This was not a small amount of money. Even knights needed to eat and drink, not to mention commoners.


    After sharing the red packet of over 40 million gold coins, plus the meritorious deed of inflicting heavy losses on the Heavens Reaching Church, all the yamuns across Youzhou Province lived a festive new year. Meanwhile, the reputation of Zhang Tie, who had just served as the dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province for three months rocketed to its highest point in the entire judicial system across Youzhou Province.


    Not only in Youzhou Province, after receiving the precise and timely intelligence about Zhang Tie, all the other judicial systems across the Northeast Military Region had made great meritorious deeds these days by toppling over the Heavens Reaching Church. Therefore, the name of Zhang Mushen became thunder-like across all the yamuns in the Northeast Military Region. Everyone who heard about his meritorious deeds would thumb up and speak highly of him.


    No matter what, those leaders who could win the enemy with their force, make meritorious deeds and could make their subordinates rich would always win the awe, love and esteem of their subordinates.


    Therefore, without receiving Zhang Tie''s order, his subordinates had moved those gifts of "Master Jiang" onto Zhang Tie''s airship consciously.


    Although the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province was of a kindly disposition, his subordinates must be aware. Now that the dean of Provincial Court made such a great meritorious deed with his force, there was no way that his subordinates would drink soup and eat meat while the head had nothing to eat. They could share the money; however, nobody across the yamuns in Youzhou Province dared take away those gifts in case of being sneered as rude by the provincial courts in the Northeast Military Region.


    Besides these gifts, the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province also transferred the manor of Master Jiang on the 10 mile-willow bank of the Youzhou City, the greater part of the industrial shops in the artisans street in Youzhou City to Zhang Tie.


    In the words of good omen of the commoners in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie really left home with nothing and returned home with wealth.


    Zhang Tie left Youzhou City on the noon of January 7th when all the officials in the Provincial Court went to Huaiyuan Mansion to bid a farewell to Zhang Tie.


    ...


    "Well, you can go back now. Remember to do a good job. Prevent the Heavens Reaching Church from coming back. Additionally, you should continue to pay attention to the evils and bandits on the wanted list of the Provincial Court in case those people slip into Youzhou Province and scourge any place in it. This is also my last expectation from you before I leave Youzhou City." Zhang Tie left his last warning to the crowd before boarding the airship.


    "Lord, too many commoners outside White Tiger Complex today have been willing you to continue with the position of the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province." Zhang Yuanshan told Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie really didn''t know about this. After hearing Zhang Yuanshan''s words, Zhang Tie directly asked him in secret pattern, "Is it arranged by Huaiyuan Palace?"


    Zhang Yuanshan faintly shook his head, which indicated that they were voluntary.


    ''Voluntary?'' Zhang Tie felt a bit complex. He had not imagined that he could root in the hearts of commoners in Youzhou City only after taking the position of the dean of Provincial Court for 3 months.


    Given this point, Zhang Tie had been satisfied with it. Someone might dream about a good reputation flowing down for long ages; however, Zhang Tie didn''t have such a great ambition. He felt that it would be good if someone could beat him in their minds even if he left that place. At least it indicated that he was not good for nothing in that place.


    Anyone who wanted to have a good reputation flowing down for long ages or leave a stink for ten thousand years would feel very tired!


    After taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie waved his hands towards the crowd before turning around and boarding the airship.


    "Bon voyage! Lord Zhang!"


    All the officials of the Provincial Court bowed deeply as they said in unison. Even though Zhang Tie would leave, they still treated him as the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province.


    Watching this scene, Zhu Dabiao on Zhang Tie''s side chested out with a frowned fat belly. He looked proud. Since he was born, Zhu Dabiao had been growing up in the family of a provincial governor; therefore, Zhu Dabiao had witnessed such scenes many times. However, those officials only flattered his grandpa, his dad or his uncles. It was his first time to see people show respect to his friend in this way. Therefore, he felt pretty different about that. Although his family members belonged to Zhu Clan, his friend belonged to himself. In Zhu Dabiao''s eyes, he felt more pleasant about seeing his friend being flattered than seeing his family members being flattered.


    Besides, Zhu Dabiao, Feng Cangwu was also standing on the airship, who felt more complex at this moment. Feng Cangwu had not imagined that this young man who had completely defeated him in the Heavens Ball could win so many people''s love and favor only after taking the position of the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province for 3 months. As a result, Feng Cangwu felt more depressed in a split second. He felt being defeated by Zhang Tie once again. The distance between him and Zhang Tie was further enlarged.


    When the airship slowly rose, Zhang Tie just stood near the porthole and watched the streets down there.


    At this moment, he found that all the streets outside Huaiyuan Mansion had been crowded with commoners. There were at least 100,000 commoners who came here to bid a farewell to him. As they were forbidden in the Huaiyuan Mansion, they were just looking up in the streets.


    When the airship rose, those commoners were in an uproar.


    "During the 3 months when Lord Zhang took the position of the dean of Provincial Court, he didn''t levy any rice from the commoners across Youzhou City, disturb commoners or expropriate any wealth from commoners. Watching the poor homeless kids in the city, Lord Zhang Tie even donateD 100,000 gold coins to the Righteous Palace of Youzhou City so as to settle down those orphans. When the Heavens Reaching Church wanted to rise in revolt, Lord Zhang inflicted heavy losses on the Heavens Reaching Church alone for the safety of the commoners in Youzhou Province. After that, Lord Zhang killed the shadow demon and won 40 million gold coins from the Jiang Mansion. However, he had people distribute them to the subordinates. What a good dean of Provincial Court! He brought happiness to the commoners in Youzhou Province; however, he was driven away by the son of a bitch official of Gobbling Party!" Seeing Zhang Tie flying off, a grey-haired old man thumped his chest and stamped his feet while being filled with righteous indignation.


    In a farther place away from the streets, hundreds of kids were running over here from the Righteous Palace of Youzhou City under the leadership of their teacher. They raised their huge paper banner on the street¡ª¡ªBon Voyage!


    Even the kids in the Righteous Palace knew about appreciation.


    Watching the airship rising up, many commoners nearby the White Tiger Complex burst out into tears...


    In farther places, 40,000 elite forces in 4 matrices in the Xiezhi Camp of Youzhou City were standing as a mark of respect outside the city by raising high their weapons. Meanwhile, they roared in unison, "Kill, Kill, Kill, Kill!"


    Since Zhang Tie became outstanding in the competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province to a few days ago when he inflicted heavy losses on the Heavens Reaching Church, although Zhang Tie had not stayed in this city for a long time, he had left a deep mark in this city.


    All of a sudden, a golden light pillar shot into the sky from the airship while a huge geometrical halos suddenly loomed above the airship. Closely after that, the halos swept over the Youzhou City...


    In the tranquil, energetic protection of the energy, all the commoners across Youzhou City and the soldiers in the Xiezhi Camp outside the city saw the airship off until it disappeared in the east when the warm strength that covered all of them gradually faded away. All the people then woke up like having a dream...


    Such a strength was really fascinating to commoners.


    It was the Gentle Strength of Lord Zhang.


    "Let''s go smash the Learning Association of the Gobbling Pary in Youzhou City!" Many people exclaimed out of fury among those surrounding the White Tiger Complex. After that, the contingent of population poured towards the Learning Association of the Gobbling Party in Youzhou City like a fierce tide.


    As the Gobbling Party had a great influence, they had Learning Association in Youzhou City which was called Morality Association. Morality Association existed in each city, each prefecture and each province in Taixia Country. It was used to publicize the theory of mercy, righteousness and morality which was advocated by the Gobbling Party and absorb backbone members of the Gobbling Party. It could also be regarded as the club of the members of Gobbling Party...


    In Taixia Country, it was illegal to gather people to smash goods; except today when the furious commoners rushed into the Morality Association of Youzhou City, the criminal hunters and inspectors across Youzhou City just crossed their arms and watched that in the distance...


    When those furious people left, the Morality Association of Youzhou City had deteriorated into debris, not even a single tile was complete over there...

 871 Mental Obstacle

    Chapter 871: Mental Obstacle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After resigning and leaving Youzhou City in order to launch a counterattack to the Gobbling Party, Zhang Tie won his freedom back.


    On the airship, Zhang Tie didn''t know that some commoners in Youzhou City had smashed the Morality Association in Youzhou City after his departure.


    After calculating his booties, Zhang Tie was also shocked.


    300 earth-elements crystals, the opportunity to launch a counterattack to the Gobbling Party, over 1,000 expensive gifts in the warehouse of the airship, Master Jiang''s manor in Youzhou City, a rare space-teleportation equipment and the fruit of plunder and the unquantifiable reputation.


    Zhang Tie had been very satisfied with such a great achievement.


    He was forced to take the position of the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province at the beginning given the tense situation; now Huaiyuan Palace had won the heart of commoners; therefore Zhang Tie didn''t feel unwilling to resign.


    If it were before, after coming to the airship, Zhang Tie would definitely enter Castle of Black Iron and eat fruits; besides that fruit of plunder, he should have 10 more leakless fruits and few fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs. After taking these fruits, Zhang Tie would make another small progress. The road of cultivation was a process from quantitative change to qualitative change day by day.


    However, at this moment, Zhang Tie gave up this thought. It was not because he was afraid of being discovered by the knight on his side after entering Castle of Black Iron but because Zhang Tie had been confident enough to control his impulsion that he couldn''t wait to eat fruits.


    ''Heller was right. The small tree''s ability is limited. Unless I die, the small tree will stop providing me fruits sooner or later. I have been able to sense it now.''


    After boarding the airship, Zhang Tie took out the earth-elements crystals from the nanobead in his own berth cabin.


    It took him 8 hours to use up 4 earth-elements crystals. After throwing the 4 useless earth-element crystals into Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie silently moved 4 earth-element crystals from Castle of Black Iron to the space of the nanobead so as to maintain the number of earth-element crystals in the nanobead unchanged.


    With the nanobead, Zhang Tie could casually move items from Castle of Black Iron to the space of the nanobead. In this way, when he took items out of nanobead, he would not worry about arousing doubts to others.


    This nanobead was the best stage property that Zhang Tie used to launder the resources in Castle of Black Iron. A few days ago when Zhang Tie was worried whether he could get another space-teleportation equipment anytime soon; talk of the devil and he comes.


    As for Zhang Tie, the wing demons that frightened everyone was as cute as a boy with fortune. From Master Abyan to "Master Jiang", each time he met a wing demon, Zhang Tie had a good fortune and improved his battle strength a bit.


    ''However, If I met a wing demon knight in the future, I would not get any fruit from it. That''s too pitiful! Heller said that once demons promoted to knights, they would be protected by special rules. As a result, the small tree could not get any fruit from them. I wonder that whether the rules that protect the demon knights could be broken or have loopholes.''


    When Zhang Tie was thinking about it, he walked out of his room.


    It was already dark in the midnight while the lamps in the airship had been lit up. Zhu Dabiao had fallen asleep. After sensing around, Zhang Tie walked towards the bar in the resting area.


    The other airships could never be such luxurious. However, as the transportation vehicle of elders of Huaiyuan Palace, of course, it would contain everything. However, after visiting the airboat of Commander Cheng, Zhang Tie had a deeper understanding of luxury.


    Feng Cangwu was drinking at the bar counter. After boarding the airship, Zhang Tie had felt that Feng Cangwu was in a blue mood.


    Nobody else could be found in the bar except for Feng Cangwu. However, there was another empty glass on the side of Feng Cangwu. It should be left by Zhu Dabiao. After drink for a while with Feng Cangwu, Zhu Dabiao might have been drunk and returned to his berth cabin. When Zhang Tie was cultivating just now, he heard Zhu Dabiao throwing up in his cabin.


    After coming to Feng Cangwu''s side, Zhang Tie took a new glass and made a glass of liquor for himself using the bottle in front of Feng Cangwu. After seeing that Feng Cangwu''s glass was empty, he filled it with liquor again.


    After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, Feng Cangwu bottomed it up.


    Followed by Zhang Tie.


    It was brewed by a green bamboo snake, which looked dark green and smelt refreshing and fragrant. After drinking a glass of it, Zhang Tie smacked his lips. After feeling addicted to it, he made another glass for himself and Feng Cangwu. They then bottomed it up again.


    After drinking the dragon-marrow liquor gifted by Commander Cheng, Zhang Tie felt this common liquor was not that acrid anymore. After drinking 3 glasses, he felt as light as water. When the bottle was empty, Zhang Tie put down his glass.


    "Brother Cangwu, don''t beat about the bush anymore. I know that you are arrogant and always aim too high but you must have something to deal with in Youzhou Province. Just put it straight. I would try my best to help you. As long as I could do it while not betraying my conscience, I swear to help you!" Zhang Tie watched Feng Cangwu with a serious look, "But I don''t understand that Brother Cangwu has such a great battle strength and could make Commander Cheng help you, is there really anything that you cannot handle in the Northeast Military Region? As I''m just a small figure, I don''t think that you need my help."


    "Can you let me defeat you?" Feng Cangwu raised his head and asked Zhang Tie with a gloomy look.


    Zhang Tie frowned as he watched Feng Cangwu seriously, ''This guy is not drunk, how could he speak such weird words?'', "Brother Cangwu, what do you mean? I have no resentment toward you. Additionally, we''ve not fought at all. How can you say you want to surpass or defeat me?"


    Feng Cangwu revealed a bitter smile as he threw a glance at Zhang Tie, "You''re not completely right. I indeed have no resentment toward you either; however, we''ve already wrestled. It''s a battle of life or death. You win it!"


    "Hahaha, Brother Cangwu, you must be kidding!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "When did I wrestle with you, Brother Cangwu? I don''t remember!"


    "Have you forgotten about it in the Heavens Ball in White Tiger Complex 3 months ago?" Feng Cangwu let out a sigh.


    Zhang Tie''s smiled froze at once. After blinking his eyes and gazing at Feng Cangwu, he instantly realized something, "You''re that...that last demon knight?"


    "Right, I''m the very demon knight that has been killed by you in the end and helped you win the reputation of the Lion of Youzhou Province!" Feng Cangwu''s words contained a little bitterness.


    After hearing that, Zhang Tie recalled why he felt that the demon knight, in the end, was excessively powerful. ''It turns out that demon knight is not formed by the Heavens Ball, but being incarnated by Feng Cangwu, f*ck!''


    "What the hell?"


    "Heavens Ball is the treasure of our Heavens Fortune Sect. If you could enter it, I could enter it too. Besides, I could enter it in any look and frame. Are you getting me?" Feng Cangwu watched Zhang Tie as he continued, "I just wanted to try the battle strengths of the young powerhouses of Youzhou Province in it, unexpectedly, I was discouraged in the end!"


    "It''s just a battle in the Heavens Ball, don''t care so much about it, Brother Cangwu!" Zhang Tie comforted Feng Cangwu as he murmured inside, ''If I were discouraged by losing my life one time in the virtual space, I would have been extremely depressed after losing my life so many times in the trouble-reappearance situations.''


    "The battle in the Heavens Ball has become my mental obstacle!" Feng Cangwu forced a bitter smile, "The key of the laws of cultivation in our Heavens Fortune Sect is as follows: after promoting to a knight, we have to know ourselves at first; after that, we will sense the essence of the natural laws. Finally, we need to unite ourselves with the universe. If I could not break my mental obstacle, I would not make any breakthrough in my cultivation base in the future. I would hardly form other chakras anymore. Therefore, I have to seek for your help!"


    "How can I help you?" Zhang Tie glanced at Feng Cangwu with a strange look, "If you could break your mental obstacle by beating me, it''s negotiable!"


    Of course, the so-called negotiation referred to conditions. If the Heavens Fortune Sect could afford it, Zhang Tie felt that he could be beaten by Feng Cangwu. Just take it as a way of forming iron-body fruits. After all, Zhang Tie had been used to do it. When he was in Blackhot City, he served as a human flesh sandbag; later on, he was always beaten in Selnes Theater of Operations. Therefore, he had a rich experience in being beaten.


    "If I could break my mental obstacle, I don''t need to come to Youzhou Province." Feng Cangwu threw a cold and arrogant glance at Zhang Tie.


    "But, Brother Cangwu, can you break your mental obstacle only by following me up?"


    "The mental obstacle could only broken wherever it was formed. However, I don''t know how to break it. It depends. Therefore..." Feng Cangwu continued with an embarrassed look after a pause, "Master and Senior Fellow Apprentice Lin Changjiang both suggested me to find you. Only by following you up could I find the fortune to break my mental obstacle!"


    "Lin Changjiang?" Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he was so familiar with this name, "Lin Changjiang is your senior fellow apprentice? I also know a Lin Changjiang in Waii Sub-continent!"


    "Senior fellow apprentice Lin was once the marshal of Norman Empire in Waii Sub-continent!" Feng Cangwu replied with a natural look.


    Zhang Tie was shocked again. Until then did he realize how deep had Taixia''s strength penetrated in each subcontinent. Zhang Tie remembered that those who inflicted heavy losses on demons in Waii Sub-continent were just Norman Empire in the north and Hua nations in the south. Hua people of Taixia Country was the pillar of humans. It was true.


    After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Tie''s face suddenly turned solemn, "Brother Cangwu, you can stay with me as long as you want so as to break your mental obstacle, as this is related to me and has been supported by Commander Cheng. Whereas, as I''m always a casual person, I''m afraid that I have been a poor host as Brother Cangwu comes from Heavens Fortune Sect, a top sect in Taixia Country..."


    "No problem. Everyone has the lowest point in his life!" Feng Cangwu let out a gloomy sigh like a playboy who was in a trouble...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was thinking about that, ''The Heavens Fortune Sect might dislike the Gobbling Party; therefore, they dispatched a knight to my side to show their instance. Based on the young age of Feng Cangwu and his arrogance in the past, he must not be an average member in the young generation of the Heavens Fortune Sect. With such a person on my side, even if he was good for nothing, what other people would think about me?''


    ''However, why would the Heavens Fortune Sect do that? I''m just a small black iron knight. Is it necessary for the Heavens Fortune Sect to back up me?''


    Zhang Tie had racked his mind; however, he couldn''t figure it out.


    ''Whatever, unless I''m dead...''


    Now that Zhang Tie couldn''t think it through, he just stopped thinking about it...

 872 Just Do It!

    Chapter 872: Just Do It!


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On the second day since Zhang Tie returned to the Golden Light City, the series of outcomes caused by his resignation had been gradually manifested...


    Starting from Youzhou City, all the Morality Associations across Youzhou Province had been smashed by people in only a couple of days; however, the entire judicial system across Youzhou Province was just watching them being smashed on one side. Even if they had received the reports, they would just come and go in a symbolic way instead of catching anybody. They could do nothing to the encounter of the Immortal Associations of the Gobbling Party.


    The judicial system in Youzhou Province only left one sentence¡ª¡ªas the aftermath of the Heavens Reaching Church has not disappeared, commoners in Youzhou Province are still furious; any arrest of commoners would cause a big chaos. Who will take responsibility for that?


    In Youzhou Province, the Gobbling Party had been notorious. Even the reputation of the around-the-clock imperial officials in the Censorate of Xuanyuan Hill was affected.


    Besides Yozhou Province, in a few days, the news that the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province who was forced to resign after afflicting heavy losses on the Heavens Reaching Church was fermented under the push of all sorts of forces, arousing an uproar across Taixia Country.


    Only after one week, based on the reports that Zhang Tie had received, over 1,000 newspapers across Taixia Country had reported this event in a very skillful way. Most of the newspapers only mentioned the memorial of Su Qianling, Zhang Tie''s meritorious deeds and resignation. Who was right and who was wrong? The answer became very clear.


    When the public opinion surged towards the Censorate of Xuanyuan Hill, Su Qianling''s memorial turned into a steel ingot and forcefully pounded onto his own face.


    However, knowing that Huaiyuan Palace had a great resentment with the Gobbling Party and the leader of the latter was the master of the crown prince, the newspapers in Taixia Country reported this event in a very proper way. They didn''t reveal the resentment between Huaiyuan Palace and the Gobbling Party. Even so, people could still pass it from mouth to mouth silently. In the eyes of some insiders, the Gobbling Party had been completely exposed this time. What was more, through this event, many people figured out that although the Gobbling Party advocated people to follow the so-called "mercy, righteousness and morality", their deed was very dirty this time; they just raised high the big banner; disregarded the facts; defended those who belonged to their own faction and attacked those who didn''t regardless of the lives of the commoners. What they did was nothing to do with the so-called "mercy, righteousness and morality".


    Under the stress of the public opinion, on January 18th, the Censorate of Xuanyuan Hill declared to dismiss Su Qianling from his post. Su Qianling was demoted to be a Level 16 financial minister in Yinzhou Province, a lower province.


    In Xuanyuan Hill, although the 360 around-the-clock imperial officials in Censorate were not of high rank, they were extremely important. One around-the-clock imperial official could even control the public opinion in the country and the decision of the imperial court of Taixia Country. After Su Qianling''s demotion, the Gobbling Party lacked a key voice in the Censorate.


    From the perspective of the Gobbling Party, although Su Qianling''s demotion felt like losing an arm, what was more annoying was the condemnation from the people.


    Many times, like a clean dress, once being stained, it was hard to wash. Even if you could, there would always be a mark, which became a firm wall in front of the Gobbling Party in terms of an invisible poor impression in others'' hearts.


    After Su Qianling left the Xuanyuan Hill in an embarrassed way, besides the media in some provinces in Taixia Country, especially Tunzhou Province who supported Su Qianling weakly, the Gobbling Party didn''t have any other movement. It seemed that the Gobbling Party ceased fire at once...


    Huaiyuan Palace gained a complete victory in the first collision with the Gobbling Party when it returned to Taixia Country.


    ''However, this is also a narrow victory. If I didn''t find the conspiracy of the Heavens Reaching Church, the party being roasted above the grill would be Huaiyuan Palace and I once the Heavens Reaching Church rose in revolt, plus the memorial of Su Qianling.''


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel happy as he understood the dangers in this wrestle between Huaiyuan Palace and the Gobbling Party. ''As long as the memorial was confirmed, my family might be ruined; Huaiyuan Palace would also be inflicted greatly.'' Although demotion of the motherf*cking imperial official in the Censorate was cool, Zhang Tie still felt that his punishment was not severe enough. However, through this battle, Zhang Tie knew that the Gobbling Party would not cause Huaiyuan Palace and him any trouble in a short period. Therefore, he and Huaiyuan Palace could be safe for a short time. However, in the future, unless one party could defeat the other, the resentment between the two parties would never come to an end.


    This event was a warning for Zhang Tie.


    It reminded Zhang Tie that Taixia Country was not a Shangrila either. Additionally, due to the resentment between his ancestor and the Gobbling Party, even the Eastern Continent was full of dangers for him and Huaiyuan Palace.


    This time, Commander Cheng had told him in the most direct means about the sharp difference between him and a knight who had formed 4 chakras.


    In the final analysis, power counted most in this world.


    The word power contained many things, such as battle strength which was most direct and powerful, money, human relationship, influence and foundation, etc..


    Zhang Tie had reached his target after Su Qianling was demoted. He could find another reason to go back to Youzhou City to be the dean of Provincial Court once again; Huaiyuan Palace had also made pavements for that. Everything could undergo very smoothly. However, through this event, after recovering his composure, Zhang Tie realized that it was very dangerous in the officialdom of Taixia Country and that he was incongruous with the officialdom of Taixia Country.


    The position dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province was a double-bladed sword. Besides granting him a great power and an eminent identity in Taixia Country, this position also made him restrictive to the officialdom of the Taixia Country. There were a lot of uncertainties in this position. To be honest, Zhang Tie didn''t think that he excelled at being an official. The key was that he didn''t have any ambition about power; neither did he have spiritual energy and time to adapt to the system of the officialdom in Taixia Country; especially when the Gobbling Party took an absolute advantage in the officialdom of Taixia Country. ''Is it worth for me to adapt to those rules at the risk of being framed by the Gobbling Party for the compensation of over 2 million gold coins a year? How much will it improve the power of me and my clan?''


    ''If not being an official in Taixia Country, I would just enjoy myself in Golden Light City even though the Heavens Reaching Church toppled over half of Youzhou Province. How could they cause me trouble?''


    This time, Zhang Tie was very lucky in inflicting heavy losses on the Heaven Reaching Church. He could not guarantee that he would also have such a good luck in the future by turning calamities into blessings. ''However, without such a luck, does it mean that I have to be bullied by the Gobbling Party?''


    ''Therefore, I don''t have to take the office of the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province!''


    ''Especially, given the demand for further wrestle with the Gobbling Party, it''s actually beneficial to Huaiyuan Palace if I don''t take the position of the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province.''


    After knowing Zhang Tie''s thought, all the elders of Huaiyuan Palace were startled. Therefore, 3 days after the news that Su Qianling was demoted passed to Youzhou Province, Elder Muen and Elder Muyuan who stayed in Huaiyuan Prefecture came to the manor of Zhang Tie''s family in Golden Light City by airship and met Zhang Tie.


    The 3 elders of Huaiyuan Palace negotiated with the major event which determined the future of the clan in a pavilion behind the manor of Zhang Tie''s family.


    The pavilion was surrounded by red maples which looked as fiery as flames after the baptism of the snow. Like polished red crystals, they were extremely brilliant in the fading winter scenery.


    The greater part of the snow in the garden had melted; however, it was still a bit cold now; given the firm and verdant grasses that straightened up once again in the garden, Zhang Tie smelt a sense of spring.


    In the pavilion, the furnace made of red mud was adjusted to a high temperature while the tea water was steaming. Sitting around the furnace, Zhang Tie, Elder Muen and Elder Muyuan were silent while listening to the sound drifting from the furnace.


    At this moment, the noise of the kids of Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang drifted from the garden faintly. As the winter was going to disappear, it was the last chance for these little guys to have a snowball fight and make a snowman.


    "Gulugulu..." When the tea water was boiled for about 1 minute, Zhang Tie stretched out his hand and used a pair of pot tongs to nip the teapot in a very regular way. After that, he made a cup of tea for each of the other two elders.


    The tea water was collected from the snow on the top of the pine trees on the mountain outside Golden Light City, which had just melted above the furnace. The tea was famous in Taixia Country, which was called Silver Frost. Of course, Silver Frost was the best item that "Master Jiang" had contributed to Zhang Tie selflessly. 0.5 kg'' Silver Frost was worth 500 gold coins in Taixia Country. There was a great learning about the teapot. It was made of redware from Lanzhou Province while the firewoods being used for boiling teas were fresh osmanthus twigs in last August.


    After the snow melted in the hot water, the silver frost formed mountain peaks in the water; instead of scattering. At the same time, a looming mist came into being above the tea water. In a split second, the tea leaves in the cup and the vapor over the tea water formed a scaled-down misty landscape painting; plus the faint fragrance of pine leaves in the tea water, only by smelling it, people had been brought into an immortal realm while all the boredom disappeared in the tranquility physically and mentally.


    Zhang Tie let out a long sigh with a great sense of achievement. To be honest, if not Feng Cangwu, Zhang Tie really could not make such a good tea; neither did he know about such a big learning about a cup of tea. If not for Feng Cangwu, even Silver Frost would be spoiled by Zhang Tie.


    "Honestly, I didn''t know why Hua people were so proud of themselves and always belittled the other human races on other continents. Until now, after coming to Taixia Country for a few months did I gradually understand it!" Zhang Tie held the teapot and looked at it with an interested impression. Meanwhile, he sniffed the tea water and watched the landscape formed by the tea leaves and the vapor at the mouth of the cup, "The pride of Hua people originates from their unrivaled strength and culture. The culture is in a cup of tea. A cup of tea contains the entire world, which enables people to comprehend the natural laws in the world. None of the countries in other sub continents and continents could have such a profound culture. With a cup of tea water, Hua people could experience almost 1,000 years'' historical details and the essence of natural laws. Compared to Hua people, those kings, princes, aristocrats and rich men on the other continents are just barbarians!"


    Elder Muen and Elder Muyuan exchanged a glance with each other as if they had got something from each other''s eyes. Now that Elder Mushen could make a tea in front of them at such a critical moment, it had revealed too many meanings.


    "Has Elder Mushen made the decision?" Elder Muen asked.


    This time, Elder Muen and Elder Muyuan were not here only for themselves but on behalf of Zhang Taixuan.


    Zhang Tie became silent. With a smile, he asked Elder Muen, "Elder Muen, who do you think hopes the most for me to return to Youzhou City and take the position of the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province at this moment?"


    "All the members of Huaiyuan Palace even the head of Zhang Clan hope Elder Mushen to return to Youzhou City as fast as possible and take the position of the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province once again!" Elder Muen replied.


    "Of course, I know the intention of Zhang Clan; however, the one who expects me to return to Youzhou City and take the position of the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province as soon as possible is the Gobbling Party!"


    "Gobbling Party?" Elder Muen faintly frowned as if he had imagined Zhang Tie''s answer.


    "If I returned to Youzhou City and take the position of the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province once again, this event could only cause the face of Gobbling Party to swell; however, after a few days, it would recover. If I didn''t go back, not only would it be a slap on the face of Gobbling Party but also a stab in the key part of Gobbling Party, which they would not recover from in the future. As a result, Gobbling Party would bleed at any time! If I came back to Youzhou City, the competition between Huaiyuan Palace and the Gobbling Party would be mainly on tricks even if Huaiyuan Palace took the advantage for the time being by chance. If I didn''t come back to Youzhou City, the competition between Huaiyuan Palace and the Gobbling Party would be mainly on morality and Huaiyuan Palace would take the advantage forever!"


    Elder Muyuan''s eyes brightened up, "You mean?"


    Zhang Tie then answered, "I''m a gentleman. Gentlemen are harmonious with each other although they have their unique opinions; by contrast, villains just blindly follow others'' opinions yet don''t seek for the true harmony!"


    After hearing the first part of the answer, Elder Muen and Elder Muyuan became slightly stunned. However, when it came to the second half of the answer, they were shocked before taking in a deep breath at the same time...


    ...

 873 Making a Compromise

    Chapter 873: Making a Compromise


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Gentlemen were in line with natural laws possessing their unique opinions while villains gathered for benefits yet being derailed by natural laws. This was the difference between gentlemen and villains.


    In case of being impeached, Zhang Tie still stuck to his post and performed his duties. As a result, he inflicted heavy losses on the Heavens Reaching Church. After that, he resigned. All this indicated that Zhang Tie was a gentleman.


    By contrast, the Gobbling Party defended those who belonged to their own faction and attacked those who didn''t by instigating an imperial official in Censorate to frame Zhang Tie with a rumor. As a result, they almost dismissed Zhang Tie''s position before the Heavens Reaching Church rose in revolt in Youzhou Province. This indicated that the members of Gobbling Party were villains.


    The law of officials was their professional conduct.


    If Zhang Tie returned, it would be a competition for tricks; if not, it would be a competition for morality and justice.


    As for the first case, Huaiyuan Palace could only take the advantage for the time being; as for the second case, Huaiyuan Palace would take the advantage forever.


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel that he was a very good official and had a very good professional conduct; however, the winner took all. As long as he could defeat the Gobbling Party, he didn''t mind bragging under the halos of the gentleman.


    In one word, as long as Zhang Tie could stick to his principle, the members of Gobbling Party would become villains besides being roasted over the fire.


    Additionally, there was an incantation of the golden hoop for the Gobbling Party who used to talk about mercy, righteousness and morality. With this incantation, it would be hard for the Gobbling Party to pretend to be dignified once again. This incarnation only fitted the Gobbling Party, which could be only be manifested by villains under the influence of a gentleman.


    The Gobbling Party also knew that Zhang Tie was a gentleman; therefore, even though they wanted to impeach Zhang Tie, they could only amplify Zhang Tie''s dereliction on the special occasion.


    The Gobbling Party didn''t attack Zhang Tie''s moral standing because those gentlemen who were called "would-be sages" had perfect morality. If the Gobbling Party attacked the moral standing of Zhang Tie, they were actually attacking the values and cultural system of the entire Taixia Country and rocking their own foundation.


    According to the Gobbling Party, "mercy, righteousness, laws and morality" were the "four essences of the heavenly laws". If the "four essences of the heavenly laws" were not manifested, the heavenly laws would not be carried forward. Sages were free as they had gained the essences of the heavenly laws. If the Gobbling Party denied sages, they were denying the heavenly laws; if they denied the heavenly laws, they were denying themselves and their foundation.


    Lately, Zhang Tie was thinking why the Gobbling Party would cause him trouble. ''Did they only find my evidence among so many elders and such a great undertaking of Huaiyuan Palace? After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Tie made a conclusion, the reason that the Gobbling Party chose me as their first target was that they were afraid of my status and influence as a gentleman. The Gobbling Party would strangle me before I could grow up with a greater influence. Because of this, the Gobbling Party couldn''t wait to show their fangs and stamp me into the darkness when Huaiyuan Palace has become the first clan in Youzhou Province for less than 3 months.''


    ''However, the Gobbling Party could never imagine that I could find their conspiracy by chance when I paid a visit to Youzhou City and reverse the situation by inflicting heavy losses on the Heavens Reaching Church only in a few days.''


    As the old Hua saying went, when you made a mistake at the beginning, you would make mistakes throughout. Because of this mistake of the Gobbling Party, Zhang Tie completely reversed the situation and had a chance to defeat Gobbling Party at a higher position with a greater influence.


    ''I''m too stupid if I don''t make use of my status as a gentleman at this moment.''


    Combining all the reasons, Zhang Tie made a decision to not return to Youzhou City anymore.


    "A victim who was constantly exposed to the public would have the lowest probability to be harmed once again. At this moment, it''s the firmest shield that Huaiyuan Palace could use to resist the Gobbling Party by letting Huaiyuan Palace become a victim on the supreme point of morality so as to win the sympathy of the mainstream opinion and value in Taixia Country. With the protection of this shield, Huaiyuan Palace could win opportunities and time to root in and develop in Youzhou Province in case of being struck by the Gobbling Party with its full strength. I''d like to be the shield of Huaiyuan Palace!" Zhang Tie told Elder Muen and Elder Muyuan.


    The two elders were moved.


    "However, in this situation, all the stress that Gobbling Party brought to Huaiyuan Palace would be transferred to you. The Gobbling Party would definitely make use of all their means to put you down, ruin your reputation or kill you. It''s too dangerous!" Elder Muyuan opposed.


    Some elders might have considered Zhang Tie''s opinion; however, nobody posed it as they didn''t want to isolate Zhang Tie...


    "Do you think that the Gobbling Party would be lenient in treating me if I apologized to them?" Zhang Tie asked, "So many years have passed from Lord Huaiyuan to the present, the moment Huaiyuan Palace made a bit achievement in Taixia Country, the Gobbling Party had jumped out to frame Huaiyuan Palace and me. Did they spare any chance to negotiate with us? They''ve been so embarrassed, we can make them even more. If we don''t seize this opportunity to make the Gobbling Party fear about us and inflict heavy losses on them, the Gobbling Party will become insatiable. As for me, as long as I leave the officialdom, the Gobbling Party will have very limited means to handle me; let alone be framed by them. As long as they don''t dispatch any powerhouse above earth knights to kill me, I will not be afraid of their means. If one day they dare dispatch a powerhouse to kill me blatantly, the Gobbling Party will become the target for all in Taixia Country. They are seeking for death. We don''t have to worry about that!" Zhang Tie rubbed his face while revealing a bitter smile, "Honestly, I''m really not a qualified official. I''ve been used to be free. Officials have to take too many responsibilities and be in line with too many rules. To the utmost extent, it''s my fluke to inflict heavy losses on the Heavens Reaching Church and the Gobbling Party this time. Without the protection of Commander Cheng, the impeachment from the Gobbling Party would have reached the imperial court. I should not always rely on the superior and fluke. If I return, I bet that the Gobbling Party would cause me trouble soon so as to win one round back. As I resign, I will stop the Gobbling Party from thinking so. They could only squat and stand in front of Huaiyuan Palace and dare not even stand up and say no loudly!"


    When Elder Muyuan wanted to say something, Zhang Tie waved his hands to stop him. Zhang Tie then said in a self-mockery tone, "I''m well-known again in Taixia! It''s not bad for me!"


    After recalling how he persuaded Zhang Tie a few months ago, Elder Muyuan let out a sigh and became silent.


    "If you don''t become the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province again, who else could take it?" Elder Muen asked Zhang Tie after being silent for a while. It indicated that he had almost agreed with Zhang Tie''s choice; after all, Zhang Tie was an important elder of Huaiyuan Palace. If he didn''t want to do that, nobody else could force a stubborn ox to drink water.


    "I like Zhang Yuanshan. Although he''s not a knight; he''s at least a battle spirit. Additionally, he''s competent at that job based on his rich experiences and ability! After the Heavens Reaching Church is exterminated, the judicial system of Youzhou Province will not encounter another big challenge in a short period. I find he''s proper." Zhang Tie revealed the plan that he had long worked out, "Additionally, even if I don''t work as the dean of Provincial Court, I could also enter the judicial system of Youzhou Province like I can be a bounty hunter!"


    "Bounty hunter?"


    "Yes, bounty hunter!" Zhang Tie revealed a bad smile, "I''m a gentleman. Although I''m not in the position, I could also care about the security of Youzhou Province and the lives of the commoners in Youzhou Province. Additionally, I will also frighten those evil guys. I might be the first one who preferred to be a bounty hunter instead of the dean of a provincial court in Taixia. The more aggrieved I am, the more uncomfortable will the Gobbling Party be. Meanwhile, being a bounty hunter, I could directly help Zhang Yuanshan solve almost any problem in Youzhou Province. Actually, I had long thought about this when I was the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province!"


    ''What the hell!'' Elder Muen and Elder Muyuan became speechless.


    Given their expressions, Zhang Tie knew that Huaiyuan Palace had agreed to his plan. Although only two elders were negotiating with him, actually, Elder Muen and Elder Muyuan were sending messages to the other elders and Count Long Wind by the remote-sensing crystals on their finger rings at the same time. Of course, Huaiyuan Palace could not refuse his reason.


    "Alright, the head has agreed with it!" Elder Muen said.


    "But there''s one point that you should concern about it!" Elder Muyuan added, "It''s time for Elder Mushen to fulfill the duty that you''ve promised the clan at the beginning!"


    "What duty?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "To sustain the bloodline of Zhang Clan. You''ve prolonged it all the way from Waii Sub-continent to Taixia Country. Now that Elder Mushen doesn''t serve as the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province anymore, you will have more free time. You should think about it!"


    Zhang Tie patted his forehead as he asked with a bitter smile, "How do Huaiyuan Palace usually arrange it?"


    "The clan has prepared for a lot of innocent and reliable Hua girls for you. Elder Mushen, you can just select whoever you like. You can select as more concubines as you like. It''s normal for a knight to have dozens even hundreds of concubines. If Elder Mushen likes someone, you could directly tell us. As long as she''s single, it''s negotiable!" Elder Muen said in an ordinary tone as if he was telling Zhang Tie how to buy commodities in the shop. It was too common for clan elders.


    Rubbing his forehead with one finger, Zhang Tie finally made a compromise after thinking for a while, "No need to bother you. Just bring me Aimei and Aixue whom I''ve been familiar with in the Hurricane Corps! No need to hurry. For the sake of the domestic harmony, I''d better not select too many girls for the time being..."


    ...

 874 Gayas Believer

    Chapter 874: Gaya''s Believer


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    If it were over 10 years ago in Blackhot City when his hormone was growing as luxuriantly as weeds and his young heart would become as horny as pye-dogs at night, Zhang Tie would definitely not just select 2 girls if he could have such a chance to select beauties like an emperor at home.


    If not such a restlessness, he would not be indulged in the tenderness of the girls of Rose Association.


    However, after promoting to a knight, although Zhang Tie secreted more hormone, his restlessness had faded away like torrents that converged into the ocean.


    The ocean in Zhang Tie''s heart was still surging; however, it became more inclusive to both women and his family members.


    Women could not just be the procreation tool of men; especially of a strange man. No matter how good did the man treat her, very few women would feel happy on the side of such a man. Zhang Tie didn''t want to hold up the youth of strange girls.


    When he was in his puberty, Zhang Tie usually imagined about the cool sense brought by friction and orgasm speaking of women. However, now, Zhang Tie had understood that the affectionate ones were the most precious!


    Therefore, Zhang Tie preferred to choose those two whom he had emotional underpinnings with.


    Aimei and Aixue had tough experiences, Linda, Beverly and Fiona also had common family backgrounds. If the twins became Zhang''s daughters-in-law, they would definitely have a common language with Linda, Beverly and Fiona. They could respect each other. Neither would Linda, Beverly and Fiona feel aggrieved. By contrast, if he selected those, especially those who had deep family backgrounds in Huaiyuan Palace, Linda, Beverly and Fiona might feel their positions at home to be threatened.


    After staying at Zhang Tie''s home for less than 1 hour, Elder Muen and Elder Muyuan had left.


    Zhang Tie directly accompanied them to board the airship. After that, he saw off the airship.


    After recovering his freedom once again, Zhang Tie felt pretty relaxed. However, he had infuriated the Gobbling Party and became the thorn in their side; therefore, Zhang Tie faintly felt a sense of crisis.


    ''In the final analysis, it''s a matter of battle strength. If I''ve already formed 4 chakras, I don''t believe that the Gobbling Party would dare be presumptuous in front of me.''


    ''However, it takes time to improve the battle strength. It''s the best time to help Zhang root in and expand their influence in Taixia Country at present.''


    Standing on the side of his domestic airport, Zhang Tie watched the airship that gradually disappeared in the skyline as he was thinking about the next step.


    ''After becoming a bounty hunter, I could further pay attention to the news of Zhao Yuan, my master.''


    ''As I''m free now, besides forming my chakra, I could have a better chance to have the small tree produce more fruits. With more fruits, even if I could not form my earth chakra, for the time being, I could also improve my battle strength greatly. This is my biggest advantage compared to others. Others only have one way to improve their battle strength greatly; however, I have two ways. Therefore, I don''t have to walk on one foot.''


    ''Besides the fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs that I set free. I could definitely find places to breed and set free earthworms. If I could improve my preliminary recovery body to medium recovery body or senior recovery body, I would definitely have a much better viability.''


    ''Besides earthworms and golden uangs, I will try to set free more living beings. After all, it''s not bad for me.''


    ''There''re many fishing vessels at the Embracing Tiger Harbor which is the nearest harbor to Golden Light City. There''re a lot of fresh fishes over there every day. It seems that I should take a look over there.''


    ''Is there anything cheaper in this world than buying a fruit at the price of a few gold coins?''


    After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie gradually opened his mind to a bright future!


    Feng Cangwu had appeared on his side.


    "Have you negotiated with Huaiyuan Palace?" Feng Cangwu asked Zhang Tie.


    Even though this young elite of Heavens Fortune Sect had been in Zhang Tie''s family for over 2 weeks, his cold and arrogant qi remained unchanged.


    It was Feng Cangwu''s key to break his mental obstacle by staying on Zhang Tie''s side; however, he felt damaging his self-esteem by staying on Zhang Tie''s side without doing anything. Therefore, after settling down in Zhang Tie''s manor and taking a round inside, Feng Cangwu had posed to be the teacher of Zhang family''s younger generation. He wanted to survive himself by his own labor.


    Although it was a waste of Feng Cangwu''s talent by working as a teacher of kids, Zhang Tie''s three sons and the kids of Zhang Yang had learned a lot from Feng Cangwu in only a few days. Even Zhang Tie benefited a lot from him.


    Feng Cangwu was really an aristocrat among the Hua people. With a wide horizon, he had touched too many unusual things, which could shock the listeners so much.


    Zhang Tie didn''t tell others about the real identity of Feng Cangwu. Therefore, the other tutors in Zhang Tie''s family were a bit inimical to Feng Cangwu at the beginning. They even wanted to "compete" with him on knowledge. After Feng Cangwu casually performed a perfect teaism in front of the other tutors, the other tutors had thought highly of Feng Cangwu by treating him as a god. They then started to call him Master Feng. As a result, when Feng Cangwu taught those Zhang kids, all the tutors audited on one side with a thirsty expression too.


    Zhang Tie hailed inside. All the knowledge and recognition of Feng Cangwu were the educational achievements of Heavens Fortune Sect. As one of the top seven sects in Taixia Country, any disciple of the Heavens Reaching Sect could be the marshal of Norman Empire in Waii Sub-continent. Such a deep background could never be matched by commoners. When Zhang kids received the education of Feng Cangwu, it was equal to that they enjoyed the educational fruits of the Heavens Fortune Sect indirectly. Such a rare opportunity could not even be purchased in the market.


    Feng Cangwu rapidly consolidated his position in the Zhang family. He lived in an independent courtyard while being served by 4 servants. Even Zhang Tie''s parents respected him so much.


    After coming to Taixia for a few years, Zhang Tie''s parents had also gradually known more about Taixia Country. According to Zhang Tie''s dad, tutors like Feng Cangwu might come by something with luck, but not by searching for it in major clans of Taixia Country. Without a compensation of hundreds of thousands gold coins a year, they could never have such a tutor. Such a figure was always a personage in a province.


    Besides being able to bit Feng Cangwu to death, even Zhang Tie had to admit that he was just a rustic on many aspects compared to Feng Cangwu.


    ...


    After hearing Feng Cangwu''s question, Zhang Tie turned around and threw a glance at him. After that, he replied with a smile, "I''m afraid that the Gobbling Party will feel uncomfortable no matter where I am!"


    "It''s too dangerous. Although you will reap a lot, you have to pay a high price for that. When the Gobbling Party realizes that, they will fight you to death for sure. Previously, the Gobbling Party mainly targeted at Huaiyuan Palace; from then on, they would mainly target at you."


    Zhang Tie waved his hands and said with a casual look, "I don''t care, I believe that the God blesses the good man!"


    Feng Cangwu threw a glance at Zhang Tie as he had not imagined that Zhang Tie could say this. As knights used to control their own fates; however, Zhang Tie looked like being carefree. How could he comfort himself like commoners usually did? At this moment, the arrogance that Zhang Tie displayed in the Heavens Ball 3 months ago like a mutated lion had disappeared.


    ''The scene that he exposed his sharp fangs, bit off my neck one piece after another and swallowed them always appeared in my dreams over the past 3 months. As a result, I always experienced the most terrifying nightmare, which was also my mental obstacle. However, this guy tells me that the God blesses the good man facing the powerful enemy?'' Feng Cangwu could never believe that it was Zhang Tie''s true thought.


    Watching Feng Cangwu''s expression, Zhang Tie knew what he was thinking about, "Aye, I''ve got a secret for you."


    Blinking his eyes, Feng Cangwu asked, "What secret?''


    With a solemn and sympathetic expression, Zhang Tie looked up and said, "When in Waii Sub-continent, I was a pious believer of Gaya, the mother of the land. I once pledged to save all the believers of Gaya who were in dangers. I believe that as long as I saved them, Gaya would save me too!"


    "Are you kidding me?"


    "I will do that for a long time from then on!"


    Feng Cangwu gazed at Zhang Tie as he was not sure whether Zhang Tie was telling true or not...


    At this moment, Zhu Dabiao the fat guy ran over here in a clumsy way while his hair and body had been covered with snow. This guy was having a snowball fight with the kids of Zhang family.


    "Whoops, whoops, Zhang Tie, your sons respond so fast. They have such a great strength and precise throwing ability. Look at my head. Are knight''s kids born to bully others? Mamma Mia..." When Zhu Dabiao complained to Zhang Tie, the three kids had caught up with him. With giggles, they threw three snowballs from almost 20 m away towards Zhu Dabiao''s upper, middle and lower parts at the same time. Zhu Dabiao wanted to dodge; however, he could only avoid from one snowball while the other two hit onto his head and figure at the same time...


    At the sight of this, Feng Cangwu''s eyebrows faintly moved...


    Zhang Tie knew that Feng Cangwu must have sensed something with his knight''s consciousness. The three kids had already shown their amazing precise throwing ability...


    After the new year festival, Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei would be 6 years old while they would gradually activate their bloodlines and fix their dispositions. It was time for them to cultivate their battle skills and light their surging points...

 875 A New Star

    Chapter 875: A New Start


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On January 23rd, the airport outside Embracing Tiger City...


    After coming to Embracing Tiger City once again, Zhang Tie felt relaxed!


    Zhang Tie had not set free any living beings himself for a long time. Previously, he set free sand-scale fish in Hidden Dragon Island every day. Later on, he had less chance to do that. Gradually, he invited others to do that for him by paying them. He just ate fruits.


    After picking the special cultivation method once again, Zhang Tie felt pleasant in an inexplicable way.


    It was hard to describe this pleasure. It originated from the depth of his heart and flew across his body like a sweet spring flowing out of the wilderness. After that, Zhang Tie was immersed in a pure, pleasant state. In such a realm, Zhang Tie felt that he might always set living beings free himself from then on, even just for this pleasure.


    Actually, the higher level one was, especially after one promoted to a knight, it would be harder for one to sense this pleasure, which was really a special, spiritual enjoyment.


    Zhang Tie knew that Zhang Taixuan would appoint Zhang Yuanshan as the new dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province today. ''This might be out of the expectation of many people; however, what was more unimaginable was that I would become a bounty hunter in Taixia Country on the same day.''


    Zhang Tie didn''t need to register as a bounty hunter himself. The Building of Brightness in Taixia Country was a semi-governmental organization being affiliated to the local judicial agencies. He only needed to prepare his materials and submit them to the Building of Brightness in Youzhou City. ''It''s none of my business as for how others would interpret it and frame the Gobbling Party with it.''


    The Gobbling Party deserved it...


    ''After this event, the bullsh*t imperial official in the Censorate of Xuanyuan Hill might not walk away from the shadow caused by this event for the rest of his life. He''s doomed to be regarded as a villain by the public.''


    That was Taixia Country!


    Gentlemen seek harmony while possessing their unique opinions; villains only seek consistency with others while possessing no unique opinions. After coming to Taixia Country for almost 4 months, Zhang Tie found that he gradually fell in love with this place.


    The airport in Embracing Tiger City was pretty boisterous and vigorous. Airships in different shapes and colorful coatings were coming and going in the sky above the airport, large or small. Zhang Tie felt that this common airport was even more boisterous than the airshow held in Waii Sub-continent.


    The fury-level airships produced by Huaiyuan Palace ranked top in Waii Sub-continent; however, they lost their halos in Taixia Country.


    Taixia Country really had a powerful manufacturing industry. Take the prefectures in Youzhou Province as an instance, the airships produced in Spiritualmaple Prefecture and Chaoyang Prefecture were competitive to that of Huaiyuan Palace while better airships manufacturing clans and enterprises existed in other provinces such as Yanzhou Province, Huizhou Province, Tongzhou Province and Chaozhou Province. The airships produced by the imperial airship manufacturing plants that were affiliated to the imperial court of Taixia Country ranked top in kind, quantity and quality.


    Facing such a great stress and competition, the airship manufacturing enterprises of Huaiyuan Palace had to reduce production scale; meanwhile, they started to employ talents from everywhere and started the project approval and technical storage of the second generation of fury-level airships.


    Huaiyuan Palace would make a regular report to Clan elders about such situations; therefore, Zhang Tie knew these "trifles" pretty well.


    Zhang Tie was the first one to walk out of the airship, followed by Feng Cangwu and Zhu Dabiao.


    After exiting the hatch door of the airship, Zhang Tie looked up at the airships in the sky. By putting one hand over his forehead, he narrowed his eyes and sighed with emotions, "The airships here are much more varified than those in Waii Sub-continent; hmm, additionally, they seem to move faster. There''re airships that fully combines the modules with the air sacs..."


    Zhang Tie had been in Embracing Tiger City twice. Firstly, he passed by it; secondly, he came here to attend the clan elders'' conference. As he left here so hurriedly the previous two times, he didn''t even have time to look around it. Basically, he only had some aerial photographs about this city in his impression. Therefore, it was impossible for him to have a deeper understanding of this city. After adjusting his mood and time, when he came to Embracing Tiger City once again, Zhang Tie immediately felt the difference between this city and those in Waii Sub-continent. Such a tiny difference manifested the power and uniqueness of Taixia Country.


    When Zhang Tie was talking about the airships, they saw a large hard-type airship painted with a blue boar pattern slowly rising up from a position in front of them. There were four Hua characters beneath the pattern¡ª¡ª À¶·çº½¿Õ 1.


    Feng Cangwu was glassy-eyed about Zhang Tie''s words; however, Zhu Dabiao burst out into laughter, "That''s nothing strange. If you take a look in the provincial city of Huizhou Province, you would find that the airship bases over there were at least dozens of times larger than this one. The Auspicious Cloud Airport in Huizhou Province occupies over 200 square miles. Tens of thousands of airships access to that airport every day. If you were there for the first time, you might even get lost!"


    "Hahaha, I will take a look over there if there''s a chance!" Zhang Tie also burst out into laughter.


    When they talked, they arrived at the entrance of the exclusive position of their airship and went to the underground.


    In Waii Sub-continent, all the airport facilities were above the ground; however, in Taixia Country, only ground crew and regular railed, steam logistics trains could move above the ground of regular airports. All the people getting off the airships had to leave the airports through professional underground tunnels. They were forbidden to leave on the ground. Almost all the airports in Taixia Country were two-floored or multi-floored. The underground buildings were far more plentiful than those on the ground. There were even huge airship and material warehouses beneath many airports. In this way, the airports could run in a higher efficiency and cause fewer accidents in normal times; in wartime, two-floored or multi-floored airports could provide the biggest protection to the airships, personnel and materials.


    Besides airports, Zhang Tie knew that almost all the highways in Taixia Country could bear large war airships. All the railways in Taixia Country spared a plain and an open land for at least 10 super large airships within 200 miles.


    The underground tunnel of the airport of Embracing Tiger City was dozens of meters in depth. It was spacious and bright. The surface of the underground tunnel was paved with cyan stone slabs. There were so many passers-by over there.


    In the daytime, besides an air vent in each dozen of meters in the tunnel, both walls of the tunnel were paved with one fluorescent strip. In each fixed distance, there was one fluorescent wall. Passengers could leave the airport through the underground tunnel.


    There were some plants in the underground tunnel. On both sides of the tunnel were shops, hotels and complete living facilities. Passengers or crew members could live here well. Those shops were selling specialties of Youzhou Province. Some companies and stores had their offices and branches here.


    "Jingling...Jingling..."


    With an euphonious tinkle of bells, an odd-look vehicle drove here from behind.


    Running on a rail which was narrower and smaller than the underground tunnel, that vehicle had a very low chassis. The entire vehicle was composed of 3 carriages. The full length of the vehicle was a bit greater than that of a bus. The three carriages were full of rows of seats. Each seat could hold 4 people. It even didn''t have a roof. Therefore, it looked pretty simple and convenient.


    The vehicle was like a simple miniature train and an amplified toy for children. Two tough Siberians were sitting in the chairs at the head of the vehicle. They were stamping this manual power device by feet like playing seesaw while holding a handle by two hands respectively.


    The vehicle just moved as fast as jogging commoners. Therefore, they didn''t work hard. When someone was in front of them, the tough guys just tinkled the bells by pulling the ropes to warn the passers.


    Those in front of the vehicle could give a way to it or take a seat in it.


    Watching some guys on his side jump into the vehicle, Zhang Tie understood that this vehicle was an underground scheduled bus in the airport.


    If it was replaced by a steam mini-train, the heavy smoke would cause a severe pollution in this relatively closed space. Therefore, they just used a manual railed mini-train. Commoners might be a bit tired to do that; however, it''s no problem for a LV 2 soldier. Let alone this vehicle was matched with two "drivers".


    ''Such a manual mini-train could definitely match the manual airplane that I used in Selnes Theater of Operations.''


    At the sight of such a mini-train, Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he felt it was very funny.


    "Papa, here''s the mini-train, I want to take the mini-train, I want to take the mini-train..." A kid who had just entered the underground space exclaimed. It seemed that they were waiting on the side of the rail only for taking this mini-train.


    When the train passed by, the kid''s dad instantly strode onto the train in an agile way together with the kid. They were sitting right in front of Zhang Tie.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, the kid even made a face at him...

 876 A Quarrel

    Chapter 876: A Quarrel


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When they exited the airport, Zhang Tie waved his hand towards a green steam taxi. The taxi then parked beside them. Zhang Tie let Zhu Dabiao sit in the co-pilot seat while he and Feng Cangwu sat on the back seats.


    After getting on the vehicle, Feng Cangwu started to twist his body in an uncomfortable way with a faintly stiff facial expression. By contrast, Zhu Dabiao felt pretty fresh. Zhang Tie remained unruffled.


    "Where''re you going?" The driver who was a bit baldheaded turned around and asked them.


    "Take us to the biggest seafood trading market in Embracing Tiger City!" Zhang Tie said in Hua language.


    "Ahh, the biggest seafood trading market is located in the Whitesand Gulf. It''s in the south of Embracing City over 25 miles away from here. It will cost you 2 silver coins, sir!" The driver quoted. If the passengers disagreed, they had to get off.


    "No problem, let''s go!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s answer, the driver started the car. With a slight shock, the green taxi started to run.


    "Are you really going to buy seafood?" Zhu Dabiao asked Zhang Tie with a serious look.


    "I''ve told you. I''m here to do that!" Zhang Tie explained.


    Although he had mentioned it to Zhu Dabiao and Feng Cangwu before they came here, the two guys didn''t believe that Zhang Tie was here for setting free sea living beings. Therefore, they followed Zhang Tie here.


    "Hahaha, that''s interesting..." Zhu Dabiao rolled his eyes before saying, "If it really works as you''ve told us, I will have a try too. I''d like to see whether Gaya will pay special attention to me!"


    "As long as you stick to it, you will see the effect!" Zhang Tie said.


    "Really?"


    "Practice is the sole criterion for testing the truth!" Zhang Tie replied with the most popular sentence among Hua people before the Catastrophe.


    Zhu Dabiao replied with a smile before turning back. Watching the scenery outside the window, Zhu Dabiao made a comment, "Embracing Tiger City is really developing well. The population is rising here..."


    "It will be better!" Zhang Tie added.


    Previously, Zhu Dabiao only wanted to look around Golden Sea City after coming back from Youzhou City with Zhang Tie. After the lantern festival, he would recruit some subordinates and purchase some materials in Yanghe Prefecture before building 1 or 2 towns and settlements in the land that he had bought for the preparation of further development. It was also the regular method for Taixia Country to develop border areas.


    Benefited from the convenience of sea trade, Yanghe Prefecture was very developed in human trafficking or gracefully "border economy". Those foreign population from other subcontinents or Chaosang Sub-continent which was adjacent to Taixia Country would be transported to Embracing Tiger Harbor by huge ships and become members of the contingent in the border areas of Taixia Country. Along with these people were a large number of materials, capital, valuable equipment and machines from all the other subcontinents.


    After Youzhou promoted to an established lower province in Taixia Country, the "border economy" in Yanghe Prefecture became hotter. Local major clans and foreign major clans which wanted to expand their domestic territories in Youzhou Province would demand a lot of cheap labor forces to make their cheap land "alive" or to constantly consolidate their domestic territories and population size. New border residents would also bring greater market demand and a lot of capital, which were very beneficial to a lower province which was vast and sparsely populated.


    The holy war pushed all the subcontinents surrounding Taixia Country to transfer their population, capital and industries to the Eastern Continent. On this occasion, the prices of population, materials and equipment were pretty cheap in Embracing Tiger City. Those border foreign residents could have a bit dignity with the protection of the laws of Taixia Country; however, those machines and equipment that were transported from other subcontinents to Taixia Country were directly sold at the price of metal craps. Some were even sold in terms of ships. As long as they could offset their freight and bring a bit benefit to their owners, they would be constantly transported to Taixia Country from all the surrounding subcontinents. This was a grander feast for the major clans in Taixia Country.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how would the holy war underwent; however, given the current situation, the holy war seemingly provided a chance for major clans in Taixia Country to exploit those subcontinents around the Eastern Continent. Due to the holy war, Taixia Country firstly grew more powerful instead of suffering a catastrophe...


    Perhaps this was the rudimentary reason for Taixia Country to only interfere with the battles in the subcontinents to a certain degree at the beginning of the holy war. The demons drove the resources from all the subcontinents to Taixia Country. How could Taixia Country which flew the blood of Hua people fight for those foreigners at the cost of the strength of itself? How could it prevent these resources from flowing into its own territory by maintaining the safety and stability of those subcontinents?


    Retrospecting to the history of humans, each worldwide war provided the best development time for those safe and stable countries and continents which were far from battle flames. The power of Hua people in this age was closely related to the safety and stability of the Eastern Continent in the earlier two holy wars.


    Watching the boisterous streets outside the airport, Zhang Tie realized something.


    Since they got on the vehicle, Feng Cangwu had been feeling uncomfortable. In only a few minutes, Feng Cangwu''s body had become stiff. His uneasiness grew each second.


    After staying with Feng Cangwu for so many days, Zhang Tie also knew that this guy was not only very arrogant but also a clean freak. He would take bath two times a day and would never use items which had been used by others. However, this guy''s response in the taxi really made Zhang Tie amazed. Although this taxi was not deluxe or new, it was at least okay; of course, unavoidably, hundreds even thousands of people had sat on the back seats. Although the cover of the seats didn''t look dirty, its color had faded away.


    "Haven''t you taken a taxi before?" Zhang Tie asked Feng Cangwu.


    "Not yet!" Feng Cangwu shook his head.


    "Young man, you''ve not even taken a taxi before? It seems that you come from rural areas. Many people would have a carsickness or feel like throwing up when they took a taxi for the first time; if you feel like throwing up, please tell me in advance. I will park it on the roadside. Don''t vomit it in the car. It''s hard to clean!" After hearing Feng Cangwu''s words, the driver started to "instruct" him. Finally, he added with a good intention, "Young man, don''t just stay in the rural area. You need to look around. It only takes you a few silver coins for a ride. Don''t be that frugal; otherwise, you will regret it when you''re old."


    After hearing this, Zhang Tie tried his best to not burst out into laughter. Even Zhu Dabiao''s shoulders kept quivering. Only Feng Cangwu''s face turned black at once...


    When they came to Embracing Tiger City, at Zhang Tie''s request, all of them had changed a set of very common clothes. Therefore, others could barely identify their statuses; otherwise, if they loitered in the seafood market in expensive boa-silk clothes, they would look very strange and would send a signal to those sellers that they were here to be ripped off, not to mention potential troubles...


    Zhang Tie knew the living conditions and thoughts of the small figures at the bottom of the society pretty well.


    Feng Cangwu wanted to say something; however, he finally stopped because he didn''t think that he had deteriorated to quarrel with a taxi driver. Nevertheless, after swallowing his words, Feng Cangwu felt like swallowing dozens of balloons as he felt pretty inflated...


    In less than one hour, the driver had taken them to the Whitesand Gulf in the south of Embracing Tiger City along the coastline.


    Being miles away from the Whitesand Gulf, they had smelt a special fishy sense from the sea wind that blew from there.


    Compared to the Embracing Tiger Harbor which was anchored with huge passenger liners, the Whitesand Gulf was anchored with a lot of fishing boats, which varied from dozens of tons to tens of thousands of tons.


    There was a fishery processing plant covering several square miles being close to the Whitesand Gulf. Right between the processing plant and the docks, they saw the biggest seafood market in Yanghe Prefecture.


    Soon after they entered there had they seen many workers in black rubber water-proof pants busy unloading seafood and big fishes from big ships by crane...


    "Here we are, did you see the place with blue steel tiles in front of us? That''s the biggest seafood market in the Embracing Tiger City. The seafood market here is very large, it divides into many regions. If you want to buy something more fresh, you could go to the docks and directly buy them from those fishing boats. However, those seafood on fishing boats are only sold in terms of ship or wholesale!"


    After parking the car, the driver made an explanation to his passengers kindly. Zhang Tie then fumbled 3 silver coins out of his pocket and gave them to the driver. After that, he pulled open the door of the vehicle and got off the car with Feng Cangwu and Zhu Dabiao.


    "I''ve not taken a taxi before; however, I''m not from the rural area!"


    Before getting off, Feng Cangwu finally poured out the words that he had been standing so much on the vehicle. As a result, the driver threw a glance at him like watching a lunatic. At the same time, Zhang Tie and Zhu Dabiao burst into laughter.


    After the driver drove away, the three guys stood nearby a region of the seafood market. Smelling the stimulative fishy and bloody smell, Feng Cangwu turned his face once again.


    Watching them still exchanging glances with each other, a slightly shorter guy ran over from afar immediately. The moment he arrived in front of them, he had nodded and bowed towards them very politely, "Welcome, do you need any help?"


    His Hua language sounded a bit weird; however, he looked similar to Hua people; besides, his humble smile made people feel good.


    "You''re...from Chaosang Subcontinent?" Zhang Tie asked after throwing a glance at him given the knowledge that he had learned.


    "I''m Haruki Murakami. I''m from Chaosang Subcontinent. I can provide you with the information about fish trade in Whitesand Gulf. Please give me your concern!" As this man replied to them, he made another deep bow towards Zhang Tie. His head could almost touch his knees.


    "My guests, if you''re new here, Park Yong Tai hopes to serve you!" Another guy ran over here with a big smile.


    Compared to the guy called Haruki Murakami, this guy had a big round face and small eyes, which looked a bit ridiculous but impressive...


    Haruki Murakami immediately threw a glare at Park Yong Tai; Park Young Tai also glared at Haruki Murakami, being not to be outdone...


    After throwing another glare at each other, they turned around and watched Zhang Tie, Zhu Dabiao and Feng Cangwu at the same time.


    "If you want to learn the fish trading information in Whitesand Gulf or buy something, this humble man is glad to serve you three and will never let you down!" Haruki Murakami said.


    "If he could do it, I could do it too; additionally, I only need half of his premium!" Pak Young Tai immediately made a response.


    ''F*ck, I''ve not imagined that I could see two human races in Chaosang Subcontinents quarrel with each other in front of us the moment we come here...'' Zhang Tie swore inside.

 877 Locking the Targets

    Chapter 877: Locking the Targets


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The Fusang people and Xinluo people in Chaosang Subcontinent were always opponents. Although living in the same subcontinent, the two people had their own countries, which were incompatible as fire and water. They used to fight each other from time to time. In the almost 1 millennium from the age before the Catastrophe to the present, the two human races had never been in peaceful co-existence. Even though Zhang Tie didn''t know the reason.


    Except for one commonplace, namely, the two people always called themselves the descendants of Hua people in Taixia Country even though they belittled and attacked each other. They both wanted to return to Taixia Country to gain the official approval of Taixia Country.


    A lot of Xinluo people and Fusang people were living in Youzhou Province, except for some of them came to Taixia Country legally, most of them arrived there by secret ferry. Many Gaoli People and Fusang People even voluntarily sold themselves to be border residents in Taixia Country. For major clans of Taixia Country, the servants of the two peoples were extremely diligent and docile; especially Fusang people, female Fusang people were very obedient while male Fusang people could usually be trained as domestic dare-to-die warriors.


    Haruki Murakami and Pak Yong Tai were all in the line of fish trading information provision in Whitesand Gulf. Both of them were small figures at the bottom of the society. However, they didn''t forget about being hostile against each other; instead, they even became more antagonistic against the opponent. As long as they could destroy the others'' good plan, they would definitely surge forward.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could meet two people from Chaosang Subcontinent here. However, he was really shocked by the performances of them. Therefore, Zhang Tie had some special thought.


    ''Besides setting living beings free, I need two able men to do that for me in Golden Sea City. After all, I could not stay in Golden Sea City forever.''


    ''As a clan elder, if I mobilized the strength of the clan to set living beings free, it might arouse big troubles and various guesses. If so, the karma might be destroyed. Finally, I might not be able to get any fruit at all.''


    ''Therefore, I''d better be low-key.''


    ''After promoting to a knight, it''s extremely hard to form the earth chakra, this kind of fruit which could constantly improve the battle strength actually becomes more precious.'' Zhang Tie determined to pay special attention to this thing.


    ''Actually, I''ve not developed the fruit of redemption very well. I could set free a lot of animals. However, as of now, I have only taken a couple of fruits of redemption.''


    "Are you familiar with the situation here?"


    "Of course, I''ve lived in Embracing Tiger City for one decade. I''m very familiar with the situation here; unlike someone who has just been here for a couple of years!" Pak Yong Tai hurriedly replied.


    Given the orthodox Hua language, Zhang Tie knew that this guy must have lived longer here.


    After throwing a glare at Pak Yong Tai, Haruki Murakami explained in a calm yet aggressive tone, "All my guests are returning customers. I have the best reputation here; unlike someone. As a fishery agent, I''m intelligent and concentrative to save money and create the most value for my customers!"


    "That''s fine, I will employ both of you today. Besides your fixed compensation, the one with better performance could enjoy a bonus!" Zhang Tie said with a confident look.


    After throwing another glare at each other, Haruki Murakami and Pak Yong Tai uttered in unison while bowing deeply towards Zhang Tie, "Glad to serve you, sir!"


    "Alright, show me around the market first. I want to learn about the fresh aquatic products. You can give me an introduction about them!" Zhang Tie pointed at the boisterous steel shelter which was closest to him.


    Haruki Murakami and Pak Young Tai then led them towards the trading market.


    "Sorry for my rudeness, what do I call you three?"


    Haruki Murakami was indeed wiser and politer than Pak Yong Tai. The moment they moved, he had asked Zhang Tie such a question meticulously.


    "My surname is Zhang, the two are my friends!" Zhang Tie told Haruki Murakami that he was the main buyer.


    "Ahh, in the Hua people of Taixia Country, Zhang''s ancestors were the direct descendants of Emperor Xuanyuan and the creator of the human battle bow. It''s a great, honorable family name!" Haruki Murakami said while flickering his eyes. Meanwhile, he expressed his obvious admiration to the family name Zhang, "Through study, the two family names Shenmu and Shangmu in our Fushang people are all branches of Zhang Clan. The so-called Shenmu and Shangmu are all raw materials of bows. The two family names carry our admiration and memory about the family name Zhang."


    "F*rt!" Pak Yong Tai couldn''t stand to spring up from the ground, "Our Xinluo people''s ancestors were the direct descendants of Far-ancient Hua people. Therefore, our surnames are as same as that of Hua people. You Fusang people are just monkeys and barbarians living on isles!"


    "You Xinluo people are all pickpocketers and actors. Before the Catastrophe, you even said the God was Xinluo people and shared the same surname as you. Of course, you are pickpocketers!" Haruki Murakami instantly answered back sarcastically.


    Pak Yong Tai went berserk...


    "If you say any nonsense, please leave us. I''m not here to listen to you quarrel with each other!" Zhang Tie opened his mouth in a distant tone.


    The moment they heard Zhang Tie''s voice, Haruki Murakami''s and Pak Yong Tai''s hearts raced as they shut up immediately.


    ...


    The fresh seafood trading market was very huge, which was at least hundreds of times larger than that trading market in Hidden Dragon Island. Of course, the seafood products here were more varified in greater quantity.


    The entire fresh seafood trading market across Whitesand Gulf was full of human voices. The ground was covered with fishy and bloody water stains. Besides smelly crew members and workers holding big scoops, those pedlars were bargaining with customers and slaughtering marine living beings, causing bloody guts everywhere...


    After entering here for less than half a minute, Feng Cangwu''s face had turned pale. His trouser legs were sprayed with stinky mud, which was caused by some crew members who were passing by with some water tanks. On such an occasion, even knights could not avoid from such an embarrassing thing unless they flew off or used their protective battle qi.


    Besides taking a taxi for the first time, it might be the first time for this elite apprentice of Heavens Fortune Sect to visit this place.


    Feng Cangwu could not think it through why Zhang Tie could be as cool as a cucumber in such a dirty place.


    Besides walking and looking around, Zhang Tie even bargained with those pedlars and inquired information from those crew members as if he were a fishmonger.


    Not only Feng Cangwu, even Zhu Dabiao had a new recognition of Zhang Tie.


    Given Zhang Tie''s current look, nobody could imagine that he was the very Lion of Youzhou Province and the former dean of Provincial Court.


    Zhang Tie''s horizon was greatly widened by so many fresh seafoods in the market including shrimps, crabs, fishes, shellfishes, conches, sea cucumbers and echinus. There were over 10 kinds of shrimps, 7-8 kinds of crabs and over 20 fishes. Abalone, fan shell, echinus, golden crab, saury, Spanish Mackerel, opium fish, flatfish, turbot, small-mouth fish, red porgy, blackfish, yellow-fin tuna, shark, yellow croaker, sea snail, triumphant star turban, emperor snail, Mantis shrimp, prawn, lobster, north sea shellfish and oyster were most popular.


    It took them over 1 hour to take a round in the market. Zhang Tie also worked out a plan.


    If Zhang Tie were the God, he only needed to wave his hands to let everything run according to his will and he must choose to set free all the animals at this moment; however, he wasn''t. Therefore, he could only follow the principle of pragmatism and utilitarianism.


    The animals that he was going to release should not be as rare as marine animals were always expensive and could not be constantly set free. It was very difficult for Zhang Tie to take one fruit of redemption from such rare animals.


    Instead, the animals that Zhang Tie was going to set free should be numerous in quantity and could be released all the year round so that he could get fruits one after another. Secondly, such an animal should be cheap so that he could maximize the value of his fund. ''The value of life could not be measured by gold coins; therefore, the value of seafood could not be measured by gold coins. I''ve already learned it from earthworms.'' Thirdly, Zhang Tie insisted to not release hot seafood; he preferred common marine animals so that nobody else would like to compete with him and his behavior would not arouse the attention of others.


    After inspecting and learning something from Haruki Murakami and Pak Yong Tai, Zhang Tie finally targeted at two common seafood: One was a tiny shrimp with a thick shell called gulf shrimp whose price was 45 copper coins per kg in Whitesand Gulf. It was very cheap. All the fishing boats would carry a lot of such gulf shrimps. The other one was a shellfish called hairy shellfish, which was numerous in quantity in Whitesand Gulf at a lower price. Each kg of hairy shellfish was only worth about 18 copper coins. The flesh of such a kind of shellfish tasted average; occasionally, people could get pearls from them; however, as hairy shellfish could produce very few pearls, which were always average, nobody paid attention to them.


    When Zhang Tie told Haruki Murakami and Pak Yong Tai to rent a big fishing boat, to buy all the gulf shrimps and hairy shellfish in the market today and to set free all of them in the ocean, Haruki Murakami and Pak Yong Tai were a bit dumbfounded. Until Zhang Tie handed a gold check whose par value was 500 gold coins to each other did they realize that Zhang Tie was not kidding...


    Actually, Zhang Tie also wondered what kind of fruits would he gain by setting free the two animals!

 878 Making an Arrangement in Whitesand Gulf

    Chapter 878: Making an Arrangement in Whitesand Gulf


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    A steam, smoking fishing vessel whose water discharge was about 100 tons appeared on the open water over 7 miles away from Whitesand Gulf in the south with its crew and cases of seafood, making a sound of "tutututu".


    The fishing vessel was just a bit bumpy on the sea.


    As it was afternoon, people could see the limpid and blue sea water under the sunlight.


    This open water was relatively tranquil. Additionally, fewer vessels were fishing here.


    After arriving at the destination, the boat head walked out of the cabin and came to the deck of the fore before noticing his passengers who had chartered the boat.


    The deck of the fore was filled with cases of fresh gulf shrimps and hairy shellfish while a group of people was talking about something over there.


    When the boat head drew closer to them, he heard a young man of about 16 years of age talking about something.


    "The God of Protection Church is very famous in Western Continent. They''re very excelled at driving animals. According to the doctrine of this church, human awareness is the most mysterious realm in the universe. When we pay attention to the wild beast that we see, we''re actually telling ourselves that its body is different than ours; therefore, it''s different than us. However, if you stick to such a thought, you''re actually preventing yourself from communicating with these animals. Because you treat the physical differences as the obstacle of your exchanges, you could not reach their inner hearts. Whereas, these animals are all created by Gaya. They are on equal footing with us! Actually, you could ignore the physical differences between them and yourself and try to communicate with them using your awareness..."


    Zhang Tie continued to pretend to be a priest jerk. Based on his acknowledge about the God of Protection Church; especially that he had learned from Krell, he was absolutely qualified to be disguised to be a pious believer of the God of Protection Church.


    Even Feng Cangwu who had always been dubious about Zhang Tie''s talent started to believe that Zhang Tie was a pious believer of the God of Patron Church. At least, Zhang Tie adopted the theory of the God of Patron Church. It might be strange if a Hua knight who had been living in Taixia Country was interested in foreign religions; however, it was understandable for Zhang Tie who grew up in a subcontinent to be interested in the God of Protection Church.


    When Zhang Tie talked about the religion, Haruki Murakami and Pak Tai Yong both watched him with an admirable expression whether being real or not.


    "You mean, you could communicate with these maritime animals?" Zhu Dabiao asked Zhang Tie with a dubious look.


    Zhang Tie revealed a modest smile as he continued to fabricate a bigger lie so as to lay a foundation for explaining some of his abilities which were benefited from cultivating "the Great Wilderness Sutra" in Taixia Country. ''If someone finds out that I could drive animals, I hope they''re not too shocked; as this is the secret skill that I''ve learned from the God of Protection Church.'' "Based on my ability, I could indeed make simple exchanges with these maritime animals. I''ve also slightly learned how to drive animals. It was taught by a wild patron when I was in Waii Subcontinent!"


    "Show us, hurry, show us..." Zhu Dabiao''s curiosity was raised as he couldn''t wait to urge Zhang Tie, "My grandpa also has an animal controller; however, that old guy is too arrogant. Besides treating my grandpa respectfully, he just ignores me..."


    After hearing their talk, the boat head became quiet. He had also heard about animal controller; however, he could never imagine that there was an animal controller in his boat. As for these guys who survived on their labor force, the world of animal controllers was too far away from their world.


    There was a huge iron-sheet water tank in front of them, which was filled with gulf shrimps.


    Under the gaze of the others, Zhang Tie walked to the huge water tank and stretched out his hand, "Come on, show us three of you!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, 3 gulf shrimps obediently climbed onto Zhang Tie''s hand and stood in a line tidily.


    "Raise your right hand!"


    The three gulf shrimps raised high their right pincers at the same time...


    "Put it down!"


    The three gulf shrimps put down their right pincers at the same time...


    "Raise your left hand!"


    The three gulf shrimps raised their left pincers at the same time...


    "Put it down!"


    The three gulf shrimps put down their left pincers at the same time...


    "Raise both your hands up..."


    In a split second, 6 pincers were raised up at the same time...


    Except for Feng Cangwu, all the others at present were shocked, including the boat head. They were not in a circus; instead, a young guy was displaying his skill to control animals. Although they were just three tiny gulf shrimps, their performance was marvelous!


    "Well done, go back to your water tank now. Tell your brothers and sisters that they''re going back home soon!"


    The three gulf shrimps then climbed back into the water tank. Only after a few seconds, all the gulf shrimps in the water tank in front of Zhang Tie became restless as they were clipping their pincers, making a sound "Kakakaka". Soon after that, all the gulf shrimps across the fishing boat became restless as if they had received the news. As a result, the sound "Kakakaka" was drifted from all the water tanks across the boat like drum beats. As a result, all the boatmen became stunned...


    At this moment, Haruki Murakami and Pak Tai Yong were watching Zhang Tie with full awe-stricken expressions.


    When Zhu Dabiao said that his grandpa had an animal controller, the two fishing information agents had realized that Zhang Tie''s status was special. After watching Zhang Tie''s performance, they behaved in a more modest way.


    The boat head was also stunned as he had not seen this after fishing dozens of years. After swallowing his saliva, he told them with a respectful voice, "Here we are..."


    "Stop the vessel and help these living beings return to the ocean then!" Zhang Tie issued the order. Closely after that, he put his palms together devoutly and closed his eyes before muttering the prayer of the God of Protection Church like a priest jerk...


    "The mother of the land which carries all the living beings, please open your mind and welcome me and your living beings so that they could return to your infinite bosom and integrate with you in the light of your love..."


    When Zhang Tie was muttering the solemn prayer, all the people in the ship started to pour tanks of gulf shrimps into the sea while the exit of the water storehouse at the bottom of the ship was opened, discharging the hairy shellfish...


    This time, Zhang Tie bought over 3,000 kg''s gulf shrimps and 4,600 kg''s hairy shellfish. However, plus the rent of this ship, the total price was less than 25 gold coins.


    Only in a few minutes, after Zhang Tie finished his prayer, all the gulf shrimps and hairy shellfish had returned to the ocean.


    When those gulf shrimps and hairy shellfish got rid of their death destiny and gained their rebirth and freedom, Zhang Tie faintly felt an invisible energy of gratitude gathering in his body, making him pleasant all over. He felt everything was bright and nice.


    ''Living beings really have their souls!''


    After setting free the maritime animals, the fishing boat turned around and returned to the Whitesand Gulf.


    ...


    After paying off the balance payment to the boat head, Haruki Murakami and Pak Tai Yong gave the remaining gold coins and gold checks back to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie promised 1 gold coin to each of them. According to the income of the fishing information agents, their minimal service fee was 50 copper coins. In block trading, the commission would not exceed 1% of the trading volume. Therefore, 1 gold coin was already a fat return for each of them. Generally, they might not gain 1 gold coin in half a month. During bad luck, they might not even gain 1 gold coin in one month.


    Zhang Tie didn''t take the gold coins and gold checks from them; instead, he asked, "How much could you make in one year in this line?"


    "7 to 20 gold coins!" Haruki Murakami replied.


    Pak Yong Tai nodded. This might the sole tacit deed between them since the beginning. The income in this line varied greatly. However, It depended.


    "I need two people to help me set free maritime animals in Whitesand Gulf every day. I will pay you 50 gold coins a year. Would you like to serve me?"


    Haruki Murakami immediately bowed deeply as his head could almost touch his knees, "Haruki Murakami will definitely live up to your expectation!"


    Closely followed by Pak Young Tai.


    This was undoubtedly good for them.


    Zhang Tie watched them as he continued, "You can take this money first as your first year''s compensation. As for the remaining payment, Haruki Murakami will take charge of buying gulf shrimps and setting them free in Whitesand Gulf every day, Pak Yong Tai will take charge of buying hairy shellfish and setting them free. I don''t care how you spend it. You need to supervise each other; however, you cannot cause the other one any trouble. In the future, I might only employ one of you. Therefore, it depends on your performance. After a few days, I will dispatch a man called Paul to find you. He will be your head. You can report any problem to him. If you use up your money, remember to ask from him."


    Zhang Tie was not worried that any one of them dared escape away with his payment. On the premise of having a high compensation, if any one of them really would like to be a criminal in Taixia Country only for hundreds of gold coins, Zhang Tie would not make any comment about him. After all, Zhang Tie had not felt about losing such a bit of money. However, if they didn''t escape away with his payment, it was a good way to have them supervise and compete with each other, which would be a stable source of fruits. Therefore, Zhang Tie wouldn''t suffer a loss from this trade.


    This was also a way to use talented people. Wisdom lay in details.


    Soon after they went ashore, Zhang Tie had received the message from his elder brother through remote-sensing crystal¡ª¡ªHuaiyuan Palace has sent Aimei and Aixue home, dad and mom like them very much...

 879 Excessive

    Chapter 879: Excessive


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After making an arrangement in setting free maritime animals in Embracing Tiger City, Zhang Tie received Zhang Yang''s message. Therefore, Zhang Tie soon returned to Golden Light City by airship from the airport in Embracing Tiger City.


    After spending one day with Zhang Tie in Whitesand Gulf, Zhu Dabiao and Feng Cangwu both had a new recognition of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie also reached his target.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was not coming back hurriedly to make love with Aimei and Aixue; he always respected them. No matter what, after asking for the two girls from Huaiyuan Palace, he would be their husband from then on. Therefore, he had to treasure them.


    When Zhang Tie was going back to his berth cabin to absorb earth-elements crystals, he was stopped by Zhu Dabiao. Rubbing his hands, Zhu Dabiao flickered his eyes.


    "If I always buy maritime animals and set them free, will I also cultivate the animal controlling skill like you?"


    ''What is this guy thinking about?'' Zhang Tie became speechless. ''If animal controllers could be bought, they would never be so rare in the world.''"You want to be an animal controller?" Zhang Tie threw a glance at Zhu Dabiao.


    "Of course, your performance today was so cool. If I could also master this skill, I could accost girls in this way!"


    ''F*ck, you want to learn animal controlling skill only to accost girls?'' Zhang Tie swore inside, ''If this guy wants to learn from other animal controllers, for this reason, he might be beaten to death.''


    "The animal controlling skill relies on your realization. Listen to me, you can buy a pet and stay with it. One day, if you find that you could communicate with it even being silent, it indicates that you have the potential to be an animal controller. Otherwise, it wouldn''t work no matter how many animals you set free. However, according to the God of Protection Church, the more you set free, the luckier you will be. You will get the protection of Gaya, the mother of land!" Zhang Tie explained patiently like it was real. He didn''t want to disappoint Zhu Dabiao.


    "Is that real?"


    "Yup!"


    "Well, I will find a cat or dog to test whether do I have the potential to be an animal controller after coming back!" Zhu Dabiao said as he walked towards his room as he made a hand gesture in the air out of excitement...


    Seeing Zhu Dabiao off, Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile before coming back to his own cabin. After that, he closed the door and took out one earth-element crystal from Castle of Black Iron in order to absorb it.


    Through the master artisan in Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie''s nanobead had become a mithril finger ring in only 2 days. The finger ring looked square and slightly big and coarse, making it plain. Additionally, it carried a rune effect of recovering one''s physical strength by 11%. Nobody could see the nanobead embedded in the finger ring.


    With this item as a cover, nobody would doubt that when Zhang Tie took items out of Castle of Black Iron. The space of the nanobead was like a private safe. Besides Zhang Tie, nobody else would know what he had stored inside it.


    ...


    Golden Light City was only 250 miles away from Embracing Tiger City. The airship would arrive at Golden Light City in about 2 hours, during which period, Zhang Tie could rightly absorb one earth-element crystal.


    When the airship landed in Zhang family''s manor, Zhang Tie had almost absorbed one earth-element crystal. The dusk had just fallen when the lamps in the courtyard of Zhang family''s manor had just been lit up.


    When he was getting off the airship, Feng Cangwu was still tightly frowning his eyebrows as if he was concerning about something. Being simulated by Zhang Tie''s performance in the daytime, after telling Zhang Tie about his intention, he had hurriedly returned to his own courtyard. Although it was late, Zhu Dabiao still let a guard of Zhang Tie''s family lead him to a pet trading market in Golden Light City for selecting a pet.


    Zhang Tie rapidly entered the main mansion as he knew that his family members must be waiting for him to eat supper due to the arrival of Aimei and Aixue.


    Feng Cangwu and Zhu Dabiao had finished their supper in the airship. In normal times, Feng Cangwu used to eat in his own courtyard; however, Zhu Dabiao ate everywhere; he used to eat outside. Occasionally, he would eat with Zhang Tie''s family members in the main mansion without feeling bashful at all.


    ...


    When he caught sight of Aimei and Aixue, he found they were sitting on Linda''s side and talking with his family members.


    Today, Aimei and Aixue both wore a beautiful longuette, which looked elegant and graceful. Watching Zhang Tie entering, Zhang Tie''s family members instantly threw their glances at him.


    "Uncle has new wives..." Zhang Chengze and Zhang Shiyu applauded as they exclaimed.


    Aimei and Aixue''s faces blushed. Only after throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, they had moved their eyes away rapidly. Zhang Tie also felt his face hot. ''Although Aimei and Aixue were arranged by Huaiyuan Palace, they might be very satisfied to be here. However, as I asked for them from Huaiyuan Palace, I feel like being a villain in the village who forcibly occupies beautiful girls of some family.''


    "Ahem...ahem...you''re all here. Come on, let''s start the dinner..." Zhang Tie walked to his chair, pulling it out and taking a seat in a calm way.


    "Come on, eat..." Zhang Tie''s dad uttered while all the family members started to move their chopsticks.


    Although it was just a simple dinner, it indicated that Aimei and Aixue would become members of Zhang Tie''s family from today on.


    It was a bumper dinner. Zhang Tie nipped dishes for Aixue, Aimei and Linda by chopsticks.


    Gradually Aimei and Aixue became relaxed.


    After supper, Zhang Tie''s mom gifted one pair of her bracelets to Aimei and Aixue respectively. Zhang Tie''s elder sister-in-law and wives also presented gifts to Aimei and Aixue. Zhang Tie''s dad warned Zhang Tie with a "solemn" look to not bully Aixue and Aimei from then on.


    When the kids of Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang seriously queued up to call Aimei and Aixue aunts, the sisters'' eyes turned red.


    As two girls who had become orphans since childhood and could not sense the warmth of family, they felt like dreaming about everything in Zhang Tie''s family.


    Before coming to Zhang Tie''s family, although the two sisters were surprised about being selected by Zhang Tie, they were afraid of being not able to get along with his family members. Therefore, they felt restless and pretty meticulous. However, after coming to Zhang Tie''s family, they were really shocked by the harmonious and warm atmosphere in Zhang Tie''s family. Even Linda, Beverly and Fiona were pretty kind to them, not to mention Zhang Tie''s dad and mom. Therefore, Aimei and Aixue felt reassured.


    ...


    After the reunion, Zhang Tie''s dad and mom said they were going to bed, the other family members then returned to their own bedrooms too.


    Linda, Beverly and Fiona led Aimei and Aixue to Zhang Tie''s private mansion; showing them around the mansion and introducing their servants to them.


    The bedrooms of Aimei and Aixue were newly furnished, which were spacious, luxurious and jubilant.


    "We will hand him to you tonight. You''d better prepare well for that. I''m afraid that he will not let you sleep well tonight!" Don''t let your elder sisters-in-law laugh at you if you cannot get up early the next morning." Fiona joked as she threw an "enchanting" glance at Zhang Tie.


    After hearing Fiona''s words, Aimei and Aixue blushed at once. Zhang Tie also felt a bit bashful as he threw a "threatening" glance at Fiona.


    "Fiona, don''t scare Aimei and Aixue anymore. Zhang Tie will care about their feelings!" Beverly smiled.


    "Well, let''s go back. It''s too late!" Linda said in a tolerant tone.


    "Thanks for your care, three elder sisters!" Aimei and Aixue threw a glance at each other before crossing their hands and putting them on the left side of their waists before lowing their bodies towards Linda, Beverly and Fiona with Chinese characteristic.


    "Ahh, I almost forgot that our bedrooms are soundproof. You can exclaim as loudly as you can, nobody else could hear that!" Fiona added...


    "Pah!" Zhang Tie, who couldn''t stand her anymore, patted Fiona''s plump butt...


    ...


    Linda, Beverly and Fiona then left the room, leaving Zhang Tie, Aimei and Aixue inside.


    Watching the pair of beautiful sisters, Zhang Tie''s heart started to race crazily.


    "Ahem...ahem...it''s too late. I will take a bath. Then, we will take a rest!" Zhang Tie said with a "solemn" look.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Aimei and Aixue moved close to him with rosy cheeks before saying in a low voice like mosquitoes'' buzz, "Hubby, let us take off clothes for you!"


    They then started to undo Zhang Tie''s waistband with their quivering hands...


    ...


    This night, Zhang Tie was immersed in the gentle and soft dreamland with two Hua girls for the first time...


    ...


    However, Xuanyuan Hill, a mysterious place being far away from Youzhou Province which was admired by all the people in the world was also not tranquil over this night...


    An urgent message sent from Youzhou Province through remote-sensing crystal only contained a few words. After being deciphered, they were recorded on a secret piece of paper before being placed in a sealed metal cylinder. After being posted with an urgent symbol, the cylinder was finally presented to a dignified man with a yellowish face in the shortest period after passing some checks through some postmen.


    The man uncorked the metal cylinder and took out that secret piece of paper. After spreading it on the desk, he saw a line of words¡ª¡ª


    ¡ª¡ªZhang Taixuan appointed Zhang Yuanshan as the new dean of the Provincial Court of Youzhou Province; Zhang Mushen resigned and became a bounty hunter!


    "Excessive! You''re seeking for death!"


    The man just replied with a cold harrumph while the secret piece of paper, the metal cylinder and the desk had become powders in a split second after being twisted...

 880 Settling Down

    Chapter 880: Settling Down


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It soon came to the February of the 900th year of Black Iron Calendar...


    Although there were constantly unstable factors outside, Zhang Tie''s family was still peaceful...


    After Aimei and Aixue came to Zhang Tie''s family for two weeks, Zhang Yang finally accomplished his authentication as an orange robe pharmacist in the Pharmacists Union in Youzhou City.


    This news aroused a shock in a certain region although it was not that shocking compared to when Zhang Tie competed for the provincial governor for Zhang Clan in Youzhou City.


    By now, Zhang Tie was a knight and a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace as a cultivation talent in Zhang Clan who would not be encountered in 100 years and the lion of Youzhou Province; Zhang Yang was a pharmacist talent who had promoted to an orange robe pharmacist at his 30s and became influential in the circle of pharmacists in Youzhou Province. In the opinions of the public, Zhang Tie''s family had started to enter a wholly new rising track while its potential to be a major clan had gradually manifested.


    The rudimentary reason that Zhang Yang chose to promote to an orange robe pharmacist at this moment and reveal his trump card was that he sensed the great stress facing Zhang Clan and Huaiyuan Palace. Under this great stress, Zhang Clan must have a greater influence and root deeper in Taixia so as to be stable and unswerving. Therefore, after negotiating with Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang revealed his trump card a few years earlier than that in their former plan, which indicated that Zhang Tie''s family contained a knight and a pharmacist. Besides, Zhang Tie''s family could borrow the strength from the circle of pharmacists.


    When Zhang Yang promoted to an orange robe pharmacist, Jinwu Shipyard had silently merged the domestic shipyard being affiliated to Huaiyuan Palace. After that, the new Jinwu Shipyard became the largest shipyard in Youzhou Province and monopolized over 60% of market shares of the shipbuilding industry in Youzhou Province.


    In the same February, soon after the snow melt, a construction brigade of almost 100,000 people had left for the land that Zhang Tie had just bought and made preparations for the construction of Jinwu City, such as prospecting, site selection, road construction and erecting railways. Soon after these preparations were accomplished, constant materials, equipment and workers would enter that wilderland and build Jinwu City at the fastest speed.


    This time, Zhang Tie didn''t show them the blueprints of Jinwu City. When he showed the blueprints of the capital city of Sacred Iceland Kingdom to the public, he could owe them to Huaiyuan Palace; however, now, he would have no reason to explain it. ''It''s very easy for Agan and Aziz. They would like to do that very much if I showed them the blueprints; however, I would arouse their doubts for sure.''


    His elder brother was a pharmacist genius, he was a cultivation genius, if he was also a construction master who learned it himself, what would others think about his family?


    ''I''m already famous enough.'' Zhang Tie really didn''t want to make trouble anymore at this critical moment.


    Thankfully, Taixia Country didn''t lack experts and masters in city construction. Taixia ranked top in construction in the world. Zhang Tie just told them about Agan''s opinions and hand it to professionals.


    The February was bustling. With the smell of early spring, everything looked vigorous.


    On February 13th, the group of members of God''s Will Brotherhood came to Golden Light City.


    This time, it took them must less time from Anping Prefecture of Guizhou Province to Youzhou Province by the fury-level airship that Zhang Tie had dispatched for them.


    Only 11 of the 28 members of the God''s Will Brotherhood would like to "have a big go at it from the scratch" with Zhang Tie in Youzhou Province.


    After going back, according to Zhang Tie''s request, Barley didn''t tell others about Zhang Tie''s current situation. He only told them that Zhang Tie was still alive and had already arrived at Taixia Country, who expected members of the God''s Will Brotherhood to help him.


    Zhang Tie''s reputation as the Lion of Youzhou Province had not spread to Guizhou Province yet. Even if the news that Zhang Mushen the dean of Provincial Court of Youzhou Province inflicted heavy losses on the Heavens Reaching Church spread to Guizhou Province in the future, they could not imagine that Zhang Mushen was Zhang Tie. Even if they were told that Zhang Mushen''s original name was Zhang Tie, they would never link it with the Zhang Tie they knew in Blackhot City. Because the name Zhang Tie was too common in Taixia Country. Even Barley''s group didn''t believe that he could become a knight at the beginning, not to mention others.


    Finally, besides Barley, Doug, Sharwin, Hista, Leit, Bagdad, after receiving the news of Zhang Tie, Potter, Wood, Gandi, Jones and Franca came here without any hesitation. All the others had gotten married and had a family, who had settled down in Guizhou Province. As for those who came here, Wood had already been the father of two kids. Gandi and Jones had gotten married respectively although having no kids for the time being. All the others were still single by far.


    Zhang Tie was already satisfied when he was told that over 1/3 of members of the God''s Will Brotherhood that he founded in Blackhot City would still like to follow him after separating for so many years. As for those who didn''t come, Zhang Tie didn''t blame them as they all had families and hoped to have steady lives. Zhang Tie could completely understand and respect their choice; additionally, he hoped for them to live happily.


    Finally, the hotels and some properties of God''s Will Brotherhood in Anping Prefecture of Guizhou Province were left to those who didn''t come. They had an amicable parting and maintained their friendship in hearts. As of now, the God''s Will Brotherhood gradually became an association of fellow provincials or townsmen from Blackhot City in Waii Subcontinent. However, a more united team came into being on Zhang Tie''s side.


    As the old proverb went, great waves swept away sand. This was also a test to the God''s Will Brotherhood.


    Not until they came to Golden Light City did Potter, Wood, Gandi, Jones and Franca know about Zhang Tie''s current situation. They were all shocked after knowing that Zhang Tie had promoted to a knight.


    Zhang Tie signed with complex emotions about being able to reunite with his friends and brothers whom he recognized in Blackhot City in Golden Light City, besides laughter and tears...


    After living in Golden Light City for 2 days, they had left for Youzhou City.


    Zhang Tie transferred all the properties that he had gained from "Master Jiang" to them, which was dozens of times more valuable than their properties in Guizhou Province. "Master Jiang" had a lot of properties in Youzhou City, most of which were in the prime land sections in Youzhou City. Besides the Jiang Mansion which occupied a wide area of land in Youzhou City, the rent of "Master Jiang" in the Artisan Street in Youzhou City would be over 400,000 gold coins a year.


    After a slight renovation, the Jiang Mansion would become the first high-end deluxe courtyard hotel in Youzhou Province. The rent of the Artisan Street could provide stable cash flow for them. Therefore, Barley and the other guys were ready for their great undertaking.


    This was Zhang Tie''s reward to his friends and brothers who trusted him.


    After the arrival of the members of God''s Will Brotherhood, Linda, Beverly and Fiona were also thrilled. Anyone would feel pleasant if they could reunite with their previous friends in Taixia Country.


    Barley''s group left Golden Sea City on February 15th; only after 3 days, namely on February 18th, Paul who had left Zhang Tie a few months had come back.


    Although Paul didn''t reach Zhang Tie''s target, he still made a great achievement¡ª¡ªFrom this March, a pharmacist clan which bred uangs would distribute one time more golden uangs to Paul, which meant that the number of fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs would increase two times in the same period, namely about 1 fruit per week. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s strength would increase rapidly and steadily.


    As long as he thought that he could have over 70 kg''s strength after taking each fruit of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs, Zhang Tie would be satisfied.


    The main reason that Paul failed to meet Zhang Tie''s target was that the demand for medicament in Taixia Country started to grow. As an important raw material for the medicament, the provision for golden uangs also started to be urgent; therefore, Paul failed to gain golden uangs by great batches.


    Paul also came back with a good news. He learned that someone was breeding earthworms in the rural areas of some prefectures of Tongzhou Province, which were all used for feeding animals just like what Zhang Tie saw in Chevli Village.


    Zhang Tie told Paul that he would be responsible for supervising Haruki Murakami and Pak Yong Tai when they set free gulf shrimps and hairy shellfish in Whitesand Gulf; additionally, Zhang Tie dispatched 4 Spirits people to Paul as his subordinates. From then on, Paul became Zhang Tie''s "Redemption Steward". With 500,000 gold coins a year, he would ensure that Zhang Tie could eat fruits of redemption all the year round.


    Given this point, Zhang Tie felt that Paul was like his employed farmer in his own farmland; however, this employed farmer didn''t plow and sow common fields; neither did he reap common seeds. Paul was plowing and sowing the land of good fortune, yet reaping fruits of redemption for Zhang Tie.


    The fruits of redemption from the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree were the only fruits that could be purchased with the highest cost performance. Therefore, Zhang Tie was very satisfied with them.


    ...


    Zhang Tie passed the entire February in such a bustling atmosphere. When Zhang Tie enjoyed the great fortunes, his human relationships also became smooth; by now, Zhang Tie finally felt having settled down in Taixia Country completely.


    At the end of February, Zhang Tie made a further breakthrough in his cultivation base when the 12th dragon scale on his knight''s crystal plate was lit on.


    On the last day of February, after finishing supper, Zhang Tie''s mom pulled Zhang Tie to one side and told him, "You should go to Yingzhou Province, don''t forget that you''ve one more wife there. Fan Clan has already been urging us..."

 881 Family Strategy I

    On March 1st, the all-purpose medicament base of Jinwu Business Group in Golden Light City...


    The base was built in a heavily guarded fortress. Its security system could match that of vaults in banks. After Zhang Clan and Jinwu Business Group moved to Youzhou Province, this place had become the largest all-purpose medicament plant and metallurgy plant of Jinwu Business Group.


    On one floor of the basement of this base, there were 500 huge half-sealed terrines, each of which was higher than 1 m just like a huge water vat.


    As these terrines were placed so tidily, they were standing in lines from every perspective. When one stood on the stages above this floor and watched them, one would feel like reviewing troops.


    This basement was designed very specially. There was a huge piece of crystal weighing dozens of kilograms on the ground in each fixed distance. The special energy field brought by these huge pieces of crystals would mix with the looming fragrance of the super enzyme in this space; after taking a breath of it, one would feel refreshed and spirited.


    Some workers in white dustproof suits, hats and masks were walking among those huge terrines. They would stop occasionally so as to check the fermentation.


    Even workers should pass 5 safety checks before entering this basement.


    Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang, Zhu Dabiao and Feng Cangwu in white dustproof suits had just entered it and were standing on the steps at the entrance of this floor.


    "Here''s the base of all-purpose medicament!" Zhang Yang introduced it to Zhu Dabiao and Feng Cangwu.


    After hearing Zhang Yang''s words, Zhu Dabiao widely opened his eyes, "All of them?"


    "All of them!" Zhang Yang nodded.


    After being shocked for a few seconds, Zhu Dabiao forcefully swallowed his saliva before asking in a terrified way, "What''s the value of these all-purpose medicaments?"


    The ex-works price of these all-purpose medicaments is 20,000 gold coins per vat. As there''re 500 vats in front of us, they are worth at least 10 million gold coins. Based on the market quotation, their terminal retail price might be above 15 million gold coins."


    Even though Feng Cangwu was always distant, after hearing that the items in these vats were worth about 15 million gold coins, he also raised his eyebrows.


    Even in Taixia Country, this was also a big figure for many people.


    "How many vials of all-purpose medicament could Jinwu Business Group produce each year?"


    "This year, we plan to produce 15 million vials of all-purpose medicament. The total sales volume would break the upper limit of 100 million gold coins!"


    When they talked about that, they went downstairs and traveled across those huge vats.


    Walking through those terrines, the fragrance of all-purpose medicament grew dense.


    Each terrine was marked with an exclusive number. There were a production date and a fermentation date under each number. There was even a log sheet beside each number, which contained the signature of the director of each procedure. Each link of the production process was under strict control. Therefore, the quality of these all-purpose medicaments was guaranteed.


    Previously, Jinwu Business Group needed to purchase vials for all-purpose medicament from outside; now, Jinwu Business Group could produce vials for their all-purpose medicament themselves; additionally, they had over 10 orchards where they planted various fruits in Yanghe Prefecture. They could realize self-sufficiency. That was to say, nobody could influence the production of Jinwu Business Group.


    "What are these crystal generators used for?" Zhu Dabiao asked out of curiosity as he watched those huge pieces of crystals.


    "Through the test, we found that huge pieces of high-quality crystals could improve the quality and activity of all-purpose medicament!"


    After wandering here for a short while, Zhang Yang opened a sealed terrine and scooped out some cups of a well-fermented all-purpose medicament for Zhu Dabiao and Feng Cangwu.


    After drinking the all-purpose medicament and tasting it for a short while, Zhu Dabiao forcefully patted his thigh, "Good, I will deal with you..." After saying that, Zhu Dabiao threw an embarrassed glance at Zhang Tie, "But I do not have enough money. The bit of money that my grandpa gifted me was spent on the patch of land that I''ve bought. Therefore, I could not purchase too much this time!"


    "Jinwu Business Group could gift you 1 million vials. After you open the market in Yanzhou Province, if you want to order more, you can pay us then!" Zhang Tie said, which meant that he gifted over 10 million gold coins to Zhu Dabiao.


    After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, Zhu Dabiao''s eyes turned red at once. After sniffling twice, he forcefully patted onto Zhang Tie''s shoulder and said, "That''s my brother!"


    ...


    Yesterday, Youzhou City had already purchased 200,000 vials of all-purpose medicament from Jinwu Business Group as the storage of the six warehouses in Youzhou City. It was the first time for Zhang Tie''s all-purpose medicament to enter the six warehouses of a Class A city in Taixia Country. Although it was not too many in the local purchase storage contents for six warehouses storage in a Class A city in Taixia Country, it possessed a historical significance for Zhang Tie''s family.


    If Zhang Tie''s all-purpose medicament could enter the nationwide purchase storage contents for six warehouses storage of Class A cities and be stored as a strategic material by each Class A city in Taixia Country one day, even though the Gobbling Party had a great influence in Taixia Country, Zhang Clan and Huaiyuan Palace could still maintain their force in Taixia Country, which could not be rocked by any people or any force unless the Gobbling Party wanted to rise in revolt.


    The power of the Gobbling Party lay in that they bound themselves with the crown prince and the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele. As long as all-purpose medicament could enter the standard six warehouses storage of all the Class A cities in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie would almost bind it with the entire Taixia Country and all the Hua people in the world. As a result, Zhang Clan''s foundation would reach each corner and nook of Taixia Country and be as steady as Mount Tai.


    Now that the Gobbling Party knew the power of binding, Zhang brothers knew that too.


    After a hot discussion, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang realized that the target and strategy that they would push all-purpose medicament into the nationwide purchase storage contents for six warehouses storage in all the Class A cities in Taixia Country was closely related to the rise of Zhang Clan in the next hundreds of years and became the most important mission for them in the future.


    The reason that Zhang Tie gifted 1 million vials of all-purpose medicament to Zhu Dabiao lay in that he wanted Zhu Dabiao to push all-purpose medicament into the local purchase storage contents of the Class A cities in Yanzhou Province. As a grandson of the Provincial Governor of Yanzhou Province, Zhu Dabiao had a great advantage in doing this job legally.


    Compared to the target of Zhang family, 1 million vials of all-purpose medicament meant nothing at all...

 882 Family Strategy II

    A few years ago, all-purpose medicament was not as popular as it was now; It was not even as hot as that in Waii Subcontinent. When Jinwu Business Group started to sell it in Taixia Country, it was even let out in cold. Until now, all-purpose medicament gradually became widely accepted by people in Taixia Country.


    Taixia Country was too powerful and prosperous.


    The main function of all-purpose medicament was that it could be used to replace many low-end medicaments. After the holy war broke out in Waii Subcontinent, many low-end medicaments were in shortage; from then on, all-purpose medicament became more prominent and precious in Waii Subcontinent.


    By contrast, at least so far, other low-end medicaments were in sufficient provision in Taixia Country; therefore, the all-purpose medicament could not win its position in Taixia Country.


    Additionally, all-purpose medicament had a great effect on healthcare and curing many diseases. In Taixia Country, traditional Hua medicine ranked top; over 99% of Hua people would choose to take traditional Hua medicine when they were sick. However, given the treatments adopted by traditional Hua doctors, few of them would recommend vials of medicaments to their patients; especially this medicament was much more expensive than the other traditional herbal medicines.


    Whereas, these were not the biggest problem facing all-purpose medicament.


    The biggest problem that all-purpose medicament faced at the beginning was that very few people across Taixia Country believed that it could be produced in Waii Subcontinent.


    In this age, the most powerful pharmacists were in Taixia Country, even the headquarter of Human Pharmacists Union was located in Taixia Country. It could be said that Taixia Country was the source of the profession human pharmacist. Even the pharmacists in Taixia Country could not make it, how come a pharmacist in Waii Subcontinent made it, not to mention all-purpose medicament. Only idiots would believe in you!


    The Hua people in Taixia Country were too proud of their talents; therefore, the salesmen and personnel of Jinwu Business Group who attempted to promote sales of all-purpose medicament in Taixia Country at the beginning were usually taken as liars and sent to yamuns in Taixia Country.


    The situation that all-purpose medicament was widely accepted in Taixia Country in only a few years could never just be awaited at home but benefited from the efforts of Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang.


    With the efforts of Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang, plus the unusual effect of the all-purpose medicament, the sales volume of all-purpose medicament finally registered a blowout growth in Taixia Country until two years ago, namely, the latter half of the 898th year of Black Iron Calendar through the gradual accumulation of public praise. From then on, the all-purpose medicament produced by Jinwu Business Group had been out of stock or in urgent demand.


    In Taixia Country, those who first realized the marvelous effects of all-purpose medicament and started to purchase and hoard all-purpose medicament by great batches were those major Hua clans who moved to Taixia Country from Jinyun Country and Qilan Country. These clans were the first batch of loyal customers of Jinwu Business Group who opened the market for all-purpose medicament in Taixia Country.


    The production of 15 million vials of all-purpose medicament this year could never meet the demand of the extremely large population and market in Taixia Country,


    Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang both knew that a family had to rely on something in Taixia Country so as to lay a solid foundation over there.


    They didn''t rely on Zhang Tie''s battle strength¡ª¡ªat least now, as a black iron knight, even if he promoted to an earth knight in the near future, Zhang Tie could only be a local overlord in a province at most. However, in front of the powerful opponent Gobbling Party, an earth knight was far from enough.


    Compared to Zhang Tie''s battle strength or the background of Jinwu Shipyard and Huaiyuan Palace, only all-purpose medicament could work as the firmest foundation of Zhang Tie''s family in Taixia Country.


    As early as two years ago, Zhang Yang had thought about pushing all-purpose medicament into the six warehouses storage of Class A cities in Taixia Country. The encounters that Zhang Tie faced in a short period after coming to Taixia Country accelerated the process.


    The strategic materials in the six warehouses storage of Class A cities in Taixia Country all referred to the nationwide and local purchase storage contents in Taixia Country.


    Nationwide six warehouses purchase storage contents were the hard targets that Taixia Country made to all the Class A cities. All the materials and their quantities entering this contents had to be met by all the Class A cities in Taixia Country. By contrast, local purchase storage contents, as soft targets, were established on the basis of the nationwide six warehouses purchase storage contents, which could be determined by local magistrates and agencies according to local features.


    Take Class A cities in the north as an instance, they could add some cold-resistant clothes and equipment in local purchase storage contents as they would. Similarly, Class A cities in the south; especially those coastal cities could add some weapons or equipment that could be used to respond to the threats from the sea in the local purchase storage contents as they would. If Class A cities had rich plant resources in their surroundings, they could add some specific plant seeds in their local purchase storage contents; similarly, those Class A cities neighboring rich resource sources could add some special rare metals in their local purchase storage contents.


    Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang were targeting at the nationwide six warehouses purchase storage contents in Taixia Country. However, it was very difficult for the all-purpose medicament to enter this contents. Because the nationwide six warehouses purchase storage contents in Taixia Country was determined by the top three chancellors of Taixia Country and approved by Emperor Xuanyuan. Even a screw in the nationwide six warehouses purchase storage contents would mean a great trade volume across all the Class A cities in Taixia Country.


    Therefore, they had to adopt the proper strategies and coordinate with the general trend of the society step by step.


    In a short-term, Zhang family aimed to have the all-purpose medicament enter the local purchase storage contents of Youzhou Province, Gaozhou Province, Mozhou Province, Tongzhou Province, Qiongzhou Province, Yanzhou Province, Huizhou Province and Chaozhou Province within the northeast military region.


    In Zhang Yang''s words, if Zhang Tie and he could accomplish this plan, they would make their ancestors illustrious and die with satisfaction no matter how many years they would spend.


    As they were in Youzhou Province, which only had one Class A city¡ª¡ªYouzhou City, with the support of Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Yang, Zhang Tie had already conquered it. Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang planned to have it blossom in the middle of northeast military region. If they could conquer Yanzhou Province, the core of northeast military region, the other provinces in the northeast military region would learn from Yanzhou Province. Gradually, they would conquer the entire northeast military region.


    When the all-purpose medicament entered the local purchase storage contents, the general trend would come into being; gradually, all-purpose medicament would enter the nationwide purchase storage contents.


    Zhang Tie was going to leave Youzhou Province for Yingzhou tomorrow to pick up another wife whom he had not even seen yet. Zhu Dabiao was also going to leave Golden Light City tomorrow. Therefore, before leaving, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang showed Zhu Dabiao around the all-purpose medicament base of Jinwu Business Group and fixed the cooperation between them. Being legal, through this cooperation, they could realize a win-win situation to the satisfaction of all.


    Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang were both full of confidence about this plan.


    After becoming a pharmacist, Zhang Yang had put the greater part of his study on the "cold extraction technology" of all-purpose medicament.


    Now that the essential energy aura yeast that Zhang Tie gifted to Zhang Yang could convert common fruits into the super enzyme, it should also convert herbal medicines into the super enzyme; because herbal medicines were essentially similar to fruits.


    In the past, people mainly extracted the useful ingredients from herbal medicines by fire; many traditional Hua doctors and many pharmacists made the decoction of medicinal ingredients or pills in this way.


    However, the essential energy aura yeast that Zhang Tie gifted to Zhang Yang reminded Zhang Yang of an utterly different thought. He chose to extract the essence of those herbal medicines through fermentation in normal or low temperature, which was called "cold extraction".


    Through "cold extraction" technology, the essences of herbal medicines could be maintained at utmost. It could completely avoid damages and losses in useful ingredients and aura caused by traditional "heat extraction".


    At the beginning, Zhang Yang was just thinking about it. However, after becoming a pharmacist, through constant tests, he made a great breakthrough and turned it into reality.


    This year, Jinwu Business Group''s series of all-purpose medicament increased from 1 to 3. It was the first time for the family of manjusaka all-purpose medicament to welcome their new members; the product line of the all-purpose medicament of Zhang family would be further verified in order to push the series of the all-purpose medicament of Zhang family to the entire market of Taixia Country and satisfy the demand of the greater population.


    The first type of all-purpose medicament was standard, which was an old type and was completely fermented by various fruits. Its effects remained unchanged.


    The second type of all-purpose medicament was called Rose Beauty. Besides containing the essences of all sorts of fruits in the standard type, it also contained the essences of peach blossoms, rose blossoms, red jujubes and polygonum multiflorum and job''s tears. It was developed in cold extraction technology. The second type of all-purpose medicament was the marvelous product for women to maintain their beauty and youth. Compared to the standard type, this one was more effective.


    The third type of all-purpose medicament was called Evergreen. Rose Beauty was targeted at women; evergreen was targeted at men. Like Rose Beauty, besides containing the essences of various fruits in standard type, Evergreen also contained the essences of medlar, angelica, Cistanche deserticola, longan, cornel, yam and Poria cocos and was developed in cold extraction technology. Besides maintaining all the features of the standard type, it also had a prominent effect in strengthening the essence and marrow of men. As long as men tried it, they would know its effects.


    Now that Taixia Country didn''t lack substitutes of low-end medicaments, Zhang Yang directly developed a unique all-purpose medicament to make it irreplaceable...


    Among the 1 million vials of all-purpose medicament that Jinwu Business Group gifted to Zhu Dabiao, there were 3,000 vials of Rose Beauty and Evergreen. The three kinds of medicaments were sharply different on packages; especially the latter two kinds. As Rose Beauty and Evergreen were targeted at high-end customers, they were sold in sets. Each set of Rose Beauty and Evergreen contained 30 vials respectively as one course of treatment at the price of about 500 gold coin. Although it was a high price for commoners, in Taixia Country, many consumers considered 500 gold coins as 5 copper coins. Therefore, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang didn''t need to worry about their sales...

 883 Re-entering

    Chapter 883: Re-entering Castle of Black Iron


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On the early morning of March 2nd, Zhang Manor...


    Right in the airport of Zhang Manor, the servants had already filled the warehouse of a fury-level airship with vials of various all-purpose medicaments. This time, Zhang Tie brought 200,000 vials of all-purpose medicaments to Fan family in Yingzhou Province...


    Zhang Tie''s parents, Linda, Beverly, Fiona, Aimei and Aixue were all here to bid a farewell to Zhang Tie.


    Compared to the reality that most of the knights in Taixia Country had dozens even hundreds of wives and concubines, Zhang Tie was a devoted husband with only 5 women on his side. Additionally, this marriage was agreed by his parents; therefore, Linda, Beverly, Fiona, Aimei and Aixue were not jealous about that.


    These days, Linda, Beverly, Fiona had been getting along well with Aimei and Aixue. Zhang Tie was also indulged in the living that he had been dreaming of.


    "Well, dad and mom, you can go back now. I will bring her back from Yingzhou Province this time!" Zhang Tie told his dad and mom.


    Zhang Tie''s dad and mom then nodded towards him.


    "Brother Cangwu, thank you for protecting the manor after I leave!" Zhang Tie told Feng Cangwu in a secret way.


    Feng Cangwu nodded in a distant way.


    As it was Zhang Tie''s private affair to pick his wife in Yingzhou Province, if Feng Cangwu followed him there, he would become Zhang Tie''s subordinate; therefore, Feng Cangwu just stayed in Zhang Manor and continued to be the special lecturer of Zhang kids. By now, Zhang Tie''s parents, elder brother and wives had already known that Feng Cangwu was a knight and came from the Heavens Fortune Sect. Therefore, the entire Zhang family respected Feng Cangwu very much. As a result, Feng Cangwu gained a mental balance in Zhang family.


    Similarly, in Taixia Country, it was impolite for a man to pick up his new concubine, followed by his wife and concubines. Without this concern, Zhang Tie really wanted to take his wives and concubines there for a honeymoon.


    After bidding a farewell to his wives and concubines, Zhang Tie cradled his three kids and kissed them one after another. After that, he turned around and entered the airship...


    ...


    When the fury-level airship gradually lifted off, Zhang Tie wove his hands towards his family members on the deck. Until the airship arrived at 1,000 m in height and his family members left did Zhang Tie enter his berth cabin.


    The crow-fly distance between Yingzhou Province and Youzhou Province was over 80,000 miles. Even if he had a smooth ride by airship, it would also take him at least 2 months on the way. It was already early enough if he could come back by July.


    By contrast, it would only take him 2 weeks for a round trip by airboat.


    When he thought about the advantage of an airboat, Zhang Tie only let out a sigh.


    Although fury-level airship was good, it was nothing compared to airboat.


    If not being afraid of exposing his flying ability, Zhang Tie could directly fly towards there himself while the all-purpose medicaments could be stored in his nanobead. However, it was not wise for him to expose his ability to the public at this moment; besides, he would suffer from a series of troubles later on. Therefore, Zhang Tie could only go there by airship.


    The marriage was fixed by Zhang Tie''s parents in Fuhai City. At that moment, Zhang Tie didn''t have a Hua woman yet; therefore, his parents promised this marriage to the household register director whose surname was Fan. According to his mom, that Fan''s daughter was good-looking; besides, she was highly cultured and steeped in propriety. Given her look, she could definitely manage domestic affairs and give birth to healthy babies. Additionally, Fan family was fulfilling the appointment and having their daughter wait for Zhang Tie these years. As their daughter gradually grew mature, Zhang Tie legitimately should go pick her up.


    "During this flight, I will cultivate quietly in my room. No need to prepare the food and drinks for me. If I need them, I will go get them. Don''t bother me unless there''s an emergency!" Zhang Tie told the captain before entering his room and shutting the door.


    Having been in Taixia Country for a few months, Zhang Tie felt pretty good to enter such a free and single state once again.


    With a smile, Zhang Tie took a round in the room before entering the cultivation. After sitting on a cattail hassock with crossed legs, Zhang Tie took out an earth-elements crystal from Castle of Black Iron and started to absorb the earth elements by 18 spiritual hands at the same time...


    After 2 hours, he had completely used up the golden earth-elements crystal and threw it back into Castle of Black Iron. After that, he got a new one and continued his cultivation...


    ...


    Zhang Tie used up 30 earth-elements crystals constantly. When he opened his eyes, it was already 2 days later.


    Zhang Tie then picked himself up from the ground and moved his limbs before exiting the berth cabin.


    "Where are we?"


    "We''re above Yangui Mountain Range. After flying over Yangui Mountain Range, we will exit the air territory of Youzhou Province!" A bodyguard answered respectfully.


    Yangui Mountain Range was a barrier in the south of Youzhou Province.


    Zhang Tie then came to the deck.


    Zhang Tie''s robe sounded in the spring wind. Zhang Tie looked down and saw an undulating, lofty mountain range over 10,000 square miles. The mountain slope had been covered with tender grasses. The more southward it was, the greener it would be. In the sunglow, the land and mountain range was plated with a glow, which was especially splendid.


    Flocks of wild gooses and migrant birds were flying below in the form of herringbone and rested in Yangui Mountain Range, bringing endless vitality to the land downside there...


    When the spring arrived, the wild gooses and migrant birds flew back from south where they tided over in winter...


    Mountain Range was definitely more splendid than Kalay Mountain Range in Waii Subcontinent.


    Watching such a splendid landscape in the sky, Zhang Tie felt broad-minded and refreshed all over.


    ''What''s immortal is the tens of thousands of miles landscape that breed billions of living beings and the flowing clouds which share brilliance with the sun and the moons and dance with the stars. Those b*stards of Gobbling Party want to abduct the natural laws and verify its immortality with one Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele? How ridiculous they are!''


    Standing on the deck, Zhang Tie appreciated the scenery downside there. Until 1.5 hours later when it turned dark did he let out a long sigh and return to the cabin.


    After knowing that Zhang Tie had exited his berth cabin, all the cooks started to prepare for the supper for him. As it was the dinner time, Zhang Tie ate supper together with his crew in the dining hall. After joking with the crew casually, he returned to his private berth cabin.


    When he recalled that he had not entered Castle of Black Iron for a long time, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. In the next second, he had disappeared into the room and appeared in the palace tree in Castle of Black Iron...


    "Welcome back, Castle Lord!" Heller and the other three servants were waiting for Zhang Tie there as if they had known that Zhang Tie was coming back.


    Before Zhang Tie uttered had he seen Edward gazing at that finger ring being embedded with the nanobead with an aggrieved look just like how an unrivaled powerhouse was dispatched to be a watchdog of a hotel...


    Of course, Zhang Tie was clear what Edward was thinking about. After scratching his head in an embarrassed way, Zhang Tie hurriedly comforted Edward, "Erm...this was a special situation. If I handed the nanobead to you, I could not have explained it to others. Next time, next time, I will definitely hand the goods item to you!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Edward''s aggrieved look gradually faded away. However, he still let out a sigh with a pitiful look, "Actually, there''s a better design for the combination of this nanobead and finger ring. What a pity! What a pity..."


    Rubbing his face, Zhang Tie asked Heller, "Is everything going well in the castle lately?"


    "All is well. But those residents in the castle have one thing for your consent..."


    "What''s that?"


    "They''ve prepared some innocent and beautiful young girls and want to send them to serve you on the immortal mountain, Castle Lord!" Heller said with a meaningful smile.


    ''Innocent and beautiful young girls?'' Zhang Tie patted his forehead, ''Those guys are really generous. I''ve already taken their articles of tribute last time; how could they contribute young female to me? Do they really think that I will take everything that they offer?


    "I can take articles, but not female. Those young girls should fall in love with some handsome boys; marry them and deliver babies. What do they go up the mountain for? I don''t want to delay their youth!" Zhang Tie shook his head.


    "Actually, it''s not bad to have some young girls here. The palace tree is too large. With a few more people, it would be more vigorous. Castle Lord, when you come back, you could have someone look after you. They don''t have to stay in the mountain for the rest of their lives; only after staying here for a few years, they could go down the mountain; marry men and deliver babies too. It''s a great honor and confirmation for those residents in the castle to go up the immortal mountain. Castle Lord, If you could accept them, all the residents in the castle would be greatly inspired! Castle Lord, you must know that you''re their celestial being and creator. They just want to express their sincerity and respect to their own celestial being and creator. Castle Lord, If you refused them, you might discourage them greatly." Heller explained...

 884 New Fruits

    Chapter 884: New Fruits


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Heller''s words immediately reminded Zhang Tie of how those residents in the castle worshipped his statue.


    As for those residents, since they were brought into Castle of Black Iron from the dilemma, they had taken belief as a necessary element and pillar in their lives.


    Heller''s words were reasonable. Therefore, Zhang Tie reconsidered it.


    "How old are those girls?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    "Those girls entered Castle of Black Iron at a very young age. After so many years, they are now 16 years old!"


    After considering it for a short while, Zhang Tie finally nodded, "Well, just let those girls live in the palace tree for a few years. It''s indeed like a huge playground here and a bit pitiful if there''s nobody here in normal times. Just leave a nice memory to them!" After saying that, Zhang Tie saw a big smile on Heller''s face. Zhang Tie then added, "However, each batch should not surpass 10 young girls; 4 years a shift. Besides young girls, young boys of the same age could also go up the mountains. They can go down the mountain when they are 20 years old. In normal times, these young boys and girls could take care of the affairs in the palace tree and learn skills from Agan, Edward and Aziz so that they could apply them when they go down the mountain..."


    Zhang Tie was not worried whether these young girls and boys would cause any trouble in the palace tree. As the core of the palace tree, the small tree was in the sacrificial altar, which could only be accessed to by Zhang Tie, not to mention that everything in Castle of Black Iron was within Heller''s control.


    When the small tree occurred to his mind, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand throwing a glance at that small tree. At the sight of those fruits hanging over the small tree, Zhang Tie revealed a smile...


    ''Just find some apprentices for Agan, Aziz and Edward.'' Zhang Tie thought, ''Perhaps, those girls and boys could fall in love with each other after staying here for 4 years.''


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, Agan, Aziz and Edward chested out immediately.


    "Now that Castle Lord has agreed with that, they might arrive here in 3 days!" Heller said while he found Zhang Tie had moved his eyes onto the small tree. Therefore, he also revealed a smile and told Agan, Aziz and Edward to leave.


    "You should pay more attention to this affair. Don''t let them think that these young girls and boys are destined to sacrifice themselves to the celestial being or be virgins for the rest of their lives. Don''t arouse any tragedy! Now that they treat me as a celestial being, let them know that I actually just want them to live happily. No matter what, don''t hurt anyone." Zhang Tie urged Heller as he walked towards the small tree and went upstairs onto the sacrificial altar one step after another.


    ...


    Zhang Tie realized that he had not entered Castle of Black Iron for half a year since he came to Taixia Country in last September. It was the longest period for him to leave Castle of Black Iron.


    Just like Zhang Tie''s old friend, the small tree was waiting for Zhang Tie quietly whenever Zhang Tie came back.


    This old friend had never let Zhang Tie down.


    For over 6 months, fruits had been hanging over the small tree.


    27 ripe leakless fruits;


    2 iron-body fruits;


    1 fruit of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs, which was set free last September. As the market was running out of golden uangs between the end of September and Mid-March, Paul couldn''t help him set free golden uangs during this period.


    Additionally, there was a fruit of brilliance, which contained the spiritual energy of Zhu Liang the poisonous wolf whom Zhang Tie killed on a wild island in the open water of Qiongzhou Province.


    The more advanced the fruit of judgment was, the more "contributions" were needed to form it. Therefore, as Zhang Tie had imagined, he didn''t gain a fruit of judgment after killing Zhu Liang.


    Of course, the most eye-catching fruit was the red glittering and translucent fruit¡ª¡ª the fruit of plunder.


    This was the reward for killing "Master Jiang". After taking it, a healthy commoner could immediately become a master artisan and get all the talents of "Master Jiang". This was the only fruit that could be taken out of Castle of Black Iron by far. Outsiders might never imagine about its function; however, it just appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    After circling halfway around the small tree, Zhang Tie finally caught sight of two wholly new fruits, one looked like a tiny gulf shrimp, the other looked like a shell.


    At the sight of the two fruits, Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    Zhang Tie then placed one hand on the gulf shrimp-shaped fruit.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Redemption¡ª¡ªGratitude from gulf shrimps. The Fruit of Redemption has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªThis fruit could improve the healing and recovering ability of Castle Lord by 1.5% and your bearing ability by 0.7% in the oxygen-deficient state.


    If not the words "your bearing ability by 0.7% in the oxygen-deficient state" in the latter, Zhang Tie thought that he was touching the fruit of redemption from the gratitude of earthworms.


    Zhang Tie was stunned, ''Why does it carry the same effect as setting free earthworms by setting free gulf shrimps?''


    "Castle Lord, actually, besides earthworms, many shrimps, especially the gulf shrimps that you''ve set free have a powerful ability of regeneration and recovery. Even if these animals lost their limbs, they could also regenerate them. Shrimps, crabs, geckoes and earthworms, all of them have such a great ability! These animals share the same gene segments." Heller''s voice sounded on one side, "Therefore, by setting free gulf shrimps, you could also activate the relevant genes in your body. Additionally, gulf shrimps have a great viability in the oxygen-deficient state. Therefore, the fruit carries one more function!"


    Zhang Tie understood it right away. Previously, he held that only by setting free earthworms could he gain such a great ability of regeneration and recovery. It was really out of his imagination that he could also gain the same ability by setting free gulf shrimps.


    "You mean, I could also promote to medium recovery body by setting free gulf shrimps?"


    "Yup!" Heller nodded, "Castle Lord, you only need to take a look at the advancing process of the fruit towards medium recovery body on the small tree!"


    The fruit of advancement towards medium recovery body had been hanging there for a few years. Zhang Tie had not checked it since Hanna''s family left that village before the holy war. Being reminded by Heller, Zhang Tie walked to the other side of the small tree and checked the fruit which had almost been forgotten.


    Fruit of advancement towards medium recovery body¡ª¡ªit''s not ripe yet.


    The energy of this fruit originates from the gratitude from earthworms. It''s the continuity of the fruit of redemption.


    By setting free gulf shrimps, you can make this fruit ripe faster.


    It requires you to set free 160,000,000 earthworms or gulf shrimps to advance to medium recovery body from preliminary recovery body.


    The current advancing progress is: 4,318,879/160,000,000.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter when he found the fruit of advancement towards medium recovery body was growing again, ''How lucky I am!''


    ''Good men always have good returns!''


    After moving to the other side of the small tree, Zhang Tie put one hand onto that shell-shaped fruit.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Redemption¡ª¡ªfrom the gratitude of the hairy shellfish. The Fruit of Redemption has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªThis fruit could increase Castle Lord''s defensive and anti-resistance capability by 0.1%.


    The function of this fruit was also out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. When he recalled the hard shell of hairy shellfish, Zhang Tie understood it at once.


    ''Precious, it''s too precious!'' Zhang Tie became thrilled once again. The improvement in defensive and anti-strike capability meant that he could have a greater battle strength in close combat. Although the increase of 0.1% in defensive capability was not too much, it was not easy for Zhang Tie to realize it as he had already got a very great defensive capability. Additionally, as long as he could gain such a fruit constantly, he would definitely make an essential breakthrough in his defensive capability.


    Compared to iron-body fruits which could increase the "base" of his defensive and anti-strike capability overall, this fruit could increase his defensive and anti-strike capability overall by 0.1% in a split second.


    ''What a coincidence! The two new fruits today could both strengthen my capability to cope with harms and defend strikes.''


    Watching these fruits, Zhang Tie had long been drooling...


    Zhang Tie then sat under the small tree and started to engulf fruits.


    He ate leakless fruits first. As he picked them off, he put them into his mouth, one after another. Each leakless fruit turned into a strand of hot flow and entered the void of the qi sea in Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen, where they would lubricate the sun of battle qi...


    It only took Zhang Tie a couple of minutes to eat all the leakless fruits. Closely after that, he stretched his hands towards the iron-body fruits...

 885 Master Artisan

    Chapter 885: Master Artisan


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Leakless fruits, iron-body fruits, the fruit of brilliance and two fruits of redemption...


    As he engulfed those fruits one after another, Zhang Tie''s battle strength gradually increased.


    Leakless fruits lubricated and strengthened his battle qi; iron-body fruits strengthened his defensive and anti-strike capability; Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy increased a bit after he took all the spiritual energy of Zhu Liang the fierce wolf; the two kinds of fruits of redemption further improved Zhang Tie''s anti-strike and recovery capabilities.


    That was how a knight gradually reached its heyday.


    It took Zhang Tie 4 hours to digest all the fruits.


    Eating fruits was the coolest and most effective way to improve his power. Zhang Tie enjoyed this process very much. After taking these fruits, Zhang Tie could obviously feel the pleasant, subtle changes in his body during the past 2 hours.


    After the competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province and drinking the dragon-marrow liquor, Zhang Tie had lit two more dragon scales on his knight''s crystal plate. After eating so many fruits, Zhang Tie felt that his battle strength had evidently increased than when he participated in the competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province.


    Zhang Tie felt much better.


    The last fruit on the small tree was the fruit of plunder.


    At the sight of that fruit, Zhang Tie hesitated for a second, ''Should I take it now?''


    ''My current hidden profession is a very senior animal controller; I''ve reached the 15th floor of the All-spirits Pagoda and could even easily control a double-headed parent worm. The profession of rune equipment''s master seems to be not meaningful to me for the time being. As a knight, I should pay special attention to improve my battle strength and form my chakras. No matter how much efforts do I make in these professions, it will never match the effect of forming one more chakra.''


    ''Additionally, I have Edward, Aziz and Agan in Castle of Black Iron and master artisans in Huaiyuan Palace. Will it play its utmost role? Perhaps, I could leave this precious fruit of plunder to one of my kids.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    All of a sudden, the look of Gorath occurred in Zhang Tie''s mind. Zhang Tie''s heart raced as his eyes turned firm at once. He then stretched out his hand and picked off that fruit of plunder. Closely after that, he sat below the small tree with crossed legs and took it...


    ''Skill is no burden. As the pillar of Zhang family, I should be more and more powerful so that Zhang family could have a bright future. If I collapsed, Zhang family would collapse too. Therefore, I don''t need to leave this fruit to the younger generation of Zhang family at all. If I and my elder brother could not help the family to tide over difficulties, not to mention the younger generation. If I could become more powerful, I would provide better resources and conditions to the next generation of Zhang family. Therefore, I don''t need to wait until this precious fruit plays its role over 10 years later; otherwise, it would be a great waste. Who knows what will happen in the decade?''


    ''Additionally, there''s more than one shadow demon. If I met one in the future, I might gain another fruit of plunder.''


    ''What counts most now is to improve my battle strength to the utmost facing the stress of the Gobbling Party.''


    ''If I become a master artisan, I will have greater possibilities, which means more hopes and more freedom.''


    After these thoughts flashed by Zhang Tie''s mind, the fruit of plunder had been broken while an exotic energy directly scattered in Zhang Tie''s mind. In a split second, numerous knowledge, skills and experiences about runes started to deepen into Zhang Tie''s brain cells, awareness and physical neural reflex chains and became Zhang Tie''s talents and gifts...


    Zhang Tie felt that he gradually promoted from artisan apprentice to artisan, copper hammer artisan, silver hammer artisan, gold hammer artisan, mithril artisan, secret rune artisan and master artisan in a very short period as his experiences and knowledge gradually increased...


    All the experiences and talents of "Master Jiang" in his whole life had been transferred to Zhang Tie through the fruit of plunder.


    Sitting under the small tree with crossed legs, Zhang Tie closed his eyes although his eyelids were quivering. After a while, Zhang Tie opened his eyes and picked himself up from the ground.


    During this period, Zhang Tie felt that he had spent as long as hundreds of years and as short as a couple of minutes...


    After this contradictive feeling gradually faded away, Zhang Tie raised his hands and put them in front of his eyes.


    Although the pair of hands remained unchanged superficially, Zhang Tie knew that they had already changed. Previously, they belonged to a knight as they could tear apart a powerful enemy in a destructive way; by contrast, they belonged to a master artisan; besides destruction, they were granted with one more ability¡ª¡ªcreation!


    This pair of hands mastered the 27 metal smelting technologies and 39 forging skills...


    This pair of hands could turn ores into metals and metals into machines or equipment of fighters. It was a pair of hands full of magical creativity.


    In the stage of copper hammer artisan, this pair of hands could turn iron and bronze scraps into a complete set of sophisticated steam engine, various machinery parts and common swords, sabers, helmets and armors.


    In the stage of silver hammer artisan, this pair of hands could turn the ores in the wilderness into the preliminary production chain of the human steam industry.


    In the stage of gold hammer artisan, this pair of hands could make the most sophisticated steam turbines and almost all the machinery parts. The manual processing precision of the flat file could reach 1¡ë of the thickness of a hair. This was already the precision of senior steam processing machine tools. The weapons, helmets and armors made by this pair of hands were all of top quality.


    In the stage of mithril artisan, this pair of hands could forge rune equipment with precious mithril. After reaching the peak of metal processing in the steam age, it entered a more mysterious and magnificent realm...


    After getting hang of the structures, micro plating, fine seal, secret expedition and shape building of at least 48 runes, the pair of hands promoted to be that of secret runes artisan.


    After the rune equipment made by secret runes artisan could completely break the bottleneck of black iron effect and could work on knights, the pair of hands promoted to be that of a master artisan. From then on, the owner of this pair of hands would win awe and veneration wherever they were. In any subcontinent, the owner of this pair of hands would be qualified to found a sect.


    ''Are they my hands?'' Zhang Tie watched his hands.


    Besides this pair of hands, when he moved his eyes onto the finger ring, Zhang Tie had an utterly different feeling, ''In the opinion of a master artisan, that finger ring made of nanobead is indeed not bad; however, being limited to time, it was a bit coarse and could not be further improved.''


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt that his manipulative ability had improved too much. He felt that he could make a lot of items from inferior to senior as long as he had raw materials. As long as he was free, he could produce a Faerie-dragon T9 sports car with the all the materials and conditions available in Castle of Black Iron.


    "Congratulations, Castle Lord, you''ve become a master artisan and have one more talent!" Heller''s voice woke Zhang Tie up from the thrill.


    ''What a funny world! Previously, I wanted to be an alchemist master; however, I became an animal controller and a rune equipment master consecutively instead. My weird master Zhao Yuan is a No. 1 criminal in Taixia Country, who will arouse great shocks the moment he appears.''


    ''If I changed my face and continued to live in Taixia Country as a master artisan, I''m sure that nobody could identify me.''


    ...


    Time flew on the airship. Zhang Tie calculated time with earth-elements crystals instead of a clock.


    In concentrative cultivation, Zhang Tie could absorb 10 earth-elements crystals everyday; as for the remaining 4 hours of the day, he would sleep 2 hours and eat or comprehend his fighting skills 2 hours.


    Compared to the cultivation in the tower of time, such a intensity was just so-so. He felt pretty relaxed.


    After almost 30 days, the 13th dragon scale on his knight''s crystal plate was lit. On the second day, Zhang Tie left the room and breathed fresh air on the deck.


    This time, he didn''t see wilderness anymore, but a prosperous urban agglomeration. Among the urban agglomeration, he could see 100-storey skyscrapers everywhere. There were numerous airships in the sky. Zhang Tie even caught sight of some rare airboats. Some airboats directly landed on the roofs of those skyscrapers in a very domineering way.


    It was evening. Expensive top-quality fluorites were installed on the crystal lends lamp holders whose diameter was over 1 m on the roof of the skyscrapers while light beams shot into the sky, making the sky colorful...


    Zhang Tie asked the captain where they were. The captain told him that they''ve already arrived at Haozhou Province, one of the top 36 upper provinces in Taixia Country...


    The prosperous Haozhou Province made Taixia Country more impressive in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    After then, Zhang Tie re-entered his room...


    After about another 27 days, when Zhang Tie almost lit the 14th dragon scale, the captain knocked at Zhang Tie''s hatch door for the first time.


    "Elder Mushen, we''re in Fuhai City, Yingzhou Province..."


    The two months flashed in the blink of an eye...

 886 Arriving at Yingzhou Province

    Chapter 886: Arriving at Yingzhou Province


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After getting off the airship, Zhang Tie looked at the surroundings and found that this airport was not large. It was more like a private airport...


    The airport was surrounded by mountains which were covered with green trees and colorful blossoms, revealing a strong sense of spring. Some delicate buildings and courtyards were looming in the woods not far away.


    They were outside the city.


    A black sedan was waiting for Zhang Tie at the entrance of the airship base while the driver and a round-face middle-aged man were standing there with solemn looks.


    "Elder Mushen, I''m Zhang Cheng, the CEO of Jinwu Business Group in Yingzhou Province!"


    Before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, that middle-aged man had introduced himself.


    Zhang Tie nodded. He didn''t see this man before. However, now that his surname was also Zhang and was a CEO of Jinwu Business Group in Yingzhou Province, he probably originated from Huaiyuan Palace.


    Being conservative or feudal, according to the facts in the past almost 1,000 years from the Catastrophe to the present, those of the same clan would be more reliable than outsiders. Therefore, many key positions in Jinwu Business Group or all the major clans in Taixia Country were taken by their own clan members. The so-called professional managers (professional CEOs) were usually cultured by the large clans and business groups themselves. Those with greater abilities would have a broader channel promotion while those with poorer abilities would not be wasted either.


    Given that Zhang Cheng was shrewd and cunning in his eyes, Zhang Tie knew that Zhang Cheng should be a professional CEO of Jinwu Business Group.


    "Where are we?"


    "We''re in the branch of Jinwu Business Group outside Yingzhou Province. The hotel has been arranged. As Elder Mushen must be fatigued by such a long journey, you''d better take a rest today. I will send your visiting notice to Fan Mansion tonight so that Fan family could make preparations for that. Elder Mushen could pay a visit to Fan Mansion tomorrow!" Zhang Cheng briefed the schedule and details of Zhang Tie in Yingzhou Province.


    Zhang Tie directly walked to a door of the sedan while the driver in uniform pulled open the door for him. Zhang Tie sat on the back seat while Zhang Cheng sat in the co-pilot seat.


    With a slight quiver, the sedan had driven out of the airport...


    The highway outside the residence of the branch of Jinwu Business Group was spacious and plain. The middle and both sides of the two-way six-lane highway were fixed with green belts. As it was outside the city, there were not too many cars on the road. Zhang Tie could see a wide area of farmlands, villages and towns outside those green belts. Most of the houses in the villages and towns here were tidy and beautiful being featured by independent small courtyards. Given this point, Zhang Tie knew that the economic development level and living standard of Yingzhou Province as an upper province were far greater than that of Youzhou Province which had just promoted to a lower province.


    Zhang Tie had been to a lot of places in Waii Subcontinent; especially after he disguised as Gorath when he almost traveled across the entire Waii Subcontinent. To be honest, none of the rural areas and towns outside cities in Waii Subcontinent could match that of here.


    After hundreds of years of peaceful development, a place could make a shocking achievement; especially Hua people were diligent, wise and creative. Therefore, the prosperity of many places across big provinces and upper provinces in Taixia Country had been out of the imagination of many people coming from subcontinents.


    Just like how Zhang Tie was shocked by the prosperity of Haozhou Province last month when he was still in the airship.


    "It''s a nice place!" Zhang Tie watched the scenery outside the window as he chatted with Zhang Cheng. Zhang Tie never put on airs in front of these commoners. Therefore, Zhang Cheng felt that he was an easygoing man.


    "Huaiyuan City is even better!" Zhang Cheng immediately turned around and replied to Zhang Tie, leaving half of his butt on the seat.


    Although Elder Mushen was genial, his subordinate had to keep etiquette in mind at all times.


    "It''s said that Huaiyuan City is also a Class A city?"


    "Yup!" Zhang Cheng replied with a bit of pride, "Yingzhou Province has 137 Class A cities; Huaiyuan City is one of them. Over these years, with the reputation of Huaiyuan Palace, Jinwu Business Group would win the trust of others at the fastest speed in case of a lot of troubles as long as we told them that Huaiyuan City and Jinwu Business Group belonged to our Zhang Clan!"


    Zhang Cheng''s words implied the significance of "domestic influence" and "the influence of a Class A city" in Taixia Country.


    People were usually identified by face. As for large business groups, the city being affiliated to their clan was their face.


    After hearing Zhang Cheng''s words, Zhang Tie longed for taking a look at Huaiyuan City at once. ''I remember that Huaiyuan City is only over 2,000 miles away from Fuhai City. After handling the affairs in Fuhai City, I could take a look over there on the way back. It won''t take me too much time.''


    At the beginning, Lord Huaiyuan was forced to leave Taixia Country; however, Lord Huaiyuan''s posterity dreamed about coming back everyday. Huaiyuan City was a nail that Huaiyuan Palace had firmly knocked in Taixia Country.


    "Does Jinwu Business Group have a good business this year?"


    "After clan head took the position of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, the business of Jinwu Business Group and Long Wind Business Group has grown much better!" Zhang Cheng said implicitly.


    This should be another face of Jinwu Business Group, which could hardly be described. Besides bringing profits to both parties, the so-called business had a greater function, namely, striking up an acquaintance with someone. Many business groups in Taixia Country expected to scrape acquaintance with the business group of the provincial governor of a province. Even though such a relationship and influence was useless for the time being, nobody could ensure that they would not use it in the future. This point remained unchanged from the ancient times to the present and from the barren lands in Taixia Country to the Western Continent. The background of the ruling class would never be underestimated no matter where it was.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile and became silent...


    Zhang Cheng still wanted to say something; however, after finding that Zhang Tie became silent, he swallowed his words.


    "What do you want to say?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "The Gobbling Party has a great influence in Yingzhou Province. Besides Huaiyuan City, they have established Morality Associations in all the other 136 Class A cities. Although Fuhai City is not a Class A city, it also has a Morality Association. The Morality Associations of the Gobbling Party could communicate with each other through remote-sensing crystals. They''re well-informed. Many members of major clans in Yingzhou Province have joined the Morality Associations. The greater part of commoners has joined them too. Many commoners even voluntarily donated money and goods to the Morality Associations. Morality Associations have a very deep foundation in Yingzhou Province. The resentment between Elder Mushen and the Gobbling Party has long been known by the Gobbling Party here. Previously, the Morality Associations in Youzhou Province were destroyed and the power of the Gobbling Party was almost eliminated across Youzhou Province. Therefore, the Morality Associations in Yingzhou Province were terrified for quite a while. Some of them even urged to submit memorials to Xuanyuan Hill. Elder Mushen, you''d better watch out those backbones of the Gobbling Party in the Morality Associations in Yingzhou Province. They might cause you troubles!"


    After hearing these words, Zhang Tie''s face turned solemn. To be honest, when in Youzhou Province, he had not sensed the influence of the Gobbling Party and the Morality Associations among commoners; however, the situation reversed in Yingzhou Province.


    The deep influence of the Gobbling Party in Taixia Country was really terrifying.


    After hearing Zhang Cheng''s words, Zhang Tie''s heart raced.


    However, after thinking about it for short while, Zhang Tie became reassured. ''As those guys have just lost an around-the-clock imperial supervisor, how will they dare to cause me trouble when I''m not an official anymore?''


    ''If so, don''t blame me for my ruthlessness!''


    ...


    Of course, Jinwu Business Group arranged the best hotel for Zhang Tie.


    The hotel was called Landscape Viewing. Right in the coastal area being not far from Fuhai City, it had beautiful scenery in the surroundings.


    In Waii Subcontinent, most of the prosperous lands and deluxe hotels were in cities being protected by the high city walls. However, in Taixia Country, out of confidence or having not been baptized by the battle flames for hundreds of years, some places outside city walls were even more prosperous than that within the city walls due to rapid development before the expansion of the cities.


    It indicated a terrifying high cost if these prosperous lands were included in the city walls. Additionally, it was a very tricky problem in urban planning. Therefore, such a phenomenon gradually came into being.


    Zhang Tie''s suite was on an artificial hillside. It was Heavens No. 7 suite. The Heavens suites in the hotels of Taixia Country were similar to presidential suites in other continents. Zhang Tie''s suite covered over 3,000 square meters, which was matched with all the facilities and functions. The furnishings in the suite was extremely luxurious. This suite contained 3 swimming pools, large or small. Two outsides on the balcony and the hillside where he could enjoy the seascape, one indoors where was linked to the main bedroom.


    The price of this suite was 24 gold coins a day. Of course, this was a very high price for commoners; however, it was nothing for Jinwu Business Group and Zhang Tie.


    Actually, Zhang Tie did not have a strict requirement on daily goods. However, he was really fascinated by the seascape and the surrounding environment. Therefore, he just lived in here.


    Zhang Cheng even arranged one exclusive vehicle and two bodyguards of the business group for Zhang Tie. After Zhang Tie settled down, Zhang Cheng sent a visiting card of Zhang Tie to Fan Mansion in Fuhai City...


    Almost the moment Zhang Cheng left, an uninvited guest had arrived...

 887 An Uninvited Gues

    Chapter 887: An Uninvited Guest


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The uninvited guest was Yang Yushan, the head of the Morality Association in Fuhai City.


    The moment Zhang Tie settled down in the hotel, he had been told that a guy was paying a visit to him. Therefore, Zhang Tie was amazed, ''The moment I arrived at Fuhai City, the Gobbling Party have already known that. It indicates that the Gobbling Party had been following me up. The Gobbling Party must have dispatched a lackey here to frighten me.''


    With a sneer inside, Zhang Tie issued the order, "Go tell the head of Morality Association. I''m a bit fatigued after a long flight. I''m taking a bath right now. After taking a bath, I will rest. I''ve got no time to meet him. If he wants to see me, let him wait outside there!"


    After issuing the order, Zhang Tie really took a cozy hot shower slowly. After that, he fetched a senior massage technician for a massage. Closely after that, he ordered a supper and had it sent into his suite.


    It took him over 3 hours to finish the entire process while it gradually turned dark. After relaxing himself, Zhang Tie felt that all the fatigueness which was caused by over 2 months of constant cultivation finally disappeared.


    However, the head of the Morality Association in Fuhai City was still waiting for him. He even asked to meet him once again. After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Tie sent someone to bring Yang Yushan in. He wanted to figure out the Gobbling Party''s intention.


    In the parlor of the suite, Zhang Tie met Yang Yushan, the head of the Morality Association in Fuhai City.


    He was a middle-aged man with 3 wisps of a long beard and a good look in a set of a white robe.


    Although with a good look, after being treated coldly for a few hours, Yang Yushan''s face had turned completely dark. Yang Yushan might not have encountered such a cold treatment over these years. Benefited from the deep influence of the Gobbling Party in Yingzhou Province, Yang Yushan as the head of Morality Association in Fuhai City would always win people''s respect wherever he was. It was definitely out of his imagination that he was coldly treated by Zhang Tie this time.


    During the past 3 hours, watching the massage technician and dining car entering Zhang Tie''s suite, of course, Yang Yushan knew what Zhang Tie was doing in his suite¡ª¡ªtaking a bath, massage, having food. Finally, when it was his turn, Yang Yushan had been driven extremely furious inside.


    In a loose night robe, Zhang Tie was leaning against the sofa and sipping the tea while waiting for Yang Yushan.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s look, Yang Yushan''s face almost turned purple.


    Standing in the room, he watched Zhang Tie with a sneer, "I''ve long heard that Zhang Mushen the lion of Youzhou Province is frivolous and unstrained at a young age. At the sight of you, I found you''re far excessive than that. It seems that Huaiyuan Palace has been living in the wilderness for so long that you''ve even forgotten about the basic courtesy to a customer!"


    After a shrewd light flashed by, Zhang Tie sneered as he picked his ears by finger and blew off the earwax, "If there''s indeed a guest, I will definitely treat him passionately; however, it''s unnecessary for me to treat a guy on an errand so politely. I''ve already shown my respect to you by meeting you. Well, my time is very expensive, 1 second for hundreds of thousands of gold coins. If the Gobbling Party wants you to pass any message to me, hurry up, don''t waste my time! If not for passing the message to me on behalf of the Gobbling Party, I think that you would never wait for me outside for a few hours. Am I right?"


    Yang Yushan changed his face right away. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie could put it so straightforwardly. As a result, Yang Yushan even had no chance to continue to disguise; he then put it straight too.


    If it were someone else in front of him, Yang Yushan would directly turn around and leave. Before leaving, he might even condemn that person; however, he was facing Zhang Tie. When he remembered the mission allocated by his superior, he had to control his anger.


    "Because of the impeachment a few months ago, there''s some misunderstanding between the Gobbling Party and Huaiyuan Palace. Now, there''s a chance for us to resolve it!"


    "Huh?" Zhang Tie raised his upper eyelids and replied with a smile, "How?"


    Yang Yushan also revealed a smile as if he had regained his confidence at once, "It''s simple. As long as you join the Gobbling Party and take charge of rebuilding the Morality Associations in Youzhou Province, you will be the new head of the Morality Associations in Youzhou Province!"


    ''What the hell? Are they dreaming that Huaiyuan Palace and I could surrender to the Gobbling Party by sacrificing our self-esteem?''


    "This condition is too sophisticated. Additionally, it has a slow effect. Actually, there''s one simpler and faster way to resolve the conflict between the Gobbling Party and Huaiyuan Palace. I''m sure it could take effect right away!" Zhang Tie said with a solemn look.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, Yang Yushan became stunned for a second before asking, "What''s that?"


    "Let the leaders of the Gobbling Party kowtow three times loudly before the memorial tablet of Lord Huaiyuan and admit their mistake loudly before disbanding the Gobbling Party!"


    "Don''t be too excessive!" Yang Yushan was driven furious at once.


    "Don''t give up your treatment. Hurry up, go back home to take medicine. If you don''t have money, take it from me!" Zhang Tie wove his hand like fanning away a fly.


    As the old saying went, ''When the conversation got disagreeable, to say one word more is a waste of breath.'' Yang Yushan replied with a cold harrumph before turning around and leaving. After a few steps, he turned around and said, "The Morality Associations in Taixia Country are based on the heavenly laws and morality stele, have you thought about the outcome to be against the heavens laws? You''re in Yingzhou Province, not Youzhou Province..."


    Zhang Tie also sneered, "Speaking of mercy, righteousness, heavenly laws and morality, why not talk about it in the territory of demons? After moving demons with the so-called mercy, righteousness, heavenly laws and morality, you can talk about them to me. As demons are also in the universe and restrained by the heavenly laws, if you couldn''t persuade demons, why do you insist on that?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s irony, Yang Yushan replied with a cold harrumph. After that, he forcefully swung his arms and left...


    Watching Yang Yushan''s back, Zhang Tie slightly frowned, ''After refusing the olive branch from the Gobbling Party, it seems that I have to stand on the opposite side of the Gobbling Party from then on.''


    ''You''re in Yingzhou Province, not in Youzhou Province.'' Zhang Tie doubted that Yingzhou Province would cause him some trouble when he recalled the warning of Yang Yushan.


    Zhang Tie''s premonition was right. After Yang Yushan left, Zhang Tie had sensed the deep influence of the Gobbling Party in Yingzhou Province.


    ...


    Standing in front of Zhang Tie with a bashful look, Zhang Cheng told Zhang Tie what he encountered when he sent Zhang Tie''s visiting card to the Fan Mansion in Fuhai City.


    "I''ve sent the visiting card to Fan Mansion. However, the household register director said that he felt uncomfortable lately and was inconvenient for receiving guest tomorrow...he wants...wants Elder Mushen to pay a visit there two days later!"


    According to the etiquette in Taixia Country, the new son-in-law should pay a visit to the family of his father-in-law on the second day after he arrived at the city of his father-in-law...it''s impolite for him to pay a visit there 2 days later...


    If Zhang Tie paid a visit to Fan Mansion tomorrow, he was still a son-in-law; however, if he went there 2 days later, his status as a son-in-law would fade away...

 888 Breaking off the Engagemen

    Chapter 888: Breaking off the Engagement


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Because the household register director Fan didn''t "feel good", Zhang Tie lived one more day in the hotel. Until the third day since he came to Fuhai City, namely the afternoon of April 29th did he "pay a visit" to Fan Mansion.


    Fan mansion was in a tranquil place in Fuhai City which was surrounded by high gates and large courtyards.


    There were two stone lions at the gate of Fan mansion, which indicated the deep family background of an official in Taixia Country.


    When Zhang Tie got off the vehicle, he saw an old steward of Fan mansion waiting for him at the vermeil gate. The steward moved forward to welcome Zhang Tie; Zhang Cheng handed Zhang Tie''s gift to a servant of Fan mansion.


    "Does Director Fan feel better today?" Zhang Tie asked the steward of Fan mansion in a calm tone.


    With a bit bashful look, the steward stammered, "Master...master is much better!"


    Zhang Tie found that everyone in Fan mansion was polite, including the servants. However, they lacked passion.


    Zhang Tie sighed inside as he had not imagined such a situation in Yingzhou Province. However, now that Fan mansion had made the choice, he would coordinate with them to finish this performance given that Director Fan''s daughter had been waiting for him a few years.


    ''Even though we cannot establish a marital relationship, we''d better depart in a kind way.''


    ''It''s the Gobbling Party in Yingzhou Province that makes me embarrassed instead of Fan mansion. Therefore, I could only revenge the Gobbling Party if I want.''


    ''Given the current situation, I should have taken Linda, Beverly and Fiona here for a honeymoon.'' Zhang Tie thought inside.


    Steward Fan invited Zhang Tie into the parlor of Fan mansion.


    Director Fan was sitting in the main seat in the parlor and waiting for Zhang Tie. Right behind Director Fan, there were a photo of green pines under the red sun and a couplet on two sides of it.


    The one on the left side was¡ª¡ªGreen pines, verdant bamboos, the vast land exists forever!


    The one on the right side was¡ª¡ªGreen willow leaves, red blossoms, the Hua land is always brilliant.


    The horizontal scroll was¡ª¡ªEverything looks fresh and gay.


    This couplet in the parlor of Fan mansion really matched the position of Director Fan in Fuhai City.


    It was also Director Fan''s first time to see Zhang Tie. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s young age and brilliance, Director Fan''s eyes sparkled at once. However, closely after that, his sparkling eye lights faded away.


    After Zhang Tie took a seat that was specially set for a guest, a female servant served a cup of tea for Zhang Tie. The male servant who had gotten Zhang Tie''s gift put the gift on Director Fan''s table. Closely after that, Director Fan waved his hands. All the servants then left the parlor.


    Director Fan then let out a long sigh.


    "Director Fan, why do you sigh?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Now that nephew has guessed it, no need to ask me about that anymore!" Director Fan watched Zhang Tie with a bitter smile, "I just feel regretful that my daughter could not marry such an excellent son-in-law. My daughter is really unfortunate. On this event, it''s Fan family''s fault, we broke our promise and became a laughingstock! I''ve lost my face too. If I were alone, I''d not be afraid of losing my position. In the worst scenario, I will sell liquor on the roadside. I will enjoy such a life. However, I''m just a member of Fan Clan. Sometimes, I could not just care about my own interest while ignoring the overall interests of the clan. As a big clan in Yingzhou Province, our population is not fewer than that of Huaiyuan Palace. Therefore, I have to consider all aspects. If nephew feels angry and embarrassed, you could beat me up. I would never report it to the criminal agency even if I was beaten to death, not to mention that I would cause Huaiyuan Palace trouble..."


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Director Fan was so frank and admitted his fault at the beginning instead of being hypocritical at all. Therefore, Zhang Tie had a good impression on Director Fan.


    Through Director Fan''s words, Zhang Tie had already known the result which was as same as what he had guessed. By putting pressure on Fan Clan in Yingzhou Province, the Gobbling Party forced Director Fan to break his promise. As Fan Clan had a great undertaking in Yingzhou Province, they would never go against the Gobbling Party in Yingzhou Province in a round manner only for marrying a common woman.


    ''Fan Clan should have long known the resentment between Huaiyuan Palace and the Gobbling Party. What Fan Clan has not imagined is that the contradiction between the Gobbling Party and I have escalated so much. If the Gobbling Party really follow the mercy, righteousness, heavenly laws and morality as they advocate, such a contradiction between gentlemen is reasonable; pitifully, there''re few gentlemen in this world. Therefore, Fan Clan have to break off the engagement.''


    This was also where Zhang Tie despised the Gobbling Party; because they usually asked others to follow mercy, righteousness, heavenly laws and morality; instead of themselves.


    "The resentment between Huaiyuan Palace and the Gobbling Party started from Lord Huaiyuan. As an offspring of Huaiyuan Palace, I have the blood of Lord Huaiyuan; of course, I should shoulder the resentment between Huaiyuan Palace and the Gobbling Party. However, I''ve not imagined that even Fan Clan would be involved in it. Because of me, your daughter''s best years are delayed. I''m really sorry about that!" Zhang Tie slightly bowed towards Director Fan. Director Fan also hurriedly bowed towards Zhang Tie with a bit shameful look.


    After Director Fan took a seat, Zhang Tie continued, "This event was aroused by the Gobbling Party. I understand the concerns of Director Fan and Fan Clan pretty well. I will not vent my anger on Fan Clan. The cooperation between Fan Clan and Jinwu Business Group would not be influenced at all. From today on, the engagement between your daughter and I will be canceled. I hope your daughter could find her Mr. Right as soon as possible and live a happy life! Director Fan doesn''t need to think too much about that..."


    ''I''ve not imagined that Zhang Tie is such an understanding man.'' Watching Zhang Tie, Director Fan felt like losing a good son-in-law. In a complex mood, his lips quivered, "Nephew..."


    Zhang Tie had already stood up and put it straight, "It''s okay. I will leave. As my parents are concerned about me, I will leave for Youzhou Province by airship today!"


    "Nephew, the gift..." Director Fan pointed at the gift and wanted Zhang Tie to take it away with a bashful look.


    "I was told that Director Fan liked liquor; therefore, I prepared some "Early Sunshine after Light Snow" for you. This liquor is the best specialty in Youzhou Province. It has been put in ice cubes on the way here. Director Fan should taste. Additionally, my mother prepared some specialties of Huaiyuan Palace for Madam Fan and your daughter. It carries our good intention. Although it''s not valuable, please take it, Director Fan."


    Before leaving, Zhang Tie threw a glance at the room behind the parlor...


    ...


    Director Fan accompanied Zhang Tie all the way to the gate of Fan mansion until Zhang Tie got on the vehicle. After that, he let out a long sigh with a complex mood before returning to the parlor.


    Another old man at his 60s was standing in the parlor at this moment.


    At the sight of this old man, Director Fan felt like seeing nothing as he directly threw himself onto his seat like being cramped. At the same time, he shook his head and muttered, "What a son-in-law...what a son-in-law..."


    That old man was checking Zhang Tie''s gift. After finding no dangerous items among them, he became reassured.


    "This son is indeed excellent; alas, what a pity..." That old man also sighed.


    "More than that..." Director Fan raised his head and threw a glance at that old man before sighing once again, "A 20-odd year knight is already an elite even in the top seven sects in Taixia Country...It''s told that this son has been fighting demons in Waii Subcontinent before and has rich battle experiences. In the beginning, I didn''t believe that. During the past months, he had been well-known across Youzhou Province after helping Zhang Taixuan get the position of the provincial governor; after he promoted to the dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province, he even inflicted heavy losses on the Heavens Reaching Church and became famous across Taixia Country. Even in the competition with the Gobbling Party, he''s still brave and wise. It''s said that he''s filial obedient to his mom, respect the old and love the young at home. Given his deed today, he''s really a gentleman. As I''ve seen so many people, I know that this son would be at least a provincial governor in the future..."


    "If not, how could the Gobbling Party be so scared about him and want to suppress him in all means?" That old man shook his head.


    "Pitifully, Zhu''er''s best days were wasted..."


    "Zhu''er is docile and understanding. After this event, we could find a good husband for her. Fan Clan won''t maltreat her!"


    After hearing these words, Director Fan became reassured. However, he couldn''t stand pouring another concern. Picking himself up suddenly, Director Fan gazed at that old man, "Elder, our Fan Clan should not just be bullied by them in Yingzhou Province in this way. No matter how powerful is the Gobbling Party, they were not that unrivaled. Why would we make a compromise to the Gobbling Party this time and waste this good chance to launch a counter-attack against them? If we wait a few more years..."


    The old man became silent for a few seconds before replying slowly, "I''ve got the message from Xuanyuan Hill...the East Palace...would act as regent within this year!"


    Director Fan stood still for a short while before throwing himself onto the chair in a frustrated way...


    Now that the East Palace was going to act as regent, it indicated that the one who led the Gobbling Party would soon become one of the top three chancellors in Taixia Country, perhaps in a few years or one decade at most...


    Although Fan Clan had a deep influence in Yingzhou Province, they were not qualified to compete with the top three chancellors in Taixia Country. Over these years, Zhang Tie was still Zhang Tie; however, the Gobbling Party might not be the Gobbling Party anymore...


    "You mean His Majesty has..."


    "Watch out your words!" The old man raised his voice to interrupt Director Fan as his face turned solemn at once.

 889 The Vengeance of Gentleman

    Chapter 889: The Vengeance of Gentleman


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Take me to the Morality Association in Fuhai City!" Zhang Tie told the driver the moment he left Fan mansion.


    After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie''s glassy-eyed look, Zhang Cheng got really scared.


    Although Zhang Cheng had not followed Zhang Tie in Fan mansion, as a shrewd man, given the clues lately and Zhang Tie''s deed after leaving Fan mansion, Zhang Cheng had realized that the engagement between Zhang Tie and Fan Clan might have been broken off.


    Being affected by the Morality Association in Fuhai City, the engagement between Zhang Tie and Fan family was broken off. Zhang Tie''s face was smacked in Fuhai City.


    Zhang Cheng was afraid that Zhang Tie would lose his mind in Morality Association in Fuhai City.


    ''Lately, Yang Yushan the head of the Morality Association in Fuhai City gathers a lot of backbones there and criticize Zhang Tie everyday. Besides, they keep spreading gossips about Zhang Tie across Fuhai City. Even many members of Morality Associations in the surrounding prefectures and cities have arrived. They are waiting to make fun of Elder Mushen.''


    ''If Elder Mushen was driven mad today, give his battle strength as a black-iron knight, he might cause big trouble. If so, Huaiyuan Palace would not protect him.''


    "Elder Mushen, besides Yang Yushan, many other backbones of Morality Associations are over there; many of them are disciples from major clans in Yingzhou Province, including a grandson of the head of Qin Clan. You''re going to the Morality Association for..." Zhang Cheng reminded Zhang Tie meticulously.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Zhang Tie, "Don''t worry, I just want to take a look over there. I know those guys are waiting to make fun of me. I will go there to vent my anger so as to shut them up. I won''t use any force!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, Zhang Cheng became reassured. However, Zhang Cheng could not understand how Zhang Tie would "vent his anger" and "shut them up" without using any force.


    Zhang Tie indeed feel a bit depressed; however, he didn''t feel being humiliated.


    ''This time, Fan family''s choice is out of external stress instead of their original intention. Additionally, it was Fan Clan who proposed the engagement first; therefore, besides losing my face slightly, it''s not a big deal. Additionally, in Yingzhou Province, Fan Clan indeed could not match Huaiyuan Palace in influence.''


    What was more, Zhang Tie had not seen that girl in Fan family since the beginning. They had not even talked with each other; therefore, they had no emotional underpinnings. As he was here at the request of his parents, he didn''t pay too much attention to it. Therefore, he didn''t suffer a loss emotionally.


    However, these b*stards of the Gobbling Party made him bashful and caused his parents some mental troubles. He could not stand those guys making fun of him and watching him return to Youzhou Province in an embarrassed way.


    Gentlemen had to revenge villains who had caused him trouble. Of course, Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to revenge the b*stards in the Morality Association.


    It took Zhang Tie less than 20 minutes to arrive at the other place in Fuhai City from the avenue where the Fan mansion was located.


    It was beside a park in Fuhai City with a nice scenery in the surroundings. There was a bamboo grove in the place. Travelers were walking in the park. A magnificent Hua pavilion with green tiles, red pillars, raising eaves and dougong was sitting on one side of the park.


    Zhang Tie directly had the driver park at the front gate of the pavilion.


    After getting off the vehicle, Zhang Tie looked up and saw the three huge Hua characters¡ª¡ª µÀµÂÉç 1on a gold broad hanging over the 2nd floor of the 3-storey pavilion.


    The Hua characters on the board were like dragons flying and phoenixes dancing, which seemed to be the work of a famous calligrapher.


    ''These b*stards of Morality Association really chose a good place.'' Zhang Tie muttered as he looked around.


    Zhang Cheng also got off the vehicle and followed after Zhang Tie tightly.


    There were two sentries on the stages outside the gate of the Morality Association. After noticing the unusual looks of Zhang Tie and Zhang Cheng and their limo, one of the sentries instantly walked towards them with a big smile.


    "Are you going to formally visit the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele in the Morality Association?"


    Zhang Tie blinked his eyes, "Isn''t the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele in the Gobbling Province? Why do you have one here?"


    "Of course the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele is in the Gobbling Province. However, the scriptures on the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele have been copied according to a certain scale in the Morality Associations of all the cities and provinces so that people could formally visit them and learn them!"


    "Ha, it turns out that this is a counterfeit Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele in the Morality Association!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "However, by bowing towards a stele everyday, you really look like honoring the memory of the dead ancestor at a grave. How strange you are! I''m afraid that you''re even more pious than treating your ancestors in this way. No wonder I felt this building''s gloomy with a bad fengshui the moment I caught sight of it!"


    Closely after hearing Zhang Tie''s words had the sentry changed his face, "Who''re you?"


    "Zhang Mushen from Youzhou Province!"


    After hearing the name, the other sentry''s heart pounded at once as he hurriedly rushed into the Morality Association. Only after a few seconds, with a sound "shua", dozens of people had poured out of the pavilion, old and young. Even workers had come out. However, given their clothes and looks, most of them were not average.


    Their head was Yang Yushan.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Yang Yushan''s eyes flickered as he sneered, "Oh my god, it''s our Zhang Mushen from Youzhou Province. I was told that you were going to propose a marriage to the Fan mansion today. Was it smooth or not?"


    Zhang Tie sighed, "It should be a good marital relationship; however, it''s ruined by a rat''s sh*t. How many rats'' sh*t have destroyed this marriage?"


    Previously, Yang Yushan wanted to continue to satire Zhang Tie; however, he was almost driven mad by Zhang Tie.


    "Shut up!" A young man in a purple robe stood out with an arrogant look before Yang Yushan uttered, "How dare you talk nonsense in front of the Morality Association? Hurry up! Kowtow 300 times loudly in front of the Far-ancient Immortal Moral Stele!"


    Zhang Tie just gazed at the youth in the purple robe. Although he didn''t move, his qi had covered towards that youth like a mountain.


    Previously, the youth in the purple robe still looked arrogant; however, all of a sudden, he felt a mountain descending towards him. Being dwarfed by the mountain, he was as weak as an ant or a withered leaf.


    The face of the youth in the purple robe turned pale in a split second. He instantly knelt down towards Zhang Tie as if his tendons had been pulled out by someone else.


    The moment his knees touched the ground, a hand had been stretched out from aside to support him. With the help of that hand, he gradually stood up. Closely after that, an average-look old man stood up in front of him and blocked Zhang Tie''s qi.


    Zhang Tie then watched that old man with narrowed eyes, causing his muscles to grow tense all over.


    Zhang Tie just gazed at the old man for almost 10 seconds silently. Gradually, that old man''s forehead oozed fine sweat drops.


    That old man was also a knight. However, at this moment, nobody else at present knew the feeling of the old man¡ª¡ªA strong wild wolf was pressed onto the ground by the sharp and strong claws of a fierce tiger. Watching the fierce tiger opening its bloody mouth with full killing intent and exposing its sharp fangs towards him, although the wild wolf could launch a counter-attack by its own claws, he was destined to be killed.


    A sweat drop rolled down from the old man''s forehead and was shattered on the step in front of him.


    Zhang Tie then stopped releasing his qi while his battle intention which was as aggressive as volcanic eruption disappeared at once. Zhang Tie smiled, "Who''re you?"


    "Qin Wu from Qin Clan, Yingzhou Province!" The old man uttered in a hoarse voice, "Elder Mushen, my younger master was a bit rude just now, please forgive him!"


    Qin Wu called Zhang Tie according to his status as a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace and a knight and asked Zhang Tie to forgive his young master, it meant that he warned Zhang Tie to not bully the weak.


    Zhang Tie then threw a disdainful glance at that glassy-eyed youth. After being silent for a second, he said, "Several years ago, when I got a son in Yingzhou Province, Qin Clan even sent a gift to me. Given that you''re a member of Qin Clan, I will forgive you today. Across Taixia Country, except for Emperor Xuanyuan, who else dare order a knight to kneel down? However, given your manner of speaking, you must take yourself as Emperor Xuanyuan. Who made you so audacious? Do you believe that I dare chop off your head and impeach that your Qin Clan is going to rise in revolt because of your words? If you could apply 1/10 of your shrewdness into the human relationship instead of taking advantage of someone and causing Qin Clan trouble, you will deserve your life!"


    The youth started to quiver all over as he tried his best to control his fear. Nobody else dared utter at this moment. Although the confront between Zhang Tie and Qin Wu was not short, the invisible collision between two knights'' qis made those at present feel that they were like insects at the crater. As long as the crater was going to erupt, they would vanish at once.


    "Elder Mushen, are you here to presume on your power to intimate others?" Yang Yushan asked while straightening his neck, "Our Morality Association also have knights!"


    Although Zhang Tie was a knight, Yang Yushan believed that Zhang Tie would never dare hurt him in the public as long as Zhang Tie didn''t get any evidence about him that could get a hold in lawsuits or arguments.


    "Hahaha..." Zhang Tie burst into laughter, "When I came to Fuhai City, I heard that the Morality Association was donated and built by the common people in the city. As I''m going to leave today, I especially came here to review whether someone is cheating on work and cutting down on materials in case you carry out a jerry-built project and put the donation into your own purse. There are a lot of such villains in the world. At the sight of your Morality Association, I feel that your building might be a jerry-built project!" As Zhang Tie said this, he stomped thrice on the ground, "Although it looks firm now, it might have been a dilapidated building. You''d better have someone check it; otherwise, it might collapse!"


    Yang Yushan sneered, "It''s none of your business!"


    "Faithful words grate upon the ear!" Zhang Tie sighed, "Alright, I will mind my own business!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie called Zhang Cheng and left.


    Until Zhang Tie left did those guys in Morality Association exchange glances with each other, "He just left? Did he really come here to take a look at the Morality Association?"


    "The Lion of Youzhou Province is so-so!"


    They then sneered.


    "The news that Zhang Mushen''s engagement with Fan Clan was broken off has to be spread to all the Morality Associations at the fastest speed. I will let Zhang Mushen never lift his head wherever he is!" Yang Yushan said mercilessly before calling the backbones back into the pavilion.


    At this moment, they heard a sudden cracking sound from the pavilion. They then lifted their heads at the same time.


    "Watch out!" Qin Wu immediately caught the young master of Qin Clan to retreat...


    "Boom...", the pavilion of the Morality Association in Fuzhou City collapsed in a split second while broken logs and tiles flew in all directions. A tile directly hit Yang Yushan''s head and made him bleed. Those members of the Morality Association hurriedly dodged away in an embarrassed way...


    After a few minutes, when the dust had fallen onto the ground, although nobody was killed, the entire pavilion had become debris.


    At this moment, most of the backbones and personnel in the Morality Association were covered with dust in a pretty embarrassed way. Many heads were bleeding...


    Being disheveled and covered with blood on his face, Yang Yushan''s figure appeared in the dust as he shouted, "Zhang Mushen...you b*stard!"


    Although his sound was hysterical, it revealed his weakness due to the fear deep in his heart...


    Zhang Tie could ruin the pavilion of the Morality Association in the public silently without being discovered and observed. If Zhang Tie wanted to kill someone...


    When they thought about this, everyone felt chilly inside.


    ''How could a knight humiliate so easily?''


    Even though everyone knew that it was done by Zhang Tie, they could not accuse him as they had no evidence...


    Qin Wu also turned his face completely. Even though he didn''t know how Zhang Tie did it. He only felt that Zhang Tie''s stomps were unusual. However, if Zhang Tie could pass his battle qi to this pavilion through his feet silently and ruin the pavilion, it meant that he could precisely control his powerful battle qi. Only 1 of 100 black iron knights could do it.


    ...


    After leaving the Morality Association for about 0.7 miles, Zhang Cheng saw the dust caused by the pavilion through the rearview mirror. At the same time, he faintly heard a loud sound.


    Zhang Cheng was also stunned as an awe-stricken feeling rose in his heart.


    Zhang Tie didn''t use his hand in the entire process.

 890 The Grim Monster

    Chapter 890: The Grim Monster


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In a deep night, the moon was bright while the stars were few...


    In a pavilion of the garden of Fan mansion, Director Fan was drinking too much that he had become drunk after knowing that Zhan Tie had left Fuhai City by airship at dusk while the pear blossoms were falling like snow in the surroundings.


    "Early sunshine after light snow" was indeed the top drink in Youzhou Province. Anyone with a good capacity for liquor would become drunk after drinking common drinks too much; however, no matter how much "early sunshine after light snow" did they drink, people would always be in a half-drunken state and never lose their mind.


    For people who liked liquor, this was the most ideal state. Just like an immortal in liquor, with one bit less, it would taste lighter; with one bit more, it would be delirious.


    After breaking off the engagement with Zhang Clan, the elder of Fan Clan left Fan mansion. Director felt depressed and started to swig in his own garden.


    After Zhang Tie left Fan mansion, he directly went to the Morality Association in Fuhai City. Closely after that, the pavilion of the Morality Association collapsed. According to the marvelous gossip, Zhang Tie stomped a few times outside the gate of the Morality Association. After he left, the pavilion of the Morality Association collapsed itself.


    A dumb person took a dose of bitter medicine¡ª¡ªsuffering humiliation. The members of the Morality Association couldn''t even find a reason to accuse Zhang Tie. Because none of them found that Zhang Tie had launched an attack. Zhang Tie just stayed outside the pavilion of the Morality Association for a short while; he didn''t even enter the territory of the Morality Association. Therefore, they could not find a reason to accuse him.


    After the news had spread across the city, all the commoners in the city started to doubt whether someone had grafted the donation of the pavilion and made a jerry-built project. Otherwise, how could it collapse only after someone stomped a couple of times on the ground tiles outside the pavilion?


    ''After taking a round in Fuhai City, the Lion of Youzhou Province stomped a couple of times on the ground before leaving, which shocked the entire Fuhai City.''


    ''Such a figure should have been my son-in-law, I''ve not imagined that...''


    Director Fan grew more and more depressed as he picked the "early sunshine after light snow" gifted by Zhang Tie and drown his "worries" in the drink.


    After midnight, Madam Fan and his daughter came here to persuade Director Fan to drink less. Later on, the butler of Fan mansion also came here to persuade Director Fan twice and prepared to carry him into his bedroom if he was drunk...


    Gradually, although Director Fan drunk more and more, he was not fully drunk. As it was too late, Madam Fan and his daughter went to bed. In the end, the butler and his servants had disappeared. Even the insects in the garden of Fan mansion had stopped chirping.


    As a result, Fan mansion was pretty silent.


    Being half-drunk, Director Fan didn''t notice anything abnormal in the mansion.


    At this moment, a nightwatchman passed by the street outside the mansion, causing some muffled, wooden knocks reverberating in the air. Feeling a bit chilly, Director Fan picked himself up in a groggy way. Under the dim lamplight in the courtyard, he wobbly left for his bedroom.


    The garden of Fan mansion was close to the western courtyard. When Director Fan passed by an arch door in the winding corridor of the western courtyard, he suddenly slipped onto the ground.


    Director Fan stepped into a puddle on the ground. When he fell down, his hands touched the puddle.


    "The servants are really excessive. They don''t even clean the water on the ground..." Director made a burp as he picked himself up wobbly and muttered, "Hopefully, it''s not the pee of a pye-dog who slid in through the doghole...urgh..."


    After walking another a couple of steps forward, Director Fan suddenly felt his hands were a bit glutinous. It didn''t feel like water. Under the dim lamplight, he raised his hands and threw a drunk glance at it...


    Terrifyingly, Director Fan caught sight of a pair of bloody palms.


    His hands were covered with blood just like coming out of a basin full of blood.


    At this moment, a chill flashed across Director Fan''s spine. After quivering all over, Director Fan almost woke up. He turned around immediately and widely opened his eyes. He then saw a black frame lying in the grass at the foot of the wall where he had just slipped down.


    Director Fan walked over there and turned over that black figure.


    It was the corpse of a LV 10 guard in Fan mansion, only half of his head was linked to his neck. What a tragic death! He slipped onto the blood that flew off from the neck of this corpse just now.


    Director Fan became fully awake at once. Until then did he realize that the entire Fan mansion was especially quiet, except for the faintly, strange sound from his daughter''s room in the west courtyard.


    Director Fan felt his heart burning as he rushed towards his daughter''s room.


    The servant girls outside her daughter''s bedroom became breathless too. Hearing the strange sound from his daughter''s bedroom, Director Fan immediately burst open his daughter''s bedroom.


    His daughter was grabbed by the neck and pressed onto the bed by a naked man. Being covered with wounds, her mouth corners were spilling out blood. She had been too weak to ask for help.


    Director''s eyes almost popped out as he instantly picked a vase and threw it towards the man''s back. At the same time, he exclaimed hysterically, "Let go of my daughter..."


    After hitting the man, the vase broke apart. The man turned around and Director Fan saw a familiar face¡ª¡ª"Zhang Tie".


    However, "Zhang Tie" looked grim and berserk. With red eyes, he was like a mad mutated beast...


    "Zhang Tie, you son of a b*tch, I will fight you to death!" Director Fan clenched his fist and rushed towards "Zhang Tie" while gritting his teeth even though he knew that he could not defeat "Zhang Tie".


    After Director Fan rushed two steps forward, "Zhang Tie" had raised his finger and shot out a sharp battle qi, which directly penetrated through Director Fan''s heart on the left chest...


    Director Fan lay on the ground while his blood tinted the floor red...


    "Zhang Tie" directly broke the neck of Director Fan''s daughter before getting off the bed. After that, he looked around the room with red eyes. Closely after that, he disappeared.


    The Fan mansion in Fuhai City became completely quiet...


    However, "Zhang Tie" who had "left" Fan mansion hurriedly didn''t notice that Director Fan''s finger moved a bit.


    Director Fan''s heart was on the right chest. Few people knew this secret...


    ...


    After a few minutes, in a private mansion in Fuhai City...


    All the backbones of the Morality Association in Fuhai City had been transferred here in an embarrassed way.


    The Morality Association had been ruined. Therefore, this place became the temporary venue of the Morality Association in Fuhai City.


    With the effect of the recovery medicament, the wounded ones had been basically recovered. However, this strike made the backbones of the Morality Association in Fuhai City depressed.


    In this age, the difference between knights and those below knights made people disappointed.


    "I''ve already noticed the headquarter. Our Morality Association has to find the face back. We cannot suffer such a loss. Zhang Mushen is too excessive..." Yang Yushan gritted his teeth with a layer of gauze over his head so as to pluck up courage for these backbones.


    "After coming back home, I will definitely have my grandpa ban Jinwu Business Group. As long as our Qin Clan is in Yingzhou Province, we will definitely forbid every item of Jinwu Business Group to enter the trading channels of Qin Clan!" The young master of Qin Clan turned solemn too. When he heard Zhang Tie''s warning, he was scared. However, after Zhang Tie left, this young master of Qin Clan felt being extremely humiliated while his heart felt like burning. He almost knelt down in front of that guy who looked younger than him. Later on, he was reprimanded like a kid. He hadn''t experienced this since he was born. Qin Clan was called 100-city Qin in Yingzhou Province; even the provincial governor of Yingzhou Province would be polite to Qin Clan. Who was Zhang Tie? How dared he reprimand the young master of Qin Clan?


    "We can blow upon him through newspaper and media!" Another person uttered, "Our clan has some paper agencies. Even though we cannot accuse Zhang Mushen, we will humiliate him by the news that he collapsed the Morality Pavilion..."


    Losers would gather together to improve their morale with animosity; therefore, Yang Yushan summoned these guys who suffered a loss in the daytime.


    They then made opinions or reaffirmed their resolve to revenge Zhang Tie one after another...


    They were really excited as if they had already stomped Zhang Tie under their feet.


    Qin Wu''s sound drifted from outside, "Who''s that?"


    Closely after Qin Wu''s voice, the gate of the private mansion had been shattered with a boom. At the same time, a figure in black mask with bloody eyes had broken in...


    All the members of the Morality Association in Fuhai City were shocked...


    "Young master, run!" Qin Wu shouted from outside while his knight''s battle qi shot into the sky like a big blazing torch in the evening of Fuhai City, which shocked numerous people in a split second.


    After breaking in, with one punch, his sharp battle qi had reverberated in the room. In a split second, thousands of blades had cut through the entire room, blowing up the limbs and heads of all the dumbfounded backbones and the furnishings in the room at once...


    "Zhang Tie!" Qin Wu roared as he rushed in like a mad lion.


    Although that guy was wearing a black mask, Qin Wu could still recognize the face under the mask based on his figure and eyebrows.


    The sharp qi carried by that punch was as same as the effect of the metallic battle qi in the "Five-element Earth-look Sutra" cultivated by Zhang Tie...


    Qin Wu''s battle qi had shocked the entire Fuhai City while two more meteors had rushed towards here when Qin Wu''s battle qi shot into the sky.


    After fighting Qin Wu for two rounds rapidly, the one in black mask flew towards the north like a meteor...


    Closely followed by 3 more meteors...

 891 The Crisis

    Chapter 891: The Crisis


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie left Fuhai City by airship at evening.


    There was nothing to recall with nostalgia in this city; he had said what he should say and done what he should do. Therefore, Zhang Tie chose to leave right away.


    The fury-level airship left for Huaiyuan City.


    Huaiyuan City was over 2,000 miles away in the northwest of Fuhai City. It was a bit derailed from the route towards Youzhou Province; however, it was not a long distance. It was just a couple of days by airship, which was nothing compared to the months of travel.


    Honestly, Zhang Tie let out a sigh after Fan Clan broke off the engagement. When he was young, he was frivolous and could kill time with those girls of Rose Association. However, he felt a bit awkward to marry a woman whom he had not met before and had a baby with her. Although affection could be slowly cultivated, Zhang Tie still felt a bit embarrassed about this.


    ''I could not disobey my parents'' intention; however, if Fan Clan breaks off the engagement themselves, it will not be my fault.''


    It was too normal for a black iron knight to be humiliated by powerful opponents such as Gobbling Party in a foreign land. However, Zhang Tie didn''t care about it at all; not to mention that he had slapped the face of Gobbling Party before he left Fuhai City.


    Zhang Tie was open-minded; therefore, he felt pretty relaxed when he left Fuhai City.


    As for those medicaments that he brought here, he handed them to the branch of Jinwu Business Group in Fuhai City. After that, Zhang Tie left there with a relaxed mood.


    After boarding the airship, Zhang Tie contacted his elder brother using the remote-sensing crystal. He had Zhang Yang tell their parents that Fan Clan had broken off the engagement due to the threat of the Gobbling Party and that he was going to come back soon. After that, Zhang Tie entered his room and started to absorb earth-elements crystals.


    After a few days, Zhang Tie would light the 14th dragon scale on his knight''s crystal plate...


    Knight''s road of cultivation should be paved one step by another, which should never be optimistic.


    The night gradually deepened...


    Zhang Tie had just absorbed 3 earth-elements crystals. When he was absorbing the 4th one with crossed legs in his room, his spiritual energy became disordered as he opened his eyes at once.


    When absorbing earth-elements crystals, although he had put the most of his spiritual energy in the elements realm, he still maintained the most basic perceptions and feelings about the outside world with his powerful knight''s consciousness. It was also a basic skill of knights. As a knight, one should be sensitive to his surroundings at any time.


    A porthole of Zhang Tie''s room slid off silently. Closely after that, Zhang Tie came to the outside of the airship silently. After that, he silently closed the porthole by his battle qi.


    ...


    The fury-level airship was flying steadily at over 2,000 m high. In the night, red fluorite lamps were flickering over the air sac on the top of the airship, which reminded other aircraft that there was a large airship here.


    Facing the heavy wind, a person in black clothes was silently attaching to the hard air sac within a dead angle of observation like a gecko.


    "It''s windy. If you want a hitchhike, you need to come to the cabin with me. No need to hide there!" Zhang Tie had appeared on that guy''s side silently.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s sound, that guy was amazed as he immediately turned around.


    Zhang Tie saw a pair of eyes with weird eye lights under the black mask.


    Zhang Tie directly stretched out his hand and intended to grab his neck. However, that guy instantly slid over 10 m down along the air sac and dodged from Zhang Tie''s first strike.


    Zhang Tie was shocked inside as such a weird and flexible movement was rarely seen even among black iron knights.


    After dodging Zhang Tie''s first strike, that guy raised his hand while three sparkling stars were shot towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie barely dodged from them. That guy then sprung up and appeared over 100 m away in a split second. Closely after that, he flashed towards the south.


    Zhang Tie just intended to let him leave the airship by launching a punch at him; otherwise, if this guy made destructions, though Zhang Tie would be safe, this airship might be destroyed. For a knight, to shoot down an airship was as easy as piercing a balloon by a needle. If the airship fell off, at least half of the crew would be killed.


    Realizing that stealthy guy was going to escape, how could Zhang Tie let him go so easily? Therefore, Zhang Tie accelerated at once and chased after him.


    Zhang Tie was shocked once again. Since he promoted to a black iron knight, he had not met anyone of the same level who could match him in speed in the sky, except for this guy. Additionally, that guy''s movement was very weird. After fighting with him for two rounds, Zhang Tie realized that he had met a master in using hidden weapons, whose skill was far better than common black iron knights...


    However, that guy''s battle qi was a bit weaker than his. Otherwise, Zhang Tie almost thought that he met a powerhouse on the level of the demon general.


    ''Who''s this guy? Is he from the Heavens Reaching Church or the Gobbling Party?''


    A question occured to Zhang Tie''s mind. Therefore, Zhang Tie kept chasing after him...


    ...


    Fan Clan, Fuhai City...


    The Fan Clan had been brightly lit at this moment while numerous torches were blazing fiercely in the night. A lot of criminal hunters, officials and powerhouses were gathering here from the Provincial Court of Fuhai City. Even the streets outside the mansion were blocked.


    It was a guard of a mansion being close to Fan Clan who found something abnormal in Fan Clan.


    Being neighbors, they usually had exchanges in normal times. As there was only one wall between the two mansions, the guards of the two mansions were familiar with each other. Tonight, that guard was on duty in his mansion; however, he found that Fan mansion was pretty quiet. He didn''t even see the guards who were usually on duty in Fan mansion. Feeling something abnormal, that guard shouted towards Fan mansion; whereas, he received no response. Therefore, he climbed over the wall and found nobody was alive in Fan mansion. He was so scared that he hurriedly reported it to the local judicial agency...


    Director Fan was an official in Fuhai City. After such a tragedy happened in an official''s mansion, the entire Fuhai City was frightened.


    After receiving the news, even the mayor of Fuhai City had hurriedly come to Fan Clan. Watching the miserable condition, the face of the mayor of Fuhai City turned purple; even his mustache started to quiver.


    ''Who dare kill the whole family of an official of Taixia Country in such a cruel manner? Even the daughter of director Fan was raped before killed. Such a pernicious case is rarely seen in Taixia Country. It''s going against all the officials in Taixia Country!''


    The mayor stood in the parlor of Fan Clan in a gloomy manner. Watching the drawing of green pines and red sun and that pair of couplets, he was waiting for his subordinates'' reports.


    At this moment, a guy in the official uniform of court hurriedly entered the parlor and said, "Sir, Director Fan has woken up after the treatment..."


    "Director Fan is still alive?" The mayor''s eyes flickered.


    "Director Fan''s heart is on his right chest; therefore, he survived..."


    "Hurry, take me there!"


    ...


    Watching the mayor of Fuhai City, Director Fan''s eyes flew out bloody tears as he tightly caught the hand of the mayor and quivered all over, "I saw it...it''s...it''s Zhang Tie...Zhang Mushen...the son of a b*tch...in my daughter''s room...and intended to kill me...that b*stard has been possessed by the devil...please help me, mayor..."


    In the legend of Western Continent, angels could degenerate; while in Eastern Continent, gentlemen could be possessed by the devil!


    After hearing that it was done by Zhang Tie, the mayor of Fuhai City was shocked. Right then, another one ran into the room and whispered to the mayor.


    The mayor of Fuhai City changed his face once again. Closely after that, he gritted his teeth and issued an order, "Notice the Provincial Court and Cheji General''s Mansion in Yingzhou Province. Zhang Tie has made a heinous crime. He killed the whole family of Director Fan in Fuhai City and the head and members of the Morality Association in Fuhai City. He has had heavy blood debts. Zhang Tie, Zhang Mushen should be listed as wanted and arrested. He''s forbidden to leave Yingzhou Province, alive or not!"


    ...


    In over 1 hour, Zhang Tie had chased that guy deep into the wilderness.


    During the process, they had fought two rounds. That guy was wounded by Zhang Tie. Additionally, Zhang Tie had attached a tracing feather to that guy''s body. Zhang Tie wondered where this guy was heading for.


    Gradually, that guy had entered the woods in the valley from the sky. Zhang Tie followed him in without any fear.


    After entering the woods for a few minutes, that man in black clothes suddenly stopped in a place.


    Zhang Tie stood still over 20 m away from him, "Who''re you?"


    "You don''t need to know who I am. You only need to know that I''m going to kill you. Brat, you better close your eyes before being killed by me!" That man uttered in a very weird voice.


    ''F*ck, you should be the one who closes eyes.'' Zhang Tie frowned before revealing a smile, "You want to kill me? Don''t dream!"


    "I could''ve killed you easily. However, it was not fun and would bring me trouble. Now, it''s the best time..." that man burst out weird laughter. At the same time, another shadow flashed towards that man like a shadow.


    Watching the man darting towards him, Zhang Tie almost thought that he had a blurred vision. Because that man was as same as him from the height, figure, look, even clothes.


    Right in Zhang Tie''s eyes, the two people collided with each other. Closely after that, a weird black flame rose up from their bodies at the same time.


    Being so weird, even though the flame was far away, Zhang Tie could still feel its terrifyingly high temperature and energy. What was more strange was that the black flame didn''t burn anything next to them.


    In a few seconds, the two people had burned into ashes in front of Zhang Tie, leaving nothing.


    That was too weird, just like a dream.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what happened. He just felt something was wrong while being extremely alert...


    The moment Zhang Tie intended to leave, he had seen 3 meteors descending and rushing towards him at the same time...

 892 Being Lunatic

    Chapter 892: Being Lunatic


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Three extremely dazzling knights'' battle qis shot into the sky. Even in the wilderness, they could still be seen by people within hundreds of square miles.


    Besides indicating that the knight was making his full effort in combat, the knight''s battle qi could also summon other knights just like whistling. As long as the other knights on his side caught sight of his battle qi, they would know that their partner was fighting...


    Watching the one who looked as same as him burning and vanishing together with that man in black clothes who induced him here and bearing the fierce strike from three knights, Zhang Tie knew that he must have fallen into a terrifying trap. The purpose of that guy in black clothes was to induce him here.


    Zhang Tie wondered why the two living knights could burn into ashes in the black flame all of a sudden.


    ''Who''s that one who looks as same as me? What did he do? Why Qin Wu and the other two knights were chasing after him?'' Zhang Tie wondered.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know why would the three knights attack him the moment they caught sight of him.


    After combining these doubts and weird scenes, Zhang Tie knew that he was trapped in a murder, ''The three knights are not attacking me but the one who has burned into ashes. After that person vanishes, I become the very person being chased by them.''


    ''Besides looking as same as me, that person even shared the same clothes and the same hairstyle as me. This was a disguise based on my look.''


    ''The terror and rigor of this murder are completely out of my imagination.''


    ''This is a conspiracy.''


    The three knights appeared so fast and abruptly, leaving no time for Zhang Tie to make any preparation and response.


    Like a fully mad lion, Qin Wu intended to fight Zhang Tie to death by implementing a close combat with Zhang Tie. As for the other two knights, one was a middle-aged literati in cyan clothes with a flute in hand; the other was a 30-year old knight with a longsword in hand. Compared to Qin Wu''s crazy strike, the other two knights were relatively mild, who just wanted to block Zhang Tie.


    What made Zhang Tie depressed was that he didn''t even know the other two knights'' names until now.


    ''What the hell?''


    Zhang Tie wanted to leave; however, being besieged by three knights of the same level, how could he leave easily?


    Zhang Tie could be able to make a breakthrough by force; however, he might cause casualties.


    Zhang Tie didn''t want to fight in vain and become enmity with other knights before knowing their backgrounds, especially after knowing that this was a trap.


    "Qin Wu, weren''t you in Fuhai City? Why are you here? Why did you three attack me the moment you saw me?" Zhang Tie asked as he dodged and blocked the attacks of the three knights; meanwhile, he attempted to make an explanation.


    ''It would be better than being confused if I could learn something from Qin Wu.''


    Qin Wu gritted his teeth and kept attacking Zhang Tie. He didn''t respond to Zhang Tie''s question at all.


    "We''ve been chasing after you all the way from Fuhai City. Don''t you know what you''ve done? How dare you pretend to be innocent? I''ve not imagined that Zhang Mushen the Lion of Youzhou Province is such an asshole..." The middle-aged literati uttered as he shook his head. It seemed that he was very disappointed with Zhang Tie. Meanwhile, he drew a green network of battle qi and intended to entangle Zhang Tie.


    ''F*ck, what did this father do?'' Zhang Tie became extremely puzzled.


    Another knight''s longsword was also very sharp. Being coordinated by Qin Wu, each of his movement was lethal to Zhang Tie.


    On this occasion, Zhang Tie could not even stop; he could only fight them.


    "I was induced here from the airship just now..." Zhang Tie attempted to make an explanation.


    "If we did not chase you all the way here, we might have been cheated by you!" The one with longsword sneered.


    They didn''t stop their attack as they had treated all the words of Zhang Tie as lies and quibbles...


    After fighting the three knights for over 10 minutes, Zhang Tie intended to retreat based on his advantage in speed and movement; however, he could not fully get rid of their chase at all. Zhang Tie knew that he would be increasingly disadvantageous if he kept going like this. ''What counts most is to get rid of the three knights'' chase. If being entangled by the three knights, I could do nothing else at all. This combat is too confusing. Additionally, it seems that the three knights have completely confirmed that I''ve done something bad. Therefore, I could not clarify myself only by speaking at all.''


    Facing the attack of the three knights, even though Zhang Tie was just defending himself at the beginning, gradually, he exerted his efforts. On this occasion, Zhang Tie was fighting the three knights while facing a great stress. Being attacked by knights'' battle intentions and qis, how could he become relaxed.


    Although the other two knights were mainly blocking Zhang Tie, they were still a bit shocked that Zhang Tie as a black iron knight was not fully disadvantageous while fighting three knights.


    When they were fighting, an airboat arrived here with full killing intent. The moment it arrived, Qin Wu started to attack Zhang Tie in a fiercer way.


    At this moment, a powerful figure descended from the airboat as fast as a lightning bolt.


    Zhang Tie was shocked inside, ''Earth knight...''


    "Pay me my young master''s life..." Qin Wu suddenly roared and broke into Zhang Tie''s defense. At the same time, he covered Zhang Tie''s temples and heart with his battle qi as sharp as chisels.


    As a result, Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi exploded due to high pressure.


    Zhang Tie radiated a furious eye light as he kicked off the sharp sword qi; at the same time, he twisted his body and dodged Qin Wu''s attack towards his head. Meanwhile, he blocked Qin Wu''s chisel onto his heart by one hand and punched Qin Wu by his right hand, causing a thunder.


    Honestly, although Zhang Tie''s punch was very powerful, he didn''t mean to kill Qin Wu; instead, he just wanted to repulse Qin Wu. At this moment, Qin Wu''s protective battle qi had not been fully collapsed. Therefore, it was very difficult for Zhang Tie to kill him. In the worst scenario, Qin Wu''s innards would be slightly wounded.


    However, the reality was out of Zhang Tie''s expectation once again.


    In a split second, Qin Wu shouted as his battle qi suddenly boiled. It seemed that Qin Wu had run his battle qi to the utmost as his battle qi covered both Zhang Tie and himself. However, before Zhang Tie''s punch touched Qin Wu''s protective battle qi, the last anti-strike ability of Qin Wu had disappeared.


    Zhang Tie was confused by such a sudden change once again. Because he could never imagine that Qin Wu who had fought him for such a long while could "commit suicide" at this moment...


    As a result, Zhang Tie''s punch struck onto Qin Wu''s body in a split second smoothly.


    Heart racing, Zhang Tie immediately reduced his striking capability by 80%...


    Of course, although Zhang Tie knew that Qin Wu was committing suicide, he also knew that the others must think that Qin Wu was killed by his protective battle qi. Additionally, the sudden boiling battle qi of Qin Wu also blurred the other two knights'' visions.


    At the final moment, Qin Wu revealed an extremely weird ridicule. After that, before Zhang Tie punched more, Qin Wu had uttered a shrill cry; at the same time, Qin Wu''s body had exploded, spreading his fleshes in all directions...


    In the eyes of the others, it was Zhang Tie who shattered Qin Wu into pieces. However, only Zhang Tie knew what happened just now.


    The weird ridicule and his suicide strike of Qin Wu froze Zhang Tie''s heart...


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had realized that he had been a real murder maniac even though he had done nothing bad. It was an unforgivable crime by killing the employed elder of Qin Clan in Yingzhou Province in the public; however, this was what Zhang Tie was trying to avoid even before figuring out what happened...


    The moment this thought flashed by Zhang Tie''s mind, he had heard a dignified and furious sound, "Stop..."


    Closely after that voice was a fire dragon that shot towards Zhang Tie.


    It was a fire dragon of battle qi as long as 100 m. It was fierce, grim, destructive and powerful.


    It was a furious blow of an earth knight, which covered 100 square meters around Zhang Tie.


    Before the fire dragon touched Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie had become stiff all over like having fallen into a fire pit. After being targeted by the fire dragon, the air surrounding Zhang Tie was compressed while the woods and weeds on one side were soon burned by the terrifying temperature of the fire dragon...


    Facing this blow, the other two knights who were besieging Zhang Tie hurriedly dodged away as fast as lightning bolts...


    Since he promoted to a knight, Zhang Tie had not met such an awe-inspiring and powerful strike.


    Earth knights were overwhelming in front of black iron knights.


    In this life and death situation, Zhang Tie found it was useless to make any explanation. He just roared while his battle qi boiled for the first time. Meanwhile, he punched the fire dragon which wanted to devour him from above down...


    In the thunderous booms, the ground quaked, causing a huge pit as deep as 5 m with a diameter of 10 m around Zhang Tie.


    Kneeling down at the bottom of the pit on one knee, Zhang Tie spilled out blood from his mouth corners while his clothes were scorched all over. He looked up and watched the tall men in armor standing in the air over 200 m high with a firm look...


    Only with one blow, Zhang Tie had been severely wounded.


    "Hmm, you''re indeed unusual. No wonder you dared play the gangster in Fuhai City and killed people in front of me..." The man in armor watched Zhang Tie who was kneeling in the huge pit while his eyes gradually turned colder, "Lord Huaiyuan must be humiliated even though he''s in the heaven. I will help Lord Huaiyuan clean up his unworthy descendant, go die..."


    Soon after the man uttered the words "go die", he had pressed down his hands and locked Zhang Tie once again while two thicker intertwined fire dragons darted towards Zhang Tie.


    When the fire dragons reappeared, Zhang Tie clenched his hands. He had not imagined that he had to expose his trump card on the occasion of life and death when facing a Hua earth knight...


    ''Today, I could not stay in Taixia Country anymore whether I win or not.''


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy in his mind sea had started to spin rapidly like a rainstorm caused by a hurricane. Although bowing his body, his facial expression grew firmer and more persistent as he gazed at the figure in the sky and the fire dragons...


    Zhang Tie entered the ubiquitous state once again...


    In the blink of an eye, two grim intertwining fire dragons had flown 100 m downwards and opened their huge mouths towards Zhang Tie, exposing their fangs.


    When Zhang Tie was going to expose his trump card...


    "Close your eyes..." A strange yet familiar sound suddenly appeared on Zhang Tie''s side.


    Like making an acquired reflex, the moment Zhang Tie heard the sound, he had closed his eyes. Although he had closed his eyes, he could still sense a dazzling sun rising from his side...


    In the thunderous boom, the space became ghastly pale. Even Zhang Tie''s powerful knight''s consciousness and perception interfered with the white light...


    Zhang Tie felt that his wrist was caught by a person. Closely after that, he heard a strong wind passing by while the space beside him was changing rapidly like the change of seasons...


    The moment he became relaxed spiritually, Zhang Tie spurted out a mouth of blood due to the furious blow of the earth knight just now.


    Faintly, Zhang Tie felt an extremely surging, irresistible hot flow slowly swimming across his innards. His pains then became greatly relieved at once while that hot flow dispersed greatly. He felt pretty comfortable. Closely after that, with a light rock, the hot flow spread across his full body. Zhang Tie felt dark all over as he fell asleep...


    "You will be recovered when you wake up..." Before trance, Zhang Tie heard a sound faintly.


    ...


    In the wilderness, when the three knights who were in intensive self-defense state recovered their visions and consciousnesses of knights after over 10 minutes from the great shock and confusion, they found that Zhang Tie had disappeared...


    At the same time, they found that all the plants within hundreds of meters around that huge pit had become translucent, snowy white. It looked pretty strange...


    ''It''s the effect of the explosive light bomb, which is more precious than common alchemist'' bombs.''


    Explosive light bombs were also the products of alchemist masters. Its effect was not as destructive as a powerful alchemist''s bomb; however, explosive light bombs would not explode. Precisely, it was a special alchemist''s item which could let everyone at present lose their vision and perceptive capability. Under the threat of an explosive light bomb, without any precaution, even knights would become deaf and dumb for a short while. Even knights'' consciousness and senses would be fully disturbed, not to mention commoners.


    ''I''ve not imagined that Zhang Mushen could carry such a despicable weapon. I was told that he had gained a nanobead when he inflicted heavy losses on the Heavens Reaching Church. He must''ve hidden the explosive light bomb in his nanobead.


    Facing such a result, the three knights didn''t look good; especially the one standing in the air, who looked pale.


    "Notice all the armies in Yingzhou Province. Arrest Zhang Tie, Zhang Mushen. As long as they catch sight of him, directly kill him..." The man in armor roared...


    ...


    After his engagement was broken off by Fan Clan, Zhang Tie, Zhang Mushen was greatly stimulated and made a lunatic crime in Fuhai City as a murdering maniac...


    When the dawn fell, Zhang Tie''s name shocked the entire country once again. However, this time, compared to the good reputation that was praised by people when he inflicted heavy losses on the Heavens Reaching Church, Zhang Tie, Zhang Mushen completely degenerated to the other extreme...

 893 The Reappearance of Zhao Yuan

    Chapter 893: The Reappearance of Zhao Yuan


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how long had he slept.


    When Zhang Tie opened his eyes once again, he found that he was lying in a mountain cave in the same shabby clothes. However, as his wound caused by the furious blow of the earth knight had recovered, all of his physical functions had reached their heyday once again while his battle qi was running smoother.


    After recovering his consciousness, Zhang Tie felt that whatever happened before was like a dream.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know why he had deteriorated to such a situation until now. He couldn''t think through why a Hua earth knight wanted to kill him with the reason of cleaning up the unworthy descendant for Lord Huaiyuan.


    ''F*ck!''


    At this moment, Zhang Tie caught sight of sunlight outside the mountain cave, which indicated that it was daytime.


    Zhang Tie picked himself up and looked around this mountain cave seriously.


    There was a stone bed, a stone chair, a stone table, a stone bowl and a human skeleton which was sitting with crossed legs in the mountain cave. Besides, there was a bright and spotless jade case on the table, which had been covered with dust.


    After looking around this place, Zhang Tie didn''t touch anything here; instead, he directly exited the mountain cave.


    The moment he exited the mountain cave, he had seen the rolling white clouds and looming mountain peaks underfoot. This mountain cave was on a very high mountain peak. However, due to the bulgy rocks and cliffs on both sides of the mountain cave and some pines surrounding it, this mountain cave looked pretty covert. Even if someone flew by the mountain cave, he might also miss it if he did not pay special attention to it.


    The splendid scenery made Zhang Tie breathless.


    A man in the black robe was standing on the edge of one cliff outside the mountain cave with crossed hands on his back and watching the rolling clouds underfoot quietly.


    Given his back, although he was a bit emaciated with grey hair, he revealed a lonely yet dignified powerful qi in the world.


    When Zhang Tie caught sight of this lonely yet tall and straight figure and recalled the lake in the location of Master Abyan''s Manor outside Blackhot City, Zhang Tie couldn''t help dropping off tears.


    "Master!" Zhang Tie uttered in a low voice.


    After letting out a sigh, the figure turned around. He was the very Zhao Yuan whom Zhang Tie had not seen for many years.


    Plus those years that Zhang Tie had stayed in the tower of time, Zhang Tie had not met Zhao Yuan for dozens of years.


    "Why are you crying? I''ve not cried yet!" Zhao Yuan watched Zhang Tie before letting out a sigh once again, "I always think that I''m unrivaled in the world and will end the resentment as soon as I want. My nickname alchemist demon is well-known among both humans and demons. I only have one apprentice in my life; however, that apprentice is always chased by people like a pye-dog at the risk of his life whenever I see him. Which one should cry, you or me?"


    After hearing Zhao Yuan''s words, Zhang Tie''s face blushed. He started to recall what happened whenever he met Zhao Yuan from when he was chased by the b*stard of Zhen Clan from Heavens Cold City to the present. He also found that he was indeed in dilemmas whenever he met or might meet Zhao Yuan, for instance, when he fought Master Abyan to death in Blackhot City; this time, it was more inexplicable. If he was killed by them, he might not even know the reason.


    Zhang Tie felt pretty stupid when he found that his master could still live so well even though he had occupied the first place in the wanted list in the supreme court in Taixia Country so many years and was wanted by the top seven sects in Taixia Country with the reward of 100 cities.


    Zhang Tie lowered his head bashfully.


    "Well, it''s indeed out of my imagination that you''ve already promoted to a knight after these years. It seems that you also have some opportunities. When in Blackhot City in Waii Subcontinent, after feeling that your soul crystal had broken apart and your qi had vanished, I went to look for you; however, I didn''t find you. I thought you were dead. But you''re still alive. What happened?" Zhao Yuan put it straight.


    Zhang Tie poured out the resentment between him and Abyan. He even revealed that Abyan was a shadow demon. Except for Castle of Black Iron, he told Zhao Yuan everything that he knew. As Zhang Tie didn''t mention Castle of Black Iron, he slightly polished the process of this event. Although he delayed the origin the gold-eaten boa, he had almost made himself clear.


    In a hidden place left by Master Abyan, he killed Abyan with the teeth of the gold-eaten boa in the final moment and gained Abyan''s energy. As a result, he slept a few years in a special state and lit a lot of surging points. Besides advancing to higher levels, he also activated his pupil color changing bloodline.


    After describing what happened in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie told Zhao Yuan how he fought demons in Waii Subcontinent, how he met and cultivated in the tower of time underground Kalay Mountain Range and how he promoted to a knight.


    Even Zhao Yuan was surprised by Zhang Tie''s wonderful experiences.


    "Do you have the teeth of gold-eaten boa with you?"


    Zhang Tie directly took the teeth of gold-eaten boa out of the space of his finger ring. Since he got this finger ring, Zhang Tie had transferred many utilities such as medicaments, weapons and jewelry from the space of Castle of Black Iron into the space of this finger ring. On this occasion, Zhao Yuan could not imagine that Zhang Tie had another space-teleportation equipment besides this finger ring.


    After touching the teeth of the gold-eaten boa carefully, Zhao Yuan nodded inside. As the alchemist demon, of course, Zhao Yuan could sense the trace of faintly back-flow of energy in the teeth of gold-eaten boa, which verified Zhang Tie''s words.


    "This teeth of an adult gold-eaten boa is exotic. However, its shape is a bit coarse. Well, now that I''ve seen it, I will help you process it!" After saying that, Zhao Yuan ran his qi while Zhang Tie felt a great energy flowing towards Zhao Yuan from the elements realm. It was a bit similar to the appearance of silver secret weapons out of the void. At the same time, the teeth of gold-eaten boa turned red and started to radiate red lights...


    Holding the teeth of gold-eaten boa, Zhao Yuan moved his hands quickly. Even with his sharp observation ability, Zhang Tie could barely identify Zhao Yuan''s movements.


    Along with Zhao Yuan''s movements, the teeth which were radiating glow gradually changed its shape. Only after a few minutes, Zhao Yuan stopped his movements. The teeth had vanished; instead, a grim, chilling three-edge dagger appeared. Zhang Yuan threw the dagger to Zhang Tie.


    "Knights could also use it. It''s much better than common rune weapons. As long as you inject your battle qi into it, you could pierce through most equipment and most protective battle qis of black iron knights except for silver secret items and very few special equipment. Additionally, it could devour and transfer a few parts of qi, blood and energy from the living beings that you''ve pierced through to you and help you recover your physical strength, qi and blood very fast. If you fight your enemy in the dilemma, you could even stand longer with it!"


    Watching the tri-edged dagger which was barely similar to the teeth of gold-eaten boa and hearing Zhao Yuan''s words, Zhang Tie was really in awe of his master. Such a marvelous talent for making an alchemist item by hand was completely out of Zhang Tie''s imagination.


    "Thank you. Master, you''re great!" Zhang Tie praised Zhao Yuan sincerely.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s praise, Zhao Yuan revealed a faint smile. Zhao Yuan had heard too many praises in his life; however, it was his first time to hear a praise from his apprentice. The word "great" really made Zhao Yuan satisfied.


    "I''ve returned to Taixia Country a few years ago. Previously, I thought you were dead. When I heard that you inflicted heavy losses on the Heavens Reaching Church in Youzhou Province a few days ago, I was not sure that it was really you. However, with a glimmer of hope, I came to Youzhou Province to investigate it. Then, I learned that you were still alive. After that, I was told that you had been in Fuhai City in Yingzhou Province for engagement. Therefore, I came to Yingzhou Province to meet you. Weren''t you engaged in Yingzhou Province? Then, why were you besieged by people? Even the Cheji General in Yingzhou Province wanted to kill you. What happened?"


    After hearing Zhao Yuan''s words, Zhang Tie understood that the earth knight in armor who appeared by airboat was Cheji General in Yingzhou Province, ''No wonder he was so fierce!''


    However, Zhang Tie was still confused about this event. After hearing Zhao Yuan''s question, Zhang Tie could only force a bitter smile, "Honestly, I don''t know what happened either. When I left Fuhai City that night, everything went well. I''ve not imagined that I was framed by someone and almost lost my life!"


    "You''re framed?" Zhao Yuan''s eyes radiated a killing qi.


    Thus, Zhang Tie told what happened before he met Zhao Yuan that night.


    "That knight in black clothes and mask who induced you away from the airship and the other guy who looked as same as you were devoured by the black flames that rose from their bodies and vanished?" Zhao Yuan looked solemn.


    "Yes, master, I''m still confused. How could a black iron knight sacrifice himself to induce me? What a high price it is!" Zhang Tie shook his head.


    "Those two people were not black iron knights. They were just puppets being manipulated by people!" Zhao Yuan watched Zhang Tie and told him in a solemn tone.


    "Puppets?"


    "Hmm!" Zhao Yuan nodded, "There''s a secret method in Taixia Country called Bloody Demon Imitation Method. People above LV 10 could own the power of a black iron knight closely after adopting this method..."


    ...

 894 Happiness and Misfortune Depend on Each Other

    Chapter 894: Happiness and Misfortune Depend on Each Other


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    ''Bloody Demon Imitation Method?'' From its name, Zhang Tie realized that it was a weird and terrifying secret skill...


    Zhang Tie was really shocked by this name while what happened that night became clear all of a sudden.


    "After adopting the Bloody Demon Imitation Method, people above LV 10 could imitate the battle strength of a black iron knight. Additionally, his consciousness and soul would be controlled by people just like a senior puppet. The effect of this secret method also varies according to the difference in the levels of the executee and the executor. The sharpest Bloody Demon Imitation Method that I''ve seen could enable a battle spirit to maintain his battle strength above that of a half earth knight within 1 week. When the executer stopped controlling the puppet, a black flame would rise from the puppet''s body; only in a few seconds, the puppet would burn completely, leaving no remains at all!"


    After hearing that, a thought occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, "Who could apply this secret method in Taixia Country?"


    "Bloody Demon Imitation Method was a top-secret skill of the Bloody-soul Temple of Taixia Country. 6 decades ago, the Bloody-soul Temple made a fatal mistake and was cleaned up by the top 7 sects in Taixia Country. It had already vanished. After exterminating the Bloody-soul Temple, the top 7 sects in Taixia Country gained a lot of secret skills. The Bloody Demon Imitation Method had been lost. It might have been gained by the top 7 sects in Taixia Country. Meanwhile, a lot of members of the Bloody-soul Temple had escaped and hidden themselves. Therefore, those who could use the Bloody Demon Imitation Method might come from the top 7 sects in Taixia Country or the remnants of the Bloody-soul Temple, or probably be the others who have gained the Bloody Demon Imitation Method!"


    ''Bloody-soul Temple. I''ve not imagined that I would hear this name once again.'' Zhang Tie thought as the Soul-forbidden Skill that he mastered was also from Bloody-soul Temple. He had not imagined that he could hear this name once again.


    ''The Bloody Demon Imitation Method also comes from Bloody-soul Temple. Additionally, Bloody-soul Temple was exterminated by the top 7 sects in Taixia Country. It indicates that Bloody-soul Temple was very powerful in Taixia Country. A common sect would never be attacked by top 7 sects at the same time. Given the secret skills of Bloody-soul Temple, I find that they would be very destructive if they were used to do bad things. No wonder that Bloody-soul Temple infuriated the top 7 sects.''


    If the Soul-forbidden Skill could be mastered by the Three-eye Association clans in Waii Subcontinent, the other secret methods of Bloody-soul Temple might have also been mastered by the Three-eye Association clans.


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie asked, "You mean I could not find any clue through the Bloody Demon Imitation Method?"


    "There is a clue; however it''s useless for you!"


    "Why?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "The Bloody Demon Imitation Method could grant a fighter above LV 10 with the battle strength of a knight in a short period; however, the executor would also suffer a great loss. Therefore, the executor of the Bloody Demon Imitation Method should be at least a shadow knight who had formed the three chakras. Based on your current ability, a shadow knight could kill you easily! The greatest battle strength across Huaiyuan Palace is just an earth knight who has formed two chakras. How do you fight a knight who has formed three chakras?" Zhao Yuan looked at Zhang Tie, "Additionally, this trap is perfect. The puppet who disguised as you might have done something that infuriated the public; therefore, he was chased by people all the way into the wilderness. The moment the two puppets vanished in the wilderness, the evidence that could verify that you''re innocent disappeared. When the others arrived, you were the very evil person. You have no reason to argue about that, not to mention that you''ve killed Qin Wu in front of them. Therefore, you''ve no chance to exonerate yourself from a charge at all. That one dared not kill you before; however, the moment you appear in front of him now, you will be killed for sure. Even if you know who the murderer is, you will not be able to defeat him, not to mention that you don''t even know who he is. Therefore, you should stay away from him; the farther the better now."


    Zhang Tie became silent and reassured in a split second, ''What ''I" have done in Fuhai City? Given the roar of Qin Wu before death, I''m afraid that the young master of Qin Clan has been killed by "me". However, what did the words of the Cheji General in Yingzhou Province mean? The resentments between the Gobbling Party and I and Lord Huaiyuan Palace have been exposed to the public; the Gobbling Party have ruined my engagement. Although it was a bit rude, lunatic and lawless for "me" to kill the members of Gobbling Party, how did I make Lord Huaiyuan humiliated? Besides killing the members of the Gobbling Party, "I" must have done something else in Fuhai City that drove others furious...''


    The look of Director Fan suddenly occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, arousing an ominous feeling in Zhang Tie''s heart. As a result, Zhang Tie''s heart froze immediately...


    ''After Fan mansion broke off the engagement, I felt like losing my face. If I did something bad in Fan mansion, everyone would take it as my revenge after being driven mad...''


    ''Besides the possible evil deed in Fan mansion, if "I" killed some members of the Morality Association and was discovered. After that, I was chased all the way out of Yingzhou Province and encountered a fierce battle in the wilderness. Qin Wu was even killed by me...''


    ''I''m afraid that I''ve already been listed as wanted in the supreme court of Taixia Country!''


    ''Such a trap is really well-planned. Any link is reasonable, leaving no loophole at all¡ª¡ªvicious, really vicious, extremely vicious! I''m afraid that they''ve already planned it the moment I left Yingzhou Province...''


    ''Through this trap, they''re going to kill me and completely pollute my gentlemen''s halos. Meanwhile, they intend to send Huaiyuan Palace to the opposite side of Fan Clan and Qin Clan. A stone with three birds! If the culprit of this trap is the Heavens Reaching Church of demons, a stone with four birds! Because they cause major clans in Taixia Country to fight each other...


    ''Who''s the culprit, the Gobbling Party, the demons or the others who want to strike me and the Gobbling Party at the same time...''


    ''The Gobbling Party could perform the ruse of self-injury to strike me and Huaiyuan Palace; demons could revenge and arouse internal chaos in Taixia Country; the others and forces might have other evil purposes.''


    ''Qin Wu is a clue; however, Qin Wu is just an employed elder in Qin Clan, a senior guard of Qin mansion or a senior piece who could be sacrificed at any time when necessary. It''s not hard to find too many information about Qin Wu''s death. If Qin Wu sacrificed himself voluntarily, the culprit on his back definitely used a terrifying manner.


    Qin Wu''s death fixed Zhang Tie''s crime at once.


    This time, Zhang Tie understood that there was nothing he could do to clear his name. He could not even find a place to cry out a grievance across the country.


    ''What a fatal blow!''


    A question suddenly occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, Zhang Tie then recovered his composure, "Master, for how many days have I slept this time?"


    "Two days!" Zhao Yuan replied, "Faster than I''ve imagined!"


    After hearing that he had slept for two days, Zhang Tie took out the remote-sensing crystal and started to contact his elder brother.


    Zhao Yuan knew what Zhang Tie was doing. Therefore, he just waited aside silently.


    In a split second, he confirmed the status of the opponent in secret words.


    "Are you all right? The family members are worried about you very much."


    "I''m fine, how''s my mom?"


    "Mom is worried about you so much. The entire family doesn''t believe that you could do such an evil thing!''


    The trust from his family made Zhang Tie feel warm inside. After recovering his composure, Zhang Tie continued to talk with his elder brother...


    "It''s too complicated. I''m framed. It''s hard to clarify it. You''d better comfort mom first and tell mom and dad that I''m safe and sound. They don''t need to worry about me; especially mom, she has just recovered from her mental disease lately, don''t make her get sick once again."


    Actually, Zhang Tie didn''t care how he was framed and wronged, what he was worried about the most was that his mom might get her sickness back after knowing what happened to him.


    "I know!"


    "How about my wives?"


    "They''re good, their babies have been 2 months old."


    Before Zhang Tie came to Yingzhou Province, the five women in his bedroom got pregnant at the same time. Zhang Tie finished another round of sowing. His mom would soon become the principal of a kindergarten.


    "What happened in Fuhai City after I left there?"


    After being silent for 2 seconds...


    "According to their description, you''re too arrogant. After being greatly stimulated by the event that Fan Clan broke off the engagement, you lost your mind out of fury and exterminated the entire family of Director Fan; you even raped his daughter. Director Fan wanted to prevent you; however, his left chest was penetrated by your battle qi. Luckily, his heart was on the right chest, therefore, he survived. Director Fan said that he had witnessed what you had done as the first witness of your crime. After you left Fan mansion, you went to a private mansion in Fuhai City and killed all the 37 members of the Morality Association in Fuhai City including Yang Yushan the head and the young master of Qin Clan in Yingzhou Province in a very brutal way. Qin Wu the employed elder of Qin Clan and two knights in Fuhai City chased you all the way out of Fuhai City and entered the wilderness. Facing Cheji General, Qin Wu was also killed by you. After that, you were wounded by Feng Yuelun the Cheji General in Yingzhou Province and escaped by trick. The Supreme Court in Taixia Country has already issued the order to arrest and kill you. Many clans across Yingzhou Provinces including Qin Clan and Fan Clan want your head with the reward of over 300 million gold coins and a city. Elder Muyuan has come to our home. He said that the Supreme Court of Xuanyuan Hill had dispatched commissioners to Youzhou Province so as to investigate this event. After they arrived at Youzhou Province, all the remote-sensing crystals had to be submitted to them according to the regulations. I will not be able to contact you independently from then on. Otherwise, I will commit a crime of shielding criminal. He told me to prepare for that."


    It took Zhang Tie 2 minutes to digest this paragraph of Zhang Yang. It was worse than he had imagined. His enemy destroyed his gentleman''s halos by the reason that he was possessed by the devil. The witness, the plaintiff, the physical evidence and the crime were all ready. Zhang Tie, who had taken the position of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province knew about the rules of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country more or less. If the Supreme Court of Taixia Country issued the order to arrest and kill someone, this case must have been fixed and posed a great influence in Taixia Country, which could be hardly reversed.


    Zhang Tie felt bitter. He had not imagined that the event that Fan clan broke off the engagement could become a loophole that the others would use to frame him as being possessed by the devil and the fuse of this trap. The one who set the trap was too terrifying...


    "After I left Fuhai City, someone disguised as me and committed a physical murder in Fuhai City. After that, he induced me to the wilderness from the airship so as to collide with the knight who chased the murderer all the way from Fuhai City. Qin Wu must have a special background. Before Feng Yuelun arrived, Qin Wu committed suicide and made it look like that he was killed by me. Therefore, I could not argue about that. This event is too complicated. The one who set the trap is too powerful. The entire Huaiyuan Palace could not beat him. No matter what, elder brother, you should tell mom and my wives that it was not done by me. Additionally, I could protect myself. I will not die. "


    "I will report your words to Elder Muyuan and let Huaiyuan Palace know that you''re framed. What can I do for you? Jinwu Business Group has many branches across Taixia Country. I could mobilize the resources of those branches."


    "No need, I could take care of myself. To avoid trouble, this is the last time I contact you with this remote-sensing crystal."


    "Watch out! You have to live on no matter what!"


    "I will, elder brother, I hope you could help the brothers of the God''s Will brotherhood."


    "No problem!"


    Zhang Yang didn''t ask Zhang Tie''s whereabouts in case of leaking Zhang Tie''s trace.


    That was what a brother should do!


    After contacting his elder brother, Zhang Tie rubbed the remote-sensing crystal into pieces.


    Zhang Tie then contacted Huaiyuan Palace.


    He received two messages.


    First, the Supreme Court has dispatched powerhouses to Youzhou Province. Don''t go back to Youzhou!


    Second, take care of yourself!


    It seemed that even Huaiyuan Palace thought that it was done by Zhang Tie.


    After throwing a glance at the elder''s finger ring, Zhang Tie took it off and threw it into the space of the nanobead.


    After that, Zhang Tie contacted Guan Xiyi, the CEO of Gold and Power Law. As the dark gold CEO, Guan Xiyi was Zhang Tie''s only liaison in Gold and Power Law.


    ¡ª¡ªI feel very sorry about the events that you were suppressed by the Gobbling Party and Fan family broke off the engagement. However, Gold and Power Law could barely agree with how you took revenge with the Morality Association in Fuhai City and Fan family. I feel very regretful to tell you that the Gold and Power Law could not accept someone whom the Supreme Court of Taixia Country has issued an order to arrest and kill. This is our bottom line. Therefore, your status as the dark gold CEO has been canceled. However, out of the morality and the contract between you and us, the Gold and Power Law will not leak your status as Peter Hamplester to the Supreme Court or anyone. Neither will we provide any assistance to you nor those who want to arrest and revenge you. Please forgive us.


    After reading this courtesy reply, Zhang Tie also felt the sense of estrangement from Gold and Power Law.


    Zhang Tie then replied Guan Xiyi¡ª¡ªDon''t let Donder interfere in this event. Additionally, please tell him that what happened in Fuhai City was not done by me. I''ve been treated as a human flesh bag and was usually humiliated when chasing after girls. The event of breaking off an engagement is nothing serious to me. It''s not just me who knows "disguise skills" which he taught me in Blackhot City, someone has even more advanced "disguise skills".


    On this occasion, Zhang Tie didn''t need to explain it to the Gold and Power Law at all out of his dignity. However, as Donder was his inspiration, friend and almost brother who had taught him too much, Zhang Tie didn''t want to let him down. As for others, Zhang Tie didn''t care about their opinion about him.


    After being silent for a few seconds, Guan Xiyi replied¡ª¡ªI will. But Donder has already applied to be the manager of Golden Roc Bank in Jinwu City when the city is built.


    ...


    ''This guy...''


    Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile. Closely after that, he took off the finger ring which was used to contact the Gold and Power Law from his finger and broke the remote-sensing crystal into pieces...


    ...


    "Did you sense that?" After Zhang Tie contacted all the important people, Zhao Yuan leisurely opened his mouth.


    Zhang Tie became curious, "Sense what?"


    "Besides power, who else could accompany you in the world?" Zhao Yuan leisurely replied...


    Closely after hearing Zhao Yuan''s reply, Zhang Tie had indeed realized it, "I could not rely on any other force anymore, whether it is my clan or my organization. I could only protect myself with my own battle strength at such a critical moment.''


    However, what Zhang Tie felt conciliative was that his family members were not involved in this event no matter whether he was framed by others or not. This was the benefit as a knight and the bottom line of the "Laws of Taixia Country"¡ª¡ªIf a knight who had mastered the top battle strength and power in the world made a crime and would have his family members involved with that, knights might have already risen in revolt.


    After tasting Zhao Yuan''s words, Zhang Tie asked, "Master, do you want me to learn alchemist skills from you now so as to improve my power?"


    "Based on your aptitude, after I inspire you, you could get the ABC of alchemist skills after immersing yourself in them for 3 decades. With another 3 decades, you could make a small achievement on them. However, you''ve already been a knight with full resentments. Will you be patient enough to learn alchemist skills only for the small achievement in 6 decades?" Zhao Yuan watched Zhang Tie with a meaningful look.


    Zhang Tie became silent.


    ''Yeah, will I spend 6 decades to cultivate alchemist skills only for a small achievement? What''s more, will they spare me 6 decades?''


    ''Sometimes, the dreams of a young age makes me so hesitated in reality. What a complex mood!''


    ''Although I dream to be an alchemist master, I''m not allowed to do that in reality. Unimaginably, I became an animal controller and rune equipment master...''


    Receiving no response, Zhao Yuan suddenly asked with a profound meaning, "Do you know why I''m called an alchemist devil?"


    "Is it because the master has unrivaled alchemist skills and could end your resentments as soon as you want, which arouses others'' awe?"


    Zhao Yuan shook his head, "You''ve just hit one point. However, it''s not the most important. Of course, the devil should have very special talents and do very special things. The one who could devour the world by his bloody mouth could be qualified as a devil. There''re thousands of human alchemists; however, I''m the only one being called an alchemist devil!"


    "You mean you are unrivaled, having far greater power than your same kind?"


    "No matter how powerful I am, I''m just a heavenly knight who has formed 4 chakras. I''m powerful; however, I''m not unrivaled. My opponents are not worse than me. I''m not the only heavenly knight in the world!" Zhao Yuan shook his head once again.


    "Why then?" Zhang Tie scratched his head.


    "As metals, rocks, humans, demons and all the other visible items in the world are just balls of energy, all of them could be refined. When you could refine everything in the world, you will become a devil!" Zhao Yuan replied with an overbearing, shocking look.


    "Refine everything in the world!" Zhang Tie muttered, "What do you mean by refining everything in the world!"


    "In my eyes, the so-called knight is just a walking element crystal. When I dislike them, humans or demons, I will consume them so as to form my chakras and break through my realm..." Zhao Yuan explained it as he pointed at Zhang Tie''s forehead with one finger. At the same time, some occult messages poured into Zhang Tie''s mind at once.


    It was a secret skill which could enable Zhao Yuan to be invincible in the world except for an alchemist skill.


    The secret skill was "wordless". Because words were feeble and futile, which were always out of the original intention, the top-secret skills could only be passed through the mind.


    The secret skill was called "Purgatory Samsara"...


    At the end of the secret skill, an exotic beast that opened its huge black mouth and could devour the entire world appeared.


    "If a gentleman was possessed by the devil, his road towards a sage would be cut off; if he cultivated towards the sage, the gossip that he''s possessed by the devil would collapse of itself and he would be protected by almighty gods and auspicious things. In this world, who else could prove that you''re innocent besides power? Besides battle, who else could lead you to the road towards sage? If you don''t experience samsara in the purgatory, how do you devour the entire world and conquer the universe..." Zhao Yuan said as he stepped into the misty clouds by one foot while his voice was still lingering at Zhang Tie''s ear, "I''ve passed the "Purgatory Samsara" to you. After leaving my knowledge to you, I''ve almost had my dream come true. When you could form 4 chakras in the future and chase your enemies like chasing pye-dogs; when you have a pee at the gate of the Supreme Court and would only be ignored by others, you could find me in the Gods'' Realm of the earth-elements realm...this place is the Lianyun Mountain in the east of Qingzhou Province. Yingzhou Province is in the east. It''s over 25,000 miles away from Fuhai City. It''s always untraversed here. I found such a mountain cave where a knight passed away while sitting cross-legged by accident. There''s a "Fire Dragon Sutra" in the jade case in the cave, which was left by the late knight for the lucky person. "Fire Dragon Sutra" is a Marquis-level classic. It''s also very precious. However, it''s useless to me. The battle skill is a bit interesting. You can handle it by yourself. By the way, you could comprehend the "Purgatory Samsara" for a few days here. It''s dangerous at the foot of the mountain. Knights are dragons among humans. Dragons could move in the universe and make clouds and rains in a domineering way or hold their bodies in water and play with fish and shrimps or bath the sunlight..."


    While the voice lingered in his ears, the lonely yet domineering figure had disappeared in front of Zhang Tie...


    ...


    Standing at the edge of the cliff, Zhang Tie watched the clouds still for 3 days...


    3 days later, Zhang Tie moved his body, causing a crack while the surrounding clouds started to revolve around Zhang Tie like a chakra.


    After a short while, the clouds dispersed. Zhang Tie opened his gleaming eyes.


    After returning to the cave, Zhang Tie walked to the stone table. After taking the jade case, he blew off the dust on its cover and opened it.


    There was indeed a secret skill in a very extravagant crystal being wrapped by a piece of mithril. Taking it, Zhang Tie injected his spiritual energy into it and saw the golden words "Fire Dragon Sutra"


    What surprised Zhang Tie was that this "Fire Dragon Sutra" not only contained a systematic cultivation system on lighting surging points but also contained "Fire-dragon Heavens Burning Javelin Skill", "Fire-dragon Golden Body", "Fire-dragon Palm Skill with a Sun" and "Fire-dragon Light-speed Dodging Skill".


    Besides the "King Roc Sutra", the "Fire Dragon Sutra" and the other battle skills was almost the most senior secret skill of cultivation that Zhang Tie could touch.


    After putting away these secret skills, Zhang Tie threw a glance at that skeleton sitting cross-legged and bowed towards it three times. After that, he excavated a place beside the mountain cave and buried it inside.


    After doing that, Zhang Tie flew into the clouds...

 895 Returning to Fuhai City

    Chapter 895: Returning to Fuhai City


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After about one week of flight from Yunfeng City in the west of Yingzhou Province to Fuhai City, the public airship landed at the airport in the west of Fuhai City at dusk of May 16.


    Yunfeng City was an inland city of Yingzhou Province while Fuhai City was a coastal city. The two places produced very different specialties. Therefore, a lot of small traders traversed between the two cities by public airship.


    As big business groups and commercial organizations had their private airships. Of course, they didn''t need to take this kind of public airship.


    This kind of public airship was not cheap. The flight of 6 days from Yunfeng City to Fuhai City plus supplies in the way would cost a common soft sleeper 2 gold coins and 20 silver coins.


    Before landing, a slightly fat steward entered the soft sleepers cabin with a metal trumpet and shouted, "We''ve already arrived at Fuhai City. Please be ready to get off. Don''t forget your belongings. After getting off the airship, passengers who have handled the consignment business please receive your commodities at the exit of the cargo hatch with your consignment voucher!"


    The steward repeated it twice. The passengers in the soft sleeper cabin then started to get up.


    After informing the passengers in the soft sleeper cabin, the steward went to inform the other cabins.


    There were over 30 passengers on the 3-storey single beds in the cabin. It was very crowded. As over 30 men didn''t take bath for a week, of course, it was filled with the stinking smell due to perspiration, plus tobacco flavor. After the airship landed, these smells might not be dispersed until being ventilated for over half an hour.


    "The airline from Yunfeng City to Fuhai City is becoming more crowded. I remember that there was a breakfast when I came here two months ago. I''ve not imagined that this airship has accelerated a bit in mid-way supply and flight and arrives at Fuhai City before 8 am. As a result, we don''t have free breakfast anymore!" A 40-odd year pedlar got up as he put things away. Shaking his head, he added, "Men are not what they were in the old times anymore..."


    "According to my knowledge, in order to prepare for the holy war, not only the airships, even the railway networks across Taixia Country would speed up in an all-round manner. They are going to introduce new steam locomotives. It''s said that the new steam locomotives could reach a speed of 180 km per hour, which is almost 1/3 faster than the highest speed of the current locomotives. When we come to Fuhai City next time, we could try the train, it''s not slower than airship!" A passenger said as he was climbing out of his bed.


    "Wow, this is a big business. It would cost hundreds of millions of gold coins to upgrade the entire railway network across Taixia Country!" Someone exclaimed, "I wonder which clan will produce the new steam engines!"


    "Such a big business could never be undertaken by a clan or a business group. The technologies and standards of such a great business could only be presented by transportation ministry and the ministry of industry and information. After that, qualified clans and business groups across Taixia Country would bid for that and share the cake. Those powerful ones would share more; those weaker ones would share less. Everyone could share the business." An experienced voice sounded. Closely after that, he shouted, "I was told that some huge ships'' goods had been transported from Yinyue Subcontinent to Fuhai Harbor lately along with many border residents. Who wants to take a look with me over there?"


    "I, I!" Someone replied at once.


    After staying in a soft sleeper cabin for 6 days, they had been familiar with each other. After making exchanges with each other, they might find many business opportunities.


    Not all of them in the soft sleeper cabin were pedlars. When the others prepared to get off the airship in a bustling way, one person in a trivial corner of the soft sleeper cabin also stretched out his limbs before standing up. After that, he flicked his clothes and followed the others away.


    Watching this guy walking by, some pedlars instantly gave a way to him on the narrow passageway.


    He was a tough guy as high as 2.3 m. The moment he stood up, all the people in the soft sleeper cabin were dwarfed. In front of such a tough guy, commoners would be at least 50 cm lower.


    The tough guy was featured by a frightening bald head, curly mustache, sturdy bones. Although in a coarse cloth, his powerful muscles were still evident. His upper arms were as thick as the thighs of those common businessmen. A pair of hands as large as cattail fans could fully cover one''s head. It was nothing extravagant to stand on his fist and run horses on his arms.


    The tough guy looked dignified and vicious. The slim spirited eyes below his saber-sized dense eyebrows faintly revealed frightening red lights. Timid guys might be scared by this tough guy.


    During the past 6 days, besides daily activities such as having food and pee, he did nothing but sleep. Due to his vicious look, the others in the cabin dared not talk to him. Therefore, nobody knew his name until then.


    When the tough guy was going to get off the airship, a voice suddenly sounded on his back.


    "Tough man, please hold on!"


    "What?" The tough man stopped and turned around. The captain of the airship immediately felt a stress as he had to reveal a genial smile.


    "I''m Liu Chuan, the captain of this airship. May I know your name?"


    "My surname is Cui. Hurry, don''t waste my time!" The tough man''s loud, deep voice sounded like muffled thunders. At the same time, he flapped his hands impatiently. Feeling the strong wind, the captain''s smile became more genial.


    "Erm, given your robust figure, I think you must have an unusual talent. Our business group''s squad of bodyguards are recruiting heroes lately. We need you most, will you consider it Hero Cui?"


    Given the robust figure and muscles of Cui who looked like a mighty miracle god, even though he had no battle strength, as long as he stood somewhere, he would shock the common insurgents. He was qualified to be a guard of the business group for sure.


    After blinking his eyes, Hero Cui pointed at his nose and asked, "Your squad of guards want to recruit me?"


    "Yes, the members of the squad of guards of Fengyun Business Group could have at least 30 gold coins a year. Additionally, after entering it, you could learn battle skills from famous fighters employed by the business group!"


    The tough guy burst out into laughter as loud as thunders, causing Captain Liu''s ears to hum.


    The tough guy directly patted onto Captain Liu''s shoulder forcefully and almost caused him to sit on the ground, "Hahaha...thanks for your good intention. But you cannot afford me!"


    Although feeling his half body numb, Captain Liu still smiled, "30 gold coins is our lowest treatment. If Hero Cui is good at fighting, you could enjoy more for sure!"


    "I want to be awarded as lord, can your Fengyun Business Group afford me?"


    Captain Liu''s face became stiff, "Hero Cui must be joking, it could only be afforded by the imperial court!"


    "That''s it..." In the laughter, Hero Cui shook his head. After that, he turned around and got off the airship, entering the underground tunnel of the airport...


    ''Did I back the wrong horse? This Cui guy is a paladin...''


    Seeing the tall figure off the airship, Captain Liu became stunned for a second while such a thought occurred to his mind...


    ...


    1 hour later, the tough guy appeared in a street, both sides of which were crowded with remarkable mansions.


    Fan mansion was closed. Nobody was inside anymore, except for the two white lanterns hanging over the gate. Each lantern was marked with a big Hua character " µì 1". There were maintaining yellow and white joss paper on the side of the ditch of the parterre outside the mansion. The other mansions neighboring and being opposite to Fan mansion had also hung some exotic objects on the hidden places of their gates.


    7 days 2had already passed since the massacre. After the other Fan members made a religious ceremony to release souls from purgatory and sacrifice the dead ones, they took Director Fan back home for rehabilitation. Therefore, the former boisterous mansion of Director Fan in Fuhai City was completely empty.


    When he passed by the gate of Fan mansion, the tough guy threw a glance at the mansion before moving forward straightly.


    On the way, he met two criminal hunters who were patrolling the street. Therefore, he moved forward and asked, "Hi, buddies, where''s the Pavilion of Brightness?"


    The criminal hunters turned around and felt a tower erecting in front of him.


    ''Now that this guy is asking for the direction of the Pavilion of Brightness, of course, he''s not a bad guy.''


    A criminal hunter guided the way for him.


    "Thanks!" The tough guy strode away.


    ''What a tough guy!'' After throwing a glance at each other, the two criminal hunters applauded inside.


    ...


    The Pavilion of Brightness in Fuhai City was an 8-storey pavilion. Like the bounty hunters union in Fuhai City, this place gathered the bounty hunters across Fuhai City.


    In the Pavilion of Brightness, bounty hunters could inquire information and make exchanges with each other. They could also accept assignments or join hands to hunt targets on the wanted list.


    As such a shocking tragedy had just happened in Fuhai City a week ago, the Pavilion of Brightness was pretty boisterous at this moment. 5 or 6 of 10 were discussing the same case.


    The tough guy didn''t enter the Pavilion of Brightness; instead, he took a seat in a teahouse near the Pavilion of Brightness. While having drinks and food, he listened to the story-teller telling a story...

 896 Everything is Like a Boat with a Short Canopy

    Chapter 896: Everything is Like a Boat with a Short Canopy


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The tough guy surnamed Cui sat in the teahouse for the entire morning. Until afternoon did he pat his butt and left...


    Although not being in the Pavilion of Brightness, the tough guy had heard all the messages from the Pavilion of Brightness.


    Of course, this tough guy surnamed Cui was Zhang Tie.


    After activating his body-changing immortal bloodline, Zhang Tie completely changed his look. Even those knights who chased after him that night might not identify him.


    The look of this tough guy was not fabricated. It was an incarnation of Zhu Liang the fierce wolf that Zhang Tie had read from Zhu Liang''s memory after killing him on the isle in the open water of Qiongzhou Province.


    Zhu Liang the fierce wolf might be unworthy of mentioning in Zhang Tie''s eyes; however, he excelled at disguising. As he was pretty cunning, he had a lot of incarnations in Youzhou Province. Because of this, Zhu Liang the fierce wolf became unfettered on the wanted list of the Supreme Court in Taixia Country for so many years. If not he had met Li Butian when he raped a woman, he might be still wandering about leisurely.


    The image of the tough guy surnamed Cui was an identity that Zhu Liang the fierce wolf always used when he didn''t make crimes or wanted to escape from investigations. Over the past dozens of years, nobody could find that this tough guy was Zhu Liang until he was killed by Zhang Tie.


    Given this point, this identity had never been exposed to the public.


    The prototype of this identity was called Cui Li, who lived in the Liuying Town at the foot of the Panlong Mountain outside Zeyun City in the Luye Prefecture of Yongzhou Province. He was a local celebrity.


    Cui Li was well-known nearby Liuying Town because of the following reasons: First, Cui Li was a local landlord as he had over 30,000 square meters'' arable lands and mountain woods. He was rich. Second, Cui Li was kind-hearted. He usually donated money to his villagers for paving roads and renovating schools. Therefore, he had a good reputation among the villagers. Third, Cui Li was obsessed with studying fighting skills. He used to practice martial arts at home. He was a good fighter. One time, he even arrested a big burglar when he passed by Liuying Town. Therefore, he was the idol of the local youngsters.


    When Zhu Liang the fierce wolf couldn''t stand making a crime, Cui Li would leave Liuying Town at the foot of Panlong Mountain in the name of paying visits to famous masters and would not return for many months or years, which would not arouse people''s doubts at all.


    Cui Li was single. He only had some docile servants at home. His "parents" were two puppets that he controlled using medicine. When the family settled down in Liuying Town and gained legal "identities", Cui Li''s "parents" "passed away" in a few years consecutively.


    Previously, Cui Li''s "parents" were just two commoners living in a remote village before settling down in Liuying Town. They had a son called Cui Li. The real Cui Li and Zhu Liang the fierce wolf who disguised as a herbalist doctor were good friends for a long time. Zhu Liang even had cured Cui Li''s parents. Pitifully, after Zhu Liang figured out the situation of Cui Li''s background, he directly killed Cui Li. After that, Zhu Liang used the name of Cui Li and controlled his parents by medicine. After that, the family moved to Liuying Town and settled down there. After dozens of years, nobody could figure out the real identity of Zhu Liang anymore.


    It had been over 1 decade since Zhu Liang left Luye Prefecture of Youzhou Province for paying visits to masters in the name of Cui Li.


    This time, Zhang Tie found that this identity fitted him well. Considering it as his reward after killing Zhu Liang, Zhang Tie disguised as Cui Li.


    The disguise skill and bones-shrinking skill of Zhu Liang the fierce wolf could never match the body-changing skill of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie looked absolutely the same as the real Cui Li.


    After converting his "King Roc Sutra" into "Fire Dragon Sutra", of course, Zhang Tie who had disguised as Cui Li carried the features of "fire dragon sutra", namely, as sturdy as a Hua dragon. These days, Zhang Tie had almost got hang of the secret battle skills in the "Fire Dragon Sutra" in the trouble-reappearance situations. Honestly, they were the most advanced battle skills that Zhang Tie had touched. As he imitated the "Fire Dragon Sutra" by the "King Roc Sutra", Zhang Tie started to cultivate those battle skills at the same time. Unimaginably, he got a marvelous effect.


    This time, Zhang Tie discovered the great value of "King Roc Sutra" as an emperor-level secret skill once again. With the domineering power of an emperor-level secret skill, Zhang Tie could rapidly imitate other secret skills using the ability granted by the "King Roc Sutra". During the process that the "King Roc Sutra" was converted into "Fire Dragon Sutra", Zhang Tie rapidly lit all of his surging points using the energy of the chakra of the "King Roc Sutra" according to the requirements of the "Fire Dragon Sutra". It only took Zhang Tie a few hours to imitate the entire process. After lighting them all, Zhang Tie had one more template of "Fire Dragon Sutra" besides the earlier one of "Five-elements Ground-look Sutra". He could realize the conversion between "King Roc Sutra" and each of the other two sutras in only a few seconds.


    As he deduced the "King Roc Sutra" by sacrificing himself numerous times, Zhang Tie wondered whether the "King Roc Sutra" contained some more powerful battle skills just like those in the "Fire Dragon Sutra". He didn''t think about this before. However, after gaining the "Fire Dragon Sutra" and learning the battle skills in "Fire Dragon Sutra", Zhang Tie felt that the real "King Roc Sutra" might contain some powerful battle skills. However, he could not deduce them.


    It was Zhang Tie''s great fortune to gain the emperor-level "King Roc Sutra" by deduction in trouble-reappearance situations. Zhang Tie didn''t make excessive expectations. He could not always seek perfection. Except for the doubt in his mind, Zhang Tie had been very satisfied.


    ...


    Based on Zhang Tie''s current judgment and perceptions, after collecting all the discussions in the Pavilion of Brightness, he figured out many unknowns and restored what happened in Fuhai City that night.


    The middle-aged literati who chased after him that night was a bosom friend of the mayor of Fuhai City and the lecturer of the mayor''s sons. His nickname was Cyan Flute Hermit, a pretty famous knight in Yingzhou Province. He had lived in Fuhai City for many years.


    The one who used knight was the junior fellow apprentice of the head of Lancang Sect in Yingzhou Province and the promising, youngest elder in Lancang Sect. When the event occurred, he was passing by Fuhai City and was going to travel in Yinyue Subcontinent by sea. Right then, he saw Qin Wu''s battle qi shooting into the sky, he then chased after Zhang Tie together with Qin Wu.


    There was no problem with the Cyan Flute Hermit and the young elder of Lancang Sect, it was Qin Wu who had the problem.


    Qin Clan was very furious. That day, Qin Wu should be patrolling in the Yulin City of Qin Clan with the young master of Qin Clan. The Qin Clan wondered why the two people suddenly changed their route and came to Fuhai City and why they were killed.


    Qin Wu might know the reason; however, he had died. Therefore, this clue was a dead end.


    There was another clue, namely, Director Fan''s heart was on his right chest. Zhang Tie knew that the one who wanted to frame him must know the secret of Director Fan. Therefore, he kept Director Fan alive. Zhang Tie thought that he could find a breakthrough from this clue; however, he was very disappointed by the message that he had heard about¡ª¡ªWhen Director Fan took the office at a young age, the doctors and relevant personnel who checked his identity and made physical examination for him had found that his heart was on the right chest. This information was recorded in the database of the official difference engine in Yingzhou Province. Although only a few people knew about this secret, it''s not difficult if someone wanted to investigate it. If someone gained this secret of Director Fan from this database, he would not leave any inquiry record at all.


    The culprit would never leave such a foolish loophole to Zhang Tie.


    The abnormal situation in the Fan mansion was discovered by the neighboring guard. If not, Zhang Tie was sure that the opponent would definitely make further arrangement to have people find what happened in Fan mansion at almost the same time.


    Although that b*stard had raped the young lady in Fan mansion, he didn''t leave any body fluid in and outside her body. Therefore, Zhang Tie lost another clue. Otherwise, Zhang Tie knew that the owner of the body fluid could be identified in Taixia Country by a certain method.


    After receiving the message and request from the mayor of Fuhai City, the Cheji General in Yingzhou Province was driven mad and launched an attack towards Zhang Tie.


    The point of the trap in the wilderness was less than 500 miles away from the Cheji General''s Mansion. Within such a short distance, as long as Cheji General found Zhang Tie by airboat, he would not let Zhang Tie escape away.


    Feng Yuelun the Cheji General of Yingzhou Province was a strong-willed man who abhorred evils as deadly foes.


    When Feng Yuelun arrived, Qin Wu was rightly killed by Zhang Tie; therefore, Zhang Tie lost the last chance to surrender or argue about that.


    All this was well planned in advance, one step after another and one link by another.


    This time, Zhang Tie wanted to discover some clue or reconfirm the possibilities that could help him argue for his innocence. Pitifully, after figuring out those details, Zhang Tie reconfirmed that his opponent was completely out of his imagination, who spared no chance for him to prove his innocence. Even though Zhang Tie was alive, he was destined to be the scapegoat.


    What made Zhang Tie more disappointed was that he realized that the culprit of this event had a pretty deep root and a great influence in Taixia Country and had learned well the information about Taixia Country in all aspects. It would be even more terrifying if those guys were demons or colluded with demons.


    At this moment, the words that "Master Jiang" told him before his death occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind once again.


    ''The demons and Heavens Reaching Church are probably on the back of this event.''


    ''After catching this good chance, the Gobbling Party would never give up framing me. The morality associations of the Gobbling Party across Taixia Country became the eyes and ears that the Gobbling Party would use to look for me.''


    ''The major clans in Yingzhou Province represented by Qin Clan want to revenge me.''


    ''Even the Supreme Court which maintained the laws of Taixia Country wanted to kill me. As a result, I rank 98th on the wanted list.''


    Only after coming to Taixia Country for less than 1 year, Zhang Tie had rapidly finished the conversion from a hero to a criminal. Finally, Zhang Tie understood the words "Life is like a drama."


    ''As Taixia is too large, If I expose my "real identity", I will immediately be besieged by enemies from all directions. Both humans and demons want to kill me...''


    ''F*ck!''


    Zhang Tie couldn''t stand complaining about such a dilemma.


    After leaving the teahouse, Zhang Tie considered it as he wandered in Fuhai City. This time, Zhang Tie completely gave up arguing for innocence by clues.


    ''Struggle is in vain!''


    As he had become the scapegoat. Unless he was able to destroy this scapegoat, he could only be the scapegoat no matter what.


    ''If I promoted to a sage level, the gossip that the gentleman has been possessed by the devil would collapse itself! However, the sage level...is a far objective...''


    ''Even if I didn''t promote to a sage level, after forming four chakras, I could also be as free as my master. No matter how urgently Taixia is looking for him, he will not lose a hair. However, his opponents will worry about being revenged by him at any time. No matter what, those in barefoot are not afraid of those in shoes. Even if a heavenly knight in barefoot had a pee at the gate of the Supreme Court in Taixia Country, the Supreme Court could only choose to ignore him. The destructive power of a heavenly knight in battle could be hardly imagined when I recalled the lake outside Blackhot City caused by my master.''


    Gradually, Zhang Tie exited Fuhai City and came to a cliff near the seashore outside Fuhai City.


    ''Whatever, I will go back home first in case my mom''s worried about me...''


    After thinking for a second, Zhang Tie jumped off the cliff and dove in the sea.


    ...


    "Oh, no, someone is jumping off the cliff..." At the sight of this, someone in the far shouted.


    Only after over 10 minutes, a steamboat driven by maritime criminal hunters of Fuhai City had arrived at the place where Zhang Tie dove in. After searching him for 2 days in vain, they stopped the salvage. However, they erected a stele to warn others to not jump off the cliff on the place where Zhang Tie jumped off. There was a poem on the stele¡ª¡ª


    Everything in the world is like a boat with a short canopy, it moves to the west bank or the east; the moons will become full or crescent; the wind will blow southward or northward.


    An old man will always get sick while the blossoms in late spring will soon wither and fall. If the gossip about you enters your ears, you need to stand it and pretend to be deaf or foolish.


    One''s life is as fast as a shuttle, you need to have a drink and song in front of the blossoms. How long will the blossoms sustain? How long will you live your life?


    Good blossoms are hard to plant and blossom, the youth will flash by. If you''ve not been drunk in front of blossoms, you would be ridiculed as an idiot by the blossoms.

 897 Returning Home

    Chapter 897: Returning Home


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie could reach his fastest speed by sea. The ocean was his highway. Additionally, he would not be discovered by people in the ocean.


    Zhang Tie could move about 670 m per second in the ocean. Although this speed was less than half of the transmission speed of sound in water, it was already super fast for any other living beings in the ocean.


    The distance between Yingzhou Province and Youzhou Province by sea was about 8,000 miles, which was similar to the aerial distance.


    It would take Zhang Tie 2 months to finish this distance by airship; however, it only took him less than 3 days by sea.


    Zhang Tie had arrived at Youzhou Province on the evening of May 18.


    Zhang Tie exposed his head out of the sea level outside the Embracing Tiger Harbor. Watching the shimmering water of the Embracing Tiger Harbor, Zhang Tie felt that Youzhou Province must be not quiet at this moment. After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie dove into the water once again and entered Castle of Black Iron. The tiny black beetle was then summoned out of Castle of Black Iron.


    The marvelous tiny beetle was not scared of the water at all. It could swim although it couldn''t swim as fast as it could fly. Quivering its wings, the tiny thing had shot out of the water. After shaking off the water drops, it flew towards the Embracing Tiger Harbor.


    During the past years, this tiny black beetle had been settling down in the cliff of the Abyss of Chaos. It faced the Abyss of Chaos and ate all sorts of specialties and all-purpose medicament in Castle of Black Iron everyday. Therefore, it had changed physically. There were some golden spots on its body. Besides, it looked a bit larger than before; it even got a short tentacle on its head. After transferring his consciousness into this tiny, black beetle, Zhang Tie felt that it could fly faster and more flexible than before. At night, this little thing could have a greater color-changing ability and adaptability to the environment. Its entire body became dark gray, which was close to translucent. Even though knights could hardly find that the short tentacle was very sensitive to the dangerous factors in the surroundings.


    It was brightly lit in the Embracing Tiger City. The urban nightlife had just come to a start.


    Above the Embracing Tiger City, Zhang Tie looked down at the scenery and found a building down there was very boisterous. It seemed to be a hotel. Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he descended at once.


    After flying around the garden, Zhang Tie landed on a window outside the dining hall.


    It was indeed a medium hotel which had a good business.


    There were over 30 tables with seats in the dining hall, large or small, all of which had been occupied. The servicemen were constantly serving dishes in the dining hall while guests were toasting each other, making it pretty boisterous.


    Almost the moment Zhang Tie landed, he had heard a drunk guy patting the table and swearing the Fan Clan of Yingzhou Province.


    "If not that Fan Clan broke their promise, how could Elder Mushen be stimulated greatly and be possessed by the devil? How heroic was Elder Mushen in Youzhou City last year! He tried his best to stand to the end and help Count Long Wind gain the position of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, which shocked the entire Youzhou City. Even Commander Cheng was speaking highly of him. How could such a proud and arrogant person stand such a great humiliation? I was told that Fan Clan invited Elder Mushen to propose a marriage in Yingzhou Province. However, after Elder Mushen arrived there, Fan Clan broke off the engagement. Aren''t they poking fun at Elder Mushen? If it were me, I would be infuriated and topple over the Fan mansion too, not to mention Elder Mushen. He must be greatly stimulated by Fan mansion..."


    "Yea, yea, yea, Elder Mushen is so heroic and talented. How could he stand such a humiliation? How could Elder Mushen just leave Fuhai City in such an embarrassed way? I could understand how Elder Mushen was uncomfortable mentally. No wonder Elder Mushen would be possessed by the devil!" Another voice sounded.


    "Yup, if the tiger went down to level land, he would be insulted by dogs. As the Gobbling Party couldn''t beat Elder Mushen in Youzhou Province, they wanted to find their face back in Yingzhou Province. Without the Gobbling Party on their back, Fan mansion would never break off the engagement!" The third voice sounded.


    "Bang", someone forcefully patted on the table, "I think Elder Mushen is right, those b*stards should be killed..."


    "Yeah, well done!" Many people shouted in unison...


    "Pitifully, Elder Mushen''s bright future was destroyed by some villains!" Someone let out a sigh...


    "Elder Mushen was the last one who evacuated from Waii Subcontinent. Additionally, Elder Mushen did many good deeds when he took the position of the corps leader of the Hurricane Corps. He saved many people and made great meritorious deeds. Everybody praised him. It''s really out of my imagination that..."


    "F*ck!"


    Many guests here were furious about Elder Mushen''s poor experience.


    Information among commoners would spread a bit later than the official notices; especially such a sensitive thing. With the "cold treatment" of Huaiyuan Palace in Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie''s crime in Fuhai City gradually developed among commoners in almost 2 weeks.


    While there were full of condemnations about Zhang Tie''s deed in Fuhai City, even in Yingzhou Province, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to hear someone pitying him in Yanghe Prefecture!


    The commoners in Embracing Tiger City sympathized about Zhang Tie''s encounter very much; additionally, they owed all the responsibilities to Fan Clan and the Gobbling Party.


    The different opinions were caused by different locations. It was Zhang Tie''s home advantage.


    Hearing such a positive argument, Zhang Tie was deeply moved. He knew that what he had done for Huaiyuan Palace and his impression in the commoners'' minds in Huaiyuan Palace''s territory could not be easily forgotten. Facts spoke louder than words.


    However, Zhang Tie also sighed inside, ''Even the commoners in the Embracing Tiger City have believed that it was done by me and found an excuse for me being possessed by the devil. I could imagine how commoners in other places would think about it. Given this point, Zhang Tie, Zhang Mushen has indeed been killed by the designer of this plot.''


    After staying in the hotel for a short while, Zhang Tie flapped his wings and flew towards the Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace in the Embracing Tiger Mountain.


    No elder was inside the Shrine Palace. After flying around the Embracing Tiger Mountain, Zhang Tie found that all the disciples and deacons on Embracing Tiger Mountain had been forbidden to talk about what he had done in Fuhai City.


    It was reasonable.


    After finding no clan elder there, Zhang Tie flew towards the airport outside Embracing Tiger City.


    In the airport, there were fixed flights between Embracing Tiger City and Golden Light City around the clock. Zhang Tie landed on the air sac of an airship heading for Golden Light City and took a free ride.


    The hundreds of miles'' trip was too short for the thunder hawks; however, the tiny black beetle was not suitable to make a long flight.


    ...


    Zhang Tie arrived at Golden Light City at about 11 pm. After flying off the airship, Zhang Tie flew around Zhang manor for quite a while. Through a careful inspection, Zhang Tie was shocked as he found 2 strange knight''s qis hiding in the radius of 300 m around this manor.


    It was already mid-May. At night, there were flying insects everywhere. Therefore, the two strange knights didn''t find the trivial beetle, who, however, had found them.


    Of course, the two knights were not dispatched by Huaiyuan Palace. As knights of Huaiyuan Palace were clan elders, they would not hide outside their own manor. Therefore, the two strange knights probably were the powerhouses from the Supreme Court in Taixia Country.


    Zhang Tie then recalled what Huaiyuan Palace reminded him when they contacted him through the elder''s finger ring, ''It seems that the Supreme Court has indeed dispatched powerhouses to Youzhou Province. According to their personnel arrangement, the Supreme Court must have thought that I would probably come back home.''


    ''The powerhouses dispatched by the Supreme Court to Youzhou Province excelled at getting hang of humanity; they must have studied my situation seriously. Therefore, they made such a personnel arrangement.''


    It seemed that Zhang manor remained unchanged. At least Zhang Tie didn''t see any evident change as everything ran as smoothly as usual, except that the vigilance in the manor was strengthened. One more Long Wind guard composed of the direct line of clan disciples of Huaiyuan Palace was increased for the safety of Zhang family.


    The main courtyard was brightly lit. Zhang Tie saw Feng Cangwu walking into the main courtyard with his three sons.


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie flew into Feng Cangwu''s private courtyard and stealthily slid into his room. After that, he recovered to his original body and sat on the chair in the room quietly for the return of Feng Cangwu.


    As it was pitch dark in the room, Zhang Tie was as still as a rock.


    After waiting there for over 10 minutes, Zhang Tie had heard footsteps from outside.


    "You can go to bed now, it''s too late. I don''t need your service anymore!" Feng Cangwu''s voice sounded along with the footsteps.


    "Yes, sir!" Two female servants answered Feng Cangwu immediately.


    After that, a footstep moved closer to the room. Feng Cangwu opened the door and lit the lamp. Of course, he caught sight of Zhang Tie who was sitting in the room quietly...


    The moment Feng Cangwu caught sight of Zhang Tie, his battle qi had enshrouded the entire room silently although he looked as normal as usual. Even the knights outside wouldn''t know what happened inside the room


    After that, Feng Cangwu gazed at Zhang Tie with shiny eyes, "Who''re you?"


    After noticing Feng Cangwu''s movements and listening to his question, Zhang Tie smiled reassuringly as he realized that he had not backed the wrong person...


    ...

 898 Being Frank and Hones

    Chapter 898: Being Frank and Honest


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Feng Cangwu enshrouded the room with his battle qi in case that Zhang Tie was discovered by the two knights outside while his question was to confirm Zhang Tie''s identity.


    Why would he confirm Zhang Tie''s identity? Because Feng Cangwu didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could do that evil thing in Fuhai City. However, given the irrefutable evidence, the probability was that someone had disguised as Zhang Tie and did those bad things in Fuhai City. Feng Cangwu might have thought about the existence of the disguised Zhang Tie. Therefore, he asked, "Who''re you?"


    Of course, Zhang Tie felt reassured after listening to such a question.


    "It seems that you''ve changed a lot during the past months. When you came here at the beginning, you were as proud as a peacock and only nodded at everything. Generally, you would not tell the female servants to take a rest at such a moment!" Zhang Tie uttered.


    After hearing this, Feng Cangwu threw a serious glance at Zhang Tie before revealing a faint smile, "You''re too audacious!"


    "I''m always audacious!"


    "You are really fast. It only took you less than 20 days to travel from Yingzhou Province to Youzhou Province!" Feng Cangwu said as he walked to the chair beside Zhang Tie and sat down there. After that, he poured a cup of water for himself and bottomed it up.


    Zhang Tie blinked his eyes as he didn''t want to tell Feng Cangwu about the truth in case of collapsing him mentally once again. If a knight could travel 80,000 miles in about 20 days, or at least 4,000 miles a day, he must be very sharp. Most of the black iron knights could not do it. ''Feng Cangwu must have considered that I''ve awakened the Kuafu Bloodline and carried a space-teleportation equipment which could provide me with sufficient supplies. Additionally, he must think that I''ve started to move back towards Youzhou Province after the event in Fuhai City.''


    "I had no choice. Otherwise, I would be killed!" Zhang Tie said vaguely.


    "What happened in Fuhai City?" Feng Cangwu asked with a solemn look.


    Thus, Zhang Tie repeated his encounter to Feng Cangwu.


    As for those people who knew Zhang Tie well; especially those who had been familiar with him for a long time, none of them believed that Zhang Tie would do that evil thing in Fuhai City, neither did Feng Cangwu. During the period when Feng Cangwu was in Zhang manor, given Zhang Tie''s open-mindedness and indifference about fame and fortune and his care about his family members, Feng Cangwu was sure that Zhang Tie would never do such an evil thing. Others he might think that Zhang Tie must have felt extremely shameful after Fan Clan broke off the engagement and must have been greatly stimulated by that so that he was possessed by the devil and lost his mind; however, Feng Cangwu knew that Zhang Tie would never do that. He knew that there must be another reason. However, when Feng Cangwu heard about the conspiracy, he drew in a breath, ''What a terrifying trap! It''s fatal! The only loophole of this trap is that Zhang Tie escaped away from Cheji General on that occasion. Zhang Tie has already been a rat across the street, who will be beaten whenever he is discovered.''


    Evidence prioritized in the cases of Taixia Country. The so-called evidence was the truth that was widely accepted by the public; instead of being the subjective judgments of the familiar ones and family members of the suspects. Therefore, even though those on Zhang Tie''s side such as his family members and the elders of Huaiyuan Palace didn''t believe that Zhang Tie would do that, in front of those irrefutable "evidence" including testimony of witnesses and material evidence, the public was unable to identify the truth; the Supreme Court could only make decisions and responses according to the evidence instead of the judgments of Zhang Tie''s family members and friends.


    "I''m afraid that the only benefit of my encounter is that the culprit had not imagined that after all this I could still be alive. Now that I''m alive, they may expose themselves. I know that it''s all a conspiracy against me. Those who set this conspiracy must have a very great influence and relationship network in Taixia Country. Additionally, they must be hiding very deeply and know Taixia Country very well in all aspects. They even know that Director Fan''s heart is on his right chest and could make use of this point. These people must have demons on their back. As long as the opportunity arises, these people will definitely raise winds and waves in Taixia Country and become the major threat of Taixia Country." Zhang Tie watched Feng Cangwu seriously as he continued, "As Huaiyuan Palace has just rooted in Taixia Country, it''s very weak. The one who could apply the Bloody Demon Imitation Method could never be resisted by Huaiyuan Palace. I hope Brother Cangwu to tell Commander Cheng and the elders of the Heavens Fortune Sect about this information so that they could make preparations for possible threats!"


    Zhang Tie''s intelligence was very critical. The information that culprit could apply the Bloody Demon Imitation Method was of great value. However, Zhang Tie was right, such a person and force could never be resisted by Huaiyuan Palace. Only top forces were qualified to investigate it and prepare for the possible threats secretly.


    "Don''t worry, I will definitely tell your words to the elders of my sect and Commander Cheng. What about you? Do you have any plan for the future? If you like, I can..."


    "No need, Brother Cangwu..." Zhang Tie waved his hand, "I know what you''re going to say. Thanks for your good intention. However, if you did that, it would cause Heavens Fortune Sect trouble and would provide an excuse and chance for the culprit to escalate this event. As a result, Taixia Country would be more chaotic!" Zhang Tie refused Feng Cangwu, "I just want to bid a farewell to my family members. After that, I will find a chance to chop off demons'' heads in the earth-elements realm!"


    "You want to go to the earth-elements realm?"


    "Yup, however, I might go there in another identity and look!"


    "You also know disguising skills?"


    "Yes, I know. Thankfully, someone taught me that before. It''s not difficult to deal with common situations." Zhang Tie forced a bashful smile, "I''m so sorry, Brother Cangwu has stayed in Golden Light City for months, but I couldn''t help you break your mental obstacle; you have even worked as my kids'' free tutor for a few months. What''s your plan?"


    Zhang Tie knew that it was needless for Feng Cangwu to stay in his home now as he had to leave home. After all, this young elite of Heavens Fortune Sect was not destined to be a tutor who could be employed by money and some benefits. It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that Feng Cangwu could stay in his home until now.


    "Now that you''re going to the earth-elements realm, I''m afraid that I have to go there too in order to break my mental obstacle. As I''ve told you, my mental obstacle could only be broken by you!" Feng Cangwu replied with a smile, "Perhaps, we could meet each other then. But it will test my ability to distinguish you. It''s funny. Speaking of a tutor, I have to notify you that your three sons have already lit their first surging point last week. Their cultivation speeds are very fast. They also have great power of understanding. Your three sons are all rare cultivation geniuses. I''ve already contacted my sect. If you agree, the three little guys could be official disciples in Heavens Fortune Sect when they promote to LV 9!"


    Zhang Tie was surprised by this news. Although Zhang Tie had long prepared for his sons'' excellence, he had not imagined that they could become LV 1 warrior at such a young age. ''What weirdos! I remember that I became a LV 1 warrior when I was going to graduate from the middle school after I picked up the small tree and Castle of Black Iron. However, my three sons have already lit their first surging points after cultivating for less than two months. According to such a speed, they might promote to LV 9 fighters in only 3-5 years. What the hell!''


    Feng Cangwu posed his suggestion out of his concern about Zhang Tie and Heavens Fortune Sect. Major sects would rely on generations of excellent disciples and talents for their long-term prosperities. Based on the current performances of Zhang Tie''s three sons, they might match Zhang Tie at Zhang Tie''s age. Even if they made progress step by step instead of making leapfrog progress, they would probably become knights after a decade.


    Zhang Tie considered, "When they''re LV 9, two of them could join Heavens Fortune Sect while the other should be managed by Huaiyuan Palace! Sometimes, even though I''m their father, I could not fully determine their future development in the clan. I have to consider all aspects."


    Feng Cangwu nodded and said, "Well, I understand, that''s the deal!"


    "There''s one more thing to trouble Brother Cangwu!"


    "Go ahead!"


    Zhang Tie rubbed his face and sighed, "There''re two super large bulbs shining in the evening. Please induce them away, for the time being, Brother Cangwu. Spare me 2 hours so that I could say something to my family members! I don''t want to meet my family members stealthily at this moment. I don''t know when will I come back next time."


    After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, Feng Cangwu sighed helplessly, "If you don''t want to be stealthy, it seems that I could only be the stealthy one. I''ve not imagined about such a day!"


    Zhang Tie made his face...


    Feng Cangwu then picked himself up from the chair. After that, he changed a set of clothes in his room and tousled his hair. He even covered a piece of black cloth on his face, making him look a bit embarrassed. He then threw a glance at Zhang Tie''s figure. Closely after that, his bones cracked. Even his limbs turned as same as Zhang Tie. He then opened a window of the room. In the next second, he turned into a wisp of smoke, floated out of the window and entered the darkness...


    Zhang Tie just waited in Feng Cangwu''s room quietly...


    After a few minutes, a shadow flew from afar and intended to land in Zhang manor''s garden silently without radiating any light. Before he landed, he suddenly found something. Being shocked, he instantly shot back into the sky as fast as light...


    Closely after that, two lights chased after the shadow towards the north...


    The three lights disappeared in the sky in the blink of an eye.


    ''What an elite of Heavens Fortune Sect!'' Zhang Tie applauded inside.


    All the people in Zhang''s manor were shocked while many of them walked out of their rooms...


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie picked himself up and flicked his clothes. After that, he frankly walked out of Feng Cangwu''s room...

 899 Breaking the Mental Obstacle

    Chapter 899: Breaking the Mental Obstacle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie frankly walked out of Feng Cangwu''s private courtyard. A Long Wind guard who was patrolling in Zhang''s manor caught sight of Zhang Tie immediately.


    The Long Wind guards had been shocked by the three lights. Although they didn''t know what happened, they thought that Elder Mushen had returned. Whereas, they saw Zhang Tie walking towards them on the path...


    The Long Wind guards were struck dumb with astonishment.


    "Hard work!" Zhang Tie nodded towards a Long Wind guard who had forgotten to move.


    "Elder...Elder Mushen..." The guards had not responded to Zhang Tie''s sudden appearance.


    Zhang Tie directly walked towards the main courtyard.


    After being still for a second, the Long Wind guards moved while the entire Zhang manor entered the supreme alertness at once.


    No matter how much Zhang Tie was wanted outside, Zhang Tie''s authority and position could never be suspected in Huaiyuan Palace. Because Zhang Tie was still a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace.


    On the way, Zhang Tie met some servants, who were dumbfounded too.


    Zhang Tie was not afraid that some of them would betray him and had him arrested. If Zhang family or Huaiyuan Palace could not control these people, they''d better roll out of here.


    Additionally, he wouldn''t stay too long at home.


    The entire Zhang family had walked out of the main courtyard and looked up at the sky.


    "Has...Guoguo come back just now?" Zhang Tie''s mom asked in a ''trembling'' voice as she looked up at the profound sky with tearful eyes...


    Zhang Tie''s three kids were clenching their fists and watching the sky. They couldn''t wait to fly right now.


    Zhang Yang, Zhang Tie''s elder sisters-in-law and Zhang Tie''s wives were watching the sky with complicated looks.


    "Ahem...ahem..." After hearing Zhang Tie''s familiar coughs, the entire family was shocked as they turned around and threw their glances at the flower corridor on the side of the main courtyard.


    "Papa..." Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei rushed towards Zhang Tie like three cubs.


    Zhang Tie showed himself out of the shadow of the flower corridor and cradled the three kids at once.


    As for the Zhang family, they didn''t doubt whether this Zhang Tie was real or not. Because Zhang Tie''s invisible qi field, feeling of familiarity and cordial feeling could not be disguised by anyone else. Even though Zhang Tie was wearing a mask, his family members could still identify him based on his coughs.


    Touching the three boys'' heads, Zhang Tie looked at his family members and smiled, "Just now, Feng Cangwu has induced away the two knights of Supreme Court from our manor, we have 2 hours!"


    "Hurry, hurry up, enter the room..." Zhang Tie''s dad said in a ''trembling'' voice.


    After they returned to the main courtyard, Zhang Yang called the butler of Zhang manor and whispered something to him. The butler nodded with a solemn look. After bowing towards Zhang Tie, he silently left there...


    ...


    Zhang Tie held his parents'' hands and wanted to stay with his parents for a few minutes in a study on the second floor of the main courtyard while the other family members were waiting outside.


    When his family members found that Zhang Tie was safe and sound, they were all very thrilled and happy; especially Zhang Tie''s parents. Zhang Tie felt that his parents were tightly seizing his hands by their trembling hands.


    The door of the study was closed, leaving 3 people inside.


    "Guoguo...are...are you alright? Neither your dad nor I believe that you could do such an evil thing..." Zhang Tie''s mom hadn''t moved her eyes away from Zhang Tie''s face since he appeared, "Have you been hurt these days? Are you hungry? Have you eaten something?"


    Zhang Tie''s dad also looked Zhang Tie up and down with a concerned expression...


    Both Zhang Tie''s dad and mom knew that it was more dangerous than being on the battlefield in the subcontinent by being wanted by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country.


    Watching their concerned looks and hearing mom''s questions, Zhang Tie almost cried.


    In the Zhang family, studies were like backrooms. The building and decorative materials of this study could insulate sounds pretty well. As long as it was closed from inside, outsiders wouldn''t know what happened inside.


    "Mom, dad, I''m fine. I''m safe and sound. I want to tell you that I will be fine wherever I am. Don''t worry about me!" Zhang Tie comforted his parents, "Especially you, mom. You always worry about my safety. This time, I want you to know that your son will be safe and sound even if all the knights in the world are hunting me!"


    "I believe that...I believe that..." Zhang Tie''s mom nodded as she dropped off tears.


    Zhang Tie knew that his mom was still worried about him all the time even though she said she wouldn''t. Because of concerns, she looked more haggard lately.


    "Dad, mom, relax. Hold my hands. I will show you a place..." Zhang Tie made his determination.


    "Argh? Are you leaving now? Didn''t you say that you would stay here for 2 hours?" Zhang Tie''s dad asked...


    The moment Zhang Tie''s dad finished his words, the three people had disappeared from the room...


    ...


    After almost 40 minutes, Zhang Tie held his parents'' hands and reappeared in the room.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s parents looked extremely wonderful. Zhang Tie''s dad raised his head and looked around the familiar study as if he had been there for the first time. Meanwhile, he stammered, "Time tunnel...it''s like passing a time tunnel..."


    In the next second, the three people disappeared once again. After a few minutes, they reappeared...


    After traversing the time tunnel twice, Zhang Tie''s parents had recovered their composure as they all watched Zhang Tie with weird looks.


    "Dad and mom, you already know that I will be fine wherever I am. Without such an ability, I''ve long died hundreds of times. I was fine before. I would be fine in the future!" Zhang Tie explained while an exotic yet powerful spiritual energy silently deepened into his parents'' subconsciousness, which could prevent his parents from revealing this secret to anyone.


    "Will...will you come back?" Zhang Tie''s mom asked without any concern. She was just missing Zhang Tie.


    "I won''t in a short period. But I will definitely come back to see you. Additionally, as the one who framed me is too powerful, who could not even be resisted by Huaiyuan Palace, I need to improve my battle strength as soon as possible so as to respond to the possible crises. Therefore, dad and mom, you don''t need to worry about me. I''m just going to cultivate myself for a long time. If you could enjoy food and drinks and have a good sleep at home, I will have no concern anymore. Otherwise, you would make me absent-minded! Now, you''ve known that our Zhang family would have a way to escape no matter how the holy war would proceed. Therefore, you should completely be reassured..."


    After throwing a glance at each other, Zhang Tie''s mom and dad let out a sigh and nodded to each other seriously...


    ...


    Although Zhang Tie stayed with his parents in the study a bit long, the others outside the study didn''t complain about that. Everyone knew that Zhang Tie was filial obedient. After leaving home this time, they didn''t know after how long would Zhang Tie meet his parents again...


    The door of the study finally opened. Zhang Tie''s dad and mom then walked out of there.


    Zhang Yang felt his dad and mom looked completely different; especially his mom, who looked spirited all over and had recovered her composure as usual.


    Zhang Tie''s mom threw a glance at Zhang Yang, "Zhang Yang, go talk with your brother for a short while inside..."


    ...


    After entering the study for over 20 minutes, Zhang Yang also walked out of it with a calm look. He then called Zhang Tie''s wives in...


    ...


    In 1 more hour''s rapid flight, Feng Cangwu had already led the two powerhouses from Supreme Court far away from Zhang manor.


    As an elite in Heavens Fortune Sect, Feng Cangwu flew as fast as the light with a constant qi, which was far better than common black iron knights.


    The two powerhouses from Supreme Court were not average either. They mastered a special combined flying ability. When they flew closely one after another, their battle qis were connected tightly and gradually mixed with each other. Their speed was not slower than that of Feng Cangwu; later on, they even caught up with Feng Cangwu. Even though Feng Cangwu could move and dodge flexibly, the distance between him and the two powerhouses was gradually narrowed.


    The two powerhouses joined hands and blocked Feng Cangwu''s way with a purple battle qi net. It could almost match the power of an earth knight.


    The two powerhouses from Supreme Court were really sharp. Their combined striking skill was unrivaled.


    Feng Cangwu felt that they were already far away from Zhang manor; therefore, he released a dignified qi once again.


    "Why are you chasing after me?" Feng Cangwu hid his battle qi luster and pull off his black mask forcefully.


    "Feng Cangwu?" The two knights immediately stopped at the sight of Feng Cangwu, "Why?"


    "Zhang''s family is in dilemma, I was paying a visit to the Zhang family and just wanted to try the vigilance of the guards of Zhang''s manor; I''ve not imagined that you two could catch up with me!" Feng Cangwu looked at the two knights who almost looked same as he tossed back his hair, revealing a smile, "I''ve long heard that you two are famous twin criminal hunters called nets above and snare below. Your combined striking skills are unrivaled in the world and could almost match earth knights. You must be the two famous criminal hunters who scare off so many big criminals on the wanted list!"


    "Sh*t, we''re trapped!"


    Heavens Fortune Sect would almost never miss it whoever they wanted to trap.


    The two famous criminal hunters'' faces turned purple at the same time. With a roar in unison, they turned around and flew back towards Golden Light City.


    ...


    After his wives left the study, Zhang Tie called in his three sons...


    Touching their heads, Zhang Tie told them, "Remember, from today on, you three brothers are already little tough men. Since you lit your first surging points, you''ve already grown up. Am I clear?"


    Raising their little heads, the three boys nodded forcefully in front of Zhang Tie.


    "Dad, mom said you were framed. You have to leave us, is that real?" Zhang Chenglei asked before biting his lips.


    "It''s real. Someone did the bad things and framed your dad. They framed your dad as the bad guy. Therefore, dad has to leave you for the time being. When he grows stronger, he will be able to fight the real bad guys and protect you. If dad stays with you, the bad guys might hurt you and your moms. Therefore, dad could only leave home. Later on, you should take care of your moms and your younger brothers and sisters. Am I clear?"


    The three little guys'' eyes turned red...


    Zhang Chengting gritted his teeth as he clenched his little fist and suddenly uttered, "Dad, if we could defeat the bad guys, you will not leave home, right?"


    "When you grow as sharp as your dad, your dad will not leave you anymore. Remember your dad''s words, dad doesn''t request you to be a good person but you should never be bad guys. When you''re alive, you need to enjoy yourselves. However, no matter how you enjoy yourselves, you should not hurt those who have nothing to do with you and are weaker than you. The stronger you are, the more you need to learn how to respect those weaker living beings. You improve yourselves only to keep a humble and common heart, do you understand?"


    The three little guys nodded as if they''ve understood that. However, they bore Zhang Tie''s words in mind.


    ...


    Holding his sons'' hands, Zhang Tie walked out of the study and bid a farewell to his elder sisters-in-law and the other family members.


    After a few minutes, before the two lights arrived at Golden Light City from the skyline, Zhang Tie finished his farewell to his family members. After kissing the faces of his three sons and five wives, he rose up and accelerated towards the Embracing Tiger City as fast as a lightning bolt.


    Closely followed by the two lights from the skyline...


    ...


    Half an hour later, the open water of Golden Light City...


    Zhang Tie directly dove into the sea. 2 minutes later, the other two lights dove into the sea too...


    After 1 hour, two lights flew out of the sea which was hundreds of miles away from where they entered it. After loitering there a few hours in vain, they finally left...

 900 At the Foot of Coiling Dragon Mountain

    Chapter 900: At the Foot of Coiling Dragon Mountain


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Yongzhou Province was one of the 36 upper provinces in Taixia Country. It was close to the Qiongzhou Province, the south border of the Northeast Military Region under the affiliation of Westriver Military Region. The central organ of Westriver Military Region was also located here.


    Covering 250 million square miles, Yongzhou Province had 8.7 billion population. It had been in peace and prosperity for hundreds of years. Yongzhou Province had 257 Class A cities, the number of which ranked above medium among all the upper provinces in Taixia Country.


    Yongzhou Province had 34 prefectures. Luye Prefecture was in the southwest of Yongzhou Province. There were nine famous mountains in Luye Prefecture. There were a lot of tea trees in the mountains. The tea leaves in Luye Prefecture ranked first in Yongzhou Province. The most famous wild spring originated from the Floating Spirit Mountain, one of the nine mountains in Luye Prefecture.


    As one of the nine famous mountains in Luye Prefecture, Coiling Dragon Mountain was in the middle of Luye Prefecture, which lasted over 7,000 miles and crossed many prefectures. As its shape was like a coiling dragon, therefore it was called Coiling Dragon Mountain.


    Coiling Dragon was odd-looking and beautiful. It was said that Coiling Dragon Mountain had a very good geographical location. It was a golden mile in Youzhou Province. Coiling Dragon Mountain was close to Ailian City, Heguang City, Lvsen City, Poyin City, Tianyuan City and Zeyun City in four directions, which were all Class A cities in Yongzhou Province.


    Liuying Town was at the foot of Coiling Dragon Mountain being less than 150 miles away from Zeyun City in the east.


    Liuying Town was a tranquil town, which contained less than 50,000 people in total. At the end of May, a news spread over Liuying Town¡ª¡ªYoung master Cui who had departed over 10 years ago finally came back.


    Many young people left home to learn knowledge. Although Cui Li was well-known in Liuying Town, it should not arouse such a shock; especially for a person who had left Liuying Town for over one decade. However, it was said that a meteor landed at his home when Cui Li came back that night while the glow scared his servants and neighbors so much. They all thought that the house caught fire; therefore they prepared to extinguish the fire with water buckets...


    However, they found it was Cui Li, the young master of Cui family who came back.


    Perhaps kids didn''t understand the abnormal phenomenon; however, old guys who had rich experiences knew that it carried a very special meaning. It indicated that Cui family in Liuying Town might have a Hua dragon¡ª¡ªknight!


    It was a major event. Even the Tongguang County where Liuying Town was had not got a Hua dragon, not to mention Liuying Town.


    Therefore, the entire Liuying Town was shocked. Additionally, this news had aroused the attention of the county magistrate of Tongguang County in only 3 days.


    It was the Village Constable Jia of Liuying Town who reported the news to the county magistrate of Tongguang County.


    In the backyard garden of the county government office of Tongguang County, County Magistrate Li who had taken this position for 8 years was dumbfounded after hearing the news of Village Constable Jia.


    "What? You mean there''s a knight in Liuying Town?" The 60-year old County Magistrate Li with a dignified look hurriedly put down his teacup before turning around and watching Village Constable Jia with widely opened eyes.


    It was early June while it was getting hot. After traveling over 50 miles by vehicle, Village Constable Jia''s eyes corners had oozed sweat. His face also looked a bit red.


    "Yes, County Magistrate, there''s a knight in Cui family in Liuying Town!" Village Constable Jia hurriedly answered.


    "It''s a big surprise. Are you sure?" County Magistrate Li put down his teacup and said with a solemn look.


    Watching County Magistrate Li''s solemn look, Village Constable Jia became a bit hesitated as he slightly mopped off the sweat from his forhead and said, "I''ve asked the neighbors of Cui Clan. They said that Cui Li indeed descended from the sky with light and flame when he came back home as fast as a lightning bolt. It was really terrifying. Additionally, more than one person had witnessed that. They all expressed it in this way. I think nobody else could do that except for a knight! The servants in Cui family were jubilant these days. Someone asked the reason, they said that their young master had promoted to a knight!"


    "It seems to be real. I''ve heard about Cui Li before. But how could he promote to a knight so fast? Didn''t you recognize the wrong man?" County Magistrate Li slightly lowered his body with a more solemn look.


    "I won''t. I''ve paid a visit to Cui''s manor yesterday. I saw the young master of Cui family and talked with him for a while. Although he had left home for over one decade and changed a bit, I still recognized him. Additionally, he recognized me too. I felt a very deterrent qi on young master Cui, flames flickered in his pupils. Only after talking with him for a short while, I had already felt a great stress."


    Touch his well-maintained mustache, County Magistrate Li thought for a few seconds before replying, "It seems that I have to pay a visit to this young master Cui in Liuying Town. If Cui family really have a knight, Tongguang County could have the first powerful memorial gateway in my reign. That would be a fine story on everybody''s lips..."


    "You''re right, County Magistrate Li!" Village Constable Jia hurriedly nodded, "I wonder when will you come to Liuying Town, County Magistrate Li. I will make an arrangement for you!"


    "Let''s do it tomorrow!"


    County Magistrate Li felt pretty thrilled too. After the first powerful memorial gateway was erected in Tongguang County, his name would be bound to it too. After he died, whenever people caught sight of this powerful memorial gateway, they would recall his name Li Chunfeng. He would not regret serving as the county magistrate for so many years.


    The officials in Taixia Country were all paid with high compensations for clean governance. Very few of them were greedy for money. Most of them were seeking for reputation. Of course, County Magistrate Li was seeking for reputation.


    Li Chunfeng was the only one in Tongguang County who was qualified to make a biography for the powerful memorial gateway of young master Cui, which would be admired by the posterities. As the old saying went, the real heroes should make meritorious deeds, have a good reputation and have proverbs memorized by the posterities. As he could make a biography for the powerful memorial gateway of young master Cui, he would have his ambitious words and feelings memorized by people. In the future, if the knight being publicized by this memorial gateway became famous, more and more people would come here to admire him. Li Chunfeng would become famous too by then. Many of the literati in Taixia Country had become famous by leaving a passage or poem in front of a powerful memorial gateway.


    ...


    On the second day Village Constable Jia left the county government office of Tongguang County, namely on the early morning of June 3rd, County Magistrate Li had changed a fine set of plain clothes and left for Liuying Town.


    County Magistrate Li didn''t take too many people with him. He was very lowkey. If the young master Cui was not a knight, it would be a laughingstock for him to pay a visit on a grand scale; if young master Cui was really a knight, it would be a laughingstock for a county magistrate to pay a visit on a grand scale too. Therefore, he''d better be lowkey this time.


    When they came to the Liuying Town, Village Constable Jia had been waiting for him on the roadside outside the town.


    In order to show his respect, County Magistrate Li directly got off the vehicle outside the town and walked to Cui manor together with Village Constable Jia.


    It was highway outside the town while the roads inside the town were all clean slate cement roads; especially those nearby Cui manor were always cleaned by water before dawn by his neighbors.


    Cui family was a big family in Liuying Town. The courtyard of Cui manor was at the foot of Coiling Dragon Mountain, which occupied over 5,000 square meters. When they came to the outside of Cui manor, the trees in the courtyard of Cui manor gave them a welcome shade. There was even a tall pagoda tree at the gate of Cui manor, whose crown was as large as a cloud. Its shade could cover 300 square meters.


    "Here we are!" Village Constable Jia introduced.


    "What an unusual symbol!" Stroking his mustache, County Magistrate Li nodded towards the huge pagoda tree, "Look at this tree, doesn''t it look like that someone is holding an umbrella for Cui manor?"


    "That''s true, the more I see it, the more I find that you''re right!" Village Constable Jia explained as he stepped onto the stairs and knocked at the gate by the copper rings on the gate, "Bang, bang, bang..."


    With a cracking sound, the gate was opened while a 60-year old man exposed his head out of the gate. After that, he slowly raised his head and looked around with poor eyes for a while before figuring out who was knocking at the gate, "Ahh, Village Constable Jia..."


    Village Constable Jia said with a benign countenance, "I brought the County Magistrate Li to pay a visit to your young master. Is your young master at home?"


    "Ahh, what a pity. My young master has just gone up the mountain with Afu to sweep the tomb of the old master and old madam!" The old humpbacked man answered.


    Village Constable Jia turned around and looked at County Magistrate Li on his back.


    After being silent for a short while, County Magistrate Li asked Village Constable Jia, "Do you know the location of Cui''s cemetery?"


    "Yes, I do. It''s about 5 miles away from here!"


    "If so, we don''t need to wait here. Let''s go up the mountain. By the way, we''ll take a look at Cui''s cemetery. I''ve not gone up the mountain for a long time. As the weather is good today, we can get some exercise."


    "Good!"


    After telling the humpbacked old man about their choice, Village Constable Jia led County Magistrate Li up the mountain along a path.


    "Why is the servant in Cui manor so emaciated?"


    "County Magistrate Li, you might not know that. When the old master and old madam were still alive, they were very benign to their servants. They took in poor guys, most of whom were paralyzed. After their death, the young master Cui kept them. Over the past decade, when young master Cui went out to learn skills, these people just stayed in Cui manor, none of them left!"


    For the convenience of control, Zhu Liang the fierce wolf selected the underprivileged single ones who were simple, honest and crippled. Amazingly, after decades, this event became the symbol of righteousness and mercy of Cui manor.


    "Not bad!" County Magistrate Li nodded satisfactorily...

 901 The New Identity of Zhang Tie

    Chapter 901: The New Identity of Zhang Tie


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The cemetery was not far from Cui manor. Even though it was a mountainous path, it only took them less than 1 hour to reach there.


    During the decade when the young master Cui went out to learn skills, the servants in Cui manor were loyal and honest. They would sweep and offer a sacrifice to the cemetery of old master and the old madam at each Sweeping Tomb Day. Therefore, this cemetery was tidy and clean.


    Being voluntarily led by Afu and Cui Wang who were at their 50s and healthy, Zhang Tie finally came to the front of the cemetery of the old master and the old madam of Cui manor after walking along the mountainous path for 40-50 minutes leisurely.


    The cemetery of Cui manor was very decent. It was surrounded by a stone enclosure. There was a patch of cyan stony floor in front of the cemetery. Some stony auspicious beasts were standing on both sides of the cemetery.


    Standing in front of the 2-in-1 gravestone and watching the names of the old couple on the gravestone, Zhang Tie felt somewhat complex.


    Afu and Cui Wang had started to sweep the cemetery and put sacrificial offerings and joss sticks and candles before Zhang Tie moved.


    ''You were killed by Zhu Liang the fierce wolf. Cui Li was also killed by Zhu Liang in the mountain. His corpse had been used to feed wild beasts. I killed Zhu Liang the fierce wolf and survived in this world in the look and identity of Cui Li. In the others'' eyes, I''m your son. Therefore, I will kowtow 3 times for you two out of the karma between Cui family and I...'' Zhang Tie thought.


    Noticing that Afu and Cui Wang had prepared the items well, Zhang Tie immediately knelt down in front of the gravestone and kowtowed three times for the old late couple.


    After that, Zhang Tie picked himself up and flicked his clothes. He then burned the yellow and white joss paper in the stony pot that Afu and Cui Wang had specially built on the side of the cemetery.


    As they burned the joss paper, Afu and Cui Wang couldn''t stand dropping off tears.


    Being covered with tears on his face, Afu cried, "Old master, old madam, please open your eyes. Young master has come back. He''s a knight now. We could finally bring glory to our ancestors..."


    Cui Wang''s eyes also turned red, "Yes, our young master will ride a tall horse and a gold boat; be a general and a city mayor. You can be reassured in the heaven..."


    All the servants that Zhu Liang the fierce wolf took here were honest and simple. In their eyes, the old couple both died of diseases and this young master was the same one as before; after young master Cui came back, the Cui family would grow prosperous; young master was benign, who increased their monthly compensations by two times the moment he returned. They would have a better life from then on. Therefore, they thought that they had gone through all sorts of ordeals.


    After burning the joss paper, Afu put out the sparkles using the river water in the terrine. After that, he sprayed it around the cemetery. When they were going to leave the cemetery, Village Constable Jia arrived with County Magistrate Li breathlessly.


    At the sight of "Cui Li", County Magistrate Li''s eyes shined.


    At this moment, Cui Li was still bald headed. Being taller than 2 m, the muscled guy was like a mountain. According to the descriptions of the others, the young master Cui should be almost 50 years old; however, at the sight of him, County Magistrate Li felt that he was only about 30 years old. At the 50s, commoners would grow old; however, as for a knight, even if he was 60 years old, he would still look young. Cui Li was too young, just like the morning sun.


    What impressed County Magistrate Li most was the dense eyebrows which looked like a pair of guillotines. At the sight of them, County Magistrate Li had felt a strong killing qi as his heart raced. Combined with his mountain-like figure, Cui Li looked fierce and dignified. Under the pair of guillotines, flames were flickering in his pupils which were more terrifying...


    As a county magistrate, of course, he had a much broader vision than Village Constable Jia. At the sight of Cui Li''s eyes, he had remembered a topic about knights at a party. A VIP brought by Li Chengfeng to the party said that some powerhouses who cultivated senior secret skills would look special. Eyes were the portal of one''s spirit. Many of those special skills would be manifested through eyes.


    After combining with the information provided by Village Constable Jia, County Magistrate Li could almost immediately judge that Cui Li had promoted to a knight. Additionally, he realized that Cui Li must be cultivating a special secret skill.


    ''He promoted to a knight at such a young age, he must have a bright future.''


    Before Village Constable Jia introduced Cui Li to him, County Magistrate Li had already bowed towards Cui Li, "Mr. Cui, I''m Li Chunfeng, the county magistrate of Tongguang County!"


    As Cui Li''s identity had not been confirmed, he didn''t have an official status. Therefore, Li Chunfeng couldn''t call him Lord. As the local magistrate of a county, it was close to flattery if he called Zhang Tie young master Cui. It was impolite to call his name either. Therefore, County Magistrate Li directly called Zhang Tie Mr. Cui. As a civil official in Taixia Country, if he called a knight mister, he was showing his respect to the knight on the premise of not losing his face.


    "County Magistrate Li!" Zhang Tie smiled as he nodded in ''neither arrogant nor eager'' attitude.


    In front of a knight, a county magistrate was nothing. They were completely from two different worlds. Unless they were familiar with each other or friends, their passionate interactions would make people surprised.


    Zhang Tie''s attitude strengthened the belief of County Magistrate Li.


    After greeting Zhang Tie, County Magistrate Li walked to the front of the old couple and bowed three times. At the same time, he said, "With a dutiful son, your ancestors would feel glorious; coming out of our village, the talent will bestow his bounties to one region. Today, I appreciate the old couple of Cui on behalf of over 800,000 commoners in Tongguang County. Thanks to the severe father and kind mother; thank you for cultivating the first knight and contributing to the first powerful memorial gateway for Tongguang County. This powerful memorial gateway will be used to instruct our posterities and make our villagers glorious!"


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, ''This County Magistrate Li is really a talent. His oral passage sounds really good. He must be a real scholar.''


    "County Magistrate Li, Village Constable Jia, as you''ve come all the way from the foot of the mountain, you must be tired. How about having a cup of fresh tea at my home?"


    County Magistrate Li smiled as he cupped his hands once again, "Sorry to trouble you!"


    Watching Country Magistrate Li''s attitude towards the young master Cui, Village Constable Jia who had watched Cui Li growing up and always felt being an elder became kinder too.


    They then went downhill once again.


    Compared to how they went up the mountain, they felt much more relaxed when going downhill.


    County Magistrate Li moved steadily and vigorously, which could even match youngsters. In the middle of the 4 people, Zhang Tie chatted with County Magistrate Li in a very relaxed way.


    "County Magistrate Li, you''ve promoted to LV 7?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "I feel quite ashamed. I have a poor talent for cultivation. After reaching LV 6, I could barely advance to higher levels. Therefore, I could only learn how to manage people and become an official of Taixia. After so many years, through constant cultivation, I only lit over 10 surging points. I''ve just promoted to LV 7 last year. Therefore, I feel ashamed to show off it in front of Mr. Cui!" County Magistrate Li said modestly.


    When in Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie heard that county magistrate was the lowest rank of an official in Taixia Country, which should be assumed by fighters above LV 6. When in Youzhou, as Zhang Tie didn''t touch these basic officials, he was still dubious about that rule; when he came here, he found it was real.


    This rule only fit Taixia County. None of other countries or regions could meet and stick to such a talent selection standard.


    In Waii Subcontinent, a LV 6 fighter was already a grass-rooted officer of a platoon in the troops of each country.


    Although County Magistrate Li looked like a scholar, after promoting to LV 7, it indicated that over 10 tough men and burglars could not defeat him at all; even 3-5 LV fighters might not defeat him.


    In schools across Taixia Country, books and military skills were impeached at the same time. This education mode had been carried forward for thousands of years. If one judged the history of Hua people from the pure perspective of education, he would find a law¡ª¡ªin all the dynasties where scholars carried crossbows and bolts and poets carried swords on their backs, there would be full of talents and heroes, causing the dynasties unrivaled. By contrast, all the dynasties that gave up the education mode would gradually decline. Those which paid military more than culture would gradually decline to internal chaos. In that dynasties, military officers would be prioritized while the dynasties would go on punitive expeditions in all directions, causing Hua nations one after another; however, none of the dynasties could last long. In those dynasties which valued culture more than the military would last longer; however, the only outcome was that the dynasty would be invaded by alien people, causing great disasters. Many times, Hua people were almost exterminated.


    The future of a country could be judged by its current education. Those who valued military more than culture would grow chaotic; while those who valued culture more than military would grow weaker and finally be exterminated. Only by combining military with culture could a country be constantly prosperous.


    The national policy of Taixia Country was¡ª¡ªcombining military with culture, which had been written into the "Laws of Taixia Country" as the essence of education.


    ...


    After returning to Cui manor, Village Constable Jia found an excuse to leave in advance. Finally, only County Magistrate Li and Zhang Tie stayed in the manor and drank the spring tea, which had been picked from Cui''s private tea plantation in the mountain.


    "I wonder which sect did Mr. Cui join these years before promoting to a knight?" County Magistrate Li asked Zhang Tie as he drank the tea.


    "It''s too difficult to join any top sect, which requires excellent aptitude and deep background!" Zhang Tie shook his head and continued, "I''ve not joined any sect at all. I just learned from powerhouses across famous mountains and rivers. Later on, due to luck, I had a marvelous experience in a famous mountain and met a cave where a knight had died cross-legged. I gained a secret skill and some pills from the cave. After that, I cultivated for over 10 years before promoting to a knight!" Zhang Tie tossed out the explanation that he had long prepared. This explanation was almost real. If Li Chunfeng really wanted to investigate the cave, Zhang Tie could lead him to the cave where he got the "Fire Dragon Sutra" so as to cancel off all the doubts.


    County Magistrate Li was dumbfounded about Zhang Tie''s answer. Even in Taixia Country, this was also a marvelous experience. He had not imagined that it could occur to Cui Li who lived in Liuying Town under the governance of him.


    "What''s your plan then, Mr. Cui?"


    "As it is in the holy war, as a knight, of course, I need to serve the country. I have to fight demons in the most dangerous places!" Zhang Tie replied generously with full ambition, "I will stay at home for a few days. After offering a sacrifice to my parents and paying a visit to the villagers, I will go to the earth-elements realm to fight demons..."


    "How heroic you are, Mr. Cui! That''s what a hero should do. Pitifully, I''m poor in battle strength; otherwise, if I could promote to a knight, I would definitely learn from Mr. Cui and fight demons on the battlefield!" County Magistrate Li patted the table out of excitement.


    "As County Magistrate Li is here, I have a thing to trouble you!"


    "Please, as long as I could do it, this humble official will definitely try my best to do it!"


    Touching his bald head, Zhang Tie said with a great heroic and coarse sound, "After I leave, I don''t know when will I come back. As these loyal servants are growing old and have no relative. If there''s something wrong with them, please take care of them in case that they are bullied by others in their twilight years!"


    "Don''t worry about that. I can do it!" County Magistrate Li promised it right away. As it was a rare chance for him to strike up an acquaintance with a knight, of course, he would never decline it.


    "Thanks!"


    After coming back to Liuying Town and fixing his identity as Cui Li, Zhang Tie became reassured inside...


    Only after staying at Cui manor for a short while, County Magistrate Li had left Liuying Town.


    After confirming Zhang Tie''s identity as a knight, County Magistrate Li returned to the county by vehicle. He wrote a document on the same day.


    He then sent the document to Zeyun City. As Tongguang County belonged to Zeyun City, after confirming the fact that there was a knight in Liuying Town in Tongguang County, of course, he needed to notice the city mayor as soon as possible. It was also a major event for Zeyun City.


    After the city mayor of Zeyun City was shocked, the news that Cui Li the young master of Cui family in Liuying Town had promoted to a knight spread across the foot of Coiling Dragon Mountain officially at once.


    ...


    In the next few days, Village Constable Jia and the villagers in Liuying Town felt that the entire Liuying Town had become a vegetable market as all the influential figures within hundreds of square miles were pouring in Liuying Town like going to the market. They were all here to pay a visit to Cui manor in order. It was said that their gifts had filled the warehouse of Cui manor.


    The remote Liuying Town had not been so glorious before.


    After being boisterous for a few days, some residents in Liuying Town saw a flame shooting into the sky in one evening. On the second day, when those visitors waited outside the gate of Cui manor, they heard a news¡ª¡ªthe young master Cui had left last night...


    ...

 902 Zhang Ties New Plan

    Chapter 902: Zhang Tie''s New Plan


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After leaving Liuying Town on the evening of June 7th, Zhang Tie arrived at Ailian City which was 3,500 miles away from Liuying Town on June 9th at a medium speed.


    Ailian City was a Class A city, which was the traffic hub that linked Yongzhou Province to the western provinces in Taixia Country.


    That was to say, people could buy air tickets to arrive at any province in the west part of Taixia Country from Ailian City.


    Zhang Tie was going to Force Province.


    Being in the northwest of Taixia Country, Force Province was almost 150,000 miles away from Yongzhou Province.


    As one of the 36 upper provinces in Taixia Country, Force Province was an important military province in Taixia Country. The entrance leading to earth-elements realm was in Force Province.


    Even in the entire human world, Force Province was one of the most outstanding human places, not to mention in Taixia Country.


    Each of the top four forces in Taixia Country had powerful troops in Force Province. Besides, there were over 1.5 billion regular soldiers in Force Province. That was how it got its name.


    The airline from Ailian City in Yongzhou Province to Force Province was operated only once a week. When Zhang Tie arrived at Ailian City, 3 more days were left for the second airship to set off. Zhang Tie spent 268 gold coins to buy a ship ticket of a super deluxe berth cabin from Ailian City to Force Province. After that, he settled down in a hotel in the west airport of Ailian City and started to cultivate there.


    The Purgatory Samsara confirmed Zhang Tie''s guess¡ª¡ªin ancient times, besides elements-gathering matrix, people have developed a method to absorb four elements in a higher efficiency.


    After getting hang of the Purgatory Samsara, Zhang Tie increased his absorption efficiency by 3 times at once. Previously, it took Zhang Tie 2 hours to use up an earth-elements crystal; now, it only took him half an hour to use up one high-quality earth-elements crystal.


    Of course, such a high efficiency was based on the effect of his 18 spiritual hands at the same time. Besides Zhang Tie, nobody else might be able to absorb earth-elements crystals at such an amazing speed. Even his master Zhao Yuan might not do it. Such a powerful one mind-for-various purposes skill was exclusive to Zhang Tie.


    At such a high efficiency, Zhang Tie could absorb above 40 earth-elements crystals each day on the premise of making his full efforts in cultivation. In this condition, Zhang Tie could light one scale in about 8 days. Due to the sudden increase in cultivation speed and consumption of earth-elements crystals, Zhang Tie finally saw a ray of hope in forming the tricky second chakra of King Roc Sutra.


    Zhang Tie''s total stockpile of earth-elements crystals were over 9,000 which couldn''t afford him to light 30 scales. Even though he used up all the crystals that he had, it was still a long way to go before lighting the second chakra. Therefore, Zhang Tie chose to have a try in the earth-elements realm.


    Actually, it would only take Zhang Tie over 10 days to fly to Force Province from Yongzhou Province himself; however, Zhang Tie didn''t want to make trouble at such a critical moment. Therefore, he chose the airship.


    It would take the fastest public airship in Taixia Country almost 4 months to arrive at Force Province from Yongzhou Province, plus the supplying time in the way. Zhang Tie planned to cultivate during this period.


    On June 12th, after absorbing over 120 earth-elements crystals in 3 days, Zhang Tie checked out the room in the early morning and came to the underground entrance of his airship on time.


    There was only one tunnel leading to the ground. Two beautiful stewardesses were checking tickets at the entrance of the tunnel.


    It was not a long queue in the tunnel. Zhang Tie''s height and figure made him very eye-catching the moment he arrived there.


    "Sir, please show me your air ticket!"


    When it was Zhang Tie''s turn, Zhang Tie passed his super deluxe air ticket to the stewardess while watching her sweet smile.


    After checking it, the stewardess punched a hole in the ticket and gave it back to Zhang Tie. Meanwhile, she reminded Zhang Tie, "Please keep your ticket. Before the airship set off, there''s one more checkpoint in the airship!"


    Zhang Tie nodded in a handsome way.


    "Do you need check-in luggage?" The stewardess asked Zhang Tie while throwing a glance at the simple military luggage in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    Although the military luggage was not small, it was like a kid''s schoolbag in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    Of course, Zhang Tie carried his space-teleportation item; however, it was too eye-catching; especially for a knight who was not famous. Additionally, in case of trouble, Zhang Tie didn''t show his space-teleportation item. Instead, he just carried a military luggage which contained some clothes and spare shoes. Even though knights had to prepare spare clothes in case of scaring people away by stink after being treated as a beggar. Now that he didn''t want to show his space-teleportation item, Zhang Tie had to carry these necessities.


    "No need, thanks!"


    "If so, please board the airship from this side. Your cabin berth is Heavenly No. 17. Bon Voyage!"


    Holding the luggage, Zhang Tie walked to the ground through the tunnel.


    Right on the ground, there was a huge blue hard-type airship at the exit of the tunnel.


    It was so huge that even the fury-level airship of Huaiyuan Palace was only as large as half of it. Additionally, compared to that of the fury-level airship, this airship''s air sac was very special. Common air sacs would look full after being filled with gas; however, this air sac shrunk with wrinkles on its surface like that of the bellows of an accordion.


    Zhang Tie watched this airship for a while.


    This was the most technical airship in the world¡ª¡ªvacuum airship.


    The air sac of common airship would usually be filled with a gas which was lighter than air; however, the air sac of vacuum airship was in the vacuum state. It flew by the floating effect caused by the vacuum air sac.


    Besides a greater loading capacity, vacuum airships could fly longer than common airships. Of course, it required more advanced technologies. In this age, besides Taixia Country, no other human countries could produce vacuum airship. Facing the fierce competition of the airship manufacturing industry in Taixia Country, Zhang Ping''s small airship factory had to go bankrupt.


    After watching the huge airship for a short while, Zhang Tie entered the cabin with his luggage...

 903 Arriving at Force Province

    Chapter 903: Arriving at Force Province


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The so-called N0.17 Heavenly super deluxe berth cabin could never match that of Zhang Tie''s private airship.


    This berth cabin only covered about 10 square meters. It only contained a bed, a desk and a small independent washroom. There was a looming flavor of lavender.


    Besides being private and clean, this room was nothing different than a basic single dorm.


    Of course, such a single dorm was already super deluxe in long-distance traffic tools like an airship.


    The water in the berth cabin was supplied quantitatively everyday. After using up the daily provision, the passenger would have no more on the very day. The bathing function in the washroom was unavailable during normal times; only when the airship landed for supply and was connected to the water pipe in the airport could the shower head work.


    The average landing time of the airship was five days. Therefore, Zhang Tie could only take a bath once in 5 days.


    The airship provided 3 meals a day; however, passengers needed to enjoy food at a fixed time in the dining hall as the dining hall would be closed except for the fixed time. If they wanted to drink something, they had to consume in the bar, which would run around the clock in the airship. All the drinks and snacks in the bar were not free.


    When the weather permitted, the observation deck on the airship would open 14 hours a day from 7 am to 9 pm.


    Passengers were forbidden to enter the bellyhold cargo bay, the crew''s living quarters and workspace in the airship.


    Fire was forbidden in the airship, which was also a universal regulation across Taixia Country. Smoke was only allowed in the observation deck and the bar area.


    Passengers could rent safes to store their valuables. Otherwise, if passengers lost their valuables, the airship would not shoulder any responsibility for that.


    If everything went smooth, the ETM of the airship was October 5. If it encountered any force majeure due to weather or mechanical faults, etc., it might arrive at Force Province later.


    ...


    After entering his private room, Zhang Tie took up the notice board for passengers in the room and read the introductions on it. All the introductions above were the very treatments that Zhang Tie could enjoy at the cost of 268 gold coins.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t care about that. He only needed to cultivate quietly in the airship. Therefore, Zhang Tie was basically satisfied with this small single dorm.


    The only problem was his height. Every time Zhang Tie stood up, his head would almost touch the ceiling with a distance of less than 20 cm. Therefore, he felt a bit depressed.


    The locker was beneath the bed and was connected with the bed.


    After looking around the furnishings in the berth cabin, Zhang Tie opened the locker beneath his bed and dropped his luggage into it.


    ...


    After a few minutes, the first mate boarded the airship, followed by two people in the uniform of bounty hunters and started to check tickets one after another according to the routine.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t exit his berth cabin, the moment the two bounty hunters boarded the vehicle, Zhang Tie had known that.


    After hearing the knocks, Zhang Tie opened the hatch door with a calm look and saw the first mate and two bounty hunters standing outside the hatch door.


    "Sir, please show me your ticket!"


    Closely after the first mate''s request, Zhang Tie had passed his ticket to the first mate.


    The two bounty hunters looked Zhang up and down seriously; one of them even lowered his head to check the order for arrest in his hand.


    Benefited from his height, Zhang Tie could see the contents on the order for arrest clearly.


    The first image on the order for arrest was very close to the original look of Zhang Tie while the other 20-odd images on it were all that of important criminals on the wanted list issued by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country.


    The images of important criminals in Taixia Country would be posted outside the gates of all the cities, in hotels and pivot harbors across Taixia Country for recognition within 3 months after their crimes were confirmed or in the first half year after they escaped when they would probably be easily caught.


    Due to the large territory and population in Taixia Country, there were many common criminals, who were not qualified to enjoy such a special "treatment". The common criminals'' images could only be seen in the Pavilion of Brightness or the archives of judicial agencies. Only those whose crimes had shocked one region could enjoy such a treatment to be well known across Taixia Country within half a year after their crimes.


    As the former dean of the provincial court in Youzhou Province, at the sight of the order for arrest, Zhang Tie had known that nobody had made a more important crime than him in the late months. Therefore, his image ranked top in the order for arrest.


    Zhang Tie had a dense whisker. After gazing at Zhang Tie''s whisker, ear root and lower jaw carefully, the two bounty hunters nodded. The first mate then gave the ticket back to Zhang Tie.


    "Wish you a pleasant trip, sir!"


    The group of three then moved to the next berth cabin...


    After taking the ticket, Zhang Tie closed the door. After that, touching his whisker, Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    Among all the disguising masks, there would always be a loophole on the beard. Therefore, common disguising masks would not have a beard. The two bounty hunters also observed Zhang Tie''s whisker carefully. Given this point, they must be experienced.


    After closing the door, Zhang Tie came to the bedside and took off his shoes. After that, he sat on the bed and took out an earth-elements crystal from Castle of Black Iron.


    ...


    Half an hour later, the two bounty hunters left the airship. Closely after that, all the hatch doors of the airship were closed. With a slight shock, the airship began to take off...


    Zhang Tie had already absorbed the first earth-elements crystal and took out the second one...


    ...


    When the huge vacuum airship set off for Force Province, Zhang Tie started his new round of cultivation.


    Zhang Tie could enjoy food from Castle of Black Iron very well in the berth cabin; however, in case of doubts, he would exit his berth cabin at noontime and have a lunch in the dining hall everyday. After that, he would return to his berth cabin to continue his cultivation. He didn''t even want to go to the observation deck.


    In the single-minded state, Zhang Tie would consume 40 earth-elements crystals in 20 hours each day. As for the remaining 4 hours a day; he would enter deep sleep 2 hours, eat and shit 1 hour and practice those battle skills of "Fire Dragon Sutra" in trouble-reappearance situations 1 hour...


    Zhang Tie just entered cultivation in such a small berth in this way.


    Zhang Tie''s fierce look and the sturdy figure would bring people a sense of oppression wherever he was in the airship. Therefore, very few people dared to talk with him when he exited his hatch door for lunch. Benefited from this reason, Zhang Tie felt quieter and could concentrate on cultivation.


    The great pile of earth-elements crystals that Zhang Tie plundered from Waii Subcontinent also started to be consumed rapidly.


    5 days later, when the airship landed for the first supply, Zhang Tie had already lit the 15th scale on his knight''s crystal plate...


    From then on, Zhang Tie would light one scale per 8 days. As he was so devoted, he almost forgot about the existence of time...


    ...


    The vacuum airship flew over prefectures and mountain ranges and moved all the way towards Force Province...


    Zhang Tie just consumed his earth-elements crystals at a high speed...


    Time flew past...


    The order for arrest of Zhang Tie, Zhang Mushen, the former dean of the provincial court in Youzhou Province was still effective...


    The color of the land below gradually turned from green to yellow...


    ...


    Until one day, knocks finally drifted from the door of the No. 17 Heavenly berth cabin.


    A voice sounded outside the door, "Sir, the vehicle will arrive at Thunder Battle Fortress in Force Province in an hour. Please keep your belongings handy and be ready for getting off."


    After hearing the sounds, Zhang Tie, who was absorbing earth-elements crystals cross-legged on his bed opened his eyes with a flickering red light...


    "Okay, thanks." Zhang Tie replied.


    After putting away that earth-elements crystal, Zhang Tie got off the bed and put on his shoes. He then relaxed his limbs and took out the military luggage from the locker beneath the bed. Carrying it on his back, Zhang Tie opened the door and exited calmly.


    The calendar memo on the aisle outside the berth cabin marked the date clearly.


    October 7, the 900th year of the black iron calendar.


    The actual time of arrival was 2 days later than the estimated time of arrival because the airship met a heavy thunderstorm when it passed by Guanzhou Province two months ago. For the sake of the safety, the airship stayed 2 more days in Guanzhou Province.


    As usual, many passengers were gathering on the observation deck and watching the scenery below after hearing that they had arrived at the destination.


    With the military luggage on his back, Zhang Tie also came to the observation deck. At the sight of a muscle man, although being a bit crowded on the observation deck, those in front of him still hurriedly gave way to Zhang Tie.


    At the sight of such a giant man, they knew that he was tricky. He might be here to join the army. As they had arrived at the destination, if they were fractured by him, it would be too unfortunate.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to board the observation deck of this airship.


    It was golden all over on the land below, which indicated that the harvest season had arrived. Being covered with fiery maple leaves, the mountain range in the far seemed to catch fire...


    There were only battle fortresses instead of towns on the land.


    "Wow, is this Force Province? It''s covered with battle fortresses!" A passenger who came to Force Province for the first time exclaimed...


    "It''s said that the largest battle fortress in Force Province could match a Class A city..."


    "All the commoners and factories are in the battle fortresses!"


    They started to discuss about that...


    Zhang Tie came to the guardrail of the observation deck and immediately jumped into the air.


    Such a dangerous movement aroused exclamations from the surroundings¡ª¡ªis this tough guy seeking for death?


    Closely after that, everybody became dumbfounded as they found the tough guy was ascending like a bird instead of descending. After a short while, he even suspended in the air...


    "A knight? That tough guy is a knight? I''ve not imagined that there''s a knight among us."


    The airship was sent into an uproar...


    Zhang Tie ignored their uproar; instead, after identifying the direction, he flew towards the direction where the sun was going down.


    Carrying the grass-green military luggage, in a few seconds, Zhang Tie had disappeared into the sight of the passengers...

 904 What Rolling Thunders!

    Chapter 904: What Rolling Thunders!


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    What a Force Province!


    After leaving the airship for less than 20 minutes, Zhang Tie had seen at least 10 knights in the sky; most of whom just passed by him while two flew towards northwest like him.


    The knights didn''t feel strange seeing their same kind, it was just like encountering each other on the road by car. Therefore, they didn''t hail each other; instead, they just hurried on with their own journey.


    Besides knights, as Zhang Tie flew towards west, he saw more and more battle airships in the sky.


    Huge battle fortresses, barracks and panzer groups running in the wild could be seen everywhere below.


    When Zhang Tie was in Selnes Theater of Operations, the crystal battle fortress of Jinyun Country was the largest one over there; however, at this moment, right below Zhang Tie''s feet, Zhang Tie could see bigger battle fortresses in every 70 miles. Those bigger and grimmer battle fortresses were like wild beasts crawling on the ground quietly. Airships would land in the battle fortresses time to time.


    During the sunset, the afterglow in the skyline turned more brilliant...


    After about 2 hours of flight, Zhang Tie "leisurely" traversed almost 1,000 miles, As more and more knights appeared in the sky, Zhang Tie knew that he had arrived at his destination.


    A huge floating airboat flew 1,000 m above Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie turned around and saw 4 men and 2 women standing on the prow and looking into the distance.


    The 6 people looked distinctive. Some were carrying a crossbow and bolts, some were carrying a sword. With a profound qi, they were looking into the distance and talking about something.


    The floating airboat didn''t move too fast while a huge flag was swaying in the wind in the middle of the airboat with two huge characters on it¡ª¡ªÌì»...


    Zhang Tie was shocked for a short while, "Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace?"


    It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that he could meet a top clan surnamed Zhang.


    Given the airboat which was not smaller than the exclusive vehicle of Commander Cheng, Zhang Tie knew that Zhang family of Tianlu Palace must be something.


    Zhang Tie turned around and looked at that huge airboat. After sensing Zhang Tie''s sight, the 6 people on the prow turned around at the same time and threw a glance at Zhang Tie. After finding that Zhang Tie was nothing special but a sturdy figure with a bald head, they just ignored him.


    At this moment, more and more knights appeared in the sky. Within Zhang Tie''s sight, Zhang Tie could see over 20 knights flying ahead together with him.


    Another airboat flew towards him from afar...


    ...


    After flying another 10 minutes, Zhang Tie sensed the increasingly stronger ascending, whirling thermal current, which had completely broken the limit of the ascending thermal currents caused by geographical features on the ground.


    Except for knights and airboats, no airship could stand still in such a severe environment.


    Those who liked gliders and were not afraid of death could have a try here.


    After sensing the thermal current, the airboats and knights ahead of Zhang Tie ascended to above 15,000 m high from thousands of meters high at the same time...


    Right on the ground below, Zhang Tie caught sight of a pitch dark entrance leading to the underground world.


    The entrance was so large that its diameter was over 150 miles. From a height, it looked like a huge funnel. Compared to it, the entrance of Dragon Cave was like a sesame to a millstone...


    As Zhang Tie had learned, it was the entrance to the earth-elements realm...


    This huge funnel was breathing; precisely exhaling.


    A thermal current was blowing out of the huge funnel-sized black hole, causing changes in the air within tens of thousands square miles. Right in the center of the huge entrance, a cyclone covering 70 square miles was swirling in an anti-clock manner like a hurricane, which was very shocking.


    Standing above 10,000 m in the air, Zhang Tie looked around and found 3 airboats and over 100 black spots in the surroundings above 10,000 m, all of whom were looking down at the entrance of the cyclone quietly and waiting for the possible chance to enter it, including Zhang Tie.


    Coincidentally, the floating airboat of the Zhang family of Tianlu Palace was also hovering not far from Zhang Tie.


    ...


    The thermal current was constantly blowing out of the entrance of the earth-elements realm. After reaching the highest point in the troposphere, they dispersed in all directions. causing no cloud within square miles.


    Before the catastrophe, when everybody was cheated by lies, it was very difficult for a commoner to believe that this planet was hollow and could breathe itself while its surface could lead to another world in its depth. The current scene could only be seen at the poles of this planet at specific moments, which could never be touched by commoners. Even aircrafts were forbidden in the areas where people could catch sight of the underground tunnels from a height. The limited number of major countries which knew this secret had blocked the poles and divided their own territories. They then stealthily explored another underground world in the name of studying climates and glaciers.


    The existence of the underground world had been a shared secret among major countries.


    Watching the present scene and recalling the history before the Catastrophe, Zhang Tie felt that humans before the Catastrophe were too innocent. The limited number of major countries invested in a lot of money and personnel and forbade people in only for studying the climate change and changes in glaciers in the depopulated zone hundreds of millions years ago and making explorations in geology and resources? However, most of the people believed in it. Didn''t they think that those who entered the poles in the name of scientific research might want to do some other researches such as making an exploration nearby the entrance of the underground world or contacting some intelligent beings and forces in the underground world?


    As the sun gradually set, the cyclone in the huge entrance also started to decline...


    More knights and airboats arrived.


    Among those later knights, a woman in a bright-colored imperial dress started to look around, the moment she arrived here. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s sturdy back, her eyes shone. Closely after that, she floated towards Zhang Tie like a red cloud.


    ...


    "Brother, are you going to the earth-elements realm?"


    After hearing the word "brother", Zhang Tie almost fell down. After sniffing the fragrant breeze, Zhang Tie turned around as he saw an extremely sexy woman standing on his side, who was watching him with a sweet smile in a pair of charming and watery eyes.


    Her skin was as white as milk. In a red, hot imperial dress and a peony-shaped bun, she had a nice nose and petite mouth. The bra covered 3/4 of her "huge white rabbits", making them tight and plump. As a result, Zhang Tie''s interest was aroused.


    ''F*ck, am I attending the palace ball or heading to kill demons in the earth-elements realm?'' Zhang Tie muttered. After looking around, he found this woman was talking to him.


    ''Brother?'' It was Zhang Tie''s first time to hear a female knight calling him in such a sloppy manner.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie faintly heard two women''s cold harrumphs from the airboat of the Zhang family of Tianlu Palace. When a woman disliked the other one, she would never conceal her feeling. Evidently, this woman was not on the side of the other two women on the airboat.


    Growing up among so many women, after throwing a glance at this women, Zhang Tie had caught an information and indication from the eyes and qi of this woman which could only be identified by experienced guys.


    Zhang Tie caught the same information and indication from that beautiful female first lieutenant''s eyes when he returned to Blackhot City last time.


    However, this woman was far better than that female first lieutenant in terms of both look and figure.


    Touching his bald head in an amazed look, Zhang Tie thought, ''It''d be acceptable if I were a handsome toyboy or in my original look. I''ve not imagined that my current look is still attractive. What the hell¡ª¡ªa beauty and a wild beast or a tough man and a sexy woman?''


    As the woman revealed a sweet smile, Zhang Tie had to force a smile too.


    He then nodded, "Right, I''m heading for the earth-elements realm!"


    "That''s great. I''m going to the earth-elements realm too. I''ve not been there before. Therefore, I''m a bit scared. Can you take me there, brother?" Just be my partner..." The woman asked as she moved closer to Zhang Tie in a tender way.


    Although knight''s real age had nothing to do with their look; especially for female knights, after hearing the woman who might be his grandma calling him brother, Zhang Tie''s fine hair stood at once while he quivered all over at the same time.


    ¡ª¡ªShameless¡ª¡ªthe two female knights on the airboat replied with a cold harrumph at the same time before turning around.


    ¡ª¡ªJunior sister apprentices, don''t be angry, people are always different although they eat the same food¡ª¡ªa man on the airboat opened his mouth in a mild way.


    "Do you bear fucking?" Zhang Tie asked in a loud, coarse tone.


    "What?" The woman asked as she blinked her eyes as if she didn''t understand Zhang Tie''s question, "What do you mean..."


    "I mean, can you bear being fucked by me naked on the bed?" Zhang Tie raised his voice at once as he started to look this woman up and down with hot eyes like selecting slaves in the slave market, "I like women who could bear fucking. I don''t care whether you have various gestures on the bed; they are useless; the key is that you should bear fucking. If not, please don''t waste my time in case of getting me bored on the bed!"


    ''What rolling thunders!''


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, tens of thousands of thunders rolled over. As a result, it became quiet in the surroundings in a split second. Even the man who had opened his mouth on the airboat started to cough heavily like having been choked up by his own saliva...


    The beauty in the imperial dress changed her face greatly. Even though she was open, she had not encountered any man who dared ask this question the moment he uttered. Even if her face was 10 times thicker, she could not "bear" this question either...


    Zhang Tie broke her bottom line in a split second...


    This woman had met someone who had a low emotion quotient and could burn lyre to cook red-crowned crane; however, this one directly cleaned his butt by peony blossoms...


    "I was...I was just asking you the way...how...how could you...be so rude, shameless!" The beauty in the imperial dress swung her sleeves and directly flew away without even throwing a glance at Zhang Tie...


    "Young sister, young sister, don''t leave..." Zhang Tie shouted.


    After hearing the appellation "Young sister", the woman quivered all over and accelerated her speed away...


    After it became quiet once again. Zhang Tie hushed.


    After sensing the weird atmosphere in the surroundings, Zhang Tie turned around and saw that those men and women on the airboat beside him were watching him with dumbfounded looks.


    Zhang Tie exposed his teeth towards them, the two women who had replied with cold harrumphs instantly turned pale as they hurriedly turned around. Even the entire airboat moved a bit farther from Zhang Tie...


    When a person reached a degree in a certain aspect, he would be unrivaled in the world.


    ...


    The sun finally set while the cyclone at the huge entrance of the cave disappeared. After that, it gradually turned darker, a great suction came into being in the cave together with a new hurricane which revolved in a clock-wise manner. The air in the sky then started to pour into the cave...


    A black spot rushed downwards as fast as a light, closely followed by all the other black spots and airboats in the sky, including Zhang Tie...

 905 Arriving at the Earth-elements Realm

    Chapter 905: Arriving at the Earth-elements Realm


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After entering the huge cave for over 10 minutes, Zhang Tie felt a great suction, which was not caused by the air flow but by the changing magnetic fields in the cave. Zhang Tie felt like riding a magnetic elevator. Without using any strength, Zhang Tie had been led and wrapped by that strength and dove towards the underground world as fast as a lightning bolt.


    The secret to accessing the earth-elements realm was to stay relaxed. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t control his body on purpose. Just like flowing towards the lower reach of a river by boat, Zhang Tie enjoyed traversing in the exotic tunnel.


    In such a state, Zhang Tie had to be relaxed as he couldn''t even move at all. Just like those in a running elevator could not jump out of it, Zhang Tie could not slip the leash of this tunnel either.


    Even knights could not disobey the great, mysterious power of the mother nature.


    Zhang Tie had read an article in the Mountain of Brightness¡ª¡ªeven a knight who had formed 4 chakras could not move inside, not to mention a common black iron knight.


    Zhang Tie made an attempt and found that even his spiritual energy had been frozen in this exotic tunnel.


    After making attempts a few times in vain, Zhang Tie gave up his attempt absolutely.


    Nobody knew why there was such a tunnel just like nobody knew why all the planets in the universe were round. This tunnel was as old as this planet. It seemed to be one of the original looks of this world. Just like the sunken part between the upper part and the lower part of an apple, which was carried by most of the fruits, people would think it was determined by genes. But who determined the genes of the fruits? Whether the shapes of fruits were caused by the evolution and duplication of this planet or not?


    After the Catastrophe, the magnetic poles of this planet rotated, causing great changes. After the thick ice layer and snow completely melted, this tunnel was exposed. Before the Catastrophe, this place was not called Force Province; instead, it was one of the poles of this planet. The greater part of the Eastern Continent were polar regions before the Catastrophe.


    ...


    In this tunnel, Zhang Tie felt being still as the relative distances between him and the other knights and airboats remained unchanged. Everyone seemed to be still. However, in such a relative still state, everyone could see exotic lights rushing towards them and penetrating through them in a split second from the underground world...


    Due to the super high speed, Zhang Tie could not see clearly the surrounding scene at all. All the surrounding scenes became shadow and light.


    Zhang Tie tried his utmost efforts to look around by concentrating his spiritual energy and consciousness a few times and felt that he was penetrating through a hollow layer being filled with lightning bolts which were as thick as hundreds of miles. Zhang Tie was confused why there were lightning bolts underground.


    It took him dozens of seconds to penetrate through the layer being filled with lightning bolts as thick as hundreds of miles.


    Besides, Zhang Tie saw some other strange things during this period...


    Time in this tunnel seemed to be slower than that outside...


    Whether it was in the Dragon Cave or in the tower of time which Zhang Tie discovered beneath Kalay Mountain Range, theoretically, they were both in the earth''s crust or being close to the earth''s crust and earth mantle. However, Zhang Tie reached the most mysterious internal region of this planet, which was in the depth beneath the earth''s crust.


    The journey lasted over 3 hours. Zhang Tie didn''t know how many miles had he dived. All of a sudden, he slowed down. After another 10 minutes, everybody felt relaxed while the binding force from the tunnel suddenly disappeared. At the same time, all the knights and airboats recovered their maneuverability and stabilized themselves.


    They were then blown into a vast space by the heavy air flow.


    What entered Zhang Tie''s sight was the red clouds at the dome of this space. There were undulating mountains below the clouds. Right on the horizon in the distance, Zhang Tie caught sight of looming lamplights.


    All the airboats and knights were flying towards the lamplights in the far, followed by Zhang Tie leisurely.


    When he drew close to the lamplight, Zhang Tie found that it was a huge fortress which was much more magnificent than a Class A city on the ground.


    It seemed that the fortress had been standing there since ancient times as it carried a time-honored yet mysterious qi.


    The walls of that fortress were as high as thousands of meters. The entire fortress was composed of many stories covered tens of thousands of square miles in a key region. Zhang Tie could not even see its border. There were various, dense high pagodas in the fortress, which looked like spines on a hedgehog. Pointing at the sky one after another, they were very terrifying.


    This fortress could never be built by humans. Because the entire fortress, including the pagodas inside it, was shining metallic luster. It was completely composed of metal.


    Until today, people could still not accomplish such a magnificent, metal fortress covering tens of thousands square miles even after combining the scientific abilities of humans before the Catastrophe. It was completely out of people''s imagination.


    Zhang Tie even doubted that the total of steel storage among all the Class A cities in Taixia Country would not match that of this fortress in weight, not to mention building it.


    Humans in this age or before the Catastrophe could never build such a magnificent complex.


    Undoubtedly, this fortress was a prehistorical relic in the earth-elements realm. It was left by a far-ancient civilization.


    There was the highest metal pyramid in the center of the fortress. The mysterious and borderless world¡ª¡ªEarth-elements Realm was facing this fortress in the far.


    This was the Lion Fortress, the most magnificent human fortress, the prototype of human battle fortresses in this age and the firmest fortress of humans across the entire Eastern Continent and Taixia Country in the underground world. It was both the portal for humans to enter the Earth-elements Realm and the throat from the Earth-elements Realm to the Eastern Continent.


    If this firmest fortress and shield was broken through, it meant that the contingent of demons would directly appear on the ground of Eastern Continent and attack the core region of human countries. On the opposite, this fortress would also serve as the firmest bridgehead for humans to explore the underground world.


    From a certain perspective, the Lion Fortress was the beacon of hope that encouraged humans to defend demons.


    This was the world and the battlefield of knights!

 906 Receiving Another Crystal Plate

    Chapter 906: Receiving Another Crystal Plate


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie was really shocked by the magnificence of the Lion Fortress. When Zhang Tie was watching the Lion Fortress in the air, he saw a red shadow flashing by. It was the beautiful "young sister" who had been flying towards the Lion Fortress. After a short while, all the airships had landed outside the Lion Fortress.


    All the knights were flying towards the Lion Fortress, closely followed by Zhang Tie.


    After drawing closer, Zhang Tie found that there was a huge piece of diamond-shaped crystal floating above the top of the huge metal pyramid, the dim luster which covered the part above the exterior wall of the fortress in a translucent energy field. Being similar to the energy field in the tower of time, this energy field was a safety cover of the entire Lion Fortress. Of course, knights could not fly above the Lion Fortress. Therefore, all the knights could only land outside the Lion Fortress and enter it from the gate.


    Standing on the ground, Zhang Tie found that this fortress was amazingly magnificent.


    ''It''s more like a terrifying steel mountain than a fortress.


    However, the metal of this fortress was definitely harder than steel.


    The gate of the fortress was hundreds of meters high and dozens of meters wide. Two lines of guards in black helmets and armors were riding an exotic and fierce beast which was higher than 20 m outside the gate with spears in hand.


    Undoubtedly, given the qi of the two lines of guards, they were knights!


    Their mounts were watching everyone who was entering the gate with their aggressive golden pupils while exposing their sawtooth-like fangs. Some mounts were drooling while their saliva corroded the sands on the ground, causing curls of cyan smoke.


    As for these living beings, those people who entered the fortress were like snacks crawling in front of them. As a result, these beasts became a bit restless while drooling. The knights were controlling and soothing their impatience.


    "They''re underground dragons..."


    Zhang Tie heard someone whispering in front of him.


    ''They''re underground dragons?'' Zhang Tie threw a glance at the underground dragons out of curiosity and found that their sturdy hind legs were pretty powerful. It indicated that this mount was good at long-distance running at a possible, terrifying speed. The sharp claws on their forelimbs implied a strong destruction and aggressivity. The squamous layer over their skins indicated that they had very thick and coarse skins along with a great defensive capability. Their corrosive saliva indicated that the underground dragons had a very good appetite and digestive ability. This was a mutated beast which might be omnivorous.


    A thought occurred in Zhang Tie''s mind. Zhang Tie then ran his spiritual energy to check their level.


    ''Level 15, they''re battle spirit-level mutated beasts!''


    As they had reached level 15, the underground dragons might have other special abilities.


    No wonder they could be the mount of knights.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the gate, a restless underground dragon had stomped towards Zhang Tie''s head forcefully.


    "Watch out!" Zhang Tie heard an emergency warning while everybody entering the gate turned around out of curiosity...


    ''F*ck! You think that this father is more delicious than others?''


    Zhang Tie directly punched the sole of the underground dragon without even looking at it.


    With a thunder, the 20 m-high underground dragon uttered a short, urgent sad moo like blowing a conch. Closely after that, it was sent over 10 m above the ground and flying backward and finally fell down like a ''collapsing'' mountain and pillars, causing an earthquake. The knight on its back had long flown away...


    Everybody was dumbfounded.


    Zhang Tie didn''t use his battle qi at all. He just used his sheer animal strength and made a face-to-face collision with the underground dragon.


    The result was that Zhang Tie was safe and sound except that his feet sunk a few centimeters in the ground while that huge underground dragon was sent flying backward by Zhang Tie.


    ''F*ck, what a weirdo! Is that a human or what? Even if he''s a knight, he was too exaggerated.


    The underground dragon was struggling to pick itself up. Although Zhang Tie''s blow was not fatal, it had to be crippled for a few days before recovery. Of course, it was impossible for it to be bouncing in its rehabilitation period.


    The owner of the underground dragon hurriedly flew over and landed on its side. After that, he started to check its wounds.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at them before entering the gate.


    "Hold on!" With a muffled sound, a sturdy knight directly jumped off another underground dragon.


    "What?" Zhang Tie stopped as he turned around and looked at the knight with a cold impression, "You only allow beasts to beat people; yet don''t allow people to fight back?"


    "As my brother has just captured the underground dragon and has not tamed it yet. Sorry for what happened! Please forgive us!" The sturdy knight cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie.


    Realizing that he was not looking for trouble, Zhang Tie became relieved and waved his hand, "It''s fine. I''ve not dropped a hair!"


    The sturdy knight then threw an appreciative glance at Zhang Tie, who was about 7 m higher than him and said, "I''m Wu Guanhai, the leader of the No. 7 Squad of the Black Armor Army of Taixia Country in the Lion Fortress. May I know your name?"


    "Cui Li!"


    "Is it the first time for you to come here?"


    "Yes!"


    "Are you interested in joining Black Armor Army?" Wu Guanhai put it straight, "Our Black Armor Army is powerful with a good treatment and rich human resources. How about that?"


    "I''ve been used to be free, no interest!" Zhang Tie refused directly.


    After hearing this reply, Wu Guanhai became dumbfounded. Closely after that, he burst out into laughter, "It doesn''t matter if you''re not interested in it for the time being. If you want to join us, you can consider my suggestion! If you met someone tricky in the Lion Fortress, you could go to the Black Fortress of Black Armor Army to seek for my help..."


    "Okay, thank you!"


    Closely after the conversation with Wu Guanhai, Zhang Tie turned around and entered the gate.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s amazing performance in the distance, the "young sister" flickered her eyes. However, the moment she recalled what Zhang Tie asked her above the ground, she gritted her teeth and stomped to the ground before leaving away...


    After entering the Lion Fortress, Zhang Tie caught sight of the map of Lion Fortress on the metal wall being not far from the gate of the fortress.


    After throwing a glance at the map, most of the new arrivers would head for the Task Center of Knights in the fortress, except for Zhang Tie who walked towards another direction after bearing the map in mind.


    Although it was pretty cold outside, it was warm inside. In the fortress, many underground plants and woods were standing on both sides of the broads streets, which looked pretty vigorous.


    It was pretty boisterous in the fortress. After entering the fortress, the 100-odd new knights instantly became trivial like a drop of water entering the ocean.


    Besides knights, many logistical personnel and subsidiary fighters were inside the fortress, none of them were below Class 6 according to Zhang Tie''s observation.


    People came and went on the streets. Logistical personnel was in red military uniforms with military ranks. Their identity was also a soldier. By contrast, those subsidiary fighters were in grey-green uniforms. The two kinds of soldiers were very easily distinguished.


    Besides the above two kinds of servicemen, there were all sorts of knights who were riding underground dragons, in helmets and armors, in exotic costumes or in common clothes across the Lion Fortress who came from Taixia Country and all the other subcontinents or continents.


    Most of the human knights were gathering in the Lion Fortress. However, even though there were so many human knights, plus the logistical personnel and subsidiary fighters, this fortress could still not be as bustling as common human cities unless it contained millions of people. However, there were only a bit more than 1 million people in the entire Lion Fortress.


    The holy war was like a raging fire. The number of human knights in Lion Fortress also reached a peak. According to Zhang Tie''s knowledge, a lot of knights of Taixia''s armies had been dispatched to the Lion Fortress to fight demons in turns. At this moment, the number of human knights in the entire Lion Fortress had broken 50,000 for the first time.


    As for the human knights here, besides those from Taixia Country, the others were coming from subcontinents or the Western Continent. From a certain perspective, Lion Fortress was the center of human knights.


    The fortress was filled with a powerful and mysterious strength that originated from the golden pyramid. Even earth knights and shadow knights could not fly in the fortress. The entire fortress was a no-fly zone. Those who could fly in this fortress were all heavenly knights who had formed the chakra of the wind element. They were the most powerful humans in this world.


    In this situation, Zhang Tie could only walk towards his destination.


    In the fortress, Zhang Tie also caught sight of the prototype of Jia land in Class A Cities of Taixia Country. In the fortress, the wide area of Jia land in the fortress was like woods and was taken care of by logistical personnel in red uniforms.


    The crops above the ground could not grow in the fortress. Therefore, mainly three crops were planted inside the fortress: the first crop was about 3.5 m in height which looked like coconut palm. Its fruit was like a long bread; the second crop was a huge mushroom which looked like sunshade above the ground; the third crop was lower, whose fruit was like a grey watermelon. Zhang Tie didn''t know what they were.


    Zhang Tie felt everything was strange inside the fortress.


    ...


    After twenty minutes, Zhang Tie stopped in front of a huge 21-storey tower.


    There was a brand hanging outside the tower, which wrote Mountain of Brightness.


    Many people were accessing this tower hurriedly.


    After entering the lobby of the tower, Zhang Tie looked around before coming to a hathpace.


    "I want to join the Mountain of Brightness!"


    An old man with white eyebrows and mustache raised his eyes and threw a glance at Zhang Tie, "Name?"


    "Cui Li!"


    "Age?"


    "51!"


    "Background?"


    "I was born in Cui family, Liuying Town at the foot of Coiling Dragon Mountain, Yongzhou Province, Taixia Country. I''ve not joined any sect and doesn''t have any byname yet!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, the old man flickered his eyes behind the hathpace and threw another serious glance at Zhang Tie, "Do you know the rules of receiving the knight''s crystal plate from here?"


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "Of course, the price of the knight''s crystal plate is millions of gold coins. Although the revenue of the land at my home is not small, it will cost me at least 10,000 years to afford a knight''s crystal plate. Although I don''t know how to make money, I don''t want to do evil things either. Therefore, I came here. I was told that the knight''s crystal plate is free here. However, I have to defend the Lion Fortress for 3 years after receiving the crystal plate!"


    "Do you agree?"


    "Of course, I agree. I''m here to strive for my bright future."


    "Show me your right hand..."


    Zhang Tie stretched his right hand. Like how the old man in the pawnshop of Tianfang City did, this old man started to pinch each finger and joint of Zhang Tie''s right hand carefully.


    When Zhang Tie accepted such a check last time, he didn''t know the old man''s purpose; later on, he finally understood that the old man was confiming his bone grains.


    The one who had already received the knight''s crystal plate would not receive another one anymore.


    However, Zhang Tie was not worried about that. Of course, with his body-changing immortal bloodline, Zhang Tie could change his bone grains completely.


    As was imagined, after pinching Zhang Tie''s bone grains, the old man turned around and moved his lips as if he was talking something to the one behind him in a secret way or let the buddy behind him inquire and verify that Zhang Tie''s bone grains were exclusive. After waiting a few minutes quietly, the old man nodded as he took out a knight''s crystal plate from behind the counter and pierced Zhang Tie''s finger with a needle, squeezing a drop of blood onto the dragon''s eye of the knight''s crystal plate. Closely after that, the knight''s crystal plate turned blue.


    "Inject your spiritual energy into the crystal plate!"


    Zhang Tie injected some spiritual energy into it. After the knight''s crystal plate became illuminant, a looming dragon-shaped light image appeared. After flying around the crystal plate for one circle, it entered the crystal plate and lit 28 scales on the crystal plate at once.


    As for a black iron knight who had just received the knight''s crystal plate, it was not an exaggeration that he had lit 28 scales. Many lonely cultivators didn''t join the Mountain of Brightness until they promoted to earth knights.


    ¡ª¡ªWest Mountain Barbarian.


    It was Zhang Tie''s new byname in the Mountain of Brightness.


    After leaving the Mountain of Brightness, Zhang Tie directly walked towards the Task Center of Knights in Lion Fortress...

 907 Zhang Ties Counter-attack

    Chapter 907: Zhang Tie''s Counter-attack


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "As a Class 1 garrison knight of Lion Fortress, one could gain 6 earth-elements crystals per month. However, if you choose to be a Class 2 garrison knight, when you gain the maximal freedom, you could only gain 2 earth-elements crystals per month. Precisely, if you just stay in Lion Fortress for 3 days per month and spend 27 days outside, your effective time is only 3 days while the rest 27 days could not be included into the effective time for you to receive earth-elements crystals. Am I clear? Only when you stay in the Lion Fortress could you be regarded as fulfilling your duties and receive your gains. If you left the Lion Fortress, your work would be ineffective. Of course, if you like, you could apply for degrading to Class 1 garrison knight in the Task Center of Knights at any time. As Class 1 garrison knights have to execute their tasks each month, they would have less freedom. As a reward, they would have more earth-elements crystals. Additionally, many tasks being distributed to Class 1 garrison knights are matched with extra rewards of earth-element crystals..."


    "In Lion Fortress, we have to follow the military laws of Taixia Country. Although the contents of the laws are over complicated, you only need to keep a sentence in mind¡ª¡ªLife for Life, money for money. The logistical personnel and subsidiary fighters in the fortress enjoy the same human rights as knights. There were many cases that knights from other subcontinents killed logistical personnel and subsidiary fighters due to various reasons. As for such cases, no matter how many chakras had the knights formed, they had to die without any exception or preferential treatment. Even a Hua commoner could not be insulted by knights from other subcontinents, not to mention the soldiers of Taixia Country in the fortress."


    "Female is a scarce resource in Lion Fortress. Therefore, after you fall in love with any beauty among the logistical personnel, although you have the right to pursue her, don''t violate her will; otherwise, you would face a tragedy for sure. It''s not worthy for you to do that."


    "As for the three fruits that you''ve already seen, they are breadfruit tree, nutritious mushroom and watermelon. They''re the food of all the people in the fortress. As a Class 2 garrison knight, you could have one breadfruit, 0.5 kg nutritious mushroom and 0.5 kg watermelon a day when you stay in the fortress. From tomorrow onward, you could receive them from the supply point. If you have your own food or could gain food and materials from outside the Lion Fortress, you could exchange these fruits for consumption points in the fortress. With consumption points, you could consume in the bars of the fortress or purchase some daily-use products such as clothes and shoes. Many items and materials in the fortress are in relatively urgent demand. Because these items should be carried from the floating airboat above the ground, they would not be provided for knights freely."


    "There are two general currencies in the fortress: consumption points and elements crystals such as earth-elements crystals, water-elements crystals and wind-elements crystals, the exchange rate between every two kinds of element crystals from low to high is 1:6. Golds and silvers are not available in the fortress, those who could come here would not lack those common objects above the ground!"


    "The earth-elements realm is very large, it''s almost like a complete world. The Lion Fortress is the pass from the earth-elements realm to the Eastern Continent. If you want to leave the Lion Fortress, I suggest you to study the map of the earth-elements realm near the fortress. Before being completely familiar with the map, you''d better not deepen into the region being far away from the Lion Fortress. Even if you want, you''d better go there with the other knights. The topography in earth-elements realm is very complex, besides plains which are similar to those above the ground, there''re various abysses and underground caves. Compared to the earth''s surface, more regions in earth-elements realm have not been explored, which might contain precious mineral resources and pre-historical items. This is also why many people are attracted to the earth-elements realm."


    "In the Tower of Brilliance, you could see the tasks distributed to Class 2 garrison knights, which are always matched with three rewards: earth-elements crystals, consumption points and meritorious deed points. There''re many kinds of tasks. As for Class 2 garrison knights, the fastest and most effective way to gain the above three rewards is to kill demon knights in the earth-elements realm. Of course, besides demon knights, there''re many dangerous things in the earth-elements realm too. Since the beginning of the holy war, over 20 Class 2 garrison knights disappeared out of no reason each year. Watch out yourself."


    After hearing that even knights would disappear out of no reason, Zhang Tie stopped walking, closely followed by that man in a red military uniform with the rank of major who had been introducing for him all the way. After turning around, he asked Zhang Tie, "What''s wrong?"


    "Class 2 garrison knights disappeared out of no reason when executing common tasks?" Zhang Tie repeated with an emphasis.


    "Yes!"


    "Haven''t you investigated that?" Zhang Tie frowned.


    "We did; however, we got no result. The only conclusion was that they might have died. After all, we''re in the earth-elements realm. There''re many fatal factors such as being ambushed by demon knights, a sudden encounter with senior demon knights or high-level mutated beasts or being in dilemma, etc.. Of course, we didn''t exclude other possibilities. After all, too many knights come here from all walks from life. Wherever there are humans, there will be conflicts. If there''re disputes between garrison knights in the Lion Fortress, they could seek for a solution in courts of arbitration. If the courts of arbitration could not handle their disputes, they could fight in the Heavenly Ball of the Battle Simulation Tower. If they don''t feel it''s cool, they could have a real duel in the public. If someone wants something special, as long as they leave the fortress, they will have fewer shackles under less supervisory control. If there''s no evidence, there would be no punishment. Therefore...you know, oh, I''ve forgotten to introduce myself to you. I''m Liu Xing, a logistical major in the Task Center of Kights in the Lion Fortress!"


    "Liu Xing...the xing in haixing 1?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Yes, the xing of xingzhen 2!" Major Liu Xing pushed his spectacle-figure upwards as he emphasized in a poetic way, "Undoubtedly, the xing in xingzhen is much more advanced than the xing in haixing."


    Zhang Tie didn''t pay attention to the persistence of Major Liu Xing. After hearing this name, Zhang Tie became absent-minded while a late face loomed in his mind. The owner of the face in his mind was also called Liu Xing, the first lieutenant in the Iron-blood Camp of the No. 39 Division of Iron-horn Corps of Norman Empire. He was Zhang Tie''s comrade-in-arms!


    After coming out of the Task Center of Knights, it took them over 10 minutes to enter a region being filled with dense metal high towers.


    All the towers were higher than 200 m. Like chess pieces on the checkerboard and sharp swords and javelins pointing at the sky, they were sitting in the square exterior region of the Lion Fortress. At the sight of them, Zhang Tie knew there were at least 1,000 towers.


    This was the residential area of black iron knights who defended the Lion Fortress.


    In a farther place, there were some towers higher than 500 m, which were the residences of earth knights who defended the Lion Fortress.


    The closer they were to the core region, the higher the towers would be.


    When Zhang Tie passed by this region, he saw a piece of metal number plate at the entrance of each tower.


    Major Liu Xing soon led Zhang Tie to a high tower marked Black D 1607.


    Pointing at it, Major Liu Xing said, "Here''s your residence. The key to this residence is the metal plate that you''ve got from the Task Center. Besides, the metal plate is the receipt of your consumption points in the Lion Fortress and your identification certificate to access to the fortress. When you enter the fortress, don''t forget to register outside the gate. If not, you will have less earth-elements crystals than you could imagine. By then, you''d better not complain about others."


    When Major Liu Xing introduced, Zhang Tie had already taken out that palm-sized metal plate and inserted it into the metal gate. He then screwed it like screwing a key, causing the gate to open quietly.


    The moment the gate was opened, a familiar qi of element-gathering matrix had spilled out of the tower. Zhang Tie was slightly shocked.


    Zhang Tie entered it. However, Major Liu Xing just stood outside the tower, "Whether do you want to take a rest or continue to let me show you around the Lion Fortress? Besides the Battle Simulation Tower and the Knight''s Bar, there''re many more places where knights would be interested in..."


    "No need, thank you. I''ve been tired after traveling for a day. I want to take a rest. I will visit the other places myself when I''m free. Oh, how do I find you?"


    "When you''re in the Lion Fortress, if you have any problem that needs to be handled by the logistics department of the fortress, just leave a memo in the memo box behind the gate. The logistical personnel would collect it everyday. The logistics department could meet all your reasonable demands!"


    Zhang Tie caught sight of the tiny memo box behind the metal gate right away. The memo box had two mouths, one outside, from where memos could be put in and be seen by Zhang Tie from inside, one inside, from where memos could be put in by Zhang Tie and be seen by logistical personnel such as Liu Xing who had the key of the box.


    This design was convenient and practicable.


    "Okay, I know! Zhang Tie nodded. The logistical personnel of the Lion Fortress was a bit like the butlers in the fortress or servicemen in hotels, who could help knights solve many trifles.


    "What else can I do for you?"


    "Nothing else, oh, you''ve got a good name!"


    After being slightly shocked, Major Liu Xing replied, "Thanks!"


    "Well, I will enter cultivation for a few days." Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile on his fierce face. Closely after that, he closed the gate from inside.


    After revealing a smile, Major Liuxing left...


    In his knight''s tower, Zhang Tie dropped the luggage that he had been holding all the way and looked around the tower in a customary way.


    The knight''s tower was composed of 3 floors. The area of each floor gradually decreased starting from the first floor. The first floor was the parlor being covered with a lot of items; the second floor was his bedroom and washroom while the third floor was a cultivation room.


    All the furnishings in the room were brand new and simple. There was nothing but basic daily-use products in the room. Zhang Tie could not even find a dagger.


    In the cultivation room, Zhang Tie felt that the qi of elements-gathering matrix was passed downwards from the triangular top of the knight''s tower, which looked like a very special elements-gathering matrix. Additionally, this elements-gathering matrix was much more powerful than Zhang Tie''s private one.


    Many basic structures in the knight''s tower were made of metals just like the materials of the tower. They were so solid that they could not even be destroyed by knights. It seemed that those basic structures directly grew out of the knight''s tower. For instance, Zhang Tie didn''t see any pipe in the knight''s tower even across the fortress; however, the moment he opened the fusiform water faucet, he would see limpid water flowing out of it.


    Water would not come out of the void. Therefore, the water pipes must have been inlaid in the knight''s tower, the walls of this fortress and underground in advance.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie guessed that each building and the high tower across the Lion Fortress must have been integrated with this fortress in an organic way. Just like how the trunk was connected with the tree leaves, each building and the high tower was a part of the precision system.


    Zhang Tie could not imagine how was such a magnificent complex be accomplished.


    Among all the things that Zhang Tie had ever seen, only the Palace Tree was similar to the Lion Fortress. All the things inside the Palace Tree were integrated with each other, which grew out of there themselves, leaving no artificial trace just like many places in the Lion Fortress.


    ''Did the Lion Fortress also grow out of an exotic seed like the Palace Tree?''


    Zhang Tie felt it was amazing when this whim occurred to his mind.


    After being familiar with the internal environment of his knight''s tower, Zhang Tie went upstairs to the cultivation room on the 3rd floor.


    In the cultivation room, Zhang Tie took out the knight''s crystal plate from Castle of Black Iron which belonged to his original body and had the byname of Chakra''s Lion.


    ''It''s time to make a counter-attack...''


    Zhang Tie didn''t have any concern at this moment...


    ''Eye for eye!''


    ''Those people and forces who framed me could never imagine that I would survive their trap.''


    ''As long as I''m still alive, they have to pay for what they did.''


    ''The Supreme Court of Taixia Country implement laws strictly. They declare people guilty only by evidence. Although I could not present any evidence for my innocence, it doesn''t matter, as sometimes evidence is not that important. The Supreme Court is just one power of Taixia Country; there are powers which are greater than the Supreme Court in Taixia Country.''


    ''For instance, does my master Zhao Yuan need any motherf*cking evidence if he wants someone die?''


    ''Of course not, they would make choices according to their own judgments instead of relying on evidence.''


    ''Big figures rely on personal judgments instead of evidence!''


    ''Evidences are stagnated and might be false; however, judgments are transcendental, which are the combination of one''s wisdom and experiences.''


    ''All the big figures are very confident.''


    ''That''s enough!''


    Zhang Tie logged on the Mountain of Brightness by his knight''s crystal plate and accessed to the forum of knights.


    ''Only when human knights who have been confirmed to betray humans could the link between the knight''s crystal plate and the Mountain of Brightness be canceled off and terminated. Although I''ve been wanted, I didn''t betray humans; therefore, my identity as the Chakra''s Lion is still available in Mountain of Brightness.''


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to post on the forum of knights in Mountain of Brightness.


    After recovering his composure, it took Zhang Tie a few hours to finish a sentimental article.


    Before releasing it, Zhang Tie named it¡ª¡ª"The Truth of the Tragedy in Fuhai City".


    "Castle Lord, please change one title!" Heller''s voice sounded in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "Change one?"


    "Yup, although this title points to the purport of this article, it''s not eye-catching. We need an attractive title so that those who had noticed the title would continue to read its contents out of curiosity. What you''re doing was like someone posting on an online forum before the Catastrophe. Do you know that a party was also rampant online before the Catastrophe?"


    "What''s that?" Every time Zhang heard the word "party" would he recall the Gobbling Party.


    "Title Party!"


    "Title Party?"


    After listening to Heller''s serious introduction about the Title Party, Zhang Tie thought through right away...


    ''What a party!''


    After thinking for quite a while, Zhang Tie finally fixed the main title.


    "The inscription on the gravestone of the despicable: from the dean of a provincial court and a gentleman to a major criminal and obscene devil in Taixia Country¡ª¡ªmy half year in Taixia Country"


    Followed by a subtitle below¡ª¡ª"Being attached with a lot of first-hand precious secret news and the secret of a shadow demon in Heavenly Reaching Church"


    Author: Zhang Tie, Zhang Mushen, the Chakra''s Lion.


    Reading mode¡ª¡ªfree


    ...


    This article soon appeared in the Mountain of Brightness...


    After absorbing 4 earth-element crystals in 2 hours, Zhang Tie reviewed the article and found it had been browsed over 500 times...

 908 The Inscription on the Gravestone of the Despicable——Excerpt 1

    Chapter 908: The Inscription on the Gravestone of the Despicable¡ª¡ªExcerpt 1


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    I was born in a remote place in Waii Subcontinent¡ª¡ªBlackhot City of Andaman Alliance.


    Andaman Alliance was a very small alliance of cities. The total urban area of this alliance might not even match that of Class A city in Taixia Country. Of course, you could not find knights in this alliance.


    Before the holy war, Andaman Alliance had been annexed by Norman Empire. My hometown Blackhot City also became a Class D city in Brunswick Province under the governance of the governor of the north border of Norman Empire. Even though before Andaman Alliance was annexed, many people who lived in the prosperous cities of Waii Subcontinent still didn''t know about the location of Blackhot City of Andaman Alliance.


    Not to mention those Hua people who lived in the prosperous and powerful Taixia Country.


    I was a grassroots knight who grew up from a trivial person in such a remote place.


    Why do I feel that I''m a grassroots knight? The most important point is that I didn''t know that there was any relationship between me and Huaiyuan Palace which shocked the entire Waii Subcontinent until I was 16.


    When I was young, a copper coin meant half a bowl of rice brew. My mom supported our family by making and selling rice brew. My dad worked in a steel mill. I remember that my dad''s one year''s salary was 12 gold coins at that time, which could barely survive the family of 4 even in Blackhot City. Our family was very frugal at that time.


    Previously, we should have five family members. Pitifully, before I came to this world, one of my elder brothers had sacrificed in a battle between Andaman Alliance and the surrounding forces in the status of a common soldier of Andaman Alliance. After that guy left our family in a very irresponsible way, I came to this world.


    I think they might want me to have a longer longevity instead of just leaving the family like my elder brother; therefore, they named me Zhang Tie.


    Compared to the official name Zhang Mushen, I prefer the pet name. The name Zhang Tie is very basic.


    Although tie is not valuable, it''s very hard. Therefore, this word reflects my life experience since I was born to the present.


    ...


    My mom used to instruct me¡ª¡ªto be a good person; instead of being a big figure!


    I have been trying my best to be a good person since I was young.


    When I was young, I didn''t even understand the meaning of a good person. However, when I sent the remaining rice soup to the orphanage in Blackhot City by tricycle for the first time and saw the naive smiles of those orphans and my mom''s reassuring smile, I had learned a preliminary definition of a good person¡ª¡ªa good person was like those who could send remaining rice soup to orphanage.


    The Grandma Teresa in the orphanage also touched my head and said I was a good person.


    At that moment, I was confident that I would be a good person for the rest of my life.


    I''ve not imagined that my wish to be a good person would be shattered after I came to Taixia for less than half a year. I''m now a totally heinous bad guy.


    ...


    It''s too difficult to be a good person; especially a good person who''s favored by everyone else. Additionally, a good person wouldn''t necessarily win people''s respect or praise.


    Sometimes, I wanted to be a bad guy too.


    It was also in Blackhot City when I wanted to be a bad guy for the first time. It was in the Iron Thorns Fighting Club.


    ...


    After finding out that I could bear being beaten at school, Captain Kerlin the military representative and director of the Seventh National Male Middle School in Blackhot City introduced a promising job to me in the fighting club out of pity and "kindness".


    I still remember Captain Kerlin''s words which he said that day.


    "I have a precious part-time social practice position for you. It''s highly paid. Besides, you could touch many rich and influential figures and broaden your horizon. If you could do a good job, you will improve your battle strength greatly. You could even have a chance to contact with those beauties over there. Many people begged me for that job; however, I disagreed; I find you''re the most proper person for this job!"


    When I heard these words at the beginning, I felt that Captain Kerlin was the most lovable person in this world. I felt that the halos of a good person finally brought me a good luck and I saw a narrow chance for me to improve my poor life.


    At that moment, I was doing a part-time job in a grocery as an apprentice in Blackhot City. The boss of the grocery was a miser. I didn''t gain any pay after 2 years of job.


    When in the Seventh National Male Middle School in Blackhot City, all the male students in their puberty became wild animals being dominated by male hormone.


    At school, we didn''t call each other students; instead, we called each other animals.


    Therefore, I desired about this job through which I could make money, enjoying beauties and "have an intimate contact with beauties".


    The location of this job was Avenue Bright, the most prosperous place in Blackhot City.


    I felt that I was going to have a bright future.


    ...


    On the next day since Captain Kerlin introduced that job to me, with a nervous yet ambitious feeling, I came to the Avenue Bright. Holding my breath, I entered the gate of the Iron Thorns Fighting Club which was guarded by warriors in armor.


    A beauty was standing behind the counter of the lobby. At her 20s, she wore a black tight vest and a pair of white tight sweatpants with a ponytail. At the sight of her genial smile and air of youth, my heart had started to pound.


    This woman was called Mary, the first female who drove me to be a bad guy.


    After knowing that I was here to apply for a job in the fighting club, she came out of the counter and led me to the manager''s room.


    Walking behind her and watching her "twisting" butt, a wildfire of hope to be a real man started to burn in my heart. Closely after that, I stammered, "Hi...hello, I...I am Zhang Tie, what''s your name?"


    I think my voice must be trembling at that moment.


    Mary stopped as she threw a glance at my face and my clothes which indicated my identity and background, with an icy and ironical eye light she said, "Actually, you don''t have to know my name. Although we''re all here to make money, you should know that there would be no relationship between you and me for the rest of our lives. Stop daydreaming..."


    What a shame!


    After hearing this reply, my face turned pale. My heart ached as if it was stabbed by someone. In a split second, I didn''t know how should I respond to her. Perhaps, I should face her in a mild and calm way; however, with a complex mood combining fury which was caused by being despised and braveness, I forcefully caught her shoulders and pushed her against the wall. When she was scared so much that she even became flurried, I thrust my waist and hit her twice in the form of "piston movement". At the same time, I told her furiously that I would definitely let her crawl to me and beg me to f*ck her one day.


    This obscene movement could never be made by a good person.


    Such words could not be told to a 20-year old beauty by a good person either.


    I felt that I was a bad guy; therefore, I was pretty scared inside.


    Luckily, Mary didn''t shout loudly. Although she despised me furiously, she still led me to the manager''s office.


    It was my first time to be a bad guy who let such a beautiful girl feel shameful and hide her distant and derisive face.


    In the manager''s office, I saw the manager of this fighting club and learned about the "promising job"¡ª¡ªhighly paid, improving physical health, having intimate contacts with big figures and broaden my horizon in a high-end place.


    It was called a ladder player, which had another name in the fighting club¡ª¡ªhuman flesh bag! Those rich people in the fighting club didn''t feel cool to only hit sandbags; they required a mobile sandbag for their exercise. I was the very mobile sandbag.


    The working time of this part-time job was 6 pm to 11 pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The compensation per hour was 70 copper coins. If I was late on the very day, the compensation for the very day would be deducted. The compensation would be paid weekly. I might get a tip from guests.


    On the day I went there, a human flesh bag had just resigned; therefore, in order to keep me, the manager added 10 more copper coins per hour for me.


    80 copper coins per hour! I adopted it willingly even though my job was to be beaten by others!


    It was my first paid job.


    During the first time, I was hit and passed out in the fighting club the moment the training started. I gradually woke up after being carried out of the training room.


    It was too late when I went back home that night. My father asked me the reason.


    I told him that my teacher introduced a highly paid part-time job for me. I could contact a lot of rich and powerful person through this job. When I was free, I could even do physical exercises. Additionally, there were many beauties over there. I even met a beauty who praised me that I was ambitious and a daydreamer!


    My dad and mom burst out into laughter at the same time.


    ...


    Now, I see, this encounter with Mary in the fighting club might be the premonition of my current encounter, through which, the Almighty God wanted to show me a point.


    ¡ª¡ªAt a point in my life, a woman changed me from a good person to a bad person.


    Mary was the first one, but not the last.

 909 The Inscription on the Gravestone of the Despicable——Excerpt 2

    Chapter 909: The Inscription on the Gravestone of the Despicable¡ª¡ªExcerpt 2


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When I saw Mary last time, she was more beautiful than ever. After I left the fighting club for a few hours, everything had changed.


    That woman might have not fully understood the significance of the status of an officer of Norman Empire in a place being occupied by Norman Empire.


    The young master of Gregory family didn''t know about that a few hours ago; however, he understood it too after a few hours.


    It was too late that night while almost nobody could be seen on the streets. The night wind felt chilly.


    Quivering all over, Mary stood in front of my apartment like a princess who was going to attend a ball and a gift being wrapped by a crystal bobtail. Together with her was Pawano the old butler of Gregory family. The old man looked elegant and meticulous in a black swallowtail.


    In the eyes of commoners in Blackhot City, the status of the butler of Gregory family was paramount, which could shatter a commoner''s life and family easily.


    On behalf of Gregory family, Pavano apologized to me a few hours ago and expressed that Mary was Gregory family''s gift to me.


    Under the gaze of the dignified old butler, Mary quivered and stammered what I expected her to say in front of me, which was shameful for a woman.


    Previously, I thought that I should be pleasant at that moment; however, when that woman entered my apartment and dropped her tears like a lamb entering the slaughterhouse, I found that I was not cold-blooded enough; neither could I gain any sense of achievement or pleasant sensation from her sadness and despair.


    Actually, when I saw her standing outside my apartment, I had already forgiven her. The conflict between me and her was a bit ridiculous¡ª¡ªwhen a woman was selling her youth and beautiful look at a high price in the counter, all of a sudden, she received the inquiry of a poor lad. Being afraid of lowering her level, of course, the woman would feel disgusting. Her reply to me at that moment could be simply translated as "You cannot afford me!" It was more straightforward than being impolite. Just like how one was forbidden in a high-end restaurant in shabby clothes.


    It had nothing to do with self-esteem; it was just a matter of personal habit.


    I thought it through. Therefore, I made a cup of liquor for her to make her warm up. Under her unbelievable eyes, I even apologized to her for my rude behavior in the fighting club. We were on a tie.


    That evening, I told her to sleep overnight in the guest room of my apartment. I slept in my own bedroom.


    When I woke up on the second morning, I found she had gone, leaving a sentence on the glass of my guest room by her lipstick¡ª¡ªThank you, but I hate you!


    By then, I realized that women were like strange animals. Sometimes, when you wanted to have sex with her, she would feel being insulted; sometimes, when you didn''t want to have sex with her, she would feel being insulted too.


    I felt that women were all sick.


    The more beautiful the woman was, the sicker she would be.


    ...


    ...


    Later on, I didn''t see her anymore even though I left Waii Subcontinent after the blackhot City and Norman Empire were ruined by demons.


    To tell the truth, I had to appreciate her. It was she who drove me forward.


    Later on, I learned from another woman whom I loved yet finally lost that¡ª¡ªOne would feel happy with the beloved one on your side; one would grow mature after losing the beloved one. No matter whether one could gain or lose one''s love, just take it a blessing in one''s life.


    Mary was a blessing in my life.


    Therefore, no matter whether she could read this article or not, I have to bless her and hope her to meet the one who could indeed treasure her and buy her away in terms of happiness.


    Until I came to Taixia Country did I understand another truth¡ª¡ªnot everything that one loses is a blessing.


    If you treated losing something as a blessing, you''ve already relieved your vigilance. Someone would set a fatal trap for you by this blessing.


    ...


    ...


    When I fought demons fiercely in Selnes Theater of Operations of Waii Subcontinent and insisted on fighting them in the north of Kalay Mountain Range of Waii Subcontinent after the defense line of Selnes Theater of Operations was collapsed, my family members had safely and smoothly arrived at Yingzhou Province, Taixia Country and settled down in Fuhai City for the time being.


    I have 3 babies.


    The marriage between Fan family''s daughter and I was also engaged by our parents on both sides at that moment.


    ...


    ...


    On March 2nd, the 900th year of Black Iron Calendar, my family members bid a farewell to me in the Zhang manor in Golden Light City, waiting for me to marry the daughter of Director Fan''s daughter in Fuhai City, Yingzhou Province.


    With my excellent performance on inflicting heavy losses in the Heavenly Reaching Church and in the competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, the name of Zhang Tie, Zhang Mushen, the dean of provincial court in Youzhou Province spread out of Youzhou Province for the first time. My mother said that Fan family was urging the marriage.


    As for such an engagement, the male party could not feel sorry for the female party; additionally, the female had waited for me so many years. This marriage was destined to be accomplished.


    I was too ambitious and pleasant at that moment because I didn''t fall in the wrestle with the Gobbling Party and the demons.


    I just took this journey to Yingzhou as a chance to relax myself.


    I had not seen the look of Director Fan''s daughter. Whatever, as long as she was virtuous and not ugly.


    In the last few years in Waii Subcontinent, the all-purpose medicament produced by Zhang family played a great role in the holy war. It was even taken as strategical storage and hard currency by many countries. Therefore, I intended to extend the business of Jinwu Business Group in Yingzhou Province by chance. As the old saying went, benefits should always be kept for one''s own people, now that I would marry the daughter of Director Fan, Fan family would be our ideal agency in Yingzhou Province for selling all-purpose medicament. I went there with 200,000 vials of all-purpose medicament as a gift.


    As it was a personal affair, I didn''t keep it a secret. Therefore, the moment I left Youzhou Province, those who paid attention to me should have known it.


    ...


    ...


    The moment I arrived at Fuhai City, I was told that the Gobbling Party had a very great influence in Yingzhou Province.


    When I arrived at Fuhai City, I lived in the Heavenly No. 7 suite of Guanlanhu Hotel in Fuhai City. The moment I prepared to take a rest, a head of the Morality Association of the Gobbling Party in Fuhai City called Yang Yushan had arrived at the hotel and intended to pay a visit to me.


    I knew it was a threat. Therefore, I felt sick.


    After ignoring Yang Yushan for a few hours, I finally received him.


    Until now, I could still tell you frankly that I disliked him even though that guy was already dead.


    The moment Yang Yushan saw me, he had started to blame me for being ill-mannered.


    I was a knight; Yang Yushan was not even a LV 9 fighter. How could a guy below LV 9 blame a knight for being ill-mannered the moment he saw the latter? Is this the etiquette advocated by the Gobbling Party? How audacious he was! How could a guy who was not even qualified to raise shoes for a knight on the battlefield blame a knight in a domineering manner in the name of the Gobbling Party?


    Except for Taixia Country, which head of a nongovernmental organization below LV 9 could blame a knight across all the human countries?


    Ignoring one''s respect; offending the superiors; borrowing power to do evil. If such a Gobbling Party could represent the heavenly laws, the heavenly laws are nothing but sh*t in my eyes.


    Yang Yushan brought me the solution of the conflict between the Gobbling Party and I¡ª¡ªI had to join the Gobbling Party and take responsibility for rebuilding the morality association in Youzhou Province as the head of new morality association in Youzhou Province on behalf of the Gobbling Party.


    As the offspring of Lord Huaiyuan, I gave Yang Yushan a solution too¡ª¡ªtell the leaders of the Gobbling Party to kowtow three times in front of the memorial tablet of Lord Huaiyuan and admit that they were wrong loudly before dissolving the Gobbling Party!


    You wanted to bargain with me or boast with me?


    ...


    ...


    It was not a compromise, it was just a plan that the force of the Gobbling Party in Yingzhou Province made to smack my face.


    If you were me, would you promise him?


    Of course, Yang Yushan left angrily.


    Soon after Yang Yushan left, I had received a message from Director Fan''s mansion¡ª¡ªDirector Fan felt uncomfortable. He didn''t want to see me tomorrow.


    I had already foreboded that this marriage might be ruined at that moment.


    ...


    2 days later, I went to see Director Fan in his mansion.


    As I had predicted, this marriage was ruined.


    Facing the great stress of the Gobbling Party, Fan family in Yingzhou Province chose to break off the engagement. I was not shocked by such a result at all. As an elder of Huaiyuan Palace, I knew what a choice clan would make in this situation¡ª¡ªUnless being foolish, the clan elders would never agree with such an engagement at the risk of standing on the opposite side of the Gobbling Party.


    I understood Fan family''s choice very well.


    However, it didn''t mean that I was happy.


    Although being infuriated at that moment, I didn''t feel ill. I was infuriated about being smacked by the Gobbling Party in Fuhai City. I didn''t feel ill because I had not seen the daughter of Director Fan at all. That woman was just a strange symbol in my mind. I didn''t involve any affection in her. To be honest, after experiencing so many things, although it''s a bit shameless and exaggerated to say I''ve read a lot of women, I was not that innocent teenager who would feel depressed because of a woman''s words in the fighting club anymore.


    I just felt that a good business was blown by someone; of course, I would revenge the one who had blown the good business.


    After staying in Fan Mansion a few minutes and making Director Fan reassured, I had left Fan Mansion. After that, I went to the Morality Association in Fuhai City and smacked their face.


    As the old saying went, it''s never too late for a gentleman to revenge. However, if the target was right in front of me, I would think about revenging him all day long.


    It was a loud smack on the Morality Association in Fuhai City. Outside the pavilion of Morality Association, I stomped to the ground in front of the backbones of the Morality Association three times, collapsing the pavilion. Two people of Qin family were in the Morality Association, Qin Wu and the young master of Qin family.


    When the group of people was escaping in an embarrassed way, I burst out into laughter. After leaving Fuhai City, I felt a bit pleasant as I had already revenged the Gobbling Party.


    I was just forced to break off the engagement with a woman whom I had not met at all. It was nothing serious for me.


    It''s hard to get a lover in the world.


    I treat the power as sh*t and ignore the ridicule of the powerful ones.


    You''re just passers in my life, I will not return when I leave.


    If I could marry beloved ones, I prefer to be a farmer.


    I will graze cattle in the morning and come back with wildflowers.


    Inserting flowers on your grey hair, I will watch the sunglow together with you.

 910 The Inscription on the Gravestone of the Despicable——Excerpt 3

    Chapter 910: The Inscription on the Gravestone of the Despicable¡ª¡ªExcerpt 3


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In a split second, I saw a person as same as me and the one whom I had been chased all the way there from the airship being engulfed by black flames. The two people soon reduced to ashes. My heart froze at once. Before I recovered from the sudden shock, Qin Wu and the other two knights had appeared in the air and started to launch an attack towards me!


    Besides Qin Wu, I even didn''t know who were the other two knights, why they appeared there and attacked me.


    I asked Qin Wu the reason.


    Qin Wu wanted to kill me for the late young master of Qin family.


    When I collapsed the pavilion of the Morality Association, Qin Wu and his young master were both there; however, until I left Fuhai City, I didn''t hear that anyone was killed by the falling pavilion. Why would Qin Wu kill me for the death of his young master?


    I felt something was wrong!


    Especially when I recalled the one who looked as same as me and suddenly reduced to ashes in front of me.


    I realized that I might''ve fallen into a terrifying trap.


    I didn''t want to fight a knight of Taixia Country to death, as I defended Qin Wu''s mad attack, I kept retreating.


    I thought that Qin Wu was fulfilling his responsibilities as an employed elder of Qin clan; however, the fact was that I made a ridiculous fault.


    When your opponent suddenly exerted his utmost efforts to attack you with boiling battle qi, you had to launch a counter-attack so as to protect yourself; however, in a split second, the knight who was having a close combat with you removed his protective battle qi and moved closer to your punch on purpose, have you met that?


    I met that. That was what Qin Wu did to me. I wanted to defend his punch with my own punch; however, I punched his body into pieces. Actually, I''ve already removed 80% of my strength the moment I hit him. The remaining 20% of strength could only severely wound Qin Wu; however, Qin Wu revealed a weird fleer towards me before splitting into pieces.


    Qin Wu committed suicide. However, in that situation, all the other knights thought that Qin Wu was killed by me.


    The moment Qin Wu died, I had heard a roar "stop..." from the sky.


    Closely after that, a powerful earth knight launched an attack towards me.


    After Qin Wu''s death, I lost my last chance to clarify my innocence.


    Until a furious earth knight wanted to kill me, I still didn''t know why I suddenly mired in such a dilemma and was besieged by strange knights when I was eating hotpot in the airship. What made me more confused was that the earth knight said he was cleaning up the dreg for Huaiyuan Palace.


    I wanted to swear whether this father had abducted your daughter or dug your ancestral grave and where the motherf*cking did he come from.


    Later on, I knew that earth knight was Feng Yuelun the Cheji General of Yingzhou Province.


    However, with his one blow, I had been heavily wounded.


    Before his second blow arrived, I released an explosive light bomb from my portable space-teleportation equipment and escaped at the critical moment.


    ...


    I hid in a secret place as I didn''t want to die out of no reason.


    After recovering my wounds, I changed a look and came to Fuhai City. I wanted to figure out what happened in Fuhai City after I left there and why I suddenly became a public enemy in Taixia Country.


    As to what happened later, you''ve already known.


    I also figured out why the two knights suddenly reduced to ashes in front of me.


    Is it ironical? I should learn what "I" did in Fuhai City from others.


    After that, I became a heinous wanted criminal, an abnormal guy who was possessed by the devil after being forced to break off the engagement with Fan family.


    There were all sorts of evidence about my crimes everywhere.


    However, I didn''t have any evidence to prove my innocence. Just like how a lion falling into the trap could not have a ladder to climb out of there, I also couldn''t prove that the one who made the crimes was not the real me.


    The two knights had been applied with the Bloody Demon Imitation Method; therefore, they suddenly reduced to ashes in front of me. I''m already satisfied to be attacked by a knight who has formed three chakras.


    However, I am not the criminal, no matter how similar he looked to me.


    ...


    Director Fan, as you''re still alive, do you remember how that b*stard insulted your daughter?


    Although I was not at the scene, I''m sure that the criminal was not naked at that moment! Do you know why? Although he could imitate my look, he could not imitate my skin. As he didn''t know whether I had a birthmark, scar or tattoo on my skin, he dared not expose his skin in case of any loophole.


    Neither did he leave any body liquid which could be used to authenticate his identity in case of any loophole. Therefore, I lost another chance to prove my innocence.


    Yes, I was possessed by the devil. I was lunatic. However, I stood to not ejaculate at that moment. Do you admire me?


    The b*stard penetrated through your left chest by his battle qi; however, as your heart was in the right chest, you finally survived. You were sure that the one was me because you saw his look; however, if I really wanted to kill you, I would never spare any chance for you to survive. Do you know the reason?


    Simply, since I joined Huaiyuan Palace and raided the demonized puppets in the Heavenly Cold City to the Selnes Theater of Operations, I had fought numerous demonized puppets and formed a battle habit, namely, If I wanted to kill someone, I would never attack his heart; instead I would shatter his main body into pieces so that he would completely lose his moving ability or directly chop off his head.


    This habit has already become my instinct just like my breath after fighting numerous demonized puppets. Common perforating wounds are not fatal to the demonized puppets. Only when you destroy their heads and main bodies could you kill them. Any veteran who has rich experience in fighting demonized puppets would form such a habit. Do you know how many demonized puppets have I killed in Heavenly Cold City, Selenes Theater of Operations and in the process of preventing the contingent of demonized puppets from moving southwards in Kalay Mountain Range?


    At least 500,000 demonized puppets. Believe it or not! At the cost of the lives of 500,000 demonized puppets, this habit has been deeply branded in my bones.


    As I''ve been possessed by the devil, I almost forgot how to kill people.


    I killed your whole family; however, I didn''t take off my clothes when raping your daughter? When I was thrilled by your naked daughter, I didn''t leave any semen fluid? I hated Fan family so much; however, I kept your body complete? Because that b*stard looked as same as me, I became the criminal? This is the so-called fatal evidence.


    ...


    Green Flute Hermit and the young elder of Lancang Sect, when you were attracted by the battle qi totem of Qin Wu and followed him to chase the criminal out of the Fuhai City, are you sure that the criminal was always in your sight? Whether Qin Wu was dominating the entire chasing process? Whether the criminal had gotten rid of your sight for a short while before you met me? Finally, through Qin Wu''s search, you found me once again and started to launch an attack towards me without any hesitation, right?


    Because you chased the criminal all the way from Fuhai City to the wilderness, when you caught sight of me, you thought I was the very criminal. In that situation, you both thought that there wouldn''t be any 2nd Zhang Tie, right?


    Therefore, I became the very criminal.


    ...


    General Feng, I knew you abhor evils as deadly foes; however, when you thought that you were purifying Huaiyuan Palace, have you considered why Qin Wu died the moment you arrived?


    When I "killed" Qin Wu, General Feng, Green Flute Hermit and the young elder of Lancang Sect were all enshrouded by the boiling battle qi of Qin Wu. You didn''t see clearly how Qin Wu died at all. You only saw the final result¡ª¡ªQin Wu split into pieces.


    Undoubtedly, in your eyes, Qin Wu was killed by me.


    I was possessed by the devil; I became foolish too. After escaping out of Fuhai City, I got lost; however, I moved all the way towards your camp. Therefore, after receiving the notice from Fuhai City, the moment you left your camp by airboat, you had blocked me over 500 miles away from your camp.


    When in battle, the battle qi totems of knights could be seen from 350 miles away on a sunny day. Is it different than fighting and killing people outside your home?


    ...


    I didn''t know why Qin Wu and the young master of Qin family suddenly appeared in Fuhai City, because the two people should be patrolling in Yulin City, the private city of Qin family. As Qin Wu said that the young master of Qin family was killed by me and I killed Qin Wu, therefore Qin family thought the young master of Qin family was killed by me.


    There was something wrong with Qin Wu!


    However, I couldn''t prove it because he had committed suicide.


    I just want to remind the Qin family, as Qin Wu had served you for so many years, he must have known a lot of secrets of Qin family and participated in many actions of Qin family. You could completely trust Qin Wu; however, suppose Qin Wu was a member of demon or the Heavenly Breaking Church, do you know what he was going to do during these years and how many preparations had he made in Qin family?


    After coming to Taixia Country, my only enemy was the Heavenly Reaching Church and the Gobbling Party.


    ...


    Finally, I want to talk about the Gobbling Party. Fan family made the decision to break off the engagement with me under the great stress of the Gobbling Party. This is the cause of this tragedy. That night, why would Yang Yushan summon the backbones in Fuhai City after losing their face in the daytime and wait to be cleaned up by me? As a result, my crime was confirmed and Qin Wu had a chance to chase me out of Fuhai City.


    Grand tutor of the heir apparent, can you prove that this event is not a gunning test that the Gobbling Party designed to kill me?


    I believe that the Gobbling Party will never be so heinous because this has surpassed your bottom line after fighting Huaiyuan Palace for such a long time. I know that many members of the Gobbling Party expect me to die and uproot Huaiyuan Palace, however, this is not your style. You excel at evident plots, such as encouraging the imperial consorts in Xuanyuan Hill to attack me with words. You''re thinking about catching a chance to shatter Huaiyuan Palace according to the rules in Taixia Country.


    However, can you prove that no member of the Gobbling Party has taken advantage of this event or colluded with the Heavenly Reaching Church or demons in this event?


    Of course, you don''t need to prove it. Because you''re the leader of the Gobbling Party, a heavenly knight in Taixia Country, the current grand tutor of the heir apparent and one of the top three lords in Taixia Country in the future. However, I''m just a fugitive, a guy who''s lunatic and should not be trusted. You don''t need to prove or make any response to my words. I''m just talking rubbish and framing you.


    ...


    When I inflicted heavy losses on the Heavens Breaking Church in Youzhou Province at the beginning of this year and killed Master Jiang, this shadow demon who might have hidden in Taixia Country so for many years uttered a pleasant and mad sentence before death¡ª¡ªYour Hua people''s doomsday is coming, I''m waiting for you in the hell.


    Only I heard this sentence at that moment. I thought it was just a curse from a demon who was going to die. Therefore, I didn''t keep it in mind.


    After listening to his will, I stomped his head into pieces.


    Lately, his will always rang in my ears.


    ...


    A powerful knight who mastered the Bloody Demon Imitation Method and could not be resisted by the entire Huaiyuan Palace...


    A powerful force which could let Qin Wu frame me at the cost of his life...


    A terrifying force which knew that the heart of Director Fan was on his right chest through the official difference engine database of Yingzhou Province.


    A former dean of the provincial court of Youzhou Province suddenly became a hot figure on the wanted list of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country...


    A former gentleman suddenly became an abnormal devil...


    After coming to Taixia Country for half a year, what happened to me and what was exposed to me were completely out of my imagination.


    ...


    Being despicable is the passport of the despicable ones while being noble is the inscription on the gravestone of the noble ones.


    I''m despicable; however, I have no passport. If I was killed by the powerhouses of Taixia Country one day, this article would be the inscription on my gravestone.


    If there''s one more Zhang Tie who proves that he has betrayed the humans and could not use his knight''s crystal plate to contact the Mountain of Brightness or leave any words in the forum of the Mountain of Brightness, don''t be too amazed, because it''s not difficult for them.


    Who are they? Where are they hiding in?


    Besides being sure that they''re malicious to Taixia Country, I knew nothing about them.


    Even if the sky collapsed, someone would support it for us;


    I have fallen into the pit and almost been buried alive. Even though I tried my best to jump out, I could only make this far.


    Well, that''s all I want to say. As I have some strength left, I''m going to escape from the rest of the world...

 911 Leaving the Knights Tower

    Chapter 911: Leaving the Knight''s Tower


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "If I could marry beloved ones, I prefer to be a farmer.


    I will graze cattle in the morning and come back with wildflowers.


    Inserting flowers on your grey hair, I will watch the sunglow together with you..."


    On October 11th, a woman in a brilliant red skirt was standing on the highest floor of an 18-storey brilliant pavilion in Snowblowing City, the capital city of Threespring Prefecture and watching the colorful clouds fading away in the sunset. At the same time, she kept muttering the poem that Zhang Tie released in the forum...


    When she muttered the first line of the poem¡ª¡ªIt''s hard to get a lover in the world. She dropped off her tears.


    If not a sentimental person, how could he write such a heart-broken line?


    When the wind blew, the woman''s red skirt danced on the side of the handrail of the pavilion...


    The youth told what he had experienced since he was in Blackhot City to the present in a casual tone in his article. The woman was like an elder sister who watched the neighboring bashful youth gradually growing mature.


    Last night, when she read that "I even met a beauty who praised me that I was ambitious and a daydreamer!", she simmered with laughter.


    When she read that he let the woman who had once hurt him stay one night in his apartment safe and sound before leaving, she became relaxed¡ª¡ªthank you, but I hate you¡ª¡ªonly a woman could understand the mood of another woman at that moment. She knew that the youth was telling the truth.


    How could such a mentally mature person reduce to be a devil after being forced to break off the engagement?


    The front part of the article was relaxed as if he was traveling among mountains and rivers. She also accompanied the teenager all the way from Blackhot City. However, when she read what the teenager experienced in Fuhai City, she felt a killing qi¡ª¡ªthat was a terrifying, fatal trap...


    After knowing that the teenager escaped successfully, she became relaxed too. By now, all the contents of that article had faded away in her mind, except for the poem and the look that she had seen in Youzhou City lately...


    Watching the sunset and the stars rising, she finally let out a faint sigh before returning to the pavilion. Sitting in front of the dressing table mirror, she touched her hair on the temples with a sad look.


    Although being a knight, she still had black hair all over and a brilliant face. However, where''s the one who could insert flowers on her grey hair and watch the sunglow together with her? If she couldn''t meet him anymore for the rest of her life, how lonely she would be and who would appreciate her beautiful look.


    Taking up a white diamond and pearl headwear, she inserted it into her hair near the temple. After looking into the mirror for a short while, she changed to a more beautiful one. After taking another look at it, she picked it off once again...


    After trying over 20 beautiful, luxurious diamond pearl headwears consecutively, the woman still felt lacking something.


    Finally, the woman rubbed all the diamond and pearl headwears into powders. At the sight of this, the two female servants who were serving her hurriedly knelt down...


    After feeling the sudden, vigorous qi in the pavilion, a figure instantly flashed in her room like a ghost.


    The woman''s voice turned icy at once while the majesty as the head of a family reappeared on her body.


    "Go tell the sister apprentices...the event of Zhang Tie, Zhang Mushen is a bit weird, stop hunting him. Such a person will never be possessed by the devil..."


    "Additionally, all the cities in Threespring Prefecture have to include all-purpose medicament of Jinwu Business Group into their storage!"


    After saying that, the woman thought about something else while her voice suddenly turned resentful, "Tell Guo Wu to take someone to smash the Morality Association in the Snowblowing City..."


    "Erm...the Morality Association has been smashed by people a few days ago, it''s not been renovated yet..." The black shadow coughed twice before reminding her.


    "Smash it again..."


    "..."


    ...


    Xuanyuan Hill, Taixia Country...


    A person in a white robe was feeding golden fish leisurely and delicately on the side of a lotus pond. He didn''t say anything for an hour as if he had not seen the three people behind him...


    The old man was dropping lifeless doughs, which turned into tadpoles and swum vividly in the water the moment they touched the water. As a result, a shoal of golden fish constantly chased after them, arousing ripples...


    Standing behind this old man, the three people''s backs had been fully wet in the past hour...


    After feeding the golden fish, the old man clapped his hands as he turned around and asked the three people, "Have you thought it through?"


    "I...I will go to Yingzhou Province...to investigate it..." The man who had sweated most answered in a trembling voice.


    The old man didn''t lose his temper; however, he looked more terrifying than losing his temper when he was silent.


    He had not been silent for so long in front of them.


    "The manor of the Gobbling Party is too large. We should clean it. A black iron knight from Huaiyuan Palace makes me universally condemned; even the Xuanyuan Hill is shocked. Do you want me to be the laughingstock of the people?" The old man let out a sigh.


    The three people oozed sweat all over as they kept quivering, "We dare not!"


    "Lord Huaiyuan really has a good inheritor!" Shaking his head, the old man turned around and entered the small courtyard...


    ...


    Shrine Palace of Fan family, Tianshui Prefecture, Yingzhou Province...


    Director Fan, who had been more than 10 years elder only after a few months, was recalling what he saw that night in front of the clan elders.


    "When I saw Zhang Tie, although...he was indeed raping my daughter in clothes..."


    The Fan elders exchanged a glance with each other before letting out a long sigh in unison...


    ...


    "Investigate it..." The head of Qin family was infuriated as he smashed the emerald table in front of him by one palm...


    ...


    After a few days later, some brand girls in the brothels across Taixia Country had composed a piece of music and started to sing the song named "The Beloved Ones" by playing pipa, a plucked stringed instrument...


    "It''s hard to get a lover in the world.


    I treat the power as sh*t and ignore the ridicule of the powerful ones.


    You''re just passers in my life, I will not return when I leave.


    If I could marry beloved ones, I prefer to be a farmer.


    I will graze cattle in the morning and come back with wildflowers.


    Inserting flowers on your grey hair, I will watch the sunglow together with you."


    This song made many girls in brothels across Taixia Country to drop off their tears. They all wanted to know who created such a wonderful poem...


    After reading this poem, the sentimental ones would feel more lonely...


    ...


    After becoming a member of Title Party in the Mountain of Brightness and calmly describing his experiences in one article, Zhang Tie had started to enter cultivation.


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel that he was literary. This article was just a reflection of his life experience and feelings. Even though the poem originated from his true feelings.


    It was useless for him to cry out a grievance. Zhang Tie didn''t do that. He just wanted to show others what a man he was and had people make judgments themselves. As he could not prove that he was innocent, he could only influence others'' judgments.


    All those who read the article were knights in the Mountain of Brightness, all of whom had a great influence in the reality and were more above average in intelligence.


    It was enough.


    A knight with more than three chakras who had mastered the Bloody Demon Imitation Method.


    The background of Qin Wu.


    The force who could easily know the secret that Director Fan''s heart was on his right chest...


    All these were clues.


    The evidence was not definitely the truth; however, the truth could arouse resonance among people.


    This time, Zhang Tie exposed all those who had framed him to the public.


    He couldn''t resist those people because his ability was trivial in front of them. However, those people could only move in the dark as their power was also trivial in front of the righteous power of the humans across Taixia Country.


    That was a terrifying, malignant tumor among humans in Taixia Country.


    This was not only the personal resentment between Zhang Tie and those people; it was more like a public resentment between humans in Taixia Country and demons. It was unnecessary for Zhang Tie to shoulder it himself. Additionally, he couldn''t shoulder it for the time being. Therefore, he shared it with other people.


    As the old Hua saying went, there must be a loyal and faithful people among 10 households.


    Even if 1 out of 10 knights who had browsed the article could be vigilant about those insurgents or 1 out 100 knights wanted to seek for the truth of the even in Fuhai City, they would be much more powerful than Zhang Tie and Huaiyuan Palace.


    Whether Fan family or Qin family in Yingzhou would be vigilant and reflect themselves after browsing this article. After all, whatever Zhang Tie had exposed was all genuine.


    It was a pattern of self-protection and counter-attack and a warning about the crisis facing Taixia Country from a Hua knight.


    It could protect Zhang Tie from two aspects: first, it could make him less wanted by the knights and Supreme Court in Taixia Country; at least they would not beat him like a rat crossing the streets; second, all the people in Taixia Country would focus on Huaiyuan Palace and his family members. If anyone wanted to revenge Huaiyuan Palace and his family members, everybody else would recall that that one was probably backed by demons; as a result, the possible attacker had to consider about the outcome of his deed.


    Zhang Tie didn''t expect that he could prove his innocence only by an article, the authenticity of which could not be verified. If not, it would be a laughingstock and the laws in Taixia Country would be ineffective. He hoped that he could turn into "grey" from an extremely "dark" guy in Taixia Country through this "public notice".


    The Gobbling Party would make a response to this article. Although the Gobbling Party couldn''t prove that they''re innocent, the knights who had read the article would definitely doubt the Gobbling Party for sure. They would imagine about the role of the Gobbling Party in this event. The Gobbling Party had to prove their innocence. After all, no force could stand being framed as colluding with demons even if they were standing on the side of the top three chancellors in Taixia Country.


    It was also the price that the Gobbling Party had to pay.


    After all, none of the contents about the Gobbling Party in the article was fabricated. Zhang Tie''s suspicion about the Gobbling Party was justified. Perhaps, the Gobbling Party would not care about Zhang Tie''s opinion; however, they had to concern about the opinion of all the knights in the Mountain of Brightness.


    By the way, Zhang Tie also made an advisement for the all-purpose medicament in the article.


    It was a family strategy of Zhang family to have all-purpose medicament enter the purchasing storage contents of the nationwide six warehouses in Taixia Country. It was related to the benefits of numerous generations of Zhang family. Even though he was still wanted, this strategy would be firmly executed. If this generation couldn''t make it, the next generations had to make it. They would not make any compromise to that.


    ...


    On October 10th, after coming to the Lion Fortress for 12 days, Zhang Tie ended his cultivation and opened his eyes in his knight''s tower.


    The reason was that he had consumed all of his earth-elements crystals.


    Zhang Tie picked himself up in the cultivation room and relaxed his limbs, causing his muscles, tendons and bones to quiver and rub like plucking strings of musical instruments.


    After the last earth-elements crystal turned transparent, Zhang Tie directly threw it into Castle of Black Iron. After throwing a glance at the Cui Li''s crystal plate, he found that the 30th golden scale had just been lit on the new knight''s crystal plate.


    After putting away the new knight''s crystal plate, Zhang Tie went downstairs. He took a bath in the washroom on the 2nd floor and put on a clean set of field suit, a multi-purpose tactical armor and a pair of metal battle boots. After that, he went downstairs and walked out of the knight''s tower.


    The Lion Fortress was still covered with a layer of exotic, transparent energy while the mysterious clouds above the energy cover radiated a dim white light, which indicated that it was daytime above the ground.


    Zhang Tie watched the sky and the awe-inspiring huge pyramid as he touched his bald head and trotted towards the other gate of the Lion Fortress facing the earth-elements realm.


    That gate was called Earth-elements Gate, the real portal towards the Earth-elements Realm.


    By contrast, the gate towards the earth''s surface was called Force Province Gate.


    The entire Lion Fortress only had two gates.


    When he exited the Lion Fortress, he needed to punch the metal identity plate too.


    There were also two lines of knights riding on their underground dragons outside the Earth-elements Gate.


    Knights were leaving the Lion Fortress for the mysterious world of the Earth-elements Realm constantly while lights constantly arrived at the Lion Fortress from the Earth-elements Realm.


    The moment Zhang Tie exited the high tunnel-like doorway, he had flown towards the distance.


    The terrain outside the Earth-elements Gate had a downward inclination and was borderless. Like a fortress at the highest point of a huge valley, the Earth-elements Gate overlooked the entire shell-shaped valley...


    The barren entire valley covered hundreds of thousands of miles. There was nothing but shiny things among rocks and sands in the valley under the dim daylight which was common Class 1 and Class 2 crystals


    If on the earth''s surface, this place could be a treasure land. Although those crystals were in low class and of high value, nobody in the earth-elements realm would care about the common crystals. The price of these crystals could not even offset the freight from this place to the world on the earth''s surface by airship...


    Zhang Tie''s destination was the first abyss outside the Lion Fortress...


    It was the underground battlefield between human knights and demon knights...


    ...

 912 The First Abyss

    Chapter 912: The First Abyss


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The first abyss in the earth-elements realm was the main battlefield of human knights and demon knights.


    Demons were constantly pouring out of the hollow earth; if they wanted to arrive at the land of the Eastern Continent, they had to break through the Lion Fortress.


    As for Taixia Country, the holy war had two battle lines which were undergoing at the same time.


    One was in the first abyss in the earth-elements realm; the other was in other continents and subcontinents from where demon corps were constantly pouring out of the earth surface from the underground world.


    As for demons, this holy war also had two battle lines. Demons'' attack on the earth''s surface could be regarded as a siege of Taixia and the Eastern Continent while their attack in the earth-element realm could be regarded that they were going to collapse Taixia Country from inside.


    The two battle lines were both fierce, which could be judged by the increasing treatment that those chaotic subcontinents and the Lion Fortress could provide for the garrison knights.


    Compared to the battle line on the surface of the ground, the underground one was fiercer and more brutal. Those who could fight demons in the first abyss were at least human knights, human battle spirits were too weak there.


    If the earth''s surface was predominated by humans, the underground world was predominated by demons.


    The first abyss was very huge that nobody could figure out its border. Generally, the word "huge" referred to the area; however, the first abyss was like a deep well in the earth-elements realm.


    The part outside the irregular mouth of the well was over 14,000 miles in width and above 40,000 miles in length.


    Zhang Tie received the data from the Lion Fortress. He didn''t verify it and didn''t need to do that.


    Of course, the wall of the well was not smooth. A small grain on the wall of this well might be an exotic region that covered thousands even tens of thousands of square miles; a small coarse bulge on the wall of this well might be an endless mountain range. The profound and deep mountain caves in the first abyss were like the holes on the bricks and slabs, which might lead to other abysses and mysterious lands...


    From a certain perspective, the first abyss was more like an open courtyard in the middle of an irregular tube-shaped apartment. There were overlapped platforms, large or small and interconnected maze-like rooms, tunnels and bloody traps in the dark around the courtyard.


    After leaving the Lion Fortress one day, Zhang Tie caught sight of a pitch-dark, borderless abyss which looked like a black, huge mouth which could devour everything.


    Zhang Tie saw rolling, dense fog in the endless black abyss.


    As there was no light inside the abyss, it was more like a black fog.


    Some human knights were flying out of the black fog while some flew in. All the human knights had decelerated their flying speed the moment they entered it while they hid their battle qi luster.


    It was nothing different than committing suicide by releasing one''s battle qi luster like a bulb in the dark of the first abyss.


    Besides a lot of black iron knights, many earth knights were also wandering in the first abyss. Even though shadow knights were hiding there. It was not strange if human and demon heavenly knights had passed through the first abyss accidentally.


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t want to show off his battle skills at this moment. He hid his battle qi luster and entered the dark closely along the edge of the first abyss.


    ...


    As the black fog was ubiquitous, even in his maximal dark visibility, Zhang Tie could only see a few miles forward in the first abyss.


    A strange plant covered many places on the ground and the precipices in the abyss.


    It was an exotic vine-like creeper which could grow endlessly in the first abyss.


    Any common vine of the abyss could extend longer than 1,000 m. The longest one could even extend over 70 miles. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the leaves of the vines were deep purple; each leaf was as large as a pot''s cover. Its flower was extremely similar to a necessary musical instrument in the human symphony orchestra¡ª¡ªtuba! The fog in the first abyss was released by the flowers of the vine of the abyss in a breath.


    The fog purified the strong sulfury, the particulate matters and some toxic substances in the air and provided a necessary condition for the growth of other living beings in the abyss.


    Even in the first abyss, the living beings complied with some universal rules of the mother nature¡ª¡ªwithout the plants that could grow out of the earth, none of the senior species would survive.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the abyss, he had caught sight of a finger-sized bee hovering on the flower of the vine of the abyss diligently.


    The honey of this bee of the abyss was inedible. It contained a special toxin, which would make people feel especially itchy all over. Those who were allergic to pollen would lose their lives the moment they touched the honey of this bee.


    After deepening almost 30 miles into the first abyss, Zhang Tie caught sight of a mountain cave behind a vine of the abyss. He then entered it...


    After a few minutes, a little, black beetle flapped its wings and flew out of the same mountain cave and dove downsides in the effect of super hiding skill...


    30 miles were like a step downwards from the top of a skyscraper.


    ...


    After 10 days, on the land that covered 700 square miles in the first abyss.


    A huge demon knight with double horns landed in the fog.


    Its eyes were as red as fire which looked very vigilant. After landing there, he looked around seriously. After finding that no human knight was in the surroundings, it darted into a wood.


    The wood was filled with a giant underground plant which looked like a bamboo shoot.


    After coming to one side of a plant, the demon knight checked his alert arrangements within 100 m and confirmed that nobody had come here. He then let out a sigh. After unveiling a cave on the plant, it hid in.


    ...


    The long-term battle in the first abyss meant a great test and physical strength consumption for both demon knights and human knights. They could not fly in the sky around the clock. Even knights needed to take a rest. Otherwise, their battle strength would decline sharply after staying in the first abyss for too long.


    This wood was one of the demon knight''s shelters in the first abyss.


    The demon knight didn''t notice that a little beetle which was having a rest on another tall plant had caught sight of him the moment he entered this wood...


    ...

 913 Anus Boom

    Chapter 913: Anus Boom


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    These days, Zhang Tie had been exploring the first abyss meticulously in the incarnation of a little beetle.


    After 8 days of exploration, Zhang Tie gradually became familiar with the first abyss.


    The biggest benefit for him to incarnate in a little black beetle was that nobody else could find him. The biggest weakness was that the vision of the little beetle was much poorer than Zhang Tie''s original vision. If Zhang Tie could see miles clearly in the first abyss, the little black beetle''s visual distance was only hundreds of meters.


    This was the so-called swings and roundabouts.


    Any incarnation could not be all mighty.


    According to the description of the "Great Wilderness Sutra", the best, irreplaceable incarnation of people was his own body¡ª¡ªit''s hard to incarnate into a human body.


    Thanks to these days'' adaptation, Zhang Tie had known well about the first abyss.


    The little beetle was almost invisible for the others.


    However, with his original body, Zhang Tie could observe enemies in the distance.


    After these days of exploration and serious comparison, Zhang Tie though that a greater perceiving ability was more important for him than being almost invisible. After all, he was here to kill enemies and improve his battle strength.


    Zhang Tie had already prepared to summon his original body out of Castle of Black Iron. However, when the little beetle landed on a huge plant and took a rest over there, he caught sight of the first demon knight since he entered the abyss of the earth-elements realm.


    It was an ox-head demon who had the most balanced battle strength and sensory perceptions. It was also the prototype of the devil in the legends among humans.


    Compared to iron-armored demons, ox-head demons had greater viability and battle strength in the first abyss.


    Watching the ox-head demon to hide meticulously in the "big bamboo shoot" for a rest, the little black beetle blinked its eyes. Zhang Tie was driven mad.


    ''It''s really out of my imagination that a demon knight could build its base here.''


    ''As this place is only thousands of miles away from the top of the abyss. This fearless demon knight must have a great battle strength.''


    The little beetle just gazed at the place where the ox-head demon hid from dozens of meters away.


    Knights could fall asleep in only a couple of minutes. However, after falling alseep, their knight''s consciousness would still be sensitive to the surrounding situation although being sharply weaker than that in the normal situation; not to mention that the guy hid in the tree hole...


    5 minutes later, the little black beetle arrived behind the tree hole.


    After that, the little beetle disappeared. With the effect of a super hiding skill, Zhang Tie appeared behind the tree silently.


    With a gold-eaten tri-edged dagger in hand, Zhang Tie''s eyes shimmered.


    With his eyes on the tree, a strange sneer appeared on his face.


    Such a raid felt like a troublemaker throwing a huge rock into the manure pit when someone was in the toilet in Blakhot City.


    ...


    ''Go die'', Zhang Tie''s eyes turned solemn at once...


    In 0.01 second, Zhang Tie released his battle qi. At the same time, he forcefully stabbed his gold-eaten tri-edged dagger into the tree by his right hand and launched a heart-breaking palm of the"Big Sun Fire Dragon Palm" by his left hand towards the tree...


    When Zhang Tie''s attack touched the tree, the demon knight who was resting inside had woken up. However, due to such a short distance, even though he had realized what happened, he had no chance to make a response to it anymore.


    As for a knight, the bamboo shoot-like huge tree was as week as a bunch of cotton. Zhang Tie stabbed into it with his gold-eaten tri-edged dagger like breaking a piece of paper. The dagger directly penetrated through the plant and entered the body of the ox-head demon knight.


    Zhang Tie felt that his heart-breaking palm hit the back of the ox-head demon knight while his gold-eaten tri-edged dagger...


    "Howl..."


    With the furious and painful howl, the ox-head demon knight shattered the tree in a split second. At the same time, it released an indifferent attack while tens of tempestuous battle qis swept over dozens of surrounding trees in the shape of a semi-lunar blade. As a result, dozens of trees fell down like ears of wheat being cut off, causing booms.


    Although the opponent was trying its best to survive itself in the emergency, of course, Zhang Tie would not collude with him face to face.


    Before the demon knight released its battle qis, Zhang Tie had stirred up his dagger in the body of the ox-head demon knight, causing a huge wound. At the same time, Zhang Tie had retreated as fast as a lightning bolt while dodging from those tempestuous battle qis.


    With a dark purple battle qi shooting into the air, the ox-head demon knight flew off right away.


    In the air, it spurted out a mouth of blood. With a painful and twisted look, it couldn''t stand uttering another howl. At the same time, it wanted to catch something from its butt or stop bleeding over there. However, it was in vain. Because Zhang Tie had stabbed the dagger into its weakest and fatal part; especially when Zhang Tie pulled out the gold-eaten tri-edged dagger, he stirred it up, expanding the wound from the fatal part all the way to the interior part of its thigh, causing a 40-cm long grim wound there...


    A knight could at least prevent the wound from bleeding only by controlling the neighboring blood vessels of the wound if not heal it right away...


    Although the blood on its thigh was immediately stopped; however, the blood on that part...


    Those left were not only blood but stinky and smelly things in its belly and intestine...


    It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that he had exploded the demon knight''s anus with that strike. In order to avoid from arousing the attention of the demon knight, Zhang Tie didn''t lock its precise location in the tree by his spiritual energy; he just stabbed into its body based on his perception.


    It was an obscene strike with a surprisingly good effect.


    Only after throwing a glance at the furious and painful look of the demon knight and its remains below, Zhang Tie had realized that he had caused the demon knight to lose half of its battle strength at least.


    ''Plus the effect of my palm, although this demon knight won''t die, for the time being, he has been heavily wounded.''


    After throwing a glare at Zhang Tie with its bloody eyes and extremely grim look, the demon knight didn''t rush towards Zhang Tie; instead, it turned around and escaped right away.


    Although it was dauntless, it was not an idiot. It knew that it had almost lost the battle although having not fought Zhang Tie. Therefore, it chose to escape so as to survive itself.


    It was nothing shameful in the first abyss.


    However, how could Zhang Tie let it go.


    The ox-head demon knight was just a black iron knight. Zhang Tie had not seen any black iron knight who could fly faster than him, not to mention that the demon knight had suffered a heavy wound.


    The demon knight released its battle qi luster and accelerated to its maximal flying speed. So did Zhang Tie while a fiery flame rose from his body.


    In such a case, now that they had noticed each other, it was meaningless to hide themselves anymore.


    The moment the demon knight moved, Zhang Tie had chased after it. Only after a few seconds, with a roar, Zhang Tie punched another palm while a fiery dragon flew off Zhang Tie''s hand and caught up with that demon knight in a split second. The demon knight wanted to resist Zhang Tie''s attack; however, it was still forced to fall off, causing a huge pit on the ground.


    The moment the demon knight flew off once again, Zhang Tie had appeared on his side while Zhang Tie drew a fierce light net using his gold-eaten tri-edged dagger and fully covered the demon knight.


    Their battle qi totems rose up at the same time...


    On the earth''s surface, the moment black iron knight''s battle qi totem rose up, it would be seen by others hundreds of miles away. By contrast, due to the ubiquitous fog, there was a low visibility in the first abyss. The knight''s battle qi totem could not be seen from 20 miles away.


    Therefore, unless they had enemies or friends within 20 miles, their battle could barely be influenced by external factors.


    As it was Zhang Tie''s first prey, Zhang Tie accelerated his attack in case of troubles.


    Zhang Tie only attacked instead of defending. The attacks from the demon knight would be carried by his protective battle qi and body; of course, his attacks would be defended by the demon knight by its own body and protective battle qi.


    Even though this demon knight was safe and sound, Zhang Tie didn''t fear about fighting it face to face at the risk of wounds, not to mention now.


    In the beginning, the demon knight could bear some rounds of face-to-face collisions with its dauntless spirit; however, after a few seconds, it had changed its face.


    It was definitely out of the imagination of the ox-head demon knight that Zhang Tie could have such a powerful battle strength, including his protective battle qi and physical strength. It could be said that Zhang Tie was the most powerful human black iron knight that it had ever met. What was more terrifying was the grim dagger in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    The dagger could easily penetrate through a knight''s protective battle qi.


    Only after half a minute, the demon knight had gained 7-8 more wounds. However, Zhang Tie didn''t even lose a hair.


    ...


    After 4 minutes, Zhang Tie inserted his gold-eaten tri-edged dagger into its collarbone ferociously. With the miserable howl of the demon knight, Zhang Tie suddenly punched his right fist into the part below its chest and caught the demon knight''s spine. Closely after that, he lifted up the demon knight like raising a barbell...


    The demon knight thought that Zhang Tie would shatter it into pieces by his battle qi; As for the inevitable death in battle, the demon knight was not afraid of it at all. Whereas, in the next second, the demon knight suddenly felt that his earth chakra which had not been fully formed started to revolve in an anticlockwise manner. Just like the ice in the pond. It was suddenly shattered by Zhang Tie''s overwhelming strength and flew into Zhang Tie''s body...


    The demon knight just watched Zhang Tie with a fearsome look while it gradually lost its strength to struggle...


    1 minute later, Zhang Tie suddenly increased his battle qi and shattered its body into a bloody mist. At the same time, two human figures fell in the distance as fast as a lightning bolt. At the sight of the scene, they were both shocked...

 914 Partners

    Chapter 914: Partners


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Coincidentally, although black iron knight''s battle qi totem could not be seen by people from afar in the first abyss, two human knights indeed flew here just now. At the sight of the battle qi totems, they flew towards here.


    When they drew closer, they saw Zhang Tie lifting up an ox-head demon knight and shattering it into a bloody mist by his battle qi.


    Although Zhang Tie was tall and sturdy, the ox-head demon knight was one head higher and sturdier than him. It was more like a fierce ox. Anyone would be shocked when they saw a human knight to lift up a demon knight who was much bigger than him and shatter it into pieces.


    After landing in the distance, the two knights'' hearts pounded at the same time. After throwing a glance at each other, they flew towards Zhang Tie at the same time.


    "Friend, we saw two battle qi totems rising up from here; therefore, we hurriedly rushed towards here. Do you need any help?"


    The two knights were both Hua knights at their 40s. One carried a saber, the other carried a sword. Given their qis, Zhang Tie knew that they were also black iron knights. The moment they drew close, the man with a sword asked in a polite way.


    "Thanks. But I''ve already killed the demon knight!" Although the blood rain sprayed over, it was blocked by Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi. After moving his punch back, Zhang Tie said in a hoarse voice while watching the two people, "F*ck, I was just resting here; however, this demon knight launched a sudden strike towards me. Now that we encountered, I had to kill this b*stard, peh..."


    Zhang Tie spat onto the ground.


    Standing several meters away from Zhang Tie, the two Hua knights glanced over the neighboring messy battlefield before moving their eyes back onto Zhang Tie. After finding that Zhang Tie didn''t even suffer a wound, the two human knights'' eyes gleamed at once.


    ''Now that this human knight could kill a demon knight without suffering any wound, it indicates that this knight is overwhelming to the demon knight.''


    "Friend, great battle skill and braveness!" The middle-aged man with a saber praised Zhang Tie before cupping his hands towards Zhang Tie, "I''m Gong Ziyao, he''s Zhou Shufan. We both came from Qingzhou Province. May I know your name?"


    "I''m Cui Li from Youngzhou Province!" Zhang Tie replied as he cupped his hands.


    Hebrews always greeted each other by shaking hands; while Hua people greeted each other by cupping their hands. Shaking hands meant that they had no weapons in hands while cupping hands meant that they covered their right hand which was most aggressive by their left hand. Both etiquettes represented peace. When two people met each other for the first time, cupping hands was more intellectual than shaking hands. Although the identity Cui Li was a bit brutal, he was not absolutely a boor.


    "We have stayed in the Lion Fortress for 2 years. But we''ve not seen younger brother Cui!" Gong Ziyao asked.


    "I''ve just come to Lion Fortress about 10 days ago!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan were more stunned.


    Zhou Shufan said with a solemn look, "I''ve not imagined that younger brother Cui has killed a demon knight and made a meritorious deed only after entering the first abyss for a few days. If this demon knight dared to come here alone, it was definitely fiercer than common demon knights. Younger brother Cui is really admirable!"


    "Heh...heh..." Zhang Tie touched his bald head with a smirk, "He''s unfortunate. As I''ve been here ahead of him. After this guy arrived, he found a hidden tree hole and took a rest inside. When he fell asleep, I stealthily moved to the back of the tree hole..." Zhang Tie raised his gold-eaten tri-edged dagger and simulated the movement of stabbing it into the tree hole forcefully, "With such a poke, I exploded his anus. As a result, he could only exert 50-60% of his full strength and was finally killed by me!"


    At the sight of the grim, sturdy tri-edged dagger and hearing the words "exploded his anus", Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan understood it right away as they couldn''t stand contracting their anuses.


    After exchanging a glance with Gong Ziyao, Zhou Shufan slowly nodded his head. They had formed a privity after a long-term cooperation. They could exchange many information only through eyes.


    Through Zhang Tie''s simple reply, the two people felt that Zhang Tie had a great battle strength and was open-minded and aboveboard. The other knights would definitely not expose the obscene means of exploding anus to them so frankly. Therefore, they liked Zhang Tie from inside.


    "Demon is human''s public enemy. As you have killed a demon knight, you have made a meritorious deed for humans. Whatever means you have used, younger brother Cui Li is a hero and a tough man as you caught this chance to kill this demon knight sharply!"


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter...


    "We should not stay here, if any earth knights were fighting in the distance, they might have been attracted by the battle here. Earth knights could see clearly the battle qi totems from over 70 miles away in the first abyss. How about changing the place?" Zhou Shufan suggested.


    "Good!" Zhang Tie ran towards the pair of ox horns which had inserted into the earth and picked them up before putting them into his battle armor. Closely after that, he rose up into the air.


    Presenting amaranth, this pair of ox horns proved that Zhang Tie had killed an ox-head demon knight. With this meritorious deed, he could enjoy many benefits in the Lion Fortress. Pitifully, this ox-head demon was a poor thing as it had no more equipment but a broken leather armor.


    In the air, Gong Ziyao asked Zhang Tie, "Young brother Cui Li, do you want to fight a few more days in the first abyss or return to the Lion Fortress?"


    "What about you?"


    "We''re going back to the Lion Fortress for some supplies and then we will come back!" Zhou Shu fan answered in an implicit way.


    "We can come back together..." Zhang Tie answered, "We can take care of each other on the way back..."


    "That''s great!"


    Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan nodded at the same time...


    Although Zhang Tie looked calm, his heart was racing crazily. It was his first time to use the Purgatory Samsara Method. He felt having made a great achievement this time. He was thinking about digesting the energy of the earth chakra of the demon knight somewhere. Additionally, with this pair of ox horns on his back, he didn''t feel convenient in the first abyss; if he didn''t want this pair of ox horns, it would arouse the doubts of the two human knights; if he put it away in his space teleportation equipment, he would expose his secret; therefore, he chose to go back to the Lion Fortress together with Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan. He would exchange this pair of ox horns for some benefits before digesting the achievements.


    As there were many powerhouses in the first abyss, black iron knights were a basic battle strength here. Zhang Tie felt that he''d better not use his portable space teleportation equipment and Castle of Black Iron so as to match his performance with the image of Cui Li. Otherwise, he might incur troubles and crises. The identity of Cui Li fit him pretty well, which was also very useful in Taixia Country. If he changed another identity, he might have to spend more time to deal with it.


    Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan were well known as Saber and Sword Partners in Qingzhou Province. They had been bosom friends for dozens of years. They had been in the earth-elements realm for 4 years. When the group of three hid their battle qi luster and flew towards the entrance of the abyss, they kept chatting. After introducing themselves, the Saber and Sword Partners started to inquire about Zhang Tie''s background.


    Of course, Zhang Tie told them about the background of Cui Li¡ª¡ªI lived in a rich family in Liuying Town at the foot of Coiling Dragon Mountain, Luye Prefecture, Yongzhou Province. I have been obsessed with battle skills since I was young. Therefore, after my parents passed away, I traveled among the famous mountains and rivers in Taixia Country and learned from masters everywhere. Later on, I experienced something special in a famous mountain and finally promoted to a knight.


    I have just returned home a few days ago and ended some secular affairs at home. Before my powerful memorial gateway was built in my hometown, I have come to the earth-elements realm and prepare to fight demons so as to live up to what I''ve learned in the past years.


    "Young brother Cui, do you think about making meritorious deeds for the country?" Zhou Shufan asked.


    "I''ve not thought about it yet. No matter what, I can''t waste my battle skills; especially in the holy war. As demons are thinking about devastating Taixia, I should do something as a tough man. I don''t care what meritorious deeds will I make; no matter what, I can''t stand being a knight who only thinks about cultivation indoors everyday. No pay, no power, no woman, no dignity! It''s boring! If it''s in peaceful times, it''s understandable for you to close your doors and enter cultivation everyday; however, the holy war has broken out, if you did the same, it''s nothing different than being a timid rabbit!"


    Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan burst out into laughter at the same time. They felt that Zhang Tie had verified the feelings of most of the knights in the Lion Fortress.


    After 3 days, the group of three started their trip back. On the way, they met some human knights; however, they didn''t meet any demon knight. Therefore, they returned to the Lion Fortress smoothly.


    At the gate of the Lion Fortress, at the sight of the pair of ox horns, the line of garrison knights threw "admiring" eyes towards Zhang Tie.


    "Tough man with ox horns, will you join our Feathers Army? Our Feathers Army is powerful with good treatment and rich human resources above and underground, how about that?" An officer shouted towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie was stunned as it was the second time for him to listen to the words. ''Did all the top four armies of Taixia Country recruit soldiers in the same way at the Lion Fortress?''

 915 Samsara

    Chapter 915: Samsara


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Thanks but I don''t want to join the army for the time being..."


    "Tough man, may I know your name?"


    "Cui Li, from Yongzhou Province!"


    After having a brief conversation with the officer just outside the gate, Zhang Tie immediately entered the Lion Fortress with Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan.


    The metal plates indicated their identities; besides, by punching a card, they could accumulate their effective service time in the fortress and gain earth-elements crystals as a reward.


    "Young brother Cui, we have to say goodbye to you. We will meet in the Iron-blood Tower at 8 pm two days later!" Gong Ziyao told Zhang Tie.


    "Yes, two elder brothers, I have to handle with these booties too, see you at the night two days later!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    After cupping hands towards each other, the three people headed for different directions.


    Over the past couple of days, the group of three had learned a lot about each other. Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan had made an appointment with Zhang Tie to meet in the Iron-blood Tower, the knights'' bar in the Lion Fortress 3 days later. They said that they had something to negotiate with Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie agreed with them.


    Watching Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan leaving, Zhang Tie recalled the map of the Lion Fortress for a second before running towards the Knights'' Tower of Brilliance.


    It was where tasks were released in the Lion Fortress and where knights could exchange their booties for resources.


    The pair of ox horns on Zhang Tie''s back indicated that Zhang Tie had killed an ox-head demon knight, which could be used to exchange for many items.


    By now, Zhang Tie was still a poor guy. Besides a residence in the Lion Fortress, he didn''t even have enough clean clothes. Besides that gold-eaten tri-edged dagger, Zhang Tie didn''t have any more weapon. Therefore, this pair of ox horns could greatly improve Zhang Tie''s "dilemma".


    Besides being good-looking, the pair of ox horns also had a great medicinal value. Through the working of pharmacists, this pair of ox horns could clear heat, cool the blood, arrest convulsion, detoxify and collect qi. It was the most precious and the main ingredient of tranquilizer for fighters below knights when they were possessed by the devil. Tranquilizer was a very precious medicine of great value. Three pills of tranquilizer might save one human fighter from being possessed by the devil on average. However, the main ingredient came from the ox-head demon knight in the Earth-elements Realm.


    Cups or kettles being made of ox horns were also expensive because they could detoxify and alleviate a hangover.


    Demons and humans were eating each other. The winner must have sharper teeth.


    As the portal for humans to enter the Earth-elements Realm, the Lion Fortress should not only be defended by humans but also serve as a base for humans to gain resources in the Earth-elements Realm.


    Zhang Tie ran all the way towards the Knights'' Tower of Brilliance. On the way, at the sight of that pair of ox horns on Zhang Tie''s back, all the knights, logistical personnel and subsidiary fighters threw admiring looks at Zhang Tie.


    The real powerful ones would gain respect wherever they were; especially those on the battlefields.


    Even by now, less than 20% of the human knights in the Lion Fortress who had fought demon knights had ever killed a demon knight.


    "What a tough man!"


    "What a hero!"


    Zhang Tie heard all sorts of praises on the way there.


    Zhang Tie ignored the eye lights of the passers-by; neither did he feel conceited. Perhaps, it was very difficult for others to kill a demon knight. Actually, Zhang Tie had killed dozens of demon knights and knights of Three-eye Association. Therefore, he didn''t feel thrilled at all.


    ...


    Being very eye-catching in the Lion Fortress, the Knights'' Tower of Brilliance was higher than 2,000 m.


    Human knights were accessing to the Knight''s Tower of Brilliance. Besides Hua knights, Zhang Tie saw many other knights of different skins.


    At the sight of the pair of ox horns on Zhang Tie''s back, all the knights accessing to the high tower threw a serious look at Zhang Tie.


    After going up over 100 metal steps, Zhang Tie came to the task lobby which covered tens of thousands of square meters.


    The moment he entered the task lobby, Zhang Tie had seen a metal curtain higher than 20 m which hung various task boards and clear introductions. On both sides of the metal curtain were counters and backrooms which were used to serve knights. It was similar to that of the Golden Roc Bank. Perhaps, the structure of the lobby of Golden Roc Bank originated from here.


    Zhang Tie muttered inside as he strode towards a counter. After putting the pair of ox horns on the counter, causing a sound "pah", he shouted in a hoarse tone, "Task delivered!"


    "A pair of ox horns of an ox-head demon knight. Not bad, not bad, it''s not even 5 days old. Fresh enough. It''s not picked from the Far-ancient battlefield in the first abyss!" An old man in red uniform checked Zhang Tie''s booty seriously as he nodded and put it into the counter, "This pair of ox horns weigh over 30 kg. A green-robed pharmacist could make over 800 pills of tranquilizer and save hundreds of human fighters'' lives with it..."


    Zhang Tie grinned. As a human knight, he indeed felt a great sense of achievement at this moment...


    "Show me your identity plate, please!" The old man''s tone turned politer.


    Zhang Tie passed his identity plate to the old man. The old man took it and inserted it into a machine on his side. After a series of operations, the old man drew it out of the machine in a few seconds. After that, he took out 18 golden earth-element crystals from the counter and pushed them to Zhang Tie.


    "Here''s your reward, 18 earth-elements crystals, 5 meritorious points and 1,000 consumption points in the Lion Fortress!"


    Touching his bald head, Zhang Tie asked, "What are the meritorious points used for?"


    The old man threw a glance at Zhang Tie,"There are many resources in the Lion Fortress that could not be enjoyed by earth-elements crystals and consumption points. You could only exchange for them with your meritorious points, such as simulative training in the Heavenly Ball..."


    ''Heavenly Ball?'' Zhang Tie was shocked. He remembered that an elder of Huaiyuan Palace mentioned that there was indeed a Heavenly Ball in the Lion Fortress. It was not exclusive to the Heavenly Fortune Sect.


    ...


    After taking his identity plate which had been recharged, Zhang Tie left the Knights'' Tower of Brilliance.


    After that, Zhang Tie went to the latest supply point and received 7 days'' supply, which included 7 breadfruits, 3,500 grams of nutritious mushroom, 3,500 grams of watermelons. After loading all of them into a metal supply case, Zhang Tie carried the supply case and returned to his knight''s tower marked as No. 1607.


    As for Zhang Tie, the supply in the fortress was not dispensable. However, after having been in the Earth-elements Realm for so many days, if he didn''t go to receive some supply, he would arouse others'' suspicions. Even knights required energy supply. Nobody could gain them out of nowhere without a space-teleportation equipment.


    After closing the gate of his knight''s tower from inside, Zhang Tie found that everything remained unchanged in the knight''s tower, leaving no dust at all.


    Although he couldn''t wait to experience the first achievement from the purgatory samsara in the cultivation room, Zhang Tie tried to recover his composure and prepare a supper for himself.


    The ingredients of the supper were the supply that he brought back.


    Actually, it was a bit exaggerated for him to make supper. As the three fruits could be eaten directly, they didn''t need to be processed at all. Zhang Tie just took out a plate, a knife and made an assorted fruit dish. After that, he took a seat and leisurely enjoyed them.


    Since he got the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie had always tried to be patient whenever he couldn''t wait to do something.


    The greater the plan was, the calmer he needed to be.


    The more anxious he was, the more relieved he should be.


    This was also a sort of cultivation.


    The breadfruit was indeed like a bread; however, it was more like a half-dried coarse bread. It was a food with thick fiber which didn''t taste good at all.


    The nutritious mushroom tasted like a dried squid, which was fishy and salty. They didn''t taste good either.


    The watermelons contained too much water and tasted a bit sweet. However, after eating them, Zhang Tie felt a bit sour.


    Although knights had powerful nerves, Zhang Tie wondered whether he would be driven mad if he ate such a food consecutively for a few years.


    After eating up the food on the plate and putting away the rest fruits, Zhang Tie recovered his composure. After that, he went upstairs and entered his cultivation room.


    ...


    After sitting in the cultivation room cross-legged, Zhang Tie entered meditation while his perceptions gradually became sensitive...


    The pure, golden earth elements were slowly rotating around the first chakra like satellites on the tracks...


    Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy while those pure earth elements directly entered the first chakra. After being grounded by the first chakra, they poured into those mysterious, complex and huge geometrical patterns in the earth chakra, lighting those geometrical patterns one after another...


    The efficiency of this method was dozens of times higher compared to that if Zhang Tie directly absorbed earth elements. Zhang Tie directly linked the main water supply pipeline to his own home.


    When Zhang Tie was quietly fixing and absorbing the essence of the chakra of the demon knight, the 31st dragon scale on his dragon crystal plate was lit after one hour...

 916 The Power of An Emperor-level Secret Method

    Chapter 916: The Power of An Emperor-level Secret Method


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The Purgatory Samsara Method was a top-secret method, which was pushed by the chakra of the major secret skill that the knight was cultivating.


    Due to the difference in the level of cultivation methods, the Purgatory Samsara Method had different effects. From a certain perspective, Purgatory Samsara Method was completely a powerful auxiliary secret skill, which also verified an early speculation of Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªIn the far-ancient times, humans had various auxiliary equipment and methods to accelerate the formation of their chakras.


    As the secret methods for fighters to promote to knights were classified into 7 levels, the effects of the Purgatory Samsara Method were also classified into 7 levels.


    There were 50 universal laws while 49 of which were derivatives, the rest one fit humans. 7 multiplied by 7 was 49, which was the necessary condition for forming seven-strength fruits. Nevertheless, the base of Purgatory Samsara was 7. It seemed that there was a mysterious connection between the Purgatory Samsara and the seven-strength fruits. They might follow universal laws.


    Being pushed by a baron-level chakra, the Purgatory Samsara could help the knight absorb 1/7 of the elements of the opponent''s chakra.


    Being pushed by a viscount-level chakra, the Purgatory Samsara could help the knight absorb 3/7 of the elements of the opponent''s chakra.


    Being pushed by a count-level chakra, the Purgatory Samsara could help the knight absorb 4/7 of the elements of the opponent''s chakra.


    Being pushed by a marquis-level chakra, the Purgatory Samsara could help the knight absorb 5/7 of the elements of the opponent''s chakra.


    Being pushed by a prince-level chakra, the Purgatory Samsara could help the knight absorb 6/7 of the element of the opponent''s chakra.


    Being pushed by an emperor-level chakra, the Purgatory Samsara could help the knight absorb all the elements of the opponent''s chakra.


    Zhao Yuan thought that Zhang Tie was cultivating a viscount-level "Five-elements Ground-look Sutra"; actually, Zhang Tie was cultivating an emperor-level "King Roc Sutra". Therefore, as for Zhang Tie, it was the "King Roc Sutra" that pushed the Purgatory Samsara. With the terrifying power of an emperor-level secret method, all the earth elements in the earth chakra of that ox-head demon knight which had not been formed were absorbed by Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie was rapidly digesting this achievement, the dragon scales on the knight''s crystal plate of Cui Li were lit one after another...


    The 31st, the 32nd, the 33rd, the 34th, the 35th, the 36th...


    When the 36th dragon scale was lit, an unexpected change occurred...


    A golden feather-shaped seed rune of "King Roc Sutra" flew out of the center of the chakra in Zhang Tie''s chest. Hovering above Zhang Tie''s head, it started to radiate brilliant luster. Zhang Tie then slowly rose up cross-legged and hovered in the air in the cultivation room...


    This seed rune was a bit different than the former seed rune of the "King Roc Sutra" before he formed the chakra. Under the golden light of the seed rune, all of Zhang Tie''s surging points started to resonate and radiate luster together with his qi sea. The runes flew out of the surging points and flew around Zhang Tie like almost 1,000 golden fireflies...


    After that, Zhang Tie released his battle qi from all of his surging points. Closely after that, the spiritual energy in his mind sea spilled out of his forehead. Four elements in the elements realm then appeared out of nowhere and poured into those firefly-shaped runes, making them more brilliant. The battle qi then intertwined with those mysterious runes and gradually formed a golden, huge shell being covered with mysterious grains around Zhang Tie...


    The entire cultivation room became quiet at once, except the mysterious lusters which flashed by the surface of that huge egg floating in the air from time to time...


    ...


    After over 10 hours, with a muffled thunder in the huge egg, more cracks started to appear on the surface of the huge egg as if something was going to be hatched. Finally, with a thunder, the mysterious eggshell was completely shattered while releasing numerous golden light spots, causing a brilliant, golden light rain in the entire cultivation room in a split second...


    ...


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes while being cross-legged in the air. The moment he put down his feet, he had stood on the ground with a confused look...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what happened just now at all.


    About 3-5% of the total earth elements of the demon knight had not been absorbed.


    Zhang Tie felt that he had lit another 5-6 dragon scales. At that moment, Zhang Tie was in ecstasy. All of a sudden, he felt that the first and the second chakra which had not been formed rocked at the same time while releasing a strong luster, sending Zhang Tie into an absolute, empty chaotic state physically and mentally...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what happened to him just now. He just felt being in an empty, chaotic state while all of his surging points were exchanging energy with something else. It seemed that he had opened one deeper level of his surging points.


    After that...


    He didn''t know how long had passed when all the surging points rocked. Closely after that, a thunder occurred in the chaos along with a light. Then, the sky and the ground were divided while everything became clearer. Zhang Tie finally woke up.


    He found that he was floating in the air.


    After sensing his body, Zhang Tie widely opened his mouth. He felt wholly new as this body was utterly different than that before he entered the cultivation room.


    Zhang Tie attempted to make some movements and control his battle qi but he felt evidently different than before.


    He could feel an overall increase of 10% in the capacity and power of battle qi, physical strength, reaction speed, defensive and anti-strike ability, even the surging spiritual energy in his mind sea.


    It meant that his battle strength had increased by 10%, which was a new stage and progress for a knight; especially the incremental part of spiritual energy was even much more than the total spiritual energy of a common black iron knight.


    After taking a free walk in the cultivation room, Zhang Tie felt so light that he almost floated in the air.


    ''Why?''


    Zhang Tie was both shocked and confused.


    Before he fully accepted the surprise brought by the Purgatory Samsara Method pushed by the "King Roc Sutra", Zhang Tie welcomed another surprise.


    All of a sudden, something occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind. Zhang Tie took out the Cui Li''s crystal plate and found 36 dragon scales had been lit.


    ''36 scales were 1/10 of the total 360 scales required to form a chakra.''


    ''Does it mean that the sudden change just now was caused by the "King Roc Sutra" after forming 1/10 of the earth chakra?''


    ''Wait, 36 scales...''


    Something occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind once again.


    A few years ago, when Zhang Tie had promoted to a knight in Waii Subcontinent and received the knight''s crystal plate, he thought that the power of black iron knights was divided by the number of scales that they had lit. Later on, as he deepened his understanding of knights, he knew more secrets about them.


    The scale was the most objective unit of measurement that represented the cultivation base and progress of a knight. However, in the knights'' world, especially in Taixia Country, the center of the human world, each knights'' level was further divided into ranks. It was too general to regard 360 scales as a realm. If each scale was taken as a realm, it was too sophisticated, which sometimes could not reflect the genuine battle strength of knights who cultivated different secret methods. Therefore, they needed a more objective and easier division standard to measure ranks.


    Actually, each level of the knights, black iron knight, earth knight, even shadow or heavenly knight could be divided into 9 small ranks, which were called "changes", 36 scales were called 1 change; 360 scales were called 10 changes. After 9 changes, when one lit 36 more scales, one would completely form a new chakra and promote to the next level of the knight.


    Take black iron knight as an instance, the progress from 0 to 35 scales was the consolidation period.


    When one lit 36-71 scales, one was called 1 change black iron knight.


    When one lit 72-107 scales, one was called 2 changes black iron knight.


    ...


    When one lit 324-359 scales, one was called 9 changes black iron knight, which was also called great perfection stage of a black iron knight and was the last stage for a black iron knight to promote to a higher level.


    After lighting the 360th scale, of course, the black iron knight would advance to the next level as he had formed a new chakra.


    ''36 scales, I''ve just lit 36 scales...''


    ''Change¡ª¡ªwasn''t I "changing" just now?''


    Being shocked immediately, Zhang Tie figured out something at once, ''Is the standard of "change" based on the emperor-level classic?''


    According to the viscount-level classic "Five-elements Ground-look Sutra", Zhang Tie remembered that after lighting each 1/4 of a chakra, one would gain a chance to strengthen one''s five-elements battle qi; it was also mentioned in the marquis-level classic "Fire Dragon Sutra" that, after lighting each 1/6 of a chakra, one would gain a chance to strengthen one''s overall strength. ''1/4 of a chakra match 90 scales while 1/6 of a chakra match 60 scales; however, I could strengthen my battle strength only after lighting 36 scales. Does it mean that one could strength one''s overall strength 10 times if one cultivates an emperor-level secret method? Additionally, do people strengthen their overall strength at different times due to different levels of secret methods?''


    Take viscount-level secret methods as an instance, only after one promoted to 2 changes black iron knight could one strengthen one''s overall strength. Similarly, those who cultivated baron-level secret methods could only gain 3 chances to strengthen their overall strength at each level...


    ...


    After throwing a glance at the clock hanging on the wall of the cultivation room, Zhang Tie found that one day had passed. It was already 6 pm. After remembering that he had to meet Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan in the Iron-blood Tower two hours later, Zhang Tie recovered his composure for a short while before leaving his knight''s tower...

 917 Meeting Pandora Once Again

    Chapter 917: Meeting Pandora Once Again


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After walking out of his knight''s tower, Zhang Tie looked up at the dull red sky and took a deep breath. After that, he strode towards the Iron-blood Tower...


    The sky in the Earth-elements Realm reminded Zhang Tie of Castle of Black Iron. In the Earth-elements Realm, it would also turn dark in the evening while the weird clouds in the sky caused a low visibility just like that in the evening on the earth''s surface.


    On the earth''s surface, at night, sometimes the moons were bright and the stars were few when the visibility was very high; sometimes, the moons were covered with black clouds when it was pitch dark. In the underground world, the exotic clouds in the sky of the Earth-elements Realm seemed to reflect the climates on the earth''s surface too.


    Besides day and night, the Earth-elements Realm was exchanging atmosphere with the earth''s surface, causing alternative four seasons and various climates.


    After Zhang Tie left the knight''s tower for less than half an hour, the sky outside the Lion Fortress had completely turned dark.


    Bang...


    A loud sound drifted from the sky.


    Zhang Tie looked up and caught sight of a golden lightning bolt which flashed across the top of that huge pyramid in the middle of the Lion Fortress. In a split second, it started to rain heavily.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see the rain in the Earth-elements Realm.


    It was marvelous to see it raining in the Earth-elements Realm. Due to the existence of the transparent energy cover, all the raindrops would slide off the energy cover, causing a layer of exotic ripples on the dome of the Lion Fortress. It felt just like enjoying a heavy rain in the dining hall on the top floor of a skyscraper with a glass dome.


    The heavy raindrops slid off the glass dome; however, the dining hall was dry. Sitting in such a dining hall, listening to the melodious performance of violin and piano, sniffing the fragrance of rose blossom, and having a candlelight dinner with a beauty in bobtail. How romantic it was...


    However, Zhang Tie was in the Lion Fortress, which had nothing to do with romance.


    Although there was no rose here, there were a lot of grim demons. The beauties here were a scarce resource. It depended whether you could have a dinner with a beauty. The fortress was filled with high-end eternal fluorite lamps. Zhang Tie thought that few candlesticks could be found here. Additionally, there was a river of magma with stimulative sulphuric smell being not far from the fortress. There was no feast here. All the resources on the earth''s surface were relatively scarcer here. Breadfruit, nutritious mushroom and watermelons definitely posed a great test to your palate...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether the beauty would feel romantic when eating breadfruits, nutritious mushrooms and watermelons. No matter what, Zhang Tie didn''t feel that it was necessary for him to eat those fruits. By having those fruits, you would not starve to death and could maintain your physical strength to move; however, your palates would suffer a lot. As there was a lot of tasty food in Castle of Black Iron, it was unnecessary for Zhang Tie to endure hardships in his knight''s tower.


    In the evening, Zhang Tie found fewer passers-by on the streets of the Lion Fortress. Besides knights, many logistical personnel and auxiliary fighters in the fortress had started to relax themselves. Only a few people were on duty.


    Both humans and demons should comply with the universal rule of the balance of yin and yang. Sun would rise and fall; oceans would ebb and flow; plants had ups and downs. As living beings, how could humans and demons become intense around the clock like having dozens of kgs of viagra?


    At this moment, perhaps, some human knights were still wandering and fighting demons outside the Lion Fortress and the first abyss while some others were still cultivating in their own knight''s tower; however, it was time for most of the human knights to relax themselves after one day''s busy work.


    There were many bars on both roadsides of the streets in the Lion Fortress. As this place lacked resources on the earth''s surface, many people in the Lion Fortress chose to relax themselves in the bars, where they could enjoy music and laughter.


    In the evening, Zhang Tie felt the Lion Fortress became more like a market. Walking on the streets and sensing the reassuring qi, Zhang Tie, who had been restless since he started to escape, gradually recovered his composure. As a person who grew up in a small city, this qi made him comfortable like bathing the spring wind and raindrops. The burst of laughter from roadside bars made him feel especially safe and genial.


    Not every knight liked this atmosphere. Therefore, the bars in the Lion Fortress were all far away from the knights'' towers. However, Zhang Tie felt as free as fish in water in such an atmosphere. He didn''t feel bored at all.


    Generally, there were two kinds of bars in the Lion Fortress: first, being exclusive for people in certain classes and circles such as logistical personnel and knights. Although there was no stipulation in explicit terms, those customers basically stuck to this game rule. Outsiders would not enter a bar which was exclusive to a specific group of people in case of arousing others'' attention. Additionally, it was impolite; second, they were open to people regardless of their identities. They just drank, chatted, bragged, accosted girls, exploited connections and learned from others, etc...


    Iron-blood Tower belonged to the first type of bar. Only knights consumed there.


    The Iron-blood Tower was over 1,000 m in height, making it outstanding among the other knights'' towers whose height on average was only about 500 m.


    Under the heavy rain and rumbling thunders, Zhang Tie came to the Iron-blood Tower on time.


    Compared to the exaggerated gates of the other high towers, the gate of the Iron-blood Tower was much smaller. At the sight of its gate, Zhang Tie had known that it was a private place. If Zhang Tie was a bit taller, he had to stoop down.


    After entering the gate, Zhang Tie came to a vestibule. After passing the vestibule, Zhang Tie entered a metal tunnel, both sides of which were carved with various rough reliefs. There were blue fluorite lamps in the tunnel, creating a pretty good atmosphere. Zhang Tie could hear the melodious piano tune in the tunnel from the bar. The ornaments below the crystal floor of the tunnel were earth-elements crystals...


    This tunnel was luxurious enough even for knights.


    The moment he exited the metal tunnel, Zhang Tie''s sight had been expanded. He caught sight of a woman, whose black hair was covering her shoulders, playing a melodious piano tune on a music stool...


    At the sight of the woman, Zhang Tie had felt getting an electric shock; he almost forgot how to walk...


    The woman raised her head and threw a glance at Zhang Tie. The pair of eyes were like black gemstones. How familiar and unforgettable they were...


    ...


    Being late at a heavily rainy night in the common bus station in Blackhot City...


    The girl was watching him while her face was covered with tears...


    "...when I grow as beautiful as Miss Daina, if you''re still alive, will I marry you on behalf of her?"


    The boy burst out into tears...


    ...


    In a split second, Zhang Tie felt like returning to the past while that girl''s words rang in his ears...


    After so many years, the girl had been even more beautiful than Miss Daina...


    Although Pandora had changed her look, Zhang Tie could still recognize her. The boy had changed his look too; however, he could never be recognized by Pandora.


    ''Why is she here?''


    In a split second, numerous whims flashed by Zhang Tie''s mind.


    ...


    "Young brother Cui Li, here..." Gong Ziyao stood up from a cassette at 9 am direction and wove his hand towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile and waved his hand towards Gong Ziyao before striding towards Pandora...


    Pandora wore a black longuette. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t know whether she was working here or having a rest. However, each of the two identities was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination.


    Right under the gaze of Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan, Zhang Tie stopped in front of Pandora who was playing a piano tune and glanced at her right hand.


    He caught sight of the very black seal ring on her fair, plump, smooth and slim fourth finger of her right hand.


    "Young sister, do you have a boyfriend?" Zhang Tie watched Pandora with his glittering eyes while asking her in a hoarse voice.


    With a sound of "Huala", before Pandora replied, 8-9 knights had sprung up while staring at Zhang Tie with malicious eyes...


    The greater part of the 8-9 knights were Hua knights while the rest two were Hebrew knights.


    ...


    "Audacious..."


    "How dare you be so rude to Miss Pandora?"


    "Does this guy treat us as farts?"


    ...


    Along with the furious reprimands, two Hua knights were just gazing at Zhang Tie silently with sharp killing qis.


    Pandora stopped playing her piano as she faintly raised her head and threw a glance at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, she asked, "Who''re you?"


    "Cui Li, from Yongzhou Province!"


    "I''ve already got a boyfriend!"


    "When I caught sight of you, I fell in love with you immediately. Pitifully, I''m one step later!" Zhang Tie shrugged while he threw another glance at Pandora. After that, he directly walked toward Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan.


    Watching Zhang Tie leaving so fast, the other knights who had just sprung up sat down...

 918 Familiar Strangers

    Chapter 918: Familiar Strangers


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Elder brothers, who''s that woman?" Zhang Tie asked straightforwardly after coming to the side of Gong Ziyao and Zhou Sufan.


    Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan exchanged a glance with each other. After staying with Zhang Tie a couple of days, they both knew that Zhang Tie was straightforward; however, they had not imagined that he could be so unconstrained. How could he directly ask a girl if she had a boyfriend the moment he caught sight of her? It was their first time to see such a person.


    Zhou Sufan forced a bitter smile, "Younger brother, take a seat first!"


    Although Zhang Tie sat down, he was still gazing at Zhou Shufan.


    After Zhang Tie''s interruption, Pandora didn''t feel like playing the piano anymore. She stopped and directly walked out of the bar, closely followed by the two silent Hua knights. The other knights just watched Pandora leaving with reluctant looks. Two more guys were throwing furious glances at Zhang Tie as if they were complaining that Zhang Tie had disturbed their good moods.


    "This woman has been in the Lion Fortress for over 1 year. She''s the princess of the Demon Killing Valley, the granddaughter of the head of the Demon Killing Valley, she''s called Pandora!"


    Zhou Shufan told Zhang Tie about Pandora''s background in a secret manner.


    After hearing this message, Zhang Tie widely opened his mouth with an amazed look.


    The princess of Sacred Golden Orchid Empire, the daughter of Haiger VII the weird emperor, the granddaughter of the head of Demon Killing Valley. All these identities puzzled Zhang Tie.


    ''With an evident, foreign look, Pandora had the bloodline of Hebrews, how could she be the granddaughter of the head of the Demon Killing Valley?''


    When Zhang Tie thought about it, he asked this question in a secret manner, "Elder brother Zhou, this woman has a foreign bloodline, how could she be the granddaughter of the head of Demon Killing Valley? Does the head of the Demon Killing Valley also have a foreign bloodline?"


    "How could a leader of one of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country carry a foreign bloodline? It''s told that Pandora was the daughter of a young daughter of Wu Dingtian the head of Demon Killing Valley and an emperor of a subcontinent who traversed across Taixia Country many years ago. She had been living in a remote place away from Taixia Country. After the holy war broke out, she returned to Taixia Country. As one of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country, the Demon Killing Valley is very powerful and has a lot of secrets!"


    "What''s this woman doing in the Lion Fortress? I couldn''t find a knight''s qi from her. She should not be a knight. What does the head of Demon Killing Valley mean by dropping her granddaughter in the Lion Fortress?"


    "Younger brother, you''re wrong this time!" Gong Ziyao replied Zhang Tie in a secret way, "Pandora is very famous in the Lion Fortress. I was told that she had awakened two top heavenly-rank bloodlines, the dark body and the bad luck curse. With the dark body, she could completely hide her qi. No matter how powerful she is, she just looks like a commoner; as for the bad luck curse, all those who are against her will be in great troubles. The two bloodlines are exclusive top bloodlines of the Wu Clan in Taixia Country. With the secret battle skills of Demon Killing Valley, this woman has killed more than 5 demon knights in the past one year."


    After hearing Gong Ziyao''s introduction, Zhang Tie was greatly shocked. He couldn''t help recalling how Pandora was pushed aside by the other girls in the Wild Wolf Valley. ''As all the other girls said that they would have a bad luck when they stay with Pandora, Pandora was always lonely in the Wild Wolf Castle. She had no friend at all. Is this caused by the strength of her bloodline? After encountering Pandora a few times, I also suffered from some dangers. Pandora felt very sorry for that. Perhaps, Pandora had already realized that she had awakened some special bloodline at that time. Therefore, she became increasingly lonely and sensitive...''


    Additionally, Zhang Tie knew that many major families, even common families in Taixia Country forbade their Hua girls to marry foreign people; otherwise, it was always regarded as a humiliation. When he recalled that Pandora, as the princess of Sacred Golden Orchid Empire, had to dwell in Blackhot City instead of returning to Taixia Country, Zhang Tie doubted that this might be because that her mother was a daughter of the head of Demon Killing Valley. Due to some unknown reason or the stress from Demon Killing Valley, the emperor Haiger VII who dreamed to build a powerful mechanical troop in the black iron age had to take Pandora away from the imperial palace and hide her in a secret place.


    Zhang Tie remembered that Pandora had never mentioned about her mother.


    It was completely out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that Pandora could be a knight. ''However, given the terrifying resources and powerful backgrounds of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country and the fact that Pandora had awakened her powerful heavenly-rank bloodlines, it was not difficult for Wu Dingtian the head of the Demon Killing Valley to help Pandora promote to a knight in a few years. Even I could promote to a knight, not to mention a princess of one of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country, whose identity is much nobler than the princess of Sacred Golden Orchid Empire. Additionally, I was told that the top 7 sects in Taixia Country had private towers of time, which were an extremely scarce resource. Of course, they could produce knights very fast...''


    Zhang Tie thought through many things at once.


    However, although Zhang Tie could not get her for the time being, he had been satisfied too much after knowing that Pandora lived pretty well with such a powerful background. After the demonized puppets disaster on subcontinents and witnessing hundreds of millions of people dying miserably, Zhang Tie just hoped Pandora to survive herself for a very long time until the moment just now.


    Therefore, after knowing that Pandora was still alive, Zhang Tie became reassured.


    Seeing that Pandora was still wearing the finger ring that he had gifted her, Zhang Tie became reassured and pretty moved. However, neither he nor Pandora could be as capricious as before.


    Being once young and frivolous and having made an unalterable oath of marriage and always being moved by each other, Zhang Tie wondered how important he still was in Pandora''s heart.


    Due to the growth, changing environment, time and space and status, the innocence might have gradually faded away.


    Given his current situation¡ª¡ªbeing wanted by the Supreme Court in Taixia Country and being hunted by the official and mysterious powers of Taixia Country at the same time, Zhang Tie felt like being an alchemist''s bomb which was going to explode at any time; therefore, he dared not expose his original look to Pandora in case of unpredictable troubles and dangers to the latter.


    At this moment, he could only hold back even though he had too many words to say.


    The previous performance of Zhang Tie was not out of his whim or impulsion. It was a decision that Zhang Tie made in a split second after consideration. With this start, if he was close to Pandora again, or protected her or made good overtures to her, it would be regarded as a normal deed of a man who wanted to court Pandora.


    Zhang Tie loved Pandora. Many times, one cared about and loved another in his own pattern.


    As a princess of Demon Killing Valley, Pandora could easily gain a lot of suitors in the Lion Fortress due to her power, background, even the distinctive look. What happened just now was nothing strange to Pandora at all. As all the knights were very confident, not only Zhang Tie who was straightforward in the Lion Fortress.


    Of course, Pandora didn''t know that the suitor was Zhang Tie.


    However, Zhang Tie knew that she was Pandora...


    Although they had met each other, they could not recover their former ties.


    Zhang Tie didn''t withdraw his full attention from Pandora until her footsteps completely disappeared.


    After departing for so many years, Zhang Tie suddenly re-encountered Pandora and departed with her in such a calm manner just like strangers.


    Although Zhang Tie became spirited, his mind was still filled with the look of Pandora and the warm moments between them...


    ¡ª¡ªAm I still your beloved one?


    Zhang Tie asked inside, although he didn''t expect that Pandora could hear it.


    Pandora who had come to the outside of the Iron-blood Tower slowly stopped her footsteps while she faintly frowned her beautiful eyebrows. She suddenly felt melancholy like having missed something precious the moment she left the Iron-blood Tower. At the same time, her heart raced for a second...


    Right then, a lightning bolt flashed across the skyline, closely followed by a rumbling...


    Pandora looked up and watched the rain curtain above the Lion Fortress¡ª¡ª


    After a long while...


    "Am I still your beloved one?" Pandora muttered while her eyes became blurred.


    That night, the rain was as heavy as this, however, that person was not on her side anymore. She was concerned about him so much.


    "Miss..." One of the two knights who followed her walked forward and asked her what happened...


    Closing her eyes for a few seconds, Pandora opened her eyes which had turned distant and decisive, "Let''s go to the first abyss..."


    After 10 more minutes, three lights rushed out of the gate of the Lion Fortress and disappeared in the heavy rain...


    ...


    After being apart for so many years, Zhang Tie suddenly re-encountered Pandora and departed with her in such a calm manner just like strangers.

 919 Alluring Secret Items

    Chapter 919: Alluring Secret Items


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After Pandora left...


    Some more knights entered the Iron-blood Tower Bar. It was still boisterous over there; especially when some female knights entered the bar, they made the surrounding men restless at once. As a result, men queued up to invite those girls for a drink...


    After throwing a glance at those female knights, Zhang Tie withdrew his eye lights.


    The liquor in the bar was brewed by watermelons. It tasted like beer. Although it tasted a bit bitter and strange, this liquor would still cost one consumption point a cup.


    Zhang Tie''s mood was like the watermelon liquor in his hand. Watching Pandora leaving, Zhang Tie also felt a bit bitter. Besides, he felt a bit enraged inside...


    However, he could only bury these feelings deep inside.


    The surrounding knights were drinking and chatting. As for those usual contents, they directly talked with each other; however, even the usual contents were major events for commoners.


    Some foreign knights being not far away from Zhang Tie were chatting that someone was going to be a No. 1 knight of a country in a subcontinent in a usual tone while the other knights at a farther table were discussing the advantages and disadvantages to be a corps leader at this moment.


    In front of commoners, the topics such as becoming a No. 1 knight or a corps leader were all major events that could influence numerous people''s fates. However, in Iron-blood Tower of the Lion Fortress, these contents were casually discussed and determined by knights.


    This was the knights'' world!


    Zhang Tie sighed with emotions. Looking around these people, Zhang Tie knew that if a knight became famous in the Earth-elements Realm or in the Lion Fortress, he or she would have a great influence and reputation in the entire human world. If these knights could survive here, when they exited the Earth-elements Realm, they would be No. 1 in a region. They were on the top of the pyramid of human rights. If someone could become outstanding among these human knights, he or she would leave a brand in the top circle of humans. In the future, he or she would have an inestimable influence for sure.


    Now that Pandora became famous in the Lion Fortress within such a short period, she must have a very powerful battle strength.


    What happened just now was just a small episode for Gong Ziyao and Zhou Sufan. They didn''t care about that at all. Actually, they had something to negotiate with Zhang Tie.


    After having some cups of watermelon liquor and chatting, Gong Ziyao exchanged a glance with Zhou Shufan. Gong Ziyao then opened his mouth once again.


    "Young brother, have you heard about silver secret items?"


    Gong Ziyao asked in a secret way. Therefore, nobody else could hear that except for Zhang Tie.


    "Yup, it''s said that silver secret items are very marvelous. When in need, they could come out of nowhere after extracting four elements from the elements realm. They''re very powerful!" Zhang Tie replied in a secret way too.


    As for knights, only silver secret items that came from the underground world could be the exclusive equipment of knights. After promoting to knights, being affected by the black iron effect, most of the equipment for knights produced by rune equipment masters and alchemists were actually dispensable. It was not determined by someone, but by the difference between civilizations and levels in the long river course of history. Some civilizations had been on the peak while some civilizations were still in the valley and remained unchanged.


    "As young brother has just been here, I wonder whether you have gotten your exclusive silver secret item yet?"


    "Elder brother Gong, you must be kidding. I''m new here, how could I have any silver secret item?" Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    Zhang Tie indeed got a silver secret item from the demon general. As he had not made it legitimate, Zhang Tie wouldn''t expose it easily.


    "To tell you the truth, brother Zhou and I have got a chance to gain silver secret items in the first abyss, therefore we came back to make some preparations for that. As we both like you and admire your battle strength very much, after negotiating with each other, we want to know whether young brother Cui would like to have a try with us and get a silver secret item for yourself so that you could have a self-protection in case of greater dangers in the future!"


    Zhang Tie straightened up and put down his glass.


    Gong Ziyao looked very solemn. It didn''t look like a joke.


    How could Zhang Tie refuse the chance to have a silver secret item aboveboard?


    "Are you sure we can have some?"


    "Not sure. Silver secret items are precious wherever they are. Anyone who got it would not like to expose it to the public; additionally, the more the better. However, as we''ve been staying in the Lion Fortress for a long time, we''re well-informed. Additionally, we''ve met some friends. This time, we''ve got a chance to gain silver secret items. If young brother could join us, even if there''s any danger, we three could form a 3-in-1 matrix and have a greater chance to survive ourselves."


    "Are we going to the first abyss?"


    "Yes, not only three of us. A team of knights in Lion Fortress would go there under the leadership of an earth knight. Those who will go there tonight would meet in the Iron-blood Tower! If young brother has determined to join us, we can go and meet the other knights after a while."


    "Right in the Iron-blood Tower?"


    "Yup, in a private room above us at 9 pm!"


    Only after considering it for half a second, Zhang Tie had nodded and made his decision, "Sure, thanks to your appreciation, I will have a try with two elder brothers this time regardless of a mountain of swords and a sea of flames!"


    Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan burst out into laughter at the same time.


    "That''s our friend, hahaha..."


    ...


    After Zhang Tie fixed the plan with Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan, the group of three waited for the rest of the team while drinking and chatting in the bar. Only after a short while, some knights came to the lobby of the bar. After throwing a glance inside, one of them caught sight of Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan. He then pointed upstairs before going there from the staircase on one side.


    Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan then exchanged a glance with Zhang Tie at the same time. The group of three then left their cassettes and went upstairs after the rest of the team...

 920 Mountain Lifting Hermi

    Chapter 920: Mountain Lifting Hermit


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The private room upstairs was more brilliant. Covering over 300 square meters, it was as resplendent and magnificent as an imperial palace.


    Soon after Zhang Tie, Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan arrived here, the other knights constantly entered this private room.


    It was a secret party for some knights in the Lion Fortress. Therefore, they all arrived here on time. After entering the private room, they exchanged a glance with each other and nodded at each other before taking a seat quietly.


    Before 9 pm, 11 knights had arrived in the private room. They were in 4 groups, three groups were composed of 3 knights respectively while the rest two Hua knights were a couple given their genial looks and behaviors. One group was composed of three foreigners¡ª¡ªa black tough man, a white tough man and a blonde woman.


    The 4 groups of knights were destructive to a city or a nation in any subcontinent.


    All the knights here had strong qis. They were at least more capable and vigorous than common black iron knights. Many of them had a bloody sense of oppression.


    Many knights here threw a glance at Zhang Tie in spite of themselves because of Zhang Tie''s sturdy figure and height and dowdy look.


    Compared to the other knights, Zhang Tie was completely like a migrant worker from a slum as he only wore a set of common battle uniforms without any special weapon. However, the other knights'' helmets, armors or portable weapons were all senior commodities which had broken the black iron effect. Given their looks, Zhang Tie knew that they were all elaborate works which were worth millions of gold coins. Even the Hua couple in white and golden boa silk robes with white-sheath longswords at their waists looked like an immortal couple.


    All the knights arrived at this private room a few minutes earlier than the regulation. After that, they just waited here and communicated with each other in a secret way.


    A black tough guy constantly threw a glance at Zhang Tie. As his figure and height were outstanding among all the knights at present, he had not imagined that Zhang Tie was taller than him; additionally, Zhang Tie''s muscles were as firm as steel which revealed an explosive strength faintly.


    Watching the black tough man glancing at him, Zhang Tie grinned towards him.


    This black tough man reminded Zhang Tie of Bagdad. Such a knight was definitely the idol of Bagdad.


    At 9 pm, the door of the private room was pushed open from outside while a man entered.


    Watching this man entering the room, all the knights who were sitting in the private room stood up at once so as to greet him.


    Zhang Tie stood up together with Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan too; meanwhile, he glanced at the man out of curiosity.


    That was an old man at his 60s. He was not tall and was even a bit thin. Besides two strands of silver hair near his temples, his hair looked pretty smooth and tidy. With bulgy nose and forehead and slim legs, his eyes glittered.


    Given the sense of oppression which was overwhelming to black iron knights at present, Zhang Tie knew that this guy must be an earth knight. Given the other knights'' response to him, Zhang Tie knew that this guy must be extremely dignified among these people.


    "Mountain Lifting Hermit..." They all greeted him.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit was the official name of this earth knight, which also represented his background in Taixia Country. Given his official name, he didn''t serve the imperial palace or any major clan in Taixia Country. Otherwise, they would add Lord plus official positions such as General, Provincial Governor ahead of Mountain Lifting. However, if this guy originated from a major clan, he would be called Elder or Clan Head Mountain Lifting. The official name Mountain Lifting Hermit indicated that he was a lonely knight who used to cultivate himself or a member of a sect in Taixia Country.


    Zhang Tie''s current identity was also a lonely knight.


    Mountain Liting Hermit nodded as he threw a glance over the knights at present before saying, "Please take a seat!"


    After the Mountain Lifting Hermit issued an order, he walked to a long table in the private room and sat on the main seat. At the sight of this, the other knights in the corners and sofas of the private room also came to the long table and sat down.


    As the table was longer than 10 m, it was available for over 20 people, not to mention the 12 knights in total.


    Zhang Tie walked over there with Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan and sat inferior to them, also the end of the left side of Mountain Lifting Hermit. As Zhang Tie was tall and sturdy, he sat there with ease. On his opposite were the three foreign knights.


    It felt like a mini-conference among knights. If being led by a black iron knight, this team was already destructive in Waii Subcontinent, not to mention that it was led by an earth knight.


    Zhang Tie sighed with emotions inside, ''Lion Fortress is really a capital city of knights.''


    It seemed that all the knights at present had known about Mountain Lifting Hermit; however, they were strange to each other. Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan were just a bit familiar with that knight who greeted them in the lobby of the bar just now. They had heard about the others at most. Take the immortal couple as an instance, Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan heard that couple came from Huizhou Province, Taixia Country, who excelled at the combined strike. They had killed some demon knights in the Lion Fortress.


    "Now that you came here, you must have known our purpose. I will put it simply. Our destination is a pre-historical relic in the first abyss. Due to the hurricane in the abyss, that pre-historical relic was accessible every 3 years. Last time, someone found the Mountain of Weapons in the pre-historical relic and gained a lot of silver secret items from there. Someone even gained nanobeads and space-teleportation equipment from there. My first target is nanobead and space-teleportation equipment!" The Mountain Lifting Hermit said in a muffled voice.


    The moment the other black iron knights heard "Mountain of Weapons", they were in uproar at once.


    "If so, Mountain Lifting Hermit, why do you summon us to go there? Based on your battle strength and skills, you could easily gain nanobead and space-teleportation equipment over there alone." The male of the couple on the right hand of Mountain Lifting Hermit posed his question. As knights, they all had their own concerns and benefits, especially in such an action. Even though Mountain Lifting Hermit was an earth knight, he was on equal footing with the other black iron knights on rights. He had no right to order the other black iron knights to do anything.


    "That pre-historical relic is in a space like a Shangrila. It''s a hieron. According to the knights who entered the pre-historical relics for the first time, some powerful battle puppets were safeguarding the pre-historical hieron inside. It would take a long time for one person to repel those battle puppets. Before the hurricane in the abyss sealed the pre-historical relic once again, I alone might not have a chance to gain any silver secret item or other space-teleportation equipment. Therefore, if we go there in a team, we could share the stress and benefits together. It''s a win-win situation!"


    "You mean we might encounter enemies in the pre-historic relic?" Zhou Shufan asked after thinking for a second.


    "Yes!" Mountain Lifting Hermit nodded immediately, "Additionally, the pre-historical relic is in a very deep place of the first abyss, which is crisscrossed with the frequent forces of the demons. We probably need to fight demons there. Even though we could enter the pre-historical relic, we might face competitions from other knights from the Lion Fortress. Therefore, it''s a very dangerous action; plus, we cannot ensure that everyone at present could gain a silver secret item!"


    "How do we allocate the booties?" The white knight on the opposite of Zhang Tie asked.


    "Before entering the pre-historical relic, the booties and meritorious points that you gain from killing demon knights belong to yourselves. After entering the pre-historical relics, we will join hands to break the battle puppets in the hieron. The first space-teleportation equipment that our team gains belong to me, nanobead or others. If there''s no space-teleportation equipment, the first silver secret item that our team gains belong to me. I enjoy the right of selecting one item at first. As for the rest, it depends. I don''t need anything else from you!"


    Mountain Lifting Hermit revealed his plan of allocation in an arrogant look yet fair way. As an earth knight with greater battle strength, the convener and the leader of this action, of course, he enjoyed a greater right of distribution.


    After thinking for a second, everybody else nodded.


    "As this action is very dangerous, I hope everybody at present is a powerhouse who has at least killed one demon knight." Mountain Lifting Hermit said as he focused on Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie was a newbie in the Lion Fortress. Therefore, few people knew him here; plus his dowdy look, no wonder Mountain Lifting Hermit paid more attention to him.


    Hearing Mountain Lifting Hermit''s suggestion, all the other knights moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie.


    "Although young elder Cui Li has been in the Lion Fortress for less than 1 month, he has just killed an ox-head demon knight a few days ago!" Zhou Shufan said calmly.


    All the others gleamed their eyes before moving their eyes away from Zhang Tie...


    Mountain Lifting Hermit then moved his eyes away from all the other knights one after another before saying with absolute certainty, "Now that we''ve made a decision, we will set off at 9 pm tomorrow..."

 921 Becoming a Celestial Being

    Chapter 921: Becoming a Celestial Being


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As knights treasured time so much, they did everything at a high efficiency.


    The entire process of Mountain Lifting Hermit entering the room to leaving lasted less than 5 minutes. After a short meeting with each other, the 12 knights left the Iron-blood Tower respectively.


    As they were going to set off at 9 pm tomorrow, they only had 24 hours left for making preparations in the Lion Fortress.


    When Zhang Tie, Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan left the Iron-blood Tower, the heavy rain had not stopped yet. It was still pitch-dark outside the fortress.


    "Brother Cui, we might encounter many accidents in this action, you''d better prepare some equipment in case of possible dangers!"


    "Thanks, brother Zhou, I''m thinking about preparing something!"


    "If you don''t have enough consumption points and earth-elements crystals. Just tell us, we''ve got 10 more earth-elements crystals, you could exchange them for many items!"


    "I''ve not used up the earth-elements crystals that I''ve exchanged with the horns of that ox-head demon. Additionally, I''ve got 1,000 consumption points left. It''s enough!"


    "Which weapon are you good at, brother Cui?"


    "Spear!"


    "Spear!" Zhou Shufan glanced at Zhang Tie''s tower-like figure seriously as if he was imagining how Zhang Tie looked when he used a spear, "It''s a popular weapon. You could buy it in the equipment stores in the fortress. Top-quality spears need to be customized which requires longer time. I''m afraid that you might not have enough time to customize spears."


    "No problem, I will take a look in the equipment stores. By the way, I will buy some other items!"


    "See you tomorrow then!"


    "Yes, see you tomorrow!"


    Gong Ziyao, Zhou Shufan and Zhang Tie then cupped their hands towards each other before separating from each other.


    Seeing Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan off, Zhang Tie recalled Pandora''s look once again...


    Standing outside the Iron-blood Tower for a few seconds in an absent-minded way, Zhang Tie shook his head. After recalling the locations of the equipment stores on the map of the Lion Fortress, Zhang Tie strode away...


    ...


    3 hours later, Zhang Tie returned to his private knight''s tower with a senior metal field operations bag which was longer than 70 cm. A knight''s battle spear which had been folded into three sections was inserted to one side of the bag.


    It was a snapping-up, in which Zhang Tie spent 80% of his earth-elements crystals and consumption points.


    The most expensive one among the commodities that he had purchased was that knight-level foldable battle spear, which was called abyss battle spear. It was 178 kg in weight and 3.8 m in length. The entire battle spear was made of abyss iron. Additionally, the body of the spear was attached with a Class III consolidating effect; the head of the spear was also granted with a rune effect of accelerated bleeding. This battle spear was made by an artisan master in the Lion Fortress. It cost Zhang Tie 11 earth-elements crystals.


    As Zhang Tie was also an artisan master, at the sight of the spear, he had known the superb craftsmanship of the artisan master who made this abyss battle spear. Its maker was even better than "Master Jiang" and Zhang Tie himself. It would take Zhang Tie at least 1.5 months to make a battle spear which was faintly dwarfed by this one.


    In peacetime, abyss battle spear was portable as it could be folded into three sections. When in need, it would only take its owner a couple of seconds to assemble the three sections and play its role as a knight''s battle spear.


    Besides the abyss battle spear, Zhang Tie bought a pair of high metal tiger-claw shaped battle boots, which was waterproof, fire-resistant and pierce-resistant and carried the effect of Class II consolidating skill and a Class I cleaning effect. The Class II consolidating skill was common; however, the Class I cleaning effect was considerate for knights. With this rune effect, even if Zhang Tie constantly fought for months in the wild, he would never scare others away by his foot the moment he took off his battle boots.


    This pair of battle boots cost Zhang Tie 6 earth-elements crystals. As a result, Zhang Tie only had 1 earth-elements crystal left.


    Actually, there were better battle boots and battle spears. However, given his ability, Zhang Tie could only buy the two items.


    As for others, the senior metal field operations bag and the sets of combat uniforms in the bag cost Zhang Tie more than 700 consumption points.


    After returning to his knight''s tower, Zhang Tie put down his belongings in the bedroom before entering Castle of Black Iron...


    Since being wanted, Zhang Tie had not entered Castle of Black Iron.


    ...


    "Ah..." The moment Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron, he had heard a jarring exclamation instead of a Heller''s greeting.


    Right in the lobby of the palace tree, two girls of about 15 years were startled by Zhang Tie''s sudden appearance as they exclaimed at once.


    Zhang Tie was also stunned as he had not imagined that someone else was here. However, he instantly remembered that he had promised Heller to have some youngsters go up the mountain last time.


    When he took his parents in, he didn''t see the two girls. It was really out of his imagination that he could see them this time.


    "This is the God of Karma whom you''re worshipping. The God could freely access to the secular world and his own immortal country in his incarnation. No panic!"


    Heller always appeared in time. After hearing that this one was the celestial being that they had been worshipping, the two beautiful girls hurriedly knelt down.


    Heller blinked his eyes towards Zhang Tie. After understanding Heller''s meaning, Zhang Tie instantly triggered his body-changing immortal bloodline and recovered his original look. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s original look, the two girls immediately lowered their heads and almost touched the ground. They dared not glance at Zhang Tie anymore as if they were very guilty...


    Zhang Tie only recovered his original face; however, his figure remained unchanged. As Cui Li''s figure was much larger than Zhang Tie''s, if he recovered his original figure, his pants would rip off at once. He could not continue to disguise as a celestial being by pulling his pants.


    However, it was enough for him to just change his face. Watching the two girls being so scared and thrilled, Heller told them to leave...


    ''God of Karma?'' Zhang Tie blinked his eyes towards Heller as he wondered when did he become the God of Karma of those residents in Castle of Black Iron.


    ...

 922 Golden Lotus Flowers over the Magma Lake

    Chapter 922: Golden Lotus Flowers over the Magma Lake


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Castle Lord!" Heller bowed towards Zhang Tie after the two awe-stricken and exciting girls left.


    Zhang Tie asked Heller, "What''s the God of Karma?"


    "It''s the official appellation of Castle Lord given by the residents in Castle of Black Iron. Karma represents reprimand and redemption. It''s both a start and an end. Karma is the top rule, the source of all the strengths, nature and all the rules. All the rules are the concrete manifestation of karma. The God of Karma is the top celestial being and the Creator. The appellation indicates that the residents in Castle of Black Iron worship and respect you!" Heller said with a solemn look.


    "Is that real?"


    Zhang Tie touched his bald head in a bashful way as he felt the appellation was something great.


    "Erm...is it okay?" Zhang Tie asked Heller in a faintly shameful way. It might be a bit exaggerated for a mortal to be worshipped as a celestial being.


    "What are you concerned about, Castle Lord?" Heller asked.


    ''Hmm, whatever, it''s just an appellation. Nothing to be worried about it.''


    ''Could a wanted man also be worshipped like a celestial being?'' Zhang Tie smiled in a self-deprecated manner. Closely after that, he walked towards the small tree which was covered with fruits.


    After so many days, the small tree was covered with leakless fruits.


    Besides, two fruits of redemption from the gratitude of gulf shrimps and hairy shellfish were also hanging over the small tree, which looked pretty brilliant...


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Redemption from the gratitude of gulf shrimps. It''s already ripe. Usage: Pick and direct eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªWith this fruit, Castle Lord could accelerate the healing and recovering ability by 18.7% and increase the upper limit in endurance capacity in the hypoxic environment by 9.3%.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Redemption from the gratitude of hairy shellfish. It''s already ripe. Usage: Pick and direct eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªWith this fruit, Castle Lord could increase the defensive capability and anti-strike ability by 4.3%.


    The two ripe fruits of redemption indicated that Paul had been carrying out his task by setting free gulf shrimps and hairy shellfish after Zhang Tie left Yanghe Prefecture.


    Zhang Tie revealed a big smile before starting to enjoy the fruits.


    Rome was not built in one day.


    A long journey began with the first step. After taking so many fruits one after another, Zhang Tie gradually climbed up to the higher peaks.


    These leakless fruits became the "tonic" of Zhang Tie''s battle qi. Zhang Tie ate them one after another like having common fruits. Zhang Tie soon ate up all the leakless fruits that had been accumulated during the past months. After that, Zhang Tie started to take the fruits of redemption. Compared to those leakless fruits, it took Zhang Tie about 3 hours to fully digest the two fruits of redemption, which was a bit longer than that required by those leakless fruits.


    After returning to the Lion Fortress for only 2 days, Zhang Tie had promoted to 1 change black iron knight and gained an overall improvement in power from "King Roc Sutra". After taking so many fruits, Zhang Tie''s potential overall strength increased once more.


    After digesting these fruits, Zhang Tie got off the sacrificial altar. When he was going back to his private knight''s tower, he was stopped by Heller.


    "Castle Lord, you might have already forgotten something."


    "What?"


    "Castle Lord, how did you feel in the first abyss?"


    "Nice, but it was too misty over there. I had a poor vision inside it!" Zhang Tie replied with a confused look.


    "The garrison knights in the Lion Fortress have to drink one vial of senior night-viewing medicament per year so as to stay in the Earth-elements Realm. I''m afraid that Castle Lord has forgotten that you could have a dark vision ability without taking night-viewing medicament!"


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie became confused at first; after that, he blinked his eyes as if he had recalled something. Closely after that, he was in ecstasy...


    Many people have the similar experiences. When making a move, they would suddenly find a passbook in a corner or some gold coins that they once hid. They then felt having a windfall.


    That was how Zhang Tie felt at this moment. After being busy fighting demons these years, he might have forgotten about this if not being reminded by Heller.


    He remembered that he had one more treasure in Castle of Black Iron¡ª¡ªFiery Flame Lotus.


    After taking the seeds of the Fiery Flame Lotus, he could have a dark vision ability which was more effective than night-viewing medicament.


    "Oh, how about the Fiery Flame Lotus in Castle of Black Iron now?"


    "Why not take a look at them with me, Castle Lord?" Heller suggested as he stretched out his hand to invite Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie immediately rushed into the underground tunnel of the palace tree.


    The underground tunnel of the palace tree was linked with the Immortal Mountain.


    The inside of the Immortal Mountain had a wonderful scenery.


    The hinterland of the Immortal Mountain included the largest warehouse of Castle of Black Iron, Aziz''s cellars and Edward''s foundry.


    As for rune equipment masters, Edward''s foundry was really attractive where Edward used dozens of extremely pure underground flames in different temperatures to extract items. Each rune equipment master was desiring about having such a workshop. They could not imagine about having dozens of underground flames in different temperatures in the same workshop at all.


    In the past, Zhang Tie didn''t understand why Edward chose to build it in the hinterland of the Immortal Mountain. Now, in the eyes of an artisan master, Zhang Tie found that Edward''s foundry in the Immortal Mountain was really a DreamWorks for rune equipment masters. He realized that he would not find the second foundry like this in the world outside Castle of Black Iron.


    Right at the bottom of the Immortal Mountain, Zhang Tie saw numerous glittering fiery flame lotus on a magma lake which covered tens of thousands of square meters.


    Among the glittering lotus leaves were golden lotus flowers. Some golden lotus buds were getting ready to burst; some had been in full bloom; some golden lotus flowers had bred seedpod.


    The entire space above the magma lake was filled with an exotic fragrance.


    The remaining lotus seeds that he left here had become a wide area of fiery flame lotus leaves, flowers and seeds.


    At the sight of such a luxuriant scene in the magma lake, Zhang Tie felt a contradictory deja vu. Many people might have already seen common lotus flowers covering a lake; however, Zhang Tie bet that they had never seen so many fiery flame lotus leaves, flowers and seeds over a magma lake. Even his master Zhao Yuan might not have seen that before.


    This was a top luxuriant scene and the manifestation of the good luck in Castle of Black Iron. It was Castle of Black Iron who was the celestial being instead of him.


    "After the first batch of fiery flame lotus become ripe, Castle Lord didn''t care about it as if you didn''t need fiery flame golden lotus seed for the time being; therefore, I decided all by myself to sow those seeds. After so many years, due to the nourishment of the aura in Castle of Black Iron, they finally reached such a scale. There were 1149 fiery flame golden lotus seeds in this magma lake."


    Zhang Tie squatted beside the magma lake as he touched one fiery flame golden lotus leaf out of curiosity. As large as a common lotus leaf, it was not hot but the texture was like a metal. It was like a super alloy leaf. Although Zhang Tie had a terrifying strength, he could still not crumb the fiery flame golden lotus leaf; instead, he could only leave a fingerprint on it. Zhang Tie flicked at it, causing two melodious, silvery metallic sounds.


    The subtlety of silicon-based life was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination.


    As an artisan master, Zhang Tie instinctively knew that the leaf of this fiery flame lotus was an extremely rare material. Besides being light and firm, the leaf also had some special functions. Battle armors being made of the leaves of fiery flame lotus were definitely rare.


    Zhang Tie touched its stem and felt bristles as hard as metal on it. Like lotus leaf, lotus stem was also a rare raw material of equipment.


    Zhang Tie picked himself up from the ground and asked Heller, "What''s the lotus root of this fiery flame lotus used for?"


    "The root of the fiery flame lotus is not available to you, Castle Lord."


    "Why?"


    "Even after being processed, the effects of the root of fiery flame golden lotus could only be digested by earth knights. After taking its root, earth knights could raise their high temperature-resistant ability to an unimaginable level and could further improve their protective battle qi. As a result, when in a defensive state, earth knights could also harm their enemies."


    "Protective battle qi could be aggressive?"


    "Castle Lord, you have already seen your master Zhao Yuan perform it!"


    Zhang Tie remembered that the moment the LV 10 fighter from Zhen Clan in Heavens Cold City touched Zhao Yuan''s clothes, his arms had burned into ashes...


    Watching these lotus flowers, Zhang Tie wondered what effect would he gain after taking all of these fiery flame lotus seeds.


    "After 3 days, Castle Lord could try the taste of these fiery flame golden lotus seeds. Castle Lord will have a big surprise by then!" Heller said leisurely.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie exited the Castle of Black Iron, he had been fully confident about the coming action.


    One day flew past...


    ...


    At 8:50 pm, November 3rd, after putting away his belongings, Zhang Tie carried his metal field operations bag with an abyss spear on its side and a gold-eaten tri-edged dagger in a metal sheath beside his waist in a soft armor and a pair of metal tiger-claw shaped battle boots and came to the outside of the gate of Lion Fortress.


    As the old saying went, a fair bird had fair feathers. With such a wholly new set of equipment, Zhang Tie looked much more powerful than that a few days ago. He was filled with killing qi at the moment.


    Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan had arrived here a few minutes earlier than Zhang Tie. Besides carrying a knight-level field operations bag respectively, Gong Ziyao wore a set of half-body metal armor, Zhou Shufan wore a set of senior grey knight-level soft armor with a short sword at one side of his waist. Watching Zhang Tie punching his card and striding out of the gate, Gong Ziyao''s and Zhou Shufan''s eyes gleamed at the same time.


    "Brother Cui, you look extremely brave. If you were in a senior armor, you would look more dignified!"


    "Ha...ha...brothers, you don''t look bad, either!" Zhang Tie burst into laughter.


    In only a few minutes, those whom Zhang Tie had met in the Iron-blood Tower had arrived one after another. Almost each of them was carrying a knight-level field operations bag.


    Without a space-teleportation equipment, even being knights, they had to take enough food and water with them. With one kettle of water, the knight might survive the dilemma. Therefore, nobody dared be careless at this critical moment.


    The garrison knights at the gate of the Lion Fortress were not shocked by such a team of knights as they could catch sight of many teams of knights going on expeditions everyday. No matter what these knights were going there for, as long as they left the Lion Fortress, they might encounter demons. In that case, they had to end the battles by forces. Objectively, these teams of knights going on expeditions safeguarded the Lion Fortress.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit also arrived here on time with a metal bag on his back. After ensuring that everybody had arrived, Mountain Lifting Hermit nodded and issued the order, "Let''s go!". Closely after that, he rose in the air, followed by all the others.


    As an earth knight, Mountain Lifting Hermit moved very fast in the air. Only after a short while, Zhang Tie felt that he had reached almost 800 km per hour. The others hurriedly followed him up.


    As for common black iron knights, it was a bit difficult for them to constantly fly at such a high speed for a few hours.


    As Mountain Lifting Hermit flew, he kept observing the performance of the others. Actions spoke louder than words. If a black iron knight could have an excellent performance in the air, his battle strength would not be too bad.


    Although all the knights in this team had killed demon knights and were elites in the Lion Fortress, they were also different than each other in battle strength.


    Only flying 1 hour at such a high speed, the differences between the knights in battle strength had been exposed.


    The couple was still closely following up Mountain Lifting Hermit while the three foreign knights had gradually lagged behind.


    Zhang Tie, Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan were close to each other. Although being in the middle of the team, Zhang Tie''s leisure look won more glances from Mountain Lifting Hermit. As a result, Mountain Lifting Hermit nodded inside...


    ...


    As for Zhang Tie, through this action, he might get silver secret items or kill demon knights. Even if they did not encounter a demon knight, it would also be a big achievement for a newbie to explore a mysterious region in the first abyss under the leadership of so many veterans. He just took this action as a knights'' travel in the first abyss.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie was the most relaxed one among them...


    Mountain Lifting Hermit enjoyed a great dignity among this team of knights, which was not formed in a short period. Instead, it was gradually formed through long-term contacts with him. For example, Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan once fought together with Mountain Lifting Hermit in the first abyss a couple of years ago. Therefore, they believed in him very much.


    According to Zhang Tie''s observation, although Mountain Lifting Hermit was a bit solemn, his moral standing was reliable. Without personal charisma, he would not easily organize such a team.


    In Lion Fortress, the moral standing of an earth knight could easily become a widely accepted secret among black iron knights in a very short period.


    ...


    After leaving the Lion Fortress for less than 1.5 hours, someone in the team had already been exhausted. Mountain Lifting Hermit noticed that; therefore, he landed, followed by the others. They started to run on the ground...


    As for knights, as long as they were not flying but were running rapidly on the ground, it was almost like taking a rest.


    After landing, their running speed was about 200 km per hour. While running, they could adjust their breaths.


    As for Zhang Tie, running was a piece of cake.


    After 4 hours, Mountain Lifting Hermit rose in the air once again, closely followed by all the others...


    After one night''s travel, they finally appeared in front of the first abyss on the next morning when it started to break in the Earth-elements Realm...


    Mountain Lifting Hermit landed in a valley less than 10 km away from the first abyss. There were some plants and a brook in this valley. It was the ideal place for supply and resting before entering the first abyss. It seemed that Mountain Lifting Hermit was familiar with this route very much.


    "After resting 3 hours here, we will enter the first abyss!" The moment they landed here, Mountain Lifting Hermit had issued the order.


    After that, Mountain Lifting Hermit found a place and entered cultivation calmly with eyes closed.


    Zhang Tie came to the lower reach of the brook and washed his face.


    "Hello, I''m Filton, a knight from the Grims Republic on the Western Continent. What''s your name?" The black knight walked to Zhang Tie and greeted him...


    Filton spoke Hua language fluently...


    ''Grims Republic?'' Zhang Tie became stunned for a second. He remembered that he had heard about this nation before, ''Oh, yes, it''s the trading partner of Ms. Olina''s Navyblue Castle on the Western Continent.''


    Zhang Tie picked himself up from the ground as he casually cleaned his hand on his clothes before saying straightforwardly, "I''m Cui Li, from Yongzhou Province..."


    Zhang Tie stretched out his hand towards Filton; however, Filton cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie...


    After being stunned for a second, they changed their gestures at the same time.


    This time, Zhang Tie cupped his hands; however, Filton stretched out his hand.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, they burst out into laughter at the same time.


    "Cecilia made a bet with me just now. She said I was destined to be snubbed!" Filton smiled.


    "Ah? Why?"


    "Because all the Hua knight that we''ve known in Lion Fortress before were too arrogant or too reserved. Additionally, you don''t look like a kind-hearted man!" Filton threw a glance at the blonde female knight who was looking at them from hundreds of meters away.


    That female knight called Cecilia was hot in terms of both figure and look. Although her oval face was not extremely beautiful, she looked valiant, heroic and elegant. Plus her long blond hair, she looked pretty charming.


    "Hahaha, you could tell that tomato, besides arrogant and reserved ones, there are also sincere ones like me who''d like to make friends with others among Hua people!"


    After hearing the word "tomato", the female knight replied with a cold harrumph.


    "Do you think that I''m sincere?" Filton pointed at his own nose.


    "I have a brother who looks similar to you. You remind me of him! In the saying of your black guys¡ª¡ªif someone liked to be friends with you even though you didn''t have any beautiful younger sister, he would not be too bad. I''ve not got any beautiful younger sister..."


    Filton burst out into laughter...


    When the two people were making fun of each other, the other knights kept that in mind. Nobody could imagine that Zhang Tie would have fun with that foreign knight. Even Mountain Lifting Hermit had opened his eyes and thrown a glance at Zhang Tie once again...

 923 Sects and Team Members

    Chapter 923: Sects and Team Members


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Even though they didn''t know each other before, after staying with each other for 3 days, they had become familiar with each other.


    At least, Zhang Tie had known all of them after 3 days.


    Of course, the head of this team was still Mountain Lifting Hermit who always looked serious.


    As for the immortal couple, the male was Lu Zhongming while the female was Lin Huanxi. They both came from Guzhou Province, Taixia Country. They usually lived in the Minling Mountain, Guzhou Province, Taixia Country seclusively. Additionally, they were the heads of Minling Sword Sect in Minling Mountain and had over 1,000 disciples over there. Therefore, they were well-known in Guzhou Province.


    In Taixia Country, if any knight did not want to be an official or a hermit, could establish a sect in a famous mountain. Of course, the top 7 sects were the most eminent in Taixia Country. Below the top 7 sects, there were numerous sects established by knights in each province or prefecture. This was an implicit rule in Taixia Country. In Waii Subcontinent, many sects were developed in places such as fighting clubs. Over there, even a great battle master or battle general might establish a sect in a country, not to mention a knight. However, in Taixia Country, besides gangs in streets, all the sects should be at least established by a black iron knight. This indicated that any sect in Taixia Country at least carried forward the battle skills and knowledge of a black iron knight. The disciples in these sects could have chances to promote to knights.


    Those below knights, even battle spirits were not qualified to establish a sect in Taixia Country. If someone dared violate the implicit rule in Taixia Country, his sect would be destroyed by someone else in only a few days. Without a black iron knight on their back, how could they defend their undertaking?


    This was why Taixia Country was full of powerful ones. Besides the huge population, the cultivation environment in Taixia Country was pretty good. Any youth who had a rich family and was decisive and strong-willed would have a greater chance to join a sect in Taixia Country and carry forward the knowledge of a knight-level powerhouse if they could travel across Taixia Country.


    Although there were a lot of sects in Waii Subcontinent, none of them could provide a chance for commoners to carry forward the knowledge of a knight.


    The couple Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi were most careful in the team. They always maintained cleanliness all over. Each time they landed and took a rest, they would clean themselves. Before having a rest on the ground, they would take out a piece of cloth from their bag and pave it over the ground. After that, they would sit on the cloth. In the term before the Catastrophe, they were petty bourgeois in the team.


    However, they were qualified to be petty bourgeois, although Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi were black iron knights, they had entered 8 changes black iron stage at the same time. At least they were the best ones below Mountain Lifting Hermit from cultivation base.


    By contrast, according to Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan, Mountain Lifting Hermit had entered 2 changes earth knight stage two years ago. Of course, it was impossible for him to enter 3 changes earth knight stage in only 2 years; however, Mountain Lifting Hermit had consolidated his realm and battle strength much more.


    In Lion Fortress, Mountain Lifting Hermit had killed 6 black iron demon knights and fought earth demon knights for more than 3 times. He was an experienced knight.


    In the entire team, besides Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan, the three foreign knights Filton, Cecilia and Bolam were familiar with Zhang Tie first. The three foreign knights were all from the Western Continent. Filton came from Grims Republic, Cecilia came from Francia Empire, which was a big country in the center of Western Continent and had over 10 billion population. The total area of Francia Empire was equal to the size of a province in Taixia Country. Its overall national strength was a bit greater than that of Grims Republic. Francia Empire was the core strength of the Western Continent.


    After knowing that Cecilia came to Lion Fortress alone, Zhang Tie admired this woman''s braveness too.


    Bolam was that white knight. Even he didn''t know which country did he belong to. For as long as he could remember, he had been traversing across so many countries on the Western Continent. His mother was a performer in a traveling circus. Even his mother didn''t know whom his father was. Since he was born, he had been traveling across the continent with the circus. He did not stay at any place for over 1 month. Later on, he left the circus and started to travel everywhere alone. He promoted to a knight in an airship. Bolam was obsessed with fighting skills. He was always silent and would not speak more than 5 sentences a day.


    The three people met in a knight''s bar in the Lion Fortress. They then organized a group and gradually became familiar with each other.


    By the way, it was the commonest form for three knights to organize a group in the Lion Fortress, because three knights could form a 3-in-1 matrix at the critical moment and could greatly increase their viability in the first abyss. The other 6 knights in the team usually worked together in a group of 2.


    Among the rest 6 people, 3 of them were respectively elders of three major clans in Force Province, who were called Yang Zhenjun, Zhao Youxian and Qian Yi respectively. Their clans had at least 5 cities in Force Province. Yang Zhenjun had long known Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan.


    As for the rest 3 knights, one was called Tai Rufeng who came from Tai Clan in Yanzhou Province, Taixia Country. Tai Clan was the clan of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province; one was called Hua Qianxia who came from Songzhou Province, Taixia Country as an elder of Gulao Mountain in Songzhou Province; one was called Ximen Fu who came from Heavens Holding Pavilion, one of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country.


    All of these knights, including Cecilia, had killed demon knights. All of them had a deep background or rich experience. By contrast, Cui Li might be the commonest one among them.


    Besides Mountain Lifting Hermit, 4 of the 8 knights from Taixia Country were from sects. Therefore, Zhang Tie started to become interested in sects in Taixia Country very much. In the 3 days, as long as Zhang Tie was free, he would inquire about sects in Taixia Country from the couple, Hua Qianxia and Ximen Fu.


    Compared to the clan system which was maintained in terms of bloodlines, the sect system in Taixia Country had a greater influence and speed in development.


    How long would it take a black iron knight to reproduce a clan of more than 10,000 people? At least several generations. However, it would take a black iron knight less than 1 year to accept 10,000 disciples. Additionally, the development of sects was out of the limit of regions and bloodlines. Many times, when some talents in a clan were accepted by a certain sect, the clan would be bound to the chariots of the sect and become closely related to the sect on interests. The more apprentices the sect had, the greater the community of interests would be.


    If two knights with the similar conditions launched a competition of developing their own forces from the same starting line, one chose clan route, the other chose sect route. In 10 years, the one who chose sect route would have an overwhelming strength than the one who chose the clan route.


    In Taixia Country, the cohesive force of sects being maintained in terms of the relationship between masters and apprentices was very powerful. The relationship between masters and apprentices could completely match that between the emperor and the chancellors and between fathers and sons. The leader of a sect could have the right to determine the life or death of his apprentices.


    The monarchical power of the country, the power of clans and the power of masters of sects crisscrossed with each other in Taixia Country and determined the fate of Taixia Country.


    The sects in Taixia Country were actually the most vigorous systems. Some sects in Taixia Country could last over 1,000 years. Given this point, one would know the power of sects in Taixia Country.


    ''Why was I framed by people and had to escape everywhere this time? In the final analysis, I''m too weak in both strength and background. If I was a disciple of one of the top sects in Taixia Country or if I had established my own sphere of influence in Taixia Country, the one who framed me would not make it so easily as he had to consider the outcome of it.''


    The current situation and prospect of the power of sect in Taixia Country reminded Zhang Tie of something.


    ''What if I establish a sect in Taixia Country?''


    Now that he could not rely on Huaiyuan Palace anymore and didn''t want to be restricted too much by being an official in Taixia Country, he had to establish his own sect so as to expand his own influence.


    The moment this whim occurred to his mind, it had started to grow up crazily in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    ''However, it is not the right moment to do that now. I don''t need to consider it at least before promoting to an earth knight.''


    ''The influence of a sect being established by a black iron knight is utterly different than that being established by an earth knight. Additionally, my current identity Cui Li is not well-known above ground or underground. It''s boring to establish a sect and be a rustic emperor in a remote palace.''


    ''After establishing an Ancient-God Church in Ice and Snow Wilderness, I have firmly controlled the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness and all the Slavs. If I establish a sect in Taixia Country, perhaps...I will have bright prospects!''


    ...


    After 3 days, the team had deepened thousands of miles into the first abyss and started to enter the main battlefield between demon knights and human knights...

 924 Encountering Demon Knights

    Chapter 924: Encountering Demon Knights


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    During the past 3 days since they entered the first abyss, this team didn''t encounter any demon knight at all.


    In the first abyss, the team of 12 human knights moved and rested together. The distance between every two members would not exceed 100 m. Even though, they would have the same probability to encounter demon knights as that a single human knight would have in the first abyss.


    As the proverb went, when one usually walked along the riverside, how could his shoes not get wet.


    On the 4th day since they entered the first abyss, when they reached the conventional battlefield of the first abyss, they finally encountered demon knights.


    ...


    Mountain Lifting Hermit was flying ahead of the team, closely followed by the other 11 human knights in the shape of herringbone. Everybody had hidden their battle qi lusters and followed up Mountain Lifting Hermit in the black fog along the precipice of the first abyss.


    All of a sudden, Zhang Tie caught sight of some lusters flickering in the black fog over 20 miles ahead of them.


    Due to the dense fog in the abyss, he could faintly judge that they were knights'' battle qis.


    However, Zhang Tie remained silent. Through these days'' observation, Zhang Tie had realized that he could have a greater vision than the others due to his dark vision ability.


    Until the flickering lusters moved another hundred of meters ahead in a few seconds did Mountain Lifting Hermit stop.


    Everyone had caught sight of the faint battle qis in the distant black fog.


    Due to the long distance, Mountain Lifting Hermit could not see it clearly. Additionally, the looming battle qis were separating and gathering from time to time. Therefore, it was very difficult to determine how many forces were there.


    As the leader of this team, Mountain Lifting Hermit was expected by all the others to work out a plan in such a case.


    Generally, battle qis in the first abyss indicated an ongoing battle. Of course, it might also be a fatal trap. The party which thought that they were advantageous in battle strength or had powerhouses on their back might simulate an ongoing battle by releasing battle qis in the first abyss on purpose so as to attract the opponent passers-by and ambush them. Such a trick was usually seen in the first abyss by both demons and humans. The fatal trap was like angling in water. Of course, if the anglers had a bad luck, they might encounter a great white or a billhead, when he might be tragic.


    Generally, shadow knights and heavenly knights had disdained playing such a trick. Those who dared play such a trick would always be a team of knights led by one or two earth knights.


    Narrowing his eyes, Mountain Lifting Hermit watched the battle qis in the distant fog with flickering eyes. Only after thinking a couple of seconds, he had made the decision, "I need one person to take a look over there with me. The others just hide here! If it''s a trap ahead of us, I will send a signal to you. You then retreat to the place where we rested last time. After we broke through their encirclement, we will converge with you over there!"


    "I will go there with Mountain Lifting Hermit!" Soon after Mountain Lifting Hermit finished his words, Zhang Tie had jumped out.


    Demon knights were definitely "tunics" for Zhang Tie. Although it might be a trap, Zhang Tie still wanted to take a look over there. It would be better for him if it was not a trap. Before determining to interfere with it, Mountain Lifting Hermit actually could determine to have his team detour that place and the rest of the team would not have any different opinion about that. However, they would feel a bit uncomfortable if they just detoured that place. Because, it might be unkind for them to do that. As human knights, if they didn''t stand on the side of their same kind when facing demons, they would face a mental test on being righteous or not.


    The boldness of execution stems from superb skill. As his battle strength grew increasingly powerful, Zhang Tie became increasingly bolder.


    He might have dangers there with Mountain Lifting Hermit. If it was indeed a trap in front of them, they might be trapped. As for the same trap, an earth knight might be able to escape out; however, a black knight might not. If it was not a trap, after a black iron knight and an earth knight joined the battle, given the scale of the faint battle qis, the balance between both parties would be altered at once. As a result, the human knights would have an overwhelming advantage.


    If it was a trap, it would be more convenient for them to break through the encirclement; if not, the trace of their team would not be exposed. This consideration indicated that Mountain Lifting Hermit was very shrewd and righteous.


    Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan both wanted to say something; however, now that Zhang Tie wanted to go there, they didn''t feel it proper to stop him at this moment. It was improper if they persuaded Zhang Tie that it was too dangerous over there and let others go there.


    After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, Mountain Lifting Hermit nodded. Closely after that, he flew towards the flickering battle qi totems, followed by Zhang Tie.


    The moment they left, the other knights of the team had exchanged a glance with each other before hiding somewhere nearby.


    Being not far from them was a precipice of the first abyss. In the precipice, there were many vertical, valley-like gullies as deep as hundreds of meters. The gullies had been covered with thick and huge abyss vines. Any gully could hide hundreds of people, not to mention 10.


    While hiding his battle qi luster, Zhang Tie flew towards the battlefield closely after Mountain Lifting Hermit...


    It only took Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit a bit longer than 2 minutes to finish the trip of over 20 miles.


    It was not a trap, but a real battle between human knights and demon knights.


    3 human knights in uniformed greenish armors were fighting fiercely with 4 ox-head demon knights. As demons outnumbered humans, the 4 demon knights had already been in an advantageous position.


    The battle was undergoing pretty fiercely.


    Each party had formed a 3-in-1 battle formation, the surplus demon knight was constantly booming the 3-in-1 human formation on one side, causing a great disturbance and stress to them.


    "I will assault the demon formation, you deal with that surplus demon knight as soon as possible!" Mountain Lifting Hermit told Zhang Tie in a secret way.


    "Okay!" Zhang Tie''s heart had long been pounding.


    The moment Zhang Tie finished his words, Mountain Lifting Hermit had released his battle qi luster and accelerated his speed by 2 times towards the 3-in-1 demon formation. Zhang Tie also released his battle qi luster and accelerated towards the surplus demon knight.


    Due to the low visibility in the first abyss, their sudden acceleration made the four demon knights off-guard at once.


    Being hundreds of meters away from the 4 demons, Mountain Lifting Hermit had released his huge virtual image which was hundreds of meters in height.


    After promoting to earth knights, knights would manifest the virtual images of their battle skills when their battle qis were extremely vigorous. The virtual images were the symbols of knights above earth knights. Knights'' virtual images were illuminant objects which were almost material objects being composed of battle qi, spiritual energy and willingness like that of battle qi totems of fighters. However, knights'' virtual images were several levels higher than that of battle qi totems.


    The appearance of the virtual image of an earth knight indicated that the earth knight had spent his full effort in the battle.


    The virtual image of Mountain Lifting Hermit was an extremely fierce giant who was embracing a hill.


    With the appearance of the virtual image, Mountain Lifting Hermit who was not tall previously instantly became much more muscled.


    The moment he launched an attack, Mountain Lifting Hermit had exerted his full efforts like how a lion pounced on a hare.


    "Go die!" Mountain Lifting Hermit roared like causing a spring thunder.


    At the same time, Mountain Lifting Hermit released a light beam by his hand and stroke one of the 3-in-1 demon knight, sending him flying backward...


    The 3-in-1 formation was collapsed in a split second.


    The demon knights were shocked greatly while the 3 human knights became spirited immediately...


    The surplus ox-head demon knight was also stunned. He caught sight of Zhang Tie who was accelerating at him. Therefore, he slashed towards Zhang Tie by his huge saber, being accompanied with a fierce saber qi...


    Zhang Tie accelerated once again as fast as a lightning bolt being benefited from the effect of the "Fire Dragon Flowing Light Battle Skill". At this moment, the gold-eaten tri-edged dagger appeared in Zhang Tie''s hand and protected Zhang Tie''s body from being harmed by the saber qi like a diamond crown.


    The saber qi of the demon knight was split up by Zhang Tie''s gold-eaten tri-edged dagger into two halves and rubbed with Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi as if it was going to cut open Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi.


    Being pushed by this saber qi, Zhang Tie became faintly absent-minded in a split second when time and space might have paused.


    Being pushed by this saber qi, he felt like being pressed by sea water and two undercurrents at the bottom of the sea when in a high-speed flight. If he could take advantage of this stress, he could move faster instead of slowing down. Similarly, when one peeled a banana, the moment one put forth one''s strength, one would send the banana flying out of its peel.


    In the sky, when he took advantage of the wind strength facing him, his glider would also win an elevating force and driving force. The secret lay in the difference between the upper and lower planes of the wings of the glider...


    Zhang Tie had experienced the similar scenes so many times in both sea and sky.


    Facing that stress, Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy while he shrunk his protective battle qi and adjusted it in the shape of a spindle. Closely after that, he rapidly shrunk and rocked his protective battle qi. When sensing the changing stress and friction force, Zhang Tie accelerated once again and rushed towards that demon knight in an overwhelming way...


    In a split second...


    The tri-edged dagger split off the saber qi of the demon knight and broke its protective battle qi before stabbing into the demon knight''s body immediately...


    The demon knight watched Zhang Tie with a dumbfounded yet a pain-free look...

 925 A Destructive Strike

    Chapter 925: A Destructive Strike


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Nobody had imagined that Zhang Tie could directly break the demon knight''s strike and stab his dagger into its body, including Mountain Lifting Hermit, Zhang Tie, even the demon knight itself.


    It was out of everyone''s imagination that Zhang Tie could break the demon knight''s saber qi, his amazing speed and the sharpness of his tri-edged dagger.


    If not the powerful gold-eaten tri-edged dagger, Zhang Tie''s sensitiveness to air flow and stress after long-term exercise in water and sky and his ability to convert this sensitiveness into his advantage in superb skills, if the demon knight didn''t launch a long-distance strike at him when he rushed towards it...Zhang Tie would never do that in a split second.


    The speed of the simulated "Fire Dragon Flowing Light Battle Skill" had reached over 70% of that of the real battle skill. The moment Zhang Tie converted the stress of the saber qi into driving force, his speed had reached twice that of the "Fire Dragon Flowing Light Battle Skill" in a split second.


    What a destructive blow!


    A blow being accomplished with super high speed and strength at a certain time and under specific conditions.


    The demon knight had not imagined that Zhang Tie could move so fast and penetrate through its protective battle qi with such great strength.


    The protective battle qi of the demon knight could not be penetrated through easily. Although the demon knight felt that its protective battle qi had been extremely pressed and cut open by the sharp dagger, its protective battle qi was still elastic. It was Zhang Tie''s terrifying strength that had his dagger break the upper bearing limit of the demon knight''s protective battle qi like cutting through a piece of steel by a dagger.


    After being dumbfounded for less than 0.1 seconds, with the secondary harm caused by the dagger''s battle qi, the demon knight finally roared. Closely after that, it felt one wrist being tightened. It was Zhang Tie again who gripped its wrist the moment he broke its protective battle qi...


    With red eyes, the demon knight chopped its huge pitch-dark saber towards Zhang Tie''s head.


    "Go die!" Zhang Tie''s battle qi grew vigorous as he forcefully cut open a terrifying wound on the side of the lower abdomen of the demon knight. Closely after that, he drew the dagger out of there and stabbed inside ferociously once again...


    The demon knight''s saber only cut open 2/3 of Zhang Tie protective battle qi. Its saber blade slid off a few centimeters before Zhang Tie''s nose...


    Zhang Tie''s dagger penetrated through the demon knight''s protective battle qi once again and inserted his gold-eaten tri-edged dagger into the other side of the lower abdomen of the demon knight before stirring it inside forcefully...


    Zhang Tie''s other hand kept gripping the demon knight''s wrist. In this way, the two knights were chopping and stabbing each other, causing flesh and blood to fly everywhere...


    ...


    When in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie had known that some gangsters in the city would handcuff one hand with each other while fighting with daggers by the other hand ferociously...


    This pattern of the duel from the bottom of the society was brutal, bloody and fatal.


    Zhang Tie was adopting this combat mode. The winner must be the fiercer and braver one...


    Based on rich battle experiences, skills, braveness, battle strength and insight, Zhang Tie could catch the faint chance in a split second and win the combat in the end.


    Since he gripped the wrist of that demon knight, the result of this combat had been fixed...


    Only after three collisions, the demon knight''s face had turned completely pale.


    When Zhang Tie launched a strike towards it once again, the demon knight started to block Zhang Tie''s strike instead of attacking him anymore.


    However, in such a close combat, as Zhang Tie was gripping its wrist, the demon knight had lost its agility. Therefore, it was very difficult for it to defend Zhang Tie''s strike, not to mention that it had suffered a heavy wound...


    ...


    After Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit joined the combat, the battle situation was reversed at once...


    After striking a demon knight and sending it flying backward, Mountain Lifting Hermit forcefully rushed towards that demon knight and kept releasing his battle qi towards it.


    The 3-in-1 formation of the 3 demon knights was destroyed at once.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit''s aggressive qi and Zhang Tie''s amazing performance shocked the other two demon knights at the same time. After realizing that human knights outnumbered them and an earth knight had joined the battle, the two demon knights immediately turned around and escaped...


    The 3 human knights who were fighting the 4 demon knights immediately chased after the two demon knights and disappeared in the dense fog...


    ...


    After a few minutes, the demon knight who was giving dying kicks at Mountain Lifting Hermit uttered a miserable shriek. At the same time, its entire body [below head] was punched into pieces by Mountain Lifting Hermit...


    After hearing the miserable shriek, Zhang Tie streaked his dagger through the demon knight''s throat...


    The demon knight spurted out its blood from its neck like a fountain.


    The demon knight was so shocked that it felt the energy of its collapsing earth chakra was pouring into Zhang Tie''s hand which was gripping its wrist like being devoured by a bottomless black hole while it watched Zhang Tie''s glassy-eyed expression...


    The moment its earth chakra was collapsed, the demon knight''s remaining protective battle qi disappeared in a split second. As a result, it had no strength to struggle anymore.


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t grip its wrist only for showing off his fierce battle skills.


    The demon knight wanted to roar; however, the moment it uttered, it had spurted out a mouth of dense blood from its broken neck and windpipe.


    When Mountain Lifting Hermit flew towards him, Zhang Tie felt that he had already absorbed 80% of the energy of the earth chakra of this demon knight. Therefore, he directly stabbed into its heart and punched its body into flesh...


    Zhang Tie instantly caught its black battle saber and the pair of ox horns...


    "Great!" Mountain Lifting Hermit hailed Zhang Tie...

 926 Being Extremely Awkward and Sinceres

    Chapter 926: Being Extremely Awkward and Sincerest


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Mountain Lifting Hermit was an earth knight. It was reasonable for him to exert his full efforts to kill a black iron demon knight. However, even Mountain Lifting Hermit hailed Zhang Tie''s fierce striking skills towards a black iron demon knight.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit had noticed how Zhang Tie gripped the demon knight''s wrist and stabbed his dagger into its body while resisting the saber of the latter. Although Mountain Lifting Hermit had met so many combats these years, he had not seen such a brutal close duel before.


    Although being coarse, this combat made its onlookers thrilled.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit had not seen such an intrepid human knight for so long.


    The moment they ended the combats, Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit had flown towards the direction where the two demon knights had escaped for.


    After a few minutes, the 3 human knights who had chased after the two demon knights flew back from afar, one of whom held a pair of ox horns like Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit.


    At the sight of the ox horns in the hands of Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit, the 3 human knights understood that the two demon knights had been killed by Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit.


    "Thanks to your righteous deed, we''re members of the Feathers Army in the Lion Fortress. I''m Zhou Feng; this is Guo Zifang; this is Deng Tianhao. May I know your names?" The moment the three knights arrived, one knight with a square face and dense eyebrows had cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit.


    If not Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit, the 3 human knights might be in great danger. Even though they were not exterminated, being besieged by the 4 demon knights, even if they could break out of the encirclement, at least 1 of them would long sleep in the first abyss.


    To tell the truth, Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit were like their saviors. Therefore, Zhou Feng introduced himself and the other two human knights very politely and solemnly.


    Feathers Army was one of the top 4 armies of Hua people in Taixia Country. Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could meet the knights of Feathers Army here once again. Although Zhou Feng, Guo Zifang and Deng Tianhao were not outstanding in the Lion Fortress, they were definitely high-ranking officers in the Feathers Army and corps leaders on the earth''s surface.


    "As we''re all knights in Taixia Country, we had to help you when we found you were in trouble. I''m Mountain Lifting Hermit!" Mountain Lifting Hermit replied with the same indifferent and faintly cold look. Although he was speaking politely, his look still remained unchanged.


    This was the temperament of Mountain Lifting Hermit¡ª¡ªbeing glassy-eyed yet kind-hearted. At the sight of dangers facing the 3 human knights, he immediately rushed towards them; however, he was not passionate about others'' appreciation.


    Zhou Feng, Guo Zifang and Deng Tianhao raised their eyebrows. Earth knights in the Lion Fortress were definitely more outstanding than common black iron knights. As there were so many black iron knights here, they might not know each one; however, he had indeed heard about Mountain Lifting Hermit.


    "This one is..." They then looked at Zhang Tie.


    They had seen how Zhang Tie raided that demon knight and carried out a close duel with it. Actually, they were more impressed by Zhang Tie than Mountain Lifting Hermit. They could identify that Mountain Lifting Hermit was an earth knight; however, they were more shocked by Zhang Tie''s braveness and terrifying battle strength. Few outstanding valiant generals in the Feathers Army could match Zhang Tie.


    "I''m Cui Li, Cui Li from Yongzhou Province!" Zhang Tie grinned as he frankly inserted the pair of ox horns into his metal bag.


    This pair of ox horns indicated his exploit, which could be exchanged for many good items in the Lion Fortress. Even Mountain Lifting Hermit would take it, not to mention Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie felt pretty good. Although the booty from killing this demon knight could not match that from the last one, Zhang Tie felt that this one''s earth charka could almost light 4 of his scales. The Purgatory Samsara was really the best partner of emperor-level secret methods. If he maintained his previous cultivation speed, he didn''t know how long would he take to light 4 scales. However, this time, after coming to the first abyss for less than 5 days with Mountain Lifting Hermit, he had lit 4 scales. Zhang Tie had already been satisfied with this journey even if he couldn''t gain anything later on.


    This time, Zhou Feng, Guo Zifang and Deng Tianhao were responsible for scouting in the first abyss. After accomplishing their task, on the way back, they encountered the 4 demon knights. Therefore, a fierce battle broke out.


    After chatting with Mountain Lifting Hermit and Zhang Tie for a short while, they had revealed a news to the two, "The Tiewei Mountain Range in the First Abyss is abnormal lately; demons'' activities are growing increasingly frequent over there. Additionally, high-level demon knights were found there. It''s becoming more dangerous to gain element crystals from the mines of Tiewei Mountain Range. The battle over there is growing fiercer. If you want to go there, you''d better take care of yourself. After returning to Lion Fortress, we will report this news to our superior..."


    After reminding Mountain Lifting Hermit and Zhang Tie, Zhou Feng, Guo Zifang and Deng Tianhao cupped their hands towards Zhang Tie before leaving rapidly.


    The final warning by Zhou Feng should be confidential. Generally, without the consent of the superior, they should not leak this news to others. They broke the rule because Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit saved their lives.


    Seeing them off, Mountain Lifting Hermit revealed a thoughtful look before nodding towards Zhang Tie, "Let''s go back too!"


    Zhang Tie nodded silently before following Mountain Lifting Hermit on the way back.


    After 1 minute later, Mountain Lifting Hermit suddenly opened his mouth...


    "I saw the demon knight to strike you with its saber qi but how did you break its saber qi while accelerating your speed by almost 2 times in a split second?" Mountain Lifting Hermit put it straightforwardly as if he was not good at communicating with others.


    Zhang Tie directly drew his gold-eaten tri-edged dagger out of the sheath and threw it to Mountain Lifting Hermit, "This is a sharp weapon that I got by accident. I found that this dagger was greatly penetrative to knight''s battle qi; therefore, I had a try just now and broke its saber qi smoothly. As the old saying goes, sword always goes in line while saber always covers a wide area. The demon knight''s saber qi had a wide striking scope; however, its saber qi was not as dense as sword qi. Therefore, I broke its saber qi fortunately. When I cut open it, I felt that its saber qi pushed my protective battle qi which reminded me of the experience in the sea when I met undercurrents. Actually, the stress could be converted into a driving force. After adjusting the interactive pattern between my protective battle qi and saber qi, I accelerated immediately. I''ve not imagined about such an effect too..."


    Mountain Lifting Hermit had not imagined that Zhang Tie could explain it to him so clearly. After taking Zhang Tie''s dagger, he looked over it while his look gradually turned more solemn, "Your dagger is made of the teeth of gold-eaten boa by an alchemist master. It''s priceless given its material and craftsmanship. It''s indeed very penetrative to the protective battle qi of black iron knights. You''d better put it away. This item would make people jealous in the Lion Fortress."


    After looking over it for a short while, Mountain Lifting Hermit threw it back to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie put it back into the sheath.


    After letting out a sigh, Mountain Lifting Hermit watched Zhang Tie with a tender look at once as he told Zhang Tie in a genial voice, "As for the pattern that you could accelerate your speed by two times immediately under the stress of saber qi, it''s your precious gnosis and your trump card. You might even work out another powerful battle skill by it. Remember to not expose this gnosis to the others from then on. You have to watch out in the Lion Fortress and the Earth-elements Realm!"


    Touching his bald head, Zhang Tie smirked, "Thanks for your warning, Mountain Lifting Hermit, I''ve caught sight of your virtual image¡ª¡ªan intrepid giant embraced a mountain, may I know your cultivation method?"


    "I''m cultivating the "Embracing Mountain Sutra", a count-class sutra!" Mountain Lifting Hermit explained it to Zhang Tie patiently.


    After fighting together with Zhang Tie, witnessing Zhang Tie''s valiance and finding that Zhang Tie was straightforward and sincere who would stand out immediately when in dangers, Mountain Lifting Hermit who was usually forthright slightly changed his attitude towards Zhang Tie too.


    Zhang Tie also found the change in Mountain Lifting Hermit. Therefore, he sighed with emotions inside, ''The extremely awkward deed could conquer the extreme intelligence; the extreme sincerity could break the extreme hypocrisy.'' Being disguised by Zhu Liang the fierce wolf, the role of Cui li was crazy about battle skills in an awkward and sincere way, Zhang Tie inherited the temperament of Cui Li and exerted it to the utmost, namely, being extremely awkward and sincerest. However, Zhang Tie gradually found that the way of being extremely awkward and sincerest was actually a profound life philosophy. It could relax him and pose a great influence on those beside him. Therefore, Zhang Tie gradually found that it was natural for him to behave in an awkward and sincere way...

 927 The Demon Baron

    Chapter 927: The Demon Baron


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Watching Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit to come back in such a short period with a pair of ox horns respectively, the other 10 human knights of the team were shocked inside.


    It was not strange for Mountain Lifting Hermit to kill a black iron knight as an earth knight; however, it was really out of their imaginations that Zhang Tie could also kill a black iron knight in such a short period.


    Therefore, many people changed their attitudes towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie ignored their amazing eye lights. He directly threw the battle saber that he gained from the demon knight to Gong Ziyao, "Brother Gong, you''re good at using sabers, this saber might have a great power in your hand..."


    Abyss iron was very precious. Even if it was not a weapon, a piece of abyss iron weighing dozens of kgs would be very expensive too.


    "But this is your booty..."


    "It''s just a saber. I don''t use it. By the way, it''s heavy. Just take it, brother Gong!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Gong Ziyao took the saber.


    The battle sabers of demon knights were fierce and grim, which were very popular in the Lion Fortress.


    "As we''ve already met demon knights here, we''d better watch out..." Mountain Lifting Hermit warned them before setting off ahead of the team once again.


    This time, Mountain Lifting Hermit accelerated his speed evidently...


    "You''ve killed a demon knight?" Filton asked Zhang Tie in a secret way.


    Zhang Tie turned around and found that Cecilia and Bolam on the other line were watching him.


    "Right, when the demon knight wrestled with some knights from the Lion Fortress, I raided it and killed it!"


    "Wow!" Filton said while sighing with relief, "You''ve already killed 2 demon knights after coming to the Lion Fortress for less than 1 month, I feel you might become a trump knight!"


    "Trump knight?"


    "After killing 5 knights of your level, you would be called trump knight! The target of I, Cecilia and Bolam is to be a trump knight!" Filton explained seriously.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    It was really too difficult for a common black iron human knight to kill 5 black iron demon knights. The one who could make this achievement was qualified to be a trump knight. However, Zhang Tie had killed over one dozen demon knights and knights from Three-eye Association; therefore, the reputation of trump knight was not attractive to him. Actually, Zhang Tie was qualified to be a trump out of trump human knight.


    "What benefits do I have after becoming a trump knight in the Western Continent?" Zhang Tie asked Filton in a secret way.


    "After becoming a trump knight, you would be able to rule the most powerful trump corps in the Western Continent. Even being a No. 1 knight in a country, you could also enjoy a very good treatment and many privileges!"


    Zhang Tie replied with a surprised look, "I see!"


    "You didn''t know that?"


    "I didn''t know too much about the Western Continent!"


    "Even in Lion Fortress, you could also have a lot of benefits as a trump knight!"


    "What are they?"


    "You can choose highly paid tasks which are especially for trump knights. Additionally, you can practice your battle skill in the Heavens Ball once a month for free! Of course, you will gain more respect. All the earth knights being promoted from trump knights are very sharp. If trump knights could be famous on the Heavens Fortune Namelist, they would be the real nobles among humans!"


    "Hahaha, I''ve not imagined that there''re so many benefits for a trump knight. I expect to be a trump knight in a few days!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s answer, Filton became speechless. ''Others have to exert their full efforts to be a trump knight, how come this guy expect to be a trump knight in a few days? How arrogant he is!'' However, although Zhang Tie was arrogant, Filton didn''t feel sick about that; instead, he felt it was possible for Zhang Tie.


    Under the leadership of Mountain Lifting Hermit, the team made turns twice and soon disappeared in the dense black fog in the first Abyss...


    ...


    After they left this region for 4 hours, a tall demon knight appeared silently in the air above the battlefield where Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit fought just now. There might be a powerful, invisible tensile force over this figure while the black fog within 20 m rolled away in all directions like being blown away by the wind.


    The demon knight''s horns looked purple and golden. In a black half-body armor, a bloody cloak and a pair of grim metal gloves, this one looked much more powerful than the 4 demon knights that Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit had just met.


    The demon knight''s eyes looked aggressive with full killing intent. He gazed at the surrounding fog while the fog gradually formed 7 figures, each figure was about 16 cm in height. At first, 4 figures fought 3 figures. Later on, 2 more mini figures darted towards them and killed 2 of the group of 4. The remaining 2 figures started to retreat while the group of 3 who were in a disadvantageous position chased them away...


    This demon knight stood still here a couple of minutes when another demon knight arrived with luster. Those mini figures composed of fog faded away suddenly...


    The latter one was the very one who had escaped away from the three human knights.


    "Lord Baron, we encountered the raid from an earth human knight and a top black iron knight just now..." The latter demon knight panted faintly with an embarrassed look as its wounds had not been treated.


    "I''ve already known that..." The demon knight being called Lord Baron gazed at the latter demon knight while its eyes gradually turned icier and bloodier, "In that case, even if you only had 2 people, you could fight human knights to death instead of escaping, although you were besieged by the 3-in-1 formation of human knights, you could at least perish together with one human knight. However, you chose to escape and survive the 5 human knights safe and sound. Why are you still alive?"


    The latter wounded demon knight had been wet all over as it started to quiver, "Lord Baron..."


    "If you could not fight to death for the Demon God, you''re nothing but a sh*t!"


    The moment it finished the word "sh*t", the Lord Baron had already penetrated through the quivering body of the wounded demon knight with a punch...


    The demon knight whose body was penetrated through started to burn all over. Only after wailing mournfully a few times, it had become ashes in less than 1 minute and disappeared in the black fog of the First Abyss, leaving a pair of horns...


    The pair of bloody horns fell in the hands of Lord Baron. The Lord Baron then widely opened its mouth and started to crunch them with its terrifying, sharp teeth, causing jarring frictions and grinding sound before swallowing them.


    When the Lord Baron crunched the pair of horns, the horns flew out of dense fresh blood while a weird bloody rune appeared in Lord Baron...


    "Now that you could not serve the Demon God, I will put away the strength that the Demon God gifted to you..."


    After swallowing the pair of horns, Lord Baron''s eyes turned bloody. It looked at two directions: one was where Zhou Feng and the other two human knights left for; the other was where Mountain Lifting Hermit and Zhang Tie left for. Only after considering it for 2 seconds, it had moved towards where Mountain Lifting Hermit and Zhang Tie left for and disappeared in the dense fog in a split second...


    After the demon baron left, the black fog covered that place once again...


    This place recovered its tranquility like nothing had happened.


    ...


    After 4 hours of flight, they caught sight of a huge black entrance of a cave whose diameter was about 1 mile among the gullies of the First Abyss. Mountain Lifting Hermit led them in...


    They had met hundreds of caves like this one, large or small on the way.


    Each cave like this one might lead to a mysterious yet unknown world...


    From a certain perspective, the First Abyss was similar to an elevator in the Earth-elements Realm...


    ...

 928 An Accidental Encounter

    Chapter 928: An Accidental Encounter


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The First Abyss was too large. Even if all the human knights in the Lion Fortress entered the First Abyss and spread at the same height on average, they would not see each other within hundreds of square miles.


    If not the illuminating battle qis in battles and the battle qi lusters in flight, they could only have a visibility of a few miles in the First Abyss.


    The First Abyss was a huge, deep well. If not entering the hotspot regions in the First Abyss on purpose, they would have a very low possibility to encounter human knights or demon knights in the First Abyss.


    The hotspot regions in the First Abyss were closely related to the interests of both humans and demons, for instance, the Tiewei Mountain Range which was abundant in earth-elements crystals.


    The fiercest battle in the First Abyss happened in Tiewei Mountain Range.


    The team of Mountain Lifting Hermit entered an underground tunnel of the First Abyss, which was not the hotspot region. At least before those mysterious places and items behind the tunnels were exposed to the public, those deep and serene tunnels would not become boisterous.


    There were numerous underground tunnels in the First Abyss. As a result, the First Abyss was like a piece of cheese with many small holes in it. Until today, demons and humans had just explored a small part of these underground tunnels. As for what was in the other tunnels and where they led to, it was still a mystery.


    If the contingent of pioneers on the earth''s surface could arrive here, they would love this place.


    With these tunnels and caves, the First Abyss was like a maze full of treasures, secrets and dangers.


    Compared to the earth''s surface and the First Abyss, the underground tunnels and caves in the First Abyss composed a fantastic and magnificent world.


    After entering one cave for half a day, the black fog released by the vines started to fade away as their visions gradually recovered.


    After entering the underground cave for a day, Zhang Tie saw many ruined pyramids. It seemed that those pyramids were destroyed by an irresistible power. They might have lain in the pitch-dark tunnel tens of thousands of years and were quietly telling the history of human civilization being buried underground.


    Underground, each pyramid might hide many secrets. Those ruined pyramids might have been explored by many knights.


    On the 3rd day since they entered the underground cave, Zhang Tie saw a wide area of purple crystals covering hundreds of square miles; all the crystals were above Class III and higher than 0.5 m, making it look like a splendid purple sea. If it was on the earth''s surface, those crystal clusters would be worth a lot. There were precious ores and semi-precious stones among those crystal clusters such as aquamarines, topazes, fluorites, magnesites, calcites and zinc crystals...


    Watching those purple crystal clusters and those precious associated ores and semi-precious stones on the earth''s surface, Zhang Tie suddenly understood why Mountain Lifting Hermit wanted a space-teleportation equipment.


    As a knight who usually accessed to such places and saw numerous precious objects; however, due to limited conditions, he could not take away too many of them. Even if he could take some of them back to the Lion Fortress, his achievements would not match his labor force and identity as a knight. Zhang Tie could feel how depressed Mountain Lifting Hermit was.


    Additionally, a space-teleportation equipment with resources inside indicated a greater ability to explore the Earth-elements Realm and dangerous situations, a stronger viability and a better logistic service; especially the latter two points which counted most for knights. Without a stronger viability and a better logistic service, knights could only move in a short distance even though they could fly.


    By then did Zhang Tie realized how lucky he was with Castle of Black Iron.


    As for Zhang Tie, Castle of Black Iron''s space and great food supply ability could almost satisfy all of his demands.


    On the 4th day, since they entered the underground cave, the team of Mountain Lifting Hermit had met their competitors.


    Coincidentally, Zhang Tie had met some of them before.


    ...


    "Mountain Lifting Hermit, long time no see..." After hearing the sound drifting from the front, the team of Mountain Lifting Hermit stopped at once.


    At the same time, they saw another team of knights flying from afar.


    That was also a team of human knights. Additionally, it seemed that the head of that team knew Mountain Lifting Hermit as he hailed the latter. Mountain Lifting Hermit didn''t prepare to defend them; he just stopped. Therefore, the others of his team realized that those flying towards them must come from the Lion Fortress too.


    Zhang Tie also stopped as he watched those knights flying close to them.


    The head of the opposite team was an old man with silver hair in a green robe. His long eyebrows were as white as snow under the pair of slim eyes while his cheeks were red. He looked like an immortal. Given his qi, he could match that of Mountain Lifting Hermit. Therefore, Zhang Tie knew that the old man was also an earth knight.


    The old man was followed by 9 knights. Besides the 4 men and 2 women that Zhang Tie had seen on the airboat of Zhang Clan in Tianlu Palace in Taixia Country, there were 3 elder ones whom Zhang Tie had not seen before.


    The equipment and weapons of the 9 knights behind the elder were evidently more advanced than that of the team of Mountain Lifting Hermit.


    It seemed that Zhang Tie had left a deep impression to the 4 men and 2 women. The moment the two teams drew closer, the 6 pairs of eyes had gazed at Zhang Tie.


    Although being at the end of the team, Zhang Tie''s figure and bald head made him eye-catching.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, the 2 female knights of the other team had moved a few steps back; especially when Zhang Tie threw his glance at them, the two female knights both felt uncomfortable.


    "Brother Anguo..." Mountain Lifting Hermit hailed the head of the other team with a glassy-eyed look.


    As the old man with long snow-white eyebrows knew the temperament of Mountain Lifting Hermit, he didn''t mind Mountain Lifting Hermit''s indifferent attitude. After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, he looked at the 6 young knights in his team and asked, "You know someone in the team of Mountain Lifting Hermit?"


    As an earth knight, Mountain Lifting Hermit had a very sensitive feeling. The moment his team members behaved abnormally, he''d sense it right away.


    "Grand elder, when we came to the Lion Fortress this time, we entered the tunnel of the Earth-elements Realm together with a knight in the team of Mountain Lifting Hermit...ahem..ahem...that brother is really sturdy...erm, he''s also heroic and unruly. Therefore, he''s very impressive to us. We''ve not imagined that we could encounter him here once again!" A young man considered a second before replying.


    "Hahahaha, if so, you should make friends with each other..."


    Although it was a polite suggestion, the two female knights felt jarring. They even felt bashful repeating what Zhang Tie had said last time.


    "Brother Anguo, what''s your rule in this journey to the hieron?" Mountain Lifting Hermit suddenly asked.


    After hearing Mountain Lifting Hermit''s question, the old man''s eyes gleamed. After being silent for a second, he replied, "As human knights, although we all want items in the heiron, I feel that it''s unnecessary for us to fight to death only for those trivial items in the holy war and it would make others to mock us. After entering it this time, private combats and setting traps are forbidden inside. We will depend on our own abilities. As for the waifs, anyone who could get it first would own it. Anyone who dared violate this rule would be punished by the rest of us. What do you say about that?"


    "What a major clan! That''s great!" Mountain Lifting Hermit nodded.


    "Hahahaha...this is a good method. I also agree with you..." With thunder-like laughter, another group of lights arrived from afar in a split second.


    The head of this team was a fat man in a robe of a ministry councilor with floral patterns on it.


    At the sight of this man, both Mountain Lifting Hermit and the white-eyebrow elder frowned faintly.


    Zhang Tie watched the latter team of knights as he sighed with emotions inside, ''What an accidental encounter! The "Young sister" that I met a few days ago outside the entrance of the Earth-elements Realm is also in this team.'' Compared to that a few days ago, this "Young sister" had changed a set of purple imperial costume and made a snail-shaped bun, which made her more enchanting.


    The "Young sister" also caught sight of Zhang Tie as she replied with an arrogant harrumph. Closely after that, she turned around and moved her eyes away from him. However, her plump breasts became firm at once...


    ''What a woman! She still didn''t forget to show off her physical capital at this moment.'' Zhang Tie touched his bald head as he almost burst out into laughter.


    "Old Monster Qi, why are you here..." Mountain Lifting Hermit watched that fat head with an icier expression.


    "Hahaha, as you''re here, I''m here too!" The fat man replied with a smile as he took out a diamond-shaped piece of metal which shined exotic luster like a magic, "Without my object, you cannot enter it. I''ve spent a lot on this object and this chance. If you don''t like me, I will leave right away..."


    "If so, do you agree with our rule?" The white-eyebrow elder asked.


    "I do, of course, I do! Why not?" The fat man patted his chest, causing his fat belly to quiver all over, "I was even scared of being trapped by you two. Although I have a bad reputation, what I''ve said was like a fart which could never be regretted at all. Otherwise, even if I didn''t feel it disgusting, the others would feel it disgusting. After eating my fart, my words would always be smelly. If so, nobody would stay with me anymore. Am I not right?"


    After hearing such funny words, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand bursting out into laughter...


    The moment Zhang Tie burst into laughter, the fat man changed his face right away. With dangerous, gleaming eye lights, he watched Zhang Tie, "Brat, why do you laugh..."

 929 The Hurricane in the First Abyss

    Chapter 929: The Hurricane in the First Abyss


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "It''s my first time to hear someone comparing his words to fart, I like your simile, it''s fresh, humorous and individual!" Zhang Tie said straightforwardly. Even though he was facing an earth knight, he was not scared at all.


    "Humorous?" Old Monster Qi watched Zhang Tie as he blinked his eyes. All of a sudden, his killing qi disappeared as he burst out into laughter, "Brat, you''re visionary, I like you. What''s your name?"


    "Cui Li!"


    "I like you. How about coming to my side? I''m sure that you could get benefits in the ruined hieron!" Old Monster Qi patted his chest and suggested with a smile.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that this guy would dare "undermine the foundation" of Mountain Lifting Hermit. ''It seems that this Old Monster Qi is really something. He must be qualified to be arrogant. It''s normal for such an able man to be a rustic emperor in a remote place like Waii Subcontinent.''


    "Thank you but I don''t care which team do I belong to!" Zhang Tie shrugged as he continued with a casual look, "Additionally, I don''t like to cooperate with someone who changes his facial expressions so fast. Although Mountain Lifting Hermit looks cold, he''s enthusiastic inside. I feel good in this team!"


    The moment they heard Zhang Tie''s reply, both Mountain Lifting Hermit''s and Old Monster Qi''s eyes gleamed.


    Old Monster Qi slightly narrowed his eyes as he said, "You''re the first black iron knight who dared to say that I change my facial expressions so fast!"


    "Although the others didn''t say that in front of you, they thought the same inside. If it''s your real reflection, why not care about it being mentioned by others? If you''re a mountain, you will be a mountain; if you''re a tree, you will be a tree; if you''re a snake, you will be a snake; if you''re a dragon, you will be a dragon. No matter what others comment about you, a mountain will not be a tree; a tree will not be a mountain; a snake will not be a dragon; a dragon will not be a snake. Unless what you present to others are fake, you should not care about it being mentioned by others. Am I right?"


    "Interesting, interesting..." The Old Monster Qi''s eyes gleamed as he burst out into laughter once again.


    Finding that Zhang Tie was so talkative in front of Old Monster Qi, the "Young sister" in the team of Old Monster Qi couldn''t stand throwing a few glances at Zhang Tie out of curiosity. All the other knights who met Zhang Tie for the first time also gazed at him with a serious look.


    "Ahem..ahem..." The white-eyebrow elder coughed twice at this moment so as to attract the others'' attention, "Now that we''ve fixed the rule, we''d better not stay here anymore. Let''s go take a look at whether the hurricane has stopped or not. I''m afraid that it will stop after a day or two!"


    Mountain Lifting Hermit nodded as he issued the order "Let''s go" before flying towards afar ahead of his team, closely followed by Zhang Tie and all the other team members.


    Seeing Mountain Lifting Hermit''s team leaving, the other two teams also hurriedly followed them up. The three teams then moved shoulder to shoulder with a distance of less than 50 m. The 3 earth knights led their teams towards the pit in the distance.


    This underground pit was thousands of meters in depth, which had many branch holes. If the three teams could encounter here, it indicated that the hieron ruins was not far from here.


    They were all thrilled inside.


    "Young sister, long time no see!" Zhang Tie hailed the "Young sister" in a secret way when in flight.


    Even earth knights could not easily hear the contents of talks between black iron knights which were done in a secret way. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not afraid of being heard by others.


    "Harrumph, rogue!" The young sister replied with a cold harrumph.


    As the young sister was born to be enchanting, even such a simple reply sounded like being coquettish to Zhang Tie.


    "Young sister, as we entered the Earth-elements Realm at the same time, this brother wants to warn you. My mother told me to not make friends with people who usually changes his moods. Such people are not reliable. Watch out, don''t be devoured by him in the end!" Zhang Tie threw a glance at Old Monster Qi as he warned the young sister.


    "Why do you care about me so much?" After a few seconds, the young sister replied with a softer voice.


    "Even though we cannot sleep on the same bed, we''re not enemies either. Additionally, this brother finds that you are not a bad girl. You''re at most a lost girl with full desires. Therefore, I just warned out of good intention..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s response, the young sister turned around and rolled her eyes at Zhang Tie from dozens of meters away before flying off...


    Touching his bald head, Zhang Tie became confused, ''Did I say something wrong?''


    ...


    The demon baron appeared in their confluence after they left there for 2 hours. With sparkling red eyes, the demon baron stretched out of its bloody tongue which split into 4 parts like that of a lizard. After licking around its mouth rapidly, he flashed away towards where Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit left for...


    ...


    After 3 hours, those human knights felt hot abruptly while Zhang Tie saw some statues on the walls of the deep tunnel.


    All the exotic statues as high as 1,000 m were sitting up straight on chairs. Some of them held weapons, some held maces; some cupped fruits such as pine cones. These statues were too huge and tall with grim faces. Being directly carved in the mountain, they shocked Zhang Tie''s souls greatly.


    Although they were flying hundreds of meters above the ground, they could only reach the knees of those statues.


    Many of those statues had been ruined; many had cracks as wide as dozens of meters; some had already collapsed. Zhang Tie guessed that they had been carved for tens of thousands of years. However, Zhang Tie could still sense something solemn and holy from these statues.


    ''In the long course of history, what kind of civilisation could create such a marvel?''


    When flying past these statues, everyone slowed down out of their reverence to the unknowns and human history.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie saw a glow from the exit of the cave. At the same time, he felt hotter. The temperature was almost as high as 100 celcius degrees. After penetrating through the exit of the cave, Zhang Tie saw a borderless space.


    Zhang Tie was shocked by this scene.


    It was a boiling magma sea below them which was covered with a red hurricane. The red hurricane roared and rolled the magma into the air as high as thousands of meters. ''What a destructive power!''


    This was the so-called hurricane in the First Abyss. Although being far away from the magma sea and the hurricane, they could still feel the terrifying power of the hurricane. It was a destructive furnace being featured by a terrifying, high temperature and speed...


    The red hurricane was very strange as it was only rampant above the magma sea. The moment it left the magma sea, it had disappeared.


    Due to this red hurricane, they couldn''t see anything in the distance of this space.


    Out of curiosity, Zhang Tie broke off a solid rock from aside. It was a low-quality hematite which was very hard and resistant to high temperature. After weighing it in hand, Zhang Tie threw it into the red hurricane.


    Right under the gaze of everyone else, the piece of hematite entered the red hurricane. Before it fell into the magma sea, it had been torn apart, melt by the red hurricane and finally disappeared...


    ''F*ck!'' Zhang Tie took a deep breath.


    Even earth knights would not insist on a few minutes facing such a destructive power, not to mention black iron knights. If knights wanted to enter this hurricane, they had to bear high-speed excisions hundreds of times a second in all directions. No protective battle qi could stand such a destruction. Even shadow knights might not bear it.


    "F*ck, that''s amazing. Is the hieron ruins behind this hurricane? It''s really the idealest place to kill a person and rob his treasures..." Filton said as he flew to Zhang Tie''s side with Cecilia and Bolam.


    "Shut up, Filton..." Cecilia swore him with her furious eyes on him.


    As they were cooperating with three earth knights, even if there was a robbery, it could only be a black iron knight who''s robbed. After thinking it through, Filton smirked and didn''t say anything else.


    Watching the magma sea, Bolam who was always silent finally uttered with a solemn look, "After entering it, we''d better stay with each other!"


    Cecilia and Filton nodded at the same time.


    As they watched it on one side of the magma sea, the white-eyebrow elder took out a metal compass and stood on some positions for a short while respectively by facing the compass towards the hurricane as if measuring or confirming something. After a few minutes, he put away his metal compass and told Mountain Lifting Hermit, "We''re neither too late nor too early, the hurricane will disappear in 45 hours..."


    "You mean we will be able to enter it in about 2 days?"


    "Right!"


    "Hahahaha..." Old Monster Qi laughed, "That''s pretty good. We will take a rest two days here so that we could plunder inside!"


    The white-eyebrow elder exchanged a glance with Mountain Lifting Hermit before nodding with him at the same time.


    Everyone then moved back into the cave. As it was barren near the magma sea, they couldn''t find any resources to supply themselves at all. Additionally it was too hot here, they''d better rest in another place.


    ...


    After half an hour, all of them landed in the valley where those huge statues were 35 miles away from that magma sea...

 930 An Emergency

    Chapter 930: An Emergency


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The deep and serene valley was covered with fungi which were adapted to darkness. All the fungi were higher than 2 m like huge, open umbrellas, few of them could reach 3-4 m in height in the shape of pavilions. At the first blush, the entire valley was like an exotic children''s playground...


    Water flew out of the cliffs on both sides of the valley. In the Earth-elements Realm, as long as there were underground plants, there would be full of vitality.


    This was the ideal place for the teams of human knights to take a rest.


    All the members of the team led by the white-eyebrow elder were from Zhang Clan in Tianlu Palace, Taixia Country. The white-eyebrow elder''s name was Zhang Anguo; he''s the grand elder of the House of Elders in Tianlu Palace. The word " An 1" was exclusive to the knights of Zhang Clan in Tianlu Palace like the word "Mu" in Huaiyuan Palace.


    Given the point that the Tianlu Palace could dispatch one grand elder and nine knights for an action in Earth-elements Realm, Zhang Tie sighed with emotions about the sharp difference between Tianlu Palace and Huaiyuan Palace inside. He wondered when Huaiyuan Palace could reach the level of Tianlu Palace.


    The knights under the leadership of Old Monster Qi also came from the Lion Fortress. Besides Old Monster Qi, the other black iron knights were all strange in the Lion Fortress. As there were too many human knights in the Lion Fortress with a great mobility, if not being a trump knight, black iron knights could barely have a great influence in the Lion Fortress.


    The three teams of knights pitched their camps with a distance fewer than 7 miles from each other.


    The team of Mountain Lifting Hermit directly pitched their camp on the thigh of a huge statue which was sitting up straight.


    As it was about 400 m away from the ground, it was relatively cleaner and more refreshing. The two legs of the huge statue, after being put together, was as large as a square which could hold thousands of people at least. The valley was at the foot of this status, from where they could get food.


    ...


    Zhang Tie also took out a simple foldable tent from his bag, which only weighed 2 or 3 kg and was as large as a hat after being folded. Zhang Tie found a proper place and threw the tent onto the ground. With a sound of "bi", it automatically turned into a camouflaging tent with a dome.


    Such a simple, portable tent was only used for the waterproof purpose and prevent its owner from being exposed to the public when in sleep. It was just a bit confidential yet without any defensive power. As for knights, even though they slept in armored vehicles, their safety could still not be guaranteed. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t pose any requirement for the tent.


    After fixing the four corners of the tent by hand using alloy steel nails, Gong Ziyao came to Zhang Tie''s front and said, "Come on, let''s go find some food!"


    "Where''s brother Zhou?"


    "He went to find firewoods and water. After coming out for so many days, I''ve been so desiring about meat!"


    Zhang Tie then picked himself up and called Filton. Filton hurriedly ran toward them.


    "We''re going to find some food, will you come with us?"


    After hearing that they were going to find food, Filton''s eyes gleamed at once as he licked his lips, "The breadfruits and nutritious mushrooms in the Lion Fortress made me sick..."


    Zhang Tie and Gong Ziyao burst out into laughter at the same time. After that, Filton told Cecilia about their plan before flying off the statue with Zhang Tie and Gong Ziyao.


    As they would enter the magma sea in about 2 days, with the three earth knights on their side, they became relaxed at once...


    ...


    With the perceptions and night-viewing ability of knights, the three people would soon find a prey among some fungi.


    It was an animal as large as a dog. When Zhang Tie caught sight of it, it was eating a finger-nail sized termite at the root of a fungus. At the sight of it, Gong Ziyao took out a fluorite lamp with optical lens and irradiated it. The moment the animal saw the light, it became still at once like being affected by a magic. Closely after that, Gong Ziyao walked over there leisurely and killed it by pointing at its head before picking it up.


    The entire process went very smoothly and easily.


    "Brother Gong, what''s this?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "This animal is called underground pangolin. It''s very vigilant. The moment it catches sight of light, it will become still and relaxed. In this state, its flesh will be very tasty. If it were killed in vigilance in the dark out of fear, its body of gland would secrete an exotic substance to make its flesh sour and poisonous. If so, its flesh would be inedible!" Gong Ziyao explained.


    In the next half an hour, the three people caught another underground pangolin in the same way. They even found some edible mushrooms. After cleaning them in a mountain spring, the three people took their food back to their camp.


    The others had already set some bonfires and cooked their own food in the camp. Those withered fungi in the valley were good firewoods.


    At this moment, proper rest and adjustment physically and spiritually were definitely necessary. Nobody knew what they would face in the hieron ruins in 2 days.


    The group of 6 roasted two underground pangolins and boiled a pot of fungi soup, which were both tasty food at this moment.


    Sitting around the bonfire, the group of 6 ate and chatted. Until they ate up all the food did they return to their own tents to rest.


    As knights didn''t need to sleep for too long, they were actually cultivating and forming their chakras.


    After entering his own tent, Zhang Tie closed the tent from inside and sat down with crossed legs before digesting the achievements of killing that demon knight a few days ago...


    Just like what he achieved the first time, Zhang Tie became reassured, he "saw" a lot of golden, pure earth elements rotating around his chakras like satellites on the tracks of a planet and waiting to be converted into his earth chakra...


    This achievement was indeed fewer than the last time. However, he could light at least 4 scales.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile...


    Being immersed in Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy, the geometrical patterns on the earth chakra of "King Roc Sutra" were gradually lit...


    ...


    As expected, in a few hours, four scales on Cui Li''s crystal plate were lit consecutively, turning the number of scales being lit into 40...


    What an amazing speed!


    Soon after he lit 4 dragons scales, Zhang Tie heard a muffled sound "Emergency..." from outside...


    All the team members woke up from their dreamlands or cultivation realms at the same time as they rushed out of their tents at the fastest speed...


    In a place over 50 miles away, a knight''s battle qi luster faded away immediately...

 931 The Crisis

    Chapter 931: The Crisis


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    If there was a battle qi, it indicated that a combat was breaking out. At this critical moment, any combat was very sensitive, combats between human knights and demon knights or internal conflicts between human knights.


    Before Mountain Lifting Hermit uttered, the other members of his team had rushed towards the battle qi in terms of light.


    At the same time, the other two teams also rushed towards that place in terms of light from their camps.


    It only took them about 4 minutes to complete the distance of over 50 miles.


    The moment they arrived there, they had caught sight of a corpse lying on the ground.


    The corpse''s head had been chopped off, leaving a puddle of blood on the ground.


    After looking around the place, the knights ensured that there was no ambush in the surroundings; neither did they see any figure; therefore, they landed.


    After landing there, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Zhang Anguo the grand elder of Tianlu Palace and Old Monster Qi threw a glance at each other before walking towards the corpse.


    After checking the corpse, they confirmed the identity of the dead. However, they didn''t find any clue of the murderer at the scene.


    "It''s Sun Sheng!" Old Monster Qi picked himself up from the ground as he glanced at Mountain Lifting Hermit and Zhang Anguo with a weird, icy eye light. As he had seen the two earth knights fly off their camps just now, he didn''t think they had a chance to kill Sun Sheng.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit and Zhang Anguo also stood up.


    "He was raided. Before he released his battle qi, his heart had been fatally wounded. In the latter combat, he was chopped off in a few seconds!" Zhang Anguo said in a muffled voice.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit looked icy. He just threw a glance at his team members silently.


    Even if it was a close combat, it was also difficult for an earth knight to kill a black iron knight; however, a black iron knight could heavily wound or kill another black iron knight in an extremely short period by raiding the latter.


    Everyone at present felt a solemn yet weird atmosphere among the three teams.


    "Jia Xiong, wasn''t Sun Sheng always with you? Why did he come here alone?" Old Monster Qi suddenly turned around and asked a knight on his team.


    The knight was swarthy and short. After hearing Old Monster Qi''s question, everyone focused on Jia Xiong, causing him to feel nervous and swallow his saliva, "Sun Sheng was with me 1 hour ago; however, later on...later on he met...Miss Bai, after hearing that Miss Bai just ate some dried rations, Sun Sheng voluntarily said that he would hunt some smooth rats for Miss Bai, which was the tastiest food in the cave...Therefore...therefore he went out alone!"


    "Where''s Bai Suxian?" Old Monster Qi threw a glance at the team and didn''t see that woman.


    "Soon after Sun Sheng left, Miss Bai 1had left too..." Someone in the team of Old Monster Qi replied.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know the name of "Young sister" until now. This name made him speechless. Although the female was pretty white, she had nothing to do with Su 2and Xian 3.


    Soon after his words, some more lights arrived from afar, including the couple Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi, the two women and one man from Tianlu Palace and Bai Suxian the "Young sister".


    "When we arrived here, we found this guy had been raided!" Mountain Lifting Hermit uttered after throwing a glance at them while accenting the word "raided".


    Watching the corpse whose head had been chopped off and hearing Mountain Lifting Hermit''s words, the latter ones changed their faces at once.


    As they were late, they were suspects.


    Old Monster Qi gazed at Bai Suxian before asked in a muffled voice, "Where have you been?"


    The "Young sister" threw an aggrieved glance at Old Monster Qi before asking, "Do you also think it''s done by me?"


    "It''s a human life. You''re late, therefore, you need to explain it to us!" Old Monster Qi replied in an icy tone.


    Under the gaze of everyone else, Bai Suxian''s face blushed as she replied, "I am menstruating these days. As there were too many males in the valley, it was inconvenient for me; therefore, I was looking for a place to solve it..."


    Soon after Bai Suxian finished her words, Old Monster Qi''s eyes gleamed. In a split second, he had come to the side of Bai Suxian. Before Bai Suxian responded, he had caught her wrist. Bai Suxian was shocked. Before she wanted to launch a counter attack, Old Monster Qi had rapidly let off her wrist and retreated. The entire process was completed in a split second. When Bai Suxian responded with a pale face, Old Monster Qi had moved away.


    It was almost like raiding Bai Suxian. However, it also reflected Old Monster Qi''s power and arbitrary temperament, which shocked everyone else at present.


    "I''ve checked your pulse condition. It''s indeed the physical condition when a woman is menstruating. You''re not lying!" Old Monster Qi explained. Everybody else then understood why he caught Bai Suxian''s wrist just now.


    Watching how Old Monster Qi do, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi were shocked immediately. They slightly moved away from Old Monster Qi. Lu Zhongming stood in front of his wife as he pressed one hand onto his sword handle. After throwing a glance at them, he said in a muffled voice, "Just now, we were seeking for some rare underground plants'' seeds in the valley so that we could sow those seeds in the underground mountain cave of our Minling Sword Sect and create a cultivation environment being similar to that of Earth-elements Realm..."


    "As it''s the first time for some young elders in Tianlu Palace to come to the Earth-elements Realm, I told them to be familiar with the environment here these couple of days. I know that they left the camp just now!" Zhang Anguo opened his mouth as he clarified the reason why the three people of Tianlu Palace were late. At this moment, anyone who dared find Tianlu Palace''s trouble would be regarded as the enemy of Tianlu Palace as a whole.


    Everyone at present then became silent.


    Old Monster Qi then watched Mountain Lifting Hermit and Zhang Anguo with a sneer, "We''ve just fixed the rule to forbid private duel or mutual trap less than half a day ago, and we met such an accident here. How do you explain this?"


    "It''s not necessary that one of us who killed Sun Sheng!" Mountain Lifting Hermit said.


    "What do you mean?"


    "We don''t have the motive to kill him. Even if someone wanted to kill him, he would not risk the dangers until Sun Sheng came out of the hieron ruins. However, Sun Sheng had not entered the hieron ruins yet; neither did he have any valuable item with him that might arouse others'' vicious intention. Additionally, he had no resentment with us, why would someone kill him in vain at the risk of being recognized and besieged by us? Old Monster Qi, don''t forget that we''re in the Earth-elements Realm. Besides us, demon knights are also wandering here."


    After exchanging a glance with each other, all the others were shocked once again...


    ...


    After burying the corpse over there, the three teams of knights returned to their own camps in a weird atmosphere.


    Zhang Tie was shocked inside as it was his first time to see a dead human knight.


    Although Mountain Lifting Hermit''s explanation was reasonable, Zhang Tie still was not sure whether Sun Sheng was killed by a demon knight or not. In this world, human''s mind was most unpredictable.


    Zhang Tie had tasted unpredictable human minds too much...


    Because of this uncertainty, Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy and released a lot of tracing tentacles and attached them to the sole of each knight at present before they left, including that of Bai Suxian, Old Monster Qi and those people in Tianlu Palace.


    The biggest effect of tracing tentacle was to monitor each one''s trace and position each knight at any time.


    Whether Sun Sheng was killed by someone in the three teams or a demon knight, it was not a good news for all the others. Because this indicated that a dangerous enemy might beside them.


    The temporary camp became more depressive and weird. Many people''s eyes contained some hidden meaning when they looked at Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi.


    No matter what, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi were suspects. As a human knight was killed, all the others had to beware of them more or less.


    Now that Sun Shen was raided, it indicated that all the others at present might be raided too. Nobody could ensure that he or she was not the next one being raided.


    ...


    "These days, we three have to go out together. None of us should take any action alone..." Gong Ziyao told Zhang Tie in a secret way after returning to the camp.


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    ...


    Two days soon flew past.


    Nothing else happened in the two days. The knights completed their supplies in the valley in two days. With full preparations, they came to the magma sea once again.


    The terrifying hurricane gradually faded away...


    "Let''s go!" Mountain Lifting Hermit said in a muffled voice while all the others followed him towards the center of the magma sea...

 932 A Mysterious Island

    Chapter 932: A Mysterious Island


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The hot and boiling magma sea appeared under their feet...


    The magma sea was borderless.


    Although being hundreds of meters high above the magma sea, Zhang Tie could still feel the hot waves from below.


    Compared to the hurricane, the hot waves were as tender as spring breezes. Commoners might die out of hydration within a few hours; however, such a temperature didn''t cause any effect to knights at all.


    Except for the team of Zhang Clan in Tianlu Palace which felt to be united, the atmospheres in the teams of Mountain Lifting Hermit and Old Monster Qi were both subtle. Lu Zhongming, Lin Huanxi and Bai Suxian unconsciously flew to the front of the team close to the three earth knights.


    Nobody in the two teams would like to expose their backs to the three people. Therefore, the three people were subconsciously driven to the front of the two teams.


    "5 days later, the hurricane would reappear above the magma sea. Therefore, we could only stay 5 days in the hieron ruins at most. If everything went smoothly, we would leave after 3 days, at most 4 days!" Mountain Lifting Hermit''s voice sounded in the ears of the others on the team, "I feel that we might face some trouble in this journey. You''d better take care of yourselves!"


    After hearing Mountain Lifting Hermit''s warning, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded. After exchanging a glance with Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan, they could see a solemn expression from each other''s eyes.


    "What are you concerned about?" Zhang Tie asked Mountain Lifting Hermit in a secret way.


    After thinking for a few seconds, Mountain Lifting Hermit replied, "If the one who raided Sun Sheng was a demon knight, I''m considering what that demon knight would think and do after seeing us waiting at the entrance of this magma sea! Undoubtedly, that demon knight''s battle strength could never match the jointed battle strength of us. In this case, what do you think I''m concerned about?"


    Being hinted by Mountain Lifting Hermit, Zhang Tie understood it at once.


    ''If a demon knight is really following us, Mountain Lifting Hermit must be concerned about it whistling.''


    ''If that demon knight didn''t know what were we here for before today. It might have already speculated something when he saw the hurricane to disappear over this magma sea.''


    ''This was the worst scenario and the most possible result we might face. If that demon knight really blows a whistle after confirming our trace and purpose, given the efficiencies of both parties, we might have a fierce combat with a team of demon knights the moment we come out of the hieron ruins. We might be outnumbered by demon knights. The longer we stay in the hieron ruins, the more dangerous it might get and we might have to collide with a team of demon knights.


    In the Earth-elements Realm, no knight could avoid from fierce collisions with demon knights.


    If Mountain Lifting Hermit, Old Monster Qi and Zhang Anguo could coordinate with each other and make an ambush in the magma sea behind all the others, they would definitely make an achievement if there was a demon knight behind them. At least, it could scare the demon knight away. However, it was a daydream for three earth knights to stay here to set a trap only for the sake of the black iron knights. Even though the heads of the three teams were black iron knights, they would not agree to do that either. At such a critical moment, who would like to give up such a rare chance to wait for fighting a possible demon knight?


    Zhang Tie would. As long as he could kill a demon knight, he would make a big achievement. With the shield that he gained from the demon general, he could hide in the magma sea for a few hours; but it was useless for him to stay here alone. First, everybody else would think he was foolish; second, if there was an earth demon knight behind them, Zhang Tie was not sure that he could defeat it.


    Facing such a situation, Zhang Tie could only let out a sigh inside. Closely after that, he spirited up to respond to the next problems...


    They could only respond to the next situations in a flexible way.


    As there were three earth knights in their teams, it was not his turn to make decisions.


    ...


    After flying almost 1,000 miles over the magma sea for over 2 hours at a high speed, they caught sight of a looming isle in the hot, rising, twisting vapor.


    At the sight of this isle, everyone became spirited as they accelerated at once.


    After flying close to it, they could see it clearly.


    It was a big island that covered about 10,000 square miles instead of being an isle.


    All the exposed rocks on this island were weathered and aged might be because of the hurricane. It was a taste of vicissitudes all over.


    A tall, flat-roofed pyramid was standing in the middle of this island.


    Zhang Tie took in a deep breath, ''Here we are.''


    After reaching close to this island, the hot air that had been accompanying them over 2 hours instantly declined. The closer they were to this island, the faster the temperature would decline and be closer to normal temperature.


    "Watch out, it''s a no-fly zone in the island like that in Lion Fortress. When we are close to it, we''d better lower our flight altitude!" The grand elder of Tianlu Palace ahead of them opened his mouth as he declined his flight altitude rapidly, closely followed by all the other members of the three teams. When they were close to the edge of this island, they were only a few meters above the ground. The moment they entered the air territory of this island, they had lost their flying capabilities and fell down at once.


    If not being warned in advance, those who came here for the first time might be very embarrassed after falling down from hundreds of meters in the air even though they would not die at once.


    After landing, they felt that the temperature had recovered to normal while the air became refreshing at once.


    Now that it existed in the hot magma sea, it already indicated that this place was very marvelous.


    "After taking a rest, we will take action!" Old Monster Qi suggested.


    They didn''t reject him. Earth knights might not encounter any difficult to fly for 2 hours at a high speed consecutively; however, it was very difficult for most of the black iron knights...


    They then found a place nearby to take a rest by sitting cross-legged, drinking water or eating something so as to recover their physical strength and battle strength.


    Zhang Tie sat down against a huge grey rock. Filton then walked to him and stealthily gave him a vial of medicament. After taking a look at it, Zhang Tie became stunned, ''It''s all-purpose medicament...''


    "This thing just entered the Lion Fortress a few days ago. It''s very effective to recover physical strength and cure common minor injuries and poisoning symptoms..." Filton explained it to Zhang Tie...


    ''Has my elder brother opened the market in the Lion Fortress?''


    Zhang Tie felt complexed and gratified...

 933 The Hieron Ruins

    Chapter 933: The Hieron Ruins


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After having a sweet vial of all-purpose medicament, a relaxed feeling started to spread across his body from his stomach. After a short while, the fatigue and physical consumption caused by 2 hours of flight had been recovered.


    The 2 hours'' flight was much easier for Zhang Tie than the others. It was a middle-and-high speed for others, however, it was just a bit faster than the cruising speed for Zhang Tie. Such a flight didn''t cost him too much physical strength. In case of being too eye-catching, Zhang Tie had to take the vial of all-purpose medicament gifted by Gong Ziyao. Actually, he could recover his physical strength very soon without having to take all-purpose medicament at all. Even if he wanted to take the all-purpose medicament, he only needed to run his spiritual energy to move the well-brewed all-purpose medicament from Castle of Black Iron into his mouth.


    After 1 hour, seeing someone standing up, Zhang Tie stroked the familiar pattern of manjusaka on the empty vial before throwing it onto the ground. Closely after that, he also picked himself up from the ground.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether he was littering freely; if someone could really catch sight of this empty vial, his advertisement for his domestic business would be a success.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he threw a glance at Gong Ziyao and Zhou Sufan who was sitting with crossed legs not far away and nodding towards Zhang Tie at the same time.


    Before entering the hieron ruins, everyone wanted to adjust their conditions to the best.


    Gradually, all of them picked themselves up from the ground.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit exchanged a glance with the other two earth knights and nodded at each other.


    "Now that we''ve had a good rest. Let''s go then!" The grand elder of Tianlu Palace opened his mouth while everyone else set off once again.


    As they could not fly in the island, they could only rush towards the huge pyramid in the distance by foot.


    Before leaving, Zhang Tie looked back at the boiling magma sea.


    ''I wonder whether someone would follow us?''


    ''But who would like to stay here and be a sentry at this moment?''


    As this whim occurred to his mind, Zhang Tie ran forward as he undid his abyss battle spear from his back and assembled it one part after another.


    After being assembled, the 4 m long abyss battle spear looked pretty terrifying. Plus Zhang Tie''s towering figure, it was full of killing intent and became the largest and most eye-catching weapon in the entire team.


    Most of the people in the team used short weapons such as sabers or swords; some used exotic weapons such as the ax, hook, spine and 1 m long sickle. Bai Suxian the "young sister" used a steel whip which was circling around her slim waist. Only Zhang Tie used a long weapon.


    The moment he took out his weapon, he became outstanding at once. Even the members of Zhang Clan in Tianlu Palace couldn''t stand glancing at Zhang Tie.


    Few of battle skills on knights level were about long weapons. However, all the battle skills with long weapons were overbearing and powerful. Many people were guessing what battle skill did Cui Li the sturdy tough man use with such a terrifying weapon.


    The grand elder of Zhang Clan also recalled the battle skills of long spears that he had learned. After that, he shook his head faintly. He didn''t remember that there was a powerhouse called Cui Li who excelled at long spear battle skills.


    In running, Zhang Tie felt a hot eye light falling on his body. Zhang Tie turned around and saw that Bai Suxian was watching him with her watery eyes. When she caught sight of Zhang Tie''s eyes, she hurriedly moved her eyes away. At the same time, she replied with a cold harrumph. However, her split vision was still on Zhang Tie''s body.


    It was evidently a gesture and signal of a woman who sought for coquetry and comfort.


    If not at this moment and this place, Zhang Tie was sure that as long as he dared hug Bai Suxian shamelessly, the woman would definitely fall into his arms as soft as water.


    ''Does this petite girl really like tough men like me?'' Zhang Tie touched his bald head as he smirked...


    Bai Suxian moved very elegantly. The moment she touched the ground, she would throw her long sleeves. At the same time, she moved dozens of meters ahead like a fairy. In the entire team, her battle strength reflected by her movements was definitely at the medium level.


    ''How could such a woman raid and kill a man who courted her out of no reason?''


    When he thought about this, Zhang Tie felt that Mountain Lifting Hermit''s concern might come true.


    ''However, as the arrow is fitted to the string, we could only move forward. If we make some achievements in the hieron ruins, we could at least have a greater chance to survive the raid of the demon knights when we go out of here. Mountain Lifting Hermit and the other two earth knights might think in this way. None of those knights who dare enter the Earth-elements Realm are afraid of battle.''


    ...


    Based on the high speed of knights, after running less than half an hour, they had already arrived at the foot of the huge, flat-roofed pyramid in the middle of this island.


    There were a lot of stony steps from the foot of the pyramid to the roof, each step was higher than 0.5 m. Led by the three earth knights, everyone rushed upstairs, 10 steps a stride.


    When he reached the flat roof of the pyramid, Zhang Tie''s sight expanded at once. He caught sight of a row of huge stony pillars while the entrance of an old, broken temple entered their visions. There were two rows of huge, time-honored statues at the entrance of the temple, each statue was higher than 10 m. At the sight of those statues, everyone became shocked once again, including Zhang Tie.


    The statues were standing in two rows, one row on the left, the other on the right. The row on the right were armored human fighters who were holding their swords with solemn and dignified looks. Those on the left were demon fighters who were also standing in solemn looks with huge hammers in hands.


    The two rows of statues didn''t look aggressive to each other; instead, it seemed that they were commonly safeguarding the hieron.


    As these statues were too old, it was hard to guess their ages. However, the statues reminded Zhang Tie that humans and demons might be two races living together peacefully in a far-ancient age. If not, how could humans and demons safeguard the hieron commonly at the entrance? No matter whether it was humans or demons who established this hieron, if they were in the antagonistic state at that moment, the party who established this hieron would never allow the other party''s statues to be the guardians of the hieron...


    If Zhang Tie was a historian or anthropologist, he might stop to study this question seriously. However, as a knight, he didn''t need to do research; instead, he only needed to plunder so as to grow more and more powerful.


    Therefore, although they were shocked inside, none of them would stop to study those statues. They just passed by the statues and arrived at the entrance of the hieron.


    There were various animals such as cattle and sheep on the huge stony pillars. On the top of the only gate, there was a mysterious triangular sign being made of three scales of different sizes.


    The mysterious triangular sign should be the symbol of this hieron or of a religious meaning like the signboard of yamun, bank or commercial group. However, like how they didn''t know why statues of demons and humans were standing outside the hieron, none of the three teams of knights understood the meaning of the sign on the gate of the hieron until today.


    They only knew that they would face dangers and might make good achievements inside.


    After tens of thousands of years, everything in front of them became ruins. They only cared about interests; instead of the far-ancient yet unknown truth. If humans could kill all the demons, they might put their efforts in studying this place seriously; however, as the holy war had broken out, nothing was more realistic and meaningful than powerful punches and sharp blades.


    Right at the entrance of the hieron, the time-honored metal gate being carved with exotic grains was shuttered, leaving three tidy and eye-catching pits on it.


    After coming to the entrance, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Old Monster Qi and the grand elder of Tianlu Palace respectively took out a piece of shimmering diamond-shaped metal. After exchanging a glance with each other, they inserted their diamond-shaped metal piece into the pits respectively before moving a few steps back at the same time.


    "Watch out. When the gate opens, as long as you enter it, don''t exit casually. Being affected by the mysterious strength and guarding rule of this hieron ruins, everyone could only access to this threshold just one time. As long as you exit it, you will not be able to enter it again!" Zhang Anguo, the grand elder of Tianlu Palace warned the others.


    As they had made it so far, if someone made such a stupid mistake, he or she would waste all the previous efforts.


    Soon after Zhang Anguo''s words, the entire pyramid quivered while the gate slowly opened. With a dazzling white light, a majestic qi poured out of the gate.


    This majestic qi reminded Zhang Tie of the scene when he entered the tower of time, which also indicated that everything in this hieron could not be destroyed by knights...

 934 As a Lion, Like a Dragon

    Chapter 934: As a Lion, Like a Dragon


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After the gate was completely opened, the three earth knights moved one step forward and put away their metal pieces. Closely after that, all the members of the three teams entered the hieron consecutively...


    When he entered the gate, Zhang Tie felt an exotic energy sweeping over him...


    Zhang Tie looked back. Although they had entered, the gate didn''t close; he then ran his spiritual energy while a tracing feather flew out of his forehead and lay on the entrance of the hieron silently.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter everyone entered, as long as someone else entered, the tracing feather would attach to the sole of the new arriver automatically. The moment the tracing feather moved, Zhang Tie would know that someone else had arrived!


    As it was on the flat roof of the pyramid, there was no space behind the gate but an extremely serene, spiral staircase, which led all the way to the bottom of the pyramid.


    Most of the knights who came here for the first time didn''t know what was at the bottom of the pyramid. The ground in the pyramid was brilliant and carried a special metallic luster.


    "Ah, it''s too cold..." The arrivers quivered a bit when a chilly wind blew towards them from below the staircase.


    Compared to the hot magma sea outside, the inside space of this pyramid was at least below minus 40 degrees Celcius. Even being knights, they could only move normally inside in a short period.


    "Attention, it''s even colder downside there. In 3 days, if anyone of you couldn''t stand it any longer, you should exit in advance..." Mountain Lifting Hermit uttered.


    When Mountain Lifting Hermit uttered, Old Monster Qi remained silent, who directly led his team and rushed downwards along the spiral staircase at a very fast speed. The knights of Zhang Clan in Tianlu Palace hurriedly followed them up. Mountain Lifting Hermit''s team was in the end.


    Although they could not fly by the strength of the chakras at this moment, they didn''t slow down. Everybody was moving rapidly on the spiral staircase.


    At this moment, everybody became a bit thrilled.


    When Zhang Tie was running, he kept observing the surrounding environment.


    The spiral staircase gradually turned wider and flatter due to the structure of the pyramid. Additionally, this spiral staircase was a distinctive, two-helical structure like the helical structure of DNA. No artificial trace could be seen on this staircase. It was a complete, mysterious structure.


    In each dozen meters, there would be a fire basket near the handrail. Zhang Tie guessed that the fire baskets might be used to illuminate the staircase in the far-ancient times. However, it could not be authenticated now.


    Due to the existence of night-viewing medicaments, even if there was no fire basket, knights could still clearly see the surroundings.


    There were odd-looking mural paintings and strange words on both walls of the staircase. Zhang Tie saw many scenes about the co-existence between humans and demons. What shocked Zhang Tie was that those scenes were not about wars but about strange religious activities. In those religious activities, animals such as cattle and sheep were pushed in front of a tall and odd-looking joss for a sacrificial purpose...


    There were empty stands on both sides of the staircase. The items on the stands might have been taken away.


    The three keys in the hands of Mountain Lifting Hermit and the other two earth knights were from others. In the past 9 years, two batches of people had arrived here.


    According to the introduction of the previous two batches of people, due to a short period, even knights could not stay too long below there. Therefore, many regions in the hieron ruins had not been fully explored. There might be some good items left. However, as those who had entered here once could not enter it for the second time, even though being the third batch of explorers, they might still find something good inside.


    The Weapons Mountain and the possible space-teleportation equipment were both worthwhile for people to risk their lives here.


    The deeper it was, the colder it would be. They felt like entering an ice cellar.


    In less than 10 minutes, they had deepened over 13 miles inside the pyramid. Given the position, they must have entered the underground space of the pyramid.


    After coming to the last step, the three earth knights stood there. Even Old Monster Qi didn''t walk a step forward with shimmering eyes. Everyone else then stopped on the last step.


    What in front of everyone else was a huge palace-like lobby, which lasted for miles. They could faintly see dozens of portals at the end of the lobby, large or small. The ground of the lobby was as clean as a new pin, which was covered with exotic grains. The entire lobby felt icy and quiet. On both sides of the lobby were two rows of exotic metal statues.


    All the grim and dignified metal statues were taller than 3 m which looked like spiders in the lower body and humans in the upper body. They were holding a metal shield by the left hand and various weapons by the right hand.


    When they stopped on the last step, the eyes of the two rows of metal statues started to turn red while their necks started to sound, "kakakaka". At the same time, they moved their heads towards the three teams of knights which were very terrifying.


    They were not statues but powerful battle puppets in the hieron who had been staying there since they were put.


    It was so terrifying that these battle puppets could still move after so many years.


    "Ga...ga...ga..." Old Monster Qi laughed as he watched Mountain Lifting Hermit and the grand elder of Tianlu Palace while narrowing his eyes, "We three will rush over there together in this pass. After that, we will choose one portal respectively and enter it independently. After entering portals, we will not interfere with each other whether you''re alive or dead, rich or poor. How about that?''


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Mountain Lifting Hermit and the grand elder of Tianlu Palace nodded at the same time before replying in a muffled voice, "Good!"


    The 3 earth knights rushed out in a split second...


    The moment the 3 earth knights left the last step and landed on the grand of the lobby, all the battle puppets in the lobby started to move as fast as knights.


    6 battle puppets who were nearest to the 3 earth knights instantly rushed out and stabbed three huge swords and three long spears towards the 3 earth knights...


    "Go die..." Mountain Lifting Hermit roared as he released a battle qi punch towards two battle puppets from 5 meters away, causing them to move backward, instead of killing them or damaging them.


    The two battle puppets blocked the greater part of the battle qi of the earth knight with their shields. Although a small part of Mountain Lifting Hermit''s battle qi punch touched the bodies of the two battle puppets, it only slid off a part of the metal on the battle puppets...


    With a loud boom, the 16 feet of the two battle puppets left 16 scratches on the ground. After moving 7-8 m backward, they rushed forward once again...


    These battle puppets'' defensive abilities and close-combat capabilities could almost match that of knights.


    The roar of Mountain Lifting Hermit started the first battle in the hieron ruins.


    "Hahaha, cool!" Zhang Tie rushed out of the black iron knights with laughter. Based on his powerful jumping ability, Zhang Tie instantly arrived at over 20 m in the air. He then waved his abyss battle spear in the air while a battle qi fire dragon appeared whose brilliant glow covered the entire lobby...


    In the battle, the 3 earth knights couldn''t stand throwing a glance at Zhang Tie.


    Everybody then felt a hot sun shining in the air while the temperature in the surroundings rose up abruptly...


    Zhang Tie was lifting the hot sun. Together with the dancing, odd-looking fire dragon with a pair of wings, the hot sun was thrown into the group of battle puppets.


    Thunder-like booms and strong, hot wind and shock waves of battle qi swept over 100 m in a split second, sending 4 of the group of battle puppets flying backward at once.


    What a fierce strike! It could almost match that of an earth knight.


    All the black iron knights including Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan who saw Zhang Tie using his long spear battle skill for the first time were startled at once. They had not imagined that Zhang Tie could be so fierce.


    Zhang Tie refreshed everyone''s senses once again.


    At the sight of this scene, the grand elder of Tianlu Palace was shocked too while a famous figure in Taixia Country occurred to his mind, he immediately hailed, "Fire-Dragon Heaven Burning Spear Battle Skill!"


    "Hahahaah...Grand Elder Anguo really has a good taste!" Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he raised his spear horizontally to block two huge swords.


    Closely after that, he changed the direction of the head of the long spear in a weird manner and penetrated it through the gap between a battle puppet''s shield and huge sword like a living, golden snake. He directly stabbed his spear into the lower body of the battle puppet and lifted it up, smashing it towards another battle puppet; as a result, the two battle puppets were both sent flying away...


    Each battle puppet here weighed about 5-6 tons. All the black iron knights'' eyebrows kept jumping when they saw Zhang Tie lifting up a battle puppet with the spear so easily, ''F*ck, how powerful is this guy! Is he even a human or not?''


    After touching these battle puppets, Zhang Tie felt that these battle puppets'' metal was very defensive to long-distance battle qi strikes. As for these battle puppets, the most effective combat mode was the close combat.


    More battle puppets rushed towards them...


    In the laughter, Zhang Tie passed by the three earth knights and rushed into a group of battle puppets alone in an aggressive way.


    After that, all the others could not see Zhang Tie''s body clearly. Instead, they could only see huge battle puppets being lifted up by Zhang Tie''s abyss battle spear one after another and smashed onto the other battle puppets in the distance. They could barely pick themselves up from the ground until quite a while...


    1...2...3...4...16...17...18...


    Zhang Tie kept lifting up 18 battle puppets...


    In Hua legends, an unrivaled fierce general could lift up chariots one after another on the battlefield. Although they had not seen that; at the sight of Zhang Tie''s performance, everybody else felt that the legendary general could not even match Cui Li.

 935 A Bloody Battle in the Lobby

    Chapter 935: A Bloody Battle in the Lobby


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The battle puppets could not be killed...


    After Mountain Lifting Hermit, Old Monster Qi and the grand elder of Tianlu Palace, Zhang Tie was the 4th knight who penetrated through a battle puppet with abyss battle spear and broke the battle puppet into metal fragments and parts.


    Zhang Tie thought that the battle puppet would die for sure; however, the fragments and parts of the battle puppet assembled once again automatically and recovered the original look of the battle puppet in less than half a minute.


    This scene reminded Zhang Tie of his favorite game at home when he was young¡ª¡ªfind an empty box of leather shoes and threw some nails and screws in it. After that, move a piece of the magnet at the bottom of the box slowly. Gradually, those nails and screws would move and gather together...


    Zhang Tie was obsessed with this game when he was 5 years old. At this moment, watching those parts assembling like being manipulated by a huge piece of magnet underground, Zhang Tie felt goosebumps all over. He finally understood why Mountain Lifting Hermit organized a team to explore this hieron ruins together with him.


    Although those battle puppets'' battle strength could almost match that of knights and their bodies could be damaged or shattered into pieces, their finest parts could never be destroyed, even by earth knights.


    Knights might be killed; however, those parts of battle puppets could only be separated temporarily. In less than 10 minutes, they would assemble into a new battle puppet and join the battle once again.


    They were not fighting battle puppets but thousands of indestructible fine parts and gears.


    Besides the battle puppets, the entire palace seemed to be able to "heal" itself. The traces on the ground caused by Zhang Tie gradually faded away in less than 10 minutes too...


    It took them more than 2 hours to march in 1/3 of the lobby.


    Many battle puppets were rushing towards them all the time...


    ...


    With an explosive sound "boom", Zhang Tie penetrated through a battle puppet''s chest after causing a special, shrill sound in the air. With his vigorous battle qi, the battle puppet exploded while thousands of parts scattered like how a heavenly maid scattered blossoms.


    It was the 6th battle puppet that Zhang Tie had killed...


    When a spider''s leg flew off, Zhang Tie immediately caught it by his hand.


    Noticing that Filton and the other two team members were being besieged by 7-8 battle puppets, Zhang Tie rushed to their side as he wove his spear to strike the 7-8 battle puppets'' bodies and shields in a split second. After a tempest-like collision, the formation of the battle puppets was broken by Zhang Tie, resolving the crisis facing the group of three at once.


    Only at this moment did everybody else feel being lucky to have Zhang Tie as their team member.


    After Zhang Tie broke the formation of the battle puppets, two battle puppets rushed towards Zhang Tie at a high speed at once.


    "Piss off!" Zhang Tie lifted up one battle puppet by his right hand and sent it flying away. At the same time, he fiercely smashed the spider leg onto the other battle puppet''s shield, causing that battle puppet to slide over 10 m away.


    The spider''s leg weighed over 200 kg. It worked as an odd-looking wooden club in Zhang Tie''s left hand. Even though being a club, it was also intimidating with the terrifying strength and battle skills.


    With a spear in the right hand and a spider''s leg in the left hand, Zhang Tie was surrounded by wild air-splitting shrieks and howls. He then rushed into the formation of the battle puppets and caused a great chaos at once like a fierce lion coming down a mountain.


    Filton rushed to Zhang Tie''s side and made a head-on collision with a battle puppet.


    During this process, Filton asked Zhang Tie, "What do you take a leg of battle puppet for?"


    Zhang Tie replied, "I want to see whether the battle puppet could recover while lacking one leg. Don''t you feel it is interesting?"


    "What the hell!" Filton replied.


    Among all of them, perhaps only Zhang Tie felt that it was interesting to do an experiment with a broken leg of a battle puppet at this moment.


    If he was alone, Zhang Tie even thought about throwing this broken leg into the abyss of chaos in Castle of Black Iron to check whether this battle puppet would still be that sharp or not after its broken leg was completely melted.


    Besides being unable to use battle qi strikes and fly, these battle puppets'' battle strength was really terrifying. A corps of 100,000 battle puppets outside the hieron in the pyramid could definitely be unrivaled in the world.


    Right then, the first human knight was wounded...


    He was from the team of Old Monster Qi.


    The knight jumped higher than 30 m as if he wanted to jump over some battle puppets...


    However, when he jumped up, some battle puppets in front of him lowered their bodies and jumped up at the same time; meanwhile, two huge swords and one spear pricked towards that human knight.


    Actually, when a human knight lost his flying ability, it was very dangerous and stupid for him to jump up and fight his enemies in the air due to gravity.


    Even the three earth knights who had greater jumping abilities than him were fighting step by step on the ground, he definitely had to bear the corresponding result for his jump.


    It seemed that he had not imagined that these battle puppets could jump so high.


    In the air, he was startled. After blocking three battle puppet''s strike hurriedly, his protective battle qi was broken at once; meanwhile, he started to decline rapidly towards the ground.


    At this moment, a battle puppet raised its head and threw out a spear towards him when his protective battle qi was broken.


    It was out of his imagination that battle puppets could throw out a spear.


    The target of the spear was his lower abdomen. The battle puppet wanted to kill him. In a panic, he used his instinct to strike the long spear by palm from a few meters away. Although the spear''s head lowered and didn''t hit his lower abdomen, it penetrated through his thigh. After spurting out a lot of blood from his thigh, the man uttered a muffled harrumph...


    The moment he landed, he had rolled aside and poured a vial of all-purpose medicament into his mouth at the fastest speed.


    ...


    In a few minutes, a battle puppet with red eyes and one leg jumped towards Zhang Tie at a speed which was just a bit slower than that of normal battle puppets.


    At this moment, the broken leg in Zhang Tie''s left hand started to expand and contract forcefully. It felt like a living, running hind leg of a robust ox. The broken leg had a very great strength. Commoners could not hold it fast at all, except for Zhang Tie. However, the strength of the broken leg was dwarfed by the strength of Zhang Tie''s hand.


    Watching Zhang Tie holding fast its broken leg, the battle puppet chased after Zhang Tie like a lunatic. It seemed that it swore to kill Zhang Tie.


    After a while, the broken leg started to get warmer. Gradually, it turned as hot as a red piece of iron. After that, with a sound "Pah", the broken leg automatically separated into many finer parts and dropped off Zhang Tie''s hand. Closely after that, those parts started to bounce towards the very battle puppet like hopping beads. Gradually, a new leg formed...


    ''How great these battle puppets are! On this occasion, they could almost be unrivaled.''


    ''However, the one who created these battle puppets tens of thousands of years ago was greater.''


    Zhang Tie sighed with emotions inside as he kept fighting those battle puppets...


    After recovering its leg completely, the battle puppet rushed towards Zhang Tie once again...


    In a few minutes, the battle puppet turned into pieces over again...


    ...


    Everyone was marching on as they fought battle puppets fiercely.


    It was a bloody battle. Since the first human knight in the team of Old Monster Qi was injured, more and more people in the teams of Tianlu Palace and Mountain Lifting Hermit started to get injured consecutively. Even Gong Ziyao''s shoulder was injured by a battle puppet''s spear...


    Thankfully, nobody was killed in this course.


    After about another 4 hours'' bloody fight, they finally drew close to the other end of the lobby. The arch doors on the fan-shaped walls could almost be reached in less than 100 m.


    However, by then, above 90% of them had been exhausted.


    "Hahahaha, see you. Wish you''re safe..." Old Monster Qi burst into laughter as his battle qi suddenly surged. An image of a huge bloody toad rose up and beat back a row of battle puppets in front of him at once. At the same time, he dodged from the sharp weapons in weird movements and broke the final ring of encirclement. Closely after that, he disappeared behind an arched door...

 936 Womans Hear

    Chapter 936: Woman''s Heart


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Now that he was called Old Monster Qi and was not favorable, he would always do something that made people abhorrent, exposing his selfish temperament sharply.


    Take this moment as an instance, when the others were fighting battle puppets bloodily, Old Monster Qi suddenly broke out the encirclement and left all the others behind.


    Zhang Tie wondered what Old Monster Qi and his team members had agreed with; however, at this moment, Zhang Tie felt that the other team members became Old Monster Qi''s tools. As long as they could help Old Monster Qi pass this lobby, they would lose their value.


    Although Old Monster Qi left without any hesitation, an earth knight''s sudden departure severely weakened the overall battle strength of human knights; especially the battle strength of Old Monster''s team.


    After almost 6 hours of bloody battle, when they were going to pass this terrifying lobby, most of the knights had been exhausted. Old Monster Qi''s departure immediately made his team suffer a great loss. As a result, one of his team members was injured at once.


    Bai Suxian moved as agile as usual. Her soft steel whip was both sharp and crafty, which could be as hard as steel and as soft as water. Her ability was definitely above average black iron knights. Since they entered the lobby to the present, 3 of their team had been injured; however, the "young sister" was still safe and sound.


    However, as a woman, even though her battle strength was not bad, after 6 hours of a tough endurance race, she had also almost run out of her physical strength. At this moment, Bai Suxian''s face had turned abnormally pale while oozing sweat at her temples. Facing the fierce attack of so many battle puppets, she gradually became stagnated while her protective battle qi was only 1/4 of the original thickness. At the same time, it was undulating very unsteadily. For many times, the battle puppets'' battle swords almost scraped her neck and nose tip. The remaining protective battle qi actually could not guarantee her safety anymore, which would be easily collapsed.


    The battle puppets would not die; however, knights would die for sure. If the passage of this lobby was 1.5 times longer and only two earth knights broke in, perhaps even earth knights would be killed.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit and the grand elder of Tianlu Palace had not exerted their full strength. Since the beginning of this battle, they had not shown their real strength. Besides, only Zhang Tie among all the other knights was still vigorous while being circled by a fire dragon. Holding an abyss battle spear, he was like a battle god. Wherever he went, he would sweep over his weapon as if he had determined to have a head-on fight with the battle puppets. Zhang Tie didn''t look fatigued at all.


    "Ah..." An exclamation drifted from Bai Suxian. Zhang Tie turned around and found Bai Suxian''s long whip was twining around a battle puppet''s neck. However, that battle puppet suddenly dropped its shield. At the same time, it suddenly stood up its lower body and started to draw the long whip forcefully. Having been very weak, Bai Subxian, after losing her balance, instantly flew towards the battle puppet. Right then, the battle puppet stabbed its spear towards the "young sister"''s breast forcefully with a shrill sound in the air.


    Battle puppet didn''t have a good taste. They only knew enemies instead of cup sizes.


    As it occurred so abruptly, Bai Suxian had no chance to dodge at all. With a despairing look, Bai Suxian was going to be penetrated through by the spear and be severely injured in the blink of an eye...


    Right then, Zhang Tie rushed over there and hugged her; at the same time, he bore the strike of that battle puppet with his back directly.


    Zhang Tie found that he was genuinely soft-hearted. As that woman was not that vicious, he really couldn''t stand watching a woman being severely injured or killed by a battle puppet in front of him.


    Such a strike was very powerful. Although it didn''t break Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi, it rocked his protective battle qi. Additionally, Zhang Tie was sent flying backward together with Bai Suxian.


    As Zhang Tie flew backward horizontally. The moment he fell onto the ground, he had hugged Bai Suxian with one arm and started to roll on the ground.


    In such a case, even knights were disadvantageous while lying on the ground.


    The surrounding huge swords were fiercely stabbed towards the two people. At the same time, the spider feet stomped towards their bodies mercilessly like sharp forks.


    The battle puppets launched a tempest-like strike towards Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian.


    As the old saying went, when you helped a person, you had to help him to the end; when you see off a Budda, you''d better send the Budda to the West. Now that Zhang Tie had determined to save Bai Suxian, of course, he would prevent her from being injured. If the one whom he saved was injured at this moment, he would lose his face greatly, ''No matter what, this father has experienced hundreds of battles and is cultivating an emperor-level secret method. Aren''t I qualified to save her?''


    When those swords, spears and spider feet fell, Zhang Tie protected Bai Suxian with his body while some swords and spears were directly stabbed onto his battle qi, causing his qi and blood to roll inside.


    However, as Zhang Tie was strike-resistant and had a self-recovery body; even if he was stabbed and chopped a few times, he could still bear that. He was not afraid of that at all.


    In others'' eyes, such a fierce and thrilling attack would solve the battle in a split second.


    The other knights just saw Zhang Tie rolling on the ground with Bai Suxian so as to dodge from the brutal and terrifying blades and spears. As a result, those ineffective blades and spears stroke the ground, causing booms across the lobby.


    Gong Ziyao, Zhou Shufan and Filton were startled at the same time as they hurriedly came here to save Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie didn''t notice that Bai Suxian whose face turned pale just now was raising her head and looking at him without blinking her eyes while her fearsome look had disappeared.


    Bai Suxian unconsciously leaned against Zhang Tie''s chest lightly with her face and listened to Zhang Tie''s surging blood and heartbeats. At the same time, she embraced Zhang Tie''s waist with closed eyes...


    "Go die!" Zhang Tie finally found a chance to launch a counter-attack by sweeping over his spear while lying on the ground, breaking 4-5 spider legs within a radius of 4 m besides blocking those spears and huge swords.


    Zhang Tie sprung up from the ground once again. At the same time, he caught the waistband of the imperial longuette of Bai Suxian. In the next second, he threw Bai Suxian towards the other end of the lobby like throwing a javelin.


    Zhang Tie''s strength was really great. Not until Bai Suxian landed on the other end of the lobby steadily and opened her eyes did those battle puppets respond to that.


    Therefore, Bai Suxian became the second person who passed the lobby after Old Monster Qi.


    There was an evident line of demarcation on the ground while the colors and grains of the floor on two sides of the line of demarcation were different. It seemed that those battle puppets within the line of demarcation didn''t see Bai Suxian at all.


    Standing outside the line of demarcation, Bai Suxian watched Zhang Tie while panting heavily. At the same time, she took out a vial of all-purpose medicament and drank it up...


    ...


    Previously, Gong Ziyao, Zhou Shufan and Cecilia were thinking about breaking the encirclement to save Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian; however, before they arrived, they had seen Zhang Tie spring up from the ground vigorously. At the same time, he threw Bai Suxian out of the battlefield.


    At this moment, a battle puppet whose neck was circled with a soft whip rushed towards Zhang Tie. Watching this battle puppet and recalling his embarrassed look just now, Zhang Tie roared as he jumped up and fiercely struck the battle puppet''s head with his spear by two hands like lashing a stick.


    The battle puppet raised its shield to block Zhang Tie''s strike; however, Zhang Tie''s strike was evidently out of its endurance capacity.


    As a result, its shield turned into pieces and scattered over the ground. Closely after that, one of its arms was broken. Finally, Zhang Tie''s abyss battle spear smashed onto its head, breaking its head into parts and sending them flying in all directions...


    The battle puppet didn''t die; even though its head was chopped off, it had just lost its sense of direction, sense of judgment and striking capability for the time being while circling on the ground...


    ''What a man!'' Everybody took a deep breath at the sight of this scene.


    "Is that a man?" Filton roared what the others were thinking about...


    Before the others came to save him, Zhang Tie had swept over once again.


    ...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt a white shadow flashing by. Zhang Tie was stunned as he had not imagined that Bai Suxian who had been thrown out of the battlefield could return.


    Bai Suxian caught her long whip and protected Zhang Tie by waving it like a tempest.


    Zhang Tie didn''t appreciate her; instead, he was driven mad. He felt that he had borne hundreds of times of strikes for her in vain, ''Is she crazy?''


    Zhang Tie roared towards Bai Suxian, "Are you motherf*cking sick? You''ve been out of the battlefield, why are you back? As a female, why are you flaunting your superiority at this moment?''


    However, Bai Suxian didn''t say anything; she just wove her steel whip more frequently.


    ...


    It took them almost 10 minutes to break through the last 100 m.


    When everybody rushed out of the line of demarcation, the battle puppets in the lobby stopped their strikes. After wandering in the lobby for a while, the battle puppets returned to their original positions. When they stood still in two rows like statues, the glow in their eyes faded away like nothing had happened...


    ...


    The moment they passed the lobby, most of the knights threw themselves onto the ground and started to pant heavily like having escaped from a catastrophe...

 937 Crossing the Lobby of the Hieron

    Chapter 937: Crossing the Lobby of the Hieron


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After about 6 hours of fierce battle, although nobody died, most of the 3 teams of knights threw themselves onto the ground as if they had survived a catastrophe.


    They took a rest by drinking medicament and treating their wounds.


    At this moment, even though there were so many portals near them, they didn''t have the strength and spiritual energy to explore them for the time being. As they were safe temporarily, what counted most was to hurriedly recover their battle strength.


    At this moment, besides Mountain Lifting Hermit and the grand elder of Tianlu Palace, there were only 3-5 people who were still standing, including Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie was concerned about the injuries of Gong Ziyao and Bolam. After confirming that the two people''s injuries were not severe and they had drunk up a vial of medium-recovery medicament respectively, Zhang Tie became reassured.


    "Brother Cui...aren''t you tired?" Zhou Shufan asked Zhang Tie when he found the latter was still vigorous like nothing had happened. Zhou Shufan who would always remain his demeanor also looked a bit embarrassed at this moment¡ª¡ªsweat all over his forehead; panting heavily; two broken parts on his soft armor.


    "Ho...ho...I''m okay..." Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    "Oh, I heard Elder Zhang Anguo saying that you were using the fire dragon heavens burning spear skill, it might be..."


    Zhou Shufan finally got a chance to ask this question.


    "Yup, I''m cultivating "Fire Dragon Sutra!" Zhang Tie replied frankly.


    It was a good moment to expose the secret that he was cultivating the "Fire Dragon Sutra". To be honest, Zhang Tie had to appreciate Zhang Anguo of Tianlu Palace, who was really an informed earth knight. The moment Zhang Tie showed it, it had been identified by Zhang Anguo. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t need to find another moment to explain it to others.


    Nobody could imagine that Cui Li who was cultivating the "Fire Dragon Sutra" and Zhang Tie who was being wanted in Taixia Country were the same person.


    After hearing that Zhang Tie frankly admitted that he was cultivating the "Fire Dragon Sutra", all the surrounding knights were shocked inside. In a split second, some more "admiring" eye lights focused on Zhang Tie. As a complete marquis-level classic, "Fire Dragon Sutra" was very precious even in Taixia Country. It could never be touched by a common clan or sect. It was really out of their imaginations that Zhang Tie was so lucky to cultivate the "Fire Dragon Sutra".


    Even Lord Huaiyuan who wanted to seal the Far-ancient Immortal Stele founded Huaiyuan Palace and left remarkable exploits in Taixia Country only with a count-level "Breaking Sun Sutra", the significance of "Fire Dragon Sutra" which was a marquis-level cultivation method would be clear.


    Although there were duke-level, throne-level and emperor-level cultivation methods above marquis-level classics, only Emperor Xuanyuan was cultivating an emperor-level cultivation method called "Xuanyuan God Sutra"; there were totally less than 10 throne-level cultivation methods in both the Eastern Continent and the Western Continent; there were less than 20 duke-level cultivation methods, most of which were mastered by super clans and sects. Such cultivation methods were the greatest treasures of huge empires in the Western Continent. Therefore, marquis-level cultivation methods were the highest level cultivation methods that most of the knights could touch, which had a very significant role.


    "I''ve not imagined that brother Cui could be so lucky. I feel very happy for you. It''s said that by cultivating "Fire Dragon Sutra" people could be very powerful and be as vigorous as a dragon. It seems to be real..." Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan both felt happy for Zhang Tie as they treated Zhang Tie as their friend although they both admired him.


    "7 decades ago, Fire Dragon Hermit was unrivaled and known as one of the top 10 powerhouses in using the spear in Taixia Country with the cultivation method "Fire Dragon Sutra" and the secret battle skills and fire dragon heavens burning spear skill in the "Fire Dragon Sutra". His heroic deeds were admirable. However, Fire Dragon Hermit suddenly reclused 6 decades ago and disappeared. I wonder about the relationship between young brother Cui and Fire Dragon Hermit? "The grand elder of Tianlu Palace walked towards them and asked Zhang Tie with a kind look after checking some injured members.


    Based on the status of the grand elder of Tianlu Palace and his battle strength as an earth knight, Zhang Anguo was definitely respecting Zhang Tie too much by calling him a "young elder".


    Zhang Tie''s performance in the battle and his background of "Fire Dragon Sutra" could win him respect for sure.


    After hearing Zhang Anguo''s words, Zhang Tie realized that the sitting skeleton in the mountain cave of Lianyun Mountain must be Fire Dragon Hermit. As for why Fire Dragon Hermit suddenly reclused and died there, it was a mystery.


    Zhang Tie touched his bald head and said, "Honestly, I don''t know anything about the relationship between me and Fire Dragon Hermit either."


    Zhang Anguo was stunned by Zhang Tie''s reply, "What do you mean..."


    "I found "Fire Dragon Sutra" and a sitting corpse in a mountain cave. If nobody else in Taixia Country has "Fire Dragon Sutra", that sitting corpse must be Fire Dragon Hermit. As I inherited the knowledge of Fire Dragon Hermit by accident, I should be his disciple in the secular world!"


    ''Is this the so-called marvelous experience? Many youngsters in Taixia Country could only read such a marvelous scene in novels. Is that real?''


    Hearing Zhang Tie how he gained the "Fire Dragon Sutra", all the surrounding knights became dumbfounded.


    Zhang Anguo gazed at Zhang Tie''s facial expressions and movements with a pair of sharp eyes. After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Zhang Anguo knew that Zhang Tie was telling true...


    ''He found a marquis-level "Fire Dragon Sutra" in a mountain cave by accident? I remember that Zhang Clan in Tianlu Palace has sacrificed at least 10 knights after almost 100 years of efforts of so many clan members only for a count-level "Early Universe Sutra" which could be the No. 1 treasure of Tianlu Palace.'' Zhang Anguo sighed with full emotions inside.


    People could not be compared with each other; otherwise, someone would be driven mad for sure.


    ...


    The moment Zhang Tie turned around, he had seen the "young sister" who was watching him with a pair of amorous, watery eyes, causing goosebumps all over Zhang Tie.


    After finding that Zhang Tie had noticed her, Bai Suxian walked towards him.


    With a faint blush, she looked a bit bashful.


    "Why...did you save me?" Bai Suxian muttered in a tender voice while lowering her head.


    The moment Bai Suxian asked, all those beside them became quiet in a weird manner. Gong Ziyao, Zhou Shufan, Filton and Cecilia turned around at the same time; even Mountain Lifting Hermit prick up his ears. They had witnessed how Zhang Tie saved Bai Suxian just now. Not only roadside moms who bought vegetables were gossipy, even knights were curious.


    It seemed that Bai Suxian had forgotten the lesson that she had learned when she talked to Zhang Tie at the beginning. After a few seconds, she had regretted asking Zhang Tie this question.


    "Young sister, your breasts are as large as papayas. They must be juicy; how pitiful would it be if they were pierced by that battle puppet using a spear. If so, you would have a problem to feed your babies..." Zhang Tie shouted with a righteous look, "If you really appreciate me, when you give birth to a baby, let him call me Godfather. No matter what, I''ve kept this pair of feeding bottles for him!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, even Mountain Lifting Hermit and the grand elder of Tianlu Palace twitched their faces...


    All the others who were waiting for the good result between a hero and a beauty were left dumbfounded by Zhang Tie at once.


    Even Filton was stunned so much, ''According to the customs of Hua people, shouldn''t this be a good marriage? How could Cui Li turn the romantic scene of butterflies flying in a pair in front of flowers under moonlights into a dialogue between a vulgar man and a female farmer who sells vegetables?''


    Bai Suxian''s face turned red and white as she didn''t know how to react to him at all...


    ...


    After a few minutes, when most of the knights were still cultivating, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Zhang Anguo couldn''t stay here anymore. Otherwise, Old Monster Qi would have entered the rear region ahead of them. As they were here for treasures; of course, they should not lag behind.


    As for Mountain Lifting Hermit, he had been merciful enough by leading his team members across the lobby. As for the rest time, it depended on themselves.


    After talking something to their own team members, the two earth knights rushed into a portal respectively. As for the rest team members, they didn''t fully recover and thus entered the region behind the hieron 3 hours later...


    ...


    At this moment, the demon baron appeared far away from the island above the magma sea...

 938 An Uninvited Gues

    Chapter 938: An Uninvited Guest


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When the demon baron who had been following the three teams of human knights drew close to the island in the magma sea, those human knights had already landed on the island for a long time. It was not because that the demon baron didn''t want to come here; instead, it was because of the utter difference between the environment above the magma sea and that in the mountain cave.


    As it was very spacious and highly visible above the magma sea, which was radiating glow everywhere, if a knight flew above the magma sea alone, it would be very eye-catching. As there was almost no object that could cover the demon baron above the magma sea, the demon baron would be discovered from dozens of miles away. If someone among the human knights was watching through a telescope, the demon baron might have been discovered from 70 miles away.


    Of course, the demon baron could also move in the magma sea. As an earth knight, it could also stay a few hours in the magma. However, it would cost its physical strength too much in magma; additionally, its moving speed would be heavily reduced. Therefore, it preferred to fly above the magma sea.


    In the beginning, the demon baron followed up the human knights purely for revenge by killing them.


    Later on, the demon baron found three teams of human knights of over 20 black iron knights under the leadership of 3 earth knights were getting together. It was a great power even in the first abyss. After knowing that so many human knights had flocked together, the demon baron''s curiosity was aroused.


    If not a major event or something related to interests, such a great power could not be easily gathered by humans or demons.


    A few days ago, the demon baron seized the chance to kill a black iron human knight decisively.


    It was an attempt.


    After killing that human knight, the demon baron hid somewhere and started to observe the movements of the other human knights.


    He found that the other human knights didn''t evacuate or change their foothold; instead, they were still stationed near that valley.


    Did it indicate that the other human knights were very confident about their power? Of course not, it only indicated that these human knights were going to do a major event, which was considered more important than facing the threats of demon knights.


    After confirming that the other human knights were still stationed in the valley, the demon baron realized that they must be waiting for something.


    ''Are they waiting for more human knights?''


    The demon baron was confused about their intention. However, he knew that it was a good chance. As long as he could destroy human knights'' movements and make humans feel unhappy, he would regard it as a good chance.


    The demon baron became thrilled.


    When the abyss hurricane disappeared, the demon baron finally knew what the human knights were waiting for.


    This magma sea was located on the other ends of underground tunnels and mountain caves. In normal times, few people could arrive here; fewer of those who arrived here knew that the abyss hurricane would stop. As the abyss hurricane above the magma sea would stop 3-5 days in every 3 years, those who came here might have a probability of 1/200 to meet the situation when the abyss hurricane disappeared. Therefore, the demons didn''t know what was hidden in this magma sea.


    ''However, human knights should know that; otherwise, they would not wait until the abyss hurricane came to a stop. There must be something valuable in the magma sea!''


    The demon baron sniffed something special.


    In the Earth-elements Realm, there were three situations that would stimulate a lot of human knights to move together: first, fierce combats and military actions between humans and demons; second, the opportunity to gain a lot of element crystals; third, the abyss secret items that were buried underground.


    The first possibility could be excluded.


    When the demon baron caught sight of the island in the magma sea and the pyramid in the middle of the island, it excluded the second possibility.


    The demon baron was driven wild with joy from being thrilled.


    The flat-roof pyramid looked like a hieron.


    The world on the earth''s surface was predominated by humans, the underground world was predominated by demons. Demons had learned about the history of the underground world much better than humans. Over the past tens of thousands of years, a lot of knowledge had been lacking among humans, which was caused by breaking-up human civilizations. However, among demons especially those high-level demons who had promoted to knights, these knowledge were carried forward.


    The demon knight felt that the temperature surrounding the island was dropping sharply. After flying around the island and finding no ambush on the island, it knew that this island might have a no-fly zone. Therefore, the demon knight lowered its flight altitude and landed on the island steadily.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit''s concern that the demon knight would fetch its partners after finding their target here was right. However, it was out of his imagination that the demon knight who was following them up was not an average black iron knight but an earth demon knight, a powerful demon baron.


    The boldness of execution stems from superb skill, this proverb was also suitable for demons.


    After a few minutes, when the demon baron came to the entrance of the pyramid, it injected its spiritual energy into the remote-sensing crystal finger ring and prepared to send a message to its partners.


    If it sent the message successfully, a team of demons which would be more advantageous than human knights in battle strength would arrive in 4 days at most.


    Just like how humans would destroy demons'' action when they found that demons were doing the same thing, demons would do the same to humans.


    Before sending the message, the demon baron raised its head and caught sight of the symbol above the gate of the pyramid.


    It was a time-honored, mysterious triangular symbol composed of three scales in different sizes.


    At the sight of the symbol, the lizard-like jujube core-sized vertical pupils in the golden eyes of the demon baron expanded with a shrewd eye light. At the same time, the demon baron exclaimed, "Bloody Sacrificial Hieron!"


    Those human knights didn''t know the meaning of that symbol; however, this demon baron knew it.


    Only after thinking about it for less than 2 seconds, the demon baron had revealed a faint, grim sinister. At the same time, it stretched out its tongue and licked its lips. After exiting its spiritual energy from the remote-sensing crystal, it strode into the hieron at once.


    Besides being brutal, another feature of demons was greed.


    The demon baron didn''t notice that when he strode into the hieron, an invisible tracing feather had blown up like dandelion and stuck to his boots silently.


    The tracing feather was much lighter than a speck of dust. As long as it didn''t attach to the skin of high-level knights, it would not be easily noticed.


    The moment the demon knight moved, the tracing feather moved too...


    ...


    At the same time, Zhang Tie stopped his footsteps in the underground space of the pyramid.


    "What''s wrong?" Filton stopped and turned around to ask Zhang Tie.


    The moment Filton and Zhang Tie stopped, all the other 4 members of their group turned around to watch Zhang Tie. They thought that Zhang Tie had found something.


    At this moment, they were walking among deserted palace-like rooms and a maze-like cloister and expecting to find something.


    There were still very few battle puppets standing at the doors of one or two rooms, which were evidently outnumbered by Zhang Tie''s group.


    Zhang Tie''s group was composed of 6 people, namely; Filton, Bolam, Cecilia, Gong Ziyao, Zhou Shufan and Zhang Tie. It was easy for them to defeat one or two battle puppets.


    Besides the team of Tianlu Palace, the teams led by Old Monster Qi and Mountain Lifting Hermit had dispersed the moment they crossed the lobby.


    In Zhang Tie''s mind sea, the tracing feathers on Mountain Lifting Hermit, Zhang Anguo and Old Monster Qi had long left this region and been over 70 miles away. They were still rapidly moving towards afar. The latter tracing feather was also rushing downwards the pyramid at a high speed.


    Given the moving speed of that tracing feather, Zhang Tie had confirmed that this one must be an earth knight.


    It moved so fast that even Zhang Tie was shocked.


    ''I wonder whether that one is a human or a demon.''


    "Nothing..." Zhang Tie shook his head as he tried to recover his composure, "I was justing thinking that this region might not be valuable. As it''s close to the lobby, it should have been explored by people. We would have a very low possibility to find any good item here. Why not speed up to take a look at the Weapons Mountain?"


    "I agree with you. If we''re lucky, we might get a silver secret item..." Gong Ziyao nodded.


    After fighting some battle puppets outside the rooms in vain, Gong Ziyao also thought that there was no good item left here. Perhaps, there might be something good in a room; however, it would take them more than 3 days to explore all the rooms.


    At this moment, two shadows flashed by them¡ª¡ªLu Zhongming and his wife had overtaken them...

 939 The Weapons Mountain

    Chapter 939: The Weapons Mountain


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie thought that the earth knight behind them might hardly pass the lobby alone; however, the fact was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination...


    It took the demon baron less than 10 minutes to arrive on the last step at the bottom of the pyramid.


    The moment it stood on the other end of the lobby, the demon baron stopped at once. With flickering, shrewd eye lights, he observed this lobby attentively and seriously.


    The demon baron swept over the ground of the lobby and found that the battle traces were gradually recovering on the smooth and tidy floor. No single part of battle puppets was left on the floor except for some broken protective armors and fresh blood of human knights.


    None of the human knights entering the lobby had imagined that their battle traces left a key information to the demon baron. Through the battle traces, the demon baron knew that those human knights didn''t know too much about this heiron although they had keys to open the gate of this hieron¡ª¡ªAt least they didn''t know as much as demons. If the human knights knew a lot about this hieron, they could completely pass this lobby without activating those battle puppets.


    At the sight of this scene, the demon baron further strengthened its belief to take a risk. If human knights didn''t know too much about this hieron, even if the demon baron failed its adventure, it could also leave here safe and sound.


    At this moment, the eyes of the two rows of battle puppets in the lobby turned red once again. The battle puppets then moved their necks and watched the demon baron at the same time.


    The demon baron looked at the ground seriously one inch after another.


    Besides the previous battle traces, there were some exotic grains on the ground. When it observed them carefully, it found that those grains were faintly undulating and flowing like ripples under the sunshine in a rivulet.


    Even demon knights knew many things that human knights didn''t, not to mention demon nobles.


    Although the grains on the ground looked irregular and meaningless in the eyes of human knights, they were meaningful in the eyes of the demon baron. They were like cipher turntable safe.


    Most of the bandits and thieves would open safes by force; however, for those who knew cipher turntable of safe, they only needed to adjust the cipher turntable properly.


    This was Bloody Sacrificial Hieron. If a bloody battle was unavoidable whenever humans passed the hieron, how did flamens and monks enter this hieron in that far-ancient age?


    Zhang Tie had thought about this question; however, he couldn''t think it through.


    By contrast, the demon baron knew how.


    After gazing at the grains on the ground seriously for 5 minutes, the demon baron went down the last step and stood onto a certain place of those exotic grains.


    Although the battle puppets moved a bit, they basically stayed in the original places.


    The demon baron let out a sigh as it stood still and watched the grains seriously.


    The battle puppets didn''t move, it indicated that the demon baron''s judgment was right. It realized that the knowledge that he mastered still worked.


    In less than 5 minutes, the demon baron strode out once again...


    It took the demon baron a bit longer than 4.5 minutes to finish three footsteps.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie felt that the tracing feather had slowed down when it came to the lobby, Zhang Tie thought that the latter one was in a fierce battle.


    Zhang Tie soon knew that he was wrong.


    In the beginning, the tracing feather moved one time in every few minutes; gradually, it moved faster and faster, which startled Zhang Tie.


    ...


    After 1 more hour, when Zhang Tie''s group passed through the palace complex and entered a wood, the tracing feather also passed through the lobby.


    It took the latter one almost 1/5 of the time used by the three teams of human knights to pass the lobby. What an amazing speed! The reason that Zhang Tie was startled was that he thought that even two earth knights could not pass the lobby in such a short period jointly.


    ''What did such a high speed mean?''


    ''Did I make a wrong judgment? The uninvited guest is a heavenly knight?''


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced when this whim occurred to his mind.


    "Ah, it''s too motherf*cking cold..." Filton couldn''t stand crying while running.


    It was indeed growing colder. Zhang Tie felt that it was at least -80 degrees Celsius.


    It was purely cold without wind or snow. Zhang Tie felt that everyone had entered a huge space being similar to that of "refrigerator" before the Catastrophe.


    What did 80 degrees Celsius below zero mean? It meant that if Filton spat out a mouth of saliva, before the saliva reached the land, half of it would have been frozen. Not only that, their leather armors also turned stiff.


    Even in running, everybody was still releasing a thin layer of protective battle qi so as to maintain their own body temperature.


    Perhaps, there were indeed plants in this wood very long time ago; however, they had fully turned into crystal, ice sculptures or fossils.


    The current scenery was very brilliant and dreamlike. However, it was not funny at all.


    "I feel that we''ve made a circle around that architectural complex..." Gong Ziyao said as he was running.


    "Yes, I think so..." Bolam nodded.


    When they talked, they exhaled masses of white air, which instantly dispersed the moment they left the range of their protective battle qi.


    "Are we in a maze?" Cecilia asked.


    "It''s not a maze. We''re in the hieron. Tens of thousands of years ago, it didn''t exist for the posterities to make circles. We were just in a common architectural complex in the hieron, which might be the dwelling place of flamens or monks. It was just a bit special in design and a bit large in size. All the designs in the hieron are functional which won''t be too complex. We''ve just passed through that architectural complex and entered a garden in the hieron..." Zhou Shufan replied calmly, "Didn''t you feel that we were still in the pyramid? The staircase was spiral; therefore, the lobby should be located at the edge of the bottom of the pyramid. I think we''re marching towards the center of the bottom of the pyramid..."


    "Ah, how is it possible?" Filton shouted, "We''ve already deepened dozens of miles below the pyramid!"


    "The part above the ground is just a small part of the top of the pyramid. Most part of this pyramid is deeply buried underground. Each step I ran forward, I would release a battle qi towards the ground; I found that the ground would give me a feedback on my battle qi each time. The part below the ground here was same as that in the lobby. You can have a try..." Zhou Shufan explained which shocked everyone else.


    The others sensed it seriously and found it was like how Zhou Shufan said. The strand of battle qi met a layer of powerful and plain obstacle after deepening into the ground for dozens of meters. The obstacle felt similar to that they sensed in the lobby.


    If they were still at the bottom of the pyramid at this moment, this hieron was too huge. It was out of people''s imagination that who could create such a marvelous hieron.


    Zhou Shufan''s explanation was soon verified. They found a fully frozen lake in front of them. Both sides of the lake were surrounded by handrails.


    After crossing the iced lake, Zhang Tie caught sight of the team of Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace.


    All the members of Zhang Clan''s team were over there. It seemed that they had not stayed in that architectural complex too long either. Additionally, they had a very clear target. Clan teams were usually featured by consistent actions wherever they were.


    That team also caught sight of Zhang Tie''s group who were catching up with them from behind.


    As they were all safe and sound, they kept running forward.


    "Brother Cui, why are you silent?" Gong Ziyao threw a glance at Zhang Tie as he asked the latter.


    When they were engaged in a hot discussion just now, Zhang Tie remained silent, which was a bit abnormal; therefore, Gong Ziyao asked Zhang Tie out of concern.


    Actually, Zhang Tie was sensing the whereabouts of the tracing feather behind them.


    "Ah, it''s okay, brother Gong; I was just wondering If someone else would come in!"


    "Don''t worry, young brother. Even if a demon knight enters, we''ve got three earth knights to resist it! Even if we could not defeat it, we would escape. In the Earth-elements Realm, it''s very normal for demon knights and human knights to escape if they could not defeat the other party. It''s not shameful at all." Gong Ziyao comforted Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie found that he became a bit intense because of the tracing feather behind him. It was good for him to have a tracing feather; however, it was really torturing after knowing that an unknown powerhouse was following him up. He felt like waiting for one boot to fall on the ground upstairs.


    ''F*ck, even If it''s a heavenly demon knight, I don''t need to be scared. After all, it''s not coming only for me. Even if it was coming for me, this father would hide in Castle of Black Iron in the worst scenario. I don''t believe that it could bite off my butt. Whatever, now that I''ve been here, I will see whether I could get some benefits first...''


    Zhang Tie determined his mind!


    "It''s the Weapons Mountain..." A member of the team of Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace in front of Zhang Tie''s group suddenly exclaimed...

 940 Pearls of Silver Secret Items

    Chapter 940: Pearls of Silver Secret Items


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The moment the knight of Tianlu Palace shouted, he had accelerated his speed.


    Closely followed by Zhang Tie''s group. They rushed out of the wood at once.


    They then caught sight of a mountain in front of them.


    At the sight of the mountain, although he was always steady, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand swearing¡ª¡ªF*ck.


    It was a black high mountain which was at least 10,000 m in height. It was very magnificent. From its hillside above, it was misty. As a result, people could not see clearly the Qingfeng Peak.


    This mountain absolutely verified the judgment of Zhou Shufan, namely, they were still at the bottom of the pyramid. Because the top of the mountain and its surrounding space formed a very regular dome. Of course, such a dome could not appear in the natural environment.


    Zhang Tie felt that Mountain Lifting Hermit, Old Monster Qi and the grand elder of Tianlu Palace were trying their best to climb upon the Weapons Mountain. Zhang Tie wondered what was on the peak.


    Zhang Tie felt that the higher they were, the slower the three earth knights would move. It seemed that they were facing a great obstacle on the Weapons Mountain.


    When they caught sight of the mountain, some rainbow-like colorful lights were circling around the mountain like satellites. After a few seconds, they lurked into the enshrouding mist and didn''t come out of there anymore.


    "Silver secret items..." Even Gong Ziyao exclaimed this time while everyone else accelerated towards there like having taken drugs.


    The closer they were to the Weapons Mountain, the colder it would be. However, they felt blood boiling all over.


    Zhang Tie also followed up the team towards there rapidly. At this moment, Zhang Tie had totally forgotten about that tracing feather. He had made his determination that as long as that guy didn''t appear in front of him and his friends, he would ignore it. ''When the sky collapsed, the taller ones would prop it up. As I''m not the tallest and most powerful one, I will focus on searching for the benefits first.''


    ''If concerns work, what punches are used for? I only need to be vigilant.''


    Zhang Tie''s group moved very fast. The team of knights from Tianlu Palace was soon caught up by them. The knights of Tianlu Palace accelerated once again and caught up with Zhang Tie''s group. The two teams kept rushing towards the Weapons Mountain in this way.


    Although they had not touched any silver secret item by now, the two teams of knights had already faintly become competitive.


    According to the rule, anyone who could get one silver secret item first would have it. Of course, they needed to make their full efforts to strive for that.


    Silver secret items! They could also be available to heavenly knights. The more the better! In Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie knew that only Elder Muray had one battle crossbow which was a silver secret item, even Zhang Taixuan didn''t have one.


    Actually, there were bronze secret items below silver secret items. Bronze secret items were also rarities. The Full-moons Dragon Soul Waistband and the first elements-gathering matrix that gifted by the imperial household of Raymlan Empire in the Castle of Black Iron were both bronze secret items. As for most of the black iron knights even earth knights, bronze secret items were their popular equipment. Silver secret items were greater than bronze secret items. The strong function that silver secret items could automatically appear out of the void and their powerful light and shadow effects of silver secret items were definitely the best choices of some guys who would like to show off themselves.


    Secret items could never be produced in this age.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie heard some sounds from the back. Zhang Tie turned around and found Lu Zhongming and his wife rushed out the wood from the other side, who were also rushing towards the Weapons Mountain. After the couple, Bai Suxian was the fourth one who rushed out of the wood.


    It seemed that many people were clear-minded or desperate. Compared to making circles in the palace and maze-like architectural complex and fighting those battle puppets meaninglessly, they preferred to come to the Weapons Mountain for a silver secret item.


    At their full speeds, the knights of Tianlu Palace and Zhang Tie''s group of 6 arrived at the foot of the Weapons Mountain at the same time.


    The pitch-dark Weapons Mountain looked pretty solemn and depressive. Right at the foot of the mountain, there was a thin mist. If it was a few degrees lower here, their salivas would turn into ice scums before falling onto the ground.


    The Weapons Mountain was definitely different from common mountains. There was no plant across the Weapons Mountain. It seemed to be completely composed of bulky, odd-looking metal lumps. As for the parts of the metal lumps being exposed to the air, some of them looked like brilliant geometrical crystal structures of metallic ores. Growing up in clusters, they formed odd-looking black metal flowers.


    With the eyes of a great artisan master, Zhang Tie could not identify the metal in this Weapons Mountain.


    It seemed to be an exotic, natural alloy. At least Zhang Tie had not seen it on the earth''s surface with "Master Jiang".


    After the knights of Tianlu Palace arrived at the foot of the mountain, the 9 knights instantly rushed in 9 directions upwards the Weapons Mountain.


    As silver secret items were very precious, the number of which was far less than the number of the knights who had come here. Additionally, it was very hard to get silver secret items. Therefore, they could only move in different directions like spreading a fishing net and attempt to gain silver secret items by chance. If a lot of people gathered together, they were not fishing but angling. If so, they would definitely not have as many chances as the first one. Additionally, even if two people like Lu Zhongming and his wife cooperated to successfully gain a silver secret item, which party would the silver secret item belong to? Not to mention if a group of people worked together.


    Zhang Tie''s group of 6 stopped at once.


    "Let''s separate from each other too!"


    Gong Ziyao proposed while everybody else nodded.


    "If any of you is in trouble, remember to release your battle qi. The others will catch sight of it right away and arrive there soon. If someone dares to rob our achievements, we will f*ck him!" Filton said with a furious look as he had already been ready for a fight, "After all, we''ve been clear about each other''s battle qi!"


    Although they would separate from each other, they could also gather rapidly if there was any trouble.


    "Fine!"


    "Wait for a second..." Zhang Tie touched his bald head with a bashful look as he asked, "Erm, what''s the look of the silver secret item? How could I gain it?"


    The moment the others heard Zhang Tie''s question, they threw their amazed looks at Zhang Tie at the same time.


    Gong Ziyao watched Zhang Tie with a dumbfounded look just like how he saw Zhang Tie using his abyss battle spear at the beginning, "Don''t you know that?"


    "As I''ve just been in the Earth-elements Realm and joined in such an action for the first time, nobody told me about that!" Zhang Tie shrugged as he replied helplessly.


    Honestly, Zhang Tie thought that the so-called silver secret items in the Weapons Mountain would be excavated from the ground like how grave robbers dug items from the graveyard. However, when he came here, he found that it was utterly different from his imagination. Take the rainbow-like colorful lights that he saw just now as an instance, he didn''t know what were they.


    All the others felt being struck by lightning bolts. They had not imagined that Zhang Tie didn''t know how to gain silver secret items. What a joke!


    "Haven''t you seen the rainbow-like lights just now?" Zhou Shufan asked Zhang Tie.


    "Yes, I have!"


    "That are the lusters of silver secret items!"


    "Did all the silver secret items in the Weapons Mountain exist in that manner?"


    "Not exactly. In the Weapons Mountain, silver secret items could move. Before having their own owners, all the silver secret items will exist in the form of virtual images of secret items, which are virtual, colorful animals being composed of numerous mysterious runes. They will fly around the Weapons Mountain. If you see illuminant animals in the Weapons Mountain, congratulations, you''ve caught sight of the virtual images of silver secret items! No matter what animals come into being, they are not aggressive at all. However, they could dodge and escape from you. You could follow them up and find their origins!"


    "What then?"


    "Silver secret items will always hide in the colorful pearls of secret items in the metallic crystals in the Weapons Mountain which are easily recognized. When you see a silver secret item entering a pearl of a secret item, you just stay there and smash the pearl of that secret item. Then, you will see the virtual image of that silver secret item. After that, you only need to squeeze a drop of fresh blood onto the virtual image before becoming its owner. At the same time, the virtual image of the silver secret item will start to become a material object, which is the real look of the silver secret item in the material world!"


    "So easy!" Zhang Tie blinked his eyes.


    "Yes, so easy!" Zhou Shufan continued to explain it to Zhang Tie, "However, there''s one point that you should pay attention to. The structure of pearl of a secret item is very special; it''s very hard to smash. Even if you''ve discovered a pearl of a secret item, you could not break it in 1 or 2 days. What counts most in the Weapons Mountain is that not all the pearls of secret items contain silver secret items. Most of the pearls of secret items are empty. You''d better not start to break it until you''re sure that there''s a silver secret item in it. Otherwise, even though you''ve found a pearl of a secret item and had smashed it in a couple of days exerting your full efforts, you would probably find nothing inside. It''s equal to a gamble by trying to smash a pearl of a secret item without seeing a virtual image of a secret item entering it!"

 941 A Weird Cloud of Mis

    Chapter 941: A Weird Cloud of Mist


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Before going up the mountain, it took Zhou Shufan 2 minutes to explain the most important thing to Zhang Tie.


    It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that the process to gain a silver secret item from the Weapons Mountain was so bizarre.


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie asked the last question, "As silver secret items are different in qualities and levels, if two silver secret items appeared in front of me at the same time, how could I select the better one?"


    "Generally, the fiercer and bigger the virtual image of the animal was, the more advanced and rarer the material object would be!" Filton answered the question ahead of Zhou Shufan, "In other words, the bigger and fiercer the virtual image was, the rarer it would be!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he said, "Wish you good luck then!"


    "If there''s no accident, we will assemble here and leave out of here 3 days later!"


    "Fine!"


    "If you''re powerful enough, you can have a try upside there. However, the higher it is, the colder it will be. Basically, only earth knights could stay a bit longer above 6,000 m of this Weapons Mountain. It''s said that the pearls of secret items on the top of the mountain might contain space-teleportation equipment such as nanobeads!"


    "I am not that greedy. I only expect to get a silver secret item this time!"


    After chatting for a short while, they cupped their hands towards each other. After that, they separated from each other and rushed into the misty Weapons Mountain as fast as shells. Even Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan who used to be partners had separated at this moment.


    As for whether they could gain a silver secret item in the next 3 days, it depended on their own luck and power.


    Zhang Tie moved too. He directly rushed into a deserted path.


    Even tens of thousands of people could not be easily found in the Weapons Mountain, not to mention the 20-odd human knights.


    Before entering the mountain, Zhang Tie sensed the whereabout of the tracing feather behind them once again.


    The tracing feather had also entered the palace-like architectural complex; however, it dodged from all the knights in that architectural complex on the way. Given the moving trace of the tracing feather, Zhang Tie realized that it had intended to dodge away from the other knights on purpose. The nearest distance between the tracing feather and a knight of the team of Old Monster Qi was less than 200 m. It seemed that the tracing feather which had been moving straight ahead had already found someone in front of it; therefore, it made a detour. Neither did the member of the team of Old Monster Qi chase after it or escape. It indicated that that person didn''t notice the latter one at all...


    Within a fixed distance, if one knight found the other while not being found, it indicated that the two knights were sharply different in battle strength.


    The tracing feather rushed all the way towards the Weapons Mountain.


    Although Zhang Tie had already entered the mountain, when he sensed the destination of the tracing feather, a whim occurred to his mind.


    As the old saying went, no profit, no early rise. This proverb fit both demons and humans. As the tracing feather rushed all the way towards the Weapons Mountain, it was definitely not here for an entertainment.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t even know whether that guy was a human or a demon.


    ''I will see whether the latter is a human or a demon!''


    ...


    Benefited from the tracing feather, Zhang Tie could monitor the ongoing direction and whereabouts of the new arriver at any time.


    Zhang Tie hid somewhere and checked the location of the tracing feather. After ensuring that nobody was near him within 1.5 miles, he directly entered Castle of Black Iron.


    In a few seconds, a black, little beetle emerged out of the void.


    After that, the little beetle started to fly leisurely at the foot of the Weapons Mountain.


    After 20 minutes, the little beetle landed in a multi-layered metallic crystal. Through the gap of the crystal, he started to glance at the valley under the foot.


    In less than 5 minutes, Zhang Tie had already caught sight of that person.


    If not the tracing feather, Zhang Tie wouldn''t even believe that he was watching a living being.


    It was a grey cloud of mist. Zhang Tie could not see any figure at all.


    The grey mist twisted as if it would be blown off by the wind at any time. Being close to the ground, it flew all the way from the distance into the valley and up the hill very fast. In a few seconds, it had disappeared in front of Zhang Tie and integrated into the mist over the Weapons Mountain.


    After the cloud of mist completely disappeared in front of his eyes for a few minutes, the black, little beetle returned to Castle of Black Iron. Zhang Tie reappeared behind that metallic crystal luster.


    Zhang Tie then walked out of the metallic crystal. While frowning, he watched the direction where the cloud of mist was heading for.


    No living being could look like a cloud of mist, neither human nor demon. Therefore, Zhang Tie realized that it was not a cloud of mist, but a high-level secret method which could hide one''s qi.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t know who was that one in the weird mist.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit, Old Monster Qi and the grand elder of Tianlu Palace were still rushing towards the top of the mountain. The weird cloud of mist also rushed towards there. They might encounter over there. Perhaps, the cloud of mist knew that something was on the top of the mountain and was not afraid of encountering the three earth knights.


    This action turned more and more interesting.


    Touching his bald head, Zhang Tie thought it for a short while before following up that weird cloud of mist all the way towards the top of the mountain...


    All the other knights behind him had already come to the Weapons Mountain consecutively.


    ...


    Only after 10 minutes, Zhang Tie had caught sight of the first pearl of a secret item.


    The pearl of a secret item grew in metallic crystal clusters covering over 100 square meters whose diameter was over 1 m. Among these metallic crystal clusters, Zhang Tie caught sight of a big, blue, smooth metallic ball which looked like a fruit in the metallic crystal flowers.


    Honestly, these metallic crystals and this pearl of secret item felt like an abstractive sculpture in urban squares. Zhang Tie had seen so many sculptures being composed of metallic balls.


    1/3 of this pearl of the secret item was deeply buried in the mountain which could barely be shocked.


    After circling around the pearl of the secret item for a short while out of curiosity, Zhang Tie stretched out his hands, pushing and embracing it; however, the pearl didn''t move at all like having grown into the Weapons Mountain.


    The pearl of the secret item was very cold. The moment Zhang Tie touched it, his two palms almost stuck to it.


    Zhang Tie drew out his abyss battle spear and forcefully slashed onto the pearl of the secret item with 40% of his battle qi. After a bang, only a small part of the surface of the pearl of secret item fell off.


    The inside of the small patch of the surface was still smooth.


    Zhang Tie understood it that the so-called pearl of the secret item was like a super large and hard onion. It would really take him a lot of efforts to open it.


    ''Even if I broke it in 2 days exerting my full efforts, I would probably not get anything at all. Will I do that? Of course not. Many black iron knights would have a try if it was another place or enough time. However, it didn''t work here. Everyone entering the hieron ruins would have very limited time. It''s a gamble with very minor possibility to win. I would consider making a gamble 1 day later if I couldn''t find any virtual image of the secret item. It''s still too early to do that now.''


    Only after staying beside that pearl of the secret item for a few minutes out of curiosity, Zhang Tie had continued to go up the mountain.


    The higher it was, the colder it would be. In the mother nature on the earth''s surface, this place must be a standard forbidden area for living beings. Therefore, the knights would consume a lot of their strength physically and spiritually by moving into the mountain. They released their protective battle qis at any time. Additionally, they needed to maintain the normal running of their battle qis so as to warm up and protect their organs, qi and blood all over. The higher they were, the greater consumptions they would make. There was no road or tunnel on the Weapons Mountain at all; therefore, even Zhang Tie slowed down his speed unconsciously.


    If they did not release their protective battle qis, even knights'' skeletons and muscles would become stiff in only a few minutes at such a low temperature. In such an environment, commoners might not bear 3 minutes even in thick clothes before their blood all over became frozen.


    Of course, Zhang Tie''s first target was a silver secret item. After all, those coming here were all trying their own lucks whether they were circling around the mountain or going up the mountain. Therefore, the so-called target was always uncertain.


    ...


    After 2 hours, Zhang Tie who was going up the mountain suddenly felt a colorful light flashing by while a golden, brilliant pheasant with a beautiful tail flew in front of Zhang Tie...


    The virtual image of a secret item!


    Zhang Tie was thrilled for a second. He instantly sped up by a few times and chased after that beautiful bird...


    After passing by a ridge, Zhang Tie saw that the beautiful huge bird lurked in a red pearl of a secret item in a cluster of metallic crystals.


    The cluster of metallic crystals covered thousands of square meters. 7-8 pearls of secret items were in those metallic crystals like some brilliant lotus flowers in a lotus leaf. The beautiful, huge bird lurked in one of the pearls.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the metallic crystals, he had heard an air-tearing sound from behind while a female knight appeared from afar...


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, the female knight changed her face at once...

 942 An Aggressive Male Knight of Tianlu Palace

    Chapter 942: An Aggressive Male Knight of Tianlu Palace


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel that this female knight was strange as he had seen her at the entrance of the Earth-elements Realm. At that time, this woman was on the airboat. Although Zhang Tie was not sure about her full name, he only faintly heard Zhang Anguo the grand elder of Tianlu Palace call her Shuzhen.


    This age was predominated by males. Therefore, the step of selecting characters only targeted at male knights. In Hua clans, even though female knights could attend the chakra rotating ceremony, they could not select characters. Female knights had to get married. According to the regulation of Taixia Country, after getting married, female knights had to follow up their husbands'' surnames. Therefore, it was useless for them to select characters.


    It seemed that this female knight of Zhang Clan was a bit afraid of Zhang Tie. These days, this female knight always kept away from Zhang Tie and dared not to look straight into his eyes.


    After all, the words that Zhang Tie told Bai Suxian last time shocked this female knight too much. Before meeting Zhang Tie, she almost didn''t believe that there was such a person in this world.


    Neither of the two people had imagined that they could encounter here once again. Therefore, after seeing each other, they were both stunned.


    The female knight of Zhang Clan blushed as she oozed sweat all over and panted a bit. It seemed that she had been chasing after that beautiful, huge bird for a long time. Therefore, she consumed her strength physically and spiritually a lot.


    Zhang Tie pretended to be solemn. He had just chased after that beautiful, huge bird for less than half a minute before watching it to lurk inside the pearl of a secret item.


    The two people just watched each other.


    "That...that colorful bird is mine!" The female knight finally plucked up her courage, "I''ve already chased after it for a long time!"


    "Hoho, young sister, have you forgotten our rule? The one who takes the silver secret item first will keep it!" Zhang Tie reminded the female knight with a solemn look. Given her naive face, Zhang Tie estimated that her real age might be similar to that of him. Therefore, he felt like teasing her. Now that she had already chased after the colorful bird for a long time, Zhang Tie really didn''t mean to compete with her shamelessly. He was always soft-hearted to women. Actually, this woman reminded Zhang Tie of his elder sister Lan Yunxi. If she could promote to a knight at such a young age, she must be an elite in the Tianlu Palace. "Only when you catch it, you could have it. Even if you have seen it and have chased after it for a long time, it doesn''t necessarily belong to you. Am I clear?"


    Zhang Tie was telling the truth. Unless the woman had caught the silver secret item or had locked the pearl of the secret item and prepared to smash it, this woman could not say that the silver secret item belonged to her.


    If one could have a silver secret item only after catching sight of and chasing after it, who that colorful bird would belong to if someone else suddenly jumped out and said that he had also caught sight of that colorful bird and chased after it ahead two of them? What if Zhang Tie sent a message to Gong Ziyao through his remote-sensing crystal finger ring and played a trick at this moment, how would this female knight respond to that?


    The three earth knights had long considered these questions. Based on their rich experience and crafty temperaments, of course, the three earth knights would not leave a chance for others to play such a performance when they made the rule. Therefore, after entering the hieron, although they could compete with each other and strive for silver secret items, they had to follow the principle that the one who took the object first instead of catching sight of it and chasing after it first could have it.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the female knight bit her lips. Although she wanted to dispute, she didn''t know how while she revealed a helpless look on her delicate face.


    The great excitement caused by encountering the virtual image of a silver secret item, the hardship of chasing after it for a long time and the hopelessness in the end made her bright eyes turn crystal at once.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that this female knight''s face was so thin. Only after a few words, she had dropped off her tears.


    Since Zhang Tie promoted to a knight, he had met a few female knights such as Gongsun Liniang, Guo Hongyi and Bai Suxian; the first two were tough women while Bai Suxian was simply a spirit. These women left an impression on Zhang Tie that female knights would never drop off tears until he met such a tender female knight who dropped off her tears so easily.


    Actually, a female''s tear was more lethal to Zhang Tie than her battle qi.


    The moment Zhang Tie wanted to explain that he was joking and wanted to expose which pearl of the secret item had the colorful bird lurked in, another knight of Tianlu Palace flashed between the two of them.


    He was much elder than both Zhang Tie and the female knight with a whisker and pair of narrow and long eyes. He looked pretty aggressive and cunning.


    "9th young sister. I saw you chase after the virtual image of a silver secret item just now. Have you caught up with it?" The moment he landed, he had asked about it with a concerned look.


    The female knight didn''t speak. After throwing a glance at her face, Zhang Tie and the cluster of metallic crystals which exposed out of the ridge behind Zhang Tie, he rolled his eyes a few times before figuring out what happened.


    The male then moved his eyes onto Zhang Tie as his mouth corners moved a bit, "Does young brother Cui want to be hostile to Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace only for a silver secret item? How about giving a face to Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace and leaving away by yourself so that we could still be friends?"


    Hearing the man''s words, Zhang Tie immediately swallowed his words.


    Evidently, this man wanted to make Zhang Tie admit defeat in the name of Tianlu Palace. Given his words, he was going to rob it and force Zhang Tie to exit.


    As there was a cluster of metallic crystals behind Zhang Tie and the "9th young sister" who stopped here with a sad look, evidently the virtual image of the secret item that the "9th young sister" had been chasing after had lurked into the pearl of the secret item in that cluster of metallic crystals. At the critical moment, this guy surnamed Cui blocked her way.


    After throwing a glance at that female knight, Zhang Tie revealed a smile which contained a bit jest meaning which could not be observed by others, "Well, I will give a face to Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie directly turned around and left, leaving the man and the woman to stand still with a dumbfounded look. It seemed that they didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could leave the silver secret item to them so easily.


    After Zhang Tie walked away from one side of the ridge, the two people hurriedly jumped over there.


    At the sight of it, the man became startled. Although there were metallic crystals behind the ridge, they had never imagined that there were 8 pearls of secret items in the cluster of metallic crystals.


    Apparently, only 1 of the 8 pearls of secret items contained the colorful bird while all the others might be empty.


    "Hold on..." The man turned around and intended to stop Zhang Tie...

 943 The Conflic

    Chapter 943: The Conflict


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie turned around and left right away right because there were 8 pearls of secret items in the cluster of metallic crystals.


    It would take one about 2 days to open a pearl of the secret item; however, they could only stay here 3 days at most. That was to say, except for Zhang Anguo, the other 8 knights of Tianlu Palace had to make their full efforts in 3 days, 1 for each pearl of the secret item so as to ensure that Tianlu Palace could get the silver secret item in the end.


    Tianlu Palace organized 9 knights to explore the hieron ruins not only for one silver secret item.


    For any knight and clan, silver secret items were rarities. By contrast, as Zhang Tie had gained a shield from the demon general which was a silver secret item and had the Castle of Black Iron which was much sharper than silver secret items, plus his emperor-level cultivation method and his master Zhao Yuan who was known as the No. 1 criminal in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie was experienced and knowledgeable; therefore, he was greatly immune to the allure of silver secret items.


    Due to these reasons, realizing that this guy of Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace was like a donkey in a lion''s hide and frightening him in the name of Tianlu Palace, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like arguing with him.


    Given that they all were surnamed Zhang and originated from the same family thousands of years ago, Zhang Tie indeed saved the face of Tianlu Palace.


    It was just a silver secret item, Zhang Tie would like to see whether Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace wanted it or not.


    If the knights of Tianlu Palace had made their decision, they could get that silver secret item for sure. But the problem was that would these knights be satisfied by only one silver secret item?


    Additionally, how did the 8 people share one silver secret item? It might bother Tianlu Palace.


    The two knights of Zhang Clan didn''t notice that there were 8 pearls of secret items in the cluster of metallic crystals just now. They thought there was only one; therefore, they were left dumbfounded at this moment.


    As for Zhang Tie who knew where was the "bird''s nestle", the silver secret item in this cluster of metallic crystals could be easily got; however, as for the two knights of Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace, the 8 pearls of secret items made the silver secret item tricky at once.


    Although 1/8 was a high possibility, Zhang knights were apparently not satisfied with it.


    Zhang Tie ignored the male knight''s voice and kept walking forward.


    After realizing that Zhang Tie ignored his words, the male knight who was blinded by the lust for the silver secret item and the face of the "9th young sister" immediately jumped over there and intended to stop Zhang Tie by catching his back.


    "Stop!"


    Perhaps Zhang Tie was so kind just now that this male knight of Tianlu Palace thought that Zhang Tie was a "big lug" and he could be a bit more excessive.


    At this moment, the female knight hesitated a bit as she felt it was a bit improper. She wanted to stop the male knight; however, it was too late...


    After hearing the shrill sound from his back, Zhang Tie was driven mad as he immediately drew out his spear and lashed back with 80% of his full strength.


    It was not a prick, but a lash like how he beat a dog with a stick.


    The moment Zhang Tie moved his spear, the air beside him had gone berserk while uttering a sharp, shrill sound like a piece of steel being cut open.


    Hearing this sound, the two knights of Tianlu Palace changed their faces at once as this sound indicated a great, terrifying physical strength...


    The spear was lashed onto the hand of the knight precisely.


    Zhang Tie just used his animal''s sheer strength without running his battle qi.


    That person''s protective battle qi vibrated heavily while being reduced to the extreme. Although his protective battle qi was not broken, the overwhelming strength from Zhang Tie''s spear was completely transferred to the latter''s hand and full body after being buffered for a second.


    With a cracking sound, that male knight''s wrist was broken at once. With a muffled sound, he was sent flying over 50 m away like a baseball.


    With a sound "Chuang...", the female knight of Zhang Clan drew out her long sword at once; however, she didn''t launch an attack; instead, she just prevented herself from being further attacked by Zhang Tie.


    However, Zhang Tie just watched the two people with a cold look with crossed arms.


    After his wrist was broken, the knight picked himself up in a groggy way while his face turned abnormally pale. At the same time, he watched Zhang Tie with a hateful look, "Well...well...I saw another one who''d like to be hostile to Tianlu Palace...I''ll remember you...Cui Li, don''t you regret!"


    Watching Zhang Tie lashing the battle puppets into pieces in the lobby was different than tasting the terrifying strength from his spear. After his wrist was broken, the male knight was a bit scared. What the two knights of Tianlu Palace had not imagined was that Zhang Tie who looked kind suddenly became so vicious.


    "Peh, piss off!" After hearing that guy''s vicious words, Zhang Tie instantly spat out a mouth of saliva onto the ground, which instantly turned into ice scums the moment it touched the ground. Zhang Tie then looked at the male knight with a domineering eye light and asked, "Do you Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace guys have one more d*ck than others or what? Is the Weapons Mountain your household plot or the Emperor Xuanyuan comes from your home? F*ck, you think if you want this father to leave, this father will leave; if you want this father to stop, this father will stop? Who the motherf*cking are you? This father doesn''t want to argue with you because we have the same ancestor; this father is not used to rob items from a female; motherf*cker, are you not satisfied with it? You know what, this father will never tell you which nestle did the colorful bird hide in even if I knew it. So what? Come to bite off my butt?"


    The female knight was dumbfounded. Although she wanted to say something, after listening to Zhang Tie''s vulgar words, her face blushed as she couldn''t utter a word.


    The moment the male knight of Tianlu Palace wanted to say something...


    Zhang Tie widely opened his ox-like eyes and frightened his words back, "Motherf*cker, if you dare make another f*rt, this father will fetch all the people and gift the bird''s nestle to others. I guarantee you that Tianlu Palace will get nothing!"


    If Zhang Tie really did this, Tianlu Palace couldn''t stop him. Legally, the one who was most qualified to gain this silver secret item was actually Zhang Tie. If he wanted to gift this right to others, how could Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace stop him? Just like how Zhang Tie argued just now, this was not the household plot of Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace. Neither did the Emperor Xuanyuan come from Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace.


    Finding the two knights being silent, Zhang Tie turned around and left.


    When he left, Zhang Tie hummed a weird song unconsciously.


    "I''m a little dragon...little dragon...little dragon...little dragon...how many secrets do I have...secrets...secrets...secrets...I''ve got so many secrets, but I won''t tell you, I won''t tell you, I won''t tell you..."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s weird song, the female knight''s look turned weird too. The male knight gritted his teeth as Zhang Tie''s hoarse voice drove him mad. He felt that Zhang Tie was teasing him; however, he had to stand it.


    Until Zhang Tie''s back and song disappeared did the female knight put away her sword and hurriedly come to the male knight''s side, "Senior fellow apprentice, are you okay?"


    "My wrist is broken..." The male knight let out a long sigh as he unconsciously frowned due to the sharp pain. Zhang Tie''s overwhelming strike frightened him a lot, "This Cui Li has a terrifying, sheer animal''s strength..."


    The female knight hurriedly took out her recovery medicament and daubed it over the male knight''s wrist.


    "It''s not the end..." The male knight said hatefully as an insidious and malicious eye light flashed by his eyes.


    "Senior fellow apprentice...I feel...I feel...Cui Li has given a compromise to us. It seems that we''re a bit excessive..." The female knight whispered, "When I chased after the virtual image of the secret item, I almost lost it. Right then, this man passed by accidentally and appeared in front of me. He didn''t mean to rob it from me..."


    The male knight frowned once again as he replied in a muffled voice, "9th young sister, you don''t know that. Human hearts are insidious. If I was not here, you might have suffered a great loss. Additionally, it''s a silver secret item, a silver secret item! As you were always cultivating in the cultivation room of our clan, you''re too innocent. You don''t know that many knights would even kill people or eliminate a clan only for a silver secret item. Now that we''ve already seen it and it was right in front of us, how could we let it go so easily? We should never give it to others..."


    When the male knight''s wrist slightly recovered and didn''t ache anymore, the two people revealed sorrowful looks towards the 8 pearls of secret items at the same time...


    ''Do we really need to fetch all the others of Tianlu Palace?''


    ...


    After leaving the two knights, Zhang Tie had forgotten about that event. He didn''t mind if Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace troubled him. After all, Cui Li was single, who had no family. He didn''t believe that the Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace would treat him excessively. Actually, if the clan knights and elders of the Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace were all overbearing and arrogant, they might not gain such a remarkable social status...


    However, soon after he walked away, Zhang Tie had heard a sound from his back.


    ''Is Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace coming to revenge me?''


    Zhang Tie turned around and saw that the female knight was catching up with him...

 944 A Condition

    Chapter 944: A Condition


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Crossing his arms, Zhang Tie stopped as he watched the female knight of Tianlu Palace who caught up with him with a glassy-eyed look.


    "What? Do you want to revenge me?"


    The female knight stopped 2 m away as she threw a bashful glance at Zhang Tie, "No, I''m not here to revenge you. I''m here to say sorry to you on behalf of my senior fellow apprentice..."


    After hearing her answer, Zhang Tie looked at this female knight from head to toe seriously.


    With long hair reaching her butt, the female knight wore a delicate rose-colored half-body metal armor. She looked slim and elegant; especially her long, beautiful legs; with the coordination of her high metal battle boots, she looked pretty charming and young.


    The female knight also had a good look. Although she was not as brilliant as Lan Yunxi or as coquettish as Bai Suxian, her five sense organs were very delicate. With large eyes, snow-white skin, a straight nose and a tiny mouth, she was featured by the special elegance of Hua women in the Eastern Continent.


    If he were still in Blackhot City, the female knight''s look would easily remind him of the beautiful neighboring elder sisters who had accepted higher education.


    At the beginning, this female knight reminded Zhang Tie of Lan Yunxi. After observing her carefully, he felt that she looked similar to Linda on temperament.


    Under the straight eye light of Zhang Tie, the female knight became a bit intense as she moved one step back. In her eyes, Zhang Tie was even more dangerous than those mutated beasts.


    "No need, if your senior fellow apprentice takes it amiss, just let him come for me here!"


    After hearing that the opponent was not here for trouble but for an apology, Zhang Tie''s look turned better.


    "Generally, senior fellow apprentice Anshi is not such a kind of person. As the silver secret item is very important, he..."


    Zhang Tie wove his hand as he interrupted her words, "I don''t care what kind of person is your senior fellow apprentice. You don''t need to explain it to me either. Anything else? If no, I have to go..."


    "One...one more thing!" The female knight became a bit embarrassed.


    "Go ahead."


    "Would you...please...tell me which pearl of the secret item did the colorful bird lurk in?" The female knight lowered her head when she realized that this request was a bit excessive.


    Watching this female knight for a short while, Zhang Tie suddenly burst out into laughter, "Why do you think that I will tell you its whereabouts only by your one request? Are you dreaming? Why should I tell you that?"


    "I know it''s a bit excessive; however I will appreciate you if you tell me that!" The female knight raised her head as she watched Zhang Tie''s eyes bravely.


    Watching this woman, Zhang Tie realized that she was really innocent; instead of daydreaming. She was really a fresh-faced. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see such a naive female knight.


    "How do you plan to appreciate me?" Zhang Tie looked at this female knight with a weird eye light as he touched his jaw.


    "How much do I pay you?" The female knight asked seriously after thinking about it for a few seconds.


    "How much do you want to pay?"


    "2...no...300 million gold coins. I will give you 300 million gold coins as a compensation!" The female knight nodded with an affirmative look. In the beginning, she wanted to say 200 million gold coins; however, she felt that 200 million gold coins were too less; therefore, she added another 100 million gold coins.


    Honestly, Zhang Tie was really startled by her casual tone which felt like buying fruits on the roadside instead of the amount of money.


    In Huaiyuan Palace, even Zhang Taixuan the head of Zhang Clan would not deal with 300 million gold coins in such a casual way.


    "Do you have so much money?" Zhang Tie looked at her with a dubious look.


    "The total amount of lucky money during the lunar new year, my pocket money given by my mom and my dowry left by my grandma these years should be enough..." The female knight answered seriously after thinking about it for quite a while.


    Hearing her reply, Zhang Tie wanted to die!


    As a man who was loath to eat his mother''s rice brew for the sake of some copper coins when he was young, he really didn''t feel that he was living in the same world with this woman after hearing that this woman''s lucky money and pocket money was as much as hundreds of millions of gold coins.


    ''F*ck, what a sharp difference!''


    Zhang Tie''s eye corners twitched for a short while before he shook his head, "If I needed money, I would make it myself. Additionally, I don''t lack money. Money is not that important for knights!"


    "If so, I can give you 2,000 earth-elements crystals, what do you say?" The female knight didn''t give up her mind.


    "Did you bring so many earth-element crystals with you?"


    "No!"


    "Why do I believe you then?"


    "But I can give it to you when we leave out of here..."


    The female knight''s words were interrupted by Zhang Tie once again, "After leaving out of here? After leaving, Tianlu Palace would outnumber us. If you want to disavow it, would I fight you to death only for 2,000 earth-element crystals? If you hid yourself, I wouldn''t even have a chance to fight you to death. Do you think this brother Cui is so stupid?"


    "What do you want?"


    "What''s your name?" After looking at her from her head to toe, Zhang Tie''s voice suddenly turned tender as he revealed a weird smile.


    Although she was not frightened by Zhang Tie''s rudeness, she was startled by Zhang Tie''s sudden tenderness. Therefore, she moved one step back once again.


    "I...I''m Zhang Shuzhen!" The female knight watched Zhang Tie with vigilant eyes.


    "I''ve got a condition. If you promise me, I will tell you the whereabouts of the colorful bird."


    "What condition?"


    "Hohoho, let this brother Cui kiss you enough right here. This brother Cui has not kissed a female knight yet." Zhang Tie revealed an "evil" laugh as if he was a timber wolf who had caught sight of a small white rabbit.


    Zhang Shuzhen''s face turned pale and red consecutively, "You said...kiss...kiss me here?"


    "Don''t waste my time. If you promise me, I will tell you that. If not, you''d better leave right away!"


    "Just kiss...kiss my face?"


    "Nonsense. Of course, I have to kiss your mouth. It''s boring to just kiss your face." Zhang Tie said with an evil facial expression, "I don''t want anything else, ho...ho..."


    Zhang Shuzhen''s breasts undulated while her face changed colors sharply as if she was struggling inside. After being silent for more than 10 seconds, when she saw Zhang Tie turning around and intending to leave impatiently, she finally made her determination. With the spirit of sacrificing herself to feed a lion, she closed her eyes as she raised her head and said, "I agree...you can..."


    ''Just one time, it will be okay after standing it a few seconds. By comparison, the silver secret item is more important...''


    The female knight comforted herself.


    "Don''t bite my tongue!" Zhang Tie warned her when he moved closer to her. When she recalled Zhang Tie''s rudeness and terror, the female knight''s body quivered...


    ''Will he reach his tongue into my mouth?''


    ''It''s just a kiss. Why does he kiss my tongue?''


    The female knight felt disgusted about Zhang Tie''s warning...


    Watching Zhang Shuzhen clenching her fists and raising her delicate, stubborn face with quivering eyelashes, Zhang Tie smirked and moved his face closer to her. After sniffing her fragrance, Zhang Tie blew towards her face. The female knight became as stiff as a steel plate in a split second...


    Zhang Shuzhen had already sensed Zhang Tie''s heat while her heart pounded like beating a drum; meanwhile, her mind was completely blank like lying under the scaffold...


    Zhang Shuzhen waited for a while; however, Zhang Tie didn''t move...


    After another a few seconds, Zhang Tie still didn''t move...


    Zhang Shuzhen then opened her eyes and found nobody in front of her at all.


    Zhang Tie had already disappeared while his voice reached her ears in a secret way, "One of the two pearls of secret items is real, the one on the highest point of the cluster of metallic crystals and the one on the direction of 7 o''clock from where I stood on the ridge. If your motherf*cking senior fellow apprentice wants to pretend to be a hero, let him open the two pearls of secret items with you in 2 days! Young sister, you smell good, ha...ha..."


    ...


    Zhang Tie belittled those who took advantage of others'' difficulties, especially of women. Therefore, he only made a joke with this female knight of Zhang Clan, Tianlu Palace.


    Because it was not Zhang Tie''s temperament to give concession to a woman only because of the latter''s few words on the premise that the two parties had a conflict just now. At this moment, how come Zhang Tie directly tell her the whereabouts of the colorful bird?


    The reason why Zhang Tie told her two pearls of secret items was that he wanted the male knight of Tianlu Palace who pretended to be a hero to pay for his rudeness.


    The period that they would stay in the hieron ruins was only enough for each knight to open one pearl of the secret item. In order to verify whether Zhang Tie''s words were true or not, one knight of Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace had to spend longer than 2 days on a meaningless object or have each of the 8 knights of Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace waste 6 hours. This was the punishment for the male knight who had pretended to be a hero in front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie felt that he had done good enough.


    After locking the two pearls of secret items, the possibility for them to find the right one would rise from 1/8 to 1/2.


    Zhang Tie could imagine the fake hero''s poor look.


    ''I will see whether you will continue to pretend to be a hero for the sake of a beauty at the risk of my benefits in front of me...''


    ...


    On the way to the middle of the mountain, namely, above 5,000 m, Zhang Tie didn''t have any chance to meet any virtual image of a silver secret item any longer...


    From the halfway above, the mountain was covered with a cloud of mist while its temperature declined sharply.


    The cloud of mist was actually composed of fine icy crystals suspending in the air. Without releasing the protective battle qi, anyone would suffer a cruel torture of being stabbed by tens of thousands of needles.


    It was cold and almost air-free. As a result, it''s hard for black iron knights to move and stay long in such an environment...


    At this moment, two people appeared in the cloud of mist in front of Zhang Tie and disappeared in a wink.


    The two people didn''t see Zhang Tie; however, Zhang Tie caught sight of them.


    They were Lu Zhongming and his wife.


    Zhang Tie became stunned, ''Why are they moving towards the top of the mountain too?''


    ...


    At the top of the Weapons Mountain, a magnificent hieron was standing there in a majestic way...


    Old Monster Qi was the first one who reached the top of the mountain and caught sight of the hieron...

 945 Breaking the Gate of the Hall

    At the top of the highest peak of the Weapons Mountain...


    Old Monster Qi, who arrived here first, walked towards the hieron.


    The hieron was built in the mountain and was integrated with the entire Weapons Mountain. The entire hieron was tall and majestic. It was completely made of a metal, which radiated the same luster as that on the floor of the lobby where the battle puppets stood. There were various mysterious reliefs of figures and animals on the exterior walls of the hieron...


    If those metal reliefs could be cut off from the walls, they were extremely superb, priceless art treasures and the most precious materials for anthropologists and historians to study far-ancient civilizations.


    However, they were just reliefs on the walls here.


    Very few of those who came here would value artworks and care about the academic value and research value of them.


    Because all those who could arrive here were at the top of the pyramid of humans. They were featured as being realistic, powerful and knowing what was most important for themselves.


    It was too cold here. The temperature here almost reached the upper limit of all the living beings. Even earth knights had to release their protective battle qis so as to stay here a bit longer.


    As the air here was thinner, people here would feel suffocated in the vacuum unconsciously.


    What was more, those reliefs on the exterior walls were integrated with the hieron, which could not be cut off at all.


    The gate of the hieron was higher than 10 m. It was completely closed. Therefore, Old Monster Qi could not see what was inside at all.


    In order to catch time, Old Monster Qi rushed to the top of the Weapons Mountain at the fastest speed at the cost of too much strength physically and spiritually.


    As he walked towards the hieron, Old Monster Qi drank up a vial of all-purpose medicament. At the same time, he panted while widely opening his mouth.


    Earth knights needed to breathe too. Although earth knights could hold breath for a long time in extreme conditions, Old Monster Qi could still breathe as more as possible at this moment so as to recover his physical strength and aura as faster as possible.


    The oxygen content of ten breaths here was equal to that of two breaths at the foot of the mountain.


    Old Monster Qi came to the front of the hieron while radiating shrewd eye lights. He circled around the hieron for a while as if he was looking for another entrance.


    Pitifully, Old Monster Qi became disappointed.


    The only access to the hieron was that closed gate.


    After coming to the front of the gate, Old Monster Qi checked the gate for a few minutes before shaking his head. He then forcefully pushed the gate; however, the gate remained still. After that, Old Monster Qi moved a few steps back and took a deep breath before striking the gate of the hieron with his battle qi constantly and fiercely...


    ...


    Old Monster Qi kept striking the gate of the hieron thousands of times in over 10 minutes.


    Besides the bangs reverberating on the top of the mountain, the gate of the hieron remained still.


    Facing the strikes of earth knights, even adamant steel would be shattered into pieces; however, that gate remained still like nothing had happened.


    "It''s useless, Old Monster Qi..." A voice sounded behind Old Monster Qi. During the past 10-odd minutes, Zhang Anguo the grand elder of Tianlu Palace had already ascended to the top of the main peak and appeared behind Old Monster Qi, "I guess that you were leaving one step earlier than us for the sake of the benefits here. If the gate of this hieron could be opened so easily, it would be none of our business!"


    Old Monster Qi stopped as he turned around and smirked, "Do you also want to pretend to be innocent in front of me? If you were not afraid of me occupying all the good items in the hieron, why did you come here?"


    "Old Monster Qi, if you could really open the gate, according to the rule, all those who could see them would have a share, of course, I would share them with you! Let''s see whether you could occupy all of them." The grand elder of Tianlu Palace said with a calm look.


    As old guys were always shrewd, the grand elder of Tianlu Palace took it for granted.


    Old Monster Qi replied with a cold harrumph.


    "Among the hierons being discovered in the Earth-elements Realm, besides the sacrificial altar of the joss, most of them were clean and solemn, leaving no good items to people..." Saying this, Mountain Lifting Hermit jumped onto the platform on the top of this peak steadily as he continued, "In far-ancient times, these hierons were all majestic and solemn religious sites instead of treasure banks. The treasure bank here is in the palace complex where we''ve just passed by. It has been robbed by people tens of thousands of years ago. It''d be a surprise if we could find something good here; however, it''d be normal if there was no good thing here. Otherwise, we wouldn''t get the key to this hieron only at such a small cost!"


    "Mountain Lifting Hermit, just admit it. Hohohoho, 4 decades ago, Dongfang Haori the head of Dongfang Clan in Lanzhou Province gained a heavenly-level space-teleportation equipment from a hieron''s palace. It''s said that that space-teleportation equipment is used for lighting an oil lamp, which looked pretty common. Therefore, Dongfang Haori got a good deal. This space-teleportation equipment has been the No. 1 treasure of Dongfang Clan, which is called Ocean-containing Bottle. Mountain Lifting Hermit, dare you to say that you don''t want one like that?"


    "Over so many years, humans have just found one Brightness Hieron in the Earth-elements Realm. Except for the Brightness Hieron, how could other hieron''s temples contain such a space-teleportation equipment which is used for loading oil?" Mountain Lifting Hermit let out a sigh as he said with a faintly frustrated tone. It felt like a man who used to buy lottery tickets heard someone hitting the jackpot while he got nothing at all.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit was longing for a space-teleportation equipment very much. He was more familiar with the process that how Dongfang Haori gained his Ocean-Containing Bottle than anyone else. He had seriously studied that.


    As the Brightness Hieron needed to maintain its brightness, a space-teleportation equipment was used to light the hieron. People didn''t meet such a surprise anymore in other hierons. Even though the far-ancient civilizations were pretty magnificent, people of those ages were not so luxurious that they would use space-teleportation equipment as a common container in each hieron or temple.


    There were some advanced silver secret items in the battle god temples; however, this one was not a battle god temple, but an unknown one. Therefore, it could barely contain any silver secret items.


    Based on the modern people''s study about the far-ancient history and civilizations, a certain far-ancient age was full of religions; in that age, people worshiped and stood in awe of various deities. There might be tens of thousands of religions in that age, leaving the most hieron ruins.


    However, few people could precisely distinguish the categories of hieron ruins.


    It was a very profound learning about the source of humans and demons. Pundits in this discipline enjoyed a lofty position even among knights.


    "Even though there''s no space-teleportation equipment, I think the system control hub in the hieron is still well preserved. Why not attempt to join hands to open the gate? If there''s a system control hub, we will see whether there are some surprises inside it. If there are, we can share it!" Old Monster Qi proposed after rolling his pupils.


    "Old Monster Qi, it seems that you''re desiring so much to open this gate!" The grand elder of Tianlu Palace opened his mouth abruptly.


    Old Monster Qi uttered two weird shrieks before saying, "I just don''t want to go back in vain. After all, we''ve been here. Why not have a try? Three people are much more powerful than one. It''s also possible for a blind cat to meet a dead rat."


    Mountain Lifting Hermit and Zhang Anguo exchanged a glance with each other before nodding at the same time.


    Earth knights were all confident, powerful ones. If they were not confident about their powers or out of the bit of fluke mind and curiosity, the three earth knights would not come here. No matter what, as they had already come here, they would have a try, even though a heavenly knight could not break such a gate of hieron according to the legends.


    ''What if the gate was opened by accident? What if there''re some surprises inside it?''


    With the tentative thought, the three earth knights joined hands with each other and battered the gate of the hieron another 10 minutes by releasing their virtual images of battle qis.


    Although the main peak of the Weapons Mountain vibrated under their strikes, when they stopped, the gate was still closed without any damage.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit gave up his mind, "There might be nanobeads in the pearls of secret items near the top of the peak. As I have limited time, I will not waste it anymore, see you..."


    As he said that, Mountain Lifting Hermit jumped a few times and disappeared in the mist.


    "Hahaha, it seems that the legend is right. The gates of hierons could not be opened by sheer animal strength. I will go to somewhere else to find space-teleportation equipment. Old Monster Qi, don''t daydream anymore. The Weapons Mountain itself is a mountain of treasures..." The grand elder of Tianlu Palace told Old Monster Qi before leaving here too.


    As a result, after watching the triangular relief being composed of three scales on the top of the gate of the hieron for a while with a complex and rapidly changing look, Old Monster Qi could only let out a sigh before leaving...


    Nobody knew what Old Monster Qi was thinking about.


    ...


    When muffled thunders constantly drifted from the main peak of the Weapons Mountain, Zhang Tie stopped his footsteps as he looked up at the highest peak...


    As it was so loud that even though it was far away from Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie could still feel the faint shocks at his foot like sensing a train passing by while standing not far away from the railway.


    ''Are the three earth knights in a combat?''


    Zhang Tie was shocked at once.


    However, after sensing the locations of the three tracing feathers, Zhang Tie denied this possibility. If earth knights were in combat, they would not stand still even if they were in a close combat.


    The tracing feather which entered here in the end also sensed the shocks drifted from the top of the mountain. After being still for a few minutes, the tracing feather accelerated its speed at once...


    "Monitoring" the locations of those tracing feathers, Zhang Tie licked his mouth while a light flashed across his eyes.


    ''F*ck, this journey is becoming more and more interesting...'' Zhang Tie sighed with emotions.

 946 Enticing the Lions off the Top of the Main Peak

    Chapter 946: Enticing the Lions off the Top of the Main Peak


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    There were a lot of crystals near the top of the Weapons Mountain which contained more pearls of secret items than those below the halfway of the mountain. Therefore, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Zhang Anguo and Old Monster Qi sought for the pearls of secret items which might contain nanobeads and space-teleportation equipment near the top of the mountain.


    One important feature of silver secret items was that they could break the physical and space limits of regular equipment such as size and existence form, which was out of commoners'' comprehension.


    Silver secret items could directly extract elements from the elements realm and form material objects. In commoners'' eyes, this was definitely a myth.


    By contrast, small space-teleportation equipment such as nanobead could have a large capacity.


    As they could sense the existence of elements realm, knights could understand how silver secret items worked; whereas, they could not understand the working principle of space-teleportation equipment such as nanobead.


    Was it a mini wormhole or a foldable space which could compress and restore materials in terms of quantum in a specific way?


    Nobody knew about it!


    People could only guess the working principle of space-teleportation equipment such as nanobead.


    Scientists might be interested in the working principle of space-teleportation equipment. However, as for knights in this age, only weapons were most practical.


    Although nanobead was a silver secret item, it was much more advanced than common silver secret items; additionally, being different from common silver secret items, nanobeads would not expose their virtual images of secret items at all.


    Even earth knights could only have 80% of possibility to gain a nanobead.


    As for the remaining 20% of possibility, they should refer to the features of pearls of secret items which might contain nanobeads through long-term learning.


    Like how experienced fishermen and pearl catchers living on the sea judged whether the seashells that they had got contained pearls through the surfaces of the seashells, after about 800-900 years of inheritance and practice after the Catastrophe and numerous people''s studies and conclusions, knights also worked out a learning on judging the value of pearls of secret item.


    This learning was called "The Learning about Secret Items".


    "The Learning about Secret Items" was the top secret knowledge and the most influential learning. This learning originated from Taixia Country and led the orientation and popular trend of human knights.


    In Taixia Country, if a knight wanted to show off his talent and display his special taste, he had to show off his learning on secret items when he would win a lot of knights'' admirations.


    Knights, especially male knights didn''t have to be handsome in Taixia Country. If an earth knight was ugly in Taixia Country, you could comment his ugly look in front of him and he would not get angry about that; however, if you said he didn''t know the learning of secret items, it was equal to calling him an illiterate. It was like calling a rich people nouveau riche. 9 of 10 knights would get angry about that and you would face a very severe result.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know about the "Learning of Secret Items" among the knights of Taixia Country. Waii Sub-continent was just a barren land for Taixia Country and no elders of Huaiyuan Palace could show off their learning about secret items. After coming to Taixia Country for a few days, Zhang Tie had been wanted by the supreme court. As Zhang Tie didn''t communicate with the knights of Taixia Country especially knights above earth knights too much, he didn''t know the popular learning about secret items among the knights of Taixia Country at all.


    However, being different from Zhang Tie, Mountain Lifting Hermit, the grand elder of Tianlu Palace and Old Monster Qi had studied hard about the learning of secret items.


    All three earth knights had gnosis about the learning of secret items; additionally, they were all a bit reserved.


    ...


    The pearls of secret items were formed by the four elements in the elements realm, which carried a special attribute, namely, the greater the striking strength was on them, the more resistant and harder they would be. It was similar to those materials being invented in scientific means before the Catastrophe which could adjust their physical properties to the changing stress.


    Therefore, an earth knight would only open a pearl of secret item 20% faster than a black iron knight. That was to say, if it would take a black iron knight 50 hours to open a pearl of a secret item, it would take an earth knight about 40 hours to open a pearl of a secret item.


    The time in the hieron ruins was equally precious to the three earth knights.


    ...


    According to the survey, each commoner who traded stocks would feel that they were a bit better than the average level; knights who studied the learning about secret items thought almost as same as common stock traders.


    In this world, commoners had many secret methods to trade stocks; similarly, knights had many secret methods of selecting pearls of secret items too.


    ...


    After circling around 4-5 pearls of secret items in a cluster of crystals being not far from the top of the mountain for quite a while, Mountain Lifting Hermit compared the sizes, colors, feels and grains of those pearls of secret items. He even patted one after another like selecting a watermelon. Finally, he selected a pearl of a secret item and started to strike it with his battle qi.


    The moment he started his work, he had made constant bangs.


    ...


    As for the grand elder of Tianlu Palace, he took out 3 turtlebacks and stood still on the side of each pearl of secret item for a few minutes, during which period, he threw the three turtlebacks onto each pearl of secret item and made judgments according to the numbers of positive sides and negative sides facing upside.


    He soon selected one pearl of the secret item too.


    ...


    Old Monster Qi''s method was more astonishing. He took out a file and scraped each pearl of secret item forcefully. Closely after that, he tasted a bit powder of each pearl of the secret item and finally selected one.


    After occupying a cluster of crystals near the hieron at the top of the mountain respectively, the three earth knights got busy. Unconsciously, they surrounded the hieron.


    ...


    The weird grey cloud of the mist of the demon baron stopped less than 0.7 miles away from the top of the main peak of the mountain because it had heard the bangs and the specific battle qis of earth knights.


    As this was still in the no-fly zone, actually there were just 2 or 3 paths leading to the top of the main peak. After circling around there for a while, the demon baron found that the three paths towards the top of the main peak were all blocked by earth human knights; therefore, it frowned unconsciously.


    The demon baron was not afraid of any single earth human knight here; however, the situation became tricky when three earth human knights gathered together within a short distance.


    The sharp senses of earth knights could never be matched by black iron knights. Therefore, no matter how much the demon baron excelled at disguising and hiding skills, as long as it was less than 100 m away from an earth knight, it would have a probability of 80% to be noticed by the earth knight; if it was less than 50 m away from an earth knight, it would definitely be noticed.


    No matter from which side it would go up the hill, the demon baron would definitely be found by one of the three earth human knights. As long as one earth human knight found it, the other two would find it too. If so, the demon baron''s plan would fail for sure.


    The core of the demon baron''s plan was to enter the main temple of the bloody sacrificial hieron and control the system control hub of the entire hieron. As long as it controlled the system control hub, it would be able to catch all the human knights here and gradually made all of them its bloody sacrifices.


    It would take him some time; at least he didn''t want to be bothered by people when he entered the main temple.


    After looking at the top of the main peak with a fierce eye light for a few seconds, the demon baron turned around and ran towards another direction...


    However, the demon baron didn''t know that since he entered this hieron ruins, his trace had been tightly monitored by a human knight.


    ...


    Right then, Zhang Tie who was going up the hill became stunned. When a colorful light flashed by, Zhang Tie heard Lu Zhongming and his wife exclaiming at the same time. Closely after that, the two people started to chase after that colorful light at a faster speed.


    After following the couple for a short while, Zhang Tie caught sight of something in the hands of this immortal couple. That thing was radiating a faint glow and was wrapped by them so that they could resist the coldness and reach 6,000 m above the Weapons Mountain.


    As few black iron knights could reach here, therefore, there were more chances here than below.


    Zhang Tie didn''t follow up the couple anymore; instead, he frowned.


    The last tracing feather stopped almost 0.7 miles away from the three earth human knights near the top of the main peak of the mountain.


    Given the route of the tracing feather, Zhang Tie sensed that its destination was the top of the main peak. However, the three earth human knights blocked its way.


    After making a circle below the three earth human knights, the weird cloud of mist didn''t find any way to go up the hill.


    Therefore, the tracing feather went down the hill; however, it didn''t directly come to the foot of the mountain; instead, it rushed downwards like how a snake moved.


    Those who had been scouts or soldiers must know that in a certain region such a snake walking route was evidently a tactical search action, which would not ensure you to encounter your enemy at the fastest speed but could ensure you to find your enemy being nearest to the circle center of your moving route.


    ''Now that it didn''t want to encounter Mountain Lifting Hermit, Zhang Anguo and Old Monster Qi near the top of the main peak, why would it choose to go downhill like a snake? Isn''t he afraid of colliding with human knights? What''s it thinking about?''


    Zhang Tie''s mind became as clear as crystal once again...


    ''He''s enticing the three lions off the top of the main peak!''

 947 Making a Choice

    Chapter 947: Making a Choice


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Actually, many critical moments didn''t have too many signs before arrival; instead, they came as natural as evening sunglow, thunders on rainy days and silkworms breaking out of cocoons. They always appear silently. When you understood that your choice would determine the fates of you and many people around you, the critical moments had already elapsed, leaving no chance for you to make a choice again.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that he was facing such a choice. He only felt that the last tracing feather was very weird and had a strong will to reach the top of the main peak. Although he didn''t know the guy''s final target.


    He had a few options.


    First, ignore the weird mist. After all, there were three earth human knights here. Additionally, the new arriver didn''t notice the existence of Zhang Tie. If the weird mist caused some trouble, the three earth human knights would handle it for sure.


    That man passed the lobby so fast that Zhang Tie almost regarded it as a shadow knight. However, seeing that guy getting cold feet and wandering in front of the three earth human knights, Zhang Tie reaffirmed that that guy was an earth knight. If it was a shadow knight, it could continue to go uphill without caring about the three earth human knights at all.


    Now that it could pass through the lobby so fast, it might have some special method.


    The first option was selfish for Zhang Tie.


    Second, Zhang Tie could make some noises so as to induce the three earth human knights towards the late arriver and destroy the guy''s action and plan. It was even possible for them to round up that guy.


    After thinking about it for a while seriously, Zhang Tie gave it up.


    If Zhang Tie was a selfless sage, he might choose the second option at this moment. Without caring about possible dangers, exposing his trump card and standing on the frontline, he would definitely destroy the plan of the late guy who might harm the interests and safety of the human knights'' teams.


    However, Zhang Tie was not a sage; he might be a gentleman in some aspects; however, he was never a sage. He was even a wanted criminal who couldn''t even expose his real status. Therefore, he didn''t need to be a hero at this moment.


    Zhang Tie could neither ignore it as it was too selfish nor sacrifice himself for the sake of others.


    Therefore, after considering it for a while, Zhang Tie chose the third option while being driven by a great curiosity.


    ''I will not care about that guy''s tactic for the time being; instead, I will reach the top of the mountain and check what that guy wants there. If that guy wants to harm all the human knights here, I will stop it or send a warning to the three earth human knights.''


    ''By that time, I will have a good excuse¡ª¡ªI have an exceptional aptitude; additionally, through cultivating "Fire Dragon Sutra", I have an extremely strong cold-resistance ability. After coming to the top of the main peak, I caught sight of that stranger doing something. Therefore, I released the battle qi signal to attract the three earth human knights there.''


    After thinking through it, Zhang Tie started to move.


    As he paid attention to the route of the tracing feather, Zhang Tie avoided encountering the tracing feather. At the same time, he rushed all the way towards the top of the main peak.


    After more than half an hour, Zhang Tie had reached a bit farther than 0.7 miles away from the three earth human knights near the top of the main peak. After activating the effect of super hiding skill, he hid himself somewhere.


    At that place, Zhang Tie could clearly sense and hear the bangs caused by the three earth human knights.


    Zhang Tie then started to monitor the locations of all the tracing feathers in his mind.


    The couple of Lu Zhongming stopped at somewhere above 7,000 m. They might have already targeted the pearl of a secret item which might contain that virtual image of the secret item.


    The late tracing feather had already declined to about 8,000 m at the hillside and was continuously searching its enemies.


    Zhang Tie predicted that the couple would encounter that grey cloud of mist for sure. At this moment, their vertical distance was only about 1,000 m. Of course, the linear distance between them was much farther; however, if the grey cloud of mist continued to search for its enemies in such a twisted way, it would encounter the couple who stood still sooner or later.


    Zhang Tie held his breath and waited for the coming battle.


    In less than 10 minutes, when the linear distance between the tracing feather and the couple was about 2,000 m, it suddenly stopped its snake walking search tactic. In a split second, it altered its route and rushed towards the couple like how a real python hunted its prey.


    Zhang Tie knew that the tracing feather had already found the couple. Perhaps, the couple had made some noise which aroused its attention from 2,000 m away.


    Sensing the tracing feather rushing towards the couple, Zhang Tie became intense at once even as an onlooker.


    Although Zhang Tie had not seen it by eyes, he had a commanding deja vu about what was happening.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was a bit guilty. If the couple was not far away from him, actually, he wanted to send a warning to the couple; however, he could only sense it at this moment.


    Thankfully, the couple''s battle strengths were much greater than that of common black iron knights. Additionally, that guy should not just kill people; instead, it wanted to make some noise so as to entice the three earth human knights off the top of the main peak. Therefore, even if they fought each other, the couple would not lose their lives.


    That tracing feather approached to 200 m away from the couple at an extremely high speed. After that, it slowed down and circled around them for a short while as it gradually narrowed the distance to 100 m...50 m...


    ''You still want to raid them as an earth knight? F*ck!''


    At this moment, Zhang Tie almost wanted to swear it loudly. He also genuinely sensed the danger of that guy, who didn''t mind using despicable means to reach its target.


    In a split second, the tracing feather darted as fast as a lightning bolt and reached the side of the couple like a sharp saber.


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes and didn''t sense that tracing feather anymore; instead, he threw a glance at the location of the couple at the hillside.


    Only after one second, a knight''s battle qi signal had rushed into the sky...


    It was Lu Zhongming''s battle qi signal; Lin Huanxi''s battle qi signal didn''t rise up.


    Zhang Tie could faintly hear Lu Zhongming''s roar.


    When Lu Zhongming''s battle qi signal rushed into the sky, the bangs near the top of the main peak stopped at once. Apparently, the three earth human knights found the abnormal situation too.


    In less than 10 seconds, Zhang Tie had seen Lu Zhongming''s battle qi rushing downhill while the three earth human knights also dashed towards the battle qi signal of Lu Zhongming.


    As for earth human knights, after entering the pyramid, they could not ignore the battle beside them; especially after someone of Old Monster Qi''s team had been killed a few days ago.


    After sensing the three earth human knights going downhill, Zhang Tie instantly sprung up from where he hid and rushed towards the top of the main peak.


    Only in a few minutes, Zhang Tie had arrived at the top of the main peak.


    Zhang Tie looked around and caught sight of the hall of the hieron at once.


    He had not imagined that there was a hall of hieron over there.


    ''It''s closed, does that guy want to enter the hall?''


    At the sight of the clusters of crystals not far away from the gate of the hall, Zhang Tie rushed over there and hid in a metallic crystal.


    The late tracing feather was close to the tracing feather of Lin Huanxi when they were rushing downhill, closely followed by the tracing feather of Lu Zhongming. The three earth human knights were chasing after Lu Zhongming''s battle qi signal from over 10 miles away.


    The front tracing feather suddenly sped up and left Lu Zhongming over 500 m away. It seemed that it had been out of Lu Zhongming''s sight...


    Zhang Tie found the front tracing feather just made a circle at the middle of the mountain where the mist was densest before going up the hill from the other side; however, Lu Zhongming rushed all the way down the hill...


    Lu Zhongming lost his target...


    Lu Zhongming''s battle qi signal rushed all the way downhill together with the three earth human knights...


    The tracing feather was both perilous and cunning.


    Sensing the tracing feather speeding up towards the top of the main peak, Zhang Tie held his breath at once. At the same time, he started to breathe with the help of the space in Castle of Black Iron like how he breathed in water. Namely, he inhaled the oxygen from Castle of Black Iron and exhaled the carbon dioxide into Castle of Black Iron.


    ...


    In over 10 minutes, the cloud of grey mist had flown onto the top of the main peak...


    Finally, the cloud of grey mist dispersed, revealing the original look of the demon baron, who was holding Lin Huanxi. She had been in the coma due to heavy wounds with blood at her mouth corners.


    ''It''s a demon, a real demon, an earth demon knight.'' Zhang Tie was shocked inside.


    At the sight of the hieron''s hall, the demon baron revealed a faintly grim smile as it rushed directly towards the gate.


    After coming to the front of the gate, the demon baron dropped Lin Huanxi onto the ground, causing her to spit out another mouth of blood while half of her body had been covered with blood.


    The moment her blood touched the ground, it had turned into bloody ice scums which were giving off white vapor. The demon baron stepped onto Lin Huanxi''s neck by one foot barbariously and cruelly while paying attention to the grains on the gate conscientiously.


    A pair of black battle boots, white neck; a brutal demon and a mistreated human woman with a painful look. Being stimulated by such a sharp comparison, Zhang Tie''s pupils shrunk at once...


    If not having activated his super hiding skill, Zhang Tie might have already exposed himself. The senses of knights; especially earth knights were out of commoners'' imaginations.


    ...


    The grains on the gate of the hieron''s hall was very similar to those on the floor of the lobby where they had passed.


    After watching it for half a minute, the demon baron had put one hand on one place of the grains; after a few seconds, it put its hand onto the other place of the grains...


    The demon baron constantly pressed over 10 times in 2 minutes. When it pressed the last place, the gate slowly opened without making any noise.


    When the demon baron found the gate was opened, it couldn''t stand bursting out into laughter because it would soon gain the booty...


    He caught the woman''s hair and directly dragged her into the hieron.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know why would this demon have to enter the hieron''s hall with such a trick. However, he knew that this guy was definitely going to do something bad.


    We should oppose what the enemies supported, support what the enemies opposed and destroy what the enemies wanted to do!


    This was always a classic proverb on fighting enemies.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s blood all over started to burn.


    ''Motherf*cker! You''re dead!''


    Watching the demon baron dragging Lin Huanxi into the hieron''s hall with laughter, Zhang Tie sprung up and rushed towards the gate at the fastest speed and the most agile way.


    When he rushed into the gate of the hieron, Zhang Tie caught sight of a giant joss and an altar on the other end of the hall while a crystal ball was silently suspending in the air in the middle of the hall.


    The demon had rushed over 20 m away towards the crystal ball.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the gate of the hieron, the demon baron had sensed it. It turned around and caught sight of Zhang Tie.


    A dumbfounded look appeared on the demon baron''s grim face, closely followed by a brutal yet sportive eye light. The demon baron accelerated towards the crystal ball in a split second while dropping Lin Huanxi onto one side.


    Sensing that the demon baron aimed to get that crystal ball, Zhang Tie also rushed towards that crystal ball at his fastest speed...

 948 The Wrestle Between Zhang Tie and the Demon Baron

    Chapter 948: The Wrestle Between Zhang Tie and the Demon Baron


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what was that suspending crystal ball; however, now that the demon was longing for it, Zhang Tie swore to stop it from getting it.


    Zhang Tie only had such a thought at this moment.


    The earth demon knight was closer to the crystal ball than Zhang Tie.


    Given the short-distance explosive speed, Zhang Tie was not superior to the earth knight, although they both moved very fast.


    Therefore, when Zhang Tie accelerated, his spear had been split into three parts.


    Zhang Tie threw the part with the sharp edge of the spear towards the head of the demon.


    The demon baron inclined its head and dodged away from Zhang Tie''s strike.


    Zhang Tie threw out the middle part of the spear, which was completely a stick.


    This stick flew towards the back of the demon baron''s heart. After it left Zhang Tie''s hand, it caused an air-breaking sound in the hall.


    Zhang Tie''s strength was great. The spear was also powerful enough. If he was striking a LV 15 battle spirit, he could heavily wound his target for sure; however, although this stick could pose a threat to an earth knight, it was not fatal.


    As for the second strike, the demon baron didn''t even dodge away; instead, it just allowed the stick to hit its protective battle qi.


    The earth knight''s protective battle qi undulated a bit; however, the demon baron didn''t slow down at all. Zhang Tie''s second strike was defused in this way.


    The demon baron revealed a faint sneer as it mumbled, ''Naive, how could you dream to stop me by such average means?''


    Knights moved too fast. Even though Zhang Tie launched two strikes in a split second, he didn''t influence the demon baron''s speed at all. As a result, the demon baron had been less than 20 m away from the suspending crystal ball. It would get it very soon.


    The demon baron then stretched out its sharp claw towards the crystal ball.


    At this time, Zhang Tie threw out the third part of his spear. Like the earlier two parts, the third part of spear didn''t even aim at the demon baron at all as it flew by the demon baron''s neck.


    The demon baron revealed a ridicule. Compared to the earlier two strikes, the third one had even lost its precision. ''It seems that this black iron human knight has been flurried.''


    In a split second, the demon baron was only less than 10 m away from the crystal ball.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie roared as he threw out his gold-eaten tri-edged dagger from his waist''s side.


    Although Zhang Tie couldn''t move as fast as the demon baron, his dagger could fly faster than the demon baron.


    The dagger flew past the demon baron.


    In the demon baron''s eyes, it was another abortive throw. Precisely, it was not a throw at all. Because the human knight became flurried in the emergency, he just tossed the weapon towards it without even aiming it.


    It was understandable. Knights who didn''t excel at throwing weapons could not ensure that they would hit the target; especially in high-speed movements together with their target.


    Throwing was a technology.


    Zhang Tie''s performance just now was almost like a knight who was not proficient in throwing. Therefore, the demon baron didn''t doubt Zhang Tie''s intention.


    The demon baron''s hand almost reached the suspending crystal ball.


    The demon baron would win!


    Therefore, it became ecstatic.


    The gold-eaten tri-edged dagger that Zhang Tie threw out was a bit faster than the demon baron''s fingers.


    After passing the demon baron, the dagger suddenly rotated and changed its moving direction. When the demon baron almost touched the crystal ball, the rotating gold-eaten tri-edged dagger knocked onto the crystal ball, causing the crystal ball to shoot towards Zhang Tie after brushing against the demon baron.


    Even earth knight could not respond to it in such a situation.


    The demon baron''s ecstatic yet grim smile froze at once as it watched the crystal ball flying backward.


    "Haha, thanks!" Zhang Tie immediately caught the crystal ball and his dagger which flew back like a boomerang. In laughter, he turned around and intended to rush out of the gate.


    What a shame!


    Zhang Tie intended to show the white feather in the earlier three times not for striking the demon baron but for benumbing it. In another word, Zhang Tie''s earlier three strikes were not aimed at the demon baron''s body, but its soul. Zhang Tie intended to fix the mindset of the demon baron.


    ''Even if I exerted my full effort to launch a strike towards an earth knight, I would not pose any threat to it at all.'' Therefore, Zhang Tie altered his tactic.


    In the previous three times, his weapons flew along a straight line respectively and gradually lost their precision one after another. In this case, the demon baron could never imagine that Zhang Tie''s dagger could hit the crystal ball intelligently like a boomerang and a bird.


    It was like training a dog. Each time you threw a piece of bone towards afar, the dog would run towards the bone. When the dog was used to do that, even if you just pretended to throw out something, the dog would also run away.


    The demon baron had been trained three times by Zhang Tie unconsciously.


    From the time when Zhang Tie rushed into the hieron''s hall to when he gained the crystal ball ahead of the demon baron, although it was just a couple of seconds, they had wrestled with each other on intelligence, insight, responsiveness and judgment besides moving speed and battle strength. The entire process was shocking.


    The demon baron felt being humiliated as it had not imagined that it could be made fun of by a black iron human knight like a monkey.


    The demon baron was driven mad out of indignation. With bloody eyes, it roared before releasing its battle qi the moment it saw Zhang Tie rushing towards the gate of the hieron''s hall. At the same time, it shot a punch towards Zhang Tie''s back and the gate with two hands at the same time.


    Its fierce battle qi then shot out like a black light beam...


    Zhang Tie who was rushing towards the gate had to dodge away from this strike. If not, he would suffer a great loss.


    An earth knight had an overwhelming advantage over a black iron knight in battle strength.


    When he turned around and intended to rush out of the hall, Zhang Tie completed two things: first, he released his battle qi signal as he wanted to arouse the attention of the three earth knights; second, when he arrived on Lin Huanxi''s side, he picked the heavily wounded female knight by his foot; at the same time, he caught hold of Lin Huanxi''s waistband and intended to rush out of the hall like catching hold of a chick.


    As Zhang Tie was very powerful, one more person''s weight didn''t slow down his moving speed at all.


    The material of this hall was very special. Zhang Tie sensed that his battle qi could not break out of this place. Therefore, he had to jump away so as to avoid being struck by the demon baron.


    The demon baron was not an idiot. Like how Zhang Tie tried his best to prevent it from getting the crystal ball, the demon baron also tried its best to keep Zhang Tie inside the hieron''s hall.


    The demon baron didn''t mean to kill Zhang Tie; instead, it just wanted to prevent Zhang Tie from escaping away from the gate of the hieron''s hall.


    It might not be easy for the demon baron to kill Zhang Tie at least in a short period; however, it was easy for it to prevent Zhang Tie from leaving only by fully blocking the gate through its powerful strikes.


    Zhang Tie attempted to rush out of the gate; however, the demon knight kept attacking him. Only in a few minutes, both parties had alternated their positions¡ª¡ªthe demon baron stood at the gate and blocked the way while Zhang Tie stood in the middle of the hieron''s hall. The two knights were watching each other with a cold look with a distance of dozens of meters.


    "You''re the most powerful black iron human knight that I''ve ever seen. If you wish to surrender to us, I promise you that you will get everything you want!" The demon baron flickered its eyes in a weird eye light.


    "Why don''t you surrender to me? I promise to give you enough steam buns everyday!" Zhang Tie smirked as he derided the demon baron undoubtedly.


    The demon baron looked solemn at once as it wanted to move one step forward. Zhang Tie raised up the crystal ball and intended to smash it on the ground, "Stop, if you move one more step forward, I will smash it!"


    The demon baron stopped immediately.


    During the process when he responded to the demon baron''s strike, Zhang Tie realized that the demon baron was afraid of breaking the crystal ball like how someone was afraid of breaking the instrument when throwing a weapon towards a rat. Because of this, Zhang Tie could remain safe and sound in front of this earth demon knight a few minutes. The moment Zhang Tie raised up this crystal ball, he indeed frightened the demon baron.


    "This crystal ball is the system control hub of this hieron. If it was broken, all the portals of this hieron would be completely closed. Nobody would be able to access it anymore and all of us would die here. If you want to commit suicide, I will accompany you at the cost of all the others..." The demon baron flickered his eyes as it walked towards Zhang Tie. Although it didn''t rush towards Zhang Tie in a split second, it slowly approached Zhang Tie.


    "Do you think that I dare not do that? My death is worthwhile with the life of an earth demon knight!" As Zhang Tie said that, Zhang Tie threw the crystal ball towards the ground. At the sight of this, the demon knight changed its face as it stopped its footstep immediately. However, the moment the crystal ball left his hand, Zhang Tie caught it at a faster speed. After that, Zhang Tie sneered at the demon baron and said, "Look, no crap, as a selfish guy, even if you were requested to die for the Emperor Xuanyuan, you would never do that. Am I right?"


    A brutal eye light flashed across the demon baron''s eyes...


    When the two knights were in a stalemate, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Old Monster Qi appeared on the top of the Weapons Mountain at the same time...

 949 An Unexpected Scene

    Chapter 949: An Unexpected Scene


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the Knights'' world, there was a proverb that no people could promote to a knight without diligent practice. This proverb fit earth knights more.


    When Mountain Lifting Hermit reached the middle part of the mountain, he suddenly became vigilant and felt that something was wrong. Closely after that, Mountain Lifting Hermit made a decision and returned to the top of the main peak after noticing Zhang Anguo.


    Zhang Anguo the grand elder of Tianlu Palace was responsible for catching up with Lu Zhongming and figuring out what happened.


    Seeing Mountain Lifting Hermit returning to the top of the main peak, Old Monster Qi followed him back immediately.


    As Zhang Tie was facing towards the gate, he caught sight of Mountain Lifting Hermit and Old Monster Qi firstly.


    When he caught sight of the two human knights, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Old Monster Qi saw the open gate of the hieron''s hall and the demon baron at the gate at the same time too. Of course, the demon baron also noticed them.


    When two earth human knights encountered an earth demon knight in the hieron ruins, what would they do next?


    Undoubtedly, the battle almost broke out in a split second.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit released an earth knight-level battle qi signal while a virtual image that a giant embraced a mountain was manifested.


    The rising earth knight-level battle qi signal on the top of the main peak told Zhang Anguo that something was happening over there.


    Honestly, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to see the battle qi signal of an earth knight. Precisely, it was more like a battle qi tornado than a battle qi smoke. If the battle qi signal of the black iron knight was like the smoke of wolf''s dung rushing into the sky, the earth knight''s battle qi signal was already a tornado which was thicker, bigger and more eye-catching than battle qi smokes on both scale and look.


    The battle qi tornado of Mountain Lifting Hermit was emerald which looked like a green dragon that connected the sky with the ground. The virtual image of Mountain Lifting Hermit rose up in the battle qi tornado while its flickering eyes were watching all the living beings below. It fully manifested the power of an earth knight...


    When his battle qi tornado and virtual image appeared at the same time, it indicated that Mountain Lifting Hermit had exerted his full efforts.


    Old Monster Qi also released his battle qi tornado and virtual image at the same time.


    The demon baron turned around and threw a glance at Zhang Tie while its eyes were full of killing intent and indignation. The demon baron thought that its failure was fully caused by Zhang Tie at such a critical moment. Without Zhang Tie, it had long controlled everything here.


    However, now that it could be a demon baron, a demon noble, it indicated that it must be outstanding in some aspect.


    At this critical moment, when Zhang Tie thought that the demon baron would break out of the encirclement of the two earth human knights and escape away, the demon baron rushed towards Zhang Tie out of his imagination.


    Seeing the demon baron rushing towards him, Zhang Tie was startled at once. Closely after that, he understood the intention of the demon baron.


    ''This earth demon knight has confirmed that I would never destroy the crystal ball anymore after the two earth human knights appeared.''


    ''Because my party has been in the advantageous position. It''s not necessary for us to sacrifice ourselves by destroying the crystal ball. Therefore, the demon knight won a faint chance to gain the crystal ball.''


    As for powerful and confident ones, there was no absolute crisis in this world. Crises and favorable turns were the two sides of a contradiction which could convert into each other at certain moments.


    All the powerful ones excelled at seizing such a faint chance in such an adversity.


    As he had tided over the most difficult moment, of course, Zhang Tie didn''t want to be killed by this demon knight at this moment. Therefore, when the demon knight rushed towards him, he instantly turned around and escaped away. He even directly threw Lin Huanxi at a remote corner of the hall in an agile way.


    When he caught Lin Huanxi, before escaping away just now, Zhang Tie had already poured a vial of senior recovery medicament into her mouth at the fastest speed. As Lin Huanxi was in a worse scenario, without taking any recovery medicament, she might have died before being saved. After sensing that Lin Huanxi''s vital signs had been stabilized, Zhang Tie hurriedly dropped her onto a safe place. If the demon knight was driven madder and caught Lin Huanxi as a hostage, it would become more tricky.


    As the demon knight was besieged by two earth human knights and wanted to rob the crystal ball in Zhang Tie''s hand, it didn''t have time to care about a woman who was going to die.


    When he threw Lin Huanxi, Zhang Tie felt that Lin Huanxi opened her eyes and threw a glance at him with a painful look...


    Just now, Lin Huanxi had been in the coma. She could only sense being caught by someone who ran and jumped rapidly and poured a vial of all-purpose medicament into her mouth. She knew that someone was saving her; therefore, she wanted to open her eyes to see who was the savior.


    ...


    Soon after Zhang Tie dropped Lin Huanxi, the demon baron''s battle qi strikes had rushed towards Zhang Tie like a huge net. With a roar, Zhang Tie released a punch. The moment their battle qis collided with each other, Zhang Tie had rolled out of the gate with the inertia of the great counterforce. Although his movement was not elegant, it was very practical. As a result, he successfully dodged away from the demon baron''s strike...


    During the period when he escaped, especially after he promoted to 1 change black iron knight and gained a chance to strengthen his overall strength, Zhang Tie''s battle strength had improved greatly. Compared to when he was framed by people and was wounded by Feng Yuelun the cheji General of Yingzhou Province, Zhang Tie had reached new heights in battle strength, reaction speed and strike-resistant capability. At this critical moment, he could bear the strike of an earth demon knight easily.


    To be honest, this earth demon knight''s battle strength was not weaker than that of Feng Yuelun.


    The demon knight closely chased after Zhang Tie while Mountain Lifting Hermit and Old Monster Qi kept chasing after the demon knight. Zhang Tie was gradually involved into the battle qis of the demon knight and dodged here and there. At the same time, the hieron''s hall was filled with thunder-like bangs...


    The demon knight''s body became phantom once again while some clouds of humanoid mist gradually formed the look of the demon knight and joined the battle. Unless those clouds of mist were completely dispersed, the demon knight''s original body could hardly be identified.


    After dispersing one cloud of mist, a new cloud of mist would appear out of the void in a mystical way...


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see such a weird secret method of demons. No wonder this demon knight dared rob his crystal ball at such a critical moment.


    ...


    After a few minutes, an unexpected scene happened...


    Old Monster Qi who was fighting the demon knight together with Mountain Lifting Hermit suddenly took out a red sharp driller out of the void. Closely after that, he sprung up and drilled it into Mountain Lifting Hermit''s back. After that, he smacked onto Zhang Tie from a few meters away who had just dodged away from the demon knight...


    Even though Zhang Tie had always been vigilant about Old Monster Qi and felt that this person was given to capricious moods, he had not imagined that Old Monster Qi could betray human knights and struck him at this critical moment. Being attacked by two earth knights, one of whom almost raided him, Zhang Tie instantly spat out a mouth of blood and was sent flying away...


    Mountain Lifting Hermit also had not imagined that Old Monster Qi could strike him at this moment; additionally, Old Monster Qi''s red sharp driller was very weird which almost broke Mountain Lifting Hermit''s protective battle qi in a split second. As a result, Mountain Lifting Hermit didn''t have time to respond to it.


    When Old Monster Qi broke Mountain Lifting Hermit''s protective battle qi with his red sharp driller, the demon baron immediately seized the chance and launched constant strikes onto Mountain Lifting Hermit...


    Being struck by two earth knights at the same time, Mountain Lifting Hermit was sent flying 100 m away and crashed onto one wall of the hieron''s hall.


    Old Monster Qi sprung up once again and picked the crystal ball which Zhang Tie had dropped off. Almost at the same time, he stayed away from the demon knight before guffawing...

 950 Life-or-Death Crisis

    Chapter 950: Life-or-Death Crisis


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Old Monster Qi''s strike at the critical moment not only heavily wounded Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit but also robbed the crystal ball. As a result, the situation in the Hieron''s hall reversed in a split second.


    The betrayal from team members was always more destructive than enemies. Old Monster Qi proved this law once again.


    Watching Old Monster Qi''s unimaginable performance, the demon baron stopped its strike; instead, it narrowed its eyes and looked at Old Monster Qi''s pleasant face out of curiosity.


    ...


    After bearing the full-strength raid from an earth demon knight in such a short distance, Zhang Tie felt being hit by a bullet train at the speed of hundreds of miles per hour as he spurted out a mouth of blood. At the same time, his bones uttered a crisp sound. Closely after that, he was sent flying away and didn''t stop until he rolled over 60 m away, leaving blood all the way there.


    Zhang Tie struggled to kneel down with one knee. After that, he spurted out a mouth of blood once again while his guts felt being boiled. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to encounter such a sharp pain. Old Monster Qi''s battle qi was attached with a special damage function. After he was struck by him, Zhang Tie felt being overwhelmed with pain.


    Old Monster Qi''s strength was also very great, which would break at least a few bones of common black iron knights; the wounds would be severer if the broken bone stabbed into their guts. However, Zhang Tie was special. As he had taken so many iron-body fruits and had a great strike-resistant capability, Zhang Tie bore the test at the crucial moment. Zhang Tie''s bones were not broken; therefore, the secondary damage was avoided. Meanwhile, the damage and erosion caused by Old Monster Qi''s battle qi had been weakened by his defensive ability.


    After spurting out blood twice more, Zhang Tie''s depression was greatly relieved. Although his wound looked severe, it was actually not that severe.


    Zhang Tie just lay on the ground and gradually recovered his battle strength.


    Compared to Zhang Tie, Mountain Lifting Hermit''s wounds seemed to be severer. After the red sharp driller broke his protective battle qi, it started to drill into Mountain Lifting Hermit''s body through the wound; at the same time, it gradually melted inside Mountain Lifting Hermit''s body in a weird manner.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit picked himself up from the ground with a pale face. After throwing a glance at Old Monster Qi and feeling his physical conditions, Mountain Lifting Hermit changed his face at once. The moment the red sharp driller disappeared in his body, Mountain Lifting Hermit''s face had turned dark-purple while the blood vessels in his forehead and neck suddenly bulged like something was swimming inside and was going to break them. How terrifying it was...


    Mountain Lifting Hermit started to punch himself; instead of punching Old Monster Qi and the demon baron while gritting his teeth, causing one thunder per punch.


    Only by hearing the sound of the punches, onlookers would be shocked.


    He was simply committing suicide...


    Mountain Lifting Hermit punched his heart, livers, spleen, lungs and kidneys...


    Each time he punched himself, he would spit out a mouth of blood.


    The blood that Mountain Lifting Hermit spat out was black which contained soft pieces of the red sharp driller which had disappeared in his body. Those pieces were hard previously; however, when they were spat out, they all turned soft; additionally, they were like a sponge which became swollen after absorbing water and looked disgusting and grim...


    After heavily punching his five organs and spitting out the black blood and the swollen pieces of the sharp driller, Mountain Lifting Hermit became dispirited at once as his eye light became bleak. His aura seemed to have been heavily declined. He felt rocky and couldn''t stand up until he supported the wall with two hands.


    "Five Organs Damaging Driller on Blood and Soul ..." Mountain Lifting Hermit watched Old Monster Qi as his voice became hoarse. He felt to have iron slags in his throat. When he spat out those things, his throat was even wounded.


    "Gagagaga...I''ve spent about 7 years on making this Five Organs Damaging Driller on Blood and Soul, during which period, I used 49 virgin boys'' strength of blood and soul and lubricated them day by day with so many rare materials. Mountain Lifting Hermit, you should be satisfied with it..." Old Monster Qi uttered pleasant laughter.


    "You''re the remnant of Bloody Soul Temple??"


    "Is anyone who has mastered the secret method of Bloody Soul Temple destined to be the remnant of Bloody Soul Temple? If so, there are so many remnants of Bloody Soul Temple in the top seven sects in Taixia Country. When the top seven sects in Taixia country besieged the Bloody Soul Temple, whether it was because that they were casting greedy eyes on the secret methods in Bloody Soul Temple or that the Bloody Soul Temple was going to build Immortal Bloody Sea which would rock the foundation of Taixia Country. You know the dirty inside story clearer than me. Pitifully, the top seven sects didn''t get the "Supreme Bloody Soul Sutra" Old Monster Qi said with a faint ridicule.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit became silent as he wiped the blood stains off his mouth corners and poured a vial of recovery medicament.


    Old Monster Qi just watched Mountain Lifting Hermit with a sneer, "There''s no antidote for the Five Organs Damaging Driller on Blood and Soul, even if you spat out the pieces of the driller. Within 5 days, you will not be saved even by immortal pills. What are you struggling for?"


    Mountain Lifting Hermit didn''t speak. He just gazed at Old Monster Qi with a furious eye light as he slowly adjusted his breathing rhythm. In this case, everyone at present realized that Old Monster would never allow any one of them to leave out of here alive.


    "Who''re you?" The demon baron asked as it kept looking at Old Monster Qi.


    "Actually, we have the same target. However, you and I are on different battle lines. I''ve not imagined that we could encounter today..." Old Monster Qi told the demon baron as he made a specific hand gesture.


    "You are a member of Three-eye Association?" The demon baron asked as a shrewd light flashed across its eyes.


    Like a commissioned officer or a common noble in a country who couldn''t fully master the intelligence of all the agents on his side that were dispatched to foreign countries, the demon baron wouldn''t know the agents of demons in Taixia Country as these intelligence were classified among demons. Only a few people at the top level could touch them. Even if it was a demon baron, it was not qualified to touch them at all.


    The demon baron only knew that demons had never stopped their layout in Taixia Country since the last holy war between humans and demons. In other words, demons had never stopped fighting Hua people at all, whether before the Catastrophe or after, by force or not by force in all lines.


    "In Taixia Country, Three-eye Association has another appellation, Heavens Reaching Church! I''m an elder of Heavens Reaching Church..." Old Monster Qi said.


    "How did you know the secret of the bloody sacrificial temple?" The demon baron pumped instead of being relaxed.


    "At the beginning, the secret methods of Bloody Soul Temple were gained from a bloody sacrificial temple in the underground world. I gained some classics of Bloody Soul Temple by accident and knew about this secret and some information about the bloody sacrificial temple. This time, I heard someone finding a hieron in the magma sea while there was the symbol of bloody sacrificial hieron on the key of this pyramid, therefore here I am!"


    Old Monster Qi explained it to the demon baron patiently in order to eliminate the possible misunderstanding between them.


    The demon baron''s eyes flickered as it burst out into laughter and turned tender at once, "If so, hand the crystal ball to me! I know this place better than you."


    "Hehehehe...although we''re not enemies, we''re not that familiar with each other. There''s an old saying among Hua people, even if you should not think about harming others, you''d better prevent from being framed by others. I will hold the crystal ball in case of unpleasant things." Old Monster Qi replied hastily, leaving no face to the demon baron at all.


    "You dare not follow my order?" The demon baron''s qi became dangerous at once.


    However, Old Monster Qi still didn''t care about it; he even threw a contemptuous glance at the demon baron, "When you reach the level of the prince, it''s not late to talk me in that way but you''re not that qualified to order me at this moment!"


    The two earth knights gazed at each other while Old Monster Qi''s qi was not weaker than that of the demon baron at all.


    After looking at Old Monster Qi, the crystal ball in his hand and the half-dead people in the hieron''s hall, it finally made a compromise, "Alright, do you know how to use it?"


    "Hahahaha, so easy. Just close the gate to beat the dogs, in water. We only need to close all the entrances of the hieron, lower the temperature outside this gate below the lowest limit by the system control hub of this crystal ball and restrict the air supply in the hieron, all the human knights will lose their ability to resist in less than 1 day. By then, their lives would be in my hands!" Old Monster Qi said as he suddenly threw a glance at the outside of the gate. Right then, a roar drifted from below the peak and was not far from here. "The old thing of Tianlu Palace is coming, we don''t need to fight him; additionally, I don''t have the second Five Organs Damaging Driller on Blood and Soul. This old thing is very tricky. Even if we two fought him together, one of us might be killed. Why not deal with him when he becomes a drowned rat?"


    The demon baron nodded.


    After Old Monster Qi finished his words, he cupped the crystal ball by two hands and closed the gate of this hieron''s hall like that it had never been opened at all.


    Within the hieron''s hall, there were only 5 knights, namely Old Monster Qi, the demon knight who was safe and sound, Zhang Tie, Mountain Lifting Hermit who were heavily wounded and Lin Huanxi who was in the coma. Given the sharp contrast in battle strength, the result seemed to have been fixed...

 951 A Kid Before A Gian

    Chapter 951: A Kid Before A Giant


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Lying on the ground, Zhang Tie was not in a coma. He had listened to the dialogue between Old Monster Qi and the demon knight and noticed the situation of Mountain Lifting Hermit...


    If it were on a battlefield, a common soldier might survive himself by pretending to be killed. However, in this hieron''s hall, under the eyes of an earth demon knight and an earth knight of Three-eye Association, it didn''t work by playing dead or being in a coma.


    As Zhang Tie''s head was facing the gate of the hieron''s hall, when the gate was slowly closed under the control of Old Monster Qi and made it impossible for outsiders to enter it, Zhang Tie became depressed. He knew that it was the most dangerous moment that he had ever experienced since he was born.


    If he were not that curious, he might have to face a worse situation if he was not here. However, now that he had come here, Zhang Tie didn''t regret. If he didn''t come here and just stayed somewhere in the Weapons Mountain, the demon knight who held the crystal ball would not let them feel better than now.


    The crystal ball was the system control hub of the entire hieron, which was still safe and sound now. As long as it held the crystal ball, it would be able to control the temperature and air supply and flow in all portals in this huge pyramid. This was what Zhang Tie had known after injecting his spiritual energy into the crystal ball just now.


    Portals, temperature, air sounded very simple; however, they were fatal to human knights in this pyramid under the control of the crystal ball which worked as the key of a house and the key of the air-conditioner in the house.


    Zhang Tie struggled to pick himself up by one knee as he spat out another mouth of blood.


    Only after a short while, under the control of the crystal ball in the hand of Old Monster Qi, the temperature in the hieron''s hall had recovered 24 degrees Celcius from the icy temperature, arising Zhang Tie''s reverence to the dreamlike far-ancient civilization.


    Previously, Zhang Tie had heard about a theory about pyramid when in Blackhot City, which was taught by his nature teacher¡ª¡ªmany huge pyramids were able to disturb and regulate their climate in the partial region. Zhang Tie didn''t believe in it until now.


    The temperature in the hieron''s hall became more comfortable; however, a greater crisis was coming soon, making Zhang Tie extremely flurried.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at the hieron''s hall as he asked himself inside, ''Do I need to expose my trump cards?''


    Zhang Tie had two trump cards: first, Castle of Black Iron. With Castle of Black Iron, even in such an environment, Zhang Tie could still have a chance to survive; second, the most mysterious and powerful knight''s profession that he had promoted to. Since he killed the demon knight, Zhang Tie had not exposed that ability in the public.


    However, even with the two trump cards, he might not be able to solve the problem, either.


    As for the first trump card, if Zhang Tie used it, he would survive himself; however, he might not be able to save Mountain Lifting Hermit and Lin Huanxi. Additionally, his friends Gong Ziyao, Zhou Shufan and Filton would probably be in danger. Even if Zhang Tie escaped this time, he had to stop using the status of Cui Li from then on. Zhang Tie could imagine what the demons and the Three-eye Association would do when they knew that he had such a marvelous ability. Zhang Tie was afraid that Cui Li would not only face two earth knights by then.


    As for the second trump card, even if he used it at his full efforts now, he could only deal with one of the two earth knights who were safe and sound at this moment. He was not sure for success no matter how sharp was that knight''s profession.


    ''What should I do then?''


    ''I have to fight at my full efforts!''


    Zhang Tie''s eyes became decisive as he struggled to pick himself up from the ground...


    Old Monster Qi and the demon baron both saw Zhang Tie struggling to stand up; however, they directly ignored him after throwing a glimpse at him; especially Old Monster Qi, who had been shocked that Zhang Tie could still stand up after being struck by him at his full efforts. He didn''t believe that such a common black iron knight could pose any threat to him. He despised Zhang Tie when the latter was safe and sound, not to mention this moment.


    After sensing that they were destined to win and nobody else could threaten them, Old Monster Qi and the demon baron couldn''t wait to negotiate about the division of their "booties"...


    "Mountain Lifting Hermit and Cui Li belong to me, that woman belongs to you as you brought her in. As for the knights outside the gate, we go fifty-fifty..." Old Monster Qi suggested.


    "You''ve taken all the benefits. Could you digest so many knights?" The demon baron sneered.


    Although they were cooperating with each other, they didn''t believe in each other at all. In front of the interests, neither of them would make a compromise.


    "My earth chakra has been wounded and not recovered yet; additionally, I''ve got two secret battle skills which could reach their great perfections through this bloody sacrifice..."


    "Now that you need it, I need it too. The earth knight belongs to me. The other two belongs to you. Actually, if you could knock down that earth knight outside the gate, you could own him too. As for others, we go fifty-fifty!" The demon baron proposed its plan.


    "No way!"


    "Do you want to try my fist?" The demon baron looked aggressive.


    After gazing at the demon baron with narrowed eyes, Old Monster Qi finally made a concession, "When we''re going to deal with the elder of Tianlu Palace, you should fight him together with me!"


    "That''s the deal!"


    After reaching an agreement in a few words, they turned around and walked towards their own "target"¡ª¡ªthe demon baron walked towards Mountain Lifting Hermit while Old Monster Qi walked towards Zhang Tie.


    Seeing Old Monster walking towards Zhang Tie, given the safety of the crystal ball, the demon baron reminded Old Monster Qi, "Watch out, this black iron knight is very powerful and tricky. He''s much more powerful than common black iron knights. You''d better keep well your crystal ball in case of losing it to this black iron knight! If you could keep him for the time being, I will exchange the other black iron knight for him with you. I will peel him off alive and watch him being sacrificed by me..."


    Old Monster Qi burst out into laughter as he replied with a conceited look, "Hahahaha, he''s just a black iron knight. I''ve killed so many black iron knights, including those elites of the top seven sects in Taixia Country. This man is still useful. I will not "sacrifice" him right away; I will release him out of here. This guy has a good human relationship with those people below us. Additionally, except for these people here, nobody else knows that I could control him with my soul-controlling method and have him work for me. When we go collect fish outside there, this guy could help us a lot at the critical moment!"


    As the old saying went, people should never be conceited at any time; even if deities disliked those conceited guys. The moment one became conceited, he would not face any good outcome for sure.


    Old Monster Qi didn''t know that Zhang Tie instantly changed his mind when he prepared to expose his second trump card after hearing his words.


    ''Soul-controlling Method?''


    Zhang Tie had also mastered it. Additionally, Zhang Tie could trigger this secret method with his extremely strong spiritual energy.


    Zhang Tie had reached a mysterious level on cultivating various secret methods of the "Soul-forbidden Skill".


    Old Monster Qi was very confident; especially about the various secret methods of Bloody Soul Temple that he had mastered; however, he had not imagined that this muscled man in front of him cultivated and excelled at the same soul-controlling method of Bloody Soul Temple...


    What shocked Old Monster Qi more was Zhang Tie''s strong spiritual energy...


    ...


    "Go die..."


    When Zhang Tie was waiting for Old Monster Qi, Mountain Lifting Hermit sprung up and darted towards the demon baron with an unprecedented killing intent.


    Out of the dignity of an earth knight, even though Mountain Lifting Hermit knew that he had no chance to win on the premise of being heavily wounded, he still launched an attack on his own initiative instead of waiting to be killed.


    Although he was always silent and distant, Mountain Lifting Hermit''s temperament was extremely staunch with moral integrity.


    The moment he moved, his wounds had been aggravated in a split second while his eyes, ears, nostrils and mouth spurted out black blood at the same time. At the same time, an exotic, virtual long rainbow appeared in the air...


    When the long rainbow crossed the sky, the cold wind was aroused while the dauntless assassin sacrificed himself to strike his enemy!


    "I''ve not imagined that you have awakened the most powerful assassin bloodline among Hua people. Pitifully, if you were not heavily wounded, I might keep far away from your strike; however, your current strike is less than 20% of its full destruction..." The demon baron said casually with a contemptuous look as it easily dodged Mountain Lifting Hermit''s strike. Closely after that, he punched Mountain Lifting Hermit and sent him flying away, spraying a lot of blood in the air...


    ...


    "Go die..." Mountain Lifting Hermit sprung up and rushed towards the demon knight once again at the risk of his life...


    When Zhuanzhu assassinated Liao the king of State Wu, it was like a comet rushing towards the moon and a meteor flashing by in the sky in daytime; when Yaoli assassinated Qingji, a son of Liao, it was like a falcon landing on a platform; when Niezheng assassinated Jifu the king of State Han, it was like a white light shooting into the sky. As a common earth knight, of course, he should always have a heroic spirit...


    ...


    Watching Mountain Lifting Hermit''s heroic movements, Zhang Tie''s eyes turned wet...


    "You son of b*tch, this father will fight you to death!" Zhang Tie was driven mad as he roared and rushed towards Old Monster Qi. It seemed that he was going to make the final try out of courage and braveness...


    ...


    Only after a few minutes, Old Monster Qi with a sneer had pinched the neck of Zhang Tie, who was like a beast in the cage. Zhang Tie looked pretty miserable as he even lost his ability to struggle. It seemed that Zhang Tie had completely lost his ability to launch a counter-attack.


    Catching Zhang Tie''s neck, Old Monster Qi drew Zhang Tie to the front of his ugly face as he told the latter, "Look into my eyes..."


    It seemed that Old Monster Qi''s words were magical. The moment Zhang Tie heard that he became faintly absent-minded at once as he looked at Old Monster Qi''s eyes unconsciously.


    Two looming ghost flames instantly shot into Zhang Tie''s eyes from Old Monster Qi''s eyes...


    ...


    Old Monster Qi''s soul entered Zhang Tie''s mind sea at once...


    The moment it entered Zhang Tie''s mind sea, Old Monster Qi had been startled. Because he had not seen such a vast mind sea before; additionally, Old Monster Qi had not imagined that Zhang Tie''s mind sea was completely a cloud of mist, in which, his soul could not even identify directions.


    ''I have to locate the soul of Cui Li and control it as soon as possible.''


    Old Monster Qi''s soul started to fly as fast as light in Zhang Tie''s mind sea.


    All of a sudden, Zhang Tie''s mind sea became dark. Out of curiosity, Old Monster Qi''s soul looked up and saw a 300-m high golden giant behind him. Old Monster Qi''s height only reached the giant''s knees.


    Old Monster Qi''s soul instantly became a 3-year old kid in front of a furious king kong.


    ''Wait, this guy doesn''t look as same as Cui Li...''


    Old Monster Qi had a doubt...


    However, he could not get any answer anymore.


    The familiar giant with a strange look sneered as he raised up one foot and stomped Old Monster Qi''s soul into pieces with the latter''s shriek and rapid kicks...


    Old Monster Qi''s soul was devoured by Zhang Tie''s immediately in the fiercest way...


    ...


    At this moment, Old Monster Qi who caught Zhang Tie''s neck suddenly quivered all over as his nostrils, ears, eyes and mouth spurted out blood at the same time. Meanwhile, he looked like an idiot while his hand which was catching Zhang Tie''s neck lost its strength and hung down at once...


    After a solemn eye light flashed by, Zhang Tie picked the gold-eaten tri-edged dagger by his foot and held it by hand. Closely after that, he wove his dagger and cut off Old Monster Qi''s head, sending his head flying out while a blood beam spurted out of Old Monster Qi''s neck...


    Zhang Tie put his dagger away as fast as a lightning bolt. After that, he caught Old Monster Qi''s head by one hand and the crystal ball that had floated up from the latter''s hand by the other hand. At the same time, he roared, "Stop..."


    ...


    Right then, the demon baron put Mountain Lifting Hermit under his foot.


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s roar, the demon baron turned around and caught sight of Old Monster Qi''s beheaded body lying on the ground, the head in Zhang Tie''s one hand and the crystal ball in Zhang Tie''s other hand.


    Through Old Monster Qi''s hand, the crystal ball returned to Zhang Tie''s hand.


    Although Old Monster Qi died, was Zhang Tie still alive? Nobody knew what happened at that moment except for Zhang Tie. Though Old Monster Qi seemed to have wasted some time in Zhang Tie''s mind sea, actually, his soul had just searched in Zhang Tie''s mind sea for less than 0.5 seconds...

 952 Spare the Rat to Save the Dish

    Chapter 952: Spare the Rat to Save the Dish


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After taking the crystal ball, Zhang Tie injected his spiritual energy into it right away. He sensed that Old Monster Qi had already closed all the portals in the hieron while the temperature inside the hieron was declined as low as that on the top of the Weapons Mountain. At the same time, the air was growing thinner...


    Facing such abrupt changes, all the knights outside the gate must have been flurried.


    Through the locations of his tracing feathers, Zhang Tie could sense that Zhang Anguo the grand elder of Tianlu Palace and Lu Zhongming were both at the entrance of the gate of this hieron''s hall.


    Zhang Tie immediately controlled the crystal ball to recover the temperature and air supply outside the hieron''s hall. Closely after that, he opened the gate of the hieron.


    When the gate of hieron''s hall was opened, Zhang Anguo and Lu Zhongming rushed inside at once. Almost at the same time, the demon baron saw another earth human knight rushing in. It immediately caught Mountain Lifting Hermit''s neck and flashed back to Lin Huanxi''s side while stepping on her neck. Closely after that, the demon baron leaned against the inner wall and observed the situation inside the hieron''s hall with gleaming eyes.


    At this moment, Zhang Anguo and Lu Zhongming were actually shocked most.


    What happened in the hieron''s hall was too shocking and weird for the two knights who had just entered it. They had not imagined this scene when they entered the hieron''s hall.


    Old Monster Qi was dead!


    His beheaded corpse was lying in front of Zhang Tie. As Zhang Tie was holding his head and a crystal ball, it seemed that Old Monster Qi had been beheaded by Zhang Tie. Although Zhang Tie was also wounded, at least he was still standing there.


    Besides, a demon baron was in the hieron''s hall!


    Mountain Lifting Hermit and Lin Huanxi were in the hands of the demon.


    When Zhang Anguo rushed back onto the top of the main peak, he didn''t see Mountain Lifting Hermit and Old Monster Qi. He only saw some blood stains outside the gate of the hieron''s hall. Later on, the air supply and temperature inside the pyramid started to change. After receiving the messages from all the other knights of Tianlu Palace across the Weapons Mountain by remote-sensing crystal, Zhang Anguo changed his face greatly. He guessed that someone must have entered the hieron''s hall and controlled the system hub of this hieron. However, no matter what, the grand elder of Tianlu Palace didn''t imagine about such a scene inside the hieron''s hall.


    Even the one with the richest imagination could not imagine what happened inside.


    Zhang Anguo could only ensure one thing, namely, a bloody battle had just happened in the hieron''s hall.


    "Let go Huanxi..." Watching his wife being stepped under the foot of the demon baron out of consciousness, Lu Zhongming who used to be genial turned his eyes fiery at once as he intended to rush towards the demon baron.


    The demon baron faintly increased his foot''s stress, waking up Lin Huanxi and causing her to groan painfully.


    Lu Zhongming stopped his footstep at once.


    "Anyone who dares rush over here, the two people will die together with me!" The demon baron roared with a vicious look.


    The demon baron was also in a very dangerous situation.


    After the crystal ball returned to Zhang Tie''s hand, Zhang Tie had controlled the system control hub of the entire hieron.


    One earth human knight was safe and sound. Besides him, there were 23 black iron human knights here, who could compose at least eight 3-in-1 formations.


    If Zhang Tie closed all the portals of the hieron, the demon baron was destined to be killed here facing the consecutive strikes of an earth human knight and over 20 black iron human knights.


    Additionally, the demon knight didn''t know the cause of death of Old Monster Qi. Although it was dealing with Mountain Lifting Hermit just now, it spared a bit spiritual energy to observe the battle between Old Monster Qi and Zhang Tie.


    In the demon baron''s eyes, Old Monster Qi''s battle strength was overwhelming. Only in a few minutes, Old Monster Qi had defeated the tough man called Cui Li and caught him like catching a chick. The tough guy called Cui Li had already lost his ability to resist. It seemed that everything was in control.


    However, in a couple of seconds, Old Monster Qi died while his head was in Cui Li''s hand.


    Even a performance would have premonitions and transitions; there would be a thunder or at least a few dark clouds before the rain. However, what happened in the hieron''s hall didn''t have any transition or premonition before Old Monster Qi who was destined to win was beheaded.


    An earth human knight died when he grasped the neck of a black iron human knight who had lost his ability to resist...all of a sudden?


    How did Cui Li do it?


    The demon baron didn''t know why. Therefore, it became scared of Zhang Tie.


    When Old Monster Qi was beheaded, he was doing two things: first his fingers were pinching Zhang Tie''s neck for a long time; second, Old Monster Qi was applying his secret method of Bloody Soul Temple.


    After a temporary and rigorous logistic analysis, the demon baron guessed that Old Monster Qi''s death was probably related to the two things.


    ''This black iron knight called Cui Li might have some terrifying rank poison or dangerous items. When I chased after him so long just now, I was safe and sound. However, when Old Monster Qi took the wind, the moment he touched that black iron knight''s neck, he was dead, it''s too strange; otherwise, something might have happened to Old Monster Qi''s secret method of Bloody Soul Temple, sparing a chance to the black iron knight...''


    What a demon noble! The demon baron could not be matched by common earth demon knights on both intelligence and battle strength. Through a brief analysis, although the demon baron didn''t figure out the truth, he had almost hit it.


    ...


    "Old Monster Qi was a member of the Three-eye Association of demons...summon the others...to kill the demon knight..."


    Although being controlled by the demon knight, Mountain Lifting Hermit immediately plucked his courage to roar at the sight of the grand elder of Tianlu Palace.


    The moment Mountain Lifting Hermit roared, with a cracking sound, his entire hand had been broken by the demon knight. After uttering a muffled harrumph, he spurted out a mouth of blood once again.


    Because of Mountain Lifting Hermit''s words, the grand elder of Tianlu Palace determined who was the true enemy in the shortest period. To be honest, watching Zhang Tie holding the head of Old Monster Qi, the two people were not sure whether Zhang Tie was the enemy or the friend. Now, their target became the demon knight.


    As to why Zhang Tie killed Old Monster Qi and why Mountain Lifting Hermit was severely wounded and fell in the hand of the demon knight, although they were curious about these questions, it was not the right moment for them to discuss that. What counted most was to deal with this demon knight in front of them.


    After rushing inside the hieron''s hall, Zhang Anguo faced Zhang Tie and the demon knight at the same time. Now, he moved his footsteps and faced the demon knight with an extremely solemn look while releasing his battle qi.


    Although the demon baron was the last one who wanted to be besieged by all the human knights, it had to glare at Zhang Anguo fiercely as it said, "As Hua people usually say, even if I die here, I will have some of you die with me. I''ve got 2 sacrifices, who would like to be the 3rd?"


    ...


    After killing Old Monster Qi, Zhang Tie had been pretty silent.


    Zhang Tie became silent because of regret. He felt the elapsing energy of Old Monster Qi''s earth chakra; however, he could not absorb it at this moment. Just now, he could only choose one between killing Old Monster Qi rapidly or slowly absorbing his earth chakra. Therefore, he chose the first one.


    ''This is a complete earth chakra of an earth knight. Such a chakra would contain very abundant earth elements. It''s a rare tonic. After absorbing it, I might promote to 2 changes black iron knight.''


    Zhang Tie sighed inside.


    Being silent, Zhang Tie''s mind became as clear as crystal once again. He started to recall each detail and each word since he encountered the demon baron.


    Finally, what impressed Zhang Tie most was the bargain between Old Monster Qi and the demon knight.


    ¡ª¡ªMy earth chakra has been wounded and is not recovered yet. Additionally, I''ve got two secret battle skills which could reach complete perfections through this bloody sacrifice...


    ¡ª¡ªBloody sacrifice...recovery...bloody sacrifice...chakra recovery...


    Zhang Tie''s brain cells and nerves all over became extremely spirited due to the two phrases "bloody sacrifice" and "chakra recovery".


    The more spirited he was inside, the calmer Zhang Tie would look.


    Zhang Tie threw a deep look at the demon baron...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s eyes were not full of animosity anymore.


    Of course, the others could never read Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    As a Hua proverb went, when you wanted something; you had to gift it to others in advance.


    ''F*ck, no matter what, I will have a try.''


    "You can leave!" Zhang Tie opened his mouth towards the demon baron, which aroused all the others'' attention. Zhang Tie just beheld the demon baron as he dropped off Old Monster Qi''s head whose eyes were still open, "Leave Mountain Lifting Hermit and Lin Huanxi here, we will not find you trouble and allow you to leave the pyramid. As one person has been killed, it''s unnecessary for us to fight to death in this place. You will never defeat us; if we want to kill you, we have to pay at least 2 human lives. How about giving a concession to each other. You let them off, we let you go. After leaving the pyramid, we can fight whenever we want..."

 953 Divine Dominator

    Chapter 953: Divine Dominator


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The moment Zhang Tie opened his mouth, the two parties who were confronting in the hieron''s hall, including severely wounded Mountain Lifting Hermit moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie immediately.


    After giving a concession to each other, the conflict would be resolved for the time being. When they exited the pyramid, they could fight to death whenever they wanted!


    Honestly, Zhang Tie''s solution was very practical and had had all the parties'' interests into consideration.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the demon baron flickered his eyes. Nobody knew what he was thinking about.


    Lu Zhongming threw a glance at Zhang Tie out of gratitude. His wife Lin Huanxi was a hostage of the demon knight. As long as the two parties started a fierce combat, his wife would be killed right away. As the couple was affectionate with each other, how could Lu Zhongming stand watching his wife being killed in front of him? Therefore, Lu Zhongming agreed with Zhang Tie''s proposal very much.


    Zhang Anguo the grand elder of Tianlu Palace became faintly shocked as he had not imagined that "Cui Li" who looked rude could propose such a wise solution.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit didn''t speak; he only felt warm inside after listening to Zhang Tie''s proposal. He knew that he was not deceived in Zhang Tie.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit had a firm standpoint on major issues; additionally, he always faced the music. Neither was he afraid of death. However, nobody would like to be a martyr if he could survive himself. Although Mountain Lifting Hermit was not afraid of death, he didn''t want to die at this moment. It would be too pitiful if he was killed by an earth demon knight at this moment. If not being raided by Old Monster Qi, Mountain Lifting Hermit wouldn''t be in such an embarrassed state.


    "You''re just a black iron knight. Do your words count? Don''t forget that there''s one more earth knight on your side." The demon baron responded.


    The demon baron would still alienate Zhang Tie from Zhang Anguo and break the unity between human knights at this moment.


    A shrewd eye light flashed across Zhang Tie''s eyes as he realized that this demon knight was still unwilling to leave without any achievement at this moment.


    This was what Zhang Tie wanted.


    Those who flaunted one''s superiority mentally would definitely die out of their mental superiority; those who depended on their force would definitely die out of their force.


    "Cui Li''s opinion is my opinion. Given the current situation, we should give a concession to each other instead of fighting to death here!"


    Before Zhang Tie replied, the grand elder of Tianlu Palace had opened his mouth. The grand elder of Tianlu Palace was very clear about the demon knight''s intention. Therefore, he didn''t spare any chance to it.


    The demon baron rolled its eyes as it said, "Well, I can leave the hieron. However, before I leave this hieron, I have to take the two people as my shield in case of your regret. When I exit the gate of the pyramid, I will let them go for sure!"


    "I''m afraid that the moment you walk out of the gate of the pyramid, you will kill the hostages. Do you really think that we''re that stupid?" Zhang Tie sneered.


    In the current situation, the demon knight could kill Mountain Lifting Hermit and Lin Huanxi in a split second. If the demon knight left with Mountain Lifting Hermit and Lin Huanxi as hostages, Zhang Tie was sure that the demon knight would break its words and kill the two hostages the moment it strode out of the gate of the pyramid. Would demons keep their words? No kidding!


    ''You let Mountain Lifting Hermit and Lin Huanxi go now, we promise you that we will let you go safe and sound!" Zhang Anguo said in a muffled voice.


    "Hahaha, do you think that I will entrust my life to your creditability?" The demon knight sneered as it continued, "I''m afraid that the moment the two hostages are out of my control, you will join hands to kill me!"


    "We won''t do it!"


    "Hehe, according to the learning of military tactics of you Hua people, military tactics depend on changes. Now that we''re in hostile state, how do I believe you?"


    "You can let go that woman first!"


    "No dream. This woman is not common. She''s a knight. Do you think I''m stupid?" The demon baron sneered.


    ...


    The two parties reached an impasse on whether to let go the two hostages first. In this situation, any party which gave a compromise would indicate that the party lost its initiative completely. Due to the deep-rooted mistrust between both parties, they couldn''t give any concession to each other on this point.


    After the grand elder of Tianlu Palace disputed with the demon baron for a short while, they could not reach any constructive agreement at all.


    When they were arguing with each other, Zhang Tie frowned purposefully as if he was contemplating about it. After finding that Zhang Anguo and the demon knight didn''t speak anymore, Zhang Tie suggested in a hesitant tone, "I''ve got a method...we can exchange hostages. You let go Mountain Lifting Hermit and Lin Huanxi, we will leave a person to you with the crystal ball in his hand in the hieron''s hall. 3 days later, when all the other human knights completely leave the pyramid, you two could leave here at the same time. In this way, no party would be concerned about being screwed by the opponent. The crystal ball in my hand could deliver this order to close the gate of this hieron''s hall 3 days..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s suggestion, Zhang Anguo''s eyes gleamed at once, "Good, I like this method. I will take the crystal ball and stay 3 days with you in the hieron''s hall. We will leave 3 days later. After all, we''re both earth knights and could balance each other!"


    The demon baron radiated a blue eye light, "Do you think it''s still called exchanging hostages if you stay with me? If you stay with me alone, although we cannot hurt each other; however, with the crystal ball in your hand, you could control the hub of the hieron. Under this circumstance, you''re fully in the advantageous position. How could I defeat you? If you want to exchange the hostages, just let the guy with crystal ball stay with me in the hieron''s hall!"


    The demon baron pointed at Zhang Tie, revealing his malicious intention.


    "No way!" Zhang Anguo denied it right away. ''Are you kidding me? Leave a black iron human knight with a demon earth knight? Isn''t it sending a sheep into a lion''s mouth? It''s too dangerous.''


    "You can leave another person; however, he should not be an earth knight; additionally, you should leave the crystal ball which''s used to control the hub of the hieron!" The demon baron''s blue eye light jumped a bit as it revealed a casual sneer.


    "I will stay with you!" Zhang Tie said heroically.


    "But..."


    "He cannot defeat me in a short period! Additionally, I could protect myself..." Zhang Tie pointed at the corpse of Old Monster Qi as he said generously, "I will set the procedure in the crystal ball. In 3 days, the gate of the entrance of the pyramid will open while the temperature outside this hieron''s gate will remain normal. If it doesn''t work, I will smash the crystal ball and commit suicide together with him. Now that I propose this suggestion, I will bell the cat even if it''s dangerous. It''s not unfair for another one to do that."


    In Zhang Anguo''s and Lu Zhongming''s eyes, Zhang Tie''s image became much more brilliant in a split second.


    Such a righteous people who could rush into the battlefront and spare living chance to others at the critical moment would win others'' respect wherever he was.


    This was the extremely righteous deed of a gentleman. Although there were thousands of enemies in front of him, he would still fight them dauntlessly!


    Mountain Lifting Hermit moved his lips silently as he threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie...


    This method could only be reluctantly accepted by both parties, at least apparently.


    The demon baron was very careful. He proposed further requests on the details about exchanging hostages. It told Zhang Anguo and Lu Zhongming to leave the Weapons Mountain and release their battle qi signals at the foot of the mountain so as to indicate that they were not hiding nearby the top of the main peak of the mountain. It even told Zhang Tie to close half of the gate of this hieron''s hall and fully close it after the two hostages left. Within 1 minute, even if the two severely wounded hostages were out of the gate of this hieron''s hall, they would still be in its sight on the top of the main peak of the Weapons Mountain; additionally, Zhang Anguo would not come back in 1 minute. Before the hieron''s gate was completely closed, the two hostages were actually still in its hand.


    The demon baron was really considerate, leaving no chance for human knights to reverse the situation.


    "Now that I could enter this hieron alone, of course, I know this better than you. I could identify what orders you''ve sent from the grains on the gate of the hieron''s hall. Therefore, you''d better not play tricks in front of me in case of troubles!" The demon baron warned Zhang Tie.


    ...


    After making a decision, Zhang Anguo and Lu Zhongming left the hieron''s hall.


    Before leaving there, Lu Zhongming threw an unwilling glance at Lin Huanxi. Finally, he gritted his teeth and rushed down the mountain together with Zhang Anguo.


    The temperature and air supply outside the hieron''s hall had been recovered to the normal state by Zhang Tie. Therefore, it took Zhang Tie and the demon baron less than 5 minutes to see the rising battle qi tornado and battle qi smoke at the foot of the Weapons Mountain at the same time.


    After seeing the battle qi tornado and the battle qi smoke, the demon baron turned around and told Zhang Tie, "It''s your turn!"


    "I''ve just thought about something. If you fetch demon knights here to revenge my partners or ambush outside the pyramid by remote-sensing crystal in the 3 days, won''t my partners be in danger? Now that I''ve expressed my sincerity, it''s also your turn to express your sincerity. Throw your remote-sensing crystal to me. Don''t tell me that you as an earth demon knight don''t even have a remote-sensing crystal with you!" Zhang Tie slowly said.


    The demon baron threw a glance at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, it took out its remote-sensing crystal and threw it to Zhang Tie.


    After taking that remote-sensing crystal, Zhang Tie crumbed it right away, "The ring on your left index finger seems to be a remote-sensing device too. Come on, throw it to me! With the two remote-sensing crystals, you could contact the demon''s strength in the first abyss and your clan members! I was told that powerful clans also ruled everything among demons. You must be from a big clan."


    The demon baron''s eyes flickered as it had not imagined that Zhang Tie had such sharp eyes. It then silently picked off the remote-sensing ring and threw it to Zhang Tie.


    At such a critical moment, two remote-sensing devices were nothing important at all.


    Zhang Tie shattered the remote-sensing crystal in the finger ring into pieces by his battle qi.


    "Oh, you earth demon knight should have space-teleportation equipment...hmm..I find the ring on your right index finger...look like a space-teleportation ring being made of a nanobead. You''d better throw it to me, I will keep it three days for you!"


    The demon baron was driven infuriated at once, "Don''t be too excessive!"


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh, "You''re an earth knight; I''m a black iron knight. You''re trickiest and more powerful than me. As we need to stay here 3 days, if there was anything sharp in your space-teleportation ring, I would be screwed many times in 3 days. If you didn''t give me the space-teleportation ring, I would always be worried that you would take something out of the space-teleportation ring. The moment I became worried, I would easily become nervous spiritually. If I suddenly overreacted, I might break the crystal ball. If so, you would have to die together with me. Therefore you''d better give me your finger ring now. No matter what, I will not escape away from you. I cannot even defeat you after 3 days. It''s not worthwhile for me to break my promise only for a space-teleportation device, right?"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, the demon baron changed its look. After considering it for a few seconds, it picked off the space-teleportation ring and threw it to Zhang Tie.


    After taking the finger ring, Zhang Tie put it on his own finger pleasantly.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie was shocked inside, ''This demon knight would never pick off the space-teleportation ring and throw it to me if it couldn''t guarantee that I wouldn''t leave this hieron''s hall. The demon knight is making me drop my guard in case I do something in a desperate way.''


    "It''s your turn..." The demon baron said in a muffled voice.


    "No problem, this Cui is always a man of honor..."


    The moment Zhang Tie finished his words, half of the gate had been closed. The demon baron then came to the front of the gate with Mountain Lifting Hermit and Lin Huanxi in his hands. After observing the flowing grains on the gate of hieron''s hall for half a minute, it nodded. Closely after that, it moved one step back and allowed Mountain Lifting Hermit and Lin Huanxi to leave the hieron''s hall while supporting each other with their hands.


    Nobody would play any trick at this moment. Both Zhang Tie and the demon baron were seemingly waiting for the gate of the hieron''s hall to close once again.


    In less than 1 minute, the gate of the hieron''s hall was closed while Mountain Lifting Hermit and Lin Huanxi fully disappeared in front of Zhang Tie and the demon baron.


    The gate of this hieron''s hall would not open until 3 days later.


    The demon baron then turned around. After that, Zhang Tie and the demon baron gazed at each other for about 2 minutes.


    In such a silence, the atmosphere in the hieron''s hall became weird abruptly.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Zhang Tie coughed twice while his echo reverberated in the open hieron''s hall, "In the following 3 days, we''d better take the central axis of this hieron''s hall as a demarcation line. You don''t come to my side, and I won''t go to your side. You will be in the front part of the hall and I will be in the latter part of the hall. If you pass the central axis of the hall and want to kill me, as I cannot defeat you, I could only shatter the crystal ball and perish together with you!"


    When the gate of the hall was closed, Zhang Tie had moved back to the rear of the hall, who was definitely over 100 m away from the demon baron.


    The demon baron''s green eye light jumped as it narrowed its eyes and stared at Zhang Tie for a second. It then nodded and walked to the wall near the gate silently. Sitting with crossed legs against the wall, it started to recover its physical strength.


    Zhang Tie stood far away from the demon baron. As he watched the demon baron, he stroked the crystal ball in his hand. Of course, nobody knew what Zhang Tie was thinking about.


    After a few minutes, the demon baron who was recovering its physical strength suddenly felt that the temperature in the hieron''s hall had declined to a terrifying, super low state, which was absolutely below zero 100 degrees Celcius. As a result, the moisture in the air froze in a split second. The demon baron instantly became stiff while its body was covered with a layer of white frost.


    "What are you doing?" The demon baron was driven infuriated as it instantly sprung up and released its protective battle qi, shattering the frost into pieces at once.


    "It''s good ... to be cold, it''s good ... to be cold..." Zhang Tie stammered as he also released his protective battle qi, "If it''s cold, I''ll be clear-minded and spirited and wouldn''t be easily screwed by you! Even I can bear it, don''t tell me you can''t!"


    Watching Zhang Tie withstanding the super low temperature, the demon baron didn''t speak any more; instead, he sat down once again.


    The demon baron didn''t believe that it, as an earth demon knight, couldn''t match a black iron human knight in cold-resistance ability.


    ''Let''s see, when you almost use up your battle qi, I will deal with you!'' The demon baron felt thrilled as it swore Zhang Tie inside, ''You''re seeking for death.''


    However, it didn''t know that Zhang Tie''s battle qi was endless. Additionally, after setting free so many sandscale fish, Zhang Tie''s cold-resistance ability was many times greater than that of the demon baron. Therefore, Zhang Tie was definitely more adapted to cold than the demon baron.


    ...


    1 hour...


    2 hours...


    ...


    10 hours...


    11 hours...


    Half a day flew past...


    The demon baron gritted its teeth and withstood it...


    Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi became ramshackle a few times. However, he stabilized his protective battle qi each time. The ramshackle protective battle qi stimulated the demon baron to wait a bit longer each time it wanted to launch its attack towards Zhang Tie.


    After one day, Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi became thinner and thinner. However, he could still doggedly withstand such a low temperature. Finally, the demon baron realized that something was not right.


    ''Even I couldn''t bear the great consumption of protective battle qi in such an extreme environment, how could this black iron human knight stand for so long?''


    It seemed that Zhang Tie was also a bit fatigued as he was leaning against the wall far away from the demon baron with his eyes half closed.


    The demon baron finally determined to launch an attack.


    Sitting there, the demon baron''s eyes were also half closed. However, it always threw a glimpse at Zhang Tie stealthily. Gradually, the demon baron started to radiate some invisible mist, which was almost transparent. The cloud of mist slowly floated towards the back of Zhang Tie along the floor and against the wall like creeping worms. In a few minutes, the cloud of mist gradually formed a figure.


    The misty figure silently moved towards Zhang Tie from his back. When it was a few meters away from Zhang Tie, the demon baron instantly opened his eyes while that cloud of mist darted towards Zhang Tie as fast as a lightning bolt. Its target was the crystal ball beside Zhang Tie.


    The demon baron widely opened its eyes. It even thought that it was going to succeed right away. Because that misty figure was only one step away from Zhang Tie. It seemed to reach it with its hand immediately.


    It''s going to reverse the situation once again. As long as it got the crystal ball, given its knowledge about the bloody sacrifice hieron, all the human knights outside the gate of this hall would definitely become its sacrifices.


    The secrets of the bloody sacrificial hieron could not be well understood by a person who had just got the crystal ball for less than an hour. Even though the order had been sent from the crystal ball, it could still be altered. The secret of this alteration was the bloody sacrifice.


    ''Human is still a bit naive.''


    The demon baron revealed a faint, pleasant smile.


    All of a sudden, something flickered in front of the demon baron''s eyes while the misty figure behind Zhang Tie was shattered into pieces and disappeared completely...


    It happened so fast that even an earth knight''s eyes couldn''t catch what happened. Before the demon baron figured out what happened, its incarnation had been completely dissipated.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t even move at all.


    Until that misty figure disappeared did Zhang Tie lazily open his eyes and stretch out his limbs and stand up. He then revealed a sneer towards the demon knight, "You''re really patient. You finally launched an attack after bearing such a super low temperature for a day, by the way, I''ve almost recovered myself. Do you like it?"


    "Go die..." Now that it had determined to launch an attack, the demon baron didn''t waste time any longer. It instantly sprung up and darted towards Zhang Tie as fast as a lightning bolt.


    Zhang Tie just watched the demon baron with a faint sneer...


    The demon baron moved so fast with such a great momentum...


    However, due to a high speed and great momentum, the demon baron suffered a bigger loss in a split second...


    In high-speed movement, the demon baron was blocked by some invisible blades in the air. In a split second, the demon baron rushed into an invisible trap decisively. Due to sharp frictions, the demon baron''s protective battle qi was broken. Before Zhang Tie moved, the demon baron had suffered over 10 fine wounds on its neck and body, flowing out blood at once...


    The demon baron was greatly startled as it rapidly moved back to the original place. It then gazed at Zhang Tie like looking at a ghost.


    ''What happened? Why were there invisible blades in the air?''


    The demon baron widely opened its eyes with a flurried look. As it saw nothing in front of Zhang Tie, if not the sharp pains caused by its bloody wounds, it almost thought that it was an illusion...


    Without its protective battle qi, based on its high speed and momentum, the invisible, dense sharp blades in the air could cut its body into pieces in a split second.


    In order to verify its judgment, the demon baron kicked off Old Monster Qi''s beheaded body and had it pass by that invisible yet fatal space.


    As it had predicted, Old Monster Qi''s corpse instantly split up like a piece of soya bean being cut off by steel wires when it flew through that space.


    The demon baron took in a deep breath, ''What a terrifying secret method! How could such an invisible lethal trap be set in the air silently?''


    The demon baron watched Zhang Tie with its eyes widely opened. It wanted to say something; however, it finally became silent as it saw the sharp spearhead which had been lying on the ground floating up silently in the air and targeting at it like a ballista being ready to fire...


    In the entire process, Zhang Tie didn''t move at all; instead, he just stood aside and looked at the demon baron with a distant look.


    In a split second, a term that made the demon baron tremble all over occurred to the demon baron''s mind, causing it to shriek with a flurried look, "Divine Dominator..."


    Divine Dominator was the top knight, the legendary figure among knights. Even the demon baron had not seen a divine dominator until today. Previously, the demon baron thought that the so-called divine dominator might only be a legendary figure.


    It had not imagined seeing a real human-divine dominator today.


    At this moment, the demon baron was not thinking about how to survive itself. It even forgot about those human knights in the hieron. It only thought about passing out the message of the human-divine dominator. A high-rank divine dominator would be the disaster of all the demons, including demon knights. Such a person should be killed at any cost.


    In the same rank, a divine dominator could dominate everything like the God as an unrivaled existence. It was the most mysterious and terrifying profession.


    According to the legend, the divine dominator''s spiritual energy had reached a fantastic realm and could convert into material objects and casually manipulate everything.


    The invisible blades in the air which had wounded the demon baron''s body should be composed of the divine dominator''s spiritual energy.


    The demon baron wanted to take out its remote-sensing crystals; however, it remembered that it had long given them to Zhang Tie, which had been destroyed in front of it.


    ''Had he...''


    "Now you know why I confiscated your remote-sensing crystals. If you released the message to the outside, I would have to escape once again!" Zhang Tie revealed a sneer...


    The demon baron noticed the words "once again". As for why "once again" was used by Zhang Tie, it might never find the answer...


    Because Zhang Tie''s strikes had arrived.


    Zhang Tie was standing in the distance as if he was watching a performance with his arms crossed. The spearhead of the abyss battle spear had immediately flown over 100 m in the air and stabbed into the demon baron''s protective battle qi. It compressed and rubbed against the demon baron''s protective battle qi violently...


    The demon baron''s protective battle qi withstood Zhang Tie''s first strike; however, due to the great strength, the demon baron was sent flying backward like being collided by a train.


    Before the demon baron fell down, the second strike had arrived.


    Closely after that, the abyss battle spear''s head attacked the demon baron in an increasingly higher frequency, which had surpassed the latter''s maximal reaction speed. After being compressed, the demon baron''s protective battle qi exploded like crackers constantly.


    No matter how fast a demon could react, it would never match that of a divine dominator''s spiritual energy.


    The spearhead turned into a fierce and bloody living being which kept tearing and engulfing the demon baron as fast as a lightning bolt.


    The demon baron finally released its battle qi tornado and virtual image.


    Its virtual image of the secret method that it cultivated was a fierce and bizarre monster who was blowing clouds.


    The demon baron also started to put up a desperate fight. If not, it would not have a chance to do that anymore.


    After a light flashed by its hand, a grim saber which was almost 2 m in length appeared in the demon baron''s hand, a silver secret item.


    After finding a chance, the demon baron launched an attack. With a roar, a fierce blade qi''s shock wave swept towards Zhang Tie.


    However, when the demon baron''s blade qi approached Zhang Tie, a shield suddenly appeared in front of Zhang Tie. Suspending in the air a few meters before Zhang Tie, the shield shattered the demon baron''s strike in a split second like a firm reef that belittled winds and waves.


    Zhang Tie''s shield was also a silver secret item.


    The demon baron was shocked instantly; closely after that, it became completely disappointed.


    In this round of the fight, Zhang Tie was as steady as Mountain Tai without even blinking his eyes...


    ...

 954 What a Righteous Man

    Chapter 954: What a Righteous Man


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As for all the human knights in the pyramid, they didn''t realize something was wrong until the battle qi tornadoes of Mountain Lifting Hermit and Old Monster Qi rose at the top of the main peak of Weapons Mountain.


    Battle qi tornadoes of earth knights were very eye-catching. Additionally, they were released on the top of the main peak of Weapons Mountain. Therefore, when the two battle qi tornadoes shot into the sky, all the other human knights were shocked as they stopped what they were doing and watched the top of the main peak for quite a while.


    Many people even thought that Mountain Lifting Hermit and Old Monster Qi were fighting over there.


    When Lu Zhongming''s battle qi smoke rose up, many people thought that there was some conflict between the black iron knights; someone even guessed that perhaps Lu Zhongming was sending a signal to his wife Lin Huanxi as they were chasing after the same virtual image of the silver secret item. At that moment, nobody could imagine that an earth demon knight had entered the hieron.


    However, when the battle qi tornadoes of two earth knights rose up, many people realized that something was wrong.


    In a few minutes, Old Monster Qi had started to grab the crystal ball. After that, he controlled the temperature and air supply in the pyramid. At that moment, all the black iron knights in the hieron changed their faces greatly.


    Given the suddenly "dropping" temperature and the suffocated air supply, the pyramid was slowly close to icy vacuum. In this state, even black iron knights started to feel bad. Like fish out of water, they could barely stand too long in this state. Even Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan started to panic. Someone even ran out of the Weapons Mountain and prepared to leave the hieron.


    What happened later made them confused. As a result, they didn''t know what to do.


    The suffocated vacuum state in the Pyramid only lasted less than 10 minutes. After that, the air supply in the pyramid recovered its sufficiency while the temperature inside recovered normal at once, which even felt comfortable. Such a sudden change stopped the black iron knights who were escaping away from the pyramid.


    Before the other human knights recovered their composure, the battle qi signals of Zhang Anguo the grand elder of Tianlu Palace and Lu Zhongming rose up at the foot of the Weapons Mountain at the same time.


    ''Was Zhang Anguo fighting Lu Zhongming?''


    The other human knights were puzzled by these weird things. They just felt that everything had gone chaotic in the past 1 hour. They didn''t know what happened at all.


    When they saw Zhang Anguo and Lu Zhongming rushing towards the top of the main peak, all the other black iron knights in the hieron almost rushed towards the top of the main peak at the same time out of deep doubts, restlessness and curiosity.


    At the top of the main peak, they saw Mountain Lifting Hermit and Lin Huanxi who were severely wounded.


    Through Lin Huanxi, Zhang Anguo and Mountain Lifting Hermit, they all knew what happened on this mountain over the past 1 hour.


    An earth demon knight stealthily slid into the hieron and raided the couple. As a result, Lin Huanxi was severely wounded and was robbed away by the earth demon knight. Lu Zhongming released his battle qi smoke and chased after the demon knight; however, he was screwed by the demon knight''s trick, enticing the three earth human knights to leave the top of the main peak of the Weapons Mountain. As a result, the earth demon knight gained a chance to enter the hieron''s hall on the top of the main peak.


    Before the earth demon knight grabbed the crystal ball that controlled the hub of the hieron, Cui Li grabbed the crystal ball away at the risk of his life for the first time.


    Later on, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Old Monster Qi returned to the top of the main peak when they found the open gate and a demon knight. They then rushed inside to fight the demon knight. However, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Cui Li had not imagined that Old Monster Qi was a member of the demon''s Three-eye Association. At the critical moment, Old Monster Qi raided Mountain Lifting Hermit and Cui Li. As a result, Mountain Lifting Hermit was severely wounded and Cui Li''s crystal ball was robbed away by Old Monster Qi. The situation deteriorated at once.


    When Old Monster Qi and the demon knight ruled everything in the pyramid, they closed all the exits of the hieron and wanted to kill all the human knights here. However, Cui Li launched a counter-attack and killed Old Monster Qi, relieving the life-or-death crisis of everybody else.


    Finally, Cui Li voluntarily served as a hostage on behalf of Mountain Lifting Hermit and Lin Huanxi with the crystal ball in his hand. He had to stay in the hieron''s hall together with the demon knight and couldn''t leave until 3 days later.


    The other human knights had not imagined that they could meet such a dramatic plot.


    If not Cui Li, all the human knights in this pyramid would have been like the fish on the chopping board.


    Unconsciously, Cui Li had saved all the human knights here twice.


    After knowing what happened, all the other human knights were shocked. After thinking about it for a short while, many people even oozed sweat. However, they didn''t know that they almost couldn''t leave the pyramid anymore just now.


    "What a dauntless and smart man! How righteous brother Cui Li is! How righteous he is..." The grand elder of Zhang Clan in Tianlu Palace let out a deep sigh which was full of emotions as he looked up at the sky.


    Zhang Anguo had not experienced most of the part of this process. After listening to the explanation of Lin Huanxi and Mountain Lifting Hermit, Zhang Anguo finally knew what righteous deeds had Cui Li done.


    This time, Cui Li saved Lin Huanxi and Mountain Lifting Hermit in front of Zhang Anguo and saved all the other knights of Tianlu Palace.


    Zhang Anguo had not seen such a righteous figure!


    "Elder Zhang, can''t we open the gate of this hall?" Gong Ziyao asked anxiously, "Brother Cui and that earth demon knight are still inside..."


    "The gate of this hall has been set by brother Cui, it will not open until 3 days later. If not, that earth demon knight would not agree to brother Cui''s condition. This hieron''s gate is very firm. It could not be rocked by knights below heavenly knights!" Zhang Anguo sighed, "If I were close to Tianlu Palace, I could notice the clan and have Elder Anjin who''s cultivating indoors invite the powerhouse in Taiyi Fantasy Sect to give a favor to Tianlu Palace. As long as they knew that brother Cui had saved so many people of Zhang Clan, Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace would never ignore my proposal; however, even if I notice them, it will take the heavenly knight of Taiyi Fantasy Sect at least 2 weeks to arrive here. It would be too late by then..."


    Hearing that only heavenly knights could rock the gate of hieron''s hall, all the human knights outside the hall became silent.


    There were very few heavenly knights across Taixia Country. Even the top clan Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace didn''t have one, not to mention the others¡ª¡ªbesides Xuanyuan Hill and the top seven sects in Taixia Country, there were very few heavenly knights across Taixia Country. In front of any heavenly knight, any people at present was junior. They were not qualified to sit together with a heavenly knight, not to mention inviting one at their wills.


    "If so, can we ask for a favor from the heavenly knight in the Lion Fortress?" Filton who had treated Zhang Tie as a bosom friend asked loudly.


    "There''s indeed a heavenly knight in the Lion Fortress. However, each movement of the heavenly knight in the Lion Fortress is concerned about the safety of the Lion Fortress and would arouse the corresponding responses of demons in the Earth-element Realm. Unless a very important event that was involved with numerous lives of humans or receiving an order from Xuanyuan Hill, none of us could have the heavenly knight in the Lion Fortress save brother Cui!" Zhang Anguo revealed a bitter smile.


    "What should we do then?"


    "The reason that brother Cui agreed with the demon knight to open the portals in this hieron 3 days in normal temperature is to not let us come here in vain. We should understand brother Cui''s intention. Therefore, in the following 3 days, we should seek for our own fortunes so as to live up to brother Cui''s sacrifice and contribution. 3 days later, we will leave the hieron and wait for brother Cui outside the gate!" Zhang Anguo said.


    The others at present became silent as they had understood the intention of the grand elder of Tianlu Palace, namely, if Cui Li didn''t come out or the demon knight was the last one who came out, they could only revenge for brother Cui Li.


    "I believe that Cui Li will definitely come out!" Filton loudly spoke, "We will wait for Cui Li outside the gate of the pyramid 3 days later. I''m waiting to have a drink with him! Now, don''t waste the time that Cui Li has fought for us."


    After saying that, Filton bade a farewell to Gong Ziyao and Cecilia before rushing away from the top of the main peak.


    The remaining black iron knights exchanged glances with each other. Most of them soon left no matter what they were thinking about.


    Under this circumstance, even though they all wanted to help Cui Li, they couldn''t. Therefore, they had to seize the opportunity to get a silver secret item as soon as possible instead of just standing here. If Cui Li lost his life, they could have a greater probability to revenge for brother Cui Li 3 days later.


    Some of them chose to stay near the top of the main peak. When they looked for the virtual images of secret items near there, they observed the hieron''s hall.


    Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan stayed near the top of the main peak. Lu Zhongming brought Lin Huanxi who had not fully recovered back to the place where they had been raided by the demon baron at the middle part of the mountain. Because they had found a virtual image of a secret item over there. Within 3 days, as long as there was no accident, the couple would gain a silver secret item for sure.


    Zhang Anguo stayed on the top of the main peak near the hieron''s hall. Mountain Lifting Hermit who was severely wounded also stayed there after taking a few vials of recovery medicament. Right beside Zhang Anguo, Mountain Lifting Hermit sat down with crossed legs and recovered his physical strength. At the same time, he kept his eyes closely on the gate of the hieron''s hall.


    After being replaced by Zhang Tie, Mountain Lifting Hermit became more silent.


    After coming to the top of the main peak, Bai Suxian the young sister had been standing at the gate of the hieron''s hall and watching the gate with a silly look. Until everybody else left did she flash away...


    Nobody knew what the young sister was thinking about at that moment. However, Zhang Anguo caught sight of her tear stains when she left the top of the main peak.


    The gate separated the two people!


    Those outside the gate could never imagine what was happening and what would happen inside the gate.


    Everyone was concerned about Zhang Tie. However, they had not imagined that the one who was worried after they left was actually that earth demon knight.


    Because the earth demon knight had been screwed by Zhang Tie since the beginning.


    1 day later, the demon knight who felt something was wrong launched an attack while Zhang Tie exposed his second trump card in a solemn look...


    When the combat in the hieron''s hall was extremely fierce, all those outside the hall were worried about Zhang Tie.


    ...


    If it were in the normal outside environment, even though Zhang Tie exposed his trump card, he was still not sure that he could defeat an earth knight. Because even though the earth demon knight could not defeat him, it could at least fly away. However, in this enclosed space, the earth demon knight could not fly at all. Therefore, each step became difficult for it. The demon knight could not fly away. Even though it could run fast, it would always be scared of Zhang Tie''s frightening striking ability. Additionally, it was very cold here, the demon knight''s battle strength would be restricted in this space. Furthermore, part of the demon knight''s battle strength had been consumed in advance. By contrast, Zhang Tie''s battle strength was almost not influenced by that.


    Since the beginning, the demon knight had fallen into Zhang Tie''s trap. After that, it gradually made a compromise to Zhang Tie, losing its dependence and becoming weaker step by step.


    The demon knight voluntarily jumped into the trap because it had a malicious intention to reverse the situation.


    The demon knight was too confident due to the sharp difference in ranks between an earth knight and a black iron knight. The demon knight had been used to overlook all the black iron knights. However, it had not imagined that this black iron knight might be a lion in the skin of sheep.


    Divine Dominator was such a lion in the skin of sheep.


    ''As I''ve gained all the favorable conditions on time, geographical position and human relationship, if I can still not beat an earth demon knight, I should go die...''


    Zhang Tie was confident to win the battle. The confidence originated from his great battle strength, his crystal ball and Castle of Black Iron. The three strengths determined that Zhang Tie was destined to win the battle the moment the gate of the hieron''s hall was closed...


    Whereas, the demon baron didn''t know anything about Zhang Tie''s strengths at all. It still thought that it had a chance to win. It was still struggling, roaring and releasing its battle potential as it dreamed of killing a human-divine dominator in an unwilling fear...


    How many divine dominators could practice with an earth knight?


    Therefore, Zhang Tie also treasured this chance very much...


    ...

 955 An Insurmountable Mountain

    Chapter 955: An Insurmountable Mountain


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    What could Zhang Tie do by combining Castle of Black Iron with the crystal ball that controlled the hub of the hieron?


    First, if Zhang Tie liked, he could completely turn the hieron''s hall into a vacuum state. In this state, he could breathe the air in Castle of Black Iron while fighting the earth demon knight in the vacuum.


    In the fight, the earth demon knight would consume its physical strength and battle qi greatly which should be maintained by breath. How many hours could the earth demon knight fight in high intensity while holding its breath, 3 hours or 5 hours?


    Second, the laziest method was to keep the gate of the hall closed in super low temperature and vacuum. Under this circumstance, Zhang Tie didn''t need to care about the earth knight, he only needed to enter Castle of Black Iron before coming out to pick up the dead fish 2 days later.


    The demon baron''s remote-sensing crystals had been destroyed; however, its space-teleportation ring was still in Zhang Tie''s hand. Under this circumstance, the demon baron was like a rat in a hole.


    The demon baron was destined to lose the battle the moment the gate of the hieron''s hall was closed.


    The demon baron''s failure lay in its greed, arrogance and ignorance about Zhang Tie''s trump cards.


    The reason that Zhang Tie didn''t select the above two methods lay in the current rare opportunity. He had to grasp the opportunity to squeeze out the maximal value of the earth demon knight.


    ...


    Being besieged by the only spearhead, the demon baron was like a buffalo who was besieged by a pack of wild wolves. No matter how much it tried, it could not completely break the ring of encirclement.


    The demon baron realized that the mere chance that he could defeat Zhang Tie was to draw close to Zhang Tie. Otherwise, it was only a living target of Zhang Tie and would be mistreated by Zhang Tie to death. All of his long-distance strikes would be blocked by that shield floating beside Zhang Tie. Only through close combat could the demon baron reverse the battle situation.


    No matter what, the demon baron was just facing a black iron knight. In close combat, it had an overwhelming advantage. Additionally, as soon as it drew close to Zhang Tie, the destructive power of the long-distance strike of divine dominator would be weakened.


    Although being in dilemma, the demon baron was still very clear-minded.


    Only by drawing close to the divine dominator could the demon baron defeat the latter; otherwise, the demon baron was fighting nobody but air.


    "Go die..." The demon baron spurted out blood while resisting one strike of the abyss battle spear with its protective battle qi. Closely after that, the demon baron roared while its battle qi rumbled and swept towards the transparent weapons in front of it.


    The demon baron didn''t target at Zhang Tie in the distance but the "shackles", "traps" and "blades" in the air being composed of Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy, which were invisible roadblocks. Only when it touched them could it find them. In the beginning, the demon baron almost suffered a big loss. However, after fighting for a while, the demon baron realized that it could break these roadblocks by battle skills before touching them.


    It was like minesweeping. Only when it swept the mines on the way ahead could it approach to Zhang Tie safely.


    Although the mines would be rearranged, there was a short time difference, during which period the demon baron might seize the opportunity to win the battle.


    Most of the energy of the demon baron''s battle qi strikes would be diminished when it hit the invisible roadblocks in the air. As to the afterwaves of the battle qi strikes, they had been blocked by the shield flying around Zhang Tie before reaching Zhang Tie.


    In a split second, the demon baron had been attacked over 30 times by the spearhead.


    The demon baron''s protective battle qi was extremely compressed. Although the spear head didn''t penetrate through the demon baron''s protective battle qi, its great momentum and strength could still pass to the body of the demon baron.


    As a result, the demon baron spurted out blood once again. Gritting its teeth, it accelerated towards Zhang Tie with a grim look while its battle qi rumbled once again and swept the mines ahead.


    When the demon baron bore the strikes, it swept the mines and darted towards Zhang Tie.


    It was a real bloody path. Almost every step forward, the demon baron would suffer dozens of strikes.


    The divine dominator''s attack was too fast that the demon baron although being an earth demon knight could not respond to it. Therefore, it could only cut off all means to retreat.


    Standing in the distance, Zhang Tie just watched the demon baron inching towards him with a cold look.


    By now, the demon baron had been fighting Zhang Tie for over 12 hours, during which period the demon baron lived up to the honor and battle strength as an earth knight. Even Zhang Tie was surprised by and admired about the battle strength of this earth knight in dilemma.


    Compared to black iron knights, earth knights were too powerful.


    Under this circumstance, even 10 black iron knights would be killed by Zhang Tie as a divine dominator. By contrast, this earth demon knight was just wounded. It still maintained a powerful battle strength. Like a bull who had taken viagra, it still had vigorous spiritual energy, physical strength and battle qi and was hard to tame.


    This earth demon knight was much more powerful than the demon general in all aspects.


    Zhang Tie asked himself inside, ''What would be the result if I simply fought this earth demon knight with my current battle strength and all that I''ve learned?''


    ''It was impossible for me to win the battle without using my trump cards. Under this circumstance, if I couldn''t escape, I would only stick to 2 hours at most before being killed.''


    Earth knights had overwhelming battle strength than black iron knights.


    If black iron knight''s battle strength was regarded as a bee, undoubtedly earth knight''s battle strength would be a bumblebee. If not depend on the advantage in quantity and environment, a bee could almost not defeat a bumblebee in an independent combat.


    However, during the past 10 hours, although Zhang Tie didn''t kill the earth demon knight, he had gained a lot.


    Zhang Tie gained the chance to practice the battle skills of the powerful profession as a divine dominator for the first time.


    This earth demon knight was Zhang Tie''s best training partner. This was the most practical battle facing the most powerful opponent. Zhang Tie gained the initiative and was confident to win the battle. What a rare opportunity!


    Since he left Waii Subcontinent, Zhang Tie had not got a chance to practice his battle skills as a divine dominator, even in trouble-reappearance situations. Those living beings in trouble-reappearance situations could be killed by Zhang Tie with his battle strength as a knight. Therefore, he could never get a chance to practice the battle skills as a divine dominator. In trouble-reappearance situations, Zhang Tie felt as boring as practicing shooting.


    ...


    Watching the demon baron rushing towards him, Zhang Tie felt like watching a wild beast darting towards the high platform in an arena.


    This was not the first time for the earth demon knight to attempt to rush towards him. The earth demon knight had attempted 7-8 times; however, each time, it was beaten back by Zhang Tie''s invisible blades before it drew close to the central axis of the hall.


    This time, the earth demon knight seemed to be a bit different.


    Zhang Tie became vigilant.


    When the demon baron approached the central axis once again, it suddenly sprung up. Before the spearhead touched it once again, it roared, "Split..."


    Soon after its roar, the demon baron''s body had turned into a cloud of dense mist. At the same time, over 10 humanoid mists dropped onto the ground. Closely after that, they darted jumped and darted towards Zhang Tie as fast as lightning bolts. As a result, Zhang Tie could not distinguish its original body from the others.


    As an earth demon knight, the demon baron also had its trump cards.


    If commoners met such an emergency, they would be flurried for sure; however, Zhang Tie just revealed a disdainful sneer...


    At this moment, consecutive metallic shrieks sounded in the hall...


    Besides the spearhead of the abyss battle spear, the other parts of the abyss battle spear rose up in a split second.


    In the blink of an eye, the three parts of the abyss battle spear broke the 10-odd dense humanoid mists...


    The last dense humanoid mist darted forward and almost passed the central axis of the hall.


    1/3 of the spear slashed the mist fiercely all of a sudden like how a stick hit a baseball, causing a loud echo, "bang"...


    The dense mist dispersed, revealing the demon baron''s unimaginable look¡ª¡ªwhat happened? The spearhead was far away from me...


    The demon baron was sent flying 10 m away. Until being slashed by the 1/3 of the spear did the demon baron find that two more metal sticks were floating in the air and joined the battle.


    With consecutive loud sounds "bang..." "bang..." "bang...", the demon baron was always slashed back to its original position no matter how hard it struggled like a football being passed by two players...


    At this moment, the spearhead gave a fierce blow to the demon baron, causing it to spurt out blood once again...


    The central axis in the hall became an insurmountable mountain in the eyes of the demon knight...

 956 The Tragedy of the Demon Baron

    Chapter 956: The Tragedy of the Demon Baron


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As the old saying went, a fighter would pluck up his full courage in the first attack; as for the second time, his courage would decline; as for the third time, he would lose his courage completely. The demon baron had tried to approach to the central axis of the hall many times. Being besieged by the three weapons under the control of Zhang Tie, the demon baron didn''t break through the central axis until it fell down.


    When the demon baron was attacked by the spearhead, it was like a wrestle between a wild wolf and a mad buffalo. Under that circumstance, the demon baron still had a chance to launch a counter-attack towards Zhang Tie although being bitten by the wild wolf. When the other two parts of the abyss battle spear joined the battle, the number of wild wolves rose to 3. This buffalo would gradually become fatigued, sluggish and finally fall down no matter how mad and fierce it was at the beginning.


    The demon baron was shedding blood through the wounds. The constant strikes and pricks gradually weakened the demon baron''s battle strength. When bearing the constant strikes, the demon baron''s protective battle qi undulated more and more fiercely and became increasingly thinner, causing more and more harms to the demon baron...


    Facing such a fierce attack, even an iron sheet would fuse, not to mention flesh.


    As the demon baron had not fought a divine dominator before, it was not sure whether all the divine dominator could control many weapons independently at the same time as granting those weapons with lives and intelligence.


    The sharp spearhead pierced through the central positions also the key body parts of the demon baron as fast as lightning bolts.


    A part of the spear fiercely slashed the demon baron''s head and shoulders like being held by an invisible knight floating in the air. Wherever the demon baron was, the stick would always follow after it and fiercely slashed it.


    The third part of the spear kept sweeping the demon baron''s legs fiercely from 10 cm above the ground. Whenever the part of handle touched its protective battle qi, the tremendous strength would pass to its legs, causing a sharp pain. It seemed that the part of the handle would never stop until breaking its legs.


    All the counter-attacks of the demon baron were blocked by the shield in front of Zhang Tie.


    The three parts of the abyss battle spear struck the demon baron''s heart, head and legs ceaselessly like worms gnawing at its bones.


    After another 10 hours, the demon baron''s protective battle qi finally collapsed together with the demon baron''s physical strength and the battle will.


    After fighting a divine dominator in such an extremely disadvantageous environment like being mistreated over 20 hours, the demon baron finally collapsed.


    The demon baron thought that it would die right away while its heart would be penetrated through and torn apart by the spearhead; however, it didn''t.


    The spearhead didn''t penetrate through its heart but broke the qi sea below its lower abdomen.


    The iron stick which had always been hovering above its head didn''t smash its head either; instead, it broke its two arms, breaking each bone on its arms into numerous smaller pieces.


    The iron stick that was responsible for attacking its legs battered its shins and knees.


    All the strikes almost occurred at the same time.


    The sharp pain caused the demon baron to kneel down and utter a painful shriek unconsciously.


    When it shrieked constantly, a part of the abyss battle spear suddenly stabbed into its mouth. With a simple stir, all the sharp teeth of the demon baron were broken apart.


    The demon baron fell down while looking up at the roof; its mouth was filled with bloody ice scums; its limbs were twisted like noodles. At the same time, it spurted out blood-bubbles. The moment the blood left its body, it had started to get frozen. The demon baron completely lost its strength to resist and struggle and just waited for the arrival of the final moment.


    This was the result of the battle between the demon baron and the divine dominator. The demon baron stood over 20 hours; however, the battle came to an end in less than one second.


    When the demon baron fell down, the temperature in the hall suddenly recovered to normal. If not, in such an extremely low temperature, the severely wounded demon baron would die in 10 minutes.


    Zhang Tie stopped his attack. He then slowly walked towards the demon baron followed by the shield and the crystal ball in the air.


    In the spacious and tranquil hall, Zhang Tie''s caligae stepped onto the ground, causing extraordinarily silvery and loud sounds, "Kaka", which was especially impressive in the hall.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had a bizarre, surging feeling, which contained pride and great excitement. As a result, Zhang Tie became a bit thrilled.


    ''Is this the feeling of defeating an earth demon knight?'' Zhang Tie asked himself inside. Undoubtedly, Zhang Tie had made a great, symbolic breakthrough in this battle, during which process, he defeated an earth demon knight in a head-on manner. It was an outstanding success. When in Waii Subcontinent, the demon general who had almost promoted to an earth knight could topple over the entire Waii Subcontinent. Count Long Wind would make every move after mature consideration had just promoted to an earth knight and stabilized his position as the provincial governor of Youzhou Province. Therefore, Zhang Tie knew the power of an earth knight.


    In this age, many small subcontinents didn''t have an earth knight at all. Even in major human countries like Taixia Country, an earth knight was always unrivaled in one region as a provincial governor and cheji general of a province. Therefore, it was epoch-making for Zhang Tie to defeat an earth knight in a head-on manner.


    Unlike Old Monster Qi who was killed by Zhang Tie in the trick, the earth demon knight was defeated by Zhang Tie by force in a head-on manner.


    Zhang Tie came to the front of the demon knight. Lowering his head, he watched the earth demon knight who was lying on the ground.


    Zhang Tie felt pretty satisfied as a conqueror when he overlooked an earth knight who was defeated by him.


    "Just kill me..." The demon baron mumbled as its teeth had been knocked out. However, Zhang Tie could still understand its meaning basically.


    "No way..." Zhang Tie sneered as he drew out his gold-eaten tri-edged dagger. At the same time, he stepped onto one shoulder of the demon baron and squatted down. After that, he picked one arm of the demon baron and gashed the chakra of the muscles and bones on the demon baron''s arm. Then, he seized a black thick tendon on the demon baron''s arm and drew it forcefully by hand. As a result, the demon baron''s eyes almost popped out as it shrieked miserably.


    Knights would also feel pain. Additionally, due to the strong body, knights'' muscles, tendons and bones were much more powerful than that of commoners. Facing such a cruel torture, knights would feel much more painful than commoners.


    Therefore, the moment Zhang Tie drew its main tendon, the demon baron couldn''t stand to shriek miserably.


    Due to Zhang Tie''s movement, the demon baron''s claw and arm twisted in a weird manner.


    When a light flashed by, Zhang Tie directly chopped off the main tendon from the arm of the demon baron by his gold-eaten tri-edged dagger...


    Zhang Tie held the main tendon and watched it for a while. After that, he threw it aside like littering. He then picked himself up from the ground and came to the other side of the demon baron. Like how he treated the earlier arm of the demon baron, Zhang Tie cut off the main tendon on the other arm of the demon baron.


    As a result, the demon baron almost passed out due to extreme pain...

 957 You Cannot Die

    Chapter 957: You Cannot Die


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In Waii Subcontinent, Zhang Tie had witnessed so many people''s tragic and hopeless lives under the rule of demons.


    In the underground mountain cave of Misty Wood in Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie saw that demons and Three-eye Association forced people to eat people alive. In the swarthy and gloomy underground cave, human skeletons were piling up as high as mountains, sending out stink...


    Many cities in dozens of human countries in the north of Selnes Theater of Operations deteriorated into empty cities or cities being covered with corpses due to demonized puppets disasters. When the night fell, many pye-dogs, wild wolves and rats who had eaten so many human corpses started to wander in the cities and the wilderness near the cities while radiating bloody, green eye light...


    Even in the territory of Three-eye Association, most humans were as cheap as draught animals. The grave-tower demons devoured and converted batches of humans into demonized puppets; demonized puppets ate a lot of humans. Numerous male, female, old and young people would deteriorate into the lowest-level bloody slaves, which were actually food of demonized puppets being raised by demons.


    In the eyes of the demon general, hundreds of millions of human lives were nothing but sh*t. As long as it sent an order, the puppet worms would kill hundreds of millions of humans and turn them into the walking dead.


    After witnessing and experiencing all this, no demon was qualified to be sympathized by Zhang Tie.


    Now that demons could treat humans as draught animals, Zhang Tie could also treat a demon as a draught animal, the most damned draught animal.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, although the demon baron was a powerful demon knight, it was just a powerful draught animal with sharp fangs, claws and a big bloody mouth, who would eat people at any time.


    ''When the demon baron entered this hieron''s hall, it was ready to eat and kill people. If I don''t appear timely, all the human knights here would be the sacrificial offerings of the demon baron.''


    Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t pity the demon baron at all. He would have no mental burden even if he treated the demon baron in the cruelest manner. Zhang Tie treated all this as a matter of course¡ª¡ªan eye for an eye, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was not just airing his grievances by drawing out two thick tendons from the demon baron''s arms; he was not that boring. Neither was he interested in the physiological anatomy of demons. He didn''t mind using the cruelest means to punish the demon. His penalty methods were purposeful; instead of pure entertainment.


    The demon baron deserved to die; but not now. This demon was pretty valuable; especially in this bloody sacrificial hall.


    After cutting off the two thick tendons on the arms of the demon baron, Zhang Tie''s hands became bloody like that of surgeons who were operating a surgery.


    Of course, surgeons wore disinfectant rubber gloves when they operated a surgery; however, Zhang Tie didn''t.


    The demon baron had passed out.


    Squatting down, Zhang Tie patted the demon baron''s face by his bloody hands as he received no response. Zhang Tie then touched its neck and poured some all-purpose medicament into its mouth.


    Zhang Tie really didn''t want this guy to die so fast.


    The all-purpose medicament soon took effect. In less than 2 minutes, the demon baron had slowly opened its eyes while it immediately shrieked miserably like being dragged to the hell due to the extreme pain.


    "Kill me...kill me...kill me right away..." The demon baron roared towards Zhang Tie with red eyes.


    At this moment, the demon baron knew that it had fallen in the hand of a divine dominator. In this place, it had no chance to survive at all. Therefore, it could only beg for death, which was also a moksa for it.


    The demon baron thought that Zhang Tie was just torturing it.


    "Ho...ho...no way!" Squatting in front of the demon baron, Zhang Tie played with the gold-eaten tri-edged dagger as he exposed his white teeth to the demon baron, which looked gloomy and icy, "I have something to ask you. Tell me about the bloody sacrifice in the bloody hall."


    "Kill me...kill me..." The demon baron shrieked loudly as it ignored Zhang Tie''s question.


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh, "It seems that it''s not painful enough. Given your performance, you''re not sincere to communicate with me. I hate to repeat the same question. Now that you don''t answer me, I could only aggravate your pain..."


    Zhang Tie had already stood up and walked to the feet of the demon baron. He picked the broken shin below the demon baron''s one knee and stabbed into it with his gold-eaten three-edged dagger from the back of its knee. After that, Zhang Tie raised his dagger and moved the thick and black tendon out of the demon baron''s fleshes. Zhang Tie then stepped onto the demon baron''s lower abdomen as he caught this main tendon and forcefully drew it, curling up the demon baron''s one foot.


    The demon baron''s shriek was earthshaking; it almost tore apart its throat. The main tendon on its leg was as hard as the steel bar. Due to its hardness, the demon baron became more painful when being harmed.


    "There''s a bloody sacrifice furnace...right below the joss of the God of Bloody Sacrifice. There''s a groove matrix on the altar which is used to trigger bloody sacrifice awareness and bloody sacrifice furnace...You can drop your blood into that pattern to establish a relationship with the God of Bloody Sacrifice...Then, the bloody sacrifice furnace will work...after throwing living beings into the bloody sacrifice furnace...you will be able to hold a bloody sacrifice rite..."


    The demon baron realized that it was meaningless for it to go against Zhang Tie any longer; it only sought for death as soon as possible. If Zhang Tie could throw it into the bloody sacrifice furnace, it would have its dream come true. What it told Zhang Tie were not deep secrets. As long as Zhang Tie spent some time to study the usage of the bloody sacrifice furnace, it would be found by him sooner or later.


    "What is bloody sacrifice used for?"


    "Bloody sacrifice is a confidential rite based on the exchange principle of life and energy...it could...could help people recover their wounds...evolve and strengthen their skills...and break through their limits in cultivation..."


    "Can it recover the damage on the chakra of an earth knight? I remembered that Old Monster Qi said that he wanted to recover his chakra by bloody sacrifice." Zhang Tie asked with an extremely profound eye light...


    "Yes..."


    "Hmm, nice, now that you''ve given me a sincere reply, I will satisfy your dream..." As Zhang Tie replied, he rapidly cut off another part of the main tendon on the leg of the demon baron as fast as a lightning bolt.


    After dropping off this leg, Zhang Tie quickly picked the other leg of the demon baron and cut off the main tendon on the other leg at the fastest speed.


    The demon knight was so in pain that it twisted and rolled on the ground before passing out once again.


    As for earth knights who were very vigorous, they could easily heal their broken bones, not to mention the wounds on their muscles and skin. Only when their main tendons were cut off and they had no super effective senior recovery medicament or treatments could they not recover their wounds.


    The moment he broke the protective battle qi of the demon baron, Zhang Tie had broken the demon knight''s hands and feet. However, it was not enough. Only by cutting off the main tendons of its limbs could Zhang Tie completely disable its limbs. Actually, Zhang Tie did this to stop the demon baron from committing suicide.


    Perhaps, the demon baron didn''t believe it; however, it was indeed what Zhang Tie was thinking about.


    If the demon baron knew what Zhang Tie was thinking about, it must have regretted that it had not committed suicide a few hours ago.


    Zhang Tie broke its qi sea to prevent the demon baron from exploding himself or breaking its heart meridian by its battle qi after recovering a bit. Like a person could not blow up a broken balloon, as long as the wound in its qi sea was not healed, the demon baron would not be able to release its battle qi.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether the earth demon knight would commit suicide by biting off its tongue. In case of the possibility, he broke the demon knight''s teeth along with its tongue.


    From this perspective, Zhang Tie had cudgeled his brains to keep the demon baron alive.


    Over the past 20-odd hours'' combat, Zhang Tie had a deeper and more intuitive recognition about the battle strength of an earth demon knight. Honestly, Zhang Tie was scared about the battle strength of this earth demon knight. In order to put this earth demon knight under control in case of any loopholes or sparing any chance for the demon knight to reverse the battle situation, Zhang Tie had to adopt the most unyielding means.


    When the demon baron passed out once again, Zhang Tie took away all the equipment from the demon baron and eliminated the final threats.


    The demon baron had a dagger which was slightly shorter than the gold-eaten tri-edged dagger and a necklace. The two items might be bronze secret items, the functions of which were to be further authenticated.


    After taking away all the possible weapons from the demon baron, Zhang Tie saw the demon baron''s hands, feet and lower abdomen were still bleeding. He then took out his spare medicine for knife wounds and carefully daubed some onto the wounds of the demon baron''s limbs to stop bleeding for it. After that, he poured some all-purpose medicament into the mouth of the demon baron who was in a coma.


    The demon baron had been fully disarmed by Zhang Tie. It could not even commit suicide. Conversely, it had to be a bit energetic.


    After dealing with the demon baron''s wounds, Zhang Tie stood up and walked towards the joss at the end of the hall, leaving the demon baron lying on the ground alone...

 958 The Discovery

    Chapter 958: The Discovery


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After staying in the hall for almost 2 days, honestly, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to seriously watch the joss in this hall.


    This joss was higher than 30 meters. Standing in front of the joss, Zhang Tie looked up and felt being oppressive like watching a furious giant spirit.


    This joss had the features of both humans and demons. Its upper body was like that of humans while its lower body was like a snake. The joss lowered its head with closed two eyes while a vertical eye between its eyebrows was overlooking a location on the altar. Its snake-shaped lower body coiled around a bizarre, tall furnace. The joss integrated with the furnace in an organic way.


    If it was a joss, the furnace beneath the joss would be the base of the joss; if it was a furnace, the joss would be a bizarre and exaggerating ornament above the furnace.


    The joss was purple all over as if it was made of red copper. However, it was just a judgment from its texture; actually, this joss could never be made of a common metal such as red copper.


    There were dense, numerous runes and patterns and reliefs of various lively strange animals on the furnace. The altar was in front of that furnace, which was precisely put in front of the vent of the furnace. The entire altar was connected with the furnace. It could be regarded as a part of the furnace or the lower structure of the entire joss.


    There were also many reliefs and mysterious runes over the altar.


    If this joss was a sculpture, it must be a priceless art treasure.


    After looking at the joss for a while, Zhang Tie recovered his composure. After that, he moved his eyes onto a small platform in the middle of the altar. The platform was over 1 m above the ground like a speech table. There was indeed a groove-shaped matrix which was as large as two palms.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the so-called matrix was just a mysterious pattern combination composed of some intricate geometrical patterns. The center of this pattern combination was that strange triangular symbol being composed of three scales on the top of the hieron''s gate.


    When he remembered the demon baron''s words, Zhang Tie slightly made a minor wound on his palm by the gold-eaten tri-edged dagger and filled the matrix in the groove slowly with his blood.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie''s blood was absorbed by the matrix. Closely after that, the pattern combination started to radiate a glow. The small platform where the matrix lay had slowly shrunk into the altar, leaving the red mysterious patterns in the center of the altar.


    After the platform completely shrank into the altar, Zhang Tie immediately sensed a connection between his spiritual energy and the joss while some strange information occurred to his mind unconsciously.


    Those information were all about how to make the bloody sacrifice.


    At this moment, those information were like the instructions of a set of machine. When this set of machine started, its instructions occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind.


    The instructions included three points.


    First, the process and skills of the bloody sacrifice. The bloody sacrifice had to be completed with living beings.


    Second, as Zhang Tie had started the bloody sacrifice altar with his blood, this bloody sacrifice would be dominated by Zhang Tie''s will. It would exchange what Zhang Tie would sacrifice for what he demanded.


    Third, the bloody sacrifice could heal his wounds and help him break through some skills. All of these proceeded according to a mysterious principle of exchange at equal value. If he wanted to cure severer wounds, he had to sacrifice more advanced living beings. The law also fit skills breakthrough; especially the latter. The bloody sacrifice didn''t fully correspond to skills breakthrough. There''s a chance of success. That was to say, even if he had sacrificed living beings, he wouldn''t necessarily make a breakthrough in skills. The more advanced the skills were, the lower would be the possibility of him succeeding. However, the benefit was that he could try next time.


    After learning these contents, Zhang Tie''s face turned pale as he felt that this bloody sacrifice was like a senior pawnshop or a gambling house. Instead of exchanging or gambling money, it was exchanging and gambling blood and lives. Through bloody sacrifice, Zhang Tie would heal his wounds and make a breakthrough in skills.


    ''Did this bloody sacrifice hall serve as a special "community hospital" in the far-ancient times? It could not only heal one''s "physical diseases" and help one make a breakthrough in skills''. An absurd thought occurred in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    Zhang Tie shook his head as he tried to be clear-minded, ''I don''t care what this bloody sacrifice hall was used for in the far-ancient times; what counts most is that this hall is still available for me now.''


    Zhang Tie then put his palm onto that platform where the matrix was set as he started to speak according to the "Holy Bible", "the Constitution" or some solemn classic pledge, "With my blood as the witness, I wish to piously offer enough blood and lives here as the equal and fair exchange for what I want!"


    The moment Zhang Tie finished his words, the vent of the furnace in front of the altar had opened. As high as an adult man, the vent looked like a huge bloody mouth of a boa. The black flame in the furnace looked empty yet terrifying, which seemed to be able to burn everything in the secular world...


    Only by sensing the black, empty flames in the furnace, Zhang Tie had changed his face. Any living being, as long as he fell into the furnace would vanish immediately, even knights.


    After the bloody sacrifice furnace was started, it would close automatically in 3 days if there was no bloody sacrifice in this period. After that, if Zhang Tie wanted to offer sacrifice to it, he could only restart it.


    After starting the bloody sacrifice furnace successfully, Zhang Tie became relieved inside. He then left the altar for the demon baron.


    Old Monster Qi''s corpse was lying scattered near the central axis of the hall in numerous pieces.


    After killing Old Monster Qi, Zhang Tie had not searched his corpse. Later on, his corpse was used to explore Zhang Tie''s invisible blades in the air and was finally split up into 7-8 pieces. Scattering over the ground, they looked pretty bloody.


    Zhang Tie had seen much bloodier scenes than it; therefore, it didn''t scare Zhang Tie too much.


    After coming to the side of the pieces of Old Monster Qi''s corpse, Zhang Tie squatted down and started to search for booties carefully.


    As an earth knight; especially a remnant of Three-eye Association who had hidden his real status so many years, how could he not take some good items with him? Even though Old Monster Qi was dead, his items should still be there.


    Zhang Tie mainly checked the parts near the hands and below the neck.


    After checking some pieces, Zhang Tie became faintly stunned. Although he had searched over two hands of Old Monster Qi, he didn''t see any items on the ten fingers at all, not even a finger ring...


    Neither did he see any item below the neck, even a necklace. Besides a bloody fragmented boa robe, a soft gold waistband which contained a well-preserved diamond-shaped metal plate which was used to access to the pyramid, some vials of medicament and gold checks, Zhang Tie saw nothing else.


    Although the boa robe and the soft gold waistband were a bit valuable, especially the rare medicaments and the hundreds of thousands of gold coins, they were too dowdy for an earth knight. Even though a fresh black iron knight might have more properties than him. How could this earth knight be so poor?


    ''F*ck, are you kidding me?'' Zhang Tie swore as he would never believe that Old Monster Qi was that cleanhanded.


    When he killed Old Monster Qi, he had wasted his earth chakra; if he couldn''t get any booty as a compensation, Zhang Tie really could not accept it.


    However, even though he had peeled off Old Monster Qi''s clothes, he still didn''t find anything valuable.


    ''F*ck, what a poor wretch!''


    Zhang Tie became speechless...


    ''Could it be that Old Monster Qi had hidden his good items in the Lion Fortress or somewhere in the wild after knowing that this action was dangerous?''


    ''It''s possible. What a weirdo! How could he know that he would lose his life in this pyramid?''


    Now that there was no good item on Old Monster Qi''s corpse, Zhang tie could only accept the reality besides letting out a sigh.


    As these segmented flesh were too bloody and didn''t look good; additionally the temperature in the hall had recovered to normal, they would smell bad in 2 days if they were left over there.


    After throwing a glance at the bloody sacrifice furnace, Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy and had those segmented fleshes float up and fly towards the bloody sacrifice furnace¡ª¡ªAt this moment, the bloody sacrifice furnace was the best tool to deal with wastes.


    After walking a few steps away, Zhang Tie suddenly stopped his footstep and turned around. All the segmented flesh were behind him in the air while the farthest one was already over 50 m away from him...


    Zhang Tie gazed at a part of the calf of Old Monster Qi and caught sight of a bulgy place behind the part of the shin, which faintly revealed a regular shape...


    If the part of calf didn''t fly by him, Zhang Tie couldn''t notice the abnormal look of that part of the calf.


    Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy to cut open the skin of the part of the calf, exposing a bloody rectangular metal plate as large as two fingers which then flew towards Zhang Tie...


    ...

 959 Secret Warehouse and Purgatory

    Chapter 959: Secret Warehouse and Purgatory


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After being moved out of the calf of Old Monster Qi, the metal plate was covered with blood. Zhang Tie then ran his spiritual energy and directly summoned a gush of water from Castle of Black Iron to rinse the rectangular metal plate...


    The limpid current appeared out of the void 1 m away in front of Zhang Tie. Like coming out of an open water faucet, the current directly flushed onto that metal plate while the water being splashed down disappeared out of the void and was teleported back into the abyss of chaos in Castle of Black Iron.


    The current appeared and disappeared out of the void magically. If someone watched it aside, he must be exclaiming about it and called it a mysterious manifestation.


    The metal plate rolled in the air automatically like taking a bath. In about half a minute, it had been cleaned.


    Zhang Tie stretched out his hand while the metal plate fell onto his hand. At the same time, the current in the air disappeared.


    This metal plate looked like a soldier''s identity plate. Zhang Tie held it and felt that it was heavy.


    It was about 8 cm in length, 3 cm in width and less than 2 cm in height, which was made of precious violet gold and mithril. There were delicate patterns of pavilions and mountain peaks on this plate, the craftsmanship of which was definitely above the level of Zhang Tie as a great artisan master.


    After overturning the plate, Zhang Tie saw a tortoise-like beast on the other side of the plate, with a stele on its shell. There were some small seal Hua characters¡ª¡ªXuanwu Secret Warehouse of Bloody Soul Temple.


    The moment he read the two words "Secret Warehouse", Zhang Tie''s heart pounded, ''Is that a space-teleportation equipment?''


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie injected his spiritual energy into this metal plate.


    When his spiritual energy entered the metal plate, Zhang Tie sensed a nanobead inside it.


    It was indeed a space-teleportation equipment. After Old Monster Qi died, his spiritual shackles on this space-teleportation equipment completely collapsed; therefore, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy could reach inside smoothly.


    As soon as Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy entered this space-teleportation equipment, he had widely opened his mouth as he almost sprung up due to excitement...


    The capacity of this space-teleportation equipment was too large. Besides Castle of Black Iron, this space-teleportation equipment had the largest capacity that Zhang Tie had ever seen. It was absolutely a huge warehouse whose capacity was over 125,000 cubic meters, namely; the length, width and height of which was over 50 m respectively.


    Compared to the small space-teleportation finger ring whose capacity was less than 30 cubic meters, this space was pretty huge.


    Such a space-teleportation equipment was a rare top-level item among space-teleportation items.


    Given the characters Xuanwu Secret Warehouse of Bloody Soul Temple, now that it was collected by Bloody Soul Temple, which was qualified to be besieged by top seven sects in Taixia Country, it wasn''t strange that the Bloody Soul Temple could have such a space-teleportation equipment. However, this space-teleportation equipment was too precious. Even the Bloody Soul Temple would not have so many similar space-teleportation equipment.


    Black dragon, white tiger, Xuanwu, which was similar to tortoise and rosefinch were four mythical animals in Hua legends. If this item could be named by Xuanwu, it meant that there might be only 3 more similar space-teleportation equipment in Bloody Soul Temple.


    ''I''m rich!''


    After gaining such a rare space-teleportation equipment, Zhang Tie''s journey became worthwhile.


    As a result, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter...


    All the private belongings of Old Monster Qi were in a trivial corner of this space, which didn''t even account 1/100 of its capacity.


    Among those private belongings, Zhang Tie saw piles of bullion and secular properties, treasures and antiques, which might be worth about 300 million to 400 million gold coins in total.


    There was a rack beside the hills of treasures. On the upper level of the rack, there were some vials of medicaments; on the lower level of the rack, there were 40-50 huge terrines which were similar to the terrains of pickled vegetables. Zhang Tie didn''t know what was inside those terrines. There was a desk beside the rack. Some crystal boxes were put on the desk. Additionally, some cooked food, boxes and nice-looking weapons such as sabers and swords were lying beside the rack and the desk...


    These were Old Monster Qi''s total properties.


    Watching these items, Zhang Tie realized that Old Monster Qi had many trump cards. Pitifully, he couldn''t use them anymore. Old Monster Qi must be very depressed in the hell.


    It was not the right moment to sort and count the properties of Old Monster Qi. After all, Zhang Tie had enough time to do that later; therefore, he just recovered his composure and put away this Xuanwu Secret Warehouse of Bloody Soul Temple before walking towards the demon baron.


    The demon baron had already woken up once again. Being affected by the all-purpose medicament that Zhang Tie had poured into its mouth, the demon baron''s look recovered a bit while the wounds on its limbs didn''t bleed anymore. Besides losing his mobility, the demon baron had recovered to normal.


    After fighting Zhang Tie for over 20 hours, although the demon baron''s bones, teeth, qi sea and tendons were destroyed completely, they were not fatal injuries for a knight. As an earth knight, the demon baron''s great vitality was not weakened too much. If not his broken qi sea and his poor mobility, the demon baron would recover a great battle strength in only a few hours.


    Lying on the ground, the demon baron watched Zhang Tie walking towards him with an animosity, "Don''t be pleasant too early. Even if I was sacrificed by you today, you would be sacrificed by others one day..."


    "Sacrifice you? Who told you that?" Zhang Tie asked in a good mood and with a kind look.


    "Humph, humph, stop pretending. You''ve already started the bloody sacrifice furnace. What else do you want to do except for sacrificing me?" The demon baron had already prepared for the coming death as it didn''t think that Zhang Tie could get any benefits from it besides sacrificing it in the furnace.


    The fact was that the demon baron was a bit naive. It thought that the status of a divine dominator was Zhang Tie''s biggest trump card. He couldn''t figure out what Zhang Tie was going to do with him until now. He didn''t even understand why Zhang Tie would paralyze it and feed it medicine. Such a figure who went antagonistic against Zhang Tie in such a place was destined to have a tragic outcome.


    "Perhaps, you don''t believe me; but I really started the bloody sacrifice furnace to save you..." Zhang Tie came to the front of the demon baron''s head and squatted down while putting his hand on its head, ''How energetic earth elements! As it has promoted to an earth knight, it has fully formed its earth chakra. Of course, the contents of earth elements in its chakra could not be matched by that of common black iron knights.''


    "Save me?" The demon baron sneered, "Are you kidding me?"


    "I''m not kidding you. You will know it right away. As you''ve already become the fish on the chopping board, do you think it is necessary for me to cheat you..."


    The demon baron wanted to say something. However, it suddenly felt a stress on its head while Zhang Tie had already had it stand up by seizing its head like seizing a ball...


    After then, Zhang Tie seized the demon baron''s head by one hand while supporting its back by the other hand and lifting it up in the air.


    Although the demon baron was not light in weight, it was like a straw in Zhang Tie''s hands.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s mystical eye light and the faint grin at his mouth corners, the demon baron suddenly became frightened, "Ah, what are you doing..."


    "I''m creating a chance for you to be cured!"


    As Zhang Tie replied, he triggered his purgatory samsara method...


    All of a sudden, the demon baron felt that his earth chakra was fiercely knocked by a heavy hammer as it changed its face greatly, ''How could a secret method attack knight''s chakra?''


    The earth chakra rocked once again...


    After that, the striking frequency gradually increased while the demon baron''s earth chakra rocked in an increasingly higher frequency.


    "You''re an alchemist monster?"


    The demon baron roared out of extreme fear as if its guts cracked while its face became out of shape. As a noble demon, it finally remembered the human knight who frightened all the demon knights. Its fear didn''t fully come from death; but that the alchemist monster would destroy the belief of demon knights besides destroying their fleshes.


    As for all the demon knights, their lives and everything they owned were gifted by the Demon God. Even if they were dead, all of their belongings would return to Demon God instead of being taken away by others. However, the alchemist monster, the terrifying human knight could refine and devour the most precious chakra of knights. As a result, even if the demon knights were dead, they could not return themselves to the Demon God completely. That was what they feared most.


    "I forgot to tell you about that. I''m the apprentice of an alchemist monster!" Zhang Tie smiled as he continued to strike the demon baron''s earth chakra...


    "Ah..." The demon baron shrieked loudly like a naive maiden being insulted by a group of savages while its miserable shriek resonated around the hall.


    As for any demon knight, the purgatory samsara method meant the real purgatory.


    ...


    As earth knights had already formed a complete earth chakra, like concrete being reinforced with steel bars, their earth chakra was much firmer than that of black iron knights.


    After being constantly struck by the purgatory samsara method for 4 hours, the demon baron''s earth chakra finally collapsed...


    As a result, the demon baron spurted out his blood once again before becoming exhausted completely.


    After its earth chakra collapsed, its earth elements were melted and broken like ice cubes before being pumped away...


    The demon baron''s body quivered all over like screening a winnowing fan while Zhang Tie''s eyes turned increasingly brighter...


    Extremely energetic and purest earth elements surged into Zhang Tie''s earth chakra...

 960 Another Trump Card

    Chapter 960: Another Trump Card


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It was a bumper harvest and the first time for Zhang Tie to absorb the complete earth chakra of an earth knight. It took him almost 6 hours to absorb 90% of the earth elements of the demon baron''s earth chakra.


    The poor demon baron passed out once again.


    When a knight''s chakra was broken, it would suffer a severe strike both physiologically and mentally. Although the strike was not fatal to the demon baron, it had suffered a great loss. Besides its broken limbs, it had become as soft as a noodle.


    Zhang Tie loosened his grip, causing the demon baron to fall onto the ground.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what secret method did the demon baron cultivate, he felt that its earth chakra was very thick and vigorous which contained so many earth elements. After absorbing almost 90% of the demon baron''s earth chakra, Zhang Tie felt that he could at least light 20 scales on his earth chakra.


    The space in Zhang Tie''s earth chakra had been filled with a lot of earth elements which Zhang Tie had refined and absorbed. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt full. The reason that Zhang Tie left 10% of the demon baron''s earth chakra lay in that he felt that the demon baron would recover its earth chakra in an easier way with the remaining 10% of earth elements when accepting the bloody sacrifice.


    The gate of the hall had been closed for over 2 days, leaving about 20 hours to the other human knights outside the gate.


    ''I hope all of them could gain something.''


    ''This is a rare chance for me. I should never give it up. I could only let my friends leave this pyramid first and explain it to them in the future...''


    Thinking this way, Zhang Tie input some more orders into the crystal ball...


    Standing in the hall, Zhang Tie looked around this spacious hall and thought for a short while before revealing a faint smile. He then shook his head and caught the demon baron''s neck like catching a chick. Closely after that, he disappeared together with the crystal ball out of the void.


    The hall recovered tranquility once again, leaving the bloody sacrifice furnace and the blood stains which indicated what happened during the past 2 days.


    ...


    Zhang Tie appeared in the palace tree...


    "Welcome back, Castle Lord, Congratulations..."


    It seemed that they had long known that Zhang Tie would come back, Heller, Agan, Aziz and Edward had been waiting in the lobby for Zhang Tie respectfully.


    Heller knew everything that Zhang Tie had done in the hall.


    This was a narrow victory for Zhang Tie.


    It was already a brilliant military exploit for Zhang Tie as a black iron knight to kill an earth knight of Three-eye Association and completely cripple an earth demon knight.


    The brilliance belonged to Zhang Tie and could only be tasted by him alone instead of being exposed to the public; however, Heller, Agan, Aziz and Edward knew that and felt happy for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie was also happy. The moment he entered Castle of Black Iron, he had completely become relaxed. After then, Zhang Tie felt a bit fatigued.


    Zhang Tie wove his arm and threw the disabled demon baron to Aziz, "Keep it alive, don''t spare any chance for it to be aggressive!"


    After taking the demon baron, Aziz, Agan and Edward looked cheerful as they all chested out at once. The three people had a great sense of achievement and pride by serving Castle Lord, even though it was the humblest thing.


    "Castle Lord, trust me, I''m the best veterinarian. I excel at looking after animals. I promise you to make it plump..." Agan replied with full confidence.


    "I will make an exclusive shackle for it in case of your concern, Castle Lord..." Edward rubbed its hands with bright eyes.


    "Castle Lord, do you need me to build a special cell for it?" Agan asked with a humble smile like a lackey.


    If the demon baron was awake at this moment, it would pass out again for sure.


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile as he wove his arm and told the three servants to take the demon baron away.


    ...


    At this moment, the small tree in the middle of the lobby was brilliant and releasing a strong, bizarre fragrance, which filled the air. Undoubtedly, new fruits had come into being.


    Especially the bizarre fragrance, which smelt both strange and familiar, impressed Zhang Tie deeply. Zhang Tie had not smelt the same fragrance since he left the Selnes Theater of Operations for so many years.


    Zhang Tie immediately caught sight of that bloodline fruit on the small tree from far away.


    The bloodline fruit was half red and half black. As a 16-side structure, it was as brilliant as a treasure.


    This bloodline fruit was much bigger than the last one that he got in Selnes Theater of Operations.


    It was a gift for killing Old Monster Qi.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t stand to burst out into laughter. When he determined to join this adventure, he had not imagined that he could be the last winner.


    "Castle Lord, do you want to enjoy these fruits now? It''s indeed a bumper harvest!" Heller asked.


    "Not now. I''ve not recovered my wounds which were caused by Old Monster Qi; additionally, as I''ve fought the demon knight for almost a day, I have consumed a lot of spiritual energy and am not in a good physical condition. It''s not the right moment to take fruits. I want to take a nap and recover my spiritual and physical strength first!" Zhang Tie told Heller after moving his eyes from the small tree.


    Heller nodded as he found that Zhang Tie became maturer.


    "Oh, how''s that corps..."


    "As long as Castle Lord needs them, they will sacrifice everything for you!"


    "That''s fine. I will take a look at them after getting up!" Zhang Tie replied as he walked upstairs towards his bedroom. At the same time, he took out a vial of medium-level recovery medicament and poured it into his mouth...


    ...


    After Zhang Tie returned to his bedroom and fell asleep, Heller entered the underground tunnel from the entrance in the lobby of the palace tree for over 10 minutes before coming to an underground space beneath the hinterland of the immortal mountain.


    This underground space was pretty cold. In the beginning, it was used to store flesh of the huge deep-sea monster; however, at this moment, this space was over 100 times bigger than the cold storage warehouse.


    The endless soldiers of the demon corps were standing in this space like ice sculptures as if all of their life activities had come to a stop...


    Nobody outside Castle of Black Iron could imagine that the super demon corps which had vanished in Waii Subcontinent and was said to have been eliminated by the terrifying full-moons miasma that raged across the Waii Subcontinent could stay here...


    With the arrival of Heller, a part of space remained as cold as before; however, the other part of space gradually recovered to normal temperature while the frost over many soldiers of the super demon corps started to melt...


    The frozen soldiers of the super demon corps almost opened their bloody eyes at the same time...


    ...

 961 The Real Knigh

    Chapter 961: The Real Knight


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    3 days soon elapsed, during which period, all the human knights entering the pyramid were breaking the pearls of secret items that they had selected around the clock.


    Only a few knights had caught up with the virtual image of the secret item and fixed their pearls of secret items; most of them including Zhang Anguo the grand elder of Tianlu Palace was selecting their targets according to their experience or weird sciolistic "Learning of Secret Items". As for the latter method, the possibility for them to find a silver secret item was pretty low.


    In the team of Mountain Lifting Hermit, only 3 members had seen the virtual images of silver secret items, 2 of them were a couple, Lu Zhong Ming and Lin Huanxi, who found a brilliant long hook with cold light. The moment the long hook was waved, the surrounding air would be frozen with a very powerful cold damage.


    The weapon long hook was rare among silver secret items. Therefore, it was pretty precious.


    The other one who found a silver secret item was Zhao Youxian, a clan elder of Zhao Clan from Military Province. Zhao Youxian''s silver secret item was a shield.


    If Zhang Tie saw this shield, he must be surprised as it was as same as that he had gained from the demon general.


    The team of Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace only gained one silver secret item which was gifted by Zhang Tie to Zhang Shuzhen. Finally, it was found by Zhang Suzhen and her elder brother Zhang Anshi after breaking two pearls of secret items.


    It was a longsword. Compared to the long hook gained by the couple, this longsword was dreamlike as it could automatically release four brilliant, powerful birds out of the void.


    Given the less population of Old Monster Qi''s team, none of them had gained a silver secret item during the past 3 days.


    Zhang Tie''s friends Gong Ziyao, Zhou Shufan, Filton, Cecilia and Bolam didn''t gain anything either.


    After entering the Weapons Mountain for 3 days, the team of almost 30 members only gained 3 silver secret items in total, most of them including the grand elder of Tianlu Palace returned in vain.


    Silver secret items were especially attractive to knights right because they were hard to get.


    After 3 days, at the sight of the battle qi tornado of the grand elder of Zhang Clan, all the human knights gathered at the top of the main peak of the Weapons Mountain and kept their eyes onto the gate of the hall which was still closed.


    After 3 days'' rest, Mountain Lifting Hermit had recovered his physical strength and battle strength a bit; however, his face still looked as shallow as that of a sick lion. The sorcery bloody-soul driller on guts was extremely insidious, whose damages could not be recovered in only 3-5 days.


    Even though Lu Zhongming, Lin Huanxi and Zhao Youxian were unwilling to do that, they still presented their silver secret items for the selection of Mountain Lifting Hermit.


    This was an agreement reached between them before they joined the team of Mountain Lifting Hermit. According to the agreement, if Mountain Lifting Hermit didn''t gain any space-teleportation equipment or silver secret item, he would have the right to select one from the silver secret items gained by his team members.


    At this moment, no matter whose silver secret item did Mountain Lifting Hermit select, the other team members would present many precious earth elements or other treasures to recuperate the loss of that person. It was a relatively fair method just like buying the entrance ticket of this hieron ruins.


    As the most powerful one who had spent most efforts for his teams such as gaining the diamond-shaped key and the one who organized this activity, Mountain Lifting Hermit enjoyed the privilege in the team wherever he was.


    If there was a silver secret item in a pearl of a secret item, a colorful light beam would shoot into the sky the moment the last layer of the pearl of the secret item was broken, presenting an abnormal phenomenon, which could never be covered at all. Therefore, in Weapons Mountain, anyone who gained a silver secret would attract a lot of onlookers right away. They could not cover the message that they had gained a silver secret item at all.


    When Lu Zhongming, Lin Huanxi, Zhao Youxian, Zhang Shuzhen and Zhang Anshi gained their silver secret items, a lot of people went to watch that with extremely "admiring" looks.


    Watching Lu Zhongming, Lin Huanxi and Zhao Youxian presenting their silver secret items to Mountain Lifting Hermit and waiting for the latter''s selection, all the others at the top of the main peak of Weapons Mountain moved their eyes onto Mountain Lifting Hermit''s face as they were guessing which silver secret item would Mountain Lifting Hermit choose. Both the long hook and the shield were unique, one for strike, the other for defense. It was really difficult for people to guess his choice.


    Only after throwing a glance at the two silver secret items, Mountain Lifting Hermit had shaken his head as he said with a disappointed look, "Now that you''ve gained them, just keep them. As my life has been saved by brother Cui Li at risk of his life, you''ve already paid off the price for entering the hieron ruins. I would like to give up my right to make a choice!"


    Soon after Mountain Lifting Hermit finished his words, the others at present had thrown their admiring eyes onto Mountain Lifting Hermit as they were hailing him inside. They had not imagined that Mountain Lifting Hermit could be so generous to give up the chance to gain a silver secret item in such a casual way.


    Lu Zhongming, Lin Huanxi and Zhao Youxian bowed deeply towards Mountain Lifting Hermit at the same time.


    After straightening up, Lu Zhongming watched Mountain Lifting Hermit and said with a solemn look, "Brother Cui Li also saved my wife''s life. I''ve already negotiated with Huanxi, if Mountain Lifting Hermit doesn''t take this long hook, we will present it to bother Cui Li so as to extend our sincerity when brother Cui Li leaves the hieron. After all, a silver secret item could never match my wife''s life!"


    After Lu Zhongming said these words, he exchanged a glance with Lin Huanxi while their eyes contained rich love and privity.


    "After brother Cui comes out, he will be the savior of Zhao Clan of Homesick Palace in Military Province; if he needs our help, our Zhao Clan will never say no even at the risk of our lives!" Zhao Youxian also expressed his stance in a muffled voice.


    Without Cui Li, Zhao Youxian might not even survive himself this time; not to mention to gain a silver secret item. Therefore, as an elder of Zhao Clan of Homesick Palace in Military Province, Zhao Youxian''s decision was reasonable.


    ...


    At this moment, Zhan Anguo the grand elder of Tianlu Palace let out a sigh inside. When Zhang member gained a silver secret item, Zhang Shuzhen told him about the process of the conflict between Cui Li and her. Honestly, if Cui Li really wanted to strive for this silver secret item with Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace, Zhang Clan would definitely lose the oral dispute wherever they were.


    "Being righteous and generous. Cui Li is a real hero!"


    "Now that all the people have gathered here, it''s time for us to leave the hieron. We''d better wait for Cui Li outside the hieron!" Zhang Anguo told the others calmly.


    "Elder Anguo, why not wait for brother Cui Li here?"


    "When the gate of the hall was opened, the earth demon knight would definitely not agree to have brother Cui leave him if it saw so many people standing outside the gate in case of being mired in a dilemma. If so, brother Cui would be in trouble. Therefore, besides being useless to brother Cui here, we would even cause him trouble!" Zhang Anguo explained patiently, "If something happened in the 3 days and brother Cui Li had destroyed the crystal ball and died together with the earth demon knight, after a few hours, when the preset time was on due, the hieron would be absolutely closed at once. By then, we would have to die here. Therefore, we''d better wait for brother Cui outside the hieron. If brother Cui could leave out of here safe and sound, we will talk about it later!"


    Now that they were useless here and might bring trouble to Cui Li, everybody agreed with Zhang Anguo''s suggestion to leave out of here.


    ...


    After reaching an agreement, all of them went down the mountain to leave the heiron.


    Compared to when they came here, the temperature in the pyramid had recovered to normal. The knights could move freely. Even though they could not fly, they were still moving as fast as lightning bolts. Only after a short while, they had reached the foot of the Weapons Mountain and passed through the plain and the palace complex.


    As they were leaving out of here, when they passed through that lobby with two rows of powerful battle puppets, those battle puppets didn''t move. Therefore, they could pass the lobby easily.


    After passing the lobby, they stepped onto the spiral steps of the pyramid and soon reached the top of the pyramid before walking out of the entrance one after another.


    Although they had just entered the pyramid for a few days, most of them felt having stayed inside a hundred years.


    Before coming here, none of them could imagine that this journey could be so perilous and unpredictable. Besides being traced by an earth demon knight, it was really out of their imaginations that the Old Monster Qi, a team leader of humans was a lackey of demons. The moment they thought that the earth demon knight and Old Monster Qi joined hands to screw them inside, they had felt cold inside.


    ...


    After leaving the pyramid, every one of them just waited at the entrance of the pyramid and expected to see Cui Li walking out of there...


    ...


    However, after a few hours, when it was on due, Cui Li didn''t appear; however, the gate of the pyramid suddenly closed.


    All the people at present changed their looks at the same time.


    Soon after the preset time was on due, the gate of the pyramid closed on time. Didn''t it mean that brother Cui Li had destroyed the crystal ball and died together with the earth demon knight?


    "Brother Cui Li..." Gong Ziyao dropped off his tears at once when he watched the gate of the pyramid closing up and recalled the moments with Cui Li since he acquainted with him...


    Mountain Lifting Hermit''s face turned ashy as his lips quivered. Although he wanted to say something, he couldn''t. Clenching his fist, he quivered all over...


    Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi dropped off tears at the same time. Zhang Anguo also let out a long sigh.


    The eyes of Filton, Bolam and Cecilia turned red too...


    Although they had seen many dead people, this time it was different because Cui Li proposed to sacrifice himself for the lives of all the others.


    "Cui Li is the real, bravest knight with knighthood!" Filton heavily punched his own chest with red eyes as he made a military salute towards the gate of the pyramid.


    ...


    All of a sudden, someone burst out into tears as she rushed towards the gate of the pyramid and forcefully thumped the gate of the pyramid like a lunatic.


    Her cries sounded pretty heartbreaking. It was as heart-wrenching as a cuckoo''s lament. Anyone who listened to it would feel grieved and drop off tears.


    It was the young sister Bai Suxian of Zhang Tie...


    "Wuh...whu..wuh, you heartless guy! How could you just leave in this way? You''ve molested me twice and left me alone...how''d I live from then on?"


    ...


    Bai Suxian''s sadness was out of everyone''s imagination. They didn''t even know when Cui Li had conquered this woman''s heart at all.


    ...


    Even though the gate of the hieron was already closed, they still had a slim hope and stayed outside the gate one more day, expecting that the gate of the hieron would open once again.


    Until 1 day later before the terrifying abyss hurricane sealed this isolated island in the ocean once again, they had to bid a farewell to Cui Li.


    After leaving the magma sea and watching the abyss hurricane reappearing, they finally gave up their last hope of seeing Cui Li coming out of there...


    As Old Monster Qi had one key of the gate of the hieron, the key was finally left in the hieron too. Therefore, after the gate of the hieron was closed, it indicated that nobody else would enter it from then on...


    ...


    "Brother Gong, as you''re familiar with brother Cui, do you know whether brother Cui has any relatives in Yongzhou Province? If he has, our Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace would pick his relatives to Tianlu Palace. If brother Cui Li has offsprings, our Tianlu Palace would instruct them seriously for sure..." Zhang Anguo asked Gong Ziyao as he was suspending above the magma sea and watching the abyss hurricane across the magma sea.


    Gong Ziyao shook his head, "Brother Cui told me about his family that he was the only kid in his family. He has not got married; additionally, his parents have passed away many years ago. Besides some servants in his old mansion, he didn''t have any more relatives!"


    The human knights then left here one after another, leaving sighs...


    From then on, the name of Cui Li started to spread over the Lion Fortress. Everyone would praise Cui Li as a righteous man!

 962 Recovery

    Chapter 962: Recovery


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The powerful recovery effect of his preliminary recovery body plus the vial medium recovery medicament that Zhang Tie had drunk before going to bed enabled Zhang Tie to complete the regeneration of his somata and the recovery of his physical functions.


    When in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie had developed a frugal living habit.


    Although he had a lot of vials of senior recovery medicaments; as he his wounds could be recovered by medium recovery medicament and preliminary recovery body, Zhang Tie just took one vial of medium recovery medicament instead of a senior one.


    As for a knight, a vial of senior recovery medicament was not a big deal. However, Zhang Tie knew that a vial of senior recovery medicament might save one more human life. He still remembered that Grandma Teresa took out a very vial of the most precious all-purpose medicament from a well-preserved box with a solemn look and daubed it onto his wounds in the orphanage of Blackhot City.


    Benevolence was priceless¡ª¡ªGrandma Teresa told him at that moment.


    ''I wonder about the current situation of those little guys in the orphanage and Grandma Teresa?''


    Perhaps this thought had always hidden deeply in his mind, Zhang Tie who didn''t have a dream for a long time dreamed about Grandma Teresa and those kids in the orphanage once again.


    In the dream, Grandma Teresa''s breasts were still that soft and warm, making him reassured.


    After then, fire broke out in the orphanage while numerous grim demon fighters appeared in the dark and charged at barehanded Grandma Teresa and those little guys whose eyes would turn bright at the sight of rice soup...


    Zhang Tie then woke up...


    ''It was a dream.'' Zhang Tie revealed a self-mocking smile before getting up.


    In the bedroom of the palace tree, everything was very special. Everything in this bedroom was growing out of the palace tree naturally besides the table clock and the beddings.


    The shell-shaped big bed, the peanut shell-shaped bathtub, the waterpipes hiding in the wall, the beehive-shaped cupboard, the tree leaves which covered the window like a curtain. Everything inside was natural and fairytale-like. Any kid living inside would be very thrilled.


    When he recalled his three sons, Zhang Tie felt a bit depressed. After then, he cut off these thoughts being irrelevant to the current environment. Being spirited, he went to cleanse himself in the washroom.


    After that, he revealed a smile at the tall and stalwart figure in the mirror. He then ran his spiritual energy to recover his original look with constant cracking sounds.


    If someone caught sight of this scene, he must widely open his mouth out of amazement as he would think that he had met some bizarre spirit. Because it was completely out of the range of disguising skill. It was a complete transformation from one person to another.


    Before leaving the bedroom, Zhang Tie threw another glance at the table clock and knew that the other human knights had already left this pyramid for sure.


    Zhang Tie slept for almost 2 days. When he woke up, his wounds had long recovered while his spiritual energy recovered to the best state.


    ''Perhaps they thought I was dead!''


    ''I will explain it to them in the future if there''s a chance.''


    Zhang Tie soon arranged thoughts in order.


    ...


    "Deity Lord..." The moment Zhang Tie walked out of his bedroom, the two girls standing outside his bedroom had lowered their heads and knelt down on the ground in the grandest manner. They even dared not raise their heads.


    After Zhang Tie came back, Heller had noticed all the youngsters in the palace tree. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s bedroom would be served around the clock.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, the two girls who treated him as a deity quivered all over due to excitement even though they were kneeling down on the ground.


    Touching his bald head, honestly, Zhang Tie was really unaccustomed to such a grand etiquette. He felt uneasy all over as if many ants were creeping on his body.


    "Erm, no need to kneel down when you see me in the future..."


    "Ah?" The two girls raised their heads and threw a glance at Zhang Tie. They then hurriedly lowered their heads in a flurried way; one of them was scared so much that she even cried, "Deity Lord...Deity Lord...are you going to abandon us and deprive our belief?"


    "Erm..." Zhang Tie widely opened his mouth as he didn''t know what to say. Since he had no experience in worshipping a deity; therefore, he couldn''t feel how the worshippers and believers were shocked when a deity told them about this.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie felt extremely embarrassed and uneasy about the appellation "Deity Lord". If he were a real deity, how could he still be wanted and couldn''t return to his home until now? Is there any deity more miserable than him?


    "Deity Lord means that you only need to kneel down in front of him by one knee from now on. Only clergies who were approved by Deity Lord and would like to sacrifice their lives to Deity Lord are qualified to kneel down on the ground created by Deity Lord in front of Deity Lord so that their hearts could stay closer to Deity Lord. As for the higher-level etiquette in which people have to put their heads, hands, feet and chests onto the grounds, nobody is qualified to do that in front of Deity Lord until now..."


    Heller dissolved the problem for Zhang Tie at the critical moment. Soon after they heard Heller''s explanation, the two girls hurriedly knelt down on the ground by one knee. Zhang Tie then let out a sigh inside and didn''t explain any further.


    ''What is talent?"


    "Heller is!"


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that such a humble thing to others could indicate his supreme status through Heller''s explanation. The humbler they were in front of him, the higher their status was!


    What a brainwash!


    Heller wove his hands and told the two flurried girls to leave. He then led Zhang Tie to the dining hall for breakfast.


    On the way, Zhang Tie asked Heller in a hesitated way, "Erm...Is it a bit excessive?"


    "All the human behaviors are neither good or bad. The behavior by touching one''s knees with the ground is neither noble nor humble. People feel it is noble or humble because of their own opinions. In this world, the most hypocritical and untrustworthy things are people''s opinions and recognition. We found it''s ridiculous for a man to wear a skirt now; one day, if the demons dominate humans, in order to mock and make a fool of humans, they might order all the man in the countries being ruled by Three-eye Association to wear a skirt without an underwear. After hundreds of years later, those men being ruled by demons and Three-eye Association would feel that it''s glorious and traditional for men to wear a skirt without an underwear. Will you say that those men are not right in skirts?"


    Zhang Tie became speechless about Heller''s answer. Zhang Tie knew that he was never as eloquent as Heller.


    "After this batch of youngsters leaves, tell those residents to not send more people here. I want the palace tree to be a bit quieter!" Zhang Tie let out a sigh, "Being worshipped by these people like a deity, I almost feel being a bit lunatic. Each time I see them when I come back, I will feel uneasy all over!"


    Previously, Zhang Tie wanted those residents to send youngsters here to gain knowledge; however, he underestimated his influence among those people and overestimated his adaptability. Someone would feel funny being worshipped as a deity by people; however, Zhang Tie didn''t feel it funny at all. Castle of Black Iron should be where he relaxed himself; whereas, he became intense inside it.


    "As you wish, Castle Lord!" Heller answered respectfully, "However, now that Castle Lord has come back, I''ve arranged those youngsters to meet you after you finish breakfast!"


    "Just meet me?"


    "Yes, as long as Castle Lord meet those youngsters in the lobby of the palace tree, you would satisfy their biggest hope on the Immortal Mountain."


    "Do I need to say something?"


    "It depends on you!"


    ...


    Zhang Tie''s breakfast was bumper, which included over 10 kinds of fruits, various food and pastries.


    The food in Castle of Black Iron was pretty yummy. The aura in Castle of Black Iron was very affluent. The soil inside was very fertilized and clean. The fruits inside Castle of Black Iron were much better than those outside. Additionally, some fruits and food inside had mutated and tasted more delicious. Therefore, Zhang Tie, after sleeping for 2 days, enjoyed a big meal.


    It was worth mentioning that those residents in Castle of Black Iron were all those who refused to eat human fleshes. After settling down in Castle of Black Iron, although their living materials gradually became affluent, they still felt like vomiting at the sight of flesh due to the dark experience in the Misty Woods. Therefore, besides the warehouse of palace tree which contained fleshes, no other flesh could be found in Castle of Black Iron.


    Eating those super tasty fruits and various outputs such as grains and drinking sweet and limpid aura mountain spring, Zhang Tie also lost his interest in the flesh after returning to Castle of Black Iron.


    Especially the bean curds made of beans, aura mountain spring and fungi on the Immortal Mountain, which was much more delicious than any flesh that Zhang Tie had ever tasted. Zhang Tie spoke high of this food.


    After enjoying a tasty breakfast, Zhang Tie met those youngsters.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, all those youngsters quivered all over due to excitement, male or female; some of them even cried. However, Zhang Tie felt his face as stiff as fossils. He felt embarrassed no matter what he would say; therefore, he just became silent.


    However, in the eyes of those youngsters, Zhang Tie''s performance reflected the majesty and mystery as a deity.


    Soon after these youngsters left respectfully, Edward and Aziz had pushed one thing to the front of Zhang Tie like presenting a treasure...


    At the sight of that thing, Zhang Tie widely opened his mouth...

 963 A Big Surprise

    Chapter 963: A Big Surprise


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Precisely, it was the demon baron being bound to a lot of machines.


    At first glance, it was like a complex wheelchair, an operating table or a recreational facility in the playground. The demon baron''s limbs were fixed on a movable metal support; something like snaffle was inserted into its mouth. As a result, the demon baron couldn''t speak.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, although it couldn''t speak, it widely opened its eyes like seeing a ghost.


    Only after throwing a glance at the demon baron, Zhang Tie had known what it was thinking about.


    The demon baron must have a lot of questions about this space of Castle of Black Iron, these people beside Zhang Tie and the marvelous palace tree. At this moment, it might wonder where it was, how long had passed and why it fell into the hands of strangers.


    ''Whatever, I have no time to explain all this to it. After a couple of days, I will take it to the hall for a bloody sacrifice. I''m afraid that it would be more flurried by then.''


    Zhang Tie had already recovered his original look which demon baron had not seen before. Watching this strange face, the demon baron struggled for a short while as if it wanted to say something; however, Zhang Tie ignored that.


    "Castle Lord, what do you think about this device?" Edward asked out of excitement.


    "Erm..this one...is not bad. It looks good. But is it a bit complex?" Zhang Tie asked as he rubbed his face.


    "It''s not complex, it''s not complex, look..." Edward explained as he spoke to Zhang Tie.


    As Edward casually moved an operating arm on the wheelchair, the demon baron involuntarily stood up with the help of the metal skeleton and metal support. Edward continued to operate it; the demon baron then started to walk with the movable support.


    The demon baron might have never imagined that it could be casually operated by people. It threw a fierce and brutal glance at Edward. Although it wanted to struggle, it had no strength at all.


    "I named this system as exoskeleton semi-automatic prisoning cabin. It''s made of super powerful alloy. Even an earth knight with full battle strength could not damage it in a short while. Due to this system, this demon knight would be harmless as its action capability was forbidden. Additionally, it could be forced to move with the operation of external force, namely, doing exercise. We could also have it make various postures to meet our demands, such as squatting down, sitting or standing..."


    With the operation of Edward, the demon baron made various postures like a marionette. Some postures were even hilarious, making Zhang Tie speechless. ''Such a ruthless earth demon knight deteriorated into a marionette in the hands of Edward, Agan and Aziz. How poor it is! However, now that it has fallen into my hand, it''s destined to have a poor fate. I should not sympathize with any demon.''


    "I posed the idea of exoskeleton semi-automatic prisoning cabin. Edward made it under my supervision. Through proper movement, this injured beast would heal its wounds and recover its physical functions at a faster speed. We can occasionally push it to breathe fresh air for the sake of long-time breeding..." Aziz hurriedly claimed merit for himself.


    ''Breeding?''


    Hearing this word, the demon baron became thrilled once again; however, it was useless.


    "Not bad, not bad!" Zhang Tie had to praise their perfect work. Zhang Tie had not imagined that they could build such an auxiliary instrument for this demon baron. Although it was complex, it was very useful.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s performance, Edward''s and Aziz''s faces turned bright as their life philosophy was to serve Zhang Tie.


    "Have you thought about preventing it from committing suicide by breaking its own heart meridian?" Zhang Tie posed a question.


    Edward revealed a pleasant smile as he pulled up the lower hem of the demon baron''s gown, revealing its lower abdomen, "Look, Castle Lord..."


    In order to cover the demon baron''s butt, they wore a cloth for the demon baron after fiddling with its full body, which was the only "right" that the demon baron could enjoy at this moment...


    The injury near the qi sea at the lower abdomen of the demon baron which was penetrated through by the abyss battle spear two days ago had been cured. Additionally, the injury was beset with a metal patch. There was a plug on the patch just like a bottle stopper.


    They made a special surgery for this demon.


    Zhang Tie prodded the metal bottle stopper on the patch and found it was movable like a piston of a steam engine.


    Marvelous!


    It was equal to that the qi sea at the demon baron''s lower abdomen was always leaking. Therefore, it could not trigger its battle qi at all. Precisely, its physical structure had been destroyed, causing it unable to trigger its battle qi to commit suicide by breaking its own heart meridian.


    The qi sea was a special energy structure. Like surging points over one''s body, qi sea could not be found physiologically on anatomy; however, it indeed existed; additionally, it attached to a specific physiological structure. Being similar to that a person would never light his surging points after his hands were chopped off, if a person''s lower abdomen where the qi sea existed in was penetrated through, he could not trigger his battle qi that formed in the qi sea either.


    Therefore, the earth demon knight completely deteriorated into a marionette being fiddled with by others.


    "Where''s Agan?"


    "Agan is preparing for an exclusive cell for this guy in the dungeon of the palace tree. That cell is firm and it could help it recover..."


    Zhang Tie nodded, "Thanks for your hard work. I will use it after a couple of days. You can take it away now..."


    "Yes, sir, Castle Lord!"


    With the demon baron''s lament and resent, Edward and Aziz pushed it away from the lobby of the palace tree jubilantly.


    ...


    "This guy has not seen light for two days, we should push it outside the palace tree to breath fresh air so that it could recover a bit faster and Castle Lord would better use it!" Aziz told Edward as they walked.


    "Where?"


    "How about the bank of the pool near the small waterfall. It''s abundant in visible light and moisture in the air, which are beneficial to its soma!"


    "Are we walking a dog?"


    "Castle Lord''s thing should be a bit more advanced than a dog anyway!"


    When they talked, they gradually left Zhang Tie''s vision.


    ...


    Watching Edward and Aziz leaving, Zhang Tie smiled and shook his head. After that, he walked towards the small tree.


    The small tree was covered with various fruits.


    This was a big harvest.


    When Old Monster Qi was alive, he didn''t create any value for Zhang Tie. His complete earth chakra had been wasted too. However, when he was dead, Zhang Tie made a bumper harvest.


    Besides the most precious bloodline fruit, there was also an extremely brilliant fruit of brilliance and a fruit of judgment.


    Additionally, the fruits of redemption from the gratitude of gulf shrimps and hairy shellfish were also swaying on the small tree. What made Zhang Tie a bit amazed were the three fruits of redemption from golden uangs which had not appeared for such a long time. It indicated that Paul had found the channel to purchase golden uangs. What a good news!


    Of course, there were always leakless fruits.


    It took Zhang Tie almost 1 week to digest these fruits.


    The fruits of brilliance which contained the full spiritual energy of Old Monster Qi was a big tonic. After taking it, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy increased by 30%.


    After taking that bloodline fruit, Zhang Tie increased 1784 points of bloodline energy.


    An earth knight''s death could really bring him a great achievement. Zhang Tie remembered that when he killed that three-eye knight by accident in Selnes Theater of Operations, his first bloodline fruit only contained 361 points of bloodline energy. This time, after killing an earth knight, he gained 5 times more bloodline energy points which could be used to trigger ancestral bloodlines. This really drove Zhang Tie ecstatic as if he had picked up a treasure.


    There were three fruits of judgment.


    A fruit of judgment evolved Zhang Tie''s super rapid moving skill into master-level rapid moving skill. With the effect of master-level rapid moving skill, Zhang Tie''s flight speed increased by 10%. With the second fruit of judgment, Zhang Tie''s hiding skill promoted to master-level too. With the effect of master-level hiding skill, Zhang Tie could not only hide his qi and integrate himself with the surrounding environment through mimicry, but also control the properties and intensity of his qi freely in an all-round manner. Additionally, the effect of the master-level hiding skill would not decline even in movement.


    What amazed Zhang Tie most was the third fruit of judgment, which was a wholly new one. It contained a new skill that Zhang Tie had not imagined¡ª¡ªpreliminary mirror separation...

 964 Starting the Bloody Sacrifice Furnace Once Again

    Chapter 964: Starting the Bloody Sacrifice Furnace Once Again


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    With the preliminary mirror separation skill, Zhang Tie could have a virtual body in a short period.


    Of course, the so-called mirror separation was not the real incarnation concerning the "Great Wilderness Sutra". It was a mirror image which had some features of Zhang Tie''s original body. The so-called mirror image was like an inverted image in the mirror. Of course, it was a false appearance. However, this false appearance could own some of Zhang Tie''s abilities in a short period.


    God''s rune skill¡ª¡ªmirror separation skill!


    Level¡ª¡ªPreliminary.


    The currently available quantity of mirror images/maximal storage quantity¡ª¡ª1/3.


    The duration of mirror image¡ª¡ª1 hour.


    The features of mirror image¡ª¡ªIn 1 hour, the mirror image would maintain the speed of the original body. Besides, its battle strength, vitality and defensive power could reach LV 10 of its original body. However, it could not use the special skills of its original body. Even though its original body has triggered the body-changing immortal bloodline, its physical features refer to the physical features of its original body.


    This was the introduction of the mirror separation skill in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    From its introduction, Zhang Tie knew that the so-called mirror separation skill was not for battle. Because powerhouses at knight level could ignore the battle strength of LV 10 fighters. The biggest effect of mirror separation skill was that it could be used to entice Zhang Tie''s enemy for the sake of Zhang Tie''s escape or concealment at the critical moment or substitute Zhang Tie for doing something dangerous in certain environments. Under such circumstances, mirror image was definitely a sharp weapon for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie became ecstatic.


    A few days ago, he was admiring the earth demon knight''s weird hiding and separation skill, which made the two earth human knights flurried and even caused Zhang Tie a great loss. Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could master the similar mirror separation skill. By contrast, undoubtedly his mirror separation skill was much more advanced than that of the demon baron.


    ...


    After taking these fruits, Zhang Tie increased his potential battle strength a lot.


    Besides leakless fruits, fruits of redemption and fruits of brilliance, the other fruits on the small tree would instantly take effect the moment they were eaten. As for the bloodline fruit, after taking it, Zhang Tie didn''t trigger his ancestral bloodlines with the 1784 points of bloodline energy for the time being.


    Zhang Tie thought that he should make a good plan on triggering his ancestral bloodlines. After all, he had enough time to do that. But not now, as he had a lot of things to deal with.


    It took Zhang Tie 1 week to digest all the fruits. After that, it took him another 3 days to convert the earth elements that he had absorbed from the demon baron''s earth chakra into a part of his own earth chakra.


    Finally, 90% of the total earth elements of the earth chakra of the demon baron lit 21 scales of Zhang Tie''s earth chakra. If all the earth elements of the earth chakra of the demon baron were absorbed by Zhang Tie, they could light 23 more scales of Zhang Tie''s earth chakra. That was to say, Zhang Tie''s Roc King Sutra required over 16 times more earth elements than that required by the cultivation method of the earth demon knight.


    It took Zhang Tie totally 10 days to digest those fruits and converted those earth elements of the demon baron.


    On the 11th day, Zhang Tie left Castle of Black after making all the preparations and returned to the hall of the hieron in the pyramid.


    ...


    Zhang Tie reappeared in the hall together with the crystal ball which was following him up like a pet under the control of his spiritual energy as a divine dominator.


    Zhang Tie had left this place for 13 days. The bloody sacrifice furnace had already closed up automatically. The hall looked empty and pretty deserted.


    After looking around the hall, Zhang Tie didn''t go to open the bloody sacrifice furnace right away; instead, he touched the crystal ball to open the gate and recover the temperature and air flow in the pyramid.


    When he put his hand on the crystal ball, he had known that he was the only one in the pyramid. All the others had left 10 days ago. Zhang Tie tried to sense the tracing feathers and confirmed that all the human knights had already left the island. Therefore, this place became completely tranquil.


    The magma sea must have been covered by the terrifying abyss hurricane. Even earth knights would have a great difficulty in entering it, not to mention those weaker ones.


    ''They might be thinking about perishing together with the demon baron, I wonder whether the group of Gong Ziyao has gained something.''


    Thinking about this, Zhang Tie leisurely walked out of the gate of the hall. Standing on the top of the main peak of the Weapons Mountain, Zhang Tie looked at the scenery below.


    The middle part of the Weapons Mountain was still enshrouding with mist. These days, in order to fabricate a "false phenomenon" that he had perished together with the demon baron, Zhang Tie had input an order to the pyramid through the crystal ball¡ª¡ª 3 days later, the gate of the hieron would close up; at the same time, the temperature in the pyramid would slowly drop to its lowest limit while the entire space of the pyramid would be vacuum.


    Zhang Tie was concerned that someone was still hiding here, therefore, he decided to frighten them if there really was.


    3 days after he closed the gate of the hall, the temperature in the pyramid dropped abruptly while the air supply was reduced. Even earth knights could not stay here for too long, not to mention others.


    When Zhang Tie walked out of the gate of the hall, the entire pyramid had gradually recovered to normal temperature while the sufficient air flow caused the mists and clouds to roll over the Weapons Mountain once again. Among the surging clouds and mists, Zhang Tie could occasionally see colorful lights flashing by, which were virtual images of secret items on the Weapons Mountain.


    Watching the scenery below and sensing that the entire pyramid had recovered its vitality, Zhang Tie felt pretty pleasant.


    The colorful lights flashing by the mists and clouds made Zhang Tie''s heart pound as he almost couldn''t wait to catch up with them. However, when he remembered what he was going to do, Zhang Tie yielded to the impulse.


    ''The coming days will be long, I will have a lot of time to do that.''


    After standing on the top of the main peak for a short while, Zhang Tie returned to the hall. Like how he did the last time, he started the bloody sacrifice furnace by dropping his blood onto the altar...


    After that, Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy and teleported the demon baron onto the altar while demon fighters constantly appeared in the hall in terms of teams...

 965 You Were that Bear

    Chapter 965: You Were that Bear


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After reappearing on the altar in the hall, the demon baron felt empty for a few seconds. Closely after that, it realized that it had teleported from one space to another; therefore, it started to struggle and twist in the exoskeleton semi-automatic prisoning cabin.


    After its qi sea was broken, it could not trigger its battle qi; additionally, the tendons and bones on its limbs were all damaged. Therefore, the demon baron could only twist its body. As its main body, shoulders, waist and neck were all fixed with metal shackles, how could its weak strength by twisting its body could destroy this set of equipment which was delicately prepared for it by Edward. This set of equipment could even lock up a lion, not to mention a cat. Therefore, his struggles and twists were useless like an ant trying to shake a giant tree.


    Zhang Tie then teleported fighters of the super demon corps whose level ranged from LV 9 to LV 15 one team after another from Castle of Black Iron into the hall. In tidy footsteps, the fighters stood into rows of teams in the spacious hall.


    When he teleported over 1,800 demon fighters from Castle of Black Iron into the hall, Zhang Tie stopped and turned around to watch the demon baron who was still twisting its body painfully like a worm.


    The demon baron widely opened its bloody eyes and goggled at Zhang Tie and the demon fighters which were constantly appearing in the hall.


    What it saw shocked it too much. As for those who saw such a scene for the first time, it was absolutely an immortal manifestation.


    "Wuh wuh wuh wuh..." As a part of "snaffle" deepened into the demon baron''s mouth, it could not speak; instead, it could only utter weird voices while drooling.


    An earth demon knight who could dominate a subcontinent deteriorated into such a poor look.


    Zhang Tie revealed a sneer. Of course, he would not sympathize with a demon knight. However, he realized that the demon baron wanted to say something; therefore, he ran his spiritual energy to open the metal stopper on the mouth of the demon baron...


    "Who are you...who the hell are you..." The demon baron exerted its full strength to roar.


    It had been wanting to roar over 10 days ago.


    "Hehehe, quiet. Nobody cares about you no matter how much you scream!" Zhang Tie sneered, "If you''re finished, you can shut up now!"


    Closely after Zhang Tie''s words, the metal stopper automatically floated up and was going to close up the mouth of the demon baron once again.


    "What do you want...what do you want to do with me..."


    The demon baron uttered the second question.


    Perhaps it had been silent for so long, the moment it got a chance to speak, it would repeat it. Zhang Tie noticed this detail as he couldn''t help bursting out into laughter, "Have you heard about taking gall from a living bear? This was the cruelest thing that humans did to animals before the Catastrophe. I could tell you that from today on you''re my living bear while your gall is your earth chakra..."


    Before the demon baron said anything more, the metal stopper had closed up the demon baron''s mouth, causing it to struggle helplessly.


    It was a very cruel behavior to take gall from a living bear. Zhang Tie browsed the relevant passages and pictures in Hidden Dragon Island. Some bears couldn''t stand being a gall supply machine; therefore, they kept scratching their bellies and chests to commit suicide. Some female bears even killed their babies as they didn''t want their babies to live the same miserable life...


    In the pictures, those living bears being used for supplying gall gazed at the visitors with despairing tears. Even hard-hearted people would feel sad at the sight of them.


    If Zhang Tie was facing a real bear or another animal, he would never mistreat this animal in such a brutal way. However, it was different for a demon. If demons won the holy war, all the humans would deteriorate into the "live bears" of demons. The tens of millions of bloody slaves in the ruling area of Three-eye Association were the "living bears" being used for supply blood by demons and Three-eye Association. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, Zhang Tie didn''t feel guilty about doing this to the demons at all.


    ...


    "I would like to sacrifice enough lives and blood for recovering the severely wounded earth chakra of the demon on the altar."


    After putting the demon baron onto the middle of the altar, Zhang Tie left there as he raised his head to communicate with the joss using his awareness.


    The giant joss overlooked the altar while the eye in the middle of its forehead gradually turned bright while releasing a luster, covering the demon baron.


    "There are many wounds on the demon baron, are you sure to only recover its earth chakra this time?"


    A spiritual wave appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "Yes, only recover its earth chakra, ignore the other injuries on it!"


    "Fine, only recover its earth chakra, ignore the other injuries. The effect of its recovery depends on the quality of the bloody sacrifice. When the bloody sacrifice stops, the effect of the recovery will stop!"


    ...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie confirmed that this hall was not consecrating a deity, but this joss; precisely, the intricate super machine in front of him.


    Since the beginning, Zhang Tie didn''t feel that there was any relation between this joss''s ability and the fantastic deity. All the secrets lay in the body of the joss. This joss was the fruit of a far-ancient civilization, which could be judged from the intricate runes on the bloody sacrifice furnace and the altar.


    This joss was a machine which could convert the energy and vitality between different lives.


    Additionally, a few halls like this one had been discovered in the earth realm. This might be the second bloody sacrifice hall besides the bloody soul temple. Therefore, people didn''t know too much about such a hall, neither did they know that there was such a set of machine in it.


    Without the experience in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie might be frightened by what happened in front of him and would attribute everything he saw to deities and ghosts which were always regarded as a superstition by people. However, with Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie found that the communication between him and the joss was like that between him and Castle of Black Iron. Even the "frequencies" in spiritual communications were similar to each other. In the words of human civilizations before the Catastrophe¡ª¡ªthere was a very advanced artificial intelligence which was still working until today in Castle of Black Iron and this joss. This artificial intelligence could communicate with the outside world with spiritual energy as the media while the blood that the communicator dropped onto the altar could help the artificial intelligence to identify the identity of the communicator.


    Before integrating with Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie also dropped a drop of blood onto it by mistake.


    ...


    After communicating with the joss, Zhang Tie wove his hand while the fighters of super demon corps which had long been waiting in the hall queued up and jumped into the black flames of the bloody sacrifice furnace voluntarily one after another.


    The bloody sacrifice furnace was like a black hole with black flames which constantly devoured demon fighters.


    When the first demon fighter jumped into the bloody sacrifice furnace, it instantly burned up in the black flames and disappeared in the blink of an eye...


    As the demon fighters jumped into the bloody sacrifice furnace one after another voluntarily and "dauntlessly", the eye in the middle of the forehead of the giant joss gradually glowed dazzlingly. The bloody glow slowly covered the demon knight on the altar, causing Zhang Tie unable to see clearly what happened in the glow. He could only sense the powerful vitality and waves from the glow.


    The bloody sacrifice furnace was like a gully which could never be filled. No matter how many demon fighters jumped in, it could always hold them.


    Watching such a stream-lined sacrificial offering, even Zhang Tie''s face turned a bit pale as his heart twitched a couple of times.


    Demon fighters died one after another. Zhang Tie could only grit his teeth to teleport demon fighters out of Castle of Black Iron constantly.


    100...200...500...1,000...1,500...2,000...2417...


    After 4 hours, Zhang Tie''s forehead oozed sweat...


    ''F*ck, what if the demon baron''s earth chakra could not be recovered at the cost of all the demon fighters of the super demon corps? What the hell?''


    Zhang Tie swore inside...


    Finally, when the 2417th demon fighters jumped into the bloody sacrifice furnace, the glow over the altar declined to be a slim green light beam. After staying on the chest of the demon baron for a few seconds, the slim green light beam disappeared. Zhang Tie then raised his hand to stop the rest of demon fighters from jumping into the bloody sacrifice furnace.


    In the entire hall, besides that widely opened bloody sacrifice furnace and the silent demon fighters, it seemed that nothing had happened here. However, 2417 demon fighters above LV 9 who could overthrow a country had disappeared like a broken air bubble, leaving no trace at all.


    The bloody sacrifice rite was icy and cruel.


    At this moment, a spiritual wave appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind sea¡ª¡ª"The earth chakra of the demon baron on the altar has been healed. Due to the particularity of the chakra, it would fully recover in 1 month!"


    After sending such a message to Zhang Tie, the glow in the eye in the middle of the forehead of the joss completely faded away...


    Zhang Tie walked towards the altar. Under the quivering and terrifying eye light of the demon baron, he stretched out his hand and touched the demon baron''s head to seriously sense the current situation of its earth chakra.


    The 90% of earth chakra which had been absorbed by Zhang Tie had been healed; however, its earth chakra had not fully come into being although a mysterious and complete halos of earth chakra had appeared while tremendous earth elements were pouring out of the halos out of the void and gradually mending the earth chakra of the demon baron...


    This process would last for a month...


    It meant that Zhang Tie could only take the "gall" of the demon baron 1 time a month. Plus the interval for digestion, Zhang Tie could promote to an earth knight after offering bloody sacrifice to the joss 15 times in 2 years.


    It was the first time for Zhang Tie to sense the earth knight level which looked unreachable being so close to him...

 966 Zhang Ties Playground

    Chapter 966: Zhang Tie''s Playground


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Time flew by when Zhang Tie was in the pyramid alone.


    As for commoners, it might be too much to take "bear''s gall" once a month, except for Zhang Tie.


    As for a person who could stay 15 years alone in an extremely dull environment, this pyramid was completely a colorful luxurious playground.


    It became a private luxurious playground of Zhang Tie.


    Regardless of others'' opinions, at least Zhang Tie treated this place as a luxurious playground.


    In each interval after he finished his bloody sacrifice and absorbed the recovered earth chakra of the demon baron, Zhang Tie had a lot of things to do.


    As he controlled the hub of the hieron, the lobby which was covered with knight-level battle puppets became Zhang Tie''s favorite place. This lobby also compensated for the biggest regret of Zhang Tie since he promoted to a black iron knight¡ª¡ªlacking training partners.


    As for Zhang Tie who had been used to trouble-reappearance situations, this was barely difficult or painful.


    Before promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie always killed demons and mutated beasts in trouble-reappearance situations so as to constantly improve his battle skills. Each time, he could gain the harshest practice in the bloodiest and most realistic environment with the best training partners. It could be said that Zhang Tie couldn''t have become so powerful without the simulated combats with demons and mutated beasts in trouble-reappearance situations.


    However, after promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie''s heyday in trouble-reappearance situations finally came to an end.


    Due to an incomprehensible reason, the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree could not produce any fruits being related to demon knights. Under this circumstance, by killing demon knights, he would not gain any trouble-reappearance fruits. Additionally, since he promoted to a knight, Zhang Tie had not killed any knight-level mutated beast on the earth surface. As a result, his training partners in the trouble-reappearance situation deteriorated into weaker soldiers.


    As a knight, it was meaningless for him to fight those weak soldiers below knight-level except for consuming his battle qi.


    Therefore, after promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie barely entered trouble-reappearance situations given its poor effect in improving his battle strength.


    With the manipulation of the crystal ball, Zhang Tie could freely activate those battle puppets in the lobby. Therefore, the lobby became another trouble-reappearance situation in the reality.


    Through the crystal ball, Zhang Tie could freely activate battle puppets as many as possible, one or two. However, Zhang Tie made an extremely mad choice¡ª¡ªeach time he entered the lobby, he would activate all the battle puppets at the same time. As a result, he would be beset by a lot of knight-level battle puppets.


    Such a choice was extremely mad even for a real earth knight, not to mention a black iron knight. However, Zhang Tie did it.


    As Zhang Tie could stop their strikes at any time and had a strong anti-striking ability, plus his preliminary recovery body, even though he was faintly injured, he would recover in a couple of days. It was no big deal. What was more important was that his protective battle qi could pass the shocks from the endless strikes onto Zhang Tie''s body. It was the best catalyzer of iron-body fruits.


    Under such an extreme circumstance, Zhang Tie could practice his battle skills, improving his battle strength and taking iron-body fruits after each practice. Why not do it? Compared to the benefits, being daily exhausted and suffering minor injuries were no big deal.


    With so many battle puppets as his training partners, Zhang Tie''s battle skills and anti-striking ability almost improved everyday; especially the battle skills of the "Fire Dragon Sutra" whose essence was gradually mastered by Zhang Tie.


    After finishing the first bloody sacrifice, Zhang Tie absorbed the earth chakra of the demon baron for the second time and advanced to 2 changes black iron realm at once.


    When Zhang Tie lit the 72nd scale of his earth chakra, as he had imagined, the king roc sutra brought him another all-around improvement. As a result, Zhang Tie''s abilities surged by 10% in all aspects, which indicated that Zhang Tie''s battle strength had reached a new stage.


    What a terrifying cultivation speed!


    As for the demon baron, after its earth chakra was destroyed and absorbed by Zhang Tie in a few days, it recovered its earth chakra through bloody sacrifice rite under the control of Zhang Tie.


    From then on, the demon baron officially entered the hopeless yet painful circulation of "taking gall from a living bear".


    When Zhang Tie was a 1 change black iron knight, he could stand about 4 hours in the lobby while being constantly besieged by so many knight-level battle puppets; he could make increasingly breakthroughs and stand a few more minutes day after day. However, after promoting to 2 changes black iron realm, Zhang Tie could stand over 5 hours in the lobby at once.


    During the period when Zhang Tie stayed in the pyramid, he spent most of his time in fighting those battle puppets in the lobby. Besides exhaustive battle everyday, Zhang Tie would search over those rooms in the palace complex one after another leisurely like seeking for treasures in a maze.


    When he came here for the first time, Zhang Tie didn''t pay much attention to those rooms due to limited time; however, now, he had enough time; therefore, Zhang Tie would search one or two rooms a day when he was free. At such a frequency, he could search over 60 rooms in a month, which was a small part of the palace complex.


    Actually, although many rooms in the palace complex had been searched over without leaving any valuables, Zhang Tie still found some bizarre items in some rooms where there were puppet guardians and had not been searched. He then teleported all of these items into Castle of Black Iron...


    In the eyes of a master artisan, even though those items didn''t have practical functions, they were at least priceless art treasures in far-ancient times; especially the workmanship and raw materials of those items, which were utterly different than that in this age and were out of Zhang Tie''s knowledge. Any of these items might indicate enormous wealth for commoners. They were top antiques. As for Zhang Tie who used to be frugal, if not take such enormous wealth by hand, he was committing a crime.


    It was worth mentioning that Zhang Tie spared some time to sort and count those items in the Xuanwu Secret Warehouse of Bloody Soul Temple. Besides gold, silver and jewelry, there were also many earth elements and water elements inside it. Most of them were Old Monster Qi''s vials of medicaments; especially those in the 40-50 terrines, which was a terrifying bloody soul poison being formulated according to the secret method in Bloody Soul Temple. Any terrine of the bloody soul poison could deteriorate a Class A city in Taixia Country into a barren land. Old Monster Qi prepared so many terrines of bloody soul poison over the past years definitely out of malicious intentions.


    At the sight of those items, Zhang Tie sighed that he really killed Old Monster Qi timely. If Old Monster Qi used the bloody soul poison, it would definitely cause a disaster across Taixia Country at the cost of numerous lives.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie saw the real complete version of "soul forbidden skill" of bloody soul temple in the jade box of the Xuanxu Secret Warehouse. By contrast, the version that Zhang Tie gained in Waii subcontinent only contained 1/2 of the total contents of the real complete version. The complete version of "soul forbidden skill" included more secret methods of bloody soul temple such as a precious secret method called "blood and spiritual energy cultivation sutra" and the manufacturing methods of insidious weapons such as bloody soul driller on guts, bloody soul poison and various poisons. The complete version of "soul forbidden skill" was almost like a classic of poisons. Most of the manufacturing methods and usages in this book were concerned with the blood and spiritual energy of animals and humans. It was a bizarre yet extremely powerful book.


    Zhang Tie guessed that perhaps the source of the "soul forbidden skill" that he gained in Waii Subcontinent was in the hand of Old Monster Qi. Besides this real complete version, all the other versions of "soul forbidden skill" were a part of duplicates of this book. The real version was always in the hand of Old Monster Qi. Because Old Monster Qi was a member of Three-eye Association, the duplicates of the complete version of "soul forbidden skill" could appear in other Three-eye Association clans.


    The complete version of "soul forbidden skill" was very precious. Because many secret methods in this book could be used to screw knights. Although those secret methods in the "soul forbidden skill" that Zhang Tie cultivated didn''t have mistakes, through comparison, Zhang Tie found that many key contents had been deleted in his version. It seemed that those who duplicated the secret methods held back a trick or two.


    Even Old Monster Qi might not have imagined that his orthodox "soul forbidden skill" could finally be defeated by Zhang Tie who cultivated the pirated version. As a result, Old Monster Qi''s spiritual energy was devoured by the secret method, causing him to be easily killed by a black iron knight.


    Besides, Zhang Tie aimed at those pearls of secret items on the Weapons Mountain...


    Zhang Tie spent over 2 months to search over those rooms in the palace complex. After that, besides improving his battle strength in the lobby, Zhang Tie spent most of his time in seeking for treasures over the Weapons Mountain, which was a real treasure vault...


    Now that he had entered the treasure mountain, how could he just return empty-handed?

 967 Battle Wolf

    In Hua legends, there were always such plots¡ª¡ªA marvelous sharp weapon was thrown into a well. Many years later, it suddenly turned into light or a dragon and flew away; After defeating some fierce beasts or animals, unrivaled figures gained marvelous sharp weapons.


    There were so many similar legends. Zhang Tie had heard about them from his parents or Donder when he was young in Blackhot City. Many similar legends were even recorded in ancient Hua classics.


    Take this story in the "History of the Jin Dynasty" as an instance: Zhang Hua saw a sword qi in Fengcheng City; he then promoted Lei Huan as the mayor of Fengcheng City. Lei Huan excavated two swords, one for Zhang Hua, the other for himself. After Zhang Hua passed away, Lei Huan carried the two swords with him. When he was passing the Yanpingjin Lake, the two swords sprung out of his waist sides and fell into the lake. Closely after that, they turned into 2 dragons and disappeared into the lake.


    People even made a poem for this event as a memory¡ª¡ªTwo dragon swords were like snowflake and lotus flower; they could only stay with each other for the time being when they were swords; however, when they became dragons, they would reunite forever.


    Zhang Tie remembered this story clearly because of Zhang Hua, one of the main character in this story, who was also an ancestor of Zhang Clan thousands of years ago.


    Besides, Zhang Tie remembered another story: in ancient times, an unrivaled general deepened into the mountain to learn battle skills when he was young. He yielded a huge boa in a mountain cave, which then became a long spear. Finally, the famous general conquered the world with that long spear and made illustrious military exploits for Hua people.


    When Zhang Tie heard these stories for the first time, he thought they were just legends; however, after coming to the pyramid and witnessing the miraculous silver secret items and the virtual images of secret items, he started to consider that those Hua legends might be the process of how ancient Hua people gained silver secret items.


    Those dragons, boas, animals or fierce beasts were all virtual images of silver secret items. The processes that those ancient Hua people gained miraculous sharp weapons were similar to that of pursuing silver secret items¡ª¡ªsword qi, excavation, mountain cave¡ª¡ªall these were classic and realistic elements.


    Such a discovery drove Zhang Tie a bit thrilled. Zhang Tie faintly felt that some secrets about Hua history might be contained in those allusions and legends such as giants Ju Wuba and Weng Zhong becoming Hua generals and weapons becoming animals. The war between Hua people and demons and demons'' agents among people might have been undergoing since far-ancient time.


    Facing the weapons mountain, being stimulated by these legends, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded.


    Besides daily combat with those battle puppets in the lobby, Zhang Tie would spare some time to take a look in the Weapons Mountain after recovering his body.


    It was not that easy for him to gain a silver secret item.


    It took nearly 30 human knights 3 days to merely gain 3 silver secret items. On average, it might take a knight 30 days'' endless work to gain a silver secret item...


    Additionally, as many silver secret items had been taken away by people, very few silver secret items were left on the Weapons Mountain. It might take him a long time to gain a silver secret item. If all the silver secret items had been taken away, Zhang Tie would not gain one silver secret item anymore no matter how long he would spend in finding them.


    Of course, Zhang Tie would not just seek for silver secret items over the Weapons Mountain during the intervals that the demon baron recovered its earth chakra. Even though Zhang Tie was longing for a silver secret item, he knew that he should depend on himself more than an auxiliary weapon. Actually, silver secret item was just an auxiliary weapon which could improve a knight''s battle strength; even alter the battle situation in many cases. However, what counted most was the knight''s own battle strength.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie would fight those undying battle puppets in the lobby everyday until he was exhausted, his protective battle qi collapsed, even with some wounds. If not having fought those battle puppets, Zhang Tie would never go to the Weapons Mountain on that day.


    In this pyramid, there were three valuable places: first, the bloody sacrifice hall, where Zhang Tie could form his earth chakra by taking gall from a living bear; second, the lobby, where Zhang Tie could improve his battle skills and battle strength rapidly; third, the Weapons Mountain where Zhang Tie could gain silver secret items.


    In the first 3 months since Zhang Tie entered the pyramid, Zhang Tie had seen some virtual images of silver secret items in the far; pitifully, the virtual images of silver secret items flew too fast; plus the long distance, even though Zhang Tie had activated his Kuafu bloodline, he was still much slower than them. The virtual images would always disappear in front of Zhang Tie, causing him helpless.


    Finally, in the 4th month since he entered the pyramid, after Zhang Tie promoted to 3 changes black iron realm, he finally gained his first silver secret item in Weapons Mountain.


    This time, that virtual image of the silver secret item was not far from him. Zhang Tie became spirited as he hurriedly chased after it at his full efforts. Finally, he saw a fierce beast which was similar to a wild wolf yet bigger than a wild wolf. With glow, after flying over some hillsides, it finally lurked in a pearl of the secret item in a cluster of crystals.


    Zhang Tie became thrilled.


    Now that he had seen where it lurked in, of course, he would not give it up.


    In the next 2 days, Zhang Tie exerted his full efforts to break that pearl of the secret item and gained his first silver secret item on the Weapons Mountain. He didn''t even fight those battle puppets in the lobby during this period.


    When the inner layer of the pearl of a secret item was exposed, a glow rushed into the sky from the core of the peal of the secret item, which looked like a bizarre placenta.


    After breaking the inner layer, Zhang Tie saw the virtual image of the pearl of a secret item. Zhang Tie then bit his finger and dropped his blood onto the forehead of the virtual image. Closely after that, the wild wolf-like fierce beast turned into a grim, long saber in Zhang Tie''s hand among four brilliant elements.


    Holding the long saber, Zhang Tie felt integrating with the long saber. The moment he wove the long saber, a red fierce wild beast being composed of his battle qi had flown out of his long saber. Like a spiritual spirit of wind, it loomed in the mountain as fast as lightning bolts. Finally, it widely opened its mouth and charged at a cluster of crystals over 100 m away. With a loud bang, the greater part of the cluster of crystals was destroyed while the saber qi radiated in all directions.


    There were evident corrosive destructions in the cluster of crystals.


    It was just a casual strike of this silver secret item. Zhang Tie had just injected some of his battle qi into it. However, its power was amazing. Additionally, this saber''s strike was attached to a strong corrosive damage, making it more destructive.


    "Hahaha, I will call you battle wolf from now on!" Zhang Tie burst into laughter.


    After being named, the battle wolf disappeared with its strong brilliance in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    At the same time, a miniature virtual image of battle wolf started to swim like a fish in Zhang Tie''s qi sea around that hot sun. It seemed to enjoy the battle qi luster from the hot sun very much.


    Feeling the battle wolf swimming and jumping rapidly in his qi sea, Zhang Tie felt that this silver secret item was not only enjoying but cheering jubilantly.


    ''Is that the feeling of carrying a silver secret item with me?''


    Zhang Tie touched his lower abdomen. If not introspect it using his spiritual energy, Zhang Tie could almost not sense that battle wolf in his qi sea. However, the moment he ran his spiritual energy, the battle wolf would appear in his hand as fast as a lightning bolt along his battle qi circular route like a fish swimming into a river from the sea.


    Zhang Tie tried one time.


    In the brilliant light, the four elements surged into the virtual image out of the air. Only in 5-6 seconds, Zhang Tie had felt that the object in his hand was growing bigger like an inflated balloon and finally became a real, grim and sharp "battle wolf".


    The material entity of silver secret item could remain unchanged thousands of years as long its owner was still alive. If its owner died, it might turn into the virtual image of the secret item and escape away. This might explain how a sword changes into a dragon.


    The biggest benefit for a silver secret item to integrate with its owner was portable. It would never be lost anymore. Whenever its owner wanted to use it, he could summon it right away. However, it had a weakness, namely, the process of summoning it was too eye-catching, It would take the virtual image of the secret item a few seconds to turn into a material entity, during which period, some emergencies might happen.


    Given that weakness, Zhang Tie didn''t integrate that shield which he gained from the demon general into his qi sea; instead, he put it in his portable space-teleportation equipment¡ª¡ªthe shield was used to defend and respond to emergencies, which required high responsive speed. If he integrated it into his qi sea, it would take him a few seconds to summon it in emergencies. If he was facing an extremely powerful enemy, he might have been killed before it turned into the material entity.


    After acquiring the first silver secret item in Weapons Mountain, Zhang Tie was in a pretty good mood.


    In the next 2 months, Zhang Tie didn''t acquire any more silver secret item in Weapons Mountain. However, Zhang Tie still promoted to 4 changes black iron realm smoothly. Closely after that, the small tree underwent an unexpected change...

 968 Price and Achievements

    Chapter 968: Price and Achievements


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After cultivating in the pyramid for almost half a year, Zhang Tie''s cultivation base advanced by leaps and bounds. He had made great improvements in the battle skills of "Fire Dragon Sutra" and forming his earth chakra.


    Half a year ago, Zhang Tie had just reached 1 change black iron realm; however, he had already entered the 4 changes black iron realm now.


    Half a year ago, Zhang Tie could only simulate the battle skills of "Fire Dragon Sutra" according to the powerful emperor-level classic "King Roc Sutra"; however, now, Zhang Tie had been able to combine his gnosis with the deduction of those powerful secret battle skills such as "Fire Dragon Heavens Burning Spear Battle Skill", "Big Sun Fire Dragon Palm Skill" and "Fire Dragon Light Concealment Skill", which were very powerful.


    Zhang Tie gradually mastered the essence of those secret battle skills of "Fire Dragon Sutra".


    "Fire Dragon Golden Body" was a secret skill of "Fire Dragon Sutra" which was used to improve one''s protective battle qi and body defensive capability. Over the past half a year, Zhang Tie practiced cultivation every day and made the fastest progress in "Fire Dragon Golden Body" while being besieged by so many battle puppets.


    Although "Fire Dragon Golden Body" was a protective secret skill of "Fire Dragon Sutra", it was relatively independent compared to "Fire Dragon Heavens Burning Spear Battle Skill" and "Big Sun Fire Dragon Palm Skill", etc.. The cultivation of "Fire Dragon Golden Body" posed no special requirement on the battle qi of "Fire Dragon Sutra". Any knight who had lit all of his or her surging points could cultivate this secret skill.


    When Zhang Tie started to cultivate "Fire Dragon Golden Body", he directly used his king roc battle qi to nourish and warm up his surging points. The effect was unimaginably good.


    Additionally, the process of cultivating "Fire Dragon Golden Body" was similar to that of gaining iron-body fruits, which both emphasized on strengthening his defensive capability through bearing strikes. Therefore, after combining the effect of iron-body fruits; especially the firm foundation that Zhang Tie laid in the early stage, Zhang Tie made progress by leaps and bounds in cultivating "Fire Dragon Golden Body".


    Over the past half a year, Zhang Tie had been used to eating one iron-body fruit every day to strengthen his body defensive capability. Sometimes, if the battle puppets'' strikes on that day could not stimulate the production of an iron-body fruit, Zhang Tie would enter Castle of Black Iron and continue to practice his battle skills under the waterfall of the immortal mountain while stimulating the production of the iron-body fruit on that day.


    After taking iron-body fruits one after another and making rapid progress in the battle skill "Fire Dragon Golden Body", Zhang Tie felt the strikes of battle puppets in the lobby becoming lighter and less destructive. Meanwhile, he suffered fewer injuries from the same strikes.


    One day, when Zhang Tie returned to Castle of Black Iron in an extremely fatigued state, the small tree was still there; however, no iron-body fruit could be seen on it.


    Zhang Tie even rubbed his eyes as he thought that his eyes had deceived him. However, after circling around the small tree, he indeed didn''t find any iron-body fruit on it.


    ''What''s wrong?''


    The battle today was very fierce.


    Today was a symbolic milestone for Zhang Tie because he stayed in the lobby for over 10 hours for the first time. Compared to when he came to the pyramid at the beginning, this was already a great progress.


    In the 10 hours, he bore ceaseless strikes of so many battle puppets. All the 31-layer protective battle qi that he formed through cultivating "Fire Dragon Golden Body" collapsed. He had suffered bone fractures in at least 16 places over his body. Besides, his guts were greatly shocked. Until he spurted out blood did he stop all the battle puppets with bloody eyes through his crystal ball. He panted over half an hour and drank a lot of all-purpose medicament before trudging out of the lobby.


    When he moved out of the lobby, he had been wet all over by sweat like being scooped out of the water. Even his footprints contained his sweat...


    Then, Zhang Tie slowly went up the main peak from a strange path with a fluke mind while gradually recovering his body. After entering the hall on the top of the main peak of Weapons Mountain, Zhang Tie returned to Castle of Black Iron.


    If he was lucky enough, he might meet a virtual image of the silver secret item when he went up the mountain. Therefore, he would go up and down the mountain everyday to seek for treasures.


    Over the past half a year, Zhang Tie had been used to treat the hall on the top of the main peak of Weapons Mountain as his portal from Castle of Black Iron to this world.


    Pitifully, since he gained the "Battle Wolf", Zhang Tie had hard luck in recent two months, except for seeing two virtual images of secret items from afar.


    That day, besides having not seen any virtual image of the secret item, Zhang Tie didn''t even see any iron-body fruit on the small tree.


    Although each iron-body fruit required more striking strength than the earlier one, Zhang Tie was pretty sure that the strikes and harms today could stimulate the production of an iron-body fruit.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie felt strange and depressed.


    The moment he wanted to ask Heller about the reason, Heller had already appeared below the high platform of the small tree as if he had known that Zhang Tie would like to ask him about that.


    "Heller, what''s wrong? There should be an iron-body fruit today, but I don''t see it!"


    "Castle Lord, do you remember what I told you when you asked me why the small tree could not produce any fruit of demon knights?"


    "What?" Zhang Tie became confused.


    "Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree is the reflection of rules. It''s not almighty. Its abilities were limited according to rules. It could not create things out of its limits!" Heller watched Zhang Tie as he continued steadily, "Castle Lord, actually, you''ve already taken the last iron-body fruit that this small tree could produce yesterday!"


    "What, last one?" Zhang Tie was shocked...


    "Yes, last one!" Heller nodded, "Over the past half a year, Castle Lord has made progress by leaps and bounds. You have taken so many iron-body fruits; especially after cultivating the "Fire Dragon Golden Body", Castle Lord''s anti-striking capability and defensive capability have surpassed the upper limits that could be brought by iron-body fruits. Therefore, you will not make any progress with iron-body fruits anymore. That''s why the small tree would not provide iron-body fruits to Castle Lord from today on!"


    After hearing Heller''s explanation, Zhang Tie felt more complex. He didn''t know whether he should be happy or sad about this news.


    It should be a pleasure for him to grow more powerful; however, Zhang Tie felt empty and melancholy as he could not eat the familiar fruit anymore.


    Likewise, your parents would finally pass away and your friends would finally leave you. Starting with Blackhot City, this small tree had been accompanying Zhang Tie like his best friend and relative. It didn''t abandon him at any critical moment; instead, it helped him grow up and tide over all sorts of difficulties with marvelous fruits. Zhang Tie had not imagined that the small tree could not catch up with his progress when his ability broke through an upper limit. He had not imagined that those familiar fruits would leave him one day.


    Iron-body fruits and leakless fruits laid a solid foundation for Zhang Tie. He had not imagined that the iron-body fruit that he ate yesterday was the last one in his life. If he had long known it, he would never take that iron-body fruit. He would leave it on the tree as a souvenir of the experience between him and the small tree.


    Zhang Tie felt complex as he stroked the small tree''s trunk, twigs and leaves and said, "Thank you..."


    The leaves of the small tree rustled as if they were responding to Zhang Tie.


    After stroking the small tree silently for a short while, Zhang Tie turned around and asked Heller, "Whether other fruits such as leakless fruit would run out too?"


    Now that iron-body fruits had run out, leakless fruits which almost appeared at the same time with iron-body fruit and were closely related to his physical functions might also reach the upper limit with his gradually increasing overall strength.


    Since he promoted to a black iron knight, he had sensed that leakless fruit was gradually inneffective to him. This was the premonition of the disappearance of this fruit.


    "Castle Lord, after you form emperor-level earth chakra and promote to an earth knight, the energy inside your body would stop leaking. By then, the small tree would stop producing leakless fruits!"


    Heller''s answer was within Zhang Tie''s expectation.


    Zhang Tie let out a long sigh...


    ...


    After half an hour, Zhang Tie immersed himself into an aura warm spring in the immortal mountain and slowly nourished his body and recovered his fatigueness.


    There was some herbal medicine in the warm spring, which was necessary materials for building "Fire Dragon Golden Body". When Zhang Tie traversed across the world, he sowed many plant seeds in Castle of Black Iron. Those herbal medicines grew well in Castle of Black Iron; plus the special aura warm spring in the immortal mountain, Zhang Tie felt very convenient for recovering his injuries and building his "Fire Dragon Golden Body".


    In the mist of the warm spring, Zhang Tie was swallowing liquor of fiery-flame lotus seeds and eating the soft fiery-flame lotus seeds.


    Although being in the warm spring, Zhang Tie felt pretty cold inside after taking those fiery-flame lotus seeds; especially his eyes. Warm outside and cold inside, how comfortable it was.


    ''From then on, I have to depend on myself!''


    When he thought about the missing iron-body fruits, Zhang Tie''s chest undulated unconsciously.


    After coming to the hieron, Zhang Tie had taken fiery-flame lotus seeds for over half a year. Zhang Tie didn''t remember how many fiery-flame lotus seeds had he taken. He just regarded it as snacks. As long as he was free, he would chew them.


    According to Heller, Zhang Tie had almost taken all the 1149 fiery-flame lotus seeds which had been stockpiled in Castle of Black Iron over these years.


    After eating so many fiery-flame lotus seeds, Zhang Tie felt his eyes turning increasingly brighter with an increasingly better vision. He could see farther and farther...


    When he ate fiery-flame lotus seeds today, Zhang Tie''s eyes felt a bit different than before. As the surging points over his eye sockets felt pretty cold. It seemed that something was jumping and was going to erupt from the surging points.


    Zhang Tie didn''t pay attention to it. Whatever, those fiery-flame lotus seeds were harmless. He just drunk a bit more liquor of fiery-flame lotus seeds today. After taking all the liquor and lotus seeds, he gradually felt drunk. He then fell asleep comfortably in the warm spring with a bit fatigueness...


    In a daze, Zhang Tie felt his eyes shocking. Closely after that, he saw colorful blazes as if there were two colorful windows in the sky.


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes and felt that the world was much more colorful than before...


    All the flowing nutrients and moisture that trunks absorbed from underground in the distance were all presented in his eyes.


    Everything became transparent...


    There was no block in front of his eyes anymore. Everything was redefined.


    After being immersed in such a realm for quite a long while, Zhang Tie became startled abruptly while all the abnormal phenomena disappeared in a split second.


    ''Is it an illusion?'' When Zhang Tie gazed at that tree in the far, the tree became transparent once again while the nutrients and moisture circulation routes reappeared in Zhang Tie''s eyes like a huge net.


    Zhang Tie looked at the ground while the groundwater routes appeared in his eyes clearly too.


    ''It''s not an illusion!''


    ''But a higher realm of color temperatures which was mentioned by Heller...''


    Substances had different and clearly hierarchical color temperatures.


    After staying in the warm spring for a short while, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled something. With a sudden shriek, he sprung out of the warm spring and left Castle of Black Iron naked and reappeared in the bloody sacrifice hall on the top of the main peak of the Weapons Mountain.


    Zhang Tie instantly rushed out of the bloody sacrifice hall and came to a cluster of crystals on the top of the main peak, which contained some pearls of secret items.


    ...


    Only after a few minutes, Zhang Tie suddenly roared like a wild wolf who had taken too many viagra due to extreme excitement.


    "F*ck, they''re all mine; f*ck, they''re all mine; I''m rich; f*ck, I''m rich..."


    That day, a naked guy jumped and screamed in a cluster of crystals in Weapons Mountain like being driven mad...

 969 Promoting to an Earth Knight I

    On the evening of December 17th, the 902th year of Black Iron Calendar...


    Although Zhang Tie had not contacted the outside world for a long time and could not sense time elapse through daily repetitive cultivation, he could still see the precise time of the outside world through the delicate table clock in the lobby of the palace tree of Castle of Black Iron which was made by Edward.


    This table clock was made according to Zhang Tie''s requests purely by hand. Higher than 1 m, the purple-red metal table clock was a perfect artwork. Its elegance and qi field matched the palace tree pretty well.


    The time in Castle of Black Iron was synchronous with that of the outside world, daytime or evening. Zhang Tie especially told Edward to make such a table clock and put it in the lobby of the palace tree one year ago in case that he forgot the time in the outside world. It could remind him that many people and many things in the outside world were waiting for him even though he was in the pyramid and the Castle of Black Iron.


    When in cultivation, time flew, Zhang Tie was even worried that he would forget the disputes in the outside world.


    4 months ago, Zhang Tie had broken through the encirclement of the battle puppets in the lobby alone. It was the first time for him to break through the lobby and pass by it steadily by foot alone.


    It was his first time to stop the strikes of those battle puppets without using the crystal ball since he entered the pyramid.


    Zhang Tie had entered the 9 changes black iron realm by then.


    The higher his realm was, the more reassured was Zhang Tie.


    Actually, since he reached the 6 changes black iron realm, Zhang Tie had purposefully slowed down his speed in absorbing the earth chakra of the demon baron by extending the frequency of one time per month to one time per 1.5-2 months...


    This spared more time and opportunities for Zhang Tie to lay his foundation. He did everything in an unflurried way. In each realm, Zhang Tie would have a different and deeper gnosis about the over strengths of knights.


    The lobby, which was covered with battle puppets, was his best training field. The training field matched Zhang Tie''s schedule of absorbing the earth chakra of the demon baron pretty well.


    When he advanced to the 5 changes black iron realm, in order to coordinate with the cultivation of "Fire Dragon Heavens Burning Spear Battle Skill", the most powerful battle skill of "Fire Dragon Sutra", Zhang Tie consumed 67 points of bloodline energy to activate his ancestral bloodline "spear affinity".


    It was a fundamental ancestral bloodline being similar to sword affinity. After activating this ancestral bloodline, Zhang Tie''s "Fire Dragon Heavens Burning Spear Battle Skill" entered a higher realm like fish in water.


    After deducting 67 points of bloodline energy, Zhang Tie still had 1717 points of bloodline energy left.


    The energy points brought by the bloodline fruit which could activate ancestral bloodlines were very precious; therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t casually squander them.


    ''Although I''m going to promote to an earth knight soon, I lack experience in fighting earth knights, not to mention the experience in fighting shadow knights. As the old saying goes, genuine knowledge comes from practice.'' Zhang Tie kept these energy points because he didn''t know which bloodlines to activate before having experience in fighting earth knights even shadow knights after promoting to an earth knight.


    By then, he could further fix his shortages or play his strong points when fighting earth knights or shadow knights; namely, he could maximize the value of the bloodline fruit.


    Out of such a rigorous consideration, Zhang Tie only used 67 energy points of this bloodline fruit.


    In September, Zhang Tie finished the last round of absorption of the demon baron''s earth chakra.


    After that, Zhang Tie didn''t recover the demon baron''s earth chakra anymore; instead, he directly ignored it.


    Over the past 3 months, Zhang Tie broke through the lobby of battle puppets time and time again in an increasingly shorter time.


    Since October, Zhang Tie started to wander in the Weapons Mountain once again and broke the last pearls which contained silver secret items over there. Till then, the entire Weapons Mountain was ransacked by Zhang Tie.


    By late November, Zhang Tie completely relaxed himself. He spent much time in sleeping, bathing and traveling in the immortal mountain or incarnating into the little black beetle to experience the lives of those residents in Castle of Black Iron; occasionally, he would spend 2 days in digging a beautiful pearl of secret item out of the soil in Weapons Mountain before teleporting it into the portable Xuanwu Secret Warehouse of Bloody Soul Temple as a collection.


    Through such an adjustment, Zhang Tie''s overall condition reached its peak in December.


    On the evening of December 13, according to Heller''s suggestion, Zhang Tie didn''t complete this round of promotion in the pyramid for the time being; instead, he left the palace tree for the top of the main peak of the immortal mountain and started the last step for him to promote to an earth knight...


    4 days passed in the blink of an eye, on the evening of December 17, Heller walked out of the palace tree and came to the hillside. Raising his head, he watched the top of the main peak being covered with white snow with an eager look.


    Edward, Aziz and Agan had also arrived behind Heller. They were also looking at the top of the main peak of the immortal mountain in the distance.


    "Castle Lord should promote to an earth knight today..." Aziz asked Heller with a concerned look.


    "Yes, it should be tonight..."


    "Earth knight. I''m really happy for him..." Edward said sincerely.


    Edward, Aziz and Heller who were most unlike servants became thrilled; only Agan twiddled with his fingers with a shameful look, "I spent the least efforts this time, I only made a cell..."


    "Don''t worry, you will have chances!" Heller comforted Agan as he turned around to watch the top of the main peak of the immortal mountain while a light flashed across his eyes, "It will be soon..."


    ...


    On the top of the main peak, Zhang Tie filled the last complex triangular pattern of the earth chakra of King Roc Sutra with earth elements...


    ...


    At the same time, a powerful energy wave rose up from the top of the main peak and swept over the entire space of Castle of Black Iron in a split second.


    At the same moment, all the residents in Castle of Black Iron felt flurried, no matter what they were doing...


    Therefore, all of them stopped what they were doing and walked out of their rooms, watching the immortal mountain in the far...

 970 The Raging Tide

    Chapter 970: The Raging Tide


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The moment the last pattern on the earth chakra of King Roc Sutra was filled with earth elements, the entire earth chakra of Zhang Tie had uttered a thunder-like sound, "Ka..."


    The blare spread over all the surging points of Zhang Tie and resonated all the surging points. At the same time, Zhang Tie''s body quivered a second.


    Closely after this blare, a strong wave swept over the entire space of Castle of Black Iron centered by Zhang Tie. As a result, all the living beings in this space sensed the terrifying strength from the top of the main peak of the immortal mountain, humans or animals.


    This blare was similar to that when the last component of a set of a powerful machine was assembled.


    After the last component was assembled, the entire earth chakra rocked a bit before radiating a dazzling golden light and starting to rotate slowly...


    The earth chakra and the black iron chakra then started to rotate in a coordinated way like two gears of a machine, one outside, one inside.


    As the earth chakra started to rotate, a wholly new and strong strength was spread over Zhang Tie from the chakra in terms of waves. It started to reorganize Zhang Tie''s strength system. Zhang Tie felt being pushed by an overwhelming strength while his awareness started to rise like a rocket physically and spiritually...


    ...


    Under the gaze of everyone else, an overbearing virtual image of golden king roc started to appear on the top of the main peak of the immortal mountain in Castle of Black Iron.


    It was a 4-wing king roc. Over its golden body, each feather was radiating brilliant golden light like gold. Its eyes were as hot as two suns. When they opened and closed, they were like sunrise and sunset. The moment the two pairs of wings stretched out, the entire immortal mountain was covered under it.


    With another blare "Ka...", the entire Castle of Black Iron rocked again while everybody found it was uttered by the king roc.


    When the virtual image of king roc flapped its wings for the first time, it rushed into the heavens right away. When it flapped its wings for the second time, its entire virtual image started to fly across Castle of Black Iron like the ruler of the sky while its huge shadow covered the land below...


    As for this virtual image, Castle of Black Iron was so small that the king roc could fly across this space several rounds as fast as lightning bolts only by flapping its wings one time...


    Many residents in Castle of Black Iron were shocked by this scene. When the virtual image of king roc covered the land, an old man in a robe screamed, "It''s the incarnation of the God...". Closely after him, all the others started to kneel down towards this enormous virtual image piously.


    These people in Castle of Black Iron were all commoners from Waii Subcontinent. There was no earth knight across the Waii Subcontinent. Of course, they didn''t know about the virtual images of earth knights. Even if some of them knew that, they must have not witnessed the abnormal phenomenon when the emperor-level virtual image appeared in the sky. Facing such a scene, all of them could only attribute everything in front of them to their God.


    "Ka...", with another blare, the virtual image of king roc ascended while the colorful clouds in the entire space of Castle of Black Iron started to roll.


    When the rolling colorful clouds brought the king roc a higher and broader air territory, they also started to suppress the virtual image so that the king roc could only fly in the limited air territory of Castle of Black Iron...


    The virtual image of king roc was furious as it felt its dignity was being challenged. "Ka...", with the third blare, the king roc''s two pairs of wings stabbed into the colorful clouds like a sharp sword. It seemed that it was going to tear apart the heavens and invisible barrier in front of its eyes...


    ''Nothing could stop me from being free; if the land stops me, I will break the land and lowest location; if the sky stops me, I will tear apart the sky and break the void!


    ''Free! Free! Free!''


    It was what the rocs were pursuing for in their whole lives.


    ...


    At the same time...


    When the virtual image of king roc flapped its wings for the first time, the surging elements in the elements realm outside Castle of Black Iron became restless in a split second, causing powerful elements to tide which rolled over the entire elements realm like a tsunami which could not even be met in 10,000 years. Those black iron knights'' spiritual tentacles which were catching up with elements in the elements realm were instantly torn apart by the powerful elements tide like dinghies in the tsunami. As a result, all the black iron knights were forced to exit the elements realm...


    Although earth knights and those above earth knights stayed in the elements realm, they were also greatly impacted by the elements tide. As the chaotic and surging element crystals were hard to catch, they had to stop what they were doing.


    "Ahh, what''s happening..."


    All the gates of the knights'' towers in the Lion Fortress were opened while all the knights exited their towers and exchanged glances with each other with confused looks...


    As it was the first time for almost all the black iron knights to experience such a change in the elements realm. They didn''t even know what was happening at all.


    In the highest knight''s tower in the center of the Lion Fortress, an old man with a white beard and eyebrows opened his eyes which were as brilliant as stars in the sky. He then looked at the ground with a dubious look...


    ...


    Wu Guanhai the team leader of Black Armor Army in Lion Fortress who had also been forced to exit the elements realm spiritually also walked out of his room. With heavy dense eyebrows, he exchanged a confused look with the other knights of Black Armor Army who had also walked out of their room almost at the same time.


    Given the others'' dumbfounded looks, Wu Guanhai knew that the other team members also didn''t know what was happening.


    "Is it aroused by demons?" A black armored knight asked out of curiosity.


    "F**t, if demons could drive us out of the elements realm, what are we here for?" Wu Guanhai swore at once.


    "What''s happening then?"


    "Who knows?"


    Right then, a logistical personnel who was responsible for taking care of those underground dragons hurriedly ran over here, sweating all over his forehead.


    "Ahh, emergency, something is wrong with those underground dragons."


    As these knights treasured those underground dragons so much, the moment they heard this, they immediately ran towards the stable of the underground dragons.


    In the stable, the most bad-tempered underground dragons which had just been captured a few days ago were kneeling down on the ground and quivering like chicks. Meanwhile, they were burying their heads under their bellies...


    The underground dragon was a sub-dragon, which had the bloodlines of dragons in far-ancient times. That explained why underground dragons were so powerful.


    ...


    In the endless dark of the first abyss, numerous demon knights were becoming flurried too...


    Because the elements tide would drive any alien species out of the elements realm, humans or demons.


    ...


    The third abyss of the earth-element realm which was abundant in underground dragons became as silent as a dead region. The irritable roars of underground dragons completely disappeared in the third abyss...


    ...


    Youzhou Province, Taixia Country, on the earth'' surface...


    Elder Muyuan, who was cultivating, walked out of the shrine palace in Embracing Tiger City. Frowning, he looked up at the stars over the sky.


    In the dark, a weird, brilliant, twisting polar light appeared in the sky.


    Such a polar light should only be seen in the north polar or the south polar instead of appearing in the air territory of Taixia Country. However, at this moment, the brilliant polar light was like a fantastic veil in the night sky. With a bizarre sense of beauty, it appeared in front of the eyes of Elder Muyuan and shared the brilliance with the sky and the ground.


    The influence of the elements tide in the elements realm also presented in the material world.


    The entire Embracing Bear City was filled with exclamations; many commoners who had fallen asleep woke up and walked out of their doors or stood in their balconies or on the roof, watching such a weird and brilliant scenery.


    ...


    In Xuanyuan Hill, being hundreds of thousands of miles away from Youzhou Province...


    In an average courtyard, beside the same pond, the old man who was feeding golden fish looked up at the polar light above Xuanyuan Hill with changing eye lights.


    Being different from others'' dumbfounded looks, when this old man watched the polar light, he kept twiddling his right fingers rapidly in his long sleeve and practicing an extremely profound divination.


    Wise men would know the precise season through a leaf, not to mention such a wide-range abnormal astronomical phenomenon.


    Perhaps commoners didn''t know that, but in the eyes of this old man, the extremely surging elements tide in the elements realm indicated that someone was cultivating an emperor-level method and had just promoted to an earth knight.


    The same thing happened over 7 decades ago. However, that elements tide in the elements realm was not as fierce as this one and there was not such an abnormal phenomenon in the sky at that time.


    After twiddling his fingers for a while in his long sleeve, when his thumb touched one finger, he felt a great resistance like an invisible mountain between the two fingers. He could not press down his thumb anymore.


    Even though it was a mountain, the old man could lay it flat by one palm; therefore, the old man pressed his thumb down forcefully...


    When a breeze blew, his right sleeve suddenly exploded into pieces and fell onto the ground. The old man felt like vomiting, but he controlled it and finally recovered his look in half a minute.


    The old man shook his head and let out a sigh while his face turned a bit pale.


    "If the crown prince dispatches someone to ask what happened. Just tell him there''s a powerful item which could cover the heavenly fortunes on the stranger''s body. It''s out of my ability!"


    After saying that, the old man turned around and returned to his room.


    Before entering his room, he threw a glance at the east palace of Xuanyuan Hill.


    ...


    After a while, someone indeed came to the outside of this courtyard with a question, "Who''s that?"


    A servant in the courtyard retold the old man''s words to the arriver.


    The arriver came back with the answer.


    ...


    On a gold platform of hundreds of meters in height, a broad-foreheaded people in a robe with dragon patterns were holding the jade handrail of the gold platform and watching the changing polar light in the sky with a complex eye light.


    "Third brother, is that you? or ninth brother? You''re still thinking about taking my place. You formed the earth chakra of Xuanyuan Celestial Being Sutra so fast! It seems that you have a wonderful experience!" That man murmured.


    After a short while, a servant in the primitive high crown and dark black clothes came to the back of the man and lowered his body before uttering.


    "Your majesty, your teacher said this man has a powerful item which could cover heavenly fortunes. It''s out of his ability!"


    "Pah..." the jade rail was broken into ash in a split second while the face of the man in the robe with dragon patterns turned ghastly pale...


    ...

 971 Promoting to an Earth Knight II

    The colorful mist in the Castle of Black Iron was blurred, changeable and irresistible. No matter how the virtual image of king roc tore it furiously and attempted to break the heavens; it was always limited in the space of Castle of Black Iron.


    After an hour, with furious and unwilling blares, the virtual image of king roc flew back to the top of the immortal mountain. Closely after that, it turned into a light rain over the sky and finally entered into Zhang Tie''s body.


    Zhang Tie then opened his eyes and stood up.


    ''Is that the feeling when one promotes to an earth knight?''


    Zhang Tie felt each cell in his body was releasing a surging strength while being tranquil inside.


    At this moment, if the black iron chakra was regarded as a steam engine for an automobile, the earth chakra could be taken as a large set of the steam turbine, which could drive a train or a steamer.


    After promoting to an earth knight, one could experience a subversive change. That implied the power of earth knights.


    Although Zhang Tie was closing his eyes just now, he had sensed the abnormal phenomenon of the virtual image of king roc in the space of Castle of Black Iron.


    If not in Castle of Black Iron, the moment the virtual image of king roc flew out of the pyramid and traversed in the earth-element realm at a super high speed, or on the earth surface, it would be the target of both humans and demons.


    At the sight of such a unique virtual image of golden king roc, perhaps many people could guess that someone was cultivating the "King Roc Sutra". This would arouse a tempestuous storm and bring him a lot of unpredictable troubles and dangers. If some powerhouses saw the virtual image returning to the pyramid in the magma sea, Zhang Tie''s identity might be exposed.


    This was why Heller suggested Zhang Tie to promote to an earth knight in Castle of Black Iron. He had to limit the abnormal phenomenon which might expose his cultivation method to the minimal space.


    Zhang Tie retrospected and found the two chakras were slowly rotating, a silver one inside, a golden one outside. The new earth chakra was like a brilliant astrolabe while all the vertical and complex geometrical patterns on it had been activated and integrated with each other. When it was rotating, it was constantly providing a great strength. In the periphery of the earth chakra, a larger, empty shadow of water chakra had presented.


    The water chakra required more water elements, which were at least 60% more than that of the total amount of earth elements required by the earth chakra.


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile.


    The number of earth elements required by the earth chakra of king roc sutra was already astronomical. The water chakra''s requirement was more terrifying. This meant that Zhang Tie''s road towards a shadow knight would be tougher and more time-consuming.


    Whatever, he had already become an earth knight; no matter how difficult it was in the future, he had to face it step by step. It was already out of his imagination that he could promote to an earth knight from a black iron knight in less than 10 years due to good luck. Zhang Tie was very satisfied with that.


    The top of the immortal mountain was covered with thick snow. Standing there, Zhang Tie had complex moods. He watched the land and the palace tree in the distance while the Heavenly Waterfall of snow water fell off Zhang Tie''s foot, creating a beautiful scenery which was a mixture of misty clouds and water.


    Standing at the top of the main peak of the immortal mountain after promoting to an earth knight, Zhang Tie looked at the surroundings and felt pretty vacant. Enjoying this world created by himself, Zhang Tie had a special feeling and gnosis.


    Why the top of main peaks of all the tall mountains in the world were always accompanied by snow all the year round?


    The mountain was rigid and firm and was taken as yang; the snow was soft and easily melted and was taken as yin. When the yang was below, it tended to move upwards; when the yin was above, it tended to move downwards. The universal rules of yin and yang existed everywhere.


    If one thing was extremely rigid, it would be easily broken; therefore, all the high peaks in the world were covered with snow and gentlemen should have the good moral integrity to embrace everything in their hearts.


    As yin could not be preserved, even though the north polar of Ice and Snow Wilderness was abundant in snow all the year round, there was no mountain being covered with snow all the year round. The yin would finally recover to tranquility. Therefore, gentlemen should exert themselves constantly.


    The higher the mountain was, the more destructive it would be. However, the higher it was, the thicker and softer the snow would be and the more tolerable it would be. Snow on the top of the high peaks would not collapse easily; instead, it would melt itself, turning into water and flowing downwards, which would lubricate all living beings tenderly. Therefore, the higher position or level one was in, the more powerful one would be and more soft-hearted one would be, this should be the gnosis about yin and yang in the world as an earth knight.


    After promoting to an earth knight, Zhang Tie''s overall strength reached a new high. With the gnosis about yin and yang in the world on the snow-capped top of the main peak of Immortal Mountain, Zhang Tie''s cultivation base in both soul and intelligence advanced to a new level.


    The powerful strength matched such a powerful soul and intelligence in a harmonious way.


    When Zhang Tie woke up from his gnosis on the top of the mountain peak, the day had broken in Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile. Instead of activating his Kuafu bloodline, he just fumbled and went down the main peak of the immortal mountain and returned to the palace tree.


    "Congratulations, Castle Lord. You''re an earth knight now!" Heller hailed Zhang Tie together with Edward, Aziz and Agan.


    "Hohoho, it''s sheer good luck. I''m afraid that I will not have such a good luck in the future!" Zhang Tie replied in a pleasant voice with a smile; however, he was not flamboyant; instead, he maintained a modest, indifferent and calm look.


    Zhang Tie stood overnight on the top of the main peak of the immortal mountain last night. Heller knew everything in Castle of Black Iron except for Zhang Tie''s spiritual gnosis. Heller felt that Castle Lord had changed a bit. After promoting to an earth knight, Castle Lord didn''t become presumptuous; instead, he became calmer and more steady.


    "It seems that we should not only congratulate Castle Lord for promoting to an earth knight but also for gaining a higher gnosis about the strength and existence of an earth knight. Your soul and intelligence have reached a new high! I''m really happy for you..." Heller replied with a solemn look as he bowed towards Zhang Tie once again.


    "Hoho..." Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "I''m overpraised. I just have some gnosis about my surroundings and faintly adjusted my mentality. It''s not that exaggerating."


    "This is the process that Hua people pursue for the universal law. The universal law is right beside you. However, only when you have intelligent eyes and pure souls could you have an insight into it and have a bright future!"


    After hearing Heller''s praise, Zhang Tie felt a bit embarrassed. Touching his head, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. He then realized that he was not bald-headed anymore. As he had been used to be Cui Li, he couldn''t forget about some habits easily.


    "Well, bring me the demon knight!" Zhang Tie told Edward.


    ''It''s time to kill that poor guy or make use of the waste for the last time.''


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s order, Edward, Aziz and Agan hurriedly went to fetch the crippled demon baron jubilantly.


    "Castle Lord, do you prepare to leave the pyramid?"


    "Almost like that. After dealing with that demon, I will spend some days in absorbing some fiery-flame lotus roots so that I could bear high temperature. Then, I will leave the pyramid. It''s boring to stay inside it!"


    "Castle Lord, when you leave, don''t forget to take away the most important and the most valuable item in the pyramid."


    "Ahh, which item?" Zhang Tie became a bit startled as he didn''t understand whether there was something left in the entire pyramid. Although those battle puppets were not bad, they were integrated with this pyramid. This pyramid provided energy to those battle puppets constantly. Zhang Tie had tried it. When a battle puppet was teleported into his space-teleportation item and Castle of Black Iron, it would lose its response to the pyramid. In the space-teleportation item and Castle of Black Iron, the battle puppet couldn''t move at all; it was nothing but an iron statue. Unless Zhang Tie could build a far-ancient hieron in Caste of Black Iron or the space-teleportation item, those battle became useless even if he took them away...


    "The joss being connected to the bloody sacrifice furnace in the hall!" Heller replied with a smile.


    "That...can be taken away?" Zhang Tie asked while his eyes almost popped out.


    "That joss is not connected to the hieron. Castle Lord, you would have known it if you studied it carefully. Additionally, that joss is not exaggerating in height and weight at all. Although others could not take it away, Castle Lord could take it away for sure. Additionally, you could put it in your Xuanwu Secret Warehouse of Bloody Soul Temple and use it whenever you want in case of exposing Castle of Black Iron. If Castle Lord would like to establish a sect in the future, you could put it in the shrine as the No. 1 treasure of your sect!"


    After Heller''s suggestion, Zhang Tie became thrilled all over. ''If I could really take away that super large machine, anyone who wants bloody sacrifice has to earnestly beg me for that. By then, I could even ask for payment from them. It''s completely a big, profitable business in Taixia Country. Who else in Taixia could have a bloody sacrifice furnace...''

 972 Taking Full Advange of the Demon Baron

    Chapter 972: Taking Full Advange of the Demon Baron


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Edward, Aziz and Agan soon brought the demon baron to Zhang Tie''s front.


    Like usual, the demon baron was still limited in the exoskeleton semi-automatic prisoning cabin.


    Although with a depressed and hopeless look, the demon baron looked a bit fat these couple months through the careful nursing of Agan, Aziz and Edward; however, its qi was not as perilous and aggressive as that before.


    At this moment, the demon baron was completely like a lion whose teeth had been pulled away and claws had been broken. What was more, through consecutive bloody sacrifice rites and absorption of its earth chakra, the demon baron had long collapsed spiritually and physically.


    In the myths and legends on Western Continent, those selfish and narrow-minded irritable deities would punish the angels who brought light to humans by constantly digging out their guts and having them carried off by wild beasts and raptors before healing them, causing them endlessly painful.


    Of course, the demon baron had nothing to do with angels; however, after falling in Zhang Tie''s hands, the demon baron''s outcome was nothing different than those angels.


    The metal stopper had been taken away from the demon baron''s mouth; however, the demon baron had lost its ability to scream; instead, it drooled and watched Zhang Tie with a glassy-eyed look and stammered, "Ear...earth knight..."


    When Zhang Tie promoted to an earth knight, his qi swept across the entire space of Castle of Black Iron. Of course, the demon baron who was prisoned in the dungeon of the palace tree had also felt that.


    Even though its earth chakra was destroyed, it was still an earth knight, who could still acutely sense the qi of another earth knight.


    "I have to appreciate you. Without you, I would not have promoted to an earth knight so fast!" Zhang Tie said in a calm tone as he revealed a smile towards the demon baron.


    "Will...will I die today?" The demon baron asked Zhang Tie. When it mentioned the word "die", its eyes suddenly turned bright as if this word made it thrilled.


    Previously, the demon baron might be afraid of death; however, at present, death became a relief for the demon baron. If it could commit suicide, the demon baron would have long done that. Sadly, it was unable to commit suicide even now.


    "Not bad. You''re going to die today. Because I''ve almost squeezed out all of your value till now!"


    If Zhang Tie could have an earth demon knight as his bully and a mole in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie was really unwilling to kill him. However, it was too exaggerated to have a black iron demon knight as humans'' mole in the former two holy wars, not to mention an earth demon knight. As nobody could do it before, Zhang Tie didn''t think he could do it either. Additionally, neither Heller and the small tree could do it; therefore, this earth demon knight had to die.


    "Who...the hell are you? Where am I?"


    The demon baron would not close his eyes even if it was dead without figuring out the two questions.


    "I''m Zhang Tie. You''re in my portable space-teleportation equipment, I call it Castle of Black Iron!"


    Facing a demon knight who was going to die after sacrificing itself to help Zhang Tie promote to an earth knight, Zhang Tie replied patiently.


    In this aspect, Hua people always had a nice tradition. Before being chopped off their heads, even condemned prisoners could enjoy a good meal in case of being a starved ghost, not to mention demons.


    Zhang Tie''s name was as meaningless as bynames such as Sam. Although it was wanted by the supreme court of Taixia Country, the demon baron had not heard about it at all. In its eyes, Zhang Tie was just a small figure. The demon baron only paid attention to big firues with deep backgrounds in Taixia Country, even black iron knights instead of common knights from Huaiyuan Palace like Zhang Tie.


    Although the demon baron didn''t know anything about this name, it kept murmuring "Castle of Black Iron" with flickering eye light.


    "I picked up this space-teleportation item from roadside. It was wrapped in a common pyrite. After picking it up, I integrated with it. I could access this space at any time no matter where I am. I don''t know where it came from. I think it should be a treasure left by a great person from far-ancient times!" Zhang Tie shrugged as he touched the demon baron''s head, "What else do you want to know?"


    "Immortal item...an immortal item in a common pyrite..." The demon baron murmured. Suddenly, its eyes were filled with jealousy and madness. After struggling for a short while, it suddenly laughed in a weird manner, "Even though you have the immortal item...you cannot change the destiny that humans are destined to be exterminated. You humans will finally become our slaves and bloody slaves..."


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to hear the word "immortal item". Zhang Tie thought that this term should be used to describe a treasure which was above silver secret item in far-ancient times by demons. The piece of common pyrite which was used to wrap that exotic crystal of Castle of Black Iron should have a history of hundreds of millions of years. At that time, nobody knew what the world looked like. Perhaps, it was really under the rule of deities.


    The term "immortal item" was really precise.


    "I don''t care whether humans are exterminated or not. I will just bring my beloved ones into Castle of Black Iron before the extinction of humans so that they could live in here happily. I will teleport people in Castle of Black Iron as many as possible. As for the rest of the humans, it''s out of my ability. However, it depends whether humans would be exterminated by demons or not. After the former two holy wars, humans are still there. Additionally, Taixia is growing more and more powerful. But you are going to die..."


    After saying that, Zhang Tie ran his purgatory samsara method and destroyed the part of water chakra of the demon baron...


    As an earth knight, the demon baron had started to form its water chakra so as to promote to a shadow knight. In the past two years, Zhang Tie was absorbing the demon baron''s earth chakra. At present, after promoting to an earth knight, he could absorb its water chakra.


    The demon baron had not fixed its water chakra. Therefore, its virtual water chakra could not be restored after being absorbed according to the rule of bloody sacrifice.


    Even though the virtual water chakra could be restored, Zhang Tie doubted that the number of low-level demon fighters which were required to restore the virtual water chakra would grow by geometric progression. Even a part of the virtual water chakra would require a terrifying number of low-level demon fighters. Nobody could afford it...


    ''If I were able to capture dozens of demon corps and sacrificed all of them, I had long been unrivaled in the world, what do I form my chakras for?''


    ''Therefore, it was just something of a fluke, I''m afraid that I would not have such a fluke in the future.''


    After its virtual water chakra was destroyed by Zhang Tie, the demon baron passed out once again due to an extreme pain while quivering all over...


    In a few seconds, the water elements in the virtual water chakra of the demon baron had been absorbed by Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie felt that the water elements in the virtual water chakra of the demon baron could not even light 2 scales of his water chakra.


    Previously, the number of earth crystals required by his earth chakra almost made Zhang Tie collapse. However, the number of water elements required by his water chakra was much more than that of earth crystals required by his earth chakra. It was absolutely an astronomical quantity. If he only relied on purgatory samsara method, he should at least absorb 200 earth demon knights like this one.


    200 earth demon knights? If such a number of earth demon knights poured out of the earth-element realm like mad dogs, they could bulldoze a provincial court of Taixia Country. ''If earth demon knights were so weak, the holy war had long come to an end and it would never be my turn to show off.'' After thinking about it, Zhang Tie realized that he would have great troubles on the way towards a shadow knight.


    After absorbing the water chakra of the demon baron, Zhang Tie moved the insensible demon baron out of the exoskeleton semi-automatic prisoning cabin for the first time. After that, he caught its neck and lifted it like lifting a chick and returned to the bloody sacrifice hall on the top of the main peak of the Weapons Mountain in a split second.


    Zhang Tie had long been familiar with everything in the hall; therefore, he soon started the bloody sacrifice furnace.


    Being different than before, the one stood on the bloody sacrifice altar was not the demon baron anymore, but Zhang Tie himself.


    Zhang Tie stood in the glow which radiated from the middle eye of the joss and rapidly chose the purpose of this bloody sacrifice¡ª¡ªbreak through the bottlenecks of the secret battle skills of the "Fire Dragon Sutra" at the cost of the earth demon knight''s blood and life.


    Even an injured earth knight would bring him enormous benefits as it was a senior life and individual.


    ''It would be better if I could break through them. Otherwise, it doesn''t matter, it will take me some time to cultivate them.'' Zhang Tie didn''t pose excessive requirements on it.


    "Whether do you confirm to use this bloody sacrifice to help you break through the secret battle skills of your "Fire Dragon Sutra" or not?"


    The joss''s awareness occurred in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "Yes!"


    "Okay, you''ve confirmed to use this bloody sacrifice to break through your cultivation bottlenecks. The breakthrough of your cultivation bottlenecks is a matter of probability. The more advanced lives you sacrifice, the lower your cultivation bottlenecks will be and the more possible it will be for you to succeed..."


    After being thrown into the bloody sacrifice furnace, the demon baron disappeared in the black flame in a split second.


    The heavy glow completely covered Zhang Tie...

 973 Leaving the Hieron

    Chapter 973: Leaving the Hieron


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The abyss hurricane was still raging above the boiling magma sea. It was the January of the 903rd year of Black Iron Calendar...


    Since the human teams left the hieron ruins two years ago, this place had become a depopulated zone. Besides some people who would come here in a specific period each year, most of the time, nobody could be seen here at all.


    An iron-skinned newt drilled out of a dark cave and sought for its food meticulously. After fumbling in the dark for almost 1 hour, it finally found its tasty food near the bank of the magma sea based on its specific smell.


    The so-called tasty food was some totally dried flesh and watermelons. Beside these food, there was an empty wine bottle. Even though, those dried flesh and watermelons could still be eaten by iron-skinned newts.


    In the underground world, all the living beings had their own talents. Strong living beings could catch sufficient preys by their sharp claws while weak living beings could develop more complex food chains and corresponding digestive capabilities. Undoubtedly, iron-skinned newts belonged to the latter ones.


    Although being as hard as rocks, the newt could still swallow those dried flesh. After entering its stomach which was full of gastric acid, the dried flesh was gradually digested while providing the iron-skinned newt with the necessary nutrients and energy.


    When the iron-skinned newt was eating food, it raised up its head and looked around time and then with vigilant eyes. The moment it heard something abnormal, it would immediately escape to the shadows of rocks and cliff at the fastest speed.


    According to the impression of the iron-skinned newt, this magma sea and the abyss hurricane above it was a barrier that no living being could break through; therefore, it only paid attention to the other side.


    Therefore, when a caliga moved out of the magma sea and walked towards the seaside step by step, the iron-skinned newt didn''t pay attention to it for the time being. However, when it caught sight of that man walking out of the magma sea, the iron-skinned newt was scared so much that it instantly bowed its body and sprung up from the ground like a flurried cat. Closely after that, it escaped to the shadow between two rocks in a very embarrassed way.


    Perhaps, when this iron-skinned newt escaped away, its small head was still wondering about what kind of living being could live in the boiling magma sea. Undoubtedly, such a living being was very dangerous...


    Zhang Tie saw the iron-skinned newt escaping away flurriedly.


    It was like a lizard and a giant salamander. Its skin was highly toxic.


    Of course, Zhang Tie ignored such a tiny underground living being.


    When he walked out of the magama sea, Zhang Tie had put the shield into his portable space-teleportation space.


    Strangely, Zhang Tie found a shield as same as that he gained from the demon general after searching over the Weapons Mountain these couple years. The two shields were both silver secret items in the same pattern and size. It reminded Zhang Tie that perhaps in the far-ancient times, these so-called silver secret items might be popular uniformed equipment that were produced in a large scale just like the weapons being equipped in the armies of Taixia Country.


    Because of this discovery, Zhang Tie mocked himself that he had been too meticulous before. If he knew that there were so many such shields in the world, he would not worry about being doubted from gaining the shield from the demon baron.


    Thieves would always have a guilty conscience.


    Because of this shield, his protective battle qi as an earth knight and so many fiery-flame lotus roots that he had taken over the past month, Zhang Tie accomplished one thing that he could never imagine about before¡ª¡ªswimming to the seaside from the underground space of the boiling magma sea.


    This was how Zhao Yuan did when Zhao Yuan presented his power in front of Zhang Tie for the first time. At that moment, Zhang Tie had thought that Zhao Yuan was a celestial being. It was out of his imagination that Zhang Tie could also barely make it after so many years.


    This indicated that Zhang Tie had made a great progress. A few years ago, even Zhang Tie himself could not imagine that he would swim in the magma sea one day.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had recovered his look as Cui Li. Being disheveled and bearded, plus his tower-like figure, Zhang Tie looked pretty terrifying and malicious.


    When the iron-skinned newt hid in the dark, Zhang Tie came to the place where the iron-skinned newt stayed just now and stopped.


    The empty bottle on the ground aroused Zhang Tie''s attention.


    There was some dried food beside the empty bottle. In the gap of the rocks, there was some ash. Zhang Tie squatted down and took a look at it carefully. After rubbing the ash by fingers, Zhang Tie revealed a weird look.


    The ash should be the residue of joss paper. The joss paper had been covered with gold powders. Therefore, the ash was different than that of common joss paper. When in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie burned such things with his parents. It seemed that someone had just offered a sacrifice here a few days ago.


    ''Sacrifice? Here?''


    ''But why? Who will come here to offer a sacrifice?''


    Zhang Tie felt a bit strange as he shook his head and walked ahead. However, after a few footsteps, he caught sight of the large bloody characters on a cliff. It was an elegiac couplet, the characters were as handsome and amazing as dragons which were full of grief and indignation.


    ¡ª¡ªThat''s how heroes should behave! That''s how good men should die!


    Above the elegiac couplet, there was a line¡ª¡ªWish you live forever, Brother Cui Li.


    Below the elegiac couplet, there was also a line¡ª¡ªLeft by Mountain Lifting Hermit with tears.

 974 The Lotus-Flower Eyes

    Chapter 974: The Lotus-Flower Eyes


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    How preposterous it was for one to read an elegiac couplet about himself which was left by someone else.


    Watching the elegiac couplet and those remains of sacrifice, Zhang Tie knew that he had died in the minds of those knights who entered the hieron ruins together with him. It was nothing strange at all. It was what he expected the others to think. If the others knew that he was still alive, they would try their best to save him. If so, how could he accomplished his promotion to an earth knight and gain so many benefits in the pyramid?


    Given the remains of sacrifice, Zhang Tie knew that these sacrifices were offered two months ago. It should be the 2nd anniversary of him since he entered the hieron ruins.


    ''I wonder who''s that one.''


    Some faces flashed through Zhang Tie''s mind. Finally, he shook his head and revealed a smile. Closely after that, he flew off towards the familiar entrance of the mountain cave.


    It was dark in the underground cave. Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy while the entire world became refreshed as the underground cave immediately turned as bright as daytime. It was benefited from his dark vision effect. Zhang Tie''s dark vision capability was too much better than that before. He could not only see everything clearly but also have a farther visual range.


    As Zhang Tie had experience in incarnating into a thunder hawk, he clearly knew about the vision of the bird with the best visual sense. Honestly, after taking so many fiery-flame lotus seeds, Zhang Tie''s vision had been far better than the thunder hawk that he had incarnated into before.


    Under common circumstances, Zhang Tie''s vision was almost like that of a thunder hawk, which was not too much greater than that of an average earth knight. However, in particular cases, if Zhang Tie wanted to see things clearly in farther places, he only needed to slowly inject his spiritual energy into some surging points near his eyes. In that way, his vision could increase sharply and would be many times greater than that of thunder hawks; as a result, all the other earth knights even shadow knights could not match him.


    Although his vision could not reach 1,000 miles away, it was much greater than a high-power military telescope.


    Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy once again while this bright vision was refreshed for the second time, presenting colorful images with different temperatures in a multi-layered manner.


    The gloomy underground cave then became vigorous and colorful.


    Zhang Tie saw the iron-skinned newt crouching behind a rock. Over 50 m away from that iron-skinned newt, there was a small dark mouse inside the huge greyrock mushroom''s umbrella. A few meters beneath the ground where the roots of the greyrock mushroom reached, there was a nest of red-eyed termites. The diligent red-eyed termites were opening a road towards the stem of the greyrock mushroom along the roots.


    Over 20 m beneath the nest of red-eyed termites, there was a live groundwater. Between the rocks on both sides of the cave, there were black coppers whose color temperature was different than that of common limestone. On the earth''s surface, black coppers were valuable; however, in the underground cave, the black coppers were sparsely distributed in some hundreds of meters long ore belts. Of course, it was not valuable to exploit them.


    When Zhang Tie gazed at that iron-skinned newt, with his increasing spiritual energy, the iron-skinned newt gradually turned transparent, present its complete skeleton, guts, jumping walnut-sized heart, flowing blood and secretory gastric acid in front of Zhang Tie''s eyes in clearly different color temperatures.


    With such a visual effect, Zhang Tie returned along the way where he came from 2 years ago as fast as a lightning bolt.


    Zhang Tie didn''t radiate his battle qi luster as an earth knight. He just integrated himself into the dark like a drop of water entering the ocean. However, he flew silently at a speed higher than 900 km/h.


    If black iron knights wanted to reach this speed, they had to activate their battle qis and turn as eye-catching as meteors. However, Zhang Tie, after promoting to an earth knight, could reach this speed very easily.


    The valley where tall far-ancient giants'' statues sat on both sides of the cliffs soon flashed by Zhang Tie.


    In flight, Zhang Tie constantly adjusted and sensed his visual ability and felt that it was pretty funny.


    The surging points surrounding his eyes were symmetric. Over the past 2 years, as he further explored the special visual abilities of his eyes, Zhang Tie found many interesting things.


    At this moment, 6 of the 12 surging points surrounding Zhang Tie''s eyes were evidently different than the others.


    With 3 surging points around the left eye and 3 around the right eye, the 6 flames composed a blossoming fiery-flame lotus flower.


    The 2 surging points being close to his nose could provide Zhang Tie with a super strong dark vision when Zhang Tie injected his spiritual energy into them; as for the 2 surging points below his eye sockets, when being injected with spiritual energy, could provide him a pretty far visual range; as for the 2 surging points at his eye corners, when being injected with spiritual energy, enabled Zhang Tie to see different color temperatures of objects.


    Zhang Tie could inject his spiritual energy into the 6 surging points at the same time or respectively. In the first situation, his two eyes could see completely the same scenery; in the second situation, his left eye could maintain the normal vision of commoners while his right eye could be granted with a dark vision or a super long visual range.


    By freely combining and allocating with the visual effects and abilities of his two eyes, Zhang Tie could have different marvelous visual senses through two eyes or combine with them freely and perfectly.


    Zhang Tie had been fed up with everything in the pyramid. After coming to the outside, he felt pretty amused by viewing the surroundings with different visual effects.


    Meanwhile, the discovery that different surging points surrounding his eyes could grant him with different visual abilities had approved Zhang Tie''s presumption about surging points a few years ago¡ª¡ªIf the human body could be treated as the most marvelous machine in the universe, different surging points are equal to the switches and buttons of different functions of the human body. Sometimes, when your physical condition could allow you to use that switch and button, you could activate different functions or adjust the effects of the functions of your body.


    As to the three special surging points around each of his eyes, the first surging point could grant his eye with dark vision, the second could grant his eye with a super long visual range like that of a super-power telescope while the third could allow his eye to see different color temperatures and colorful lights.


    The fiery-flame lotus seeds had injected a special energy into Zhang Tie''s body so that he could fully activate and start the three switches around each of his eyes.


    As to the rest 6 surging points around his eyes, Zhang Tie was not sure whether did they have marvelous visual abilities too. ''Perhaps the 6 surging points'' visual abilities have been activated which just correspond to his eyes'' senses about normal lights, or they had other marvelous visual abilities, who knew?


    Before the Catastrophe, one important reason that demons and those bastards of Three-eye Association treated Hua people as their public enemy might be that only Hua people carried forward the precious knowledge from far-ancient times. The medicine of Hua people was the gathering of these knowledge. For instance, acupuncture and massage for specific body parts could be used to deal with some diseases. As for the principle, perhaps those surging points with specific functions and effects could be stimulated through acupuncture and massage.


    Before the Catastrophe, Hua medicine was slandered as pseudoscience. Under stresses from all aspects, it almost went extinct. However, in this age, it became the common sense of humans that Hua medical system carried forward the super civilization of far-ancient times.


    The three surging points around each of his eyes had lotus blossom-shaped flames, which special ability originated from fiery-flame lotus; additionally, Zhang Tie saw his pupils being surrounded with lotus flower-shaped marvelous beautiful golden images in the mirror of Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, Zhang Tie named his visual ability "Lotus-flower eyes".


    ...


    After one day''s flight, Zhang Tie smoothly flew out of the mountain cave and came to the extremely vast and dark first abyss.


    As the first abyss was covered with abyss vines, it was still enshrouded by a dense black mist.


    Two years ago, Zhang Tie couldn''t see through the black mist even though he had a great dark vision. However, two years later, suspending in the void, as the lotus flower-shaped golden images in his eyes blossomed one layer after another, the entire first abyss became transparent while each grass or wood within hundreds of miles became as clear as palm grains...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt especially satisfied as his vision could penetrate through the heavens and the ground.


    Over 35 miles away, a woman in black palace longuette flew towards him as fast as light, while a demon knight was chasing after her from thousands of meters away...


    Zhang Tie lowered his head and saw their shadows.


    Even though she was far away from him, Bai Suxian''s unique coquettish black palace longuette still made Zhang Tie''s eyelids jump¡ª¡ªf*ck, what a coincidence!


    Bai Suxian was chased after by a powerful black iron demon knight. Given its flight speed, the demon knight could match the demon general, who must have reached the later stage of 9 changes black iron realm and was going to promote to an earth knight.


    Bai Suxian was darting towards Zhang Tie with her full efforts.


    Unless Bai Suxian also had lotus-flower eyes, she must have not noticed Zhang Tie in the dense black mist. Therefore, the only possibility for her to dart towards Zhang Tie''s location was that she wanted to escape from the demon knight''s pursuit based on her familiarity about the terrain in the mountain cave where she had been to when she explored the hieron''s ruins.


    ''What a pity!'' Zhang Tie sighed inside.


    Zhang Tie was not pitying Bai Suxian but the demon knight.


    The demon baron was not an earth knight; if not, Zhang Tie would make full use of it.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, any black iron knight was useless, no matter how powerful he was...


    ...

 975 Meeting Young Sister Once Again

    Chapter 975: Meeting Young Sister Once Again


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Before Bai Suxian entered the familiar mountain cave, she had been caught up by the demon knight. "Where are you escaping?" The demon knight asked with a sportive and grim sneer.


    It seemed that the demon knight had realized Bai Suxian''s plan; how could it let her slide into the maze-like mountain cave?


    The demon knight then released its bright battle qi. It flashed forward with a wake flame. In a few seconds, it could launch an attack towards Bai Suxian.


    An especially powerful shock wave which could be barely resisted by black iron knights attacked Bai Suxian from her back. Bai Suxian twisted her slim waist and dodged it.


    Although she dodged this strike, as she had changed her direction, her speed slowed down a bit.


    In such a time gap, the demon knight narrowed their distance once again.


    The demon knight fleered. Gazing at Bai Suxian''s back, he launched dense strikes towards Bai Suxian.


    There was a tactic called magnet tactic. The moment the one being chased entered the largest striking radius of the chaser, the chaser could constantly strike the other party in the air so as to change the opponent''s flight path and stagnate the opponent''s flight speed. It was similar to the principle of operation of the magnet, which would slow down the opponent''s movements and finally catch up with the opponent.


    After being forced to detour, her speed could never match that of voluntary detour or going straight. As long as the chaser started magnet tactic, the party being chased would be caught up with sooner or later in most cases if not having an overwhelming speed or battle strength.


    Bai Suxian responded fast; her overstrength was above average among black iron knights. However, facing a demon knight who had entered 9 changes black iron realm and was going to promote to an earth knight, she was slightly dwarfed.


    The demon knight''s flight speed was much faster than that of hers; the moment it started the magnet tactic, it soon caught up with her when Bai Suxian dodged its strikes.


    Bai Suxian made a decision immediately. When she found that she couldn''t escape anywhere, she released a battle qi smoke at once.


    In the first abyss, the disadvantageous party would always release her battle qi smoke in battle so as to seek for help from nearby knights on her side.


    If not release her battle qi smoke, the nearby knights might not find them until approaching a few miles away from them; however, after releasing her battle qi smoke, someone might notice the battle here from over 20 miles away.


    Battle qi smoke was the most eye-catching signal that knights could release in the first abyss.


    Of course, the unluckiest possibility was that her battle qi smoke might attract the opponent''s assistants and accelerate her death.


    The first abyss was filled with crises. Even earth knights were almost blinded here, nobody could confirm that those within dozens of miles were on their side.


    "Hehehe, I''ve not f*cked a human woman yet. I, Salas will taste such a beautiful human knight today!"


    The demon knight who chased Bai Suxian was an ox-headed demon. Ox-headed demons were born to be brutal and lascivious. If the female knight could commit suicide in the elite ox-headed demon''s hand, she must be lucky enough.


    When the ox-headed demon said this, its eyes flickered greed and excited glow while glancing over Bai Suxian''s plump and sexy figure. At the same time, it increased its striking frequency, sparing no surplus time to Bai Suxian at all. Additionally, it kept drooling while a part below its waist under its skirt armor raised high at once.


    This ox-headed demon was even one head higher than Cui Li, the current look of Zhang Tie. Therefore, the raising part below its waist was also as amazing as that of a donkey.


    Bai Suxian narrowed her eyes at once while a long whip appeared in her hand. Closely after that, she fiercely whipped towards the raised part between the ox-headed demon''s legs with a qi as sharp as sword qi.


    The demon knight instantly tossed out its battleax which was made of abyss iron. With a bang, young sister''s sharp strike was broken.


    They soon carried out a close combat.


    As Bai Suxian''s overstrength was much weaker than a demon knight who was going to promote to an earth knight. Therefore, after a short while, Bai Suxian had been in the disadvantageous position completely.


    Bai Suxian temporarily dodged the demon knight''s strikes many times based on her agile movements. However, before she escaped, she was soon struck by the demon knight in magnet tactic.


    Only after a couple of minutes, Bai Suxian had been oozing sweat all over.


    On the contrary, the ox-headed demon knight felt gradually easier while drooling more and more saliva; especially the special female qi released from Bai Suxian''s body when in combat which drove the ox-headed demon knight more thrilled.


    The ox-headed demon knight hit her harder and harder but carefully. It seemed that the demon knight didn''t want to break Bai Suxian''s body.


    Bai Suxian gritted her white teeth and bore it hardly...


    ''It seems that I cannot escape without using that item. After using it, even if I couldn''t kill this ox-headed demon, I would hurt it for sure and create a chance for myself to escape. However, it is too precious. I only have one. After using it this time, it would be hard for me to find another one...''


    ''Well, whatever, it''s better than falling in the hand of this b*stard. It''s really disgusting...''


    At such a critical moment, when Bai Suxian felt reluctant to reach her hand towards her waist, a dreamlike voice sounded at her ears.


    It sounded rude, straightforward, indolent and a bit rustic. Before coming to the earth realm, if Bai Suxian heard this voice, she might dodge far away; however, after coming to the earth realm, the moment she heard this voice, she would feel soft all over...


    "Young sister, what are you performing? Is that the beauty and the beast or you''re training a rutting buffalo in the circus?"


    Closely with the voice was a man darting towards here at an unimaginable high speed with an abyss battle spear. At the same time, he fiercely whipped the abyss battle spear onto the raised part between the demon knight''s legs...


    It was such a powerful strike that Bai Suxian thought that she was dazzled.


    Because the abyss battle spear bent over as it couldn''t bear the great strength of the abyss battle spear. It was a natural physical reaction. Similarly, a slim bamboo strip would transform slightly if a kid forcefully whipped it. The strength passed to the bamboo strip from the kid''s hand, then to the other end of the bamboo stripe, causing a natural bend.


    If the strength and speed didn''t surpass the endurance limits of the bamboo strip, the bamboo strip would not bend over even though being whipped.


    However, the bamboo strip could never match the endurance limits of an abyss battle spear.


    Even an abyss battle spear could not bear the strength, how great the strength was!


    Bai Suxian was shocked at once. She thought that she was dazzled.


    However, the demon knight soon realized what happened.


    Zhang Tie raided the demon knight. Now that he was treating a demon, Zhang Tie preferred to raid it rather than a head-on attack. Because he didn''t need to launch a head-on attack towards a demon knight. Zhang Tie only stuck to one principle when fighting demon knights¡ª¡ªkill them in the most unexpected manner at the fastest speed and the minimal cost and consumption. All the others are nothing but bullsh*t.


    Before being raided, the demon knight had not fully released its protective battle qi when fighting Bai Suxian because it didn''t think that another human powerhouse could give a favor to Bai Suxian at this moment. In the opinion of the demon knight, it only needed to resist the female human knight''s strike with his protective battle qi. It was wasteful if it released too much protective battle qi.


    Being extremely stimulated by Bai Suxian''s beautiful look and female qi, the demon knight had not imagined that it would encounter such a powerful blow. However, when it realized what happened, it was already too late for it to release all of its protective battle qi.


    In a split second, the demon knight''s protective battle qi had been broken like a watermelon being hammered by a pneumatic hammer on the steam forging machine...


    The strike was too fast and destructive. Before the explosive strength of its protective battle qi touched its body, Zhang Tie''s abyss battle spear had fiercely whipped onto the raised thing below the demon knight''s skirt armor.


    Of course, the hardest spear was the abyss battle spear in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    A bloody mist exploded between the demon knight''s legs.


    With an earth-shaking roar, the demon knight was sent over 700 m away by Zhang Tie as fast as a lightning bolt like a baseball...


    Zhang Tie immediately caught up with it. Before the demon knight launched its first counterattack, it had been covered by Zhang Tie''s dense thunder-like strikes...

 976 Partner

    Chapter 976: Partner


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Previously, due to a sharp gap, Zhang Tie was almost mistreated by the demon general like a dog...


    Now, due to a remarkable gap, Zhang Tie mistreated a knight as powerful as the demon general who was going to promote to an earth knight like a dog.


    If in another scene, this demon knight called Salas might not become so embarrassed in such a transient time; however, as it was only obsessed with Bai Suxian''s beautiful look and female qi, it was raided by Zhang Tie successfully and was destined to die.


    Salas was not a gecko, who would not survive itself by abandoning its tail. Zhang Tie''s strike almost broke the ''third leg" and the part above the thighs of the other two legs of the demon knight at the same time.


    The abyss battle spear was amazingly powerful. Besides crippling Salas'' three legs, it severely shocked its guts, causing the demon knight to spurt out blood while being sent flying over 700 m away.


    Being very experienced in combats, how could Zhang Tie miss such a golden opportunity? Of course, he kept up striking the demon knight tempestuously.


    Watching how Zhang Tie mistreated the demon knight crazily from afar, Bai Suxian thought that she was dreaming. She forcefully pinched her thigh while the sharp pain reminded her that it was not a dream.


    This voice and this figure belonged to the very man whom she thought that she would never meet again in her life.


    2 years ago, Bai Suxian thought that she had been familiar with Cui Li pretty well; however, when she saw Cui Li once again, she abruptly felt strange about this man.


    Cui Li''s power was out of Bai Suxian''s imagination.


    It was the demon knight''s turn to release its battle qi smoke.


    While being struck by Cui Li, the demon knight finally chose to release it battle qi smoke which served like the SOS that humans universally used before the Catastrophe. At the critical moment, the demon knight also expected a miracle.


    Pitifully, the miracle didn''t occur. No shadow demon knight could give Zhang Tie a "surprise" at this moment.


    Only after a few minutes, with Salas''s earthshaking shriek, its body was vaporized by the hot sun-like light that was released from Zhang Tie''s palms, causing a bloody rain over the sky and finally disappeared into the dark mist.


    The battle came to an end.


    Under the gaze of Bai Suxian, the battle finally came to an end when Cui Li performed the movement "Overturn rivers and seas" of "Big Sun Fire Dragon Palm Skill". How overbearing and manly was Cui Li!


    Zhang Tie caught the pair of ox horns that he especially kept and returned to Bai Suxian''s front.


    "Are you a man or a ghost?" Bai Suxian asked Zhang Tie as she watched the latter with a pair of watery eyes before Zhang Tie uttered.


    "Haha, of course, I''m a human!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "If humans could kill demon knights after becoming ghosts, demons have long been exterminated and the holy war has long come to an end!"


    After hearing such a rude reply, Bai Suxian reconfirmed that he was Cui Li.


    After hesitating for a short while, Bai Suxian asked another question, "When...when in the hieron ruins, didn''t you die with the demon earth knight...we...we thought you were dead!"


    "I didn''t. But the earth demon knight died. Your brother Cui has trump cards; plus some wonderful experiences in the hieron!" Zhang Tie explained loudly and straightforwardly.


    "Wonderful experiences?"


    "A loss may turn out to be a gain. Your brother Cui killed an earth demon knight at the risk of his life!" Zhang Tie explained faintly.


    After knowing that Zhang Tie didn''t want to explain what he experienced in the hieron ruins explicitly, Bai Suxian didn''t ask him about that anymore. As for a knight, the so-called trump cards and the details of wonderful experiences were as important as the contents of their cultivation methods, which were closely related to his life. No knight would like to expose his secrets. Wise people also knew the rules in the knight''s world and didn''t ask too much about that. Even commoners had secrets, not to mention knights.


    Watching Bai Suxian being silent with a blush, Zhang Tie gave one ox horn to her, "Here''s one ox horn as your booty. We chased the demon knight and killed it together, is your brother Cui fair?"


    Even though only one ox horn could be exchanged for the corresponding benefits. This regulation was very human-friendly which was also beneficial to the coordination of knights in the fortress.


    "You killed this demon knight. Of course, you should take the booty. Additionally, you saved my life, how could I take your booty?" Bai Suxian shook her head as she looked at Zhang Tie with a blush. She refused to take the booty.


    Watching Bai Suxian''s embarrassed look, Zhang Tie would not waste time on this trivial thing. He then directly teleported the pair of ox horns into his portable space-teleportation item.


    Zhang Tie really made a bumper harvest in the hieron ruins. The two space-teleportation items that he gained from Old Monster Qi and the earth demon knight were both legitimate. Of course, he didn''t need to hide them at all; additionally, after promoting to an earth knight, Zhang Tie''s overall strength could never be matched by that before. Even in Taixia Country, an earth knight was also qualified to be a provincial governor. Of course, he didn''t need to be that meticulous like before.


    Seeing the pair of ox horns disappearing in Zhang Tie''s hands, Bai Suxian became startled as she woke up from her dreamlike thoughts.


    After putting away his booty, Zhang Tie took a look at his abyss battle spear, which had bent over a bit. Holding the head of the battle spear by one hand, Zhang Tie slid over its rod which was as thick as a duck egg by the other hand, straightening it smoothly, together with Bai Suxian''s eyes.


    ''It''s a battle spear made of abyss iron. How could it become as soft as a noodle in this man''s hand? How powerful is his hand?''


    Bai Suxian was really scared by Zhang Tie''s strength. When she recalled Zhang Tie''s magnificent and casual movements when fighting and killing the demon knight in only a couple of minutes, Bai Suxian suddenly understood something. With her eyes widely opened, she watched Zhang Tie with an amazed look and asked him, "You...you''ve been an earth knight?"


    "He...he...I''m too lucky, I''m too lucky!" Zhang Tie became modest as he put away his abyss battle spear into his portable space-teleportation item. At the same time, he told Bai Suxian straightforwardly, "It''s safe here. I have to go. Young sister, take care of yourself..."


    After saying that, Zhang Tie turned around and prepared to fly away. However, the moment he turned around, he had heard a painful groan...


    Zhang Tie turned around once again when he saw Bai Suxian''s face turning pale. Shaking in the air, she was covering her breasts with two hands, presenting a "heart" posture. Faintly frowning, she turned weak instantly...


    Bai Suxian had plump breasts; plus her current posture, the pair of "white rabbits" under her palace robe became more outstanding, which almost popped out of her robe. Therefore, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand staring at her breasts a longer while. At the same time, he felt his throat dry.


    "Ahem...ahem...young sister, what''s the matter with you?" Zhang Tie asked what all the other men would ask under such a circumstance.


    "Just now...this humble lady has been injured by the demon knight!" Bai Suxian replied with an emaciated look. Meanwhile, she watched Zhang Tie with a pair of watery eyes in a coquettish way, "Brother Cui, can you pity this humble lady this time and allow me to follow you a few days so that I could recover my injuries in case of encountering any other demon knights..."


    Watching Bai Suxian''s poor look, Zhang Tie touched his bald head as he felt pretty hard to refuse her, "Erm..alright!"


    After staying in the hieron ruins over 2 years, Zhang Tie also wanted to ask a familiar person about the current situation in the earth-elements realm and the Lion Fortress. Now that he had met Bai Suxian, he would then give her a favor.


    Bai Suxian flickered her eyes as she asked, "Brother, where are you heading for?"


    "I''ve just come out of there. I''ve not fixed my destination yet. I''m going to survey the situation outside first!" Zhang Tie pointed at the entrance of the mountain cave in the far where Bai Suxian was going to escape from the demon knight''s pursuit just now.


    "Right in the mountain cave, I know a place to hide ourselves. How about having a rest there temporarily before making a further negotiation? As we''ve just fought the demon knight here, some enemies might be attracted here!" Bai Suxian inquired about Zhang Tie''s opinion.


    "Fine, young sister, you take the lead!"


    Bai Suxian then revealed a charming smile to Zhang Tie before flying towards the entrance of the mountain cave by swinging her sleeves, followed by Zhang Tie.


    ...


    Given Bai Suxian''s moving speed, Zhang Tie knew that she indeed was very familiar with the terrain here. Only after entering the mountain cave for 20 minutes, Bai Suxian had made a turn and entered a bypass which was strange to Zhang Tie. After taking turns in that bypass about half an hour, a patch of huge and high mushrooms appeared in front of Zhang Tie''s eyes...

 977 Treatment and News

    Chapter 977: Treatment and News


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It was an underground karst space which covered tens of thousands of square miles in front of Zhang Tie. This karst space might be very large on earth''s surface; however, in the earth-elements realm, it was as trivial as a bubble in the ocean.


    Clouds were floating near the dome of this space, which indicated that a small climate had come into being in this karst space. The ground here was covered with huge mushrooms, which looked as spectacular as a red virgin forest.


    Each huge mushroom was at least over 30 m in height while the biggest one was almost 100 m in height. The umbrellas of the huge mushrooms were as large as clouds.


    In earth-elements realm, such a patch of huge mushrooms might have existed for tens of thousands of years safe and sound.


    If not the holy war, many places in the earth-element realm would be filled with fairytales and romance. If tourism could be developed here, many people would like to pay a visit here by airboat at a high cost.


    "We''ve almost arrived there!" Bai Suxian turned around and revealed a sweet smile at Zhang Tie.


    "Hahaha, young sister, you''re really romantic. What a romantic place!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter.


    Knights who chose to fight in the first abyss were all smart. They always prepared some places to hide themselves in case of emergencies. No matter what reason it was, a woman who could come to the earth-elements realm to fight demons was exceptional; therefore, Zhang Tie admired Bai Suxian more or less.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s praise, Bai Suxian''s eyes turned bright at once, "You also feel it''s nice here?"


    "Young sister, you have a good insight. This place is clean and unique. Even if other knights broke in, they could not find you easily. Undoubtedly, it''s a safe place!"


    Bai Suxian felt pretty happy about Zhang Tie''s comment.


    10 minutes later, they flew into the depth of the huge mushroom woods. Bai Suxian then landed on the ground.


    There was a brook on the ground being surrounded by some clusters of crystals. Some fish were swimming in the brook. Fish in water could adapt to the environment of earth-elements realm much better than most of living beings from the earth''s surface. Most of the fish on the earth''s surface could be found in the earth-elements realm.


    Bai Suxian came to the foot of a huge mushroom. After clapping her hands, a palm-sized red spider had declined to the front of Bai Suxian from the top of the huge mushroom with a thread from its tail.


    Bai Suxian stretched out her palm while the spider climbed onto her hand. It twisted its forelimbs and body as if it was expressing something. Bai Suxian watched its performance for a short while before putting it back.


    "I''ve not imagined that young sister could control animals!" Zhang Tie became shocked. As an expert in controlling animals, of course, he knew what Bai Suxian was doing just now.


    "Just a bit. I tamed a common red spider in the underground space so that it could be my watchdog. That spider told me that nobody had ever been here over the past couple of days!" Bai Suxian explained.


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s explanation, Zhang Tie admired her consideration. That underground red spider was not even a LV 1 living being. Therefore, it''s very easy to tame it. However, if this red spider could be made use of properly, it was much more useful than a LV 15 battle spirit at the critical moment. No matter what it was, as long as it could be used properly, it would play a great role. Bai Suxian had the red spider play its great role by being a sentry for her.


    After putting the red spider back, Bai Suxian moved a few steps forward and jumped over 30 m high. She then pressed a place below the huge and sturdy umbrella. Closely after that, a cave was exposed to Zhang Tie. Bai Suxian floated inside before waving her hand towards Zhang Tie.


    Unconsciously, Zhang Tie felt like having a date with a mistress in the wild when he flew towards that cave.


    ...


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the stem of the huge mushroom, he had felt going back to the tree house when he attended the survival training in the Wild Wolf Valley. The stem of the huge mushroom was hollow, leaving a small space which covered over 10 square meters. There was a portal in this space, which could lead to the space below. It seemed that Bai Suxian had opened two rooms here.


    The stem of the huge mushroom was a bit softer than those big trees on the earth''s surface; therefore, a knight could open a room here easily.


    The room inside was pretty clean and refreshing. There were a bed and a table. A whole set of beddings were put on the bed while some teacups and a delicate lotus-flower shaped glazed fluorite lamp was put on the table. The room was filled with realgar powders, which indicated a perilous signal for all the worms and snakes.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered it, Bai Suxian had closed the door of the entrance. The entire room was then immersed in the romantic and warm light radiated by the pink crystal fluorite lamp.


    The moment she closed the door, Bai Suxian had sat beside the bed and started to take off her black palace robe. Zhang Tie became dumbfounded, "Young sister, what are you doing..."


    "What are you thinking about?" Bai Suxian threw a bashful glance at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, she turned around by twisting her butt and lay on the bed. At the same time, she covered her plump breasts by one hand and exposed her snow-white back to Zhang Tie. Right below the left shoulder of her snow-white back, there was a palm-sized blue area, "This humble lady was injured a bit by that demon knight. It''s inconvenient for me to daub medicine on it, can you help this humble lady to daub some bloody jade ointment to stop bleeding, brother..."


    Bai Suxian explained while a white jade vial appeared in her hand.


    When he entered just now, Zhang Tie doubted that Bai Suxian carried a portable space-teleportation item. Because many items in the room were very delicate and luxurious, which might not be purchased from the Lion Fortress. A knight who went to the earth-elements realm for battle could not carry so many items. At the sight of the white jade vial which appeared in Bai Suxian''s hand out of the void, Zhang Tie confirmed his presumption.


    As a female knight, she could control animals with a precious portable space-teleportation equipment and dare come to the earth-element realm alone, Bai Suxian must have a noble status on the earth''s surface!


    Watching that Bai Suxian was waiting for him on the bed, Zhang Tie then strode towards the bedside and took her jade vial.


    After opening the lid, he saw a red ointment inside, which gave out a bizarre fragrance, making Zhang Tie spirited all over.


    It seemed that this bloody jade ointment was not common. At least Zhang Tie had not heard about this commodity as an elder of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Zhang Tie dug a bit bloody jade ointment by finger and daubed it onto the blue area on the back of Bai Suxian.


    Bai Suxian''s skin was as snow-white as bitty cream, plump and carried a special fragrance. When Zhang Tie''s fingers touched her skin, his fingers quivered a bit like being struck by the current. Zhang Tie''s heart pounded unconsciously.


    Zhang Tie forcefully spread the ointment over the blue area, causing Bai Suxian to utter a groan, being comfortable or painful. Zhang Tie was stimulated by her groan too much.


    ''What a spirit!''


    Zhang Tie was not a virgin anymore. The moment he heard Bai Suxian''s groan, he had known that this woman was alluring him and expecting him to do something.


    At this moment, the beauty was lying on the bed, exposing her alluring skin. It seemed that she was waiting for Zhang Tie to sleep with her. Few men could bear such an allure. Zhang Tie even had to move his eyes away from Bai Suxian''s snow-white back in case of being obsessed with her.


    "Oh, young sister, how did you meet that demon knight?"


    "...Hmm...the Tiewei Mountain in the first abyss is very boisterous at this moment...ahh...I was heading there...unfortunately I met it in the periphery of the Tiewei Mountain...hmm...brother...lighter...." Bai Suxian replied as she kept acting in coquetry.


    ''Tiewei Mountain? This place sounds a bit familiar.'' Zhang Tie remembered that the three knights that he met with Mountain Lifting Hermit two years ago warned them that Tiewei Mountain was in an abnormal situation and persuaded them to be careful over there.


    "What''s happening in Tiewei Mountain?"


    "A super large earth-elements crystal mine is discovered in Tiewei Mountain...hmm...humans and...demons...hmm...are competing for it...hmm...human knights and demon knights have started a large-scale battle in Tiewei Mountain..."


    ''A super large earth-element crystal mine? A large-scale battle between human knights and demon knights? This is indeed a major event.'' Neither humans nor demons could do anything but watch the opponent to gain a super large earth-element crystal mine. As for knights, earth-element crystals were a strategic resource. Any party which could gain it indicated that they could cultivate more earth knights and have more resources. Undoubtedly, this would be a catastrophe for the other party.


    "Oh, do you know about the message of Mountain Lifting Hermit, Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan?"


    "Mountain Lifting Hermit...hmm...has left the earth-elements realm two years ago and returned to the earth''s surface...hmm...Gong Ziyao and Zhou Shufan...might...hmm...be near the Tiewei Mountain..."


    Through Bai Suxian, Zhang Tie acquired some messages that he was concerned about and the major event in the earth-elements realm at this moment...


    Tiewei Mountain had been the focus of humans and demons in the earth-element realm. At this moment, there were definitely over 20,000 human and demon knights near Tiewei Mountain while combats broke out all the time...


    ...

 978 Irresistible Beautys Love Potion

    Chapter 978: Irresistible Beauty''s Love Potion


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After helping her daub the ointment on her back, Bai Suxian had been panting and soft all over on the bed. Zhang Tie''s forehead was also covered with sweat. It seemed that he was more tired than that demon knight who had been killed just now.


    It seemed that Bai Suxian was expecting something; however, Zhang Tie didn''t make any excessive movement.


    After daubing the ointment for her, Zhang Tie helped her zip up her clothes and cover her back and the sides of the pair of snow-white and plump white rabbits. After that, he moved a couple steps back and said in a dry and hoarse voice, "It''s okay, young sister..."


    Bai Suxian got up and put on her clothes well with a blush and disordered hair. After that, she threw a resentful glance at Zhang Tie, which looked like sobbing and wailing. As a result, Zhang Tie felt soft all over and almost fell down on the ground.


    ''What a spirit!'' Zhang Tie swore her inside once again as he took a kettle out of his portable space-teleportation equipment and quaffed some limpid and sweet mountain spring.


    "Young sister, your external injuries have been examined but you still have some inner injuries. You need to take a rest here for a couple of days. It''s tranquil here. Nobody would disturb you. This brother Cui will..." Zhang Tie wanted to escape away as he felt that he might have a great probability to lose his consciousness if he stayed one more day here. When a man and a woman stayed together alone, such a situation would be unavoidable.


    "Brother, if you want to leave, just leave. This humble lady is too old and ugly to be favored by you!" Bai Suxian suddenly started to complain as she sighed faintly on her bedside, "This humble lady heard that demons have many weird means to trace someone. When I fought the demon knight just now, I didn''t know whether it had left any marks on my body. If brother left, some demon powerhouses might kill this humble lady. By then, this humble lady will not complain anymore that this humble lady is destined to die at such a young age!"


    Zhang Tie opened his mouth as he touched his bald head. After hearing Bai Suxian''s words, he really felt sorry to leave. If he just left her soon after acquiring the messages that he wanted to know from her, Zhang Tie felt like burning the bridge after crossing it. Additionally, Bai Suxian''s concern was reasonable. Demons indeed had some weird means. If someone used a soul-chasing butterfly to chase after her, Bai Suxian was destined to die if she was left here alone.


    "Erm...young sister looks like a fairy. If you''re old and ugly, there would be no beauty in the world. Alright, this brother Cui will stay a couple of days with you. But it''s your bedroom, it''s inconvenient for a man and a woman to stay with each other alone. I will find a nearby huge mushroom and stay inside for the time being!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s praise, Bai Suxian''s face instantly turned brightly pink. Touching her face, she watched Zhang Tie womanly and asked, "Brother Cui, you mean I look good?"


    "Of course, you''re pretty beautiful..."


    "But why did you..." Bai Suxian looked bashful as she hesitated.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he revealed the straightforward temperament of Cui Li once again, "Honestly, this brother Cui couldn''t stand pressing onto the bed to f*ck you. However, this brother Cui was not used to bully weak ones. Given your emaciated figure, you might not be able to bear the torture. Therefore, I didn''t do that..."


    Having experienced Cui Li''s "straightforward" temperament so many times, Bai Suxian had been a bit immune to Zhang Tie. After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Bai Suxian revealed a bashful smile. Although she was not completely used to do that, she didn''t feel it was shameful anymore. On the contrary, she felt that Zhang Tie was frank and sincere and was just a weirdo.


    After talking with Bai Suxian for a short while, Zhang Tie wanted to find another hiding place nearby; however, the moment he wanted to leave, he heard a thunder from outside. Closely after that, he heard increasingly more dense rustling sounds on the stem and the umbrella of huge mushrooms only in a couple of seconds...


    ''It''s raining! F*ck!''


    At this moment, Bai Suxian rolled her eyes and suggested, "This humble lady''s place is not a lion''s den. Why not stay inside for a while, brother?" It''s not late for you to find a huge mushroom to settle down when it stops raining!"


    "Erm..."


    "Are you cheating me? As you''ve saved my life twice, why not stay inside for a longer while? Do you feel that this humble lady is a shameless slut..." Bai Suxian said as she walked towards Zhang Tie. At the same time, she almost burst out into tears with her watery eyes...


    Honestly, this method was really effective. Watching a woman crying in front of him was the last thing that Zhang Tie would like to do. He directly put up his hands and surrendered, "Well! I will take a seat here for a short while. You just deal with your injuries and leave me alone!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, Bai Suxian''s tears turned into smiles at once, "The room downside there is my cultivation room. If you want to have a rest, why not go downside there?"


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s words, Zhang Tei directly went to the other room in the huge mushroom.


    It indeed looked like Bai Suxian''s cultivation room. Because the moment Zhang Tie entered it, he had seen an elements-gathering matrix, which was even larger and more advanced than that of Zhang Tie''s.


    ''Such a precious elements-gathering matrix in a temporary site? That''s luxurious!'' Zhang Tie confirmed that Bai Suxian must have a deep background.


    Now that everything had been prepared well here, Zhang Tie just sat beside the elements-gathering matrix with crossed legs and started to cultivate.


    The water chakra of king roc sutra required more water elements than the number of earth elements required by the earth chakra. Therefore, it was more difficult for Zhang Tie to promote to a shadow knight as the process required him more efforts and payment. He could only complete it step by step.


    Although the purgatory samsara method was powerful, it was a matter of chance than a choice for him to absorb the water elements from an earth demon knight. If not the karma in the pyramid, Zhang Tie would never promote to an earth knight so easily. He could not have such a rare chance anymore.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie had been ready to promote to a shadow knight step by step like dripping water wearing through a stone and cutting a wood with a rope.


    In the elements realm, the number of Zhang Tie''s spiritual hands had grown to 21. Those hands being composed of his spiritual strength were moving rapidly in the elements realm by capturing the aqua blue multi-faceted water element crystals, pulverizing, refining and pouring them onto the complex patterns on his water chakra.


    The elements-gathering matrix arranged by Bai Suxian was indeed much more effective than that of his.


    After absorbing Old Monster Qi''s spiritual energy, plus his cultivation during the past 2 more years, Zhang Tie made a breakthrough in multitasking skill once again.


    Now, Zhang Tie could visualize and control 21 abacuses in his mind at the same time. Nobody could do that among all the humans except for Zhang Tie.


    Although Zhang Tie was cultivating and absorbing the water element in the elements realm, he still had a sharp perception of the surroundings due to his strong knight''s consciousness as an earth knight.


    Soon after Zhang Tie started his cultivation, he had heard someone playing water in his neighborhood.


    Bai Suxian had taken out a big bathtub from her portable space-teleportation equipment and was taking a bath in his neighborhood.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t stand throwing a glance at the neighboring room through a wall...


    Only after running his spiritual energy, the wall being composed of the stem of the huge mushroom had turned as transparent as glass. Bai Suxian was lying in a golden bathtub and highly raising her beautiful, slim and plump legs out of the bathtub. She was enjoying her enchanting figure with a faint smile...


    Only after throwing a glance at the next room, Zhang Tie had hurriedly moved his eyes away; meanwhile, his heart pounded for a short while heavily.


    ''F*ck, this girl came to the first abyss with a bathtub.'' Zhang Tie was shocked too much.


    ...


    After 3 hours, it was still raining outside. Zhang Tie felt Bai Suxian entering the cultivation room and coming to his side. She moved her lips close to his ears and slightly rubbed his earlobe. Closely after that, Zhang Tie heard her tender, sweet voice, "Brother, this humble lady has prepared some food and drinks, how about taking some..."


    After saying that, Bai Suxian even blew air into Zhang Tie''s ear...


    Under this circumstance, Zhang Tie had to stop cultivating.


    Opening his eyes, Zhang Tie turned around and caught sight of Bai Suxian who smelt as fragrant as the essence of daffodil after taking a bath.


    This girl wore a black sleeveless short gown and a skirt, which were thinner and more transparent. It was completely a set of the diaphanous garment. There was an undergarment covering her breasts and abdomen, looming her plump breasts. Under her skirt was a pair of snowwhite legs...


    ...


    Bai Suxian had prepared well a table of food and drinks in the neighboring room, which might not be bumper on the earth''s surface; however, it was a big meal in the earth-elements realm.


    Besides drinks, there were some jerkies, fruits and dried fruits on the table. Bai Suxian filled 8 plates with them.


    After taking a seat, Zhang Tie became faintly stunned at the sight of the bottle of liquor; because this bottle was completely as same as the deserted one on the seaside which he had just seen.


    ''Was Bai Suxian the one who paid homage to me over there?''


    After comparing the jerkies and dried fruits on the table with the residue at the seaside, Zhang Tie confirmed his presumption.


    ''I''ve not imagined that this woman could be so affectionate. I still lived in her mind even though I was already dead...''


    Watching Zhang Tie gazing at the bottle of liquor, Bai Suxian revealed a sweet smile, "This is the "flowers drunk" that I preserved. Brother, are you worried about being dugged by me?"


    As she said, she made a cup of liquor for herself and bottomed it up. Closely after that, she made a cup of liquor for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie watched Bai Suxian with a bit complex moods. When he was going to take the cup, his hand was pressed by Bai Suxian as the latter played the woman, "Now that the brother doubted this humble lady, I have to propose a toast to you!"


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "Alright!"


    Bai Suxian replied with a smile as she bottomed up the cup of liquor too. Closely after that, she stood up and moved closer to Zhang Tie. Lowering her body, she directly kissed Zhang Tie''s mouth.


    Her agile tongue then slid into Zhang Tie''s mouth along with the liquid which smelt especially fragrant...


    What a hot cup of liquor!


    After all the liquid flew into Zhang Tie''s mouth from Bai Suxian''s tongue, Bai Suxian even circled her tongue around the inside of Zhang Tie''s mouth twice and twisted with Zhang Tie''s tongue a bit. Finally, she licked Zhang Tie''s lips and returned to her own seat with a blush.


    "How about this humble lady''s cup of liquor?"


    "Not bad, if you gave me some more, this brother Cui would not be able to bear it anymore!" Zhang Tie smirked in a heroic manner.


    "I prefer that!" Bai Suxian covered her mouth by hand with a faint smile...


    Zhang Tie then made two cups of liquor, one for Bai Suxian, one for himself. After that, he raised his cup with a solemn look and told Bai Suxian, "I have to propose a toast to you too. I did not expect you to be so affectionate cause you look uninhibited. I admit that I''ve made a wrong judgment about you. Mountain Lifting Hermit wrote an elegiac couplet for me and young sister offered a sacrifice to me at the seaside of the magma sea on the anniversaries of my death; the affectionate ones are the most precious in the world. I''ve borne your friendship deep in mind!"


    The two people then bottomed up at the same time...


    ...


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Bai Suxian could drug him.


    After drinking only for an hour with Bai Suxian, Zhang Tie should not be drunk as this "flowers drunk" could never match the unrivaled dragon marrow liquor. Acutally, "flowers drunk" was more like the champagne which female ususally drunk. It was hard to get drunk with it.


    Neither Bai Suxian nor Zhang Tie was drunk.


    After the meal, Zhang Tie returned to the cultivation room and continued to cultivate. However, in less than 1 hour, he had felt hot all over while the place below his lower abdomen felt like being on fire. Even his mind turned manic. His mind was filled with Bai Suxian''s snowwhite legs and the deep groove between her plump breasts when she was taking a bath.


    It''s a love potion! A colorless and tasteless love potion which could not even be resisted by knights.


    This love potion would not harm one''s body; instead, it would trigger one''s qi, blood and essence in the short period so that one''s glands could secrete more unconsciously. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t find that he had been drugged by Bai Suxian when drinking.


    In Blackhot City, Zhang Tie had heard that some ruffians and scumbags in the city liked to drug women in bars. He had not imagined that he could be drugged by a beauty after promoting to an earth knight.


    ''F*ck you!'' Zhang Tie really wanted to beat Bai Suxian''s butt dozens of times forcefully so as to tell her what she was doing.


    When Zhang Tie tried his best to resist the effect of the drug and wanted to ask for Heller''s favor, he heard another thunder.


    Closely after the thunder, Bai Suxian broke in, drilling into Zhang Tie''s cradle and putting her arms around his neck.


    "Ahh, it''s thunder again. This humble lady''s heart always runs unconsciously when I hear thunder. Brother, you touch it..." Bai Suxian felt hot all over as she caught Zhang Tie''s hand and pressed it onto her breasts while panting tenderly.


    Zhang Tie was on fire at once...


    ...

 979 Tiewei Mountain

    Chapter 979: Tiewei Mountain


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    10 days later, the first abyss...


    Two shadows fluttered through the dense black mist in the first abyss and flew towards the overlapping mountains in the far...


    "We will arrive at the periphery of Tiewei Mountain over 500 miles ahead..." Two people stopped while a woman uttered tenderly and sweetly.


    "Tiewei Mountain is in this direction? Why didn''t you tell me that earlier? You led me to fly over 700 miles more. We''ve wasted a lot of time on the way!" Another person forcefully slapped onto the woman''s butt, causing a crispy sound. At the same time, the woman''s plump butt quivered like jelly.


    "This humble lady found that lord was a bit tired and wanted you to take a rest somewhere!" The woman said while pouting her petite mouth, "Additionally, the lord was happy when this humble lady served you just now. Why do you blame me for wasting time now?"


    "You dare argue with me? Look at my palm!" The man waved his hand and gave another palm onto her butt.


    The woman covered her mouth with a faint smile as she threw an "enchanting" glance at the man, "This humble lady dare not do that anymore!"


    The man threw a glare at the woman. The woman then replied with a facial expression of being wronged.


    The two people then continued to fly forward.


    Over 10 minutes later, a team of 3 fully-armored human knights flew out of the dense black mist and encountered the two people who were flying forward.


    "Stop!" One of the 3 human knights shouted immediately when he saw the two people flying towards them from afar in the mist. At the same time, the three human knights became vigilant. Until they found the two arrivers were humans instead of demons did they become relaxed.


    As for the two arrivers, one was a beauty in a blue-palace robe, the other was a tower-like tough man with a bald head who looked special.


    The woman was beautiful enough while the man was strong and fierce enough just like how a gangster''s head was followed by a coquettish woman. What a match!


    Of course, they were Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian.


    After being drugged and raped by a woman, Zhang Tie felt like losing his face; however, he had found his face back during the past days. The appellation "lord" was the certificate that Zhang Tie had found his face back.


    After Zhang Tie found his face back and Bai Suxian recovered her injuries; of course, Zhang Tie would like to take a look at the large-scale battle between human knights and demon knights in Tiewei Mountain. Of course, Bai Suxian followed him here. It seemed that she had determined to be Zhang Tie''s woman.


    Bai Suxian was not a weak woman; as she dared stay in the earth-elements realm alone, she must be able to protect herself. Therefore, Zhang Tie agreed with her.


    "What''s up, three brothers?" Zhang Tie stopped and asked when he saw the three knights in front of him.


    Given the three knight''s looks, Zhang Tie knew that they were members of the black-armored army in Taixia Country. A group of 3 could form a 3-in-1 formation when in an emergency, in which way, they could fight any one or two knights below earth knights. When they encounter an earth demon knight or more than 4 black iron demon knights, they could reach an impasse with their enemy or at least 1 of them could escape to seek for help in case of being exterminated. This was the rule of action among knights in armies in the earth-elements realm in the war.


    After looking Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian up and down seriously, the head of the three knights asked, "Where''d you come from?"


    The moment he heard this question, Zhang Tie had realized that human knights were urgently demanded in the large-scale war in Tiewei Mountain. Therefore, human knights were arranged to be sentries at the periphery of the Tiewei Mountain in case that demons or moles of Three-eye Association joined in the war and bring more troubles to humans.


    "I''m Cui Li, this is my paramour Bai Suxian. I know Wu Guanhai. We''ve stayed in the earth-elements realm for over 2 years. After being told that a large-scale war broke out here in Tiewei Mountain, we''d like to take a look here!" Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly.


    After hearing the word "paramour", the three human knights of black armored army threw two more glances at Bai Suxian. Bai Suxian then pinched Zhang Tie''s arm bashfully.


    "A few days ago, demon knights have made a lot of troubles in our territory in the incarnation of human demons. Therefore, inspection is becoming stricter near the human strongpoints of Tiewei Mountain these days!" After hearing that Cui Li knew Wu Guanhai, the three black armored knights treated Zhang Tie more politely, "If you want to enter Tiewei Mountain, you''d better learn about the latest situation from some human strongpoints. The nearest strongpoint near the periphery is over 250 miles in front of you..."


    "Sure, thanks!"


    After that, Zhang Tie flew away, closely followed by Bai Suxian who hit Zhang Tie''s waist by hand and asked in a low voice, "Paramour? Lord, couldn''t you find another word..."


    "If you don''t like the word "paramour", do you prefer "male and female intrigants"?" Zhang Tie glared at Bai Suxian with a strong qi field, "You''re not married. This brother Cui''s not married either. Even if we want to be male and female intrigants, it sounds improper. Although this brother Cui is rude, I never sleep with other''s wife. As you''ve slept me, who else is my paramour if not you?"


    Bai Suxian loved Zhang Tie''s explanation very much. After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, she became more docile, "As long as lord likes it, no matter what you call this humble lady!"


    "Hmm..." Zhang Tie replied with a muffled harrumph as he continued to fly forward.


    ...


    Until Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian disappeared in their vision did one of the three black armored knights remembered something, "Yi? Don''t you feel the name Cui Li is familiar?"


    "Yup, I also feel that I''ve heard that name somewhere!" Another knight frowned.


    "Is he that extremely rightly Cui Li?"


    "Ahh? Wasn''t he dead?"


    "It might be a coincidence!"


    As Zhang Tie''s qi felt calm, the three black armored knights didn''t find that he had promoted to an earth knight.


    ...


    40 minutes later, a strongpoint of the periphery which was mentioned by the three black armored knights appeared in front of Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian.


    It was a pretty huge battle fortress in the air.


    Compared to the common human battle fortresses on the earth''s surface, this one was like a super large airboat.


    9 dragon heads namely 9 entrances of the battle fortress reached out of the bottom of the airboat and pointed at 9 directions. Above the 9 dragon heads was a high and huge upper metal structure, whose length and width both surpassed 1,000 m. It was many times larger than the commander-level airboat that Zhang Tie had ever seen. Suspending in the air, it looked pretty magnificent.


    In the distance of the battle fortress, although being covered with dense mist, Zhang Tie could still see overlapping high mountain ranges, which were called Tiewei Mountain.


    Such an airboat might only be found in the earth-elements realm. Only Taixia Country could produce it. As for humans knights who deepened into the Tiewei Mountain to join the battle, such an airboat was the logistics supply base and information control center.


    At the sight of such a huge airboat for the first time, Zhang Tie was shocked inside. Numerous human knights were accessing to the 9 dragon heads in terms of light points. The atmosphere seemed to be intense.


    Although the 9 dragon head-shaped entrances looked small from afar, when Zhang Tie moved closer to them, he found that each dragon head''s mouth was over 10 m in width, which could be available for a few people to access to it at the same time.


    Someone was hurriedly entering there while someone else was hurriedly coming out of there. Most of those entering there were injured or carrying traces of battle.


    Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian then flew to an entrance in a casual way.


    There were also guards outside the entrance. Those who wanted to enter the airboat had to break their finger on a spiny ball-shaped device and drop their blood onto the device. They were not allowed to enter it until the spiny ball turned red.


    They used this method to identify demons. The knights at the entrance would pay attention to the examination result about the entrant. As Zhang Tie''s sturdy figure and Bai Suxian''s blue-palace robe were like brands, the moment they arrived, they had aroused the attention of the guards at the entrance.


    Zhang Tie broke his finger on the spiny ball. When the spiny ball turned red, he walked in the airboat. Bai Suxian also imitated him and did the same before following him in.


    No matter how powerful one was on the earth''s surface, he was not supposed to be privileged in the earth-elements realm.


    After entering the airboat and passing through the gate of the battle fortress, Zhang Tie felt open at once while his eardrums were beaten by the loud noises. A square appeared in front of him, which was surrounded by high buildings. Those knights were flying among these buildings. In the middle of the square, there was a huge, round information control center. Right above it, there was a huge high-power crystal optical imaging device. A three-dimensional map was set on the device, which presented the current battle situation between demons and humans near the Tiewei Mountain.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at the map and found that the three huge red arrows on behalf of humans were wrestling with some black arrows on behalf of demons in the depth of the center of Tiewei Mountain. Besides, red and black forces were crisscrossing within each other in a wider periphery of the center.


    The huge red and black arrows in the center of Tiewei Mountain almost remained unchanged. By contrast, those red and black arrows in the surroundings which were slowly changing their locations; they would disappear or appear somewhere at any time. Those fighters in logistics uniforms of Lion Fortress were constantly rushing in or out of the information control center with remote-sensing information. Many knights were waiting in readiness outside the information desks. After receiving their tasks, they would leave there right away.


    The three-dimensional map jumped once again while a black arrow appeared near a mountain range on the map.


    "A team of 3 demon knights discovered near No. 6403 mountain range; they are moving towards the east. Brothers, let''s go..." A tough Hua man in black armor raised his sword as he shouted. Almost at the same time, some knights who were waiting for tasks rushed outside voluntarily after him...


    This might be a lethal trap, which could be set by both humans and demons; however, the human knights still rushed out without any hesitation.


    This was how the war went. Give tit for tat! In such a fierce battle situation, they could not give up their actions just because that they doubted the possible dangers.


    "Where''s the doc...where''s the ambulance men...my brother is going to die...hurry..." A knight being covered with injuries broke in with a man being covered with blood in his cradle.


    The knight directly flew over Zhang Tie''s head as fast as the wind, dropping some blood onto Zhang Tie''s face and shoulders...


    A lot of people in white clothes ran towards here while the one in the front shouted, "Hurry, prepare No. 1, No. 2 medicaments, operating table, wounds healing glue, blood..."


    Zhang Tie reached out his hand to touch his face. His fingers turned red instantly...


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s poor look, Bai Suxian was driven mad. The moment she wanted to argue with them, Zhang Tie stopped her by gripping her arm as he shook his head, "It''s okay!"


    Watching this scene and sensing this atmosphere, Zhang Tie became a bit absent-minded as he felt like returning to the Selnes Theater of Operations...

 980 Reward

    Chapter 980: Reward


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie had fought and bled in Selnes Theater of Operations. He had a lot of memories over there. At that time, Zhang Tie served as the only human air cavalry in the Selnes Theater of Operations. Although it looked very honorable, he was actually a cannon fodder. Finally, he was betrayed by b*stards of Three-eye Association among humans and almost lost his life like what the other small figures were destined to face on the battlefield.


    Whereas, Zhang Tie didn''t regret what happened in Selnes Theater of Operations. He would still return to the Selnes Theater of Operations and contribute his strength to the holy war as a human fighter as long as he was demanded.


    However, Zhang Tie was not the same one in Selnes Theater of Operations anymore.


    When in Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie was just a LV 10 fighter; however, now, Zhang Tie had already become an earth knight who was unrivaled on many subcontinents.


    When in Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie was a hero as the Selnes Eagle; however, now, Zhang Tie was a convict being wanted across Taixia Country.


    Although Zhang Tie would still bleed for humans; many things had altered. He became more mature. As a result, he knew which way of bleeding was most valuable for an earth knight instead of sparing his blood for humans.


    In the distance, the knight being covered with injuries was standing still. Some doctors intended to deal with his injuries; however, that knight became berserk at once as he pushed away the doctors at once and roared, "Leave me alone...save my brother..."


    The similar thing had happened many times in the air battle fortress. Therefore, they were not strange about that. Knights were also humans and had emotions such as grief. Few people could stay calm when they found that their brothers and familiar comrade-in-arms might die in front of them.


    The earth-elements realm was the battlefield between human knights and demon knights. It was as normal as how common fighters sacrificed in the battlefields on the earth''s surface.


    "Lord, what will we do?" Bai Suxian became docile and asked Zhang Tie tenderly after being stopped by the latter and sensing the latter''s emotion.


    Zhang Tie watched the bustling lobby and took in a deep breath before replying, "The war in Tiewei Mountain would not come to an end in a short period. As this strongpoint is on the periphery of the battlefield with so many human knights; it''s pretty safe. Additionally, we could acquire intelligence here. We will settle down here to learn about the battle situation for the time being!"


    Bai Suxian nodded. Although Zhang Tie looked rude, given his decision, he was not rude at all; instead, he was very considerate. Honestly, Bai Suxian was really worried about her "lord" rushing to the frontline due to the excitement. It was very normal for black iron knights to lose their lives in the first abyss. It was not strange that earth knights were killed here. Even Shadow knights might also lose their lives here even though there was less news about that.


    As Zhang Tie replied, he led Bai Suxian to the information desks beside the information control center.


    This air battle fortress was very huge, which contained many rooms. It could hold tens of thousands of people at least. Any human knights entering it would have a room. This also explained the meaning of the existence of this strongpoint.


    When Zhang Tie passed by that wounded knight, he threw a glance at him and said, "You look like a girl standing here. You will not do any favor to your brother''s wounds; If I were you, I would cure my injuries as fast as possible. If my brother was killed, I would revenge for him by chopping off demons'' heads!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s suggestion, the knight quivered all over. He moved his eyes onto Zhang Tie; however, Zhang Tie didn''t speak any more; instead, he just walked away. Bai Suxian threw a glare at that guy.


    Zhang Tie came to the front of one information desk.


    "Hello, what can I do for you?" A female first lieutenant with a beautiful oval face in short hair asked him behind the desk.


    "We want to settle down here. Please prepare two rooms for us!" Zhang Tie replied.


    Standing behind the information desk, this plump female first lieutenant wore a short skirt, the lower hem of which reached the knees of her fair legs. Her plump breasts almost popped out of her uniform. She looked so womanly that Zhang Tie couldn''t stand throwing glances at her.


    Those who could enter the air battle fortresses were all legitimate human knights. Those human knights who could come to the Tiewei Mountain were a great force of human defense line. Therefore, after hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the female first lieutenant immediately revealed a passionate smile, "Well, two rooms, we will prepare them for you right away!"


    Before Zhang Tie uttered, Bai Suxian had pulled Zhang Tie''s arm and pushed herself to Zhang Tie''s side by pasting her plump breasts onto Zhang Tie''s body. Closely after that, she raised her head and told the female first lieutenant, "One is enough."


    The female first lieutenant threw a weird glance at Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie before lowering her eyes, "Well, one room. Your room number is 2064. We will keep the room for you all the way until this strongpoint leaves Tiewei Mountain. Here are the keys to the room. As for those human knights in this strongpoint, we would provide you with free three meals and medical services; additionally, entertainment facilities such as knights'' bar would be open to you for free..."


    The female first lieutenant took out two keys from the counter and pushed them in front of them.


    "Thanks!" Zhang Tie took the keys and threw one of them to Bai Suxian before leaving there.


    ...


    "Lord, do you like this female first lieutenant?" After leaving the information desk a few footsteps, Bai Suxian''s jealous sound had rung into Zhang Tie''s ears in a secret way, which could only be heard by Zhang Tie.


    "Shut up!" Zhang Tie glared at Bai Suxian.


    "I''ve seen that. Lord, you''ve gazed at her breasts and legs for a few times with bright eye light!" Bai Suxian pouted her petite mouth.


    Zhang Tie directly slapped her butt as he sighed inside that this woman really had a terrifying observation ability and intuition. Because of Miss Daina, Zhang Tie had a special taste about females since young. At school, Miss Daina always wore short skirts whose lower hem reached her knees or tightskin short skirt; plus a pair of black leather shoes and flesh-colored silk stockings, revealing her beautiful plump legs. Additionally, she wore a shirt or a female suit, outstanding her plump breasts pretty much. At the sight of her, Zhang Tie would desire for ascending and liberating her.


    The female first lieutenant''s dress was similar to that of Miss Daina; therefore, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand throwing glances at her; however, he had imagined that his casual movements could be observed by Bai Suxian.


    ...


    The rooms in the air battle fortress were not large. The double room No. 2064 only covered over 40 square meters. Besides two beds, two wardrobes and one toilet, there was no surplus furnishings in the room. Additionally, these furniture were basically metal supports being fixed onto the metal walls and metal floor of the room. There were exposed metal alloy pipelines over the walls and in the surroundings of the room, which could maintain the operation of this huge air battle fortress like blood vessels of the human body.


    The room was small; however, it was clean and tidy. Everything inside was new. What made Bai Suxian excited was that she could take a bath inside.


    Soon after she closed the door, Bai Suxian had started to take off her clothes while twisting her slim waist in front of Zhang Tie, "Lord, come on, let this humble lady serve you for a bath!"


    After slapping her butt once more, Zhang Tie closed the door from outside, leaving Bai Suxian in the room alone. He then left the room for the knights'' bar in the battle fortress.


    If he wanted to learn about the latest battle situation near Tiewei Mountain, besides the map being covered with colorful arrows, the knights'' bar was the best place. Additionally, Zhang Tie wanted to inquire about the location of his old friends Gong Ziyao, Zhou Shufan and Filton. Only after figuring out these things could Zhang Tie make his further plan.


    He would definitely kill demons here. It would be better if he could kill two earth demon knights. What counted most was that he had to prepare for coming back to the earth''s surface.


    As humans were fighting demons on a large scale in Tiewei Mountain, it was a good opportunity for him to become well-known and return to the big stage in Taixia Country. From then on, the name Cui Li would win the awe of all the humans as human knights here would spread his name all over the human world.


    As Elder Muyuan once said¡ª¡ªOver the past 5000 years, few people could make a great undertaking without becoming well-known!


    When one wanted benefits, he had to be well-known first. His status as an earth knight was the pass to access to the top circle in Taixia Country. The one who framed him should be at least a shadow knight who had formed his water chakra. If not enter this top circle in Tiaxia Country, how did he fight those people who framed him?


    ...


    "Cui Li?" A strange voice sounded behind Zhang Tie the moment Zhang Tie wanted to enter the knights'' bar after making turns here and there.


    ''Someone knows me here?''


    Zhang Tie turned around and saw a black armored tough guy with whiskers striding towards him with two black armored knights on his sides.


    Zhang Tie turned around when the sturdy knight widely opened his eyes and raised his voice instantly, "Is that you, Cui LI?''


    Cui Li''s tower-like figure and bald head were unique signs. Anyone who saw him would have a deep impression about him.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "Hahahaha, who else do you think I am? I''ve not imagined that black-armored army is really well-informed. Young brother Guanhai, you came here for me very fast."


    After hearing Zhang Tie admitting his status, the two knights on both sides of Wu Guanhai were shocked. Closely after that, when they heard Zhang Tie lifting his own seniority by calling Wu Guanhai young brother loudly, the two knights revealed a furious look at the same time; one of them turned cold and directly put his hand onto the sword handle at his waist...


    Everybody in Taixia Country knew that Black-armored knights were bad-tempered...


    Wu Guanhai also revealed a strange look. He stretched out his hand and stopped the knight who was going to move one step forward. After looking at Zhang Tie for a while, he changed his face faintly, "Earth knight!"


    "Young brother Guanhai has a good eyesight!"


    After hearing that Zhang Tie was an earth knight, the knight who was going to pull out his sword instantly became kind as he moved his hand away from the sword handle and moved one step back.


    In the knights'' world, those who had a greater battle strength and greater learning would be more venerable. If an earth knight called a black iron knight young brother regardless of age, he was respecting him and showing his kindness instead of lifting his own seniority.


    "Two years ago, Cui Li''s righteousness had been spread over the Lion Fortress. He voluntarily died together with the earth demon knight in the hieron ruins for the sake of the lives of the other human knights. When I heard that, I admired and pitied you too much. But how could you..." Wu Guanhai watched Cui Li with a dubious and amazed look.


    It was already amazing for Cui Li to promote to an earth knight in only 2 years, let alone the dead extremely righteous man reappeared in the battle fortress.


    "Haha, it''s a long story. The God didn''t want me to die. Therefore, I got good out of misfortune. As I''ve just come to the Tiewei Mountain, young brother Guanhai, how about having a chat inside the bar?"


    Wu Guanhai burst out into laughter, "Nice!"


    The group of 4 then entered the bar...


    In the bar, Zhang Tie briefed his experience in the hieron ruins as what he had told Bai Suxian, namely "trump card" and "wonderful experience". After hearing that, Wu Guanhai and the other two human knights both clicked the tongue in wonder and didn''t ask him too much about that. After all, it was concerned about an earth knight''s top secrets. Now that Zhang Tie didn''t want to say that, they would not ask him about the details anymore. They only needed to confirm that this Cui Li was the very one they wanted to see.


    Wu Guanhai heard an intelligence from the Black Armor Army¡ª¡ªa pair of strange man and woman entered this strongpoint. Before entering the strongpoint, the man encountered a patrol team of black armor army at the entrance of the air battle fortress and told them that he knew Wu Guanhai. Therefore, after accomplishing his task, Wu Guanhai came to confirm whether this Cui Li was disguised as a demon knight or not.


    "The battle situation seems to be very urgent. Even human knights'' status should be confirmed." Zhang Tie asked Wu Guanhai.


    Wu Guanhai revealed a bitter smile as he looked around the bar, "That shadow demon is already an earth knight. It could change into anyone''s look casually. Because of the existence of this shadow demon, we''ve already lost two batches of logistics materials and four black iron knights who were raided by it. In order to not arouse the panic of knights and cause greater troubles, we only told them that it was a shadow demon; instead of revealing its level as an earth demon knight. The shadow demon is very tricky. In order to not spare any chance to it, the word of command of our tasks would change everyday..."


    Zhang Tie touched his jaw and asked, "Does the shadow demon have any laws in movements?"


    "The shadow demon is very cunning. It almost has no fixed laws of movements. We only know that it likes to act in the periphery of the battlefield alone. Sometimes, it would slide into the human knights'' squad. The moment it caught an opportunity, it would stab people on their backs and kill them instantly. It''s very troublesome. Common black iron knights could not effectively deal with its means at all. However, in the earth-elements realm and near the Tiewei Mountain, many black iron knights would like to act independently; therefore, it''s very hard to catch this shadow demon as long as it disguises as a black iron human knight!"


    "This shadow demon sounds really tricky. Although our strongpoint could be safeguarded, knights who act alone on the outside have to take care of themselves!" Zhang Tie also let out a sigh.


    "Yup, an earth knight-level shadow demon is much more troublesome than a common earth demon knight!" Wu Guanhai nodded as he continued, "The superiors have delivered a command that anyone who could kill this earth knight-level shadow demon would be rewarded with ten cities and 700 miles'' land..."


    "Being rewarded with ten cities and 700 miles'' land!" Zhang Tie was shocked by such a great reward, which could only be afforded by Taixia Country.


    Although a common shadow demon was not that worthwhile, an earth knight-level shadow demon was definitely worthwhile.


    There were very few shadow demons, not to mention earth knight-level shadow demon. Because earth knight-level shadow demon would cause a great trouble to humans; therefore, humans should eliminate it as soon as possible.


    As such a high reward was offered, brave fellows were bound to come forward. Ten cities and 700 miles'' land was definitely an irresistible allure for any human knight.


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced. 700 miles'' land meant over 1 million square kilometers; plus 10 cities. It was amazing even if they were just 10 small cities. Cities in Taixia Country would never be bad. It was equal to the territory of a prefecture in a lower province of Taixia Country.


    In the battlefield, such a reward was the trump card for inspiring the morale of humans. Even though nobody could finally kill that earth knight-level shadow demon, such a reward could at least eliminate their fear and pluck up their courage.


    Of course, such a shadow demon was harmful to humans; however, an able superior could turn the bad thing into a good thing. Such a reward also required a great charisma. Not everyone could make such an amazing decision. Some countries in Waii Subcontinent might not even be as large as this reward.


    A lot of thoughts occurred in Zhang Tie''s mind when he heard about this reward.


    "How''s the battle situation between humans and demons in Tiewei Mountain?" Zhang Tie tossed out another question.


    "The frontline is in the center of Tiewei Mountain. A super large earth-element crystals mine was discovered over there. It was said that there were over 1 million earth-elements crystals over there. Both parties are confronting each other over there. As each party has a heavenly knight, when they fight each other, they are organizing their own force to exploit the resource. It depends on who''s faster and more powerful; however, neither party has an overwhelming advantage..."


    ...


    After chatting with Wu Guanhai 2 hours in the bar, Zhang Tie almost made his plan. Therefore, he returned to his room.


    The moment he opened the door, he had seen Bai Suxian.


    Bai Suxian had changed another set of clothes. Instead of wearing the palace dress, she wore a whole set of female military uniform with a super short skirt, the lower hem of which had just reached her thighs. The snow-white thighs and black high-heeled shoes almost dazzled Zhang Tie.


    The military rank on the uniform was a major general.


    Zhang Tie became dumbfounded.


    Twisting her waist, Bai Suxian walked towards him with a faint fragrance, "Lord, do you like me..."


    ...

 981 All is Well

    Chapter 981: All is Well


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The terrain of Tiewei Mountain was very special.


    If one observed Tiewei Mountain, one would see a huge special terrain being composed of annular mountain ranges.


    The annular mountain ranges contained a large number of hematites which contained high iron content. Therefore, many mountain ranges of Tiewei Mountain looked maroon.


    The annular mountain ranges were regularly distributed. Over millions of square miles, there were 6 loops of annular mountain ranges from the center to the periphery of Tiewei Mountain like rings on the target.


    Such a special terrain could be simply and regularly named in military geography.


    When treating Tiewei Mountain as a huge dial, its north direction was 0 o''clock; its south direction was 6 o''clock; its west direction was 9 o''clock; its east direction was 3 o''clock.


    The core loop of Tiewei Mountain was named 1, the plain and basin where humans and demons were confronting each other in the middle of this annular mountain range were named 0; the 2nd loop from the center of Tiewei Mountain was named 2, the 3rd loop was named 3, likewise.


    Plus the very height of each mountain peak, a digital code could be used to position any location of Tiewei Mountain.


    Take 6403 as an instance, 6 referred to the most peripheral annular mountain range of Tiewei Mountain; 4 referred to 4 o''clock direction on the map; 03 referred that the height of a mountain range was about 300 m. When these numbers were connected, it represented that the enemy was near the main peak about 300 m in height in the southeast direction of the 6th loop annular mountain.


    Anyone who was familiar with the naming principle could precisely locate the target in their mind.


    ...


    2 months after Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian came to Tiewei Mountain...


    In the region 5843 of Tiewei Mountain...


    The battle broke out abruptly. When Zhang Tie darted out of the black mist as fast as a lightning bolt and covered a squad of 3 demon knights with the fiery battle qi from his abyss battle spear, the three ox-headed demon knights were shocked. They could only resist Zhang Tie''s attack flurriedly.


    The moment they fought Zhang Tie, the three ox-headed demon knights had known that they were facing a powerful earth human knight through the terrifying destructive power and overwhelming stress from Zhang Tie''s abyss battle spear.


    When three black iron knights encountered an earth knight, the most standard and correct tactic movement was that the moment the two parties touched each other, the black iron knights should evacuate as fast as possible without any fluke mind. Unless the opponent was below an earth knight!


    If the three black iron knights stayed, they were destined to be exterminated. However, If they evacuated in the first abyss where the visibility was low, at least two of them could survive; fortunately, the third one could also escape.


    The three ox-headed demons started to evacuate at high speeds in three directions.


    Based on his perception, Zhang Tie selected an ox-headed demon knight who looked sturdier with a greater battle strength.


    When the ox-headed demon found that the earth human knight was chasing after it, it had no other choice but to release its battle qi smoke out of grief and indignation...


    The battle came to an end very fast, at least for that ox-headed demon knight. Since the beginning of the combat, it had been in defense. This earth human knight didn''t even spare any chance for him to launch a counterattack before involving it into the boiling fiery battle qi of the abyss battle spear. As a result, it became more and more embarrassed and was increasingly closer to breakdown and death.


    The demon knight wanted to escape; however, it found that it had no chance to escape at all as this earth human knight was much faster than it. Since the earth human knight selected it, it had been destined to be killed.


    As was imagined, only after a few minutes...


    "Go die!" With a roar, Zhang Tie''s abyss battle spear finally penetrated through the demon knight''s chest. With the ox-headed demon knight''s painful shriek, its body was shattered by Zhang Tie''s abyss battle spear into pieces, except for its ox horns and the spiny hammer which was tossed high in the air.


    Zhang Tie caught the ox horns and the spiny hammer and put them away into his space-teleportation equipment. Closely after that, he headed towards another direction.


    A couple of minutes later, another ox-headed demon knight appeared in front of Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    Bai Suxian had wrestled it with her long whip and was in an advantageous position while panting faintly.


    Although Bai Suxian looked tender and beautiful, her movements were definitely more vicious than common black iron knights. The long whip was both agile and vicious, which could be used for short-distance defense and long-distance strike like a fierce boa. As a result, the demon knight kept uttering weird shrieks.


    With a fleer, Zhang Tie rushed over there. At the sight of Zhang Tie, the ox-headed demon became hopeless at once.


    Being besieged by an earth human knight and a black iron human knight, the demon knight had no chance to survive itself; additionally, now that Zhang Tie could come here so fast; it indicated that another partner which Zhang Tie had just selected probably had been killed.


    With a roar, the ox-headed demon knight released its boiling battle qi and started to launch a counterattack towards Bai Suxian instead of dodging her. It chopped towards Bai Suxian''s head by its huge saber.


    It seemed that Bai Suxian had long known that this cornered beast would do something desperate. At the sight of Zhang Tie, she had intended to expand the distance between her and the demon knight.


    How come Zhang Tie would allow this salty fish on the chopping board to bite Bai Suxian at this moment?


    Before the demon knight drew close to the front of Bai Suxian, it had been whipped and sent flying over 100 m away by Zhang Tie. Spurting out blood in a severe way, it might have broken a lot of bones.


    ...


    After a few minutes, when Zhang Tie broke the demon knight''s legs by his abyss battle spear, Bai Suxian''s long whip wrestled over the demon knight''s neck like an agile snake, sending the demon knight''s head flying away while its protective battle qi had long been damaged.


    Bai Suxian instantly caught its head by her long whip and put it away in her space-teleportation item while Zhang Tie picked up the demon knight''s battle saber which was made of abyss iron and put it away in his own space-teleportation item.


    Most black iron demon knights knew that they might lose their lives on battlefields in the first abyss; therefore, they carried very few items. Basically, besides a weapon and the pair of ox horns on their heads, they would not leave anything valuable. Except for that earth demon knight whom he had captured, Zhang Tie almost had not found anything else valuable from any black iron demon knight. Occasionally, he would meet guys with medicament; however, before death, those demon knights would always use up the medicament or destroy it. They would not leave any medicament to Zhang Tie even though they were killed.


    Although this saber being made of abyss iron was a bit level lower than the copper secret item, it could also break through the black iron effect. Because abyss iron could strengthen firmness and sharpness, all the weapons being made of abyss iron were at least granted with the rune effect of LV 3 firmness or sharpness; however, weapons being made of abyss iron could almost perform the rune effect of LV 4 firmness and sharpness. The other rune effects didn''t work well on abyss iron.


    All the abyss iron weapons of demon knights were granted with the rune effect of LV 3 firmness or sharpness instead of other rune effects.


    Although such weapons didn''t have extra rune reinforcing effects, they were very practical and barely damaged. As for people who had silver secret items, these weapons might be average; however, as for powerhouses below knights, abyss iron weapons were what they dreamed for. Any knight''s equipment like this one would be qualified to be a hereditary treasure for commoners. Some people who had just promoted to a black iron knight might not have such an abyss iron weapon.


    Of course, Zhang Tie would not waste such a good item.


    Actually, besides being made of weapon, the top function of abyss iron was that it could be used to make the knight''s armor. A set of full-body battle armor being granted with LV 4 firmness effect which was made of abyss iron could enhance the full-body protective capability of a knight to one level higher, which was dreamed by most of the knights.


    ...


    After putting away the demon knight''s head and weapon in a tacit manner, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian smiled at each other.


    "Your long whip is more agile and powerful!" Zhang Tie praised Bai Suxian.


    Bai Suxian threw a coquettish glance at Zhang Tie, "With Lord''s instructions, of course, this humble lady could use it better!"


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s pun, Zhang Tie burst into laughter.


    "Lord, are we going to chase after the last demon knight?"


    "No need, that demon knight has been too far away. We will not find it. As we''ve made fruitful achievements these days, we should return to the strongpoint for an adjustment!" Zhang Tie turned around his head and said calmly while he looked at the dense black mist in the far with his lotus-flower eyes.


    Actually, even though the demon knight had been over 70 miles away in the dense mist and changed its route twice, Zhang Tie could still see it.


    If he wanted, he could catch up with it for sure; however, it was not necessary for him to do that...


    Additionally, Zhang Tie could see another squad of demon knights lurking in the 4th loop of the annular mountain range; but it had nothing to do with him!


    On the big stage in the earth-elements realm between humans and demons, it was not a wanted convict''s turn to show off his battle strength, although he was framed by demons!


    All is well! As long as he could deal with things properly under such circumstances, he was smart enough!


    After that, Zhang Tie led Bai Suxian towards the air battle fortress in the periphery of Tiewei Mountain...

 982 Being Well-Known in the Black Armor Battlefortress

    Chapter 982: Being Well-Known in the Black Armor Battlefortress


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After a short while, the familiar air battle fortress had appeared in front of Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian.


    This air battle fortress belonged to the Black Armor Army and was named as Black Armor Battlefortress. It was a trump card for Black Armor Army of Taixia Country in Earth-elements Realm. Besides the Black Armor Battlefortress, there were two more battle fortresses near the center of Tiewei Mountain, namely the God''s Will Battlefortress and the Feathers Battlefortress. In the air of Tiewei Mountain, the three battle fortresses could coordinate with each other as the core strongpoints of humans near Tiewei Mountain.


    Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian entered Black Armor Battlefortress through one entrance after testing their blood once again while many knights and auxiliary battle personnel in the square saluted them.


    "Ahh, the unrivaled male and female..." Someone uttered in a low voice.


    Over the past two months, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian had long been well-known in the Black Armor Battlefortress based on their eye-catching figures and military exploits, especially Zhang Tie.


    Cui Li the extremely righteous human knight survived himself in the hieron ruins and promoted to an earth knight. Such a legendary story almost spread over the entire Black Armor Battlefortress over the past month. Not only knights, even many logistics and auxiliary personnel in the battle fortress had heard about that. By contrast, Bai Suxian who always stayed with Cui Li and lived in the same room with him set Cui Li off in the legendary story.


    Beauty loved hero, it was an universal law since the ancient times.


    If Cui Li was still a black iron knight and was followed by Bai Suxian in the earth-elements realm which lacked beauties pretty much, it would indeed arouse people''s jealousy. However, now that Cui Li had promoted to an earth knight, it was nothing strange for an earth knight to be followed by a beautiful female black iron knight. Of course, earth knights could have more resources, including more beautiful women. It was reasonable, not to mention that Zhang Tie was not an average earth knight.


    Over the past 2 months since Zhang Tie came to Black Armor Battlefortress, he had proved his capability as an earth knight through practical actions. As he was always followed by Bai Suxian, they won a reputation of "the Unrivaled Male and Female".


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about this honor; however, Bai Suxian was pretty happy about it.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the Black Armor Battlefortress, he had seen so many people greeting him, including black iron knights, logistics and auxiliary personnel. However, Zhang Tie didn''t know most of them.


    Therefore, he just nodded with a calm and casual smile.


    Many people praised Zhang Tie''s demeanor inside.


    Being extremely righteous, having a powerful battle strength and being forthright. Over the past 2 months, Cui Li from Yongzhou Province had been well known across the Black Armor Battlefortress. Anyone who heard the name Cui Li would have such an expression in their mind. However, although Cui Li had promoted to an earth knight, he never bullied others. He treated the common logistics and auxiliary personnel in the battle fortress kindly. Due to the above reasons, Cui Li became one of the best earth knights in Black Armor Battlefortress.


    Before Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian drew close to an information desk in the middle of the square, an old man behind the information desk had revealed a smile towards him, "Cui Li, how many achievements did you make this time?"


    "Not too much, just one!" Zhang Tie replied as he put that pair of fresh ox horns onto the counter, followed by Bai Suxian.


    "Ahh, it''s not bad, it''s not bad!" The old man rubbed his hands out of excitement as he picked up the two pairs of ox horns and praised, "Fresh, very fresh. If they are timely dealt with, the internal heart reduction pills will be 10% more effective. Good, very good!"


    As the old man said this, he fumbled below the counter and took out two rewards before pushing them to Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian respectively. Closely after that, he took their identity plates and inserted them into the machine beside them.


    Bai Suxian''s reward was 36 high-quality earth-element crystals while Zhang Tie''s reward was 6 water-element crystals. Besides the element crystals, they both had 10 more merit points and 2,000 more consumption points in the Lion Fortress in their identity plates.


    The exchange ratio between earth-element crystals and water-element crystals was 6:1. As he had promoted to an earth knight, Zhang Tie didn''t need earth-element crystals anymore; therefore, the old man gave him 6 water-element crystals.


    Due to the large-scale war in Tiewai Mountain, all the human knights could have two times more reward than before by killing demon knights in Tiewai Mountain.


    Being stimulated by such an incentive policy, a lot of Class 2 garrison knights in Earth-element Realm converged in Tiewei Mountain and joined this war.


    Class 2 garrison knights were the freest human knights in the Lion Fortress. They could move freely in the Earth-elements Realm and didn''t follow anyone''s command. Compared to Class 1 garrison knights and those knights of the 3 top armies from Taixia Country, Class 2 garrison knights were pretty free in actions.


    At this moment, Class 1 garrison knights and the human knights from the top armies of Taixia Country were confronting demons in the core of Tiewei Mountain. The periphery of Tiewei Mountain was the battlefield between Class 2 garrison knights and demons. Certainly, if a Class 2 garrison knight would like to break into the core of Tiewei Mountain and join the battle there, the human commander in the core must encourage him with applause. The mere requirement was that he had to follow the order of the human commander over there.


    It was a positional warfare in the core and the frontline of Tiewei Mountain; by contrast, it was guerrilla in the rear end and the periphery of Tiewei Mountain. The knights in the frontline were regular armies of humans while those in the periphery were human paladins.


    On the premise of ensuring the safety of the rear end and flanks of human camp, Class 2 human garrison knights also restricted the effective strength and knights of demons. The frontline was protected by a heavenly human knight while the battlefield in the rear end should depend on themselves. Both parties were well-matched in strength. In the core area, they were mostly positional warfares and rout warfares; in the rear end and flanks, they were mostly encountered actions and wars of annihilation. Actually, Class 2 garrison knights in the periphery of Tiewei Mountain would even bear greater stress from their enemy than those human knights in the core region. This was the cost of freedom.


    When Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian came to the Lion Fortress, they both chose to be Class 2 garrison knights. Black Armor Battlefortress was also the strongpoint that gathered most Class 2 garrison knights.


    "Plus this one, you''ve killed 5 demon knights. Here''s the identity plate of trump black iron knight!" The old man told Bai Suxian as he changed a golden metal identity plate for her. This one looked much more advanced than that of before.


    Until the old man pushed the new identity plate to her did Bai Suxian blink her eyes and ask him surprisingly, "I''m already a trump black iron knight?"


    "Right!" The old man nodded.


    Bai Suxian sprung up at once as she put her arms around Zhang Tie''s neck and kissed his face forcefully twice, "Even this humble lady has become a trump knight in the Earth-elements Realm by staying with the lord!"


    "Haha, you''re an able woman!" Zhang Tie slapped her butt once again.


    Zhang Tie''s identity card remained unchanged.


    Compared to Bai Suxian, although Zhang Tie had killed more demon knights than Bai Suxian, he was not a trump earth knight yet because he had not killed 5 earth demon knights. Over the past 2 months, Zhang Tie had killed one more black iron demon knights than Bai Suxian and ranked number one among the earth knights in Black Armor Battlefortress; however, due to the remarkable difference between earth knight and black iron knight, an earth knight could not gain the honor of trump earth knight no matter how many black iron knights he had killed.


    Strictly, although Old Monster Qi and the demon baron were both killed by Zhang Tie, Old Monster Qi was not a demon but a member of Three-eye Association while the latter fully disappeared, leaving no evidence at all. Therefore, although it was said that Zhang Tie had killed 2 earth knights across the Black Armor Battlefortress last month, it had not been recorded officially in the Lion Fortress.


    Although it was not recorded, Zhang Tie''s record of killing black iron demon knights was very eye-catching. After entering the Earth-elements Realm for over 2 years, especially over the past 2 months, Zhang Tie had killed 9 black iron demon knights, one of them would have soon promoted to an earth demon knight.


    With such a military exploit, Zhang Tie was definitely qualified to be an elite among those earth knights in Lion Fortress.


    ...


    When Bai Suxian sprung up and put her arms around Zhang Tie''s neck, an old man with full silver hair in a brilliant white robe had just entered with two people.


    After entering the Black Armor Battlefortress, the old man started to glance around the bustling square. While faintly narrowing his eyes, he targeted at Bai Suxian''s back at once.


    When Bai Suxian sprung up, putting her arms around Zhang Tie''s neck and kissing him, the old man frowned. When he saw Zhang Tie''s huge palm slapping her butt, the old man revealed a furious look as he uttered a muffled harrumph. Closely after that, he walked towards Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian with two people on his side...


    When the old man gazed at Bai Suxian''s back for over 3 seconds, Zhang Tie had sensed it as he turned around at once, followed by Bai Suxian.


    At the sight of that old man, Bai Suxian changed her face at once...

 983 Lord Guangnans Mansion

    Chapter 983: Lord Guangnan''s Mansion


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Harrumph, let''s go..."


    At the sight of the three people, Bai Suxian had changed her face. Closely after that, she tightly held Zhang Tie''s arm and intended to leave with him. It seemed that she didn''t expect to see the three people.


    "Who''re they?" Zhang Tie asked Bai Suxian when he walked away with her.


    "Annoying people!" Bai Suxian bit her lips before answering Zhang Tie simply.


    Now that Bai Suxian didn''t want to explain, Zhang Tie didn''t ask her anymore. Although they were already close to each other, they still would not force the other to say what they didn''t like out of respect.


    Everybody had a secret. Zhang Tie was clear about that very much. Bai Suxian was not his servant, but more like his partner and lover.


    Watching them leave, the old man in white robe hurriedly came to the front of them with a cold face.


    Bai Suxian immediately grasped Zhang Tie''s arm tightly. With a shrewd eye light, Zhang Tie put Bai Suxian behind him and walked towards the old man directly.


    "Excuse me..." As Zhang Tie asked others to give way to him, he walked towards the old man decisively with a surging, aggressive qi.


    The two people on the sides of the old man wanted to move one step forward; however, the old man stopped them by putting one arm in front of them; meanwhile, the old man moved one step forward and stood firmly in front of Zhang Tie.


    ''Earth knight!''


    The old man and Zhang Tie could both identify the other''s level. Closely after their eye lights met in the air, they had collided numerous times with invisible sharpness and qis like two fierce beasts although they didn''t move at all.


    Zhang Tie continued to stride forward. The old man just blocked his way.


    Unavoidably, the two people collided with each other. The moment their shoulders touched, the old man had faintly changed his face. Although Zhang Tie just strode forward at the same speed; the moment he collided with the old man, his inertia had become irresistible just like a running train, which could collapse a mountain.


    In a split second, the old man moved back his shoulder before thrusting it forward on his own initiative. In this way, he turned the table on his opponent. Additionally, due to the difference in height, the old man was actually thrusting towards Zhang Tie''s chest using his shoulder.


    Zhang Tie''s eyes turned bright as he continued to bump towards the old man aggressively; meanwhile, he cut into the old man''s middle line by one foot and raised his leg to attack the old man''s lower abdomen by his knee.


    The old man narrowed his eyes and raised his leg. Although he looked like moving one step forward, actually he was attempting to step onto the instep of Zhang Tie''s foot which had just been raised.


    ...


    "Bang..." A thunder was heard in the entire square of Black Armor Battlefortress. Many people were startled as threw their eyes towards Zhang Tie and the old man.


    At the sight of this scene, everybody was shocked¡ª¡ªtwo shadows were fighting in one corner of the square.


    The moment earth knights started a fight, their aggressive qis could match the power of an alchemist bomb being detonated above a tranquil lake. When the invisible qis swept over the entire Black Armor Battlefortress, all the others inside were startled.


    A squad of black armored knights who were patrolling near the square of Black Armor Battlefortress immediately flew off towards Zhang Tie and the old man.


    "Stop!" Although the head of the black armored knights was just a black iron knight, he was exceptionally fierce. He waved his huge saber while a berserk saber qi directly cut into the middle of the two earth knights.


    At the sight of the squad of black armor knights, Zhang Tie and the old man punched at each other before flying 10 steps backward respectively and landing steadily.


    In a wink, the two earth knights had been surrounded by over 10 fierce black armored knights, all of whom had pulled their sabers and swords off their sheaths and threw their hostile and vigilant eye lights towards the old man and the two people besides the old man.


    As Zhang Tie had been in Black Armor Battlefortress for 2 months and had a good relationship with Black Armor Army; he even befriended Wu Guanhai, a team leader of Black Armor Army. In the past 2 months, Zhang Tie had made a lot of military exploits in Tiewei Mountain and enjoyed a good reputation in Black Armor Battlefortress. Wu Guanhai always thought about having Zhang Tie join the Black Armor Army. Of course, when they watched Zhang Tie to fight a stranger in the Black Armor Battlefortress, they would stand on Zhang Tie'' side. This was the effect of a good moral standing and a good reputation.


    A lot of knights around the square also stopped what they were doing and threw their eyes towards there.


    "Did demons and b*stards of Three-eye Association slide in?" Someone asked out of amazement.


    "Someone fought Cui Li!" Someone shouted.


    "Ahh, someone fought Cui Li? Whether they are demons or moles of Three-eye Association?"


    "If they dared find trouble in Black Armor Battlefortress, we should never let them escape. F*ck them off..."


    Closely after the last person''s words, a great number of knights swarmed up. Some directly floated in the air with weapons in hands while their boiling battle qis blocked the way in all directions.


    The battlefortress became chaotic at once.


    The old man who fought Zhang Tie had not imagined that the surrounding black armored knights could stand on the side of that tough guy and be hostile to him. Therefore, he faintly changed his face.


    After a few seconds'' wrestle, although the old man and Zhang Tie didn''t release the virtual images of their battle qis, they had collided dozens of times in the blink of an eye, causing such a loud bang. Due to the fast speed, dozens of consecutive collisions let to a loud bang. The old man was more shocked by Zhang Tie''s influence in the Black Armor Battlefortress than his battle strength. The moment he was in trouble, all the surrounding knights came here to help him. This could never be done by common earth knights.


    After throwing another glance at Zhang Tie, the old man''s eyes contained something special.


    ...


    Another earth knight of Black Armor Army in bronze colored face flashed over here from a high metal tower in the far and directly landed in the middle of the ring. After glancing around those in the surroundings with a domineering and cold look, he asked in a muffled voice, "What''s wrong?"


    The black armored knight who had just stopped their fight moved his lips and told what happened here to the earth knight in a secret way.


    The earth knight in copper-colored face watched the old man and the two people on his sides while narrowing his eyes before asking in a low voice, "Who''re you? Why do you make trouble in Black Armor Battlefortress?"


    The old man who had fought Zhang Tie looked around before moving his lips and saying something to the earth knight in a secret way. At the same time, he took out a special metal plate and presented it to the earth knight of the Black Armor Army.


    Zhang Tie had a good vision. The moment the old man took out his metal plate from his waist, he had caught sight of two words on the metal plate¡ª¡ªGuang Nan.


    After being silent for a second, the earth knight of Black Armor Army glanced at the old man''s metal plate and Bai Suxian on Zhang Tie''s side. Closely after that, he scratched his head and swore something inside before turning around and speaking loudly, "It''s a misunderstanding, there''s no demon or mole, you can leave now!"


    Watching the squad of black armor army leaving off and hearing that it was just a misunderstanding, those onlookers left too.


    ...


    "Brother Cui Li, this is the private affair between you and Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. It''s out of the access of our Black Armor Army. If you want to beat this general steward of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, please spare a face for this brother. Don''t make trouble in Black Armor Battlefortress, you can fight wherever you want except for killing him..."


    Before leaving, the earth knight of Black Armor Army told Zhang Tie in a secret way.


    ''Lord Guangnan''s Mansion? F*ck!'' Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he threw his eye light towards Bai Suxian on his side.


    Bai Suxian threw a glare at the old man as she instantly pulled Zhang Tie away. After watching Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian for a short while, the old man didn''t block them anymore; instead, he just followed after them silently.


    It seemed that the old man didn''t want to make more troubles.


    ...


    After coming to room No. 2064, Bai Suxian opened the door and pulled Zhang Tie in. The moment she entered it, Bai Suxian wanted to close the door from inside; however, she was stopped by Zhang Tie, "Wait, it doesn''t work. Just let him in to clarify it. If you leave them outside, do you want them to eavesdrop on us?"


    After hearing this, the old man''s eye corners jumped. He let the other two to stand outside while he followed Zhang Tie in.


    Previously, there were two beds in room No. 2064; however, Bai Suxian had them changed into one double bed. When the old man caught sight of the only double bed in the room, his eye corners jumped once again.


    "You tell that man. If he still wants to marry that foxtrel, I will never go back. I have nothing to do with him!" Bai Suxian watched the old man with a cold look.


    The moment Zhang Tie heard the word foxtrel, Zhang Tie could only rub his face on her side. Zhang Tie wondered what that woman being called foxtrel by Bai Suxian looked like.


    "This time...it''s not His Royal Highness who calls Miss back, it''s grand madam; Grand madam''s disease suddenly deteriorated half a year ago. She wanted to see Miss..." The old man lowered his eyes.


    "Ahh, my grandma, how''s my grandma?" An anxious look appeared on Bai Suxian''s face...


    "Miss, If you didn''t go back with me now, you might not be able to see grand madam after a few days..."

 984 Beauties Come and Go

    Chapter 984: Beauties Come and Go


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Hearing the conversation, Zhang Tie widely opened his mouth. Anyone who was normal in intelligence could guess Bai Suxian''s status from the old man''s words.


    The old man was an earth knight, the general steward of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    ''If she''s called Miss by the general steward of a lord''s mansion, Bai Suxian must be...must be...the princess of Lord Guannan''s Mansion!''


    At this moment, Zhang Tie suddenly figured out why this woman liked wearing palace robes in normal times. Previously, Zhang Tie thought it was just her special lobby; he thought that she just liked the brilliance of palace robe; however, he had not imagined that palace robe fit her status best!


    Therefore, he understood why this woman had a space-teleportation item and so many luxurious items inside.


    It was pretty hard for a common black iron knight to gain a space-teleportation item; however, it was not that difficult for a princess who came from a lord''s mansion in Taixia Country.


    What a world! Zhang Tie had not imagined that this woman who poisoned him with love potion, called him lord and warmed up bed for him every day was a princess.


    ''What the hell? What a rebellious white, rich and beautiful woman!''


    ''F*ck!''


    After hearing that the grand madam of Lord Guannan''s Mansion was seriously ill, Bai Suxian had a breakdown, she almost burst out into tears.


    Zhang Tie touched his bald head before putting his hand on Bai Suxian''s shoulder, "Just follow them back. Honestly, the battlefield in Earth-elements Realm doesn''t fit woman at all!"


    "But..." Bai Suxian watched Zhang Tie tearfully.


    "If you didn''t go back, you might feel guilty and regretful for the rest of your life. Don''t do anything that might make you regretful!"


    Bai Suxian stomped onto the ground before gritting her lips and replying to the old man, "Go out first; I will go back with you after dealing with the affairs here!"


    The old man threw a glance at Zhang Tie before saying, "I will wait for you miss at the exit of the square..."


    After saying that, the old man exited the room and closed the door.


    After leaving the room, the old man told the two people on his sides in a secret manner, "Go check the background of Cui Li."


    "Yes, sir!"


    ...


    The old man then left, leaving Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie alone.


    "I''m sorry. This humble lady didn''t mean to cover my background, but..." Bai Suxian wanted to explain.


    "Pah..." Zhang Tie slapped her butt once again, "Explain what? This brother Cui doesn''t care who you are, a princess or what. Now that I''ve slept with a princess, of course, I have nothing to complain about. You can go back to take a look; if you want to find me later on, just come to the Earth-elements Realm for me!"


    "Really?" Bai Suxian''s eyes flickered.


    "Of course, oh, open your mouth!"


    "Ahh, lord, you still think about kissing this humble lady at this moment..."


    Before Bai Suxian finished her words, Zhang Tie had kissed her petite mouth. When Bai Suxian thought that Zhang Tie wanted to do something before she left, her eyes widely opened...


    She felt that Zhang Tie broke the tip of her tongue lightly. Closely after that, Zhang Tie dropped something onto her blood. In a split second, that item integrated with her body and drilled into her lower abdomen. It then started to swim in her qi sea.


    That was a mini sword, a priceless silver secret item.


    At the sight of Bai Suxina''s shocked look, Zhang Tie left her lips, "I know you use whip; previously, this brother Cui wanted to gift you a whip as a weapon; however, as whip is a rare weapon, whose silver secret item could not be easily found. Now that you want to leave, I will gift you another silver secret item to protect yourself. This longsword fits woman too. Take it as a souvenir for the love between you and me!"


    Bai Suxian watched Zhang Tie while being especially moved. She found that Cui Li was actually very considerate and always bore her in his mind.


    "Lord, you treat me so good!" Bai Suxian tightly hugged Zhang Tie''s sturdy waist and pasted her face onto Zhang Tie''s chest.


    "Whether that space-teleportation item that you carry was stolen from your mansion?"


    "Ahh, how did you know that, Lord?"


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh as he had figured out everything, "How come a person who has a space-teleportation item doesn''t have a silver secret item? Additionally, who else would put his private bathtub and bath water into his space-teleportation item besides you? Even though the lord of Taixia Country is not that luxurious. I''m afraid that you''ve moved all the items from your room into the space-teleportation item."


    "My grandma loves me the most since I was young. This humble lady has to go back to see my grandma; when my grandma''s disease is cured, I will come back for Lord..." Bai Suxian twisted her body in Zhang Tie''s arms once again.


    "I will not stay too long in the Earth-elements Realm. I will have to go back onto the earth''s surface after the end of the battle in Tiewei Mountain at most!" Zhang Tie narrowed his eyes.


    "Ahh, Lord, you want to go back to the earth''s surface?"


    "Yes, this brother Cui also wants to enjoy becoming a founder of a sect. Even though my sect could not match that of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country, I would have a try. At least, my sect should be unrivaled in one region so as to live up to my talents!" Zhang Tie said heroically.


    Bai Suxian watched Zhang Tie with full sparkling stars in her eyes just like a tomboy who heard that her beloved brother was going to rob a territory for protection fee. Being excited at once, she uttered, "If Lord is really that ambitious, this humble lady would like to be your subordinate and help Lord instruct a batch of disciples!"


    "Oh, what''s the contradiction between you and your dad Lord Guangnan? Why did you leave your home?"


    "It''s because of Fang Xinyi that foxtrel..." Bai Suxian gritted her teeth at once as she swore, "That b*tch. I treated her as my ladybro and bosom friend. However, it''s out of my imagination that the b*tch wanted to be my stepmother. How could I bear that..."


    Zhang Tie was dumbfounded once again. ''Bai Suxian''s ladybro slept with her dad and became her stepmother. Such a resentment in the major clan could be written into a novel. Bai Suxian''s dad was really a weirdo. Lord Guannan must have seen numerous women; how could he sleep with his daughter''s bosom friend and make her daughter leave home? As a result, he and his daughter are like strangers. What the f*ck! Weirdo...''


    ...


    2 hours later, Zhang Tie saw Bai Suxian off the Black Armor Battlefortress. After that, he insisted on accompanying Bai Suxian and the other 3 people from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion over 700 miles away. When they left Tiewei Mountain, Zhang Tie flew back to the Black Armor Battlefortress alone after bidding a farewell to Bai Suxian.


    On the way, the three people from Lord Guangnan might have heard something about Cui Li; especially that old man, whose eye lights turned strange when he saw Bai Suxian being so docile and reluctant to part with Zhang Tie.


    "I saw Miss growing up since she was young. You''re the first man who made Miss so docile. She didn''t act in that way even in front of our Lord!"


    Before leaving, the old man told Zhang Tie in a secret way meaningfully.


    Zhang Tie touched his bald head as he was confused about the old guy''s meaning.


    Bai Suxian was escorted by an earth knight and two black iron knights; additionally, the battle in Tiewei Mountain became white-hot; therefore, they might not meet any demon knight on the way back to the Lion Fortress. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not worried about Bai Suxian at all.


    The airboat of Lord Guangnan was parking in the Lion Fortress. After returning to Lion Fortress, Bai Suxian could directly go back home by airboat.


    ...


    After returning to the Black Armor Battlefortress, Zhang Tie started an individual life once again.


    The bed in the room No. 2064 still carried the fragrance of Bai Suxian.


    Watching the empty huge bed, Zhang Tie smacked his lips as he touched the silver remote-sensing ring on his little finger. The other remote-sensing ring was on Bai Suxian''s finger. This pair of remote-sensing rings were exchanged with the earth-element crystals that Bai Suxian had gained in the Black Armor Battlefortress for the convenience of their communication.


    After taking a deep breath, Zhang Tie sat beside the bed and took out 6 water-element crystals that he was rewarded this time before absorbing them.


    It might take other earth knights a few days to absorb the 6 water-element crystals; however, it only took Zhang Tie 3 hours to absorb all of them.


    The water chakra of king roc sutra was more difficult to form than earth chakra. The quantity of water-element crystals demanded was astronomical. Under such a circumstance, Zhang Tie could only cultivate step by step towards shadow knight.


    After absorbing the 6 water-element crystals, Zhang Tie continued to absorb water elements in the elements realm.


    2 days later, Zhang Tie felt that the 2nd dragon scale on the new earth knight''s crystal plate that he had just received in Black Armor Battlefortress was lit. He then opened his eyes and stood up...


    After absorbing most of the remaining virtual water chakra of the demon baron, plus over 2 months'' cultivation and the 40-50 water-element crystals that he gained by killing so many demon knights, Zhang Tie had just lit 2 dragon scales on his crystal plate.


    ...


    1 hour later, Zhang Tie came to the lobby of Black Armor Battlefortress and wanted to leave there.


    At this moment, an uproar occurred while someone shouted, "Ahh, the knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect will also join the battle in Tiewei Mountain?"


    After hearing this sound, Zhang Tie turned around and became stiff at once...


    A team of knights with exceptional demeanors entered the entrance while all the knights at the entrance gave a way to them. Zhang Tie caught sight of Lan Yunxi in the middle of the team at once...


    ...

 985 The First Rays of the Morning in the Cloud

    Chapter 985: The First Rays of the Morning in the Cloud


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Temperament could hardly be described. For instance, a rich man who had been used to the life of pampered aristocracy definitely had a different temperament than the real beggars even if he was requested to beg together with real beggars on the roadside.


    The rich man knew that he was rich; therefore, even if he disguised as a beggar, he wouldn''t look like poor at all.


    This was the temperament of rich people.


    As the knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect entered the lobby of Black Armor Battlefortress, the uproar in the lobby slowly trailed off.


    Being compared to the knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, although the other knights in the lobby were not beggars, they were almost scared by the knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect at once.


    The knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect didn''t take too many luxurious and advanced items. Their clothes and weapons were as common as those of common knights. The old man with a white beard and white hair in front of the team wore an extremely average plain linen robe. However, these people looked domineering.


    The entire team of Taiyi Fantasy Sect just entered quietly, being neither tidy nor disordered. All the team members looked indifferent and calm. When they entered the lobby of the Black Armor Battlefortress, they felt like thawy sweet and limpid snow water flowing down from the top of the mountain range into the dirty secular river.


    The team of Taiyi Fantasy Sect contained over 30 members. Lan Yunxi was walking in the middle of the team.


    In a purple longuette, Lan Yunxi was carrying a delicate, mini battle crossbow on her back with a longsword on one side of her waist while her black hair was bundled by a jade clip. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, she was a goddess walking down the cloud.


    Since he left Lan Yunxi in Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie had not seen her for many years. When he caught sight of her at this moment, Zhang Tie felt that Lan Yunxi didn''t turn old at all; instead, she became brighter and beautiful. She felt calmer and more confident than that a few years ago.


    The fragrance of the noble and unsullied orchid, as capricious as clouds and the brilliant first rays of the morning. With the three features, this woman carried a dreamlike comeliness.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt that her name Lan Yunxi fit her temperament so well that Zhang Tie even doubted whether what he did to her was real or not. When in Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie almost raped her. In Selnes Theater of Operations, he traveled in the sky by glider with this woman and listened to her inner thoughts.


    In the team of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, this woman could still be the focus.


    There were almost 10 female knights in the team of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. All the other female knights looked outstanding; however, Lan Yunxi was the most excellent one.


    Based on his sharp intuition as a man, Zhang Tie felt that some male knights in the team of Taiyi Fantasy Sect were paying attention to Lan Yunxi because they always looked at Lan Yunxi with adoration and desires. Because of Lan Yunxi, it seemed that the male knights in the team of Taiyi Fantasy Sect also became personable with strong qi fields.


    Honestly, Zhang Tie felt that his own excellence completely benefited from Castle of Black Iron. Without Castle of Black Iron, he might be struggling to survive himself in a dirty and remote place. Whereas, Lan Yunxi was born to be excellent. Her excellence was engraved in her soul and each of her cells. Nobody else could match here in Huaiyuan palace and the entire Zhang clan. This woman could always become the most excellent one whether she was in Huaiyuan Palace or Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    When in Huaiyuan Palace, because of her, everybody in Huaiyuan Palace including Zhang Tie almost forgot that Zhang Taixuan the Count Long Wind even had some sons. Although Lan Yunxi''s elder brothers were not average and could undertake tasks alone at young ages, they were almost forgotten by others due to the existence of Lan Yunxi.


    It was the same in a bigger stage like Taiyi Fantasy Sect, one of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country...


    ...


    Until the team of Taiyi Fantasy Sect disappeared in Zhang Tie''s eyes and the surrounding uproars recovered did Zhang Tie wake up from the surprise of meeting Lan Yunxi once again...


    "Powerful, too powerful!"


    ...


    "They deserve to be the head of the top seven sects in Taixia Country!"


    ...


    "I feel that the old man in front of the team might have promoted to a shadow knight!"


    ...


    "Did you see that female knight who carried a short crossbow on her back? She''s too brilliant..."


    ...


    "I wonder whether the team of Taiyi Fantasy Sect is going to settle down in Black Armor Battlefortress or join the battle in the core of Tiewei Mountain..."


    ...


    Discussions soon started in the surroundings.


    Zhang Tie who was going to leave Black Armor Battlefortress recovered his composure. After thinking for a second, he instantly changed his direction and walked towards an information desk in the center of the square.


    Zhang Tie came to the front of the old man who was responsible for retrieving ox horns of ox-headed demons.


    The old man was wiping an ox horn with a piece of cloth. At the sight of Zhang Tie, he raised his head.


    "Are they members of Taiyi Fantasy Sect?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Yup!"


    "Are they going to fight a long-drawn war here with Black Armor Battlefortress as a strongpoint?"


    "Why do you ask this?"


    "Heh heh heh, Taiyi Fantasy Sect is well-known; additionally, they dispatched so many knights here this time. As these knights are all outstanding, they might make troubles; therefore, I just want to know their plan!" Zhang Tie replied casually.


    After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, the old man revealed an obscene smile at once. Closely after that, the old man lowered his body over the counter while Zhang Tie moved his ears closer to him.


    "There are many beautiful female knights in the team of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Soon after the woman who warmed up your bed left, you couldn''t wait to seduce the other girls in the Taiyi Fantasy Sect? I tell you, the female knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect are not that easy to be seduced. Have you seen that old guy in plain linen robe in the front of the team? He''s Feng Yexiao, one of the four elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. He had promoted to 4 changes shadow knight 10 years ago. He looks merciless and is extremely cruel. If he knew that you plan to seduce his female disciple, he would definitely break your "three legs", hehhehheh..."


    "Is this Cui that sort of man?" Zhang Tie glared at this old guy. Although this old guy looked serious in normal times, he was actually also a shameless guy.


    "Stop it, man. This old man has also been as young as you. That''s how men and women always think about. Do not deny it!" The old guy smirked weirdly, "I like you. This old man will give you a free news. Anyone who wants to fight in the core battlefield of Tiewei Mountain should follow orders without any exception. However, the people of Taiyi Fantasy Sect are domineering; especially Feng Yexiao the old guy who''s famous for his narrow-mindedness. How could he lead his men to the core battlefield to follow other''s orders?"


    The old guy''s message indirectly answered Zhang Tie''s question, namely, the people of Taiyi Fantasy Sect would not involve themselves in the core battlefield on their own initiative. They might carry out a guerrilla in the periphery of Tiewei Mountain. Of course, under the leadership of a shadow Knight-level elder, their battle strength could never be matched by common Class 2 garrison knights. Perhaps, they might come to the rear end or the critical places of demons and do something big.


    However, given the safety of Lan Yunxi, the Taiyi Fantasy Sect might just want to show their newbies how the large-scale battle between human knights and demon knights went.


    "I see, thanks!" Zhang Tie appreciated the old man and wanted to leave there.


    "Wait!" The old guy threw a vial towards Zhang Tie, "Here''s a vial of internal heat reduction pills as my gift. The ox horns that you gave me last time are not bad, this is the extra compensation! If you don''t need it, you could gift it to others!"


    ''Is this moral standing premium?''


    Zhang Tie waved his hand and left with the vial of pills.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s mind had been filled with Lan Yunxi''s images; therefore, he was a bit distracted.


    Gritting his teeth, Zhang Tie left the square. He flew out of the Black Armor Battlefortress and entered the dense black mist in the periphery of Tiewei Mountain.


    Only after over 1 hour''s flight, Zhang Tie had come into a hidden mountain cave in the outermost mountain range of Tiewei Mountain.


    In the mountain cave, Zhang Tie triggered his immortal body changing bloodline and gradually recovered his original look through changing his skeletons and muscles all over.


    After recovering his original look, Zhang Tie''s clothes and caliga became too much larger than his body. Therefore, Zhang Tie took out a whole set of clothes and caliga from Castle of Black Iron and finally wore an average face mask.


    After doing all this, the moment he walked out of the mountain cave did Zhang Tie remember something. He touched his head and felt that it was still bald and eye-catching; therefore, he revealed a self-mocking smile and touched his head once again. Closely after that, his hair grew up rapidly. After making a crew cut and confirming that no loophole was left, Zhang Tie left the mountain cave.


    ...


    After circling around 2 hours in the dense mist, Zhang Tie returned to the Black Armor Battlefortress with a new look...

 986 Contac

    Chapter 986: Contact


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie was not nervous. Although he was in the face mask, this face mask could be easily identified by powerhouses who excelled at disguising skills; however, Zhang Tie was not afraid of being identified.


    Right in front of him, the two black iron knights who had just entered the Black Armor Battlefortress were also wearing face masks.


    Given their steel-blue hair and brown skin, Zhang Tie knew that the two knights in front of him came from a foreign subcontinent. Their face masks must be the deity that they worshiped.


    There were many similar human knights in the Lion Fortress and the Earth-elements Realm who were in different human races from different countries on different continents with various beliefs.


    It was very normal for them to wear face masks. Some female knights even liked wearing a veil. It was said that those female knights only exposed their faces to their fathers and husbands in their whole lives. Some knights from countries in Western Continent even liked wearing a complete skull of an ox-headed demon on their heads. As for those knights, the complete skull of an ox-headed demon with ox horns indicated that they were brave. It was also their tradition. What was more, someone made tattoos on their faces so that their ears, eyes, noses, mouth and eyebrows could be barely identified by people.


    If one wanted to enter the Black Armor Battlefortress, he only needed to prove that he was not a demon.


    The spiny identification equipment at the entrance of the fortress could not identify individuals concretely; it could only respond to the demon''s blood.


    Therefore, it was nothing difficult for Zhang Tie to enter Black Armor Battlefortress in a face mask.


    After recovering his original body, Zhang Tie''s qi also recovered to that of a black iron knight. Even though his cultivation method was recovered to "Five-elements Ground-look Sutra" benefited from his "King Roc Sutra".


    After finding that Zhang Tie was strange, a black armored knight at the entrance just threw a glance at him and examined his blood before letting him in smoothly.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie realized that the decision that he made to give up the bloodline of the shadow demon was pretty right. If he still had the bloodline of shadow demon at this moment, he might be the one being chased after by human knights in the Earth-elements Realm instead of the real earth Knight-level shadow demon. In this world, no pay, no gain.


    ''By contrast, my immortal body changing bloodline is really perfect.''


    Zhang Tie felt lucky after entering Black Armor Battlefortress once again.


    After leaving there for a few hours, the Black Armor Battlefortress remained unchanged. Zhang Tie easily knew that the team of 34 knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect was living on the 4th floor of No. 7 tower in the southwest of the square.


    As Zhang Tie looked strange, nobody would like to glance at him across the Black Armor Battlefortress.


    After gaining the whereabouts of Lan Yunxi, Zhang Tie directly walked towards No. 7 tower.


    After passing the square in a casual way, Zhang Tie came to the knights'' bar on the 2nd floor of No. 7 tower and ordered a chartered room over there. Closely after that, he left the bar and went upstairs all the way to the side of the 4th floor which was far away from the noises of the square. He then walked past each room on both sides of the corridor in common footsteps.


    There were many logistics and battle auxiliary personnel in Black Armor Battlefortress. In the apartments of knights, some logistics personnel would be arranged for serving knights in each floor of the tower. Zhang Tie was imitating the footsteps of battle auxiliary personnel in Black Armor Battlefortress. Given his footsteps, few people might know that he was a knight.


    This was the reaction blind area in people''s first impression.


    The inside layout of No. 7 tower looked like that of a hotel. One side directly faced the open courtyard of the tower from where knights could directly fly away in emergencies; knights'' rooms were on the other side of the aisle.


    Zhang Tie just walked and passed by each door in a calm way. However, the beautiful and marvelous golden virtual lotus flowers were silently blossoming around his pupils.


    Due to the beautiful virtual lotus flowers in his eyes, the metal rooms and multi-layered metal walls became transparent at once while everything inside the rooms was exposed to Zhang Tie.


    The pictures of the living habits of knights on the 4th floor of No. 7 tower was presented to Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    Some rooms were empty; some knights were snoring loudly in their sleep after finishing their tasks; some knights were cultivating with crossed legs by absorbing crystals in their hands or immersing themselves in the elements realm. Of course, there were some strange ones. Some knights were reading books; some were picking their noses in the mirror; in one room, a male and a female were doing what Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian used to do a few days ago. What was more ridiculous was that two men were in a room...


    Like being struck by a lightning bolt, Zhang Tie preferred to see nothing.


    ...


    Although Zhang Tie knew that it was immoral for him to peep at them; he didn''t care too much at such a critical moment.


    Finally, Zhang Tie caught a female knight of Taiyi Fantasy Sect who was taking off her clothes for a bath.


    The female knight walked behind Lan Yunxi just now. She looked conservative; however, after taking off her clothes, she exposed a set of sexy black underclothes.


    After looking at her figure in the mirror, the female knight let out a faint sigh. It seemed that she was worried about something.


    ''Sorry, I didn''t mean it.''


    Zhang Tie stuck his tongue out as he murmured inside. After throwing another two glances at her stealthily, Zhang Tie walked by her room in a calm look.


    Starting with this female knight, all the knights in the rooms were from Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    Zhang Tie had to admit that Taiyi Fantasy Sect had a strict discipline.


    After passing by their rooms one after another, Zhang Tie found 90% of the knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect were cultivating with crossed legs. One or two of them were walking slowly in their rooms and making hand gestures. It seemed that they were deducing battle skills. Some female knights were taking a bath. However, Zhang Tie only threw a glance at them. He felt too guilty peeping at their naked bodies at this moment.


    Zhang Tie also saw that elder called Feng Yexiao through his door and wall.


    The old man was deducing something with a compass-like item in hand. Zhang Tie was not sure whether his lotus-flower eyes could arouse the attention of a shadow knight; therefore, he just glanced over his room and moved to the next target rapidly.


    Finally, he caught sight of Lan Yunxi in one room...


    She was cultivating with crossed legs.


    When Zhang Tie passed by her room, he penetrated his metallic battle qi through the metal door of Lan Yunxi''s room with his voice into Lan Yunxi''s ears.


    ¡ª¡ªSenior sister apprentice. Long time no see. If you''re free, come for me in No. 16 chartered room of the knights'' bar in No. 7 tower!


    Zhang Tie just walked away in a casual way...


    Lan Yunxi widely opened her eyes immediately with an amazed and unbelievable look...


    ''Zhang Tie!''


    How could Lan Yunxi forget such a familiar voice?


    Lan Yunxi almost mistook it as an illusion; however, given the clear sound in her ears, she knew that it was not an illusion.


    She was shocked by Zhang Tie''s voice. What shocked her more was that Zhang Tie knew that she lived here and could pass his voice to her precisely through the door.


    ''Is Zhang Tie always in Black Armor Battlefortress?''


    ''If black iron knights could control their battle qis in a very high standard, they could indeed talk with another knight secretly through an object or a door. However, the premise is that they should fix the position of the knight precisely. The voice should reach the listener''s ears precisely; otherwise, it would be ineffective. How did Zhang Tie do it?''


    ''Did he fix my position through my breathing sound? No way, the wall of the room is inlaid with a special device which could isolate sound and spiritual energy absolutely.''


    Soon after listening to Zhang Tie''s sound, Lan Yunxi sprung up and come to the door...


    She had already grasped the handle by hand; however, she stopped.


    Lan Yunxi closed her eyes and stood for a few seconds at the door before moving back. She sat down with crossed legs once again...


    ...


    Zhang Tie was not worried that Lan Yunxi would rush out to meet him after hearing his voice. Common women might do that, except for Lan Yunxi. She knew which way was best to her and Zhang Tie.


    After returning to the No. 16 chartered room of the knight''s bar on the 2nd floor of No. 7 tower, Zhang Tie ordered a watermelon liquor and started a drink in the room alone.


    The chartered rooms and drinks in the knights'' bar were free for those knights in the Black Armor Battlefortress. On the earth''s surface, such chartered rooms and drinks would only cost them a few gold coins, which could be ignored by knights. Now that they could come to the Black Armor Battlefortress, they were supporting humans in the battle between humans and demons in the Earth-elements Realm. Therefore, it was reasonable for Black Armor Battlefortress to provide the best services to these human knights. Nobody would care about the consumption at all.


    Zhang Tie was waiting for Lan Yunxi because he knew that she would come...

 987 Martyr

    Chapter 987: Martyr


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When he drank the strange watermelon liquor quietly in the chartered room of the knights'' bar, Zhang Tie gradually recovered his composure. After thinking about it for a short while, Zhang Tie found that he could not find a reason to meet Lan Yunxi under this circumstances.


    However, at the sight of Lan Yunxi, his heart started to race unconsciously.


    At the sight of her, he would not recover his composure unless he watched and talked with her face to face.


    Many times, one''s decisions were not determined by reason, but emotions and feelings, even being an earth knight...


    If one was always dominated by his reason, there would not be the story that a king teased his lords by lighting smokes on the city-defense facilities only for a beauty''s smile or numerous heroes were driven mad for the sake of their beloved women.


    The astringent and scorching sense of the watermelon liquor reminded Zhang Tie of the look of Lan Yunxi whom he saw in the Herbs Valley of Hidden Dragon Island for the first time.


    In the moonlight, a female in a skirt as silvery as the moonlight was playing water in a brook being reflected with the moonlight while sitting on a rock. Meanwhile, she was holding a jade flute while the vacant sound flew out of the jade flute like water, filling the valley...


    That was the most beautiful scenery in Zhang Tie''s mind forever.


    At that moment, Zhang Tie thought that he was watching a fairy.


    ''Was my feeling about Lan Yunxi as scorching and astringent as this watermelon liquor at that time?''


    ''I almost raped Lan Yunxi at that moment.'' Zhang Tie revealed a smile when he was drinking the watermelon liquor. Although being absurd, what happened between him and Lan Yunxi at that time felt warm unconsciously.


    If teenagers were not absurd, what would they recall when they grew up?


    ''After so many years, Huaiyuan Palace has moved from Waii Subcontinent to Taixia Country. I''m not that muddleheaded teenager anymore, neither is senior fellow apprentice the same one either!''


    ''Something has changed!''


    ''Did somthing really change?''


    The effect of watermelon liquor made Zhang Tie''s face hot. Wearing a senior disguising face mask, he felt being covered with a heat dissipating facial mask. Zhang Tie revealed a self-mockery smile. He touched his face and directly took off his face mask.


    ...


    1 hour later, Lan Yunxi pushed open the door of the chartered room when she saw Zhang Tie drinking liquor on the sofa without even covering his original look.


    Lan Yunxi watched Zhang Tie and found that he had changed. Although he remained as young as before with the same pure and hot eyes, he had one more temperament¡ª¡ªa reckless arrogance!


    A wanted criminal of Taixia Country could sit in the chartered room of the knights'' bar of Black Armor Fortress for a drink like that he had done nothing wrong. That was arrogance.


    "It has been 24 years since I saw you last time, it''s really nice to see you!" Zhang Tie stood up and gave an embrace to Lan Yunxi by opening his arms.


    Lan Yunxi didn''t dodge away. Zhang Tie pasted his head on her hair and took a deep breath. Closely after that, he moved one step back and watched Lan Yunxi with a smile.


    "I left Selnes Theater of Operations on the 894th year of Black Iron Calendar. You must have stayed 15 years in the tower of time!" Lan Yunxi let out a sigh faintly.


    That was how smart ones behaved. The moment Zhang Tie said that he had not seen her for 24 years, Lan Yunxi immediately understood where he had been in the rest 15 years.


    It was really unimaginable that it had been 24 years since Zhang Tie was framed to attend the reconnaissance mission in Titanic Duchy. Time flew.


    "I knew that you and the Lan elder went to look for me later on!" Zhang Tie told Lan Yunxi.


    Lan Yunxi replied with a smile as distant as the clouds, "I also know that your three sons are born to be exceptionally smart. They are more intelligent than me in my childhood!"


    "Do you mind that?"


    "We''ve both grown mature. We have our own responsibilities and obligations!" Lan Yunxi shook her head as she watched Zhang Tie tenderly; meanwhile, she faintly touched Zhang Tie''s face by one hand, "As for you, they''re your beloved ones. It''s your responsibility and obligation to protect them as one part of your life. I cannot separate them from your life. I hope you can also understand that there''s something inseparable in my life. I also have my responsibilities and obligations. As a knight of Huaiyuan Palace and an offspring of Lord Huaiyuan, you''ve already exerted your utmost efforts to protect Huaiyuan Palace. Taixia Country is too large with too many dangers. It''s my turn to safeguard Huaiyuan Palace!"


    After hearing Lan Yunxi''s words, Zhang Tie felt something bad, "What do you mean?"


    "After finishing the survival training in the Earth-elements Realm with Elder Feng, I will return to Taiyi Fantasy Sect and apply for becoming the Martyr of Yaogong Palace!"


    "Martyr of Yaogong Palace?" Zhang Tie felt strange about this term.


    Lan Yunxi smiled, "After becoming a martyr of Yaogong Palace of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, I will not marry for the rest of my life. However, my position in Taiyi Fantasy Sect would be very special because I will take charge of the sacred item of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. After becoming a martyr of Yaogong Palace of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, even if the crown prince ascends to the throne in the future and his master becomes one of the top 3 chancellors in Taixia, nobody will harm Huaiyuan Palace with the protection of Taiyi Fantasy Sect!"


    Lan Yunxi''s smile made Zhang Tie feel heart-wrenching. Zhang Tie tightly grabbed her shoulders with bloody eyes as he roared like an injured wild beast, "No!"


    Thankfully, chartered rooms in knights'' bars were specifically designed. The gate and wall of the room could prevent sound from leaking and the spiritual energy of knights from peeping in. If not, Zhang Tie''s roar would have shocked the entire bar.


    "This holy war is different than before. There''s something that you might not know. Taiyi Fantasy Sect has made the worst preparation for this holy war. As the head of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country, Taiyi Fantasy Sect has secretly started the ''Doomsday Sperma'' which might be started only when the entire Hua people in Taixia Country might be exterminated. In the earlier two holy wars, Taiyi Fantasy Sect had not started this plan. This was the top secret of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Even the core disciples of our sect have not known about that. I ascertain it through some clues inside Taiyi Fantasy Sect by accident!"


    Lan Yunxi put another hand onto Zhang Tie''s face too as she watched Zhang Tie soulfully, "Under this circumstance, if someone in the top three chancellors in the future wanted to uproot Huaiyuan Palace, Huaiyuan Palace would be exterminated at any time facing the dangers both inside and outside. As a member of Huaiyuan Palace, I was always treated like a princess since I was young. If not sacrifice myself at this moment as a shelter of Huaiyuan Palace, what else can I do for Huaiyuan Palace..."

 988 A Chance Encounter

    Chapter 988: A Chance Encounter


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie had too many words to say...


    At this moment, he had an impulsion to tell Lan Yunxi loudly that he had Castle of Black Iron and the small tree and had killed thousands of demons as a divine dominator...


    Those words were as heavy as huge rocks in his heart.


    When he promoted to a black iron knight, Zhang Tie thought that he had grasped his own destiny for quite a long while.


    Nevertheless, the heart-wrenching feeling at this moment reminded him that he might grasp his own fate; however, he could never grasp the others'' fates. In many cases, if one could only watch his most beloved ones moving towards dead ends, it would be meaningless for him to grasp his own destiny!


    Both the top three chancellors in Taixia Country in the future and the culprit who framed him were irresistible for him and Huaiyuan Palace. Therefore, the knights of Huaiyuan Palace could only take the positions of the fallen and rise to fight one after another for the sake of Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Clan. This was the inevitable fate of clan knights.


    "We can leave Taixia Country. The entire Huaiyuan Palace could also return to Waii Subcontinent once again or the Ice and Snow Wilderness. Over there, nobody could harm us!" Zhang Tie roared.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was really impulsive to take Lan Yunxi, his family members and the rest members of Huaiyuan Palace away from all the disputes.


    "Don''t be daft!" Lan Yunxi replied with a smile as she wiped off Zhang Tie''s tears by hands, "You know, if we leave, we could only spare an excuse for the enemies of Huaiyuan Palace to deal with Huaiyuan Palace. As a result, Huaiyuan Palace would be exterminated at a faster speed. I know that you''ve already laid a foundation in Ice and Snow Wilderness. However, for the supreme ones in Taixia Country, your foundation is just a patch of duckweeds in waters. As long as they find an excuse, they could dispatch a team of knights like what Taiyi Fantasy Sect did this time to Ice and Snow Wilderness and sweep it over like executing a small task. We should not escape!"


    Watching Lan Yunxi''s smile, Zhang Tie became silent. He suddenly remembered the lonely shadow of his master Zhao Yuan and understood his state of mood.


    ''The extreme strength is close to the truth!''


    ''Only when one''s strength could reach its extreme would one open a path for himself!''


    This was the powerful ones'' comprehension about this world.


    ''If I were already a heavenly knight or even higher, there would never be so many troubles!''


    Zhang Tie clenched his punches.


    Lan Yunxi blinked her eyes towards Zhang Tie in a mischievous way, "You need to take care of yourself and survive on. In this world, many people depend on you. If you could rob me who was going to be the martyr of Yaogong Palace away from Taiyi Fantasy Sect one day in the public, I would be glad to be your wife!"


    In order to not make Zhang Tie too sad, Lan Yunxi made a joke or fabricated a hopeful lie to Zhang Tie.


    However, Lan Yunxi didn''t know that it was not the first time for Zhang Tie to hear such a joke and lie.


    It was Miss Daina who told such a joke and lie to him¡ª¡ªIf anyone of you could reach LV 9, Miss Daina would marry him.


    Such a promise in classroom made numerous horny students in the No. 7 National Male Middle School highly spirited. They found the meaning and direction of their lives.


    Zhang Tie loosened his fist and took in a deep breath before bursting out into laughter, "Senior fellow apprentice, just wait for me in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. There will be such a day. When I override the Gobbling Party and Taiyi Fantasy Sect one day, I will pick you up!"


    Lan Yunxi replied with a smile as she kissed Zhang Tie''s face, "I have to go. If I stayed too long with you, you might not able to leave!"


    "Hold on!" Zhang Tie stopped Lan Yunxi as he undid the guardian angel necklace from his neck and said, "I''ve prepared a gift for you when in Waii Subcontinent. I''ve not imagined that it has been so many years! I kept wearing it these years and wanted to gift it to you."


    The core of this necklace was the space-teleportation equipment of the late demon general; however, it had been renovated into a holy and artistic masterpiece¡ª¡ªA mithril guardian angel with open wings was cupping a top-quality son-like bluish golden stone which had been activated by an alchemist master. It was vivid. What counted most was that the face of the guardian angel looked similar to Lan Yunxi. It was extremely skillful.


    Any woman would be attracted by this necklace. Lan Yunxi''s eyes also shined.


    "May you help me put it on?" Lan Yunxi turned around, exposing her beautiful back and neck to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie then helped Lan Yunxi put it on tenderly from her back.


    As a knight, the moment Lan Yunxi touched the necklace, she had realized that it was not a common necklace. The top-quality bluish golden stone could purify her blood; besides, there was something special inside the necklace...


    Zhang Tie prevented Lan Yunxi from further exploring this necklace, "You can take a look at it when you come back. Senior fellow apprentice, don''t ask me where did I get it. Because I don''t want to lie to you. I could only tell you that it''s legit!"


    Lan Yunxi turned around and watched Zhang Tie seriously. She saw the pure sincerity in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    She then turned around and left...


    ...


    In the space-teleportation equipment, Zhang Tie prepared over 10,000 vials of the best all-purpose medicament that he had fermented in Castle of Black Iron, over 2,000 earth-element crystals that he had plundered from Old Monster Qi and the demon baron and two silver secret items¡ª¡ªone shield and one short crossbow that Zhang Tie gained from the Weapons Mountain. The two silver secret items fit Lan Yunxi well. Besides, Zhang Tie prepared some vats of water and preserved fruits and meat. Although they were common, they could help Lan Yunxi survive herself longer in the worst scenario.


    Even so many items that Zhang Tie prepared in the space-teleportation equipment would arouse a big shock in the Earth-elements Realm, not to mention that space-teleportation equipment itself.


    Zhang Tie stayed in the room alone with a vacant look. After standing still for 2 minutes, he directly walked out of the chartered room and left the bar. Closely after that, he passed the square and left the Black Armor Battlefortress...


    Strangely, many wanted murders might be caught wherever they hid and no matter how they disguised; however, Zhang Tie just left the Black Armor Battlefortress safe and sound.


    On the way, someone threw some glances at him out of his young look; however, they could not imagine that Zhang Tie was the very wanted criminal in Taixia Country two years ago.


    When a female knight from Taixia Country passed by Zhang Tie, she uttered out of curiosity, "Yi?"; however, the female knight just hesitated and threw a glance at Zhang Tie''s back before being called away by her partner.


    "What''s up?" Her partner asked the female knight.


    "Nothing." The female knight shook her head as she replied, "I might have noticed a familiar person just now..."


    "Who? A friend?"


    "No..." The female knight didn''t explain it anymore. She just mumbled inside, ''How could a knight who writes such a romantic poem do that evil thing? I saw the arrest order two years ago on the earth''s surface; hmm, I might have mistaken it...''


    ...


    After leaving Black Armor Battlefortress, Zhang Tie''s mind was full of Lan Yunxi''s image and what Lan Yunxi told him just now. He just flew aimlessly. Almost 2 hours later, he landed on a mountain peak. After standing there for a while, Zhang Tie suddenly patted his head...


    Since he met Lan Yunxi today, his heart had been racing. Until he left there did he realize that he had forgotten about a very important thing.


    He should have left a remote-sensing finger ring to Lan Yunxi for the convenience of further communication.


    As he had not imagined that he could meet Lan Yunxi in the Black Armor Battlefortress, he hadn''t prepared the new pair of remote-sensing finger rings yet.


    Remote-sensing finger rings could be purchased in Black Armor Battlefortress.


    Zhang Tie wanted to return to the Black Armor Battlefortress. The moment he turned around, he stopped as he questioned himself, ''Could a tiny remote-sensing finger ring change anything? If I could not override the Gobbling Party and Taiyi Fantasy Sect, it would be useless for me to communicate with Lan Yunxi!''


    Zhang Tie''s face gradually turned firm and persistent. He looked around and found that he had been close to the 5th loop of Tiewei Mountain.


    The moment he wanted to find a place to incarnate into Cui Li, a knight flew towards him groggily...


    It was a female knight being covered with wounds. It seemed that she had been severely injured in a battle.


    "Help me!" At the sight of Zhang Tie, the female knight had flown towards him while wailing.


    At the sight of that female knight, Zhang Tie widely opened his eyes abruptly.


    He hurriedly accelerated towards her as he asked from a few meters away, "Ahh, what happened to you?"


    "I''ve just encountered 3 demon knights..." The female knight panted as if she would almost fall down, "Can you give me a favor and take me back...to the Black Armor Battlefortress...I cannot bear it anymore!"


    "Sure, I will take you back to Black Armor Battlefortress right away..."


    Zhang Tie moved closer to her and grasped the female knight''s hand at once. The weak female knight almost threw herself into Zhang Tie''s arms. The moment she wanted to appreciate Zhang Tie, she lowered her head and found that Zhang Tie had stabbed an extremely grim dagger into her body...

 989 A Barbarous Comba

    Chapter 989: A Barbarous Combat


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie pulled the female knight''s one hand by his hand while the golden eaten tri-edged dagger appeared in Zhang Tie''s other hand out of the void as fast as a lightning bolt when he pretended to support her. Closely after that, Zhang Tie stabbed into her heart forcefully in the swiftest and fiercest way.


    Zhang Tie saw clearly that his gold-eaten tri-edged dagger had penetrated through that female knight''s heart which looked obviously different than that of commoners.


    It seemed that the female knight didn''t believe that she could suffer such a "treatment". However, before she uttered a miserable shriek, Zhang Tie had fiercely thrust his knee onto her lower abdomen which was almost a fatal battle skill.


    With such a terrifying great strength, Zhang Tie could even penetrate through a steel plate, not to mention bloody flesh.


    As was predicted, the female knight''s guts were cracked at once.


    Almost at the same time, the female knight spurted out blood with fragmented guts like a high-pressure water jet...


    "Ahhhh..." The female knight roared miserably like a wild beast. At the same time, her face turned pale and her clothes were broken into pieces. Her body expanded in a split moment, exposing her unique horn, wings and tail at the rear end immediately...


    This was a shadow demon, a powerful shadow demon who was much more powerful than Abyan and Master Jiang.


    Zhang Tie kept grasping the shadow demon''s arm while fiercely colliding against a mountain peak of Tiewei Mountain like a meteor with this shadow demon in front of him.


    Zhang Tie''s strength was so terrifying that it instantly collapsed half of the sharp-sword-like top of the mountain peak.


    At the same time, the female knight released an earth knight''s battle qi.


    The shadow demon''s tail then pricked at Zhang Tie''s eye like a sharp arrow while a dagger also appeared in the other claw of the shadow demon which was stabbed at Zhang Tie''s heart fiercely.


    At this critical moment, even the shadow demon was an earth demon knight, it had to exert its utmost efforts.


    Zhang Tie''s face was as firm as steel with a cold sense. He didn''t dodge or even blink his eyes facing the shadow demon''s strikes.


    The shadow demon''s strikes by its tail and dagger were blocked by Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi which was released in a split second. It seemed that the shadow demon''s dagger was not common either. However, when it penetrated through Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi partially and was about 1 cm away from Zhang Tie''s body, the shadow demon felt hitting a steel wall and couldn''t inch forward anymore.


    As it couldn''t break through Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi, the shadow demon curled up its tail and twined round Zhang Tie''s neck like a boa. It wanted to strangle Zhang Tie.


    The shadow demon''s tail was greater than that of its claw.


    Meanwhile, the shadow demon released its protective battle qi too.


    Zhang Tie''s hand forcefully held the gold-eaten tri-edged dagger. The moment the shadow demon released its protective battle qi, Zhang Tie had sensed the gold-eaten three-edged dagger inside the shadow demon''s body being pushed out from its body.


    Of course, Zhang Tie would never allow it to happen. How could the gold-eaten tri-edged dagger which had been stabbed into the body of the shadow demon be pushed out before killing the shadow demon? Therefore, Zhang Tie increased his strength and directly expanded the harms two times, three times even ten times by breaking the shadow demon''s ribs and guts.


    The shadow demon''s grim face looked anguished when it uttered terrifying, miserable roars. It flapped its wings and wanted to escape; however, Zhang Tie tightly grasped its one arm, making it impossible for it to escape.


    Zhang Tie then wrestled with the shadow demon in the air and hit mountain peaks one after another, spraying blood everywhere...


    Of course, the blood was from the shadow demon.


    The two earth knights just fought in the most brutal and primitive way regardless of any battle skill.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie just concentrated on one thing, namely, grasping the shadow demon''s arm by one hand in case it escaped away while tightly holding the gold-eaten tri-edged dagger by the other hand in case it was pushed out of the shadow demon''s body. Additionally, he pressed down the dagger so that it could cause further injuries to the shadow demon''s ribs and guts...


    Zhang Tie just gritted his teeth while ignoring the shadow demon''s ceaseless strikes.


    Zhang Tie didn''t believe that this shadow demon could live longer than him under this circumstance.


    It was Zhang Tie''s second time to use such tactics like how rogues dueled. Last time, he used this tactic to kill a black iron demon knight when Mountain Lifting Hermit was on the spot. This time, he used it to deal with a shadow demon.


    In such a close combat, Zhang Tie was firmly convinced that he would finally win it based on his super strong anti-strike capability and recovery ability and his gold-eaten tri-edged dagger''s strong penetrating power to protective battle qi as long as the opponent didn''t have an overwhelming advantage over him.


    The shadow demon could only blame for its bad luck!


    What an unexpected achievement!


    ''In the earlier two months, I circled around the periphery of Tiewei Mountain with Bai Suxian so many times only to hunt this shadow demon in vain; I''ve not imagined that this shadow demon could come here for me on its own initiative only after standing here a short while. I really feel sorry for you.''


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie''s gold-eaten tri-edged dagger had cut open a huge wound about 5 cm in length below the shadow demon''s left armpit and broken 8-9 ribs and many guts of the shadow demon. Commoners might have long died in such a case. However, this shadow demon was still alive.


    When Zhang Tie expanded the wound, his mouth corners also revealed blood traces due to the shocks of his protective battle qi.


    Zhang Tie''s eyes turned more merciless...


    All of a sudden, with a roar, the shadow demon didn''t chop its dagger towards Zhang Tie anymore; instead, it chopped off its own wrist which was grasped by Zhang Tie''s hand.


    After giving up one arm, the shadow demon escaped away at once by descending and sliding into the mine beneath Tiewei Mountain in terms of a bloody light...

 990 The Tragedy of the Shadow Demon

    Chapter 990: The Tragedy of the Shadow Demon


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie had not anticipated that this shadow demon could give up its arm like a hero at this critical moment.


    However, it was still too late for the shadow demon to make such a decision because it had been severely wounded and almost died.


    What a brilliant victory it was for Zhang Tie to completely paralyze and kill an earth knight in only a few minutes'' close combat. Now that this shadow demon had been severely wounded, of course, Zhang Tie would not let it go.


    The escaping speed of the shadow demon was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination as it had surpassed the maximal speed of Zhang Tie. However, Zhang Tie knew that the shadow demon''s explosive strength was not lasting. It couldn''t escape too far away; additionally, it must have consumed a lot of essence of qi and blood; otherwise, the shadow demon would not have chosen the mine as its destination.


    Even a dog would leap over a wall in desperation. The shadow demon intended to escape from Zhang Tie''s chase based on its familiarity to the environment inside the mine.


    After wiping the bloodstains off his mouth corners, Zhang Tie threw the broken arm of the shadow demon into Castle of Black Iron before sneering and descending downward as fast as a lightning bolt.


    It would be a laughingstock for the shadow demon to escape under this circumstance.


    Even the shadow demon itself didn''t know that Zhang Tie had attached some tracing feathers over its body stealthily when in close combat. Therefore, it would never escape away.


    This shadow demon was worth over 70,000 square miles of land and 10 cities. It was as valuable as a super gold mine. When Zhang Tie caught sight of this shadow demon, he had determined to kill it. Of course, Zhang Tie had made some preparations for further chase when in close combat.


    In the blink of an eye, the shadow demon had disappeared in front of Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie also followed it into the mine.


    It was pretty gloomy inside the mine. The dark red hematites on both sides of the mining walls were like coagulated blood, causing this mine to become colder and more terrifying.


    After entering thousands of meters inside the mine, Zhang Tie had seen the first divergence. He immediately flew into the left bypass.


    Although the shadow demon had disappeared in front of him, Zhang Tie could still clearly sense the traces and directions of the tracing feathers. Unless the shadow demon had changed a whole set of clothes, he was destined to be found by Zhang Tie.


    At this moment, the shadow demon thought the same as Bai Suxian when she was chased by a would-be earth demon knight two months ago, namely, it also wanted to seek for a slim chance of survival based on the familiar terrain. Its dream might come true if its opponent was not Zhang Tie; however, now that it had met Zhang Tie, it was destined to die.


    Only in less than 10 minutes, Zhang Tie had flown over 70 miles inside the mine and deepened into the underground space of Tiewei Mountain. Although numerous forks appeared in front of him, Zhang Tie didn''t waste any time on making choices.


    As he gradually deepened, the scenery in the mine changed too.


    Golden sands sparsely appeared on the mining walls while the gloomy mine started to become brilliant.


    Those golden things were earth-element crystal sands in the rocks of the mine, which proved that this mine had existed for numerous years. Those crystal sands had not formed complete earth-element crystals; they only contained very low contents of earth elements. Additionally, they were as fine and loose as sands and were distributed around the earth-element crystal mine in terms of grains. They were components of the earth-element crystal mine in its periphery and were not valuable to be exploited. Therefore, they were preserved.


    On the earth''s surface, these ores containing the earth-elements crystal sands might be highly decorative. As for sculptors, these ores might be rare raw materials for sculptures. However, in the Earth-elements Realm, no knight would care about them at all. No matter how artistic the sculptures were, they could not be used to kill demons, they were nothing but sh*t!


    All of a sudden, Zhang Tie sniffed an odor of putrefaction in flight.


    Zhang Tie caught sight of two human corpses under the sparkling light of the earth-elements crystal sands right in front of him.


    The two human corpses were incomplete. The male corpse had been separated into pieces and scattered on the ground. While that female corpse was naked. Her lower body was badly mutilated. Besides, her body was covered with weird wounds. Given her look, she might be anguished before death and had born too many abnormal torments. She still looked painful after being killed.


    Shadow demons would always have abnormal desires about female human knights, including Abyan and Master Jiang.


    Given their remained clothes and fragmented weapons, Zhang Tie knew that the two human corpses were not logistics and battle auxiliary personnel in Black Armor Battlefortress; they were more like knights.


    Although the female corpse''s face had been rotten, Zhang Tie could still identify that it was the very look that the shadow demon had incarnated just now.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what happened here; however, he was sure that two Hua knights who came here to join the large-scale battle between demons and humans in Tiewei Mountain would lie here forever after being killed by the shadow demon in an anguished way.


    On the earth''s surface, the two Hua knights might be a couple or lovers with remarkable statues and positions; however, they were nothing but stinky corpses here.


    This was normally seen in the holy war.


    Zhang Tie sighed inside as he boomed a huge pit on the ground by one punch and moved the two corpses into the pit tenderly. Closely after that, he punched the mining walls, causing a bulk of ores and sandy soil to fall down, covering the hug pit.


    This was the mere thing that Zhang Tie could do under the circumstance.


    After burying the corpses, Zhang Tie''s eyes turned colder as he tightly pursed his lips, forming a clear arc. Closely after that, he continued to fly towards the depth of the mine.


    After a few minutes, a bigger space appeared in front of Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    This space covered almost 0.7 square miles while the earth-elements crystal sands on the mining walls were as dazzling as stars in the sky. Those dazzling earth-elements crystal sands implied the brilliance here in the past while many ore wastes were piled sparsely on the ground.


    7 bypasses were connected to this space.


    Any earth human knight who followed a shadow demon here would stop and carefully observe the clues of the shadow demon so as to ascertain their further chase direction. Because they would lose their target completely after making a bit mistake.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t.


    After entering this space in less than 0.01 second, Zhang Tie had landed as fast as a lightning bolt near a pile of deserted ores. The moment he landed, he had stomped onto the plain ground while releasing his fierce battle qi at the same time...


    When he was just a black iron knight, he had been able to collapse the pavilion of the Morality Association by one foot, not to mention this moment.


    As a result, the ground cracked like being split open by a huge ax that was used to separate the sky from the earth.


    With a terrifying roar, the lower part of the shadow demon directly sprung out of the ground as it spurted out blood as high as 20 cm.


    However, the shadow demon didn''t escape this time. Because Zhang Tie directly stomped onto its neck and almost broke it.


    Previously, the shadow demon had been severely injured and almost run out of its aura when he escaped. Being almost died, it was concealing its qi and lying underground like a dead one. However, it had not imagined that it was almost transparent in Zhang Tie''s eyes and was just waiting for Zhang Tie''s stomp.


    How could Zhang Tie give up such a good opportunity?


    With Zhang Tie''s stomp, the shadow demon''s defensive system and physical functions were completely collapsed.


    Being stomped onto the ground, the shadow demon''s tail twisted and beat in a frenzied manner like a snake being put into a hot pot with cooking oil. Additionally, its wings had been out of shape due to extreme pains.


    "Why...why..." The shadow demon struggled and shrieked towards Zhang Tie who was in a commanding position with bloody eyes in vain.


    Until now, the shadow demon had not thought through why it suddenly became so miserable and even had no chance to escape.


    It didn''t understand why human knight who smelt like a black iron knight suddenly became an extremely powerful earth knight in combat.


    It couldn''t think it through why it was stabbed ferociously by this guy when it disguised to be a female human knight and sought for the human knight''s favor.


    It couldn''t figure it out why its trump cards of escaping speed and concealing its qi could be identified by this human earth knight in a split second.


    Since it caught sight of this human knight, it had been facing tragedies one after another.


    "Why? Go ask your mom!"


    When the shadow demon was still struggling, Zhang Tie stretched out his hands and grasped the shadow demon''s head while he stomped the shadow demon''s tail with one foot. Closely after that, he triggered his purgatory samsara, breaking apart the part of the water chakra which had been formed by the shadow demon in a split second...


    ...


    After a few minutes...


    With a sound "kacha", the shadow demon stopped its earthshaking miserable shrieks immediately. Because Zhang Tie had broken its neck by his hands and ended its struggle forever...

 991 Being Ambitious and Embarrassed

    Chapter 991: Being Ambitious and Embarrassed


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The shadow demon''s head was circled on its neck before shrugging down weakly...


    A dead demon was most reassured and valuable. After losing its power, the shadow demon was like a huge mutated lizard with wings and a unique horn; plus its tail, this shadow demon was almost 3 m in overall length.


    As an earth knight-level shadow demon, its unique horn, wings and the color of its skin were obviously different than that of common shadow demons.


    Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh, easing a lot of depression and indignation caused by Lan Yunxi''s departure.


    It only took Zhang Tie less than 1 hour to kill this earth knight-level shadow demon, the demon ghost who made all the human knights across Tiewei Mountain restless since he saw it. This could prove Zhang Tie''s battle strength for sure.


    Zhang Tie felt a surging strength inside; therefore, he became ambitious and confident once again immediately.


    ''The unrivaled earth demon knight which was previously as overwhelming as a mountain before me has already lain at my foot like a dead dog. One day, a shadow demon knight even a heavenly demon knight would lie like this at my foot. The result of the shadow demon today is that facing the Gobbling Party tomorrow. Heavenly demon knight? Top three chancellors in Taixia Country? Whatever! They only represent the past; however, I represent the future.''


    After throwing another glance at the empty, deserted underground mine, Zhang Tie grasped the shadow demon''s neck like lifting a dead dog before disappearing out of the void in a split second.


    ...


    Zhang Tie returned to Castle of Black Iron.


    He had not been here for over 2 months since he met Bai Suxian to the present.


    "Congratulations, Castle Lord, for killing a shadow demon!" Heller had long been waiting for him in the lobby of the palace tree. At the sight of Zhang Tie coming back, Heller had bowed towards Zhang Tie, "After killing this earth knight-level shadow demon, Castle Lord could definitely enjoy a higher honor and reputation in the human world, even in Taixia Country!"


    This shadow demon was the eyesore of human knights in the Earth-elements Realm. It was very harmful to human knights, especially black iron human knights. On the battlefield, this shadow demon had made too many people restless; therefore, Taixia determined to reward the one who could kill this shadow demon with a big reward so as to motivate morale.


    It was definitely a symbolic event that Zhang Tie could kill this shadow demon, which was of a special significance for human knights who joined the large-scale battle in Tiewei Mountain. It was an inspiring victory. Additionally, after Zhang Tie killed the earth-knight level shadow demon the weirdest species of demons as an earth human knight, it indicated that he had become a member of powerful earth knights in Taixia Country.


    This shadow demon was a stepping-stone of special significance, with which Zhang Tie''s reputation would reach an unprecedented new hight in both Earth-elements Realm and Taixia Country.


    "Help me check whether this b*stard has some personal belongings. This b*stard has tortured human knights in Tiewei Mountain for so long and made humans abhor him so much after killing so many human knights, he should have something valuable!" Zhang Tie told Heller.


    Due to the experience in searching over Old Monster Qi''s corpse, Zhang Tie realized that he might miss some good items on the knight''s body through simple superficial search. If he wanted to find all the valuables from the shadow demon, he might severely destroy the shadow demon''s corpse in the end; therefore, Zhang Tie directly took the shadow demon''s corpse into Castle of Black Iron. The moment it entered Castle of Black Iron, all the valuables on it would be under Heller''s control on a molecular level.


    Heller replied with a smile silently. Closely after that, he pointed at the shadow demon''s corpse while two items flew off the corpse towards Zhang Tie.


    This skill could even match Zhang Tie''s capability as a divine dominator. What was more, Zhang Tie didn''t feel any spiritual energy or battle qi waves on Heller at all.


    One item was a necklace from the neck of the shadow demon. This necklace was faintly similar to that the demon general once wore. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie had known that it was a space-teleportation equipment. The other item flew out of the place beneath a scale in the middle of the forehead below the unique horn.


    After catching the necklace, Zhang Tie confirmed that it was a space-teleportation equipment, which was much more senior than that of the demon general. He didn''t want to waste time injecting his spiritual energy into the necklace to check what was inside. He directly poured all the objects from the space of the necklace into the lobby of the palace tree.


    There were thousands of golden earth-element crystals, hundreds of blue water-element crystals, some food and water, two mirrors, dozens of clothes of various styles and some scattered objects.


    It was shadow demon''s special hobby to look into the mirror. Those clothes might be used for figures in disguise. The earth-element crystals and water-element crystals were a big surprise; it was not easy for an earth knight to have a stockpile of so many crystals, especially those water-element crystals. It would take Zhang Tie many years to gain such a number of crystals if he just garrisoned in the Lion Fortress.


    After glancing around them, Zhang Tie fixed his eyes onto those scattered objects, from where, he caught sight of a shield which was a silver secret item as same as that Zhang Tie gained from the demon general; plus the one that he gifted to Lan Yunxi, Zhang Tie had got 3 shields.


    ''Does it mean that such shields account most of the silver secret items?''


    Zhang Tie became speechless. However, besides this shield, there were 10 more crystals being wrapped with metal among those scattered objects¡ª¡ªsenior secret methods.


    Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy and those secret methods flew towards him.


    With a glimpse, Zhang Tie saw 4 strange classic secret cultivation methods whose levels were unknown. The remaining 11 secret items were all powerful battle skills.


    Blood stains could be seen on most of the crystals of these secret cultivation methods. Given these blood stains, Zhang Tie knew how did this shadow demon gain them.


    "What''s this?" Zhang Tie caught that bead which flew out of the forehead of the shadow demon with a bizarre luster.


    "This is a rare silver secret item, Castle Lord, you will know its function after pasting it onto your forehead!"


    After hearing Heller''s suggestion, Zhang Tie pasted it onto his forehead by hand.


    The moment it touched his forehead, Zhang Tie had felt his spiritual energy rocking in his mind sea while a refreshing and cool feeling slowly spread over Zhang Tie''s mind sea.


    ''Unbelievable, this bead could nourish spiritual energy!''


    Zhang Tie went ecstatic. He just watched the bizarre bead over and over and was unwilling to part with it.


    ''But how do I use it? I''m not a shadow demon; therefore, I cannot hide it in my skin. Neither can I mount it onto my forehead. If it was made into a headwear, it would be pretty awkward for a man.''


    Zhang Tie touched his head helplessly. When he imagined how it would look when it was mounted onto his forehead, he revealed a bitter smile. ''All right, just keep it. When I wear a battle armor, I could inlay this bead into the helmet. If not, this bead could actually serve as woman''s headwear.''


    Zhang Tie really wondered about such a marvelous silver secret item.


    "Heller, what''s this bead''s name? I feel it should be mounted onto something!"


    "It''s called Spirit Nourishing Bead. As you said, it should be mounted onto some special equipment. Precisely, it should be used together with some special silver secret item."


    "Together with the other silver secret item?" Zhang Tie became faintly shocked. It was his first time to hear that different silver secret items could be combined.


    Heller replied with a smile, "There''re various silver secret items, more than weapons and space-teleportation equipment. In a far-ancient age, the so-called silver secret items were actually common tools produced by people. Of course, different tools could be combined. Castle Lord, when you see more silver secret items in the future, you will know it!"


    After hearing Heller''s explanation, Zhang Tie became silent.


    ...


    After over 2 months, the small tree had been covered with fruits once again. However, there was no iron-body fruit anymore and was only one leakless fruit.


    After Zhang Tie promoted to an earth knight, the small tree had stopped producing leakless fruit. The last one was left by Zhang Tie as a souvenir.


    If the shadow demon was not an earth knight, there should be at least one fruit of plunder; however, the small tree could not produce any fruit of demon knights. What a regret!


    Those on the small tree were all fruits of redemption from the gratitude of hairy shellfish, gulf shrimps and golden uangs.


    Hairy shellfish increased Zhang Tie''s physical defense and anti-strike ability; gulf shrimps improved his ability in healing and recovering wounds; golden uangs granted him greater physical strength.


    After taking the fruits of redemption from three animals, Zhang Tie''s physical defense and anti-striking ability had increased 0.45%, his ability in healing and recovering wounds had improved 0.87%; his overall physical strength had increased over 280 kg.


    Being affected by these fruits, Zhang Tie''s overall strength had reached a small new high.


    After taking those fruits, Zhang Tie directly sat with crossed legs under the small tree and started to digest the water elements that he refined from the shadow demon...


    ...


    2 days later, Zhang Tie opened his eyes while the 7th dragon scale on his earth knight''s crystal plate had been lit. This shadow demon lit 5 dragon scales for Zhang Tie.


    After 2 days'' cultivation and rest in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie recovered his look as Cui Li. With the help of Heller, Zhang Tie made himself look embarrassed purposefully like having experienced a hard battle. After that, Zhang Tie left Castle of Black Iron for Black Armor Battlefortress as he directly hefted the shadow demon''s corpse onto his shoulder like hefting a prey in a domineering way...


    ...

 992 Arousing a Shock

    Chapter 992: Arousing a Shock


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Before Zhang Tie reached Black Armor Battlefortress, he had encountered a squad of black armored knights who were patrolling outside the Black Armor Battlefortress.


    Due to the popular reputation "unrivaled male and female" of Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian, the black armored knights who garrisoned the Black Armor Battlefortress had heard the name Cui Li although they had not seen him; especially his bald head and tower-like sturdy figure, which was definitely a unique brand in Black Armor Battlefortress.


    When the squad of black armored knights caught sight of Cui Li from afar, they flew towards him. When they caught sight of the shadow demon''s corpse on Zhang Tie''s shoulder, the three members of the squad were left startled at once.


    One knight screamed, "That''s the earth knight-level shadow demon!"


    "Hehhehheh, it''s so nice to meet brothers of Black Armor Army again. This brother Cui is too lucky today. After wandering outside for a few days, I was almost cheated by this b*stard. Through a close combat, I killed it luckily!" Zhang Tie burst into laughter.


    The three black armored knights didn''t believe in any good luck at all. The shadow demon was an earth knight. Who could kill an earth knight luckily? Additionally, this earth knight was not a common demon, it was a shadow demon, which was always regarded as a tricky demon species in the world.


    Since the beginning of the large-scale battle in Tiewei Mountain, very few earth demon knights had been killed by humans in the periphery of Tiewei Mountain. Additionally, neither did humans suffer a great loss. It was a shocking news for a human knight to kill an earth demon knight. As earth human knights were able to be provincial governors or Cheji Generals in Taixia Country, earth demon knights should also be in the same positions among demons. It was a great military exploit for a human or a demon to kill an opponent earth knight.


    At this moment, the three black armored knights watched Zhang Tie with full admiration and respect. As Zhang Tie looked a bit fatigued after a combat with the shadow demon''s corpse on his shoulder, the three knights stopped patrolling and escorted him back to Black Armor Battlefortress for the sake of Zhang Tie''s safety.


    When Zhang Tie came to an entrance of Black Armor Battlefortress, those knights who were accessing to the Black Armor Battlefortress were greatly startled with very splendid looks at the sight of the shadow demon''s corpse on Zhang Tie''s shoulder.


    "Shadow demon..."


    "The shadow demon was killed!"


    "That earth knight-level shadow demon was killed!"


    At the sight of the shadow demon''s corpse on Zhang Tie''s shoulder, those knights who were leaving the Black Armor Battlefortress stopped while those knights who were entering the battle fortress swarmed up, causing an uproar at the entrance.


    To some extent, knights were like commoners as they liked to be onlookers too. However, the thresholds between commoners and knights on becoming onlookers were sharply different. If two tough men were fighting in the street, commoners might swarm up; however, knights would ignore that. However, even knights would be attracted by a shadow demon''s corpse.


    Because the shadow demon was too rare. Most of the human knights might only see shadow demons in pictures in their whole lives. Less than 1 out of 100 human knights had seen a living shadow demon or the corpse of a shadow demon.


    In the blink of an eye, the news had been spread over which shocked the entire Black Armor Battlefortress.


    Only after Zhang Tie entered Black Armor Battlefortress with the shadow demon''s corpse on the shoulder a few steps, he had been surrounded by knights. Some of them directly flew off the ground to watch the corpse of the shadow demon as they could not enter the crowd.


    After that, exclamations and a sharp intake of breaths could be heard one after another in the Black Armor Battlefortress.


    Each step Zhang Tie inched forward, the crowd would give a way to him like a falling tide.


    Of course, nobody dared flew above Zhang Tie''s head to watch the corpse at this moment. They just surrounded Zhang Tie at a distance.


    "Golden horn and purple grains; four-edged tail like a steel whip; skin like that of boa; sharp black bony spurs on the top of wings. That''s it! It meets all the features of shadow demon after promoting to an earth knight..." Someone exclaimed out of excitement.


    "Who''s that earth human knight?" A new guy who flew off the ground and threw a glance at Zhang Tie before asking a knight beside him.


    "Cui Li, Cui Li from Youzhou Province!"


    "Ahh, he''s Cui LI from Yongzhou Province?"


    "You''ve heard about him?"


    "Cui Li from Yongzhou Province is extremely righteous. He sacrificed himself to die together with the demon knight for the safety of his team members. I heard that when in the Lion Fortress. Wasn''t Cui Li dead?"


    "What you''ve heard was not the latest news. Cui Li didn''t die; instead, he got good out of misfortune and promoted to an earth knight!" The one replied as he watched Zhang Tie''s back with flickering eyes, "That''s what human knights should learn from. Earth human knights should exert their utmost to kill powerful enemies on the battlefield and become well-known in the Earth-elements Realm!"


    ...


    Hot discussions drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears clearly.


    Zhang Tie just walked towards an information desk in the center of the square calmly step by step under various eye lights.


    At this moment, in the eyes of everybody else, Zhang Tie''s composed footsteps was formidable and oppressive.


    The scene that Zhang Tie hefted a dead earth knight-level shadow demon in an extremely domineering way was deeply imprinted in the minds of all the surrounding knights.


    Finally, Zhang Tie came to the front of the information desk.


    Watching Zhang Tie and the shadow demon''s corpse on Zhang Tie''s shoulder, the old man almost popped out his eyes. Although being familiar with Zhang Tie, he could never imagine that Zhang Tie could come back with a dead shadow demon in only 3 days.


    With a loud sound "bang...", Zhang Tie threw the dead shadow demon which weighed hundreds of kgs onto the desk in front of the old man like throwing a dead pig.


    Zhang Tie grinned, "Take it, the earth knight-level shadow demon. I''m here for the reward!"


    When Zhang Tie spoke, all the others became silent.


    Everybody knew the reward of this earth knight-level shadow demon¡ª¡ª700 miles'' land and 10 cities in Taixia Country.


    The reward made people jealous. However, nobody envied Zhang Tie at this moment because Zhang Tie had killed the shadow demon with his own ability.


    On the battlefield, all the fighters only admired those who had great military exploits, regardless of human races and countries. Someone would admire about the military exploits and honors brought by one''s battle strength and efforts; however, nobody would envy it.


    The old man swallowed his saliva forcefully before taking a deep breath. He then started to check the corpse seriously from its head to its toe before nodding towards Zhang Tie, "It''s indeed an earth knight-level shadow demon. As for the reward, you cannot get it from me..."


    "Where can I receive it?"


    Before that old man replied, some black armored fighters had walked to the front of Zhang Tie and bowed towards him respectfully. Closely after that, the head of the team of black armored knights stretched out his arm and said, "Brother Cui Li, our Commander Guan wants to see you!"


    ''General Guan?'' Zhang Tie knew that a commander of Black Armor Army was on the back of Black Armor Battlefortress. He was a shadow knight surnamed Guan who had lit 3 chakras. Wu Guanhai talked about him before. Guan Qianchong was well-known and formidable across Black Armor Army.


    Among the top four armies in Taixia Country, those commanders were on an equal footing with the military commanders of military regions in Taixia Country. They were able to be responsible for the safety of a region at a supreme position. It was said that Cheng Honglie the military commander of the Northeast Military Region was a commander of Black Armor Army previously.


    Previously, even though Zhang Tie had been a bit famous in Black Armor Battlefortress, he didn''t attract the attention of this Commander Guan. This time, after killing the earth knight-level shadow demon, he finally aroused the attention of Commander Guan of Black Armor Army.


    Zhang Tie estimated that Commander Guan was going to talk about the reward with him. Therefore, he followed the team of black armored knights away from the square.


    Watching Zhang Tie leaving, those on-looking knights swarmed up the counter at once and prepared to take a good look at the shadow demon.


    ''It''s said that shadow demons could disguise into anyone''s look; but how did such a huge thing with a tail make it?''


    A knight asked out of curiosity!


    The pile of knights started to touch the shadow demon''s corpse with flickering eyes. As a result, the old man couldn''t even put it away. Therefore, he changed his face and hurriedly intended to cover the shadow demon with his hands; however, how could his hands cover the corpse which was longer than 3 m while being surrounded by so many knights?


    "Don''t crowd, don''t crowd, keep your hands off..." The old man shouted painfully as he treasured this corpse so much, "B*stard, don''t press your hand on the wounds, don''t you know that its blood could be made into the most senior disguising medicament...ahh, and you...stop...its scales are the best raw materials for making concealing rune..."


    After hearing the old man''s anxious exclamations behind him, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter...


    ...


    A few minutes later, Zhang Tie followed the team of black armored knights to the top floor of the highest tower in Black Armor Battlefortress. He saw Guan Qianchong in a room from where he could look across the entire Black Armor Battlefortress.


    Being different than the fiery feeling that Cheng Honglie impressed him, at the sight of Guan Qianchong the commander of Black Armor Army, Zhang Tie almost thought that he had mistaken a person. With an unbearded white face and a pair of slim eyes, this man wore a cyan robe with loose sleeves with a white jade waist belt and a sophisticated crown. He was reading a book.


    ''He''s absolutely an elegant old man! How could he be the commander of Black Armor Army in Taixia Country!''


    Whereas, when Zhang Tie was doubting his status, the old man threw a glance at him before asking, "What''s the relationship between you and Zhao Yuan the alchemist demon?". Hearing this question, Zhang Tie''s heart almost stopped beating.

 993 A Profitable Be

    Chapter 993: A Profitable Bet


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    ''First, the relationship between Zhao Yuan and I was established on the premise that I was Zhang Tie. The status Cui Li had nothing to do with Zhao Yuan since the beginning.''


    ''Second, Zhao Yuan''s over strength is too powerful. As a heavenly human knight, of course, he would not be traced or cheated by a shadow demon; additionally, Zhao Yuan knew the current situations facing him and I; he would never reveal the secret that Zhang Tie was his apprentice to the anybody. Therefore, I''m not a shadow knight in the look of Cui Li.''


    ''Third, nobody knows that Cui Li is Zhang Tie.''


    ''Fourth, because Zhao Yuan was too arrogant, when he discovered the "Fire Dragon Sutra", he didn''t even feel like putting it away; instead, he left it in the mountain cave. Now that Zhao Yuan left the "Fire Dragon Sutra" to me and was not afraid of any threats, it indicated that Zhao Yuan didn''t tell the secret about "Fire Dragon Sutra" to anyone else. Therefore, nobody would doubt the relationship between me and Zhao Yuan through "Fire Dragon Sutra".''


    ''Fifth, only Zhao Yuan knew that I acquired the "Fire Dragon Sutra". At most, Zhao Yuan would doubt the relationship between Cui Li and Zhang Tie. It''s not other''s turn to doubt about the relationship between Cui Li and Zhao Yuan.''


    ''Sixth, Zhao Yuan''s purgatory samsara method shocked both humans and demons. Besides, Zhao Yuan is an alchemist master. I only carry forward his purgatory samsara method, which is featured by absorbing other''s chakra to rapidly form my own chakra. Guan Qianchong should wonder why I could vanish with the earth demon knights together and promote to an earth knight after staying in the hieron ruins 2 years ago.''


    ''Seventh, Guan Qianchong just doubts that. He would never get any evidence. If he could confirm that I was practicing the purgatory samsara and the relationship between Zhao Yuan and I, he would have arrested me the moment I came to the Black Armor Battlefortress.''


    ''Therefore, he was just testing me in order to damage my psychological defense line in a split second. Guan Qianchong wanted to check my response. If I gave myself away, it was equal for me to admit his presumption.''


    ''However, even though this commander of Black Armor Army was very wise, he could never guess my means and secrets.''


    At the critical moment, Zhang Tie had figured out everything in a split second.


    ...


    "Hahaha..." Only after being faintly shocked, Zhang Tie had burst out into laughter with a bit indignation. He looked at Guan Qianchong with a sneer, "I''ve not imagined that the famous Black Armor Army in Taixia Country could be so insidious. If Commander Guan wants to rob the 700 miles'' land and 10 cities from me or just want to take the so-called reward as a f*rt, just let me know. I don''t treasure this reward at all. After leaving Taixia Country, I could get such a bit reward wherever I am. You don''t need to frame me in such a dirty means!" Zhang Tie said as he looked around the room, "Whether some executioners are ambushing here or not? If you plan to use such an old trick. Call your men out. This Cui Li is not that easily bullied. In the worst scenario, I will be killed, spraying my blood in the air. However, I have to tell others what a m*therfucking thing you are."


    With a sharp eyelight, Guan Qianchong revealed a smile towards Zhang Tie, "You were just a black iron knight 2 years ago. After staying with an earth demon knight in the hieron ruins, you promoted to an earth knight in only 2 years. Besides the purgatory samsara method, I really could not imagine about other means. Perhaps you wanted to exchange yourself with Mountain Lifting Hermit and Lin Huanxi out of a good intention in the hieron ruins; however, I think that you have long cast greedy eyes on the earth demon knight''s chakra and prepared for a risky fight. The others say that you''re extremely righteous; however, I think that you''re extremely cunning and audacious!"


    Zhang Tie sighed inside, ''What a commander! Although he was not on the spot, he could almost hit my thoughts given the clues. How terrifying he is!''


    ''However, this Commander Guan doesn''t know that one earth demon knight''s earth chakra is not enough for me at all. If not the bloody sacrifice furnace in the hieron and the demon corps in Castle of Black Iron, I might not have used that means.''


    After throwing a glance at the book in Guan Qianchong''s hand and the other books in the bookcases, Zhang Tie continued to sneer, "Although this Cui Li didn''t read too many books since childhood, I also understand that reading thousands of books is not equal to traveling thousands of miles. Do you think you''ve known all the secret methods in the world after reading so many books? Even if you know all the secret methods, how dare you confirm that nobody else could create or discover a new secret method? I don''t know what is purgatory samsara, but this Cui Li has created a secret method by which I could absorb earth-element crystals ten times faster than the average speed. Through 2 years'' cultivation in the hieron ruins, as long as there''re sufficient earth-element crystals, I could reach the effect that would take common black iron knights 70-80 years. It''s nothing strange for me to promote to an earth knight in 2 years at all! Coincidentally, the demon knight and Old Monster Qi had sufficient earth-element crystals for me to promote to an earth knight in only 2 years..."


    "10 times faster?" Guan Qianchong revealed a faint smile as he patted his palm on the book, "If there''s such a secret method in the world, there would be numerous knights!"


    "It acquires sufficient earth-element crystals. It''s my exclusive secret skill. I gained it due to karma. Nobody else could grasp it in the world!"


    "Exclusive secret skill?"


    "If Commander Guan doesn''t believe me, dare you to make a bet with me in the public?" Zhang Tie raised his head and watched Guan Qianchong with a proud look.


    "How?" Guan Qianchong mumbled as he realized that he might have mistaken the person at the sight of Cui Li''s confident look.


    "Right in the Lion Fortress. In front of all the garrison knights. If I could prove that I could absorb earth-element crystals 10 times faster than commoners, I would win. Commander Guan should break one arm and apologize to me in the public!" Zhang Tie said decisively.


    "What if you cannot?" Guan Qianchong''s eyes flickered.


    "I will commit suicide in the public to apologize to all the human knights over there!"


    "What sort of cultivation method could have such a remarkable effect?"


    "What classics is Commander Guan cultivating? May you expose it to the public?" Zhang Tie gave tit for tat.


    Two pairs of flickering eyes gazed at each other in the room like sabers and swords colliding with each other.


    After quite a while, Guan Qianchong let out a distant sigh, "How tricky you are! So many knights from Lion Fortress are fighting demons in Tiewei Mountain; you just want to postpone the bet to the end of the battle a few months later so that Zhao Yuan the alchemist demon could save you out of here!"


    "Hahahaha..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter with an aggressive qi, "Cut the crap. If Commander Guan really thinks that this Cui Li is related to the f*cking alchemist demon, we could make a bet in this room. We will see the result in 1 hour. No need to waste time and play tricks here!"


    When Zhang Tie said, he took out a top-quality pure water-element crystal from his space-teleportation equipment that he had acquired from the shadow demon.


    "This is a complete high-quality water-element crystal. It might take a common earth knight over 1 day to fully absorb it; if I could absorb it in 2 hours, I will be the winner. If not, I will be the loser and you can do to me whatever you want to. I will admit that even if you call me the stepson of alchemist demon by then. If I win, I don''t request Commander Guan to apologize to me and break one arm; otherwise, Black Armor Army would hate me too much and Brother Wu Guanhai would not feel good in front of me. If I win, Commander Guan should add a bit more reward to me, I mean you should pay me over 700 miles'' land and 10 cities too. Additionally, this bet is only confidential to you and me."


    "Over 700 miles'' land and 10 cities. It''s just billions of gold coins. I can afford it!" Guan Qianchong revealed a faint smile as if he thought it was just a small gift, "It''s my pleasure to witness how you absorb a water-element crystal 10 times faster than commoners at such a bit secular payment!"


    When he heard Guan Qianchong''s reply, Zhang Tie felt pretty thrilled. In a split second, he had reversed the situation and increased his reward while sparing a chance to prove that he was innocent.


    What a good opportunity!


    "Nice, Commander Guan is really generous!" Zhang Tie patted his thigh before asking, "Commander Guan, do you want to check this piece of water-element crystal..."


    After throwing a glance at the piece of water-element crystal in Zhang Tie''s hand, Guan Qianchong shook his head. As he had spent a lot of water-element crystals to promote to a shadow knight, of course, he could confirm that it was a real one. He didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could play any trick in front of his eyes.


    ...


    Zhang Tie could visualize 21 abacuses in mind at the same time. At his full effort, he could absorb water-element crystals 20 times faster than common earth knights, namely, it would take him less than 1 hour to fully absorb one water-element crystal.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t make his full effort to absorb the water-element crystal, he just adjusted his speed to 11 times that of common earth knights. Even though in such a medium speed, he had also fully absorbed the water-element crystal in only a bit longer than 1 hour while the blue water-element crystal gradually turned transparent like a winebottle being emptied...


    Watching the water-element crystal gradually losing its color in Zhang Tie''s hand, Guan Qianchong looked pretty splendid.

 994 Clarifying His Innocence

    Chapter 994: Clarifying His Innocence


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "What''s that secret method?" Guan Qianchong asked Zhang Tie once again.


    As to the result of this bet, it was just a matter of over 700 miles'' land and 10 cities, it seemed that this commander of Black Armor Army didn''t care about it at all.


    "This is Spiritual Multi-tasking Sutra! Zhang Tie renamed the "mental arithmetic by abacus" at once, which sounded very sharp.


    ''My God, I''ve not imagined that I could cheat a commander of one the top four armies in Taixia Country, a terrifying and powerful shadow knight with the "mental arithmetic by abacus" that I bought from an old man at only 4 silver coins when I was young.''


    "Spiritual Multi-tasking Sutra!" Guan Qianchong repeated it. Even if he had a rich experience, it was still his first time to hear this name. He had witnessed the effect of this sutra. If the secret that Zhang Tie could absorb water-element crystal 10 times faster than common earth knights was revealed, all the other knights would be driven mad.


    However, Zhang Tie had predicted that Guan Qianchong would be shocked by how he absorbed the water-element crystal. Therefore, he made an agreement with him in advance that the result of this bet was only confidential to two of them. As the commander of Black Armor Army and a shadow knight, he would not go back on his words. Those who went back on their promise would be belittled by dark forces, not to mention the ruling class. Therefore, Zhang Tie believed in his credibility.


    Given Guan Qianchong''s dense eyebrows which suddenly turned dignified, Zhang Tie knew what this commander of Black Armor Army was thinking about. If such a secret method could be grasped by the military party or Black Armor Army, the overall strength and cultivation speed of all the knights in Black Armor Army would reach a new hight. Theoretically, with sufficient earth-element crystals, black iron knights in Taixia Country could promote to earth knights in the shortest time.


    "Hehhehheh, Commander Guan, don''t expect me to reveal the Spiritual Multi-tasking Sutra to you!" Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly, "Due to some reasons, I acquired this secret method and reached such a high realm. It only works on very few people. Fewer than 1 out of 100 knights would be suitable to cultivate it. As for the others, even if they could cultivate it reluctantly, it would be ineffective for them to increase their cultivation speed either. Therefore, stop thinking about popularizing this secret method to the Black Armor Army and Taixia Country as a whole. It''s not as simple as you think. This secret method poses abnormal requirements to the qualification of cultivators in some aspects."


    Zhang Tie didn''t tell a lie. Besides reaching the corresponding multi-tasking realm, the cultivator''s spiritual energy should be many times more than that of common cultivators. Therefore, even though someone cultivated the "Mental Arithmetic by Abacus", he could not reach Zhang Tie''s effect at all. The reason that Zhang Tie could have such a high spiritual energy lay in so many fruits of brilliance that he had taken. Besides Zhang Tie, nobody else could take so many fruits of brilliance.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Guan Qianchong gazed at Zhang Tie quite a while as if he wanted to recognize this guy from the scratch and wanted to seek for some loopholes from Zhang Tie''s face. However, Zhang Tie looked bright and innocent which could be barely disguised. Based on his rich experience, Guan Qianchong didn''t find anything wrong with Zhang Tie''s look and eyes. Finally, Guan Qianchong let out a long sigh while his eye lights turned tender at once. Additionally, he started to appreciate Zhang Tie''s talent, "It seems that this old man has mistaken a person this time. It turns out that you''ve got a special karma and could rapidly absorb water-element crystals in a secret method. You got good out of misfortune and successfully promoted to an earth knight in 2 years in the hieron ruins!"


    "Haha, when I killed Old Monster Qi and that earth demon knight, I''ve not imagined that they could carry so many earth-element crystals in their space-teleportation items. Therefore, I made a fortune!" Zhang Tie shrugged. Closely after tiding over the crisis, he became relaxed at once.


    "This old man wondered how did you kill that demon knight. It was told that Old Monster Qi had taken the advantageous position at that moment; however, he suddenly became still like being possessed by the devil. Therefore, you chopped off his head. As for the earth demon knight, it was not easy; how did you kill it in the hieron ruins?"


    Touching his head, Zhang Tie smirked, "Everybody has secrets. Of course, this Cui has methods to protect himself."


    Guan Qianchong revealed a generous smile and didn''t ask Zhang Tie anymore, "It''s rare for someone with such a great good fortune to reverse the situation in such a marvelous way like you!"


    "Silly people always have a good fortune. I have to tell you that Old Monster Qi is a b*stard of Three-eye Association. I killed him because he was possessed by the devil when he triggered a secret method of Bloody Soul Temple. I just seized the opportunity and killed him. When I closed the gate of the hieron, I had also thought about perishing together with the demon knight by destroying the crystal ball. After all, it''s worthwhile for me to die at the cost of two earth demon knights as a black iron human knight. I was very satisfied to do that. However, later on, I found an item which could protect my life in an emergency from the space-teleportation item of Old Monster Qi; therefore I reversed the situation!"


    Zhang Tie knew that he should spare space for the listener to imagine when fabricating a lie. 1 false sentence in every 10 sentences was the wisest lie. After all, Old Monster Qi once framed Mountain Lifting Hermit using the Bloody Soul Driller on Damaging Guts. If Zhang Tie said that he found something sharp being related to the bloody soul temple from Old Monster Qi and gave a fatal blow to the earth demon knight on the premise of controlling the hub of the hieron, it was reasonable. He didn''t explain it explicitly; instead, he just spared space for Guan Qianchong to imagine about it. It was better than nothing.


    Besides the late Old Monster Qi and Zhang Tie himself, who else in the world knew what Old Monster Qi carried. Zhang Tie just guided Guan Qianchong''s train of thoughts.


    Certainly, soon after hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Guan Qianchong had revealed a faintly clear look.


    Guan Qianchong thought that although Zhang Tie had kept some secrets about this event, his choice was normal. Generally, this tower-like tough man was indeed extremely honest and sincere as was told by others. Such an innocent and sincere man was rarely seen in this world.


    "Since I left the Hieron Ruins about 3 months ago, I''ve been wondering whether Mountain Lifting Hermit and the other team members have reported the background of Old Monster Qi to the superiors and whether Taixia Country has discovered something through the clue of Old Monster Qi?"


    Zhang Tie asked another question "frankly"...

 995 Cashing the Reward

    Chapter 995: Cashing the Reward


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "After Mountain Lifting Hermit and the other team members returned and revealed the real status of Old Monster Qi, the Lion Fortress had already passed the news to the Supreme Court in Taixia Country. The Supreme Court will be responsible for investigating the clues left by Old Monster Qi!"


    After feeling that Zhang Tie was pleasing to the eye, Guan Qianchong patiently solved Zhang Tie''s question. This might be similar to the opposite-sex attraction. A cunning guy would always be fully vigilant and careful about the other one who was of the same personality; however, when he saw a frank, black, silly, sturdy and righteous one whose personality was utterly different than him, he would always have a favorable impression on the latter. At this moment, in the eyes of this commander of the Black Armor Army, Zhang Tie was the second sort of person.


    He had long heard about Zhang Tie''s gossips. A man who could call a princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion his paramour must be favorable in some aspect. Such a person was always straightforward and didn''t play tricks; whereas, he was easily favored by the God and could always avert the crisis. He would always have a very good fortune. By contrast, those who always played tricks would barely have a good fortune. Because the God would take their fortune away. That was the universal law.


    "What about the survey result of the Supreme Court?"


    "Old Monster Qi exposed his real status all of a sudden. Previously, he used to move very weirdly and secretly. Additionally, he was an earth knight and could barely be traced. It''s very difficult to investigate what he had done. After investigating this case for 2 years, besides arresting some small fishes being related to Old Monster Qi and confirming that Old Monster Qi was related to the missing children across Taixia Country, nothing else was found!"


    "I see..." Zhang Tie touched his bald head in a disappointed way. He had anticipated this result. ''It seems that the Supreme Court in Taixia Country didn''t make any surprise this time. Whatever, if the Three-eye Association and the Heavens-reaching Church could be easily dealt with, demons would not have been wrestling with humans for so many years.''


    "Are you interested in joining Black Armor Army?" Guan Qianchong sudden asked him, "If you agree, I promise you to be a Cheji General in both Earth-elements Realm and on the earth''s surface!"


    "Hahaha, young brother Wu had already invited me to join the Black Armor Army; but this Cui refused him. I''m used to be free. Although it sounds great to join Black Armor Army, I have to follow orders and comply with regulations; with so many superiors, I might even be impeached by others if I made any mistake. That''s too boring. I cannot adapt to that. Therefore, sorry about that, I prefer to be alone. At least I''m free and could do whatever I want and go wherever I want. I will fight demons whenever I want and escape whenever I want. I can sleep alone whenever I want and sleep with women whenever I want. As long as I don''t do anything illegal, I will be free. This Cui prefers such a freestyle!" Zhang Tie directly refused Guan Qianchong''s invitation.


    Although it was impolite for Zhang Tie to refuse Guan Qianchong directly. Generally, when being invited by a commander of the Black Armor Army, the one being invited should politely express that he was overwhelmed by an unexpected favor. He should refuse the invitation in a euphemistic way at least. Few of them dared refuse Guan Qianchong''s invitation in such a straightforward way.


    However, the more Zhang Tie acted in this way, the more Guan Qianchong appreciated him. After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Guan Qianchong put down his book and burst out into laughter, "Alright, I will respect your choice. Everyone has their own ambition. Speaking of killing demons, how did you kill that shadow demon this time? This shadow demon was too tricky. I wanted to find it; however, I couldn''t it!"


    Zhang Tie smirked, "Actually, I stayed in Black Armor Battlefortress for 2 months so as to find that b*stard for some benefits. However, Bai Suxian and I circled around Tiewei Mountain so many times and couldn''t encounter it. Unexpectedly, this b*stard disguised as an injured woman and sought for my favor when I wandered alone outside; of course, I directly launched an attack!"


    "How did you identify that shadow demon when it disguised as a human?"


    "Hehheh, I have a clear estimation of myself. My look is far worse than being handsome since I was young. I have a ferocious look; especially after I cultivated the "Fire Dragon Sutra", even men would dodge away from me, not to mention women. If I walk alone in the wild, no woman dare walk with me at all. When I wandered around Tiewei Mountain alone, this "injured woman" dared approach me on her own initiative without any fear; therefore, I doubted that this woman should have secrets. Normally, even on the earth''s surface, a female knight dared not approach me, not to mention Tiewei Mountain. Wasn''t she afraid that I would harm her? Wasn''t she worried that I was disguised by the shadow demon? When I thought about this, I became dubious about that female knight and became vigilant. When I noticed that she was going to harm me, I ferociously stabbed into her body with my dagger ahead of her..." Zhang Tie made a hand gesture.


    "I see..." Guan Qianchong became startled by the plot. Although the shadow demon disguised as a female human knight, it didn''t know how did human woman think, neither did it understand the human woman''s appreciation of the beauty. Although Cui Li was tall, he looked a bit ferocious. If being not familiar with him, very few women might dare approach him on their own initiatives. It was really out of Guan Qianchong''s imagination that Cui Li could seize the only loophole and finally kill the shadow demon, ''Cui Li must be blessed by the God.''


    Zhang Tie rubbed his hands as he asked, "Heh heh heh, Commander Guan, the reward, did you fob off me?"


    "It''s rewarded by the country. Of course, it''s not a joke! This reward has long been registered in Taixia Country. It has been sealed by the three chancellors'' mansions..." Guan Qianchong looked solemn, "We will cash your reward right away and spread the news to the public. As for my payment, when you go back to the earth''s surface, I will have Guan people contact you and cash all of them for you!" As Guan Qianchong replied, he walked to the front of the desk in his room and pressed down a bell-like switch beside the desk.


    After a few seconds, the door was pushed open. Closely after that, a major general with a solemn look entered and gave a military salute to Guan Qianchong.


    "Cui Li has killed the earth knight-level shadow demon. You take him to select the rewarded land and accomplish the relevant formalities. After that, deliver the notice across the theater of operations. As for that shadow demon''s corpse, don''t waste it. As shadow demons are rare, many people have not seen them yet. Just make it a specimen and put it in the Black Armor Battlefortress so that everyone could watch it!"


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Guan Qianchong could be so overbearing. Whatever, it was good for Zhang Tie. Anyone who watched the earth knight-level shadow demon would inquire who killed it. Therefore, Cui Li''s name would gradually spread over the theater of operations.


    It was within Zhang Tie''s anticipation that he could cash the reward in Black Armor Battlefortress. On the battlefield, in-time medal conference to those who have made remarkable military exploits and wartime appointment were usual stimulatives. As the battle situation always changed transiently, many fighters didn''t know whether they could survive back; therefore, in order to stimulate the morale, the rewards would always be cashed at the fastest speed on the battlefield. When one person rendered a meritorious service, if his reward could not be cashed until the battle came to an end after 3 years, that person would have long died. Who the f*ck would you pay the cash then? If so, such a reward could never be stimulative and effective at all; instead, it would make people disappointed.


    ''As I''m the good example of human knights in the large-scale battle between humans and demons in Tiewei Mountain, of course, they should cash my reward right away.''


    Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards Guan Qianchong before leaving the room after that major general.


    With a solemn look, the major general directly led Zhang Tie to a two-storey office in the high tower silently. After entering the office, the major general asked two military officers to fetch a map of the full territory of Taixia Country and spread it in front of him and Zhang Tie.


    "The rewarded land and cities were all clearly marked on this map. 700 miles of land and 10 cities were close to each other. You can choose any one of the 117 green regions across Taixia Country!" The major general told Zhang Tie officially.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at the map and saw those green blocks on the map, whose color was sharply different than that of the other places.


    "I can choose any part of the green regions?"


    "Yes, through the strict assessment of the Land Planning Department, these green regions are close to each other in the area and urban development level. Those in low urban development level would be larger in the area as a compensation; conversely, those in higher urban development level would be strictly restricted to 700 square miles in area."


    At this moment, although Zhang Tie looked calm, he was thrilled inside.


    After throwing a glance at Yongzhou Province at first, Zhang Tie found no green marks; therefore, he let out a sigh pitifully, "Ahh, previously, I wanted to choose a patch of land in my hometown Yongzhou Province, but there''s no spare land and city over there. I could only find somewhere else..."


    As he spoke, Zhang Tie moved his eyes all the way to the north from Yongzhou Province and started to view the territory of the Northeast Military Region of Taixia Country.


    In the Northeast Military Region, there were three green blocks. Zhang Tie almost immediately targeted at a green block that partially deepened into Youzhou Province neighboring Youzhou Province. He then slowly revealed a faint smile and pointed at there, "Here!"


    ...

 996 Fire Dragon Bounty Territory

    Chapter 996: Fire Dragon Bounty Territory


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The patch of land that Zhang Tie chose was in the southwest of Youzhou Province. The core region of the land was a part of Yangui Mountain Range. It was Miyun Prefecture of Youzhou province in the northeast of the land. Three cities in the north of Yangui Mountain Range were included into this land.


    Zhang Tie remembered that he had met the head and elders of Li Clan from Miyun Prefecture in White Tiger Platform when he fought for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province for Zhang Taixuan 3 years ago. The overall strength of Li Clan only ranked lower-middle among the so many major clans in Youzhou Province. Zhang Tie remembered that the entire Li Clan only had 4 black iron knights, plus the head and elders. It could not even match Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace who had caught up from behind after winning the competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, not to mention deep-rooted Lu Clan and Gu Clan in Youzhou Province.


    It was the south border of Yangui Mountain Range in the southernmost part of this private land which neighbored Tongzhou Province. Zhang Tie found that 4 cities being close to Yangui Mountain were included into his private land.


    It was the north border of Yangui Mountain Range in the northernmost part of this private land which neighbored Yangzhou Province, the hub of the Northeast Military Region of Taixia Country. Four cities of Yangzhou Province were included into Zhang Tie''s private land.


    Those cities in Zhang Tie''s private land were not advanced in development level given the map; additionally, most of the private land was mountain areas and mountain forests. Therefore, this green block was almost the largest one among all the green clocks on the map. Only after a glimpse at it, Zhang Tie had known that this private land was about 0.8 million square miles because it was 1/3 larger than the area of Yanghe Prefecture of Zhang Clan.


    Coincidentally, this triangular region was only thousands of miles away from the Zanggu Plateau that he had bought at a high price in Youzhou Province in the north.


    There were over 100 green blocks on the map of Taixia Country. If Zhang Tie adored prosperity, he could have chosen some provinces and prefectures which were much better than the Youzhou territory in the Northeast Military Region of Taixia Country. If Zhang Tie was ambitious, he could choose his private land near the south border of Taixia Country, where he could revitalize the Great Wilderness Sect over billions of square miles'' land and become the king in the south of Taixia Country as long as the conditions became mature.


    When he caught sight of the block on the south border of Taixia Country, Zhang Tie''s heart indeed raced; however, the domineering thought was instantly ignored. As the Great Wilderness Sect had been exterminated, Zhang Tie was not interested in raising this banner once again. He didn''t even know the enemy of the Great Wilderness Sect yet. It was very risky for him to inherit the legacy of the Great Wilderness Sect on the south border of Taixia Country at this moment. Now that those people could annihilate the Great Wilderness Sect in its heyday, it was not difficult for them to crack down an earth knight. The Cloud Crane had made it clear in the will that it was very risky yet profitable to raise the banner of the Great Wilderness Sect. It was meaningless for Zhang Tie to establish his undertaking at this moment.


    By contrast, if he selected the private land near Youzhou Province, he could protect his family members and occasionally meet them in another status. He could receive the message from his family members at any time. As for Zhang Tie, it was very hard for him to refuse this choice. With this choice, the arrest order for him almost became ineffective in Taixia Country; additionally, he could develop his own force in the status of Cui Li and continue to investigate the one who framed him secretly. One stone for two birds.


    ''I''m afraid that nobody could imagine that I would return to Youzhou Province in this way after being wanted for 2 years.''


    When he thought that he might meet his family members soon, Zhang Tie became thrilled inside.


    However, Zhang Tie also knew that it was not the right moment for him to return to Youzhou Province. It was not late at least after the battle in Tiewei Mountain. This battle was a rare opportunity for him to make military exploits.


    "The land that you''ve chosen is in the southwest of Yangui Mountain Range. Neighboring three provinces of Northeast Military Region in Taixia Country, the private land contains 18.76 million people. Although its population is not large, the 10 cities have reached a scale in industrial and commercial industries. Additionally, the private land had over 70 resources such as iron ores, copper ores, coal mines, silver ores, lead-zinc ores, etc.. There were also a lot of rare resources in Yangui Mountain Range, most of which had not been explored yet. After you took over this land officially, Taixia party would only keep the taxation and judicial agencies in all the cities of your private land in order to maintain the orders inside your private land. You would have the right to manage all the other aspects in the 10 cities. You could appoint the administers of your private cities, issue private regulations in your private land on the premise of not being contradictory to Taixia Laws!"


    The major general started to explain it to Zhang Tie with a solemn look after seeing the private land that Zhang Tie had selected, "Of course, you could also entrust your administrative right over your private cities to relevant authorities in the Northeast Military Region. The administrative fees will be deducted from the taxes in cities. There''s one point that you should know that the ownership of private properties and resources will remain unchanged after you took them over as they are under the protection of "Taixia Laws". You have the ownership of the governmental real estates and assets and the corresponding jurisdiction and disposal right on them!"


    "There are private properties in my private land?"


    "Of course, as long as there were people, there would be private properties. The ownership of these private properties and resources are mainly fixed assets in the 10 cities, such as private real estates and shops of residents. The private properties and resources outside the 10 cities are mainly villages and arable lands as well as private mines. Generally, as the 10 cities were built by the country, the government still owns over 60% of land and real estates in each of the 10 cities. As for the land outside the cities, 99% of them belong to you; at least half of the ores belong to you. The relevant materials about ownership were carefully recorded in these cities and the Northeast Military Region, which will be transferred to you!"


    "How?"


    "After you deal with the formalities here, you can take your authorized documents and certificates to the authorities in the Northeast Military Region whenever you want.. After you tell them about your status, the Land Planning Department in Northeast Military Region would dispatch exclusive staff to deal with the corresponding formalities and documents for you! Later on, we will notice the relevant officials in the Northeast Military Region. From today on, until you came to deal with the formalities for your private land, the ownership of all the official lands and resources in your private land would be frozen."


    ''I''ve not imagined that Taixia could be so considerate.'' Zhang Tie grinned after knowing the details, "Haha, let''s do it then. This Cui Li will select this green block as my private land!"


    "According to the rules about private land. Because your private land combines different administrative regions from three provinces, you should name your private land. From then on, it would be the official name of this private land in official documents!"


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he felt it was funny, "Is there any learning about naming a private land?"


    "Private land being rewarded due to military exploits would be named as XX bounty territory regardless of its area. In Taixia, bounty territory represents honor, which indicates that it is not bought, but is rewarded due to military exploits!"


    Touching his bald head for a short while, Zhang Tie uttered, "Just call it Fire Dragon Bounty Territory!"


    "Are you sure?"


    "Sure!" Zhang Tie determined his decision.


    "Okay!"


    ...


    Half an hour later, an official document and the corresponding certificates being marked with some red seals had been prepared for Zhang Tie.


    The moment Zhang Tie took these documents, he had thrown them into Castle of Black Iron. Until he left the tower, his heart was still racing.


    Only after a short while, when Zhang Tie reappeared in the lobby, all the knights over there watched him in a formidable way.


    ...


    2 days later, a grim and vivid shadow demon specimen appeared in Black Armor Battlefortress.


    On the same day, Zhang Tie left Black Armor Battlefortress and disappeared into the dense black mist of Tiewei Mountain...

 997 A Glimmer of Dawn

    Chapter 997: A Glimmer of Dawn


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After the huge earth-element crystals mine was discovered by demons in the 1st loop of Tiewei Mountain, the large-scale battle between humans and demons had lasted over 1 year.


    In the first abyss where human knights were crisscrossed with demon knights, as long as one party had some big movement, it''s very difficult for them to cover it. The tools and human resources required for exploiting large-scale earth-element crystals would never come out of the void. Of course, the transfer and movement of these tools and human resources would arouse the attention of human management. As a result, human management would make tentative arrangements.


    From a certain perspective, the so-called holy war referred to the tentative battles between demons and humans which lasted over 100 years.


    All the old knights knew that the so-called holy war was actually a long-term large-scale battle between humans and demons which tested the patience of both parties.


    Humans and demons were like two sides of a millstone. After being squeezed together forcefully, the two pieces of stones would rotate towards the opposite directions. They both wanted to grind the opposite. The side that faced the opposite was always the most dauntless fighters on their own party. Each a trivial relative movement of the two sides would grind many fighters.


    In the 3rd holy war, the first large-scale battle between humans and demons also the first fierce collision between the hardest parts of the two pieces of stones of the same milestone broke out in Tiewei Mountain in the first abyss of Earth-elements Realm.


    ...


    On March 27th, the 903rd year of the black iron calendar, Zhang Tie finally appeared in the 2nd loop of Tiewei Mountain after leaving Black Armor Battlefortress for many days.


    Yesterday, namely March 26, was Zhang Tie''s 30th birthday. He celebrated it alone again like how he did over the earlier two years. Whenever this day came, he would leave a reply under the post "The Inscription on the Gravestone of the Despicable" that he had issued in the Mountain of Brightness by that knight''s crystal plate named Chakra''s Lion. He wanted to tell his family members that he was safe through this reply.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter another 1 year, the first abyss in the Earth-elements Realm has a good scenery. Being filled with dense black mist, I feel safe here. In the Earth-elements Realm, as long as you have a human face, you will almost be safe. The large-scale battle in Tiewei Mountain is turning white-hot. I''m traveling in the periphery of Tiewei Mountain and intend to kill 1 or 2 black iron knights so as to live up to my travel to the Earth-elements Realm. I don''t plan to prove anything with 1 or 2 demon knights'' heads. As a murderer in Taixia Country, no matter how many demons I killed, the Supreme Court of Taixia Country would not easily revoke the order for arrest. Over the past 2 years, someone else has been dead due to my event. However, the truth is still covered like that demon who hides in the dense black mist of the first abyss, the culprit who grasps the Bloody Demon Imitation Skill. He must be hiding in a corner of Taixia Country in a high position. I just want to let you know that I''m very good. Tycoons, of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country, the Gobbling Party, are you all right?


    This was how Zhang Tie replied to his own post yesterday.


    ...


    It was out Zhang Tie''s imagination that the article that he posted in the forum of the Mountain of Brightness 3 years ago had been replied over 100,000 times and become the popular post in the forum. Additionally, the number of replies was increasing every day. He had escaped for 3 years; however, he had become the most famous black iron human knight because of his article in the forum of the Mountain of Brightness. Zhang Tie had already surpassed his master Zhao Yuan in popularity and attention rate instead of the overall strength.


    Zhang Tie didn''t become well-known among human knights when he almost lost his life in Waii Subcontinent. When he helped Zhang Taixuan compete for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province, he just became a bit well-known in Youzhou Province. After he inflicted a great loss to the Heavens Breaking Church, his reputation was beyond the border of Northeast Military Region; however, after becoming a murderer in Taixia Country, his name was well-known across the knight''s world as a hot, touching tragical hero.


    Any knight with a normal conscience would have a strong emotional resonance and make a judgment about the truth after reading Zhang Tie''s "autobiography".


    With the increasingly extensive and greater impact of that event, even Green Flute Mountain Hermit and Guo Tieyi, an elder of Lancang Sect both replied Zhang Tie under his post at the risk of exposing their bynames in the Mountain of Brightness. They revealed the details about how they chased after Zhang Tie that night.


    The two people''s replies fully proved the truth of the "fatal details" that Zhang Tie had mentioned in his article¡ª¡ªthat night, the two people were indeed attacked by Qin Wu''s battle qi smoke. When chasing after Zhang Tie, they both admitted that Zhang Tie had left their sights for a while. The entire chase process was dominated by Qin Wu. Additionally, when Qin Wu suddenly changed his search region and caught sight of Zhang Tie, he launched an attack on Zhang Tie firstly. When Qin Wu started to attack Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie had indeed asked Qin Wu why he left Fuhai City and attacked him. Additionally, Zhang Tie indeed explained that he was induced over there by someone else...


    Pitifully, the two people didn''t believe Zhang Tie''s words in that situation.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie just defended himself. After being driven mad, Zhang Tie started to fight them fiercely; however, he still didn''t exert his full effort.


    Even Qin Wu''s death was as same as Zhang Tie described. In that situation, Qin Wu''s battle qi was boiling. The two people didn''t see how Zhang Tie attacked Qin Wu at all; however, Qin Wu''s body split into pieces.


    In their replies, Green Flute Mountain Hermit and Guo Tieyi both felt guilty and self-condemned.


    They both thought that if they could be a bit sober at that moment, the result might not be that worse. They both felt that they had become the indirect accomplices of the culprit who framed Zhang Tie.


    In his reply, an elder of Fan Clan also admitted a judgment that Zhang Tie wrote in his article when Household Register Director Fan as the only witness of the tragedy saw Zhang Tie raping his daughter, he remembered that Zhang Tie was indeed wearing clothes and left no body fluid on the spot.


    1 year ago, green flute mountain hermit had already paid a visit to Yanghe Prefecture, Youzhou Province to apologize to Zhang Tie''s parents.


    ...


    Because of the above things, 95% of replies to Zhang Tie''s post didn''t think that Zhang Tie could do such a brutal thing in Fuhai City; instead, they thought that Zhang Tie was wronged and framed. Very few people were still doubting about some details. It could be said that most of the human knights had thought that Zhang Tie was innocent and slandered. Zhang Tie had not only clarified his own innocence, but he also became a touching tragical hero. Additionally, his poem "The Beloved One" was composed and spread over Taixia Country...


    In the past 3 years, Zhang Tie was still wanted. However, facing the one-sided stress of consensus and doubts, even the Supreme Court of Taixia Country and the Gobbling Party had been involved in the tragedy of Fuhai City and condemned. If it was just commoners who condemned and doubted the Supreme Court of Taixia and the Gobbling Party, they could still put their airs or ignore that; however, thousands of human knights were blaming and doubting their judgment about Zhang Tie; such a great stress would not be ignored by the management of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country.


    Under this circumstance, the Supreme Court and the Gobbling Party had both dispatched their elites to investigate the truth of the tragedy in Fuhai City, Yingzhou Province.


    Death was the most effective means to cover everything.


    In the past 3 years, the whole family of Yang Yushan the former head of the Morality Association in Fuhai City was slaughtered. After that, a famous doctor in Yingzhou Province who diagnosed Household Register Director Fan many years ago took poison to commit suicide. Then, Qin Wu and some relatives who were closely related to Qin Wu disappeared. When the elites of the Supreme Court started to investigate the provincial governor''s mansion in Yingzhou Province, the archives staff was found dead out of taking gold at home...


    The truth of the tragedy in Fuhai City was still confusing.


    Under this circumstance, the mayor of Fuhai City resigned in advance; the grand justice of Yingzhou Province was degraded; the rating of the provincial governor of Yingzhou Province was worse; Cheji General of Yingzhou Province was transferred to another position. Over 20 backbones of the Gobbling Party in Yingzhou Province were accountable for the event and exiled. Due to the aftermath of Yingzhou Province, the entire Gobbling Party in Taixia Country started to strengthen disciplines these couple of years...


    Especially in the past year, the call for revoking Zhang Tie''s order for arrest grew louder among the people and in the Mountain of Brightness. They would like to clarify Zhang Tie''s innocence completely.


    Especially 2 months ago, two famous gentlemen of Jingzhou Provincial College submitted a written statement to Xuanyuan Hill in order to clarify Zhang Tie''s innocence, which shocked the whole country. The tragedy about Zhang Tie started to make the Supreme Court of Taixia Country uneasy, exposing a glimmer of dawn.


    In the same 3 years, the Heavens Breaking Church directly vanished in Taixia Country which was pretty weird.


    ...


    Only after Zhang Tie replied his own post a few hours yesterday, it had aroused a shock.


    In the earlier two replies, Zhang Tie didn''t tell them that he was in the Earth-elements Realm. This time, Zhang Tie revealed that he was in the Earth-elements Realm. Those who read it would think that Zhang Tie had just come to the Earth-elements Realm. Of course, even if they arrested and inquired all the human knights one after another in the Earth-elements Realm, they would definitely not find him, not to mention that they would know that Zhang Tie had been well-known in the Earth-elements Realm in the past 3 years. Besides having promoted to an earth knight, he had gained a bounty land with his own ability in the status of Cui Li.


    Even the most imaginative person could not imagine that there''s any relation between Zhang Tie the escaping tragical hero and Cui Li from Yongzhou Province...

 998 The Reappearance of Gorath

    Chapter 998: The Reappearance of Gorath


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    No matter what, it was a good news for Zhang Tie that he could scour the injustice and might appear in Taixia Country in his original look.


    It was Zhang Tie''s pleasure to see that the Supreme Court of Taixia Country could cancel off the order for arresting him; however, Zhang Tie also understood the stress facing him even if the Supreme Court of Taixia Country did it. Because the real culprit who framed him was still hiding somewhere. As long as Zhang Tie didn''t find that culprit, he would never be safe and would be a target wherever he was.


    That culprit might be at least a shadow knight who had formed 3 chakras and could dispatch enormous resources. If Zhang Tie couldn''t find him, the moment he reappeared in his original look, Zhang Tie was sure that this guy would deal with him in a much fiercer way. This situation would become most dangerous for Zhang Tie.


    Therefore, the biggest danger for Zhang Tie was not the arrest order from the Supreme Court of Taixia Country, but that culprit. Compared to the original status, the status of Cui Li was more suitable for Zhang Tie to fight that culprit.


    The result of the battle would be determined by the overall strength. Therefore, Zhang Tie came to the core of Tiewei Mountain alone.


    With purgatory samsara method, Zhang Tie could rapidly increase his overall strength. If he didn''t come to join the fun in the core of Tiewei Mountain and kill some earth demon knights, he felt not living up to himself and wasting such good opportunities.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie wanted to see and experience the fiercest collisions between humans and demons in the holy war.


    Tens of thousands of knights fought at the same time, such a large-scale battle might only be seen in the holy war.


    After entering the 2nd loop of Tiewei Mountain, Zhang Tie activated a super hiding rune effect and reduced his qi to the level of a common black iron knight; additionally, he was looming in the black mist caused by the abyss vines. Without arousing the attention of anyone else, he rapidly flew across the region covering over 700 miles between the 1st loop and the 2nd loop of Tiewei Mountain and rapidly approached to the edge of the 1st loop of Tiewei Mountain.


    The closer the mountain ranges were to the core of Tiewei Mountain, the higher they would be. If one could reach high enough in the air, one would find that the entire Tiewei Mountain was like a blooming flower and a ripple that spread from the center. Such a strange terrain could only exist in the Earth-elements Realm.


    Zhang Tie had already disguised as Gorath who had long disappeared once again. Wearing a black stickup robe, he had silver hair and a pair of icy and gloomy eyes above his slightly brutal and persistent hooknose. Flying in the black mist, he looked like a black vulture and a ghost.


    The incarnation Gorath was Zhang Tie''s umbrella.


    In the core of Tiewei Mountain, if Zhang Tie appeared in his original look, he was finding trouble for himself; if he used the look of Cui Li, as was warned by Guan Qianchong''s words a few days ago, the moment someone found that Cui Li could use purgatory samsara method on earth demon knight, the status of Cui Li that Zhang Tie had spent a lot of efforts in management in the past 3 years would be deserted. It was too silly for him to do that as he had made a great success in the status of Cui Li and gained a bounty land in Taixia Country.


    At present, tens of thousands of human knights and demon knights were converging in the core of Tiewei Mountain. Facing so many powerhouses, Zhang Tie should be careful.


    Additionally, although having come to the core of Tiewei Mountain, Zhang Tie didn''t know what he would do here at all. If there was a big trouble, just have the black-robed knight Gorath shoulder it. If demons and the Three-eye Association wanted to seek for revenge in the future, they would look for Gorath. After all, Gorath had already made a lot of troubles, in the worst scenario, he would give up his status as Gorath. Whatever, it was just one of his incarnation. Without Gorath, he might be Ballas, Dallas in the future as long as he wanted it.


    With such a cunning thought, Zhang Tie turned into Gorath.


    The large-scale battle in Tiewei Mountain attacked the attention of all the human rulers and knights. It was the first fiercest collision between humans and demons by now. It was reasonable for Zhang Tie the most famous murderer in Taixia Country and Gorath the mysterious knight in a black robe to join the fun here.


    When in Waii Subcontinent, Gorath and Zhang Tie "almost" appeared in the southernmost and northernmost ends of the subcontinent on the same day; additionally, they didn''t have any common point. Gorath was even known as the most famous voodoo pharmacist master. Zhang Tie didn''t have a chance to touch and learn any skills about voodoo pharmacist in his growth experience and was strange to everything in this circle. Therefore, no matter what, nobody would link Gorath to Zhang Tie.


    In this world, besides Zhang Tie himself, nobody else knew that Gorath was Zhang Tie. That was the subtlety of this status.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie reached the highest 1st loop of Tiewei Mountain, he caught sight of a fierce combat in a deep valley which was covered with black shrubs.


    They were battle auxiliary personnel instead of human knights.


    The so-called battle auxiliary personnel were all Hua fighters whose ranks varied from LV 6 to LV 15.


    When the large-scale battle between human knights and demons turned white-hot, these battle auxiliary personnel served as sentinels towards air across Tiewei Mountain.


    Any demon knight flew over somewhere, these battle auxiliary personnel would rapidly transmit the intelligence to the human strongholds so that they could make corresponding arrangements. The information control center in the center of Black Armor Battlefortress collected many timely information about the demon knights'' whereabouts, which originated from these battle auxiliary personnel who were responsible for observing the air force of demons.


    Compared to combats between human knights and demon knights, these people were battle auxiliary personnel. However, it didn''t mean that they didn''t need to fight; conversely, they were fighting all the time.


    It was very dangerous for these battle auxiliary personnel if they were discovered by demon knights. Many battle auxiliary personnel sent the intelligence by remote-sensing crystals at the cost of their lives. Besides demon knights, the ground forces that demons arranged tentatively in Tiewei Mountain were also the formidable enemies of all the battle auxiliary personnel in the Earth-elements Realm.


    7-8 corpses of spider demons were scattering in the valley from the east to the west. Most of these corpses were split open from the middle of their bodies, scattering blood and guts everywhere. The latest two dead spider demons'' body was still faintly twitching.


    Spider demon was a branch of the demon. Its lower body was similar to that of a spider with a grim and ugly face. However, it excelled at hiding itself and could move rapidly and steadily on cliffs like flying.


    In Tiewei Mountain, the large number of spider demons that demons dropped were always the formidable enemies of battle auxiliary personnel.


    Two battle auxiliary personnel were evacuating as they fought spider demons.


    The two battle auxiliary personnel both wore mountainous black and brown soft armors. Some underground shrubs were purposefully stuck onto their armors for concealing effect. Besides, they wore a complete gas-defense respiratory mask with eyeglasses.


    If they appeared on another occasion in such a dress, it would be hilarious; however, it was not hilarious here at all because they were both covered with blood, most of which belonged to those spider demons. Even in such a fierce combat, they still didn''t take off their gas-defense respiratory masks. Because human fighters below knight level could not fully resist the toxicity in the air of the first abyss which was released by the abyss vines. The toxicity was contained in the underground black mist. After breathing such air for a few hours, fighters below knight level would feel numb and stiff all over. As a result, their movements would be influenced.


    The black matt assault swords drew fatal arcs in the valley one after another. Although spider demons constantly fell down, the number of spider demons gradually increased.


    With bloody eyes, the spider demons aspirated stinky qi through their mouthparts as they kept chasing after the two human fighters no matter how many partners had been killed.


    Before death, those split-open spider demons successfully left injuries on the two Hua fighters'' bodies.


    The two battle auxiliary personnel were both LV 9 fighters; those spider demons varied from LV 7 to LV 9, who were dauntless in a large quantity.


    With a sound of "Zi...", when one of the two human fighters stabbed an assault sword into a spider demon''s mouth, a dark red LV 8 spider demon immediately broke into that fighter''s defense circle. Because the fighter could barely notice it with his eye corners, the spider demon stabbed a short spear into the human fighter''s lower abdomen...


    "Ahh!" That human fighter roared. When he clenched the short spear by one hand, he pulled his assault sword out of the spider demon''s mouth by the other hand. Closely after that, with a fierce sweep, he chopped off the LV 8 spider demon''s head.


    "I will drag them, hurry up, go..." The injured fighter roared. Instead of escaping away, he turned around and rushed towards those spider demons who were chasing after him...


    ...

 999 Iron and Blood

    Chapter 999: Iron and Blood


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "No, we will leave or die together..."


    Seeing the fighter whose lower abdomen was injured turning around and rushing towards those spider demons, the other fighter screamed as he closely followed the first fighter and rushed back towards those spider demons too. At the same time, he stabbed his matt assault sword into a LV 7 spider demon''s lower abdomen and forcefully gashed downwards, causing a huge wound. As a result, the bloody intestines of the spider demon flew out of the wound below its lower abdomen immediately with a sound "Huala".


    After being heavily wounded, the spider demon uttered a sharp, jarring scream. Before death, it stabbed its short spear towards that human fighter ferociously.


    In front of a LV 9 human fighter, the LV 7 spider demon was obviously weaker. Its counterattack before death didn''t leave any wound on that human fighter. The human fighter directly kicked the wrist of its claw which held the weapon and broke it. Closely after that, he stabbed his sword directly into its heart.


    After a spasm, the LV 7 spider demon fell down on the ground and didn''t move anymore...


    The human knight whose lower abdomen was severely wounded had killed another LV 7 spider demon. The two human fighters both used powerful, sharp, direct and fatal battle skills that they learned in the army of Taixia Country. In front of such low-level opponents, this battle skill could turn humans into the most effective killing machines which were urgently needed on the battlefield.


    After a few seconds, some purplish-red spider demons had appeared behind the black brambles in the distance who were dashing towards here.


    Those purplish red spider demons looked bigger than common spider demons, which indicated that they were LV 9 spider demons.


    Given the battle strength, a LV 9 spider demon could match that of a LV 9 human fighter; additionally, LV 9 spider demons were trickier. Even in normal situations, a LV 9 human fighter and a LV 9 spider demon could be well-matched in strength, not to mention this moment when spider demons outnumbered human fighters who had already been injured.


    At the sight of those LV 9 spider demons, the human fighter who had been slightly bruised instantly grabbed the waistband of his comrades-in-arms who was severely wounded and carried him on the back before escaping away.


    "B*stard, Liu Xing, put me down..." The severely wounded one roared.


    The fighter just lowered his head silently and kept rushing forward with his full effort. With one person''s weight on his body, all of his wounds had been cracked while blood kept flowing out of there; additionally, he could not move as agilely as before...


    Under the gas-defense respiratory mask, the runner''s eyes turned bloody while his mouth corners were bleeding. However, he still insisted on running while gritting his teeth. Under this circumstance, he only had a firm belief¡ª¡ªhe would never drop his comrade-in-arms; he would live or die together with his comrade-in-arms...


    As human fighters of Taixia Country, they were not afraid of fighting demons to death in the Earth-elements Realm!


    The LV 9 spider demons were moving so fast and swiftly that they soon narrowed the distance to 50 m. At such a high speed, it would only take them a few minutes to catch up with the two human fighters.


    "Put me down..." The severely wounded fighter''s voice suddenly turned calm. When he uttered, he had already stabbed the sharp tip of the assault sword into his neck, causing blood to flow off, which immediately made his camouflage soft armor''s collar wet, "When I count 3...if you don''t put me down, I will commit suicide...1..."


    "We can both escape away..." The runner had already exerted his utmost speed as he tightly carried the severely wounded one. At the same time, his sweat ran down like raindrops, his wounds were torn open once again, spraying blood all over while the main artery in the back of his neck started to bulge like that of a running battle horse. Each step forward, the main artery would pulse one time...


    He didn''t give up; instead, he just kept challenging his upper limit while gritting his teeth.


    "If you put me down, you could have a narrow chance to escape; if you carry me, neither of us would survive...2..." The sword tip deepened into his neck while his blood dropped into the gaps on the runner''s soft armor with the warmth of the bromance...


    "3..."


    The runner''s heart raced as he felt the irresistible will and decisiveness of the one on his back. When his comrade-in-arms uttered "3", the runner felt his comrade-in-arms increased his strength on his sword. The runner immediately put down that severely wounded fighter.


    "Xiaoyue likes you. If you could survive back, take care of her and say sorry to her on behalf of her brother!"


    After leaving such a will, the severely wounded human fighter decisively turned around and rushed towards those LV 9 spider demons...


    ...


    When he rushed towards those spider demons, he released his LV 9 battle qi totem for the first time. It was an awe-inspiring proud bloody scorpion with its tail raising in the air. He jumped high and flew over some LV 7 and LV 8 spider demons all the way towards a LV 9 spider demon.


    The LV 9 spider demon''s battle spike directly penetrated through his body. Thankfully, he faintly twisted his body when the spike touched his body, causing it to miss his heart.


    After drawing a sword qi in the air, he chopped off the head of the LV 9 spider demon by his matt assault sword and had it sent flying off, spurting out blood higher than 1 m...


    With a battle spike below his heart, the severely wounded human fighter continued to collide the second LV 9 spider demon. This spider demon''s battle spike stabbed into the fighter''s chest once again; however, the fighter''s matt assault sword precisely stabbed into the spider demon''s heart. Both parties roared at the same time; meanwhile, they stirred their own weapons in the opponent''s body. As a result, the spider demon fell down; the severely wounded fighter spurted out blood which covered the crystal mirror of his gas-defense respiratory mask.


    The proud bloody scorpion started to lose its balance. The fighter''s one leg turned weak and he knelt down.


    At this moment, the 3rd spider demon rushed over here with a grim look.


    Although his sight became blurry while his vision was also reduced by the bloody mirror of his gas-defense respiratory mask; however, the human fighter didn''t fall down. He just watched this LV 9 spider demon rushing towards him with a disdainful look...


    This time, the 3rd spider demon''s battle spike directly penetrated through the fighter''s throat and neck. The fighter didn''t dodge away; instead, he pushed his body forward while stretching out his arms. He faced the sharp battle spike of the spider demon with his neck on his own initiative.


    The battle spike penetrated through the fighter''s throat and neck; however, this fighter hugged the LV 9 spider demon and detonated an explosive device on his body...


    A white phosphorous munition rose up. In a split second, the two bodies started to burn heavily. At the same time, the LV 9 spider demon uttered an earthshaking miserable scream...


    ...


    When the runner heard the last sound, he turned around and saw the fierce unyielding torches.


    With hot tears flooding out of his eyes, the runner became stimulated and kept dashing forward at a higher speed...


    High-power white phosphorous gel bomb was one of the necessary equipment of all the human fighters who were responsible for auxiliary combats. Compared to the white phosphorous gel bombs used in airships, such high-power white phosphorous gel bombs were smaller and more destructive. The original intention of such a bomb was to deter demon fighters; however, in many situations, it was used by common fighters to commit suicide on the battlefield of Earth-elements Realm.


    As for Hua fighters, they could only fight demons to death instead of being captives.


    ...


    In only a few minutes, the screaming spider demons had been burned into charcoal lying on the ground while the escaping human fighter was in a dilemma once again.


    The flames attracted a LV 10 wing demon who was flying in a low height. A LV 10 wing demon plus a lot of spider demons, they soon cornered this LV 9 human fighter.


    ...


    Standing still against the edge of the cliff, that human fighter panted heavily while his assault sword was still dropping blood. Only in a couple of minutes, he had a few more wounds, two of which were on his back, from where his bones could even be seen. A LV 8 spider demon''s corpse had lain in front of him. 7-8 spider demons surrounded him in a fan shape over 10 m away. That LV 10 wing demon was flapping its wings and gazing at him with its brutal and bloody eyes like targeting at a prey which could not escape any longer.


    "You cannot escape. As long as you surrender to us. You will have the best treatment. You could survive on and live better!" The LV 10 wing demon uttered its hoarse voice. At the same time, it threw a fearsome glance at the object on the human fighter''s waist which looked like a bitter gourd.


    The human fighter held a short sword by one hand and tightly held that bitter gourd-shaped object by the other hand.


    The bitter-gourd shaped object was a high-power white phosphorous gel bomb. The LV 10 wing demon could hurt this human fighter by its battle qi, this human fighter could also throw this white phosphorous gel bomb at the wing demon and threaten it.


    The outcome of being struck by human''s high-power white phosphorous gel bomb had been presented by that charcoal-like corpse of that spider demon.


    As the LV 10 wing demon was smart, it didn''t want to lose its own life in front of this human fighter who was almost dead; instead, it intended to adopt a safer method to deal with this human fighter. If it could capture a Hua fighter alive, his military exploit would be greater than that of killing a Hua fighter.


    "F*ck you!" The human fighter replied to the wing demon.


    At the same time, the human fighter rushed a few steps forward and threw a black item towards the wing demon...


    ...

 1000 Saving Liu Xing

    Chapter 1000: Saving Liu Xing


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The LV 10 wing demon blew the black object into pieces from 10 m away. However, the object just broke apart like a rock without any phosphorous flame...


    Of course, a high-power white phosphorous gel bomb would burn up even if it was broken.


    Actually, it was not the real high-power white phosphorous gel bomb; but a common piece of stone, which attracted the attention of all the spider demons and the wing demon.


    When the stone broke apart in the air, a LV 8 spider demon being closest to this human fighter burned up as it uttered a shrill miserable shriek like wild beast''s whine.


    The human fighter successfully made a feint to the east but attacked in the west. He solved a LV 8 spider demon who was closest to him.


    When the LV 8 spider demon burnt up, all the surrounding spider demons were startled and hurriedly jumped away, causing a chaos, the human fighter had already stabbed his assault sword into another LV 7 greyish-blue spider demon and pulverized its body.


    The flaming LV 8 spider demon jumped and screamed like a lunatic. Its eyes were destroyed in the shortest period by the high-temperature flames. As a result, it could not identify the direction anymore. Being driven mad in pain, it made the team of spider demons chaotic. However, that human fighter took advantage of this chaotic situation and killed another LV 7 spider demon with the cover of this spider demon.


    At this moment, LV 9 spider demons and that LV 10 wing demon struck the flaming spider demon''s body with their battle spikes and battle qi and ended its pain in the shortest period and had it become a burning firewood on the ground.


    In the blink of an eye, the human fighter had been cornered to the cliff once again with more wounds and burning traces on his camouflage soft armor. However, three more demon spiders were killed.


    Pitifully, the human knight let out a sigh inside, ''LV 9 spider demons responded too fast. Additionally, they were a bit farther than me just now. If I were a bit closer to them, I might have killed one LV 9 spider demon with my high-power white phosphorous gel bomb at the risk of suffering more wounds...''


    ''Even now, it''s not a poor military exploit, I''ve killed 3 more demons. Before death, I should have a chance to kill a LV 9 spider demon.''


    In the gas-defense respiratory mask, the human knight gazed at a LV 9 spider demon while a beautiful and warm face occurred to his mind, ''Xiaoyue likes me?''


    The human fighter didn''t know whether he should cry or smile after knowing that news under this circumstance. However, when he remembered the figure which had turned into a burning torch, the human fighter felt faintly painful inside.


    ''Dahai, I''m sorry, I''m afraid that I will not have a chance to see Xiaoyue anymore.''


    ...


    "Kill him..." The LV 10 wing demon roared as it felt being teased by this human fighter.


    At the same time, the wing demon released its battle qi towards the human fighter together with the attacks of all the surrounding spider demons...


    ...


    In the last moment, the human knight fiercely smashed his remote-sensing crystal onto the cliff behind him. Closely after that, he rushed towards that LV 9 spider demon at the risk of his life...


    If there was no accident, in a few seconds, some more corpses would appear here, including a human corpse. By then, the combat would come to an end.


    However, there was an accident, Gorath appeared above the battlefield with an icy and gloomy look...


    Without any omen, Gorath pointed at that wing demon while his battle qi flew out of his finger and charged at that wing demon in the shape of a wild wolf. All of a sudden, the LV 10 wing demon''s body was shattered while its flesh and blood sprayed over. Closely after that, the wild wolf charged at those spider demons one after another like tearing and biting weak preys. After it circled around the human fighter, the last 7-8 spider demons cracked one after another orderly like crackers being lit in the legend; as a result, their flesh and blood covered the battlefield.


    The blood from the sky and plasma from those spider demons covered the human fighter''s body. The human fighter still rushed forward as he couldn''t stop himself due to the inertia. When he stopped, he turned around and couldn''t see any alive spider demon anymore besides a large area of blood and fragmented pieces of spider demons. All the spider demons and the wing demon who had dominated the battlefield had been exterminated in a split second.


    The wild wolf-shaped battle qi gradually dispersed; instead, a figure in a black robe slowly descended with an icy and terrifying qi.


    At the sight of that knight in a black robe, the human fighter''s heart pounded as his throat felt dry. He couldn''t utter a voice because he was really shocked by the power of the wild wolf-shaped battle qi. He had seen the battle qi strikes in the shape of living beings; however, he had not seen such a vivid, agile living being. It was like a real living being, which was both spiritual and extremely powerful...


    Given the icy qi of the knight in a black robe, the human fighter could not identify whether this gloomy knight was a black iron knight or an earth knight; however, no matter what, the knight in the black robe could easily kill the human fighter like how he killed those demons just now if he wanted.


    "Thanks...for saving my life, senior!" The human knight uttered hardly as he cupped his hands towards the knight in a black robe.


    After saying that, the human fighter felt that knight in the black robe raised his head and threw a glance at him. Although being dozens of meters away, Zhang Tie''s blood almost froze when he saw clearly the face of the human fighter.


    Although this human fighter wore his gas-defense respiratory mask, his face as a Hua fighter could still be clearly seen by Zhang Tie through his lotus-flower eyes.


    It was over 3 years ago when he saw this face last time. Zhang Tie remembered that this person led him to his knight''s tower and introduced Lion Fortress to him when he entered the Lion Fortress for the first time.


    ¡ª¡ªLiu Xing, Xing means stars, stars in the sky!


    This was how this man introduced himself at that time.


    Zhang Tie was familiar with this name as he was the second "Liu Xing" that Zhang Tie knew.


    Three years ago, Liu Xing was a logistics major general in the think tank of the Lion Fortress; it was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that he could join the most unsafe troop which was responsible for auxiliary combats in the Earth-elements Realm...

 1001 The Backbone

    Chapter 1001: The Backbone


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When the first high-power white phosphorous gel bomb was ignited, Zhang Tie had caught sight of the flame although he was over 70 miles away. When he arrived here, he saw Liu Xing being cornered by the LV 10 wing demon and those spider demons...


    Actually, Zhang Tie could save Liu Xing right away; however, he wanted to take a look at Liu Xing''s performance for the time being.


    It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that this frail-looking major general could be still dauntless and righteous in the dilemma. Additionally, Liu Xing was very smart who killed 3 demons at the critical moment.


    When Zhang Tie found that Liu Xing had determined to die together with a LV 9 spider demon, he finally gave a favor to Liu Xing.


    In front of an earth knight, some LV 9 spider demons and one LV 10 wing demon were as weak as ants.


    Zhang Tie indeed appreciated Liu Xing''s performance. However, Zhang Tie was more interested in the high-power white phosphorous gel bomb that Liu Xing had just thrown out.


    Under the gaze of Liu Xing, Zhang Tie walked to the burning charcoal-like spider demon. Squatting down, he checked its corpse carefully.


    The hard shell of the spider demon had been carbonized; however, its bloody flesh was still burning.


    Zhang Tie put his hand into the flames and broke off an atrophied leg of the spider demon. Taking it, he watched the leg burning into ash before patting his hands and stood up.


    Major General Liu Xing was really shocked when he saw the leg burning in the hand of this gloomy and eccentric knight in a black robe without causing any harm to him.


    "White phosphorous gel bomb?" Gorath uttered a strange, hoarse and icy voice-like sound caused by the frictions between broken ice cubes and glass.


    "Hmm...rght!" Liu Xing stealthily swallowed his saliva. After answering Zhang Tie''s question, he didn''t say anything else.


    Zhang Tie felt that he was a bit intense and vigilant under the gas-defense respiratory mask. Therefore, Zhang Tie nodded inside, ''Although being saved, Liu Xing still didn''t reveal any secret that he knew about white phosphorous gel bomb. He still remained vigilant like qualified soldiers of Taixia Country would act in the dangerous moment.


    "I''ve not imagined that Taixia has already produced small-sized white phosphorous gel bombs."


    After hearing this, Liu Xing remained silent.


    Zhang Tie was really surprised about it. In Selnes Theater of Operations, if each human fighter could be matched with such a mini white-phosphorous gel bomb, they could defeat that LV 9 demon corps and those demonized puppets corps. At that time, the main task of airship troops of allied human forces was to give a big blow to the super demon corps by white phosphorous gel bombs. Pitifully, until the Selnes Theater of Operations was collapsed, humans'' airship troop could not make this dream come true. Only in the Upton Battle did that super demon corps suffer a great loss from the strike of human airship troops by white phosphorous gel bombs for the first time.


    However, the white phosphorous gel bombs being dropped from airships were very huge. Each of them would weigh hundreds of kilograms at least. Since white phosphorous gel bombs were invented, minimization of white phosphorous gel bombs was always a problem, which could not be solved by human countries since the end of last holy war. A few years ago, when Zhang Tie was in Youzhou Province, he didn''t hear that the troops of Northeast Military Region were equipped with such a minimized weapon. It was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that Taixia Country had already invented such a minimized weapon only in a few years and applied them in small-scale combats in Earth-elements Realm. Whereas, given the current situation, these minimized white phosphorous gel bombs could not be produced on a large scale yet; troops could only be equipped with a limited number of such a minimized weapon. Therefore, Liu Xing only carried one minimized white phosphorous gel bomb and used it at the critical moment.


    Such a portable white phosphorous gel bomb was not very harmful to fighters above LV 9; however, it posed a great threat to fighters below LV 9. On the battlefield, as long as each human fighter carried about 3 portable white phosphorous gel bombs, they could definitely defeat the super demon corps even though one of ten human fighters would be killed.


    Facing the super demon corps of 10,000 population led by the demon general in Waii Subcontinent, all the human countries across Waii Subcontinent only needed to compose an allied elite force of about 3 million people and match them with 9 million minimized white phosphorous gel bombs as well as bearing over 30% loss, they would be able to crack down the super demon corps in an all-round manner.


    Zhang Tie who had experienced the battle in Selnes Theater of Operations understood the significance of this minimized white phosphorous gel bomb pretty well. From a certain perspective, if this portable weapon could realize a mass production, Taixia force would be able to maintain the strategic balance with the demon corps in the frontline once again; instead of being fully passive.


    Although he was still wanted in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie sincerely felt happy about Taixia Country. The technical breakthrough in portable white phosphorous gel bomb was even more important than having 10 more heavenly human knights. Because such portable weapons could save numerous human lives on the battlefields in the future.


    Since the holy war broke out, none of the news that Zhang Tie heard about the holy war was good. All of them were about how demons occupied new lands and humans collapsed. The minimization of white phosphorous gel bomb was the most thrilling news that Zhang Tie had heard.


    ...


    "May I know...your name, senior?" After being silent for a short while, Liu Xing asked Zhang Tie on his own initiative when he saw Zhang Tie''s flickering eyes in a weird manner.


    "You don''t need to know my name!" After disguising as Gorath, Zhang Tie maintained the weird and distant personality of Gorath. After throwing a distant glance at Liu Xing, he said, "I saved you this time; I''m afraid that you will not have such a good luck next time. I''ve just flown all the way here from that direction and didn''t find any demon fighters. If you want to leave, you''d better choose that way!"


    "Thanks!" Liu Xing replied hardly.


    "I like hard bones. Brat, take this, wish you good luck!" Zhang Tie said as he threw a vial of senior recovery medicament towards Liu Xing. Closely after that, he flew off and disappeared into the black mist.


    Actually, Zhang Tie didn''t leave far away from Liu Xing. After flying about 15 miles away, when he confirmed that Liu Xing''s faint light observation instrument could not observe him anymore, he stopped and watched Liu Xing on the ground.


    Although Liu Xing couldn''t see Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie could see him clearly by his lotus-flower eyes.


    Generally, Zhang Tie was sympathetic; however, he was not a Yes Man, except for the current situation. He didn''t want to see this Hua fighter called Liu Xing being killed; therefore, he prepared to escort him back to the Black Armor Battlefortress safely. Whereas, the status Gorath was not suitable to do that; therefore, he could only protect Liu Xing in the dark.


    In Waii Subcontinent, Zhang Tie''s comrade-in-arms called Liu Xing had already died. In the Earth-elements Realm, Zhang Tie didn''t want to see another dauntless Liu Xing as young as the late one being killed once again. Zhang Tie would feel a bit reassured unconsciously when he saw this Liu Xing survive himself.


    Under the silent gaze of Zhang Tie, Liu Xing hesitated a bit on the ground for a short while before taking the vial of senior recovery medicament that Zhang Tie had gifted him. With the effect of the senior medicament, only after resting for less than 2 minutes, Liu Xing had already rapidly returned to the place where the first white phosphorous gel bomb was ignited.


    Zhang Tie knew that a Hua fighter was lying there forever. Although the Hua fighter''s body had burned into ash, his spirit was still as firm as the torch that he incarnated in at the last moment of his life. It was the blazing in the dark ceaselessly.


    When Zhang Tie saw the first flame, he had accelerated towards there; however, it was still too late. He only saw the most brilliant scene of the Hua fighter at the end of his life, which deeply moved Zhang Tie and reminded him of his days in Iron Blood Camp.


    Without such dauntless men, Taixia Country and Hua people would not be prosperous anymore.


    Although that late Hua fighter was sharply different than Zhang Tie in both battle strength and social status, Zhang Tie respected him pretty much. As Zhang Tie had experienced numerous combats and grown up from a commoner, he had an emotional resonance with this human fighter. In many situations, emotional resonance surpassed classes and social statuses. Zhang Tie saw a soul, a battle soul which belonged to the proudest and bravest fighter. Such a soul was the backbone of humans.


    Only in Lion Fortress, over 100,000 Hua fighters were assuming battle auxiliary tasks. Additionally, they were on shifts yearly. Although these people were far weaker than human knights on battle strength, through the baptism of the most brutal combats in the Earth-elements Realm, those who could survive back would become the backbones in Hua armies.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie finally understood why the ruling party of the military of Taixia Country dispatched so many human fighters to assume battle auxiliary tasks in the Earth-elements Realm.


    Under the silent gaze of Zhang Tie, Liu Xing came to the front of the ash and took off his gas-defense respiratory mask. His face had been covered with tears...


    Kneeling down in front of the ash, Liu Xing looked for a nameplate in the ash. Closely after that, he cupped the ash into his bag. After that, he put away the nameplate and carried his bag once again before wearing his gas-defense respiratory mask. After doing all this, he ran towards the direction that Zhang Tie had told him while gritting his teeth...

 1002 Demon Suppression General

    Chapter 1002: Demon Suppression General


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie flew over some bushes from over 50 m high in the air like a black spirit. At the same time, four spider demons who were hiding in the bush were split into halves like watermelons silently, spraying their blood over the ground.


    When Zhang Tie killed these spider demons, Liu Xing was meticulously passing a valley and didn''t know that the four spider demons hiding over 7 miles away in front of him had just been killed...


    After 2 days, Liu Xing had reached the 1st loop of Tiewei Mountain and entered the core region of Tiewei Mountain with the protection of Zhang Tie in the dark.


    In the past 2 days, Zhang Tie had killed 7 waves of spider demons on the route of Liu Xing within 20 miles, totally 86 spider demons; additionally, he captured 4 alive wing demons. A stone for two birds.


    As long as he could kill 360 spider demons, he would gain a new fruit of source of spider demons, with which, Zhang Tie''s essence would grow by 1/12; the energy and potential of each surging point would increase by 1/12 which was equal to lighting another 82 surging points; besides, his endurance, physical strength, spiritual energy and life expectancy would increase by 1/12 respectively; namely, his battle strength would increase by 1/12.


    From a perspective, the effect of a fruit of source was greater than absorbing the energy and earth elements of some earth demon knights. It was almost like promoting to 1 change earth knight.


    Of course, Zhang Tie would not give up gaining such a fruit.


    The 4 alive wing demons were thrown into Castle of Black Iron. Previously, these wing demons were useless to Zhang Tie and Zhang Tie would kill them as soon as possible. However, after Zhang Tie gained the bloody sacrifice furnace, these wing demons became rare raw material for bloody sacrifice. As long as it was not discovered by others, these wing demons would help him a lot in the future.


    Not only wing demons, but any demon that could be teleported into Castle of Black Iron alive and didn''t lead to any fruit also would help him a lot. Although the others regarded the core region of Tiewei Mountain as a very dangerous place, Zhang Tie treated it as a treasury of demons. Purgatory Samsara Method, small tree, plus bloody sacrifice furnace could squeeze each demon''s value.


    ...


    After killing the last spider demons, when Zhang Tie flew over the last ridge in a few minutes, he immediately suspended in the air as the horizon in front of him became open.


    In the skyline, Zhang Tie saw a floating human battle fortress. Some human knights were patrolling in the sky in front of the battle fortress.


    He had already officially entered the core region of Tiewei Mountain. In the distance, he saw hundreds of colorful battle qi smokes and tornadoes raging in the sky, thick or slim. They looked like flickering lightning bolts in the black mist in the skyline. Those battle qi smokes and tornadoes meant that at least hundreds of human knights and demon knights were fighting in the sky above the plain!


    Although human knights and demon knights were fighting fiercely in the distance, the battle fortress looked relatively calm. Hundreds of colorful battle qi smokes and tornadoes looked like ornaments in the skyline, which didn''t make people in the floating battle fortress intense at least in Zhang Tie''s eyes, ''Is that a skirmish?''


    Zhang Tie looked back with his flickering lotus-flower eyes and caught sight of Liu Xing.


    After passing that valley, Liu Xing accelerated his movements. He might know that a human base was not far from him.


    The low-level spider demons that Zhang Tie killed just now might be the closest to the human stronghold. After entering the patrol region of human knights, Liu Xing would not easily meet any demon fighters.


    ''Well, I have to leave. In the future, Major General Liu Xing have to seek blessings for himself!


    Licking his lips, Zhang Tie looked at the distance for a short while. After that, he dodged from human knight''s patrol route and flew towards the hundreds of battle qi smokes and tornadoes...


    ...


    1 month later, in the God''s Will Battlefortress of Tiewei Mountain, a tall and sturdy old man in a brilliant golden battle armor and a long bloody marshal''s cape was watching the looming demon battle fortress in the black mist in the distance while leaning on a huge sword in the highest tower in the floating battle fortress.


    A huge construction site was below the God''s Will Battlefortress. There was a big entrance on the construction site which led to the underground mining area of Tiewei Mountain. At this moment, tens of thousands of logistics personnel of Lion Fortress were busy packing the earth-element crystals and transporting them into the God''s Will Battlefortress. The entire God''s Will Battlefortress was like a fierce beast safeguarding its own nestle. Lying here quietly, it sharpened its claws and teeth and gazed at the demon battle fortress in the distance with hostility.


    The demon battle fortress was another fierce beast which gazed at the human battle fortress with hostility too.


    In less than 400 miles'' linear distance, hundreds of battle qi smokes and tornadoes rose and swung in the air and adorned the gloomy sky in the Earth-elements Realm.


    Knight-level powerhouses would die every day between the two battle fortresses, human or demon. In wider space behind the two battle fortresses, more human and demon fighters were fighting constantly on the ground. Some demon knights reached the back of the human battle fortress; similarly, human knights also reached the back of the demon battle fortress. Skirmishes occurred everywhere. People or demons would bleed and die in each second.


    The old man in golden armor watched the demon battle fortress in the distance calmly while his eyes were like ancient wells. A vertical wrinkle between his eyebrows turned clear. Common vertical wrinkles would be slightly curved and slim; however, his vertical wrinkle was as straight as a sword. It separated his forehead from the middle and reached his ophryon; additionally, the vertical wrinkle was bloody like having been soaked in blood. It looked as aggressive and shocking as dense black clouds.


    According to the legend, when the old man came to Xuanyuan Hill at a young age for the first time and met Shui Yuecang, the No. 1 fortune teller in Taixia Country, Shui Yuecang let out a deep sigh after watching his look seriously, "The vertical wrinkle between your eyebrows is as straight as a sword. It separates your forehead from the middle and penetrates through your ophryon. It goes against your wife, son, father and mother. Given your look, before you came to this world, your father had died. Your mother died due to difficult labor. In the future, you will barely have a wife who could accompany you for the rest of your life. However, the place between your eyebrows is wide like a sea and high like a mountain, which indicates that you will have a great power and majesty in the future with a strong will. It''s a rare demon suppression vertical wrinkle that could not be seen in 100 years. Besides going against your family members, it also goes against your enemy. In the future, you will definitely have a military power. You''re born to be a defender. You will hold the entire Taixia Country in awe. Although you''re born to have no parents, what you will do in the future will enable numerous people to have parents when they''re born. Although you have no wife, you will make thousands of families harmonious and happy. Although you have no child, you will be regarded as the father by numerous people. As you will protect the safety of all the living beings in the world in the future as a general at the risk of losing your life, I have to bow to you on behalf of the civilians in Taixia Country and all the living beings in the world..."


    Although it was his first time to meet Shui Cangyue, the No. 1 fortune teller in Taixia Country, Shui Cangyue had bowed to him on his own initiative.


    After meeting Shui Cangyue a few years ago, the second holy war broke out. This man joined the army as a LV 8 fighter. Additionally, he requested to enter the Earth-elements Realm where the casualty was the highest.


    Since he entered the Earth-elements Realm, this man had not left the Earth-elements Realm over the past 200 years and became the legendary human in the Earth-elements Realm.


    Through lasting numerous combats, the LV 8 human fighter had become a powerful heavenly knight and ruled the Lion Fortress as Demon Suppression General. Being on an equal footing with the generals of the top four armies in Taixia Country, he had become the pillar of the military of Taixia Country.


    Numerous proud and fierce human fighters had entered the Earth-elements Realm; however, they all behaved like docile lambs in front of him, including the knight-level commanders of the top four armies of Taixia Country and the nobles and royal households from the other continents.


    This man said all the human knights entering the core region of Tiewei Mountain should follow his order. Even the elder who led the team of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, one of the seven major sects in Taixia Country dared not enter the core region of Tiewei Mountain.


    This man was called Du Guyi.


    Many human knights didn''t see as many demons as those whom he had killed over the past 200 years in their whole lives. This man himself could not even remember how many demons he had killed. Perhaps, only demons knew how many demons this man had killed. Besides being despairing, demons hated him very much.


    ¡ª¡ªAnyone who could kill Gu Duyi will be rewarded as a Lord!


    This was the value of Gu Duyi''s head on demon''s side.


    ...


    Gu Duyi watched the skyline and faintly frowned. Meanwhile, his killing qi formed into black snowflakes and drifted down from his side, which was a special phenomenon of a heavenly knight. Nobody knew what this heavenly knight who had stayed in the Earth-elements Realm over 200 years and experienced two holy wars was thinking about at this moment.


    A breeze blew over with some moisture while a knight in blue battle armor appeared in the looming vapor. After shaking for a second like a shadow in the water, it walked out of the vapor and stood behind Gu Duyi quietly while cupping his hands.


    "Lord!"


    "How''s it going?" The demon suppression general just asked calmly without turning around.


    "There was indeed a great chaos in the back of demon battle fortress a few days ago. A human knight destroyed a secret base in the rear end of demon battle fortress and killed over 5 demon knights, including one earth demon knight and many demon fighters below LV 15. After suffering such a big loss, the demon battle fortress was shocked and dispatched a shadow demon to chase after the trouble-maker..."


    "Who''s that ballsy?"


    "I have no idea!" The man behind Gu Duyi answered honestly as he didn''t feel embarrassed at all, "But I''m sure that one is not a member of us!"


    Gu Duyi suddenly narrowed his eyes while the black snowflakes on his side froze in the air...

 1003 The Problems Facing Taixia Country

    Chapter 1003: The Problems Facing Taixia Country


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "He''s not a member of us..." The demon suppression general burst out into laughter. At the same time, the black snowflakes on his side vaporized in a split second while the sharp sword-shaped vertical wrinkle between his eyebrows became vivid as if the sword was going to fly out of its sheath from his forehead and make a massacre. "If this person could survive the chase of demons, I would like to see him."


    "He''s really a talent; however, it''s not easy for an earth knight to survive the chase of a shadow demon!" The one who came out of the vapor replied, "Will we..."


    Gu Duyi raised his hand and interrupted him calmly, "Wealth and rank are the matters of destiny. Now that we''ve come to Tiewei Mountain, dying is as usual as living even for knights. We''re not here for discovering talents, but for opposing demons. If he is a real talent, he would survive himself even if he was chased by a shadow demon; if he''s dead, he''s just so-so. Only those who survive themselves are qualified to be praised. If he''s dead, he has just fulfilled his responsibilities to be a human knight and didn''t spend his life in vain..."


    Over 200 years'' combats in the Earth-elements Realm, this old man standing in the highest tower had treated death as usual as life.


    Standing behind the old man, the knight just listened to him carefully without any objection. Because each word of this old man was definitely correct in the eyes of the subordinates of this old man. This old man had never made any mistake and would never make any mistake at all.


    "How''s Feng Yexiao of Taiyi Fantasy Sect?"


    "Feng Yexiao and a team of new knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect are fighting as guerrillas in the periphery of the 1st loop!" Although the knight behind Du Guyi answered calmly, his words sounded disgruntled, even a bit disdainful, "Previously, Feng Yexiao intended to kill that earth knight-level shadow demon in Tiewei Mountain with his team members so as to gain a bounty land for Taiyi Fantasy Sect and accumulate military exploits and prestige for himself in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. However, he had not imagined that the earth knight-level shadow demon had been killed by another earth human knight only after a few days since he came to Black Armor Battlefortress. Therefore, Feng Yexiao lost his face and felt being slapped on his face invisibly!"


    "Is that guy who killed the earth knight-level shadow demon is called Cui Li?"


    "Yes, Cui Li entered Earth-elements Realm 3 years ago. It''s said that he had a wonderful experience in a wild mountain and gained the "Fire Dragon Sutra" which was left by Fire Dragon Hermit. 3 years ago, many human knights explored hieron ruins from the Lion Fortress. Due to the participation of a demon knight and a knight of Three-eye Association, Cui Li suffered a lot of troubles. It was even said that Cui Li had already died in the hieron ruins in a very righteous way. I''ve not imagined that this man has promoted to an earth knight in the hieron ruins in only about 2 years and could come out of there alive!" That knight faintly hesitated before asking, "Lord, do you think this Cui Li is..."


    The demon suppression general faintly narrowed his eyes and asked, "Has Guan Qianchong met him?"


    "Yes, he has; additionally, Guan Qianchong has agreed to reward him..."


    The demon suppression general revealed a smile, "If so, this man must be innocent. If there''s some problem with him, he could not have passed Guan Qianchong''s interrogation because Guan Qianchong is the gate of hell. There''re so many bizarre secret methods and skills in the world. Nobody dares say that he knows all of them. Now that Cui Li could gain the "Fire Dragon Sutra" which has long been lost, he must have a great luck. This man might have a special experience in the hieron ruins. Besides, as he killed an earth knight-level shadow demon, he must be a blessed fighter!"


    "However, Cui Li might not know that he has offended Feng Yexiao. Feng Yexiao is domineering. After losing his face this time, he might find Cui trouble in the future!"


    "With one more shadow human knight on our back, it''s not bad. No matter what, Feng Yexiao and Taiyi Fantasy Sect would not surrender to demons. Don''t be over furious. Now that Cui Li could come out of the hieron ruins alive, he might have made a big achievement. In the future, Feng Yexiao might force Cui Li to show us his special talents!"


    The simple sentence of demon suppression general was full of his wise philosophy about the world.


    "Xuanyuan Hill is too indulgent with sects such as Taiyi Fantasy Sect. The holy war has turned white-hot. The demons'' strikes are like tides; however, these sects still want to maintain their own forces at this critical moment. Don''t they know that there will be no complete eggs when the nestle topples over? If Taixia Country was extermined by demons, these sects would have no place to stay! Is the gossip real? Has Emperor Xuanyuan..."


    The demon suppression general immediately turned around and gazed at the knight behind him with his dignified eyes while an overwhelming stress and invisible qi of heavenly knight collided with the knight.


    Before finishing his words, the knight uttered a muffled harrumph; meanwhile, he was forced to move one step back while bleeding at his mouth corners. However, he still looked at the demon suppression general''s eyes frankly and straightforwardly.


    After half a minute, the demon suppression general''s dignified eye light slowly faded away, "Remember, our battlefield is Earth-elements Realm, the affairs of Xuanyuan Hill has nothing to do with us. As soldiers of Taixia Country, our only job is to kill demons as long as we''re alive. No matter what happens on the earth''s surface, it has nothing to do with us."


    "Yes, sir!" The knight wiped off the blood stains from his mouth corners and replied in a muffled voice.


    The demon suppression general let out a long sigh, "It seems that the knights in the battle fortress are too leisure and don''t bleed too much. It has been over 2 months since the last large-scale battle. Even you started to have a bee in your head. Pass my order, launch a large-scale strike at the demon battle fortress in formations 1 hour later..."


    "Yes, sir!"


    The vapor reappeared in the tower while the knight who had received the order swung in the vapor like a shadow for a short while before disappearing...


    Only after half a minute, the entire battle fortress had become boiled like an actuated machine while numerous knights in the battle fortress had stopped what they were doing and started to prepare for the coming large-scale battle at the fastest speed...


    The Demon suppression general turned around and threw a glance at the demon battle fortress in the distance. Only at this moment when nobody was on his side did the demon suppression general look a bit worried.


    Nobody knew what Du Guyi was thinking about.


    As for this old man who had fought over 200 years in the Earth-elements Realm and experienced the 2nd holy war, although this large-scale battle between human knights and demon knights in Tiewei Mountain is related to the ownership of millions of earth-element crystals. It''s not what Du Guyi was really concerned about. To a certain extent, the result of this large-scale battle, even the lives of over 10,000 human knights who had converged in the battle fortress or his own life didn''t count most.


    The battle between humans and demons was precisely the wrestle between Hua people and demons. As for Hua people, the result of 1 or 2 large-scale battle between humans and demons, the lives of 10,000-20,000 human knights including the lives of some heavenly knights who were called old guys by others like Du Guyi were not decisive. Even the Lion Fortress which was regarded as the greatest power and pass in the Earth-elements Realm would be broken through by demons one day, it was not a big deal. Before the Catastrophe, humans didn''t have any power in the Earth-elements Realm, but they could still survive.


    Humans might lose this large-scale battle. Over 10,000 human knights who joined the coming large-scale battle including Du Guyi himself might die. However, basically, it didn''t matter at all. What counted most was that Hua people and the entire Taixia Country could be able to reorganize more large-scale battles and shoulder more failures after losing such a large-scale battle 100 times and 100 heavenly knights like Du Guyi. This was the key factor for Taixia Country to last forever and confront demons constantly.


    At this moment, what the demon suppression general concerned most was the problem facing Xuanyuan Hill; instead of the Earth-elements Realm.


    One year before the 3rd holy war, Emperor Xuanyuan had disappeared. Nobody knew where he had gone. In the beginning, Xuanyuan Hill could cover it with the excuse that Emperor Xuanyuan was in cultivation. Now, this excuse didn''t work anymore.


    The top chancellors in Taixia Country had been officially noticed after Emperor Xuanyuan disappeared 1 year later. At the beginning, only rulers and very few people knew about that news. As time went on, the chain reactions after Emperor Xuanyuan disappeared gradually occurred. Not only Xuanyuan Hill, but even the officialdom and commoners had also known this news. However, nobody dared say it in the public.


    After Emperor Xuanyuan disappeared, the entire Taixia Country and Hua people lost their head at the critical moment. Dark forces had long been increasingly surging across Eastern Continent while all the unpredictable factors were rapidly developing in Taixia Country.


    A few months ago, the surging elements tide shocked the entire earth elements-realm. At that moment, even Du Guyi thought that a prince in Taixia Country had formed an earth chakra of emperor-level cultivation method and would be able to compete for the throne with the crown prince. When Emperor Xuanyuan disappeared, a prince could defeat the crown prince was definitely not a good news.


    Demon suppression general was worried about this a few months ago. He felt that nothing was worse than this at this moment. However, he found that none of the princes in Taixia Country had formed an earth chakra of an emperor-level cultivation method at all a few days ago.


    This news had just been confirmed yesterday. Through months'' investigation of the clan elders in the clansmen register center, they finally confirmed it, which was even more shocking than the disappearance of Emperor Xuanyuan.


    ''If none of the princes of Taixia Country have promoted to an earth knight in terms of "Xuanyuan God Sutra", who''s that one? Besides "Xuanyuan God Sutra", is there another complete emperor-level cultivation method in the world?''


    As long as he thought about this question; especially the possible worst answer, even demon suppression general who had ignored his own life felt chilly inside...


    Without Emperor Xuanyuan, even though the imperial force of Taixia Country could not frighten top sects which were ruled by sage-level old monsters such as Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Therefore, the balance between the top seven sects and the imperial household of Taixia Country which had been preserved hundreds of years would be broken.


    If Xuanyuan Hill lost its head, the entire Taixia Country would lose its ruler. Chancellors, courts and major local clans, everybody and every agency would feel unsafe; plus troubles caused by Heavens Reaching Church, Taixia Country might easily be in a big chaos facing troubles domestically and foreign invasions. Before demons broke in, Taixia Country might already have a big problem inside.


    When there was a big problem inside Taixia Country, as long as Taixia was fully defeated by demons in the Earth-elements Realm, Taixia country would be completely defeated on the earth''s surface. That was what the demon suppression general really worried about.


    This potential concern could not be solved at least now.


    If Emperor Xuanyuan appeared timely, this problem could be solved; however, if he appeared a bit late, demons would not spare a chance to Taixia at all even if Emperor Xuanyuan wanted to solve this problem...

 1004 Large Battle Formations

    Chapter 1004: Large Battle Formations


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    1 hour later, over 12,000 human knights flew out of the human battle fortress like bees flying out their beehives. Being dense, they covered the sky.


    Less than one out of a million people living on earth''s surface could have a chance to see over 10,000 human knights flying together at the same time.


    When the number of humans reached 10,000, it would be endless. Over 10,000 human knights flying in the sky completely covered the sky...


    Precisely, 12474 human knights participated in the large-scale attack, over 95% of them were black iron knights while the rest ones were earth knights and shadow knights.


    Those knights came from all the countries across each continent. The number of Hua knights from Taixia Country ranked 1st, those from western continent ranked 2nd; there were also many knights in red hair, blue eyes and different skins.


    12474 was a very special figure as it could be divided with no remainder by 81.


    Why? Because the basic number of knights required for 3-in-1 formation was 3. Three 3-in-1 basic formations could form a bigger 3-in-1 formation of 9 members; 3 bigger 3-in-1 formations could form a large 3-in-1 formation of 28 members while 3 large 3-in-1 formations could form a supreme 3-in-1 gold formation of 81 members.


    Like perfect steps, 3,9,27,81 corresponded to four levels of 3-in-1 formation respectively, namely, black iron, bronze, silver and gold.


    12474 knights contained 154 golden 3-in-1 battle formations, each gold 3-in-1 formation became a larger unit of formation of knights at this moment.


    Among the 12474 human knights who flew off at the same time, there were three old friends of Zhang Tie, namely, Filton, Cecilia and Bolam.


    When they flew off, only after throwing a glance at each other, the three knights had connected their knights'' consciousness and formed the basic 3-in-1 battle formation in a split second...


    ...


    Feng Cangwu whom Zhang Tie had not seen for a long time was also one of them. He looked bearded in a hand-me-down battle armor like an uncle who used to kill time in pubs. Compared to that 3 years ago, his sharpness and dashing spirit had been fully reserved; however, his qi field had become stronger.


    There was a gourd-shaped container on his waistband. Before joining the large-scale battle, he undid that gourd and swigged it quite a while.


    "Leave some to me!" A partner on Feng Cangwu''s side shouted. Feng Cangwu then threw that gourd towards that man. After drinking some, he threw it to another knight on his side. The 3rd knight bottomed it up directly as he smacked his lip and sighed with emotions, "Tasty...". Finally, he threw the empty gourd back to Feng Cangwu.


    It was a special all-purpose medicament in the gourd. It was the latest product of Jinwu City, which could activate the effect of the medicament in the shortest period.


    ''Come on!'' Feng Cangwu roared inside as his battle intention boiled up. Additionally, he opened his knight''s consciousness and linked it to that of the other two human knights, forming another basic 3-in-1 battle formation...


    Only in a few seconds, the 12474 human knights had become 4158 basic unit of a 3-in-1 unit. As a result, the core area of Tiewei Mountain was immediately covered with battle clouds.


    In this situation, individual knights only needed to form a 3-in-1 battle formation with two partners.


    The moment the 4158 basic units of 3-in-1 formation came into being, the figure which was covered with golden light had flown off the tower and reached the highest place among those human knights. At the same time, a golden light rushed into the sky from that man. A sharper knight''s consciousness descended and covered dozens of square miles immediately. 12474 knights opened their knight''s consciousness at the same time. After connecting with the milky way, their knight''s consciousness entered a wholly new, complete knight''s consciousness like how water drops converged into a stream before entering an ocean...


    A great order appeared...


    3-in-1 black iron battle formations started to form a complete knight''s consciousness of a bronze battle formation of 9 members by automatically connecting 2 more black iron battle formations. The bronze battle formation of 9 members would form a complete knight''s consciousness of a silver battle formation of 27 members by connecting two more bronze battle formations. The silver battle formation of 27 members would form a complete knight''s consciousness of a gold battle formation of 81 members by two more silver battle formations. 154 3-in-1 gold battle formations would finally form an unprecedented powerful knight''s consciousness...


    Through the gradual combination of 3-in-1 battle formations, the loose large formation of over 12,000 human knights slowly turned regular like gears being processed.


    At this moment, 12474 human knights shared the same knight''s consciousness. Everyone''s senses and knight''s consciousness had been promoted to a higher level...


    At this moment, black iron knights could sense the consciousness of earth knights; earth knights could sense the consciousness of shadow knights; similarly, shadow knights sensed that they had become heavenly knights. The only heavenly knight became the supreme consciousness of this large battle formation.


    Besides the knight''s consciousness, everyone''s qi sea faintly connected with each other and could attack and defend together...


    Many light beams rose up from the large battle formation. Each knight was blessed on strength, speed, recovery capability and sacred defense...


    Like a huge golden wheel composed of 154 huge knife flywheels, the entire large battle formation flew towards the demon battle fortress in an overwhelming manner.


    When the large human battle formation reached halfway, they had been blocked by the large demon battle formation.


    The large demon battle formation contained over 14,000 population, more than that of the large demon battle formation. Besides, the large demon battle formation was weird and looming in black mist. It looked like a huge mouth and quagmire which constantly changed its shape as if it was going to devour the universe.


    An ox-headed demon higher than 3 m was standing at the highest point of the large demon battle formation with a burning huge ax in hand and watching the approaching large human battle formation with its fiery bloody eyes.


    "Du Guyi, all the earth-elements crystals here have almost been exploited, this mine will be abandoned in 2 months. Will you insist on such a large-scale battle?"


    The heavenly demon knight uttered a muffled voice which sounded like a thunder.


    "Of course we will. The battle would never come to an end until demons were exterminated!"


    The demon suppression general''s thunder-like dignified muffled sound also drifted to the heavenly demon knight from above the large human battle formation.


    After hearing this, the huge ax in the hand of the heavenly demon knight burned fiercer abruptly. At the same time, a bizarre eye light flashed by as the heavenly demon knight suddenly burst out into laughter, "Your Emperor Xuanyuan has disappeared for so many years. He might have long died. Taixia is destined to be chaotic. Do you want to further consume the knights from the Western Continent and the other continents by this chance so that Taixia Country could maintain its absolute advantage over other continents in the chaos?"


    The demon commander''s words were really malicious.


    "Gandise, given your words, I have to kill you!" The demon suppression general replied in a calm yet extremely icy voice.


    "Hahaha, I''ve collected over 100 human knight''s heads including that of black iron human knights, earth human knights and shadow human knights, except for a heavenly human knight''s head..."


    ...


    Over 20,000 human and demon knights collided with each other immediately without any buffering...


    In the sky, over 10,000 thunders sounded at the same time as if stars were born and died in a split second...


    The black mist within 100 square miles was cleaned by the great shock wave caused by the collision. Additionally, the ground in the core of Tiewei Mountain started to shake like the surface of a drum being beaten by a heavy hammer. The ground below the collision area was cracked immediately, causing some thousands of meters long huge trenches. The terrain of a part of the region changed in a split second. All the weak living beings who didn''t escape away due to so many corpses here these couple years had drilled into their own caves and dared not expose their heads while trembling all over.


    Over 20,000 human and demon knights collided as if the God was driven mad...


    The large demon battle formation widely opened its mouth and wanted to devour the entire large human battle formation; however, the large human battle formation wanted to cut the large demon battle formation into pieces and grind them.


    Facing such a fierce collision, any individual strength would be trivial. Even heavenly knight would be shattered in such a fierce collision immediately.


    Each trivial strike was caused by a gold battle formation composed of 81 human knights while the fiercest strike gathered the strength of over 10,000 human knights.


    Accordingly, the battle qis of all the knights in the large formations had formed a huge protective battle qi so as to respond to the opponent''s strike.


    Similarly, although being protected by such a huge protective battle qi, all the strikes against the large battle formation would be passed to all the knights in the large formation. Even though, those knights who were struck by the opposite large formation would also bear a greater stress and impact than other members of the large formation. After they bore the stress and impact first, the stress and impact would pass to other knights in a degressive state.


    The collision between two large battle formations was like two prehistorical huge beasts colliding with each other. The moment the battle broke out, it had become earthshaking...


    Neither human nor demon knights had noticed that a black little beetle was hiding on a rock in the distance and watching the collision between two large battle formations with a wide open mouth. It was shocked too much that it almost drooled...

 1005 The Most Brutal Battle

    Chapter 1005: The Most Brutal Battle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Like two powerful and fierce beasts colliding with each other, neither of them could devour the other completely; however, as long as they collided with each other, it would be earthshaking and cause blood and flesh to spray everywhere.


    The large formations of humans and demons were like two powerful and fierce beasts who usually fought and collided with each other. Although neither of them could devour the other, both of them would be injured and bleed...


    The large demon battle formation suffered the first wound.


    After many times'' fierce collisions, the first piece of bloody flesh was torn off from the demon''s large battle formation.


    Through fierce strikes of humans'' large battle formation, the bigger unit of 81 demon knights was separated from the demon''s large battle formation and was cut off the connection with the overall knight''s consciousness and battle qi of the demon''s large battle formation...


    In this situation, being separated from the large battle formation was as fatal as jumping off a train which was at its full speed on the bridge.


    Before the 81 demon knights escaped in all directions, the strike of human''s large battle formation had arrived...


    When a dazzling light flashed by, over half of the 81 demon knights became bloody flesh and powder and fell off the sky. The remaining demons of the gold battle formation escaped rapidly in all directions like flies. However, the 154 knife flywheels of human''s large battle formation quickly spun and swept over. Wherever they reached, at least one or a few demon knights would lose their lives in the blink of an eye.


    Those who were killed were even earth knights.


    In a split second, only less than 10 of the 81 demon knights could escape away from the extrusion and collision of the human''s large battle formation...


    Zhang Tie was dumbfounded by what he saw.


    In this battle, collective strength had been fully exerted. Even Zhang Tie could not survive the strike which the human''s large battle formation launched towards the separated gold battle formation of 81 demon knights.


    The aftermath of that strike caused an earthquake and a huge deep pit whose diameter was about 100 m. Facing such a destructive blow which gathered the strength of over 10,000 human knights, even shadow knights would be killed immediately, not to mention earth knights.


    Such a battle was too brutal even for knights.


    All the knights in Waii Subcontinent would be exterminated immediately facing such a large battle formation. Certainly, the large-scale collisions between humans and demons could only be seen in Earth-elements Realm. Due to its amazing formidable force, the casualty was amazing too. What a terrifying consumption!


    After the first piece of bloody flesh broke off the demon''s large battle formation, two pieces of bloody flesh almost broke off their own large formations at the same time.


    The demon''s large formation was like a grim quagmire and huge mouth. The moment the gold battle formation of 81 human knights broke off, dozens of them had been devoured by the huge mouth of demon''s battle formation like animals being mired in the swamp. The other human knights of the gold battle formation escaped in all directions while the slower ones were devoured by the demon''s large formation which constantly changed its shape.


    Finally, only less than 20 of the 81 human knights escaped away successfully.


    The 81 demons who broke off the demon''s large formation didn''t have a better fate than the last batch of demon knights who had broken off their large formation. Because they were completely surrounded by the human''s large formation. Like a piece of meat falling into the meat grinder, before the 81 demon knights escaped out of the human''s large formation, they had been ground into pieces by the meat grinder.


    Watching such a collision on the ground, Zhang Tie felt an unprecedented shock inside.


    Those human knights being devoured by the demon''s large formation might be dignified and unrivaled on the earth''s surface; however, their fates were only determined in a few seconds in the Earth-elements Realm the moment their unit was separated from the large formation. They were as hopeless and despairing as common fighters facing such a fatal blow.


    This was the most brutal side of the holy war. Even knights became as trivial as grass facing such a large-scale battle formation.


    Watching such a fierce collision, Zhang Tie understood that why those people in the core of Tiewei Mountain directly ignored the hundreds of battle qi smokes and tornadoes. Because those combats were just appetizers of this large-scale battle.


    In the large-scale battle where dozens of knights would be exterminated in a split second, those battles participated by hundreds of knights were just necessary touches of both parties, through which, both parties could keep up the proper pressure against the opposite.


    The battle continued. Those human knights who survived themselves after breaking off from the large battle formation didn''t escape. After leaving the effect of the two large formations, they gritted their teeth and continued to chase demons who had broken off their own large formation.


    This large-scale battle was expanding. The two large formations were the core of this battle. As more and more knights broke off, more and more skirmishes broke out surrounding the core while battle qi smokes and tornadoes rushed into the sky one after another.


    The entire core of Tiewei Mountain was shaking and covered with brilliant battle qis. Even clouds and mist were broken apart. What a hell!


    Watching such a battle, as a member of human knights, Zhang Tie gradually felt hotter inside.


    ...


    At this moment, a figure flew towards him while hiding its full-body battle qi. It tumbled and immediately fell into a pitch dark underground trench which was hundreds of meters in depth being not far away from Zhang Tie.


    Before entering the trench, the figure spurted out blood.


    At the sight of this guy, Zhang Tie became thrilled. It was a black iron demon knight, who had been severely wounded. It seemed that it wanted to hide here for the time being.


    ''Hehhehheh, this father was thinking about having some fun; now that you are here...''


    After blinking its eyes, the little black beetle took a look at the battlefield in the far, then the deep trench in front of him before flying towards that underground deep trench...

 1006 Knocking out the Black Iron Demon Knigh

    Chapter 1006: Knocking out the Black Iron Demon Knight


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The little beetle flew into the deep trench...


    The deep trench was hundreds of meters deep. Like a dried and bleak riverbed, the deep trench was covered with jagged rocks of grotesque shapes and black mist. It had many branch roads. The demon knight just hid here for the time being to recover itself. Honestly, this was a good place for the demon knight.


    Of course, it was also a good place for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie remembered the location of that demon knight in the deep trench. After flying less than 5 minutes in the deep trench, Zhang Tie found the demon knight.


    The demon knight was hiding in a very secluded cave among some boulders at the bottom of the trench. Oozing sweat and quivering all over faintly, it was dealing with its wounds.


    This was an ox-horn black iron demon knight who had been wounded. Its chest armor had been scorched and was gurgling blood.


    Only after throwing a glance at this guy, Zhang Tie had known that this guy had survived an earth human knight''s attack.


    Generally, according to Zhang Tie''s observation over the past one month, both human and demon knights had reached a privity in head-on battles and duels¡ª¡ªthey only fought the opponents of the same level.


    Hua people believed that common soldiers would always fight common soldiers and generals would always fight generals.


    Sometimes, such a privity would be broken. When they could not find opponents of the same level, they might attack those inferior ones.


    Earth human knights who survived the fragments of the large formation might encounter black iron demon knights on the battlefield where they would definitely kill the inferior opponents immediately.


    This poor demon was the one who survived the fragment of the demon''s large formation and encountered an earth human knight unfortunately.


    Perhaps, he was not poor but lucky.


    Given the current situation, this guy was indeed very lucky. After breaking off the demon''s large formation, he had 1/10 probability to survive the human''s large formation. Closely after that, it encountered an earth human knight. It had 1/3 probability to escape from the earth human knight. Overall, this guy could only have 1/30 probability to survive itself. Therefore, this demon knight must have a very good luck.


    However, not so much. Because it met Zhang Tie.


    In this situation, Zhang Tie was definitely a "demon eater".


    After activating a super hiding skill on the little black beetle, the little black beetle was like a light feather in the black mist. When Zhang Tie saw the demon knight, the demon knight didn''t see him.


    Sweat dropped off the demon knight''s face one after another. The demon knight was lowering its head and applying a black adhesive onto the wounds of its lower abdomen, causing the wounds to release smoke. At the same time, the demon knight gritted its teeth and panted while its muscles on the lower abdomen twitched unconsciously. It seemed that the black adhesive didn''t feel good.


    Zhang Tie then drilled out of the gap between rocks on the side of the demon knight and entered in the small space behind the demon knight. After that, Gorath in a black robe appeared behind that demon knight quietly like a ghost out of the void.


    Gorath was affected by a super hiding rune too; it was completely like a lifeless piece of rock.


    When Zhang Tie appeared less than one arm''s length behind that demon knight, he was still not discovered by the demon. When it found this place just now, the demon knight had confirmed that nobody was here; therefore, it just concentrated on dealing with its wounds at this moment.


    Zhang Tie just watched this guy mercilessly.


    Through such an angle, Zhang Tie discovered some unusual things on this demon knight.


    This guy''s soft armor was very excellent. Over the past 1 month, Zhang Tie had killed and captured about 12 living black iron demon knights. As those black iron knights on the battlefield didn''t know whether they could survive, they would not carry surplus items besides soft armors and weapons which could never match that of this guy.


    Besides an excellent knight''s soft armor, this guy also carried a space-teleportation equipment. The black adhesive which was used to deal with injuries were taken out of its space-teleportation equipment. It was rare for black iron demon knights to carry any space-teleportation equipment. Very few earth demon knights could have space-teleportation equipment, not to mention black iron knights.


    With his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie saw a hammer-shaped silver secret item swimming in the qi sea of the lower abdomen of this guy.


    Zhang Tie immediately realized that this was not a common demon knight.


    There were major human clans and influential officials; similarly, in the hierarchical pyramid of demon society, there were also major demon clans and bigwigs. Knights from major clans and powerful families definitely have more items to protect themselves on the battlefield.


    After licking his lips, Zhang Tie revealed a merciless smile on his icy and insidious face. At the same time, he reached his weird claw towards the neck of the demon knight...


    When Zhang Tie licked his lips, the demon knight realized that something was wrong. However, it thought that it was not a threat. Until it heard the sound behind him, the demon knight turned around to take a look at his back...


    The demon knight saw a weird claw reaching towards its neck...


    At the sight of the weird claw, the demon knight''s pupils shrunk immediately. It seemed wanting to do something or utter an amazed shriek; however, it was too late. That weird claw caught its neck fiercely and pressed its head against the ground ferociously before it uttered any voice and made any response...


    The weird claw was unimaginably powerful. The demon knight felt that its neck and head were under a huge mountain. Closely after that, its head ferociously collided against the ground.


    With a loud sound "bang...", the hard ground cracked. The demon knight''s nose slumped at once while its teeth flew out of its mouth. Its head felt like being beaten by a huge, heavy hammer. It felt dizzy as it spurted out blood at once.


    As the demon knight was sitting on the ground to treat its wounds with crossed legs just now, when its head was pressed against the ground, it looked like a little girl who practiced her basic skills of dance. With this gesture, it could barely move at all and felt especially embarrassed.


    "Who''re you?" The demon knight roared when it caught sight of the lower hem of a black robe through its eye corners. Pressing its neck, the back robe one was squatting down on its side.


    What it received was a heavy blow on its left ribs, which was barbaric, fierce and straightforward.


    The blow broke 7-8 ribs of the demon knight, causing it to spurt out blood once again. Closely after that, Zhang Tie punched its right ribs, breaking some more ribs and causing it to spurt out more blood. After then, Zhang Tie punched at the middle of the demon knight''s back. Finally, he punched at the back side of the demon knight''s head...


    The demon knight wanted to struggle; however, under Zhang Tie''s great stress, he had no chance to struggle at all.


    Each time Zhang Tie punched at it, this narrow space would feel like being beaten by a huge steam forging hammer as the earth would faintly shake. The demon knight was also like a tube of toothpaste. Each time Zhang Tie squeezed toothpaste out of the tube, he would cause the demon knight to spurt out blood...


    Besides uttering "Who''re you?", the demon knight didn''t utter any voice until he became completely faint.


    Zhang Tie then clapped his hands and stood up. It was much easier for people to kill a tiger than catching it alive; similarly, it was much more difficult for Zhang Tie to knock out a black iron demon knight than directly killing it. Thanks to his over one month''s "precious experience", it only took Zhang Tie less than a minute to knock out this prey alive.


    Until being knocked out by Zhang Tie, that demon knight still maintained that hilarious basic gesture of dance and became feeble all over. Besides a puddle of blood, there were only teeth on the ground.


    After throwing a glance at this guy on the ground, Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile. After that, he sent this guy into Castle of Black Iron as a raw material for bloody sacrifice. Zhang Tie didn''t care what items did this guy carry as Heller would find all of them wherever they were hidden in its body.


    The bangs didn''t stop in the sky. It indicated that the large-scale battle was ongoing. After a weird eye light flashed by, Zhang Tie licked his lips once again...

 1007 Angling

    Chapter 1007: Angling


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After a few minutes, the little black beetle flew out of the deep trench and returned to the original place. After watching the battlefield in the distance for about half a minute, the little black beetle flew off towards the distance along the earth''s surface...


    In an air territory being far away from the two large battle formations in the distance, two battle qi tornadoes rushed into the sky, which indicated that the two earth knights were fighting.


    After one month''s observation, Zhang Tie found that over 90% of combats between earth human knights and earth demon knights in the core of Tiewei Mountain would come to an end by one party being defeated instead of being annihilated although the combats broke out every day. He found that the weaker party would always rapidly return to the sphere of influence of its own battle fortress when it realized that it couldn''t bear the opposite''s attack anymore or felt that the opponent had an overwhelming advantage at the beginning in case of being killed in the shortest period.


    Those who could tangle with each other for a long time were always earth knights who had almost the same battle strength. Such combats would always be very fierce or very splendid. As the two parties had almost the same battle strength, it was more difficult for one party to kill the other.


    Over the past 1 month, Zhang Tie had fought earth demon knights 5 times; however, he only found 2 chances to kill earth demon knights. As to the other 3 combats, they escaped the moment they found that they were in disadvantageous positions. 2 of the 5 earth demon knights didn''t even spare any chance for a close combat to Zhang Tie. The moment they found that Zhang Tie was approaching them, they had escaped rapidly. Facing such cunning earth demon knights, Zhang Tie became speechless.


    Compared to the other knights, Zhang Tie''s fatality rate had reached about 40% when fighting earth demon knights. What an amazing figure!


    After killing two earth demon knights, Zhang Tie had lit 17 scales of his water chakra.


    ...


    The little beetle landed on a remote boulder below the battlefield of the two battle qi tornadoes and watched the combat between the earth human knight and the earth demon knight and the collisions between the two large formations in the distance.


    Of course, Zhang Tie expected that humans could take the advantageous position in the collisions between the two large formations. As for the duel between the earth human knight and the earth demon knight, Zhang Tie actually hoped that the earth demon knight could take the advantageous position so that the earth human knight could return to the sphere of the effect of the human''s battle fortress.


    If the earth human knight took the advantageous position, the earth demon knight would return to the sphere of the effect of the demon''s battle fortress. If so, Zhang Tie would not gain any benefit from this combat.


    In this situation, if Zhang Tie incarnated as Gorath and rushed forward, the earth demon knight would escape right away when it realized that it was going to be attacked by two earth human knights. If so, Zhang Tie would not gain any benefits at all.


    It was definitely a technology for Zhang Tie to hunt earth demon knights in Tiewei Mountain.


    ...


    As time went by, the fierce collisions between humans and demons continued. Humans and demons were constantly ground and devoured by the opposite large formation after breaking off their own large formation. Independent humans and demons also grew in population. At the same time, the combats around the large formations grew fiercer.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, if the two large formations were far-ancient fierce beasts, he was a cunning jager who was waiting for fish and shrimps being pushed to the sandy beach by sea waves and tidewater.


    2 hours later, Zhang Tie finally gained a chance as the result of the combat between the two earth knights had become clear.


    As was expected by Zhang Tie, when the earth human knight felt that he could not bear it anymore, he chose to evacuate; however, the earth demon knight kept chasing after him as it intended to kill him before he reached the protective sphere of the human''s battle fortress.


    The two light beams flew away one after another. The little black beetle also flew off and chased after the two earth knights rapidly. When the little black beetle passed by a hidden mine, it entered the mine immediately and incarnated into the grim Gorath almost at the same time.


    Gorath''s lotus-flower eyes flickered and firmly targeted at the earth demon knight in the sky.


    The two earth knights soon entered the black mist out of the effect of the large formations. Commoners would not be able to see them anymore, except for Zhang Tie who could still see the earth demon knight even in the black mist.


    Zhang Tie flew rapidly along the earth''s surface. From a height, due to the super hiding rune effect, Zhang Tie''s body almost integrated with the earth. When he entered the black mist, he instantly rushed into the sky and accelerated his speed after the earth demon knight.


    ¡ª¡ª


    After 20 minutes, Zhang Tie found that the earth human knight had entered the protective sphere of the human''s battle fortress. Due to the large-scale battle today, in order to prevent demons from raiding the base of humans, earth and shadow human knights were patrolling in the periphery of the battle fortress. At the sight of the earth human knight, a team of human knights instantly accelerated towards him...


    At the sight of the team of human knights, the earth demon knight immediately turned around and evacuated.


    Although being over 40 miles away, Zhang Tie could still see what was happening in front of him even in the dense black mist.


    Watching the earth demon knight turning around and flying towards him, Zhang Tie immediately stopped.


    A whim occurred to his mind¡ª¡ªI will let the earth demon knight chase after me rather than chasing after it. It would be easier for me to gain benefits from it. There''s an old Hua saying, if you want to gain something, you have to give it to others at first.


    After thinking about it for a second, Zhang Tie felt that this whim was feasible.


    After releasing his battle qi, he shattered his own black robe and made his hair disordered. After that, he found some ashes from Castle of Black Iron and daubed some on his face. Furthermore, he told Heller to collect some blood of the demon knight and spray blood over his body. Besides, he made his qi as an earth knight look unstable.


    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had looked utterly different.


    At first sight, Gorath immediately became an earth human knight who had escaped from the battlefield in a pretty embarrassed manner. Additionally, he seemed to have suffered severe wounds; plus the solemn and insidious poker face, his look was very persuasive.


    After all, the role Gorath was used to sacrifice and be his scapegoat. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t have any stress to do anything in this role.


    Zhang Tie could even do more excessive things in order to angle an earth demon knight, not to mention an embarrassed makeover. Zhang Tie would not even lose hair by doing that; therefore, he didn''t have any mental stress.


    After doing all this, Zhang Tie flew towards the earth demon knight.


    ...


    After a few minutes, Gorath, with an unstable and "embarrassed" qi as an earth knight, encountered the earth demon knight in the sky.


    After passing by the black mist, the two parties discovered the opponent almost at the same time from less 600 m away.


    After changing his face, Gorath turned around and escaped at once. That earth demon knight responded in a split second. With a fleer, it hurriedly caught up with Gorath.


    When they encountered, the earth demon knight was rightly on the way that Gorath returned to the human''s battle fortress; therefore, Gorath would not return to the human''s battle fortress anymore. He could only seek for another way to evacuate. After noticing that Gorath was "severely wounded", of course, the demon knight would not abandon such a good chance as it accelerated immediately.


    As Gorath was "severely wounded", he could not fly rapidly. Only after 20 minutes, he had been blocked by the earth demon knight using magnet tactic in a remote mountain being far away from the core battlefield.


    Only after a few strikes in the sky, Gorath who was "severely wounded" had "spat" out blood. At the same time, its face turned pale as he dove into a deserted mine in the mountain in a flurried way.


    "With demon god on my side, where you''re escaping to?" The demon knight fleered as it followed Gorath into the mine.


    After entering thousands of meters inside the mine, the demon knight had already caught up with Gorath. Additionally, it rapidly approached Gorath with the help of the narrow space in the mine and started the most dangerous and fatal close combat. It wanted to kill the "severely wounded" Gorath rapidly through close combat.


    After responding to the earth demon knight''s strike a few minutes in an "embarrassed" manner, "severely wounded" Gorath frankly bore a strike from the earth demon knight with his protective battle qi. After that, when the earth demon knight attacked him, Gorath finally got a chance to catch the demon knight''s ankle. Through this movement, the demon knight felt an "inseparable deep love".


    The demon knight thought that Gorath''s protective battle qi had been collapsed. The moment it prepared to break the human knight''s head by one kick, it found that the opponent suddenly changed into an utterly different person¡ª¡ªhis collapsed protective battle qi reappeared with full energy; at the same time, the human knight caught its ankle when his qi turned as stable as a mountain at once.


    Before the earth demon knight realized what happened, Gorath who had held the demon knight''s ankle had turned berserk like a tyrannosaurus. He lifted the earth demon knight and crashed it against the ground in the mine like using a knife to break a cucumber.


    With a "bang", a huge pit appeared on the ground in the mine.


    With an earthquake, soil and rocks in the mine fell down. Through this strike, the earth demon knight was almost knocked out by Gorath. However, before it realized what happened, the weird claw lifted it up and slammed it onto the ground ferociously once again...


    In the next 10 minutes, the earthquake in the mine didn''t stop at all...


    10 minutes later, the earthquake in the mine finally stopped. After a few more minutes, Zhang Tie came out of the mine still in an embarrassed way like being severely wounded.


    He lurked on the ground below the necessary flight route through which human knights returned to the battle fortress...


    Only after 1 hour later, another earth demon knights followed an earth human knight here.


    The opposite scene might happen on the other side of the battlefield; however, the scene that earth human knight was chased by an earth demon knight could only be seen here.


    As both parties had enough knights, earth demon knights and earth human knights could only have 50% possibility to win the duel. From Zhang Tie''s position, he could see more earth human knights being chased by earth demon knights.


    At the sight of the two knights in the sky, Zhang Tie felt pretty thrilled.


    As was told by Donder, a sustainable money-making mode was definitely more profitable than a disposable money-making mode...


    ''Mode!'' What a motherf*cking good thing!


    Zhang Tie felt that he had absolutely understood the essence of Donder''s words.


    ...


    After 40 minutes, another earth demon knight followed after "severely wounded" Gorath into the deserted mine.


    Ten more minutes later, Gorath came out of the mine once again...

 1008 I Come, I See and I Figh

    Chapter 1008: I Come, I See and I Fight


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After over 10 hours'' fierce collisions, the two large battle formations finally left the main battlefield slowly like two fierce beasts who licked their wounds, leaving dust over the sky...


    ...


    "Ahh...that''s not real..."


    A black iron demon knight uttered the last scream in the mine before being stomped by Zhang Tie''s foot as it passed out while rolling up its eyes after being mistreated a few minutes.


    The black iron demon knight whose battle strength was close to the demon general in Waii Subcontinent was the last one of those who were induced by Zhang Tie into the mine. Before entering this mine, it was domineering; however, its body had been covered by Gorath''s footprints at this moment.


    As Gorath was a disguised role who didn''t need to take any responsibility for what he did, at the sight of this guy, Gorath immediately changed his qi into the level of black iron knights and looked like being severely wounded and embarrassed. Like those demon knights being knocked over by Zhang Tie, at the sight of the "severely wounded" human knight escaping away, it immediately caught up with him. Closely after that, the injured rabbit turned into a berserk tyrannosaurus and what waited for it was a tragedy...


    Undoubtedly, this was a "good mode". Only after half a day, Zhang Tie had gained the same achievement that he had achieved in one month since he came to this theater of operations, namely knocking over 4 earth demon knights and 3 black iron earth demon knights. What an amazing military exploit!


    Without this large-scale battle between two large formations, this "good mode" might not work at all; in this special state"good mode", Gorath''s perfect performing skills and Zhang Tie''s powerful battle strength led to such a bumper day.


    At the sight of Gorath, all those demon knights realized that he was a fish escaping from the huge net on the battlefield. If it were another time and scene, the effect could never be as good as this one.


    Zhang Tie didn''t enjoy himself to the full. After knocking out the last black iron demon knight and throwing it into Castle of Black Iron, he flew out of the mine once again. He looked up and saw the human''s large battle formation slowly moving towards the battle fortress from afar.


    The human knights who had broken off the large formation also evacuated with the human''s large formation from the main battlefield. So did the demon''s large formation and those demon knights who had broken off their large battle formation.


    The black mist was covered by black mist once again. The earth''s underfoot also stopped its quake. The human and demon knights who were fighting just now also separated from each other.


    ''Is it over?"


    Zhang Tie became a bit disappointed.


    Such a highly spirited collision between humans and demons in the Earth-elements Realm would happen once a few months. Zhang Tie had not imagined that it could come to an end so fast. If it could last a few days, Zhang Tie believed that he would make greater achievements.


    However, it had to come to an end. Because over 800 human and demon knights had died in this large-scale battle.


    The loss of over 800 knights was terrifying; additionally, all the knights died very miserably as most of them were directly ground by the opposite large battle formation after breaking off their own large formation less than half a minute. Even earth knights were as trivial as dust in such a large-scale battle, not to mention common black iron knights.


    According to Zhang Tie''s observation and estimation, although human''s large battle formation had been in the advantageous position since the beginning of the battle, over 300 human knights who broke off the large battle formation and were devoured by the demon''s large battle formation immediately. Demons suffered a greater loss as they lost 1/3 more knights than humans.


    Given the losses of both parties, humans seemed to win the battle; however, demon knights were more than human knights at the beginning. Comparatively, humans didn''t gain too much advantage at all.


    The summit confrontation between different species was similar to the duels between major countries or rogues. In many situations, the result of such a large-scale battle didn''t rely on the number of population, but on which party was fiercer. If one party didn''t have a strong will, they would not block their enemy; if they were not determined to lose people and blood, they would lose more people and blood.


    Watching the human knight''s large battle formation and those dauntless independent human knights slowly approaching him from the distance, Zhang Tie suspended over the deserted mine in silent tribute a short while for those human knights who sacrificed today. After that, before the large battle formation reached above his head, Zhang Tie returned to the deserted mine in case of being noticed by high-rank human knights.


    When the human''s large battle formation approached the deserted mine, a little black beetle flew out of the mine towards the battlefield...


    Zhang Tie thought about picking some extra gains from the battlefield. After all, it was a rare chance.


    Half an hour later, after the two large formations evacuated the battlefield, those who were responsible for picking extra gains on the battlefield arrived.


    Auxiliary human troops and a lot of spider demons and ox-headed demons were dispatched to the battlefield.


    Their jobs basically contained the following three points.


    First, discover wounded knights on their side who had lost action capability on the battlefield and save them.


    Second, if they found the opposite knights who had lost their action capability, they would kill them immediately.


    Third, pick equipments and items of the late knights on the battlefield.


    Most of the late knights were directly and immediately ground in the collisions of the two large formations, who might carry extremely rare space-teleportation equipment even senior cultivation methods. After these knights were killed, their belongings would fall onto the battlefield. If one party didn''t pick and scramble them, it indicated that they gifted these precious items to the opponent. Therefore, both parties would not give up picking these rarities. Even if there were no rarities on the battlefield, as knight''s weapons had basically broken through the bottleneck of black iron effect, each one of which would worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins at least. Therefore, neither party would abandon them.


    The combats of auxiliary battle fighters were just aftermath of this large-scale battle in the core theater of operations. However, the combats were still very miserable for these knights below knight level. In each combat, they had to face a life or death situation. In the aftermath of each large-scale battle, the number of human fighters below knight level who sacrificed and left their blood on the battlefield would not be fewer than that of human knights who lost their lives in the collisions of the two large battle formations.


    When low-level fighters from both parties entered the battlefield which had been watered by numerous knights'' blood, the dense black mist was full of saber and sword lights and killing intents once again...


    2 hours later, the little black beetle had circled around the battlefield. Although he didn''t see any human knight and demon knight, he saw many combats between human and demon fighters below knight level.


    After realizing that he would gain no extra benefit and was not qualified to be the babysitter of human fighters on the battlefield, the little black beetle returned to the deep trench where he knocked out the first black iron demon knight today. In a hidden place in the deep trench, he returned to Castle of Black Iron.


    ...


    In Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie''s original body opened his eyes while the little black beetle kept flying around his head.


    "Well, you must be tired. Go take a rest. If you want to take an all-purpose medicament, go find Aziz!" Zhang Tie waved his hand towards the little black beetle. After receiving the order, the little black beetle immediately flew off the palace tree jubilantly for Aziz. During the period when it was in Castle of Black Iron, this little black beetle had already become the loyal fan of all-purpose medicament in Castle of Black Iron. It would have some drops of all-purpose medicament each day.


    "After fighting for so many days, Castle Lord should have a rest!" Heller walked over here and said with a solemn look as he pointed at the wounds on Zhang Tie''s body.


    After hearing Heller''s suggestion, Zhang Tie lowered his head and took a look at his wounds before taking deep breaths consecutively, "If you didn''t warn me, I almost forgot about it!"


    Without any disguise, Zhang Tie''s body had been covered with real wounds. His black robe had been wet by his blood and sweat.


    The over 40 wounds, internal and external, large and small were caused by those earth demon knights who were trapped by him in the mine. There were 3 wounds on his face. The two severest wounds were on his leg and left armpit respectively, from where he could even see his bones. Average earth knights might have lain down, except for Zhang Tie.


    Those earth demon knights that Zhang Tie met today were all above average. Two of them were very tricky. Even though they were trapped by Zhang Tie, they still made Zhang Tie suffer a great loss.


    The reason that Zhang Tie could bear so many wounds till now lay in the great power of his emperor-level method. What counted most was the super anti-strike capability and super recovery ability that was granted by the small tree and the unyielding belief in his mind.


    After having close combats with some earth demon knights constantly, Zhang Tie had some new gnosis about his own battle skills. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s achievements were far more than absorbing the water elements from the water chakras of some earth demon knights today; he had made the most important step forward in his self-awareness.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie confirmed that he had already become a trump earth knight who had killed over 5 earth demon knights although he had not won others'' approval.


    A trump earth knight would have an absolutely different gnosis than common earth knights.


    The combats today represented his spirit of iron and blood. Although he didn''t join the large human battle formation, he had killed the most demon knights alone. He had bled no less than that of the other human knights. Additionally, the large-scale battle in the sky made him highly spirited as a human knight.


    If Zhang Tie still didn''t bleed or get injured in the fiercest and most miserable battle between humans and demons as a shrewd onlooker, it would be a regret in his life.


    Zhang Tie faintly felt proud of himself about his wounds and achievements...


    Even though he was framed as a murderer and couldn''t expose his real status to the public, Zhang Tie''s firm belief as a human knight still didn''t collapse whenever and wherever he was!


    ''I come, I see and I fight...''


    This was Zhang Tie''s firm belief in the holy war as a human knight!

 1009 1 Change Earth Knight Realm

    Chapter 1009: 1 Change Earth Knight Realm


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Heller seemed to have sensed Zhang Tie''s pride; he threw a glance at Zhang Tie before speaking slowly, "Castle Lord, your battle style was too valiant and risky. However, if you met any earth demon knight who had a greater battle strength or mastered some special secret method, Castle Lord might be severely inflicted in a split second!"


    "Such a large-scale battle is rarely seen. After the earth-element crystals in Tiewei Mountain were fully exploited after 3 months, such a large-scale battle would be barely seen in a short period!" Zhang Tie replied with a sigh, "Given the situations from all aspects over the past one month, I feel that this might be the last large-scale battle between humans and demons in the core of Tiewei Mountain. The confrontation between tens of thousands of human knights and demon knights might soon come to an end! I didn''t come to the Earth-elements Realm in vain after participating in such a large-scale battle. If I did not risk my life and get injured today, I would even feel sorry for myself!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s answer, Heller could only reveal a bitter smile, "Fortunately, Castle Lord has made a great achievement today. However, there''s an old Hua saying that where there is life, there is hope. Based on your current resources, as long as you could make progress step by step steadily, you will promote to a heavenly knight sooner or later. If you were in a rush for quick results, you might face the reverse outcome!"


    "Okay, I will keep it in mind!" Zhang Tie knew that Heller really cared about him; therefore, he accepted Heller''s suggestion modestly, "Oh, you mentioned that some demon knight mastered some secret method which could severely inflict me. What''s that secret method?"


    "Battle Qi Automatic Explosion!" Heller revealed the name of the secret method. Zhang Tie didn''t ask how did Heller know it. Whatever, he knew that Heller would not cheat him, "Castle Lord is used to catching the wrist or ankle of demon knights, however, if you met a demon knight who had mastered battle qi automatic explosion, Castle Lord was actually holding a very dangerous alchemist bomb!"


    ''F*ck, how could there be such an abnormal skill?''


    Zhang Tie took in a deep breath. He could only admit that he was unfortunate if he met a demon knight who mastered battle qi automatic explosion. Whatever, he could not give up the most effective battle pattern due to the existence of such a demon knight.


    Whereas, Heller''s words made Zhang Tie vigilant. He should make preparations in case that he really met such a demon knight; otherwise, he didn''t even have time to use his shield, a silver secret item. That would be too miserable...


    "Fine, I will make preparations!" Zhang Tie replied as he took out a vial of senior recovery medicament and drank it up. At the same time, he walked towards his own room, "After experiencing hardships and avoiding from a shadow demon knight''s chase for so many days, I''m a bit tired. I will sleep a few days..."


    With his preliminary recovery body, in many situations, Zhang Tie only needed to have a sound sleep. However, he was really a bit tired at this moment...


    Watching Zhang Tie''s fatigued figure after relaxing himself, Heller let out a sigh inside, Over the past one more month, Zhang Tie had indeed exerted his utmost efforts. Each day, Zhang Tie was in high-intensity combats or agnostic state.


    After destroying that secret base of demons, Zhang Tie spent about 10 days in escaping from the chase of a shadow demon knight who carried a soul-chasing butterfly and excelled at chasing others with the help of Castle of Black Iron and his super great incarnation capability by leading it to an underground magma sea. After coming back from the magma sea, he caught sight of such a large-scale battle between human knights and demon knights. Although being not in the human''s large formation, Zhang Tie''s combats were also hard and fierce.


    In order to prevent those demon knights who had been trapped from escaping away, Zhang Tie would always show his weakness. After that, he would find a chance to catch one wrist of the demon knights and started the most dangerous close combats with the demon knights. The severest wounds on Zhang Tie''s body were left in such close combats.


    Given Zhang Tie''s dauntless spirit, Heller found that Zhang Tie was anxious about strengthening his battle strength and returning to the earth''s surface because he missed his wife, his parents and his children. Some of those children were in Taixia Country, some were in the remote Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Sometimes, perhaps Zhang Tie didn''t find that he usually called those people''s names unconsciously in dreams. After waking up, Zhang Tie would recover his composure as if nothing had happened. He gradually strengthened his abilities through exercises and battles.


    As for Zhang Tie, during these years since he left Waii Subcontinent, what he felt most pitiful was that he didn''t stay on his wives'' side when they delivered babies. He didn''t fulfill his obligation as a father.


    Zhang Tie was not a cool man. He was not too ambitious or enterprising; his intelligence was not outstanding either. From a certain perspective, Zhang Tie was just a commoner who was a bit ambitious and kind-hearted. He was a bit obscene in his younghood and always bore his family in mind after growing up. However, the God selected him as the owner of Castle of Black Iron. Did it indicate anything?


    With this question, Heller walked out of the palace tree and came to the mountain slope. Looking up at the changing colorful clouds in Castle of Black Iron, he asked himself, ''Is this the will of the God?''


    At this moment, the light in Castle of Black Iron gradually turned dim as the night fell.


    The clouds rolled and changed their colors as if they were responding to Heller''s question silently.


    ...


    Zhang Tie stayed in his room for about 10 days.


    After waking up, he sat in his room with crossed legs and started to digest the water elements that he refined from those earth demon knights so as to form his own water chakra. After feeling a bit tired, he would drink a lot of all-purpose medicament, which made him drunk and fall asleep once again.


    10 days later, Zhang Tie''s wounds had been fully recovered; additionally, he had lit 36 scales of his earth knight''s crystal plate and entered 1 change earth knight realm, namely, he completed his first round of overall strengthening after promoting to an earth human knight...

 1010 Being Gradually Outstanding

    Chapter 1010: Being Gradually Outstanding


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Since he left Black Armor Battlefortress for over 1 month, Zhang Tie improved his overall strength at the fastest speed. During the past 1 month; especially in the demon base, Zhang Tie killed hundreds of spider demons and hundreds of common ox-headed demons which brought him two fruits of source. After taking the two fruits of source, Zhang Tie was able to constantly knock over some earth demon knights face to face in the large-scale battle between humans and demons 10 days ago in his foundation consolidation period as an earth knight.


    A fruit of source could enhance the capabilities brought by his surging points all over his body by 1/12, which indicated an overall enhancement. With two fruits of source, Zhang Tie would accomplish two rounds of overall enhancement. Although Zhang Tie was apparently still in the foundation consolidation period as an earth knight, actually, his overall strength had reached as same as that of those earth knights who had formed a half water chakra of viscount-level cultivation methods like "Five-elements Ground-look Sutra".


    Plus the round of overall enhancement that he experienced when he promoted to 1 change earth knight realm, Zhang Tie''s overall strength had even been slightly greater than that of earth knights who had entered the 9 changes earth knight realm of the lowest level baron secret method.


    Those who cultivated baron-level secret methods could only gain three rounds of overall enhancement in each knight stage. Zhang Tie had accomplished three rounds of overall enhancement as an earth knight of king roc sutra; additionally, some effects of fruits of source were even better than overall enhancement of knights themselves.


    Without fruits of source, Zhang Tie, who cultivated the "King Roc Sutra", was as powerful as the 9 changes earth knight realm of baron-level secret method when he accomplished three rounds of overall enhancement; when he accomplished four rounds of overall enhancement, he would be as powerful as the 9 changes earth knight realm of viscount-level secret method; when he accomplished five rounds of overall enhancement, he would be as powerful as the 9 changes earth knight realm of count-level secret method; when he accomplished six rounds of overall enhancement, he would be as powerful as the 9 changes earth knight realm of marquis-level secret method...


    This implied the great power of the emperor-level secret method.


    During the 10 days'' recovery and cultivation, Zhang Tie was also meditating about his cultivation and precise battle strength level. Finally, Zhang Tie reached a conclusion that his basic battle strength was equal to the level of 5 changes earth knight realm of marquis-level secret methods such as "Fire Dragon Sutra".


    Even Zhang Tie himself was startled by this conclusion. He had not imagined that he could reach this level unconsciously after taking so many fruits and cultivating the emperor-level secret method day by day. Even Zhang Taixuan the Long Wind Count might not enter such a high realm.


    In 5 changes earth knight realm of the marquis-level secret method, Zhang Tie was already a member of powerhouses among earth knights in Taixia Country.


    In this realm, he could easily kill any black iron knight. Plus his exceptional defensive capability and recovery capability, theoretically, he could defeat all the 6-7 changes earth knights who cultivated low-level secret methods in close combats.


    Zhang Tie was a bit surprised about this result; however, the combats between him and those earth demon knights just now reminded him that it was true.


    The fruit of source was very powerful. With the effect of two fruits of source, Zhang Tie accomplished two rounds of over-enhancement in a short period. This was a good news. However, the bad news was that the two fruits of source might be the last ones that Zhang Tie could take. From then on, the small tree would not produce any fruit of source anymore, after running out of the iron-body fruits and leakless fruits.


    Zhang Tie had taken the fruits of source from iron-armored demons, wing demons, spider demons and ox-headed demons, except for the fruit of source from shadow demons. Theoretically, as long as Zhang Tie could kill 360 shadow demons below knight level, he could have a fruit of source from shadow demons. However, Zhang Tie knew that it was impossible. As shadow demons were rare, he might not kill so many shadow demons for the rest of his life.


    After entering 1 change earth knight realm, Zhang Tie lost the source of another fruit. Therefore, he became a bit frustrated while being ecstatic. As there were too few fruits of source, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like leaving one on the tree as a souvenir.


    After entering 1 change earth knight realm and understanding his real overall strength, Zhang Tie became thrilled inside with an unprecedented great confidence. The depression and haze that had puzzled him over the past 3 years since he was framed as a murder finally disappeared.


    ...


    After Zhang Tie entered 1 change earth knight realm for 2 days...


    ...


    "Beat vital parts..."


    "Use more strength..."


    "Exert all of your strength, don''t be afraid of hurting me..."


    On the lawn outside the palace tree, as Zhang Tie constantly shouted, Aziz, Edward and Agan who had been wet all over gritted their teeth and beat Zhang Tie by their long saber, mace and heavy hammer forcefully.


    Zhang Tie was wearing a pair of short pants in naked, sturdy upper body. Due to his preliminary recovery body, his skin was very smooth. After his wounds recovered, no scar was left on his skin. At this moment, Zhang Tie was bearing the strikes of Aziz, Edward and Agan like a target without using his protective battle qi.


    All the strikes didn''t leave any scars on Zhang Tie''s skin besides loud sounds and special frictional sounds.


    At the beginning, Aziz, Edward and Agan spared some strength; after knowing that Zhang Tie didn''t feel enough, the three people exerted their full strength and pounded at Zhang Tie''s body constantly by their weapons.


    Aziz held a grim mace being covered with sharp spurs. After hearing Zhang Tie''s request, Aziz held high his mace and swung it at Zhang Tie''s shoulder.


    When the mace almost touched Zhang Tie''s shoulder, Zhang Tie moved aside and resisted Aziz''s mace by his face. When the mace almost touched his skin and the sharp spurs almost stabbed into Zhang Tie''s eyeballs did he close his eyes...


    As a result, Aziz forcefully pounded the mace onto Zhang Tie''s face.


    "Bang..."


    Aziz didn''t realize what happened until his mace hit Zhang Tie''s face.


    "Castle Lord..." Aziz''s hand quivered as he dropped off his mace immediately. Edward and Agan hurriedly stopped too as they both thought that they had hurt Zhang Tie.


    The moment Aziz dropped off his mace, he had hurriedly knelt down in a flurried way. Face turning pale, he almost burst out into tears, "Ahh, I didn''t mean it, I just wanted to hit Castle Lord''s shoulder..."


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes and said, "Take it easy, I tried it on purpose. I''m fine..."


    "Ahh, Castle Lord...you''re really...fine?"


    "Yes, I''m fine!"


    Zhang Tie replied as he rubbed his face. His facial skin was very good, which was neither swollen nor broken. He didn''t even lose a hair. Just now, Zhang Tie just wanted to try the anti-strike capability of his most fragile body part. The result was very satisfactory. He bore a mace'' strike on his face safe and sound. He just felt a bit pain on his face like being hit by an inflated toy mace. When the spurs of the mace stabbed onto his eyelids, he just felt his eyeballs being pressed by an external force. Both his eyelids and eyeballs were fine.


    Actually, Aziz, Edward and Agan had the strength of LV 9 fighters. Additionally, their weapons were not inflated toys, but real. Although those weapons were neither silver secret items nor bronze items, they were made of abyss iron.


    After confirming that Zhang Tie was safe, Aziz finally stood up while faintly quivering all over.


    Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy and activated his capability as a divine dominator. Closely after that, the mace automatically floated up from the ground and fell in his hand. Zhang Tie felt that it weighed about 50-60 kg. Each time Zhang Tie waved it, the mace would utter a wild-wolf like howl, which sounded like containing a terrifying strength.


    After waving it for a short while and confirming that it was not inflated, Zhang Tie threw the mace back to Aziz as he turned around and asked Heller on his side.


    "Heller, what''s the matter with me? Why do I feel that my anti-strike capability and defensive capability have entered a wholly new realm and are fully developed besides the sharp increase in my strength and speed after entering 1 change earth knight realm? Only by the physical defense, I could completely ignore all the strikes of fighters below LV 9."


    "Castle Lord, do you remember the situation you were in when you entered the 1 change earth knight realm?"


    "Of course I do, I was severely wounded at that moment..." Zhang Tie replied frankly as he immediately realized something. He then widely opened his eyes and asked, "Wait, you mean my super strong defensive capability is related to the situation when I was severely wounded at that moment..."


    "After growing old, eagles'' claws and beaks would gradually turn blunt. By then, eagles would smash their sharp claws and beaks on hard rocks, making them badly mutilated. After their wounds recovered, they would grow sharper claws and beaks and accomplish a metamorphosis so as to adapt to the environment. After forming an earth chakra, you have entered a new realm of "King Roc Sutra". Do you feel that the overall enhancement brought by the "King Roc Sutra" couldn''t even match the instinct that a wild beast develops so as to respond to the crises?" Heller asked a question in return while his eyes flickered in a wise way...


    Zhang Tie understood it immediately. It indicated that he would have more chances to strengthen some abilities if he encountered more crises in these aspects. After each round of overall enhancement, he would be able to face the problems that he had suffered in a franker way. If he was still severely wounded when he entered the 2 changes earth knight realm, his defensive capability would be further strengthened. On the contrary, if all the aspects were balanced, the effect of his overall enhancement would also be balanced in all aspects.


    As he gradually reached higher levels and realms, the power of emperor-level secret method gradually became outstanding.


    Zhang Tie estimated that only emperor-level secret methods such as "King Roc Sutra" could realize tentative enhancement.


    Touching his face, Zhang Tie felt that he should think about it carefully.


    After thinking about it a short while, Zhang Tie told Aziz, Agan and Edward to bring those demon knights here. As he felt good today, he wanted to offer a bloody sacrifice by those demon knights...

 1011 A Surprise

    Chapter 1011: A Surprise


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    There were a big garden and a spacious grassland outside the palace tree. Zhang Tie pointed at an open place and teleported the bloody sacrifice furnace out of his portable Xuanwu Secret Warehouse of Bloody Soul Temple onto the lawn. The 30-m higher joss whose upper body was anthropomorphic while its lower body was winding round a huge furnace in the shape of a snake. Its raw material was like red copper.


    According to common sense, space-teleportation equipment could not be superposed. A space-teleportation equipment could not be put into another space-teleportation equipment, except for Castle of Black Iron. All the portable space-teleportation equipment could freely access to Castle of Black Iron.


    From this perspective, Zhang Tie felt that Castle of Black Iron was not only a space-teleportation equipment, but it was also more like a special space.


    As the joss, the altar and the furnace were connected with each other, Zhang Tie regarded this joss as a huge machine.


    In the hieron''s ruins, Zhang Tie had completely figured out the usage of this bloody sacrifice furnace and some special, hidden tricks on the bloody sacrifice furnace. Of course, he took the whole set of the machine when he left the hieron ruins.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie thought the bloody sacrifice furnace below the joss was like the pool of chaos, which would digest everything of the demons being sacrificed, leaving nothing at all. After studying it carefully, Zhang Tie found a hidden space covering dozens of cuber meters behind the base of the bloody sacrifice furnace, which was used to contain remains of living beings being sacrificed.


    Those living beings being sacrificed and burned would leave some dark purple remains which were not ash but a finer material which Zhang Tie could barely figure out. One demon could only leave at most one handful of that remains.


    Heller said it was the original impurity and raw material of living beings, which could not be found anywhere else besides in the bloody sacrifice furnace. This sort of impurity and raw material might be the most senior and special fertilizer that humans could find, it''s the tunic of all the plants.


    2/3 of the hidden space of the bloody sacrifice furnace had been filled with this dark purple material.


    After hearing that this material was effective to plants, when he left the hieron ruins, out of curiosity, Zhang Tie moved some of the material out of the hidden space and buried it under the two parasol trees outside the palace tree.


    Before Aziz, Agan and Edward brought those demon knights here, Zhang Tie and Heller went to see the two parasol trees.


    Outside the palace tree, over 100 parasol trees were standing on both sides of a corridor. Zhang Tie remembered that he buried the fertilizer under two common parasol trees. When he approached the two rows of parasol trees, Zhang Tie immediately found the two parasol trees.


    Previously, the two parasol trees were nothing different than other trees; however, now, they were much larger than their neighboring trees. With luxuriant foliage, the two parasol trees looked especially sturdy. What was weirder was that the edge of their leaves turned extraordinarily bright purple. By contrast, the two parasol trees looked evidently taller and sturdier than their surrounding trees.


    "Ahh, have the two parasol trees mutated?" Zhang Tie became startled by the two exceptional parasol trees. He had not imagined that the two parasol trees could become so distinctive only after a few months.


    "No, they were not mutated. The species of the parasol trees have not changed. They just grow too well!"


    "Why the leaves of the two parasol trees are different than that of others?"


    "Because the two parasol trees have absorbed the nutrients in the fertilizer. It indicates that Castle Lord has buried too many fertilizers at the beginning. After the leaves turn bright purple, they could produce something special by the process of photosynthesis. As a result, the two parasol trees would grow healthier and more special. Like human beings, glands of different people would secrete different levels of substances. Meanwhile, the substances secreted by glands of human beings would also directly participate in and influence the physiological activities and life existence levels of human beings. It was similar to plants!" Heller explained.


    "According to your explanation, if I buried those fertilizers under other plants, the other plants would also grow pretty well. Although the species of the plant doesn''t change, its state of existence turns better!"


    "Yes!" Heller nodded.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "It turns out that we could gain better fertilizers for our farmland. What a surprise!"


    "Castle Lord, it would be too wasteful if you bury this fertilizer in the farmland. Because this material could be used for more advanced things!"


    "More advanced things?"


    "For instance, some special medicines or senior tea trees. Castle Lord, do you remember that you brought some tea seeds into Castle of Black Iron when you returned to Coiling Dragon Mountain, the hometown of Cui Li last time?"


    "Yes, I do!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    After having Castle of Black Iron, wherever he arrived, Zhang Tie had been used to bring new plant species into Castle of Black Iron, good or not. Last time, when he returned to Cui Li''s hometown, he teleported some tea seed into Castle of Black Iron.


    "Those tea seeds are just quality ones from Coiling Dragon Mountain. They''re not too expensive. After Castle Lord brought them into Castle of Black Iron, I''ve already had them mutate once. They became more unique. If Castle Lord took those mutated tea seeds out of Castle of Black Iron and cultivated them with this special fertilizer, this mutated tea leaf would definitely be distinctive in Taixia Country!"


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie became stunned. He had not imagined that Heller could breed a new tea leaf in Castle of Black Iron.


    Tea leaf was one of the most important commodities and living necessities in Taixia Country. Hua people in Taixia Country and rich people in other subcontinents both regarded drinking tea as a most elegant entertainment. Tea leaf trading was a very profitable business...


    Zhang Tie remembered that Barley the Fattie fetched some tea leaves which were treasured by them pretty much. When in Waii Subcontinent, elders of Huaiyuan Palace and mushrooms in Blackhot City were all the fans of tea leaves.


    Tea leaves like wild spring in Taixia Country would be even treasured by elders of Huaiyuan Palace. They would not waste any of them.


    When Zhang Tie was digesting Heller''s words, Aziz, Agan and Edward had pushed those demon knights out...


    At the sight of the exotic scenery in Castle of Black Iron, those black iron demon knights who had been knocked out and locked in the dungeon of Castle of Black Iron for a few days were all shocked or dumbfounded; they didn''t know why they were here and was confused about their location.


    The colorful cloud and exotic scenery over the immortal mountain, the palace tree and the bloody sacrifice furnace were all out of their imaginations.


    Whatever, these guys would become fertilizers soon, Zhang Tie didn''t care what they saw before they were killed.


    Heller''s words made Zhang Tie''s heart race. He felt that those trivial fertilizers might play a big role on the earth''s surface...


    ...


    6 black iron demon knights were pushed here by wheelbarrows. They were the achievements that Zhang Tie had made over the past one month.


    All of these guys wore restrictive equipment which were produced by Edward. The same restrictive equipment could make earth knights as tame as muppets, not to mention these black iron knights. After wearing the restrictive equipment, they immediately became fish on the chopping board.


    Most of these black iron knights didn''t have any response at the sight of the bloody sacrifice furnace except one of them, the very one who carried a space-teleportation equipment. At the sight of the bloody sacrifice furnace, it looked pretty scared. Closely after that, he twisted his body out of excitement as if it had known about his fate...

 1012 A Top Secre

    Chapter 1012: A Top Secret


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Besides recovering wounds, the bloody sacrifice furnace could also help people break through the bottleneck of their secret method and battle skills; especially the second function, which was very useful for everybody.


    As of now, the most profound battle skills that Zhang Tie cultivated were those secret battle skills in the Fire Dragon Sutra. Those demon knights being knocked out and caught alive became Zhang Tie''s precious resources to break through the bottleneck of his secret method and battle skills.


    Watching these sacrifices being pushed out, Zhang Tie didn''t waste time. Without communicating with those demon knights who were destined to be fertilizers, he directly came to the front of the altar and started the bloody sacrifice furnace right away. He intended to promote to a higher level in those battle skills of the Fire Dragon Sutra through the bloody sacrifice.


    After Zhang Tie started it, the vent of the bloody sacrifice furnace was opened while the terrifying black flames appeared in the furnace. The fierce flames seemed to be cold; however, they could burn everything. With the atmosphere of hell, the flames were like changing demon''s claws, which wanted to devour all the living beings. In a terrifying atmosphere, the vent was like an open gate of the hell.


    Even though those demon knights didn''t know what they were pushed here for, at the sight of the open bloody sacrifice furnace, they realized that they were destined to die miserably.


    However, they couldn''t resist at all; neither did their struggle work. They couldn''t even scream because they wore a muzzle.


    This method was always used for those untamed dangerous wild beasts.


    Those demon knights could only twist their bodies and struggle in vain while "wailing" mournfully.


    The first black iron demon knight was poured into the bloody sacrifice furnace like a rubbish by Edward. The moment it entered the black flame, it had disappeared. At the sight of this scene, all the other black iron demon knights were scared.


    The 2nd one, the 3rd one and the 4th one...


    Zhang Tie noticed that one of these demon knights was especially thrilled. When it was carried onto Edward''s wheelbarrow by Agan and Aziz, it started to struggle while the vessels on its neck bulged. It turned its head and goggled at Zhang Tie without even blinking its eyes while uttering a voice, "Wuhwuhwuhwuh" as if it wanted to say something to Zhang Tie...


    The earlier demon knights would exert their full efforts to struggle when being thrown into the bloody sacrifice furnace; however, they would not gaze at Zhang Tie in this way. Even though this demon knight was pushed forward, it still turned its head and kept gazing at Zhang Tie as if it had many words to say...


    Zhang Tie realized that this demon knight might want to say something to him.


    Therefore, he raised his hand when Edward pushed the wheelbarrow to the front of the bloody sacrifice furnace.


    Edward stopped at once as he looked at Zhang Tie.


    "Open its muzzle, I want to know what it wants to say!" Zhang Tie issued the order.


    After throwing a glance at that demon knight, Edward stretched out his hand and opened the demon knight''s muzzle.


    The muzzle looked a bit evil as was like a metal corncob with a base. The base sealed the demon knight''s mouth while that metal corncob directly stabbed into the demon knight''s mouth, making it unable to bite people.


    The moment the muzzle was opened, the demon knight had started to cough heavily while drooling...


    "I...I''m...a member of Augulas Clan...you...you cannot kill me..." The demon knight hurriedly revealed its status before wiping off its saliva as if it wanted to "frighten" Zhang Tie...


    Zhang Tie replied with a sneer, ''What motherf*cking Augulas Clan, is there anything to do with me? This guy wants to frighten me with this status? How naive it is!''


    After throwing another glance at the demon knight, Zhang Tie waved his hand and said, "Push it in..."


    Edward then kept pushing that guy towards the vent of the bloody sacrifice furnace...


    "Wait..." The demon knight shrieked at the crucial moment while its face completely twisted. It wanted to seize all the chances to survive on, "I''m useful for you if you keep me alive. Augulas Clan will trade with you for me..."


    ''What motherf*cking trade!'' Zhang Tie ignored it, so did Edward. When the wheelbarrow became vertical in front of the vent, that guy added, "I know who colludes with us among the Class I Hua officials in Taixia Country..."


    Before its life disappeared in the black flame, the demon knight screamed with a terrifying expression...


    After hearing the last sentence, Zhang Tie raised his hand to stop Edward.


    When a shrewd eye light flashed by, Zhang Tie asked, "What did you say?"


    "I know who colludes with us among the Class I Hua officials in Taixia Country..." That demon knight hurriedly added as if he was afraid of losing the last chance to speak.


    Zhang Tie had not seen any demon who was afraid of death; however, it was the instinct of all the intelligent lives by avoiding harms and going after gains so as to survive themselves. This law was even suitable for demons. Previously, Zhang Tie had not seen any demon who was afraid of death; whereas, it didn''t mean that no demon was afraid of death. Especially those demons, who had been used to privileges, drinks and beauties since young, was more afraid of death and treasured their lives more. This was the common point between humans and demons.


    At the critical moments, the most righteous ones were usually small figures; by contrast, those big figures only thought about surviving themselves. Such events had happened many times in the history of Hua people. A demon was acting it in front of Zhang Tie now. This phenomenon would not disappear in the future...


    Zhang Tie rolled his eyes before revealing a sneer, "Your joke is too awkward. Even if someone in the Class I officials of Taixia Country colludes with demons, how do you know such a top secret as a trivial black iron knight? If you want to survive longer by telling a lie in front of me, you have made a mistake. You have one minute to prove that you''re more useful to me when you''re alive than dead..." After saying that, Zhang Tie told Edward with a glassy-eyed look, "If I don''t let you stop 1 minute later, continue to throw this guy into the bloody sacrifice furnace!"


    "Yes, Castle Lord!"


    Zhang Tie only spared 1 minute for it to survive itself. After swallowing its saliva twice forcefully, the demon knight immediately poured out a long paragraph.


    "Augulas Clan is a prince''s clan which has a time-honored history. I''m a direct descendant of Augulas Clan. I''m the clan head of Augulas Clan; namely, the famous Augulas Prince is my grandpa. My grandpa participated in discussing the major events of demons as a whole. Before the 3rd holy war broke out, I had already promoted to a black iron knight. One day, I heard my grandpa chatting with an ambassador from the Demon God''s Hieron in the study. That ambassador told my grandpa that someone in the top 9 Hua chancellors in Taixia Country had been cooperating with us. Additionally, that guy had gained 1/4 of the remains of the Supreme Bloody Soul Sutra, the No. 1 treasure in the original Bloody Soul Temple of Hua people in Taixia Country from us. Oh, that guy seemed to be very interested in the Bloody Demon Imitation Method on the remains of the Supreme Bloody Soul Sutra..."


    The demon knight poured all of them without a breath. Hearing these words, Zhang Tie looked as glassy-eyed as before; however, his heart had raced.


    When the demon knight mentioned the "Bloody Demon Imitation Method", Zhang Tie felt being struck by a lightning bolt.


    The one who wanted to kill Zhang Tie by framing him, causing him to escape all the way here had mastered the so-called Bloody Demon Imitation Method.


    Zhang Tie fiercely gazed at this demon knight as he wanted to check whether this guy intended to induce him by the "Bloody Demon Imitation Method" on purpose. However, closely after that, Zhang Tie became clear-minded. Because Zhang Tie maintained the look of Gorath at this moment, even after staying in Castle of Black Iron for a few days, this guy could never know that he was Zhang Tie. Therefore, this guy didn''t mean to induce him with the "Bloody Demon Imitation Method"...


    ''Someone of the nine chancellors in Taixia Country has betrayed humans and cooperated with demons? What does he want to do? In that high position, if he wants to surrender to demons, he could easily bring a catastrophe to numerous people.''


    ''Additionally, since that man has mastered the bloody demon imitation method, he probably is the very person who framed me.''


    ''One of the nine chancellors of Taixia Country is a lackey of demons. The one who framed me is one of the nine chancellors of Taixia Country? If it''s real...'' Zhang Tie couldn''t help shivering all over due to excitement, causing goosebumps all over...


    Zhang Tie meditated it and almost forgot about time. When time was out, Edward was going to pour that guy into the bloody sacrifice furnace. Watching the pitch-dark flame in the bloody sacrifice furnace, the demon knight howled mournfully and almost cried its heart out.


    "Stop!" Zhang Tie uttered and finally saved that guy.


    "Do you know who''s that chancellor?" Zhang Tie asked with a calm look.


    "No, I don''t. The ambassador from the Demon God''s Hieron didn''t mention it. I heard about that by accident..." That guy hurriedly stammered after surviving itself.


    "What''s your name?"


    "Aquino!"


    ''Aquino, what the f*ck! It sounds so obscene!''


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie''s eyes flickered as he threw another glance at that demon knight and told Edward, "Take it away, it''s still useful to me. Continue to put it behind bars. Treat it a bit better!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    Edward replied and directly pushed the demon knight away.


    This was a major event. Before Zhang Tie accomplished his bloody sacrifice, he had frowned and asked Heller who was standing a few meters away with a serious look, "Was he telling the truth?"


    Heller replied with a solemn look or a glassy-eyed look, "I cannot answer you; neither could I make any judgment about it. Given the space-teleportation equipment which could even match that of the demon general in Waii Subcontinent and many senior items in the space-teleportation equipment, this guy definitely comes from a major clan among demons. Average black iron demon knights could never carry any space-teleportation equipment; especially on the battlefield. Therefore, its background should be real. When it spoke, although I couldn''t judge whether its words were real or not, given the levels of the secretions of its glands and indicators such as heartbeat, heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature, it could pass the test of lie detector which was invented by humans before the Catastrophe. However, lie detector does not always work as it will also become ineffective to people who are used to tell lies and have special psychological quality..."


    Heller''s answer was completely within Zhang Tie''s imagination. Although Heller''s words sounded meaningless, Zhang Tie had got the answer.


    ''Nobody knew that this demon knight would be captured alive by me. Additionally, this demon knight doesn''t know that I''m Zhang Tie. Therefore, it''s impossible for him to prepare those words. At the life or death situation, if that guy called Aquino could still survive himself by telling such a lie, it''s really a talent.''


    ''Lie detector? Even I don''t know about that thing, not to mention the demon knight. Additionally, given its look, I don''t think this guy''s psychological quality is powerful enough.''


    ''Therefore, that guy was probably telling the truth.''


    ''Pitifully, the mind reading skill in the Soul Forbidden Method is ineffective to demon knights; otherwise, I would know whether that guy was telling the truth or not right away.''


    Out of instinct, Zhang Tie felt that the demon knight might be useful to him in the future; No matter what, Zhang Tie didn''t believe that it could escape away from him in Castle of Black Iron.


    "One of nine chancellors in Taixia Country, a shadow knight..." Zhang Tie radiated a shrewd eye light as he felt thrilled unconsciously...


    This clue was very important for Zhang Tie. If he could prove that the demon knight didn''t tell him a lie, Zhang Tie could be rehabilitated and the truth of the tragedy in Fuhai City would be exposed to the public. After escaping 3 years, Zhang Tie finally got the most valuable information.


    However, it was very difficult for him to prove this information. Because none of the nine chancellors in Taixia Country were easily treated. Their overall strength, their powerful clans and their supreme powers were as formidable as overwhelming mountains.


    ...


    "Castle Lord, there''s one more, will we continue?" Aziz asked when he received no command from Zhang Tie.


    "Continue!"


    Zhang Tie took a deep breath as he told Aziz, Agan and Edward to continue.


    The last black iron demon knight was glaring at Aquino. Although it couldn''t speak, its eye light had killed Aquino many times. If it could move, this demon knight might have long charged at Aquino and broke Aquino''s neck by its teeth. However, facing the hell-like flames in the bloody sacrifice furnace, this demon knight also started to struggle...


    The struggle was useless. No demon knight could resist in this situation.


    The black flame soon devoured this demon knight. Closely after that, the joss''s eyes turned bright. According to Zhang Tie''s will, it covered Zhang Tie with its red light...


    Right in the exceptional warmth brought by the red light, Zhang felt unprecedented vacant while those battle skills of Fire Dragon Sutra automatically evolved in Zhang Tie''s mind and grew increasingly smoother...


    The bottlenecks of the battle skills leading to higher levels were broken in a split second...


    ...

 1013 Returning to Lion Fortress with a Bumper Harves

    Chapter 1013: Returning to Lion Fortress with a Bumper Harvest


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On July 9th, the 903th year of black iron calendar, over two months since the last collision between two large battle formations, the human''s battle fortress and the demon''s battle fortress hovering in the core of Tiewei Mountain started to slowly evacuate under the protection of their own large battle formation of over 10,000 knights respectively almost at the same time...


    When the two large battle formations started to evacuate, Gorath had just knocked out a battle spirit-level spider demon and thrown it into Castle of Black Iron like teleporting a booty in a messy deep mining trench over 70 miles away from the demon''s battle fortress.


    The moment the demon battle fortress moved, Zhang Tie had flown off the mining trench which had been deserted for many years and landed on a small hill. After that, he looked up at the floating demon''s battle fortress.


    Although being over 70 miles away, Zhang Tie could still see clearly the movements of the demon''s battle fortress with his flickering lotus-flower eyes through the dense black mist.


    Floating in the air, the demon''s battle fortress was like a beehive-sized malignant tumor. Being covered with many accesses, it felt pretty chilly while slowly evacuating under the protection of the demon''s large battle formation.


    ''Has the first large-scale battle between human knights and demon knights which broke out since the holy war come to an end?''


    In the latest half a month, as the frequency of collisions between knights above earth level of both parties in the core decreased, fewer and fewer land forces appeared. Therefore, Zhang Tie guessed that the earth-element reserves here might have been fully exploited and both parties were preparing to evacuate.


    As expected, both parties left this battlefield almost at the same time today.


    As the battle fortress of both parties slowly evacuated, some dependent battle qi smokes and tornadoes also separated from each other and slowly evacuated with their own battle fortress and large battle formation...


    Before coming here, Zhang Tie was thinking about getting some earth-element crystals here; however, after arriving here, Zhang Tie knew that it was impossible. Because both humans and demons had dispatched more than one shadow knight to prevent from being raided by the opposite shadow knights even heavenly knights. In this situation, it was unrealistic for an earth knight to do anything in the defensive area arranged by the shadow knights or heavenly knights. Little profit, big risk! Therefore, Zhang Tie gave it up.


    However, although he didn''t gain any earth-element crystal, he also made a great achievement on the battlefield.


    Watching the two battle fortresses leaving, Zhang Tie felt a bit regretful inside.


    If this large-scale battle lasted two more months, he would make a bigger achievement.


    At this moment, a weird figure appeared in the dark mist over dozens of miles away and moved along a strange route as fast as a lightning bolt. It was flying towards Zhang Tie as if it was searching for something. Zhang Tie turned around while flickering his eyes. Closely after that, he returned to the mining trench rapidly. After a few seconds, a little black beetle flew off towards the human''s battle fortress...


    After a few minutes, that weird figure finally arrived at the place where Zhang Tie was just now.


    That was an iron-armored shadow demon knight. The moment it arrived, a large area of black mist in the surroundings had rolled away.


    There was some fresh blood on the ground of the mining trench, which was left by the spider demon which had just been knocked out by Zhang Tie.


    Squatting down in front of the blood, the shadow demon knight rubbed it by its fingers. Closely after that, a shrewd light flashed by its eyes. After checking the surrounding environment, it hatched a soul-chasing butterfly at the fastest speed...


    However, the soul-chasing butterfly kept flying around here like a donkey that pulled a millstone.


    Two minutes later, the shadow demon knight roared and shattered the soul-chasing butterfly. After that, the shadow demon knight looked around this place before throwing a glance at the human''s battle fortress. Closely after that, it flew towards the demon''s battle fortress...


    The first wrestle between Zhang Tie and a shadow demon knight in the Earth-elements Realm came to an end...


    ...


    In the highest tower of the human''s battle fortress, Du Guyi was standing alone like a forceful mountain peak as he was watching the demon''s battle fortress silently with rising flames in his eyes...


    "In this large-scale battle, we lost 2147 knights in total, which included 2019 black iron knights and 128 earth knights. Two shadow knights were injured. 18% of the total participants were dead. 73% of the late knights were Hua knights from Taixia Country, the rest 27% came from other continents. Additionally, 31 knights have disappeared after the battle, including 2 earth knights. In the rear battlefield of the battle fortress, we lost about 400 Class II garrison knights and over 20,000 auxiliary fighters and logistical personnel..."


    A person reported in a muffled voice behind the demon suppression general. When it came to the casualties, the voice turned more muffled.


    Hearing those figures, the rising flames in Du Guyi''s eyes turned dimmer abruptly. This large-scale battle between human knights and demon knights in the Earth-element Realm was the fiercest collision between humans and demons since the 3rd holy war broke out. Over 1,500 most excellent Hua knights were sacrificed. Such a great loss could not be shouldered by other countries in the world besides Hua. Additionally, in this large-scale battle, Hua people made the greatest sacrifice since the end of the 2nd holy war in order to resist demons. Even though, they had to fight; if not, the demons would grow stronger...


    However, this was just a beginning, in some specific stages in the future, large-scale battles between human knights and demon knights would break out too. More and more human knights would die on the battlefields for the well-being of humans.


    After hearing those figures, Due Guyi became silent for a minute...


    "How about the demons?" The demon suppression general asked in a faintly hoarse voice.


    "Demons suffered a greater loss than us. According to the verified military exploits, we''ve killed 2541 demon knights in total through the face-to-face collision between human''s large formation and demon''s large formation under your leadership, 157 of them were earth demon knights. Additionally, some demon knights are still missing and unidentifiable. In the rear battlefield, demons broke even with us. And, demons even lost a very rare earth-level shadow demon. Additionally, demons lost about 30,000 ground fighters..." After replying that, the reporter took in a deep breath before adding, "Lord, we''ve...tried our best, everyone has exerted their full efforts!"


    ''Yes, we''ve exerted our full efforts. After sacrificing so many knights, of course, we''ve exerted our full efforts!''


    Du Guyi let out a sigh inside.


    After that, the demon suppression general closed his eyes. After a short while, he opened his eyes once again while the rising flames in his eyes had gone out. His eyes recovered absolutely icy and calm.


    "Deliver the name-list of sacrificed knights and fighters on different levels to the Supreme Military Department and tell them to make proper arrangements about the sacrificed knights and fighters according to the relevant regulations!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Let''s return to the Lion Fortress!"


    After saying the last words, the demon suppression general threw a glance at the direction where the demon''s battle fortress was leaving for before going downstairs the highest tower...


    ...


    On July 12th, three floating battle fortresses returned to the Lion Fortress. Those who survived this battle were indulged in ecstasy at once, knights or common ground forces. Since July 13th, the streets in Lion Fortress had been covered with ecstatic fighters while the special odor of watermelon liquor filled the entire Lion Fortress...


    According to the official declaration in the Lion Fortress and the entire human world, humans made a big victory while the human fighters accomplished the task perfectly.


    Through the large-scale battle between humans and demons in Tiewei Mountain, human knights had destroyed the plan of demons about occupying all the earth-element crystals, which were an important strategic resource by successfully grabbing almost half of the total earth-element reserves in the core of Tiewei Mountain, namely, over 2 million high-quality earth-element crystals, although at the cost of over 2,000 human knights'' lives. Additionally, they killed over 3,000 demon knights and over 50,000 ground demon fighters...


    Only some top rulers in the Lion Fortress knew the real figures on the battlefield. In order to pluck up fighters'' courage, the propaganda department in the Lion Fortress exaggerated the military exploits purposefully and depicted the large-scale battle in Tiewei Mountain as a great victory of humans in the Earth-elements Realm. According to the propaganda, the first fiercest collision between the most powerful human force and the most powerful demon force ended up with humans'' victory.


    Such a propaganda was very inspiring and could strengthen humans'' belief in resisting demons. Even those human fighters who were in subcontinents and continents instead of the Earth-elements Realm were greatly inspired by the news about the large-scale battle in Tiewei Mountain after clicking the eye-catching title on the home page of the forum in the Mountain of Brightness as long as they had knights'' crystal plates.


    The battlefield of propaganda was also the most important branch of the battlefield in the holy war. Even before the Catastrophe, the importance of propaganda had been well known by human decision-makers such as generals. To a certain extent, all the battles would be determined on the battle will, decisiveness and morale in the end. The party whose battle will weakened first would collapse first on the battlefield...


    When the entire Lion Fortress was in a carnival, Zhang Tie, after leaving the Lion Fortress over 3 years, returned to the Lion Fortress on July 14th...

 1014 Re-encountering Comrades-in-Arms

    Chapter 1014: Re-encountering Comrades-in-Arms


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After over 3 years, the Lion Fortress remained unchanged. If not the three floating battle fortresses which seemed to carry the bloody qi of battle, perhaps nobody could find that many human knights in the Lion Fortress had just experienced a large-scale battle with demon knights.


    Zhang Tie recovered Cui Li''s look and entered the Lion Fortress smoothly and frankly.


    Although those at the gate the Lion Fortress were still Hua knights, they looked strange. None of them were familiar with Zhang Tie. Given their solemn young looks and uniforms, Zhang Tie knew that they had just come to the Earth-elements Realm.


    Those who had just come to the Earth-elements Realm acted like newbies in troops as they would do everything strictly according to the regulations.


    Over 3 years, especially after experiencing many combats and killing about a half dozen of earth demon knights, Zhang Tie unconsciously felt like a distant and experienced veteran.


    "That one looks like an earth knight."


    "Ahh, he''s too young..."


    "He might be a powerhouse from the top seven clans in Taixia Country!"


    "This man has a sharp killing qi which couldn''t be formed without rich battle experience. Perhaps, he has just come back from Tiewei Mountain..."


    "Ahh, black iron knight, impossible!"


    Zhang Tie swiped his identity card on the machine at the gate of Lion Fortress before entering it.


    Zhang Tie entered the Lion Fortress with the black iron identity card that he used to access the knight''s tower previously. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s identity card, those knights at the gate were not sure whether Zhang Tie was a black iron knight or an earth knight.


    ...


    The entire fortress was filled with the special odor of watermelon liquor.


    On the streets of the Lion Fortress, Zhang Tie saw many drunk knights and auxiliary fighters lying on the roadsides.


    Zhang Tie didn''t ridicule these people because he knew what those people who survived back from the battlefield were thinking about. After being extremely depressed and intense, they had to release their pressure by carnival and liquor.


    The watermelon liquor didn''t have a high degree; however, when Zhang Tie arrived at the Lion Fortress for the first time, he had known that some knights made a set of simple distillation equipment, making the degree of watermelon liquor close to that of alcohol, which would taste cool for many knights.


    In the Lion Fortress, watermelon liquor being brewed with grains was also an important resource, which was forbidden being "squandered". Except for this situation, after the large-scale battle, the odor of watermelon liquor filling the Lion Fortress indicated that the regulations in Lion Fortress were very human-friendly.


    Besides the sharp difference in overall strength, most of the knights would also feel happy, angry, sad or joyous like commoners.


    The entire Lion Fortress was in a carnival.


    Some people were kissing while some burst out into laughter after being drunk...


    At this moment, pleasure and sadness were as dense as the black mist in the first abyss. Even Zhang Tie was a bit affected by the ecstatic atmosphere across the Lion Fortress.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t know about the concrete casualties of both parties after this large-scale battle, he understood that the casualties of knights on both parties were definitely large after such a fierce collision between the top forces of humans and demons after fighting as a guerrilla in the battlefield for such a long time. Each party must have suffered a great loss. As the large-scale battle had just come to an end, both parties needed to make a conclusion and recover their forces. Therefore, humans and demons would recover their statement state in the Earth-elements Realm and the first abyss; a large-scale battle would not break out in a couple of years. Both parties would transfer their main battlefield to the earth''s surface.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie was ready for returning to the earth''s surface.


    However, before returning to the earth''s surface, he needed to return to the Lion Fortress to submit his military exploits.


    The moment he thought about returning to the earth''s surface, Zhang Tie remembered the news that he heard from demons on the battlefield a few months ago¡ª¡ªEmperor Xuanyuan was missing!


    Zhang Tie wanted to go to the Tower of Brilliance first.


    After leaving Black Armor Battlefortress a few months, it was unreasonable if he didn''t make any military exploit. Therefore, Zhang Tie prepared a military exploit for Cui Li¡ª¡ªan ox-headed earth demon''s horn and the hardest protective scale on the chest of a black iron demon knight.


    Actually, Zhang Tie had more certificates for killing earth demon knights in Castle of Black Iron. However, if he presented them all, he would push Cui Li to the teeth of the storm. That would not be good for Cui Li. As Cui Li had killed an earth shadow demon, if he killed one more earth demon knight and one black iron knight, he would also win many earth knights'' respect in the Lion Fortress and lay his solid foundation as a powerhouse among the human earth knights. Going beyond the limit was as bad as falling short.


    The moment Zhang Tie turned a corner, he had caught sight of two familiar people.


    Bolam and Cecilia were kissing beside a parterre on the roadside. Therefore, they didn''t see Cui Li who had just turned to this street.


    Zhang Tie was about 100 m away from them. As there were many knights in the Lion Fortress, the two people didn''t notice this tough man at the corner.


    Bolam had lost one arm; therefore, he could only put the remaining arm around Cecilia''s waist when he kissed Cecilia.


    When their lips separated, Bolam directly knelt down in front of the female knight on one knee as he pulled Cecilia''s hand and watched this strong and beautiful female knight with a pair of soulful eyes, "Marry me, although I only have one hand, as long as I''m alive, I will protect you with this hand till the end of the world. Unless I die in front of you, nobody could harm you."


    Watching this man who used to be silent and protected her at the risk of his life at the critical moment, Cecilia burst into tears as she nodded silently.


    At the sight of this scene, those who were drinking on the roadside couldn''t stand cheering up.


    Sudden wealth might cause an old couple to divorce; however, after experiencing a life or death situation, two people who had not fallen in love with each other might determine to get married.


    With a bottle of liquor in hand, Filton wobbly walked out of the pub on the roadside as he pointed at Bolam who had a big smile and said, "You...this guy...I have...long discovered that you liked Cecilia, right..."


    Bolam who used to be silent replied with a simple and honest smile. Cecilia threw a glance at him before firmly holding his only hand.


    Filton stomped to the ground and thumped his chest before sighing with emotions, "You''ve picked the flower of knights in Francia Empire, what will our knights from Western Continent do?"


    "There''s regeneration medicament in Lion Fortress; as long as we serve here a few more years and accumulate enough meritorious points, we will cure your wound for sure!" Cecilia said as she looked Bolam in his eyes. Although being a female knight, Cecilia was very decisive.


    The moment Bolam wanted to say something, he widely opened his eyes at once. Because he saw a bald-headed tough man walking towards them with a sincere smile.


    "Cui Li..." Bolam cried.


    Filton and Cecilia turned around and saw Zhang Tie at the same time.


    "Ahh, it''s really Cui Li..." Cecilia became startled.


    Filton who looked a bit drunk just now directly rushed towards Zhang Tie like a lightning bolt.


    "Hahahaha..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he gave a bearhug to Filton, "Filton, long time no see!"


    Filton was very thrilled as he forcefully thumped Zhang Tie''s chest and shoulders and uttered disorderly, "When we arrived at the Lion Fortress, we heard that you were alive. Oh my god! They say you''ve killed a very tricky earth-level shadow demon knight and gained the most brilliant reward in Tiewei Mountain Theater of Operations...That''s unbelievable. You''ve promoted to an earth knight?"


    "Yes, I survived myself in the hieron ruins by chance. Additionally, I promoted to an earth knight!" Zhang Tie also patted Filton''s shoulders as he opened his arms and gave a bearhug to Bolam who only had his left hand. After that, he separated from Bolam and faintly frowned at the sight of his missing right arm, "Bolam, what''s wrong with your right arm?"


    "When the human''s large formation collided the demon''s large formation in Tiewei Mountain, we broke off from the human''s large formation. At the crucial moment, in order to save Cecilia, Bolam''s right arm was shattered by the demon''s large formation in a split second..." Filton who was a bit talkative replied on behalf of Bolam, "However, Bolam gained the flower of knights in Francia Empire as a compensation..."


    After hearing Filton''s explanation, Zhang Tie knew that Filton, Bolam and Cecilia were in the human''s large formation when the collision occurred and he was trapping demon knights. They were really fortunate to survive that collision. However, Bolam had paid a lot in order to survive himself and Cecilia.


    "It''s my pleasure to see you. It''s the best news that you could come back alive since we returned to the Lion Fortress !"


    Compared to Filton and Bolam, Cecilia acted a bit more reserved in front of Zhang Tie...

 1015 A Bright Future and A Good Reputation

    Chapter 1015: A Bright Future and A Good Reputation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After departing for 3 years, the four people felt like having a lot of words to say; however, they didn''t know from where to start.


    As for the fact that Zhang Tie had promoted to an earth knight, although Filton, Cecilia and Bolam felt amazed, they thought it was reasonable. Because when Zhang Tie stayed with them in the hieron ruins, his performance was far better than them. Even Mountain Lifting Hermit praised him. Additionally, Zhang Tie had killed Old Monster Qi in the hieron ruins. Although only Zhang Tie himself knew the reason, it was not too overwhelming for a black iron knight who had killed an earth knight to promote to an earth knight.


    Zhang Tie explained to them what he had experienced in the hieron ruins which shocked them too much.


    After a short dialogue, Zhang Tie suddenly asked, "Oh, how about other guys in our team since they left the hieron ruins?"


    "Mountain Lifting Hermit has returned to the earth''s surface. It''s said that he needed rehabilitation. As he has been severely wounded, he would barely recover in a short period. The couple of Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi gained a silver secret item in the Weapons Mountain. They might have returned to the earth''s surface. As for the others, after coming back to the Lion Fortress, they all minded their own businesses and barely connected with us. Some of them have returned to the earth''s surface, some are still wandering in the Earth-elements Realm. Oh, do you remember Yang Zhenjun, the elder of Yang Clan in Military Province in Taixia Country?" Filton''s voice suddenly turned depressed as he revealed a sad look, "Half a year ago, in the large-scale collision between human knights and demon knights in Tiewei Mountain, he was killed. After breaking off from the human''s large formation, he was covered by the dense strikes of the demon''s large formation, leaving nothing at all..."


    This Yang elder didn''t leave a deep impression in Zhang Tie''s mind. In Zhang Tie''s memory, Yang Zhenjun looked a bit old and was always solemn; however, he did things very carefully. Zhang Tie just had a nodding acquaintance with him. Yang Zhenjun also intended to find a silver secret item for Yang Clan in the heiron ruins so as to increase Yang Clan''s overall strength.


    After hearing that a familiar person was killed in Tiewei Mountain, Zhang Tie felt sad inside too.


    This Yang elder might have not gained anything in the hieron''s ruins; however, he sacrificed in the later large-scale battle between human knights and demon knights in Tiewei Mountain.


    Zhang Tie knew that clans which only had a few cities like Yang clan might merely have a couple of knights. After losing one black iron elder, their clan''s overall battle strength would be weakened greatly, which definitely impacted the destiny of their clan. The sacrifice of Taixia Country in the holy war was composed of the sacrifices of thousands of clans like the Yang clan. At this moment, although the Lion Fortress was celebrating the victory of the large-scale battle between humans and demons in the core of Tiewei Mountain, many clans which had sacrificed their clan knights were pretty sad on the earth''s surface.


    Finding that Zhang Tie was losing his smile, Filton shifted to another topic, "Oh, where are you going?"


    "I''m going to the tower of brilliance to submit my military exploits!" Zhang Tie replied as he threw a glance at Bolam''s broken right arm silently.


    "After you submit your military exploits in the tower of brilliance, let''s meet in the knight''s bar. After experiencing this large-scale battle, we three are ready to leave Lion Fortress for the Western Continent. We''ve received the remote-sensing news from the Grims Republic yesterday. After confirming that I''m still alive, the national defense department summoned me back. Our republic is preparing to establish some new corps. I will be responsible for a new corps. In the following few years, the warfare in the Western Continent might be very intense. A batch of knights with rich battle experience was required to stabilize the battle situation over there!"


    Many knights came to Earth-elements Realm and Lion Fortress from the Western Continent out of specific purposes. Common fighters in the Western Continent might not have a chance to see the most brutal combats between humans and demons. However, as knights who ruled the entire corps, they had to have a clear understanding about that. The moment the large-scale battle in Tiewei Mountain came to an end, these knights who survived the battle would become bestsellers. In the next a few years, the battle situation on the earth''s surface might be intense. Therefore, a lot of knights were recruited back from the Earth-elements Realm to the Western Continent and other subcontinents. At the same time, another batch of newbies would arrive at the Earth-elements Realm for training. Therefore, the Lion Fortress served as the frontline of humans in the Earth-elements Realm and the furnace for training human knights.


    The holy war had just broken out; it would last long.


    When Filton told Zhang Tie, Cecilia suddenly pressed her hand onto her finger ring as her face slowly turned weird even a bit bad.


    "What''s wrong?" Bolam asked her out of concern.


    "I''ve just received a remote-sensing news from my clan. My father wants me to return to Francia Empire as soon as possible..." Cecilia answered bitterly as she threw an embarrassed glance at Bolam, "If we go back now, what about your hand..."


    Bolam revealed a smile, "Never mind, I will go back with you. Hopefully, your clan doesn''t blame you for bringing back a disabled knight. As for the regeneration medicament, let''s talk about it later..."


    "I''m preparing for returning to the earth''s surface too. Now that we all prepare to leave, let''s go back and prepare our belongings first. See you later!" Zhang Tie said.


    "Sure!"


    Zhang Tie patted Bolam''s right shoulder as he nodded and accelerated towards the tower of brilliance.


    Until Zhang Tie walked away did Filton muttered as he watched Zhang Tie''s back, "I''ve not imagined that... Cui Li...has promoted to an earth knight. If he was in the Western Continent, he had been a commander of a theater of operations and we would have to follow his order..."


    "Even in Taixia Country, an earth knight could also become a provincial governor. It''s said that he was rewarded with a large area of land..."


    "Bolam, are you jealous?" Filton watched Bolam in a joking manner.


    Bolam shook his head solemnly, "No, I might be jealous of others; however, Cui Li is a real noble knight. I cannot envy a person with noble morality. I just feel happy for him and treat him as my role model!"


    ...


    The tower of brilliance was very boisterous. After the large-scale battle in Tiewei Mountain came to an end, a lot of Class II garrison knights returned to the Lion Fortress, making the lobby of the tower of brilliance bustling.


    Being different than the first time when he came here, this time, the moment Zhang Tie entered the lobby of the tower of brilliance, he had been recognized by a lot of knights whom he had met in the Black Armor Battlefortress.


    "Look, he''s Cui Li..."


    "Did he kill that earth shadow demon?"


    "Right!"


    "Powerhouse..."


    "Is this Cui Li the extremely righteous one in Yongzhou Province?"


    "Right..."


    "Over 700 square miles'' bounty land and 10 cities. What a great reward! With such rich resources, an earth knight would be able to establish a powerful clan immediately!"


    Besides various eye lights, Zhang Tie heard many whispers.


    Some eye lights were awe-stricken, some were admirable; of course, some were jealous too. What a great reward! As this great reward was selected from a lot of blocks, especially in Taixia Country, of course, some would envy him.


    At the sight of that familiar old man, Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he walked over there.


    Hearing those discussions, Zhang Tie felt happy inside. He knew that he had reached his target. Cui Li, at this moment, was not a trivial figure in the Lion Fortress anymore. After being famous across the Lion Fortress, he would have a very good reputation among all the human knights. The good reputation was what he demanded urgently.


    "I''ve not imagined that you could come back!" That old man looked at Zhang Tie from head to toe as he continued, "I thought you''ve been to other places away from the periphery of Tiewei Mountain after leaving Black Armor Battlefortress, have you made any military exploit?"


    "As the others are fighting demons in the frontline, how could I leave?" Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he teleported his identity plate, a pair of horns of an ox-headed demon and a protective scale of an iron-armored black iron demon from Castle of Black Iron onto the counter.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s military exploits, many onlookers took in a deep breath as they had not imagined that Cui Li could kill another earth demon knight, plus that earth shadow demon, Cui Li had killed two earth demon knights in the large-scale battle in Tiewei Mountain.


    ''Powerhouse! What a powerhosue!''


    Those people who were looking at Zhang Tie with jealous eye lights just now felt their hearts racing at once as they immediately changed their eye lights. Those with a good reputation would definitely not be average. Cui Li definitely killed that earth shadow demon by his real battle strength and intelligence.


    "Ahh, another earth demon knight..."


    At the sight of the color of the pair of ox horns which indicated the identity of the ox-headed demon, the old man immediately charged at it. After looking over it in his hand and picking that protective scale of an iron-armored demon, the old man constantly nodded and praised, "Not bad, not bad, two more demons, I find that I like you more and more..."


    "Don''t, this Cui has a normal gender orientation. If you were a watery young sister, I could consider it!"


    "Hahaha..." The old man burst out into laughter as he said, "You can exchange for more meritorious points this time. What else do you want? If you want something, I can give you a discount..."


    "I remember that the meritorious points for killing an earth knight could be exchanged for one vial of regeneration medicament?"


    "That''s true. Do you want one?"


    "Give me one!" Zhang Tie smiled.


    "It''s a good choice by preparing a vial of regeneration medicament in case of accidents!" The old man commented. After that, he told Zhang Tie to wait for a short while before walking into the room behind him. After half a minute, he came out with a crystal case, "Here you go, this is the regeneration medicament. It''s very precious. When you don''t use it, you''d better seal it in the crystal case. If not, its effect would decline sharply..."


    "I see, thanks!" Zhang Tie put away the crystal case in his portable space-teleportation equipment. The moment he wanted to leave, he heard a louder uproar. Zhang Tie turned around and saw Feng Yexiao entered the lobby with his team members of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. As a shadow knight, Feng Yexiao had a powerful qi field. The moment he entered, he had started to look around with his sharp eyes. As a result, all the knights gave a way to Feng Yexiao automatically...


    "Brat, hurry up, go..." The old man behind him warned Zhang Tie in a low voice rapidly...


    After hearing this old man''s warning, Zhang Tie became faintly stunned, ''Hurry up? Go? Why?''


    Although Feng Yexiao had a very powerful qi field, Zhang Tie only had Lan Yunxi in his eyes.


    Lan Yunxi was walking in the team quietly as brilliant as before. Besides Zhang Tie, many knights in the lobby were looking Lan Yunxi up and down silently.


    As many people were looking at Lan Yunxi, Zhang Tie''s movement became less eye-catching.


    When Zhang Tie gazed at Lan Yunxi for a few seconds, Feng Yexiao immediately moved his sharp eye light onto Zhang Tie...

 1016 Trouble

    Chapter 1016: Trouble


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Cui Li''s look was his signboard. A tower-like figure, a bald head which was full of killing qi, plus the overall strength of an earth knight, very few earth Hua knights in the Lion Fortress could be as distinctive as Cui Li.


    Cui Li had been well-known in the Black Armor Battlefortress. Even though those who had not seen him before would be able to guess that he was Cui Li after listening to others'' description about his look.


    Moreover, the evidence that Cui Li killed another earth demon knight was right on the counter in front of him.


    When Feng Yexiao was gazing at him, Zhang Tie felt that Feng Yexiao was not kind to him; however, he didn''t understand why Feng Yexiao disliked him.


    ''Does he know the love affairs between Lan Yunxi and me? No way! Even Lan Yunxi does not know that I''m Zhang Tie. How could he know that?''


    When Zhang Tie was making blind and disorderly conjectures, he felt that it was unnecessary for him to collide with Taiyi Fantasy Sect. ''No matter how Feng Yexiao glared at me, I will not lose a hair. Whatever!''


    ''Is this old guy jealous about my handsome look? Hahahahaha...''


    When Zhang Tie thought about this, he glanced at Lan Yunxi for a few times before curling his lip and responding to the old guy behind the counter. After that, he put away the regeneration medicament into his portable space-teleportation equipment and was going to leave the lobby of the tower of brilliance.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s portable space-teleportation equipment, Feng Yexiao''s eyes flickered once again.


    "Feng Yexiao is here to kill that earth-level shadow demon knight so as to increase his reputation in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. You grabbed his reputation; therefore, you need to be careful with him. This guy is very narrow-minded..."


    A sound drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears.


    Zhang Tie''s doubt cleared right away.


    Feng Yexiao walked towards Zhang Tie, followed by his team members of Taiyi Fantasy Sect while Zhang Tie walked towards him frankly. If there was no accident, Zhang Tie and Feng Cangwu would just pass by each other instead of colliding with each other like passing a single-plank bridge in the middle of the lobby of tower of brilliance.


    However, the accident happened.


    When Zhang Tie was a few meters away from the team of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Feng Yexiao ahead of the team suddenly stopped as he slightly raised his head and asked Zhang Tie with an arrogant look, "You''re Cui Li?"


    The moment Feng Yexiao stopped, all the other team members stopped too. After hearing Feng Yexiao''s question, the entire lobby of the tower of brilliance became quiet.


    Both Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Cui Li were tricky. Taiyi Fantasy Sect was deep-rooted in Taixia Country while Cui Li was well-known in Black Armor Battlefortress due to his great military exploits. Therefore, when the elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect uttered and both parties stopped, they had felt that something was going to happen.


    Zhang Tie faintly frowned. Although he didn''t like to stir up trouble, he was never afraid of trouble. The moment Feng Yexiao uttered, Zhang Tie had felt that Feng Yexiao was not kind and was going to find him trouble.


    ''F*ck.'' Zhang Tie swore inside.


    "Hahahaha, yup, I''m the tall, handsome, extremely righteous and fortunate Cui Li from Yongzhou Province who has killed the earth-level shadow demon knight. Alas, the moment one became famous, he would have familiar ones no matter where he was!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile although he swore inside. At the same time, he directly waved his arm in the air and took a pen out of his portable space-teleportation equipment, "Old man, I''m in a hurry. If you want my signature, just tell me where to sign it. I will satisfy you today!"


    "Pufft..." The old man who was drinking tea water and going to look on spurted out a mouthful of tea water and started to cough heavily when he heard Zhang Tie''s words.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the knights in the tower of brilliance who paid attention to them looked weird. Many people''s faces turned red at once. Some of them burst out into laughter although they hurriedly bore it.


    ''It''s not wise for me to offend Taiyi Fantasy Sect at this moment.''


    Feng Yexiao''s poker face turned black immediately while the blood vessels on his two temples started to jump. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Feng Yexiao was almost driven mad.


    Previously, Feng Yexiao disliked Zhang Tie. Now, he started to hate Zhang Tie.


    "B*stard, I''m Feng Yexiao from Taiyi Fantasy Sect!" Feng Yexiao controlled his fury as he told Zhang Tie about his background.


    "Ahh, you don''t want my signature!" Zhang Tie stroked his bald head as he waved his hand and put away his pen. After that, his face turned a bit solemn. Gazing at Feng Yexiao, Zhang Tie said, "I have not stirred up, neither did I dig your ancestral tombs nor sleep with your wife. I''ve not owed you money either. Why do you swear me? Didn''t your master teach you the basic manners?"


    "Audacious!" A young knight behind Feng Yexiao jumped out immediately before Feng Yexiao replied as he pointed at Zhang Tie seriously, "How dare you treat Elder Feng so rudely? Hurry up, apologize to Elder Feng!"


    "Pah..." Zhang Tie directly spat towards him as he pointed at that young knight with his turnip-sized finger in a disdainful look, "This old guy called Feng Yexiao swore me; why do I apologize to him? Do you think I''m afraid of you because you outnumber me? This f*ther could even make a massacre in the demon''s large formation of over 10,000 knights in Tiewei Mountain, do you think I''m afraid of you?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the disciples of Taiyi Fantasy Sect changed their faces at once. Some of them had put their hands on the handles of their swords and sabers; except for Lan Yunxi who just watched Zhang Tie quietly with a faintly absent-minded look.


    Cui Li reminded Lan Yunxi of Zhang Tie unconsciously.


    Zhang Tie excelled at such a zig-zagging diction. However, Lan Yunxi was not sure whether Cui Li was really foolish or not. Of course, Lan Yunxi could not imagine that Cui Li was Zhang Tie.


    At the sight of the faintly absent-minded look of Lan Yunxi, Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he sighed with emotions inside, ''Women''s intuition is too terrifying.''


    Feng Yexiao sneered as he raised his arm to calm down his disciples of Taiyi Fantasy Sect before saying, "So what? Do you want to pass by me pretending to be an idiot? That''s too naive. This old man has lived over 200 years. I''ve seen all sorts of people. If you don''t tell me about the relationship between you and Zhao Yuan the Alchemist Monster, you cannot leave. If there''s really any relationship between you and Zhao Yuan, I will not only swear you. This day next year will be your anniversary of death."


    The last words of Zhao Yuan were full of killing intent.


    The name Zhao Yuan the Alchemist Monster might be a magic. The moment Feng Yexiao said it, the uproar and weird atmosphere in the lobby of the tower of brilliance was frozen at once.


    Everybody in the world knew the conflict between Zhao Yuan the Alchemist Monster and Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    "Zhao Yuan the Alchemist Monster?" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "Are you the motherf*cking framing me? How could you fabricate such a lie? You the old b*stard called Feng Yexiao, right? Did you come to the Tiewei Mountain to kill that earth-level shadow demon knight for glory? Pitifully, that earth-level shadow demon knight has been killed by this Cui. This Cui has received the reward. Do you envy me for grabbing your glory or having your daughter? Why don''t you the motherf*cker go fight a shadow demon knight? Are you not feeling ashamed by framing this Cui and pretending like you''re something?"


    "I was told that you had promoted to an earth knight from a black iron knight only after staying with an earth demon knight in the hieron ruins a couple of years. Only Zhao Yuan the Alchemist Monster could absorb others'' chakras and promote to a higher level in a short period in his sorcery purgatory samsara. If you don''t have learned Zhao Yuan''s sorcery, how could you promote to an earth knight in only a couple of years?" Feng Yexiao said with a strong killing intent as he approached Zhang Tie and gazed at Zhang Tie''s face like an eagle or wolf who was hunting a prey.


    A storm seemed to blow over the lobby of tower of brilliance. The other knights who didn''t know Zhao Yuan the Alchemist Monster were shocked by Feng Yexiao''s words too, ''Yea, how could Cui Li promote to an earth knight only after staying in the hieron ruins for a couple of years? Did he really learn the secret method of Zhao Yuan the Alchemist Monster?''


    None of them had imagined that they could hear such an amazing news and experience such a wonderful scene in the lobby of tower of brilliance. Therefore, they just held their breath and watched the drama.


    "It turns out that Taiyi Fantasy Sect which ranks first among the top seven clans in Taixia Country are as narrow-minded as frogs in the well!" Zhang Tie watched Feng Yexiao with a disdainful look as he crossed his arms, "There''re so many secret methods in the world. You know that Zhao Yuan the Alchemist Monster could absorb others'' chakras in purgatory samsara and promote to a higher level rapidly. However, do you really think that it''s the only secret method in the world that could help people promote to a higher level in a short period? Who could fully tap the secrets and potentials of human bodies? Due to good lucks, I promoted to an earth knight in a few years. But it has nothing to do with you. Where''s the source of the purgatory samsara? In the far-ancient times, there were thousands of cultivation methods. Do you think that you know all of them?" Zhang Tie asked in reply.


    Zhang Tie''s words shocked all the onlookers like a spring thunder that they saw sparkles flying in front of their eyes.


    All the knights at present had a question inside, ''Did...Cui Li from Yongzhou Province really learn a secret method that could match the Alchemist Monster''s Purgatory Samsara Method by accident?''

 1017 Winning a Be

    Chapter 1017: Winning a Bet


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "You mean you promoted to an earth knight in a couple of years by a secret method?"


    "Of course, besides me, nobody else in the world could master that secret method!"


    "What''s that secret method?"


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "My secret method has nothing to do with your Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Although Taiyi Fantasy Sect is powerful, it has nothing to do with me, either. I will not tell you about that, so what?"


    Feng Yexiao replied with a sneer in an extremely domineering manner as if he had seen through everything, "Do you think that the secret methods that could help knights rapidly form chakras are as many as white cabbages? Taiyi Fantasy Sect was the head of the top seven clans in Taixia Country. We have billions of books, including various classics, many of which were the only one from far-ancient times and couldn''t even be found in Xuanyuan Hill. Besides, our sect converges elites and powerhouses from all walks of life. Thousands of knights, elders and savants are spending their whole lives in studying classics. I''ve joined Taiyi Fantasy Sect for so many years, besides the purgatory samsara of Zhao Yuan the Alchemist Monster, I''ve not heard any other secret method that could help knights promote to a higher level in a couple of years. Besides Taiyi Fantasy Sect, the other clans in Taixia Country had not heard about it either. Do you think that you could get rid of the relation between you and Zhao Yuan only by a few words? You''re too naive!"


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded, ''These high-level knights are really tricky. Soon after I promoted to an earth knight, Guan Qianchong and this old guy in front had guessed the relation between Zhao Yuan the Alchemist Monster and I. If not having trump cards, I really could not pass them.''


    However, the more confirmative Feng Yexiao was, the happier Zhang Tie was. Because he planned to cheat this old guy in the same method that he used to cheat Guan Qianchong.


    ''This old guy is just coming on to me.''


    Although Zhang Tie felt thrilled inside, he still looked outraged and disdainful. He just spoke louder unconsciously so that everyone at present could hear it clearly, "You''re narrow-minded. What a frog could see in the well is nothing different than what one million of frogs could see in the same well. How dare you say that one million frogs could see the whole world? Hahahaha, Taiyi Fantasy Sect is just so so..." When Zhang Tie spoke, a familiar qi had come to the outside of the tower of brilliance. Zhang Tie was afraid that someone had noticed the mogul in the Lion Fortress when he confronted with this elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Feeling the familiar qi, Zhang Tie became more decisive, "This Cui has to drink with my friends, I don''t have time to argue with you. I will lose hundreds of thousands of gold coins per second. Given that you''re elder than me, I will not care about your rude words..."


    As Zhang Tie said, he directly walked towards the gate.


    "Do you think that you could leave so easily?" Feng Yexiao narrowed his eyes like watching a mantis which wanted to stop a vehicle by its arm.


    "I will try." Zhang Tie''s face turned solemn at once as he strode one more step forward.


    Feng Yexiao stretched out one arm and stopped Zhang Tie like an overwhelming mountain.


    Zhang Tie directly collided against Feng Yexiao''s arm.


    In the next second, the entire tower of brilliance was shocked. Those onlookers didn''t even see clearly what happened as they just felt the lobby turned darker at once while an extremely huge virtual image of fire dragon appeared in the lobby. With a powerful qi of earth knight, it covered everyone at present...


    Being covered by the virtual image of the fire dragon, all the common black iron knights felt their hearts pounding.


    Earth knights were absolutely overwhelming in front of black iron knights in realms.


    When the fire dragon roared, it flapped its wings, causing a powerful battle qi full of battle will to sweep over...


    The huge virtual image of fire dragon filled the entire tower of brilliance. Its eyes were like two suns. The moment it closed its eyes, the lobby would be in the dark; the moment it opened its eyes, the lobby would be filled with a powerful battle qi that could tear off everything.


    When the lobby turned bright and dark alternatively, thunders drifted from Zhang Tie and Feng Yexiao constantly. Most of the people at present could not see clearly their movements until it came to an end...


    The light in the lobby recovered to normal at once.


    Zhang Tie had moved a few steps back with full of battle will. The huge and magnificent virtual image of fire dragon as long as hundreds of meters were above his head. The fire dragon was gazing at Feng Yexiao in a brutal manner as if it was going to dive and charge at Feng Yexiao at any time...


    Careful ones had found that Feng Yexiao had moved one step back with a great dumbfounded look.


    Those disciples of Taiyi Fantasy Sect behind Feng Yexiao had already pulled out their weapons and pointed at Zhang Tie in some 3-in-1 battle formations.


    One more person appeared between Feng Yexiao and Zhang Tie. Although being urbane, this one''s qi was not weaker than that of Feng Yexiao. He even had a greater killing intent.


    He was Guan Qianchong, the High Chancellor of Black Armor Army.


    Besides Zhang Tie and Feng Yexiao, none of the others in the lobby discovered how did Guan Qianchong enter and stop Cui Li and Feng Yexiao.


    "Brother Feng, don''t you know the regulation in Lion Fortress? Why do you fight a junior here?" Guan Qianchong asked in a calm look; however, he was blaming Feng Yexiao faintly.


    After hearing Guan Qianchong''s question, Feng Yexiao revealed a faint smile as he restrained his look, "This old man has found that someone might be related to the Alchemist Monster. I stopped him and asked him to clarify it to me in case that he escaped."


    "Who''s that? Does Brother Feng doubt that Cui Li is related to the Alchemist Monster?" Guan Qianchong asked with a dumbfounded look purposefully, "But why? Cui Li has killed the earth-level shadow demon knight and made great military exploits in Tiewei Mountain, how come he''s related to the Alchemist Monster?"


    "If he''s not related to the Alchemist Monster, how could he promote to an earth knight in a couple of years? I doubt that Cui Li is the apprentice of Zhao Yuan the Alchemist Monster!" Feng Yexiao looked at Zhang Tie as he firmly believed in his judgment.


    ''F*ck, he hit it.''


    Zhang Tie was really shocked by this old guy''s precise judgment. However, only Zhang Tie himself knew the truth. ''At this moment, even if Zhao Yuan the Alchemist Monster was here, he would not be sure that I''m his apprentice. Therefore, I don''t care what others think about me.''


    Guan Qianchong turned around and blinked his eyes towards Cui Li. Apparently, he looked solemn, "Cui Li, what do you explain the Elder Feng?"


    Watching Guan Qianchong blinking his eyes towards him, Zhang Tie almost burst out into laughter, ''Although others don''t know about my ability, Guan Qianchong who has suffered a loss from me knows how I could promote to an earth knight in such a short period. If Guan Qianchong doesn''t explain to Feng Yexiao at this moment, he''s sparing a chance for me to make another bet with Feng Yexiao!''


    ''It seems that these high-rank military officers in Lion Fortress dislike Guan Qianchong. Guan Qianchong must want to have me punish this old guy severely. What am I waiting for?''


    Although being very thrilled inside, Zhang Tie still explained what happened just now to Guan Qianchong in an outraged way. Closely after that, he watched Feng Yexiao with a furious look, "How can you say that what you doubt is real? If one day you doubt that Emperor Xuanyuan is a demon, will Emperor Xuanyuan transfer the throne to someone of Taiyi Fantasy Sect?"


    "Taiyi Fantasy Sect has a deep animosity with the Alchemist Monster. He killed the deputy head of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. It''s of great significance, which could not be bamboozled easily!" Feng Yexiao gazed at Zhang Tie before revealing a sneer once again, "Even though you survived today, you could not survive tomorrow!"


    "Hahaha, what a domineering Taiyi Fantasy Sect..." Zhang Tie glared at Feng Yexiao, "Now that you say there''s no other secret method in the world that could help people promote to an earth knight rapidly, dare you to bet with me?"


    "How?" Feng Yexiao replied with a sneer as he didn''t believe that a lonely earth knight like Zhang Tie could have any marvelous secret method. ''Taiyi Fantasy Sect has spent hundreds of years in searching for it in vain; how could a common earth knight have one so easily? Is that secret method as popular as white cabbage?''


    "Gamble our lives!" Zhang Tie said generously, "If I could prove that there''s another secret method that could help knights form my water chakra rapidly, I would be the winner and you should commit suicide in front of me so as to verify that I''m innocent. If not, I would chop off my head. Dare you bet with me? Dare Taiyi Fantasy Sect bet with me?" Zhang Tie''s voice sounded aggressive.


    Feng Yexiao revealed a shrewd eye light. Even though he hesitated a bit inside, under the eyes of the onlookers, he could only accept Zhang Tie''s proposal; otherwise, Taiyi Fantasy Sect would be mocked by the rest of the world and Feng Yexiao would be a rustic who only seek for oral benefits. What happened inside the Lion Fortress would spread over all the human countries in the blink of an eye. Neither could Feng Yexiao nor Taiyi Fantasy risk it.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s excited look, Feng Yexiao was more confirmative that Zhang Tie was afraid of being found out. It was absolutely a small trick in his eyes.


    "Why not?" Feng Yexiao answered Zhang Tie at once.


    "The holy war has broken out. As knights in Taixia Country, you should cooperate with each other to fight demons. One of you is an earth knight who has made great military exploits, the other is a shadow knight who''s going to promote to a heavenly knight. It''s improper for you to bet with your lives in Lion Fortress. Now that you two want to make a bet, why not change a wager?" Guan Qianchong suggested as he threw a glance at Cui Li in a secret manner, "Brat, if you have a shadow knight commit suicide in the public, you will not stay in Taixia Country anymore. Feng Yexiao''s floating airboat in the Earth-elements Realm is not bad, there are only a few floating airboats in Taiyi Fantasy Sect, why not bet with him using your bounty land?"


    Zhang Tie smirked as he said, "Alright, I will take the suggestion of High Chancellor Guan. It''s said that the airboat of Elder Feng is not bad. I will bet with you using my bounty land, namely 10 cities and over 700 square miles'' land. You can use your airboat as the wager. Dare you bet with me?"


    When Zhang Tie said, he directly took out the certificates of his bounty land from his portable space-teleportation equipment.


    "It''s just an airboat. I''d like to see your ability!" Feng Yexiao sneered.


    "Are you betting here?" Guan Qianchong asked. Apparently, Guan Qianchong was inquiring about the two people''s opinions; actually, he was on Zhang Tie''s side.


    "My secret method could not be exposed to the public. If Feng Yexiao wants to bet with me, only he has the access to see it. High Chancellor Guan could prepare a room for us and be the notary on the spot!" Zhang Tie understood Guan Qianchong''s meaning at once.


    "Brother Feng, what do you feel about it?" Guan Qianchong turned around and asked Feng Yexiao.


    "Fair enough!" Feng Yexiao put it straight. No matter how many onlookers there were, he didn''t believe that Cui Li could play any trick in front of him. Additionally, he wanted to know how Cui Li explain it to him when his trick was exposed.


    "Find a secret cultivation room for us!" Guan Qianchong ordered a manager of the tower of brilliance who was standing in the distance.


    Feng Yexiao turned around and told his followers behind him, "Stay in the lobby for a short while!"


    Only after a few seconds, a manager in military uniform of logistics department of Lion Fortress walked towards them and gave a salute to Guan Qianchong, "High Chancellor Guan, the room is ready!"


    "Please!" Guan Qianchong told Zhang Tie and Feng Yexiao.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Zhang Tie and Feng Yexiao followed the logistical military officer silently away from the lobby towards the staircase.


    When Zhang Tie left, the silent lobby suddenly became boisterous.


    "Ahh, did you see how Cui Li fought the elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect?"


    "That''s too fast..."


    "Splendid, splendid, Cui Li from Yongzhou Province is indeed a tough guy who''s not afraid of bigwigs..."


    "What''s the virtual image of Cui Li? How could be so fierce?"


    "Fire dragon, an immortal beast..."


    "Could there be a secret method that could match Purgatory Samsara Method?"


    "We will know it after a while!"


    The knights in the lobby started hot discussions, making it as boisterous as a marketplace.


    The sudden collision and the gamble between an earth knight and a shadow knight could not be usually seen at all...


    In the tower of brilliance, some knights had already taken out their remote-sensing crystals to summon their partners here to watch the fun.


    ...


    Under the guidance of the military officer in the tower of brilliance, Zhang Tie, Feng Yexiao and Guan Qianchong soon came to a secret room above the lobby. Closely after that, the military officer left, leaving Zhang Tie, Feng Yexiao and Guan Qianchong in the room.


    Zhang Tie then grinned up at Feng Yexiao, "Elder Feng, do you have water-element crystals?"


    "Yes, why?"


    "Lend me one. I will show you my secret method with your water-element crystal in case that you doubt that there''s something wrong with my water-element crystal and I have to perform it once again."


    Feng Yexiao looked at Zhang Tie and Guan Qianchong before revealing a sneer and having one quality water-element crystal in his hand. Closely after that, he threw the crystal towards Zhang Tie.


    Although Guan Qianchong had long known the result, he still looked solemn at this moment as if it was his first time to watch it. ''The High Chancellor of Black Armor Army is indeed vicious.''


    "High Chancellor Guan, can we start?"


    "Brother Feng, what do you think? Shall we start?"


    "Let''s start. I want to take a look at his trick. Besides the Purgatory Samsara Method, I really wonder about another secret method that could help people form their chakra rapidly!"


    Holding the water-element crystal, Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside, ''I might not have such a good chance anymore in the future.''


    ...


    Over 1 hour later, more knights arrived at the lobby to watch the fun.


    When many people were guessing and discussing the result of the gamble, Cui Li went downstairs in his tall and sturdy figure and symbolic bald head while bursting out into candid laughter.


    "Elder Feng, I will take the airboat of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, This Cui has not taken an airboat yet. Thanks a lot!"


    Cui Li went downstairs with a spirited look. After throwing a glance at those knights in the lobby, Zhang Tie directly walked out silently.


    After Cui Li left for a few seconds, Feng Yexiao went downstairs with a pale and extremely bad look...


    Needless to say, everybody had known the result.


    ''Cui Li has won the elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect?''


    Many people were greatly shocked inside.


    What was more shocking was the meaning of Cui Li''s victory, which indicated that Cui Li mastered a secret method which could even match the Purgatory Samsara Method.


    On the same day, this news had been spread over all the major clans in Taixia Country and all the subcontinents even the Western Continent being far away from Taixia Country by those fighters in the Lion Fortress in different manners.


    ...


    This time, the name Cui Li shocked the Lion Fortress completely...


    ...


    One hour later, Du Guyi the demon suppression general had heard about this gamble in the Lion Fortress.


    "Cui Li... from Yongzhou Province...the same person!"


    "I''ve just been told that Cui Li had killed a demon knight and saved some fighters of our Feathers Army when exploring the hieron ruins with Mountain Lifting Hermit a few years ago. Those fighters being saved told me that Cui Li was very dauntless and fierce in combats and killed demon knights like how a mad guy slaughtered dogs!" The one who passed the latest news to the demon suppression general continued.


    "Not bad!" The demon suppression general replied.


    Those who were familiar with the demon suppression general knew that he didn''t praise people easily. Now that he praised Cui Li, it indicated that Cui Li had really aroused his attention.


    ...

 1018 Friends

    Chapter 1018: Friends


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    10 hours later, Zhang Tie met Filton, Bolam and Cecilia once again in a knights'' bar of Lion Fortress.


    Being different like before, when Zhang Tie entered the knight''s bar once again, he heard a lot whispers from those knights in the bar.


    "This guy is Cui Li..."


    "He''s an earth knight!"


    "It''s said that he''s mastered a secret method which could help him form his chakra rapidly and as effectively as Purgatory Samsara Method. He even won the bet between the grand elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and him..."


    "What kind of secret method could help a knight form his chakra rapidly?"


    Among whispers, some knights'' eyes flickered when they watched Zhang Tie.


    Although all the whispers had drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears, Zhang Tie seemed to have not heard that. After noticing Filton, Bolam and Cecilia, Zhang Tie directly walked towards them.


    All the three people looked at Zhang Tie in a weird way. None of them had imagined that Zhang Tie could be a popular figure once again after returning to the Lion Fortress for only a few hours. After hearing what happened in the tower of brilliance, none of them could believe that Zhang Tie collided with a shadow knight and finally won the bet between him and the shadow knight and gained an airboat from the first sect in Taixia Country as a compensation.


    "Wait, I know what you''re going to say. I made it by good fortune!" Before Filton uttered, Zhang Tie had opened his mouth. After that, Zhang Tie took a seat and told the waiter to serve him a glass of watermelon liquor.


    "We''ve got the new watermelon liquor. It has a special taste. Do you want to have a try?" The waiter recommended Zhang Tie politely.


    "Sure, I will have a try!" Zhang Tie replied casually. Whatever, the current watermelon liquor has already had the worst taste, Zhang Tie didn''t think that it could be worse.


    The waiter walked away politely and prepared the new liquor for Zhang Tie.


    "Whenever I see you, I feel you have made rapid progress like an utterly different person. Is your secret method that sharp?" Filton finally asked Zhang Tie after bearing it quite a while.


    "It''s indeed a bit sharp; however, I mastered that secret method accidentally. The others could not fully master it at all. Additionally, a large number of element crystals are required to form my chakra rapidly!"


    After winning the bet between him and Feng Yexiao, Zhang Tie had to expose the secret that he mastered a secret method that could help him form his chakra rapidly. Therefore, Zhang Tie had long worked out the countermeasures. After the secret was exposed, he could avoid from being doubted about having any relation with the Alchemist Monster; additionally, as long as he insisted on that the others could not learn this secret method or only very few people could master a part of it, everything was still within his control. In this way, the negative effect of the secret method could be reduced. Additionally, with one more trump card in others'' eyes, he could do other things easily.


    Of course, the other knights could not absorb elements crystals 10-20 times that of average speed like him; however, as long as they could meet proper conditions, they would increase their cultivation speed by a couple of times. Therefore, this secret method became a bestseller of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie had not worked out a method to package "mental arithmetic by abacus" into "mental multitasking sutra" and prevent learners from leaking his secret in case that those who knew "mental arithmetic by abacus" could connect Zhang Tie with Cui Li.


    "What do you mean by that the others could not fully master this secret method?" Bolam asked Zhang Tie as he was a bit slowwitted as a martial mania.


    "Not fully master it means that someone could master it partially. This secret method could only work on very few people. Less than 1 of 1000 knights could cultivate it. As for the others, this secret method would not increase their cultivation speed at all even if they barely cultivated it. However, if a knight''s spiritual energy is powerful enough, he could absorb elements crystals two times faster!" Zhang Tie said frankly.


    "Two times faster?" Filton took in a deep breath.


    As long as the knight had sufficient elements crystals, he would form his chakra two times faster. As for those common knights who always lacked elements crystals, this secret method might not be very attractive; however, it had a special meaning for major clans and sects which could provide sufficient earth-element crystals. That was to say, as long as some major clans and sects could master this secret method, they could cultivate two times more earth knights in the same period.


    The spiritual energy of Bolam, Filton and Cecilia were just average. Spiritual energy was the most difficult cultivation item for knights. Therefore, after knowing that it required them at least one more times'' spiritual energy to cultivate that secret method, the three people''s curiosities died out.


    After looking at Bolam''s broken arm, Zhang Tie took out that vial of regeneration medicament from his portable space-teleportation equipment before pushing it in front of Bolam.


    "Ahh, regeneration medicament?" Filton knew what was inside it the moment he caught sight of the crystal case.


    "Bolam, Cecilia, just take this vial of regeneration medicament as my gift for you. When you get married in the Western Continent, a bridegroom with two arms would look more handsome than a bridegroom with only one arm..." Zhang Tie said generously.


    "This...this is too expensive..." Watching the crystal case in front of him, Bolam hesitated a bit as he shook his head.


    After staying in the Lion Fortress for a few years, of course, they knew how valuable was this vial of regeneration medicament. Even though they had just participated in the large-scale battle in Tiewei Mountain at the risk of their lives, the total meritorious points that the three human knights made in the large-scale battle couldn''t afford this vial of regeneration medicament at all, which at least required 1 earth demon knight or more than 6 black iron demon knights.


    "Am I your friend?" Zhang Tie turned solemn at once.


    "Of course!" Bolam nodded.


    "Cut the crap then!" Zhang Tie directly pushed the crystal case in front of Bolam in an overbearing manner.


    Bolam''s lips quivered as his eyes turned wet at once...


    "Take it..." Cecilia uttered as she took the crystal case on her own initiative.


    "Look, even Cecilia is more straightforward than you. If you feel sorry, f*ck those demons ferociously for me when you return to the Western Continent!"


    "Yes, f*ck those demons ferociously!" Filton patted the table.


    The waiter served Zhang Tie a glass of new watermelon liquor.


    "Come on, let''s cheer up for this re-encounter. I hope that we could also have a chance to f*ck demons together in the future so as to live up to the name of knight!" Zhang Tie raised his glass, "For the name of knight!"


    "For the name of knight!" Filton, Bolam and Cecilia raised their glasses at the same time.


    "Nice toast. For the name of knight!" The other knights beside them also cheered up as they raised their glasses.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "Boss, all the knights'' consumptions tonight are on me..."


    After all, he was going to leave the Lion Fortress, Zhang Tie wouldn''t be able to use those consumption points in his identity plate anymore; therefore, he just behaved generously.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s exclamation, almost everybody else raised their glasses and cheered up at the same time, causing the bar to become boisterous immediately.


    "For the name of knight..."


    Under everyone''s exclamation, Zhang Tie bottomed up that glass of watermelon liquor...


    The moment Zhang Tie tasted the liquor, he had sensed a familiar smell.


    It was similar to a beer, which reminded him of that beautiful girl with a big braid, the crazy period in Blapei and those flying beer foams.


    This liquor contained the flavor of "inferior" essential-energy aura yeast that Zhang Tie gifted to Hanna. After being added with the "inferior" essential-energy aura yeast, the watermelon liquor tasted a bit different. This sort of liquor would be beneficial to the human body if people always drank it. At least it was much better than the original watermelon liquor.


    The familiar taste startled Zhang Tie slightly as he became a bit absent-minded...


    "What''s wrong?" Filton asked.


    "Nothing, I just feel that this liquor tastes a bit special..." Zhang Tie smacked his lips.


    "Bolam and I also feel that this watermelon liquor tastes a bit like beer; additionally, there''re some bubbles inside it. It should be a new liquor!" Filton commented.


    Zhang Tie smiled as he waved his hand and fetched the waiter.


    "Where did you get this liquor from? It tastes good!" Zhang Tie asked casually.


    "A few months ago, People of Heavens Fortune Sect came to the Lion Fortress. It was said that they presented a secret recipe and helped Lion Fortress modify the technology of watermelon liquor. The new watermelon liquor indeed tastes much better than the previous one; additionally, after drinking it, people will feel very comfortable. Now, it''s a popular liquor in the Lion Fortress..."


    ''Heavens Fortune Sect?''


    After thinking about it for a second, Zhang Tie understood it right away. Hanna was in Norman Empire. Marshal Lin Changjiang of Norman Empire was a member of Heavens Fortune Sect; therefore, Hanna''s family even the exiled imperial households of Norman Empire in Taixia Country had already relied on the Heavens Fortune Sect.


    Zhang Tie remembered that Filis the royal prince of Norman Empire told him that Norman Empire built a city called Bloody Dragon City in Guizhou Province in Taixia Country. Filis'' two brothers were in the Bloody Dragon City.


    After thinking about it carefully, Zhang Tie felt that it was reasonable. The exiled imperial households in Waii Subcontinent could not even match mushrooms in Taixia Country. Of course, the members of the exiled imperial households of Norman Empire would rely on the Heavens Fortune Sect.


    It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that he could know the news about his friends in Waii Subcontinent. After knowing that Hanna''s family had a reliance, Zhang Tie was very satisfied inside. He felt that fate was really marvelous...


    ...

 1019 My Airboa

    Chapter 1019: My Airboat


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After having the last party with Filton, Bolam and Cecilia, Zhang Tie took three remote-sensing finger rings. After that, he slept in the Lion Fortress and returned to the earth''s surface the next day.


    Filton, Bolam and Cecilia would stay in the Lion Fortress a few more days. After the airboat provided by Taixia Country for them to return to the Western Continent was full, they would return to the Western Continent; therefore, Zhang Tie left ahead of them.


    On the early morning of July 15, Zhang Tie left his knight''s tower. Closely after that, he went to the personnel affairs center to handle the formalities to leave Lion Fortress and submitted his identity plate to access to the Lion Fortress.


    "After you leave, your meritorious points and consumption points in Lion Fortress will be preserved. As you''ve already been an earth knight, you could receive a new identity plate and enter the towers region of earth knights when you come to the Lion Fortress next time. If you''re dead, your meritorious points and consumption points would be inherited by someone that you designated. If there''s no designated inheritor, your meritorious points and consumption points would recover to zero..."


    An oval-faced female military officer in the personnel affairs center explained to Zhang Tie with a glassy-eyed look. Zhang Tie touched his bald head as he felt that this female military officer really had a strong qi field. Although she was just a LV 7 captain, she dared look down upon an earth knight. Facing such a just female military officer in the fortress, Zhang Tie became speechless. Such 40-year odd virgins with eccentric temperaments were the trickiest female living being in the world. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t care about her demeanors. Even he had to surrender to such a kind of people.


    After explaining a lot of words to him, the female military officer asked Zhang Tie, "Are you sure that you''re going to leave the Lion Fortress and cancel off your treatment as a Class II garrison knight?"


    Zhang Tie replied with a grin, "I''m sure!"


    The female military officer then took a seal and forcefully put it on a form. After that, she told Zhang Tie without raising her head, "It''s okay, you could leave now!"


    Touching his face, Zhang Tie turned around and left the lobby like being chased away as he couldn''t afford rent.


    ''F*ck!''


    Until he left the personnel affairs center did Zhang Tie shake his head and get out of the shadow caused by that powerful female captain. He then walked briskly towards the exit of the Earth-elements Realm.


    Outside the exit, there was a logistics auxiliary base of the Lion Fortress. All the airboats that came to the Earth-elements Realm would park here, including the airboat of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    Since he won the airboat from Feng Yexiao, Zhang Tie had not seen it until now. After losing their airboat, Feng Yexiao and the team of Taiyi Fantasy Sect had to wait a few more days to leave the Lion Fortress. After all, Taiyi Fantasy Sect had one more airboat. As long as Feng Yexiao sent a message, Taiyi Fantasy Sect would dispatch another airboat here in a short period.


    What Zhang Tie felt a bit "guilty" was that Lan Yunxi''s schedule was delayed.


    However, because Lan Yunxi was going back to Taiyi Fantasy Sect to apply for being the nuisance "Goddess", Zhang Tie didn''t mind delaying it.


    This time, Zhang Tie knew that he had contracted enmity with Taiyi Fantasy Sect completely, ''My master killed the deputy head of Taiyi Fantasy Sect; I made a shadow knight elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect embarrassed in the first collision between Taiyi Fantasy Sect and I and gained an airboat from Taiyi Fantasy Sect. In the future, if I grabbed Lan Yunxi away from Taiyi Fantasy Sect, the relationship between Taiyi Fantasy Sect and I is destined to deteriorate.''


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t mind having one more concern. As he had both offended the court of Taixia Country and demons, he didn''t mind offending Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    Zhang Tie walked towards the logistics auxiliary base as he wondered, ''How could I not mind offending Taiyi Fantasy Sect? Is this the so-called confidence and growth?''


    ...


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie walked out of the Lion Fortress and caught sight of that floating airboat of Taiyi Fantasy Sect in the logistics auxiliary base outside the Lion Fortress.


    Although he had seen airboats more than once and even paid a visit to the airboat of Golden Roc Bank and the Commander Cheng of Northeast Military Region, Zhang Tie still took in a deep breath at the sight of this airboat.


    ''Huge, it''s too huge!''


    This was Zhang Tie''s first impression.


    Previously, the largest airboat that Zhang Tie had met was that of Commander Cheng, which was longer than 500 m. However, this airboat was almost 600 m in length. From this point, Zhang Tie understood how powerful was Taiyi Fantasy Sect in Taixia Country. The traffic tool of one of the four elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect could even match that of a commander of a military region in Taixia Country. What a terrifying power was Taiyi Fantasy Sect!


    This airboat was not only huge but also very delicate. It was glittering a bizarre metallic luster and ruddy all over. It looked like a bird with a marvelous long tail. The head of the airboat was like that of Phoenix, one of the far-ancient immortal beasts worshiped by Hua people.


    As dragon-shaped airboat was exclusive to the court and governments of Taixia Country, the airboats of major sects in Taixia Country were in other shapes.


    At this moment, the airboats were still taking off and landing in logistics auxiliary base. Compared to those airboats which varied from dozens of meters to about 200 meters, this vermeil phoenix-shaped airboat was as brilliant and eye-catching as a super luxury car among a lot of average cars.


    About 20 people in common military uniforms of Taixia Country were standing solemnly at the entrance of the airboat. Watching Zhang Tie coming here, one of these people walked towards Zhang Tie and gave a military salute to him.


    "Mr. Cui, you''re welcome, we''re here to follow your arrangements at the order of High Chancellor Guan!"


    What Zhang Tie had not imagined was that the one who talked with him was a familiar person, Major General Liu Xing, whom he had met in the Tiewei Mountain Theater of Operations a few months ago.


    After Zhang Tie won the bet yesterday, Guan Qianchong said that Zhang Tie himself could not operate the airboat. Coincidentally, a batch of fighters was returning to the earth''s surface from the Lion Fortress. Therefore, he told the batch of fighters to operate the airboat for Zhang Tie. That batch of fighters could serve Zhang Tie for a year.


    Of course, Major General Liu Xing didn''t know that Cui Li was the very knight in the black robe who saved his life in Teiwei Mountain. Even though, they were not strange to each other as he had met Cui Li when Cui Li came to the Lion Fortress.


    Zhang Tie noticed that there was no epaulet or military rank on Liu Xing''s shoulder although he wore the common military uniform of Taixia Country like the other fighters. This batch of fighters ranked from LV 6 to LV 9. Each of them had experienced bloody battles; therefore, they all looked steady, decisive and full of killing intent.


    Compared to that a few months ago, Major General Liu Xing looked more steady and had changed sharply. The pupils under his sword-sized eyebrows turned profound.


    "Major General Liu Xing, nice to see you again. Are you clear about the arrangement of High Chancellor Guan?"


    "We''re clear. We will follow your arrangements and orders for a year unless you tell us to leave in advance. During this period, all of these fighters will follow my orders!"


    "That''s good. Let''s board then!" Zhang Tie waved his hand.


    "Yes, sir!"


    Liu Xing then led Zhang Tie towards the entrance of the airboat. After Zhang Tie boarded the airboat, Liu Xing made a hand gesture while all the other fighters followed them in one after another.


    "Mr. Cui, do you want to look around this airboat?" Liu Xing asked Zhang Tie when he boarded. The others entered their own posts rapidly.


    "Don''t call me Mr. Cui. This Cui doesn''t feel comfortable all over after hearing it!" Zhang Tie said before throwing a glance at the inside of the airboat. This airboat was as luxurious as that of Commander Cheng. Although it was not brilliant, it was unusual all over. This airboat was more low-key. However, it was also well-matched. The moment Zhang Tie boarded, he had seen a garden being covered with exotic flowers and grasses and a brook which was paved with cobblestones. There were some bizarre golden fish swimming in the brook. What unimaginable furnishings! All the airships were nothing but sh*t in front of this airboat.


    "Just call me Fire Dragon Hermit or Hermit!"


    In Taixia Country, earth knights could have a private appellation being suffixed with Hermit like Mountain Lifting Hermit. When he promoted to a shadow knight, he could call himself Immortal XX.


    These appellations belonged to the culture of knights in Taixia Country. Hermit and Immortal indicated that knights in Taixia Country were pursuing eternal laws.


    As the only living earth knight who cultivated the "Fire Dragon Sutra" in the world, it was reasonable for Zhang Tie to call himself Fire Dragon Hermit. Taixia earth knights or shadow knights always named themselves in terms of the name of their cultivation method and hermit or immortal.


    After returning to the earth''s surface, Zhang Tie was ready to heft the banner of Fire Dragon Hermit. Previously, Fire Dragon Hermit was already famous in Taixia Country, it would be too wasteful if he didn''t inherit this invisible asset of the predecessor.


    "Sure, we will call you Hermit from then on!" Liu Xing nodded.


    "Oh, weren''t you serving in the Lion Fortress? Why do you return to the earth''s surface?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Liu Xing looked a bit sad, "I''ve already retired. This is our last task!"


    "You''ve retired?" Zhang Tie became a bit amazed...


    "My elder brother Liu Yang was killed in a battle 1 month ago. As the only male youth in my family, I was forced to retire by the military..."


    "What about the others?"


    "Almost the same as me..."


    After hearing this reply, Zhang Tie became sad inside too...


    Although the battle flames of the holy war had not reached Taixia Country, many families in Taixia Country had already paid a high price for it. Someone lost their sons; some lost their brothers; some lost their fathers or husbands...


    ...

 1020 Holding Bones in Gold Coffin for the Name

    Chapter 1020: Holding Bones in Gold Coffin for the Name


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The floating airboat moved very fast. Zhang Tie left the Earth-elements Realm on July 15th by airboat and returned to the Military Province in Taixia Country on the same day.


    Compared to that when Zhang Tie came to the Earth-elements Realm alone three years ago, Zhang Tie returned with glorious honors. The "Phoenix" airboat in the scale of that of commanders of military regions in Taixia Country was already eye-catching, not to mention others.


    Previously, the name of the airboat was "Phoenix". As Zhang Tie felt the name was very vivid, he kept it unchanged.


    The airboat directly spurted out of the gloomy and deep tunnel through air flows from the Earth-elements Ream to the earth''s surface like volcanic eruptions.


    Standing alone in the huge crystal cabin of the head of the airboat, Zhang Tie felt like dreaming when he saw the blue sky, the white clouds and the hot sun above his head in a split second.


    After thinking about it carefully, Zhang Tie found that he had spent most of the time in cultivation in the hieron ruins over the past 3-odd years. He just took a round in the first abyss and the Tiewei Mountain and had not been to most of the places in the Earth-elements Realm. However, when he came out of there, he was already an earth knight.


    It seemed that the Earth-elements Realm was really his fortunate land.


    This might be called getting gold-plated.


    At the sight of the blue sky and the white clouds, Zhang Tie felt as free as a bird returning to the sky or a fish returning to water at once.


    Compared to the Earth-elements Realm, the earth''s surface was more suitable to human existence.


    As it was on the noon of a day in July, the sunlight shined the crystal dome of the "Phoenix" airboat, providing a sunbath for Zhang Tie...


    Zhang Tie closed his eyes and slowly tasted the vitality brought by the sunshine which had been not seen for a long time.


    At this moment, he heard Liu Xing''s footsteps from his back.


    "Hermit, we''ve returned to the Military Province on the earth''s surface. Where are you heading for?"


    "Where can I buy a coffin?" Zhang Tie opened his eyes while a shrewd light flashed across his eyes. He turned around and watched Liu Xing with a faint smile.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Liu Xing became stunned as he thought that he had misheard it, "Coffin?"


    "Yes, the more advanced, the better. It''d better be a gold coffin!"


    After thinking for a second, Liu Xing replied, "We could buy it in any Class A city in Taixia Country!"


    Although gold coffins were rarely seen in other continents, they were usually used by major clans in Taixia Country. Of course, clans which could afford gold coffins would not be afraid of being stolen because they usually arranged people to look after their clan cemeteries.


    "I plan to go to Lianyun Mountain in the east of Qingzhou Province. I will buy a gold coffin in a Class A city on the way!"


    "Sure!"


    Major General Liu Xing left.


    With a clear destination, the airboat slightly changed its direction above the entrance of the deep and gloomy tunnel and darted towards Qingzhou Province as fast as lightning bolt...


    Even the fastest airships were as slow as snails in front of this airboat.


    ''From today on, I also have an airboat as my traffic tool.''


    ''Hahaha...''


    After standing there for a while and feeling the rapid movement of the airboat in the air, Zhang Tie finally touched his bald head and revealed a smile before returning to his private room on the airboat.


    There was a great learning about the flight of airboat. In order to avoid it from colliding against airships, airboat always flew higher than all the airships. Additionally, airboats would follow different routes strictly in case of collisions between airboats in the air.


    ...


    A few days later, the "Phoenix" airboat approached Lianyun Mountain in the east of Qingzhou Province. Zhang Tie saw the white clouds and the mountain peaks in the clouds which looked like islands in the sea.


    Zhang Tie looked at it from above and found that Lianyun Mountain was a bit immortal.


    Zhang Tie came to the control room and guided them to slow down the airboat and hover it above the mountain peak where he buried Fire Dragon Hermit.


    "Here we are. Just hover here..."


    ...


    As it was steep here, the airboat couldn''t land; it could only hover about 5-6 m above the ground of the cliff of the mountain peak.


    This was an advantage of airboat over airship as the latter could barely complete such a difficult hovering action in the air.


    At this moment, one side hatch door of the airboat was opened when Zhang Tie jumped off the airboat with a gold coffin about 2 m in length by one hand.


    The especially extravagant gold coffin weighed over 3,800 kg. Its surface was covered with Hua dragons and phoenixes. Zhang Tie bought it in a Class A city in Suizhou Province on the way from Military Province to here. Even though he jumped off with such a heavy gold coffin, Zhang Tie could still land lightly like a plume.


    Liu Xing and some guys also jumped off the airboat after Zhang Tie.


    Walking along the cliff, Zhang Tie directly walked towards one side of a pine in the distance. There was a simple mound under that pine, which looked like a grave. However, there was not even a gravestone.


    Zhang Tie came to the front of that mound. Letting out a deep sigh, he waved his arm and blew off the soil and stones on the surface, revealing a pile of white bones.


    "This is my teacher, also the earlier Fire Dragon Hermit. When I came here by accident, I gained the "Fire Dragon Sutra" from him. When my teacher died, he sat crossed legs. I couldn''t even find a coffin for him at that time. Therefore, I could only bury him here simply. Today, I''m especially here to put his bones in the gold coffin and bring them back to Fire Dragon Bounty Territory to bury them in a grand way!" Zhang Tie said emotionally. He was not disguising; Zhang Tie really appreciated Fire Dragon Hermit for his gift, which led him to a different world.


    ''I benefitted a lot from your "Fire Dragon Sutra". Therefore, I will hold your skeleton by the gold coffin so that I could spread your name to the world in the future. Although I gained this secret method by accident, I still treat you as my teacher. That''s our destiny!'' Zhang Tie mumbled to the skeleton inside.


    After bringing Fire Dragon Hermit''s remains back to Fire Dragon Bounty Territory with Liu Xing and the others, from today on, nobody in the world would doubt about Cui Li''s background anymore. Therefore, his status as Cui Li would become legit and he would become the official successor of the earlier Fire Dragon Hermit. Everything was reasonable. This was why Zhang Tie came to the Lianyun Mountain.


    The moment Liu Xing and the others wanted to help Zhang Tie hold the skeleton in the gold coffin, Zhang Tie had stopped them, "I will do that!"


    Zhang Tie put down the gold coffin and carefully picked all the bones of Fire Dragon Hermit one after another. After cleaning the dust over them, he put them into the gold coffin. After doing all this, he covered the gold coffin and returned to the airboat with it.


    "Go to the Fire Dragon Bounty Territory..." Zhang Tie turned domineering the moment he boarded the airboat once again.


    When he realized that he could return to Youzhou Province rapidly, Zhang Tie felt extremely thrilled inside...

 1021 A New Varian

    Chapter 1021: A New Variant


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Hundreds of sets of experimental installations such as vials and glassware, large or small were orderly placed in a room of the palace tree which covered over 2,000 square meters. Some vials and glasswares contained various colorful liquids, which were still bubbling...


    Complete organs of demon knights and specimens of demon fighters were immersed in some vials and glassware.


    Some colorful weird ptomaine miasmas were floating in some sealed professional laboratory vessels and gradually corroding pieces of bloody flesh...


    This room looked a bit grim and terrifying; however, a voodoo pharmacist or a researcher in microorganisms would definitely flicker their eyes and feel that they''d come to the paradise if they came here.


    This was the microorganisms evolution lab of Castle of Black Iron. The equipment in this lab might be nothing different than similar labs in the outside world; however, due to the special abilities of Castle of Black Iron, this microorganisms evolution lab must be one of the greatest labs among humans.


    After creating Heller, Zhang Tie had transferred the management of the evolution of various living beings and species in Castle of Black Iron to Heller. He only waited for the results instead of caring about the processes.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to come to this microorganisms evolution lab.


    When Zhang Tie was cultivating in the private room of his airboat, he received Heller''s information. Heller said that he wanted to show something important to Zhang Tie; therefore, Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron.


    Even when the full-moons demon miasma completed its mutation, Heller had not used the word "important".


    Therefore, Zhang Tie wondered what made Heller meticulous.


    "Heller, what do you want to show me?"


    Standing in front of so many glasswares, Zhang Tie glanced over the dozens of triangular flasks on the lab table as he wondered what Heller was going to show him.


    Being silent, Heller just took one of the triangular flasks and gave it to Zhang Tie, "Here''s the latest variant of essential-energy aura yeast. It''s very special; I think Castle Lord should take a look at it!"


    "Over these years, haven''t we got dozens of variants of essential-energy aura yeast? Is there anything special with it?"


    Over so many years, the essential-energy aura yeast that helped Zhang Tie to establish his undertaking already had dozens of variants. However, all those variants had various shortcomings. Not all the variants were perfect or available; therefore, those variants were not that valuable practically.


    "Castle Lord will understand once you take a look at it."


    Zhang Tie took that flask which was filled with faint yellow liquid. Watching the beer-like liquid, he shook it and found that the liquid was very clear and didn''t have any impurity.


    "Is this thing fermented by the latest variant?"


    "Yes!"


    After hearing Heller''s answer, Zhang Tie opened the glass cork of the triangular flask and moved its mouth close to his nose.


    In a split second, an extremely strong smell of alcohol escaped out of the triangular flask.


    Zhang Tie had smelt alcohol; however, the alcohol inside the flask smelt more spicy than common alcohol.


    "Alcohol?"


    "Almost like that!" Heller replied as he gave another triangular flask to Zhang Tie, "Here''s the common alcohol, Castle Lord can make a comparison by yourself!"


    ''Almost like that?'' Heller'' words faintly startled Zhang Tie. He took another triangular flask and smelt the liquor inside it. Zhang Tie felt that the liquid in this flask smelt like normal alcohol, which was not spicy and looked transparent.


    Zhang Tie tasted a bit of the faint yellow alcohol. Only after touching a bit of it, Zhang Tie had felt his tongue numb. That flask of special alcohol smelt too stimulative and was not drinkable at all.


    "Given the taste, this flask of faint yellow alcohol was spicier than common alcohol. Is there anything else special?"


    Watching Zhang Tie tasting it, Heller revealed a smile, "Castle Lord, have you forgotten about the fuel that you added to your Faerie-dragon T9?"


    After being reminded by Heller, Zhang Tie''s heart raced. He watched the two flasks of alcohol in his hands and directly poured some in two burning crucibles respectively. After that, he shot out a sparkle from his fingers which split into two sparkles in the air before falling into two burning crucibles respectively like two fireflies.


    A cyan flame flared up as high as 16 cm in front of Zhang Tie at once from the burning crucible which held the faint yellow alcohol...


    By contrast, the common alcohol was burning calmly and steadily in another crucible, the flame of which was only about 7 cm in height.


    The flame of the faint yellow alcohol was much fiercer, hotter and higher than that of the common alcohol.


    From the effect, the flame of the faint yellow alcohol didn''t remind people of alcohol.


    Standing in front of the two burning crucibles, Zhang Tie''s face looked cyan and kept flickering.


    After quite a while, the flames in the two crucibles almost died out at the same time. Zhang Tie stretched out his fingers and touched the bottoms of the crucibles. He found the bottoms of the crucibles were still very clean, leaving no dust or remnants as if nothing had been burned inside yet.


    Besides water and carbon dioxide, burning alcohol would leave nothing at all.


    After swallowing his saliva, Zhang Tie asked Heller, "What''s the fuel value of this new alcohol?"


    "The fuel value of this new alcohol could reach 11,000-12,000 kilocalories per kg!" Heller replied, "Our latest variant of essential-energy aura yeast is featured by very single and powerful fermentation properties. Products being fermented by this variant would almost not contain any aura, namely, being inedible. However, this variant could extract the maximal energy and fuel value of the substance being fermented. When we ferment something with this variant, we would gain such a new alcohol which has an extremely high fuel value!"


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie rushed out of the microorganisms evolution lab and came to the library of the palace tree almost at the fastest speed.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s back, Heller revealed a faint smile as if he had understood Zhang Tie''s intention...


    Zhang Tie had collected over 1 million books from Waii Subcontinent in the library of the palace tree. These books were inclusive and covered all aspects. Many of them were publications from before the Catastrophe.


    Zhang Tie remembered that he had read something useful from a delicate publication before the Catastrophe.


    After darting into the library as fast as a lightning bolt, Zhang Tie circled around the bookshelves which were higher than 10 m in the library for a short while before he found his target. He sprung up and rapidly took a book from the last layer of the bookshelf.


    This book was a publication in Hebrew before the Catastrophe. Although it had been over 800 years old, it was still well preserved.


    The book had a delicate hardcover, on which there were a propeller-driven airplane, a bus and some engine models before the Catastrophe. Beside these patterns were a lot of dense sugarcane field. It was a professional magazine targeted at engineers and professional readers. Its name was "New Energy".


    In the middle of this magazine, Zhang Tie saw the topic of this magazine "Bacelia the big country in planting sugarcane starts the alcohol energy plan after the petroleum crisis"


    There were two subtitles below the topic "Bacelia''s first ethanol-fueled airplane made a maiden flight successfully on October 5th after ethanol service station and bushes were spread across the country".


    Under this subtitle, there was another line of eye-catching scarlet letters "Three petroleum groups strictly condemn that Bacelia government for destroying local energy supply structure and quota plan"


    Zhang Tie rapidly turned to the page about the introduction of an alcohol-driven airplane¡ª¡ª


    "The first alcohol-driven airplane successfully accomplished its maiden show in Salaburg City, Bacelia Country on October 5. Before this, this airplane called "Hope" had completed 300 hours'' trial flight being driven by alcohol. The pilots claimed that the "Hope" was in very good condition..."


    Zhang Tie skimmed over this passage so as to gain the key information that he wanted.


    "[Hope] is jointly developed by Bacelia Airplane Manufacturing Company and Bacelia University. Being renovated from a mustang propeller airplane which was fueled by petroleum, this plane adopts a Lycoming 320 horsepower 6-cylinder engine. It could hold 2 people..."


    "Engineers declared that ethanol-driven airplane is more durable than petroleum-driven airplanes; additionally, its driving efficiency was 7% higher than that of petroleum-driven airplanes..."


    "It was Bacelia government''s another major measure after modifying 1/3 of the buses across the country into dual-purpose buses..."


    "On the very day the "Hope" accomplished its trial flight successfully, Bacelia Airplane Manufacturing Company had received the orders of 150 ethanol-driven airplanes from the farmers and sugarcane producers in this country. Farmers and sugarcane producers in Bacelia Country had not imagined that what they planted could be used to produce alcohol and could help airplanes fly in the sky. Therefore, farmers and sugarcane producers were very spirited. What counted most, the cost of this sort of airplane was only 1/3 of that of traditional petroleum airplane. Additionally, this new-energy airplane would not cause any pollution in flight. By contrast, petroleum-driven airplanes would produce a lot of harmful gases and pollute the air..."


    "Coolio, a sugarcane producer said that he would save a lot of money by using this new sort of airplane to spray pesticide. Additionally, it was more convenient for him to do short-distance travel..."


    "An official of Bacelia Airplane Manufacturing Company expressed that alcohol-driven mini aircraft were in research and development..."


    "If the alcohol energy plan could be implemented smoothly, Bacelia, as the biggest alcohol producer in this region would become an energy output country..."


    After skimming over the content, Zhang Tie flew off once again and took out another magazine called "New Energy" from the bookshelf. Compared to the earlier one, this magazine''s cover was black which felt especially depressive. Given the date of publication, Zhang Tie knew that it was published half a year later after the earlier one.


    There were two titles under the cover.


    "A coup broke out in Bacelia Country, the ex-president of Bacelia was killed by guns in the coup"


    "The new Bacelia Parliament has passed the energy use act and will forbid the production and sales of all the alcohol-driven airplanes; additionally, the alcohol fuel of buses will be strictly mixed with petroleum according to certain proportion"


    "The three top petroleum groups provided a loan of 120 billion gold coins for Bacelia government so as to recover the domestic orders"


    ...


    After putting back the two publications before the Catastrophe, Zhang Tie was in deep meditation. According to the introduction of one of the magazines, in the age of humans before the Catastrophe when the petroleum would dry up, as a major energy in that age, the fuel value of gasoline was 10,450-11,250 kilocalories per kg; however, the fuel value of alcohol before the Catastrophe varied from 6,000-7,000 kilocalories per kg. In that age, humans had already developed a complete set of means to replace gasoline with alcohol. All the internal combustion engines being driven by gasoline could be driven by alcohol only after minor modifications.


    Before the Catastrophe, alcohol didn''t become a popular fuel because of political reason instead of technical reason. It was the profits of petroleum groups that killed the possibilities.


    In the Black Iron Age, the reason that alcohol was not a popular energy source lay in the marvelous changes that happened after the Catastrophe, causing the fuel value of alcohol to decrease a lot. As a result, alcohol couldn''t meet the demand for internal combustion engines anymore. Sports cars like Faerie-dragon T9 had to use external combustion engines instead of internal combustion engines.


    ''The latest mutated essential-energy aura yeast could produce an alcohol whose fuel value varies from 11,000 to 12,000 kilocalories per kg through fermentation. This figure is much greater than that of alcohol before the Catastrophe; it even surpasses that of gasoline. Doesn''t it mean that I could produce many machines and equipment which were driven by gasoline before the Catastrophe and run them, such as propeller airplanes which moved faster than airships, high-performance buses and armored vehicles which had greater assaulting capability on the battlefield?''


    Zhang Tie was startled by the wholly new possibilities and prospects brought by the mutated essential-energy aura yeast.


    ''This alcohol might bring an energy and industrial revolution in the Black Iron Age.''


    ...


    Two days later, when Zhang Tie had recovered his composure and was cultivating with crossed legs in the cultivation room of the airboat, the doorbell rang. Zhang Tie then opened his eyes.


    Liu Xing''s voice drifted from outside, "Hermit, we''ve arrived at Fire Dragon Bounty Territory!"

 1022 Golden Invitation Card from Iron-Dragon Sec

    Chapter 1022: Golden Invitation Card from Iron-Dragon Sect


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the Provincial Governor''s Manor, Yougzhou City, Yougzhou Province...


    A receptionist who came from Huaiyuan Palace took a golden invitation card and hurriedly passed through the winding corridors and parlors in the provincial governor''s manor before coming to the Crape Myrtle Palace where the provincial governor always took a rest and received the guests.


    "Is provincial governor receiving a guest now?" The receptionist asked a guard standing outside the Crape Myrtle Palace in a low voice.


    After the guard whispered something into the receptionist''s ear. The receptionist took in a deep breath before waiting outside the Crape Myrtle Palace quietly in a modest manner to be called in...


    Anyone whom provincial governor was receiving now was qualified to let the receptionist wait whether in Huaiyuan Palace or Youzhou Province.


    It was August, the crape myrtle flowers in the parterre outside the Crape Myrtle Palace were in a vigorous flowering phase while being surrounded by bees and butterflies. As provincial governor felt that crape myrtle flowers were vigorous yet not excessively gorgeous, a lot of crape myrtle flowers were planted in this parterre of the Provincial Governor''s Manor of White Tiger Platform 3 years ago. Therefore, this parlor was renamed as Crape Myrtle Palace and became the very place where provincial governor received his trusted subordinates.


    In the provincial governor''s manor of Youzhou Province, being received by provincial governor in the Palace of Brightness was utterly different than being received in the Crape Myrtle Palace.


    After ruling Youzhou Province for 4 years, Zhang Taixuan had already established his authority in Youzhou Province; Huaiyuan Palace also stabilized its position as the first clan in Youzhou Province. Therefore, some rules in the provincial governor''s manor were unconsciously spread over Youzhou City and were enjoyed by people.


    Since Zhang Tie issued the article "The Inscription on Gravestone of the Despicable" in the forum of the Mountain of Brightness, Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Clan had been smooth in all aspects. Even those who didn''t expect Huaiyuan Palace to be smooth in all aspects became silent in recent years. They didn''t offend Huaiyuan Palace anymore in case of being a target for all.


    In the territory of Youzhou Province and the Northeast Military Region, almost everyone thought that Zhang Tie was wronged, although people in other places might not think so.


    On one hand, Huaiyuan Palace was holding the immense power of Youzhou Province; on the other hand, a backbone of Zhang Clan was wronged and had to escape everywhere. Under the formidable and touching dual atmosphere, Huaiyuan Palace officially rooted in Youzhou Province, even in Taixia Country and expanded its living space.


    The Crape Myrtle Palace was bright and clean. Outside the glazed rosewood partitions, the breeze blew by, bringing in a faint fragrance. A brilliant crape myrtle exposed its twigs outside the window as if it wanted to push inside the window so as to adorn the room with a bit brilliance...


    It was hot outside the palace; by contrast, it was cool and comfortable inside it. In the four corners of the room, four tin-copper toads were holding ice cubes in their bellies. Widely opening their mouths, the four toads were silently spitting cool air so as to drive away the heat...


    Zhang Taixuan was sitting behind a long table and sipping tea with a man on the opposite.


    The one who sat on the opposite of Zhang Taixuan was Zhang Yang, Zhang Tie''s elder brother. After 4 years, Zhang Yang looked steadier as he had entered his heyday in terms of physical strength, spiritual energy and ability.


    Zhang Yang wore a black golden boa silk robe with a think and black mustache. His eyes flickered, shooting out shrewd, heroic eye light. Even though being on the opposite of the clan head, he was still personable, neither being humble nor pushy.


    Even in the territory of the entire Northeast Military Region, everyone had known that the family of Zhang Yang, the biggest shareholder of Jinwu Business Group was the richest family in Youzhou Province or the Northeast Military Region, not to mention those in Youzhou Province. Zhang''s all-purpose medicament was like gold bars that could be produced constantly. Of course, such a family would be rich.


    In Taixia Country, people used to describe "rich" people as "earning 1 dou of gold each day". This expression was evidently dwarfed by Jinwu Business Group. Because Jinwu Business Group could definitely make one ship of gold per day.


    Now, the airships which were queuing up in Jinwu City for loading all-purpose medicament had to leave gold two times the weight of the vials of all-purpose medicament. Therefore, it was not excessive to say that Jinwu Business Group could make one ship of gold per day.


    2 years ago, Jinwu Business Group which had promoted to be the noblest VIP of Golden Roc Bank had already been able to enjoy the free protection of two knights arranged by the Golden Roc Bank. Due to the special relationship between Jinwu Business Group and Heavens Fortune Sect, Heavens Fortune Sect also dispatched a knight powerhouse to directly reside in Zhang Yang''s family as the head of the bodyguards of Zhang''s Mansion. Last year, Jinwu Business Group spent a lot on purchasing a floating airboat from Heavens Fortune Sect. Therefore, Zhang Yang became the second one who had a private floating airboat after Zhang Taixuan in Youzhou Province.


    This year, according to intelligence, Zhang Taixuan knew that Zhang Yang traveled to Chaosang Subcontinent by floating airboat one month ago and recruited 2 more knights and many powerhouses on different levels below knights from there.


    That was to say, 5 knights were serving Zhang Yang, which was almost equal to the number of elders of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Zhang Yang had just come back from Chaosang Subcontinent. During the period when Zhang Yang was in Chaosang Subcontinent, of course, Zhang Taixuan as the provincial governor of Youzhou Province neighboring Chaosang Subcontinent knew what happened in Chaosang Subcontinent.


    "Is that done by you in Immortal Wind Country?" Zhang Tiexuan slightly blew the tea water as he asked Zhang Yang with a calm look.


    "The emperor of Immortal Wind Country is old and muddle-headed. The royal prince is tyrannical and immoral. I went to change a royal prince for them..." Zhang Yang said calmly as he also slightly blew his tea water before having a sip.


    Zhang Taixuan knew that Jinwu Business Group had managed in Chaosang Subcontinent for a long time. It was really out of his imagination that Jinwu Business Group could have such a big power over there. He threw a glance at Zhang Yang as he felt that this young man had become more tolerant, decisive and vicious after Zhang Tie was framed and escaped away.


    Fengjing City, the capital city of Immortal Wind Country had almost become ruins with a casualty of over 300,000 soldiers and commoners. The forces and armies that were loyal to the earlier royal prince were absolutely uprooted. However, Zhang Yang described it so casually.


    "Chaosang Subcontinent is neighboring Taixia Country. All the countries on Chaosang Subcontinent have relations with major clans in Taixia Country. Honestly, Most of the royal households and high-ranking government officials in Chaosang Subcontinent are just watchdogs and agents of major clans of Taixia Country in Chaosang Subcontinent. Tang Clan of Yanzhou Province is on the back of Immortal Wind Country..." Zhang Taixuan reminded Zhang Yang.


    "You could exchange everything with money!" Zhang Yang smiled as he put down his teacup, "An elder of Tang Clan went to Immortal Wind Country together with me. He killed the No. 1 knight on the side of the royal prince of Immortal Wind Country..."


    "An elder of Tang Clan also went there?'' Zhang Taixuan let out a sigh, "Is that worthwhile?"


    "Immortal Wind Country is just a tiny country. It doesn''t have any powerhouse or valuable resources. However, I like how it trains its dare-to-die soldiers, who might be useful in the future. As long as they are dauntless and could advance wave upon wave, I prefer to take it as a business, whether it''s profitable or not..."


    "Hidden forces are surging in Taixia Country. You''d better be careful!" Zhang Taixuan said with a distant look.


    "After the news that Emperor Xuanyuan is missing drifted from the Earth-elements Realm, it has been spread over Taixia Country only in a few days. Even the kids on the streets know that. Huaiyuan Palace should prepare for it as soon as possible!" Zhang Yang suggested as a shrewd light flashed across his eyes.


    After throwing a glance at Zhang Yang, Zhang Taixuan nodded. After being silent a few seconds, Zhang Taixuan replied, "It seems that Yanghe Prefecture should build a high-profile Class A city. With a Class A city on our back, people would feel safe!"


    "If Huaiyuan Palace wants to build a Class A city, Jinwu Business Group will bear half of the expense!" Zhang Yang said generously, which meant that he had to spend billions of gold coins.


    "What does Jinwu Business Group need?"


    "Whether the alchemist bombs that our clan stored should be cleared..."


    Zhang Taixuan nodded, "The marriage between Zhu Clan of Yanzhou Province and Huaiyuan Palace..."


    "Just let them send the woman here!" Zhang Yang didn''t even care about who was that woman. Because it didn''t matter at all. He only knew that Zhu Clan was a major clan in Yanzhou Province, whose woman was definitely not ugly. Whatever!


    The two people then exchanged a glance with each other before nodding at the same time silently...


    After having a cup of tea, Zhang Yang got up and bade a farewell to Zhang Taixuan. Zhang Taixuan saw him off until the entrance of Crape Myrtle Palace...


    Watching Zhang Yang walking out of there with a confident look, those guards and the receptionist standing outside the Crape Myrtle Palace bowed towards Zhang Yang respectfully at the same time.


    Jinwu Business Group today could never be matched by that yesterday. In late years, with the foundation of Jinwu Business City and the gradual expansion of Jinwu Business Group, Zhang Yang''s status and position in Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace could almost match that of clan elders.


    Zhang Taixuan touched the fingerstall. Until Zhang Yang disappeared behind those brilliant crape myrtle flowers did Zhang Taixuan turn his eyes to the receptionist of the Provincial Governor''s Manor, "What''s the matter?"


    As an earth knight, he had long heard what did the receptionist talk with the guard just now. Therefore, he knew that receptionist had something to report to him.


    The receptionist trotted forward before bowing towards Zhang Taixuan. At the same time, he presented the golden invitation card to Zhang Taixuan with two hands. At the sight of the eye-catching golden invitation card, Zhang Taixuan''s pupils narrowed at once...


    Because there were the qi and image of an earth knight on the golden invitation card. The image was a ferocious and grim fire dragon with two wings.


    In the knight''s world, this indicated that the one who delivered this golden invitation card was a noble earth knight.


    After opening it, Zhang Taixuan only saw one paragraph:


    ¡ª¡ªOn August 18, I will hold the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect in Xuantian City, at the foot of Yangui Mountain, Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. I''ve prepared some drinks to invite all the dignitaries in Huaiyuan Palace to attend it.


    The signature was¡ª¡ªCui Li, the Fire Dragon Hermit, also the owner of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory.


    "What a fierce dragon..." Zhang Taixuan read the golden invitation cards twice. Feeling its weight, after considering it a few seconds, he turned around and told the receptionist, "Invite the elders of Huaiyuan Palace to discuss something in White Tiger Platform..."


    ...


    On the same day, many major clans in Youzhou Province, Tongzhou Province and Yangzhou Province in the territory of the Northeast Military Region which neighbored Fire Dragon Bounty Territory received the same golden invitation card.


    Zhang Yang received the same golden invitation card when he returned home...

 1023 The New Look of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory I

    After coming to the Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, Zhang Tie spent 2 days in finishing the formalities with the land resources administration of the Northeast Military Region and left border piles around the Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. From then on, Fire Dragon Bounty Territory became Zhang Tie''s private territory.


    Being in the southwest of Yangui Mountain in Taixia Country, Fire Dragon Bounty Territory covered 1.34 million square miles and neighbored Youzhou Province, Tongzhou Province and Yanzhou Province in the territory of the Northeast Military Territory of Taixia Country. There were 18.76 million people who could move freely and 10 cities in the bounty territory.


    3 of the 10 cities were in Miyun Prefecture in Youzhou Province, namely Tianxuan City, Xinlu City and Langyun City respectively. Tianxuan City was a Class II Level B city, which was the largest one in the three cities with more population; Xinlu City was a Class II Level C city; Langyun City was a Class III Level B city.


    4 of the rest 7 cities were in Xingyuan Prefecture in the territory of Tongzhou Province, respectively Anning City, Xuesong City, Yande City and Qinghe City; all of them were Class II Level C cities.


    Dashang City, Wugong City and Dongyang City in Gaoping Prefecture of Yanzhou Province where the hub of the Northeast Military Region was located in, were divided into Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. Dashang City and Wugong City were Class II Level B cities while Dongyang City was Class II Level A city.


    As Tianxuan City was in Youzhou Province and was one of the only two Class II Level A cities in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, Zhang Tie directly chose the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect in Tianxuan City.


    Zhang Tie entrusted the official post of Northeast Military Region to deliver his golden invitation cards on August 1; on the same day, two notices had been posted in Tianxuan City, XinLu City, Langyun City, Anning City, Xuesong City, Yande City, Qinghe City, Dashang City, Wugong City and Dongyang City on the same day.


    The first notice was¡ª¡ªCui Li, the owner of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory establishes Iron-Dragon Sect and will recruit apprentices in the Fire Dragon Bounty Territory.


    The second notice was¡ª¡ªall the cities in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory will select local representatives. From then on, all the cities, districts, counties, towns and villages in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory will be autonomously managed by the delegations on all levels.


    After the two notices were posted for 1 day, the entire Fire Dragon Bounty Territory had been boisterous. Not only that, but the two notices in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory also spread over the all the prefectures in three neighboring provinces as fast as the wind.


    Local representatives autonomy had existed in Taixia Country since far-ancient times. The so-called democratic parliament and the other forms of organizations in other continents were actually borrowing the intelligence of Taixia Country although they looked advanced. This sort of organization had existed in Taixia Country for thousands of years. However, as Fire Dragon Bounty Territory was almost as large as a prefecture in a province, the selection of local representatives became unusual.


    The cities in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory were previously administered by the government of Taixia Country. Each city in the territory had a mayor and administrative agencies on different levels which were dispatched from the royal government of Taixia Country. However, after this territory was rewarded to Cui Li and was renamed by him, its property had changed; the officials on different levels could almost be ignored as the existence of agencies and officials in the entire Fire Dragon Bounty Territory would completely determine the owner''s willingness, except for the taxation and judicial agencies. The selection of local representatives indicated the willingness of the owner of this territory clearly.


    The so-called local representatives were composed of local dignitaries.


    According to the notice, each city of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory would organize a local representatives association which contained 21 members. Any legal resident in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory would be qualified to be a candidate and be received and finally appointed by the Cui Li, the owner of this territory as long as he or she could gain 3000 people''s support in terms of signature, regardless of gender and age.


    Once local representatives associations were established, each city would have 21 local representatives, who would wield the scepter of the city and be as powerful as the mayor.


    The moment this news was spread, all the dignitary clans in the cities of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory became active at once. If one of their clans could become a local representative, their clan would gain both fame and wealth. Of course, all the clans were drooling about it.


    What was more eye-catching was the news that Cui Li, the Fire Dragon Hermit, also the owner of Fire Dragon Bounty Hermit was going to recruit apprentices.


    The news that Cui Li the Fire Dragon Hermit cultivated the marquis-level secret method "Fire Dragon Sutra" had already been spread over. If anyone could join the Iron-Dragon Sect and become Fire Dragon Hermit''s direct apprentice, he or she would rely on an earth knight who had a private bounty territory and might learn a powerful marquis-level secret method. Such a good news was nothing different than a shortcut towards the fame and wealth. Therefore, this news shocked the neighboring regions at once. Across the Northeast Military Region, even major clans with knights were moved by this news, not to mention commoners.


    After Cui Li delivered his golden invitation cards and notices, Tianxuan City which was not eye-catching in the Northeast Military Region immediately became the focus of the entire Northeast Military Region. As a result, more and more airships and people arrived at Tianxuan City abruptly...


    ...


    On the early morning of August 6th, the couple of Boss Liu of Yuean Hotel in the south of Tianxuan City got up before daybreak.


    Yuean Hotel covered about 700 square meters. With a 4-storey building and two courtyards, it contained more than 30 guestrooms. Although being limited in area and ranked medium among the hotels in Tianxuan City, it was the achievement of the couple after over 20 years'' hard work. Therefore, the couple always did many things in the hotel themselves.


    Starting from August 2nd, the business of the hotel suddenly became flourishing. The hotel, the greater part of rooms of which were usually vacant was full in only a couple of days. Not only the couple, but even the lads in the hotel also became busy.


    "Those who have been living in Heavens No. 1 and No. 2 since yesterday are rich fighters from Yanzhou Province. They are a bit picky nicky. As they don''t care about price, you''d better buy some good ingredients from the marketplace..." Boss Liu''s wife told boss Liu seriously when he was going to buy ingredients from the marketplace with his lads in the early morning.


    "Cooks are a bit busy, you''d better pay more attention to them!" Boss Liu also warned his wife.


    "I see. I''ve invited Aunt Liu in our neighborhood and my youngest aunt from Zhao family to give us a hand in the kitchen today. They''re diligent; they will arrive soon. You can leave now!"


    After hearing that his wife had made an arrangement in the kitchen, Boss Liu sat in the back of a tricycle as he told a lad to leave.


    Those who came to buy ingredients in the marketplace so early were mostly bosses of hotels and restaurants and stewards and lads of major clans in the city.


    After buying various fresh vegetables and fruits, Boss Liu caught sight of a hunted snow deer. It might be hunted last night as its flesh was fresh and tender. When he thought of those rich guests from Yanzhou Province, he shared the snow deer with Boss Zhou of another hotel after reaching an agreement. After weighing it, he loaded it in his tricycle.


    After finishing all this in half an hour, Boss Liu came to the old storefront of Rongshengxiang and took the fresh beef and mutton.


    As Boss Liu often visited here, at the sight of Boss Liu, the lad of Rongshengxiang immediately carried the beef and mutton into his tricycle without being requested by Boss Liu.


    The moment the basket of beef and mutton were loaded, the vehicle sunk faintly.


    It was a bit too much today!


    Boss Liu mumbled inside as he told the fatty Boss Zhao inside Rongshengxiang, "Boss Zhao, the meat today looks too much. Yuean Hotel doesn''t need so much meat today. Because it''s too hot, they might go bad tomorrow!"


    "Hahaha, it''s not too much, it''s not too much. Just take it. I will give you 20% off..." Boss Zhao replied with a smile.


    After hearing the reply of Boss Zhao who was known as miserly, Boss Liu became dubious. After checking those beef and mutton once again, he found that they were all fresh and qualified. He then mumbled inside, ''How does this miser turn so good today?''


    At this moment, Boss Zhao walked towards him with a big smile as he took out a roll of white cloth and said, "Hehhehheh, Boss Liu, don''t think too much. The biggest shareholder Qian of Rongshengxiang is collecting the signatures these days. He said that Rongshengxiang was holding preferential activities these days to the old guests. As long as Boss Liu do us a favor by signing your name here and take it back to have your lads sign their names or press their fingerprints one after another, in the next 1 month, Boss Liu will enjoy the same discount..."


    After hearing Boss Zhao''s words, Boss Liu widely opened his eyes with an amazed look, "Ahh, the biggest shareholder Qian is competing for the local representative of Xuantian City?"


    In the hotel, by listening to the discussions of guests from all walks of life, Boss Liu knew all the big events that happened in Youzhou Province and Taixia Country. Boss Liu knew that Fire Dragon Bounty Territory was going to select local representatives almost the moment the notice was released.


    "Our biggest shareholder Qian is also an influential figure in Xuantian City. He has over 10 pastures, farmsteads and slaughterhouses; 1/3 of meat in Tianxuan City are supplied by our biggest shareholder Qian. Now that the others could attend the selection for local representatives, our biggest shareholder Qian could also attend it!" Boss Liu immediately became solemn at the sight of Boss Liu''s amazed look, "Does Boss Liu feel that we''re humble and look down upon our butchers?"


    Boss Liu hurriedly revealed a smile, "You''re thinking too much. I just wonder that biggest shareholder Qian has over 4,000 staff. He only needs to request all of his staff to sign their names for him. He doesn''t need ours at all!"


    "Hahaha, the more supporters there are, the more glorious our biggest shareholder Qian will be. It''s said that Boss Feng in Tianxuan City is also competing for local representative; additionally, she has collected over 5,000 signatures. Although our biggest shareholder Qian was a butcher, he has contributed a lot to Tianxuan City these years such as paving roads and building bridges. Whatever, he could at least match a prostitute..."


    Boss Feng was another legendary female hero in Xuantian City. As the top prostitute in the 27 brothels across Xuantian City, her fame in the "entertainment circle" could match that of the biggest shareholder Qian in "catering industry" in Xuantian City.

 1024 The New Look of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory II

    When Boss Liu and the lad returned to Yuean Hotel by tricycle, the day had just broken.


    At this moment, the guests in Yuean Hotel started to get up and have breakfast. As a result, the hotel gradually became boisterous.


    Boss Liu took out the roll of white cloth which was given by Boss Zhao as he thought inside, ''It''s just a matter of signature. Although it sounds fresh, it''s not a big deal. Although the biggest shareholder of Rongshengxiang was a butcher, he''s generous. It''s actually not bad if he could become a local representative. In the future, I might gain some advantage from him.''


    According to Boss Zhao, many butchers and hotel bosses in Xuantian City supported the biggest shareholder Qian. He had also collected many signatures from the farmsteads in the rural areas outside the city. It was said that the biggest shareholder Qian had already gained over 6,000 signatures.


    After the selection for local representatives started a few days ago, it had already become more and more interesting. Many dignitaries, rich men and influential figures in many industries had started to canvass.


    It might be the same in other cities.


    Boss Liu remembered Boss Zhao''s request. After taking out the roll of white cloth, he told all the lads and his wife to sign their names on it, including the two women who came here to give a favor to them in the kitchen. Those who didn''t sign their names would press down their fingerprints on it. After dealing with it, Boss Liu put away the white cloth and started to arrange the affairs in the hotel.


    He would give the roll of white cloth full of names to Boss Zhao tomorrow.


    Soon after 9 am, almost all the guests in the hotel had already gotten up. The hotel was also selling breakfasts such as steamed stuffed bun, noodles, peanuts, porridge, rich puddings, assorted cold or hot foods and pot-stewed meat. Many idlers would come here to have breakfast, morning tea and listen to storytelling by the way.


    By 9:30, the dining hall in the hotel had been covered with people. Many of them were especially here to listen to storytelling. Many old people came here with their grandsons.


    The moment the angular storyteller in cyan gown sat down at the only table on the stage by raising his robe and had a mouth of tea water, the entire dining hall became quiet. Even those kids stopped uttering as they watched the storyteller with widely opened black eyes.


    With a sound of "Shua", the storyteller unfolded the paper fan with plum blossoms on it suddenly and waved it. Even the lads who were responsible for adding tea water for the guests in the dining hall trod slightly as they pricked up their ears.


    The storyteller was telling "The Legend of Black Iron Hero". The moment this book was published 3 years ago, it had become popular across Taixia Country. As a storyteller, if he cannot tell "The Legend of Black Iron Hero", he would be shameful of telling others that he was a storyteller.


    "Zhang Tie experienced a bloody battle in Selnes Theater of Operations and was framed by the moles of demons in the allied human forces. Selnes Eagle broke its wings and almost lost his life. Finally, the entire Selnes Theater of Operations collapsed. Zhang Tie couldn''t bear it alone; therefore, he had to evacuate towards the south as he fought the vanguard of the demons corps. Tens of millions of demonized puppets were as dense as a tide, which would destroy cities and countries wherever they were. Any humans in front of them would be eaten; any god in front of them would be slaughtered. They were like tens of millions of wild beasts with bloody eyes which could devour everything. Wherever they passed by would become barren land. They rolled over the entire north region of Waii Subcontinent and surged all the way towards Norman Empire..." The storyteller said as he opened his foldable fan and waved it. Along with his tone, facial expressions and movements, the storyteller attracted everyone''s attention in a split second. From then on, the entire dining hall was filled with his sound. All the audience in the dining hall were immersed in the dramatic plots...


    Many audiences had not realized that two hours had already passed...


    When the storyteller patted the judge''s gravel on the table, everybody at present was shocked...


    "Right then, a boom as loud as millions of muffled thunders sounded. The entire land then started to shake like screening rice shaff by quivering the winnowing fan, causing sand and rocks to jump. Tens of millions of demonized puppets at the foot of Nein City of Norman Empire were all vacant as they thought that it was an earthquake. Zhang Tie was fighting three powerhouses of Three-eye Association on the city gate and would soon be in a crisis. All of a sudden, the city wall started to shake heavily and almost fell down. The 3 powerhouses of Three-eye Association were shocked. Seizing this opportunity, Zhang Tie broke off the encirclement and jumped onto the top of the city gate which was over 20 m high and looked in the distance..."


    At this moment, the storyteller stood up and put his hand over his forehead as if he was looking in the distance.


    "Zhang Tie looked in the distance as his heart raced. My god, a white line in the far like a rolling cloud sea as higher as 100 m was surging towards Nein City in an overwhelming manner. Dear guests, what do you think that white line is..."


    "Do you remember that there''s a marshal called Lin Changjiang in Norman Empire? He''s also a member of Hua people of Taixia Country. Speaking of Lin Changjiang, he''s really excellent. His real status was a talented apprentice of Heavens Fortune Sect in Taixia Country. Dozens of years ago, he came to Waii Subcontinent at the order of the sect and made preparations for resisting demons. After coming to Norman Empire, Lin Changjiang had been responsible for building the largest irrigation project in the north of Norman Empire¡ª¡ªthe Imperial Dam. The white line over 400 miles away from Nein City was the flood that was poured down from the Imperial Dam of Norman Empire. How much water? 80 billion cubic meters. Do you know what does that figure mean? It''s irresistible. 80 billion cubic meters of water could inflict the entire Miyun Prefecture..."


    "Nein City was the graveyard of the tens of millions of demonized puppets in Marshal Lin Changjiang''s plan. Heavens Fortune Sect was good at fortune telling. As long as dozens of years ago, they had known that Nein City would be collapsed by tens of millions of demonized puppets in this holy war. Therefore, Marshal Lin Changjiang built a dam in the upper reach of Nein City so as to store water and prepare for today''s trick..."


    After hearing this, all the audience who had been immersed in the story exclaimed one after another.


    "At that moment, Marshal Lin Changjiang didn''t know that Zhang Tie was fighting demonized puppets at the foot of Nein City. Neither did Zhang Tie know Marshal Lin Changjiang''s trick. After hearing the abnormal sounds in the distance, the three powerhouses of Three-eye Association who fought Zhang Tie just now also jumped onto higher places and looked in the distance. When they figured out what happened, they were all scared too much and exerted their full efforts to escape away. They just hated that they were born with just two legs. The white line was surging towards Nein City like tens of thousands of galloping horses. In the blink of an eye, it had covered everything and destroyed everything in Nein City in an overwhelming way. It was even much more powerful and irresistible than the greatest knights..."


    "Tens of millions of demonized puppets were collapsed at once. They escaped in all directions only to survive themselves in this overwhelming flood. In such a critical situation, everyone else would almost lose their lives, except for Zhang Tie. Watching the over 100 m higher huge waves, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he shouted, "The god helps me!"


    "After saying that, Zhang Tie sprung up from the top of the city gate and stepped onto the top of the surging waves like how he saved a beauty in Hidden Dragon Island as a Yaksha. On the top of the huge waves, he just overlooked the embarrassed looks of the tens of millions of demonized puppets like a yaksha cruising the ocean and a dragon swimming in the sea!"


    "In water, the demonized puppets were like sh*t; how could they defeat Zhang Tie in that situation? Zhang Tie walked on waves as freely walking on the plain ground. As long as he waved his longsword, he would send demonized puppets'' heads flying away. Stepping on the huge waves like Nezha, Zhang Tie soon caught up with the three powerhouses of Three-eye Association. Only after waving his sword twice, he had sent two heads flying off..."


    "However, he missed the third one. Zhang Tie didn''t think too much about that at that moment. He just continued to kill those demonized puppets who were struggling on the waves and made a cool massacre. Zhang Tie didn''t imagine that the one who escaped could bring him a great meritorious deed in the future..."


    "There''s a poem for this accident¡ª¡ªThe rolling waves were covered with blood; the young hero behaved dauntlessly like a Chinese dragon; the heavens fortune broke through tens of millions demonized puppets; the yaksha stepped on huge waves across Nein City..." After finishing the poem, the storyteller patted the judge''s gravel, causing another sound "Pah" as he continued, "If you want to know what happened later, please listen to it tomorrow!"


    The moment they heard the word "tomorrow", the dining hall was filled with regrets and complaints.


    "Ahh, it''s just come to the climax..."


    "Continue, continue..."


    Someone shouted while the storyteller cupped his hands and bowed towards all directions, "Dear guests, this old man is too thirsty and become breathless. I could barely continue. If you want to listen to my story, please come here tomorrow. Finally, this old man will make an advertisement for Boss Feng¡ª¡ª8 pm tonight, Boss Feng will have the top 8 prostitutes in Xuantian City play a "Mudan Pavilion" in Pear Fragrance Garden. What''s more, Pear Fragrance Garden will be free tonight. You only need to select Boss Feng to be the local representative of Xuantian City!"


    After saying that, the storyteller walked off the stage and bade a farewell to Boss Liu before leaving...


    In the dining hall, nobody had noticed that a tower-like tough guy in a cloak was standing in the corner of the dining hall on the 2nd floor and watching the storyteller leaving with a dumbfounded look. At the same time, the tough man mumbled inside, ''What the hell! When did this daddy kill a demon in Nein City?''

 1025 The Legend of Black Iron Hero

    Since Zhang Tie came to Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, after finishing the handover formalities of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory and authority confirmation, Zhang Tie always wandered around alone. He almost traveled all the 10 cities and Yangui Mountain Range in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. After a few days'' travel, Zhang Tie was already familiar with the local customs and practices.


    Zhang Tie came back to Xuantian City in the morning. When he found this common hotel which was a bit boisterous, he entered it to have some food. By the way, he would learn about the situation in Xuantian City. Zhang Tie thought that the simplest way for him to be familiar with a place was to listen to the free chat of those people from all walks of life in the mass-gathering public places like teahouses, pubs and hotels.


    However, it was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that he could listen to the "Legend of Black Iron Hero", in which he was the main character.


    This story was vivid. Some contents were real although being processed artistically; some were fabricated reasonably. As a result, Zhang Tie''s image turned full and real which was righteous and hot-blooded just like a vivid legendary figure.


    ''What the hell?''


    Zhang Tie wondered about it very much.


    After hearing that Boss Feng was going to have the top 8 prostitutes in Xuantian City play "Mudan Pavilion" in Pear Fragrance Garden tonight, the audience in the dining hall started to discuss Boss Feng while they shifted their topic to the selection of local representatives of Xuantian City. After bidding a farewell to Boss Liu, the storyteller left the hotel under the guidance of a lad.


    "Boss Feng is our heroine in Xuantian City. It''s said that Boss Feng only sold her talents instead of her virginity when she was young. Later on, as she was very shrewd, she rented a hub and gradually expanded her business..."


    "I was told that Boss Feng never forced her girls to sell their virginity. As long as those girls could work enough years for her or make enough money to redeem themselves, Boss Feng will recover their freedom on her own initiative. If any of them meets her Mr. right, Boss Feng will even gift her a dowry. The third son of the mayor of Xuantian City wanted to sleep with Ruoxi in Phoenixflute Pavilion, Boss Feng stopped him as Ruoxi had already met her Mr. right. It displeased the third son of the mayor; as a result, he had people damage half of the entire Phoenixflute Pavilion..."


    "If not, how could the geishas exert their full efforts to work for Boss Feng?"


    "But it''s a bit improper for a woman who was once a geisha to attend the selection of local representatives..."


    ...


    When those people were discussing on the 2nd floor, Zhang Tie stood up. After throwing a gold coin onto the table, he followed the storyteller downstairs.


    "Sir, you''ve paid too much; wait a moment, I will give you the change..."


    The food and tea water that Zhang Tie consumed were worth at most 2 silver coins. However, Zhang Tie dropped 1 gold coin. It really was too much. Therefore, at the sight of the gold coin, Boss Liu hurriedly stopped Zhang Tie.


    Boss Liu was not short; however, his top of the head could only touch Zhang Tie''s elbow.


    "Your stretched noodles and steamed puffed buns tastes good, keep the change..." Zhang Tie waved his hand. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, gold coins were already nothing different than silver coins. He just paid in terms of gold coins in case of change.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie found that he liked the satisfied looks of these commoners caused by one gold coin because it would remind him of himself when he worked as a human sandbag for others in the Iron Thorns Fighting Club. Behind each generous deed, Zhang Tie was warning himself to think like a commoner and not to get lost because of wealth and strength.


    No matter how many buildings one had, he only needed one bed to sleep on; no matter how many fertile arable lands one had, he could not eat more than 7kg''s food per day; no matter how many gold one had, he could only wear 1 kg''s silk and linen cloth at most. Even knights would have unfortunate moments or even die; therefore, even as an earth knight, Zhang Tie still treated himself as a commoner.


    Boss Liu felt happy as he had not imagined that the tower-like tough man was such rich. After watching Zhang Tie''s look carefully, Boss Liu said, "If you like my food, you can always come here. Given your special sturdy figure, I will keep your look deep in mind. If you come here in the future, I will not take your money anymore!"


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Boss Liu as he had not imagined that Boss Liu was really good at doing business. Although it was just a few silver coins, his words sounded very comfortable.


    Zhang Tie burst out into his laughter as he patted Boss Liu''s shoulders. Closely after that, he clattered downstairs...


    After coming to the gate of Yuean Hotel, Zhang Tie looked left and right and found that thin frame less than 50 steps away on the bustling street. He sped up and patted the storyteller''s shoulder. The storyteller turned around. Zhang Tie''s eyes flickered as he said, "Follow me..."; closely after that, he walked towards the teahouse in the distance.


    The storyteller just followed after Zhang Tie at the same speed all the way towards the teahouse.


    After coming to the teahouse, Zhang Tie ordered a tranquil compartment and entered it, followed by the storyteller.


    After taking a seat, Zhang Tie pointed at another seat in the room and told the storyteller to sit down.


    "May I know your name?"


    "This old man is Liu Yuqing!" The storyteller''s eyes looked clear as he replied fluently. However, he felt that the words of the tough man in front of him were as euphonious as music from heavens. As a result, he just followed the tough man''s will and replied honestly.


    "How many years have you told stories?"


    "This old man has told stories for 26 years!"


    "Did you fabricate the Legend of Black Iron Hero?"


    "No, the Legend of Black Iron Hero was written by Mr. Jingan..."


    ''Mr. Jingan?'' Zhang Tie slightly frowned as he had not heard about this name before, "Who''s Mr. Jingan?"


    "Mr. Jingan is a great novelist. His novels are most popular among storytellers..."


    "How long have you told the Legend of Black Iron Hero?"


    "About 2 years!"


    "Who let you tell the Legend of Black Iron Hero in Xuantian City?"


    "This old man doesn''t know who''s he. Two years ago, a strange guest gave me the novel Legend of Black Iron Hero and told me that I could gain 10 gold coins a month in my account of Golden Roc Bank if I kept telling this book in Xuantian City. After saying that, that guest gave me 10 gold coins as the advance payment for the first month. You know, storytellers could make 3-4 gold coins a month at most. Those poorer could make at most 1 gold coin a month. Therefore, from then on, I started to tell the Legend of Black Iron Hero in Xuantian City. In the second month, I really gained 10 gold coins in my bank account. Therefore, I have been telling Legend of Black Iron Hero every day in Xuantian City until now..."


    "What about the other storytellers in Tianxuan City? Are they also telling Legend of Black Iron Hero?"


    "2 years ago, the novel Legend of Black Iron Hero had been popular among storytellers and guests in the Northeast Military Region. You could listen to the story in each city, even in the towns..."


    "Whether the other storytellers will also gain 10 gold coins a month as a payment by telling the same story?"


    "I have no idea. However, in the last sacrificial anniversary of my teacher, I met a junior fellow apprentice who was mainly telling stories in Yanzhou Province. He told me that he had the same experience as me. As long as he told Legend of Black Iron Hero, he could also gain 10 gold coins a month in his bank account. As my junior fellow apprentice was younger and healthier than me, he was paid 12 gold coins that month by telling Legend of Black Iron Hero in the teahouses of towns outside the city where there was no storyteller. As a storyteller, the more you tell Legend of Black Iron Hero and more audience you have, the more money you will get..."


    "Where can I buy the novel Legend of Black Iron Hero?"


    "You could find it in all the bookstores in the city. Previously, there was only novel, now you can even buy a comic book..."


    After knowing that he could not get any intelligence from the storyteller, Zhang Tie dropped a gold coin on the table. After that, he stood up and walked out of the room.


    ...


    After Zhang Tie left the room for 2 minutes, the storyteller who was sitting quietly at the table suddenly quivered all over. He looked around the room in a vacant expression before uttering, "Ahh, what''s wrong with me? Why am I here? Shouldn''t I have returned home? Why am I drinking tea here?"


    ...


    After leaving the teahouse, Zhang Tie felt that this event was a bit weird. Besides being confused about that, he felt deeply moved. Therefore, he took a walk on the street and looked for a bookstore.


    Only after a few minutes, Zhang Tie had found a bookstore and entered it.


    "Boss, do you have Legend of Black Iron Hero?"


    The clerk pointed at a bookshelf a few meters away.


    Zhang Tie walked over there and noticed a very delicate novel Legend of Black Iron Hero in the most eye-catching place. Beside it, there was a set of many delicate comic books of Legend of Black Iron Hero. At the sight of the figures on the cover of the comic book, Zhang Tie felt it was very interesting. Therefore, he stretched out his hand to take it. Out of his imagination, another person on his side also stretched out her hand to take the same comic book. Therefore, their hands pressed on the same book.


    Zhang Tie turned around and saw a pair of beautiful, big and black eyes...


    A young lady in many precious headwears was watching him with a strong 7-8-year-old boy in her hand.


    At the sight of this woman, Zhang Tie was shocked inside because she was Lv Shasha, his junior fellow apprentice on Hidden Dragon Island...

 1026 Being Always Together

    Chapter 1026: Being Always Together


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie''s memory returned to Hidden Dragon Island where he met Lv Shasha for the first time.


    When he saw Lv Shasha for the first time, she was crying and said that she missed her home and her mother so much while Du Yuhan was comforting her.


    In Zhang Tie''s memory, Lv Shasha was always the most shy and sensitive one among his junior sister apprentices. As there was a bit misunderstanding between him and her, this bashful junior sister apprentice was even afraid of him for quite a long time. Although being together with a lot of junior sister apprentices, Lv Shasha still dared not see Zhang Tie face-to-face each time...


    He met Lv Shasha and the other junior sister apprentices in Jinwu Castle of Hidden Dragon Island last time. At that time, he and his junior sister apprentices were all drunk. After performing a fist position and a swordsmanship and reciting a poem, Zhang Tie broke his double fish swords by battle qi as his "unique" gift to these junior sister apprentices...


    From then on, Zhang Tie didn''t use double swords anymore.


    That night, he drank too much. In his memory, Lv Shasha, Du Yuhan and Qu Liangying were all drunk. Many junior sister apprentices even cried...


    That was the most beautiful and memorable night.


    That night was very special.


    The ever youth, the passionate, innocent, nice and simple emotions, those which were described and undescribed all turned into merry laughter and tears. After that night, all these had vanished in the battle flames of the holy war. After that, Zhang Tie went to the Selnes Theater of Operations being far away from Hidden Dragon Island and didn''t see these junior sister apprentices anymore...


    A few years ago, when he returned to Youzhou Province, he heard that most of these junior sister apprentices had married others. Some of them like Guo Miaolu were still in hard-working cultivation as they wanted to further increase their battle strength...


    Zhang Tie didn''t bother those who had got married. As for those who were still in hard-working cultivation, Zhang Tie told Huaiyuan Palace to look after them stealthily. Zhang Tie didn''t go to see them either. Something had better be buried deep in mind.


    It was really out of his imagination that Zhang Tie could meet a junior sister apprentice in a bookstore of Xuantian City after many years later.


    Lv Shasha was still as beautiful as before; however, she was more mature. The former innocent maiden had already become a young lady although she was still as reserved as before. That little boy''s eyes and face was very similar to that of Lv Shasha. At the sight of the little boy, Zhang Tie knew that he''s Lv Shasha''s son.


    Zhang Tie became a bit absent-minded as he had mixed moods inside...


    The reason that Lv Shasha gazed at Zhang Tie with her widely opened eyes was that she had not imagined that a tough man could be interested in the comic book Legend of Black Iron Hero ; additionally, that large bamboo rain hat on Zhang Tie''s head looked a bit weird.


    ''Is this man a lunatic?''


    Before Zhang Tie withdrew his hand, Lv Shasha had already withdrawn her hand rapidly with a disgusted and terrified look. After that, she turned around and told her son, "Xiaozhi, let''s take a look in other bookstore!"


    When Lv Shasha said this, she pulled her son back a bit stealthily in case of stirring up Zhang Tie.


    "No, mom, I will read Legend of Black Iron Hero. We''ve been in many bookstores and they were all out of stock..."


    "Hush!"


    Zhang Tie revealed an embarrassed smile. As an earth knight, if the news that he quarreled with a little boy for a comic book in a bookstore was spread over, it would shock many people. Therefore, he took that comic book and gave it to that boy, "Here you go. I will read this version. I was just wondering that this novel had a comic book just now..."


    As Zhang Tie said, he took the novel...


    "Xiaozhi, say thanks to the uncle..."


    "Thank you, uncle!" The boy called Zhang Tie in an innocent way when he received the comic book with a big smile.


    "Ahh, you''re welcome, you''re welcome..."


    Lv Shasha was still as reserved as before. Only after a brief dialogue with Zhang Tie, she had pulled her son away.


    Zhang Tie was a bit thrilled. He wanted to say something; however, when he thought up his current status, he could only rub his face and see Lv Shasha off.


    After dropping a gold coin, Zhang Tie took that novel and walked out of the bookstore.


    Outside the bookstore, Lv Shasha and her son entered a black limo while a driver opened the door for them. At the sight of Zhang Tie coming out of the bookstore, the boy even waved his hand towards Zhang Tie.


    ''The origin of the license plate of the black limo is Xuantian City; it seems that Lv Shasha married someone in Xuantian City.''


    A whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind when a tracing feather shot out of his forehead and attached to the black limo.


    The limo ran away leaving smoke...


    Outside the bookstore, Zhang Tie skimmed over the novel. With his current spiritual energy, he could absolutely skim over 100 lines in one second. He could read one page and keep it deep in his mind as fast as taking a photo.


    The main character of the novel was him. The story started from Blackhot City. The contents and framework of the novel were mainly based on his article "The Inscriptions on the Gravestone of the Despicable". Of course, there were artistic creations, processing and modifications.


    After turning over 20 pages, Zhang Tie noticed a plot which he had not experienced¡ª¡ªIt was already dark when Zhang Tie finished his part-time job and was going back home. Suddenly, Zhang Tie saw a poor beggar lying on the roadside nearby the railway station of Blackhot City due to hunger. Out of sympathy, the kind youth bought a loaf of bread for the beggar from the nearby bakery. He had not imagined that the beggar was a powerhouse who just traveled across the human world with a cynical mind. After having the loaf of bread gifted by the youth, the beggar gifted a secret method to the youth and taught him how to use the unique secret disguising method. As a result, the youth immediately mastered the senior skills to change his looks...


    When Zhang Tie read this plot, he could almost confirm it right away that the contents in this novel were not fully written by Mr. Jingan. This plot could only be fabricated by Donder because Zhang Tie''s disguising skills were taught by Donder. Besides Donder, nobody else knew it; neither did Zhang Tie say it to others.


    As an evidence, the image of Hua Boss Tang of a grocery in the novel was too excellent, he was handsome, generous and wise. In the novel, Boss Tang could be the model of all the middle-aged men. According to the description, Boss Tang was absolutely a philosopher who enjoyed the average life and the beacon light and first teacher of Zhan Tie. Damn! What made Zhang Tie speechless was that Boss Tang was not horny at all, ''A female boss in Blackhot City even courted him by spending money on him, f*ck...''


    The plots about Zhang Tie at home were not fully fabricated out of the void, because only Zhang Tie''s elder brother knew some details.


    Zhang Tie understood it at once, ''It must be my elder brother and Donder who joined hands to clarify my innocence using Legend of Black Iron Hero .''


    ''It''s definitely an unprecedented masterpiece for beautifying my personal image. All the storytellers across Taixia Country have become my pluggers. As long as I paid them some money, I would have numerous fans and adorers in Taixia Country. If the Supreme Court in Taixia Country doesn''t cancel off my arrest order, Taixia government will lose many people''s support and have to bear too much stress and condemnation.


    TheLegend of Black Iron Hero and the Inscriptions on the Gravestone of the Despicableonce being coordinated with each other would resist numerous soldiers for Zhang Clan and Huaiyuan Palace.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could be as hot as the sun at high noon across Taixia Country after becoming a murderer.


    ''You must be kidding me.''


    Although it looked ridiculous, it was real.


    Over the past 4 years, although Zhang Tie was not at home and didn''t even contact his family members, his family members and friends were always on his side. They were trying their best to clarify his innocence so that he could return to the public.


    On the roadside, Zhang Tie spent less than 10 minutes in reading the entire story, regardless of the amazed looks of the passers-by.


    The end of the story was about the merciless situation. After fighting hundreds of millions of demonized puppets to the end in Waii Subcontinent, Zhang Tie came to Taixia Country. After being outstanding in the competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province for Zhang Taixuan and inflicting the Heavens Reaching Church, he was framed by demons and Heavens Reaching Church. Although he survived the trap with his own ability, he had to escape everywhere with the fabricated crime as a touching, tragical hero...


    Such an end was very outraged. However, in the spirit of law worshiped by Taixia Country, the order of arrest issued by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country was irrevocable. Therefore, the end of this story tested the result of the wrestle between conscience and the spirit of the law in Taixia Country. Whether did you believe that the hero was still the hero or the dubious evidence was still effective?


    After putting this novel which was of special meaning to him into his coat and sensing the current location of that limo, Zhang Tie strode towards the direction where the limo was leaving for...


    ...


    Over 10 minutes later, Zhang Tie came to a tranquil and spacious avenue in the south of Xuantian City. After throwing some glances at the signboard "Sun Mansion", Zhang Tie strode away before arousing the attention of the guards.


    It should be a major clan in Xuantian City. The small limo was right in the courtyard of Sun Mansion.


    "Many people from all walks of life come to Xuantian city lately, as a young madam and young master have just come back from outside, you''d better be vigilant in case of any followers..."


    "Yes, sir, Steward Sun. It''s said that master wants the young master to learn from Fire Dragon Hermit. Young master is wise, he will definitely be recruited..."


    "Such a major event has nothing to do with you. Watch out your mouth..." Steward Sun reproached a guard...


    Although it was over 100 m away, the dialogue between some people at the gate of Sun Mansion still drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears...


    ...


    After hearing this, Zhang Tie felt a bit weird as he returned to his foothold in Xuantian City...

 1027 Being as Boisterous as a Marketplace

    Chapter 1027: Being as Boisterous as a Marketplace


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie''s foothold was in an official manor of Xuantian City. The moment Zhang Tie reached the periphery of that official manor, he had been startled by what he saw.


    The periphery of that official manor had been crowded with limos and beautiful carriages. Both sides of the greater part of a street were crowded with people with various gifts.


    "Oh, ministry councilor Liu, nice to meet you..."


    "Is that Boss Qu..."


    "Wuh, and landlord Gao..."


    Although there were many people outside the official manor, they just waited there patiently and greeted and chatted with those familiar ones beside them in a low voice. Although they were standing outside the official manor, they were still followed by their bodyguards and stewards who were lifting many cases, large or small, which almost occupied half of the avenue outside the official manor.


    "It''s said that the mayor''s steward is also queuing up ahead of us?" A person in brilliant silk gown in front of Zhang Tie was whispering to another guy who was queuing up.


    "Even idiots would come, if not in the official uniform of Taixia Country and have been dispatched away from Xuantian City, I''m afraid that Lord Mayor has long been waiting here himself!"


    "Yea, Fire Dragon Hermit is a qualified earth knight. It''s said that he has made great meritorious deeds in the Earth-elements Realm and has even killed over 2 earth-level demon knights. He''s very prestigious..."


    "Have you seen the red airboat in the official manor? It''s said that Fire Dragon Hermit won it from a shadow knight elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect through a bet. Unbelievable..."


    "But I was told that Fire Dragon Hermit had killed almost 4 earth-level demon knights in the Earth-elements Realm..."


    "Two of them didn''t leave any evidence; therefore, they could not be counted in Fire Dragon Hermit''s meritorious deeds. However, all the others had witnessed that..."


    "According to your news, Fire Dragon Hermit should be the No. 1 powerhouse in Youzhou Province, more powerful than provincial governor..."


    "Hush, watch out your words..."


    Zhang Tie heard many whispers like this. The moment Zhang Tie wanted to push into the gate of the official manor, some bodyguards beside a fat ministry councilor instantly turned around and watched Zhang Tie with unpleasant looks before reproaching him, "Bro, don''t you know about queuing up when you want to pay a formal visit to Fire Dragon Hermit?"


    ''F*ck, this daddy has to queue up to return to my own residence?''


    Zhang Tie watched those people dozens of meters in front of him and found that he could not explain it to these people clearly; therefore, he directly took off his bamboo hat and revealed his signboard "bald head" before shouting, "Liu Xing!"


    The moment Zhang Tie shouted, those in front of him turned around and watched him at the same time.


    "Be quiet before the manor of Fire Dragon Hermit!" An old man turned around and gave Zhang Tie a lesson like an experienced elder.


    The moment the old man finished his words, the gate of the official manor was in an uproar while those queuing up in front of the gate hurriedly dodged away. At the same time, a team of black armored fighters rushed out of the gate and opened a way for Zhang Tie by force.


    Those who were queuing up outside the gate of the official manor hurriedly gave a way to the team of fighters with big smiles.


    It was said that those fighters were all brave warriors from the top four armies in Taixia Country who had experienced bloody battles in the Earth-elements Realm. They were also Fire Dragon Hermit''s entourage. Of course, those who were waiting outside the official manor dared not stir up them.


    Under the amazed looks of so many people, the team of black armored fighters opened a way from the crowd and came all the way to Zhang Tie''s front. The team leader was Liu Xing.


    "Fire Dragon Hermit!"


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Liu Xing hurriedly gave a bow to Zhang Tie.


    After hearing Liu Xing''s words, everybody else at present widely opened their mouths like being filled with some duck eggs. The entire street was pretty quiet; especially those bodyguards and that old man who reproached Zhang Tie just now whose faces had blushed too much while they were quivering all over due to fear.


    "What''s wrong with these people?" Zhang Tie asked Liu Xing.


    "They come from all the cities in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. After knowing that Fire Dragon Bounty Hermit is living here, these people have sent requests to pay formal visits to Fire Dragon Bounty Hermit. As hermit is traveling outside these days, they just waited here!" Liu Xing answered.


    Zhang Tie nodded silently as he directly came onto the steps of the gate of the official manor in the welcome of those black-armored fighters.


    This official manor was the former official reception mansion of Xuantian City, which was especially used to receive dignitaries from other places. The Department of Protocol of Xuantian City was also in this manor. The official manor was in the best location of Xuantian City; there was an airport in the official manor. The entire official manor was like a luxurious showplace in the city. It contained pavilions, terraces, venues, independent courts and hotels. Therefore, after coming to Xuantian City, Zhang Tie chose this place as his residence. Additionally, he chose this place to hold the opening ceremony of his Iron-Dragon Sect. As this place belonged to him, he had the right to dispose of it freely.


    Standing on the steps of the gate, Zhang Tie looked at those people who were waiting outside the official manor. Those people then hurriedly bowed towards Zhang Tie. Nobody at present could straighten up. Zhang Tie found that there were over 1,000 people outside his official manor.


    Given these people''s clothes and demeanors, Zhang Tie knew that they were major clans and landlords in the 10 cities of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. Of course, in front of an earth knight, the so-called landlords and major clans were as trivial as ants, because there was a sharp difference between them and Zhang Tie in power, position, battle strength and wealth.


    However, killing was not the only element in this world because development is closely related to these people. After all, this world was composed of many commoners. Knights were just a small part of people on the top of the pyramid.


    Zhang Tie''s figure was as sturdy and tall as the Mighty Miracle God. Standing on the steps, he looked very dignified.


    "Who among you excels at civil engineering, especially building palaces?" Zhang Tie put it straight.


    Soon after Zhang Tie finished his words, a swarthy and rich middle-aged man at his 50s raised his hand at once when the others were still confused about Zhang Tie''s intention.


    "You''re?"


    "Fire Dragon Hermit, I''m Lu Yishan, the biggest shareholder of Threerocks Engineering Group in Dashang City, Gaoping Prefecture, Yanzhou Province. Threerocks Engineering Group has a long history and remarkable reputation. Being founded by my ancestor, it''s qualified to build a Class I City in Taixia Country. We''re good at civil engineering, especially building palaces!" Lu Yishan answered calmly although in a faintly quivering tone.


    "Hmm, not bad, come here!" Zhang Tie waved his hand towards Lu Yishan.


    In the admiring eye light, Lu Yishan held his breath and walked to Zhang Tie''s side calmly and bowed towards Zhang Tie once again before standing respectfully on a place two steps lower than that of Zhang Tie on the latter''s side.


    As a result, Lu Yishan became outstanding among those visitors outside the official manor at once.


    Seeing Lu Yishan standing on Zhang Tie''s side, some representatives of engineering groups of some major clans felt pretty regretful. They had not imagined that they could miss such a good chance to approach Fire Dragon Hermit only after being faintly hesitated.


    When those guys were hesitating whether would they raise their hands now, Zhang Tie opened his mouth once again.


    "Who has an alcohol brewage plant among you?"


    This time, 3 people raised their hands at once.


    Even in this age, alcohol also had special functions. Besides being used as fuel for sports cars such as Faerie-dragon T9, alcohol could also be used in medical services and food processing, etc.. Therefore, it was reasonable for some clans in the 10 cities in Fire Dragon Territory to run alcohol brewage plant.


    "Well, you three, come over here!" Zhang Tie called the three people to approach to him.


    In the others'' admiring looks, the three well-dressed people came to the steps below Zhang Tie.


    "Who could produce machines?" Zhang Tie tossed out another question.


    This time, 5 people raised their hands. Zhang Tie let all of them move to his side...


    "Which clan is most disgusting?"


    After hearing this question, all the others exchanged glances with each other. This time, nobody raised hands. At the same time, everybody moved their eyes onto an emaciated old man in a black robe unconsciously. The old man was standing in the crowd with a cold look; two servants were standing on his side with gift packages; although it was bustling in the surroundings, there was open land beside him.


    Noticing that everybody else was looking at him, the old man hesitated. Finally, he raised his hand.


    "Fine, you, come here!"


    Under the amazed eyes, the old man moved to a step beside Zhang Tie. Standing alone on the other side of Zhang Tie, he looked unsocial.


    "Which clan have the most servants and worship kindness in accordance with strict disciplines as well as enjoy the good reputation among the public?"


    This time, people became hesitated once again. Many people wanted to raise their hands; however, after looking around and measuring their own deeds, they finally didn''t raise their hands, except one person who gritted his teeth and raised his hand bravely.


    "Who''re you?"


    "Hermit, this humble man is Wang Chongde, the master of Wang Clan, Yushun Palace in Ningan City. Wang Clan is known for its strict disciplines. Although being not that famous, we warn our disciples and servants to behave meticulously every day. We would reflect our home disciplines three times a day since young. All of us protect living beings and never kill any animals. Wang Clan provides free porridge in Ningan City all the year round at the request of our ancestors. As long as Wang Clan have food to eat, we will keep providing free porridge all the year round. Therefore, after hearing Hermit''s question, I recommend myself shamelessly. If Hermit thinks that I''m improper, please forgive me!" The one who raised his hand said in a flurried way.


    "Since how many years has your clan provided free porridge in Ningan City?"


    "Starting from this humble man''s great-grandfather, Wang Clan has provided free porridge for 71 years, 8 months and 21 days ceaselessly in Ningan City, regardless of the weather!"


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter which could almost be heard across the city, "Good, Wang Clan of Yushun Palace. A kind family must have a good fortune. This hermit will bring a good fortune to your clan today so as to satisfy the God''s will. Listen, now that Wang Clan could provide free porridge over 70 years constantly, 7 disciples of Wang Clan could enter my Iron-Dragon Sect. If they''re talented, they could receive all the contents of my secret method Fire Dragon Hermit !


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, the master of Wang Clan immediately knelt down on the ground and forcefully kowtowed towards Zhang Tie, "I, Wang Chongde, thanks to the great favor of Fire Dragon Hermit on behalf of the ancestors of Wang Clan!"


    When he raised his head once again, Wang Chongde''s forehead and eyes both turned red. Being extremely thrilled, he quivered all over.


    "Hmm, come over here!"


    Wang Chognde then picked himself up and patted dust off his clothes. Closely after that, he walked to Zhang Tie''s side very respectfully.


    At this moment, all the others threw their shocked eyes at Wang Chongde.


    Nobody could imagine that Wang Clan, Yushun Palace in Ningan City could have such a special treatment like a carp leaping into the dragon''s gate.


    However, the master of Wang Clan was right. Many people at present had heard about Wang Clan''s disciplines. They all knew that he was telling the truth. Therefore, they couldn''t find any fault with him.


    "The others could leave!" Zhang Tie swung his sleeves as he led those people whom he had selected into his official manor...

 1028 I Have My Own Consideration I

    After entering the official manor, Zhang Tie took a seat in a parlor beside a brook. At Zhang Tie''s order, Liu Xing and the other black-armored fighters brought those selected ones into an assembly hall and received them for the time being. After learning what happened here during these days when he left the official manor from Liu Xing, Zhang Tie told Liu Xing to bring them in the parlor one after another.


    During the period when Zhang Tie left the official manor, the requests to pay formal visits to Zhang Tie had filled many baskets. It was polite for them to send requests to pay formal visits to Zhang Tie. Liu Xing and the other black-armored fighters didn''t know Zhang Tie''s will; therefore, they just received all the requests and waited for Zhang Tie''s decision.


    The one who was brought in the parlor first was Lu Yishan, the former greatest shareholder of Threerocks Engineering Group in Dashang City, Gaoping Prefecture, Yanzhou Province.


    Although Fire Dragon Hermit was known as a dauntless hero, he was not rude. Therefore, Lu Yishan was not as intense as before. Although recovering his composure a bit, he still behaved meticulously in front of Zhang Tie.


    "Take a seat!" Zhang Tie casually pointed at a chair in the parlor and told Lu Yishan, who was of his dad''s age, to take a seat.


    "Erm...I...I''d better stand up...in front of hermit!" Lu Yishan said carefully.


    In Lu Yishan''s eyes, Fire Dragon Hermit was almost on the same level as the provincial governor. In front of such an influential figure, of course, he dared not sit. It was already his great honor to be received by such an influential figure. It was honorable enough for engineering groups like his to sit in the same room with the city mayor after many years'' efforts, not to mention an earth knight.


    "Cut the crap!" Zhang Tie glared at Lu Yishan.


    "Yes, sir...yes, sir...yes, sir..." Lu Yishan was scared too much that he hurriedly sat down on the chair with a small half of his butt on the edge of the chair while putting his hands on his legs in a very docile look.


    "Do you know why I fetch you here?" Zhang Tie asked Lu Yishan before throwing a glance at him.


    After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, Lu Yishan gritted his teeth and replied, "Does Fire Dragon Hermit want to build a Class I city in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory so as to set people''s minds at rest?"


    After hearing Lu Yishan''s words, Zhang Tie became faintly stunned. Zhang Tie then replied, "You think this hermit wants to build a Class I city in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory?"


    "I''m really happy that Hermit favors me. Therefore, I just put it straight. If it''s improper, please forgive me !" Lu Yishan cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie.


    "Go ahead. I will not blame you for whatever you say!" Zhang Tie waved his hand.


    "If so, Lu Yishan will put it straightforward..." After recovering his composure, Lu Yishan answered, "It''s said that Hermit has just come back from the Earth-elements Realm. With your status and position, you definitely know that Emperor Xuanyuan is missing. This event has been spread over the commoners. As the holy war has broken out, it''s unstable both domestically and abroad. In the holy war, only solid cities and castles could set people''s minds at rest. As there''s not a Class I city in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory now, if you want to shape a supreme image in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, I suggest you to build a Class I city!"


    Lu Yishan''s words were out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. Zhang Tie had not imagined that the news that Emperor Xuanyuan was missing could be spread over the commoners in Taixia Country so fast. Even businessmen like Lu Yishan had known it and were thinking about the countermeasures. This was actually not good for Taixia Country as a whole. It indicated that the aftermath of the event that Emperor Xuanyuan was missing had just come to a start.


    Actually, Zhang Tie did not fetch Lu Yishan to build a Class I city. However, Lu Yishan''s words reminded Zhang Tie. From the perspective of a knight, it was almost the same whether there was a Class I city or not. However, in the holy war, Class I city was of a special meaning for commoners.


    "What''s the expense of a Class I city?"


    "It depends. A basic Class I city which could meet all the indicators and functions would cost you 200 million gold coins to 250 million gold coins. More advanced Class I cities like some of the nine immortal provinces would cost far more 200 million gold coins as its functions and defense facilities are much better than Class I cities in Taixia Country after many generations'' construction of a clan. There''s actually not an upper limit for that. Additionally, since a few months ago, it had been spread over Taixia Country that Emperor Xuanyuan was missing. Therefore, the number of clans which would build Class I cities abruptly increased. Out of the demand, raw materials such as steel and cement are constantly rising. Now, it will cost over 15% more to build a Class I city than that a few months ago..."


    Lu Yishan answered professionally.


    The Saint Peterburg cost Zhang Tie 90 million gold coins as the most magnificent city across Ice and Snow Wilderness; however, any Class I city in Taixia Country would cost almost 200 million gold coins. What a sharp difference!


    "Now that the number of clans which are going to build Class I cities abruptly increases, could you Threerocks Engineering Group receive an order to build a Class I city in Yanzhou Province?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Lu Yishan''s face turned embarrassed at once, "Hermit...erm...Hermit, you might not know that. In Taixia Country, those who could build Class I cities are all real major clans. The Class I cities built by these major clans are always be involved with the secrets of the clans, such as the arrangement of hidden ways and weapons. As these secrets were very sensitive and might be easily exposed to the public if they were contracted to outsiders; therefore, these Class I cities could only be built by their own engineering groups. Our Threerocks Engineering Group is mainly responsible for building official projects. We are doing some small projects, but we''ve not received any task on building Class I cities..."


    Zhang Tie understood that the government in the provinces and prefectures would not build Class I cities in a big way at such a critical moment. Even the current building plans would be prolonged for the time being. Because of the news that the Emperor Xuanyuan was missing, the commoners started to be scared. If the government exerted its utmost to build Class I cities at this moment, it would make commoners more scared. Some cunning guys might even stir up trouble in Taixia Country with it.


    Touching his bald head, Zhang Tie replied, "We need to build a Class I city; however, we should not do it right now. This Hermit wants to establish Iron-Dragon Sect first! Otherwise, it would be ridiculous if we didn''t even have a foothold."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Lu Yishan understood at once. He almost wanted to slap his own face. He only thought about the importance of a Class I city from his point of view; however, he forgot about the importance of Iron-Dragon Sect for Fire Dragon Sect, which was even more urgent than building a Class I city. Although he thought that he had opened his mind to Fire Dragon Hermit; however, he was still too anxious for profit in Fire Dragon Hermit''s eyes.


    Lu Yishan revealed a bashful smile as he twisted his body restlessly and asked, "Hermit, where are you going to build Iron-Dragon Sect?"


    "After looking around these couple days, I find that the Xuantian 18 mountain peaks in Yangui Mountain Range are very beautiful and magnificent. This Hermit wants to establish Iron-Dragon Sect based on Xuantian 18 mountain peaks..."


    Standing in Xuantian City, people could look at the Yangui Mountain Range in the distance, especially the contour of the Xuantian 18 mountain peaks in Yangui Mountain Range. Therefore, this city was named Xuantian City.


    These days, Zhang Tie was considering the location of Iron-Dragon Sect. Among the major sects in Taixia Country, besides Gold and Power Law, almost all the major sects were in famous mountains, rivers or isolated overseas islands. Some were even in very secret places. ''My Iron-Dragon Sect has to rely on a famous mountain or river too.'' As Yangui Mountain was magnificent with a special terrain, Zhang Tie decided to establish Iron-Dragon Sect in Yangui Mountain Range. Given that Xuantian 18 mountain peaks were grotesque in Yangui Mountain Range, Zhang Tie chose it as the core of his Iron-Dragon Sect.


    "Ahh, Hermit, do you really want to choose Xuantian 18 mountain peaks as the foundation of Iron-Dragon Sect?" Lu Yishan was amazed.


    "Yes!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    "How large do you want?"


    After combining Lu Yishan''s question with the discussion between two of them about building a Class I city, Zhang Tie had a bizarre thought. Zhang Tie recalled the surrounding terrain of Xuantian 18 mountain peaks that he had seen in the air as he burst out into laughter at once.


    "Hahahaha, your words remind me. How about making it large? Why not combine the territory of Iron-Dragon Sect with a Class I city? I mean building an unprecedented sect, also a mountainous city in Yangui Mountain with the benefit of its terrain. In the future, the population in Iron-Dragon Sect will be planned according to that of a basic Class I city. Of course, we can develop step by step..."


    Lu Yishan was startled at once. Closely after that, his heart pounded. It was a tough challenge and a great opportunity for Threerocks Engineering Group.


    "Hermit...do you really want me to undertake this project?" Lu Yishan asked in a timid way after forcefully swallowing his saliva. At this moment, he really didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could entrust him to undertake such a "major event" only after chatting with him a short while. In other places and periods, Threerocks Engineers Group would spend a lot of time and efforts in getting such a big project.


    "Cut the crap, who else if I don''t let you do that?" Zhang Tie glared at Lu Yishan before putting it straightforwardly, "You will take charge of this project. Don''t'' waste my time. I will pay you according to the market price. If you could accomplish it perfectly, you will have an award..."


    Lu Yishan immediately sprung up from his chair and bowed deeply to Zhang Tie. He felt being moved and impulsive like how a person would die for the one who favored him as he said, "Our Lu Clan in Dashang City will definitely live up to Hermit''s trust even at the cost of our lives..."

 1029 I Have My Own Consideration II

    Soon after Lu Yishan left with excitement, Liu Xing had brought in another 3 people.


    They all had private alcohol breweries.


    Like Lu Yishan, the three people also behaved very meticulously when they entered.


    The slightly younger one was more than 30 years old, the other two were at their 50s. All of them behaved politely and looked rich.


    Zhang Tie told them to sit. After exchanging a glance with each other, the three guys also put a small half of their butts on the edges of their chairs in a very meticulous way like how Lu Yishan did.


    "Well, you can introduce yourselves now!" Zhang Tie said as he waved his hand.


    "Hermit, this humble man is Fang Tong, the master of Fang Clan in Qinghe City!" The eldest one stood up on his own initiative and introduced himself after throwing a glance at the other two.


    "Do you have a private alcohol brewery?"


    "Fang Clan indeed have an alcohol brewery in Qinghe City!"


    "How large?"


    "It could produce over 2,000 tons of alcohol each year!" Fang Tong answered respectfully when he just lowered his head and looked at the ground.


    "Hmm, not bad, take a seat!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    After Fang Tong sat down, another 50-year old guy in a blue silk robe picked himself up.


    "Hermit, this humble man is Chen Zihui, from Chen Clan, Muqing Palace, Langyun City. I''m the younger brother of Chen Zihao, the master of Chen Clan. As my elder brother is in Guanzhou Province, he could not come back to pay a formal visit to Hermit on time; after knowing that Hermit is arriving at Xuantian City, he especially told me to come to Xuantian City to learn from Hermit on behalf of Chen Clan!"


    After throwing a glance at Chen Zihui, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, ''This guy is really talkative.''


    "Do you also produce alcohol?"


    "Chen Clan has produced alcohol for over 50 years. We could produce over 40,000 tons a year!"


    "Hmm, take a seat!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    After Chen Zihui sat down, the youngest one hurriedly stood up. After bowing deeply to Zhang Tie, he opened his mouth, "This humble man is Li Tao, the head of Zhongpin Business Group in Dongyang City!"


    Zhang Tie threw two glances at Li Tao and found that he was a shrewd and able man with flickering eyes. Additionally, he had already reached LV 13 4-star battle general and was one with the greatest battle strength among the 3 people.


    "You''re not a native of Dongyang City, right?"


    "I really admired your insight, Hermit, this humble man is indeed not a native of Dongyang City. This humble man comes from Li Clan, Wansheng Palace, Wuhua Prefecture, Zhuozhou Province. As I''m a branch of Li Clan and the second son in my family, I went out to survive myself and expand undertakings outside after becoming mature. Fortunately, I have some undertakings in Dongyang City. I have a business group and a small alcohol brewery which could produce 1,000 tons of alcohol a year."


    ''Li Clan from Wansheng Palace?'' Zhang Tie''s heartbeat accelerated faintly when he recalled the major clans in Taixia Country, ''Li Clan is a major clan in Zhuozhou Province. Li Clans are all very famous in Taixia Country. It''s even more powerful than Huaiyuan Palace. In such a large clan, as there are too many descendants from branches, not each of them could be well taken care of. Therefore, such a clan would encourage young descendants to establish undertakings outside. Li Tao must be one of them. There are many people like Li Tao in Huaiyuan Palace.''


    ''However, even after coming from major clans in Taixia Country, not each of these clan descendants who established undertakings outside could make a success. Sometimes, the signboard of major clans just granted them with a background of a young member of a family holding official rank for generations. There were numerous youngsters like this. If they wanted to establish some undertakings, they had to exert their utmost efforts. Big billows beat the sands, many young men who had the background of major clans could achieve nothing after making efforts many years in Taixia Country. By contrast, Li Tao is an able man as he could establish a bit undertaking in Dongyang City. Even guys like Zhu Dabiao was almost stewed alive by Master Jiang when he came to Youzhou Province for investment with the background of the grandson of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province.''


    Zhang Tie nodded and told Li Tao to sit down.


    "I''m a straightforward man. I need your favor!"


    "Hermit, what can I do for you?" Fang Tong asked as he slightly inclined forward.


    "I will build an alcohol brewery in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. Hmm, it''s a bit large..." Touching his bald head, Zhang Tie continued, "Precisely, it should be an alcohol production base. As you''re all running alcohol breweries and are familiar with this industry, I want you three to do that for me!"


    "How large do you want, Hermit?" Chen Zihui asked as he was a bit shocked by the word "base".


    "At least 500,000 tons of alcohol a year!" Zhang Tie answered casually.


    After hearing the figure, Chen Zihui and Fang Tong were startled so much that they almost slid off their chairs when their mouths could almost hold a duck''s egg.


    "5...500,000...tons?" Fang Tong would treat it as a joke if it was not from Zhang Tie''s mouth. At this moment, there was not even an alcohol production plant that could produce over 100,000 tons of alcohol a year across Taixia Country. If this plant was founded, it must be the largest one in Taixia Country. However, it might also be a joke in the end...


    "What? You cannot do it?" Zhang Tie looked a bit solemn.


    "We can, but..." Fang Tong became silent after looking at the other two.


    "Go ahead..."


    "If so, this humble man will put it straight. If Hermit wants to build an alcohol production base which could produce 500,000 tons of alcohol a year, we will have no technical problems as technologies on this aspect have been very advanced; however, after the alcohol production base is established, it might not run smoothly!" Fang Tong said while gritting his teeth.


    "What do you mean by not run smoothly?"


    "Hermit, you might not know much about business. In the industry, we have to consider the market demands. There''s not such a large market in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory the neighboring Youzhou Province, Tongzhou Province and Yanzhou Province. Now, the alcohol production capability and market in the three provinces are already saturated. The fluctuations in both supplies and demands are very small; additionally, the profit of alcohol in the three provinces has reached its lowest limit. Take Fang Clan''s alcohol brewery as an instance, after deducting the depreciative cost of equipment and the cost of labor forces, the profit of alcohol of Fang Clan is only 4% these years. Additionally, as long as the transportation distance is over 600 miles, our profit will reduce to zero. If our alcohol was transported to other places, it would become very expensive plus the cost of transportation. As a result, it could not match the alcohol that''s produced in the other places. Even if we make a discount, we will sustain loss too. The more we produce, the more we will lose. Even if you could afford it for the time being, you could not afford it forever. It''s the law of market, therefore..."


    Fang Tong stopped because he had made it clear. It wasn''t a problem for them to produce an alcohol production base which could produce 500,000 tons of alcohol a year; the problem was that such an amount of alcohol could not be consumed in the region within 600 miles with Fire Dragon Bounty Territory as the center. Such a production base would definitely sustain a loss; the more it produced, the more it would lose. Therefore, the three people didn''t promise Zhang Tie at once.


    Based on Fire Dragon Hermit''s social status, it was normal for him to not know much about business. Nobody dared mock him. However, the three people understood it. Because they were alcohol producers and had been in this industry for so many years. They must know this industry clearly. If they ruined the task assigned by Fire Dragon Hermit, they would not bear it. It was not a joke. If Fire Dragon Hermit mistook that the three people were cheating him, they could only chop off their own heads so as to seek for the forgiveness of Fire Dragon Hermit.


    After hearing Fang Tong''s words, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. As he grew up in a family which sold rice brew and always did a part-time job in a grocery when he was young, of course, Zhang Tie knew the relationship between the cost of the commodity and the market capacity. Of course, these people didn''t know about his background.


    After looking around Fire Dragon Bounty Territory these days, Zhang Tie saw exuberant corn fields in the wild as it was August. As corns were drought-resistant, worms-proof with a high yield, many places in the north of Taixia Country were planting corns; especially in the provinces of Northeast Military Region. After the holy war broke out, out of the demand of the war, many places started to expand the planting area of corns. Across Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, the corn plantation area almost reached 1 million hectares.


    Through Zhang Tie''s preliminary calculation, the over 1 million hectares of corn fields could produce over 12 million tons of maize straws in total in the standard that each mu of land could produce 800 kgs'' maize straws.


    Previously, most of these maize straws would be burned by local framers after summer harvest; only a few parts of them would serve as fuels in rural areas. A small part of fresh maize straws could also serve as fodder. However, generally, over 80 of maize straws were burned and used to fertilize the arable lands.


    Two months later, when the autumn began, black smokes caused by burning maize straws would be seen everywhere in the fields of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory.


    ''Although maize straws are useless to others, they are valuable to me.''


    ''Because nobody could imagine that I have gained the latest variant of essential-energy aura yeast. I could produce high-power alcohol only with maize straws...''

 1030 I Have My Own Consideration III

    With maize straw as the raw material of alcohol, the cost of the same amount of alcohol was only 0.01 times that of the others.


    ''On average, with only 4 tons of maize straws, I would be able to produce 1 ton of high-power alcohol and two more tons of special plant fiber pulp. Those special plant fiber pulp could be used to make paper and paperboards. Additionally, they could be even used to make burning rods and balls like honeycomb coal after being mixed with some pulverized coal and coal cinders. Finally, after the 4 tons of maize straws finished their chemical reactions, besides alcohol and plant fiber pulp, I could get hundreds of kgs'' organic fertilizers.''


    Heller only presented Zhang Tie the most valuable alcohol in Castle of Black Iron.


    ''Even if I could only take advantage of half of the deserted maize straws in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory each year, I would gain over 1 million tons of high-power alcohol, over 2 million tons of special plant fiber pulp which could be used as fuel or made into paper boards and hundreds of thousands of high-power organic fertilizers a year.''


    What a profitable business!


    A whole set of industrial chains could be fully developed centered on maize straws.


    ''Such a cheap high-power alcohol doesn''t have a good market? Even if it''s used to make incendiary bombs, its supply will definitely fall short of its demand. I don''t need to worry about its sales volume at all, not to mention that this is a high-effective clean energy.''


    Compared to Waii Subcontinent, alcohol could be used in more industries in Taixia Country, not to mention its users. For instance, the automobiles being driven by alcohol on the highways in Taixia Country definitely outnumbered that in Waii Subcontinent.


    ''As an alcohol with a higher fuel value, even if I only added it into the common alcohol appropriately, the thermal energy and fuel value of the common alcohol would increase greatly. With such a mixed alcohol as a fuel, those automobiles with external combustion engines would have better performance and could run farther at the cost of less fuel. It''s priceless, not to mention that I could develop tentative machines.''


    ''As for the plant fiber pulp, whether it''s used to make paper or combustibles, it would have a great advantage in cost. It''s always profitable.''


    ''As for the organic fertilizer, it could be taken as extra gains.''


    ''With the trivial mutated essential-energy aura yeast, I could reach a paramount position in Taixia Country once again...''


    ''However, it''s unnecessary for me to explain it to Fang Tong and the other two guys. I only need them to follow my orders and accomplish the tasks for me.''


    The latest variant of the essential-energy aura yeast enabled Zhang Tie to understand another law¡ª¡ªnever look down upon any trivial matters or lives. Because the values of the trivial matters or lives might only be judged by the creator. It''s these trivial matters or lives that bring him to higher realms constantly, such as earthworms, sand-scale fish and yeast.


    "You don''t need to worry about the sales volume of alcohol. You only need to establish the alcohol production base according to my requests. Additionally, I will make some modifications to the fermentation process of alcohol production..." Zhang Tie said as he directly took out the drawings of the alcohol reactor that had been designed by Edward, Aziz and Agan from Castle of Black Iron. In order to adapt to the fermentation of maize straws, the new reactor was different than common ones on its inlet and outlet. This new reactor has three outlets in different shapes in three locations, which corresponded to alcohol, plant fiber pulp and organic fertilizer respectively.


    When Fang Tong and Chen Zihui were confused about Zhang Tie''s request, Li Tao, who had been silent, immediately stood up and promised Zhang Tie, "This humble man will definitely live up to your trust and accomplish Hermit''s task at the fastest speed with the best quality!"


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Li Tao as he thought inside, ''The young man who leaves his major clan to establish his own undertaking is really more enterprising than the others. Fang Tong and Chen Zihui might still be thinking about how to persuade me; however, Li Tao has already stood out. This man is more decisive and enterprising, which is what I need urgently now. As to the other two, now that they''ve missed the good opportunity, they could only blame themselves for that.''


    "Well, you will be responsible for this task. Let''s make the address of the alcohol production base neighbor Gaoping Prefecture in Yanzhou Province within Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. I only have one request¡ª¡ªleave space for renovation and expansion near the base!"


    As Yanzhou Province was the hub of Northeast Military Region, with Commander Cheng on its back, those who were jealous about the alcohol production base would not dare destroy it easily. This was why Zhang Tie chose this place as the address of the alcohol production base.


    The reason that he told Li Tao to leave space for expansion and renovation near the base lay in that Zhang Tie was not sure about the ultimate purpose of the plant fiber pulp in the future. As Zhang Tie had not seen the paper being made of the plant fiber pulp, he had to leave space for building a paper pulp production base neighboring the alcohol production base. If the fact was that the paper being made of the plant fiber pulp was not competitive in Taixia Country, he would teach common farmers to mix the plant fiber pulp with pulverized coal and coal cinders and make them into honeycomb coal themselves. He didn''t need that bit of money at all.


    After Li Tao walked forward, Zhang Tie gave him the drawings of the alcohol reactor. Li Tao took it with two hands in a very respectful manner. Closely after that, Zhang Tie asked him, "How much do you need to build this alcohol production base?"


    "Although the production and fermentation equipment of alcohol are huge, they are produced in many plants across Taixia Country. Therefore, they are not expensive. We can customize them in plants. As it''s in the territory of Hermit, the land rent fee will be free. We only need 5 million gold coins to build it!" Li Tao replied calmly as his eyes flickered, "Although I''m not in the army, after promising Hermit to do that, it''s as effective as a military pledge. I''d like to press my fingerprints on a military pledge. If I could not accomplish it with 5 million gold coins, I would chop off my own head!"


    Zhang Tie appreciated the attitude of this disciple of Li Clan very much as Li Tao had a dauntless spirit, which was urgently needed on the battlefield.


    "How long do you need?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "4 months!"


    "How about 3 months?"


    Li Tao clenched his fist as he looked a bit solemn and nodded forcefully. At the same time, he squeezed some words out of his teeth, "3 months!"


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he instantly took out a pile of gold checks, each of which was worth 100,000 gold coins. After that, Zhang Tie said, "Here are 5 million gold coins. If you could accomplish it in 3 months, I will promise you a bright future so that you could return to your hometown and Wansheng Palace with wealth and fame one day. Even the Li elders of Wansheng Palace will treat you politely!"


    "Thank you, hermit!" Li Tao looked faintly surprised. Closely after that, he took Zhang Tie''s gold checks and returned to his own seat while bowing his body.


    In the past couple of minutes, Fang Tong and Fang Zihui just watched what happened in front of them like onlookers. Watching Zhang Tie deliver the task of building an alcohol production base to Li Tao and Li Tao promise to accomplish this task at the cost of his life in a brief talk, the two people felt like dreaming.


    "Well, you can leave..." Zhang Tie waved his hand.


    Until they heard Zhang Tie''s last words did Fang Tong and Chen Zihui wake up from the dream.


    ''We can leave? It has nothing to do with me?''


    Looking at Zhang Tie who was drinking tea at his seat and slightly quivering his throat, Chen Zihui wanted to say something else; however, Liu Xing had already appeared in front of 3 of them and made a hand gesture to invite them to leave.


    Finally, Fang Tong and Chen Zihui were taken out of the parlor with a confused look by Liu Xing.


    After leaving the parlor, being stimulated by the sunlight, Fang Tong and Chen Zihui woke up at once. At this moment, the three people had been over 50 m away from the parlor and were walking in the garden near the brook in the official manor. There were so many willows on both sides of the brook. When the breeze blew by, the twigs of the willows started to swing. After waking up, Fang Tong and Chen Zihui both felt that their moods were as vacant as those twigs of willows.


    "Boss Li, why did you..." Fang Tong watched Li Tao with widely opened eyes.


    Watching the two people, Li Hui knew what they were wondering as he asked in reply, "Does your clans have earth knights?"


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Fang Tong and Chen Zihui shook their heads.


    "What do you mean?"


    Li Tao replied with a smile, "Li Clan of Wansheng Palace has an earth knight. He''s the grand elder of our clan. Previously, my position in Li Clan was not remarkable; I didn''t even have a chance to meet the grand elder since I was young. Although I''ve not met him, I have known one thing since young; it''s also what my first teacher taught me!"


    "What''s that thing?"


    "If you''re not an earth knight, never conjecture what an earth knight is thinking about from your view. Because the world of earth knights is different than that of us. It''s said that earth knights are worshiped as deities in subcontinents or remote lands. An earth knight''s experience, opinions, ability and realm are absolutely out of a commoner''s imagination. As a commoner below knight level, we''d better be modest in front of an earth knight. Many times, what you think and concern about are nothing but a joke in the eyes of an earth knight! There''s a proverb in the Western Continent that the moment humans think, the God will laugh. Actually, it might be more proper if this proverb was changed into the moment commoners think, the earth knight will laugh..."


    When Fang Tong and Chen Zihui were still considering about Li Tao''s reply, Li Tao had already cupped his hands towards the two people as he said, "As this humble man has to accomplish the emergency task assigned by the Hermit, I have to leave Xuantian City right now. See you!"


    After saying that, Li Tao had strode away, leaving Fang Tong and Chen Zihui standing still there with a confused look.


    In the parlor, although being far away, Zhang Tie had heard all the words that Li Tao told the other two people.


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside, ''What a Li Clan! Although being just a branch disciple, being immersed in the deep background of the clan since young, his talent could really not be matched by commoners. As long as there''s a chance, he will be able to catch it.''


    This implied the deep background of major clans! Those clans without any earth knight would never know about the realm and world of earth knights. A commoner should never worry about what an earth knight stuck to. If not having his own considerations, how could an earth knight make important decisions?


    When Fang Tong and Chen Zihui were still standing still in confused looks, the third batch of people had passed by them and walked towards the parlor where they had just left. Some familiar ones even hailed them on the way; however, they found that Fang Tong and Chen Zihui were disappointed and absent-minded.


    After quite a while, Chen Zihui shook his head as he revealed a bitter smile and cupped his hands towards Fang Tong before saying, "Brother Fang, this time, we might really have missed a good opportunity. When my elder brother comes back, I even don''t know how to explain it to him...the young man is really regarded with respect...alas...see you..."

 1031 An Epoch-making Invention

    Chapter 1031: An Epoch-making Invention


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Among the last batch of 5 people, Zhang Tie was attracted by the last person''s introduction.


    That was a young man at his 20s. Behaving elegantly, he looked a bit familiar.


    "This humble man is Sun Qiming, from Hongyuan Business Group, Xuantian City; nice to see you, Fire Dragon Hermit!"


    ''Surnamed Sun?''


    Zhang Tie suddenly figured out why this man looked familiar. Because this man''s face reminded Zhang Tie of the boy''s face on Lv Shasha''s side. After looking at him carefully, Zhang Tie confirmed it that this Sun Qiming was the very husband of Lv Shasha, his junior sister apprentice.


    ''What a coincidence! Honestly, this Sun Qiming should also call my senior brother apprentice like Lv Shasha.''


    After looking at Sun Qiming for a short while, Zhang Tie''s voice turned kinder, "Do you Sun Clan also excel at making mechanical equipment?"


    "I dare not tell a lie in front of Hermit. Hua people in Taixia Country ranks top among humans in making machines. There are talents in this line across Taixia Country. Although our Sun Clan is slightly dwarfed by the major business groups and clans which rank top in making machines in Taixia Country, our clan has also been in this line for many generations. We still excel at making machines. Our clan mainly sells several types of locomotives, many kinds of mini steam laches and some steam city-defense equipment. Our machines branded Hongyuan are well-known in Youzhou Province, even across the Northeast Military Region. They''re also greatly favored by many old customers." Sun Qiming answered meticulously after hearing Zhang Tie''s question. Through his reply, he implied Sun Clan''s advantages in making machines and didn''t offend the other 4 clans at present.


    "Now that Sun Clan has been immersed in this line for so many years, I have a question for you. Could you tell me about the difference between steam-driven machines and the machines with internal combustion engines which were popular before the Catastrophe?"


    Sun Qiming replied modestly and seriously. Actually, any lad who had joined this industry could answer this question. Even though, nobody at present dared say that Fire Dragon Hermit was naive.


    "The machines which were driven by internal combustion engines before the Catastrophe have more strengths than steam-driven machines, such as being smaller in size, lighter, more powerful, rapidly ignited and widely applied. That''s why humans preferred internal combustion engines than steam-driven engines before the Catastrophe."


    Zhang Tie nodded as he continued, "In your opinion, where do you think an internal combustion engine could work most effectively?"


    "The technologies about internal combustion engines have been mature over 1,000 years ago. It''s actually not difficult for us to make a perfect internal combustion engine with the modern technologies. What is difficult is that there''s no suitable fuel for internal combustion engines. Although we''ve lost the possibility to continue to drive internal combustion engines, as we still pursue the high power and efficiency of internal combustion engines in this age, we''ve developed external combustion engines, which combine the features of steam engines and internal combustion engines with burning alcohol as the indirect driving force for steam cycle. Even though, it still could not match that of internal combustion engines in purposes as it''s only limited to few limos, some city-defense equipment which requires rapid response and gears of some difference engines."


    After sensing Zhang Tie''s pleasant attitude when he asked the representative of Sun Clan, the other guys threw admiring looks at Sun Qiming at the same time. They wondered why Fire Dragon Hermit was interested in Sun Qiming.


    ''Honestly, although Sun Clan is a bit well known in making machines, it is not better than the other clans in Youzhou Province in this line. Why doesn''t Fire Dragon Hermit ask me about that? Is that because that Sun Qiming opened his mouth in the end? If so, I would not have been that positive.''


    The representatives of the other four clans just sat aside and listened to the conversation between Sun Qiming and Fire Dragon Hermit carefully. Besides sighing with emotions inside that Sun Clan was fortunate, none of them dared express their dissatisfaction.


    As a great artisan master, Zhang Tie was almost on behalf of the highest craftsmanship in steam engines. As long as a great artisan master had enough time, he could create a steam civilization himself. Of course, Zhang Tie had long known about the knowledge that Sun Qiming replied. Not only that, he even knew it better than Sun Qiming. Zhang Tie didn''t expect to get an answer from Sun Qiming; instead, he just wanted to see whether Lv Shasha''s husband was reliable and could undertake the heavy burden that he would assign to Sun Clan.


    "Hehe, I mean if we could drive machines by internal combustion engines, what sort of internal combustion engine do you want to develop?''


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Sun Qiming immediately replied, "As it''s in the holy war, humans are in a life or death situation. If we could have this sharp weapon, of course, we should apply it in human armies so that we could fight demons; protect your man and homeland!"


    "Hahahaha..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter generously. ''Although Sun Qiming looks gentle and humble, he''s also hot-blooded on the other aspect. He matches junior sister apprentice Lv. No wonder they got married, "I like your answer. Come here, take a look at this."


    Zhang Tie took out a roll of drawing from Castle of Black Iron.


    As for a person like Fire Dragon Hermit, it was not weird for him to have a space-teleportation equipment. The moment the roll of drawing appeared in Zhang Tie''s hand, two of the five people who hadn''t seen a space-teleportation equipment were shocked. Because of this, they were more awe-stricken to Zhang Tie.


    Right under the extremely admiring gazes of the other four people, Sun Qiming stood up and came to Zhang Tie''s front in a bit restrained way. After that, he took Zhang Tie''s drawing by two hands.


    The moment he got the drawing, he had known that it was a very regular and professional mechanic design drawing from its familiar texture and weight. As there were strict requests on the texture, drawing methods and specifications of mechanic design drawings, they could not be casually drawn. Those plots that design drawings could be drawn easily in novels were nothing but sh*t.


    "You can open the drawing over the table!" Zhang Tie pointed at a rectangular table in the parlor before throwing a glance at the other 4 guys who had long moved their eyes onto the drawing, "Don''t sit there, come here for discussion!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s order, the other four guys flurriedly moved their small half of butts away from the chairs and opened the drawing together with Sun Qiming before watching it carefully.


    That was a real complete mechanic design drawing instead of a draft. It even included various parameters and raw materials.


    At the sight of that blueprint, they had identified that it was a design drawing of an 8-cylinder internal combustion engine.


    The 8 cylinders, the reciprocating piston and the connecting rod had immediately reminded insiders that it was a blueprint of an internal combustion engine. Those who were familiar with the structures of internal combustion engines could see the waste supercharging device on the drawing at once.


    However, it was not a common design drawing of an internal combustion engine because it was different than the common internal combustion engines in people''s mind in many aspects.


    When he looked at the design drawing, Sun Qiming''s face turned weird at first; closely after that, his face turned surprised; finally, he turned very solemn.


    The largest difference between this internal combustion engine and the common internal combustion engines was that the 8 cylinders on the design drawing were more like combustion chambers of a boiler than cylinders because the external layer of the 8 cylinders was hollow and filled with water. To a certain degree, the cylinders where the reciprocating pistons moved inside became the combustion chambers of an external combustion engine. When alcohol was burning inside, it would heat up the water layer outside the cylinders and produce steam power.


    Sun Qiming slid his fingers across the design drawing slowly attentively. At the same time, he was imagining the operating condition of this engine. All of a sudden, Sun Qiming quivered all over as he got hang of the essence of this design drawing at once...


    "Haven''t you figured it out?" The moment Zhang Tie opened his mouth, he shocked the 5 people instantly, who hurriedly bowed and pushed themselves away from the table.


    "We''re too slow-witted and couldn''t figure out the design mindset of this set of engine!" One person replied in an embarrassed way.


    "Although this engine looks like an internal combustion engine, it looks more like an external combustion engine; therefore..." One person said slowly.


    "This design didn''t appear before and after the Catastrophe..."


    Zhang Tie smiled as he raised his hand. The others hurriedly became quiet. Closely after that, Zhang Tie started to slide his fingers over the design drawing, "This set of machine is indeed unprecedented. It''s a wholly new design. The idea of this design combines the essence of internal combustion engines before the Catastrophe and the essence of steam-driven force after the Catastrophe. Of course, you''ve not seen that before. It could be an 8-cylinder internal combustion engine and an external combustion engine with 8 combustion chambers. I name it..." Zhang Tie hesitated a bit as if he was recalling its name, "I name it dull-drive, full heat-power, high-effective driving system, briefly, dual-drive engine..."

 1032 The Iron of Iron-Dragon Sect I

    ''Dual-drive engine?''


    If it was told by an engineer, the 5 people in the parlor would not be surprised; however, it was told by Fire Dragon Hermit...


    Watching Zhang Tie''s tower-like figure which was as powerful as a violence machine in ancient times and his bald head which only lacked the slogan "I''m the boss", the 5 people in the room widely opened their mouths at the same time.


    "Did...did...Hermit...invent it?"


    The eldest man in the room asked Zhang Tie with a dumbfounded look.


    "Yup, don''t I look like a scholar? Knights should be muscled with the simple mind?" Zhang Tie goggled at the old man. The old man immediately felt an overwhelming stress and almost had a pee.


    "No...no...I didn''t mean that...I mean...Hermit..."


    Being intense, the old man stammered. Only in a few seconds, the old man''s forehead had been covered with big sweat drops.


    "Hermit, please forgive us. Clan head Yan means that the one who could design this machine is definitely a top expert in this line. As we''ve not seen such a knight who excels at making machines, after Hermit took out the design drawing, we all admire you; at the same time, we are shocked too much as we''ve not imagined that Hermit is able to weld both the pen and the force. Amazing!"


    It was Sun Qiming who helped the old man explain.


    After hearing Sun Qiming''s explanation, the old man who was still extremely jealous about Sun Qiming just now threw a glance at him out of gratitude immediately. At the same time, he wiped off the sweat from his forehead and hurriedly nodded, "Yes, yes, that''s what I meant. Hermit''s talents...are too admirable!"


    Actually, after entering the parlor, the 5 people had been in a competitive state. Even though, Sun Qiming still hoped to give the old man a favor when he was in trouble. Given this point, Zhang Tie found that Sun Qiming was benevolent and tolerant. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt that this man matched his junior sister apprentice Lv Shasha pretty well.


    "Hmm, glad you mean that!" Zhang Tie nodded as he threw a glance at Sun Qiming and said, "Before promoting to a knight, I''ve been interested in the dynamic system very much. After promoting to a knight, due to my great spiritual energy, I could skim over 10 lines in one second and remember all the contents that I''ve ever read. After learning the predecessors'' experience and knowledge, I even made a great breakthrough in this aspect..."


    Actually, because of the greater longevity and spiritual energy of knights, knights in Taixia Country excelled at many aspects such as music, art and painting; however, as their military exploits were greater and more influential than that in these aspects, knights were usually known as great fighters.


    It was not strange that a knight excelled at making machines; if a knight could keep this interest for 100 years, he or she would definitely become a top expert in this industry. As none of those at present knew Zhang Tie''s real age, they were shocked by Zhang Tie''s invention too much.


    "We''re too slow-witted, Hermit, please reveal the secret of this machine to us..." Sun Qiming bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie.


    "Well, I will tell you about the key parts of this machine!" Zhang Tie replied as he turned solemn and started to make an introduction to these people referring to the design drawing.


    This dual-drive engine was very important for Zhang Tie. Now that the 5 people at present were selected to produce this machine, if they didn''t figure out the designing mindset and the key technical principles, they would face problems for sure. Therefore, it''s necessary for him to introduce it to them.


    "Someone of you said that this machine was an internal combustion engine, yet more like an external combustion engine. It''s right. This machine is really both an internal combustion engine and an external combustion engine because it has the essences of the both!" Zhang Tie pointed at the cylinders on the design drawing and said, "The designing essence is on the cylinders..."


    "As the traditional internal combustion engine before the Catastrophe would give out a great amount of heat when in combustion, the entire engine would be in a very high temperature, which would further impact the running of the engine. Therefore, engines before the Catastrophe had to be matched with various water-cooling systems or wind-cooling systems so as to lower the temperature of the engine when running. As for many internal combustion engines before the Catastrophe, after they were lit a few minutes, the temperature of the water which was used to lower the temperature of the engine would rise rapidly, even boil up. As for people before the Catastrophe, it was pretty normal!"


    "According to the literature about engines before the Catastrophe, in a period before the Catastrophe, drivers of small-power tractors with only dozens of power horses would always take three items: the handle of the engine, which was used to run the tractor; second, a huge water tank, which was used to lower the temperature of the cooling system of the tractor in case that the engine would be damaged due to high heat; third, chicken eggs, which could be cooked in the water cooling system and provide the driver a meal..."


    "In this age, when steam and heat became the main driving forces, this water cooling system would be a joke and a great waste. Take the common gasoline engine before the Catastrophe as an instance, the output power only accounted for 20-30% of the total heat of the burning fuel. The output power of the diesel engine would vary from 30-45% of the total heat of the burning fuel. The heat that escaped from a common gasoline engine would account 70-80% of the total heat of the burning fuel. Of course, it was a joke for designing a water cooling system at the cost of such a waste of heat. From the beginning, most of the internal combustion engines before the Catastrophe were suffering from a great loss of heat. Traditional internal combustion engines could not make full use of the energy of the burning fuel at all..."


    "My dual-drive engine could fix this shortcoming of the traditional internal combustion engine to the most extent; meanwhile, it would combine the water cooling system of the traditional internal combustion engine with our current steam driving system. The key part of this combination is in the cylinders of the traditional internal combustion engine..."


    "...When the fuel starts to burn with air in the cylinders, the reciprocating pistons in the cylinders would start to move by pushing the connecting rod to make strike movements. From this perspective, it''s an internal combustion engine. On the other hand, look at the cylinders; they''re different than that of the common reciprocating piston engine before the Catastrophe; namely, when the fuel burns in the cylinders, the power caused by air expansion would pass to the pistons in the cylinders and push the piston and connecting rod to make mechanic movements. Besides air expansion, the burning fuel in the cylinders would bring heat which could further pass to the steam water cooling system in the periphery of the cylinders and heat the water; as a result, the burning fuel in the cylinders could heat up the external combustion engine..."


    "The core of this dual-drive engine is its cylinders, which are greatly different than that of traditional internal combustion engine in the four aspects, namely, the layout of cylinders; the selection of the material of cylinders; the cooling system of the cylinders and the empty layer design in the periphery of the cylinders..."


    When Zhang Tie talked about it, he became very attentive and professional. The audience even forgot that Zhang Tie was an earth knight and was gradually immersed in Zhang Tie''s introduction.


    ...


    "...being different than the material of the cylinders of common internal combustion engines, the material of the cylinders of this engine has to be wearable and hard enough; in order to pass the heat from the combustion chamber to the neighboring water cooling layer smoothly, it needs to have a very high thermal conductivity. Therefore, according to the Fourier heat conduction law of metals, the best material of the cylinders should be super-dense, double-layer, LV 3 aluminum alloy. This kind of aluminum alloy should experience a four-phase hot-dip coating in the water cooling layer. This technology is consistent with that of many Faerie-dragon limos..."


    "Additionally, as the exhaust pipe of the internal combustion engine would take away a great amount of heat, the design of the exhaust pipe of this engine is a bit special. It adopts the circular and built-in designing mindset. After the engine is booted, it could accomplish the secondary heating for the heat in the steam power system using the high heat in the exhaust pipe."


    "Therefore, the burning fuel in the cylinders could activate the pistons in the cylinders and the steam power system outside the cylinders at the same time. The efficiency of this engine is unrivaled. The displacement of its cylinders is 18.5 L. Comprehensively, the power density of its cylinders is...its cylinders'' compression ratio is..."


    "The internal combustion engine part has been reinforced through the two-stage turbocharger device. Its separate output power could reach 940 horsepowers while the steam power system could bring 610 horsepowers. The two sets of output power systems could be used separately; one serves as the driving force system, the other could be connected to the steam weapon module; we could also use a differential gearbox to output the power from the two sources to the same direction so that it could reach its maximal output in an aspect in a certain period so as to respond to different situations. If we don''t connect it to the steam weapon module, the whole set of engine could be less than 800 kg in weight as the metallurgical material processing is unprecedentedly advanced..."


    As Zhang Tie had been desiring for such an engine for so long, he introduced it very carefully; precisely, very considerably.


    When Zhang Tie was introducing this engine, his spirit had long flown to the smoky and bloody Selnes Theater of Operations...


    Zhang Tie had too many memories about Selnes Theater of Operations as he had bled too much over there.


    This engine was exclusive for the first type of propeller-driven airplane in the Black Iron Age...


    When Zhang Tie was explaining the design principle of this set of engine, he had a hypothesis in mind¡ª¡ªif there was such an engine in Selnes Theater of Operations, there would be a propeller-driven airplane being driven by this kind of engine. What would be the result of the battle in Selnes Theater of Operations then? Would the airship troop in Selnes Theater of Operations have a better result?


    Undoubtedly. If there were such an engine and such a kind of airplane at that time, the result across the Selnes Theater of Operations would be rewritten for sure. The demons might still be able to break through the human defense line in Selnes Theater of Operations; however, they had to suffer much more losses than humans. Humans might still have to evacuate from the Selnes Theater of Operations strategically in the end; however, many tragical casualties should have been avoided.


    ''The honor of Selnes Eagle that I gained in Selnes Theater of Operations is more like the real reflection of the tragedy of the allied human forces especially the human airship troop in the Selnes Theater of Operations.''


    ''How could I shock the command of the allied human forces on a subcontinent and gain the great honor only by killing some wing demons in the air by myself? It''s a bit ironical and helpless!''


    The reason for this situation lay in that the demon air forces had an overwhelming advantage over human airships and air troops if the knights on both parties were excluded. In many situations, what waited for human airship troop and those brave glider drivers were absolutely a one-sided massacre when they encountered wing demons...


    At that time, glider drivers could definitely be rated as the bravest and most respectable arm of services with the biggest casualty in Selnes Theater of Operations, if there was such a rating item.


    As the only air cavalry in Selnes Theater of Operations at that time, Zhang Tie was clear that dauntless human glider drivers almost covered their blood about one million square kilometers in the sky above the entire Selnes Theater of Operations.


    Selnes Theater of Operations was the elegy that human glider drivers and airship fighters played in Waii Subcontinent at the cost of their lives and blood...

 1033 The Iron of Iron-Dragon Sect II

    After listening to Zhang Tie''s introduction of the working principle of the dual-drive engine, all the 5 people in the room became silent.


    Of course, this engine was an unprecedented invention in the eyes of them; however, they didn''t understand why Fire Dragon Hermit invented it. This engine was specially designed for high-power fuels such as gasoline; however, in this age, the 5 people had not heard of any fuel in Taixia Country which could fully replace gasoline before the Catastrophe.


    As Zhang Tie looked very interested in it, even Sun Qiming didn''t dare displease him by telling him that this engine would not be available even if it was invented.


    "Am I clear?" Zhang Tie asked them.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, the 5 people shook their heads at the same time before replying, "Clear!"


    "Can you make it?"


    They nodded at the same time again.


    "Great, I will give this design drawing to you. There''s a differential gearbox under this design drawing. As you''ve understood it, I will not make a further introduction about it!" Zhang Tie pointed at Sun Qiming as he continued, "4 months later, I need 100 sets of prototypes and differential gearboxes. Additionally, I want to see a plant which could produce at least 100,000 sets of engines and differential gearboxes a year 4 months later. Here are the gold checks of 3 million gold coins!"


    3 million gold coins were enough to build a plant which could produce 100,000 sets of engines a year.


    As Zhang Tie said, he took out a pile of gold checks from Castle of Black Iron and handed it to Sun Qiming. Additionally, he told the other 4 people in a domineering way, "You should follow his order for the next 4 months and assist him to do it well! I don''t like to force people to do anything; if anyone of you is not willing to do that, you could exit right away. Is there anyone?"


    Who would dare to refuse Fire Dragon Hermit at this moment? The other 4 people hurriedly determined their minds to help Sun Qiming accomplish this task so as to live up to Hermit''s trust.


    "Fine, now that all of you have agreed, if you cannot make it on time, I will punish you. If you could make it on time, I''ll make sure that you gain a lot of awards!"


    "Yes...yes..."


    The 4 people hurriedly nodded, except for Sun Qiming who slightly frowned as if he still hesitated. Even Clan head Yan had thrown a glance at Sun Qiming; however, he seemed to have not seen that warning at all.


    "Do you have any problem?" Zhang Tie asked Sun Qiming.


    "I will definitely exert my full efforts to finish the task assigned by Hermit; however, there''s one thing that I have to warn Hermit¡ª¡ªas this dual-drive engine doesn''t have a proper fuel, even if we could produce it, we''d barely use it; perhaps Hermit has other plans that are out of our commoners'' imaginations..." Sun Qiming said meticulously.


    "Don''t worry about that. I have my consideration!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he continued, "You should finish this task in a low-key manner. Am I clear?"


    "Clear!"


    "You can leave!"


    The 5 people bowed and moved backward. Until they exited the parlor did they turn around and leave under the guidance of Liu Xing.


    Sitting on the old-fashioned wooden armchair, Zhang Tie watched their backs as he touched his bald head.


    ''If Li Tao could accomplish the task on time, the alcohol production base would go online in 3 months. After that, it would produce over 40,000 tons of alcohol a month. By then, the engine production plant would go online too.''


    The iron of Iron-dragon Sect was the same iron of Zhang Tie and steel.


    The change brought by Iron-dragon Sect would enable commoners to fight on the battlefield in the holy war. The power of iron and steam would present itself in a wholly new manner in front of the public.


    Because of iron and steam, even commoners below LV 6 could become a major force that contended with the super demon corps, instead of being slaughtered by the latter.


    What counted most, the reappearance of a propeller-driven airplane in this age would enable humans to wrestle with wing demons besides knights. It could be imagined that when the flames of war extended to Taixia Country, with the help of propeller-driven airplanes, Taixia Country would never repeat the tragedy of human airship troop above Selnes Theater of Operations¡ª¡ªnumerous fighters sprayed their blood in the sky as they could only watch the sky where the wing demons were indulging in wanton massacre.


    Although there were airboats and knights in Taixia Country, the limited quantities of airboats and knights determined that these kinds of high-end forces and resources could only control limited areas. Actually, battles between commoners and demons accounted the most of the holy war.


    It seemed that Zhang Tie had predicted the iron and steam storm that would start from Fire Dragon Bounty Territory and finally spread over the entire Taixia Country...


    ...


    After a short while, when Zhang Tie was working out his layout in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, the fourth batch of people was brought into the parlor by Liu Xing.


    The 4th batch of people was actually only one old man as slim as a bamboo pole, who was the representative of the most boring clan in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Of course, the most boring clan was most estranged from the other clans in the Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. Now that this clan could still survive itself, it indicated that this clan had its own bottom line and had its own way to survive itself. Additionally, now that this clan could dispatch a representative to wait outside the official manor, it indicated that this clan understood the ways of people; at least, they held in awe and veneration toward power and force.


    Fire Dragon Bounty Territory indeed required such a clan.


    "Fire Dragon Hermit, this humble man is Gu Hongyi, the clan elder of Introspection Palace in Snowpine City!"


    The moment the old man as slim as a bamboo pole entered the parlor, he had bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie.


    Not all the clan elders were knights. In many common clans, seniors or able ones could also be the clan elders. Undoubtedly, Gu Hongyi was an able man. Given his age, he should have a high seniority in Gu Clan. Now that Gu Clan could dispatch him to Xuantian City, it indicated that he was an able man.


    "Take a seat!"


    After saying thanks to Zhang Tie, Gu Hongyi straightened up and sat on the chair with a restrained and solemn look, being different than that of the earlier three batches of people.


    "Why is your Gu Clan unpopular in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory?" Zhang Tie put it straight.


    After hearing such a straightforward question, Gu Hongyi didn''t look embarrassed; instead, he replied frankly, "My elder brother Gu Hongsheng has been serving as an around-the-clock imperial censor for 34 years. He''s upright. Over these years, each time he came back to see relatives and offer sacrifice to predecessors, he would investigate local major clans openly and secretly. Whenever he found any disciples or clansmen making illegal things, he would impeach them. Therefore, many local officials from the major clans in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory had been impeached by my elder brother; some of them were caned by my elder brother; some of them were even dismissed. Therefore, our Gu Clan has a poor human relationship in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory!"


    After hearing this reason, Zhang Tie was shocked too much.


    Actually, Zhang Tie was once impeached by an around-the-clock imperial censor in the imperial censorate of Taixia Country; therefore, he disliked around-the-clock imperial censors. It was out of his imagination that there was an imperial censor''s clan in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory.


    When he thought that an around-the-clock imperial censor would break out his occupational disease by collecting the illegal behaviors of the local major clans and impeaching them the moment he returned home each year, Zhang Tie would almost collapse mentally. An around-the-clock censor''s impeachment to local clans would at least reach military region and be accepted by the commander of the military region. Now that these local landlords had established human relationships, they could never barely establish any relationship with the commander of the military region. Therefore, they could only suffer from the punishment by the commander.


    "Now that your Gu Clan is so unpopular, what if the disciples of Gu Clan is found illegal?" Zhang Tie asked.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Gu Hongyi replied with a proud look, "All the disciples of Gu Clan could recite "The Laws of Taixia Country" at the age of 12. Therefore, disciples of Gu Clan would never do anything illegal, neither would our disciples be found illegal!"


    ''Treating "The Laws of Taixia Country" as domestic disciplines and family rules? Recite them at 12 years old? When he recalled "The Laws of Taixia Country" which was as thick as a brick, Zhang Tie could only stay silent and tribute for the disciples of Gu Clan, ''What a weirdo clan!''


    "What does Gu Clan survive on in Snowpine City?"


    "Gu Clan has over 6 million square meters of quality arable land in Snowpine City, some bookstores and a printing plant. Disciples of Gu Clan could be farmers and teachers, many of them work as lawyers in the courts of different cities and provinces..."


    The lawyers of courts in Taixia Country were different than those in other continents and subcontinents. To put it straightforwardly, lawyers in Taixia Country were equal to the counsels of officials in the courts. Because officials in the courts could not recite all the articles of "The Laws of Taixia Country". In many situations, these officials needed a legal advisor who was familiar with "The Laws of Taixia Country".


    There were also lawyers in Jinwu Business Group. In Taixia Country, anyone who was familiar with "The Laws of Taixia Country" would be able to be a lawyer, which was a special occupation in Taixia Country.


    "I want Gu Clan to do one thing for me!"


    "May I know what that thing is?" Gu Hongyi asked meticulously.


    "The cities in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory would carry out local representatives autonomy from then on; however, the local representatives could not behave freely. Gu Clan will be responsible for the supervision of local representatives of the 10 cities in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory!" Zhang Tie said generously. Previously, Zhang Tie just wanted Gu Clan to be his ear and eye as another information channel. However, after knowing that Gu Clan was such a weirdo clan, Zhang Tie directly handed the major task of supervising the local representatives to Gu Clan.


    "Hermit, you''re completely pushing Gu Clan to the opposite of local representatives in all cities of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory!"


    "Aren''t you Gu Clan already in such a condition?"


    "Gu Clan can agree with you but on a condition!"


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see someone who dared bargain with him in the parlor. Therefore, he felt fresh and asked, "Go ahead!"


    "Hermit, please take one Gu disciple as your apprentice!" Gu Hongyi replied after gritting his teeth.


    "Hahaha, you''re really audacious. Your Gu Clan is the first clan who dares propose a request to me today! I wonder why do you want your clan disciples to cultivate battle skills. Didn''t you say that Gu Clan disciples just do farm works, be teachers and lawyers?


    "As the holy war has broken out, we have to prepare for it. It would always be good if one of Gu disciple could survive himself in the chaotic world for the sake of the continuation of the clan!"


    "What if I don''t agree with you?"


    Gu Hongyi then stretched his long neck and replied, "Although Gu Clan is not powerful, we always observe laws and regulations; it''s difficult for Hermit to find Gu Clan trouble! Whatever, Gu Clan doesn''t have even one friend in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. Even if Hermit dislikes Gu Clan, our clan will not be in a worse situation."


    According to Gu Hongyi''s words, if Zhang Tie disagreed with him, Gu Clan would not follow Zhang Tie''s order.


    What a Gu Clan!


    "Hahaha, interesting, interesting..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he said, "Now that Gu Clan treats it as a business, I will establish this trade with you. You can go back and have one of your qualified disciples to be my apprentice..."


    Gu Hongyi stood up and bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie, "Thanks, Fire Dragon Hermit!"


    ...


    After Gu Hongyi left, Wang Chongde, the master of Wang Clan, Yushun Palace from Ningan City entered.


    After chatting with Wang Chongde for a few minutes with a pleasant look and learning about Wang Clan''s situation, Zhang Tie handed a task to Wang Clan.


    "On August 18, I will hold the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect in the official manor. By then many guests would arrive. Previously there were some official servants in the official manor; I don''t like them. When I arrived here, I''ve told them to leave. As the kindest clan in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, Wang Clan has many servants and good family rules; you dispatch a batch of servants to the official manor and have them receive the guests from all walks of life in the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect!"


    This was evidently a good opportunity for Wang Clan to be well-known in the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect, because those guests in the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect were all heroes and elites from all industries, who were all influential figures.


    The moment Zhang Tie finished his words, Wang Chongde had sprung up as he replied in a quivering voice out of excitement with a blush, "Wang Clan...will exert our full efforts to live up to the Hermit''s trust..."


    ...


    After the 5 batches of people left the official manor, the entire Fire Dragon Bounty Territory started to run like gears...


    However, Zhang Tie disappeared once again weirdly after making arrangements. Nobody knew where Zhang Tie was...


    Actually, Zhang Tie had long been anxious to return home...Which means Iron.

 1034 Jinwu City

    Chapter 1034: Jinwu City


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Jinwu City, Yanghe Prefecture...


    Standing on the top of a mountain peak outside Jinwu City, Zhang Tie couldn''t prevent his heart from racing when he looked at Jinwu City in front of him.


    4 years ago, Jinwu City was only on the drawings; however, it had already come true today.


    Compared to Class A cities in Taixia Country, covering a bit more than 100 square miles, Jinwu City was just a small city. However, the boisterous scenery of constant airships above Jinwu City and the bustling crowd outside Jinwu City made it more like a prosperous commercial center or regional air traffic hub than a small city.


    Railways and highways had been built. Standing on the top of the mountain peak, Zhang Tie could see crisscrossed railways and highways radiate in all directions from Jinwu City. Smoking trains were running on the railways like boas while various vehicles were shuttling back and forth on the highways.


    As it was too boisterous inside the city, Zhang Tie had not imagined that there were two high and magnificent castles being about 1 mile away from the city. They were defending Jinwu City like two silent guards and could divide human flows. Many airships accessing to Jinwu City were parking in the airship bases in the periphery of the two castles.


    There were some villages, towns and plants around Jinwu City and two castles within dozens of square miles. Everything in front of Zhang Tie''s eyes was thriving and vigorous.


    Zhang Tie even caught sight of a huge camp outside the city.


    Like that inside Jinwu City, that large-scale camp also looked very boisterous. Of course, the boisterous scene was composed of shuttling steam armored vehicles, battle calls, collisions and sweat of numerous fighters and the dust flying in the air.


    In Zhang Tie''s lotus-flower eyes, although being dozens of miles away, that camp was still as clear as his own palm prints.


    The banner in the camp was not the banner of the official army in Youzhou Province, Taixia Country, but the Jinwu banner of Zhang Clan, Huaiyuan Palace.


    The Jinwu Banner was as overbearing as the emblem of Jinwu Business Group. On both sides of the golden bird, its one claw was holding a shield while its the other hand was holding a sword.


    This was the symbol of the armored guards of Jinwu Business Group. In another word, it was the symbol of Zhang Tie''s private army.


    Under the Jinwu banner, the frozen fighters'' firm and persistent looks didn''t escape away from Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    Black sweat stains were left on the fighters'' faces; the military officers and the steam armored vehicles were roaring. With the extremely rhythmic shocks and booms, the targeted slope was covered with pits...


    ...


    Only after throwing a glance at the size of the camp and the trainees on the battlefield, Zhang Tie had estimated the population of this armored forces¡ª¡ªabout 100,000 people.


    Zhang family had changed a lot after 4 years.


    ...


    Being excited, Zhang Tie watched the Jinwu City in the distance for quite a while before finally taking in a deep breath and flashing away from the top of the mountain peak.


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie appeared in the huge shadow of the city wall of Jinwu City. He looked up at the super high city wall of Jinwu City.


    When he looked at it from the top of the mountain peak in the distance, he didn''t feel that the city wall of Jinwu City was too high; however, when he came to the foot of the city wall, Zhang Tie realized that it was really too high.


    The city wall of Youzhou City, as a Class A city was only a bit higher than 70 m; however, the city wall of Jinwu City was higher than 100 m like a high tower. Standing at the foot of the city wall and looking up at the city wall, Zhang Tie felt its overwhelming qi.


    There were various city-defense machines on the city wall. The steam ballistas and heavy centrifugal cannons made the city wall an iron hedgehog. Besides, there were many pieces of movable iron armors over the city wall. It was more like the configuration of a battle fortress than a city wall.


    Jinwu City was just a small city; however, it was more like a huge battle fortress.


    After Zhang Tie was framed by demons and Three-eye Association and had to escape away, his family members had started to build this city. At the sight of such a firm city wall, Zhang Tie knew what his family members were thinking about when they built the city.


    ''If not for the sake of safety, Jinwu City would not have such a deterrent city wall. This city wall is actually the portrayal of my elder brother''s thought. Over the past 4 years, my elder might be thinking about how to make our family firmer everyday in case that any one of our family would suffer from any misfortune like me once again.''


    ''No, it won''t. As I''m back. From then on, nobody could bully us anymore!''


    Zhang Tie mumbled.


    ...


    "Wow, the city wall of Jinwu City is even higher than that of a Class A City..." A 17-18-year-old adolescent was exclaiming at the foot of the city wall.


    Beside this adolescent, there was a middle-aged man at his 30s. They both looked like businessmen. The younger one looked naive while the elder one looked shrewd. Given their similar looks, Zhang Tie knew that they were father and son.


    Many people who came to Jinwu City for the first time would stop and appreciate the magnificent city wall. Therefore, the demeanors of Zhang Tie and that adolescent at the foot of the city wall didn''t look special at all.


    "Do you want a photo at the foot of the city wall of Jinwu City? 2 gold coins per times. This is the highest city wall in the entire Northeast Military Region. If you pass by, you will miss this opportunity..." At the sight of Zhang Tie and the adolescent standing still there, a man with a camera instantly came to them for soliciting trade.


    ''The city wall could even be a scenery of Jinwu City.''


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter inside.


    "We need to enter it now. We''d better settle down at first; after that, we have to take the sequence number and queue up tonight; if we''re lucky enough, we could gain a chance to buy one case of vials of the all-purpose medicament..." The middle-aged man pulled the adolescent directly into the city, ignoring the photographer.


    "Dad, is this all-purpose medicament really that popular in other provinces?" The adolescent asked him in a low and vigilant voice.


    "It''s very popular. I''ve already contacted the purchasers in Tongzhou Province. We could make 24 gold coins by selling one case of 12 vials of all-purpose medicament after increasing 2 gold coins for each vial. Although it''s not too profitable and is a bit painstaking on the way as well as it will cost us some time, if we''re lucky enough, we could travel here twice a year..." The middle-aged man replied in a low voice as he walked.


    "When we''re rich in the future, we will also buy an airship!" The adolescent said in a naive yet ambitious tone.


    "Yup, it''s nice to hear that you''re so ambitious. Our Hong family''s undertaking was gradually established through doing business by your father and your grandfather..." The father patted his son''s shoulder and encouraged him pleasantly.


    When the father and the son talked in low voice, they entered the crowd at the city gate. There were two teams of city-defense guards and military officers at the city gate of Jinwu City, who were watching the passers-by''s faces and personal packages with flickering eyes. Unless they saw something special, they would not check or purposely make difficulties for someone.


    Watching the father and the son entering the city gate, Zhang Tie also prepared to enter the city among the bustling crowd.


    Zhang Tie was in a medium-sized figure; he looked a bit strong and was dressed like a common warrior that could be seen everywhere in Taixia Country. In this way, he was neither eye-catching nor mediocre. Besides a tough, fierce and intrepid face, there was a common walking saber on one side of his waist.


    Zhang Tie could almost see 7-8 people in the similar dress among the crowd.


    Besides, guards of business groups, independent warriors and some valiant pedlars almost looked similar.


    After making a comparison, Zhang Tie found that more people carried weapons in the crowd than when he came to Taixia Country for the first time.


    The moment Zhang Tie wanted to enter the city, he had caught sight of a military officer who hurriedly walked downstairs the tunnel in the city gate. The military officer whispered something to another military officer at the city gate. After hearing that, the military officer immediately became spirited as he hurriedly sorted his clothes.


    The whisper of the military officer drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears too, "The castellan is coming, watch out..."


    After hearing this words, Zhang Tie almost stopped his footsteps right away.


    ''Castellan? Isn''t he my dad?'' Zhang Tie mumbled.


    Only after a few seconds, a fleet of four black limos rapidly drove towards one side of the city gate and parked outside the city gate. Some people then got off the black limos. At the sight of this, the military officer at the city gate hurriedly walked over there and made a military tribute to one of them. Closely after that, he followed those people who had just got off vehicles and started to introduce something to them outside the city gate.


    Because of sudden arrival of these people, many people who were accessing to the city gate turned around and looked at them out of curiosity.


    However, after looking at the sharp eyes and sensing aggressive qi of those bodyguards, who were above LV 13, surrounding those people, none of the onlookers dared approach them.


    Zhang Ping, Zhang Tie''s dad was escorted by the crowd and came to the place where Zhang Tie stood still and looked up at the high city wall. He put his hand over his forehead to prevent sunlight from entering his eyes as he said, "This city wall is indeed high. It looks aggressive; as a result, Jinwu City feels intense. It''s necessary to beautify it..."


    When Zhang Ping said, a stenographer took down his words in shorthand...

 1035 An Assassination

    Chapter 1035: An Assassination


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    All of Zhang Ping''s words drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears.


    ''Beautifying city wall?''


    Although it sounded staggering, Zhang Tie knew that his father could make it.


    "A few days ago, I heard many business groups who came to Jinwu City complain that the city wall of Jinwu City was too high and as aggressive as a battlefortress. How about planting some creepers on it? When the creepers covered over the city wall, it would look a bit green and not that terrifying anymore..."


    After saying that, Zhang Ping turned around and asked a military officer on his side as he knew that the city wall was designed for some special military purpose, "Will the creepers weaken the effect of the city-defense equipment?"


    "Creepers could reach about 15 m in height at most; however, the lowest city-defense equipment of Jinwu City are above 30 m in height; additionally, as creepers would grow closely along the city wall, it could not hide any enemy. Therefore, it''s acceptable to grow creepers at the foot of the city wall!" The military officer answered respectfully.


    "That''s good. We will plant creepers then!" Zhang Ping became very happy.


    Hearing his dad''s voice from a few meters away, Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside.


    When Zhang Ping talked about creepers, his tone and facial expression reminded Zhang Tie of the scene when his dad whitewashed the fencing of the backyard of their house with him when in Blackhot City. ''Perhaps, dad has already treated Jinwu City as his own home; therefore, as a castellan, he would always do things himself.


    ''Zhang family''s understakings have expanded greatly; however, dad still remains unchanged.''


    ''If dad is more considerable, he should ask about the military officer''s opinion before making a decision. Only in this way could he behave as authoritative as a castellan. However, dad did it conversely. He expressed his opinion of planting creepers first before asking about the military officer''s opinion. Although it looks normal, what if the military officer opposes him? Whether dad will adopt his opinion or not? If dad doesn''t adopt his opinion, he will feel domineering; if dad adopts his opinion, his authority and influence will be gradually weakened in others'' eyes.''


    ''Of course, my dad is not domineering. If that military officer opposes him, I''m sure that my dad will adopt the military officer''s opinion and work out another method. He won''t even notice the utterly different influences of the two sequences at all.''


    Although it was too meticulous, it was the essence of becoming an officer and making oneself authoritative in front of the subordinates.


    ''Actually, my dad could only be a factory director or manager at most. It might be his upper limit to be a castellan. However, in Youzhou Province, with the protection of Huaiyuan Palace and the management of my elder brother, my dad could be a qualified castellan pleasantly in my territory.''


    ''After 4 years, dad remains unchanged. He''s just got nobler with a better look. Being always escorted and taken care of by a lot of people, he really looks like an ambitious old man.''


    Zhang Tie didn''t expect his father to be too prestigious; he had felt much better at the sight of his father''s current situation.


    After taking a look at the city wall and inspecting the situation outside the city wall for a while, Zhang Ping whispered to some guys on his side before going to the parking lot.


    Many people had stopped outside the city gate and watched these "big figures" of Jinwu City out of curiosity. The two teams of fighters at the city gate were maintaining the order. Zhang Tie was also watching his dad in the crowd. Although having mixed moods inside, Zhang Tie looked nothing special but curious like the others.


    Zhang Ping and the other guys on his side were talking as they walked towards the parking lot...


    Right then, Zhang Tie felt a berserk qi in the crowd; closely after that, he felt a killing qi.


    If not being a knight who had a super great knight''s consciousness, he could almost not find anything wrong in the crowd.


    ...


    "Go die..." Right in the crowd, a man who looked like a common pedlar suddenly pulled out his dagger and charged at Zhang Ping as fast as a lightning bolt.


    "Protect the castellan..."


    Although that man moved fast, Zhang Ping''s bodyguards were not weak. Almost the moment the assassin jumped out, one bodyguard had already discovered him. The bodyguard immediately sprung up and rushed towards that killer. When that assassin was dozens of meters away from Zhang Ping, he had been blocked.


    Right in the city gate, two powerful battle qis collided against each other, causing a bang.


    The moment the two powerhouses crashed, those near them were immediately affected. Being affected by their battle qis, some innocent people were instantly blown off by the impact wave of the battle qis and crashed onto the wall inside the city gate, uttering miserable shrieks...


    After suffering such an accident, the city gate was in chaos at once. Most of the onlookers became a bit flurried and started to escape in all directions. At the same time, the two teams of guards at the city gate rapidly formed a flesh wall around Zhang Ping almost the moment someone shouted, "Protect the castellan" and isolated Zhang Ping from those flurried commoners.


    Zhang Tie slightly changed his face; however, he did not panic. With the protection of those guards, he accelerated towards his vehicle. The military officer whom Zhang Ping was talking with directly rushed towards the battlefield and wanted to arrest the assassin as fast as possible.


    The city gate sounded the alarm at the same time...


    The moment Zhang Ping wanted to get on his vehicle, a person in the flurried crowd who was close to the vehicle opened his mouth while numerous lights flew towards Zhang Ping.


    Besides moving extremely fast, the lights were very powerful. Even though two powerhouses on Zhang Ping''s side had already released their protective battle qi to cover Zhang Ping, the lights directly broke their protective battle qi and came to Zhang Ping''s front in a split second...


    ...

 1036 Saving His Father

    Chapter 1036: Saving His Father


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    At this moment, all the bodyguards at present changed their faces...


    This was the trump card!


    The assassin who exclaimed just now was just to attract the others'' eyes, the real fatal strike was over here.


    It was already unpredictable that an assassin could shoot out hidden weapons from his mouth; what was more terrifying was that the hidden weapon was not common as it could penetrate through the protective battle qis of the two bodyguards on Zhang Ping''s side and covered Zhang Ping''s upper body immediately.


    At that moment, Zhang Tie felt a chilly qi approaching him after penetrating through his two bodyguards. His heart pounded...


    It happened so suddenly that nobody could respond to it. As a result, the tragedy was going to happen.


    "Ding..."


    "Ding..."


    "Ding..."


    "Ding..."


    Along with ceaseless metallic collisions which sounded like how raindrops beat leaves of Japanese banana trees, a gold light flashed around Zhang Ping, which almost covered Zhang Ping completely like a golden armor. After clattering the golden light, those lights immediately changed their directions and shot towards the top of the city gate...


    Before that person who shot hidden weapons towards Zhang Ping responded, Zhang Tie had already appeared on his side and stretched his hand towards his neck.


    One of Zhang Ping''s bodyguards also darted towards here with a roar.


    After glaring at Zhang Tie for the last moment in a lifeless way, that assassin''s face turned as pitch as ink at once while a wisp of black blood flew out of his mouth corners. Closely after that, his body crumpled. Zhang Tie held his neck without using any strength...


    Actually, before assassin''s neck was gripped by Zhang Tie, he was already dead.


    After seeing that assassin was killed, the other assassin who was in the disadvantageous position made a response to it right away. His face also turned black almost at the same time. Closely after that, he was punched by one of Zhang Ping''s bodyguards and was sent flying over 20 m away. After falling onto the ground, he couldn''t get up anymore.


    The entire process lasted less than 10 seconds since the first assassin launched the attack.


    Zhang Tie knew that the combat was already over.


    In Zhang Tie''s perceptions, there were only two killing qis within hundreds of meters. Unless one above earth knight was lurking somewhere and preparing to launch another attack, nothing could escape from Zhang Tie''s perceptions. However, if a shadow knight wanted to kill Zhang Ping, the two assassins became unnecessary as a blow of a shadow knight could solve all the forces beside Zhang Ping. Therefore, the combat had come to an end.


    Until then did the golden light surrounding Zhang Ping break off and fall onto the ground while rotating. They were just a handful of gold coins.


    Zhang Tie didn''t move, he just gripped the assassin''s neck and watched the assassin''s face which was turning black and decomposing with a slight frown...


    The assassin''s brain rotted first. Zhang Tie just tried his utmost to collect the remaining information from the decomposing brain of the assassin.


    It was chaotic in the surroundings. Zhang Tie heard heavy footsteps. After hearing the alerts from the city gate, the fighters on the top of the city gate rushed off towards here...


    Zhang Tie''s dad looked a bit pale. After throwing a glance at those gold coins on his side before moving his eyes onto Zhang Tie whose look was strange to him. Closely after that, he was pushed onto the vehicle with the protection of his bodyguards.


    The moment Zhang Ping and one bodyguard got on the vehicle, the vehicle had accelerated into the city. Although Zhang Ping got off the vehicle just now, the driver was still in it. The driver who had received professional training would drive Zhang Ping away from the dangerous place as fast as possible according to the emergency plan.


    "Hmm..." With a muffled sound, a bodyguard beside Zhang Ping rapidly cut off his right palm by a dagger.


    When the lights shot towards Zhang Ping, this bodyguard stretched his right palm to catch them; however, a light penetrated through his protective battle qi along with his palm, leaving a needle-sized bloody point on his palm. However, only after a few seconds, his palm had started to turn black and rot. After sensing the overbearing toxicity of the hidden weapon, the bodyguard immediately made a decision to cut off his right palm.


    After falling onto the ground, the broken right palm gradually turned into a puddle of black water.


    Zhang Tie also loosed his grip. After that, the assassin''s body started to turn soft and smoke. Additionally, his face started to melt. The moment he crumpled on the ground, a puddle of stinky black water had flown out of his body.


    Zhang Tie raised his head and found that the chaotic crowd had been driven away only after such a short while. Meanwhile, a great batch of city guards of Jinwu City had already surrounded him and targeted at him with their long spears and crossbows.


    Two bodyguards and some military officials on Zhang Ping''s side also goggled at him with fully vigilant and intense eye light.


    It was one bodyguard on Zhang Ping''s side who stopped the others from attacking Zhang Tie. Because that bodyguard faintly remembered that the golden light that covered Zhang Ping flew off Zhang Tie''s sleeve.


    The golden light was actually caused by the flying gold coins. Although that assassin who shot his hidden weapons out of his mouth was irresistible and terrifying, Zhang Tie''s move was really an exceptional art, which was already out of the realm of hidden weapons. It was more like an immortal, fabulous realm¡ª¡ªalthough being launched a bit later, they blocked all the flying needles; additionally, they suspended around Zhang Ping. In the urgent moment, they protected Zhang Ping like an armor...


    The others used hidden weapons to kill people; however, this one saved people with hidden weapons. Nobody had ever heard about this before even in Taixia Country, not to mention having ever seen it.


    After throwing a glance at the people surrounding him, Zhang Tie took in a deep breath before saying, "I''m just a passer-by..."


    Although revealing a smile, Zhang Tie felt colder inside than before. If he didn''t come to Jinwu City out of a whim, his dad might have already...


    When Zhang Tie thought about the potential result, he became scared. Besides, a killing qi surged in his mind.


    "Tough man, please wait a moment in Jinwu City and coordinate with the aspect of Jinwu City for the investigation. If you''ve nothing to do with the assassination, Jinwu City will pay you a great reward!" The bodyguard cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie with a solemn look while the others were gazing at Zhang Tie''s hands and sleeves...


    Facing such an event, Zhang Tie also knew that Jinwu City would not easily let him go. After throwing a glance at those people who were ready to charge at him at any time, Zhang Tie became faintly hesitated before slowly nodding his head...


    ...


    In less than half an hour, the event that Zhang Ping was assassinated by powerhouses in Jinwu City had already spread over the entire city, even across Youzhou Province. Numerous people were shocked inside...

 1037 Concerns and Surprises

    Chapter 1037: Concerns and Surprises


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Only after 2 hours, Zhang Yang had received the news and arrived at home in Jinwu City...


    At this moment, Zhang family was living in the inner city, the core of Jinwu City, which covered over 1 million square meters. Being protected by castles and high city walls and set off by mountains, rivers and gardens, Zhang family had already looked like a real major clan.


    Over 20,000 Jinwu guards were protecting the inner city. The camp of Jinwu Guards was close to the inner city which could be mobilized at any time. The moment the Jinwu guards heard the news that Zhang Ping was assassinated, they had turned as ferocious as furious beasts. The entire camp started to move. Even the inside of Jinwu City had started a curfew. Squads of fully-armored patrols appeared in the streets across the city at once, causing an abrupt intense atmosphere in the city.


    Zhang Yang''s airboat directly landed at the airport in the inner city. The moment the airboat landed, Zhang Yang had got off it with a solemn look. Those who had long been waiting over there hurriedly moved forward and followed after Zhang Yang towards the inner mansion.


    "How''s my father?" Zhang Yang hurriedly strode as he asked a steward.


    "Master is fine. He was just a bit startled and was playing with some young masters in the mansion..." As Zhang Yang strode very fast, the steward almost trotted so as to catch up with him.


    After hearing this, Zhang Yang looked a bit better, ''If dad could still play with his grandsons, it means that he''s fine.''


    "Have you closed the city gate?" Zhang Yang asked after throwing a glance at the other man in the uniform of Jinwu Guards on his side.


    "Castellan told us to not treat it too seriously in case of influencing the trades in Jinwu City. He ordered us to not close the city gate..." The military officer answered.


    After hearing this reply, Zhang Yang slightly frowned. Closely after that, he relieved his frown. Because he knew that was how his dad always behaved. Although being a castellan, he still felt like being a boss of the rice brew store as before in Blackhot City. He would always consider the interests of his family; instead of his own hardships and safety.


    When Zhang Yang entered the inner courtyard, all the male and female servants hurriedly stood aside as they bowed and greeted him.


    After returning home, a knight dispatched by Golden Roc Bank to protect Zhang Yang stayed outside. Zhang Yang himself entered home.


    After such a major event occurred, all the family members almost gathered in the lobby of the main mansion, including Zhang Tie''s wives.


    Zhang Yang saw his dad putting two 2-3-year-old babies on his legs and letting them climb over there while his mother was talking with Linda, Beverly and Fiona on one side with red eyes.


    At the sight of Zhang Yang, those in the lobby almost stood up at the same time, except for Zhang Yang''s parents.


    Over these years, as Zhang Tie was not at home, Zhang Yang was responsible for the entire Zhang family and looked more like the master of a family.


    "Papa..." A juvenile called Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang nodded. This juvenile was Zhang Chengan.


    Born in 890 of Black Iron Calendar, Zhang Chengan already looked like a 13-year-old strong juvenile while his look was more similar to that of Zhang Yang. As the eldest son of the 3rd generation of Zhang family, he had a lot of younger brothers and sisters; Zhang Chengan was calm and steady since young. Although he was young, he already looked a bit mature.


    "Dad, are you fine?" Zhang Yang sat down in front of Zhang Ping. After looking at Zhang Ping from his head to toe, Zhang Yang became completely reassured.


    "I''m fine, of course, I''m fine..." Zhang Ping replied as he strengthened his legs with a big smile, making it a sliding board for the two babies. Although Linda and Beverly wanted to cradle the babies away, they were stopped by Zhang Ping.


    "I will let Liu Knight stay with you!"


    "No need. You always do business outside. If not being protected by a knight, the entire family would be worried about you. In Huaiyuan Palace, knights are all clan elders. Heavenly Fortune Sect has already arranged a knight to protect our home, it''s already very eye-catching. Many people outside have been blaming me about that. If the castellan of Jinwu City was followed by a clan elder-level powerhouse, what the others of Huaiyuan Palace would think about me?" Zhang Ping turned his head and told Zhang Yang with a serious look.


    "But..."


    Zhang Ping stopped Zhang Yang. Although Zhang Yang was decisive and more influential outside, he had to be docile at home in front of Zhang Ping.


    Zhang Ping let out a deep sigh, "As you two brothers have established such a great undertaking in Taixia Country; the entire Zhang family is growing vigorous; Chengan and the other grandsons and granddaughters are growing more and more excellent. I''m already satisfied to help you brothers look after the family. Previously, when I made one gold coin a month in the factory of Blackhot City, who could imagine that I, Zhang Ping could live such a wealthy life. Even if I could not come back alive, I wouldn''t feel regretful at all..."


    After hearing Zhang Ping''s words, Zhang Tie''s mom dropped off her tears once again, "I''ve told your dad to not be the castellan of Jinwu City anymore. It''s too dangerous..."


    "Woman! If those people really wanted to harm us; unless our Zhang family members stayed in the inner city for the rest of our lives, they would find a chance to do that sooner or later. It has nothing to do with my status. Jinwu City is the undertaking of our family. If our family became so timid in our own city, wouldn''t it be a laughingstock?" Zhang Ping blamed Zhang Yang''s mom. Although Zhang Yang''s mom was always reasonable, facing such a big event, she didn''t dispute with Zhang Ping anymore as she knew that Zhang Ping was right.


    After saying that, Zhang Ping turned around and watched Zhang Yang, "I know my own ability. It''s my upper limit to give a favor to this family as the castellan of Jinwu City. It''s also what I could do for you brothers now. Don''t make this event a fuss. After a few days, I will continue to do my job instead of dropping the official affairs in Jinwu City..."


    Zhang Yang revealed a smile, "I know, I will arrange the other things!"


    "Let''s have a dinner. Coincidentally, Chengan came back today. We could have a meal together..." Zhang Ping said as he cradled the two babies and stood up.


    ...


    At the table, Zhang Yang didn''t mention this event anymore. He even asked about Zhang Chengan''s studies in Youzhou Provincial School.


    Youzhou Provincial School was not the supreme official school across Youzhou Province. Its teachers were the most excellent ones in Youzhou Province, who were top talents in all aspects. Additionally, Knight-level elders or guests from clans in Youzhou Province always went to give lessons over there. Even Huaiyuan Palace, the clan of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province could not afford such excellent teachers. As Taixia Country paid attention to education very much, all the provincial schools would gather elites in all industries. As a result, both major clans and common families could share the quality education. Given comprehensive teaching capability, provincial schools definitely ranked first. However, some major clan''s private schools could also match provincial schools.


    Except for one point, namely, human relationship. Most of the disciples in private schools only shared one family name, including someone from other clans who had relationships with this clan or from collateral bloodlines. By contrast, surnames were not limited in official schools. One official school could have disciples from both major clans and common families. Even though those disciples from common families who graduated from official schools might become prefectural or provincial governors in the future, not to mention those from major clans. The original intention of official school was to select officials from commoners so as to balance the influence of local major clans.


    Almost half of the learners in Youzhou Provincial School came from major clans across Youzhou Province according to the quota; the other half were the local excellent juveniles in Youzhou Province through public selection.


    Zhang Chengan had already learned in Youzhou Provincial School for 3 years.


    Of course, provincial schools were different than that of those major sects in Taixia Country because they were on two routes.


    Coincidentally, Zhang Chengan attended the practicum of Youzhou Provincial School today. When he passed by Jinwu City and felt it was intense all over, Zhang Chengan asked people about what happened inside. When he heard that his grandpa was assassinated, he hurriedly ran back home to pay a visit to Zhang Ping.


    "After having a meal, go back immediately. Don''t behave special in Youzhou Provincial School because of your status!" Zhang Yang told his son.


    "Don''t worry, papa, I''ve not mentioned about my status at school yet. Besides some teachers at school, most of the classmates only know that I come from Yanghe Prefecture. Additionally, I asked for 6 hours'' leave from the teacher. As my grandpa is fine, I''m reassured. I will go back soon..." Zhang Chengan replied seriously.


    After hearing his words, Zhang Ping nodded as he felt that his son had been docile, "What practicum are you having in Jinwu City?"


    "It''s about airship and geography which will last 1.5 months. We will circle around Youzhou Province by airship and learn how to manipulate airship and the terrain, distribution of natural resources, layout of cities and military geography..."


    Hearing Zhang Chengan''s answers, Zhang Ping nodded as he sighed with emotions, "Read and travel. Good method. Take a ride in the sky and learn whatever you see. You will learn both how to manipulate airships in the air and the knowledge on the ground. Such a good education condition could only be available in Taixia Country. When in Blackhot City, I remember that your Uncle Tie would rush towards school with a schoolbag while gnawing a roasted sweat potato. At that time, our home was far away from school, in order to save some copper coins, your Uncle Tie didn''t even take a bus. The so-called practicum at school was just some simple items on the processing tables. Occasionally, he had to plow the land! As you''ve got such a good educational resource, you have to treasure it and study hard..."


    "I''ve kept your words in mind, grandpa!" Zhang Chengan nodded.


    When Zhang Ping talked about Zhang Tie, the atmosphere at the table became gloomy at once. The moment Zhang Tie''s mom controlled her tears, her eyes had turned red once again, "Zhang Tie is still in the Earth-elements Realm?"


    Zhang Yang nodded.


    "I wonder whether Guoguo is fine in Earth-elements Realm. It''s said that it''s dark all the year round over there. It''s full of dangers. Being covered with magma and mutated beasts, it was as perilous as the hell. These babies have not seen their papa yet although they could already speak like Chenglei at their age..." Zhang Tie''s mom said with a worried look.


    Linda, Beverly and Fiona slowed down their chopsticks. Although the table was full of delicious food, they didn''t feel like eating anymore...


    "Dad, mom, younger sisters-in-law, don''t worry, as long as Jinwu Business Group still exists, I''m sure that Zhang Tie will come back aboveboard soon. I''ve already contacted the side of Xuanyuan Hill. There''s already a hope..." Zhang Yang replied in a muffled voice.


    After hearing Zhang Yang''s news, the entire Zhang family became spirited.


    Although Zhang Ping''s accident made Zhang family scared, the moment they heard that Zhang Tie might come back aboveboard, the entire family became reassured as nothing else was more important than Zhang Tie''s case.


    Zhang Yang was the helmsman of this family and helped Zhang family tide over the ocean by dodging away from reefs and rapids. However, the entire family, including Zhang Yang knew that Zhang Tie was the key stand of this family. As long as Zhang Tie was at home, the entire family would be filled with cheers and would not worry about any difficulty...


    ...


    Although the event that Zhang Ping was assassinated was severe, the 3rd generation of Zhang family were all kids. Additionally, Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie were all in the prime of their lives. If they wanted, they could deliver over 100 sons. Therefore, nobody would think about harming Zhang Chengan.


    After supper, Zhang Yang arranged a bodyguard to escort Zhang Chengan away from the city.


    The moment Zhang Chengan left, Donder the manager of Golden Roc Bank in Jinwu City had arrived.


    After caring about Zhang Ping, Donder came to the study with Zhang Yang for a secret talk.


    The moment Donder left, Elder Muen of Huaiyuan Palace had arrived with a great batch of powerhouses from the Court of Youzhou Province and Huaiyuan Palace. The moment they arrived, these powerhouses had scattered in Jinwu City for clues...


    After talking with Elder Muen secretly, Zhang Yang arranged Elder Muen to settle down in the inner city for the time being. After that, a trusted subordinate of Zhang Ping found a chance to whisper to Zhang Ping...


    The moment Zhang Ping heard that, his eyes flickered as he asked, "Where''s he?"


    "We''ve already arranged him in the Starlight Castle..."


    "I will take a look over there..."

 1038 The Tail of the Culpri

    Chapter 1038: The Tail of the Culprit


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After leaving the spot of the assassination, Zhang Tie had been taken into a castle inside the city and was treated with tasty food and drinks. However, he was forbidden to leave under strict surveillance...


    Starlight Castle was important for military affairs in Jinwu City. It was also a foothold of Jinwu Guards. As a result, it was under strict surveillance. The castle was covered with elite fighters and heavy machines. Those who were inside could barely break out by force if not a knight.


    It would be a laughingstock if he fought his family members in another face in Jinwu City.


    According to the status that Zhang Tie fabricated for himself, he was a vagrant warrior in Taixia Country who didn''t belong to any sect. As he didn''t care about his face, he just listened to the arrangement of Jinwu City and waited in the Starlight Castle for the big figures in Jinwu City.


    He was in a parlor of Starlight Castle, which was briefly designed. It only had a map of Youzhou Province on the wall, some chairs, a table and a potted plant. As Zhang Tie was here, those who brought him in especially told someone to serve two plates of fruits on the table.


    Two guards were standing at the door of the parlor. There was a small square window on the wall, which looked more like an embrasure. However, he could rightly see the Jinwu City from inside.


    Standing at the window, Zhang Tie watched the Jinwu City as he waited for his family member.


    ''It was too coincidental this time. No wonder the side of Jinwu City would doubt about my motive. Even if I would doubt that it was a plot if someone coincidentally blocked the hidden weapons at the critical moment. ''


    Zhang Tie was clear that it was not a plot. The reason that he could save his dad at the critical moment lay in that Zhang family''s meritorious deeds over these years were favored by the God. The God didn''t want to see any tragedy of Zhang family anymore; therefore, Zhang Tie stopped the tragedy at the critical moment.


    When Zhang Tie recalled that those poisonous needles almost touched his dad''s body, he started to drool sweat all over due to fear.


    Standing in the room, facing the breeze at the window, Zhang Tie''s sweat was dried; however, his heart turned colder.


    ''My dad is just a castellan of Jinwu City, who has nothing to do with the outside world. Honestly, although it sounds improper, my dad''s status and good temperament are not worth an assassination at all if not I am related to Jinwu Business Group. Therefore, the two killers must target at me.''


    ''Besides me and Jinwu Business Group, there would be no other target. If it targets at Jinwu Business Group, its influence is limited. Because my dad is almost not involved with the business of Jinwu Business Group. Comprehensively, it probably targets at me.''


    ''The animosity of killing my father is unforgivable. If the news that my dad was killed drifted into my ears, how could I keep traveling leisurely in the Earth-elements Realm? If I ignored it, how would the others in the world regard me? Being influenced by it, even Jinwu Business Group and the entire Huaiyuan Palace might feel shameful. If I come back to Taixia Country, as long as I reveal myself in the public, the opponent might set a plot to kill me.''


    ''The target of the culprit is to force me to appear in the public; meanwhile; he wants to give a blow to the growing reputation and influence of Jinwu Business Group and Huaiyuan Palace in Taixia Country.''


    After thinking it through, Zhang Tie could almost comfirm immediately that the culprit of this assassination was the very one who set him up 4 years ago.


    ''Who''s he among the nine chancellors of Taixia Country?''


    After launching a strike, the two killers didn''t think about leaving Jinwu City alive. The poison that they used to commit suicide was too destructive. In a split second, their corpses had turned into puddles of blood, leaving nothing at all. Therefore, Zhang Tie could not get any information from their minds.


    ''However, the culprit of this assination has not imagined that I could coincidentally prevent this assassination; additionally, I''ve touched one killer before he turned into a puddle of blood.''


    ''The culprit must have not imagined that I had mastered the essence of soul forbidden skill. Through a transient contact, I''ve already gained some intelligence from the killer''s brain before it was melted by the poison.''


    Zhang Tie read the killer''s mind in sequence.


    Through the transient contact, Zhang Tie knew that the two killers had already lived in the hotel outside Jinwu City for over 1 month, during which period they wandered near Jinwu City every day. Apparently, they were looking for business opportunities; actually, they were waiting for the order to launch an attack.


    They didn''t know who sent the order to them; neither did they have any contact in Jinwu City. The killer who launched an attack at first carried a portable small crystal remote-sensing communication device through which he could receive the order.


    1 hour before the assassination, the killer received the brief order¡ª¡ªeast gate, in 1 hour...


    After receiving the order, they destroyed the remote-sensing communication crystal. Then, they waited for Zhang Tie''s dad near the east gate of Jinwu City. As was told, Zhang Tie''s dad indeed appeared at the east gate in 1 hour.


    The assassination then occurred.


    After dating back a bit earlier, Zhang Tie knew that the two killers came from the Zhongzhou Province, one of the nine immortal provinces in Taixia Country. They didn''t even have names; instead, they only had code names, 137 and 224. They came from a mysterious killers'' organization. 3 months ago, they received the task dispatched by their organization, namely, the assassination of Zhang Ping, the castellan of Jinwu City in Youzhou Province.


    They had a photo of Zhang Ping and his introduction, two wholly-new fabricated identities and an amount of expenditure. After receiving the task, the two killers had set for Jinwu City. After coming to Jinwu City, they had been waiting for the order.


    The killers'' organization was very terrifying and unimaginably strict. After receiving the task, the two people didn''t contact any member of their organization anymore. It was their first task and the last one. In the killer''s memory, Zhang Tie saw a gloomy face of a person, who was called Steward Qi. It was Steward Qi who assigned the task to them.


    If that killer''s brain was well preserved, Zhang Tie might be able to gain more information. However, soon after the image of Steward Qi appeared, the killer''s brain tissue had been eroded by poison. Therefore, Zhang Tie was forced to exit his secret method of Bloody Soul Temple from the killer''s memory.


    Zhang Tie got two intelligence from the killer''s mind. First, that killers'' organization was in a base of Zhongzhou Province; second the gloomy long face of Steward Qi. Although being limited in clues, The image of the culprit who framed him 4 years ago became a bit clearer in the heavy mist. Zhang Tie finally caught the tail of the culprit.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie was waiting inside the room quietly, he heard the familiar footsteps from the corridors in the outside.


    Although the footsteps were still over 100 m away from Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie had already identified the arriver¡ª¡ªZhang Yang, his elder brother.


    Out of imagination, Zhang Tie became slightly thrilled. After thinking about it for a second, he understood that his elder brother would catch any clue for sure based on his temperament.


    Given the footsteps, Zhang Tie knew that Zhang Yang was accompanied by two knights, one of them had come to this room before, the other was a black iron knight, who didn''t come from Huaiyuan Palace.


    Given the frequency of the footsteps and relative positions, Zhang Tie knew that the knight who purposely fell one step behind Zhang Yang was Zhang Yang''s bodyguard.


    Hearing the footsteps approaching him, Zhang Tie sensed that Zhang Yang felt a great stress inside; at the same time, he let out a sigh inside.


    If this accident didn''t occur, Zhang Tie could continue to play hide-and-seek with his elder brother. However, now that it had happened, it was not necessary for him to cover his identity in front of his elder brother. Whatever, Zhang Tie believed in his elder brother. Additionally, Zhang Tie was preparing to establish a relationship with his elder brother in a new identity.


    When he thought about this, although Zhang Tie was still standing at the window, he had recovered his original look.


    ...


    "...The hidden weapon that the killer shot out towards castellan through his mouth should be fierce soul-eating needles. This secret method was irresistible. When one releases his battle qi, he could shoot this hidden weapon out of his mouth almost 10 times more powerful than that of its original power. Additionally, it could penetrate through protective battle qis below knight level. In a close distance, it is barely resisted. Even battle spirits might be harmed if they were not careful. The only shortcoming of this hidden weapon secret method is that its cultivator could only apply it one time in many days at the cost of his aura severely. After that killer failed it, he immediately committed suicide by taking poison. It seems that he has already known that he has lost the last opportunity. According to the autopsy, the poison black bones erosion powder had been buried beneath their teeth in advance. Those who commit suicide by taking this poison are all dauntless fighters..."


    A person was reporting to Zhang Yang on the way here.


    "Do you know which sect or which person is cultivating fierce soul-eating needle in Taixia Country?"


    "This secret method has been lost for many years in Taixia Country..."


    "However, that person blocked the fierce soul-eating needle by a handful of gold coins?"


    "That person''s hidden weapon skill is excellent. He''s definitely a master-level hidden weapon powerhouse!"


    "Two hidden weapon powerhouses appear at the same time. One wants to kill people; the other wants to save people. I really wonder about the reason!" Zhang Yang revealed a faint sneer.


    After that, an unimaginable voice drifted into Zhang Yang''s ears, which was not discovered by the two followers on his side.


    "Elder brother, I''m the one who saved dad at the city gate. I''ve not imagined that it''s you who came here. I''m in the room. You''d better come alone..."


    Of course, Zhang Yang was sure that it was Zhang Tie''s voice.


    In a split second, a shocked look flashed across Zhang Yang''s face. Closely after that, he recovered his face as he immediately stopped...

 1039 Reunion of Brothers

    Chapter 1039: Reunion of Brothers


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Yang stopped less than 20 steps away from Zhang Tie''s room. At the sight of Zhang Yang, two fighters at the door chested out and looked forward.


    If not Zhang Yang was sure that he was healthy, he almost thought that he got a phonism.


    However, Zhang Yang knew that it was not phonism, but a secret voice transmission skill used by knights. Now that the one in the room knew that he had arrived from so far away by ears and could talk with him in secret voice transmission skill without being discovered by his knight bodyguard, it meant that the one''s overall strength had surpassed the knight bodyguard on his side.


    Zhang Yang''s heart raced. When he stopped, the two followers also stopped as they watched him with curious looks.


    In a split second, Zhang Yang had considered well some things.


    "Is that man inside the room?"


    "Yes, he''s still inside and waiting for colonel!" The military officer on Zhang Yang''s side replied.


    In Jinwu Business Group and Jinwu City, besides stewards and servants of Zhang family who called Zhang Yang first young master, all the others called him colonel¡ª¡ªthe colonel of Jinwu Business Group.


    "Let the two guards at the door leave. After I enter it, keep people 50 m away!" Zhang Yang said with a glassy-eyed look.


    After hearing this order, the two people beside Zhang Yang became startled.


    "Colonel, this person is unidentified. Additionally, he excels at using a hidden weapon. His battle strength is also above battle general. I''m afraid that..."


    One person became worried about Zhang Yang''s safety.


    "Don''t worry about that..." Zhang Yang threw a glance at that military officer. The military officer then became silent. As Zhang Yang had been prestigious in Jinwu Business Group these years, nobody across Jinwu Business Group dared doubt his command. After hearing Zhang Yang''s words, the knight bodyguard also became silent. He just nodded and expressed that he would wait for Zhang Yang from 50 m away after Zhang Yang entered the room.


    This knight bodyguard came from Golden Roc Bank. He would immediately follow Zhang Yang''s order like fulfilling a contract within his responsibilities.


    When Zhang Yang walked over there, the two guards left the door too. As a result, nobody was within 50 m.


    When Zhang Yang pushed open the door, a whim occurred to his mind, ''What if the one inside the room is not Zhang Tie, but another plot?''


    However, Zhang Yang immediately revealed a smile, ''Based on the superb voice-transmission skill of this person, even if he was not Zhang Tie, he could raid me and probably kill me immediately the moment I entered the room even with a knight bodyguard on my side; instead of having to play such a trick.''


    After taking a deep breath, Zhang Yang pushed open the door as he saw a figure standing at the window. After hearing the sound behind him, Zhang Tie turned around, revealing his original look and frame to Zhang Yang, although his clothes looked a bit loose...


    Zhang Tie recovered his original look by activating his body-changing immortal bloodline; however, he didn''t change his clothes.


    Of course, clothes were not important at this moment.


    Zhang Yang was a bit thrilled as he didn''t care about the details of the clothes. However, after staying so many years in Taixia Country, he had already known that seeing was not always believing. If not, his younger brother Zhang Tie would not be trapped by the tragedy in Fuhai City.


    Zhang Tie watched Zhang Yang too. After 4 years, Zhang Yang had changed a lot in Zhang Tie''s eyes. He looked more mature and dignified. Additionally, Zhang Yang had been LV 10.


    "Elder brother..." Zhang Tie shouted.


    "What did I do when I came to your school for the first time after you entered No. 7 Male Middle School in Blackhot City?"


    After hearing elder brother''s question and noticing the vigilance in his excited eyes, Zhang Tie became stunned. Closely after that, Zhang Tie grinned, ''How could anyone know that secret besides an elder brother and me.''


    Honestly, it was a scandal. That year, Zhang Tie had spermatorrhea. Additionally, he wrote down many diaries about how much he liked Miss Daina. As a result, the bed sheet with the stains of sperm being exposed to the sun at the attic always attracted his elder brother''s mocks. What was more, his elder brother found his diary from below his bed and knew his secrets. As his elder brother was also young at that time, he went to see the look of the woman whose name Zhang Tie had written many times in his diary when he picked up Zhang Tie at his school.


    After recalling what happened at that time, Zhang Tie signed with emotions, "Elder brother, when you went to my school for the time, you let me understand how stupid it was for a bashful juvenile to write diaries."


    Since his elder brother went to school, Zhang Tie had been mocked so many times by his elder brother. For a long time, he felt too bashful to raise his head and was a bit furious about his elder brother; however, his elder brother didn''t tell this to their parents. He even solemnly told Zhang Tie to not write his secrets on the paper as it was not a good habit. After irritating Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang also felt a bit regretful. He even bought a lot of snacks for Zhang Tie. Therefore, this conflict then became an anecdote and secret between the two brothers at their young age. From then on, Zhang Tie burned all of his diaries and didn''t write it anymore.


    After Zhang Tie answered it briefly, Zhang Yang had run towards Zhang Tie and hugged him tightly.


    When they departed from each other, Zhang Yang''s eyes turned red. He looked at Zhang Tie carefully from head to toe. After that, he punched Zhang Tie''s chest before moving two steps backward and recovering his solemn look.


    "It''s too dangerous. You should not come back!"


    This room had been inlaid with a special alchemical device, which could prevent the sound from leaking out of the room like a single-way glass. Even knights could barely eavesdrop their talk from outside the room. However, the sound outside the room could be heard from inside. Therefore, Zhang Yang was not worried that their talk would be exposed to the public.


    Of course, people in Jinwu Business Group and Jinwu City could identify Zhang Tie''s original look, neither would Zhang Tie enter the city in his original look. Additionally, Zhang Yang had heard about the look of the person who saved his father outside the city gate. Therefore, Zhang Yang thought that Zhang Tie just used that look to hide his real identity during these years'' escape. therefore, he didn''t ask Zhang Tie about the disguised look at all.


    "If I did not come back in time, my dad would be in danger today..." Zhang Tie let out a sigh as he pointed at a chair in the room to let Zhang Yang sit down.


    "You know that someone was going to kill our father; therefore, you came back especially?"


    Of course, Zhang Yang thought so.


    Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile as he shook his head with a solemn look and said, "After this event, I was also scared too much. If I didn''t pass by there accidentally and hear that the castellan was coming, the result of this event would be unpredictable. Previously, I just wanted to take a look at our family members stealthily. I''ve not imagined that I could meet this event. Our parents usually said that a good act would be well rewarded, as our mother always did meritorious deeds, the God might give Zhang family a favor so that dad could survive the dangers!"


    Before coming here, Zhang Yang was still guessing about the identity of the hidden weapon powerhouse who saved his father at the critical moment and whether it was another plot. However, after meeting Zhang Tie, all the doubts had been cleared. Even though Zhang Tie had not shown his talents in using hidden weapons, his identity as a knight and his great military exploits in the past had already made people very confident about him. Therefore, Zhang Yang only wondered about the culprit of the assassination.


    Jinwu City was searching for the clues behind the killers. Zhang Yang was also thinking about the major clans that had commercial competitions and conflicts of interests with Zhang Clan and preparing for the revenge. Now that they could assign dauntless killers to hurt Zhang family, Zhang Yang could also assign more dauntless killers to hurt their families. In the future, Jinwu Business Group would have endless dauntless fighters.


    After Zhang Yang told Zhang Tie about his guesses, Zhang Tie shook his head, "Not these clans, the culprit of this assassination is definitely not any of those clans in Taixia Country who have commercial competitions and conflicts of interests with Zhang Clan and Jinwu Business Group, but the very one who framed me in Fuhai City!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Yang became shocked. He had also thought about this point before. However, after 4 years'' peaceful period, those people who framed Zhang Tie almost became the target for all in Taixia Country. The imperial court, local major clans, seven top sects and dark forces were all focusing on this event. Those people dared not expose themselves at all. Zhang Yang thought that those people dared not offend Zhang Clan anymore; therefore, he didn''t owe the assassination to those people. After knowing Zhang Tie''s firm attitude, Zhang Yang realized the severity of this event.


    "Do you have any clue?"


    "Yup, I''ve caught the tail of the culprit. The culprit is very powerful. He colludes with demons. Even the entire Zhang family and Huaiyuan Palace could not hurt him at all!"


    Zhang Yang turned gloomy too. He gritted his teeth as a killing qi flashed across his face. He watched Zhang Tie with a firm expression, "No matter what, it never ends. That one targets at you, then papa; our Zhang family will definitely fight him to death. As you''ve caught the tail of the culprit, what are you going to do then?"


    "I could not defeat the culprit previously; however, the culprit would be beaten like a rat crossing the road wherever he appeared in Taixia Country. Even though he''s a shadow knight, he should also behave meticulously. Additionally, he must have a lot of opponents!" Zhang Tie revealed a faintly solemn look, "We don''t need to fight them face-to-face. We only need to make use of the resources on our side!"


    "How?"


    "Now that two killers could appear at the city gate, there must be a mole in Jinwu City. Only after receiving the news of their mole could they arrive at the city gate on time and make preparations for the attack. We''d better check those people who knew about dad''s schedule 1 hour before the assassination."


    "Jinwu Guards have been on it!" Zhang Yang replied in a gloomy voice. There were powerhouses and talents in this aspect among Zhang Yang''s subordinates. Almost the moment they heard about the news that Zhang Ping was assassinated, they had known that Zhang Ping''s schedule was leaked in advance. There must be a mole of the killers inside the city, who must be very familiar with the trace of Zhang Tie''s dad. Therefore, they could make a timely arrangement.


    "Jinwu Guards have been investigating them. After you were framed and escaped away, I''ve been paying attention to the safety of our family members these years; especially the schedule of our father, which was always arranged by security officers. Dad''s inspection outside the city gate was temporary. Before the event, less than 100 people knew the concrete schedule of our dad. If those killers really have a mole inside the city, it''s definitely among those people..."


    "Can we put all of them under house arrest?" Zhang Tie asked.


    Zhang Yang nodded as he replied without any hesitation, "Yes, we can. 2/3 of these people are staff in the castellan''s mansion of Jinwu City, less than 1/3 of them were from the other places across Taixia Country, who gradually joined the system of Jinwu City and Jinwu Business Group with the expansion of Jinwu Business Group and Jinwu City. It''s just a matter of word to have them coordinate with us for the investigation."


    "Can we isolate these people independently..." Zhang Tie revealed a cold look.


    Zhang Yang faintly frowned as he replied, "As there''re so many people, the mole must have paid special attention to keep his secrets. Even if we isolated them independently, we might not get any intelligence. If we torture them one after another, I''m afraid..."


    "Just put them under house arrest. As long as the mole is among them, I could find him..." Zhang Tie said in a profound way...

 1040 Drive Tigers to Kill Wolves

    Chapter 1040: Drive Tigers to Kill Wolves


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "You could find that mole?" Zhang Yang became spirited after hearing Zhang Tie''s words.


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    Zhang Yang became a bit thrilled. Since he saw Zhang Tie once again, he had become reassured inside. However, when he imagined how the two dauntless assassins attacked his dad today, he frowned once again and became a bit hesitated, "Referring to the firm mind of the two assassins at the last moment, the one who passed the intelligence must be a dauntless person too. The moment he finds that he''s targeted, he will commit suicide and become a puddle of blood in the blink of an eye even if you could find him. I''m afraid that we could not get anything from him..."


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile. Of course, Zhang Tie had thought about this situation. ''Actually, it''s not important whether this person will commit suicide or not. In killers'' organizations, such people who''s responsible for passing intelligence don''t know too much. What''s more, I could find him; additionally, I''ve already got some intelligence. As long as we could make outsiders feel that we''ve caught this guy and got much intelligence from him through torture!"


    "You mean..." Zhang Yang was a bit clear.


    "The two assassins came from Zhongzhou Province. They are members of the same killers'' organization. They only have codes instead of names. One''s code is 137; the other''s code is 224. The base of the killer''s organization is located in Pinsha Valley, Longxi Prefecture, Zhongzhou Province, one of the top 9 immortal provinces in Taixia Country. As long as Jinwu Business Group expose this intelligence to the public and imply that this assassination is related to the culprit who framed me 4 years ago, the powerhouses from the supreme court and the 7 major sects in Taixia Country would charge at that place and turn it upside down. Someone would definitely move ahead of us..."


    "Drive tigers to kill wolves!"


    "Yes, drive trigers to kill wolves!"


    Over these years, the biggest pending criminal case that shocked the entire Taixia Country was the tragedy in Fuhai City. With Zhang Tie''s escape and the release of the article in Mountain of Brightness, the tragedy in Fuhai City gradually fermented over the past 4 years. As a result, more and more people knew Zhang Tie''s name; the influence of the case was also growing greater. Across Taixia Country, the supreme court, the local major sects and clans and numerous knights were paying attention to this case all the time. Because this event was weird and was involved with demons, the Heavens Reaching Church, the Bloody Soul Temple which had already been eliminated and an increasingly popular young knight in Taixia Country, any intelligence about this case would attract the attention of all parties; especially the identity of the culprit of this tragedy, which made many people restless. As long as there was any clue, the parties in Taixia Country would definitely charge at it like hungry tigers.


    "The power of Jinwu Business Group and Zhang family could not reach as far as Zhongzhou Province. Even if we could, our power is limited!" Zhang Tie watched Zhang Yang as he said firmly, "However, it doesn''t matter; because Zhang family is not the only one which wants to find that culprit and remove him!"


    "As long as we release the news, the killers'' organization in Pingsha Valley, Longxi Prefecture, Zhongzhou Province will be uprooted and eliminated. This is how we Zhang family revenge them!" Zhang Yang narrowed his eyes with a killing qi.


    Zhang Tie nodded as he said, "After the supreme court and the seven major sects in Taixia Country launched an attack towards the base, they would get more things by clues if they''re lucky. We only need to wait for that..."


    "Even your crime might be redressed!"


    "It depends. However, at least, we could tell the culprit through this means that Zhang family is not weak, even if we cannot defeat him. If he wants to hurt us, he has to pay for that no matter how considerate he is. The price of framing me is to expose himself and make all parties in Taixia Country vigilant; the price of assassinating our dad is to eliminate the killers'' organization. After failing twice, even though that culprit has not been discovered, he has to consider the outcome for the next failure."


    Zhang Yang pounded one punch onto one palm, causing a bang in the room before saying, "Zhang family could expose the intelligence to Heavens Fortune Sect and have Huaiyuan Palace report it to the supreme court of Xuanyuan Hill. We can expose it tonight and take the enemy by surprise..."


    Zhang Tie nodded, "The faster, the better!"


    Zhang Yang tightly pursed his mouth, revealing two firm wrinkles on his face.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, the two brothers burst out into laughter. Through the brief talk, the two brothers both felt the opponent has changed a lot and turned mature. They could carry more burdens and could understand each other much better...


    Especially Zhang Yang, who sighed with emotions when he found that Zhang Tie could inflict heavy losses on the powerful enemy, influence the overall situation in Taixia Country and defuse Zhang family''s crisis by making such a plan of driving tigers to kill wolves.


    Before coming to the Starlight Castle, Zhang Yang still felt gloomy inside; however, only after meeting Zhang Tie a short while, he had already been much clearer about what to do next.


    Zhang Yang didn''t know how Zhang Tie knew the backgrounds and identities of the two assassins. Now that Zhang Tie didn''t explain it to him, Zhang Yang didn''t ask him about that. Since Zhang Tie gave that marvelous fruit to him, Zhang Yang had known that his younger brother had too many secrets. Therefore, Zhang Yang would not feel strange no matter what happened to Zhang Tie.


    "Compared to that 4 years ago, Zhang Tie, you''ve changed a lot. I really wonder what you''ve experienced in the past 4 years..." Zhang Yang sighed with emotion, "Dad and mom are worried about you every day. When I see you, I know that your life is definitely out of our imagination!"


    "Elder brother, you''ve changed a lot too. You look more like a master of a major clan. Even your bodyguard is a knight."


    "I cannot make it without you. That knight-level bodyguard is hired from Golden Roc Bank." Zhang Yang revealed a faintly bitter yet relaxed smile. He put one hand onto Zhang Tie''s shoulder forcefully and said, "It''s good that you could come back. Your case might be redressed. The atmosphere in Youzhou Province is not as intense as that a few years ago. As long as you don''t appear in the original look, you could stay in Youzhou Province safe and sound. Nobody could hurt you. If you do not feel free and want to take a walk in Chaosang Subcontinent, I can make arrangements for your schedule. After your order for arrest was revoked, you would come back aboveboard..."


    After hearing his elder brother''s words, Zhang Tie thought a few seconds before replying in a euphemistic tone, "Elder brother, I''m already...already an earth knight!"


    ''Earth knight?''


    Zhang Yang goggled at Zhang Tie. Even though he was experienced and always behaved calmly, he still felt vacant in mind after hearing this news.


    When Zhang Tie promoted to a black iron knight in Waii Subcontinent, the news had shocked the entire subcontinent. Even in Taixia Country, an earth knight was already a powerhouse on the same level as the provincial governor and Cheji General. Who could imagine that Zhang Tie had already promoted to an earth knight after escaping for 4 years? The fact was that there were very few earth knights in Youzhou Province.


    Zhang Yang almost thought that he misheard it.


    Zhang Tie''s following words shocked Zhang Yang so much that he almost passed out.


    "I have another identity, Fire Dragon Hermit!"


    "Fire...Fire Dragon Hermit..." Zhang Yang stammered. Zhang Yang had already received the golden invitation card from Iron-Dragon Sect. As Zhang Yang was not a knight, when he received the invitation card, he felt a bit arrogant as he thought that it indicated that he himself had a greater influence due to the rising position and influence of Jinwu Business Group. It was really out of his imagination that Fire Dragon Hermit was Zhang Tie.


    After being stunned a short while, Zhang Yang recalled something as he stammered, "Isn''t Fire Dragon Hermit as strong as an iron tower like a Mighty Miracle God? Additionally, Fire Dragon Hermit is cultivating the famous "Fire Dragon Sutra", how come you...you..."


    Watching his elder brother''s dumbfounded look, Zhang Tie rubbed his face. Although his voice sounded normal, it was ethereal in Zhang Yang''s ears. Zhang Tie replied, "I''ve awakened an immortal bloodline. I could change my figure and look freely. Additionally, I''ve mastered a secret method. I could simulate "Fire Dragon Sutra". Only elder brother knows these secrets. Remember to keep these secrets even to our family members and Huaiyuan Palace. If you expose these secrets to them, you might hurt them..."


    Unconsciously, Zhang Tie had applied a secret skill in his Soul Forbidden Method in his sound. After Zhang Yang heard that, these secrets would turn into information fragments and lie in the depth of Zhang Yang''s consciousness forever. Even if Zhang Yang met another powerhouse who mastered the Soul Forbidden Method, the secrets in the depth of his consciousness could not be dug out either; unless the opponent was also a supreme dominator with greater spiritual energy than that of Zhang Tie and was much more proficient in Soul Forbidden Method. In that way, the opponent might discover the encrypted information fragments, extracting them and recovering them. However, it was almost impossible.


    ''In the worst scenario, even if there was such a person who could gain the secrets from my elder brother, he only knows that I''ve awakened a unique immortal bloodline which could change my own look and figure. He could never imagine that I could simulate "Fire Dragon Sutra" through "King Roc Sutra"; instead, he could at most think that I''m cultivating a marvelous secret method. As for the effect of "King Roc Sutra", only the cultivator himself knows it.''


    The two secrets were very important for Zhang Tie; however, it was not the most important. Even though they were exposed, they would not cause any fatal outcome. Actually, Zhang Tie had too many secrets. In the current stage, the secrets which could really put the cat among the pigeons was Castle of Black Iron, his "King Roc Sutra", "Purgatory Samsara", his profession "Supreme Dominator" and the fact that he had "the Great Wilderness Sutra".


    The two secrets would definitely arouse a great disturbance no matter who had them, except for Zhang Tie. Because Zhang Tie had too many secrets. By contrast, the two secrets became relatively not that important.


    Even though, Zhang Tie had also considered a lot before exposing a small part of his secrets to Zhang Yang. Now that he had returned to Youzhou Province, he had to contact Zhang family. As Zhang Yang was his brother, it would not bring him any trouble by exposing his another identity to Zhang Yang; instead, it would have a lot of benefits. With the help of Zhang Yang, many things would become more convenient. Additionally, neither doubts nor jokes would be aroused.


    Zhang Yang watched Zhang Tie for 5 minutes before recovering his composure. However, he still didn''t believe in what he heard. He felt that his heart was still racing.


    As Zhang Tie''s secrets were too shocking to be believed, Zhang Yang couldn''t believe in that as if he was listening to a story.


    "Erm...erm, your pupil changing immortal bloodline...I know that...is this another immortal bloodline..."


    "Seriously, pupil changing immortal bloodline is just a part of this immortal bloodline. This is a body changing immortal bloodline, the real immortal bloodline; that''s it..." Zhang Tie replied as he activated his body changing bloodline and started to change his skin, skeleton, muscles, hair, tendons and meridians in front of Zhang Yang. Only after 10 more seconds, Zhang Tie had recovered the look to when he saved Zhang Ping at the city gate. The strange figure and look had nothing to do with Zhang Tie; however, the clothes became proper.


    Watching Zhang Tie changing his figure and look, Zhang Yang couldn''t stand panting heavily as his face blushed. At the same time, he clenched his fist and put it onto his chest. He felt breathless as if there was a big stone on his chest. After quite a while did he recover his composure. After that, he let out a deep sigh and revealed a bitter smile, "If you have any more secrets, don''t display them in front of me anymore. I''m afraid that my heart cannot stand that! I only heard that shadow demons could do that, I''ve not imagined that human could also awaken such a bloodline. What a marvelous ability...It only appears in the fairy tales..."


    "Humans share 99% of genes with demons. Perhaps, everybody had such an ability in far-ancient times..." Zhang Tie said in his original voice.


    "Your voice..." Zhang Yang wanted to say it was a loophole; however, before he finished his words, Zhang Tie had uttered once again.


    "How about now?"


    Zhang Tie''s voice turned strange at once. Zhang Yang became speechless. After looking at Zhang Tie seriously quite a while, Zhang Yang finally recovered his composure and loosed his fist, "Let''s go now. We need to catch that mole as soon as possible!"


    "Fine!"


    "How long do you need?"


    "I only need to have a brief talk with each of them..."


    "And, what''s the name of your current look??


    "Just call me Xia Ping!"


    "Xia Ping!"


    A few seconds later, right under the gaze of the knight-level bodyguard 50 m away, Zhang Yang pushed open the door and exited it, followed by Zhang Tie with a glassy-eyed look...

 1041 The Mole

    Chapter 1041: The Mole


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After the assassination occurred at noon, the court in Jinwu City had started to move.


    The grand justice of Jinwu City was an old man in Zhang family who was experienced and capable. Before Zhang Yang delivered the order, those people who knew about Zhang Ping''s schedule before he left the city had been "invited" into the court of Jinwu City for inquiry in the name of assisting the investigation and were withheld in the court for the time being.


    After leaving Starlight Castle, Zhang Yang led Zhang Tie to the court.


    Nobody knew what Zhang Yang had talked with this stray warrior called Xia Ping in the room. However, after coming out of the room, evidently, Xia Ping had won the trust of Zhang Yang as he could take the same car with Zhang Yang. It was a bit amazing.


    Since he got on the car, Zhang Tie had felt that the knight-level bodyguard in the front seat was always paying attention to him. Although the knight didn''t turn around to gaze at him, Zhang Tie felt that the greater part of his knight''s consciousness was on him; it was nothing different than turning around to gaze at him.


    Jinwu Business Group hired 2 knights from Golden Roc Bank, one knight served as Zhang Yang''s bodyguard, the other one was responsible for the safety of the all-purpose medicament production base. After Zhang Tie was framed and escaped away, the Heavens Fortune Sect also assigned an experienced and stable knight to protect the Zhang family in Zhang Mansion. Unconsciously, three knights were serving Zhang family.


    Although the knight in the front seat was focusing on Zhang Tie spiritually, Zhang Tie felt that he had not discovered it at all. He just watched Jinwu City through the window by inclining his head.


    It was already dark while the road lamps on the streets had been lit up. The news that Zhang Ping was assassinated had already spread over Jinwu City. Apparently, more patrolling Jinwu guards and criminal hunters were on the streets. Although being in an intense atmosphere, Zhang Tie could still sense the prosperity of Jinwu City on both sides of the streets.


    Jinwu City was small yet chic.


    On both sides of the spacious and tidy streets, there were well-planned buildings, villas and manors that were close to each other. Given the signboards of those buildings, Zhang Tie knew that they were all names of trading companies and offices and hotels with distinctive styles. Although it was already dark, those streets in the downtown were still brightly lit and extremely boisterous. Passers were jostling each other.


    Besides these buildings, Zhang Tie was deeply impressed by the afforestation of the downtown. Over half of the city was covered with green trees, most of which were various fruit trees.


    Both sides of the many streets were brooks. In the lamplight in the evening, the limpid water in the brooks was enshrouded by steam, which looked a bit fantastic.


    In Zhang Tie''s lotus-flower eyes, the water temperature under Jinwu City was very high. There was rich and plentiful water spring resource under the ground. It was a huge hot river beneath the ground. After one opened a well in this city, if it met a hot river, the water in the hot river would enter the well and would become a warm spring. The warm spring flows that densely distributed in this city were like the natural heat units in this city. In winter, as long as the volume of runoff was increased, the temperature in Jinwu City would be several degrees higher than that outside the city. With such a good condition, the fruit trees in the all-purpose medicament production base could be high-yielding. Even in winter, some fruit trees could also be planted in some valleys with higher temperature so as to realize self-sufficiency and continuity of the production of the all-purpose medicament.


    Jinwu City was indeed the perfect land for Zhang family to root in Taixia Country for a prosperity.


    Over 10 vehicles were following Zhang Yang''s vehicle. Because Zhang Ping was assassinated, there were even some wheeled armored vehicles among them. Such a fleet was especially awe-inspiring on the streets. Wherever this fleet arrived, it would move smoothly across Jinwu City.


    Only after more than 10 minutes, the fleet had entered the gate of the court in Jinwu City.


    The moment Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang got off the vehicle, the superior of the court had hurriedly walked towards them.


    "Are they still there?" Zhang Yang asked.


    "We''re interrogating them!" The superior of the court answered briefly and immediately. At the same time, he threw a glimpse at Zhang Tie who was standing on Zhang Yang''s side. Although he didn''t know Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie knew him. Zhang Tie remembered that he had met this person once in the old mansion of the Zhang family. At that time, this man was on the side of Zhang Yuanshan as his subordinate.


    "Prepare an isolated interrogating room. He will arrange the next steps!" Zhang Yang said as he pointed at Zhang Tie.


    "This is..." The superior of the court looked at Zhang Tie.


    "He saved my father today and is temporarily hired by me; he could find that mole!"


    "Fine, please follow me, I will make the arrangement right away..."


    That person led Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang into the building of the court.


    "How many suspects did you get?" Zhang Tie suddenly asked.


    "87 people in total!"


    "After isolating them independently, bring them into the interrogating room one after another!" Zhang Tie sent the order.


    "Hmm, what else do we need to do?"


    "Nothing more!" Zhang Tie threw a glance at Zhang Yang before saying, "We will soon have a result!"


    ...


    A few minutes later, Zhang Tie sat down in a hidden interrogating room of the court. The room was surrounded by iron walls. There was a mirror on each wall. Besides, there were one table, two chairs and one orange-colored fluorite lamp. Zhang Yang and the superior of the court were waiting in another room. According to the rule, the interrogation should be monitored by another person through the mirror, including conversation. However, Zhang Tie requested to interrogate himself.


    After Zhang Tie sat down for half a minute, the first person had been brought in.


    He was a young officer of Jinwu Guards. The officer probably had known the reason for the interrogation and realized that this process was unavoidable; therefore, he didn''t intend to resist when being brought in. Whereas, out of his imagination, the one who interrogated him was a stranger.


    The moment the officer entered, those who brought him in had closed the door from outside.


    Zhang Tie watched the officer''s eyes as he started to gradually inject his spiritual energy into the officer''s consciousness. However, the officer didn''t notice it at all.


    Actually, Zhang Tie only needed to ask him a couple of questions, "Have you leaked the schedule of the castellan to anyone else today?"


    After hearing this question, the officer became stunned before shaking his head, "Nope!"


    "Good, you can leave!"


    After entering the room for less than 10 seconds, the officer had left. In less than half a minute, another person entered the interrogating room.


    ...


    "Have you leaked the schedule of the castellan to anyone else today?"


    "Nope!"


    "Good, you can leave!"


    ...


    After leaving the room, the second person could directly leave the court as it indicated that he had accomplished the task to coordinate with the investigation. When they left the interrogating room, they were all very curious because they had not imagined that the interrogation could be so simple. What a game! Until these people left the court for a few minutes did they find that they had no impression about what happened, whom they had met and what had they experienced in the interrogating room just now. They only remembered that they entered and exited the interrogating room with a grey metal door. It seemed the part of memory about the interrogation had been deleted.


    ...


    In another room, watching those "suspects" accessing to the interrogation room one after another so rapidly, even the superior of the court frowned, ''What''s he doing? Judging by reading their face?''


    "Colonel..." The superior of the court watched Zhang Yang.


    "Just wait..." Zhang Yang said in a muffled voice.


    The superior then became silent. Everybody across Jinwu City knew who was the real master of this city.


    ...


    Half an hour later, the 52nd person was brought in. He was an elegant young man in a pair of glasses.


    Zhang Tie asked those questions mechanically.


    "Have you leaked the schedule of the castellan to anyone else today?"


    "Yes!"


    "To whom?"


    "A 137"


    The moment he answered, he immediately widely opened his eyes in a dumbfounded manner and watched Zhang Tie. Closely after that, Zhang Tie disappeared from his chair and appeared on his side. Almost at the same time, Zhang Tie had dislocated his jaw while putting one hand onto his head.


    The moment Zhang Tie touched the one''s head, the one had quivered a bit while a wisp of black blood flew out of his mouth corner. At the same time, his face started to turn black; his body also turned soft...


    A few minutes later, Zhang Tie had to move his hand away from his head. Watching the puddle of blood on the ground, Zhang Tie exclaimed inside, "How vicious they are! This man''s consciousness has been set with a trick like a landmine spiritually. The moment Zhang Tie asked him about the two questions, the landmine had been triggered. After being triggered, the spiritual energy directly stimulated the central nervous system of the guy and caused the two pieces of muscles in his throat to sharply contract like a conditioned reflex, breaking the trichocyst in the muscles. As a result, the guy was killed...

 1042 Counterattack

    Chapter 1042: Counterattack


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    This guy''s teeth also contained a trichocyst, which was used to commit suicide on his own initiative when in an emergency. However, the trichocyst in his throat was broken negatively. Zhang Tie had not heard about such a means before. What a rigorous and terrifying killers'' organization!


    Actually, before coming here, Zhang Tie had another idea. He felt that he might find more clues from this killers'' organization. Given the rigorous arrangement of this killers'' organization, Zhang Tie found it was almost impossible to find the culprit through this killers'' organization. Because each member of this killers'' organization must have contained two trichocysts in both throat and teeth, it was very difficult for him to make a major breakthrough from this killers'' organization.


    However, each coin had two sides. From another perspective, now that this killers'' organization was so rigorous and meticulous, it was impossible for the culprit to establish such an organization without great efforts. If this killers'' organization was destroyed, it would also inflict a heavy loss and shock to the culprit. It was almost like breaking one hand of the culprit.


    Only after a few minutes, the young man had turned into a puddle of stinky blood besides a pair of glasses, the remains of his clothes, some silver coins and gold coins...


    This guy was an office secretary in the castellan''s mansion. He had been in Jinwu City for over 1 year. This guy didn''t do anything illegal in this term. He just received the order from his superior through his remote-sensing crystal lately. After reading this guy''s memory, Zhang Tie only knew that this guy''s code was 624 in the killers'' organization. All the others in his memory were about his normal work and living trifles in Jinwu City and the scene when he contacted the two killers today...


    Even though this guy contacted the two killers, they used the disposable contact code. It was not available for Zhang Tie at all. After contacting the two killers, this guy also destroyed his remote-sensing communication device.


    Although this guy died, Zhang Tie didn''t leave the interrogating room at once. After staying in the room for more than 10 minutes quietly, he opened the gate and exited.


    Even the guards outside the door wondered why this guy was interrogated so long.


    After leaving the interrogating room, Zhang Tie directly closed the door in case anyone else caught sight of the scene inside.


    Zhang Yang and the superior of the court of Jinwu City walked over here right away.


    Zhang Yang looked a bit solemn, "How about the result?"


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang then followed him in the interrogating room.


    The moment Zhang Yang entered the room, he had smelt the stink and caught sight of the puddle of blood on the ground. Zhang Tie briefly explained the situation to Zhang Yang.


    "I''ve found out the mole. However, as was imagined by you, elder brother, I couldn''t get anything valuable from this guy. The opponent has made a more rigorous arrangement than us!"


    "What else should we do now?"


    "It doesn''t matter that we couldn''t get any intelligence from this guy. As long as the others thought that we''ve got what we wanted, it would be enough. Elder brother, you can release the news about the killers'' organization right now." Zhang Tie threw a glance at Zhang Yang''s hand and noticed three senior remote-sensing finger rings, one of them must come from Huaiyuan Palace given its art craftsmanship. This finger ring could be used to contact Huaiyuan Palace. As for the left two finger rings, one of them could be used to contact the Heavens Forture Sect.


    "Because of your case, Huaiyuan Palace could establish a direct relationship with the supreme court of Xuanyuan Hill. I''ve not imagined that this relationship could be used by us for our own benefit!" Zhang Yang revealed a self-mocking smile before closing his eyes.


    Zhang Tie knew that Zhang Yang was contacting Huaiyuan Palace and the Heavens Fortune Sect. Therefore, he just waited for him on one side. Zhang Tie could communicate with Huaiyuan Palace and Heavens Fortune Sect in the blink of an eye. However, his elder brother''s spiritual energy was much weaker than his; his elder brother didn''t have the multitasking ability, therefore, he had to concentrate on using the senior remote-sensing crystals.


    Until 2 minutes later, Zhang Yang opened his eyes as he said, "I''ve already passed the news to them. Huaiyuan Palace will report the news to the Supreme Court of Xuanyuan Hill right away. Zhongzhou Province is one of the top nine immortal provinces in Taixia Country. The Supreme Court of Taixia Country is very powerful in Zhongzhou Province, which could never be matched by others local forces. If Supreme Court made a rapid response, the airboat of powerhouses of the Supreme Court would arrive at Pingsha Valley in Longxi Prefecture before dawn!"


    "What about the Heavens Fortune Sect?"


    "I''m afraid that Heavens Fortune Sect will not have enough time to join the action. However, now that they know that the culprit has a base in Zhongzhou Province, they will definitely dispatch powerhouses to Zhongzhou Province to seek for clues. Top sects like Heavens Fortunes Sect only cares about the overall situation in the world, even though this event is not directly involved with Heavens Fortune Sect, it might be involved with demons and dark forces in Taixia Country; therefore, Heavens Fortune Sect will not just stand aside. According to the customs of Heavens Fortune Sect, they would definitely coordinate with the powerhouses of other 6 top sects in Taixia Country to make an investigation in Zhongzhou Province..."


    "We could only do this much!" Zhang Tie nodded. Watching his elder brother''s finger rings, he suddenly remembered something, "Elder brother, do you have any space-teleportation equipment?"


    Zhang Yang revealed a bitter smile, "No, it could not be bought easily. Besides that one of Zhang Taixuan and that of you which you gained from Master Jiang, I''m afraid that nobody else could have one in Huaiyuan Palace. Over these years, no matter how much would I pay, I still couldn''t get one!"


    "If so, elder brother, take this one!" Zhang Tie fumbled in his clothes and directly took out of the portable space-teleportation item that he gained from the demon baron in the hieron ruins before giving it to Zhang Yang. This item had been renovated into a pendant on a necklace. Like an identity plate of a fighter, it could be put into the pocket or worn around the neck instead of being too eye-catching. This portable space-teleportation item was even better than that one which Zhang Tie gained from the demon general. It could almost be regarded as a small superb artwork among space-teleportation items.


    At the sight of the identity plate, Zhang Yang widely opened his eyes, "Is this a space-teleportation item..."


    "Of course..."


    As Zhang Tie had shocked Zhang Yang too much today, he didn''t want to shock his elder brother anymore. He put this item in Castle of Black Iron previously; if he directly took it out of the void, he was afraid that his elder brother would suffer a heart attack. As one space-teleportation item could not be held in another space-teleportation item under normal circumstance, Zhang Tie pretended to put his hand into his pocket.


    Zhang Tie noticed that his elder brother''s hand was quivering when he took the space-teleportation item.


    "Elder brother, like how you use a remote-sensing crystal device, you can inject your spiritual energy into this space-teleportation item and use it freely!" Zhang Tie warned his elder brother.


    After taking the space-teleportation item, Zhang Yang became stunned for a few seconds as if he was sensing the usage of this item.


    This space-teleportation item was empty inside. It was much larger than that of demon general, which was less than 30 cubic meters. There was only one remote-sensing crystal finger ring inside it. Zhang Tie brought the finger ring from Earth-elements Realm. He brought back over 10 pairs of remote-sensing crystal finger rings from the Earth-elements Realm. As these items were rarely seen on the earth''s surface, it was very difficult for Huaiyuan Palace to get one pair; however, in Lion Fortress, with sufficient merit points, an earth knight could easily exchange for them. Remote-sensing crystal finger rings could be regarded as a "local specialty" in Earth-elements Realm.


    The moment Zhang Yang injected his spiritual energy into this space-teleportation item, he had realized that it was very precious. He took out that remote-sensing crystal finger ring out of the void and watched Zhang Tie with an excited look. He didn''t know what to say.


    "Elder brother, come on. We''re brothers. Don''t be that excited only for one item!"


    Zhang Yang could only let out a deep sigh as he found that he could never see through his younger brother at all. Although Jinwu Business Group had been vigorous in both scale and power, compared to the casual attitude when Zhang Tie took out a space-teleportation item, Zhang Yang felt that what he had done for Jinwu Business Group was nothing at all. When he thought about another identity of Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang felt more absurd. He was having a hard time imagining the look of the elders of Huaiyuan Palace when they learned that Zhang Tie had promoted to an earth knight.


    "I really wonder what you''ve experienced these years. How could you take out a space-teleportation item so easily?"


    "Heh heh, I''m too lucky..." Zhang Tie touched his nose as he revealed a smile. Space-teleportation items were very precious for others; however, it was nothing serious for Zhang Tie. After gifting one space-teleportation item to his elder brother and Lan Yunxi respectively, he still had some space-teleportation items such as the Xuanwu Secret Warehouse, Castle of Black Iron, those nanobeads and that one he gained from Master Jiang. Zhang Tie should be the richest one in Taixia Country given the quantity of space-teleportation items that he had.


    "Do you want to take a look at home?"


    "Is it convenient for me to go back home in this identity?" Previously, Zhang Tie prepared to go back home in incarnation; now that he met his elder brother, he didn''t need to use that method anymore.


    "You''re now the savior of our father and the benefactor of Zhang family. There''s no problem for you to pay a visit to our family members and receive the reward from Zhang family. When I came here, our dad and mom even told me to appreciate you with a great reward."


    "Well, I will go back then. I will wait for the news from the Supreme Court of Taixia Country at home..."


    When he realized that he could go back home soon, Zhang Tie became thrilled at once...

 1043 The Softest Place

    Chapter 1043: The Softest Place


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After the negotiation in the room, the two brothers immediately left the court and returned to Zhang mansion.


    As Zhang Ping''s savior, it was very reasonable for Zhang Tie to go to Zhang mansion in others'' eyes. Additionally, given the series of behaviors since Zhang Yang brought Zhang Tie into the court, the others could only think that Zhang Ping wanted to recruit this unknown stray warrior for Jinwu Business Group.


    The atmosphere in Jinwu City was still intense. Across Jinwu City, besides Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang, nobody knew that the news of assassination attempt had been passed to the Supreme Court of Taixia Country and the Heavens Fortune Sect. Actually, this intense atmosphere was specially designed for outsiders. Not only this, when Zhang Yang left the interrogating room, he sent an order to a guard¡ª¡ªFrom now on, lock the door of the interrogating room; you two stand outside it. Nobody is allowed in without my consent; additionally, the court should step up efforts to search for the accomplices and suspects in Jinwu City; remember to bring more relevant people into the court for investigation...


    After making such an arrangement, besides Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie, nobody else knew that the real suspect had already been dead, including the others members in the court.


    Zhang Yang made such an arrangement in order to puzzle the enemy and strive for more time for the Supreme Court''s action in Zhongzhou Province. If there were other moles of the opponent in Jinwu City, seeing such an intense atmosphere in Jinwu City, they could only think that Jinwu City had not gained any key information at all. Therefore, they would relax their vigilance.


    ''During the past 4 years, the culprit didn''t make any action. Why did he dare move at this moment? What reason makes him think that he could raise winds and waves once again?''


    Zhang Tie had been thinking about this since he left the court for Zhang mansion in the inner city.


    Wise people would know that the autumn was coming when he saw a leaf falling off the tree. Zhang Tie faintly felt that this was not a good omen.


    Four years ago, few people knew that Emperor Xuanyuan was missing. However, a few days ago, this news had been spread over Taixia Country. Even commoners in the teahouses of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory had known that. Although they didn''t discuss it in the public; privately, there were various discussions about this event. Everybody was faintly worried about it. As a result, this concern had started to grow in all areas.


    The prices of grains within Northeast Military Territory which always remained stable had started to rise slightly in late months. The prices of bulk commodities such as steel and cement which were used to build cities and battlefortress slightly rose in Youzhou Province. Even prices of medicaments and weapons started to grow in Youzhou Province. The all-purpose medicament produced by Jinwu Business Group became urgently demanded. Additionally, people surrounding Class A cities started to pour in Class A cities at a faster speed.


    All this reminded Zhang Tie of the scene when the holy war broke out in Waii Subcontinent. They were similar in many aspects. Even optimistic people had to be meticulous about this special scene.


    Under this intense atmosphere, the assassination targeting at Zhang family happened. That invisible culprit started to move once again...


    When the car entered the heavily guarded inner city of Jinwu City, at the sight of the prosperous scenery of Zhang family, Zhang Tie forgot about this question. He recovered his composure and prepared to meet his family members in the identity of Xia Ping.


    ...


    In Zhang family''s grand mansion, Zhang Tie met his family members.


    What happened today had the entire family reunite with each other. Although being a bit late, they had not gone to bed yet; instead, they were just chatting with Zhang Tie''s parents and waiting for Zhang Yang.


    In the parlor, Zhang Tie saw his father, his mother, his eldest sister-in-law, Linda, Fiona, Beverly, Aimei and Aixue...


    There was a 3-year old kid beside each of the six women, 3 boys and 3 girls in total. All of them were cute and tender. They all looked similar to Zhang Tie. Linda and Fiona gave birth to two more girls who were like angels; Beverly, Aimei and Aixue gave birth to a boy respectively. As Aimei and Aixue were twins, their sons also looked like twins.


    Since Zhang Tie was framed and escaped away, Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei had left Youzhou Province and joined Heavens Fortune Sect. They were enrolled as apprentices by a grand elder of Heavens Fortune Sect. Therefore, they could only go back home once at the end of each year. Although Linda, Beverly and Fiona were not willing to do that, they could only send their kids away after Zhang Tie was framed and left home.


    Thankfully, after sending away the 3 boys, they had 5 more younger boys and girls. Therefore, they didn''t feel too sad.


    Although 4 years had passed, Linda, Beverly and Fiona remained unchanged on both looks and figures. Not only that, they looked more beautiful. After becoming mothers, Aimei and Aixue looked more like mature ladies of high society.


    Although with two more wrinkles at her eye corners, Zhang Tie''s mom looked good.


    After looking at his family members and ensuring that they were all good, Zhang Tie became reassured at once.


    At the sight of the stranger on Zhang Yang''s side, all the others in the parlor paid more attention to Zhang Tie. As Zhang Tie had changed his figure and look completely, even his parents and wives could not identify him.


    After taking in a deep breath, Zhang Yang pointed at Zhang Tie as he slowed his tone, "Dad, this is Xia Ping, he saved you at the city gate today..."


    "Ahh, you saved me..." Zhang Tie''s dad immediately stood up with an excited look.


    It was a bit chaotic at the city gate at that moment, Zhang Tie''s dad was circled by some bodyguards as he didn''t have a great battle strength himself. In the last moment, he only felt that he survived the hell. The moment he felt a sharp cold wind approaching him, he had seen a golden light around him, which directly blocked the sharp wind, causing a sound "bang". He didn''t know what happened concretely at that moment at all. He even didn''t see clearly the faces of the last assassinator and the one who saved his life before being taken away by two bodyguards by car.


    When Zhang Tie''s dad stood up, all the other family members followed him up too.


    "I was just traveling across Taixia Country. After hearing that Jinwu City is well-known for its all-purpose medicament and its prosperity, I just wanted to come here. It was out of my imagination that I could save castellan by accident...ahem...ahem...it''s nothing serious, castellan...don''t need to be so serious!"


    Although he had long prepared for it, Zhang Tie still felt very uncomfortable when he expressed it. He almost forgot what to say. It was reasonable for the son to save his father. The moment his father wanted to appreciate him, Zhang Tie felt embarrassed.


    "Although it''s nothing serious for you, without your help, we Zhang family couldn''t imagine about the outcome!" Zhang Tie''s mom told Zhang Yang with a solemn look, "As this hero had saved your father, we should try our best to satisfy all of his demands. We have to appreciate him with a great reward. He''s our savior!"


    "Yes, mom, I know!" Zhang Yang nodded.


    "Hero, thank you for saving my father-in-law!" Zhang Tie''s eldest sister-in-law bowed towards Zhang Tie solemnly.


    The others elder sisters-in-law and his wives all extended their thanks to Zhang Tie solemnly.


    After that, Zhang Tie just sat on a chair seriously and chatted with his family members politely.


    At this moment, some kids staggered all the way from their moms'' sides to Zhang Tie. They surrounded him and pulled his clothes.


    All the family members were startled by what they saw.


    "It seems that the hero indeed has karma with my family. My grandchildren are not willing to be intimate to strangers in normal times. It''s my first time to see them approaching a person whom they saw for the first time..." Zhang Tie''s mom said with a smile.


    "Heh heh, I also feel that these little guys are very cute..." Zhang Tie didn''t know how to answer his mom. Although his look had changed, he shared the bloodline with these kids. The five little guys must have sensed it. Therefore, they approached him.


    At the sight of this scene, Zhang Yang looked a bit sophisticated. However, he didn''t say anything.


    "Papa..." The moment Zhang Tie smirked, a little girl who was pulling his clothes had looked up and called him with big black spirited eyes.


    After hearing this, Zhang Tie''s heart raced while the entire family became quiet. Closely after that, they all felt a bit embarrassed. The smiles of Linda and the other 4 wives of Zhang Tie faded away at once.


    Zhang Tie''s mom let out a sigh, "Linda, it''s too late, you''d better take them to bed..."


    Until he saw Linda take the 5 kids away did Zhang Tie move his eyes away from those kids. When they left, the 5 little guys even looked back at Zhang Tie unwillingly. The little girl''s eyes were even filled with tears. Even Linda, Beverly, Fiona, Aimei and Aixue felt like crying...


    "Sorry to make you embarrassed, hero. My grandchildren are poor. Although we don''t lack food and clothes, they have not seen their father yet since they were born. As they''re growing elder, they ask their mothers about the whereabouts of their father every day..." Zhang Tie''s mom said gloomily.


    After hearing this, Zhang Tie clenched his fist while the softest place in his body ached...


    ...


    That night, Zhang Tie lived in an independent courtyard in the inner city that Zhang family especially prepared for guests. Zhang Yang sent him here.


    After leaving his family members, Zhang Tie had been silent. Zhang Yang could sense Zhang Tie''s mood; therefore, he didn''t speak either until they came to Zhang Tie''s courtyard. Zhang Tie then forced a bitter smile while telling his elder brother in a secret way, "Elder brother, don''t think too much about my case. The Supreme Court of Taixia Country will not slap their own face in a short period. I''m already very satisfied to see you..."


    Zhang Yang nodded with a solemn look as he didn''t know how to comfort Zhang Tie.


    If someone told Zhang Yang that money was not omnipotent in Blackhot City, Zhang Yang would definitely spit his saliva onto that one''s face. Because at that moment, money was omnipotent for Zhang Yang. If he had money, he would have a house, social status, power and everything else. However, today, Zhang Yang finally understood that money was really not omnipotent although it was very important. In Taixia Country, many things could not be solved with money.


    After talking with Zhang Tie a short while, Zhang Yang left the courtyard with a complexed mood.


    ...


    At midnight, Zhang Tie became restless. In a coat, he stood in the attic of the courtyard and listened to the cricket chirps at the window...


    ''The little guys should have fallen asleep!''


    When he imagined about the cute looks of the little guys, Zhang Tie felt warm inside once again.


    Zhang Tie was not a cold-hearted man; after hearing "Papa...", he felt soft and warm all over. Even being an earth knight, if he owed something to the most important person in his life and made the lives of his most beloved ones incomplete, it was meaningless for an earth knight to be unrivaled in battle strength and shock the entire province.


    Zhang Tie looked at the direction of Zhongzhou Province while a whim occurred to his mind...


    ''Will I gain a chance to redress my case in that direction?''


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that what happened in Zhongzhou Province a few hours later would bring him the chance and shock the world, causing a great chaos in Taixia Country...

 1044 Zhongzhou Provincial Cour

    Chapter 1044: Zhongzhou Provincial Court


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Longxi Prefecture, Zhongzhou Province...


    There was a faint white line in the skyline in the east. The Faerie-dragon Star in the east was radiating its brilliance before dawn. It was pretty tranquil over the land.


    A 500-m longer grey airboat silently flew out of the stratosphere tens of thousands of meters high and entered the troposphere. The airboat darted towards the southeast of Longxi Prefecture like a sharp arrow and a fierce beast that was going to dive towards its prey after passing through the clouds.


    An old man with silver hair was standing in the prow and watching the land in the distance with his hands crossed on his back in a black robe and Xiezhi-shaped crown. A team of knights from the court of Zhongzhou Province was standing still behind the old man with solemn looks for over 10 hours. As the old man remained silent, the prow of the airboat was silent too. They just watched the clouds being broken through and the land at their foot moving rapidly backward.


    Zhongzhou Provincial Court was evidently much more powerful than other provinces, which could be judged from the team of knights at the prow.


    As a lower province in Taixia Country, when Youzhou was established, Zhang Tie as a black iron knight could rule the court in Youzhou Province because there wasn''t any knight in the entire judicial system in Youzhou Province. By contrast, there were over 20 black iron knights in the court system of Zhongzhou Province. Additionally, the chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court was a famous earth knight.


    Over 10 hours might be difficult for commoners to tide over; however, it was nothing serious for these knights who could cultivate 1-2 months per time.


    They all remained silence; however, they all had questions inside. Because the knights in Zhongzhou court still didn''t know why the chief justice summoned them to travel 10,000 miles overnight by airboat. However, the chief justice always behaved rigorously with unpredictable thoughts. As they all knew that the chief justice was bad-tempered, they didn''t ask him about the reason at all. If the chief justice wanted to let them know, he would tell them; if not, of course, he had his reason.


    At this moment, besides the chief justice, almost half of the knights on duty in Zhongzhou Provincial Court were in the prow. Besides, all the most elite subordinate forces of Zhongzhou Provincial Court, Bian Camp had sallied forth in full strength and gathered in the airboat.


    Nobody knew about their destination and what they would do; however, they all knew that chief justice was going to solve a big case given such a large-scale action. The chief justice had not organized such a large-scale action for the latest decade.


    "9 o''clock; full speed ahead; suspension in 5 minutes..."


    The chief justice finally opened his mouth after over 10 hours'' silence. The moment the pilot received the order, he immediately adjusted the flight route of the airboat and had the airboat make a big turn in the air. Through this adjustment, all the knights who were guessing about the destination just now became confused.


    Commoners might not be able to determine the precise location in the air without asking the captain or the navigator as Zhongzhou Province was too large. However, the chief justice had kept everything in Zhongzhou Province in his mind, including grasses, woods, mountains and rocks. As long as he looked down, he would be able to determine the precise location of the airboat. This ability alone was admirable enough.


    The moment the chief justice opened his mouth; it indicated that the puzzle would be revealed right away. Those knights who were familiar with the style of the chief justice were all spirited as they chested out and waited for the chief justice''s order.


    Finally, they heard the news...


    "Last afternoon, the castellan of Jinwu City, Yanghe Prefecture, Youzhou Province was almost assassinated..."


    It was the second sentence of the chief justice tonight.


    After hearing this news, many knights from Zhongzhou Provincial Court faintly frowned. In the eyes of these knights, the assassination attempt of a castellan of a small city in a lower province was trivial. This event should be investigated by the Youzhou Provincial Court, it was not within the limits of responsibility of Zhongzhou Provincial Court.


    "The castellan of Jinwu City is Zhang Ping. He has a son, Zhang Tie..."


    The chief justice knew what the others were thinking about. Therefore, he continued and shocked the others once again.


    Yanghe Prefecture, the castellan of Jinwu City, these words were too distant and trivial for those knights of Zhongzhou Provincial Court. However, the name Zhang Tie had been a heavy boulder that the entire judicial system in Taixia Country had to shoulder. As time passed by, this boulder grew heavier and brought greater stress to the judicial system in Taixia Country.


    The tragedy in Fuhai City that happened 4 years ago had become the No. 1 pending criminal case in Taixia Country. In the folks, it even became the first deceived case in Taixia Country. As the main character of this pending criminal case or unjust case, the name Zhang Tie was even more famous than the grand justice of the supreme court in Taixia Country, who ranked one of the top 9 chancellors in Xuanyuan Hill in the judicial system in Taixia Country. Many people in the local courts in many remote places might have not heard about the name of the grand justice of the supreme court in Taixia Country; however, they were all very familiar with the name of Zhang Tie. The tragedy in Fuhai City and the name Zhang Tie both became the most eye-catching names in the local judicial systems across Taixia Country.


    The provincial judicial systems across Taixia Country paid attention to the name Zhang Tie, not because of the fluctuated tragedy in Fuhai City, but because Zhang Tie was the former chief justice of Youzhou Provincial Court, a member of the judicial system in Taixia Country, the lion of Youzhou Province. When he served as the chief justice of the Youzhou Provincial Court, he inflicted a heavy loss on Heavens Reaching Church in a short period and won the admiration of the entire judicial system in Taixia Country. He even became the good model of the Supreme Court in Taixia Country...


    Even though he was wanted by the judicial system, his article in the forum of the Mountain of Brightness shocked the entire human knights'' world. The poem The Beloved Ones could almost be heard everywhere in Taixia Country until now. Additionally, the conspiracy behind the tragedy of Fuhai City that he exposed in his article shocked Xuanyuan Hill as it might be involved with demons and the remnants of Bloody Soul Temple which had already been eliminated. As a result, many moguls couldn''t eat and sleep well.


    Because of Zhang Tie, the entire judicial system in Taixia Country felt being roasted. Many people were swearing that the subordinate members of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country were all rubbish, who only knew how to frame good people instead of being able to catch the demons.


    To be honest, after reading the article "The Inscriptions on the Gravestone of the Despicable", even many officers in the judicial system had confirmed that Zhang Tie was innocent. However, the laws of Taixia Country were unalterable. The evidence was complete. Before revoking those evidence, it was nothing than making a joke with the Laws of Taixia Country by revoking Zhang Tie''s order for arrest.


    Zhang Tie''s father was attacked and almost assassinated...


    Many people had been thinking about the relevant things about this news.


    "According to the intelligence from Youzhou Province, they''ve already confirmed that the assassinator was from Zhongzhou Province, within our territory. Additionally, the culprit on the back of the assassinator was the very one who caused the tragedy in Fuhai City and framed Zhang Tie..." After hearing this news, all the knights from Zhongzhou Provincial Court held their breaths.


    "Lord, sorry for my doubt; but this intelligence is too important. Now that those assassinators have arranged the assassination in Jinwu City, they must have made an overall preparation. Now that they were going to assassinate an important figure in the territory of Huaiyuan Palace, they would definitely assign dauntless people over there, who would not leave any clue easily. I wonder how Youzhou Provincial Court gained the intelligence in such a short period!" The one in front of the team of knights from Zhongzhou Provincial Court asked.


    "We don''t need to care about how Youzhou Provincial Court gained this intelligence!" The chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court turned around with a solemn look and snow-white eyebrows before adding, "If the intelligence is fake, Zhongzhou Provincial Court will definitely ask for an explanation from Huaiyuan Palace. The judicial system in Taixia Country could never be used privately. If the intelligence is real, the Zhongzhou Provincial Court should exert its full efforts to mop up and quell the evil forces in Zhongzhou Province for the safety of Taixia Country as a whole!"


    All the knights from Zhongzhou Provincial Court exchanged a glance with each other as their hearts raced at once.


    In a few minutes, the airboat suspended while there was a valley covering over 100 square miles at their foot. In the valley, there were some castles and manors. It seemed that it was a remote place in Longxi Prefecture of Zhongzhou Province. Those owners of the castles and manors should be the local forces.


    Such places could be found everywhere in Zhongzhou Province. Local tyrants or small sects always liked these places.


    The day had just broken while a golden line appeared in the sky in the east. The thin mist in the valley was also gradually dissipating. The airboat hid behind a cloud, sharing the same color with the latter. Therefore, it could be barely noticed by others on the ground. From this height, it was absolutely a good place to enjoy the sunrise; pitifully, those on the airboat didn''t feel like appreciating the sunrise at this moment.


    "It''s Pingsha Valley at our foot. Go down there and search over there inch by inch. Arrest all the people over there for further detention and investigation, regardless of gender or age. Kill them if any of them dares resist you, am I clear?" The chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court sent an order.


    "Clear!"


    "Go!" The chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court shook his hand as he added, "I will watch you from the airboat. If you met any powerful opponent, just release your battle qi smoke, I will solve him..."


    "Yes, sir!"


    Closely after that, all the knights flew off the airboat and charged at those castles and manors. The airboat flew around Pingsha Valley slowly while over 8000 criminal hunters of Bian Camp under the affiliation of the Zhongzhou Provincial Court started to jump off the airboat like sowing seeds. When they were dozens of meters away from the ground, they opened their rotachutes. The moment they landed, they had rushed towards Pingsha Valley and surrounded it...


    At this moment, the first sunlight had cast down onto the ground...


    On the ground, with the rising battle qi totems and roars of fighters of Bian Camp, Pingsha Valley was in chaos...

 1045 An Earthshaking Case

    Chapter 1045: An Earthshaking Case


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The fighters of Bi''an Camp being affiliated to the Zhongzhou Provincial Court directly jumped off the airboat. Some of them started their action from the center of Pingsha Valley; some surrounded Pingsha Valley from outside, causing Pingsha Valley to become chaotic at once...


    The rising battle qi totems of the fighters of Bi''an Camp indicated that someone had started to resist arrest. The two parties had started a battle.


    "We''re Zhongzhou Provincial Court and investigating a case. Everybody, put your hands above heads and lie on the ground. Anyone who dares resist arrest will be killed..."


    The moment a team of brave fighters of Bi''an Camp landed in the periphery of Pingsha Valley, they had gathered immediately before rushing into a small manor in front of them.


    There was a bamboo grove outside the manor. Right in the bamboo grove, there were some fortresses and bartizans which were used to protect the manor. After hearing the battle calls of the fighters of Bi''an Camp, the strings of the crossbows in the fortresses and bartizans sounded immediately while a row of bolts was shot towards these fighters...


    The fighters of Bi''an Camp had long prepared for the counterattack. Each one in front rows was holding a 1.7-m high heavy shield. The bolts hit the towers, causing clatters. Facing the bolts, the team of fighters rushed towards the fortresses and bartizans.


    All the 30 fighters in the team had released their battle qi totems. They were at least LV 6 fighters while the team leader was a LV 10 strong fighter. The rising battle qi totems could warn the other teams. If these battle qi totems disappeared, it indicated that this team had been exterminated by powerful opponents.


    When the bolts were triggered one after another, jarring whistles drifted from the fortresses and the bartizans at the same time. These whistles also served as early warnings. At the same time, urgent bell tones were drifted from a castle in the distance.


    With the urgent bell tones, more battle qi totems appeared and more battle calls and roars could be heard in Pingsha Valley.


    ...


    "Shoot..." The team leader shouted. Closely after that, two fighters of Bi''an Camp advanced by rolls with crossbows in hands with the cover of shields. The moment they stood up, they had seized the opportunity. They loosed their grips and hit two bowmen in one bartizan at once, spurting out blood respectively. One of the two bowmen even fell off the bartizan.


    As fortresses and bartizans were covering each other, the moment the bartizan was unpinned, the team leader immediately rushed towards one fortress ahead of his team members.


    The LV 10 fighter released his battle qi to destroy or hit away those bolts that were shot towards him and protected his full body by his battle qi. When he arrived at the fortress, he immediately sprung up over 10 m high. After rolling in the air as flexible as a snake, he grabbed one seam between bricks by one hand. Closely after that, he quivered all over and shrunk his body before rolling into the fortress through the embrasure on the fortress.


    One bowman who was carrying a crossbow at the embrasure could not imagine that one person could enter the embrasure. After being slightly stunned, he had been stomped onto his chest by the team leader of Bi''an Camp. As a result, that bowman''s chest bones were collapsed as he spurted out blood. Closely after that, he was kicked off against the wall inside the fortress and died at once.


    Two bowmen in the fortress immediately dropped off their crossbows and rushed towards the LV 10 team leader. However, before they approached him, two battle qis had been released and exploded their heads directly, spraying their blood and white brains over the walls.


    "We''re Zhongzhou Provincial Court and investigating a case. Anyone who dares resist arrest will be killed..." The team leader shouted as he rushed downstairs. Hearing the sounds upstairs, two ragged-looking people immediately rushed upstairs. As a result, the 3 people encountered in the middle of the staircase. Hearing the cry of this team leader, the two people on duty immediately rushed towards him. One of them even released a virtual image of a black spider on his back which indicated that he was a LV 6 fighter.


    Now that they dared launch a counterattack, the team leader had nothing more to say. Undoubtedly, the two people''s heads were shattered into pieces at once.


    When this team leader opened the gate of the fortress from inside, the other team members had just arrived at the foot of the fortress.


    "Next target, break in the manor..." The Class 10 team leader rushed towards the manor, followed by the other team members.


    At this moment, a majestic voice as loud as that of a huge bell or drum drifted from the sky and spread over Pingsha Valley in a split second, causing fine ripples in the pond.


    This voice came from the chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court. After the alarm bell in Pingsha Valley rang, the chief justice uttered as it was unnecessary for him to hide himself anymore.


    "I''m Meng Haishan, the chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court. We''re Zhongzhou Provincial Court and investigating a case. Put your hands above heads and lie on the ground. Anyone who dares resist arrest will be killed..."


    After hearing this voice, all the fighters of Bi''an Camp became spirited as they continued to push resolutely forward.


    As the courtyard wall of this manor was only 3 m higher, of course, it could not resist the team members of Bi''an Camp who were surging forward like fierce lions. The moment some team members in the front collided against the wall with their heavy shields, the part of the wall had been collapsed. All the team members rushed in at once.


    The voice and the urgent alarms caused the courtyard to become chaotic. Even so, someone was still rushing towards this team of Bi''an Camp with weapons; however, they were killed in a split second.


    Only in a few minutes, the team had broken through the outer courtyard and entered the inner courtyard...


    There was a pool in the inner courtyard. When the team members passed by the pool...


    With a crash, a weird black shadow jumped out of the pool. Closely after that, he waved his hand and shot out a lot of fine needles towards the team members.


    The fighters of Bi''an Camp wore light metal armors and protective facial masks. Most of the fine needles couldn''t break through their armors; however, some of them shot into three fighters'' bodies through the seams between pieces of armors, causing them to fall onto the ground with a muffled sound...


    At the same time, before the person who jumped out of the water finished his second round of strike, two powerful bolts had penetrated through his body, causing him to fall into the water once again. As a result, his blood changed the color of the pool.


    The moment the facial masks of the three fighters who were falling on the ground were unveiled, the three fighters'' faces had completely turned black while bleeding through their eyes, ears, nostrils and mouth. They had died.


    "Watch out, there''re hidden forces in the manor. Their weapons are highly toxic..." The team leader roared, "Shields ahead, press forward in protective formation, kill those sons of bitches..."


    ...


    Almost at the same time, all the teams of Bi''an Camp on the ground had broken through the bartizans and fortresses in the periphery and started to suffer from a casualty. However, hidden forces were covering Pingsha Valley. It was absolutely a killers'' nestle. Black shadows might jump out of every place like water, underground, trees, parterres, grasses and rockeries and attack the subordinate elites of Zhongzhou Provincial Court at the risk of their lives at any time. As a result, the subordinate elites of Zhongzhou Provincial Court started to bleed and sacrifice...


    Everybody started to believe in the intelligence given by Youzhou Province. There was indeed a big problem in Pingsha Valley. It was really shocking for Zhongzhou Province, one of the 9 immortal provinces in Taixia Country to have such a hidden evil force. What an earthshaking case...


    As long as the judicial system of Taixia Country investigated cases, even the top seven sects dared not resist them and hurt any one of them. Because it was equal to revolt. However, in this remote Pingsha Valley, after the Zhongzhou Provincial Court expressed their identity, the people here were driven mad and dared attack their subordinate elites at the risk of their lives.


    It was more like deepening into a hostile country instead of being in Zhongzhou Province.


    The Pingsha Valley was filled with battle calls and blood...


    ...


    Outside a castle in Pingsha Valley, three teams of fighters of Bi''an Camp encountered a 30-m higher fortress being installed with steam city-defense equipment which covered over 200 square meters.


    The gate of this fortress had been closed from inside, which could not even be moved by a LV 10 fighter''s battle qi. The entire fortress had no entrance but some observation windows that were set for steam city-defense facilities. Some fighters of Bi''an Camp had been shot down by the bolts.


    After realizing that they could not break through this fortress in a short period, a team leader gritted as he made a hand gesture to the other team members. Closely after that, he took out a metal cylinder and pulled its fuse towards the sky, shooting a red smoke into the sky, which then blew up and turned especially attractive...


    In less than 10 seconds, a shrill shriek drifted from the sky, "Lie down..."


    After receiving this order, the 3 teams of fighters of Bi''an Camp hurriedly lay down and rolled away from this fortress.


    At this moment, a powerful battle qi wave drifted from the sky. The battle qi strike of the heavenly knight dived downwards the fortress in the shape of a whale.


    With a bang, the fortress which blocked the way of the 3 teams of fighters of Bi''an Camp was instantly broken apart like a walnut being hit by an iron hammer. The reinforced concrete flew in all directions with broken bricks, machinery parts and bloody limbs. As a result, the 30 m higher fortress became only a few meters higher...


    ...


    The knights from Zhongzhou Provincial Court became the decisive force of the Court in Pingsha Valley. Although the hidden forces like assassinators and killers in Pingsha Valley killed a lot of fighters of Bi''an Camp, they were finally mopped up by the knight-level powerhouses together with those firm fortresses...

 1046 A Secret Underground Tunnel

    Chapter 1046: A Secret Underground Tunnel


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It took the subordinate elite forces of Zhongzhou Provincial Court less than 1 hour to sweep Pingsha Valley; especially with the coordination of knight-level powerhouses of the Zhongzhou Provincial Court. The entire Pingsha Valley had been fully under control of Zhongzhou Provincial Court before the sun rose completely.


    Since the beginning, although Pingsha Valley was filled with battle calls and battle qi totems, Meng Haishan the chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court didn''t see any battle qi smoke of knights at all. It implied that there was no knight-level powerhouse in the valley.


    Under the early sunlight, the airboat declined to a height above the most attractive castle in Pingsha Valley.


    A few hours ago, this castle was still tranquil; however, at this moment, its one wall had been broken while the ground and the top of the walls were covered with blood stains. Besides, there was a stinky smell in the air.


    When Meng Haishan got off the airboat, some subordinate knights were waiting for him respectfully on one side. These powerhouses from Zhongzhou Provincial Court didn''t look good.


    It was too quiet in the castle as if the bloody battle had not happened just now. Across the castle, besides silent fighters of Bi''an Camp, they could not even hear the cries of women, kids and captives.


    Meng Haishan looked a bit gloomy. Of course, he knew that they didn''t arrest any captive alive. After knowing their own identities, all the people here chose to struggle at the cost of their lives.


    It was in Zhongzhou Province, one of the 9 immortal provinces in Taixia Country. Zhongzhou Province had been in peace for hundreds of years, when did such a force develop here?


    "How''s the situation?" Meng Haishan asked in a muffled voice.


    "We''ve controlled the entire Pingsha Valley; but..." A knight said.


    "But what?''


    "But we''ve lost a lot of fighters of Bi''an Camp!"


    "How many people have we lost?"


    "457 people in total!" The knight replied in a low voice.


    The figure almost accounted for 1/10 of the total population of Bi''an Camp in Zhongzhou Province. It was as miserable as a battle between two armies. The Zhongzhou Provincial Court had not met this situation for hundreds of years. It was in Zhongzhou Province, instead of those subcontinents and barren land being far away from Taixia Country. The casualty facing the Zhongzhou Provincial Court could shock the entire country.


    After hearing this figure, Meng Haishan''s face turned gloomy at once, "Is there anyone injured?"


    "Nope, it''s completely a killers'' nestle. Those killers'' blades, hidden weapons and bolts are highly toxic. The moment their weapons touched us, we would die immediately!"


    "Show me there!"


    Some knights of Zhongzhou Provincial Court then led Meng Haishan to an open land on the other side of the castle. Some rows of dead fighters of Bi''an Camp were tidily placed on the open land while the surrounding fighters looked sad.


    These fighters lying on the ground were not heavily wounded; however, their faces had turned completely black. Many of them were bleeding from their eyes, ears, nostrils and mouth, making them very terrifying.


    After squatting down and checking some corpses, Meng Haishan stood up and asked in a cold tone, "Where''re the people in the castle?"


    "They''re all dead. As they all resisted us with their full efforts, we have to kill them all!"


    The corpses of the native people in the castle were also pulled out and placed tidily on the other side. However, the population of these corpses was less than that of the dead fighters of Bi''an Camp.


    "Just these?" After looking at those people''s corpses, Meng Haishan frowned.


    "Some corpses could not be collected at all. Because they all held a toxic in their mouth. After failing their counterattack, they all broke their toxics and turned into a puddle of stinky blood!"


    Such puddles of blood could be seen everywhere in the castle.


    "Have you got anyone alive?"


    "Some farmers were caught easily in the farmsteads and manors outside the castle; however, they didn''t know anything. They only knew that Pingsha Valley was the industry of Wen family and they were hired by Wen family. Wen family is a local tyrant in Longxi Prefecture. Previously, they only had a bit influence in the local place. About 2 decades ago, Wen family met an accident by airship; as a result, only the master of Wen family survived. 1 decade ago, Wen Haoyun the master of Wen family promoted to a black iron knight. From then on, Wen family established Pingsha Sect in Pingsha Valley. As the head of Pingsha Sect, Wen Haoyun enrolled disciples and slowly expanded his undertaking. Besides Pingsha Sect, Wen family has two business groups, one is responsible for trading agricultural products; the other was responsible for logistics. Those farmers only knew that Wen family has frequent exchanges with Pingsha Sect!"


    "Agricultural products, logistics?" Meng Haishan''s eyes flickered. The two business groups of Wen family could provide them with the best cover; especially that business group in logistics, which could easily cover the movements of all the personnel and materials between Wen family and Pingsha Valley. Additionally, the air accident that Wen family met might have other reasons. ''Notice all the judicial agencies across Zhongzhou Province, investigate the affiliated business groups, agencies and personnel of Wen family and Pingsha Sect right away. If any of them dares resist, kill them at once..."


    "Yes, sir..."


    "Have you caught Wen Haoyun?"


    "Those alive farmers could not have a chance to touch Wen Haoyun; therefore, they don''t know the whereabouts of Wen Haoyun. According to those farmers, when Wen Haoyun was not in Pingsha Valley, all the affairs in Pingsha Valley and Wen family would be managed by a steward surnamed Qi. This steward always lives in this castle. However, when we occupied this castle, we didn''t find him. We''re searching for the two people..."


    "Wen family and Pingsha Sect might be involved with those rebels of Heavens Reaching Church. Report what happened here to the Cheji General''s Mansion in Zhongzhou Province right away; request Cheji General''s Mansion to assist our investigation and prepare for possible dangers!"


    In late years, the Heavens Reaching Church in Taixia Country didn''t stir up any trouble, which felt a bit weird. However, everybody knew that the Heavens Reaching Church would definitely arouse a big trouble if they wanted. Especially in prosperous and populated places like Zhongzhou Province, if the Heavens Reaching Church really made a big trouble, the outcome would be unimaginable. Therefore, after confirming that the background of Pingsha Sect might be involved with the Heavens Reaching Church, Meng Haishan the chief justice of the Zhongzhou Provincial Court would notice the Cheji General in Zhongzhou Province immediately.


    Pingsha Valley had been suppressed and under the control of the Zhongzhou Provincial Court except for a couple of figures. Even though a couple of people had escaped, a black iron knight could not cause any trouble in Taixia Country. However, Meng Haishan still felt restless and amazed unconsciously.


    The restless and amazed feelings originated from his mysterious consciousness as an earth knight and his judgment after serving the judicial system for dozens of years.


    Although Bi''an Camp suffered a great loss, this raid was smooth overall. There were no big fluctuations. They didn''t even meet a knight-level opponent. Therefore, Meng Haishan felt restless.


    ''Although Wen family and Pingsha Sect dared fight the judicial agency of Taixia Country, their force was too weak. Actually, without the participation of Bi''an Camp, a knight-level powerhouse in Zhongzhou Provincial Court could sweep the entire Pingsha Valley at zero cost. But what made Wen family and Pingsha Sect so decisive and dauntless to fight the judicial agency in Taixia Country?''


    ''Even though the personnel in Wen family and Pingsha Sect are really b*stards of Heavens Reaching Church, such a force in this remote place of Zhongzhou Province is too trivial. This is not the usual means of those rebels of Heavens Reaching Church.''


    As Meng Haishan was frowning and thinking about it, a fighter of Bi''an Camp ran towards him.


    "Lord, we found a secret tunnel leading to the underground space in the basement of the castle..."


    "A secret tunnel leading to the underground space?" Meng Haishan shrunk his pupils as he said, "Go, let''s take a look over there..."


    Of course, there were powerhouses being proficient in searching in the Bi''an Camp. After entering the basement of the castle, they started to knock here and there and soon found a secret tunnel in the basement of the castle...


    The chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court and some knight-level powerhouses soon came to the entrance of the secret tunnel inside the castle. At the sight of the entrance, they were all shocked.


    Generally, the entrances of secret tunnels should be very narrow which could only allow 2 people to pass shoulder by shoulder. However, the entrance of this secret tunnel in front of them was like a huge, grim, bloody mouth. The tunnel was so spacious that it could almost allow two cars to pass side by side.


    The basement leading to the secret tunnel was a large training field, which contained various training tools. On the table of the training field, there were some corpses which were for an autopsy. Being male, female, old or young, those corpses looked grim and painful and had started to smell bad.


    After throwing a glance at it, the powerhouses from Zhongzhou Provincial Court had known that this place was used for training killers and assassinators.


    Everything here looked terrifying and grim.


    The dark and grim secret tunnel was not used to escape away from Pingsha Valley; instead, it led directly to the deep underground space. Nobody knew what it was used for.


    "Zhao Long, you stay outside, the others follow me in..."


    After having one knight to stay outside in case of an emergency, the chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court rushed into the secret tunnel, followed by the other knights...

 1047 An Earthshaking Change

    Chapter 1047: An Earthshaking Change


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After entering the grim secret underground tunnel less than 2000 m, they had entered a bubble-shaped underground space...


    Anyone who entered this underground space for the first time might be scared by what they saw. Everything inside here was so terrifying that commoners could not imagine it at all.


    It was a bloody pool; precisely, a bloody, stinky sea, which covered over 10 square miles.


    This bloody pool was surrounded by senior crystals above Class V and some huge gold bricks. Like the banks of the bloody pool, these crystals and gold bricks were carved with runes on their surfaces. As crystals gathered the energy from everywhere, those bizarre runes flickered looming red light. At first sight, those runes looked like bloody eyes, which were gazing at the bloody sea while an invisible energy covered the entire bloody sea like a huge net...


    Although there was no wind, the bloody waves moved and lapped against the banks being composed of crystals and gold ceaselessly.


    Over 100,000 terrifying, semi-transparent flesh balls were floating in the bloody waves. Looking down from a height, those floating bloody balls would look like roes. Being close to each other, they covered the entire bloody sea.


    In those floating semi-transparent flesh balls, there were humans who shrunk their bodies by hugging their own legs like fetuses in female wombs.


    However, those inside the flesh balls were all as large as adults.


    In the center of the bloody sea, there was a bloody 9-storey crystal tower being covered with exotic runes. A furious sound was reverberating above the tower, "Why, why the forces of Zhongzhou Provincial Court would raid Pingsha Valley at this critical moment? You destroyed my efforts. Why? Only in a few days, the fighters in the bloody pool will become fully mature and will sweep Longxi Prefecture and topple over the entire Zhongzhou Province. Why? Why now? Who leaked the news?..." Being full of killing qi and unpleasant feeling, this sound was almost like a roar.


    The reply came from another person. Compared to the first voice which sounded furious and unwilling, the second voice was full of panic; it was even trembling, "Master...per...perhaps there''s some problem with the killers that we assigned to Youzhou Province to assassinate the castellan of Jinwu City. Yesterday, our informer passed the message that they''ve done that..."


    "Impossible. Our assassinators would commit suicide immediately soon after they finished their task whether it succeeded or not. Their body and spirit will disappear at once. Even if the moles of B department in Youzhou Province could be controlled. Nobody could trace us from them..." The first one still roared.


    At the same time, they heard heavy earthquakes and loud sounds from the secret tunnels above the bloody sea.


    Hearing that, Steward Qi with a long grim face kneeling on the top of the crystal tower quivered all over due to fear as he said, "Ma...master...Meng...Meng Haishan, the chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court...arrives. The gate above the secret tunnel could not prevent an earth knight for a long time...please ma...make a decision at once..."


    The one being called master by Steward Qi was Wen Haoyun. Wen Haoyun looked younger than 30 years old. With a narrow and long face, his cheeks collapsed inside; in a brilliant boa silk robe, his eyes looked brutal and sharp.


    Although being furious apparently, Wen Haoyun felt flurried inside too. He also heard the sound above him. Watching the trembling body of Steward Qi kneeling on the top of the tower, Wen Haoyun recovered his composure. After taking a deep breath, he narrowed his eyes and told Steward Qi, "You''re right. We have to make a quick decision. Although the fighters in the bloody sea have not been fully mature and would have some side effects after being awakened in advance, they''re already available. Although it''s not the right moment to activate them, it''s much better than allowing those guys of the Zhongzhou Provincial Court to strangle the efforts of the archbishop here..."


    "Master...do you want to wake...wake up these fighters?"


    "Yes, but before doing this, you need to do one more thing for me..."


    "Ahh, go ahead..." Steward Qi raised his head.


    "Over these years, you''ve spent too many efforts for the great undertaking of the archbishop. At this moment, wish you could forgive me..." After saying that, Wen Haoyun shot out a battle qi from his finger and blew up the head of Steward Qi. After that, the headless corpse of Steward Qi fell into the bloody sea and melted in a split second.


    After doing that, the earthquakes and sounds were closer to him. Wen Haoyun immediately sent a message by his remote-sensing crystal finger ring. After receiving the reply, the finger ring disappeared at once.


    Closely after that, he took off all of his clothes. Those clothes disappeared at once too. He then threw a final glance at the bizarre crystal ball on the top of the tower which almost turned fully red before breaking his finger by teeth, dropping his fresh blood onto the crystal ball. When his fresh blood spread in the crystal ball, the bloody sea slowly boiled. He then smashed the crystal ball. Closely after that, a disguising mask appeared in his hand. After putting on the disguising mask, Wen Haoyun jumped into the bloody sea at once...


    The moment his body entered the bloody sea, many sounds "puff" could be heard in the bloody sea. Those figures tore apart those flesh balls and stood up. They looked around the bloody sea with distant looks. Only after a few seconds, their distant looks had disappeared; instead, bloody and brutal looks appeared on their faces...


    So many bloody figures jumped onto the bloody sea like frogs that had just been hatched. After standing on the ground in the bloody foot for the first time and adapting to the environment for a few seconds, those bloody, naked fighters had started to run faster and faster while uttering strange roars. Some of them even ran on the walls of the mountain cave which were vertical to the ground by both hand and foot. Like fierce beasts, they rushed towards the other tunnel...


    When running, all of them released LV 9 fighters'' battle qi totems.


    This underground space was connected to 3 tunnels, each of which led to a place in Pingsha Valley or its surroundings. As the proverb went, the wily hare had three holes. Now that this plan was so important, there should not only be one tunnel that led to this bloody sea.


    More and more fighters were hatched out of the bloody sea. In each second, many people would break out of the flesh balls and landed from all directions. Only after adapting to the environment for a few seconds, the army of bloody fighters would run towards the other two tunnels.


    As these bloody fighters were running faster and forcefully, the entire underground space was filled with thunder-like footsteps.


    Nobody had noticed that Wen Haoyun was one of those bloody fighters.


    At this moment, the safest method for Wen Haoyun to leave Pingsha Valley was to disguise himself as one of the bloody fighters. Even if there was a heavenly knight, he could not identify Wen Haoyun from over 100,000 bloody fighters. As long as he didn''t display his battle strength above LV 9, he would become safe among the bloody fighters. Additionally, he could command the other bloody fighters to move.


    ...


    After Meng Haishan broke one more alloy gate which was harder than that of bank vault by barbarous force, the galloping footsteps and the roars of those wild beasts became very clear for some knights with acute senses.


    Hearing these sounds, all the knights changed their faces at once, including Meng Haishan.


    As knights, they could identify that those sounds were running footsteps; additionally, those footsteps grew louder, causing greater earthquakes. The frequency, strength and the distance between two feet of each people reminded the knights of the most elite troops in top four armies in Taixia Country.


    How could there be so many elite fighters in the underground space?


    "Ahh, what is below us? Is there a corps?" A knight asked with a terrified look.


    "Tell Bi''an Camp on the earth''s surface to prepare for the coming battle. Notice all the cities in Longxi Prefecture to be in the emergency state..." Meng Haishan roared as he released his battle qi tornado immediately. The virtual image of his cultivation method was blue surging waves.


    ...


    2 minutes later, with a roar "Open", the last obstacle was broken, exposing everything in the underground space to them.


    The bloody sea made all of them widely open their eyes.


    "Bloody Sea..." Meng Haishan almost screamed even though he was always calm.


    Many bloody fighters were still walking out of the bloody sea; however, over 2/3 of the flesh balls in the bloody sea had been empty. At the sight of these knights, hundreds of bloody fighters immediately charged at them without any fear...


    "Kill them all..."


    The chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court roared.


    At the same time, numerous naked bloody fighters had rushed out of the mountain caves and ran towards the surrounding regions after crossing Pingsha Valley like water that spilled out of a water vat.


    ...


    Almost at the same time, a man with a light golden face in Xuanyuan Hill rubbed a remote-sensing crystal finger ring while a gloomy look flashed across his eyes. He threw a glance at the east direction of Xuanyuan Hill where the Zhongzhou Province was located through the window.


    "Lord, minister of civil and administrative affairs is waiting for you..." An officer in a purple robe appeared outside the gate and reported to him respectfully.


    After the gloomy look disappeared in this man''s eyes, the man turned around in a normal look.


    "Please show me the way..." The man replied kindly.


    "Lord, please follow me..."

 1048 Flames of War in the Immortal Province I

    Huian City, 80 km away in the south of Pingsha Valley...


    Huian City was a Class D LV 3 city in Taixia Country.


    The area of this city within the city wall only covered less than 30 square miles. There were large tracts of farmsteads outside the city. Taixia Country had been in peace for a long time. As one of the nine immortal provinces in Taixia Country, Zhongzhou Province had not broken out any war for hundreds of years. Therefore, Huian City maintained its original look. Although being matched with steam city-defense facilities, the city wall was only about 10 m in height.


    From a certain degree, Huian City was an ancient city. Native residents were very proud of their own city. As Zhongzhou Province had many Class A cities, Huian City, as a small city which maintained its original look looked special and thought-provoking.


    As the granary of Zhongzhou Province, Longxi Prefecture was famous for Huian rice and wheat. Additionally, Huian City was close to Huihe River, the water quality of which was suitable to brew liquor; therefore, Huian City was also famous for some brands of liquor in Longxi Prefecture. Huian City''s Double-well Liquor was sold to other provinces and could even be seen in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Huian City was famous for brewing liquor. Grains and liquor produced in Huian City were sold across Taixia Country. Over hundreds of years, local residents lived better and better due to diligence and intelligence. People in Huian City and its surroundings were wealthy and safe. Even the buildings inside the farmsteads nearby Huian City were tasteful and exquisite under the governance of the immortal province. Many barbarians who came to Huian City from subcontinents and saw the broad farmlands, garden-like farmsteads and the tidy buildings with rich Hua style in the farmsteads would exclaim that this was a paradise on the earth.


    In an early morning of August, the sun had just risen. The boundless plain outside Huian City was covered with golden ears of wheat, which were very eyeable...


    The wheat outside Huian City had grown mature. As it was a good weather, a lot of farmers had started their steam machines and prepared to reap ears of wheat. Due to the holy war, the prices of grains were rising steadily; especially this year. It was a bumper year. At the sight of the heavy ears of wheat in the fields, all the farmers outside Huian City revealed big smiles as they felt pretty pleasant inside...


    The city gates in Zhongzhou Province would not close all the year round; the soldiers at the city gates would be on duty by shifts.


    Even though native old men in Huian City didn''t remember when the city gate of Huian City was closed last time. Last time, it might be closed during the 2nd holy war. From then on, nothing else could enable Huian City to close its city gate.


    However, it was an exception today.


    In the morning, a series of tidy and urgent footsteps drifted from the Zhengde Avenue being connected to the north gate of Huian City. In the astonishment of those who were accessing to the north city gate, a team of over 1,000 fully armored soldiers of Huian City rushed over here under the leadership of an officer. Those with sharp eyes even noticed some criminal hunters and officers in Huian Municipal Court among those soldiers.


    "At the order of the castellan, close up all the city gates of Huian City right now; close up all the city gates of Huian City right now; Class I war preparedness; start all the steam city-defense equipment on the city walls right now..."


    Before arriving at the city gate, the officer had started to roar.


    Hearing the roars and watching the flurried movements of these soldiers, the north gate of Huian City became bustling at once. They didn''t know what happened at all. Additionally, 2/3 of a fleet of vehicles was still in the city. After hearing that the city gate was going to be closed, the fleet sped up to leave the city.


    "What''s wrong with you? Haven''t you heard me? Close the gate right away!" The officer was driven mad and rushed towards the driver of one vehicle which was still leaving the city orderly followed by some soldiers and two criminal hunters from Huian Municipal Court when he found that the pneumatic device remained still.


    Watching the officer walking over here with a furious look, the squad of guards at the city gate remained silent. The team leader of these guards looked a bit embarrassed. A person who looked like a steward moved a few steps forward with a big smile as he explained, "Officer, this is the fleet of Double-well brewery. They are going to discharge cargo in the airship base outside the city. The rest of the fleet will leave the city gate in only 2 minutes. As these people at the city gate are all familiar with us, I invited them to spare 2 more minutes for us. Please forgive us. We only need 2 minutes..."


    As Huian City had been in peace for so long, when the guards received the emergency order of closing the city gate, they were perplexed because they didn''t have the sense of urgency at all. Additionally, as they were familiar with people from Double-well Brewery, which was well-known in Huian City, they intended to postpone 2 minutes to close the city gate so that the fleet of Double-well Brewery could leave the city gate.


    With a sound of "chuang...", the officer pushed the steward away and pulled out his long sword at once. In a split second, he moved his sword towards the neck of the leader of the garrison team at the city gate, causing everybody at present to change their face...


    The sharp blade cut open the skin of the team leader''s neck, causing blood drops to roll down. The team leader''s face turned pale at once as his feet turned soft too. Just now, he thought that his head was going to be chopped off.


    "If the city gate is not closed in half a minute, I will chop off your head!" The officer said mercilessly.


    The moment this officer moved, the two criminal hunters who followed this officer here had run towards the cabins of two trucks; after showing their identity plates to the drivers, they directly dragged the drivers away from the seats. Closely after that, they reversed the two trucks at the same time, leaving space for the pneumatic device of the city gate although colliding with the vehicles behind them heavily.


    The moment the two trucks crashed, many terrines of Double-well liquor broke apart, filling the air with the aroma of Double-well Liquor.


    "What are you doing? These liquor will be transported to Zhongzhou City, the father of the mayor of Zhongzhou City is going to celebrate his 120th birthday. The old man favors our Double-well Liquor most; he ordered our liquor for the banquet. Do you assume the responsibility if you delay the delivery time? You''re just a soldier from outside, how could you be so presumptuous? Even the mayor of Huian City would give some face for our Double-well Brewery..." The steward looked extremely bad after being pushed away by the officer as he started to assume the mayor''s authority as his own by raising his voice...


    As a Class A city, Zhongzhou City was the provincial city of Zhongzhou Province. The mayor of Zhongzhou Province''s official rank was as same as that of the prefectural governor of Longxi Prefecture and closer to that of the provincial governor of Zhongzhou Province. Given social positions, the mayor of Zhongzhou City was even higher than that of the prefectural governor of Longxi Prefecture and was easier to be promoted.


    "F*ck off!" The officer directly kicked onto the steward''s belly, sending him to fly away and fall onto the ground outside the city gate. As a result, the steward almost died.


    The officer didn''t use his full strength. Otherwise, he could easily kick a commoner to death. However, even so, the steward didn''t pick himself up for quite a while.


    When the steward picked himself up, the pneumatic device of the north city gate had been triggered and the city gate had been closed.


    Only after jumping and swearing the officer a few seconds outside the city gate, the steward had heard the exclamations from the tower over the city gate. The steward turned around and saw a black, dense smoke rushing into the sky from a town a few miles away from Huian City.


    ''Fire?''


    The moment this whim occurred to the steward, he caught sight of another black smoke in a farmstead in another direction...


    ''What''s happening?''


    At the sight of the two dense black smoke in two places, someone among the crowd being blocked outside of the city hurriedly climbed onto the trucks and watched the smoking places in the distance.


    "Ahh, why are so many people escaping away from Fuan Town? What''s happening..." A guy on the top of a truck exclaimed...


    The city gate of Huian City was closed urgently; dense smokes rushed into the sky from farmsteads and towns outside the city; someone escaped out of there... After integrating with these messages, the steward''s face turned pale at once, ''There must be a big event...''


    Although the steward assumed the mayor''s authority as his own just now, he was not stupid. At the sight of the closed city gate behind him, he understood what happened at once. Closely after that, he started to scream and forcefully hammered the thick metal city gate, "Ahh, open the city gate, let me in..."


    It was already a bit chaotic outside the city gate...


    At the same time, all the soldiers on the city gate had changed their faces, including that officer and two criminal hunters who followed him in from Huian Municipal Court.


    On the city gate, they could see clearly what was happening inside Fuan Town by telescopes.


    At the sight of the dense smoke and fire in the center of Fuan Town, many farmers who were doing farming work in fields put down their tools and prepared to put out the fire. However, before those people arrived there, more and more residents cried and rushed into the wheat fields from all places in Fuan Town...


    Only after 2 minutes, those who ran less than 1,000 m out of Fuan Town firstly had been caught up by some bloody figures and torn apart in the wheat fields...

 1049 Flames of War in the Immortal Province II

    Those residents were exerting their full strength to escape, leaving billowing wheat fields behind them. A 30-year-old tough man pushed forward a woman who was carrying a baby when he heard the miserable shrieks were approaching him from behind. At the same time, he roared, "Take Xiaocheng away, hurry..." while holding tightly his walking saber on one side of his waist. Closely after that, he turned around and charged at a bloody figure.


    Meanwhile, a virtual image of a black spider appeared behind this tough man, which indicated that he was a LV 6 fighter.


    Given the uniform of the man, those who were familiar with the regulations in Taixia Country would know that this man should be a bowman being subordinate to the local constable of the town. Bowmen were used to protect the safety of the local place. According to the demand, they would assist the constable to govern the local place. Bowmen were not officials, they just ranked exiled Class VI. In Zhongzhou Province, a constable would have 3-5 bowmen. Each bowman would have some assistants. Besides the constable, all the judicial agencies even local garrisons in Taixia Country could assign and command these local bowmen.


    This bowman''s surname was Liu. This morning, after having some breakfast at home like usual, he was preparing to go to work. However, before he left home, he had heard the increasingly louder cries and shrieks from the streets. He went outside and saw many naked bloody people rushing into the town and killing anyone they saw.


    His house neighbored a martial arts school. The master of the martial arts school was surnamed Xiang, who was a Class 8 fighter. He used to teach his disciples how to fight. When this bowman rushed out of his house, Master Xiang also rushed out of the martial arts school with some disciples. However, they met a naked bloody figure at once. In only a few seconds, Master Xiang''s and his disciples'' heads had been blown up by that naked bloody figure.


    Soon after the bloody figure rushed into the martial arts school, shrill shrieks drifted from the martial arts school. The bowman could identify that the shrieks came from Master Xiang''s family members. Oozing sweat all over, this bowman hurriedly returned to his home and started to escape away with his wife and kid.


    When he escaped, this bowman had some questions inside, ''Isn''t Zhongzhou Province an immortal province in Taixia Country? It''s always peaceful. Even holy war could not affect this place. How could it become so chaotic all of a sudden? Where do the bloody figures come from? How could they behave like mutated fierce beasts?'' However, this bowman didn''t have time to figure them out. He only thought about escaping out of here with his wife and his kid.


    Thousands of bloody figures covered Fuan Town like a bloody flood in the blink of an eye. Soon after this tough man and his family members entered the farmlands outside the town, those bloody figures had caught up with them.


    ...


    When this bowman turned around and charged at one bloody figure, he saw more and more bloody figures rushing out of the town. Only after a short while, these bloody figures had found clothes in the town and put them on. Although being not tidy, they were not naked anymore; additionally, some of them even held weapons that they found inside the town.


    "Go die..." The bowman slashed towards a bloody figure with his full strength...


    The bloody figure flickered his red eye light when he dodged away easily by leaning to one side. At the same time, another bloody figure flashed out and punched through the tough man''s chest at once, drawing his heart out...


    This tough man spurted out a mouth of blood over the surrounding yellow wheat...


    What a sharp difference in battle strength! One LV 6, the other LV 9. In face-to-face close combat, the result could be identified in a split second; not to mention that the LV 6 fighter had two opponents...


    The bowman fell down; however, before he loosed his grip, his saber had been grabbed away by that bloody figure.


    Before falling down, the bowman threw a glance at the direction where his wife was escaping to. He found that the emaciated frame was still tumbling in the wheat field but in another direction. However, his son was not at her side. He knew that his wife must have hidden his son somewhere or let his son lie somewhere in the field. A kid could easily hide himself; however, she changed one direction and continued to escape so as to induce away those bloody figures...


    Parents would make the same choice in this situation.


    The bloody figures had been chasing after his wife. Before he lost his consciousness, the bowman had the last doubt in his mind, ''Has the flames of war reached Zhongzhou Province?''


    ...


    On the top of the north city gate of Huian City, those people watched those bloody figures killing those people who were escaping in the field with pale faces. Big fires could be seen everywhere in Fuan Town while more and more bloody figures poured out of Fuan Town. Crossing the fields outside the city, they were rushing towards Huian City like a bloody tide.


    Those bloody figures moved too fast; additionally, all the battle-qi totems of these bloody figures indicated that they were LV 9 fighters.


    At first sight, over 20,000 bloody figures were rushing towards Huian City, which was very terrifying.


    At the same time, the airships in the airship base in the northwest outside the city flew off like a flock of flurried birds in the reeds. All the airships were sending distress signals by releasing colorful smokes into the sky...


    Some airships dove downwards the moment they flew off...


    Needless to say, these bloody figures must have rushed into the airship base outside the city.


    "Are these things...humans...or demons?" A young soldier who had not experienced any battle stammered at the sight of this scene.


    Like that dead bowman, all the soldiers and officers standing on the top of the city gate had one question inside, ''How could so many people like fierce beasts appear in Zhongzhou Province, one of the nine immortal provinces in Taixia Country?''


    "Listen, it''s time for us to contribute to our country at the cost of our lives. As long as we''re alive, we will never allow these fierce beasts to break into Huian City. Brothers in Huian City, think about your family members. We only need to stand here a short while before the arrival of knight-level powerhouses..." The officer who kicked the steward of the Double-well Brewery out of the city gate raised high his sword and exclaimed.


    After a short while, the steam city-defense equipment on the city gate of Huian City wuthered, shooting bolts outside the city...


    When those bloody figures entered the effective distance of the city-defense weapons at the city gate of Huian City, they immediately scattered like having been trained. At the same time, they accelerated towards the city gate dauntlessly while dodging away from the strikes of the steam city-defense weapons.


    Bloody figures were hit one after another by the ceaseless strikes of the city-defense weapons of Huian City, spurting out blood and falling down with shrill shrieks and roars; especially those being hit by the over 2-m long huge bolts would be broken into two halves at once...


    However, those bloody figures moved too fast. Although they constantly fell onto the fields facing the strikes of the city-defense equipment of Huian City, it only took the rest of them 1 minute to arrive at the foot of the city wall. In such a short period, the city-defense weapons on the north city wall of Huian City made very limited achievements facing the loose formation of those bloody figures, their super fast speed and flexible movements...


    After arriving at the foot of the north city wall of Huian City, those bloody figures immediately jumped over 10 m high and landed on the city wall before making a massacre over there...


    Those common garrisons of Huian City were just LV 4 warriors, how could they defeat these LV 9 bloody figures.


    The city wall of Huian City could block commoners and common soldiers; however, they were ineffective to those bloody figures at all.


    As more and more bloody figures jumped onto the city wall, the attacking frequency of the city-defense weapons on the city wall decreased too, causing more bloody figures to jump onto the city wall...


    The entire city wall of Huian City was filled with battle calls while the jarring alerts had long been ringing across Huian City...


    As it happened too fast, there was even no omen. Therefore, when the shrilling alerts rang in Huian City, most of the people in the city were still confused about what happened. They didn''t care about it at all...


    ...


    The officer who raised high his sword and exclaimed was also a LV 9 fighter. After killing 3 bloody figures, he was also covered by more bloody figures on the city wall...


    ...


    There was no knight among the 20,000-odd garrison soldiers. The garrison general in Huian City was just a LV 13 battle general. There were some strong fighters, battle masters and great battle masters below the garrison general. These people were all exerting their utmost efforts to fight those bloody figures on the city wall. However, as more and more bloody figures jumped onto the city walls, all of these officers were surrounded...


    Even ants could bite an elephant to death. Those LV 9 bloody figures were wolves instead of ants.


    Except for knights, even battle spirit-level powerhouses who had formed protective battle qis would not resist over 1,000 dauntless LV 9 fighters'' ceaseless strikes, not to mention over 10,000 LV 9 fighters. Even knight''s protective battle qi might be broken after reaching the critical moment facing constant strikes of so many LV 9 bloody figures, not to mention battle spirit-level protective battle qi. After their protective battle qis were broken, how long would they stand?


    The garrison general was waving his huge sword while over 50 bloody figures had fallen down on his side with incomplete limbs. In the end, a bloody figure seized the opportunity to stab his saber into this LV 13 garrison general''s back. When this garrison general became a bit still, five more sabers and swords were stabbed into his body at the same time...


    The garrison general widely opened his furious eyes as he roared and swept across the 5 bloody figures in front of him with his huge sword, splitting them into 10 halves.


    After killing 5 more bloody figures, the garrison general of Huian City immediately fell down onto the ground...


    A bloody figure picked his sword and peel off his armor before putting it on its own body...


    After the city wall of Huian City only resisted the contingent of bloody figures less than 10 minutes, more and more bloody figures grabbed the sabers and swords from the garrison soldiers on the city wall and peeled off the clothes and armors of those dead soldiers and officers before jumping off the city wall and sweeping across Huian City like a bloody wave...


    The entire Huian City was filled with screams and cries...


    ...


    In the mayor''s mansion of Huian City...


    "What...what...how could it happen in Huian City, Zhongzhou Province, an immortal province in Taixia Country..." After hearing that the north city wall of Huian City was broken through by bloody figures and the cries and screams of commoners across Huian City, the mayor directly threw himself onto the chair.


    "Lord, hurry up, you''d better leave now..." The steward of the mayor''s mansion persuaded the mayor with a pale face, "Those who have airships in the city have already boarded their own airships, our airship is ready too..."


    However, the mayor seemed to have not heard the words of the steward; instead, he just watched the chief justice of Huian City in uniform with an absent-minded look and asked, "Has...has Lord Meng long known about the event today...whether these people are the rebels of Heavens Reaching Church..."


    The chief justice of Huian City didn''t look as good as the mayor. After hearing the mayor ''s words, he just replied in a low voice, "The Huian Municipal Court has just received the intelligence from Zhongzhou Provincial Court. They told us to close the city gate right away. As for the concrete...reasons, and where does...these bloody figures come from? Whether they''re humans or demons, I have no idea..." After saying that, the chief justice of Huian Municipal Court looked determined as he cupped his hands towards the mayor, "As people''s lives and properties were destroyed wantonly in Huian City, this humble officer has to investigate it and kill enemies instead of dragging out an ignoble existence. I have to leave, mayor, see you..."


    After saying that, the chief justice of Huian City left the mayor''s mansion decisively with two criminal hunters...


    "Lord..." The steward persuaded anxiously once again. Huian City was just a small city; therefore, the cries and roars soon approached the mayor''s mansion.


    "Let my wife and daughter board the airship!" Watching the chief justice of Huian City leaving, the mayor of Huian City revealed a bitter smile as he waved his hand and said, "In this situation, if I escaped away instead of fulfilling my responsibility for the time being, I have to be killed in the end; additionally, my family members would be involved with my death penalty. In the earlier two holy wars, few mayors had escaped away from their cities in Taixia Country, I don''t want to be the shameless one..."


    "Lord..." The steward dropped off his tears.


    "You too. Remember to look after my wife and daughter in the future..." The mayor waved his hand as he picked off his walking sword from the wall and said, "I will stay here..."


    ...


    2 minutes later, a mini airship flew off the mayor''s mansion. All the guards and soldiers inside the mayor''s mansion were mobilized as they were ready to protect the mayor''s mansion together with the mayor...


    In the lobby of the mayor''s mansion, the mayor just sat on the main seat. He put one hand onto his sword handle as he touched the golden official seal of the mayor of Huian City by the other hand...


    The official seal of mayor in Taixia Country was not only a symbol of authority but also an alchemist equipment. At the critical moment, it would have a special function. Such a small official seal was the beacon tower of Huian City.


    The mayor of Huian City had not imagined that he could use the other function of this official seal. He might be the first one who used that function among the nine immortal provinces in Taixia Country...


    ...


    Only after about 7 minutes later, the battle calls and screams of guards of the mayor''s mansion had sounded. After another 2 minutes, with a loud sound "bang", the gate of the mayor''s mansion was broken while a bloody figure broke in...


    ...


    At this moment, a bloody light beam shot into the sky from the mayor''s mansion like a signal. After reaching about 70 miles high, it turned into two burning words¡ª¡ªHuian City, which lasted for a long time and could be seen clearly within 700 miles...


    Meanwhile, the official seals of all the mayors in Zhongzhou Province started to rock and turn scarlet; even so, they could still vaguely see the two words "Huian City" on their own seals.


    Half an hour later, when two knights of Zhongzhou Provincial Court hurriedly arrived at Huian City, they found that the entire city had turned into a bloody and dead city. All the streets, alleys, houses, hotels, schools and stores had been covered with blood and corpses. After rushing into the city like killers and fierce beasts, over 30,000 LV 9 bloody figures soon turned this small city into hell...


    The greater part of Huian City was burning in fierce flames, including corpses and the famous liquors...


    After seeing this, the two knights widely opened their eyes due to fury; however, the contingent of bloody figures had long escaped to all directions...


    When those bloody figures ran out of Pingsha Valley, they were naked; however, at this moment, they had long put on clothes, armors and helmets and held weapons...


    On the same day, four other cities around Pingsha Valley encountered the similar catastrophe. As a result, dozens of towns and villages turned into ruins; over 500,000 people were killed or wounded. Longxi Prefecture in Zhongzhou Province was in an emergency situation...


    The flames of war rose in the immortal province plunged so many people into misery and suffering in one day and shocked the entire Taixia Country...


    ...

 1050 Guests from Neighboring Provinces

    Chapter 1050: Guests from Neighboring Provinces


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On August 18, Xuantian City, at the foot of Yangui Mountain Range, Fire Dragon Bounty Territory...


    From yesterday, the number of airships accessing to Xuantian City had increased abruptly. This early morning, with the arrival of airboats, the entire Xuantian City became boisterous. Being covered with airships and airboats, the sky outside Xuantian City was as boisterous as a marketing place.


    It was very difficult for commoners in Xuantian City to take a look at an airboat; however, this morning, they had seen 4-5 airboats in total. It was said that one of them belonged to the provincial governor of Youzhou Province. It was definitely a major event for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province to come to Xuantian Cheng. However, the biggest event in Xuantian City today was that Cui Li, the Fire Dragon Hermit and the owner of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory was going to hold the opening ceremony of his Iron-Dragon Sect.


    Xuantian City had not been so boisterous before. That day, all the residents in Xuantian City felt proud as they were living in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory for the first time. It seemed that all of them enjoyed the glory of being native residents. As a result, the entire city became spirited today.


    All the major clans in Youzhou Province, Tongzhou Province and Yanzhou Province within Northeast Military Region which were qualified to receive the golden invitation cards had converged in Xuantian City on that day.


    As Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory neighbored the three provinces, according to the etiquette of Taixia Country, all the major clans in the three provinces had received Zhang Tie''s golden invitation cards.


    Of course, If Zhang Tie was already a shadow knight, he was qualified to deliver his golden invitation cards across the Northeast Military Region. If he advanced to a heavenly knight, his invitation cards could reach across Taixia Country.


    On that day, Zhang Tie''s Iron-Dragon Golden Invitation Cards absolutely implied the arrivers'' statuses. All those major clans in the three provinces who could receive Zhang Tie''s golden invitation cards had clan knights. As for the other clans, even if they were rich, they had no clan knight and they were not qualified to receive Zhang Tie''s golden invitation cards.


    How could commoners receive the golden invitation cards of an earth knight? Zhang Tie''s golden invitation card was almost as important as that of a provincial governor, which would be popular wherever it was.


    Actually, many clans which had not received the golden invitation cards had arrived in the three provinces these days. After knowing that Iron-Dragon Sect was going to hold an opening ceremony, the major figures in these clans had arrived at Xuantian City with their clan disciples on the early morning of that day and were patiently waiting for the opportunities and asking for intelligence.


    Now that Fire Dragon Hermit was going to establish a sect, he would definitely enroll apprentices on the day. The news that an earth knight was going to enroll his apprentices was very attractive to the clans which had no knight. Additionally, everybody had known that Fire Dragon Hermit had a great battle strength as he was cultivating the precise marquis-level classic "Fire Dragon Sutra". With his great battle strength, Fire Dragon Hermit had killed more than one demon knight and knight of Three-eye Association in the Earth-elements Realm. Due to his remarkable military exploits, Fire Dragon Hermit was rewarded with Fire Dragon Bounty Territory.


    As for those clans which had no knights, if they could find such a reliance and enable their clan disciples to have a chance to touch the marquis-level cultivation classic, these clans would almost like to pay any price for that.


    Yesterday, the gate of the manor of the official mansion in Xuantian City had been hung with a new plaque. The bottom of the plaque was made of gold while the words on it were made of gold which looked very overbearing¡ª¡ªXuantian Courtyard of Iron-Dragon Sect. The plaque was 2.3 m in length and 0.67 m in width.


    Since this plague was hung outside, it indicated that Iron-Dragon Sect had officially rooted in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. Before the site of Iron-Dragon Sect was officially completed, this Xuantian Courtyard of Iron-Dragon Sect would become the temporary window and stronghold of the sect.


    On the early morning of August 18, the street outside Xuantian Courtyard of Iron-Dragon Sect had been overcrowded like rabbits in a warren. As for commoners in Xuantian City, even if they could not enter Xuantian Courtyard, they might feel worthwhile to take a look at those big figures and airboats which they might not have a chance to ride for the rest of their lives.


    Especially for those people who had kids, they had to join in the fun. If Fire Dragon Hermit enrolled his disciples on the day the Iron-Dragon Sect held its opening ceremony, they might help their kids seize an opportunity for a shortcut towards wealth and reputation. Such plots always existed in novels and stories. When a master passed by somewhere, he suddenly found a brat who looked special; as he valued the high talent, he intended to enroll the brat as his apprentice. Similarly, if their kids were valued by Fire Dragon Hermit when he passed by them, they would make a mint. Nobody could ensure those common clans would have no knights.


    So many families had kids, not to mention those juveniles. Those young people who were ambitious about learning battle skills in the 10 cities of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory had come to Xuantian City by batches many days ago. They were raising heads, waiting for the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect and seeking for an opportunity to join in Iron-Dragon Sect.


    As too many people were gathering outside Xuantian Courtyard of Iron-Dragon Sect, all the landlords and despotic gentries in Xuantian City became spirited at once as they mobilized their subordinate people to maintain the order outside the Xuantian Courtyard of Iron-Dragon Sect on their own initiative.


    At this moment, Xuantian City was as boisterous as the grand occasion that major clans competed for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province 4 years ago.


    Almost all the major clans and clans with knights which were invited to attend the opening ceremony arrived here by airboats or airships. Those airboats or airships directly landed at the airship base in Xuantian Courtyard of Iron-Dragon Sect. Some people outside the Xuantian Courtyard would scream after they identified the backgrounds of the airships or airboats, causing the surrounding people to exclaim...


    After 8 am, another dark red airboat longer than 200 m arrived and slowly landed in the Xuantian Courtyard of Iron-Dragon Sect. At the sight of that airboat and the special clan slogan on it, someone in the courtyard immediately shouted the background of this airboat.


    "Ahh, it''s the airboat of Zhu family, the family of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province. Zhu family also assigned people to attend the opening ceremony in Xuantian City..."


    The scream aroused many people''s exclamations.


    ...


    In the courtyard, when the airboat landed, the hatch door opened; a well-dressed old man then got off the airboat followed by over 10 disciples of the Zhu family while raising their heads.


    "Zhu Xudong, the elder of Zhu Clan of Jinghong Palace in Yanzhou...arrives with Zhu disciples..." A receptionist from Wang Clan of Yushun Palace reported the name and background of the arrivers loudly. Hearing that, everybody in the courtyard would almost know that the representatives of the clan of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province had arrived.


    The moment Zhu representatives arrived, disciples of Wang Clan who was responsible for the reception immediately led them to the main venue of the opening ceremony politely and considerately.


    It was the most welcome opportunity for the disciples of Wang Clan of Yushun Palace in Ningan City to meet the influential figures of major clans in the three provinces. After receiving this task, Wang Clan had put this task into the first place of the entire clan. Many elites of Wang Clan had been called back. Those disciples of Wang Clan in Xuantian Courtyard today included male and female servants, stewards and many young disciples of Wang Clan. All of them were specially selected. They had assigned people for each detail. As they had to satisfy Fire Dragon Hermit and glorify Wang Clan, Wang Clan had regarded this reception task as an honor.


    The main venue of the opening ceremony was in an open land, which was a former training field in Xuantian Courtyard. Through careful renovation, this place had already become the most brilliant place in Iron-Dragon Sect for the time being.


    The arrivers were led to their own seats by the receptionists of Wang Clan.


    On this venue, the locations of clans being invited were strictly arranged according to power and reputation.


    As Zhu clan''s team walked towards their own seats, they kept hailing people in the surroundings who stood up one batch after another.


    Those arrivers were all led by clan elders or knights. According to the etiquette, they had to come; however, the elders and knights who came here didn''t look as relaxed as that when they attended similar opening ceremonies before. Even if they looked relaxed, they didn''t mean it faithfully. Most of the people at present looked a bit worried. As they hailed each other, they were whispering about what happened in Zhongzhou Province and exchanging their news.


    As the official opening ceremony had not started yet, Fire Dragon Hermit was not here. Therefore, the atmosphere at present was a bit casual for the time being.


    The opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect was more like a meeting among the major clans from Youzhou Province, Tongzhou Province and Yanzhou Province within the territory of Northeast Military Region in the special period.


    These days, what happened in Zhongzhou Province had been spread over Taixia Country; perhaps, those commoners outside Xuantian Courtyard were too far away from what happened in Zhongzhou Province. Even though they had heard some details, they didn''t have deep feelings about it. Many commoners just treated the event in Zhongzhou Province as a rebellion. However, what happened in Zhongzhou Province was a matter of life or death for these major clans with knights which had deeply rooted in Taixia Country.


    The mansion of Zhu Clan was close to Huaiyuan Palace and the mansion of Qian Clan, the clan of the provincial governor of Tongzhou Province. As the provincial governors'' clans which had earth knights and ruled the provinces, of course, these clans'' representatives were in the front.


    Elder Muyu arrived here on behalf of Huaiyuan Palace; Elder Qian Haichao arrived here on behalf of Qian Clan. When Zhu elder led their team here, Elder Muyu and Elder Qian Haichao were whispering to each other while being surrounded by the knights and elders of the other major clans from the three provinces.


    Everybody in this circle looked a bit solemn...


    Only after a few days, the entire Zhongzhou Province had become increasingly chaotic...

 1051 The Background of Bloody Sea

    Chapter 1051: The Background of Bloody Sea


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Elder Zhu..." Elder Muyu and Elder Qian stopped talking and greeted Elder Zhu when they saw elder Zhu and the youngsters of Zhu Clan walking towards them.


    "I''ve not imagined that Elder Muyu and Elder Qian have arrived ahead of me!" Elder Zhu revealed a faint smile as he waved his hand, letting the youngsters of Zhu Clan take seats over there. He then walked towards this circle.


    The lowest level and rank in the circle was a knight and elder from the three provinces. Although each of them was followed by many clan disciples, those clan disciples were not qualified to join the fun in this circle.


    "I was told that Huaiyuan Palace provided the intelligence about the demon''s nestle in Pingsha Valley." Elder Zhu put it straight the moment he came over here.


    After hearing this news, all the surrounding knights became shocked. All of them watched Elder Muyu with unbelievable looks, including Elder Qian. Although they were caring about what happened in Zhongzhou Province these couple days, they had not imagined that the intelligence in Pingsha Valley of Zhongzhou Province was passed from Huaiyuan Palace, Youzhou Province.


    However, Elder Muyu was not too amazed. Because this news should be exposed to the public sooner or later. Even though Elder Zhu didn''t ask him about that, he would also disseminate this news at a proper moment today because this news was closely related to the interests of Huaiyuan Palace. Now that Elder Zhu asked him about that at this moment, it implied that Zhu Clan had long guessed that Huaiyuan Palace would release this news on its own initiative; additionally, if Zhu elder asked Elder Muyu about it, it could indirectly raise Zhu Clan''s position in Northeast Military Region.


    Yanzhou Province was not only one of the 36 upper provinces in Taixia Country, but also the most prosperous place in Northeast Military Region. Additionally, it was the core province the Northeast Military Region and the station of the Northeast Military Region Headquarters. As Yanzhou had a higher position than other provinces, of course, the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province was closer to the commander of Northeast Military Region and it was reasonable for Zhu Clan to know this news earlier than the other clans.


    The clan elders were all very shrewd. In this occasion, they would not utter without consideration. Although this occasion seemed casual, the moment the influential figures of major clans gathered here, it would become an invisible arena full of competitions. Seriously, it was like a diplomatic reception among countries on other continents and subcontinents. Actually, even luxurious diplomatic receptions on many subcontinents couldn''t gather so many major clans.


    Elder Muyu nodded and admitted Elder Zhu''s words directly, "The intelligence in Pingsha Valley of Zhongzhou Province was indeed revealed to Supreme Court in Xuanyuan Hill by Huaiyuan Palace!"


    "Huaiyuan Palace is in Youzhou Province; how could it get hang of the secrets in Zhongzhou Province?" Elder Qian asked, which resonated with the other knights and clan elders.


    They were all shocked by Huaiyuan Palace''s overall strength. How could Huaiyuan Palace''s tentacles reach Zhongzhou Province, which was far away from Youzhou Province? It was unimaginable!


    "All of you must have known that the castellan of Jinwu City was almost assassinated one day before the event in Zhongzhou Province!" Elder Muyu looked around as he knew immediately what they were thinking about, "Zhang Ping, the castellan of Jinwu City is the father of Elder Mushen of Huaiyuan Palace. When the assassinator launched a raid, Zhang Ping was saved by a hero who was passing Jinwu City and survived that assassination. Later on, Jinwu City carried out a large-scale search and caught one accomplice with the help of the hero. Through interrogation with torture, Huaiyuan Palace got the background of the assassinator. The culprit of that assassination was the very force that framed Elder Mushen in Fuhai City 4 years ago. They might have colluded with demons; additionally, they have a base in Pingsha Valley in Zhongzhou Province. After receiving this intelligence, Huaiyuan Palace reported it to the Supreme Court at once. With the arrangement of the Supreme Court, the Zhongzhou Provincial Court assigned a lot of powerhouses to raid Pingsha Valley in the same evening, arousing the chaotic situation in Zhongzhou Province..."


    Elder Muyu''s words were not completely true; however, the fake part would not be known by anyone else except for Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang. Even Huaiyuan Palace believed that it was the truth, not to mention others.


    After hearing Elder Muyu''s words, everyone became suddenly enlightened. None of them could imagine that the culprit of this tragedy in Zhongzhou Province could be involved with the tragedy in Fuhai City 4 years ago. The details made people faintly scared.


    "Thankfully, the key intelligence provided by Huaiyuan Palace enabled Zhongzhou Provincial Court to launch a raid and destroy the layout of the culprit in Zhongzhou Province timely; otherwise, when the opponent prepared to launch an attack, the corps of over 100,000 LV 9 bloody fighters might cause much greater trouble in Zhongzhou Province!" Elder Zhu also nodded with a solemn look as he continued, "The knight-level powerhouses from Zhongzhou Provincial Court killed over 40,000 LV 9 bloody figures underground Pingsha Valley and in its surroundings; although the Bi''an Camp of Zhongzhou Provincial Court suffered a loss of over 4500 people, it was fortunate that the knight-level powerhouses of Zhongzhou Provincial Court could kill 1/3 of the corps of bloody figures in the nestle of bloody figures in Pingsha Valley. Besides, Zhongzhou Provincial Court found an arsenal under Pingsha Valley which had not been used yet. The weapons inside could easily arm all the bloody figures to the teeth..."


    Of course, it was a great meritorious deed to inflict a great loss to the enemies in their nestle. If hundreds of thousands of LV 9 fierce murderers suddenly appeared in any province; even if these people could not break in a Class A city, the surroundings outside the Class A city would be scared too much. Many villages would deteriorate into slaughterhouses everyday; the provinces would also be destroyed rapidly...


    That was what Zhongzhou Province was suffering now. All the LV 9 bloody figures had separated. Additionally, many bloody figures had run out of Longxi Prefecture and were committing murder and arson everywhere, causing great chaos. Like a virus in a human body, it''s growing more and more destructive in Zhongzhou Province. Zhongzhou Province and two neighboring provinces had assigned all of their local corps. However, it was impossible for them to suppress the chaos in Zhongzhou Province in a few days.


    Lately, the Supreme Court had offered a reward, many bounty hunters in provinces and prefectures of Taixia Country had poured into Zhongzhou Province...


    "Elder Zhu, I was told that the corps of those bloody figures came from a bizarre place beneath Pingsha Valley. Is it called Bloody Sea?" A knight of a clan in Yanzhou Province asked a question which all the others at present were concerned about, "I''m really curious about the Bloody Sea."


    Not every knight in Taixia Country had heard about Bloody Sea. As the secret methods of Bloody Soul Temple were involved with the interests of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country, very few people knew about Bloody Sea.


    However, now that the tragedy had happened, the secret method could never be concealed anymore; therefore, Zhu Elder started to introduce it to the public after being silent for a few seconds.


    "Bloody Sea is the No. 1 secret method of Bloody Soul Temple. According to the legend, the Blood Sea of Bloody Soul Temple could enable knights who were dying or suffering fatal wounds to gain new lives only by squeezing one blood drop into Bloody Sea. After gaining the new lives, they would have the battle strength of a black iron knight the moment they woke up. Additionally, their soul and spiritual energy would never die. As long as the Bloody Sea was established, it almost indicated that the knights of Bloody Soul Temple became eternal. As Bloody Sea violated the universal laws too much, Bloody Soul Temple failed to build it even in 100 years. Additionally, the intelligence was exposed; therefore Bloody Soul Temple was exterminated together with the building method of Bloody Sea by the top seven sects in Taixia Country!"


    "Ahh, do you mean that the Bloody Sea has been built by someone?"


    "The Bloody Sea beneath Pingsha Valley was a simplified or incomplete version as this Bloody Sea could only produce LV 9 fighers instead of knights. Now that Bloody Soul Temple couldn''t make it in 100 years, not to mention others. However, this simplified Bloody Sea was special. It might have combined with the parent puppet worms of demons. Through autopsy, they found the trace of combining with demon''s puppet worms in the brains of those bloody figures according to the message from Zhongzhou Province. That''s the most terrifying point..."


    Hearing this intelligence, all the others became silent.


    Zhu Elder watched Elder Muyu with a solemn look as he said, "According to the remaining information of Bloody Soul Temple, Bloody Demon Imitation Method and Bloody Sea both originated from Bloody Soul Temple and were closely related with each other. The one who could build Bloody Sea must have mastered the Bloody Demon Imitation Method in advance!"


    "Elder Mushen, through this event, we know that Elder Mushen was evidently wronged. The one who framed Elder Mushen and mastered Bloody Demon Imitation Method must be on the side of the Heavens Reaching Church which colluded with demons. Previously, we were not sure whether this man indeed existed; however, this time, the Bloody Sea beneath Pingsha Valley could definitely prove that that culprit indeed exists; additionally, he is a member of Heavens Reaching Church. As Elder Mushen inflicted a great loss to the Heavens Reaching Church in Youzhou Province, he incurred the hatred of Heavens Reaching Church; therefore, the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church framed Elder Mushen''s family a couple of times. We wonder what the Supreme Court would explain it to Elder Mushen and Huaiyuan Palace?"

 1052 A Chance of Reversal

    Chapter 1052: A Chance of Reversal


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Supreme Court didn''t give me an explanation until I left Huaiyuan Palace today; neither did they contact Huaiyuan Palace!" Elder Muyu answered Zhu Elder calmly.


    "Before coming to Xuantian City, our master told us that if Supreme Court didn''t revoke the arrest order of Elder Mushen and declare Elder Mushen''s innocence these days, our master would write a letter to Supreme Court for revoking it in the identity of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province!" Zhu Elder said out of rage.


    After the informed clans in Taixia Country got the intelligence about the event in Zhongzhou Province, they all sensed that the tragedy in Fuhai City might be reversed. It was just a matter of time to withdraw the arrest order of Elder Mushen from Huaiyuan Palace.


    Over the past 4 years, Elder Mushen had won one-sided sympathy in the folks. Many people felt that Elder Mushen was a remarkable, affectionate man, who had made meritorious deeds in fighting demons in both Waii Subcontinent and Taixia Country. How could such a person be driven mad and do such a terrifying thing in Fuhai city only after being refused for a proposal of marriage?


    Public opinions caused a great stress to the Supreme Court; however, before gaining any latest evidence, the Supreme Court stuck to its original judgment. After the event in Zhongzhou Province broke out, if the Supreme Court still stuck to the earlier evidence and judgment, it was nothing different than jumping into a firey pit themselves. How could the Supreme Court bear the furious public opinions across the country?


    If the conspiracy was not discovered timely, Zhongzhou Provincial Court would suffer much greater loss. Seriously, the Supreme Court of Taixia Country and the Zhongzhou Provincial Court didn''t fulfill their responsibilities for inspection; therefore, Heavens Reaching Church and Wen family could have a chance to build the simplified Bloody Sea in the territory of Zhongzhou Province and arouse a great trouble.


    The culprit on the back of Heavens Reaching Church had revenged Zhang family a couple of times. After their conspiracy was exposed, the culprit''s trace was revealed; a province had been chaotic. The one who mastered the Bloody Demon Imitation Method had revealed his trace. If the Supreme Court still wanted to arrest Elder Mushen, many people would doubt that the Supreme Court was on the same side with Heavens Reaching Church; otherwise, how the Supreme Court could not discover the conspiracy of Heavens Reaching Church and arrest the culprit on the back of Heavens Reaching Church? Why the one who discovered the conspiracy of Heavens Reaching Church was still being wanted by Supreme Court...


    Facing such a great stress and strict condemnation, even the top three chancellors in Taixia Country could not sleep well.


    "Elder Mushen''s case is most wronged in Taixia Country. If Elder Mushen''s case was not reversed, who would dare to fight Heavens Reaching Church in the future? If the Supreme Court didn''t reverse Elder Mushen''s case, as a member of Northeast Military Region, our Qian Clan would also write a letter to the Supreme Court to ask for fairness for Elder Mushen!" The Qian Elder also clarified his position at present.


    After two clans with provincial governors determined to support Elder Mushen at present, all the other knights and elders in the circle hurriedly echoed.


    Elder Muyu cupped his hands and bowed towards them around him as if he was moved by them pretty much, "Thanks for your righteousness, Huaiyuan Palace will bear it in mind for sure!"


    "After attending the opening ceremony of Fire Dragon Hermit, Zhu Clan will assign clan disciples and knight-level powerhouses to Zhongzhou Province. We will make our efforts for the safety of Zhongzhou Province; meanwhile, we could gain the first-hand news. I wonder about your plans..." Zhu Elder opened his mouth again.


    As Zhu Clan was most powerful in the crowd, the others faintly treated Zhu Elder as the most prestigious one in this circle. Even Elder Muyu and Elder Qian didn''t mean to steal the show.


    "Huaiyuan Palace also has this plan..."


    "To tell the truth, as the leader of Qian Clan''s team, considering the fierce flames of war in the holy war, I think it''s not bad for the younger generation to practice themselves on the battlefields..." Although Qian Clan also had a provincial governor, it had just moved to Tongzhou a bit more than 2 decades ago. Besides an earth knight-level provincial governor, the entire Qian Clan only had 3 knight-level elders, which could not even match that of Huaiyuan Palace. After the master of Lu Clan in Spiritualmaple Prefecture of Youzhou Province promoted to an earth knight, even Lu Clan had more knights than Qian Clan. Therefore, in this situation, the Qian Elder had to be low-key.


    "We also have this plan. It''s a long trip from here to Zhongzhou Province. I''m afraid that Zhu Clan needs to go there by airboat. If so, we might have to bother Zhu Elder and take a ride of your airboat..." Another knight on one side said.


    Elder Zhu watched those who agreed with him with a faint smile. Zhu Clan''s reputation and power definitely ranked first in the Northeast Military Region. Although Commander Cheng Honglie was powerful, his base was actually in Yaozhou Province instead of Northeast Military Region.


    ...


    At this moment, a loud report drifted from the receptionist outside the venue, "Guo Hongyi, the master of Guo Clan of Threespring Prefecture...is coming..."


    Closely after the report, a woman in scarlet longuette had entered the venue being accompanied by some guards.


    There was more than one female knight in the venue; however, Guo Hongyi was the only female knight-level master of a clan across Northeast Military Region. Additionally, Guo Hongyi didn''t take any clan disciple but some guards. Being especially eye-catching, her qi field could immediately defeat the other clans'' knights and elders.


    After arriving at the venue, Guo Hongyi raised her head and threw a glance at those knights and elders who were gathering together and nodded towards them. After that, she came to the seats of Guo Clan under the guidance of Wang Clan''s disciples.


    "Lu Dingzhi, the master of Lu Clan of Spiritualmaple Prefecture in Youzhou Province...is coming..."


    After the report, personable Lu Dingzhi entered the venue with two clan elders and Lu disciples...


    After Lu Dingzhi lost the competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province 4 years ago, he had been cultivating at home. Later on, although it was said that he had promoted to an earth knight, Lu Dingzhi didn''t show up. Honestly, it was Lu Dingzhi''s first time to show up in the public after the competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province.


    As Lu Dingzhi had promoted to an earth knight, all the black iron knights and elders at present nodded towards him on their own initiative out of etiquette and regulations.


    Lu Dingzhi didn''t hold any office; therefore, he could come here; if not, it was improper for an official of Taixia Country and an earth knight to attend the opening ceremony of another earth knight.


    In the later short period, all the influential figures from the major clans of the three neighboring provinces arrived consecutively. All the clans which competed for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province 4 years ago had assigned their representatives here, including Gu Dashou, the master of Gu Clan. How boisterous it was in the Xuantian Courtyard of Iron-Dragon Sect!


    What was a bit unimaginable was that the representatives of Li Clan, which was closest to Xuantian City arrived a bit later. As all those at present were shrewd, only after thinking about it a second, they had understood it right away. Li Clan''s representatives arrived a bit later purposefully. Li Clan also had knights; additionally, Li Clan''s Miyun Prefecture neighbored Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. Actually, Xuantian Cheng was divided from Miyun Prefecture. Among the major clans'' representatives at present, maybe Li Clan'' representatives had most complex moods. As a power suddenly appeared on Li Clan''s side, Li Clan might not have thought through how to make contact with this new power. If Li Clan''s representatives arrived too early, others might think that Li Clan was trying to flatter Fire Dragon Hermit; if they didn''t come, Li Clan would offend Fire Dragon Hermit; therefore, Li Clan'' representatives arrived a bit late purposefully. Whatever, it was not impolite as long as they arrived before the opening ceremony.


    After more and more people arrived, they started to gather in groups as they exchanged intelligence and news in low voices. Those talkative disciples chatted here and there in the venue. Only after a little while, the intelligence about the event in Zhongzhou Province which was talked by Zhang Clan, Zhu Clan and Qian Clan had spread over the other clans'' elders and masters, including the secret method of Bloody Sea and that the case of Elder Mushen of Huaiyuan Palace was going to be reversed soon. These intelligence were indeed what they were concerned about.


    After Li Clan of Miyun Prefecture arrived, masters and elders of some clans and small and medium-sized sects in Yanzhou Province and Tongzhou Province such as Longwind Sect, Huge Saber Sect, Immortal Fist Position Sect arrived too. By then, almost all the influential clans and sects in Youzhou Province, Yanzhou Province and Tongzhou Province had arrived. It was just a bit late than 9 am, about 20 minutes away from the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    Immortal Fist Position Sect had already been founded for over 100 years in Yanzhou Province. The team of Immortal Fist Position Sect here was led by Nangong Sheng, Strong Cloud Hermit, the master of this sect, which shocked all the guests at present.


    Nangong Sheng, Strong Cloud Hermit founded Immortal Fist Position Sect in Yanzhou Province 100 years ago. After so many years'' development, the sect had been very famous across the Northeast Military Region. As Strong Cloud Hermit promoted to an earth knight 20 years ago, the Immortal Fist Position Sect became the only major sect with an earth knight within Northeast Military Region. Benefited from this, Immortal Fist Position Sect became more popular and always thought that they could rank first among so many sects in Northeast Military Region; at the same time, all the other sects in Yanzhou Province felt suppressed in front of Immortal Fist Position Sect.


    Nangong Sheng, Strong Cloud Hermit came here with the only two knight-level elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect and some core disciples. Such a team was a bit over "luxurious"...


    Watching the solemn looks of all the team members of Nangong Sheng, many guests thought, ''Is there a good show today?''

 1053 An Uninvited Gues

    Chapter 1053: An Uninvited Guest


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Nangong Sheng, Strong Cloud Hermit, also the master of Immortal Fist Position Sect is well known in Yanzhou Province. A Wang disciple told me that an elder of Immortal Fist Position Sect said something before getting off the airship..."


    "What did he say?"


    "The elder said that even Immortal Fist Position Sect and Strong Cloud Hermit did not have an airboat, how could Fire Dragon Hermit have the qualification to own an airboat? When Strong Cloud Hermit heard it, he just replied with a cold muffled voice. Additionally, through my observation, I found that the master and two knight-level elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect looked not good, Hermit, you need to pay attention to them..."


    "Which secret method does Strong Cloud Hermit cultivate? Is he very powerful?"


    "Strong Cloud Hermit founded Immortal Fist Position Sect in Yanzhou Province 100 years ago. He promoted to an earth knight 30 years ago. It''s said that Strong Cloud Hermit cultivates Strong Cloud Sutra, a viscount-level secret method and Thunder-like Immortal Fist Position..."


    Zhang Tie was sitting in an old-fashioned wooden armchair in a brilliant robe made of boa silk in a room away from the venue in Xuantian Courtyard. At the same time, he touched his bald head and listened to the report about the information in the venue from Wang Chongde, the master of Wang Clan.


    ...


    It was said that "Xia Ping" had disappeared after receiving the reward of millions of gold coins from Jinwu Business Group.


    After Xia Ping disappeared, Zhang Tie returned to Xuantian City silently and prepared for the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect. At the same time, he paid close attention to the situation in Zhongzhou Province.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that Pingsha Valley was just a nestle of a killers'' organization. He didn''t know that there was a time bomb under the ground of Pingsha Valley. The culprit and those b*stards of Heavens Reaching Church were overconfident. They thought that their killers would not leak any intelligence even if they failed the task; however, they could never imagine that their killers could meet a freak who had almost reached the supreme realm of Soul Forbidden Method, a secret method of Bloody Soul Temple.


    ''It seems that the God really favors me. The secret method of Bloody Soul Temple that I cultivate could expose the Bloody Sea of Bloody Soul Temple in Zhongzhou Province. Even I''ve not imagined about the series of chain reactions.''


    ''However, there''s one point that I could confirm, namely, the Supreme Court of Taixia Country might soon revoke the order for arresting me according to the intelligence that my elder brother got from Xuanyuan Hill lately. It also means that the identity of Zhang Tie might return to Youzhou Province aboveboard only in a few days.''


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could hear this good news so fast.


    Previously, Zhang Tie made great efforts to prepare the identity of Fire Dragon Hermit for reuniting with his family members in Youzhou Province. However, he had not imagined that soon after he returned to Youzhou Province, the series of events had brought a chance to reverse his case.


    After what happened lately, Zhang Tie felt that the secular world was like a pot of assorted porridge, which contained many ingredients. Everyone was trying their best to add something in this pot so that the assorted porridge could become more similar to the flavor that they favored. However, the fact was that nobody could figure out the flavor of the assorted porridge as many people added ingredients to the pot. Nobody could have the assorted porridge to taste absolutely as same as that they wanted.


    Only knights were qualified to add ingredients into this pot.


    ''I cannot acquire the flavor of the assorted porridge; if not, I will not be wronged and have to escape.''


    ''Neither could the culprit and those b*stards of Heavens Reaching Church. If not, they would not have exposed the secrets in Pingsha Valley after assigning some killers to assassinate my dad.''


    ''Even Emperor Xuanyuan couldn''t do it; if not, he would never f*cking disappear for so many years.''


    ''Even Elzida the great prophet couldn''t do it...''


    ''Heavens Fortune Sect couldn''t do it either...''


    ''Even weirdos and freaks like me couldn''t do it, not to mention Strong Cloud Hermit, the master of the damn Immortal Fist Position Sect.''


    ''It took him 7 decades to promote to an earth knight by cultivating a viscount-level secret method. He has just promoted to an earth knight for about 30 years, at most the 6 changes realm viscount-level earth knight. I''m afraid that he has not even joined the large-scale battle between human knights and demon knights in the Earth-elements Realm. He''s just a bit better than a passer-by in front of me. How dare he cause me trouble? Does he really treat himself as something?''


    ''Is he here to enliven the atmosphere for the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect? I swear to God, I''ve not employed such a performer!''


    Zhang Tie yawned. After receiving 10 batches of candidates of local representatives of the 10 cities in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, he felt a bit bored even though each batch of people cost him only a couple of minutes.


    "That''s fine, don''t care about that. The elder of Immortal Fist Position Sect purposefully said that so that the Wang disciple could report it to me!" Zhang Tie waved his hand like chasing off a fly, "Is there any relation between Immortal Fist Position Sect and Taiyi Fantasy Sect?"


    After hearing this question, Wang Chongde, the master of Wang Clan threw an amazed and awe-stricken glance at Zhang Tie. Although Zhang Tie always looked indifferent, his question cut to the heart of the matter. Actually, Wang Chongde had considered about this question for a long while. He had even carefully negotiated it with some elders of Wang Clan. However, he had not imagined that the Fire Dragon Hermit could cut to the core so fast.


    "Immortal Fist Position Sect is closely related to Taiyi Fantasy Sect. When Nangong Sheng, the Strong Cloud Hermit promoted to an earth knight and held a chakra rotating ceremony in the territory of Immortal Fist Position Sect, the elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect even traveled a great distance to congratulate him with a lavish gift. From then on, Immortal Fist Position Sect had laid its foundation in Youzhou Province and Northeast Military Region. It''s said that one son of Nangong Sheng is a disciple of Taiyi Fantasy Sect..."


    ''I see, he''s assuming the authority of Taiyi Fantasy Sect as his own so as to show off the prestige of Immortal Fist Position Sect.''


    Zhang Tie understood it right away, ''Nangong Sheng might have already known that Taiyi Fantasy Sect lost the bet the moment my airboat arrived at Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. Perhaps, Taiyi Fantasy Sect have contacted him and told him to do something; additionally, my Fire Dragon Bounty Territory is in the territory of Northeast Military Region and I''m going to open a sect here; therefore, Strong Cloud Hermit arrived with most of his elites with bad looks.


    ''Hoho, interesting!''


    "Have all the guests on the name-list arrived?"


    "Yes, Immortal Fist Position Sect''s representatives were the last one to arrive!" The master of Wang Clan replied respectfully.


    After hearing it, Zhang Tie stood up from his armchair as he said, "Let''s go. I will meet the heroes and powerhouses in the three provinces of Northeast Military Region in the venue!"


    "Ahh..." The master of Wang Clan became faintly startled as he suggested, "But the lucky time has not arrived. It''s still 20 minutes left!"


    "Never mind. Honestly, the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect is to actually invite some people to have a dinner and know each other like how a store opens. By the way, we will see who''s on which side and whether there''re good business partners. Now that all of them have arrived, I don''t have to stay here, let''s go..." Zhang Tie said as he exited the room.


    The master of Wang Clan trotted after Zhang Tie as he asked, "What...what about those gifts?"


    "Push them out now so as to enliven the atmosphere. When a store opened, the boss would always carry out a promotion such as drawing lots for a prize or hitting gold eggs for a prize. Now that Iron-Dragon Sect is going to open, we have to be more boisterous than a new store. We need to warm up the atmosphere, hahaha..."


    After hearing these words, Wang Chongde became silent. Because only Fire Dragon Hermit could do that. After knowing what were those gifts, Wang Chongde was too shocked to utter any word for quite a while. What was more, those gifts were used to enliven the atmosphere in the venue. He had not ever heard anyone who could be so luxurious in an opening ceremony across Taixia Country, not to mention within Northeast Military Territory.


    ...


    In the venue, Zhang Yang was faintly frowning and listening to a disciple of Immortal Fist Position Sect speaking loudly and proudly in the far.


    Zhang Yang''s seat was next to those of Huaiyuan Palace. He came here with his two sons, Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze, who were a bit younger than Zhang Chengan. However, it was time for them to broaden their horizon. According to the agreement between him and Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang brought the two boys here.


    In the venue, there were many kids at the age of Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze. All the clans'' representatives were clear in mind that it was a rare opportunity for them to gain the guidance of an earth knight, even the major clans within Northeast Military Territory.


    The seats of Immortal Fist Position Sect were beside those of Huaiyuan Palace, which were the most eye-catching ones in the venue. This indicated that Iron-Dragon Sect paid special tribute to Immortal Fist Position Sect.


    However, Strong Cloud Hermit''s team members didn''t pay respect to Iron-Dragon Sect at all. Some disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect were talking about something with those disciples of the surrounding clans. Hearing their talks, Zhang Yang frowned.


    However, the master and the two elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect fully ignored their disciples'' words as if they had not heard that.


    "Isn''t there any good place for Iron-Dragon Sect to hold an opening ceremony? How could they choose the formal official mansion of Xuantian City? That''s too simple and crude..."


    "Yea, of course, the so-called opening ceremony of a sect should be held in a magnificent palace. I remember that the Immortal Fist Palace where the opening ceremony of Immortal Fist Position Sect was held was really magnificent..."


    "I was told that the servants here were even borrowed from other clans. That''s too hilarious!"


    "Haven''t you found that Fire Dragon Hermit only invited the heroes in the three provinces within Northeast Military Territory? There''s not even a knight outside Northeast Military Territory. It seems that Fire Dragon Hermit has been used to live alone. How could he have no friends and relatives to help him in such an important situation? None of the knights from other provinces came here to congratulate him..."


    "3 decades ago, when my master promoted to an earth knight and held his chakra rotating ceremony, all the elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect had arrived..."


    "Yes, it''s said that Fire Dragon Hermit has just promoted to an earth knight a couple of years ago..."


    Not only Zhang Yang had heard the talks of the disciples of Immortal Fist Position Sect, but even those knight-level powerhouses in the venue had also heard that. Hearing the talks, the disciples of Wang Clan didn''t look good while those guests further confirmed their speculation, namely Immortal Fist Position Sect''s representatives came with evil intent. They might want to stir up trouble here. Many people at present had thought that it should be related with Taiyi Fantasy Sect...


    When the other guests were concerned about that, a louder and longer report sounded from all directions...


    "Fire Dragon Hermit...is coming..."


    ...

 1054 The Appearance of the Hos

    Chapter 1054: The Appearance of the Host


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After hearing this louder and longer report, everybody at present was shocked. Because the lucky time had not arrived, many people were still whispering to each other in a group of two or three. Many guests were not in their own seats, which looked a bit impolite...


    However, the moment they heard this report, all the guests had responded to it. The younger ones rapidly ran to the front of their clans'' seats. As for those dignified knights and elders, after being faintly dumbfounded, they whispered to each other a few more words before walking to seats of their own clans and sects too.


    Even those disciples of Immortal Fist Position Sect who were talking free in the venue just now had closed their mouths. No matter what, these small figures below knight level were not qualified to speak in front of an earth knight. If they were still speaking ill of Fire Dragon Hermit when he was at present, it was equal to posing a challenge to Fire Dragon Hermit and profane the dignity of an earth knight. They dared never be such presumptuous.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, the master and two elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect remained silent.


    In the venue, Nangong Sheng the master of Immortal Fist Position Sect and Lu Dingzhi the master of Lu Clan were the only two earth knights. Being different than Lu Dingzhi who was like a personable uncle, Nangong Sheng had a square, faintly black face with slim eyes and snow-white long beard in a towering crown which was made of violet gold being inlaid with alchemist''s gemstones. Additionally, he wore a grand robe which was embroidered with sun, moons, stars, flowers, birds, fish and insects and a pair of 3-level boat-shaped shoes with tiger head which was made of golden silk. Two beautiful female twins were standing behind him, one was holding a sword by two hands, the other was holding a long vase by two hands. However, the two female twins both looked like tender yet enchanting boys. They looked like kids on the sides of the legendary immortals. Given that grand ostentation, it was absolutely an immortal hermit and one of the masters of the top seven sects in Taixia Country.


    All the others turned around to see Zhang Tie; however, Nangong Sheng just slightly inclined his face to see Zhang Tie. He just touched his snow-white long beard and looked at Zhang Tie in a restrained and arrogant way.


    When Nangong Sheng touched his long beard, the finger ring on that hand became especially eye-catching. A nanobead was clearly inlaid in it. The finger ring was a rare space-teleportation item.


    Within the expectation of everybody at present, Zhang Tie strode out alone.


    The moment Zhang Tie appeared, his height, sturdy figure and that symbolic bald head had won the applaud of many guests inside¡ª¡ªWhat a tough man!


    Compared to Nangong Sheng, the master of Immortal Fist Position Sect, Zhang Tie didn''t wear anything surplus.


    Zhang Tie directly came to the center of the main stage of the venue. At first, he cupped his hands towards all the guests at present with a solemn look silently. At the sight of this, all the knights, elders and masters at present cupped their hands towards Zhang Tie too. Nangong Sheng and two elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect also cupped their hands towards Zhang Tie in a casual way; instead of making trouble at once.


    When cupping his hands towards them, Zhang Tie had noticed all the people at the present. He had almost seen 1/3 of those at present when he competed for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province for Zhang Taixuan. As for those whom he had not met before, he could guess their identities according to the seats of the clans and sects.


    Of course, Zhang Tie had noticed the bad looks of the team of Immortal Fist Position Sect.


    At the sight of the immortal look of Nagong Sheng, the master of Immortal Fist Position Sect, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter inside at once, ''F*ck, are you acting in an opera or telling a story? This dad has seen so many earth knights in Earth-elements Realm; however, none of them are as extravagant as you. Even shadow knights could not match you. If you dress like this in Earth-elements Realm, they would think that you''re a heavenly knight, f*ck!''


    After touching his bald head, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he said, "Now that this Cui has arrived, although it''s still 20 minutes away from the official appearance time, I think it''s unnecessary for me to waste your time here. Therefore, I just came out to talk with you for a while. After all, it''s the first time for me to open a sect just like a bride entering the palanquin. If I offend you due to lack of consideration, please forgive me."


    "Fire Dragon Hermit, you''re too modest!"


    The moment Zhang Tie uttered, all the others started to reply with a smile. The atmosphere was very relaxing.


    The moment they heard Zhang Tie''s words, most of them at present had felt that Fire Dragon Hermit was generous and kind-hearted. Such a kind of person could easily win people''s favor. However, it was just their feeling about Zhang Tie according to his prologue. As the old saying went, nobody could promote to a knight without hardships. Even those people who could promote to black iron knights were uneasy, not to mention an earth knight.


    Zhang Tie continued, "It''s my great honor that you could attend the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect. I''m very happy. Therefore, I should be polite to you. However, it''s too boring only by speaking politely. This Cui doesn''t like boring things. Whatever, the opening ceremonies don''t have a fixed pattern across Taixia Country besides having a dinner and knowing each other. Therefore, I want to make the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect festive like how those stores would do when they opened by holding a promotion or stuff for a good fortune. I also brought you an activity to please you after you traveled so long to Xuantian City. Isn''t it good enough if we could solve things happily?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, many knights at present exchanged glances with each other, except for Elder Muyu and Lu Dingzhi who looked at Zhang Tie seriously. Given their looks, all the female knights at present were interested in Zhang Tie; especially Guo Hongyi, the master of Guo Clan had fallen in love with Zhang Tie the moment he strode out with a great qi field.


    Actually, women were like men in many aspects. Different men would like different types of women; similarly, different women would also like different types of men. Some liked gentlemen; some liked cynical ones; some liked shy ones; some like immortal ones; however, Guo Hongyi liked masculine ones. Pitifully, few men were masculine in Guo Hongyi''s eyes. Compared to this woman, many men felt that they were like women, not to mention masculinity.


    Soon after Zhang Tie finished his words, an elder of Immortal Fist Position Sect had sneered, "Fire Dragon Hermit, you''re really funny. Do you mean that we can enjoy a discount or draw lots for a prize here like what those pedlars did in the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect..."


    Although the words of the Immortal Fist Position Sect sounded like an inquiry, it was more like an irony.


    After hearing the words of the elder of Immortal Fist Position Sect, the venue became quiet at once. Everybody at present confirmed that Immortal Fist Position Sect''s representatives arrived with evil intent. Now that they dared find trouble at the beginning, they were definitely here to ruin the opening ceremony.


    When the elder of Immortal Fist Position Sect opened his mouth, Nangong Sheng was still touching his long beard as if he had not heard it. Therefore, everybody at present understood that the master and the elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect had long reached an agreement.


    In Taixia Country, it almost became a tradition that someone would find trouble in the opening ceremonies of fighting clubs in towns or sects in some mountains. If someone disliked you, they would find you trouble. The opening ceremony and washing hands in the golden basin would become the best place for them to do that. In Taixia Country, there were examples that the opening ceremonies of some sects founded by knights were ruined by someone. However, it was Fire Dragon Hermit''s first time to come to Northeast Military Region in the bounty territory rewarded by the central government; additionally, he had no animosity with local major clans; therefore, nobody at present could imagine that someone dared find him trouble here at the beginning.


    Everybody was waiting for Fire Dragon Hermit''s response. It was the best moment for them to understand Fire Dragon Hermit''s temperament just like that unyielding grasses would be identified in heavy wind and real gold could be identified in raging fire.


    Many people felt thrilled inside.


    "That bro in the seat of Immortal Fist Position Sect, may I know your name?" Zhang Tie still asked with a big smile as if he had not noticed the irony in the elder''s tone.


    "I''m Mo Qi, an elder of Immortal Fist Position Sect!"


    The elder of Immortal Fist Position Sect answered with a faint sneer. He didn''t even stand up.


    "Hahaha..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he pointed at Elder Mo Qi of Immortal Fist Position Sect and said, "Elder Mo Qi, how could you be so smart with such a tiny head? You''re really the worm in my maw. How could you hit my mind so easily only by moving your tiny mouth a few times? Not bad. This Cui is really preparing to hold a game by hitting golden eggs in the opening ceremony..."


    "Tiny head", "Tiny mouth", hearing the two phrases, most of the knights twitched their facial muscles and tried their best to not burst out into laughter. Some female knights couldn''t stand giggling; however, they hurriedly stopped...


    Elder Mo Qi looked a bit thin. He was indeed smaller than Cui Li in terms of figure. No matter what, the phrases "Tiny head" and "Tiny mouth" sounded weird and made people simmer with laughter...


    Elder Mo Qi didn''t know that he was seeking stigma by quarreling with Zhang Tie who had practiced it with so many people from all walks of life in different groceries. He was not even in Zhang Tie''s league...

 1055 Shocking Golden Eggs

    Chapter 1055: Shocking Golden Eggs


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After hearing the words "tiny head", "tiny mouth" and "worm in my maw", Elder Mo Qi of Immortal Fist Position Sect felt that Zhang Tie was standing in front of him, bowing his body and touching his head by hand genially.


    Although Zhang Tie''s words sounded like "praise", Elder Mo Qi of Immortal Fist Position Sect blushed in a split second; especially the "painful" looks of the surrounding people made Elder Mo Qi feel like being a clown in the venue...


    "Fire Dragon Hermit, you..." Elder Mo Qi stood up as he watched Zhang Tie with a blush. He wanted to lose his temper; however, he found that he had no reason or excuse to do that. Therefore, he almost had "internal injuries". Whatever, Elder Mo Qi was evidently "smaller" than Fire Dragon Hermit on both figures and knight ranks.


    "What, do you want to say something, Elder Mo Qi?" Zhang Tie watched Elder Mo Qi with a smile.


    Elder Mo Qi threw a glance at Nangong Sheng on his side.


    "Sit down!" Nangong Sheng moved his facial muscles while uttering a hoarse voice, "After traveling a long way here, we''re guests. We will see what game is Fire Dragon Hermit going to play with us. As those at present are all elders and masters of clans and sects; all of us have rich experiences. I think that Fire Dragon Hermit is definitely not joking with us. It''s not late if Fire Dragon Hermit really dares make a joke with the heroes in the three provinces of Northeast Military Region!"


    Nangong Sheng would like to see how Zhang Tie would lose his face. In his opinion, all the influential figures at present had rich experiences; although there was not a fixed pattern for the opening ceremony of sects in Taixia Country, it had better be solemn. However, Zhang Tie was going to play a game such as hitting golden eggs for a prize like how those pedlars would always do, wasn''t it a joke? Nangong Sheng just wanted to watch Zhang Tie make a fool of himself. When the others felt unhappy about the game, Nangong Sheng would seize the opportunity to make difficulties for Zhang Tie. By then, fewer people would like to stand on Zhang Tie''s side.


    Of course, Zhang Tie knew what Nangong Sheng was thinking about. Hearing Nangong Sheng''s words, Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile. Instead of looking at the mincing Nangong Sheng, he asked Elder Mo Qi with an amazed look, "Elder Mo Qi, who''s that well-dressed actor..."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the others almost burst out into laughter. With eccentric looks, they felt that Fire Dragon Hermit was really talkative. His words made Nangong Sheng unable to lose his temper...


    ''Well-dressed actor?'' After hearing that comment, Nangong Sheng''s face turned blue at once. Feeling suffocated, his hand on the long beard became stiff. Before Elder Mo Qi opened his mouth, Nangong Sheng had replied Zhang Tie, "I''m Nangong Sheng, the master of Immortal Fist Position Sect in Yanzhou Province!"


    "Ha, it''s Master Nangong of Immortal Fist Position Sect. Sorry, sorry. Now that Master Nangong wants to take a look at the game, I will show it to you!" After saying that, Zhang Tie clapped his hands twice. After receiving Zhang Tie''s order, the servants of Wang Clan immediately pushed rows of four-wheeled carts into the venue, 4 people for 1 cart.


    The servants of Wang Clan were very careful. The round items had been fixed on the carts. Each item was higher than 1 m while being covered with a red silk cloth.


    Watching these items being pushed into the venue of the opening ceremony, all those at present were dumbfounded as they exchanged glances with each other. At the same time, they whispered, ''Does Fire Dragon Hermit really want us to hit golden eggs like what those pedlars would always do? This...this...is too hilarious...''


    All those at present were prestigious. Those knight-level elders were thinking, ''Am I going to join the fun on the stage if Fire Dragon Hermit really wants to play such a naive trick?''


    Nangong Sheng revealed a faint sneer as he swore inside, ''Naive! I''ve heard that Fire Dragon Hermit was born in a small family, which had no deep background; it was at most a rural well-off family. He''s rustic and gained "Fire Dragon Sutra" by accident. Look at what he shows us, what a child''s play...''


    "Elder Muyu, what do you think Fire Dragon Hermit is going to do?"


    Zhu Elder asked Elder Muyu in a secret way. Lately, Zhu Clan and Zhang Clan was going to unite by marriage; Zhu Dabiao the grandson of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province was going to marry the granddaughter of Elder Muray of Huaiyuan Palace; additionally, Zhang Yang, the representative of Zhang Clan in Jinwu City would also marry a female junior of Zhu Elder. Because of this relationship, the elders of the two clans were closer to each other and the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province was going to write a letter to Xuanyuan Hill to ask for reversing Zhang Tie''s case after the event broke out in Zhongzhou Province.


    It was normal for major clans to unite by marriage in Taixia Country. Even though they were not for pure interests, such marriages could serve as a lubricant for the relationship between two major clans. As they were of the same family, it would be much more convenient for them to communicate with each other on many occasions. It was just a beginning. As for major clans which had hundreds of thousands of people even over 1 million people, if they confirmed to deepen the relationship between two parties, over 10 pairs even over 100 pairs of juniors from the two clans might get married. Through marriage between two clans, the relationship between two clans might be deepened; additionally, the genes of two clans were valued by the clan elders, which after being combined could make their posterity more excellent.


    "I find Fire Dragon Hermit is not rude. I want to see what game is he going to play. As we''re old enough and don''t want to move; but we can let our juniors to warm up on the stage..."


    "Hoho, I agree with you, Elder Muyu..."


    At this moment, many knights and elders were communicating with each other in a secret way; however, apparently, they didn''t move their mouths at all; instead, they just watched Zhang Tie very elegantly; meanwhile, they were guessing what was inside the "golden eggs".


    There were 18 carts in total. After all of them were pushed inside, they formed a circle in the center of the venue. After putting them in the right places, the servants of Wang Clan left. Each cart was only accompanied by one servant who was ready to unveil the silk cloth by pulling the rope on it. Zhang Tie stood in the center of the venue as he said, "This Cui has just come back from the Earth-elements Realm. I''ve got nothing good but some specialties in Earth-elements Realm. I''d like to share it with you for fun. Given its limited quantity, I could not take care of every single one of you at present. Here are 18 golden eggs. All the clans and sects could have a chance to draw lots for a prize. There''s a number on each golden egg. Therefore, you could only hit the golden egg with the specific number that you will draw. Try your best to hit them. Even if you don''t want to hit them for the time being, you could bring them back home for a decoration like a fengshui. As we''re all neighbors, you will gradually know the temperament of this Cui. I dare not say that I''m a gentleman; however, I''ve not done anything that harmed others to benefit myself or went against reason and nature..."


    After saying that, Zhang Tie waved his hand, telling the servants of Wang Clan to pull off the red silk cloths on those balls in different sizes, unveiling the golden eggs, which left everyone at present dumbfounded...


    18 "golden eggs" were all colorful secret pearls in different sizes. These secret pearls radiated brilliant lights which were similar to that of gold and jade. Under the morning sunlight, they looked pretty brilliant being similar to the effect of the reflection of cat''s eye gems. The 18 secret pearls were in different colors. The moment the silk cloths were unveiled, they had given out brilliant lights, which included red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and purple lights. As a result, it became colorful within 100 square meters which froze the curious or contemptuous looks of the people at present...


    Being buried in the Earth-elements Realm hundreds of millions of years, these secret pearls could barely be exposed under sunlight. However, under sunlight, each secret bead was as resplendent as beautiful gemstones...


    With a sound of "Huala", Zhu Elder stood up at once as he watched those "Golden Eggs" with widely opened eyes. With an unbelievable look, his voice began to quiver, "These...these are...secret pearls in Earth-elements Realm which might contain silver secret items..."


    "Hoho, Zhu Elder is really knowledgeable, these are indeed secret pearls that this Cui brought from Earth-elements Realm. I will gift some of them to you today so as to bring good lucks for the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect. Thanks for coming here..." Zhang Tie said with a calm look.


    ''What? Secret pearls?'' The moment Zhang Tie finished his words, all the other knights, elders and masters of clans and sects had sprung up, causing a sound "Huala". They just wanted to see how secret pearls looked like.


    At least half of knights in Taixia Country, especially black iron knights had never seen secret pearls. As for the rest knights, even though they had seen secret pearls, they might have not seen so many secret pearls at the same time.


    However, everybody was clear what secret pearls meant. They all knew that there might be a precious silver secret item in a secret pearl...


    Those at present had not even heard that anyone could provide so many secret pearls at the same time.

 1056 A Conflic

    Chapter 1056: A Conflict


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Facing the chance that they might get silver secrets, even those elders from clans with provincial governors became restless as they all stood up.


    Even Lu Dingzhi, the master of Lu Clan who had always been calm became thrilled and stood up at once.


    As Lu Dingzhi served as coins producing supervisor in Goldenrock Subcontinent previously, he didn''t have a chance to practice in the Earth-elements Realm. Although he had seen secret pearls sometimes on special occasions, he didn''t have one yet. 4 years ago, Lu Dingzhi lost the competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province; although he had promoted to an earth knight, he still felt his battle strength was not great enough. He was thinking about looking for a silver secret item in Earth-elements Realm lately. It was really out of his imagination that he could have a chance to gain silver secret item now.


    The moment the red silver cloths were unveiled, the female knights at present immediately fixed their eyes onto the 18 secret pearls. Most of the women had no resistance to beautiful and resplendent gemstones. Of course, female knights didn''t lack jewelry; however, the 18 secret pearls were as attractive as irresistible gems to those female knights.


    Watching people''s thirsty looks and the slightly chaotic seats, Zhang Tie revealed a big smile as he said, "These items are just used to spice up the atmosphere, if you want to take a closer look at them or touch them, help yourselves. As for those who could take them away, it depends on your luck..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the elders of clans with provincial governors in the front of the auditorium including Lu Dingzhi and Elder Muyu immediately strode towards those secret pearls with flickering eyes. They started to touch, knock and comment those secret pearls one after another.


    At the sight of this, all the other knights, elders and masters of clans and sects rushed over there at the same time.


    Some of them moved so fast that they even knocked down their chairs, causing chaos.


    Even elders and knights had rushed over there, not to mention those juniors of clans and sects.


    As for these disciples, they were too far away from silver secret items. Many people were destined to dream about it for their whole lives. Now that they could have a chance to touch them, of course, they didn''t want to miss it.


    However, when those young disciples rushed over there, the 18 secret items had long been surrounded by the elders and knights of clans and sects. Therefore, the young disciples could only stand in the periphery and watched the resplendent secret pearls with admiring looks.


    In a split second, there were only two groups of people who were still seated in the auditorium. One of them was the team of Immortal Fist Position Sect.


    The representatives of Immortal Fist Position Sect could never imagine that the so-called golden eggs that Zhang Tie presented were the precious secret pearls in the Earth-elements Realm. Damn it! It was too terrifying! Even in the opening ceremonies of the top seven sects in Taixia Country, nobody had seen so many secret pearls. The so-called local tyrants were nothing but sh*t in front of Zhang Tie''s game.


    The disciples of Immortal Fist Position Sect who said the opening ceremony was too simple and crude blushed at once. Nangong Sheng and two elders on his side became restless too. They also wanted to take a closer look at those secret pearls; however, they felt it was improper. Sitting there, they felt being too special; therefore, they all felt embarrassed.


    The other group of people who didn''t move was Zhang Yang and his two sons. Finding that their dad didn''t move, Zhang Tie''s two nephews didn''t move either; they just watched those hot secret pearls with flickering eyes.


    Zhang Yang didn''t move because he was shocked by Zhang Tie''s game. Among so many people, only Zhang Yang knew that Fire Dragon Hermit was Zhang Tie, his younger brother.


    As Zhang Tie had been escaping for 4 years, Zhang Yang thought that Zhang Tie must be living a poor life; however, at the sight of the 18 secret pearls, Zhang Yang realized that Zhang Tie might live much better than he could imagine in the past 4 years.


    Zhang Yang gazed at Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie also blinked his eyes to his elder brother.


    "Dad, can we take a closer look at those secret pearls?" Until Zhang Chengxu, the second son of Zhang Yang opened his mouth did Zhang Yang make a response, "Erm, fine, fine, we will take a look over there. So many secret pearls almost scared your dad..."


    Zhang Yang whispered to his two sons in order to cover his inactive behavior.


    Of course, even though Zhang Yang was the boss of Jinwu Business Group, he might not be able to force his way in. However, Zhang Yang was not anxious about it because he knew that Zhang Tie could definitely bring more secret pearls than these if he or his sons needed them in the future. With such a rich brother, he didn''t need to worry about that at all...


    Zhang Yang was even firmly convinced that Zhang Tie would find a chance to gift one secret pearl to Huaiyuan Palace in later programs. However, Zhang Yang didn''t know how Zhang Tie would do that in front of so many knight-level powerhouses without exposing the loophole.


    Zhang Tie looked at those guys of Immortal Fist Position Sect with a smile. He ignored them; instead, he just turned around and walked to the center of the crowd. As for Zhang Tie, those guys of Immortal Fist Position Sect were just seasonings, who were trivial roles. He didn''t need to care about them at all. Whatever, those guys couldn''t make big trouble.


    Watching Zhang Tie throwing a glance at them before leaving with a smile, Nangong Sheng looked more furious as he felt being belittled. He had not been treated like this for over 100 years since he promoted to a knight and founded the Immortal Fist Position Sect.


    When Zhang Tie came here, those juniors of clans and sects watched Zhang Tie with awestruck and admiring looks. They hurriedly gave a way to Zhang Tie.


    As for these disciples of clans and sects, they had known the opinions of their own elders before coming here. This time, these elders were actually seeking opportunities to have their disciples be enrolled by Fire Dragon Hermit. Previously, Fire Dragon Hermit was just a strange and dignified name; however, since Zhang Tie appeared; especially after he presented so many secret pearls generously, all the juniors at present felt that it was pretty fortunate for them to learn from such an earth knight.


    When Zhang Tie came to the center of the crowd, some knights and elders were speculating which one of them had a silver secret item.


    Any complete secret pearl might contain a silver secret, which might be a weapon or an extremely precious nanobead or space-teleportation equipment.


    ...


    "I feel this secret pearl probably contains a silver secret item..." Zhu Elder told the others, "Look, this secret pearl faces the south; its attribute is fire; additionally, this pearl looks as yellow as soil, which is rightly consistent with the south. I feel this secret pearl probably contains a silver secret item..."


    "Ahh, Zhu Elder, you''re proficient in Learning of Secret Items ?" One knight asked with an admiring look.


    "No, no, this old man is not proficient in that at all. I just learned a bit from a powerhouse of Five-elements Mentality Sect, just a bit, just a bit!" Zhu Elder replied modestly; however, given his restrained look, he was very satisfied with it. The "Learning of Secret Items" occupied a high position among knights. Those who were proficient in the "Learning of Secret Items" were all something. When one said a knight was proficient in the "Learning of Secret Items", it was like praising a soldier that he could be a general and a woman who could remain young and beautiful forever.


    After hearing the others'' praise, Zhu Elder pointed at Lu Dingzhi who was seriously gazing at a secret pearl which was as scarlet as an agate while being covered with sparkling grains, "Look at younger brother Lu, he''s really proficient in the "Learning of Secret Items"; does younger brother Lu think that secret pearl contains something?"


    Lu Dingzhi turned around with a smile, "When I served as the coins producing supervisor in Goldenrock Subcontinent, I used to touch various stones. I learned how to identify secret pearls according to their energy from the Financial Ministry of Xuanyuan Hill. Because this secret pearl contains pretty high energy, it might contain a space-teleportation equipment such as nanobead..."


    When Zhang Tie approached them, he heard the words of Zhu Elder and Lu Dingzhi. When he heard Zhu Elder''s words, Zhang Tie laughed inside, ''It seems that Zhu Elder has not mastered the essence of the "Learning of Secret Items" of the Five-elements Mentality Sect. The secret pearl that he selects contains nothing. It just has a good look. After hearing Lu Dingzhi''s words, Zhang Tie spoke highly of Lu Dingzhi inside, because the secret pearl selected by Lu Dingzhi was picked from the top region of the Weapons Mountain. The secret pearls in that region of Weapons Mountain probably contain a space-teleportation equipment. That was why Mountain Lifting Hermit and the other two earth knights directly sought for space-teleportation equipment on the top of Weapons Mountain in the hieron ruins.''


    ''The Learning of Secret Itemsfrom the Financial Ministry of Xuanyuan Hill is really something; no wonder they serve the imperial households; however...it''s just so-so...''


    "Ahh, Fire Dragon Hermit..." Watching Zhang Tie coming here, all the knights and elders greeted Zhang Tie with big smiles, which was much more enthusiastic than that at the beginning.


    "Fire Dragon Hermit, your generosity in the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect must become a much-told tale in Northeast Military Region. It''s our great honor to attend this opening ceremony..." Qian Elder touched his beard as he said with a big smile. All the surrounding knights nodded.


    If Zhang Tie really brought here some eggs made of pure gold, even if they could really carry the golden eggs away, the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect would also become a joke. However, as these golden eggs were actually secret pearls, it became a much-told tale. That explained the difference between a joke and a much-told tale.


    It was a joke for the poor to chase after girls in a romantic way; however, it was a much-told tale for the rich to chase after girls in a romantic way. Whether it was a joke or a much-told tale, it had nothing to do with one''s mentality; it just depended on one''s overall strength. Zhang Tie had long thought it through when he was in Blackhot City. Therefore, Zhang Tie prepared such a game. The style of this game was not important; what counted was what were the golden eggs.


    For instance, a shy boy used lichee and other fruits to make a pattern of a bolt penetrating through a heart on the ground so as to affirm his loyalty to a girl and a playboy used diamonds to make the same pattern on the ground so as to affirm his loyalty to a girl; although it was the same pattern, which could confirm that the result was the same...


    In others'' eyes, the first one was a joke while the second one was a much-told tale. The difference between a joke and a much-told tale was similar to that between lichee and diamonds. Pitifully, many shy boys didn''t understand it.


    "Hahaha, glad that you''re happy. As we''re all neighbors and this Cui has just come to the Fire Dragon Bounty Territory like moving to a new home, I have to invite my neighbors, relatives and friends for a dinner out of etiquette..." Zhang Tie replied generously.


    Zhang Tie''s words won him too much praise, ''What a generous man!''


    "Hermit? Did you get all these secret pearls from Earth-elements Realm?" Elder Muyu asked respectfully.


    Zhang Tie sighed with emotion inside, ''Look at the difference between knights on different levels? How could Elder Muyu know that it''s Zhang Tie who talked with him?''


    "These secret pearls came from the Weapons Mountain in a heiron''s ruins in the Earth-elements Realm. I gained them when I made an exploration over there!"


    "Ahh, it was said that Fire Dragon Hermit indeed entered a hieron''s ruins when you made an exploration in the Earth-elements Realm; it was said that the process was very dangerous. I wonder whether it''s the same exploration!" Another knight from Tongzhou Province asked him.


    "Yes, an earth demon knight and a human knight who surrendered to demons attacked us at the crucial moment. As a result, all of us had almost been killed!"


    "Ahh, what about the two earth knights?"


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile frankly, "Hehheh, I killed them both..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, many people around him became shocked; however, many people were not sure whether Zhang Tie was telling the truth or not...


    "I wonder about the process of hitting golden eggs. Whether each one of us has a chance to participate in it?" The master of Huge Saber Sect asked. As a new sect, Huge Saber Sect had a weak foundation. The master of Huge Saber Sect had just promoted to a black iron knight a couple of years ago. Therefore, such sects with weak foundations paid special attention to how to gain these secret pearls in case of missing the opportunity.


    "Of course, each one of you has a chance to participate in it. One golden invitation card means an opportunity. All the clans and sects that have received the golden invitation cards could have a try. After a short while, you should draw number twice; the first number determines the order for you to draw lots; the second number determines which secret pearl will you have. Each clan and sect will have a chance; this Cui makes no exception..."


    When they were thinking about Zhang Tie''s method, Nangong Sheng''s icy sound drifted from outside suddenly.


    "I was told that Fire Dragon Hermit has an excellent battle strength. You even killed an earth-level shadow demon in the Earth-elements Realm. I really admire you. In the grand ceremony, I feel like learning from you here. Will you receive my request..."


    After hearing these words, those who were circling around the secret pearls became silent at once. They had sensed that Immortal Fist Position Sect arrived with an evil intent; however, they could not imagine that Nangong Sheng was here to ruin the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect...


    When he arrived, Nangong Sheng had some worries; after saying these words, he must have been ready for a fight.


    Facing such a challenge, the other party could only have two choices: first, to admit that he couldn''t match the challenger on battle skills; second, to accept the challenge. To a certain extent, it was the regulation for opening a sect in Taixia Country. If one wanted to open a sect, he should be ready to accept the challenge from the those on the same level. If not, such a sect would not be widely accepted.


    Zhang Tie and the master of Immortal Fist Position Sect were both earth knights. Although it looked fair, many guests at present faintly frowned. All of them knew that Fire Dragon Hermit had just promoted to an earth knight for a couple of years. It was said that Fire Dragon Hermit killed the earth-level shadow demon in the Earth-elements Realm by accident. The shadow demon wanted to undermine Fire Dragon Hermit in the shape of a severely injured woman. However, it was undermined by Fire Dragon Hermit. Therefore, Fire Dragon Hermit was rewarded with Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. By contrast, Nangong Sheng had promoted to an earth knight for over 3 decades. Evidently, Nangong Sheng wanted to make Fire Dragon Hermit embarrassed.


    ''Shameless!'' Many knights swore inside.


    However, all those at present knew that Immortal Fist Position Sect was related to Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Therefore, they just waited for Zhang Tie''s response silently.


    Even Elder Muyu became silent at this moment. Actually, Huaiyuan Palace also had a good relationship with Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Lan Yunxi was in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Zhang Taixuan had already predicted this emergency before Huaiyuan Palace''s representatives set off. He told Elder Muyu to not interfere with the conflict between Fire Dragon Hermit and Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    As for the conflict between Fire Dragon Hermit and Taiyi Fantasy Sect, it was said that Fire Dragon Hermit made a bet with Feng Yexiao, the grand elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and won an airboat from the latter. After losing their face, of course, Taiyi Fantasy Sect had to do something for the reputation of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    Zhang Tie turned around. All the others behind him gave a way to him so that Zhang Tie could directly see the representatives of Immortal Fist Position Sect...


    "Do you want to have a fight with me here?" Zhang Tie asked Nangong Sheng while pointing at his own nose.


    "Yes!" Nangong Sheng said while gritting his teeth. If he didn''t launch an attack at this moment, it would be late when the other guests began to "hit golden eggs". By then, all those who gained the benefits would stand on Zhang Tie''s side. As a result, nobody would support him. Therefore, Nangong Sheng made a decision to undermine Zhang Tie''s power and prestige right away before the others hit the golden eggs.


    Nangong Sheng also knew that Zhang Tie cultivated a marquis-level secret method "Fire Dragon Sutra". However, given that Zhang Tie had only practiced it for a couple of years and had just promoted to an earth knight, he didn''t think that it would do any help to Zhang Tie. In his opinion, after practicing a viscount-level secret method for over 30 years, he would never be beaten by a junior who had just promoted to an earth knight.


    ''It''s hard to find a chance to ruin an opening ceremony of a sect. After missing this opportunity, I would barely find another one.''


    ''Additionally, Taiyi Fantasy Sect has promised me a reward for it...''


    Watching Nangong Sheng''s expression "I will beat you for sure", Zhang Tie revealed a smile...


    ...

 1057 Comparing Notes in the Valley

    Chapter 1057: Comparing Notes in the Valley


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "How?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s simple reply, the atmosphere became intense abruptly.


    After finding that Fire Dragon Hermit and Strong Cloud Hermit were going to fight here, those people surrounding the secret pearls dispersed at once. As the fight between two earth knights might cover several miles, fighters below knight level had better stay far away from the effective range of the fight; otherwise, they might be hurt.


    When they dispersed, they were very excited inside because commoners might not easily see how two earth knights fought.


    At this moment, Nangong Sheng had stood up and walked into the venue from his seat, followed by two knight elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect on his sides. It looked pretty dignified.


    After a shrewd eye light flashed, Nangong Sheng revealed a smile, "Fire Dragon Hermit, I was told that there was a battle skill called "Big Sun Fire Dragon Palm" in "Fire Dragon Sutra". I cultivate "Thunder-like Immortal Fist"; dare you to compare notes with me?"


    Although Nangong Sheng''s words sounded fair, all the other knights and elders at present frowned as they swore inside that Nangong Sheng was too cunning and vicious. Because they all knew that the most powerful battle skill in "Fire Dragon Sutra" was spear skill instead of fist skill. Although Nangong Sheng cultivated sword skills, he excelled at his fist position. Immortal Fist Position Sect was also famous for the fist. Why didn''t he compare weapons with Fire Dragon Hermit instead of fist skills? Apparently, he was undermining Fire Dragon Hermit. Additionally, Nangong Sheng intended to prod Fire Dragon Hermit into action with his words. How shameless he was! If Fire Dragon Hermit refused him, it was equal to admitting that he dared not, which would make him more prestigious.


    Of course, Zhang Tie clearly knew what Nangong Sheng was thinking about. However, after hearing that Nangong Sheng was going to fight him with fist skills, Zhang Tie sneered inside, ''Didn''t this old guy know that I excel at Iron-Blood Fist? I have been cultivating Iron-Blood Fist since I was in Blackhot City. During a couple of years in the hieron ruins, I promoted to an earth knight; besides reaching a new height in all the battle skills of Fire Dragon Sutra, I have pushed Iron-Blood Fist to a wholly new height through comparing battle skills of Fire Dragon Sutra with Iron-Blood Fist. Do you want to fight me with fist skills? I''m also looking for a training partner.''


    Zhang Tie was not afraid of the "Thunder-like Immortal Fist" at all. After reaching a realm, the competition between fist skills and secret methods was more like the competition between comprehensions about fist positions; in the final analysis, the competition between humans. However, Zhang Tie had entered this realm when he promoted to a knight. therefore, he didn''t care about the "thunder-like immortal fist" of Nangong Sheng. If his "thunder-like immortal fist" was really better than Zhang Tie''s Iron-Blood Fist, Zhang Tie wouldn''t feel disappointed; instead, he would feel happy. Because he would have a chance to make progress and gnosis. Actually, it was very difficult for him to find such an opponent.


    "Master Nangong, you''re really good at making a choice. The spear skill of "Fire Dragon Sutra" ranks top 10 in Taixia Country, why not Master Nangong compare notes with Fire Dragon Hermit on weapons..."


    Before Zhang Tie replied, a cold, ironical and contemptuous voice had drifted from the guests. It was Guo Hongyi in a hot red skirt who was taking up the cudgels for Zhang Tie.


    Raising her beautiful face, Guo Hongyi was watching Nangong Sheng with a cold look. She was not afraid of the prestige of Immortal Fist Position Sect and Nangong Sheng who was an earth knight. Among those silent men, Guo Hongyi was pretty outstanding and heroic. As a result, those men felt embarrassed.


    "Mind your own business; our fight would be too destructive; additionally, Fire Dragon Hermit and I are just comparing notes; instead of fighting to death. No need to be that serious!" Nangong Sheng slightly shrunk his pupils when he caught sight of Guo Hongyi. However, he hid his real moods and looked righteous, "It''s in the holy war, what do you mean by instigating two earth knights to fight at the cost of their lives here, Miss Guo? Even your master and the master of Guo Clan of South Mountain Palace might not agree with you!"


    After hearing his words, Guo Hongyi instantly became furious like a cracker being lit. She then replied in an extremely icy tone, "Don''t use my master and Guo Clan of South Mountain Palace to suppress me. I gained everything with my own efforts. What do you mean by saying that? Do you think that I dare not fight you just because you''re an earth knight?"


    Nangong Sheng raised his head and watched the sky with crossed arms silently as if he despised to fight her. This drove Guo Hongyi more furious. She almost wanted to beat him right away.


    "Hahahaha...now that Master Nangong wants to compare notes with me, go ahead, as it''s in the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect, it''s improper to use weapons!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter at the critical moment as he told Guo Hongyi, "Young sister Guo, thanks for your good intention, I was also looking for someone to compare notes lately. Now that Master Nangong cultivates "Thunder-like Immortal Fist", I will compare notes with Master Nangong on fist skills!"


    ''Previously, I called you elder sister; now I call you younger sister. Haha, we''re even.'' Zhang Tie recalled when he met Guo Hongyi in Youzhou City for the first time when he spoke. ''According to Nangong Sheng, Guo Hongyi''s master and clan sounds great. Guo Clan of South Mountain Palace might be like Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace. Therefore, Nangong Sheng was a bit scared about her. There''re so many surnames in Taixia Country, there''s a top family on the back of each major surname. As Zhang Tie has just been in Taixia Country for a few years, he only knew something about Zhang Clan in Taixia Country; he knew that Tianlu Palace, Guanying Palace and Bairen Palace were the top branches in Zhang Clan across Taixia Country.


    "Good, Fire Dragon Hermit is really a hero. This master will learn from your fist. However, it''s not convenient for us to compare notes here. We''d better choose another place!" Nangong Sheng praised Zhang Tie.


    "It''s simple, how about finding some place outside the city?"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie told his elder brother in a secret way, "Don''t worry". Closely after that, he released some tracing feathers onto those secret pearls in case that someone stole them away. After that, he flew off over 100 m high above Xuantian Courtyard of Iron-Dragon Sect and waved his hand towards Nangong Sheng. After exchanging a glance with the two elders on his side, Nangong Sheng directly flew off with the two elders at the same time.


    Zhang Tie flew ahead of the 3 people towards the outside of Xuantian City.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, all the knights and elders in the venue flew off after Zhang Tie and Nangong Sheng. If they didn''t join this fun, it would be too pitiful. The fight between two earth knights would definitely enlighten black iron knights; additionally, this fight was full of suspense. It was a very rare opportunity for Fire Dragon Hermit to compare notes with Strong Cloud Hermit on fist skills. Even Guo Hongyi had stomped her feet to the ground and followed them away.


    The juniors below knight level could only raise their heads and watch those knights flying away with admiring looks, ''This is knight''s world. They could come and go whenever they want. That''s too handsome.''


    "It''s time for us to take a good look at these secret pearls..." Someone suddenly said which reminded everybody else. Closely after that, they hurriedly rushed to the side of those secret pearls and started to touch them with flickering eyes. They almost drooled.


    As for those people who joined the fun outside Xuantian Courtyard, watching so many knights flying off Xuantian Courtyard towards the outside of Xuantian City, they all became perplexed as they only felt that knights were really marvelous.


    ...


    A few minutes later, those knights flying out of Xuantian Courtyard entered a barren, unpopulated valley which covered dozens of square miles in Yangui Mountain Range outside Xuantian City.


    There seemed to be a quarry in the valley previously; however, the quarry might have already been deserted for dozens of years as there were only some standing rotten woods in the quarry. The mountain rocks which had been expedited were covered with moss.


    "Here!" Zhang Tie landed on a boulder which was over 10 m in height in the valley.


    "Fine, it''s not bad!" Nangong Sheng also landed on the same boulder, being over 30 m away from Zhang Tie.


    All the other knights, including the two elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect, had stopped over 500 m away in the air. At the same time, many people had released their protective battle qis.


    "How?"


    "How about close combat? If not, we might not see a result in a few days. As it''s younger brother Cui''s opening ceremony, we''d better not waste time!" Nangong Sheng narrowed his eyes as he replied with a pun.


    "Well, close combat then. The one who escapes out of the valley and admits that he''s beaten will be the loser, how about that?"


    "Haha, younger brother Cui is too forthright!"


    "Please..."


    "Please..."


    The two people made a starting gesture at the same time. In a split second, the fierce battle intentions of the two earth knights boiled in the valley.


    Nangong Sheng''s starting gesture was punching against the sky by one hand and the ground by the other hand at the same time while faintly lowering his body, which looked pretty domineering. At the same time, his battle qi tornado rushed into the sky while his battle intention grew increasingly stronger. Additionally, as his battle qi tornado rushed into the sky, the sunny sky was gradually covered with black clouds. At the sight of this scene, all the surrounding knights, including Lu Dingzhi and some elders of clans with provincial governors changed their faces at the same time...

 1058 Thunder-like Booms

    Chapter 1058: Thunder-like Booms


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "When the fist starts, the clouds move!" Elder Muyu exclaimed out of amazement.


    Nobody could imagine that Nangong Sheng had entered such a supreme realm in his thunder-like immortal fist. He could even have a contact with the universe.


    It was definitely the peak level of this battle skill.


    Only earth knights who had formed their earth chakra could reach the supreme realm of integrating with the universe of their battle skill. Black iron knights could only long for this realm yet couldn''t realize it at all. Actually, very few earth knights could reach this supreme realm. At least Zhang Tie had not seen any earth knight displaying such a great ability before Nangong Sheng.


    "Our master of the sect has cultivated Thunder-like Immortal Fist for 100 years. After promoting to an earth knight, he practiced it for over 10 more years with his full efforts. He''s already entered the supreme realm of Thunder-like Immortal Fist and could integrate with the universe. Speaking of fist skills, only our master could reach the supreme realm of integrating with the universe within Northeast Military Region..." Elder Mo Qi said pleasantly after throwing a glance at the surrounding onlookers...


    Watching the dense black clouds caused by Nangong Sheng''s battle qi tornado above the valley, all the knights in the surrounding changed their faces; even Zhang Tie looked unprecedentedly solemn.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Nangong Sheng could be so powerful, ''It seems that Nangong Sheng had prepared well for this fight.''


    At this moment, Zhang Tie realized that he was overconfident. In this world, not everybody in the role of "clown" and "bad guys" had to set off you. In many cases, because these kind of people were always heartless and as persistent as wolves, they could always make their full efforts to reach their targets. They treated everybody viciously, including themselves. They had a strong mind and could bear loneliness and pains that the others couldn''t bear. Therefore, this kind of people could always gain the achievements that many "positive roles" and "good person" couldn''t. They always had special talents.


    In cultivation, one''s achievements had nothing to do with morality; it was only related to sweats and efforts.


    However, even though he was shocked, Zhang Tie immediately lit his battle intent like a wildfire. At this moment, facing Nangong Sheng, Zhang Tie instantly felt being as oppressive as facing Glaze when in Blackhot City. This long-lost feeling of oppression enabled Zhang Tie''s blood veins to go berserk. He felt his battle qi was going to boil up.


    It was pretty lucky for a person to meet such a powerful opponent.


    "Good, when the fist starts, the clouds move; the God really favors me..." Zhang Tie laughed while a thick battle qi tornado rushed into the sky, "Master Nangong is the first earth knight that I met who could reach the realm of integrating his battle skill with the universe. If I was beaten by your fist position, I would declare that the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect became ineffective. You can just treat it as a cheerful party in Xuantian City. If this Cui could beat you on fist skills, I would reopen my Iron-Dragon Sect!"


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to call Nangong Sheng master because he really respected Nangong Sheng and the realm that Nangong Sheng entered.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, all the onlookers became visibly moved. Nobody could imagine that Fire Dragon Hermit could be so generous facing such a powerful enemy. As a result, they felt that Fire Dragon Hermit was even more heroic than themselves.


    Fire Dragon Hermit was a real man!


    Zhang Tie''s reply made all the onlookers'' blood boiled.


    Nangong Sheng quivered his eyebrows as he was also shocked by Zhang Tie''s masculinity and felt moved inside. Although he came here to ruin the opening ceremony, he also held Zhang Tie in high respect after hearing the latter''s reply, "Fine, if you win, from today on, my Immortal Fist Position Sect will stay far away from your Iron-Dragon Sect!"


    "Fine, that''s what man should do!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he made a strange starting gesture.


    Zhang Tie put his two fists against each other before his chest. The others didn''t know what this starting gesture meant. Only Zhang Tie knew that it was called introspection gesture.


    Nangong Sheng had reached the supreme realm of integrating his fist skill with the universe. However, Zhang Tie had not reached that realm yet. Conversely, he could only retrospect himself by his fist, ''What does the extreme strength mean? What does the movement in accordance with universal laws mean? What does life mean? What does death mean? What does success mean? What does failure mean? What is the spirit of a fist?''


    ...


    Zhang Tie made a starting gesture with a solemn look. Meanwhile, he closed his eyes.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s starting gesture, Nangong Sheng''s eyes shined too.


    In the next 2 minutes, the air in the valley seemed to be frozen. Neither Zhang Tie nor Nangong Sheng moved. However, their battle qi tornadoes were wrestling and roaring, which shocked the entire Xuantian City in the distance...


    The black clouds above the valley grew thicker. All of a sudden, a drop of rain fell off from thousands of meters high...


    When the drop of rain reached a few meters above Zhang Tie''s head, it suddenly froze like being caught by a hand. At the same time, Zhang Tie opened his sparkling eyes...


    Meanwhile, Nangong Sheng also moved. He strode towards Zhang Tie; Zhang Tie also strode towards him. Although they were dozens of meters away from each other, they soon approached each other in one step. Closely after that, their punches collided with each other face-to-face...


    With a boom, tens of thunder-like booms sounded over the valley while the 10-m high boulder under their feet vanished in a split second while thousands of spalls shot in all directions. Many neighboring boulders directly became powders. At the same time, a strong shock wave swept over several square miles. Even a 10-cm thick small tree which grew up in a riprap hundred of meters away was broken and sent flying dozens of meters away like having been split by a huge ax.


    The fast flying spalls were even more destructive than the ammunition fired by powerful steam centrifugal cannons. Many spalls directly hit the protective battle qis of those onlooking knights over 500 m away, causing sound "Tsi"; additionally, the protective battle qis of the onlooking knights rocked. Feeling those powerful spalls, those onlooking knights changed their faces once again. Needless to say, most of the onlooking knights hurriedly moved 200 m away; only a few knights stayed within the range of 500 m...


    The wind and cloud in the valley grew intense abruptly, causing ceaseless thunders...


    ...


    At the same time, an extremely brilliant airboat passed through the airspace of Yanzhou Province towards Xuantian City. Bai Suxian in an imperial robe as beautiful as a fairy was standing at the prow of the airboat. Not only that, she was losing her temper to an old man by stomping her feet to the ground and putting her hands on both sides of her waist.


    "If I''m late and couldn''t catch up with Brother Cui''s opening ceremony, it''s all your fault; it''s all your fault; go back to your Lord Guangnan''s Mansion..."


    The old man revealed a bitter smile as he explained to Bai Suxian in a humble way, "Miss, we have to pass through the airspace of Yongzhou Province and Mozhou Province; but we don''t know that the Class A cities in these provinces are under martial law. Even their airspace has been blocked and airboats should be checked. Even if we could pass through the checks smoothly with the brand of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, we have to waste some time on the way..."


    "Whatever, it''s your fault..."


    "Yes, it''s all this old slave''s fault!" The old man revealed a benign smile. However, in a split second, he looked icy and aggressive, "If anyone who dared speak ill of Miss and made Miss unhappy, this old slave would make him unhappy for the rest of his life. As this old slave watched Miss grow up, I would never make you feel bad..."


    Soon after he finished his words, the old man who called himself this old slave suddenly felt something. He looked through the left porthole in the prow. Right over dozens of miles away, a same purple airboat caught up with them and flew towards Xuantian City shoulder to shoulder.


    "Yi? Tianlu Palace''s airboat..."


    The old man immediately recognized the background of the airboat through the bow-shaped clan''s emblem on the airboat.


    Hearing Tianlu Palace''s airboat, Bai Suxian immediately recalled something. Like being stepped onto her tail, she sprung up at once as she gritted her teeth and said, "Fly ahead of it, don''t let the foxtrel of Tianlu Palace arrive before us. The elders of Tianlu Palace have too many evil ideas. Do they think that I don''t know that..."


    ...


    The fight between two earth knights on fist skills made the onlookers dazzled.


    Zhang Tie and Nangong Sheng punched each other as fast as lightning bolts and as slow as two giants lifting mountains, which was really earthshaking.


    However, the speed of earth knight''s movements was relative. After entering the realm of fists, in commoners'' eyes, their fast movements were like slow motions. However, when they really slowed down their speed, others would feel that they were moving super fast. If not the constant shock waves and thunder-like booms in the valley, almost nobody could observe that the two people were colliding with each other...


    Among the onlookers, perhaps less than 10 people could see clearly how Zhang Tie fought Nangong Sheng.


    These knights who could see clearly how the two knights fought were very amazed.


    Nangong Sheng''s cultivation base on his fist skill had entered the supreme realm of integrating with the universe; what was more shocking was that Fire Dragon Hermit whose fist skill was not outstanding could also enter a fantastic realm of his fist skill. In about half an hour, Fire Dragon Hermit and Nangong Sheng almost drew. If not having a sharp eyesight and a powerful knight''s consciousness, they could almost not find the trivial difference between Fire Dragon Hermit and Nangong Sheng in fist skills...

 1059 The Unrivaled Punch

    Chapter 1059: The Unrivaled Punch


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In a split second, numerous shadowy fists punched towards Zhang Tie in an overwhelming manner. With thunder-like booms, Nangong Sheng''s fists integrated with the universe with a greater strength. With a surging battle qi, Nangong Sheng''s fists became as irresistible as rolling thunders. However, Zhang Tie didn''t fear about that at all. He punched against Nangong Sheng''s fists face-to-face in the booming shock waves and blocked the greater part of Nangong Sheng''s strike. But the trivial difference between the cultivation bases of the two fist skills was enlarged at this moment...


    Scholars or fighters, there was always the best one. Even two earth knights only had a trivial difference at the beginning, the result would be remarkable.


    In the blink of an eye, Nangong Sheng''s fists had turned as overwhelming as a flood that spurted out small breaches of a dam at a fast speed. After destroying the dam, they poured onto Zhang Tie''s body once again.


    The bit of fist intent that leaked out of Zhang Tie''s blockade immediately turned into a big river from a trickle and hit Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi hundreds of times...


    The last ten more fists of Nangong Sheng broke Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi once again, hitting him onto the valley like a falling meteor. As a result, it caused a big pit deeper than 10 m. The rocks within 50 m were broken into fine powders...


    They had been fighting over 4 hours.


    3 hours ago, namely after they fought 1 hour, the bit of advantage of Nangong Sheng''s fist position finally became magnified as his thunder-like immortal fist broke through Zhang Tie''s defense for the first time and hit Zhang Tie onto the ground, causing a huge pit.


    It was already the 11th time for Zhang Tie to be hit down from the sky by Nangong Sheng.


    This time, after Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi was broken, the thunder-like immortal fists closely hit onto his body, causing him to fall down with blood streams...


    After a few hours'' battle, this valley had already been severely destroyed. If you looked at it seriously, you would find traces which were like being hit by meteors on the ground and the cliffs on both sides of the valley, which were left by Zhang Tie.


    ''Is it over?''


    At the sight of this scene, all the onlookers in the sky became confused.


    During the past 4 hours, Nangong Sheng had shown the supreme realm of his thunder-like immortal fist once again, it was many people''s first time to see how one''s battle skill integrated with the universe. The moment Nangong Sheng threw punches, the heavy wind and rain would go berserk around the valley along with rolling thunders. The echoes of the thunders in the valley could resonate with his fists, making his fists more powerful in a split second.


    What was more shocking was that Fire Dragon Hermit also reached a high realm in his fist skill. If not Nangong Sheng had entered the supreme realm of integrating his fist skill with the universe, the winner of this battle must be Fire Dragon Hermit; instead of Nangong Sheng. Fire Dragon Hermit was definitely a master in fist position.


    What was more impressive was that Fire Dragon Hermit''s protective battle qi. Average earth knights'' protective battle qis might have been broken by Nangong Sheng''s constantly thunder-like immortal fists in close combat in 2 hours; however, Fire Dragon Hermit''s protective battle qi could almost bear 2 more times'' longer than the others.


    Even though Fire Dragon Hermit''s protective battle qi was powerful, he was always defensive. The difference between their realms in their fist skills determined that Fire Dragon Hermit was in a disadvantageous position. Therefore, his protective battle qi could only face Nangong Sheng''s strikes negatively. Even though it was only a trivial difference, through numerous times'' collisions like this would lead to the final result.


    ''What a pity!''


    Elder Muyu and Zhu Elder threw a glance at each other before feeling a bit pitiful inside.


    "Fire Dragon Hermit is a bit younger and vigorous. If he didn''t agree with Nangong Sheng that they would only compare notes on fist skills, Nangong Sheng would never defeat him. Fire Dragon Hermit could reach this realm in his fist skill, not to mention his realm in spear skill..." Zhu Elder told Elder Muyu in secret means.


    "Perhaps, Fire Dragon Hermit could have a brighter future through this frustration. It doesn''t matter whether he will open his Iron-Dragon Sect or not; because it''s just a matter of reputation; neither will it influence Fire Dragon Hermit to enroll his apprentices. Fire Dragon Hermit lost this battle in a glorious manner. No matter what, Fire Dragon Hermit is the owner of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory; Nangong Sheng might fear that Fire Dragon Hermit would seek for a revenge one day..."


    "The realm of integrating one''s battle skill with the universe is already magical. It''s said that after promoting to a heavenly knight, the realm of integrating one''s battle skill with the universe would further promote to a preliminary power of territory. By then, it would be overwhelming. Zhao Yuan, the alchemist demon, who ranks first on the wanted list of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country used his power of territory of his earth furnace to kill many knight-level powerhouses like the deputy master of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and the young master of Heavens Holding Pavilion in Mojiang City, Songzhou Province. That''s too vicious..."


    "This time, we''ve really underestimated Nangong Sheng. None of the earth knights are average. I wonder whether Nangong Sheng could make a further progress in the future..."


    "Hoho, Elder Muyu, you''re thinking too much. It took Nangong Sheng over 70 years to promote to an earth knight. According to his speed of cultivation, it would take him at least 200 more years to promote to a heavenly knight. As the holy war is going to break out in a large scale in Taixia Country, nobody would know about the situation 200 years later. Even earth knights have to consider whether they could survive this holy war or not..."


    "You''re right, Zhu Elder..."


    After throwing a glance at each other, the two elders didn''t speak any more; instead, they moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie who had fallen into the valley once again...


    Zhang Tie was lying at the bottom of the huge pit silently, facing up. The rainwater was filling the huge pit from all directions, soaking the greater part of the body of Fire Dragon Hermit.


    Just now, both Elder Muyu and Elder Zhu had clearly seen that Zhang Tie was severely injured by Nangong Sheng; however, it was not a fatal blow. If Zhang Tie was a black iron knight, he might have already been killed; however, an earth knight wouldn''t be so fragile...


    Suspending in the air, Nangong Sheng watched Zhang Tie, who had almost been fully soaked by rainwater in the huge pit. He didn''t keep attacking Zhang Tie. Because they were comparing notes; instead of fighting to death. They only needed to see who was the winner. If Nangong Sheng really wanted to kill Zhang Tie, those onlookers might stop him. Actually, if Zhang Tie tore up the agreement between them, it was not uncertain whom to kill. Only Zhang Tie knew how difficult was this battle to him.


    Nangong Sheng could clearly feel that Zhang Tie didn''t use his full efforts. Because Zhang Tie had not released the earth-level virtual image of "Fire Dragon Sutra" until now.


    Zhang Tie could fight Strong Cloud Hermit so long just with his fist, not to mention his spear skill of "Fire Dragon Sutra". Spear skill and fist skill were of the same origin. Spear was actually the extension of arms. Spear was as same as the fist on putting forth their strength and explosive pattern. In many cases, spear skill and fist skill were similar to each other. Many famous powerhouses in spear skill and fist skill practiced spear skill and fist skill at the same time. Those who were good at spear skill would definitely excel at fist skill; similarly, those who were good at fist skill would definitely be proficient in spear skill. Even the disciples of Immortal Fist Position Sect would always tremble their spears to sense how to put forth their strength. Nangong Sheng was also good at spear skill; however, he didn''t pay special attention to it; instead, he just focused on cultivating his fist skill. Given Zhang Tie''s performance, Nangong Sheng realized that Zhang Tie was definitely a powerhouse in both spear skill and fist skill...


    In others'' eyes, the winner of this battle was Nangong Sheng; however, Nangong Sheng didn''t look as relaxed and proud as what a real winner should look; instead, he looked pretty solemn as he was deeply shocked by Zhang Tie''s proficiency in fist skill and feared about Zhang Tie''s valiance and braveness in battle. Watching the huge pits and collapsed cliffs in the valley, if it were Nangong Sheng himself, he might have long released his virtual image. However, Zhang Tie still didn''t exert his full efforts in this situation; instead, he just compared notes with Nangong Sheng on fist skills. It indicated that Zhang Tie''s potential was absolutely greater than that of Nangong Sheng. What a terrifying opponent!


    Actually, Nangong Sheng had already been regretful that he promised Taiyi Fantasy Sect to ruin the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect. After offending such a powerful enemy, nobody could feel relaxed. Additionally, even if Nangong Sheng won this battle by accident, there would be a lot of troubles waiting for him. However, now that it had come to a start, Nangong Sheng could only stand it by gritting his teeth.


    "Fire Dragon Hermit, do you admit that you''ve lost this battle?" Nangong Sheng watched the ground as he opened his mouth while his voice reverberated in the sky.


    In the reverberating voice, two huge airboats flew over here almost at the same time...


    ...


    Lying on the ground in the shape of the character "´ó", Zhang Tie was wet all over. Watching the dense black clouds, he just allowed the rainwater to fall onto his face and eyes...


    Feeling the long-lost pain of being torn apart, Zhang Tie felt it was a bit fresh. Because of the heavy rain, the rainwater flew into the huge pit from all directions. Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had floated in the rainwater.


    Due to his sturdy figure, Zhang Tie''s wounds were not as severe as imagined by others. These wounds basically didn''t weaken his battle strength at all. In pains and coldness, Zhang Tie''s awareness and soul became unprecedentedly clear and tranquil. He was clearly recalling Nangong Sheng''s fists and movements and each collision between them like still images as fast as lightning bolts at an increasingly higher speed...


    The cloudy sky was filled with rolling thunders. Zhang Tie just watched the rolling black clouds and the faint lightning bolts in the black clouds and the sun in the distance without even blinking his eyes as if he had entered meditation...


    ''In the sky, the extreme strength is from the sun. The sun travels in the sky and breeds all the living beings. It gives out its light in the void for hundreds of millions of years. When the sky creates killing opportunities, it will alter the universe!''


    ''Above the ground, the extreme strength is from lightning bolts. The moment the thunders sounded, the mountains would rock; all the living beings would be scared. Lightning bolts are irresistible. When the ground creates killing opportunities, dragons and snakes will fly off the ground!''


    ''What about the extreme strength of humans?''


    Zhang Tie roared inside...


    As a lightning bolt flashed by, Zhang Tie faintly saw some bizarre images...


    A volcano erupted under his foot. At the same time, in the sky, a far-ancient beast as fierce as a huge dragon flew across the sky. It flapped its wings, causing heavy winds and black clouds within thousands of miles. A giant as high as 3,000 m roared as it stomped to the ground, causing the cracks on the ground; even rivers and lakes dried. Additionally, the magma spurted out of the ground like a flowing river...


    The great catastrophe ruined all the living beings on the earth...


    In such a dangerous situation, various human races were kneeling down and worshipping the God with sacrifices for the forgiveness of the fierce beast. On the other side of the land, numerous Hua brave men in simple animal hides were looking at the fierce beast flying across the sky with black pupils and swaying black hair barefoot facing the heavy wind and rain. In front of that fierce beast, these brave men became as trivial as ants. However, they still raised their heads and watched the deity-like fierce beast with fearless looks...


    On the land behind these Hua brave men, there were numerous Hua tribes...


    Among those brave men, an old man with a white beard cut open the skin of his belly with fingernails and peeled it off from his lower abdomen before covering it over the simple stony pot. Closely after that, he started to beat the drum by fists.


    The drumbeats and the roars of Hua brave men shocked the entire ground.


    "Fight..." The old man who was beating the drum pointed at the fierce beast by one finger who caused endless catastrophe to humans.


    Those Hua brave men in simple animal hides roared. All the brave men tightly held their fists before rushing into the sky...


    The brutal battle started...


    Before many Hua brave men approached the fierce beast, they had been torn apart by the lightning bolts, storms and magma and turned into dust and blood foam. Even though it was the last moment, all the Hua brave men were still tightly holding their fists. They didn''t lose their fists until death. In the same battle, Hua brave men constantly gave out bizarre lights while their battle qi smokes and tornadoes rushed into the sky one after another...


    The battle in the frontline lasted for many years. However, in the tribes in the rear end, all the Hua young men were clenching their fists which were covered with the blood of the wild beast with firm and persistent eye lights in the ceremony of becoming fighters. They raised their fists above their heads. Closely after that, they clenched their fists and marched on towards the battlefield where their fathers and elder brothers had fought to death along the footsteps of their predecessors...


    One day, the battlefield suddenly became dark while a flying Hua youngster gave out brilliant lights, in which, the entire world and the fierce beast became still at once. Closely after that, a fist broke the sky like a far-ancient long rainbow and a hot sun. In a split second, the sky collapsed and the ground cracked; the daytime became dark in the clear and boundless sky. The stars were looming in the sky while the ground under his foot rolled; the rivers and lakes dried up while the grasses and woods withered. Facing that fist, the fierce beast quivered due to fear and vanished immediately...


    It seemed that the fist came from far-ancient times. Besides killing that fierce beast, it even broke a barrier in Zhang Tie''s awareness and body. In a split second, countless lightning bolts flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind...


    Right then, Zhang Tie heard the question of Nangong Sheng from the sky.


    "Fire Dragon Hermit, do you admit that you''ve lost this battle?"


    The voice was very close as if it was right at his ears; it also seemed to be far away in the skyline...


    When Zhang Tie heard this voice, he saw two airboats flying towards here and the enchanting figure of Bai Suxian who was watching him from a suspending airboat...


    ...


    ''Fist position requests humans to create opportunities!''


    ''When one creates killing opportunities, the ground and the sky will be reversed!''


    ''When they are reversed, they will produce a great energy. It''s similar to yin and yang, life and birth, victory or failure.''


    ''The spirit and soul of fist skill is to be dauntless!''


    ''The extreme strength of humans lies in the heart!''


    Zhang Tie understood it at once while the battle qi rolled inside his body...


    ...


    "Ahh, isn''t my Brother Cui holding an opening ceremony in Xuantian City? What did you do to my Brother Cui?" Bai Suxian''s sound arrived before her body.


    Everybody at present, including Nangong Sheng, stared at Bai Suxian and the airboat behind her with a dumbfounded look. Those sharp-eyed guys had noticed the symbol of Lord Guangnan in Taixia Country on the airboat.


    Lord Guangnan''s Mansion was a top major clan in Taixia Country.


    When the others were speculating about the background of this airboat, Bai Suxian in an imperial robe had flown off the airboat hurriedly while her tender voice "Brother Cui" almost struck the knights and elders to death. As a result, those knights and elders just exchanged glances with each other...


    Especially Nangong Sheng the master of Immortal Fist Position Sect, whose face immediately turned purple.


    ''It''s Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. In Taixia Country, a lord''s mansion is even higher than a military region. A female knight in an imperial robe of princess flew off the lord mansion''s airboat and called Cui Li "My Brother Cui". What did this mean? What''s the relationship between the two of them? What''s the relationship between Cui Li and Lord Guangnan''s Mansion?"


    However, before Nangong Sheng recovered his composure from these questions, another airboat flew over here from afar. The moment the hatch door of the second airboat opened, over 10 knights flew off the airboat.


    "Hahaha, younger brother Cui Li, I know that you''re going to hold the opening ceremony of your Iron-Dragon Sect, this elder brother came here to congratulate you. The strict checks wasted our Tianlu Palace a bit time on the way, hopefully younger brother Cui doesn''t blame me for that!"


    The voice of Zhang Anguo, the grand elder of Tianlu Palace drifted from the second airboat.


    After hearing this voice, Nangong Sheng immediately felt thirsty while his neck became stiff. The two elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect looked especially bad as if they were going to cry.


    After ruining Fire Dragon Hermit''s opening ceremony, Immortal Fist Position Sect offended Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and Tianlu Palace at the same time. The small Immortal Fist Position Sect only had three knights; however, it offended two major forces in Taixia Country at the same time; that''s too far-stretched...


    At this moment, to be honest, Nangong Sheng even wanted to lie down in the valley on behalf of Cui Li...


    ...


    The moment Bai Suxian arrived here, she had caught sight of Cui Li who was lying at the bottom of the huge pit.


    Bai Suxian didn''t watch how Zhang Tie fought Nangong Sheng just now; she just watched Zhang Tie''s battle qi tornado when the airboat was far away from here. She thought that Zhang Tie was fighting someone here. Therefore, she accelerated towards here. When Bai Suxian arrived here and saw Zhang Tie lying still in the huge pit, she thought that Zhang Tie had been killed. Therefore, with a wailful exclamation, she was going to dart towards the foot of the valley.


    However, another figure appeared on Bai Suxian''s side and pulled her back rapidly...


    "What are you doing?" Bai Suxian was driven mad as she patted the chest of the old man who was holding her wrist by his palm.


    The old man frankly accepted her palm and remained still as if Bai Suxian was brushing down dust for him. However, the old man watched Zhang Tie who was lying in the huge pit of the valley with flickering yet faintly fearful eyes as he said, "Miss, don''t approach me, it''s dangerous..."


    "This is Brother Cui, I wonder whether my Brother Cui is dead or not, I have to take a look at him over there!" Bai Suxian wanted to get rid of the old man''s hand; however, it didn''t work at all. The old man directly pulled her away rapidly, "That man''s qi..."


    At this moment, Zhang Anguo the grand elder of Tianlu Palace also arrived. Closely after that, he felt something as he faintly changed his face too...


    At this moment, all the earth knights at present had felt an earth-shaking qi as berserk as a far-ancient fierce beast rising from the bottom of the valley...


    When this berserk qi rushed into the sky, the sky was instantly covered with heavy black clouds which looked like a rolling tide tens of thousands of meters high within hundreds of square miles. As a result, the entire Fire Dragon Bounty Territory was in dark within thousands of square miles, including Xuantian City. The heavy clouds looked terrifyingly dark red like blood. Lightning bolts sparkled in the clouds, followed by rolling thunders while people in Xuantian City thought that the doomsday was coming...


    Those knights who had witnessed Nangong Sheng''s supreme realm of integrating his fist skill with universe just now widely opened their mouths when they saw the changing weather which was much more terrifying than the scene of Nangong Sheng. They uttered, "Is...is...this also the supreme realm of integrating fist skill with universe..."


    Even knights couldn''t believe it, not to mention commoners.


    As for Nangong Sheng, the scene of integrating his fist skill with universe only influenced the valley which covered dozens of square miles; however, as for Zhang Tie, the scene of integrating his fist skill with the universe was like a great universal catastrophe...


    At the sight of this marvelous scene, Nangong Sheng''s face turned pale as his body quivered all over...


    All of a sudden, it became dark once again while the earth started to quiver. At the same time, a bloody lightning bolt as thick as a few meters suddenly broke the clouds and cast onto Zhang Tie''s body.


    The rainwater in the huge pit evaporated in a split second in the lightning bolt; however, Zhang Tie was safe and sound; instead, his body shone as it floated up in the lightning bolt in a weird way. Like a Thor, he made a simple fist mark in the lightning bolt by hands. The moment the fist mark came into being, numerous lightning bolts had charged at the ground from the clouds at the same time within hundreds of square miles.


    "Since the beginning of the universe, who could punch through the sky? Who could defeat me with fists? The extreme strength lies in the heart. My heart is the truth. My killing intent would be resonated by the universe..." Zhang Tie looked up and sighed with emotion while numerous lightning bolts struck him once again as a response...


    Facing the coercion of numerous lightning bolts, the surrounding knights had to evacuate 1 more mile away. Only Nangong Sheng was watching Zhang Tie rising in the lightning bolts as lonely as a little bird in the storm. Closely after that, Zhang Tie punched him from hundreds of meters away...


    Before Zhang Tie''s punch approached him, a bloody lightning bolt had turned into a ball-shaped lightning bolt and severely struck Nangong Sheng...


    ...

 1060 Ism a Great Master

    Chapter 1060: I''m a Great Master


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Nobody at present could imagine that Zhang Tie''s fist would attract a bloody ball-shaped lightning bolt to strike Nangong Sheng, including Nangong Sheng himself.


    When the ball-shaped lightning bolt struck Nangong Sheng, causing a boom, Zhang Tie''s punch also arrived.


    The lightning bolt and fist almost arrived at the same time. At the sight of this, Nangong Sheng raised his eyebrows while widely opening his eyes and roaring. He resisted the punch and the lightning bolt at the same time; however, before Zhang Tie punched for the second time, Nangong Sheng had been sent flying away and finally collided against the ground in the valley like a meteor, causing another huge pit in the messy valley...


    Like how Nangong Sheng behaved before, Zhang Tie didn''t continue to attack him; instead, he just suspended above the valley and waited for Nangong Sheng to pick himself up. Meanwhile, he raised his head and watched the thick clouds with an evidently shocking sense inside...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie finally understood the so-called supreme realm of integrating one''s battle skill with the universe. It was a very marvelous realm. At the same time, Zhang Tie reached a wholly new realm and had a new gnosis about his battle skills.


    Of course, he made the greatest improvement in fist position.


    Nangong Sheng''s fist could cause a weather change like clouds movement by enabling his fist gestures to resonate with thunders so as to make his fist much more powerful.


    However, Zhang Tie''s fist could integrate with his mind. His fist could cause weather change in a larger area than that of Nangong Sheng. The moment Zhang Tie punched out, his mind would integrate with the universe, namely, having the clouds produce lightning bolts to attack his enemy together with his punches.


    Zhang Tie''s fist realm was much higer than that of Nangong Sheng with a greater destruction.


    However, Zhang Tie knew that it was not the supreme realm of fist position. Among those blurry images in his awareness, the brilliant giant''s punch reached the supreme realm of fist position. It was the extreme of fist position. Facing that fist, space could be broken, time could be still, land could quake, stars could appear in the daytime, powerful enemies could be eliminated while vigorous grasses and woods could wither. It was more like the great law of an overbearing man, the heart of a brave man, the universe in hand and everything in one''s body.


    That punch shocked Zhang Tie''s soul and made his heart race. Zhang Tie had determined to reach that realm one day.


    Compared to the supreme realm, although Zhang Tie''s fist position had already reached the realm of integrating with the universe. It was still like a "skill" and was far away from the great law. Even so, Zhang Tie also knew that his fist position could already shock the entire country. He believed that he might not find any opponent on the same level in Taixia Country.


    The red ball-shaped lightning bolt was really powerful. Just now, with such a blow, Zhang Tie felt that Nangong Sheng''s protective battle qi had been completely destroyed. If he was fighting an average black iron knight just now, he might have already severely hurt him even killed him.


    What was more, the shocking image in his mind was like a beam of light in the dark, which enabled Zhang Tie to see clearly the orientation of his fist position and his great potential in progress.


    Zhang Tie was still sighing with emotion inside about the great difference between his punch and that shocking punch in his memory; however, he didn''t know that the scene that he sent Nangong Sheng flying away along with the strike of a red ball-shaped lightning bolt had shocked so many onlookers. What a powerful punch! It was too unbelievable. They had not even heard about it.


    "Impossible...impossible...this must be a coincidence; this must be a coincidence. Nobody could have a lightning bolt follow their mind..." Nangong Sheng shouted like a boilersmith escaping out of the exploded boiler room when he looked black all over with smoking hair in a pretty embarrassed way after recovering himself in a short period. Closely after that, he flew into the sky once again.


    Like how Zhang Tie''s previous condition, Nangong Sheng was not severely injured either. His battle strength still remained unchanged; however, he felt unwilling. What shocked him most was that he was struck by the lightning bolt caused by others'' punch for the first time.


    ''A few hours ago, this man''s fist skill could not match me. After hitting him onto the ground many times, I should have won the fight; how could this man''s fist skill suddenly catch up with mine after such a short while?''


    Nangong Sheng had faintly got the answer. Zhang Tie had a sudden insight. A fighter might not have a chance to have an insight of something in his whole life. Nangong Sheng really couldn''t believe that his defeated opponent could have an insight under his eyes; additionally, his insight was unusual...


    "Nothing is impossible. Honestly, I have to appreciate you, Master Nangong. Without comparing notes with you, I didn''t know after how long could I make such a breakthrough at all. Master Nangong, you''ve really given me a big gift for the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect!" Zhang Tie watched Nangong Sheng with a calm look in the air. Until then, Zhang Tie still didn''t hate Nangong Sheng; instead, Zhang Tie sympathized him¡ª¡ªNangong Sheng is very powerful; pitifully, he found the wrong opponent to display his masculinity.


    "I don''t believe that..." Nangong Sheng was almost driven mad. With this roar, he released his earth-knight level virtual image beside his battle qi tornado. It was a colorful bizarre bird with a long white tail. Since it appeared behind Nangong Sheng''s body, this virtual image had been casting covetous eyes on Zhang Tie as if it was going to charge at Zhang Tie immediately. However, Nangong Sheng rushed towards Zhang Tie while roaring, "All punches in one point...", which was the trump card of Thunder-like Immortal Fist Position...


    As a result, one punch turned into ten punches; ten punches turned into one hundred punches; one hundred punches turned into one thousand punches; one thousand punches turned into ten thousand punches. In the blink of an eye, the sky over the valley was covered with Nangong Sheng''s punch intent. The punch intent finally turned into a punch and shot towards Zhang Tie with an extremely great power. It broke the air and caused a thunder-like quake in the valley.


    This fist gesture was definitely the masterpiece of Nangong Sheng about his fist position.


    Watching Nangong Sheng''s trump card, Zhang Tie just shook his head inside, ''If Nangong Sheng used this trump card 1 hour ago, undoubtedly, I would be defeated. If I collided against Nangong Sheng''s punch with my punch face-to-face at that time, I might even be severely injured; however, it was different now. After witnessing the unrivaled punch in mind, this gesture looks a bit average.''


    Above all, after watching how the roc stretched its wings in the sky, he could also stretch his wings; by contrast, it would be boring for him to watch a small bird flapping its wings among twigs.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie could even find the loopholes of Nangong Sheng''s movement. He realized that Nangong Sheng had not mastered the essence of this gesture.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he made an average forward punch which could even be imitated by commoners towards Nangong Sheng''s aggressive punch.


    At this moment, another red ball-shaped lightning bolt flew out of the clouds. In a split second, Zhang Tie''s irresistible punch collided with Nangong Sheng''s aggressive punch...


    Watching the ball-shaped lightning bolt descending once again, Nangong Sheng felt pretty disappointed as the impossible guess came true.


    In the growly loud thunders, Zhang Tie collided with Nangong Sheng''s thunder-like immortal fist by the most average 10-step forward punch...


    Although it was an average 10-step forward punch, it looked bizarre and classic. The 10-step forward punch was like an erupting volcano and the surging Yangtze River, which looked unimaginably powerful. Each movement of Zhang Tie was classic and changing just like a precious secret battle skill...


    ...


    Watching such a fierce battle, many surrounding knights became completely dumbfounded in the distance.


    "This...this...are you kidding me? Is Fire Dragon Hermit using the simplest 10-step forward punch?" An elder of a clan in Yanzhou Province uttered as he watched the fight with a dumbfounded look.


    "You''re right. It''s indeed 10-step forward punch. However, it became a marvel in Fire Dragon Hermit''s hand. Great wisdom looks stupid. This is the fist master''s realm..." Lu Dingzhi watched the battle as he replied the elder. Even Lu Dingzhi himself didn''t know how he felt inside. He just felt a bit disappointed, ''It''s said that Fire Dragon Hermit has just promoted to an earth knight just like me; however, I might be more embarrassed than Nangong Sheng facing Cui LI''s punch...''


    ...


    This time, Nangong Sheng stood less than 3 minutes facing Zhang Tie''s punches. Before he was struck by that red ball-shaped lightning bolt, Nangong Sheng had uttered a miserable roar while the arm that collided with Zhang Tie''s punch was fractured into many pieces. At the same time, he spurted out blood and was sent flying towards the ground in the valley once again...


    "Master..." Watching the terrifying ball-shaped lightning bolt falling towards Nangong Sheng, the two elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect hurriedly roared as they darted towards the battlefield at the same time.


    Nangong Sheng''s protective battle qi had been broken once again. Additionally, he was severely injured and couldn''t resist at all. If he was struck by that ball-shaped lightning bolt, he would die for sure...


    Nangong Sheng found that he couldn''t have time to form his protective battle qi and resist Zhang Tie as his battle qi was disordered; he could only watch the red ball-shaped lightning bolt approaching him. It was his first time to fear about death in his life...


    However, before the ball-shaped lightning bolt approached him, a giant suddenly appeared in front of him and punched at the terrifying ball-shaped lightning bolt. Closely after that, the ball-shaped lightning bolt turned into a tender light and disappeared...


    Watching the giant in front of him, Nangong Sheng had a complexed mood inside. Closely after that, he fell onto the ground, causing another huge pit. At the same time, he spurted out blood. With pain, shame and that complexed mood, he passed out at once...


    The two elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect hurriedly flew over here from afar...


    ...

 1061 A Myriad of Stars Surround the Moon

    Chapter 1061: A Myriad of Stars Surround the Moon


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Suspending in the air, Zhang Tie just watched how the two elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect flew towards Nangong Sheng, doing massage, setting fractures or pouring medicament into his mouth. Not until a few minutes later did Nangong Sheng flew back into the air with the two elders once again in a wobbly way...


    "Master Nangong, will we continue?" Zhang Tie asked kindly.


    Nangong Sheng looked pale and very embarrassed. This defeat was a strike on his body and spirit at the same time; additionally, he had to sustain the series of aftermaths, "I...I admit that I''ve lost it. I cannot match you on fist skills...From today on...my Immortal Fist Position Sect will stay far away from Iron-Dragon Sect..."


    After finishing his words, Nangong Sheng swayed a couple of times in the sky like being collapsed as if he was going to fall off...


    "Master Nangong, I have no animosity with you. You must be clear about the reason for the fight today. As one of the top seven major sects in Taixia Country, Taiyi Fantasy Sect is too narrow-minded!" Zhang Tie let out a sigh after winning the fight, "Bue I have to appreciate Master Nangong, without comparing notes with you, I would not have an insight and breakthrough. I remember that Immortal Fist Position Sect''s territory is in Fengtang Prefecture, Yanzhou Province. From today on, Iron-Dragon Sect would never open branches in Fengtang Prefecture and those prefectures neighboring Fengtang Prefecture. Don''t worry, Master Nangong!"


    According to the agreement between Nangong Sheng and Zhang Tie, after Zhang Tie won this fight, if Iron-Dragon Sect really wanted to open branches in Fengtang Prefecture and the prefectures neighboring Fengtang Prefecture in Yanzhou Province, Immortal Fist Position Sect could only bear it. As a result, Immortal Fist Position Sect would be severely weakened, even be forced to go bankrupt or move its base. Given the interests of Immortal Fist Position Sect and Nangong Sheng''s reputation, Zhang Tie''s promise was pretty righteous. Nobody would blame him anymore.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s promise, the two elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect beside Nangong Sheng watched Zhang Tie with a complex eye light.


    Watching the airboats of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and Tianlu Palace suspending in the distance, Nangong Sheng felt disappointed at once as he mumbled inside, ''What a figure! Strong Punch; sharp insight; close relationship with people from big forces; profound background; being open-minded and treat people kindly. What the hell am I thinking about? How could I fight such a person? How do I dream about driving such a person away from Northeast Military Region? I''m absolutely going beyond my depth.''


    "Through this fight, I Nangong Sheng know that there''re always people who are better than me. Fire Dragon Hermit''s fist skill, battle skill and moral standing are really convincing!" Nangong Sheng cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie with a bashful look, "I really can''t stay in the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect anymore, but on the other day, Immortal Fist Position Sect would definitely send a gift to you. Wish Iron-Dragon Sect be forever in accordance with the laws. This humble man will...leave..."


    After saying that, Nangong Sheng immediately turned around and flew towards Yanzhou Province before receiving Zhang Tie''s reply. The two elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect also cupped their hands towards Zhang Tie before following up Nangong Sheng.


    Watching Nanggong Sheng''s lonely back, Zhang Tie didn''t know what to say. He just let out a sigh inside, "This world really could not run according to one''s will. Nangong Sheng has opened Immortal Fist Position Sect for 100 years and enjoyed a great prestige in Immortal Fist Position Sect for a long time. Additionally, he had reached a supreme realm in his fist, he mistook that the world was running around him. He deserved this failure. If Nangong Sheng could learn from this failure, it might not be bad for him and the development of Immortal Fist Position Sect.


    Watching Nangong Sheng''s back, Zhang Tie reminded himself, ''I should never feel complacent in any time. All of a sudden, he sniffed a fragrance while a tender and fragrant body was thrown into his cradle as she said coquettishly, "Brother Cui, you scared this humble slave too much. I thought you were dead..."


    Bai Suxian said as she patted her plump breasts under her imperial robe as if she was going to attract Zhang Tie''s eyes back to her.


    ''What a spirit!'' Zhang Tie swore inside.


    Besides Bai Suxian, all the surrounding knights flew towards Zhang Tie too.


    Those onlookers had already heard the conversation between Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian. As for knights, even though it was a long distance, they could still hear the contents of the talk as long as it was in the normal sound, Zhang Tie''s promise to Immortal Fist Position Sect won many people''s admiration. They all felt that Zhang Tie was generous and open-minded instead of being domineering and vicious. As Zhang Tie had power, relationship and was open-minded, he could definitely be a reliable friend.


    Therefore, the others were more awe-stricken and intimate to Zhang Tie.


    "Younger brother Cui Li, I''ve not imagined that you could reach such a supreme realm in fist skill. You really widen my horizon. Previously, this elder brother wanted to congratulate your Iron-Dragon Sect, I''ve not imagined that you could realize a sublimation in your fist skill after such a fight. Younger brother Cui, your supreme realm of integrating with the universe was too terrifying. You''re definitely a master in fist skill in Taixia Country. Two happy events came one after another..." Zhang Anguo the elder of Tianlu Palace said with a big smile as he flew towards here with the other knights of Tianlu Palace.


    Those who followed Zhang Anguo here were all knights of Tianlu Palace whom Zhang Tie had met in Earth-elements Realm, including Zhang Shuzhen and Zhang Anshi who had a conflict with Zhang Tie. At this moment, the two people watched Zhang Tie with more complex and shocked looks. Only after a few years, the black iron knight who explored the hieron ruins with them had already promoted to an earth knight with such a terrifying battle strength. They found a sharp difference between them and Cui Li. As a result, they felt more complex.


    In the knight''s world, those with great battle strength would win respect. When they heard their elder call Cui Li "Younger brother", all the others of Tianlu Palace at present had realized that they were "juniors". Therefore, they didn''t know what to say...


    "Haha, it''s Elder Brother Anguo, I''ve not imagined that my small opening ceremony in Northeast Military Region could arouse your attention, sorry, sorry..."


    As Zhang Tie replied, he ran his spiritual energy to drive away the thick clouds over hundreds of square miles. After realizing that Bai Suxian was still leaning against him and the ambiguous and weird looks of the surrounding people, Zhang Tie coughed twice as he patted Bai Suxian''s shoulder to remind her to retain a good public image.


    Pouting her tiny mouth, Bai Suxian moved a bit away from Zhang Tie with an unpleasant look.


    "Younger brother Cui Li, do you think that I''m not qualified to be your friend?" Zhang Anguo immediately looked solemn as if he became angry as he continued, "If not, why not Younger brother send a golden invitation letter to us?"


    "Hehheh, erm...that''s a bit embarrassing. Because Tianlu Palace in Youzhou Province is too far away from here. I would feel embarrassed if elder brother traveled so long for such a trivial thing, therefore..." Zhang Tie patted his bald head as he continued, "It''s all my fault, I will have a drink with elder brother and the old friends of Tianlu Palace today..."


    Zhang Anguo recovered a big smile, "That''s my younger brother..."


    After looking around the surrounding knights, Zhang Tie waved his hand immediately, "It''s over. Let''s go back to Xuantian City. Whatever, we have to eat. After a few hours'' fight, this Cui also feel a bit hungry. If I made you hungry in my opening ceremony, it would be a joke. Let''s go back and enjoy the food and drinks first..."


    All the others burst out into laughter. Many of them had been ready to flatter Zhang Tie. It seemed that the 3 people of Immortal Fist Position Sect had not been here before.


    All the knights directly flew towards Xuantian City, including Bai Suxian and knights of Tianlu Palace, leaving their airboats alone.


    After such a short while, the thick clouds like that of a doomsday had fully dispersed. The sunshine cast onto the ground once again. All the knights clicked their tongues in wonder.


    "Master, this humble lady misses you so much..."


    In flight, Zhang Tie heard Bai Suxian''s sound which was transmitted to him in a secret way. Heart racing, he threw a glance at the sister who looked as adorable as a lily as he immediately caught Bai Suxian''s hand and flew forward together with her. Bai Suxian also caught his hand tightly as she revealed a sweet smile to him...


    When Zhang Tie caught Bai Suxian''s hand, he could evidently feel that 3 pairs of eyes were gazing at their hands behind them. Zhang Tie looked back.


    The first eye light came from the old guy who was following Bai Suxian closely. The old guy was also an earth knight; however, Zhang Tie couldn''t see through his battle strength.


    The second eye light came from Zhang Shuzhen, the female knight from Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace. When in the hieron ruins, Zhang Shuzhen had met Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian. However, the two people had not messed with each other yet at that time. Seeing Bai Suxian hooking up with Zhang Tie, Zhang Shuzhen''s eyes were full of surprise. Finding Zhang Tie looking back, she hurriedly avoided from his eye light.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that the third eye light came from Guo Hongyi...


    Finding Zhang Tie looking at her, Guo Hongyi''s eye light became hurry-scurry at once. Closely after that, she moved her eyes away with an arrogant look. At the same time, she uttered a faintly cold harrumph through her nostrils...


    Zhang Tie really didn''t understand woman. After noticing Guo Hongyi''s demeanor, Zhang Tie became amazed, ''Are you kidding me? This mature woman of Guo Clan from Threespring Prefecture likes the type of Cui Li...''

 1062 Enrolling Apprentices

    Chapter 1062: Enrolling Apprentices


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When these knights flew back to Xuantian City, they found it was still a bit chaotic in Xuantian City. Because the black clouds and lightning bolts within hundreds of square miles just now were too terrifying. So many people in Xuantian City felt very oppressive and scared at the sight of such a sheer terror. Therefore, the chaos was unavoidable...


    After all, less than one of one million commoners might have not seen the supreme realm of integrating one''s battle skill with the universe. Even if they had seen that, they might not believe that it was caused by Zhang Tie''s fist position.


    Not only commoners in Xuantian City, even the juniors of the major clans in Xuantian Courtyard wondered what happened.


    However, seeing that their elders and masters and the knights had flown back, these people finally became relaxed.


    The moment Zhang Tie landed, he had called Liu Xing who was maintaining order in Xuantian Courtyard.


    "Pass my order, the abnormal climate just now was caused by an earth knight when he integrated his battle skill with the universe. If anyone who bewilders others with rebellious words, deal with him according to the law!"


    ''Caused by an earth knight when he integrated his battle skill with the universe?'' Fire Lieutenant Liu Xing immediately stood at attention and chested out, "Yes, sir...".


    Zhang Tie then glanced round Xuantian Courtyard before asking, "Where are the disciples of Immortal Fist Position Sect?"


    "A few minutes ago, those disciples of Immortal Fist Position Sect had left in a flurried way silently..."


    "Well, hurry up, pass my order!" Zhang Tie waved his hand. It was not strange that disciples of Immortal Fist Position Sect had left. They might have already known the result of the fight between Cui Li and Nangong Sheng through the remote-sensing crystal. Now that the master and elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect had left, what were they here for? Ridicule? Of course, they''d better go.


    ...


    When the knights came back, it became sunny once again. The order in Xuantian City and Xuantian Courtyard also recovered soon.


    Of course, the result of the fight between Zhang Tie and Nangong Sheng the master of Immortal Fist Position Sect was also exposed to the public. After knowing this result; especially that the abnormal climate was aroused by Fire Dragon Hermit, the entire Xuantian City including Xuantian Courtyard boiled. More people being related to Zhang Tie such as those candidates of local representatives, the master and disciples of Wang Clan became excited. All of them became jubilant and looked more energetic than they were in the morning...


    ...


    "Have you seen that the beautiful girl in an imperial robe on the side of Fire Dragon Hermit is the princess from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion? Even Lord Guangnan''s airboat has arrived in the sky outside the city. Look at that white one. It seems that Fire Dragon Hermit is going to be the son-in-law of Lord Guangnan. With Lord Guangnan as his reliance and background, it''s really ridiculous that Nangong Sheng wanted to ruin Fire Dragon Hermit''s opening ceremony..."


    "Yup, it''s said that even the grand elder and some knights of Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace have come to congratulate Fire Dragon Hermit without even receiving the golden invitation letter..."


    "What? You don''t know Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace...piss off...brat..."


    ...


    Only after a short while, the gossip had spread over the entire Xuantian Courtyard, even Xuantian City. As a knight, of course, Bai Suxian could hear all the discussions in Xuantian Courtyard. However, Bai Suxian was not angry about that; instead, she looked pretty happy. She almost followed Zhang Tie everywhere like his wife.


    Because those knights had flown off to watch the fight in the air, although it was lunch time, none of the juniors of the clans and sects in Xuantian Courtyard dared move their chopsticks. Therefore, the moment Zhang Tie came back, he directly waved his hand to have people enjoy the meal first.


    Even knights had to eat; especially on this occasion, it was improper for guests to attend the opening ceremony without eating food.


    All the disciples of various clans and sects gathered in one courtyard; elders and masters of clans and sects would gather in another courtyard. Some female knights who didn''t like such a boisterous scene such as Guo Hongyi were arranged to have food in a tranquil place.


    If Nangong Sheng didn''t come, the so-called opening ceremony just served as a venue for Zhang Tie to meet and chat with the other neighbors; after that, he would enroll his first apprentice in the public, which represented that Iron-Dragon Sect would have an official order in inheritance. To enroll apprentices was the most important link of the opening ceremony of a sect. After completing this link, the opening ceremony would almost come to an end.


    Because of Nangong Sheng, Zhang Tie spent over 4 hours in fighting him. Therefore, the important ritual of enrolling apprentices in the opening ceremony could only start in the afternoon after all the guests were full.


    Nobody complained about it at all. Zhang Tie''s performance in the fight made his ritual of enrolling apprentices especially solemn in the afternoon.


    At this moment, even idiots knew that it was a great progress for one to be the first apprentice of Fire Dragon Hermit.


    Generally, the first apprentice of the master of one sect, especially an earth knight would probably promote to be a black iron knight in the future. The first apprentice of each sect was concerned about the reputation of their master and sect. Therefore, they would gain more instruction from their masters. As a result, they would have a greater role in their sect.


    As the first apprentice of Fire Dragon Hermit, a master in fist skill with a deep background, as long as he was not too stupid or lazy, he would definitely promote to a black iron knight in the future.


    A black iron knight who cultivated "Fire Dragon Sutra" would not be ignored by major clans like Zhang Clan of Tianlu Palace.


    However, Fire Dragon Hermit didn''t reveal any information about enrolling his apprentices in advance, those elders and masters of those major clans at present felt anxious inside.


    The most important purpose that elders and masters of major clans and sects took their junior disciples to the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect was to try their luck. The instruction of an earth knight could only be enjoyed by very few clan elites among top clans in Taixia Country.


    However, each of the major clans across Taixia Country had thousands of immediate disciples. Tianlu Palace might have hundreds of thousands of disciples. Without such a background, how could they dominate one region and be qualified as a major clan? Even so, very few of these clan disciples could receive the instruction of elders and knights in the sect. Therefore, when one knight-level powerhouse was going to open a sect or enroll apprentices, it would be very boisterous.


    Sects and major clans were natural allies in Taixia Country.


    If the master was an earth knight who cultivated marquis-level secret method, he was destined to have a bright future. His apprentices would gain a lot of benefits from him and would finally become the reliance of the clan.


    With the bounty land covering over 1 million square miles and 10 cities, this master was definitely rich. His apprentices would never lack cultivation resources before promoting to knights.


    As he could understand the essence of a fist skill on the battlefield and enter the master-level realm, it also meant that this master had a much better comprehension about battle skills than commoners. After being instructed by such a master, his apprentices would take a shortcut for sure. It was definitely the greatest luck for those juniors to be enrolled by such a master as his apprentices.


    What was more, Fire Dragon Hermit was alone, who was not troubled by family affairs like the masters of some sects and clans or knights. Even if those with families could enroll apprentices, they would spend limited time in their apprentices. It meant that Fire Dragon Hermit would spend most of his time in developing the undertaking of Iron-Dragon Sect and instructing his apprentices.


    Honestly, few masters as excellent as Fire Dragon Hermit could be found across Taixia Country, not to mention the remote Northeast Military Region.


    Actually, there were almost no idiots in this world. What one person could understand would be understood by others too. Therefore, in the afternoon, before Fire Dragon Hermit enrolled his apprentices officially, everybody in Xuantian Courtyard of Iron-Dragon Sect even in Xuantian City wanted to know who was the first apprentice of him. Therefore, it became quiet in a split second.


    When the apprentice enrollment ritual started in the afternoon, Zhang Tie sat on a seat made of pure gold in a very dignified manner in the venue with 2 boys on each of his side. The 4 boys in ceremonial Hua robes looked innocent with a tray made of pure silver in hand. There was a red silk cloth in each tray. On each red silk cloth, there was a different item. From left to right, they were respectively a huge wolf-hair brush made of pure gold, golden cinnabar, a group of tea cups and a tea pot made of pure gold.


    Many people of Wang Clan were standing behind the four boys. The guests were seated on two sides of Zhang Tie in front of him. Closely after that, the young disciples of these clans would enter the venue in groups to congratulate Zhang Tie. Those being favored by Zhang Tie would become his apprentices...


    The process of enrolling apprentices in the opening ceremony of one sect was similar to the allusion of bring the painted dragon to live by putting in the pupils of its eyes and implied good luck and happiness. Therefore, it was called putting in dragons...

 1063 The First Apprentice of Zhang Tie

    Chapter 1063: The First Apprentice of Zhang Tie


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Sitting on his golden chair, Zhang Tie looked at the crowd. It was pretty silent in the venue.


    This process made everybody at present nervous. According to the schedule, after a short while, the young representatives of each clan would show up in batches in front of Fire Dragon Hermit so as to congratulate him. If Zhang Tie favored one or some of them, he would point onto their foreheads with golden cinnabar by that golden brush and enroll him as his apprentice. Closely after that, those being selected would have a sudden rise in social status...


    Those being selected by Fire Dragon Hermit would have a chance to gain literary advancement.


    At this moment, Wang Chongde the master of Wang Clan walked into the venue and served as a compere in the venue on his own initiative. When Wang Chongde was ready to shout, "All the youngsters of each clan will congratulate Fire Dragon Hermit in turns", Zhang Tie suddenly raised his hand.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s movement, Wang Chongde swallowed back his words.


    Zhang Tie focused on Liu Xing and some guys who served as guards behind the guests.


    When Zhang Tie returned to Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, he had got enough assistants for holding the opening ceremony due to the favor of all the clans in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. Therefore, 12 of the 19 black-armored fighters left him since they returned to the earth surface from Earth-elements Realm due to various reasons. Previously, these black-armored fighters just helped Zhang Tie leave the Earth-elements Realm by airboat at Guan Qianchong''s order for the time being; they were not subordinate to Zhang Tie at all. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t force them to stay; additionally, he prepared 200,000 gold coins for each of them so that they could leave him happily.


    However, 7 of the 19 black-armored fighters stayed to follow Zhang Tie''s order.


    Among the 7 people who stayed, Liu Xing was a LV 9 fighter who had made the most meritorious services with the highest official post in the Lion Fortress. Therefore, it was more convincing for Liu Xing to be the head of the 7 people.


    "Liu Xing, Zhao Bing, Wu Yinhui, Zhou Xiao, Ma Kuicheng, Linghu Biao, Sun Zhan, you guys come over here..."


    The moment Zhang Tie uttered, all the others at present became shocked as they turned around to watch the 7 retired black-armored fighters.


    The team of 7 were also amazed as they didn''t know what Zhang Tie would let them do at this moment. However, after listening to their names, they rapidly ran over here from behind the crowd and stood in a row in front of Zhang Tie.


    "Hermit, what can we do for you?" Liu Xing asked.


    Zhang Tie smiled as he looked through the 7 black-armored fighters. Liu Xing was introverted and profound. Although he looked gracious, he was decisive inside; Zhao Bing was brave and aggressive; Wu Yinhui was a bit arrogant yet persistent; Zhou Xiao was as valiant as his name who didn''t consider about the result of his deed; Ma Kuicheng was experienced and meticulous; Linghu Biao was silent yet kind-hearted; Sun Zhan was too changeable in character yet was righteous. Additionally, Sun Zhan was the most active person among them who used to joke around the others. After staying with them for so long, Zhang Tie had been observing everybody''s movements since he entered the airboat.


    Although these black-armored fighters had evidently different temperaments, they shared one common point, namely, these people were all loyal to Taixia Country. As they all experienced the battlefield in the Earth-elements Realm, they were not cowards. However, like Liu Xing, they had to retire due to various reasons.


    There was one last point, namely, all the 7 people were born in common clans and families. Wu Yinhui''s family background was a bit better; however, his family only had some big manors, plants or small business groups just like those local tyrants in the 10 cities of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, which could never match that of major clans with knights.


    "Do you want to be my apprentices?" Zhang Tie asked calmly, which sounded like a bomb among the crowd.


    Liu Xing and the other 6 black-armored fighters were shocked too much. Even those knights and elders of the major clans in the surroundings exchanged glances with each other silently.


    ''Apprentice? Apprentice of Fire Dragon Hermit?''


    The team of 7 could never imagine that they could have such a good luck to be enrolled as the apprentices of Fire Dragon Hermit.


    Sun Zhan was the first one who made a response to Zhang Tie''s words. He immediately knelt down in front of Zhang Tie with an excited look and kowtowed towards Zhang Tie for nine times, causing "bang, bang, bang". His forehead even turned red.


    The others were not idiots. Facing such a rare opportunity which could change their destiny, even their clans'', if they still hesitated or declined, their predecessors buried under the ground might jump out to slap their faces.


    Additionally, as they all came back from Earth-elements Realm, they knew Zhang Tie''s military exploits in the Earth-elements Realm much better. They admired him pretty much. As the highest level among the 7 people was LV 9, it was their great fortune to be favored by an earth knight. Watching Shun Zhan''s movement, all the others hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed 9 times in front of Zhang Tie.


    Under the admiring and jealous eyes of the others, Zhang Tie stretched out his arm and picked that golden brush. Closely after that, he dipped some golden cinnabar by that golden brush before pointing it at Liu Xing''s forehead, leaving a golden and rosy mark over there, which looked like a brilliant dragon''s eye.


    Liu Xing had not imagined that he could be the first one being pointed with golden cinnabar. When he touched Zhang Tie''s brush, Liu Xing felt a bit cold on his forehead as he quivered all over due to the excitement.


    ''I...I have become...the first apprentice of Fire Dragon Hermit.''


    Liu Xing didn''t know why he could be favored by Fire Dragon Hermit as he felt that he had reached the sky in a single bound.


    At this moment, Liu Xing felt that everybody else at present was watching him with unprecedented hot eyes, including the clan elders and knights. All the other disciples of major clans who were pretty arrogant in front of him started to hold him in awe and intended to flatter him. Liu Xing felt a buzz in his mind as his body turned hot all over. He felt as unreal as kneeling down onto the soft sponge.


    "From today on, Liu Xing, you will be my first apprentice. All the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect would respect you from then on. Don''t let me down. Live up to my expectation!" Zhang Tie told Liu Xing genially.


    The first Liu Xing that Zhang Tie met had sacrificed in Waii Subcontinent. That one was his comrade-in-arms in Iron-Blood Camp; therefore, Zhang Tie selected the second Liu Xing as his first apprentice so as to fix his regret inside.


    "Yes, sir, Liu Xing will follow Hermit''s instructions seriously..."


    In this public occasion, even Liu Xing had experienced the life or death situation in the Earth-elements Realm, he still became restrained unconsciously. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Liu Xing answered in a restrained way. After that, he found that Zhao Bing silently dragged the hem of his clothes. He then realized that he misspoke it just now; therefore, he hurriedly corrected his words, "Hmm...it''s master''s instructions!"


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he faintly triggered his battle qi and had another bit of golden cinnabar fly onto the forehead of the other six people respectively steadily.


    After pointing golden cinnabar onto the 7 people''s foreheads, two boys moved forward, one of them served the teacup made of pure gold to Liu Xing, the other made a cup of tea water for him.


    It was Taixia''s regulation to kowtow and serve tea in the apprentice enrollment ritual. The bigger the sect was, the stricter the regulation would be. The apprentice enrollment ritual in the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect was a bit simple. As to the apprentice enrollment ritual of other sects, there were so many learnings on the preparation, the selection of time and place, the tea water and the wares. The more rules there were, the more cautious they were. The cautious attitude could frighten the apprentices and make it look like an apprentice enrollment ritual. Before the apprentice enrollment ritual, the apprentices should not eat meat; besides, they should clean their bodies and remain sincere for 81 days.


    Of course, Liu Xing knew these rules. Even if nobody had taught him that, a native Hua people must have heard too much about that. Even kids knew about that.


    Liu Xing moved forward a few steps by knees and raised high the teacup by two hands without spilling any water out of the cup, "Master, please have a drink!"


    After taking the teacup and drinking it up, Zhang Tie gave the teacup back to the boy beside him, "Stand up!"


    Liu Xing stood up before moving to the back of Zhang Tie. However, only after kneeling down a few minutes, when he stood up, he felt that the whole world was different. He felt like having a rebirth.


    After Liu Xing, all the other 6 people served tea sincerely to Zhang Tie in turns while kneeling down. After drinking their tea, all the other 6 people stood behind Zhang Tie. Like how Liu Xing felt, the 6 people also felt like having a new life from then on.


    Finding that the first apprentice of Zhang Tie had nothing to do with their clans, all the elders and knights at present felt complex. After knowing that their disciples lost the qualification to be the first apprentice of Fire Dragon Hermit, many people felt jealous more or less. However, when they found that the other clans lost the qualification too, they slowly recovered their composure once again.


    They all knew about the seven people''s jobs on Fire Dragon Hermit''s side; however, they could never imagine that Fire Dragon Hermit could enroll them as his apprentices. Given this point, they felt that Fire Dragon Hermit was very affectionate; therefore, they longed for the followings...

 1064 Putting in Dragons by Golden Brush

    Chapter 1064: Putting in Dragons by Golden Brush


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After the 7 black-armored fighters were selected as apprentices, the juniors of the major clans came on the stage by batches. Even the apprentices of the elders and masters of some small sects had come on the stage.


    Actually, no secret method in Northeast Military Region could match "Fire Dragon Sutra" given the levels of the secret methods. Of course, the elders and masters of those small sects wanted their own apprentices to make further progress. As the old saying went, water flew downwards, human preferred to go to higher places. Although there were competitions among sects, it was common that disciples of elders and masters of small sects acknowledged the masters of major sects as their own masters in Taixia Country.


    "XXX wishes Fire Dragon Hermit to run immortal chakras forever and have a firm sect forever..."


    ...


    "XXX wishes Fire Dragon Hermit to have a lasting and firmer cultivation base and a greater influence..."


    All the young disciples chested out and said almost the same auspicious words. At the same time, they were nervous and longing for being selected by Fire Dragon Hermit so as to be utterly different from then on...


    Sitting on the golden chair, Zhang Tie could even sense the increasing heartbeats of those young men, the rising temperatures on their faces and the suddenly stimulated or constrictive blood vessels.


    All the young men looked vigorous and keen. They must be the elites of each sect. As average clans were too weak, they could never be favored by Fire Dragon Hermit, those average clans and their masters wouldn''t attend this opening ceremony at all.


    At this moment, major clans and sects had already been faintly competitive with each other. The manifestation of their junior elites was like a parade in front of Fire Dragon Hermit.


    Those junior disciples contained male and female. Most of them were below 40 years old. As for commoners, they were not young anymore at their 40s; however, in the world of cultivators, as cultivators could have longer lives than commoners, it was normal for them to reach LV 9 at their 40s. It could be said that they had just entered the official road of cultivation at this age.


    In knights'' world, besides freaks like Zhang Tie, those who could promote to an earth knight before 100 years old definitely had tiptop talents. In front of earth knights, these cultivators at their 40s were like children in the kindergartens in the eyes of professors in universities. The sharp gap between them was insurmountable.


    Only a few of them were above 40 years old, 1/5 of them were between 30-40 years old. Most of the junior elites were at their 20s or 30s, who were almost as old as Zhang Tie. These guys accounted most of the disciples in each clan and sect; the rest 1/5 of them aged between 10 to 20...


    These people entered the stage nervously with their flickering eyes, some of them looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes while pretending to be calm; some of them dared not even look at Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie recalled the period of the last semester in Blackhot City when he was going to face his life choice. During that period, Zhang Tie''s situation was very similar to that of these junior cultivators. Being muddled, they were waiting for the judgments of their destinies in an intense and exciting way. Although these people in front of him were much nobler than Zhang Tie when he was in Blackhot City, they might share the same mood with Zhang Tie in that period.


    The order of junior disciples of clans was according to the order of the seats of the elders and masters of clans and sects which was very considerate. It was basically arranged according to the overall strength and influence of them. Those junior disciples with greater overall strength and influence could come to Zhang Tie''s front earlier. All those at present understood it...


    Of course, the first group came from Zhu Clan with the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province...


    Zhu Dabiao was the first member of Zhu Clan whom Zhang Tie was familiar with. What was more interesting, perhaps the elders of Zhu Clan wanted Zhu Dabiao to experience such a magnificent occasion and meet Fire Dragon Hermit, Zhu Dabiao was also in the group of junior cultivators of Zhu Clan.


    However, Zhu Dabiao looked pretty gentle in the uniformed costumes that were specially designed for the junior cultivators of Zhu Clan. His current look had nothing to do with the look of a playboy when he was in Youzhou City, Yanghe Prefecture. Only Zhang Tie who was familiar with him could discover that this guy was peeping at the beautiful young female disciples of the other clans.


    Zhu Dabiao was not eye-catching among the junior disciples of Zhu Clan. Zhu elders might know that Zhu Dabiao was just an average person; therefore, they arranged for him to stand on one side of the team of junior cultivators of Zhu Clan. By contrast, those members in the middle of the team were much better than Zhu Dabiao given their looks and battle strength.


    Seeing Zhang Tie throwing a casual glance at him, Zhu Dabiao felt being hit by an overwhelming strength. It felt even more powerful than that of his grandpa. All of a sudden, Zhu Dabiao was scared too much that his heart pounded. At the same time, his face turned faintly pale. He dared not to see Zhang Tie anymore.


    ''Haha, what a hilarious guy!'' Zhang Tie laughed inside. However, he immediately thought up making a parody.


    Zhang Tie then sent two drops of golden cinnabar flying onto the foreheads of a handsome and stable 30-year old guy in the middle of the team and Zhu Dabiao on the end of the team respectively.


    The two people felt a golden light flashing in front of their eyes before feeling a bit cold on their foreheads. The disciple in the middle of the team felt like having a dream. He felt like being prestigious in a split second. Being overjoyed, under the admirable and jealous gazes of the other disciples of the same clan, he hurriedly strode a few steps forward and knelt down before kowtowing towards Zhang Tie 9 times, causing "bang, bang, bang, bang..." However, it seemed that Zhu Dabiao didn''t even know what happened or he still didn''t believe in it. He only felt that the other members of the team were watching him with weird looks in a split second...


    "Douchebag, Zhu Dabiao, kneel down and kowtow in front of your master. What''re you looking at? Are you waiting for my kick..." Zhu Elder''s anxious voice drifted into Zhu Dabiao''s ears. Zhu Dabiao immediately quivered all over like being poured cold water on his body. After being clear-minded, he hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed 10 times towards Zhang Tie. After doing that, he still couldn''t accept the fact, ''Ahh, why it''s me? why it''s me? Is it because that I didn''t deflower the little virgin girl in Fragrancereading Building who was transported from Goldenrock Subcontinent and bought her and set her free of good intent a few days ago?''


    ''Fire Dragon Hermit''s disciple? F*ck...I''m rich now. I will see who dare say that I''m useless at home from today on...''


    Zhu Dabiao became wild with joy inside as he felt that he was so lucky today.


    Watching Zhu Yuanxing standing up after serving tea to Fire Dragon Hermit, before a Wang disciple gave him the teacup, Zhu Dabiao had hurriedly moved there by knees...


    At the sight of this scene, the Zhu elders closed their eyes painfully. Even though kneeling down, kowtowing and serving tea to Fire Dragon Hermit, Zhu Yuanxing, the other disciple of Zhu Clan being selected behaved seriously of dignified bearing; when it came to Zhu Dabiao, Zhu elder felt like watching a dog pushing against Fire Dragon Hermit while sticking his tongue out.


    Thankfully, Zhu Dabiao was acknowledging Fire Dragon Hermit as a master, who didn''t care too much about etiquette; therefore, Zhu Dabiao''s performance was not too embarrassing and even made Zhu elder a bit reassured. What made Zhu elder depressed was that he didn''t know why Fire Dragon Hermit selected Zhu Dabiao the douchebag, ''Is that one''s destiny?''


    When Zhu Dabiao served tea to Fire Dragon Hermit, he silently raised his head and threw a glance at Zhang Tie. Unimaginably, he found that Zhang Tie was gazing at him at the same time. Zhu Dabiao became so scared that he almost spilled the tea water of the teacup. However, when he quivered his hand, Fire Dragon Hermit casually took the teacup and drank it rapidly in case of making him embarrassed.


    After picking him up from the ground, Zhu Dabiao felt that Fire Dragon Hermit was watching him with a bit strange look. However, he didn''t think too much about that, he just felt muddle-headed.


    After Zhu Clan, it was the turn of Qian Clan with the provincial governor of Tongzhou Province...


    Although the overall strength of Qian Clan was a bit weaker than that of Huaiyuan Palace, they rooted in Tongzhou Province longer and had a greater influence in Tongzhou Province. Additionally, Tongzhou Province was more prosperous than Youzhou Province. Therefore, Qian Clan ranked 2nd, closely followed by Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace. It was reasonable. At least, each clan felt good. Nobody would comment that Iron-Dragon Sect was snobbish.


    Qian Clan''s junior cultivators were almost as many as that of Zhu Clan. Actually, Qian Clan had more female junior cultivators than that of Zhu Clan; additionally, Qian Clan''s female cultivators were the best in both looks and temperaments.


    Zhang Tie selected two junior cultivators of Qian Clan too, namely, the tall and beautiful female in the middle of the team and the last but one youth with a common look.


    Like the two people being selected in Zhu Clan''s team, the two people being selected in Qian Clan''s team were also excited; however, they still smoothly completed the ritual to formally acknowledge Fire Dragon Hermit as their master.


    "Master, it seems that the female disciple of Qian Clan is well prepared. When she''s formally acknowledging you as her master, she''s thinking about whether she could warm up bed for you!"


    Bai Suxian ridiculed Zhang Tie in a secret way. Zhang Tie threw a glance at Bai Suxian who was sitting still in the distance and found that Bai Suxian revealed a big smile.


    "Cut the crap; otherwise, I will beat your butt on the bed!"


    "Master, come on; this humble slave can''t wait for that. How about calling this female disciple together? Master could cultivate together with this female apprentice. In this humble slave''s eyes, this female apprentice is still a virgin. Are you interested in that? Qian Clan must be longing for that!"


    ''What a spirit!''


    ...


    After Qian Clan, it was the turn of Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace. Zhang Clan received two golden invitation letters; Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Yang received one respectively. Therefore, according to the etiquette, Zhang Clan would congratulate Fire Dragon Hermit in two teams.


    The first team was from Huaiyuan Palace. Zhang Tie threw a glance at these junior apprentices of Zhang Clan and selected two of them.


    The second team only contained two people, namely his two nephews, Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze.


    Compared to the earlier teams which always contained dozens of people, Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze were the youngest and most eye-catching ones.


    "The branch in Jinwu City of Huaiyuan Palace wishes Fire Dragon Hermit to run immortal chakras forever and have a firm sect forever..."


    Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze then bowed towards Zhang Tie gracefully. Although they were a bit younger than Zhang Cheng''an, their eldest brother, they were already 12 years old. Zhang Tie could faintly see his elder brother''s look from their faces.


    Of course, the two juniors didn''t know that Fire Dragon Hermit was their uncle.


    Zhang Tie sighed with emotions inside. Closely after that, he sent two drops of golden cinnabar flying onto the foreheads of the two people.


    Watching Zhang Tie selecting another two disciples of Huaiyuan Palace, all the others at present sighed inside, ''What? How could Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace have such a good luck? Fire Dragon Hermit only enrolled two from Zhu Clan and Qian Clan respectively; however, he enrolled 4 from Huaiyuan Palace. It seems that Fire Dragon Hermit favors Huaiyuan Palace very much.''


    Everybody was sighing with emotion inside when they were thinking about the reason why Fire Dragon Hermit favored Huaiyuan Palace so much. Because Xuantian City was in Youzhou Province, Fire Dragon Hermit especially cared about Zhang Clan; because of the all-purpose medicament and Jinwu Business Group in Jinwu City that attracted Fire Dragon Hermit''s eyes; because the two kids had an uncle called Zhang Tie whose reputation was famous among humans and was going to recover his freedom? or all the reason above...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what they were thinking about; however, all the others at present thought that they had got the reason.


    After Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze, it was the turn of the juniors of Lu Clan from Spiritualmaple Prefecture. Zhang Tie selected two disciples from them too.


    After Zhang Tie selected the disciples of Lu Clan, those in the auditorium figured out something, namely, Zhang Tie didn''t only select those in the middle of the teams; he would also select those on the end of the teams who didn''t look outstanding. Additionally, besides Zhang Clan, Fire Dragon Hermit would also pay special attention to those clans with earth knights. He would select one excellent disciple and an average one from each clan. Those in the auditorium didn''t know why would Fire Dragon Hermit adopt this mode.


    All the elders and knights in the auditorium exchanged a glance with each other as they started to consider about the reason...


    In the later, it was the turn of disciples of the major clans in Tongzhou Province and Yanzhou Province who had earth knights. When they entered the stage, Zhang Tie treated them equally by selecting 2 disciples from each major clan, one excellent, the other average.


    Nobody knew why Zhang Tie selected the average ones. Actually, Zhang Tie''s thought was very simple, namely sparing a chance to those who looked average.


    When Zhang Tie was young, he was also an average person. Therefore, he knew that those average ones cultivated very hard.


    After selecting apprentices from those major clans with earth knights, Zhang Tie would start to select apprentices from those clans with black iron knights.


    By contrast, he only selected one apprentice from each clan with black iron knights.


    When everybody at present thought that they had figured out the rules of Fire Dragon Hermit, Zhang Tie selected 7 disciples from Wang Clan of Yushun Palace, Ningan City under the shocked and unbelievable gazes of all the guests, which shocked their entire venue and the Xuantian City as a whole...

 1065 Over One Hundred Apprentices

    Chapter 1065: Over One Hundred Apprentices


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Today, Wang Clan of Yushun Palace, Ningan City was unprecedentedly brilliant.


    After providing free porridge in Ningan City constantly for over 70 years, Wang Clan finally got a compensation.


    Fire Dragon Hermit put in 2 dragons from each clan with earth knights and 1 dragon from each clan with black iron knights. Although Wang Clan had no knights, Fire Dragon Hermit put in 7 dragons from Wang Clan which shocked all the other clans.


    What did this mean?


    Fire Dragon Hermit only put in 8 dragons from the three clans with provincial governors of Yanzhou Province, Tongzhou Province and Youzhou Province in total, 2 of which were from the branch in Jinwu City of Zhang Clan, Huaiyuan Palace, which indicated that Fire Dragon Hermit favored Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace and that Lion of Youzhou Province who was well-known across Taixia Country. However, he put in 7 dragons from Wang Clan, which almost matched the total number of dragons being put in from the three clans with provincial governors. If the 2 dragons being put in from the branch of Jinwu City was not included, Wang Clan would even have one more dragon than the total number of dragons being put in by Fire Dragon Hermit from Zhu Clan, Qian Clan and Zhang Clan.


    90 years ago, Wang Clan had a black iron knight who was the founder of Yushun Palace of Wang Clan. However, like how those clans with knights flourished and withered, over 70 years ago, that black iron knight of Wang Clan was killed in the Earth-elements Realm. From then on, the potential momentum of development of Wang Clan stopped abruptly. Although Wang Clan didn''t fully decline, they just safeguarded the undertaking of their ancestor.


    After Wang Clan''s ancestor died in the Earth-elements Realm, Wang Clan stuck to the ideology that "a family which always do good would have a good luck for sure" and started to do good by providing free porridge and building bridges and paving roads. They had been doing that for over 70 years ceaselessly.


    Today, Wang Clan finally received their compensation.


    Watching 7 golden and red light flying off Fire Dragon Hermit''s golden brush and falling on the foreheads of the 7 junior disciples of Wang Clan, Wang Chongde the master of Wang Clan and some Wang elders quivered all over with tears in their eye sockets. Wang Clan''s rejuvenation was hopeful. As long as one of the 7 juniors could promote to a knight, Wang Clan would be qualified to be a major clan and recover the glory of their past days.


    Wang Clan had been waiting for this day for over 7 decades.


    From today on, the entire Wang Clan of Yushun Palace, Ningan City, would bind themselves to Zhang Tie''s charity.


    As the old saying went, ''A man dies for his bosom friend.'' With such a reliance and glory, of course, a clan would not hesitate to stand on the side of Fire Dragon Hermit.


    The omen of rejuvenation of Wang Clan had appeared; however, nobody was jealous about them. Because it was the result of Wang Clan after doing good for over 7 decades. Those who knew the reason could only admire and sigh with emotion about the good luck of Wang Clan.


    If the other clan could be as persistent as Wang Clan and be known by Fire Dragon Hermit within Fire Dragon Bounty Territory by accident, the other clan might also enjoy such a special treatment; however, there was not such a clan anymore; therefore, the others could only accept the fact.


    People in Taixia Country didn''t hate rich men or officials; they just hated those who were rich yet cruel and those tight-fisted officials. Those who were both righteous and benevolent would never be hated by commoners no matter how magnificent their clans were. Few people would give a false account of the true facts.


    Those who carried tails were all in tales.


    After Wang Clan had 7 dragons being put in, the others immediately congratulated Wang Clan to be the biggest winner in the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    After the Immortal Fist Position Sect''s master was beaten in the fight and left, Wang Clan became a rising star. The up and down made this opening ceremony special and brought the guests at present more topics and thoughts.


    It might be a God''s will.


    Zhang Tie selected 4 males and 3 females. The eldest one among the 7 lucky dogs was over 30 years old, the youngest one among them was only 16 years old. Their levels varied from LV 4 to LV 8.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care what the others would think about. After enrolling the 7 disciples of Wang Clan, he continued to put in dragons.


    One person from Lu Clan, Dashang City, Gaoping Prefecture of Yanzhou Province was selected.


    After that, Zhang Tie respectively put in one dragon from Fang Clan of Qinghe City, Chen Clan of Muqing Palace, Langyun City, the four sons of Li Tao, the boss of Zhongpin Business Group of Dongyang City, Sun Clan of Xuantian City and Gu Clan of Snowpine City.


    The masters and elders of these later clans were all in the auditorium. Because of their relatively inferior positions, their seats were close to the end. When they found that their own disciples were put in dragon by Zhang Tie, they were all very excited.


    Although the other clans only had one disciple being put in the dragon, it was already a great treatment that each knight''s clan could enjoy. Such a treatment had already satisfied these clans. They all determined to fulfill the task assigned by Fire Dragon Hermit well and strive for a better performance in front of Fire Dragon Hermit so as to pave a smooth way for their own disciples in Iron-Dragon Sect.


    After entering Iron-Dragon Sect, besides efforts and talents, these disciples from all clans also required their own clans'' assistance.


    Daddy was the key, but in different skills and patterns.


    Especially in Taixia Country, everybody was clear about benefit-based relationships between major clans and sects. When their own disciples entered Iron-Dragon Sect and the other small- and medium-sized sects, they would send gifts to the master out of their sincerity. There was no fixed regulation on the value of the gifts. They should send gifts according to their own abilities. However, they all had a clear idea about that.


    Although there was a much-told tale that the master of a sect might like that even if disciples and parents from poor families gifted him some tea leaves that they picked from the mountain; however, commoners had better not play that trick. If everybody could fabricate a "much-told tale", the "much-told tale" would be valueless. Even a rural teacher would receive a gift of dried flesh; not to mention an earth knight of a sect.


    ...


    Zhang Tie enrolled 121 apprentices in total, 82 of them were male, 39 of them were female. Generally, a sect should contain more males than females.


    After the 121 formally acknowledged their master, they all stood behind Zhang Tie according to the order that they were put in dragons while trying to recover their composure. As Liu Xing was Fire Dragon Hermit''s first apprentice, he stood closely behind Zhang Tie as the most special one among all the apprentices of Zhang Tie.


    Previously, there was nobody behind Zhang Tie. Now, after so many apprentices stood behind him and Zhang Tie sat on the golden chair in such a generous way, the Iron-Dragon Sect immediately became majestic and imposing.


    ''From today on, will the destiny of the 121 people behind me be connected to that of myself?''


    As it was his first time to enroll apprentices, Zhang Tie also felt a bit weird. Actually, some apprentices were even elder than Zhang Tie himself.


    Whatever, after they formally acknowledged Zhang Tie as their master, the identities of both parties were already fixed. From then on, they would become Zhang Tie''s apprentices while their life and future would be determined by Zhang Tie. From today on, if they disobeyed the regulations of Iron-Dragon Sect or irritated Zhang Tie, even if they were killed by Zhang Tie, the of Iron-Dragon Sect or the officials of Taixia Country didn''t have a right to say no.


    It was the No. 1 taboo in Taixia Country to cheat one''s master or slander one''s ancestors. Such people would not even be forgiven by God. After joining one sect, to a certain extent, it was equal to sign an unalterable life or death contract with their sect and their master.


    Zhang Tie knew that the clans of the 121 apprentices behind him indicated a great set of relationships that he cast in Northeast Military Region. It might take commoners a few generations to build such a great set of relationships. However, it was very easy for an earth knight to do it. They only needed to establish a sect and enroll apprentices. Only after one day, the nickname of Fire Dragon Hermit had become different for these clans. This interpreted the dignity and ability of an earth knight.


    ''From today on, if I really want to root in Taixia Country, the relationship between me and these apprentices might become a bit utilitarian; however, as they''ve kowtowed and served tea to me, I should be responsible for these people more or less.''


    Zhang Tie sighed with emotion inside as he put the golden brush into the tray carried by a virgin boy on his side.


    Everybody was watching Zhang Tie and waiting for him to say something; Zhang Tie also read a lot of information from the eyes of the surrounding people.


    Bai Suxian''s eyes flickered with full pleasure, excitement and a bit pride.


    The old guy on Bai Suxian''s side looked glassy-eyed as usual who made Zhang Tie a bit awkward. Strangely, Zhang Tie could see through the overall strength of all the people at present except for that old guy on Bai Suxian''s side. Zhang Tie felt that nobody at present could defeat this old guy except for Zhang Tie himself.


    ''Whatever, I will ask Bai Suxian about the background of this old guy after the opening ceremony.''


    After being silent for a few seconds, Zhang Tie uttered, "Liu Xing!"


    "I''m here, Master!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s call, Liu Xing responded respectfully at once.


    "From today on, the 120 people would be your junior fellow brothers and sisters. As my first apprentice, you can manage all the 120 people at your will. With me on your back, you should pay special attention to the seniority of the members in Iron-Dragon Sect!" Zhang Tie said in a muffled voice.


    After hearing that, many people''s hearts raced; however, Liu Xing became reassured. Because Liu Xing''s clan was very average; neither did he have a great natural gift. He was the one with the least background among all the apprentices of Zhang Tie. Just now, Liu Xing was still concerned that he might not be able to control his junior apprentice brothers and sisters who came from knights'' clans. After hearing Zhang Tie''s order, Liu Xing became reassured. However, Liu Xing still gritted his teeth inside after getting the expectation of Zhang Tie, ''No matter what, I have to grasp this opportunity and will never lose face for my master...''


    ...


    When Zhang Tie finished putting in dragons, another airboat arrived at Xuantian City. At the sight of this airboat, everybody became faintly stunned as it was from the Supreme Court of Taixia Country given its symbol...


    After Zhang Tie finished his talk with Liu Xing, two people had flown off that airboat towards Xuantian Courtyard...

 1066 Towards Zhongzhou Province

    Chapter 1066: Towards Zhongzhou Province


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The airboat of Supreme Court was blue all over. It was about 200 m in length. Additionally, there were symbols of the Supreme Court on both sides of the airboat.


    Two people got off the airboat, one of them was Gao Tianqi whom Zhang Tie had met before.


    When Zhang Tie saw Gao Tianqi for the first time, he was staying with Feng Cangwu. Later on, Zhang Tie saw him in White Tiger Platform when Zhang Tie knew that this youth was a chief of bodyguards of Commander Cheng Honglie of Northeast Military Region. He was the trusted subordinate of Commander Cheng who had a bright future.


    The other one who flew off the airboat together with Gao Tianqi was an earth knight given his qi. He was elder than Gao Tianqi. In an official uniform of the supreme court in Taixia Country and a standard Xiezhi crown, he had slim eyebrows and eyes and looked solemn.


    Watching Gao Tianqi and an earth knight of supreme court flying towards him, Zhang Tie almost mistook that they were here to arrest him. However, after thinking about it for a short while, he forgot about this thought.


    ''Are you kidding me? Besides my elder brother, nobody else knows my real identity. Additionally, even if the Supreme Court of Taixia Country was going to arrest me, they would never do that at this moment. As the bloody figure event has just broken out, the Supreme Court of Taixia Country doesn''t even have time to care about me at all. I think they are here to cancel my order for arrest.''


    Many people on the ground identified Gao Tianqi. Although Gao Tianqi was just a black iron knight, he enjoyed a high position in Northeast Military Region as the chief of the bodyguards of Commander Cheng. Additionally, it seemed that Gao Tianqi was leading the way for that guy from the Supreme Court of Taixia Country.


    Out of etiquette, almost everyone at present had stood up, including Zhang Tie.


    "Is Huaiyuan Palace''s elder here?"


    Gao Tianqi''s voice arrived ahead of his body.


    ''They didn''t come here for me on this occasion?''


    Zhang Tie and everybody else at present became curious as they wanted to see what the two people were going to do.


    Elder Muyu became a bit stunned; however, he made a response immediately.


    Elder Muyu cupped his hand as he looked up and said, "I''m Elder Muyu from Huaiyuan Palace!"


    Gao Tianqi and the earth knight then landed on the ground.


    "Ahh, Elder Muyu, long time no see!" Gao Tianqi hailed Elder Muyu with a smile before nodding towards all the others at present. Closely after that, he watched Zhang Tie''s bald head for a second before cupping his hands towards Zhang Tie respectfully, "This one must be Fire Dragon Hermit!"


    "Yes, it''s me!" Zhang Tie touched his bald head.


    "Fire Dragon Hermit, please forgive me. This one is Lord Cao from the Supreme Court of Taixia Country. Previously, Lord Cao wanted to release a news to Huaiyuan Palace in Youzhou City; I know that there must be an elder of Huaiyuan Palace here; plus so many friends from different provinces, it might be better for Lord Cao to declare the news here. Additionally, we were near here; therefore, I brought Lord Cao here!"


    "Hahahah...go ahead, go ahead!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter generously, "Now that you two could come, you''ve already brought me glory, just let me know if you need any help!"


    "We don''t need your help, but Lord Cao wants to say something to Elder Muyu of Huaiyuan Palace in the public!"


    "Please!"


    When Zhang Tie talked with Gao Tianqi, Lord Cao from Supreme Court of Taixia Country had already looked over Zhang Tie carefully before catching sight of the 18 secret pearls in the distance. Lord Cao blinked his eyes as he felt that he was dazzled. After confirming that they were secret pearls, Lord Cao became amazed. Zhang Tie knew that Lord Cao had already identified the background of these secret pearls.


    "Go ahead, Lord Cao!" Elder Muyu cupped his hands towards Lord Cao from the Supreme Court in neither kind nor cold attitude. Since Zhang Tie was framed and escaped away, the relationship between Huaiyuan Palace and Supreme Court had been neither close nor cold like how Elder Muyu behaved now.


    Lord Cao looked around before saying loudly on purpose so that everyone at present could hear it, "I''m here to notice the Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace on behalf of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country that Elder Zhang Mushen, namely Zhang Tie''s order for arrest has been officially canceled. From today on, Zhang Tie will gain his freedom and not be wanted anymore across Taixia Country. The Supreme Court of Taixia Country will investigate the tragedy in Fuhai City that happened 4 years ago from the scratch!" As Lord Cao declared, a document appeared in his hand. He then passed it to Elder Muyu.


    In the distance, Zhang Tie could only see a red seal of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country on the document.


    After taking that document and skimming over it, Elder Muyu''s hands quivered. After hearing Lord Cao''s declaration, Zhang Yang directly pushed into one side of Elder Mushen and read it too.


    As Lord Cao didn''t know Zhang Yang, when he saw Zhang Yang approaching him, he even slightly frowned. However, Gao Tianqi knew Zhang Yang.


    "This is Zhang Yang, Zhang Tie''s elder brother, the boss of Jinwu Business Group!" Gao Tianqi told Lord Cao in a secret way. After hearing Gao Tianqi''s explanation, Lord Cao relieved his frown. He knew that if not that Zhang family in Jinwu City received the news ahead of them, when the bloody sea became mature, the result would definitely be much worse than now.


    Although the Zhongzhou Provincial Court suffered a great loss, the judicial agencies of Taixia Country had definitely made a great meritorious service this time.


    Everybody at present could guess that the file that Lord Cao gave Elder Muyu was the official document about canceling off the order of arrest for Zhang Tie.


    To declare this news on this occasion was definitely more effective than declaring it to Huaiyuan Palace in Youzhou Province alone.


    "Lord Cao, is my brother Zhang Tie free now?"


    "He''s free. Being entrusted by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, I''m especially here to notice Huaiyuan Palace about this news. The chief justice of the Supreme Court felt pretty pitiful about what Zhang Tie has experienced these years. This time, the Supreme Court is going to restart the investigation of the tragedy in Fuhai City. The chief justice said if Zhang Tie likes, he could continue to serve as an official in a judicial agency when he comes back. He could even participate in the investigation of the tragedy in Fuhai City himself!"


    When Zhang Tie served as the chief justice of Youzhou Province, he had inflicted a great loss to the Heavens Reaching Church and spread his reputation "Lion of Youzhou Province" over the entire judicial system in Taixia Country. Nobody could imagine that the Supreme Court of Taixia Country could cancel off Zhang Tie''s order for arrest and would even entrust him with an important post once again.


    In a split second, a well-known human criminal became innocent and might be entrusted as an awe-struck important post in the judicial system of Taixia Country, ''Is this the plot of the chief justice of the Supreme Court or a compensation or both of them?''


    Those at present were considering the attitude of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country carefully. Zhang Tie felt complex inside.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that his stigma and crime could be cleared only after returning to Jinwu City and identifying the plot of Heavens Reaching Church, ''I could finally be free in the public in my original look.''


    ''Four years ago, I unconsciously became a widely wanted criminal across Taixia Country.''


    ''Four years later, the stigma and suspicion of being a wanted criminal were cleared unconsciously.''


    ''That''s my destiny.''


    After experiencing all this, Zhang Tie felt that his destiny was played by an invisible hand like how a clown performed acrobatics of throwing bottles. His life contrail rolled many circles in the sky in a very risky way before coming back to its original point. It seemed that nothing had changed at all.


    ''But really?''


    Watching these knights from major clans who came here to celebrate the opening ceremony of Fire Dragon Hermit and Bai Suxian who was watching him with her big watery eyes, Zhang Tie could only swear many times inside, ''f*ck!''


    At this time, Zhang Tie became reassured and depressed. With this complex mood, Zhang Tie could neither laugh nor cry.


    No matter what, both Elder Muyu and Zhang Yang were satisfied with this result. After hearing this news, no matter what they thought inside, they also started to congratulate Elder Muyu and Zhang Yang apparently.


    Zhang Yang threw a glance at Zhang Tie stealthily and found that Zhang Tie was watching him. They soon moved their eyes away. However, due to the privity between the two brothers, they had exchanged much information silently.


    Zhang Yang, "Are you going back?"


    Zhang Tie, "Do you think I can come back now?"


    Zhang Yang, "What to do then?"


    Zhang Tie, "I will finish the affairs of Iron-Dragon Sect first. If I go back now, it might not be good."


    "Fire Dragon Hermit, are those balls secret pearls?" Gao Tianqi asked Zhang Tie with an uncertain tone which drew Zhang Tie back to the helpless yet hilarious reality.


    "Hahaha, yup. I''ve got some delicacies from Earth-elements Realm. I use them to entertain the guests today!"


    ''Entertain?'' Even though Gao Tianqi had seen a lot of rarities on the side of Commander Cheng, it was his first time to hear someone using so many secret pearls to "entertain the guests"...


    "May I have your attention, please? Good things should be in pairs. Besides my opening ceremony, an elder of Huaiyuan Palace also became innocent. As we''re happy now, let''s try our luck. If you have a good luck, you might get a silver secret item. I''m afraid that many people can''t wait for that..."


    Zhang Tie said as he applauded twice. Closely after that, Wang disciples carried out a special tool for hitting golden eggs...


    After that, Zhang Tie made a brief introduction about the game rule to enliven the atmosphere in the opening ceremony...


    Of course, the game rule was pretty fair for the other knights. As Zhang Tie was a supreme dominator and had lotus-flower eyes, he especially prepared the secret pearl which contained a silver secret item for Huaiyuan Palace. Nobody else could take it away. Therefore, it was just an entertainment for the others.


    ...


    Watching the Zhu Elder entering the stage in high spirits to get numbers from a fully enclosed metal cylinder, Zhang Tie waved his hand and fetched Liu Xing.


    "Notice the outside. Iron-Dragon Sect will enroll 3,000 exterior door disciples. You''re responsible for accomplishing it in 3 days."


    "3 days?"


    "Yes, because I will take you to Zhongzhou Province to have a practice 3 days later..."


    ...


    The day when the Iron-Dragon Sect opened made many people unforgettable...


    Compared to the first day in Xuantian Courtyard, the following 3 days were more boisterous across Xuantian City.


    As for many ambitious young men, if they could become exterior door disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect, they would also have a chance to become the internal door disciples even elite disciples and disciples being directly taught by Fire Dragon Hermit if they were excellent enough. It depended on their destinies...


    Zhang Tie kept dealing with many affairs and meeting many people in Xuantian City for consecutive 3 days without a sleep. After confirming the local representatives of the 10 cities in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, Fire Dragon Bounty Territory was almost on the right track. After that, Zhang Tie took the 121 inside door disciples to Zhongzhou Province by airboat...


    At this moment, Zhongzhou Province, one of the nine immortal provinces in Taixia Country was the most boisterous place in Taixia Country as many airships, airboats and bounty criminal hunters were gathering there...

 1067 A Kno

    Chapter 1067: A Knot


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After one night''s stand with Bai Suxian, Zhang Tie only had less than 3 hours'' deep sleep and adjustment before waking up.


    It was in a super deluxe bedroom of the airboat, which covered over 200 square meters. The top of the bedroom was a flexible crystal dome. After opening the crystal dome, they could see the stars over the sky. Additionally, there were a lot of bamboo palms, some special flowers and grasses inside the bedroom. Because of the existence of these plants, the air in the bedroom always smelt refreshing and a bit fragrant even after Zhang Tie''s one night''s stand with Bai Suxian.


    During the period when this airboat parked in Xuantian City, all the basic hardware facilities inside the airboat such as flowers and grass remained unchanged, except for those private belongings such as beddings which were changed at Zhang Tie''s request. The red brilliant lacquer over the surface of the airboat was also changed to relatively low-key silver gray at Zhang Tie''s request after the opening ceremony.


    He won this airboat from Taixia Fantasy Sect through a bet. No matter what, Taiyi Fantasy Sect was one of the top seven sects which had a profound background. If he showed it off everywhere, it was equal to slapping Taiyi Fantasy Sect on their face. After fighting Nangong Sheng, Zhang Tie realized that he should be low-key; therefore, he changed the color of his airboat.


    No matter how great was an earth knight, if he became a thorn in the flesh of Taiyi Fantasy Sect which was a top sect in Taixia Country, this knight would not stay in Taixia Country anymore.


    He had changed the color for his airboat and left some leeway for Immortal Fist Position Sect. After the two events, Zhang Tie believed that Feng Yexiao, the grand elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect would not bring trouble to him anymore as long as he didn''t have a conflict of interest with Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    Although gangsters and ruffians might cling to bring him trouble until death, top sects like Taiyi Fantasy Sect were keen on face-saving, pattern and tolerance. If they really annoyed Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie would travel across Taixia Country by this airboat and open it to commoners at the cost of only one copper coin or renovate it into an air nightclub or brothel such as Flowers Pavilion. By then, Taiyi Fantasy Sect would not bear it for sure.


    Bai Suxian was sleeping pretty well on the bed in a sluggish way. From one side, her curve was pretty thrilling. After waking up, Zhang Tie didn''t get up immediately; instead, he just watched Bai Suxian silently on the bed.


    ''I wonder what this woman would feel if she knew that I''m Zhang Tie.''


    A whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind. Even though Zhang Tie himself was not sure whether she could accept his original identity or not. After living with her these days, Zhang Tie knew that Bai Suxian really loved him although her demeanor was a bit crazy sometimes.


    This time, Bai Suxian came to Fire Dragon Bounty Territory with an airboat, an earth knight and over 2,000 people, which included female and male servants, bodyguards and variously skilled craftsmen. These skilled craftsmen included over 30 chefs and pastry cooks who could make all the food that you named, tailors, instruments craftsmen, gardeners, cordwainers, shoemakers, carpenters, accountants, doctors, dare-to-die men, stewards...all of them were here to serve Bai Suxian.


    At the sight of so many people, Zhang Tie was scared too much. He then knew how rich was Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    The over 2,000 people who followed Bai Suxian here were not commoners in Taixia Country; instead, they were servants whom Lord Guangnan''s Mansion trained since they were young. Honestly, they were just slaves of Bai Suxian. Nominally, they were not slaves, but family servants. Actually, family servants would have more personal rights than slaves.


    These family servants would be Bai Suxian''s dowry in the future. That was to say, when Bai Suxian got married, these servants would also follow Bai Suxian over there to serve her.


    Actually, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion prepared 150,000 people like these for Bai Suxian, which contained an elite army of 100,000 bodyguards.


    Followed by 150,000 people, an airboat and an earth knight who called himself "this old slave", Bai Suxian was definitely going to be a respectable figure instead of being a wife.


    If not being afraid that Zhang Tie disliked that, Bai Suxian would definitely bring more than 2,000 followers this time.


    After Bai Suxian returned to Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, she only had a chance to see her grandma for the last time. After seeing Bai Suxian for the last time, the grand madam of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion passed away.


    After observing mourning for her grandma for 49 days, when Bai Suxian received Zhang Tie''s golden invitation letter, she arrived here followed by that earth knight. The "old slave" was left by her grandma who was responsible for protecting her.


    According to Bai Suxian, because of the death of her grandma, her dad was forbidden to marry new concubines within at least 3 years. Therefore, Fang Xinyi who wanted to be her step-mother could only wait for 3 years. Additionally, Bai Suxian didn''t want to stay in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion anymore; therefore, she just came here to find Cui Li with only a small part of her dowry.


    When Zhang Tie saw her followers, he was not angry. These days, Bai Suxian was very spirited; especially after she boarded the airboat and heard that Zhang Tie''s apprentices call her master''s wife privately, Bai Suxian was happier.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether Bai Suxian was trying to test the relationship between him and her with the over 2,000 followers. Even Zhang Tie wondered about the current identity of Bai Suxian, ''lover, friend, comrade-in-arms, paramour or fiancee?''


    If it was just an average one night''s stand, Zhang Tie didn''t need to think too much about that. Now that Bai Suxian had fallen in love with him, of course, Zhang Tie had to treat this marriage seriously. No matter what, Zhang Tie didn''t want to hurt a woman who treated him sincerely. No matter what the woman''s identity was, a man who hurt his woman''s heart was definitely a bad man. Zhang Tie didn''t want to be that bad man.


    ''But...will I really become Lord Guangnan''s son-in-law?''


    ''In which identity, Cui Li or Zhang Tie? If she knows that my current identity and looks are all fake, will this woman accept it and not want to kill me around the world with so many knight-level powerhouses from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion?''


    Whenever Zhang Tie thought about this, he would feel muddle-headed faintly.


    Watching Bai Suxian in front of him, Zhang Tie had to consider about this question seriously.


    After being silently gazed for a few minutes, Bai Suxian might have sensed it as he opened her eyes and revealed an indolent smile towards Zhang Tie.


    "Morning."


    "Hmm!" Bai Suxian lightly replied with her nose before pushing herself into Zhang Tie''s cradle like a Persian cat. She hugged Zhang Tie as she pasted her face onto Zhang Tie''s chest with a big satisfied smile, "Why did you look at me in that way just now? Were you thinking about a bad idea?"


    "Hoho, what bad idea would I have?" Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he patted Bai Suxian''s plump butt in the quilt.


    "Who knows. All men behave like that. When you eat the rice in the bowl, you will look at the dish in the pot; when you bite one in the mouth, you nip another by chopsticks; you can''t even wait to press one by your butt and hook one by your leg.." Bai Suxian pouted her mouth as she gave a light bite onto Zhang Tie''s chest as she continued, "Take my dad as an instance, he could find all sorts of women in the mansion; however, he preferred that foxtrel Fang Xinyi. He didn''t even consider about my face in the mansion if he married that woman..."


    Zhang Tie didn''t want to involve in the affairs in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion; neither would he comment about that. After hearing Bai Suxian''s words, he just replied with a smile. However, Bai Suxian suddenly thought about something as she made a roll and pressed onto Zhang Tie''s body. Closely after that, she started to whisper, "Do you like that woman called Guo Hongyi?"


    "Cut the crap! Why?"


    "Humph. If you don''t like her, how could she get a secret pearl in Xuantian Courtyard? Have you noticed how she looked at you after getting that secret pearl? If not this humble slave was on your side, that woman might have found an excuse to stay in Xuantian Courtyard!"


    "Shut up, it depended on her good luck. With so many eyes in the surroundings, how could I promise that she could get that secret pearl?"


    Honestly, in the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect, besides that secret pearl of Huaiyuan Palace which was fixed by Zhang Tie in advance, all the other secret pearls were distributed according to the rules without anyone''s disturbance. In this situation, Guo Hongyi still got a secret pearl by good luck. As Guo Hongyi was pretty happy at that moment, she just revealed a big smile towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie didn''t think too much about that.


    "Whatever, I think that you could have a method to have her get that secret pearl. Those rules might be available to other knights; however, you must have a method to determine who to own those secret pearls!"


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced. Sometimes, this woman''s sixth sense and intuition were terrifying when it was involved with sex.


    "If I liked her, why would I choose such a tortuous method? Why not directly gift her a silver secret item?"


    "You''re right!" Bai Suxian agreed. After thinking about the temperament of this man whom she was hugging, she was sure that this man would not be so stingy.


    "I was thinking, what would you do if you found out that I cheated you one day?" Zhang Tie asked in a glassy-eyed look.

 1068 A Burning Village

    Chapter 1068: A Burning Village


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Are you a demon?"


    "No!"


    "Are you a member of Three-eye Association?"


    "No!"


    "Then no problem. What else could you cheat me with? Master, you saved this humble slave''s life. You can take away whatever you want from me!"


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Bai Suxian could reply him in this way.


    As Bai Suxian replied, she bit Zhang Tie''s ear and started to twist her naked body once again.


    "I mean...if...if one day you find another identity of me, what will you do?" Zhang Tie pressed Bai Suxian down in case she moved.


    "As long as master doesn''t dislike me and doesn''t chase me away; as long as master keep this humble slave on your side to look after you. This humble slave will do whatever master wants..."


    ''Damn!'' Watching Bai Suxian''s enchanting slim eyes and blush, Zhang Tie knew that this question became effective, ''What I''m concerned about is nothing but sh*t in Bai Suxian''s eyes, not to mention that Zhang Tie is not a wanted criminal anymore; even though Bai Suxian knows that I''m Zhang Tie and could change my figure and look, based on her temperament, this woman would only feel it''s more stimulative.''


    ''Given the identity of Bai Suxian, besides those who betrayed humans and Taixia Country as a whole would make her disgusting, this woman might really not care about the real identity of Zhang Tie at all.''


    ''Sometimes, if a woman falls in love with someone, she would be more dedicated than the man.''


    ''Well, whatever. Perhaps, this woman will leave me after staying with me for a couple of years when she feels that I''m boring.''


    Zhang Tie became silent. Bai Suxian put her hand into the quilt...


    "Stop, it''s going to break..."


    "Master, it''s still 1 hour left!"


    ...


    When the atmosphere in the bedroom became increasingly ambiguous and the lipid in Zhang Tie''s body rose sharply, a bell at the head of their bed rang loudly.


    This bell would ring only in contingency. After this airboat left Xuantian City, this ring finally rang for the first time.


    "Emergency!" When Zhang Tie heard this bell ring, he sprung up from the bed at once. Although he was naked, he strode towards a speaking trumpet which was connected to a brass pipe and picked up the phone.


    This airboat was matched with a set of senior equipment. It contained the voice-transmitting pipes which were usually matched in airships. By contrast, the two terminal ends of voice-transmitting pipes on the airboat were evenly matched with a more advanced alchemist''s device. Being similar to a mini loudspeaker, this alchemist'' device could make sound clearer and stabler. The listener could easily hear it through the loudspeaker, which was similar to the effect of face-to-face talk.


    "What''s happening?"


    "Master, there''s a big fire accident in a village in the far. It doesn''t look good!" Linghu Biao replied through the brass pipes, which indicated that he was on duty in the command module of the airboat at this moment. Although Linghu Biao always behaved in a noisy, gay and boisterous manner, he sounded very serious at this moment.


    "Where are we?"


    "We''re still in Mingzhou Province. But we will enter the border of Zhongzhou Province in 1 hour!"


    Zhang Tie faintly frowned as he continued to ask, "How far are we from the burning village?"


    "It''s still over 150 miles away. We could arrive there in 10 minutes at the current speed of Iron-Dragon Airboat!"


    This airboat was renamed Iron-Dragon by Zhang Tie.


    "Wake up all the others. I will arrive at the command module soon!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    Zhang Tie turned around and threw a glance at Bai Suxian who was sitting up with a blush, "Let''s go there together!"


    ''I will see who''s destroying this grandma''s good thing.'' Bai Suxian thought as she gritted her teeth.


    Bai Suxian pulled down a rope on the side of the bed. Twelve beautiful female servants immediately entered the bedroom with tidy clothes and cleansing wares one after another and started to serve them.


    Zhang Tie had experienced this process in the Navyblue Castle for the first time. When Zhang Tie faced such a sexy scene for the first time, his face blushed and heart pounded. He almost couldn''t bear it. As a result, he was a bit embarrassed at that time. By contrast, Zhang Tie was not a virgin now; even though he was naked and facing the 8 beautiful female servants on Bai Suxian''s side, he still looked as calm as usual and was not afraid of being observed by them at all. However, the 8 beautiful female servants blushed when they saw Zhang Tie''s sturdy, naked body. Even though they still couldn''t stand to glance at Zhang Tie. Since they were born, actually they had not served any man beside Bai Suxian.


    ...


    As knights, they would finish putting on clothes and cleansing themselves as fast as possible in this emergency situation; especially when some people were serving them. Even though Bai Suxian only spent less than 7 minutes in finishing the whole process. Of course, if not in a hurry, Bai Suxian could also prolong this process to above 1 hour.


    In a wholly new dress, Zhang Tie left the bedroom with Bai Suxian and soon arrived at the command module of the airboat.


    Zhang Tie''s disciples moved even a bit faster than Zhang Tie. Before Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian arrived at the command module, all the 121 inside door disciples of Zhang Tie had already been waiting for them inside the command module.


    "Master, Peak Master Bai!"


    Standing in a few rows, the inside door disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect hailed Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian at the same time. Only a few of them dared call Bai Suxian "master''s wife" privately. In Iron-Dragon Sect, Zhang Tie only told his disciples that Bai Suxian was the master of a peak in Iron-Dragon Sect. After Iron-Dragon Sect was established in Yangui Mountain Range, Bai Suxian would occupy one of the 18 Xuantian peaks in Yangui Mountain Range and select some apprentices from Iron-Dragon Sect to instruct them.


    Being silent, Zhang Tie directly came to the front of the ground optical imaging instrument in the command module and lowered his head.


    It was the vast land underfoot. It didn''t break now as the stars and moons were still hanging over the sky. It was pitch dark downside there. By contrast, the flames in the village became more dazzling.


    In front of that optical imaging instrument, Zhang Tie found that the village was on the riverside at the foot of a mountain. There was no big city within 100 square miles. There were fertile farmlands at the riverside. The village was tranquil and graceful. By contrast, the flames looked grimmer.


    It was not a house that caught fire; instead, the greater part of the village caught fire. As the airboat moved forward, although the ground images would be blocked by clouds transiently, Zhang Tie could still see many corpses lying on the ground and commoners who were running and wailing in the fierce flames through the ground optical imaging instrument...


    "Let''s take a look downside there..." Zhang Tie told Bai Suxian.


    Bai Suxian nodded with a solemn look.


    "Master, do we need to do something?" Liu Xing asked.


    "It''s unidentified down side there. You''d better observe the surroundings in the sky and wait for my message..."

 1069 Kill and Save

    Chapter 1069: Kill and Save


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Heavy smokes were rushing into the sky from the tranquil village. After leaving the airboat, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian soon arrived at the destination after traveling dozens of miles.


    In the sky, Zhang Tie''s eyes faintly revealed a lotus-flower shaped halo and changed the halo several times silently before seeing everything in the village.


    In the flames, Zhang Tie saw people running hurriedly in all directions with flashing sabers and swords and spraying blood.


    It was a massacre. Some people were wailing; some were dying; some were resisting.


    Over 40 people were making a massacre and setting fire across the village.


    Those killers were in disordered clothes; however, they were very ferocious. What was more, Zhang Tie found that all of these killers were LV 9 fighters.


    Zhang Tie understood it immediately that these people were bloody figures that escaped from Zhongzhou Province.


    ...


    In the east of the village which was covered with raging flames, there was a plain grain-sunning ground near the foot of the mountain, a tough Hua man was waving his huge saber, the handle of which was carved with a ghost''s head and leading over 20 young Hua people to fight over 10 bloody figures who were moving around the grain-sunning ground.


    The tough man and the surrounding young men were all wounded. Over 30 corpses were lying around the grain-sunning ground, most of which were young men; only a few of them were split into two halves, which might belong to those bloody figures.


    "Forming a battle formation. Stay on my side. Injured ones stay inside the battle formation and don''t break out..." The tough man roared as he waved his huge saber and fought those bloody figures.


    The tough man''s bloody battle qi totem was rolling behind him like an exotic, fierce tiger. He kept chopping and moving as he constantly punched towards the bloody figures. His battle qi formed in the shape of a fist and flew towards those bloody figures within 10 m, which could protect those young men in his battle formation.


    Among those young men in the battle formation, a couple of them also released battle qi totems; however, all of them were LV 6 black spiders.


    Over 10 bloody figures were besieging them. Perhaps, this tough man had already killed some bloody figures; therefore, the rest bloody figures were scared of him. At this moment, those bloody figures were fighting these people on the grain-sunning ground like wolf packs. The tough man''s off-hand strikes and huge saber were both powerful. Therefore, these bloody figures could only fight him in a flexible way. Meanwhile, they radiated bloody eye lights and wailed like wild beasts while seeking for the chance to break the defense line of these people.


    Hearing the cries and wails from inside the village, all the young men being besieged by the bloody figures knew what was happening in the distance. However, they could only grit their teeth to stand it while bleeding and dropping tears.


    All the partners who wanted to go back home to save their family members due to impulsion had become corpsed around the grain-sunning ground. The sudden catastrophe and brutal reality made these survivors strong-willed. They could only resist the attack of the bloody figures at their full efforts.


    In the blink of an eye, 5-6 bloody figures ran towards them from the flames in the distance while their mouths were covered with blood. Some of them were even holding slim and tender arms and shins of babies and gnawing them.


    "You sons of bitches..." The tough man who was waving his huge saber was so furious that his eyes almost jumped out of his eye sockets. However, he couldn''t break out. Perhaps he could kill two more bloody figures; he might also break through the besiege of these LV 9 bloody figures; however, if he did that, all young men on his side would be killed in less than 1 minute.


    Therefore, he had to stand it until the reinforcement arrived. Such raging flames were pretty eye-catching in the evening. Even though there wasn''t any city in the surroundings, as long as an airship flew by, it could pass the message to the superiors of this territory; perhaps the reinforcement was already on their way...


    The new bloody figures brought a greater stress to these people on the grain-sunning ground abruptly. Although the bloody figures were still moving around these people; they launched more tentative attacks towards these people. The more active the bloody figures were, the more dangerous these people on the grain-sunning ground were.


    The bloody figures didn''t speak; they just communicated in muffled voice or roars and watched these people on the grain-sunning ground with red eyes. Nobody knew what these wild-beasts like bloody figures were thinking about.


    In a split second, five bloody figures attacked the battle formation from 5 directions at the same time. At the sight of this, the tough man roared and immediately punched 5 battle qi towards the 5 bloody figures respectively.


    Pitifully, the LV 10 fighter didn''t hit bloody figures with his battle qi; instead, he hit some shadows in the air.


    As a result, the shadows were shattered into pieces by the tough man''s battle qi, spraying bloody flesh in all directions.


    The shadows were not bloody figures, but some young men''s corpses that the other bloody figures had picked up from the ground.


    The bloody figures were in a tacit cooperation and pretty cunning. When the tough man shattered the corpses into pieces by his punch-shaped battle qi, the five bloody figures who were approaching the battle formation from 5 directions suddenly retreated. At the same time, three bloody figures rushed towards the young men''s battle formation from the other three directions respectively while exposing their fangs.


    Additionally, 6 bloody figures rushed towards the tough man at the same time.


    ''It''s too bad.'' The tough man thought as his heart pounded.


    "Let''s fight these sons of bitches to death..." A young man in the battle formation shouted.


    "Go die!" The tough man had also determined to fight those bloody figures at the cost of his life. He waved his huge saber and involved in three bloody figures who were rushing towards him with his saber aura. At the same time, he punched towards another bloody figure, sending him flying in the distance...


    In this process, the tough man revealed his loopholes. The other two bloody figures seized the opportunity and immediately caused two grim wounds on the tough man''s back and lower abdomen.


    LV 10 fighter''s battle qi strikes were not limitless. Additionally, a LV 10 fighter was also scared of the wheel war and besiege from LV 9 opponents.


    When the tough man was injured, the battle formation collided with the three bloody figures. Two young men in the battle formation uttered a muffled sound and got injured at the same time. As a result, the battle formation was weakened a bit...


    After seizing the opportunity, all the surrounding bloody figures roared and rushed forward.


    At the critical moment, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian arrived.


    "Sons of b*tches..." Bai Suxian was irritated. Before Zhang Tie started his attack, Bai Suxian''s eyes had turned cold. She wove her hand while white battle qi lines as dense as rain covered the entire grain-sunning ground like a huge net.


    The moment the white battle qi lines were tightened up, the heads of over 10 bloody figures in the grain-sunning ground had been chopped off. Closely after that, their bodies were cut into pieces in a split second. However, that tough man and those young men who formed the battle formation were all safe and sound.


    At the sight of this scene, even Zhang Tie applauded for Bai Suxian inside.


    In a split second, those people who were resisting bloody figures in the grain-sunning ground felt that the heavy bloody smell suffused. The tough man who was waving the huge saber also looked up and caught sight of Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian immediately.


    In the flames, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian arrived with surging qis. At the sight of them, the tough man knew that their saviors finally arrived.


    "You take care of them here. I''m afraid that few people are still alive in the village. I will kill all of the b*stards!" Zhang Tie told Bai Suxian.


    "Fine!" Bai Suxian always followed Zhang Tie''s order on such occasions. It was a bit privity that they cultivated when fighting demon knights in the Earth-elements Realm.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at the grain-sunning ground as he let out a sigh inside. Before those people on the grain-sunning ground appreciated him, he had disappeared in the air.


    Because he moved too fast, commoners could not catch his movement by naked eyes. Therefore, those people on the grain-sunning ground thought that Zhang Tie disappeared out of the void.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how these bloody figures communicated with each other. When Bai Suxian launched her strike, even though those bloody figures didn''t utter any voice until death, Zhang Tie still found that all the bloody figures who were making a massacre and setting fires in the village became still for a second. Closely after that, all the rest bloody figures escaped in all directions.


    It would be a joke if Zhang Tie allowed these bloody figures to escape under his eyes.


    Zhang Tie moved as fast as a lightning bolt. Only after flying around the village two circles, he had killed all the bloody figures by shooting them with his battle qi from his fingers, except for two, who were left alive purposefully by Zhang Tie. The farthest one was only less than 100 m away from the village.


    At this moment, these LV 9 bloody figures were as weak as flies with broken wings and legs who were waiting to be killed by a heavy hammer.


    It took Zhang Tie a few time to kill all the bloody figures in the village. By contrast, it took him a long time to save people. Under Zhang Tie''s lotus-flower eyes, he could see clearly all the alive people who were hiding in the cellars and wells. He saved them one after another. He even broke two cellars by force...

 1070 Ruins in the Bloody Flames

    Chapter 1070: Ruins in the Bloody Flames


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the raging flame, a wooden building had collapsed partly. Commoners would not stay in this high-temperature environment at all, except for Zhang Tie.


    In that collapsed building, few corpses had been charred, suffusing a vomiting odor.


    As Zhang Tie caught sight of a person in the cellar below this building, he flew over here and opened the entrance of the cellar by tender force and prepared to take the alive person out of there.


    This cellar had a few air vents. Therefore, the person in the cellar did not suffocate to death.


    When Zhang Tie opened the cellar, a person charged out of there as she stabbed a knife towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie caught her wrist. The female raised her head and looked at Zhang Tie with extremely rancorous, tearful eyes as she swore, "You beasts...". Closely after that, she opened her mouth while lowering her head as she bit Zhang Tie''s wrist forcefully.


    She was a 17-year-old girl with dust and tears over her face. It seemed that she had already become delirious. Being stimulated by fear and animosity constantly, she had passed out when she bit Zhang Tie''s wrist.


    Watching this girl biting him forcefully, Zhang Tie faintly frowned. Closely after that, he caught her wrist and left the cellar. They soon arrived at the grain-sunning ground. At this moment, Zhang Tie made the muscles on his arms move, sliding away from the girl''s mouth before handing her to those people over there.


    "What happened?" Watching the girl biting Zhang Tie forcefully with a knife in hand, Bai Suxian asked out of curiosity.


    "Her family members might have already been killed. When I saved her out of the cellar, she mistook me as a bloody figure. Therefore, she immediately stabbed towards me with her knife. Closely after that, she even bit me. As she was too exhausted, she passed out directly!" Zhang Tie explained it to Bai Suxian. Closely after that, he disappeared once again.


    Besides this girl, Zhang Tie saved many batches of alive people. Some kids who hid in the well in their homes at the request of their family members survived the catastrophe.


    When these people were saved, some of them also cried and struggled like that girl. Not until they were put on the grain-sunning ground, saw the tough man and listened to the explanation did these people recover their composure.


    After saving those alive people, Zhang Tie also saved those heavily wounded ones from the collapsed houses and brought them to the grain-sunning ground in the village.


    Under the guidance of the tough man, the grain-sunning ground was cleaned up as the temporary settlements of these live villagers. Bai Suxian took out his portable medicines and instructed those alive young men to save people with the medicines.


    Bai Suxian was like a fairy in the eyes of those young men.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to find that Bai Suxian could be so kindhearted.


    Perhaps, Bai Suxian was too eye-catching when she appeared or had a strong qi field. Additionally, she had been used to command people since she was young. After Zhang Tie moved all the alive people to the grain-sunning ground, he found that Bai Suxian had already become the boss of all the others here. Everybody here was following her order.


    After Zhang Tie put down the last alive person who was severely burned, he told his disciples to suspend the Fire Dragon Airboat over this place through remote-sensing crystal ring. After that, Bai Suxian walked towards Zhang Tie with that tough man.


    The tough man''s traumas had been treated. However, he was still a bit weary spiritually with a weak and pale look. If Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian were a few minutes late, nobody in the village could survive this massacre.


    "Xu Yian appreciates Fire Dragon Hermit for saving our lives on behalf of all the alive villagers in Xujia Village!"


    Bai Suxian might have already told the tough man about Zhang Tie''s identity; therefore, the tough man immediately made a deep bow towards Zhang Tie the moment he came to Zhang Tie''s front.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie saved them sincerely. He didn''t put on his airs as an earth knight. This tough man had seen what Zhang Tie had done by saving so many villagers from the raging flames and the water. Therefore, he respected Zhang Tie sincerely.


    Zhang Tie was especially interested in the LV 10 battle qi totem that this tough man released just now. When in Waii Subcontinent, as there were very few mutated beasts above LV 10 in the underground world, most of the cultivators could not have a chance to integrate the LV 10 mutated beasts'' soul flames with their own battle qis after promoting to LV 10 fighters. As a result, they could only release a "white totem with no image on it". At the sight of the LV 10 fighter''s battle qi totem with an image on it, Zhang Tie was curious about that at once. It was even rarer than seeing a knight here.


    This indicated the sharp difference in cultivating resources between different continents. Taixia Country had extensive land and rich resources. It was hard to see mutated beasts above LV 10 in the underground world of the other subcontinents; however, they could definitely find them in the underground world of Taixia Country. Besides, Taixia Country had more species of mutated beasts from LV 6 to LV 9 than that in other subcontinents.


    "How do you feel now?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Thanks for your concern, Hermit. I''m much better after taking one vial of medium-level recovery medicament from sister Bai!" Xu Yian''s mouth corners twitched; however, he couldn''t laugh out.


    "What happened here?"


    "Honestly, I have no idea. All of a sudden, I felt I was on the battlefield as I heard the miserable shrieks from inside the village. Before I went to see what happened with these young men who were cultivating with me, over 10 bloody figures had rushed towards us and besieged us. If these young men didn''t cultivate with me before each daybreak over these years, I''m afraid that nobody in Xujia Village could survive in the end..." Xu Yian said in a bitter tone.


    Xu Yian had the greatest battle strength in Xujia Village. He was a soldier before. After retiring from the troop, he even worked as a bounty criminal hunter for a period. In late years, after the holy war broke out, he returned to Xujia Village and trained the young men in Xujia Village so that they could protect themselves in the flames of war.


    However, there was only one LV 10 strong fighter in Xujia Village. It was Xu Yian who enabled these young men to survive the catastrophe tonight. Without this LV 10 strong fighter, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian would not see anyone alive in this village when they arrived.


    After talking with Zhang Tie for a short while, Xu Yian had felt that it became suddenly darker in the sky. He raised his head and saw the Iron-Dragon Airboat which was slowly declining. Xu Yian was shocked too much by this over 600-m long airboat even though he had seen the world.


    Those young men who survived the catastrophe started to be in an uproar as they felt a great stress from the declining airboat.


    As Xu Yian had seen the world, he was shocked by such a huge airboat. Xu Yian knew that those clans which had private airboats in Taixia Country were all not average. Many major clans with knights didn''t even have a private airboat, not to mention average clans. Additionally, the size of the airboat in Taixia Country also indicated the position of the master of the airboat. In Taixia Country, even a commander''s airboat was only about 500 m in length. However, this airboat was about 600 m in length, which indicated the prestigious identity of its owner.


    The airboat was too long and huge to park in Xujia Village. Finally, the airboat could only suspend above a mountain slope over 200 m away from the grain-sunning ground. After dropping the rope from the airboat, the 121 apprentices of Zhang Tie soon got off the airboat and converged with Zhang Tie on the grain-sunning ground.


    After Zhang Tie''s apprentices got off the airboat, a team of 49 elite guards of Bai Suxian stayed inside the airboat. The head of those elite guards was a LV 15 battle spirit. They could manipulate the airboat.


    When the 121 apprentices of Zhang Tie passed by Xujia Village, many of them were shocked by the raging flames and the corpses scattering on both sides of the roads. As a result, the faces of many young apprentices who had not experienced such a horrible scene turned pale. When some female apprentices caught sight of the corpses which had been half charred and some kids'' incomplete corpses that were shared by some bloody figures, they had started to throw up crazily before they arrived at the grain-sunning ground.


    Liu Xing and the other apprentices of Zhang Tie also looked pretty bad. Even though they had experienced the brutal battles in the Earth-elements Realm, their hearts still pounded when they saw so many corpses across the small village in Taixia Country. They felt that such brutal images should not appear in Taixia Country...


    What they saw shocked them greatly.


    When all the 121 apprentices arrived at the grain-sunning ground, the day had already broken.


    "Master!" All the apprentices bowed towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at those apprentices with pale faces before uttering, "Liu Xing, Zhao Bing and Wu Yinhui, you lead a team of LV 9 fighters respectively and search 35 miles away with this village as the original point. Catch any alive bloody figure back. I need them to breathe even if you break their limbs. If you cannot catch them alive, kill them. When you encounter any powerful enemy or dangerous situation, send signals to me. The others just stay here to help them deal with the funeral affairs..."

 1071 An Achievemen

    Chapter 1071: An Achievement


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Since they left Xuantian City, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to assign a task to his disciples.


    Although there was not any extremely talented person among his disciples, all of them were smarter than average people. All of these disciples knew that Zhang Tie took them out to practice them and make them coordinate with each other. Their performance in this task would be directly related to Zhang Tie''s comments about them and might determine their position in Iron-Dragon Sect in the future.


    More than one disciple had such a thought. Actually, all the disciples of Iron Dragon Hermit were very active in front of Zhang Tie. After receiving Zhang Tie''s order, all of his disciples started to move rapidly while gritting their teeth, including those female disciples who had vomited so severely at the sight of those corpses that their faces even turned pale.


    Among Zhang Tie''s disciples, 53 of them were LV 9 fighters. If they were distributed into three teams, two teams would contain 18 members respectively while one team would contain 17 members. With the arrangement of Liu Xing, the 53 people were soon distributed into three teams and left the small village in three directions as fast as possible so as to search for the alive bloody figures. The rest disciples started to put out fire and deal with the corpses in the village...


    Zhang Tie just watched his disciples doing all this. Standing on Zhang Tie''s side, Xu Yian looked at Zhang Tie and Zhang Tie''s disciples who were busy doing their jobs as his eyes flickered...


    "Where''s the nearest city?" Zhang Tie asked Xu Yian.


    "The nearest big city is Xingyu City over 250 miles away. Xingyu City is a Class A city where massive forces were stationed in. If the situation here was spread to Xingyu City, I''m afraid that Xingyu City will assign rescue here very soon!"


    Zhang Tie nodded, "Just let me know if you need any help!"


    "Thanks, Hermit!" Xu Yian looked at Zhang Tie''s disciples before asking, "Hermit, are all these people...your disciples? I wonder about the location of your sect."


    "Hmm, they''re all my disciples. Iron-Dragon Sect is in the Fire Dragon Bounty Territory of Northeast Military Region!"


    After hearing Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, Xu Yian was shocked once again. He knew that most of the bounty territories in Taixia Country were rewarded due to great military exploits. Now that Fire Dragon Bounty Territory was so similar to the appellation of Fire Dragon Hermit, it indicated that this bounty territory was made by Fire Dragon Hermit himself through great military exploits.


    ''If he did not have a great talent, how could Fire Dragon Hermit have such a large area of bounty territory?''


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words and watching those young men who survived themselves, Xu Yian confirmed his mind once again.


    ''No matter what, I have to ask for a chance for these young men who survived this catastrophe in Xujia Village.'' Xu Yian made a decision inside.


    "Oh, I found that you''ve reached LV 10 and have a great battle strength. I wonder about the secret method that you''re cultivating?" Zhang Tie asked Xu Yian.


    Xu Yian shook his head before replying, "This humble man is just a little figure, how could I have a chance to practice any secret method. I''m just cultivating Heavenly Blue Sutra ."


    " Heavenly Blue Sutra ?" Zhang Tie slightly frowned as this name was too strange and sounded a bit weird.


    "The predecessor of Heavenly Blue Sutra is God Sutra . However, as it''s incomplete, I could at most promote to LV 13 battle general. This humble man didn''t have a chance to join a major sect. Therefore..." Xu Yian became embarrassed before continuing, "But I will be satisfied with it if I could promote to a LV 13 battle general in my life based on my qualification..."


    After hearing Xu Yian''s answer, Zhang Tie suddenly remembered that he was cultivating the emperor-level "King Roc Sutra" and had gained a lot of secret methods that were above baron level and could help people promote to knights due to various reasons.


    In Zhang Tie''s opinion, ** sutra that could help the cultivator promote to knight''s realm was really valuable secret methods. However, Zhang Tie forgot that it was very difficult for most of the cultivators to gain a ** sutra in both Waii Subcontinent and Taixia Country.


    ''When in Waii Subcontinent, I almost lost my life only for a ** sutra. Even I had to pay such a high price for a ** sutra at that moment; not to mention the others.''


    ''Lan Yunxi told me that the secret methods below sutra could be further divided into five levels, namely; dao, law, sutra, genre and skill. ** dao could enable people to promote to a battle spirit; ** law could enable people to promote to a battle demon; ** sutra could enable people to promote to a battle general; ** genre could enable people to promote to a battle master. The predecessor of "King Roc Sutra" is the most average "Barbarous Ox Skill" which could only enable people to promote to LV 11.


    "Which kind of secret method does God Sutrabelong to?"


    " God Sutra is a count-level secret method. Although Heavenly Blue Sutra is incomplete and could only enable cultivators to light 297 surging points, it contains a complete God''s Saber Skill . When one promotes to a battle general, this saber skill could display its power..."


    ...


    After a brief talk with Zhang Tie, Xu Yian also started to organize those young men who survived the massacre to put out fire and collect corpses. By the way, checking whether there were any alive people left.


    Zhang Tie stood still as Xuyian''s words reminded him of one possibility, ''I might be able to recover these incomplete secret methods.''


    ''Although I''ve lit all of my surging points. I could still simulate the effects of various secret methods and skills benefited from the King Roc Sutra that I cultivate. The process of simulation is actually to light my surging points once again in a bizarre dormant state benefited from a feather of King Roc Sutra . What if I could simulate those lost parts of secret methods through King Roc Sutra in the trouble-reappearance situation?''


    When he thought about this, Zhang Tie''s heart palpitated.


    ''If I could simulate the secret methods above marquis level and could gain the complete skills that are matched with these secret methods, doesn''t it mean that I would gain the complete versions of these secret methods?''


    ''In Taixia Country, there are all sorts of secret methods below sutra. Now that there is such an incomplete version of Heavenly Blue Sutra which contains a complete God''s Saber Skill , there must be other incomplete secret methods which are more advanced than Heavenly Blue Sutra and are matched with complete skills. As long as I paid attention to that, it would not be difficult for me to find them.''


    ''After coming to Taixia Country, I reunited with my family members in Youzhou Province in a relaxed way for a few days. Closely after that, I was involved in the tragedy in Fuhai City and had to escape. After such a radical change, I almost forgot that I had a such a trump card.'' Zhang Tie forcefully patted his head when he thought about this.


    "What''s wrong with you?" Bai Suxian asked out of concern when she noticed Zhang Tie''s movement.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "Nothing!"


    "Actually, you don''t need to blame yourself too much. We''ve already tried our best. If we arrived here a bit earlier, we truly could save more people. However, such a tragedy is unpredictable!" Bai Suxian comforted Zhang Tie in a tender voice.


    "I know. Ohh, what''s the name of that skill that you used just now? It looks nice..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s praise, Bai Suxian''s face shone as she replied, "It''s called silk traction. It fits opponents below knight level very well..."


    "Xu Yian''s words reminded me. Do you know where to find those incomplete secret methods below sutra? I was thinking about that; although these secret methods might be incomplete and could not enable people to promote to knights, the various battle skills that were matched with these incomplete secret methods were valuable; especially those high-level incomplete secret methods. If I could collect some complete battle skills of some incomplete secret methods, I might make a greater improvement in my battle skills through comparison!" Zhang Tie told Bai Suxian.


    "Master, why did you not tell me that earlier? If you told me a bit earlier, I would have brought hundreds of incomplete secret methods along with their complete battle skills from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion to you this time!"


    "Hoho, no need to move the collections in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. As they have limited value, if you brought them to me from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, it might cause gossips. I could find them in Taixia Country too!"


    Bai Suxian rolled her beautiful eyes before saying, "Master, if you want these things, you could find them in the private markets opened by the top seven sects in Taixia Country. You could find almost everything in the private markets of the top seven sects.


    "The private markets of top seven sects in Taixia Country?"


    "Right. Although they are private markets; actually the 7 private markets have already formed 7 super large cities in Taixia Country within the sphere of influence of the top seven sects respectively. The nearest private market is the Gold and Power Market of Gold and Power Law. After passing Zhongzhou Province and entering the territory of Xuanyuan Hill, you would find Gold and Power Market. I''ve been to Gold and Power Market with my dad when I was young. Gold and Power Market is almost the most prosperous place in human territory. It''s said that you could even exchange for rare space-teleportation equipment in Gold and Power Market..."


    "You arouse my interest. After the unrest is pacified, we will take a look in Gold and Power Market and broaden our vision!"


    As they talked with each other, another airship suspended in the sky.


    The raging flames in Xuajia Village and the Iron-Dragon Airboat on the hillside nearby Xujia Village were too eye-catching. Anyone would know that there was an accident here the moment they saw here.


    Before that airship landed, a group of people had already jumped off the airship. They opened their rotachutes in the air and landed on the open land nearby Xujia Village one after another.


    The moment these people landed, some battle airships of Taixia Country had appeared and were accelerating towards here from afar...


    The rescues of Xingyu City finally arrived, although being late.

 1072 Visit and News

    Chapter 1072: Visit and News


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie stayed in Xujia Village for 1 day.


    In that day, his 53 LV 9 apprentices indeed caught 6 alive bloody figures within 35 miles under the leadership of Liu Xing, Zhao Bing and Wu Yinhui.


    When the 6 bloody figures were caught back, their limbs had been broken. As a result, they could only move their heads. Plus the 6 live bloody figures, Zhang Tie caught 8 live bloody figures in total.


    After the rescue force arrived from Xingyu City, the raging flames in Xujia Village were soon put out. The clean-up jobs in Xujia Village also sped up.


    Only 83 of the 769 people of Xujia Village survived the one night massacre and raging flames, including those who were severely wounded. All the others had been killed or burned to death. Some kids were even eaten alive by bloody figures.


    Xujia Village had completely become ruins.


    The rescue force from Xingyu City was led by a border region general surnamed Lu. After confirming what happened in Xujia Village, General Lu instantly passed the situation here back to Xingyu City, which shocked the entire Xingyu City and its surroundings.


    Xujia Village and Xingyu City were located in Shanghe Prefecture of Mingzhou Province, which neighbored Longxi Prefecture in Zhongzhou Province. However, the distance between Pingsha Valley, Longxi Prefecture and Xujia Village and Xingyu City was over 1,400 miles.


    Only after a few days, the bloody figures that rushed out of Pingsha Valley had already exited Zhongzhou Province and influenced over 700 miles.


    Although these bloody figures couldn''t influence those well-prepared big cities, they could cause a great catastrophe to rural areas outside the city walls for sure.


    There were numerous small villages like Xujia Village which were far away from prosperous big cities in Taixia Country. However, not each small village like Xujia Village could have a LV 10 strong fighter like Xu Yian on their back. Generally, most of the young men above LV 6 would leave these small villages and make a living outside instead of staying in their own villages. Very few people would like to stay in the small villages after reaching LV 9. Therefore, such a small village could become ruins overnight by 10-20 bloody figures.


    As Zhang Tie, an earth knight, was here in Xujia Village, who had saved so many people, both General Lu and those bounty criminal hunters who jumped off the passing airship by rotachutes came here to see Zhang Tie respectfully.


    Zhang Tie gained much first-hand news from General Lu and those bounty criminal hunters.


    Longxi Prefecture in Zhongzhou Province was growing more chaotic. It was safe inside big cities. After learning lessons, all the big cities had been ready for combat while heavy forces were patrolling across the cities around the clock. Due to the appearance of bloody figures, many places outside the cities were in greater chaos. Those bloody figures had scattered in terms of smaller teams and were attacking villages, towns, traffic arteries and railways at any time. Additionally, they were scattering like an epidemic virus, causing people to become nerve-wracking.


    Lately, bloody figures had appeared in the Shanghe Prefecture of Mingzhou Province. They started to cause troubles everywhere. After receiving the notice, the garrisons across Shanghe Prefecture had been strengthening the vigilance at the same time within 130 miles around Xingyu City. It was the utmost effort that Xingyu City could do. However, nobody could imagine that the catastrophe happened in Xujia Village. It was beyond Xingyu City''s grasp. Therefore, the garrisons of Xingyu City couldn''t find the problem timely. They didn''t dispatch rescue force to Xujia Village until they received the message sent from the airship that passed by Xingyu City. But it was still too late.


    Because of the event in Zhongzhou Province, all the major cities in Taixia Country were in strict vigilance. Even airships that parked in these major cities for supplies had to be inquired.


    General Lu extended his thanks to Zhang Tie''s righteous deed. Additionally, he expressed that he would provide every convenience to Zhang Tie within his ability when Zhang Tie passed Xingyu City.


    The general paid a formal visit to Zhang Tie in the morning; at noon, some bounty criminal hunters also arrived.


    Starting from Li Butian and Yang Zhigang, Zhang Tie had a good feeling about bounty criminal hunters in Taixia Country. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, Taixia Country was too large. It contained various elements. The bounty criminal hunters in Taixia Country were like white cells in the body of Taixia Country and the woodpeckers in woods. Bounty criminal hunter was an unnecessary link of the entire ecosystem of Taixia Country. These bounty criminal hunters performed as a very positive role. When the government and the judicial system of Taixia Country couldn''t solve something, they would always have the nongovernmental forces in Taixia Country deal with it. The profession of bounty criminal hunter combined the chivalrous spirit with its legal system in Taixia Country and served as an equilibrium point. As an important security force in Taixia Country, bounty criminal hunters cooperated with the Supreme Court. By serving as bounty criminal hunters, cultivators could make money and improve their battle strength. It was very not bad for both cultivators and the government of Taixia Country.


    Because of this reason, Zhang Tie received those bounty criminal hunters without putting on his airs at all.


    From those bounty criminal hunters, Zhang Tie knew that the Supreme Court and all the Buildings of Brightness across Taixia Country had already officially offered a reward for killing bloody figures in Zhongzhou Province.


    The reward that Buildings of Brightness could provide was very high. The head of a bloody figure could be easily exchanged for 5,000 gold coins.


    5,000 gold coins'' reward for one LV 9 bloody figure. This reward was much greater than that for many LV 9 criminals. As for many bounty criminal hunters above LV 10, it was nothing different than gifting them money.


    Being stimulated by such an alluring reward, all the able bounty criminal hunters converged in Zhongzhou Province from all directions.


    Before those bounty criminal hunters paid a formal visit to Zhang Tie, they had heard that Zhang Tie caught two alive bloody figures. Therefore, they wanted to take a look at the bloody figure so that they could easily identify them. After hearing this request, Zhang Tie immediately showed the two alive bloody figures to them in the prison of his airboat.


    Given their looks, it was hard to distinguish them from commoners. However, the bloody figures had two very special features. First, they didn''t speak; second, their eyes contained bloodlines, which looked a bit grim and very special. Actually, people could identify bloody figures through their eyes...

 1073 Outdoor Disciples

    Chapter 1073: Outdoor Disciples


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Soon after those bounty criminal hunters left, Xu Yian had arrived.


    After hearing the report from a guard on the airboat, Zhang Tie invited Xu Yian in. After meeting Zhang Tie once again, Xu Yian immediately knelt down in front of Zhang Tie like a falling mountain and pillar.


    "Ahh, what are you doing? Hurry up...stand up" Zhang Tie became stunned as he hurriedly lifted Xu Yian up.


    Although Xu Yian was sturdy and tall, he was still one head lower than Cui Li.


    Honestly, although he was already an earth knight, Zhang Tie really couldn''t stand seeing anyone kneeling down in front of him except that when his disciples knelt down in front of him to acknowledge him as their master in the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    Among Hua people in Taixia Country, it was a major etiquette for one to kneel down in front of the other by two knees. Even if an average fighter only needed to kneel down by one knee in front of Xuanyuan Emperor. The major etiquette of kneeling down by two knees was only used to sacrifice the heavens and the ground, the master and the parents. Even Xuanyuan Hill couldn''t bear it, not to mention commoners.


    Xu Yian looked very complex. Being a bit embarrassed and shameful, he looked like having made a decision. After being pulled up by Zhang Tie, he looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes as he plucked his courage and said, "Fire Dragon Hermit, please spare a chance for the young men who have survived the massacre in Xujia Village."


    "What do you mean?''


    "Those young men who survived in Xujia Village had no relatives now. They are in the ebb of their lives. I have limited ability. If those young men continue to follow me, I''m afraid that their future would be influenced. After knowing that Hermit is the master of Iron-Dragon Sect, this humble man begs Hermit to spare a chance for those young men in Xujia Village..."


    Zhang Tie understood Xu Yian''s meaning. All the young men who survived the massacre in Xujia Village had almost lost their families. Even though he was in the airboat, Zhang Tie could still hear the heartful cries of those young men in Xujia Village. It was the first heavy blow that they suffered in their lives. Over one night, they had lost their families and homes. Given the current situation in Xujia Village, even though everything here was dealt with, nobody would like to stay here anymore.


    After such a catastrophe, even though under Xu Yian''s leadership, these young men would live a very difficult life in the future. Taixia Country was too large. What a LV 10 strong fighter could do with a group of young men?


    When these people were most hopeless, they met Zhang Tie. Xu Yian found a hope at once.


    Those young men were in deep grief. They had not considered about their future yet. Neither did they know what Zhang Tie''s appearance meant. However, as Xu Yian had seen the world, he had to seize the opportunity which could change the destiny of those young men in Xujia Village.


    Zhang Tie asked Xu Yian calmly, "Do you want me to enroll them as my apprentices?"


    "I didn''t mean to offend you. I just beg Hermit to spare a chance for them!"


    Xu Yian explained very politely. Although Zhang Tie'' 121 apprentices didn''t have great battle strength, their temperament as disciples from major clans could not be covered at all. It was not so easy for a black iron knight to enroll apprentices, not to mention an earth knight. Honestly, although these young men in Xujia Village were pitiful, they were still far from acknowledging an earth knight as their master from all aspects.


    Zhang Tie nodded inside about the polite way of speaking. Only after thinking about it for a short while, Zhang Tie had asked Xu Yian, "Do those young men know what you''re doing? Will they follow your order?"


    "Most of the people in Xujia Village surname Xu. Even though some of them don''t have surname Xu, they are also my nephews. I could be their half master. I could determine the affairs in Xujia Village!" Xu Yian immediately became spirited as his eyes flickered when he found that Zhang Tie didn''t refuse him.


    "As I have to leave Xujia Village tomorrow. After I leave here, you can exchange the heads of those bloody figures that I''ve killed for gold coins in Xingyu City. After dealing with the affairs in Xujia Village, you take them to Xuantian City, Fire Dragon Prefecture, Northeast Military Region where you could join Iron-Dragon Sect. These young men in Xujia Village will be my outdoor disciples. You will serve as an outdoor deacon of Iron-Dragon Sect and help me look after them. How about that?"


    "Thanks, Master!"


    Xu Yian changed his appellation of Zhang Tie right away.


    Zhang Tie''s answer was much better than that Xu Yian could anticipate. After becoming the outdoor disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect, if some of the disciples in Xujia Village could be outstanding in Iron-Dragon Sect, they would also have a chance to be indoor disciples of Fire Dragon Hermit. If these young men were average in performance, they could easily root in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory or Northeast Military Region with Iron-Dragon Sect and Fire Dragon Hermit as their reliances in the future.


    As for Xu Yian himself, he had been deeply convinced by Zhang Tie''s battle strength and moral standing. Now that an earth knight could allow him to be an outdoor deacon of Iron-Dragon Sect, of course, Xu Yian agreed at once. He knew that many people were more qualified than him.


    In the evening, Liu Xing and his team members brought back some alive bloody figures. The raging flames were also put out, leaving no sparkles at all. After such a big fire accident, there was almost no complete house in Xujia Village. There was nothing but pitch-dark ruins here when one looked down from the sky.


    In the daytime, with the assistance of the rescue force from Xingyu City, all the corpses in Xujia Village had been collected. Many corpses were unidentified. As it was too hot, those collected corpses couldn''t be stored for too long; otherwise, there would be a plague. Being suggested by General Lu, Xu Yian made a decision to dig a huge pit on the hillside of Xujia Village over 300 m away from the grain-sunning ground and buried all the corpses of villagers inside before building a cemetery.


    After doing all this, General Lu left Xujia Village by airship with his rescue force from Xingyu City. What happened in Xujia Village shocked the surroundings. Many places were in strict vigilance. When General Lu was in Xujia Village, he had received the order from the superior. Right in this daytime, a company of traveling merchants in the suburb of Pingxian Country over 130 miles away from Xingyu City was robbed. All the 40-odd people were killed. According to the analysis, another team of about 10 bloody figures probably had arrived there. Being afraid that other bloody figures would appear nearby Xingyu City, the superior requested General Lu to encircle and annihilate them with his rescue force...


    ...


    Two bonfires were set on the hillside beside Xujia Village. Those young men who survived this massacre and Zhang Tie''s apprentices were sitting on each side of the two bonfires.


    It was the cemetery of Xujia Village nearby the bonfires.


    The preliminary grave mound of the cemetery was like a small hill. Later on, Xu Yian would lead those young men who survived the massacre to further complete the building of this cemetery. After leaving Xujia Village, Xu Yian didn''t know when would he come back. Therefore, this cemetery had to be firm and stand over 100 years. Because this was the last spiritual pillar for these young men in Xujia Village to stay alive.


    Additionally, there should be a religious ceremony to reassure the souls of the late people. The injured ones needed to be treated. Their relatives and friends outside Xujia Village should be noticed. Not until finishing doing all this could Xu Yian and those young men went to Fire Dragon Bounty Territory for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s disciples were sitting on one side of the bonfires and roasting sweet potatoes. Although there were fleshes on Zhang Tie''s airboat, after experiencing such a massacre, they would vomit the moment they saw meat not to mention eating it; especially for those people who were below LV 9.


    Everybody was silent because of sadness or being touched by what happened today. Living in the most powerful human country in such a prosperous age, many Zhang Tie''s apprentices didn''t experience such a tragic situation before. Watching such a tranquil and vigorous village in Taixia Country vanishing overnight in front of them, many people were touched greatly.


    Only a few people were whispering around the bonfires.


    As it was the alternative period between the summer and autumn, the raging bonfire attracted a lot of fireflies, who were flying around the bonfires. Through the flames, they could even see the wide area of wildflowers on the hillside and the sparkling stars above their head. Although it was a beautiful scenery, nobody felt romatic at all.


    Some young men in Xujia Village were even sobbing. On this occasion, even Liu Xing and the other apprentices of Zhang Tie became silent.


    The roasted sweet potatoes were almost cooked well while a special sweet fragrance was suffusing in the surroundings. Liu Xing moved forward and fiddled them with a twig before saying, "The most roast sweet potatoes are almost cooked well, junior sister apprentices, you could eat them first..."


    Liu Xing was indeed qualified to be Zhang Tie''s first apprentice; especially after completing today''s task with the experience in the Earth-elements Realm at the cost of blood and tears and his instinct. Liu Xing''s performance had won the approval of many people among Zhang Tie''s apprentices. His position as the first apprentice of Fire Dragon Hermit was also consolidated.


    After saying that, Liu Xing saw Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian walking towards him, followed by Bai Suxian''s bodyguards. Those bodyguards were holding something. The two bodyguards at the end of the team even lifted two bloody figures who were already crippled...


    As the wind blew, Liu Xing sniffed the bloody smell from those items in the hands of those bodyguards behind Zhang Tie immediately...


    ...

 1074 The First Lesson

    Chapter 1074: The First Lesson


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Watching Zhang Tie coming over here, all of his apprentices stood up immediately and bowed towards him as they said in unison, "Master!", including those young men who survived the massacre in Xujia Village.


    Zhang Tie nodded towards all of them.


    Zhang Tie had people bring here some beef that was stored in the icy warehouse on his airboat and two disabled bloody figures. Those beef were about 200 kg in weight. As Zhang Tie just had people store these beef in the icy warehouse before the airboat set off, they were still fresh now. The moment they opened these sealed cases, those fresh beef had given off a bloody odor.


    In order to preserve the fresh taste of these beef, after those beef were slaughtered, their fleshes were instantly sealed in cases even with blood.


    Beside the bonfires, the moment those people who participated in collecting corpses in the daytime smelt the bloody odor, their faces had turned a bit pale.


    Since Zhang Tie took the first fruit of redemption, he had realized the value of those lives which looked trivial. From then on, he rarely ate meat; except for this time.


    Zhang Tie nodded silently as he waved his hand. After seeing Zhang Tie''s gesture, those bodyguards behind Zhang Tie put all the fresh beef in trays one after another. A bodyguard even brought some professional forks and knives which were used to eat roasted meat. On the other side, some bodyguards unfolded two metal operation tables which were especially for field operations.


    They fixed the limbs, waists, necks and heads of the two disabled bloody figures on the metal operation tables, causing the atmosphere beside the bonfires to become weird.


    ''Bloody beef on one side, bloody figures on metal operation tables that were always used in field operations on the other side, what does the master want to do?''


    Under the silent gazes of the apprentices, the two disabled bloody figures roared and struggled on the operation tables.


    Zhang Tie looked at his apprentices with a big smile, exposing his white teeth, "You must be hungry. I''ve already prepared the supper for you. At least 1 kg''s beef per person. You could eat well-cooked beef or half-cooked beef here!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, some female apprentices of Zhang Tie immediately vomited.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about those female apprentices; instead, he continued to look at the other apprentices, "Is there anyone who has learned anatomy or surgical rescue? Raise your hand..."


    Liu Xing and the other 6 black-armored fighters raised their hands. Among the other apprentices, over 10 people raised their hands too, including Zhu Dabiao.


    It seemed that those who came from major clans with provincial governors could indeed accept a better education.


    "Good, you''re responsible for dissecting the two bloody figures. As we''re all here, you will make an overall analysis of the two bloody figures from their heads to their feet and tell the others about the physiological difference between the two bloody figures and commoners. Liu Xing, you 7 just stay aside to teach them how to do that!"


    Zhang Tie''s words were as influential as imperial edicts for the 121 apprentices of Iron-Dragon Sect. After saying these words, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian sat beside a bonfire and started to roast two pieces of beef with iron forks. Liu Xing and the others who had raised their hands didn''t dare waste time; they immediately started to autopsy. Watching Zhang Tie roasting beef, all the others started to roast beef by iron forks consciously, even though some of them looked pale and were vomiting.


    Zhang Tie said each of them had to eat at least 1 kg''s beef. Therefore, no matter how disgusting those people felt, they had to do that.


    "Master, those girls have not experienced this before. Is it a bit excessive?" Bai Suxian asked Zhang Tie in a secret way as she saw some female apprentices moving timidly to take their bloody beef, some of which even started to vomit once again after taking their shares.


    "If you cannot even pass such a low-grade test, how could you be my apprentices? Do you think that you will never meet such a scene in the future? I took you out for a practice, not for a trip! I''ve treated you good enough; otherwise, I would have told you to eat the flesh of the bloody figures..."


    "The flesh of bloody figures. It sounds more disgusting!"


    "Disgusting? Do you know that many human fighters have to eat the fleshes of the rotten demonized puppets on the battlefields of other subcontinents? If you they don''t pass this test, it will be useless even if they promote to knights in the future."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, Bai Suxian became silent. Zhang Tie didn''t overstate. What he described indeed happened in Selnes Theater of Operations. Zhang Tie even witnessed it. How did those human fighters survive the mountains of bloody corpses in Selnes Plain? How did those humans being captured live in the hell-like underground cave of Misty Moons Forest?


    "The two bloody figures are really valuable. As they are still alive, open their skulls by saw first and observe the difference between their brains and human brains. Many demonized humans would have puppet worms in their brains. You''d better check whether there''s such a thing in their brains! After dissecting their heads, dissect their organs one after another..." Zhang Tie told his apprentices to "start from the head" when he saw them picking various tools and preparing for the autopsy...


    The two metal operation tables were matched with the whole sets of surgical apparatuses. The moment Zhang Tie finished his words, someone had fetched the bone saws and started to saw the two bloody figures'' skulls at the same time.


    Although the two bloody figures were fixed on the metal operation tables, they had not taken anesthesia yet.


    Along with the roars of the bloody figures was the sound of frictions between bone saws and their skulls. The skins on their heads were immediately cut by saws, spurting out blood at once, spraying over the clothes of those people surrounding the operation tables.


    When the two bloody figures were slowly opened by saws and sprayed blood in all directions, the beef started to give off fragrance. During this process, the two bloody figures were not dead; they just made struggles in vain on the metal operation tables


    The greater part of Zhang Tie''s apprentices had turned pale. It might be the first time for the two apprentices to saw bloody figures'' skulls as their hands were shivering.


    Liu Xing and the other black-armored fighters were instructing them on one side, ''You should not cut into the skull directly in case of hurting the bloody figures'' brains; instead, you should slowly saw it around the skull.


    None of Zhang Tie''s apprentices might have dissected alive bloody figures which looked like humans before. Therefore, they were all very intense throughout the whole process. One apprentice directly cut off a bloody figure''s ear when he circled around the skull by saw, causing the bloody figure to shriek more miserably.


    "Let me have a try..." Zhu Dabiao gritted his teeth with bloody eyes as he rolled up his sleeves and took that the saw from the apprentice who cut off the bloody figure''s ear by a mistake. He pressed the badly mutilated head of the bloody figure by one hand and started to have a try. In the beginning, Zhu Dabiao''s hands were quivering; however, after trying it a few times, this guy had become stable mentally and physically.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Zhu Dabiao. Although this guy always looked sluggish, he was indeed a bit vicious at the critical moment.


    Watching this scene, the young men who survived the massacre in Xujia Village and Xu Yian became silent; especially the former ones who just watched all this with dumbfounded looks as they felt that Fire Dragon Hermit''s image became a bit terrifying for the first time.


    Not until now did Xu Yian tell these young men that they would join Iron-Dragon Sect in the future. Therefore, those young men didn''t know that their destinies in the future were closely related to Zhang Tie for the time being.


    As Xu Yian had the similar experience in the troop, he had guessed Zhang Tie''s purpose; even though, Xu Yian still had not imagined that Zhang Tie could directly dissect two bloody figures alive.


    After looking at the young men on his side whose faces had turned pale, Xu Yian made a decision right away. He directly came to Zhang Tie''s side and asked, "Hermit, do you have some more beef on your airboat?"


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Xu Yian before saying, "Do you also want some?"


    "We need them too!" Xu Yian said decisively.


    "Great!" Zhang Tie told a bodyguard on Bai Suxian''s side, "Gift them 100 kg''s beef!"


    After receiving the order, that bodyguard left. After a short while, he brought the beef along with the forks and knives and gave them to Xu Yian.


    Xu Yian watched those young men with red eyes as he said furiously, "We will also eat beef. After growing stronger, we will learn battle skills and revenge for our family members!"


    Xu Yian took a piece of beef immediately, closely followed by all the other young men of Xujia Village silently.


    ...


    "Enjoy it..."


    The beef was not cooked well yet as there was still blood in it. Someone might feel that t it tasted tender; however, for those who had seen so many badly mutilated corpses today, Zhang Tie''s order was like a curse.


    Those apprentices who had always felt that Zhang Tie was genial since they formally acknowledged him as their master finally found that their master was cold-hearted and dignified.


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s order, nobody dared to move; even though the beef was not cooked well yet.


    When Zhang Tie started to eat it, everybody else followed him.


    Many people had started to vomit the moment they took the first bite. Even so, they continued to eat while gritting their teeth after looking at Zhang Tie''s glassy-eyed look.


    After they ate for 2 minutes, the first bloody figure''s skull was opened, exposing the brain tissues inside. What shocked everybody at present was that there was indeed a gray octopus-shaped puppet worm that had already combined with the bloody figure''s brains...


    All of a sudden, after feeling the flames, the puppet worm started to creep as if it wanted to hide into the brain. However, before it entered the brain, the one who was responsible for opening the skull had nipped it out of the brain by a pair of forceps.


    When the puppet worm left the bloody figure''s brain, the bloody figure suddenly quivered all over on the operation table as he showed the whites of his eyes. Only after a few seconds, the bloody figure had become still. As the puppet worm''s tentacles were tightly sticking to the bloody figure''s brain, it destroyed the bloody figure''s brain when it nipped out of there.


    In the flame, the octopus-shaped puppet worm was placed in a surgical tray. However, it was still creeping as if it wanted to climb out of the tray. At the sight of such a disgusting thing, many people who had vomited just now started to vomit once again.


    "Haha, I wonder whether this thing tastes good or not!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he stood up and came to the operation table. Catching that creeping puppet worm by hand, he walked to one bonfire and started to roast it on the bonfire.


    The puppet worm kept struggling and creeping at its utmost effort in Zhang Tie''s hand; however, it gradually became still and oozed oil in the flame...


    Under the gaze of the surrounding people, after a few minutes, Zhang Tie''s hand remained unchanged like performing a magic; however, the puppet worm in his hand had been cooked well. Zhang Tie directly put that well cooked octopus-shaped puppet worm into his mouth and started to chew it. At the same time, he praised that it tasted good.


    After eating the cooked worm that was taken out of the brain of the bloody figure, Zhang Tie threw a glance at his apprentices, "In the former two holy wars, as the demon corps could eat human flesh, they didn''t worry about food supply wherever they were. By contrast, humans would always change their faces due to fear when they talked about demons. Can you eat demon fleshes? Can you make demons change their faces the moment they talk about you? Do you think that Taixia Country will be peaceful forever? Do you think that flames of war and turmoils have nothing to do with you? Do you think that you only need to cultivate yourselves in Iron-Dragon Sect? After that event in Zhongzhou Province, do you think that demons and the Heavens Reaching Church only founded one bloody sea in Pingsha Valley? Although you all hope so, don''t tell me that you''re my apprentices in the future if you really think so. I don''t need such stupid apprentices."


    "Do you know why I brought you to Zhongzhou Province? Because I wanted to show you the possible situation that you might face in the future and how bad your opponents are? I wanted to warn you for that. As your master, actually, I only hope that you could survive this holy war instead of promoting to knights. Only when you survive yourselves could you have a bright future. I''m afraid that you might be involved in a tricky situation before making any preparation..."


    After saying that, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Bai Suxian. Bai Suxian then walked towards him. Closely after that, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian returned to the airboat.


    Beside the bonfires, everybody became silent once again. After a while, someone suddenly started to chew the bloody beef forcefully...


    The autopsy continued. Although someone was still vomiting, more people started to chew beef forcefully...


    As Zhang Tie''s first apprentice, Liu Xing was the second person who took the disgusting puppet worm being covered with the brains out of another bloody figure''s head and roasted it on the fire before eating it with a glassy-eyed look...

 1075 Active Dark Forces

    Chapter 1075: Active Dark Forces


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After leaving Xujia Village, Iron-Dragon Airboat parked in Xingyu City for supply.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to replenish materials for his airboat after leaving Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. Although airboats of Taixia Country didn''t need to replenish energy and fuel, people in the airboats had to eat and drink.


    The central dynamic and suspension system of airboat was made of a metal called floating metal. It was said that this rare metal came from a mysterious place in Earth-elements Realm. As of now, only the imperial household of Taixia Country could get hang of the technique of making airboat using floating metal. It was said that this technology originated from a prehistoric civilization. Benefited from this technology and this special metal, airboats would never run out of energy.


    Except for Gold and Power Law, all the other top 6 sects in Taixia Country exchanged something for the airboats of the imperial household of Taixia Country, including the Iron-Dragon Airboat that Zhang Tie won from Feng Yexiao, the grand elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    ''To a certain extent, the relationship between the imperial household of Taixia Country, which is the top sect in Taixia Country, and the top 7 sects in Taixia Country is similar to that between Iron-Dragon Sect and the major sects within Northeast Military Region. They mutually restrict and coexist with each other. The win-win situation based on the prosperity and stability of Taixia Country. As they share the same foundation, their relationships would never deteriorate.''


    ''However, the interest conflict between both parties, also the difference between the imperial household and the top 7 sects in Taixia country lies in that only one people across Taixia Country could ascend to the altar and throne of Emperor Xuanyuan. There is saint level above heavenly knight in both imperial household and the other seven top sects. However, the Xuanyuan God Sutrawhich is adopted by the imperial household of Taixia Country is the only emperor-level secret method that humans own today. Emperor Xuanyuan on saint level is the most dignified person among humans. With "Xuanyuan God Sutra", the imperial household overwhelms the top 7 sects in Taixia Country and stand on the peak of humans. The other 7 sects have to follow the order of the imperial household. Because of this, the relationship between the imperial household and the top 7 sects in Taixia Country wouldn''t be too good.''


    ''In Taixia Country, everybody knows that Gold and Power Law as one of the top 7 sects has imperial household on their back. In the beginning, the imperial household of Taixia Country established Gold and Power Law and made it one of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country so as to compete with the other top 6 sects on many aspects. From then on, Gold and Power Law would do anything that the imperial household and the official of Taixia Country felt inconvenient to do on behalf of the latter. Of course, this would dissatisfy the other top 6 sects. So what? Gold and Power Law had Emperor Xuanyuan on its back. Although being an emperor, Emperor Xuanyuan wants to establish a sect for fun.''


    ''Nevertheless, Emperor Xuanyuan has been missing for many years. The holy war is growing fiercer. The inside of Taixia Country becomes increasingly unstable. Even the 6 top sects are eager for action.''


    ''Before the event in Zhongzhou Province, the dark forces in Taixia Country have been active. After such a catastrophe being similar to the catastrophe caused demonized puppets broke out in Zhongzhou Province, the hinterland of Taixia Country, the situation in Taixia Country becomes more intricate and might be intensified.''


    Bai Suxian told Zhang Tie.


    After one night stand, the two people were lying on the bed and looking at the stars above the crystal dome. At the same time, they were talking about the current situation facing Taixia Country.


    As Bai Suxian was born and raised in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, after returning to Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and meeting his dad Lord Guangnan, she knew better than commoners about the current situation facing Taixia Country.


    With this woman on his side, Zhang Tie felt having one more adviser who knew the top intelligence about Taixia Country.


    "Would those old d**chebags above heavenly knight level among the top 7 sects attack Xuanyuan Hill?" Zhang Tie asked Bai Suxian.


    "Maybe. But commoners could not make a speculation about their methods and action time. Although my dad has made such a judgment, he couldn''t make sure what those old d**chebags would do. After all, if Taixia Country is chaotic at this moment, none of the top 7 sects will make any benefits from it. However, it''s impossible for them to ignore the current situation facing Taixia Country and Xuanyuan Hill. If they didn''t do something, they would feel losing the best opportunity; if they did it excessively, the top 7 sects have to think about how to explain it to Emperor Xuanyuan if he suddenly comes back. Even though the top 7 sects are very powerful after combining with each other, they could not weaken the prestige of Emperor Xuanyuan in Hua people, either"


    "If Xuanyuan Hill really went against the top 7 sects, which side would Lord Guangnan''s Mansion stand on?"


    "Neither!"


    "Ohh!"


    "The rank of nobility and bounty territory of Lord Guangnan were gained by the predecessors of Bai Clan in the former holy wars through blood and sweat; instead of being gifted by anyone. Therefore, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion doesn''t need to consider the others'' moods. Principally, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion should stand on the side of Xuanyuan Hill; however, the current situation is that Emperor Xuanyuan is missing. Xuanyuan Hill has lost its leader. Additionally, the foxtrel Fang Xinyi belongs to Qionglou Building, one of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country. If Xuanyuan Hill went against the top 7 sects in Taixia Country, my father might maintain neutral!"


    "Maintain neutral!"


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s words, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded, ''Given the position of Lord Guangnan, the father of Bai Suxian, he might not be the first one who knows the news that Emperor Xuanyuan is missing; however, he is definitely one of the first batches of people who know the news. If her dad determines to sleep with Bai Suxian''s ladybro after receiving the news that Emperor Xuanyuan is missing, it would be interesting. After Emperor Xuanyuan disappeared, if Lord Guangnan married a woman from Qionglou Building, one of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country as his princess because he had predicted the possible conflict between Xuanyuan Hill and the top 7 sects one day, he must be very considerate.''


    When Zhang Tie heard that Lord Guangnan made Bai Suxian''s ladybro as her step-mother in Earth-elements Realm, he despised Lord Guangnan as he felt that he was too tasteless. As a lord, how could he fall out with his daughter only for a woman? What a weirdo!


    However, after Zhang Tie figured out the relationship between the top 7 sects and Xuanyuan Hill, his impression about Lord Guangnan immediately reversed completely, ''This Lord Guangnan is really smart.''


    Perhaps, Bai Suxian had guessed this reason; therefore, she just left Lord Guangnan''s Mansion decisively and directly ignored it.


    "Are the words that you told Liu Xing real? Are you worried that what happened in Zhongzhou Province might repeat in other places in Taixia Country?" Bai Suxian asked out of concern.


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh, "Undoubtedly, the Heavens Reaching Church is on the back of those bloody figures. Now that Heavens Reaching Church could build a bloody sea in Zhongzhou Province, one of the 9 immortal provinces in Taixia Country, do you think that it''s more difficult for them to build another one in other places?"


    "Additionally, before the catastrophe broke out in Zhongzhou Province, few people knew about Wen Haoyun in Pingsha Valley, Longxi Prefecture, Zhongzhou Province. An average black iron knight could be a bit well-known locally; however, as long as he exits his prefecture or province, he becomes nothing. Now that Heavens Reaching Church could allow a black iron knight to manage a bloody sea beneath Pingsha Valley, Zhongzhou Province, it means that this bloody sea is not irreplaceable. Pingsha Valley is just a base of Heavens Reaching Church. It''s not the core region of Heavens Reaching Church at all; otherwise, Heavens Reaching Church would feel not enough by assigning an earth knight to safeguard here; not to mention a black iron knight. Don''t forget that demons and Heavens Reaching Church have hidden a lot of knight-level powerhouses in Taixia Country. Old Monster Qi whom I met in the Earth-elements Realm is one of them!"


    "Third, the news that Emperor Xuanyuan is missing was released by demons in the battlefield of Earth-elements Realm. The moment this news was released, it soon spread among humans. The demons must have their reason to release this news at that time. After knowing that Emperor Xuanyuan is missing, the entire Taixia Country is shocked while dark forces started to become active. Right then, the bloody figures that were bred in the bloody sea underground Pingsha Valley had almost become mature. If not the loophole on Pingsha Valley''s side, these bloody figures might still be in the bloody sea; even though they''ve become mature, they could also move secretly and nobody else would know that. Didn''t you find any relation between the two events?"


    "The time when demons released the news that Emperor Xuanyuan was missing is consistent with the time when the bloody figures in the bloody sea became mature!" Bai Suxian understood it right away.


    "Of course it''s not a coincidence but a part of the series of plots against Taixia Country and Hua people. The bloody figures that were bred underground Pingsha Valley were just LV 9 fighters. Even if there were 100,000 more LV 9 fighters, it was not a big deal for Taixia Country; at most aches for Taixia Country. They could not shake the base of Taixia Country at all. Hundreds of thousands of LV 9 fighters would be cleaned up after destroying one province at most when they have no high-level knight as their leader. In the holy war, Taixia Country could easily bear such a bit loss. After cooperating with each other, of course, demons and Heavens Reaching Church don''t mean to only tickle Taixia Country. If I was the head of demons and Three-eye Association, I would establish as more bloody sea as possible. I would even establish at least one bloody sea in each province across Taixia Country. By then, with the assistance of the knight-level powerhouses of Heavens Reaching Church, each province would be plundered by bloody figures, leaving nothing but ruins. Only in this way could they shake the foundation of Taixia Country. Even if Taixia Country could pacify the catastrophe of bloody figures in the end, they would be severely damaged. Finally, Taixia Country would collapse from inside...''


    When he caught those alive bloody figures, Zhang Tie had already read all of their memories. The first image that he gained from each bloody figure''s memory was that they tore open the bloody ball in the bloody sea. Through their memories and visions, Zhang Tie saw what he wanted the most to see in Zhongzhou Province¡ª¡ªthe bloody sea underground Pingsha Valley.


    After seeing the bloody sea which bred those bloody figures, Zhang Tie felt extremely disappointed.


    The main raw materials of the bloody sea were gold and senior crystal. Gold and senior crystals might be precious for commoners; however, they were nothing different than common steel bars and cement for the one who could establish bloody sea.


    The most important thing for establishing bloody sea was the set of rune secret method that was applied to those gold and crystals. As for the one who had grasped the rune secret method of the bloody sea, now that he had established the first bloody sea, it was not difficult for him to establish the 2nd, the 3rd and the 4th one as long as he had sufficient raw materials.


    Like how a craftsman built houses. The more houses he built, the more skilled he would be.


    With this intuitionistic recognition, Zhang Tie judged that Heavens Reaching Church and demons definitely had built one bloody sea in Taixia country.


    This judgment was very important. Although Heavens Reaching Church and demons couldn''t build the original type of the bloody sea, they could build the bloody sea which could produce LV 9 fighters. Additionally, they combined the bloody sea with puppet worms in a creative way. It was already enough for demons and Heavens Reaching Church to overthrow Taixia Country.


    The bloody sea which was originally invented by the Bloody Soul Temple was more like a bloody demon sea in the hands of demons and Heavens Reaching Church.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bai Suxian''s tender naked body suddenly felt a bit cold as she drew closer to Zhang Tie silently and said, "If your prediction is true. Heavens Reaching Church might launch an overall rebel in Taixia Country after this batch of bloody figures in Pingsha Valley fully became mature. The period when the news that Emperor Xuanyuan was missing was released to the period when this batch of bloody figures in Pingsha Valley became mature was specially prepared for intensifying the conflict between the top 7 sects and Emperor Hill. When the two parties were both annoyed, it would satisfy the demons and Heavens Reaching Church for sure!"


    "Yes. Additionally, I doubt that demons and Heavens Reaching Church might have shaper plots against Taixia Country and Hua people!"


    "Sharper plots? You''re worried that demons and Heavens Reaching Church might have more shaper means?"


    "Yes, don''t forget that Heavens Reaching Church excels at confusing people. They''re good at involving commoners in. With the news that Emperor Xuanyuan was missing and these bloody figures who behave like mutated beasts, Heavens Reaching Church could not mobilize commoners. Only when the commoners lost their consciousness could the whole world become fully chaotic. That''s what demons and Heavens Reaching Church want most! Additionally, I doubt that Heavens Reaching Church and demons have moles inside Taixia Country. He might hide in Xuanyuan Hill as a top chancellor. With the cover and assistance of this mole could Heavens Reaching Church silently build bloody seas one after another across Taixia Country..."


    Bai Suxian let out a sigh faintly before saying, "After hearing your words, I don''t know whether Taixia Country could tide over this holy war. Even if we could tide over this holy war, how severely damaged would our country be. If Taixia really perishes one day, will you leave me alone?"


    "If there''s really that day, I will take you to a place where even demons couldn''t find us. We will live our own lives by eating and drinking; when we feel bored, we will deliver babies..." Zhang Tie let out a sigh too...


    Although they both sighed, their sighs contained different meanings.


    "Is there really such a place?" Bai Suxian threw a glance at Zhang Tie with flickering eyes.


    "Believe me, there is!" Zhang Tie answered immediately.


    Bai Suxian replied with a smile, "Even if you are lying to me to make me feel better, I''m already satisfied with your words!"


    After saying that, Bai Suxian closed her eyes and fell asleep sweetly in Zhang Tie''s cradle.


    Zhang Tie looked up the stars...


    Although the airboat was flying, the stars didn''t move at all. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt asleep in a room on the ground instead of being in an airboat.


    Of course, there was a place that could not be found by demons¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron.


    Previously, Zhang Tie had not considered about the size of Castle of Black Iron. However, lately, he had to think about it carefully. Now that he could see the possible crises across Taixia Country in the future, it was reasonable for him to think about the way of escape.


    Zhang Tie liked Taixia Country; however, he had not imagined about sacrificing himself for Taixia Country one day. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, living people counted most. As long as people were alive, everything else could be achieved.


    At this moment, a whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, ''If there''s really one day when Taixia Country perishes, I have to teleport all of my family members, relatives, friends, Bai Suxian, members of Iron-Dragon Sect and those people in Ice and Snow Wilderness into Castle of Black Iron. But whether Castle of Black Iron is big enough to hold all of them or not? After all, I alone have over 10 children...''


    Zhang Tie realized that he had not expanded land resources for Castle of Black Iron for a long time. Therefore, he made a decision, ''Given the current situation facing Taixia Country, it seems that I should manage Castle of Black Iron well so that it could be available to all of us at the critical moment.''


    ''Besides further expanding the land resources in Castle of Black Iron, I should teleport as many plants and animals as possible into Castle of Black Iron. When the land in Castle of Black Iron was expanded, there would be more diversified ecological and mineral resources inside it and people inside it would live better.''


    Zhang Tie remembered an experiment that zoologists and sociologists made before the Catastrophe. In that experiment, they put 10 mice into an enclosed paradise-like environment which could hold 1,000 mice and wanted to see the result.


    At the beginning, all the mice behaved normally. They ate, drank and reproduced. Until the population of mice reached 1,000, the colony of rats suddenly collapsed. All the rats started to fight and kill each other in various methods until only dozens of rats survived. Although the living rats didn''t fight and kill each other anymore, they couldn''t live as casually as before and reproduce anymore. As a result, even the dozens of alive rats died.


    Through this experiment, those zoologists and sociologists reached a conclusion¡ª¡ªthe desire for exploring the unknown world was the original driving force for the development and existence of human society. When human society lost their desire for exploration one day and its carrying capacity on materials and population reached its climax, humans would be at the verge of extermination.


    Heller said that Castle of Black Iron was too small and incomplete; therefore, many things had not been bred yet. When Castle of Black Iron was big enough one day, it would derive a complete world.


    ''What''s the look of the complete world?'' After thinking about this question for a few seconds, Zhang Tie put it aside for the time being...


    Zhang Tie was not afraid that those people inside Castle of Black Iron would lose their desire for exploration one day. After all, he could access to this world through Castle of Black Iron freely. If someone really felt bored inside Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie could throw him out to have fun with demons.


    ''What counts most now is that I should become stronger and make my backup more comfortable. I should make preparations for taking my beloved ones away from this world one day. I should also try my best to stop it from happening. I should try my best to save more commoners in the holy war until the end. ''


    ''I will never let those b*stards of Heavens Reaching Church and demons destroy all this in front of me.''


    ''Previously, I had limited abilities. After promoting to an earth knight, with Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu City, I could actually do many things.''


    ''I''ve already damaged many plans of demons, Three-eye Association and Heavens Reaching Church, why not continue?''


    ...

 1076 The King Roc Flapped Its Wings

    Chapter 1076: The King Roc Flapped Its Wings


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In a chaotic world, one had to do something that he didn''t like to do.


    Zhang Tie felt that he was a bit unfortunate. Previously, when in Waii Subcontinent, he always felt that Taixia Country was a safe place. Even in the holy war, Taixia Country would also be a safe place for humans which would maintain prosperity forever. Zhang Tie thought that he and his family members could have a safe and stable home here. Even before coming to Taixia Country, Zhang Tie had a faintly crazy idea¡ª¡ªat the critical moment, he would organize a fleet from Taixia Country to evacuate those people from Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    However, only after coming to Taixia Country for a short period, Zhang Tie had already been involved in the turmoil of Taixia Country. At the arrival of the 3rd holy war, Taixia Country which had been peaceful for hundreds of years might become the center of the storm.


    Demons'' plots in Taixia Country were too deep-rooted. Zhang Tie didn''t know how long had demons prepared for such a day, 100 years or 200 years. When this day finally arrived, the bombs that demons buried in Taixia Country started to be detonated one after another. The future of the entire Eastern Continent then became complicated.


    Besides training his apprentices, Zhang Tie had another purpose in Zhongzhou Province, namely, he wanted to find that culprit among the top 9 chancellors in Taixia Country. Given the current situation, after reading the memories of those bloody figures, Zhang Tie found it was very difficult to realize that.


    Wen Haoyun, the master of Wen Clan in Pingsha Valley should know something; however, that guy had already escaped away. He was still being wanted across Taixia Country. It might also be unrealistic for Zhang Tie to catch Wen Haoyun and gain some information from that guy.


    ''Whatever, now that I''ve come to Zhongzhou Province, I will take a round in Zhongzhou Province before broadening my vision in Xuanyuan Hill.''


    With this thought, Zhang Tie became reassured.


    After completing its materials supply in Xingyu City, Zhang Tie had Iron-Dragon Airboat leave Xingyu City for Longxi Prefecture, Zhongzhou Province on the same day.


    Those alive bloody figures that Zhang Tie caught came from a branch of those bloody figures who had broken through Huian City. After destroying Huian City, facing the combined strikes from the knights of Supreme Court, knight-level powerhouses that came here from all directions and local garrisons, all the bloody figures scattered in all directions. Covering over 700 miles, they destroyed one prefecture and constantly divided into smaller teams to make troubles everywhere.


    When those bloody figures escaped from Xingyu City, their total population reached over 10,000. Later on, after being struck by knights for a few times on the way, the troop started to divide into 5 regiments, each of which contained over 2,000 people. Facing constant strikes, each regiment of further divided into 5 camps, each of which contained about 400-500 people. A few days ago, these camps were further struck by local garrisons for a few times near the border of Zhongzhou Province before scattering into teams, each of which contained 40-50 members. When a team of bloody figures entered Shanghe Prefecture, Mingzhou Province, they almost killed all the people inside Xujia Village...


    Although this team of bloody figures was killed, Zhang Tie had borne in mind the marching routes of the bloody figures; especially the general directions of those bloody figures after each strike.


    When in Xingyu City, Zhang Tie drew a route chart on the aero map in the command module of Iron-Dragon Airboat after a consideration.


    According to Zhang Tie''s route chart, Iron-Dragon Airboat would fly in a snake-shaped curve instead of a straight line from Xingyu City to Pingsha Valley, Longxi Prefecture, Zhongzhou Province. Previously, Xingyu City was only over 1,300 miles away from Pingsha Valley. It only took an airboat 2 hours to finish this distance; However, according to Zhang Tie''s route chart, they needed to spend almost 1 month from Xingyu City to Pingsha Valley.


    On the new route chart, Zhang Tie changed the airboat into a movable military camp. It only moved 130 miles ahead a day at a very slow speed. However, Zhang Tie 121 disciples were divided into two teams. One team was composed of 60 people; the other team was composed of 61 people. They would march forward on the ground according to the route chart. At the same time, they would kill all the bloody figures that they met on the way.


    Bai Suxian was a bit worried about this, "Is it okay?"


    "Don''t worry. There''re 53 LV 9 fighters in the 2 teams totally. I''ve estimated that they might rarely meet a team of over 50 bloody figures on the way. All these bloody figures are disbanded, stragglers. Additionally, Liu Xing and the other 6 black-armored figures have rich battle experiences in Earth-elements Realm. They know how to deal with emergencies. Even if they met a team of over 50 bloody figures and couldn''t deal with them, they only needed to send a signal to me. I''d be there soon! My disciples come from different clans and are greatly different from each other in gender, age and family background. It''s a good opportunity for them to coordinate with each other; otherwise, they are just a heap of loose sand!"


    Bai Suxian understood it. By doing this, Zhang Tie intended to train his apprentices and make them coordinate with each other much better besides hunting bloody figures. Additionally, he aimed to help Liu Xing, his first apprentice who had no family background, to establish his prestige among his apprentices. Among Zhang Tie''s apprentices, the group of seven black-armored fighters represented by Liu Xing had poorest family backgrounds. Meanwhile, they also had the richest battle experience. Zhang Tie''s plan might be very difficult for the others; however, it was as easy as pie for the seven black-armored fighters who had practiced in Earth-elements Realm.


    If Liu Xing could establish his prestige among the other apprentices as Zhang Tie''s first apprentice at this moment, Liu Xing''s words would be followed by the other apprentices in the future.


    Bai Suxian revealed a smile, "You''ve really cudgeled your brains for your apprentices!"


    Zhang Tie also replied with a smile, "I have to. After becoming their master, I have to be responsible for them! Taixia Country might be in a greater trouble in the future. I have to have them adapt to it. If some of them were really hurt or killed, it''s their destiny. They have to bear that. Even in the top 7 sects of Taixia Country, those knight-level knights might also be hurt or killed when they execute tasks. Their clans sent them to Iron-Dragon Sect not to become playboys. After entering Iron-Dragon Sect, they have to treat themselves as a piece of worthless iron no matter how dignified they were in their major clans."


    Zhang Tie had made his firm determination. Actually, he had thought much more than Bai Suxian. Because the youngest and weakest two members among his 121 disciples were his nephews, Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze. Zhang Tie''s request was definitely a great, tough test for the two people. They were respectively 12 years old and 11.5 years old. It was indeed too young for them to participate in such an action.


    However, they couldn''t refuse it because of their age. Zhang Cheng Xu and Zhang Chengze were brothers; additionally, they had lit their shrine surging points and 4 surging points on their spines respectively. Given their battle strength, they had been LV 4 warriors. When Zhang Tie was at their age, he had just learned how to polish surging points. By contrast, Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze had been learning battle skills from masters since very young; additionally, Zhang family didn''t lack training resources; therefore, the two brothers lit 5 surging points at such a young age.


    Zhang Tie could even let his nephews join in the action, not to mention the others.


    During the process of materials supply, Zhang Tie went to the Building of Brightness in Xingyu City.


    In the Building of Brightness of Xingyu City, Zhang Tie delivered a task to all the bounty criminal hunters in Taixia Country in the identity of the master of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory¡ª¡ªalive bloody figures purchase. 10,000 gold coins for each bloody figure. The more, the better. The captors only need to exchange alive bloody figures for gold coins in the Northeast Military Region.


    The reward of the imperial court was 5,000 gold coins for each bloody figure. However, Zhang Tie purchased alive bloody figures at two times higher price. Additionally, the more, the better. As for those bounty criminal hunters who poured in Zhongzhou Province, although alive bloody figures were a bit tricky and would take them some time to hire airships to transport alive bloody figures to the Northeast Military Region at some cost. Zhang Tie''s purchasing price was still very attractive. Of course, it was not worthwhile to travel to Fire Dragon Bounty Territory only for the reward of one bloody figure. But if they could catch a lot of live bloody figures and hired an airship to transport these alive bloody figures to Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, it would be very profitable...


    When Zhang Tie''s airboat left Xingyu City, the news that Cui Li, the master of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, was purchasing alive bloody figures at the price of 10,000 gold coins for each had been spread over the entire Buildings of Brightness across Zhongzhou Province and Mingzhou Province. Some clever ones had been considering how to make a fortune in this business. Over 95% of commoners in Taixia Country could not make so much money in their whole lives. Many small commercial organizations and business groups couldn''t even make so much profit in one year. Everybody was crazy about this news. If not the event in Zhongzhou Province, where to find such a good opportunity to make a fortune.


    When Zhang Tie was going to deliver a task in the Building of Brightness, Bai Suxian was cultivating silently in the cultivation room of the airboat. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t notice her. Until Zhang Tie came back, those people in the airboat still didn''t know that Zhang Tie had delivered such a task in the Building of Brightness.


    After promoting to an earth knight, gold coins had been meaningless for Zhang Tie. The gold coin was just a matter of number and material for him. Zhang Tie was clear about the purchasing power of 10,000 gold coins too. He knew that his purchasing price was even higher than that of the imperial court of Taixia Country. However, although 10,000 gold coins looked a bit much at this moment, it might be nothing in the future...


    ''I will make an advisement for myself in Taixia Country by the event in Zhongzhou Province only at a bit cost.'' Zhang Tie believed that all the people across Taixia Country would know Cui Li the Fire Dragon Hermit and Iron-Dragon Sect after a short period.


    If he wanted to do something big and make demons and those b*stards of Heavens Reaching Church feel bad, how could he have no popularity?


    When Iron-Dragon Airboat left Xingyu City, many big figures and masters of major clans had received that news from their subordinates¡ª¡ªCui Li the Fire Dragon Hermit, also the owner of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory in Northeast Military Region is purchasing alive bloody figures at a high price. The more, the better.


    After hearing this news, all the big figures and master of major clans frowned almost at the same time. Closely after that, they sent the same two orders.


    First, figure out the background of Fire Dragon Hermit.


    Second, figure out what Fire Dragon Hermit used those live bloody figures for.


    In the coming storm that might roll over the entire Taixia Country, Zhang Tie started to forcefully flap his wings towards a looming iron wall in the future...


    ...

 1077 The Role of Master

    Chapter 1077: The Role of Master


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    They moved very slowly.


    Before each daybreak, the two teams had already left the airboat and searched along the route that Zhang Tie designated for the bloody figures. After finding bloody figures, they would kill them right away and bring back their heads.


    According to ZhangTie''s route chart, they only needed to move about 130 miles a day. They spent most of their time in the wild and unpopulated places that were far away from cities. Sometimes, they needed to tramp over mountains and through ravines. Even though they had tools, the roads were still tricky; especially that they had to search over the surroundings so as to prevent from being raided by bloody figures. After finding bloody figures, they had to kill them. Such a route was a tough challenge for Zhang Tie''s apprentices, the highest level of which was just LV 9.


    Therefore, although they left early each day, they always came back to the place where the airboat landed after the night fell.


    When they left the airboat, Zhang Tie only allowed them to carry weapons, empty water bottles, slopes and signal flares for surviving themselves. They could not even carry medicament. On the way in the daytime, they had to find food themselves. Of course, when they came back to the airboat, they could eat whatever they wanted with unlimited quantities.


    On the first day, since they left Xingyu City, they spent 15 hours on the way. When they returned to the airboat, it was already over 1 am midnight. Everybody had been extremely fatigued. Some female disciples looked embarrassed as their clothes had been broken in many places. Zhang Chengze and Zhang Chengze were completely carried back on stretchers made of twigs by Liu Xing and the other guys.


    As the weakest and youngest two people among Zhang Tie''s apprentices, Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze had reached their physical limits when they finished 80 miles of the journey in the wild. One passed out, the other started to throw up and twitch all over. Therefore, the others could only carry them back by stretchers.


    On the first day, when they came back, some female disciples, Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze had silently cried in their own cabins. Others didn''t know that they were crying; however, Zhang Tie could as long as he wanted.


    After resting less than 6 hours on the airboat, all of them set off once again at about 7 am next morning, including Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze.


    On the second day, they returned to Iron-Dragon Airboat almost at the same time. Being different than that on the first day, this time, they brought back 3 bloody figures'' heads.


    It was their first time to meet 3 bloody figures in the wild on the route designated by Zhang Tie. Of course, they killed them soon.


    Zhang Tie felt that these bloody figures were as disgusting as demonized puppets. He didn''t want to carry these bloody figures in case that the fresh air in the airboat was polluted. Additionally, he wanted to make his apprentices move more conveniently. Therefore, he only told them to bring back the heads of bloody figures.


    After seeing the three bloody figures'' heads, Zhang Tie awarded them with 6 vials of full-purpose medicament.


    After taking the award, all the 121 apprentices of Zhang Tie became spirited.


    In peacetime, it was hard to see the effect of all-purpose medicament. Only in such a tough situation could those vials of all-purpose medicament bring a great effect to a team at the critical moment. They could enable those who could not stand it to walk farther and help those being slightly wounded to recover rapidly. As a result, they could improve the overall action efficiency of a team.


    The fact was that this method that Zhang Tie chose for his apprentices to cooperate with each other was especially effective.


    Only after one week, the 121 apprentices had been familiar with each other and looked more like fellow apprentices of the same master. They gradually became an entity. Many people started to call others Senior Fellow Apprentice **, Junior Fellow Apprentice **, Senior Sister Apprentice **, Junior Sister Apprentice** which sounded intimate.


    Besides Liu Xing who was the first apprentice of Zhang Tie, the others'' seniorities were arranged according to their ages. Elder ones would be called senior fellow or sister apprentices; younger ones would be called junior fellow or sister apprentices. Without Zhang Tie''s concern, these apprentices had already figured out their seniorities mutually after 1 week''s cooperation.


    Zhang Chengxu, Zhang Chengze and some female apprentices didn''t cry anymore. The two teams left the airboat at the same time; however, they came back earlier and earlier gradually from 1 am to 11 pm.


    After experiencing the initial hardships, the two teams became increasingly vigorous. Everybody gradually treated daily tough march as an interesting yet dangerous game. The reward of the game for bloody figures'' heads was the all-purpose medicament. With more vials of the all-purpose medicament, the teams would be more relaxed in the march and more active in searching for bloody figures.


    Some disciples were hurt by bloody figures, if they couldn''t continue to join the action for the time being, they would return to Iron-Dragon Airboat for a few days'' recuperation. After recovery, they would return to their teams. As long as those injured ones recovered their wounds basically, they would request to return to their teams instead of staying in the airboat.


    Through many battles with bloody figures, they could have chances to improve their own battle skills through communication. After experiencing the hardships in Earth-elements Realm, Liu Xing and the other 6 black-armored fighters had rich battle skills; those disciples who came from major clans could have chances to learn various battle skills since they were young. Many people''s clans had collected various secret methods on battle skills. Therefore, they were open-minded. They could learn and draw benefits from each other. As a result, everybody gained more battle experience and better battle skills very soon.


    In the early days, when they came back to the airboat, it was already too late. After taking some food, they would hurriedly go to bed due to tiredness for the sake of the task the next day. As they came back earlier and earlier, after taking food, they still had much free time. Therefore, they started to chat and discuss the gains and losses of that day''s battles. When they were excited about that, some LV 9 disciples would even simulate the battles in an open place in the canteen. One party would perform as bloody figures that they met that day, the other party would be themselves. They deduced the battles in slow movements and studied how to avoid from the opponent''s movement, how to kill the opponent at the fastest speed, how to coordinate with each other, how to break the opponent''s coordination, how to resist the opponents which outnumbered them and vice versa, etc...


    Through similar communication, they all had great achievements and became very excited.


    In the first 3 days since they returned to the airboat and started to conclude their daily battle experience, Zhang Tie didn''t join them. He just observed that spiritually. After observing them for 3 days, Zhang Tie found that such communications about the battle experience were very good. In such conclusions, they were learning, rethinking, communicating and improving day by day. An individual''s experience and gnosis would soon be shared by the rest of people. Benefited from this method, all of them could improve pretty fast. Therefore, on the 4th day, since they started their conclusions, Zhang Tie had told them to conclude in the training field of the airboat after having supper. Additionally, he also joined them and instructed them.


    Zhang Tie had died thousands of times in trouble-reappearance situations. In reality, he had also experienced numerous brutal battles. As an earth knight, only by giving them a few directions could Zhang Tie benefit them a lot.


    Sometimes, Zhang Tie directly limited his battle strength to a LV 9 fighter like Liu Xing and fought them for a better experience, ignoring his identity as an earth knight.


    After Zhang Tie joined them, all of his apprentices became highly spirited at once. They would always maintain that high spirit when they left the airboat so as to communicate with Zhang Tie when they came back.


    None of Zhang Tie''s apprentices were stupid. All of them knew that such opportunities were rare. Very few LV 9 fighters could be instructed by an earth knight across Taixia Country.


    In Zhang Tie''s opinion, Liu Xing and the other guys were his peers. They had a lot of things to share. Therefore, he didn''t treat himself as their elder in many cases; instead, he just communicated with them smoothly on the equal footing.


    When in deduction, Zhang Tie could deal with the besiege of 20 LV 9 disciples including Liu Xing in the battle strength of a common LV 9 fighter. However, he could still "kill all the 20 people" without suffering a bit wound. This result shocked everybody at present. It was his apprentices'' first time to watch the "extremely brilliant battle skill"...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that his mentality and look when he instructed his apprentices shocked all of his apprentices. Zhang Tie didn''t put on his airs; however, he gained more respect. After watching Zhang Tie''s extremely brilliant battle skill, some female apprentices'' eyes were sparkling starlight at the sight of Zhang Tie...


    When Zhang Tie''s apprentices left the airboat for hunting bloody figures every day, Zhang Tie kept studying a secret method that Bai Suxian had given him.


    That secret method was called "Bright Enlightenment Sutra"...


    This secret method solved a question that had puzzled Zhang Tie for so long...

 1078 Bright Enlightenment Sutra

    Chapter 1078: Bright Enlightenment Sutra


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Very few commoners could promote to knights by cultivating secret methods; especially senior secret methods. By contrast, super forces like top seven sects in Taixia Country mastered many secret methods and cultivation resources for sure.


    In Taixia Country, on one hand, billions of commoners had a great desire and demand for secret methods; on the other hand, few forces and major clans mastered a great number of resources. Therefore, someone would use various means to meet commoners'' demand at the risk of their lives.


    There were definitely more than 1 disciple among top 7 sects and those super clans who could touch and cultivate those rare secret methods. Only in this way could a sect and a clan maintain a strong vitality and constantly train excellent talents.


    Zhang Tie wondered why he had not heard that any disciples of the top 7 sects betrayed their sects and exposed their clans'' secret methods to the public, causing a great chaos in the world.


    Zhang Tie didn''t believe that all the disciples who could touch top secret methods among the top 7 sects and major clans were saints and gentlemen. Given the probability, after so many years since those major sects and super clans were founded, some ambitious guys or lunatics must have touched those top secret methods. Now that they had touched those top secret methods, why didn''t they steal those top secret methods and expose them to the others? How did those major sects and super clans prevent their top secret methods from being exposed to the public in case of losses?


    ''As I''ve reached a very high level in soul-forbidden skill, if I caught a core disciple of one of the top 7 sects who had touched the top secret methods, couldn''t I get that top secret method from that core disciple''s memory? How do the major sects and super clans in Taixia Country prevent it from being exposed in this way?''


    ''How do major sects and super clans in Taixia Country maintain the uniqueness and confidentiality of their own secret methods?''


    Zhang Tie had been thinking about this question especially after establishing the Iron-Dragon Sect.


    Previously, when in Huaiyuan Palace, as Zhang Tie didn''t cultivate Sun Breaking Sutra , he didn''t know how the Sun Breaking Sutra of Huaiyuan Palace was inherited. Now, Zhang Tie realized how Lan Yunxi trusted him and was brave to give him the Sun Breaking Sutra at that moment.


    Zhang Tie was always worried that what if some of his disciples were ambitious guys or lunatics and might expose his Fire Dragon Sutra and other secret methods to the public?


    As Zhang Tie had not figured out this question, he had not passed the method of lighting surging points to promote to LV 10 to his disciples these days.


    When he told Bai Suxian about his concern, the latter widely opened her eyes at once as she asked Zhang Tie with an amazed look, "Master, don''t you know that?"


    "Don''t know what?''


    "Do you think that major sects pass their classics and secret methods to their disciples by giving them books?"


    "Why not?" Zhang Tie touched his bald head.


    Bai Suxian watched Zhang Tie with a funny look, "Of course not, otherwise, as long as some unfilial apprentices were captured by an evil person, the inheritance of those major sects and clans would be chaotic. If the others could gain top secret methods so easily, the so-called top secret methods would be too average. If so, how could those major sects and clans last 1,000 years and shock the world with those top secret methods?''


    "What if not?''


    After hearing that, Bai Suxian took out a piece of secret method crystal from his portable space and gave it to Zhang Tie.


    The secret method in the crystal was Bright Enlightenment Sutra ...


    Since he received the Bright Enlightenment Sutra , Zhang Tie had been immersing in this secret method these days in the airboat when he was free.


    After reading it, Zhang Tie finally knew how the major sects and clans in Taixia Country protected their own classics and secret methods.


    To be honest, as Zhang Tie grew up in Blackhot City as a commoner, his background was too weak; neither did he receive any good education or systemic knowledge and instructions from experts. Later on, he promoted to a black iron knight too fast one step after another. Only after a few years, he had promoted to an earth knight. Like a nouveau riche among knights, he was not clear about some things for sure. Due to his blind spots in some aspects, he would make mistakes.


    Zhang Tie gained his secret methods easily. He just cultivated according to the secret methods. He even gained the complete "King Roc Sutra" step by step through multiple trials in trouble-reappearance situations. Therefore, Zhang Tie thought that the major clans and sects in Taixia Country also inherited their secret methods by giving them to their disciples like that in school or in Hidden Dragon Island where secret methods could be exchanged with accumulated points and contribution.


    Actually, in those major sects and clans, disciples could indeed exchange for secret methods with contribution and accumulated points like how Zhang Tie did in Hidden Dragon Island. However, those secret methods were not very precious. The most precious secret methods and classics were usually inherited in an ancient and mysterious method¡ª¡ªenlightenment.


    Bright Enlightenment Sutra taught people how to inherit secret methods through enlightenment. This secret method could only be cultivated by people when they reached knight level.


    The secret sutra introduced three methods for enlightenment, namely, Bright Enlightenment Method , Heavenly Wheel Enlightenment Method and Sacrifice Enlightenment Method .


    Bright Enlightenment Method was mainly used by major clans and sects in Taixia Country. To a certain extent, Zhang Tie felt that Bright Enlightenment Method was similar to the process of transmitting a coded document into people''s awareness.


    The coding process was called the combination and blessing of body, mouth and awareness. Additionally, it could only be decoded one time.


    When Bright Enlightenment Method was used to inherit secret methods, the one who received the enlightenment could not expose what he received and learned to others in any means; neither could the others gain any content of the secret methods in any means.


    If the one who received the enlightenment would like to leak the information on purpose, as long as he thought about it and put it into action, he would be destructed by the secret method that he received through enlightenment. Being affected by body, mouth and awareness, nobody could cheat himself. Even if the one who received the enlightenment had entered the saint level, he could still not avoid from being destructed if he intended to leak the information and put it into action. A part of the strength of self-destruction came from the one who received the enlightenment; most of it came from the punishment that the one being executed violated the contract that he had admitted.


    The one who leaked the secret method which he had received through Bright Enlightenment Method would become muddle-headed as a plant man at least; in the worst scenario, he would explode and disappear.


    In the history of Taixia Country, some heavenly knights who didn''t believe that they would be destructed by the Bright Enlightenment Method. However, they were all killed in the end, which laid a solid foundation for the uniqueness of Bright Enlightenment Sutra .


    As for the Heavenly Wheel Enlightenment Method, the executor would transfer his own spiritual energy to the executee. In this process, the executee could only gain half of the spiritual energy from the executor. The other half of spiritual energy would escape.


    The third enlightenment method of Bright Enlightenment Sutra was called Sacrifice Enlightenment Method, which was the most powerful enlightenment method. Through this enlightenment method, the executor could transfer all of his life energy to the executee. The executee could gain 1/7 of the total life energy of the executor. If 1/7 of the executor''s life energy was powerful enough, the executee could even light all of his surging points and form a chakra.


    However, a knight could only apply Sacrifice Enlightenment Method one time in his whole life. As the term suggested, the executor had to pay his life for implementing this method. Therefore, only when some knights in major clans and sects were almost dying would they transfer their life energy to a selected lucky dog in Sacrifice Enlightenment Method. In this way, they could produce a powerhouse at the fastest speed and leave some hope for their sect or clan.


    To a certain extent, Sacrifice Enlightenment Method was similar to Bloody Demon Imitation method. The difference between them was that Sacrifice Enlightenment Method was righteous while Bloody Demon Imitation Method was evil, which would release others'' life potential in the shortest period at the cost of their lives.


    Previously, Bai Suxian kept Bright Enlightenment Sutra for herself. After knowing that Zhang Tie was establishing a sect, she realized that she might instruct disciples in Iron-Dragon Sect after marrying Zhang Tie. Therefore, Bai Suxian came here with the Bright Enlightenment Sutra . It was out of her imagination that Zhang Tie needed it more than her.


    The Bright Enlightenment Sutra solved a question which had puzzled Zhang Tie for so long. As long as he mastered this sutra, Zhang Tie knew that his Fire Dragon Sutra and Mental Arithmetic by Abacus even the methods that he used to promote cultivation through setting free animals would never be exposed to anyone else through his disciples. Even if he passed top secret methods such asKing Roc Sutra and the Great Wilderness Sutra to his son through Bright Enlightenment Method, nobody else would know about that.


    This Bright Enlightenment Sutra was really timely for Zhang Tie, which pushed open a gate in front of Zhang Tie at once...

 1079 Marching towards Pingsha Valley

    Chapter 1079: Marching towards Pingsha Valley


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On October 4th, after almost 1 month''s march, Iron-Dragon Airboat and Zhang Tie''s disciples were finally close to Pingsha Valley, Longxi Prefecture, Zhongzhou Province.


    When they entered Zhongzhou Province in late September, they saw airships and airboats arriving at Zhongzhou Province from all directions. Iron-Dragon Airboat encountered 3-4 batches of knight-level powerhouses from courts across Zhongzhou Province in the sky. Additionally, Zhang Tie met about 10-20 unidentified knight-level powerhouses who were inspecting the ground every day in the sky.


    They could see hundreds of battle airships flying over the land every day. As long as an emergency was discovered, the elites on the airships would immediately jump off the airships under the leadership of fighters above LV 10 officially organized by the military of Taixia Country, who could easily sweep small teams of bloody figures.


    On the ground, the garrisons dispatched from all cities in Longxi Prefecture had set cordons in each communications center. Armored vehicles and temporary mini battle fortresses could be seen everywhere. Those bounty criminal hunters who arrived here from the other provinces would besiege and hunt dispersed bloody figures in the wild in teams.


    It was more like a rounding up and hunting rather than a battle.


    Zhang Tie''s 121 apprentices would meet some teams of bounty criminal hunters on the ground every day. Meanwhile, they also had a chance to watch a military elite team of Taixia Country rounding up and hunting a small team of bloody figures in the wild.


    At the sight of this situation, Zhang Tie knew that the bloody figures in Zhongzhou Province would soon be appeased by parties in Taixia Country after over 1 month''s concerted efforts.


    The bloody figures were like wildfire that extended and die out fast.


    Over 100,000 LV 9 bloody figures were a terrifying, subversive force which could match that of the super demon corps led by the demon general in any subcontinent.


    However, the contingent of bloody figures had a fatal shortcoming¡ª¡ªthey had no knight-level leader. As long as some bloody figures gathered together, they would soon become the targets of human knights and could be easily dispersed. Therefore, it was hard for them to form a great force that was possessed by an army.


    Any troop would only be a motley crew and roving bandits as long as they were dispersed. This explained why Zhang Tie couldn''t see the contingent of the bloody figures separate into smaller teams of bloody figures spontaneously in their memories. Although these bloody figures would cause great damages wherever they were, as long they appeared, they would definitely be besieged from all directions. It determined that their lives were short.


    Additionally, although these bloody figures looked as same as Hua people, they didn''t speak. They could be easily identified from their eyes. This accelerated the extinction of bloody figures.


    On the evening of October 3, Iron-Dragon Airboat encamped in the wild over 400 miles away from Pingsha Valley. On the same evening, it turned gloomy and rained heavily. In the morning, the heavy rain didn''t stop while the water level in the brook in the wild rose rapidly. Additionally, the road was muddy.


    Last night, due to the storm, the airboat rose from 1 m above the ground to 10 m above the ground out of safety. On the next early morning, Zhang Tie came to the command module on the top of the airboat to observe the weather outside through the crystal protective wall.


    The raindrops hit the airboat heavily; however, people inside the command module couldn''t hear it at all. Even so, Zhang Tie could still watch the scenery in the outside through the transparent crystal protective wall.


    It was dusty outside with a very low visibility. The limpid river yesterday had already turned completely murky. Additionally, the water level had risen greatly. After falling on the crystal protective wall, the raindrops formed into trickles. After starting the wiper, Zhang Tie could see the scenery outside clearly. The water in the water-diversion groove on one side of the head of the airboat flew off the diversion mouth like an over 10 m high waterfall.


    Although it had rained several times in the past 1 month, today''s rain was the heaviest.


    "Tell Liu Xing, the survival training comes to an end. They don''t need to leave the airboat today. We will fly towards Pingsha Valley..." Zhang Tie turned around and told someone to notice Liu Xing and the other apprentices after thinking for a few seconds.


    Over the past 1 month, Zhang Tie had reached his target. His disciples had been looked like coming out of the same sect. All of them had been able to coordinate with each other with a very good atmosphere of teamwork. Liu Xing also gained his prestige as the other apprentices'' first senior fellow apprentice. All of them had practiced and been familiar with what they needed to experience. They even brought back 134 heads of bloody figures. Even his two nephews had accomplished the march with their team in the last 10 days. Zhang Chengxu was decisive. He carried back all the heads of bloody figures in the last 10 days. By contrast, Zhang Chengze looked a bit introversive; however, he could also bear hardships. Zhang Tie knew that the two brothers would polish their surging points 2 hours a day in their own bedrooms after they came back.


    If it was in peaceful times, Zhang Tie didn''t want to have his two nephews touch such bloody things. However, it was in the holy war, even if a boy didn''t go to the battlefield, he should also touch something relevant. If Zhang family''s disciples would pass out at the sight of blood, how could they protect the undertakings of Jinwu City and Jinwu Business Group?


    When they received Zhang Tie''s order, Liu Xing had just adjusted the members'' distribution of the two teams. Those who were slightly wounded yesterday would gather at the end of the teams. Everybody had just put on raincoats which were especially for wild operations. When they received Zhang Tie''s order from a bodyguard of Bai Suxian, everybody became a bit dumbfounded at the beginning. However, after confirming that it was not a joke, everybody cheered up as they exclaimed and jumped...


    It finally came to an end.


    Honestly, over the past 1 month, they had borne many hardships. However, nobody complained about it. Many people bore it while gritting their teeth. It was like how those students in school suddenly received the news that they would have a holiday from today onwards. What a big surprise!


    "Ahh, I can finally have a lie-in!" Zhu Dabiao who looked much thinner than before hurriedly put off his raincoat as he walked towards his own cabin.


    "Dabiao, where are you going?" Sun Zhan shouted.


    "Senior fellow apprentice Sun, I will have a nap in my cabin!" Zhu Dabiao who looked spirited just now couldn''t stand having a yawn.


    "Are you kidding me? It''s less than 1 hour''s trip from Pingsha Valley!"


    "It''s okay. Half an hour''s nap is enough. One moment in the morning is worth 1,000 gold coins. Senior Fellow Apprentice Sun, I''ve been thin in the past 1 month!" Zhu Dabiao said as he pinched the fat over his waist with a painful look.


    Some female disciples burst out into laughter at once.


    "You''re thin? You ate 3 people''s food whenever we got prey in the wild!" Sun Zhan mumbled.


    "When there''s a chance, I will invite Senior Fellow Apprentice Sun to have a big meal!"


    Not only Zhu Dabiao, but even some female disciples had also returned to their own cabins after hearing the news.


    "Junior Sister Apprentice Zhou, you''re also going to have a nap?" Sun Zhan shouted.


    Among the 7 disciples who were enrolled by Zhang Tie at the beginning, Sun Zhan was the most active and humorous one. Therefore, he got along well with all the other disciples.


    "Senior Fellow Apprentice Sun, we will go back...to change clothes..." Junior Sister Apprentice Zhou replied with a blush.


    Sun Zhan smirked as he asked, "Junior Sister Apprentice Zhou, tell me which junior fellow apprentice have you fallen in love with? I will be a matchmaker for you!"


    "Senior Fellow Apprentice Sun, you''re too bad, I will not tell you..."


    After being teased by Sun Zhan, Junior Sister Apprentice Zhou''s face turned redder as she left out of there. Some high-spirited and audacious female disciples even rolled their eyes at Sun Zhan. Whatever, they all knew that Senior Fellow Apprentice Sun was not bad and didn''t always grow angry over trivial matters.


    Almost all the female disciples had left in a split second. Sun Zhan was curious about the reason as a hand patted onto his shoulder heavily. Sun Zhan knew that was Ma Kuicheng''s big hand without turning around. At the same time, Ma Kuicheng told Sun Zhan in a secret way, "Don''t you know that beauty is more important than life for all the women? Over the past 1 month, these junior sister apprentices have worn the military uniforms too much; especially when they saw the wife of their master stay on the master''s side every day like a peony blossom. If you didn''t let them dress up at this moment, they would fight you to death!"


    Sun Zhan understood it right away.


    ...


    Zhang Tie also heard the cheers of his disciples. He suddenly recalled how happy he was when he heard that they would have one week''s holiday for the 50th anniversary of the founding of Andaman Alliance when he was in the 2nd grade of the No. 5 Male Middle School of Blackhot City...


    ''How long have I not experienced such a simple and direct pleasure?''


    At that moment, Zhang Tie was poor. He could only have a few copper coins per day. His battle strength was very poor and he dreamt about lighting his Shrine surging point one day. Additionally, he didn''t have a woman. He just had a blush for Miss Daina silently like all the other male boys in the No. 7 Male Middle School.


    However, Zhang Tie could easily have such a simple and direct pleasure at that moment. He would always feel delighted for a few more days'' holidays at school, a small gift, new clothes or a new pair of leather shoes brought by his elder brother from the troop.


    Zhang Tie suddenly realized that the so-called maturity and growth enabled people to not have such a simple and direct pleasure...


    At this moment, the airboat had started to rise and flow towards Pingsha Valley in the heavy rain.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie heard footsteps as he smelt a faint fragrance from behind.


    Zhang Tie turned around and watched Bai Suxian. He asked, "Do you also think that the higher position a person is, the less happy he would be?"

 1080 Being Frank and Hones

    Chapter 1080: Being Frank and Honest


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Bai Suxian faintly frowned her beautiful eyebrows. Closely after that, she relieved her frowns and came to the front of Zhang Tie, watching the scenery on the ground flying backward rapidly in the storm with the Zhang Tie. As the airboat gradually ascended, they could only see clouds.


    The flickering red caution lights around the airboat made it a beacon in the clouds. Additionally, they warned other aircrafts in the sky to not collide with this airboat.


    "Why?" Bai Suxian tilted her head and watched Zhang Tie seriously as if she wanted to discover something from Zhang Tie''s face.


    Zhang Tie still watched the vast clouds outside the airboat as if he had not noticed Bai Suxian''s gaze. Closely after that, he said, "After hearing my apprentices'' cheers, I suddenly had such a feeling. I''ve not been that happy for a long time, even when I gained Fire Dragon Bounty Territory. Just now, I suddenly found that I admired them a bit!"


    "Do you know that? Sometimes, I feel that there''s another person in your body!" Bai Suxian''s words made Zhang Tie''s heart slightly race. Zhang Tie tilted his head and looked straight into Bai Suxian''s crystal eyes. Bai Suxian revealed a smile as she watched Zhang Tie with her soulful eyes, "Previously I was told that someone had double personalities. I didn''t believe in that until I met you. It seems that there are two souls in your body, one belongs to a generous man, the other belongs to a common big boy who desires for a common life. Sometimes, you would be sentimental and romantic..."


    No matter how he disguised, Zhang Tie knew that he could not cover his original personality. Even though he disguised as Cui Li, those who were intimate to him could also find something about his original personality. Whatever, he was Zhang Tie instead of Cui Li. Although the two roles might have similarities in life trajectory and thoughts, they were different from each other.


    Would Cui Li prepare candlelight dinner for Bai Suxian? Probably not. However, two days ago, Zhang Tie prepared a candlelight dinner for Bai Suxian and appreciated her for what she had done for him. Zhang Tie prepared all the food by himself when Bai Suxian was cultivating. They chose the canteen in this command module that day. Under the starlights over the sky, Zhang Tie brought Bai Suxian here and gave her a big surprise.


    After that candlelight dinner, Zhang Tie told Bai Suxian to not call him master or herself this humble slave anymore. Bai Suxian nodded towards him solemnly as she dropped off her tears.


    That night, Bai Suxian was very mad as if she wanted to break herself into pieces and melt with Zhang Tie.


    Since that day, Bai Suxian knew that she had indeed entered Zhang Tie''s life instead of just appearing on his bed.


    The process where two people were acquainted with each other might not be that poetic; however, after staying with each other for a long time, besides making love, they gradually started to fall in love with each other. Zhang Tie started to appreciate Bai Suxian. A man was not a stalk of grass or a tree. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, Bai Suxian was his friend, lover and a good assistant. She was reliable and docile. He would feel secure by having Bai Suxian on his back. Therefore, Zhang Tie gradually opened his own world to Bai Suxian. In many cases, he wouldn''t disguise on purpose.


    "Have you thought about that perhaps there''s really another people in my body, another one who''s utterly different than Cui Li that you know? That man might be a big boy who only longs for living a common life with his wife without having any ambition..."


    "It''s the second time for you to talk with me in this way!" Bai Suxian stroke her hair tenderly as she lightly lay in Zhang Tie''s arms, "I''d told you about that. As long as you''re not a demon, I don''t care. Even if you''re a major thief, a criminal being wanted by the Supreme Court and the top 7 sects in Taixia Country, I would stay with you unless you disliked me. If you want to kill demons, I will kill demons; if you want to rob, I will be your watchdog. If you want to f*ck a woman, I will help you press her on the bed..."


    What a soulful woman! After hearing Bai Suxian''s reply, Zhang Tie became silent. He could only let out a sigh, "I''ve not imagined that I''m worth that."


    "You''re destined to be my hubby. You saved my life. I could give you whatever I have, including my life. You''re my Mr. Rright. I will follow you for the rest of my life!"


    Zhang Tie was not afraid of acting in front of a beauty, he was just afraid of meeting a soulful beauty. The former was a one-night stand, the latter wished him fine, happy and would like to give her life to him; she was already a beautiful scenery in his life, a beautiful stream that flew into his river of destiny and the one who would read his name silently before death. Such a person was worth being treasured and safeguarded soulfully at the cost of his life.


    Beverly, Fiona, Linda and Bai Suxian, all of them were the second sort of person.


    Beloved ones were rare in the world.


    At this moment, many whims occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind. All of a sudden, Zhang Tie had an impulsion as he hugged Bai Suxian in his arms before whispering to her, "Actually, you were right. There''s indeed another one in my body. I''m not Cui Li. The real Cui Li had died dozens of years ago. I have another name, Zhang Tie, the very one whose order for arrest has been revoked!"


    There was always a moment that one didn''t think too much. At that moment, he didn''t have concerns about interests; he just reflected in case of regret. Zhang Tie didn''t know about the result if he told Bai Suxian about that secret. He only knew that he could share some secrets with this woman.


    If a person didn''t have any reliable ones and was always alert to others, it would be a grief.


    An ambitious person could live in such a condition forever and didn''t worry about being schizoid. However, Zhang Tie was not ambitious; neither did he want to live in such a state forever.


    If one always lived in such a condition, he would be very tired and had an invisible stress.


    After sharing this secret with his beloved one, Zhang Tie felt unprecedentedly relaxed.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bai Suxian''s body slightly quivered. Closely after that, she raised her head and watched Zhang Tie with a shocked and suspicious look as if she was confirming whether Zhang Tie was joking with her or not.


    "No way...I''ve seen the order for the arrest of Zhang Tie the Lion of Youzhou Province...the frames and looks between you..."


    As Bai Suxian said, she suddenly widely opened her eyes as she covered her mouth with one hand.


    Under her gaze, Zhang Tie''s body gave out a faint light. Closely after that, his look and figure slowly waved like ripples and changed into his original look with a bald head in less than half a minute.


    Cui Li''s clothes didn''t fit Zhang Tie at all. It looked a bit hilarious. However, Bai Suxian couldn''t laugh at all as what happened shocked her too much.


    "It''s an ancestral bloodline that I''ve awakened. I named it body changing immortal bloodline. This bloodline is unique. Even the elders of Huaiyuan Palace don''t know about it. I''ve also grasped a secret method with which I could simulate the efforts of all the other secret methods vividly. The real Cui Li was just a commoner. He had been killed by Zhu Liang the fierce wolf, one wanted criminal on the wanted list of Supreme Court many years ago. After killing Cui Li, Zhu Liang the fierce wolf had been disguising himself as Cui Li and managing his own business secretly in Yongzhou Province until he was killed by me." Zhang Tie answered Bai Suxian briefly in his original voice as he watched Bai Suxian calmly, "After the tragedy in Fuhai City, I was framed by people and had to escape. Therefore, I disguised as Cui Li. Fortunately, I met you in the Earth-elements Realm..."


    Although Zhang Tie had been over 30 years old, he still looked like a 16-year old juvenile.


    Given his look simply, Zhang Tie was much younger than many people among his 121 disciples.


    Bai Suxian slightly touched Zhang Tie''s young face with quivering hands as she sensed Zhang Tie''s body temperature.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that Bai Suxian could barely accept it after knowing his real identity. Out of his imagination, only after maintaining her shocked look for a few seconds, Bai Suxian''s eyes had given out an exotic light as she murmured Zhang Tie''s poem,


    "The beloved one is rare in the world."


    "I treat power as sh*t; I ignore the ridicule of the powerful ones."


    "The others are just passers-by, who would not return in the spring after leaving in autumn."


    "If I have a beloved one, I wish to be a farmer who grazes cattle in the morning and return with wildflowers in the evening."


    "After putting wildflowers on your gray hair, I wish to watch the afterglow with you."


    "The one who wrote this poem, the most famous black iron human knight, the young man who grew up in Blackhot City, the Mr. Right of numerous female knights is the husband of I, Bai Suxian. How handsome he is! Does God bring you to my side..."


    As Bai Suxian murmured, her eyes sparkled with a faint blush on her face. She suddenly became a bit shy like a little girl as she felt bashful to look straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    Honestly, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to see how Bai Suxian became bashful after staying with her for so long.


    "Will...will you...desert me because of my age..."


    The moment Bai Suxian uttered in a bit intense voice, Zhang Tie became stunned as he realized that they were not thinking about the same thing at all...

 1081 Being Clear-minded

    Chapter 1081: Being Clear-minded


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    If Zhang Tie was drinking at this moment, he must be choked by Bai Suxian.


    ''I told this woman my secret; however, this woman is worried about being abandoned because of her age.''


    It seemed that this woman had not thought what Zhang Tie was worried about. What she was really worried about shocked Zhang Tie a bit.


    However, Zhang Tie knew that Bai Suxian was not kidding with him. She was intense for sure. Like all the other women, although Bai Suxian was a female knight, she still didn''t pay her full attention to her battle strength. If Zhang Tie covered his real identity in front of Bai Suxian, she might be narrow-minded and do anything possible when she discovered that secret.


    "No, I won''t!" Zhang Tie replied with a solemn look.


    "Really?" Bai Suxian asked.


    "Really. Otherwise, how could we stay with each other at this moment? With body changing immortal bloodline, I could change my figure instead of my appreciation of beauty and insight!" Zhang Tie pulled Bai Suxian''s hand and kissed it before watching Bai Suxian with a serious look, "Additionally, you don''t look old at all. You look as mature and womanly like Linda."


    "Who''s Linda?"


    "One of my wives!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bai Suxian''s face glowed with health. She didn''t care about the fact that Zhang Tie had wives at all; instead, she approached to Zhang Tie''s face and kissed him before revealing a smile by covering her mouth with a hand like a bashful little girl, which fascinated Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie was really speechless after knowing that Bai Suxian accepted his original identity so fast in such a way. He didn''t know whether he was thinking too much or Bai Suxian was too special who liked young men previously. His original look even made her more excited.


    However, he didn''t need to care about this question anymore.


    Not until she watched Zhang Tie from his head to his toe with a fascinated look did Bai Suxian recall something, "Oh, have your order for arrest been canceled? Why did you not reveal your original look to the public?''


    Zhang Tie replied with a faint frown, "I have some concerns!"


    "What concerns?"


    "The culprit of the tragedy in Fuhai City has not been caught yet. Additionally, this event in Zhongzhou Province was also caused by the same culprit. The culprit''s power is fully out of my imagination. Additionally, he has many arrangements in Taixia Country. The moment my real identity is exposed, my movement will be too eye-catching in Taixia Country..." Zhang Tie then revealed another shocking news to Bai Suxian after being silent for a few seconds, "Additionally, I''ve almost confirmed that that culprit colluded with demons and is hiding in Xuanyuan Hill. He''s one of the top 9 chancellors in Taixia Country. That man might be the mysterious founder of Heavens Reaching Church who has not shown his face yet. With the identity of Cui Li, I could search for the clues of that culprit secretly in case of arousing his attention. If I revealed my real identity, I might not do that!"


    Apparently, Bai Suxian was startled by Zhang Tie''s news. Compared to the secret that Zhang Tie had awakened his body changing immortal bloodline, the secret that Zhang Tie could simulate the effects of the other secret methods sounded like detonating a nuclear bomb.


    ''One of the top nine chancellors in Xuanyuan Hill might be the most mysterious founder of Heavens Reaching Church and might be colluding with demons and setting up bloody seas in all the provinces across Taixia Country.'' The moment this news was exposed to the public, it would arouse a great shock for sure.


    Bai Suxian didn''t ask how Zhang Tie got this news. Because she knew that Zhang Tie was not rash. Even when they fought shoulder to shoulder in the Earth-elements Realm, Zhang Tie was not rash, not to mention now. Additionally, now that Zhang Tie had revealed his real identity to her, he would never make such a joke with her. As long as this news was exposed to the public, it would arouse a great trouble, which was not good for Zhang Tie or her.


    Bai Suxian didn''t ask how Zhang Tie confirmed that there was some problem with one of the top nine chancellors in Taixia Country. As a clear woman, she knew that everyone had secrets. Even Lord Guangnan, her dad would not tell everything to her, not to mention others. What Zhang Tie had told her today had satisfied her very much. She knew that Zhang Tie had treated her as his beloved one.


    After thinking a while, Bai Suxian''s face turned unprecedently solemn, "What''s your plan now? Will you keep the identity of Cui Li for the rest of your life?"


    Zhang Tie shook his head as he revealed a bitter smile, "Previously, I felt that the culprit would let go Huaiyuan Palace and my family members as long as I didn''t show my face. However, what happened at the city gate of Jinwu City a few days ago warned me that it was more sophisticated than that I could imagine. That culprit still assigned killers to Jinwu City to assassinate my dad and almost made it. I found that I could not avoid from something only by hiding myself. Lately, I was also thinking whether that culprit would be scared of me and not aim at Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Clan if I exposed my real identity, the fact that I''ve promoted to an earth knight and awakened an immortal bloodline to the public!"


    "Are you regretful?"


    "A bit!" Zhang Tie put it straight. He didn''t feel anything shameful at all. He just watched the clouds outside the airboat with a vacant look as he continued in a low and angry voice, "During these years when I escaped, I always thought about this question. I''m just a small black iron knight. There are at least 200,000 people like me in Taixia Country. Why am I so f*cking unfortunate? Why did I meet such an event soon after I came to Taixia Country? Why did I offend such a powerful one who wants to kill me as fast as possible? Through consideration, I found only one reason, namely, I''ve absolutely offended that person when I killed the shadow demon and inflicted a great loss to the Heavens Reaching Church in Youzhou Province when I served as the chief justice of the Youzhou Provincial Court. He felt a bit threat from me; therefore, he framed me!"


    "Damn, if I have long known that the situation in Taixia Country is so sophisticated, I would not be that desperate when I came to Taixia Country at the beginning. I could adopt the Gobbling Party as my enemy because the animosity was left by my ancestor. As a descendant of Huaiyuan Palace, as long as I have the blood of my ancestor, I have to revenge for Huaiyuan Palace no matter how difficult it is. But why do I offend Heavens Reaching Church?"


    "The chaos in Taixia has nothing to do with me. The rebel of that culprit has nothing to do with me. Whether the founder of Heavens Reaching Church wants to be Emperor Xuanyuan has nothing to do with me. The death of numerous commoners has nothing to do with me. In each holy war, numerous people would be killed. This father has witnessed the death of hundreds of millions of people and the perdition of over 100 human countries in Waii Subcontinent. I''ve climbed out of the piles of corpses so many times safe and sound, even if many people would die in Youzhou Province, it has nothing to do with me."


    "Even the moguls in Xuanyuan Hill, the major clans, the Gobbling Party, the imperial prince, the top 7 sects and the missing Emperor Xuanyuan are not anxious about these events, why am I anxious about it? Who the f*ck am I? Why do I involve in such a mire? Even my family members would be involved. I even became a wanted criminal across Taixia Country and could only hide here and there every day. I almost lost my life. If I have known about this result, this father would have returned to my home and live a peaceful life with my family members and just play Taichi Fist Position with commoners every day!"


    "If Taixia Country really perished, I would escape away with my family members. I would take away as many people as possible with my full effort. Whatever, my family escaped all the way from another subcontinent. It''s nothing serious for us to escape one more time. This father doesn''t owe any copper coin to Taixia Country. Why do I worry about Taixia Country so much? Why would I be wronged out of no reason in Taixia country and escape like a dog? A few years ago, I couldn''t even see my family members. I''ve not even seen my sons yet. My parents have been old. They are worried about me everyday. My dad was almost assassinated and could almost not see me for the last time. Most of my mom''s hair has turned white these 4 years. F*ck..."


    Zhang Tie finally vented his discontent and chagrin which had buried in his heart for so many years at that moment. When he mentioned that his dad was almost assassinated and his mom''s hair had turned white, Zhang Tie''s eyes turned red as he almost dropped off his tears. If he didn''t say it, very few people in Taixia Country could understand him. If he could stay with his family members, who the f*ck would like to be wanted criminals? Who the f*ck would like to live in a fake identity? Zhang Tie felt especially sorry for his family members'' concern about him...


    Men would not cry unless they were touched in one aspect.


    Watching Zhang Tie dropping his tears, Bai Suxian dropped off her tears too. At this moment, Bai Suxian felt her heart aching like being burned by a burning joss stick. It ached too much. It was Bai Suxian''s first time to drop tears for a man in her life...


    Bai Suxian didn''t understand how many burdens Zhang Tie shouldered until this moment. In others'' eyes, this man looked prestigious and happy; however, very few people in Taixia Country could understand how painful, aggrieved and guilty this man was and what a great stress and pain this man was sustaining when his poem "The Beloved Ones" spread over Taixia country and he was wanted by the Supreme Court although he had made great meritorious deeds in Taixia Country.


    Bai Suxian felt that she indeed understood her beloved man at this moment. This man was real, venerable, adorable and made Bai Suxian treasure him very much.


    Bai Suxian smiled with tears as she helped Zhang Tie to wipe off his tears, "I see, you''re angry about that. I know that you would do that too if time went by even if it''s dangerous. You did that so as to save a few more commoners like those that you knew in Blackhot City, including your neighbors, juveniles who grew up with you and your teachers and students at the school. You will not watch them die in front of you or being killed by someone else, will you?"


    Zhang Tie became silent as he realized Bai Suxian was right. He was indeed venting his discontent just now. If time really flew by, when he knew that Heavens Reaching Church would cause trouble in Youzhou Province and that Master Jiang was a shadow demon, he would absolutely eliminate these scumbags without any hesitation, sparing no chance to them. It was too empty and hypocritical if he said that he did this for Taixia Country; however, Zhang Tie really didn''t want to see those commoners being involved in the dark forces and die innocently as cannon fodder.


    Bai Suxian''s words touched Zhang Tie completely.


    In this world, nothing was predictable. There might be great darkness in brightness. Similarly, there might be surprises in the dilemma.


    If he met his sons, Zhang Tie would tell them, "The one who poisoned you with love potion in the Earth-elements Realm might also be your first lover in Taixia Country."


    Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh. After venting his discontent, Zhang Tie felt a bit relaxed and suddenly became clear-minded. He thought through something and became decisive at once.


    Zhang Tie wiped off Bai Suxian''s tears tenderly as he said, "When we finished our task, we would return to Fire Dragon Bounty Territory to live happily. Taixia Country is so large. Some things could not be determined by me. In my position, if I think too much, I''m just seeking trouble myself. We only need to reflect ourselves and adjust to changing circumstances. 3 years later, after you observed mourning for your grandma, I would go to Lord Guangnan''s Mansion to seek a marriage alliance and marry you. How about that?"


    Bai Suxian watched Zhang Tie as she couldn''t help bursting out into laughter and nodding forcefully. Although she dreamed about this day too, she couldn''t mention it on her own initiative because she was afraid that this man looked down upon her. Therefore, she was pretty hesitated. She had not imagined that this day could come so fast. In the wink of an eye, her expectation had become reality as Bai Suxian was immersed in sweetness and happiness once again.


    It was still cloudy and rainy outside the airboat while thunders could be faintly heard. After looking at the scenery outside the airboat once again, Zhang Tie became clear-minded and a bit relaxed at once. With a faint smile and a pair of profound sparkling eyes, he seemed to be able to see through the future...


    They would arrive at Pingsha Valley in less than 1 hour...

 1082 The Ghost Region in the Future

    Chapter 1082: The Ghost Region in the Future


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Pingsha Valley was about 300 miles away from their place of departure.


    When they set off, it was heavily raining; when they arrived at Pingsha Valley, it was still cloudy; however, the rain had eased off. It was only drizzling.


    The Iron-Dragon Airboat flew across the clouds and slowly descended from tens of thousands meters high. When it reached hundreds of meters high above the ground, it slowly moved forward.


    Zhang Tie had convened all of his disciples in the airboat. All the male disciples were still wearing a set of military clothes which were specially designed for field operations. However, those female disciples had put on beautiful dresses. After dressing up, they looked beautiful, elegant, coquettish and cute in front of Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    All the female disciples were glancing at Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie silently.


    Bai Suxian''s beautiful look, coquetry and dress were imitated by many female disciples.


    Those careful female disciples found that the relationship between Bai Suxian and their master was a bit different than before. It was hard to describe that feeling. They felt that Bai Suxian and Fire Dragon Hermit had a silent privity; especially the soulful and coquettish eyes of Bai Suxian when she saw their master. Additionally, their master''s eyes also turned tender when he saw Bai Suxian. They looked like a couple.


    "Are we in Pingsha Valley?" Bai Suxian muttered.


    The airboat had already entered Pingsha Valley and was slowly flying above Pingsha Valley. They could see everything in Pingsha Valley from the airboat. Not only Zhang Tie but all of his apprentices were also watching this place with their eyes widely opened.


    In the drizzle, it looked tranquil in Pingsha Valley. The entire Pingsha Valley was covered in the drizzle as if no battle had happened here. In the rain, the woods on both hillsides of Pingsha Valley were vigorous and verdant. Reclaimed farmlands crisscrossed in Pingsha Valley.


    If nobody told them that they were in Pingsha Valley, they could not imagine what a terrifying event had happened here one month ago.


    When they watched it carefully, they could still find the traces of that terrifying event more or less.


    On the day the event broke out in Pingsha Valley, the entire Bi''an Camp in Zhongzhou Province had almost sacrificed. None of the native farmers and commoners could survive. Therefore, it looked deadly silent in Pingsha Valley. No living beings could survive in the crisscrossed farmlands, including domestic animals. There was no smoke in the looming villages at all. There were still faintly messy traces left by the disordered soldiers in the farmlands where grew vegetables and grains. As nobody took care of the crops, some weeds had grown out.


    Perhaps too many people had died here, plus that it was cloudy today, many disciples of Zhang Tie felt that it was gloomy and chilly in Pingsha Valley.


    Unsurprisingly, they saw another airboat suspending in the rain in front of them. It seemed that they were not the only group of people who felt like paying a visit here.


    Being much smaller than Iron-Dragon Airboat, that airboat was over 100 m in length. It was golden all over. There was a round sign of black tiger''s head on the airboat which indicated the identity of the owner of this airboat. However, as Taixia Country was too large, Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian and the other people on Iron-Dragon Airboat couldn''t identify the identity of the owner of this airboat.


    However, there was one point that they could confirm, namely, those in this airboat were definitely not commoners.


    The ground in Pingsha Valley was both plain and spacious. In the sky, Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian and his disciples had already seen a deserted castle and a huge hole on the ground of the castle which led to the underground. The golden airboat was suspending above there.


    Compared to that golden airboat, undoubtedly Iron-Dragon Airboat which Zhang Tie won from Taiyi Fantasy Sect was more frightening.


    Watching Iron-Dragon Airboat slowly drawing closer to them, the golden airboat even moved a bit away from the huge hole so as to show their respect. However, Iron-Dragon Airboat didn''t draw too close to them. It suspended a few meters above the ground when it was over 200 m away from that golden airboat.


    Thankfully, the ground in Pingsha Valley was plain. The periphery of the castle was surrounded by farmlands where was spacious enough to hold Iron-Dragon Airboat. Otherwise, such an over 500 m long giant could not be easily parked.


    "Let''s go down there!" Zhang Tie called all the others.


    Many disciples of Zhang Tie came from major clans in Northeast Military Region. However, they didn''t have a convenient traffic tool like airboat to come to Zhongzhou Province like Zhang Tie. However, they all paid attention to what happened in Pingsha Valley. Zhang Tie would like to show his disciples what had happened here so that they could gain the first-hand information. When they went back home, they could tell their family members about what happened here as an indirect benefit of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    The airboat suspended a few meters above the ground. When one side door of the airboat opened, they dropped off the gangway. Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian got off the airboat, closely followed by their disciples.


    It was still drizzling. However, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian didn''t need to wear raincoats at all. They just released their protective battle qi to isolate the raindrops.


    Watching the handsome looks of Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian, Zhang Tie''s disciples admired them pretty much as they all swallowed their saliva forcefully.


    After promoting to knights, people could fly and isolate fire and water. How great they were!


    In the drizzle, the gangway touched the road which was paved with bluestones leading to the deserted castle. Besides waterlogging, the road was not muddy. Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian walked towards the deserted castle followed by their disciples.


    "It smells bloody..." Bai Suxian slightly frowned after walking a few footsteps as she told Zhang Tie.


    Knights'' senses were much sharper than commoners.


    "When the event broke out, tens of thousands of people died in the valley. This place had almost been covered with corpses and blood over 1 month ago. Although it was cleaned up, the bloody smell had still penetrated into each inch of soil and could not fade away in a few years. It''s a bit better in rainy days; however, on sunny days, it would smell worse. In the evening, this place might be filled with wildfires and chilly, gloomy winds, which would make this place more terrifying. Look at the ground, the wide area of deep, brown parts on the bluestone slabs are blood stains. As human blood could fertilize the soil. Next year, the weeds would grow more luxuriant. Weeds that grow up in human blood are gloomier. Fewer commoners dare come here any more. In a few years, Pingsha Valley would be a ghost region. Perhaps only major thieves and criminals would hide here for the time being..."


    Zhang Tie said in normal volume. Of course, Liu Xing and all the other disciples had heard it. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all of his disciples carefully checked the bluestone slabs at their foot. When they found that almost the entire road was covered with bloodstains, many people turned pale at once.


    After a few minutes, they had passed the hundreds of meters long bluestone road and arrived at the entrance of the black hole.


    Given the look of the deserted castle, only a small part of it was destroyed in the battle. Unimaginably, the greater part of it was demolished by people.


    After entering the entrance of the underground tunnel, as it was pitch-dark inside, Zhang Tie''s disciples took out their portable fluorite lamps. Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian didn''t take anything. As for Bai Suxian who had experienced in Earth-elements Realm and Liu Xing and the other 6 black-armored fighters who had served in Earth-elements Realm, most of them would use a vial of long-lasting night-viewing medicament, the effect of which could last about 1 year. This kind of long-lasting night-viewing medicament could not be used constantly. The interval between two vials should be over 1 month in case of negative impact to their eyes and battle strength.


    Bai Suxian and the 7 black-armored fighters didn''t need night-viewing medicament, not to mention Zhang Tie. Everybody at present including Bai Suxian thought that Zhang Tie had used night-viewing medicament. Zhang Tie didn''t explain it to them either.


    Compared to that in the outside, this underground tunnel looked cleaner and tidier. Besides some dust, there were no bloodstains on the stone steps.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the underground tunnel, he had heard a young voice from the depth of the underground tunnel.


    "Those guys from the Supreme Court were too vicious. All the useful items in Pingsha Valley have been moved away, on the ground and underground, leaving nothing to us. Previously, I thought that I could take a look at the simplified bloody sea. I''ve not imagined that it was just a huge pit, leaving nothing inside, even a drop of blood. Boring!"


    "Blood Sea is of great significance. Additionally, it violated God''s will. Many people are paying attention to it. Do you think that we could catch a sight of that thing? I feel that those guys from the Supreme Court have been respecting all forces in Taixia Country much enough by leaving the tunnel complete!" Another young voice drifted from the depth of the tunnel.


    "Heheheh, I''m afraid that the Supreme Court wanted to collapse this hole too; however, those people who really want to take a look inside could even dig another tunnel. The Supreme Court might also understand that it''s useless to do that. Additionally, it would incur complaints about them. They could keep some strength and alchemist''s bombs for bloody figures!"


    The first voice sounded once again.


    "Shh, someone''s coming down..."


    An old voice sounded. The two young voices shut up at once...

 1083 Black Tiger Palace

    Chapter 1083: Black Tiger Palace


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    5 minutes later, the two parties encountered in the underground tunnel. Zhang Tie''s team was going downstairs while the other party was going upstairs.


    There were totally 123 people on Zhang Tie''s side; however, there were only 5 people in the opposite, an old man with silver hair, a middle-aged man with a common look and 3 young men at their 20s.


    ''Earth Knight?''


    ''Earth knight!''


    The moment Zhang Tie and that old man caught sight of each other, they had realized that the opposite was an earth knight. However, the old man was more shocked than Zhang Tie. The look of Cui Li was too young even as an earth knight. Earth knights at 30s were rarely seen. Additionally, Cui Li''s terrifying tower-like figure and aggressive bald head were pretty oppressive.


    Bai Suxian''s look was also very outstanding. As a result, the 5 strangers couldn''t stand paying more attention to her. Besides being a bit mild in front of Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian''s elegant and noble movements sorted with her identity as the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion very well.


    The middle-aged man on one side of the old man was also a black iron knight. The two knights were followed by some young men, too.


    After sensing each other''s situation, Zhang Tie and that old man nodded towards each other with a smile. After that, they passed by each other silently.


    The middle-aged man on one side of the old man raised his head and threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s team continued to walk downstairs; the old man''s team continued to walk upstairs.


    When they approached the ground and saw the light at the entrance of the cave, the old man tilted his head and asked that middle-aged man, "What about him?"


    When the average-look middle-aged man heard the old man''s question, he turned his head and said seriously, "Powerful, very powerful. That man is not only an earth knight, but he has also killed at least 2 earth demon knights and over 10 black iron demon knights..."


    "At least 2 demon knights and over 10 black iron demon knights?" The old man took a deep breath. The 3 young men on their sides exchanged a glance with each other before changing their faces at the same time, "So many, are you sure?"


    "Second Uncle, believe in me. The ancestral bloodline that I''ve awakened could help me observe the special killing qis left by those demon knights in that man''s qi field. The more demon knights he killed, the stronger and more well-bedded the killing qis would be. The killing qis in his qi field are too terrifying. Additionally, I could sense that this man has killed much more demon knights than that!"


    "But I''ve not heard about such a terrifying earth-level powerhouse in Taixia Country." The young man who opened his mouth just now asked with an amazed look, "He must be famous in the Earth-elements Realm!"


    "Even the woman''s qi field contains some killing qis of black iron demon knights. Additionally, her perfume Dew of Moonlight came from the imperial financial and living affairs department in Taixia Country, which is specially designed for the imperial harem in Xuanyuan Hill and the wives of lords. Commoners could not use it at all. The two people are definitely not common..."


    "Taixia Country is so large. There''re always many nameless powerhouses!" The old man frowned as he waved his hand and said, "Let''s talk about it back in the airboat..."


    The moment they exited the entrance, they had seen the 500-m longer Iron-Dragon Airboat suspending near there in a domineering way like a far-ancient fierce beast. They were shocked immediately. Of course, those who came here by airboat knew that such a large airboat could not be bought in the market. Only imperial households, top 7 sects, some super clans, those moguls in Xuanyuan Hill and Lords'' clans across Taixia Country could have such a large airboat.


    After throwing a few glances at Iron-Dragon Airboat, they returned to their own airboat.


    The moment they boarded the airboat, the old man immediately told a young man, "Zhixuan, contact our clan and let them check the intelligence from Northeast Military Region, especially about sects!"


    "Northeast Military Region? Second granduncle, why do you suddenly pay attention to Northeast Military Region? Especially the sects over there? I remember that there are only Immortal Fist Position Sect and some small- and medium-sized sects over there..." The young man called Zhixuan asked the old man with an amazed look while the other two people on his side watched the grand elder with dubious looks.


    As the old man wanted to broaden the vision of these young disciples in his clan, he explained it very patiently instead of angrily, "You don''t have knight''s consciousness. Therefore, you don''t have sharp perceptions. Before I met them, I''ve heard those young men behind them whispering to each other in the tone of Youzhou and Yanzhou Provinces in Northeast Military Region. Additionally, those young men called each other senior and junior fellow apprentices. Additionally, most of those young men came from rich and aristocratic clans. Even the man and the woman should be the elders in their sect, if not their masters. Sects outside Northeast Military Region would not enroll disciples from Northeast Military Region."


    After hearing that, those young men watched the old man with admirable looks. His words implied his rich experience and intelligence. When those young men were guessing about the backgrounds of that team of strangers, their second granduncle had already speculated the backgrounds of that team of strangers.


    Their airboat soon set off.


    About 10 minutes later, the young man called Zhixuan received an intelligence. Holding a piece of paper, he walked into the command module of the airboat with a reverent look


    ¡ª¡ªCui Li the Fire Dragon Hermit held an opening ceremony of Fire-Dragon Sect within the territory of Fire Dragon Bounty Territory of Northeast Military Region on August 18. Additionally, he defeated Nangong Sheng, the master of Immortal Fist Position Sect who has entered the supreme realm of integrating his fist with the weather on the same day. It was said that Cui Li the Fire Dragon Hermit gained insight in his fist position when fighting Nangong Sheng and also entered the terrifying supreme realm of integrating his fist position with the climate.


    ¡ª¡ªIn the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect, Fire Dragon Hermit even took out 18 secret pearls as a gift, which shocked them pretty much.


    ¡ª¡ªOn the battlefield between humans and demons in Earth-elements Realm, Fire Dragon Hermit killed a shadow demon earth knight and was awarded Fire Dragon Bounty Territory.


    ¡ª¡ªOver 1 month ago, Fire Dragon Hermit left Fire Dragon Bounty Territory by airboat with his 121 disciples.


    ¡ª¡ªIn a tall and sturdy figure, Fire Dragon Hermit has a domineering look with an eye-catching bald head. Bai Suxian the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion always glues with Fire Dragon Hermit. They have left Fire Dragon Bounty Territory.


    ¡ª¡ªIt''s said that Fire Dragon Hermit won the airboat from Feng Yexiao, one of the 4 elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect in the Earth-elements Realm. The details are not clear.


    After combining these messages, everybody knew that they had met Fire Dragon Hermit''s team underground just now. That man must be Cui Li the Fire Dragon Hermit; that woman must be Bai Suxian the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    After reading this intelligence, the old man revealed a bitter smile as he let out a sigh, "I''ve not imagined that there''s such a powerful dragon in Northeast Military Region. Pitifully, our Black Tiger Palace have missed a chance to establish a relationship with Iron-Dragon Sect..."


    "Second Granduncle, will we..."


    After thinking a short while, the old man shook his head before replying, "If we catch up with them from behind, we might be despised by them. Tell our business groups to pay more attention to Iron-Dragon Sect in Northeast Military Region. As long as there''s an opportunity, the young disciples of our clan could join Iron-Dragon Sect and learn some battle skills from Fire Dragon Hermit. With one more friend, our clan would have one more way in Northeast Military Region..."


    "Second Granduncle, will we go to the Gold and Power Market now?"


    "Of course! This year''s Treasures Meeting will be held in Gold and Power Market. Once every 7 years! As Gold and Power Law also has a great influence in other continents and subcontinent, the Treasures Meeting in Gold and Power Market will collect various treasures from all directions. If we''re fortunate, we could buy some good overseas items at lower prices! Of course, our Black Tiger Palace should take a round over there..."


    All the 3 young men became thrilled with interested looks.


    The old man and that average-looking middle-aged knight watched the sky outside the airboat with solemn looks. Their thought was similar to Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªwhat if there''s such a bloody sea in each province?


    The moment this whim occurred to their minds, the two people had exchanged a glance with each other as they all noticed a bit concern in each other''s eyes...


    "Our Black Tiger Palace should make preparations in case of an emergency. Emperor Xuanyuan is missing. Many things are unreliable. The moment Taixia Country is in great chaos..." The middle-aged knight said in a secret way.


    After being silent for a while, the old man slowly nodded...


    ...


    The airboat of Black Tiger Palace flew away. Zhang Tie''s team was still walking downstairs in a casual way.


    "Aye, is your perfume called Dew of Moonlight?" Zhang Tie suddenly asked Bai Suxian in a secret means.

 1084 The Amazing Ability of Lotus-Flower Eyes

    Chapter 1084: The Amazing Ability of Lotus-Flower Eyes


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Bai Suxian widely opened her eyes out of amazement as she asked in a secret way, "Ahh, how do you know that?"


    "Hmm, someone told me!" Zhang Tie winked at her.


    The 5 people of Black Tiger Palace could not imagine that the contents of their talks had been clearly drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears. After promoting to an earth knight, Zhang Tie''s perceptions had entered a terrifying level.


    "Hmm, the entire Lord Guangnan''s Mansion could only get a very small amount of Dew of Moonlight from the imperial financial and living affairs department per year. The Dew of Moonlight is very precious. Besides being fragrant, it also has a lot of marvelous effects. I''ve brought all the Dew of Moonlight here. I would never leave even a bit to Fang Xinyi, the foxtrel. When I treated her as my bosom friend, I even shared some Dew of Moonlight with her!" Bai Suxian said with a furious look.


    Zhang Tie smiled as he felt that a woman was pretty cute when she hated another one.


    "The all-purpose medicament is also not bad. You can have a try when you''re free. Jinwu Business Group has already developed a suite of all-purpose medicament, especially for women. When I come back to Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, I will have my elder brother send some to you!"


    "Ahh, I know that. Rose Beauty Series is very good. When I came back home, I was told that the imperial financial and living affairs department of Xuanyuan Hill were customizing some top all-purpose medicaments from Jinwu Business Group for Xuanyuan Hill. Those top all-purpose medicaments have been shared within Xuanyuan Hill. Very few of them could enter lords'' mansions." Bai Suxian said with sparkling eyes.


    Zhang Tie knew it too. Over these years, his elder brother had been establishing a relationship with the imperial financial and living affairs department of Xuanyuan Hill.


    It was weird. The culprit who set me up in Fuhai City was one of the top 9 chancellors in Taixia Country. The imperial financial and living affairs department was also one of the top 9 chancellors'' agencies. As a private department of Emperor Xuanyuan and the imperial households of Taixia Country, it was equal to the super private steward of the imperial households of Taixia Country, which was responsible for managing the finance, taxation, land, water irrigation, imperial clothes, jewelries, food, medicines, antiques, tools, vehicles, craftsmen, construction, colorful paintings and lights in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Honestly, everything that was produced in the imperial financial and living affairs department was the best among humans. Because of the specialty of the all-purpose medicament, even Xuanyuan Hill demanded it. Therefore, Zhang Yang could establish a commercial tie with a Class 3 supervisor in the department. The raw materials of the top all-purpose medicament produced in Jinwu City were all provided by the imperial financial and living affairs department of Xuanyuan Hill. Jinwu Business Group was responsible for fermentation and cold extraction. After the top all-purpose medicament was produced in Jinwu City, they would be specially provided for the imperial financial and living affairs department of Xuanyuan Hill instead of entering the markets with the symbol of manjusaka as the sacrifice for imperials households.


    The Class 3 supervisor in the imperial financial and living affairs department served as a Class 4 officer previously and was only responsible for the food, drinks and fruits in the harem of Xuanyuan Hill. Because of the relationship between the officer and the supplier of the top all-purpose medicament, this officer won the praise of those concubines and noble women in the harem of Xuanyuan Hill. In the past 4 years, he promoted from Class 4 to Class 3. With a rapidly growing power, he also enjoyed a greater influence in the imperial financial and living affairs department and could always communicate with the noble people in the harem of Xuanyuan Hill.


    ''My elder brother wants to slowly increase the influence of Huaiyuan Palace through this relationship and help me reverse my case in Xuanyuan Hill. Unexpectedly, after the event of Zhongzhou Province, being commonly affected by the series of events, the Supreme Court had already revoked the arrest order on its own initiative before this relationship took effect.''


    "From then on, you can enjoy those top all-purpose medicament as much as you want!"


    "That''s great!" Bai Suxian became thrilled at once. She directly kissed Zhang Tie''s cheek without caring about the looks of Zhang Tie''s disciples.


    His disciples didn''t even know why their master''s wife was so happy. They just pretended to have not seen that as they exchanged glances with each other in a curious and ambiguous way. After that, they continued to walk downstairs after Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian.


    The underground tunnel had been cleaned. At least there was no gravel in the tunnel. However, they could see evident traces, the gravels on both sides of the tunnel and some broken steel bars near the passes left by knight-level powerhouses by force 1 month ago,


    Zhang Tie''s disciples couldn''t gain any information from the ruins; however, Zhang Tie could identify the battle strength of those people who rushed downstairs 1 month ago given the traces. Meng Haishan the chief justice of Zhongzhou Provincial Court might have joined the battle himself.


    As they walked downstairs, the bloody and stinky smell in the air became stronger. It smelt as disgusting as a slaughterhouse which had been sealed for dozens of years.


    Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian could hold breath for a few hours in this environment. Even if they breathed, their bearing capabilities were several times stronger than that of commoners. By contrast, many disciples of Zhang Tie felt dizzy and breathless as their faces turned pale the moment they smelt the strong bloody smell.


    At this moment, Liu Xing who had rich experience in dealing with this situation took out a vial of exotic ointment and daubed a bit of it onto the part below his nose. Closely after that, he passed it to the others, "This is taste-erasing refreshing ointment. You can daub a bit onto the philtrum!"


    "Ahh, the first senior fellow apprentice is really considerate!"


    "According to master, the bloody sea was located here; additionally, the knight-level powerhouses of the Supreme Court have killed over 10,000 bloody figures here. Even though they have moved away from the corpses, they could still not clean up the bloody smell. It might even arouse a special bloody plague in the worst scenario, under that circumstances, people might be poisoned after breathing a few times. In the Earth-elements Realm, a lot of caves and regions are affected by the bloody plague; therefore, I prepared for some ointment in advance!"


    After hearing Liu Xing''s explanation, Zhang Tie nodded inside. Bai Suxian also threw a smile at Zhang Tie. The other disciples of Zhang Tie approved the position of their first senior fellow apprentice too.


    Soon after other disciples daubed the ointment on their philtrum, they had felt a bit cold on their philtrum. Closely after that, an exotic fragrance of herbal medicine stimulated their noses. After sneezing, they all felt clear-minded at once. The bloody smell also became less disgusting.


    After a short while, they had come to the bottom of the hole and noticed the entire underground space.


    The bloody sea had disappeared. Besides a huge, round pit and those gravels on the ground, they saw nothing else. Even the bloody water in the huge pit had been taken away by space-teleportation items. Otherwise, someone with evil intents might cause troubles with the bloody water.


    Besides that the bloody sea was demolished and taken away completely, this underground space should have been searched over carefully by the powerhouses from the Supreme Court. Because the small karst caves on the ground and the surrounding walls of this underground space had been completely excavated. Even the traces were fresh.


    Besides the stinky smell in the underground space, nothing else was left inside. This might explain why the Supreme court opened it to the public.


    The ground and those stones in the entire underground space were covered with deep, brown blood stains which were left by those bloody figures who were slain here. The bloodstains reminded them of the terrifying scene of mountains of corpses with incomplete broken limbs.


    Many disciples of Zhang Tie observed this underground space very seriously in case their family members asked them about what they saw here through letters when they came back to Fire Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian directly took a round in the huge pit with their disciples.


    The images that Zhang Tie gained from the memories of those live bloody figures corresponded to the scene here while those blurry parts in their memories immediately became clear. Zhang Tie had the directest impression and feeling about more details.


    Through the confirmation of this observation, the image of a 9-floor crystal tower being covered with many bizarre runes gradually became clear in Zhang Tie''s mind. Zhang Tie then realized that the crystal tower should be the core of the bloody sea.


    Nobody could smile anymore. They all became silent. Even Bai Suxian''s face turned solemn as she started to observe the source of this event which had aroused the great chaos in Taixia Country. As a result, only their footsteps and breath sounds were reverberating in this gloomy underground space.


    When Zhang Tie looked around, he suddenly thought up something. Closely after that, he faintly narrowed his eyes while a golden lotus-flower shaped brilliance was silently in full bloom in his eyes.


    ''Although the elite forces of Supreme Court have searched over this place carefully, what if they missed something? After all, they didn''t have the ability of lotus-flower eyes. They might miss something.'' A whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind as he activated his lotus-flower eyes.


    After activating his lotus-flower eyes, everything in this underground space gradually turned different in Zhang Tie''s eyes as they all turned transparent including the stones and the cliffs.


    In less than half a minute, Zhang Tie had slightly opened his mouth as he was shocked. Because he really found something amazing...

 1085 Goodbye, Parent Puppet Worms

    Chapter 1085: Goodbye, Parent Puppet Worms


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Since he owned the ability of lotus-flower eyes in the Earth-elements Realm, Zhang Tie found that the more seeds of fiery lotus flowers he ate, the more brilliant the 6 surging points around his eyes would be and the more powerful his lotus-flower eyes would get.


    In a common state, as long as Zhang Tie activated his ability of lotus-flower eyes, he could easily see through 1,000 m underground. In lotus-flower eyes, there were only temperatures, instead of solid objects. Precisely, in lotus-flower eyes, there was only independent light composed of transparent color temperatures. If there was any demand, Zhang Tie could even filter out the masking effect of color temperatures and see clearly what was inside or behind the object.


    Zhang Tie didn''t reveal this ability to anyone else, including his elder brother and Bai Suxian.


    As Zhang Tie had too many secrets, if he revealed all of them to others, the others might not stand it mentally.


    It was also awful if one was too weird.


    In the eyes of commoners, the ground and the surrounding stones and cliffs had been searched over seriously. Many places had even been damaged; even the traces were fresh. They could not have any new discovery. After deepening his eye light into the cliffs for hundreds of meters, Zhang Tie could still see a lot of bare rocks, some small natural karst caves and some stalactites which were still dripping water.


    The problem lay in a region of the dome of this underground space.


    The dome of this underground space was over 200 m high in the shape of an irregular half gourd. There were stalactites hanging from the top of this underground space like bamboo shoots while dripping water. Like the situation on the ground here, the dome of this underground space might have also been seriously checked because the many stalactites had been broken by force, covering the ground.


    No matter how, as long as this place was not blown out, the elite forces of the Supreme Court would not discover the special space in the dome of that underground space.


    That special space was over 30 m deeper in the dome; additionally, the tunnel outside the space had been completely blocked by rocks as if the rocks grew out of there naturally. Outside that tunnel, there was a natural chasm on the dome. Besides, there was a broken stalactite beside the chasm...


    Commoners could not climb that high to check it. Knights wouldn''t blow out the dome to see whether there''s something dozens of meters inside the dome. If they really did that, even the knights who checked it might be buried alive.


    Because of above reasons, that hidden space was preserved.


    That space was a natural karst cave in the underground space in the shape of a wedge. Being broad in the front and narrow in the back, it was longer than 20 m, wider than 5 m and about 5-8 m in height. The space was about 600 cubic meters with slight traces of artificial renovation.


    At the sight of the items inside that special space, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded at once.


    There were four locked square black metal containers like mini safes on the ground of that special space.


    Zhang Tie was too familiar with such containers because it was his second time to see them. He saw such a container in Upton City, Waii Subcontinent for the first time, when it held a double-headed parent puppet worm.


    Under the gaze of Zhang Tie, the dozens of meters thick cliff and those black metal containers inside it turned transparent. In those black metal containers, Zhang Tie saw the disgusting, slimy liquid and the double-headed parent puppet worms which looked like sea cucumbers in the liquid.


    The 4 double-headed parent puppet worms were creeping in the liquid and were ready for killing numerous people at any time.


    Although Zhang Tie just looked up the dome casually, the 4 creeping double-headed parent puppet worms in the 4 black metal containers made his heart pound immediately. As a result, he slowed down unconsciously...


    "What are you looking at?" Bai Suxian whispered to Zhang Tie.


    "Hoho, nothing. Now that the elites of the Supreme Court have already searched over here, others might not find any intelligence valuable here!"


    "Even though there''s no valuable intelligence here, if not come here for the first-hand intelligence, many people might not have a good sleep. Even if the Supreme Court knows something, they have to notice some powerful forces in Taixia Country. If you want to know that, I can inquire it from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion when it''s proper!"


    Women were always extroverted. After Zhang Tie told her that he would seek a marriage alliance in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion 3 years later, Bai Suxian had long treated herself as Zhang Tie''s wife as she would always consider Zhang Tie''s thoughts.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile before saying, "After taking a round here, let''s leave. There''s nothing valuable clue here anymore." Bai Suxian didn''t find that Zhang Tie''s smile was a bit unusual.


    "Sure! This place is indeed depressive. It makes people uncomfortable..."


    When Zhang Tie talked with Bai Suxian, he had thought through 4 things.


    First, the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms must be left by the Heavens Reaching Church. They definitely wanted to use the double-headed parent puppet worms to coordinate with the bloody figures in the bloody sea. As long as the opportunity was ripe, the bloody figures would take action. At the same time, the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms would create tens of millions of demonized puppets in Zhongzhou Province to deteriorate the entire province, causing great damages in the hinterland of Taixia Country.


    Second, as the event in Zhongzhou Province broke out suddenly, Wen Clan and Heavens Reaching Church didn''t have time to take away the double-headed parent puppet worms by a space teleportation item. Even Wen Haoyun couldn''t take them away in such a short period although he had a portable space-teleportation item. Therefore, he could only leave the 4 precious double-headed parent puppet worms here for the time being.


    Third, now that Wen Haoyun had not been caught, after knowing that the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms were still left here, Heavens Reaching Church would definitely have someone take them away. After all, double-headed parent puppet worms were not as cheap as white cabbages; conversely, they were too precious.


    Fourth, if Heavens Reaching Church wanted to have someone take away the double-headed parent puppet worms from here, they''d better choose recent days. If the double-headed parent puppet worms were left here for too long, they might be discovered by someone. Lately, almost all the forces had been here to gain the first-hand intelligence. The forces of the Supreme Court had also left. Pingsha Valley was gradually "cooling down". Even so, some people would also come here to join the fun. If they took away the double-headed parent worms with the excuse of inquiring first-hand intelligence, they would not arouse anyone''s attention at all.


    When he thought about this, a crazy and audacious plan occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, causing his heart to pound...


    After Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian and their disciples took a round here, the crazy and audacious plan had gradually become mature in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    Zhang Tie had made his determination, ''Whatever, I have to have a trial at the risk of my life.''


    "Let''s go back!" Zhang Tie finally sent his order calmly after taking a round in the underground space for over 10 minutes.


    Before leaving, some tracing feathers silently flew out of Zhang Tie''s forehead and floated up into a chasm of the dome of the underground space. Before Zhang Tie came back once again, as long as any knight-level powerhouse entered here and broke that secret tunnel, those tracing feathers would attach to that person''s body automatically in case of an emergency.


    It took Zhang Tie''s team less than 1 hour in the underground space.


    When they approached the entrance of the hole, at the sight of the light, Zhang Tie''s disciples started to breathe the fresh air forcefully...

 1086 Preaching Secret Skills Through Enlightenmen

    Chapter 1086: Preaching Secret Skills Through Enlightenment


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Since they had just taken a round in the underground space for less than 1 hour, they didn''t make any great achievement. At most, they had been familiar with the location, the size and the surrounding environment of the bloody sea. Additionally, their curiosities were satisfied.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was an exception.


    When Zhang Tie exited the hole, his mentality had been utterly different than that when he entered it. However, Zhang Tie didn''t reveal any abnormal expression as if he had discovered nothing.


    The rain was heavier. Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi isolated his body from rainwater once again. He looked up at the cloudy sky as he felt a bit chilly. That golden airboat had already left, leaving Iron-Dragon Airboat suspending alone in Pingsha Valley.


    "Let''s go back to the airboat, there''s nothing to look at here!" Zhang Tie waved his hand as he walked towards the airboat with all the others.


    After boarding the airboat, everybody gathered in the command module. Zhang Tie had the airboat fly towards Huian City.


    Because of the event in Zhongzhou Province, the name of Huian City, a small city, spread over Taixia Country.


    Huian City was over 50 miles away in the south of Pingsha Valley. It only took the airboat a few minutes to arrive at Huian City from Pingsha Valley.


    The large areas of farmlands outside Huian City entered their vision first.


    The golden wheat in those farmlands had already been messy and rotten in the rainy season after missing the optimal reaping opportunity. Very few people could be seen in the farmlands and the surrounding villages. It was dead silence and coldness everywhere.


    When they approached Huian City, Zhang Tie had the airboat slow down and decline before slowly flying hundreds of meters over Huian City.


    From the airboat, they could see that the entire Huian City was covered by a dead atmosphere in the rain in naked eyes; instead of using the high-power optical imaging device. The entire city was ruined. Many buildings had been burned, leaving large areas of damaged buildings and charred traces. It seemed that nobody lived in Huian City anymore. There was only a military camp of about 10,000 people outside the city.


    Although it was raining, soldiers of Taixia Country were still arranging something in the ruins.


    Watching such a giant airboat flying over here, those soldiers didn''t feel strange about it at all. Besides someone who looked up at the airboat, all the others just minded their own businesses.


    The major''s mansion of Huian City had been ruined. Only a half-burned flag was tightly sticking to the flagpole like a dead fish that was scooped out of the water. If not the flagpole and the flag, Zhang Tie''s team could almost not identify that the ruins were the mansion of the former major of Huian City, who was the first major who swore to die with the city in Taixia Country in this holy war.


    In Waii Subcontinent, Zhang Tie had seen too many perished cities. However, it was his disciples'' first time to see a perished city in Taixia Country. It was not in the remote areas, but in Zhongzhou Province, one of the 9 immortal provinces in Xuanyuan Hill.


    It was a time-honored city in Zhongzhou Province which abounded in good liquor; instead of the small villages like Xujia Village.


    In the north of Huian City, there were dense tombs within a few square miles. After flying over that graveyard, they could see a lot of rotten joss paper on the top of those tombs...


    The terrifying scene in Huian City caused a great mental impact on many people in the command module, including Bai Suxian. None of them looked good.


    "What do you think at the sight of this scene?" Zhang Tie asked his disciples after being silent for a while.


    The 121 disciples threw a glance at each other before moving their eyes onto Liu Xing at the same time.


    "Master, after going to Pingsha Valley and coming to Huian City, I think we all feel sad and shocked; meanwhile, we have a sense of crisis. Nobody has imagined that cities in Taixia Country could encounter such a catastrophe at the cost of so many lives!" Liu Xing replied in a low volume, which was also what the other disciples thought about.


    "Sense of crisis. You''re right. I want to show you the crises and dark forces in the prosperity of Taixia Country. You need to see the possible aftermath of wars and catastrophes that might happen in Taixia Country in the future!" Zhang Tie glanced at his disciples one after another solemnly before saying, "Many people among you come from major clans which were protected by knight-level powerhouses. Don''t think that you and your clans won''t experience what you see now. Listen, many countries and major clans in other subcontinents have perished, causing numerous nobles. In the Earth-elements Realm, over 1,000 knights would be killed and wounded in one battle between human knights and demon knights. Sometimes, the lives of earth knights are like candlelight swaying in the wind. Have you thought about how to survive such a chaotic world? Have you thought about how to survive yourselves and protect your beloved ones when overwhelming enemies rush towards you one day?"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, some disciples looked firm and persistent; some were in meditation; some were clenching their fists.


    If he told these words to his disciples 1 month ago in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory, his disciples might not have any true feeling about that. However, after seeing the tragedies in Xujia Village and Huian City and fighting the bloody figures, they all knew how terrifying and brutal were bloody figures. Everybody was move inside.


    "Battle strength, only battle strength; precisely, only your punches, swords and sabers are your greatest reliance in the chaotic world!" Zhang Tie answered before anyone''s reply, "Your family background and wealth could not guarantee your safety when your enemy waves his saber towards your head. Neither would you be more fortunate than others. Conversely, because of your family background and wealth, your enemy might want to kill you as soon as possible. Under such circumstances, you could only rely on your own punch, saber and sword. Don''t think that your clans and parents would protect you forever. As a normal person, a disciple who could join Iron-Dragon Sect fortunately, from today on, you should think about how could you protect your parents and relatives. As long as you could bear hardships and be persistent, I will preach all the secret skills in "Fire Dragon Sutra" to you!"


    When Zhang Tie''s disciples were still thinking about Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Tie implied that he didn''t go back on his word through direct action.


    "Liu Xing" Zhang Tie asked in a muffled voice.


    "Here I am, Master!" Liu Xing cupped his hands and moved one step forward.


    "After a short while, you follow me in my cultivation room. I will officially preach the secret skills in "Fire Dragon Sutra" to you today!"


    All the other disciples were shocked as they watched Liu Xing with extremely admiring looks.


    Liu Xing became stunned at first as if he didn''t believe that he could touch such a marquis-level classic which numerous major clans were dreaming for at this moment. However, given the admirable looks of all the surrounding people and the looks of Zhao Bing, Wu Yinhui and the other 4 black-armored fighters, Liu Xing knew that he didn''t mishear it. In a split second, Liu Xing blushed as he took a deep breath and replied in the muffled voice, "Yes, master!"


    Even though Liu Xing was always calm, his voice trembled a bit at this moment.


    "After that, this master will enter cultivation for a few days. Your master uncle Bai will take charge of everything in the airboat!"


    As Bai Suxian had not married Zhang Tie, it was improper for him to call her Mrs. Master Bai. Otherwise, it would incur jokes. He should consider the reputations of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and princess Bai Suxian. However, as a person who used to stay with Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian was destined to be influential in Iron-Dragon Sect one day. Additionally, she was a knight. Therefore, she deserved to be an outstanding elder and was qualified to be called Master Uncle Bai. All the sects in Taixia Country preferred male appellations. Even prestigious females in sects could only be called Master Uncle instead of Master Aunt by the juniors. Of course, the appellation Mrs. Master was an exception because she was their master''s wife.


    Bai Suxian threw a glance at Zhang Tie as she didn''t know what trick Zhang Tie played. She didn''t understand why Zhang Tie suddenly wanted to enter cultivation. According to the plan, after leaving Pingsha Valley, they should visit Gold and Power Market and Xuanyuan Hill.


    "I will tell you about the reason after a short while!" Zhang Tie''s voice entered Bai Suxian''s ears secretly when the latter was thinking about the reason. After hearing that, Bai Suxian revealed a tender smile towards Zhang Tie. Whatever, she had already been very happy when Zhang Tie handed the airboat and these disciples to her when he was busy. This was what a master''s wife should do.


    "Well, adjournment. The cultivation facilities on the airboat are well matched. Don''t forget about cultivation!" Zhang Tie waved his hand towards his disciples, letting them leave, except for Liu Xing.

 1087 Return of the Thunder Hawk

    Chapter 1087: Return of the Thunder Hawk


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the cultivation room of the airboat, Liu Xing''s heart pounded as he sat in front of Zhang Tie with crossed legs in an intense way. Zhang Tie sat behind him with crossed legs too.


    Liu Xing was very nervous about preaching secret skills through enlightenment; especially a marquis secret method such as "Fire Dragon Sutra". Actually, he was more nervous than Zhang Tie. As a result, his whole body tightened.


    "Recover your composure and focus on the place 10 cm deep into your forehead, relax yourself all over..." Zhang Tie started a secret skill in Soul Forbidden Method to make Liu Xing calm down mentally and spiritually.


    In Zhang Tie''s opinion, as long as the cultivation of secret methods didn''t violate the universal laws by benefiting the cultivator at the cost of the others'' interests, secret methods were neither positive nor evil. It was a matter of human nature. If soul forbidden method was used for a positive purpose, it would be positive; if it was used for evil purpose, it would be evil. At this moment, Zhang Tie found that the enlightenment could see a better effect with the help of soul forbidden method.


    After Lu Xing recovered his composure and was ready for enlightenment, Zhang Tie put one hand on the head of Liu Xing.


    Liu Xing''s spiritual energy appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind in terms of a small golden mist like a pool in front of a sea.


    Zhang Tie wanted to preach "Fire Dragon Sutra" to Liu Xing once; however, when he thought that Bright Enlightenment Method posed a strict requirement to the spiritual energy of the one being enlightened, Zhang Tie gave it up.


    With his spiritual energy, Liu Xing could at most accept the enlightenment of LV 10 and LV 11 contents in "Fire Dragon Sutra", mental arithmetic by abacus and the fundamental foot movements in "Fire-Dragon Flowing Light Battle Skill for the time being. He could not cultivate "Fire-Dragon Heavens Burning Spear Skill", "Fire-Dragon Golden Body" and "Big Sun Fire Dragon Palm Skill" until he entered LV 10.


    After making a decision, Zhang Tie started the enlightenment at once. In Zhang Tie''s mind sea, some occult consciousness gradually became brilliant runes. Closely after that, the rune flew out of Zhang Tie''s mind and directly entered a special region of surging points of Liu Xing''s brain from the top of his head. Then, the rune started to open like blossoms and integrate with Liu Xing''s consciousness at the same time.


    In Bright Enlightenment Method, Zhang Tie was preaching a life and consciousness experience which was more profound and directer than words and images. Such a life experience surpassed the limit that could be expressed by words and images. Even an illiterate, a blind person and a deaf person could understand it immediately.


    Three runes were preached into Liu Xing''s mind: the first one was the cultivation method of the LV 10 and LV 11 contents of "Fire Dragon Sutra"; the second one was the fundamental foot movements of "Fire-Dragon Flowing Light Battle Skill"; the third one was the mental arithmetic by abacus, which was renamed as Thousands of Beads Mentality Sutra .


    This process was very short for Zhang Tie as it was accomplished in less than 1 minute; however, it was a long process for Liu Xing.


    After completing the enlightenment, Zhang Tie silently waited for Liu Xing to wake up in the cultivation room. At the same time, he observed Liu Xing''s response. According to the Bright Enlightenment Sutra , very few people who accepted the enlightenment of Bright Enlightenment Sutra would suffer from rejection response both physically and mentally before of poor spiritual energy and condition in enlightenment. Their spiritual energy would be disordered; in the worst scenario, their mind sea could break and they would not cultivate for the rest of their lives anymore. Therefore, the one who preached the enlightenment should guard him on one side. When he found the one being enlightened was in a perilous state, he had to pull the one who received the enlightenment out of that perilous state in the corresponding secret method of Bright Enlightenment Sutra as soon as possible in case of tragedy. This was one meaning of the role of master.


    Under the silent gaze of Zhang Tie, Liu Xing spent 1 hour in digesting all the contents that Zhang Tie had imparted him before opening his eyes.


    When Liu Xing opened his eyes, Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside silently. After all, it was his first time to preach secret skills to his disciple through enlightenment. Although being aided by soul forbidden method, Zhang Tie was still worried about loopholes. Now that Liu Xing could wake up, it indicated that this enlightenment was successful. Of course, Zhang Tie became reassured.


    The moment Liu Xing opened his eyes, he had seen Zhang Tie''s caring eyes. Closely after that, Liu Xing''s eyes turned red. Then, he kowtowed towards Zhang Tie three times, causing "bang, bang, bang" before saying, "Master, thanks for your secret skills, I feel like having a new birth!"


    Liu Xing didn''t exaggerate. In Taixia Country, the expression "feel like having a new birth!" could reflect the power and position of masters pretty well; especially the impartment of classic secret skills, the value of which was beyond measure.


    "Ahem, ahem, stand up..." Zhang Tie coughed twice. Although he was Liu Xing''s master, they were almost peers. Watching the contemporary treating him so respectfully, Zhang Tie felt a bit embarrassed.


    The moment Zhang Tie opened his mouth, Liu Xing had stood up gently and waited for Zhang Tie''s words respectfully.


    "You can cultivate the LV 10 and LV 11 contents of Fire Dragon Sutra and the fundamental foot movements of Fire-Dragon Flowing Light Battle Skill diligently step by step as a good example. After you promote to a battle master, I will impart you with the remaining contents. Given your poor spiritual energy, I could only impart a part of contents to you each time!"


    "Yes, master. This disciple will live up to your expectation and cultivate diligently so that I could promote to a battle master as soon as possible!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he continued, "Although Thousands of Beads Mentality Sutra looks simple, it''s effective and could bring you a lot of benefits. As the exclusive secret method of Iron-Dragon Sect, this secret method could improve one''s thinking and increase one''s spiritual energy. After you master it, you could grasp multi-tasking skill and increase your battle strength by 2 times. After promoting to a knight, if you have enough spiritual energy and mastered the multitasking skill, you could cultivate two times faster than others. This secret method has endless, marvelous effects. This master has benefited a lot from this secret method. Speaking of value,Thousands of Beads Mentality Sutra could even match Fire Dragon Sutra , bear it in mind, bear it in mind..."


    It was not inflated for Zhang Tie to treat Thousands of Beads Mentality Sutra as the exclusive secret method of Iron-Dragon Sect, because it was greatly different than the originalmental arithmetic by abacus . On the basis of the original mental arithmetic by abacus, Zhang Tie added his gnosis, enabling the effect of mental arithmetic by abacus to increase by times constantly.


    There was not such a method in the process of the cultivation of the original mental arithmetic by abacus . Zhang Tie gifted mental arithmetic by abacus to Huaiyuan Palace and Donder respectively as a meritorious service. According to Zhang Tie, Huaiyuan Palace and Gold and Power Law had arranged their kids and youngsters to cultivate this secret method so as to increase their spiritual energy. Zhang Tie confirmed that nobody could reach his realm through induction if not have an amazing spiritual energy and mastered the multitasking skill. Perhaps, someone could find the relationship between mental arithmetic by abacus and multitasking skill after a long while. However, in a short period, only Zhang Tie himself could grasp the secret of thousands of beads mentality sutra . In that sense, thousands of beads mentality sutra was indeed the exclusive secret method of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    After having a brief talk with Liu Xing, Zhang Tie let him leave the cultivation room.


    After Liu Xing left Zhang Tie''s cultivation room, he immediately entered a cultivation room which was specially prepared for disciples below knight level to polish their surging points to cultivate Fire Dragon Sutra . However, Zhang Tie called Bai Suxian into his cultivation room and had a secret talk with her.


    "I will leave this airboat for a few days. During this period, just tell others I''m in cultivation. You should be responsible for everything in the airboat!"


    "Sure, don''t worry!" Bai Suxian didn''t even ask Zhang Tie what he was going to do, which indirectly indicated that this woman was intelligent and charming. She then asked, "Where should the airboat wait for you?"


    "In Zhongzhou Province. You can stay in Zhongzhou City for at most 20 days in the name of replenishing supplies for the airboat. I might not come back in a couple of days!"


    Bai Suxian asked, "Do you need me to go there with you?"


    "It''s a bit dangerous, additionally..." Zhang Tie immediately stopped. At the same time, he widely opened his eyes with an unimaginable look. Because he felt a familiar qi darting towards him from tens of thousands of miles away...


    Although Zhang Tie''s knight''s consciousness was great and he had promoted to sage level, he could never sense what happened tens of thousands of miles away. The reason that he could sense it lay in that the thing had a telepathy with him¡ª¡ªit was the thunder hawk that he released from Castle of Black Iron 4 years ago.


    At this moment, Iron-Dragon Airboat had already entered the stratosphere and was flying at full speed. By contrast, that thunder hawk could fly two times faster than Iron-Dragon Airboat. It was absolutely a supersonic speed as fast as a lightning bolt.


    "What''s wrong?" Bai Suxian asked when she found that Zhang Tie suddenly stopped talking with a weird look.


    "...Additionally...additionally, if too many people went there, we might screw it up. I''d better go there alone!" Zhang Tie swallowed his saliva forcefully as he tried to calm down and finish his words...

 1088 I Will Fly Higher

    Chapter 1088: I Will Fly Higher


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    2 hours later, Iron-Dragon Airboat flew across a thick cloud which looked like a huge marshmallow. When Iron-Dragon Airboat left this cloud in less than 1 minute, Zhang Tie had already left Iron-Dragon Airboat and appeared in the cloud tens of thousands of meters above the ground.


    The airboat had already left the border of Longxi Prefecture in Zhongzhou Province.


    At this moment, Pingsha Valley might still be cloudy and rainy; however, this place had been sunny with white clouds. Airships would fly below the cloud now and then. There was a faintly prosperous city on the horizon in the distance.


    There were secret tunnels in some rooms of Iron-Dragon Airboat which could help knights access to Iron-Dragon Airboat rapidly for the sake of escape and executing special tasks. These secret tunnels could only be opened from inside. After a few seconds, they would close up automatically. One secret tunnel was in Zhang Tie''s cultivation room. Besides Bai Suxian, nobody else knew that Zhang Tie had left.


    Zhang Tie was flying in the white clouds, where the visibility was less than 100 m. The others could not see what was inside the white clouds at all. Riding the wind in the white clouds, Zhang Tie really looked like an immortal.


    After leaving Iron-Dragon Airboat, Zhang Tie became alone once again. He could do whatever he wanted. Zhang Tie felt being free once again. He did not have such a relaxing experience for a long time.


    Over these years, Zhang Tie was escaping and thinking about how to reverse his case or fight demons and Three-eye Association constantly. When he could move alone, Zhang Tie felt pretty good.


    Zhang Tie had been floating in the white clouds for over 10 minutes. When Iron-Dragon Airboat completely disappeared in the skyline, Zhang Tie had changed into an average middle-aged tough man in a blue long gown with rich eyebrows, a swarthy face and closely cropped hair. Given his qi, his battle strength became unidentified.


    After changing his look, Zhang Tie flew out of the cloud when he was sure that there was no knight or airboat within dozens of square miles. Closely after that, he flew towards the north as he gradually ascended and turned into a small point.


    Zhang Tie sensed that the thunder hawk was pretty excited when it was flying towards him. Additionally, its flight speed increased by almost 30% once again, which startled Zhang Tie a lot. Closely after that, Zhang Tie was moved.


    It was similar to the feeling when you saw a dog that you fed many years darting towards you desperately while swaying its tail.


    Zhang Tie was flying fast too. In only a few seconds, his flight speed had reached 600 miles per hour and was still increasing. In the blink of an eye, he had entered the stratosphere over 13 miles above the ground. A knight flying rapidly in the stratosphere could barely be discovered by others on the ground.


    After entering the stratosphere, Zhang Tie continued to ascend while his speed had reached 650 miles per hour.


    His two chakras of King Roc Sutra were rotating forcefully and slowly as firm as mountains. It was like an effective engine entering the velocity range for stable operation. The rotating chakras could offset the gravity from the earth and provide Zhang Tie with a greater speed. As a result, he had the impulsion to fly higher and faster.


    After sensing this impulsion carefully, Zhang Tie discovered that 1/3 of this impulsion came from his curiosity, 2/3 of this impulsion came from the instinct that drove his chakras of King Roc Sutrato rotate.


    As for the human aircraft in this age, airships and gliders could only fly in the troposphere 15 miles above the ground; however, airboats and knights could fly in the stratosphere between 15 miles and 80 miles above the ground. If he was higher than 80 miles, he would enter another atmosphere. Zhang Tie wondered about the feeling in the strange atmosphere. Neither had he heard about it from other earth knights. Therefore, he was curious about that.


    Zhang Tie felt a bit strange about the instinct of King Roc Sutra . He started to admire about the terrifying flight speed of the thunder hawk. After that, he sensed that the virtual image ofKing Roc Sutra in his shrine became a bit restless. What a weird feeling!


    Driven by this curiosity and the instinct of the emperor-level secret method, plus the proper time and location, Zhang Tie had a heroic feeling inside as he wanted to test how high he could reach.


    Since he promoted to an earth knight, Zhang Tie had not got a chance to try this ability yet.


    When he thought about this, Zhang Tie constantly ascended at an increasingly higher speed and broke the upper limit of 700 miles per hour for the first time. At this high speed, Zhang Tie soon entered the top region of the stratosphere which was over 80 miles above the earth.


    At this height, the air became thinner. He was actually standing on white clouds. He felt like watching cotton fields on the top of a skyscraper. At this height, commoners could only see the outlines of very huge individuals such as cities, mountain ranges, lakes, long railways in the cotton fields.


    However, with lotus-flower eyes, the higher Zhang Tie reached, the better visual field he would gain. Even at such a height, as long as he would like to concentrate, he could see clearly each grass and wood on the ground.


    When he recalled the item called reconnaissance satellite before the Catastrophe, a hilarious whim suddenly occurred to his mind, ''Compared to those metal instruments, I''m a real "artificial satellite"''.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know why few earth knights mentioned the atmosphere above the stratosphere. At least he didn''t feel it difficult to break through the stratosphere. His feeling and chakras which were still normally rotating granted him a very great confidence.


    Zhang Tie entered the atmosphere above 80 miles high smoothly. He felt cold at once. Additionally, the convective motion that he met in the troposphere reappeared. After his flight speed reached 750 miles per hour, an invisible barrier appeared in front of him for the first time...


    ''Sonic barrier'', a term occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind.

 1089 A Bottleneck

    Chapter 1089: A Bottleneck


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The invisible sonic barrier in the air was like an extremely elastic film in front of Zhang Tie.


    This film was not terrifying. Zhang Tie felt that he was completely able to break through it. However, Zhang Tie couldn''t break through this sonic barrier even though he had repeated it many times.


    The chakras of "King Roc Sutra" were still rotating stably and providing energy for Zhang Tie constantly. Zhang Tie felt that it was still not the highest speed that he could reach. He had not made full use of the flight ability granted by King Roc Sutra . What made Zhang Tie extremely depressed was that he could not break through 750 miles per hour no matter how he struggled although he felt that he could easily break through this sonic barrier. This speed was very terrifying for common knights; however, Zhang Tie was not satisfied with it.


    It felt like that Zhang Tie could only drive a Faerie Dragon T9 on the highway at a speed of 40 miles per hour. However, the overall performance of Faerie Dragon T9 could allow it to run at a speed higher than 200 miles per hour. Additionally, Zhang Tie was also a racing driver. However, no matter how he struggled, he could only reach 40 miles per hour.


    ''What''s the problem?''


    If a sportscar suffered from this problem, the driver might not have selected a high-speed gear.


    Zhang Tie also suffered from this problem when he could have a powerful flight ability granted by the King Roc Sutra . He sensed that he could easily break through the sonic barrier; however, he couldn''t. There must be only one answer¡ª¡ªThere''s a corresponding secret flight method in the complete King Roc Sutrawhich could help Zhang Tie unlock his powerful flight ability. As the King Roc Sutra that Zhang Tie grasped was incomplete, Zhang Tie had not grasped the corresponding secret flight method; therefore, he couldn''t break through the sonic barrier.


    Zhang Tie remembered that it was an intermediate layer above the stratosphere.


    When Zhang Tie attempted to break through the sonic barrier, he felt two evident features in the intermediate layer: First, the higher it was, the colder it would be. In the middle part of the intermediate layer, it was 50 degree Celsius below zero. The strong wind was piercingly cold. Second, very evident convective motion.


    The higher it was, the colder it would be. Being similar to that in the troposphere, the convective motion also existed in the intermediate layer, which was even stronger.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about the low temperature at all because his protective battle qi and his cold-resistant ability were super great. As for Zhang Tie, the super strong air motion in the intermediate layer was completely like undercurrent under the sea, which could help him fly at a high speed with less strength.


    Previously, he sensed air motions by the sharp instinct that he had cultivated physically and spiritually; now, with lotus-flower eyes, he could see clearly the directions of air motions in the intermediate layer.


    In front of his lotus-flower eyes, the cyclones caused by invisible air flows in the intermediate layer were like super large color-changing mushrooms whose diameters varied from dozens of miles to hundreds of miles. It looked pretty splendid.


    Zhang Tie had attempted many times. With the help of airflows, he could indeed fly more easily and more flexibly sometimes. However, no matter how strong the airflows were and how good he could use them, he could still not break through that sonic barrier.


    When he reached above 270 miles high at the top of the intermediate layer, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to see that faintly arc outline along the earth. When he caught sight of this arc outline, Zhang Tie felt a stress too. This stress was similar to the sonic barrier. Apparently, he felt that he could fly higher; however, he felt a transparent ceiling above his head, which prevented him from reaching higher.


    Zhang Tie realized that he could at most reach the top region of the intermediate layer in the atmosphere above 270 miles high at the speed of about 750 miles per hour if not grasp the corresponding secret flight method of King Roc Sutra .


    After flying 8 hours in the intermediate layer, Zhang Tie had long left the air territory of Longxi Prefecture, Zhongzhou Province.


    After flying over 6,000 miles, Zhang Tie didn''t feel tired at all. He only felt a bit depressed. He felt that the thunder hawk was darting towards him at a speed of about 2,000 miles per hour easily. ''As an earth knight who cultivates King Roc Sutra , my flight ability could not even match that of a bird?''


    However, Zhang Tie knew that it didn''t work only by being anxious. Unless he could gain a complete King Roc Sutra , he could only slowly think about the solution to make a breakthrough in his flight ability. However, as long as this complete emperor-level secret method appeared, it would cause great troubles between humans and demons as numerous powerhouses and forces would fight for it. Even heavenly knights and sages would be interested in it. An earth knight was even not qualified to attend such a competition.


    After flying a few hours, Zhang Tie met 3 waves of knights and 2 airboats.


    As the two airboats flew in the stratosphere, they didn''t find Zhang Tie and just flew across the latter. As for the 3 teams of knights, one team contained 2 earth knights and 1 black iron knight. They also flew in the stratosphere. Although they discovered Zhang Tie above them, they didn''t communicate with him and left directly. The second team contained 2 earth knights. When they caught sight of Zhang Tie, the two earth knights might be curious that Zhang Tie could fly in the intermediate layer of the atmosphere. They chased after Zhang Tie for a short while in the stratosphere and wanted to see Zhang Tie''s face; however, Zhang Tie was not interested in communicating with them. He directly flew away.


    The two teams of knights flew at a speed below 600 miles per hour in the stratosphere.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie was shocked a bit by a shadow knight whose virtual image was a 9-headed weird snake in the intermediate layer of atmosphere...

 1090 Old Monster

    Chapter 1090: Old Monster


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The real body of the virtual image of that shadow knight was dull blue and longer than 300 m. The 9 snakeheads were taking clouds and blowing out fog while moving ferociously in the sky. Additionally, the snake had a pair of wings. If not the special luster over the real body of the virtual image of a knight, anyone who caught sight of this terrifying 9-head snake would regard it as a far-ancient fierce beast.


    Legends about 9-headed snake existed in both Western Continent and Eastern Continent. Zhang Tie had heard a 9-headed snake called Hydra in some myths and legends in Waii Subcontinent. In Taixia Country, the 9-headed snake was called Xiang Liu!


    After considering the two names carefully, Zhang Tie suddenly had an insight.


    Hydra and Xiang Liu existed in western myths and eastern myths respectively. After comparing the pronunciations of the two names in two different civilizations, everybody would have an amazing discovery, namely, Hy and Xiang, dra and Liu sounded similar to each other.


    The same 9-headed monster shared almost the same name in two civilizations with different cultural backgrounds. What did this mean?


    It was never a coincidence.


    Before the Catastrophe, humans treated all the myths as fake stories and legends. After the Catastrophe, everybody knew that all the myths and legends in the Eastern Continent and Western Continent contained a lot of secrets about human history. Many myths were even real.


    ...


    The gleaming 9-headed snake flew in the intermediate layer of atmosphere at a speed of higher than 800 miles per hour along with muffled thunders like a moving airboat. It was really f*cking something!


    Zhang Tie was shocked a bit as it was his first time to see the real body of the virtual image of a shadow knight.


    Zhang Tie heard that a shadow knight could form the real body of a virtual image. Actually, the controller of the real body of the virtual image was still the shadow knight himself. When the knight''s body integrated with his virtual image, it would lead to the real body of his virtual image. Of course, the virtual image could not become alive. To put it simply, the real body of virtual image could be considered as a variant of shadow knight or a manipulable armored machine.


    Shadow knight would form water chakra. Water was volatile, colorless and invisible. It could exist in the form of gas, liquid and solid. Therefore, after forming water chakra, the real body of the virtual image would be formed basically which had a great power.


    Zhang Tie noticed this 9-headed snake flying towards him with strong wind and muffled thunders from hundreds of miles away.


    Being evil or not, such a shadow knight must be very flamboyant and had a powerful battle strength. At the sight of him, Zhang Tie had known that he was tricky. Zhang Tie wanted to teleport the thunder hawk into Castle of Black Iron before making an arrangement in Pingsha Valley for the one who went there to take the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms in case of troubles. Therefore, before the 9-headed snake approached him, he had descended and entered the stratosphere so as to avoid from meeting that shadow knight.


    Finally, the 9-headed snake crossed Zhang Tie from over 50 miles away above him.


    When they crossed each other, Zhang Tie felt that one head of the snake turned around and threw a glance at him. However, they didn''t communicate with each other.


    The previous two waves of knights and this shadow knight flew towards the same direction. After thinking about it for a short while, Zhang Tie felt that they might be heading for the Gold and Power Market. Zhang Tie remembered that Bai Suxian said that Gold and Power Market was going to hold a Treasures Meeting recently; therefore, powerhouses from all parties joined the fun.


    ''I wonder about the real body of the virtual image of king roc after promoting to a shadow knight.''


    After thinking about it for a few seconds, Zhang Tie had forgotten about it. Unless he was not afraid of exposing the news that he was cultivating King Roc Sutra to the public, as long as he released the virtual image of king roc, he would become a target for all. He might not even know how he was killed. Therefore, he could only continue to be low-key even though he had promoted to a shadow knight.


    Although he had a powerful virtual image, he could not release it. Because he could not grasp the corresponding secret skill of the King Roc Sutra , he couldn''t exert his flight ability to the utmost...


    ''Alas, what a poor life I have!''


    If Zhang Tie''s plaint was heard by the public, he might be drowned by the saliva of people in the world in the blink of an eye.


    Having Castle of Black Iron; promoting to an earth knight at his 30s; cultivating an emperor-level secret method King Roc Sutra ; If such a person still complained that he had a poor life, what about others'' lives?


    After seeing the real body of the virtual image of the 9-headed snake, Zhang Tie didn''t continue to test his flight ability; instead, he just flew towards the thunder hawk in the stratosphere.


    After another 2 hours, it was already dark while the sky was covered with sparkling stars. Zhang Tie didn''t know where he was. He just saw undulating primitive woods on the ground.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie sensed a shadow approaching him and already entering his vision.


    Zhang Tie immediately suspended in the air while a golden lightning bolt was darting towards him from over 70 miles away. In the distance, that shadow which had been moving too fast accelerated once again. It took the shadow less than 2 minutes to fly over 70 miles.


    ''Almost 3 times that of the velocity of sound, f*ck!''


    Zhang Tie was startled when he saw the golden light directly ramming towards his arms like how it always did when it was young.


    Along with a strong wind and a golden light, before Zhang Tie responded to it, an extremely dignified bizarre huge golden bird whose wingspan was over 6 m had directly rammed into Zhang Tie''s arms, sending him flying hundreds of meters backward.


    The impact force brought by such a high speed, such a sturdy figure and such a weight was like that brought by a train at its high speed. Someone below knight level might have been severely injured. Zhang Tie suffered the impact force by flying backward hundreds of meters.


    Hugging the bird''s body, Zhang Tie suspended in the air while that bird''s huge head was rubbing in his arms and uttering an exotic sound like a spoiled child as it usually did when it was young.


    ''But...but...how could this thunder hawk become so huge?''


    Zhang Tie was really shocked by what he saw, ''It''s too exaggerated. It''s been only 4 years!''


    However, before Zhang Tie greeted it, the huge bird chirped a few more times, pulling Zhang Tie out of his shock.


    "What? You mean a bored old d**chebag met you in the sky and was chasing after you. That guy was flying only a bit slower than you? Even though he''s far away from you, the light that he gave out had almost covered you a few times?"


    The huge bird nodded.


    Zhang Tie quivered all over. He knew the speed of this thunder hawk over the past hours, ''It flew about tens of thousands miles at a speed of above 2 times the velocity of sound. The shadow knight who released the real body of his virtual image could only reach a bit more than one times the velocity of sound. However, that old d**chebag could fly so many hours at a speed of 2 times the velocity of sound for tens of thousands miles after the thunder hawk?''


    When Zhang Tie thought about this, he hurriedly started his lotus-flower eyes and looked in the direction where the thunder hawk came from.


    A humanoid shadow being covered with purple light was flying towards here at an extremely high speed from hundreds of miles away.


    In the purple light, there was an old guy in sackcloth and straw sandals with a huge silver gourd which was higher than 1 m. At the sight of this old guy, Zhang Tie had realized that he was an old monster above a heavenly knight. Only after looking at him for a few times from hundreds of miles away, Zhang Tie had found the old guy frowned as if he had sensed Zhang Tie''s gaze. In a split second, the old guy''s eyes flickered while shooting out two purple light towards Zhang Tie''s direction.


    ''Damn!''


    Zhang Tie was really startled as he felt goosebumps over his head. He immediately caught the thunder hawk and darted towards the ground.


    After witnessing the ability of Zhao Yuan, his master, Zhang Tie could imagine how terrifying was a heavenly knight. A heavenly knight must have a lot of secret methods. If he played hide-and-seek with such an old guy in the sky, he was definitely seeking for death. Perhaps this old guy just wanted to catch the thunder hawk alive; therefore, he didn''t kill it. Otherwise, the thunder hawk might have already been caught.


    Zhang Tie and the thunder hawk penetrated through the stratosphere like meteors and entered the troposphere. The troposphere was covered with clouds. Zhang Tie used the same trick. When the cloud shaded all the downwards eye light, he entered Castle of Black Iron with the thunder hawk. After entering Castle of Black Iron, he incarnated into a small beetle at the fastest speed. At the same time, he activated a hiding skill for the little beetle and flew out of the clouds. Finally, he landed on a pine needle on the top of a mountain before looking up at the sky silently.


    The fact proved that Zhang Tie''s movements were not redundant.


    Only after a few minutes, the purple light had entered the cloud where Zhang Tie and that thunder hawk had been in just now. Closely after that, the old guy swayed his sleeve, causing a LV 10 strong wind. In a split second, the cloud was broken apart and disappeared, revealing the empty sky...


    Being shocked by this scene, the little beetle''s claws slipped as it almost fell off the pine needle...


    ''F*ck, is that a human?''


    Zhang Tie finally knew how terrifying were those people on the level of Zhao Yuan.


    As the old guy didn''t find the thunder hawk in the cloud, he flew around this air territory and swayed his sleeve constantly. Each time he swayed his sleeve, he would clean up a cloud. In only a few minutes, the sky had been very beautiful with bright moonlight and sparse sparkling stars...

 1091 Waiting

    Chapter 1091: Waiting


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The old monster cleaned up the surrounding clouds in vain. After that, he flew around here for a few minutes before leaving. Hiding still behind a pine needle, Zhang Tie watched it silently. 1 hour later, the old monster reappeared in the sky. After confirming that nothing was here, he let out a long sigh before flying backward.


    At this moment, a colorful poisonous snake climbed towards him from the trunk of the pine. The moment it widely opened its mouth and intended to eat the little beetle, the little beetle casually jumped up and turned around in the air before falling onto the head of the poisonous snake. At the same time, it released a bit qi. This little beetle was definitely a ferocious living being. Soon after it released its qi, the poisonous snake had become stiff all over like a lamb whose neck was bitten by a lion.


    Zhang Tie flew away, leaving the poisonous snake alone. As a result, the stiff poisonous snake didn''t coil around the twig any more; instead, it directly fell off the pine tree. After falling onto the ground, it woke up immediately and escaped into the weeds in an embarrassed way.


    After flying away from the pine tree, Zhang Tie identified the direction before flying towards Pingsha Valley in the incarnation of a little beetle.


    After flying over 70 miles away, Zhang Tie came to a hidden place in the wild. After confirming that nobody was following him up, Zhang Tie''s original body exited Castle of Black Iron. After activating a hiding effect, Zhang Tie entered the stratosphere once again. Closely after that, he flew towards Pingsha Valley silently and swiftly.


    The power of heavenly knight was pretty awe-inspiring. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether the old guy had seen clearly his look. In case of trouble, Zhang Tie changed his look and figure once again.


    The thunder hawk was still resting in Castle of Black Iron. As Zhang Tie was concerned about the 4 double-headed parent puppet worm, he didn''t communicate with the thunder hawk too much for the time being before leaving Castle of Black Iron.


    Now that the thunder hawk had come back, after relieving the crisis in Pingsha Valley, Zhang Tie had enough time to figure out what happened to the thunder hawk.


    On the way, Zhang Tie met another team of knights flying towards the same direction. In the evening, after releasing their gleaming battle qis, they looked like meteors. By contrast, with the effect of a master-level hiding rune, Zhang Tie hid his qi completely and integrated himself with the dark background in the evening. Even if someone flew towards him face-to-face, they could not discover Zhang Tie.


    ...


    After flying a few hours, Zhang Tie approached Pingsha Valley, Longxi Prefecture once again at about 3 am after leaving Pingsha Valley for less than 1 day.


    The tracing runes were still on the dome of the underground space, which indicated that nobody had moved those items in the secret space on the top of the underground space. Therefore, Zhang Tie became reassured.


    When he was dozens of miles away from Pingsha Valley, Zhang Tie landed in dense woods. Closely after that, he called that little beetle out of Castle of Black Iron and flew towards Pingsha Valley.


    When he arrived there, he saw two light flying out of the entrance of the underground cave towards afar.


    The two knights might have no discovery in the underground space. Therefore, they left.


    Zhang Tie slowed down once again and flew into the underground cave at the speed of common beetles.


    The underground space was as pitch-dark as it was tomorrow. Everything remained unchanged. Nobody else was inside. After flying around the underground space for a short while, Zhang Tie approached the dome and drilled into it from a crack. After entering it for a few meters, he saw limestone in the surroundings. The little beetle instantly drilled into the limestone.


    The hard limestone was as soft as a piece of bean curd for the little beetle. It might be very difficult for other living beings to drill a hole on it; however, it was pretty easy for such a little beetle to make it.


    In less than 10 minutes, a small piece of limestone at an inconspicuous corner of the secret karst cave suddenly moved while the little black beetle revealed its head out of there. With a humming sound, he shook off the dust while lying on the ground.


    There was a green fluorite in one corner of the secret space. As a result, this little secret space being renovated by a natural karst cave turned green. The 4 black square metal containers were placed in the middle of the secret space tidily.


    Zhang Tie reappeared in the secret space.


    In case of leaving any trace, Zhang Tie floated 10 cm above the ground in the secret space.


    Zhang Tie watched the 4 square containers with gleaming eyes. The moment he ran his spiritual energy, the 4 containers had floated in the air. The containers were matched with ventilated covers and advanced locks. If they did not have keys, commoners could only break the locks by force.


    However, it was very easy for Zhang Tie to unlock them. In lotus-flower eyes, the internal mechanical structure of the lock became completely transparent. As a great master artisan, Zhang Tie had figured out the principle of the unlocking actuator only after throwing a glance at it. Closely after that, he activated his ability as a divine dominator, causing the unlocking actuators in the locks to move automatically. With a click, the 4 locks were unlocked at the same time before floating in the air.


    No matter how advanced the locks were, as long as he threw a glance at them, they would unlock automatically like how pets greeted their master. What a marvelous ability! It might be unique among human beings. Any chief thief might be dwarfed by this ability.


    There were many great master artisans and more than one divine dominator. Someone might also grasp the ability of lotus-flower eyes. However, Zhang Tie might be the only one among human beings who could combine the two professions and the one ability. As a result, he could create a marvel by unlocking an advanced lock only by throwing a glance at it.


    After unlocking those advanced locks unconsciously, Zhang Tie stroked his chin as he realized that his ability was really something. In some special occasions, this ability might be shocking.


    ''From then on, there''s no lock in the world. What a realm!''


    After sighing with emotions for a few seconds inside, Zhang Tie started to move.


    After the containers were unlocked, their lids were opened, revealing the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms.


    Given their look, the double-headed parent puppet worms indeed looked as disgusting as rotten flesh in the tins of pickled vegetables. However, given their effect, the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms could really destroy cities and countries. Anyone of them might cause an irreparable catastrophe as long as they were taken out.


    As Zhang Tie had sensed the destructive power of double-headed parent puppet worm, he dared not be careless. After a consideration, he determined to make the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms safer.


    ''What if a powerful shadow knight or a heavenly knight came back for the double-headed parent puppet worms? Would I just watch him take them away and create more troubles? Although it might not happen, it''s possible.'' Because Zhang Tie didn''t know how many trump cards did demons and Heavens Reaching Church have, he had to consider this possibility.


    Zhang Tie injected a "driving-section" great wildness seal that he had formed in the All Spirits Pagoda into each double-headed parent puppet worm from his mind sea so as to control them like controlling pets.


    As Zhang Tie had just reached the 15th floor of All Spirits Pagoda, he could control all the living beings below LV 15. Double-headed parent puppet worms were LV 14 living beings; therefore, it could be controlled by Zhang Tie.


    After reaching the 15th floor of All Spirits Tower, he met a bottleneck. Each step forward would be more difficult. If Zhang Tie wanted to reach a higher floor and control all the living beings below knight level, he had to recite great wildness sutra for 418,100,000 times. Without 20 years'' penance, he could barely make it. Even though Zhang Tie always cultivated Great Wilderness Sutra whenever he was free, he was not sure that he could make it within 30 years...


    After being affected by the great wilderness seals, the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms only slightly moved in the liquid of the containers before becoming still.


    When the great wilderness seals were injected into the bodies of the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms, a statue of double-headed parent puppet worm appeared on the wall of the 15th floor of All Spirits Pagoda. At the same time, Zhang Tie established a mysterious link with the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms and sensed the reliance from the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms...


    After doing this, Zhang Tie recovered everything in the secret space to their original looks before starting a cultivation by sitting in the air with crossed legs and waiting for someone to come here for the double-headed parent puppet worms...

 1092 Getting Hooked

    Chapter 1092: Getting Hooked


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Commoners might barely bear a long time wait; however, Zhang Tie felt it was pretty easy.


    With multitasking ability, Zhang Tie could observe the situation in the underground space with his lotus-flower eyes while catching water-element crystals by huge hands of spiritual energy so as to form his water chakra. In the process, he would even close his eyes to recite great wilderness sutra as an adjustment. Sometimes, he directly had a nap with closed eyes while lying in the air.


    Zhang Tie just waited for the prey in the secret space patiently.


    He planned to wait there for 20 days. If nobody came inside within 20 days, he would take away the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms, leaving the tracing feathers here. If someone really came here within 20 days, he would deal with it according to the changing circumstances.


    On the first day since Zhang Tie started to wait inside the secret space, three more teams of knights came to the underground space in Pingsha Valley.


    Whenever some knights entered the underground space, Zhang Tie would watch those people going around in the secret space which looked like a box in the playing field with a dozens of meters thick wall between them. What an amazing feeling! Zhang Tie could see them, yet they couldn''t see Zhang Tie. Everything was one-way transparent for Zhang Tie.


    In the next one week, 2 to 4 teams of knights would come here everyday. However, none of them could find anything.


    One week later, the number of knights who came to Pingsha Valley suddenly reduced. Only 1-2 teams of knights would come here per day. Like how Zhang Tie conjectured, after the event in Zhongzhou Province broke out for more than a month, those who could come here had almost come here. Those who were unable to come here might have already known the situation in Pingsha Valley through various channels. After knowing that they could not gain any useful intelligence from this underground space, they didn''t come here anymore.


    After another 3-5 days, Pingsha Valley became really deserted. Sometimes, nobody came here for a whole day.


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had stayed 16 days in the secret space.


    During this period, the prey didn''t come. However, Zhang Tie lit the 38th scale of his water chakra. Additionally, he recited great wilderness sutra for another over 500,000 times.


    Nobody came to Pingsha Valley on the 17th day. Zhang Tie almost changed his mind. He started to reflect that he might be too confident about his speculation. The Heavens Reaching Church might not pay too much attention to the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms. Perhaps, the Heavens Reaching Church was too meticulous. They might wait for another few months or even years. When the event was completely forgotten by people, they would come back.


    ''If so, I will leave in another 3 days.'' Zhang Tie made a determination.


    No matter what, Zhang Tie couldn''t just wait here endlessly. Because Bai Suxian was still waiting for him. The Fire Dragon Bounty Territory and the Iron-Dragon Sect had to be hosted by him.


    During the 17 days since he left Iron-Dragon Airboat, Bai Suxian would contact him by remote-sensing crystal one time per two days so as to ensure that Zhang Tie was safe.


    At this moment, Iron-Dragon Airboat was parked in the aircraft base in Zhongzhou City and was waiting for Zhang Tie.


    On the evening of the 17th day when Zhang Tie almost changed his mind, another black iron knight entered the underground space.


    When this knight entered this underground space, he started to look around the empty bloody sea like what the others would always do. After throwing a glance at him, Zhang Tie directly ignored him.


    However, after looking around it for a short while, the black iron knight suddenly rose high into the air and moved around the dome of the underground space. Zhang Tie became a bit spirited; however, he was not sure whether there was any problem with this black iron knight. Over these days, Zhang Tie had seen some knights looking around in the air. Some of them would even knock at the massif and the dome. However, none of them could discover anything.


    When this person looked around in the air for a short while and approached the location of the secret space slowly, Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he realized that the prey was coming.


    The black iron knight was an old d**chebag with a cold face. When this old guy approached the location of the secret space, Zhang Tie was sure that there was some problem with this guy. Closely after that, Zhang Tie started his lotus-flower eyes and saw through the real face of the arriver.


    This man was wearing a disguising mask. The face under the disguising mask was much younger than the disguising mask. It seemed that he was in the prime of his life. With long, narrowed eyes, he looked ruthless, tyrannical, evil, vigilant and suspicious.


    Zhang Tie had seen this man; precisely, he had seen the image of this man on the city gates across Taixia Country. He was Wen Haoyun, the master of Pingsha Sect and Wen Clan, who was wanted by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country due to the event of bloody figures in Zhongzhou Province.


    Wen Haoyun soon approached the periphery of the secret space. Floating in the air, he put one hand against the thick cliff. At the same time, he released his battle qi and broke a wide area of rocks silently. After waving his hand, all the broken rocks were teleported into his portable space-teleportation item instead of falling on the ground.


    When Wen Haoyun started to move, Zhang Tie moved too. In a split second, Zhang Tie threw a glance at the secret space and confirmed that he didn''t leave any trace inside. After that, he returned to Castle of Black Iron. At the same time, a little black beetle appeared and hid itself at the bottom of one black container while concealing its qi.


    The bottoms of the 4 containers were plain. However, there was a 3 cm-high edge around each bottom, which was used to support and prevent the bottom from being worn.


    Because of the slight difference in weight between those double-headed parent puppet worms and the liquid in the 4 containers, Zhang Tie would not be easily discovered by people while hiding at the bottom of one container.


    As for a knight, as long as he made a decision, dozens of meters'' thick rocks couldn''t block him at all.


    Hiding over there, Zhang Tie only felt that the ground slightly vibrated. In less than 5 minutes, Wen Haoyun had broken a hole on a cliff of the secret space and drilled inside.


    After entering the secret space, Wen Haoyun glanced around the secret space with gleaming eyes. When he found that everything remained unchanged in the secret space and the 4 containers were still lying there, he immediately became reassured as he let out a sigh.


    At this moment, no matter how rich imagination did he have, he couldn''t imagine that a person had already entered this secret space in the incarnation of a strange insect.


    Wen Haoyun put away that fluorite rapidly. Closely after that, he lifted the handles of two containers by each hand and exited this secret karst cave as fast as he could.


    After exiting the secret karst cave, Wen Haoyun didn''t leave right away; instead, after moving dozens of meters backward, Wen Haoyun suspended in the air. Closely after that, his battle qi went berserk.


    He started to release his knight-level battle qi by kicking. Being dozens of meters away, a lot of rocks fell off the dome. Meanwhile, those broken rocks in his portable space-teleportation item were also poured down by him.


    In less than 5 minutes, the natural karst cave where the underground secret space was located in had been completely destroyed by him. After doing this, Wen Haoyun casually made some more big pits on the dome. Closely after that, he immediately flew towards the ground as fast as a lightning bolt.


    The little beetle had seen what Wen Haoyun had done.


    This guy was indeed meticulous and experienced. Through such a destruction, he completely erased the trace of that secret space and destroyed the evidence. Later on, even though those people in the Supreme Court came here to check out the situation once again, they could only think that some knights were exploring something here. They would never imagine that there was a secret space in the dome; not to mention that some items in the secret space were taken away...


    ...


    The moment Wen Haoyun flew out of the entrance of the underground cave, a man in a black boa-silk robe had flown over here. Given his qi, he was an earth knight.


    After staying in the underground space for 17 days, when Zhang Tie came out of there once again, he found that it was still pitch-dark outside. Additionally, it was cloudy with no sparkling stars in the sky. The moisture and coldness in the air also indicated that Pingsha Valley was always cloudy these days.


    "How about it?" The new arriver asked Wen Haoyun. At the same time, he glanced at the 4 containers in Wen Haoyun''s hands.


    "Everything is okay. It''s not been discovered yet!" Wen Haoyun glanced around vigilantly before asking, "Is it okay outside?"


    "It''s okay. I''ve been observing this place for so many days. Almost nobody came here for a few days." That earth knight in the black robe answered, "Now that we''ve got the items, let''s leave out of here fast. The young master is still waiting for us!"


    "Right!" Wen Haoyun nodded. Closely after that, they all flew off towards afar silently.


    In case of being noticed by others, they didn''t release their battle qi luster when they left Pingsha Valley. Therefore, their flight speed was only about 200 miles per hour at a relatively lower height. Not until they flew over 60 miles away from Pingsha Valley and entered the wild did they hide in two places respectively to confirm that nobody was following them. After that, they converged once again while flying towards afar like two meteors at a high speed.

 1093 Targeting the Culpri

    Chapter 1093: Targeting the Culprit


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The little beetle tightly hid inside the edge at the bottom of a container. Due to the effect of hiding skill, the little beetle completely hid its qi. Even its color had turned as same as the bottom of the container. If not upside down, it was hard to notice that little beetle near the edge at the bottom of the container...


    Zhang Tie was not surprised that Wen Haoyun had a partner. Now that Heavens Reaching Church was preparing to make trouble in Zhongzhou Province, if Wen Haoyun didn''t have a partner, it would be extremely strange. What shocked Zhang Tie most was the young master which was mentioned by the two people.


    Zhang Tie knew that he had absolutely caught a big fish this time. If he could figure out the status of that young master and the force on his back, Zhang Tie might be able to discover that culprit who had framed him.


    Everything happened so abruptly that Zhang Tie could almost not believe it.


    However, after considering it for a short while, Zhang Tie found that everything happened naturally. Besides Zhang Tie himself, who else could notice the secret space in the dome of the underground space? Who else could hide in the secret space in the incarnation of a little beetle and have the two people bring him to meet the so-called young master?


    Although it looked like a coincidence, the development of the event was mainly determined by his overall strength besides fortune.


    If Zhang Tie didn''t have so many trump cards and great battle strength, he might not have the two people bring him to meet the so-called young master even if he could discover the vigilant behaviors of the two people.


    ''The god helps those who help themselves.''


    Thankfully, Zhang Tie was using the incarnation of the little beetle. If Zhang Tie was outside at this moment, after hearing such a conversation, his heart would almost jump out of his mouth due to the excitement.


    After being a scapegoat for almost 4 years, when he came to the earth surface, Zhang Tie felt that he finally had a good luck. By contrast, that culprit started to have bad lucks constantly. Every dog had its day.


    ...


    After Wen Haoyun and that earth knight in black robe flew over 2 hours and left Pingsha Valley for about 600 miles, they saw an airboat in the cloud in front of them.


    This was a golden airboat longer than 500 m. Its specifications and magnificence could even match that of Iron-Dragon Airboat.


    As the former airboat of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, one of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country, Iron-Dragon Airboat was magnificent. At the sight of this airboat, Zhang Tie knew that the young master must be in this airboat. Additionally, the force behind this airboat must be very terrifying too.


    Wen Haoyun and that earth knight in black robe moved very fast. It seemed that they both carried the tools which were used to communicate with people on the airboat. Because the hatch door on one side of the airboat had been silently opened when they arrived.


    Zhang Tie wondered how many powerhouses were in this airboat. There might be a shadow knight inside. If he just entered it in this way, even in the incarnation of a little beetle, he might also encounter an unpredictable danger. Because there were so many secret skills in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie was not sure whether he would be discovered inside. Before entering the airboat, Zhang Tie became slightly hesitated. However, in a split second, his hesitation was replaced by his decisiveness. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. This was the best opportunity. If he was not even brave to do this, he''d better return to Castle of Black Iron to live a peaceful and casual life.


    If he missed such a rare opportunity, he would almost not have the second one.


    When Zhang Tie thought about this, he determined to look at the so-called young master at the risk of his life.


    ...


    Wen Haoyun and that earth knight in a black robe easily entered the airboat. The moment they entered it, the hatch door had been closed up while a fully armored guard was greeting them at the entrance.


    "At the order of the young master, when you came back, you could go to Moons Awaiting Hall."


    Wen Haoyun and that earth knight in a black robe nodded towards each other before walking towards the inside of the airboat silently.


    Staying at the bottom of the metal container, Zhang Tie was stealthily glancing around the inside of this airboat.


    This airboat was extremely luxurious and magnificent. Iron-Dragon Airboat displayed the taste and ambiance of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. By contrast, this airboat displayed its unimaginable luxury.


    The walls on both sides of the aisle inside the airboat were made of pure gold, on which were various landscapes and beautiful patterns. What was more exaggerated, the adornments and decorative patterns on the floor were paved with mithril and earth-element crystals. Additionally, there was a precious artwork and collection in each a few meters on both sides of the aisle. Those artworks and collections shared the same feature, namely, none of them belonged to this age. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see many of them.


    Besides, fully-armored guards above LV 10 were standing solemnly on both sides of the aisle.


    Even though Zhang Tie had been used to be extravagant, he was still a bit dumbfounded at the sight of the layout inside this airboat. Even Taiyi Fantasy Sect might be dwarfed in front of this luxury.


    Given such a flamboyant layout, Zhang Tie realized that very few forces in Taixia Country could match the force behind this airboat.


    However, such a powerful force was colluding with the Heavens Reaching Church and the demons for overthrowing Taixia Country. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded.


    ...


    After Wen Haoyun and that earth knight in the black robe turned two corners and went upstairs, they finally came to the front of a golden, brilliant gate. The moment they approached, the golden gate had been opened. The two guards carried out a sketcher which was covered with a white cloth. There were fresh blood stains on the white cloth. When they brushed against each other, a naked, pale, slim and beautiful hand wrist suddenly drooped down.


    This was a woman''s wrist. There was a verdant bracelet which was made of eternal stone on the wrist. However, the owner of the bracelet had lost her life.


    The two guards, Wen Haoyun and that earth knight in the black robe didn''t feel it strange at all as if it was a piece of wood, pig or dog under the white cloth, instead of a dead person.


    When Wen Haoyun and that earth knight in a black robe entered the gate, the guards outside the gate consciously closed up the gate from outside.


    After the gate was closed up, the hall was fully isolated.


    The hall in front of Zhang Tie covered 1,000 square meters. Everything in the hall was extremely extravagant. There was a huge bed in the middle of the hall. Besides, some girls were playing water in laughter in a swimming pool in the hall. However, the entire room was filled with a rich bloody smell, which didn''t correspond to the pleasant ambiance of those girls.


    A man with long hair was busy doing something on a table in a loose night robe. After hearing the footsteps behind him, the man didn''t even turn around; instead, he continued to mind his own business. Wen Haoyun and that earth knight in a black robe dared not disturb him. They just stood still 10 m behind that man.


    "Have you accomplished the task?" The man asked calmly as he was still busy doing something on the table.


    "Young master, we''ve already accomplished it. We''ve taken out the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms and didn''t meet any trouble on the way..." The earth knight in the black robe answered respectfully.


    "That''s great. My father gained these double-headed parent puppet worms from demons. They''re very precious. With the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms, we will have dozens more corps in a split second in the future. Even if they don''t coordinate with the bloody figures, they could destroy a province too..." The man in the night robe said without turning around.


    "But it''s a bit risky this time. If we were discovered..." The earth knight in the black robe said out of concern.


    "Huh, discovered, so what..." The man just waved his bloody hand with a careless look as his voice turned merciless, "Now that the Supreme Court of Taixia Country couldn''t find it, it''s not reasonable for them to prevent others from discovering it. There are so many talents in Gold and Power Law. I have subordinates who are proficient in seeking for treasures. After discovering something in Pingsha Valley, they directly brought it back. Is that illegal? Even if you''ve exposed your trace and Meng Haishan the chief justice of Zhongzhou Province followed you up, I would just submit it to him as a meritorious deed. By the way, I could slap the face of the Supreme Court. Why not? Nothing to be afraid of!"


    After hearing the man''s words, the earth knight in the black robe exchanged a glance with Wen Haoyun silently.


    When Zhang Tie heard the man''s words, he was shocked so much that his limbs even turned cold.


    ''Gold and Power Law? It''s Gold and Power Law?''


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced. No matter what, Zhang Tie couldn''t imagine that he could encounter this. ''Gold and Power Law, one of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country, also a super organization with the background of the imperial court of Taixia Country is the culprit who framed me? Gold and Power Law colluded with demons?''


    ''Ironically, I joined Gold and Power Law and serve as the dark gold manager of Gold and Power Law! How stupid I am!''


    Zhang Tie''s brain was blank...


    After being blank a short while, Zhang Tie''s brain started to run hard.


    The master of Gold and Power Law was the very financial chancellor, one of the top 9 chancellors in Taixia Country. Given this point, Zhang Tie realized who was the very culprit...


    After recovering his composure, more and more information occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind. He gradually thought through many things.

 1094 A Painstaking Investigation

    Chapter 1094: A Painstaking Investigation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Gold and Power Law was the earliest sect that Zhang Tie touched. Due to the relationship between Zhang Tie and Donder, Gold and Power Law had been involved in his life pretty much and known him pretty well. It could be said that Gold and Power Law had witnessed him growing up from a common boy in Blackhot City to a famous knight. Gold and Power Law had known his experiences in Waii Subcontinent and his trump cards in Ice and Snow Wilderness pretty well. Actually, Gold and Power Law understood Zhang Tie better than Huaiyuan Palace.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that the tragedy in Fuhai City was the revenge from Heavens Reaching Church because he had inflicted a heavy loss to Heavens Reaching Church in Youzhou Province. The revenge happened so fast and fiercely that he almost lost his life.


    Now, he confirmed that the tragedy in Fuhai City was the revenge from Heavens Reaching Church. The culprit indeed wanted to kill Zhang Tie. However, such a fierce and merciless revenge was definitely not because Zhang Tie had inflicted a heavy loss to Heavens Reaching Church. There was one more important reason, namely, that culprit behind Gold and Power Law was clear about Zhang Tie''s growth process very much. They knew his trump cards, abilities and means.


    ''I rose like an eye-catching comet in Waii Subcontinent. After I came to Taixia Country, I showed up prominently in the competition for Youzhou provincial governor. After that, I inflicted a heavy loss to the Heavens Reaching Church in Youzhou Province and became famous across the world. Because of my potential, growth ability, trump cards, that culprit became a bit scared as he felt a threat. Therefore, he screwed me up and wanted to kill me before I grew mature.''


    ''The culprit is visionary. He knew that it would be a big obstacle if I grew mature completely. What the culprit was more scared might be that he still didn''t know how could I rise so fast. He couldn''t even figure out my real trump cards, how could I make such earthshaking achievements in Ice and Snow Wilderness and become the savior of Slavs as was predicted by the prophet and the Great Pontiff of Slavs?''


    Facing this uncertainty and the potential dangerous factors, the safest method was to kill Zhang Tie at the fastest speed. Fierce and powerful figures must be that decisive.


    ''The revenge between the Gobbling Party and I and the news that I was going to propose a marriage in Fan Clan in Yingzhou Province provided an opportunity for the culprit to set up Zhang Tie in Fuhai City.''


    ''Ironically, when I came to Yingzhou Province, I even noticed Gold and Power Law about my schedule in the identity of the dark gold manager of Gold and Power Law and prepared to use the power of Gold and Power Law when in trouble in Yingzhou Province.


    ''It was nothing than seeking for death.''


    ''Is Donder a member of Heavens Reaching Church? How much intelligence about me has Donder provided to Heavens Reaching Church?''


    After figuring out the casual relationship that he had encountered in Fuhai City, Zhang Tie immediately felt clear-minded. Meanwhile, a thought occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, ''No, Donder is definitely not a member of Heavens Reaching Church. He should be innocent about that the master of Gold and Power Sect framed me.''


    ''Donder was just a spy of Gold and Power Law in Blackhot City. Even now, Donder is just a bright gold manager in Gold and Power Law and couldn''t touch such a top secret. If Donder could know this top secret, how could the master of Gold and Power Law, also the finance minister of Taixia Country sit in this position steadily?


    Not only Donder, even some managers and directors with higher levels in Gold and Power Law couldn''t know there was some problem with their master.


    Although Gold and Power Law was one of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country, its form of organization was greatly different than that of other sects. Its members were more like those of a club or an industry organization. Their positions in Gold and Power Law were determined by their contributions and accumulated points. The members of Gold and Power Law accomplished the objectives of the organization through cooperation instead of delivering or taking commands.


    Whatever, as Hua people, most of the people were patriotic since they were born. There were many loyal and bold people in Taixia Country. Apparently, not every member of a sophisticated organization like Gold and Power Law was an upright gentleman. However, at least nobody was wanted by the Supreme Court in the Gold and Power Law. It was more like a joke if you treated every member of Gold and Power Law as a rebel and lackey of demons. To a certain extent, the members of Gold and Power Law, especially senior members were the beneficiaries of the existing orders among Hua people in Taixia Country. Of course, they would maintain these orders on their own initiatives instead of thinking about overthrowing them, which would be in contradiction with their class interests.


    The founder of Gold and Power Law was the imperial court of Taixia Country and Emperor Xuanyuan. As one of the 9 ministers in Taixia Country, each financial chancellor served as the master of Gold and Power Law. Honestly, the master of Gold and Power Law was like a half-official position appointed by the imperial court and Emperor Xuanyuan. As the master of Gold and Power Law and one of the top chancellors of Taixia Country, that person could mobilize a lot of resources of Gold and Power Law for his own benefit; pull some dare-to-die soldiers over to his side in Gold and Power Law, and make many plots. However, he could never assimilate the power of Gold and Power Law as his own strength. A commander of a military region or a provincial governor of Taixia Country could not treat an entire military region or a province as his own territory and sphere of influence, when the old managers and directors resigned in Gold and Power Law, the new ones would replace them.


    The problem was that how many mines had that culprit buried in Taixia Country as the financial chancellor? One of those mines had been detonated, what about the others? How many forces had that culprit pulled over to his side in Gold and Power Law?


    The first question was out of Zhang Tie''s ability. Zhang Tie felt that this question should be considered by the top three chancellors and Emperor Xuanyuan of Taixia Country instead of him. As for the second question, since he entered this airboat, none of those guys on this airboat was good. These guys should be the trusted subordinates of that culprit and the b*stards of Heavens Reaching Church who could know the top secrets. This young master might be that culprit''s direct descendant.


    Given his qi, this young master should also be an earth knight.


    As he had just been in this airboat for a short while, Zhang Tie was not sure whether there was anyone above e the shadow knight in other rooms of this airboat. However, given the situation of this room, perhaps all the knights in the airboat were here. If there was any high-level knight, he should show up when Wen Haoyun and that earth knight in the black robe came back with the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms.


    Zhang Tie became clear-minded when he figured out these questions.


    ''What should I do now?''


    ...


    When Zhang Tie thought through everything, that young master finally turned around from the table.


    Given his look, that man was at his 20s. However, now that he was already an earth knight, it was hard to judge his real age only by his look.


    That man looked very handsome yet a bit evil. There were more white parts than black parts in his eyes. In a loose night robe, his whiteware-like skin and calf were exposed. Additionally, he didn''t wear shoes. While barefoot, he looked a bit floppy and casual. Besides the waistband, Zhang Tie doubted that this guy wore anything inside his night robe.


    When the man turned around, Zhang Tie saw his work and some bloody tools on the table.


    His work was a woman''s arm with hand being immersed in a transparent medicament of a sealed high special crystal bottle. Holding a flower, it was pale and lifeless like being frozen.


    Watching this hand, the man let out a sigh satisfactorily before cleaning his bloody hands by a towel. At the same time, he told Wen Haoyun and that earth knight in the black robe, "This is the hand of the princess of Chequ Country in Goldenrock Subcontinent. This woman''s hands were well cared since she was young. Her hands were washed by human milk since she was 8 years old. Therefore, her skin was pretty elastic. Until now, her skin was still as same as that of an 8-year old little girl. Besides, there was a local profession called bone-correction master in Goldenrock Subcontinent. Bone-correction master could gradually correct people''s bone shapes and look by an external force. Bone-correction master had spent a lot of time on her hands. Therefore, her fingers looked plump and slim. When she reached her orgasm, the qi and blood in her arm were very active. Additionally, her skin looked a bit rosy. With the effect of the blood-circulation invigoration method, this hand''s qi and blood could remain unchanged for a long time. Among my 200 more collections of beauties'' hands, this one could at least rank top 10. Alas, I''m afraid that I could barely meet another perfect collection like this in the next few years!"


    Wen Haoyun and that earth knight in black robe watched that broken arm with glassy-eyed looks as they didn''t feel that a dead woman''s arm was beautiful at all. However, after hearing these words, Zhang Tie felt absolutely terrified. It was his first time to meet such a pervert, sc*mbag and b*stard who enjoyed collecting woman''s body parts and organs.


    When Zhang Tie thought about the corpse which was carried away by the two guards under the white cloth when he entered this room while a killing intent went berserk in his mind.


    How horror-struck and despaired the woman was when she was killed. The man who made love with her suddenly chopped off her arm and liked to collect it.


    ''What a pervert!''


    ''You son of b*tch!''


    Zhang Tie didn''t launch an attack right away; he just listened to their conversation...


    ...

 1095 Malicious

    Chapter 1095: Malicious


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Perhaps a few years later, the young master will have better collections. Most of the daughters in major clans are beauties. The female knights in major sects are more excellent. If the young master makes his dream come true, a princess of Chequ Country is nothing. Numerous beauties in Taixia Country are all yours, the young master!"


    The moment that earth knight in the black robe uttered, the guy called the young master burst out into laughter, "Hahaha, I like your words. It''s in the holy war; princesses in subcontinents become valueless. However, this woman was still dreaming about marrying me and meeting my father in Xuanyuan Hill. How ridiculous she was! When I chopped off her arm, she looked pretty wonderful. Finally, before I killed her, she had been scared to death. Those subcontinents are suffering from the demonized puppets. After a few years, it''s hard to see the situation facing the major clans in Taixia Country. The so-called major clans are actually concentrating on making profits."


    "Everything should be under the control of master for the sake of the longlasting undertakings of our bloody soul temple and the humiliation that bloody soul temple was exterminated by the top 7 sects in Taixia Country!" Wen Haoyun licked the young master''s shoes.


    ''Isn''t it Heavens Reaching Church? Why does it turn to be bloody soul temple? Is the Heavens Reaching Church related to the bloody soul temple which has been exterminated?''


    A whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind as his heart raced.


    On this occasion, the casual conversation between a couple of people contained a lot of information.


    "My father has been in Xuanyuan Hill for so many years. He endures hardships to plan retaliation. The throne of Emperor Xuanyuan should be assumed by virtuous ones instead of being exclusive to any clan. As it is in the holy war, with the assistance of demons, it''s a good opportunity for us to overthrow the reign of Taixia Country." The young master waved his hand as he said generously. Due to excitement, his snow-white cheeks even blushed, which looked a bit evil.


    "Young master, the master said that the elements tide a few months ago was not aroused by any prince of Taixia Country. The Xuanyuan God Sutra might have been leaked. Although the imperial households of Xuanyuan Hill looked calm, actually, they had been anxious like ants on a hot pan. The imperial relatives affairs minister, one of the 9 ministers has already left Xuanyuan Hill for over 2 months. Superficially, the minister is inspecting the private territories and prefectures of all the princes; actually, he''s looking for the person who aroused the elements tide!"


    "The imperial households of Taixia Country are too tricky. This might be a false news that the imperial households released purposefully in order to draw the snake out of its hole. In the chaos, those who have ulterior motives would show themselves and be caught all in one draft!" The young master narrowed his eyes while a weird look flashed by, "We cannot cover the news that Emperor Xuanyuan is missing anymore. The imperial households of Taixia Country have to do something to stabilize the overall situation!"


    "Hoho, the overall situation of Taixia Country has been under the control of the master. The whole country is going to be chaotic. They could not stabilize it at all!"


    "The more chaotic Taixia Country is, the more possible my father is going to overthrow Xuanyuan Hill." The young master revealed a smile as he waved his hand, "Well, bring me the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms..."


    Wen Haoyun and that earth knight in the black robe opened the four containers by keys, exposing the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms. The young master walked over here and watched them seriously, "Not bad, these items provided by demons have strong vitality. Pitifully, if the bloody sea in Zhongzhou Province was not destroyed, after a few days, the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms would have played their role with the coordination of the army of bloody figures!"


    "This humble subordinate is useless. Please punish me, young master!" Wen Haoyun hurriedly lowered his head to admit his guilt.


    "The event in Pingsha Valley is not your fault!" The young master''s voice turned cold with sparkling bloody eye light, "We''ve confirmed the news from Xuanyuan Hill. After our assassination plan in Jinwu City failed, Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace discovered our mole in Jinwu City. After that, they notified the Supreme Court. The Zhongzhou Provincial Court dispatched its elites to catch the assassinators in Pingsha Valley and figured out the relationship between this event and the tragedy in Fuhai City. They didn''t even know that there was a bloody sea beneath Pingsha Valley..."


    "Our assassinators and moles in Jinwu City had been well prepared for the emergencies. Even if they failed the assassination and exposed themselves, they would never leak any information to others. How could Huaiyuan Palace get any intelligence from them?" The earth knight in the black robe asked in a dubious voice.


    "Nothing is perfect in this world. Otherwise, Emperor Xuanyuan would not be missing. We don''t even know whether he''s alive or not. It could only be said that we''ve underestimated others. I''ve not imagined that Huaiyuan Palace could ruin our big plan for a couple of times besides Zhang Tie. We have to get even with them for this..."


    "May I know your plan, young master?"


    "After the Treasures Meeting in Gold and Power Law comes to an end in a few days, you two go to Youzhou Province!" The young master said with weird flickering eye light.


    Wen Haoyun exchanged a glance with that earth knight in the black robe as they both knew what the opponent was thinking about. ''The Youzhou provincial governor comes from Huaiyuan Palace. Besides Zhang Taixuan who''s an earth knight, Huaiyuan Palace has a few clan elders. What is more, Huaiyuan Palace is the local tyrant in Youzhou Province, which has a great influence in both officialdom and among the people. Only by whistling, they could converge a lot of people at once. Additionally, Youzhou Province has just been established. As Youzhou Province is remote, we have no foundation in Youzhou Province at all. It''s okay for us to dispatch some killers and moles to frighten Huaiyuan Palace; however, if two knights are dispatched to fight Huaiyuan Palace, we will never be in an advantageous position; we might even lose our lives.''


    After considering about it in this way, the earth knight in the black robe finally asked, "Young master, after the event in Jinwu City, Huaiyuan Palace must have made precautions about other attacks. Additionally, Zhang Tie''s order for arrest has been canceled. He might return to Youzhou Province at any time. Furthermore, I''ve heard that Heavens Fortune Sect has a special relationship with Huaiyuan Palace. Zhang Tie''s three sons are learning in Heavens Fortune Sect. After Zhang Tie was wanted, Heavens Fortune Sect even dispatched a knight-level powerhouse to protect Jinwu City. The two of us are not afraid of death. But if we really want to fight Huaiyuan Palace in Youzhou Province, we might be a bit weak!"


    "Who told you to fight Huaiyuan Palace to death? There''re many ways to strike Huaiyuan Palace. You only need to find an opportunity to do something for me!"


    "May I know the details?"


    "Bring me Zhang Tie''s wives..."

 1096 Berserk Killing Inten

    Chapter 1096: Berserk Killing Intent


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Zhang Tie''s wives?" Wen Haoyun exchanged glances with that earth knight in the black robe.


    "Right, Zhang Tie''s three wives. Although they''re not Hua, they look good!" The young master revealed an evil smile with faintly bloody sparkling eyes, "I think that Huaiyuan Palace and Heavens Fortune Sect would dispatch knights to especially protect Zhang Tie''s wives no matter how many knights do they have. Therefore, it''s not difficult for you to do that. You could find an opportunity to bring me Zhang Tie''s three wives. With some more arms of foreign women, my collections would be more interesting!"


    "It''s indeed not difficult for us to bring you the 3 women!" The earth knight in the black robe slightly frowned as he continued, "But...but why? Zhang Tie could have many beautiful women as long as he wants..."


    The earth knight in the black robe was right. In this age, most of the knights could have as many beautiful women as possible except for the most beautiful one in the world. In the eyes of knights, common women were just like their clothes, who could not even match their boa-silk robes. Common women were purely low-priced and easily worn articles.


    "Hahaha, you don''t know that. The three women are not common; instead, they have experienced hardships with Zhang Tie in Waii Subcontinent. Zhang Tie couldn''t leave them. He had been looking after them when in Waii Subcontinent. Finally, he brought them to Taixia Country. They have high positions in Zhang Tie''s heart and Zhang Tie''s family. Evidently, they''re utterly different than common knight''s wives!" The young master shook his head as he stretched out one finger and said in a cold voice, "First, the sons of the three women have been enrolled by Heavens Fortune Sect. It indicates that Heavens Fortune Sect dare protect Zhang Tie and go against us. If we catch the mothers of the three disciples of Heavens Fortune Sect, it''s equal to slapping the face of Heavens Fortune Sect. It could shock Heavens Fortune Sect and others. We need to let everybody know that nobody could go against us without any price!"


    "Second, Zhang Tie has left Huaiyuan Palace for a few years. His order for arrest has also been canceled. He must be preparing for returning to Youzhou Province to meet his family members. According to my knowledge of Zhang Tie, this person is a man of feeling. Additionally, the relationship between him and Huaiyuan Palace is not as deep and intimate as that imagined by outsiders. The two parties had conflict in Waii Subcontinent. Huaiyuan Palace had even punished Zhang Tie and driven him out of the elites training agency of Zhang Clan. If Zhang Tie''s three wives were killed, Zhang Tie would definitely come back and complain about Huaiyuan Palace for not protecting them well."


    "Zhang Tie has made too many meritorious deeds for Huaiyuan Palace. When he returns his home and finds that Huaiyuan Palace couldn''t protect his wives, nobody could stay calm and not blame Huaiyuan Palace. It''s equal to burying a thorn and a seed of animosity between Zhang Tie and Huaiyuan Palace. This thorn and seed could at least weaken the unity of Huaiyuan Palace. If we could operate it better, we would even split up and cause internal disorder of Huaiyuan Palace!"


    "Third, Zhang Tie is too famous. Our plot in Fuhai City didn''t kill him; conversely, we made him the most famous black iron knight among humans and shaped him as a hero. As a result, everybody knows that he''s a man of feeling. Even I envy him a bit. This is not the treatment that our opponent or enemy should enjoy!"


    The young master sneered with a strong jealous and crazy voice, "He''s just a b*tch born in Blackhot City. How could he be more famous than me? How could he be more popular than me? I will destroy him. Even if I cannot kill him for the time being, I will drive him mad and make him a laughingstock for everybody in the world. I want to see whether he could still write a memoir in the forum of Mountain of Brightness and continue to perform as the grassroots hero and the man of feeling who moved so many people when his wives'' body parts became others'' collections and everybody else in the world knows that his wives have been sold to the lowest brothels and f*cked by many men every day?"


    "Ahh, Zhang Tie has other wives?"


    "This person is special. That''s why my father pays special attention to him. You might not know this man well. This man has other women in Waii Subcontinent, who have also delivered babies for him. In order to not alert him, my father didn''t alert the relationship of this person in Waii Subcontinent!"


    "Ahh, young master is too wise!" Wen Haoyun flattered him once again, "It''s unimaginable that the three women could be so influential!"


    "When Taixia Country was in great chaos, nobody would care about it anymore. By then, I will pay a visit to Waii Subcontinent to look at his women and children in that barren land, hehhehheh..."


    After saying that, the young master burst out an extremely wicked smile. Anyone at present could identify that the so-called "look at" was not that simple...


    Wen Haoyun and that earth knight in the black robe also burst out into laughter.


    When the three b*stards laughed, they didn''t know that it was their last laughter in this world.


    Among their laughter, a person suddenly appeared on their side out of void...


    That man widely opened his eyes with furious, bloody eyes. At the same time, his hair stood up like spines of a hedgehog...


    He was releasing a burning fury and killing intent rather than his battle qi.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, the two earth knights and the black iron knight at present became amazed and confused distinctively. Because they couldn''t imagine that an alive person suddenly appeared in front of them without any omen.


    As knights, they could even sense the moving trail of a trivial flea jumping out. How could an alive person suddenly appear in front of the three people when they were talking with each other?


    Therefore, in a split second, the three knights couldn''t figure out the reason.


    After that, no matter whether they wanted to figure out the reason, their instincts enabled them to respond to the possible dangers by releasing their protective battle qi or moving backward...


    As knights, they all had very high responsive speeds; especially the two earth knights. No matter how fast could they respond, they had to spend time in completing the whole series of actions from being shocked, alert to making reactions.


    They needed three moments to make reactions; however, Zhang Tie only needed one moment to launch an attack.


    Although they were three people, Zhang Tie could move two times faster than all of them.


    Sometimes, a knight without any precaution could even be assassinated by someone below knight level.


    However, at this moment, it was Zhang Tie who went berserk on their side.


    The assassinator was not only a powerful earth knight but also a terrifying divine dominator. The moment he thought about it, he would release an attack in a split second.


    Divine dominators could be the most terrifying assassinators and killers. No knight could be in the defensive state all the time; however, as long as a divine dominator thought about it, he could launch a fatal strike to anyone at present as fast as a lightning bolt.


    "Go die!" Zhang Tie roared while an icy, strong wind blew over.


    As a result, everything in the room was frozen by the icy, strong wind.


    With a faint smile, before Wen Haoyun revealed his dumbfounded look, Zhang Tie''s overwhelming punches had arrived.


    It seemed that Wen Haoyun wanted to resist Zhang Tie''s punch by raising his hand; however, before his hand raised to his chest, Zhang Tie had punched onto his face...


    Lately, Wen Haoyun the master of Pingsha Sect had been notorious across Taixia Country. His image had been hung over the city gates of all the Class A cities across Taixia Country. With Zhang Tie''s punch, his head was blown out completely...


    His brain spurted towards the faces of the motherf*cking young master and the earth knight in the black robe like colorful ribbons and fireworks...


    The earth knight in the black robe wanted to release his protective battle qi...


    That d*mned young master wanted to release his protective battle qi too; at the same time, he wanted to move backward rapidly so as to move away from the assassinator...

 1097 Iron Punches

    Chapter 1097: Iron Punches


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    At this moment, all the three people were struggling in vain. The moment Zhang Tie launched his attack, the result had been fixed.


    Before Wen Haoyun''s brain spurted onto the two earth knights who were laughing just now, something else arrived. It was a sword and a saber.


    When Zhang Tie came in, the sword and the saber were hanging on the wall of the room. Being inlaid with various gems, the sheaths of saber and sword looked pretty brilliant. It seemed that they were just decorations in this room.


    Even though decorations were unusual in this room. At least they were very sharp weapons which could cut clean through iron as though it were mud.


    When Zhang Tie was a black iron knight, he had already been able to kill a demon baron as a divine dominator; not to mention now. He had already promoted to an earth knight; additionally, he raided them, sparing no time for the opponents to make any preparation.


    The sharp difference in abilities between both parties, plus the time and site that Zhang Tie chose determined that Zhang Tie could release a fatal strike at his full effort like how a fierce lion fought rabbits.


    The blades of the sword and the saber flew off the wall automatically in a split second like dragons that came out of the water and berserk lightning bolts. They arrived wherever Zhang Tie could arrive spiritually. In a split second, the earth knight in a black robe and that damned young master had burst out 8 bloody flowers as their limbs were split off almost at the same time.


    Until then, the two earth knights had not released their protective battle qis yet. They didn''t even sense the pain when their limbs were split off. Neither could they utter any voice. They only felt their limbs turned cold at once while Zhang Tie had caught their heads by his huge hands...


    The two b*stards looked very shocked. They wanted to move; however, they found that they had lost their limbs while the battle qis that had just gone berserk in their bodies were escaping in a split second...


    Not until Zhang Tie covered his hands on their foreheads did the two b*stards sense the pains caused by losing their limbs. However, before they uttered any voice, Zhang Tie had started his purgatory samsara method. The terrifying strength of the secret method had thumped onto their incomplete water chakras, causing them to quiver all over. At the same time, their protective battle qis collapsed and prevented them from uttering at once.


    Zhang Tie had never been so decisive and unswerving. He hated them so much.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that purgatory samsara method could only be used for demons. If he used it for humans, he might have a mental obstacle more or less.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t think too much at that moment. He only thought about killing that young master just now. He must let that b*stard die in front of him in the most painful manner. No matter what means did he use to kill this b*stard, Zhang Tie would never have any mental burden; instead, he could only feel it was pretty cool. What this person wanted to do had exceeded the upper limits of Zhang Tie''s tolerance and imagination.


    The young master and that earth knight in the black robe were held by Zhang Tie like two salty fish being dried under the sunshine.


    With the effect of the purgatory samsara method, the two earth knights who had lost their limbs couldn''t even scream. Their muscles twisted while blood and sweet flew off their bodies. After their incomplete water chakras collapsed, they passed out completely due to the great pains which felt like pulling out tendons and grinding bones.


    Only in a few minutes, Zhang Tie had completely absorbed the two people''s incomplete water chakras.


    "Who...who are you?" The young master opened his eyes and watched Zhang Tie with fearful and weak eye light when his incomplete water chakra was being absorbed.


    "Don''t you want to hurt my wives?" Zhang Tie asked icily, "How could you don''t know me..."


    "Zhang Tie?"


    The b*stard being caught by Zhang Tie was shocked at once. Because Zhang Tie had not recovered his original look yet, after hearing that he was Zhang Tie, the young master responded with an unbelievable look. However, Zhang Tie didn''t have time to explain to him; instead, he just replied icily, "You''re right!"


    "You cannot kill me, my father is..." The young master''s face flushed at once as he started to shout with his full efforts after sensing the bit killing intent of Zhang Tie.


    With a loud sound "bang...", Zhang Tie forcefully patted the head of the young master onto his chest, causing his whole trunk to explode like a broken watermelon, spraying his blood and broken body parts all over the ground.


    Zhang Tie would feel disgusting about having this b*stard breathe fresh air for one more second. Neither would Zhang Tie like to see this b*stard''s ugly face. Therefore, Zhang Tie immediately killed him. After that, Zhang Tie had given vent to his killing intent and fury while recovering his calmness and reason once again.


    Zhang Tie then glanced around this Moons Awaiting Hall.


    In a few minutes, two knights had been killed, one knight had been disabled while the ground was covered with broken limbs and flesh. As a result, the room was filled with a bloody smell. Being isolated by some layers of the veil, the pleasant ringing laughter of those girls in the pool didn''t stop at all as if they had not noticed the massacre here at all.


    The laughter of the girls formed a sharp contrast with the bloody scene, causing the ambiance in the room to be weird.


    As this room had been installed with a sound-insulation facility, all the sounds inside could be isolated. As long as the door was closed, anybody outside the door could not know what happened inside. Only when the bell rang from inside could the people outside the door enter the room. Previously, this sound-insulation facility was used for this pervert to do abnormal things inside the room; however, it became Zhang Tie''s best cover now.


    After recovering his composure, watching the incomplete corpses on the ground, Zhang Tie realized that he was too impulsive just now. If the two b*stards were teleported into Castle of Black Iron, they might be the best raw materials for the bloody sacrifice furnace. It was a bit "wasteful" for an earth knight and a black iron knight to die so easily.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t feel pitiful at all. He couldn''t weigh the pros and cons like a difference engine at any time. Just now, Zhang Tie only felt pretty cool to kill that b*stard right away. He didn''t even want that b*stard to utter any word at all.


    Feeling good was the best!


    After glancing around this room, Zhang Tie waved his hand and teleported the earth knight who was still in a coma into Castle of Black Iron and let Heller take care of him. When Zhang Tie was free, he would enter Castle of Black Iron to deal with this b*stard. He would not waste the energy of this earth knight.


    After that, Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy and had two items fly out of the flesh on the ground and suspend in front of him.


    It was a copper-colored finger ring from Wen Haoyun''s hand and an amber bracelet from one wrist of that young master. Zhang Tie realized that they were two space-teleportation items. The greatest difference between space-teleportation items and common items was that the core area of space-teleportation item was covered with mist which could not be seen through by Zhang Tie''s lotus-flower eyes. The two items both had such a feature. Zhang Tie couldn''t see what were inside the space-teleportation items with his lotus-flower eyes; he could only see them by injecting his spiritual energy into them.


    Although the two items flew out of the flesh, they were still as clean and bright as new. Given this feature, Zhang Tie knew they were pretty precious.


    After taking that finger ring, Zhang Tie found it was just a common space-teleportation item. Covering over 40 cubic meters, it contained some food, medicaments, weapons, money and clothes. It seemed that Wen Haoyun prepared all this for himself when he escaped. After throwing a glance at it, Zhang Tie had teleported it into Castle of Black Iron.


    The moment he took that bracelet, he had injected his spiritual energy into it when he saw a lot of dazzling golden and blue light.


    The golden light was given out by a pile of earth-element crystals. Zhang Tie estimated that there were over 100,000 earth-element crystals. It was his first time to see so many earth-element crystals since he promoted to a knight.


    The blue light was given out by over 20,000 water-element crystals.


    Both earth-element crystals and water-element crystals in the space were of very high quality. What an amazing wealth!


    Besides these crystals, there were some crates and vials of medicaments in the space. As Zhang Tie didn''t have time to open them one after another and check them carefully. After taking a deep breath once again, he handed the amber bracelet to Heller in Castle of Black Iron.


    ''What a Gold and Power Law!'' Zhang Tie knew that he made a fortune once again. The inside space of this bracelet could almost match half of that of Xuanwu Secret Warehouse of bloody soul temple. Such a space-teleportation item was definitely priceless.


    It was almost impossible for common knights to gain a space-teleportation item; however, since he gained Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie had been able to easily gain a lot of space-teleportation items wherever he was as if he was tied up with space-teleportation items. Demons and b*stards and lackeys of Three-eye Association would queue up to gift him space-teleportation items. As a result, Zhang Tie even became numb about space-teleportation items.


    Besides, there were some treasures in the room. However, after throwing a glance at them, Zhang Tie directly ignored them and walked towards those girls who were still playing with water cheerily...

 1098 Windfall

    Chapter 1098: Windfall


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Those items in the room were worthless for Zhang Tie. Additionally, if Zhang Tie took them away, there would be endless troubles as long as they were identified by others. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t move them.


    Since Zhang Tie blew up Wen Haoyun''s head by one punch, he had planned to not let anyone else know that it was done by him. Although Wen Haoyun''s head could bring him a lot of benefits and great reputation, it was nothing compared to the risk of being revenged by a powerhouse above shadow knight level for the death of his son.


    It was very sophisticated in Taixia Country. Not until today did Zhang Tie figure it out a bit. Zhang Tie had not enjoyed his life yet. If he lifted his head above the parapet, it wouldn''t do him any good.


    When Zhang Tie walked towards the pool, he separated the veil with the ability of divine dominator.


    Five stunning 18-year old naked girls were playing with water in the pool. Watching Zhang Tie coming over here, those girls directly walked out of the pool without any fear and wanted to play with Zhang Tie. Some of them even started to seduce him by twisting their waists and stroking his body.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had been surrounded by the 5 naked, innocent, romantic girls.


    These girls were faintly panting and doing various seductive movements.


    ''These girls are definitely abnormal.''


    "Brother, come on, play water with your young sister..."


    "Brother, the young sister feels itchy here, touch it..."


    When the girl said this, she pulled Zhang Tie''s hand and had him touch her groin.


    "Ta..." Zhang Tie uttered a loud syllable which contained a special strength. When they heard this sound, all the girls stayed still like being applied with a magic.


    When the girls stayed still, they were still watching him with enchanting smiles. However, when Zhang Tie looked at their eyes seriously, he found their eyes were empty. The black pupils were like black stagnant water, which were lifeless and terrifying.


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside. After having a try with a secret skill in Soul Forbidden Method, Zhang Tie realized that these girls had been fixed. They were just like the walking dead. Although they were still alive physically, they were already dead spiritually. They were just decorations in this pool and this room. Like those paintings on the wall and the vase on the table, they had become lifeless furnishings and tools for others to give vent to. No matter what happened in this room, they would just play with water innocently and romantically like machines here. Anyone who entered the veil could control them and become their master.


    They were the most advanced and brutal furnishings and props.


    If the 5 girls had just been fixed with Soul Forbidden Method, Zhang Tie could still save them. However, their spirits and souls had vanished. All their movements were preset. Even immortals could not save them. They''d better die than live.


    ''How many heartless things has that b*stard called the young master done?''


    ...


    "Wish you could be others'' daughters, wives, mothers and have a lot of children in the next lives; Wish you have safe lives and meet your beloved ones and never fall in the hand of bad people in the next lives!"


    After whispering something to the 5 statue-like girls, Zhang Tie slightly pointed at their foreheads respectively. The 5 girls then closed their empty eyes at the same time as they lay on the ground breathlessly like having fallen asleep. They were free from pains completely.


    All the living beings had their souls. Even though they had lost their spirits, they could still understand Zhang Tie''s last words. When they finally closed up their eyes, they dropped off a tear at the same time...


    After watching their tear stains and beautiful naked bodies by the pool for a long while, Zhang Tie finally pulled off the veil and wrapped the 5 girls'' naked bodies by it. After that, he teleported them into Castle of Black Iron and had Edward bury them under flowering shrubs on the Immortal Mountain.


    After doing all this, Zhang Tie''s expression turned icy once again. He turned around and strode towards the gate of the room, closely followed by the saber and the sword which had just chopped off the two earth knights'' limbs like a swimming fish.


    When Zhang Tie was 2 m away from the gate, the golden gate had opened automatically. The two rows of fully-armored guards flatted on their arms to Zhang Tie. At the sight of the stranger walking out of the room with a solemn look, they all became stunned.


    Zhang Tie didn''t spare any time for them to utter a voice.


    The 10 guards'' metal helmets and armors were collapsed and shrunk almost at the same time by a great force as if they were made of paper.


    The two rows of guards fell down silently at the same time while thick blood spurted out of their helmets and armors, covering the sumptuous carpets in a split second.


    After promoting to an earth knight, with the effect of his earth chakra, Zhang Tie made a great breakthrough and entered a terrifying realm in controlling various metals with the ability of a divine dominator. When Zhang Tie was a black iron knight, he couldn''t collapse and shrink those LV fighters'' hard metal helmets and armors only by glancing around them. However, at this moment, it was pretty easy for him to do it.


    Zhang Tie discovered this ability after promoting to an earth knight. He then became more curious about the ability of divine dominator after promoting to a shadow knight.


    ''After forming my earth chakra, I gained an amazing ability in controlling metals that are produced in the earth. His ability as divine dominator could resonate with metals. Although it looks unbelievable, it''s pretty easy for Zhang Tie to do that. He could control metals with the ability of divine dominator even more easily than holding them.''


    ''If I form water chakra, could I control water with the ability of divine dominator? In the current situation, I could not control water and liquid with the ability of divine dominator.''


    ''What if I formed wind chakra and fire chakra?''


    ''Pitifully, there are very few divine dominators in this world, very few people could figure out the potential ability of this profession. Cultivation methods about this profession could be rarely touched by commoners. Therefore, I have to explore it myself step by step.''


    ...


    Zhang Tie traversed the bloody aisle with a glassy-eyed look.


    After Zhang Tie promoted to an earth knight, his ability as a divine dominator was too terrifying for those who were below knight level. Only after glancing around them, Zhang Tie had collapsed their helmets and armors and broken their heads, skeletons and guts, causing their helmets and armors their own coffins.


    Zhang Tie killed everyone he saw on the way from the prow to the stern of the airboat, from the bottom to the top. Nobody could utter a voice before death.


    The massacre proceeded silently.


    As was predicted by Zhang Tie, there wasn''t any knight on the airboat anymore.


    10 minutes later, Zhang Tie killed hundreds of guards on the airboat and finally came to the cockpit of the airboat.


    When he came to the cockpit, the gate opened automatically. After hearing the gate opening, the group of 7 in the cockpit turned around at the same time. Zhang Tie walked in like nobody was inside. Closely after that, the cockpit was filled with the sounds of cracking bones and splashing blood. In a split second, all the workers in the cockpit were cleaned.


    Now that Zhang Tie could drive airships, he could drive airboats too because the latter was more easily operated than the former. Additionally, the airboat was matched with autopilot function.


    After glancing at the navigational chart of the airboat, Zhang Tie found that the airboat was heading for Gold and Power Market. Therefore, Zhang Tie altered the course and flight height of the airboat. After making a turn, he had the airboat ascend constantly until it almost reached the highest point. When it approached the sparsely populated top region of the stratosphere, it flew towards the east at its maximal speed. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie closed all the entrances of the airboat and had the airboat enter the silent long-range flight.


    After fixing the course and navigational speed of the airboat, Zhang Tie left the cockpit.


    Actually, Zhang Tie could teleport this airboat into Castle of Black Iron with his spiritual energy after promoting to an earth knight. However, after considering it carefully, he gave it up. First, it was too eye-catching for him to do that. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether it would arouse others'' attention if such a giant suddenly disappeared in the air. By doing this, he would risk exposing his trump card. After all, it was in Taixia Country, even a thunder hawk could attract the attention of an old monster, not to mention such a huge airboat. Zhang Tie didn''t want to be a target at all.


    Second, this airboat was involved with the bloody soul temple, the most mysterious and terrifying force in Taixia Country. Zhang Tie didn''t know how many trump cards did the bloody soul temple had in Taixia Country at all. Before the bloody soul temple was completely exterminated, if he presented this airboat in the public, it was nothing different than telling the bloody soul temple that their young major was killed by Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie would never do such a stupid thing.


    Even the top 7 sects in Taixia Country couldn''t completely exterminate the bloody soul temple through cooperation. As a result, some remnants of the bloody soul temple developed into the Heavens Reaching Church and disrupted the country. Given this point, Zhang Tie realized the great power and tolerance of this sect. Facing such a sect, even if someone told Zhang Tie that the bloody soul temple and Heavens Reaching Church had been exterminated once again, Zhang Tie would not fully believe in it. Because nobody knew whether this sect had any remnant and would rise again from the ashes to screw them one day.


    In conclusion, as this airboat might expose his trump card and incur revenge from lunatics and conspirators, it might be worthless in Zhang Tie''s eyes no matter how precious it was.


    If he wanted airboats, with the ability of lotus-flower eyes, he could have a lot of opportunities to gain them. He didn''t need to do that at such a great risk.


    Zhang Tie was clear-minded in front of temptation.


    ...


    After leaving the cockpit and cleaning all the corpses, Zhang Tie came to the bottom of the airboat.


    There were some strange items in a room at the bottom of the airboat. Just now, Zhang Tie saw two guards leaving this room meticulously by lotus-flower eyes.


    The two guards were the very ones who had carried the corpse being covered with white cloth out of the young master''s room just now. They left this room empty-handed. After that, they met Zhang Tie and were killed immediately.


    After coming to the front of the gate of that room at the bottom of the airboat, Zhang Tie found that the gate of that room was tightly locked. Besides, he smelt a strong bloody smell drifting from inside.


    Zhang Tie slightly started his ability as a divine dominator while the three safety locks on the metal gate were unlocked automatically as if they were welcoming Zhang Tie in. After entering the room, Zhang Tie saw an 8-m high huge jar made of super-strong alloy which was always used to make senior helmets and armors. Additionally, the huge alloy jar was covered with some exotic runes. On both sides of the jar, there were stairs and handrails. On the top of the jar, there was a lid made of the same kind of alloy which could slide towards both sides.


    Like the gates of the coffers in banks, the lid was thick and heavy. As it was locked by a hydraulic spiral lock, it was very difficult for one or two commoners to unlock it.


    There were dense, fine pores on the lid. The strong bloody smell was drifting out of the huge jar. Zhang Tie felt that there must be something very terrifying in the huge jar.


    There was indeed something very terrifying in the huge jar because Zhang Tie heard terrifying rustling from inside.


    Zhang Tie didn''t open that lid; instead, he just threw a glance into the huge jar by his lotus-flower eyes out of curiosity.


    At the sight of the things inside the jar, Zhang Tie felt goosebumps all over.


    There were many bloody rats in the huge jar. Giving out metallic luster all over, those rats were gnawing the smooth wall of the jar with sharp teeth.


    The inside smooth wall of the huge jar had long been covered with pits. If not the inside wall of this huge jar was 20 cm thicker, it had long been bitten through by those rats.


    There were some white strips of cloth, scattered broken bones and fresh blood stains inside the huge jar.


    Zhang Tie realized that this huge jar was used for dealing with corpses on the airboat.


    Zhang Tie was familiar with those bloody rats. When in Ice and Snow Wilderness, Zhang Tie had seen mutated rats of their same kind. Although these mutated rats were smaller to those in Ice and Snow Wilderness, they were more destructive and flexible.


    Watching those runes over the huge jar and those mutated rats inside it, Zhang Tie realized that the sc*mbag called the young master might want to cultivate a mutated rat king or have these rats mutate once again.


    Zhang Tie immediately recalled the letter that Cloud Crane left to him. In the letter, Cloud Crane expressed his opinion about cultivating millions of mutated rats so as to reinvigorate the undertaking of the Great Wilderness Sect in the south border of Taixia Country. Given this point, Zhang Tie knew that mutated rats were pretty terrifying.


    ''Was the extermination of the Great Wilderness Sect related to Heavens Reaching Church or it was just a coincidence?''


    The rustling drifting from inside the huge jar made Zhang Tie quiver all over unconsciously. After thinking for a short moment in the room, he ran his spiritual energy and opened the lid on the huge jar.


    The lid was composed of two layers. The lower layer of the lid could prevent the mutated rats from escaping out of the huge jar. They could put in corpse onto the lower layer. After that, they closed the upper layer and manipulated a device outside the lid to drop the corpse into the jar from the lower layer.


    However, Zhang Tie opened the two layers. In a split second, those mutated rats had rushed out of the lid flexibly.


    Zhang Tie was not even afraid of those mutated rats previously, not to mention now.


    Zhang Tie injected a great wilderness seal into the jar while all the mutated rats ran to his side like his pets. After surrounding Zhang Tie, they all looked up at him.


    "Heller, how about these mutated rats?" Zhang Tie asked Heller spiritually.


    "Castle Lord, don''t worry, hand them to me!" Heller replied. He had already understood Zhang Tie''s thought before the latter uttered, "We''ve not had such thrilling mutated living beings in Castle of Black Iron for a long time, these mutated rats could help me kill time!"


    "Well, they are yours!"


    "After coming to Xuanyuan Hill, if Castle Lord is free, you could look around for some special living beings and teleport some into Castle of Black Iron, plants or animals if there are. They might be very useful in the future..."


    "Right! Even if you didn''t warn me, I was also thinking about increasing some biological resources."


    "That''s fine, aww, we''ve got a great achievement this time!"


    After contacting Heller and bearing Heller''s requirements in mind, Zhang Tie had teleported 2/3 of these mutated rats into Castle of Black Iron. The rest hundreds of mutated rats immediately rushed out of the room after receiving the command of Zhang Tie when he pointed at the outside of the room.


    ...


    A few minutes later, after cleaning his traces on the airboat, Zhang Tie found a secret tunnel and left the airboat through it mysteriously in the incarnation of a little beetle before watching such an extremely magnificent unpopulated airboat disappearing in front of him.


    At such a speed, this airboat could fly over 13,000 miles a day. By the next morning, this airboat would completely fly out of the border of Zhongzhou Province and continue to fly towards the west. A few days later, this airboat would leave the air territory of Taixia Country and enter the wild air territory in the west. Without a powerful external strength, this airboat might keep flying in this way forever like a ghost ship. As for where it would reach and whether it would fall into the hand of the others, it had nothing to do with Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie was sure that nobody dared prevent such a giant airboat with the air territory of Taixia Country even if some knights could catch sight of it at least in a short period. The size and magnificence of this airboat represented the identity and position of its owner in Taixia Country. Therefore, common knights dared not stop it.


    Those mutated rats that Zhang Tie left in the airboat could swallow everything eatable in the airboat in a few days, leaving no bones of those dead people at all.


    Therefore, this airboat was destined to disappear in the sight of everybody else. Nobody would know what happened on this airboat, except Zhang Tie himself...


    ...


    After suspending in the air for a few seconds, Zhang Tie forcefully flapped his wings. At this moment, Zhang Tie suddenly found that the little beetle could definitely not reach the height of stratosphere with its own ability. Although the airflow in the stratosphere was stable, it was a bit excessive for a little beetle to enter it.


    However, now that Zhang Tie brought the little beetle to this height, of course, he could descend.


    Thankfully, the little beetle was good at flying itself. Even so, Zhang Tie still didn''t plan to have this little beetle fly in the stratosphere and make any amazing movements in the air. He just had the little beetle curl up as a little heavy lump and fall off freely. Not until it entered the troposphere did it start to flap its wings once again to control its falling speed and height. After stabilizing its speed and height, the little beetle drilled into an airflow in the troposphere and flew rapidly like surfing in the airflow.


    After surfing hundreds of miles away in the airflow, Zhang Tie landed in a hidden place. After that, he rushed into the sky in the incarnation of Cui Li once again towards Zhongzhou City as fast as a lightning bolt...

 1099 Jumping off the Running Train

    Chapter 1099: Jumping off the Running Train


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Iron-Dragon Airboat was slowly flying in the sunny sky.


    For a better viewing feeling, the Iron-Dragon Airboat moved slowly at a speed of about 200 miles per hour.


    Zhang Tie was lying naked on a comfortable armchair leisurely in a pair of sunglasses and a pair of loose short pants under the sunshine like having a vacation. At the same time, he was drinking juice and watching Bai Suxian swim cheerily in a swimsuit in the pool which covered over 100 square meters on the top of the airboat like a mermaid and giggling from time to time.


    Above the swimming pool, the protective metal armor and shield plate had slid off automatically, revealing the open sky through the crystal grille. The top deck of Iron-Dragon Airboat became the best sightseeing platform on the airboat.


    There wasn''t any swimming pool in any other airship. However, there were swimming pools in each bigger airboat. Watching this swimming pool, Zhang Tie had to praise the luxury of Taixia Country.


    As airboats always flew at high speeds and made various maneuvers, the water in the swimming pool could only be stored in the activated storage in normal times. When necessary, water could be released into the swimming pool and be heated to a proper temperature so that people in the airboat could have a nice swim.


    At this moment, Iron-Dragon Airboat had left Zhongzhou City for 5 days. Zhang Tie had long forgotten about the even in Longxi Prefecture, Zhongzhou Province.


    As for the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect on the airboat, during the period Zhang Tie left the airboat, they all thought that their master was cultivating in Iron-Dragon Airboat. Such a short-term cultivation was too common for an earth knight. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s disciples didn''t think too much about that.


    During that period, Iron-Dragon Airboat replenished its supplies in Zhongzhou City; by this chance, Zhang Tie''s disciples traveled around Zhongzhou City and tasted all the yummy food in the city. After completely eliminating their tiredness which was caused by one month''s survival training, when they came back to the airboat, the atmosphere became active once again.


    Only Bai Suxian knew that Zhang Tie was not in the airboat during those days. However, Bai Suxian didn''t know where Zhang Tie had been either. She only knew that Zhang Tie looked more relaxed when he came back as if he had settled a matter which had been weighing his mind for a long time. It was Bai Suxian''s first time to see such a change on Zhang Tie.


    Previously, since they got acquainted with each other in Earth-elements Realm, Bai Suxian intuitively sensed that Zhang Tie was not fully relaxed even though when he was laughing and falling asleep alone. She felt that Zhang Tie was always depressed and alert. Zhang Tie''s mind was like a heavy, grey iron curtain which could not be seen through at all.


    However, after Zhang Tie came back this time, Bai Suxian found that Zhang Tie became sunnier and more relaxed. The grey iron curtain suddenly became as clear as crystals which didn''t make people depressed at all; instead, it revealed the essence of a big, innocent boy.


    Bai Suxian didn''t know what Zhang Tie had done. However, she knew that Zhang Tie must have done something big during those days he left the airboat. Otherwise, Zhang Tie would never be that relaxed. However, even though Bai Suxian was sure that Zhang Tie had done something big during that period, she wondered why there was no major news in well-informed Zhongzhou City during these days. At this moment, all the major news in Zhongzhou City was about Pingsha Valley. However, nothing was new.


    Whereas, Bai Suxian didn''t ask Zhang Tie about that because she was clever.


    After Iron-Dragon Airboat left Zhongzhou City and Zhang Tie left his "cultivation room", the atmosphere in the airboat had started to become active.


    Zhang Tie was now the soul and core of this airboat. When Zhang Tie became relaxed, the entire airboat was filled with cheers and laughter. Zhang Tie''s disciples were all became relaxed as they thought that their master had gained something through cultivation.


    Bai Suxian was also very happy. After Zhang Tie relieved his heavy burden, Bai Suxian had a sweet and relaxed feeling that could only be felt between lovers. In this warm atmosphere, Bai Suxian gave out her beautiful vigor from inside to outside.


    Zhang Tie said it was a good weather today. They could relax on the airboat. Additionally, he had the swimming pools in the airboat filled with water. All the people in the airboat became crazy.


    Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian were in the exclusively private swimming pool on the top deck. Zhang Tie''s disciples were all young, male or female. They were having fun in the big swimming pool at the bottom deck near the stern. Even though the two swimming pools were 100 m away from each other, Zhang Tie could still hear his disciples'' cheers and laughter clearly.


    As the master and master uncle of Iron-Dragon Sect, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian should pay attention to their images. Even though Zhang Tie''s disciples didn''t mind swimming and basking in the sun with him and Bai Suxian, none of them could actually be completely relaxed. Therefore, they''d better relax themselves respectively.


    With a splash, Bai Suxian walked out of the swimming pool.


    Staying with Zhang Tie alone, Bai Suxian was wearing a white bikini hot swimsuit, displaying her perfect and hot body in front of Zhang Tie.


    After drying her hair and body with a towel, Bai Suxian walked over there before lying on Zhang Tie''s side. Zhang Tie''s armchair was definitely large enough which could even hold two people easily. Zhang Tie gave Bai Suxian a cup of juice.


    "This isn''t a good design at all. There should be a movable natural sand beach beside the swimming pool, which would be more romantic..."


    It was definitely the most luxurious and flamboyant thing in this age to swim in the sky. However, princess Bai was still not satisfied with it. She was still complaining about the design of this airboat.


    "Hoho, my elder sister, it''s not your home. I won this airboat from Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Try to imagine how those elders with grey hair and beard swim and bask here in a pair of beach pants, revealing their bony figures."


    Actually, Bai Suxian just made a suggestion casually. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words and imagining the images, she burst out into laughter at once, causing a "puff" sound. However, in the next moment, after recalling that Zhang Tie called her "elder sister", Bai Suxian started to act coquettishly while twisting her body on Zhang Tie side with bouncing plum breasts, "Ahh, you called me elder sister, do you think I''m old..."


    "Well, well, I will not call you elder sister from today on. I will call you young sister..." Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    "Are you teasing me?" Bai Suxian behaved more like a spoiled child. Because only she and Zhang Tie knew the special meaning carried by the appellation of "young sister".


    "Neither I can call you elder sister nor young sister, what else should I call you then?"


    "What did you call me last night? When there''s nobody else, you should call me that..." Bai Suxian blushed.


    "Sure, baby!"


    "I like that!" Bai Suxian kissed Zhang Tie happily. Closely after that, she buried her body in Zhang Tie''s arms and put her hand onto Zhang Tie''s chest. Tilting her head, she watched Zhang Tie as she let out a sigh satisfactorily, "I''ve not been so relaxed for a long time. Only when I stay with you could I be so relaxed!"


    "I''ve not been so relaxed for a long time either. Just now, I suddenly realized that I didn''t have any clear image about Taixia Country at all. Taixia Country is still a strange place for me. There''re so many cities and people in Taixia Country. Additionally, Taixia Country is very prosperous. So, Is there any relationship between me and those time-honored Class A cities, those splendid figures from all walks of life and the prosperity on the peak of humans? Across Taixia Country, besides those cities and people which I passed by accidentally, I had no impression about anything else. I still feel that I''m a total stranger in Taixia Country..." Zhang Tie sighed with emotion.


    "Ahh, but why?"


    "I feel like I am watching a film which was popular before the Catastrophe since I came to Taixia Country over 4 years ago. It''s more like a suspense-action movie. It''s colorful and vivid in the eyes of others at a normal speed; however, it''s fast forward and black and white for me. I could only see scenes and people one after another. I could only see the glint and flash of saber and sword and a mess instead of dialogue and voice. I''ve been watching this film for 4 years. Besides very few figures and places that flashed by, I don''t have too much impression about anything else. This is how I feel since I came to Taixia Country 4 year ago!"


    Bai Suxian listened to him quietly.


    Under his sunglasses, Zhang Tie revealed a faint, weird smile, "The longer I stayed in Taixia Country, the more often what I experienced in Waii Subcontinent would occur to my mind. Previously, I wondered whether a person would yearn for the past when he came to a new place. Now, I know that besides being a bit nostalgic, Waii Subcontinent was like a running train which brought me far away over these years. However, I didn''t know where this train was heading for..."


    "What about now?"


    "I jumped off the train and landed on the ground by foot and could control my direction and determine where to go once again..."

 1100 Insigh

    Chapter 1100: Insight


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After killing the young master of Heavens Reaching Church, figuring out the reasons of the tragedy in Fuhai City and unveiling the identity of that person among the top 9 ministers in Taixia Country who abhorred Zhang Tie the most, Zhang Tie really felt unprecedentedly relaxed as if he had woken up from a nightmare.


    Previously, the enemy was in the dark. Zhang Tie could only be framed by others and almost lost his life. Now, Zhang Tie''s enemy was in the dark. His mentality became utterly different.


    After returning to Iron-Dragon Airboat for a few days, Zhang Tie completely became relaxed and started to introspect about his experiences since he came to Taixia Country. Therefore, he sighed with emotion to Bai Suxian.


    It was Zhang Tie''s true feeling, also the result of his introspection over these days.


    A Hua sage said that people should introspect themselves three times a day. Zhang Tie couldn''t make it; however, he could introspect himself one time per four years.


    During the past 4 years, everything in Taixia Country was like looking at the flowers while passing on horseback. Unconsciously, he had been involved in a big whirlpool and had to escape for his own life.


    Zhang Tie started to rethink why he almost lost all standing and reputation along with his family.


    After recalling the past pain and becoming greatly discerning and apprehending, Zhang Tie found that the reason was that everything happened too "fast".


    The "fast" referred to his changing state of life, the rhythm of fate and thorough gnosis.


    Only the prey being chased after by its natural enemy could run fast.


    He had to be "fast";


    It was driven by a flurried mentality as he couldn''t control his own destiny;


    It was because that he had got lost after his wisdom was deceived.


    ''I helped Huaiyuan Palace to compete for the Youzhou provincial governor; I fought the Gobbling Party and inflicted a great loss to Heavens Reaching Church. After that, I resigned the position of the chief justice of Youzhou Provincial Court and went to Fuhai City for proposing a marriage; finally, I was forced to escape for my own life...''


    ''I was forced to respond to all these things. Everything happened too "fast". In this "fast" state, I did not have time to introspect myself or care about others. I gradually lost the ability to control my own fate. After coming to Taixia Country for 4 years, I''m still a stranger. Additionally, everything besides me has almost slid into the dark abyss.''


    ''It''s not good to be "fast"; I need to be "slow", which requires me to be active and have time to introspect myself. By being "slow", I could see through everybody and all the dangers on my side. By being "slow", I could control my own fate once again.''


    ''I could be calmer in the "slow" state. Only the controller could be calm as it''s a realm.''


    ''I could see the different living states of the two realms "fast" and "slow" by watching the rabbits and lions living on the same prairie.''


    ''Actually, since the holy war broke out and I was involved in the holy war in Waii Subcontinent, I''ve been in the "fast" living state. By contrast, before the holy war broke out, after I gained Castle of Black Iron, I was in a "slow" living state and felt pretty fulfilling and happy in Blackhot City and Hidden Dragon Island.''


    ''The rabbits are in "fast" living state. By contrast, the lions are in "slow" living state. It''s very dangerous in "fast" living state. Now, it''s time for me to relieve the rhythm and enter the "slow" living state.''


    After gaining such a gnosis, Zhang Tie felt much better and become sunnier and more leisure these days. He gradually figured out more and more things in the future and could see clearly his orientation in the future.


    The first thing that Zhang Tie thought through was how to cultivate in the future.


    From then on, the element crystals which were extremely precious for other knights became useless for Zhang Tie''s cultivation. The reason was very simple¡ª¡ªcompared to the effect of purgatory samsara, the efficiency of element crystals for forming water chakra was still too low.


    ''Given time cost, take forming earth chakra as an instance, the time that I spent in absorbing earth-element crystals accounted for 90% of the total time that I spent in forming my earth chakra. Actually, the effect only accounted for 10% of the total process of forming my earth chakra.''


    ''Conversely, I only spent 10% of the time forming the earth chakra in purgatory samsara method; however, the effect of purgatory samsara method accounted for 90% of the total process of forming my earth chakra.''


    Get half the results with double the efforts and get twofold the results with half the efforts. What a sharp difference!


    Because not a single knight could have endless time and spiritual energy. In this "slow" living state, Zhang Tie could only distribute his time and spiritual energy so as to produce the greatest effect. The process of cultivating Emperor-level secret method would consume a lot of resources. Only purgatory samsara method could match King Roc Sutra well.


    Zhang Tie even felt it slow by absorbing element crystals, not to mention absorbing element crystals from the elements realm through cultivation alone which would be less effective at a higher time cost. In a popular sentence among Hua people before the Catastrophe, the two cultivation modes were both "backward modes of production".


    After giving up the two "low-efficiency" modes of cultivation, Zhang Tie found that he had extricated himself from the busy state of cultivation. As a result, he had more free time and became more "leisure".


    In the "leisure" state, Zhang Tie could allocate his time flexibly in terms of enhancing his realms in various battle skills and secret methods and accompany his family members. He could also make achievements by traveling among mountains and rivers in Taixia Country.


    After fighting Nangong Sheng the strong wind hermit also the master of Immortal Fist Position Sect, Zhang Tie deeply sensed that he could not make further progress only by closing his door at home after promoting to an earth knight.


    The second thing that Zhang Tie had thought through was that he could not expose the fact that Cui Li was his incarnation to the public.


    ''Otherwise, I would expose the secrets that I have a body-changing immortal bloodline and could simulate the effects of other secret methods to the public. Sometimes, it''s a wisdom to be low-key; sometimes, with sharp weapons in hand, I could also frighten my powerful enemy.''


    ''Now that Gold and Power Law have known my identity of Peter Hamplester, even if Gold and Power Law don''t know the secret that I have body-changing immortal bloodline, the one who wants to kill me should at least know that I''ve grasped a powerful disguising secret method. Now that that culprit could almost hit my secret, it would be meaningless for me to keep this trump card anymore...''


    ''Besides me, who else in this world could guess the incidental effect of King Roc Sutra. There''re so many secret methods in the world. If I really want to expose it to the public, I would find a reason that would make others muddle-headed.''


    Zhang Tie had long prepared for the explanation of the secret that he could change his look and figure. He named the secret method as "Chaotic Treasure Body". After grasping it, Zhang Tie could keep the surging points all over his body in the state of "fake dormancy". Therefore, he could "simulate" the order of lighting his surging points once again according to a complete secret method for a certain effect. Because it was the incidental ability of King Roc Sutra, Zhang Tie wouldn''t expose the secret even if he told others to check his state in "Chaotic Treasure Body".


    ''The combination of body-changing immortal bloodline and "Chaotic Treasure Body" will definitely frighten those people who want to frame my family members and Huaiyuan Palace. Even though those people could uproot Huaiyuan Palace, as long as I''m still alive and could escape, they would be in fear forever. They would be alert in case of being revenged by me. Nobody would like to live such a life.''


    The safest manner was to mix the truth with the false stuff.


    After thinking through these crucial things and making a deep introspection about his gains and losses in the past 4 years, Zhang Tie became completely relaxed and entered a leisure and casual state. He started to be in a real "slow" state and control his own life orientation...


    ...


    Lying on Zhang Tie''s side quietly, Bai Suxian was listening to his tender yet powerful heartbeats as if she could hear the secrets that Zhang Tie had not exposed and how Zhang Tie bore mentally in the past 4 years...


    Zhang Tie was watching the clouds in the sky while Bai Suxian was watching Zhang Tie. They were both silent; however, they didn''t feel it was embarrassing and improper; instead, they had a privity. At this moment, Bai Suxian really felt that she would like to fly with this man in the sky in this way for the rest of her life.


    In such a tranquility, the cheers and laughter that drifted from the other swimming pool became clearer.


    "Can you write a love poem for me?" Bai Suxian suddenly asked Zhang Tie.


    "Love poem? But I can''t!" Zhang Tie scratched his head.


    "Liar, how did you write the poem the Beloved Ones then?"


    "Good lines are naturally born. I just gained it by accident!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bai Suxian burst out into laughter. She stretched out her hand and stroked Zhang Tie''s hair, "You''re really shameless. No matter what, you have to write a love poem for me."


    "Well, I will make one!"


    Bai Suxian became serious at once while Zhang Tie cleared his throat as he made a short yet pithy love poem with clear articulation and a mellow and full tune emotionally.


    "Our hearts have an emotional mine."


    "Love is the gold."


    "Hate is the iron."


    "If a man doesn''t know how to turn his wife into his mistress, he must be vulgar and moronic!"


    After hearing this poem, Bai Suxian became stunned. It led her to endless aftertastes. Additionally, the lasting appeal of this poem resonated with the relationship between Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie to a certain extent. She watched Zhang Tie with full emotion and watery eyes as she asked in a tender voice, "Is that your work?"


    "Hehehe, I''ve read it!"


    After Zhang Tie said that, hundreds of white swans flew over the airboat cheerily.


    Iron-Dragon Airboat was only 4,000 m above the ground at a low speed. Even the flock of white swans were higher than Iron-Dragon Airboat. At the sight of those swans, Bai Suxian even forgot what to say. She immediately pulled up Zhang Tie from his armchair and ran towards the prow as she exclaimed, "We are arriving at Xuanyuan Hill..."

 1101 What a Large City!

    Chapter 1101: What a Large City!


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "We are arriving at Xuanyuan Hill?"


    Standing on the deck, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian were looking at the ground below through the crystal grilles.


    It was a boundless vast lake downside there, even in the distance.


    Under the sunshine, the lake was shimmering while waterweeds were wavering inside. Reeds and wetland almost reached the sky in the far. On the location where reeds and wetland were close to the land, there was a large area of woods and undulating mountain ranges. Numerous aquatic birds were flying and gathering in flocks over the lake. The flock of white swans that had just flown over the airboat immediately dove towards the lake. At the same time, tens of thousands of wild ducks suddenly flew off, which looked pretty splendid...


    The wings and most of the feathers on the back of wild ducks looked bright green, shiny and vigorous under the sunshine. When those wild ducks flew off the lake, it looked like a green cloud.


    There were so many aquatic birds over there.


    An exotic brilliance flashed across Zhang Tie''s eyes when Zhang Tie watched these aquatic birds.


    Bai Suxian didn''t notice the bizarre brilliance in Zhang Tie''s eyes. She just pulled Zhang Tie''s arm out of excitement as she pointed at this lake and introduced it to Zhang Tie, "This is Heavenly Qin Lake in the northernmost part of Xuanyuan Hill. In the other directions of Xuanyuan Hill, there are another 2 crisscrossed lakes. Heavenly Qin Lake is medium in size. If the airboat could fly at a bit higher speed, we will be able to see Xuanyuan Hill in less than 1 hour after flying another 500-odd mile over Heavenly Qin Lake."


    Because Zhang Tie had recovered his composure and become completely relaxed in the "slow" living state, even though he could see Xuanyuan Hill from 500 miles away with his lotus-flower eyes on the airboat, Zhang Tie didn''t use that ability. Zhang Tie didn''t care whether he could see Xuanyuan Hill a few minutes earlier or later. In many cases, if he relied on his ability too much, he would lack too many fun and surprises. If he watched Xuanyuan Hill in advance, he would feel bored when he arrived there. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not anxious about that.


    Touching his bald head, Zhang Tie asked Bai Suxian, "You mean there''re two lakes beside Xuanyuan Hill?"


    "Hmm, the other two lakes are called Fair-sounding Lake and Fairy Lake respectively!"


    "The Fairy is playing a fair-sounding music by heavenly qin. They''re easily remembered. If so, Gold and Power Market should be in front of us!"


    "Hmm, we will see it after passing Heavenly Qin Lake!"


    "Hahaha, speed up; I cannot wait to take a look at it..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he waved his hand and shouted towards his disciples in a secret way, "Are you ready? We''re arriving at Xuanyuan Hill!"


    ...


    In the following couple of minutes, the movable metal protective plates above the two swimming pools slowly slid over and covered the space above the two swimming pools, only revealing a row of non-opaque portholes. Additionally, the water in the swimming pools had been sucked into the inside of the airboat. After that, the swimming pools were covered with solid metal decks once again. Everybody returned to their cabins to change clothes cheerily, including Liu Xing and the other 6 black-armored fighters.


    Iron-Dragon Airboat also sped up and approached Xuanyuan Hill. On the way, they could see more and more airboats and airships as well as over 100 knights in the sky. Besides, Zhang Tie could see large cruises and ships on Heavenly Qin Lake.


    Zhang Tie sensed a bizarre qi blowing over.


    1 hour later, when Zhang Tie saw Xuanyuan Hill, a prosperous dreamlike painting scroll entered his eyesight.


    Zhang Tie had seen the world; however, when he caught sight of this city which was called the city of cities, the lighthouse of humans and the capital of countries, he was still deeply shocked.


    Class A cities were pretty large and prosperous in Taixia Country; however, the prosperity of Xuanyuan Hill completely subverted Zhang Tie''s imagination about the scale of a city.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how large Xuanyuan Hill was. Standing on the airboat, he could not see its border. There were various styles of buildings here.


    It was unimaginably prosperous in Xuanyuan Hill in this age.


    Under the guidance of the ground lamp signals, Iron-Dragon Airboat slowly approached an airport, which contained thousands of airboats in different sizes. Additionally, airboats were flying off and landing there constantly.


    Zhang Tie had seen an airport which contained thousands of airships; however, thousands of airboats were as shocking as a fleet.


    It was just on the periphery of Xuanyuan Hill.


    After being stunned for a short while, Zhang Tie suddenly realized that there wasn''t any airboat or knight in the front air territory except for white clouds. He then turned around and asked Bai Suxian.


    Bai Suxian threw a glance at him with a smile, "This is a no-fly zone like that of Lion Fortress. However, this no-fly zone is stricter than that of Lion Fortress. In the air territory of Xuanyuan Hill, neither airboats nor knights could fly. Only birds, sage-level knights and airships that are driven by floating air sacs could still fly above Xuanyuan Hill. Although this kind of airship could fly over there, they have to land at the airport over 130 miles away from Xuanyuan Hill, from where passengers could enter Xuanyuan Hill by ground traffic tools. All the airships within 60 miles around Xuanyuan Hill will be shot down. By contrast, airboats could enter the periphery of Xuanyuan Hill. But If they entered the no-fly zone of Xuanyuan Hill, they would fall off!"


    "Even heavenly knight could not fly here?"


    "If you see anyone flying in the no-fly zone, he must be a sage-level knight. Only sage-level human knight could enjoy such a privilege to fly above Xuanyuan Hill. As for others, even the top three chancellors have to go to the imperial court by ground traffic tools!"


    "How large is Xuanyuan Hill?"


    Bai Suxian threw a glance at Zhang Tie with a smile before replying, "The radius of the no-fly zone above Xuanyuan Hill is 380 miles. It''s Xuanyuan Hill below the no-fly zone."


    "436670 square miles!" Zhang Tie immediately worked out the area of Xuanyuan Hill with the powerful calculating ability of mental arithmetic by abacus.


    This was the core region of human civilization which covered over 600,000 square miles. It was almost as large as Zhang Tie''s Fire Dragon Bounty Territory...


    ''F*ck!''

 1102 The Disease of Uncle Zhong

    Chapter 1102: The Disease of Uncle Zhong


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Iron-Dragon Airboat slowly parked in a huge berth. The moment the hatch door was opened, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian had seen a kind and shrewd old man in a fine long gown and grey beard welcoming them on one side of the gangway outside the airboat, followed by 8 steady bodyguards in uniforms.


    Zhang Tie immediately identified that this old man was a black iron knight while the 8 bodyguards were all brave LV 13 battle generals who had rich battle experience.


    Bai Suxian got off the airboat while naturally linking Zhang Tie''s arm. The old man threw a glance at Bai Suxian''s movements stealthily while a shrewd light flashed across his face. Closely after that, he revealed a genial smile as he hurriedly walked forward.


    "Thank God, Miss, you''ve finally arrived..."


    "Uncle Zhong, why are you here? You could have just dispatched someone here..." At the sight of this old man, Bai Suxian also revealed a genial smile as she hurriedly pulled Zhang Tie two steps forward.


    "I''ve long been told that Miss is going to visit Xuanyuan Hill these days. When I saw you last time, it was the birthday of the grand madam of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. As I''ve not seen Miss for a few years, I''m afraid that if I don''t come here this time, I will have fewer chances to meet Miss..." Uncle Zhong blushed suddenly as he took out a piece of the white handkerchief and covered his mouth with it before forcefully coughing a few times. Closely after that, he silently crushed it up and put it into his sleeve.


    Even though Zhang Tie didn''t use his lotus-flower eyes, he could still see the dark red color that diffused on the white handkerchief. Additionally, the coughs of Uncle Zhong sounded like breaking alveoli as if throwing a handful of iron sands into an air leaking bellows.


    "Uncle Zhong, are you all right?" Bai Suxian hurriedly moved a few steps forward and supported Uncle Zhong with her hands. At the same time, she patted his back for a short while, "You''ve suffered this disease for so many years. Haven''t you recovered yet?"


    "Thanks for your concern, Miss, I''m afraid that my disease would not recover anymore..." Uncle Zhong replied in a relaxed tone with a faint smile like talking about someone else, "This disease was caused when I followed Lord Guangnan to a punitive expedition for the 18 mountain caves on Dragon Mountain in the south border of Taixia Country. These years, Lord Guangnan had me stay in Xuanyuan Hill to seek better medicament treatment so that I could survive a few more years. I''ve not imagined that the witchcraft of those barbarians in the south border is really something. After staying in Xuanyuan Hill for so many years, I''ve not met anyone who could cure my disease yet!" Uncle Zhong waved his hand as he continued, "Aww, I''m too old and flippant; I almost forgot about greeting this noble guest. This must be Fire Dragon Hermit, the very one Miss got acquainted in the Earth-elements Realm and made Miss leave the Lord Guangnan''s Mansion for Youzhou Province..."


    Uncle Zhong''s eyes immediately fell onto Zhang Tie''s body.


    "Hoho, I''m Cui Li, only outsiders call me Fire Dragon Hermit. If Uncle Zhong likes, you could call me Cui Li!" Zhang Tie didn''t put on his airs at all.


    "You''re too modest; you''re too modest. I was told that Fire Dragon Hermit had made remarkable military exploits in the Earth-elements Realm. You''ve killed more than one earth-level demon knight. This old man is just a myrmidon of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, I dare not be that presumptuous in front of you!" Uncle Zhong hurriedly waved his hand.


    "Uncle Zhong, take his advice, just call him Cui Li. If you continued to call him Fire Dragon Hermit, it would sound too strange..." Bai Suxian suggested in a bit bashful way.


    Uncle Zhong looked around Zhang Tie with an exaggerated expression on purpose as if he was looking at his son-in-law. Closely after that, he patted his head forcefully as he burst out into laughter, "I see, I see, Miss, Fire Dragon Hermit indeed sounds too strange, too strange. Look at me, I''m too muddle-headed. Miss, please forgive me..."


    "Uncle Zhong!" Bai Suxian raised her voice unconsciously.


    "Okay, okay, that''s all, that''s all; let''s get on the vehicle. We can talk about it later in the manor. After knowing that Miss is coming today, I''ve already had the cooks prepare your favorite Yunluo Banquet for Miss and Childe Cui..."


    Uncle Zhong then led Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie to the fleet on one side of the airboat.


    In the fleet, three lengthened "Faerie-Dragon-Elder" limos with two small exclusive banners of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion on the head of each vehicle were followed by two deluxe buses. The buses were used to carry Zhang Tie''s disciples. There were also small banners of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion on the heads of the buses.


    Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian and Uncle Zhong got on the same vehicle in the middle of the three limos. Previously, Uncle Zhong wanted to get on the front vehicle; however, he was called in the same vehicle by Bai Suxian. Whatever, it was spacious enough for even a few more people inside the limo.


    Zhang Tie''s disciples then got on the two deluxe buses at the end of the fleet.


    This was the private berth of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. There were exclusive, integrated replenishment facilities beside this private berth, which could provide various supply services for the airboat. Besides, there was an exclusive underground driveway beneath this private berth, through which they could directly leave the airport of Xuanyuan Hill.


    Both walls of the underground driveway were mounted with senior longlasting fluorite lamps, which made the exclusive underground driveway as bright as day.


    Zhang Tie was sure that this was the most advanced airport that he had ever seen. Undoubtedly, it was one symbol of a major clan in Taixia Country to have a private berth in this airport.


    Of course, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion was the top clan in Taixia Country. Besides private berth in the airport of Xuanyuan Hill, they also had a private mansion and manor over there.


    When they left the airport, they entered the 16-driveway highway. Watching those vehicles on the highway, Zhang Tie suddenly felt entering a time tunnel.


    As he had seen too many steam vehicles with black smoke, when Zhang Tie saw those vehicles burning alcohol on the highway of Xuanyuan Hill, he felt being on the driveway of a prosperous city before the Catastrophe.


    The fleet of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion moved very fast. There were not too many vehicles on the road. Only after a short while, they had entered the territory of Xuanyuan Hill.


    When he entered Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie felt a bizarre strength and wave blowing over his chakras. He attempted it and found that his chakras could run as normally as before. However, the ability granted by his chakras which could enable him to float up and balance the force of gravity disappeared at once. Besides losing his flight ability, his battle strength as an earth knight was not weakened at all.


    After confirming this effect, Zhang Tie became more strong-willed.


    Only sage-level knights could fly in the air territory of Xuanyuan Hill. Of course, the 9 ministers in Taixia Country were not sages. After losing his flight ability, a knight would lose half of his moving space, which indicated that he could probably kill that finance minister in Xuanyuan Hill if he made a proper plan.


    When Bai Suxian and Uncle Zhong were talking in the limo, they could not imagine that Zhang Tie on their side was thinking about how to kill a dignified minister in Taixia Country, an influential figure who could shock many subcontinents only by stomping on the ground in Xuanyuan Hill.


    From the talk between Bai Suxian and Uncle Zhong, Zhang Tie gradually knew the identity of Uncle Zhong and some affairs in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Uncle Zhong was Lord Guangnan''s trusted subordinate and the myrmidon of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. In the early days, he followed Lord Guangnan to guard the south border of Taixia Country and was injured. Bai Suxian''s dad then let him live out his life in retirement in Xuanyuan Hill and seek for medical treatment by the way.


    Uncle Zhong suffered from a bizarre witchcraft in the south border, which was called Gold Broken Witchcraft . Over these years, he had sought for medical treatment from many famous doctors; however, none of them could cure his disease. Even if his disease could be cured for the time being, it would soon have a relapse in a few days. The toxicity of Gold Broken Witchcraft was hardly cast off like worms attaching to his bones.


    Only after a short while since the vehicle started, Uncle Zhong had started to cough once again.


    Therefore, Bai Suxian was concerned about the disease of Uncle Zhong.


    "My disease could not be cured. Miss, don''t worry about me. It was said that the witchcraft in the 18 mountain caves of the Dragon Mountain in the south border of Taixia Country originated from the Great Wilderness Sect. Since the Great Wilderness Sect was exterminated, the 18 mountain caves of the Dragon Mountain terrorized one region and gradually showed their ambition to overthrow the regime of Taixia Country. Finally, Lord Guangnan dispatched troops to encircle and annihilate them. In that battle, the heads of all the masters of the 18 mountain caves were chopped off by Lord Guangnan and buried on both sides of the road in the form of a pyramid. I discovered that I was poisoned with the Broken Gold Witchcraft in a few months after the battle. However, as the Great Wilderness Sect and the 18 mountain caves of Dragon Mountain had been exterminated one after another, there would be no solution to cure my disease anymore. In recent years, the toxicity of Broken Gold Witchcraft gradually entered my lungs, causing my health to deteriorate. Miss, I was not kidding with you just now. If Miss came here a few years later, you might not be able to see me any longer..."


    Uncle Zhong talked about his life or death situation with a smile. Bai Suxian kept dropping off her tears as she comforted him, "No, even if there''s no solution in Xuanyuan Hill, there must be a solution somewhere else!"


    "I''ve been over 100 years old. Although it''s a short lifespan among knights, it''s much better than commoners. I''ve forgotten that how many people have I killed with Lord Guangnan; I''ve enjoyed almost all the privileges in the world. I''ve seen through everything. Before death, I''m already satisfied to know that Miss has a good husband!" Uncle Zhong said as he threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie.


    Hearing Uncle Zhong''s words, Bai Suxian became more upset. She suddenly thought about the unusual man on her side who grasped various secret skills. Therefore, she asked Zhang Tie with a hopeful look, "Can you help Uncle Zhong?"


    ...

 1103 The Secret of Great Wilderness Sec

    Chapter 1103: The Secret of Great Wilderness Sect


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie gained some message about the Great Wilderness Sect in the south border of Taixia Country for the first time from the conversation between Bai Suxian and Uncle Zhong.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know about the 18 mountains caves of Dragon Mountain in the south border of Taixia Country. However, Zhang Tie knew the Gold Broken Witchcraft Parasites . The witchcraft parasites were just small tricks in the "Gains Section" and the "Controlling Section" in the Great Wilderness Sutra. As the process was a bit weird and trivial, Zhang Tie didn''t pay too much attention to it. Zhang Tie could easily modify species in Castle of Black Iron and had taken a great number of source fruits, which granted him a powerful source of spirit and soul; furthermore, he had no limit on using incarnations. As for Zhang Tie, the secret skills in the "Incarnation Section" was the essence of Great Wilderness Sutra, those tricks in the "Gains Section" and the "Controlling Section" were just auxiliary.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that the superficial witchcraft about raising poisonous parasites in the "Gains Section" and the "Controlling Section" grasped by the 18 mountain caves in the south border of Taixia Country could dominate a region in the south border of Taixia Country and had to be encircled and annihilated by Lord Guangnan''s troops. After being poisoned by such a trivial witchcraft, even a black iron knight could not bear it and could only deteriorate day by day until death...


    Zhang Tie realized that he had underestimated the power of those "small tricks" in the Great Wilderness Sutra .


    ''It was reasonable for the Great Wilderness Sect to become the unrivaled force in the vast south border of Taixia Country with the classic Great Wilderness Sutra . As I gained Great Wilderness Sutra easily by accident, plus so many trump cards, I didn''t pay much attention to those small tricks inGreat Wilderness Sutra . Perhaps, these "small tricks" which I disdain to cultivate have become the supreme secret skill and the capital for the others to be tyrannical in one region.''


    ''No wonder Cloud Crane mentioned that he wanted to return to the south border of Taixia Country in his letter. It seems that the south border of Taixia Country is really a big stage of Great Wilderness Sutra .


    Bai Suxian''s question was just a piece of cake for Zhang Tie. It was too simple for Zhang Tie to relieve the toxicity of the witchcraft parasites. According to the Great Wilderness Sutra , there were 12 kinds of witchcraft of insects above LV 6, which were respectively "attached witchcraft parasites", "drilled witchcraft parasites", "bloody witchcraft parasites", "force witchcraft parasites", "bow witchcraft parasites", "broken witchcraft parasites", "fighting witchcraft parasites", "incarnation witchcraft parasites", "changing witchcraft parasites", "dragon witchcraft parasites" and "immortal witchcraft parasites". As Broken Gold Witchcraft Parasites were headed by broken parasites, it was a sort of broken witchcraft parasites. Broken witchcraft parasites were LV 11. Only by injecting a LV 11 great wilderness seal into Uncle Zhong''s body, Zhang Tie would be able to control those witchcraft parasites inside Uncle Zhong''s body and relieve the toxicity of witchcraft parasites.


    However, if he relieved the toxicity of witchcraft parasites inside Uncle Zhong''s body in a few seconds, even idiots would find that he was cultivating the Great Wilderness Sutra . The great wilderness seals in the Great Wilderness Sutra were the most advanced and ultimate means. Zhang Tie estimated that those who could touch All Spirits Tower and the cultivation of great wilderness seals in the Great Wilderness Sutra should be elites and management among the Great Wilderness Sect . Commoners in the Great Wilderness Sect could only gain a bit superficial knowledge about Great Wilderness Sutra .


    ''As I gained the complete Great Wilderness Sutra by accident, I could integrate with the various methods and the cultivation method of All-Spirits Pagoda in the Great Wilderness Sutrain the most direct method. Therefore, I simplified the process of the cultivation of the Great Wilderness Sutraand could cultivate it only through reciting endless great wilderness words. Actually, there were hundreds of secret methods on different levels in the "Summon Section", "Amulet Section", "Gains Section", "Controlling Section" and "Incarnation Section".


    Take forming All-Spirits Pagoda as an instance, with the assistance of Bright Enlightenment Sutra, he could only impart the secret skill on forming one storey of All-Spirits Tower to his disciples each time. However, it was more sophisticated than forming the entire All-Spirits Pagoda once like how Zhang Tie did. By contrast, the former cultivation method was more twisted and would the cultivators more time.


    As Zhang Tie''s disciples could not touch the complete Great Wilderness Sutra in the former cultivation method, they would think that their own cultivation method was the best and most correct one. Besides, they would appreciate Zhang Tie pretty much and spend greater efforts in cultivation...


    After establishing Iron-Dragon Sect, Zhang Tie could consider humanities as a master of a sect. He could think through how the Great Wilderness Sect carried forward its secret skills and realized that it was too fortunate and unbelievable for him to gain the complete Great Wilderness Sutra .


    As the Great Wilderness Sect carried forward its secret skills step by step, it was exterminated due to the Great Wilderness Sutra;after the Great Wilderness Sect was exterminated, some secret skills of Great Wilderness Sect were still carried forward in the numerous mountains in the south border of Taixia Country. Therefore, Cloud Crane warned Zhang Tie in the letter that he could seek for an opportunity in the south border of the Eastern Continent if he was ambitious to be a dominator in one region...


    Bai Suxian and the disease of Uncle Zhong reminded Zhang Tie of many things. He thought through many problems about the Great Wilderness Sect at once...


    Noticing that Zhang Tie was silent, Bai Suxian thought that Zhang Tie was thinking about how to cure the Broken Gold Witchcraft Parasites of Uncle Zhong seriously. She could not imagine that the Broken Gold Witchcraft Parasites enabled Zhang Tie to have a higher insight about the current situation facing the south border of Taixia Country and the history of the Great Wilderness Sect...


    Wise ones could observe the overall situation through details.


    Perhaps, Zhang Tie had not discovered it that his experience and wisdom had entered higher realms after so many years of practice.


    Zhang Tie was indeed thinking about relieving the broken gold witchcraft parasites. The relationship between Uncle Zhong and Bai Suxian was unusual. Additionally, Zhang Tie knew that Uncle Zhong was really concerned about and liked Bai Suxian. Therefore, he determined to give a favor to Uncle Zhong.


    Being different than how Bai Suxian thought about, Zhang Tie was not considering how to relieve the toxicity of witchcraft parasites of Uncle Zhong rapidly; conversely, he was thinking about how to postpone the effect of the toxicity of witchcraft parasites...


    Actually, Zhang Tie could relieve the toxicity of Broken Gold Witchcraft Parasites in less than 1 minute; however, he couldn''t do that.


    After recalling the contents in the Great Wilderness Sutra , Zhang Tie found a solution among the secret methods of the "Amulet Section" which could relieve the toxicity of Broken Gold Witchcraft Parasites. Although he didn''t need to use a great wilderness seal, this solution was still too effective.


    According to the secret method in the "Amulet Section", he could relieve the toxicity of witchcraft parasites inside the body of Uncle Zhong within 3 days by a secret recipe. However, Uncle Zhong had stayed in Xuanyuan Hill so many years. So many famous human doctors could not relieve the witchcraft parasites inside his body, including those in the Lord Guangnan''s Mansion in the south border of Taixia Country. If he cured it in 3 days like treating common influenza, it would be too eye-catching...


    Actually, Zhang Tie had a plan in Xuanyuan Hill, he didn''t want to be too eye-catching in this situation; otherwise, it might ruin his plan.


    "There might be a solution about this Broken Gold Witchcraft Parasites!" Zhang Tie said with a solemn look purposefully while frowning.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bai Suxian became spirited at once. Even Uncle Zhong became amazed. Previously, he thought that Miss just asked Cui Li about the possible solution out of concern and felt warm about that; however, he had not imagined that this man could relieve the toxicity of Broken Gold Witchcraft Parasites casually. If it could be cured so easily, he didn''t need to stay in Xuanyuan Hill so many years at all. If a naughty boy said this, Uncle Zhong would just treat it as a f*art; however, it was told by an earth knight, who had great military exploits in the Earth-elements Realm and just established Iron-Dragon Sect. Such a person would not open his mouth easily. Therefore, Uncle Zhong became amazed.


    "Ahh, really?" Bai Suxian immediately grasped Zhang Tie''s arm.


    Zhang Tie slowly nodded as he laid out his opinion, "I met some friends, one of them is a powerhouse of the Church of Patron in the Western Continent who excels at controlling animals and various secret methods of the Church; the other one is a voodoo pharmacist. When I stayed with them, I''ve learned too much from them, plus that I''m interested in this aspect and have some insight about it, I might be able to cure the toxicity of witchcraft parasites inside Uncle Zhong!"


    This time, Uncle Zhong widely opened his mouth out of amazement as he watched Zhang Tie with a bizarre eye light. Someone had told Uncle Zhong about what Zhang Tie had just told him. After treating Uncle Zhong for about half a year in vain, that person told Uncle Zhong that very few people could relieve the toxicity of witchcraft parasites unless bringing a new life to the one who executed the witchcraft parasites; otherwise, he should seek for help from a powerhouse who excelled at controlling animals and voodoo skills. Because witchcraft parasites was an inter-disciplinary secret method of animals controlling and voodoo skills. Those who excelled at controlling animals and voodoo skills might have a solution to relieve the toxicity of Broken Gold Witchcraft Parasites .


    The one who told Uncle Zhong about this was an imperial doctor of Taixia Country. After treating him for about half a year, the doctor reached the above conclusion. However, this man in front of him could tell him about the essence of the solution only after meeting him for less than half an hour. Therefore, Uncle Zhong had a bit confidence in Zhang Tie at once...

 1104 Saving People

    Chapter 1104: Saving People


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After a consideration, Zhang Tie wrote a prescription for Uncle Zhong in the vehicle as he warned Uncle Zhong about the tips of the prescription. This was the first prescription. Later on, Zhang Tie would write some more prescriptions for Uncle Zhong. Zhang Tie planned to extend the treatment period by a few months in different prescriptions in case of others'' suspicion.


    "Attention, the age of soul-recovery grass should not be less than 10 years. Otherwise, it would be ineffective. Neither should it be too old; else, it would have a strong side-effect. It should be 12 or 13 years old. The soul-recovery grass mainly works on witchcraft parasites; instead of you..."


    ...


    "Additionally, the purer the golden and bloody saliva sense was, the better it would be. You''d better find an expert for some left by mutated bloody dragon whale..."


    ...


    "The blood of hell black spider should be fresh. It''s used as guiding drug when you take the decoction of the medicinal ingredients. I wonder whether you could get hell black spiders in Xuanyuan Hill..."


    Zhang Tie emphasized some tips to Uncle Zhong. Uncle Zhong listened to Zhang Tie''s tips seriously as he nodded from time to time. Bai Suxian just watched Zhang Tie with sparkling eyes and a tender look. In her heart, this man was all-mighty and could always bring hope to others at any time.


    Speaking of the hell black spider, Uncle Zhong revealed a smile, "Fresh hell black spider might be rare in other places, but in Xuanyuan Hill, we could get everything with money!"


    "Can we get these things easily from Xuanyuan Hill?"


    "There''s a Colosseum in the Gold and Power Market. These hell black spiders are frequently seen in the Colosseum. Many major clans rooted in Xuanyuan Hill would also purchase some hell black spiders for training domestic young disciples or forming soul flames. The Pharmacists Union would also buy some eccentric medicinal ingredients. Many business groups in Taixia Country are selling medicinal ingredients to Xuanyuan Hill. Lord Guangnan''s Mansion would occasionally carry some rarities from the south border to strike up an acquaintance with Xuanyuan Hill. As long as we have money, we could even get LV 16 mutated beasts here, not to mention LV 6 hell black spiders!" Uncle Zhong replied with a smile.


    Zhang Tie understood that it was nothing difficult for the powerhouses here to find some underground living beings.


    "These days, the Gold and Power Market is holding a Treasures Meeting. It''s very boisterous. I was told that Golden Roc Bank brought here a piece of God''s Star from a subcontinent a few days ago and was going to sell or exchange it in the Treasures Meeting. This item is a rarity. If Miss and Childe Cui is free, you both could join in the fun!" Uncle Zhong put away Zhang Tie''s prescription meticulously as he revealed a news to Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian with a smile.


    Uncle Zhong saw a bit hope from the prescription. Therefore, he felt a bit better.


    Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian were both shocked by this news.


    "Someone is going to sell or exchange the piece of God''s Star? Is that a fool?"


    "It''s said that it''s a collection of an imperial household on a subcontinent. Because of demon disaster on that subcontinent, the country was exterminated. That imperial household couldn''t keep his prestige anymore. In the chaotic world, such a rarity could only incur him trouble; therefore, with the guarantee and suggestion of Golden Roc Bank, that imperial household determines to sell or exchange it in Taixia Country so as to survive himself..."


    "Is there anything special with the piece of God''s Star?"


    "I don''t know about it yet. If Miss is interested in it, I could have someone inquire it from Golden Roc Bank!"


    "No need. If the piece of God''s Star was really something special, it might have been propagated by Golden Roc Bank before the official auction. We would know that from gossips without having to inquire it purposefully. We need to stay a few more days in Xuanyuan Hill and would like to take a look around there. Uncle Zhong, please have someone prepare two VIP Cards of Treasures Pavilion for us..."


    "I''ve already prepared that for Miss and Childe Cui!" Uncle Zhong replied as he explained to Zhang Tie, "The VIP Cards of Treasures Pavilion could only be distributed to the masters or knights of major clans. I''m afraid that those disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect could not go there with you!"


    "No problem. I will have them play a few days for free in Xuanyuan Hill!" Zhang Tie revealed an understanding smile. Right then, Zhang Tie saw an area of the architectural complex being composed of high towers in the distance. The highest tower in the center of the architectural complex was over 1,000 m high, which was very splendid, "Where are we?"


    "It''s the Humans Pharmacists Union Headquarters!"


    ...


    After over 1 hour''s ride, their fleet finally arrived at the private manor of Bai Clan in Xuanyuan Hill.


    This manor covered about 20,000 square meters, which was a common area in other places; however, in Xuanyuan Hill, such a private territory was definitely the symbol of identity. None of the land in Xuanyuan Hill could be purchased; instead, they could only be gifted by the imperial households of Taixia Country. If nobody inherited the land here, they would take it back.


    Since Taixia Country was established over 800 years ago, after the two holy wars, besides a small part of the land in the hand of the imperial households, all the rest land in Xuanyuan Hill had been awarded to others. Therefore, it was very hard for a commoner even a knight to gain a piece of land and a position in Xuanyuan Hill today.


    That was why Zhang Tie could see time-honored buildings since he entered Xuanyuan Hill. Many buildings in Xuanyuan Hill aged above 500 years on average. Even the trees on both sides of the streets were elder than 100 years.


    The vicissitudes and the brilliant civilizations of humans were reflected in the buildings on both sides of the streets in Xuanyuan Hill like frozen painting scrolls.


    On the way, Zhang Tie caught sight of the Humans Pharmacists Union Headquarters, the Humans Mercenary Union Headquarters and the Humans Artisans Union Headquarters. Through the brilliant and distinctive architectural buildings on the way, Zhang Tie finally understood why Xuanyuan Hill enjoyed the reputations such as the capital of countries, lighthouse of humans, holy city, core of civilization and human fortress.


    It was very normal for a city to have some unions. None of those unions were exclusive to Xuanyuan Hill. However, when they were headed by "Humans" and followed by "Headquarters", the dignified and time-honored sense made people breathless.


    It could be said that each place in Xuanyuan Hill contained the time-honored history of a major clan, even humans...


    Who could imagine that such a grand city had been penetrated through by demons and Heavens-reaching Church silently...

 1105 Peach Flowers in the Spring Wind

    Chapter 1105: Peach Flowers in the Spring Wind


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Xuanyuan Hill was a time-honored and vigorous city.


    This city could bring light to humans. Meanwhile, it was silently invaded by the invisible dark.


    In the light and the dark, everything in this city became three-dimensional instead of monotonous.


    There were peach trees on both sides of many roads in Xuanyuan Hill. Most of them were old peach trees. With twisted trunks, they looked especially beautiful. Although fluorescence of peach flowers had passed, Zhang Tie could imagine the grand scenery when those peach flowers were in full bloom each year.


    Uncle Zhong said that when the peach flowers were in full bloom in each March or April, Xuanyuan Hill looked most beautiful. If one looked at it from the sky, one would find that the entire Xuanyuan Hill was as brilliant and beautiful as fire in that period.


    It was said that Emperor Xuanyuan met the mother of the crown prince today in the peach woods when he was young and fell in love with each other. Therefore, Emperor Xuanyuan planted many peach trees in Xuanyuan Hill.


    It was a romantic love story among the people. Zhang Tie would believe in this story if it were before; however, when he heard it today, Zhang Tie doubted about this story very much. Because he knew that many so-called non-governmental legends were of deep significance, especially those about the current ruler. This love story was probably fabricated by someone. As long as this love story was spread among the people, the peach trees in Xuanyuan Hill almost meant the unshakable position of the crown prince in the east imperial palace.


    People''s heart was unfathomable.


    When he thought about the lackeys of Heavens Church and demons in this magnificent city and looked at those time-honored buildings and peach trees which accounted for the greater part of the city, Zhang Tie felt complex inside.


    ''Will this place still be covered with peach flowers in full bloom in the spring wind after this holy war?'' Zhang Tie wondered because holy wars usually ended those beautiful and magnificent cities.


    ...


    When their fleet arrived at the manor, all the guards and servants were welcoming them in two rows outside the gate of the manor.


    There were over 1,000 guest rooms in this private manor. Previously, Lord Guangnan always arrived at Xuanyuan Hill, followed by many servants and guards. Therefore, it was easy for them to receive Zhang Tie and his disciples.


    Zhang Tie was arranged to rest in a guest room of the main manor. Bai Suxian had her own suites there. Zhang Tie''s disciples were arranged to rest in the subordinate manor.


    After coming to Bai Clan''s manor, Uncle Zhong led Zhang Tie to his own guest room. Bai Suxian returned to her bedroom. She was going to change a new set of clothes and dress herself up for the supper as she usually did at home as a princess.


    Zhang Tie''s room was very considerate and luxurious. No matter how scrupulous a person was, he would not find any minor fault in this room, not to mention Zhang Tie who was not censorious.


    "Childe Cui, are you satisfied with this room?"


    "Hoho, I''m very satisfied with it, thank you so much, Uncle Zhong!"


    "Feel like home, feel like home!" Uncle Zhong replied. When Uncle Zhong saw Zhang Tie for the first time, he found Zhang Tie was pleasing. Now, Uncle Zhong felt Bai Suxian was discerning. A powerful earth knight could match the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion pretty well. Therefore, Uncle Zhong almost treated Zhang Tie as the son-in-law in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion as he became more genial, "Just tell me if you need anything. Don''t behave pretentiously in front of your Uncle Zhong!"


    "Sure!" Zhang Tie nodded as he looked around the room, "Is there a map of Xuanyuan Hill? As it''s my first time to visit Xuanyuan Hill, I don''t know about it very well. I want to look around Xuanyuan Hill these days!"


    "Map? Yes, we have. I will have someone bring it to you after a while!"


    "Thanks, Uncle Zhong, by the way, please have someone call Liu Xing to my room!"


    ...


    Uncle Zhong soon left Zhang Tie''s room after telling Zhang Tie about the supper time. When he left the room, he even closed the door from outside. At the sight of Uncle Zhong''s behaviors, outsiders might think that he was a steward of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion; who could imagine that he was a knight.


    In Xuanyuan Hill, for the safety of Emperor Xuanyuan, only sage-level knights could fly in the sky. As a result, black iron knights became very average here. After hiding their qi, any commoner in the street might have a terrifying background in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Standing in the balcony of his suite, Zhang Tie looked outside. Two manors as magnificent and large as the manor of Lord Guangnan neighbored the latter with peach woods in between. One of them had a classic Hua castle; the other manor looked very boisterous with a high traffic flow. Although Zhang Tie didn''t know about the masters and clans of the two manors, he knew that their manors must have a great background in Xuanyuan Hill like that of Lord Guangnan.


    Zhang Tie watched the undulating pavilions and edifices in the distance while a thought occurred, ''Where''s the residence of the finance minister in Xuanyuan Hill?''


    ''It''s a pretty cool experience for me to exchange the roles with my enemy between prey and hunter.''


    ''Ahh, and the residence of the leader of the Gobbling Party also the very master of the crown prince in the Eastern Palace who usually dreams about stomping Huaiyuan Palace to death.''


    ''Now that the two people served as supreme officials in the imperial court of Taixia Country, they would definitely have a chance to meet each other, what if...''


    Zhang Tie''s eyes flickered as he revealed a mysterious smile.


    At this moment, he heard the sounds, "Bang...bang..." as he knew that Liu Xing was outside the door.


    Knocking at the door twice with an interval of about 0.8 seconds. Such a detailed demeanor reflected a person''s invisible culture and connotation. Over these days, Zhang Tie found that Liu Xing knocked at the doors of his junior fellow or sister apprentices as same as he knocked at Zhang Tie''s door. Unless an emergency, Liu Xing would never knock at the door for the 3rd time. Therefore, Zhang Tie was more satisfied with Liu Xing. The first senior fellow apprentice of Iron-Dragon Airboat was growing more and more qualified. This also indicated the difference between those who had battle experience and those who didn''t. The former ones usually looked calm and move effectively. By contrast, the latter ones might make a false judgment in emergencies.


    "Come in!" Zhang Tie opened his mouth as he turned around.


    After pushing open the door, Liu Xing entered as he cupped his hand and said, "Master!"


    "Are you satisfied with this place?"


    "It''s not bad. All the junior fellow and sister apprentices have already found their own rooms just now. Our rooms are neighboring; therefore, we could look after each other. As junior fellow apprentice had been to Xuanyuan Hill, he said that our rooms could even match the top hotels in Xuanyuan Hill!" Liu Xing replied with a smile.


    Zhang Tie had imagined that Zhu Dabiao had been to Xuanyuan Hill. It was not strange for a juvenile who was born in a provincial governor''s mansion to have a chance to visit Xuanyuan Hill. Zhang Tie estimated that most of his disciples should have been to Xuanyuan Hill along with their clan elders even though they didn''t live here for a long time. Whatever, it was his first time to come to Xuanyuan Hill.


    "What''s your plan?"


    "I will follow your arrangement!"


    After being silent for a short while, Zhang Tie said, "I''m going to deal with something in Xuanyuan Hill. Therefore, I could have you on my side all the way. You could have a few days'' leave. You don''t need to report your schedule to me these days. After dealing with my affairs, when I plan to leave Xuanyuan Hill, I will notice you one day earlier..."


    "Yes, master!" Liu Xing replied in a bit excited mood.


    As young men, of course, they would feel most happy by enjoying themselves for free here. If Zhang Tie were on their side, honestly, his disciples would feel being a bit restrictive. As for these disciples, Zhang Tie''s dignity was too terrifying and overwhelming although he always hid his qi in front of them. Zhang Tie''s motif always made them feel as careful as treading upon eggs.


    Previously, Zhang Tie almost knelt down in front of Elder Muen''s coercion; not to mention his disciples in front of Zhang Tie as an earth knight.


    "Hoho, you must feel pretty happy without me ruining the atmosphere on your side..."


    "Erm...this disciple dares not think that way!" Liu Xing lowered his head in an embarrassed way.


    "Haha, don''t be that restrictive. I''m your master, not your babysitter. Do you really think that I don''t know what you young men think about because of my age?" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he teleported a pile of gold checks from his portable space-teleportation item, the amount of which was over 1 million gold coins. "Take this, it''s your expenditure in Xuanyuan Hill. You couldn''t do anything here without money!"


    Liu Xing hesitated a bit as he didn''t take the money at once. Because it was a great amount of money for anyone...


    "This amount of money is nothing serious. As the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect, you will soon know that money will come and go. Iron-Dragon Sect might not be the most powerful sect in Taixia Country for the time being. After a short while, Iron-Dragon Sect would be the richest sect. As the first senior fellow apprentice of Iron-Dragon Sect, you need to learn how to spend money. You need to spend all of this amount of money with the other disciples in this holiday..."


    "Yes, Master!" Liu Xing finally took the gold checks after hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation.


    "Hmm, it''s okay!" Zhang Tie threw a glance at Zhang Tie before warning him, "You need to learn to relax yourself in cultivating both culture and battle skills. Although Fire Dragon Sutra is good, you need to know that more haste, less speed. You need to cultivate constantly and diligently and behave calmly in your life. It''s my gnosis. You should taste it slowly!"


    "Thanks for your lesson, Master!" Liu Xing''s heart raced as he bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie.


    ...


    After a few minutes, Liu Xing returned to his own guest room. Although being over 100 m away, Zhang Tie could still hear the cheers from the guest rooms of his disciples. Someone even exclaimed, "Longevity, Master..."


    At this moment, all the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect felt that their Master''s decision was really exciting and thoughtful although he always looked dignified and solemn.

 1106 The Golden Water River

    Chapter 1106: The Golden Water River


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On the map, the city Xuanyuan Hill was a huge circle with a radius of about 400 miles. Being located on the plain, this city was surrounded by Fairy Lake, Heavenly Qin Lake and Fair-Sounding Lake. All the three lakes were fresh lakes. The total area of the three lakes surpassed that of Xuanyuan Hill. The irrigation of three lakes led to over 600 square miles'' fertile soil around Xuanyuan Hill.


    Xuanyuan Hill was surrounded by the 9 immortal provinces of Taixia Country. The entire Xuanyuan Hill was in the center of Eastern Continent. The core of Xuanyuan Hill was the emperor''s imperial city, namely the residence of Emperor Xuanyuan, also the heart of Taixia Country.


    Being in the center of Xuanyuan Hill, the emperor''s imperial city was like the red region in the center of a target.


    The radius of the emperor''s imperial city was 130 miles. Its area was almost equal to the size of 12 standard Class A cities in Taixia Country.


    Xuanyuan Hill was the center of humans. Similarly, the entire emperor''s imperial city was the center of Xuanyuan Hill.


    The imperial palace of Emperor Xuanyuan, the bureaucratic agencies, the residences of top 3 chancellors and 9 ministers, as well as the imperial households and nobles of Taixia Country, were all in the emperor''s imperial city.


    There were three kinds of people in the emperor''s imperial city: the imperial households and officials of Taixia Country; the clansmen and family members of imperial households and officials; their servants. Besides the above three kinds of people, even the top clans and lords such as Lord Guangnan couldn''t have any private manor in the emperor''s imperial city. This regulation was made by Emperor Xuanyuan. The emperor''s imperial city was the authority center of Taixia Country. There was only one master here, namely Emperor Xuanyuan. Everyone in the emperor''s imperial city was serving Emperor Xuanyuan, from imperial clansmen to the servants.


    Therefore, the largest backbone authority group in Taixia Country, even among humans came into being in the entire emperor''s imperial city.


    Xuanyuan Hill did not have any city wall. Emperor Xuanyuan said that if Xuanyuan Hill needed to be protected by city walls, humans would be exterminated. Therefore, there weren''t any city wall or city defense facilities across Xuanyuan Hill.


    The emperor''s imperial city and Xuanyuan Hill were not separated by city walls; instead, they were separated by Golden Water River, which was an artificial circular canal surrounding the emperor''s imperial city. This canal had three sources, respectively in Heavenly Qin Lake, Fairy Lake and Fair-Sounding Lake. The fairy played a fair-sounding music by a heavenly qin around the emperor''s imperial city. There were 12 huge bridges named by the 12 earthly branches including rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog and pig crossing Golden Water River precisely like the scales of 12 two-hour periods on the sundial, which were used to communicate emperor''s imperial city with Xuanyuan Hill.


    Unless one had a special pass that was usually tied onto one''s waist or a token, nobody could pass any of the 12 bridges and enter the emperor''s imperial city. Those who violated the rule would be killed right away.


    On the 3rd day since they arrived at Xuanyuan Hill, it was already November 1st, the 903rd year of Black Iron Calendar.


    On that day, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian watched the emperor''s imperial city in the distance by a boat on the Golden Water River.


    These days, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian were traveling Xuanyuan Hill and visiting places of interest; however, they had just traveled a small area of Xuanyuan Hill. Famous places like Xuanyuan Hill were filled with humanities and love stories. There were widely praised stories and legends everywhere. Perhaps in a time-honored and tranquil roadside teahouse, they could hear the allusions about the top 3 chancellors and some big figures who were once commanding the wind and the clouds. The old trees in the lanes might be souvenirs planted by a top figure from a subcontinent. On the riverside of Golden Water River, there were many love stories about heroes and beauties, childes and misses.


    The boat was not long. It was delicate in details. The boatman was a swarthy tough guy. Sitting at the prow, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian were drinking peach flower spirit which was the local specialty and taking dried plums as they enjoyed the scenery on Golden Water River.


    Golden Water River was about 1.3 miles in width. The cruises came and went on the river, making it very boisterous. One side of the Golden Water River was close to the emperor''s imperial city; all the manors and other buildings on the opposite side of the river looked solemn and inviolable with hall walls and vermilion gates. Additionally, very few people were over there. Soldiers in helmets and armors were passing by the riverside from time to time...


    On the other side of the Golden Water River, it was completely different. Dense cruises were covering the riverside. Additionally, there were many hotels and stalls over there. Many skiffs and gaily-painted pleasure-boats were parking on the roadside jetties. Many people were drinking and having food with their friends while singing songs loudly and taking liberties with female dancers. What a boisterous scenery!


    Although it was already November, the willows on both sides of the Golden Water River still looked green and didn''t look like withering at all. It was said that the willows were a new species that the private imperial living affairs and finance ministry introduced from a subcontinent. It was evergreen round the year. It would replace its leaves when new buds were born in spring...


    "I''ve not imagined about such a prosperous scenery on the Golden Water River in Xuanyuan Hill!" Zhang Tie told Bai Suxian at the prow.


    When Bai Suxian traveled with Zhang Tie these couple days, she didn''t wear brilliant imperial longuette anymore; instead, she dressed up like a common neighboring elder sister in a skirt with long hair swaying in the air. However, Bai Suxian was born with a beautiful look, plus her hot figure, she looked unutterably dignified. Although being graceful and restrained, she looked extremely coquettish; besides being charming, she looked a bit arrogant and distant. Every twinkle and smile of Bai Suxian was extremely seductive.


    Bai Suxian''s unique and charming look attracted the attention of so many people on the cruises and gaily-painted pleasure-boats. If Zhang Tie was not on the boat, many playboys who thought they were rich and romantic would have accosted Bai Suxian. However, Zhang Tie''s bald head and tower-like figure scared them away.

 1107 Average Life

    Chapter 1107: Average Life


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Bai Suxian was sitting next to Zhang Tie and making spirit for him attentively. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bai Suxian revealed a faint smile as she threw an amorous look at Zhang Tie by her beautiful eyes silently.


    Bai Suxian became silent. The boatman said generously at the stern while paddling, "Childe Cui, you might not know that. There are many major clans in Xuanyuan Hill. However, commoners like me accounted for most of the people here. Of course, commoners have to survive themselves by making money. Most of the commoners don''t feel like leaving Xuanyuan Hill; however, they don''t have crafts; therefore, they could only provide recreational services and the basic needs for the travelers. Take this Old Zhou as an instance, I have to survive on this boat in Xuanyuan Hill!"


    As a boatman, Old Zhou survived on this boat on the Golden Water River. Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian rented his boat for enjoying the scenery on the Golden Water River. By the way, they hired Old Zhou to paddle the boat. Zhan Tie and Bai Suxian didn''t tell Old Zhou about their identities. When they caught sight of Old Zhou in a wharf in common clothes, Zhang Tie immediately found that Old Zhou was special with a strong figure; additionally, the boatman was a LV 8 fighter with a kind look. After inquiring Old Zhou about the rent, Zhang Tie immediately determined to use Old Zhou''s boat. They only told Old Zhou their surnames. Therefore, Old Zhou called Zhang Tie Childe Cui and Bai Suxian Miss Bai.


    "Hoho, Old Zhou, what do you mean by saying that you do not feel like leaving Xuanyuan Hill? Does it mean that someone dared force you to leave in the public?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity. Others might be not interested in these trivial affairs after reaching Zhang Tie''s position and cultivation base; however, Zhang Tie was especially interested in these trivial affairs as he also lived an average life before.


    After visiting some places of interest in Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie felt a bit bored of those legends and allusions about heroes and influential figures. Although those high buildings and decorated archways were magnificent, Zhang Tie didn''t have any feelings about them. Not until Zhang Tie watched those cruises coming and going on the Golden Water River, smelled the fragrance of spirit on the riverside and heard the sounds of hawking did the image of Xuanyuan Hill gradually become vivid in his mind.


    "Not being forced by anyone!" Old Zhou explained while paddling the boat flexibly in the Golden Water River. At the same time, they passed by a two-storey gaily-painted pleasure-ship while the music and the elegant song of a female drifted out of there. When those men on the second storey of the ship passed by the boat, they widely opened their mouth at the sight of Bai Suxian who was smiling full of tenderness. Even though they were moving far away, they still turned around and watched Bai Suxian.


    After hearing the song "The Beloved Ones" from the ship, Bai Suxian revealed a smile at Zhang Tie while blinking her eyes.


    As an artificial canal, the Golden Water River linked the three lakes and Xuanyuan Hill. Although this river was wide, it didn''t have any strong wind and big waves. The boat could move steadily on the Golden Water River like walking upon the flat ground as long as the boatman had proficient paddling skills.


    After hearing Old Zhou''s words, Zhang Tie became more curious, "Not being forced by anyone? As long as one settles down here, will he leave?"


    "It''s said that Xuanyuan Hill is the most prosperous place among all the human cities. If I could live a graceful life in Xuanyuan Hill, of course, I would not feel like leaving such a treasure land. But I have to leave!" Old Zhou paddled the boat as he let out a sigh, "I have to make money to survive my family members!"


    "Right, living affairs are trivial. Although money is not almighty, people could not survive in Xuanyuan Hill without money!" Zhang Tie laughed before saying.


    "Yup! It''s difficult to survive in Xuanyuan Hill..." Old Zhou clapped his hands out of excitement, causing a clear and crisp sound, "All the real estates in Xuanyuan Hill were gifted by the imperial households of Taixia Country. According to the regulation, we could not sell them. If nobody could inherit the real estates, they would be confiscated by the imperial households. I mean that if I could leave Xuanyuan Hill and let out my manor in Xuanyuan Hill, I could have a profitable income per year. With this rent, my family members would live a wealthy life even in the 9 immortal provinces; instead of having to work hard here every day. So many business groups would like to strive for a residence in Xuanyuan Hill. The rents of houses in Xuanyuan Hill rank top among all the human cities; the rent of a room covering 10 square meters at a remote place would cost over 1,000 gold coins a year. Even so, it''s still very hard to rent one house here!"


    "Take my home as an instance, my ancestor was the chief of the capital guard in Xuanyuan Hill. With the meritorious service, he was awarded a small manor in Xuanyuan Hill. Our Zhou family was also dignified at that time. According to my grandpa, when our ancestor returned to Xunzhou Province for sacrificing our predecessors, even the Xunzhou Provincial Governor had held a banquet for welcoming him. After our ancestor passed away, with his protection, our Zhou family became prosperous for another dozen years. Nobody among the descendants could match my ancestor. Since the generation of my grandpa, our Zhou family started to decline. When it comes to my generation, I have three brothers. I''m the eldest one. We inherited the ancestral manor in Xuanyuan Hill. It''s just a small courtyard. Other two brothers of mine have left Xuanyuan Hill to seek a livelihood!"


    "Previously, a nobleman from subcontinent wanted to rent that ancestral manor about 20 years ago at the price of 20,000 gold coins a year. He wanted to renovate it and live inside all the year round. Our Zhou family were in trouble economically at that moment; with 20,000 gold coins a year, our family could improve our living standard right away. However, my father didn''t agree with it. Before passing away, my father even warned us to safeguard the undertakings of Zhou family in Xuanyuan Hill!"


    Zhang Tie''s curiosity was aroused once again, "Sorry, sorry, I''ve not imagined that you''re a descendant of a guard chief. 20,000 gold coins a year was not a small amount of money, why didn''t your father agree with it at that moment?"


    Old Zhou revealed a smile as he said unlike a boatman at all, "It''s very easy for me to survive myself after leaving Xuanyuan Hill; however, after leaving here, it would be impossible for my descendants to be outstanding in Xuanyuan Hill. As long as I stayed here, there would be a hope for my family. If one of my descendants could become an official in Xuanyuan Hill, my family would be glorious and prosperous at once. Hehehe, although 20,000 gold coins sound like a good reward, nowhere else could have as many powerhouses as that in Xuanyuan Hill!"


    "There''re the best human schools, the most powerful knights and most opportunities for people to be outstanding in Xuanyuan Hill. As long as I stayed here, if someone among my descendants could become an official here, the relationship paved by my ancestor would become active at once. By contrast, the bit of money is nothing at all! As a common family, if we want to create chances for the juniors to be officials in Xuanyuan Hill, I have to find a way to survive my family members. Actually, the peach flower spirit that you drank was made by my wife at home using the peach flowers in our courtyard every year..."


    Zhang Tie didn''t deride Old Zhou and his wife; instead, he respected them pretty much. What this old couple did was almost as same as what Zhang Tie''s parents did in Blackhot City. Hua parents could sacrifice everything for the sake of their children. From the point of view of Old Zhou, his courtyard in Xuanyuan Hill was almost like a school district housing, which could provide a chance for the descendants of his clan to be gradually influenced by the atmosphere in Xuanyuan Hill. So many parents across Xuanyuan Hill like Old Zhou gave up their opportunities to be rich parents in other places; instead, they just stuck to do humble works in Xuanyuan Hill until their children became outstanding and glorified their ancestors.


    Of course, not all the parents could behave like Old Zhou. Each family had their own situation. However, given the scale and population of Xuanyuan Hill, there must be a lot of families like that of Old Zhou. Actually, most of them should be like that of Old Zhou. Few ancestors'' meritorious services could last over 100 years. Xuanyuan Hill had been founded for over 800 years. Few clans in Xuanyuan Hill could enjoy their ancestors'' meritorious services for over 800 years.


    These clans'' ancestors were once glorious and brilliant; otherwise, they would not stay in Xuanyuan Hill. Therefore, many clans dreamed about having their descendants become outstanding in Xuanyuan Hill so as to glorify their ancestors.


    "Old Zhou, how many kids do you have?"


    Speaking of his kids, Old Zhou''s face turned a bit glimmer as he unconsciously raised his voice, "I have 8 kids, 3 daughters and 5 sons. 3 of my sons are average; 2 of them are a bit talented. My 6th son excels at making instruments; he''s working as an apprentice in the Humans Rune Instruments Craftsman Union Headquarters and could learn a lot of knowledge. My eldest son is good at fighting. I pulled a few strings that were established by my ancestor. Therefore, he became a leader of a military unit in the imperial guard and has already known about sending money to my home!"


    Through several generations'' efforts, Zhou family finally got their return in Old Zhou''s next generation. People could not easily enter the Humans Rune Instruments Craftsman Union Headquarters and the imperial guard of Xuanyuan Hill in other places.


    "According to you, those families whose real estates have been taken back must suffer a great loss..."


    "Hehehe, regulations are made by humans. How could living people be suffocated by urine? Childe Cui, as you''ve just been to Xuanyuan Hill, you might not know that. You can inquire about it casually. Whose real estates in Xuanyuan Hill have been taken back over the past hundreds of years?" Old Zhou smirked...

 1108 Working out a Scheme

    Chapter 1108: Working out a Scheme


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "It''s easy. If a family doesn''t have descendants, they could adopt a son from their same clan. If they don''t have clansman, a lot of outsiders would like to be their adopted sons. It''s a major event to keep the family line alive. Those who don''t have sons could adopt a son and rename the surname of their adopted son before registering his name in their own pedigree of a clan. Anyone who dared interfere with it would offend the public. After the old man passed away, their adopted son would inherit their real estates in Xuanyuan Hill. Who would spit out the flesh that they have taken in like an idiot?"


    "Take that Lame Liu in my neighborhood as an instance. Because he was injured in his childhood, he couldn''t deliver babies. Neither could he get married. Liu''s relatives arrived here from Zhongzhou Province so as to send their own kids to Lame Liu as his adopted son. Liu''s clansmen almost started a battle due to this thing. Finally, Lame Liu selected a niece as his adopted son. The niece treated Lame Liu even better than his father who gave birth to him. In this way, Lame Liu doesn''t need to worry about his old age and funeral affairs. "


    "If so, many families could have outsiders settle in Xuanyuan Hill in the name of their adopted son or stepson. Wouldn''t those adopted sons and stepsons enjoy many treatments and opportunities in Xuanyuan Hill?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "It was indeed like this hundreds of years ago. I was told that many families had adopted sons and stepsons in a period previously. Some families would even have 10-20 adopted sons and stepsons. Actually, the so-called adopted sons and stepsons are just kids of their brothers, sisters or relatives. Gradually, the schools in Xuanyuan Hill become crowded. Later on, the imperial court had to deliver a strict command that the stepchildren of people who had descendants were forbidden to register in Xuanyuan Hill, male or female. Those who had no descendant could only adopt one child. As a result, the bad atmosphere of the society was improved from then on!"


    After hearing Old Zhou''s words, Zhang Tie became happy, "Hahaha, I''ve not imagined such a funny thing in Xuanyuan Hill!"


    "Yup, in the beginning, there wasn''t any forbidden command; therefore, they all availed themselves of loopholes. As all the others behave in such a way, if you don''t, aren''t you a fool? If some relatives who are on speaking terms with you and beg you to take their sons as your stepsons, who could refuse it?"


    After hearing Old Zhou''s words, Zhang Tie became dumbfounded. Indeed, it was not because others were too cunning. Everybody pursued wealth. Now that there was a method to have their kids register in Xuanyuan Hill and enjoy the top educational resources, opportunities and treatments among humans, those who had relationships would definitely try their utmost efforts to seek for such an opportunity.


    However, the forbidden command delivered from Xuanyuan Hill could only block half of this loophole; it didn''t work for those families which didn''t have descendants. They could only allow those families without descendants to adopt sons because it was the tradition and custom of Hua people. Therefore, the land in Xuanyuan Hill became increasingly precious. Fewer of them could be taken back. Besides some flexible lands in Xuanyuan Hill which were in the hand of the imperial households of Taixia Country, it would be very difficult for others to cram into the circle of Xuanyuan Hill. As a result, the threshold for settling in Xuanyuan Hill gradually rose.


    ''Even though I''ve made a lot of military exploits in the Earth-elements Realm, I could only gain a bounty territory outside Xuanyuan Hill. It would be more difficult for others to settle in Xuanyuan Hill. No wonder Bai Suxian said that there were only two kinds of nobles in Taixia Country: first, those who could wedge their way in Xuanyuan Hill; second, those who are outside Xuanyuan Hill. Her words sounded a bit reasonable.''


    Zhang Tie pointed at a gaily-painting pleasure-ship crossing the river as he asked, "What are those gaily-painting pleasure-ships? Are they also flowing brothels in Xuanyuan Hill?"


    "Hehehe, such a profession is forbidden to go ashore in Taixia Country. It''s a regulation that has lasted for hundreds of years as a feature of Xuanyuan Hill. These gaily-painting pleasure-ships could enter the Golden Water River of Xuanyuan Hill in the daytime; in the evening, they would enter the surrounding three lakes. Childe Cui, although these gaily-painting pleasure-ships look small, they could make a lot. Those gaily-painting pleasure-ships with famous prostitutes could make mountains of golds a day. Those who visited those gaily-painting pleasure-ships are all nobles and rich people, who would treat gold coins as nothing but sh*t. Those who could do such a business in Xuanyuan Hill are all related to big figures in the emperor''s imperial city more or less. Without such a background, such gaily-painting pleasure-ships are forbidden to enter the Golden Water River..."


    "Does anyone participate in such a business in the emperor''s imperial city?"


    "Those who could settle in Xuanyuan Hill are all followed by a lot of family members, subordinates and clansmen, whether they are the top 3 chancellors or the 9 ministers in Taixia Country. These people have to live at a high cost in Xuanyuan Hill. If a clan wants to maintain its decent life, it has to establish relationships with influential figures. Even though a person could have a compensation of tens of thousands'' kilograms of gold coins a year, tens of thousands of people might be waiting for that. Although the dissolute business in gaily-painting pleasure-ships doesn''t sound good, it''s also a legal business at least with a high profit. By the way, they could collect a lot of intelligence. Of course, those decent families in the emperor''s imperial city don''t need their family members to do such a business. They only need to have a trusted steward find an agency to do it, which would bring them a great amount of money each year. Then, why not?"


    When Old Zhou said that, he glanced at Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian for a few more times while revealing a steadfast smile, "According to Childe Cui, Childe Cui should not pay attention to money in daily life. If you two are juveniles, it''s normal for you to not know about the expenditure at home. However, given the looks of Childe Cui and Miss Bai along with your demeanors, you must have seen the world and could treat heavy winds and waves as unimportant. Those who have seen the world and known the universal laws must be born in rich and noble clans. You must pretend to be low-key today. Given your background, I dare say that you two at least come from provincial governors'' clans!"


    ''I''ve not imagined that a boatman on the Golden Water River could have such an insight.''


    After promoting to a knight; especially after plundering the wealth of those clans of Three-eye Association, Zhang Tie indeed didn''t care about money anymore. Money was merely a worldly possession for Zhang Tie. Besides, Zhang family''s business of the all-purpose medicament was pretty hot due to monopoly, which would create mint of money for Zhang family every day. Neither Zhang Tie nor his clan lacked money. Additionally, Zhang Tie and his elder brother didn''t have too many descendants in Jinwu City. Although only a few clans had knights across Taixia Country, very few of them lacked money. In order to make money, Huaiyuan Palace also had a lot of clan businesses. Similarly, Zhu Clan, the clan of the Yanzhou provincial governor also had a lot of clan businesses.


    However, there was one point that Old Zhou had not imagined or could not imagine based on his former insight. Besides making money, major clans had one more important purpose by doing business or involving in an industry¡ª¡ªexpanding their influence! Even those clans which didn''t lack money were still doing various businesses and involving in many industries, such as Zhang Yang. For what? For those besides money! The so-called major clans were definitely not only rich; they should also be influential. Even they had mountains of gold coins in the warehouse, they couldn''t gain influence. They were just a pile of metals. After investing them in various industries and using them to bind more people''s interests and deepen into people''s daily needs, they would gain a strong influence and controlling force.


    Influence was what the major clans paid special attention to.


    Whether a clan was doing business for money or for expanding its influence was the most important criteria for judging a clan''s power. The significance of this criterion was nothing less than testing whether a major clan had a deep foundation in Xuanyuan Hill. The second sort of clan might do something beyond their means in order to be impressive; however, the first sort of clan must be powerful. At least in Zhang Tie''s opinion, Zhang family was not doing business for money anymore. When they made enough money, money would be meaningless for them. All of their businesses would work for higher clan purposes. For instance, those major clans and syndicates in the Western Continent and the other subcontinent started to control public opinion, military-industrial complexes and grains circulation. They were definitely not doing that for money. Emperor Xuanyuan didn''t establish Gold and Power Law for money, either.


    Although the gaily-painting pleasure-ships looked like dissolute, they served as recreational sites. From there, people could disseminate and ask for information as well as establish relationships with people from all walks of life. To a certain extent, these gaily-painting pleasure-ships could influence the cultural and recreational circle in Xuanyuan Hill and create some public opinion and specific pop culture among some high-end population. The latter effects might be pursued by these major clans in the emperor''s imperial city who controlled these gaily-painting pleasure-ships. Even if these gaily-painting pleasure-ships'' real boss was the Supreme Court of Taixia Country, Zhang Tie would not feel strange about that, not to mention that they were major clans in the emperor''s imperial city.


    The small gaily-painting pleasure-ships and Old Zhou''s words reminded Zhang Tie of many things. Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he suddenly took out a gold coin. After pinching it slightly, Zhang Tie tossed it towards Old Zhou.


    "Old Zhou, catch it!"


    After catching that gold coin proficiently, Old Zhou grinned, "Childe Cui, you can pay me when we go ashore!"


    "Hahaha, I like you. We can be friends with each other. If you want to make money, you or one of your sons could come to Fire Dragon Bounty Territory in Youzhou Province 3 months later. By then, I promise your Zhou Clan a unique business on the Golden Water River and let you enjoy the feeling of having a mint of money one day too. You can also be a rich man in Xuanyuan Hill by then..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter.


    Old Zhou lowered his head and saw a deep fingerprint on the gold coin, which must be left by Zhang Tie.


    Old Zhou then took a deep breath as he thought, ''The good fortune of Zhou Clan is finally coming; no wonder I always dreamed about catching a fierce fire at home these nights. It''s the lucky omen of a prosperous clan.''


    Additionally, given Zhang Tie''s look, Old Zhou realized that Zhang Tie was not having shot from the hip. Although Old Zhou couldn''t guess about the unique business mentioned by Zhang Tie, he was clear that it was just a lip service for someone to reward a good fortune to Zhou Clan.


    Old Zhou meticulously put away that gold coin as he treated Zhang Tie more respectfully, "Childe Cui, Miss Bai; if you like, after going ashore, I invite you two to have a meal at my home. I will have my wife prepare some dishes and spirit for you!"


    "Haha, Old Zhou, you''re too polite. If you really want to appreciate me, when you really do that unique business well in the future, I will feel reassured by having food and drinks at your home for free..."


    Old Zhou revealed another smile on his swarthy face as he had long noticed that Zhang Tie was not a commoner. However, he didn''t imagine that Zhang Tie could treat him so politely as he was just a trivial figure.


    At this moment, Bai Suxian had prepared well the peach flower spirit as she served Zhang Tie the spirit with a big smile.


    "What unique business have you thought about on the Golden Water River?" Bai Suxian asked Zhang Tie in a secret way.


    Bai Suxian knew that Zhang Tie would not make fun of a commoner. However, she wondered why Zhang Tie would introduce a unique business to a common boatman.


    "Haha, you will know that!" Zhang Tie told Bai Suxian after having a sip of her peach flower spirit.


    Zhang Tie indeed thought up this business after hearing Old Zhou''s words about the gaily-painting pleasure-ships.


    ''Now that others could do business on the Golden Water River of Xuanyuan Hill, I could also have one. After Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory produced the high-power alcohol and various engines, would it be difficult for Old Zhou to find a unique business on the Golden Water River? As long as Old Zhou''s boat could be installed with an engine and a propeller, it would be a speedboat.''


    When Zhang Tie thought about Old Zhou driving his speedboat on the Golden Water River of Xuanyuan Hill, leaving a white line behind it, he couldn''t stand to giggle inside.


    This might be the best advertisement for Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory!


    Peach flower spirit was a local specialty of Xuanyuan Hill. This spirit tasted soft, sweet, fragrant and glutinous. People used peach flowers from Xuanyuan Hill to brew spirit. The spirit looked rosy and smelt as fragrant as that of peach flowers. In Xuanyuan Hill, many families would pick peach flowers in their own houses to brew spirit. After coming to Xuanyuan Hill, peach flower spirit almost became one of the necessary "tourism projects" on the Golden Water River. According to the legends, if the beloved ones could have a cup of peach flower spirit face-to-face on the Golden Water River, they would be able to have a mutual affinity and never leave each other.


    This explained why Bai Suxian made her utmost efforts to make the peach flower spirit at the prow. Indirectly, it explained why the Golden Water River was one of the most romantic places in Xuanyuan Hill. Besides those dissolute gaily-painting pleasure-ships, couples and lovers could be seen on other cruises and boats everywhere across the river.


    While standing at the prow and drinking peach flower spirit with Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian blushed as beautifully as a fairy. As a result, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand to glance at her for a few more times.


    "Childe Cui, Miss Bai, the bridge in front of us is the Horse Bridge..." Old Zhou''s voice drifted from the back.


    Actually, Zhang Tie had already seen it without the warning of Old Zhou. A steel bridge crossed the Golden Water River thousands of meters in the front.


    The bridge was very magnificent. The arches below the bridge were even available for ten-thousand tons'' huge ships. On the side which was close to the emperor''s imperial city, there was a wharf which was covered with many steamers with special banners.


    After entering the arch on the outer flank of Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie saw a gate tower like the arch of triumph. There was a shiny statue of a golden horse at the highest point of the city gate under the sunshine. The entire bridge guarded an entrance of the emperor''s imperial city in the periphery of Xuanyuan Hill.


    The 12 bridges over the Golden Water River were named by the 12 earthly branches in Hua culture, which corresponded to 12 Hua Zodiac. Each bridge had the corresponding totem and statue of one of the 12 Chinese Zodiac. Gradually, commoners in Xuanyuan Hill called these bridges Hua Zodiac bridges.


    Watching the Horse Bridge in the distance, Zhang Tie was recalling the map of Xuanyuan Hill.


    After passing the Horse Bridge, as long as he kept walking forward, he would enter the Horse Avenue of emperor''s imperial city. After entering the Horse Avenue for about 20 miles, he would see the mansion of the finance minister, one of the 9 ministers in Taixia Country.


    All the 9 ministers of Taixia Country had fixed official residences in the emperor''s imperial city. The official residence of the finance minister was close to the Finance Minister''s Mansion, right on the side of Horse Avenue.


    Zhang Tie unconsciously felt that the 12 official residences of the top 3 chancellors and the 9 ministers of Taixia Country corresponded to the avenues in the emperor''s imperial city which were linked with the 12 Hua Zodiac bridges.


    Watching the Horse Bridge in the distance and the flock of sparrows that were flying over the bridge, Zhang Tie''s eyes sparkled...


    Xuanyuan Hill had most kinds of birds across Taixia Country. In the three surrounding lakes, there were over 100 kinds of aquatic birds. Additionally, in Xuanyuan Hill, sparrows and pigeons accounted for the most. The willows made pleasant shades alongside the Golden Water River. This place was the favorite place of sparrows. The pigeons mainly gathered in some squares and parks. After living there for a long time, those sparrows were not afraid of people at all...


    The boat drove towards the Horse Bridge. When it was less than half a miles away from the Horse Bridge, an extremely brilliant gaily-painting pleasure-ship moved towards them and brushed against their boat with a distance of 100 m in between.


    Some young male and female were talking about something on the open delicate deck of the gaily-painting pleasure-ship.


    Zhang Tie didn''t pay attention to those people. Because there were too many such gaily-painting pleasure-ships on the Golden Water River, Zhang Tie just threw a glance at that gaily-painting pleasure-ship before moving his eyes away onto the scenery on the riverside close to the emperor''s imperial city. However, Zhang Tie had not imagined that Bai Suxian immediately became icy all over like a hedgehog with standing spines at the sight of those people.


    "Fang Xinyi..."


    Those young men almost caught sight of Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie at the same time as they stopped talking and watched this boat at once.

 1109 Women

    Chapter 1109: Women


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It was as normal as encountering a lot of rural nouveau riche in high-end consuming places in the downtown. Besides Lion Fortress, Xuanyuan Hill must rank top with the most number of knights among human cities on the earth surface.


    Knights had sharp senses about the qis of each other. Almost the moment Bai Suxian recognized her "good ladybro" on that gaily-painting pleasure-ship, that young female over there also discovered Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie at the same time.


    Standing on the prow of the boat, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian looked pretty elegant and dignified with clothes swaying in the air. One was a woman of a woman, the other was a man of a man. They were definitely like an immortal couple.


    There were 4 young men and 3 young women on the deck of that gaily-painting pleasure-ship. Besides the woman who hugged a lute in the middle of them, all the other 6 ones were black iron knights at a young age with outstanding looks.


    When Zhang Tie was watching those women on the gaily-painting pleasure-ship and guessing who was Fang Xinyi, Bai Suxian had already flown off the boat with beserk battle qi like an aggressive hen. She directly charged towards that gaily-painting pleasure-ship by stepping on the water.


    Besides sage-level ones, common knights could not fly here. However, their battle strengths remained unchanged. It was already something for her to step on the water.


    ''What a beauty!'' Zhang Tie could never imagine that Bai Suxian dared fight another woman on the Golden Water River close to the emperor''s imperial city.


    However, someone knew Bai Suxian''s character better than Zhang Tie. When Bai Suxian flew off, another figure also flew off the gaily-painting pleasure-ship and also rushed towards Bai Suxian on the water.


    "Boom..."


    The two women jumped into the sky and collided against each other. At the same time, the berserk battle qis caused a wave higher than 30 m like detonating an alchemist''s bomb. When the wave fell down, it started to spread over, driving the calm water level berserk at once.


    Watching this, exclamations drifted from all the cruises and boats in the far.


    The first 2-m high wave hit the opposite gaily-painting pleasure-ship and Zhang Tie''s boat almost at the same time.


    As a result, the gaily-painting pleasure-ship as long as dozens of meters started to rock heavily in the water. The youths on the deck of the gaily-painting pleasure-ship used their strength by foot at the same time and stabilized the ship. At the sight of this, the female who was hugging a lute became scared too much.


    When the wave arrived at Zhang Tie''s boat, Old Zhou changed his face at once. Before Old Zhou made a response, Zhang Tie had stepped onto the deck at the prow, causing a white wave to rise from below and cupped the boat to over 4-m high in the air in the shape of a water lotus flower like a huge hand, avoiding the first wave steadily and safely.


    At the sight of such an amazing scene, more exclamations drifted from the boats and gaily-painting pleasure-ships in the distance in unison. Someone faintly shouted, "Arhh, the water god is manifesting his power!"


    Such a scene also made Old Zhou''s face turn pale. However, he still tried his best to stabilize the boat at the stern while holding his paddle.


    The nearest boat was over 300 m away from Zhang Tie''s boat. Within 100 m, there was only one cruise and a gaily-painting pleasure-ship. The two ships were both huge. Therefore, the two ships were not capsized although they rocked heavily on the river and caused passengers to become flurried. As for that boat in the distance, when the first wave arrived, its height and power had declined greatly. Additionally, the boatman directly turned his boat and used the stern to bear the first wave. Besides making the inside of the boat wet, the surging wave pushed that boat over 100 m away.


    Before Bai Suxian and that figure who flew off the gaily-painting pleasure-ship started the second round of the fight, a roar had drifted over here from the Horse Bridge, "Who dared be that excessive on the Golden Water River?"


    With that roar, a fully-armored knight jumped off the Horse Bridge and darted towards them like a lightning bolt on the river.


    When the male knight arrived, he directly stood on the water as he looked at Bai Suxian and the other woman, those knights on that gaily-painting pleasure-ship and Zhang Tie on the prow one after another. When he caught sight of Zhang Tie whose boat was cupped by a ripple, he slightly narrowed his eyes.


    "Did you two fight here just now?" That male knight asked Bai Suxian and the other woman.


    The two women replied with a cold harrumph at the same time as they turned around and ignored the knight''s question.


    "F*ck..." The earth knight was driven mad. He looked at Bai Suxian and the other woman before losing his temper on everybody at present, "All of you, all the knights here follow me for the investigation. If anyone of you dares to oppose me, I will kill you..."


    After delivering this command, the earth knight even threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie. Among all the knights at present, Zhang Tie was the most unfathomable. Expert''s movements were always outstanding. Although the other earth knights might also be able to cup the boat by water using the battle qi, he could never do it as easily as Zhang Tie. Besides posing a high requirement on the power of his battle qi, this effect also required an extremely great controlling ability of water flow.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that his trip to the Golden Water River could come to an end in this way. However, what happened this time reminded Zhang Tie of the nature of women. If Bai Suxian and that woman were just commoners instead of knights, Zhang Tie believed that the two people must have started to scratch faces and stretch hair.


    After throwing a glance at that woman carefully, Zhang Tie had known her identity without Bai Suxian''s introduction.


    Honestly, given her look, Fang Xinyi was not that kind of top beauties which would attract men''s attention for the first time. She was just as beautiful as Bai Suxian. However, this woman looked even whiter than Bai Suxian like milk. Additionally, this woman had a very special temperament. She was tender, cold and brilliant. At the sight of her, Zhang Tie felt that a delicate and charming rose was lying on a layer of frost tenderly and felt like pitying her.


    No wonder Bai Suxian''s dad was fascinated by her. Such a special temperament was especially attractive to old men. Even Zhang Tie''s heart raced.


    When Zhang Tie looked at Fang Xinyi, Fang Xinyi also looked at him. They then exchanged a glance with each other.


    After Bai Suxian noticed that Fang Xinyi was glancing at Zhang Tie, she became intense at once as she hurriedly moved and blocked Fang Xinyi''s sight in case that Zhang Tie was robbed away from her.


    Fang Xinyi turned her head once again.


    Another two knights came over here on water and surrounded them with solemn looks while putting their hands on the handles of their swords at their waists. Although the other guys on the gaily-painting pleasure-ship felt unwilling to do that, they could only tell the boatman to turn the ship towards the wharf beside the Horse Bridge.


    "Old Zhou, thanks for your ride. Please carry us over there too. Bear my words in mind. If you want to have a try, you can find me in the Fire-Dragon Prefecture in Youzhou Province!" Zhang Tie told Old Zhou as he hid his battle qi, causing the boat to steadily decline while being cupped by the ripple.


    Bai Suxian returned to the boat by stepping on water. After that, she watched Fang Xinyi going back to the gaily-painting pleasure-ship with fierce eyes as she swore her in a low voice, "B*tch!"


    ...


    In the gate tower at the bridgehead of the Horse Bridge, Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian and those knights on that gaily-painting pleasure-ship were respectively brought into different rooms for the time being. Even Old Zhou and some irrelevant personnel on the gaily-painting pleasure-ship were requested to write a testimony.


    After glancing around the equipment in the room which common black iron knights could not escape from, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, ''Looks like I''m not the first visitor here.''


    "Ahh, who are those guys on the Horse Bridge?"


    "They are earthly branch guard under the affiliation of Recreational Affairs Ministry, also known as Hua Zodiac Guard. They''re responsible for guarding the 12 bridges and the portals of the emperor''s imperial city on the Golden Water River!" Bai Suxian threw a glance at Zhang Tie in an embarrassed way as she said, "Forgive me for that. At the sight of that foxtrel, I wanted to kill her..."


    "It''s alright. Everybody gets impulsive at some moments. We will just rest here..." Zhang Tie waved his hand generously as he added, "It''s fine as long as you don''t suffer a loss!"


    Bai Suxian revealed a sweet smile directly...


    ...


    The fact proved that women, especially beautiful women with deep background would always receive some special treatment in this male-dominated world.


    One woman was the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion; the other was an excellent disciple of Qionglou Pavilion, one of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country. In this situation, after confirming that there was no severe outcome, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian were only requested to stay there for a few hours. After being warned, they had been set free.


    All the knights besides the two women had been implicated and imprisoned for a few hours.


    According to the regulation, if knights had a fight and broke the peace in Xuanyuan Hill, they would be imprisoned for 3 months at least or be killed on the spot.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian were almost not punished.


    When they walked out of the gate tower at the bridgehead of Horse Bridge, it was already dark. Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian met Fang Xinyi outside the gate tower once again.


    When Fang Xinyi and Bai Suxian caught sight of each other, they uttered a cold harrumph in unison before turning around their heads.


    Fang Xinyi was related to her father Lord Guangnan; therefore, Bai Suxian regarded it a family scandal and preferred to keep it a secret. As for Fang Xinyi, no matter what the relationship was between her and Lord Guangnan, it seemed that she didn''t want to reveal it to the public either. Therefore, the outsiders were still confused about their fight until now.


    Those young knights staying with Fang Xinyi didn''t feel good. When they were enjoying the lute music on the Golden Water River and commenting on the current political affairs. All of a sudden, a woman rushed towards them like a maniac. If not Fang Xinyi stopped her timely, their gaily-painting pleasure-ship might have been capsized by that lunatic. If so, it would be a bit embarrassing.


    Compared to their face, the gaily-painting pleasure-ship became trivial. As "victims", they were even imprisoned for a few hours in the cells especially for knights by the Horse Guard under the affiliation of Recreational Affairs Ministry in Xuanyuan Hill and were not set free until evening. Therefore, everybody lost their interest in this place.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian once again, a domineering and evil guy among those furious young knights sneered at once.


    "Princess of Lord Guangnan, you are really domineering. You dared even start a fight on the Golden Water River. However, this is not Xuanyuan Hill; instead of remote places such as Zhaozhou Province. A lord''s mansion is nothing here. If Lord Guangnan''s Mansion wants to make a show of authority, why not exterminate the barbarians in the south border of Taixia Country and establish another military region in the southern border? Why do you show off your battle strength in such a prosperous place?"


    After hearing that, Fang Xinyi looked distant while Bai Suxian raised her eyebrows and was going to lose her temper once again. However, Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he shook his head and pulled Bai Suxian away.


    No matter what, Bai Suxian started the fight; therefore, she was wrong. It was reasonable for those who suffered losses to complain about that. Therefore, Zhang Tie just pretended to not have heard that.


    As Zhang Tie didn''t care about that, Bai Suxian became silent as she threw a glare at that male knight before following Zhang Tie away.


    When Fang Xinyi watched Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian walking away, her eyes gleamed at once. As Bai Suxian''s former ladybro, nobody knew Bai Suxian''s temperament better than her. Since she acquainted with Bai Suxian, it was her first time to see Bai Suxian becoming so well-behaved in front of a male.


    Zhang Tie was very merciful; however, he forgot that one''s mercy was usually regarded as being afraid of troubles and timid.


    In Xuanyuan Hill, many things could not be handled by even an earth knight.


    "I''ve long heard that the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion is pretty beautiful; it seems real. With one earth knight on your side, you don''t even respect the top 7 sects in Taixia Country..." Another voice sounded.


    After hearing these words, Zhang Tie suddenly stopped...

 1110 Losing Life by One Sentence

    Chapter 1110: Losing Life by One Sentence


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Everyone had his or her own story.


    As a mature knight who had seen the world, Zhang Tie also had his own story.


    So did Bai Suxian. Zhang Tie''s story started from Blackhot City; Bai Suxian''s story started from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Before gaining Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie''s story was always very insipid. As for Bai Suxian who was born in a major clan with an excellent talent and look, her story was always splendid since the beginning, including her life experience, emotional experience and those unspoken love affairs.


    All the young boys and girls were amorous.


    Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian both had romantic experiences. If not have witnessed too many countries'' perdition and separation between family members, an earth knight at his 30s might still be in "romance".


    In that age, it was normal what happened to Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian.


    When in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie had dissolute experiences with girls of Rose Association. As a princess, of course, Bai Suxian was not that dissolute. Since young, Bai Suxian was always surrounded by a lot of fervent pursuers. Bai Suxian might have encountered someone whom she would like to pay everything for.


    Since Miss Daina left him, Zhang Tie had realized that people could barely pursue perfection in the world, not to mention keeping all the good things or have all the women in the world accost him. Each beauty was just a piece of white paper, who was waiting for a man to make her life colorful.


    It was far-stretched, also the daydreams of many horny boys.


    With this mature mentality, Zhang Tie became more comprehensive about Bai Suxian.


    Since they fixed their love affair, Bai Suxian had been avoiding talking about her past experiences in front of Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie didn''t pump it either; Bai Suxian didn''t talk about it in case of dissatisfying Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie also tried his best to care about Bai Suxian''s privacy and self-esteem.


    The privacy and self-esteem were finally unveiled by someone ruthlessly in front of Zhang Tie today.


    After hearing the words behind her, Bai Suxian''s face instantly turned pale. Closely after that, she threw a look at Zhang Tie stealthily out of concern.


    Zhang Tie suddenly felt that Bai Suxian''s hands were quivering for the first time. Bai Suxian''s worried look made Zhang Tie''s heart aching. ''Since our love affair was fixed, it''s her first time to be so unconfident."


    Zhang Tie stopped his footsteps at once as he turned around.


    "Let''s go..." Bai Suxian who had always been mighty suddenly became weak. She wanted to pull Zhang Tie away; however, Zhang Tie remained unchanged.


    With an icy look, Zhang Tie glanced around the 4 male knights beside Fang Xinyi and a female knight who just glanced around Fang Xinyi, Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie with a compelled look.


    Zhang Tie was not interested in acquainting with these people since the beginning. Therefore, he didn''t even ask their names.


    All the knights on the other side had sensed the invisible stress in Zhang Tie''s icy eyes. As a result, their disdainful, arrogant and scornful facial expressions gradually became frozen.


    "Who said that?" Zhang Tie asked. Meanwhile, he pinched Bai Suxian''s hand, letting her calm down.


    "It''s me. So what?" A handsome male knight with thin lips and a bit slim eyes in a senior jade waistband and a sapphire bow-silk long gown raised his head and strode out of the team of Fang Xinyi. At the same time, he twitched his facial muscles like being stretched by an invisible line, revealing an arrogant smile towards Zhang Tie. With a sound of "Shhua", he unfolded a fan and waved it in a handsome way, "An earth knight might be domineering in other places; however, in Xuanyuan Hill, this bit of foundation is not enough. So many provincial governors and Cheji generals in Taixia Country are behaving in a low-key manner; not to mention a common earth knight. Xuanyuan Hill is very sophisticated. Besides sage-level ones, dozens of earth knight have been killed in Xuanyuan Hill in the late 100 years. Hehe, another one might lose his life soon. If it''s your first time to visit Xuanyuan Hill, I suggest you to not treat this place as your private territory. Mind your own business. It''s not worthy for you to do that for a woman!"


    Zhang Tie didn''t lose his temper; instead, he revealed a smile, "I almost forgot about it. May I know your name?"


    "I''m Yue Peng, a trivial person in Heavens Holding Pavilion!" That man replied in an arrogant look as he waved his small fan more pleasantly.


    "You''re indeed a trivial person. More than that, you''re a timid person. You''re not even a man!" Zhang Tie abruptly sneered as he watched that knight of Heavens Holding Pavilion who was waving his fan with a disdainful look, "I just asked your name instead of your sect. Why did you tell me about your sect? Whether do you feel that you''re not brave to stand out if not tell me about your sect? Besides your sect, what else do you have? Why not tell me about the names of your dad and your mom or anyone great that you know? Even an ambitious 7-year old kid might feel embarrassed by using this trick before a fight, I''ve not imagined that a male, good-looking knight like you is just as timid as a rabbit. You''re wasting this father''s saliva..."


    Zhang Tie directly spat a mouth of saliva onto the ground. Closely after that, he turned around and pulled Bai Suxian away. At the same time, he shook his head and told her, "Forgot about him, let''s go. I thought that it was a blind guy who scorned behind me; I wanted to teach him a lesson for you; it turns out that he''s just a worthless guy. He''s just a toad that jumped onto your instep. He wants to bite you; however, he''s not brave enough to do that. Neither will he be able to do that. The moment he uttered, he would make you feel very disgusted. If you beat him, when he dropped his snot and tears and rolled over the ground or complained that you were bullying him in front of his parents and grandparents, you would be sick to death. Although he''s shameless, this Old Cui has to care about my reputation. If I fought him, I could barely explain it to my friends as long as they asked me about that. After stepping onto a toad, you would feel being smelly all over. Additionally, your shoes would be polluted. You could only treat him as a fart..."


    "Hmm..." Bai Suxian responded to him in a low voice. Although she wanted to persuade Zhang Tie to leave as soon as possible, she was still moved by him when she found that Zhang Tie would like to fight for her.


    At this moment, due to anxiety, Bai Suxian felt a bit muddle-headed. She didn''t even notice that Zhang Tie was more talkative today.


    "As the old saying goes; things of a kind come together, people of a mind fall into the same group. Stay far away from these people. If you want to judge one''s worldview, look at his enemy. This kind of person only knows about spurting out sh*t and crying in front of his parents. He''s just a clown among knights. He could not even match the thugs on the streets and nouveau riches. Stay away from him. Otherwise, our identities would be declined by him. It''s too disgraceful. Don''t expose what happened today to the public. If Uncle Zhong asks you about that, just tell him that we''ve traveled on the Golden Water River for one day..."


    Zhang Tie didn''t speak to Bai Suxian in a secret way. Even some commoners had heard his words clearly, not to mention the 6 knights behind them.


    In a split second, even the other knights had turned pale, not to mention Yue Peng who scorned Zhang Tie just now.


    The sentence "Things of a kind come together, people of a mind fall into the same group" was too destructive. Additionally, Zhang Tie'' reason could really not be easily refuted.


    He only needed to tell Zhang Tie his name; why did he tell Zhang Tie about his sect? Evidently, he was lacking confidence. Was Heavens Holding Pavilion something? Wasn''t all the people at present members of the top 7 sects?


    Although the others on Yue Peng''s side didn''t say anything, they looked at Yue Peng out of dissatisfaction.


    If Yue Peng knew how Zhang Tie grew up and how talkative he was, he would think twice before saying that in case of the possible trouble. Soon after his words, Zhang Tie had caught his loophole and sent him into the hell.


    Watching the backs of Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian and sensing the "special eye light" of his partners, Yue Peng''s face blushed and finally turned green. He pinched his fan forcefully and turned it into powders.


    "Stop..." Yue Peng shouted with bloody eyes.


    Zhang Tie pulled Bai Suxian''s hand and just walked away without even turning around.


    Everyone saw Zhang Tie''s deep, disdainful attitude from his back.


    Only after such a short while, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian had been 50 m away.


    "Stop!" Yue Peng roared as he punched towards Zhang Tie''s back with his battle qi...

 1111 The Difference

    Chapter 1111: The Difference


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Yue Peng punched towards Zhang Tie''s back, Fang Xinyi and all the others on his side felt it was improper. However, it was too late for them to stop him.


    With Bai Suxian''s exclamation, "watch out", Yue Peng punched towards Zhang Tie''s back, breaking Zhang Tie''s clothes into pieces. However, Zhang Tie remained unchanged. Closely after that, Zhang Tie turned around with a faint shrill sneer...


    In the next second, Zhang Tie abruptly disappeared. Before Yue Peng responded to it, Zhang Tie had forcefully slapped Yue Peng''s face, causing the latter to spurt out a mouthful of blood and broken teeth.


    Zhang Tie''s hand was very powerful; additionally, he stroked back too fast. Even Yue Peng''s partners had not seen how Zhang Tie suddenly appeared on Yue Peng''s side from dozens of meters away. They were all stunned. Additionally, Yue Peng had not thought about the outcome of his punch out of fury. When Zhang Tie appeared on his side, he had not even released his protective battle qi yet.


    Zhang Tie directly made this knight of Heavens Holding Pavilion confused. Zhang Tie directly sent Yue Peng to fly off.


    However, before he flew off, Zhang Tie grabbed his ankle. Closely after that, Zhang Tie forcefully lifted him up and was going to crash him onto the ground as if he was a hammer.


    At this moment, those knights on Yue Peng''s side finally realized what happened. They changed their faces at once. Given the strength of Zhang Tie''s slap, Yue Peng would definitely be severely wounded if he were crashed onto the ground.


    "Stop!" The youth who mocked Bai Suxian at the beginning punched towards Zhang Tie, followed by all the other 4 knights.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie waved his punch to block all the 5 knights'' strike at the same time.


    The moment the 5 knights touched Zhang Tie''s punch, they immediately felt that they were covered by the strict and mighty punch intention of a domineering iron punch.


    Previously, the 5 young knights just used 40% of their strength in case of Zhang Tie''s safety; however, Zhang Tie''s counterattack reversed the initiative. As a result, the 5 young knights changed their faces once again as they had to exert 80% of their efforts to respond to Zhang Tie''s counterattack.


    The 5 black iron knights'' strike was defused by Zhang Tie easily. At the same time, he caught Yue Peng''s hand and directly smashed him onto the ground ferociously.


    With a "bang", the cyan-stone road outside the gate tower of Horse Bridge was shattered in a split second, causing a huge pit while broken stones flew in all directions. The 5 black iron knights were sent flying 20 m away so as to offset Zhang Tie''s powerful punch.


    As they were launching a close combat, they didn''t mean to hurt the surrounding people. Only the huge pit left by Zhang Tie was a bit fearsome.


    Yue Peng, who had been confused by Zhang Tie''s slap uttered a miserable shriek due to extreme pain as he spurted out a mouthful of blood once again.


    Even though Zhang Tie didn''t exert his full strength, he still broke Yue Peng''s arms and shins into 70-80 pieces; additionally, Yue Peng''s guts were wounded; half of his ribs were broken. This strike could even match that of a cruel torture. Few people could bear it. He would not recover in 1 month if he did not take senior recovery medicament. It would take Yue Peng longer time to grow out his teeth once again even with the help of recovery medicament.


    "Tsuang..." The 5 knights couldn''t stand to pull out their weapons at the same time.


    Watching them pulling out of their weapons, Zhang Tie sneered with an invisible berserk battle qi, "Dare you to fight me in Xuanyuan Hill? Aren''t you afraid of being killed by me?"


    Zhang Tie''s smile made those knights'' hearts froze immediately.


    It happened so fast that everything had come to an end before Bai Suxian responded.


    At this moment, Bai Suxian had jumped onto Zhang Tie''s side with the brilliant longsword, the very silver secret item that Zhang Tie gifted her, in hand. Meanwhile, her beautiful eyes turned furious.


    The moment the longsword appeared in Bai Suxian''s hand, it had turned misty like trickles. The others immediately knew that it was an immortal item and must be very powerful. Given Bai Suxian''s look, if she joined the battle, she would definitely exert her full strength.


    "Wait...I will never let you go...my master will never let you go..." Yue Peng, who was severely wounded, shouted towards Zhang Tie with bloody eyes while lying on the ground as if he wanted to eat Zhang Tie alive.


    "Don''t talk about that until you could introduce yourself without mentioning Heavens Holding Pavilion!" Zhang Tie watched Yue Peng with a sneer as he lowered his head, "I will give you a small warning today. Bai Suxian is my woman. If I hear you talk about something that makes me unhappy, I promise you that you will definitely regret coming to this world. Remember, in this world, I''m the very one whom you could not offend for the rest of your life..."


    "You..."


    Before Yue Peng talked about something, Zhang Tie had already raised his huge foot and stomped onto Yue Peng''s face in an overwhelming way, causing Yue Peng''s nose to collapse at once. His blood spurted out of Zhang Tie''s foot.


    Yue Peng passed out at once.


    After grinding his face with his foot twice, Zhang Tie raised his foot.


    This time, Yue Peng''s whole face looked as colorful as a fried eggplant with soy sauce. Watching his poor look, the other knights felt their spines numb.


    "Why are you so vicious?" Fang Xinyi watched Zhang Tie with an icy look.


    After being forced to move back by Zhang Tie''s punch, Fang Xinyi didn''t pull out her weapon. She just watched Zhang Tie with an extremely calm look.


    "Am I vicious?" Zhang Tie replied with a faint smile, "Don''t forget that he provoked me and started the strike first. I was just defending myself. If he was a commoner, he would have long been killed by that punch. I''ve already shown my mercy to him given that we''re all Hua knights and the holy war is coming!" After saying that, Zhang Tie directly looked at the gate tower of the Horse Bridge as he revealed a smile, "General, you must have seen what happened here. According to the law of Taixia Country, I''m legit, right?"


    Since they were set free, Zhang Tie had noticed that the earth knight who had investigated them was watching them quietly on the gate tower. Not until Zhang Tie uttered did Fang Xinyi and the other guys find that one person was watching them on the gate tower being not far away from them.


    "I''ve indeed seen what happened just now. This man attacked you first. It''s legit for you to launch a counterattack!" The earth knight considered it twice before replying to Zhang Tie calmly.


    "Put away your sword, let''s go!" Zhang Tie patted Bai Suxian''s back as he directly left with Bai Suxian.


    After Zhang Tie left, that earth knight on the gate tower of Horse Bridge told Fang Xinyi and the other guys, "This guy has to stay here. As he attacked others on his own initiative in Xuanyuan Hill, he had violated the law of Xuanyuan Hill. If you don''t want this guy to die here due to severe wounds. You''d better notice his master and elder to take him away!"


    After saying that, some soldiers carried Yue Peng who was in a deep coma into the gate tower at the bridgehead of Horse Bridge.


    Those knights, especially those male knights exchanged a glance with each other as they all looked frustrated. What happened today let all of them understand a truth¡ª¡ªCommon knights had better not show off their battle strength in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Especially when they fought Zhang Tie at the same time just now. Zhang Tie gave them an overwhelming feeling and easily sent them flying away only with one punch. Such a great battle strength shocked those young knights too much.


    After looking around the others'' poor look, a young knight forced a bitter smile as he let out a sigh, "Alas, the master is right. Xuanyuan Hill indeed has a lot of powerhouses. I''ve not imagined that I could encounter such a terrifying earth knight here. He just used one hand to defuse the strikes of our 5 people at the same time. No wonder senior fellow apprentice Yue Peng couldn''t resist that man''s counterattack and got it all to come! What an earth knight! I''m afraid that we could not defeat him even if we form two 3-in-1 battle formations..."


    "Don''t get discouraged. Given that guy''s battle strength, he''s at least above 7-change realm!" The knight who mocked Zhang Tie at the beginning became slightly spirited, "I really don''t know such a powerhouse among earth knights in Taixia Country!"


    "What should we do now?"


    "As we''re Yue Peng''s friends, we''d better tell Yue Peng''s master about this event in the courtyard of Heavens Holding Pavilion!"


    "Junior fellow apprentice Yue Peng was always stable and wise instead of being that impatient. How could he make such a mistake today?"


    "Maybe junior fellow apprentice Yue Peng was a bit intense. After all, he was facing an earth knight. Therefore, he made an error in speaking. He told that man about his sect so as to warn him..."


    After what happened today, everybody at present including Fang Xinyi had lost their interest in this place. They then left. So did those onlookers who came here to join the fun from afar after hearing the noise.


    Nobody noticed that the earth knight just kept his eyes on Zhang Tie''s back with a solemn look.


    This earth knight touched a piece of senior alchemist''s amulet on his chest inside his armor. He inherited it from his ancestor. Its function was to prevent the wearer from being influenced by most of the spiritual and soul secret methods and help him keep alert.


    That amulet could protect its wearer; meanwhile, it could respond to the surrounding spiritual secret methods sharply. When Zhang Tie asked Yue Peng his name, this earth knight could evidently feel that his amulet slightly moved.


    Closely after that, that knight from Heavens Holding Pavilion called Yue Peng directly told that earth knight about his sect. Then, Yue Peng was teased sharply.


    After being stimulated too much, the knight of Heavens Holding Pavilion was finally instigated. He launched a punch towards that earth knight''s back. However, with this opportunity, that earth knight directly crippled this knight of Heavens Holding Pavilion in a few seconds in front of everybody else, including the earth knight on the gate tower, leaving no loophole at all.


    If that earth knight had already thought how to deal with the knight of Heavens Holding Pavilion in words since he turned around and used the secret spiritual method to have the knight of Heavens Holding Pavilion show his slip unconsciously, this guy must be very terrifying. He must have amazing scheming, battle strength and secret methods.


    The earth knight on the gate tower reflected, ''If not this top-quality ancestral alchemist''s amulet which warned me about that, I might not know what really happened until now.''


    The knights of Recreational Affairs Ministry who guarded the emperor''s imperial city of Xuanyuan Hill were not on the same channel with the knights of the top 7 sects of Taixia Country. To put it straight, among humans, besides the knights of the top 7 sects of Taixia Country who could be able to threaten the security and safety of the emperor''s imperial city, all the other knights were dwarfed in front of powerhouses of the Recreational Affairs Ministry. Actually, the Recreational Affairs Ministry was founded to resist the powerhouses of the top 7 sects of Taixia Country. Out of this purpose, this earth knight of Horse Guard under the affiliation of the Recreational Affairs Ministry just enjoyed the show between Zhang Tie and the knight of Heavens Holding Pavilion silently just now.


    After considering it for a short while, this earth knight waved his hand and fetched a subordinate knight. He whispered something to that knight, who nodded before leaving the gate tower...


    In less than 2 hours, before Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian returned to the manor of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion in Xuanyuan Hill, cracking sounds had drifted out of the courtyard of Heavens Holding Pavilion in Xuanyuan Hill...


    At the same time, a file about Fire Dragon Hermit appeared on the table of the Recreational Affairs Ministry, one of the 9 ministries in Taixia Country silently.


    When the file was hurriedly brought here by a knight of the Recreational Affairs Ministry in a sealed silver lot pot, the minister of Recreational Affairs Ministry, one of the 9 ministries of Taixia Country was drinking tea and chatting with a man in the Class I official uniform of Taixia Country who looked yellowish and dignified in a room while enjoying the moonlight.


    The Class I official uniform was embroidered with a Pixiu, a mythical wild animal which was also called gold-eater. The animal was surrounded by propitious clouds, snow, rice, maize, wheat, millet and beans. Those who were familiar with the bureaucratical establishment of Taixia Country would know that he was the finance minister, one of the 9 ministers of Taixia Country.


    Only after throwing a glance at that sealed secret lot pot sent by a trusted subordinate of the minister of the Recreational Affairs Ministry, the finance minister had stood up with a smile, "Brother Hanyuan. I will not bother you today. Many forces are converging in Xuanyuan Hill, the Recreational Affairs Ministry have great responsibilities. As Brother Hanyuan has public affairs to deal with, I will not waste your time. I have to go back to my mansion now!"


    "Right, Brother Zhengfang, I hope you could pay special attention to that thing. As the overall situation is urgent, the knights under the affiliation of the Recreational Affairs Ministry have to shoulder heavy responsibilities. Additionally, we have to pay special attention to the safety of the emperor''s imperial city. Therefore, silver secret items are in urgent demand. As the silver secret items in the imperial warehouses could not even be moved by the crown prince, we could have a chance to solve this problem in the Treasures Meeting of the Gold and Power Market!"


    After hearing that, the finance minister replied with a solemn look, "Don''t worry, Brother Hanyuan. As you and I are chancellors in the same imperial court, it''s our responsibility to share the concerns of the country. I will definitely try must best to do that!"


    "After hearing your promise, I feel more reassured! The more silver secret items we have, the better it would be."


    Finally, the two Class I officials of Taixia Country bade a farewell to each other. After seeing off Hang Zhengfang out of this courtyard, the minister of the Recreational Affairs Ministry returned to his room.


    The minister of the Recreational Affairs Ministry had a beautiful beard, slim and long eyebrows and two pupils in each eye, which looked pretty dignified.


    After returning to his room, the minister of the Recreational Affairs Ministry sat on his chair with eyes closed for 2 minutes. After that, the minister threw a glance at a trusted subordinate who was standing in the room quietly before asking him calmly, "What''s the matter?"


    "The Horse Guard general sent here a secret file!"


    "Ah, the case about Li Xiongtao?" The minister of the Recreational Affairs Ministry instantly became interested in it, "Give it to me!"


    After taking that lot pot, the minister tore off the special seal and saw a small piece of the crystal inside it. After holding it and watching it for a few seconds, the minister''s eyes gleamed. After a short while, he revealed a weird smile, "Ha, I''ve not imagined that there''s such a figure! Interesting!"

 1112 The Long-Lost Frui

    Chapter 1112: The Long-Lost Fruit


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    3 hours later, when Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian returned to the manor of Lord Guangnan in Xuanyuan Hill, it was already dark...


    They returned by an alcohol-driven taxi in Xuanyuan Hill. It was pretty prosperous with night lamplight outside the vehicle as if it was a city with gay nightlife. In the vehicle, Bai Suxian was in a low mood since she got on the vehicle. Watching the night scenery outside the vehicle, she might be thinking about something quietly.


    Although Yue Peng had been ferociously beaten by Zhang Tie, the scar that he caused on Bai Suxian could not recover in a short period.


    Zhang Tie knew women pretty well. Any woman needed to be quiet sometimes no matter how active she was; any woman would feel helpless no matter how firm she was. Therefore, he didn''t say anything at this moment. Instead, he just let Bai Suxian lean against his shoulder quietly as he watched the heavy traffic on the road.


    Bai Suxian might be thinking about her former emotional experiences.


    By contrast, although Zhang Tie also watched the nightscape outside the vehicle, he was imagining about the scenery in the emperor''s imperial city of Xuanyuan Hill.


    During these days in Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie had received many bits of intelligence. He felt like a spider who was weaving a net silently in the dark. He was thinking about overthrowing the very person, who assumed one of the 9 ministers in Taixia Country, the master of Gold and Power Law and the founder of Heavens Reaching Church. It would be better if he could kill that b*stard so as to inflict a heavy loss to his force and the Gobbling Party at the same time.


    With such a powerful opponent in heart, Zhang Tie had long forgotten about the trouble caused by the male knight of the Heavens Holding Pavilion.


    In the past, if he offended a knight of the Heavens Holding Pavilion, it would be a major event which would make him sleepless overnight and lose his appetite. By contrast, it was just a small trouble for Zhang Tie. From the beginning, Zhang Tie had kept an eye on him. All of his movements were under Zhang Tie''s control.


    Perhaps, Zhang Tie had not realized that he was already different than before. He gradually had a domineering profound temperament which common knights would feel awe-stricken about. It was also possessed by many provincial governors and Cheji generals across Taixia Country. Without such a fierce and dignified temperament, how could an earth knight dominate a province of Taixia Country, order so many black iron knights and frighten so many earth knights?


    When the vehicle arrived at the gate of the manor of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion in Xuanyuan Hill where some red lanterns were hanging in the nightscape, brightening up the surroundings of the gate. Zhang Tie tossed a gold coin towards the driver and told him to keep the changes. Closely after that, he opened the door and got off the vehicle with Bai Suxian.


    Watching Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian coming back, some guards outside the gate hurriedly opened the gate and greeted them.


    During the period when Zhang Tie was in this manor, all the people in this manor almost treated him as the would-be son-in-law of Lord Guangnan very respectfully.


    Soon after the two people entered the gate, Uncle Zhong had come forward to greet them.


    These days, with the effect of Zhang Tie''s first prescription, Uncle Zhong felt pretty good as the toxicity of the broken-gold witchcraft parasites inside his body was restricted for the first time. He didn''t cough any more; additionally, his face blushed. He looked much better spiritually. Therefore, he started to be more confident about Zhang Tie''s prescription.


    At the sight of Bai Suxian''s fatigued look and the big hole on Zhang Tie''s back, Uncle Zhong was startled too much as he changed his face at once, "Ahh, Miss, Childe Cui, what happened?"


    "Nothing. We met a blind b*stard. Uncle Zhong, do you know the residence of Heavens Holding Pavilion in Xuanyuan Hill?" Zhang Tie asked with a smile.


    "Yes, I know!"


    "Uncle Zhong, after a while, please have someone send this clothes to Heavens Holding Pavilion. Just have him tell them that it''s from Fire Dragon Hermit!"


    There was a huge hole in the back of Zhang Tie''s clothes which was caused by Yue Peng''s punch. Wise people would understand what happened at the sight of this hole. Actually, Zhang Tie intended to cause such a huge hole in the back of his clothes purposefully.


    If a black iron knight dared attack an earth knight from his back on his own initiative, it was nothing different than seeking for death in any place, not to mention in Xuanyuan Hill. Sending his clothes to Heavens Holding Pavilion, Zhang Tie wanted to let them know that he had shown his mercy to Yue Peng today. Heavens Holding Pavilion had to accept this result whatsoever.


    Although Heavens Holding Pavilion was something, they could never have a subordinate black iron knight bully an earth knight casually. Even the imperial households of Taixia Country could not do that, not to mention the Heavens Holding Pavilion. An earth knight could determine the fates of hundreds of millions of people in some subcontinents. How could an earth knight be easily humiliated?


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Uncle Zhong understood what happened approximately. He nodded before glancing at Bai Suxian for a couple of times, "Miss, do you want a supper today?"


    "No need. I''m a bit tired. I want to take a rest in my room!" Bai Suxian told Uncle Zhong and Zhang Tie. After saying that, she revealed a smile towards Zhang Tie in a reluctant way, "You''ve not eaten food yet; if you want, go have some. I have no appetite today!"


    "Let bygones be bygones. Never mind. After one day''s torture, you''d better have a good rest!" Zhang Tie told her as he patted Bai Suxian''s fragrant shoulder twice.


    "Hmm..."


    When they talked, they had arrived at a fountain in the manor. Bai Suxian''s courtyard was on the other side; therefore, after noticing Zhang Tie and Uncle Zhong, she returned to her room alone.


    Watching Bai Suxian''s back, Uncle Zhong''s eyes were full of concern. Bai Suxian was pretty happy these days. Why did she suddenly become unhappy today?


    "What happened to Miss?" Uncle Zhong asked Zhang Tie about that directly.


    Touching his bald head, Zhang Tie replied, "Nothing, just let her stay alone for some time..."


    "Was she offended by people of Heavens Holding Pavilion?" Uncle Zhong asked out of a bit fury, "Our Lord Guangnan''s Mansion could not be bullied by others in Taixia Country. In the south border of Taixia Country, our Lord Guangnan was awarded over 100 cities. Additionally, Lord Guangnan has tens of millions of guards and over 100 knights as well as many friends and relatives. Furthermore, we have relief in the imperial court. We''re not afraid of Heavens Holding Pavilion at all!"


    "That son of a b*tch is too immoral verbally. I broke his teeth and limbs. Additionally, we met Fang Xinyi today. I''m afraid that Bai Suxian felt unhappy as she recalled what happened in the past. Don''t worry, she will soon be fine!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Uncle Zhong seemingly thought about something. He faintly opened his mouth yet said nothing.


    Zhang Tie guessed that Uncle Zhong must know something about the reason. However, as Bai Suxian didn''t tell him about the reason, Uncle Zhong felt it was inconvenient to talk about it.


    "Childe Cui, do you need me to have supper sent to your room?"


    "No need, thanks, I have no appetite either. I want to cultivate in my room..."


    "There''s an exclusive cultivation room in the manor!"


    "No need, I will just stay in my own room. It won''t take me too much time!"


    "Alright, I will tell others to not disturb Childe Cui''s cultivation!"


    It was really normal for a knight to cultivate. Therefore, after being told that Zhang Tie was going to cultivate in his room, of course, Uncle Zhong wouldn''t suspect it.


    ...


    There was one more huge alloy cage as large as a container on the lawn of the garden in this manor. There was a living LV 6 black spider in the cage, whose blood became the guiding drug of the first prescription that Zhang Tie wrote for Uncle Zhong.


    There were some fluorite lamps surrounding the lawn. In the daytime, that alloy cage was covered with a thick piece of black cloth; in the evening, that piece of black cloth would be unveiled. This LV 6 black spider was guarded by 3 guards who were above LV 7 by shifts every day.


    When Zhang Tie passed by it, he found a guard had just opened a window on one side of the alloy cage and dropped a living sheep inside.


    The living sheep shivered due to fear while being stiff all over. In the blink of an eye, blood had sprayed in all directions inside the cage. The living sheep then became the food of the LV 6 black spider.


    At the sight of the blood spraying, a thought flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie even wanted to pound his own head.


    ''Stupid! I''m so stupid.''


    Of course, followed by Uncle Zhong, Zhang Tie just passed by the path on one side calmly as he took in a deep breath.


    Besides the smell of tender grass and fresh flowers, the fresh air in the garden also contained the bloody smell of that sheep. Meanwhile, this odor activated a memory zone in Zhang Tie''s mind which had not been activated for a long time. That memory zone was filled with endless fights and deaths. Fresh blood was the forever theme of that memory zone.


    ...


    After returning to his own room, Zhang Tie had someone give his torn clothes to Uncle Zhong before closing up his door.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was not really cultivating; instead, he just called out the incarnation of the little black beetle from Castle of Balck Iron so as to take a round in the emperor''s imperial city and check the situation inside. When he saw the LV 6 black spider eating the sheep alive, Zhang Tie suddenly remembered a better detective means which was better than using the incarnation of the little black beetle.


    Since he promoted to a knight, as he could not gain any fruit by killing demon knights, Zhang Tie almost forgot that he had such a trump card¡ª¡ªthe trouble-reappearance fruit. As long as he killed an enemy, he would be able to reappear the surrounding environment in the new trouble-reappearance fruit.


    Zhang Tie started his plan at once.


    Speaking of his enemy, it was too simple. Zhang Tie had a lot of "backup" demonized puppets inside Castle of Black Iron.


    After sensing the surrounding environment, Zhang Tie found that nobody would come here to disturb him in a short period. Therefore, he directly teleported a LV 9 demonized puppet out of Castle of Black Iron...


    Pitifully, the moment the LV 9 demonized puppet was "thawed", before it figured out where it was, its head had been blown up by the battle qi which was shot out of Zhang Tie''s finger. Closely after that, its corpse was thrown back into Castle of Black Iron. The entire process lasted less than 0.5 seconds...


    ...

 1113 Detecting the Emperor’s Imperial City in the Evening

    Chapter 1113: Detecting the Emperor¡¯s Imperial City in the Evening


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Ahh, Castle Lord..." Edward hurriedly bowed towards Zhang Tie when he passed by the hall of the palace tree at the sight of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie just passed by Edward as fast as the wind. Before saying anything, he directly rushed towards the small tree and picked off that latest trouble-reappearance fruit at once. Closely after that, he pushed the trouble-reappearance fruit into his mouth before revealing a smile towards Edward. Then, he disappeared right under the small tree. The entire process lasted less than 3 seconds, leaving Edward standing still there with a dumbfounded look...


    ...


    When Zhang Tie came out of Castle of Black Iron, he was still chewing the latest trouble-reappearance fruit as he had already sat down with crossed legs.


    Zhang Tie took the last trouble-reappearance fruit in the Earth-element Realm. Even though he had taken the last trouble-reappearance fruit, he didn''t activate that trouble-reappearance situation. As he had not taken trouble-reappearance fruit for a long time, Zhang Tie almost forgot about the taste of trouble-reappearance fruit.


    The moment the exotic energy of the trouble-reappearance fruit entered Zhang Tie''s mouth, it had risen up like a curl of smoke and directly rushed into Zhang Tie''s mind sea before converging with Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy. After that, a sparkle appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind sea while an exotic, hexagon entrance flew over here from the sparkle and covered Zhang Tie completely, bringing Zhang Tie into a bizarre trouble-reappearance situation...


    ...


    Zhang Tie appeared in the same room.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie standing there, the demonized puppet that he had killed just now immediately roared with bloody eyes like seeing its enemy before charging towards Zhang Tie.


    This LV 9 demonized puppet was just as trivial as a fly for Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie didn''t even feel like dealing with it; instead, he just punched a wall into pieces. In the rocks and roar, Zhang Tie instantly strode out of the room and entered the manor.


    The manor remained as peaceful as before. Besides nobody was here, every tree and bush here was as same as that Zhang Tie saw a few minutes ago.


    The alloy cage was still on the lawn. Although there were still blood stains in the cage and the smell of blood was still in the air, there was no black spider in the cage anymore.


    The LV 9 demonized puppet closely followed Zhang Tie out of the broken wall as it rushed towards Zhang Tie with bare fangs and brandish claws. Only by casually flicking towards the demonized puppet, Zhang Tie had blown up the two shanks of the demonized puppet. The demonized puppet shrieked miserably as it fell down. Even so, it continued to climb on the ground towards Zhang Tie as if it wanted to bite Zhang Tie forcefully. However, its moving speed was ten times slower than that before. Additionally, it looked pretty hilarious.


    The whole world became quiet.


    The moment Zhang Tie moved, he had come to the street outside the manor of Lord Guangnan over 100 m away benefited from his Kuafu bloodline.


    The street lamps, roadside stores and nightscape remained unchanged.


    After looking around, Zhang Tie found that the street was a bit more spacious than before. Something must have disappeared.


    ''Ah, all the alcohol-driven vehicles on the streets have disappeared. Only the buses that parked on the roadsides could be seen. After thinking about it for a short while, Zhang Tie realized that it was a feature of the trouble-reappearance fruit. In the trouble-reappearance situation, moving objects under the control of humans, personal belongings of humans and any items that were interacting with humans or some living beings could not be captured.


    Otherwise, trouble-reappearance fruits would really be too amazing.


    Even so, Zhang Tie was also satisfied enough.


    As for the small tree, Zhang Tie knew that the current Xuanyuan Hill in his eyes was nothing different than the former Wildwolf Valley or the Hidden Dragon Island; in another word, everything here was just a meaningless arrangement of material elements or sceneries in the photos. With a click, all the sceneries, including handsome boys, beauties, ugly ones, gold, silver, copper, iron, jewelry and wastes would be kept. Watching the completely open, empty Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie felt a bit thrilled as if he was pulling the strings in the public in an examination...


    Zhang Tie started to run rapidly towards the emperor''s imperial city. With the effect of Kuafu bloodline, even though Zhang Tie couldn''t fly, he could still move as fast as the wind and lightning bolt on the ground. In each stride, he could move hundreds of meters. Such a speed was even a bit faster than the flight speed of common knights. After running for 2 minutes, Zhang Tie became pretty excited. With a roar, he immediately jumped onto the roof of a roadside building and started to run along the roofs of those buildings...


    Under the two bright moons, Zhang Tie jumped over the roofs of the buildings in Xuanyuan Hill as fast as a meteor, leaving the roadside buildings and streets behind rapidly.


    Sometimes, Zhang Tie would even break the roofs of those buildings if he used too much strength on his foot. However, nobody would claim compensation for him in the trouble-reappearance situation.


    The linear distance between the manor of Lord Guangnan and Horse Bridge was over 90 miles. In less than 10 minutes, Zhang Tie had already fallen onto the gate tower at the bridgehead of Horse Bridge with a bang.


    Standing on the top of the gate tower, Zhang Tie felt a cold wind blowing over. Although there were ripples in the Golden Water River, the gate tower was still empty. There was not even a guard or a knight inside it. After identifying the orientation, Zhang Tie jumped up once again and landed on the huge steel structure of the Horse Bridge. Only after a few steps, he had already rushed over the Horse Bridge and entered the territory of emperor''s imperial city.


    The emperor''s imperial city of Xuanyuan Hill didn''t look different than the other places in Xuanyuan Hill essentially. The roadside buildings were tidier; additionally, the residences and signboards of central authority agencies in Taixia Country could be seen everywhere across the emperor''s imperial city. All of these places were magnificent and solemn. Even the courtyards in the emperor''s imperial city looked special.


    If Xuanyuan Hill was regarded as the ground at the foot of Emperor Xuanyuan, emperor''s imperial city could almost be regarded as the ground under the eyes of Xuanyuan Hill.


    As Zhang Tie ran, he kept recalling the map of the emperor''s imperial city in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Although commoners could not enter the emperor''s imperial city; the map of the emperor''s imperial city was nothing confidential. Even the location of the imperial palace was marked on the map, not to mention the central residences of authority agencies, the manors of top 3 chancellors and 9 ministers.


    A few minutes later, Zhang Tie landed before the gate of a grand manor. He raised his head and caught sight of the golden words above the gate¡ª¡ªFinance Minister''s Manor.


    There were copper lions outside the gate of this manor. The footsteps were made of white jade. Besides, 4 lanterns were hanging over the gate. Besides one main entrance in the middle, there were two smaller ones on both sides. All the three entrances on the gate were tightly closed.


    After looking at it, Zhang Tie shook his head. Closely after that, he walked onto the jade steps and ascended to the front of the main entrance. Only by one kick, he had blown up the closed gate. After that, he walked inside.


    The finance minister''s manor covered over 60,000 square meters. It contained pavilions, waterside terraces, open halls, rockeries, gardens and pools.


    Zhang Tie started to travel around the manor leisurely like a curious tourist. With lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie could see everything clearly in the manor.


    There were three underground buildings in the manor, an icehouse which contained many ice cubes, a cellar which contained many drinks and a cultivation room for knights which contained a senior elements gathering matrix. Additionally, there were two secret tunnels from where people could access the finance minister''s manor secretly.


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel it was strange for a manor of one of the 9 ministers in Taixia Country to have such secret tunnels. Given the locations of those secret tunnels, they should have been built together with the manor.


    As most of the people living in this manor were servants and guards, their rooms above the ground were nothing special.


    Among the rooms above the ground, there were two buildings which looked like private warehouses. Some jewelry and gold coins were inside the two buildings. Even though they were of great value and rare, they were valueless for Zhang Tie in the trouble-reappearance situation.


    There was nothing eye-catching in the rooms of the master of this manor.


    After looking around seriously in the manor, Zhang Tie finally came to the study on the side of the lotus-flower pool.


    This study was not large; however, it was pretty tranquil and tidy. The moment Zhang Tie entered it, he had seen a treasured calligraphy on the wall, which contained two words "The Best". The signature of the calligraphy was "Scrawled by Water Hearing Mountain Hermit in Hiding Dragon Month, Kuimou Year". Beside that signature, there was a small private seal, which contained three small seal characters " º«Õý·½ 1"...


    Standing in front of this calligraphy, Zhang Tie watched the three seal characters silently as he slightly narrowed his eyes.


    Han Zhengfang, the name of the very finance minister in Taixia Country.


    Water Hearing Mountain Hermit must be Han Zhengfang''s elegant appellation. Among the top figures in Taixia Country, elegant appellations were very popular. The traditional Chinese chronology was also known as stems-and-branches. If not have studied about it previously, Zhang Tie might not know which year did Kuichou Year refer to.


    The latest Kuichou year should be the 891st year of Black Iron Calendar. Each circulation contained 60 years. Given the look of this calligraphy, it should be made on the 891st year of Black Iron Calendar. Hiding Dragon Month should refer to November.


    If not have known the other identity of Han Zhengfang, Zhang Tie would not pay too much attention to this calligraphy. After knowing that he was the master of Heavens Reaching Church and colluded with demons, Zhang Tie could have a different feeling about this calligraphy.


    The 891st year of Black Iron Calendar should be the very year when the holy war broke out. If Han Zhengfang left this calligraphy at that time, it would be meaningful.


    ''The best, hiding dragon, interesting. What an ambitious guy!'' Zhang Tie revealed a sneer, ''I will change this ambitious hiding dragon into a dead snake.''


    After looking at this calligraphy for a short while, Zhang Tie came to the front of the bookshelves.


    Most of the book on the bookshelves were political and historical works and poems. There was no trick in those books. After glancing around them, Zhang Tie walked towards the desk over there.


    On one side of the desk, there were writing brushes, ink sticks, paper and inkstones. There was a delicate gold folder on the table containing a lot of names cards and invitation cards, which had been arranged well by Han Zhengfang''s trusted subordinates for Han Zhengfang''s selection.


    Zhang Tie picked an invitation card on the top and opened it. It was sent by the minister of Recreational Affairs Ministry, who invited Han Zhengfang for a party 3 days ago. According to the date, they would meet each other today...


    Looking at the gold folder on the table, Zhang Tie''s eyes suddenly sparkled, ''If I could have a trouble-reappearance fruit every day, won''t I get hang of the trace of Han Zhengfang in the emperor''s imperial city in advance?''


    ...

 1114 The Mist in the Imperial Palace

    Chapter 1114: The Mist in the Imperial Palace


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After searching over the finance minister''s manor carefully, Zhang Tie left and came to the street outside frankly.


    It had just been over 2 hours since he entered Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie recalled the map of the emperor''s imperial city while a whim suddenly occurred to his mind.


    ''I''m curious about the look of Xuanyuan Imperial Palace.''


    Closely after this whim, another whim flashed by.


    ''Bai Suxian told me that there was a Battle Skills Collections Pavilion in Xuanyuan Imperial Palace, which contained tens of thousands of secret methods. Only a part of imperial households could enter it. What if I could enter it...''


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded.


    Zhang Tie also felt a bit hesitated. After all, it was not a commonplace but the imperial palace of Xuanyuan Hill. Zhang Tie was not sure whether there was any aftereffect if he entered the Battle Skills Collections Pavilion of the imperial palace to learn some secret battle skills. He already had too many powerful enemies such as Heavens Reaching Church, the Gobbling Party and demons. If Zhang Tie offended the imperial households of Taixia Country, he would be in a worse situation.


    Additionally, in each Hua people''s heart, the imperial palace of Xuanyuan Hill, also the residence of Emperor Xuanyuan was pretty sacred. It was the heart of all the Hua people. Even if he slid inside in the trouble-reappearance situation, Zhang Tie was still not confident about that.


    Two voices sounded in Zhang Tie''s mind at the same time, one voice encouraged him to go there as nobody would discover that; the other voice persuaded him to not go there out of the respect to Emperor Xuanyuan the most venerable person among humans and the imperial households of Taixia Country.


    After struggling inside for a few seconds, Zhang Tie finally gritted his teeth as he said, "Whatever, I will take a look inside. I will not touch the items inside the imperial palace unless in need..."


    After muttering to himself, Zhang Tie became decisive as he immediately darted towards the imperial palace.


    In the emperor''s imperial city, all the 12 avenues that linked the 12 bridges over the Golden Water River could lead to the periphery of the imperial palace. The imperial palace of Taixia Country was a circular region in the core of Xuanyuan Hill, whose radius was 6 miles. Therefore, the area of the entire imperial palace was 113 square miles, which was even larger than a small city.


    Zhang Tie was pretty curious about the collections in the imperial palace of Taixia Country. When he arrived at the center of Xuanyuan Hill at his full speed, Zhang Tie was shocked too much by what he saw in front of him.


    On the map, he should have arrived at the location of the imperial palace of Xuanyuan Hill.


    Besides camp and square, there was also a Jade Belt River as wide as over 50 m around the imperial palace. However, the location of the imperial palace was covered with dense black mist in front of Zhang Tie.


    Even with the effect of his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie couldn''t see anything in the dense black mist, not to mention any wall or imperial palace.


    Zhang Tie attempted to enter the black dense; however, there was a great resistance on the edge of the black mist. Zhang Tie could not approach it no matter how great strength did he put forth.


    ''What''s wrong?''


    Zhang Tie became extremely startled. Since he had trouble-reappearance fruits, it was his first time to meet such a situation.


    Of course, the imperial palace of Taixia Country should not be the black mist. The buildings inside the black mist must have not been manifested due to some reason.


    Zhang Tie ran around the location of the imperial palace at full speed and found it was fully covered by the black mist.


    When Zhang Tie stopped his footsteps in the trouble-reappearance situation and thought about the reason about this special situation, his ears suddenly moved. Closely after that, the trouble-reappearance situation shattered into light spots...


    ...


    Zhang Tie, sitting on the bed with crossed legs, opened his eyes at once...


    "Bang...bang...bang" loud sounds drifted from the outdoors.


    Zhang Tie picked himself up and walked over there to open the door.


    Bai Suxian was standing outside the door in a white night skirt. Zhang Tie didn''t know why she suddenly came here. At the sight of Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian immediately hugged him tightly as she buried her face onto Zhang Tie''s chest.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie felt that the clothes on his chest turned wet by Bai Suxian''s tears.


    "What''s wrong?" Zhang Tie patted her back.


    Bai Suxian raised her head with tearful eyes as she said, "Kiss me!"


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh as he closed the door.


    Although it didn''t sound good that Bai Suxian entered his bedroom in the deep night, Zhang Tie believed that nobody in this manor was that gossipy.


    ...


    Only after a few hours'' deep sleep, Zhang Tie had already woken up energetically like a fully charged battery.


    When he woke up, he found that it didn''t break yet through the window screen.


    Bai Suxian was sleeping like a little girl while leaning against Zhang Tie''s chest with tear stains and a bit tiredness and satisfaction on her face after making love with Zhang Tie.


    Bai Suxian was pretty crazy last night. It was her craziest time since they acquainted with each other. Actually, after each orgasm, Bai Suxian would lie beside Zhang Tie and tell him about her story while dropping tears. After that, she would fall asleep in Zhang Tie''s arms relaxedly like having unloaded a heavy burden.


    Zhang Tie knew that Bai Suxian had already resolved her mental obstacle now that she could tell him about her history which she didn''t want to recall previously.


    Actually, Bai Suxian''s story was not that fresh, which also happened to many women¡ª¡ªa beautiful virgin who began to understand love encountered a handsome man by accident. After that, under the young man''s sweet and tender pursuit, she fell in love with him and would even die for him. Until one day, the beauty found that the young man approached her only for the prestige and power of her clan. He was just a scheming ugly duckling with a delicate package. Everything between her and this man was designed by the latter. Additionally, this delicate ugly duckling had other women. From the beginning, she was made use of by this man. She was just the man''s plaything and served as the staircase for the man to fulfill his ambition. The beauty was pretty sad that she blew up with that man decisively. Besides, she was even resigned to her backwardness and lived a confused and indulgent life...


    This was also what Bai Suxian had experienced.


    Since she acquainted with Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian had buried this experience deep in her mind. As a result, it became her mental burden.


    If a woman loved a man, she would always display her best side to him. Although being a knight, Bai Suxian had almost the same attitude about affection like the other women. She was afraid that Zhang Tie would dislike her, despise her, even stay far away from her after knowing her past emotional experience. Therefore, her past emotional experience became her minefield that could be barely detonated.


    Actually, Bai Suxian detonated the minefield in her heart on Zhang Tie''s side last night. She exposed all of her secrets to Zhang Tie.


    Watching Bai Suxian for a short while, Zhang Tie got up quietly in case of disturbing Bai Suxian.


    After getting up, Zhang Tie came to the balcony outside the bedroom in pajamas and watched the garden in the manor which was adorned with lamps and the contour of Xuanyuan Hill in the distance quietly.


    After recalling the emotional experience of Bai Suxian, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh.


    Compared to his love about Miss Daina, Bai Suxian''s emotional experience was more sympathetic. He could neither stay with Miss Daina nor fall in love with her. Whatever, he still had a beautiful memory about her. Although he didn''t get Miss Daina''s love, at least they had extended their sincerity to each other. By contrast, the emotional deception and advantage that Bai Suxian had encountered were more woeful.


    If a woman encountered such a strike in her best age, she would easily become depraved and disappointed about her whole life.


    Bai Suxian almost destroyed her own life.


    Let the bygones be bygones. As long as Bai Suxian had resolved the mental obstacle, Zhang Tie would not like to mention about it anymore.


    ...


    "Heller, are you there?" Zhang Tie called Heller consciously.


    "Castle Lord, I''m waiting for your order at any time!" Heller''s kind and honest sound drifted in Zhang Tie''s mind, making Zhang Tie optimistic at once.


    "What was the matter with the trouble-reappearance fruit last night? Why the imperial palace in the emperor''s imperial city could not be manifested in the trouble-reappearance fruit?" Zhang Tie asked Heller out of his concern.


    "Like how you could not get any fruit by killing demon knights, the Manjusaka Karma Fruits Tree is not almighty. Its ability is limited. Take what happened last night as an instance, to put it simply, the imperial palace in the emperor''s imperial city of Xuanyuan Hill is covered with a strong energy, which directly shielded the mirror of the material world in the trouble-reappearance situation. Meanwhile, Castle Lord, you should know that all the knights below sage-level ones could not fly above Xuanyuan Hill because of the same energy from the imperial palace!"


    "What''s that powerful energy?"


    "I guess, I guess that there might be a treasured item that could match Castle of Black Iron in the imperial palace of Xuanyun Hill."


    "A treasured item that could match Castle of Black Iron?" Zhang Tie became spirited...


    "There might be!" Heller came to a pause, "I might have already known your plan, Castle Lord. But there''s one point that I have to warn you, Castle Lord, you should check how many stars that represent trouble-reappearance situations are left on the marvelous gate of Castle of Black Iron..."

 1115 Loss and Gain

    Chapter 1115: Loss and Gain


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    ''The gate of Castle of Black Iron?''


    ''The stars of trouble-reappearance situations?''


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie became stunned. Closely after that, he understood Heller''s meaning.


    Zhang Tie immediately remembered that whenever he took a trouble-reappearance fruit, one more hexagon star would appear on the arch door of Castle of Black Iron in his mind sea which represented the new trouble-reappearance situation.


    When Zhang Tie caught sight of the first hexagon star which represented the trouble-reappearance situation on the arch door, he felt it was pretty marvelous. Over the past 10 years, as he took more and more trouble-reappearance fruits, his spiritual energy grew increasingly stronger. Gradually, he could access to Castle of Black Iron as easily as taking a breath. Therefore, Zhang Tie gradually forgot about the stars.


    Heller''s words reminded him. Zhang Tie hurriedly moved his eyes onto the arch door of Castle of Black Iron in his mind sea.


    Like when he saw it for the first time, the classic and brilliant arch door was still standing as quietly as before in the deepest place of his mind sea as if it was waiting for Zhang Tie''s arrival at any time. However, being different than when Zhang Tie came here at the beginning, over 95% of the area on this marvelous arch door has been covered with hexagon stars. These hexagon stars set off each other in a harmonious and profound way, making this marvelous arch door more mysterious.


    Zhang Tie looked at it seriously and found that only a small part on the top of the arch door was still available, the entire front of the arch door was almost filled with hexagon stars, which meant that it could barely hold any trouble-reappearance situations.


    ''What about the back and side of the arch door?''


    ''Of course they are not available. Otherwise, Heller would not say that just now.''


    After exiting the inward vision state, Zhang Tie felt a bit complex. The experiences that he took trouble-reappearance fruits flashed by one after another. After a while, he contacted Heller once again as he asked in a bitter voice, "Heller, do you mean that the small tree is running out of trouble-reappearance fruits?"


    "Yes, Castle Lord. Like leakless fruits and iron-body fruits, the number of these fruits are limited. Previously, I thought that Castle Lord had already realized it; I''ve not imagined that Castle Lord forgot about it. Therefore, I warned just now."


    Zhang Tie replied with a bitter smile, "As my spiritual energy grew increasingly stronger, I could contact the marvelous arch door only by a bit of spiritual energy. Whenever I wanted to access the arch door, I only needed to run my spiritual energy slightly like pressing a button. Since I promoted to a knight, I barely used trouble-reappearance fruits; therefore, I didn''t notice that the small tree was running out of trouble-reappearance fruits!"


    "These fruits serve as your foundation and steps, as Castle Lord grew increasingly stronger, these fruits would finally accomplish their mission!"


    "Tell me a precise figure, how many more trouble-reappearance fruits could the small tree produce?"


    "Only 4!"


    "4?"


    Zhang Tie was dumbfounded and disappointed; however, finally recovered his composure.


    No matter whether he accepted the fact or not, it would not alter the outcome. Now that he could not alter it, he had to accept it.


    However, Zhang Tie still had a bit of hope unconsciously.


    "Could I have the small tree produce the last trouble-reappearance fruits whenever and wherever I need?"


    "The rule about producing trouble-reappearance fruits remains unchanged. As long as Castle Lord kills demons or mutated beats on your own initiative at any time, the small tree will produce the trouble-reappearance fruit timely!"


    "I''ve suffered great losses. If I knew it earlier, I might have saved them!"


    "Castle Lord, do you feel that any trouble-reappearance fruit that you took in the past is unnecessary?"


    ''Which one was unnecessary?''


    After thinking about it for a short while, Zhang Tie found that each trouble-reappearance fruit that he took in the past was produced when necessary. All the past trouble-reappearance fruits were produced in necessity when he encountered strikes or for improving his battle strength. Those trouble-reappearance fruits were destined to be produced in his growth. Without those trouble-reappearance fruits, he would never be such powerful. Actually, this question sounded like a laughingstock that he heard about building houses, ''Can we directly build the top floor without the foundation?'' Of course not, no way! Without the accumulated battle strength granted by the earlier trouble-reappearance fruits, he would do everything in vain.


    Among all the trouble-reappearance fruits that the small tree had produced, only the one today was produced for a certain purpose. As a result, it brought him a huge return. Besides gaining the trouble-reappearance situation of Xuanyuan Hill, he could also grasp the key information about his enemy.


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside as he told Heller, "Perhaps, I feel a bit sad when I suddenly found that I''m running out of another fruit!"


    "Perhaps, it would be a perfect result if you could have the last trouble-reappearance fruits to play their roles in Xuanyuan Hill. Castle Lord, previously, I was thinking about reminding you of producing a trouble-reappearance fruit of Xuanyuan Hill before you left Xuanyuan Hill without thinking about the function of trouble-reappearance fruit. The trouble-reappearance situation of Xuanyuan Hill is priceless. It''s absolutely a treasure!"


    "Treasure, why?"


    "Castle Lord, you must have forgotten that the other places in Xuanyuan Hill are all available to you besides the imperial palace of the emperor''s imperial city. As the core of human civilization, Xuanyuan Hill has Bright Library which is the largest human library and the headquarters of all the human trade unions. The books and materials in the Bright Library and the human trade union headquarters are completely open to Castle Lord in the trouble-reappearance situation. Therefore, Castle Lord could access them for learning and gaining information for free. There might not be any top secret methods among them; however, they are very precious too. Most of them were classified. Commoners could barely touch them. It could be said that they are as valuable as many super secret methods. Besides, the great number of national archives and files in the authority agencies in the emperor''s imperial city are also open to Castle Lord. Castle Lord, you could look them up if you need. Given this point, even if Castle Lord couldn''t gain anything in this trip to Xuanyuan Hill, you''ve already reaped a lot with the help of this trouble-reappearance fruit."


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie realized the value of this trouble-reappearance fruit right away after taking in a deep breath. As his exploration in the trouble-reappearance situation was interrupted by Bai Suxian, he was confused by that black mist in the imperial palace of Taixia Country. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t realize the value of this trouble-reappearance fruit for the time being.


    "If so, if I could produce a trouble-reappearance situation in Taiyi Fantasy Sect, won''t I be able to browse all the battle skills and secret methods that are collected in Taiyi Fantasy Sect?"


    "Theoretically yes. However, Castle Lord, do you think that the top 7 sects of Taixia Country would just put their precious secret methods in a building like that on the Hidden Dragon Island? If these secret methods don''t need to be inherited through enlightenment, how precious they could be? In other words, as the master of Iron-Dragon Sect, will Castle Lord put those precious secret methods in a building?"


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie denied this thought at once, ''It''s indeed too silly to put all the precious secret methods in one building. Isn''t it equivalent to seeking trouble? It''s simply attracting crimes and robbery and setting a target for the enemy. No matter how firm the buildings are, they could be destroyed by knight-level powerhouses. If they have a space-teleportation item, they''d better put these precious secret methods in the space-teleportation item and have them managed by reliable ones even the master of the sect himself.''


    ''Actually, I have a space-teleportation item of the major sect in Taixia Country, namely, the Xuanwu Secret Warehouse of Bloody Soul Temple. According to my knowledge, among those major sects, there are exclusive enlightenment elders who are responsible for keeping different secret methods. As for the situation that Huaiyuan Palace put its secret methods in a building on Hidden Dragon Island, on one hand, the Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace indeed don''t have surplus space-teleportation items; on the other hand, as an earth knight, I know that those secret methods that Huaiyuan Palace collected in Hidden Dragon Palace are actually not too precious because over 90% of those secret methods look low-end for those people above knight level. The Breaking Sun Sutra, the most precious secret method of Huaiyuan Palace, is not put in the Hidden Dragon Island either.''


    ''The trouble-reappearance situation is virtual. Therefore, it could not simulate the effect of a space-teleportation item. Therefore, all the items in the space-teleportation item could not be detected in the trouble-reappearance situation.''


    ''In a special environment, the trouble-reappearance fruit would work a lot. However, unless I start to be as timid as a rabbit and don''t kill anyone from now on, as long as I trigger the rule of generation of trouble-reappearance fruit, the trouble-reappearance fruit will come into being automatically. However, it is in the holy war when the overall situation in Taixia Country becomes more and more strange and dangerous with so many surging dark forces, how long could I stand not killing a demon or a lackey of Three-eye Association?''


    ''Therefore, it''s hard for me to keep the 4 trouble-reappearance fruits for too long. I''d better play their full role in Xuanyuan Hill instead of wasting them on some important occasions and scenes. I will turn this hinterland of humans into my last trouble-reappearance situation and use the last trouble-reappearance fruits to kill the culprit, the malignant tumor in Taixia Country so as to draw a perfect, meaningful period for the existence of the last trouble-reappearance fruits.''


    When Zhang Tie thought about this, he gradually felt relieved.


    No pain, no gain. Nothing could be perfect including love, human life and the fruits of the small tree.


    After thinking it through, Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile as he told Heller, "Is there any other fruit running out? Heller, you''d better remind me in advance in case of getting me embarrassed!"


    "I believe that Castle Lord has already sensed it. Some other fruits might be running out soon too!"


    Zhang Tie became silent before asking, "Is that the fruit of judgment?"


    "Yes! After killing those b*stards on the airboat of Gold and Power Law, Castle Lord gained some more fruits of judgment. After taking these fruits of judgment, besides your mirror body separation skill, all the other immortal runes have promoted to the master-level realm. From then on, as long as Castle Lord''s mirror body separation skill promotes to the master-level realm, you will not gain any fruit of judgment anymore!"


    When all the other immortal runes promoted to the master-level realm and the powerful body separation skill appeared, Zhang Tie had sensed that there might not be a new fruit of judgment anymore. After hearing Heller''s verbal verification, Zhang Tie recovered his composure.


    These fruits which had disappeared or would disappear reminded Zhang Tie of the eagles which gradually grew up from their nestle. One day, they had to leave their nest which prevented them from wind and rain and start to flap their wings in the sky in a domineering way.


    ''I''m that eagle. The small tree is that nest where I grew up...''


    ''However, I do not have too many trouble-reappearance fruits left. I have to make a good plan to deal with that culprit. I have to make other preparations...''


    ...


    After thinking about it for a few minutes in the balcony, Zhang Tie quietly returned to his bedroom and cleaned up himself. After doing all this, he threw a glance at Bai Suxian who was in a deep sleep before leaving the room silently...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that Bai Suxian had dropped off tears silently the moment he closed the door from outside...

 1116 Being Leisure

    Chapter 1116: Being Leisure


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    About an hour later, it started to break. Before Zhang Tie returned to his bedroom with a dining car, he had heard faint sobs from the room. Not until he opened the door did the sobs stop.


    Bai Suxian was hugging a pillow while sitting on the head of the bed with tears all over her face. She turned around with a dumbfounded look and saw Zhang Tie walking in with the dining car.


    Zhang Tie looked around the room out of curiosity and found that nobody else was inside. Everything else remained unchanged.


    "What''s wrong?" He asked Bai Suxian with astonishment.


    "I...I thought that you...left me...and didn''t like me anymore after learning about my past!" Bai Suxian said in an embarrassed way.


    "What are you thinking about?" Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "I just got up a bit earlier today. After realizing that you''ve not tasted my culinary skills yet, I made a breakfast for you. When I entered the kitchen, those servants in the manor had just gotten up. I prepared the breakfast myself although it could not match that made by the chefs of the manor..."


    When Zhang Tie explained it, he pushed the dining car to the bedside before opening the covers. The breakfast included a bowl of fragrant noodles, a pancake and a cup of juice. Zhang Tie prepared all of it himself carefully although there was not too much food.


    Bai Suxian watched Zhang Tie while dropping off tears once again. She had not imagined that this man got up early so as to prepare breakfast for her for the first time when she thought that he was leaving her because of abhorring her bygones. Such a considerate man moved her so much. Therefore, Bai Suxian sighed with emotion, "You''re really a good man!"


    "If a man doesn''t understand how to make his wife a mistress, he must be philistine!" Zhang Tie blinked his eyes.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bai Suxian burst out into tears at once.


    ...


    In Bai Suxian''s eyes, the breakfast that Zhang Tie prepared for her was the best one that she had ever eaten. It was even more delicious than any delicacies in the world although it lacked patterns compared to that made by the chefs of the manor.


    Bai Suxian sprung up from the bed, putting on her pajamas and cleansing up herself almost at the highest speed. After that, she pulled up her hair casually and started to enjoy the breakfast that Zhang Tie prepared for her with a brilliant look on the balcony.


    "Come on, let''s eat together!"


    "I''ve already taken it. I made it especially for you!"


    Bai Suxian tasted the fragrant golden pancake before sighing with emotion, "Ahh, so tasty, how did you make it?"


    "I learned it from my mom. After mixing buckwheat flour, eggs with sugar, bake it with sesame oil! If you taste the pancake cooked by my mom, you will find it tastier!"


    "Don''t you really mind my past?" Bai Suxian asked Zhang Tie with an unconfident look.


    "Do you know my past?"


    "I read it in the Mountain of Brightness!"


    "Actually, since I entered school at Blackhot City, I''ve already started to fall in love with someone secretly for a long time..." Zhang Tie started to tell the story about how he fell in love with Miss Daina in a melancholy and reminiscent tone.


    When Bai Suxian slowly enjoyed her breakfast, she was immersed in the story between Zhang Tie and Miss Daina.


    Zhang Tie mentioned that he would always follow Miss Daina from a distance after school each day...


    Zhang Tie mentioned that how he hid in a lane behind the bus station to watch Miss Daina''s back when she waited for the bus...


    Zhang Tie also mentioned how the Hit-Plane Brotherhood masturbated in the classroom, how he annoyed them and finally became their friend.


    These stories were simply like myths for Bai Suxian. However, the myths were real and interesting.


    "Wait...you mean a boy masturbated in your classroom at middle school?" As a woman, of course, Bai Suxian knew what masturbation meant. Even so, the princess could still not imagine about the experience and life of poor boys in a remote place like Waii Subcontinent.


    "Not one, it was a whole row. Can you imagine that? They stood in a row by the windows and masturbated in the public. Finally, they even competed who could eject farther. The loser might even be punished!" Zhang Tie explained with a solemn look.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bai Suxia blushed.


    "Did...did you masturbate then?" Bai Suxian whispered to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh before saying, "According to the instructions of Hua people, juveniles who masturbate would have a poor health and memory and bad luck. Additionally, they would grow uglier and extremely obscene. As I was too poor at that moment, I almost had nothing, including look, health and luck. I risked my life joining the peers who were taller and stronger than me. Even if I wanted to masturbate, I had no cost to squander!"


    Bai Suxian was kittled by Zhang Tie''s words once again.


    When Zhang Tie mentioned how he plucked up his courage to be a man in Ms. Anna''s house and suddenly found that he had a bit "physiological obstacle" due to an extreme pain, Bai Suxian couldn''t stand to spurt her mouthful of noodles onto Zhang Tie''s body...


    After listening to Zhang Tie''s story and having the breakfast that Zhang Tie prepared for her, Bai Suxian''s mental obstacle and haze disappeared completely when her face turned bright once again.


    Zhang Tie knew that Bai Suxian had completely resolved her metal obstacle. Even the breakfast that Zhang Tie prepared for her had been eaten completely by Bai Suxian who usually paid attention to her womanly image, besides that mouthful of noodles that she had spurted onto Zhang Tie''s body.


    Zhang Tie''s story ended with Miss Daina''s light kiss onto a strange man in Huaiyuan Prefecture, which also ended all of his illusions in his younghood. He saw Miss Daina finding her soul partner...


    "I told you about my bygones because I wanted you to understand that each one has its bygones. Nobody is perfect. I''m very happy to meet you; I also treasure you very much. If the bygones couldn''t become your beautiful memory, just take it as a lesson like being bitten by a mad dog and almost getting rabies. If you care about it too much, you''re suffering from the secondary harm caused by the one who harmed you previously!" Zhang Tie made a conclusion sincerely.


    Bai Suxian nodded forcefully as her frustrated and frail look had completely disappeared, "I see!"


    "Let''s visit another place today. I was told that the Treasures Meeting in Gold and Power Market would be very boisterous. As the Treasures Meeting has started for 2 days, let''s take a look over there!" Zhang Tie told Bai Suxian in a casual look.


    "Nice, nice. I will change a set of clothes right away. After that, let''s go to the Gold and Power Market..." Bai Suxian instantly became cheerful after recovering her vitality. After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie''s wet chest, she became a bit embarrassed, "Your clothes..."


    "Never mind, I will change a set of clothes too..."


    "Don''t you really mind my bygones?" Bai Suxian suddenly asked Zhang Tie with a serious look.


    Zhang Tie knew that women always behaved like Bai Suxian. When you didn''t speak, she was worried that you really didn''t mind her bygones. Women were too troublesome. In women''s mindset, if a man didn''t mind their bygones at all, it indicated that this man might not truly love her.


    If he were a lunkhead, Zhang Tie must have been trapped. However, as an experienced man in love affairs, how could he abandon his work which had been seriously undertaken?


    Zhang Tie pretended to be furious as he threw a glare at Bai Suxian. Closely after that, he caught Bai Suxian. In Bai Suxian''s exclamation, he stretched out his huge hand and patted her plump butt, causing sounds "Pah, pah...", "Hurry up, go prepare for it. You''re forbidden to mention this thing from then on. If I saw you leering another man, I will break your legs and shackle you with an iron chain!"


    After being patted a few times on her butt, Bai Suxian became well-behaved at once. Instead of being driven angry, she even revealed a tender, coquettish smile as she replied, "I see, master..."


    "Go!"


    "Pah", Zhang Tie slapped her butt one more time.


    With silvery chuckles, Bai Suxian directly jumped off the balcony and landed onto the lawn outside. Closely after that, she ran barefoot towards her residence cheerily.


    All the servants inside the manor just pretended to not have seen their Miss running out Childe Cui''s bedroom without even receiving the order of Uncle Zhong.


    When Bai Suxian left, Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he lowered his head to watch the wet chest. After changing a set of clothes, he left his room.


    Based on Zhang Tie''s knowledge about Bai Suxian, Bai Suxian would not leave her room in 2 hours even after being looked by maids because she had to take a bath, do her hair, choose clothes and dress up.


    During this period, Zhang Tie could do something.


    As the sun had just risen, the garden was filled with cheerful bird chirps. Zhang Tie went to the kitchen and took out a small basin of wheat before starting to feed birds leisurely on the lawn.


    There were too many birds both inside and outside the Xuanyuan Hill. People could feed birds in many places across the city. Feeding birds had become a pastime for both old and young in Xuanyuan Hill.


    After Zhang Tie scattered a handful of wheat over the lawn, a flock of sparrows that were tweeting cheerily and jumping over the treetops soon flew off by flapping their wings and started to peck wheat over the grass pleasantly without being afraid of Zhang Tie at all. After a short while, even the sparrows in the far had come here. Hundreds of sparrows started to peck Zhang Tie''s wheat around him while tweeting...


    Not only sparrows, but even pigeons also arrived in only a few minutes...

 1117 Two Uninvited Visitors

    Chapter 1117: Two Uninvited Visitors


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Zhang Tie fed birds in the garden, a lot of servants and guards in the manor of Lord Guangnan clicked their tongues in wonder and praised that an earth knight could be so kind and nice, a black limo with the license plate of Xuanyuan Hill had already entered the auxiliary road that led to the manor from the main road in the early morning.


    An elder and a shrewd middle-aged man at his 30s were sitting at the back seats of the limo.


    "Elder, does that Fire Dragon Hermit live here?" The middle-aged man couldn''t stand to ask the old man when he watched the grand manor and the luxuriant garden, "Haven''t our clan investigated his background? He was born in Yongzhou Province and has no foundation. Even if an earth knight has made some military exploits in the Earth-elements Realm, how could he have such a magnificent manor in Xuanyuan Hill? This one is even a bit larger than our Guan Clan''s manor in Xuanyuan Hill."


    It was not amazing for a knight to have even 10,000 grand manors like this one outside Xuanyuan Hill; however, in Xuanyuan Hill, such a grand manor was really amazing.


    Watching the high snow-white courtyard wall and those special rune alert copper bells that were secretly arranged on the courtyard walls, the old man revealed a smile, "As you''ve just been in Xuanyuan Hill for a few days, you might not know about the forces layout in Xuanyuan Hill. This manor belongs to Lord Guangnan''s Mansion in Xuanyuan Hill; instead of Fire Dragon Hermit. It''s not that easy for a new earth knight to have such a grand private manor in Xuanyuan Hill."


    The middle-aged man responded at once, "Did Fire Dragon Hermit seek a refuge with Lord Guangnan?"


    "No, Fire Dragon Hermit might really be the son-in-law of Lord Guangnan!" The old man shook his head.


    "I''ve not imagined that Fire Dragon Hermit could be so lucky!" The middle-aged man revealed an admiring look.


    "If one doesn''t have the corresponding overall strength, it''s useless even if he has a pretty good luck. If Fire Dragon Hermit doesn''t have a great overall strength, how could he win the bet with our forefather of Guan Clan? Even our forefather told us to do this job well!"


    After hearing the elder''s words, the middle-aged man felt his heart aching once again, "It''s over 600 square miles'' bounty land and 10 cities. How much would it cost? Our Guan Clan doesn''t make money easily. We''ve got hundreds of thousands of people surnamed Guan to live; plus their relatives and family dependants. I''m afraid that only our forefather dares to make such a bet with such a high wager. I was told that some branch elders had already quarreled in the clan''s Elders'' Association..."


    The old man replied with a heavy harrumph out of discontent, "They were kicking up a row for such a trifle. Short-sighted. Our forefather''s face could never be matched by 10 cities and over 600 square miles'' land. Didn''t our forefather see that more clearly than them? Even though our forefather had admitted that he had lost the bet; did he need to listen to their opinions? Additionally, now that our forefather could award Fire Dragon Hermit with such things, it indicated that Fire Dragon Hermit must have special abilities that our forefather praised. This man must be unusual if he could promote to an earth knight only after entering the Earth-elements Realm for a few years. That''s why our forefather told us to do this job very solemnly!"


    "You''re right, elder. Without forefather, our Guan Clan would never be so prosperous. We have to save our forefather''s face even if we have to give up the last shot in the locker, not to mention that it was just a bit wager. As long as our forefather is on our back, our Guan Clan will be safe and prosperous. If our forefather could promote to a heavenly knight, our Guan Clan will be much more prosperous. They just bargained with the other elders in the Elders'' Association when the grand elder was not there. In the final analysis, they did that only for the benefit of their clansmen. If forefather were at present, they dared not even break wind!"


    When they talked, the vehicle had arrived at the gate of the manor of Lord Guangnan. When a guard approached to ask about their identity, the driver passed out an invitation card. After a short while, the gate of the manor had been opened while this vehicle drove inside...


    ...


    Uncle Zhong arrived at Zhang Tie''s side and stood aside quietly, watching Zhang Tie feeding those sparrows and pigeons surrounding him.


    Previously, Uncle Zhong thought that Zhang Tie might get hang of some animal controlling skill; therefore, he was interested in feeding these little animals. It was also a special cultivation method about controlling animals. However, after observing Zhang Tie''s movements for a while, he didn''t find any trace that Zhang Tie could control animals. As Uncle Zhong came from the south border of Taixia Country, where there was a long history about controlling animals, he had seen many powerhouses controlling animals; therefore, Uncle Zhong knew something about controlling animals. However, after knowing that Zhang Tie directly took the basin of wheat out of the kitchen without adding any secret medicine into it and didn''t utter any strange incantations or animal language without making any strange movements, Uncle Zhong found that Zhang Tie was purely playing with the birds.


    It seemed that Zhang Tie was purely interested in feeding birds.


    After watching it for a while, Uncle Zhong finally pretended to cough twice.


    Coughs in sickness were different than that of reminding someone.


    Of course, Zhang Tie could identify it.


    After scattering another handful of wheat over the grass, Zhang Tie turned around.


    "Uncle Zhong, what''s up?"


    "Childe Cui, two men are waiting for you in the parlor!"


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "Did Heavens Holding Pavilion dare find trouble here?"


    "They''re not from Heavens Holding Pavilion, but from the Guan Clan of Lord Mingwu. They came here to fulfill the bet between Childe Cui and Lord Mingwu!"


    ''Guan Clan of Lord Mingwu? Bet?''


    After thinking about it for a second, Zhang Tie remembered that they must come from the clan of Guan Qianchong, the commander of the Black Armor Army. Previously, he bet with Guan Qianchong with the Fire Dragon Bounty Territory in the Earth-elements Realm and won Guan Qianchong''s over 600 miles'' bounty land and 10 cities. He thought that Guang Clan might find him after a long while or even repudiate the debt by finding him trouble. It was really out of his imagination that Guan Clan could fulfill their bet so fast.


    Zhang Tie became thrilled as he directly scattered the rest wheat over the grass like pouring water. Closely after that, he directly threw the basin to a guard dozens of meters away and patted his hands before saying, "Please show me the way!"


    Uncle Zhong then led Zhang Tie to the parlor.


    "Oh, by the way Uncle Zhong, have you sent my torn clothes to the courtyard of Heavens Holding Pavilion in Xuanyuan Hill?"


    "Yes, I have!"


    "What did Heavens Holding Pavilion say?"


    "I''ll tell you about it. According to the people who sent the clothes over there last night, when an elder of Heavens Holding Pavilion saw the big hole on the back of the clothes, he looked pretty bad, but he didn''t say anything!"


    "Haha, he''s right to be silent. Whatever, he could not appreciate me for giving a less to the good-for-nothing knight of Heavens Holding Pavilion!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter.


    "Although Heavens Holding Pavilion won''t dare to harm you in Xuanyuan Hill, Child Cui has to be alert after leaving Xuanyuan Hill. Like Lord Guangnan said, sometimes these major sects would do bad things for fame and fortune. They seek revenge for the smallest grievance yet pretend to be fair and reasonable!"


    Uncle Zhong mentioned the major sects in Taixia Country not out of full respect; instead, he sounded experienced. Zhang Tie realized that Lord Guangnan''s Mansion might have conflicts with the major sects in Taixia Country. Even if there wasn''t, like major clans, major sects would always have some losers or disgusting guys who behaved like a donkey in a lion''s hide.


    "Haha, thanks, Uncle Zhong. If they really want to do bad things for fame and fortune in front of me, I will let them know that someone in the world could be both whoremasters and demolition team!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie, Uncle Zhong burst out into laughter too.


    "Childe Cui, the parlor is in front of you..." After leading Zhang Tie to the front of the parlor, Uncle Zhong directly left. After all, he was the steward of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion in Xuanyuan Hill, not Zhang Tie''s private steward. As Zhang Tie was not the son-in-law of Lord Guangnan yet, he had to be meticulous in case of incurring a laughingstock due to excessive passion.


    After extending his gratitude to Uncle Zhong, Zhang Tie directly entered the parlor.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie coming in, the two visitors in the parlor threw a glance at his bald head before standing up and nodding towards Zhang Tie respectfully, "Fire Dragon Hermit!"


    As an earth knight, Zhang Tie''s position could match the grand elders in Guan Clan and was just a bit lower than Guan Qianchong. Of course, the two people from Guan Clan dared not upstage Zhang Tie.


    "Take a seat please!" Zhang Tie came to a chair beside the two people leisurely with a teapot in between. In this way, they could tilt heads and talk with each other more conveniently.


    Seeing Zhang Tie sitting down, the two people from Guan Clan sat down too. At this moment, the maids served them tea before leaving politely.


    Zhang Tie knew that the two people from Guan Clan were glancing at him stealthily. After taking the cup of tea and having a sip, he uttered, "It''s said that you''re here to fulfill the bet between me and Commander Guan?"


    "Yes, at the order of our forefather, we treasure this thing very much. The moment we received the order of our forefather, we had started to prepare it for you. As it took us some time to prepare over 600 square miles'' land and 10 cities and had to mobilize a great amount of fund, we''re a bit late. Please do not blame us for that, Fire Dragon Hermit!" When the old man from Guan Clan replied, he slightly lowered his body towards Zhang Tie.


    "You''re too polite, Commander Guan!" Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards the old man with a solemn look, "When I made a bet with Commander Guan, I was just a bit impulsive, Commander Guan must know the reason. After returning to the earth'' surface, I almost forgot about this thing. Actually, you could just take it as a joke between me and Commander Guan. It''s just some cities and over 600 square miles'' bounty land. Just forget about it..."


    ''It''s over 600 square miles'' land and 10 cities. How could he give it up so generously? The elders of Guan Clan have quarreled more than once in the Elders'' Association for this wager. There''re many more annoyances. How could he directly decline it? What a great favor it is!'' The two representatives of Guan Clan were both moved...


    ...

 1118 An Ally in Taixia Country

    Chapter 1118: An Ally in Taixia Country


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie really didn''t lack money now. Money and land didn''t mean too much for him and couldn''t relieve his current problem at all. Through Guan Qianchong''s help, he covered his secret that he was the apprentice of Zhao Yuan; additionally, Guan Qianchong helped him win an airboat from Feng Yexiao, a grand elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Actually, Guan Qianchong had helped him twice indirectly. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not joking. Although the members of Guan Clan might be unwilling to give him such a wide area of bounty land to Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie really didn''t care about that.


    Even though he had over 60,000 square miles'' bounty land, he could only sleep on one bed. Even if he had mountains of wealth, he could only have some food by chopsticks. When he had enough wealth, his happiness and sense of achievement would have nothing to do with wealth. Zhang Tie had already passed the period of seeking for wealth.


    ''I''ve not imagined that Fire Dragon Hermit directly gives up the bounty land which has arisen so many quarrels between our clan elders. Now that he could win the bet with our forefather and could be closely followed by the princess of Lord Guannan, he''s indeed not an average person.'' The two people from Guan Clan threw a glance with each other as they both saw a bit admiring and bashful look from each other and showed a bit more reverence to Zhang Tie sincerely.


    "Fire Dragon Hermit, you''re too generous!" The elder from Guan Clan cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie with a solemn look, "Thanks for your good intention, Fire Dragon Hermit. However, as it''s the award that you won from Guan Qianchong the forefather of our Guan Clan and our forefather has told us to do this job well, we''ve already brought you the relevant documents!"


    When this Guan elder uttered, he drew his hand over the table while some thick documents appeared on the teapoy in between. These documents were made of special material, which was more senior than silver paper. All the documents were giving out a dark golden light. Additionally, there were watermarks and three-dimensional concave-convex grains on the surface of those documents, making each paper of these documents unique. Generally, these special grains would appear on gold notes of super great par-value. Contracts would even be marked with secret codes that could only be identified by difference engine and pass the notarization and backup of relevant authorities in Taixia Country; any correction had to undergo a series of procedures; therefore, it was very hard to forge them.


    The Guan elder took the first document.


    "This document is the certificate of the ownership of all the rest lands in Yangui Mountain Range besides that of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. According to the forefather, our Guan Clan bought the rest part of Yangui Mountain Range covering 1 million square miles as the compensation for the wager!"


    After putting the first document in front of Zhang Tie, the Guan elder took the second document.


    "This document is the asset appraisal report about the total value of the 10 cities inside Fire Dragon Bounty Territory made by the four major asset appraisal agencies in Taixia Country. The total value about the 10 cities varies from 664 million gold coins to 683 million gold coins. They have fully considered the investment cost for the traffic logistics system, the urban asset premium brought by the natural commercial system and demographic dividend and the current urban building cost in Taixia Country. The 4 major asset appraisal agencies would like to assume the collateral responsibilities for the losses that you will suffer because of the adoption of their appraisal report. Guan Clan adopts the maximal value of your asset made by the 4 major asset appraisal agencies in Taixia Country."


    After putting the second document in front of Zhang Tie, the Guan elder took the 3rd document.


    "This is a document about the drawing right delivered from the Hua People Banks Federation. Anyone who possesses this document could withdraw the deposit of 690 million gold coins or precious metals of the same amount of value from any bank of Hua People Banks Federation. Hua People Banks Federation will provide a guarantee for this amount of money. The deposit of 690 million gold coins has been optimized. If not withdraw them, it would become a fixed deposit in the bank. You will enjoy the interest rate of fixed deposit. If you want to withdraw it partially, the part of deposit that you withdraw would be available to current interest rate while the rest part of deposit still sticks to the fixed interest rate. This amount of money is equal to the compensation for the wager of your 10 cities!"


    This was how major clans in Taixia Country behaved!


    Watching the three documents in front of him, Zhang Tie sighed with emotion inside, ''How nice! It''s perfect. The land area of the rest Yangui Mountain Range is much larger than that of his Fire Dragon Bounty Territory; the drawing right of the 690 million gold coins is more valuable than that of the 10 cities in Fire Dragon Bounty Territory.''


    After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Tie only took that document of the ownership of the rest land of Yangui Mountain Range as he pushed the other two documents back to the front of the Guan elder decisively. After that, he said, "I only want to take the rest land of Yangui Mountain Range. Please take back the drawing right of 690 million gold coins. I intend to make friends with Guan Clan, will Guan Clan do me a favor?"


    "Erm..." The two people from Guan Clan threw a glance with each other. The Guan elder then replied with a bit embarrassed look, "As we''re following the order of our forefather, I really can''t make a decision!"


    "Could you contact Commander Guan right now? I will talk to him!" Zhang Tie said as he threw a glance at the finger ring on the hand of the Guan elder.


    The silver finger ring was wide. There were some beautiful square grains around the finger ring. Compared to common remote-sensing crystal finger rings, this finger ring looked more delicate and senior as it integrated with more than one top-quality remote-sensing crystals. With such a finger ring, he could contact many people at the same time. Zhang Tie estimated that this Guan elder might be able to contact Guan Qianchong directly; therefore, he posed this question.


    "Well, I will contact our forefather right away!" The Guan elder nodded before throwing a glance at the document about the drawing right of the 690 million gold coins.


    It was 10 cities. If he could save the 10 cities for Guan Clan after contacting his forefather, this Guan elder would definitely be glad to do that.


    Like instant messaging tools, they could communicate with each other by remote-sensing crystals very conveniently. After injecting his spiritual energy into one remote-sensing crystal, the Guan elder became silent for one minute in front of Zhang Tie. After that, he became reassured as he took off that finger ring and passed it to Zhang Tie. Meanwhile, he pointed at one square grain on the finger ring before saying, "You could contact my forefather with this remote-sensing crystal in universal plain code!"


    After taking that finger ring, Zhang Tie immediately injected his spiritual energy into that piece of remote-sensing crystal and sent a message to the opponent.


    "Hi, Commander Guan, I''m Cui Li!"


    "Fire Dragon Hermit, according to my juniors, you will accept the rest land of Yangui Mountain Range; however, you want to return the drawing right of the 690 million gold coins to us?"


    Given the polite diction, Zhang Tie knew that it should be Guan Qianchong.


    "Yes!"


    "Why? Do you fear that Guan Clan cannot afford it or have another purpose?"


    "Haha, what purpose could I have from Guan Clan? I have enough land and money. Do I want to be the son-in-law of Guan Clan or what? Zhang Tie joked with Guan Qianchong.


    "If you really want to be the son-in-law of Guan Clan, given the 10 cities that you returned to Guan Clan, I promise you that you could select 100 women from the young generation of Guan Clan as your wives, how about it?"


    Zhang Tie was almost choked by Guan Qianchong''s words. As for Guan Qianchong, his juniors were just a matter of figure. Even though those people shared his bloodline, it was nothing serious for him to give 100 of them to others. What a mentality! Was it the mentality of an emperor or a queen ant?


    "Haha, Commander Guan, I will not play jokes with you. Just take 690 million gold coins as my return to your favor. Without your care, I could barely win an airboat from Taiyi Fantasy Sect in Lion Fortress. I always give kindness for kindness and hatred for hatred!"


    "It''s a good reason. I''m glad that you don''t want the 690 million gold coins in case of those short-sighted juniors in Guan Clan to quarrel with each other at home which is really boring. We knights don''t treasure money too much. The higher level the knights are, the more they neglect those gold and white things. By contrast, commoners think that the value of money is limitless. On the road of cultivation, the more unpromising the guys were, the more they would treasure money. As too many commoners depend on Guan Clan, such a great amount of money would survive them for a period. I, Guan Qianchong, owe you a favor this time!"


    "Commander Guan is credible. Guan Clan does a good job. Therefore, you made me a bit bashful!" After sending this message, Zhang Tie continued, "Commander Guan said that too many commoners depended on Guan Clan. I''ve got a business; I wonder whether Guan Clan is interested in it or not?"


    "How large is the business?"


    "Given Guan Clan''s ability, if you want to do that, you could easily make 100-200 million gold coins a year!"


    "If one could make a big fortune easily, the business must be illegal or violating the universal laws. Guan Clan knows many businesses like this; many people want to cooperate with Guan Clan too. However, Guan Clan would never make such kind of money even if we''re starved to death!"


    Guan Qianchong''s words turned sharp.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "Commander Guan, you''re right. But besides being illegal and violating the universal laws, actually, there''s another exclusive, bright and legal business that you could make a big fortune. Won''t Guan Clan do such a business?"


    "Is there any business like this in Taixia Country?"


    "Previously, there isn''t. But since I''m here, there is!"


    "If you want to cooperate with Guan Clan, Guan Clan want 50% of the profit as this business is in Taixia Country!"


    "No way! But I could consider to promise you the franchise right in one or two provinces of Taixia Country. As Guan Clan are not that influential in other provinces and prefectures of Taixia Country, I will choose other cooperative partners!"


    "With only the franchise right in a couple of provinces could Guan Clan easily make 100-200 million gold coins a year?"


    "Might be more than that!"


    Guan Qianchong was shocked. Although he was a shadow knight, it didn''t represent that he was otherworldly and didn''t understand the value of 100-200 million gold coins.


    At this moment, Guan Qianchong finally understood why Zhang Tie didn''t care about the drawing right of 690 million gold coins. If Zhang Tie really had such a business, 690 million gold coins were really nothing serious in Zhang Tie''s eyes. If he could easily make 100-200 million gold coins in one or two provinces a year, how much he could make across Taixia Country annually?


    If it was told by a commoner, Guan Qianchong would definitely think that one was boasting. However, as it was told by Zhang Tie, who had defeated him in a bet, Guan Qianchong had to treat it seriously.


    "What''s that business?"


    "It''s a secret for the time being. But I promise that this business is legal or doesn''t violate the universal laws!"


    "Well, Guan Clan will do this business. What does Guan Clan need to do?"


    "I''ve not thought through yet. Commander Guan could have someone contact me. He''d better be able to make decisions in case of troubles!"


    "Well, give your finger ring to the one who gave it to you! And, I will tell you a good news for free. The general has to know that you enrolled Liu Xing and the other 6 black-armor fighters as your apprentices. General has a good impression of you and speaks highly of you!"


    After hearing Guan Qianchong''s words, Zhang Tie became slightly stunned. The one who could be called general by Guan Qianchong must be Du Guyi, the Demon-Suppression General, also a legendary figure in the Earth-elements Realm. Zhang Tie had not imagined that even Du Guyi could receive the news that he enrolled Liu Xing and the other 6 black-armored fighters as apprentices and have a good impression about him. ''Does good people always have a good fortune?''


    ...


    When Zhang Tie contacted Guan Qianchong, the two representatives of Guan Clan didn''t know what Zhang Tie said to the forefather of Guan Clan. As knights had very powerful spiritual energy and consciousness, even though they used a plain code, they could still communicate much faster than the mouth. Only after taking that finger ring for half a minute, Zhang Tie had returned it to the elder of Guan Clan.


    Only after taking that finger ring for a few seconds, the Guan elder had thrown a shocked glance at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, this Guan elder took in a deep breath before standing up with a solemn look once again. Under the amazed look of the other Guan representative, he bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie, "According to our forefather, I, Guan Qianyu will stay with Fire Dragon Hermit for your order from today on!"


    Not until then did Zhang Tie know that this Guan elder was called Guan Qianyu. Given this name, Zhang Tie immediately knew that the representative word of Guan knights should be "Qian". Therefore, all the human knights with the word "Qian" in the middle of their names should be the knights of Guan Clan.


    In Taixia Country, a business that could produce hundreds of millions of gold coins per year would attract the attention of knight-level elders of a clan for sure.


    Watching the Guan elder who bowed towards him, Zhang Tie knew that he finally got his first powerful ally in Taixia Country...

 1119 Setting a Trap

    Chapter 1119: Setting a Trap


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After the flock of sparrows and pigeons in the manor ate up the wheat that Zhang Tie had spread over the grass, they had flown off by flapping their wings. After flying around the garden for a short while, they flew out of the high walls of the manor towards afar...


    Pigeons could reach high as they rushed into the sky in the blink of an eye. The flock of sparrows flew away while tweeting. Among those sparrows, some very strong and young sparrows flew towards the emperor''s imperial city.


    As there were too many birds in Xuanyuan Hill, nobody would pay attention to the movements of some sparrows and pigeons.


    ...


    When the flock of birds flew off the manor, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian had just left the manor by a black limo.


    The sound caused by the sparrows flapping their wings in the sky attracted Bai Suxian''s attention. Bai Suxian then turned around and watched the sparrows flying over the treetops. Not until the flock of sparrows disappeared did Bai Suxian turn around and watch Zhang Tie with a smile, "It''s said that you were feeding birds in the garden just now?"


    "Haha, I just waited for you by playing with birds!" Zhang Tie explained casually.


    "Can you control animals?" The young sister asked seriously.


    After hearing that question, Zhang Tie''s heart raced, ''Were my trivial movements discovered by Bai Suxian? No way, although I was feeding birds, I started the two secret methods in the "Gain Section" and "Control Section" of the Great Wilderness Sect silently. As for the secret method in the "Gain Section", I formed special runes in wheat by battle qi and helped some to strengthen some sparrows'' health; after that, I control them using the secret method of the "Control Section". I made them my ears and eyes so that they could "raise or enlarge their army" outside. How could she notice that I was using the secret methods of Great Wilderness Sect ?


    ''The secret methods in the Great Wilderness Sectare top secret methods in controlling animals. All the secret methods in the Great Wilderness Sect are silent in use. Unless Bai Suxian has also learned the Great Wilderness Sect and has great accomplishment than me in it, she could never discover it.''


    "Why do you ask me about this?" Zhang Tie asked leisurely.


    "Do you know that I''ve also learned some animal controlling skill?"


    "Of course, I know. When in the Earth-elements Realm, I saw that you had a red spider as your concierge. Finally, I was even drugged by your spirit and raped by you. My good reputation was completely ruined by you overnight!" Zhang Tie let out a long sigh, "Who could imagine that a young sister could put a love potion in the spirit of a man? However, I encountered such a fortunate thing!"


    "Stop..." Bai Suxian beat Zhang Tie once with a bashful look. Zhang Tie burst out into laughter.


    They sat at the back seats which were isolated from the front seats; therefore, they were not afraid that their words were eavesdropped by the driver.


    "I mean it!" Bai Suxian turned solemn, "If a knight grasped some animal controlling skill, it would be very useful in an emergency. In Earth-elements Realm, even a bit of animal controlling skill would be more useful than having a LV 15 battle spirit as my concierge in the hidden place. I learned how to control animals from a guest in my father''s mansion. Although it''s just a bit, it''s enough in a special environment. If you want to learn it, you could go to Lord Guangnan''s Mansion with me next time; I will tell my father and have you learn some animal controlling skill from the guest of the mansion. Whatever, the more skills you grasped, the safer you would be. After learning some animal controlling skill, you would be a bit safer in the Earth-elements Realm if you went there in the future!"


    ''It turns out Bai Suxian is going to introduce her teacher of animal controlling skill to me.'' Zhang Tie was startled too much. Closely after figuring out Bai Suxian''s meaning, Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside at once. Although he knew that Bai Suxian had a good intention, Zhang Tie still felt it was a bit hilarious, ''As long as I''m free, I could cultivate the Great Wilderness Sect , it''s just a matter of time for me to reach the peak of animal controlling skill. Why do I learn any inferior animal controlling skill?'' Although Zhang Tie thought in this way, he couldn''t tell Bai Suxian what he was thinking about; especially when Bai Suxian was very passionate. Therefore, Zhang Tie just went through the motions.


    "Of course, I could. It''s nothing bad to learn a bit animal controlling skill. When I go to Lord Guangnan''s Mansion with you in the future, I could learn it from a guest instructor in the mansion. And, I heard that animal controlling skill is a major knowledge in the south border of Taixia Country!"


    "Previously, when the Great Wilderness Sect was not exterminated, animal controlling skill was predominated in the south border of Taixia Country. Many elders of the Great Wilderness Sect even had knight-level mutated beasts as their battle mounts at that moment. Many knight-level mutated beasts had special abilities which were even more powerful than that of common knights. Additionally, they had telepathy with the elders of Great Wilderness Sect ; therefore, when in a fight, one knight-level elder of Great Wilderness Sect could easily defeat more than two common knights!"


    "Knight-level mutated beasts? Are there such high-level mutated beasts in the south border?"


    "Of course, there''re mutated beasts in many places across Taixia Country. However, many mutated beasts have been hunted or driven away over the past hundreds of years as they are too close to cities and human habitations and posed great threats to humans or have special values. Therefore, we could barely see them now. However, the south border of Taixia Country is covered with numerous huge mountains, dense mountain caves and abysses. It''s absolutely the paradise of mutated beasts and various animals. After entering that place, even earth knights could not leave safe and sound, not to mention commoners..."


    "Now that the mutated beasts and elders of Great Wilderness Sect in the south border are so powerful, how could Great Wilderness Sect be exterminated by others?"


    "I was told by the animal controlling teacher that the Great Wilderness Sect was indeed the predominance of the south border previously; they were in their heyday at that time. However, there was also a bad atmosphere among the Great Wilderness Sect . Many cultivators of the Great Wilderness Sect paid special attention to the cultivation of animal controlling skill and gave up the cultivation of battle skills completely. Numerous people were jealous of the Great Wilderness Sutra of the Great Wilderness Sect which was a top treasure. Later on, the Great Wilderness Sect fell from the pinnacle of its power and was finally exterminated by a domineering power overnight. This is a suspension case in Taixia Country."


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that the Great Wilderness Sect had such a vice of "tending to go overboard on one subject". However, after realizing that there were so many secret methods in the Great Wilderness Sect , Zhang Tie became reassured, ''As for many disciples even elders in the Great Wilderness Sect , as long as they could reach the highest level of Great Wilderness Sutra , they might be able to solve all the problems. Therefore, they might consider the time in cultivating battle skills as a waste...''


    The history of the Great Wilderness Sect made Zhang Tie sigh with emotions inside. Meanwhile, he made a decision inside that he would not make the mistake of the Great Wilderness Sect. ''Compared to those mutated beasts, the human body is the largest treasury. The ultimate purpose of cultivation in battle skills is to open this treasury. No matter what, I would not give up cultivating battle skills. I have to keep the secret that I have the Great Wilderness Sutra . After finishing the plan in Xuanyuan Hill, I will never easily expose my cultivation base in controlling animal.''


    "Alas, it''s too pitiful!" Zhang Tie let a sigh for the Great Wilderness Sect sincerely, "Is your teacher great?"


    "Yes, he''s really something!" Bai Suxian nodded, "Now that he''s recruited by my father as the guest instructor, of course, he''s not usual. My father told me that this instructor was as powerful as the disciples of the Great Wilderness Sect who had reached the 9th floor of the tower. Additionally, some of this instructor''s abilities indeed originate from some secret methods left by the Great Wilderness Sect..."


    "Disciples who had reached the 9th floor of the tower?" Zhang Tie''s look turned weird because Bai Suxian''s words reminded him of the All-Spirits Pagoda in his mind sea. He then asked, "The level sounds a bit weird!"


    "I don''t know it either. I just heard that the levels of animal controllers in the south border almost originated from the Great Wilderness Sect. Generally, the criteria of the Great Wilderness Sect are the criteria of the entire animal controlling system in Taixia Country!"


    "Are disciples on the 9th floor of the tower very powerful?"


    "Yes, they''re very powerful. This instructor could control all the mutated beasts below LV 8!"


    "Hmm, it sounds indeed great!" Zhang Tie praised as he thought that, ''If a disciple on the 9th floor of All-spirits Pagoda is powerful, what about me the disciple who has reached the 15th floor of All-Spirits Pagoda?''


    "I feel that you look a bit strange!" Bai Suxian said as she blinked her eyes after glancing at Zhang Tie for a short while suddenly.


    "Hehehe, really?" Zhang Tie rubbed his face by fingers, "Perhaps, I was thinking about the affairs between me and Guan Clan and was a bit absent-minded!"


    "Oh, you said that you''re going to cooperate with Guan Clan in a business in the future, what''s that business?"


    "We just joined hands to make some alcohol machines!"


    "Liar!" Bai Suxian pouted with an unbelievable look.


    "I''m not lying!"


    "If you lack money, I have some case-dough given by my mom in the south border. You can take it!"


    "How much case-dough did your mom give you?"


    "8 cities and 1 basin. Among the 8 cities, there''s a Class A city. The basin covers about 300,000 square miles. Additionally, I could have over 10 million gold coins'' annuity per year from Xuanyuan Hill..."


    After hearing her words, Zhang Tie became speechless. Even the "case-dough" of the princess of Taixia Country left many people behind...


    "Whatever, the case-dough will follow me when I get married!" Bai Suxian threw a glance at Zhang Tie and lowered her head before whispering tenderly.


    After throwing a glance at Bai Suxian, Zhang Tie scratched his finger over her nose as he said, "Money is boring. I''m just looking for an ally in Taixia Country by cooperating with Guan Clan!"


    When she thought about Zhang Tie''s original identity, Bai Suxian understood something, "But how much could you make from alcohol machines?"


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he said, "You will see after a few months..."


    "But one ally is a bit weak!"


    "Have you heard about the story of buying horse''s bones at the cost of 1,000 gold coins? Starting from Guan Clan, there will be more and more allies!" Zhang Tie revealed a confident smile.


    Bai Suxian didn''t know what Zhang Tie wanted to do; she just felt that Zhang Tie was setting a trap, a great trap.


    ...


    2 hours later, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian arrived at the Gold and Power Market in Xuanyuan Hill...

 1120 A Trouble

    Chapter 1120: A Trouble


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Before they arrived at Gold and Power Market, the 16-lane main road in Xuanyuan Hill had started to be crowded, causing the vehicles to move at the turtle''s speed.


    Zhang Tie saw many people getting off their vehicles due to impatience and walking towards Gold and Power Market. He then asked the driver and learned that the Qian Gate 1of Gold and Power Market was only over 2,000 m away from here. This was the most crowded section of the road outside Gold and Power Market. He then opened the door and got off the vehicle together with Bai Suxian while telling the driver to return to the manor. He and Bai Suxian would go there by foot.


    "If I knew it was gonna be so crowded here, we would have chosen other gates. The other gates of Gold and Power Market are definitely not that crowded. I''m afraid that the greater part of people wants to enter Gold and Power Market through the Qian Gate for a good luck. Therefore, it''s especially crowded here!" Bai Suxian complained.


    "Hoho, it''s just over 2,000 m. We can go there by foot!" Zhang Tie said casually.


    "As you say!" Bai Suxian revealed a smile towards Zhang Tie as she went with Zhang Tie arm in arm. As a result, they aroused others'' attention at the same time. As she was going to attend the Treasures Meeting with Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian looked more outstanding after dressing up herself delicately.


    Gold and Power Market had 8 gates, which corresponded to the eight diagrams 2of Hua people. The Qian Gate represented the heavens gate. According to the superstition, the Qian Gate would bring people good luck generally. Therefore, the gate outside the Qian Gate looked a bit crowded.


    It was the 3rd day since the Treasures Meeting in Gold and Power Market started, also the most boisterous period of the entire Gold and Power Market; therefore, many people came here. Among those people who couldn''t stand to get off their vehicles and walk towards the Qian Gate, Zhang Tie saw various skin colors, costumes and heard weird voices. Besides someone whom Zhang Tie was sure that they came from the Western Continent, there were some weird people that even Zhang Tie didn''t know which subcontinents did they come from. All of them were walking towards the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market on the sidewalk.


    After observing those people in strange clothes and voices carefully, Zhang Tie found that all of them had great battle strength. Most of them were above LV 13. Some of them were even knights. They kept looking at the scenaries on the roadsides and the vehicles coming and going with amazed, shocked and a bit restrained looks like rustics. Some minorities'' eyes even contained a bit greed about the prosperity of Xuanyuan Hill. However, they all hid their greed meticulously. Taixia Country was so powerful that it could shatter all the foreign people''s any ambition about this continent except for demons. Actually, according to Zhang Tie''s knowledge, many major clans in Taixia Country were on the back of these subcontinents and dominated the vicissitudes of those countries on the subcontinents.


    6 foreign people were walking in front of Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian. They were all tall and muscled all over in vests made of animal hides; especially the muscles on their naked arms which looked like hills. The front part of their heads was bald. There was a braid behind their head. Besides, there were some odd-looking bones on their braids and heavy weapons such as axes over their waists, which looked pretty fierce.


    When the foreign people walked, they kept talking loudly. Two of them even rudely pointed at those buildings on the roadsides and some passers-by on the streets. The 6 foreign people almost blocked half of the sidewalk.


    2 of the 6 people were black iron knights; one black iron knight was a bit elder with some grey hair; the other black iron knight looked a bit younger. The other 4 people were battle demons and battle spirits. Zhang Tie didn''t understand what they were talking about. Such guys were as trivial as ants in Zhang Tie''s eyes even the two knights. They could not even match chickens or dogs. Therefore, he just threw a glance at those rude guys before moving his eyes away.


    As there were too many people on the sidewalk, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian just stayed 5-6 m behind the 6 foreign people and slowly approached the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market.


    Although it was Zhang Tie''s first time to visit the Gold and Power Market, Bai Suxian had come here for a few times. Therefore, Bai Suxian started to introduce Zhang Tie about Gold and Power Market cheerily.


    Perhaps, Bai Suxian''s voice was too silvery and pleasant to hear. After Bai Suxian spoke for less than 2 minutes, a foreign guy in front of her had turned around to look at Bai Suxian. At the sight of her, this foreign guy''s copper-bell sized eyes instantly burned. Closely after that, he pointed at Bai Suxian and started to utter loudly; as a result, his partners and that younger black iron knight turned around at the same time.


    At the sight of Bai Suxian, all the foreign people''s eyes sparkled like how hungry wolves caught sight of a lamb. Their sounds grew louder. That young black iron knight even swallowed his saliva and licked his lips.


    "Rude!" Bai Suxian uttered a cold harrumph at the sight of those foreign people as she tilted her head with a furious look. Zhang Tie also frowned slightly.


    However, they were on the street of Xuanyuan Hill. She could not beat them and kill them because they looked at her for a short while and pointed at her with louder voices. Otherwise, others would criticize her bullying the weak. Therefore, Zhang Tie pinched her hand to warn her to not become impulsive.


    As Zhang Tie was on her side, Bai Suxian just glared at those foreign people silently.


    However, Bai Suxian was too beautiful and sexy. Even though she just glared at them, she still looked pretty seductive and coquettish. Not until the old black iron knight turned around and threw a glance at Bai Suxian and said something loudly did the other foreign people shut up and turn back unwillingly.


    "Hurrumph, if it''s in the south border, I will have people chop off their heads right away!" Bai Suxian said mercilessly.


    "Forget about them. These guys might have not seen the world. Barbarians are uncivilized. It''s normal for them to be rude! But I wonder how did so many foreign people enter the Gold and Power Market?"


    "Most of the foreign people who come to Xuanyuan Hill during the Treasures Meeting from all the other continents and subcontinents should be invited by Gold and Power Law or some major clans in Taixia Country. Some of them are here to do business by trading treasures; some were here to see the world; some were invited by Gold and Power Law or those major clans for a trip so as to maintain their relationships. The major clans or big sects such as Gold and Power Law could dispatch an airship to a subcontinent to carry all their guests to the Gold and Power Market, which would not take them too much time on the way..."


    "Wuh, I see!" Zhang Tie nodded. Bai Suxian''s words reminded him indirectly that someone in Ice and Snow Wilderness might attend this Treasures Meeting.


    ''Theoretically, Ice and Snow Wilderness is not qualified to be invited. However, it depends. If those bears were invited by Golden Roc Bank, they might really come to Xuanyuan Hill to broaden their vision. I have a remote-sensing crystal necklace in my space-teleportation item which could be used to contact Ice and Snow Wilderness. Last time, I used it to contact Pontiff Sarlin and told him that I was safe in case they were worried about me when I had just been wanted by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country. I even told Pontiff Sarlin to not contact me unless it''s necessary and keep my secret in case they were implicated. From then on, Pontiff Sarlin didn''t contact me anymore.''


    Sometimes, no news was the best news.


    Bai Suxian''s words reminded Zhang Tie to contact Pontiff Sarlin when he returned to the bedroom in the evening. As he had not met those people on Ice and Snow Wilderness for a long time, honestly, Zhang Tie missed them a bit.


    ...


    Over 2,000 m''s distance would not even cost commoners much time, not to mention Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian. They had already seen the high gate tower of the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market only after a few minutes.


    The entire area of Gold and Power Market in Xuanyuan Hill was almost like that of an independent small city. The gate tower of Gold and Power Market was also especially high and magnificent.


    As too many people wanted to enter Gold and Power Market from the Qian Gate, it became a bit crowded inside the Qian Gate.


    As a result, a conflict was destined to happen.


    After Zhang Tie promoted to an earth knight, he had been able to hide his qi casually. If not earth knights on the same realm, even though Zhang Tie didn''t activate hiding skill in a normal state, commoners, even black iron knights could not see through Zhang Tie''s real battle strength. Few people besides Zhang Tie could identify that he was an earth knight.


    Bai Suxian dressed up herself delicately in a beautiful alchemist''s necklace that Zhang Tie had not seen which might contain different attributes. One attribute of that necklace was to hide one''s qi to a certain degree. After putting on it, Bai Suxian''s qi was only like that of a LV 10 fighter.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian didn''t feel that formidable.


    When they gradually entered the Gold and Power Market, two of those foreign people who were walking in front of them suddenly exchanged a glance with each other before revealing a bit weird smile towards Bai Suxian''s sexy figure. Closely after that, they pushed to Bai Suxian''s side. One of them purposefully collided with one guy on his side as he thrust forward his belly towards Bai Suxian''s butt...

 1121 Seeking for Death

    Chapter 1121: Seeking for Death


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Kind-hearted people would be bullied, docile horses would be mounted. This proverb came true on Zhang Tie once again. Zhang Tie didn''t care about these foreign people''s rudeness previously; he had not imagined that these guys could behave severer.


    At this moment, honestly, Zhang Tie was really infuriated.


    Even though he was facing them with his back, Zhang Tie could also sense what happened behind him. Without even looking around, he had known what the two foreign b*stards were thinking about.


    It was the young black iron knight who had thrust his belly forward towards Bai Suxian''s butt. Even though Zhang Tie was facing him with his back, he could still sense clearly the b*stard''s coarse smile and the ugly bulge at his crotch.


    Perhaps, this foreign knight thought that it was nothing serious for him to bully this Hua beauty in the crowd.


    However, it was in Xuanyuan Hill, this guy was too audacious. Zhang Tie even wondered why this guy could be so audacious. After coming to Xuanyuan Hill for so many days, Zhang Tie found that all the Hua knights were mannered, not to mention these knights coming from subcontinents.


    When that guy was about 20 cm away from Bai Suxian, Bai Suxian had already released her protective battle qi, which formed a firm isolation. The moment that guy touched her protective battle qi, his smile suddenly froze while Zhang Tie''s furious kick had arrived at his crotch.


    Closely after that, an earth-shaking miserable shriek sounded among the crowd near the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market. At the same time, a blood mist formed at the tall foreign people''s crotch while he was sent over 10 m high in the air and fell down heavily like a pile of mud. He then started to twitch while a great amount of fresh blood spurted out of his eyes, ears, mouth and nostrils.


    All the surrounding people hurriedly scattered in all directions. However, none of them stayed too far away. Whatever, everybody liked to join in the fun. Additionally, few people here were afraid of trouble. There were many Hua and foreign knight-level powerhouses in the surroundings.


    At the sight of this scene, another rude foreign guy who approached here together with that foreign black iron knight instantly widely opened his eyes as he roared. At the same time, he drew out his huge ax and aimed towards Zhang Tie''s head.


    "You''re seeking for death!" Bai Suxian roared. When that tough man was less than 2 m away from Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian had already released a purple battle qi palm towards him.


    The foreign fighter was also a LV 14 battle demon with a great battle strength; pitifully, he chose the wrong opponent. Bai Suxian was a knight, a vicious female knight who attacked him out of fury.


    When Bai Suxian''s battle qi touched the foreign fighter who was raising the huge ax, the upper body of that foreign fighter instantly blew up into pieces. Closely after that, his lower body fell onto the ground while his huge ax was still flying towards Zhang Tie due to great inertia...


    When that guy launched a strike towards Zhang Tie, the other three foreign people drew out their portable weapons at the same time although they were a bit far. Closely after that, they rushed towards Zhang Tie with bloody eyes while shrieking loudly. The old foreign knight changed his face immediately as he shouted towards them; however, it was too late...


    When the old foreign knight shouted, he also moved. However, he didn''t run towards Zhang Tie, but hurriedly towards the knight who had been lying still on the ground like a pile of mud due to Zhang Tie''s kick...


    When the huge ax was approaching him, Zhang Tie just revealed a faint smile. Watching the three rude foreign people rushing towards him while shrieking loudly, Zhang Tie leisurely stretched out his left hand as he faintly bent over his middle finger tenderly like picking a flower before flicking onto the blade of the huge ax like flicking off a drop of dew from a pedal of a fresh flower...


    With a sound "Weng...", the wuthering huge ax uttered a silvery sound. Closely after that, the dead huge ax turned into a cheerful bird as it turned around and flew towards the three foreign people after drawing a changing curve in the air as fast as a lightning bolt.


    The three foreign people released their protective battle qis at the same time. Two of them were battle demons, the other one was a battle spirit. However, in front of that cheerful bird, their protective battle qis were as fragile as a piece of paper.


    After the revolving ax broke through a foreign guy''s chest, it drilled out of his back. After that, it entered the second foreign guy''s chest. After penetrating three people''s chests consecutively, the ax head didn''t even carry a bit blood as it entered the slate on the ground with a sound "Tseng", exposing a small part of metal handle above the ground about half a step away from the foreign knight who was lying on the ground, twitching all over.


    Not until the huge ax entered the earth did the three foreign people fall onto the ground.


    After hearing the sound when the huge ax entered the earth, the elder foreign knight raised his head and threw a glance at Zhang Tie and the other three corpses. Closely after that, he changed his face once again; however, he didn''t have time to say anything; instead, he took out a vial of black medicament and rapidly poured it into the mouth of that young knight whose head was in his arms.


    Pitifully, this vial of medicament didn''t work anymore. Because that guy who spurted out dense fresh blood just now was now spurting out pieces of guts. Before the medicament was absorbed, it had been spurted out together with the broken pieces of guts. That guy''s eyes had already jumped out of eye sockets and were hanging on his face, making it terrifying and disgusting. The former fierce face looked like a dead dog being rolled by a steam armored vehicle...


    Before that vial of black medicament was fully poured into his mouth, the paralyzed foreign guy had spurted out his last piece of black gut. Closely after that, he tilted his head and lost his last breath completely.


    Zhang Tie''s kick directly killed that foreign black iron knight by breaking all of his muscles, bones and guts before this black iron knight released his protective battle qi.


    The elder foreign knight suddenly raised his head as he shouted loudly. At the same time, he glared at Zhang Tie out of fury. Zhang Tie also watched him icily.


    The elder foreign knight dared not move. Because Zhang Tie''s merciless eye light had evidently revealed a message¡ª¡ªIf you dare move, you will die, which made him feel cold all over. It was his first time to smell death and terror since he came to Taixia Country.


    The huge ax that entered the ground next to that foreign knight was a warning.


    Even now, Zhang Tie still hid his battle qi. Even so, his prestige as an earth knight was still hard to be covered.


    Although that dead black iron knight didn''t make preparation for the coming battle and failed to release his protective battle qi, his death by one kick could still indicate that this was a top earth knight.


    It was pretty silent at the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market, except for the sound of taking deep breaths.


    Everybody could predict that there would be a conflict. Many people were ready for joining the fun by releasing their protective battle qis. However, nobody could imagine that the conflict could come to an end so fast. From the foreign knight''s thrust towards Bai Suxian''s back to that 5 of the 6 foreign people''s death in a split second, the entire process lasted less than 10 seconds.


    As the proverb went, outsiders would join the fun; however, insiders would pay attention to the skills. At this moment, those knight-level powerhouses among the people were all immersed in the realm when Zhang Tie flicked off that huge ax like picking a flower. That movement was extremely marvelous. Since the huge ax was flicked off, the icy steel of that huge ax seemed to have become a spiritual living being. In the blink of an eye, the lives of two battle demons and one battle spirit had withered like leaves, spraying their blood over the ground. The entire process was fierce, brutal and extremely poignant.


    "Earth knight..." Someone whispered while looking at Zhang Tie in an awe-stricken manner.


    Bai Suxian also threw an icy glance at that elder foreign knight as she told Zhang Tie, arm in arm, "Let''s go!"


    These corpses were like disgusting flies and mosquitoes for Bai Suxian. As the flies and mosquitoes seek for death themselves, it was not her fault. The princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion didn''t even feel that it was anything serious.


    "Nobody could leave..." An intense yet sharp voice suddenly sounded inside Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market. Along with this voice, a thin guy with a long face and sparse beard in the high-mountain crown and a set of golden Hua clothes pushed through the crowd and entered the open land before the Qian Gate.


    At the sight of those corpses, especially that young knight''s corpse, the guy with the long face and sparse beard suddenly changed his face as if he were the doomsday. His eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets. At the same time, his voice raised as if he was crying, "Ahh, who, who dared kill our VIPs in Gold and Power Market?"

 1122 Meeting Han Clan Once Again

    Chapter 1122: Meeting Han Clan Once Again


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    At the sight of this commanding guy with the long face and sparse beard, the foreign knight who was shocked too much to move instantly stood up as he pointed at Zhang Tie and roared in gibberish.


    Zhang Tie just listened to his words in an impatient way while pricking up his ears by one hand with crossed arms.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t understand the words of that foreign elder knight, he understood the words of this guy with the long face and sparse beard. This guy turned around and watched Zhang Tie while narrowing his eyes. Closely after that, he rolled his eyes as he suddenly told the two people on his side while pointing at Zhang Tie, "This guy dared kill people at the gate of Gold and Power Market in the public. I doubt that he''s a demon or a mole of Heavens Reaching Church. Catch him and interrogate him. After that, send him to the Supreme Court!"


    After hearing his words, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter. At the sight of this guy with the long face and sparse beard, Zhang Tie had known that he was only LV 8. Although the two guys on his side looked stout, they were only LV 13. A LV 8 trivial role told two LV 13 ants to catch an earth knight. What a joke!


    This guy with the long face and sparse beard unconsciously reminded Zhang Tie of Samira whom he met in Blackhot City. There were always such trivial figures on each continent. They shared a commonplace, namely, as they had been used to assume the authority of the forces and figures on their side as their own for a long time, they felt that they were also growing powerful. Gradually, they would lose their awe as they felt that they could solve all the problems with the forces on their back. Therefore, their words would even make Heavenly knights feel bashful.


    In the past, Zhang Tie might talk with such a person for a short while; however, now, Zhang Tie even lost his interest in talking with them.


    After hearing that guy''s order, the two LV 13 battle generals exchanged a glance with each other as they intended to move forward to catch Zhang Tie.


    "If anyone of you dares to move, this grandma will break him into pieces just like those lying on the ground!" Bai Suxian glared at the two fighters who intended to move forward, "How dare you trivial ants stretch out your claws towards this grandma? As we''re all Hua people, I gave you a warning, if you dared to move one step forward, I''d kill you!"


    The two LV 13 battle generals threw a glance at those broken pieces on the ground before moving their eyes onto Bai Suxian. They then hesitated and dared not move anymore. The two people were not idiots. The moment Bai Suxian''s knight''s consciousness targeted them, the two people had already sensed it. Like rabbits being pressed down by lion''s claws, the two people were brave enough as they didn''t turn around and escape away.


    That foreign knight pointed at Bai Suxian in gibberish once again.


    "This woman killed people too, She''s on the side of that man. Catch them all. It''s in the Gold and Power Market of Xuanyuan Hill, they dare never resist you!" The guy with the long face and sparse beard jumped up once again.


    At this moment, with a sound of "Pah...", the guy with the long face and sparse beard went around at once. At the same time, his face turned swollen. He then glanced around with a confused look, "Who hit me? Ahh, who hit me? Come out if you''re a man..."


    Zhang Tie moved too fast that the guy''s eyes couldn''t even capture Zhang Tie''s movements. Even though Zhang Tie slapped him in the public, he could not see who hit him at all. Only a few knights among the onlookers could barely see that it was Zhang Tie who slapped him.


    Zhang Tie moved one step forward and slapped him; closely after that, he moved one step back. As it was too fast, his movements had exceeded the utmost limit of the visual sense of commoners. As a result, others felt that Zhang Tie was just standing still at the original place.


    "Pah..." one more slap.


    The second one was a bit severer than the former one as it directly sent some teeth of the guy with the long face and sparse beard flying away, causing him to revolve a few circles before falling down severely, his hat skew to the other direction. Grasping the chance, the two LV 13 battle generals hurriedly ran over there to help him stand up.


    After being slapped twice, that guy''s face had been as swollen as that of a pig''s head. The moment he stood up, someone among the onlookers had started to laugh at him.


    Most of the onlookers were Hua people. As this guy directly put a label on Zhang Tie who was also Hua at the sight of the conflict between Hua people and foreign people without asking about the reason by assuming the authority of the forces on his back, he didn''t leave a good impression to all the other Hua people. When they saw him being slapped, they burst out into laughter unscrupulously at once.


    Right then, the crowd near the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market seemed to have separated by an invisible great strength while three more people came over here.


    At the sight of the people in the front, Zhang Tie''s eyes faintly narrowed.


    Given that guy''s qi, Zhang Tie knew that he was also an earth knight. However, what made Zhang Tie narrow his eyes was not the level of that earth knight, but his look.


    That man''s face reminded Zhang Tie of the damned "young master" that he had killed on the airboat of God and Power Law.


    The earth knight in the front looked similar to that young master. Additionally, the two people both looked a bit gloomy. However, this guy looked a bit elder than that young master. With a handlebar mustache, this earth knight''s domineering qi felt firmer. This guy was followed by two swarthy, aggressive black iron knights.


    At the sight of this man, the guy who had been slapped twice by Zhang Tie hurriedly moved forward like a dog as he pointed at Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian and wanted to say something in an embarrassed way...


    The earth knight with a handlebar mustache slightly frowned. Without even looking at that guy with the long face and sparse beard, he directly waved his arm as he said calmly, "It''s fine, it''s none of your business here, you can leave!"


    After hearing his words, the guy with the long face and sparse beard quivered all over as he hurriedly lowered his head and left the crowd quietly.


    When the elder foreign knight caught sight of this earth knight with a handlebar mustache, he hurriedly shut up as if he was afraid of that earth knight pretty much. Meanwhile, he stood on one side tamely and silently.


    The earth knight with a handlebar mustache glanced around those corpses and that elder foreign knight in the ring. When he moved his eyes onto Zhang Tie, he looked a bit gloomier.


    "Who are you?" That man asked icily.


    "Who are you?" Zhang Tie maintained a calm look as he flicked off the earwax from his fingernail, "Before you ask about other''s name, don''t you introduce yourself? It''s the basic etiquette in Taixia Country, a nation of propriety!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, that earth knight with a handlebar mustache became silent while the two swarthy black iron knights couldn''t stand to move one step forward. However, that earth knight slightly raised his hand to stop them.


    Bai Suxian looked a bit solemn. As a knight, she could also feel the strong killing qi given out from the two black iron knights. The killing qi was formed among mountains of corpses and the bloody sea. Bai Suxian could probably defeat one of the two black iron knights independently; however, it would be a bit difficult for her to deal with two of them at the same time because she faintly felt that the two black iron knights'' killing qi could integrate with each other. The two knights probably were proficient in a powerful joint attack skill which could increase their battle strength sharply. Benefited from this joint attack skill, the two black iron knights'' battle strength might even surpass that of the 3-in-1 battle formation of common knights.


    Only after throwing a distant glance at the two swarthy black iron knights, Zhang Tie had grinned. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s faint smile, the two swarthy black iron knights felt their hearts pounding by a heavy iron hammer at the same time. As a result, they changed their faces.


    With sharp knight''s consciousness, the two swarthy black iron knights could evidently feel that Zhang Tie was telling them¡ª¡ªIn front of me, you''re just chickens and dogs who are going to be sold with labels on your heads. Even if you join hands with each other, you''re not qualified to fight me. You''d better save your loyalty...


    The earth knight with a handlebar mustache slightly narrowed his eyes before bursting out into laughter, which sounded a bit icy instead of being passionate. Closely after that, he said, "This humble man is Han Yuanhong, the Bright Gold Master of Gold and Power Law, also the master of Gold and Power Market. May I know your name, younger brother? Which sect and clan do you come from?"


    "This humble man is Cui Li, the master of Iron-Dragon Sect in Yangui Mountain Range of Northeast Military Region!" Zhang Tie also replied with a smile.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had already confirmed that Han Yuanhong was the very son of Han Gongang, the finance minister of Taixia Country, also the elder brother of the d**chebag young master that he killed on the airboat. ''The real name of the young master that I killed is Han Yuantu. Given their names and looks, Han Yuantu and Han Yuanhong must be brothers. The other identity of Han Zhengfang the finance minister is the master of Gold and Power Law. What a family! Additionally, the father and the two sons are all knights, one shadow knight, two earth knights. Such a clan must be in its heyday in Taixia Country.''


    "In Xuanyuan Hill, a life for a life. Knight is not an exception. Younger brother Cui Li, I''ve not imagined that you could make such a big mistake in Xuanyuan Hill the moment you established a sect! You''re still too young!" Han Yuanhong let out a sigh with emotion, which sounded full of pity; however, his words were full of killing intent.

 1123 A Fierce Battle

    Chapter 1123: A Fierce Battle


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Given Han Yuanhong''s words, he must want to kill Zhang Tie. Therefore, Bai Suxian was driven mad. Raising her eyebrows, she wanted to refute him. However, Zhang Tie stopped her by pinching her hand at once. Closely after that, he burst out into laughter, which could be heard by so many people nearby...


    Zhang Tie''s laughter was presumptuous and blatant as if he had heard something extremely hilarious. With Zhang Tie''s laughter, Han Yuanhong''s pitiful face became a bit stiff.


    "I was wondering why some vulgar foreign fighters from a subcontinent dare to behave so blatantly in Xuanyuan Hill by treating Hua laws as sh*t and Hua people''s dignity as nothing. How dare they do such a rude thing to Hua woman? It turns out that big figures like Han Yuanhong are on the back of these vulgar foreign people. Han Yuanhong, your subordinates said that those vulgar foreign people were VIPs invited by the Gold and Power Market. They must be your VIPs. Han Yuanhong, as a Hua knight, you''re managing Gold and Power Market on behalf of the Gold and Power Law. Even if you don''t stand on our side; at least, you should be fair. However, on such a critical point, you confuse right and wrong and stand on the side of these foreign people without even figuring out the reason. The moment you opened your mouth, you would like to kill a Hua earth knight who has made rich military exploits in the Earth-elements Realm by killing numerous demons. I wonder whether you''re narrow-minded, blind, deaf or treat Hua knights as your enemy? How could such a person rule the Gold and Power Market in Xuanyuan Hill? What a shame of Gold and Power Law! I, Cui Li don''t have a friend like you. Neither do I want you to call me younger brother Cui Li!"


    Zhang Tie exerted his utmost to speak loudly. As a result, it could spread over 100 square miles.


    Han Yuanhong''s words could only be heard by people at present; however, Zhang Tie''s words could be heard by everyone in the block near Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the boisterous Qian Gate became quiet in a split second. All the surrounding people, especially so many Hua people admired Zhang Tie and spoke highly of Zhang Tie inside as they glanced at Han Yuanhong with a weird look.


    Han Yuanhong wanted to kill Zhang Tie; however, Zhang Tie wanted to nail Han Yuanhong onto the column of stigma.


    Hua people hated traitors the most; especially those prestigious traitors. Almost everybody wanted to kill such traitors.


    Zhang Tie''s words were equal to swearing that Han Yuanhong was a traitor.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Han Yuanhong changed his face immediately.


    As a prestigious earth knight in Gold and Power Law, Han Yuanhong ruled Gold and Power Market; additionally, his father was the finance minister of Taixia Country. After being in this position for a long time, he had been used to flattering words and smiles. Even those major clans and sects of Taixia Country who didn''t fawn on rich and powerful persons would treat him politely and respectfully given his overall strength, position and his father. Actually, Han Yuanhong was equal to a young master of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country.


    After being in such a high position and living such a dignified life for so long, unavoidably, he had formed some stereotypes. Take today''s situation as an instance, as Taixia Country was too large with so many knights, honestly, Han Yuanhong had not heard about Cui Li at all. He sniffed at the status of the master of a rustic sect called Iron-Dragon Sect too. Inevitably, he despised Zhang Tie more or less. In Han Yuanhong''s opinion, now that an earth knight killed his VIPs in his private territory, as long as he showed his identity, of course, Cui Li would not dare butt head with him. Therefore, Cui Li would be trapped by his words and lose his initiative. As a result, even if he couldn''t kill Cui Li, he would at least scrape the skin of this silly muscled man. It was not his first time to meet and deal with such an earth knight. In the final analysis, he didn''t think that Cui Li could pose a threat to him at all; instead, he just thought that Zhang Tie was under his control.


    Han Yuanhong didn''t know the real identity of Cui Li; however, Zhang Tie knew the real identity of Han Yuanhong. Additionally, Zhang Tie even knew his father''s identity and the top secret and the fatal loophole of Han Clan.


    Zhang Tie had already killed Han Yuanhong''s brother. This time, he planned to kill his dad in Xuanyuan Hill, and Han Yuanhong. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the father and the two sons of Han family were all his enemies. He would not feel good until he killed them all. When they met for the first time just now, Han Yuanhong even prepared to control Zhang Tie step by step through word game; however, Zhang Tie grasped the opportunity and directly attacked his opponent''s fatal loophole without sparing any chance for Han Yuanhong to quibble at the risk of his own life. At this moment, Gold and Power Law, Bright Gold Master of Gold and Power Law and the finance minister were nothing but sh*t in Zhang Tie''s eyes. Zhang Tie didn''t fear about offending Han Yuanhong openly. Whatever, he was here to uproot this malignant tumor in Xuanyuan Hill. Therefore, he didn''t worry about their revenge at all.


    When two parties met on a narrow path, the braver one would win the battle!


    Zhang Tie''s words infuriated Han Yuanhong at once. Not until then did Han Yuanhong realize that this tough guy''s mouth was even sharper than blades. Being utterly different than all the previous earth knights that he had met before, this earth knight didn''t even mean to treat him courteously but without sincerity.


    "Cui Li, don''t talk nonsense and cast wild aspersions at me!" Han Yuanhong hurriedly shouted loudly so that all the others at present could hear it clearly as a counterattack, "You''ve killed the Prince Sricise of Orkey Empire in Newcrescence Subcontinent and his bodyguards. It''s the holy war. As the pillar of humans, of course, our Hua people should make ourselves an example in accordance with the law for the sake of our authority among foreign people. Only in this way could we join hands with each other to fight demons. However, as a Hua knight, you discriminate foreign people so much; you bully the weak by force in the Treasures Meeting of Xuanyuan Hill and killed a foreign prince and a knight in the public. If not deal with you, many foreign knights would feel disappointed. As a result, our Hua people would lose alliance in the holy war. Additionally, who had seen that the Prince Sricise and his subordinates did anything rude to the Hua woman in the public? However, everybody had witnessed that you killed people here!"


    Although they were just quarreling with each other, it could even match the fierce battle between two earth knights at their full efforts. Zhang Tie put a label of a traitor on Han Yuanhong; Han Yuanhong made a counterattack at once by putting a label on Zhang Tie that Zhang Tie discriminated foreign people and intended to destroy Hua people''s arrangement in the holy war. In such a fierce battle, the loser would lose all standing and reputation in the blink of an eye and face a frustrated future at the risk of his life.


    "Hahaha, what a joke! Han Yuanhong, why not ask about my experiences in the Earth-elements Realm? When this old Cui fought demons with foreign brothers such as Cecilia and Bolam in the Earth-elements Realm shoulder to shoulder, drunk watermelon spirit in the first abyss at the risk of our lives, where were you? When this old Cui fought tens of thousands of demon knights with tens of thousands of foreign human knights in Tiewei Mountain, where were you? Who would discriminate his own brothers who fought demons together with him at the risk of their own lives? Who would discriminate his comrades-in-arms who shared the same bottle of liquor with him? In the eyes of this Cui, there are only brothers and enemies. If we''re brothers, we would safeguard each other by blades and our own blood; if we''re enemies, we would deal with them by blades and our own blood. Lip service doesn''t work for me!"


    "Good!"


    The moment Zhang Tie finished his words, an exclamation in unison had drifted from the Qian Gate. As Zhang Tie''s last words touched them. Such a hot-blooded declaration could not be made without experiences on the battlefield. Therefore, Zhang Tie won a resonance at once.


    Many foreign knights changed their eye light at Zhang Tie after hearing Han Yuanhong''s words. In Taixia Country, there were indeed Hua people who despised foreign people. However, after hearing Zhang Tie''s words; especially when Zhang Tie mentioned the names of some foreign knights who had battle experience in the Earth-elements Realm, even the surrounding foreign knights started to respect Zhang Tie. Such a man was a real knight, a real fighter. The greater half of those people who hailed Zhang Tie were foreign knight-level powerhouses.


    Zhang Tie adopted a speaking skill when he mentioned Tiewei Mountain. Actually, Zhang Tie''s words contained two meanings: first, Zhang Tie formed a large battle formation with foreign knights and fought tens of thousands of demon knights; second, Zhang Tie joined hands with the large battle formation of human knights to fight tens of thousands of demon knights. Actually, the second meaning was precise. However, in the current situation, all the onlookers would take the first meaning. He was not telling a lie. Because Zhang Tie had indeed killed a lot of demon knights in Tiewei Mountain. He gained his bounty land because of his military exploits in Tiewei Mountain. However, Zhang Tie was sure that Han Yuanhong didn''t know the name list of all the human knights who formed the huge battle formation in Tiewei Mountain; therefore, he was not afraid of the oral counter-attack of the opponent. At this critical moment, he needed to overwhelm Han Yuanhong by momentum and cause him to be speechless.


    The surrounding applause made Han Yuanhong''s face to become completely gloomy...

 1124 Genuine Meeting of Minds

    Chapter 1124: Genuine Meeting of Minds


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    What made Han Yuanhong''s face gloomier was that more and more people poured towards the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market as they talked with each other; actually, many people directly ran over here from outside; instead from inside.


    Zhang Tie''s loud voice shocked too many people inside the Gold and Power Market too.


    Han Yuanhong had not been such embarrassed in his own territory. Watching more and more people gathering around him, Han Yuanhong threw an icy glance at Zhang Tie before gritting his teeth.


    "Whatever, the fact is that you''ve killed people at Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market. Arrest Cui Li!" Han Yuanhong roared.


    "Who dares to move?" Zhang Tie''s eyes sparkled like a lightning bolt as his battle qi tornado immediately rushed into the sky with a real fire-dragon as long as about 1,500 m behind him. The fire-dragon image rose up in the air with a yelp that rent the air. Closely after that, it dove downwards by flapping its wings and suspended near the Qian Gate. As a result, it became dark at once near the Qian Gate. Such a domineering fire-dragon image aroused all the others'' exclamations at once.


    Han Yuanhong didn''t imagine the two points today: first, he didn''t imagine that Zhang Tie had completely figured out the background of Han Clan. He wanted to deal with Zhang Tie by the fact that Zhang Tie killed people in Xuanyuan Hill; however, he didn''t imagine that Zhang Tie didn''t come to terms at all; second, Han Yuanhong didn''t imagine that Zhang Tie really dared fight him in the public. It was not in other places, but in Xuanyuan Hill. If they fought here, they had to assume the corresponding outcome.


    Facing such a single man who was not afraid of fighting him verbally and physically, all the means that Han Yuanhong used to deal with those earth knights and black iron knights didn''t work any longer. Given Zhang Tie'' current look, he didn''t even care that it was in Gold and Power Market. Therefore, he couldn''t arrest Zhang Tie without a battle.


    ''Should I start the battle?''


    Han Yuanhong hesitated. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s fire-dragon image, Han Yuanhong had known that he met a tricky guy today. If he really started the battle, almost half of the Gold and Power Market would be destroyed. Although knights could not fly in Xuanyuan Hill, their battle strength and destructive power remained unchanged.


    "Who dares to move?" When Han Yuanhong became hesitated, another roar like that of Zhang Tie''s drifted from inside Gold and Power Market. Along with this roar, a shadow darted towards here from dozens of meters away on the top of those buildings on both roadsides. Closely after that, he landed beside Zhang Tie steadily, breaking many slates into pieces.


    Although he was short and thin, he still revealed a mountain-like overwhelming qi.


    "Elder brother, it''s you..." Zhang Tie watched Mountain Lifting Hermit who was descending from the sky surprisingly. He had not imagined that he could meet Mountain Lifting Hermit once again in Xuanyuan Hill after leaving the Earth-elements Realm.


    It had been a few years since they separated from each other in the hieron''s ruins. Mountain Lifting Hermit looked as same as that when Zhang Tie met him for the first time¡ª¡ªhigh nose, high forehead, some silver hair near his ears, slim sparkling eyes, It seemed that Mountain Lifting Hermit had fully recovered. Additionally, his cultivation base had improved a bit.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit watched Zhang Tie with a faint, warm smile, "A few days ago, I received the news from my old friend in the Earth-elements Realm. He said that you were still alive and had promoted to an earth knight. Furthermore, you made remarkable military exploits in Tiewei Mountain and was rewarded with a bounty land before leaving Earth-elements Realm. I was thinking to look for you after attending this Treasures Meeting; I''ve not imagined that I could hear your voice here. Therefore, I came here to take a look. What a coincidence!"


    Mountain Lifting Hermit was always silent. Now that he could say so many words this time, it indicated that he must be very thrilled.


    "Elder brother, wait for me on one side, there might be a bloody battle in the Gold and Power Market today. If I could survive the battle, I will talk about the old days with you!" Zhang Tie told Mountain Lifting Hermit solemnly.


    After throwing a glance at Han Yuanhong and his two subordinate knights, Mountain Lifting Hermit revealed a faint smile, "Younger brother, are you looking down upon me? Even my life is saved by you. Today, this elder brother will accompany you to climb a mountain of swords or plunge into a sea of flames, whether it''s in Xuanyuan Hill or not. As long as younger brother don''t mind that, this elder brother could even give my life back to you today!"


    The moment Mountain Lifting Hermit finished his words, he had released his battle qi tornado while a virtual image of a giant lifting a mountain gradually rose up and covered the entire Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market together with Zhang Tie''s fire-dragon image.


    Honestly, at this moment, Zhang Tie was really moved. Zhang Tie dared butt head with Han Yuanhong because of the following two reasons: first, he knew the background of Han Clan. Han Clan was Zhang Tie''s deadly enemy. Han Clan not only screwed him but also intended to kill his father. Therefore, Zhang Tie shouldn''t be timid in this situation; second, Han Clan were in the wrong; additionally, Bai Suxian was not a commoner, she was the daughter of Lord Guangnan who was unrivaled in the south border of Taixia Country. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t fear that this event was getting out of hand. As those b*stards treated Bai Suxian rudely first, Zhang Tie would always be in the disadvantageous position. Nobody could punish him due to this event. Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could meet a member of Han Clan here; therefore, he directly slapped that guy''s face fiercely so as to vent his spleen. Bai Suxian didn''t speak at this moment because Zhang Tie had already told her to not expose her identity in a secret way until Han Yuanhong was involved in the drama a bit deeper.


    However, Mountain Lifting Hermit didn''t know what Zhang Tie was thinking about. When Mountain Lifting Hermit released his battle qi tornado and the virtual image, he really chose to stand on Zhang Tie''s side at the risk of his own life. If Zhang Tie started the battle, Mountain Lifting Hermit would definitely fight the enemy shoulder to shoulder.


    What a righteous man!


    What a dauntless man!


    What a forthright man!


    Previously, Zhang Tie felt that Mountain Lifting Hermit was cold outside yet passionate inside. He had not imagined about such a spirited and generous side inside this thin body. Therefore, he was filled with deep veneration.


    Zhang Tie didn''t persuade Mountain Lifting Hermit anymore. Otherwise, Mountain Lifting Hermit would feel that he was insulting and looking down upon Mountain Lifting Hermit.


    Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit exchanged a glance with each other before smiling towards each other full of sincerity and trust.


    With Mountain Lifting Hermit on his side, Zhang Tie felt much more confident. He glared at Han Yuanhong full of contempt before bursting out into laughter, "Come on, don''t you want to revenge for that d**chebag prince who sexually harassed the Hua woman in the public? I killed that son of a b*tch. Come on, show me your talent, bright gold master of Gold and Power Law. As earth knights, we don''t play lip service. Show me your masculinity..."


    Han Yuanhong had not been stimulated in this way at the gate of Gold and Power Market and in other places across Xuanyuan Hill for over 100 years. He couldn''t imagine why he was always in the disadvantageous position today. Even though he was thinking about killing Zhang Tie while suffering from some loss just now, he had already abandoned this thought now. The reason was simple, even if he could fetch some helpers rapidly, after this battle, the entire Gold and Power Market would be ruined for sure. Besides, the surrounding places in Xuanyuan Hill would be damaged to a certain degree.


    Although he was the master of Gold and Power Market, he didn''t have the right to enforce the law. After Zhang Tie killed people in Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market, as the general manager, he could play edge ball and have his subordinates arrest Zhang Tie. However, if two earth knights of Taixia Country fought him here, he had to bear all the consequences. Although his dad was influential in Xuanyuan Hill as one of the 9 ministers in Taixia Country, his dad was not Emperor Xuanyuan who could almost deal with everything in Taixia Country. If he pushed Han Clan in the teeth of the storm in Xuanyuan Hill, it would not be in correspondence with the great undertaking of Han Clan. Additionally, he didn''t know about the trump cards of this earth knight called Cui Li.


    Watching Zhang Tie and hearing his words, Han Yuanhong''s face turned blue as his eye light changed constantly...


    "Who dared to sexually harass our Hua woman in Xuanyuan Hill?"


    When Zhang Tie was butting head with Han Yuanhong, an extremely dignified voice drifted from inside Gold and Power Market which contained a special strength and wave. Along with this voice, the onlookers at the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market gave a way while some guys walked towards the ring.


    At the sight of that man in the front, Zhang Tie''s heart shocked at once.


    That was an extremely dignified old man with thick eyebrows and purple face. He gave out a majestic and aggressive qi all over.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know this old man; however, he could identify the Xiezhi crown on the head of the old man. The Xiezhi crown was 56 cm in height. It was made of violet gold. Xiezhi crown was the symbol of chief justice in Hua people. Across Taixia Country, many people wore Xiezhi crowns. When Zhang Tie served as the chief justice in Youzhou Provincial Court, he also had one. However, he didn''t usually wear it. The size of Xiezhi crown was an important reference of the identity of the wearer. Previously, Zhang Tie''s Xiezhi crown was only 30 cm in height. Across Taixia Country, besides the minister of justice, one of the 9 ministers in Taixia Country, nobody else dared wear such a high Xiezhi crown unless he was seeking for death or wanted to be the public enemy of all the courts across Taixia Country.


    Besides the high Xiezhi crown, the invisible qi of this old man indicated that he was a shadow knight.


    Treasures Meeting in Xuanyuan Hill was really filled with righteous knight-level powerhouses. Zhang Tie had not imagined that such a small chaos at the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market could attract the attention of a big figure like the minister of justice...

 1125 Dignity

    Chapter 1125: Dignity


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As a shadow knight and the minister of justice, this guy had a very strong qi field. The moment he appeared, everybody else at present had concentrated on him. He was more domineering than anyone else at present. Most of the people even ignored those knight-level powerhouses behind him.


    "Minister of justice..."At the sight of this old man, Han Yuanhong hurriedly moved one step forward as he cupped his hands towards this old man.


    The minister of justice just threw a distant look at Han Yuanhong before replying, "Hmm" in a calm way. Closely after that, he glanced around those corpses on the ground, then the virtual images of Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit and said distantly, "Xuanyuan Hill is the hinterland of Taixia Country. If your virtual images stayed here for too long, others would think that an urgent situation had cropped up here. Hide them!"


    Zhang Tie exchanged a glance with Mountain Lifting Hermit before nodding tacitly at the same time. Meanwhile, they hid their virtual images. Now that the minister of justice arrived, of course, the battle had to come to an end. If they really started a fight in front of the minister of justice, they would make the minister of justice very embarrassed. Who dared make the minister of justice embarrassed? It was said that the minister of justice had the greatest battle strength among the 9 ministers in Taixia Country as he had to frighten those evil forces. Even two common shadow knights could not defeat the minister of justice.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know which secret method was the minister of justice cultivating. When the minister of justice threw a glance at him just now, Zhang Tie felt being transparent all over as if all of his secrets had been exposed. Therefore, his heart pounded.


    "Uncle Sun..." Bai Suxian who had been silent for quite a while suddenly uttered as she hailed the minister of justice by lowering her body.


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s words, Han Yuanhong''s heart pounded at once although he was standing a few meters away.


    The minister of justice focused on Bai Suxian for two seconds before revealing a smile as if he finally remembered who was Bai Suxian, "When I saw you last time, your dad brought you to pay a formal visit to the empress dowager in the Longevity Palace of Peach Mountain. I''ve not imagined that you could promote to a knight after 19 years!"


    Bai Suxian let out a sigh, "Uncle Sun, even as a knight, I was still almost sexually harassed by some thugs under your eyes. Xuanyuan Hill is growing more and more chaotic!"


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s words, the minister of justice blushed as he coughed. Closely after that, he threw a glance at those corpses on the ground, "You mean them?"


    "Who else? One of them wanted to molest me. After he was killed by my brother Cui, his partners started to attack us by force. We had to kill them all. I''ve not imagined that the master of Gold and Power Market could suddenly come out and intend to revenge for those thugs by arresting my brother Cui!" Bai Suxian slowly let out a sigh.


    The minister of justice immediately moved his eyes onto Han Yuanhong.


    Han Yuanhong hurriedly moved one step forward, "Minister of justice, I beg for your fair judgment. I was told that someone killed foreign VIPs at the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market; therefore, I hurriedly came over here to control the event. I wanted to put the killer under control at first. Because those being killed are not commoners, but the Prince Cricise of Arlkey and his bodyguards. Arlkey Empire is abundant in high-quality crystals, which is the most important strategic resources. Their crystals are supplied to the private imperial finance and living affairs ministry and the top 4 troops of Taixia Country. Arlkey Empire is the most important trading partner of Taixia Country in New Creascence Subcontinent. They are especially invited by Gold and Power Law to attend the Treasures Meeting. However, the prince of Arlkey Empire was killed in Xuanyuan Hill, minister of justice, please decide the case fairly!"


    When Han Yuanhong talked about high-quality crystals, the others didn''t make any response to it; however, Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he immediately thought about the material of bloody sea. A great number of high-quality crystals were demanded to build a bloody sea. Han Zhengfang was the master of Gold and Power Law, Han Yuanhong was the bright gold master of Gold and Power Law; therefore, it would be too easy if they would like to gain high-quality crystals from Arlkey Empire. Additionally, it would not arouse others'' doubts. Given this point, Zhang Tie finally figured out why Han Yuanhong hurriedly came out to revenge for the motherf*cking prince of Arlkey Empire. There must be a dirty trick inside.


    Pitifully, Zhang Tie knew that even though his presumption was true, nobody would believe in his words. As a result, he might beat the grass and frighten away the snake. As Zhang Tie was here to uproot Han Clan; instead of giving them a warning, even though Zhang Tie was clear-minded, he still remained silent.


    "Nobody could enjoy a privilege in Xuanyuan Hill. Of course, the killer should receive the punishment; however, if those being killed sought for death themselves, it''s nothing serious. Our Taixia Country have strict laws. If Arlkey Empire has other thoughts about this event, just dispatch someone to New Crescence Subcontinent to change an emperor for the country or have the private imperial finance and living affairs ministry take over this country." The minister of justice said it calmly. Closely after that, he glanced around the onlookers as he told them, "As there''re so many people here, someone among you must have witnessed what happened just now, just tell me about that!"


    Soon after the minister of justice finished his words, some people among the crowd had exchanged glances with each other before a tough guy strode one step forward and cupped his hands towards the minister of justice. Closely after that, he said loudly, "Minister of justice, this humble man indeed saw that these foreign people commented this young lady with dirty words behind her back. In the beginning, the group of foreign people was far away from this young lady and the tough man behind them. Two of them purposefully collided with each other behind this young lady; closely after that, one of them wanted to thrust his belly towards this young lady. However, he was kicked off by this tough man. At the sight of this scene, all of his partners drew out their sabers and axes and started to attack the two people; finally, they were killed by this young lady and this tough man!"


    ...


    "Minister of justice, I saw that too. It was true. Just now, I was doubting whether this guy who intended to thrust his belly towards this young lady on purpose; later on, I knew that this guy was a knight; however could a knight lose his balance only after being touched by his subordinate bodyguard? Therefore, it''s indeed a purposeful sexual harassment!"


    ...


    "Minister of justice, I saw it too. Just now, this group of foreign people behaved in a rude way behind this young lady and this childe..."


    Many witnesses stood out of the crowd and explained what they saw at once. Two of them were even foreign people. Just now, they were not far away from Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian behind them; therefore, they saw what happened too. As for these foreign people, the motherf*cking Arlkey Empire had nothing to do with them. They were not of the same human race at all; additionally, what Zhang Tie said formed a resonance with them; therefore, they would like to bear witness for Zhang Tie.


    After hearing these words, Zhang Tie sighed with emotion, ''Taixia Country is really powerful. If it were in other continents or subcontinents, who dared bear the witness heroically when they knew that they might offend the bright gold master of Gold and Power Law indirectly by doing so. However, at this moment, almost all the people who had witnessed the process of the event would like to bear the witness. Although it was a trivial matter, it implied the patriotism of a nation. At this critical moment, most of the people in the surroundings would choose to stand out to bear the witness instead of being silent for the sake of their safety in a "wise" way. Such an uncompromising spirit and mentality facing the evil forces in the public made Taixia Country powerful and frightened demons.


    Zhang Tie found that he had a new recognition about Taixia Country.


    After hearing the testimony, Han Yuanhong silently lowered his head.


    The minister of justice was clear about the process of this event too. After glancing around the scene, he pointed at the elder foreign knight from Arlkey Empire and asked, "As the prince of Arlkey Empire and his bodyguards dare do a shameless thing in Xuanyuan Hill, they deserve the death. The killers are innocent. Given the severity of this event, I declare that all the people from Arlkey Empire of New Crescence Subcontinent are forbidden to enter Xuanyuan Hill from today on. Anyone who violates this rule will be killed. Drive this man out of Xuanyuan Hill..."


    Since Han Yuanhong arrived, the elder knight of Arlkey Empire had been standing aside tamefully. Like a transparent person, he could not interrupt their talk at all. After hearing the judgment of minister of justice, he widely opened his mouth with astonishment and panic. Closely after that, he looked at Han Yuanhong and talked gibberish. Pitifully, Han Yunhong didn''t even throw a glance at him.


    "Be quiet in front of the minister of justice, slap your mouth..." The two subordinate knights beside the minister of justice strode forward and grabbed that elder foreign knight''s arms at once. Closely after that, they slapped that elder foreign knight''s face a few times and drew him away. As the minister of justice had sent the order to drive this man out of Xuanyuan Hill, of course, they need to execute it right away. Meanwhile, someone else beside the minister of justice had already passed the notice to the subordinates through the remote-sensing crystal. From today on, everybody from the Arlkey Empire of New Crescence Subcontinent was forbidden in Xuanyuan Hill. All those who had entered it would be driven away at once.


    No matter how fierce the foreign people were, they had to behave like tame kitties in Xuanyuan Hill.


    All the foreign knights among the onlookers were scared by what they saw as they hurriedly ordered their subordinates to follow the laws in Taixia Country and not stir up any trouble here. It was in Xuanyuan Hill, not any remote places like their hometowns. Because a prince of a major country in a subcontinent which had established important trade ties with Taixia Country wanted to sexually harass a woman, he was kicked to death by an earth knight. His life was as cheap as that of a dog. Actually, his life couldn''t even match that of a dog. At least a dog could rub a beauty on the street for a short while. By contrast, besides losing his own life, even this prince''s country was involved in it. Their royal households might be changed. Such a person died in vain in Xuanyuan Hill. What about others? In Xuanyuan Hill, every knight has to behave carefully no matter how powerful he was.


    ''F*ck, that d**chebag must have not imagined that the woman whom he stirred up was followed by such a terrifying earth knight, who could kill him in a split second. Xuanyuan Hill is too terrifying. How come earth knights stroll on the streets casually? F*ck, I have to be careful later on.'' Such a thought flickered through many foreign knights'' brain at this moment.


    Taixia Country was powerful because of etiquette and great battle strength.


    After dealing with this event simply, the minister of justice left as if he had done something trivial, leaving awe-stricken eye lights behind him.


    Nobody had noticed that Zhang Tie had released two tracing feathers onto that elder knight''s clothes when he was drawn away.

 1126 Gold and Power Marke

    Chapter 1126: Gold and Power Market


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The conflict between Zhang Tie and those rude foreign people and between Zhang Tie and Han Yuanhong at Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market was resolved in only a few words with the arrival of the minister of justice. After the minister of justice left, all the others left too. Those being involved in this event and those onlookers had different feelings. Perhaps only they themselves knew about it.


    Han Yuanhong left silently. Before he left, he threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie. Those onlookers threw a bit awe-stricken glance at Zhang Tie when they left; especially some foreign people in special costumes kept a distance from Zhang Tie consciously.


    After Zhang Tie exposed his identity as earth knight, even though Bai Suxian was beautiful, nobody dared approach Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian anymore. Whatever, very few people in this world could stand an earth-knight''s kick. The guy who was kicked to death was really unfortunate. As a black iron knight, he dared sexually harass an earth knight''s woman. It was nothing different than seeking for death.


    After glancing around those leaving onlookers and Han Yuanhong''s back, Zhang Tie recovered his composure too. After exchanging a glance with Bai Suxian, he turned around and spoke to Mountain Lifting Hermit, "Elder brother, I forgot to ask you about that, why are you here?"


    "I''m living in the Heavens Seal Hotel in Gold and Power Market. It''s less than 1.5 miles from Qian Gate. When I was going to leave my room, I suddenly heard your voice. I almost thought that I misheard it. Therefore, I came over here!" Mountain Lifting Hermit, who always looked solemn, revealed a faint smile facing Zhang Tie. He looked Zhang Tie up and down seriously with an amazed look, "I''ve not imagined that you could promote to an earth knight. After promoting to a black iron knight, many people couldn''t promote to an earth knight in their whole lives. I''ve really not imagined that you could catch up with me so fast..."


    "It''s a long story!" Zhang Tie glanced around those people who were still peeping at him as he told Mountain Lifting Hermit, "Elder brother, now that you''re living not far from here, how about talking about it in your residence? As there''re too many people here, it''s not convenient for a talk!"


    Mountain Lifting Hermit threw a glance at the surroundings before nodding, "Right, let''s talk about it in Heavens Seal Hotel!"


    Closely after that, Mountain Lifting Hermit led Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian towards Heavens Seal Hotel.


    After entering the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market, the roadsides were covered with stores. There were a great variety of shocking beautiful items inside those stores, including sabers, swords, helmets, armors, medicaments, rune items, living animals and specimens of mutated beasts and various senior crystals. Many people were hawking with alchemists'' and rune equipment in hands like how peddles held a drum-shaped rattle.


    Previously, Zhang Tie had not seen anyone who sold element crystals; however, after entering Gold and Power Market for less than 1,000 m, Zhang Tie had seen a few stores selling element crystals. Of course, the prices of those element crystals were astronomic figures for commoners. At the sight of those figures, one would know why gold and silver didn''t count most for knights.


    In the Treasures Meeting, you could almost buy everything that you could imagine.


    What made Zhang Tie speechless the most was a sentence in red lacquer in the advertisement board at the gate of a business group¡ª¡ª the Hereditary throne of the High Mountain Kingdom in Goldenrock Subcontinent for sale; legal demise; after becoming an imperial clan, you would never be bothered by a coup. Those who have been conferred with the rank of nobility officially would enjoy a great discount; if you want it, let''s talk about it face to face inside the store...


    Besides Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie estimated that he could not see such a commercial advisement anywhere else. Otherwise, Zhang Tie would definitely think that someone was making a parody. However, in Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie knew that it was not a parody. Nobody dared make such a joke with so many passers-by at this moment.


    When Mountain Lifting Hermit noticed that Zhang Tie paid more attention to that advertisement board, Mountain Lifting Hermit said, "I''ve been to the High Mountain Kingdom in Goldenrock Subcontinent when I was young. This country only covers over 2 million square miles. The entire country is abundant in pure aluminum and golden leaves pomelos; simple folk custom; beautiful and amorous beauties. When I went there last time, I had just promoted to a black iron knight. That country even wanted to employ me as the No. 1 knight. Their princess..." Mountain Lifting Hermit stopped with a reminiscent look when he mentioned about the princess of High Mountain Kingdom. Finally, he revealed a bitter smile and shook his head.


    Watching Mountain Lifting Hermit''s look, Zhang Tie knew that Mountain Lifting Hermit must have an unforgettable love story in Goldenrock Subcontinent. Each knight had a lot of love affairs at a young age, including Mountain Lifting Hermit. Many people might not have experienced too many such love affairs; therefore, they were very curious and longing for that. However, knights had so many such experiences; therefore, they had seen through everything. After dozens of years, even over 100 years, perhaps only a couple of women could stay in a knight''s memory at most.


    "What''s wrong with the princess of High Mountain Country?" Bai Suxian asked Mountain Lifting Hermit. Women were always interested in such things unimaginably.


    "The princess of High Mountain Country was my friend. We''ve got acquainted with each other for too long. 5 decades ago, I entered secluded cultivation for 10 years so as to promote to an earth knight; when I promoted to an earth knight 10 years later, I found that she had already died on the 6th year since I started my secluded cultivation..."


    "She''s dead?" Bai Suxian widely opened her eyes, "Did she..."


    "Not like what you imagine. She died naturally. She only lived 121 years due to a poor gift in cultivation. Before she died, she even had someone give me a letter and express that she wanted to see me for the last time. However, I was in secluded cultivation at that moment. When I received the letter, it was already a few years later..." Mountain Lifting Hermit said with a sad look.


    It seemed that this affair was not a beautiful memory for Mountain Lifting Hermit; therefore, Zhang Tie stopped Bai Suxian by throwing a glance at her. Meanwhile, he changed the topic, "Is there any problem with the royal households of High Mountain Kingdom?"


    "In the holy war, it''s normal for small countries to be exterminated. There''s not even a knight-level powerhouse in the royal households of High Mountain Country in the subcontinent. They were living a scary life every day. Actually, they were not happier and safer than common rich people in the major provinces of Taixia Country."


    Since they left the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market, the three people had found that they were followed by two "tails". However, the three people just ignored them. Whatever, Gold and Power Market was not opened by Han Clan. Even though they offended Han Yuanhong, they could still swagger all the way in Gold and Power Market without worrying about any trouble. In the public, Han Yuanhong dared not hurt them at all like that they could not do anything to the two "tails" behind them. They just knew it and didn''t expose it.


    They soon came to the gate of the Heavens Seal Hotel.


    This hotel could never be matched by common hotels. Heavens Seal Hotel looked like Lord Guangnan''s Manor in Xuanyuan Hill. It was even a bit more luxurious than the latter. The hotel included some smaller independent courtyards. The walls between courtyards had been specially designed so that outsiders could barely peep inside.


    The courtyard of Mountain Lifting Hermit was less than 300 square meters. There was even a small bamboo wood in the courtyard which looked more tranquil.


    During the period of Treasures Meeting, the daily rent of such a small courtyard was 100,000 gold coins. Those who could live in such high-end courtyards were always rich lords coming from subcontinents or knight-level powerhouses of Taixia Country.


    There was a tea house inside the courtyard. When they talked with each other, they sat down inside the tea house with crossed legs. At the same time, they drank tea and started to chat.


    "Younger brother Cui, weren''t you trapped in the hieron''s ruins with that demon earth knight? We didn''t see you come out of there until we left the hieron''s ruins. I even thought that you''ve sacrificed at that time. Unimaginably, you have promoted to an earth knight. Such a sharp turn almost made me confused!"


    Only after having two sips of tea, Mountain Lifting Hermit had asked Zhang Tie about his experience out of his concern.


    Even though they were in the courtyard of the hotel, Mountain Lifting Hermit knew that this topic was too sensitive; therefore, he asked Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian in a secret wat for the sake of respect and confidentiality. After all, they had just offended the master of Gold and Power Market; additionally, they were in other''s territory; therefore, they had to be alert.


    Outsiders were shocked by the news that Zhang Tie had promoted to an earth knight. However, it was more shocking for Mountain Lifting Hermit who had entered the hieron''s ruins and fought together with Zhang Tie inside to hear this news. The feelings between when you heard that a stranger hit the jackpot and that someone familiar hit the jackpot were utterly different.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit should be shocked and curious about Zhang Tie''s experience as a knight, Zhang Tie''s friend and comrade-in-arms.


    After hearing this question, Zhang Tie pondered...

 1127 Sincere Friends

    Chapter 1127: Sincere Friends


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Finding that Zhang Tie was silent, Mountain Lifting Hermit lowered his head unconsciously while his passionate look gradually turned to the original solemn look. At the same time, Mountain Lifting Hermit let out a sigh inside, "I''ve not imagined that this question could make you embarrassed, younger brother Cui, I''m too offensive!"


    After hearing Mountain Lifting Hermit''s words, Zhang Tie knew what he was thinking about. Therefore, the moment Mountain Lifting Hermit finished his words, Zhang Tie had shaken his head as he watched Mountain Lifting Hermit sincerely and said, "Elder brother, you must have misunderstood me. When in Earth-elements Realm, you fought demons with me side by side. We''re David And Jonathan! I would never hide the facts in front of elder brother. I was just concerned that I might surprise you if I told you about my secrets!"


    Zhang Tie replied in a secret way. Even though others were standing on his side, they could not know what Zhang Tie was talking about.


    Bai Suxian threw a glance at Zhang Tie silently. Using his instinct, Bai Suxian had guessed what Zhang Tie was going to talk. Therefore, she wanted to remind Zhang Tie by throwing a glance at him. As a big secret, as long as it was leaked, it might cause great troubles.


    Of course, Zhang Tie knew about Bai Suxian''s concern. Zhang Tie just comforted Bai Suxian by pinching her hand forcefully.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit revealed a genial smile once again, "This elder brother has traveled so many places on the earth and below the earth these years, although I''m not very strong-willed, it''s difficult for the younger brother to surprise me!"


    "Actually, I''m not Cui Li; I''m Zhang Tie, the very Zhang Tie who was wanted by Taixia Country. Since the first day I met you, I had been Zhang Tie. Cui Li is just my incarnation!"


    "What?" Mountain Lifting Hermit sprung up at once with a "shocked" look. As he was shocked too much, he even forgot to use the secret way.


    Looking at Zhang Tie''s helpless expression which meant "I''ve long known that you would behave like this", Mountain Lifting Hermit looked left and right before taking in a deep breath and sitting down with a solemn look.


    "Young brother...Cui, is that true? Aren''t you kidding me?" Mountain Lifting Hermit asked seriously in a secret way once again.


    "Yes, it''s true. I''m not kidding you. I am Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie is me!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    "I''ve seen Zhang Tie''s order for arrest. Your look and figure are pretty different than Zhang Tie''s..."


    "I''ve awakened an immortal ancestral bloodline. I named it body changing immortal bloodline. With this kind of bloodline, I could change my look and figure casually..." As Zhang Tie explained, he silently stretched his right hand in front of Mountain Lifting Hermit. Right under the gaze of Mountain Lifting Hermit, Zhang Tie''s right hand started to change.


    It gradually turned older with more and more wrinkles and senile plaques like a withered twig. Closely after that, it slowly grew younger and became as elastic as kid''s skin. Finally, it recovered its original look of Cui Li''s hand. In the entire process, Zhang Tie''s hand also changed its color between yellow, black, white and brown like that of different human races''.


    From a hole, one would know the overall situation. Although Zhang Tie didn''t change his whole body, the change on his hand was already shocking enough. Mountain Lifting Hermit realized that this was definitely a unique ability. No secret method could make this come true.


    "Besides awakening body changing immortal bloodline, I''ve mastered many secret methods too. As long as there''s a complete secret method, I will be able to simulate its effect after forming chakras. I''ve got another secret method called Thousands of Beads Multitasking Sutra. As long as I have sufficient element crystals, I would be able to absorb element crystals at a speed 10 times greater than that of the others. Additionally, I''ve mastered some more secret methods. With these special abilities and secret methods, I entered Earth-elements Realm in the identity of Cui Li without leaving any loophole, turned the tide in hieron''s ruins and promoted to an earth knight in a short period..."


    After Zhang Tie said these words, he told Mountain Lifting Hermit about his experience in the hieron''s ruins including how he killed Old Monster Qi; promoted to an earth knight and returned; encountered Bai Suxian, joined the large-scale battle between humans and demons in Tiewei Mountain; came to Northeast Military Region to open his Iron-Dragon Sect; came to Xuanyuan Hill until he met Mountain Lifting Hermit today. During this process, Zhang Tie also exposed the identity of Bai Suxian to Mountain Lifting Hermit.


    Except for the trump cards of Castle of Black Iron, King Roc Sutra and divine dominator, Zhang Tie had been frank to Mountain Lifting Hermit to the utmost extent.


    Even though Mountain Lifting Hermit was startled by Zhang Tie''s experiences and became speechless. Mountain Lifting Hermit had not imagined that Zhang Tie could have such amazing experiences and grasped so many shocking secret methods.


    "I''ve not imagined that younger brother Zhang Tie could have such wonderful experiences!" Mountain Lifting Hermit let out a sigh, "But, younger brother, aren''t you afraid that I screw you with your secrets?"


    "Given your dauntless spirit when you stood on my side just now, if the elder brother wants to screw me with these secrets, it must be because that I''ve offended you. If so, I deserve that!" Zhang Tie shrugged as he said like a single man, "Each one has his secrets. However, if I don''t even believe the elder brother, a person who could stand on my side at the risk of your life, who else could I believe? No matter how powerful one is, if he doesn''t even have such a close friend or be alert to everybody else, it would be meaningless even if he could promote to a heavenly knight or a sage! Don''t we hope that we could live a franker, more fearless and freer life one day by exerting our utmost efforts to climb up?"


    "We indeed hope that we could live a franker, more fearless and freer life through constant cultivation!" Mountain Lifting Hermit repeated Zhang Tie''s words. After repeating it for a while, he let out a sigh heavily.


    "Oh, elder brother, after you left the hieron''s ruins, where have you been? A few days ago, I asked about you in the Earth-elements Realm in vain!"


    "After being screwed by Old Monster Qi''s five-poison bloody soul driller at that moment, I was severely wounded. After leaving the hieron''s ruins, I thought that the younger brother has sacrificed in the hieron''s ruins. Being very disappointed, I directly left the Earth-elements Realm and casually found a mountain in Military Province and entered a secluded cultivation and rehabilitation. Not until a few months ago did I completely recover my wounds. Closely after that, I contacted a friend in the Earth-elements Realm and was told that you were still alive and had returned to the earth''s surface. After hearing that there was a Treasures Meeting in the Gold and Power Market, I wanted to join the fun here and try my fortune; after that, I planned to find you in the Northeast Military Region!"


    Mountain Lifting Hermit told Zhang Tie about his experiences over the past years too.


    Five-poison bloody soul driller was really vicious and powerful. During these years, Mountain Lifting Hermit was almost in recuperation.


    "Elder brother, what kind of fortune do you want to try in Gold and Power Market?"


    Mountain Lifting Hermit replied with a bitter smile, "Honestly, I want to look for the same thing here as what I wanted to look for in the hieron''s ruins. As space-teleportation equipment is extremely precious, I could barely see it; however, in the treasures meeting, I might buy one. I''ve already received the news that someone would sell a space-teleportation equipment in this treasures meeting of Gold and Power Market!"


    "Space-teleportation equipment?" Zhang Tie became dumbfounded.


    "Younger brother, don''t laugh at me. Since I promoted to an earth knight, I had been desiring for a space-teleportation equipment. However, I always missed the opportunities because of bad lucks or lack of conditions. Therefore, this elder brother still does not have a space-teleportation equipment until now. As a result, I have too many inconveniences. During these years in the Earth-elements Realm, without a space-teleportation equipment, this elder brother missed many opportunities for exploring treasures. Without a space-teleportation equipment, I would even have a big problem in replenishment in some special places in the Earth-elements Realm and might lose my life in the worst scenario!"


    Zhang Tie was not strange about space-teleportation equipment at all. He even felt that he was more and more tide up with space-teleportation equipment. Since he killed the demon general, he had been gaining space-teleportation equipment one after another. Therefore, he had almost been numb about that. However, Mountain Lifting Hermit''s words reminded Zhang Tie that space-teleportation equipment was still extremely precious for an earth knight who didn''t have any background in Taixia Country. Many knights would like to spend a lot on space-teleportation equipment.


    ''Should I directly present a space-teleportation equipment to Mountain Lifting Hermit?'' Zhang Tie considered about this question seriously. Zhang Tie never grudged a space-teleportation equipment as he could even share his secrets with Mountain Lifting Hermit. However, he knew that Mountain Lifting Hermit would never accept such a favor without any reason. Given his temperament, if Zhang Tie did that, Mountain Lifting Hermit might directly leave out of fury.


    "This elder brother has been closer to the end of my life; however, I couldn''t even see through something like you. As I encountered younger brother by fortunate today, this elder brother has a presumptuous request, please promise me!" Mountain Lifting Hermit uttered when Zhang Tie was thinking about how to present a space-teleportation equipment to him.


    "Elder brother, just go ahead. As long as I could do it, I would never refuse!" Zhang Tie said righteously.


    "May I join Iron-Dragon Sect?"


    After listening to Mountain Lifting Hermit''s words, Zhang Tie became a bit stunned. Closely after that, he almost jumped up cheerily.

 1128 Grand Elder of Iron-Dragon Sec

    Chapter 1128: Grand Elder of Iron-Dragon Sect


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Elder broher, do you really mean that?" Zhang Tie asked happily.


    Honestly, Zhang Tie didn''t have any experience in establishing a sect. The significance that an earth knight joined his sect would be utterly different than that Zhang Tie enrolled his apprentices. As it brought Zhang Tie a great sense of identity and achievement. It was an earth knight. An earth knight was definitely unrivaled in Waii Subcontinent. Even in Taixia Country and the Earth-elements Realm, an earth knight could also be on the equal footing with a provincial governor.


    Zhang Tie knew that it was a demographic dividend. His responsible and dauntless spirit in the hieron''s ruins gained Mountain Lifting Hermit''s identification. Therefore, Mountain Lifting Hermit would like to join Iron-Dragon Sect. Otherwise, an earth knight could establish a sect wherever he wanted; even if he didn''t want to establish a sect, he could also become the VIP or employed elder in the top 7 sects in Taixia Country.


    "I''m single and have nothing to worry about. As long as the younger brother doesn''t mind it, this elder brother could be a steward for you!" At the sight of the Zhang Tie''s pleasant look, Mountain Lifting Hermit felt pretty warm inside as he turned pleasant too.


    Zhang Tie said seriously, "Elder brother, what are you talking about? If the elder brother could join my small temple, I would be pretty happy. However, as Iron-Dragon Sect has just been founded, it''s a bit simple and crude. I will be relieved as long as the elder brother doesn''t mind it!"


    "Honestly, these years, many sects and clans have invited me to join them; however, I always felt that I lacked something; therefore, I didn''t promise any of them. After getting acquaintance with younger brother, I figured out what I lacked, "freedom from worry!" Mountain Lifting Hermit signed with emotion, "Compared to other sects and major clans, where I have to be meticulous. To be with younger brother, I don''t need to set up others or be screwed. Everything is simple. Additionally, I have to find a safe destination so that I could settle down when I''m injured!"


    "Elder brother, trust me; if you join Iron-Dragon Sect, you will be the grand elder of Iron-Dragon Sect. My Iron-Dragon Sect is in the 18 Xuantian Mountain Peaks in Yangui Mountain of Northeast Military Region. After a few days, elder brother could go back to Iron-Dragon Sect with me. If Elder brother likes any one of the 18 mountain peaks, just take it. You will be the owner of that mountain peak. You could cultivate safely and enroll some apprentices before imparting your Mountain Embracing Sutrato them. It all depends on you!"


    "It turns out that younger brother has long thought about my Mountain Embracing Sutra ." Mountain Lifting Hermit watched Zhang Tie with a faint smile.


    Zhang Tie replied with a shameless look, "It would be a waste if you didn''t impart such a count-level classic to your apprentices!"


    After throwing a glance at each other, the two people burst out into laughter at the same time.


    "I will take one mountain peak from Iron-Dragon Sect too!" Bai Suxian who had been listening to their talk silently on one side suddenly uttered.


    "You want one too?" Zhang Tie turned around and threw a glance at Bai Suxian before saying, "You stay with me, then why do you want to take a mountain peak?"


    "No, I want one, I want one..." Bai Suxian pouted her mouth as she directly drew Zhang Tie''s hand and started to behave like a spoiled child.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Mountain Lifting Hermit pretended to cough twice as he looked at Zhang Tie, "Younger brother, can you talk about such a confidential affair back in your room? This elder brother has been old enough, I cannot bear the stimulation of you young people anymore!"


    Before Zhang Tie responded to it, Bai Suxian had already blushed, "I''ve not imagined that Mountain Lifting Hermit is so obscene!"


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he waved his hand and said, "Well, when we go back, you can take whichever mountain peak you want!"


    "That''s my man!" Bai Suxian became satisfied too.


    "Younger brother, hasn''t your order for arrest been canceled off by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country? Aren''t you free now? But why..."


    "Although the order for arrest has been canceled, the culprit of the tragedy in Fuhai City has not been caught. It hasn''t ended yet. Therefore, I don''t prepare to recover my original look in a short period!"


    "If younger brother needs this elder brother''s help, just let me know!" Mountain Lifting Hermit said solemnly. Although it was just a simple promise, Zhang Tie knew that Mountain Lifting Hermit must be much more serious than others who made promises by beating their own chests. This was Mountain Lifting Hermit''s temperament.


    "Elder brother, I swear that I will not behave affectedly with you!"


    "How many people have known your real identity, younger brother?"


    "Elder brother, Bai Suxian and my elder brother Zhang Yang. Even my parents and elders of Huaiyuan Palace don''t know that Cui Li and Zhang Tie are the same!"


    "What do you plan to do? You can''t be Cui Li for the rest of your life!"


    "I''m also thinking about exposing my real identity to the public these days!" Zhang Tie said seriously, "Actually, I have no ambition. I like tranquil life with my wives and children. I think it''s enough for me to have sufficient money with friends on my side. Previously, I always thought that I could avoid trouble by being low-key. However, through what I experienced in Taixia Country during these years, I find that it''s more effective to make someone fear about you than trying to stay away from them for more people. In this world, the battle strength is more persuasive than the mouth. The so-called peace is neither begging others to not harm you nor just bearing it when you''re bullied by others, but scare them away from you!"


    "If there''s really such a day, younger brother''s body changing immortal bloodline would definitely shock the entire world. By then, those who really want to do harm to you might not be able to fall asleep when they thought about your body changing immortal bloodline. In the worst scenario, if Huaiyuan Palace were exterminated one day, as long as younger brother could survive on, with the talent of body changing immortal bloodline, you could make the enemy of Huaiyuan Palace sleepless and restless for the rest of their lives. I wonder when the younger brother could jump out to revenge them crazily. If an earth knight like younger brother really starts to fight the top 7 sects at the risk of your life one day, they might be annoyed too much!" Mountain Lifting Hermit threw a glance at Zhang Tie as he said solemnly, "At that moment, common evil forces would indeed be shocked by your talents; however, if I were the enemy of Huaiyuan Palace and younger brother''s clan, I would ensure that I could kill you the moment I launched a strike. In this way, younger brother would be the shield and umbrella of Huaiyuan Palace and your clan. All the conflicts and stress would concentrate on you. If they didn''t kill you, they would not do harm to Huaiyuan Palace and younger brother''s clan!"


    "If I could be the shield and umbrella of my family, I would never feel regretful to die for them!" Zhang Tie revealed a frank smile, "Isn''t this the natural response of a man? As an earth knight, it''s my greatest honor to provide those people on my side with a better life, watch them smile and being free from fear even in the chaotic world. I don''t want to be popular among lords; I don''t want reputation, wealth, power and undertakings; I don''t want to reach the peak of knight''s world; I only expect that those beside me could have a smile which was free of trouble forever! I would like to do everything that I could do for such a smile!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bai Suxian clenched his hand with sparkling eyes. Mountain Lifting Hermit became silent for a while before sighing with emotion, "Given your words, younger brother, you''re greater than me!"


    "Elder brother, everyone has his own ambitions. Elder brother pursues the peak of knight''s world. I pursue a smile from those people on my side at home!"


    "What do I pursue for?" Bai Suxian interrupted him.


    "You pursue staying with me obediently!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    "I see, master..." Bai Suxian replied in a spoiled way while her happiness was going to spill out of her eyes.


    "Ahem...ahem...younger brother, if you keep behaving like that, this elder brother has to leave!"


    "Hahaha, elder brother, I will not stimulate you anymore. Elder brother, you said that you were going to leave the hotel when you heard my voice. Where were you going to?"


    "I''m going to the Treasures Complex, it''s said that a piece of God''s Star from a subcontinent is exhibited over there. There might be some space-teleportation items for sale; therefore, I want to take a look at them!"


    Zhang Tie exchanged a quick smile with Bai Suxian before saying, "It seems that we were predestined to meet each other today, we''re also preparing to take a look over there!"


    "Let''s go!"


    "Let''s go!"


    Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit burst out into laughter at the same time as the three people left the small courtyard of Heavens Seal Hotel towards the Treasures Complex.


    Through communication, Mountain Lifting Hermit had already confirmed to join Iron-Dragon Sect, plus Bai Suxian. Therefore, the relationship between the three people became closer than before.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit''s original surname was Gan. Therefore, Bai Suxian directly called him senior fellow apprentice Gan. Mountain Lifting Hermit also called Bai Suxian junior sister apprentice Bai. According to the suggestion of Mountain Lifting Hermit, they should call each other officially in Xuanyuan Hill, especially in Gold and Power Market no matter how they called each other privately. Therefore, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Bai Suxian should call Zhang Tie "master" out of respect, which could indicate Zhang Tie''s identity and position in Iron-Dragon Sect.


    Of course, Bai Suxian accepted the appellations pleasantly; Zhang Tie refused it in vain.


    Zhang Tie was very curious about this piece of God''s Star in the Treasures Meeting...


    The three people moved fast. Soon after they left Heavens Seal Hotel, they had seen a magnificent huge building with rich Hua characteristics in front of them.


    There were two huge words Treasures Complex on the top of the 10-m high front gate!

 1129 The Treasures Complex

    Chapter 1129: The Treasures Complex


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The two words Treasures Complex were as assertive as flying dragons and dancing phoenixes. Hanging over the high front gate, the two words were radiating golden light. Each of them was as large as a half person. When Zhang Tie approached them, he felt a stress from the words which were like living animals. As a result, Zhang Tie''s battle qi started to wave. Zhang Tie was really shocked by this feeling.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to meet such a situation. The two words Treasures Complex reminded Zhang Tie of the strong coercion that Elder Muen imposed on him in Heavens Cold City. This effect was caused by a sharp difference between realms.


    "Yi, what happened?" Zhang Tie stopped at once. He looked up at the two words Treasures Complex with sparkling eye light once again and abruptly felt that each word was as overwhelming as a mountain.


    "The two words are Emperor Xuanyuan''s Calligraphy. It contains the strong qi of a knight who cultivates an emperor-level secret method. This qi is special among humans. Although so many years have passed, the qi remains unchanged. Only those above knights could sense this qi. Like how ants in a cave couldn''t feel the dignity of a huge dragon in the sky, people below knight could not feel that anything was wrong below the two words!" Mountain Lifting Hermit explained it to Zhang Tie.


    "The calligraphy of Emperor Xuanyuan?"


    "Yes, it''s sunny today; if you came here on rainy days, you would see a grotesque scenery. Rain and snow keep 3 m away from this board. It''s always dry below this board. It''s said that this board is water-proof and fire-resistant. Because of the 2 words, this board becomes a treasure as if it has been processed by a rune instrument producer!"


    Mountain-Lifting Hermit''s words made Zhang Tie dumbfounded in a split second. He was really startled by a sage-level knight''s battle strength. Compared to the battle strength of common fighters, knights register a qualitative leapfrog in the battle strength; similarly, compared to the battle strength of common knights, sage-level knights register a qualitative leapfrog too.


    "Elder brother, do you feel the stress from the 2 words too?"


    "Of course; however, as I''ve been here before, I''m not that amazed like you!"


    "I''ve not imagined that sage-level knight could have such a terrifying battle strength. After so many years, the two words could still cause such a great stress to other knights!"


    "Stress is a driving force. Many knights across Taixia Country have determined their mind at the sight of the two words on the front gate of Treasures Complex. When I saw the two words the first time, I had determined to reach the peak of the knight''s world for the rest of my life!" Mountain Lifting Hermit raised his head and watched the 2 words while a sophisticated and decisive look flashed by.


    The road towards peak was pretty bumpy and lonely. So many people gave it up on the halfway. It required great determination and braveness the choose this way.


    "Elder brother''s determination is really admirable!" Zhang Tie said sincerely. Without the small tree, Zhang Tie knew that he could not even enter the realm of a knight for the rest of his life, not to mention a sage-level knight. Zhang Tie really admired those people who could promote to knights by their own ability and determine to reach the peak of knight''s world.


    "Although I promoted to a knight earlier than you, younger brother has already caught up with me!" Mountain Lifting Hermit replied with a big smile.


    "Actually, you''ve missed one point, the 2 words are an incentive for Hua knights and cause many foreign knights to be breathless due to fear. I finally know why Hua people could lead all the other humans!" Bai Suxian said.


    When Bai Suxian spoke, 2 foreign knights approached the gate too. It might be the 2 knights'' first time to be here. The moment they sensed the aggressive qi of the 2 words, one of them released his protective battle qi unconsciously at once, the other one was forced to move 2 steps backward. The two people changed their faces immediately. Watching the 2 huge Hua words on the gate with astonishment, they jabbered and dared not move forward...


    At the sight of such a situation, Zhang Tie, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Bai Suxian exchanged a glance with each other silently before entering the gate.


    "It''s Treasures Complex, do you have VIP cards?" One of the two young domineering Hua knights stretched out his hand and stopped the 3 people politely.


    Even though the 2 concierges of Treasures Complex were knights. After realizing it, common knights would feel being dwarfed inside.


    Bai Suxian stretched out her hand with 2 crystal VIP cards on it; Mountain Lifting Hermit took out of a crystal VIP card from his sleeve too. After taking the 3 crystal VIP cards, the concierge checked them before giving them back to the 3 people and let them in.


    The 3 people then entered the gate while raising high their heads.


    "I''ve not imagined that it was so strict here. Commoners might not dare enter at the sight of the 2 words and the 2 knight-level concierges."


    "Anyone who could enter Treasures Complex must be dignified. As long as a Hua person become an earth knight, he will have a VIP card of Treasures Complex. Common knights are forbidden to go inside, except for black iron knights such as young sister Su Xian, who come from major clans and sects or are especially invited by Gold and Power Law!"


    "Are we deep into the tiger''s den?" Bai Suxian asked Zhang Tie with a smile, "Han Yuanhong''s nestle in Gold and Power Market is in the Treasures Complex. At the gate, I''ve seen 3 people peering at us at the gate of the Treasures Complex."


    "Yup; however, 3 of us are not afraid of a tiger at all, am I right, elder brother?" Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    "Young brother Cui Li is right. Xuanyuan Hill is the sacred land of Hua people; instead of one''s backyard. Even the master of Gold and Power Law is also appointed by Emperor Xuanyuan. Iron barracks, flowing soldiers, some people are at most a senior steward here. Only Emperor Xuanyuan among humans could be unrivaled forever!" Mountain Lifting Hermit said heroically.


    Zhang Tie nodded as 3 of them passed through the gateway of Treasures Complex.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the gate tower, he had seen a huge wall.


    The wall was higher than 10 m and over 30 m in length. The entire wall was verdant all over like a curtain. Besides being fascinatingly verdant, it was also mixed with red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple colors. The entire wall was decorated with 9 colorful vivid Hua dragon totems in different movements, which looked pretty domineering.


    At the sight of the wall, Zhang Tie had been shocked. Zhang Tie found that the raw material of this wall was a quality eternal stone. Additionally, this piece of eternal stone was an entity. The piece of eternal stone alone was already a priceless treasure, not to mention the exquisite carving skills.


    Before Zhang Tie promoted to a knight, he had gained some eternal stones in the underground relics of Ice and Snow Wilderness. Those eternal stones were extremely rare and valuable; therefore, Zhang Tie made a big fortune. By contrast, this eternal stone was definitely more qualified than them; what was more, it was an entity. In front of this extremely huge external stone, those eternal stones that Zhang Tie gained previously in the underground relics were nothing but sh*t. How much was such an eternal stone? Precisely, how many cities was it worth?


    "This is 9-dragons wall. This original eternal stone of this wall weighs over 4,600 tons. It''s the largest and most advanced eternal stone that humans have discovered by far. It was discovered by a grand elder of Wang clan of Tianhai Palace, a top clan in Taixia Country in the Earth-elements Realm. After discovering it, the grand elder of Wang clan immediately contacted his clansmen and took it out of the Earth-elements Realm. When it was displayed, it shocked the entire Taixia Country. Later on, Gold and Power Law exchanged something for this eternal stone and carved 9 dragons on it before putting it here for appreciation. This 9-dragons wall is also the top treasure of Treasures Complex!"


    As it was not the first time for Mountain Lifting Hermit and Bai Suxian to see this 9-dragons wall; therefore, the 2 people were not shocked by it anymore. After noting that Zhang Tie paid special attention to this 9-dragons wall, Bai Suxian started to introduce Zhang Tie about the history of this 9-dragons wall.


    "Isn''t eternal stone a precious material for alchemists? Why do I feel that this eternal stone has not been processed by an alchemist? Isn''t it prodigal for it to stand here?"


    "You''re right, it''s said that the effect of this 9-dragons wall could cover an entire city and extend the longevity of commoners in this city if it was fully activated. Pitifully, only one person among alchemists could do it; however, as that person''s identity is special; nobody could invite him to process this 9-dragons wall through alchemist''s skill. Even if all the other alchemists joined hands with each other, they could only reach half effect of that person. Therefore, in case this top treasure was spoiled, they just put it here until someone could play its role to the utmost one day..."

 1130 Overall Situation and Familiar Ones

    Chapter 1130: Overall Situation and Familiar Ones


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    ''There is only one alchemist master across Taixia Country who could make full use of this eternal stone yet could not be invited?''


    After hearing the words of Mountain Lifting Hermit, Zhang Tie immediately thought about his master Zhao Yuan. However, he still asked with astonishment, "Elder brother, who''s¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡that alchemist master? Now that he''s so great, why can''t he come here to refine this eternal stone?"


    Mountain Lifting Hermit revealed a smile as he threw a glance at Zhang Tie in a profound way, "That man is a legendary figure in Taixia Country. Young brother, you should have heard about him. He''s Zhao Yuan, the alchemist master who has been ranked top on the wanted list of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country for many years. Given alchemist''s skill, nobody across Taixia Country could match him. It''s said that Zhao Yuan the alchemist master is eccentric, vicious and has a great battle strength. Additionally, he''s a heavenly knight who has formed 4 chakras with a lot of means; it''s said that this guy could even protect himself from sage-level knights. Who would be able to invite such a great figure to refine this eternal stone?"


    "Oh, I see!" Zhang Tie understood it right away; meanwhile, he also understood why Mountain Lifting Hermit threw a glance at him; additionally, Zhao Yuan and Zhang Tie were all "hot figures" on the wanted list; therefore, Mountain Lifting Hermit threw a glance at him in that way. Standing in front of the 9-dragons wall, Zhang Tie looked at it as he said, "What a huge eternal stone! There must be a lot of leftover bits and pieces!"


    "It''s said that over 100 tons of bits and pieces were cut off, which were also shopping-rush goods. They became the treasure of many alchemists. As 9-dragons wall is too famous, most of its bits and pieces were processed into various jade wares surnamed 9 and were sold at high prices. Young brother, we could see these items on the Treasures Meeting!"


    "I''m waiting for that!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    "All the items being made of the bits and pieces of this eternal stone are surnamed 9. However, there''re too many fake goods. All the items that were made of top-quality eternal stones are declared to come from the eternal stone of 9-dragons wall. Actually, who knows where do they come from?" Bai Suxian explained straightforwardly, "Lord Guangnan''s Mansion would receive some pieces of refined items from the 9-dragons wall almost every year. All the other major clans and sects would receive some year too. All the rich and powerful ones would like to show off with one or two alchemist''s items from 9-dragons wall. All the so-called alchemist''s items from the 9-dragons wall would weigh thousands of tons. Therefore, less than 1 of 10 items made of top-quality eternal stones in the market really comes from the 9-dragons eternal stone. But nobody could identify them. Given the same effect, everyone just pretends to not know that it''s fake!"


    Zhang Tie shook his head with a bitter smile as he had not imagined that he could meet such a ridiculous thing in Taixia Country too. Actually, Zhang Tie did such a thing in Donder''s grocery store. It was a common trick in groceries. Take those small metal parts and tools in the grocery as an instance. They purchased them in Blackhot City; however, they labeled the items with "made in Kalur City". As long as there was not a sharp difference between them in quality. The buyers would not identify them at all. After being labeled with "made in Kalur City", they could make some more copper coins. As Zhang Tie was young at that time, he even despised Donder''s trick very much. It was really out of his imagination that he could meet such a trick in Taixia Country. Those being trapped were all top-class ones in Taixia Country. Therefore, everyone pursued benefit and fame, whether they''re knights and Lords or commoners.


    After throwing another glance at this shocking 9-dragons wall, the 3 people detoured it and walked towards the inside of Treasures Complex.


    After passing the 9-dragons wall, they entered a magnificent lobby, which was over 100 m in length and 30 m in width. Additionally, there was a huge ceiling crystal lamp composed of tens of thousands of high-quality crystals on the highest dome of the lobby, which looked like sparkling stars over the sky. On both sides of the lobby, there were 4 bank counters. There were beautiful Hua girls behind each window of the four counters, who were watching the passers-by in the lobby with genial smiles or serving people who were standing in front of the windows.


    Additionally, there were labels behind each counter, which were Xuanyuan Bank, Golden Roc Bank, Pangu Bank and Eastern Bank respectively.


    People came and went in the lobby. Zhang Tie found that most of them were knights. At the sight of such a boisterous scene, Zhang Tie felt like coming back to the Lion Fortress.


    The 4 banks carried out the same businesses here, namely, mortgage, guarantee, financing and debit and credit. Each knight coming to the front of each bank window would be received by exclusive personnel. After dealing with the procedures over the counters here, many knights hurriedly left with documents and certificates in hands. Someone directly withdrew thick gold notes over the counters. Zhang Tie also saw a large amount of earth-element crystals and water-element crystals behind some counters which were taken away by some knights in regular procedures.


    "The imperial households of Taixia Country are on the back of Xuanyuan Bank; Xuanyuan Bank is the most powerful bank in Taixia Country. It could formulate some industrial regulations like central banks in foreign countries. Golden Roc Bank is the most important member of Gold and Power Law which has a long history. Although Golden Roc Bank is a bit weaker than Xuanyuan Bank in Taixia Country, it''s most powerful in all the overseas subcontinents. Additionally, until today, the identity of the master of Golden Roc Bank is still mysterious. It''s said that that guy has never shown up. I only heard from my father that the highest management of Golden Roc Bank was a commission. Each member of the commission is very mysterious and powerful. They barely show up. Only one or two members of that commission contact Taixia Country. The members of the highest management have the right to meet Emperor Xuanyuan, like the top 3 chancellors and 9 ministers in Taixia Country. My father guessed that there was a sage-level figure behind Golden Roc Bank whom even Emperor Xuanyuan was afraid of!" Bai Suxian said in a secret way.


    As it was Zhang Tie''s first time to visit Treasures Meeting, Bai Suxian and Mountain Lifting Hermit introduced him about the situation here. Only Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit could hear it. Such news might only be touched by top-class figures such as Lord Guangnan. At least Zhang Tie didn''t know that there were so many secrets behind Golden Roc Bank.


    "Now that there''s a sage-level knight on the back of Golden Roc Bank, why would Golden Roc Bank join Gold and Power Law? With a sage-level knight, Golden Roc Bank could be on the equal footing with the major sects in Taixia Country, right?" Zhang Tie asked with astonishment.


    "I have no idea!" Bai Suxian shook her head before saying, "It''s just a speculation. Nobody knows whether there is a real sage-level knight or not, male or female, Hua or foreigner. Those members of the top management of Golden Roc Bank almost never show up. They were only received by Emperor Xuanyuan for a few times. Outsiders are confused about the process of the receptions!"


    "What a bank!"


    "It''s said that Golden Roc Bank didn''t appear in Taixia Country and Eastern Continent at the beginning, but in the Western Continent. Its headquarters is also in the Western Continent!" Mountain Lifting Hermit also revealed a secret.


    After digesting this secret, Zhang Tie continued to ask, "Who are on the back of Pangu Bank and Eastern Bank respectively?"


    "It''s the other 6 major sects besides Gold and Power Law on the back of Pangu Bank. As Emperor Xuanyuan established Gold and Power Law to restrict the other 6 major sects, the other 6 sects also established Pangu Bank and Xuanyuan Bank to restrict Golden Roc Bank. In the spheres of influence of the top 6 sects, Pangu Bank has the largest influence; Eastern Bank was established by over 100 top clans in the 9 immortal provinces. With 9 immortal provinces as their foundation and the support of over 100 major clans, even if there''s no sage-level knight on the back of Eastern Bank, it could also be on the equal footing with the major banks. Additionally, Eastern Bank always remained neutral between the imperial households and the major sects in Taixia Country. This bank didn''t even join Gold and Power Law!"


    "According to you, the 4 banks almost represent the 4 greatest powers inside Taixia Country. Xuanyuan Bank represents the imperial households and court of Taixia Country; Pangu Bank represents the 6 top sects; Eastern Bank represents major clans in Taixia Country; Golden Roc Bank might represent a mysterious and powerful group that covered another continent and Taixia Country. The powers on the back of these major banks have privity with each other..."


    "That''s right!"


    Touching his jaw, Zhang Tie said, "If Taixia Country is regarded as a brilliant big house, Xuanyuan Bank stands on one side; Pangu Bank stands on the other side. Although they dislike each other, they don''t fight for the sake of the furniture and antiques inside the house; Eastern Bank stands in the middle as a buffer and a yes man. The major clans in Taixia Country do business with Xuanyuan Bank and Pangu Bank at the same time. When disciples of major clans of Taixia Country serve as officials in the imperial court, they learn skills from the top 6 major sects at the same time. Golden Roc Bank visits the house and has a drink once in a while. Sometimes, it will leave the house. Because Xuanyuan Bank is the nominal boss of this house, Golden Roc Bank joins Gold and Power Law out of respect or as a compromise and exchange. Actually, Golden Roc Bank has more than one foundation; it has a position inside the house; outside the doors, it could also summon wind and call for rain..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bai Suxian and Mountain Lifting Hermit both smiled. Mountain Lifting Hermit nodded, "What a lively metaphor! As you say, the major powers in Taixia Country are indeed restricting each other. Look here, most of the foreign knights are at the counter of Golden Roc Bank..."


    Zhang Tie looked around and found that it was real. Most of the knights in front of the counters of Xuanyuan Bank, Eastern Bank and Pangu Bank were Hua knights; however, most of the people in front of Golden Roc Bank were foreign knights.


    ''Wait.''


    Zhang Tie widely opened his eyes at once.


    When Zhang Tie looked at the counter of Golden Roc Bank, he caught sight of 2 people walking out of a tunnel on beside of the counter of Golden Roc Bank, one fat, one thin. The fat one was like a huge bear. When they walked, they looked around in gibberish. The thin guy looked glassy-eyed.


    Although it was not cold in Xuanyuan Hill, the 2 people were wearing bear-hide coats which looked eye-catching and improper.


    They were old Dali from Wild Bear Tribe and Elder Gulas from Huge Bear Tribe...

 1131 Familiar Ones from Ice and Snow Wilderness

    Chapter 1131: Familiar Ones from Ice and Snow Wilderness


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Gulas, have you seen that? The price of a set of alchemist''s jewelry made of eternal stone is 4.5 million gold coins. It''s the cheapest alchemist item made of eternal stone. Although our wild bear tribe''s golden sea buckthorn beer has a good market, we could only make over 2 million gold coins a year. Those items are even priced by element crystals; instead of gold. Oh my prophet the great pontiff, how could these guys be so rich? I''m thrilled; if only I could rob here..."


    When old Dali spoke, he licked his lips. At the same time, he looked around the lobby stealthily like a thief. His rude eye light contained a bit desire for pillage while being driven by curiosity and prospect. however, old Dali just thought about this as it was the nature that he had formed in Ice and Snow Wilderness. He could not change it no matter where he was. Whenever he saw something good, he would like to occupy it by force without spending a penny. Even though it was in Xuanyuan Hill, old wild bear Dali still had an impulse to do that; however, the old wild bear didn''t dare put it into practice. Because a black iron knight was too common here. Even in this lobby, he could also sense many qis of earth knights. There was an earth knight behind each bank counter. Old wild bear Dali was shocked too much by such a scene.


    It was the first time for Elder Gulas and Dali the head of wild bear tribe to be invited to attend the Treasures Meeting held by Gold and Power Law in Xuanyuan Hill by airship. The first stop of the airship was in Yingzhou City, the capital city of Yingzhou Province. Elder Gulas and head Dali were shocked by the prosperity and large population in Yingzhou City, a class-A city. They even treated Yingzhou City as Xuanyuan Hill. After being told that Yingzhou City was just a common class-A immortal city in Taixia Country and there were over 100 class-A cities in Taixia Country, even old wild bear Dali started to be meticulous.


    One province in Taixia Country could surpass the entire Blackson Humans Corridor in wealth and overall strength. Therefore, Ice and Snow Wilderness which was in one corner of Blackson Humans Corridor might only equal to a prefecture of Taixia Country in population and overall strength.


    Previously, Ice and Snow Wilderness was not qualified to receive the invitation of Golden Roc Bank. As it was the first time for Ice and Snow Wilderness to appear on the client list of Golden Roc Bank in the form of the regime of the Sacred Iceland Kingdom, Golden Roc Bank sent two invitation cards to Ice and Snow Wilderness. After a hot negotiation inside Saint Peterburg, Elder Gulas and old wild bear Dali were finally selected to come to Taixia Country as the political chancellor of the Sacred Iceland Kingdom and head of the Association of Elders and Wild Bear Corps by airship respectively. Of course, the two people were dignified in the Sacred Iceland Kingdom; however, after coming to Taixia Country; especially Xuanyuan Hill, their identities in the Sacred Iceland Kingdome became nothing. They were just "Commoners" here.


    Old wild bear Dali was meticulous; not until he came to Xuanyuan Hill and saw the "paradise-like place" in the human world did he have a lot of weird thoughts. It seemed to be a strange psychological phenomenon. When one person was constantly stimulated, some absurd nature deep in his mind which was always buried would be exposed.


    Yesterday, the old wild bear was thinking about carrying his offsprings to Xuanyuan Hill for a "good life". However, after taking a round in Treasures Complex, he became much more ambitious.


    Compared to old wild bear Dali, Elder Gulas of the huge bear tribe was more like a sober military chancellor of the country facing the prosperity of Taixia Country and Xuanyuan Hill.


    "Have you heard that, just now, a knight-level prince of a major country in a subcontinent wanted to sexually harassa Hua woman; finally, he was kicked to death by an earth knight!" Elder Gulas threw a glance at old wild bear Dali as he said coldly as the chilly wind in the ice field in the north of Ice and Snow Wilderness, "If you died here, I believe that your sons who are waiting for succeeding your throne must be very happy. Of course, they might have a fierce battle. They would strive to look after those women that you married last year. I will also be responsible for taking your ashes back!"


    Old wild bear Dali glared at Gulas, "Can''t you say something nice?"


    "After robbing here, if wild bear tribe and I are not involved and your sons could have a chance to take over your throne, it''s already the best expectation!" Elder Gulas said as icily as before. After hearing Gulas''s words, old wild bear Dali muttered something and finally became silent. Across Ice and Snow Wilderness, only the elders of the huge bear tribe and the elders and heads of the other tribes dared talk with old bear Dali in this way.


    When the two people came to the window of Golden Roc Bank, Elder Gulas directly passed a secret metal key which was marked with the number of a safe of Golden Roc Bank into the window. After taking the key, the beautiful Hua girl inserted it into a metal slot in front of her. After a short while, someone else had arrived with a senior metal case of medicaments. He then passed the case to Elder Gulas over the counter. After taking that metal case, Elder Gulas directly turned into another tunnel beside the counter of Golden Roc Bank with old wild bear Dali.


    After passing through that tunnel, a garden and a cloister, they came to the front of a 6-storey Hua pavilion. There was a wood in front of that building.


    That pavilion covered over 10,000 square meters. In front of that pavilion, there was a stele which was marked with Medicinal Powder Pavilion .


    Before entering this building, everyone could sniff the rich medicinal smell from inside the building. After entering it, they found it was like a huge drugstore. There were many compartments and counters in the entire building. Like a senior shopping mall, it was bustling everywhere inside. Many people were looking at the items being sold here. Like that outside, those who wandered inside this building were knights. Additionally, the items being sold here were much more senior than most of the medicinal powders in the Gold and Power Market. Of course, the items here were priced higher. In theMedicinal Powder Pavilion , professional appraisers were waiting for serving guests at any time, which was not free.


    Compared to most of the people inside the building, Dali and Elder Gulas in bear hide looked like old farmers selling herbal medicine in the downtown coming from rural areas. The two people looked pretty "rustic", which formed a sharp contrast with the senior case of medicaments, causing them to become pretty eye-catching.


    The two people came upstairs to the 2nd floor of theMedicinal Powder Pavilionand stopped behind a counter in the east of the 2nd floor. Elder Gulas then opened the case and put the items into the crystal counter carefully. After that, they just waited there for customers.


    Two Hua knights soon came to the front of the counter and asked about Elder Gulas. Elder Gulas could speak Hua language fluently. Through a short communication, the two Hua knights realized that they were selling a medicament which could allowfighters below knight level to improve their battle strength rapidly with an extremely low effect. The two Hua knights were interested in it pretty much; however, after inquiring about the price, the two Hua knights shook their heads and left.


    The price of one vial of medicament was 1 earth-element crystal. It was definitely a high price for a vial of medicament.


    In a few minutes, a few batches of people had arrived to inquire about the price of this medicament; however, none of them would like to buy them. Besides being highly priced, they were not even available for knights. Therefore, very few people were interested in it.


    Such a situation had lasted for consecutive 3 days.


    Watching the last black-skinned knight with Moxican hairstyle leaving after an inquiry, old wild bear Dali finally couldn''t stand to say, "Gulas, whether our price is a bit excessive? If we cannot even sell one vial of medicament, we will be here in vain!"


    "Source of berserk energy is the specialty of the huge bear tribe, also the only thing that we could sell in this scene. It''s not a common medicament, but a treasure that could allow a fighter to turn into a bear-killing fighter. The other medicaments that could improve one''s battle strength greatly in a short period couldn''t match the effect of our source of berserk energy or have great side effects. Very few of the other medicaments could match our source of berserk energy. We''ve made a great decision to exchange these source of berserk energy for earth-element crystals; this price was fixed by some elders of the huge bear tribe and Sarlin the Pontiff through negotiation. An earth-element crystal might be precious for us; however, in Taixia Country, if we meet someone who favors them, urgently need them and would like to exchange earth-element crystals for them constantly, it would be worthwhile even if we failed 10 times..." Elder Gulas said decisively.


    "Is that the will of His Majesty Tsar?" Old wild bear Dali suddenly asked while his eyes turned sharp, "His Majesty Tsar has left Ice and Snow Wilderness for 5 years. Besides those old guys in your huge bear tribe, nobody could contact His Majesty. Can you tell me the whereabouts of His Majesty Tsar? I always feel that you old guys are cheating me with something. Additionally, you left the hotel on the night two days ago and didn''t come back until daybreak. You don''t smoke; however, when you came back that night, I smelt a low-quality flavor of tobacco from your mouth. I wonder where have you been that night. Don''t think that I''m an idiot. Wild bears are most sensitive."


    Old wild bear Dali indeed had a very terrifying instinct.


    Elder Gulas faintly frowned; closely after that, he relieved his frown, "This is the confidentiality of our Sacred Iceland Kingdom!"


    "Even I couldn''t know the secret? Actually, I''m his father-in-law. The child between him and Sabrina should call me grandpa!" Old wild bear whispered while widely opening his eyes and gritting his teeth. Whatever, there was nobody here for the time being. Even if someone heard their talk, nobody would care about that in this place of Xuanyuan Hill.


    "You don''t need to ask me about that!" Elder Gulas said in a calm way.


    "Why?" Old wild bear asked.


    "Without the consent of Sarlin the Pontiff and Elder Toles, I have no right to tell you any news about His Majesty!"


    Old wild bear glared at Elder Gulas. Elder Gulas just looked straight into his eyes without feeling shameless. After looking at each other for about 10 seconds, old wild bear Dali suddenly let out a sigh as he lowered his eye light, "Well, I was just worried about the safety of Sabrina and her child. I know that His Majesty has a lot of secrets. It might not be good if these secrets were exposed to the public. You only need to tell me whether His Majesty is alive or not so that I could comfort Sabrina and her kid when they ask me about that?"


    After throwing two glances at the old wild bear, Elder Gulas said, "Of course, His Majesty is still alive. Nobody in this world could do any harm to him. However, he met a trouble and couldn''t return to Ice and Snow Wilderness for the time being!"


    "It''s good as long as His Majesty is alive!" Old wild bear looked around before suddenly lowering his voice in a secret way, "His Majesty should have Hua bloodline besides those in the Ice and Snow Wilderness, right?"


    After hearing that, Elder Gulas instantly threw a sharp glance at old wild bear Dali.


    "Don''t look at me in that way. Sabrina''s kid has black pupils; the children of those women in Spencer Clan have black pupils. The kid of that woman in Saint Petersburg also has black pupils. Black pupils have already become the symbolic pupils of the ancient god. However, actually, I''m always thinking that the black pupil is the most evident feature of Hua people. If His Majesty Tsar has the bloodline of Hua people, of course, he could leave such a hereditary feature on his descendants!" Sometimes, old wild bear Dali looked rude; however, he was actually pretty smart.


    "I don''t know what you are talking about!" Gulas warned old wild bear by throwing a sharp glance at him. Closely after that, he suddenly turned around and saw 2 men and 1 woman approaching them after going upstairs, "We''ve got a business..."


    Old wild bear Dali also turned around before taking in a deep breath, "Hush...2 male earth knights and 1 female black iron knight...''


    It was Zhang Tie, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Bai Suxian who were walking towards them...

 1132 A Trade

    Chapter 1132: A Trade


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Treasures Complex is like a high-profile super large shopping mall. Nominally, the Medicinal Powder Pavilion sells medicinal powders during the period of Treasures Meeting. Those who could come to Treasures Complex are all knights or from major clans. Therefore, the medicinal powders here are much more advanced than those outside. In my memory, someone once sold a silver secret item-level medicinal powder in the Medicinal Powder Pavilion of Treasures Complex in a Treasures Meeting..."


    Mountain Lifting Hermit was much more talkative than before. He might be too thrilled after meeting Zhang Tie once again or finally found a good confidant. After entering the Treasures Complex, Mountain Lifting Hermit simply became a kind-hearted guide. He would explain it to Zhang Tie as long as he paid attention to something.


    Like what Donder told him before. In this world, actually few people were born to be short-spoken. Most of the people who looked short-spoken had not met that one whom could make them open their mouth without any concern. When a person talked about the industries that he was interested in or when he was completely relaxed, he might be talkative. Zhang Tie felt that Mountain Lifting Hermit might be such a person.


    To be honest, Mountain Lifting Hermit was a kind-hearted lovely old man. Although so many years had passed, Mountain Lifting Hermit still kept it in mind that Zhang Tie had saved his life in the hieron''s ruins. When Mountain Lifting Hermit encountered Zhang Tie; especially after the communication with Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian in the Heavens Seal Hotel, in which process Zhang Tie exposed his secret to Mountain Lifting Hermit and Mountain Lifting Hermit determined to join Iron-Dragon Sect, the two people''s relationship became closer. Therefore, after coming to the Treasures Complex, Mountain Lifting Hermit couldn''t stand to be talkative.


    Of course, the layout inside the Medicinal Powder Pavilion couldn''t be matched by common places outside. Even though Zhang Tie didn''t know about buildings, he could also feel that everything inside and outside this Medicinal Powder Pavilion was made by masters. Although Zhang Tie knew that this Medicinal Powder Pavilion was just a senior shopping mall, he still couldn''t help exploring the rockeries, brooks, flowers, grasses and trees here. Those medicinal powders in the stores aroused his interest in exploring treasures inexhaustibly.


    Zhang Tie could sniff faint, special fragrance of medicinal powders and medicaments from so many open booths here.


    Although Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian and Mountain Lifting Hermit followed Elder Gulas and that old wild bear here, Zhang Tie still pretended to look at the other stalls first. He even bought some vials of rare super recovery medicament, longlasting night-viewing medicament and an item called vigor pill before coming to the stall of Gulas and Dali on the 2nd floor slowly.


    As all the medicinal powders and medicaments here were priced by element crystals, those vials of medicaments and pills cost Zhang Tie more than 60 earth-elements crystals.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit and Bai Suxian didn''t know what Zhang Tie was thinking about. After taking a round here for a short while, they also gained something.


    Bai Suxian was very interested in those stalls. In her eyes, those people who sold medicaments and pills here were not for money, but for entertainment like how children played games.


    "If only we could also produce some medicaments and sell them here!" Bai Suxian said with flickering eyes.


    "Why?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Don''t you feel it''s very interesting and entertaining here?" Bai Suxian asked while blinking her eyes.


    ''Interesting?'' Zhang Tie revealed a faint, bitter smile before shaking his head. This was the difference between a youth who grew up in Blackhot City and a princess of a lord in Taixia Country. When Zhang Tie saw these stalls, he would think about the profits of these medicaments and the great power and organizing ability that were required to gather these resources. However, Bai Suxian only felt that it was interesting. Whereas, it was not Bai Suxian''s fault. The living environments between Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian were greatly different from each other. Gradually, they would have different opinions about the same affair. Bai Suxian had never been worried about gold coins since she was young; as for Bai Suxian, money was like fresh air that could be freely supplied; how could she understand the world outlook of a person who grudged eating a bowl of rice brew in order to save a few copper coins for his family?


    The fruit of plunder that he gifted his elder brother previously could enable him to be a pharmacist, not to mention producing medicament. However, only some of his elder brother''s medicaments could be sold here. Because the medicaments and pills that were sold here were basically produced by pharmacists above green robe. Additionally, the medicaments here were not cheap. It would be simple if they were priced in gold coins; however, these medicaments were priced in element crystals. No knight would ever complain about having too many element crystals; even Zhang Tie was not qualified to be a magnate here.


    "If Iron-Dragon Sect wants to develop, we have to have a high-level pharmacist!" Mountain Lifting Hermit looked at these medicaments with a solemn look as he provided a sincere suggestion to Zhang Tie as a grand elder of Iron-Dragon Sect, "Besides pharmacist, other senior professionals such as rune instruments master are also necessary for a sect to become outstanding. Although we have to pay or exchange for many things, if a sect was not able to train various professionals and talents, it would face a limit in development!"


    "Hmm, I see. As we''ve just established the Iron-Dragon Sect, we have to do it step by step. I believe that we will have these talents in the future!" Zhang Tie said confidently as he nodded.


    After sensing Zhang Tie''s confidence, Mountain Lifting threw a profound glance at Zhang Tie silently. Of course, Mountain Lifting Hermit treated Zhang Tie''s confidence as a vigorous spirit of a young man. However, he didn''t know that Zhang Tie had the two unrivaled sharp weapons that could make Iron-Dragon Sect unprecedentedly bright. Super liquor and the bloody sacrifice furnace were both unique in Taixia Country. Super liquor could make Iron-Dragon Sect extremely rich and influential across Taixia Country; a bloody sacrifice furnace would be pursued by people in a queue. With the two sharp weapons in hand, he would never lack senior professionals. Watching these medicaments being priced in element crystals, Zhang Tie was even thinking about pricing the use of bloody sacrifice furnace in element crystals too.


    ''According to the level of the one who needs a bloody sacrifice, a demon or a bloody figure would cost them one element crystal; a demon knight would cost them at least 100 element crystals. Those who are on good terms with me could enjoy 20% off, hehehe...''


    When Zhang Tie imagined the prospect of his sect, he revealed a smile. As long as those who needed a bloody sacrifice felt that it was worthwhile, the price would not be determined by him. The bloody sacrifice furnace could even help knights recover their chakra through the bloody sacrifice, who else across Taixia Country could have such a treasure?


    Zhang Tie even felt that he had not fully tapped the functions of bloody sacrifice furnace in the Earth-elements Realm. Now that bloody sacrifice furnace was effective to knights, would it be effective to those common fighters below knight level who didn''t need to recover their wounds or breakthrough their bottlenecks? Evidently, it was impossible. In the final analysis, the effect of bloody sacrifice was a transfer of life energy, which would not disappear out of any reason. As long as one received the energy from the demon or a bloody figure through the bloody sacrifice, he would change for sure; unless that one was dead, who couldn''t bear the blessing and baptism of this life energy.


    When in the hieron''s ruins, Zhang Tie had not imagined about the effect of bloody sacrifice furnace for common fighters. After coming back this time, Zhang Tie would like to test the effect of bloody sacrifice for fighters below knight level. If he didn''t know all the effects of his trump card, it would be a laughingstock.


    The 3 people just wandered leisurely and soon came to the front of the stall of Elder Gulas and old wild bear Dali.


    Gulas and Dali didn''t hawk. Knights were evidently different than pedlars in this scene. Actually, these stalls in the Medicinal Powder Pavilion could be completely managed by the professional stewards of Treasures Complex. As the owner of these medicaments and pills, as long as they fixed the prices of these medicaments and pills in advance and paid for the commission, they would set themselves free from the counters. Zhang Tie found that only a few knights or senior pharmacists were standing behind counters. Those knights and senior pharmacists who stood behind the counters expected to exchange their medicaments and pills for some rare element crystals or had other purposes such as exchanging their goods for some items so as to meet some condition or establish a long-term trade and cooperation relationship.


    From a perspective, each session of Treasures Meeting served as a venue for human knights and senior professionals to cooperate with each other. After each session of Treasures Meeting, the relationship between major clans, countries and sects which had knights and senior professionals across the continents would change to a certain degree, which contained opportunities and surging dark forces...


    At the sight of the brilliance in the eyes of Gulas and Dali and the facial expressions of the two old guys after they exchanged a glance with each other, Zhang Tie knew that Gulas and Dali probably came here for establishing a relationship with people on behalf of Ice and Snow Wilderness or the Sacred Iceland Kingdom...

 1133 Knocking at the Door of Allies

    Chapter 1133: Knocking at the Door of Allies


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Elder Gulas and old wild bear Dali were unrivaled knights in Ice and Snow Wilderness. After coming to Taixia Country, especially in the Treasures Complex of Xuanyuan Hill, even though they looked silent and faintly genial, Zhang Tie could easily find that they were restrained and meticulous.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t know why the two people came here, given their looks; especially the bear-hide coats on them, Zhang Tie felt a bit familiar and poignant as if he saw his poor relatives from hometown in a prosperous city.


    In Xuanyuan Hill, 999 of 1,000 people might not know where was the Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Compared to Taixia Country, Sacred Iceland Kingdome was too small and poor that people could not even find it on the map. According to Zhang Tie''s knowledge, the changing territory of remote small countries in Waii Subcontinent would not be considered in the update of the official map of Taixia Country; otherwise, the official map of Taixia Country would be updated more than 365 times.


    The official map published by Taixia Country would usually be updated only once per three years. If Taixia Country officially admitted establishing diplomatic relations with the Sacred Iceland Kingdom, 3 years later, the full name of Sacred Iceland Kingdom would appear in the Ice and Snow Wilderness in the north of Waii Subcontinent and the nearby waters. If the Sacred Iceland Kingdom didn''t establish diplomatic relations with Taixia Country officially, the name of Sacred Kingdom Kingdom would never appear on the official map of Taixia Country.


    At least when Zhang Tie browsed the official map of Taixia Country last time, he didn''t see the name of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Last time, the ice field in the north of Waii Subcontinent was still called Ice and Snow Wilderness; that waters were called Ewentra Waters. On the former official map of Taixia Country, this region was gray, which indicated that there was not a single human civilization which was officially admitted by Taixia Country although it was a human habitation.


    Under the gaze of the two people, Zhang Tie felt complex as he walked towards them with a curious look.


    Seeing Zhang Tie walking towards that stall, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Bai Suxian also followed him over there. Compared to Zhang Tie who knew the background of the two people, Bai Suxian started to become curious about the items that they sold only after throwing a glance at their weird costumes.


    "What''s this?" Bai Suxian had opened her mouth at the sight of the row of the source of berserk energy behind the crystal counter before Zhang Tie asked.


    Zhang Tie had seen the source of berserk energy when he was in Ice and Snow Wilderness; actually, it was like red jelly which was a bit hard. Being neither liquid nor solid, it was a substance which was similar to the colloid. Being a bit brighter than jelly, it looked like ruby or garnet. It was hard to say whether it was a pill or a medicament.


    Compared to the source of berserk energy being put in an animal-hide bag or a lead box that Zhang Tie saw in Ice and Snow Wilderness previously, these source of berserk energy being in the counter looked much better. They had been packaged delicately. There was a golden pattern of a huge bear on the simple source of berserk energy; it was closely put in a square crystal box; additionally, there was a larger box made of pure gold outside the square crystal box. The entire package of a source of berserk energy would cost less than 20 gold coins. In this way, the source of berserk energy raised its level at once.


    Pessimistically, besides the piece of god''s star that was hidden in the huge bear tribe, the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness might only present the source of berserk energy which was formed by the ability of god''s star in Treasures Complex.


    Bai Suxian dressed up pretty well today. After peeping at the jewelry on Bai Suxian''s hands and neck, Elder Gulas and old wild bear Dali exchanged a glance with each other out of privity. Closely after that, stodgy Gulas revealed a faint smile.


    "This is a source of berserk energy. It''s a super powerful medicament which could allow common fighters below knight to go berserk constantly!" Elder Gulas said genially. Old wild bear Dali was still stealthily glancing at the space-teleportation finger ring of Bai Suxian. Closely after that, he forcefully swallowed his saliva. The entire wild bear tribe might not afford that finger ring of Bai Suxian.


    The moment Zhang Tie heard Elder Gulas''s words, he had figured out why Gulas would come to Taixia Country. Because in the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness, Elder Gulas could speak Hua language best and could read Hua characters. Besides Sarlin the Pontiff, Elder Gulas'' accomplishment in Hua language and characters could rank top 3 among all the elders across Ice and Snow Wilderness. Perhaps, only the clan head of Spencer Clan could match Elder Gulas in Hua language. Sarlin the Pontiff was the central character of Sacred Iceland Kingdom; especially when Zhang Tie was not in Ice and Snow Wilderness, Sarlin the Pontiff would not leave Saint Peterburg or the hieron.


    After seeing old wild bear Dali''s shameless demeanor, Elder Gulas silently kicked him from below the table. After being kicked, the old wild bear moved his eyes away from Bai Suxian''s finger ring like how a wild bear saw honey. After that, he pretended to cough twice as he looked at Elder Gulas. As Dali didn''t speak Hua language, he was confused about the content of the talk between Elder Gulas and Bai Suxian.


    Elder Gulas slightly moved his lips as he translated Bai Suxian''s question for Dali in a secret way.


    Elder Gulas''s trivial movement didn''t escape from Zhang Tie''s eyes. After hearing that this item had nothing to do with women and couldn''t make her more beautiful, Bai Suxian immediately lost her interest in the source of berserk energy. All the medicaments and pills that Bai Suxian had bought could make her more beautiful and younger more or less.


    Before awkward silence appeared, Zhang Tie had revealed a big smile as if he was very interested in the source of berserk energy, "Can you show me one vial of the source of berserk energy?"


    Elder Gulas threw a glance at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, he took out a vial of berserk energy and put it onto Zhang Tie''s hand. Given Zhang Tie''s identity as an earth knight and the security measures of Treasures Complex, Elder Gulas was not worried that Zhang Tie would do something illegal.


    Although it was not Zhang Tie''s first time to see the source of berserk energy, he still pretended to see it for the first time. Without opening the package, Zhang Tie directly released his knight''s consciousness and pretended to explore the source of berserk energy spiritually.


    "This thing...is a bit weird!" Zhang Tie slightly frowned on purpose. Closely after that, he directly passed the source of berserk energy to Mountain Lifting Hermit as he said, "Elder brother, take a look. I feel something inside the source of berserk energy could respond to the four elements!"


    The source of berserk energy was mainly made of a strange substance formed by the 4 elements in the elements realm which were extracted by the Gold''s Star. The source of berserk energy was formed out of the void. As Zhang Tie knew this secret, he said it on purpose.


    Elder Gulas just translated Zhang Tie''s words for the old wild bear Dali by moving his mouth silently.


    "Hmm, it''s indeed a bit different than common medicaments!" Mountain Lifting Hermit said after taking the source of berserk energy from Zhang Tie. Closely after that, he gave it back to Zhang Tie. As a lone ranger, Mountain Lifting Hermit lacked his interest in goods which were only available to fighters below knight too. Is a berserk ant different than a common ant for an earth knight? Of course not. If so, this good would be useless for an earth knight.


    Holding the source of berserk energy, Zhang Tie asked Gulas, "I''ve seen common medicaments which could improve one''s battle strength. Can you tell me about the largest difference between this source of berserk energy and common medicaments which could improve one''s battle strength?"


    "Common medicaments which could improve one''s battle strength is disposable. One vial of those medicaments could only help a fighter go berserk once; additionally, they have a lot of side effects. By contrast, our source of berserk energy is eternal. As long as you have a proper physical condition and could activate the strength of the source of berserk energy, you could go berserk at any time until you promote to a knight. Additionally, our source of berserk energy has a trivial side effect!" Elder Gulas said confidently.


    "What do you mean by having a proper physical condition?"


    Elder Gulas looked Zhang Tie''s sturdy figure up and down with an appreciative eye light, "If the user could have a sturdy figure like yours, even if they only have 70% of your physical strength, they could basically activate and digest the strength brought by the source of berserk energy after promoting to LV 6!"


    "Is it available to commoners?"


    "No, if average people or weak people use our source of berserk energy, it''s almost equal to injuring themselves. Their body couldn''t bear the impact of the source of berserk energy at all. Only those strong guys could bear the impact caused by the source of berserk energy!"


    Picky customers probably buy the goods. Elder Gulas replied Zhang Tie''s question very patiently. When Elder Gulas talked with Zhang Tie, old wild bear Dali just listened to it on one side like an idiot.


    "Interesting!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he stroked his jaw and said, "I''ve not heard about the source of berserk energy before?"


    "It''s the specialty of our Sacred Iceland Kingdom. It''s made by our pontiff with a secret method. Because the holy war breaks out, we determine to present it so as to make a bit contribution to humans in the holy war!" Elder Gulas said heroically.


    Zhang Tie knew that Elder Gulas didn''t tell him the truth. Because of the source of berserk energy, there were strong berserk fighters in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Huge bear tribe didn''t provide the source of berserk energy for outsiders except for those Slav tribes across Ice and Snow Wilderness previously. Even though Zhang Tie became Tsar, he had not thought about occupying God''s Star and the source of berserk energy. He still handed the right of disposal of the God''s Star and the source of berserk energy to the elders of the huge bear tribe. The reason that Ice and Snow Wilderness would like to sell this good was definitely not as heroic and simple as was told by Elder Gulas.


    Pitifully, Zhang Tie had not contacted Sarlin the Pontiff for a long Time; he was really impulsive to ask Sarlin the Pontiff by the remote-sensing crystal.


    "How much?" Zhang Tie inquired.


    "One earth-element crystal for one vial!"


    The price made Zhang Tie speechless. Zhang Tie was clear about the price of this good in Ice and Snow Wilderness very well. An earth-element crystal might not afford one truck of source of berserk energy; however, it would definitely be more valuable than a box of the source of berserk energy. However, in this place, the price of this good could rise by many times after being packed delicately.


    "It''s a bit expensive. No matter how a fighter below knight; especially a low-level fighter below LV 9 went berserk, his life would not be more valuable than an element crystal." Zhang Tie said mercilessly. But it was real. In the eyes of most knights, a common fighter''s life would really not be more valuable than an element crystal. Although Zhang Tie''s words sounded cold, he was still interested in this vial of the source of berserk energy very much. Zhang Tie just held that source of berserk energy as he added, "Additionally, this vial of the source of berserk energy is meaningless. It should be equipped for a corps of low-level fighters below knight so as to exert its utmost effect!"


    Zhang Tie was bargaining.


    However, after hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Elder Gulas'' eyes sparkled while his face turned solemn too, "This humble man is Gulas, the political chancellor of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. This one is an important elder of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. May I know your name, your excellency?"


    After hearing that Elder Gulas was asking about his name, Zhang Tie felt absurd and complex. However, he had to answer with a solemn look, "I''m Cui Li, the owner of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and the master of Iron-Dragon Sect."


    After hearing that Zhang Tie was both an owner of a bounty territory and a master of a sect, Elder Gulas''s face turned solemn too; especially the identity of the master of a sect shocked Elder Gulas very much. According to Elder Gulas'' knowledge, those who could be a master of a sect were really powerful ones and had close relationships with major clans in Taixia Country. Such a powerful force was urgently needed by the Sacred Iceland Kingdom. "It''s the retail price. If master Cui needs a large number of vials of the source of berserk energy, we can further negotiate about the price..."


    When Elder Gulas said it, he looked around here as if he wanted to say it was not a proper place for a negotiation.


    "Where do you live?" Zhang Tie asked straightforwardly.


    Elder Gulas directly gave Zhang Tie a name card made of pure gold which was marked with their address. Zhang Tie found that they lived in a grand hotel of Xuanyuan Hill.


    "This good..." Zhang Tie weighed the vial of the source of berserk energy.


    Elder Gulas directly took out another vial of the source of berserk energy from inside the counter and passed it onto Zhang Tie''s hand as he said generously, "Master Cui, you can take the two vials of the source of berserk energy for free. You can have someone try the effect of the two vials of the source of berserk energy. If master Cui feels it proper, you could find us in that address. We live there during the period of the Treasures Meeting!"


    "Sure, thanks!" Zhang Tie directly teleported the two vials of the source of berserk energy and that name card into his portable space-teleportation equipment.


    After knowing that Zhang Tie had a space-teleportation equipment, Gulas and Dali raised their eyebrows with astonishment once again.


    Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian and Mountain Lifting Hermit then bade a farewell to Gulas and Dali.


    Not until the three people went away did old wild bear Dali hurriedly ask Gulas in a secret way, "Who''s he, why did you behave so generously? What did you say just now?"


    "This man is Cui Li, an owner of a bounty territory in Taixia Country and a master of a sect. He''s very interested in our source of berserk energy. We could be friends with him!" Gulas said with looming eye light as he watched the direction where Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian and Mountain Lifting Hermit were heading for.


    "Are all the knights in Taixia Country that rich? An earth knight and a black iron knight both carry a space-teleportation equipment?" Old wild bear Dali let out a sigh.


    "The 3 people are not common knights in Taixia Country!"


    "How? Do you know them?"


    "Have you forgetten about that news that we heard in the Treasures Complex just now? A prince from a subcontinent was kicked to death by an earth knight at the gate of Gold and Power Market!"


    "They are?" Old wild bear Dali widely opened his mouth. He was really shocked by that news just now. As a black iron knight, when he heard that another black iron knight from a subcontinent was kicked to death by a powerful earth knight in Taixia Country being not far from him in a split second, old wild bear Dali felt a bit gloomy more or less. He also sensed the strong stress caused by Taixia Country, the axis country of humans. Old wild bear Dali had not imagined that he could meet that powerful man in the Treasures Complex so early.


    "Probably!"


    "I remember that the female was a..."


    "A princess of a lord in Taixia Country. The sphere of influence of the princess'' clan is equal to the size of many Blackson Humans Corridor!"


    ...


    In order to not arouse others'' suspicions, Zhang Tie just expressed that he was interested in the source of berserk energy before leaving Gulas and Dali. However, holding the two vials of the familiar yet strange source of berserk energy, Zhang Tie slightly felt a bit frustrated, ''It seems that the Sacred Iceland Kingdom might have encountered some trouble; otherwise, Gulas and Dali would not seek for allies in Taixia Country...''


    Gulas and Dali could only use the source of berserk energy to knock at the door of the allies in Taixia Country.


    ''What happened to Ice and Snow Wilderness?''


    Zhang Tie became a bit absent-minded when he thought about Ice and Snow Wilderness...

 1134 Returning to Lord Guangnans Manor

    Chapter 1134: Returning to Lord Guangnan''s Manor


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian returned to Lord Guangnan''s Manor in Xuanyuan Hill, it was already dark.


    After one days'' travel, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian had supper outside together with Mountain Lifting Hermit. After supper, Zhang Tie gave Mountain Lifting Hermit a remote-sensing finger ring that he brought from the Earth-elements Realm before returning to Lord Guangnan''s Manor with Bai Suxian.


    Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian didn''t see the piece of God''s Star that they had been expecting for in the Treasures Complex. In this Treasures Meeting, the piece of God''s Star was a very attractive bait. As they didn''t see it in the Treasures Complex, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian were a bit disappointed although they didn''t determine to get such a piece of God''s Star.


    Of course, they were not the only ones who were disappointed. In the Treasures Complex, many excited knights were disappointed as they had not seen the piece of God''s Star.


    According to the explanation of the Treasures Complex, the piece of God''s Star would be displayed in the public today in terms of the auction. Pitifully, this piece of God''s Star had been bought by a mysterious figure in a small-range authentication meeting ahead of the auction. Therefore, the seller canceled off the auction of the piece of God''s Star.


    The identities of the seller and the buyer, the transaction price or trading conditions and the functions of that piece of God''s Star had become secrets according to the requests of the seller and the buyer.


    Bai Suxian was a bit angry about it. By contrast, Zhang Tie was a bit calmer. This result was exemplary. The better the good was, the more people would like it and the possibility of it to appear in the public would be less. The explanation of Gold and Power Market was very logical.


    In Xuanyuan Hill, of course, powerful ones didn''t need to buy something in an auction for the sake of safety. It might be abnormal if this good was sold in terms of the auction. What was sold in terms of the auction could be directly priced in gold coins or element crystals; however, a piece of God''s Star could not be simply measured in gold coins or element crystals. The terms of interchange might be involved with some secrets of both parties; therefore, they could only make transaction privately. Gold and Power Law declared the news that a piece of God''s Star would be sold in the Treasures Meeting so as to attract people and increase the influence of the Treasures Meeting. By attracting some more powerful buyers, the seller could also raise the value of the piece of God''s Star by proposing more favorable conditions in the negotiation.


    All the people who came here for the piece of God''s Star were used by someone unconsciously.


    After thinking through this point, Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile. In this world, there were many smart ones. Even if you knew that you were used by them, you couldn''t complain about it.


    Honestly, Zhang Tie was very curious about the functions of the piece of God''s Star.


    The piece of God''s Star in Ice and Snow Wilderness could directly form the source of berserk energy from the elements realm. Zhang Tie really wondered about the function of this piece of God''s Star in Gold and Power Market.


    Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian and Mountain Lifting Hermit kept talking about God''s Star at supper. According to the old bird knight Mountain Lifting Hermit, Zhang Tie knew that each of the other 6 sects had at least a piece of God''s Star besides that in Gold and Power Law. Given these pieces of God''s Star, they had one common function, namely, forming the crystals of one element from the elements realm. With one piece of God''s Star, knights could form a chakra much faster than their peers; additionally, they didn''t need to worry about the lack of element crystals forever.


    As for a sect or a knight, a piece of God''s Star was like a treasury that could provide element crystals constantly. Although this treasury could not be open to everyone, If a sect had a piece of God''s Star, it would have an exceptional advantage for cultivating knights.


    The more knights a sect had, the more precious a piece of God''s Star that could constantly form crystals of one element would be for the sect. Perhaps, this explained why the major sects in Taixia Country were so powerful.


    When he heard this news, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded for a short while. He thought, ''If I have a piece of God''s Star which could constantly gather water elements for me, with the assistance of my purgatory samsara and my powerful multi-tasking ability, I might promote to a shadow knight much faster.''


    However, Zhang Tie just thought about it. After traveling in the Gold and Power Market, he had not even seen the so-called piece of God''s Star at all, not to mention those in the other 6 major sects. If he went to the location of a major sect and requested to take a look at their piece of God''s Star, he might be driven out of there by them while being regarded as a lunatic.


    From this event, Zhang Tie realized that although he was a bit famous in the Earth-elements Realm and Youzhou Province; he was just a fresh bird in Xuanyuan Hill. Even Bai Suxian who had Lord Guangnan''s Mansion on her back was nothing in many people''s eyes. Otherwise, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian should have been invited to attend the small-range authentication meeting about that piece of God''s Star. The conflict between them and Gold and Power Law just happened this morning. Before this morning, who else could predict that he would almost fight a master-level figure in Gold and Power Law at the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market.


    Bai Suxian''s complaint was mainly caused by being despised.


    On the way back, Zhang Tie even comforted Bai Suxian for a short while.


    Honestly, if Bai Suxian''s dad Lord Guangnan was in Xuanyuan Hill, he might be qualified to attend the small-range authentication meeting about that piece of God''s Star given his overall strength and identity. Even though Bai Suxian was a princess, in the eyes of those people in Gold and Power Law, she could not even match an earth knight like Mountain Lifting Hermit.


    ''Who on the earth bought that piece of God''Star?'' Zhang Tie was thinking about this on the way back. After making a prediction by pinching his fingers, Zhang Tie realized that there were at least 20 figures who were qualified to buy that piece of God''s Star, including the three top chancellors and 9 ministers and the top 7 sects in Taixia Country. These magnates might not complain about having too many pieces of God''s Star. Besides them, some big figures from top major clans might also be potential purchasers.


    Besides being a bit unpleasant due to the matter of the piece of God''s Star, Zhang Tie had actually widened his horizon.


    Zhang Tie''s recognition and horizon about treasures had reached a new realm after visiting those goods in the Medicinal Powder Pavilion, Rune Instruments Pavilion, Alchemist''s Items Pavilion, Instruments Pavilion, Secret Items Pavilion and Jades Pavilion. All the goods in these pavilions were of top quality. Almost all the goods in the Secret Items Pavilion were bronze secret items and silver secret items. Even those goods in the Rune Instruments Pavilion, Alchemist''s Items Pavilion and Instruments Pavilion had at least broken through black iron effect and could be available to knights.


    After leisurely wandering in the Treasures Complex for about 4 hours, they had not even looked at all the goods in those pavilions of the Treasures Complex seriously. They didn''t even have time to visit the Jades Pavilion.


    When they entered the Secret Items Pavilion, they started to realize that they didn''t have enough money.


    In the Secret Items Pavilion, even though Bai Suxian couldn''t afford any good at her will. Mountain Lifting Hermit targeted a space-teleportation item in the Secret Items Pavilion. It was a simple and classic plate being worn on one''s neck, which contained 18 cubic meters of storage. Mountain Lifting Hermit took a brochure of this space-teleportation item and prepared to attend the bidding of this space-teleportation item after 3 days.


    The bottom price of this space-teleportation item was 800 earth-elements crystals. Given Mountain Lifting Hermit''s look, Zhang Tie estimated that he might not have too many earth-elements crystals than this bottom price, not to mention that the transaction price which might be a few times higher than its bottom price.


    Zhang Tie had some earth-elements crystals and didn''t lack space-teleportation items. However, he couldn''t directly gift these items to Mountain Lifting Hermit. As an earth knight, Mountain Lifting Hermit had his self-esteem. He would never accept Zhang Tie''s favor out of no reason. If Zhang Tie directly proposed to gift them to Mountain Lifting Hermit, Mountain Lifting Hermit might think that Zhang Tie despised him.


    Seeing Mountain Lifting Hermit''s longing eye light towards that common space-teleportation item, Zhang Tie could only plan to deal with it before the auction. He could lend some earth-element crystals to Mountain Lifting Hermit so that the latter could buy that space-teleportation item in the auction. After all, they had appointed to meet each other a few days later.


    After coming to the Gold and Power Market, Zhang Tie killed a b*stard and made a head-on confrontation with Han people in the public for the first time; additionally, he encountered Mountain Lifting Hermit, Elder Gulas and old wild bear Dali. What a stimulative day!


    When they returned to the Lord Guangnan''s Manor in Xuanyuan Hill, they could already see stars in the sky. After worrying about Ice and Snow Wilderness and sensing the locations of the two tracing feathers, Zhang Tie felt complex at once. Therefore, he felt a bit fatigued...

 1135 Train of Thoughts

    Chapter 1135: Train of Thoughts


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "What''s the matter? Are you tired?"


    After sensing that Zhang Tie was a bit fatigued, Bai Suxian who had just got off the vehicle in the manor asked him out of concern.


    When Bai Suxian stopped her footsteps, all the other maids and female servants stopped their footsteps too as they just waited aside quietly.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "It''s fine, I was just thinking about something uninteresting. I will have a rest tonight!" As an earth knight, how could Zhang Tie feel tired physically; he was just mentally fatigued.


    Bai Suxian nodded as she knew that Zhang Tie just wanted to be alone for a short period. Now that Zhang Tie had said that, of course, she would not fool around with Zhang Tie tonight like how they did last night. She also knew about their other purpose of Zhang Tie in Xuanyuan Hill. Although Zhang Tie looked relaxed these days, he was destined to be restless inside because of the stress and enemies that he was facing.


    ...


    After talking with Bai Suxian for a short while and watching Bai Suxian walking towards her residence followed by a lot of maids, Zhang Tie took in a deep breath before walking towards his own residence.


    His top enemy still assumed a high position in the emperor''s imperial city safe and sound; however, it seemed that something bad happened to Ice and Snow Wilderness which he always treated as his firmest rear end. As a result, Elder Gulas and old wild bear Dali had to seek for allies and foreign aids with the source of beserk energy. After traveling in Xuanyuan Hill for a few days, Zhang Tie gradually understood about this human center; however, he also had two fights in an explicable way and stirred up a lot of people. Heavens Holding Pavilion was a tricky power. Although Zhang Tie was justified, he had already stirred up Heavens Holding Pavilion. If Gold and Power Law was excluded, he had already stirred up two major sects in Taixia Country, namely, Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion. Before the old enemies were cleaned, the new ones had come. Additionally, the most reassured place in Zhang Tie''s heart met something bad. As a result, a lot of people whom Zhang Tie was concerned about were involved in it. Therefore, Zhang Tie had a train of thoughts at once.


    "Did you kill people outside today?" Uncle Zhong asked in front of Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie had to stop his footsteps.


    Although Uncle Zhong looked calm, the two vertical wrinkles in his forehead as sharp as blade carried a faint killing intent. Needless to say, Zhang Tie estimated that most of the people across Xuanyuan Hill might have known what happened at the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market today. Of course, those in the manor knew that it was Bai Suxian who was sexually harassed. Therefore, it was inconvenient for Uncle Zhong to ask the princess about that; instead, he could only verify it from Zhang Tie.


    "I''ve already killed that b*stard on the spot. Su Xian was not agitated; she was just disgusted for a short while!" Zhang Tie told Uncle Zhong.


    Uncle Zhong nodded as he said in another tone, "I''ve already contacted the Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. You don''t need to worry about this event anymore. Lord will assign someone to deal with this event. Right in this afternoon, the one who was responsible for dealing with this event had already set off by airboat at the order of Lord!"


    After hearing Uncle Zhong''s words, Zhang Tie knew that what happened to Bai Suxian today had not come to an end. Now that someone dared sexually harass the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, even though that b*stard was killed by Zhang Tie on the spot, Lord Guangnan would make a further response to it. Although that damned prince had been killed, he had an elder knight on his side who was still alive. Additionally, who made him so audacious? Without reaching a satisfactory result, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion would never give up.


    "What''s the plan of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "It''s just a small country in a subcontinent. It''s said that some more people of that small country are still in Xuanyuan Hill. After the chief justice delivered the order to forbid anyone of that small country to enter Xuanyuan Hill, I''m afraid that those people would never come back anymore. After dealing with these guys, it depends on Lord Guangnan whether Taixia Country would assign someone to the subcontinent..." Uncle Zhong revealed a faint smile which felt a bit merciless in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    ''Is this the style of a lord''s mansion and major clan in Taixia Country?'' Zhang Tie stood in silent tribute for those people of that small country in Taixia Country although he knew that those sons of b*tches deserved the death. ''Before those sons of b*tches wanted to sexually harass Bai Suxian, they might not have imagined that such a simple evil thought could lead to such a severe outcome. Perhaps, this is why Bai Suxian was not too angry about that and didn''t mention about it too much later on. I''m afraid that Bai Suxian has long known about the outcome of these b*stards. Additionally, what happened today was different than that tomorrow. The event tomorrow was more like a conflict and oral quarrel between Bai Suxian and her peers. However, what happened today had been involved with the dignity of the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    "Han Clan of Gold and Power Law might be involved with those people!" Zhang Tie reminded Uncle Zhong. Although there were so many people surnamed Han and so many major Han Clans in the world, speaking of the Han Clan of Gold and Power Law, of course, Uncle Zhong knew which one Zhang Tie referred to.


    "Never mind. The master of Gold and Power Law has been serving as a minister of Taixia Country for less than 100 years; however, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion has existed in the south border of Taixia Country for over 400 years. The history of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion ranks first among the major clans in Taixia Country!" Uncle Zhong replied with a smile which carried arrogance rather than merciless killing intent, "Even if Lord Guangnan wants to prevent earth knights from leaving Taixia Country, nobody dares stop him, not to mention some common barbarians."


    "That''s right!" Zhang Tie nodded. Now that Lord Guangnan''s Mansion had determined to deal with it, it was none of Zhang Tie''s business anymore.


    "Oh, Lord said that he wanted to meet you when you''re free!" Uncle Zhong lowered his voice as he approached his head to Zhang Tie a bit as if he was whispering to Zhang Tie, "Lord has already known what happened yesterday and today. I was told by someone on Lord''s side that Lord is very happy and spoke highly of your deeds. If Heavens Holding Pavilion dared find you trouble, Lord would definitely stand on your side..."


    After fighting people twice for Bai Suxian and stirring up Heavens Holding Pavilion, Zhang Tie had not imagined that Bai Suxian''s dad, also his would-be father-in-law, could speak highly of him, ''Is that a loss may turn out to be a gain?'' Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile as he rubbed his face by his fingers for a short while after hearing Uncle Zhong''s words.


    Sleeping with her daughter''s ladybro; assigning someone to carry out a bloody revenge as long as his daughter was upset by some barbarians; speaking highly of Zhang Tie''s violent means. After combining with the above three events, Zhang Tie gradually figured out the temperament of Bai Suxian''s dad. Bai Suxian''s dad might be a weirdo among the Lords in Taixia Country. However, this bizarre father-in-law didn''t call him to see him straightforwardly; instead, he just requested Zhang Tie to see him whenever the latter was free. Given Zhang Tie''s temperament, Lord Guangnan might have known that Zhang Tie didn''t stay with Bai Suxian because of her identity as a princess.


    "Did my disciples come back today?"


    "Not yet. I''ve assigned someone to follow them up. They will be fine!"


    After hearing Uncle Zhong''s reply, Zhang Tie became completely reassured, ''I''m afraid that my disciples have been hyper in Xuanyuan Hill these days. Why not? A team of youngsters who had just established their friendship and emotions through survival training came to Xuanyuan Hill for the first time with a great handful of gold notes in Liu Xing''s hand, it was impossible for them to be not hyper. It''s more like a super deluxe tour group.''


    ...


    ''I wonder how Bai Suxian told about the process that we got acquainted with each other to her dad.'' Zhang Tie thought about this question when he returned to his own room after leaving Uncle Zhong.


    After closing the door from inside, nobody would disturb him anymore. After entering meditation for a short while in the room and carding the train of thoughts, Zhang Tie took out a remote-sensing crystal from his space-teleportation equipment and started to contact Sarlin the Pontiff who was in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    It had been too long since he contacted Sarlin the Pontiff by this remote-sensing crystal last time.


    Compared to the remote-sensing crystals in Taixia Country and the Earth-elements Realm, this piece of remote-sensing crystal that Zhang Tie brought from Ice and Snow Wilderness was a bit coarser and larger. The more advanced a remote-sensing crystal was, the smaller it would be in size. Those remote-sensing crystals that Zhan Tie gained in Earth-elements Realm were all integrated on a very small finger ring. The remote-sensing crystals on the finger rings of the elders of Huaiyuan Palace were very small too. The finger ring of Guan Elder even integrated with more than one remote-sensing crystal. This remote-sensing crystal that Zhang Tie brought from the huge bear tribe of Ice and Snow Wilderness was almost as large as a thumb.


    Holding the coarse remote-sensing crystal in hand, Zhang Tie stroked it in a reminiscent way. Closely after that, he contacted with Sarlin the Pontiff by injecting his spiritual energy into it.


    After sending the first signal for less than half a minute, Zhang Tie had received the response.


    After confirming the opposite identities using the jargon and signal codes that they had appointed with each other in advance, Sarlin the Pontiff was very excited. Zhang Tie could even sense the thrilling spiritual wave from the other side through the remote-sensing crystal.


    Zhang Tie didn''t say that he had met Gulas and Dali in Xuanyuan Hill; instead, he asked about the overall situation facing Ice and Snow Wilderness straightforwardly.


    ¡ª¡ªHow''s Ice and Snow Wilderness?


    Even being the tsar of Sacred Iceland Kingdom, Zhang Tie still used to call it Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    ¡ª¡ªAll is well!


    ''All is well?'' Zhang Tie faintly frowned.


    ¡ª¡ªDidn''t you meet any problem?


    ¡ª¡ªNot yet for the time being.


    ¡ª¡ªWhat do you mean?


    ¡ª¡ªWe''ve received the intelligence from detectives and the businessmen who did business between Ewentra Archipelago and Western Continent, the Sacred Light Empire on Western Continent might take actions against the Sacred Iceland Kingdom to revenge that Your Majesty killed their scepter priest a few years ago...

 1136 Powerful Sacred Light Empire

    Chapter 1136: Powerful Sacred Light Empire


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    If not being reminded by Sarlin the Pontiff, Zhang Tie had almost forgotten that he had killed such a figure in Ice and Snow Wilderness when he had just promoted to a knight.


    ''The scepter priest of Sacred Light Empire on Western Continent? As a knight with a huge empire on Western Continent on his back, such a role was definitely dignified at that time. With such a dignity, this guy almost made trouble in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    However, such a person was nothing in Zhang Tie''s eyes today. Zhang Tie had killed dozens of knights of demons or three-eye association these years, which included 6 earth knights. By contrast, that d**chebag he killed on Western Continent didn''t leave a deep impression in his mind.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that what happened many years ago fermented today.


    Zhang Tie was not afraid of Sacred Light Empire on Western Continent. Although Sacred Light Empire was nothing for Taixia Country, it was an extremely terrifying giant for Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Zhang Tie still remembered some information about Sacred Light Empire. Being unrivaled in the eastern region of Western Continent, this country was under the rule of Sacred Light Church. It integrated his regime with religion. Sacred Light Empire pursued invasion and had a very powerful trend for expansion. With over 10 billion people, its territory was almost equal to 5 times that of Blackson Humans Corridor; namely, it might be equal to the area of 5-6 provinces in Taixia Country. Sacred Light Empire was one of the most powerful empires on Western Continent.


    Previously, an ambitious scepter priest of Sacred Light Empire almost caused Ice and Snow Wilderness to split up. Today, with the reason of revenging for the late specter priest of Sacred Light Empire, this country was going on an expedition towards the Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Those important elders in Ice and Snow Wilderness might have been sleepless.


    ''Sarlin the Pontiff knows my real identity; he also knows that I don''t live well in Taixia Country; perhaps he has already known that my order for arrest has just been canceled off. So what? Because Sarlin the Pontiff also knows that I have terrifying enemies in Taixia Country such as the Gobbling Party.''


    ''This is the most helpless action and the way of survival for Sacred Iceland Kingdom.''


    ''Facing such a giant who exposes its fangs, Sarlin the Pontiff and the other elders in Ice and Snow Wilderness think that I the tsar, also the supreme ruler of Sacred Iceland Kingdom couldn''t even protect myself. Even if I returned to Ice and Snow Wilderness, I would not help them a lot. A black iron knight couldn''t reverse the overall situation facing Sacred Iceland Kingdom no matter how powerful he is.''


    After thinking through this, Zhang Tie finally understood why he could meet Elder Gulas and old wild bear Dali in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Zhang Tie felt being pretty guilty because it was him who killed that scepter priest; however, it was the entire Sacred Iceland Kingdom which was going to bear this severe consequence.


    ''However, there''s one point that Sarlin the Pontiff and the other elders in Ice and Snow Wilderness could not imagine, I''ve already promoted to an earth knight in only a few years!''


    When he thought about the above things, Zhang Tie gradually got hang of the problem and overall situation facing Ice and Snow Wilderness. Therefore, Zhang Tie became silent for a short while.


    ¡ª¡ªYour Majesty, don''t feel guilty about that. You killed the scepter priest of Sacred Light Empire for all the Slavs in Ice and Snow Wilderness instead of yourself. Without Your Majesty''s efforts, once Sacred Light Church rooted in Ice and Snow Wilderness, all the Slavs would deteriorate into slaves and livestock of Sacred Light Church. Facing the coming revenge and stress from Sacred Light Empire, I''ve already told Gulas and Dali to seek for allies and foreign aids in Taixia Country. The entire Ancient God Church across Sacred Iceland Kingdom might be able to resist them. No matter what happens, Your Majesty is always the hope for all of us.


    Because Zhang Tie became silent for a short while, Sarlin the Pontiff thought that Zhang Tie felt guilty about that. Therefore, Sarlin the Pontiff started to comfort Zhang Tie through the coarse remote-sensing crystal. According to Sarlin the Pontiff, even though Zhang Tie couldn''t return to Sacred Iceland Kingdom for the time being, they would also work out a method to respond to this crisis. Although Sarlin the Pontiff didn''t express it explicitly, Zhang Tie could feel that Sarlin the Pontiff expected him to not return to Ice and Snow Wilderness without ensuring to defeat Sacred Light Empire in case of involving himself into the crisis.


    ¡ª¡ªWe could die; however, Your Majesty has to survive!


    This was what Sarlin the Pontiff meant.


    Zhang Tie''s eyes turned wet. In this room, he silently dropped off his tears. It had been such a long time since he dropped off tears.


    After coming to Taixia Country for 4 or 5 years, Zhang Tie had experienced too many life or death situations. When he was framed by this culprit in Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie didn''t cry. When he was wanted by Taixia Country, he didn''t cry; when he was disdained and sworn by the people across the world, he didn''t cry; when he faced the great battle formation composed of tens of thousands of demon knights in the Earth-elements Realm, he didn''t cry; however, Sarlin the Pontiff''s one sentence made Zhang Tie drop off his tears silently.


    After experiencing the hardships in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie became increasingly stronger. Any powerful enemy or chagrin would not make Zhang Tie drop off one tear; however, the decisive protection of his trusted ones at the critical moment made Zhang Tie embarrassed.


    In the tears, Zhang Tie recovered his composure as he continued to contact Sarlin the Pontiff by the remote-sensing crystal so as to further confirm the current situation facing Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    ¡ª¡ªHow''s the current situation facing Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago?


    ¡ª¡ªEverything is normal. The entire Sacred Iceland Kingdom is flourishing. More and more outsiders are migrating in. With the dignity and power of Your Majesty, Ancient God Church has completely rooted in the country and won numerous believers. Wild bear tribe and fire bear tribe also intend to build cities. Besides Saint Peterburg and Eskil City, Ice and Snow Wilderness would have the 3rd city and the 4th city soon. All the children of Your Majesty are very healthy; additionally, being blessed by the Ancient God, they have become the sons of Ancient God. In case of wide-range panic, only some important elders across Ice and Snow Wilderness know the intelligence about the Sacred Light Empire...


    Compared to the customary appellation of Zhang Tie, Sarlin the Pontiff used to call Zhang Tie''s foundation and force in Waii Subcontinent as Sacred Iceland Kingdom. After hearing that his children were blessed by the Ancient God, Zhang Tie became a bit thrilled. Of course, Zhang Tie knew what "they were blessed by the Ancient God" meant. They must be born with a leakless body and the ancestral bloodlines that Zhang Tie had awakened.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie even wanted to directly fly towards Ice and Snow Wilderness and looked at those people whom he was concerned about.


    However, it was just an impulsion. After taking in a deep breath, Zhang Tie had recovered his composure. As for Zhang Tie, he couldn''t just drop everything here in Taixia Country regardless of the outcome.


    ¡ª¡ªHave you confirmed the intelligence about the Sacred Light Empire?


    ¡ª¡ªWe''ve confirmed it through many channels.


    ¡ª¡ªIs there any chance for negotiation?


    ¡ª¡ªGolden Roc Bank has a well-connected network and power on Western Continent; Sacred Light Empire is also a client of Golden Roc Bank. After receiving the intelligence, some important elders have already negotiated about it and known the attitude of Sacred Light Empire through Golden Roc Bank. If there''s a possibility for compromise, Sacred Iceland Kingdom could stand it by paying some money or something else; however, Golden Roc Bank told us that Sacred Light Empire didn''t agree with compromise decisively.


    Sarlin the Pontiff''s message was very detailed and complete. Between countries, there were neither enemies nor friends. Sacred Iceland Kingdom was far away from Sacred Light Empire. They didn''t have any direct conflict of interest; additionally, their overall strength was not on the same level. If an ambitious scepter priest was killed by the Sacred Iceland Kingdom, this conflict might be reconciled at some cost; pitifully, Sacred Light Empire didn''t think so.


    Zhang Tie felt a bit disappointed as he continued¡ª¡ªDoes it mean that Sacred Light Empire just take revenge as an excuse?


    ¡ª¡ªIndeed an excuse. If they wanted to revenge for that late scepter priest, Sacred Light Empire would not wait until now. The reason that they waited till now was that someone found that Sacred Iceland Kingdom''s becoming more and more profitable. A few years ago, Ice and Snow Wilderness had been able to attract the greedy attention of a scepter priest of Sacred Light Empire; now, Sacred Iceland Kingdom has been qualified to attract more hungry wolves.


    ¡ª¡ªHow''s the overall strength of Sacred Light Empire? How''s their high-level battle force?


    ¡ª¡ªSacred Light Empire is one of the seven biggest countries on Western Continent. The pope who rules Sacred Light Empire is a heavenly knight. It''s said that he had the greatest possibility to promote to a sage-level knight on the Western Continent. Under the rule of the pope, there are 3 sacred light major priests who are shadow knights and are responsible for three major parishes across Sacred Light Empire. Under the rule of the 3 sacred light major priests, there are almost 40 throne major priests who are earth knights. Under the rule of throne major priests, there are over 500 scepter priests who are earth knights.


    Such a battle strength was indeed overwhelming in front of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. No wonder that Sacred Light Empire could become one of the powerful countries on Western Continent. After hearing that, Zhang Tie knew that Sarlin the Pontiff and the other major elders in Ice and Snow Wilderness had already learned about the overall situation of Sacred Light Empire pretty well. After hearing such a sharp contrast in battle strength between two countries, Zhang Tie narrowed his eyes at once...

 1137 Ready for the Figh

    Chapter 1137: Ready for the Fight


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    A heavenly knight, 3 shadow knights, over 40 earth knights and over 500 black iron knights. Such a battle strength indeed made people feel awe-stricken. Such a battle strength was similar to that of a common military region in Taixia Country. However, after thinking about the high-end battle strength of Sacred Light Empire, Zhang Tie was not afraid of it even though he felt a bit stress from Sacred Light Empire because he knew that the Entire Sacred Light Empire would not put all of their battle strength on the remote place of Blackson Humans Corridor.


    ''How much battle strength did the demon general mobilize to launch a strike towards the entire Blackson Humans Corridor? How much battle strength would Sacred Light Empire mobilize to attack a small area of Blackhot Humans Corridor? In Blackhot City, even earth knights are rarely seen. Black iron knights would be unrivaled over there. An earth knight could make everybody breathless over there.'' Zhang Tie gradually recovered his composure when he realized this point.


    According to the intelligence about the Sacred Iceland Kingdom, there wasn''t any earth knight in that country. Only some important elders were knights. Additionally, the important elders from all the tribes of Ice and Snow Wilderness didn''t unite with each other very well. Even Zhang Tie himself showed up as a black iron knight a few years ago. Nobody across the Sacred Iceland Kingdom knew that Zhang Tie had already promoted to an earth knight, not to mention the Sacred Light Empire.


    When Zhang Tie thought about this, he narrowed his eyes and shot out a faint, shrewd light like fine needles.


    However, this was just Zhang Tie''s guess; he needed to verify it.


    ¡ª¡ªDo you know the military strength that Sacred Light Empire intend to mobilize towards us?


    Revenge was just an excuse. Profit was what Sacred Light Empire actually pursued for. If they only wanted to revenge, they could assign a team of powerful knights there. However, if they wanted to plunder enough profit, the knights would definitely be followed by an army. If not, even if those knights carried portable space-teleportation items, how many goods could they take away from the Sacred Iceland Kingdom? Did they want to be exiled to the Ice and Snow Wilderness from the prosperous Western Continent? Those major priests in Sacred Light Empire pursued land, power, population even the glory of disseminating religious doctrines. They were not bandits and common thieves who would leave right away after a robbery. Additionally, their army and those low-level priests could help them control the entire Sacred Iceland Kingdom and maximize their interest. It was not hard to guess this point.


    ¡ª¡ªIt''s said that Sacred Light Empire''s one fleet and one Sacred Light expeditionary army of about 200,000 people had already been ready for it in the largest harbor in the east of Sacred Light Empire!


    ''A fleet and an expeditionary army of about 200,000 people?'' Zhang Tie sneered. If there wasn''t any high-level knight, Zhang Tie could exterminate all of them before they approached the waters of Ewentra Archipelago only by sending one command. However, if these people just followed the high-level battle strength of Sacred Light Empire to accept the military exploits, they could gradually digest the Sacred Iceland Kingdom only by controlling major cities, harbors, mines, railways and trading markets across Ice and Snow Wilderness. Historically, there were many examples that hundreds of thousands of people could conquer a country which had dozens of times more population than them, let alone these guys who excelled at brainwashing and bewildering people. Of course, all these were based on premise that they had enough high-level battle strength to conquer or digest the knight over Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    ¡ª¡ªHow many knights do Sacred Light Empire mobilize?


    Zhang Tie cared about this question most. Without the support of knights, the so-called expeditionary army was just a joke.


    ¡ª¡ªAccording to our intelligence, it was those throne major priests in the east parish of Sacred Light Empire who want to devour the Sacred Iceland Kingdom in the excuse of revenging for the scepter major priest of Sacred Light Empire. After they proposed the plan, it''s said that the sacred light major priest in the chair of the eastern parish of Sacred Light Empire had already agreed with it. However, the major priests in the eastern parish are still negotiating the selection of candidates who are responsible for leading the expeditionary army. The final plan might be that one or two throne major priests would lead some scepter priests to go on a punitive expedition for Sacred Iceland Kingdom, followed by a fleet and an expeditionary army. They want to sweep over the Sacred Iceland Kingdom like how a lion fights a rabbit.


    Sarlin the Pontiff explained it very solemnly even heavily through the remote-sensing crystal. As for the few black iron knights of those tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness, such a strength was indeed overwhelming. They only needed to dispatch a qualified throne major priest, an earth knight who had reached above 5-change realm to crush the weak counter-force in Ice and Snow Wilderness. After receiving such an intelligence, Sarlin the Pontiff and those important elders in Ice and Snow Wilderness started to be intense and flurried.


    ''One or two earth knights and some black iron knights?''


    However, such a battle strength was nothing for Zhang Tie.


    After blinking his eyes for a few times, Zhang Tie became relaxed all over at once. Like how he had imagined, although Sacred Light Empire was powerful, they had already treated the Sacred Iceland Kingdom seriously enough with such a military strength. Even so, they were actually making a fuss. However, this bit of battle strength was just a piece of cake for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s experience in Taixia Country was indeed bumpy; however, Zhang Tie could gradually despise common earth knights. Only after a few years, who could imagine that Zhang Tie could make such a fast progress in the battle strength?


    ¡ª¡ªWhat''s our plan?


    ¡ª¡ªAfter negotiating with Elder Gulas and the others elders, we''ve determined to seek some powerful allies in Taixia Country using the source of berserk energy. The best possible result is that the Sacred Light Empire could retreat when they find that we have some allies. By then, we will reach an armistice with them. If the source of berserk energy didn''t work, we would use the piece of God''s Star of the huge bear tribe. If the piece of God''s Star didn''t work, we would fight them to death. Our Slavs would never be slaves and squeezed. Elder Gulas and Dali have already reached Xuanyuan Hill of Taixia Country. There''s a grand meeting over there. Our source of berserk energy might be able to attract the attention of some big figures on the Eastern Continent.


    In order to respond to the coming army of Sacred Light Empire, Sarlin the Pontiff had made three countermeasures: first, the source of berserk energy; second, the piece of God''s Star; third, fight them to death.


    Sacred Light Empire was really powerful. Facing such an opponent, even Elder Gulas and the other elders of Ice and Snow Wilderness chose to find allies who would like to support Ice and Snow Wilderness for the source of berserk energy, they preferred to not fight Sacred Light Empire by force; instead, they preferred to threaten the opponent and reach an armistice with the opponent. This was not sadness but helplessness. Because there was such a sharp contrast between the two parties on battle strength. The three sacred light major priests of Sacred Light Empire were like three unshakable mountains in front of Ice and Snow Wilderness, not to mention that there was a heavenly knight behind the three mountains.


    Sarlin the Pontiff was worried about the expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire. However, after hearing the configuration and population of the expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire, Zhang Tie had made a comprehensive plan to respond to them in a short while.


    ¡ª¡ªWhether any airboat will attend this action of Sacred Light Empire or not?


    After considering it for a while, Zhang Tie asked another question. This question was very important. Because airboat had a strong maneuverability, if some knights of Sacred Light Empire went to Ice and Snow Wilderness by airboat, Zhang Tie had to change his counter-attack plan towards the expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire greatly.


    ¡ª¡ªAcross the entire Sacred Light Empire, there are only 4 airboats, which respectively belongs to the pope of Sacred Light Church and the three sacred light major priests. On the Western Continent, only top knights could have private airboats. There were fewer airboats on Western Continent than that in Taixia Country. All the airboats on the Western Continent are provided by Taixia Country. Additionally, when Taixia Country sold these airboats to those big figures on Western Continent, they had reached a very strict agreement, namely, these big figures and countries which had airboats on Western Continent were forbidden to put airboats in use of battles between humans. This intelligence was provided by Golden Roc Bank. According to the appointment between some countries on Western Continent and Taixia Country, as long as Taixia Country found that they put airboats in use of battles between humans, Taixia Country would interfere with the battle and confiscate their airboats by force.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that the airboats provided by Taixia Country should follow this regulation. Because of this regulation, everything had become simple. Now that airboats were so rare on Western Continent, perhaps some top figures in Sacred Light Empire didn''t think that the so-called Sacred Iceland Kingdom was as expensive as one airboat; of course, they would not put their airboat in use of such a punitive expedition.


    ¡ª¡ªGiven your information, those knights of Sacred Light Empire would come here together with their fleet.


    ¡ª¡ªYes.


    ¡ª¡ªHow long will it take their fleet to arrive at Ewentra Archipelago from Sacred Light Empire?


    ¡ª¡ªThe fleet and expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire had already moved to the navy base on Morninglight Island in the easternmost part of Sacred Light Empire 2 months ago. As long as the major priests arrived, the fleet and expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire would set off. It would only take them about 1 month from the navy base on Morninglight Island to the waters of Ewentra Archipelago.


    ¡ª¡ªWell, I see. My situation is not as perilous as that a few years ago. However, I still have some things to deal with in Taixia Country. You could have a try using the source of berserk energy. Hopefully, you could find some allies for us in Taixia Country. However, don''t expose the information about using the piece of God''s Star for the time being. I will pay attention to it. From now on, you need to notice me all the information about the action of the expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire timely.


    ¡ª¡ªYes, Your Majesty!


    ¡ª¡ªThe waters in the periphery of Ewentra Archipelago is the graveyard of this expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire. Without my consent, none of the major priests of Sacred Light Empire is allowed to step onto any inch of land of Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    Zhang Tie sent the last words decisively...

 1138 Being Hit by an Apple

    Chapter 1138: Being Hit by an Apple


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After ending the communication with Sarlin the Pontiff through remote-sensing crystal, Zhang Tie didn''t put away that remote-sensing crystal; instead he took off all the finger rings which he used to contact his elder brother, Guan Clan, Bai Suxian, Mountain Lifting Hermit, his disciples, Filton, Cecilia and Bolam and connected all of them onto the same necklace which was once used to hang the remote-sensing crystal being used to contact Sarlin the Pontiff. After that, Zhang Tie put on the necklace and hid the finger rings together with the remote-sensing crystal which was used to contact Sarlin the Pontiff under his clothes.


    That necklace was made of mithril alloy. Being grey, it was not that eye-catching. However, it carried a sense of coarse beauty. After putting it on, Zhang Tie felt especially chilly. Additionally, this necklace was very firm which could not be pulled apart by over 1,000 kg''s strength. Of course, it could bear some light finger rings with remote-sensing crystals, although it looked a bit strange.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie finally understand why a major clan or sect would set up a professional agency for remote-sensing communications and had reliable ones pass the information. ''I''ve already carried so many remote-sensing crystals now; I''m afraid that I will get more in the future. Remote-sensing crystals could not receive any information in the space-teleportation item. In case of leaking some important information, they could have people contact the one being involved timely. However, if he hung out all the finger rings with remote-sensing crystals, he would be mistaken as pedlars who sold finger rings and necklaces on the street.


    However, he only had less than 10 finger rings with remote-sensing crystals; if he connected them by a necklace and hid the necklace under his clothes, it would not be eye-catching or influence his daily schedule.


    After knowing the critical situation facing Ice and Snow Wilderness, Zhang Tie dared not put his remote-sensing crystals in portable space-teleportation space or Castle of Black Iron anymore. If Zhang Tie didn''t meet Elder Gulas and old wild bear Dali in Xuanyuan Hill, Ice and Snow Wilderness might face a great catastrophe. The moment he thought about the severe consequence, Zhang Tie would be afraid of it.


    Because Zhang Tie only turned on one crystal fluorite lamp on the wall, the room still looked a bit dim; however, the greater part of the outline of Zhang Tie''s face could be seen in the shadow.


    After putting away all the remote-sensing crystals, Zhang Tie slightly frowned his eyebrows and started to pace in his room. With his movements, the shadowy region on his face constantly changed. As a result, Zhang Tie''s face turned lively. When he frowned, he looked a bit more solemn. Zhang Tie was considering one question¡ª¡ªWhether Han Clan of Gold and Power Law is on the back of the expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire or not?


    Sarlin the Pontiff didn''t know who was going to kill Zhang Tie; however, Zhang Tie was clear that the one was not only the finance minister and the master of Gold and Power Law but also the remnant of Bloody Soul Temple and the archbishop of Heavens Holding Church which scourged Taixia Country.


    ''My identity in Ice and Snow Wilderness is not a secret for that man at all. If a power in Taixia Country breaks out a conflict with Ice and Snow Wilderness out of no reason, of course, I have adequate cause to doubt that the inside of Gold and Power Law has leaked my secret. However, this is not a good news for that culprit. Because it might expose some secrets. I would also focus on the inside and the senior management of Gold and Power Law. I would even directly doubt him. Because only a very few people among Gold and Power Law know my identity in Ice and Snow Wilderness.''


    If the Sacred Light Empire on Western Continent launched a punitive expedition towards Ice and Snow Wilderness with the excuse of revenging for that late scepter priest, who could imagine that it was involved with the finance minister of Taixia Country and the master of Gold and Power Law?


    It was the best way to force me to show up by dispatching an expeditionary army from Sacred Light Empire towards Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    ''I might be thinking too much about it. But even if Han Clan is not on their back, Sacred Light Empire also have an adequate cause to dispatch an expeditionary army towards Ice and Snow Wilderness at this moment.'' Because Zhang Tie had experienced too much, he contacted all the events unconsciously.


    However, no matter whether Han Clan was on the back of Sacred Light Empire or not, this event reminded Zhang Tie that it was of great urgency to deal with the animosity between him and Han Clan. As long as the expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire set off the military harbor, Zhang Tie had to spare sufficient time to arrive at Ice and Snow Wilderness in case of emergencies.


    Actually, Zhang Tie had got a solution to deal with Han Clan on the same day since he came to Xuanyuan Hill. It was simple, direct, violent and useful. As long as he put it into effect, the entire Xuanyuan Hill would be involved. Zhang Tie still stayed in Xuanyuan Hill because he had a more effective method which could hit two birds with one stone. Of course, it was good for him to deal with Han Clan in the simplest and directest way; however, it would be better if he could cause a heavy loss to the Gobbling Party which always hung over the heads of Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang family.


    If he executed this plan, he had to get hang of the schedules of the finance minister and the master of the royal prince of the Gobbling Party. The moment he launched a strike, he had to be overwhelming so that the two people could be trapped. No loophole was allowed.


    It sounded a bit crazy for him to completely get hang of the schedules of a shadow knight and a heavenly knight in the emperor''s imperial city where commoners were forbidden in with strict defense facilities, Even though Lord Guangnan''s manor in Xuanyuan Hill had relationship in Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie had not thought about involving Bai Clan into this plan from the beginning. According to the situation that Zhang Tie understood these days, he could at most monitor one person; of course, he would not feel reassured by having others to do that. If they made an error in the process, it would cause a severe consequence for sure, not to mention that the opponents would become alert. Therefore, Zhang Tie abandoned all the fluky thoughts.


    After weighing the advantages and disadvantages of various thoughts and strolling around the room for a short while, Zhang Tie''s frown had been completely relieved; instead, he revealed a resolute look.


    ''12 days. If I couldn''t seize the best opportunity within 12 days, I would accept the earliest plan, namely, overthrowing Han Clan in the directest way by involving the entire Xuanyuan Hill into it.''


    The moment he made up his mind, Zhang Tie immediately became reassured as he let out a long sigh.


    If a person was always concerned about gains and losses, he would be agonizing; however, as long as he made the simplest decision, he would feel relaxed at once. After making up his decision, the messy train of thoughts was cut off, leaving the most important one.


    ''No plan is perfect. Even if there was a perfect plan, if not being executed well, it would not bring one a pleasant result. It''s normal for one to find loopholes in his plan when executing it. The more complex the plan was, the more loopholes there would be. Like parts of a machine, the more parts a machine had, the easier it would face problems. If I could not hit two birds with one stone in Xuanyuan Hill, I will at least hit one bird with one stone. As long as I knock out this bird of Han Clan, the Gobbling Party has to consider about the severe consequence if they want to stir up me and Huaiyuan Palace in the future.''


    He set 12 days as a limit because the small tree could only produce 4 more trouble-reappearance fruits. In the study of the trouble-reappearance situation, all the invitation cards would be sent at least 3 days in advance. The 4 trouble-reappearance situations could help Zhang Tie grasp the schedules of the master of Gold and Power Law in 12 days.


    Zhang Tie felt that it was pretty worthwhile using the 4 remaining trouble-reappearance fruits which might be consumed in some minor scenes unconsciously to make a bet for the plan of hitting two birds with one stone in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Soon after he made up his decision, Zhang Tie had received a signal from a remote-sensing crystal in a finger ring on his neck.


    It was from Zhang Yang, Zhang Tie''s elder brother.


    ¡ª¡ªAre you alright today? I''ve heard about the event at the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market the moment I arrived at Xuanyuan Hill!


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that his elder brother had also arrived at Xuanyuan Hill.


    ¡ª¡ªElder brother, have you already arrived at Xuanyuan Hill?


    ¡ª¡ªHmm, I''ve just got off the airboat. This Treasures Meeting is a good opportunity for us to expand the market of our all-purpose medicament across Taixia Country. The moment I entered the residence of Jinwu Business Group in Gold and Power Market, I''ve already been told about this event by my subordinate. This event has been spread over Gold and Power Market; therefore, I''m a bit worried about you!


    ¡ª¡ªElder brother, don''t worry. It''s just a trivial matter. It''s already passed. I''m living in the manor of Lord Guangnan in Xuanyuan Hill.


    ¡ª¡ªJinwu Business Group has some relationship and ability in Xuanyuan Hill. If you need us to do something, just let me know.


    ¡ª¡ªAlright.


    It was a concise communication. Zhang Tie didn''t even need to take off that necklace. As long as the finger ring touched his skin, he could use it.


    Zhang Tie didn''t tell his elder brother about the real identities of the finance minister. If his elder brother didn''t know about it, he would not be alert and inimical towards Gold and Power Law. Zhang Yang''s relaxed look would be the best anesthetic in some people''s eyes.


    After contacting his elder brother, Zhang Tie became completely relaxed. After strolling in the room for a short while, Zhang Tie sensed the location of the two tracing feathers. Although the two tracing feathers had already left Xuanyuan Hill, they were just over 500 miles away from here above the Euphonic sound lake in the northeast of Xuanyuan Hill.


    Zhang Tie''s heart suddenly pounded as he thought, ''Do I need to take a look over there silently?''


    The Arlkey Empire on the Crescent Subcontinent might not be small or far away from Taixia Country.


    ''The round trip is about 1,000 miles. If Zhang Tie used his incarnation, it would waste him too much time. The little beetle moves too slowly; the thunder hawk is too eye-catching. There are too many knight-level powerhouses in Xuanyuan Hill. If I used thunder hawk, it might bring him some trouble. If only I could fly in Xuanyuan Hill...''


    When Zhang Tie was considering about it, he suddenly caught sight of a silver light stand in the room. Closely after that, a light flashed across his mind, causing him stunned at once.


    Only sage-level knights, airships and birds could fly in Xuanyuan Hill. Common knights couldn''t fly in Xuanyuan Hill. This was what Zhang Tie was told on the first day when he came to Xuanyuan Hill. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie had tried it himself and found it was true. The entire Xuanyuan Hill was covered in a powerful force field, which made all the knights below sage-level lose their flight ability.


    If not catch sight of that metal light stand and think about the flight, Zhang Tie might not have imagined about such a possibility. The light that flashed across his mind reminded him of a pattern that he had never tried before.


    It felt a bit crazy. Zhang Tie had not imagined about it before. However, the moment this whim occurred to his mind, Zhang Tie became stunned like being struck by a lightning bolt.


    ''Knights below sage-level and airboats couldn''t fly. Only birds, sage-level knights and airships could fly. Could divine dominator fly?''


    ''Of course, divine dominator couldn''t fly; however, what about the goods that are under the control of divine dominator? How about having something carry me in the air?''


    If in another time and place, Zhang Tie would almost not think about this question. However, at this moment, this thought surged in Zhang Tie''s mind, causing him to get increasingly thrilled...


    During thousands of years before the Catastrophe, numerous people had been hit by fruits from trees onto their heads; however, only one person who was hit by an apple on his head over 400 years before the Catastrophe discovered the law of gravity.


    People used to ignore many familiar things and didn''t feel like figuring out the laws. Zhang Tie knew that he had also made such a mistake unconsciously. Because he could fly, after becoming a divine dominator, he had not considered that he could fly with the ability of divine dominator. Although he wanted to hide his trump card as a divine dominator unconsciously; nobody could tell him how to develop on the road of divine dominator. What was more, Zhang Tie treated himself as a commoner who would be hit by apples from the tree by accident. Therefore, he didn''t think too much about the laws; however, once he figured out the laws, he found that many things were just so-so...


    ''Can I fly with the ability of divine dominator in Xuanyuan Hill?''


    Under Zhang Tie''s gaze, that metal light stand in the room immediately flew off the table silently like a feather being blown off by wind and suspended in front of Zhang Tie.


    Holding the handle of the light stand by one hand, Zhang Tie gradually rose up with the metal light stand and suspended in the air like a sage-level knight...

 1139 The Father and the Son of Han Clan

    Chapter 1139: The Father and the Son of Han Clan


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When Zhang Tie slowly left the room of Lord Guangnan''s Manor in Xuanyuan Hill, Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong were chatting and drinking tea leisurely before that calligraphy "The Best" in the study of the finance minister''s mansion in the emperor''s imperial city.


    As the finance minister of Taixia Country who ruled economy of such a huge country and the master of God and Power Law, many people thought that the finance minister''s mansion must be resplendent and magnificent such as paving the ground with gold bricks and lighting it up with bright pearls. Actually, besides the location of the finance minister''s mansion which was a bit special in the emperor''s imperial city, the entire financial minister''s mansion was nothing different than those major clans'' mansions in different provinces across Taixia Country. Some nouveau riches'' manors in provinces were even much more impressive than this one.


    Given the look of the mansion, many rich people might not imagine that it was the residence of a minister of Taixia Country whose basic annual salary was over 30 million gold coins a year.


    On the table of the study, a curl of smoke was rising from the spout of a small bronze snuff bottle which looked like an animal''s mouth. No crystal fluorite lamp was used in the study. Rich rustic magnates would especially despise those red burning candles on candlesticks.


    Of course, those who would despise those things in the residence must have not seen the world. If the steward of Baisheng Building, the largest pawnshop in Gold and Power Market, came here, his face would definitely blush due to excitement only by sniffing it instead of using his eyes.


    Because the incense in the snuff bottle was the most precious gold-treasuring incense in the world.


    Gold-treasuring incense didn''t come from the ground, but from a special place in the Earth-elements Realm. After far-ancient mutated whales in the water died, their fat, if being preserved well for hundreds of millions of years in water, might produce a bit ingredient of gold-treasuring incense like the fossil.


    Gold-treasuring incense could refresh one''s mind. Its effect could never be matched by common incense. Because it could really "refresh one''s mind". As long as one sniffed the fragrance of gold-treasuring incense, his spiritual energy would gradually increase. Besides refreshing one''s mind and making people sober, it could also relieve many negative influences and subconsciously negative implications of spiritual secret methods such as hypnotism that could decelerate one''s brain nerve function and normal thinking.


    In the imperial court of Taixia Country, gold-treasuring incense was the necessity in Extreme-Purple Imperial Palace whenever Emperor Xuanyuan held the morning assembly.


    Its name was related to its price.


    One gram of gold-treasuring incense was worth tens of thousands of gold coins.


    In this small study which looked common, the gold-treasuring incense that was burned in each minute would afford a patch of land as large as that of the finance minister''s mansion in another place outside Xuanyuan Hill across Taixia Country together with a lot of female servants and maids.


    The burning candles in the study were unusual element candles. Many people might have not even heard about element candles at all.


    The so-called wealth and rank should not be filling the entire palace with golds and jades but from insipid life. The real time-honored major clans in Taixia Country pursued planting pear trees in the courtyards under the looming moonlight and willow trees on the banks of ponds in the breeze. The rich style on the Western Continent and other subcontinents which people couldn''t stand to pave the ground with gold bricks being carved with floral patterns would be despised by real major clans in Taixia Country. Besides very few occasions, few major clans in Taixia Country favored such a style.


    The night wind blew over the lotus pond outside the study. When ripples arose in the pond, the candlelight in the study also shook for a short while. In the shaking candlelight, the shadows of the two people who were chatting and drinking tea water in the study were reflected onto the snow-white wall of the study, twisting and quivering in a bit weird way.


    Han Yuanhong had been here for over 10 minutes, during which period, the gold-treasuring incense being consumed could afford 10 such manors outside Xuanyuan Hill. How amazing it was! However, neither of the two people in the study cared about it as if they were just dried straws instead of gold-treasuring incense inside the bronze snuff bottle.


    "...You mean what happened at the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market was not especially targeting at Han Clan!"


    The one who spoke was Han Zhengfang, the finance minister of Taixia Country. When he spoke, he was having a mouth of tea water with a calm look. Whether it was because of his habit or discretion, the father and the son were talking in a secret way in the study. It seemed that the two people were chatting in the study with open windows; actually, even though a knight was standing outside the door of the study, he could not hear what they were talking about at all.


    "I''ve already asked about Lanster seriously today. He''s the witness and the only one who survived the fight. According to his honest report, it was indeed a coincidence for them to meet the princess of Lord Guangnan outside the Qian Gate. Because it was too crowded outside the Qian Gate, they saw Cui Li and Bai Suxian getting off the vehicle and walking towards the Qian Gate. The one who provoked Bai Suxian in words was a bodyguard of Srices. Outside the Qian Gate, Srices and one of his bodyguard wanted to make some small collision purposefully so as to sexually harass Bai Suxian when they found that Bai Suxian was beautiful and it was crowded over there." Han Yuanhong looked pretty mannered in front of his dad, which looked pretty different than the flamboyant look at the Qian Gate in the daytime. When he spoke, he slightly lowered his eye light and looked at the teacup in front of him as if it was going to bloom. Han Yuanhong added, "It''s the people from Arlkey Empire provoked her first; however, they had not imagined that they were provoking a knight who was accompanied by a more terrifying earth knight. According to Lanster, before Cui Li started a counterattack, none of them could sense the earth knight''s qi. Additionally, they felt that Bai Suxian was just a common female. Therefore, Srices became audacious..."


    "It''s fine as long as it''s not a trap. Those barbarians were just seeking for death. As long as an earth knight learns some secret methods, it''s not difficult for him to hide his qi. Similarly, it''s not strange for a princess of Taixia Country to carry two alchemist''s equipment that could hide her qi. It''s those barbarians'' fault. They were blind. Don''t care about this event anymore. Now that it is involved with the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, according to my understanding of Lord Guangnan, those alive ones from Arlkey Empire might not be able to leave Taixia Country anymore. I''m afraid that Lord Guangan has already assigned killers to deal with those barbarians!" The finance minister revealed a faint sneer.


    "Do we need to send these guys of Arlkey Empire away from Taixia Country?"


    "No need. They''re just blind trivial roles. They''re seeking for death. It would be silly for us to confront with Lord Guangan''s Mansion only for these trivial people. Additionally, we might incur troubles and reproaches. Now that the Supreme Court of Taixia Country has already been in the investigation of this event, we should stand on the side of Taixia Country; therefore, you could assist the killers to accomplish this task smoothly when in need. Am I clear?"


    "Clear!" The batch of people of Arlkey Empire being driven away from Xuanyuan Hill and that old knight who survived today were destined to die through the talk of the father and the son. The VIPs yesterday were thrown out like pye dogs climbing out of a cesspit, including a knight. The father and the son of Han Clan didn''t feel it was pitiful at all; neither did they feel that they were doing anything wrong.


    "Although these barbarians are destined to die, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion''s fury might reach Crescent Subcontinent. Although we pretend to stand on the side of Lord Guangnan; we have to keep Arlkey Empire as an exchange. If Lord Guangnan''s Mansion overthrew the royal households of Arlkey Empire, the trades between us and the royal households of Arlkey Empire might be discovered. The great number of high-quality crystals in the trades would remind people of the bloody sea. The Supreme Court of Taixia Country is not seeking for all the clues concerning bloody sea across the world like wild wolves which had sniffed the bloody smell. It''s not good for us to attract these wild wolves to Crescent Subcontinent!"


    "I was a bit too rude today. I came to deal with it too early. This might remind them of something..." Han Yuanhong said it in a guilty look.


    "It''s not your fault. Given the intelligence, Cui Li is indeed not a common earth knight. Bai Suxian''s background also makes us scruple, not to mention the participation of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country..." Han Zhengfang had another mouthful of tea water before saying, "As long as Cui Li leaves Xuanyuan Hill, mobilize all the means of Gold and Power Law to keep a close watch on him. Now that this guy could promote to an earth knight from a black iron knight in only a few years, he must have some secrets or have gained some great secret items. I''m interested in his secret methods and secret items..."


    "Dad, you mean Cui Li has grasped the Purgatory Samsara?" Han Yuanhong''s eyes sparkled.


    "If this guy had grasped the Purgatory Samsara, he could not have passed Guan Qianchong''s interrogation. Now that he had passed Guan Qianchong''s interrogation and was rewarded with the bounty land, it means that he didn''t grasp Purgatory Samsara..."

 1140 A Vicious Trick

    Chapter 1140: A Vicious Trick


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Only the legendary God was almighty. Han Zhengfang was not a God; therefore, he would make mistakes such as thinking that Cui Li didn''t grasp the Purgatory Samsara based on his knowledge and experience. If Cui Li grasped this secret method, Han Zhengfang believed that Cui Li would never pass the interrogation of Guang Qianchong. Guan Qianchong was not a simple personality. Guan Qianchong might have already known the secret method that Cui Li used to promote to an earth knight in the hieron''s ruins rapidly; how could Guan Qianchong and Du Guyi promise the reward to a person who was related to the alchemist''s demon and let him return to the earth''s surface safe and sound? Guan Clan assigned two people to contact Cui Li in Lord Guangnan''s manor in Xuanyuan Hill, which indicated that Gan Qianchong believed in Cui Li.


    Given the intelligence, Cui Li was very tricky. However, Han Zhengfang had seen too many earth knights like Cui Li. Based on his power, influence and relationship with bright forces and dark forces, he believed that he would get the secrets methods or secret items from this earth knight sooner or later as long as he had people keep a close watch on Cui Li. Every knight was interested in the secret methods or items which could help one to form chakra rapidly.


    Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong didn''t know that Cui Li and Zhang Tie were the same, not to mention that Zhang Tie had already known the secrets of Han Clan and was going to uproot Han Clan in Xuanyuan Hill. Otherwise, the two people would never be so calm.


    People were screwing the tiger while the tiger was also screwing the people.


    "We have to hold the sense of propriety about the event of Arlkey Empire. Don''t act on an impulse. Put Cui Li and Bai Suxian on one side first. Every coin has two sides. Lord Guangnan''s Mansion could become our assistant on this event. Facing the stress of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Arlkey Empire would be under our control easily!" Han Zhengfang told Han Yuanhong.


    "I see..." Han Yuanhong nodded. As long as they had Arlkey Empire realize that Lord Guangnan would exterminate their empire in the blink of an eye without the help of Han Clan, Arlkey Empire would follow their orders.


    The others might feel excited ruling an empire on a subcontinent; however, Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong would not feel any sense of achievement and excitement from these "trivial thing". They just guided the royal households of Arlkey Empire to follow the trend. As for Taixia Country, Arlkey Empire was like a small shrimp beside a huge whale. Even if they ate it, their appetite would not be satisfied. They always focused on more valuable things in Taixia Country.


    Watching Han Zhengfang picking up his teacup once again, Han Yuanhong finally remembered an important thing that he was here to tell Han Zhengfang.


    "Oh, dad, Yuantu has not come back yet. I''ve not even received his message through remote-sensing crystal..."


    "Yuantu has not come back?" Han Zhengfang slightly frowned. At the same time, he attempted to contact another son by injecting his spiritual energy into a finger ring which was inlaid with a remote-sensing crystal. However, he received no response either, "Did Yuantu go to Pingsha Valley?"


    "Yes, I saw Yuantu''s airboat fly over Longxi Prefecture. According to the schedule, Yuantu should have arrived at Xuanyuan Hill, but he didn''t!"


    "Where''s Yuantu''s airboat?"


    "According to my subordinate, after Yuantu''s airboat suspended in Longxi Prefecture for a short while, it turned around and left Zhongzhou Province. However, he didn''t come to Xuanyuan Hill!" Han Yuanhong revealed a bitter smile after throwing a glance at Han Zhengfang. After that, he continued, "Yuantu manages his subordinates strictly. Except for him, nobody else on his side was allowed to carry any remote-sensing crystal. Wen Haoyun and Xiao Longfei are on his side. If they carry remote-sensing crystal, we could ask them; however, they don''t. Neither could we contact Yuantu; therefore, I don''t know where is Yuantu!"


    Han Zhengfang faintly frowned. His eldest son was blaming Han Yuantu rather than worrying about his safety. Although the two brothers usually joined hands to help Han Zhengfang do something, one in the public, the other in the dark, the two brothers, they were actually competing with each other. The reason was simple. If Han Zhengfang made a success in overthrowing the regime of Taixia Country, the better one of his sons would inherit his throne. In this situation, the so-called brotherhood would be replaced by merciless profits.


    This was what Han Zhengfang tried to create. His two sons had very high talents since young. They were both great in intelligence and insight. He wanted to have his two sons catch up with each other in this manner. Of course, his undertaking would finally be inherited by the better one. Han Yuantu was a bit more docile than Han Yuanhong. A few years ago, Han Yuanhong arranged a mole on Han Yantu''s side. The mole carried a remote-sensing crystal and sent Han Yuantu''s information and schedule to Han Yuanhong from time to time. Later on, Han Yuantu discovered it and quarreled with Han Yuanhong in front of Han Zhengfang. Han Zhengfang finally ended this quarrel by criticizing Han Yuanhong and letting him apologize to Han Yuantu. From then on, besides the remote-sensing crystal that Han Yuantu delivered to, he didn''t allow any subordinate to carry other remote-sensing crystals on his side, even knights who accomplished tasks together with him; otherwise, he would punish them severely the moment he discovered that.


    When Han Yuanhong talked about this event, of course, he wanted to explain what he did previously; actually, he wanted to express that his brother was too narrow-minded.


    One son disappeared especially at this critical moment; it was reasonable for him to worry about that. After being silent for two seconds, Han Zhengfang slightly became still as he asked, "Is there any abnormal action in the troops of the top 4 armies?"


    "My subordinates are keeping a close watch on the corps of the top 4 armies within the 9 immortal provinces in Taixia Country. These days, besides receiving commands to coordinate with local forces to wipe out bloody figures across the country and take control of the local situations, there''s no abnormal action of the top 4 armies within the 9 immortal provinces!"


    "What about the three top chancellors? Where are they?"


    "The three top chancellors are inspecting across the country. Today, the national defense minister has arrived at Huizhou Province; the premier has arrived at Yizhou Province; the engineering minister has arrived at the Gobbling Province..."


    After hearing that the top 4 armies didn''t have any abnormal action within the 9 immortal provinces and the top 3 chancellors who were still making an inspection across the country according to the schedule, Han Zhengfang became reassured at once. At least it indicated that the event didn''t deteriorate.


    "Is there any woman on Yuantu''s side?"


    Father always knew his son well. Han Zhengfang hit the point at once.


    "It''s said that it''s a princess from a subcontinent!"


    ''Well.'' Han Zhengfang knew Han Yuantu''s "eccentricities" and "hobbies". Because of these "eccentricities" and "hobbies", Han Yuantu lost contact with Han Zhengfang for half a year one time. Finally, Han Zhengfang had to dispatch people to find him out of concern and was told that his son built a wine pool in a place and made love with hundreds of beauties nakedly for half a year around the clock, regardless of winter or summer...There''s another time when Han Yuantu got a new "collection", he locked himself for 1 month in a small room, during which period, he made a carving on the "collection"...


    Han Yuantu had similar deeds more than 2 times; therefore, when he was told that his son was missing once again, Han Zhengfang didn''t become nervous anymore.


    "After a few days, if we could still not contact him, dispatch people to find him. Lately, tell Gold and Power Law to pay attention to the location of Yuantu''s airboat!"


    "I see, dad!"


    "Additionally, keep a close watch on Huaiyuan Palace too. If Zhang Tie returns to Huaiyuan Palace, let me know immediately!"


    "Do we need to..."


    "That brat has some ability. The tragedy in Fuhai City is known across the country and brought him a good reputation. The event in Zhongzhou Province had not been appeased. If Zhang Tie returns to Huaiyuan Palace, we don''t need to kill him for the time being. It''s not good for him to die in Taixia Country at this moment. I''ve already dug a grave for him in Waii Subcontinent. I don''t believe that the Sacred Light Empire on the Western Continent couldn''t deal with such a trivial black iron knight. If he didn''t seek for death in Waii Subcontinent, when Sacred Light Empire exterminate those innocent barbarians in Ice and Now Wilderness and send his women and children onto the column of stigma and expose his another identity to the public, I want to see whether this sentimental man could still be sentimental or not. If he died at that time, nobody would sympathize him anymore. All the aftermaths by then would be minimized..." Han Zhengfang''s eyes turned pretty merciless when he talked about Zhang Tie.


    "Yup!"


    Han Yuanhong admired his father''s trick very much. What a fatal method! As long as Zhang Tie dared come back, he was destined to die no matter whether he would return to Ice and Snow Wilderness. He could choose to die fast with a bit reputation or die a bit slowly with a bad reputation.


    The talk between the father and the son almost came to an end. After saying something minor, Han Yuanhong bade a farewell to his father and left this study before the gold-treasure incense was burning out.


    Since the beginning, the father and the son both thought that Cui Li and Zhang Tie were different people. They could never imagine that they were talking about the same person in the study.


    Nobody could be almighty, including Emperor Xuanyuan, not to mention others...


    Han Yuanhong left the finance minister''s mansion by car with the same icy expression. Actually, he was sneering inside, ''Young brother, you''re behaving weirdly on purpose so as to lower my vigilance about you, right? Taixia Country is large enough. Once our father succeeds, after this holy war, as long as you make a compromise on your initiative, I will not treat you too mercilessly...but you''ve played such tricks too many times, don''t you feel bored?''


    When Han Yuanhong sneered his young brother inside, he recalled one face. Although the person of this face was still alive, he was already dead in Han Yuanhong''s eyes. Nobody who dared to stir up Han Clan and Han Yuanhong could have a good result. When Han Yuanhong remembered this person who made him very embarrassed at the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market, he gritted his teeth, ''Let''s see, I will deal with you when I''m free. How could an earth knight be so insolent in front of me?''


    "Take me to the airport!" Han Yuanhong told the driver. Closely after that, the vehicle sped up in a split second on the main road of the emperor''s imperial city...


    If Cui Li was destined to die in Han Yuanhong''s eyes, those people from Arlkey Empire had already died in his eyes. However, these guys were still useful before death. Han Yuanhong had to end up this event himself.


    Within the finance minister''s mansion, Han Zhengfang was standing on one side of the lotus pond outside the study and looking up at the two bright moons. Unconsciously, he felt a bit fretful...

 1141 Lose at Sunrise but Gain at Sunse

    Chapter 1141: Lose at Sunrise but Gain at Sunset


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The moonlight could not penetrate through the roof and the thick partition and walls of the room. Under the same moonlight, Zhang Tie turned into a curl of moonlight in his room...


    Previously, Zhang Tie heard a proverb, which had existed before the Catastrophe until now. When in the 7th Male Middle School in Blackhot City, his teacher of natural history always told them about this proverb. To a certain extent, this proverb was close to the truth and was relevant to the most indestructible physical law in the world.


    ¡ª¡ªOne could not lift himself up by grabbing his own hair no matter how strong he was.


    When he flew off in the room, this proverb flashed through his mind. Zhang Tie didn''t know about his current situation. However, the reality indicated that he could also fly off by sabers and swords besides having them fly.


    Flying off by physical strength was utterly different than flying off by spiritual strength. The former could not break the simplest physical rule; undoubtedly, the latter had to depend on a senior rule. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t pay attention to the relationship between him and that proverb too much; instead, he soon accepted it and immersed in it.


    If people saw Zhang Tie flying in a room by a metal light stand, they would feel it was pretty hilarious. In the beginning, Zhang Tie was a bit embarrassed; however, he soon adapted to it. As a powerful earth knight who had a powerful knight''s consciousness, he could control his own body in an unimaginable way. If he liked, he could even control the reflection and activation modes of specific neurons.


    Besides being an earth knight, Zhang Tie was also a divine dominator. A divine dominator could also control an object in an unimaginable spiritual way. For instance, there were 200 needle eyes in over 10 m in the room, 100 on different heights on each side. Zhang Tie could have one needle penetrate through all the needle eyes for 100 times in 1 second.


    As an earth knight, Zhang Tie could control his own body; as a divine dominator, he could control objects. After combining with the two abilities, Zhang Tie turned into a curl of moonlight in the room with that metal light stand in his hand.


    Zhang Tie''s residence was large. The parlor covered over 300 square meters. However, when it came to flight, this residence became a bit small. However, in the same room where even sparrows could not flap its wings for free, Zhang Tie had an unprecedented flight experience which was utterly different than flying by chakra.


    Zhang Tie turned into a curl of moonlight, arousing a wind in the room.


    In this small room, Zhang Tie gradually sped up. He would alter his flight direction for dozens of times per second; otherwise, he would hit the wall, furniture or other furnishings. Zhang Tie really had a happy flight. Additionally, he moved more and more flexibly like a loach which swam as fast as a lightning bolt in the room.


    He kept flying in this way for about 1 hour. All in a split second, the wind grew stronger, blowing away the curtains and causing flowers in the vase on the table to waver east and west; even the vase was going to fall down; additionally, a piece of newspaper was blown off in a split second...In less than half a second, the wind had stopped; the windows had fallen down; the flowers had stopped wavering; the vase returned to its original place, spraying some water on the table; the newspaper fell onto the ground; the moonlight disappeared, leaving the scenery outside the windows.


    Like having not moved at all, Zhang Tie stood on the original place steadily.


    With that metal light stand in hand, Zhang Tie looked pretty hilarious and funny; however, Zhang Tie''s face turned pretty red due to the excitement. If not in Xuanyuan Hill but in Lord Guangnan''s Manor, Zhang Tie might have sprung up and roared due to ecstasy. In a split second just now, Zhang Tie sensed the same barrier that he sensed in the sky when he flew at the fastest speed a few days ago¡ª¡ªsound barrier.


    A few days ago, this sound barrier was like a shackle that fastened him and a high mountain in front of him. However, just now, Zhang Tie felt the same sound barrier had become a thin paper which would be broken easily by only a poke. He failed to break through the sound barrier in the vast sky; however, he broke through it in such a small room. If he told others about it, nobody would believe in that. However, it was true.


    Just now, considering the possible sonic boom if he broke through such a thin paper, Zhang Tie stopped immediately.


    Being extremely excited and delighted, Zhang Tie forcefully patted his head.


    "Stupid. How could you not think about putting the ability of divine dominator in flight after becoming a divine dominator for so many years? Why not earlier..." Zhang Tie muttered. Even so, his delight still spurted out like spring water, enabling all of his cells to bathe the trivial currents caused by this delight and excitement.


    With the ability of divine dominator, he could easily break through the sound barrier in flight. What a surprise! It was like a huge pie that fell off the sky. As a result, Zhang Tie almost passed out. He felt regretful lacking the corresponding secret method about flight in his "King Roc Sutra". However, this loophole was fixed by the ability of divine dominator. Lose at sunrise but gain at sunset. Zhang Tie felt the delicate arrangement of God.


    After being thrilled and having a bee in his head for a while, Zhang Tie remembered that metal light stand in his hand. He looked pretty hilarious. After looking at the metal light stand, he ran his spiritual energy and had the metal light stand flew off his hand and land on its original place. If a metal light stand could help him fly freely, not to mention a weapon. He could even design a set of special clothes to adapt to such a flight mode...


    However, it was not the right moment for him to study it.


    Zhang Tie glanced at the table clock in the parlor and found it was almost 12 pm. Zhang Tie then sensed the locations of the two tracing feathers in his mind and found that they had not changed too much. After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie walked to one window of the parlor and watched outside. Closely after that, he opened the window as he triggered a rune hiding effect for himself.


    The moment he triggered the rune hiding effect, Zhang Tie''s figure had gradually turned blurry in the dark and shadow. From all visual angles, Zhang Tie''s body had completely integrated with the surrounding environment. When the moonlight cast in and the breeze blew away the curtain, it didn''t even leave any shadow of Zhang Tie''s body on the floor. If someone entered the room at this moment, he would definitely not notice that Zhang Tie was standing beside the window because the qi of Zhang Tie had been completely hidden. This was the powerful effect of the hiding rune.


    Zhang Tie flew out of the room through the window like a dandelion being blown off by the night wind. After flying over the courtyard, the lawn, the rooms of some servants in Lord Guangnan''s Manor, Zhang Tie came to the high wall of the manor in a split second. During this process, Zhang Tie encountered two teams of guards patrolling in the manor. The closest team of guards didn''t see Zhang Tie when they passed by him from 3 m away.


    Before Zhang Tie fully grasped the flight ability as a divine dominator, Zhang Tie was thinking about flying out of the high wall directly. However, grasping it, Zhang Tie was not worried about using this flight ability right away.


    There were so many powerhouses in Xuanyuan Hill; additionally, there was a secret treasure in the emperor''s imperial city as the entire Xuanyuan Hill was still covered by a powerful yet bizarre energy field. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether there were special alchemists or rune equipment in Xuanyuan Hill which could find someone flying over there. Zhang Tie didn''t feel it was worthwhile to expose his trump card which had not been fully grasped in order to investigate the situations of some small figures. Therefore, Zhang Tie determined to go there on foot. Actually, with the effect of Kuafu bloodline, his moving ability on foot could almost match his flight ability.


    Zhang Tie could move over 100 m by one step as fast as a lightning bolt. After being affected by the hiding rune and rapid moving rune. Zhang Tie was like a curl of night wind that blew over Xuanyuan Hill. After a short while, he had left Xuanyuan Hill and arrived at one side of a shimmering lake.


    Zhang Tie passed by those reeds near the lakeside on the tips of those reeds and dove into the lake like a small stone...


    "Who..." With a muffled sound from the reeds, a man with half-open clothes exposed his head out of the reeds with sparkling eyes. After looking around and finding nobody in the surroundings, he buried his head in the reed once again.


    "Is there anyone?" A ringing woman''s sound and the sound of putting on skirt drifted from the reeds.


    "Nobody. My knight''s consciousness just sensed something nearby just now. It might be a fish jumping out of the water. Don''t worry, continue..."


    "Disgusting, we need to change the place..." The woman said in a coquettish way.


    "Sleeping on the ground and facing the sky of Xuanyuan Hill are especially interesting. What a rare opportunity..." The man said with a smile.


    The dissolute lovers in the reeds were two knights whom Zhang Tie had seen next to Fang Xinyi that day...

 1142 Detecting Euphonicmusic Lake in the Evening

    Chapter 1142: Detecting Euphonicmusic Lake in the Evening


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could see two familiar faces in the reeds of Euphonicmusic Lake in the northeast of Xuanyuan Hill tonight.


    Several days ago, the good-looking female knight on the side of Fang Xinyi was a quiet and gentle person. However, her bright big eyes kept glancing at Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian. When Zhang Tie flew over the tips of reeds, he caught sight of the snow-white, plump skin in the reeds, which was really a bit stunning. The male knight in the reeds was also quiet when Yue Peng and the other man satirized Zhang Tie that day.


    Unimaginably, two quiet people could be interested in making love crazily in the reeds. Men could really not be judged by their looks!


    However, they fell in love with each other voluntarily and made love in such a hidden place; instead of in the public when they would be blamed for bewildering people with dissolute behaviors. Therefore, they were not offending public decency. It was already implicit enough for knights. As the conflict between Zhang Tie and Heavens Holding Pavilion had passed, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to give vent to his anger on some irrelevant people. Therefore, after throwing a glimpse at them, Zhang Tie didn''t separate the pair of mandarin ducks; instead, like having not seen them, Zhang Tie silently dove into the water and swam towards the locations of the two tracing feathers based on his knight''s consciousness.


    Of course, Euphonicmusic Lake could not match the sea in size. However, this lake was about 200 m in depth where big ships were available to pass through. Over 100 m below the water level, Zhang Tie sped up greatly.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the water, it was like how a dragon returned to the ocean. Even if he faced a shadow knight at this moment, he would not be afraid of that shadow knight even without using his ability as a divine dominator.


    The protective battle qi turned into an extremely thin film over Zhang Tie''s body. When water flew over Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie was not wet at all. Like a big fish and a yaksha in water, he moved towards afar as fast as a lightning bolt, leaving a fine ripple in the deep water...


    ...


    Soon after Zhang Tie entered the water, an airboat had flown over in the same direction as that of Zhang Tie in the water...


    ...


    A deluxe cruiser longer than 70 m stopped in the center of Euphonicmusic Lake. Such cruisers could be seen everywhere in Euphonicmusic Lake. Many people who were qualified to live in Xuanyuan Hill would buy a cruiser. It was as easy as blinking one''s eyes. After leaving Xuanyuan Hill, those rich and powerful ones could relax themselves on the loose cruisers. Because Xuanyuan Hill had many strict regulations, many chose to relax themselves by traveling on Fairy Lake, Heavenlyharp Lake and Euphonicmusic Lake, not to mention the dissolute industry in gaily-painted pleasure-boats.


    As it was deep night, the loose pulleys and gaily-painted pleasure-boats on the Euphonicmusic Lake became quiet. Besides the lamplight on the ships in the far, the loose pulleys and gaily-painted pleasure-boats on the lake maintained about 1 mile''s distance from each other, unless they were integrating with each other originally. Otherwise, no irrelevant ships would be close to each other at this moment.


    The arrival of an airboat didn''t arouse any exclamation on the Euphonicmusic Lake in the evening. It might not be easy to see an airboat in other places; however, in Xuanyuan Hill, as there were too many dignitaries, it was too normal for picking up major figures between Euphonicmusic Lake and Xuanyuan Hill by airboat. Therefore, nobody would join the fun like rustics who made a fuss.


    Additionally, as the airboat arrived in the deep night, although it didn''t hide its movement, the owner of the airboat must have been low-key enough. None of those people who could take airboats were simple characters. If someone approached it, he might have troubles.


    As the airboat slowly descended and reached a few meters above the lake, one gaily-painted pleasure-ship and two cruisers stayed far away from it consciously.


    There were too many smart people in this world.


    Han Yuanhong directly went downstairs onto the deck of the deluxe cruiser by the winding stair which was stretched out of the airboat. When he arrived, all the people on the loose pulley were waiting for him respectfully, including those unfortunate guys of Arlkey Empire who were exiled out of Xuanyuan Hill. However, these guys didn''t look as pleasant as Zhang Tie saw over 10 hours ago; instead, they all looked flurried, including the only alive old knight of Arlkey Empire who accompanied the prince of Arlkey Empire here.


    As their prince had been killed in Xuanyuan Hill, even if they could survive back to Arlkey Empire, they would definitely not face a good result. Only one knight on the side of the prince survived; those who were not on the spot when the prince was killed absolutely suffered a disaster unconsciously. Not until they were driven out of Xuanyuan Hill like pye dogs under the monitoring of the officials of Taixia Country, they still didn''t know what happened.


    Under the moonlight, the Euphonicmusic Lake looked very beautiful; however, Han Yuanhong didn''t feel like appreciating the beautiful scenery under the moonlight over the Euphonicmusic Lake. After landing on the deck of the cruiser, he glanced around all the people who were waiting for him respectfully. Closely after that, he focused on the only alive knight of Arlkey Empire among the prince''s retinue silently. After throwing a glance at him, Han Yuanhong entered the cabin.


    All those who waited for Han Yuanhong on the deck entered the cabin, too; however, only that gloomy yet flurried knight of Arlkey Empire was qualified to enter the same room with Han Yuanhong.


    "The one who killed Srices Prince at the Qian Gate today is Cui Li, the master of Iron-Dragon Sect in Youzhou Province of Taixia Country. This man is very tricky and vicious. He doesn''t care about the outcome of his deeds at all. According to our intelligence, this guy has killed over 10 black iron demon knights and earth demon knights in the Earth-elements Realm. Common earth knights could not defeat him. The woman on his side is the only daughter of Lord Guangnan, also the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Although this woman is just a black iron knight, his father''s power is very terrifying. Even Gold and Power Law is afraid of him!" Han Yuanhong said solemnly with a worried look.


    After hearing Han Yuanhong''s words, that knight of Arlkey Empire''s face turned gloomier at once. Facing the earth knight who could kick his prince to death and the well-known Lord Guangnan in Taixia Country, this black iron knight asked in a flurried way, "What...what should we do now?"


    "For the sake of your safety, I will arrange you to leave out of here tonight. As Fire Dragon Hermit is now in Xuanyuan Hill, we could prevent him from leaving; however, we could not stop Lord Guangnan doing anything." Han Yuanhong said before asking with a concerned look, "Do you carry the remote-sensing crystal which is used to contact Arlkey Empire?"


    The flurried knight nodded.


    "You''d better contact Arlkey Empire so that they could make preparations for the possible dangers. Lord Guangnan is narrow-minded. As you''ve offended his daughter, who knows how he''s going to revenge you..."

 1143 Abundant Achievements

    Chapter 1143: Abundant Achievements


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    3 hours later, it grew darker. On the side of a willow wood near the bank of Euphonicmusic Lake, the water moved automatically without the effect of wind. Closely after that, Zhang Tie exposed his head and gradually walked out of the lake step by step; however, there was not even a drop of water on his body. He directly walked to the grassland by the lakeside.


    Zhang Tie went ashore in another place when he returned in case of disturbing that pair of mandarin ducks. He was not a peepaholic pervert. He preferred to detour such an embarrassing thing unless he encountered it by accident. It would be boring if he went back to see that when he could have avoided that. Only kids did that out of curiosity; however, Zhang Tie was not a kid anymore.


    The place where he went ashore was about 15 miles away from where he entered the water. It was also an unpopulated place.


    Standing on the lakeside, Zhang Tie watched the lake.


    Just now, when Han Yuanhong talked with the only alive knight of Arlkey Empire among the prince''s retinue, Zhang Tie was lying on a bonsai in the room in the incarnation of a little beetle. Zhang Tie arrived a few minutes earlier than Han Yuanhong. He stayed in the water being not far from the cruiser; instead, he had a little beetle land on the cruiser ahead of Han Yuanhong. Zhang Tie didn''t know that Han Yuanhong would arrive tonight. Now that Han Yuanhong arrived, Zhang Tie just had the little beetle listen to Han Yuanhong''s words.


    ''It seems that Han Yuanhong has already figured out the backgrounds of me and Bai Suxian after departing from them at the Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market for less than 1 day.'' Zhang Tie was not shocked by it. What really shocked Zhang Tie was that when Han Yuanhong told those flurried guys from Arlkey Empire about the power and possible revenge of Lord Guangnan, he didn''t immediately send those flurried guys back to Crescent Subcontinent by airboat; instead, he just made an arrangement which sounded a bit useful¡ª¡ªlet those flurried guys disguise themselves before leaving the neighborhood of Euphonicmusic Lake overnight. After shifting to the airship on the next morning, they would fly all the way towards Daizhou Province. After that, they would go back to Crescent Subcontinent by airboat arranged by Gold and Power Law.


    Those flurried guys appreciated Han Yuanhong pretty much. The moment Han Yuanhong left, that deluxe cruiser had turned around and moved towards a wharf in the distance.


    At that moment, Zhang Tie didn''t think through the reason. Not until Han Yuanhong left did he figure it out that those flurried guys of Arlkey Empire might not be able to leave Xuanyuan Hill for the rest of their lives. The stress from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and the death of these guys could help Han Clan take control of Arlkey Empire more conveniently.


    ''What a good trick! Those flurried guys still appreciate Han Yunhong after being betrayed by him.''


    Zhang Tie didn''t sympathize those flurried guys of Arlkey Empire as they were not worth his sympathy either. Zhang Tie didn''t care whether they were alive or not. However, when he figured out that Han Yuanhong directly dropped those guys to the killer from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion like abandoned sons, Zhang Tie had given up the thought of receiving some intelligence from those guys using a secret method. The reason was simple. If there was some secret trade between Han Clan and Arlkey Empire and those guys knew something critical, Han Yuanhong would never abandon them in case they exposed something critical to Lord Guangnan.


    Now that Han Yuanhong didn''t fear that these people could expose the secrets, it indicated that these guys were not valuable. Perhaps, their only value was to verify the power of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and help Han Clan reach their target.


    Even if prying for intelligence, nobody dared say that they could receive important intelligence each time, including sage-level knights. Zhang Tie came out tonight as he felt that Arlkey Empire might have a benefit-based relationship. He wanted to discover some clues. Although he did not receive any important intelligence or message, he was not disappointed, because he received something more or less.


    First, Zhang Tie knew that Han Yuanhong had paid attention to him. If possible, the master of Gold and Power Law would definitely screw him. However, Zhang Tie would not spare such an opportunity to Han Clan. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, Han Clan''s heyday in Xuanyuan Hill would come to an end in 12 days at most, during which period, as long as Zhang Tie didn''t leave Xuanyuan Hill, Gold and Power Law could not do any harm to Zhang Tie. 12 days later, Han Clan''s influence in Gold and Power Law would be cleared completely for sure. By then, Gold and Power Law would not threaten Zhang Tie''s safety anymore.


    Second, through those flurried guys of Arlkey Empire, Zhang Tie understood about this major country in Crescent Subcontinent. Arlkey Empire was indeed a major country in Crescent Subcontinent. It covered over 530 square miles in total with less than 200 million population. They had an earth knight among the royal households. The goddamn prince who was kicked to death by Zhang Tie was a rare "cultivation talent" of this country. The royal households of Arlkey Empire were as happy as larks about having such a person in their country. Because this guy was born with an outstanding talent and sufficient cultivation resources and had royal households on his back, he could promote to black iron knight before the age of 40. Perhaps, he had been used to be arrogant in his country, when he came to Xuanyuan Hill, with Gold and Power Law and Han Clan on his back, he didn''t know how to be reserved. Therefore, he was finally killed by Zhang Tie''s one kick...


    Besides that earth knight in the royal households of Arlkey Empire, Arlkey Empire couldn''t pose any threat to Zhang Tie at all; however, a common earth knight was nothing serious in Zhang Tie''s eyes...


    After Han Yuanhong left, the little beetle was not interested in those unfortunate guys anymore; therefore, he left the deluxe cruiser too.


    After leaving the deluxe cruiser, the little beetle entered Castle of Black Iron in water.


    After killing those people and knights on Han Clan''s airboat, Zhang Tie had not entered Castle of Black Iron for a long time. Of course, he had not taken those fruits on the small tree. As he was free for the time being, he intended to digest those new fruits.


    Most of the fruits on the small tree were fruits of judgment. After taking those fruits of judgment, all of Zhang Tie immortal rune skills had reached master realm except for his mirror body separation skill.


    Besides those fruits of judgment, the fruit of brilliance contained all the spiritual energy of Han Yuantu and Wen Haoyun who was wanted across Taixia Country by the Supreme Court. As a result, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy surged greatly.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether those b*stards that he killed on the airboat had done too many evil things or not. After all, his achievement was completely out of his imagination. The more powerful the people were and the more evil things they did, the more abundant the reward of the fruit of judgment would be. This was the rule that the small tree followed to produce fruits of judgment. This time, he really gained a bit more fruits of judgment than before. The spiritual energy in that fruit of brilliance was also much greater than the total spiritual energy of one common earth knight and one common black iron knight. It was almost three times that of Old Monster Qi. Therefore, Zhang Tie realized that maybe the two guys; especially the most goddamn d**chebag had made a greater achievement in the cultivation of spiritual energy through special means. Zhang Tie really benefited a lot from them.


    After taking so many fruits, Zhang Tie''s overall strength surged greatly once again.


    After taking the fruits, Zhang Tie took a look at that earth knight whose limbs had been chopped off in Castle of Black Iron.


    The earth knight who went to pick up the puppet parent worms in Pingsha Valley together with Wen Haoyun was chopped off limbs by Zhang Tie in the blink of an eye in Han Yuantu''s airboat; closely after that, the bit of water chakra that the earth knight had formed was broken into pieces by Zhang Tie using Purgatory Samsara Method, causing him to pass out at once. With the recycling principle, Zhang Tie teleported him into Castle of Black Iron and prepared to offer a bloody sacrifice with him. After coming back to Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie knew that the earth knight was called Xiao Longfei.


    When Xiao Longfei was in Castle of Black Iron, he was looked after pretty well by Heller and the three servants of Zhang Tie. When Zhang Tie saw him once again, he was sitting on a wheelchair while his face looked a bit florid.


    Zhang Tie was very puzzled about the good treatment received by this guy in Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, he asked Heller about the reason.


    "Castle Lord, do you want to offer a bloody sacrifice with him?" Heller asked Zhang Tie.


    "Of course!" Zhang Tie replied immediately.


    "Castle Lord, don''t forget that he''s an earth knight!" Heller watched Zhang Tie before adding solemnly, "A human earth knight!"


    Zhang Tie frowned, ''Does Heller mean that I have no principle? However, I always stick to my principles.'' Zhang Tie replied, "Generally, I would not offer a bloody sacrifice with humans. If it''s a private animosity, I prefer to kill him rather than offering a bloody sacrifice with him. It''s my bottom line. However, now that this guy surrendered to Heavens Reaching Church and cooperated with demons, he''s just a lump of sh*t among humans who could not even match dogs and pigs. If I offer a bloody sacrifice with him, I will not bear any mental burden!"


    Heller revealed a smile, "Castle Lord, it seems that you''ve misunderstood me. I''m not blaming Castle Lord for not having any principle. I mean even though Castle Lord refines his water chakra, he''s still an earth knight whose battle strength is almost as same as those who have just promoted to an earth knight. He''s just crippled and can''t move anymore; however, he could still stand in the sunlight. If Castle Lord could have him serve you, it would be more valuable than killing him. Castle Lord actually lacks powerful assistants outside..."


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie became stunned...

 1144 Head Clan

    Chapter 1144: Head Clan


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Ahh, Childe Cui, what happened to you?"


    On the next early morning, when Zhang Tie finished feeding birds with a basin of wheat which had been soaked in water overnight and came back from the manor of Lord Guangnan in Xuanyuan Hill, he met Uncle Zhong. At the sight of Zhang Tie, Uncle Zhong was amazed.


    Zhang Tie''s look remained unchanged; however, his qi and temperament had improved a lot after taking that fruit of brilliance which contained too much spiritual energy, grasping the flight ability as a divine dominator, plus promoting his immortal rune skills to higher levels.


    As a knight, Uncle Zhong had very sharp knight''s consciousness. Additionally, Uncle Zhong could see Zhang Tie these days; of course, he could sense the great change of Zhang Tie. Over one night, Uncle Zhong had sensed that Zhang Tie''s eye light grew more profound with brighter skin as if a vigorous light of life was flowing inside his body; additionally, Zhang Tie''s qi as a whole grew steadier like a mountain. Furthermore, an invisible strength was surging silently in the calmness. Any knight could sense that invisible stress as long as they approached Zhang Tie.


    Uncle Zhong didn''t know what happened to Zhang Tie; however, he was sure that Zhang Tie had experienced a great change last night. Therefore, he became amazed, ''Did Childe Cui grasp a secret method overnight? It''s too fast!''


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he relieved Uncle Zhong''s doubt in one sentence, "Last night, I broke through a bottleneck on cultivation. Uncle Zhong really has a good insight!"


    Zhang Tie''s words were partly true. Besides Zhang Tie himself, nobody would know the details.


    After hearing that Zhang Tie had broken through a bottleneck on cultivation, Uncle Zhong revealed a facial expression as if he was saying, "I see". Although Uncle Zhong still wondered what bottleneck, after being broken through, could lead to such a great change, he wouldn''t ask about the details as the bottlenecks of secret methods that knights cultivated were one of the largest secrets of knights. They would not even tell their relatives and disciples about that, not to mention outsiders.


    "Childe Cui, you''re really a talent. Lately, Miss told me that Child Cui had reached the supreme situation that could integrate weather with your fist position. Childe Cui, I''ve not imagined that you could break through your bottleneck once again only after coming to Xuanyuan Hill for a few days. Given your age, Childe Cui would definitely promote to a heavenly knight sooner or later. I really feel happy for you, congratulations!" Uncle Zhong praised Zhang Tie sincerely.


    "Hoho, I''m just too lucky, I''m just too lucky!" Zhang Tie said modestly as he touched his bald head.


    As a knight, of course, Uncle Zhong knew how difficult it was for a knight to break through a realm. When Zhang Tie came to Xuanyuan Hill at the beginning, Uncle Zhong showed respect to Zhang Tie given the relationship between Bai Suxian and him; as he gradually understood Zhang Tie, this diligent and loyal old man of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion sincerely respected Zhang Tie now. ''He''s really a nice son-in-law. He''s qualified to match Miss. No wonder Miss could behave so tamefully in front of him. He could promote to an earth knight at such a young age; win an airboat from Feng Yexiao, one of the top grand elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and be rewarded with a bounty land in Earth-elements Realm. It''s said that he''s even younger than Miss. Given his current performance, he''s destined to promote to a shadow knight in the near future. It''s reasonable for him to promote to a heavenly knight sooner or later.''


    ''How many heavenly knights are there in Taixia Country? A heavenly knight could keep a top major clan in Taixia Country safe. Childe Cui must have a limitless potential. Miss really has a good insight.''


    "Aww, Childe Cui, I''ve had people figure out what you wanted to know yesterday..." Uncle Zhong said as he took out a card and gave it to Zhang Tie, "Here''s the address of Immortal Farming Pavilion..."


    After taking the delicate card, Zhang Tie threw a glance at it before saying, "It''s also in Gold and Power Market?"


    "Gold and Power Market is one of the most prosperous residences in Xuanyuan Hill. Numerous companies gather here, including Immortal Farming Pavilion. Childe Cui''s requirement could only be met by Immortal Farming Pavilion besides the seed bank of the Agricultural Department. If we were in the south border of Taixia Country, Lord Guangnan could have people collect all the seeds for you; however, the quantity of plants in the south border of Taixia Country is limited and can''t meet Childe Cui''s requirement. Additionally, the seed bank of the Agricultural department is not open to the public. By contrast, it would be easier for us to get sufficient seeds from Immortal Farming Pavilion as long as we could afford it!"


    "What''s the background of Immortal Farming Pavilion?"


    "The reliance of Immortal Farming Pavilion is Jiang Clan of Herbal Medicine Palace in Taixia Country. Herbal Medicine Palace is a top clan in Taixia Country, also the widely accepted head clan of people surnamed Jiang across Taixia Country. Many disciples of Jiang Clan have awakened the ancestral bloodlines of Immortal Farming Clan. They are born to have an affinity with plants. Jiang Clan is also doing various businesses about plants. 20% of the total medicines in big pharmaceutical factories, drug stores and Taixia Pharmacists Union come from Jiang Clan. Almost 1/3 of the seeds in the 6 warehouses of Class A cities across Taixia Country come from Jiang Clan of Herbal Medicine Palace..."


    After hearing Uncle Zhong''s words, Zhang Tie took in a deep breath, ''20% of the total medicines in big pharmaceutical factories, drug stores and Taixia Pharmacists Union come from Jiang Clan. Almost 1/3 of the seeds in the 6 warehouses of Class A cities across Taixia Country come from Jiang Clan of Herbal Medicine Palace. What a business! It might be so-so in a small country or a subcontinent; however, it is in Taixia Country which contains so many Class A cities. Any demand would be astronomical. If a clan could account such a high percentage in such a huge market, it must have a great power.''


    The so-called head clan referred to the top clan of a family name. For instance, Jiang Clan of Herbal Medicine Palace was the head clan widely accepted by people surnamed Jiang. It indicated that all the clans surnamed Jiang across Taixia Country would follow the order of Jiang Clan of Herbal Medicine Palace; namely, Jiang Clan of Herbal Medicine Palace was the representative of all the people surnamed Jiang across Taixia Country. Sometimes, what the head clan of people surnamed Jiang expressed could represent the opinion of all the people surnamed Jiang across Taixia Country. If Jiang Clan of Herbal Medicine Palace held large-scale campaigns such as sacrificial rites in shrines, all the influential figures across Taixia Country surnamed Jiang would arrive. The Jiang Clan of Herbal Medicine Palace could enjoy the blessing of all the people surnamed Jiang across Taixia Country. Any head clan would definitely have a great position and influence.


    Theoretically, the number of head clans across Taixia Country should be equal to that of family names. Actually, not each family name across Taixia Country could have a head clan. A head clan had to meet the following three conditions; first, someone in this clan should awaken the most powerful and typical heavenly-level even Immortal-level ancestral bloodline of their own ancestors and could reappear the glory of their ancestors; additionally, this bloodline could be inherited generation by generation in the same clan; second, this clan should have an overwhelming influence and power among all the other clans of the same family name; if a lonely person or someone in a small family awakened the most powerful and typical ancestral bloodline, of course, their clan could not become a head clan; third, the clan should win the identification of those major clans and those influential figures who shared the same family name with them. Only after meeting the above three conditions could a clan become a head clan. It would take a clan dozens of years'' hard efforts to become a head clan.


    The first condition explained why many major clans across Taixia Country such as Huaiyuan Palace would value bloodline inheritance so much. Because ancestral bloodlines were the core of the cohesiveness and influence of a clan and stairs through which a clan could reach a higher position.


    Jiang Clan of Herbal Medicine Palace was the head clan of people surnamed Jiang across Taixia Country. However, there was not a head clan for people surnamed Zhang across Taixia Country. It didn''t mean that Zhang Clan in Taixia Country couldn''t match Jiang Clan in influence and position. As a major family name in Taixia Country, people surnamed Zhang definitely outnumbered people surnamed Jiang across Taixia Country. Actually, Zhang Clans had the greatest population in Taixia Country. Top Zhang Clans also accounted for a greater percentage than other clans among the top clans in Taixia Country, such as Tianlu Palace, Guanying Palace and Bairen Palace. Any top Zhang Clan could match Jiang Clan of Herbal Medicine Palace. Because there were too many major Zhang Clans across Taixia Country, it was hard for them to select a head clan.


    If Tianlu Palace wanted to be the head clan of people surnamed Zhang, Guanying Palace and Bairen Palace would not agree for sure. Similarly, if Guanying Palace or Bairen Palace wanted to be the head clan, Tianlu Palace would not agree either. None of them could overwhelm the other two; therefore, people surnamed Zhang Tie didn''t have a head clan. However, it wasn''t an exaggeration to say that the reputation of the head clan was almost the ultimate target of those top Zhang Clans in Taixia Country.


    ¡ª¡ªWithout grasping an emperor-level secret cultivation method, a major clan would never become the royal households of Taixia Country. However, if a major clan, especially a major clan of a major family name could become a head clan, they would be able to influence hundreds of millions of people of the same family name across Taixia Country; enjoy the reverence of people of the same family name across Taixia Country and make their ancestors illustrious and their descendants honorable. They would definitely be on the equal footing with the royal households of Taixia Country as the most prestigious ones. Although they were not imperial clans, they could definitely match imperial clans.

 1145 Immortal Farming Pavilion

    Chapter 1145: Immortal Farming Pavilion


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Is this Immortal Farming Pavilion?"


    2 hours later, walking with Zhang Tie on a street of Gold and Power Market, Bai Suxian turned around and watched the Immortal Farming Pavilion with full of curiosity in his eyes.


    The street was not the main road of Gold and Power Market. It was a bit reluctant to call it a street; precisely, it was more like a slightly spacious lane.


    Compared to the bustling people on the other streets of Gold and Power Market, this place was relatively quieter. Although this street was not wide, because vehicles and mounts were forbidden in Gold and Power Market, even the minister of justice of Taixia Country had to walk in Gold and Power Market; therefore, it was not noisy here.


    "This is Immortal Farming Pavilion, the only Immortal Farming Pavilion in Gold and Power Market!" The 11 years old boy who led Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian here said firmly; at the same time, he looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes as if he was afraid that they would repudiate a debt.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he flicked a gold coin at this boy, "Thanks for your hard work!"


    "Thanks, childe, if you two have other needs, just find me, little six at the Dui Gate of Gold and Power Market. If you want to go other places today, I will serve you for free!" The boy revealed a big smile as he took Zhang Tie''s gold coin and put it in a pocket under his coat. Closely after that, he bowed towards Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian and slid away as nimbly as a monkey.


    Treasures Meeting was the grand meeting of knights, rich businessmen and many children from common clans. Many kids had already poured into Gold and Power Market and gathered at those entrances of Gold and Power Market. Gold and Power Market was as large as a small city. If outsiders couldn''t find a place, they could fetch a kid casually who would be very pleased to lead them to the destination. During the period of Treasures Meeting, those who visited Gold and Power Market were not commoners; they were all generous in expenditure. Gold coins were nothing different than copper coins in their eyes. Like Zhang Tie, they would spend 1 gold coin as a tip casually, which would surprise these kids a lot.


    After what happened yesterday, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian didn''t enter Qian Gate today; instead, they got off the vehicle at the Dui Gate. At the sight of their brilliant clothes and unusual looks, a lot of kids ran towards them immediately and wanted to be their guide. This boy called little six was smarter as he directly called Bai Suxian sister. Being satisfied by this appellation, Bai Suxian immediately selected this boy as their guide.


    Zhang Tie was also watching the Immortal Farming Pavilion. At least from its look, Zhang Tie couldn''t identify that it was the residence of Jiang Clan of Herbal Medicine Palace. Besides being tranquil, it looked more like a courtyard of a common family. However, the three words "Immortal Farming Pavilion" looked a bit interesting as they were not inscribed on the top of the gate, but on a huge rock at the gate. The huge rock was in the shadow. Alongside that huge rock, there was a small artificial rockery while water was flowing down the rockery. The huge rock was covered with thick green mosses which formed three words "Immortal Farming Pavilion".


    People came and went. It seemed that this place still didn''t lack business although being located in such a remote place. ''Good wine needs no bush.''


    "Let''s take a look inside!" Zhang Tie told Bai Suxian with a smile. Bai Suxian nodded tamely as she followed Zhang Tie in.


    The moment they entered the gate, Zhang Tie had caught sight of the colorful peony powders, pink, red, purple, yellow, green, black and white. It was really dazzling. Smelling the fragrance of the peony and watching the peonies in full blossom in the garden, Zhang Tie became a bit amazed. ''According to my knowledge, peony always blooms in May or June; however, it''s already November. How could these peonies bloom in this season while there''s not a greenhouse? Jiang Clan is really something!''


    "I was told that one ancestral bloodline of Immortal Farming Clan that Jiang Clan awakened was called Flower Gentleman. After awakening this bloodline, they could allow flowers to bloom whenever they want. This peony blooms must be the meritorious service of Flower Gentleman of Jiang Clan. It''s the best live advertisement that could display Jiang Clan''s power..."


    Bai Suxian''s words entered Zhang Tie''s ears in a secret way. Zhang Tie blinked his eyes as he asked Bai Suxian, "Is there such an ancestral bloodline?"


    "The one who manages the imperial garden of the emperor''s imperial city in Xuanyuan Hill is a member of Jiang Clan. When a member of the Jiang Clan of Herbal Medicine Palace manages the imperial garden, whenever Emperor Xuanyuan visited the garden, Jiang Clan would allow various flowers in the imperial garden to bloom in an order. Even Emperor Xuanyuan had praised the beautiful blooms in the imperial garden. Don''t you know that?"


    Zhang Tie indeed didn''t know about that. However, Bai Suxian''s words reminded Zhang Tie of the scene when he arrived at Ice and Snow Wilderness for the second time and allowed all the golden sea buckthorns to bloom over Ice and Snow Wilderness for the sake of propaganda. Of course, the scene shocked those Slavs and believers of Ancient God Church too much; however, Steward Guan Xiyi of Golden Roc Bank on his side was not amazed by that too much; neither did he treat Peter as a God. At that time, Zhang Tie even thought that Steward Guan Xiyi just pretended to be calm or didn''t believe in God. Given Bai Suxian''s words, Zhang Tie realized that Guan Xiyi must have already owned all the marvelous phenomena through which Peter had awakened some ancestral bloodlines such as Flower Gentleman. Therefore, Guan Xiyi looked that calm.


    Bai Suxian''s words relieved a puzzle that had existed in Zhang Tie''s mind a few years ago.


    After they talked for a short while, a young woman in green clothes had walked towards them in a lightsome way with a smile, "Hi, may I help you?"


    "Hmm, I want to do some business with Jiang Clan. Buy some seeds!" Zhang Tie replied frankly.


    The woman in green clothes glanced at Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian before nodding, "Please follow me!"


    Under the guidance of that woman in green clothes, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian entered a relatively independent yet tranquil room on the side of the peony garden. After making a cup of tea for Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian respectively and telling them that a steward would come here to negotiate with them about the details after a short while and confirmed that they didn''t have any other demand, the young woman left in a lightsome way.


    After the woman left, the room was filled with the fragrance of tea water. Zhang Tie sniffed and had a sip before finding that they were served with the top-quality wild spring tea water.


    Speaking of the value, the two cups of tea water in front of Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian was far more valuable than 1 gold coin that Zhang Tie gave to the boy just now. The woman in green clothes had sharp eyes. She could identify that Bai Suxian was a knight. Now that Bai Suxian behaved tamely in front of Zhang Tie, the woman realized that Zhang Tie was definitely not a commoner and it would not be a small business; neither would they come here to drink tea for free; therefore, she brought Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian here.


    The woman was not very beautiful; however, she behaved in a good manner when she received Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian. Although being smart, she didn''t display it; therefore, Zhang Tie felt pretty comfortable as he sighed with emotion inside, ''That''s what a top clan should be! Given its look, the entire Immortal Farming Pavilion has nothing to do with magnificence; however, the peony garden and the two cups of wild spring tea water felt rich and dignified in simple life like what a real major clan should be! It seemed that all the major clans in Taixia Country liked this style. Those who wanted to show that they were rich were all nouveau riches.


    It was not a big room; however, it was arranged in a plain and elegant way. The only decoration on the wall was a clear and beautiful calligraphic work of the poem "Common Flowers will wither".


    ¡ª¡ª


    Common flowers and grasses will wither sooner or later, only the beautiful peony still blooms in this morning;


    The scarlet flowers being covered with dew slightly incline like having drunk too much sweet alcohol, leaving their beautiful looks to the late spring;


    I appreciate it until sunset while the warm spring wind wavers the leaves constantly;


    The rich fragrance of peony blooms enters the room from the window as if it is having a blind date with the people lying on the bed silently.


    When Zhang Tie was having tea water and tasting the realm of the poem "Common flowers will wither", a spirited old man entered the room. After sitting squarely in front of Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian, he revealed a genial smile, "This humble old man is Jiang Yu, one steward of Immortal Farming Pavilion, I was told that you wanted to buy some plant seeds from Immortal Farming Pavilion?"


    "Yes, I want to buy some plant seeds!" Zhang Tie replied.


    "May I know what kind of plant seeds do you want and how many do you want, childe?" The old man asked.


    "Do you have all the seeds that I want?"


    Jiang Yu picked up his teacup and had a sip before saying, "We could provide you all the seeds as long as you could name or draw them..."


    The so-called arrogant demeanor didn''t mean that you had to squint at someone or sneer at him. Like what this old man did, having a sip of tea water before telling you that we could provide you with all the seeds that you could name or draw. This was the real arrogant demeanor.


    "I want a plant seeds bank which contains all the plant seeds that you could provide!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile. He didn''t feel disgusted about the arrogance of Jiang Clan; instead, he appreciated it very much. The more arrogant Jiang Clan was, the more possible would this business be made. That was what Zhang Tie wanted.


    Jiang Yu didn''t feel amazed by Zhang Tie''s words. Zhang Tie was not the first one who proposed such a requirement to Herbal Medicine Pavilion. Because more and more major clans across Taixia Country would like to store seeds in the past one year, Jiang Clan''s business was growing better. Overall, this might not a good omen; however, it was just a business; now that the customers arrived, it was not reasonable for them to refuse the customers. Who could predict what would happen in the future?


    "Do you want all the plant seeds except for grain seeds?"


    "Yes, all of them!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Jiang Yu became slightly spirited as he straightened up his body a bit more and said, "Jiang Clan could provide you 513,697 plant seeds, 125,471 among which come from the Earth-elements Realm, 39,817 among which were aquatic plant seeds from freshwater and salt water. These plant seeds cover all the categories of plants that humans have discovered till now. It''s only 192 special plant seeds less than the seeds bank of the Finance Ministry of Taixia Country..."


    ...

 1146 The Business

    Chapter 1146: The Business


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After staying in the Immortal Farming Pavilion for less than half an hour, Zhang Tie had already closed this deal. After paying for half of the total expenditure as the down payment and signing a contract with Immortal Farming Pavilion, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian left.


    The contract value of this seeds bank was 3.1 million gold coins, which included the freight. After a month, Herbal Medicine Palace would transport these plant seeds to Xuantian City of Iron-Dragon Sect. These plant seeds didn''t include over 90 extremely rare ones such as fiery-flame lotus seed, golden glossy ganoderma seed and dragon-digesting grass seed and mutated ones.


    After finishing this task, Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside. Previously, Zhang Tie constantly teleported plant seeds into Castle of Black Iron. However, there were only tens of thousands of kinds of plant seeds in Castle of Black Iron, which was far less than that provided by Immortal Farming Pavilion. The plant seeds provided by Immortal

 1147 Abandoning One Though

    Chapter 1147: Abandoning One Thought


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Semi-jade Pavilion sold over 200 dazzling secret books including dos, methods, techniques, flows and skills. It was said to have the most kinds of incomplete secret books across Taixia Country. Looking at so many secret books on the brochure, Zhang Tie felt dazzled. Fortunately, he had not seen the virtual objects of these secret books. He only needed to select what he wanted from the brochure.


    ''What a Gold and Power Market!'' Zhang Tie sighed with emotion when he read the introductions, ''Perhaps only Xuanyuan Hill could have such a great store!''


    According to the introduction, the secret books here were for sale; actually, it meant that the buyer could accept enlightenment only once. The buyer could not impart the secret method that he bought here to the others. If one really wanted to buy an incomplete secret method from here, the price would be pretty high.


    Zhang Tie remembered that the Robust Ox Skill that he bought in the black market of Selnes Theater of Operations only cost him 10,000 gold coins; however, the same incomplete secret method in Semi-jade Pavilion would cost him 120,000 gold coins. The enlightenment fee for one time of Robust Ox Skill would be 1,200 gold coins. As for commoners, both 120,000 gold coins and 1,200 gold coins were not small figures. Even the value of this kind of secret method dropped greatly in the life or death situation facing Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie still felt that the incomplete secret methods in Semi-jade Pavilion were a bit expensive.


    Of course, Zhang Tie would buy the entire incomplete secret method. As an earth knight, if he accepted others'' enlightenment here, it would be a joke and ruin his reputation to a certain degree.


    Incomplete secret skills were the cheapest ones in this store. The prices of incomplete secret dos, methods, techniques and flows would rise by times one level after another. Even the cheapest secret flows would be priced at 300,000 gold coins; enlightenment for one time would also reach 3,000 gold coins. The price of enlightenment was 1/100 of that of the entire incomplete secret method.


    After skimming over the prices of these secret books, Zhang Tie realized why Confucianism was treasured so much in Taixia Country. Because a commoner could barely learn any senior secret books or battle skills without a mater. The prices of these secret books would make people from common clans breathless.


    Those major clans and sects would not favor these secret books. Because these secret books could not help people promote to knights. However, although Taixia Country was so big with such a large population, there were only very few knights. Those clans and sects with knights would be at least local magnates. Below these magnates, there were still huge demands for secret books on different levels. Not everyone was thinking about promoting to a knight. This also explained why these secret books could exist.


    Like commodities, sutras were top luxuries. Not everyone could enjoy such top luxuries. Therefore, people with poorer purchasing capabilities would choose similar commodities of different levels below these top luxuries. That explained why dos, methods, techniques, flows and skills existed in the market.


    Those joining Fire-Dragon Sect could have a chance to learn Fire-Dragon Sutra ; however, youngsters living in small villages such as Xujia Village might only learn a bit Heavenly Blue Technique . Those major clans and sects which owned secret sutras could also control the dissemination of their own secret sutras through enlightenment in case that outsiders learned them. Of course, disciples in major sects could learn secret books which could help them promote to knights; however, would every soldier in the army learn secret books that could help them promote to knights? Of course not. In the army, the simplest secret books that could help most of the soldiers promote to LV 9 or LV 10 were the best.


    Besides armies, rural areas, towns, small cities or sparsely populated clans also required secret books on different levels. Anyone who could get hang of secret techniques or flows would be qualified to enroll apprentices and thrive their clans.


    In Semi-jade Pavilion, even secret flows were divided into different ranks. The more complete the secret book and its attached battle skills were and the more surging points it would ignite, the expensive it would be.


    If Zhang Tie didn''t have the special imitation ability of "King Roc Sutra", he would definitely ignore such secret books like Bai Suxian. However, with this special ability and the marquis-level Fire Dragon Sutra , Zhang Tie became picky even if he came here especially for those attached complete battle skills of those secret books. Zhang Tie almost ignored all the secret books below marquis because it was meaningless for him.


    After sifting those secret books for about 1 hour, Zhang Tie became a bit disappointed. He was too optimistic. Among over 200 secret books in the Semi-jade Pavilion, there was only one incomplete secret book above marquis-level being attached with complete battle skills, namely Shocking God Sutra. This sutra could light 281 surging points. It contained two battle skills, namely "Shocking God Swordsmanship" and "Shocking God Flight Skill". No more senior secret books being attached with complete battle skills could be found in the Semi-jade Pavilion. Although there were duke-level and throne-level secret books, they were severely incomplete. Two secret methods and three secret flows were not even attached with a battle skill.


    ''What could they be used for? The complete version of Shocking God Sutra is not as advanced as Fire Dragon Sutra . Even if I spend great efforts to recover the complete version of this secret book and get hang of the Shocking God Flight Skill , would it be more powerful than the Fire Dragon Flowing Light Skill ? Would the Shocking God Swordsmanship surpass the Fire Dragon Burning Heavens Spear Skill ?''


    This Shocking God Sutra was useless for Zhang Tie. The other incomplete secret books lacked corresponding battle skills, which Zhang Tie would not be interested in. He had already learned an emperor-level secret sutra; the only regret was that he had not grasped the corresponding battle skills of the emperor-level secret sutra, how could Zhang Tie be interested in these rubbishes?


    ''I could not always have a good luck. There''re not too many duke-level and throne-level incomplete secret books being attached with complete battle skills in this world that could be further developed by me.'' Zhang Tie abandoned the thought that occurred to his mind in Xujia Village.


    "I will take this one!" Zhang Tie didn''t reveal his disappointed feeling; instead, he just pinched his nose as he selected a secret book on the brochure of Semi-jade Pavilion.


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t select the Shocking God Sutra; instead, he just chose an inferior count-level Double-moon Flow which included Crescent Hook Skill and Moon Shadow Movements . Zhang Tie chose this secret book because it was much cheaper. He just patched up his lie in front of Bai Suxian. Of course, it was unnecessary for him to spend too much money in vain.


    "Childe, are you going to take this Double-moon Flow ?" A steward of Semi-jade Pavilion asked Zhang Tie.


    "Yes, I will take this Double-moon Flow !"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie even felt a bit pitiful. Thankfully, over 400,000 gold coins were nothing for him. He just took it as an experiment. Even if this experiment failed, at least he would learn that this way didn''t work! If he couldn''t find any proper secret book in Semi-jade Pavilion of Gold and Power Market, he would not find it in any other place.


    "Alright, Childe, please wait for a short while. I will bring it back!"


    The steward stood up and left.


    "Why did you choose this one? I think the Shocking God Sutra is better!" Bai Suxian asked Zhang Tie out of curiosity.


    "Big mouthfuls often choke. I bought this incomplete secret book only to learn its attached battle skills. I want to see whether I could have a gnosis from them. I don''t know whether this way works or not. I will have a try. If it indeed works, I will buy others back here. It won''t take me too much time. If it doesn''t work, I will abandon this thought!" Zhang Tie explained with a solemn look.


    Bai Suxian nodded.


    Not until Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian waited in the reception room for almost 10 minutes when Bai Suxian became a bit impatient, someone else swaggered in the room. It was the guy with a long face and sparse beard whom Zhang Tie slapped twice at the Qian Gate yesterday.


    Although this guy''s face had been daubed with ointment, it still looked a bit red and swollen.


    At the sight of this guy, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian had frowned. However, this guy just watched Zhang Tie like a small man intoxicated by success.


    "I''m sorry, Double-moon Flow is running out stock in Semi-moon Pavilion !


    The moment Bai Suxian heard that guy''s words, her eyebrows had raised as she smashed onto the table and sprung up before roaring, "There was one just now; why it''s running out of stock now? Where''s the steward? Call him out. If you dare play trick in front of your grandma, this grandma will demolish your goddamn store."


    Bai Suxian''s fury and tantrum scared that guy one step back. That guy swallowed his saliva forcefully before sneering while stretching out his neck, "I''m the boss of Semi-jade Pavilion. If I say no, it''s a no. If you want one, pay me 5 million gold coins..."


    "You...it was worth less than 500,000 gold coins just now; how it skyrocketed by 10 times now?" Bai Suxian who had not been ripped off since young raised her hand. Before she slapped that guy''s face, Zhang Tie who had been watching with a distant look on one side had already stood up and caught her wrist, "Let''s go..."


    "But..."


    Before Bai Suxian said anything, Zhang Tie had already stridden out of the store by pulling her hand, leaving the guy with long face and sparse beard standing in the original place; opening his mouth, he looked like a clown who had just gone on to the stage; before he started his performance, he found that all the audience had already left; therefore, he became embarrassed...

 1148 Folding Wings and Lowering Body

    Chapter 1148: Folding Wings and Lowering Body


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Until Zhang Tie pulled Bai Suxian out of the Gate of Semi-jade Pavilion for a short while did he release Bai Suxian''s hand.


    Bai Suxian was still furious as she shouted, "That son of a bitch is too abominable. Why not give him a lesson?"


    "They''re waiting for us to fight them!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    "What do you mean?"


    "As long as one of us couldn''t stand to launch a fight, those guards outside the gate would rush in at once. In the chaos, as long as one of them died there, we might have to die for the dare-to-die fighter raised by others. In Xuanyuan Hill, even knights would face the death penalty after killing a person." Zhang Tie revealed a cold smile.


    "I will see whether they dare do that or not!" Bai Suxian shouted out of fury as she almost goggled out her eyes.


    "You''re the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, of course, they dare not do that to you. They''re aiming at me. I''ve not imagined that Semi-jade Pavilion is under the direct control of Gold and Power Market. I''m afraid that Han Yuanhong has already known the moment we entered Semi-jade Pavilion. Therefore, he set a fatal trap for me. In others'' store, they could price their goods as high as they want. After all, we''ve not closed the deal yet. If we kill people out of fury because we fail to close the deal, we are not justified; we would even lose our lives for that. That guy has already arrived there half an hour ago. He''s not there alone as 10 more people went there together with him. All the guards outside the gate of Semi-jade Pavilion have been changed into his dare-to-die fighters. As long as we started a fight, they would rush in at once and make it severe. Someone would die for sure. As for those guests who entered the store 20 minutes ago, one of them was a knight. As their witness, he pretended to purchase secret books on our neighboring room!"


    Although Zhang Tie was in the reception room, he could sense almost everything in the neighborhood with his knight''s consciousness. The moment that guy whom he slapped yesterday entered the room to offend them, Zhang Tie had realized the opponent''s arrangement and vicious trick. If he was a hot-blooded or a bit impulsive young man, he would fall into their trap the moment he started a fight.


    The small Semi-jade Pavilion contained such a killing intent. They even wanted to screw an earth knight. How many people could bear such a trick? The only thing that was out of Zhang Tie''s opponent''s imagination was that Zhang Tie who had a pretty bad temper yesterday was actually always good-tempered. Additionally, Zhang Tie was very scrupulous in crisis. He could always identify the trick rapidly. Being silent, Zhang Tie just pulled Bai Suxian away. Therefore, the opponent''s following tricks became useless...


    Just now, Bai Suxian didn''t figure out the trick; therefore, she was furious. After hearing Zhang Tie''s analysis, she changed her face at once as she felt chilly inside. Even being a female, Bai Suxian also knew that many heroes who had experienced many great battles were finally screwed by small sinister figures. Actually, what happened just now was very dangerous.


    Although being bustling on the street, who could imagine that an earth knight was almost screwed by someone here a few minutes ago? Even the winter sunshine in Xuanyuan Hill could not drive away Bai Suxian''s chilliness.


    "I will demolish that godd*mn store right now!" Bai Suxian was driven extremely mad.


    "Hahaha, if you demolish their store, you have to compensate for that. If you kill someone, you will have trouble. Even if you don''t compensate for that, they will ask your dad for the compensation. They''re gaining the upper hand. If we''re tricked, we will lose!"


    "Will we just let them go?"


    "We still have time!"


    After buying a seeds bank and strolling in Semi-jade Pavilion for a while before encountering such an annoyance, Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie both lost their interest in wandering in Gold and Power Market. Therefore, they directly left there. After considering the strengths of what happened just now for a short while, Zhang Tie found that he didn''t need to pay hundreds of thousands of gold coins in vain anymore; additionally, he abandoned the thought of getting some complete senior secret books easily. As for whether he could gain some senior secret books in the future, it depended on his fortune.


    ...


    Soon after Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian left Gold and Power Market, Han Yuanhong had received the information in Treasures Complex. Watching that person kneeling down in front of him with a flurried look, Han Yuanhong even comforted that guy with a long face and sparse beard, "You''ve already tried your best. But I''ve not imagined that Cui Li could be so scrupulous and could seek through our trap. It''s nothing serious. He''s just an earth knight. We''ve got many chances to deal with him in the future. We still have time!"


    ...


    "We still have time!"


    Both Cui Li and Han Yuanhong said the same words in the end.


    ...


    2 days later, in a small special auction...


    "The No. 17 space-teleportation equipment, 7,200 earth-element crystals one time, 7,200 earth-element crystals second time, 7,200 earth-element crystals third time...close the deal!"


    When the auctioneer knocked onto the metal stand by a small hammer, Mountain Lifting Hermit''s face turned completely white...


    Sitting close to Mountain Lifting Hermit, Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside. Bai Suxian also looked at Mountain Lifting Hermit with a sympathetic expression. The bottom price of that average space-teleportation equipment was only 800 earth-element crystals. Who could imagine that its transaction price could be 9 times more than that of its bottom price? It''s far more than its market price in late years and out of Mountain Lifting Hermit''s purchasing power.


    Previously, Mountain Lifting Hermit had full confidence in getting this space-teleportation equipment. These two days, Mountain Lifting Hermit had sold all of his collections in Gold and Power Market; plus his savings, he accumulated 7,100 earth-element crystals in total. Unexpectedly, he still failed to gain that space-teleportation equipment.


    In the beginning, over 10 people joined the competition for this space-teleportation equipment. After some rounds of quotations, when the quotation of this space-teleportation equipment surpassed 4,000 earth-element crystals, most of the people gave it up, except for two people who raised the quotation of this space-teleportation equipment to 5,500 earth-element crystals. When Mountain Lifting Hermit quoted 5,600 earth-element crystals, the two people gave it up. The one who competed with Mountain Lifting Hermit to the end was a person in the front of the auction. When others quoted, that person didn''t quote. When Mountain Lifting Hermit quoted alone, that one would definitely add 100 more earth-element crystals on the basis of Mountain Lifting Hermit''s quotation.


    The final quotation of Mountain Lifting Hermit was 7,100 earth-element crystals when Zhang Tie found Mountain Lifting Hermit clenching his fists. However, the moment Mountain Lifting Hermit finished his last quotation, the other bidder quoted 7,200 earth-element crystals without any hesitation.


    At this moment, Mountain Lifting Hermit refused Zhang Tie''s good intention about lending him earth-element crystals. Therefore, he just watched that space-teleportation equipment being taken away by the other bidder after the auctioneer inquired them three times.


    Even Bai Suxian felt that Mountain Lifting Hermit was a bit miserable. However, she didn''t know how to comfort him; neither did Zhang Tie know how to tell him. Actually, Zhang Tie had many space-teleportation equipment; however, as an earth knight, Mountain Lifting Hermit had his dignity and persistence and could not be easily humiliated.


    At this moment, the guy who had been competing with Mountain Lifting Hermit in front of them turned around and revealed a pleasant smile towards the three people as if he had won a battle.


    However, Mountain Lifting Hermit loosed his fist at this moment as he forced a smile and said in a hoarse voice, "Let''s go!"


    Although there were other items to be auctioned, Mountain Lifting Hermit didn''t want to stay here anymore.


    The three people then left their seats.


    When they left the auction hall, passing through a winding corridor and was going to leave the Secret Items Pavilion, Han Yuanhong appeared in front of them with the space-teleportation finger ring that Mountain Lifting Hermit had been bidding for just now in hand. He tossed the finger ring like a toy as he watched Zhang Tie, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Bai Suxian with a commanding look.


    "Don''t you want to look at it? I''m so sorry. I found this space-teleportation equipment was delicate and could be used as a gift, I''ve not imagined that I disrupted your plan. There''s some more space-teleportation equipment in the auction, if you lack earth-element crystals, just let me know. As we''re all Hua knights, it''s my pleasure to give you a favor, hahahahaha..."


    Mountain Lifting Hermit who had been reluctant to part with that space-teleportation finger ring threw a deep glance at Han Yuanhong. Without even looking at the item in Han Yuanhong''s hand, he directly passed by Han Yuanhong with a glassy-eyed look. Bai Suxian wanted to lose her temper; however, Zhang Tie pulled her away.


    Bai Suxian suppressed her anger as she threw a glare at Han Yuanhong. Zhang Tie revealed a smile as if he had not seen such a person in front of him.


    Watching the three people passing by with glassy-eyed looks, Han Yuanhong''s sneer frozen at once...


    ...


    The three people directly left the Treasures Complex.


    "What a bullsh*t place! I will never come here again. It''s disgusting..." Bai Suxian said out of fury.


    "Elder brother, where are you heading for?" Zhang Tie asked Mountain Lifting Hermit, "If elder brother is free lately, how about returning to Youzhou Province with us in a few days?"


    "There''s always a way. If it doesn''t work here, it doesn''t mean that it won''t work in other places!" Mountain Lifting Hermit gradually recovered his composure. He even talked to Zhang Tie with a smile, "I prepare to try my fortune in Taiyi City. The largest trading center of secret pearls is located in that city. Knights who come back from Earth-elements Realm would exchange their secret pearls for money over there. With these earth-element crystals, I want to try my fortune by buying some secret pearls over there. After I get a space-teleportation, I will come for you in Youzhou Province!"


    ''Is there a place for trading secret pearls in Taixia Country?'' Zhang Tie bore the name of Taiyi City deep in mind. The moment he heard this name, Zhang Tie had realized that this city might be related to Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    "Elder brother, when do you prepare to go there?"


    Mountain Lifting Hermit looked up at the night being covered with stars as he took in a deep breath and said, "I''d rather choose now than selecting a day..."


    ...


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian saw off Mountain Lifting Hermit out of Xuanyuan Hill.


    When an eagle was going to launch a strike, it would fold its wings and lower its body; when a fierce beast was going to charge at a prey, it would lower its head and body.


    ''Could I match a bird or a beast?''


    Watching Mountain Lifting Hermit flying towards afar as fast as a lightning bolt, Zhang Tie asked himself as he revealed a faint smile...


    9 days left, he could form 3 trouble-reappearance fruits at most...


    ...


    In the next one week, Zhang Tie didn''t go to Gold and Power Marke anymore. Each morning, he would feed birds; in the daytime, he would visit the scenic spots in Xuanyuan Hill with Bai Suxian. In the evening, he would cultivate quietly in his room. He didn''t meet those nuisances anymore.


    He formed one trouble-reappearance fruit per 3 days. Zhang Tie didn''t feel pitiful about that; instead, he treated the effect of trouble-reappearance fruits increasingly lighter.


    As for Zhang Tie, he only needed to make his utmost efforts to do that.


    On November 12th, Zhang Tie''s disciples finally came back to the manor of Lord Guangnan in Xuanyuan Hill after having fun for almost 2 weeks in Xuanyuan Hill. All of them were in great delights safe and sound.


    On November 13th, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian traveled across Fairy Lake in the daytime. In the evening, Zhang Tie formed a trouble-reappearance fruit at the fastest speed in his cultivation room. Closely after that, he entered the trouble-reappearance situation...


    Before entering the new trouble-reappearance situation, Zhang Tie''s mind settled as still water as he didn''t have any hope for that inside the trouble-reappearance situation anymore...

 1149 Hard Work Paying Off

    Chapter 1149: Hard Work Paying Off


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    How did the last trouble-reappearance fruit taste?


    In the trouble-reappearance situation, before Zhang Tie tasted the last trouble-reappearance fruit carefully, the LV 9 demon fighter had already rushed towards him with bloody eyes.


    Like how he did in former times, Zhang Tie shot out a battle qi by finger and blew up the demon fighter''s legs in a split second, sending its blood and flesh flying in all directions. As a result, his room was contaminated and was filled with a bloody smell.


    When the demon fighter fell onto the ground and roared miserably, Zhang Tie leisurely opened his room and went downstairs frankly. After coming to the parlor, he took a treasured sword from a wall before leaving the house.


    When Zhang Tie left the house, the LV 9 demon fighter who had lost its legs was still inching towards Zhang Tie by hands with bloody eyes while roaring miserably and gritting its teeth.


    It was still windy in the deep night in the manor. Besides that persistent demon knight''s miserable roars, it was quiet in the surroundings as before. This Xuanyuan Hill belonged to Zhang Tie himself.


    What he saw was almost as same as that in the former 4 times. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t expect that the last trouble-reappearance fruit could bring him any achievement. Zhang Tie had seen through it. If it was the same result as before, he had to use the directest method tomorrow. After all, as long as he could uproot Han Clan''s power from Xuanyuan Hill, he would be the winner. Even though he used the directest method, he would not lose a hair.


    Although the sword in his hand was for an appreciative purpose, nothing in the Lord Guangnan''s Manor in Xuanyuan Hill was common.


    This was a two-handed huge sword, which was 177 cm in length, 112 kg in weight and 15 cm in width. Being affected by LV 3 sharpness rune and firmness rune, it also had the splitting and freezing effects. This sword was definitely a competitive rune weapon, even for knights.


    Zhang Tie dropped off the sword while the sword suspended in front of him. Closely after that, Zhang Tie jumped onto the sword. Stepping on the broad sword''s body as if stepping on a skating board or a surfing board, he flew off the manor into the sky above Xuanyuan Hill. Almost in a split second, a jarring sonic boom that rocked the entire Xuanyuan Hill sounded above this city where there was only one person...


    If someone in Xuanyuan Hill saw Zhang Tie''s movement at this moment, they would definitely bow towards him out of worship as they would treat Zhang Tie as a sage-level knight or a legendary immortal.


    Over 1,000 m high in the sky, Zhang Tie stood leisurely on a huge sword. The sword broke 3 times that of the sound speed in the blink of an eye as fast as a lightning bolt, arousing constantly shrill sonic booms. Zhang Tie was standing on the huge sword as steady as Mount Tai with hands on his back leisurely, his clothes were swaying in the wind as if he was a poet strolling in a tranquil courtyard while looking up at the moons and thinking about poetry...


    These days, Zhang Tie had been folding his wings and lowering his body so as to give a fatal blow to Han Clan at any time. After enjoying with Bai Suxian in the daytime, Zhang Tie would train his flight ability as a divine dominator in the trouble-reappearance situation.


    Like a thin window, the flight ability as a divine dominator was soon grasped by Zhang Tie; additionally, Zhang Tie concluded some flight skills.


    This flight mode by stepping on a huge sword was the most pleasant and stylish way for a divine dominator. The benefit of this flight mode was that he could maintain a demeanor of an immortal. This flight mode was most destructive for commons. Its shortcoming was that Zhang Tie would have a great resistance when facing the wind and couldn''t reach the maximal flight speed of divine dominator.


    The second flight mode was the most secret flight mode. This flight mode required a pair of caligas with steel-plate soles or alloy materials, a metal waistband and two metal wristlets. In flight, he should control the caligas, metal waistband and metal wristlets at the same time for the optimal flight effect. Without the three types of equipment, he could also fly; however, it would not feel as comfortable and flexible as that with the three types of equipment.


    As the three equipments were usually worn by people, they would not arise people''s suspicion; this flight mode was most mysterious. He could use the three props to accelerate his speed at any time using the ability of divine dominator when in normal flight condition.


    The third flight mode had the highest efficiency. He wore a full-body metal armor which even covered his eyes. He manipulated this full-body metal battle armor using the ability of divine dominator. In this flight mode, with the protection of metal battle armor, Zhang Tie could easily reach the maximal flight speed using his ability as a divine dominator without even releasing his protective battle qi.


    What was the maximal flight speed under the control of divine dominator?


    Through numerous trials these days, Zhang Tie made a precise conclusion, based on his current spiritual energy level and knight''s level, he could at most reach 6 times that of the speed of sound, namely almost 4,700 miles per hour.


    This discovery and experience stunned Zhang Tie for quite a while.


    A few days ago, he was still thinking about breaking through the speed of sound using knights'' flight ability. However, a few days later, he had already broken through the sonic barrier using the ability of divine dominator and reached the flight speed of hypersonic aircraft before the Catastrophe.


    With the ability of divine dominator, he could reach 6 times that of the speed of sound. When he attacked with weapons alone using the ability of divine dominator, Zhang Tie himself couldn''t identify how fast the weapons moved. It would be far greater than 6 times that of the speed of sound. It was as fast as his consciousness. As long as he caught sight of the target, his attack would arrive as if the speed had broken through the limit of the physical rule.


    After studying the sharp difference between the flight speed using the ability of divine dominator and the attacking speed, Zhang Tie found that there might only be one reason, namely, the closer the objects under the control of divine dominator were to his body, the slower they would move. It seemed that there was an invisible line between those objects and his spiritual energy. If the objects were too close to his body, before they reached their maximal speed, they had been pulled back by that invisible line.


    6 times that of the speed of sound, namely, about 5,000 miles per hour. Zhang Tie had been satisfied by such a great flight ability very much. Even though this speed might be the maximal manned speed of divine dominator, Zhang Tie was also satisfied with it.


    Zhang Tie was not greedy. He had not even seen a person who could break through the speed of sound after he promoted to an earth knight. He could already break through 6 times that of the speed of sound now, of course, he was very satisfied with it. Zhang Tie didn''t know how fast a shadow knight could fly; however, he was sure that even a shadow knight could not reach 6 times that of the speed of sound in the sky.


    This speed would bring him a great advantage that could never be matched by commoners. It would even be a wholly new combat pattern for him, a combat mode that only belonged to a divine dominator. The difference between this advantage and knights were like that between powerful horse archers and common infantries. The striking ability and maneuver speed of this flight mode were overwhelming.


    3 times that of the speed of sound was almost equal to 0.55 mile per second.


    The linear distance between Lord Guangnan''s Manor and Finance Minister''s Mansion in Xuanyuan Hill was almost 130 miles. As for Zhang Tie, such a distance only took him less than 4 minutes by flying on the huge sword and overlooking the entire Xuanyuan Hill.


    Under the control of Zhang Tie, the huge sword dove downwards like a spiritual living being silently and suspended only one stage''s height above the floor outside the study near the lotus pond of the Finance Minister''s Mansion. Zhang Tie then landed on the ground leisurely.


    The door of the study still closed. Zhang Tie pushed in. Closely after that, he threw a glance at the golden folder on the table as usual.


    Actually, Zhang Tie didn''t think that he could see any hope in the golden folder anymore. He just accomplished today''s task like completing a rite.


    Zhang Tie walked over there and unfolded the golden folder. An extremely plain and elegant invitation card was put on the top. This invitation card was utterly different than those invitation cards which especially pursued luxury and level; additionally, now that it could be put on the top, it indicated that it counted most in Han Zhengfang''s heart.


    Zhang Tie picked up that plain and elegant invitation card and opened it out of curiosity...


    There were only two short lines inside the invitation card.


    ¡ª¡ªBetween 5 pm to 7 pm on the 15th day of this lunar month, I invite Brother Han to have a drink in Sincerity Garden.


    ¡ª¡ªMeng Shidao.


    At the sight of that name, Zhang Tie narrowed his pupils. After a few seconds, he couldn''t stand bursting out laughing...

 1150 The 15th Day of This Lunar Month

    Chapter 1150: The 15th Day of This Lunar Month


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On the 15th day of the lunar November of the 903rd year of Black Iron Calendar, although people living in Xuanyuan Hill didn''t feel it was anything special, none of them could imagine that this day symbolized that Taixia Country was involved in the 3rd holy war between humans and demons in an all-round manner in the eyes of people dozens of years later.


    Although the holy war had started so many years ago, the battle flames and smokes in subcontinents had not extended Taixia Country on the Eastern Continent. Besides the disappearance of Emperor Xuanyuan and the riots of the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church which were annoying, commoners'' lives were not affected by the 3rd holy war during the past years.


    The 15th day of lunar November was an unusual sunny day.


    After getting up in the morning and having a bow of decoction of medicinal ingredients, Uncle Zhong felt much better after so many days'' recuperation; especially today, he felt like he was untroubled by the witch parasites anymore. Uncle Zhong felt pretty happy as he finally saw a bit of hope in curing the broken-gold witch parasites.


    When Uncle Zhong got up, Old Zhou, the boatman on the Golden Water River also got up. After cleansing up, Old Zhou stood in the courtyard which was planted with some peach trees and looked up at the clean, blue sky as he told his wife with a smile who was preparing breakfast for him, "It''s a good weather today. I guess more people would like to travel on the Golden Water River; if I''m fortunate, I could make another 2 gold coins!"


    "Watch out your health. Come back earlier!" The woman prepared the breakfast rapidly in the kitchen as she said.


    "As it''s the Treasures Meeting lately, I could make more than that I made in a week previously, it''s nothing to be a bit tired!"


    "You have to watch out your safety. Liu Hui told me that one of your guests fought a woman on a gaily-painted pleasure-boat and made a great trouble on the Golden Water River..." The boatman''s wife told him out of concern.


    "You don''t know that. Childe Cui and Miss Bai are dignitaries; especially Childe Cui. He''s like a river god. When the huge waves approached us, Childe Cui just stood on the prow. When I realized that the boat might be capsized, a water flow rose up and cupped the boat like a pair of hands steadily. I carried some knights before; however, it was my first time to meet such a great knight. 3 months later, I will have our 2nd son and his uncle go to Youzhou Province..."


    "Do you really believe in their words? The traveling expense between Youzhou Province and Xuanyuan Hill is high; additionally, they have to spend much time on the way..."


    Old Zhou touched that gold coin which was marked with Zhang Tie''s fingerprint in his pocket before saying, "This is a favorable fate, how could a man like Childe Cui play a joke with small figures like us? I think we could have a try. Our Zhou Clan might make our ancestors illustrious one day..."


    After hearing the boatman''s words, the woman in the kitchen became silent.


    After having breakfast with the peach bloom spirit and dried plums that were prepared by his wife at home, the boatman, with full of aspiration towards a bright future, left for a wharf on the Golden Water River where he fastened his boat to the cleats on the dock...


    ...


    When the boatman arrived at the wharf, a customized top black Faerie-dragon limo was slowly driving out of the Finance Minister''s Mansion in Xuanyuan Hill. A flock of sparrows on those peach trees outside the Finance Minister''s Mansion were tweeting. Han Zhengfang was watching those jubilant sparrows on the tips of twigs on the roadside in the car with a glassy-eyed look.


    Hearing the tweets, Han Zhengfang felt fretful unconsciously.


    Of course, the Finance Minister who attended myriad affairs daily would not lose temper to those sparrows that could be seen everywhere daily outside his mansion. What he was fretful was that his 2nd son had been missing for many days. Additionally, his 2nd son''s airboat was also missing, leaving no trace at all. Therefore, Han Zhengfang felt something bad out of his instinct.


    ''Did something bad happen to my 2nd son?'' Han Zhengfang had considered about this possibility; however, given the comprehensive intelligence, Han Zhengfang found Xuanyuan Hill was as normal as usual. The top 4 armies were still following the prescribed orders. The top three chancellors didn''t encounter any abnormal situations. Therefore, Han Zhengfang didn''t believe that his son could encounter any accident. ''Who dares do harm to my son across Taixia Country? Additionally, my 2nd son is not a weak scholar, he has a great aptitude and has already promoted to an earth knight. Besides, he''s protected by an earth knight, a black iron knight and so many bodyguards. As long as he shows his identity, he will face no obstacle wherever he is. How dare anyone find him trouble?''


    ''Is he having fun with a lot of women somewhere once again?''


    ''It''s possible; it''s probable.''


    However, even though Han Zhengfang convinced himself that his 2nd son was meddling with women somewhere, he still felt gloomy.


    After promoting to a knight, one''s perceptions and aspirations would be exceptional. The higher level a knight was, the stronger his sixth sense would be. Han Zhengfang felt that he might have ignored something and something was going to happen. However, he couldn''t figure it out; therefore, he felt fretful unconsciously.


    Being fretful, he didn''t feel good these days. Therefore, the entire Finance Minister''s Mansion in Xuanyuan Hill was repressed lately. All the officials and clerks in the Finance Minister''s Mansion behaved meticulously in case of any mistake.


    ''After Yuantu comes back, I will have his subordinates carry remote-sensing communications devices for sure in case of such an annoying condition!''


    The window of Faerie-dragon limo rose up quietly and blocked the vision from outside. Before the tweets disappeared, a whim occurred to Finance Minister''s mind.


    ''Oh, the master of royal prince invited me for a drink in Sincerity Garden today.''


    When Han Zhengfang thought about the old man on the back of the emperor''s imperial city, he tried his best to recover his composure.


    Without this old man on the back of the emperor''s imperial city, the three top chancellors might not feel safe leaving Xuanyuan Hill for an inspection.


    ...


    When Han Zhengfang went to the Finance Minister''s Authority for dealing with public affairs, the master of Sincerity Garden in the emperor''s imperial city was feeding carps leisurely on one side of the pond in his courtyard.


    The master of the Sincerity Garden was Meng Shidao. Few people might have heard this name, because nobody had dared call his name directly for dozens of years. In Xuanyuan Hill, everybody called him Master of Royal Prince. In other places, the name of Meng Shidao sounded like an identity for the Gobbling Party which was growing increasingly powerful. Meng Shidao was the leader of the Gobbling Party. The members of the Gobbling Party called their leader Daoshi.


    Daoshi, the master of universal laws.


    It was unimaginable that there was a place covering 66,600 square miles like an abandoned rural courtyard in the emperor''s imperial city.


    It was Sincerity Garden. There was no gardener, florist in the Sincerity Garden. There were only very few servants. Looking at it from outside, this garden was like an abandoned rural courtyard which lacked management. It was covered with weeds. There were only some wooden hedges around the garden. Some stray cats would drill into the garden through the gaps of the hedges and wallop in the weeds. However, all the people who were qualified to push open the hedge door and enter Sincerity Garden were influential figures in Xuanyuan Hill. Many dignitaries across Taixia Country were even glorious about having a chat with the master of Sincerity Garden.


    The universal laws were in nature; the sincere minds were close to the universal laws.


    When the master of Sincerity Garden told the royal prince about the source of Sincerity Garden, it caused a tide in Xuanyuan Hill. Someone meditated about it day after day; someone scrambled for it; someone was driven ecstatic.


    At this moment, the master of Sincerity Garden was feeding the carps in the pond in a dedicated way.


    After being dropped into the pond, the lifeless dough suddenly turned into vital white small fish, shrimps and insects swimming in the water in a split second like a magic, which could even dodge from the golden fish, making the shoal of carps boisterous.


    With a sound of "Pah", a 30-cm longer black carp slapped the water by its tail in order to chase after a small shrimp incarnated by a dough, wetting the master''s long gown with sprays. Closely after that, the black carp jumped into the gaps between stones on the side of the pond and was fixed there. The carp could only struggle in vain as it waved its tail and made the master''s clean cloth shoes and the lower hem of his long gown dirty with some mud.


    The master stopped dropping dough into the water. Watching the black carp struggling in the riprap while its scales were being scraped one bit after another, the master of Sincerity Garden slightly frowned. He looked at the waterlogging and mud stains over his shoes and gown and the black carp which had lost its strength to struggle in the riprap as his face gradually turned gloomy...


    At this moment, a huge stray cat suddenly charged out of the weeds on the side of the pond with sparkling eyes. It was attracted by the fishy smell and movements of the black carp. This huge stray cat was not afraid of people at all. It charged towards that riprap by leaps and bounds. Closely after that, it scratched the black carp for a few times, causing the black carp to struggle for a short while once again. The huge stray cat then bit the spine of the black carp before dragging it out of the riprap and darting towards the weeds nearby. As the carp was too huge, plus it was struggling, the huge stray cat couldn''t grip it by teeth and dropped it onto the ground. Then, the huge stray cat scratched it for a few times once again before biting its tail and slowly drawing it into the weeds far away from the pond...

 1151 Return of Zhang Tie

    Chapter 1151: Return of Zhang Tie


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    At 4 pm, all the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect had arrived at the airport outside Xuanyuan Hill and were ready for coming back to Youzhou Province by airboat.


    Lord Guangnan''s Mansion dispatched some vehicles to transport all of them to the airport. Zhang Tie said that they would leave at 4 pm; therefore, nobody dared to be late.


    All the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect came to Xuanyuan Hill empty-handed; however, many people left with sabers, swords, armors, rouge, medicaments, books, various bizarre objects as well specialties of subcontinents. All of them were jubilant. These days in Xuanyuan Hill were too cool for them. Zhang Tie gave them freedom and 1 million gold coins. Additionally, Zhang Tie requested them to spend the money in Xuanyuan Hill. What an understanding, generous and unique master! If not Bai Suxian was on one side, some female disciples of Zhang Tie would have kissed Zhang Tie''s face forcefully.


    Uncle Zhong came here to see off Zhang Tie, Bai Suxia

 1152 Frank Acceptance

    Chapter 1152: Frank Acceptance


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhu Dabiao rubbed his eyes by fingers in order to confirm that he didn''t have an illusion. The one sitting on the golden chair was such familiar. Zhu Dabiao just felt his head buzzing as he faintly opened his mouth and didn''t know what to say...


    Few of Zhang Tie''s disciples had noticed Zhu Dabiao''s expression. When those disciples entered the room and saw a strange young man sitting in the position of their master while Bai Suxian was standing silently on one side of that young man, the atmosphere froze at once. Everybody just gazed at Zhang Tie and his chair; someone had already looked furious.


    Standing in the front of all the other disciples, Liu Xing knew that all the others were waiting for him to make a response to this situation although he didn''t look back.


    "Uncle Master Bai, our master called us here. We wonder where''s our master?" Liu Xing threw a calm glance at Zhang Tie before asking Bai Suxian. However, before Bai Suxian replied, Liu Xing had slowed his manner of speaking and told Zhang Tie, "Little brother, you''re sitting on our master''s chair. You could not sit there casually. If you''re the customer of our master and Uncle Master Bai, you can sit here!". Liu Xing pointed at those rows of seats on one side of the room.


    Bai Suxian didn''t respond to Liu Xing''s words; instead, she just threw a glance at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile. Given his disciples'' facial expressions and the suddenly freezing atmosphere in the room, Zhang Tie had known that these disciples had accepted him from inside; especially Liu Xing, who treated Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie himself in a humble way. Therefore, Zhang Tie appreciated Liu Xing pretty much. What Zhang Tie felt pretty hilarious was Zhu Dabiao''s ''exaggerating'' expression as if he had seen a ghost. Zhang Tie''s two nephews Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze also looked very excited. When his two nephews saw him last time, they were only 7-8 years old. At that time, they could already remember his look. The sudden appearance of Zhang Tie shocked them too much. Zhang Chengze wanted to call him uncle; however, Zhang Chengxu stopped him by pulling his arm while throwing a glance at him. Zhang Chengze hurriedly stopped. Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze both watched Zhang Tie with amazing and suspicious looks...


    "Don''t do that. Wait a minute. I was told that people could casually change their look using the disguising skill. We still don''t know whether this man is the uncle or not!"


    Zhang Chengze whispered to Zhang Chengxu; however, no matter how low the voice was, it could not escape from Zhang Tie''s ears.


    "Liu Xing, can''t you recognize me?" Zhang Tie watched Liu Xing as he said in Cui Li''s voice.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s voice, Liu Xing and the other disciples behind him became restless at once. Liu Xing widely opened his eyes and looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes; closely after that, he quivered all over.


    This voice sounded too familiar. Even the qi in the voice was as same as that of Cui Li. More than that, even Zhang Tie''s sitting position and expression looked familiar...


    "Uncle Master Bai, what...what happened?" Liu Xing asked Bai Suxian.


    "He''s indeed your master!" Bai Suxian said as she threw a glance at Liu Xing and the other disciples. As she didn''t know how to explain it to these disciples, she just poked Zhang Tie''s back by finger as she said in a secret way, "Just clarify it to them!"


    On such an occasion, how could his disciples believe him only by words? Thankfully, Zhang Tie had long predicted about this situation and worked out a method. If these people were none of his business, it might take him some time to let these people believe that he was Cui Li. However, now that they were his disciples, it would be much simpler for him to prove his identity.


    Sitting on the golden chair, Zhang Tie flicked a curl of golden battle qi of spiritual energy towards his disciples. Before reaching his 121 disciples, it slightly vibrated and turned into 121 golden pedals before lurking into his disciples'' foreheads. At the same time, his disciples felt dazzled as if something entered their foreheads. Closely after that, the "mark of preach" that Fire Dragon Hermit pointed at their foreheads using gilding dragon-blood cinnabar rocked and gave out brilliant golden light. Everyone then saw sparkling golden light in front of them.


    Hua people valued master''s inheritance pretty much. In Taixia''s inheritance ceremony between master and disciples, putting in dragons with precious gilding dragon-blood cinnabar by a golden brush was an unnecessary step. When Zhao Yuan enrolled Zhang Tie as a disciple, the process was pretty simple; however, in official occasions, this step was very important. In inheritance ceremony, the master would leave a "mark of preach" in his disciples'' mind sea by mixing his spiritual energy and battle qi with precious gilding dragon-blood cinnabar and pointing it onto the forehead of his disciples. This "mark of preach" was unique for disciples which meant that their blood and fleshes originated from their parents and forebears while their ranks of cultivation benefited by their master.


    The disciples would appreciate their master so much like how they appreciated their parents for giving birth to them. After the step of putting in dragons with gilding dragon-blood cinnabar, the relationship between master and disciples would be confirmed.


    The one who could activate the "mark of preach" was the very one who once put the "mark of preach" into their mind sea. It was even more effective than a DNA test. Before the Catastrophe, even a DNA could be cloned; however, only one person could put in the "mark of preach" and activate it.


    After being shocked, Liu Xing and the other disciples confirmed Zhang Tie''s identity at once. It was Cui Li, Fire Dragon Hermit, also their master. Starting from Liu Xing, all the other disciples hurriedly knelt down, including Zhu Dabiao. No matter whether he knew this person sitting in front of him previously, now that this young man was his master, he had to show respect to him. The identity of a grandson of provincial governor didn''t work here in Iron-Dragon Sect.


    "Master, sorry for being rude..."


    It was regarded as a big crime if the disciples didn''t bow towards their master.


    "Stand up. You''re innocent as you didn''t know that. What happened today was not your fault either!" Zhang Tie said in Cui Li''s slightly hoarse and mature voice. Zhang Tie''s real voice sounded like that of a teenager which was even more tender than most of the disciples at present.


    After confirming their master''s identity, nobody felt this sound was strange anymore.


    Liu Xing and all the other disciples hurriedly stood up.


    "Master, have you disguised?" Liu Xing asked Zhang Tie bravely on behalf of his junior fellow and sister apprentices which was also what all the others wanted to know most.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "I''ve not disguised. This is actually my original look. Cui Li is my incarnation. Many among you might have heard my real name. I''m Zhang Tie, an elder of Huaiyuan Palace in Youzhou Province. I was screwed due to the tragedy in Fuhai City and was wanted by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country. When I was screwed and wanted, I had to hide my identity and look and escape everywhere. Now the Supreme Court of Taixia Country has already canceled off my order for arrest..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s original identity, more people among his disciples became as dumbfounded as Zhu Dabiao.


    ''My master Cui Li is Zhang Tie? The No. 1 black iron knight in Taixia Country? The black iron knight who wrote the article The Beloved Ones ? The main character of the Legend of Black Iron Hero? The Lion of Youzhou Province who once became especially outstanding in Youzhou City? The gentleman who was well-known across Taixia Country yet was screwed?''


    ''What is more important, he''s so young and handsome.'' Some female disciples had already cupped their hands at their hearts as they felt so happy that they almost passed out.


    The name Zhang Tie was much well-known than Cui Li even though when he was just a black iron knight.


    Although Cui Li was an earth knight, he had just been to Xuanyuan Hill and was strange to many people; however, the name Zhang Tie had been well-known in the knight''s world. Zhang Tie''s experiences could be legends of legends. He was really as brilliant as a superstar.


    All of the disciples became stunned. Although the 7 black-armor fighters were usually calm, they were also shocked too much by Zhang Tie''s words as they were going to fall down like stepping onto cotton or in the clouds.


    ''My master is Zhang Tie? My master is Zhang Tie?''


    "Uncle, nice to see your original look..." Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze had already rushed out of the crowd and kowtowed loudly several times in front of Zhang Tie before the others recovered their composure. When the two brothers raised their heads, their foreheads were already red while they burst out into tears...


    When they were at home, many people at home told them that their uncle was wronged. Their father Zhang Yang also told them that their uncle was the pillar of the Zhang family. The two boys grew up hearing the stories and legends about Zhang Tie told by their grandparents. Therefore, they had long treated Zhang Tie as their life idol and hero. The two brothers had not imagined that they could meet Zhang Tie at this moment. Being extremely thrilled, they didn''t even know what to say.


    After seeing what Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze did, the other two disciples from Huaiyuan Palace responded to it too, one male, one female. Closely after that, they walked out of the crowd and kowtowed loudly three times in front of Zhang Tie.


    "Elder Mushen, Zhang Yueshan...Zhang Yawei are glad to see you recover your look..."


    Zhang Tie was the hero of the Zhang family and Huaiyuan Palace. None of the disciples in Huaiyuan Palace would deny it...


    ...

 1153 Making Arrangements

    Chapter 1153: Making Arrangements


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After seeing the 4 people of Zhang family and Huaiyuan Palace walking out of the crowd and kowtowing in front of Zhang Tie, some smart ones finally understood why Zhang Clan enjoyed such a privilege in the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect. Zhang Clan was the only family that received two golden invitation cards and had 4 juniors being enrolled as the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect. In the beginning, they all thought that Fire Dragon Hermit especially favored the branch of Huaiyuan Palace in Jinwu City. Now they knew that they were of the same family. Of course, Fire Dragon Hermit would treat them better. That might also be the reason that Fire Dragon Hermit selected his bounty land in Youzhou Province.


    Zhang Tie''s disciples absolutely confirmed Zhang Tie''s identity. Before the "amazing" feeling faded away, they had become extremely excited when they remembered so many legends and stories about Zhang Tie.


    The Supreme Court had already canceled off Zhang Tie''s order fo

 1154 Silent Battle Flames

    Chapter 1154: Silent Battle Flames


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Have Cui Li and Bai Suxian left Xuanyuan Hill?"


    Han Yuanhong asked a subordinate when his eyebrows raised in the Treasures Complex of Gold and Power Market.


    Noticing the master''s expression, the one replied meticulously, "Yes, half an hour ago, Bai Suxian, Cui Li and the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect had already boarded their airboat at the airport in the north of Xuanyuan Hill. Closely after that, the airboat left Xuanyuan Hill for the north..."


    "Do you know where they are heading for?"


    After being a bit awkward, the one replied, "Hmm...I''ve not received the latest intelligence yet. Master, do you want to send a decree and have all the strength of Gold and Power Law keep a close eye on that airboat?"


    The master''s decree reflected the power and influence of masters in Gold and Power Law. After a master sent the decree, all the token owners, mountain owners, general directors and directors of Gold and Power Law across Taixia Country and abroad would coordinate with each other so as to meet the requirements and tasks in the master''s decree. In Gold and Power Law, the master''s decree was already a senior mobilization order.


    In a federal organization like Gold and Power Law, the master''s decree was not limitless. Master was neither major master nor Emperor Xuanyuan. One master could only send a few master''s decrees just like the tokens in his hand. The more they were used, the less there would be. After using up all the master''s decrees, the master had to exchange for it with his donation points in Gold and Power Law. The donation points in Gold and Power Law could not be made that easily.


    After a short consideration, Han Yuanhong shook his head as he said, "Cui Li is not stupid. He knows that he could not defeat me in Xuanyuan Hill; therefore, he could only escape far away. Whatever, he has to return to Iron-Dragon Sect. We have enough time to deal with him!"


    There was another reason that Han Yuanhong didn''t mention. Just now, the general steward of Lord Guangnan''s manor in Xuanyuan Hill came to the Treasures Complex in Gold and Power Market and bought some vials of medicaments. Although that general steward didn''t meet Han Yuanhong or talk with him, Han Yuanhong was clear that the general steward was here on behalf of Lord Guangnan''s manor in Xuanyuan Hill to not want his dad to offend Lord Guangnan openly. Therefore, he just ignored this thing for the time being.


    Not until now did Han Yuanhong feel that Cui Li, as an earth knight, could pose any threat to him.


    After waving his arm to let the subordinate leave here, Han Yuanhong looked outside the window and found it was already about 5 pm. He thought, ''My father should have already set for the Sincerity Garden. Of course, the master of the royal prince doesn''t invite my father only for a drink. In Xuanyuan Hill, everybody knows that the hedge around Sincerity Garden was the shortest. Very few people could enter it. The Emperor Xuanyuan is still missing; the royal prince acts as regent; the three top chancellors make a tour inspection far away from Xuanyuan Hill. Of course, my father, as one of the 9 ministers will be relied heavily on by the royal prince and the master of the royal prince. According to the current situation, my father could reach a higher position in the imperial court in the future. By then...'' Han Yuanhong fleered.


    ...


    Most of the people would have supper between 5 pm and 7 pm. Therefore, the master of Sincerity Garden invited Han Zhengfang to have a drink during this period.


    If Han Zhengfang just paid a visit to his ordinary friend, as long as he could arrive there during this period, he would not be regarded as discourteous; however, at the invitation of the master of the royal prince, Han Zhengfang dared not be late at all; neither would he lower his own position. Therefore, he arrived at the gate of Sincerity Garden by his Faerie-dragon limo at 5:15 pm.


    When Han Zhengfang got off, a humpbacked old servant, who had been waiting for him at the gate, pushed open the hedge door and invited Han Zhengfang in.


    "Thanks..." Han Zhengfang said like a gentleman.


    Trees, flowers, grasses and stones scattered in the garden disorderly. Stray cats were running back and forth. Even the path that led to the inside of the garden was unevenly paved with stones. Besides, there were pits here and there, which were filled with rainwater a few days ago.


    "Watch out, these ants are carrying food for tiding over winter. Don''t step on them!" The humpbacked old servant reminded Han Zhengfang about the cluster of ants before Han Zhengfang''s foot as if he didn''t know about the identity of Han Zhengfang.


    Han Zhengfang lowered his head as he saw an army of ants carrying two fingernail-sized bloody items in the gap of two stones. They looked like gills; however, as they were covered with dust, Han Zhengfang was not sure what they exactly were.


    The finance minister raised his foot and strode over those ants meticulously.


    In the eyes of outsiders, everything in Sincerity Garden looked disordered like a wasteland; however, in the eyes of Han Zhengfang, everything in this garden had reached the supreme realm like great arts concealing itself. Everything in the garden contained a Buddhist mood including the weeds, woods, a lonely flower among weeds, a piece of broken stone on one side of the hedge and a small water pit on the path. The essence of the great laws enlightened by the master of this garden was buried in this extremely unpretentious garden. Without reaching a realm, nobody could discover the specialty of this garden. Those who could figure out the specialty of this garden understood that this was the most valuable garden across Taixia Country; even the imperial garden in the imperial palace could not match this one. Even 100 courtyards of dignitaries couldn''t match a cluster of weeds in this garden. If a knight cultivated in this garden, his cultivation speed and insight might improve unconsciously.


    The universal laws lay in nature; the sincerest heart was close to the universal laws. It was not just a lip service. Without such an immortal means being resonated to the universal laws, how could Meng Shidao become outstanding among billions of people in Taixia Country as the master of the royal prince and the leader of the Gobbling Party?


    ...


    When Han Zhengfang entered the Sincerity Garden, some sparrows which were tweeting on a roadside tree outside Sincerity Garden flew away as they frolicked with each other.


    Han Zhengfang sensed that those sparrows flew off at such a coincidental moment. As there were so many secret knowledge in Taixia Country, it was hard to prevent them. Additionally, his 2nd son was still missing which made Han Zhengfang fretful unconsciously. Therefore, when Han Zhengfang entered the garden, he targeted on those sparrows with his knight''s consciousness and wanted to check their destination.


    Those sparrows fell on the eaves of an attic over 200 m away as they capered and tweeted over there.


    Han Zhengfang became reassured at once as he mocked himself and shook his head slightly, ''I''m oversuspicious. It''s just some birds; nothing to worry about.''


    The master of Sincerity Garden was waiting for Han Zhengfang under an old walnut tree beside the pond with a stony table and two stony benches. There were a bottle of spirit and some dishes on the stony table.


    ...


    Han Zhengfang didn''t care about those trivial sparrows any more. However, two more sparrows were paying attention to those sparrows who flew over there from the gate of Sincerity Garden over 500 m away from Sincerity Garden.


    Although those sparrows'' dance and frolic on the eaves looked meaningless in Han Zhengfang''s eyes, it was meaningful in the eyes of the two sparrows in the far.


    The two sparrows over 500 m immediately flew off the treetop and flew around that huge tree where they once rested on. At the sight of this information, two swirling doves miles away immediately turned around and flew towards the north of Xuanyuan Hill. After they flew less than 100 m away, the bizarre arcs that they drew in the sky were caught by some more doves in the distance...


    The information chain composed of doves and sparrows soon reached dozens of miles away.


    Sparrows could only fly about 20 miles per hour and had a poor endurance. Doves couldn''t fly fast either. If Zhang Tie only depended on some doves or sparrows to pass the information in Xuanyuan Hill, when he received the information outside Xuanyuan Hill, it would be too late. However, doves and sparrows existed everywhere in Xuanyuan Hill. They were not eye-catching at all. What counted most, birds had very good vision. As long as there were enough doves and sparrows, they would be able to form a complete information chain and a specific monitoring network in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Even sage-level knights could do nothing to such an information chain.


    This was how the Great Wilderness Sutra made people scared and greedy. Such a realm of controlling animals was already unpredictable.


    ...


    7 minutes later, before Han Zhengfang warmed up his seat, a white dove had flown over the shimmering Heavenlyqin Lake and rested onto Zhang Tie''s shoulder after flying around him for a short while. Closely after that, the dove cooed as it rubbed its furry head against Zhang Tie''s face.


    Zhang Tie stretched out his hand and fed this dove with a small handful of swollen, crystal wheat which had been soaked in water.


    This dove brought Zhang Tie a message what Zhang Tie was waiting for, namely, Han Zhengfang had already entered Sincerity Garden!


    Given the passing time of the message, Zhang Tie knew that Han Zhengfang had just entered Sincerity Garden for less than 10 minutes.


    Zhang Tie sneered. When the dove ate up the small handful of wheat and flew off his shoulder, Zhang Tie made a bizarre hand gesture. Closely after that, the All-spirits Pagoda in his mind sea quivered all over while two great wilderness seals flew out of Zhang Tie''s hand.


    At this moment, the sunglow had already tinged the entire Xuanyuan Hill in the far with golden red...


    The mysterious strength of the great wilderness seals immediately spread across thousands of square miles...


    Numerous wild swans resting nearby the wetland of Heavenlyqin Lake looked up at the sky at the same time as a dominant strength was summoning them...

 1155 The Major Event was Coming

    Chapter 1155: The Major Event was Coming


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The east of Heavenlyqin Lake was a wetland with plenty of water and lush grass that covered over 600 square miles. Too many birds were resting here; especially wild swans.


    Under the golden light of setting sun, Heavenlyqin Lake was shimmering while some deluxe cruisers were parking on the lake nearby the wetland.


    Before each sunset, the 600 miles'' reed catkins, high grasses and flying nightingales would become a scenic spot nearby Xuanyuan Hill.


    On the deck of a 100 m-longer white cruiser, those knights who had a conflict with Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian on the Golden Water River that day were appreciating the lakescape and the wild swans on the lake and in the sky pleasantly.


    Yue Peng who was severely wounded by Zhang Tie didn''t come here. Evidently, the female knight who once stayed with Fang Xinyi had already become a pair of lovers with the other male knight.


    "Brother Chuzhi, when did you get junior sister apprentice Yuling? How fast you are! Given such a fast speed, brother Chuzhi must have got hang of a secret method. Why not share it with brother Jiguang and me? Look, brother Jiguang and I are still single!"


    "Chuzhi" and "Yuling" were that pair of "wild mandarin ducks" that Zhang Tie saw in the reeds on that evening a few days ago. When they saw the two people fall in love with each other so fast, the others couldn''t stand making a joke to spice up the atmosphere. Although the male knight made a joke orally, he was looking at Fang Xinyi as if he was implying something.


    As long as she didn''t see Bai Suxian, Fang Xinyi was indeed like a charming, elegant fairy. At this moment, she just watched the dancing wild swans on the lake with a faint smile. Her beautiful facial contour, slim and snow-white neck and swaying hair were fatal to the other two male knights. Both of them wanted to pursue her.


    "Hahaha, of course, there''s a secret method; however, only the sky, the earth, I and Yuling know it. If I told you about that, it would not work anymore!" The male knight called Chizhi replied in a dissolute way. The other two knights didn''t know what the so-called secret method referred to; however, Yuling threw a glare at Chuzhi bashfully.


    Both Yuling and Chuzhi understood the so-called secret method.


    "Ahh, what if Yue Peng was here? Younger brother Yue Peng is most poetic and talented. Facing such a nice lakescape, he could definitely make a good poem!"


    "Younger brother Yue Peng might need a few more days'' rehabilitation. That day, I felt that Cui Li was too vicious; however, on the second day, I was told that Cui Li had already shown his mercy. You might have already heard about it. At Qian Gate of Gold and Power Market, Cui Li kicked a foreign knight to death, who was even a prince of a major country on a subcontinent. Because of this event, Cui Li almost had a fight with Han Yuanhong, the master of Gold and Power Market. Fire Dragon Hermit was not afraid even in Xuanyuan Hill; he''s indeed vicious and powerful!" A knight sighed with emotion while shaking his head.


    "Don''t mention about these unhappy things. Based on our talents, as long as we try our best to cultivate, we will definitely promote to earth knights one day. No need to admire him. Although Fire Dragon Hermit is powerful, a lot of people in our sect are more powerful than him. The powerful ones in Taixia country are as countless as the stars over the sky! Additionally, Gold and Power Law is just so-so. Even some barbarians from subcontinents could attend such a Treasures Meeting. The piece of God''s Star has already been bought before we saw it. All the other treasures are average. There''re only a few secret items; all of them have been opened. Nothing to be curious about. It could never match our Treasures Meeting in Taiyi City."


    "Hahaha, fine, we will not talk about these unhappy things. Although Master Cai is not here, the waves sound and crane tweets here are also natural music. Oh, Xinyi, what are you looking at?"


    After realizing that the subject was shifted to her, Fang Xinyi didn''t behave distantly anymore; instead, she turned around as she parted her hair and revealed a faint smile. All of a sudden, all the others moved their eyes onto her, "When I looked at these wild swans, I couldn''t help thinking about one thing. It''s said that wild swans are most soulful. As long as two wild swans fall in love with each other, they would not depart from each other until death. If one dies, the other will be extremely anguished and even commit suicide for love. If everyone could be as soulful as wild swans, all the lovers in this world would have a perfect soul destination!"


    "After hearing Xinyi''s words, I feel that I should learn from wild swans!" The knight called Chuzhi watched Yuling as he said with a playful smile. Whether he wanted to learn something from wild swans or treat sky as the quilt and the earth as the bed. However, only the female knight called Yuling could sense his meaning.


    Yuling threw a glare at Chuzhi as she turned around and looked at Fang Xinyi, "Xinyi, what''s your criteria about a good man?"


    The other two male knights pricked up their ears at once.


    Fang Xinyi smiled as she recited some lines, "Graze black cattle in the morning, return in the evening with wildflowers; insert wildflowers onto your gray hair and enjoy the colorful sunglow together with you!"


    After hearing Fang Xinyi''s reply, all the other knights'' hearts pounded as it was really out of their imagination that Fang Xinyi could favor such a legendary figure. That man''s poem the Beloved Ones had fascinated so many beauties, but...


    Before the others said anything, the lakescape became abnormal...


    In the horizon, all the wild swans on the lake stretched out their necks and tweeted at the same time, which sounded like the siren of a million ton-level ship, causing the eardrums of travelers on the cruisers to quiver.


    Closely after that, all the wild swans suddenly flapped their wings and slid over the lake before lying off. Large flocks of wild swans flew off at the same time in the distance along the 600 miles'' reed catkins.


    At least tens of thousands of wild swans rested here. As a result, the scenery that tens of thousands of wild swans flew off at the same time was like white clouds, leaving travelers on the cruisers dumbfounded. In the sunglow, so many wild swans flew towards the same direction. In less than 1 minute, no wild swan could be seen over the lake anymore.


    Although being far away from the bank, all the knights had good sight. They saw large flocks of wild swans flying off the water too.


    "What''s happening? Why all the wild swans are flying away? Theoretically, the wild swans should have a rest as the sun is setting. Is there an earthquake? It''s said that birds would make abnormal responses when an earthquake is coming." A knight on the cruiser muttered.


    "It shouldn''t be an earthquake. Otherwise, the other birds should also have sensed it; however, look, all the other birds over this wetland are still resting there!"


    "Yup, it''s really strange..."


    Fang Xinyi faintly frowned her beautiful eyebrows as she said, "Let''s go take a look...". Soon after her words, Fang Xinyi had flown off the cruiser. All the other knights also flew off after exchanging a glance with each other out of great curiosity.


    At the same time, all the wild swans in another two lakes nearby Xuanyuan Hill flew off towards Xuanyuan Hill. The travelers on the cruisers in the three lakes exclaimed about such a wonderful scenery.


    Of course, such an abnormal phenomenon was eye-catching. After flying for a short while, Fang Xinyi and her partners had already seen some more knights chasing after the wild swans. They were shocked so much as they wondered why so many wild swans suddenly flew off at the same time.


    Wild swans flew very fast; the three lakes and the wetlands where wilds swans rested were also close to Xuanyuan Hill. Therefore, those wild swans soon arrived at Xuanyuan Hill.


    When they arrived at Xuanyuan Hill, Fang Xinyi and her partners were really startled by what they saw. So many wild swans were gathering here from all directions in an order.


    Over 10,000 people would look endless. There were at least 100,000 wild swans in the sky which looked like moving clouds in the sky.


    After sensing the no-fly zone above Xuanyuan Hill, all the knights that followed wild swans here could only suspend outside the no-fly zone as they watched the wild swans entering the air territory of Xuanyuan Hill smoothly.


    Wild swans could fly fast and reach above 6,000 m high. Therefore, people on the ground could easily see all the wild swans as long as they looked up.


    The abnormal phenomenon in the sky attracted the attention of everyone on the ground of Xuanyuan Hill. Watching the army of wild swans flying over, the ground of Xuanyuan Hill started to become disordered.


    ...


    All the drivers on the roads stretched out their necks and watched those wild swans flying across in front of them as they widely opened their mouths. Some cars even collided with the vehicles on their sides, causing a traffic jam at once.


    ...


    A team of Hua fighters at the border of Xuanyuan Hill watched the abnormal phenomenon for quite a while before reporting it to their superior. When a knight walked out of barracks and became stunned by what he saw for a few seconds, he also started to swear loudly.


    "F*ck, this dad is a common knight, not a sage-level knight. Look at these birds. What do you want me to do? Fly in the sky and shoot them off or wail the air raid siren? Such an abnormal phenomenon might happen once in a few years. Just wait for a while!"


    The abnormal phenomenon mentioned by this knight referred to that when Zhang Tie promoted to a black iron knight a few years ago. However, that knight didn''t know that this time was utterly different than that time, although it was aroused by the same person.


    ...


    Under the gaze of so many people on the ground of Xuanyuan Hill, over 100,000 wild swans gradually divided into 12 huge flocks like 12 clouds in the sky. When the onlookers were extremely startled, the 12 clouds started to change their shapes slowly.


    Due to constant traffic accidents, some roads had been jammed. Those drivers directly got off their vehicles and looked up at the sky on the roads. When a taxi driver watched the 12 clouds gradually changing their shapes, he muttered, "I feel those birds are going to form 12 words. I find the first one might be Finance, the fifth word is Zheng!"


    The 12 clouds were indeed changing their shapes. The first word was Finance and the fifth word was Zheng.


    In a few minutes, the 12 clouds had changed into clear and powerful words as if a celestial being painted them in the sky by a huge hand. Anyone could see them clearly as long as they were not illiterates. At the sight of the 12 huge words in the sky, everyone on the ground changed their face at once. Even the knight who lost his temper outside his barracks had turned pale in a split second.


    The 12 words formed a sentence.


    ¡ª¡ªFinance Minister Han Zhengfang is the master of Heavens Reaching Church


    Like the largest and commanding banner and advertisement, this sentence composed of over 100,000 wild swans directly slashed towards the emperor''s imperial city like a huge sword from outside.


    After being empty, chaotic, intense and furious, the knight general standing in the camp finally recovered his free-thinking ability. Only after 2 seconds'' consideration, he had confirmed that a major event was going to happen in Xuanyuan Hill today whether the sentence in the sky was real or not.


    "Fall in..." A roar drifted across the barracks.


    ...


    Something big was indeed going to happen in Xuanyuan Hill!


    Suspending in the sky near the border of Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie just watched the wild swans flying towards the emperor''s imperial city calmly and resolutely.


    There were dozens of knights and an airboat within miles. All of them were watching Xuanyuan Hill in the distance while changing their face sharply; however, nobody could imagine that the culprit was right on their side.


    After all the wild swans entered the no-fly zone of Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie knew that his plot had succeeded. No power could prevent what would happen next...

 1156 A Fatal Plo

    Chapter 1156: A Fatal Plot


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    ¡ª¡ªFinance Minister Han Zhengfang is the master of Heavens Reaching Church.


    At the sight of the 12 words in the sky, all the people on the ground were dumbfounded as the army of wild swans flew towards the emperor''s imperial city.


    The finance minister was a powerful shadow knight high in dignity, one of the 9 ministers in Taixia Country. It could be said that the finance minister was the controller of the economy and agriculture of Taixia Country. The daily needs of people, commerce, finance, agriculture, forestation, livestock farming and fishing across Taixia Country were related to finance minister.


    Heavens Reaching Church was the cancer of the peace in Taixia Country; additionally, it colluded with demons. After the holy war broke out, Heavens Reaching Church increased their frequency in launching riots across the country. Evidently, Heavenly Reaching Church had become the largest threat facing the inside of Taixia Country after demons.


    In Heavens Reaching

 1157 Lighting the Battle Flames in Xuanyuan Hill

    Chapter 1157: Lighting the Battle Flames in Xuanyuan Hill


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Han Yuanhong was dominating the auction of some silver secret items in the Secret Items Pavilion of Gold and Power market.


    What the Imperial Affairs Ministry entrusted Han Yuanhong''s father to do should actually be done by Gold and Power Law. As the master of Gold and Power Law, according to the result of the discussion between Han Yuanhong and Han Zhengfang, even if they were just pretending to complete the task, Han Yuanhong had to try his best to collect silver secret items in the Treasures Meeting for the Imperial Affairs Ministry.


    Even pieces of God''s Star could be sold in this Treasures Meeting, not to mention silver secret items.


    The silver secret items being auctioned in the Treasures Meeting mainly came from two sources: first, like that of the piece of God''s Star, after some major knight clans declined, facing the 3rd holy war, treasures such as pieces of God''s Star and silver secret items could not bring prosperity to their clans any more; conversely, they might incur threats to their clans. Therefore, these clans would choose to auction these treasures left by their forebears for something more practical in case that these treasures were robbed away.


    Second, silver secret items came from very few lucky dogs. These lucky dogs were basically knights. When most of the knights were spending great efforts in seeking silver secret items, these lucky dogs had one or two silver secret items. Those lucky dogs with one silver secret item would like to exchange it for something more practical, such as urgent cultivation resources like earth-element crystals; those with two silver secret items would keep one silver secret item for themselves while exchanging the other one for cultivation resources or something that they needed.


    The silver secret item being displayed on the counter of the auction house was a short sword.


    After wiping out the spiritual mark of its owner, this short sword suspended in a special crystal showcase whose volume was about 64 cubic meters as it was constantly changing its shapes between a colorful, brilliant short sword with sharp sawteeth and a real, colorful double-headed snake which constantly swam in the crystal showcase.


    The greater part of the audiences were representatives of major clans across Taixia Country. These major clans would never think that they had enough silver secret items. These representatives would always be followed by one or two juniors of their clans who were taken out to see the world. It was the first time for many juniors to see the real object of silver secret items. Therefore, they were all dumbfounded as they whispered to each other.


    Because Gold and Power Law was an organization that Emperor Xuanyuan used to compete with the other 6 top clans in Taixia Country, the Treasures Meeting of Gold and Power Law was generally ignored and resisted by the other 6 top clans in Taixia Country. Although the 6 top clans also assigned knights to attend the Treasures Meeting for the sake of the face of Gold and Power law, those major clans and forces on subcontinents were more passionate about this.


    The original owner of the silver secret item was an earth knight. He wanted to exchange this silver secret item for water-element crystals that he demanded urgently.


    The starting price was 200 water-element crystals. When it rose to 1200 water-element crystals, the rising speed evidently slowed down.


    One water-element crystal could be exchanged for 6 earth-element crystals, namely, 1,200 water-element crystals were equal to 7,200 earth-element crystals. It was already a big figure. Even those major clans of Taixia Country could not easily afford such a great number of element crystals. Whatever, no clan could plant these element crystals in their own land. All the element crystals had to be gained from Earth-element Realm; additionally, the more advanced the element crystals were, the more difficult it would be to gain them. Compared to silver secret items, element crystals were the urgent strategic resources of all the clans and sects.


    When it rose to 1200 water-element crystals, the bidders started to raise the price meticulously as they communicated with their clan elders or heads through remote-sensing communications devices simultaneously so as to confirm their bottom lines.


    "1290 water-element crystals...1290 water-element crystals, is there any higher quotation..." A beautiful female auctioneer shouted on the platform.


    When Han Yuanhong implied his assistant to raise the figure to 1,300, loud chaos suddenly drifted from outside the auction house of the Secret Items Pavilion, causing him to frown unpleasantly.


    ''Who dared make trouble in the Treasures Complex? Does anyone want to imitate Cui Li?''


    With a loud noise "bang", a side door of the hobby of the auction house was pushed open forcefully from outside, attracting the attention of many people in the auction house.


    A guy with a long face and sparse beard broke inside in a flurried way regardless of the others'' looks. He came all the way to Han Yuanhong''s side as he approached Han Yuanhong''s ear and whispered to him, "Master, there''s an emergency outside...you...you''d better take a look outside!"


    "What''s the matter?" Han Yuanhong asked as he continued, "Does anyone dare make trouble in the Treasures Complex?"


    "Erm...almost like that. Master, you will know it when you come outside..." The guy with the long face and sparse beard looked embarrassed as he didn''t know how to say.


    Watching the strange expression of this guy, Han Yuanhong immediately walked out of the auction house unpleasantly with a killing intent, followed by that guy with the long face and sparse beard.


    ...


    The moment Han Yuanhong left the auction house, he had seen hundreds of people gathering in the courtyard of Treasures Complex. When Han Yuanhong exited, the noise suddenly disappeared.


    Han Yuanhong felt that everybody else was looking at him. The onlookers'' eyes even contained something strange, which looked extremely weird. Even some knights of Gold and Power Law who were responsible for maintaining orders in Treasures Complex looked at him in a strange way as if they were surrounding to watch a surging hidden force among the mass.


    The surrounding bizarre eye lights and weird atmosphere made Han Yuanhong''s heart pound unconsciously. However, as an earth knight who had seen the world, he could not be flurried by such a scene.


    Han Yuanhong didn''t see anyone stirring up trouble here, he looked up at the sky along the finger of that guy with the long face and sparse beard.


    ¡ª¡ªFinance Minister Han Zhengfang is the Master of Heavens Reaching Church


    The 12 huge words in the brilliant, crimson sunglow were flying over here from afar, striking terror in Han Zhengfang''s heart.


    Each huge word was over 1,000 m long. They flew above 6,000 m in the air territory of Xuanyuan Hill like a celestial being''s calligraphy. Being composed of over 100,000 wild swans, when they were still 10 miles away from the air territory above Gold and Power Market, everybody in Gold and Power Market could already see them clearly.


    Han Yuanhong''s body rocked twice as if he was going to fall down. At the sight of 12 huge words, he felt that his head was split open by a huge ax falling off the sky. In a split second, Han Yuanhong''s eyes sparkled as his head buzzed.


    ''It''s over!''


    It was the first whim that occurred to Han Yuanhong''s mind. Han Yuanhong didn''t even have time to consider why the 12 huge words could appear in the sky in this manner. Compared to the reason and process of the appearance of the 12 huge words, the result was more terrifying for Han Yuanhong.


    In a split second, Han Clan''s power and prestige would disappear. In the blink of an eye, Xuanyuan Hill would become the graveyard of Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong.


    Han Yuanhong finally understood why those people in Gold and Power Market watched him with strange looks.


    There was a proverb in Taixia Country that the son had to pay off his father''s debt; there''s another proverb that the son would inherit the undertakings of his father. If his father was the master of Heavens Reaching Church, undoubtedly, Han Yuanhong himself was also the remnant of Heavens Reaching Church. Anyone who could kill Han Yuanhong, the young master of Heavens Reaching Church would have reputation and fame at the same time.


    Only dignitaries could enter Treasures Complex. At this moment, there were at least 20 earth knights in the courtyard of Treasures Complex. No matter how powerful was Han Yuanhong, he didn''t feel that he could resist so many earth knights at the same time.


    A few minutes ago, Han Yuanhong was still commanding in his Gold and Power Market; however, at this moment, Han Yuanhong felt that he became a fat piece that was thrown into a wolf pack.


    It was pretty quiet inside Treasures Complex. At the same time, many onlookers'' eyes grew increasingly perilous while a surging hidden force was going to break out at any time.


    ''I could not waste time anymore.'' Han Yuanhong made his determination almost in a split second. After so many years'' experience, Han Yuanhong immediately worked out a way to stabilize the current situation for the time being.


    "It''s a blasphemy!" Han Yuanhong roared with a solemn look as his face turned completely pale. He looked straight into the eyes of the onlookers with fearless, bloody eyes as he said, "Moles of demons and Heavens Reaching Church must be manipulating this plot as they want to slander my father and me in order to make Xuanyuan Hill chaotic. I will prepare for it right now and request the Supreme Court to carry out an overall investigation about this event!"


    After saying that, Han Yuanhong rolled his sleeves furiously as he turned around and walked towards his office in Treasures Complex.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, many knights who wanted to arrest Han Zhengfang just now became a bit hesitated. If it was really a blasphemy manipulated by the Heavens Reaching Church and demons, they would offend the finance minister of Taixia Country and Han Clan as a whole once they jumped out to fight Han Yuanhong at this moment; additionally, after this event, they might even be counterattacked by Han Clan with the excuse that they colluded with demons and Heavens Reaching Church.


    The great meritorious service might also be a great trouble.


    When the others became hesitated for a few seconds, Han Yuanhong had already disappeared.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, nobody in Treasures Complex dared move.


    ...


    Han Yuanhong was still clenching his fist. As a result, his knuckles turned white with raised green tendons while slightly shaking.


    He pretended to be stable; however, only he could feel that the firm ground felt as soft as cotton. So far, his brain was still chaotic while golden sparkles were flickering in front of his eyes.


    He just pretended to be furious and calm in front of the public so as to seek for more time for him to escape.


    Of course, both Han Yuanhong and Han Zhengfang didn''t have any mental preparation against the 12 huge words in the sky; neither did the official forces in Xuanyuan Hill make any preparation about that. If the official of Taixia Country had long known the background of Han Yuanhong and Han Zhengfang and was ready to arrest them, the 12 huge words were completely redundant which would frighten away the snakes. Because this was an emergency for everybody, it was of great significance for Han Yuanhong to strive for one more minute to escape.


    After entering his study in Treasures Complex, Han Yuanhong closed the door from inside. At this moment, only that guy with the long face and sparse beard still closely followed Han Yuanhong with a resentful look so as to express that he was loyal to Han Clan.


    "Master, this might be a vicious plot set by demons and Heavens Reaching Church or the revenge of Cui Li and Bai Clan..." The guy with the long face and sparse beard racked his brain and wanted to display his talent at this moment; however, he didn''t notice Han Yuanhong''s bad look. Unimaginably, he almost hit the truth although he just fabricated some reasons.


    "You''ve really done too much for me over these years!" Han Yuanhong said genially.


    The guy with the long face and sparse beard felt being flurried as he hurriedly lowered his body while raising his sparse beard pleasantly, "Master, it''s my honor to serve you..."


    Soon after the word ''you", Han Yuanhong had already slightly pressed his palm on his head and turned his brain into a paste. Before this guy with the long face and sparse bear straightened up his body, his two eyeballs had already jumped out of his eye sockets as he immediately fell onto the ground like a dead dog.


    Han Yuanhong threw the last glance at this guy with a glassy-eyed look. ''Previously, this guy was not a member of Heavens Reaching Church; as he''s a bit smart and could be loyal to me, I just kept him alive as my lackey and eye in Gold and Power Market. Over these years, this guy has done too many things for me; if this guy fell into the hand of the Supreme Court, he might ruin our plan. Of course, he could not stay alive.''


    ''I''ve got some more subordinates in Xuanyuan Hill; however, given the emergency, I couldn''t care too much about that.''


    After killing one person, Han Yuanhong rapidly came to a wall of the study. He pressed some places on the wall, revealing an entrance of a hidden tunnel leading to the underground space. Han Yuanhong immediately jumped inside...


    As he left there too hurriedly, Han Yuanhong didn''t even close the door of the hidden tunnel.


    Actually, even if he closed the door of the hidden tunnel, it wouldn''t work anymore. If any knight wanted to look for the cave in this study, any blow would expose the entrance of the hidden tunnel. Although nobody dared be that presumptuous in Treasures Complex in normal times, many people dared be that presumptuous today for sure...


    ...


    After a few minutes, after receiving no response from inside the study, the three earth knights in uniforms who were assigned by the Supreme Court here to "invite" Han Yuanhong to the Supreme Court for an interrogation broke the door of the study into pieces while more people surrounded to watch what happened inside.


    After catching sight of the corpse in the study and that entrance of the hidden tunnel, the face of the earth knight who broke the door turned solemn at once...


    "Catch up with him..."


    The three earth knights immediately jumped into the entrance.


    All the onlookers inside Treasures Complex were in an uproar at once...


    Before the three earth knights of the Supreme Court arrived, Han Yuanhong, the son of Han Zhengfang had killed one person and escaped far away, which lit the battle flames in Xuanyuan Hill at once.

 1158 Being Trapped

    Chapter 1158: Being Trapped


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When the golden sun set in the west, the night fell. Only 1/3 of turbid wine was left in the bottle unconsciously under the old peach tree in the Sincerity Garden, emperor''s imperial city...


    Xuanyuan Hill was very large. The wild swans had not reached Gold and Power Market yet; therefore, Han Yuanhong had not heard the noise drifting from outside the auction house.


    Meng Shidao and Han Zhengfang were having a drink on both sides of the stony table while talking with each other.


    The so-called stony table was actually a time-honored stone mill composed of two parts.


    The edge of the stone mill was already worn. The hole in the middle of the mill had been blocked by sundries. The lower mill was close to the ground. Therefore, its feet had been covered with mosses. Such a worn stone mill would be abandoned by well-off families. However, in Sincerity Garden, it was treated as the stony table for receiving guests. Very few people across the emperor''s imperial city could have a seat on the side of this stone mill.


    The master of royal prince might take over the position of prime minister, one of the top three chancellors of Taixia Country in the future.


    When Han Zhengfang talked and drank with the master of the royal prince, he gradually felt that master of the royal prince was most interested in the economy of Taixia Country that he was responsible for.


    Prime minister was responsible for the political affairs across Taixia Country. This position could help the royal prince pretty much; prime minister could assist the royal prince to control the overall situation of Taixia Country. Compare to the general inspector who was responsible for supervision, education, etiquette and sacrifice and defense secretary, the prime minister was more influential to all aspects across Taixia Country. Of course, the royal prince hoped that he could be assisted by his master in the most important position. Meanwhile, it would meet the interests of the Gobbling Party.


    If the master of royal prince took over the position of prime minister, the Finance Minister''s Mansion would become the immediate subordinate of the master of the royal prince. The master of royal prince might want to pass this signal to Han Zhengfang through this meeting.


    ''I wonder what condition could that guy in the east imperial palace provide so as to have Di Longtu, who was the current prime minister, abdicate voluntarily? Di Longtu is bad-tempered. He would not consider modestly decline as a virtue on this point. Whether could I grasp an opportunity during this process? If I could have Di Clan fight the master of the royal prince, it would interesting.''


    When Han Zhengfang was thinking about something evil, he looked and said sincerely. Han Zhengfang treated well-known master of the royal prince who was going to be the immediate superior of Finance Minister''s Mansion pretty politely; at the same time, he maintained his dignity and moral courage as the finance minister of Taixia Country.


    "According to the statistics about the consumption of edible salt among all the provinces that the Finance Minister Mansion made 3 years ago, there were over 0.1536 trillion people in Taixia Country. Over 80% of these people are in the 9 immortal provinces, 36 upper provinces and 72 major provinces in Taixia Country. One of such provinces would have about 10 billion people. Although the medium and lower provinces have large land areas, they have fewer people; additionally, most people settled in nearby cities. There''s still a great development potential in the field. Fanzhou Province has the least population. Fanzhou Province is a barren and cold land. It contains less than 100 million people. Besides those uncivilized barbarians, each wild province would usually have millions of Hua people and descendants, at most 10 million people. However, many criminals usually escape to wild provinces so as to avoid the arrest of the Supreme Court."


    Han Zhengfang put his drink down. After hearing the master of royal prince''s question about population statistics in Taixia Country, he immediately uttered a lot of figures. Actually, these figures were classified in Taixia Country. Low-rank officials could not touch these figures at all.


    "Migrating criminals to open up wasteland in wild provinces is a national policy of Taixia Country. The ruling party actually forgive those criminals in this way. Most of the people who violate rules by force are cunning and evil. Although they are toxic in Taixia Country, as long as they are not heinous, the Supreme Court would just drive them into the wild provinces so as to survive themselves; meanwhile, they could contribute to the wasteland reclamation in Taixia Country. Additionally, these guys could also deal with those barbarians in those wild provinces. After 100 years, when some descendants of these criminals could be something, they would build cities and seek for paying allegiance to the imperial court so as to make their ancestors illustrious. By then, Taixia Country could update those wild provinces to establish provinces and assign one provincial governor and some able men over there to have them under control!" The master of royal prince really had special discernment about national policies.


    "Master of the royal prince, what a unique analysis!" Han Zhengfang replied with a smile as he nodded, "It also benefits from the grant morality of His Majesty!"


    The two people raised their glasses once again. As Zhang Tie had imagined, when their glasses touched, the master of royal prince received the emergency remote-sensing message from the royal prince, which was about what was happening outside the emperor''s imperial city.


    Although being earth-shaking, this news didn''t influence the mood of the master of the royal prince at all. Even his hand which was holding the glass remained unchanged. Meng Shidao was still drinking and chatting with Han Zhengfang as if nothing had happened.


    1 minute later, the master of royal prince received another message from the royal prince; however, he still didn''t make any response to it.


    Not until a few minutes later when Han Yuanhong left the auction house after hearing the uproar outside Gold and Power Market did the master of royal prince notice that the hand of Han Zhengfang became stiff suddenly.


    The master of royal prince put down the drink as he looked at Han Zhengfang with a smile and that glass of wine in Han Zhengfang''s hand as he asked casually, "Zhengfang, did you receive the same message from your subordinate?"


    The thunder-like question caused a faint ripple in Han Zhengfang''s glass.


    Han Zhengfang''s face remained unchanged. After bottoming up the glass of wine, he replied with the same smile, "I''ve indeed received a message just now; I wonder about the message that the master of royal prince refers to?"


    "I''ve just received the message from the royal prince. As Xuanyuan Hill is holding the Treasures Meeting lately, someone evil guys grasped this opportunity to bewilder the public by using animal controlling skill. They say you''re the master of Heavens Reaching Church!" The master of royal prince said casually as if he just took it as a rumor and didn''t care about it at all.


    "I''ve also received the report from my subordinate!" Han Zhengfang let out a sigh, "When one reaches a high place, he would always feel cold. I''m afraid that I''ve offended too many people as a finance minister. Perhaps, the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church want to mess up the overall situation facing Taixia Country. Therefore, they used such an insidious means. It ruined our good moods here!"


    "These evil forces are indeed disgusting!" The master of royal prince nodded as if he sympathized Han Zhengfang''s encounter very much.


    "These evil forces seize the opportunity to make troubles. After hearing this rumor, I''m afraid that my family members have already become chaotic. In order to reassure my family members and avoid from accidents, Zhengfang has to bid a farewell to you. Thanks for your hospitality, master of the royal prince!" Han Zhengfang stood up in a calm way.


    The master of royal prince also stood up as he said with a smile, "Zhengfang, don''t worry about that. Royal prince has already assigned the able staff men of Imperial Affairs Ministry to comfort your family members in the Finance Minister''s Mansion. Therefore, your mansion would never be bothered by those evil forces. Those evil forces want to mess up the overall situation facing Xuanyuan Hill by targeting at the finance minister in such an insidious way. It''s already a bit chaotic outside the emperor''s imperial city. The Zodiac Guards have already blocked the emperor''s imperial city. Considering that those evil forces might have other means, the royal prince is summoning the 9 ministers and me to negotiate about the counter-measures in the imperial palace so as to stabilize the overall situation. As Zheng fang is here, at the order of royal prince, we should enter the imperial palace together!"


    ''Enter the imperial palace?'' How could Han Zhengfang be mired in the desperate place at this moment? There are sheer terrors in the emperor''s imperial palace. As long as those secret tricks were triggered in the imperial palace, Han Zhengfang would fall into the hell. Even sage-level knights from top 6 sects could not come out of there completely, not to mention Han Zhengfang. If Han Zhengfang agreed to enter the imperial palace at this moment, he would have no chance to survive himself any longer. If he was really slandered by the evil forces, of course, he dared enter the imperial palace together with the master of the royal prince to meet the royal prince at this moment so as to clarify his innocence while not afraid of being investigated. But the problem was that Han Zhengfang knew that it was not a blasphemy but a truth. As the finance minister of Taixia Country, he knew clearly how many means could Xuanyuan Hill and the emperor''s imperial city use to figure out his event.


    ''What a smart royal prince!''


    ''I should never enter the imperial palace.''


    ''I''ve got no chance to fabricate a lie anymore! Little time left!''


    ''How could it suddenly reach this step? Who''s on the back of this event?'' If possible, Han Zhengfang really wanted to take a look at the 12 huge words moving in the sky which sent him into eternal damnation.


    ''Are the top 6 sects dealing with me and Taixia Country or is it the inferior means of burning the bridge after crossing it adopted by demons? Who else in Taixia Country could send me into such a poor situation in the blink of an eye besides the two parties?''


    As he didn''t know who screwed him on the back, Han Zhengfang felt a chill invading each of his cells from his head to his toe, causing his heart to turn icy gradually.


    At this moment, Han Zhengfang suddenly realized that his 2nd son who was still missing might have already been killed.


    After finding that Han Zhengfang remained still, the master of royal prince''s eye light turned profound and heart-piercing abruptly.


    With a stone table in between, Han Zhengfang and Meng Shidao looked straight into each others'' eyes while their smiles gradually faded away. At this moment, a withered peach leaf fell onto the stone stable while a solemn killing intent filled the entire Sincerity Garden in a split second...


    ...

 1159 Collisons between Powerful Ones

    Chapter 1159: Collisons between Powerful Ones


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As this solemn killing intent gradually spread over Sincerity Garden, the fish in the pond near the two people instantly sneaked into the bottom of the pond; some birds on the treetop flew off in a flurried way; even the stray cat''s meows disappeared. As a result, the entire Sincerity Garden seemed to be frozen.


    "Master of the royal prince, if you allow me to return home, Zhengfang will definitely appreciate you in the future!" Han Zhengfang''s voice suddenly turned a bit hoarse; meanwhile, his imposing manner also started to be aggressive and domineering like an iceberg that came out of the sea level.


    Han Zhengfang who had been well behaved since he entered the Sincerity Garden didn''t treat the master of royal prince in a respectful and restrained way anymore. In a split second, he started to talk with the master of the royal prince on the equal footing.


    Master of royal prince looked at Han Zhengfang as he said, "If you leave Sincerity Garden safe and sound toda

 1160 Great Chaos in Xuanyuan Hill

    Chapter 1160: Great Chaos in Xuanyuan Hill


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "What''s that..."


    When a bloody qi rushed into the sky from the Sincerity Garden, many people in the emperor''s imperial city became amazed. Few people could promote to knights; few knights had witnessed the battle between heavenly knights; especially between one heavenly knight and one semi-sage knight.


    Therefore, when that bloody qi rushed into the sky, many people in the emperor''s imperial city thought that there was a performance today. As Xuanyuan Hill was holding the Treasures Meeting, it was predictable that there was some festive program in the emperor''s imperial city. Additionally, such things happened before.


    However, those people who saw this bizarre scenery from afar soon realized that it was not a festive program but a major event.


    The bloody qi that rushed into the sky from Sincerity Garden was abnormal and overbearing like a big heavenly fire. With a bizarre light, the bloody qi was constantly changing into various bizarre fierce beasts as if it

 1161 Starting Action

    Chapter 1161: Starting Action


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t enter Xuanyuan Hill, with his lotus-flower eyes, he could still see clearly the abnormal phenomenon in the Sincerity Garden of the emperor''s imperial city hundreds of miles away. He saw the commander-in-chief of Imperial Guards who was standing outside the Sincerity Garden with a huge saber, which was a silver secret item, in hand; the crowd being evacuated outside the Sincerity Garden, the knights'' battle qi smokes rushing into the sky from the Golden water River; the rising ground and the collapsing building in Gold and Power Market and the sudden rising flames due to explosions which were not far from Gold and Power Market.


    The entire Xuanyuan Hill was gradually chaotic as the members of Heavens Reaching Church or the faithful lackeys of Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong in Xuanyuan Hill were exerting their utmost efforts to create chaos in Xuanyuan Hill so that they could have a chance to escape out of there.


    The night had already fallen while the flames in the city became more eye-attractive. The wuthering ambulance vehicles and collisions between knights could be heard everywhere across Xuanyuan Hill. Additionally, many wails and cries escaping out the fiercest flames and most ferocious battles in Xuanyuan Hill.


    At this moment, the wild swans were still 60 miles away from the emperor''s imperial city while the entire Xuanyuan Hill had been boiling like a bowl of cold water entering rolling oil.


    Zhang Tie knew that he had succeeded.


    There would be many casualties in Xuanyuan Hill tonight. Although this was against Zhang Tie''s conscience, Zhang Tie wouldn''t feel guilty about it. He didn''t have moral cleanliness.


    The main reason of casualties was the arrangements that Heavens Reaching Church had made in Xuanyuan Hill. It was like a bomb being buried in Xuanyuan Hill; if not detonate it in advance and cause Heavens Reaching Church to move flurriedly, it might cause a much severer outcome if Heavens Reaching Church detonated it when they prepared it well. Those who should be responsible for what happened tonight were the Supreme Court, the Imperial Censorate, the prime minister who governed the national policies of the country, the chief inspector who was responsible for supervising the officials in the imperial court, even Emperor Xuanyuan himself. A remnant of Bloody Soul Temple had lurked under their eyes for so many years; the master of Heavens Reaching Church served as the finance minister of Taixia Country in the hinterland of Taixia Country; those b*stards of Heavens Reaching Church could make so many arrangements in Xuanyuan Hill; shouldn''t they be responsible for all this?


    After this evening, the overall pattern in the imperial court of Taixia Country would definitely change greatly. The Finance Minister''s Mansion would be cleaned up completely for sure. Someone in the imperial court of Taixia Country would be responsible for this event for sure. Although Zhang Tie could imagine all this, it had nothing to do with him. He was only doing what he should do and could do in Xuanyuan Hill at this moment.


    Zhang Tie''s job tonight was to kill Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong!


    So many knights were suspending in the sky outside Xuanyuan Hill as they watched the chaos in Xuanyuan Hill with dumbfounded looks. In less than 1 hour, what happened drastically in Xuanyuan Hill had made everybody dumbfounded.


    Zhang Tie watched the wild swans flying towards the emperor''s imperial city as he silently made a hand gesture. Closely after that, the army of wild swans disbanded. They had already accomplished their task successfully.


    "Ahh, the wild swans are disbanding..." Someone shouted among the surrounding knights.


    As those wild swans disbanded, the 12 huge words in the sky above Xuanyuan Hill also gradually disappeared like a drop of ink falling into the pool.


    The wild swans returned to their own nestles; however, the chaos in Xuanyuan Hill constantly fermented.


    As long as those knights outside Xuanyuan Hill were not idiots, they would know that the contents of the 12 huge words were real. If not, how could Xuanyuan Hill became chaotic at once?


    Han Zhengfang the finance minister of Taixia Country was the master of Heavens Reaching Church; Xuanyuan Hill was in great chaos tonight! What a shocking news! Those knights passed this news to all directions through remote-sensing crystals as soon as possible.


    Right under Zhang Tie''s foot, Zhang Tie saw a lot of elites of Supreme Court rushing out of Xuanyuan Hill along with some knights. The moment those knights exited Xuanyuan Hill, they had flown off towards far...


    ''These people are chasing after someone; whom are they chasing after?''


    Zhang Tie sensed the locations of the two tracing feathers in his mind sea as he sneered. After that, he threw a glance at the emperor''s imperial city. Only after thinking about it for a short while, Zhang Tie had turned around and flown towards Fairy Lake in the far.


    ''Han Yuanhong is escaping; the battle between Han Zhengfang and Meng Shidao has not come to an end. Given the current situation, I could deal with Han Yuanhong before returning to the sky outside emperor''s imperial city for the final result of the battle.''


    Zhang Tie then flew towards Fairy Lake. On the way, he encountered many knights.


    As it was in the Treasures Meeting, most of the knights were gathering in Xuanyuan Hill over these years. Many knights were watching the fun outside Xuanyuan Hill too. Many knights had just run out of Xuanyuan Hill. As they couldn''t fly in Xuanyuan Hill, their battle strength and flexibility would be greatly reduced over there. When Xuanyuan Hill was in great chaos, some smart knights who were close to the periphery of Xuanyuan Hill ran out of Xuanyuan Hill immediately. After jumping out of the swirl, they flew off into the sky outside Xuanyuan Hill and watched the development of the situation inside Xuanyuan Hill.


    After leaving Xuanyuan Hill alone or in a group of two or three, these knights started to communicate with each other.


    As too many knights were keeping a close watch on the situation inside Xuanyuan Hill in the sky outside Xuanyuan Hill, it was not that eye-catching when Zhang Tie flew over the sky.


    However, Zhang Tie still met some familiar ones.


    Fang Xinyi and the other knights that Zhang Tie met in the Golden Water River a few days ago along with that pair of "wild mandarin ducks" were also keeping a close watch on the situation inside Xuanyuan Hill. Zhang Tie directly passed them from hundreds of meters away. Zhang Tie didn''t greet them or dodge away from them; he just threw a distant glance at them before flying away.


    Zhang Tie noticed Fang Xinyi''s team; Fang Xinyi''s team also caught sight of Zhang Tie; especially Fang Xinyi who immediately widened her eyes when she caught sight of Zhang Tie although they were hundreds of meters away from each other. Closely after that, she revealed a faintly shocked expression; even her body became stiff all of a sudden. As knights, although Fang Xinyi and her partners didn''t have lotus-flower eyes, the distance of hundreds of meters was also like 10 m in the eyes of commoners.


    Zhang Tie flew as fast as a lightning bolt. In the blink of an eye, he had passed by Fang Xinyi''s team from hundreds of meters away and disappeared in front of their eyes.


    "Ahh, who''s that young knight? He looks even younger than 20 years old. I''ve met all the younger talents among the top 6 sects. But I''ve not heard about such a young knight!" A male knight on Fang Xinyi''s side said with a faint frown as he looked at the direction where Zhang Tie was heading for, "Does he come from a major clan of Taixia Country? Now that he could promote to a knight at such a young age, he must be something!"


    Fang Xinyi and her partners were all young elites among the top 6 sects; of course, they were very familiar with the elites of the top 6 sects.


    "Yi, that''s strange. Why do I feel this guy looks familiar? I might have already seen him somewhere." The female knight on Fang Xinyi''s side called Ge Yuling muttered as she revealed a reminiscent look.


    "Don''t you feel that the young knight fly too fast?" You Chuzhi asked with a shocked look.


    "Is that fast? We could also do it!" Another male knight said in an ill-affected manner.


    "We cannot move so fast as easily as him. Given his easy look at such a high speed, he might be...might be..." You Chuzhi didn''t say it. ''It''s too shocking and unimaginable. A 20-year old earth knight! What a freak! Even the top 6 sects of Taixia Country couldn''t culture such a young earth knight.''


    "That guy might pretend to be that easy. Some young man who has just promoted to knights would always like to slap their own face until it''s swollen in an effort to look imposing. How could a person promote to an earth knight at such a young age?" The male knight who was ill-affected just now argued.


    When they were arguing about it out of curiosity, Fang Xinyi who was always silent directly flew off towards Zhang Tie.


    Fang Xinyi''s partners were shocked by her sudden movement as they all followed after her.


    Given the fight on Golden Water River that day, they thought that Fang Xinyi had caught sight of an enemy.


    Zhang Tie soon disappeared in their vision. Fang Xinyi had already released her brilliant battle qi as she was speeding up abruptly. All of her partners had to make their utmost efforts to chase after Fang Xinyi like meteors.


    After a few minutes, these meteors arrived at the vast and misty Fairy Lake consecutively. It was the shimmering yet endless lake under their foot; however, the young knight had already disappeared in their vision.


    "Xinyi, do you know that guy..." Ge Yuling asked Fang Xinyi out of concern which all the others wanted to know too after they hid their brilliant protective battle qis.


    Fang Xinyi let out a sigh suddenly as she glanced around all the others, "I''m afraid that the young knight was Zhang Mushen, Zhang Tie!"


    After hearing Fang Xinyi''s reply, all the other knights were stunned.


    ''That young man was Zhang Tie, Zhang Mushen, the No.1 black iron human knight who became famous around the country after the tragedy of Fuhai City?''


    "Ahh, I remember it!" Ge Yuling suddenly shouted, "No wonder I felt that man looked a bit familiar. He was Zhang Tie. I''ve seen his look on the order for arrest!"


    "If he''s indeed Zhang Tie, why did he come to Xuanyuan Hill?"


    You Chuzhi broke the silence.


    "Because I''m too curious about that, I followed him here..." Fang Xinyi stared blankly at the lake under her foot...


    ...

 1162 An Ambush

    Chapter 1162: An Ambush


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie had noticed Fang Xinyi''s shocked look. He had not imagined that this woman could identify him so fast. However, at this critical moment, Zhang Tie didn''t want anyone to ruin his good plan. Therefore, after flying away from Fang Xinyi and her partners, Zhang Tie accelerated all of a sudden and disappeared in their vision. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had seen the Fairy Lake as he immediately dove inside.


    The moment he entered the lake, Zhang Tie had triggered a hiding rune.


    Being commonly affected by the hiding rune and the waterproof body, Zhang Tie became more concealed in water. He just swam towards a location in the center of Fairy Lake which was close to the northwest like a fish at the bottom of the lake.


    2 minutes later, Fang Xinyi and her partners flew over the location where Zhang Tie dove into the lake as they failed to find him.


    The Fairy Lake was deeper than 100 m. There were various fish in different sizes, waterweeds and riprap which looked like rugged hills in the lake. Additionally, Zhang Tie discovered a skeleton of a mutated beast longer than 40 m in the mud at the bottom of the lake. The skeleton had been soaking there for a few years. Given its size, such a mutated beast could threaten ships and travelers on the lake. When Xuanyuan Hill started to extend its metropolitan area, these mutated beasts hiding near the city would threaten the city and humans nearby. Therefore, they had long been driven away or killed by human powerhouses.


    The bottom of Fairy Lake was like the bottom of a copper basin. Besides being deep, it was covered with pits; especially near the center of the lake. Some pits were even as large as a football court and as deep as 100 m. These pits were usually covered with lush aquatic plants such as waterweeds as long as dozens of meters just like bizarre woods at the bottom of the lake.


    The bottom of this lake was connected with some subterranean streams. As fresh water constantly flew in this lake from its bottom, this region became the paradise of fish.


    Although it was Zhang Tie''s first time to come to the bottom of Fairy Lake in reality, he had been very familiar with this place in trouble-reappearance situations.


    When he entered Treasure Complex for the first time, Zhang Tie had already discovered that hidden tunnel in Han Yuanhong''s study inside the Treasures Complex. Last night, he slid into the hidden tunnel in the incarnation of the little black beetle and left two tracing feathers inside in case of emergency. Zhang Tie felt that Han Yuanhong would probably escape through the hidden tunnel inside the Treasures Complex if he was still there when Zhang Tie aroused the chaos in Xuanyuan Hill. By then, his tracing feathers would help him a lot.


    The fact proved that Han Yuanhong indeed chose to escape through that hidden tunnel when the real identity of his father was exposed to the public. However, Han Yuanhong didn''t find that his trace had been under Zhang Tie''s control since he entered the hidden tunnel.


    That secret tunnel was connected with a complex maze-like underground drainage system under Xuanyuan Hill. Actually, that huge underground drainage system was just a camouflage as it contained another secret. If someone escaped away from the hidden tunnel, the hunters must think that the one who escaped wanted to leave Xuanyuan Hill through the exits of that drainage system. However, Heavens Reaching Church or Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong had modified the underground drainage system. After the modification, they could directly escape to the location in the center of Fairy Lake being close to the northwest through a secret subterranean stream below the underground drainage system of Xuanyuan Hill.


    Without lotus-flower eyes and his hearty exploration in the trouble-reappearance situation, Zhang Tie couldn''t discover that secret at all.


    The moving direction of the two tracing feathers told Zhang Tie about Han Yuanhong''s route of escape. The most mysterious and unimaginable trick implied that the arrangement that the Supreme Court made to block Han Yuanhong at the exits of the underground drainage system of Xuanyuan Hill was destined to be in vain.


    At the bottom of an inconspicuous pit which was deeper than 50 m and covered about 8,000 square meters, there was an entrance of a subterranean stream whose diameter was about 2 m. Water flew out of the subterranean stream from this entrance.


    On both sides of the entrance, there were many waterweeds with huge crowns longer than 20 m. This was the hidden exit of that secret tunnel.


    When Zhang Tie arrived here, a shoal of semi-transparent small fish as large as one''s finger with a small spine in their mouth was scared away. They looked like loaches.


    After coming to the top of the entrance of the tunnel, Zhang Tie hid himself well. Meanwhile, he took out a unique gold-eaten dagger being covered with bizarre screw threads as he concealed his qi and waited for the arrival of Han Yuanhong.


    When Zhang Tie remained still, his body gradually changed its color and looked as same as the waterweeds and stones in the surroundings as if he had fully integrated with the water, releasing no qi at all.


    Sometimes, animals had more sensitive senses than humans. Take that shoal of bizarre small fish as an instance, the moment they discovered Zhang Tie, they had escaped far away. Being small, they could move very flexibly in water.


    Watching the shoal of special small fish escaping away from here at their highest speed, Zhang Tie made a special hand gesture by hands. Closely after that, those small fish swam back and moved around the entrance of the tunnel once again.


    Zhang Tie closed his eyes as he waited there patiently.


    ...


    Being as flurried as a stray dog and fish that escaped away from a fishing net. Han Yuanhong fit this situation pretty well.


    The explosive sound behind him a few minutes ago reminded him that someone had already discovered the secret tunnel and were hunting him. The alchemist''s bomb destroyed a 100-m long section of the tunnel. Besides blocking the hunters, this explosion also passed a false news to the hunters¡ª¡ªHan Yuanhong was going to escape from one exit of the underground drainage system of Xuanyuan Hill.


    However, the narrow success in tactics couldn''t cover the sudden collapse of the strategy of Heavens Reaching Church and Han Clan in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Han Yuanhong''s head was still buzzing until now. He was confused about why it suddenly deteriorated to such a bad situation.


    Of course, it was caused by those wild swans; however, he didn''t know who was on the back of these wild swans. Neither his father Han Zhengfang knew it. As it was too urgent, when he reported the emergency to Han Zhengfang through the remote-sensing crystal, he only received one word¡ª¡ªescape!


    This word completely shattered the fluke mind of Han Yuanhong.


    As it was told by his father who was in the emperor'' imperial city, it meant that his father didn''t have any trump card to respond to it anymore. At this critical moment, they could only escape away from Xuanyuan Hill at first. If they couldn''t, they would die here for sure. Therefore, his father put it straightforwardly.


    Yesterday, Han Yuanhong was dreaming about becoming the human crown prince of Taixia Country and could ascend to the throne of the emperor of Taixia country one day. In the blink of an eye, he had been escaping in the sewer filled with rats and sewage. He only thought about escaping away from Xuanyuan Hill at this moment. As long as he could make it, he would have a chance to reinvigorate his undertakings in Taixia Country!


    Han Yuanhong knew that his father and Heavens Reaching Church had some arrangements and subordinates in Xuanyuan Hill; however, at this critical moment, they could only care about themselves. Only when they escaped away from Xuanyuan Hill could they have a bright future.


    Of course, it was cool for them to summon wind and call for rain in the enemy''s camp in the identities of the bright golden master and master of Gold and Power Law; sometimes, they could even play a great role; however, this cool sense also carried a price. As long as they met such an emergency, everything that they had prepared would become in vain; additionally, they would be mired in great dangers.


    The moment Han Zhengfang entered the secret tunnel, he had taken a vial of night viewing medicament. With the effect of the night viewing medicament, he could see clearly in the underground drainage system even if it was pitch-dark inside.


    The underground drainage system of Xuanyuan Hill was a magnificent engineering project. The bottom of the main sewer of the underground drainage system was available to two buses shoulder to shoulder easily.


    However, there was no bus in the sewer at this moment, but only rats and various disgusting smells.


    Han Yuanhong had exerted his full efforts as an earth knight. Although he couldn''t fly, he moved very fast. When he passed by, those rats had not even responded to it.


    Han Yuanhong knew how the Supreme Court would hunt for him.


    When he ran, he took out some vials of special medicament from his portable space-teleportation item and sprayed them behind him. The medicament soon volatilized in the air behind him. The medicament could disrupt the smells of the dogs of Supreme Court and tracing powerhouses who had awakened a special bloodline. As a result, they could not get hang of his trace.


    He had even prepared more than one secret tunnels for escaping away from Xuanyuan Hill, it was not strange for him to make some more preventive measures.


    In Han Yuanhong''s opinion, this was his only loophole through which Supreme Court could get hang of his trace. As long as he eliminated this loophole, nobody could catch him. As long as an earth knight escaped away from Xuanyuan Hill, he would be as free as a dragon returning to the ocean. It would be very difficult to capture him...


    Now that the wanted criminals across Taixia Country could make it, Han Yuanhong could make it too.


    After making twists and turns in the broad sewers, Han Yuanhong finally arrived at a familiar place. Although this place was filled with sewage which was at least 2 m in height like that in other places, when he arrived here, he didn''t hear any sound behind him; therefore, Han Yuanhong finally became reassured.


    Closely after that, Han Yuanhong released his protective battle qi to wrap himself before entering the sewage regardless of the stink, causing no spray at all.


    As he was escaping instead of attending a ball, he didn''t have time to care about the disgusting stink anymore. It was said that some prisoners would choose to escape away from prisons through cesspits. Of course, Han Yuanhong was facing a much better situation. It was just sewage; instead of cesspit; additionally, he had isolated his body from the sewage using his protective battle qi. He only needed to bear it for the time being. Even if it was a cesspit, he would choose to enter it without any hesitation.


    Han Yuanhong entered the 2-m deeper sewage.


    The visibility in the sewage was very low. However, under the influence of the night viewing medicament, he could still see something; additionally, he constantly fumbled by hand. Therefore, he soon approached the wall at the bottom of the sewer and touched that familiar slate.


    The moment he released his battle qi, Han Zhengfang immediately caught the slate which weighed hundreds of kilograms. He opened the slate and exposed the entrance of a tunnel leading upwards. The tunnel was still filled with sewage.


    Han Yuanhong lowered his body and entered that tunnel. After that, he turned around and put the slate to its original place so that people could not discover this tunnel easily.


    After floating up about 2 m, Han Yuanhong stepped onto the steps. After some steps, he completely left the water when he concealed his protective battle qi.


    The stony steps were still extending upwards with an inclination. After ascending to 7-8 m higher, the secret tunnel abruptly turned downwards and reached over 100 m deep underground.


    Actually, the elites of Supreme Court might not find him even if he hid here for a couple of months. Because this place was too concealed and was out of people''s imagination. Only Han Yuanhong knew this escape passage; even Han Zhengfang didn''t know the concret entrance of this escape passage although he knew that Han Yuanhong had such a preparation. It must be very urgent when this escape passage was put in use. Therefore, the fewer people knew this escape passage, the better.


    However, Han Yuanhong dared not risk it. If the elites of Supreme Court couldn''t find him at the exits of the underground drainage system, they would definitely realize that Han Yuanhong was still in Xuanyuan Hill. With the overall strength of the Supreme Court, they might search over the entire underground drainage system inch by inch although it would cost them some time. Therefore, the longer he stayed here, the possibility of him being exposed would be more. The best method was to escape away from Xuanyuan Hill before the Supreme Court and Xuanyuan Hill completely mobilized their strength to look for him.


    The end of the downwards stone steps was a several meters wide subterranean stream leading to Fairy Lake. Han Yuanhong immediately jumped into the subterranean stream.


    Han Yuanhong couldn''t swim well. Before he promoted to a knight, he was only good enough to not drown.


    However, after he promoted to a knight, swimming was not a problem for him anymore. As a knight, he could casually stay in the water for a few hours; additionally, he could swim as flexibly as fish based on the strong controlling ability of his body and sensing capability of his knight''s consciousness about water flow.


    Being pushed by the water flow of the subterranean stream, it only took Han Yuanhong more than half an hour to see the exit of this subterranean stream in Fairy Lake.


    The water here was pretty crystal, which had a very high visibility. If he fully released his protective battle qi, he would suffer a great resistance in water and could not easily access some narrow space and bends. Therefore, Han Yuanhong only released a thin protective battle qi.


    When he approached the exit, Han Yuanhong became very meticulous. He didn''t rush out of the exit at once; instead, he sensed the situation near the exit using his knight''s consciousness. After not finding any abnormal situation, he caught sight of the shoal of tiny glass fish swimming leisurely at the exit.


    When he caught sight of the shoal of glassfish, Han Yuanhong became reassured completely. He knew that this fish was a rare fish for an appreciative purpose which only existed in Fairy Lake. This fish liked to live at the bottom of the lake and could not be caught by a fishing net. Additionally, this fish was very timid and sensitive in water. As long as they sensed any abnormal situation in water, they would escape in all directions. Even people who were good at swimming could barely catch them in water. However, as these fish were transparent and looked pretty beautiful under fluorite lamps, some rich men in Xuanyuan Hill would like to raise them in their own fish jars for the appreciative purpose.


    Now that these glass fish were swimming leisurely at the exit, it indicated that nobody else was near the exit.


    Han Yuanhong became reassured; he then swam towards the exit of the tunnel as he felt like having escaped away from the hunt of the elites of Supreme Court.


    Before Han Yuanhong exited the tunnel, he had been discovered by the shoal of glassfish. Closely after that, they swam away flexibly.


    ''Wait, when the demons army launches a strike, this father will come back!''


    Han Yuanhong swore inside.


    The moment Han Yuanhong reached the exit and became reassured mentally and physically...the rear of his heart had been pierced through by the golden-eaten dagger silently which carried a terrifying strength. The gold-eaten dagger looked like a venomous snake that drilled out of water or a sickle in the hand of the god of death...


    Before Han Yuanhong''s thin protective battle qi prevented the dagger for 0.01 second, his body had been drilled through.


    Closely after the heart-wrenching pain, Han Yuanhong''s neck was silently and tightly reined by an extremely strong arm which was as sturdy as a dragon.


    If Han Yuanhong''s neck was regarded as a rail, it would be broken into halves by the strength from that strong arm like a noodle. However, as an earth knight, Han Yuanhong''s neck should at least be a bit more dignified and stronger than a rail. Even in this situation, Zhang Tie could not kill him immediately only by reining his neck.


    Han Yuanhong wanted to scream; however, he couldn''t utter a sound. The strength was so terrifying that his eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets. At the same time, he caught sight of a shiny long sword which was giving out cold killing intent. The longsword itself flew towards him and slashed against his body...


    ''So fast!''


    It was the last clear whim that occurred to Han Yuanhong''s mind...

 1163 Arousing a Shock

    Chapter 1163: Arousing a Shock


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the evening, a huge bright red battle qi tornado rushed into the sky from the center of Fairy Lake, causing a great shock in the surroundings in a split second...


    Battle qi tornado indicated a battle between earth knights; especially in the evening, an earth knight''s battle qi tornado could almost be seen within one thousand square miles.


    Given the imposing manner of this battle qi tornado, the one who released it should be at least a high-rank earth knight.


    Fang Xinyi and her partners followed Zhang Tie here; after losing their target, they flew around Fairy Lake for quite a while in vain. When they were about to leave Fairy Lake, they suddenly saw a huge battle qi tornado rushing into the sky from the center of Fairy Lake.


    "Let go take a look over there!" Fang Xinyi flew towards where the battle qi rose up, closely followed by her partners.


    Xuanyuan Hill looked like a pot of messy porridge tonight which contained too many secrets. At the beginning, all the wild swans near Xuanyuan Hill became berserk. Closely after that, the 12 huge words composed of wild swans in the sky completely sent Xuanyuan Hill into chaos. Even Zhang Tie flashed by Xuanyuan Hill. As the disciples of the top sects in Taixia Country, now that they had encountered this event, they had to be sensitive about everything that happened in Xuanyuan Hill out of individual curiosity or in order to respond to their masters'' questions.


    Fang Xinyi and her partners flew towards the center of Fairy Lake at their fastest speeds like meteors. The battle qi tornado that rushed into the sky didn''t move and looked pretty eye-catching; only after a few seconds, the battle qi tornado disappeared all of a sudden.


    After a few minutes, they had arrived at the location where the battle qi tornado rushed up into the sky. It was close to the northwest in the center of Fairy Lake.


    It was normal on the water. Additionally, they didn''t see anyone fly away from here just now. After suspending in the sky and exchanging a glance with each other, those youngsters nodded towards each other as they dove into the lake at the same time.


    The water of Fairy Lake was very crystal. Being not far away from where they entered the water, a wide area of muddy water was slowly rolling in a deep pit being covered with many waterweeds.


    They meticulously approached there and didn''t find anybody. There was a broken waterweed in the rolling muddy water. Besides, there was a hole inside while the water of a subterranean stream was flowing out of the hole and gradually diluting the muddy water.


    "I could smell blood in the water here. As the blood is mixing with mud, it could be barely identified; but my cultivation method makes me sensitive to fresh blood..." You Chuzhi told all the others at present in a secret way with a solemn look.


    "Someone fought here just now!"


    "One of them was at least an earth knight!"


    These young knights were not idiots. They immediately reached many conclusions. The opponent who could let an earth knight release his battle qi tornado probably be an earth knight on the same level or a knight on a higher or lower level. If the opponent was on a higher level, the earth knight who released his battle qi tornado had already been killed; if the opponent was on a lower level, it indicated that the earth knight had already killed a black iron knight. Each possibility brought Fang Xinyi and her partners a great stress.


    "It seems that we could access this subterranean stream, should we enter it?" Someone proposed a suggestion.


    "Given the direction of the water flow, this subterranean river might pass by Xuanyuan Hill. As Xuanyuan Hill is in chaos, if we enter Xuanyuan Hill in this way, we might arouse a misunderstanding in the sensitive region..." Fang Xinyi shook her head calmly. As they all came from the top sects in Taixia Country, which were born to be contradictory with the imperial court and imperial households of Taixia Country. If they entered Xuanyuan Hill; especially in some sensitive region of Xuanyuan Hill in such a secret way, they would indeed have big trouble.


    There was one point that Fang Xinyi had not pointed out. However, they all knew it, namely, if the knight who appeared here just now was also in the subterranean stream at this moment, they would face a great danger if they entered this narrow and strange place. Curiosity killed the cat, also knights.


    "Chuzhi, can you sense the trace of the person who bled in the water? If that person is bleeding, he might leave some clues in water." Ge Yuling asked as the others moved their eyes onto You Chuzhi.


    You Chuzhi shook his head as he replied, "I could only sense the existence of fresh blood in this small region. It''s diffusing. There''s no fresh blood in other places. I guess the one who bled just now have already stopped bleeding, leaving no trace anymore!"


    When they talked with each other in a secret way, another 3 knights entered the water. At the sight of these people over here, they instantly swam towards here.


    One earth knight and two black iron knights; all of them were wearing uniforms of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country. It seemed that the rising battle qi tornado not only attracted Fang Xinyi and her partners but also some vigilant powerhouses of Supreme Court near Fairy Lake.


    "Who are you?" The moment they arrived here, the earth knight had asked about the identities of Fang Xinyi and her partners.


    "We''re traveling in Xuanyuan Hill. Just now, we were near Fairy Lake. At the sight of the battle qi tornado, we especially came over here to take a look!" A knight on Fang Xinyi''s side replied frankly.


    After hearing his explanation, the earth knight of Supreme Court nodded silently. Because they had indeed seen some people flying in front of them with their brilliant protective battle qis which looked like meteors, although they were far away from Fang Xinyi and her partners; additionally, the number of members of Fang Xinyi''s team corresponded with that of the "meteors".


    The earth knight of Supreme Court slowed down his voice. He didn''t even waste time inquiring about the concrete identities and names of Fang Xinyi''s team members; instead, he put it straightforwardly, "Have you seen the one who released his battle qi tornado just now?"


    "When we arrived here, we didn''t see anybody but the muddy water. It seems that there was a transient fight here just now; additionally, the blood here has already diffused!"


    "Didn''t you see anyone leaving here?"


    "No!"


    "Alright, thanks!" The earth knight glanced around Fang Xinyi and her partners before warning them seriously, "It''s a sensitive period in Xuanyuan Hill, as you''re just travelers, watch out yourselves; do not be involved in the contradictions!"


    After saying that, the earth knight threw a glance at the subterranean stream before drilling inside. Before entering it, he even told the other two black iron knights to look for suspicious places in the surroundings.


    Fang Xinyi and her partners could only leave the water.


    ...


    After flying out of Fairy Lake, they suspended in the sky and exchanged glances with each other silently. What happened in Xuanyuan Hill and what they encountered outside Xuanyuan Hill tonight were completely out of the limits of their abilities and knowledge. Previously, they were all proud of themselves as they were all elites of top sects in Taixia Country. However, tonight, they found that they could do nothing but be onlookers when a major event broke out in Xuanyuan Hill. They even lost their target; therefore, Fang Xinyi and her partners, especially those male knights felt frustrated more or less.


    "Whether the earth knight of Supreme Court had already guessed our identities and backgrounds? Therefore, he warned us in the end!" A male knight broke the silence.


    "Maybe, the powerhouses of the Supreme Court always have sharp eyes!"


    "When we chased Zhang Tie all the way to the Fairy Lake, we lost our target; closely after that, a battle qi tornado appeared; whether the battle qi tornado is related to Zhang Tie?" You Chuzhi suddenly asked after being silent for a second.


    "It''s still too early for us to reach such a conclusion. But the time that Zhang Tie appeared in Xuanyuan Hill was indeed a bit strange. We''d better not expose this secret for the time being. We will report it to our masters at first. The experience and information sources of the elders in our sects could never be matched by us. They will give us an explanation!" Fang Xinyi said calmly.


    All the others nodded. When they stayed with Fang Xinyi over these days, they all found that Fang Xinyi was intelligent and could always hit the key points; although being tranquil and elegant, she could always be decisive at critical moments. Gradually, they all thought that Fang Xinyi''s words were reasonable.


    Closely after that, these young elites left Fairy Lake...


    ...


    When Fang Xinyi''s team left Fairy Lake and the two black iron knights of Supreme Court carefully searched over the neighborhoods in water, Zhang Tie was refining the last bit of water elements from the incomplete water chakra of Han Yuanhong.


    After being severely wounded, Han Yuanhong finally exhaled his final breath...

 1164 Second Kill

    Chapter 1164: Second Kill


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Knights had very strong vitality, which commoners might find unimaginable.


    Even a common fighter would not die right away after his head was chopped off on the battlefield. Actually, after an ordinary knight''s head was chopped off, he would still be clear-minded for dozens of seconds, even a few minutes. Sometimes, he could still blink his eyes while trying to shriek miserably or say something. Even if one fighter suffered from an unimaginable, fatal wound, he might also stick to a few hours in a miraculous way. After experiencing so many battles, whether large or small, Zhang Tie had witnessed and encountered such similar occasions.


    Even commoners could display a strong vitality in emergencies, not to mention an earth knight.


    When the gold-eaten dagger entered Han Yuanhong''s body, it broke Han Yuanhong''s heart. Closely after that, Zhang Tie released his battle qi and shattered his heart into pieces. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie manipulated a longsword to open a terrifying wound from Han Yuanhong''s chest to his lower abdomen, breaking Han Yuanhong''s guts severely.


    Although suffering such severe wounds, Han Yuanhong didn''t die immediately; instead, his muscles all over shrunk and closed the wounds in a split second. Meanwhile, Han Yuanhong released his battle qi tornado and was going to launch a counter-attack...


    Of course, Han Yuanhong would not succeed his counter-attack. If Zhang Tie lost this battle when he had taken the initiative, he deserved the death.


    Han Yuanhong exerted his full efforts to hit Zhang Tie''s face using the rear of his head; however, Zhang Tie directly crashed his face against Han Yuanhong''s rear of head forcefully. This time, Han Yuanhong further tasted Zhang Tie''s iron body which was benefited by iron-body fruits. As a result, Zhang Tie was firm; however, sparkles flew before Han Yuanhong''s eyes as he spurted out a mouthful of blood.


    Almost at the same time, Han Yuanhong thrust his right elbow against Zhang Tie''s chest ferociously. Zhang Tie accepted it frankly safe and sound; at the same time, one snake-shaped short dagger suddenly appeared in Han Yuanhong''s right hand as it was stabbed against Zhang Tie''s back. However, Zhang Tie nipped it between his arm and his body.


    Before Han Yuanhong made his 4th counter-attack, Zhang Tie had already thrust onto Han Yuanhong''s tailbone forcefully using his knee. In a split second, Han Yuanhong''s pelvic bone was shattered. At the same time, the longsword under Zhang Tie''s spiritual control stabbed against Han Yuanhong''s lower abdomen for hundreds of times, messing up his qi sea.


    When two earth knights started a close combat, they would always risk their lives. In only a few seconds, the breathtaking, cruel and bloody close combat had come to an end. Han Yuanhong''s final struggles were collapsed by Zhang Tie.


    Although Han Yuanhong failed in his counter-attack, since his battle qi tornado rose up a few seconds ago, Zhang Tie had known that this location had been exposed. As there were so many knights outside Xuanyuan Hill, as long as they caught sight of this battle qi tornado, knight-level powerhouses of Supreme Court and the other onlookers would arrive here.


    As the water smelt bloody.


    Zhang Tie immediately stomped onto the mud at the bottom of the lake, causing a large amount of mud to mix with water. Closely after that, Zhang Tie sped up as he opened the siphon tunnel connecting Castle of Black Iron. Together with Han Yuanhong in his hand, Zhang Tie flashed far away in water at a speed faster than knight''s flight speed in the sky.


    When Zhang Tie flashed far away in water, he triggered his purgatory samsara method. Before Han Yuanhong died, Zhang Tie started to refine Han Yuanhong''s water chakra.


    When Fang Xinyi and her partners arrived at the spot, as was predicted by Zhang Tie, they were attracted by the muddy water immediately. However, at that time, Zhang Tie had already arrived at 60 miles away and stopped in a riprap at the bottom of the lake. Nobody could imagine that anyone could move so fast in water.


    ...


    Han Yuanhong was the most powerful earth knight that Zhang Tie had ever seen.


    Zhang Tie estimated that Han Yuanhong''s battle strength was even higher than that of Old Monster Qi, that demon knight who had been sacrificed in the bloody sacrifice furnace and Mountain Lifting Hermit.


    Pitifully, Han Yuanhong met Zhang Tie. An ambush plus the strike of a divine dominator, Han Yuanhong actually faced the attack of more than two Zhang Tie. Any earth knight would be killed facing such a powerful raid.


    What was more pessimistic was that Han Yuanhong didn''t know who killed him until death. He always wanted to turn around to see Zhang Tie''s face; however, before Zhang Tie''s face reflected in Han Yuanhong''s eyes, his eyes had completely lost brilliance as he widely opened his eyes unwillingly.


    Before death, Han Yuanhong felt too depressed and confused. He couldn''t think through how he was ambushed at the exit of the escape passage although he behaved so mysteriously; additionally, the one who ambushed him was too terrifying. There was one moment that Han Yuanhong even thought that he was ambushed by a shadow knight. Because shadow knights who had formed water chakra could have a powerful battle strength in water; additionally, shadow knights excelled at concealing themselves in water. All these features fit the situation.


    Han Yuanhong could only see the excessively young arm over his neck. Given the skin on the arm, it should belong to a teenager. Although it didn''t look as sturdy as that of Hercules, the strength of this arm made him despaired. The pure physical strength from that arm made Han Yuanhong think that it was not muscles in the arm, but some underground dragons who were drawing a capstan. What was more despairing was that the one who ambushed him was not a shadow knight, but an earth knight who was refining his water chakra with a powerful external strength in a secret method in which the alchemist demon ranked first on the wanted list of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country and was unrivaled among humans and demons ¡ª¡ªPurgatory Samsara Method.


    Han Yuanhong was pushed into the hell by Purgatory Samsara Method.


    ''Everything in Xuanyuan Hill today is related to alchemist demon. It must be alchemist demon''s disciple or subordinate who ambushes me. As alchemist demon is already a heavenly knight, he would not absorb water-element crystals anymore. Only earth knight would absorb water elements in Purgatory Samsara Method. I must have seen this person. I''ve been trapped by this guy''s secret method unconsciously. This person''s secret method might be similar to the soul-chasing spiritual butterfly. Therefore, he could get hang of my trace; additionally, this person also knows the secret identity of my father.'' Han Yuanhong suddenly became clear-minded at the end of his life while his face turned brilliant once again. He had figured out many questions in a split second. If possible, he would send a message to his father using remote-sensing crystal at this moment; pitifully, all of his remote-sensing crystals had been taken away since he lost his ability to launch a counter-attack. Besides ambushing him, that person was also very meticulous and spared no chance for Han Yuanhong to reverse the result of the battle.


    At the end of his life, Han Yuanhong exerted his full strength as he uttered, "Who...are...you?"


    "Guess..."


    After being silent for a second, the one on his back replied which sounded pretty young. At this moment, the two words sounded a bit humorous more or less.


    Han Yuanhong couldn''t guess it; neither could he laugh out; he just widely opened his eyes until death.


    ...


    Being in water, Zhang Tie just watched Han Yuanhong as if he was looking at a dead fish. When he found Han Yuanhong''s eyes faded brilliance and the faint shocked expression and anguished twist on Han Yuanhong''s face, Zhang Tie felt calm as if nothing had happened.


    "Hoho, how about that? I killed you. Forgot to tell you, I also killed your young brother. As you father wants to kill me and all of my family members, I could only kill you." Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile as he said, "You''re the second kill that I prepared for your family; there''s only one left!"


    If it was a kittie or a puppy that had just been flattened to death by a car on the road, Zhang Tie might feel a bit sympathetic or a bit sad; however, since he witnessed how demons and Three-eye Association turned hundreds of millions of alive people into demonized puppets in Waii Subcontinent, Zhang Tie''s heart had turned extremely cold towards demons and all the lackeys of demons. He would never pity any of those sons of b*tches. As for Zhang Tie, even though these b*stards were alive, they were just dried, spiritless firewoods. He would not have any mood swings even if he split these b*stards into pieces and burned them like burning firewoods.


    If it were in another place, Zhang Tie could have more time to deal with Han Yuanhong without arousing the attention of anyone else. If so, Han Yuanhong might still be alive at this moment. After refining his water chakra in Purgatory Samsara Method, Zhang Tie would really throw this b*stard into bloody sacrifice furnace and burn it like burning firewood. He would only regard it as recycling wastes. However, at the critical moment, he had to kill the powerful earth knight in the shortest period in terms of ambush. He was not allowed to have any fluke mind when in the fight. He had to end the battle as fast as possible in the most ferocious way. To capture an earth knight alive was not as difficult as killing an earth knight. When he shattered Han Yuanhong''s heart into pieces, Han Yuanhong had been destined to die; it was just a matter of time.


    The short period that Han Yuanhong could stand based on his tenacious vitality was also required by Zhang Tie as he could refine Han Yuanhong''s water chakra Purgatory Samsara Method during this period.


    It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that he could refine Han Yuanhong''s water chakra completely in such a short period. At such a critical moment, Zhang Tie thought that he was lucky enough if he could refine half of Han Yuanhong''s water chakra.


    ''He must have taken too many rare tonics. What a strong vitality! Hahaha...'' Zhang Tie laughed out.


    If he knew this result, Han Yuanhong might be regretful that he didn''t choose to commit suicide at the beginning.

 1165 Entering the Emperors Imperial City

    Chapter 1165: Entering the Emperor''s Imperial City


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After throwing the last glance at Han Yuanhong''s corpse, Zhang Tie directly teleported his corpse into Castle of Black Iron without even searching over his body.


    As the bright golden master of Gold and Power Law, the host of Gold and Power Market and the young master of Heavens Reaching Church, Han Yuanhong must have a lot of rare items. However, Zhang Tie didn''t have time to search over his corpse at this moment. Heller could easily complete that for him.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t expect too much from Han Yuanhong''s belongings. Whatever, he could get at least a space-teleportation item.


    "He''s yours, Heller, thanks!"


    "Castle Lord, don''t worry. I will give your surprise when you return to Castle of Black Iron next time!" Heller''s voice sounded a bit strange; however, Zhang Tie didn''t think too much about it because it was not the right time for him to review his booties.


    After doing that, Zhang Tie thought for a few seconds before taking out a full-body battle armor from Castle of Black Iron.


    This set of full-body battle armor was specially made by Edward for Zhang Tie. It had stayed too long in Castle of Black Iron. Because Zhang Tie didn''t join frontline battlefield lately, he didn''t wear it.


    Being black all over, the full-body battle armor was full of killing intent. As a rune weapons master, Edward''s battle armor always had a soul and theme. The inspiration of this battle armor originated from the pool of chaos in Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, it was also named Chaos.


    It could turn all the strikes into chaos. The entire armor had a super strong protective force. Additionally, it bred a terrifying killing intent invisibly. The pointed horn on the helmet, the war spikes on the shoulders, the sharp crescent-shaped sabers on the arms and the teeth on the pair of caligas carried a terrifying killing intent. In order to adapt to Zhang Tie''s ability, there were even some special tricks on the back of the battle armor. The entire battle armor could attack and defend the enemy at the same time in a commanding way.


    The Chaos was made of abyss magical iron in Earth-elements Realm and mithril alloy in Waii Subcontinent. Additionally, the battle armor was attached to a LV 4 firmness rune effect, a LV 4 sharpness rune effect and an 18% rune recovery effect which broke through the bottleneck of knight''s black iron effect.


    The entire Chaos was composed of 39 parts and weighed over 600 kg. It might take commoners about 3-5 minutes to put it on without the help of others; however, it was too simple for Zhang Tie to put it on.


    After being taken out of Castle of Black Iron, the whole set of battle armor floated in front of Zhang Tie with crossed arms in an anthropomorphous shape. Both Zhang Tie and the whole set of battle armor were in the space isolated by his protective battle qi in water.


    Zhang Tie looked at the structure of the battle armor for a short while. After that, he triggered his ability as a divine dominator to separate the whole set of battle armor in a split second using his spirit. Closely after that, the 39 parts of the battle armor flew towards his body parts respectively. With click-clacks caused by the occlusions between metal parts, Zhang Tie had put on the whole set of battle armor in less than 2 seconds. Being wrapped by the Chaos, Zhang Tie changed his look utterly.


    Nobody else among humans might put on the whole set of battle armor at such a fast speed, even if he was also a divine dominator. Because Zhang Tie also had multi-tasking ability besides being a divine dominator. Benefited from the two abilities, Zhang Tie could realize such a high efficiency.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie recalled the hero in a manga that he read when he was young. That hero also wore a whole set of marvelous battle armor. As long as the hero summoned, the marvelous battle armor would appear out of the void in parts; meanwhile, the parts of the battle armor would fly towards the hero automatically, granting a super strong ability to the hero. Everything in front of Zhang Tie''s eyes was extremely similar to that in the manga.


    Zhang Tie''s entire face was covered by the helmet, except for two triangular one-way visible dark crystals near his eyes through which he could see outside; however, the others couldn''t even see his eyes.


    The Chaos was designed delicately in each detail. The breathing holes were below ears like shark''s gills. In this way, the most fragile face could be well protected; additionally, when he flew rapidly, he would not feel uncomfortable facing the wind.


    ''Unconsciously, I''ve already been able to be the hero that I worshiped when I was young whenever I want.''


    After putting on the Chaos, the hiding rune also took effect on the Chaos, causing the black battle armor looming in water.


    Inside the battle armor, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. Closely after that, he shot out of the water like a bat out of the hell and entered the sky...


    He was already over 60 miles away from the center of Fairy Lake and was close to the bank of Fairy Lake. The closest knights were over 60 miles away from him; additionally, Zhang Tie had triggered his hiding rune effect. Of course, he didn''t need to worry about being discovered by others.


    Since he put on the battle armor, Zhang Tie had been ready for flying using the ability of divine dominator. As for Zhang Tie, it was much easier for him to manipulate his battle armor to fly using the ability of divine dominator.


    When he exited the water, he maintained his flight speed at about 300 m per second. He kept ascending. In less than 2 minutes, Zhang Tie had broken through the troposphere which was closest to the earth and entered the stratosphere. In the stratosphere, there were fewer people. Zhang Tie became reassured as he accelerated and reached 3 times that of the speed of sound in a split second, causing a sonic boom. When he reached the top of the stratosphere, which was about 60 miles away from the earth, he turned and flew towards Xuanyuan Hill.


    Under his lotus-flower eyes, although Zhang Tie was far away from the center of emperor''s imperial city in Xuanyuan Hill, he could still see clearly the visional Far-ancient Moral Stele floating above Sincerity Garden in the emperor''s imperial city.


    Now that the visional Far-ancient Moral Stele was still above Sincerity Garden, it indicated that the battle in Sincerity Garden had not come to an end. As was imagined by Zhang Tie, the battle between high-level knights would not come to an end in a short period. Although he had already ambushed and killed Han Yuanhong, the battle in Sincerity Garden had not come to an end yet.


    At the speed of about 1,000 m per second, soon after leaving the rim of Xuanyuan Hill, he had already approached the no-fly zone of Xuanyuan Hill at a higher place in the sky.


    The no-fly zone of Lion Fortress was a pot cover, knights could fly as long as they were out of this pot cover. By contrast, Xuanyuan Hill was a deep conical well. Starting from the earth, the no-fly zone of Xuanyuan Hill included the atmosphere even space above Xuanyuan Hill. Take the Xuanyuan Hill on the earth as the bottom of this conical well, the no-fly zone of Xuanyuan Hill was like a huge cone. The higher it was, the larger the space of the no-fly zone would be and the more difficult it would be for knights to approach Xuanyuan Hill.


    Such a no-fly zone was very powerful. It was actually borderless. However, it could also protect knights indirectly. Because if knights fell off when they entered the no-fly zone of Xuanyuan Hill from a high place, they would probably get out of the fly-no zone and recover their flying ability in case of death.


    Powerhouses were always brave. After grasping the flying skill under the control of divine dominator, Zhang Tie immediately entered the no-fly zone of Xuanyuan Hill which was regarded as an impasse by all the knights below sage-level. Closely after that, he started to overlook the entire Xuanyuan Hill using his lotus-flower eyes.


    It was less than 1 hour since Zhang Tie left here, during which period, Xuanyuan Hill seemed to become more chaotic.


    The battle qi smoke on the bank of Golden Water River just now had already disappeared; however, many more places caught big fires. The army that was stationed outside Xuanyuan Hill had already entered Xuanyuan Hill in batches. No more battles between knights could be seen on the ground outside the emperor''s imperial city. Zhang Tie wondered whether those knight-level powerhouses of Heavens Reaching Church in Xuanyuan Hill had been caught or were hiding their identities to escape; however, he saw thousands of people making terrors and chaos in Xuanyuan Hill by killing people and setting fires in all directions like carrying out a guerrilla. The army and the elites of Supreme Court were encircling and annihilating these b*stards.


    Needless to say, these people were dare-to-die fighters that Heavens Reaching Church had arranged in Xuanyuan Hill with the ability of Gold and Power Law or the Finance Minister''s Mansion or under the control of demonized puppet worms. These people ranked between LV 9 and LV 15, who were easily dealt with by knights; however, given their great population, they could cause great chaos in Xuanyuan Hill; especially in the evening.


    When he entered the emperor''s imperial city of Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie immediately reduced his speed to below the speed of sound and flew silently. Being affected by his master-level hiding rune effect, he could not be discovered in the black sky at all. Closely after that, he lowered his height to about dozens of miles away from the earth.


    The imperial palace in the emperor''s imperial city looked nothing special. Watching it from over 20 miles high, Zhang Tie found the imperial palace of Xuanyuan Hill on the earth was just a huge cubic complex like a city of the city. Besides being magnificent, it was nothing special. However, Zhang Tie could feel a heart-wrenching qi from the imperial palace. When he recalled that Heller told him that there might be a rarity which could match Castle of Black Iron inside the imperial palace of Xuanyuan Hill and there might be super powerhouses on the back of imperial palace, Zhang Tie became vigilant; he didn''t fly over the top of the imperial palace; instead, he detoured the imperial palace from afar and directly came to the top of Sincerity Garden...


    The moment Zhang Tie arrived at the top of Sincerity Garden, the dense grey mist above the Sincerity Garden instantly changed greatly...

 1166 The Fierce Figh

    Chapter 1166: The Fierce Fight


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Within the semi-sage realm, the bloody sea surged heavily; an immortal beast which looked like both tortoise and dragon looked up and roared, causing extremely high surging billows. Meng Shidao was lifting the Far-ancient Moral Stele by one hand with swaying hair and sparkling eyes as if he could suppress everything...


    As Meng Shidao constantly recited sutras, the resonance of sutras filled the entire semi-sage realm. Golden inscriptions constantly appeared on the pitch dark Far-ancient Moral Stele. Closely after that, those golden inscriptions directly jumped out of the stele like spiritual living beings. As those inscriptions fell off, the strikes from earth element, water element, wind element and fire element in the semi-sage realm became irresistible.


    The moment the inscriptions that mercy was the heart of universal laws like the earth which could carry everything fell off, all the earth element in the elements realm became berserk. Within the semi-sage realm, numerous spikes rushed as high as 1,000 m from the earth, causing the immortal beast to badly mutate; at the same time, the earth under the bloody sea also fluctuated like a see-saw. When the bloody water arrived, Meng Shidao covered them with earth and engulfed the greater half of the berserk bloody billows at once...


    The moment the inscriptions that virtue was the body of universal laws and the greatest virtue was like water which would lubricate the lower reach in a tender way fell off, all the water element in the elements realm resonated and became berserk at the same time. Within the semi-sage realm, resplendent water fell off the sky. The moment they touched the earth, they had cut through everything like ice blades. Even the rolling bloody sea was frozen. Additionally, the immortal beast was covered with white frost...


    The moment the inscriptions that etiquette was the tool of universal laws fell off and the greatest etiquette was as genial and warm as wind fell off, all the wind element in the elements realm resonated and became berserk. Within the semi-sage realm, the breeze came into being. Being blown by the breeze, the rolling bloody sea became calm and crystal in a split second. Being affected by the breeze, the berserk immortal beast''s shell and muscles started to degenerate and collapse in large areas like rocks that have been weathered for tens of thousands of years.


    The moment the inscriptions that righteousness was the driving force of universal laws like flames that lit up the darkness, all the fire element in the elements realm resonated and became berserk. Within the semi-sage realm, the bloody sea caught fire and disappeared through evaporation like being in a furnace that was used to refine steel. Additionally, the roaring immortal beast''s skin and flesh cracked while the rim of its body started to be carbonized...


    Before such a deadly kill action which could match the anger of the natural disaster, any ordinary knights in this semi-sage realm would be burned into scums in the blink of an eye. However, the immortal beast incarnated by Han Zhengfang was still as tenacious as before. The shell on the back of the immortal beast was like a huge shield which blocked the greater part of the fatal strikes.


    However, this semi-sage realm belonged to Meng Shidao, which contained the universal laws that Meng Shidao had comprehended and was sticking to and the terrifying killing intent that Meng Shidao had integrated with the heavens. In this semi-sage realm, Meng Shidao was almost like a deity. That was the terror of the personal realm.


    Meng Shidao had not reached sage level yet; even being a semi-sage, he was also irresistible for Han Zhengfang who was just a heavenly knight.


    Han Zhengfang knew that he didn''t have too much time left. In the past 1 hour, Meng Shidao''s semi-sage realm had shattered all the fluke minds of Han Zhengfang. Meng Shidao was not a new semi-sage knight; instead, he had already completely consolidated his rank as a semi-sage knight. Additionally, his semi-sage realm had already started to display the power of the 4 changing elements.


    ''I could not resist the semi-sage realm of Meng Shidao based on my current battle strength.'' Han Zhengfang was clear about his current situation based on his rich experience. Even gecko could break its tail at the critical moment, Han Zhengfang determined his mind almost soon after he abandoned all of his fluke minds.


    A scorching bloody sun immediately rose up from the back of the immortal beast while giving out shiny brilliance, causing Meng Shidao''s semi-sage realm to be as red as sunglow.


    Soon after Zhang Tie arrived above Sincerity Garden, he had caught sight of such an abnormal phenomenon¡ª¡ªThe grey mist covering Sincerity Garden immediately turned red as if it was burning inside. Zhang Tie saw through it using his lotus-flower eyes at once.


    Under his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie saw the semi-sage realm of Meng Shidao in a bizarre visual angle. On the back of the grey mist, there seemed to be a window that led to another world, which covered about 30,000 square miles. In that virtual world, Meng Shidao was floating in the sky while lifting the Far-ancient Moral Stele. A bloody hot sun was rising up from the shell of the immortal beast while giving out resplendent light, causing Zhang Tie giddy.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know this grey mist was semi-sage realm. In reality, it was like a wholly new grey misty space in the Sincerity Garden. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie had to change his conception about time, space, size, false or real out of shock. He had not imagined that a fight between a heavenly knight and a semi-sage knight could be so massive. They could fight using their virtual immortal beasts; additionally, the battle could cover 30,000 square miles. Such a scene brought Zhang Tie an unprecedented shock.


    Zhang Tie knew that this was a fight between top knights in this age. It was really a worthy travel here as he could witness such a ferocious fight as an earth knight, not to mention others.


    Zhang Tie widely opened his eyes in case that he missed any details of the fight.


    When the bloody hot sun rose up in the semi-sage realm, the entire semi-sage realm was filled with berserk fire element in the blink of an eye. These berserk fire element even disrupted the balance between 4 elements in the semi-sage realm, causing the elements in this realm to be disordered. As a result, Meng Shidao''s striking rhythm was broken at once.


    Meng Shidao suddenly stopped as he looked extremely solemn.


    The bloody sun grew increasingly larger with an extremely strong energy wave that could even match that of sage-level knights. During the process, all the strikes against Han Zhengfang in the semi-sage realm would be completely devoured by this bloody sun and could not hurt Han Zhengfang at all.


    Meng Shidao had experienced such a scene when he just formed his fire chakra and promoted to a semi-sage knight. When commoners promoted to knights, they could be regarded as becoming Hua dragons; when knights promoted to semi-sage knights, they could be regarded as phoenixes that gained their new birth in the fire. After promoting to a semi-sage knight, one would be utterly different than heavenly knights and all the other knights below heavenly knights as he had entered the threshold of sage level.


    This pass was called nirvana in holy fire, which was the ultimate target of many knights. The nirvana in holy fire indicated that one had completely formed his fire chakra, the last chakra of the 4 elements chakras. After forming his own fire chakra, one would be able to control all the 4 elements in the world freely. He could directly explore and get hang of the ultimate secret in the universal laws, which was the strength of realm, time and space. The knight who dominated the strength of realm was a semi-sage knight.


    In the process of nirvana in holy fire, the holy fire that carried the strength of universal laws could eliminate all the strikes and harms invisibly. This was the most powerful moment of a knight, when he would still be safe and sound even facing the strikes of a sage knight.


    Meng Shidao knew that Han Zhengfang didn''t promote to semi-sage level from a heavenly knight all of a sudden; because fire chakra could not be formed in a short period. If Han Zhengfang was able to do that, he would never promote to a semi-sage knight at this critical moment. Han Zhengfang was definitely promoting his cultivation base to a higher realm using a secret method like how low-level fighters grew berserk after taking something. The real nirvana in the holy fire would never be such berserk, which meant that Han Zhengfang''s fire chakra was in an extremely volatile and fragile state.


    The nirvana in holy fire diffused in the semi-sage realm in terms of a fiery sun. Closely after that, Han Zhengfang''s battle qi grew two times more berserk than before as if he was wrapped by immaterial flames that appeared out of the void. Standing still in the sky, he gave out an unrivaled qi, which was even greater than that of Meng Shidao.


    "What a secret method of Bloody Soul Temple! It could promote a heavenly knight to a semi-sage knight in an emergency. I''ve not seen that. I think such a secret method should come from the Bloody Soul Sutra in your temple..." Meng Shidao still looked as calm as before although he was fighting Han Zhengfang at the risk of his life. He still sincerely praised Han Zhengfang''s secret method.


    Han Zhengfang firmly gazed at Meng Shidao with his bloody eyes as his qi grew increasingly berserk and more dangerous as if a burning powder keg. He replied, "This is the unique secret method of Bloody Soul Sutra..."


    "It''s a bit pitiful for you to cause troubles to humans rather than resisting demons with this secret method..." Meng Shidao shook his head.


    "That''s the right place!" Han Zhengfang roared as his qi reached its climax. Closely after that, he flashed away. In a split second, he had already arrived at Meng Shidao''s side as he punched towards Meng Shidao.


    This punch was as powerful as that of a semi-sage knight. Closely after this punch, Meng Shidao''s semi-sage realm had started to quiver like waves while a burning bloody qi filled the entire semi-sage space...


    ...


    After the grey mist over Sincerity Garden turned bloody for less than 10 minutes, a loud boom drifted from that mist. At the same time, that grey mist was torn apart into pieces while a curl of after wind spurted out of the mist and lay flat hundreds of buildings and courtyards within 1,000 m. The Sincerity Garden which once contained the truth of universal laws disappeared in a split second in terms of shadowy powders through evaporation, leaving no trace at all.


    Almost at the same time, a bloody figure rushed out of the broken grey mist...

 1167 Chasing After the Targe

    Chapter 1167: Chasing After the Target


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The commander-in-chief of Imperial Guards had long been waiting outside the Sincerity Garden for the possible fight with a fiery killing intent. At the sight of the bloody figure breaking out of the grey mist, he immediately sprung up as he slashed his huge saber towards that figure in an overwhelming manner, causing a crescent in the air.


    The huge saber was a silver secret item which carried a special ability. It could not be matched by ordinary swords and sabers. Before that crescent arrived at that bloody figure, it had split in two. As a result, its force of attack grew by two times in a split second...


    "Go die..." The commander-in-chief of Imperial Guards roared which could be heard dozens of miles away like a muffled thunder as his eyes sparkled like stars.


    That bloody figure was Han Zhengfang. A few days ago, the commander-in-chief of Imperial Guards was drinking and discussing with him about political affairs; however, at this moment, they had already become enemies instead of friends. Therefore, the commander-in-chief just launched an attack mercilessly.


    Han Zhengfang threw a glance at the commander-in-chief of Imperial Guards with his bloody eyes as he punched the latter, ignoring the strike of the huge saber.


    The double crescent saber qi hit Han Zhengfang, splitting him into 9 bloody humanoid mist. The 9 bloody humanoid mist darted towards 9 directions like sharp arrows as fast as lightning bolts. They had reached over 1,000 m away in a second. By contrast, the commander-in-chief of imperial guards spurted out a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying a few miles away by Han Zhengfang''s punch like a meteor. Not until he damaged many buildings did he finally stop.


    With bloody stains at his mouth corners, Meng Shidao strode out of the diffusing grey mist by one step with a solemn look. After glancing around those bloody humanoid mist that was darting in 9 directions, he immediately punched towards a bloody humanoid mist which had reached 3,000 m away. The bloody humanoid mist jumped once; however, it still failed to dodge away from the terrifying power of the purple impact wave of Meng Shidao''s punch. In a split second, the bloody humanoid mist twisted and exploded, spraying blood over the sky.


    One of the 9 bloody humanoid mist was solved by Meng Shidao in a split second. All the other 8 bloody humanoid mist accelerated once again and reached another 2,000 m away in the blink of an eye. Meng Shidao threw a glance at them before chasing after a bloody humanoid mist in the northeast direction.


    Even Meng Shidao could not move much faster than those bloody humanoid mist. Therefore, he could only choose one target.


    Suddenly an azure sword qi rushed into the sky from 10,000 away from Sincerity Garden, involving a bloody humanoid mist into the sword qi...


    Half an hour later, that sword qi being over 10,000 m away from Sincerity Garden shattered that bloody humanoid mist. Closely after that, being wrapped by the sword light, a woman darted towards the ruined Sincerity Garden at a super high speed.


    This woman had a plump figure with a longsword in hand. Given her look, she was about 40-50 years old. Her delicate oval face looked still enchanting. With a fan-shaped bun, she looked pretty imposing. The class I uniform of foreign minister fit the woman''s imposing manner pretty well.


    This woman was one of top 9 ministers in Taixia Country.


    Nothing was left in the former Sincerity Garden, even a grass. It was covered with pits while the earth had become semi-ceramic after being baked in high temperature like the surface of the moon...


    ''Is this the power of realm?''


    Watching this miserable scene in the Sincerity Garden, the foreign minister thought inside.


    At this moment, she heard a sonic boom while Meng Shidao had appeared outside the former Sincerity Garden.


    Watching the ruins, Meng Shidao let out a long sigh.


    "Master of Crown Prince!" The foreign minister of Taixia Country lowered her head towards Meng Shidao as she put away her longsword.


    "Minister An..." Meng Shidao nodded politely too. Meng Shidao was not amazed by the appearance of this woman at this place. The entire emperor''s imperial city was in great chaos tonight; the 9 ministers had been called into the imperial palace for the sake of the hinterland of Taixia Country. Only the foreign minister who was responsible for diplomacy shouldered responsibility tonight and could be assigned by the crown prince to investigate the situation here or assist the Supreme Court to arrest Han Zhengfang. "How about your wounds?"


    "Severe wounds; but I could still survive. What about Han Zhengfang..."


    After hearing foreign minister''s question, Meng Shidao looked up at the sky above Sincerity Garden while a bizarre light flashed by his eyes. After being silent for a couple of seconds, he told the foreign minister, "There are too many doubts about what happened tonight. Han Zhengfang has long promoted to a heavenly knight; however, he was always hiding his battle strength; his secret method of Bloody Soul Temple was too weird and unpredictable. I failed to prevent him from leaving; however, he should have been severely injured. Let''s talk about it in the imperial palace in front of the crown prince..."


    The chaos in Xuanyuan Hill had not been appeased; however, it was almost under control; additionally, the elites of the top 4 armies would soon arrive at Xuanyuan Hill. The remaining fish of Heavens Reaching Church couldn''t make great trouble anymore. The chaos outside Xuanyuan Hill was just a piece of cake in Meng Shidao''s eyes. Therefore, he just ignored it. Even though the chaos in Xuanyuan Hill could be easily appeased, the entire Taixia Country would never be in peace from tonight on.


    The master of Heavens Reaching Church became the finance minister of Taixia Country. How many arrangements had Han Zhengfang made in the position of a finance minister over these years? This question made people feel cold.


    ''The chaos in Xuanyuan Hill tonight was preset. Who directed all this using those swans? How could I be involved in it? Is that someone on the back of the top 6 sects joking Xuanyuan Hill or it''s demon''s plot after they made full use of Han Zhengfang, or...''


    Meng Shidao looked terrifyingly gloomy while being sad and thoughtful on the way towards the imperial palace...


    The image of a big cat suddenly flashed by Meng Shidao''s mind as he finally stopped thinking about that...


    ...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was flying at 4 times the speed of sound.


    The marvelous changes in Sincerity Garden made Zhang Tie yell inside; especially in the last few minutes, the fight between Han Zhengfang and Meng Shidao benefited Zhang Tie for the rest of his life as it was the first time for him to witness such a fight between top knights.


    Zhang Tie witnessed how Han Zhengfang broke through Sincerity Garden.


    After Han Zhengfang broke out of the grey mist, he suddenly split into 9 bloody humanoid mist. One of them was killed by Meng Shidao immediately; another one was blocked by a sword qi from the emperor''s imperial city; besides, Meng Shidao chased after another one out of the emperor''s imperial city and killed it, leaving 6. Zhang Tie targeted on one of the last 6 bloody humanoid figures. Since the 9 bloody humanoid mist came into being, Zhang Tie had been keeping a close watch on one of them.


    Given their looks, all the bloody humanoid mist looked same. They even had the same battle strength and flying speed; however, under his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie could clearly see that one of the 9 bloody humanoid mist was evidently different than the other 8. The bloody runes floating in this one''s qi sea, breast and mind sea respectively were utterly different than that in the bodies of the other 8 bloody humanoid figures. Therefore, Zhang Tie kept a close watch on this one.


    The bloody humanoid mist flew at a high speed. The moment he exited Xuanyuan Hill, its speed had already reached over 4 times that of the speed of sound. This speed could never be reached by a shadow knight. Ordinary knights couldn''t block him at all as it moved too fast. Before some knights outside Xuanyuan Hill realized what happened, this bloody humanoid mist had already flashed far away in a split second, sparing no chance for them to catch up with him.


    If not grasp the secret method of flying as a divine dominator, Zhang Tie could only stand aside and watch him escape away in vain at this moment too.


    Zhang Tie targeted that bloody humanoid mist by his lotus-flower eyes and kept a distance of about 20 miles away from that bloody humanoid mist.


    When he flew using the ability of divine dominator, he didn''t give out any light. Therefore, nobody would pay attention to him no matter how fast he moved. It was utterly different than flying relying on the gravity caused by rotating chakras. As for the latter pattern, as long as he reached a certain high speed, he would become as eye-catching as a meteor in the evening. In that case, he would expose himself to the public. However, Zhang Tie didn''t face such a problem now. Additionally, with the effect of the master-level immortal hiding rune, Zhang Tie could barely expose himself to Han Zhengfang with such a distance in between. Even sonic booms would be lagged far behind Zhang Tie. Sonic booms could only spread about a couple of miles in the air. Given the safe distance between Zhang Tie and that bloody humanoid mist, the latter could never hear any sound behind him no matter how sensitive his ears were.


    That bloody humanoid mist also hid its battle qi light in flight. Additionally, although being a bloody mist, it could not be seen at all. Even a person with night viewing ability could encounter it in the sky, he could barely trace it with his eye light as it moved faster than 4 times that of the speed of sound.


    Only after about 1 hour, the bloody humanoid mist had already been almost 2,300 miles away from Xuanyuan Hill and entered a wild and dangerous mountain wood.


    It was barren under his foot. Although being at a high altitude, Zhang Tie could still sniff the stimulative smell of sulfur. The earth was covered with rising vapor and smoke that was blowing out of the underground space. The visibility was only hundreds of meters. In the looming mist and smoke, dull red magma was constantly spurting out of the crater like boiling water that flew out of the pot. The bloody humanoid mist directly entered the crater...

 1168 Canglan Palace

    Chapter 1168: Canglan Palace


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When the bloody humanoid mist was 330-400 miles away from this barren and dangerous volcanic area, it could almost not bear it physically under the gaze of Zhang Tie. As a result, it gradually reduced its speed from 4 times that of the speed of sound to same as that of the speed of sound...


    When the bloody humanoid mist reduced its speed to less than 200 m per second, Zhang Tie even saw it dropping off 100 m in a split second like a drunk man in the evening who fell off a pit. Closely after that, it became spirited and continued to fly towards the crater...


    At this moment, the bloody humanoid mist gradually diffused, revealing the real human body.


    It was Han Zhengfang. Zhang Tie knew that he had made a correct choice this time. Among the 9 bloody humanoid mist, only this one was real; all the others were just used to fool the public and create chaos. However, those substitutes were indeed very powerful, who could fly even faster than real shadow knights. Additionally, their battle strength could match that of real shadow knights in a short period. How unfathomable was the secret method of Bloody Soul Temple!


    Tonight, Zhang Tie saw this remnant of Bloody Soul Temple also the master of Heavens Reaching Church breaking out of Xuanyuan Hill alone. If not given the stance, Zhang Tie really admired Han Zhengfang. A person who could conceal his real identity in the hinterland of Taixia Country for so many years as one of the 9 ministers was really talented.


    When the former finance minister of Taixia Country revealed his original body, he was naked all over like a roasted duck that was taken out of the oven. His skin all over was crimson, which gradually turned a bit normal in a few minutes. Being dozens of miles away, Han Zhengfang''s skin looked pretty white as if he had not basked in the sun for dozens of years. According to the saying in Waii Subcontinent or Western Continent, only vampire''s skin could be that white...


    Han Zhengfang was very meticulous. After coming to the crater, he didn''t enter it immediately; instead, he flew around the crater slowly for a short while as a rest; meanwhile, he took a vial of medicament. After confirming that he was not followed up, he flashed into the magma at the fastest speed.


    Zhang Tie just watched him from afar; instead of rushing over there at once.


    With lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie could see clearly Han Zhengfang''s movements in magma. The entire volcano and magma inside it were transparent with different color temperatures in Zhang Tie''s eyes. Of course, Han Zhengfang''s temperature was different than that of magma. Therefore, he was very eye-catching even in magma. Zhang Tie blinked his eyes twice and filtered the color temperatures of magma and underground rocks; closely after that, Han Zhengfang became as clear as a person in a crystal swimming pool in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    The crater was like a rugged and vast deep well being filled with scorching magma. After deepening over 800 m underground, it was connected with a magma vein, from where magma flew out naturally under the great pressure of the underground space. That magma vein led to the deep underground space...


    Han Zhengfang didn''t stop until he reached about 5,000 m underground. He hid in somewhere. It seemed that Han Zhengfang had set a specially hidden residence for himself over there. There was something special inside that residence. After Han Zhengfang entered that place, he immediately lay in a huge coffin naked before covering the coffin with a lid from inside.


    After Han Zhengfang lay in the coffin for about 5 minutes, Zhang Tie appeared above the crater silently in his Chaos.


    Zhang Tie in Chaos was isolated from the stimulative sulfuric smoke that rose from the crater by his protective battle qi. The scarlet and scorching magma was gurgling out of the crater. The volcano reminded Zhang Tie of the pimples on the faces of those horny teenagers in the No. 7 male middle school in Blackhot City. According to the explanation of the church of patron, all the volcanoes were the pimples on the face of Gaya, the mother of the earth.


    Nobody knew how long had this volcano maintained such a state. It might not erupt on a large scale anymore. Therefore, Han Zhengfang built his shelter inside it. Additionally, thousands of square miles around here was covered with magma that gurgled out of the underground space. It was fatal everywhere on the earth. Additionally, there were faint toxins in the air. Nobody could be seen here.


    Commoners would never come here. Those below earth knights could not stay in magma for a long time. Even ordinary earth knights could not bear too long in magma. Han Zhengfang built his shelter here in case of being discovered by others. No earth knight or shadow knight across Taixia Country would like to soak in magma in the wild and especially dream about discovering backrooms in the magma.


    With the protection of his protective battle qi, Zhang Tie entered the magma inside the crater at once. Even at this moment, he still kept his immortal hiding rune effective as he swam towards Han Zhengfang''s shelter meticulously.


    Magma and water had different densities. However, it didn''t affect Zhang Tie''s moving speed at all. He just moved like how he did in the water. Being protected by his protective battle qi and Chaos, Zhang Tie almost could not sense the high temperature of the magma. It only took him less than 5 minutes to reach 5,000 m in depth outside the entrance of Han Zhengfang''s shelter.


    The entrance of Han Zhengfang''s shelter was a huge granite which weighed over 10 tons soaking in the magma, which was covered with metal granules.


    This huge granite being soaked in the magma had already turned crimson like firebricks in the brickkiln.


    There was a small magma vein like a root of a huge tree at this place. It flew far away. There were also many rocks and bulges around the huge granite, large or small. Actually, the same scene spread over the entire magma sea. Nobody could imagine that there was a hidden space behind this huge granite.


    ''I''m afraid that Han Zhengfang couldn''t see anything in the magma at all. He just fumbled all the way here through his memory. The other knights would be blind here except for being able to sense something besides themselves.''


    Zhang Tie hugged this huge granite and easily pushed it aside, revealing a cave that led upwards. Zhang Tie flashed in the cave before pushing the huge granite back.


    Only after floating up less than 20 m, Zhang Tie had already exposed his body out of the magma.


    Two icy blue beads were inlaid in the cliff above the magma. Zhang Tie was curious about the two special beads. He could sense a bizarre force field around the two beads. Like water-driving beads that he had ever heard, the two icy blue beads could press down the magma that intended to spill out of the cave. When Zhang Tie passed that force field, he felt like passing a cold veil.


    The two beads were absolute treasures. However, Zhang Tie didn''t touch them; instead, he started to glance around this place seriously. When he was at the edge of the crater just now, he kept his close watch on Han Yuanhong. All the lifeless things which Han Yuanhong had were just color temperatures in Zhang Tie''s lotus-flower eyes. When he arrived here, he had an utterly different feeling.


    This place was absolutely like an underground mini-palace. The magma below it was like the moat of this mini-palace. Zhang Tie was now in a fountain-like magma pool outside the gate of this mini-palace.


    There was no guard outside the gate. It was just a closed metal gate. The dozens of steps from the magma pool to the gate were made of top-quality class 9 crystals, each of which would be worth above hundreds of thousands of gold coins. However, they were used for paving here. How luxurious it was!


    There were some specific underground plants on both sides of the steps. These plants didn''t need sunshine. Only with proper temperature could they provide fresh air for this place. Therefore, it was not suffocating here although being in the underground.


    Zhang Tie walked out of the magma and stepped onto the crystal steps by foot quietly.


    There were 6 words on the top of the metal gate¡ª¡ªCanglan Palace of Bloody Soul Temple.


    ''It turns out to be built by Bloody Soul Temple. When they built this palace, Bloody Soul Temple might not have been exterminated yet. This secret base was a small act of Bloody Soul Temple under the eyes of Emperor Xuanyuan. However, nobody could discover it.'' Zhang Tie admired the means of Bloody Soul Temple very much.

 1169 Fighting a Powerful Enemy at Full Efforts I

    Zhang Tie moved his eyes away from the top of the gate. After a few more steps forward, Zhang Tie stood in front of the gate. He lightly put his hand onto the gate as he felt that this gate, which was higher than 10 m, was made of abyss magical iron. The material of this gate could match that of his Chaos. Even in Lion Fortress, weapons being made of abyss magical iron were available to knights.


    The gate was closed tightly. After entering the gate, Han Zhengfang latched the gate with a bolt from inside. As a result, outsiders could barely enter it, except for Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie could clearly see the internal structure of the lock of the abyss magical gate with his lotus-flower eyes.


    The lock of the gate was 7-star interlinked lock, which was a unique top-class lock in Taixia Country. If not know the method, one could never open it. Because one 7-star interlinked lock had 7 holes in different depths inside, one had to rotate the key 7 times; each time he rotated his key, he had to pay attention to the depth, angle and number of turns. Only after manipulating it 7 times consecutively could one open it. Han Zhengfang opened it using a key.


    After observing it for a short while, Zhang Tie had already borne the structure of 7-star interlinked lock in mind. He then took a slow, deep breath before starting to prepare for the coming fight.


    He took out the gold-eaten dagger, a silver secret longsword and a silver secret heavy hammer that he gained from the Earth-elements Realm; after that, he took out another silver secret dagger. Zhang Tie had the 4 weapons float around himself. After making a full preparation, Zhang Tie started to open the gate.


    Zhang Tie triggered the ability of a divine dominator to slowly open the 7-star interlinked lock on the gate of the Canglan Palace of Bloody Soul Temple. After unlocking it, the metal bolt behind the gate floated up itself silently too.


    The gate slowly opened like two feathers, exposing the inside of Canglan Palace of Bloody Soul Temple to Zhang Tie.


    The inside of the palace was much more luxurious than that outside. The surface of the entire palace was covered with Class IX crystals. There were some buildings made of gold in the palace. The entire palace was as large as a football court. What made it bright were not long-lasting fluorites but legendary luminous pearls. In the rear end of the square of the palace, there was a bloody pool whose diameter was 10 m. There was a huge black crystal coffin in the middle of the bloody pool. Besides, the surroundings of the bloody pool and the surface of the huge black crystal coffin were all covered with brilliant gilded runes.


    This bloody pool reminded Zhang Tie of the bloody sea; however, this bloody pool was much smaller than the bloody sea; additionally, there was only one person in the crystal coffin.


    Immersing himself in the dense blood of the black crystal coffin, Han Zhengfang looked like falling asleep.


    The black crystal coffin was about 70 m away from the gate. Zhang Tie didn''t enter it immediately. He just stood outside the gate. As it was an adventure, Zhang Tie didn''t know the concrete situation of Han Zhengfang at this moment. However, he had witnessed Han Zheng''s battle strength in Xuanyuan Hill, which was far greater than that of a shadow knight. Han Zhengfang''s performance reminded Zhang Tie of his master Zhao Yuan. ''Han Zhengfang must have hidden his real battle strength when he was the finance minister of Taixia Country. This master of Heavens Reaching Church might have long promoted to a heavenly knight.'' Zhang Tie thought.


    Generally, an earth knight could never defeat a heavenly knight. Although he was a divine dominator, Zhang Tie would never throw an egg against a rock. However, this situation was very special. After fighting Meng Shidao; especially after using secret methods constantly to escape away from the grey mist and Xuanyuan Hill, his vitality had been severely reduced. At this moment, Han Zhengfang was definitely in the weakest and unfenced condition.


    He might not have the second chance to defeat such a terrifying enemy. Even risking his life, Zhang Tie would also have a try. He was too gutless if he dared not launch such an attack towards Han Zhengfang at this moment.


    Zhang Tie had determined his mind. This time, he had to fight Han Zhengfang and kill him even risking his life. If not kill this enemy who screwed him and did harm to his family members for a couple of times, Zhang Tie would never sleep well.


    When all the thoughts turned into an irresistible killing intent, Zhang Tie''s eyes shot out shrewd light as he roared, "Go die...".


    The distance of 70 m was almost equal to face-to-face for a knight and a divine dominator. Zhang Tie''s first round of strike arrived at the coffin before his "roar" as the sound transmission speed in the air was only 340 m per second.


    The silver secret grim hammer which weighed a few tons fell onto the black crystal coffin ferociously like a sudden lightning bolt.


    Zhang Tie gained this heavy hammer from the demon knight of Augulas Clan on the battlefield of the Earth-elements Realm. As a silver secret item, this heavy hammer carried two terrifying attacking skills which could even frighten knights. First, it could shatter goods; Zhang Tie had tried its shattering ability in Castle of Black Iron by crashing it onto a piece of gold brick. The result was that the gold brick was shattered.


    Gold was a metal with the greatest ductility. One gram of gold could be extended to a large area of gold foil by a hammer. However, this silver secret heavy hammer could even shatter a piece of gold brick. It could be imagined how it would damage a human body.


    Second, "bolt" harm. As long as it could hit the living being, besides the shattering effect, it could also realize the effect of a lightning bolt, causing people to be stiff all over. Zhang Tie tried it on himself lightly. As a result, the shield in his hand was shattered; additionally, the effect of "bolt" passed on Zhang Tie himself, causing his hair to stand and his body to numb all over for quite a while.


    Terrifying shattering strike and the effect of "bolt" harm which could delay one''s moving ability. What a great match!


    The real object of the huge hammer was 6.8 tons in weight and longer than 3 m, which was taller and bigger than Cui Li. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt a bit hard manipulating it with the ability of divine dominator. This huge hammer would consume him one hundred times more spiritual strength than that on ordinary weapons. Although Zhang Tie had gained many silver secret items in the Weapons Mountain of the Hieron Ruins, none of those silver secret items could match this one which he gained from the demon knight.


    Zhang Tie saw the virtual body of this silver secret item. It was a huge far-ancient mammoth which was hundreds of meters high and had two 10-m longer huge fangs while being covered with scales. Each foot of the virtual body of this silver secret item was like a huge pillar that led to the sky. Each stomp would cause an earthquake.


    The flat side of this huge hammer was similar to the footprint of its virtual body. The two fangs incarnated into the two spikes on the top of the huge hammer.


    This heavy hammer was the real Thor''s hammer.


    When the hammer was less than 1 m away from the coffin, Han Zhengfang opened his eyes in a split second in the coffin with a shocked expression. Han Zhengfang could never imagine that he would be raided even in Canglan Palace.


    However, he didn''t have time to make a counter-attack anymore because the striking speed of divine dominator was too fast that nobody could escape at that moment...


    As a result, the black crystal coffin was shattered into ashes in a split second like a paper-made matchbox being put under a forging press. The moment the crystal coffin was shattered, under the great pressure, the blood in the bloody pool were sent flying in the air in terms of round liquid particles...


    The heavy hammer hit Han Zhengfang''s chest directly. If a huge rock was put on Han Zhengfang''s chest, it would be the standard trick in streets¡ª¡ªbreaking the rock on one''s chest by a hammer.


    Han Zhengfang was directly sent into the earth; meanwhile, many crystal bricks on the ground of Canglan Palace of Bloody Soul Temple were shattered...


    When the huge hammer fell off, gold-eaten dagger and the other two silver secret items firmed targeted on Han Zhengfang''s two body parts. Only after less than 0.01 second, two silver secret items had penetrated through Han Zhengfang''s heart and lower abdomen.


    0.01 second later, Zhang Tie launched his 3rd round of attack by releasing the berserk dragon-shaped battle qi towards the deep pit which was caused by the huge hammer.


    The entire Canglan Palace of Bloody Soul Temple quaked while being covered with smoke and dust.


    In the smoke and dust, Han Zhengfang slowly floated up from the huge, deep pit nakedly while being wrapped by his fiery protective battle qi.


    Besides being disheveled and covered with blood, a large area on Han Zhengfang''s chest sunk while his skin as a whole was covered with dense cracks and bloody streaks. Therefore, Han Zhengfang looked like a ferocious ghost with Zhang Tie''s gold-eaten dagger in hand.


    The gold-eaten dagger was targeting at Han Zhengfang''s right eye while quivering and struggling like a terrifying venomous snake being pinched by Han Zhengfang. Just now, if Han Zhengfang didn''t grasp the gold-eaten dagger, his head must have been blown up.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had already entered Canglan Palace. Han Zhengfang watched this guy in the grim black battle armor as he roared furiously, "Who are you...who the hell are you?"


    Like having not heard Han Zhengfang''s question, Zhang Tie just gazed at the gold-eaten dagger in Han Zhengfang''s hand and his body while contracting his pupils all of a sudden.


    Han Zhengfang''s current situation was completely out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. The dagger didn''t actually penetrate through Han Zhengfang''s heart. At the most critical moment, Han Zhengfang contracted his heart and caused it to move aside a bit to dodge from the fatal blow. He responded to the blow on his lower abdomen in the same manner. Therefore, although two parts of his body were penetrated, neither of them was fatal for a knight.


    In the blink of an eye, Han Zhengfang had controlled his muscles, tendons, meridians, and skin to close the two wounds. As a result, he stopped bleeding right away.


    Even the most destructive gold-eaten dagger was clutched by Han Zhengfang.


    By contrast, the first blow harmed Han Zhengfang most. With that blow, Han Zhengfang''s skin, skeletons and guts had been covered with cracks.


    At this moment, Han Zhengfang''s qi was the standard qi of a shadow knight. Compared to what Zhang Tie saw and felt in Xuanyuan Hill, Han Zhengfang''s overall strength seemed to have reduced by a realm. This might be the price that Han Zhengfang had to pay for breaking through Xuanyuan Hill.


    Zhang Tie was right. Han Zhengfang indeed had declined from the level of a heavenly knight to a shadow knight. Although the secret methods of Bloody Soul Temple were unrivaled, any secret method had to be paid. After a heavenly knight who had not completely formed his fire chakra pushed his level to the semi-sage realm by a secret method in a short period, he had to bear the price of collapsing his wind chakra.


    It was like eating viagra. One might stand and be as strong as a mutated beast overnight; however, after the effect of the medicine, he had to bear a sequelae; the more ferocious the medicine was, the severer the sequelae would be and the greater compensation would be required; especially the secret method that Han Zhengfang used to separate into 9 bloody humanoid mist when he escaped from Xuanyuan Hill, which made him suffer a great loss. He almost could not reach Canglan Palace. In that desperate situation, he had to suffer the price of declining to a lower level and the great loss of his vitality.


    Han Zhengfang had not imagined that he could be raided in his Canglan Palace.


    Neither did Zhang Tie imagine that Han Zhengfang could still be as powerful as a shadow knight. Therefore, he only realized half of the desired effect of the first round of attack.


    The current situation was out of the imagination of both Zhang Tie and Han Zhengfang.


    "Who are you?" Han Zhengfang glared at Zhang Tie as he roared with muffled thunders for the second time. Meanwhile, his shadow-knight level battle qi surged.


    Any shadow knight could not be profaned by ordinary knights, no matter how weak he was.


    "Go die..."


    Zhang Tie''s boiling killing intent formed a resolute battle intently. He was not scared by Han Zhengfang''s imposing manner; instead, he became spirited all over. ''Shadow knight, so what? This father swears to kill a shadow knight today. In Han Zhengfang''s muffled roars, Zhang Tie also roared in a muffled way as he rushed towards Han Zhengfang and launched an attack on his own initiative by punching and slashing his sword...


    ''When two enemies encountered in a narrow path, the braver one would be the winner!''


    Zhang Tie had borne this resolute belief deep in mind since he joined Iron-Blood Camp...

 1170 Fighting a Powerful Enemy at Full Efforts II

    With the ability of a divine dominator, Zhang Tie was tied with Han Zhengfang in this situation.


    Shadow knights were very powerful; however, Han Zhengfang had been severely injured and suffered a great loss in vitality. Therefore, he could not respond to Zhang Tie''s strikes as easily as ordinary shadow knights.


    Han Zhengfang''s shadow-knight level protective battle qi was like a thick alloy armor for Zhang Tie. It really had a great protective effect. Additionally, Han Zhengfang might cultivate a secret method of Bloody Soul Temple which could grant him with a super strong defensive power. This point could correspond to the thick shell of the immortal beast that Han Zhengfang manifested in Sincerity Garden.


    The moment they started the fight, both Zhang Tie and Han Zhengfang were thinking about killing the opponent as fast as possible. Therefore, in a split second, they immediately entered the fiercest close combat.


    Han Zhengfang''s shadow-knight level protective battle qi could not be broken through by Zhang Tie in a short period; however, Zhang Tie''s ability as a divine dominator also shocked Han Zhengfang too much.


    Zhang Tie had already put away the silver secret heavy hammer into Castle of Black Iron. In this occasion, unless Han Zhengfang stood still and waited for Zhang Tie''s strike with the silver secret heavy hammer, it would be too hard for him to manipulate a weapon weighing tons to attack Han Zhengfang; additionally, it was almost in vain. Therefore, Zhang Tie directly put away the silver secret heavy hammer.


    After realizing that he couldn''t teleport the gold-eaten dagger into his portable space-teleportation equipment and that he had to give up the attacking force of one hand by clutching that heavily struggling gold-eaten dagger, Han Zhengfang let go the gold-eaten dagger.


    After the silver secret heavy hammer entered Castle of Black Iron, two silver secret shields came out of Castle of Black Iron and started to fly around Zhang Tie; plus the gold-eaten dagger and the other two silver secret weapons, Zhang Tie could manipulate the 5 weapons and equipment at the same time which combined both defensive and attacking effects. Plus Zhang Tie himself, Han Yuanhong felt like being besieged by more than 5 earth knights.


    The aftermath of their collisions and the attached destructive effects of their battle skills messed up the entire Canglan Palace in only a few minutes. The entire underground space below Canglan Palace was rocking. Numerous boulders fell off the cliff above their heads; some boulders weighed hundreds even thousands of tons, smashing those terraces and open halls inside Canglan Palace.


    Zhang Tie finally experienced the power of a shadow knight. Even in this situation, Han Zhengfang''s casual blow could be barely resisted by Zhang Tie''s silver secret shield. Only after colliding Han Zhengfang twice by force in the close combat, Zhang Tie had felt breathless and spurted out blood while being affected by the aftermath and shocks of Han Zhengfang''s strikes, although his protective battle qi was not broken.


    A lean camel was bigger than a horse.


    The speed, strength, defensive ability and battle consciousness of a shadow knight were not on the same order of magnitude with that of an earth knight. If not having rich battle experience and a much greater knight''s consciousness than the other earth knights and the multi-tasking ability as a divine dominator, he had long been severely injured or killed by Han Zhengfang after a few minutes of combat.


    Zhang Tie also sensed what Han Zhengfang was thinking about¡ª¡ªkill the opponent through close combat as fast as possible!


    Han Zhengfang was even more urgently desiring for killing Zhang Tie.


    ''Why Han Zhengfang was so urgent?''


    Such a whim flashed through Zhang Tie''s mind in the close combat.


    ''Because Han Zhengfang couldn''t bear a long time close combat like this. In another word, he couldn''t stand a long time high-intensity combat consumption anymore. Han Zhengfang is consuming his battle strength much faster than his recovering speed. The wounds that were left in Xuanyuan Hill and the wounds that were caused by me have almost made him exhausted. If he doesn''t kill me as fast as possible, as long as he reveals his fatigued look and couldn''t maintain his advantage in battle strength over me or I fetched a powerful assistant, he would die for sure. Additionally, there''s definitely not another palace of Bloody Soul Temple as secret as Canglan Palace near Xuanyuan Hill, where he could recover his wounds without any concern.


    After thinking through this point, Zhang Tie immediately altered his combat strategy by extending the distance between him and Han Zhengfang.


    ''Prevent your enemy from reaching his target.'' This was the essence of all the combats.


    People required braveness and wisdom when in fight.


    Zhang Tie soon got rid of the state of close combat. Because he was completely using his ability as a divine dominator to manipulate his battle armor to move in the air, he could move in an unimaginable traces and speed. Even Han Zhengfang could not catch up with him as a shadow knight.


    "Who the hell are you? There are very few divine dominators in Taixia Country. Only Immortal Penglai Island could enlighten the ability of divine dominator secretly. Whether you''re dominating everything tonight in Xuanyuan Hill?" Han Zhengfang roared with bloody eyes as he chased closely after Zhang Tie. When he saw Zhang Tie leaving his combat circle, he sped up towards Zhang Tie; meanwhile, he shot a battle qi by fingers, which finally formed a bloody sword, towards Zhang Tie at a super high speed.


    Being besieged by the three weapons, Han Zhengfang''s movement was greatly affected. At this moment, a silver secret shield crashed onto Han Zhengfang''s protective battle qi, slowed down Han Zhengfang''s chasing speed at once. At the same time, the virtual bloody sword that was shot from Han Zhengfang''s two fingers was blocked by another silver secret shield in a delicate way. Closely after that, the virtual bloody sword altered its direction and shot onto the earth, causing a bottomless hole as large as the rim of a bowl.


    Zhang Tie expanded the distance between him and Han Zhengfang to over 70 m once again.


    Han Zhengfang''s roar shocked Zhang Tie faintly, ''Immortal Penglai Island in Taixia Country could enlighten the ability of divine dominator?'' That was a key information. After coming to Taixia Country, Zhang Tie had not gained any information about divine dominator. He just tapped the ability of divine dominator himself. That was why he didn''t figure out the flying ability of divine dominator until he promoted to an earth knight. If Zhang Tie had long known that there were divine dominators in Immortal Penglai Island, he might not need to take so many wrong ways; instead, he could visit Immortal Penglai Island and exchange with the divine dominators over there.


    ''This might be the accidental achievement of this combat.''


    When Zhang Tie thought about it, he didn''t slow down his movements; not to mention sparing any chance for Han Zhengfang to take a rest. Zhang Tie immediately ran his spirit while a row of sharp metal spikes on the back of his Chaos flew off and joined the combat.


    This was an attached striking pattern that Edward especially designed for Zhang Tie as a divine dominator. There were totally 21 sharp spikes on the back of the Chaos. Besides being extremely sharp, their rims were like sawteeth. Such a design could grant these sharp spikes with a great destructive effect; additionally, they could cut knight''s protective battle qi like sawing wood when they move at a high speed, causing a great pressure to a knight''s protective battle qi.


    Zhang Tie was manipulating 3 weapons, 2 shields and his Chaos using his ability as a divine dominator and his multi-tasking ability. Without exposing the secret of Castle of Black Iron, he had 14 sharp spikes fly off the back of his Chaos at once and join in the combat like a wolf pack which had smelt the blood.


    Han Zhengfang''s protective battle qi formed an illuminant


    Han Zhengfang''s illuminant protective battle qi had to sustain hundreds of times'' strikes in each second. Although these strikes could not break through Han Zhengfang''s protective battle qi at once, they caused Han Zhengfang''s protective battle qi to quiver constantly like ripples at such a high frequency...


    Han Zhengfang wanted to involve Zhang Tie in this battle once again; he darted towards Zhang Tie many times; however, Zhang Tie always stayed 50 m away from Han Zhengfang while moving flexibly at the current speed.


    A shield flew around Han Zhengfang which could stop him from moving freely and block the greater part of his strikes towards Zhang Tie; the other shield just stayed on Zhang Tie''s side so as to withstand the remaining strikes that escaped from the first shield.


    Han Zhengfang roared out of fury as he hit left and right; however, he couldn''t break through this huge net made by Zhang Tie.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie was just thinking about consuming Han Zhengfang''s battle strength. Gradually, Zhang Tie found that he could use the same method to kill all the shadow knights step by step.


    This was the method that he could use to deal with high-level shadow knights as an earth knight benefited from the object manipulation ability of a divine dominator, also the real reason that divine dominator was awe-inspiring...


    Only after 5 minutes, Han Zhengfang had realized that he couldn''t keep going in this way; otherwise, he would be killed for sure by this divine dominator...

 1171 Another Secret Skill of Bloody Soul Temple

    Chapter 1171: Another Secret Skill of Bloody Soul Temple


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Bloody Soul Temple''s secret methods rank first in Taixia Country. Do you really think that you could kill me in this way..."


    Han Zhengfang''s face turned grim all of a sudden. When he was sustaining hundreds of times'' strikes, he broke the tip of his tongue by the teeth; closely after that, he spurted out a mouthful of blood out of his mouth. The blood didn''t diffuse; instead, it suspended in front of Han Zhengfang. After that, Han Zhengfang broke his left thumb by the teeth and broke the middle place between his eyebrows by his right thumb. Closely after that, a small drop of blood flew out of his mouth, left thumb and forehead at the same time while giving out a brilliant red light. They mixed with each other at once and turned into 2 tadpole-sized bizarre runes that gave out the brilliant glow.


    Han Zhengfang pointed at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, one of the two runes immediately entered his forehead while the other one darted towards Zhang Tie like a lightning bolt after breaking through Han Zhengfang''s protective battle qi.


    Although Zhang Tie was over 50 m away from Han Zhengfang, as he had witnessed Han Zhengfang''s secret methods and means in the emperor''s imperial city, he was vigilant about Han Zhengfang''s movements very much. The moment Zhang Tie saw Han Zhengfang breaking his tongue tip, spurting out blood and the other similar self-mutilating behaviors, Zhang Tie immediately expanded the distance between them and reached over 80 m away from Han Zhengfang. At the same time, he expanded his protective battle qi to its utmost extent and prepared to respond to the coming danger.


    However, Zhang Tie underestimated the power of the secret method of Bloody Soul Temple.


    The moment the red rune flew out of Han Zhengfang''s protective battle qi, Zhang Tie had intended to block it with a silver secret shield. Unimaginably, the rune directly penetrated through Zhang Tie''s silver secret shield like a visionary object. In the blink of an eye, it had arrived at Zhang Tie''s side. Being shocked too much, Zhang Tie hurriedly dodged from it at his highest speed. However, the closer the rune was to Zhang Tie, the faster it would move. It just chased after Zhang Tie like a lightning bolt.


    Zhang Tie had changed more than 300 locations in one second, leaving many visional shadows in Canglan Palace. Even though, the rune still caught up with Zhang Tie like a massless visional shadow. It penetrated through Zhang Tie''s second silver secret shield, Zhang Tie''s battle qi strikes, Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi and Chaos before falling onto Zhang Tie.


    The moment that rune fell onto Zhang Tie''s body, Zhang Tie had changed his face.


    He thought it was a sharp killing skill; however, he had not imagined that he didn''t even lose one hair after being hit by the rune; neither did he feel painful or itchy. When Zhang Tie felt weird, he suddenly had an inconceivable feeling, which was very similar to the feeling when he formed a 3-in-1 battle formation with the other 2 knights through knight''s consciousness. It was even deeper than the ties of 3-in-1 battle formation.


    The 3-in-1 battle formation was connected by different knights'' consciousness; however, after being hit by Han Zhengfang''s rune, Zhang Tie felt that his chakras had been closely tied with that of Han Zhengfang like two high-power magnets being drawn together tightly.


    Each knight''s chakras were composed of element crystals in the material world or element crystals in the Elements Realm. Knights always stayed with their chakras. However, chakras existed in a special pattern. Being neither in the elements realm nor the material world, it was a mode of existence between elements realm and the material world. Charkas were invisible and untouchable; however, they indeed existed.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that there was a secret skill of Bloody Soul Temple that could directly act upon one''s chakras. Besides Purgatory Samsara Method, it was his first time to see another secret method that could act upon one''s chakras.


    Facing the irresistible attraction caused by chakras, Zhang Tie''s body seemed to become the appendage of his chakras and a nail on a super-powerful magnet. When two magnets attached together, Zhang Tie was unconsciously drawn towards Han Zhengfang by the attraction between their chakras. That was an irresistible pulling force, which carried the qi of the elements realm. Like a waterfall that rushed down from a high place, this pulling force was hard to refuse.


    When Zhang Tie was worried whether this great strength would involve him in the close combat that was desired by Han Zhengfang, this pulling force suddenly disappeared when he was less than 30 m away from Han Zhengfang. Because their chakras had been closely attached together at this moment. Neither could he further approach nor stay farther away from Han Zhengfang. Neither could Han Zhengfang.


    ''What does that mean?'' Zhang Tie doubted, ''Even though Han Zhengfang wants to pull me closer by a secret method, he could not rush to the front of me in such a distance; neither could it influence my strike against him.


    When Zhang Tie was pulled closer to Han Zhengfang, he didn''t stop his strikes against Han Zhengfang.


    "What''s this secret method of Bloody Soul Temple? Do you think that you could threaten me in this way?" Zhang Tie''s muffled voice drifted from the breathing holes under his ears before resonating in the ruined Canglan Palace.


    Since they started the combat, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to open his mouth.


    Zhang Tie''s original voice didn''t sound mature; however, after being drifted from the breathing holes under his ears, his voice turned utterly different. It carried a strange metallic resonance. Of course, Han Zhengfang couldn''t figure out Zhang Tie''s identity through his voice.


    Zhang Tie ignored Han Zhengfang''s question just now because he didn''t want to get a revenge from Han Zhengfang''s subordinates. As Han Zhengfang probably carried remote-sensing crystals which were used to contact the other major figures of Heavens Reaching Church. If Zhang Tie exposed his real identity, Han Zhengfang might send this message to the other remnants of Heavens Reaching Church. As a result, they might revenge Zhang Tie and Huaiyuan Palace. If so, what Zhang Tie arranged tonight were all in vain; additionally, nobody could enjoy such a meal that Zhang Tie prepared for the Gobbling Party and Meng Shidao.


    Because of this reason, Zhang Tie became silent until he was curious about this secret method of Han Zhengfang.


    "This is the lock of bloody chakras of Bloody Soul Temple! You are really something as you could make me use this skill." Han Zhengfang revealed a faint confident smile on his grim and aggressive face, "You will know the effect of this secret skill soon!"


    "Really?"


    The two people talked with each other as they fought.


    "Of course, look at what''s on the earth?" Han Zhengfang pointed at the ground.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at the ground and found scarlet magma was gurgling out of a hole which was as large as a bowl.


    When he blocked Han Zhengfang''s strike by one shield just now, he caused such a hole. Actually, the Canglan Palace of Bloody Soul Temple was built on an underground magma vein. This place was actually very close to the magma in the vein.


    At the sight of the magma that gurgled out of the ground, Zhang Tie immediately thought about a possibility...


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he looked at Han Zhengfang.


    Han Zhengfang was looking at Zhang Tie with an eye light which was full of killing intent as he revealed an icy and insidious sinister. Closely after that, he spent his full efforts in punching against the ground of the palace.


    In an earthquake, a crack as wide as dozens of meters suddenly appeared on the ground of the palace. In the blink of an eye, magma surged out of the crack and soaked half of Canglan Palace.


    At the sight of the magma, Zhang Tie wanted to fly consciously; however, he found that he couldn''t move at all; because Han Zhengfang didn''t move. The two people''s chakras were locked together like two magnets. As Han Zhengfang was advantageous over Zhang Tie in battle strength, if Han Zhengfang didn''t move, Zhang Tie couldn''t move either.


    Zhang Tie tried to contact Castle of Black Iron; however, he couldn''t return to Castle of Black Iron because of the same reason.


    Since he owned Castle of Black Iron, it was Zhang Tie''s second time to meet such a situation. Last time, it was in the prison of Senel Clan, a Three-eye Association Clan when his body was clocked by a rune shackle. That time, he almost lost his life; he also experienced the feeling of being unable to return to his ultimate shelter when in crisis. After promoting to a knight, Zhang Tie thought that he would not meet such an experience for the rest of his life; unimaginably, it could come so fast.


    All of a sudden, Zhang Tie understood what Han Zhengfang wanted to do. He felt hopless at once.


    ''He''s one of the 9 ministers of Taixia Country. He has concealed his real identity in the hinterland of Taixia Country for so many years. This is the master of Heavens Reaching Church who didn''t expose his loophole even in front of Emperor Xuanyuan, the top powerhouse that could escape from the heavenly net made by Meng Shidao and Xuanyuan Hill. Even he''s severely injured and has declined to a lower realm, his insidious movements, intelligence and decisiveness definitely rank top in Taixia Country. If not, he could not mess up the entire Taixia Country with his own strength.''


    ''I''ve underestimated this man. It proves once again that everything in the world wouldn''t always run at one''s will.''


    ''It''s already too late for me to be regretful.''


    After Han Zhengfang gave his second punch, the greater part of the ground of Canglan Palace had been collapsed while hundreds of millions of tons of magma poured inside like sea water.


    In magma which had a very high density, the attacking ability of divine dominator was reduced to the utmost extent. Being flurried, Zhang Tie could only put away his weapons and silver secret items into Castle of Black Iron, leaving one silver secret shield in hand.


    Han Zhengfang threw a sneer at Zhang Tie before diving into magma and flying downwards. Being drawn by Han Zhengfang''s chakras, Zhang Tie felt being fastened by an invisible iron chain as he was pulled towards the depth of the magma vein...


    Zhang Tie felt increasing pressure from all directions...

 1172 Breaking the Universe

    Chapter 1172: Breaking the Universe


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As they grew increasingly deeper, Zhang Tie felt an increasing pressure that acted upon his protective battle qi.


    It was like how a diver deepened into the ocean. The deeper he reached, the greater pressure he would suffer from the sea water.


    However, Zhang Tie was not in the ocean, but in the scorching magma.


    In the same depth, the pressure of magma was 2.5 times that of the water pressure. Canglan Palace of Bloody Soul Temple was about 5,000 m deep in the magma, the pressure at which location was equal to the water pressure deeper than 12,500 m. Anyone below knights would be crushed into pieces by such a great pressure, not to mention battle spirits who had formed protective battle qis. Even knights would not feel good under such a great pressure.


    The maximal depth that underwater robots and submarines which humans invented before the Catastrophe was about 12,000 m. If a huge solid iron ball was thrown deeper than 10,000 m underwater, it would be compressed greatly by water pressure.


    Han Zhengfang "bound" Zhang Tie to him by the secret method of Bloody Soul Temple and moved towards the depth of the magma so that he could crush Zhang Tie into pieces using the sheer terror of nature.


    The protective battle qi of a shadow knight was definitely more protective than that of an earth knight. Under the same pressure, Han Zhengfang was confident to win the combat in the end. Additionally, due to the greater density and pressure of the magma, Zhang Tie''s benefit as a divine dominator was completely restricted.


    Han Zhengfang immediately reversed the result of this combat in such an insidious way.


    Zhang Tie had taken a lot of fiery lotus seeds; therefore, he could adapt to the heat of magma; however, he had to sustain the great pressure of the magma.


    Han Zhengfang didn''t attack Zhang Tie; instead, he just dove towards the depth of the magma. In a short while, they had reached over 10,000 m in depth. The deeper they reached, the more magma there would be. It was absolutely a bottomless magma sea.


    Zhang Tie knew what Han Zhengfang was thinking about. Of course, he would not just wait for death. At such a critical moment, Zhang Tie was also trying his utmost efforts to reverse the situation.


    Zhang Tie started to attack Han Zhengfang. As he was just 30 m away from Han Zhengfang. Even though he didn''t run his lotus-flower eyes, he could also target at Han Zhengfang easily. He just launched his battle qi towards Han Zhengfang after going through the magma between them.


    Han Zhengfang was not anxious about fighting Zhang Tie anymore; he just blocked Zhang Tie''s attacks as he kept diving towards the depth of the magma.


    "Heheheh, just move; you will not move later..." Han Zhengfang''s sneer full of killing intent drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears.


    Zhang Tie soon knew Han Zhengfang''s meaning. When he reached 20,000 m deep into the magma sea, he could barely attack Han Zhengfang with his battle qi anymore due to the great pressure from all directions.


    The deeper it was, the denser the magma would be and the greater the pressure would be. As a result, 30-m thick magma was as hard as 30-m granite protective layer for his battle qi. Even though his battle qi could still reach Han Zhengfang, its lethality would be weakened greatly. Han Zhengfang could easily block it only by raising his hand.


    If Zhang Tie attacked Han Zhengfang at such a depth, he could not do any harm to Han Zhengfang; additionally, it would accelerate the consumption of his battle qi and physical strength. In this situation, Han Zhengfang could easily collapse Zhang Tie''s attack at a trivial price.


    Zhang Tie stopped attacking Han Zhengfang; Han Zhengfang didn''t attack Zhang Tie. They were not idiots. The one who could stand until the last minute would succeed.


    The pressure from all directions constantly compressed Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi. Han Zhengfang''s protective battle qi was also greatly compressed. After reaching 25,000 m in depth, Zhang Tie became more and more befuddled; he even became breathless. His chest and back felt like being gradually compressed by two iron sheets, causing his chest to become increasingly hotter. The gaps between Chaos and Zhang Tie''s body were extremely narrowed. The entire Chaos started to be out of shape due to compression. Zhang Tie could hear the slight sound of frictions from Chaos due to deformation, "Kakakaka".


    All of a sudden, Zhang Tie felt his upper lip becoming cold while two lines of nosebleed ran out of his nostrils constantly.


    It was blazing white light in front of his eyes, which indicated that the temperature of the magma had reached above 1,000 degree Celsius. Zhang Tie looked around and found it was a vast magma sea; additionally, the bottom of this magma sea should be deeper than 100,000 m.


    Han Zhengfang was also bearing the high temperature and pressure 30 m away. His protective battle qi was also less than 1 m away from his body; however, he was much better than Zhang Tie; at least he didn''t run nosebleed constantly.


    With 30-m scorching magma between them, Han Zhengfang couldn''t see Zhang Tie; however, he could clearly sense Zhang Tie''s physical and spiritual situation.


    "How about that, do you start to run nosebleed? Haha, it''s just a start. Even knights could not bear the great pressure from the magma. Nosebleed is just an omen for your body to lose blood. Gradually, your eyes will be filled with blood; your eyeballs will jump out of your eye sockets; your innards will push your blood out of your body like squeezing water out of the sponge. When your protective battle qi finally collapses, your brains will spurt out of your ears, eyes, nostrils and mouth; your belly will blow up; your intestines and guts would be burned into ashes in the magma.


    "I don''t care who you''re. This magma sea is your graveyard. Even being injured, a tiger is still a tiger; I could not be bullied by an ordinary earth knight, even though you''re a divine dominator. You will become the first earth knight that I kill..."


    Han Zhengfang said as he continued to dive downwards. In the blink of an eye, the two people had reached over 30,000 m in depth.


    All of a sudden, the blazing white light suddenly turned bloody. It was not because the temperature here suddenly fell; Zhang Tie knew that his eyes had started to be congestive while some blood capillaries in his eyes had started to crack. Zhang Tie knew that his eyes must be filled with blood streaks. Each time Zhang Tie''s heart beat, he would feel being a kid walking with 1,000 kg''s burden on his back.


    If it was just a small lake, Zhang Tie could still teleport all the magma here into Castle of Black Iron in order to reduce the pressure around him and make Han Zhengfang abandon his plan. However, it was a vast magma sea. Even if he opened the siphon tunnel linking this magma sea to Castle of Black Iron, it was also almost in vain; before he dried up the magma sea, he might have already been crushed into pieces by the great pressure, not to mention the sequela that he might face after exposing the trump card of Castle of Black Iron.


    This was almost the most dangerous moment for Zhang Tie. In such a desperate situation, almost all the trump cards of Zhang Tie became ineffective at once.


    ''I couldn''t enter Castle of Black Iron, neither could I use the ability of a divine dominator. Will I be killed by Han Zhengfang? Couldn''t I even kill a severely injured shadow knight?''


    Some alveoli had started to crack while Zhang Tie almost spurted out a mouthful of blood; however, he gritted his teeth and swallowed it forcefully.


    ''No, never, I will never die here!'' Zhang Tie roared inside.


    In desperation, a firm belief occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind. When his head was almost crushed, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled the scene when he manifested his virtual image of king roc for the first time when he promoted to an earth knight. He sensed the domineering realm of King Roc Sutra once again.


    ''For free! For free! For free!'' This was what rocs pursued for the rest of their lives.


    ''Who could restrict my freedom?''


    ''If the earth restricts me, I will break the earth by foot!''


    ''If the sky restricts me, I will tear up the sky and break the void!''


    ''If I flap my wings, everything will succumb to me!''


    ''Who could restrict my freedom? Who could restrict my freedom? Who could restrict my freedom?''


    With bloody eyes, Zhang Tie roared towards the sky as he punched against his own lower abdomen by two hands at the same time...


    ''In the universe, who could make the emperor succumb to him?''


    ''Ka...''


    A crow sounded in the hot sun in the battle qi void of his lower abdomen. Closely after that, the hot sun gave out dazzling light, manifesting the virtual image of king roc. With another crow, a bizarre golden rune flew out of the king roc''s mouth and disappeared in Zhang Tie''s two chakras.


    At this moment, Han Zhengfang suddenly became still as he changed his face greatly.


    Just now, Han Zhengfang felt like pulling a car by tank using a rope; at this moment, he felt the car that he pulled suddenly became a mountain. No matter how he tried, he couldn''t move it anymore.


    ''Lock of bloody chakras is a secret skill of Bloody Soul Sutra , I could have defeated all the low-level enemies in it.''


    ''No way, no way. How could that be? How could that be? Nobody in Bloody Soul Temple had encountered such an exception since the establishment of Bloody Soul Temple.


    Han Zhengfang suddenly became puzzled.


    If he could, Han Zhengfang really wanted to see what happened to Zhang Tie. Pitifully, Han Zhengfang''s vision was completely blocked by the dozens of meters thick scorching magma. He could feel the external situation of Zhang Tie; however, he couldn''t feel the situation inside Zhang Tie''s body. Additionally, he couldn''t approach Zhang Tie any more due to the existence of the lock of bloody chakras. Actually, the distance between them had been fixed.


    Zhang Tie moved and took the initiative, followed by Han Zhengfang. As a result, Han Zhengfang became the locust being shackled by the lock of bloody chakras and experienced what Zhang Tie experienced just now. Just now, Han Zhengfang pulled away a "sedan" by a "high-horsepower tank"; in the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie became as powerful as a steam turbine. How could a tank''s engine match that of a warship?


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was in a special realm where he could clearly sense the marvel when his chakras were bound to that of Han Zhengfang by the secret skill of Bloody Soul Temple.


    ''He has 3 chakras. I only have 2; however, my 2 chakras are bigger than his 3 chakras. Therefore, Han Zhengfang''s 3 chakras are covered by my 2 chakras.''


    Just now, Zhang Tie was negative; however, now, Zhang Tie took the initiative.


    All of a sudden, a whim occurred to his mind. ''Previously, I couldn''t refine the enemy''s chakra unless I touched his body by my palms; now, as my chakras have already touched his and I took the initiative, whether could I trigger the Purgatory Samsara Method in this situation?''


    The moment this whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, it had become as scorching as the surrounding magma.


    ''Just do it. Whatever, it''s just a trial. I will not lose a hair.''


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie triggered his Purgatory Samsara Method directly.


    Zhang Tie''s two chakras immediately drew Han Zhengfang''s water chakra and shattered it like two parts of a huge mill and a merciless grinder...


    The moment he triggered it, Zhang Tie had realized that he had made it. In this situation, his secret method could directly act upon on the opposite chakras through the tie between their chakras. The effect was absolutely out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. In this situation, the efficiency of Purgatory Samsara Method could reach dozens of times that of before. It was similar to the difference between steam spinning machine and manual spinning wheel.


    Zhang Tie was so thrilled that he quivered all over. He had not imagined about such a terrifying effect after combining Purgatory Samsara Method with the lock of bloody chakras of Bloody Soul Temple.


    After succeeding in the first trial, Zhang Tie immediately exerted the Purgatory Samsara Method to the utmost. Like a ferocious beast that bit the blood vessels on the throat of the prey, he spared no chance for Han Zhengfang to launch a counter-attack and escape.


    Zhang Tie was very scared about the means of this master of Heavens Reaching Church.


    Due to the sudden collapse of his water chakra, Han Zhengfang was immediately severely injured as he spurted out a mouthful of blood at once. At the same time, his protective battle qi also shrunk greatly. Han Zhengfang screamed towards the direction of Zhang Tie at his full efforts with a terrified look as if he had seen a ghost, "Purgatory Samsama..."


    Han Zhengfang could never imagine that the guy who already fell into his trap and was shackled by his lock of bloody chakras could grasp the secret method of Purgatory Samsara Method and trigger it in this situation. Even the alchemist demon had not heard about such a talent.


    However, Han Zhengfang didn''t have time to be amazed anymore. The moment Zhang Tie triggered his Purgatory Samsara Method, the situations between them was utterly reversed. The Purgatory Samsara Method not only shattered his chakras but also completely froze his spiritual energy.


    In legends, the real purgatory was filled with magma and flames; at this moment, Han Zhengfang was in the realm purgatory.


    After shattering and absorbing Han Zhengfang''s water chakra, Zhang Tie started to shatter his earth chakra...


    Han Zhengfang didn''t know that Zhang Tie couldn''t even stop it. As long as the Purgatory Samsara Method and the secret skill of Bloody Soul Temple combined with each other, the effect was as berserk as a buffalo that had just rushed out of the lair...


    When his earth chakra was shattered, Han Zhengfang''s protective battle qi was collapsed. He had been fully used up. Before he uttered a sound, he had been burned into ashes by billions of tons'' high-temperature magma.


    This magma sea became the graveyard of Han Zhengfang; instead of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie forcefully swam over there and caught that token. Closely after that, he teleported the token into Castle of Black Iron.


    Soon after he teleported the token into Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie had felt dark in his eyes as he spurted out another mouthful of blood. As his protective battle qi was almost collapsed, Zhang Tie couldn''t bear such a desperate situation anymore. He had long been severely injured. Therefore, Zhang Tie targeted that arch door in his mind sea and entered Castle of Black Iron


    After entering Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie saw the palace tree, the small tree and the familiar and concerned face of Heller...


    "I finally survived back..." Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile. Closely after that, he felt dark in his mind like having shaken off a heavy burden before falling down...


    Before he passed out, Zhang Tie heard Edward and his three servants'' exclamations...


    ...


    On the evening of November 15th, the 903rd year of Black Iron Calendar, Xuanyuan Hill was in chaos. After a few hours, bloody figures wreaked havoc in 78 provinces of Taixia Country. As a result, the entire Taixia Country was covered with battle flames and smokes. From then on, Taixia country was involved in the 3rd holy war between humans and demons in an all-round manner...

 1173 A New Star

    Chapter 1173: A New Start


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Castle of Black Iron was the ultimate shelter that Zhang Tie prepared for his family members and friends, also the resting place of Zhang Tie himself!


    This time, Zhang Tie fell asleep 4 days.


    Sleep was the best way for Zhang Tie to recover his injuries and vitality. Additionally, when he was in deep sleep, Heller fed him a vial of senior recovery medicament. When Zhang Tie woke up 4 days later, he had completely recovered his injuries and vitality.


    After waking up, Zhang Tie felt completely relaxed instead of being thrilled. He had not been such relaxed for a long time.


    Lying on the big bed of his own room in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie felt returning to the past. In the past, the holy war had not broken out yet. His life in Blackhot City was tranquil and peaceful. Each weekend, his mom would let him have a lie-in on the bed in his own attic. Therefore, Zhang Tie had been used to linger in his bed in the morning of each Saturday and Sunday.


    In winter, he would stay in his warm quilt lazily. In summer, the warm sunshine would cast onto his butt through the window of the attic. Each weekend, Zhang Tie would have a pretty good sleep. He would not get up until he smelt the fragrant breakfast that his mom prepared or heard his belly coo or couldn''t hold his urine...


    The previous insipid life felt pretty happy now.


    After killing Han Zhengfang, the top enemy of Zhang Tie and Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie became relaxed at once. He didn''t have any concern anymore. What was more, after experiencing this hardship, Zhang Tie grew more mature.


    Han Zhengfang was the first shadow knight that Zhang Tie had killed! It was a milestone for Zhang Tie. After getting the invitation card, Zhang Tie came to Xuanyuan Hill to set a plot; after that, he lit the fuse at the critical moment; finally, he had a close combat with Han Zhengfang. Zhang Tie didn''t just have a fight and gnosis about battle realm; instead, he received an all-round baptism and metamorphosis including intelligence, insight, ability and means. After such a baptism and metamorphosis, the former sapling was growing into an unshakable towering tree.


    Zhang Tie manipulated the entire process. All the results had met his anticipations¡ª¡ªthe finance minister of Taixia Country was dead; his identity as the master of Heavens Reaching Church was exposed; Han Clan was uprooted; Meng Shidao was used by him; the Gobbling Party became antagonistic against the Heavens Reaching Church. The local and central patterns of Taixia Country would have great changes¡ª¡ªhe accomplished all this with his own efforts. He might be a bit lucky; whatever, it was already a big success.


    After lingering in the bed and recalling the precious happy and tranquil days for a short while, Zhang Tie felt a bit hungry. Smacking his lips, Zhang Tie got up and came to one window of his room.


    Zhang Tie''s room was in the highest location of the palace tree. Through the windows of his room, he could easily overlook the entire Immortal Mountain and the habitation in the far.


    The sky of Castle of Black Iron was a bit dim. However, the dim colorful clouds in the eastern sky had revealed glowing halos. There was no sun inside Castle of Black Iron. the halos being similar to sunglow referred to the morning of Castle of Black Iron. Such a scene also indicated the start of a new day in Taixia Country.


    Some smokes rose in the horizon in the far, bringing a special vitality to Castle of Black Iron. People in Castle of Black Iron started a new day.


    The smokes covered the villages being surrounded by hills and woods. A large area of land on the plain near the villages had been reclaimed. People had built crisscrossed water channels near the riverside so as to provide those farming lands with abundant water.


    With lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie could see some kids running and frolicking on the ridges of those farming lands jubilantly in the early morning. Many teenagers were practicing various battle skills seriously under the guidance of some elders on the squares in the middle of those villages. Zhang Tie had people deliver those secret methods to them. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, the battle skills of those teenagers even their instructors had many loopholes; however, it was already something for commoners.


    ''Although I couldn''t enjoy such a happiness and tranquility anymore, I could grant this happiness and tranquility to others and watch them enjoy it.'' Zhang Tie became reassured when he thought in this way.


    When it broke completely, the bell ring from the heirons started to resonate among these villages. After hearing the bell rings, all the people gathered in the hierons or the squares near the hierons in the villages, male or female, old or young, including those kids who were having fun and those teenagers who were taking rest after their exercises.


    At this moment, some people in white robes walked out of the hierons and hosted a very religious rite. Closely after that, those people in white robes knelt down in front of the hierons and started to pray by putting their palms together and muttering prayers devoutly, followed by all the others.


    Of course, the deity being consecrated in the hierons was Zhang Tie''s sculpture...


    At the sight of this, Zhang Tie touched his nose as he revealed a self-deprecating smile. Closely after that, he moved his eyes away from them.


    His Chaos had been taken off by Heller and his three servants. The clothes inside the Chaos had not been taken off. There were still blood stains on his clothes. Heller and the other three servants knew Zhang Tie''s custom. As Zhang Tie was not suitable to be served by some men, they didn''t change clothes for him during the past 4 days.


    It was indeed not comfortable without the care of women. However, Zhang Tie refused the suggestion of Heller and the three servants. Because Zhang Tie felt that it would be more troublesome if he let people send women onto the Immortal Mountain. Therefore, he just tried to look after himself.


    After taking off his clothes, he took a bath in his room. After that, he put on a set of clean clothes.


    After doing all this, Zhang Tie felt much better at the sight of the handsome teenager in the mirror. He pulled his face against the mirror before leaving his room.


    Heller, Edward, Agan, Aziz had long been waiting for him outside his door respectfully.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, the four people revealed a smile at the same time. Heller''s smile was still implicit and elegant with a sincere pleasure in a dignified and perfect way. Zhang Tie felt that each facial expression and movement of Heller could be taken as an imperial etiquette training mode. However, sparkling tears started to well up their eyes out of excitement.


    "What''s wrong?" Zhang Tie asked Agan in front of him.


    "It''s a great pleasure for us to see you wake up, Castle Lord. Heller told us that Castle Lord has made a fruitful harvest this time after killing a powerful enemy. Castle of Black Iron will have a lot of changes. But Castle Lord could barely come back..." Agan said while wiping his tears. At the same time, Edward and Aziz nodded forcefully.


    Watching the sincere looks of Agan, Aziz and Edward, Zhang Tie felt a bit warm and touched. ''I remember that Heller told me that I would have a surprise in Castle of Black Iron. Did I really get some rarities from Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong this time?'' Zhang Tie thought inside. However, he didn''t ask Heller about it right away; instead, he told Agan, Aziz and Edward genially, "Well, don''t cry. I just met a bit danger this time. However, I''ve gained a narrow success. I will not meet the same danger later on. Therefore, you don''t need to worry about me anymore. And oh, I''ve not tasted your food for a long time. I''m so hungry!"


    "I''ve prepared the breakfast for you, Castle Lord. It''s all your favorite food!" Edward said.


    "Thank you so much!" Zhang Tie threw a deep glance at Edward. Edward indeed helped Zhang Tie a lot in Castle of Black Iron.


    "It''s my honor!" Edward slightly bowed towards Zhang Tie.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie followed Edward into the dining hall of the palace tree.


    As Zhang Tie had not eaten food for a few days and had consumed too much physical strength this time, Zhang Tie was starving this time. He needed some food to make him full. No medicament could replace food.


    On the long dining table being covered with a piece of snow-white cloth, there were delicate tableware and various food, including the roasted flesh of huge deep-sea monster, steak with nectar, cheese, sausages, honey tea, various bread, nuts, dozens of fruits and juices and two spirits. This food could feed 10 tough men; however, it was only available to Zhang Tie himself. How luxurious it was!


    Heller was directing Edward, Aziz and Agan to serve Zhang Tie from one step behind him.


    It took Zhang Tie 1 hour to finish his breakfast, leaving the greater part of the food. Watching Zhang Tie wiping his mouth using a napkin, Heller clapped his hands while another one entered the dining hall.


    After coming to Zhang Tie''s front, that one immediately knelt down and kowtowed three times loudly towards Zhang Tie, "It''s this old slave''s honor to see master!"

 1174 Old Slave Zhang Gui

    Chapter 1174: Old Slave Zhang Gui


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    ''The familiar qi; the strange face of Zhang Tie became dumbfounded!


    Zhang Tie was familiar with the qi of this man who kowtowed towards him and called him master. It was the qi of the very earth knight that he captured from the airboat of Han Yuanhong. However, this man''s look had changed greatly as if it had been disguised. His original face was thin and long; however, it turned round. He looked like an old neighboring man. ''But why did he call himself this old slave?''


    "Previously, this old slave was misled into the evil way and almost lost my life. Thanks to you, my master, this old slave gained a chance to be a good man. This old slave has already understood the universal laws and fortunes. You almost gave this old slave a new life. This old slave might not pay you back for the rest of my life..." The man explained while dropping off tears out of his control.


    Zhang Tie listened to his explanation in a dumbfounded look as if he was dreaming. He threw a glance at Heller. Heller blinked his eyes to Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie understood that it was the meritorious service of Heller. ''Now that Heller has already handed this man to me, he must be reliable. Additionally, an earth-knight level old slave would indeed help me a lot. It''s an earth knight. Several years ago, Zhang Tie could not even imagine that he would have an earth-knight level slave.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Zhang Tie pretended to cough twice as he rubbed his face and said in a perfunctory manner, "Erm...let the bygones be bygones. Hopefully, you could follow my orders in the future!"


    "Thanks, master, this old slave is called Xiao Longfei. This name is too sinful. From then on, Xiao Longfei has died, this old slave has gained a new life. Please gift another name to this old slave, master!"


    "My surname is Zhang, you will follow my family name. From now on, you''re Zhang...Zhang Gui, which means rich!"


    Honestly, the name Zhang Gui was really ordinary and extremely vulgar. However, after hearing this name, the one kneeling down in front of him was very happy and solemn as if he had accomplished a religious rite of gaining a new birth. He seriously kowtowed towards Zhang Tie three times once again before saying, "Thanks for the name, master. From now on, this old slave is Zhang Gui!"


    "Alright, stand up!" Besides the enemy that was under his foot, Zhang Tie was really not used to see someone kneeling down in front of him. "From then on, no need to kowtow in front of me anymore!"


    "Yes, master!" Zhang Gui stood up. Heller waved his hand towards him. Zhang Gui then left the dining hall in a respectful way.


    After Zhang Gui left, Zhang Tie turned around and asked Heller, "What happened to him? Did you control him by a secret method?"


    Heller shrugged as he replied innocently, "Castle Lord, do you think that one could only be controlled by a secret method? So many people would like to rebel with ambitious ones regardless of the lives of their wives and children; so many people would like have their family members take drugs and commit suicide with them after joining a heresy; so many people in Ice and Snow Wilderness treat Castle Lord as their deity. Do you think that they are also under the control of secret methods?"


    "Can you explain it in details?"


    "I just talked with him for a few times and showed him the marvelous Castle of Black Iron. After that, he surrendered to Castle Lord completely. As Castle Lord came back with the belongings of Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong, after knowing that Han Clan was uprooted by Castle Lord, this man realized that it''s his greatest honor to follow Castle Lord. The greatest secret method is to control one''s heart. You could control one''s heart in many means. Someone one would be convinced by some words. As long as you help him find the truth and belief in his life, he would prostrate himself in worship sincerely."


    Heller put it simply; however, his words still reminded Zhang Tie of those believers being brainwashed by false pastors in churches and those unsophisticated youths who believed that they could make a fortune after joining a pyramid marketing organization. ''Heller could definitely brainwash them much more effectively than those false pastors and instructors.''


    "Has he been disguised?"


    "Disguising is temporary. You could reach the same effect only by using some medicine or making an orthopedic operation; additionally, it''s permanent!"


    "What about his battle skills and secret methods? Won''t they expose his original identity and the relationship between him and Heavens Reaching Church?"


    "He cultivates a viscount-level secret method. In the beginning, he was just a member of a small sect in Taixia Country. The small sect has long disbanded. After promoting to a knight, he sought refuge with Han Zhengfang. The viscount-level secret method that he cultivates has lasted for a long time in a large range in Taixia Country. More than one sect and clan have such a secret method. Therefore, nobody could recognize his original identity from the secret method that he cultivates. Additionally, when in Heavens Reaching Church, he just served Han Clan and was always low-key. He even gained some secret methods from Han Clan. Few people know him!" Heller replied.


    "Is it okay for him to stay in Castle of Black Iron?"


    "No problem. He would not leak your secrets at any time, Castle Lord. Although I''ve not controlled him using a secret method, I''ve made a precaution on him. When in need, he would blow up!"


    Zhang Tie became reassured, ''Heller is always considerate.'' Zhang Tie wanted to bring Zhang Gui out of Castle of Black Iron; therefore, he had to know some details. If he just kept such an earth knight in Castle of Black Iron, it would be too wasteful.


    "Is that the surprise that you referred to?"


    "It''s just a small part. The real surprise is in the parlor of the palace tree!" Heller smiled, "Castle Lord, you need to review your achievement!"


    ...


    It took Zhang Tie less than 1 minute to arrive at the parlor of the palace tree from the dining hall. Although Zhang Tie was curious about that, he still walked casually and calmly towards there. He didn''t need to be anxious anymore. After all, the booties were in Castle of Black Iron and would not escape away themselves. He had already slept 4 days; therefore, he didn''t need to save such a few seconds.


    That item was higher than 2 m. It was a huge polyhedral crystal. Floating in the parlor of the palace tree quietly, it was giving out the brilliance and constantly changing its color like a rainbow. Like huge shadowy, colorful lamps on the stage, it made the entire lobby of the palace tree colorful and dreamlike.


    The entire lobby was filled with surging four elements.


    "A piece of God''s Star!" At the sight of this dreamlike crystal floating in the air, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand crying out.


    It was too shocking. Zhang Tie had not imagined that the surprise referred to a piece of God''s Star. This piece was much larger than that one he saw in Ice and Snow Wilderness; additionally, it had different colors. Of course, it had different functions.


    Being thrilled, a possibility occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, ''Was that piece of God''s Star which was going to be auctioned in Gold and Power Market purchased by Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong?''


    Zhang Tie looked at Heller. Heller nodded towards him before saying, "This piece of God''s Star indeed comes from the space-teleportation equipment of Han Yuanhong!"


    ''No wonder few people could see this piece of God''s Star since the beginning.'' Zhang Tie immediately figured out the reason. As the master and bright golden master of Gold and Power Market respectively, Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong were both ambitious. Of course, when they met the piece of God''s Star, they would get it in any way. Han Clan was qualified to gain it. How could the original owner of this piece of God''s Star withstand the allure and power of Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong?


    Zhang Tie closed his eyes as he immediately injected his spiritual energy into the piece of God''s Star.


    Previously, Castle of Black Iron was isolated from the Elements Realm. Zhang Tie could not absorb elements from Elements Realm in Castle of Black Iron. If he wanted to cultivate, he had to absorb element crystals. However, with the existence of this piece of God''s Star, Zhang Tie could feel that the entire lobby of the palace tree was filled with surging elements ubiquitous.


    After sensing it for a short while, Zhang Tie opened his eyes with a bit doubt in his eyes. Besides Gold and Power Law, each top sect of Taixia Country should at least have a piece of God''s Star that could gather a single element and act upon knights effectively. That piece of God''s Star in Ice and Snow Wilderness could gather 4 elements into the source of berserk energy; however, this one could form a sea of 4 elements instead of a single one. Although the 4 elements were plentiful, they were very berserk and couldn''t be controlled easily. As for the cultivation of knights, this piece of God''s Star was definitely more effective than an ordinary elements gathering matrix. However, the elements just mixed with each other instead of being separated. Therefore, the effect of this piece of God''s Star would be sharply reduced; perhaps, this was the very reason that the clan which owned this piece of God''s Star would like to sell it in terms of the auction.


    ''Whatever, better than nothing. At least I could continue my cultivation in Castle of Black Iron without elements crystal.''


    "Castle Lord, are you thinking about cultivating with this piece of God''s Star in Castle of Black Iron in the future?" Heller asked as if he had already known what Zhang Tie was thinking about.


    Zhang Tie nodded, "Right, I was thinking about that. This piece of God''s Star is indeed a great achievement!"


    "If Castle Lord really thinks so, I think you could not make full use of this piece of God''s Star. It would be wasteful if you just cultivated with it!" Heller said seriously.

 1175 Elements Tunnel

    Chapter 1175: Elements Tunnel


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Isn''t the piece of God''s Star used for cultivation?" Zhang Tie asked out of amazement.


    "It is for knights!" Heller said in a calm look, "However, in Castle of Black Iron, the piece of God''s Star could have another purpose!"


    "What purpose?"


    "If Pool of Chaos could devour and integrate with the piece of God''s Star, the Pool of Chaos could advance to a higher level. The entire Castle of Black Iron would have a great change by then!"


    ''Advance the Pool of Chaos?'' Zhang Tie became stunned by Heller''s words as he had not imagined that the Pool of Chaos could advance to a higher level. He became interested in it right away, "How? Go ahead!"


    "Castle of Black Iron is an independent world. This world is not connected to the Elements Realm. Castle Lord, you must know this!"


    "Yes, I know!"


    "Pool of Chaos could convert everything into the basic energy, which is what Castle of Black Iron''s expansion relies upon!"


    Zhang Tie nodded once again.


    "Castle Lord could connect Castle of Black Iron with the Elements Realm using the piece of God''s Star as an element transfer tunnel. After devouring and integrating with the piece of God''s Star, the Pool of Chaos could automatically and constantly withdraw elements from the Elements Realm and convert the elements from the Elements Realm into the basic energy for the expansion of Castle of Black Iron!"


    ''Automatically? Constantly?'' The two words were captured by Zhang Tie sensitively. After being silent for a second, Zhang Tie asked carefully, "You mean...if the Pool of Chaos could devour and integrate with this piece of God''s Star, it''s equal to connecting a free pipe between the Elements Realm and Castle of Black Iron. Elements could constantly flow into Pool of Chaos from Elements Realm for the expansion of Castle of Black Iron!"


    "It''s a vivid metaphor, Castle Lord!" Heller nodded.


    Zhang Tie tried to become reassured as he took in a deep breath and asked, "After integrating with this piece of God''s Star, how many enemies could the Pool of Chaos withdraw from the Elements Realm per day? How large the area of land could these energies be converted to for Castle of Black Iron?"


    "This is a constant process. Therefore, its efficiency is very high. After integrating with this piece of God''s Star, the Pool of Chaos in Castle of Black Iron could convert the basic energy that it withdraws from the Elements Realm to about 20 square miles'' land a day!


    "Won''t such constant withdrawal affect the Elements Realm?"


    Heller couldn''t help laughing as he looked at Zhang Tie seriously and said, "Castle Lord, the entire world that you''re in, including the sun, moons and stars in the sky, the planets, the entire material universe that commoners could sense and see, including the bright substances and dark substances in the universe are composed of elements in the Elements Realm according to different rules. How large is this planet? How large is this galaxy? How large is this universe? As for the Elements Realm, even if Castle of Black Iron becomes 100 times even 10,000 times larger than the entire Eastern Continent one day, the bit loss of the elements is just a drop of water in the ocean; additionally, the Elements Realm and the Material Realm could balance Implies with the law of balance. No matter what, Castle of Black Iron could not influence the balance between the Elements Realm and the Material Realm."


    "After the Pool of Chaos devours and integrates with the piece of God''s Star, could I cultivate in Castle of Black Iron using the piece of God''s Star?''


    "You could as long as you''re near the Pool of Chaos. Some elements would spill out of the Pool of Chaos automatically. Of course, the densities of those elements could not match that of the elements that were gathered by this piece of God''s Star. It might be equal to that of elements which could be sensed by knights in the Physical Realm without the help of the elements gathering matrix. Common knights could accept such a cultivation environment; however, it''s too weak for Castle Lord!"


    "How long will the Pool of Chaos take to integrate with the piece of God''s Star?"


    "Very fast, within 1 hour!"


    Zhang Tie immediately sprung up. Closely after that, he pulled Heller''s arm and walked towards the gate of the palace tree before saying, "Let''s go. Right now. What are we waiting for?"


    Zhang Tie remembered how difficult it was for him to pour some slags into Castle of Black Iron when he attended the survival training in Wild Wolf Valley. It was like smuggling. At that time, he would smell stinky and be extremely fatigued everyday only for increasing a bit basic energy for Castle of Black Iron. After promoting to a knight, even though he could open the siphon tunnel of Castle of Black Iron to absorb seawater at a fast speed, the basic energy of seawater could only be available for expanding the terrain of Castle of Black Iron.


    Being limited to the supply of basic energy, the space of Castle of Black Iron was still small until now. Sometimes, Zhang Tie even felt that he had wasted such a treasure. If not revenge Han Clan, after returning to Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie even planned to absorb some more water from the ocean.


    The appearance of this piece of God''s Star almost broke through the bottleneck of the expansion of Castle of Black Iron due to insufficient basic energy storage. As a result, Zhang Tie could have a great amount of basic energy storage which could be converted to about 20 square miles'' land a day. Although 20 square miles were not a big figure; it would become considerable day by day.


    Given the great consumption of elements to form a chakra of the emperor-level secret method, Zhang Tie had long determined to use Purgatory Samsara Method to form his chakras. He even felt it a bit slow to absorb element crystals now. Of course, he ignored the weak effect of the piece of God''s Star.


    Zhang Tie had long given up absorbing element crystals from the Elements Realm. Now that it was available to absorb elements from the Elements Realm in Castle of Black Iron now, even if Zhang Tie ignored it, the others might use it in the future. Zhang Tie thought that this cultivation method could at least help those knights in Castle of Black Iron promote to higher levels if there was one day when he teleported his family members to Castle of Black Iron.


    ''If this piece of God''s Star could meet the possible demand for cultivation in Castle of Black Iron and break the bottleneck of the insufficient basic energy in Castle of Black Iron, why not have the Pool of Chaos devour and integrate with it?''


    Zhang Tie wanted it right away.


    ...


    A few meters away from the palace tree, there was a stone path leading to the back of the mountain. After walking down the stairs, Zhang Tie came to the side of the Pool of Chaos.


    The former Pool of Chaos had already become the Abyss of Chaos, a part of the Immortal Mountain. However, in Zhang Tie''s mind, this Abyss of Chaos was always the Heavenly No. 1 garbage disposal plant.


    The platform where Zhang Tie accepted the baptism of the Heavenly Waterfall was still on the side of the Abyss of Chaos. However, after a few years, that platform had been covered with mosses. There were some marks on the platform¡ª¡ªsome sword traces and the marks of his butt. The beech trees on the side of that platform also grew high and sturdy. The shades of the beech trees covered a small half of that platform. If it was a hot day, this place could become a nice place to prevent from sunstroke.


    The nestle of the little black beetle was on the cliff of the Abyss of Chaos. After sensing that Zhang Tie was back, the little black beetle immediately flew out of the nestle and flew around Zhang Tie jubilantly. Soon after that, a sonic boom drifted from the sky while an extremely imposing thunder hawk descended as fast as a lightning bolt. The strong wind brought by the wings of the thunder hawk directly blew away the little black beetle, sending it rolling far away.


    The thunder hawk was almost as tall as Zhang Tie. It kept rubbing its head against Zhang Tie''s arm like a spoiled baby.


    After braking itself, the little black beetle flew back stubbornly once again. It flew around the thunder hawk for a short while as if it was protesting how the thunder hawk maltreated him. However, the thunder hawk ignored it in a distant look. Finally, the little black thing directly fell onto Zhang Tie''s hair as it wanted to find back its position. The thunder hawk threw a glare at it as it uttered a muffled-thunder like sound. Closely after that, it stretched out its neck and wanted to peak the beetle. The little black thing was so scared that it flew away at once.


    Insects were born to be afraid of birds, even though the little black beetle was not ordinary; however, the thunder hawk was not an ordinary bird either.


    The scene that the little black thing strove for Zhang Tie''s favor with the thunder hawk was very interesting. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter. He stretched out his hand to stroke the metallic, smooth and tidy feathers on the neck of the thunder hawk as he called back the little black thing onto his collar before saying, "It''s fine; it''s fine. You two are both my good partners. Little Thunder, you''re large, don''t bully Little Black. When you were not here these years, Little Black had helped me a lot."


    The thunder hawk squawked in a dissatisfied way, which meant, "If I''m here, I could definitely help you more." The little black beetle raised its shell in a pleasant way which meant that "I could fly too".


    After soothing the two little things, Zhang Tie waved his hand towards Heller before saying, "Let''s start. I want to see how the Pool of Chaos devours and integrates with the piece of God''s Star!"


    Heller just revealed a smile while the piece of God''s Star as colorful as rainbow behind him immediately flew into the Abyss of Chaos and was devoured by the black mist in the Abyss of Chaos.


    The black mist and the black silt-like chaos beneath the mist of the Abyss of Chaos immediately rolled and formed a huge swirl. When the swirl rotated, the black Abyss of Chaos immediately gave out colorful brilliance...

 1176 Spatial Change

    Chapter 1176: Spatial Change


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It only took the Abyss of Chaos less than 1 hour to devour and integrate with the piece of God''s Star as was told by Heller. Actually, it was at most 40 minutes. When a dreamlike light curtain like polar light twisted and replaced the original black mist that covered the Abyss of Chaos, the entire process came to an end.


    As a result, besides being black, the original Pool of Chaos which was as black as hundreds of millions of years old swamp was also covered with light bands in yellow, blue, cyan and red and swirls in different sizes. Colorful lights were spilling out of the Pool of Chaos while massive elements were surging into the Pool of Chaos like a great river or an ocean. The 4 elements were constantly devoured and converted into the basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron by the Pool of Chaos.


    The Abyss of Chaos could devour too many elements per second. Therefore, some fine particles of elements escaped out of the Abyss of Chaos and loomed in the air. Numerous floating light spots were flying around the Abyss of Chaos like colorful fireflies. As a result, the lifeless Abyss of Chaos became vigorous and dreamlike. Zhang Tie was really stunned by this scene.


    It was dreamlike and shocking even in the daytime. In the evening, the scene here would be more romantic and brilliant.


    After sensing the 4 elements, the little black beetle on Zhang Tie''s collar flew off at once out of ecstasy. After flying around Zhang Tie for a short while, it hurriedly chased after those looming light spots of 4 elements in the air. After that, it rapidly flew back into his nestle on the cliff of Abyss of Chaos. The little beetle immediately felt that its nestle became a sea-view mansion.


    "Is it still the Abyss of Chaos?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    Heller replied with a smile, "After devouring a piece of God''s Star, this Abyss of Chaos has already evolved once, Castle Lord could rename it!"


    After naming an earth knight, Zhang Tie said without any hesitation, "Just call it Abyss of Elements from then on!"


    Zhang Tie was so happy that he zoomed in the window of the basic attributes of Castle of Black Iron which he had not checked for a long time.


    After expanding the terrain and space of Castle of Black Iron for a few times, the contents in the window of basic attributes of Castle of Black Iron had been adapted to Zhang Tie''s recognition and demands much better in a more intelligent and human-friendlier way.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether they were adjusted by Heller on purpose. For instance, the units of length and distance had been changed to "meter" and "kilometer" which were universally adopted by humans in that times.


    Additionally, the items "length" and "width" also turned into "land area" and "average thickness of crust", which sounded more three-dimensional and plentiful.


    Because of these changes, the window of basic attributes of Castle of Black Iron in front of Zhang Tie looked a bit fresher.


    Castle of Black Iron


    ¡ª¡ªLand area: 2500 square miles


    ¡ª¡ªAverage crustal thickness: 200 m


    ¡ª¡ªAura value: 86928703


    ¡ª¡ªMerit value: 172587664


    ¡ª¡ªBasic energy storage: 3985210


    ...


    Zhang Tie had not checked the window of basic attributes of Castle of Black Iron for a long time. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie found that the aura value of Castle of Black Iron had already reached over 80 million points while his merit value had reached 150,000,000 points. Of course, the basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron was still the least since last large-scale terrain and space renovation as he didn''t spare any time to increase the basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron during the past years.


    However, what made Zhang Tie reassured was that figure of the basic energy storage started to rise rapidly like that on the water meter. It indicated that Castle of Black Iron had been able to gain basic energy from Elements Realm constantly.


    Zhang Tie then clicked the logs of merit value.


    ¡ª¡ªEliminating the evil doers and encourage people to do good is the biggest mercy of creator among humans; respect the universal laws and love people is the nearest staircase for laities to return to the heavens; fortunate ones, one your way back to the heavens, please show the mercy of creator across the world so that the gods in the heavens could understand your sincerity; please receive the sincerest pleasure and gratitude from hundreds of billions of living beings; please end the evil souls and dark forces; when you become the light of your own, you will walk on the light for sure as a brilliant road would be spread under your foot.


    The above paragraph was on the top of the log about merit value. It still made Zhang Tie hot boiled even now. Below this paragraph, there were concrete logs about merit values.


    There were many logs about merit value lately. The front logs were all about setting free hairy shellfish and gulf shrimps which indicated that Paul was still carrying out the task strictly. Behind these logs, Zhang Tie saw the logs about killing Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong.


    Zhang Tie clicked the log about killing Han Zhengfang.


    ¡ª¡ªIn the midnight of November 16th, the 903rd year of Black Iron Calendar, Castle Lord killed Han Zhengfang the master of Heavens Reaching Church in the magma sea and gained 32358410 merit value points.


    ''Over 30 million merit value points?'' Zhang Tie took in a deep breath.


    He then read the earlier log.


    ¡ª¡ªOn November 15th, the 903rd year of Black Iron Calendar, Castle Lord killed Han Yuanhong the young master of Heavens Reaching Church in Xuanyuan Hill and gained 752,100 merit value points.


    The merit value points for killing Han Yuanhong were much smaller than that of Han Zhengfang. It indicated the sharp difference between the two people in positions and abilities. In another word, Han Zhengfang had done greater harm to Taixia Country and made more wicked deeds than his son.


    The last log was recorded on November 15th too.


    ¡ª¡ªOn November 15th, the 903rd year of Black Iron Calendar, Castle Lord unveiled the plot of Heavens Reaching Church in a secret method of the Great Wilderness Sutra in a wise and brave way and caused a series of chain reactions. As a result, Castle Lord gained 115,870,016 merit value points.


    ''After unveiling the real identity of Han Zhengfang in Xuanyuan Hill, I gained over 100 million merit value points? It''s even higher than killing Han Zhengfang?''


    Zhang Tie was shocked for quite a while before recovering his composure, ''If the merit value points that I gained by unveiling the real identity of Han Zhengfang is higher than killing Han Zhengfang himself, does it mean that what I easily did by those swans in Xuanyuan Hill was more influential and meaningful than that I killed Han Zhengfang at the risk of my life? Even though I''ve not killed Han Zhengfang, I''ve also gained over 100 million merit value points only by manifesting the 12 huge words using swans.''


    When he thought about this, Zhang Tie moved his eyes onto the paragraph on the top of that log about merit value points. After understanding it for a short while, Zhang Tie closed the window about the basic attributes of Castle of Black Iron only by a click.


    Standing beside the Abyss of Elements for a short while silently, Zhang Tie looked at Heller, "Does it mean that the space of Castle of Black Iron could be constantly expanded as long as I could provide enough merit value points?"


    "Yes, aura value could be constantly produced by plants in Castle of Black Iron; basic energy could be constantly gained from the Abyss of Elements. As long as Castle Lord has enough merit value points, you could expand the space of Castle of Black Iron constantly. Therefore, if Castle Lord has a long-term plan about expanding Castle of Black Iron, you''d better pay attention to the provision of merit value!"


    "Oh, you mentioned that Abyss of Elements could provide 20 square miles'' land for Castle of Black Iron every day. What''s the thickness of the earth''s crust? Is it still 200 m?"


    "Not 200 m, but 50,000 m, the minimal depth of crust which is required for producing natural mineral veins and ores in Castle of Black Iron!" Heller continued with a smile, "Castle Lord has really underestimated the power of the combination of this piece of God''s Star and the Abyss of Chaos!"


    Zhang Tie immediately remembered what Heller told him when he had Castle of Black Iron form this terrain last time¡ª¡ªIf you could produce an ocean or a piece of land that covers over 600 square miles and is over 30 miles in thickness as an initial earth crust, Castle of Black Iron might automatically produce one or more natural mineral veins or ores in the process of the formation and renovation of the space and terrain...


    "You mean, I might gain one or more ores by expanding the land area of Castle of Black Iron by 600 square miles per month?" Zhang Tie became spirited at once.


    "Principally, yes..."

 1177 Counting the Booties

    Chapter 1177: Counting the Booties


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Principally yes?" Zhang Tie knew that it was not that easy given the tone of Heller.


    "Yes. Castle Lord, you have to know some points!" Heller said calmly, "The daily output of the aura value couldn''t match the basic energy that could be gained by the Abyss of Elements each day. If not include the aura value points that you have accumulated over the past years, the daily aura value increase that could be produced by plants in Castle of Black Iron could only form 0.16 square mile''s land which could contain ores. Unless you expand the current land area of Castle of Black Iron by over 30 times, namely having it reach at least 7,000 square miles while being covered with a wood on its surface could the daily aura value increase match the daily basic energy increase and meet the constantly expansion of the space of Castle of Black Iron. The premise is that Castle Lord has to provide enough merit value points!"


    "Besides, Castle Lord needs to know some more tips. First, the ores are produced optionally in the process of the formation of the earth''s surface; 160 square miles'' land is just the minimal requirement for the formation of ores, which are of the lowest qualities. They might even not be formed sometimes. Even though it is a gold ore, don''t expect that you could gain hundreds of tons of gold from it. You could gain at most a few tons of gold from it in the earth on such a scale. The greater land area you could form for a time, the more varieties and amount of ores could you gain."


    "Second, there are merely less than 10 templates about the varieties of ores that could be formed in Castle of Black Iron. The former two kinds are the low-quality iron ores and crystal ores that you gained in Wild Wolf Valley. The other ores originate from those crystal ores and ordinary ores that Castle Lord gained from the Earth-elements Realm casually. If Castle Lord wants more varieties of ores in Castle of Black Iron, you have to provide the corresponding templates. The higher level the ore is, the more aura value and merit value would it require. Additionally, as Castle of Black Iron form ores randomly, even if Castle Lord inputs a great amount of aura value and merit value in forming it, you could not gain high-level ores for sure. The more aura value and merit value you input in, the more possible it will be for you to gain high-quality ores. Additionally, the possibility has an upper limit..."


    Whenever Heller "woke up" Zhang Tie, he would become very serious like a set of precise difference engine.


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie indeed knew it much better. However, he didn''t give up his thought completely.


    "I''ve purchased plant seeds. But I''ve not imagined that I could gain a piece of God''s Star this time. Therefore, the bottleneck of basic energy storage is solved at once. The insufficiency of aura value that you mentioned just now is indeed a problem; however, it doesn''t mean that I couldn''t solve it!" Zhang Tie said as he started his multi-tasking ability and gained a figure at once, "The basic energy storage that Castle of Black Iron absorb per month could be used to expand 160 square miles'' land in the thickness of 50,000 m. As long as I maintain the current earth thickness of 200 m, I could expand 160,000 square miles'' land per month. Is that right?"


    "Yes!"


    "Can''t the current aura value and merit value in Castle of Black Iron meet such an expansion one month later?"


    "Castle Lord, your merit value is enough for it; however, even one month later, the aura value in Castle of Black Iron could only meet the expansion of about 9,000 square miles'' land!"


    "Well, just 9,000 square miles'' land!" Zhang Tie forcefully waved his hand as he determined his mind in a split second. He added, "Whatever, there''re only a few people in Castle of Black Iron. They don''t pose a great demand for ores. Let''s make a thin pie first. After that, we will spread plant seeds over it. We only need to make the increase in daily aura value match the increase in daily basic energy as fast as possible and constantly meet the expansion of Castle of Black Iron. After solving this problem, I will further solve the provision of merit value!"


    "Castle Lord, do you plan to expand and improve Castle of Black Iron as fast as possible in the future?"


    "Yup. After this event in Xuanyuan Hill, I''m afraid that Taixia Country would be increasingly chaotic. I might have to live in here with my family members and those people that I could save. Therefore, I should make some preparation now!"


    Zhang Tie then negotiated with Heller about the details of the expansion of Castle of Black Iron 1 month later beside the Abyss of Elements. After the negotiation, Zhang Tie suddenly thought about something as he asked Heller, "Oh, Han Yuanhong and Han Zhengfang should not only carry one piece of God''s Star. I saw a tan token when Han Zhengfang died..."


    "They indeed carried many more items. Castle Lord makes unimaginable achievement this time. Those items are in the treasure bank of the palace tree. Castle Lord, you should review them by yourself. You might have a surprise!" Heller said with a meaningful look.


    ''The last surprise that Heller mentioned referred to the piece of God''s Star, what about this one?''


    Zhang Tie''s curiosity was aroused by Heller at once. He patted the thunder hawk to have it fly off before saying, "If you say so, I have to count my booties!"


    "I think Castle Lord will not be disappointed!" Heller replied with a smile.


    After throwing another glance at the Abyss of Elements in front of him, Zhang Tie left...


    ...


    A few minutes later, Heller and Zhang Tie returned to the lobby of the palace tree. Zhang Tie looked around the small tree before entering it.


    This fruit of brilliance almost became dark as if it could absorb the surrounding light. In the dark, the fruit contained a bizarre spiral light band which looked like a galaxy in the universe. Zhang Tie had not seen such a fruit of brilliance; however, he could sense the terrifying spiritual energy in this fruit of brilliance, which was far greater than that of any fruit of brilliance that he had ever taken.


    There were 3 fruits of judgment on the side of this fruit of brilliance.


    Zhang Tie knew that these fruits of judgment were of the same skill¡ª¡ªbody-separation skill. At the sight of the three fruits of judgment, Zhang Tie had known that his body-separation skill would advance to a super level from preliminary level. After taking the 3 fruits, the final fruit of judgment would advance his body-separation skill to master-level.


    A red and black fruit of bloodline was hiding in the dense leaves of the small tree in the shape of a bizarre 16-side crystal gem. He could almost not discover it if he didn''t look at it carefully. Like that pitch-dark fruit of brilliance, this fruit of bloodline also manifested something special. This one was larger than the former ones; colorful lights were flashing by inside the fruit of bloodline now and then.


    ''When I killed Old Monster Qi, I''ve already gained a fruit of bloodline, which contained 1784 points of bloodline energy. I spent 67 points in activating a fundamental "spear affinity". There are still 1717 points of bloodline energy left. This fruit of bloodline definitely carries much more bloodline energy points than the former one. I could gain 1784 points of bloodline energy by killing an earth knight when I was a black iron knight. This time, after killing a shadow knight as an earth knight, I should at least gain two more times bloodline energy than the last time.


    Besides these fruits, there were two more fruits of redemption on the small tree.


    Watching those bizarre fruits, Zhang Tie knew that he had made a fortune. After taking these fruits, his overall strength would definitely rise greatly once again, as the fruit of brilliance, the fruit of bloodline and the 3 fruits of judgment were all of the unusual effects.


    ''Besides these fruits, I''ve not fully converted the water elements that I gained from Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong into my own chakra.''


    Zhang Tie revealed a brilliant smile. He was not anxious about taking them right now; instead, after circling around the small tree and counting those fruits, he left the small tree and followed Heller into the treasure bank of the palace tree.


    Zhang Tie''s treasure bank was at the bottom of the palace tree. The entire treasure bank covered about 60,000 square meters and was higher than 50 m. There was a golden fluorite crystal lamp in each a few meters, which illuminated the entire treasure bank. The entire treasure bank was divided into 4 regions. Each region was filled with various rarities that Zhang Tie plundered from subcontinents and continents. If a commoner entered the treasure bank for the first time, he might be thrilled too much and have a heart attack at the sight of so many treasures. It was like the legendary paradise where was covered with treasures.


    Precious metals such as gold and silver were the most ordinary items in the treasure bank. Zhang Tie didn''t pack gold in crates, but in piles like the piles of wheat straws on the threshing grounds in rural areas. Each pile of gold was about 4-5 m high like a golden Mongolian yurt. The moment one entered the treasure bank, he would see dozens of rows of tidy golden Mongolian yurts extending all the way towards far...

 1178 Bloody Soul Sutra

    Chapter 1178: Bloody Soul Sutra


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The treasure bank contained all the wealth that Zhang Tie plundered from the 18 Three-eye Association clans in Waii Subcontinent, which were robbed by the latter from the northern countries in Waii Subcontinent.


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel like counting the value of the gold and silver in the treasure bank. He had been numb about them. The largest region of the treasure bank was used to store these gold. There were over 300,000 tons of silver, all of which were put in the underground warehouse as they were less valuable than gold.


    As for the other 3 regions in the treasure bank, the second region was used to store other precious metals, gems and top-quality crystals. Mithril, abyss magical iron, mountain copper, violet gold, ruby, sapphire, cat''s eye and diamonds were packed in crates in terms of categories. These treasures covered over 30,000 square meters. In order to store these items, Edward even made high metal racks. Like books in the library, these crates were put on the high metal racks. If a person couldn''t fly, he had to use a professional mobile bridge ladder.


    The third region of the treasure bank was used to store cultural relics, rare curios, jewelry and artworks of each human age. Many things were strange to Zhang Tie. However, now that those Three-eye Association clans collected these things seriously, he robbed away all of them, including some boring sculptures, oil paints and antiques.


    The 4th region of the treasure bank contained what Zhang Tie could use now. They were of the highest value, including more than 10 silver secret items, over 10 secret pearls that had not been opened, some vials of rare medicaments on special medicament racks, some weapons and armors on the armracks and batches of element crystals that were placed in categories.


    The footsteps of Zhang Tie and Heller were reverberating around the entire treasure bank. The resources in the treasure bank were as rich as a country; especially those silver secret items and space-teleportation items; even top clans in Taixia Country could not have such luxurious furnishings.


    In the beginning, after coming here, Zhang Tie would not feel like leaving anymore. Several times later, he would still feel thrilled. Gradually, Zhang Tie had been used to it. Now, Zhang Tie had been numb about this shiny treasure bank.


    When he passed by the 3rd region, he didn''t even throw a glance at those priceless items over there. After passing by the 3rd region, Zhang Tie glanced at a golden mountain in front of him for a short while.


    The golden mountain was genuinely a mountain of gold coins.


    This golden mountain was in the center of the treasure bank. The entire golden mountain was composed of gold coins with various patterns. From a distance, it was like a pyramid made of gold coins. The golden mountain was 40 m in height. After being spread over the ground, they could cover a circular area whose diameter was almost 100 m. There was a huge pit as deep as dozens of meters beneath the golden mountain, which was also filled with gold coins. Under the lamplights, numerous gold coins were sparkling and dazzling.


    It was very vulgar to put a pile of gold coins in the treasure bank. However, Zhang Tie stuck to it. Because this was one of his biggest life dreams when he was young. Zhang Tie had tried to sleep and roll on the golden mountain. After gradually losing his interest in it, Zhang Tie discovered that it was actually not comfortable to lie on gold coins; at least it was not as comfortable as lying and rolling on sand and bed. If he rolled too excessively on it, he might be buried by the gold coins that slid off the top of the golden mountain like an avalanche. Although it was not fatal, it was not funny.


    When he didn''t have such wealth, Zhang Tie thought that he would be very happy with them; however, after owning them, Zhang Tie found that what could make him really happy were not these gold coins but the rice brew that was made by his mom when he was young.


    The brilliance and prosperity would finally return to plain and pureness. When one really understood what were the most precious things in his life, he had reached a higher life realm.


    ''Beloved ones are most precious for people; those who love a person the most is his or her parents.''


    At the sight of that golden mountain that he was always dreaming about when he was young, a whim flashed through Zhang Tie''s mind, ''After a few more days, I will be able to return home in front of the public.''


    ...


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the 4th region, he had noticed the change. There were 3 most evident changes. First, there were 4 more secret weapons here. Second, there were batches of element crystals. Third, there were 3 more space-teleportation items on the rack.


    Zhang Tie and Heller walked towards the rack of space-teleportation items.


    It was great for any knight to have a space-teleportation item. However, there was one row of space-teleportation items here which looked like jewelry being waited to be selected and waiters to be called by Zhang Tie.


    Over 10 space-teleportation items were placed in a row on a table which was covered with green goose down. They were what Zhang Tie had achieved over these years. Some of them were plundered; some were from secret pearls. After a casual glance at them, Zhang Tie had discovered 3 new items. He only had an impression of the tan token that was left after Han Zhengfang disappeared in the magma sea.


    However, Heller introduced the other two to him first.


    "This finger ring and waistband are two portable space-teleportation items from Han Yuanhong. As the host of Gold and Power Market, Han Yuanhong put a lot of good things in the two space-teleportation items. They contain many anonymous gold checks and documents of drawing rights of 12.8 billion gold coins in total, 43,654 earth-element crystals, 21,250 water-element crystals, 8,500 wind-element crystals and 4,000 fire-element crystal, over 1,200 vials of medicaments of different categories, some bronze secret-level armors and helmets, two quality high-level elements gathering towers and some food and drinks..."


    ''I made a fortune! F*ck!''


    The figures reported by Heller shocked Zhang Tie a bit. Although he knew that Han Yuanhong would carry some special items when he escaped, Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could carry so many valuables with him.


    ''12.8 billion gold coins. What does that mean? The entire Guan Clan could hardly gather 700 million gold coins in a short period, 12.8 billion gold coins could be used to build over 100 cities or a prosperous prefecture in Taixia Country. Did Han Zhengfang prepare to use such a great amount of gold coins to recover Bloody Soul Temple or establish a country somewhere one day?''


    Zhang Tie turned around and looked at the piles of elements crystals. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether other clans could have so many elements crystals, he knew that Huaiyuan Palace didn''t have so many elements crystals. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see a knight carrying so many elements crystals with him.


    Zhang Tie took up that finger ring left by Han Yuanhong casually. It was actually a private seal of Han Yuanhong as Han Yuanhong''s name was sealed on it. After injecting his spiritual energy into it, Zhang Tie found that the area of finger ring was approximately 300 cubic meters, which indicated that it was a top space-teleportation item.


    The belt buckle was a dragon head as large as a half palm. Given the two eyes of the dragon head, Zhang Tie knew that it was special. Because the two eyes were made of top-class alchemist''s gems. There were 7 flowers on the gems. Such gems were definitely carved by an alchemist master. What was more, this pair of alchemist''s gems were rare sun gems.


    Zhang Tie checked the function of this pair of alchemist''s gems. Closely after that, his face turned strange. ''F*ck, this pair of alchemist''s sun gems could activate the surging points on man''s kidney and perineum. To put it simply, they could tonify one''s Yang.


    "F*ck, the two sons of Han Zhengfang are nothing different."


    Zhang Tie felt a bit disgusted; however, he also knew that this item was not good or bad. In the eyes of those who needed them, this item was priceless, especially that pair of sun gems.


    The space inside the belt buckle contained over 1,000 square meters, which indicated that it was also a top space-teleportation item.


    After putting down the belt buckle, Zhang Tie took up that token of Han Zhengfang.


    This token was almost as long as his palm. Although it looked like being made of copper, it wasn''t. Because the token was heavier than mithril. Besides, there were complex and mysterious grains on the token. Zhang Tie could recognize a sealed word "Decree" in the middle of these grains. The moment Zhang Tie held the token, he had felt being sober while the spiritual energy in his mind sea became tranquil at once. He felt pretty comfortable. ''This token could lubricate one''s spiritual energy. How marvelous it is!''


    Zhang Tie looked at it for a short while before asking, "What''s inside?"


    "I''ve not taken the items out of it yet. Castle Lord could review it yourself..."


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie immediately injected his spiritual energy into the space of the token...


    The token had a large space. It was the space-teleportation item with the largest space that Zhang Tie had ever seen besides Castle of Black Iron. It was even two times larger than that of Xuanwu Secret Warehouse of Bloody Soul Temple.


    A 3-storey pavilion made of violet gold was floating inside the space.


    On the pitch-dark metal tablet of the pavilion, there were some bloody words¡ª¡ªBloody Soul Sutra Enlightenment Pavilion.


    At the sight of these words, Zhang Tie''s heart almost stopped beating in a split second.


    However, closely after that, Zhang Tie recovered his composure as he injected his spiritual energy into the sutra enlightenment pavilion.


    It was hollow in the 3-storey pavilion. As there was no sundry and redundant decoration inside it besides an eye-catching black round high platform in the middle, a high caisson-shaped dome came into being. Beneath that black high platform, there were 9 steps being embedded with top-class fire-element crystals. There was only one item lying on the high black platform quietly which looked very solemn and eye-catching. As if the entire pavilion was built for that item on the platform.


    The moment Zhang Tie injected his spiritual energy into this pavilion, he had been attracted by that item on the high platform in the middle.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie had taken that item out of there. Lying on Zhang Tie''s hand, it gave out a mysterious brilliance...


    That item was strange as if it was composed of two circles. The item was composed of 4 snakes that devoured each other''s tail. Each of the two snakes formed a circle. Zhang Tie found that the 4 snakes were movable and could be dismantled. As long as they were put in the original places, they would bite each other''s tail tightly too.


    After observing this item for quite a while, Zhang Tie injected his spiritual energy into it; however, he got no response from it.


    In Zhang Tie''s impression, all the senior items would make a response to him as long as he injected his spiritual energy into them.


    ''How could Bloody Soul Temple and Han Zhengfang put such a worthless item in the Bloody Soul Sutra Enlightenment Pavilion in such a solemn way?''


    Zhang Tie observed this item carefully and found that the 4 snakes being connected with each other formed a pattern with a marvelous meaning. In the Western Continent, it represented the never-ending samsara between life and death both physically and spiritually. The pattern of two snakes biting each other was still preserved in some hospitals in the Western Continent; in Eastern Continent, the pattern of snakes biting each other could actually be seen everywhere too. However, it changed a bit. Hua people had replaced snakes with fish or dragon and tiger. The more abstract symbol of this pattern was the taichi diagram of Hua people.


    Zhang Tie gradually felt that this item was like a headband. Therefore, he directly put it on his head.


    Soon after that, the spiritual energy in Zhang Tie''s mind sea shocked as the spiritual energy of this item had been connected with that of Zhang Tie, manifesting three unimaginable huge words in Zhang Tie''s mind sea¡ª¡ªBloody Soul Sutra!

 1179 Skyrocketing Overall Strength

    Chapter 1179: Skyrocketing Overall Strength


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On December 1st, the 903rd year of Black Iron Calendar...


    At this moment, the sky was a bit white while the ground within 30,000 square miles was covered with rising vapor as usual. As the first ray of sunlight reached the smoking crater, two figures broke out of the gurgling magma. After reaching high above the volcano, they suspended in the sky.


    They were Zhang Tie and his old slave Zhang Gui.


    It was really a great achievement. After Zhang Tie woke up, it took him 11 days to digest all the booties.


    Although it was less than 2 weeks, Zhang Tie had been greatly different than when he followed Han Zhengfang here 2 weeks ago.


    2 weeks ago, Zhang Tie formed 38 scales on his water chakra and had just reached 1 change earth knight realm. 2 weeks later, Zhang Tie had already formed 161 scales on his water chakra and entered 4 change earth knight realm.


    From 1 change realm to 4 change realm, Zhang Tie had strengthened his ability as an earth knight for 3 times. As a result, his overall strength had been increased by 30%, including his battle strength.


    As Zhang Tie killed Han Zhengfang in the deep magma sea, he was severely injured under the great pressure of the magma. After strengthening himself 3 times, the protective force of Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi and his anti-striking ability surged once again. Zhang Tie had tried some times during these days and found that his protective battle qi and anti-striking ability had been intensified by about 40%.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie''s strength, speed and sensing capability of knight''s consciousness had increased by 20% to 30%. What Zhang Tie was most interested in was that his battle qi started to become denser, more compact and more powerful. Additionally, his battle qi started to be solid from virtual.


    The fruit of judgment enabled the last body-separation skill of his immortal rune to promote to a super realm. The super body-separation skill could never be matched by the preliminary body-separation skill in all aspects.


    The latest fruit of bloodline brought Zhang Tie 15,687 points of bloodline energy; plus those of the former fruit of bloodline that he had not used, Zhang Tie could activate 17,404 points of bloodline energy in total.


    Because Zhang Tie had not considered which bloodlines to activate with these bloodline energy points, he didn''t use them for the time being.


    After taking that fruit of brilliance which contained super strong spiritual energy, Zhang Tie could launch an attack by that secret item-level Thor''s Hammer with the ability of divine dominator much easily. At this moment, even Zhang Tie himself couldn''t imagine how strong was his spiritual energy.


    However, compared to all the above improvements, Zhang Tie felt that his largest achievement was the Bloody Soul Sutra .


    Zhang Tie spent a few days in browsing the contents of the Bloody Soul Sutra . The secret methods, knowledge and cultivation system in the Bloody Soul Sutra had greatly widened his horizon.


    Evidently, it was impossible for Zhang Tie to grasp those great secret methods and battle skills in the Bloody Soul Sutra in such a short period. If not enter a secluded cultivation for dozens of years, he could never make any great achievement about this classic. However, after reviewing the former Soul Forbidden Method that he had cultivated referring to the original contents inBloody Soul Sutra , Zhang Tie''s Soul Forbidden Method had entered a wholly new realm.


    After browsing Bloody Soul Sutra, Zhang Tie realized how lucky he was on that day. Han Zhengfang was a heavenly knight. In the Sincerity Garden of Xuanyuan Hill, Han Zhengfang used a secret skill of Bloody Soul Sutra to elevate his level to the semi-sage realm. After escaping away from Xuanyuan Hill, his vitality had been severely weakened, causing Han Zhengfang to directly decline to shadow knight from heavenly knight. Therefore, Zhang Tie got a chance to kill him. If Han Zhengfang''s realm didn''t decline or after he cultivated for a period, Zhang Tie would not have such a chance anymore. That was God''s will.


    ''The secret skill of lock of bloody chakra is also recorded in the Bloody Soul Sutra . This secret method could coordinate withPurgatory Samsara Method pretty well. However, it''s not easy to practice this secret skill. I couldn''t practice it until I promote to a shadow knight. Additionally, one has to suffer a great loss for using this secret skill. If not being flurried, Han Zhengfang would never use this secret skill at the risk of his own life.''


    If Zhang Tie was free or in a secluded cultivation, he didn''t mind spending 10 years in studying the secret skills in Bloody Soul Sutra. However, Zhang Tie knew that it was not the right moment for him to enter a secluded cultivation somewhere. After making big trouble in Xuanyuan Hill 2 weeks ago, Zhang Tie knew that it must have been in a large-scale turmoil outside. Therefore, Zhang Tie could only hurriedly form his water chakra and take a lot of fruits before leaving Castle of Black Iron.


    After flying out of the crater, Zhang Tie immediately contacted with his elder brother and Bai Suxian by the remote-sensing crystal.


    As it was another space in Castle of Black Iron, the remote-sensing crystal was not available inside it; neither was it available in portable space-teleportation equipment.


    Soon after contacting with Zhang Yang his elder brother and confirming the identities in jargons, Zhang Tie had received a lot of words.


    "You''re not in Xuanyuan Hill?"


    "Are you alright these days?"


    "I could not contact with you these days, I was worried about you very much!"


    "It''s chaotic across Taixia Country. Youzhou Province has entered a state of emergency as a whole; Yanghe Prefecture is in the state of siege. Our parents are worried about you so much, but I dare not tell them about your news!"


    "I was always sleepless these days as I was afraid that I couldn''t receive your news when in deep sleep."


    "Whether you had long known that there was going to be a turmoil in Xuanyuan Hill? Otherwise, why did you tell me to leave in advance?"


    Zhang Yang''s news arrived so fast even before Zhang Tie asked him about the latest situation. Zhang Tie could imagine how anxious was his elder brother, which enabled Zhang Tie to sense a bit brotherhood and warmth.


    Of course, Jinwu Business Group would not miss such an important occasion of Treasures Meeting in Xuanyuan Hill, because this was the best stage for expanding the popularity of all-purpose medicament. When Zhang Tie was in Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Yang was actually in Xuanyuan Hill too. The two people were busy doing their businesses. Zhang Tie didn''t go to find Zhang Yang as he was afraid of bringing trouble to Zhang Yang. One day before his revenge, Zhang Tie told Zhang Yang to leave Xuanyuan Hill for Youzhou Province by airboat without landing in any intermediate cities in the way as soon as possible through remote-sensing crystal without telling him about the reason.


    Zhang Tie left Xuanyuan Hill by airboat on the morning of November 14th. On the evening of November 15th, Zhang Tie started his revenge, sending the entire Xuanyuan Hill into big chaos. As a wise man, of course Zhang Yang could guess that Zhang Tie must know something before telling him to leave Xuanyuan Hill. Therefore, Zhang Yang couldn''t stand asking about that. Actually, he had been fermenting this question for over 2 weeks. As he couldn''t contact Zhang Tie during the past 2 weeks, he became a bit anxious.


    "I''m fine. I''ve not even lost a hair. Don''t worry about me, elder brother!"


    "Let''s talk about Xuanyuan Hill later!"


    "Additionally, I''ve already exposed my real identity to Bai Suxian and the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect. They know that Cui Li and Zhang Tie are the same. I don''t need to use the identity of Cui Li anymore!"


    Zhang Tie replied 3 messages too.


    The first 2 messages were within the expectation of Zhang Yang; however, after reading the 3rd message, Zhang Yang became silent for quite a while before replying Zhang Tie as if he didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could make such a sudden decision.


    "You''ve exposed your real identity to all of your disciples?"


    "Yes, even Chengze and Chengxu have known about it. None of my disciples have carried any remote-sensing communications device. They are still in Zhongzhou City; but when we return to Youzhou Province, all of them should know that I''m Cui Li!"


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yes, I''m sure!"


    "Whether the one who set you up is Han Zhengfang?"


    "Yes, I''ve already killed Han Zhengfang! Elder brother, you''re the 2nd people who know this news besides me, don''t expose it to others!"


    After hearing that Zhang Tie had killed Han Zhengfang, Zhang Yang, being in Youzhou Province, was shocked once again. Zhang Tie didn''t know that all the news about Han Zhengfang had shocked the entire country over the past days.


    Who was Han Zhengfang? The former finance minister of Taixia Country; a super powerhouse who had promoted to a heavenly knight; the master of Heavens Reaching Church who aroused turmoils in Taixia Country; the culprit of the tragedy in Fuhai City; the public enemy of Hua people; the one who could escape from Meng Shidao who had promoted to semi-sage realm and couldn''t be blocked by anyone across Xuanyuan Hill. Unbelievably, he was killed by Zhang Tie.


    Only after a few days, the alchemist demon Zhao Yuan had dropped to the second place on the wanted list of Supreme Court of Taixia Country while Han Zhengfang the master of Heavens Reaching Church ranked first. ''My brother killed the heavenly knight who ranked first on the wanted list of Taixia Country.''


    Zhang Yang became muddle-headed; however, he knew that Zhang Tie would not make fun of him.


    After a few seconds, Zhang Tie received another message from Zhang Yang.


    "Do you know the reward for...Han...Zhengfang''s head by Xuanyuan Hill?"


    Zhang Yang must be thrilled at this moment as even his message was not incoherent.


    "What''s that?''


    "Anyone who could kill or catch Han Zhengfang alive would be conferred with the hereditary title of nobility of human duke and be rewarded with a bounty land along with the guard of honor as same as that of top three chancellors and a promise in cinnabar on iron sheet, with which all the death penalties of him and his family members would be remitted!"

 1180 Opportunity in the Chaos

    Chapter 1180: Opportunity in the Chaos


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The only way for a person to be regarded as a "noble" in Taixia Country was to be conferred as a duke after killing demons, which referred to the narrow sense of demons and those lackeys of Three-eye Association who cooperated with demons. It had long been proved that Heavens Reaching Church colluded with demons and cause turmoils in the world. Of course, Han Zhengfang, as the master of Heavens Reaching Church, was the most abhorrent demon of the demon.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Xuanyuan Hill could provide such a high reward for catching Han Zhengfang.


    The bounty land of one province; the hereditary dukedom, the treatment of three chancellors; the promise in cinnabar on an iron sheet which could remit the death penalty of all of his family members...With this reward, anyone who killed Han Zhengfang could enter his heyday in a split second.


    If it were before, Zhang Tie would definitely be touched by such a great reward; however, he was only amazed about it now. He had just set a plot to push the Gobbling Party to the opposite side of Heavens Reaching Church. However, could he jump into this trap once again only for such a bit reward?


    ''With one more province''s bounty land, I will not eat 10 times more than now or sleep in a room which was 10 times larger; the dukedom could not accelerate my cultivation; the honorable treatment of three chancellors could not make me like a king at once; neither am I ambitious and interested in rebellion; the promise in cinnabar on the iron sheet is just an iron sheet for me. Across Huaiyuan Palace, nobody else needed to be remitted except for me, whose case has just been redressed.''


    Therefore, the reward from Xuanyuan Hill became meaningless for Zhang Tie.


    "Elder brother, this reward is a red-hot iron. Neither could I nor Huaiyuan Palace bear it. Additionally, Han Zhengfang didn''t even leave any bones. It''s difficult for me to prove that I''ve killed him; additionally, nobody would believe that. I''m afraid that Xuanyuan Hill mostly wants to unite the other 6 top sects and some top clans of Taixia Country to deal with Han Zhengfang and Heavens Reaching Church. We''d better not be involved in it!"


    After removing his covetous thoughts and worries about gains and losses, Zhang Tie immediately saw through the purpose of Xuanyuan Hill behind this reward. The biggest function of this reward was to inspire morale and make clear the attitude of Xuanyuan Hill towards Heavens Reaching Church and demons. No matter what, Han Zhengfang was the former finance minister of Taixia Country. Such a person as a mole of demons really affected Taixia Country too much. He had to be eliminated; however, only the top sects and a few clans in Taixia Country could kill a heavenly knight on the premise that few people knew the sequela of Han Zhengfang after using the secret method of Bloody Soul Sutra . Therefore, this reward was actually prepared for these super forces¡ª¡ª


    ''I won''t be touched by it, but it doesn''t mean that the others won''t be touched by it either. Just let those people look for Han Zhengfang across the world!'' Zhang Tie thought.


    After being reminded by Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang recovered his composure too. When he heard that Zhang Tie killed Han Zhengfang, Zhang Yang who had been dreaming about reinvigorating Zhang Clan immediately remembered that reward. After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Zhang Yang also realized that even Huaiyuan Palace as a whole could not bear such a reward, not to mention their family.


    "I see, only you and I know this secret!"


    "Cui Li is my incarnation. Elder brother, you can tell our parents about that in case of their concern now. I will return to Youzhou Province in a few days. After arriving at Youzhou Province, I will go to Jinwu City right away!"


    "The culprit of the tragedy in Fuhai City has died. You came back too. Our parents could finally be reassured! And, don''t forget to notice Huaiyuan Palace about your incarnation. Even your disciples have known your real identity, if you don''t notice these elders in Huaiyuan Palace before you return, you might be blamed for estranging your relatives!"


    "Elder brother, you can notice Huaiyuan Palace about that when you''re free. You only need to tell them that Cui Li is my incarnation. We will talk about other things when I come back!"


    "Sure!"


    "And oh, what major events have happened in Taixia Country from November 15 till now? I was ill-informed over the past 2 weeks. What response have Heavens Reaching Church made?"


    "Taixia Country is in great chaos just like when the holy war broke out in Waii Subcontinent. Over 60 provinces of Taixia Country have been afflicted by bloody figures. The entire territory of Taixia Country has been involved in it. What happened in Zhongzhou Province 2 months ago is repeating across Taixia Country now!"


    "Including Northeast Military Region?"


    "Yes, the Weiyuan Prefecture in Tongzhou Province and the Anlan Prefecture in Gaozhou Province have been afflicted by bloody figures. As a result, the entire Northeast Military Region has been in a turmoil. Youzhou Province has been on the alert in an all-round manner. All the corps in Northeast Military Regions have already reached the border for strict defense. Even Elder Muray and Elder Muyu have been dispatched to encircle and annihilate large-scale bloody figure troops. All the other provinces have imposed a curfew. The clans of Heavens Reaching Church are making troubles everywhere across Taixia Country, increasing a great number of names on the wanted list of Supreme Court. I''ve not heard any good news in Jinwu City lately!"


    This news was within Zhang Tie''s expectation; however, Zhang Tie had not imagined that it could arouse so many chain reactions after he exposed Han Zhengfang''s real identity to the public.


    It was already not important that whether Han Zhengfang sent an order when he escaped to Xuanyuan Hill or the loyal backbones of Heavens Reaching Church made responses after they received the news that Han Zhengfang''s real identity was exposed. After hearing that so many places in Taixia Country have been inflicted by bloody figures and remembering the looks of the villages and cities which were affected by bloody figures, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded at once.


    "Did those places being affected by bloody figures suffer great losses?"


    "Fortunately, after the catastrophe of bloody figures broke out in Zhongzhou Province, all the places across Taixia Country have been on the alert by mobilizing all the local garrisons for stricter defense. All the big cities and clans have knight-level powerhouses on their back. The entire Taixia Country is preventing bloody figures over these days. Nobody dares to take a casual attitude about it, official or local major clans. Although the catastrophe of bloody figures broke out in Taixia Country suddenly this time, the chaos and losses on average in each province are less than that in Zhongzhou Province; because all the places have made precautions for that. Although this catastrophe of bloody figures has just broken out for about 2 weeks, all the troops of over 10,000 bloody figures across Taixia Country have been scattered by the knight-level powerhouses. Although bloody figures have greater battle strength than ordinary soldiers in Taixia Country, they''ve lost their commander; additionally, knights had an overwhelming advantage over these bloody figures. If a knight encounters a troop of bloody figures, he or she would cause a great casualty and scatter them..."


    After hearing Zhang Yang''s news, Zhang Tie finally realized why he could get so many merit value points after exposing the real identity of Han Zhengfang in Xuanyuan Hill.


    When the entire Taixia Country was preparing for dealing with bloody figures, the catastrophe of bloody figures really broke out. What a coincidence! If the catastrophe of bloody figures broke out a bit earlier before the provinces across Taixia Country were ready for it, the loss suffered by each province would definitely be not less than that in Zhongzhou Province. If the catastrophe of bloody figures happened a couple of years later, Taixia Country as a whole would definitely relax their vigilance about bloody figures. By then, Taixia Country would suffer a greater loss. Additionally, the destructions caused by Heavens Reaching Church when they were ready for that were utterly different than that when they were not ready for that. This catastrophe of bloody figures broke out when the Heavens Reaching Church was flurried. Given the time, it was fortunate for Taixia Country.


    In others'' eyes, those bloody figures were just devils and killers who could only cause destructions and should be killed as fast as possible; however, in Zhang Tie''s eyes, these bloody figures were as nourishing as lobsters and seashells over the rocks after ebb. If he had caught Han Zhengfang alive, he could promote to a shadow knight at the fastest speed with the help of these bloody figures.


    "Elder brother, I have one thing to talk with you. No kidding. You don''t need to know why because you will know it after I come back. From now on, you will mobilize all the power of Jinwu Business Group and notice Huaiyuan Palace to catch bloody figures as more as possible. I need alive bloody figures. As long as they''re alive, the more, the better, even if they had no limbs. Money is not a problem. I want them even at 1,000 gold coins for one bloody figure..."


    1,000 gold coins for one bloody figure; 10,000 bloody figures only cost him 10 million gold coins; 100,000 bloody figures only cost him 100 million gold coins. Such a bit of gold coins was nothing for Zhang Tie; however, if he had 100,000 bloody figures, he could extract the maximal value of these bloody figures with his bloody sacrifice furnace. Zhang Tie felt it even worthwhile to purchase a bloody figure at the cost of 10,000 gold coins, not to mention 1,000 gold coins.


    It was Zhang Yang''s 3rd time to be shocked by Zhang Tie today.


    "Did I mishear it? You want alive bloody figures at such a high price?"


    "Yes, elder brother, you didn''t mishear it. I won''t suffer a loss. I''ve got another request for you. Before I come back, elder brother could find a place near the territory of Iron-Dragon Sect to build a place for locking bloody figures. The bigger the better. As it was slow to build a city, you don''t need to consider whether those bloody figures are comfortable or not; you can directly have people build a super large battle fortress near the territory of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    When Zhang Tie said that, he recalled the crystal battle fortress in Selnes Theater of Operations. Given the scale of the crystal battle fortress, it could easily hold 100,000 bloody figures after slight renovation; additionally, those bloody figures could not make trouble or escape from the battle fortress...


    Battle fortress was a special building in the holy war. Hua people''s battle fortresses were definitely the best. With enough money, he could easily build a battle fortress in Fire-dragon Territory.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie realized the significance of money. At least he didn''t need to think about the amount of money for doing these things. With enough money, this catastrophe of bloody figures across Taixia Country would be the opportunity for the rise of Iron-Dragon Sect...

 1181 Arrangemen

    Chapter 1181: Arrangement


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After contacting with his elder brother, Zhang Tie contacted with Bai Suxian too.


    Bai Suxian was still waiting for Zhang Tie in Zhongzhou City.


    As the catastrophe of bloody figures had already broken out in Zhongzhou Province, after this catastrophe of bloody figures broke out across Taixia Country, Zhongzhou Province was relatively less affected. Among the 9 immortal provinces of Taixia Country, the catastrophes of bloody figures also broke out in Jinzhou Province, Pingzhou Province, Fengzhou Province and Qingzhou Province besides Zhongzhou Province.


    Zhang Tie didn''t talk with Bai Suxian too much. He would explain it to Bai Suxian after coming back to Zhongzhou Province. Bai Suxian didn''t ask him why as usual. Zhang Tie knew that Bai Suxian, as a wise woman, must have guessed that the event in Xuanyuan Hill was related to him. Because Zhang Tie had told her that it was one of the 9 ministers of Taixia Country who framed him. Soon after Zhang Tie left the airboat, Xuanyuan Hill had met such a storm. Bai Suxian must have noticed the relationship between Zhang Tie and that major event.


    After contacting with Bai Suxian, Zhang Tie thought for a short while before contacting Mountain Lifting Hermit. Previously, Mountain Lifting Hermit told Zhang Tie that he wanted to try his fortune in Taiyi City. Given the distance, Zhang Tie estimated that Mountain Lifting Hermit might have not reached Taiyi City yet. ''Taiyi City is in Daozhou Province, which is over 60,000 miles away from Xuanyuan Hill. Mountain Lifting Hermit didn''t take an airboat. Additionally, an earth knight couldn''t keep flying around the clock. Even if Mountain Lifting Hermit had tried his utmost efforts these days, he could not arrive at Daozhou Province. Additionally, Mountain Lifting Hermit might have already contacted me over these days after knowing what happened in Xuanyuan Hill; but I failed to receive them.''


    Zhang Tie''s guess was right. Soon after he established a link with Mountain Lifting Hermit, he had received a message.


    "I''ve heard about what happened in Xuanyuan Hill on November 16th. I tried to contact you; however, I failed. How''s everything going?"


    "I''m fine. I will tell you about it in details when I meet you. Where''re you now, elder brother?"


    "I''m in Zhenzhou Province. After Xuanyuan Hill met such a storm, the market where secret pearls could be traded in Taiyi City suspended its business for the time being. When the event broke out in Xuanyuan Hill, I was in Lingzhou Province, which was not affected by bloody figures; however, the catastrophe of bloody figures broke out in Zhenzhou province, which neighbors Lingzhou Province. Therefore, I came to Zhengzhou Province from Lingzhou Province and helped them deal with those bloody figures. These bloody figures afflicted villages and towns greatly. I will stay in Zhenzhou Province and kill some more bloody figures!"


    Mountain Lifting Hermit looked cold yet was kind-hearted. As a Hua knight, he would never put his hands in his sleeves and just look at the catastrophe of bloody figures.


    "Elder brother, you stay in Zhenzhou Province for a few days. We could keep in touch at any time. I will come for you. We will return to Iron-Dragon Sect together by airboat!"


    After a few seconds, Zhang Tie received a message.


    "Sure, I''m afraid that the market of trading secret pearls in Taiyi City would not open anymore before the catastrophe of bloody figures was pacified. I will go to Iron-Dragon Sect with you first!"


    After hearing Mountain Lifting Hermit''s words, Zhang Tie became reassured. As long as Mountain Lifting Hermit returned to Iron-Dragon Sect and officially became the grand elder of Iron-Dragon Sect after paying a formal visit to the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect, of course, Zhang Tie could have Mountain Lifting Hermit take one small space-teleportation equipment in that atmosphere.


    After contacting with Mountain Lifting Hermit, Zhang Tie contacted with Sarlin Pontiff so as to learn the latest news about the expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire.


    From Sarlin Pontiff''s words, Zhang Tie knew that Elder Gular and old bear Dali had returned to Ice and Snow Wilderness by airboat of Gold and Power Law 2 days ago. They might still be on the way. The expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire had not set off yet; the Sacred Iceland Kingdom was preparing for the coming war. Besides the weird atmosphere, everything else was normal.


    After contacting with the 4 people, Zhang Tie finally became reassured.


    When Zhang Tie contacted the 4 people, his old slave Zhang Gui just waited beside him quietly in a steady way for his order at any time.


    After putting away the bunch of remote-sensing finger rings, Zhang Tie looked around and didn''t find anybody within 10,000 square miles. Additionally, there were massive smoke and water vapor in the air, causing a low visibility. Therefore, Zhang Tie called the huge thunder hawk out of Castle of Black Iron.


    The moment the thunder hawk came out of Castle of Black Iron, it had crowed out of excitement for one time before flying around Zhang Tie.


    Castle of Black Iron was just a huge bird cage for this thunder hawk. By flapping its wings casually for one time, the thunder hawk could finish a few rounds in Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, after coming out of Castle of Black Iron, the thunder hawk was pretty thrilled.


    Zhang Tie immediately rode onto the back of the thunder hawk only by one stride. After sitting well, he waved his hand toward Zhang Gui, "You come here too. We will go to Zhongzhou City. It''s a long distance. It would be too time-consuming if we fly towards there ourselves!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, before Zhang Gui replied, the thunder hawk had twisted its body unwillingly in the air as it turned around and looked at Zhang Gui with dissatisfaction.


    "This old slave will not sit on it. Slaves are forbidden to sit together with their masters in any family. As this bird is huge, this old slave will just hold one of its claws!" Zhang Gui said in a humble way.


    "Fine, your wish!" Zhang Tie shrugged. Now that Zhang Gui was so self-conscious, Zhang Tie didn''t need to say anything.


    After hearing Zhang Gui''s words, the thunder hawk looked at Zhang Gui with a bit tender eye light. Closely after that, the thunder hawk stretched out one huge claw so that Zhang Gui could hold one iron hook-like finger. Closely after that, it flapped its wings and flew off as fast as a lightning bolt. In the blink of an eye, it had flown away from the volcanic region being enshrouded with smoke towards Zhongzhou City.


    Zhang Tie sat on the back of the thunder hawk in a calm way. The thunder hawk stretched out one claw backward which formed a freak combination with Zhang Gui who looked like a kite.


    If the thunder hawk carried two commoners, it would feel difficult to fly; however, Zhang Tie and Zhang Gui were both knights. They just floated in the air weightlessly and relied on the thunder hawk''s speed. Therefore, the thunder hawk could fly easily. Additionally, they both released their protective battle qis to wrap their own bodies so as to reduce the windage to the minimum. In less than 1 minute, with a slight sonic boom, a mushroom-shaped gaseous circle appeared around the thunder hawk. After breaking through this gaseous circle, the thunder hawk immediately broke the sound barrier. After a few seconds, it reached 2 times that of the speed of sound and became a golden light in the stratosphere.


    Sitting on the back of the thunder hawk, Zhang Tie watched the landscape flashing backward under his feet as he felt being an immortal.


    ''Karma is really marvelous. When it was peaceful across Taixia Country, I lived as poor as a stray dog while being wanted and chased every day. At that time, I was anxious every day. By contrast, when Taixia Country become chaotic as a whole, I''ve become so relaxed as if the spring is coming. The pendulum has swung back.''


    "Zhang Gui, have you learned how to hide your qi?" Zhang Tie suddenly turned around as he asked Zhang Gui who was below the thunder hawk''s tail.


    The thunder hawk moved faster than the speed of sound in air. If Zhang Tie didn''t speak through the secret means, before his sound reached Zhang Gui''s ears, the thunder hawk had already flown far away.


    "This old slave always did secret tasks before. Therefore, I''ve learned to conceal my qi!" Zhang Gui replied respectfully in a secret way.


    "If so, just show the level of a common black iron knight in the public from then on unless emergencies!"


    "Yes, master!" Zhang Gui didn''t ask about the reason. Closely after Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Gui''s qi had slowly declined and became as same as that of a common black iron knight. "Master, is this old slave okay?"


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Zhang Gui as he nodded inside, ''After forming the earth chakra, due to the concealing attribute of earth, earth knights could hide their qis without even learning any secret method; plus the effect of some secret method, commoners could barely identify that they are earth knights. If my knight''s consciousness wasn''t strong enough, I couldn''t identify that Zhang Gui is an earth knight either.''


    "Not bad. Just keep this state. Don''t expose your cultivation base and battle strength as an earth knight to the public. After coming back to Youzhou Province, you will be my steward and help me look after my family members and Jinwu City!"


    "Thanks for your trust, master. This old slave will exert my full efforts to look after your family and Jinwu City. As long as this old slave is still alive, I will never allow anyone to harm master''s family members."


    After hearing that Zhang Tie wanted him to be his steward, Zhang Gui''s face immediately gave out a brilliance as he expressed his loyalty happily at once.


    That was what Zhang Tie wanted, also why Zhang Tie took Zhang Gui out of Castle of Black Iron.


    After this event, Zhang Tie realized that the overall strength of his family was too weak. As long as he left home, his home would lack reliable powerhouses, which Zhang Tie was concerned about the most. Over these years, although a knight of Heavens Fortune Sect always resided in Zhang Clan so as to help Zhang family tide over the stormiest days, the knight always belonged to Heavens Fortune Sect. This knight was to perform a task in Zhang Clan assigned by his sect; therefore, Zhang family and this knight always felt a bit estranged; sometimes, it was not convenient either. After bringing Zhang Gui back home, Zhang Tie would solve this problem completely.


    As Taixia Country was in great chaos as a whole, Zhang Tie had to pay more attention to the safety of his family members.


    ''However, the identity of Zhang Gui is too eye-catching in Youzhou Province. In Youzhou Province, a lower province that has just been established, there are much fewer earth knights than that in other provinces; if I had an earth knight as my servant, Huaiyuan Palace would feel embarrassed about that, not to mention outsiders. Even Zhang Taixuan, the master of Huaiyuan Palace has just promoted to an earth knight for a few years; if an earth knight who calls himself "this old slave" follows me here and there who''s the real head of Huaiyuan Palace?''


    ''Although I have not returned to Huaiyuan Palace yet, I have to consider these questions in advance!''

 1182 Convergence

    Chapter 1182: Convergence


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    If Zhang Gui concealed his real battle strength in the public, besides avoiding from outsiders'' disputes and the embarrassing conflicts in Huaiyuan Palace, the biggest benefit was that Zhang Gui could easily deal with more difficult situations at the critical moment.


    At any time, concealing one''s battle strength would bring unimaginable benefits. A black iron knight was too weaker than an earth knight in battle strength. As long as the opponent underestimated Zhang family''s overall strength at the critical moment, Zhang family would be safer and reverse the situation.


    After killing Han Zhengfang, Zhang Tie found that he became increasingly "grimmer" and more "cunning" in considering and dealing with problems.


    ...


    The thunder hawk moved very fast and smoothly on the way.


    After flying about 2,000 miles away from the volcanic area, the thunder hawk met an unknown airboat in the air. The crew on the airboat might have discovered the thunder hawk, Zhang Tie and Zhang Gui; however, they must be scared by the high speed of the thunder hawk. Therefore, after chasing after the thunder hawk for a few seconds, the airboat soon lost their target as its speed was even slower than the speed of sound in air. Zhang Tie didn''t care about it. Whatever, this thunder hawk would always appear in the public in the future. It was nothing strange for others to be curious about it. He didn''t need to overreact in others'' response.


    At this moment, one claw of this thunder hawk had already put on a mithril foot loop which was specially made by Edward like a label on the foot of a homebred pigeon. It indicated that this thunder hawk had its owner; instead of being a mutated wild species. Even if the thunder hawk flew away itself and met a heavenly knight-level old monster on the way, it wouldn''t be robbed away.


    Although it was a bit chaotic in Taixia Country, except for b*stards of Heavens Reaching Church, people could still comply well with the basic orders and rules of Taixia Country apparently, including commoners and supreme knights. The "Laws of Taixia Country" were still unshakable in Taixia Country. The imperial court of Taixia Country was still in a ruling position. If not want to enter the wanted list of the Supreme Court, even knights dared not casually kill people and rob people''s objects blatantly.


    Because Zhang Tie''s destination was Zhongzhou Province, which was not far from Xuanyuan Hill, he didn''t see any bloody figures on the way. As the traffic arteries and dangerous terrains in the periphery of Xuanyuan Hill were strictly defended by the top 4 armies of Taixia Country, those bloody figures couldn''t access to Xuanyuan Hill at all.


    The thunder hawk could fly at almost 1,500 miles per hour. At afternoon, after 7 hours'' high-speed flight, a class-A city had appeared on the horizon.


    Zhongzhou Province was one of the top 9 immortal provinces of Taixia Country. As the capital city of Zhongzhou Province, Zhongzhou city was much more prosperous than ordinary class-A cities. Besides the inside of Zhongzhou City, the entire Zhongzhou City was surrounded by densely populated districts. The radiated urban regions of Zhongzhou City were 5 times larger than that of ordinary class-A cities. After a long-term peaceful life, even if these people didn''t settle in the city, they didn''t need to worry about any dangers while living at the periphery of the city.


    Perhaps, people near Zhongzhou City were still not worried about dangers a few months ago, it was hard for them to persist in the same firm belief now.


    Watching airships and airboats setting off and landing at the airports inside and outside Zhongzhou City, Zhang Tie directly contacted with Bai Suxian and told her to have the airboat drive to 30 miles away from Zhongzhou City. He would converge with them outside the city instead of joining the fun inside Zhongzhou City.


    After gaining benefits, making a fortune, exterminating the powerful enemies and screwing Meng Shidao, of course, he needed to be low-key as it was not far from Xuanyuan Hill.


    Zhang Tie let the thunder hawk slow down its speed from twice the speed of sound to equivalent to the speed of sound in air. They were not moving as fast as ordinary knights.


    Old slave Zhang Gui had already loosened the sharp claw of the thunder hawk and started to fly after the thunder hawk in case of arousing others'' attention.


    In less than 10 minutes, the thunder hawk had passed through the border of Zhongzhou City, exposing Iron-Dragon Airboat to Zhang Tie, Zhang Gui and the thunder hawk.


    The movable deck on the top of Iron-Dragon Airboat had opened while Zhang Tie''s disciples were standing on the deck and waiting for Zhang Tie.


    With a strong wind, a sparkling golden light and an air-splitting sound, the thunder hawk dove downwards onto the deck, causing them to widely open their eyes as they hurriedly turned around; some female disciples'' skirts swayed in the air.


    Before they realized what happened, Zhang Tie had already appeared on the deck while an extremely handsome golden bird was standing on Zhang Tie''s side. The bird was even taller than Zhang Tie. The huge bird was preening its feathers on its neck as it squinted at the others with a pair of golden eyes in an extremely arrogant way. An old man was standing behind Zhang Tie in a docile way.


    Liu Xing recovered his composure as he hurriedly deeply bowed towards Zhang Tie, followed by the other disciples; meanwhile, they said in unison, "Welcome back, Master!"


    "Hmm!" Zhang Tie glanced around the deck and immediately understood the progress of the cultivation of the 121 disciples. Curiously, Bai Suxian was not on the deck. ''This is not Bai Suxian''s style.''


    After straightening up their bodies, at the sight of Zhang Tie, many people''s heart pounded as they hurriedly lowered their heads too.


    Being limited to their overall strength, although his disciples didn''t know what happened to Zhang Tie these days, all of them could sense the change in their master. Their master became more imposing with milder eye light. However, after being casually glanced by their master, they would feel being seen through as they didn''t feel like struggling at all.


    In only a few days, Zhang Tie had entered 4 change earth realm; especially after taking that fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy had surged to a terrifying level. At this moment, although Zhang Tie didn''t mean to release his imposing qi field, his movements could still bring a great stress to his disciples who had not even reached LV 10.


    "Zhao Bing, Wu Yinhui, Zhou Xiao, Ma Kuicheng, Linghu Biao, Sunzhan, Zhu Yuanguang, Qian Bingbing, Huang Chongyang, Bai Hua, Zhang Yueshan, Yu Xiaoai", Zhang Tie called 12 disciples consecutively, including 2 females. After being called, all of them became flurried as they hurriedly lowered their heads. However, Zhang Tie''s words were out of their expectation, "You''ve made great progress in your cultivation bases these days; your LV 9 realm have become more complete with denser spiritual energy. This master will enlighten Fire-Dragon Sutra to you tomorrow!"


    "Thanks, Master!" After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, these disciples became stunned for a second. Closely after that, they became overjoyed and hurriedly kowtowed towards Zhang Tie. Being imparted withFire Dragon Sutrathrough enlightenment, they would feel like having a new birth. None of them had imagined that their master could preach them Fire Dragon Sutra through enlightenment soon after he came back. As a result, they started to feel like climbing towards universal laws. Out of extreme excitement, someone''s eyes were even filled with tears at once.


    When Liu Xing was preached Fire-Dragon Sutra through enlightenment by Zhang Tie, the others disciples were admiring about him pretty much. They encouraged themselves and expected that they could be that fortunate one day; unexpectedly, that day came so fast.


    The 12 disciples that Zhang Tie called had made evident progress in cultivation bases with greatest efforts during these days. Even the other disciples whose names were not called had become spirited and hopeful, not to mention the 12 disciples. With such models in front of them, as long as they would like to make efforts in cultivation, they might be preached with Fire Dragon Sutra through enlightenment in the next round.


    "Zhu Dabiao, Wang Pan, Xie Qingfeng. You need to make more efforts in cultivation. Don''t lag behind the others!" Zhang Tie called the three guys whose cultivation bases ranked last among all of his disciples. After hearing that, the three people hurriedly lowered their heads with a guilty look and dared not to throw a glance at Zhang Tie at all.


    Zhang Tie then glanced around all the disciples before saying, "As for the others, keep it in mind, the road of cultivation is a long-lasting progress, you need to make constant efforts in a modest way!"


    "Yes, Master!"


    Zhang Tie succumbed all of his disciples only by three sentences. After that, he asked Liu Xing, "Where''s your Uncle Master Bai?"


    "Soon after Iron-Dragon Airboat left Zhongzhou City, a maid of Uncle Master Bai had told me that Uncle Master Bai felt a bit uncomfortable and was taking a rest in the cabin!" Liu Xing replied in a solemn look. All the others just looked at the ground silently.


    After hearing this answer, Zhang Tie touched his nose lightly. As a knight, of course, Bai Suxian wouldn''t feel uncomfortable like commoners. After promoting to a knight, it indicated that she had said goodbye to 36,000 kinds of diseases. Unless being possessed by the devil in cultivation or being poked some holes by a dagger, she would never feel "a bit uncomfortable".


    ''Bai Suxian must be losing temper. Because she has guessed that the event in Xuanyuan Hill is related to me, she must be blaming me for not having her as an assistant.''


    Sometimes, women were narrow-minded, even being a knight.

 1183 Heading for Youzhou Province

    Chapter 1183: Heading for Youzhou Province


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "This is Zhang Gui, my...subordinate. This is my pet mount. Although it looks ferocious, it''s human-friendly. As long as you don''t offend it, it will not hurt you. Liu Xing, make an arrangement for them. This thunder hawk will eat over 30 kg''s raw flesh and 5 vials of all-purpose medicament per day on the airboat..."


    In the public, Zhang Gui was Zhang Tie''s subordinate.


    Subordinate was an ambiguous concept, which could be a domestic general, a myrmidon, a servant or an employee. Although Zhang Gui''s real identity was Zhang Tie''s servant, Zhang Tie wouldn''t treat him as his servant in the public as it was meaningless to be that flamboyant. Even though Zhang Gui as a knight would like to be his pious servant, it was still too eye-catching in Youzhou Province. Few elders in top clans of Taixia Country could enjoy such a luxurious treatment. For instance, Uncle Zhong was Lord Guangnan''s myrmidon; instead of his servant...


    In the beginning, they were afraid of the thunder hawk as it was tall and imposing. Additionally, it landed so fast in such a cool manner. After hearing that this thunder hawk was human-friendly, they immediately surrounded up to watch such a rarity. Although nobody dared touch its feathers, it should not be a problem for them to watch it from a close distance.


    It was bustling in the surroundings. As these disciples were all youngsters, the moment they surrounded up, they had started to comment about the thunder hawk and discuss its kind. The thunder hawk tilted its head to look at them as it raised its wings in an evidently impatient way.


    Among the comments, a young female suddenly uttered a loud exclamation.


    "Wow, Master''s bird is so huge!"


    Soon after the praise, the deck became quiet in a split second. The wind blew over while Zhang Tie''s disciples'' faces turned weird. They exchanged a glance with each other with a dumbfounded look.


    Soon after she uttered, the female disciple had noticed that the atmosphere on the deck became weird. A senior sister apprentice stealthily drew her sleeve which reminded her something at once. Being blushed as the sunglow, she wanted to explain; however, she didn''t know how. Such an embarrassing thing could never be clarified at all.


    Those disciples didn''t know what to say; they just stood still as they dared not burst out into laughter. Such a sudden silence made the junior sister apprentice pretty embarrassed.


    "Hahaha, don''t stand still over there. Think about how to find a settlement for master''s pet. Such a bird couldn''t stay on the airboat for too long. We have to have it fly outside for a short while each day. Later on, this bird would be the immortal beast of our Iron-Dragon Sect. We should ask master about the name and the background of this big pet next time. We''d better look after it well. It''s my first time to see such an imposing, huge bird..." Zhu Dabiao burst out into laughter at the critical moment in a shameless way, relieving the weird atmosphere.


    "Yes yes, junior brother apprentice Zhu is right. we should consider where to raise such a huge bird. I feel that it could live in the lobby as common cabins couldn''t hold it."


    "Hmm, I feel master''s pet is like a hawk; however, its size could match the legendary dragon hawk..."


    "Its golden feathers are so beautiful as if they are made of gold..."


    They commented one after another as if they had forgotten what the junior sister apprentice had said just now. The junior sister apprentice threw a stealthy glance at Zhu Dabiao in an appreciative way. At the sight of her appreciative look, Zhu Dabiao revealed a congenital obscene smile at the junior sister apprentice; closely after that, he even threw a customary glance at her well-developed breast self-consciously. Being scared by his glance so much, the junior sister apprentice hurriedly hid herself behind a senior sister apprentice while crossing her arms over her breast.


    The casual exclamation of this female disciple became an "anecdote" being stealthily spread among disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect many years later.


    ...


    The moment Zhang Tie returned to the airboat, the airboat had started to move. Only after slightly changing its direction, it headed towards Zhenzhou Province at once.


    Although Zhang Tie had deepened into the airboat, he had already heard the talks of his disciples on the deck. Rubbing his weird face, he came to Bai Suxian''s room.


    Now that Bai Suxian felt "a bit uncomfortable", she would not wait for Zhang Tie in his room, but in her room.


    Bai Suxian''s room was not locked from inside. Therefore, Zhang Tie directly pushed open her door. The moment he entered Bai Suxian''s room, he had already sniffed the special smell that combined rouge, perfume and the special body fragrance.


    4 most beautiful maids were in the outer room, at the sight of Zhang Tie coming in, they hurriedly lowered their bodies on one side to hail him.


    Zhang Tie nodded as he asked, "Is princess better now?"


    Those beautiful maids straightened up their bodies as they stealthily exchanged a glance with each other. "Miss feels a bit uncomfortable. She''s...just fallen asleep!" a maid called Qinyin replied Zhang Tie in a low voice as she lowered her eyes onto the thick carpet.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he raised his hand. Those maids hurriedly exited the outer room by moving backward before closing the door from outside.


    Zhang Tie unveiled the bead curtain before entering Bai Suxian''s warm bedroom.


    All the furnishings inside this bedroom were arranged by Bai Suxian''s subordinates according to her daily needs and habits.


    The bead curtain of this bedroom was completely made of perfect top-class deep-sea jade beads whose diameter was about 1.6 cm. The ground of the bedroom was paved with 6.7 cm-thick golden goose velvet. Even the toad-shaped violet golden copper furnace was exclusive for airboat. No matter how the airboat fly, the copper furnace would not turn over. Guanghan osmanthus flower charcoal as expensive as gold was burning inside the copper furnace after being treated specially. Everything inside this room could meet the daily needs of the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    Lying on the snow-white bed, Bai Suxian''s back was facing the door while her body was covered with an extremely thin quilt, manifesting the exquisite and undulating curve from her waist to her butt.


    She was breathing evenly. Her enchanting face was reflected in the copper mirror. In a night skirt, she put one hand under her head with closed eyes, exposing half plump breasts as if she had really fallen asleep while feeling a bit uncomfortable.


    After coming to the bedside, Zhang Tie sat down. After gazing at her plump butt under the thin quilt for a short while, Zhang Tie put one hand into the thin quilt and started to touch her naked body.


    Only after a short while, Bai Suxian''s face had turned redder while she started to breathe heavily. After a few more seconds, Bai Suxian who had been gritting her teeth finally couldn''t stand uttering "Argh" lightly.


    "I was told that you felt a bit uncomfortable. How about my therapy? How do you feel now?" Zhang Tie asked with a smile.


    ...


    Zhang Tie stayed in Bai Suxian''s room for a whole day. On the 2nd day, he left her room in high spirits. Bai Suxian became as tame as before in front of Zhang Tie. With a happy look, she was in a pretty good mood.


    Zhang Tie didn''t explain anything to Bai Suxian, because he knew that women needed to be convinced; instead of being explained.


    Did a man have to report to his wife about his plan when he wanted to do something? Of course not!


    Zhang Tie just told Bai Suxian that he would take her back home in Youzhou Province to pay a formal visit to his parents. After hearing that promise, Bai Suxian became tame at once.


    Zhang Tie then started to preach his 2nd batch of disciples with Fire Dragon Sutra through enlightenment...


    ...


    Those male disciples received enlightenment smoothly. After doing that to Liu Xing and the other 6 disciples, Zhang Tie had been familiar with this process; therefore, he finished this process in a higher efficiency.


    Not until the first female disciple Qian Bingbing received the enlightenment did he meet a bit trouble.


    During the process of enlightenment, Zhang Tie needed to touch their heads. Although Qian Bingbing was one of the most outstanding disciples of Zhang Tie and the most acceptable elder sister among those female disciples, she was also the most troublesome one when in enlightenment. Each time Zhang Tie touched her head, Qian Bingbing''s face would turn red with unstable and uneasy qi. Zhang Tie had tried for a few times yet met the same problem.


    "Ignore everything; stay concentrated..." As Zhang Tie''s sound drifted into Qian Bingbing''s mind through a secret method of Bloody Soul Temple, Qian Bingbing''s finally became stable spiritually as she closed her eyes and slowly entered the state.


    Zhang Tie put his palm onto Qian Bingbing''s forehead once again.


    Qian Bingbing''s forehead felt as icy as her name while being covered with fine sweat drops although being a bit hot just now...


    After the process, Qian Bingbing opened her eyes as she watched Zhang Tie who was sitting opposite with complex sparkling eyes. After that, she bit her lips as she put her hands onto her forehead and approached her forehead to the ground in an extremely respectful manner as a disciple, "Master, thanks for paving the steps towards the universal laws for Bingbing..."


    "It''s fine, call in Huang Chongyang..."


    "Yes, Master!"


    Qian Bingbing stood up before leaving the back room.


    Watching Qian Bingbing''s back, Zhang Tie looked a bit weird as he sighed inside, ''Qian Bingbing is really a smart girl. After being preached with Fire Dragon Sutra, she called herself Bingbing in front of me, in which way, she had drawn herself closer to me.''


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie shook his head as he revealed a faint smile, ''Perhaps, I''ve thought too much. Girls always like to call themselves in that way...''


    ...


    On December 6th, Iron-Dragon Airboat arrived at Xiushan Prefecture of Zhenzhou Province. After converging with Mountain Lifting Hermit over there, Iron-Dragon Airboat headed for Youzhou Province...

 1184 Welcome Back

    Chapter 1184: Welcome Back


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Due to the heavy snow in the chilly north wind, it had been snowwhite within 3,500 miles. Even though, Iron-Dragon Airboat was not affected at all as it marched forwards rapidly and steadily in the heavy wind like an iron-armor battleship that rode the wind and waves.


    At this moment, a gold light and two humans landed on the entrance of the stern of Iron-Dragon Airboat in the heavy snow.


    After they returned with the thunder hawk, the movable dome on the deck of the stern slowly closed.


    "Look at you. Didn''t you tell me that you were just going to take a look outside with elder brother? Why did you come back so late?" Bai Suxian walked towards them in winter clothes and a brilliant ferret cloak. Although there was not a bit snowflake on Zhang Tie''s clothes, Bai Suxian still came forward to pat his clothes like his virtuous wife.


    Lately, as Iron-Dragon Airboat gradually approached Youzhou Province, Bai Suxian became more and more virtuous like a good wife and mother. 2 days ago, Bai Suxian even washed Zhang Tie''s clothes. However, it was her first time to do laundry. Finally, although Zhang Tie''s priceless boa silk robes became clean, after being dried, they would become mops if being bound to wooden clubs.


    Watching Bai Suxian leveling a corner of his garment by drawing it, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Mountain Lifting Hermit with a helpless look. Mountain Lifting Hermit then burst out into laughter.


    "You''ve killed someone?" Bai Suxian stood up and asked Zhang Tie.


    Due to her sharp knight''s consciousness, Bai Suxian could notice the faint blood smell over Zhang Tie. Although there was no blood on Zhang Tie''s clothes, it still carried a faint blood smell in a short period after staying in a bloody environment.


    "Just now, I wanted to take a look at the northern landscape outside. Unimaginably, Little Thunder had a sharp vision and discovered a team of bloody figures in the wild hundreds of miles away. Therefore, elder brother and I went there to deal with those bloody figures and warmed up our bodies by the way!" Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    Zhang Tie named the thunder hawks as Little Thunder. After hearing that Zhang Tie was speaking highly of it, the thunder hawk fluffed up its feathers.


    "There were over 70 bloody figures. It was a big team. In Tongzhou Province, even if they couldn''t break through a city, they could easily sweep over villages and towns. Even the ground guardians of ordinary business groups couldn''t defeat so many bloody figures. We''d better clean them up the moment we saw them. Otherwise, many commoners would be killed by them!" Mountain Lifting Hermit said as he shook his head.


    "However, those bloody figures'' heads and corpses are in the wild. They will not easily rot in the snowy day. It''s said that Tongzhou Province has a high reward for heads of bloody figures. If members of Supreme Court or local garrisons killed them, they could even promote to higher positions. I wonder who would pick up those heads and corpses of bloody figures!" Zhang Tie joked. In such a high position, of course, he would not care about a few gold coins and the so-called meritorious service.


    Of course, the food chain of a huge deep-sea monster was different than that of small shrimps and fish. The former would not admire about the later either.


    "We''ve done a lot of meritorious services for others." Mountain Lifting Hermit briefed.


    The three people burst out into laughter at the same time. Closely after that, they entered the airboat. They didn''t need to care about the thunder hawk as it could enter the airboat itself step by step just like a human.


    Over the past half a month, since Iron-Dragon Airboat set off from Zhenzhou Province, it had been approaching to and crossing those provinces and prefectures that were afflicted by bloody figures at Zhang Tie''s request. Although Iron-Dragon Airboat didn''t stop on the way, with thunder hawk as a high altitude reconnaissance satellite outside Iron-Dragon Airboat, they had exterminated 20-30 small teams of bloody figures within 60 miles on the way. They didn''t let any alive bloody figures go. Additionally, they even saved two villages in the wild and a small city from those bloody figures. Besides, they coordinated with the local garrisons to exterminate a team of bloody figures that hid in a mountain cave. After doing all the above meritorious services, Zhang Tie''s group directly flew away pleasantly without leaving a name or accepting the local invitation and appreciation.


    In the words of Mountain Lifting Hermit, this was what knights should do.


    When they entered the airboat, all the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect hailed them. As Mountain Lifting Hermit had become the grand elder of Iron-Dragon Sect, of course, Zhang Tie''s disciples dared not snub him.


    "As it''s winter, local garrisons are inconvenient in marching. If bloody figures went out, they would easily leave traces. These bloody figures are pretty cunning. They would definitely hide somewhere. Therefore, before next spring, the catastrophe of bloody figures should be relieved for the time being. It will take Taixia Country as a whole at least 1 year to completely exterminate these bloody figures." Mountain Lifting Hermit talked about the overall situation of the catastrophe of bloody figures in Taixia Country, "When in Zhenzhou Province, I had heard that the prime minister would resign after the catastrophe of bloody figures across Taixia Country was slightly pacified next year..."


    The Finance Minister''s Mansion was under the direct leadership of prime minister, who was one of the top three chancellors. Han Zhengfang the finance minister of Taixia Country was the master of Heavens Reaching Church, who detonated the catastrophe of bloody figures across Taixia Country. Of course, the prime minister of Taixia Country had to take responsibility for it. After the prime minister resigned, the position of prime minister would be vacant. Given the high popularity, Meng Shidao, the master of the crown prince would succeed to the position of prime minister.


    In over 1 month, the news that Meng Shidao had promoted to the semi-sage realm and killed Han Zhengfang had been spread across Taixia Country. Therefore, in the large-scale catastrophe of bloody figures, the fame of Meng Shidao skyrocketed. Of course, he became the very person who would succeed to the prime minister. Benefited from him, even crown prince''s position rose greatly.


    After Meng Shidao succeeded to the prime minister of Taixia country, the crown prince who was acting as regent could have a bigger right of speech in the imperial court. The subordinates of the Gobbling Party across Taixia Country had been ready celebrating their "master" and "leader" for reaching his heyday stealthily.


    In the opinions of many members of Gobbling Party, if Meng Shidao promoted to the prime minister, it indicated that the Gobbling Party had started to reach its heyday in Taixia Country.


    The stone that Zhang Tie threw in Xuanyuan Hill was arousing an increasingly larger ripple. Although Zhang Tie couldn''t predict everything. Each coin had two sides. After making a plot to have Meng Shidao fight Han Zhengfang ferociously, although the Gobbling Party was pushed to the opposite of Heavens Reaching Church, Meng Shidao was also pushed to the position of prime minister of Taixia Country.


    After fighting Meng Shidao, Han Zhengfang had disappeared. Therefore, the speculation that Meng Shidao had caught up with Han Zhengfang and killed him after the latter escaped away from Xuanyuan Hill with heavy injuries became popular across Taixia Country. Of course, this news was a great strike for the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church; however, it was a pretty good news for the Gobbling Party of Taixia Country. Therefore, the Gobbling Party helped intensify the strength of billows and waves at this moment. Zhang Tie even doubted that this news was released by the Gobbling Party. This news would bring a great political dividend for the Gobbling Party and could severely suppress the power of Heavens Reaching Church and boost the morale of soldiers and commoners across Taixia Country. Therefore, even Meng Shidao didn''t deny the news.


    As Meng Shidao didn''t deny the news, of course, Zhang Tie would not jump out to be a target. Whatever, Zhang Tie had already reached his target. It was none of his business even if Meng Shidao promoted to the prime minister; neither would Zhang Tie be afraid of him.


    ''As long as I returned to Huaiyuan Palace, Meng Shidao and the Gobbling Party would never easily shock Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang family.''


    ''I''m not the same person as I was 4 years ago. Huaiyuan Palace is not the same Huaiyuan Palace either. Additionally, the Gobbling Party should consider how to deal with Heavens Reaching Church instead of dealing with me and Huaiyuan Palace.'' On the way here from Zhenzhhou Province, Zhang Tie had evidently sensed that the Gobbling Party and the clans that supported the Gobbling Party suffered the greatest losses among the regions which were afflicted by bloody figures. The clans of Gobbling Party would encounter great tentative shocks from bloody figures immediately. The families of some local backbones of Gobbling Party were even exterminated. The Heavens Reaching Church had fallen into the trap of Zhang Tie by targeting at the Gobbling Party at this critical moment. Zhang Tie only needed to watch two lions fight in the mountain.


    ...


    In the command module, Zhang Tie told Mountain Lifting Hermit as he pointed at the looming, boundless and undulating mountain range in front of him, "That''s Yangui Mountain Range. We head for north from Tongzhou Province. After crossing Yangui Mountain Range, we will arrive at Youzhou Province! Previously, our Iron-Dragon Sect only occupied over 600,000 square miles of Iron-Dragon Sect. I''ve not imagined that I could win a bet from Guan Qianchong. Therefore, Guan Clan gifted me the rest land of Yangui Mountain Range. From then on, the entire Yangui Mountain Range belongs to our Iron-Dragon Sect. We can do whatever we want here!"


    "Yangui Mountain Range is majestic and imposing. It''s abundant in natural resources and connects with many provinces. The entire Yangui Mountain Range occupies millions of square miles. No other sect in the surroundings could match our Iron-Dragon Sect. Besides, there are many basins and plains in the mountain range, large or small. We could easily build dozens of big cities here. This Yangui Mountain Range is indeed the treasure land for Iron-Dragon Sect to be prosperous!" Mountain Lifting Hermit nodded with a strange look as he watched the Yangui Mountain Range in the far, "This Yangui Mountain Range is even similar to my real name. My mortal surname was Yan. It seems that it''s predestined for me to join Iron-Dragon Sect!"


    Zhang Tie became stunned for a second.


    Right then, two airboats appeared in front of Yangui Mountain Range. Suspending in the air, the two airboats seemed to be waiting for Iron-Dragon Airboat.


    Zhang Tie identified the two airboats at once. One of them was the private vehicle of Zhang Taixuan, the head of Huaiyuan Palace; the other belonged to his elder brother.


    "Huaiyuan Palace is welcoming young brother back home..."

 1185 The Return of Elder Mushen

    Chapter 1185: The Return of Elder Mushen


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Honestly, Zhang Tie was very thrilled at this moment.


    After the new year festival, he would have left Youzhou Province for 5 years. Zhang Tie had been waiting for returning to Youzhou Province in the public and meeting his family members for too long.


    At the sight of Iron-Dragon Airboat, the two airboats had been slowly approaching it. So did Iron-Dragon Airboat.


    As if they felt the airboat was too slow at this moment, before their airboats got closer to Iron-Dragon Airboat, some knights had already flown off their airboats towards Iron-Dragon Airboat like meteors in the daytime at their maximal speeds.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit was the grand elder of Iron-Dragon Sect, he would not join the fun when Zhang Tie united with his family members. Neither did Zhang Tie waste time on persuading him to join them. After leaving some words to Mountain Lifting Hermit, Zhang Tie had called Bai Suxian and Zhang Gui to fly off Iron-Dragon Airboat towards those knights.


    Although it was chilly, it didn''t influence these knights.


    Both parties soon met in the sky.


    Elder Muyu, Elder Muray, Elder Muyuan and Elder Muen of Huaiyuan Palace had arrived. Even Zhang Taixuan had come to welcome Zhang Tie.


    It was the supreme etiquette for the head of a clan to welcome a person on the border of a province.


    Both parties suspended in the air with a distance of 20 m. Elder Muray and Elder Muen both looked very excited. Zhang Taixuan''s eyebrows were quivering which indicated that he was not calm inside.


    Zhang Tie watched these familiar faces; the elders of Huaiyuan Palace also watched Zhang Tie and the two people on Zhang Tie''s side. After over 4 years, they all felt overwhelmed inside at the sight of each other.


    After hearing that Cui Li was Zhang Tie''s incarnation, all the elders in Huaiyuan Palace including Zhang Taixuan didn''t believe that. The reason was simple. They all knew when Zhang Tie promoted to a black iron knight. It was too unimaginable for Zhang Tie to promote to an earth knight only after leaving Youzhou Province for 4 years.


    However, all of their doubts had faded away the moment they saw Zhang Tie. At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t hide his qi. Therefore, the familiar qi of earth knight shocked all the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace. They started to regard Zhang Tie with reverence unconsciously.


    The young elite and the youngest clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace had long been famous across Taixia Country.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s face which was still as young as that of a teenager, all the elders of Huaiyuan Palace thought inside, ''How could such a teenager promote to an earth knight? Even the top 7 sects and top clans in Taixia Country don''t have such a young earth knight.''


    "Clan head, elders!"


    In the wuthering wind, Zhang Tie broke the short silence as he hailed Zhang Taixuan and the other clan elders.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s kind voice, all the elders felt a sense of relief. At the same time, the boulder in the heart of each elder finally landed steadily.


    Before coming here, all the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace were mostly afraid that Zhang Tie still had a grudge against Huaiyuan Palace for not fully standing on his side at the critical moment over these years. If Zhang Tie really thought so, the entire Huaiyuan Palace would break apart the moment he came back. A few years ago, Zhang Tie might not have such an ability; however, Zhang Tie had been able to have Huaiyuan Palace turn upside down at this moment. When Iron-Dragon Sect was founded, the powerful battle strength that Zhang Tie performed when defeating Nangong Sheng had absolutely surpassed Zhang Taixuan the current clan head of Huaiyuan Palace. It could be said that Zhang Tie had been the No. 1 powerhouse of Huaiyuan Palace. If he lost his anger over domestic affairs, nobody could suppress him.


    Straight-forward Elder Muray flew towards Zhang Tie as he punched Zhang Tie''s shoulder forcefully and sighed, "Good boy, I''ve really been surpassed by you...".


    Although Elder Muray was smiling, his eyes were sparkling with tears. It was hard to tide over these years for both Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Tie. Thank god, they finally tided over it. After Zhang Tie came back, all the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace saw the hope of reinvigorating Huaiyuan Palace.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he accepted Elder Muray''s punch frankly, "Elder Muray is becoming more vigorous with age. I was told that Elder Muray was killing bloody figures in Tongzhou Province these days, I''ve not imagined that you could come back!"


    "Your return is the biggest thing for Huaiyuan Palace. We have to put aside other things no matter how important they are. This one must be Miss Bai. This one..." Elder Muray said after glancing at Bai Suxian and Zhang Gui''s faces.


    The other elders of Huiayuan Palace must have known Bai Suxian''s identity; even if they didn''t, they must have heard about that. However, Zhang Gui was a bit strange to them. Because Zhang Gui had been following up Zhang Tie in an obedient manner the moment he flew off the airboat with Zhang Tie, the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace thought that he was a powerhouse on Bai Suxian''s side. However, after observing him carefully, they found that this black iron knight behind Zhang Tie was fully obedient to Zhang Tie.


    "This is Zhang Gui, my subordinate..." Zhang Tie introduced Zhang Gui to the other elders. Zhang Gui revealed a smile towards the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace silently.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s prophetic vision was manifested. If Zhang Gui still maintained his original look as an earth knight and called himself this old slave, these elders of Huaiyuan Palace would feel very embarrassed and the atmosphere would be in an impasse.


    "Nice to see you, Count Long Wind and the others elders of Huaiyuan Palace, I''m Bai Suxian!"


    Being different than Zhang Gui, Bai Suxian greeted all the others of Huaiyuan Palace in an elegant manner.


    After knowing the identity of Bai Suxian, nobody in Huaiyuan Palace dared give themselves airs in front of her. Therefore, all of them returned their salute to Bai Suxian.


    "It''s Huaiyuan Palace''s great pleasure to have Elder Mushen back. It''s chilly here. We will talk about it in the airboat!" Zhang Taixuan who had been watching Zhang Tie silently finally opened his mouth.


    They all nodded as they flew towards the two airboats dispatched by Huaiyuan Palace.


    Zhang Yang was standing on the deck of the airboat in a black mink coat and watching Zhang Tie and the others flying back. Although it seemed to be easy for knights to fly in the sky, commoners could only wait in the airboat on such an occasion.


    "You two wait for me in that airboat. I have something to negotiate with the clan head and the other elders!" Zhang Tie told Bai Suxian and Zhang Gui as he pointed at his elder brother''s airboat.


    Of course, Zhang Gui followed Zhang Tie''s order. Bai Suxian also replied, "Hmm" in a pretty docile way before flying towards Zhang Yang''s airboat.


    Watching the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion being so obedient to Zhang Tie like his wife, the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace exchanged weird glances with each other. Zhang Taixuan threw a profound glance at Zhang Tie too.


    Zhang Tie told Zhang Yang something in a secret way before boarding on Zhang Taixuan''s airboat with Zhang Taixuan and the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace. After they boarded on the airboat, the Iron-Dragon Airboat turned around and flew towards Fire Dragon Territory. The two airboats of Huaiyuan Palace then flew towards Yanghe Prefecture.


    ...


    With the arrival of Zhang Tie, the clan head and all the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace, this conference room immediately became the decision-making center of Huaiyuan Palace.


    After the door of the conference room was closed, causing a sound "bang", two lineal powerhouses of Huaiyuan Palace guarded outside the door. Closely after that, the atmosphere in the conference room started to become official.


    "I know that clan head and all the other elders have many doubts. Now that I''ve already come back, you can ask whatever you want!" Zhang Tie said frankly.


    "We''re not doubting your identity. But Zhang Yang has not clarified something. All the elders and clan head are just curious about that!" Elder Muyuan pretended to cough twice slightly, "As Elder Mushen has not come back for a few years, considering the current catastrophe of bloody figures, please confirm your bloodline!"


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at the bloodline testing crystal that he had seen in the Ancestral Bloodline Palace. Closely after that, he took it and pierced one finger by the pointed end of the crystal, allowing one drop of blood to fall onto the bloodline crystal. Watching the blood in the bloodline crystal becoming berserk and giving out strong, dazzling glow, all the elders at present let out a long sigh. They exchanged a glance with each other before nodding at the same time.


    "Elder Mushen, please don''t mind it. When clan head returned home from the Earth-elements Realm, he also accepted the test of the bloodline crystal under the gazes of all the other elders. As it''s concerned about the safety of the clan, there''s no exception." Elder Muyuan explained.


    "It''s okay. I understand it. If not pass this test, even I would not feel reassured!" Zhang Tie replied as he waved his hand. After confirming his identity, the small wound on Zhang Tie''s finger healed automatically in a split second. Zhang Tie glanced around before asking, "You must want to know how I I became Cui Li and promoted to an earth knight in a short period."


    "We indeed want to know how did Elder Mushen became Cui Li and cheated all the people across Taixia Country over these years. As for how Elder Mushen promoted to an earth knight in a short period, as it''s involved with your secret method, if Elder Mushen doesn''t feel like telling us, you don''t need to tell us about that!" Elder Muyu opened his mouth.


    As for how Zhang Tie became Cui Li, as it was involved with the confirmation of Zhang Tie''s identity, they couldn''t be careless about that; as for how Zhang Tie promoted to an earth knight, as it was Zhang Tie''s privacy, he was not obligated to expose it to the other elders. Elder Muyu''s words indicated the fairness of Huaiyuan Palace. Zhang Tie also nodded inside.


    "Elders, you must remember that pupil-changing bloodline that I''ve manifested in front of you. This pupil-changing bloodline is just the preliminary stage of a more senior immortal bloodline. After fully awakening this immortal bloodline, I could even change my hair, eyes, look and figure..." Zhang Tie said as he started to change his body under the gaze of all the other elders at present. In the blink of an eye, he had incarnated into Cui Li while his body change had reached the maximal endurance capacity of his garments.


    "Have you seen it clearly?" Zhang Tie asked in Cui Li''s voice. After that, he gradually incarnated to his original look.


    The conference room became quiet while all the elders of Huaiyuan Palace became dumbfounded. Zhang Taixuan looked shocked. They had heard that shadow demons could incarnate into humans; however, they had not seen any human incarnating into another one casually. Without the bloodline test, some elders would have taken Zhang Tie as a shadow demon and fought him at the sight of this scene.


    Under the amazed looks of all the others, Zhang Tie directly took out a brilliant water-element crystal from his portable space-teleportation equipment and absorbed it at the fastest speed...

 1186 Politely Declining

    Chapter 1186: Politely Declining


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    If he told others about all the secrets, he was an idiot!


    If he cheated them in a perfunctory way, he was treating others as idiots!


    Zhang Tie was not an idiot; neither were the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace and the clan head.


    Facing these elders and the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie knew that he could barely explain it only by lip service. Therefore, he directly displayed his talents in front of the others.


    People needed to change according to the situation. On the premise of not exposing the secret that he was cultivating an emperor-level secret method King Roc Sutra , Zhang Tie told the others that he had grasped a top secret method called Chaotic Treasure Body;he even accomplished the shift between Fire Dragon Sutra and Five Elements Ground-look Sutra in 30 minutes in front of the others, causing them to be speechless once again.


    Actually, it would take Zhang Tie less than 1 minute to accomplish the shift between two familiar secret methods. However, Zhang Tie didn''t feel that it was appropriate to shift between two secret methods too fast in front of the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace; therefore, he performed it in a seemingly difficult way on purpose.


    After witnessing how Zhang Tie changed his looks, absorbed a water-element crystal at a high speed and shifted his battle qis casually, all the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace became dumbfounded.


    It took Zhang Tie about 2 hours to display all of his talents. It might be longer in normal times; however, it was as fast as blinking their eyes for the other elders and clan head of Huaiyuan Palace in the conference room at present. Zhang Tie had performed all of his talents before the others recovered their composure.


    "Elder Mushen, you mean Thousands of Beads Mentality Sutraoriginates from the Mental Arithmetic by Abacus ?" Elder Muan who had been silent since the beginning couldn''t stand to ask Zhang Tie.


    "Yes!"


    "Does it mean that the other elders and I might also reach your realm if we cultivate Mental Arithmetic by Abacus from now on?"


    Elder Muan''s question attracted all the other elders'' attention.


    "Theoretically, yes. If you could reach the level of carrying out 10 tasks at the same time by Mental Arithmetic by Abacus, you could indeed absorb elements crystals 10 times faster. However..."


    "Go ahead!"


    "Besides Thousands of Beads Mentality Sutra , my current achievement is also related to the experience that I was struck by a lightning bolt..." Zhang Tie used the same almighty trick, which would never be exposed at all; neither did need he to explain about it, "After being struck by the lightning bolt, my spiritual energy increased very fast. I couldn''t reach such a realm without the help of the great spiritual energy and the Thousands of Beads Mentality Sutra . I''m afraid that it''s a bit difficult if you just depended on Thousands of Beads Mentality Sutra without the great spiritual energy!"


    "Cui Li was born in Youzhou Province. We''ve heard that Cui Li had returned home to meet his old servants before heading for Earth-elements Realm; the local officials even built a knight''s imposing memorial archway for Cui Li. As you''ve not been to Taixia Country before, how were you so familiar with Cui Li''s bygones?" Elder Muan asked.


    "The real Cui Li was actually one incarnation of Zhu Liang the poisonous wolf on the wanted list of Supreme Court. Before returning to Youzhou Province, I met Zhu Liang in an unpopulated isle in the open waters of Qiongzhou Province. He wanted to kill me; however, he was killed by me. Before his death, I read his memory by a secret method and knew that he had an incarnation of Cui Li in Yongzhou Province!"


    "Memory reading method, this...this seems to be a secret method of Bloody Soul Temple of Taixia Country!"


    "Right, it''s indeed a secret method of Bloody Soul Temple. When I was in Selnes Theater of Operations, I gained a secret method called Soul Forbidden Method , I learned this memory reading method from it!" Zhang Tie explained as he directly took out the book of Soul Forbidden Method and displayed it to all the others. "I will donate this book to our clan. If elders are interested in it, you could learn it. Sometimes, it might help you a lot. I was told that some sects in Taixia Country also grasped some secret methods of Bloody Soul Temple. It''s normal for Huaiyuan Palace to grasp one too!"


    As Zhang Tie had already got the complete version of Bloody Soul Sutra, it was nothing pitiful for him to gift Soul Forbidden Method to Huaiyuan Palace. No matter what, they were of the same family.


    Those in the conference room had just been shocked too much by Zhang Tie''s secret immortal bloodline and secret methods. Therefore, they did not feel strange that Zhang Tie had grasped Soul Forbidden Method .


    Elder Muan suddenly let out a long sigh as he watched Zhang Tie, "At the beginning, Elder Muyu and I were well known as Double Jades of Huaiyuan Palace. I''m afraid that we don''t need to talk about it later on!"


    Elder Muyu shook his head as he revealed a bitter smile. Closely after that, he nodded.


    Elder Muray suddenly patted his thigh forcefully, causing a loud, crisp sound in the conference room, scaring all the other elders so much.


    "Elder Muray, what do you want to say?"


    "Hahaha..." Elder Muray burst out into laughter, "Body-changing immortal bloodline, Soul Forbidden Method, Chaotic Treasure Body. Do you realize what do they mean? With these immortal bloodlines and secret methods, Elder Mushen could almost change whoever he wants below knight level. It''s even more terrifying than shadow demon. If this news is exposed to the public, I will see who else dare screw Huaiyuan Palace. Even if Huaiyuan Palace was exterminated, as long as Elder Mushen was still alive, our Huaiyuan Palace''s bloodline would definitely last and reinvigorate once again. As long as those people who want to screw Huaiyuan Palace think about that Elder Mushen might lurk on their side to kill them at any time in the incarnation of their familiar ones, they would not sleep well!"


    "However, after Elder Mushen exposes your real identity to the public, your secrets such as body-changing immortal bloodline, Chaotic Treasure Body Secret method and Soul Forbidden Method would be barely covered..." Being different than Elder Muray who was very excited, Elder Muyuan who came from the same branch of Goldensea City with Zhang Tie looked sad as he continued, "If so, the mortal enemy of Huaiyuan Palace would definitely treat Elder Mushen as the eyesore. If I were the enemy of Huaiyuan Palace, I would kill Elder Mushen first if I wanted to exterminate Huaiyuan Palace!"


    After Elder Muyuan mentioned it, the entire conference room became quiet once again. The other elders could easily understand it. If they were the enemy of Huaiyuan Palace, they had to kill Zhang Tie first; otherwise, they would beat the grass and frighten away the snake.


    As Zhang Tie came back to Huaiyuan Palace in the public, it was equal for him to stand in the front of Huaiyuan Palace as the shield.


    Of course, Elder Mushen had realized it. However, he still came back to be the target of the enemy of Huaiyuan Palace, what a responsible hero!


    Zhang Tie told the world at the risk of his life¡ª¡ªHuaiyuan Palace would survive on as long as Elder Mushen was alive!


    Watching Zhang Tie''s calm and extremely young face, Zhang Taixuan sighed as he stood up from his chair and bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie, followed by all the other elders.


    Zhang Tie stood up and bowed towards them at the same time as he said, "Don''t be that polite. We have the same ancestors and bloodlines, we''re of the same family. We''re closely related to each other. I will just be myself frankly!"


    Zhang Taixuan''s face turned extremely solemn at this moment. As he was standing, everybody else just stood up. Zhang Taixuan glanced around before throwing a deep glance at Zhang Tie and saying, "Huaiyuan Palace is founded by Lord Huaiyuan. When Lord Huaiyuan was alive, he left 8 branches of descendants along with the ancestral doctrine. The position of the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace and Count Long Wind should be inherited by the most excellent one; instead of being occupied by the eldest son of the eldest wife of the branch in Yiyang City. The return of Elder Mushen counts most in Huaiyuan Palace. Elder Mushen is not only young and talented but also willing to fulfill his responsibilities. His secret methods, battle skills and reputation are far greater than me. As all the elders of Huaiyuan Palace are at present, I propose to reelect the clan head for Huaiyuan Palace according to the regulations of Huaiyuan Palace. I vote Elder Mushen, what do you say?"


    Zhang Taixuan''s words shocked all the other elders, including Zhang Tie.


    Watching Zhang Taixuan''s generous and righteous face, Zhang Tie wondered whether Zhang Taixuan was probing or sincerely wanted to abdicate his clan head position to him out of other considerations. All in all, Zhang Taixuan''s words were indeed unimaginable.


    All the other 5 elders exchanged a glance with each other with a confused look.


    No matter what Zhang Taixuan was thinking about, Zhang Tie would never promise it. The simplest reason was, if Lan Yunxi''s dad abdicated the position of clan head to him, the marriage between Lan Yunxi and him would be impossible. Zhang Tie would never take the position of clan head at the cost of losing a perfect wife...


    Honestly, was the position of Huaiyuan Palace''s clan head more powerful than the throne of Tsar in Ice and Snow Wilderness?


    Additionally, the position of Huaiyuan Palace''s clan head was just a count. He had already abandoned the reward of the dukedom, not to mention the hereditary position of Count Long Wind.


    Zhang Tie let out a long sigh, "I''ve already been satisfied to be an elder of Huaiyuan Palace at such a young age. Clan head, please don''t say such words in the future; otherwise, I would have to leave Huaiyuan Palace!"


    Zhang Tie expressed his "firm stance" immediately...

 1187 Foreign Affairs Agency of Zhang Family

    Chapter 1187: Foreign Affairs Agency of Zhang Family


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Before the two airboats arrived at Jinwu City, Zhang Tie had already accomplished the first communication with the other elders and clan head of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Undoubtedly, this communication was necessary for both Zhang Tie and the entire Huaiyuan Palace. Through this communication, three things were confirmed. First, Zhang Tie''s real identity. Second, the position of Zhang Tie or the branch of Zhang Clan in Jinwu City in Huaiyuan Palace. Third, a major event relevant to both Zhang Tie and Huaiyuan Palace¡ª¡ªAll the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Tie had agreed to hold the secondary rotating chakra ceremony for Zhang Tie after the first lunar month in the next year.


    After this rotating chakra ceremony, everyone in the world would know that Zhang Tie had promoted to an earth knight and was innocent.


    The elders of Huaiyuan Palace had already predicted about the shocks of Zhang Tie''s secondary chakra rotating ceremony to the rest of the world. Although they had over 1 month to prepare for this rotating chakra ceremony, they still felt it was not enough given its unprecedentedly large scale.


    Previously, when Zhang Taixuan promoted to an earth knight, Huaiyuan Palace could have prepared a rotating chakra ceremony for him; however, as Zhang Taixuan had been the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, they couldn''t do that. According to the laws of Taixia Country, all the officials above Class 9 in Taixia Country were forbidden to hold any ceremony in the name of themselves during their term of service, including the birthday, promotion, home move, delivery of children, marriage and rotating chakra ceremony. Even the official''s parents could only celebrate their birthday every 30 years. Although officials below Class 9 were not strictly requested, they were also restricted to do that. Because of this regulation, Huaiyuan Palace didn''t hold the rotating chakra ceremony for Zhang Taixuan.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was not limited to this regulation. Meanwhile, Huaiyuan expected to drive away the haze over Huaiyuan Palace these years through this rotating chakra ceremony.


    When they were less than 350 miles away from Jinwu City, under the respectful gaze of all the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie flew off the deck of Zhang Taixuan''s airboat towards Jinwu Airboat.


    The moment Zhang Tie landed in Jinwu Airboat, Zhang Taixuan''s airboat had turned around and flew towards Youzhou City. Zhang Taixuan and the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace knew that Zhang Tie was longing for reuniting with his family members; therefore, they didn''t go back home with him in case of disturbing them.


    Zhang Yang, Bai Suxian and Zhang Gui were all waiting for Zhang Tie on the deck of Jinwu Airboat. Only after 2 hours, Zhang Yang had already got acquainted with Bai Suxian and Zhang Gui. Zhang Gui regarded himself as Zhang Tie''s servant; Bai Suxian dared not give herself airs in front of Zhang Tie''s elder brother; Zhang Yang treated Bai Suxian as Zhang Tie''s wife. Therefore, they soon got acquainted with each other.


    "How''s everything going?" Zhang Yang asked at the sight of Zhang Tie coming back.


    "Let''s talk about it inside!" Zhang Tie smiled as he raised his right hand. At this moment, one more quaint remote-sensing finger ring appeared on one finger of his right hand. On the two opposite sides of the ring, there were two tiny top-class remote-sensing crystals, with which Zhang Tie could contact Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Taixuan at the same time. After coming to Taixia Country for 5 years, the elders of Huaiyuan Palace had updated their remote-sensing finger rings for one time. Previously, their finger ring could only be integrated with one remote-sensing crystal; now, they could be integrated with two remote-sensing crystals.


    "Fine, let''s talk about it inside!" Zhang Yang nodded.


    The four people then entered the airboat. Zhang Yang led them into his study room.


    Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian both followed Zhang Yang in; however, Zhang Gui didn''t enter the study room; instead, he just stood outside the door like a loyal dog.


    "Zhang Gui, you come in too. As you will serve Zhang family from then on, you should know some things!"


    "Yes, Master!"


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s order, Zhang Gui entered the study. Zhang Yang, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian sat down; however, Zhang Gui insisted on standing on Zhang Tie''s side.


    Zhang Yang threw a glance at Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then nodded towards Zhang Yang. As they were brothers, of course they understood each other well. From then on, Zhang Gui''s position in Zhang family had been fixed. Zhang Yang admired Zhang Tie''s power very much once again.


    Zhang Tie told them about the details of the negotiation between him and the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace. After hearing that Zhang Taixuan would like to abdicate the position of clan head of Huaiyuan Palace to Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang frowned at once; Bai Suxian revealed a speculative look.


    "Didn''t you agree with him?"


    "The position of clan head of Huaiyuan Palace is nothing attractive to me at all. Therefore, I refused him immediately. Additionally, I expressed that anyone who wanted me to be the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace would drive me away from Huaiyuan Palace. Therefore, Zhang Taixuan didn''t urge that anymore!" Zhang Tie rubbed the finger ring that was especially matched for the elders of Huaiyuan Palace with a doubtful look, "I don''t know why Zhang Taixuan could suddenly have such a thought. To be honest, his words shocked me!"


    "Given the current power of our Zhang family, we''d better not take the position of clan head!" Zhang Yang said before thinking for a short while, "We are alone in our generation of our family, our children have not grown up yet. I spend my full efforts in Jinwu Business Group. Even if you could become the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace, we don''t have too many reliable subordinates. Therefore, we couldn''t really take Huaiyuan Palace under control. The position of the clan head would just be nominal. If you really want to take this position, you could consider it when our children have grown up and could fulfill responsibilities in Huaiyuan Palace. By then, you might enjoy taking this position. I''m afraid that Zhang Taixuan was afraid of domestic conflicts when he found that you had greater influence and battle strength than him; therefore, he pretended to be that righteous and generous and wanted the other elders to express their stances to you!"


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at his elder brother. After a few years of practice, Zhang Yang had been more imposing. Previously, the two brothers were afraid of meeting a clan elder; now, Zhang Yang talked about the position of the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace calmly as if he was talking about an ordinary business.


    ''Actually, when I was young, I was less interested and ambitious about the so-called power and influence than my elder brother...''


    As Zhang Tie was thinking about it, he nodded and said, "Hmm...I also think so!"


    "Huaiyuan Palace only has one prefecture in Youzhou Province. It has fewer than 10 cities. It might be smaller than Fire Dragon Territory. The rank of the nobility of clan head is just count. If you want a title of nobility, you don''t need to ask it from others. Given your meritorious services in Earth-elements Realm, you could easily get a title of nobility when the Heavens Fortune List is exposed to the public. If you want cities, you could build as many cities as you like in the south border of Taixia Country, large or small; instead of having to consider about others'' moods. Who favors those cities and the title of nobility of count? As if he was showing his great leniency to you..."


    Compared to Zhang Yang''s attitude, Bai Suxian''s tone sounded a bit dissatisfied. As the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, she really didn''t treasure the position of clan head. In Bai Suxian''s eyes, Zhang Taixuan''s behavior was like having her would-be husband state his stand about the ownership of the real estate as the elder of the family before her husband saw his parents-in-law as if Zhang Taixuan was afraid that the would-be son-in-law would share his real estate with a foreign aid. Of course, she felt unhappy.


    With different stances, people would make different conclusions about the same topic.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile as he passed a message to Zhang Tie with his eye light¡ª¡ªyour wife is tricky.


    Zhang Tie replied with his eye light¡ª¡ªdon''t worry, she''s under my control.


    Zhang Yang threw a glance at Zhang Gui. Zhang Tie understood Zhang Yang''s meaning at once as he looked around and asked Zhang Gui, "Zhang Gui, what''s your opinion?"


    "Master, please forgive this old slave for my offense!"


    "It''s fine, there''re only 4 people here; we''re just taking the matter on its merits. Just put it straight!" Zhang Tie waved his hand.


    "Yes, Master!" Zhang Gui bowed towards Zhang Tie before straightening up as he said with narrowed eyes, "In the opinion of this old slave, Zhang Taixuan the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace was malicious, one stone for two birds!"


    Soon after Zhang Gui''s words, the atmosphere in the study froze at once. Zhang Tie also narrowed his eyes as he looked at Zhang Gui calmly before asking, "How?"


    "If Master accepts the position of Clan Head of Huaiyuan Palace, what about your amazing secret methods? Would you share them with Huaiyuan Palace or not? If you don''t, you will have a bad reputation; besides, you might be blamed for despising the other members of Huaiyuan Palace. If you give someone a bit of rice, you''re helping him; if you give him a lot of rice, you''re drawing animosity. As Master favors Huaiyuan Palace now, all the members of Huaiyuan Palace would appreciate that and show their awe to you; if Master doesn''t preach your secret methods to them, as long as someone foment disunity and dissension in the dark, being driven by desire, they would hate you and be dissatisfied about you. If so, you would not keep the position of clan head for too long; additionally, there would be some potential threats!"


    "If Master preaches all your secret methods to the other members of Huaiyuan Palace, Master might gain a good reputation in Huaiyuan Palace; however, you would lose your largest reliance in the chaotic world. Even though Master gains a good reputation, like what the eldest young master said, as the next generation of Huaiyuan Palace has not grown up, the lineal bloodline in Jinwu City couldn''t fully control Huaiyuan Palace. Finally, you are just a nominal clan head. By contrast, you would lose too much. Additionally, after Master''s secret methods spread over Huaiyuan Palace, the biggest benefactor would be the branch of Yiyang City which have the most population. Later on, when the juniors of the branch of Yiyang City grow up and there are some outstanding ones, it would be hard to say whether Master''s lineal descendants could succeed to the position of clan head anymore! It''s just one reason!"


    "What about the 2nd reason?" Zhang Tie asked calmly.


    "Second, if Master expressed in the public that you would not succeed to the position of clan head from then on, you would pose no threat to Zhang Taixuan in Huaiyuan Palace. As a gentleman, of course, Master would not break your promise. If Master wants to take the position of clan head later on, you would become a despicable man who breaks the promise for power and influence. How could a despicable man win the trust of members in Huaiyuan Palace and the rest of the world and be qualified to be the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace?"


    "Therefore, no matter whether Master agrees with Zhang Taixuan or not, Zhang Taixuan is always the winner. He would gain one bird at first; as for the other bird, he would gain it slowly! As Master''s secret methods and the position of the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace are both unusual, someone would like to gain them in whatever means he could. Even disciples of the same sect or the same clan even father and sons, brothers would hurt each other every day across Taixia Country for secret methods, power and influence."


    "Of course, it''s just this old slave''s individual opinion. This old slave has witnessed too many despicable tactics and plots. I always treat people with the most malicious mentality. I don''t know what is kindness at all. This old slave didn''t acquaint with Zhang Taixuan; perhaps Count Long Wind is also a gentleman who always considers the wellbeing of Huaiyuan Palace and admires Master faithfully. This old slave might have blamed him wrongly by the mentality of a despicable man!"


    After Zhang Gui finished his words, the entire study became quiet. Even Zhang Yang and Bai Suxian looked at Zhang Gui with widely opened eyes. They wondered where Zhang Tie found such a figure. Zhang Gui''s words were shocking and frightening. After his words, the atmosphere in the room became a bit colder.


    When Zhang Gui spoke, Zhang Tie''s eye light became increasingly acute and heart-wrenching. Not until Zhang Gui finished his words did Zhang Tie close his eyes. After being silent for over 10 seconds, Zhang Tie opened his eyes while his eye light and voice both recovered composure.


    "Count Long Wind is the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace. He''s selfless and is the pillar of Huaiyuan Palace. He deserves the respect of tens of thousands of people. Your words are too excessive. I don''t hope that to be heard by the 5th person!"


    "Yes, Master, this old slave was muddle-headed and talking rubbish. I didn''t know what I was talking about on the earth!" Zhang Gui replied. Without argument and dissatisfaction, he just slightly lowered his body and stood behind Zhang Tie silently while lowering his eyes.


    After being silent for a short while, Zhang Tie told Zhang Yang, "From then on, our family should establish a Foreign Affairs Agency. Zhang Gui will be the general steward of the Foreign Affairs Agency. With his help, we could be reassured when working outside. Old brother, you''d better allocate some people to the Foreign Affairs Agency..."


    Zhang Yang threw another glance at Zhang Gui before nodding slowly...


    Of course, they didn''t need to negotiate over everything in details.


    After their talk, the airboat had already arrived at Jinwu City...

 1188 Returning Home

    Chapter 1188: Returning Home


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    From the sky, the entire Jinwu City was covered with silvery white in the heavy snow. Due to the bad weather, few people were on the streets. However, there were more airships setting off and landing at the airport outside Jinwu City just like that a few months ago.


    The sudden catastrophe of bloody figures across Taixia Country caused a surging increase of demand for the all-purpose medicament. The value of all-purpose medicament could only be manifested in real wars and turmoils. Even if it was raining sabers, nobody would like to give up the huge profit under the great demand, not to mention that it was just snowing.


    The bloody figures across Taixia Country had already cut off the ground traffic in some regions. Bloody figures were all intelligent and smart. They always destroyed the railway system in their regions first. The moment the railway system was destroyed, Taixia Country would have a problem in dispatching corps to encircle and annihilate bloody figures. It would be more difficult for local people to escape outside. After the local regions became more chaotic, the commercial and logistics hubs of Taixia Country being connected through railways would be influenced greatly. At this moment, airships would be used as the top means of conveyance.


    However, as air-sac airships and vacuum airships were driven by steam power. Facing the wuthering wind and snow, these airships would become tottering. Compared to those airships flying southward from Jinwu City, those flying from south to Jinwu City would be more struggling.


    The moment Zhang Tie''s group arrived at Jinwu City, they had seen a large airship having a fault in its steam equipment. The engine room of the airship was emitting black smoke. After losing its driving force, the airship was blown far away in the north wind like a kite. The crew of the airship was exclaiming about adopting emergency measures. Some crew members were climbing onto the dozens of meters high air sacs by a rope while swaying in the wind and snow. They would empty some air sacs on their initiatives so that the airship could decline after losing its buoyancy in case of losing its control completely.


    When the airship declined, its huge body even scraped over some houses on the border of the town, causing some damages. Finally, the airship landed on the farmland near the town. Most parts of its airsac had been emptied. Besides, the huge body of the airship even left a 200 m longer swarthy muddy, snowy ditch.


    From the sky, the moment the airship landed, it had left an eye-catching trace on the snow-white land; meanwhile, some black points ran out of those damaged houses as if they were going to negotiate with the owner of the airship. Additionally, a team of cavalries was rushing out of the town by rhino-dragon horses towards the landing spot of the airship on the thick snowy land.


    When they arrived at Jinwu City, Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian, Zhang Yang and Zhang Gui stood on the deck of the airship and watched the scene of bustle below.


    Although this airship had a problem, thanks to the timely response of the crew of the airship, nobody died except for some damages on the airship and some houses.


    "They should be the last batch of airships that come from south to north. These days, it''s becoming increasingly windy and snowy. It''s always the north wind. Therefore, most of the airships coming from the south would have an increasingly bigger trouble. Now, another batch of airships is waiting to load outside Jinwu City. After they leave, the Iron-Dragon Airboat outside Jinwu City would be blocked by the heavy snow too. Jinwu City would be in tranquility for 1 month. It would not recover its boisterous scene until next February." Zhang Yang introduced the situation facing Jinwu City.


    Zhang Tie was thinking about something else although he was gazing at the airship on the farmland.


    "Is Huaiyuan Palace still producing airships?"


    "Yes. Airship manufacturing is also an important industry of Huaiyuan Palace. Although we have many competitors in Youzhou Province and Huaiyuan Palace of Taixia Country and we''re marketing 70% of our own products; many people of Huaiyuan Palace are surviving themselves in this industry. As the holy war already broke out, this industry is very important. It''s not a problem of making money or not; even though we survive those engineers and workers while suffering a loss, Huaiyuan Palace have to preserve this industry and the ability to produce airships!"


    After hearing Zhang Yang''s words, Zhang Tie nodded. The accident of the airship reminded him that he could design high-power alcohol driven airships first to expand the market before slowly developing high-power alcohol driven large and medium-sized transport airplanes.


    ''After applying the new type internal-combustion engine and high-power alcohol to the airship, the airship could have a stronger driving force; adapt to worse weather and fly farther. This would be a revolutionary reform for traditional steam airships.''


    ''If I want to produce large and medium-sized transport airplanes, I have to train pilots step by step; additionally, I could not reach a large scale at once. It might take us a few years to produce large- and medium-sized transport airplanes. Additionally, we need longer time and more cooperation from all parties to spread this pie. The situation facing Taixia Country might not spare me such a long time.''


    ''By contrast, airships exist everywhere in Taixia Country. I could have ready professionals and manufacturing capability wherever I want. As long as the new type engine was in place, it would be relatively simpler to produce high-power alcohol driven airships with the internal-combustion engine.''


    ''We should produce airplanes sooner or later; however, we need to first produce battleplanes that could deal with wing demons in the sky. Airships have advantages in huge clients base and talents storage than airplanes. Before the Catastrophe, even though human sciences and technologies were so advanced and airplanes could be seen everywhere, airships were still not be completely eliminated as they were still playing their roles in military and civilian regions. It''s unnecessary for me to open a new path while abandoning airships.''


    ''Step by step!'' Zhang Tie thought.


    ...


    The airboat slowed down at once as it declined and slowly entered the air territory of Jinwu City and finally landed on a square in the internal city of Zhang family.


    The square had been crowded with people. Everybody was raising their head and watching the airboat to slowly decline.


    Over 200 people were looking up and waiting for Zhang Tie to come back, including Zhang Tie''s parents, elder sisters-in-law, wives, youngsters of Zhang family, Zhang Tie''s grandparents, uncle, aunt, Zhang Tie''s cousins, male or female, old or young.


    Zhang Tie''s return was a major event for the entire Zhang family. The moment Zhang Yang received the message, he had summoned all the people of Zhang family to Jinwu City. In the beginning, Zhang Yang just told them to unite in Jinwu City to celebrate the new year''s festival.


    Of course, it was a normal reason. In Zhang family, Zhang Yang''s words indeed carried the weight. After hearing that Zhang Yang invited all the members of the Zhang family to attend a family party, how could they not agree with it? Especially Zhang Tie''s uncle and cousins, who couldn''t wait to draw a relationship with Jinwu City.


    Even Zhang Haitian and his eldest wife were invited over there by airboat by Zhang Yang as they had the highest seniorities.


    Not until they arrived at Jinwu City did they know that Zhang Tie was coming back today. After hearing this news, all the people were shocked so much that they almost jumped up.


    If it were 2 years ago when Zhang Tie was wanted across the country, some relatives might hesitate whether they should meet Zhang Tie or not; however, as the Supreme Court of Taixia Country had long canceled off Zhang Tie''s order for arrest. Additionally, it was said that the Supreme Court had confirmed that Han Zhengfang was the culprit of the tragedy in Fuhai City and that the entire tragedy in Fuhai City was designed by the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church to revenge Zhang Tie as Zhang Tie had inflicted a heavy loss to Heavens Reaching Church.


    The chief justice of the Northeast Military Region had apologized to Zhang Tie''s family in Jinwu City by airboat a few days ago.


    After the truth of the tragedy of Fuhai City was exposed, Zhang Tie''s case was redressed. Besides, Zhang Tie''s reputation was known across the country as he enjoyed a greater honor in Huaiyuan Palace.


    After hearing that Zhang Tie was coming back after his case was redressed, of course, all the family members of Zhang Tie jumped up due to the excitement.


    What shocked them more was another news that Zhang Yang told them¡ª¡ªCui Li and Zhang Tie are the same; Zhang Tie had long promoted to an earth knight in Earth-elements Realm due to a coincidence.


    The latter news scared Zhang Tie''s relatives, even his uncle and cousins.


    ''Who''s Cui Li, the heroic earth knight who had made meritorious services and even killed demon earth knights in the Earth-elements Realm; the owner of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory; the master of Iron-Dragon Sect in Northeast Military Region? Even the clan of the provincial governor in Northeast Military Region would draw a relationship with him. It''s said that he''s even the would-be son-in-law of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion in Taixia Country. The princess of Lord Guangnan even came to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory for him from thousands of miles away!''


    ''Cui Li is Zhang Tie!''


    After hearing this news, all the relatives of Zhang Tie became flurried. Even Zhang Tie''s uncles didn''t know how to face him.


    At this moment, watching the airboat slowly declining, all the family members were expecting to see Zhang Tie so much. Zhang Tie''s parents and wives'' eyes had already turned red. Although Zhang Tie''s uncles looked relaxed, their eyes indicated that they were a bit intense. Even Zhang Haitian tried to straighten up his body while moving his juniors'' hands from his arms and watching the airboat with a strange look.


    ...


    After the airboat landed, the hatch door was opened. Zhang Tie was already standing at the hatch door. Watching so many familiar faces, Zhang Tie directly walked towards his parents and kowtowed 3 times before looking up, "Dad, mom, Zhang Tie is back!"


    Zhang Tie''s parents dropped their tears at once. Wiping his tears, Zhang Tie''s dad revealed a tearful smile as he pulled Zhang Tie up, "Hurry, stand up, stand up. It''s fine as long as you''re back; it''s fine as long as you''re back..."


    Zhang Tie stood up as he pulled closer Bai Suxian who was standing behind him with an intense look before saying, "Call dad and mom!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bai Suxian''s eyes turned red too. Although being a princess, Bai Suxian was neither hesitant nor bashful; instead, she immediately knelt down and kowtowed towards Zhang Tie''s parents lightly before saying, "Daughter-in-law Bai Suxian has come, dad and mom!"


    Bai Suxian''s movement scared Zhang Tie''s dad and mom and the surrounding people too much. Zhang Tie''s dad and mom had already known Bai Suxian''s identity from Zhang Yang. How could they imagine that the princess of Lord Guangnan could make such a solemn etiquette towards them the moment she saw them?


    "Ayo, hurry up, get up..." Zhang Tie''s mom hurriedly pulled Bai Suxian''s up without even wiping her tears.


    Only by saying one sentence could Zhang Tie turn a princess of Lord Guangnan into a tame kittie. It was said that this princess was also a knight who dared fight in the Earth-elements Realm alone, Zhang relatives; especially Zhang Tie''s cousins watched Zhang Tie like watching their idol...


    The man was a good example for his wife!

 1189 Bo?te

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 1190 The Reason

    Chapter 1190: The Reason


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After the young man finished his words for less than 5 minutes, hundreds of people''s tidy footsteps and armor frictions had drifted inside from outside the bo?te.


    Given the sound, although hundreds of people were running over here, their footsteps were consistent. Only elites could have such rapid, constant and extremely shocking footsteps.


    After hearing the tidy footsteps outside the bo?te, some customers who were watching the young man in the private room revealed a sneer as they were waiting for a good performance.


    The two guards of the young man became intense evidently. Even the young man slightly changed his face. He had not imagined that the troop of Jinwu City could arrive so fast. Although he slightly changed his face, the young man might have a reliance as he picked up his glass and had a mouthful of liquor in a calm way. Closely after that, he said loudly. "Morality, ethics, mercy and righteousness are the four basic demands for humans. If one couldn''t comply with them, one is nothing different than an animal. There''s a saying on the Far-ancient Moral Stele..."


    The tidy footsteps stopped outside the bo?te and surrounded it at once. In less than 10 seconds, the stairs of the bo?te had started to rock. Under the leadership of a waiter of the bo?te, a red-face tough man in black armor, a team of armored soldiers had clattered upstairs while their footsteps interrupted the young man''s words.


    "Where''s the rumormonger? Who dared slander Elder Mushen?" The tough man in the red face with a pair of dense machete-shaped eyebrows asked with full of killing intent as he glanced around.


    "That''s him!" The situation that nobody dared be the witness in the film would never appear at this moment. Over 10 fingers pointed at the 3 customers in the private room in a split second, including the waiter who led the team of Jinwu guards upstairs.


    Closely after that, over 10 spears and 6 heavy crossbows targeted at the 3 people in the private room and besieged the 3 customers.


    At this moment, besides that young man who was still sitting on the chair, his two guards had already stood up in a vigilant manner. The two guards both had sharp eyes. At the sight of the heavy crossbows, they had known that the safes of the crossbows had been opened. Such heavy crossbows could penetrate through common armors and helmets, unless battle demon-level powerhouses who had formed protective battle qi or heavy armor. Given their cold eye light and stable hands on the crossbows, these crossbowmen were all experienced elites, who didn''t care about killing a person at all.


    The red-face tough man squinted at the 3 people; especially the young man who pretended to be calm before saying in a colder voice, "Heavens Reaching Church colludes with demons and are causing troubles across Taixia Country. Besides, Heavens Reaching Church fermented the tragedy in Fuhai City in order to slander Elder Mushen. I doubt that you 3 are colluding with Heavens Reaching Church and cooking rumors in Jinwu City so as to ruin the reputation of Elder Mushen. Please coordinate with our investigation. I count 3, you''d better kneel down on the ground with your hands on your head. If anyone of you dares resist, you will die, 1..."


    "Hoho, Zhang family of Jinwu City are really imposing. Do you really think that this childe could be scared so easily..." The young childe sneered.


    "2..." The red-face tough man uttered like a pendulum while putting his hand onto the handle of the sword at his waist.


    The young childe changed his face once again as he sprung up at once, "How dare you be that presumptuous? My grandpa is..."


    "3..."


    "Watch out, childe..."


    Soon after the 3 words, before the red-face tough man sent the order, those crossbowmen had triggered their weapons while shooting 6 bolts towards the 3 people.


    The sonic boom caused by the strong bolts and the roars of the two guards of the young man and the miserable shriek of the young childe.


    The 2 guards blocked 5 bolts, while the rest one penetrated through the gap and nailed onto the thigh of the young childe, causing a punch-sized bloody hole on his thigh.


    The young childe fell down while shrieking in a heart-wrenching way.


    Over 10 sharp spears formed a cluster and stabbed towards the two guards like a cluster of steel spikes. The two guards were both above LV 10. However, at this moment, they dared not hurt those Jinwu guards. They both knew that they would never leave Jinwu City alive if they killed any Jinwu guard. There were knights in Jinwu City. The entire Youzhou Province belonged to Huaiyuan Palace. However, the two guards had just promoted to battle generals. When one of them blocked off the cluster of spears by one palm, the other one was blocked by the red-face tough man who was rushing towards him.


    In the blink of an eye, they had collided 3 times, causing loud sounds, "bang, bang, bang". The table and chairs in the private room were shattered at once. Additionally, that guard of the young childe was sent flying backward. The other guard noticed that the spears soon targeted at the 3 of them once again and were ready for the second round of attack while the red-face tough man who had defeated his partner was evidently a battle-demon level powerhouse, he immediately made a decision. He hurriedly moved backward and came to the side of that young childe. After that, he raised his hands as he shouted, "Stop, we would like to surrender. We''re not members of Heavens Reaching Church. We came from Shengzhou Province and stayed in Jinwu City for a short period. Our childe is the grandson of the provincial governor of Shengzhou Province..."


    ...


    The chaos in the bo?te was soon appeased. In the blink of an eye, the former private room had been messed up. Additionally, 2 of the 3 people in the private room had lain on the ground while the other 1 was kneeling down.


    Two fighters walked forward and stabbed a fine, long needle into the shrine surging point of each guard. After that, they put on a set of special shackles for the two guards. The two guards looked depressed at once. Closely after that, they were taken away.


    "You...are dead...how dare you to treat me in this way...you''re dead...my grandpa is..."


    The young childe still swore on the ground with a huge hole on his thigh. The red-face tough man couldn''t stand it any more as he directly slapped the young childe''s mouth by his long sword together with the sheath. As a result, at least half of the young childe''s teeth had been sent flying away. Closely after that, he tilted his head and passed out before being drawing away like a dead dog by two fighters.


    After the 3 people were taken away, the bo?te became boisterous once again. Curiously, the greater part of customers didn''t leave. This also indicated the general mood in Taixia Country. Unless when they really met demons or members of Heavens Reaching Church, generally, a great number of people would like to stay to watch the fun on such an occasion.


    "I''ve not imagined that these b*stards come from a clan of the provincal governor!"


    "So what? They''re just b*stards of the Gobbling Party. Pah, even a b*stard of the Gobbling Party dare not be so presumptuous in Youzhou Province, doesn''t he know that the Gobbling Party don''t have a market in Youzhou Province? How dare he break wind here?"


    "Yup, everybody in Jinwu City knows that Elder Mushen has an exceptional aptitude. Elder Mushen''s 3 sons in Fuhai City were all delivered by three madams after being pregnant for 1 year. The 3 sons of Elder Mushen were given birth to on the same day. They were born with leakless bodies; additionally, they had awakened some great ancestral bloodlines. It''s said that when they came to this world, the entire delivery room was full of special fragrance, which even shocked the entire Fuhai City. As someone of Fan Clan in Yingzhou was working as the household register director in Fuhai City. After seeing such a special phenomenon, household register director Fan posed to unite by marriage. Later on, Elder Mushen was screwed and wanted across the country; however, everybody in Huaiyuan Palace knew that it took his 3 wives 1 year to deliver his 3 sons..."


    "If not being born to be special, how could Elder Mushen''s 3 sons be recruited as apprentices by an elder of Heavens Fortune Sect at a such a young age?"


    "Is that b*stard blind? How dare he slander Elder Mushen in Jinwu City? Does he think that our Jinwu City could be easily bullied?"


    The upstairs was in an uproar at once. Seeing the 3 trouble-makers being taken away in the blink of an eye, everybody else felt pretty cool.


    At this moment, another constant clatter sounded while the boss who was a bit fat ran upstairs and hailed the red-face tough man with a smile, "General Lin, I told a waiter to report to Jinwu Guards; I''ve not imagined that General Lin could come here so fast. It''s cold outside. Please have brothers outside the bo?te to have a hot drink in my bo?te. I''ve already had people arrange well two courtyards downstairs. The drinks and dishes are ready!"


    "No need. Just now, I was patrolling with my subordinates; coincidentally, we met the waiter. Therefore, we came here so fast. Jinwu City tonight is different than usual. I will not waste time here. I have to look around with my brothers in case these blind b*stards find us trouble. Damn, how dare they find trouble in Jinwu City? Are they seeking for death..."


    The red-face tough man was a general of Jinwu Guards, no wonder he had such a great battle strength.


    "General, why is it so boisterous in the internal city today?"


    The red-face tough man burst out into laughter. He glanced around before chesting out and saying loudly, "Elder Mushen has come back today. He''s in the internal city. Besides, Elder Mushen has promoted to an earth knight..."


    The red-face tough man''s reply shocked all the others. The boss'' fat face quivered for a short while. After that, his voice became shrill as if he was yelling his lungs out, "What? Elder Mushen has come back? He''s promoted to an earth knight?"


    "Yup, The Fire-Dragon Hermit who had established the Iron-Dragon Sect in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory a few days ago was an incarnation of Elder Mushen. Elder Mushen''s secret methods had already entered an unpredictable realm. I will see who dare find Jinwu City trouble later on..."


    After saying this, the red-face tough man directly left the bo?te. After being silent for a few seconds, the bo?te became boisterous in a split second. Closely after that, a great number of people rushed out of the bo?te. Some of them were rushing back to their residences; some were hurriedly seeking for remote-sensing equipment. All in all, they would pass this important message back as soon as possible.


    In less than half an hour, everyone across Jinwu City had known that Elder Mushen had come back and had already promoted to an earth knight. The entire Jinwu City was in an uproar. The news that Zhang Tie had come back to Jinwu City was soon spread across Youzhou Province, the entire Northeast Military Region and Taixia Country as a whole, causing a great shock...

 1191 Home Affairs

    Chapter 1191: Home Affairs


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On the next morning, Zhang Tie woke up surrounded by the white and plump butts and breasts.


    Linda was sleeping on his left; Fiona was lying on his chest; Beverly pushed her head against his right hand; Aimei and Aixue leaned against his waist and thigh. Zhang Tie''s whole body was pressed by his wives.


    As it was Bai Suxian''s first time to visit Zhang Mansion, she needed to be reserved; additionally, as a princess, she felt it was improper to strive for Zhang Tie''s favor with the other women. Therefore, she didn''t join the chorus last night. Linda, Beverly, Fiona, Aimei and Aixue felt like having good rain after a long drought. After the home banquet came to an end last night, Zhang Tie returned to his own courtyard. Since they started to help him take a bath, Zhang Tie had been surrounded by an endless affection. After having 7 rounds of fights in the tenderness, Linda and the other 4 women finally fell asleep satisfactorily due to fatigue.


    As the room was matched with heating units, although it was heavily snowing outside, it was as warm as spring in the room. The entire room was filled with sweetness and love. Although they were crisscrossing on the huge bed in naked, they would not catch a cold.


    Beverly''s blond hair caused Zhang Tie''s ear itchy. Zhang Tie turned around and saw Beverly''s mature and beautiful face on his right side as he felt pretty tranquil inside.


    After over 10 years'' hardships, the little girl that he had acquainted with since in Wild Wolf Valley had become a beautiful, grande dame and the mother of two kids. Previously, Beverly was very beautiful; now, she became more enchanting. This woman was still fascinated and spoiled by Zhang Tie.


    So were Linda and Fiona.


    Zhang Tie lightly kissed Beverly''s forehead. The moment his lips left Beverly''s shiny forehead, her long eyelashes had moved. Closely after that, she opened her eyes and watched Zhang Tie silently.


    "Baby, you''re tired. take another nap!" Zhang Tie whispered.


    "Please don''t leave us alone. We want to see you on our side when we wake up. We want to know that it''s not a dream!" Beverly mumbled as she pushed closer to Zhang Tie''s side. Meanwhile, she put an arm around Zhang Tie tightly with eyes closed.


    After hearing Beverly''s request, Zhang Tie abandoned the thought of getting up. As an earth knight, Zhang Tie had reached another peak physically and spiritually. No matter how many times had he "fought" those women last night, only after taking a 2-h nap before the daybreak, Zhang Tie had already recovered once again.


    Zhang Tie then closed his eyes once again as he just waited quietly to get up together with his wives.


    Although lying on the bed, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy had covered the overall internal city of Jinwu City since he woke up just now.


    The day had not broken yet. The guards who were on duty outside the internal city had started to make shifts; some servants and maids in the Zhang Mansion had prepared to get up and work; some servants of Zhang Mansion were checking some fresh vegetables and food ingredients and loading them onto vehicles in the back gate of the internal city before pushing the vehicles to the refrigerators of the kitchen in the backyard under the leadership of a steward.


    ...


    In winter, the boiler in the kitchen of Zhang Mansion worked around the clock. The boiler firemen in the kitchen were busy making the fire fiercer so as to heat up the water in the pots. Some female cooks were preparing for the first round of breakfast for the servants and maids. Some porridge and bones had been stewed since last night.


    A steward was making an inspection in the kitchen as he gave directions every now and then.


    "Watch out, second young master has come back, followed by the princess of Lord Guangnan of Taixia Country. As she''s born in an influential major clan, she has seen the world. Our kitchen couldn''t make any mistake on dietary in case of incurring jokes and losing Zhang Mansion''s face; otherwise, even I can''t bear it. It''s jubilant across Zhang Mansion. The old man and the old madam are both happy. As the new year''s festival is coming, last night, general steward Zhang whispered to me that our year-end bonus would increase at least 2 times. Be more careful!" The steward said as he made an inspection in the kitchen.


    After hearing his words, the atmosphere in the kitchen heightened at once. As Zhang Mansion always treated their servants mercifully, if the year-end bonus could increase 2 more times, it definitely meant a great amount for those servants and maids.


    "Steward Liu, it''s said that the princess who followed second young master back directly called old man and old madam dad and mom. Is that true?" A female cook who was adjusting the temperature of the water and washing dishes asked in a low volume.


    "Of course, it''s real. Yesterday, I''ve heard it from the crowd behind the square. Our second young master is not a commoner. Even the princess of Taixia Country would behave tamely in front of our second young master. Later on, Zhang Mansion will grow increasingly more prosperous. It would be increasingly harder to enter Zhang Mansion. Therefore, you''re fortunate to work in Zhang Mansion!" The dietary steward said in a high spirit.


    ...


    In a pinewood in the backyard garden of Zhang Mansion, some little cute squirrels were wrapping themselves using their big furry tails and sleeping leisurely in the tree holes being filled with pine nuts. Zhang Gui was slowly walking in this wood in a thin fur and checking the safety layout in Zhang Mansion seriously...


    The heavy snow in the wood was already thick. When commoners stepped on it, they would cause sounds "pffft"; however, when Zhang Gui walked on the snow, he only left half-inch thick footprints.


    There were two hidden posts beneath the snow, which couldn''t be discovered from outside by commoners. When Zhang Gui was close to the two hidden posts, he took out a token that he received when he came to Zhang Mansion yesterday from his waist and waved it towards the two hidden posts before continuing to walk forward...


    The hidden posts were matched with heavy crossbows. Not until they caught sight of the waist token did they move their sight bead of the crossbows away from Zhang Gui''s body.


    The pinewood was still as quiet as usual.


    ...


    Zhang Yang also got up early. Before it broke, he had already cleansed up and put on his clothes tidily. After that, he went to his study to deal with affairs. Over these years, Zhang Yang had been used to get up early. He even got up earlier than most of the servants in Zhang Mansion. Perhaps Zhang Yang didn''t have an aptitude in cultivation, he was always more diligent than anyone else.


    This also explained why Jinwu Business Group constantly developed over these years.


    One subordinate of Zhang Yang was reporting something to him.


    "...I''ve figured out the background of the three rumormongers in Heavenly Fragrance Building last night. They indeed came from Shengzhou Province. That young man is called Tang Jiyao, a grandson of Tang Gaolin the provincial governor of Shengzhou Province. He''s not outstanding in Tang Clan. He always has a great ambition but little talent. He didn''t have any great achievements. Tang Jiyao just imitated literati across Taixia Country to travel in Youzhou Province, followed by his two guards. Tang Gaolin the provincial governor of Shengzhou Province attaches to the Gobbling Party; therefore, the Gobbling Party have a great power in Shengzhou Province. All the members of Tang Clan are the loyal fans of the Gobbling Party in Shengzhou Province. Tang Jiyao is just a timid guy. After some torture, he had admitted that what he said in Heavenly Fragrance Building were imagined by him by combining the gossips in Youzhou Province. There''s nobody on his back. Besides a remote-sensing communications device, we find nothing else valuable in the hotel where the three people lived..."


    "He didn''t need to be told how to do this!" Zhang Yang who was sitting behind the office desk revealed a sneer, "Tang Clan is thoughtful. Soon after Meng Shidao is said to promote to the prime minister, Tang Clan has dispatched a lame duck to Jinwu City to bring trouble to Huaiyuan Palace and express their loyalty to Meng Shidao. Tang Clan has so many people. Even though this unworthy descendant is Tang Gaolin''s grandson, his life is nothing pitiful. I''m afraid that even Tang Gaolin couldn''t remember him among hundreds of grandsons. As long as this event is heard by Meng Shidao and has Meng Shidao bear Tang Clan in Shengzhou Province in mind, it would be a worthy business for Tang Clan!"


    "Do I...need to report it to the castellan?"


    "These dirty words could only make the listener upset. It''s unnecessary to let my father know about it. Just put the 3 d**chebags behind the bars. Ignore that!"


    "Just put them behind the bars? Do we need to set one free to report to Tang Clan so that Tang Clan could assign representatives here to take them away?"


    "Yup, just put them behind the bars, all of them. No need to interrogate them. Lock them up in another place stealthily. Nothing has happened. Now that Tang Clan want to throw a stone to clear the road, I will not make them satisfied!" Zhang Yang said with a resolute look. Even though he was talking about a clan of provincial governor, he didn''t look fearful at all; instead, he only looked vicious and resolute. "If an elder of Tang Clan comes here, have the subordinates pretend to know nothing about it. We will solve it in official procedures. I wonder what Tang Clan could do to Youzhou Province. If Tang Clan don''t show up, just lock them up until they die. Now that Tang Jiyao is talkative, let him talk about his mercy, righteousness, morality and ethics to those vicious convicts awaiting execution in the prison. Don''t let them die easily..."


    ''Yes, sir!" Zhang Yang''s subordinate replied while lowering his body.


    "Oh, check the business groups and clans who have trade ties with Tang Clan. From now on, Jinwu Business Group will stop cooperating with any business group, commercial organization and firms who are affiliated to Tang Clan. Make sure that Tang Clan could not gain any vial of all-purpose medicament. Let those business groups make choices themselves. If they want to cooperate with Tang Clan, they don''t need to do business with Jinwu Business Group! Additionally, check the competitors of Tang Clan''s business groups; give me a name list of them. As for these people who dare turn up their noses at us and promote themselves to higher levels by treating Zhang Clan as tools, we have to let them feel some pain."


    "Yes, sir..."


    When Zhang Yang was dealing with the event in his study, Knight Liu was who employed by Zhang Yang was guarding outside the room.


    ...


    Some maids in the main mansion had already got up and made preparations; however, Zhang Tie''s dad and mom had not got up yet. In the basement of the main mansion, there was a cultivation room. A knight at his 50s was sitting on a cattail hassock with crossed legs in a dull look. This knight was assigned by Heavens Fortune Sect to protect Zhang family a few years ago.


    In normal times, this knight didn''t leave the cultivation room. He just cultivated quietly in the cultivation room. Zhang Clan only needed to have people send him some fresh water and fruits regularly each month. This knight didn''t even come out to meet Zhang Tie yesterday.


    Zhang Tie extended his spiritual energy over there and wanted to see what this knight was doing.


    The moment Zhang Tie transferred his spiritual energy over there, the knight suddenly opened his eyes while shooting out shrewd eye light like how a ferocious tiger opened its eyes. Closely after that, this knight looked towards Zhang Tie''s courtyard. At the same time, he made a strange hand gesture while uttering lightly, "Block..."


    As his invisible spiritual energy quivered for a short while in the underground cultivation room, Zhang Tie''s observation was blocked at once. Zhang Tie felt that his perceptions had been covered by a piece of black curtain. As a result, he could see nothing at all.


    ...


    ''F*ck!''


    Lying on the bed, Zhang Tie opened his eyes at the same time with a faintly shocked look.


    ''Didn''t elder brother tell me that Heavens Fortune Sect assigned a black iron knight here? But that guy below there is absolutely an earth knight.'' Zhang Tie exclaimed inside.


    ''This earth knight is not an average earth knight; he''s much more powerful than Zhang Gui. When I looked at Zhang Gui using my spiritual energy, I was not discovered; when I threw a glance at the knight of Heavenly Fortune Sect, I was discovered at once. Additionally, he could block my perceptions about the cultivation room in a secret method.''


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile, ''An earth knight of one of the top 7 sects has been protecting my family for a few years? I owe Heavenly Fortune Sect too much. Let an earth knight be our watchdog? Damn! Only people inside the Emperor''s Imperial City of Xuanyuan Hill could enjoy such a special treatment!''

 1192 Making a Promise

    Chapter 1192: Making a Promise


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As the day was gradually breaking, Zhang Mansion was becoming increasingly boisterous.


    Zhang Tie and the 5 wives didn''t stay on the huge bed for too long; especially his wives. As Zhang Tie had just come back, if his wives got up too late, they would be ridiculed. Therefore, they got up as early as usual. After cleansing themselves together with Zhang Tie, they had a breakfast with Bai Suxian. After that, they went to Zhang Tie''s parents'' main mansion to wish them good health.


    In the morning, wish parents good health; in the evening, help parents cleanse themselves and go to bed. This was a regulation followed by many major Hua clans. Therefore, Linda, Beverly, Fiona, Aimei and Aixue had been used to it.


    "Are Shini, Shixia and the other children still sleeping at this moment?" Zhang Tie asked Linda on the way towards the main mansion when he found that his 5 children had not got up.


    It was Zhang Tie''s 2nd time to see his 5 children. It was also Zhang Tie''s 5 children''s first time to see Zhang Tie''s original body yesterday. The 5 children''s ages varied from 3 years old to less than 4 years old. Zhang Tie was like a stranger to them. Besides calling Zhang Tie''s dad, the 5 little guys almost ignored Zhang Tie. After supper, they played for a while under the guidance of the babysitters and nursery teachers before falling asleep.


    3 boys, 2 girls. The little girl delivered by Linda was called Zhang Shini; the little girl delivered by Fiona was called Zhang Shixia; Beverly, Aimei and Aixue delivered boys, whose names were respectively Zhang Chengba, Zhang Chengxiao and Zhang Chengbing. Therefore, Zhang Tie had got 8 children in Taixia Country, 6 boys and 2 girls. Besides the 5 little guys who were still in Zhang Mansion, Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei had already entered Heavens Fortune Sect.


    "The doctor said that kids need to sleep more in winter so as to raise their vitality and grow better. They don''t need to get up too early!" Linda replied genially.


    "In different seasons, one''s vitality indeed changes. Kids indeed don''t have to get up at the same time around the year. When I was young in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, I would also get up late in winter. This is also the manifestation about the coexistence between the universe and human in details!" Bai Suxian said.


    Although Bai Suxian had just come to Zhang Mansion yesterday, at Zhang Tie''s request, Bai Suxian and the other 5 women had called each other sisters, regardless of age. They could also get along well with each other. At least they would not lose temper in front of Zhang Tie. As Bai Suxian was new here, by contrast, Linda and the other 4 wives had already delivered babies; of course, Bai Suxian would not strive for Zhang Tie''s favor. Based on Bai Suxian''s temperament, she also disdained to strive for a favor in front of all the other women. Similarly, Linda and the other 4 wives knew that Bai Suxian had a dignified identity and was Zhang Tie''s helper on the battle field; of course, they treated her politely. Therefore, they all got along well with each other.


    Among the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace, Elder Muray had the fewest wives; even so, he still had over 20 wives. Each knight-level elder had a lot of children and grandchildren. By contrast, Zhang Tie only had less than 10 wives, which indicated that he was "a bit meticulous" in sex among knights. Of course, all of his women felt very satisfied.


    After hearing the words of Linda and Bai Suxian, Zhang Tie shook his head as he revealed a bitter smile. ''As the undertaking grows larger, there would be more regulations at home. I didn''t even know these regulations when I was young. However, even these kids'' daily lives have been guided by counselors.''


    When Zhang Tie and his wives came to the main mansion, Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie''s three elder sisters-in-law Wang Huizhen, Lu Shiyun and Wang Huayin almost arrived there at the same time. After that, Zhang Tie''s parents took their sons and daughters-in-law to wish Zhang Haitian and old madam good health. As the old man had the highest seniority, of course, the juniors should wish him good health on their own initiative. After that, Zhang family saw the old man and their relatives off until they boarded the airboat. These relatives would return to Tiger Embracing City by this airboat of Jinwu Business Group.


    Zhang Haitian''s undertakings were all in Tiger Embracing City. After accomplishing the merger and acquisition of the clan''s shipbuilding enterprise under the affiliation of Huaiyuan Palace, Jinwu Business Group, Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie had owned the most of shares of Jinwu Shipbuilding Plant. The two brothers had absolute right of speech about the shipbuilding plant. However, Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie handed the management right of the plant to their uncles and cousins. Actually, the entire clan of Zhang Haitian was headed by Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang in Jinwu City.


    Not until the Jinwu Airboat flew off did Zhang Tie let out a sigh slowly as he turned around and asked Zhang Yang, "When did the old man start to use a walking stick?"


    After a few years, Zhang Tie found that Zhang Haitian had grown much elder and less spirited than before. Additionally, he started to be humpbacked and use a walking stick.


    "The old man started to use the walking stick 2 years ago!" Zhang Yang replied with a sigh too, "When the old man was young, he spent his full efforts in the affairs of the shipbuilding plant; therefore, he didn''t spend too much time in cultivation. Only after 80 years old, his health grew much worse. It''s useless even though we have the best doctors, medicines and alchemist''s equipment; especially during the period when you were screwed and left home, I was told that the old man didn''t smile all the year round. He even let out deep sighs every day and would ask about your information in each a few days. Therefore, he grew much elder in only 2 years. When the old man knew that you were coming back, he became unprecedentedly happy..."


    Zhang Tie became silent for a second before saying, "We''d better notice the eldest uncle. After a few days, let''s send the old man to the warm south to pass the winter. As the old man has a poor health, he''d better not pass winter from then on. It''s too cold in winter here, the old man could barely tide over it! Elder brother, you can pay attention to the southern isles and buy a proper one. Later on, our family can pass winter in the south."


    Zhang Yang threw a glance at Zhang Tie as he nodded.


    The whole family then returned to the main mansion. At this moment, the steward of the main mansion came here to report that the knight of Heavens Fortune Sect had already come out and would like to see second young master alone.


    The knight of Heavens Fortune Sect had been in a secluded cultivation in Zhang Tie''s family for a few years. However, on the 2nd day since Zhang Tie came back, he had come out.


    This news was out of the imagination of Zhang Tie''s parents and Zhang Yang, except for Zhang Tie.


    However, they were not shocked too much. Because the relationship between Heavens Fortunes Sect and Zhang family was based on the friendship between Zhang Tie and Heavens Fortune Sect. If not, Heavens Fortune Sect would not assign a knight to protect Zhang Tie''s family a few years ago, not to mention that they enrolled Zhang Tie''s 3 kids as their disciples.


    In the parlor of the main mansion, Zhang Tie saw that knight from Heavens Fortune Sect.


    This knight was short and sturdy with a dull look in a cyan robe which had turned a bit white after being washed too many times and a pair of ordinary cloth shoes. Given his look, he was about 50 years old with some gray hair like an old farmer entering the city in a set of clean clothes. How could such a person look like an earth knight on the street?


    "Hermit, thanks for protecting Zhang Clan over these years!" Zhang Tie sincerely bowed deeply towards that knight from Heavens Fortune Sect.


    "Elder Mushen, don''t be that polite!" This knight replied with a simple and honest smile.


    "Hermit, may I know your name and position in Heavens Fortune Sect?" Zhang Tie sat beside this knight from Heavens Fortune Sect as he asked.


    Until now, Zhang family only knew that this knight from Heavens Fortune Sect was surnamed Zhou and was a black iron knight. Since this person entered Zhang family and met Zhang Tie''s parents, he didn''t make too many exchanges with Zhang family. They were both clear about the "exchange" between them this morning; therefore, it was unnecessary for them to mention about that at this moment.


    "I''m Zhou Hongbang, a wild cultivator in Simpleness Embracing Palace of Heavens Fortune Sect. I like being tranquil. My secret method grants me a sensitive perception. When Elder Mushen was wronged and left home a few years ago, none of the members of Heavens Fortune Sect believed that Elder Mushen could do such a conscienceless thing in Fuhai City; therefore, our Elders Council determined to assign one person to help Zhang family in Youzhou Province tide over this difficulty. I offered my self here!" This earth knight''s words were as simple and honest as his look. When one communicated with him, one would feel tranquil and comfortable.


    "It''s my great honor to be favored by Heavens Fortune Sect!" Zhang Tie let out a long sigh.


    Zhou Hongbang turned solemn at once, "Elder Mushen, no need to be that humble. Your 3 sons are really top talents in cultivation; additionally, they have already joined our Heavens Fortune Sect. They''re destined to promote to knights and make our sect more prosperous. As the good model of righteousness among humans, how could our Heavens Fortune Sect allow our disciples'' family to suffer from such a big trouble? In the competition for the position of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, Elder Mushen gave out your gentle light, all of the elders in Heavens Fortune Sect and my master nephew Cangwu had witnessed that. My master nephew Cangwu even guaranteed that Elder Mushen could never do that in Fuhai City with his own cultivation base. When a Hua gentleman like you was screwed helplessly by the possible demons and b*stards of Heavens Reaching Church, of course, our Heavens Fortune Sect would not just ignore that. Over these years, Heavens Fortune Sect had been looking for the culprit of the tragedy in Fuhai City so as to redress Elder Mushen''s case. Unexpectedly, only after we found some clues, the culprit had revealed himself. We could not imagine that he was hiding in Xuanyuan Hill.


    "It''s easy for us to add brilliance to one''s present splendor; however, it''s difficult to help a lame dog over a stile. Zhang Tie has bore Heavens Fortune Sect''s sincerity deep in mind. Later on, if Heavens Fortune Sect need my help, I, Zhang Tie would go through fire and water at the cost of my life!" Zhang Tie said as he clenched his fists with a solemn and resolute look...

 1193 Stealing Leisure Time from a Busy Life

    Chapter 1193: Stealing Leisure Time from a Busy Life


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When you got a drop of water; you should repay with a fountain. This was what Zhang Tie''s parents taught him since he was young, not to mention this time when Heavens Fortune Sect really helped Zhang Tie''s family tide over the toughest period. Therefore, Zhang Tie appreciated Heavens Fortune Sect sincerely with such a decisive promise instead of being perfunctory. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to make such a sincere promise.


    Although Zhang Tie''s family hadn''t experienced any big trouble during those years when the knight of Heavens Fortune Sect was over there; neither did this knight fight for Zhang family once. Actually, at that critical moment, only by enrolling Zhang Tie''s sons as apprentices and assigning an earth knight to Zhang family could Heavens Fortune Sect frighten those evil forces who wanted to find Zhang family trouble.


    It was also out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that Feng Cangwu would like to guarantee that Zhang Tie was innocent with his cultivation base. Like Mountain Lifting Hermit, Feng Cangwu was also Zhang Tie''s bosom brother who would like to sacrifice himself for Zhang Tie at the critical moment.


    If it came to that day, Zhang Tie would really fight for Heavens Fortune Sect and such a bosom friend at the cost of his life.


    Watching the sincerity and fortitude on Zhang Tie''s enviably young face, Zhou Hongbang was moved. Just like a gentleman, who would never go back on his words, he realized that Zhang Tie''s words were real.


    "Elder Mushen, no need to be that polite!" The earth knight of Heavens Fortune Sect cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie with a solemn look as he said, "As Elder Mushen came back to Jinwu City with a powerhouse, I think I should leave Zhang family. As Taixia Country is suffering from the catastrophe of bloody figures as a whole; especially the provinces near Heavens Fortune Sect, all the knight-level powerhouses in my sect have been assigned to those afflicted provinces by turns to exterminate the large units of bloody figures, I have reported to my sect that I would leave Zhang family yesterday. The elders of our sect have already allowed me to return to Heavens Fortune Sect and exterminate all the bloody figures that I met on the way!"


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t know what secret method this knight of Heavens Fortune Sect had, he estimated that this earth knight had already known the real battle strength of Zhang Gui. Therefore, he prepared to leave the Zhang family. ''Now that Heavens Fortune Sect is decisive, I don''t need to keep him or behave affectedly.''


    "If Hermit Zhou wants to leave, Zhang Tie will not urge you to stay. I will send a gift to Hermit so as to increase your battle strength and help you kill more demons and bloody figures and protect a region!" Zhang Tie said as he threw a glance at the trivial traces near Zhou Hongbang''s hand wrists and parts between his thumbs and index fingers. Closely after that, a grim long saber that gave out red light appeared in Zhang Tie''s hand in a split second. A burning image of saber-toothed tiger loomed in the light. Additionally, the moment this long saber appeared, the temperature in the parlor increased by a few degrees Celsius. The saber slightly quivered and rang itself as if a fierce tiger was going to break out of the shackle while roaring. As an earth knight, Zhang Tie could clearly sense the strong surging fire strength over this long saber.


    ''This is a silver secret item-level treasure saber; definitely a top-class good among silver secret items.''


    As he was too close to this treasure saber, Zhou Hongbang''s face turned red while being reflected by the glow of this treasure saber as if he was sitting beside a fireplace.


    "No, it''s too expensive!" The earth knight from Heavens Fortune Sect hurriedly declined. Honestly, very few earth knights in Heavens Fortune Sect could present such a top-class silver secret item.


    "Does Hermit think that Zhang Tie and Zhang family''s sincerity couldn''t even match such a lifeless object?" Zhang Tie''s face turned solemn at once as he continued, "We''re sincere friends. It''s just a piece of silver secret item. If Hermit doesn''t take it, it means that Hermit and Heavens Fortune Sect look down upon Zhang Tie and feel that Zhang Tie is not even qualified to make friends with you; otherwise, Hermit doesn''t think that Zhang family''s safety could match a piece of silver secret item. Now that, Zhang Tie will pick my sons back from Heavens Fortune Sect tomorrow. From then on, we will not expect to claim ties with Heavens Fortune Sect."


    Zhou Hongbang gazed at Zhang Tie seriously for a few seconds before nodding solemnly and silently and accepting this silver secret treasure saber.


    After Zhou Hongbang accepted it, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "Now that Hermit is going to return to Heavens Fortune Sect, Zhang Tie wonder whether Brother Cangwu is in the base of Heavens Fortune Sect now?"


    "Master nephew Cangwu cultivated in the Earth-elements Realm a few years ago. After the catastrophe of bloody figures broke out in Taixia Country, Heavens Fortune Sect called back all the knights from Earth-elements Realm. Master nephew Cangwu might be on the way back to Heavens Fortune Sect!"


    "If so, Hermit, please give this item to Brother Cangwu!" Zhang Tie said. At the same time, he moved his hand, giving out a light. This time, a silver secret longsword appeared in his hand. Being different than that treasure saber, this longsword in his hand was like a visional light and shade. Given its look, it could definitely match that treasure saber. It might even carry some special ability.


    Even though Zhou Hongbang had rich experience in Heavens Fortune Sect, he still became a bit dumbfounded at this moment. It was already out of his imagination that Zhang Tie could present a silver secret item. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie could present another one without even blinking his eyes.


    ''They are silver secret items, silver secret items. They are not rune weapons that could be bought in the market. How could an earth knight casually present two silver secret items to others? What a rich knight!'' The earth knight watched the two silver secret items as if he was dreaming.


    However, Zhou Hongbang finally accepted both silver secret items. After that, he took out a finger ring and a small piece of crystal and passed them to Zhang Tie as he said, "With this remote-sensing telecommunications finger ring, you could contact Elder Qingfeng of Heavens Fortune Sect. Elder Mushen''s 3 sons are instructed by Elder Qingfeng!"


    The crystal contained the telecommunications code and the secret code that could be used to confirm both identities. It was a purely strong spiritual information. The moment Zhang Tie injected his spiritual energy into the crystal and established connections with the information in the crystal, he had captured the content of the spiritual information automatically. At the same time, the spiritual energy in the crystal disappeared and the crystal also broke into pieces. It seemed to be a secret method of Heavens Fortune Sect. The information in the crystal contained the mark of the spiritual energy wave of the one who injected his spiritual energy into it. After being reviewed once, it would disappear. If another one stealth a glance at it, he would not restore the crystal; neither could he copy the same information. Bloody Soul Sutra contained the similar means; however, this means could only be learned by a shadow knight who had formed his water chakra.


    Zhang Tie accepted this remote-sensing finger ring. From then on, he had one more remote-sensing equipment.


    ...


    A few minutes later, after talking with Zhang Tie alone and bidding a farewell to Zhang Tie''s parents and Zhang Yang, this earth knight directly shot into the sky from Zhang Mansion before flying towards the south of Jinwu City in the heavy wind and snow under the gaze of the entire Zhang family.


    Not until that grey point gradually disappeared in the sky did Zhang Tie''s family draw back their sights.


    Zhang Tie turned around and watched his parents. All of a sudden, he revealed a smile as if he was greedy, "Mom, this weather is suitable for us to have a hot pot. How about eating hotpot today?"


    Zhang Tie''s mom became stunned for a second. After exchanging a glance with Zhang Tie''s dad, she revealed an affectionate smile like how she saw her son over 10 years ago in Blackhot City, "You want a hotpot?"


    "Yes!" Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile as he rubbed his belly, "Previously, I thought that I could eat full at home; I''ve not imagined that I would also be hungry at home. Last night, I was not full at all. In the beginning, I had to talk with the old man, my eldest uncle and my youngest uncle; later on, so many cousins and 70-80 children of my cousins proposed toasts to me and called me uncle by turns. I couldn''t ignore them; neither could I just have food. Therefore, I was not full. My belly is still rumbling now. At this moment, when I remembered the hotpot made by mom in Blackhot City in winter; plus the rice brew, I couldn''t help but drool!"


    Bai Suxian watched Zhang Tie with an interested look. It was her first time to see Zhang Tie''s idle look at home. When she compared Zhang Tie''s imposing look in the Earth-elements Realm with his current tame look, Bai Suxian felt pretty fresh.


    "Right, let''s eat hotpot then!" Zhang Tie''s mom replied as she and Zhang Tie''s elder sisters-in-law and wives burst out into laughter at the same time, "I will make a hotpot for you at home!"


    "Coincidentally, I''m at home, Jinwu City have an annual leave, I will help your mom!" Zhang Tie''s dad also said with a smile.


    "I will prepare the food ingredients!" Zhang Yang said as he revealed a smile too.


    "I will be responsible for firing as usual..." Zhang Tie said with a smile. At the same time, he threw a glance at his eldest sister-in-law before saying, "Eldest sister-in-law is good at making chili sauce and cold dish. I''ve not enjoyed eldest sister-in-law''s food for a long time!"


    Wang Huizhen replied with a smile; meanwhile, she threw an appreciative glance at Zhang Tie. Wang Huizhen knew that as long as Zhang Tie called her eldest sister-in-law and remembered what dishes were she good at, the positions of she and her two sons in this family would be indestructible and unshakable.


    Among the 3 wives of Zhang Yang, Wang Huizhen had the most average background and look. Additionally, after the new year, Zhang Yang would marry his 4th wife from Zhu Clan in Yanzhou Province. It was the clan of the provincial governor. Now that the 4th wife came from such a major clan, she must have an outstanding look and figure. Therefore, as a woman, Wang Huizhen had a deep sense of crisis at Zhang family. After having more and more wives, even if Zhang Yang wouldn''t live up to Wang Huizhen, Wang Huizhen was clear how to be an influential eldest sister-in-law in Zhang family.


    Lu Shiyun and Wang Huayin exchanged a glance with each other before revealing a smile at the same time, "Elder sister Huizhen''s chili sauce and cold dish are yummy. We two will help elder sister Huizhen make them!"


    "What about us?" Fiona asked as she pointed at her own nose in an innocent way.


    "You..." Zhang Tie looked at Fiona from her head to her toe before saying, "You''re good at eating, Just do that. Linda and Beverly could help mom!"


    "Nuisance, I''m not a pig. You''re a foodie!" Fiona blushed as she stomped to the ground.


    Everybody burst out into laughter.


    "Bai Suxian is good at roasting meat. You should show your talent!" Zhang Tie told Bai Suxian.


    Bai Suxian revealed a sweet smile towards Zhang Tie...


    This day, Zhang Mansion was filled with cheers and laughter...


    ...


    Since he returned home, Zhang Tie didn''t leave his family members anymore. He just played with his children, accompanied by his parents, walked and chatted with his wives or directly watched the snow-covered landscape by airboat in the wild. Each morning, Zhang Tie would make up various snowmen in his own courtyard with his 3 sons and 2 daughters. In the process of making odd-looking snowmen, Zhang Tie''s kids grew more and more intimate with him and called him papa more and more naturally...


    When Zhang Tie returned to Zhang Mansion in Jinwu City and enjoyed the long-awaited slight warmth of his family, the news that Zhang Tie had returned to Jinwu City had spread over Taixia Country and shocked everybody.


    Actually, it was not shocking that Zhang Tie returned home. What was really shocking was that the news that Zhang Tie had promoted to an earth knight in only a few years. The more unbelievable news was that Zhang Tie had been rewarded with Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and the very Cui Li who founded the Iron-Dragon Sect was Zhang Tie''s incarnation.


    In only a few days, the entire Jinwu City had been as boisterous as a pot of boiling water. A lot of people arrived at Jinwu City from the other provinces in the Northeast Military Region, even further places every day. They wanted to see Zhang Tie by sending the formal visit requests or lavish gifts; however, Zhang Tie declined them all.


    Zhang Mansion almost received over 100 formal visit requests every day from all parties. However, Zhang Tie ignored them all.


    During the few days at home, Zhang Tie only met three batches of people: first, Donder; second, Barley''s group from all the others places across Youzhou Province; third, Zhang Tie paid a visit to the parents of Beverly and Fiona in a simple way. After Jinwu City was established, the parents of Beverly and Fiona also moved to Jinwu City and lived wealthy and leisure lives. Besides Zhang family, few people knew the relationship between them and Zhang Tie.


    In this way, Zhang Tie welcomed the new year''s eve of the 904th year of Black Iron Calendar at home.


    After the new year''s festival, Huaiyuan Palace released the news to the public that they would hold the rotating chakra ceremony for Zhang Tie to celebrate that he had promoted to an earth knight on February 2nd of the lunar calendar.


    February 2nd was the best day of the year for holding rotating chakra ceremony...

 1194 The Start of Chaos

    Chapter 1194: The Start of Chaos


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Time always flew at home; especially after the new year''s festival. It soon came to late lunar January unconsciously. Zhang Tie had already stayed at home for almost 1 month.


    Over the past month, besides staying with his family members, Zhang Tie was also paying attention to the situation in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    It was evidently not a good idea for Sacred Light Empire to dispatch an expedition to Ice and Snow Wilderness in winter. Because the two harbors that the expeditionary fleet prepared to dock at for replenishment had been frozen in winter. Therefore, the expeditionary fleet would face a great problem in replenishment. Ice and Snow Wilderness was in the northernmost part of Waii Subcontinent. The closer it was to the vast unmanned ice land, the slower the fleet would move facing the northwest wind and the surging waves, not to mention the icebergs that might flow downwards from the north. In the evening, a battleship might be easily severely damaged or capsized by an iceberg that floated on the ocean.


    The merchant ships and businessmen that traversed between Sacred Iceland Kingdom and Western Continent were keeping a close watch on the movements of Sacred Light Empire. After spending a lot of money, the intelligence network of Sacred Iceland Kingdom started to run at a high speed on the Western Continent. Intelligence about the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire would gather in Saint Peterburg almost every day.


    After analyzing the intelligence from all aspects, Pontiff Sarlin speculated that the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire might leave their military base on this mid-February or early March; at most late March.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie became reassured. After accomplishing his rotating chakra ceremony, he had enough time to deal with the crisis facing Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Zhang Tie was not considering how to defeat the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire; he was considering how to make Sacred Light Empire afraid so that those d**chebags would not dare cast their greedy eyes on Sacred Iceland Kingdom anymore and would feel vexed and lack in self-confidence the moment they heard the name of Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    If not deal with this crisis well, given the overall national strength of Sacred Light Empire, even if they were defeated once, they would attack the Sacred Iceland Kingdom for the 2nd time even the 3rd time. If so, Sacred Iceland Kingdom would have endless troubles.


    Gulas and Dali had returned to Ice and Snow Wilderness safe and sound before the new year. They failed to find their allies and reliances. Because major clans in Taixia Country were too picky. They would not invest in the barren land of Ice and Snow Wilderness at all, not to mention align with that small country. If not in the Treasures Meeting, Gulas and Dali might not even catch the attention of any major clan in Taixia Country at all. The two people indeed sold some vials of the source of berserk energy in the Treasures Meeting; as for many purchasers, the so-called source of berserk energy from Ice and Snow Wilderness was just a good medicament that could make people go berserk and sustain that state for a longer time. It could be used for the rest of their lives. However, it was not easy to activate the effect of this medicament either. Not each fighter could activate its effect. Low-level fighters might have a demand for a source of berserk energy; however, after promoting to knights, this medicament would become meaningless for them. In Treasures Meeting, those which were meaningless to knights could barely catch people''s attention.


    Gulas and Dali didn''t find a powerful alley for Sacred Iceland Kingdom; however, they brought back a news about the large-scale riot in Xuanyuan Hill and the rest of Taixia Country.


    The finance minister of Taixia Country was a lackey of Three-eye Association 1 . A catastrophe of bloody figures broke out in Taixia Country as a whole. This news aroused a great shock across Sacred Iceland Kingdom, not to mention the Western Continent and other subcontinents. Even Pontiff Sarlin asked Zhang Tie about the current situation facing Taixia Country through remote-sensing crystal out of concern.


    As for people from other continents and subcontinents, Taixia Country was very unrivaled. People from all the other continents and subcontinents longed for, jealous about and hated for the prosperity and power of Taixia Country. However, undoubtedly, Taixia Country and Hua people were the pillars and the hope of all humans in the war between humans and demons. Any turmoil in Taixia Country would cause a mighty uproar in other continents and subcontinents.


    Since the riot broke out in Xuanyuan Hill on November 15th last year, those who firstly sensed fear were not Hua people in Taixia Country, but top-class figures in continents and subcontinents outside Taixia Country. These people was clear that they would never survive this holy war if Taixia Country collapsed due to civil strife. This holy was like a terrifying storm. Taixia Country was the largest human battleship in this tempest. If the largest human battleship would capsize and sink, those sampans would definitely be shattered by the huge waves. If Taixia failed to resist demons, all humans would enter the darkest days.


    "How''s Taixia Country doing now?"


    Zhang Tie really didn''t know how to answer Elder Sarlin.


    Zhang Tie''s personal situation was very good. He had promoted to an earth knight and had been found innocent. Additionally, he became famous across Taixia Country. Zhang family''s power also expanded constantly. Besides all-purpose medicament, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would soon produce revolutionary high-power alcohol; additionally, Zhang Tie had returned home. He stayed with his family members and enjoyed playing with his sons and daughters every day. As a result, his foundation in Taixia Country was growing increasingly consolidated; he had more and more friends in Taixia Country. He had even established relationships with Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and Heavens Fortune Sect. However, the culprit who screwed him had been killed by Zhang Tie himself; he even made a fortune. The Gobbling Party were having an intense conflict with the Heavens Reaching Church. It could be said that Zhang Tie''s situation was unprecedentedly good. He had not lived such a leisure and comfortable life before. Actually, Zhang Tie had officially reached a wholly new peak in his life.


    Zhang Tie welcomed his new peak moments in his life; however, the coldness of the 3rd holy war raided the entire Taixia Country in only a few months.


    When it came to winter, the bloody figures across Taixia Country; especially those in northern regions temporarily slowed down their attacking frequencies. The bloody figures became more disperse, causing increasing greater destructions in wider areas.


    In December, the catastrophe of bloody figures had just covered over 60 provinces; however, in the next January, bloody figures had been discovered across Taixia Country, except for some wild provinces and Xuanyuan Hill. The catastrophe of bloody figures was spreading over the entire country. Before January 1st, the 904th year of Black Iron Calendar, the catastrophe of bloody figures which had broken out for less than 2 months had caused a casualty of over 0.37 billion people. This figure was increasing every day. There were totally over 10 million bloody figures across Taixia Country. After being encircled and annihilated for over 1 month, this figure was constantly reducing; however, the rest alive bloody figures were still killing people and causing panic across the country in each second.


    Even Youzhou province was involved in such a turmoil.


    On January 3rd, when Zhang Tie was immersing in the festive atmosphere of the new year, some teams of bloody figures had poured into Yangui Mountain Range from Tongzhou Province. They might have already sneaked into Youzhou Province.


    After entering Yangui Mountain Range and carrying out a bloodbath in two small mountain villages, these bloody figures had completely disappeared. When a hunter living in the mountain discovered the abnormal phenomenon in the two small mountain villages, he hurriedly came to report it to the officials.


    Some teams of bloody figures with unidentified population might have penetrated through Yangui Mountain Range and entered Youzhou Province. Therefore, Youzhou Province became vigilant as a whole; especially the garrisons in some cities near Yangui Mountain Range which had been mobilized. The moment Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory received the news, they had cordoned off the entire region.


    Not until Zhang Tie received the news from Huaiyuan Palace did he know it at home.


    Of course, during the same period, Zhang Tie received a "good news" about bloody figures¡ª¡ªThe battle fortress prison that Zhang Tie had people build near the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect to lock up bloody figures had been officially assembled.


    Zhang Tie named this prison for bloody figures as Demon Suppression Battlefortress. The entire fortress could contain 200,000 bloody figures. It was a large-scale battlefortress construction business group which was responsible for undertaking similar business in Yanzhou Province of Taixia Country. After Zhang Yang expressed his demand and paid off 70% of the engineering fund, this business group completed the construction of Demon Suppression Battlefortress in the shortest period.


    Zhang Tie had not visited the Demon Suppression Battlefortress yet. However, it was said that it was even a bit larger than the former crystal battlefortress. After Demon Suppression Battlefortress was completed, the first batch of 1287 bloody figures that Zhang Tie and Jinwu Business Group had purchased had been locked into the Demon Suppression Battlefortress. Jinwu Guards were responsible for guarding them.


    When the catastrophe of bloody figures spread over Taixia Country, the loyal backbones of Heavens Reaching Church who had "produced" these bloody figures disappeared in the latest 2 months. Besides some trivial figures, very few famous knight-level powerhouses of Heavens Reaching Church being wanted by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country could be discovered. Those d**chebags just disappeared out of the void, causing people to be restless.

 1195 The End of the Leisure Days

    Chapter 1195: The End of the Leisure Days


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Many missing loyal backbones of Heavens Reaching Church and powerhouses were closely related to Bloody Soul Temple. Take Wen Clan in Pingsha Valley of Zhongzhou Province which had been exterminated as an instance, now that these backbone clans and followers couldn''t be discovered while building bloody seas across Taixia Country, they were not common clans and powers. Such clans would at least have one black iron knight. Actually, according to the official report, these loyal followers of Heavens Reaching Church who were exposed due to the catastrophe of bloody figures and bloody sea contained 264 black iron knights, 19 earth knights and 1 shadow knight.


    The shadow knight came from Gao Clan of Time-honored Taste Palace in Liang Zhou Province, one of the top 9 immortal provinces in Taixia Country. Han Zhengfang''s wife came from Gao Clan. If not the accident in Xuanyuan Hill, who could imagine that well-known Gao Clan of Time-honored Taste Palace in Liangzhou Province belonged to Heavens Reaching Church.


    That wanted shadow knight was Gao Tianzhao, the former clan head of Gao Clan, also the great-great-grandfather of the current clan head of Gao Clan, the forebear of Gao Clan.


    Besides Gao Tianzhao, 4 earth knights and over 30 black iron knights of Gao Clan entered the wanted list of the Supreme Court too.


    All the knights of Gao Clan had escaped. Those who couldn''t escape just scattered in all directions. They would be arrested and killed by the fighters of Supreme Court. Overnight, the remarkable Gao Clan of Time-honored Taste Palace had collapsed, shocking too many people.


    It was an earth-shaking event for the Supreme Court to confiscate Gao Clan. It happened when Zhang Tie was still in the underground magma sea beneath the volcano. Zhang Tie gradually understood the details after returning to Youzhou Province.


    Gao Clan was the first supermajor of Taixia Country being confiscated as it was involved in the plot of demons, Time-honored Taste Palace was only inferior to the imperial household of Taixia Country. Therefore, this event had a great influence. All the major clans in Taixia Country had been shocked. It was said that the Supreme Court even found a time-honored altar of Bloody Soul Temple from Gao Clan. Therefore, Gao Clan''s secret identity was exposed. Gao Can was confirmed as the clan being affiliated to Bloody Soul Temple in Taixia Country. However, besides Gao Clan, it was hard to say whether there were any more secret clans being affiliated to Bloody Soul Temple in Taixia Country.


    Nobody could imagine that Bloody Soul Temple could bury so many timebombs in Taixia Country after the top 7 sects in Taixia Country joined hands to exterminate the Bloody Soul Temple.


    In order to hunt for the knights of Heavens Reaching Church, the judicial minister, one of the top 9 ministers of Taixia Country who had been in Xuanyuan Hill for many years had already left Xuanyuan Hill. He guided and implemented the encirclement and annihilation of these subversives. All the supreme powerhouses in the provincial and prefectural courts across Taixia Country had left to catch them.


    Thankfully, the catastrophe of bloody figures broke out very hastily on last November 15th, sparing less time for Heavens Reaching Church to make preparations. If they made well preparations for that, over 10 million bloody figures under the leadership of so many knights would cause dozens even hundreds of times more damages like what once happened in Waii Subcontinent. As long as demon knights could resist the attacks of human knights, the super demon corps on the ground would be unrivaled. By contrast, after losing the guidance of knights, this super corps of bloody figures would be casually separated into smaller troops by human knights across Taixia Country like how a cook dissected an ox. If these bloody figures troops moved slowly or couldn''t break through timely, they would be encircled and annihilated by outnumbered human corps which poured in from all directions.


    After causing a great chaos across Taixia Country, those knights of Heavens Reaching Church seemed to have disappeared all of a sudden. At least Zhang Tie had not heard about any major move of these b*stards in the last 2 months.


    Even Zhang Gui couldn''t figure out where these people hid in and what they were going to do. Previously, Zhang Gui was following Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong. He was not on the same line with those loyal backbones of Heavens Reaching Church who were directly guided and dispatched by Han Zhengfang and prepared for arising riots across Taixia Country. The two systems might have contacts; Zhang Gui also recognized some loyal followers of Heavens Reaching Church; however, he couldn''t get hang of the concrete schedules of these people after they arouse the riot.


    According to Zhang Gui, Han Zhengfang''s subordinates belonged to two systems. Although the two systems looked like a unity, they were different than each other. Zhang Gui sought refuge with Han Zhengfang after promoting to a knight. However, Han Zhengfang kept vigilance about him. As a result, Zhang Gui couldn''t participate in some plans. Zhang Gui actually always followed Han Zhengfang''s youngest son Han Yuantu. By contrast, someone in Heavens Reaching Church was more reliable to Han Zhengfang. For instance Gao Clan of Time-honored Taste Palace, which was qualified to be the direct subordinates of Han Zhengfang. Han Zhengfang''s direct subordinates were under the control of his eldest son Han Yuanhong.


    When Zhang Gui sought refuge with Han Zhengfang, he didn''t know that Han Zhengfang''s subordinates were divided into two systems. He gradually realized that later on. Zhang Gui guessed that those people and clans whom Han Zhengfang trusted most in Heavens Reaching Church might be those from the secret clans being affiliated to Bloody Soul Temple like Han Zhengfang himself. Those clans and knights that surrendered to Han Zhengfang were always a bit estranged to Han Zhengfang compared to these knights who came from the secret clans of Bloody Soul Temple.


    The source of Heavens Reaching Church was involved with the Bloody Soul Temple which was once exterminated by the top 7 sects in Taixia Country. Additionally, Heavens Reaching Church colluded with demons. Therefore, the relationship between Bloody Soul Temple, Heavens Reaching Church and demons was complicated.


    Since the beginning of the 904th year of Black Iron Calendar, the entire Taixia Country had been in chaos. Few people could celebrate the spring festival at home in a reassuring way; especially those knight-level powerhouses.


    As Taixia Country was becoming increasingly chaotic, as a member of Hua people in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie couldn''t spare any effort in exterminating bloody figures and demons.


    On January 17th, after Zhang Tie stayed at home leisurely and comfortably for less than 1 month, he had received the notice of Huaiyuan Palace. He was requested to discuss something in the Ancestral Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace in Tiger Embracing City. All the elders and Zhang Taixuan would attend this meeting.


    Given its scale, they were definitely talking about something trivial. As an elder of Huaiyuan Palace, of course, Zhang Tie couldn''t be absent out of no reason. From another perspective, he could manifest his authority as an elder and position in his family by attending this meeting in the Ancestral Shrine Palace. Of course, Zhang Tie had to go there.


    On the afternoon of January 18th, after having lunch and hushing his 3 sons and 2 daughters to have a nap, Zhang Tie bade a farewell to his family members. Closely after that, he shot into the sky before flying towards Embracing Tiger City...

 1196 Coming to Embracing Tiger City in Disguise

    Chapter 1196: Coming to Embracing Tiger City in Disguise


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Jinwu City was neighboring Yanghe Prefecture, Youzhou Province, which was less than 600 miles from Embracing Tiger City. The distance between Jinwu City and Embracing Tiger City might be a bit long for commoners, which would cost a lot of time by train or airship; however, as for an earth knight like Zhang Tie, the distance of 600 miles was like leaving home for the marketplace. Even though Zhang Tie didn''t use the ability of divine dominator, he could also arrive at Embracing Tiger City in 1 hour.


    After the 5th day of the lunar January, it didn''t snow in Youzhou Province anymore. However, it was as cold as usual; especially these days. After the accumulated snow started to melt, it became much colder in the air.


    Flying in the sky, Zhang Tie found that the landscape below was covered with white snow. Zhang Tie entered the air territory above Tiger Embracing City before 2 pm. He then landed on a lane of a residential area which was unpopulated nearby the harbor of Embracing Tiger City.


    After landing on the lane, Zhang Tie put on his snow-proof hood and buckled it up. As a result, the greater part of his face had been covered at once, only exposing his eyebrows and eyes. The others couldn''t identify the face under the hood at all; they could only identify that this man was not old.


    Given Zhang Tie''s popularity in Youzhou Province; especially Embracing Tiger City, he couldn''t be identified by people on the street only in this way.


    Zhang Tie just stayed with his family members at home these days. Although he also gained some messages from outside, as these messages were indirect, they were not accurate enough. Coincidentally, as he came to Tiger Embracing City to attend the meeting, he wanted to check the atmosphere in Embracing Tiger City too. As a knight in Taixia Country, now that he didn''t plan to hide in Castle of Black Iron completely, he had to care about something more or less. As Zhang Tie was also once an average person, he knew that something couldn''t be more genuine and concrete unless among the people.


    There was thin accumulated snow on the ground of the lane. Zhang Tie walked out of the lane toward the outside street.


    By contrast, the street outside the lane was pretty boisterous.


    The moment Zhang Tie arrived at the mouth of the lane, a gate near the mouth of the lane had opened, causing a squeak. Some people walked out of there. 2 people were seeing off another 2 people.


    "Second younger brother, I will hand Deming to you. When he comes to your bo?te, teach him whatever you want. Beat him if he''s not obedient. Don''t spoil him. Let him do all the dirty and tired jobs in the bo?te!"


    The 2 people who were leaving were a middle-aged couple in ordinary dress. Given their looks, they must come from rural areas outside the city. Although they wore clean clothes, Zhang Tie could easily know their identities the moment he saw them. The man who was talking looked simple and honest.


    "Eldest brother, don''t worry. I will treat De Ming as my own son. As long my family has food, we will never make him hungry!" The couple who saw them off looked a bit younger. Given the looks of the current speaker and the earlier one, they must be brothers. "I will slowly teach Deming about the affairs in the bo?te. Deming could also be a boss in the future!"


    "With your words, I''m reassured!"


    "We''re of the same family. At this moment, you and eldest sister-in-law don''t need to be so kind to us. Deming, come over here. Bid a farewell to your dad and mom. Later on, you could only meet your parents once a few months in the Embracing Tiger City..."


    A teenager with bloody eyes moved forward and knelt down on the snow before the younger couple, "Dad, mom, don''t worry about me. After I grasp talents from the second uncle and make enough money, I will buy a house in the downtown and bring you there..."


    When Zhang Tie came over there, the 5 people turned around to glance at him at the same time. Zhang Tie just passed by leisurely. He didn''t let them feel that he was watching them just like a passer-by. He then came to the bustling street.


    Although it was cold, after the new year festival, the street had become boisterous. After the 3rd day of lunar January, the roadside stores had opened constantly. A minority of stores would open on the 6th day or the 8th day of the lunar January for a good fortune. Only a few stores had not opened after the Lantern Festival. The bosses of these stores must be in the other provinces and had not come back yet.


    There were some traces of celebrating the Lantern Festival 3 days ago on the street. The front stores were all hanging delicate lanterns. Some lanterns were even hanging over twigs on the roadside.


    Zhang Tie walked on the streets leisurely. Many people on the street were in the same snow-proof hood like him. Embracing Tiger City was close to the ocean. Therefore, the sea wind was stronger in winter. These days, those who sought living outside had to cover their faces and daub fish oil over their faces in case of being wounded by the piercingly cold wind. Many people in Tiger Embracing City were in similar dress. Besides being exquisite and delicate, Zhang Tie''s dress was nothing special. Therefore, nobody paid special attention to him on the street. The back of hands and faces of some people on the street were oily too. They might be seeking a living on the wharf or the ship.


    "Eldest brother, I will call a car to carry you back!"


    "No need, we''ve come to Embracing Tiger City for a few times. We''re familiar with the road. When your eldest sister-in-law and I arrived at Embracing Tiger City, we''ve made an appointment with Li Dazhuang who''s responsible for delivering grains. We will wait for him at the west gate of Tiger Embracing City and go back by his vehicle. Hurry, go back, it''s cold outside..."


    The street outside the lane was east-west. After coming to the street, Zhang Tie immediately turned to the west leisurely.


    Even though he had turned to the street, the talk in the lane still drifted in his ears. Needless to say, Zhang Tie knew that the rural couple must have politely declined the good intention of the urban couple. Even though, the urban couple still saw him off to the mouth of the lane. After talking with each other for a short while, they had departed. The rural couple just walked 30 m away behind Zhang Tie while the urban couple had returned home and closed the door with the son of the rural couple.


    After leaving the mouth of the lane for a short while, when they were a bit farther away from the mouth of the lane, the woman who was always silent suddenly uttered, "Younger sister-in-law didn''t speak just now; I''m a bit worried about it..."


    The man became silent for a second before nodding affirmatively, "Don''t worry, my second younger brother is strong-minded. His words work at home. When my second younger brother came to Embracing Tiger City for developing his undertaking, his bo?te was even bought by our brothers. Our family even sold about 7,000 square meters'' land. I even sold some cattle for him. Over these years, you''ve already seen that, my second younger brother is not that ungrateful. He usually helped our family; not to mention that he watched Deming growing up. Whatever, he''s Deming''s uncle. He will not mistreat Deming!"


    "Although it sounds reasonable, I''m still worried about that. After all, Deming will stay in Embracing Tiger City for not only a few months. If it''s too long, I''m afraid that the second sister-in-law would feel unhappy..."


    "Alas, we have to do that!" The simple and honest man let out a sigh before continuing, "In our village, those able ones would hurriedly send their children into the downtown. It''s said that Landlord Liu has sent his children into a school in Youzhou City. Old Cao has sent his son to Goldenlight City as an apprentice; even Li Laizi''s two children have been sent into the sawmill in Embracing Tiger City which was opened by his uncle. The downtown would always be safer than the rural areas more or less. A few years ago, it was safe and stable in rural areas; however, it''s becoming dangerous in rural areas now. It''s said that hundreds of villages outside cities had been cleaned by bloody figures overnight. Many people even became the food of those bloody figures. The 3-5 m high guardrails and walls outside the villages could only prevent ordinary wild beasts and burglars. Bloody figures could easily jump over them. Ordinary villages couldn''t resist bloody figures at all. A few days ago, bloody figures had already arrived at Youzhou Province. It''s said that many people were killed. We have to find a way for Deming..."


    "I''m only worried about Deming..."


    "The country is becoming increasingly chaotic. It''s nothing for Deming to suffer some hardships as long as he''s safe. Ah, where''s that set of jade jewelry? Bring them when we come to Embracing Tiger City next time. You give them to 2nd sister-in-law stealthily. Don''t let my 2nd younger brother know that. It''s women''s business."


    "Ahh? I keep them for Dehua''s wife in the future. No matter how poor we''re, if we want to marry a son-in-law, we have to prepare some nice-looking jewelry!"


    "Dehua is in the army. He doesn''t need them for the time being. We''d better deal with Deming''s affair first! It''s better than nothing as long as the two brothers could survive! When spring comes, I will try my luck in the mountain and find some wild ginseng..."


    "As you wish..." The woman nodded after being silent for a second...


    Zhang Tie knew that it was very dangerous to find ginseng in the mountains of Youzhou Province; especially for fighters below LV 9. As wild ginseng grew in mountains, which were covered with mutated beasts, commoners had to risk a great danger to enter mountains. Man people couldn''t come back alive.


    ''How poor parents!''


    Zhang Tie let out a long sigh as he had not imagined that even Embracing Tiger City which was far away from the catastrophe of bloody figures could suffer from such a great shock. Even the villagers outside the city wanted to send their family members to the downtown and seek for a safe asylum.


    After looking at the flow rate of people on the street seriously, Zhang Tie found that there were indeed more people than when he came here last two times.


    Even Youzhou Province had been in such an urgent situation, not to mention the other provinces. Although there were many cities in Taixia Country, over 70-80% of people lived outside of cities. The moment the catastrophe of bloody figures broke out, the entire country was in a panic while villagers hurriedly poured into downtowns. Some downtowns might have been in chaos.


    When Zhang Tie slightly frowned and thought about it, he heard a roar from the inn in front of him, "You lunatic, how dare you pretend to be a pharmacist? How could a pharmacist be so poor in Taixia Country? If you don''t have money, roll out of my inn..."


    Closely after the roar, one person had been thrown out of the door together with his quilt and blanket.

 1197 The Lunatic

    Chapter 1197: The Lunatic


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The accumulated snow on the street had long thawed due to so many passers-by, causing soft and icy mud. The person being thrown out of the inn together with his broken roll of quilt and blanket directly fell into the mud. How embarrassing it was! The passers-by on the roadside streets hurriedly dodged away from him. Zhang Tie and some passers-by then started to watch the fun on one side.


    Some strong lads and a cook of the inn were standing outside the gate while glaring at the person who had been thrown out. A glib lad cupped his hands and explained loudly, "Dear neighbors and friends. Our Yuean Inn is not bullying him. This guy had lived in our inn for over 1 week for free. Previously, our boss was soft-hearted and let him live in for a few days as it''s cold outside. We''ve not imagined that this guy planned to stay in our inn all the way. He bullied us. It doesn''t work wherever it is. As we cannot stand it anymore, we have to drive him out of Yuean Inn. Please be the witnesses for us, we don''t mind whether he''s dead or not!"


    After being thrown out, the one quivered all over out of fury. He stood up from the mud and pointed at those young men in the inn before saying furiously, "You...you...are going too far...I''ve paid this month''s rent and food...how could you drive me out before the end..."


    "When you came here, our boss had told you that our rent would change with the marketing price. It changes every day. When in slack season, it would be cheaper; when in boom season, it would be more expensive. You paid the rent in November; however, the rent across Embracing Tiger City had been growing since the beginning of December. All the other inns'' rents were rising. Of course, our Yuean Inn''s rent and food fee would rise too. We''re following the general trend. Your rent and food fee has been used up soon after the new year festival. As our boss pitied you, he allowed you to stay inside for a few more days. Even if you notify the official, we will not be afraid of you. How ridiculous! How could you be a pharmacist? If all the pharmacists across the world were like you, pharmacists couldn''t even match coolies..."


    "Hahaha...I''m not a pharmacist...if I''m not a pharmacist, how could I be so embarrassed..." The embarrassed middle-aged man burst out into laughter miserably with bloody eyes as if he had lost his marbles. He tore open his wet and dirty clothes and exposed his naked chest to the chilly wind before roaring towards the sky, "Come on, kill me; come on, kill me. I know you will not let me go; come on, kill me. All the people across the world are swarming around as flies do for good and hang around as dogs do for food. I''ve been so poor for the well-being of all the people across the world. It''s meaningless. If you want to torment all the people across the world, just do it. If you want to kill me, just do that. Aren''t your heavens reaching? Aren''t you preparing for turning all the medicinal materials into poisons? Come on, kill me..."


    Being stimulated and humiliated by the lads of the inn, this middle-aged man was driven mad, which scared those lads a few steps back. They strictly guarded the gate of the inn so as to prevent him from breaking into the inn and causing some troubles. All the onlookers hurriedly scattered to a certain degree, including Zhang Tie.


    "Alas, this man turned a bit abnormal. How about fetching the criminal hunters to catch him? It would be troublesome if he hurt someone..." Someone among the onlookers whispered.


    "How about sending him to the Benign Doctor''s Clinic? It''s too cold, he''s driven mad. How poor he is!"


    After hearing the words of the onlookers, that man laughed loudly. He even dropped off his tears, "Yes, I''m a lunatic, I''m a lunatic..."


    "Even heroes might be breathless. Everybody would have a low ebb in life. Nothing to watch here. Please leave. This friend, please not be that excited!" A calm and crispy sound drifted out of the onlookers. When the all the people turned around, they saw a strong young man in snow-proof cloak behind the crowd. Given his voice, this man should be younger than 20 years old; however, those eagle-eyed people could find that his cloak and boots were all well-made and rare in the market. Additionally, this young man had an unspoken temperament. Even though he didn''t expose his face, he was still awe-stricken.


    "Ha, just leave out of here, just leave..."


    The young man''s voice sounded supernatural. After hearing his words, all the onlookers really left. Even that middle-aged man who was a bit excited just now became quiet. He didn''t shout loudly or did anything excessive anymore.


    Of course, it was Zhang Tie who spoke. Additionally, he used a secret skill of Soul Forbidden Method. His words sounded very comfortable. Therefore, all the onlookers just followed his order unconsciously. When the crowd dispersed, Zhang Tie walked towards the gate of the inn as he asked those lads who were standing outside the gate of the inn, "How much has this guy owed you?"


    That eloquent lad whispered while shrugging with a bit fearful look, "This man...has lived a few more days in our inn. He owes us over 20 silver coins. You know, we''re not a welfare institution..."


    "Well, I understand you. It''s not your fault. Take it..." Zhang Tie flipped a gold coin onto the hand of the lad after drawing an elegant golden arc in the air. "I''ve paid off his debt. Keep the change. Tell your boss. It''s good to help people tide over difficulties; however, it would be much better if he could do well from beginning to end..."


    "Yes...yes...yes, thanks, thanks..." After taking that gold coin, those lads revealed a smile at the same time. They treated Zhang Tie more politely. Such a generous and righteous guest was always welcomed wherever he was.


    "Are there any other belongings of him in your inn?''


    "No, no more!" Those lads hurriedly shook their heads, "He only came with such a broken blanket and a quilt. Nothing else!"


    Zhang Tie turned around and looked at that middle-aged man who was especially berserk just now. That man had already recovered his composure while wrapping himself in clothes. His face had turned a bit blue in the cold wind. Zhang Tie told him, "Follow me!"


    The middle-aged man hesitated for a second. After following Zhang Tie for a couple of steps, he threw a glance at the broken blanket and quilt in the mud as he wanted to pick them up.


    "No need to pick them up. They are dirty and wet. Just throw them!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, that middle-aged man stopped picking them up and just followed after Zhang Tie while shrinking his body.


    Zhang Tie walked a short while ahead of the middle-aged man silently. The middle-aged man didn''t speak either. Over 10 minutes later, they stopped in front of "Jinyun Hotel" on a more prosperous avenue.


    This "Jinyun Hotel" was much more luxurious than that inn. Although it was cold, the garden outside the hotel was still verdant. There was a huge dome which was made of glass fiber reinforced plastics on the top of the garden. There were heating units on the ground. The shiny marbles were resplendent and spotless. Two rows of tall and thin beautiful girls were standing at the gate to welcome guests.


    Zhang Tie directly entered the gate. Being scared by such a grand place, the middle-aged man dared not enter it. Therefore, he became hesitated.


    "Come in? You didn''t even care about your life just now, why not dare enter a hotel?" Zhang Tie turned around as he threw a glance at that middle-aged man.


    The middle-aged man gritted his teeth. Closely after that, he followed Zhang Tie in as if he was ready to risk everything.


    "Gentleman, you want..." A female usher walked over here as he threw a glance at Zhang Tie and that middle-aged man who followed after Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie looked noble all over; however, that middle-aged man behind him looked sloppy. They were absolutely from two different worlds.


    "Prepare a special courtyard for me..." Zhang Tie said as he passed a good check to the girl, the par value of which was 1,000 gold coins. At the sight of such a "large denomination", the girl swallowed all the words back. With such a gold check, the two people could live in the most expensive courtyard for 1 year.


    Under the amazed gazes of the other gentlemen and young ladies who were accessing to the hotel, that female usher directly led Zhang Tie and that middle-aged man into a tranquil courtyard which was matched with a warm spring.


    "Bring him some fitted clothes, shoes and socks for him given his size. I don''t care about money!" Zhang Tie told the female usher. Such a high-end hotel was always matched with a high-end shopping mall. It''s easy for people to buy clothes here.


    After the female usher left, Zhang Tie told that middle-aged man, "You''d better take a bath and change a set of new clothes before talking with me..."


    After doing all these, Zhang Tie just took a seat and drank tea water in the parlor while waiting for the middle-aged man to come out to talk with him after taking a bath.

 1198 The Inquiry

    Chapter 1198: The Inquiry


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie just sat and drank tea water in the parlor of the courtyard. He had already taken off his hood, revealing an excessively young face.


    He just helped that middle-aged man by himself. What counted most was the sentence that middle-aged man roared when being driven mad¡ª¡ªAll the people across the world are swarming around as flies do for good and hang around as dogs do for food. I''ve been so poor for the well-being of all the people across the world. It''s meaningless. If you want to torment all the people across the world, just do it. If you want to kill me, just do that. Aren''t you heavens reaching? Aren''t you preparing for turning all the medicinal materials into poisons? Come on, kill me...


    As the middle-aged man shouted it when losing his marbles, very few people would believe in his words. However, as Zhang Tie was proficient in Soul Forbidden Method, he could clearly sense that that man was in his right mind although being despaired and mad. He was not talking rubbish. He just aired his grievance in a self-abandoned way.


    ¡ª¡ªTurning all the medicinal materials into poisons!


    This sentence caught Zhang Tie''s attention.


    At Zhang Tie''s request, over 10 waiters entered the bathroom of the courtyard with a lot of clothes, shoes and socks in hands for the selection of that middle-aged man. They made two rounds. Some waiter even pushed a dining cart into the bathroom. Zhang Tie just waited there patiently. When he drank tea water, he took out a vial of water-element crystal which gave out shiny blue light and started to absorb it.


    Even grasshopper legs were meat. Although Zhang Tie had prepared to not take absorbing element crystals as the major method for forming his chakra; now that he was free, given that it was inconvenient for him to cultivate "The Great Wilderness Sutra" and the other secret methods, he just casually took out one vial of water-element crystal and started to absorb it just like cracking melon seeds. By the way, he could increase his battle strength to a certain degree, why not? No matter what, Zhang Tie had a lot of water-element crystals.


    After entering Castle of Black Iron and absorbing the fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie could carry out 26 tasks at the same time. In this state, Zhang Tie''s absorbing speed was much faster. Even though Zhang Tie didn''t make his utmost effort, he had completely absorbed one water-element crystal in less than 1 hour.


    After absorbing the 1st water-element crystal, Zhang Tie took out the 2nd one. When he absorbed half of the 2nd one, the middle-aged man entered the parlor of the courtyard.


    The moment that man entered the parlor and saw that water-element crystal being consumed in a visible way, the thought that he was ready to risk everything immediately disappeared. Meanwhile, he became restrained all over.


    "Thanks...thanks hermit for saving me!" After entering the parlor, that middle-aged man bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie while putting his two hands on both sides of his legs. Lowering his eyes, he just waited for Zhang Tie''s order.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at that man. After taking a bath, having a full meal and putting on a new set of brilliant clothes, that man didn''t look that sloppy anymore.


    Given his look, this man was at his 40s. He had an average figure with a gentle, narrow and long face. At his age, he had only lit 4 surging points on his spine. Therefore, he was very average in cultivation. Additionally, he might have suffered some wounds in his guts, which had not been recovered yet. However, he should have seen the world. At least, he had seen water-element crystals and knew that Zhang Tie was holding a water-element crystal. Those who could absorb water-element crystals were at least earth knights.


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel strange about the words of this person. If the man had not even seen a water-element crystal, even Zhang Tie would doubt that he had made a wrong judgment.


    "Take a seat, I have something to ask you!" Zhang Tie put it straight as he pointed at the chair beside his teapoy. When Zhang Tie talked with him, his battle qi had surrounded the entire parlor. Therefore, nobody else could hear the contents of their talk.


    "Yes, sir!" That man also sat straight on a chair beside Zhang Tie. At the sight of his deed, Zhang Tie nodded inside too. If this person dared be presumptuous in front of an earth knight, he must be really mad. If so, Zhang Tie would not say anything else to him. Given this man''s response, although he looked restrained, he was at least polite. It was similar to that when a commoner met a strange earth knight.


    "What''s your name? How long have you been to Youzhou Province?"


    "This humble man is Sun Jiagu. Since I came to Embracing Tiger City from Qiongzhou Province by sea last October, I have been living in that inn!" That man answered honestly.


    "You said you''re a pharmacist?"


    "I''ve just promoted to gourd-suspending pharmacist master 2 years ago!"


    A gourd-suspending pharmacist was the 3rd level in the world of pharmacists. Before this level, there were herbal medicine apprentice and knapsack pharmacist. If one person could only reach the level of a gourd-suspending pharmacist at his 40s, it meant he was very average in his qualification. He was more like a roving doctor or could at most open a clinic in the downtown to survive himself. If he wanted to make greater achievements, he had to ascend to some more levels.


    "What''s wrong about you? How could you deteriorate to such a degree? On the street, you said that someone wanted to turn all the medicinal materials in Taixia Country into poisons and even kill you!"


    After hearing this question, Sun Jiagu finally plucked up his courage to ask Zhang Tie while looking straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes and gritting his teeth, "May I know your family name and which sect are you from, hermit?"


    "I''m Zhang Tie, a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace!" Zhang Tie exposed his real identity frankly too.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s name, Sun Jiagu widely opened his eyes at once, "You...you''re that...Zhang Tie...the provincial chief justice who caused a great loss to Heavens Reaching Church in Youzhou Province and..."


    Given Sun Jiagu''s shocked expression, Zhang Tie knew that he must have heard about Zhang Tie''s name and even seen Zhang Tie''s image on order for arrest. However, he couldn''t remember whom this young man was for the time being.


    "Right, I''m that Zhang Tie who was once wanted by the Supreme Court across the country; however, the Supreme Court have already canceled off my order for arrest last year. I''m innocent and have already returned to Youzhou Province!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "I wonder whether I could ask you about something with my identity!"


    Sun Jiagu looked at Zhang Tie as he quivered his lips. Before he uttered, he had dropped tears.


    "Go ahead, I''m afraid that you''ve not told that to anyone else. Therefore, you feel a great stress. Just say it. Now that we could meet each other by accident, I wish to be your first audience!" Zhang Tie said kindly.


    "Yes...I will say it...I will tell you all of it..." Sun Jiagu wiped off his tears by sleeves as he gradually recovered his composure, "I was born in Yongfeng Prefecture, Jizhou Province. I served as a herbal medicine apprentice in a drugstore at 16; when I was 31, I promoted to a knapsack pharmacist. I spent most of the time in herbal medicines and have learned how to make ordinary medicinal pills. Later on, through recommendation, I entered Taian Palace, a local major clan in Jizhou Province and got married. After that, I worked in a drugstore being affiliated to Cheng Clan. Cheng Clan of Taian Palace has over 20 cities, hundreds of thousands square miles'' medicinal fields and dozens of medicinal mountains; additionally, they have earth knights. Cheng Clan is good at planting herbal medicines and producing medicines, which are circulating across Jizhou Province and many surrounding provinces. Even the corps across Taixia Country would purchase Cheng Clan''s medicines by large batches. As I excel at making some low-level medicinal pills, I was responsible for supervising and guiding the lads and apprentices to make medicine pills."


    Zhang Tie listened to Sun Jiagu''s explanation seriously as he nodded from time to time. Sun Jiagu''s experience was similar to that of most of the low-level pharmacists in Taixia Country. These people couldn''t continue to promote in the industry of pharmacists; therefore, most of them would seek a reliance and stable work in a major clan. Although top-class medicaments were precious, many low-level medicaments and medicinal pills were the absolute mainstream in the market across Taixia Country even among all the humans. Whatever, commoners and ordinary fighters below LV 9 accounted for most of the people in this world. Only by meeting the demand of these low-level people could the industry indeed grow.


    Although senior recovery medicaments were good, above 99% of commoners in this world might not have a chance to see senior recovery medicaments, not to mention using them.


    Basically, Zhang Clan''s all-purpose medicaments were targeted at commoners. Because all-purpose medicaments could only replace the effects of some preliminary and low-level medicaments.


    Zhang Tie made a hand gesture to let Sun Jiagu continue.


    "I enjoyed a good treatment in Cheng Clan. Previously, I planned to stay in Cheng Clan for the rest of my life. Whatever, it was a stable life. However, I discovered an amazing plot in Cheng Clan by chance!"


    "What plot?"


    "The entire Cheng Clan are stealthily making medicinal pills and medicaments using poisonous medicinal materials; additionally, they are distributing their poisonous medicinal materials to the other provinces across Taixia Country..."

 1199 The Fall of the Dark I

    "According to you, Cheng Clan used poisonous medicinal materials to make various medicinal pills and medicaments; additionally, Cheng Clan sold their poisonous medicinal pills and medicaments to the other provinces. Didn''t anyone discover such evident actions?" Zhang Tie asked while frowning.


    "The poisonous medicinal materials of Cheng Clan''s medicinal materials was very special. It could never be matched by any poison that we''ve seen. Commoners could not discover the toxin in the medicinal pills at all..." Sun Jiagu revealed a bitter smile.


    "Did Cheng Clan add something poisonous into their medicinal materials?"


    "No, Cheng Clan didn''t add anything into their medicinal materials. Cheng Clan produced all the medicinal pills in accordance with the strict manufacturing process and technologies. They couldn''t add anything inside their medicinal materials!"


    Zhang Tie became confused as he asked, "So why were Cheng Clan''s medicinal materials poisonous?"


    "They planted it!"


    "You mean those medicinal materials that Cheng Clan planted were born to be poisonous?" Zhang Tie asked out of amazement. Although he was not a pharmacist, Zhang Tie still felt Sun Jiagu''s words were unbelievable based on his understanding of the profession of pharmacist.


    "Yes!"


    "Had Cheng Clan added poison into the fertilizers or pesticides of those medicinal materials?"


    "No. All the medicinal materials in the medicinal fields of Cheng Clan were as same as those in other clans. Additionally, Cheng Clan had many herbalists. If Cheng Clan added poison in fertilizers and pesticides, those herbalists must have discovered it!"


    "Have Cheng Clan used shoddy medicinal materials or purposefully used wrong ingredients and components or took advantage of the mutual resistance between the properties of drugs?"


    "None of them. Cheng Clan never made mistakes in producing medicinal pills. They always used the right raw materials, proportions and formulas!"


    Zhang Tie forced a smile, "I''m confused. If there''s no problem in medicinal materials or manufacturing processes. Additionally, they didn''t add poison on purpose. How could Cheng Clan''s herbal medicines become poisonous then? Were they born to be poisonous?"


    "Yes, Cheng Clan''s herbal medicines were indeed born to be poisonous!" Sun Jiagu said while gritting his teeth.


    "What herbal medicines did Cheng Clan plant?"


    "Cheng clan''s herbal medicines included honeysuckle, evergreen vine, weeping forsythia, Isatis root, fishy grass, ginseng, crown prince ginseng, Chinese date, Chinese wolfberry, walnut kernel, root of red-rooted salvia, mung, yellow bean, lily, sweet wormwood, Polygonum multiflorum, longan pulp, bark of eucommia, licorice, semi-summer, Chinese bellflower, ginkgo, Chinese ephedra; the root of fangfeng, reed rhizome, earth-bone skin, bamboo leaf, chrysanthemum, patchouly, Morinda Officinalis, trifoliate orange and selfheal, etc.. Cheng Clan was the biggest druggist in Jizhou Province. Cheng Clan had a large area of herbal medicine mountains and planted hundreds of herbal medicines. Most of the herbal medicines that could be planted artificially could be found in Cheng Clan''s medicinal fields on a large scale!"


    "You mean the herbal medicines of Cheng Clan were born to be poisonous?"


    "At the beginning, I didn''t believe it either; however, through repeated experiments, I confirmed this fact!"


    "How did you discover that Cheng Clan''s herbal medicines were poisonous?"


    "Since I became a herbal medicine apprentice at 16 years old, I had formed a habit, namely raising some white rats for a drug test. I inherited this habit from my enlightening master. Herbology originated from traditional Chinese medicines. It''s the elementary knowledge for pharmacists. All the pharmacists have to learn it, no matter what level he is. As there''re too many kinds of herbal medicines, some of them even carried toxicity; especially after being made into medicinal pills and medicaments, if you couldn''t get hang of the proportions or choose the right variety, you might always have problems. Therefore, herbal medicine apprentices would always raise some small animals for a drug test. I''d been used to do that even after I got married. In the beginning, I used white rats for testing drugs; later on, I raised them as pets..."


    "After promoting to a bottle-suspending pharmacist, I excelled at producing a low-level pill that could preserve one''s spiritual energy and benefit one''s blood circulation. It mainly targeted at commoners. Even old men, pregnant women and people in weakness could use it. Therefore, it has a great sales volume in Taixia Country. In the drugstore of Cheng Clan, I was responsible for supervising and guiding a medicine workshop to produce this pill. In the process of producing it, I discovered something wrong with their herbal medicines!"


    Zhang Tie just listened to him quietly. At this moment, Sun Jiagu''s expression became evidently sophisticated.


    "The pill required very common medicinal materials, namely; walnut kernel and Chines date. The two medicinal materials could be found everywhere in the medicine workshop. People would send them there every day. I was responsible for checking and accepting them. As I raised some white rats at home, before leaving the medicine workshop at the end of each day, I would grab a handful of walnut kernels or Chinese dates from the warehouse of the medicine workshop to feed my pets at home. After working in the medicine workshop of Cheng Clan for half a year, the first batch of white rats that I raised at home died one after another..."


    "At the beginning, I didn''t pay attention to it. Because I''ve already raised those white rats for about 2 years. Generally, white rats could only survive 2 or 3 years. Therefore, when those white rats died, I didn''t think too much. After they died, I bought another batch of white rats and raised them with walnut kernels and Chinese date as usual!"


    "However, after half a year later, the white rats died one after another too. At that time, I still didn''t imagine that there was any problem with the medicines. I thought it might be the other reasons. Perhaps I didn''t look after them well or these white rats were weak and sicky. Therefore, I raised the 3rd batch of white rats..."


    "Finally, the 3rd batch of white rats died half a year later too. This time, it reminded me that the walnut kernels and Chinese data that I brought back home might have some problem. However, this event was of great significance. As I was just a supervisor of a small medicine workshop, of course, I dared not do the wild talk or tell this result to the others; I just paid special attention to the walnut kernels and Chinese date. After that, I bought the 4th batch of white rats. I divided them into two groups. One group of white rats only ate the walnuts and Chinese dates that I brought back from Cheng Clan; the other group of white rats only ate some grains and preserved fruits that I bought from other places. Half a year later, the result shocked me once again. The group of white rats who were fed with preserved fruits and grains grew well; however, the other group of white rats who were fed with walnut kernels and Chinese dates died as usual!"


    "I was startled. However, I dared not disseminate that news. After repeating the same experiment for two times, I got the same result. It finally confirmed that the medicines in the medicine workshop of Cheng Clan were poisonous. Later on, with my work as a cover, through careful observation, I investigated each link since the plantation of medicinal materials until they entered the medicine workshop, I found no problem in these links. The biggest problem lay in the seeds of the medicinal materials of Cheng Clan. These seeds were born to be poisonous. However, you couldn''t discover their toxicity. Because these medicinal materials were normal in looks and tastes. Even the most experienced pharmacists couldn''t discover any difference by tasting them. Only by taking these medicinal materials produced by Cheng Clan for a long time could they confirm the hidden toxicity in them!"


    "Later on, I stayed in Cheng Clan for a few more years and sought evidence step by step. Finally, I found that all the medicinal materials that were artificially planted in Cheng Clan were different than natural medicinal materials and those planted by the other clans. All the medicinal materials that were artificially planted in Cheng Clan carried hidden toxicity. After taking them for a long time, humans would be severely poisoned. What was more terrifying was that the poisonous seeds of those medicinal materials in Cheng Clan were also sold to neighboring provinces in various commercial means besides being used for making various medicaments and medicinal pills. As a result, many herbalists who survived on planting medicinal materials in the other provinces would plant those poisonous seeds and constantly spread them to other provinces across Taixia Country; besides, those poisonous medicinal materials would be made into various medicinal pills and medicaments which would further poison the other people in the world..."


    "What was more terrifying was that I discovered that the "toxicity" of those poisonous medicinal materials in Cheng Clan was contagious. For instance, there were two groups of medicinal materials, one group belonged to Cheng Clan, the other group was nontoxic. The medicinal materials of Cheng Clan could pass their toxicity to those nontoxic medicinal materials through pollen transmission. As a result, the next generation of those nontoxic medicinal materials would become poisonous too!"


    "I doubt that the genes of all the traditional Chinese medicines had been modified. Although those medicinal materials looked nothing different than common medicinal materials, their genes had been demonized. Additionally, as long as they were planted, they would cause gene contamination. It''s a plot of demons and Three-eye Association!"


    "I''m just an average bottle-suspending pharmacist. I have no reliance or powerful human relationship. After discovering that, I dared not reveal it to anyone else. Because Cheng Clan had a very great power in Jizhou Province; additionally, I heard that Cheng Clan even had a relationship in Xuanyuan Hill. If I exposed it casually, I might lose my life instead of playing any effect. I buried this secret deep in mind. Half a year ago, I found a reason to leave Cheng Clan. I planned to accuse Cheng Clan in Xuanyuan Hill. I preferred to die for the benefits of all the people across the country. However, on the way to Xuanyuan Hill, I was discovered by Cheng Clan. Therefore, Cheng Clan assigned a killer to kill me. Thankfully, I had long prepared for that, the killer didn''t get me. However, I had to hide here and there so as to survive myself..."


    "All my words are true. If any word is false, you could chop off my head at any time!" Sun Jiagu looked at Zhang Tie with hopeful eyes as he looked like a bit excited after saying so many words.


    After being silent for a short while, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Sun Jiagu before asking, "Do you want me to deal with Cheng Clan for you?"


    "Cheng Clan does harm to the entire world; they''re definitely the lackeys of demons. Shouldn''t they be exterminated?" Sun Jiagu asked while being more excited.


    "You''ve been staying in the inn since you came to Embracing Tiger City in October?"


    "Yes, I entered Embracing Tiger City in October. Because I was afraid of the killer dispatched by Cheng Clan, I spent most of my time in the inn..." Sun Jiagu replied with a curious look after being stunned for a second.


    "Cheng Clan in Jizhou Province had been exterminated. After the riot aroused in Xuanyuan Hill on November 15th, a catastrophe of bloody figures had broken out in Jizhou Province. The bloody sea that Cheng Clan built to raise bloody figures in their clan''s hinterland had been exposed. Cheng Clan had been exterminated by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country. All the kights of Cheng Clan had escaped away. They were being wanted by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country." Zhang Tie exposed this news to Sun Jiagu.


    The catastrophe of bloody figures in Taixia Country was growing increasingly fiercer in an increasing scale. More and more clans being related to Heavens Reaching Church and Bloody Soul Temple were involved in. The official news was always faster than those among the people. As a clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie knew the details a bit earlier. As for Sun Jiagu, after coming to Embracing Tiger City, he had been hiding here and there; therefore, he was more uninformed and couldn''t get the first-hand details about the catastrophe of bloody figures across Taixia Country. Therefore, he still thought that Cheng Clan was dominating in Jizhou Province.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s news, Sun Jiagu became dumbfounded at once. With mouth widely opened, he became stunned and silent for quite a while.


    "If the killer that Cheng Clan assigned to hunt you is still alive, he will never come for you anymore as he can''t even keep himself safe. Later on, you don''t need to hide here and there anymore!" Zhang Tie comforted Sun Jiagu kindly while watching the latter''s distracted look.


    Based on Sun Jiagu''s battle strength, the killer assigned to kill him was at most a LV 9 fighter. As Cheng Clan had been exterminated, it was meaningless for that killer to hunt Sun Jiagu. That guy might have been wanted by the Supreme Court and was escaping or had been killed. Compared to his own life, an average bottle-suspending pharmacist who worked for Cheng Clan was nothing but sh*t.


    However, Sun Jiagu''s words were still valuable to Zhang Tie. Additionally, although Sun Jiagu was just an average bottle-suspending pharmacist, he was disciplined. After discovering the problem in Cheng Clan, he dared accuse Cheng Clan in Xuanyuan Hill. This person must be generous and righteous; especially the last point which Zhang Tie appreciated the most. Although being a small figure, he carried a great moral standing.


    "I''ve left 1,000 gold coins for you in the hotel. If you don''t want to stay here anymore or feel disappointed, you could open a small drugstore in the downtown and live a stable and peaceful life in the future with the money that I gave you. If you want to do something more, you could join Jinwu Business Group in Jinwu City!" Zhang Tie said. At the same time, he moved his hand as he put a vial of senior recovery medicament, which was giving out a bizarre light, on the table before saying, "This vial of senior recovery medicament could cure all of your injuries!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie directly put on his hood and left the courtyard of the hotel...


    Sun Jiagu just watched that vial of senior recovery medicament with a blank look...


    ...


    Outside the hotel, the air became cold once again. At this moment, the gloomy skyline indicated that the night was falling. Although the cold in the air was nothing for Zhang Tie, the cold in Zhang Tie''s heart made him tighten up his hood unconsciously.


    Zhang Tie looked up at the sky before walking towards the direction of Embracing Tiger Mountain immediately...

 1200 The Fall of the Dark II

    The Ancestral Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace rested on Embracing Tiger Mountain, which was one of the forbidden lands in Tiger Embracing City. Ordinary people were forbidden to approach Embracing Tiger City, not to mention entering it.


    Zhang Tie walked all the way to the foot of the Tiger Embracing Mountain. The moment he entered the territory of Tiger Embracing Mountain, clan warriors of Huaiyuan Palace had come forward to stop him.


    "Travellers are forbidden to approach the clan territory of Huaiyuan Palace!"


    Two teams of clan warriors were standing at the entrance of Embracing Tiger Mountain. All of them were tall and strong in heavy armors with heavy swords on one side of their waists. They looked very imposing and solemn. Two clan deacons were standing behind those warriors.


    Additionally, there was a huge stone archway higher than 20 m at the entrance. There were 4 vigorous, huge golden words on the archway¡ª¡ªHuaiyuan Family Style.


    Zhang Tie didn''t speak; instead, he just pulled off his hood, exposing his face.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s face, the 20 warriors and 2 clan deacons quivered all over at the same time. Closely after that, all the warriors knelt down by one knee at the same time. The two clan deacons also bowed deeply towards him before saying, "Elder Mushen!"


    Zhang Tie''s face could even be recognized by ordinary people in the Embracing Tiger City, not to mention these clan warriors who were responsible for the safety of Embracing Tiger Mountain. Zhang Tie''s meritorious services were known to everyone in Huaiyuan Palace. After Zhang Tie came back, all the members of Huaiyuan Palace became spirited. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s prestige in Huaiyuan Palace reached a peak.


    "Don''t be that polite!" Zhang Tie replied simply as he was thinking about something else. After that, he passed through the archway and walked up the mountain. Two clan deacons hurriedly led Zhang Tie to the Ancestral Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace.


    "Have the clan head and the other elders arrived?" Zhang Tie asked the two clan deacons.


    After Zhang Taixuan promoted to the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, he and the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace spent more time in Youzhou City than in Embracing Tiger City. If not the clan elders meeting, it might be a bit easier for the clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace to gather in Youzhou City than in Embracing Tiger City.


    Actually, this clan elders meeting could also be held in Youzhou City; however, as Zhang Taixuan was meticulous; he was afraid of being reproached for turning Youzhou City the private city of Huaiyuan Palace after promoting to the provincial governor of Youzhou Province; therefore, this clan elders meeting was held in Embracing Tiger City.


    "10 minutes ago, besides Elder Muray, all the clan elders and clan head had already arrived at the Ancestral Shrine Palace!" One deacon said respectfully.


    Zhang Tie arrived at Embracing Tiger Mountain 1 hour earlier than the scheduled time. After promoting to an earth knight, Zhang Tie also paid attention to his image in Huaiyuan Palace; he didn''t want to leave a bad impression on people. Therefore, he arrived 1 hour earlier. Zhang Huaiyuan and the other clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace almost arrived at the same time.


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    The Ancestral Shrine Palace was halfway up to the mountain. The pine needles over Embracing Tiger Mountain were still hanging over snow while the steps up to the mountain were swept clean.


    Almost when Zhang Tie arrived at the terrace outside the Ancestral Shrine Palace, a figure landed on Zhang Tie''s side with flame.


    "Elder Muray!"


    "Elder Mushen!"


    The two people greeted each other before entering the Ancestral Shrine Palace at the same time. At this moment, Taixuan, Muan, Muyuan, Muyu and Muen walked out of the Ancestral Shrine Palace to welcome Zhang Tie and Elder Muray. They greeted each other outside the Ancestral Shrine Palace.


    They had not seen each other for almost 1 month. When they met each other once again, none of them looked relaxed.


    Zhang Taixuan threw a glance at the others before saying, "Now that all the elders have arrived, it''s unnecessary for us to wait anymore. Let''s come to a start!"


    Everybody nodded as they entered the Ancestral Shrine Palace. The moment they entered it, the gate had been closed from outside. Many clan deacons guarded outside the Ancestral Shrine Palace. There were also clan deacons inside doors. As a result, the atmosphere became solemn at once.


    The imposing statue that Lord Huaiyuan stood with a crossbow in hand in the Ancestral Shrine Palace was nothing different than that in Jinyun Country. In front of the statue, there were memorial tablets of forebears of Huaiyuan Palace.


    As the head of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Taixuan led the other elders to light incense for the memorial tablets of their forebears. After that, they sat down around a roundtable.


    Zhang Tie sat beside Zhang Taixuan, which indicated that Zhang Tie''s position in Zhang Clan was evidently much higher than that of the other elders. After accomplishing this rotating chakra ceremony, Zhang Tie would become the only grand elder in Huaiyuan Palace. Although Zhang Tie had not officially promoted to a grand elder of Huaiyun Palace, his supreme position had been gradually displayed in all aspects. Therefore, everybody accepted that, including Zhang Taixuan.


    After everybody took seats, Zhang Taixuan glanced around solemnly before saying, "On last November 15th, a riot broke out in Xuanyuan Hill. Han Zhengfang the finance minister''s real identity was exposed. Closely after that, he had an earth-shaking fight with Meng Shidao the master of the crown prince, which shocked the rest of the world. Overnight, the catastrophe of bloody figures broke out in over 70 provinces across Taixia Country, causing great casualties. After that, the overall situation facing Taixia Country deteriorated. As a result, the entire country was covered with battle smokes and flames..."


    At this moment, the other clan elders threw a glance at Zhang Tie stealthily. Zhang Taixuan also paused for a second while throwing a glance at Zhang Tie. All the people at present were not idiots. Han Zhengfang was the culprit of the tragedy in Fuhai City. When Han Zhengfang''s real identity was exposed by over 100,000 swans in terms of the most exaggerating "big-words poster", Zhang Tie was in Xuanyuan Hill. What a coincidence, the one being screwed and the culprit of the tragedy in Fuhai City appeared in Xuanyuan Hill at the same time, the catastrophe broke out. As a result, the culprit of the tragedy was exposed by a "force majeure". Therefore, the elders of Huaiyuan Palace doubted that it was done by Zhang Tie.


    However, this event was really weird. The one who could control so many swans in Xuanyuan Hill at once must be a top-class animal control master. There were fewer than 10 such figures in Taixia Country. It was not strange for Zhang Tie to know something about animal controlling skill as many knights in Taixia Country knew something about animal controlling skill. Zhang Tie might learn to control animals from Patron Church. However, he didn''t excel at it. All the elders of Huaiyuan Palace knew that point. However, the elders of Huaiyuan Palace didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could master such a terrifying animal controlling skill. Additionally, Zhang Tie went to Xuanyuan Hill to attend the Treasures Meeting and investigate the case of bloody figures in Zhongzhou Province. What was more, Zhang Tie didn''t have any contact with Han Zhengfang before; how could he know the real identity of Han Zhengfang? After staying in Xuanyuan Hill for so many years, Han Zhengfang had rooted in Taixia Country deeply. It was definitely impossible for an outsider to expose his real identity. Therefore, they felt that Zhang Tie shouldn''t be related to the riot in Xuanyuan Hill on last November 15th.


    On one aspect, it was such a weird coincidence; on the other hand, it was the ability which couldn''t be explained. The coincidence was a motive; however, the ability didn''t come out of anywhere. Nevertheless, Zhang Tie kept silent about what happened in Xuanyuan Hill; therefore, Zhang Taixuan and the other elders threw a curious glance at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie was clear about these points. However, he would not accept it if he was treated as the target by the Heavens Reaching Church and the Gobbling Party. After all, if he didn''t admit that, nobody in the world knew that he was related to the riot in Xuanyuan Hill on last November 15th. ''During the period of Treasures Meeting, there were thousands of knights in Xuanyuan Hill. Who would believe that I could know the real identity of Han Zhengfang only after coming to Xuanyuan Hill for a few days while I had no contact with Han Zhengfang before? This is too fantastic! If I have long known about the real identity of Han Zhengfang, Han Zhengfang had already become the target for all when I released that post in the forum of Mountain of Brightness. I became the scapegoat for so long, even God couldn''t bear it; therefore, the Mighty God made me innocent.''


    Zhang Tie glanced around while blinking his eyes innocently.


    When the others found that Zhang Tie just kept silent, they moved their eyes away from him. Nobody in Huaiyuan Palace would mention it later on.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Zhang Taixuan cleared his throat as he continued, "As Emperor Xuanyuan is missing, Taixia Country has long been unstable internally. At this moment, Heavens Reaching Church is bewildering people in Taixia Country. The catastrophe of bloody figures has spread over Taixia Country. Even Youzhou Province was afflicted by bloody figures. The holy war has just broken out for a few years, the contingent of demons have not reached Taixia Country yet. However, Taixia Country has been suffering from troubles and contradictions both inside and outside. For the long-term benefit of Huaiyuan Palace, Taixuan has to invite all the clan elders to negotiate about the big plan of our clan. We need to make preparations as early as possible!"


    "Our Huaiyuan Palace has just returned to Taixia Country from Waii Subcontinent. Our foundation couldn''t match that of the other major clans in Taixia Country. However, Taixia Country is the final asylum of Huaiyuan Palace. We couldn''t go anywhere else. All the elders at present must be clear about that. Therefore, Huaiyuan Palace has to make preparations for emergencies."


    After Zhang Taixuan finished his words, Elder Muen opened his mouth. As Elder Muen also came from the branch of Yiyang City, he agreed with Zhang Taixuan''s opinion. Zhang Tie and Elder Muyuan then exchanged a glance with each other. All the other clan elders at present then exchanged a glance with each other as they realized that Zhang Taixuan might expose something amazing...


    ...

 1201 The Fall of the Dark III

    "As we''re all clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace, clan head, please go ahead. As long as it''s for the benefit of Huaiyuan Palace, I believe all the elders could understand it no matter what the clan head says!" Elder Muray said in a muffled voice.


    After Elder Muray finished his words, Zhang Tie and all the elders nodded.


    "As we''re in the Ancestral Shrine Palace, of course, we will center on the benefit of Huaiyuan Palace. We''re all descendants of Huaiyuan Palace and Hua people of Taixia Country, we know what counts most, clan head!" Elder Muyuan said too.


    When all the other elders expressed their stance, Zhang Taixuan nodded as he clapped twice.


    As Zhang Taixuan''s clap reverberated around the empty Ancestral Shrine Palace, two clan deacons walked out of a shadow and came to the side of the round table. One deacon lifted a tray which contained some files; the other deacon delivered the files to all the elders.


    Zhang Tie got one too. With the strong spiritual energy, he could read this file as fast as taking a picture by camera. He could finish reading one page only by throwing a glimpse at it. Additionally, he could remember all the contents. The entire file was composed of 2 pages. Therefore, Zhang Tie finished reading them in the blink of an eye.


    After skimming over the two pages, although Zhang Tie was always calm, he also became greatly shocked spiritually as he looked at Zhang Taixuan in an amazed manner.


    Reflected by the flames in the Ancestral Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Taixuan looked calm and profound. Nobody knew what he was thinking about. Although the other elders couldn''t read as fast as Zhang Tie, they also finish reading the file rapidly. Zhang Tie noticed that Elder Muyu and Elder Muray couldn''t help but quiver their hands after reading that thin file as if the two pages were pretty heavy.


    After a few seconds, when all the clan elders skimmed over the file, they all looked at Zhang Taixuan with shocked looks.


    "Clan head...how...how did you get this?" Elder Muyu asked in a bit quivering voice.


    "After the riot broke out in Xuanyuan Hill on last November 15th, the Youzhou Provincial Governor''s Mansion has received the notice from Northeast Military Region, which included the name-list of all the clans of Heavens Reaching Church who participated in building bloody seas. The Northeast Military Region request Youzhou Province to close down all the industries of these clans in Youzhou Province and arrest the chief personnel of these clans. After receiving that name-list, I handed it to Longwind Business Group and ordered Longwind Business Group to investigate all the businesses of these clans of Heavens Reaching Church and report it to me. After almost 2 months'' efforts, Longwind Business Group finally figured out the businesses of these clans of Heavens Reaching Church and those business groups that were affiliated to them. Through screening and analysis, we got this first-hand intelligence!"


    Zhang Taixuan glanced around the other elders in a solemn way while his clear and cold sound reverberated around the Ancestral Shrine Palace, "The business group of Wen Clan in Pingsha Valley was trading grains and grain seeds. However, 61 of the 78 clans being affiliated to Heavens Reaching Church across Taixia Country were trading grains and grain seeds too. Among the 61 clans, with the care and assistance of Han Zhengfang the finance minister, the business groups of Gao Clan of Time-honored Taste Palace in Liangzhou Province, Ke Clan of Pingshu Palace in Qingzhou Province and Zhang Clan of Huayun Palace in Ezhou Province ranked top agricultural business groups in Taixia Country. Their grains, grain seeds and reclaimed farms covered Taixia Country. They even had a market in Youzhou Province. As for the other 58 clans, their business of grains and grain seeds at least had a greater market share in one province! So many clans of Heavens Reaching Church were involved in the business of grains and grain seeds, was that a coincidence?"


    "Elders, you should know that the trade in grains and grain seeds is not monopolistic in Taixia Country. Everyone could be involved it; additionally, the profit is very low. Because of the low profit of the trade in grains and grain seeds, they had to reach a scale so as to make big profits. Therefore, our Longwind Business Group has not involved in this business. However, during the dozens of years when Han Zhengfang served as the finance minister of Taixia Country, these clans of Heavens Reaching Church positively involved in trading grain and grain seeds. Are they only making money? As the finance minister of Taixia Country, Han Zhengfang could have better channels to have these clans involved in; however, these clans preferred the most unprofitable industry. Why?"


    The air in the Ancestral Shrine Palace was like freezing with a chill, which couldn''t even be driven away by flames.


    All the elders were silent, including Zhang Tie. Because they all thought about the same possibility.


    Zhang Tie was shocked the most. He had just encountered Sun Jiagu in the daytime and was anxiety-ridden by his words. Zhang Tie had not imagined that the news brought by Zhang Taixuan was much severer than that mentioned by Sun Jiagu.


    Agriculture was the root of stability, also the foundation for the development of Hua people. If Taixia Country didn''t have grains or met a problem in grain supply, people would be starved to death; corps would not fight any more; cities would lose their vitality; the foundation of state political power and social stability would collapse; as a result, various contradictions would break out severely. As Han Zhengfang had served as the finance minister of Taixia Country for so many years, plus so many clans of Heavens Reaching Church were involved in this business, the influence and scope were inestimable. As long as there was any problem in agriculture of Taixia Country, the foundation of Taixia country would rock in the holy war.


    The severest crisis that Hua people experienced before the Catastrophe almost led to the extinction of Hua people. Because the traitors, bureaucratic groups and the Three-eye Association coordinated with each other to control the agricultural production and grain seeds provision of Hua people. With this extremely miserable lesson, all the Class-A cities in Taixia Country listed grain seeds as the most important items in the top 6 warehouses.


    Nobody could imagine that the same scene might happen once again in Taixia Country after over 900 years...


    Elder Muray started to pant while Elder Muyuan pinched the handrail of his chair into pieces.


    Even Zhang Tie felt empty in mind for a short while after receiving such a news. After being vacant for a few seconds, Zhang Tie remembered a sentence¡ª¡ªthe firmest fortress would always be broken through from inside!


    Zhang Tie closed his eyes painfully...


    "Han Zhengfang the finance minister is the master of Heavens Reaching Church; Heavens Reaching Church colludes with demons. Additionally, the clans and forces of Heavens Reaching Church monopolized the agriculture and the provision of grain seeds. They definitely hid a malicious intent. Demons would never give up such a chance. Therefore, I have every reason to believe that Han Zhengfang''s biggest purpose during his term of office was to rock and destroy the foundation of Taixia Country and Hua people by playing a trick in agriculture. The grains especially grain seeds traded by these clans of Heavens Reaching Church might have been demonized. After combining with the growth state of the bloody figures in the bloody sea across the country, the result of demons'' conspiracy in agriculture might break out in 2 years!"


    "Han Zhengfang had served as the finance minister of Taixia Country for many years. The grains and grain seeds traded by the clans of Heavens Reaching Church have long spread over Taixia Country. After so many years, nobody could figure out how deep have the agriculture of Taixia Country been influenced by Three-eye Association. For the further development of Huaiyuan Palace, Huaiyuan Palace must make a timely response to it. That''s why I summon all the elders here!" Zhang Taixuan glanced around once again before continuing, "Although I hope my guesses are all false, in the current situation, Huaiyuan Palace have to make preparation for the worst scenario so as to survive ourselves. Honorable elders, please speak your mind freely. We could draw upon all useful opinions and commonly tide over this catastrophe!"


    All the elders became silent for a short while. Closely after that, they all moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie. As Zhang Tie would soon be the first grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace. Of course, he was invited to speak his mind firstly out of respect in accordance with the rule.


    Under the gaze of everyone else, Zhang Tie slowly opened his eyes. He let out a sigh before saying in a muffled voice with a solemn look, "Clan head''s guesses are all true. Don''t have any fluke mind. The grain seeds traded by the business groups being affiliated to Heavens Reaching Church indeed have been demonized!"


    Those elders exchanged a glance with each other. They had not imagined that Zhang Tie could confirm Zhang Taixuan''s guesses the moment he opened his mouth. After hearing Zhang Taixuan''s words, those elders indeed had a fluke mind.


    Elder Muen broke the silence by asking a question that all the elders at present were concerned about, "How could Elder Mushen be so sure about that?"


    "I came to Embracing Tiger City a bit earlier today. After arriving here, I took a round in Embracing Tiger City. Coincidentally, I met a person..." Zhang Tie described how he met Sun Jiagu in a calm tone, "Even Cheng Clan had already used demonized medicinal materials to poison commoners across Taixia Country and stealthily destroy the recovering capability and the ability of producing low-level medicaments in a large scale in the holy war, not to mention the grain seeds traded by the other clans of Heavens Reaching Church. Taixia Country might have long been covered with poisonous grain seeds. This is definitely real! Elders could see it soon!"


    Zhang Tie had recovered his composure from being shocked, sad, empty and confused. Therefore, his voice was filled with an unspoken calm and wisdom...

 1202 The Fall of the Dark IV

    The coming crisis facing Taixia Country made the elders of Huaiyuan Palace in the Ancestral Shrine Palace suffocated.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie sensed that he was trivial and helpless once again. He was not God. Therefore, he couldn''t change what had happened. After recovering his composure completely, Zhang Tie found that he could only make his full efforts to adopt correct countermeasures.


    He was a man, the father of 8 kids, the husband of 6 women, the pillar of Zhang Clan in Jinwu City, the founder of Iron-Dragon Sect and a human earth knight. He couldn''t shirk off his heavy responsibilities. He didn''t have time to feel sad and furious. If it were a battle, he had already been on the battlefield. Besides adopting correct countermeasures to survive himself and his fellows and kill enemies, he should not be influenced by any mood.


    "It''s already come to the fact that the grains and grain seeds that are circulated through Heavens Reaching Church have been demonized. We need to figure out what trick have Heavens Reaching Church and demons played on the demonized grains and grain seeds. Only in this way could Huaiyuan Palace adopt the correct counter-measures!" Zhang Tie glanced around before saying calmly, "As honorable elders and clan head are more experienced in this aspect, you should believe that it''s true!"


    Zhang Taixuan and all the other elders frowned silently.


    After changing their faces, Elder Muyuan opened his mouth, "Given the history before the Catastrophe, would Heavens Reaching Church and demons continue to transfer some special pathogen in the grains and have grains carry the pathogen into the human body?"


    "I don''t think so!" Elder Muyu shook his head before continuing, "Demons and Three-eye Association have already played such a trick before the Catastrophe. By transferring unidentified pathogen into the human body through demonized grains, they caused a great number of Hua people to lose their fertile ability and race reproduction ability. A large number of Hua fetuses were aborted due to death or malformation in their mothers'' wombs. Taixia Country dared never forget such a miserable lesson until today. In order to prevent demons and Three-eye Association from adopting the same trick, since the founding of Taixia Country, a large-scale mechanism on the statistics, general survey and discovery about epidemics across Taixia Country have been established across Taixia Country. Even Youzhou Province has started to run this mechanism since the beginning. The medical care data about patients in public hospitals across Taixia Country would be collected in the provincial and prefectural medical affairs bureau in each season, which would be selected and analyzed by the large difference engine system. As long as the same, large-scale health problem appeared in different provinces, those provinces would report it to their superior agencies for further investigation!"


    "As the most powerful human country, Taixia Country would never make the same mistake in this aspect. Han Zhengfang was also clear about the mechanism about health care and defense across Taixia Country; if the grains and grain seeds being circulated through Heavens Reaching Church were demonized, after a few years, those eaters would have had problems in their health for sure, which would have been discovered along with the real identities of Han Zhengfang and those clans of Heavens Reaching Church. They couldn''t manage such an evil business for dozens of years without being discovered. Therefore, they definitely didn''t transfer dangerous pathogen into grains."


    After hearing Elder Muyu''s words, everybody else at present nodded. Therefore, the first method that Heavens Reaching Church and demons adopted to demonize grains was vetoed.


    The history might repeat itself; however, it would never repeat simply. This was the law of history.


    "Now that they didn''t transfer pathogen into grains, whether do Heavens Reaching Church and demons realize cross-species genetic control over Hua people indirectly by modifying the genes of those grains? The second method had also been used on Hua people by Three-eye Association and demons!" Elder Muan said.


    After hearing Elder Muan''s words, all the others at the round table started to consider about it seriously.


    Before the Catastrophe, when demonized grains appeared in the public for the first time, they were always covered with the halos of high-tech biological technologies. In quite a long period, the mechanism of action of demonized grains and demonized traditional Chinese medicines and their dangers to the human body were the secrets of Three-eye Association and demons. In that age, the lackeys of Three-eye Association mostly liked to propagate that demonized grains and the toxin in demonized traditional Chinese medicines wouldn''t pose any influence to human health. Additionally, there was no evidence that demonized grains could change human genetic functions. According to them, demonized grains were as same as normal grains. In that age, all the people who said that demonized grains would do harm to people''s health were regarded as rumormongers, innocent and stumbling blocks on the way of human civilization.


    In that age, it was Hua scientists who first discovered the secret that demonized plants could realize cross-species regulation of human genetic functions. In one word, the microRNA of plants could enter the blood, tissues and organs through daily food intake; the moment they entered the human body, they would affect the physiological functions of the human body through regulating the target genes in the human body.


    The above sentence revealed the basis and principle that demonized grains influenced human body. Today, this sentence evolved into a maxim about human and food, which was favored by all the pharmacists¡ª¡ªpeople are not eating "food", but "message".


    In the opinion of a traditional pharmacist who was obsessed with the conspiracy theory, if the history of people and country was divided by food, the catastrophe of demonized grains that Hua people experienced 1,000 years ago was just the second catastrophe that Hua people experienced on food problem. The first catastrophe of food that Hua people experienced before the Catastrophe started when Hua people turned pork into their main meats. Although Hua people had a long history in raising pork and eating pork, in quite a long period, Hua people''s main meats were mutton and beef; instead of pork.


    Because we were not eating "food" but "message", a clean and powerful nation should have a clean and powerful food source at first.


    In a preliminary book "Food Message Theory" for herbal medicine apprentices, pork''s harms were described as follows, "Pig eats everything and sleeps wherever it wants; it doesn''t even look at the sky and move like a sick man; its nature is lascivious; its meat tastes cold; its image is extremely ugly. It''s the worst animal in the world. If people ate pork, people would be affected by its nature.


    There was one sentence in Huang Di''s Canon of Medicine, "People who eat grains are wise; those who eat meat are despised".


    There was another comment about pork made by an ancient famous Hua doctor in Compendium of Materia Medica¡ª¡ªIf one always ate pork, one would have fewer sperms and a recurrence of an old disease...besides, one would feel pain, fatigued and breathless all over.


    There was another classical quotation in the Quotations of Famous Doctors¡ª¡ªPorks could tighten one''s blood vessels; weaken one''s tendons, bones and muscles. People couldn''t always eat porks; especially those who suffer from knife wounds.


    In the Patron Church that Zhang Tie believed in, clergies always stuck to such a doctrine and principle¡ª¡ªDon''t eat all the disgusting things!


    The Patron Church believed that if people wanted to maintain a pure soul, sound consideration and nourished a zealous spirit and a clean and healthy body, they should pay special attention to the diet that they survived on. Food was different, good or not, clean or dirty, different food would pose different influences to the human body. Good food would do good to the human body; bad food would do harm to the human body. Therefore, people had to pay special attention to diet!


    Many nations didn''t eat pork; besides, they had a lot of requests for their daily staple!


    It was definitely not a coincidence, but the wise words of forerunners.


    Although pharmacists ate meats, they didn''t eat pork. In Zhang Tie''s family, since Zhang Yang became a pharmacist, the entire Zhang family had not eaten pork anymore. Additionally, pork was not the main meat for Hua people anymore in this age.


    There were over 900 years from when Hua people started to eat pork on a large scale to when they were cheated to eat demonized grains before the Catastrophe. Coincidentally, pork and demonized grains posed the same influence to Hua people''s health, namely, having fewer sperms, having a recurrence of an old disease, tightening one''s blood vessels, weakening one''s tendons, bones and muscles. Therefore, some far-sighted Hua people were curious about the reason. Perhaps, in the long river of history, before serving demonized food on the dining table of Hua people, demons and their lackeys among Hua people had played a trick on the food of Hua people and turned pork into their main meat. As a result, Hua people gradually declined physically and spiritually and experienced large-scale catastrophes one after another.


    ...


    After hearing Elder Muan''s words, the entire Ancestral Shrine Palace was in silence. All the elders at present were in meditation and memory, including Zhang Tie. Finally, Zhang Taixuan shook his head, "It''s possible; but almost impossible. Being similar to the first method, if Heavens Reaching Church used such demonized grains and grain seeds, these demonized grains would definitely arouse large-scale health problems after circulating in Taixia Country for so long. Such health problems couldn''t be buried at all; unless these demonized grains have a very small poisonous effect and just target at a minority of people. If so, it was unnecessary for Heavens Reaching Church to do that!"


    "Then, there''s only one possibility!" Elder Muen took in a deep breath.


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh before saying, "It means that these demonized grains and grain seeds didn''t take effect until 10 more generations later, even dozens of generations later. There''s no dangerous pathogen or genetic modification that target at weakening human health; however, the normal growth and reproduction ability of these grains and grain seeds have been "castrated". Their genes have problems too. Although these grains and grain seeds look normal now, they would not bear any seeds one day. Each grain and grain seed managed by the clans of Heavens Reaching Church is a time bomb. Since they started to manage these grains and grain seeds, they had preset the precise time for the bombs. Given Taixia Country''s population, as long as it runs out of grains, ordinary people would have no food. As a result, Taixia Country would be in a civil strife due to "hunger" before demons arrive. Because no subcontinents or continents could bear the great food consumption of Taixia Country.

 1203 The Counter-measures of Huaiyuan Palace

    Chapter 1203: The Counter-measures of Huaiyuan Palace


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Through negotiation, the elders and clan head of Huaiyuan Palace figured out the plot that Heavens Reaching Church made in Taixia Country. Later on, they discussed the counter-measures.


    Speaking of counter-measures, Huaiyuan Palace had to appreciate the Gobbling Party. When Huaiyuan Palace''s main force transferred from Waii Subcontinent to Youzhou Province, Huaiyuan Palace behaved meticulously in case of being screwed by the powerful enemy of the Gobbling Party in Taixia Country. After Huaiyuan Palace transferred to Taixia Country, all the grain seeds that Huaiyuan Palace planted in the reclaimed land of Yanghe Prefecture came from Huaiyuan Palace''s storage in Waii Subcontinent.


    Therefore, Huaiyuan Palace must be not contaminated by the demonized grains.


    Nobody could imagine that Huaiyuan Palace''s meticulous deed at the beginning could become their asset to respond to the crisis facing Taixia Country as a whole. How life affairs changed!


    "In the ancient book History of Wu State and Yue State in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period , on the 13th year since Goujian ascended to the throne of the Yue State, he cheated Wu State with the reason that Yue State suffered from a severe natural disaster and borrowed 1 million kg millets from Wu State. On the second year, Yue State''s millets became ripe. Goujian then dispatched people to select fine millets, steam them and dry them before finally returning them to Wu State. At the sight of fine millets, the king of Wu State was very happy as he had people delivered the millets to his farmers; however, they got no millet that year, causing a famine across Wu State. When clan elders returned to Taixia Country, you all suggested carrying grain seeds from Waii Subcontinent in case that Youzhou Province was controlled by others due to the problem of grain seeds. I''ve not imagined that such a trivial decision of elders could have such a great effect today and earn a bit hope for our Huaiyuan Palace in the chaotic world!" Zhang Taixuan let out a sigh with emotion. After that, he stood up and said, "At that time, Taixuan was fighting demons in the Earth-elements Realm. Thanks to your considerate arrangement, our clan was relatively safe, you''re so intelligent and considerate, please accept my bow!"


    "It''s our responsibilities. As members of Huaiyuan Palace, of course, we should think for the sake of Huaiyuan Palace. Clan head, we dare not accept such a solemn rite!" As the other elders said in unison, they hurriedly spring up to bow deeply towards Zhang Taixuan. After being polite for a while, they all sat down once again.


    "When the spring arrives, we need to reclaim more wasteland and sow more grain seeds in Yanghe Prefecture in case of danger. In the chaotic world, we would not feel flurried with grains in hand. As long as we have grains, our Huaiyuan Palace would not be afraid of the demons and Three-eye Association as we would be more confident to respond to crises! As for expanding people for reclaiming wasteland, I suggest Huaiyuan Palace to recruit or receive refugees from Chaosang Subcontinent or other subcontinents. It''s time for us to put our accumulated fund in such places. As long as our capital and personnel were in place, we could reclaim over 700 million square meters'' wasteland in 1 year." Elder Muen suggested.


    "I agree with Elder Muen very much, but I''m afraid that we couldn''t easily manage so many outsiders!" Elder Muyu added.


    "The former Hurricane Corps have been disbanded after they arrived at Taixia Country; however, after being disbanded, the Hurricane Corps maintained their overall strength; they just turned into armed guards of business groups under the control of Zhang Clan. It''s easy to call them together. Nominally, they could be the guards of our business groups; actually, they could serve as a stationed military force. If Hurricane Corps is responsible for managing the reclamation of wasteland in semi-militarized means next year, it would be much faster!"


    "I agree, it''s a good method!"


    "This plan counts most in our clan. We have to assign able men to manage well the stationed military force and the reclamation of wasteland! Additionally, they have to report the progress to clan head and all the elders of Huaiyuan Palace in each season."


    "After the catastrophe of bloody figures broke out, the prices of grains across Taixia Country had been higher than it was last year. Now, Huaiyuan Palace should expand our granaries in all of our cities; additionally, we should speed up purchasing grains from other places. When in an emergency, people would even buy one steamed bun with one gold coin!"


    "Elder Muyu is right. We''d better execute it as soon as possible. Longwind Business Group and all the other business groups of Huaiyuan Palace should take action as soon as possible. Now that we could figure out the problems, the other major clans in Taixia Country could figure them out too sooner or later. All the major clans in Taixia Country are collecting grains at relatively slower speeds. When everybody realized the importance of the issue and started to collect grains, the prices of grains in Taixia Country would at least rise by a few times than now. At this time, the private cities of Huaiyuan Palace should collect as many grains as possible!"


    "I don''t think that we should be busy building granaries outside cities. We''d better build new battle fortresses outside the cities in Yanghe Prefecture. Battle fortresses could be installed rapidly. On one hand, battle fortresses could assist cities to defend enemies and reassure the public; on the other hand, we could use these battle fortresses as temporary granaries and store a part of grains in the battle fortresses. One stone for two birds!"


    Only after more than half an hour, the elders had already worked out many suggestions and decisions through discussion.


    Besides constantly expanding reclaimed land in Yanghe Prefecture, Huaiyuan Palace would constantly purchase land; receive refugees; expand army; regulate well grain seeds; increase the storage of grains; intensify the training of domestic troops; strengthen intelligence and information collection work tentatively and coordinate well with the other major clans in Youzhou Province in a few years.


    The entire battle strength of the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace might not be greater than that of Zhang Tie''s; however, all the other elders were as wily as Zhang Tie facing similar crises.


    Zhang Tie just listened to the other elders'' words silently, which benefited him a lot. If Huaiyuan Palace were 10 more timers stronger, they would definitely have more means and different counter-measures. However, what these elders proposed had been the optimal plans.


    "Elder Mushen, what''s your opinion?" Zhang Taixuan moved his eyes onto Zhang Tie who was being silent while asking him politely.


    "Clan head and all the other elders are experienced, mature, wise and considerate. you''ve considered all the situations. Therefore, I have nothing to say. It''s Huaiyuan Palace''s great honor to have a clan head and all the other elders!" Zhang Tie said modestly and politely.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s praise, Zhang Taixuan revealed a smile; all the other elders also touched their beard in a pleasantly reserved way.


    There was one sentence that the other elders didn''t say. Actually, they all felt that it was Huaiyuan Palace''s honor to have Zhang Tie as their grand elder, who was not greedy about power and influence besides being modest and young. In other major clans of Taixia Country, there were always grand elders who misused their power and elbowed out their clan heads and the other elders only for power and profits. By contrast, Zhang Tie, who was young, polite, powerful with a lot of secret methods and could have the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion be docile to him while being not greedy for power was popular no matter where he was. Although these elders didn''t disturb Zhang Tie in Jinwu City these days, they had heard that the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion directly called Zhang Tie''s parents father and mother.


    In the eyes of all the elders, the marriage between Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian was fixed. The moment Zhang Tie became the son-in-law of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, his position in Huaiyuan Palace would be more special and honorable.


    If Zhang Tie said the same words before, the other elders would feel it was reasonable because Zhang Tie was indeed the youngest clan elder; however, after Zhang Tie promoted to the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace, his words satisfied those elders so much.


    "Now that, the plans have been fixed!"


    Zhang Taixuan made a decision while all the other elders nodded. After that, this Clan Elders Meeting came to an end officially.


    "Elder Mushen, are you free to accompany me to visit Embracing Tiger Mountain?" Zhang Taixuan asked Zhang Tie.


    After hearing that, all the others realized that Zhang Taixuan had something to talk with Zhang Tie. They then bade a farewell to Zhang Taixuan and Zhang Tie before leaving Ancestral Shrine Palace one after another.


    "Glad to do that!" Zhang Tie replied.


    After that, the two people walked out of the Ancestral Shrine Palace and went towards the top of the mountain along the stone steps behind the Ancestral Shrine Palace.


    In winter, the dark fell earlier. When Zhang Tie arrived at Embracing Tiger Mountain, it was not dark yet; however, after the conference, it had already become dark outside.


    Under the green fluorite lamps, the stone steps looked hazy. Although there was no accumulated snow on the stone steps, there was some vapor. It took Zhang Tie and Zhang Taixuan a short while to come to the best pavilion near the top of the mountain from the back of the Ancestral Shrine Palace.


    From here, they could see the brilliant and warm lamplight over Embracing Tiger City and the vast sea outside Tiger Embracing Harmor.


    "I wonder whether Tiger Embracing City could still maintain such a scenery after this holy war!" Zhang Taixuan suddenly let out a sigh with emotion as he watched Embracing Tiger City at the foot of the mountain.


    When Zhang Tie was guessing what Zhang Taixuan wanted to talk with him, Zhang Taixuan turned around after letting out a sigh with emotion as he asked Zhang Tie, "Elder Mushen, do you know the relationship between Huaiyuan Palace and Taiyi Fantasy Sect?"

 1204 Whose Choice?

    Chapter 1204: Whose Choice?


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    ''The relationship between Huaiyuan Palace and Taiyi Fantasy Sect?''


    After hearing Zhang Taixuan''s question, Zhang Tie became stunned. To be honest, Zhang Tie really didn''t know about that. He only knew that Huaiyuan Palace got along well with Taiyi Fantasy Sect. He discovered it when Lan Yunxi promoted to a knight in Taixia Fantasy Sect soon after she joined them. Besides her exceptional talent and efforts, Lan Yunxi could enjoy better cultivation resources than the other disciples in Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    "I really don''t know about the relationship between Huaiyuan Palace and Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Clan head, please go ahead!" Zhang Tie answered Zhang Taixuan frankly.


    "The relationship between Huaiyuan Palace and Taiyi Fantasy Sect could date back to Lord Huaiyuan. When Lord Huaiyuan was in Taixia Country, he had some bosom friends, one of whom came from Taiyi Fantasy Sect. This was the earlier relationship between Huaiyuan Palace and Taiyi Fantasy Sect!"


    "Ahh? Our forebear Lord Huaiyuan had a bosom friend in Taiyi Fantasy Sect?" Zhang Tie asked Zhang Taixuan while blinking his eyes.


    "Yes, our forebear Lord Huaiyuan met that bosom friend of Taiyi Fantasy Sect when he had just promoted to a black iron knight and entered the Earth-elements Realm for practice. At that time, they were both black iron knights. Later on, Lord Huaiyuan joined God''s Will Army, one of the top 4 armies of Taixia Country and finally promoted to West Expedition General. That bosom friend of Lord Huaiyuan also made a spurt of progress and became one of the top 4 elders in Taiyi Fantasy Sect today!"


    It was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that Huaiyuan Palace and Taiyi Fantasy Sect could have such a relationship.


    "Is that bosom friend of Lord Huaiyuan Feng Yexiao?"


    "Not Feng Yexiao, but the only female elder of the top 4 elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Zhu Qianqian!"


    ''I''ve not imagined that Lord Huaiyuan could have another female companion in Taiyi Fantasy Sect.'' At this moment, Zhang Tie felt absurd as he didn''t know whether he should cry or laugh.


    Zhang Tie had already understood what Zhang Taixuan was going to talk to him. Therefore, before Zhang Taixuan mentioned it, Zhang Tie had shaken his head with a big smile as he said on his own initiative, "I know what you want to say, clan head. I will return that airboat to Taiyi Fantasy Sect. I don''t feel pitiful at all. Clan head, you could have someone take away that airboat when you''re free. It''s just an airboat!"


    Zhang Taixuan watched Zhang Tie carefully and found that Zhang Tie was not lying. Therefore, he let out a sigh with emotion, "It''s good if you think so. As Taixia Country is in chaos, it''s unworthy for Huaiyuan Palace to be on unfriendly terms with Taiyi Fantasy Sect only for an airboat. It''s good for you to receive the airboat in the identity of Cui Li; however, after you recover your original identity, based on the relationship between Huaiyuan Palace and Taiyi Fantasy Sect, it''s a bit improper for you to win an airboat from Taiyi Fantasy Sect as an elder of Huaiyuan Palace!"


    "I see!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "Since I decided to expose my real identity to the public, I''ve been considering this problem. I''m okay. After all, Yunxi is still in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. If the relationship between Taiyi Fantasy Sect and I, an elder of Huaiyuan Palace, were worsened, Yunxi might hear some gossips in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. She might be screwed by someone!"


    Zhang Tie was saying sincerely. Compared to Lan Yunxi, that airboat was nothing. Zhang Tie would never make Lan Yunxi embarrassed in Taiyi Fantasy Sect only for an airboat. The airboat was nothing but a traffic tool. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, even Lan Yunxi''s one hair was more valuable than the icy airboat. When Zhang Tie spoke, he didn''t notice Zhang Taixuan''s expression. After saying that, he noticed that Zhang Taixuan looked a bit strange. Zhang Tie realized immediately that he had called Lan Yunxi in an intimate way just now. If not being in special terms with Lan Yunxi, how could Zhang Tie call her in such an intimate way?


    "Erm...I''ve long known senior sister apprentice Lan in Hidden Dragon Island...later on...later on we were comrades-in-arms in Selnes Theater of Operations...erm...therefore, we''re familiar with each other..." Zhang Tie rubbed his face with an embarrassed look as he explained which sounded like nonsense.


    Nobody in Huaiyuan Palace knew the love affairs between Zhang Tie and Lan Yunxi. It was like "secret" romance. Facing Zhang Taixuan, Zhang Tie felt being caught by a young girl''s father while falling in love with her.


    Zhang Taixuan cleared his throat twice as he moved his eyes away from Zhang Tie''s face towards Embracing Tiger City, "Animosity is more easily defused than being formed. The misunderstanding between Taiyi Fantasy Sect and you had better be defused. I will invite Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s representatives to attend your Rotating Chakra Ceremony as a means of reconciliation. After that, they will drive away that airboat. If you need an airboat, just use mine!"


    "As you wish, clan head!" Zhang Tie replied as he tried his best to recover his composure along with his red face, "Clan head, as the Youzhou provincial governor, of course, you need an airboat to keep up appearances; if I need an airboat, I could use the one in Jinwu Business Group. Never mind that, clan head!"


    Zhang Yang and Bai Suxian both had an airboat. Even if he returned the airboat to Taiyi Fantasy Sect, it didn''t pose any influence to Zhang Tie. It was just a lip service if he wanted to use their airboats. Would Bai Suxian and Zhang Yang feel inconvenient about that? When he didn''t have an airboat, Zhang Tie felt that airboat was a rarity; when he had one, he found that it was just so-so. If Zhang Tie wanted an airboat, it was no exaggeration to say that people would queue up to send him airboats in a few days. Therefore, he didn''t treasure such an airboat at all. Additionally, his own flight ability and the flight ability of his pet Little Thunder were both greater than the airboat. He didn''t even need one. The airboat was just used to keep up appearances as it was a bit more comfortable than an airship.


    "As the finance minister of Taixia Country, Han Zhengfang had a supreme power. Nobody knew what other plots he had made and how many landmines he had buried in Taixia Country besides bloody sea and demonized grains. They might be gradually exposed. At this moment, it''s not good for Huaiyuan Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect to be hostile against Taiyi Fantasy Sect!"


    "I see, ahem..ahem...clan head, do you have anything else to talk about?" Zhang Tie felt increasingly embarrassed the longer he stayed beside Zhang Taixuan. He couldn''t wait to leave.


    "Nothing else. We are just having a free chat. Elder Mushen, do you have anything else?"


    "I''ve promised my mom to have supper tonight!" Zhang Tie replied seriously.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Taixuan''s eyebrows jumped up as he was almost choked. However, he still nodded as he said kindly, "If so, I will not waste your time, Elder Mushen...I hope Elder Mushen does not forget about the Rotating Chakra Ceremony!"


    "It''s good...erm...I will leave then...see you!" After saying that, Zhang Tie had disappeared before Zhang Taixuan replied. Closely after that, with some sparkles in the sky, he disappeared into the sky.


    Zhang Taixuan looked at the direction where Zhang Tie was heading for as he unconsciously stroke that odd-looking colorful finger ring with a faintly bizarre look. At the same time, he murmured, "Yunxi...Yunxi..."


    ...


    Not until Zhang Tie flew hundreds of miles away from Embracing Tiger City and was blown by a strong night cold wind did he recover from that slightly embarrassed and flurried state when he discovered that he had deviated from the right direction a bit.


    Zhang Tie shook his head as he revealed a bitter smile. When you did something stealthily, you would also feel guilty, whether old or young, strong or weak. When he realized that Zhang Taixuan might have guessed the love affairs between him and Lan Yunxi, Zhang Tie had become a bit flurried. Zhang Tie recalled that he really had not bullied Lan Yunxi besides failing to occupy the "shortcut leading to the soul" of Lan Yunxi. Zhang Tie believed that Lan Yunxi would not tell Zhang Taixuan about that experience. ''I really don''t know why I am so flurried.''


    After mocking himself for a while, Zhang Tie adjusted his direction and flew towards Jinwu City.


    The intelligence that Zhang Tie received from Embracing Tiger City made him realize the possible dangerous situation facing Taixia Country in the future.


    ''If a famine and civil strife really break out in Taixia Country on a large scale, what should I do?''


    Zhang Tie was thinking about it on the way towards Jinwu City.


    The answer to this question made Zhang Tie understand one law once again, namely, he was not God even if he had Castle of Black Iron. In such a general trend which couldn''t be resisted by individuals, he could only save as more people as possible.


    If he had enough time, he could indeed do a lot of things with Castle of Black Iron. The problem was that Heavens Reaching Church and demons didn''t spare too much time to Taixia Country at all. ''If I were Han Zhengfang, I would detonate the crisis of demonized grains in the last 1 or 2 years. When the crisis of demonized grains ferments, I would detonate the catastrophe of bloody figures. The two forces would definitely be terrifyingly destructive to Taixia Country. By then, Taixia Country might have long been chaotic. However, I disrupted the plan of Han Zhengfang and demons carelessly and had the catastrophe of bloody figures break out in advance.''


    "Based on the land-building speed of Castle of Black Iron, when Taixia Country become completely chaotic as a whole, Castle Lord could teleport more people into Castle of Black Iron. Those entering Castle of Black Iron could at least not be starved to death. Additionally, many grains are stored in Castle of Black Iron. Castle Lord has the optimal mutated grain seeds in the world. The overall chaotic situation of Taixia Country might mean a chance for Castle Lord..."


    Heller''s voice sounded in Zhang Tie''s mind sea which sounded a bit strange...


    Zhang Tie shook his head as he told Heller, "Such a chance is too miserable for commoners. I don''t want such a chance..."


    "It''s not you who chose this age, but this age had chosen you..."

 1205 Rotating Chakra Ceremony

    Chapter 1205: Rotating Chakra Ceremony


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On February 2nd, the dragon raised its head.


    In February, the spring was approaching in Youzhou Province.


    Since last night, the entire Embracing Tiger City had been boisterous. Embracing Tiger City had not been so boisterous since it was founded. The commoners in Embracing Tiger City had not seen so many airboats in the sky.


    On the early morning of February 2nd, the clan warriors of Huaiyuan Palace had appeared in the streets of Embracing Tiger City in wholly new armors and helmets and festive red cloaks. The moment they appeared in the public, the entire Embracing Tiger City had been boisterous.


    Before the day broke, many commoners had gathered at the foot of Tiger Embracing Mountain. They all looked up at the top of the mountain. Most of these commoners were members of Huaiyuan Palace, male or female, old or young. Many people especially arrived here from all the other places across Youzhou Province for attending the Rotating Chakra Ceremony. Given their identities, although they were forbidden to enter Tiger Embracing Mountain, they were still passionate and proud.


    Huaiyuan Palace finally had another earth knight. This was the major event for each member of Huaiyuan Palace. The more knights a clan had, the more powerful it would be, the more glorious and decent would the descendants of this clan be and the greater the chances they would have for development.


    The entire Huaiyuan Palace had not held Rotating Chakra Ceremony for an earth knight for many years.


    Although Zhang Taixuan the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace promoted to an earth knight a few years ago, as he was already the Youzhou provincial governor at that time, his rotating chakra ceremony was forbidden according to the regulation of Taixia Country''s officialdom.


    However, this time, the rotating chakra ceremony was held for Elder Mushen, the youngest elder in Huaiyuan Palace.


    Elder Mushen''s experience was legendary; especially after the tragedy in Fuhai City was redressed, Elder Mushen was well-known across Youzhou Province, even in Taixia Country.


    Outsiders might not know who was the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace; however, they must have heard about Zhang Tie, Zhang Mushen.


    Many commoners didn''t know that Elder Mushen had returned to his clan until the last couple of days. A more shocking news was that Cui Li the Fire Dragon Hermit of Iron-Dragon Sect was an incarnation of Elder Mushen. What was more, Elder Mushen had awakened a unique immortal bloodline.


    Elder Mushen, who had been screwed for 4 years, had returned to Huaiyuan Palace; additionally, he had promoted to an earth knight and awakened up a unique immortal bloodline. Even though the catastrophe of bloody figures was still like a raging fire across Taixia Country, the news about Zhang Tie still shocked the entire country. This was why Embracing Tiger City was so boisterous today too. All the major clans across Youzhou Province, the entire Northeast Military Region even the Military Province in the far had assigned representatives to attend the Rotating Chakra Ceremony in Tiger Embracing Mountain.


    Besides those major clans, 4 of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country had assigned representatives here today, they were Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Gold and Power Law, Heavens Fortune Sect and Demons Killing Valley.


    Even Lord Guangnan''s Mansion in the southwest of Taixia Country had assigned a royal highness to attend the Rotating Chakra Ceremony.


    What was more exaggerating was that even Supreme Court of Xuanyuan Hill and Northeast Military Region who didn''t like to attend similar ceremonies had assigned important officials to attend it.


    At this moment, the Tiger Embracing Mountain was covered with knights and VIPs. Major clans'' representatives arrived one batch after another.


    It was the most glorious moments in the history of Huaiyuan Palace, even when Lord Huaiyuan was alive. Such an occasion had been as grand as top major clans in Taixia Country.


    At the foot of Tiger Embracing Mountain, those descendants of Huaiyuan Palace were so thrilled. Someone even dropped off tears. As a result, the prestige of Elder Mushen who brought all these to Huaiyuan Palace reached a new high among the disciples of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Being similar to the situation at the foot of the mountain, the square outside the Ancestral Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace in Tiger Embracing Mountain was also extremely boisterous.


    This time, over 2,000 VIPs were at present.


    All the influential clans in Youzhou Province had assigned their representatives here, including those clans which had attended the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect, Zhang Tie''s disciples, Mountain Lifting Hermit, representatives of Zhao Clan and Yang Clan in Military Province, the couple of Lu Zhongming and their disciples, the representatives of the other major sects and Supreme Court of Taixia Country and the royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, etc..


    Zhang Tie''s family members also appeared in the square outside the Ancestral Shrine Palace. As the family members of the main character of this Rotating Chakra Ceremony, of course, they could also attend this Rotating Chakra Ceremony and share Zhang Tie''s glory. Zhang Tie''s parents, elder sisters-in-law, Zhang Yang, his nephews, Linda, Beverly, Fiona, Aimei and Aixue, Zhang Tie''s kids, Zhang Tie''s grandparents, Zhang Tie''s uncles, aunts and cousins were present in a rich dress while sitting square and enjoying the gaze of thousands of people.


    Linda, Beverly and Fiona were most attractive among Zhang Tie''s wives. Many people in Youzhou Province and Northeast Military Region had heard that Zhang Tie had three foreign wives; however, very few people had met them. It was the first time for Linda, Beverly and Fiona to show up in the public. Among those people with black hair and eyes, of course, the three foreign women were eye-catching.


    Linda, Beverly, Fiona, Aimei and Aixue had prepared almost one week for this day. At this moment, all the 5 women had dressed up well and were in the grandest ceremonial robes. Being brilliant, elegant and beautiful, they were all full of pride and arrogance while their kids were sitting in front of them.


    "Ahh, do we look like the legendary duchesses?" Fiona whispered to Linda and Beverly.


    Beverly and Linda revealed a faint smile towards her at the same time...


    "If in Waii Subcontinent, even queens and princesses of ordinary countries might have to bow to us!" Beverly tilted her head as she whispered to Fiona, "We illustrate the line that Hua wives are precious because of their husband!"


    "Those girls in Rose Association dare never imagine our current looks!" Fiona stealthily stuck her tongue out. When others paid attention to her, she hurriedly pretended to be elegant once again.


    As Fiona and Beverly knew that there were many knights at present, they just whispered in the Hebrew language. After coming to Taixia Country, they found that Hua people wouldn''t like to learn the Hebrew language except for some businessmen. Hua people were too arrogant. Zhang Tie was the only Hua knight who could speak the Hebrew language in their memory. In that age, Hua language almost dominated the human language. Therefore, people could barely understand what they were talking about even if they eavesdropped their talk.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s glorious moments were Zhang Clan''s glorious moments.


    This scene was not strange for Zhang Tie''s relatives on the side of his grandpa. However, it was the first time for his parents and wives to experience such an eye-catching grand occasion. When Zhang Tie held his first rotating chakra ceremony in Yiyang City, his family members had already arrived at Taixia Country. They were in Fuhai City, Yingzhou Province. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s family members could only see the boisterous scene in the first rotating chakra ceremony through the photos left by the private photographers of Zhang Clan. However, all of them could experience such a grand and fervent clan rite at present this time.


    As the ceremony had not come to a start yet, the auditorium of over 2,000 people was not quiet. Many guests were whispering to each other while stealthily glancing around the most glorious family at present.


    Zhang Tie''s dad looked a bit intense with a faint blush. Sitting in the first row with the old man, Zhang Ping''s muscles all over tightened up as he smoothened his clothes corners every now and then. It was still a bit cold in February; however, Zhang Ping''s forehead and temples had been covered with fine sweat beads only after he took a seat for a short while.


    "Papa, it''s okay. Just feel like home. It''s Zhang Tie who will come out, not others. Don''t be that nervous!" Zhang Yang slightly leaned forward as he comforted his dad in a low voice.


    Zhang Ping turned around with a smile. Meanwhile, he moved his stiff neck and told Zhang Yang, "I don''t know why. I always feel like living in a dream. It was fine at home; however, when I come here, I always feel dizzy!"


    "Zhang Tie is your son, no need to be that anxious. You have a good son. It''s worthwhile for my life to witness my grandson holding 2 rotating chakra ceremonies..." The old man in the first row let out a sigh satisfactorily before continuing, "You might see such a rotating chakra ceremony for the 3rd or the 4th time in the future. They would grow increasingly grander. But I''m afraid that I cannot wait until Zhang Tie holds his 3rd rotating chakra ceremony. However, I would have no regret anymore after this ceremony, ahem...ahem..."


    The old man couldn''t stand coughing twice as he lowered his upper body at once. Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle hurriedly patted the old man''s back. However, the old man stopped him by raising his hand. Closely after that, the old man straightened up his body as he waved his hand to tell the surrounding family members that he was fine.


    "Papa, don''t say so. Zhang Yang has bought an isle in the south, which only has spring all around the year. The winter in Youzhou Province is a bit cold and does harm to old man''s health. Later on, you can pass the winter in the south!" Zhang Ping hurriedly comforted the old man.


    "I''m clear about my health..." The old man revealed a smile with a faint blush, which indicated that he was spirited. He then added, "Additionally, I always dreamed about Zhang Tie''s grandma these days. Previously, when I dreamed about his grandma, I couldn''t see her face clearly; these days, her look grew increasingly clearer..."


    After hearing the old man''s words, all the family members in front rows exchanged a glance with each other. Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle then called lightly, "Papa..."


    "Everyone will die, don''t be afraid of that day. It''s the universal law and the metabolism of our Zhang family..." The old man waved his hand in an imposing manner, stopping everyone''s further comfort. Although being poor in health, the old man''s dignity in Zhang family was sacred. He said, "Alright, don''t talk about that. It''s Zhang family''s festive day. I want to see my grandson''s glorious moments in the public..."


    ...


    All the VIPs formed a small fan-shaped area around the venue. On the opposite of Zhang family''s seats were sitting Bai Suxian and another man.


    That man looked a bit elder than Bai Suxian. In boa silk robe and jade belt and a crow being embroidered with two dragons playing with a ball, he looked similar to Bai Suxian. However, his face was a bit broader. He looked a bit resolute, noble and dignified with two beautiful masculine black beards and a pair of dark, profound and sparkling pupils.


    "4 of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country and 7 provincial governors'' clans of Northeast Military Region are at present. Even Demons Killing Valley assigned people here. The elders of Qin Clan and Fan Clan in Yingzhou Province arrived here too. Young sister, you''re really visionary. Zhang Tie is indeed unusual. No wonder he could be so famous across Taixia Country only after coming to Taixia Country for a few years!" The royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion glanced around Zhang Tie''s wives and kids while talking to Bai Suxian in a secret way who was sitting on his side with a mature, fascinating smile, "What counts more, Zhang Tie''s wives are all commoners. If you marry him, you might still have a right of speech in Zhang Tie''s family. If so, dad will be reassured. I''m not here in vain..."


    "Cut the crap. It''s none of your business. Have you carried enough gifts?" Bai Suxian replied ferociously in a secret way while maintaining the demeanor of a princess with a smile.


    "2,000 water-element crystals, 20 million gold coins, 2,000 pairs of jade ivories and earth-element rhino horns, 2,000 cases of gems, 5,000 kg starry violet gold, 200,000 kg top-class sandalwood, 2,000 cases of various top-class medicines and tribute tea in the south border, 80,000 m gold boa silk cloths, 2,000 domestic craftsmen who were trained as men of sacrifice and Heavenly Star City near the Heavenly Star Lake in the south border. The old guy dispatched 6 purple-cloud airboats to transport these gifts from the southern border. It seems that this old guy is satisfied with this son-in-law..."


    "So few..." Bai Suxian pouted as she said discontentedly.


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s words, the royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion was choked by his saliva as he started to cough at once, arising the attention of those people on their sides.

 1206 A Shocking Phenomenon

    Chapter 1206: A Shocking Phenomenon


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    When the others were paying attention to the boisterous scene on Tiger Embracing Mountain, Zhang Tie was silently watching something in his hand in his Elder''s Pavilion on the top of the mountain behind the Ancestral Shrine Palace...


    Zhang Tie was holding two extremely ordinary black mulberry seeds.


    Black mulberry seeds were brought by the elder of Demons Killing Valley. The elder told Zhang Tie that Pandora was cultivating a secret method in a hidden place of Demons Killing Valley and couldn''t leave for a period. After knowing that Zhang Tie''s case had been redressed and Zhang Tie had returned to Youzhou Province, Pandora just told the elder to give the two mulberry seeds to Zhang Tie.


    It was enough for Zhang Tie.


    The black mulberry seeds were picked by Zhang Tie in the wild when he attended the survival training in Wildwolf Valley. He sent them to Pandora at that time. Now that Pandora had people brought back the two black mulberry seeds, it indicated that she was still missing Zhang Tie!


    Watching the two black mulberry seeds, Zhang Tie felt like seeing Pandora''s black pupils. Therefore, he was grief-stricken before the start of the ceremony.


    It was hard to find beloved ones in the world.


    The more successful and the higher position one was, the better he would understand what was most precious.


    "Elder, the lucky moment is coming!" Deacon Yu''s voice sounded behind Zhang Tie.


    Everything in front of his eyes was like that when he held the first rotating chakra ceremony in Yiyang Mountain. Even Deacon Yu whom Zhang Tie had not seen for a long time seemed to have not changed too much.


    Previously, Deacon Yu looked after Zhang Tie in his elder''s pavilion on the top of Bowang Peak of Yiyang Mountain. At this time, she was also following Zhang Tie''s order in his elder''s pavilion on the top of the Tiger Embracing Mountain. After Zhang Tie returned to his clan. His elder''s pavilion in Tiger Embracing Mountain was matched with enough deacons at once. As Zhang Tie was more familiar with Deacon Yu, he let Deacon Yu manage the daily affairs in his elder''s pavilion on Tiger Embracing Mountain.


    Now, Zhang Tie''s elder''s pavilion in Tiger Embracing Mountain was different than the pavilions of the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace in the specification. The other elders'' pavilion were three-storey; however, Zhang Tie''s elder''s pavilion was a higher five-storey building as he was the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace. After being selected as the steward of Zhang Tie''s elder''s pavilion, Deacon Yu had one more source of income and a higher position in the Zhang Clan.


    These days, Deacon Yu became the most enviable person among the clan deacons and disciples. After being silent for a long time, this Deacon Yu''s position also skyrocketed together with the return of Elder Mushen. The gate of the premier was opened by Class VII officials. All the other clan disciples and deacons were longing for serving the grand elder.


    "Elder..." Deacon Yu moved one step forward and called lightly when she found Zhang Tie was absent-minded at the sight of the black mulberry seeds.


    "Can we plant black mulberry seeds in Youzhou Province?" Zhang Tie turned around as he asked Deacon Yu which was out of her imagination. It seemed that Zhang Tie did not care about the coming ceremony at all. When the lucky moment was coming, he was talking about something irrelevant.


    "Yes, we can!" Deacon Yu threw a glance at Zhang Tie''s hands with her beautiful eyes before nodding.


    "When the spring arrives, plant black mulberry seeds in a garden outside Jinwu Pavilion!" Zhang Tie said as he stood up and passed the two black mulberry seeds to Deacon Yu. "Use them. One year later, when the black mulberry grows mature and bears seeds, you could plant more!"


    "Yes!" Deacon Yu received the two black mulberry seeds from Zhang Tie carefully.


    Black mulberry was not a precious plant. Its leaf was not beautiful; its flower was average; therefore, major clans wouldn''t plant black mulberry at all. Only rural farmers might plant some in their own courtyards or around their houses for watching head with the molar black mulberry seeds instead of appreciative purpose.


    However, Zhang Tie liked black mulberry seeds. If Zhang Tie wanted to plant them, even if he ordered to replace all the trees over Tiger Embracing Mountain with black mulberry seeds, nobody in Huaiyuan Palace dared say no.


    "Kuang...", a melodious and loud bell ring drifted from the bell tower on the highest place of Tiger Embracing Mountain. Along with this bell ring, all the other bells aross Yanghe Prefecture rang at the same moment.


    The moment the bell rang, no other sound across Tiger Embracing Mountain could be heard anymore.


    The bell ring indicated that the lucky moment had arrived and the ceremony started officially.


    "Let''s go!" Zhang Tie waved his hand as he strode out of the gate of the elder''s pavilion.


    The general process of this ceremony was similar to that of his first rotating chakra ceremony. Besides being short of the link of "Selecting Character by Rotating the Chakra", this ceremony was much grander than the first one in all aspects.


    Zhang Tie was still wearing a violet gold crown which indicated a good luck in battle strength. However, compared to that in the first time, this violet-gold crown was greatly different in specification and pattern. When he was a black iron knight, his crown was 23 cm in height; when he promoted to an earth knight, his crown was 30 cm in height. Additionally, the number of bars on his crown also increased from 1 to 3. On both sides of the violet gold crown, there were totems of white tigers, which was an immortal beast in Hua people and symbolized the realm of earth knight. If Zhang Tie promoted to a shadow knight, the number of bars on his violet gold crown would increase from 3 to 5 while the totem on his crown would turn to the immortal beast Xuanwu.


    Zhang Tie was wearing a special suit, which was called the seal of the earth. The entire ceremonial robe was made of golden boa silk, which symbolized the golden chakra of earth knight. The ceremonial robe was embroidered with various propitious patterns which carried special meanings. It took over 800 female weavers over 1 month to make this ceremonial robe according to the strict requests on a propitious robe.


    The 4 m-longer cloak behind the ceremonial robe was dragged by Zhang Tie on the red carpet. As Zhang Tie walked forwards steadily, it rose and fell on the stone steps at the foot of the mountain.


    Two rows of warriors were leading the way with ceremonial vessels in hands; additionally, 8 pairs of young male and female virgins were scattering items such as "perfume", "refined salt", "five cereals" and "sandalwood flowers" in front of Zhang Tie. Those boys and girls were at most 12 years old. They had rehearsed it many times for this ceremony. It was the beginning for them to have a bright future by showing up on such a grand occasion. Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle asked Zhang Yang to have Zhang Tie spare 2 places for his grandson and granddaughter. All the other boys and girls came from the other cities across Huaiyuan Palace.


    Zhang Tie was followed by two rows of deacons of Huaiyuan Palace.


    This time, Deacon Yu had tasted the fruit for serving Zhang Tie through selecting 2 people from the 6 female and male virgins provided by Huaiyuan Palace. Many people who had relationship and ability in Huaiyuan Palace had made their full efforts to have their juniors join the team for purifying the road for Zhang Tie. By doing that, their juniors could show up in the public and see the world; what counted most, they could strike up an acquaintance with Zhang Tie. In the future, if those kids had good prospects, when they met Zhang Tie and reminded Zhang Tie that they were those kids who purified the road for him when he held his rotating charka ceremony, they might be favored by Zhang Tie and lead a much brighter future. If so, their positions at home even family and clan would be utterly different from then on.


    Everybody knew that Zhang Tie would be the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace after this ceremony; additionally, Zhang Tie was the founder of Iron-Dragon Sect, whose battle strength and secret methods both ranked first in Youzhou Province. Zhang Tie had a definitely bright future!


    These days, all the people in Huaiyuan Palace firmly believed that Elder Mushen could hold his 3rd rotating chakra ceremony in his life and he would become the first clan elder in the history of Huaiyuan Palace who could promote to a shadow knight. Even Lord Huaiyuan had not made that.


    Although Zhang Tie felt a bit melancholy due to the affair of Pandora, he had almost recovered his composure.


    When the bell rang for the 9th time, Zhang Tie recovered a bit resolute look. After that, he released a powerful battle qi tornado which appeared above Tiger Embracing Mountain like a huge, fiery, boundless tornado. Even though it was in the daytime, the clouds above the entire Tiger Embracing Mountain had been dyed into fiery. As a result, the clouds looked like burning. The surroundings of the Tiger Embracing Mountain changed color at once.


    The moment Zhang Tie''s battle qi tornado rushed into the sky, the audience in the Ancestral Shrine Palace had been in a turmoil. Many knights changed their faces at once. Even those elders of Huaiyuan Palace at present were raising their eyebrows with amazed looks.


    This battle qi tornado was really powerful. Given it, Zhang Tie must have promoted to an earth knight for a long time.


    The moment the royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion recovered his composure from his shock caused by Bai Suxian''s words "So few...", he had shot out shrewd eye light at the sight of the battle qi tornado which shot into the sky from the top of the mountain.


    "Fire Dragon Sutra", this is the battle qi tornado of "Fire Dragon Sutra..." Someone in the auditorium couldn''t help but exclaim.


    As if it was to verify these exclamations, a huge fire dragon rose up in the battle qi tornado and started to wheel in the sky.


    After a short while, the ferocious fire dragon and battle qi tornado hovering in the sky disappeared at once. When the audience was recalling the shocking scene, a few minutes later, another battle qi tornado rose up. This time, the battle qi tornado was resplendent and colorful with the same amazing qi field. Right in the colorful battle qi tornado, the bizarre landscape of the entire Tiger Embracing Mountain gradually unfolded like a mirage...


    "Is this...''Five-elements Ground-looking Sutra''? No way..." a guest shouted unbelievably, "Doesn''t Elder Mushen alone promote to an earth knight? Why are there two kinds of battle qi tornadoes? How could one person cultivate 2 classics at the same time?"


    The entire Ancestral Shrine Palace became quiet at once. The royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and the representatives of the 4 top sects of Taixia Country, including those of Taiyi Fantasy Sect were shocked; some of them became restless...


    Before Zhang Tie arrived, he had shocked everyone at present...

 1207 Different Thoughts

    Chapter 1207: Different Thoughts


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the rhythm of 45 bell rings, Zhang Tie appeared in the spot of the Ancestral Shrine Palace.


    All the guests in the auditorium unconsciously turned around to see Zhang Tie slowly walking towards them in a casual and confident way like the moon being surrounded by a myriad of stars.


    Many guests had seen Zhang Tie before. Therefore, when they saw Zhang Tie once again, they were not shocked too much. However, at Zhang Tie''s look which was as young as that of a teenager, all those who had not seen Zhang Tie before widely opened their mouths.


    ''He''s too young. What an excessively young earth knight!'' Zhang Tie had just celebrated his 30th birthday last year. After one more month, he would be 31 years old. A 30-year old earth knight was definitely rarely seen among the top 7 sects of Taixia Country, not to mention that Zhang Tie''s look was much younger than his actual age. Given his look, he was just a teenager, who didn''t look like a clan elder at all.


    Being shocked by Zhang Tie''s excessively young look, many people even forgot about the shocks caused by the two battle qi tornadoes just now.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian''s eyes gleamed. By contrast, the royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion revealed an unbelievable look as if he had seen a ghost.


    "Young sister, after this rite, please help me ask Zhang Tie how he maintains his young look. As long as he tells me how to be that young in the next decades, when you marry him, I will gift another two cities to you as your dowry!" The royal highness told Bai Suxian in a secret way.


    Bai Suxian rolled her eyes to her elder brother as she said in a secret way, "He''s innate!"


    "Innate?"


    "Yup, he told me that he had been struck by a lightning bolt when in Waii Subcontinent. His body has experienced some exotic changes; therefore, he could always be so young..."


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s explanation, the royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion became speechless. Whatever, he couldn''t try the effect of being struck by a lightning bolt. Although being an earth knight, he couldn''t guarantee that he was fine after being struck by a lightning bolt. Lightning bolts had different power, ordinary lightning bolts might not be fatal to commoners; most of the lightning bolts would not do harm to an earth knight; except for some lightning bolts, which were really ground-shaking. There was such a terrifying forbidden air zone in the south border of Taixia Country. Even shadow knights would become ashes and smoke in that air zone. After abandoning the thought of being struck by lightning bolts, the royal highness could only watch Zhang Tie slowly walking towards them with a bizarre yet slightly admiring and regretful look.


    Zhang Tie walked calmly under the gaze of thousands of people. He was familiar with many people in the auditorium. He had even seen many people for more than once; especially the representatives of the local major clans in Youzhou Province. At the sight of Zhang Tie here, those who had attended the competition for the position of provincial governor of Youzhou Province and the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect looked splendid.


    With a smile, Zhang Tie showed his respect to those familiar ones in the auditorium by lowering his head slightly.


    Zhang Tie saw Gu Qingyun in the seats of Gu Clan once again. This Gu knight who was known as former top cultivation talent in Youzhou Province was also watching Zhang Tie with a bizarre look. After looking straight into each other''s eyes, Zhang Tie kept his look unchanged; however, Gu Qingyun lowered his eye light as he lacked in self-confidence as he looked a bit frustrated. When in White Tiger Platform, Gu Qingyun was qualified to fight Zhang Tie; after all, they were both black iron knights at that time; however, only after 5 years, they had been utterly different in position, power and reputation. Who dared say that they were cultivation talents in front of Zhang Tie?


    Gu Qingyun returned to Youzhou Province on January 30th as if he was especially here to attend Zhang Tie''s rotating chakra ceremony. Zhang Tie received this news from Huaiyuan Palace. At the sight of Gu Qingyun, Zhang Tie guessed that Gu Qingyun might be here on behalf of Heavens Holding Pavilion. ''As I have no relationship with Heavens Holding Pavilion, if the knights and elders of Heavens Holding Pavilion suddenly came here, they would respect me too much. I''m afraid that Heavens Holding Pavilion is paying special attention to me; especially this time. Besides such a great influence, there are also various gossips about me. Therefore, Heavens Holding Pavilion assigns Gu Qingyun here to confirm some news; coincidentally, he''s going back home.''


    Zhang Tie silently felt a bizarre sense of achievement when he saw his former opponents being stepped onto his foot on such a grand occasion.


    People were growing powerful by stepping on the shoulders and heads of these people who were once arrogant in front of them. Finally, these people who were once arrogant in front of them could never catch up with them anymore.


    After feeling a bizarre eye light thrown into his face, Zhang Tie turned around as he noticed that Guo Hongyi was looking at him by a complex eye light.


    At this moment, Guo Hongyi was in a red brilliant longuette which made her beautiful and hot figure prominent. Additionally, she had dressed up well with especially delicate makeup. The hot figure and brilliant look matched her hot temperament pretty well, making her very charming; even some young men from major clans of Yanzhou Province and Tongzhou Province were throwing a glimpse at her.


    Guo Hongyi''s eye light made Zhang Tie''s heart pound.


    When he remembered that Guo Clan ruined the Morality Association across Threespring Prefecture and listed Huaiyuan Palace''s all-purpose medicaments into the storage of some cities in Threespring Prefecture, Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he told Guo Hongyi in a secret way.


    "Elder sister Guo is becoming more and more beautiful. I didn''t mean to cheat you when I met elder sister Guo in Xuantian City in the identity of Cui Li. I couldn''t help but do that. Please don''t blame me, elders sister Guo!"


    Zhang Tie''s mouth remained still; however, he had passed his words into Guo Hongyi''s ears through his battle qi.


    It was out of Guo Hongyi''s imagination that Zhang Tie could talk to her in a secret way and still call her elder sister Guo like how he did at White Tiger Platform when he met her for the first time without putting on airs. Guo Hongyi''s brilliant cheeks blushed at once in a bashful way, causing the others in the surroundings who were stealing a glance at her swallow their saliva. Two elders of Guo Clan on Guo Hongyi''s side seemingly noticed something as their eye light started to swim between Zhang Tie and Guo Hongyi.


    "I''m already satisfied as long as you still call me elder sister!"


    Guo Hongyi''s sound drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears with hidden bitterness.


    After hearing Guo Hongyi''s reply, Zhang Tie who had rich experience in love affairs immediately understood what did she mean. Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile as he really didn''t know when Guo Hongyi fell in love with him. ''We have only met 3 times and said a few words in total, plus this time. Additionally, God knows that I''ve not accosted her at all. I wonder why she could fall in love with me?''


    As Zhang Tie thought about that, those familiar or strange looks flashed in front of his eyes one after another.


    ...


    Nan Gongsheng who had found him trouble in his opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect revealed a cordial smile as if he was Zhang Tie''s old friend. All the disciples and the other elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect were looking at Zhang Tie in an awestricken manner...


    Lu Zhongming and Linhuanxi were also in the auditorium. Besides being curious, they all looked at him with sincere and kind eye light, including their disciples behind them...


    Zhao Clan and Yang Clan from Military Province also assigned Zhao Youxian whom Zhang Tie got acquainted with in the Earth-elements Realm and a strange Yang elder and some disciples here. Those Yang disciples looked similar to Yang Zhenjun; given their looks, they must be the juniors of Yang Zhenjun.


    Fan Clan and Qin Clan from Yingzhou Province also assigned their elders here. Zhang Tie didn''t see any animosity from their eyes; instead, he saw a bit flattery from Qin elders and a little pity from Fan elders. ''If not the accident, this young earth knight might have already married the daughter of Fan Clan and become the son-in-law of Fang Clan. Isn''t Household Register Director Fan unfortunate?''


    Mountain Lifting Hermit was nodding towards Zhang Tie as he congratulated the latter in a secret way. The disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect were so excited at the sight of their master.


    Donder in the ceremonial robe was also sitting on the region of Gold and Power Law while being accompanied by 3 people. Zhang Tie had met 2 of the 3 people. One of them was Guan Xiyi, the CEO of Golden Roc Bank, the other was Gongsun Liniang, a female knight whom Zhang Tie had once met in Waii Subcontinent. The rest one looked more dignified; sitting there steadily, his qi field was greater than that of Guan Xiyi and Gongsun Liniang; this guy was a dragon-head level mogul of Gold and Power Law. ''Now that this man attends my rotating chakra ceremony, it means that Gold and Power Law want to beg for my forgiveness. Because it was Han Zhengfang, the major dragon-head of Gold and Power Law who knew my information and screwed me in Fuhai City. After Han Zhengfang''s real identity was exposed, his conspiracy was figured out too. Gold and Power Law has to give me an explanation; if not, I will have to ask for an explanation from them.''


    Donder was blinking his eyes towards Zhang Tie; he would peep at Gongsun Liniang in an obscene way every now and then. ''This guy has been growing fat these years in Jinwu City. He has a corrupt life. As he grows heavier, it seems that he''s becoming more lascivious. He even dares accost female knight...'' Zhang Tie thought.

 1208 The Grand Elder of Huaiyuan Palace

    Chapter 1208: The Grand Elder of Huaiyuan Palace


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It seemed that women knew better how to maintain their health and youth than men. After many years, Gongsun Liniang still looked that capable and distant. Strangers could barely approach her.


    Gongsun Liniang might have not discovered Donder''s lascivious eye light or realized that it was inconvenient for her to lose her temper on this occasion. This beautiful female knight with short hair just looked at Zhang Tie in a bizarre way as if she discovered a pre-historical dinosaur which jumped out of the rock.


    The more people were familiar with Zhang Tie, the more they would be curious about Zhang Tie''s current achievement and position.


    Heavens Fortune Sect also assigned their representatives here. Zhang Tie noticed the elders of Heavens Fortune Sect whom he had met in the White Tiger Platform in Youzhou Province and Feng Cangwu who looked shocked together with his 3 sons Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zheng Chengpei among the audience.


    After 5 years, Zhang Tie''s 3 sons had been 9 years old. They all inherited the genes of Zhang Tie and their moms and looked pretty handsome. With black hair, black eyes, straight noses and snow-white skin, they looked half-blooded more or less. Before Zhang Tie appeared, his 3 sons were also the most eye-catching ones in the auditorium.


    Although being only 9 years old, they looked as tall and straight as 12-year-old teenagers. Given their looks, they were undoubtedly elites. As there were so many knights at present, the moment they threw a glance at the 3 kids, they had known that Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei had lit all the surging points on their spines. In another word, they were LV 9 fighters.


    LV 9 fighters at 9 years old? They were definitely geniuses in cultivation among the top 7 sects of Taixia Country. Such a talent in cultivation was really enviable.


    Only after inquiring about that out of amazement, they had known that the 3 kids in the auditorium were Zhang Tie''s 3 sons. Because they were learning battle skills in Heavens Fortune Sect, according to the regulation of Heavens Fortune Sect, they were not qualified to leave the sect yet, including asking for a leave to go home. This time, they were allowed to attend the rotating chakra ceremony in the identity of disciples of Heavens Fortune Sect.


    Last night, when the airboat of Heavens Fortune Sect parked in Jinwu City, the three boys had already returned home and met their moms. Since 2 days ago, Zhang Tie had taken a bath and changed his clothes in his elder''s pavilion on the top of Tiger Embracing Mountain and entered meditation while burning incense for the preparation of this rotating chakra ceremony. Therefore, his 3 sons didn''t see Zhang Tie last night. It was their first time to see their dad.


    When Zhang Tie approached them, Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei almost dropped off their tears.


    "You''re men. You didn''t let me down these years. Your dad is very happy about your achievement. Men should not cry at this moment!" Zhang Tie threw a deep glance at the 3 boys as he told them in a secret way.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei threw a glance at each other; meanwhile, they wiped off their tears as they chested out and accepted Zhang Tie''s review like soldiers. In their hearts, their dad was always their hero...They didn''t believe that their dad could do such a lunatic thing in Fuhai City. Now, Zhang Tie''s case had been redressed; additionally, he had promoted to an earth knight. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s image in the minds of his 3 sons became more supreme.


    ''My 3 sons have already promoted to LV 9 fighters?'' Zhang Tie shook his head and revealed a bitter smile inside. When he was 9 years old, Zhang Tie was still playing mud in Blackhot City. At that time, cultivation was a fairy tale for him. However, his 3 sons had become LV 9 fighters in Heavens Fortune Sect, one of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country at 9 years old. What a sharp contrast!'' Zhang Tie even felt embarrassed to compare himself to his 3 sons.


    After a few years, Feng Cangwu looked a bit thinner while his facial skin became a bit coarse. Zhang Tie couldn''t find any arrogance from him anymore; instead, Zhang Tie found that he became more profound and steadier. Besides the dashing spirit between his eyebrows which looked as sharp as an unsheathed sword blade, Feng Cangwu had completely changed. Zhang Tie wondered what Feng Cangwu had experienced in the Earth-elements Realm these years.


    "Have a drink with me tonight!" Zhang Tie told Feng Cangwu in a secret way.


    Feng Cangwu revealed a faint smile.


    True friends didn''t need to talk too much.


    Taiyi Fantasy Sect assigned some strangers to attend this ceremony under the leadership of an earth knight. Watching Zhang Tie coming over here, although they all revealed smiles politely, their eye light looked unscrupulous. They just glanced over Zhang Tie freely as if they wanted to discover Zhang Tie''s secrets.


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel like caring about these guys of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. The reason that he would like to return the airboat to them mainly lay in that he didn''t want Lan Yunxi to be embarrassed in Taiyi Fantasy Sect; neither would he want to destroy the relationship between Lord Huaiyuan and Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Additionally, Taixia Country was more and more chaotic, it was necessary to ease tensions between Huaiyuan Palace and Taiyi Fantasy Sect. He had already made a compromise to Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Zhang Tie didn''t even care about the grand elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, not to mention the thoughts of the disciples of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    Zhang Tie just threw a casual look at those representatives of Taiyi Fantasy Sect before passing by.


    Those officials assigned by Northeast Military Region were in official uniforms. The Supreme Court of Xuanyuan Hill directly assigned a supreme court justice and an earth knight with a dark face. Their people were watching Zhang Tie out of curiosity; however, they didn''t behave as freely as those from Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    The officials of the Northeast Military Region were here to confirm the identities of Zhang Tie and Cui Li. Whatever, Fire-dragon Bounty Territory was under Cui Li''s name. If Zhang Tie couldn''t prove that he was Cui Li, he couldn''t prove that he was the owner of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory either, the ownership of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would then have problems. The officials of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country were here to apologize to Zhang Tie for that he had been wanted by Supreme Court for a few years.


    The most excited ones in the audience were those clan representatives whose disciples had been enrolled by Zhang Tie as his disciples in Xuantian City a few months ago. As the happiest ones, their smiles were sincerest and most enthusiastic. Because Zhang Tie''s powerful performance and great fame meant bright future of his disciples and profits for his disciples'' clans.


    When Zhang Tie approached his family members, Zhang Haitian, Zhang Tie''s parents, Zhang Yang, Zhang Tie''s wives, elder sisters-in-law, uncles, aunts and cousins looked pretty spirited as they all bathed the glory of the clan brought by Zhang Tie.


    The eyes of Zhang Tie''s parents and wives were already wet unconsciously. Zhang Yang was watching Zhang Tie with a smile as he tried to not drop off his tears. Zhang Haitian''s face had blushed as he chested out constantly. Zhang Su, Zhang Tie''s cousin revealed a smile and he held up his thumb in approval towards Zhang Tie.


    Under the gaze of everybody else, Zhang Tie revealed a brilliant smile towards his family members.


    All the others were looking at Zhang Tie with different expressions, such as admiration, jealousy, discontent, restlessness and gossip...


    After passing by the audience, Zhang Tie burned 3 incenses for his forebears and inserted them into the incense burner solemnly. After accomplishing the tedious process, he returned and officially took a golden mace which represented the authority of the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace and a new remote-sensing finger ring from the hand of Zhang Taixuan, who looked solemn. After that, he sat on the golden chair.


    "Elder Mushen has formed his 2 chakras. From today on, Elder Mushen becomes the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace. He could use his golden mace to beat muddle-headed clan head and unworthy descendants of Huaiyuan Palace..." Elder Muyuan''s sound reverberated around the square outside the Ancestral Shrine Palace, "Descendants of Huaiyuan Palace, please show your respect to Elder Mushen..."

 1209 Being Dwarfed by Comparison

    Chapter 1209: Being Dwarfed by Comparison


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It was time for the representatives from the major clans and sects to show up.


    This process was similar to Zhang Tie''s first rotating chakra ceremony. Those who came to congratulate him were all juniors from major sects and clans. As it was an earth knight''s rotating chakra ceremony, it would not be bashful for some disciples of major sects such as Taiyi Fantasy Sect to congratulate him in the public.


    Huaiyuan Palace''s hundreds of disciples entered the stage first under the leadership of the castellan of Goldenlight City of Huaiyuan Palace. Goldenlight city was the former Goldensea City of Huaiyuan Palace. Zhang Tie''s family was in Goldensea City. As the elder in the branch of Goldensea City promoted to an earth knight, all the descendants of Goldensea City became very spirited. The current castellan of Goldenlight City was the descendant of Elder Muyuan; of course, he should speak on behalf of all the disciples of Huaiyuan Palace in the first row at this moment.


    When Zhang Tie held his first rotating chakra ceremony, it was Zhang Taibai who led the clan disciples to congratulate him. This time, it was Goldenlight City''s turn to lead the clan disciples to congratulate him. This also implied that the position of the branch of Goldenlight City had improved because of Zhang Tie.


    "Huaiyuan Palace congratulate Elder Mushen on having a great and long fortune in cultivation base and eternal chakras. In order to congratulate Elder Mushen to promote to an earth knight, Huaiyuan Palace especially gift 200 water-element crystals, 800 tons of gold, 300 crates of bright pearls, 200 crates of gems, 60,000 m golden boa silk and 60,000 square miles'' land outside Jinwu City." The castellan of Goldenlight City resounded over the square outside the Ancestral Shrine Palace. This congratulation also kicked off the curtain that all the other major clans and sects entered the stage one batch after another.


    Besides showing up themselves in the public, it was a good chance for the major clans and sects to show off their wealth. The overall strength of a clan or a sect could be easily identified by their gift. It was like gifting red purses. For instance, when others sent gifts to Huaiyuan Palace on the rotating charka ceremony, Huaiyuan Palace should send more gifts to the others on their rotating charka ceremony.


    This was the etiquette pursued by Hua people.


    Holding the golden mace, Zhang Tie was sitting straight on the silver throne which represented the power of earth knight and accepted the others'' congratulations frankly.


    Zhang Tie had reviewed the gift of Huaiyuan Palace in advance. He had refused all of them except for the 60,000 square miles'' land. They were just going through the motions at this moment.


    Zhang clan in Jinwu City was the richest clan in Youzhou Province. Zhang Tie felt it was meaningless to accept their gift and send the gift back to them as they were all members of Huaiyuan Palace. Zhang Tie had power and wealth; however, he didn''t have enough land. What he had owned had been out of his imagination. Wealth and power merely meant pure figure and burden for him.


    Closely after Huaiyuan Palace''s team was the representative of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, the head of the top 7 sects of Taixia Country.


    Taiyi Fantasy Sect only assigned a young disciple here, who looked younger than 20 years old. However, he was already a battle spirit. When the audience saw that Taiyi Fantasy Sect only assigned one person here, they all slightly frowned, ''That''s too insolent! It''s a rotating chakra ceremony of an earth knight. They should at least assign 2 disciples.''


    Zhang Tie just looked at this young disciple of Taiyi Fantasy Sect with a normal expression, just like Zhang Taixuan who was sitting on the other side.


    "Taiyi Fantasy Sect congratulates Elder Mushen on having a great and long fortune in cultivation base and eternal chakras. In order to congratulate Elder Mushen on promoting to an earth knight, Taiyi Fantasy Sect especially gift 1,000 water-element crystals, 1,000 tons of gold and 1,000 Taiyi Soul-Building Pills..." The young disciple of Taiyi Fantasy Sect glanced around the surrounding audience arrogantly when he mentioned the Taiyi Soul-Building Pills. The audience evidently took in a deep breath. It seemed that Taiyi Soul-Building Pill was not ordinary.


    "Taiyi Soul-Building Pill is the secret medicament of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. It could help ordinary fighters to light their surging points as soon as possible. Taiyi Soul-Building Pill could be barely gained in Taixia Country no matter how much money one paid; it barely enters the market, plus 1,000 water-element crystals and 1,000 tons of gold, Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s gift is great..." Elder Muen explained to Zhang Tie by a secret means.


    At this moment, it seemed that Elder Muen was afraid that Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s insolent demeanor irritated Zhang Tie and could be hardly dealt with in the end.


    Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s gift was not bad; however, they put on their airs more or less. Zhang Tie immediately got hang of the attitude of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. They wanted to show off the power and position as the first sect in Taixia Country while not being looked down upon by others.


    ''No need to be that complex. It''s just your elder''s airboat. Are these things more valuable than an airboat? You just want to take back that airboat from here. No need to put on airs! So boring!''


    Zhang Tie complained inside; however, he still looked kind. Because Zhang Tie knew that the boring and narrow-minded things in his eyes might be related to the honor of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Due to different stances and perspectives, people always had different conclusions.


    "Please extend my thanks to your clan head and elders on behalf of me. The friendship between Huaiyuan Palace and Taiyi Fantasy Sect started from Lord Huaiyuan. As the posterity of Lord Huaiyuan, of course, I also hope this friendship to last forever!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s polite words, the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace let out a sigh at the same time. Those powerhouses in the auditorium also exchanged a glance with each other as their intense looks became relaxed.


    After the young disciple of Taiyi Fantasy Sect left, it was the representatives of Heavens Fortune Sect.


    Zhang Tie''s 3 sons, Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei were chesting out and opening their mouths loudly at the same time, "Heavens Fortune Sect congratulate Elder Mushen on having a great and long fortune in cultivation base and eternal chakras. In order to congratulate Elder Mushen on promoting to an earth knight, Heavens Fortune Sect especially gift 1,000 water-element crystals, 1,000 tons of gold and the right of 20 years'' cultivation in the tower of time of Langya Cave of Heavens Fortune Sect!"


    After hearing the great gift of Heavens Fortune Sect, the audience in the auditorium exclaimed once again. The right of 20 years'' cultivation in the tower of time in the Langya Cave of Heavens Fortune Sect? What a debt of gratitude! Zhang Tie''s 3 sons congratulated him on behalf of Heavens Fortune Sect plus this special gift. What a much-told tale! This gift was much more valuable than that of Taiyi Fantasy Sect for an earth knight.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at the auditorium of Heavens Fortune Sect. The elders of Heavens Fortune Sect were also looking at him. Zhang Tie just cupped his hands towards the elders of Heavens Fortunes Sect solemnly. The elders of Heavens Fortune Sect nodded towards Zhang Tie with a smile.


    Closely after Heavens Fortune Sect were two disciples of Demons Killing Valley.


    The gift of Demons Killing Valley was 1,000 water-element crystals, 1,000 tons of gold and 1,000 sets of rune battle armors being produced by Demons Killing Valley. The rune battle armors of Demons Killing Valley were definitely more valuable than 1,000 Taiyi Soul-Building Pills of Heavens Fortune Sect. Therefore, another round of exclamations sounded in the auditorium.


    At this moment, those powerhouses of Taiyi Fantasy Sect didn''t look good anymore. As the first sect in Taixia Country, they felt a bit frustrated as their gift was defeated by that of Heavens Fortune Sect and Demons Killing Valley in value.


    However, it was not the fault of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Taiyi Fantasy Sect had not imagined that Demons Killing Valley could arrive with such a great gift because they didn''t know that Zhang Tie had any relationship with Demons Killing Valley after Zhang Tie came to Taixia Country. Although Taiyi Fantasy Sect had imagined that the Heavens Fortune Sect would arrive, they didn''t imagine that Heavens Fortune Sect could have such a deep relationship with Zhang Tie and could even provide the right of 20 years'' cultivation in the tower of time in Langya Cave of Heavens Fortune Sect.


    Zhang Tie didn''t look at the faces of those representatives of Taiyi Fantasy Sect anymore. Just now, he was not furious because he had long known that the other clans would slap Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s face for him.


    The third group of people who would slap the face of Heavens Fortune Sect entered the stage, it was the Guan Xiyi, the CEO of Gold and Power Law and Donder.


    "Gold and Power Law congratulate Elder Mushen on having a great and long fortune in cultivation base and eternal chakras. In order to congratulate Elder Mushen on promoting to an earth knight, Gold and Power Law especially gift 2,000 water-element crystals, 2,000 tons of gold, 2,000 vials of senior recovery medicaments, Lanjing City which is a Class I City in Yingzhou Province, 120 square miles'' land in Youzhou Province, a customized heavenly-cloud airboat and a purple-cloud airboat..."


    "Hua..." The entire auditorium was in an uproar, even the elders of Huaiyuan Palace exchanged a glance with each other while widely opening their mouths. What a great gift!


    Zhang Tie''s family members were dumbfounded too. Such a great gift had not been seen for many years across Taixia Country.


    After being slapped by Gold and Power Law on the spot once again, the face of earth knight of Taiyi Fantasy Sect turned black at once. He moved his eyes onto Zhang Tie with a vacant look as he didn''t know why Gold and Power Law could flatter an earth knight in this way. After this gift was reported, the gift of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, the first clan of Taixia Country was dwarfed by that of the other clans at once...


    The airboat that Zhang Tie returned to Taiyi Fantasy Sect was also a Heavenly Cloud airboat; the representatives of Taiyi Fantasy Sect could not imagine that a sect could gift Zhang Tie 2 airboats the moment Zhang Tie returned the airboat to them...


    Previously, the representatives of Taiyi Fantasy Sect had a superiority complex as they were here to drive that airboat back. However, as long as Gold and Power Law''s gift was reported, all of them felt that they were like small pedlars who came here to accept and deal with a second-hand abandoned car. They found that the airboat of Taiyi Fantasy Sect was nothing but a sh*t in Zhang Tie''s eyes...

 1210 The Halos of Gentleman

    Chapter 1210: The Halos of Gentleman


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After hearing Donder''s gift, Zhang Tie became a bit shocked; however, it was still within his imagination.


    Taiyi Fantasy Sect and the others might be dumbfounded by such a great gift; however, Zhang Tie was clear why Gold and Power Law was so generous this time. To put it straight, this gift meant that Gold and Power Law or the imperial court of Taixia Country wanted a reconciliation with him.


    The culprit of the tragedy in Fuhai City was the major dragon-head of Gold and Power Law; when Zhang Tie was screwed, his identity was the dark gold manager of Gold and Power Law. Han Zhengfang made advantage of Zhang Tie''s trust to Gold and Power Law and gained some key information about Zhang Tie in Waii Subcontinent. Therefore, he set a plot in Fuhai City and almost killed Zhang Tie. This case was not an ordinary frame-up; it was more like a betrayal, the most despicable, shameless and chilling betrayal and sniper''s shot. As Han Zhengfang was the representative of the imperial court and imperial households of Taixia Country, it was the fault of the imperial court and imperial households of Taixia Country for not discovering Han Zhengfang''s real identity. Therefore, seriously, even the imperial court and imperial households of Taixia Country should be responsible for the tragedy in Fuhai City. Zhang Tie made a great meritorious deed for Taixia Country by inflicting a heavy loss on the Heavens Reaching Church in Youzhou Province; however, he was struck, framed and wanted by the strength of the internal system of Taixia Country. If it was exposed to the public, Taixia Country would definitely lose its support among the people.


    That was why Gold and Power Law presented such a "sincere" gift to Zhang Tie in his rotating chakra ceremony. If Zhang Tie had no belongings, he could establish a powerful clan with Gold and Power Law''s gift.


    The relationship between Zhang Tie and Gold and Power Law was a secret. The so-called Dark Gold manager was his secret identity in Gold and Power Law. Zhang Tie had not exposed this secret to anyone except for Zhang Yang. He didn''t even tell it to the other clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace, not to mention Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    Therefore, after hearing the gift of Gold and Power Law, those who didn''t know the reason were shocked at once. Even if Gold and Power Law wanted to apologize to Zhang Tie, they didn''t need to send such a great gift. Therefore, the audience wondered about the motive of Gold and Power Law by doing this.


    The earth knight of Taiyi Fantasy Sect moved his eye light between Zhang Tie and the representatives of Gold and Power Law for quite a while as if he wanted to discover the secret between them.


    The other elders of Huaiyuan Palace also responded to this gift with strange expressions. After calculating Zhang Tie''s private land area and cities in Youzhou Province, the elders of Huaiyuan Palace became stunned at once.


    Zhang Tie''s Fire-dragon Bounty Territory occupied over 800,000 square miles'' land. After Guan Clan bought the rest part of the entire Yangui Mountain Range and gifted it to Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie''s land area reached over 1,700,000 square miles'' land. Previously, Zhang Tie had bought the Zanggu Plateau in Youzhou Province, which covered over 1,800,000 square miles'' land; plus the 1,200,000 square miles'' land that Gold and Power Law had gifted, Zhang Tie had over 4,800,000 square miles'' land in Youzhou Province, which was 8 times greater than that of Yanghe Prefecture of Huaiyuan Palace. Besides, Zhang Tie had 10 cities in his Fire-dragon Bounty Territory. Zhang Tie''s private land area and cities were greater than that of the entire Huaiyuan Palace.


    No wonder Zhang Tie didn''t feel like taking over the position of the clan head. With so many land and cities, Zhang Tie could build another Huaiyuan Palace. Based on Zhang Tie''s temperament, he didn''t need to compete for the position of clan head with Zhang Taixuan at all. Given Zhang Tie''s properties and power and the position of the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace, nobody in Huaiyuan Palace dared say no to Zhang Tie. Additionally, they all wondered when did Zhang Tie establish such a close relationship with Demons Killing Valley; plus Heavens Fortune Sect which was also on Zhang Tie''s side, 3 of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country got along with Zhang Tie. Elder Mushen''s human relationship, resources and prestige could not be matched by any other members of Huaiyuan Palace, including the clan head...


    All the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace thought that they had understood what Zhang Tie was thinking about. Zhang Taixuan also flickered his eyes as he watched Zhang Tie quietly.


    Zhang Tie''s uncles and relatives on the auditorium were shocked too much that they couldn''t even utter a word. Zhang family''s shipyard was dwarfed by the gifts. At the same time, Zhang members realized Zhang Tie''s prestige and great influence outside.


    The moment Gold and Power Law''s gift was reported, the auditorium was in an uproar at once. Closely after that, it became quiet again while everyone just watched Zhang Tie.


    After being silent for a second, Zhang Tie opened his mouth. Without gratitude or refusal, Zhang Tie just watched manager Guan Xiyi and Donder of Gold and Power Law calmly as he said easily, "I will take the great gift of Gold and Power Law. As it''s in the holy war, let the bygones be bygones. As knights, we should unite with each other to resist the enemy together!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, manager Guan Xiyi, Donder and all the others on the auditorium revealed a smile as if they had felt a sense of relief.


    Zhang Tie had accepted the apology of Gold and Power Law. The overall situation of Taixia Country counted most. Now that Zhang Tie had forgotten about the personal grievances, he had saved the faces of Gold and Power Law and the imperial court of Taixia Country and didn''t make them too embarrassed in the public. Although the gift was great in the eyes of the others, it was nothing compared to the overall strength of Gold and Power Law, the richest sect among the top 7 sects of Taixia Country.


    After making a deep bow towards Zhang Tie, Guan Xiyi and Donder left and returned to their seats.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to receive other''s great gift while having them appreciate him and feel that he was personable, open-minded and aboveboard.


    Zhang Tie could even understand Taiyi Fantasy Sect by returning the airboat to them, not to mention Gold and Power Law and that he had killed Han Zhengfang with a great achievement. The real man should be able to take something up and put it down with equal ease. Additionally, the great gift of Gold and Power Law was really thoughtful. When he met Donder a few days ago, he mentioned that he would return the airboat to Taiyi Fantasy Sect; it was out of his imagination that Gold and Power Law could gift him 2 airboats today. Now that Gold and Power Law respected him so much, he also showed his respect to Gold and Power Law so that both parties could be satisfied.


    Everybody at present was pleasant except for the representatives of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    After the representatives of Gold and Power Law retreated, the 4th batch of people who slapped the face of Taiyi Fantasy Sect entered the stage.


    It was 2 stewards from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    "Lord Guangnan''s Mansion congratulate Elder Mushen on having a great and long fortune in cultivation base and eternal chakras. In order to congratulate Elder Mushen on promoting to an earth knight, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion especially gift 2,000 water-element crystals, 20 million gold coins, 2,000 pairs of jade ivories and earth-element rhino horns, 2,000 crates of gems, 100,000 kg starry violet gold, 800,000 kg top-class spirited sandalwood, 2,000 crates of various top-class medicaments and tribute tea leaves, 26,000 m long golden boa silk cloths, 2,000 domestic servants and Heavenly Stars City near Heavenly Stars Lake, which is a scenic spot in the south border of Taixia Country!"


    After hearing this gift, the auditorium was in an uproar once again. Even the earth knights in the top 7 sects couldn''t receive such great gifts in their rotating chakra ceremonies one after another.


    Many people who didn''t know the reason hurriedly asked others why Lord Guangnan''s Mansion "flattered" Elder Mushen so much. Soon after being hinted by those who knew the reason, everybody had understood it as they all threw their glance at Bai Suxian who was the most beautiful one on the auditorium¡ª¡ªit turns out that Elder Mushen has convinced the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and will establish a connection with Lord Guangnan''s Mansion through marriage. No wonder Lord Guangnan is so generous; he''s sending this gift to his son-in-law.


    At this moment, many people had the same thought when they watched the beautiful wives of Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian, ''Elder Mushen is really the most romantic man in the world!''


    By contrast, the faces of those representatives of Taiyi Fantasy Sect had turned black. Being fully confident, Taiyi Fantasy Sect had completely deteriorated into minor roles. Even though their gift ranked last among the gifts of the other major clans and Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, they couldn''t lose a temper.


    In the eyes of the audience, Zhang Tie became more dignified and mysterious on the silver throne. In the eyes of these people, even though Zhang Tie just sat there, he was giving out light all over. At the same time, he was releasing a strong surging qi in a formidable way.


    After the representatives of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion returned to their seats, more and more guests congratulated Zhang Tie on the stage, including the representatives of Zhu Clan the provincial governor''s clan in Yanzhou Province, Qian Clan the provincial governor''s clan in Tongzhou Province and the major clans in Youzhou Province. Although these clans'' gifts couldn''t match that of the 3 top sects and Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, they were also prepared carefully and could match the identities of those clans themselves.


    Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanyi''s disciples also sent a great gift to Zhang Tie on behalf of Minling Swordsmanship Sect in Guzhou Province.


    As Zhang Tie once saved Lin Huanxi''s life, Lu Zhongming''s and Lin Huanxi''s gift was really expensive, including 400 water-element crystals, 400 tons of gold, 4 bronze secret items, 400 crates of precious specialties in Guzhou Province and a secret book about the joint attack that the couple received by accident.


    The disciples of Nangong Sheng, the founder of Immortal Fist Position Sect also congratulated Zhang Tie with a great gift.


    Even Zhao Clan and Yang Clan in Military Province had sent their gifts, not to mention those major clans whose disciples were in Iron-Dragon Sect.


    When Yang Clan''s juniors entered the stage, there was an episode. Previously, Yang Clan in Military Province only had one knight-level elder Yang Zhenjun. After Yang Zhenyun lost his life in the Earth-elements Realm, Yan Clan''s situation declined greatly over these years. All the representatives of Yang Clan entered the stage to congratulate Zhang Tie; additionally, their gift was greatly dwarfed by that of Zhao Clan in Military Province. Actually, Yang Clan''s gift couldn''t even account 1/5 of that of Zhao Clan. Yang Clan only gifted 1 million gold coins, 2 rune equipment which had just broken through the bottleneck of black iron effect and 20 crates of specialties in Military Province.


    The clan head of Yang Clan reported the gift himself, which aroused the discussion of the audience at once. Compared to the shocks caused by the gifts of the top 3 sects and Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Yang Clan''s gift was also shocking to another extreme. Such a cheap gift was even enough to congratulate a black iron''s rotating chakra ceremony, not to mention an earth knight''s rotating chakra ceremony. The clan head and all the disciples of Yang Clan felt bashful as they just lowered their heads.


    Under the strange looks of the audience, Zhang Tie left his silver throne and deeply bowed towards the clan head and disciples of Yang Clan. Zhang Tie''s movements not only made the audience dumbfounded, but also made the clan head and disciples of Yang Clan perplexed.


    "Zhang Tie is bowing towards the martyr of Yang Clan. Zhang Tie got acquainted with Elder brother Zhenjun in the Earth-elements Realm and experienced life or death situations together. We were comrades-in-arms. I''ve not imagined that Elder brother Zhenjun had fought demons to death in the center of Tiewei Mountain in the first abyss of the Earth-elements Realm when Zhang Tie came out of the dilemma a few years later. Elder brother Zhenjun was dauntless in front of the large formation of demon knights and finally sacrificed himself for the sake of humans and Taixia Country, leaving nothing but his clothes. When I heard that news, I let out a deep sigh too. Elder brother Zhenjun was full of zeal with imperishable noble spirit. He lived and died for humans. He should be the model of our peer knights. With such a heroic forebear, Yang Clan deserve Zhang Tie''s bow!"


    Soon after hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the representatives of Yang Clan dissolved in tears. As a result, all the juniors knelt down in front of Zhang Tie and kowtowed towards Zhang Tie. By then, all the "strange" looks on Yang Clan''s representatives turned deferent. How could the clan members of a late hero be despised by people because of a poor gift?


    After Yang clan''s representatives stood up and straightened up with tears over their faces, Zhang Tie told the clan head of Yang Clan, "Although the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect has passed, I want to enroll another two disciples today. Would disciples of Yang Clan like to join Iron-Dragon Sect?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the clan head of Yang Clan surged out more tears. Yan Clan indeed expected that Zhang Tie could enroll some members of Yang Clan as his disciples given the friendship between Zhang Tie and the clan head of Yang Clan so that Yang Clan could see a hope to reinvigorate. They had not imagined that Zhang Tie had known their intention before they asked for that. Therefore, the clan head immediately intended to kneel down towards Zhang Tie; however, Zhang Tie stopped him by grabbing his arm.


    "Tiecheng, Tieqiang, hurry up, kowtow towards your master!" The clan head of Yang Clan turned around and shouted towards two members of Yang Clan as he caught Zhang Tie''s arm tightly with tears all over his face.


    Two 18-year-old young men knelt down in front of Zhang Tie once again as they immediately knocked onto the ground with their foreheads forcefully. When they raised their heads, their foreheads had already turned red.


    Zhang Tie helped the two disciples stand up on his own initiative. Closely after that, he pointed at the area of the representatives of Iron-Dragon Sect before saying, "You''re my disciples today. Take a seat over there after talking with your family members.


    This episode didn''t take Zhang Tie too much time. After Yang Clan''s representatives returned to their area, the rotating chakra ceremony continued. However, after such an episode, many people watched Zhang Tie with more curious and awestruck eye light.


    The halos of a gentleman were educational, pitying and upholding the justice.


    ''If Zhang Tie''s deeds were regarded as buying popularity, hypocrites are expected to spread over the world. Because everyone expects their hearts to be bought in this way.'' Many people let out a sigh with emotion inside.


    The process of congratulations took them 2 hours. Zhang Tie also received numerous gifts.


    After the link of congratulations, many guests felt that the grand occasion of Elder Mushen''s rotating chakra ceremony and so many much-told tales in the ceremony would definitely be spread over the world. The fame of Zhang Tie, Zhang Mushen would reach a new height in Taixia Country.


    "It''s said that Elder Mushen has awakened an immortal bloodline and could change your look casually like shadow demons; additionally, the means that Elder Mushen used to convert between two secret methods is really rare. May you show us that talent today?" A distant voice drifted from the auditorium of Taiyi Fantasy Sect after the last congratulant left...

 1211 The Plot of a Plo

    Chapter 1211: The Plot of a Plot


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After hearing that question, Zhang Tie looked at the seats of Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s representatives once again.


    That representative of Taiyi Fantasy Sect might not ask this question out of a good intention; however, it was indeed a good chance for Zhang Tie to launch a counter-attack towards Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    It was a knight at his 50s who asked that question. He had a dislikeable long face and an emaciated figure. His words made all the guests move their eyes onto Zhang Tie once again.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "May I know your name, sir?"


    "This humble man is Bai Zhonghe, a junior of Taiyi Fantasy Sect!" That man stood up as he replied and cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie.


    Under the gaze of everyone else, Zhang Tie looked at Bai Zhonghe for a short. After that, his body started to ripple like water waves. After the water waves calmed down, Zhang Tie had already incarnated into the look of Ba Zhonghe; besides clothes, his figure, look and hairstyle became as same as that of Bai Zhonghe.


    With a sound of crashing, the entire auditorium was in an uproar. Many people stood up out of amazement while watching Zhang Tie who had incarnated into another person.


    "This humble man is Bai Zhonghe, a junior of Taiyi Fantasy Sect!" Zhang Tie stood up as he repeated Bai Zhonghe''s words in the same voice and the same movement.


    "You...you...you..." Bai Zhonghe stammered like seeing a ghost as he pointed towards Zhang Tie.


    Actually, Bai Zhonghe was not the only one who felt like seeing a ghost; besides very few people who had seen Zhang Tie''s body-changing immortal bloodline, almost all the 2,000-odd guests became stunned at the sight of Zhang Tie''s performance.


    Zhang Tie just incarnated into another person casually in such a short while. That was what made people feel terrified.


    All the knights had stood up out of amazement, including the royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    After repeating Bai Zhonghe''s words, Zhang Tie''s body rippled and incarnated into his original look once again under the gaze of the public.


    "Immortal bloodline, immortal bloodline..." The auditorium was in an uproar as many people exclaimed.


    As it was their first time to witness the legendary and unique immortal bloodline, many guests thought that they were dreaming. Therefore, they all pinched their thigh forcefully.


    If the deacons and disciples of Huaiyuan Palace were not maintaining order on the spot, the exclamations would have soon turned into chaos.


    "Right, it''s my body-changing immortal bloodline. I could change my figure and look casually. It''s just a small trick of disguise. Don''t laugh at me!" Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards all directions. After that, he sat back. Closely after that, he stretched out one hand, which released a ball of five-elements battle qi which carried the features of gold, wood, water, fire and soil and constantly changed its color. At the sight of it, those who were familiar with it would know that Zhang Tie was cultivating "Five-elements Ground-look Sutra". After a few seconds, that five-elements battle qi disappeared. Zhang Tie closed his eyes for a short while. When he opened his eyes once again, the same hand released the fiery fire-dragon battle qi. "This is the secret method of chaotic treasure body that I cultivate. As long as one grasps this secret method, one''s surging points would be chaotic. At that time, one could simulate the effect of any secret method as long as one has the secret method!"


    Previously, Zhang Tie told the elders of Huaiyuan Palace that it would normally take his secret method of chaotic treasure body about half an hour to convert between different battle qis and secret methods, except today. According to Zhang Tie''s explanation to the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace, the rapid conversion between the battle qis of different secret methods would consume him a lot of vitality; additionally, after a rapid conversion, he could only release 30% of the total battle qi in almost one day. That was an evident and severe sequela. When in special occasion, rapid conversion might bring him fatal outcomes by sparing a chance for the enemy to attack him. However, it was very special today. In order to shock all the people who had malicious intentions about Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie would expose his trump cards to the public even if he had to "pay the price for that".


    The elders of Huaiyuan Palace believed in Zhang Tie''s words firmly; besides, they were touched too much. Whatever, only Zhang Tie could grasp the secret method of "Chaotic Treasure Body", Zhang Tie didn''t worry that his lies would be exposed. Additionally, he didn''t feel that he could have any chance to fight the others in 2 days after the rotating chakra ceremony.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether gentlemen would tell lies. Actually, Zhang Tie didn''t completely treat himself as a gentleman until today. He was not simply telling lies but responding to the situations timely with the chance of the rotating chakra ceremony. The latter was the main purpose of Zhang Tie''s rotating chakra ceremony. However, Zhang Tie really had not imagined that he could receive so many gifts.


    Thousands of people at present witnessed the power of Zhang Tie''s body-changing immortal bloodline and secret method of Chaotic Treasure Body. Therefore, the entire auditorium was in an uproar. Exclamations and communications made the square before the Ancestral Shrine Palace as boisterous as a marketplace.


    In this chaos, a person in class VI official uniform stood up as he cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie said loudly, "Please forgive me, Elder Mushen, this humble man is the land resources administer of the northeast military region. Because Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was rewarded to Fire-Dragon Hermit Cui Li and all the certificates about Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory were signed by Cui Li, Elder Mushen should prove that Cui Li was your incarnation although you''ve just displayed your body-changing immortal bloodline before inheriting all the rights of Cui Li in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Whatever, we have to follow the Taixia law. Commander Cheng especially ordered this humble man to confirm the relationship between Elder Mushen and Cui Li and the ownership of all the rights and interests of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory in case of disputes and troubles!"


    After hearing the official''s words, the square became quiet once again. They all wanted to see how Zhang Tie proved that he was Cui Li. It would be better if Zhang Tie could display his body-changing immortal bloodline once again. He finished it too fast just now. Although many people had witnessed how Zhang Tie incarnated into another person, they wanted to watch that one more time.


    "How do you want me to prove it?" Zhang Tie asked kindly. At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t believe that the imperial court of Taixia Country and Northeast Military Region would make him embarrassed on this issue. They just wanted to end the gossips. Additionally, Zhang Tie would indeed meet problems in inheriting the ownership of properties of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory if he didn''t prove the relationship between Cui Li and him. ''These problems should be solved as soon as possible. Although Commander Cheng didn''t come here, he has already expressed his goodwill to me.''


    "Cui Li has left the complete handprints on the documents of inheriting Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. The two complete handprints are the most important reference and certificate for us to confirm the identity of Cui Li. If Cui Li is indeed the incarnation of Elder Mushen. As long as Elder Mushen could show us the same complete handprints, we will believe that Cui Li is your incarnation!" That official of Northeast Military Region Command said as he took out 2 lead slime seals that could keep Zhang Tie''s handprints from his portable space-teleportation equipment. After that, he threw a glance at the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace and had him hand the two seals to Zhang Tie.


    "It''s simple..." Zhang Tie replied with a smile as his two hands started to grow larger and coarser and darker; even the grains of his palms and fingers were changing. Finally, they turned as large as a pair of cattail leaf fans. After that, Zhang Tie pressed a clear handprint on each lead mud seal, including the complete prints of his 10 fingers.


    One deacon of Huaiyuan Palace handed the two lead mud seals back to the land resources administer of Northeast Military Region. The land resources administer took out an item like projector from his portable space-teleportation equipment under the gaze of the public. He put a photographic negative-like semi-transparent black card on the mirror of the machine before inserting the two lead mud seals into the two slots of the machine. Four clear handprints were reflected onto the screen. After that, the 4 handprints gradually aligned with each other under the manipulation of the land resources administrator, which proved that Cui Li was indeed the incarnation of Zhang Tie.


    "Elder Mushen, the handprints that you''ve just incarnated are as same as that left by Cui Li. It could be proved that Cui Li is your incarnation. Later on, you need to sign some more documents so as to confirm your rights in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory!" The land resources administrator told Zhang Tie after teleporting the lead mud seals and the projector into his portable space-teleportation equipment.


    "Thanks!"


    "You''re welcome, Elder Mushen. It''s my responsibility!" The land resources administrator sat down after saying that.


    "Elder Mushen, I wonder where did you get the secret method of Chaotic Treasure Body? How could you not be discovered by others when you disguised as Cui Li?" Another official of Supreme Court stood up as he asked Zhang Tie politely.


    "I gradually learned the secret method of Chaotic Treasure Body through gnosis in a bizarre state after being struck by a lightning bolt. My achievement mostly benefitted from the experience of being struck by a lightning bolt. As for how I could be not discovered by others when I disguised as Cui Li, Cui Li was also disguised by a wanted man in Taixia Country. That wanted man is called Zhu Liang the poisonous wolf. When I returned to Taixia Country at the beginning, I met Zhu Liang the poisonous wolf who was being chased after by some bounty criminal hunters. Zhu Liang found I was alone and wanted to kill me; however, I killed him; before his death, I read his memory in soul reading skill. Later on, I could only incarnate into Cui Li with the ability of body-changing immortal bloodline and the secret method of Chaotic Treasure Body!"


    "Soul Reading Skill?" The official of Supreme Court quivered slightly all over.


    "Yes, when I was fighting clans of Three-eye Association in Waii Subcontinent, I discovered a secret method called "Soul Forbidden Method" from a member of the clan of Three-eye Association. Therefore, I grasped soul reading skill!"


    Body-changing immortal bloodline, Chaotic Treasure Body and the soul reading skill in the Soul Forbidden Method. After thinking about the 3 phrases for a short while, a gasp sounded in the auditorium at the same time.


    Did it mean that Zhang Tie could disguise whoever he wanted below knight level? After reading one''s memory, he incarnated into that one''s look. Who else in the world could identify Zhang Tie''s incarnation? If someone offended him, they didn''t even know how they were killed.


    Nangong Sheng''s face changed a bit. Closely after that, the two elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect exchanged a glance with each other as they all saw a faint fear and shock in the opponent''s eyes. ''Thankfully, we didn''t completely offend Zhang Tie at that time; otherwise, we didn''t even know how we were killed...''


    "Hahaha, what a soul reading secret skill..." When the others were shocked too much, a hoarse laughter suddenly drifted from above Ancestral Shrine Palace. At the same time, a knight in a gloomy black robe appeared in the sky.


    This knight had a hooknose. With weird sparkling eye light and silver hair swaying in the air, he was covered with a bizarre and grim black mist, which was constantly twisting around him like a vigorous flame as if it was going to shake off an invisible iron chain. What an amazing scene!


    Black robe, hooknose, grim face, silver hair and weird mist. What a vivid image! Even though he had not appeared for a few years, the moment he showed up, he would be recognized by others at once.


    "Black-robed knight Gorath, the most terrifying human voodoo pharmacist..." Someone immediately exclaimed in the west of the Ancestral Shrine Palace.


    The well-known image of black-robed knight Gorath impressed people deeply. With the terrifying moons-demon miasma, this man had exterminated an entire demon corps and hundreds of millions of demonized puppets, turning a subcontinent into a ghost region. He was the most terrifying black iron human knight.


    Nobody could imagine that they could see Gorath here.


    Gorath''s intention was unknown; however, his extremely terrifying moons-demon miasma and changing black mist made many people in the auditorium intense.


    Gorath could destroy a city or a subcontinent easily. Like a biochemical weapon which would explode at any time, this person would make others intense wherever he was. In some legends, even the air that Gorath exhaled was severely poisonous. Of course, his appearance would make some commoners feel intense. Even though those knights became alert at the sight of him; meanwhile, they all wondered why Gorath could appear here.


    At the sight Gorath, Elder Muray raised his eyebrows as he intended to shoot up and ask Gorath about his intention.


    "Elder Muray, take easy. This person is my friend!" Zhang Tie stopped Elder Muray with a solemn look as he looked up at "Gorath" and said, "It''s nice to see you again, my friend, do you want to have a drink downside here?"


    "No need, my friend, it''s not inconvenient to do that. I''ve just collected a new destructive ptomaine recently. I cannot control it easily for the time being. I prefer to stay in the air. It would be safer!" Gorath''s cold sound drifted from the sky, "Soon after I left Earth-elements Realm, I''ve been told that you''ve returned to Youzhou Province and promoted to an earth knight. I especially came here to take a look at you. I remember that you were a black iron knight a few years ago, it''s really out of my imagination that you''ve already promoted to an earth knight. Congratulations, you''re really the best Hua knight I''ve ever seen."


    After hearing Gorath''s words, everyone believed that Zhang Tie got acquainted with Gorath before. Additionally, they were good friends.


    "Hoho, I''m just lucky..." Zhang Tie replied modestly.


    "According to the proverb of you Hua people, nobody could promote to a knight by accident. It''s all your hard efforts. I''m going to leave Taixia Country. Hope we could see each other later on!"


    "Where are you going?"


    "I''ve not decided. I will think about it after leaving Taixia Country, I might go to an unpopulated isle in the ocean or somewhere in a subcontinent!"


    "Well, congratulations, bon voyage. Additionally, thanks for coming to see me!" Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards Gorath.


    "Gorath" nodded in the sky. After that, he threw a distant glance at Zhang Tie before flying towards the open waters outside Tiger Embracing City.


    When Gorath was flying away, some knights in the auditorium wanted to chase after him; however, they were all stopped by those on their side. Therefore, nobody chased after him in the end because of the words of Gorath. He had just collected a new destructive ptomaine. Even Gorath himself couldn''t control it. They realized that they''d better stay far away from Gorath. What was more, Gorath targeted at demons and Three-eye Association. Additionally, he had no evil deeds; therefore, those knights who used to treat themselves as righteous ones didn''t have a reason to chase after Gorath. Additionally, it was in the territory of Huaiyuan Palace and Taixia Country. If Gorath was driven mad, he might release his terrifying ptomaine miasma in Embracing Tiger City or Taixia Country as a whole. By then, who would be responsible for that?


    When they thought about this, they just watched black robe knight Gorath disappearing in the sky.


    "Elder Mushen, you and Gorath are friends?" Elder Muray looked at Zhang Tie with a shocked expression.


    Zhang Tie nodded seriously as he replied, "I got acquainted with him in Waii Subcontinent. At that time, I protected Huaiyuan Prefecture to the end. Occasionally, I met him. He was severely injured at that time and was being chased after by demon general and the knights of Three-eye Association. I helped him beat back those knights of Three-eye Association. After that, we became friends. I didn''t know what he had done in Waii Subcontinent since I left there. We''ve not seen each other for many years!"


    Zhang Tie replied as if it was the truth. However, nobody doubted him. Because Gorath just appeared in front of him and chatted with him just now. Someone might be able to disguise as Gorath; however, they couldn''t imitate Gorath''s temperament especially that vigorous black mist around him which was actually a terrifying ptomaine miasma or a form of moons-demon ptomaine.


    ...


    In the chilly wind, the black-robed knight Gorath arrived above the ocean. After ensuring that nobody was chasing after him, he dove into the sea at once.


    The moment Gorath entered the sea, he had reached 60 miles away and entered an oceanic trench being covered with reefs and marine plants.


    It was absolutely safe here. Nobody could see him. Gorath looked back at the direction of the Tiger Embracing Mountain. After that, he looked at his body and turned his black robe into powders by battle qi. After that, he muttered to himself, "What a powerful body-separation skill..."


    After saying the words, Gorath''s body disappeared into the bubbles and twisted shadow under the water...


    ...

 1212 The New Layout I

    After the rotating charka ceremony finished for 2 days, various news about this rotating chakra ceremony were gradually fermenting. On February 6th, Zhang Tie had finished his reunion within his family members and left Jinwu City for Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory together with the disciples of Iron-dragon Sect, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Bai Suxian, Bai Suxian''s elder brother, Feng Cangwu, Lu Zhongming, Lin Huanxi and their disciples, Donder and Zhang Su, Zhang Tie''s cousin.


    The airboat of Heavens Fortune Sect left Youzhou Province yesterday. After meeting their dad and reuniting with their family members, Zhang Tie''s 3 sons returned to Heavens Fortune Sect together with the grand elder of Heavens Fortune Sect.


    Zhang Tie became reassured about his 3 sons. The grand elder of Heavens Fortune Sect attended his rotating chakra ceremony. After the ceremony, Zhang Tie had talked with the grand elder of Heavens Fortune Sect carefully. Through this talk, Heavens Fortune Sect had become Zhang Tie''s ally officially. Because of this relationship, Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei could receive the best education in Heavens Fortune Sect for sure.


    Speaking of education, besides Gold and Power Law, the educational systems of the other 6 top sects of Taixia Country were the best among humans. Without such high educational levels and systems, they couldn''t be top sects in Taixia Country.


    Zhang Tie''s 3 sons were instructed by Deyang Immortal, the grand elder of Heavens Fortune Sect. Zhang Tie had met him in White Tiger Platform. This time, Deyang Immortal attended Zhang Tie''s Rotating Chakra Ceremony on behalf of Heavens Fortune Sect too.


    Immortal was an appellation of shadow-knights in Taixia Country. Deyang Immortal''s original name was Wang Deyang. Because his cultivation method was a top-secret method in Taiyi Fantasy Sect, which was also cultivated by someone else; additionally, many people had promoted to shadow knight by the same secret method. Therefore, according to the universal appellation of Taixia Country, the appellation "immortal" should be prefixed with his original name. By contrast, as Mountain Lifting Hermit was the only one who cultivated Mountain Lifting Sutra, like how Cui Li cultivated Fire Dragon Sutra alone, "hermit" could be prefixed with the name of their cultivation method.


    Zhang Tie and Deyang Immortal talked about the relationship and cooperation between Zhang Clan and Heavens Fortune Sect and the current situation facing Taixia Country as well as the cultivation of Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei in Heavens Fortune Sect.


    Top sects such as Heavens Fortune Sect definitely had more than one secret method that could be used to promote to knights. Such top sects concentrated on teaching students in accordance with their aptitudes. Due to different gifts, abilities, advantageous resources, cultivation resources and support strength, disciples of Heavens Fortune Sect would cultivate different cultivation methods for sure.


    The top cultivation method was the throne-level Heavens Covering Sutra. Under Heavens Covering Sutra, there were over 20 complete cultivation methods ranging from baron level to marquis level. Except for the duke-level cultivation method, Heavens Fortune Sect had collected all the cultivation methods on all levels. Ordinary disciples of Heavens Fortune Sect would be imparted with different cultivation methods through enlightenment optionally; however, top elites such as Feng Cangwu and Deyang Immortal of Heavens Fortune Sect were cultivating Heavens Covering Sutra.


    Deyang Immortal promised Zhang Tie that his 3 sons could be imparted with Heavens Fortune Sect through enlightenment in the future. Therefore, Zhang Tie became completely reassured.


    Although King Roc Sutra was an emperor-level secret method, it was incomplete for the time being as Zhang Tie had not got the corresponding battle skills. Additionally, the cultivation of King Roc Sutra required a lot of resources. Zhang Tie could only slowly comprehend it himself. Without the help of Castle of Black Iron and the small tree, Zhang Tie didn''t know that whether he could make such a great achievement.


    At this critical moment, he preferred to have his 3 sons cultivate the complete throne-level Heavens Covering Sutra rather than imparting the incomplete emperor-level secret method to them at a high risk; because they could easily become outstanding and make a great achievement by cultivating the complete Heavens Covering Sutra.


    Zhang Tie was never greedy; neither had he thought about dominating the world. In his opinion, ordinary people could barely enter Heavens Fortune Sect, not to mention cultivating a throne-level secret method. Therefore, he had been satisfied with that.


    Emperor Xuanyuan was something; however, he was the only one among billions of people. At that supreme position, although he looked imposing, Emperor Xuanyuan''s hardships might only be perceived by himself. Zhang Tie didn''t pose such a high request towards his 3 sons. As a dad, Zhang Tie only hoped for his sons to be happy, healthy and grow into real men who dared shoulder their responsibilities instead of falling into a wrong path. If not the holy war and people could expand their longevity through cultivation, Zhang Tie even felt it was unnecessary for people to cultivate.


    Heavens Fortune Sect was actually a super interest group. Thousands of clans, various industries were relevant about this sect, either large or small. Tens of billions of people might be involved due to interest. Of course, it was not just a lip service to be the ally of such a sect. Zhang Tie had to provide actual interests to Heavens Fortune Sect so as to stabilize their cooperation.


    Knights needed element crystals and golds; however, more commoners only needed golds instead of element crystals.


    Super interest groups such as Heavens Fortune Sect also needed to make profits. The greater the interest group was, the more it needed money to maintain its operation and cohesive force. As long as commoners had demanded, they had to make money. Even knights couldn''t only survive on element crystals.


    Zhang Tie and Deyang Immortal talked something about profits too; namely the expansion and selection of the sites of production base of all-purpose medicaments and high-power alcohol.


    As all-purpose medicaments gradually became well-known across Taixia Country, its market demand also grew larger. As a result, the capacity of all-purpose medicaments in Jinwu City and Yanghe Prefecture couldn''t meet the demand of the market anymore. Now, less than 100 million vials of all-purpose medicament could be produced in Jinwu City and Yanghe Prefecture in each year. Such a low supply was absolutely insufficient for the huge market in Taixia Country. The gap in the market was terrifyingly large.


    Zhang Tie''s return completely stabilized the foundation of Jinwu City and Zhang Clan. After that, Jinwu Business Group and Zhang Yang had been considering about building another production base of all-purpose medicament outside Youzhou Province so as to meet the increasingly larger market demand.


    It symbolized that Jinwu Business Group started to enter a larger stage outside Youzhou Province after accumulating enough strength.


    The all-purpose medicaments in the market were expensive. Besides being rare, it was mainly caused by the high transportation cost. Youzhou Province was basically in the northernmost part of Taixia Country. It would take a vial of all-purpose medicament at least 2 months to arrive at Xuanyuan Hill from Youzhou Province even by airship. The farther it was, the longer the transportation process would be. Due to such a high transportation cost, its supply couldn''t meet its demand.


    According to Zhang Yang''s plan, the first production base of all-purpose medicament that was founded outside Youzhou Province should produce at least 500 million vials of all-purpose medicaments annually. Given the size and population of Taixia Country, such an industrial base could only accomplish the basic production layout. Over 20 production bases with the same annual output should be founded across Taixia Country so as to meet the lowest demand in Taixia Country. After this step, Jinwu Business Group intended to build one production base in each province of Taixia Country so as to meet the demand of each province. Thirdly, they would consider building more production bases on the Western Continent and the other subcontinents which had civilized human countries.


    By then, all the places that all-purpose medicaments could be seen and bought in the world would be covered by Zhang family''s influence in Jinwu City. Such a layout was akin to the strategy which was adopted by some human petroleum interest groups who controlled petroleum resource and wanted to control the supply and demand of petroleum in the world before the Catastrophe. As long as a clan and a group could turn something under their control into the daily necessity of humans, they would have a greater power and influence.


    Zhang Tie''s return and the fact that he had promoted to an earth knight made Zhang Yang more ambitious about expanding the commercial empire of Jinwu Business Group by producing all-purpose medicaments outside Youzhou Province. This was the first step for them to build a commercial empire in the future.


    At least now, Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang family in Jinwu City didn''t have the ability, power or human resources to support the layout of Zhang Yang''s commercial empire. If they wanted to further expand their market, they had to choose an ally. Cooperation was the best and stablest way for them to realize that.


    Heavens Fortune Sect was the ally that Zhang Tie selected. The new production base with an annual output of 500 million vials of all-purpose medicaments would be built in Xuanzhou Province where Heavens Fortune Sect was located in.


    The above was what Zhang Tie and Deyang Immortal had determined. As for the distribution of profits, shares of sales volume and sales channels, it was the matter of the managers of Heavens Fortune Sect and Jinwu Business Group...


    Whatever, Zhang Tie didn''t need to worry about the trick of burning the bridge after crossing as long as the production of all-purpose medicaments had to depend on his essential-energy aura yeast. As long as he would like to do that, he could ensure that none of the production bases could produce one vial of all-purpose medicament. This was Zhang Tie''s trump card, the confidence of Jinwu Business Group on cooperating with the other forces and the eternal efficient means that Zhang family adopted to control the production and supply of all-purpose medicaments.

 1213 The New Layout II

    Like the production of all-purpose medicaments, the output of the first phase of high-power alcohol in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was only 50 tons. It was like throwing the stone to clear the road. Zhang Tie needed time. He needed this production base to produce high-power alcohol as fast as possible. The main function of this production base of high-power alcohol could be used to display the high performance of this sort of alcohol.


    As long as the high-power alcohol entered the market, such a low output might only meet the demand of a prefecture in Youzhou Province. Given the huge market in Taixia Country, the urgent demand for such useful items could definitely be anticipated in the future. Therefore, the second topic that Zhang Tie and Deyang Immortal talked about was about the cooperation between Zhang family in Jinwu City and Heavens Fortune Sect. They wanted to build a larger production base of high-power alcohol in the territory of Heavens Fortune Sect.


    The annual output of the new production base of high-power alcohol should be at least 10 million tons.


    The production and layout of the large-scale industrial base was a professional learning, which required experts with professional backgrounds to be responsible for selecting a site, designing and optimizing assembly lines and the construction of corresponding railways or highways. Zhang Tie was not worried about these issues. Given the ability and resources of Heavens Fortune Sect, they could easily deal with such things. Zhang Tie just gave a drawing of raw materials fermentation tank that he had designed to Deyang Immortal, which was the core component of the entire production base of high-power alcohol. As long as the raw materials fermentation tank could produce high-power yeasts constantly, the base would be able to produce alcohol constantly.


    If Heavens Fortune Sect was highly efficient, they could put this base into use before this autumn harvest. By then, they could take advantage of a large number of straws.


    As the catastrophe of bloody figures had spread over Taixia Country, the holy war was posing increasingly greater influence to Taixia Country. Nobody knew what would happen in Taixia Country half a year later. Although it was super fast for this high-power alcohol base to be put into use in half a year, both Zhang Tie and Deyang Immortal had a sense of urgency.


    Now that Huaiyuan Palace could discover that Heavens Reaching Church might play tricks on grains supply, the Heavens Fortune Sect could discover it too. Zhang Tie had to admire the smartness of influential figures in Heavens Fortune Sect once again. According to Deyang Immortal, within the sphere of influence of Heavens Fortune Sect, the agricultural production and grains supply of all the clans being affiliated to Heavens Fortune Sect were always manipulated by the business groups of Heavens Fortune Sect. Heavens Fortune Sect had been preventing from foreign grains like preventing from thieves; especially the flow-in of foreign grains. As Gold and Power Law was a "black hand" for imperial households of Taixia Country to involve in the affairs about the other 6 tops sects in Taixia country, Heavens Fortune Sect had to prevent Gold and Power Law and the Agricultural Ministry from penetrating in grains production within their sphere of influence. Therefore, although the clans of Heavens Reaching Church could have their grains and grain seeds circulate across Taixia Country, they could barely have their grains and grain seeds penetrate into the sphere of influence of Heavens Fortune Sect.


    Actually, besides Heavens Fortune Sect, all the other 5 top sects were also preventing the imperial court and the agricultural ministry of Taixia Country from involving in the grains supply within their sphere of influence. They would never put the vital industry of grains production in the hand of others.


    This might be the only good news that Zhang Tie had heard over these years.


    Zhang Tie was not sure which step would the overall situation of Taixia Country evolve to, better or worse. If a grain crisis broke out on a large scale in Taixia Country, grains would be the most important resource. By then, the imperial court of Taixia Country would be afflicted by the deteriorated overall situation. By contrast, the top 6 clans of Taixia Country had numerous grains. How would the imperial court maintain balance with the 6 top sects by then? As long as this equilibrium was broken, the chips and strengths of both parties would be reversed. Taixia Court would not be able to suppress the other 6 top sects by then. What would happen then?


    The moment Zhang Tie thought about the above problem, he would be faintly worried.


    ''I''m definitely not the only person who could see this step and have such a concern.'' Zhang Tie thought. Why didn''t Commander Cheng of Northeast Military Region attend Zhang Tie''s rotating chakra ceremony? Because Commander Cheng had been making an inspection across Northeast Military Region; especially the major grain producing areas and urging all the provinces within his territory to accomplish the spring plowing of grains. As a result, those agricultural officials in Northeast Military Region were in a general turmoil.


    Over the past 2 decades, it was the first time for Commander Cheng to care about grains production within the Northeast Military Region.


    As the commander of Northeast Military Region, he must have been noticed by Xuanyuan Hill about something.


    As a countermeasure, Zhang Tie''s family also spent millions of gold coins in expanding irrigation works, reclaiming fertile farmland and founding villages around Jinwu City.


    Over these years, they had reclaimed about 1400 million square meters'' land around Jinwu City. This year, the total area of the arable land near Jinwu City would reach 2100 million square meters.


    Zhang Tie stealthily spread a lot of No.1 earthworms in the arable land near Yanghe Prefecture and Jinwu City. Besides, he handed a batch of mutated quality soya beans, rice, wheat to Zhang Yang and told him to have people sow them all this year.


    Besides establishing cooperation with Heavens Fortune Sect, Zhang Tie also made secret talks with the representatives of Gold and Power Law and Supreme Court and reconciled with them.


    Interestingly enough, both Gold and Power Law and Supreme Court extended the olive branches to Zhang Tie once again.


    Gold and Power Law invited Zhang Tie to join them once again by providing the title of bright golden dragon head to him. The Supreme Court provided Zhang Tie with the title of procurator in chief, with which, Zhang Tie could manage all the Buildings of Brightness and all the bounty criminal hunters across Taixia Country.


    Zhang Tie declined all the invitations of Gold and Power Law and Supreme Court politely.


    After the real identity of Han Zhengfang was exposed to the public, the position of Gold and Power Law almost dropped out of the top 7 sects of Taixia Country as it was suffering from condemnations from all parties. During the past 2 months, Zhang Tie learned that the top 6 sects had assigned elders to hold two conferences; however, Gold and Power Law was excluded from both conferences. This could never be possible a few years ago. However, now, it became possible. Gold and Power Law was pushed aside by the other top 6 sects of Taixia Country. That was to say, the other top 6 sects might elbow Gold and Power Law out of the name-list of the top 7 sects of Taixia Country. Zhang Tie had been betrayed by Gold and Power Law, if he agreed to join Gold and Power Law which was squeezed out by the other top 6 sects, Zhang Tie must be muddle-headed.


    ''What''s bright golden dragon head? Is that cooler than being a boss?''


    Although Zhang Tie declined the invitation of Gold and Power Law, he still recommended his elder brother Zhang Yang to join Gold and Power Law. It was still very profitable for Zhang Yang to join Gold and Power Law if it was regarded as a pure commercial alliance or commercial guild. Whereas, as Emperor Xuanyuan was too arrogant and urged to found a sect which was on equal footing with the other top 6 sects of Taixia Country, Gold and Power Law became neither fish nor fowl. Commercially, it was profitable for Zhang Yang to join Gold and Power Law as the boss of Jinwu Business Group.


    When the representatives of Gold and Power Law left Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie''s elder brother Zhang Yang had become the bright gold manager of Gold and Power Law, which granted him with one more halos.


    Gold and Power Law was very satisfied with such a result too. Whatever, it was Zhang Tie''s elder brother who joined Gold and Power Law. From another perspective, it indicated that Zhang family had agreed to reconcile with Gold and Power Law. Powerful organizations such as Gold and Power Law preferred to have people such as Zhang Yang who was a businessman and had knights and powerful forces on his back; because the purer the businessman was, the more he would understand the value and power of gold coins and the more he would be able to integrate with Gold and Power Law. This was also the doctrine of Gold and Power Law.


    From a perspective, the fact that Zhang Yang joined Gold and Power Law indicated the balance between Zhang family in Jinwu City, the imperial court and the other top 6 sects in Taixia Country.


    Besides, Zhang Tie asked Donder to leave Gold and Power Law and join him.


    Both Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and Iron-Dragon Sect required a reliable person who was proficient in economy, management and could get along well with all parties. Zhang Tie considered it carefully as he found that Donder was the most suitable person.


    Of course, Gold and Power Law agreed on letting Donder join Zhang Tie''s Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Zhang Tie let Donder be his general steward of Iron-Dragon Sect. With that title, Donder had a great power. In one word, Donder was entitled to care about the daily necessities, the taxation and management of 10 cities being affiliated to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and the management and development of millions of square miles under the name of Zhang Tie. Even Donder had not imagined that he could have such a day and such a great power. If Zhang Tie''s territory was regarded as a small country in a subcontinent, Donder''s title was equal to the prime minister of that small country.


    Zhang Su, who was Zhang Tie''s cousin, also joined Zhang Tie.


    To be honest, Zhang Su had the best cultivation gift among Zhang Tie''s peers. Actually, Zhang Su''s cultivation gift was even greater than that of Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang; additionally, Zhang Su was wise, courageous and brave to shoulder responsibilities. Of course, Zhang Tie would keep such a good cousin on his side.


    Zhang Tie felt that his family should have some more knights. His cousin Zhang Su should be one of the most promising people for promoting to knights in Zhang family...


    The greater Zhang Tie''s layout was, the more helpers would he need...

 1214 The New Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory

    Chapter 1214: The New Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the process of heading for Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, Zhang Tie and a lot of people were sitting or standing around a long table in a large luxurious lounge on the top of the airboat while drinking and talking about a map on the table.


    The map was sent by the land resources administer of Northeast Military Region before the airboat left Jinwu City today along with a lot of documents and contracts about the ownership of the land in Youzhou Province.


    This time, the official efficiency was pretty high. After confirming that Zhang Tie was Cui Li, all the formalities had been dealt with in less than a week; additionally, the land resources administer of Northeast Military Region sent them to Zhang Tie himself.


    Zhang Tie''s land in Youzhou Province was composed of 4 parts: first, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, which was rewarded by the imperial court of Taixia Country; second, the rest part of Yangui Mountain Range which was gifted by Guan Clan after he won the bet with Guan Qianchong; third, Zanggu Plateau in the north of Youzhou Province that he bought; fourth, 1.2 million square miles'' land that was gifted by Gold and Power Law in this rotating chakra ceremony.


    On the map, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was connected with Yangui Mountain Range; Zanggu Plateau was over 1,200 km away in the north of Yangui Mountain Range, which was a barren land. However, the land gifted by Gold and Power Law was right in between Yangui Mountain Range and Zanggu Plateau. As a result, Zhang Tie''s private land in Youzhou Province became one piece.


    Given this point, Gold and Power Law had carefully selected the gift for Zhang Tie. Based on the relationship between Gold and Power Law and the imperial court of Taixia Country, it was as easy as winking for the former to look up the private land of Zhang Tie in Youzhou Province. When Gold and Power Law saw the open land between Zhang Tie''s two pieces of land, of course, they selected the open land as their sincerest gift.


    Zhang Tie marked his private land in Youzhou Province red on the map.


    It was an irregular half-moon shaped region. The upper part of the region was Zanggu Plateau, which had the highest terrain; the middle part of the region was gifted by Gold and Power Law, which was mainly plain; the lower part of the region was Yangui Mountain Range.


    This red region on the official map of Northeast Military Region covered about 5.35 million square miles, which was much larger than 5 million square miles as was imagined by Zhang Tie. There were two reasons for this: first, 1.4 million square miles'' land that Gold and Power Law''s representatives reported on the spot of Zhang Tie''s rotating chakra ceremony was only to correspond to the quantities of the other gifts in the list of presents. Actually, such a large area of land had to be divided according to the topographic features such as mountains and rivers within the territory. Therefore, it was hard to get an integer. In fact, Gold and Power Law gifted him 1.35 million square miles'' land; second, the precise land areas of Zanggu Plateau and Yangui Mountain Range were slightly greater than that estimated by Zhang Tie.


    According to Zhang Tie''s request, the total 6.25 million square miles'' land area was called Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    "I remember that there were large batches of green unpopulated areas within the territory of Youzhou Province 5 years ago. It''s really out of my imagination that most of such regions have disappeared..." Zhang Tie let out a sigh with emotion.


    Since this map was taken out, Zhang Tie had been standing beside the table and watching this map seriously. He felt a bit thrilled and satisfied as if he was watching the building structure plan of a house or a villa like how commoners usually did. The red region on the map belonged to him as his foundation in Taixia Country.


    Zhang Tie was very happy. The lounge was in a relaxing atmosphere too.


    Zhang Tie was really good at getting along well with people from all walks of life. There were royal highness and princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, able apprentices of top 7 sects of Taixia Country, a couple of knights who had founded a sect in Taixia Country, managers who had experienced hardships since they were young like Donder and Zhang Tie''s elder male cousin. As Zhang Tie''s friends, all of them could get along well with each other easily. Zhang Tie treated all of them on equal terms. None of them felt uneasy on Zhang Tie''s side; therefore, Zhang Tie became the core figure of this circle unconsciously.


    Zhang Su and Donder integrated into this circle a few days ago. In the beginning, they were still a bit restrained. Whatever, all the others in this circle were knights. After staying with the others for 2 days, Zhang Su and Donder didn''t feel restrained any longer; they could even chat with Bai Suxian and her elder brother after having a drink.


    "Youzhou is a lower province which has just been established. As long as it is pacified, land resource in Youzhou Province could be easily sold out. Additionally, the earlier, the cheaper. Those major clans within Northeast Military Region which come to Youzhou Province for development bring a great demand for land. As it is in the holy war, these major clans would not put all the eggs in one basket. Look at the territories of those provincial governor''s clans within Northeast Military Region on the map. All of them have bought land in Youzhou Province. Actually, major clans in Taixia Country are growing up step by step in this way. Not only the major clans within Northeast Military Region, even the land of local major clans in Youzhou Province such as Gu Clan in Eastriver Prefecture, Lu Clan in Spiritualmaple Prefecture, Guo Clan of Threespring Prefecture, Yan Clan of Sunny Prefecture, Liu Clan of Changshan Prefecture, Ximen Clan of Xingbei Prefecture and Sun Clan of Guide Prefecture have expanded greatly respectively. Gu Clan and Lu Clan expanded their land mostly, followed by Guo Clan of Threespring Prefecture. The total land area of Eastriver Prefecture and Spiritualmaple Prefecture almost reaches 1.8 million square miles; the land area of Guo Clan of Threespring Prefecture also reaches about 1.2 million square miles and connects with Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory...by contrast, Huaiyuan Palace doesn''t expand land too much over these years..."


    After Zhang Tie finished his words, Donder wagged his head as he drunk the early sunshine after the small snow; meanwhile, he pointed at the map and said,


    "Mountain Lifting Hermit nodded on one side as he also took a glass of early sunshine after the small snow ."


    When the alcohol entered the mouth, it tasted sweet and cold; however, its strength was lasting, deep and unique like taking sunshine and snow which further turned into plum blossoms and brought the drinker a warm feeling. Only after having two glasses of early sunshine after the small snow, Donder and Mountain Lifting Hermit had blushed while the air that they exhaled carried the chilly fragrance of plum blossoms.


    Early Sunshine after the small snow was produced in White Deer Building on the top of Long Dragon Mountain outside Youzhou City. It was said that the brewing method was utterly different than that of common liquors. The water of this liquor came from the annually first drops of snow water on plum petals of Long Dragon Mountain. Therefore, White Deer Building could only build less than 100 jars of early sunshine after the small snow each year. In Youzhou Province, even Zhang Taixuan couldn''t drink it as long as he wanted. In Zhang Tie''s rotating chakra ceremony, White Deer Building sent Zhang family 30 jars of 10-year elder early sunshine after the small snow . These days, those guys who liked drinking had taken the greater part of these liquor. Feng Cangwu and Bai Suxian''s elder brother drank most, followed by Lu Zhongming and Donder. Mountain Lifting Hermit and Zhang Su ranked third; Bai Suxian and Lin Huanxi''s drinking capacity were ordinary. By contrast, Zhang Tie ranked last.


    On the map, Zhang Tie''s Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was originally neighbored that of Li Clan of Miyun Prefecture; now, the private land of Guo Clan of Threespring Prefecture closely neighbored the land which was gifted by Gold and Power Law.


    The Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory covering about 5.35 million square miles had been the largest private land in Youzhou Province, which was even larger than the total land area of Gu Clan and Lu Clan.


    When it came to Threespring Prefecture, Zhang Tie recalled how Guo Hongyi turned around and looked at him after the rotating chakra ceremony came to an end that day.


    Zhang Tie felt that Guo Hongyi would never leave if he invited her to stay that day. However, Zhang Tie didn''t; neither did he say anything. Guo Hongyi''s gloomy eyes made Zhang Tie''s heart pound at that moment.


    Watching the border area between Threespring Prefecture and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, Zhang Tie stroked his jaw as he thought, ''Is that God''s will? Otherwise, why would the land which was gifted by Gold and Power Law neighbor Threespring Prefecture? I hope nothing would happen; otherwise, it would be boisterous on my side. ''


    Zhang Tie could always sense an invisible sense of gunpowder between Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi after they met in the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect. If the two female knights were both on his side, Zhang Tie would be giddy for sure.


    Zhang Tie turned around and threw a glance at Bai Suxian who was sitting on his side. Coincidentally, Bai Suxian threw a glance at him at the same time.


    "Are you missing that woman?" Bai Suxian asked in a secret way.


    ''F*ck, woman''s intuition is too terrifying.''


    Of course, Zhang Tie denied it. He couldn''t pretend to be muddle-headed as he replied in a secret way too, "Which woman? Didn''t I stay with you at home these days?"


    "Harrumph, liar, I saw you ogling at each other on your rotating chakra ceremony..." Bai Suxian replied out of jealousy.


    "You''re thinking too much..." Zhang Tie replied with a solemn look.


    "Hahaha, young brother Zhang Tie and young sister Suxian are really intimate. You''re talking romantic words even at this moment..." Lu Zhongming burst out into laughter as he discovered that Zhang Tie was talking with Bai Suxian secretly. As a result, Bai Suxian became a bit embarrassed.


    However, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter too, "Haha, women are hard to convince, not to mention a female knight. As I''m a junior on this aspect, I have to learn from Elder brother Lu. You and elder sister Lin are really immortal couples!"


    Lu Zhongming burst out into laughter; however, Lin Huanxi blushed as she said, "How could you say such words as an earth knight?"


    "Well, it''s my fault, men are hard to convince, not to mention male knights. It''s not Elder brother Lu who convinces you, but it''s you who convinces Elder brother Lu. How about that?" Zhang Tie put up his hands at once, making Bai Suxian and Lin Huanxi laugh at the same time.


    Bai Suxian''s elder brother had been a bit drunk who was leaning against a long couch in the lounge and killing time with Zhang Su by playing the game of go. They were on even. On the checkerboard, they were really well-matched. Zhang Tie''s Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was indeed very large; however, in the eyes of the royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, he was really not excited about Zhang Tie''s private land which was even smaller than 6 million square miles. Therefore, he didn''t feel like looking at the map. Among the borderless region in the south border of Taixia Country, any mountain cave, a mountain peak or a mountain range under the rule of the king of beasts would be much greater than his land.


    After boarding the airboat and drinking a half jar of early sunshine after the small snow , Feng Cangwu had been sleeping soundly on the soft bed on the other side of the lounge. It was said that it was a bizarre cultivation method of Heavens Fortune Sect, which was really admiring.


    The atmosphere was tranquil in the lounge. All of a sudden, the royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion turned around and looked at Zhang Tie before saying, "You said you wanted to broaden our horizon in Iron-Dragon Sect, what on the earth do you want to show us?"


    "Haha, you will know when you arrive there. Elder brother, you can bring back some souvenirs to the south border of Taixia Country. It''s good if the corps in the south border could use it; if they don''t need it, elder brother, just take it as a business!"


    Zhang Tie didn''t put on his airs. As for these men who were treated as friends by him including royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, he would call them elder brother regardless of their cultivation base as long as they were evidently elder than him. These men also liked that. Only after a few days, they had been used to that.


    After hearing that Zhang Tie wanted to gift him a business, the royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion burst into laughter as he asked while being a bit drunk, "Do you want to gift me the business of all-purpose medicament in the south border? It''s a big business. We can talk about it carefully. I will not have you suffer a loss. Except for this business, I''m really not interested in those businesses that could only make millions of gold coins a year. Although I have to feed a lot of subordinates and over 10 corps which means a great consumption per year, if the business that I''m involved in couldn''t bring me a big profit, I would lose my face in the south border of Taixia Country; someone would think that I have poor insight and ability. If so, I''m afraid that some brothers would think that I''m not qualified to be the royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion..."


    "The business of millions of gold coins is indeed too small. It''s not about all-purpose medicament. Elder brother, you''ve already seen how we produce all-purpose medicament in Jinwu City..." Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "Based on the power of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion in the south border, if elder brother really wants to do this business, you could easily make hundreds of millions of gold coins a year. So could elder brother Lu and elder sister Lin. You couldn''t sustain Minling Swordsmanship Sect without money. You won''t live well only by the annual tributes of your disciples and the land rent. Therefore, I called elder brother Lu here to see whether you would like to do this business in Guzhou Province. If you feel you could, we can make fortunes together..."

 1215 Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks

    Chapter 1215: Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The route from Jinwu City to Iron-Dragon Sect of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory crossed the entire Youzhou Province horizontally. The entire distance was over 6,000 mile. Zhang Tie''s group left Jinwu City on the morning of February 6th. After one day''s relaxed flight, the airboat arrived at the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect soon after the dark fell at over 7 pm when they just finished their supper.


    Since the opening ceremony of Iron-Dragon Sect last August 18th, it had been almost half a year. After almost half a year''s rapid construction, the main peak of Xuantian Eighteen Peaks had manifested its grand look.


    After hearing that they had arrived at the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect, the crew came to the movable deck of the airboat and watched the landscape below.


    Xuantian Eighteen Peaks were in Yangui Mountain Range which was over 120 miles away in the south of Xuantian City. The dragon head of the entire Yangui Mountain Range was over there. Xuantian Eighteen Peaks had grotesque and elegant sceneries. Before Youzhou was promoted to an established lower province, Xuantian Eighteen Peaks were a scenic spot in Yangui Mountain Range within Northeast Military Region. After making an investigation in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, Zhang Tie determined to build Iron-Dragon Sect over there.


    The main peak of Xuantian Eighteen Peaks was Xuantian Peak. Looking from above, there were continuous buildings from the foot to the top of Xuantian Peak, including grounds, pavilions, audience halls, protective fortresses, galleries, terraces, mountain passes and stone steps, which formed an organic entity. As the dark fell, the lamplight inside these buildings extended all the way from the foot to the top of the main peak as if a shiny long dragon spiraled up from the top of the mountain, making it pretty fascinating...


    Besides the main peak, there was also some lamplight on Immortals Gathering Peak, whose lamplight and buildings were much fewer than that of the main peak.


    Being not far from the Immortals Gathering Peak, there was another mountain peak. Looking from afar, a lot of airships were hovering above that mountain peak. Although it was already dark, a great number of craftsmen were still working on that mountain peak by building houses with courtyards and pavilions.


    When the airboat approached Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks, it slowed down.


    As the founder of Iron-Dragon Sect, it was his first time to see Iron-Dragon Sect''s site after half a year.


    Standing on the deck of the airboat and watching the brilliant lamplight in the distance, Zhang Tie became thrilled more or less and felt complex inside.


    It was his Iron-Dragon Sect, also his foundation in Taixia Country. Hua people always persisted that men became independent at the age of 30 years. At 30, Zhang Tie finally could have his own undertaking in Youzhou Province. Although the Sacred Iceland Kingdom was good, Zhang Tie always felt estranged by ruling those Slavs in disguise as Hua; neither did he feel having a strong sense of belongingness. Additionally, his identity as Tsar meant responsibilities and works rather than power and reputation for Zhang Tie. Only when he founded his undertaking in Taixia Country where his family members and the other Hua people lived could he have a sense of belongingness and become not that fickle.


    ...


    "When I visit Immortals Gathering Peak by foot, I see continuous clouds in the depth of sunglow.


    Sunglow is still far away when the sun reaches the top of the mountain peak; cranes return in flocks when the moonlight is thrown on the pines.


    Soon after I saw a dragon rising above the Hua buildings, I see phoenixes hovering in the crystal river.


    As my heart integrates with the grotesque scenery of Yangui Mountain, I''m shocked by the grotesque mountain peaks that reach the sky.


    Beyond the boundless grasses, woods and sunny clouds, there are looming phoenixes.


    The twittering Cuiping birds on the banks must be calling their friends to drink the immortal spring water."


    After drinking up the last bit of liquor on the airboat, Feng Cangwu looked at the lamplight at the foot of the mountain while leaning against the handrail; meanwhile, he couldn''t stand reciting the poem about Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks written by an ancient poet, which matched Feng Cangwu''s romantic temperament pretty well.


    "Haha, this ancient poem is really nice. Besides describing the landscape, it mentions all the names of the 18 mountain peaks. What''s more, all the lines are close to nature, unlike having been processed at all..." Lu Zhongming replied with a smile too, "Xuantian Peak, Immortals Gathering Peak, Morningclouds Peak, Sunrise Peak, Distant Sunglow Peak, Moonlight Peak, Pines Peak, Cranes Gathering Peak, Rising Dragon Peak, Hua Buildings Peak, Hovering Phoenixes Peak, Crystal River Peak, Towering Sky Peak, Boundless Peak, Deep Clouds Peak, Looming Peak, Cuiping Peak and Immortal Spring Peak. I''ve heard the names of the Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks when in Guzhou Province. At the sight of them, I find they''re really magnificent, forbidding and immortal..."


    "What men of letters! When they saw knights flying in the sky, they thought they saw immortals; when they heard birds twittering, they thought birds were calling friends to drink immortal spring water. 1 million poets couldn''t defeat a knight; however, their natural dictions could never be matched by us!" Mountain Lifting Hermit shook his head.


    "Hahaha, each one has his strong points; each one has his strong points. If we just fought demons on the billions square miles'' land in Taixia Country, it would be similar to drawing on a board with just one color. That would be monotonous. These poets make the world more splendid..." Bai Zhengnan, Bai Suxian''s elder brother, laughed as he added, "Zhang Tie really selects a good place!"


    After hearing Bai Zhengnan''s words, they all looked at Zhang Tie. At this moment, they found that Zhang Tie looked a bit strange while looking at the nearby Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was indeed thinking about something else. Since he saw Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks and the site of Iron-Dragon Sect, he had recalled what Donder told him in the grocery in Blackhot City.


    "Hua people persist that kind-hearted people don''t enter politics; merciful people don''t master military power; righteous people don''t do business. Zhang Tie, you''re too kind-hearted and always stick to principles; you could barely have a great achievement in politics, military or business. If you do a small business, you could only be a small boss at my age. Unless you''re favored by the God, you could barely make any further progress. I find you''re enthusiastic about the guests and always introduce our commodities to them carefully. You''re too talkative. With this temperament, you might live a comfortable life as a teacher at school; otherwise, you might have a bright future by being a jerk priest in Sun Dynasty..."


    This was Donder''s comment on Zhang Tie before he gained Castle of Black Iron. Zhang Tie admitted that Donder has a sharp judgment. Over these years, Zhang Tie had done business; served the army and ruled Hurricane Corps; he had also served as Youzhou Provincial judge for a few days; however, none of the above jobs lasted.


    It was really a bit strange. He should make money when doing business; however, when he helped Donder mind the grocery and helped his family sell rice brew, it was his poorest period; he even grudged to spend one copper coin. Therefore, Donder said Zhang Tie was not suitable to do business.


    In Donder''s words, if a person whose sales volume was at least 1 gold coin a day when he had the right to sell the commodities couldn''t even afford cheese and bread which were worth over 10 copper coins, he was humiliating the word "businessman".


    When Zhang Tie served the army, he was almost killed; when he ruled Hurricane Corps, he stayed to deal with demonized puppets and preferred to return to Taixia Country alone.


    Although Zhang Tie had served as the chief justice of Youzhou Province, he resigned as he couldn''t stand the intrigues and mutual attacks between different parties.


    Zhang Tie didn''t learn too much from his experiences in business, military and politics. He only received some lessons on how to survive himself.


    Today, Donder''s judgment on Zhang Tie had come true step by step. Zhang Tie''s largest achievement really came from other aspects except for politics, military and commerce.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter pretending to be a jerk priest, he founded the Sacred Iceland Kingdom and built Ancient God Church.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter becoming a "master", he opened Iron-Dragon Sect and enrolled a lot of disciples and laid his foundation in Taixia Country.


    Zhang Tie always felt being much more comfortable and pleasant by pretending to be a jerk priest and a "master" than his former experiences. "Jerk priest" and "master" had many common places. If jerk priests could forget about their doctrines and beliefs, most of them could be masters. If masters advocated beliefs, masters became jerk priests.


    Watching the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect, Zhang Tie figured out these laws at once as he had a bizarre feeling, ''Will I really act as a master in Iron-Dragon Sect and a jerk priest in the Sacred Iceland Kingdom at the same time?''


    ''Donder really became a "prophet"!''


    "What''s wrong with you?" Bai Suxian asked Zhang Tie out of concern which woke Zhang Tie up.


    Zhang Tie glanced around the surrounding people before revealing a smile to Donder, "I''ve just remembered what you told me in Blackhot City. You hit that. I really don''t have a bright future in business, politics and military. I cannot match my elder brother in commerce; when in politics, I was almost screwed to death as Gobbling Party and Heavens Reaching Church both hated me too much; I have no interest in ruling army. I''m afraid that I could only make fool of some disciples in the rest of my life. I feel comfortable doing that too!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Donder became stunned. Closely after that, he remembered what he told Zhang Tie. He then threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie with a bizarre expression, "When a master reaches a realm, his sect would be like the top 6 sects in Taixia Country. By then, a sect would be like an immortal dynasty. You will get whatever you want. A lot of people would serve you in commerce, politics and military. No need to admire others..."


    Gold and Power Law didn''t develop through the relationship between master and disciples, its type of organization was utterly different than ordinary sects; therefore, Donder didn''t include Gold and Power Law in his words.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "The objective of top 6 sects is too far away. I''m not that ambitious. Actually, by establishing Iron-Dragon Sect, I just hope that we will not be bullied by others as we don''t want to bully others. At least I''m not free; by the way, I could have those people surrounding us live better lives. Moreover, we could contribute to the humans in the holy war."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, all the others exchanged a glance with each other as they started to laugh with a different expression. Some of them shook their heads; the others nodded. If it was told by others, they might not believe that; however, after staying with Zhang Tie for so many days, they felt that Zhang Tie didn''t tell them a lie; especially Bai Zhengnan. Zhang Tie could easily be satisfied. Like the immortal bloodline and secret methods that Zhang Tie exposed in this rotating chakra ceremony, he just exposed them so as to shock those who wanted to bully him, his family members, relatives and the others. If being ambitious, Zhang Tie would barely expose such secrets to the public; instead, he would have done a lot of evil things for his targets.


    When Zhang Tie talked, the airboat had already arrived at the hillside of Xuantian Peak, the main peak of Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks and slowly landed on it. There was a large-scale step-style airport covering about 1.8 square miles. A lot of people were waiting for it at the airport.


    After the airboat landed on it, the hatch door was opened when Zhang Tie walked out of the airboat.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Lu Yishan, the boss of Threerocks Building Business Group in Dashang City of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory had bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie, followed by a lot of people, "Master, Lu Yishan and my subordinates have long been waiting for you!"


    Zhang Tie glanced around the new airport and those well-proportioned buildings on Xuantian Peak in the far before nodding inside. He felt that he had chosen the right person. ''It seems that Lu Clan is indeed suitable to be responsible for the construction of Iron-Dragon Sect.''


    All the buildings on Xuantian Peak had preserved the beautiful natural scenery to the most extent. Artificial buildings could unite with nature in a perfect and harmonious way. Even though Zhang Tie didn''t know architecture, he knew that all the buildings here had been delicately designed by masters. No wonder his disciples always spoke highly of the buildings in Iron-Dragon Sect in front of him after his rotating chakra ceremony. Even Mountain Lifting Hermit felt it was not bad.


    "It''s fine. Thanks to your hard work over the past half a year. Lu Clan indeed has not disappointed me!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Lu Yishan became relaxed at once as he replied, "It''s, it''s my responsibility. It''s Lu Clan''s honor to serve the master. The first phase of the project on Xuantian Peak have been completed. The entire Xuantian Peak could hold over 3,000 people; all the main halls, the residences of master and elders, the living areas of master and your direct disciples and all the supporting facilities of the first phase have been completed!"


    "According to your plan, how many people could be held in Xuantian Peak at most?"


    "We''ve just completed the first phase of Xuantian Peak. If you need, new courtyards and buildings could be added in many places from the foot to the top of Xuantian Peak. The entire Xuantian Peak could almost hold 50,000 people. Xuantian Peak could hold about 80,000 people if your disciples and servants squeeze up!"


    "Not bad!" Zhang Tie nodded as he glanced around those typical buildings with rich Hua features on Xuantian Peak from the foot to the top of the peak. After that, he said, "Just hold 50,000 people according to the plan. No need to squeeze up here. According to the current scale of Iron-Dragon Sect, the scale of the first phase is acceptable. As for the other buildings and facilities, step by step!"


    "Yes! Master, do you want to make an inspection now?"


    "No need, we''ve already carefully seen these facilities and buildings on Xuantian Peak on the airboat. How about the projects in Immortals Gathering Peak and Pines Peak?"


    Lu Yishan peeped at Bai Suxian stealthily before saying carefully, "Erm...Princess Bai''s subordinates are responsible for the construction of Immortals Gathering Peak; Threerocks Building Business Group is only responsible for giving a favor to Princess''s subordinates or providing some raw materials for them. Elder Gan selected Pines Peak as his base a few days ago. We''re building the mountain passes from Pines Peak to Xuantain Peak. Besides, we''re leveling the ground on Pines Peak. We''ve already drawn the maps and are waiting for Elder Gan''s decision..."


    After hearing that, Zhang Tie knew that Bai Suxian''s subordinates had already contracted the project on Immortals Gathering Peak. Of course, Lu Yishan dared not go against those people from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion; therefore, he couldn''t be involved in the construction of Immortals Gathering Peak. Needless to say, Immortals Gathering Peak was selected by Bai Suxian as her base. There were two reasons: first, it was close to Xuantian Peak; second, its name carried the word "immortal". The moment Bai Suxian saw its name, she had felt that she was pre-destined to have it. Therefore, she selected Immortals Gathering Peak as her base in Iron-Dragon Sect.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit''s secular name was Gan Yanlai; his official name was called by outsiders; however, inside Iron-Dragon Sect, they all called Mountain Lifting Hermit Elder Gan. Being similar to Elder Qingfeng in Heavens Fortune Sect, the words "Qingfeng" was the honorific title of Deyang Immortal inside Heavens Fortune Sect; however, outsiders called him Deyang Immortal.

 1216 A Sharp Weapon

    Chapter 1216: A Sharp Weapon


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    That earth knight who came to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory with Bai Suxian last year had already left Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory for the south border of Taixia Country when Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie returned to Youzhou Province. However, Bai Suxian''s subordinates stayed in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. A part of her subordinates stayed in Immortals Gathering Peak to serve Bai Suxian; the rest part built manors, workshops and farms in the hills and basins at the foot of Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks and formed the first spontaneous town within the territory of Iron-Dragon Sect. Her subordinates included a great number of able workers who also became the first batch of people who relied on Iron-Dragon Sect.


    Any sect of Taixia Country included master, disciples, elders and a lot of producers and servants. Take Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Fortune Sect as an instance, they could almost produce everything and get involved in all aspects. The sects in Taixia Country were super armored interest groups in terms of interests, secret methods inheritance and bloodlines. The masters were the heads of these super armored interest groups.


    Such groups had strong vitalities as they had lasted thousands of years. In the era of science and technology before the Catastrophe, due to various reasons, sects were sluggish in a period; however, they didn''t disappear. After the Catastrophe, the sects in Taixia Country won their vigorous development once again.


    The Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks of Iron-Dragon Sect covered over 6,000 square miles. Besides Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks, there was a large area of basins, hills, slopes, even abundant water resource at the foot of the mountain. Zhang Tie targeted at building a unique Class A city within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory based on Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks in Northeast Military Region.


    Rome was not built in one day. Besides money, population and attraction counted most for running a Class A city. Zhang Tie was not anxious about that. Whatever, the Xuantian Peak of Iron-Dragon Sect had been established. Iron-Dragon Sect finally had a glorious face. As for the others, step by step. Zhang Tie was confident to meet this objective as Iron-Dragon Sect gradually grew prosperous.


    After getting off the airboat and having a short talk with Lu Yishan, Zhang Tie had led Bai Suxian, Bai Zhengnan, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Donder to a warehouse which was not far away from the airport.


    Zhang Tie knew what they were interested in. Therefore, he didn''t tantalize them. They indeed didn''t need to wait until tomorrow.


    On the way, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi were evidently interested in the mountain peaks that Bai Suxian and Mountain Lifting Hermit had in Iron-Dragon Sect as they kept inquiring Bai Suxian and Mountain Lifting Hermit about the situation inside Iron-Dragon Sect.


    "Actually, his identity of the master is just relative to those disciples in Iron-Dragon Sect. You''ve already seen that. In the territory of Iron-Dragon Sect, he just treats me and Mountain Lifting Hermit as his friends like how he did when we organized a team in the Earth-elements Realm. The difference was that he became our team leader this time. We''ve already reached an agreement. Within the territory of Iron-Dragon Sect, as long as we don''t violate the rules and regulations of the sect, he, the master of this sect would not interfere with the internal affairs of each mountain peak. We could enroll disciples when we want; if we don''t want to enroll disciples, we could be hermits on our own mountain peaks!"


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s explanation, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi threw a glance at each other silently.


    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had led them to the front of a closed warehouse, which was made of a steel structure. Being covered with blue corrugated steel tiles, the warehouse looked very firm. The gate of the warehouse was tightly closed. The open airport was on the opposite of the gate.


    "What''s inside here? Would it be an airship? But it''s a bit low for airship!" Donder said curiously as he looked up at the height of the gate.


    All the others then looked at Zhang Tie out of doubt.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile towards them before saying, "You will know it!"


    As for Zhang Tie, although there was a gate in between, he could still see clearly what were inside the warehouse.


    Zhang Tie had people carry that thing into this warehouse by airship on the 2nd day after the rotating chakra ceremony. Besides, Zhang Tie, even his disciples and Mountain Lifting Hermit had not seen it.


    When he replied, Zhang Tie clapped his hands. Closely after that, the gate was opened. Zhang Tie entered it at once, followed by all the others out of great curiosity.


    The inside of the warehouse was brightly lit by crystal lens fluorite lamps. Right in the warehouse, there were three huge odd-looking objects being covered with cloths.


    Under the gaze of everyone else, Zhang Tie walked over there and forcefully jerked off one piece of cloth from the huge object, exposing a silvery odd-looking aircraft which was over 4 m in height, over 9 m in length and over 11 m in wingspan.


    Under the lamplight, the entire aircraft was like a fabulous, brilliant artifact being covered with halos.


    Besides Zhang Tie, all the other 100-odd people were stunned including Feng Cangwu and Zhang Tie''s disciples.


    "This is a glider...ah, no...glider is much smaller. Additionally, there''s no propeller in front of a glider...is it an antique that you collected? But...how...how could it be so new?" Bai Suxian''s elder brother responded to it at once. No matter what, most of the people of this age were familiar with airships and gliders. Those who could contact airship troops must have seen the real airships and gliders. However, for those people who understood the history, science and technology of humans before the catastrophe, they could immediately discover that it was similar to a propeller-driven airplane before the Catastrophe.


    There was no propeller-driven airplane in this age anymore because of the exhaustion of fossil energy before the Catastrophe. In this age, only airships were driven by steam; the coal-fueled airplane had not been invented although many people were studying about it over the past hundreds of years. It was destined to be a distant dream. Efficiency, weight, volume of the steam engine and coal weight couldn''t correspond to the maximal takeoff weight that it could output. Even though all the rest weight except for that of the steam engine and coal was zero, such an airplane couldn''t fly off either.


    Someone claimed that nobody in this age could invent the airplane anymore.


    Almost everybody believed in that humans could only build three kinds of aircraft in this age, namely, glider, airship and airboat. Strictly, glider was not an aircraft.


    However, it was a real airplane in front of them.


    This airplane had a two-seat cabin. Behind that water-drop shaped cockpit, there was a steam crossbow which could flexibly change its direction.


    As they were all attracted by this airplane, none of them noticed the 10-odd 1 m-higher thick green iron pails at a corner.


    When the others were wondering about this model of airplane, Zhang Tie had already seen through this airplane. As the best and most experienced glider pilot, Zhang Tie was clear about the flight principles and operation skills of aircraft. Additionally, as the dual-drive engine of this airplane was designed by him, he was clear about the principle of operation of the dual-drive engine. With these strengths, Zhang Tie had grasped the functions of all the operational bars and buttons in the cockpit


    Only by throwing a glance at this airplane, Zhang Tie had grasped the driving skills of this airplane.


    Under the amazed expressions of the others, Zhang Tie nimbly jumped onto the wing of the airplane. After that, he slid open the cover of the cockpit and put his upper body into it. After pressing the oil supply button, he jumped off and ran to the front of the airplane. He then held the propeller of the airplane and forcefully rotated it in a clockwise manner...


    The dual-drive engine was started through machine strokes. The engine could only be started by external strength.


    At the beginning, Zhang Tie didn''t dare use too much strength in case of ruining the engine. He just used a little strength. However, the engine stopped running only after 2 seconds.


    "Ahh, what are you doing? Is this really an airplane? But what could this airplane work for?" Lu Zhongming asked out of amazement.


    Soon after Lu Zhongming''s words, Zhang Tie had held the propellor for the second time and rotated it in a clockwise manner once again...


    The loud boom and the heat wave that was released through the vents blew over the surroundings in a split second. As Bai Suxian and Lin Huanxi were standing beside the propellor, their skirts were blown up by the hot air flow at once.


    Combustion of alcohol was different than the combustion of the other fossil fuels as burning alcohol only led to water and carbon dioxide; instead of black smoke and smelly flavor...


    "No way, am I dreaming?" Donder watched the rotating propellor with widely opened eyes and sensed the strong cold wind brought by the propeller as he exclaimed unbelievably.


    At this moment, nobody felt that Donder was impolite, because everybody wanted to shout out the same sentence...

 1217 An Unusual Nigh

    Chapter 1217: An Unusual Night


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Only with a slightly greater strength than commoners, he had started up the engine. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt pretty good.


    "Hahaha..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter. After that, he ran to the belly of the airplane pleasantly and took away the non-slippery lock which was seizing up the wheels of the landing chassis of the airplane. After that, Zhang Tie drilled out of the belly of the airplane and sat in the cockpit. He then looked at the crowd; at the same time, he beckoned Zhang Su, who was also shocked greatly, to the back seat. Zhang Su immediately ran over there. After jumping onto the wing, he pulled open the cover of the back seat and sat flexibly.


    Zhang Tie had his plan by calling his cousin Zhang Su to sit on the back seat at this moment. Previously, Zhang Su might be unknown; however, since he jumped onto Zhang Tie''s airplane, the name of Zhang Su was destined to be recorded in the history of humans.


    Because it was the first trial flight of the first airplane in the Black Iron Age over 900 years later after the Catastrophe, a great attempt for commoners to convince the sky once again. Besides Zhang Tie, Zhang Su also joined this trial flight.


    Because it was humans'' first trial flight in the black iron age, it carried a special meaning. The name of Zhang Su was destined to be remembered by people. ''Zhang Su is too inconspicuous at the present. If he works for me, he''d better have a bit reputation.''


    Of course, Zhang Tie would grasp such a rare chance; instead of bothering others. The 3 airplanes had been assembled and passed the engine performance test. They did not have a trial flight yet.


    It was at Zhang Tie''s request. However, those onlookers might have not responded to it as they were still in shock and wondering how could Zhang Tie run this airplane; neither were they sure whether this airplane could fly.


    Zhang Tie closed the cover of his cockpit, so did Zhang Su. After that, the entire airplane slowly moved under the gaze of everyone else. After circling a small half of the warehouse, it drove out of the gate of the warehouse and came to the airport.


    The plain airport provided the airstrip for the airplane. Zhang Tie gradually accelerated the airplane. After moving hundreds of meters away, Zhang Tie and Zhang Su felt being weightless while the entire airplane took off under the gaze of all the people at present. After leaving the ground, the landing chassis of the airplane was also slowly drawn back beneath the wings.


    Zhang Tie then drove the airplane and had it fly around Xuantian Peak.


    The wuther of the engine aroused the attention of many people on Xuantian Peak.


    Zhang Tie soon became familiar with the driving skills and know-how of this airplane. Therefore, Zhang Tie could have this airplane do more and more actions in the sky. In the evening, it constantly rolled and ascended and did various maneuvering movements as flexibly as a huge bird and a monkey on the tree.


    After flying a few circles around Xuantian Peak in the sky, Zhang Tie played a trick. He had the airplane fly over the warehouse upside down from over 3 m higher above the warehouse. When they almost crashed against the cliff of Xuantian Peak, Zhang Tie pulled it up vertically rapidly, shocking those onlookers pretty much.


    Bai Zhengnan patted his head as he flew towards Zhang Tie''s airplane, closely followed by Mountain Lifting Hermit, Feng Cangwu, Bai Suxian, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi. They caught up with Zhang Tie''s airplane in the blink of an eye...


    Zhang Tie soon realized the result of showing off in front of a team of knights by airplane¡ª¡ªhe was surrounded by those knights out of curiosity.


    Bai Zhengnan flew onto the left wing of the airplane; Mountain Lifting Hermit flew onto the right wing of the airplane; Bai Suxian, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi flew to the top of the airplane; Feng Cangwu flew to the front of the airplane as he just flew backward while observing the airplane...


    Of course, this airplane couldn''t match knights in speed; therefore, these people could surround it and watch it easily.


    When they were gazing at the airplane and Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie felt like being put in a cage. At the speed of 360 miles per hour, the onlookers and the airplane were relatively still, no matter how the airplane moved. When those knights watched the airplane, they kept speaking highly of it.


    Thankfully, they were all familiar ones. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t feel too embarrassed. He just tested this airplane''s performance to his heart''s content. All the onlookers just watched him manipulating it quietly. As knights, they all realized the significance of what Zhang Tie was doing. They all knew that they were not watching something fresh out of curiosity, but witnessing a sharp weapon which could change the balance of air forces between humans and demons in this age.


    On the evening of February 6, the 904th year of Black Iron Calendar, the first human airplane accomplished its first ever flight above Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory which, as a whole, was tranquil with sparse lights.


    As the airplane constantly ascended, Xuantian Peak which was higher than 8,000 m was instantly lagged behind. Meanwhile, the wuther of the engine grew increasingly acuter too; however, it was still steady. When Zhang Tie looked at the altimeter of the airplane, he sensed the performance of the airplane. When it reached about 12,500 m in height, Zhang Tie tried many times and found that the airplane couldn''t reach higher any more no matter how the engine of the airplane wuthered. Later on, Zhang Tie properly declined the airplane to over 4,000 m in height before flying towards Tianxuan City.


    Only after over 10 minutes'' flight, Tianxuan City had appeared under Zhang Tie''s foot.


    Tianxuan City was a large city with a big population. Although the dark had fallen, it was a nice nightscape while the sky was adorned with brilliant stars. When Zhang Tie had the airplane fly over Tianxuan City, the metallic texture of the surface of the airplane and the sound of its engine attracted the attention of many people in Tianxuan City, causing a bit turmoil.


    After flying over Tianxuan City, Zhang Tie had the airplane fly over the hinterland of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Closely after that, he flew over Xinlu City, Langyun City, Ningan City, Xuesong City, Yande City, Qinghe City, Dashang City, Wugong City and Dongyang City within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory one after another. After over 5 hours'' flight, he returned along Yangui Mountain Range, ignoring the turmoils that he aroused among those cities.


    When the airplane was approaching Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he told those onlookers, "The performance of the steam crossbows has not been tested. How about testing the air combat capability of this airplane by scattering a bit and releasing your protective battle qis like wing demons?"


    As for knights, as long as they released their protective battle qis, these steam crossbows could never threaten them, at most make them itchy. After hearing that Zhang Tie wanted to try the air combat capability of this airplane, all of them felt it was interesting as they all nodded as if they were playing a game. They all released their protective battle qis while extending the distances between them and the airplane.


    After saying "star" to Zhang Su, Zhang Tie immediately started to test the performance of those steam crossbows on the airplane by shooting bolts towards those knights.


    The steam crossbows were as powerful as usual; additionally, being installed on the airplane, they could be manipulated flexibly. When in normal flight, besides the direction of the propeller, the tail unit and the space below the body of the airplane, there was almost no dead ground. He could also shoot those dead grounds as Zhang Tie adjusted his flight attitude.


    Gliders could never match airplanes in flexibility and maneuverability.


    Bai Zhengnan and Mountain Lifting Hermit both felt it was interesting. Until Zhang Su shot all the bolts, Zhang Tie noticed them before returning to Xuantian Peak by airplane. The airplane landed on the same runway before slowly entering the same warehouse.


    The entire process took them about 6 hours. When Zhang Tie drove the airplane back to Xuantian Peak, it was over 1 pm on February 7.


    Donder, Zhang Tie''s disciples and the disciples of Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi were all waiting for them back in the warehouse.


    What happened today shocked everybody too much. Even Donder and all the others became very excited, not to mention Zhang Tie and those knights.


    After parking the airplane, Zhang Tie opened the cover of his cockpit and jumped out of it closely followed by Zhang Su.


    A lot of people came around Zhang Tie at once. They all watched Zhang Tie with their shiny eyes as if they were watching a rare pre-historical beast. As a result, Zhang Tie felt goosebumps all over. He had not even been watched in this way even in the rotating chakra ceremony a few days ago.


    None of those knights spoke. Donder and those disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect both felt that the atmosphere was weird; therefore, they dared not open their mouths either.


    Zhang Tie shrugged as he said, "Don''t look at me like that. Just say something!"


    Zhang Tie broke the silence.


    "Maximal flight height, 12,500 m!" Feng Cangwu opened his mouth.


    "Maximal speed, about 420 miles per hour!" Lu Zhongming said.


    "The crossbows on the airplane have advantages over airships on power, flexibility and speed." Bai Suxian nodded as she said.


    "Over the past 6 hours, this airplane has flown about 2,380 miles. How long could it fly now?" Bai Zhengnan looked at Zhang Tie and asked him.


    "There''s still half fuel in the oil tank..." Zhang Tie answered straightforwardly.


    "You mean the maximal operational radius of action of this airplane is about 2,380 miles and it could fly 4,560 miles..." The royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion took in a deep breath as he looked at Zhang Tie in a profound manner, "With this airplane, Iron-Dragon Sect could enjoy a good fame among humans too!"


    Before Zhang Tie finished his words, Donder suddenly coughed twice before saying, "Hmm, it''s already too late. Don''t stand here anymore. It''s cold. We can talk in the room..."


    It was indeed not the right place for Zhang Tie and those knights to talk about it.


    ...

 1218 High-Power Alcohol Production Base

    Chapter 1218: High-Power Alcohol Production Base


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Over the half past year, although Zhang Tie was not in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, he was still paying special attention to everything in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    The construction of the site of Iron-Dragon Sect was one of the most attractive things to Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie knew that Threerocks Construction Business Group had mobilized over 300,000 people, hundreds of airships of all types and over 10,000 sets of mechanical equipment and vehicles to build the site of Iron-Dragon Sect in the half past year. Even now, over 2,000 craftsmen were still constructing the site of Iron-Dragon Sect a day.


    With such a large scale and great efforts, Threerocks Construction Business Group carried out multi-tasks at the same time. Some high-class highways leading to Youzhou Province, Yanzhou Province and the other places across Youzhou Province from Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks had been open to the traffic in the half past year. Various buildings and living facilities on Xuantian Peak were also gradually improved.


    Last night, Zhang Tie shocked the public too much. Even Bai Suxian couldn''t believe that Zhang Tie invented dual-drive engine which couldn''t even be invented by senior mechanical engineers.


    Therefore, early morning, they all urged to visit the production bases of Zhang Tie in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Undoubtedly, Bai Zhengnan, Bai Suxian''s elder brother was most interested in Zhang Tie''s high-power alcohol and new-type airplane.


    As the royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Bai Zhengnan ruled over 10 corps in the south border of Taixia Country. He understood military affairs, people''s livelihood and political affairs. Therefore, he was the first one who saw the great value of Zhang Tie''s high-power alcohol and new-type airplane. After those knights talked it through with Zhang Tie last night, Bai Zhengnan rushed to the warehouse of Xuantian Peak and teleported all those barrels of high-power alcohol into his portable space-teleportation equipment with the reason that those lanterns over Immortals Gathering Peak lacked fuel and he felt this high-power alcohol was proper; therefore, he moved them himself instead of bringing trouble to Zhang Tie.


    Before going to bed, Zhang Tie heard this message from his subordinates and became speechless about that.


    ''How could those lanterns on Immortals Gathering Peak need fuel like those inferior lanterns? It''s absolutely a joke given the magnificence of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and Bai Suxian''s daily needs.''


    ''Even if Immortals Gathering Peak really lack fuel, when did the royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion become the butler of Immortals Gathering Pick?''


    ''Speaking of value, the production cost of those barrels of high-power alcohol is just a few silver coins. How could the royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion take them away without my consent as if he was afraid that I wouldn''t agree with him instead of feeling bashful?''


    When Zhang Tie heard this news before going to bed, he forced a bitter smile.


    This night, Zhang Tie lived in the Master''s Pavilion of Iron-Dragon Sect on Xuantian Peak.


    Master''s Pavilion was not just a pavilion; instead, it was a complex which was connected by bucket arches and elevated high bridges. Being in the depth of the most beautiful wood, brook and garden on Xuantian Peak, the entire Master''s Pavilion included Zhang Tie''s main building, 21 various pavilions, buildings and courtyards for the loving of guards, maids, servants and Zhang Tie''s family members. At least 300 people could live in the Master''s Pavilion comfortably.


    The entire Master''s Pavilion had not been put in use yet. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to live in it. Although it was a bit empty inside and not as boisterous as Zhang Mansion, Zhang Tie was still very satisfied with it.


    Because the courtyard and facilities on Pines Peak had not been completed, Mountain Lifting Hermit lived in an elder''s courtyard on Xuantain Peak for the time being; Lu Zhongming, Lin Huanxi, Donder and Zhang Su had their own courtyards; Zhang Tie''s disciples had long got their residences on Xuantain Peak; Bai Suxian and Bai Zhengnan directly flew to Immortals Gathering Peak and lived there.


    As her elder brother and so many knights were here, Bai Suxian felt embarrassed sleeping with Zhang Tie; therefore, Zhang Tie enjoyed a rare, personal sleep.


    This night, there were only 5 people in the Master''s Pavilion, Zhang Tie and 4 of his disciples.


    Liu Xing and Zhao Bing were responsible for Zhang Tie''s safety when he was sleeping; Qian Bingbing and Zhang Yawei served as Zhang Tie''s maids.


    Serving one''s master when in need. Almost everyone in Taixia Country felt it was reasonable. It was not just a lip service. Because Iron-Dragon Sect had not established its personnel affairs system, Zhang Tie''s Master''s Pavilion didn''t have enough servants; therefore, on the first evening when Zhang Tie came back, his disciples were on night duty for Master''s Pavilion.


    Zhang Tie was not used to that; however, he knew that it was absolutely acceptable in Taixia Country. Additionally, those people were arranged by Liu Xing. Given their facial expressions, they all felt very honorable serving as Zhang Tie''s guards and maids. Now that they were all excited, Zhang Tie didn''t need to say anything else.


    Liu Xing, Zhao Bing, Qian Bingbing and Zhang Yawei stood there still overnight.


    After a few hours'' deep sleep, Zhang Tie had woken up before daybreak.


    The moment Zhang Tie got up, Qian Bingbing and Zhang Yawei had opened the bead curtain and entered Zhang Tie''s bedroom. Before they started to help Zhang Tie put on clothes and cleanse up, Zhang Tie said bashfully, "Erm...I will do it myself!".


    "Master, do you blame Yawei and I for being ham-handed and want to be served by other senior or junior sister apprentices? Are you chasing us away?" Qian Bingbing opened her mouth. At the same time, the two female disciples'' eyes were filled with glistening teardrops. With innocent looks, they almost cried.


    Facing such a situation, although he was their master, Zhang Tie could only stay silent. Zhang Tie had a similar experience. At school, sometimes, a teacher''s casual sentence might make a student unhappy for many years, even cause a knot in his heart. Therefore, besides preaching his knowledge to disciples, Zhang Tie always reminded himself that he had to pay attention to his diction in front of his disciples. "Whoops, alright, but you don''t need to stand outside overnight if you still want to be on night duty in the future!"


    "Don''t need to stand outside...Master...Master...do you want us to help you go to bed?" Zhang Yawei whispered as she lowered her head.


    The two female disciples blushed at once as they lowered their heads and peeped at Zhang Tie.


    If it was a male disciple in front of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie had long slapped him and sent him flying away. However, they were two female disciples. Zhang Tie became speechless, ''What are the two girls thinking about?''


    Now that he couldn''t slap them and send them flying away, Zhang Tie could only straighten his face as he flicked Zhang Yawei''s head by finger in an imposing manner.


    Zhang Tie had determined to establish his personnel affairs system in Iron-Dragon Sect. At least, he could select some dare-to-die members from those gifted by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and have them assume the night duty for these guards and maids. With so many girls on his side, he might have love affairs with them one day. Similar things were not fresh in Taixia Country. Take Nangong Sheng the master of Immortal Fist Position Sect as an instance, some of his current concubines who accompanied him to attend the rotating chakra ceremony were his former disciples. As for knights, such romantic affairs were acceptable. Some sentimental love stories might be deducted from such affairs. However, Zhang Tie could barely accept such affairs.


    Perhaps, he was deeply impressed by Miss Daina. The relationship between him and Miss Daina was always a hazy and pure friendship between teacher and student. Therefore, Zhang Tie unconsciously treated Miss Daina as a model and would never break the friendship between a teacher and a student.


    As of now, although Miss Daina couldn''t teach him anything more; what she instructed Zhang Tie were deeply buried in Zhang Tie''s memory. The last lesson of Miss Daina taught Zhang Tie how to be a qualified teacher.


    This was a sort of memory that could only be understood by Zhang Tie.


    "Hahaha, young brother Zhang Tie. The day is breaking. Will we take a look at the production base of high-power alcohol and dual-drive engine that you taught us last night?" Bai Zhengnan''s loud laughter drifted from the sky. Soon after he flew off Immortals Gathering Peak, his voice had reached the Master''s Pavilion on Xuantian Peak.


    This was a senior tactic of voice transmission. In this means, the voice could reach over 10 miles away. When it reached the destination, it would diffuse as if he was talking to you in front of you. Ordinary earth knights could barely grasp this skill.


    Before Zhang Tie went to wake him up, the royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion had left for Zhang Tie''s Xuantian Peak and urged him to get up. Perhaps, the royal highness didn''t even fall asleep last night. As for a knight, they only needed to enter meditation by crossing their legs with eyes closed for a short while to recover their spirit and energy.


    Bai Zhengnan''s arrival broke the embarrassed atmosphere in Zhang Tie''s bedroom coincidentally.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie put on his clothes, cleansed up and walked out of the Master''s Pavilion, Liu Xing and Zhao Bing in iron armors both bowed towards him outside the Master''s Pavilion with gleaming eyes.


    "Master!"


    "Hmm, thanks!" Zhang Tie threw a glance at them. After standing outside the Master''s Pavilion overnight, the two men''s iron armors had been covered with hoar-frost and dew.


    "It''s disciples'' responsibility to serve our master!"


    Bai Zhengnan and the other knights had just arrived at the opening land outside Master''s Pavilion and were waiting for Zhang Tie to come out.


    "Have you had breakfast?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "How about having breakfast on the airboat? I''ve already had people to prepare it on the airboat!"


    Bai Zhengnan answered. Feng Cangwu shrugged. Mountain Lifting Hermit didn''t say anything. Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi revealed a smile. With red eyes, Donder might not have a good sleep last night. Zhang Su was waiting for Zhang Tie''s decision. Bai Suxian looked curious.


    Watching the expressions of the other knights, Zhang Tie said, "Let''s go then..."


    ...


    In less than half an hour, soon after they finished their breakfast on the airboat, the airboat had already landed on a vast and smooth land in the south of Dongyang City within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory which bordered Gaoping Prefecture in Yanzhou Province. Right in the middle of this open land which covered over 1,400,000 square meters, there were rows of huge erect metal cans and intensive pipelines.


    This was the first production base of high-power alcohol within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory according to Zhang Tie''s plan.


    The airboat directly landed on an open land within the production base of high-power alcohol.


    Soon after the airboat parked, a lot of armored guards had swarmed up from all directions while blowing whistles. At the same time, they had pulled their sabers out of their sheaths as if they were facing a sharp enemy.


    These ordinary guards could barely see senior airboat in usual times. After the rotating chakra ceremony, Zhang Tie returned his Iron-Dragon airboat to Taiyi Fantasy Sect; therefore, it was difficult for them to identify whether this airboat came from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion or other places.


    The airboat arrived abruptly without any notice. Therefore, these guards could only surround the airboat rapidly; meanwhile, having people notice the director of the base. They also knew that those who could take a flight by airboat were definitely not commoners.


    Zhang Tie didn''t open the hatch door of the airboat at once. Zhang Tie was also waiting for the arrival of the director. If he went out at this moment, these guards might not be able to identify him. In case of any trouble, he didn''t feel like explaining anything to them.


    Only after a short while, the boss of Zhongpin Business Group in Dongyang City, which was a branch of Li Clan of Wansheng Palace in Wuhua Prefecture, Zhuozhou Province had run over here while smoothening his clothes.


    At the sight of Li Tao, Zhang Tie had people open the hatch door. After that, he walked out of the airboat.


    Li Tao had seen Zhang Tie twice. The construction of this high-power alcohol production base was a task that Zhang Tie delivered to Li Tao. Li Tao was invited to attend Zhang Tie''s rotating chakra ceremony too. However, on that occasion, Li Tao was just a trivial person like Lu Yishan. It was already his great honor to have a seat in the auditorium. By contrast, those who were waiting to be received by Zhang Tie in Xuantian City together with him were not even qualified to talk to Zhang Tie. However, in this rotating chakra ceremony, Li Tao knew the real identity of Cui Li and was in much more awe of Zhang Tie because of the talents that Zhang Tie exposed.


    At the sight of the young man walking out of the hatch door, Li Tao became slightly stunned. Closely after that, he bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie and said, "Master, Li Tao feels sorry for being late!"


    Watching Li Tao''s movement and hearing his words, those surrounding guards hurriedly put their sabers back into the sheaths as they knelt down by one knee towards Zhang Tie.

 1219 The First Myrmidon

    Chapter 1219: The First Myrmidon


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie told Li Tao to show around this high-power alcohol production base to his followers. Meanwhile, those guards kept patrolling in the base.


    This was Zhang Tie''s private high-power alcohol production base; however, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to visit here. Therefore, Zhang Tie was also interested in those tall and huge iron cans and pipelines in the base.


    "Those guards have a quick reaction speed. Are they new?" Zhang Tie asked Li Tao as he looked around those facilities in the base.


    "Master, they are guards of Zhongpin Business Group. After the base was completed, this humble man only assigned a part of them here for the sake of the safety of this base. However, after the catastrophe of bloody figures broke out in Tongzhou Province, I was told that many bloody figures had entered Yangui Mountain Range; therefore, this humble man assigned all of them here!"


    "Do you live in here too?"


    "There are fewer than 5 LV 9 fighters among them; all the others just rank from LV 4 to LV 8. I was told that all the bloody figures are LV 9 fighters. Therefore, I was worried that these guards might not deal with those bloody figures and directly live in the base!"


    Li Tao was a LV 13 battle general. As long as he was here, he could deal with 10 bloody figures. Even if a big group of bloody figures raided here, he could at least resist them for a short while. During the process when he resisted those bloody figures, as long as he sent the distress signal, the powerhouses of all the clans across Dongyang City would be able to come here for aiding him as soon as possible.


    "If you and your guards move to the base, what about your business?"


    "Compared to the task of Master, my business is nothing but sh*t!" Li Tao said meticulously without any arrogance or claiming merit for himself.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Li Tao as he signed with emotion inside. ''What a young member of a family holding official rank for generations! His insight and trick couldn''t be matched by ordinary businessmen. Li Tao knew that he could change his fate as long as he completes Zhang Tie''s task and satisfies Zhang Tie. His Zhongpin Business Group, the annual sales volume of which was only hundreds of thousands of gold coins was nothing but sh*t in front of Zhang Tie''s eyes.''


    Zhang Tie was also told that Li Tao had exerted his full efforts in the half past year in order to complete the construction of this high-power alcohol production base within 3 months. The budget of this base was 5 million gold coins; however, in order to complete Zhang Tie''s task, Li Tao added 600,000-700,000 more gold coins into the construction of this alcohol production base.


    As long as money was in place, some equipment suppliers within Yanzhou Province could rapidly produce various facilities requied by this production base; additionally, resources and relations could be coordinated in all aspects; thirdly, he used this money to set heavy rewards for those workers, technicians and engineers who could complete the works overtime. With the efforts and coordination of Li Tao, this high-power alcohol production base was finally completed within 3 months. However, those gold coins that Li Tao provided himself greatly weakened the foundation of his business group. Even so, Li Tao didn''t complain about that; neither did he ask more money from Iron-Dragon Sect; instead, he just gritted his teeth and completed the task perfectly.


    Li Tao''s meritorious services ranked first in the construction of this high-power alcohol base.


    Li Tao''s efforts could be identified from his look. After half a year, he had been much thinner and darker.


    What was more, after the first batch of high-power alcohol was produced, Li Tao blocked the news in case of arousing the attention of all parties as he was clear about the value of the alcohol. Additionally, nobody took away those high-power yeasts from the reaction kettle of the base. Zhang Tie was the creator of those high-power yeasts; if someone took away those high-power yeasts or if those high-power yeasts met some problems, Zhang Tie would have known that without having to come here.


    As Li Tao had experience in producing alcohol; he knew what counted most in this base. However, he didn''t lose his mind in front of interest when Zhang Tie was not here. Therefore, he was definitely reliable.


    As Li Tao was capable, visionary, loyal and deeply believed in Zhang Tie, of course, Zhang Tie would not let him suffer a loss; instead, Zhang Tie would put him in an important position and gift him a bright future. As Zhang Tie urgently needed capable and loyal people like Li Tao, he brought Zhang Su and Donder here.


    "Do you remember what I told you at the beginning? As long as you could complete this task well, I will gift you a bright future and enable you to return home one day with honors. Even the elders of Li Clan of Wansheng Palace would behave politely in front of you!"


    "This humble man remembers it!" Li Tao said meticulously.


    "Hmm, don''t run your Zhongpin Business Group anymore!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    Li Tao''s footsteps stagnated slightly.


    "That business is too small. You couldn''t make too much money in one year. You don''t derserve to do that. Just stay on my side as the general manager of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory!" Zhang Tie threw a glance at Li Tao as he added, "This base is just a start in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. The scale of 500,000 tons is just the first step for throwing a stone to clear the road. In the future, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would be able to produce at least 2 million tons'' high-power alcohol a year. As the conditions gradually grow mature, I will found bases in Youzhou Province, Yanzhou Province and Tongzhou Province. You will be responsible for all the alcohol production bases within Northeast Military Region. As for the treatment, I gained 60,000 kg gold a year when I served as the judicial officer of Youzhou Province. You could choose between 60,000 kg gold and 1/100 of the total profit of the entire high-power alcohol industry within Northeast Military Region a year!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Li Tao blushed in a strange way as he took in a deep breath and bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie once again and said, "Master, from today on, Li Tao would like to serve you faithfully. Li Tao had confidence in the business of high-power alcohol and would like to choose the second compensation!"


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he thought, ''This guy is really smart and could take note of the situation. He could grasp the chance timely.''


    After this bow, Li Tao became Zhang Tie''s first myrmidon instead of a commoner within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    In Taixia Country, the relationship between master and myrmidon was similar to the relationship between teacher and student. Myrmidons enjoyed many privileges; meanwhile, they would be restricted in many aspects. Rights and obligations always went hand in hand. When Li Tao was not Zhang Tie''s myrmidon, if Zhang Tie killed him out of no reason, he would commit a crime; however, after Li Tao became his myrmidon, if Zhang Tie killed Li Tao according to home regulation, he would not suffer any punishment. Similarly, before Li Tao became Zhang Tie''s myrmidon, if he had any enemy, Li Tao had to deal with the enemy himself; however, after becoming Zhang Tie''s myrmidon, Zhang Tie would be responsible for dealing with Li Tao''s enemy.


    All the major clans in Taixia Country had myrmidons, such as Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and Huaiyuan Palace. The more powerful myrmidons a clan had, the more powerful the clan would be.


    Now that Zhang Tie had determined to treat Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory as his foundation in Taixia Country, of course, he needed to consolidate this foundation in all aspects and expand his reliable ones for better ruling Fire-Dragon Territory. As Zhang Su was his cousin, Donder was his instructor and friend; of course, they couldn''t be his myrmidons. Therefore, Li Tao was fortunate to become Zhang Tie''s first myrmidon.


    Bai Zhengnan and the other knights just saw Zhang Tie convince Li Tao on one side. Although they didn''t know what Li Tao had done for Zhang Tie, they could see that Zhang Tie regarded Li Tao highly.


    After realizing that this man might be responsible for the business of high-power alcohol on Zhang Tie''s side in the future, even Bai Zhengnan threw a deep glance at Li Tao and bore this man''s look in mind.


    As the sun rose up, workers in the alcohol production base were in positions on time. Black smoke also rose out of the chimney of the base which indicated that they were producing alcohol. Most of these workers came from the former alcohol plant of Li Tao; some of them were recruited by him lately.


    Li Tao introduced each production link to Zhang Tie and the other knights.


    They saw hills of maize straws being transmitted into the huge grinder. After being shattered into pieces, the maize straws entered the stewing workshop. After that, they were divided into those huge reaction kettles for fermentation.


    The entire fermantion process would take 21 days. 21 days later, the substances in the reaction kettles would be divided once again. The reaction kettles were connected to high-pressure steam pipelines. In high-pressure steam, different substances would be divided into different places once again.


    The pale gold liquid that flew out of that pipe on the top of the reaction kettle was high-power alcohol. The substance flowing out of the pipe which was connected to the middle part of the reaction kettle was plant fiber pulp, the residue at the bottom of the reaction kettle was a special organic fertilizer...


    After the plant fiber pulp entered the new production line, they were mixed with broken coarse coal cinders and turned into combustible honeycomb briquet before being pulled away by trucks...

 1220 Fiery Oil

    Chapter 1220: Fiery Oil


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Are all the products here made of maize straws?"


    "Right!"


    ...


    "What''s the efficiency of maize straw?"


    "On average, 4 tons of maize straws could be made into 1 ton high-power alcohol, over 2 tons of special plant fiber pulp and over 900 kg organic fertilizer."


    ...


    "Is this high-power alcohol drinkable or not?"


    ...


    "Which effect is better, this organic fertilizer or ordinary fertilizers?"


    ...


    "What''s the purpose of this special plant fiber pulp? Could it only be made into coal balls?"


    ...


    Donder''s eyes were always gleaming as if numerous gold coins were flickering in front of him after finding that all the products here were made of maize straws which were usually burned as wastes.


    Among all the people at present, Donder had the most questions, which included almost all the questions of the others. With Zhang Tie''s consent, Li Tao replied them generously.


    "This alcohol is different than ordinary alcohol which is brewed by grains; it''s not drinkable. Even though being mixed with water, it still tastes especially spicy and numb. You could easily identify it..."


    After hearing Li Tao''s words, they all tried to taste the alcohol which had been mixed with 80% of water on the production line.


    Its taste was similar to liquor; however, it was more stimulative than liquor. After being mixed with water, it was pale gold instead of being colorless. The moment they tasted it, their tongue would become numb. With such a terrifying taste, it could easily be identified.


    "Pitiful!" Donder said in a disappointed way after having a sip.


    "Nothing pitiful!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "It''s already very fortunate for us to make high-power alcohol using maize straw. This alcohol has a very high fuel value. As a payment, we will lose its drinking value. This alcohol is many times more poisonous than ordinary alcohol to the human liver. With one cup of it, you might suffer from hepatotoxicity. It''s the balance way of nature. We cannot make one thing that could be used by machine and eaten by humans. That''s not the balance way of nature!"


    All the others nodded as they all felt that Zhang Tie''s words were reasonable.


    "As for the effect of this organic fertilizer, it''s not too special. After one month''s commissioning and trial run, it was already December when the first batch of high-power alcohol was produced. However, we basically couldn''t plant crops in winter; we just distributed this organic fertilizer to those farmers who sent us their maize straws. The effect of the fertilizer couldn''t be seen until a few months later when they plant crops!"


    At this moment, Li Tao threw another glance at Zhang Tie''s expression before saying meticulously, "As for the purpose of this special plant fiber pulp, as of now, according to the request of master, we mix this plant fiber pulp with coal cinders and use them as fuel. This fuel is combustible; it''s available to keep ourselves warm and cook dinner at home; it could even be used for heating up the boiler and driving various steam equipment. It could produce 10% higher heat quantity than ordinary coal. Additionally, it would produce much fewer soot than ordinary coal and honeycomb briquet. It''s especially clean and convenient at home; additionally, after over 1 month''s trial production, we discovered another interesting thing!"


    "What''s that?"


    "Follow me, you will know it." Li Tao led them into another production workshop on the other side.


    This workshop was also used to produce something using those fiber pulp and coal cinders. However, being different than those coal balls and cool bars, the machines and production line in this workshop were different than that in the neighboring workshop. There were two sets of locomotive grinders on a production line which could produce bricks.


    Those coarse coal cinders in the neighboring workshop would be further shattered into finer coal cinders and sands. After being mixed with the fiber pulp, these coal cinders and sands would be transmitted onto that production line and be compressed into dark grey square bricks.


    A lot of square bricks had been piled up tidily in this workshop.


    "We found that this plant fiber pulp would carry a strong plasticity after being mixed with finer coal cinders and sands. Therefore, we slightly changed the technology and made those coal cinders finer and lowered its proportion in the mixture. In the beginning, I made it into square bricks only for the sake of stock; later on, I discovered that these square bricks could even work as building materials if there''s not a high request in fire-resistance..."


    Fire-resistance was relative. These things being produced in alcohol production base could burn for sure as long as they were thrown into the boiler or the hearth; however, unless someone purposefully burned them, they would not burn up spontaneously just like a pile of coal.


    "These coal bricks would have a great purpose in troops, not to mention the alcohol!" Bai Zhengnan put it straight. As the royal highness of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, he picked up a dried brick and sensed its weight and hardness by weighing it in hand even though his hand was made dirty. He then said, "My airship troops, armored troops and transport fleets are all driven by steam engines. Therefore, the logistics departments have to carry a large quantity of coal in each action; especially when they''re somewhere where coal couldn''t be supplied, they would carry more coals. Otherwise, those armored vehicles, transport vehicles and airships might flameout at any time. Common coals are incompact and couldn''t be easily transported. Given convenience, ordinary coal indeed couldn''t match this kind of compressed fiber-coal brick. If the fuel of troops is all turned into this kind of bricks, the logistics troops would feel much more relaxed!"


    "Additionally, these things could also be used to build temporary fortifications in the wild in emergencies; it would be much better than digging soil and setting sandbags..." Feng Cangwu also picked up one coal brick which felt like ordinary brick and timber and started to observe it while narrowing his eyes, "Now that this thing has a very strong plasticity and could match coal as a fuel, if it''s supplied for troops, we can make it a bit special; change the molds on the production line and press them into standard tenon-and-mortise pieces for the sake of assembly. Soldiers could rapidly build fortifications or small battle fortresses with these pieces..."


    Donder widely opened his eyes as he said, "Does that work?"


    "It could definitely not be used to defend powerhouses; neither could these bricks be used to build long-term fortifications and battle fortresses; however, they could be used to defend demons below LV 9 in emergencies!" Zhang Su said as he also picked up a brick, "Fieldworks and civil engineering are the most powerful means that humans adapted to deal with demons. This thing could definitely be used as fuel of troops and material to build fortifications rapidly!"


    Bai Zhengnan, Feng Cangwu and Zhang Su had rich experience on battlefields. Therefore, their words all hit the nail right on the head. As this thing had a great portability, a good combustion effect and an extremely high plasticity, it''s indeed very useful in corps. Some timbers could realize the same effect after being processed. However, no corps across Taixia Country could be that luxurious to use timbers as fuel; otherwise, a corps would go bankrupt after only one battle.


    It was a surprise for Zhang Tie. Before coming here, he had known that these things were combustible; however, it was out of his imagination that the remains of alcohol brewage could have such a great purpose.


    "I feel that those fiber pulp might be used to make paper!" Lu Zhongming opened his mouth too, "I''ve been to some paper mills in Guzhou Province. I feel that this fiber pulp was very similar to those pulp in paper mills; additionally, this fiber pulp was finer and smoother. I suggest you to have a try. Papermaking process is not that complex..."


    Of course, this fiber pulp could be used to make paper! Zhang Tie had long known that. However, as it was his first time to visit this alcohol production base, in front of so many knights, Zhang Tie didn''t need to act like a prophet. Now that someone had mentioned it, Zhang Tie just praised him.


    "Elder brother Lu is right!" Zhang Tie nodded as he told Li Tao, "After a few days, find some professionals here to test the quality of paper made of this fiber pulp. If it''s feasible, we can use some fiber pulp to make paper in the future." After saying that, Zhang Tie pointed at Donder and added, "He''s Donder, my general steward. Later on, you two will be responsible for the management and financial affairs of this alcohol production base. Donder''s words are also mine!"


    "Yes, Master!" Li Tao nodded. Closely after that, he deeply bowed towards Donder and said politely, "General Steward Donder, I will learn from you!"


    "Haha, we will learn from each other!" Donder had long been excited. With sparkling eyes, Donder chested out as he ticked off with fingers, "High-power alcohol means money; organic fertilizers mean money; coal bricks and coal balls mean money; paper means money; however, maize straws are wastes. Erm...this base is absolutely a coins-making plant. One base is too few, the more the better..."


    "Elder Brother Bai and Elder Brother Lu, how do you feel about this business? Do you like that?" Zhang Tie asked Bai Zhengnan and Lu Zhongming.


    "Is this the business that you''re going to introduce to us?" Bai Zhengnan asked Zhang Tie seriously. Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi also exchanged a glance with each other.


    "Of course, if you like it, you could be responsible for this business in the south border and Northeast Military Region. We will share the profits!"


    "If this business expands in the south border, do you know how much will it make a year? Do you know what a great influence it would pose? How could you be so generous?"


    "We can make money together. I feel bored by making so much money alone!" Zhang Tie revealed a casual smile while his generosity moved them, "Heavens Fortune Sect has also boarded my ship. The elder of Guan Clan would come here after a few days too. Two elders, don''t be that courteous to me..."


    "Which Guan Clan?"


    "Guan Clan of Mingwu Palace!"


    "Are the airplanes also produced here?"


    "Airplanes and engines manufacturing plants are in Xuantian City!"


    "Well, let''s take a look in Xuantian City. I want to say how many more good things do you hide!"


    "Sure, let''s take a look in Xuantian City then!" After saying that, Zhang Tie told Li Tao, "You come with us. You''d better know the purpose of this alcohol in Xuantian City..."


    "The name of high-power alcohol is too long; additionally, it''s not imposing and intuitive. The word alcohol would easily arise misunderstanding too. People would think that it''s eatable and cheap; therefore, it would hurt people easily. It''s inconvenient for us to raise its price in the future. If we want to sell it, we''d better give it an effective name which could be easily remembered. " Donder had a very sensitive commercial gift. Only after frowning and thinking about it for a short while, he had proposed a useful suggestion.


    "There were gasoline, kerosene and diesel before the Catastrophe, whose names were all easily remembered. Now that high-power alcohol is produced in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, how about calling it Fiery Oil?" Zhang Tie instantly thought up a new name for high-power alcohol.


    "Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, Fiery Oil. It sounds good and is catchy!" Donder spoke highly of it at once. After muttering this name for a few times, all the others nodded one after another.


    "I also feel that Fiery Oil sounds more elegant than alcohol!" Li Tao nodded as he added, "We can name this alcohol production base as Fiery Oil Refinery!"


    ...


    The airboat then left the Fiery Oil Refinery for Xuantian City.


    After Zhang Tie showed those people around this Fiery Oil Refinery, they gained a wholly new name for high-power alcohol¡ª¡ªFiery Oil!


    It only took the airboat about 1 hour to arrive at Xuantian City from the border between Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and Yanzhou Province. They saw the plant which could produce 100,000 dual-drive engines annually and the first airplane manufacturing plant in Taixia Country in Xuantian City...

 1221 Air Cavalry Type-I

    Chapter 1221: Air Cavalry Type-I


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In a courtyard of Zhike Complex on Xuantian Peak...


    The two moons were hanging high in the sky; the 18 mountain peaks were far or near and bathing the same tranquil moonlight. The night breeze blew over Xuantian Peak, causing pines to sway.


    This courtyard had the best scenery in Zhike Complex. It was Lu Zhongming, Lin Huanxi and their disciples who lived in there.


    After wandering in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory for a day and having supper in Xuantain City, Zhang Tie had returned to Xuantian Peak. Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi also returned to their own courtyard. When Lin Huanxi instructed some disciples to cultivate, Lu Zhongming came to the lookout pavilion in the courtyard as he stood still and watched the scenery of Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks.


    After a while, Lin Huanxi appeared behind Lu Zhongming and helped him cover a cold-proof cloak.


    As a knight, of course, Lu Zhongming was not afraid of cold. However, the couple loved each other so much. They had got married before promoting to knights; therefore, their living habits and details had not changed for dozens of years.


    After knowing that his beloved wife was on his side, Lu Zhongming grabbed her hand as he turned around and smiled towards her, "I thought you''ve gone to bed!"


    "I find you have something on your mind; therefore, I came here to take a look at!" Lin Huanxi replied with a gentle smile.


    "You know what I''m thinking about?"


    "We''ve gotten married for dozens of years. Since you came back from Xuantain City, I''ve found that you were thinking about something!"


    Lu Zhongming''s eyes shone as he asked, "What do you think I''m thinking about?"


    Lin Huanxi just replied with a smile as she pointed at the Immortal Spring Peak in the far, "I like that peak; how do you feel?"


    After being stunned for a second, Lu Zhongming burst out into laughter, "My wife really knows my heart. I thought you wouldn''t agree with me!"


    Lin Huanxi let out a sigh before saying, "It''s increasingly chaotic in Taixia Country. Although we''re knights, we''re no different than duckweeds in this chaotic world. Although Guzhou Province is good, our Minling Swordsmanship Sect''s foundation is too weak. It''s a dangerous period. This holy war might be a great catastrophe for humans. If we''re not careful, an earth knight could eliminate us along with our Minling Swordsmanship Sect. In this situation, even knights should cooperate with each other for survival. Zhang Tie once saved my life in Earth-elements Realm. This man is hospitable and righteous. With profound, secret methods, he behaves modestly and is not over-ambitious. He''s our benefactor, good teacher and bosom friend. There are still 15 empty peaks. After Fiery Oil enters the market, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory must become attractive across the world. By then, the 15 peaks would soon be occupied by others. As Zhang Tie is longing for talents and has started to recruit myrmidons; why do we miss such a good opportunity?"


    "My wife knows me best!" Lu Zhongming let out a deep sigh towards the sky as he said, "I was not decisive just now; today, I found Zhang Tie was open and aboveboard. He could directly gift the business that could make hundreds of millions of gold coins a year to us and let us earn such a great profit easily in Northeast Military Region. He''s a real hero. He makes friends by heart instead of interest. No wonder he could convince Mountain Lifting Hermit who used to be free and aone in Earth-elements Realm. Although he had already married so many wives, he could still win the heart of the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Additionally, 3 of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country get along well with him. In the future, he was doomed to be the son-in-law of Lord Guangnan. So many major sects and lords and local powers are his VIPs. Furthermore, Zhang Tie is just 30 years old. He will definitely have a bright future. It''s a great honor for us to join Fire-Dragon Sect and have such a reliance and bosom friend. Previously, I was worried about that you felt pitiful about abandoning Minling Swordsmanship Sect; I''ve not imagined that you''re more soberer than me!"


    "If we''re here, just bring all of our disciples here. We only have hundreds of disciples. The Immortal Spring Peak could hold all of them. Mountain Lifting Hermit and young sister Suxian both think about enrolling disciples here. Mountain Lifting Hermit directly wants to leave his orthodoxy here. If we''re here, Minling Swordsmanship Sect would be moved to the Immortal Spring Peak in the territory of Fire-Dragon Sect. Immortal Spring Peak will still be dominated by us. It''s just a matter of name!"


    "If so, I will go find Zhang Tie and express our opinion right now..." Lu Zhongming said as he was going to leave here for Zhang Tie; however, he was stopped by Lin Huanxi.


    "Just tell him about that next morning!"


    "Ahh, why not tonight?"


    Lin Huanxi said bashfully, "I saw young sister Suxian fly into the Master''s Pavilion just now..."


    Lu Zhongming became stunned for a second. Closely after that, he realized what did she mean. He then put one hand onto Lin Huanxi''s beautiful face lightly and stroked twice before saying, "Well, we will talk about that tomorrow. It''s a good spring nightscape. 1 minute is worth 100 gold coins. Let''s have a rest too..."


    After hearing Lu Zhongming''s words, Lin Huanxi blushed faintly...


    ...


    After having a wild night with Bai Suxian, on the second day, Zhang Tie saw Bai Zhengnan off Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory for the south border of Taixia Country.


    After visiting Zhang Tie''s Fiery Oil Refinery in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, the airplane manufacturing plant and the dual-drive engine plant, Zhang Tie talked with Bai Zhengnan for one hour independently yesterday. After reaching an agreement with Zhang Tie, Bai Zhengnan couldn''t wait to go back to the south border of Taixia Country.


    Bai Zhengnan left with 2 airplanes, 20 sets of dual-drive engines, 100 tons of Fiery Oil and the parent yeast of high-power yeast that Zhang Tie handed to him. South Border of Taixia Country could establish air corps with these things.


    "We''re of the same family now. I will hand my sister to you. When you''re free, you can come to the south border with Suxian and meet the old man so as to fix the relationship between you and Suxian in case the old man worries about you every day. Over these years, the old man always worries that his daughter couldn''t marry others or find a good husband. Since she was young, I have not seen that anyone could convince her; this is pre-destined. Taixia Country is a bit unstable now. You might not keep out of the affair completely in Youzhou Province; however, with the identity of the son-in-law of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, you could frighten a lot of people in Taixia Country!"


    Before leaving, Bai Zhengnan had a fervent embrace with Zhang Tie. After what happened yesterday, Bai Zhengnan had already completely treated Zhang Tie as his younger brother-in-law and himself as Zhang Tie''s elder brother-in-law.


    After hearing that Bai Zhengnan wanted Zhang Tie to go to Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Bai Suxian immediately pricked up her ears like a rabbit.


    "Hmm, I will take Bai Suxian to propose a marriage in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion this autumn, next year at most!" Zhang Tie said honestly.


    Bai Zhengnan patted Zhang Tie''s shoulder as he nodded. After waving his hands towards all the others at present, he boarded his airboat.


    The airboat took off from the airport of Xuantian Peak towards the south.


    Watching the airboat leaving, Zhang Tie let out a long sigh.


    After burying the seeds of Fiery Oil, during the period when Heavens Fortune Sect and Lord Guangnan''s Mansion were involved in this business, nobody else could shock or change the overall situation that Fiery Oil would prevail the entire world in the future unless Taixia Country was exterminated in a split second.


    Watching the airboat disappearing in the skyline, Zhang Tie felt like seeing many familiar yet strange faces of ordinary soldiers of Selnes Theater of Operations in the sky. With different skins and faces, they were crew on airships, brave glider pilots, fighters who fought wing demons at their full efforts. Zhang Tie once fought demons together with them many times. Zhang Tie watched them getting injured, dying and being shot down from the sky by wing demons like unyielding fiery birds, leaving the last sound in the sky and on the ground.


    They were unknown; however, their fresh blood scattered over the land and sky of Selnes Theater of Operations. Even though Waii Subcontinent had become a dead region, those former fresh faces and memories never faded in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    Zhang Tie especially used the Fiery Oil and the airplanes to dedicate those heroes who sacrificed their lives in the sky of Selnes Theater of Operations!


    In the future, Selnes Eagle was not needed anymore; instead, each person could become the Selnes Eagle and the air cavalry!


    This was Zhang Tie''s sentiment which nobody understood.


    Actually, Zhang Tie didn''t care whether Fiery Oil was profitable or not.


    The others found that Zhang Tie was watching the sky with a solemn look as if he was fulfilling a sacred contract and pledge.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Zhang Su pretended to cough twice in order to attract Zhang Tie''s attention, "I prepare to establish the first pilot training school in Xuantian City today. The new airplane seemed to have not been named officially. If we have other new types of airplanes, we might not distinguish them easily!"


    Donder, as Zhang Tie''s general steward, was responsible for Zhang Tie''s finance; Zhang Su, as Zhang Tie''s cousin, was responsible for establishing Fire-Dragon Corps of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    With both money and knife, as the person with the highest battle strength, Zhang Tie didn''t need to care about the affairs in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory at all as everything would go smoothly in it.


    As of now, Zhang Tie had been good at using these means which were usually adopted by big figures.


    "Just call them Air Cavalry Type-I!" Zhang Tie named the airplane casually before reminding Zhang Su, "We can first select a batch of crew who could drive gliders. They might easily grasp the driving skills of the airplane!"


    "After reading the Pilot Brochure that you compiled for a few days, even I could drive an airplane now!" Zhang Su replied with a smile.

 1222 Belief

    Chapter 1222: Belief


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On the morning of February 8, Bai Zhengnan left Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. After that, Zhang Su and Donder left Xuantian Peak. Zhang Su was going to organize Fire-Dragon Corps by integrating the local armored forces within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory; Donder made his first official inspection tour in Zhang Tie''s territory. In Donder''s words, now that he became the general steward of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, he had to get hang of everything in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, including, population, resources, land, taxes of cities and local major clans and influential figures, etc.. He had to bear all of them deep in mind.


    Thankfully, Donder came to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory with some reliable assistants from Golden Roc Bank. With the help of these assistants, he could slowly sort the financial affairs and businesses within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi also left Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory; however, before they left, they told Zhang Tie they wanted to join Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. That made Zhang Tie exclaim that he had such a high popularity.


    The news that Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi wanted to join Iron-Dragon Sect was not trivial for Zhang Tie and Iron-Dragon Sect.


    Of course, Zhang Tie gave a warm welcome to Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi. They were two knights! After Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi joined Iron-Dragon Sect, the number of knights in Iron-Dragon Sect increased from 3 to 5 at once, including 2 earth knights and 3 black iron knights. Such a battle strength ranked top across Northeast Military Region.


    Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi left Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory to deal with the affairs of Minling Swordsmanship in Guzhou Province. After that, they would join Iron-Dragon Sect along with their disciples.


    After Zhang Tie returned his airboat to Taiyi Fantasy Sect, the airboat that Gold and Power Law promised to gift him was still being customized according to Zhang Tie''s request, which would take another 2 months. Therefore, only Bai Suxian''s airboat was available in Iron-Dragon Sect. Zhang Tie directly had people send Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi back to Guzhou Province by airboat. It would only take the airboat fewer than 5 days to make a round trip between Youzhou Province and Guzhou Province. By contrast, it would take them more than 2 months by airship. After Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi dealt with the affairs of Minling Swordsmanship Sect in Guzhou Province, they would be carried back by Bai Suxian''s airboat.


    Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi selected Immortal Spring Peak as their base in Iron-Dragon Sect. Therefore, soon after Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi left, Zhang Tie had fetched Lu Yishan and gave him 1 million gold coins for the construction of the houses and facilities on Immortal Spring Peak.


    As for the construction of houses and palaces, 1 million gold coins was a big amount. The construction of Xuantian Peak had just cost a bit more than 1 million gold coins. Half a year ago, even an ordinary villa and courtyard that occupied about 700 square meters outside Xuantian City would cost more than 10 million gold coins. Due to the catastrophe of bloody figures, the price of land outside cities declined sharply.


    Now that Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi came here for shelter, of course, Zhang Tie would not be stingy on this issue.


    Zhang Tie received Lu Yishan in the main hall of Iron-Dragon Sect. After passing the gold check to Lu Yishan, Zhang Tie found that Lu Yishan was a bit strange today. After taking the gold check, Lu Yishan was still there as if he wanted to say something to Zhang Tie.


    "Do you have any trouble? Go ahead, I''m listening!" Zhang Tie asked Lu Yishan straightforwardly.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Lu Yishan gritted his teeth with a blush as if he had made the decision. Closely after that, he knelt down in front of Zhang Tie and kowtowed loudly in front of Zhang Tie for three times, "Sorry for my rudeness, the entire Lu Clan wish to serve Master at our full efforts. None of Lu Clan dare betray Master; otherwise, we will be exterminated by the God."


    After hearing Lu Yishan''s words, Zhang Tie became stunned for a second. Then, he threw a glance at Lu Yishan who was a bit upset; meanwhile, Zhang Tie turned solemn as he asked, "Do you want to be my myrmidon?"


    "Yes, Master!"


    "Is that your intention or the intention of Lu Clan as a whole? Have you negotiated with the elders of Lu Clan?"


    "I''ve already negotiated with the elders of Lu Clan. Lu Clan as a whole wish to serve Master at our full efforts!"


    Lu Yishan put his hands horizontally against each other in front of his knees. At the same time, his forehead touched his palms. This gesture indicated that he completely acknowledged allegiance to Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie became silent for a short while; Lu Yishan just maintained this gesture in order to extend his sincerity to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie knew that Lu Yishan must have heard the news that Li Tao became his myrmidon. If he agreed to take Lu Yishan as his myrmidon too, all the other individuals and clans which had established relationships with Zhang Tie and thought highly of his prospect and moral standing would board Zhang Tie''s huge ship. Lu Clan''s choice was still within Zhang Tie''s expectation. Besides employing myrmidons on his own initiative, many people would recommend themselves to be myrmidons. Many major clans in Taixia Country always had a lot of talented guests, who always recommended themselves to those major clans. If their talents won the favor of the major clans or they made great meritorious services, they would promote to myrmidons.


    Precisely, Zhang Tie was moved by the gray hair of Lu Yishan.


    "Well, get up. From today on, you''re my myrmidon. Remember to accomplish my tasks sincerely later on. I will treat Lu Clan well!"


    "Thanks, Your Majesty!" Lu Yishan made another salute to Zhang Tie before getting up with an excited look.


    "Hmm, you can leave for your job..."


    Lu Yishan moved backward. Not until he reached the gate did he turn around and leave. Lu Yishan tried his best to move lightly in case that his footsteps reverberated around the hall.


    Over 1,000 people could hold a rite or party in the main hall. However, it was empty in the main hall at this moment. The shiny floor made of obsidians could almost reflect his shadow; some huge sandalwood pillars in the main hall gave out the slight fragrance of sandalwood, which filled the main hall.


    Not until seeing Lu Yishan off did Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh. He took a cup and had a sip of tribute tea. After that, he stroked the gradually colder smooth surface of the china cup as he lowered his head and entered meditation...


    ''Being different than Li Tao''s decisiveness and dauntless spirit, Lu Yishan is more experienced, steady and meticulous. Therefore, Lu Yishan is also qualified to be my myrmidon. Given the same thing, Li Tao might bring me a surprise; however, Lu Yishan would never make any mistake. Threerocks Construction Business Group had a great power and is qualified to build Class A cities. With such a myrmidon and construction business group, I would have fewer troubles in construction.''


    ''Lu Yishan is my myrmidon; Lu Yishan''s grandson is my apprentice. Therefore, I''m both the owner and master of Lu Clan. It seems that Lu Clan is indeed longing for standing on my side...''


    ''Why is Lu Clan so anxious?''


    ''Besides thinking highly of my prospect and believing in my moral standing, I''m afraid that they also have a sense of crisis like Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi.''


    Facing such a situation that all the heroes would like to seek for his shelter, Zhang Tie was not dazzled by the temporary success and overwhelming situation; instead, he still maintained a sober recognition and insight.


    Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi saw the coming crisis; Lu Clan saw the coming crisis too. As the catastrophe of bloody figures had spread over Taixia Country, everybody had seen the crisis. Facing such a systematic crisis, all the smart living beings used their instincts to cooperate with each other.


    Actually, neither Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi nor Lu Clan could have a deeper and sharper recognition about the coming sense of crisis. Because Zhang Tie had long experienced the extermination of many subcontinents before coming to Taixia Country. Zhang Tie witnessed many countries being exterminated and numerous people becoming slaves and walking dead. However, the extermination of Waii Subcontinent was just the appetizer of this holy war.


    Zhang Tie also cooperated with Heavens Fortunes Sect and Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    Powerful ones could accompany with loneliness and stars. However, after witnessing how tens of thousands of human knights and demon knights collided with each other fiercely in the Earth-element Realm, Zhang Tie dared not say that he was powerful until now. Sometimes, even an earth knight''s life was very trivial. Therefore, he could only seek cooperation with more powerful organizations. Who''s the powerful one? Previously, Zhang Tie was confused about the concept of the powerful one. He felt that his master Zhao Yuan could be a powerful one. However, after coming back from Earth-elements Realm, he had a clearer definition about the concept of powerful one¡ª¡ªa person who could survive the besiege of tens of thousands demon knights is qualified as a powerful one.


    Zhang Tie realized that he was too far away from that realm.


    Now that he was not a powerful one, he could only cooperate with the others.


    Like what Elzida told him in the letter, the so-called future was just the combination of numerous possibilities. Future is uncertain. No matter how sharp trump cards did demons have, no matter how worse was the situation facing humans, humans would always have hope as long as it was at the last moment. The option of numerous possibilities in the future was in the hand of the most powerful one.


    Zhang Tie insisted on growing more powerful through individual cultivation or uniting with more people.


    After settling down and preparing for further development, Zhang Tie found that few people could be trusted on his side as he only paid attention to individual cultivation over these years...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie heard the crispy footsteps from the gate of the main hall as he raised his head.


    Bai Suxian entered the main hall while swaying her body, "The 2,000 dare-to-die fighters gifted by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion have arrived at Xuantian Peak..."

 1223 Being on the Right Track

    Chapter 1223: Being on the Right Track


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As Zhang Tie was sighing inside that he didn''t have too many reliable ones on his side, Bai Suxian brought him a good news. What a timely rain...


    Zhang Tie immediately sprung up from the chair as he asked happily, "Really?"


    "They lived in Xuantian City which was not far from here. Therefore, I brought them here. Why are you so excited?"


    "Haha, why not? It''s gifted by my elder brother-in-law and could solve my problem urgently." Zhang Tie put his arm around Bai Suxian''s waist as he kissed her face, causing a sound ''mu'', "My wife is really my good assistant!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s praise, Bai Suxian felt pretty happy as her face became shiny although she said, "Annoying..."


    Watching Bai Suxian''s enchanting look, Zhang Tie''s concern and worry faded away at once. ''I have friends, brothers, reliances, relationships, final shelter and such a good assistant at home, what am I worried for? It''s just a holy war. I will always have a countermeasure. Who cares!''


    "Let''s go, we will take a look at them!" Zhang Tie said in a spirited way.


    "Look at what?"


    "Of course those dare-to-die fighters!"


    "Let them come in for your review!" Bai Suxian looked around the Ancestral Shrine Palace as she nodded, "It''s spacious here. It could hold 2,000 people if they stand close to each other. Now that those people had been gifted to you, as dare-to-die fighters, they have to attend a ceremony to recognize their owner without any disturbance. This place is suitable for them!"


    "An owner recognition rite?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "Of course, dare-to-die fighters should recognize their owner. If not, anyone could command them. Who dare put such people on their side?" Bai Suxian said with an arrogant look, "The Goldensand dare-to-die fighters trained by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion are famous across Taixia Country!"


    "Great, I''d like to a look at them!" Zhang Tie said in an expectant manner.


    Zhang Tie knew that his elder brother had controlled a small country in Chaosang Subcontinent called Immortal Wind Country. Zhang Yang favored this country because this country could train blood-tied dare-to-die fighters. It''s difficult to train dare-to-die fighters. Dare-to-die fighters being trained in different secret methods had different abilities. According to Zhang Yang, Immortal Wind Country could only train hundreds of blood-tied dare-to die fighters a year; additionally, it would take them even 10 more years to train a batch of blood-tied dare-to die fighters. The first batch of blood-tied dare-to-die fighters being trained by Immortal Wind Country for Jinwu Business Group and Zhang Yang would be available next year.


    The 2,000 Goldensand dare-to-die fighters was definitely a great gift.


    Finding that Zhang Tie was so expectant about those Goldensand dare-to-die fighters, Bai Suxian clapped.


    After Bai Suxian''s clapped, two wrinkled old men in black robes and odd-looking animal horn hat entered the main hall, followed by teams of people, male and female, old and young.


    Zhang Tie looked at those blood-tied dare-to-die fighters and found that they were nothing different than normal people. All of them were spirited with clear eyes. Most of them were about 30 years old. Few of them were old with a gray beard. A small part of them was at their 40s and 20s.


    These people were well disciplined. They were well coordinated in actions. 2,000 people stood still and tidily in the main hall without any noise.


    After the 2,000 people entered, the main hall finally became full and vigorous.


    "Princess, Master, all the blood-tied dare-to-die fighters have arrived!" The two weird old men came to the front of Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian before telling them respectfully.


    "There''re males and females, old and young, your elder brother told me that they were craftsmen home slaves trained in accordance with the orthodoxy of dare-to-die fighters, what can they do for us?" Zhang Tie asked Bai Suxian.


    "Craftsmen and home slaves are inferior to dare-to-die fighters." Bai Suxian told the two old men, "You can make an introduction about them to us!"


    "Yes, princess! Among the 2,000 people, there are 1,700 males, 300 females. Among the males, there''re 300 LV 6 fighters, 200 LV 7 fighters, 100 LV 8 fighters, 50 LV 9 assassins and 850 craftsmen such as blacksmiths, tailors, tool-makers, gardeners, cobblers, carpenters, accountants, doctors, stewards, farmers, difference engine operators, engineers and clerks. Among the 300 females, there are 100 female fighters from LV 6 to LV 9, who could serve as maids and use remote-sensing crystals; the 200 females include gardeners, embroidery workers, cooks, actresses, music masters, nurses and accountants. Over 150 of them could master many jobs!"


    Zhang Tie was really shocked by such dare-to-die fighters.


    "What''s the difference between Goldensand dare-to-die fighters trained by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and the blood-tied dare-to-die fighters trained by the Immortal Wind Country in Chaosang Subcontinent?"


    "Goldensand dare-to-die fighters trained by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion maintain their spirits and intelligence. They are nothing different than commoners. Each Goldsand dare-to-die fighter could make increasingly greater achievement through constant development on the road that they choose. However, if you want any one of them to die for you, they would never hesitate to do that!" Bai Suxian explained, "Those blood-tied dare-to-die fighters trained by the Immortal Wind Country in Chaosang Subcontinent are nothing but sh*t among the dare-to-die fighters in Taixia Country. Those blood-tied dare-to-die fighters would lose a part of their spirit and intelligence after they were trained well. Therefore, they could barely gain too much development and achievement in their own way. Although they''re loyal to their owner and won''t do harm to the owner, they could only serve as cannon fodders and tools to threaten others. Nevertheless, it would be very difficult for them to do something else or enter higher stages. Additionally, only males could be trained as blood-tied dare-to-die fighters. Those blood-tied dare-to-die fighters are very inferior fighters. Why do you ask about this?"


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s words, Zhang Tie became speechless. Of course, Bai Suxian didn''t know that his elder brother had controlled the Immortal Wind Country in Chaosang Subcontinent and could have them train blood-tied dare-to-die fighters. Therefore, her comment about blood-tied dare-to-die fighters was reliable. However, those who could train dare-to-die fighters in Taixia Country were not ordinary people or clans. Zhang Yang had spent a lot in controlling a small country that could train dare-to-die fighters. As a knight princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Bai Suxian was picky; however, it didn''t mean that what she didn''t speak highly of wouldn''t do any help to Zhang Tie.


    "When I was screwed a few years ago, my elder brother controlled the Immortal Wind Country in Chaosang Subcontinent in case of possible dangers. I was told that Immortal Wind Country could train dare-to-die fighters!" Zhang Tie told Bai Suxian honestly.


    Bai Suxian stuck her tongue out in a cute way as she patted her chest and said, "Ahh, if so, I couldn''t say that in front of your elder brother!"


    "Hoho, glad that you know it. Aww, is it very difficult to train these Goldensand dare-to-die fighters?"


    "Of course, difficult. Even Lord Guangnan''s Mansion could only train about 1,000 Goldensand dare-to-die fighters a year. These people are two years'' work of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion!"


    "How do they recognize their owner?"


    "Just do as they tell you. It''s an easy rite!" Bai Suxian said as she moved to one side, "After a while, only you could stand here. They could only see you. I will wait for you on one side!"


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    Under Zhang Tie''s curious gaze, one of the two weird old men turned over his hand as he took out a strange tree-stool shaped podium like thing whose diameter was over 1 m from his portable space-teleportation item and put it in front of Zhang Tie; closely after that, he took out a banner which was covered with weird runes and inserted it on the back of the tree tool; besides, one side of the banner was black, the other was red. After that, he took out a necklace which was composed of a wild animal''s skull and passed it to Zhang Tie. He made a hand gesture to have Zhang Tie put it on his neck. After that, he requested Zhang Tie to stand on the tree stool.


    The other old man took out a closed shell from his sleeve and passed it to Zhang Tie before saying, "After a while, when we leave and blow the wooden flute, you should open your bone shell. After that, break your finger and drop some blood onto the little round black ball in the bone shell. Stand here still for a while; when they open their eyes, this rite would come to an end!"


    "So easy?"


    The old man nodded.


    Zhang Tie then replied, "No problem!"


    The two weird old men then walked away. When they reached the edge of the team of 2,000 people in the main hall, one old man took out a verdant flute from his sleeve and blew some strange melodious tones. When the melodious tones reverberated around the main hall, all the 2,000 dare-to-die fighters widely opened their eyes suddenly and gazed at Zhang Tie who was standing on the podium. Their eyes were extremely clear and a bit confused just like that of babies who had just come to the world. Being attracted by Zhang Tie, they all watched him out of curiosity.


    Zhang Tie was shocked as he hurriedly opened that bone shell. There was indeed a little black round ball in the bone shell. Zhang Tie broke his finger by teeth and dropped some blood onto that little black round ball.


    Strangely, when Zhang Tie''s first drop of blood fell onto the black round ball, a part of the round black ball had turned golden. When Zhang Tie''s 4th drop of blood fell onto it, the entire round ball turned golden. After that, the golden round ball dispersed into golden sands and flew towards those dare-to-die fighters.


    Of course, they were not golden sands, but bizarre winged insects who were as tiny as sands. There were totally 2,000 such insects. All of them flew to the places below the nostrils of those dare-to-die fighters before drilling into their nostrils like being absorbed in...


    Under the gaze of lotus-flower eyes, closely after those insects flew into the nostrils of those dare-to-die fighters, they drilled into the same strange place in their brain. After that, they all stayed still and turned gray as if they had become one part of their brain. Thanks to his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie could see through this process carefully. If not, even if he cut open those dare-to-die fighters'' bodies and looked for the insects inch by inch, he couldn''t find anything abnormal.


    All the 2,000 dare-to-die fighters in the main hall had closed their eyes.


    However, 1 minute later, all of them opened their eyes and looked at Zhang Tie who was standing on the podium in a strange make-up, their eye light became completely different than that when they entered the main hall just now.


    Zhang Tie had ever seen the same kind of eye light from the eyes of those pious believers of Ancient God Church and those people whom Zhang Tie had saved by teleporting them into Castle of Black Iron. The eye light indicated that they believed and relied on Zhang Tie unconditionally and could sacrifice themselves for Zhang Tie at any time like how fish felt when they saw the ocean and how sons felt when they saw their fathers.


    "Owner!" 2,000 dare-to-die fighters shouted in unison as they all bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie.


    ''How sharp Goldensand dare-to-die fighters!'' Zhang Tie let out a sigh with emotion, ''Such a training method is really something!''


    At this moment, Zhang Tie recalled some special animal controlling means, which had been spread among humans before the Catastrophe. In that age, humans mainly adopted such means to train military dogs and police dogs. As these military and police dogs were trained by professionals in professional bases, they were fierce in nature. Therefore, when these well-trained military and police dogs were handed to polices and troops, the trainers of these military dogs and police dogs would hold an "owner recognition rite" with the receivers of these military and police dogs so that these dogs could be more obedient to their receivers. Usually, the receivers of those dogs would provide a private item which carried their odor such as key cases, hats and velvets for the trainers. Trainers of military and police dogs could have these dogs fully follow the orders of the new owners through the special odor in some special means.


    Similarly, the so-called owner recognition rite of dare-to-die fighters was essentially a process which was required to control people who were more senior than dogs. Therefore, it should be more effective in the greater secret method.


    Zhang Tie got off the podium and returned the weird necklace and the bone shell to the two old men of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    "How long will the effect of this rite last?''


    "Generally, forever, unless someone among them promotes to knights. However, by then, I think that master would have better methods to have a knight follower your order piously!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he looked around the over 2,000 pairs of eyes which were fixed on him. All of a sudden, he burst out into laughter...


    With 2,000 dare-to-die fighters, Xuantian Feng became vigorous at once. Everyone carried out their own responsibilities accordingly. Iron-Dragon Sect finally looked like a major sect while everything went smooth.


    At least, Zhang Tie finally had professional guards and maids; otherwise, he would always feel embarrassed having some female disciples on his side.


    Zhang Tie didn''t keep all the 2,000 dare-to-die fighters in Iron-Dragon Sect. He selected 300 people from them and had them report to Zhang Gui. They would follow Zhang Gui''s orders and look after his family members in Jinwu City. As for those 1,700 dare-to-die fighters in Iron-Dragon Sect, Zhang Tie allocated duties to them respectively. In this way, Zhang Tie controlled the entire Iron-Dragon Sect at once.


    3 days later, after ending his first tour inspection of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, Donder returned to Iron-Dragon Sect. After being told that Zhang Tie got 1,700 dare-to-die fighters who had various talents, Donder immediately selected 30 young females from them and purchased a batch of remote-sensing communications devices so as to found the first Master''s Intelligence Agency in Iron-Dragon Sect. In this way, each command of Zhang Tie could be delivered to all the Local Representatives Committee in each city being affiliated to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory precisely and timely through authoritative channels.


    After Zhang Tie returned to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory for 1 week, everything in Iron-Dragon Sect and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory had gradually been on the right track; Zhang Tie gradually ruled the Iron-Dragon Bounty Territory and Iron-Dragon Sect.


    The master of Wang Clan of Yushun Palace in Ningan City also became the 3rd myrmidon that Zhang Tie received in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Additionally, only after a few days, the news that "an iron bird flew in the sky" outside Xuantian City and Zhang Tie had invented "Fiery Oil" had shocked the entire Taixia Country once again.


    When Taixia became bustled and shocked by the changes in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, Zhang Tie received the news that the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire had left the harbor for Sacred Iceland Kingdom from Pontiff Sarlin through the remote-sensing crystal.


    After one winter''s preparation, Sacred Light Empire''s expeditionary corps which was said "to shatter Sacred Iceland Kingdom" finally set off their harbor towards Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    One day before they set off the harbor, the last warning that Sacred Light Empire delivered to Sacred Iceland Kingdom arrived at Saint Petersburg.


    Sacred Light Empire requested Sacred Iceland Kingdom to surrender to them unconditionally; abandon resistance in any terms; disband Ancient God Church; hand over all the "heretics" who joined the assassination of the chief priest of Sacred Light Empire; pay an astronomical compensation and kneel down for the arrival of the special envoy of Sacred Light Empire...


    Of course, Saint Petersburg refused them. Therefore, on the second day, the expeditionary corps of Sacred Light Empire set off the harbor for Ice and Snow Wilderness...

 1224 The Turmoil in Ewentra Archipelago

    Chapter 1224: The Turmoil in Ewentra Archipelago


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In late March, the cold wind from the Devil North Wind Belt in Ice and Snow Wilderness blew over Oro Strait all the way to the south. When it reached 600 more miles in the south of Saint Herner Island and arrived at Arkray Island, it had turned mild. The cold in the wind couldn''t be sensed anymore.


    As the most prosperous big island in Ewentra Archipelago, the hub that linked the north part and south part of Ewentra Archipelago and the political center of the entire Ewentra Archipelago, Arkray Island covered over 2,400 square miles. The autonomous parliament of Ewentra Archipelago was founded in Arkray Island.


    In Ewentra Archipelago sea area, those islands which were larger than Arkray Island were not as prosperous as Arkray Island; those islands which were smaller than Arkray Island couldn''t match Arkray Island in the background. The greater part of time-honored major sects which built up fortunes in commerce and trade across Ewentra Archipelago originated from Arkray Island. Therefore, Gantiadu Island and Sinira Island didn''t become the political center of Ewentra Archipelago; Saint Herner Island was defeated by Arkray Island too.


    The wind from Ice and Snow Wilderness had turned as warm as a spring breeze; however, another cold current from Western Continent sent the entire Arkray Island into cold as if the winter had arrived.


    ...


    After receiving the news that the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire on Western Continent had set off the harbor, the atmosphere of the entire sea area of Ewentra Archipelago grew increasingly intenser. As the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Fleet gradually approached Ewentra Archipelago, the entire Arkray Island was troubled by surging evil forces; especially the autonomous parliament of Ewentra Archipelago.


    On March 26, the members of autonomous parliament were in a quarrel in the conference hall only for voting the Act on the Mobilization for the Duel .


    As the members of the autonomous parliament had a great difference in views, Ms. Olina the president of the parliament let the two parties carry out a public debate.


    The so-called public debate was just an orderly quarrel.


    "Gentlemen, we have received the news from the Maritime Council yesterday. The expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Fleet has already arrived at Sukbi Sea Gulf 2 weeks ago. They are accomplishing the final replenishment. Based on the speed of the expeditionary corps of Sacred Light Empire, as you know, they would probably arrive at Ewentra Archipelago sea area on the same day next month as it is only fewer than 20,000 nautical miles. At most mid Friday, a powerful fleet would arrive. As members of Sacred Iceland Kingdom, of course, we''re obligated to resist the invaders. However, the problem is that is our resistance meaningful? What''s the meaning of our resistance? Will the result be different than treating more fellows as cannon fodders?"


    Right then, a gentleman at his 50s expressed his opinion on the rostrum, spraying his saliva in all directions. This man was Levins Hill, the clan head of Levins Clan on Bali Island and the member of Ewentra Archipelago Autonomous Parliament.


    Perhaps, he had less chance to make a speech here, Levins Hill looked a bit thrilled. In the former quarrel, this old man''s hair looked a bit disordered; if not Ms. Olina had guards break in and separate the two parties timely, these gentlemen might have long started to make a boxing show due to the excitement.


    Levins Hill was the one who mostly opposed the Act on the Mobilization for the Duel . It was out of people''s imagination more or less; however, it was still understandable. Because everybody across Ewentra Archipelago knew the relationship between Levins Clan and Renard Clan on Bali Island. Levins Hill was a dog, a graceful dog of Connar, the clan head of Renard Clan.


    Connar was always silent in the conference hall. However, everybody knew that Revins Hill had spoken everything for Connar.


    Of course, the attitude of Levins Clan was as same as that of Renard Connar.


    Although Levins Hill was speaking out of excitement, many members of autonomous parliament below didn''t look at him at all; instead, they peeped at Connar who was closely below the rostrum of the president.


    Like usual, Connar still wore a suit of exquisite gray Western-style clothes as the deputy president of the autonomous parliament. Connar''s grey-brown hair was combed well. Under the light of the ceiling fluorite lamp, his hair was shiny with delicate, waxy light. Even flies would slip on his hair.


    Connar watched Levins Hill calmly in a glassy-eyed way. The same fluorite lamplight outstood this man''s hooknose and strongly defined and a stubborn chin. The two deep eye sockets were like pitch-dark pits while the eyesight in the deep pits was confusing and profound.


    Ms. Olina was sitting on a higher rostrum behind Connar in a black silk longuette and a delicate, simple and elegant makeup. Perhaps because she had delivered and suckled babies, Ms. Olina looked more mature and feminine. She was brilliant. In each conference, those members of autonomous parliament who peeped at her in the public would be fascinated by Ms. Olina''s charm.


    Ôø¾­ÃûÎÅ°£Î´ïÀ­ÈºµºµÄÃĺü,Èç½ñÒѾ­ÊÇ°£Î´ïÀ­Èºµº×ÔÖÎÒé»áµÄÒ鳤,Ôø¾­µÄº£À¶±¤ÉÌÍÅ,Èç½ñ¸ü¼ÓÕôÕôÈÕÉÏ,Ò»¸öÃÄÑÞµ½¼«µãµÄ³ÉÊìÅ®ÈË,Ò»¸ö¹Ñ¸¾,ÔÙ¼ÓÉÏËýÉíÉÏȨÊƺͲƸ»µÄ³ÄÍÐ,»áÈÃÄÐÈËÃǸü¼ÓµÄÓÐÕ÷·þµÄ**,µ«Õâ¹É**,ËùÓÐÈ˶¼Ö»ÄÜѹÔÚÐÄÀï,ÒòΪ´ó¼Ò¶¼ÖªµÀÕâ¸öÅ®ÈËÊÇË­µÄ½ûÙõ.


    The sexy fox who was well-known across Ewentra Archipelago had already become the president of the Ewentra Archipelago Autonomous Parliament. Navyblue Castle Business Group grew increasingly prosperous. An extremely charming mature widow being set off by power and wealth would make men feel being convinced. However, all the men could only stand it because they all knew whom did this woman belong to.


    Like Connar, Ms. Olina who was sitting on the highest position also maintained a calm look; besides, she also looked a bit tired as everybody knew that this woman had made her full efforts these days in order to respond to the coming expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire.


    Many male members of parliament would be fascinated by the look of Ms. Olina. Only very few people noticed that Ms. Olina was wearing a luxuriant purely black longuette with a silver diamond brooch on her breast.


    "...The expeditionary corps of Sacred Light Empire assigned 2 throne priests and 5 major priests from the eastern parish. How could Sacred Iceland Island resist such a great power? Is that useful for all of us to fight them? Levins Hill loudly repeated the worst news that everybody else had known; although the others disliked him, they couldn''t refute him.


    "According to you, do we just put up our hands and wait for being arrested?" Bell Filis on the other rostrum asked him out of fury, "Do you mean that we have to give up resistance because of the power of the enemy? Do we also give up resistance if our enemy is a demon? If so, what about the face of His Majesty? You''re a treason!"


    After old Bell resigned as the member of autonomous parliament, his grandson had taken over his position and become a member of Ewentra Autonomous Parliament.


    The relationship between Bell Clan in Saint Herner Island and Ms. Olina who came from the same island was universally known.


    This Act on the Mobilisation of the Duel could almost be regarded as a duel between the president and the deputy president of the Ewentra Autonomous Parliament.


    No matter what, junior Bell was a bit young. Levins Hill caught the loophole in junior Bell''s furious question at once as he revealed a smile.


    "I''m doing this according to the opinion of His Majesty. Mr. Bell must remember the nature of Ewentra Mixed Fleet. According to the agreement, it served as the local garrison fleet. Over these years, the expenditure of Ewentra Mixed Fleet was always allocated by our autonomous parliament. Unless being invaded by demons, the Ewentra Mixed Fleet should be led by the Ewentra Autonomous Parliament. That''s why I oppose the Act on the Mobilisation of the Duel . Besides exploiting the command of Ewentra Autonomous Parliament regarding the fleet, this act also extracts the overall strength across Ewentra Archipelago and put it into a hopeless war. This violates the agreement that we have made with His Majesty. If we pass this act, we''re betraying the country and His Majesty in a foolish way. I oppose passing this act because I want to save Ewentra Archipelago and preserve the reputation of His Majesty..."


    Levins Hill was eloquent on the rostrum. His words beautified himself; meanwhile, he splashed a basin of dirty water towards junior Bell.


    The entire conference hall was in an uproar at once as both parties were blaming the opposition for betraying the country. It was already a very serious diction; additionally, from the result of the debate, Levins Hill seemingly took the wind.


    Levins Hill behaved pleasantly.


    "You b*stard and coward!" Bell Filis was driven mad as he directly jumped over the rostrum and punched at Levins Hill''s face. Levins Hill dodged away; as a result, Bell Filis punched at Levins Hill''s shoulder. The two people then started to wrestle with each other and fell down at the same time. A great number of members of parliament hurriedly rushed and swarmed up to pull them apart, causing the spot to be chaotic once again...


    In the chaos, the president knocked the wooden block by hammer at the rostrum for 3 times. After that, junior Bell and Levins Hill were pulled apart.


    Levins Hill looked embarrassed in messy hair. There was a bruise on his face; additionally, junior Bell lost two buttons with two footprints on his trousers.


    "As members of parliament have a great divergence in views. We could barely reach an agreement. We will not vote on the act today. Let''s continue tomorrow, adjournment!" Ms. Olina said helplessly as she stood up and put down the long hammer. After throwing another glance at the spot, she left the rostrum quietly.


    Connar was lowering his head and putting his documents in order. However, when he raised his head, his mouth corners slightly rose.

 1225 Name List of the Dead

    Chapter 1225: Name List of the Dead


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After walking off the rostrum of Ewentra Autonomous Parliament, Ms. Olina left the conference hall through a professional tunnel being isolated by dark-colored birch railings on the opposite of the seats of the members of parliament.


    As the president of Ewentra Autonomous Parliament, Ms. Olina worked in the plaza of the parliament. Of course, she enjoyed all the privileges here.


    When Ms. Olina walked to the gate, two guards opened the door. The conference hall was still noisy until Ms. Olina left there.


    The adjournment of this conference didn''t mean that the disputes and divergences had come to an end. Conversely, given the situation in the conference hall, the divergences and conflicts between major clans inside Ewentra Archipelago were already in the open and were becoming increasingly fiercer. In the past few years, at least before the news that Sacred Light Empire''s expeditionary fleet set off the harbor for Sacred Iceland Kingdom was confirmed, the inside of Ewentra Autonomous Parliament was always in peace. However, since the news that Sacred Light Empire''s expeditionary fleet set off the harbor for Ewentra Archipelago was spread across Ewentra, the atmosphere inside the Ewentra Autonomous Parliament had gradually changed. Today, the act was like a fuse which detonated the bomb in Ewentra Autonomous Parliament, causing undercurrents and turmoils to reach their climaxes at once.


    Not until the gate was closed did the noise disappear.


    Behind that gate, there was a quiet passage, which was paved with thick, soft and luxurious camel hair carpet from Manla Empire in the Western Continent. Both sides of the passage were adorned with fresh flowers. After the gate was closed, the inside and outside were utterly different.


    Watching Ms. Olina coming in, Ms. Olina''s beautiful female assistant behind the gate helped Ms. Olina put on a top-quality fox-fur cappa. After that, she accompanied Ms. Olina to walk towards her office.


    "Madam, Bishop Maxim has just arrived here half an hour ago. He''s waiting for you in Navyblue Hall."


    The assistant of Ms. Olina wore a pair of wire-rimmed glasses, a suit of pale blue professional clothes with a briefcase in hand. She followed Ms. Olina towards the end of this passage.


    "Hmm, I know, let''s go there!" Ms. Olina said as she let out a sigh all of a sudden. At the same time, she looked at the beautiful and capable female assistant on her side and asked, "Dalina, what sort of behavior do you think is silliest? Although those men look smart, why do they always make mistakes at such a critical moment?"


    The beautiful bartender that Zhang Tie encountered in the bar of the cruise ship Narwhal had already become one of the assistants of the president of Ewentra Autonomous Parliament after graduating from Sinira Business College. After so many years, Dalina''s innocence and naivety had faded away; instead, she became more beautiful and capable.


    "Men''s silliness is mostly related to their greed!" After graduating from Sinira Business College, Dalina had a short marriage which lasted fewer than half a year. After being betrayed by his husband, Dalina became as independent as Ms. Olina. After hearing this question, Dalina immediately expressed her feeling calmly. Putting her glasses a bit upward, she ironized, "Men are always greedy; they always expect to go fishing on the sea with a broken, small fishing net and catch all the beautiful women and wealth in the world!"


    "You''re right. However, Bishop Maxim has a famous remark. Under the brilliance of God, reverence is the greatest virtue; obedience is the greatest wisdom! Perhaps in the eyes of Bishop Maxim, those silly men don''t have virtue or wisdom!"


    When they talked, they had gone upstairs and arrived at the Navyblue Hall on the first floor.


    Dalina stayed in the restroom in the outer hall while Ms. Olina met Bishop Maxim in the inner hall alone.


    Watching Ms. Olina entering the inner hall with a silver brooch on her breast, Bishop Maxim let out a sigh, "Madam, you''re really thoughtful. Pitifully, those people might not understand your heart. They might be celebrating that they had successfully refuted the act. As long as the dispute about that act lasted for one more month, they would reach their target!"


    Black longuette was both elegant and solemn. It could be worn in both the conference room and funeral ceremony. Ms. Olina''s brooch was a silver diamond flower.


    Pitifully, those silliest people in this world couldn''t even understand such a clear hint.


    The Act on the Mobilisation of the Duel was absolutely a plot. The one who set this plot was Bishop Maxim. Facing the great crisis, Bishop Maxim who ruled the entire parish across Ewentra Archipelago couldn''t stand the undercurrents and the betrayals of some major clans on Ewentra Archipelago. Therefore, he planned to eliminate them by power and blood.


    Ms. Olina coordinated Bishop Maxim to set this plot. As a woman who was onto something big at her own efforts in this male-predominated world, as long as she made a decision to do something, even male couldn''t imagine how decisive and vicious she was.


    It was Ms. Olina''s final warning to those silly ones in this suit of black longuette with a silver brooch on her breast. This could reflect her kindness as a woman. However, as long as men were dominated by greed and silliness, they could see nothing except her look and figure. Whereas, someone might have understood her meaning.


    "The names of opponents have been listed. They are almost the 40-odd members of autonomous parliament on the side of Renard Clan. Bishop might have already received that!"


    "Yes, I''ve received the name list after Madam left the conference hall!" Bishop Maxim nodded as he added, "It''s almost as same as we''ve predicted. Renard Clan always has a relationship with their original Renard Clan on Western Continent. This time, Renard Clan has already connected with Sacred Light Empire through their original clan on the Western Continent and reached a privity with each other. Renard Clan is waiting for the arrival of the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire. All the actions of Sacred Iceland Kingdom have been exposed to Sacred Light Empire by Renard Clan!"


    "Are you sure?"


    "2 weeks ago, we''ve already caught some detectives near the bases of Northwind Fleet. Through interrogation, all the detectives admitted that they were monitoring the actions of Northwind Fleet. We discovered that those detectives were all related to a business group being affiliated to Renard Clan. In case of frightening the snake, we released those detectives. Therefore, Renard Clan didn''t know that they had exposed their intention! If those detectives couldn''t prove anything, what happened today in the conference hall could prove everything!"


    After hearing his words, Ms. Olina could only let out a sigh as she said, "I really wonder why did they do that? Even though Sacred Light Empire could really annex us, would Renard Clan face a better situation? Connar has been the deputy president of Ewentra Autonomous Parliament, after Sacred Light Empire arrives here, is he dreaming that Sacred Light Empire would keep the autonomous parliament and select him as the president?"


    "People are always greedy. They treat the mercy and generosity of His Majesty as the chip and reliance of their shameless betrayal. This is pure blasphemy. How about the Wilis Clan in Gantiadu Island? Their names are not on my name list. Madam, do you think it''s necessary for us to add this clan into the name list?"


    The members of autonomous parliament who opposed the act on the name list were destined to die. When Ms. Olina left the conference hall, the name list had been fixed. now that they had determined to make a massacre, it was nothing different for Bishop Maxim to increase or decrease a clan in the name list. As a pious believer of Ancient God Church, since the day he promoted to bishop of Ewentra Parish, Bishop Maxim had held another opinion about the Ewentra Autonomous Parliament. In the opinion of Bishop Maxim, under the halos of the Ancient God, Ewentra Autonomous Parliament was simply a group of silly and short-sighted gamblers who manifested their silliness and arrogance in blandishments. This was what Bishop Maxim couldn''t stand.


    After hearing that Bishop Maxim mentioned about Wilis Clan with a strong killing intent, Ms. Olina shook her head after thinking about it seriously as she said, "Wilis Clan didn''t veto the Act today. Many members on the side of Wilis Clan maintained neutral today. I think they''ve already done well with such a neutral attitude at this moment!"


    "It seems that they''re not that silly!"


    "Bishop, are you confident to clear so many clans?"


    "The Northwind Fleet has already entered the military harbor in Fijina Island. They could monitor and frighten those insurgents in Ewentra Mixed Fleet. The moment we moved, Northwind Fleet would disarm some captains who are closely related to Renard Clan and arrest them. Furthermore, Clan head Hags of Sea Bear Tribe has already arrived at Arkray Island with 2,000 sea soul warriors. All the red gloves of the Order Jury have been in place..."


    Ms. Olina just listened to Bishop Maxim calmly. She didn''t change her facial expression when bishop mentioned Northwind Fleet, the clan head of sea bear tribe and sea soul warriors; only when Bishop Maxim mentioned those red gloves of Order Jury, Ms. Olina slightly frowned as her stomach twitched; she felt like vomiting...


    "Now that those guilty ones profaned the mercy of His Majesty, let red gloves teach them how to show respect to His Majesty in the hell-like judgment..."

 1226 The Red Gloves

    Chapter 1226: The Red Gloves


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the evening, the Pineneedles Castle where Arkray Clan lived in was covered with flames that surged into the sky. People within dozens of miles could see that.


    The castle of Renard Clan was in the core region of Arkray Island, which was also the traditional residential area of those time-honored major clans and rich businessmen. After Ewentra Autonomous Parliament was established, almost 1/6 of the total members of parliament came from this region.


    Although there was more than one flame across Arkray Island at the same time, the abnormal situation in Pineneedles Castle was most attractive.


    The surging flames were accompanied by muffled harrumphs and miserable shrieks of the guards and all those who dared resist in Renard Clan before death.


    The high wall and thick and heavy gate of the outer castle of Pineneedles Castle didn''t work at all. The collapse of the outer castle accelerated the extinguishment of the entire Renard Clan.


    This was a precise, crucial, efficient and shocking massacre and destruction.


    Those who executed this massacre were members of Order Jury of Ancient God Church.


    The name Order Jury twisted the tongue; however, everybody across Sacred Iceland Kingdom knew red gloves.


    Order Jury was an agency established by Ancient God Church in late years. Before Order Jury appeared, as the trade volumes between Ewentra Archipelago and Western Continent and the surrounding subcontinents surged, the pirates near Ewentra Archipelago and its surrounding sea area entered their heyday too. However, their heyday came to an end soon after the Order Jury was established.


    The batches of heads of those powerful pirates that were exhibited on the citizen square of Arkray Island made red gloves of Order Jury well-known.


    Many pirate organizations were exterminated, such as Mad Shark, One-Eyed Jack, Red Sea Monster, Storm Robber, Snake Fang, Black Pearl and Diamond Skeleton...


    As those notorious, fierce and brutal pirates were constantly exterminated, the fame of red gloves of the Order Jury of Ancient God Church started to be well-known across Ewentra Sea Area.


    All the people who had visited the heads of those pirates on the civic square of Arkray Island would never forget about the remaining, fearful and shocking expressions on the faces of those dead, ferocious and ugly pirates.


    Since the Order Jury was established, everybody only had one impression about this agency; namely massacre, silent massacre.


    All the pirates which once poured in the northern waters of Waii Subcontinent from all directions like sharks that smelt blood had either turned into corpses or scared too much. They dared never approach 3,000 miles within the waters of Ewentra Archipelago. Additionally, as long as those boats that left off Ewentra Archipelago hung the banner of Ancient God Church, they would not be disturbed by pirates anymore.


    The red gloves of Order Jury had not appeared in Arkray Island for over 1 year. It was 1 year ago when the residents on Arkray Island heard the name of the Order Jury for the last time. At that time, Order Jury turned a tribe of over 60,000 barbarians into a dead land like Waii Subcontinent in the east of Sinira Island. The reason lay in that that barbarian tribe killed 2 black-robed clergymen and 1 acolyte of Ancient God Church in the east of Sinira Island.


    Many barbarians in Sinira Island believed in Shamanism. The shamans and flamens of that barbarian tribe instigated their fighters to destroy a small church of Ancient God Church in Sinira Island out of animosity. The direct outcome was that the Order Jury of Ancient God Church appeared in Sinira Island and exterminated the entire barbarian tribe, leaving not even one baby.


    Previously, arrogant barbarian warriors could be seen in all the harbors of Ewentra Archipelago. When doing businesses with barbarians, many Hua businessmen had suffered losses due to their rudeness. After the massacre, it seemed that all the arrogant barbarian warriors had disappeared while all the barbarians in Sinira Island became mannered.


    After over 1 year, those red gloves reappeared in Arkray Island while the targets being judged became the Renard Clan.


    The red gloves were in uniform. They all wore a black cloak, on which there was a church badge being embroidered with silver lines. Being round inside and square outside, the badge symbolized the creed of Ancient God Church. Besides, they all wore a pair of bloody gloves, a blank mask, a shirt and overclothes being made of silk and linen. Additionally, there was a chain armor outside the overclothes. Some red gloves were even carrying a metal book which was as thick as door plank and was filled with the words on the Eternal Book .


    Those who carried a metal book on their back indicated that they aimed to be ascetics instead of pastors after passing the survival training in the grey palace. Those thick metal pages symbolized the gray granites that were exploited and carried back from the gray hills in Ice and Snow Wilderness to the gray palace. When they carried the thick metal book, it meant that they were always carrying the will of the Ancient God and in arduous training. Such red gloves were more terrifying. The greater the metal book on their back was, the more terrifying they would be. In usual times, the thick metal book was used to practice their body and will; however, in battle, the thick metal book could be used as a shield or a tool to cut through and destroy others'' bodies. Those metal pages were always used together with a heavy hammer, which was in the shape of the heavy hammer that Zhang Tie once used and caused a great shock in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Those red gloves were so powerful that they could kill enemies silently in a split second. Facing red gloves, the so-called most powerful guards and castle garrison of Renard Clan in Arkray Island fell down in rows, spraying blood in all directions. At the same time, their bodies split into pieces. All of them were cut through like ears of wheat in the field. This was how red gloves fought, also how Zhang Tie led Thor''s Hammer to exterminate those demonized puppets in Eschyle City. Because only fragmented demonized puppets were dead for sure and would not pose any threat to alive people. This combat mode had been completely inherited by red gloves.


    After breaking through the outer castle of Pineneedles Castle, red gloves entered the inner castle in the blink of an eye.


    In the chaos, the guards of Renard Clan hurriedly closed the gate of the inner castle; however, the over 20 m high wall couldn''t block the attack of the red gloves at all. Those red gloves in front used metal books to block the first batch of bolts that were shot down from the top of the gate; closely after that, those red gloves behind them rushed forward and stepped onto the hands of the red gloves ahead of them. Those red gloves in front of them then helped them fly onto the wall immediately...


    Miserable shrieks and blood then started to spread over the top of the wall once again!

 1227 Judgmen

    Chapter 1227: Judgment


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In the bloody light and miserable shrieks on the wall of the inner castle, a tall red glove released a brilliant battle qi.


    That red glove carried the biggest and heaviest metal book among all the red gloves. The brilliant battle qi formed a bloody protective battle qi over that red glove. After shattering the captain of the guards of Renard Clan by hammer, the red glove rushed out of the team from the back and came to the front of the gate of the inner castle. Closely after that, he roared while a battle qi in shape of a huge battle hammer flew out of his battle hammer and struck onto the gate of the inner castle irresistibly.


    The gate of the inner castle was broken in a split second. At the same time, a lot of guards of Renard Clan lay down behind the gate while being inserted with sawdust and iron scurfs all over their bodies.


    After breaking the gate of the inner castle, the red glove immediately raised his battle hammer and rushed into the gate through the big hole on it. In the blink of an eye, some guards who rushed towards him had been split into pieces.


    The other red gloves also poured in from the broken gate. As a result, the inner castle was occupied by red gloves at once.


    The inner castle of Pineneedles Castle was then filled with the cries of many women and kids at the same time.


    "LV 15 battle spirit? Is this man Dark Saint Sebastian?"


    Hags the clan head of sea bear tribe and Bishop Maxim slowly walked into the inner castle while being escorted by a lot of sea soul fighters of Sea Bear Tribe. At this moment, the ground of the inner castle had been covered with blood. The one who asked was Hags. The moment the two people entered the inner castle, they had seen how the red glove destroyed the defense of the inner castle in the north. Watching such a fierce, intrepid scene, even the clan head of the sea bear tribe quivered his eyebrows out of shock.


    "Yes, this man is the head of Order Jury, Dark Saint Sebastian!" Bishop Maxim said calmly as he casually strode over a corpse of a guard whose upper body had been smashed like striding over a quagmire or a pile of lifeless sands without even changing his expression at all. Bishop Maxim let out a long sigh before saying, "Who could imagine that the dark giant of the former Order Jury of Norman Empire in Waii Subcontinent could find his spiritual destination and belief after exiling to Ice and Snow Wilderness. This is God''s will!"


    "God''s will?"


    "This is what Sebastian told me. He said that the Eternal Book injected a new soul into his soulless body and the immortal water in the immortal vase purified his bloody hands."


    "With such a battle spirit on the back, unless knights, nobody across Arkray Island could threaten Arkray Island anymore!" Hags the clan head of sea bear tribe said casually; however, when he heard the miserable shrieks in the far, his heart pounded unconsciously.


    ''Previously, as the clan head of sea bear tribe, I was an influential figure in both Ewentra Archipelago Waters and Ice and Snow Wilderness. However, now, this youngest Bishop on my side has already ruled the entire Ewentra Archipelago parish and is on the equal footing with me in Ancient God Church although being not a knight. Additionally, that Dark Saint who''s making a massacre in the far will promote to a knight sooner or later. They are new forces inside Ancient God Church outside bear tribes. In the future, with the further expansion of Ancient God Church, there would be more and more ambitious and mighty people like Maxim and Sebastian in Ancient God Church. When the first knight, the second knight even the first cardinal bishop appeared among these new forces, would the bear tribes over Ice and Snow Wilderness have the same position inside Ancient God Church? Would I and sea bear tribe still be that important in the eyes of that man?''


    Ancient God Church''s sphere of influence would never be limited to Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago Waters forever. Actually, since Ancient God Church rooted in Sacred Iceland Kingdom a few years ago, over 90% of the population across Sacred Iceland Kingdom had become the followers of Ancient God Church. These followers included sailors, businessmen, fighters, craftsmen etc.. Those sailors and businessmen who believed in Ancient God Church spread over due to the marine trade between Sacred Iceland Kingdom, the surrounding subcontinents and Western Continent. These followers would always carry Eternal Book wherever they were. When they came to those countries and religions which had a great tolerance for religions, they would spread the doctrine and legends of God''s manifestations of Ancient God Church over there.


    Eternal Book was magical. The God''s manifestations that had been witnessed by tens of thousands of people were more shocking; especially in the holy war, when more and more people who were vacant about the future and started to look for their home of soul and a peaceful and tranquil life, everything about Ancient God Church became as brilliant as a torch in the dark, which could attract more and more people to charge at it desperately.


    3 years ago, Hadela Glacier Crack in the south of Ice and Snow Wilderness had become the holy land when the first batch of people came there for pilgrimage from the Western Continent. From then on, more and more people came to Hadela Glacier Crack for pilgrimage from other countries on other continents and subcontinents. Over the past two years, due to the increasing number of pilgrims from Eschyle City to Hadela Glacier Crack, a golden commercial corridor had been established on this line. The cardinal elders'' committee of Saint Petersburg was considering building a railway for pilgrimage from Eschyle City to Hadela Glacier.


    In this situation, the position of Gray Palace was growing increasingly higher. Those holy vats on the square of the Grey Palace which could be worshiped and touched by people regardless of the weather in the past could only be touched by people who had passed the Grey Palace Practice on specific days now. As for the holy vases, they became the top treasure of the Ancient God Church...


    Last year, some businessmen of Sacred Iceland Island had invested in building two palaces of Ancient God Church in Weese Commerce Business Alliance on the Western Continent and a harbor in Tanguang Subcontinent. The Grey Palace had already officially assigned a powerful halos bishop to each of the two palaces, who would be responsible for preaching and imparting the doctrine of Ancient God Church in the two places.


    The transmission speed of religion and belief couldn''t be measured in usual ways. What could match the transmission mode of religion was multi-level marketing in commerce. A powerful multi-level marketing organization could cover tens of millions of people in a few months. Nobody could imagine how would Ancient God Church''s seeds in those subcontinents and on the Western Continent grow in a few years or 10 while being driven by those halos bishops who dreamed for being the 2nd even the 3rd Bishop Maxim.


    Although Sacred Iceland Kingdom was limited in land and territory, the power of religion and belief was limitless and borderless.


    Sacred Light Empire''s expedition might not only be for avenging and occupying Sacred Iceland Kingdom, but it was also related to religion. Sacred Light Empire had already sensed the threat that Ancient God Church posed to Sacred Light Empire.


    Bishop Maxim didn''t know that the clan head of sea bear tribe and Hags, who were on the equal footing with him in Ancient God Church, could recall the current situation facing Ancient God Church and have a strong sense of crisis and urgency inside after hearing his words.


    Hags had even predicted that Ancient God Church as a whole would welcome its heyday in a few years if Sacred Iceland Kingdom and Ancient God Church could tide over the coming catastrophe caused by Sacred Light Empire.


    ''Unless sea bear tribe and I become more and more important and irreplaceable in that man''s eyes, sea bear tribe and I would finally be trivial in the entire system of Ancient God Church.''


    In this world, all the abilities were replaceable, except for loyalty!


    Watching the solemn longuette on Bishop Maxim which represented the identity of an archbishop, clan head Hags of sea bear tribe suddenly regretted that he didn''t put on his longuette as an archbishop at this moment.


    Like all the other clan heads of bear tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness, Hags only wore his longuette which indicated his identity of an archbishop when in Saint Petersburg or Grey Palace. As for these clan heads, if they admitted and advocated their identities in Ancient God Church in their own tribes, it was equal to strengthening the authority of Saint Petersburg and Grey Palace in their own tribes. These clan heads who had been accustomed to be the boss of their own clan couldn''t adapt to it in a short period.


    When Bishop Maxim and Hags, who were worried about something, entered the inner castle of Pineneedles Castle, they saw Dark Saint Sebastian fighting another LV 15 battle spirit.


    Their sphere of range of their combat was very large. No red gloves or guards of Renard Clan dared approach them within 100 m.


    The red gloves'' strike was stagnated here for the time being.


    "Who''s that man?" Hags asked while narrowing his eyes.


    That man who was fighting Sebastian had fully pale beard and hair in a loose robe which indicated that he might be in secluded cultivation when the battle started. However, that man''s nose, chin and deep eye sockets were similar to Connar.


    "This guy should be the former clan head of Renard Clan, also Connar''s grandfather!" Maxim said slowly after looking at that person for a short while.


    "No wonder Renard Clan dare rise in rebellion; it turns out that this old guy has already promoted to a battle spirit. If he continues to cultivate, he might be the first knight of Renard Clan in 10-20 years!" Hags shook his head, "Pitifully, this man''s battle strength is a bit weaker than that of Dark Saint. If there''s enough time, the battle would come to an end in a few hours..."


    "The earlier the battle ends up, the less chaotic would Arkray Island be!" Maxim said while looking at Hags, "There''re Renard Clan''s members in the garrison of Arkray Island. If the garrison saw this situation, they might rise in rebellion!"


    "My sea soul fighters wouldn''t let the garrison of Arkray Island leave their camp. The battle here would come to an end soon!"


    As Hags said, he flew towards the two people as fast as a lightning bolt...


    It was a siege and slaughter; instead of a contest in the ring. After Hags joined the battle for 30 seconds, the former clan head of Renard Clan roared in grief and indignation before being punched into blood foam by Hags.


    It was worth mentioning that Sebastian didn''t withdraw from the battle in the entire process; instead, he attacked the former clan head of Renard Clan together with Hags. It seemed that nothing was more important than killing the opponent at the fastest speed in the eyes of this Dark Saint...


    The red gloves finally entered the core region of Renard Clan.


    ...


    The garrison in Arkray Island included 4,000 people. The encampment of the garrison was less than 6 miles away from Pineneedles Castle. When the flames in Pineneedles Castle shot into the sky, emergency clarino had drifted in the encampment of the garrison. In less than 5 minutes, when the garrison was ready to rush out of their encampment, they found that their encampment had been blocked by people.


    It was 2,000 sea soul fighters of sea bear tribe who blocked the garrison.


    Sea soul fighters were the elites of the sea bear tribe. Each sea soul fighter was at least LV 6 and had to grasp the skill of going berserk and the secret methods to control mutated sharks in the ocean. Being equal to the amphibious assault troop of sea bear tribe, sea soul fighters were the trump cards of sea bear tribe. Sea bear tribe could only get over 2,000 sea soul fighters. Besides a small part of them staying in the base of sea bear tribe, almost all the sea soul fighters had sallied forth in full strength in order to fight the expeditionary corps of Sacred Light Empire in the periphery of Ewentra Archipelago.


    "At the order of the Cardinal Elders Committee in Saint Petersburg, sea bear tribe assist Bishop Maxim to wipe out rebels in Arkray Island. The garrison in Arkray Island couldn''t leave your camp today!" General Shirokov of sea bear tribe said at the gate of the encampment of the garrison as he watched those officials in the garrison icily.


    All the officials of the garrison changed their faces at the same time. Many officials turned their eyes onto the chief official of the garrison.


    That chief officer who was being gazed looked gloomy. After looking at the flames in Pineneedles Castle, he gritted his teeth and shouted loudly all of a sudden, "Don''t believe him. The garrison of Arkray island only follows the order of Ewentra Autonomous Parliament. Our duty is to protect Arkray Island from being violated by enemies..."


    "This is the order of Ewentra Autonomous Parliament. They order you to stay in the encampment tonight..." Shirokov explained as he presented a prerogative order to the officials of the garrison of Arkray Island.


    "Don''t believe him, it''s counterfeit..." That chief officer raised his head and shouted once again...


    "Tsuang..." with a sound, Shirokov flashed towards that chief officer after drawing his sword blade out of his sheath. The officer felt something wrong as he hurriedly drew out his saber to resist him. In a split second, the sharp longsword broke the chief officer''s saber like cutting off a club. When the chief officer widely opened his eyes, the saber had already slid over his neck, sending his head flying away while his blood spurted onto the face of Shirokov.


    The brave man of sea bear tribe raised his longsword while widely opening his eyes out of fury. At the same time, he wiped out the blood over his face and roared towards the garrison, which shocked the entire encampment, "This sword was gifted by His Majesty in the parlor of the imperial palace of Saint Petersburg. His Majesty promised me to enter the imperial palace with this sword from then on. Who else wants to try my sword and die for those rebels?"


    As Shirokov roared, all the 2,000 sea soul fighters released various battle qi totems, which was at least LV 6 black spider.


    Watching this scene, none of the 4,000 people of the garrison dared move anymore.


    ...


    "Renard Clan is over; many people are over!" Brightman the clan head of Wilis Clan said in a strange, quivering voice on the top of the wall of Wilis Clan''s castle in Arkray Island although being escorted by so many clan warriors as he put down his telescope and watched the flames over 12 miles away, "It''s red gloves..."


    After hearing the words "red gloves", all the people on Brightman''s side felt a chill on their spine; many people quivered unconsciously.


    "Clan head, do we need to..." The steward suggested intensely on his side.


    "No need!" Brightman''s elegant face looked a bit pale; however, he recovered a bit composure, "If Bishop Maxim and those red gloves are targeting at us, it''s useless for us to escape now. If even I could escape, what about the other members of Wilis Clan? The Act on the Mobilisation of the Duel in the conference hall was the last chance for Renard Clan to go ashore; however, Connar didn''t catch that chance..."


    "Clan head, red...red gloves..."


    Soon after Brightman''s words, a clan guard on his side had quivered all over for a second as he pointed at a walnut grove over 200 m away. A man in mask, cloak and red gloves walked out of the walnut grove with a metal book as thick as a door on his back as he watched those people on the top of the wall quietly.


    That red glove just stood there and watched them quietly.


    Under the quiet gaze of that red glove, all the members of Wilis Clan felt standing in the chilly wind in the nude on the top of the wall.


    ...


    The gate of the Hall of Deliberation of Renard Clan was shattered. At the sight of those red gloves, Bishop Maxim and Hags behind those red gloves, Connnar and the other quivering parliamentary members in the Hall of deliberation had been scared too much that they even suffered from gatism 1...


    In front of absolute strength and whittle, any plot and conspiracy would become weak and ridiculous.


    "Bi...Bishop Maxim, I...I''m just..." A parliament member stammered.


    Connar revealed a pale smile as he asked, "Can...can you let those kids and women in the castle go?"


    "As you''ve profaned the mercy and tolerance of His Majesty, what happened today was just a punishment to those blasphemers instead of being a slaughter. All the servants, maids and non-pregnant women who don''t share the bloodline with Renard Clan could survive..." Bishop Maxim explained before he wove his hand forcefully...


    ...


    That red glove gazed at the castle of Wilis Clan overnight. Although none of the people across Wilis Clan''s castle fell down, everybody became flurried overnight.


    Not until the sun rose in the next morning did the red glove return to the walnut grove like a shadow who disliked sunshine. At the same time, many people on the top of the wall of the castle of Wilis Clan collapsed to the ground...

 1228 A Long Rapid Fligh

    Chapter 1228: A Long Rapid Flight


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie flew in the upper region of the stratosphere over 60 miles above the sea in Chaos at a high speed...


    Zhang Tie had played his flight ability as a divine dominator to the utmost at this moment and reached 8 times the speed of sound in the air, namely about 2,800 m per second and almost 6,000 miles per hour.


    A few months ago, when he had just developed the flight ability as a divine dominator in Xuanyuan Hill, he could at most reach 6 times the speed of sound in the air; however, after killing Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong, Zhang Tie promoted to the 4th realm of earth knight and gained a higher overall strength; especially after absorbing the spiritual energy of both Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy bulged as he gained a greater flight ability as a divine dominator. He could fly at 8 times the speed of sound in air; actually, almost 9 times the speed of sound.


    Such a flight speed was too shocking if it was exposed to the public.


    Zhang Tie was accomplishing 3 tasks at the same time.


    First, he controlled his altitude, speed and gesture.


    Second, Zhang Tie searched over the sea with his lotus flower eyes. At such an altitude in the stratosphere, he could gain the best visual angle over the sea within 600 miles.


    Third, Zhang Tie was constantly replenishing his spiritual energy using Thousands of Beads Mental Sutra in his mind.


    It would cost him spiritual energy by using the flight ability of divine dominator. However, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy was too strong; additionally, he had grasped the secret method Thousands of Beads Sutra. Therefore, he could constantly replenish his spiritual energy using Thousands of Beads Sutra when in flight and maintained a relative balance in spiritual energy. In this way, he could greatly increase his flight ability.


    According to the current situation, Zhang Tie found that he could maintain his spiritual energy unchanged if he kept flying at the speed 3 times that of the speed of sound while constantly replenishing his spiritual energy using Thousands of Beads Sutra. To a certain degree, he could absolutely fly for one year at the speed 3 times that of the speed of sound; namely, 3 times the speed of sound was his unlimited cruising speed in the sky.


    By contrast, it would cost him a bit more spiritual energy by flying at the speed of over 8 times that of the speed of sound. The faster he flew, the greater spiritual energy he would consume. Thousands of Beads Sutra could only replenish about half of the total spiritual energy that he had consumed. Even so, Zhang Tie could still fly for a long time in the sky.


    If he didn''t replenish his spiritual energy, Zhang Tie could constantly fly about over 900,000 miles for about 7 days at his greatest speed. If he used Thousands of Beads Mental Sutra to replenish his spiritual energy when in flight, Zhang Tie could fly over 1.2 million miles for about 10 days at his greatest speed.


    Zhang Tie left Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory the night before last. After over 30 hours'' flight, Zhang Tie had flown almost 180,000 miles and arrived at the place over 6,000 miles away in the west of the northern waters of Waii Subcontinent, which led to the Western Continent.


    After 2 days'' constant flight, Zhang Tie gained a new gnosis about his flight ability as a divine dominator. He could better control his flight using the ability of divine dominator.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was covered by the Chaos which was of a strong killing intent as he was inspecting the waters below like an eagle that was hunting for its prey. After confirming the general action route of the expeditionary corps and fleet of Sacred Light Empire, Zhang Tie aimed to exterminate this enemy at the greatest speed and in the most vicious, directest, complete and decisive means before this expeditionary corps arrived at the waters of Ewentra Archipelago.


    The overall strength of Sacred Light Empire was far greater than that of Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie couldn''t shock the entire country.


    However, Zhang Tie could also win this war and prevent Sacred Iceland Kingdom from being violated by Sacred Light Empire.


    Zhang Tie''s method was very direct, namely, he wanted Sacred Light Empire to mistake that there was a shadow knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    Those pastors of Sacred Light Empire would never go against a shadow knight only for occupying Sacred Iceland Kingdom unless they were idiots. As long as they realized that there was a shadow knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom, they would never start the second expedition. The reason was simple. A billionaire would never snatch a bun at the risk of his life. If this bun was in the hand of a kid which could be easily snatched at a low risk so as to satisfy their appetite, Sacred Light Empire might not mind snatching it. However, now, the one who held this bun became a boorish fellow with a weapon. Would the billionaire snatch that bun at the risk of being stabbed for a few times?


    How large was Sacred Light Empire? How large was Ice and Snow Wilderness? What was the population of Sacred Light Empire? What was the population of Ice and Snow Wilderness? The entire Sacred Light Empire had tens of billions of people; its territory was over 5 times that of Blackson Humans Corridor. However, the entire territory of Sacred Iceland Kingdom was only a bit more than 18 million square miles. The Sacred Iceland Kingdom was sharply dwarfed by Sacred Light Empire in both population and land.


    How many major pastors and throne pastors would Sacred Light Empire spend only for such a sesame? Would the three supreme halos pastors in the three parishes of Sacred light Empire risk their lives only for Ice and Snow Wilderness?


    It was impossible.


    Sacred Light Empire had other opponents. Sacred Light Empire didn''t get along well with the other major countries on the Western Continent.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie had to cut off the claws that Sacred Light Empire stretched towards Ice and Snow Wilderness clearly and completely. Additionally, he needed to fabricate an illusion so that Sacred Light Empire felt that it was a powerful shadow knight, a mysterious shadow knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom who could beat up those jerk pastors of Sacred Light Empire and destroyed their ambitions.


    Zhang Tie was not a shadow knight; however, his battle strength as a divine dominator could match that of a shadow knight to a certain extent.


    The expeditionary corps of Sacred Light Empire only contained 2 throne pastors and 5 chief pastors. If Zhang Tie had just promoted to an earth knight, it would be a bit difficult for him to deal with such a combination; however, after killing Han Zhengfang, Zhang Tie was confident to deal with these knights.


    Therefore, no matter what a great stress and chaos had Sacred Light Empire brought to Sacred Iceland Kingdom, Zhang Tie was not worried about that. As long as he had enough battle strength, he could turn crisis into opportunity. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, it was a good opportunity for him to remove the external threats facing the Sacred Iceland Kingdom in a long period.


    Zhang Tie only had one concern¡ª¡ªWhere''s the enemy?


    The sun had risen from the east and made Chaos and the clouds under his foot golden red. In the early sunlight, Zhang Tie finally caught sight of the huge fleet with the flag of Sacred Light Empire which was cleaving through waves over 600 miles away through the thin clouds.


    That fleet was moving towards Ewentra Waters.


    At the sight of this fleet, Zhang Tie knew that he had discovered his target. Therefore, Zhang Tie gazed at this fleet firmly in high-speed flight.


    Gradually, many apertures like lotus flowers petals appeared in Zhang Tie''s pupils one after another. After that, those apertures rotated at different speeds; some of them rotated in a clock-wise manner; some in an anti-clockwise manner. Additionally, those apertures were changing their sizes gradually...


    With the rotation and change of those apertures in Zhang Tie''s eyes, those warships over 600 miles away became increasingly clearer in Zhang Tie''s eyes as if they were right under Zhang Tie''s foot.


    Zhang Tie immediately recognized the flagship of that fleet.


    The flagship of that fleet was a huge ship which was longer than 500 m and heavier than 200,000 tons. Being surrounded by the other warships, this flagship was the largest one; additionally, the flagship flag, the 2 flags of throne pastors and 5 chief pastors on the mast of the huge ship also exposed its identity.


    Zhang Tie gazed at the flagship with his lotus-flower eyes at once; at the same time, the two lotus-flower shaped apertures in his eyes rotated while the pink apertures turned into pale blue. The huge flagship then became transparent at once. Zhang Tie could see clearly the inside of the huge flagship. Many sailors were going upstairs and downstairs inside the flagship as if they were busy walking in a transparent glass boat. There were many materials on the huge ship. About 30,000 fighters of Sacred Light Empire were living in the cabins in the middle and lower floors of the flagship. The captain and some officials of that flagship were observing the sea by the telescope in the command room at the prow. In a luxurious room on the highest floor of the flagship, 7 people were enjoying breakfast...


    5 of the 7 people wore the same clothes as that of the chief pastor of Sacred Light Empire that Zhang Tie had killed previously¡ª¡ªthey were in a high golden crown and a robe which was embroidered with suns, moons and stars. By contrast, the other 2 people''s robes were brighter while more patterns on their robes represented brightness...


    ''I got you!'' Zhang Tie muttered as he triggered a super hiding rune and a super rapid-moving rune. Closely after that, his speed surged once again as he flashed towards that flagship...

 1229 Chief Pastors

    Chapter 1229: Chief Pastors


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The 2 throne pastors and 5 chief pastors from the eastern parish of Sacred Light Empire were enjoying their breakfast on the highest floor of the Honor Flagship of the expeditionary corps of Sacred Light Empire...


    2 throne pastors were sitting on the two ends of the long dining table; 3 chief pastors were sitting on the left side of the table while the rest 2 chief pastors were sitting on the right side.


    A lot of golden dining wares were put on the snow-white velvet tablecloth. Fresh deer blood being immersed in top-class fire-dragon crystals inside the golden goblets which were embedded with gems still carried a bizarre heat...


    Sacred Light Empire was a terrifyingly hierarchical country. When there were 2 throne pastors at present, all the other 5 chief pastors could only have breakfast quietly and solemnly and listen to the talk between the two throne pastors even though they were knights. They were forbidden to talk unless the throne pastors asked them to do that.


    "The deer blood from the fetus of female deer is most nourishing. I''m really not accustomed to eating a breakfast without any deer fetus'' blood..." A slightly fat 60-odd throne pastor slightly shook his head and commented on this breakfast.


    After drinking the deer fetus blood, the throne pastor''s lips were covered with scarlet blood; compared to the snow-white delicate skin on his face, he looked a bit terrifying.


    "Pitifully, the climate of Sukbi Island is not suitable to breed David''s deer. Additionally, some female deer that we''ve replenished in Lexinton Harbor have died on the way as they were not suitable to long-distance shipping..." Another throne pastor let out a sigh.


    Compared to the first throne pastor, this throne pastor looked elder and thinner. He looked like an old tree which had lost its water for a long time. The loose robe seemed to hang on clothes stand being made of withered twigs. When he stretched out his hand, it looked like a claw that stretched out of a tomb. The bulged blood vessels, meridians and tendons beneath his grey skin were clung to his bones. Those finger rings made of eternal stones seemed like sliding off his fingers at any time.


    Anyone who saw this person could feel that this person''s vitality was constantly elapsing. If it were another person, they must have long died. Zhang Tie really wondered how he could still be alive and how long had he lived.


    That throne pastor who was like a withered old tree threw an admiring and jealous glance at that young throne pastor in the opposite. After that, he scooped up a ladle of golden caviar and sighed, "Thankfully, the caviar of starlight sturgeons are nice. Sukbi Island''s seabird eggs are fresh too. On the ocean, they are rare yummy food and could provide us with sufficient life energy..."


    "The God says that the source and secret of life lie in the embryos of lives. As God''s spokesman on the ground, of course, we''re qualified to enjoy the food..."


    "We could only wait for the time being. When we arrive at Ice and Snow Wilderness, all the problems would be solved..."


    "Whatever, it''s just a small place!" The throne pastor whose skin was as delicate and smooth as a girl laughed as he said scornfully, "But I was told that Peter Hamplester is interesting. He fabricated some God''s manifestations so as to convince those secular pioneers and Slavs and became famous among them..."


    As for these rulers of Sacred Light Empire, nobody in this world knew God''s Manifestations better than them. Now that they could reach such high positions, they must have manifested some God''s wills so as to indicate that they were "favored" by the God. Sacred Light Empire had been tired of the most usual manifestations of God''s wills such as "statue drops off tears", "identity appeared in one''s dream and made a request", "resurrection" and "apocalyptic wisdom". Each year, these God''s wills would always be manifested in the three major parishes of Sacred Light Empire in various forms. In those smaller parishes, if the pastors were capable and got along well with the superiors, their superiors would even assign people to support them by providing them with a space-teleportation equipment. Those rustic ones would definitely be shocked by the so-called manifestations of God''s wills which were made with the help of portable space-teleportation equipment on some special occasions.


    In Sacred Light Empire, obscurantism was a basic national policy. If not reach a certain high class, people could barely touch much knowledge. Take space-teleportation equipment as an instance, space-teleportation equipment could be talked casually in any other countries; however, in Sacred Light Empire, only when a pastor reached a certain class could he touch such a sort of knowledge and talk about it in private occasions. Space-teleportation equipment had another name in Sacred Light Empire¡ª¡ªSacred Item. In this world, all the sacred items were invented by Sacred Light God and were the certificates of the existence of Sacred Light God. This was the "standard knowledge" of space-teleportation equipment in the divinity schools of Sacred Light Empire.


    "Lord Mofie, are you interested in Peter Hamplester?"


    "I''m interested in those vats of Ancient God Church. My courtyard lacks some containers for watering flowers!" The young throne pastor threw a glance at that elder throne pastor as he said casually, "I was told that Peter Hamplester''s kids have their specialties. Those kids are still virgins. I think their blood must contain greater life energy..."


    The elder throne pastor''s eye light suddenly turned as sharp as a blade as it stabbed onto the face of the young throne pastor. It seemed that the young throne pastor had not noticed that as he just had food and drunk another mouth of deer fetus blood before continuing, "I think Lord Miller must be thirsty about those kids'' blood. I don''t mean to compete with Lord Miller for them. As for the others..."


    "At my age, nothing is meaningful for me except those which could make me younger!" The elder throne pastor said after letting out a sigh.


    The young pastor burst out into laughter as he raised his golden glass and said, "Then, hope we have a pleasant cooperation..."


    "I''m old, Lord Mofie would definitely have a bright future in the eastern parish!"


    The two people clinked their glasses in the air before bottoming up the fresh deer blood.


    In the breakfast, the two generals of the expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire had already reached an important agreement and compromise. They accomplished the division of the most important booties on the Sacred Iceland Kingdom at the dining table. They didn''t feel it was improper. This expedition was more like a brilliant armored trip for the two people. Besides the tedious atmosphere on the ship, it was nothing different than having a vacation. Because they had already known that no force across Ice and Snow Wilderness could resist them according to their intelligence.


    However, as the expeditionary fleet gradually approached to the Ewentra Archipelago Waters, even though the expeditionary fleet was not afraid of having any head-on collision with the Sacred Iceland Kingdom, they should be precautious. Those heads of this expeditionary fleet mainly talked about how to prevent from the emergencies in the breakfast.


    After reaching an agreement on how to divide the spoils, the two major characters felt good. Therefore, they started to discuss the possible problem that they might face.


    "It''s said that Peter Hamplester was a bit tricky. According to the intelligence, he might be a very powerful animal controlling master and could control a powerful huge deep-sea monster..."


    "Huge deep-sea monster could only threaten those below knights. As long as any one of the 7 knights in our fleet launched a strike, Peter Hamplester''s huge deep-sea monster would just be a piece of flesh in the plate of our fighters. It''s said the flesh of huge deep-sea monster is also very nourishing!"


    "There''re some disgusting flies on sharks outside our fleet. They''re fighters of sea bear tribe from Ice and Snow Wilderness. From today on, we should have people wipe them out each day. Don''t let those flies have our spirits dampened. As for knights, this should be an amusement in this boring trip!"


    "Huck can do that today. Later on, each chief pastor would be on duty one day by turns. Before our fleet arrives at the Ewentra Archipelago waters, we should maintain our deterrence; otherwise, those hicks in Ice and Snow Wilderness would really think that we''re here for a cruise!"


    "Yes, Lord!"'' After hearing his name, one knight instantly cleaned his mouth as he stood up and replied loudly, "I will do that right now. But I have another question. Although these flies could be easily wiped out, what about those merchant ships on the sea? The traces of our fleet would be exposed by those merchant ships every day. It''s said that the chamber of commerce on the side of Sacred Iceland Kingdom provides 500 gold coins for each intelligence regarding our fleet. Two lords, do you think we should send those merchant ships to the bottom?"


    The young throne pastor looked at the elder throne pastor. After being silent for a short while, he replied, "Most of those merchant ships came from the Western Continent. If we send them to the bottom, some countries would find an excuse for interfering with our action. They might be waiting for that. What do you feel, Lord Miller?"


    Before the old throne pastor opened his mouth, Zhang Tie''s thunder-like strike had arrived...

 1230 More Powerful than a Shadow Knigh

    Chapter 1230: More Powerful than a Shadow Knight


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie moved too fast. After triggering his super rapid-moving rune, Zhang Tie''s speed had reached above 3,000 m per second. Additionally, his qi was completely hidden with the effect of super hiding rune. With such multiple effects, not until Zhang Tie''s thunder-like strike arrived at the heads of these heads of the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire did they realize what happened.


    Zhang Tie moved so fast that those throne pastors and chief pastors of Sacred Light Empire didn''t even have time to make too many movements.


    It was out of the imagination of the 7 people in the room that someone dared raided them on the vast ocean.


    The dining room was on the highest floor of the flagship. This floor was the fixed resting site of these dignified major pastors. In the strictly hierarchical country, the more influential the figures were, the higher they would live, the closer they approached to the sky and the Sacred Light God on the boat. The higher one''s position was, the higher his social status would be and the closer he would be to the deity''s realm. This was the life''s philosophy of the bigwigs of Sacred Light Empire. Of course, those who were inferior to them couldn''t have a pee or shit on their heads; otherwise, they would be sentenced to death for profaning the superiors in Sacred Light Empire.


    Because these people were on the highest floor of the flagship, Zhang Tie only needed to penetrate through the roof of the flagship which was as fragile as a piece of paper in his eyes while the power of his battle qi wouldn''t even decline by 1/100.


    As he wanted an overwhelming effect, Zhang Tie used his most powerful silver secret item 6.8-ton heavy Thor''s Hammer, the same one that he used to attack Han Zhengfang.


    As the Thor''s Hammer carried the effect of shattering strike and lightning damage, it was suitable to this large-range strike.


    Zhang Tie swore that he had not imagined about the effect of this strike.


    This hammer not only punched onto the head of Sacred Light Empire which was going to invade the Sacred Iceland Kingdom but also knocked open a gate that led to a wholly new world of cultivation.


    When the building on the top floor of the flagship touched the Thor''s Hammer which moved at 10 times that of the speed of sound, Zhang Tie''s knight''s consciousness also reached its upper limit. At this moment, everything around him turned slow...


    At this moment, the hard metal building on the top floor of the flagship turned into calm water level. What made Zhang Tie amazed was that the huge hammer seemed like falling onto tranquil mirror-like water in his knight''s consciousness. Zhang Tie didn''t see the earth-shaking scene; instead, he saw ripples spreading over from the metal structure on the top of the building...


    Zhang Tie felt like throwing a stone into water or attacking an illusionary shadow on the water.


    There were 7 knights; instead of shadow in the dining room.


    Zhang Tie''s huge hammer covered all the 7 knights with his berserk battle qi; meanwhile, it carried out an indiscriminate attack.


    At this moment, time seemed to be still. Even the two earth knights who had the fastest reactions had not fully released their protective battle qis.


    A faint, dumbfounded look froze on the faces of the two throne pastors of Sacred light Empire...


    The first item that penetrated through the 7 knights'' bodies was not Zhang Tie''s Thor Hammer, but those broken pieces of the building materials on the top of the dining room. Most of those building materials were metals; a few of them were broken hard crystals and glasses. All of them had turned into fine pieces and sands and felt onto the 7 knights'' heads and bodies as dense as raindrops...


    Whatever, they were not raindrops, but tens of thousands of sharp and hard fine objects that moved at 10 times the speed of sound. Even a trivial crystal or glass piece would be more powerful than the most powerful anti-material sniper weapon and the most powerful city-defense steam weapon in this age. Because none of the initial velocities of the bullets that were shot out of that anti-material sniper weapons and those honeycomb-type city-defense steam equipment could reach 10 times that of the speed of sound in the air.


    Such a ferocious strike was equal to a close shoot within a few meters by numerous powerful weapons. In a split second, those knights'' bodies were penetrated through and wounded by so many high-speed fine solid particles while their brilliant robes became as shabby as the clothes of beggars...


    It was only the first damages caused by Zhang Tie''s strike.


    Closely after that, the "ripple" spread over the air. After being compressed by Zhang Tie''s strike, the air started to sweep over the room in form of invisible impact wave at a speed which was far greater than the speed of sound, breaking the dining table and all the luxurious and delicate food on the table into pieces...


    After being compressed, the super-sonic impact wave swept over the 7 knights'' bodies at the same time, tearing open the wounds on their bodies once again. Those major pastors spurted out blood at once while the shabby robes were completely shattered. As a result, those major pastors were almost naked...


    At this moment, all the knights'' responses could be calculated by milliseconds even microseconds. It was not excessive to describe their responses with the speed of lightning bolt.


    Being collided by the high-speed solid particles and the super-sonic air impact wave, commoners would have long been killed. However, those knights of Sacred Light Empire were just injured by that. Even two black iron knights were just severely injured after their heads were penetrated through by iron sands. At this moment, the instinctive responsive speeds of knights were even greater than that of the knights'' consciousnesses.


    The 2 throne pastors and 5 chief pastors roared at the same time with bloody eyes as they all punched towards the sky at their full efforts...


    Zhang Tie''s Thor''s Hammer touched 6 fists and 8 palms at the same time...


    The 6 fists and the 8 palms were broken at the same time; closely after that, the 7 heads were shattered; additionally, the 7 knights'' bodies turned into bloody mist; then the entire room was broken into pieces.


    Even Zhang Tie was shocked by such a result. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that his first strike could at most kill 2-3 black iron knights. It was out of his imagination that all the 7 knights in the room could be collapsed so easily. Zhang Tie even doubted whether they were knights...


    The moment Zhang Tie''s Thor Hammer touched the 7 knights, Zhang Tie had sensed that his Thor''s Hammer carried a far greater terrifying power than that he could imagine.


    ''What''s wrong? Even if I exert my full effort, I could not have such a great power. But there are 2 earth knights and 5 black iron knights. How could they be killed so easily? My Chaos has not been used.'' Zhang Tie was shocked inside. However, he had no time to think too much about that. As he had exerted his full effort, he didn''t mean to stop at all. Therefore, with the great inertia of the Thor''s Hammer, Zhang Tie penetrated through that room and fell down...


    The steel decks were penetrated through like fragile paper and noodles, sending greater "ripples" and super-sonic impact waves in all directions...


    After constantly penetrating through over 20 floors of steel decks of the flagship, Zhang Tie and his hammer entered the sea. They didn''t stop until they reached over 3,000 m in the sea, causing a great vacuum space in the sea...


    As for the other warships of Sacred Light Empire, the disaster just happened in front of them without any omen.


    In the sunny day, the flagship of Sacred Light Empire was completely penetrated through by Zhang Tie in less than 0.1 second...


    The directest effect of this strike was thousands of meters deep, great hollow on the ocean. The 20-ton flagship of Sacred Light Empire directly broke into halves. The part of the flagship above water was completely shattered while numerous steel components swept over the sea level within 5,000 m with the initial speed of almost 10 times that of the speed of sound like intensive bullets that were fired by cannons.


    The 8 battleships which were protecting the flagship within 600 to 1.2 miles were damaged by those steel bullets firstly...


    Closely after that, those compressed seawater around the flagship filled into the great thousands of meters deep hollow in the ocean under the effect of the great counter-effect. In a split second, a billow and tsunami higher than 100 m swept over the huge flagship in an overwhelming manner...


    "My God..." A captain of a merchant ship which hung a flag of a country on the Western Continent over 70 nautical miles away exclaimed at the sight of the 100 m higher tsunami and a billow. Closely after that, his hands quivered and face turned pale as his telescope fell onto the ground...

 1231 Zhang Ties Doub

    Chapter 1231: Zhang Tie''s Doubt


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    In less than 2 minutes, the waters around the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire had been in a mess while the entire fleet was in great disaster...


    When the flagship broke off, exploded and sunk, the 2 throne pastors and 5 chief pastors along with tens of thousands of elites and all the sailors were killed. Facing such a terrifying power, all the people had been killed before they realized what happened, except for the 7 knights who struggled for a second before death...


    Tens of thousands of steel pieces swept over the surrounding 8 battleships in a terrifying, high speed. Even a metal water faucet could easily penetrate through the armor of a battleship and cause a severe damage to the battleship.


    After the steel pieces swept over, all the parts above the decks of the 8 battleships were in a mess. Some big holes appeared on the parts below the water of 4 battleships. The diameter of the biggest hole was over 2 m. The keel of a battleship was broken by a steel piece which weighed hundreds of kilograms. With jarring sound caused by twisting steel, this battleship started to sink...


    The battleship was filled with cries and wails and badly mutilated bodies...


    Many steel pieces even affected the warships in the periphery. Before people responded, the 100 m high billow had swept over...


    2 minutes later, only 3 of the 8 battleships were still on the sea. 2 of the 3 had been capsized and were sinking; 1 had lost its driving force and was floating on the sea like a dead fish...


    Almost half of the 20-odd troopships and 5 depot ships had been capsized by the huge billows.


    The sailors and fighters on the capsized troopships and depot ships were scrambling for lifeboats and life jackets. Those who had fallen into the water were thrashing water by arms in order to escape away from the turbulence caused by the sinking ships...


    Those survivors still didn''t know what happened until now...


    With another boom, a boiler in the power room at the stern of a troopship suddenly exploded. Nobody knew whether it was damaged by the steel pieces or maloperation. In the boom, the stern of the troopship started to shink; at the same time, its prow started to raise while the crew was jumping off the deck flurriedly like putting dumplings in boiling water. Those pastors and officials on the troopship were scrambling for the only life boats on the ship by saber and sword.


    ...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was deep in water.


    Not until the two halves of the 200,000-ton huge flagship reached thousands of meters deep in the sea on Zhang Tie''s side did Zhang Tie recover his composure.


    Zhang Tie was stunned by his strike as he was thinking about the reason.


    The turbulence and downward suction brought by the wreck of the huge flagship seemingly wanted to drag Zhang Tie to the depth of the ocean; however, Zhang Tie could completely ignore such a trivial suction. Zhang Tie moved his eyes and threw the final glance at the wreck. After swearing, he accelerated upwards and shot out of the water; he didn''t stop until he arrived at 1,000 m high above the sea.


    At the sight of the messy scene over the waters, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded once again as he muttered, ''Damn, that''s too exaggerated!''


    Zhang Tie scratched his head unconsciously. Not until his metal glove touched the metal helmet of his Chaos did he realize that he was still in Chaos.


    Given the current messy situation, the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire couldn''t even match a drowning dog. Zhang Tie even doubted that these survivors could arrive at Ewentra Archipelago waters by the rest ships. If these people really dared come to Ewentra Archipelago in such a poor look, they were definitely treating themselves as refugees.


    Facing such a situation, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like attacking them once again. If Zhang Tie wanted to launch the second round of strike, he could kill all of them. However, it was not Zhang Tie''s style to kill these little fish and shrimps who couldn''t threaten the Sacred Iceland Kingdom at all; otherwise, it was not a war, but a meaningless brutal slaughter.


    If they were demons, Zhang Tie would wipe them out without any hesitation; however, Zhang Tie was still soft-hearted about humans. Even though the management and chief pastors of Sacred Light Empire were b*stards, it didn''t mean that all the people in this country deserved to die...


    After throwing the final glance at the scene below, Zhang Tie triggered his flight ability as a divine dominator. With a sonic boom, Zhang Tie immediately broke the sound speed and flew far away...


    On the remaining ships and the sea, more than one official and pastor of Sacred Light Empire was watching Zhang Tie flashing away in the sky with pale and scared looks. Their ambition about convincing the Sacred Iceland Kingdom was shattered in a split second like soap bubbles in the sunshine being blown onto the twigs...


    ...


    Zhang Tie just maintained 3 times the speed of sound.


    After killing 7 knights of Sacred Light Empire and completely destroying the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire, Zhang Tie didn''t feel the pleasure of triumph. To be honest, Zhang Tie was still muddle-headed and felt like having a dream until now.


    This result was out of his imagination!


    In Zhang Tie''s plan, the 2 throne pastors were his next two target customers for "purgatory samsara". After absorbing the water chakras of the two throne pastors, Zhang Tie might promote to the 5th earth realm.


    However, the two earth knights just turned into blood foams in front of Zhang Tie. It was like a pile of water elements running away themselves. Zhang Tie felt so pitiful and wasteful. ''What a shame!''


    All the other 5 chief pastors were also killed in a split second without even leaving a f*rt. Under Zhang Tie''s blow, all the 7 major pastors who were having breakfast and pretending to be something in the dining room were killed at once. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s illusion of catching some major pastors and teleporting them into Castle of Black Iron so as to have Heller brainwash them fall through once again.


    According to Zhang Tie''s plan, even if he had to kill some knights, he could at least keep half of them alive and had Heller brainwash them so as to live up to his performance.


    But now, nothing was left.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was not happy about this result.


    When he recalled why those major pastors were "lost", Zhang Tie realized the terrifying power of his hammer; therefore, Zhang Tie became excited once again unconsciously. That blow was still leading up to meaningful afterthoughts until now. He felt that he was favored by the God. 2 earth knights and 5 black iron knights were wiped out in a split second. Zhang Tie was also fascinated by the powerful feeling. He felt that he had done something great unconsciously as if he had pushed over a wall and entered an unprecedented realm.


    ''How could my blow be that powerful?'' Zhang Tie was confused.


    Being in the disappointed, excited, fascinated and confused state, Zhang Tie flew over 900 miles away from the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire in less than half an hour.


    An isle with a towering mountain peak in the center covering dozens of square miles entered Zhang Tie''s vision.


    ''No, I have to figure it out. How could my hammer be that powerful?'' Zhang Tie was increasingly doubtful about that.


    Previously, Zhang Tie planned to fly towards the Sacred Iceland Kingdom after wiping out the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire; however, he was not anxious about that. If not figure out this question, Zhang Tie wouldn''t feel like eating and sleeping.


    Watching the isle at his foot, Zhang Tie teleported his grim Chaos into Castle of Black Iron and revealed his original look. After that, he directly landed on the mountain peak in the center of that isle.


    There was nobody in this isle. It was a cliff beneath the highest point of the mountain peak. Beneath the cliff, there were nestles of a huge flock of sea-mews. A forest was beneath the mountain peak, which extended all the way to the beach 4-5 miles away. Sea waves were beating the beach. An area of pitch dark reefs extended several miles away in the ocean from the beach...


    This was an unpopulated isle. Grains couldn''t be planted in a large area in the isle. Even a big warship couldn''t berth here. Being alone in the ocean, it could only be a landmark on the ocean. Nobody else would come here except for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie sat down with crossed legs on a clean, huge rock on the top of the mountain peak. After breathing the fresh air, listening to the cheery twitters and watching the white lines when sea waves lashed the beach and reefs constantly for a short while, Zhang Tie''s consciousness gradually turned vacant while his distracting thoughts gradually faded away...

 1232 The Secret of the Terrifying Kinetic Energy

    Chapter 1232: The Secret of the Terrifying Kinetic Energy


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    ''Is that unknown powerful attribute carried by this silver secret item?''


    ''No!''


    ''Were all the 7 knights of Sacred Light Empire counterfeits?''


    ''No!''


    ''Was the 20-ton flagship of Sacred Light Empire made of paper?''


    ''No!''


    ''Was it a fortune and coincidence?''


    ''Of course not!''


    ...


    All the amazing, unimaginable events or problems went back to briefness.


    In many occasions, briefness was everlasting, truth and the final orientation of the problem.


    After listening to the cries of sea-mews for half an hour on the top of the mountain peak, Zhang Tie opened his eyes. His eyes didn''t contain any perplexed eye light anymore; instead, they were giving out bizarre light. Behind the bizarre light was the gate leading to another world.


    After removing all the impossible reasons, Zhang Tie had already got the answer to that question.


    The terrifying power of Thor''s Hammer was only determined by his fast speed and the weight of Thor''s Hammer.


    It was not a sophisticated question; however, Zhang Tie had not imagined that the answer could be so simple. The teacher of mechanics class in No. 7 male middle school had already instructed him of the reason.


    The answer to this question was simple. Even a junior middle school student knew the formula, half of an object''s mass multiplied by two times that of its moving speed led to the kinetic energy of this object!


    ''Kinetic energy! Yes, it''s kinetic energy! The unit of kinetic energy is kg?m/s! This is a simple physics commonplace that was accepted by humans before the Catastrophe.''


    ''Thank God, after this Catastrophe, many things have changed; however, this simple kinetic energy formula remained unchanged. It''s still a part of the general laws of this world.''


    Because this formula was simple, it was ignored. Even Zhang Tie had not imagined the relationship between this simple knowledge and his terrifying blow.


    ''Before I launched my strike, my flight speed was 3487 m/s, which was a bit greater than that of 10 times the speed of sound.'' This was the speed sensed by Zhang Tie''s knight''s consciousness.


    ''The Thor''s Hammer weighs 6.8 tons, namely 6,800 kg; my Chaos weighs 600 kg; along with my own body, it totally weighs 7,486 kg. Half of 7,486 is 3,743; two times my moving speed is 12,159,169. Therefore, my kinetic energy at that moment was 45,511,769,567 Joules.


    ''What''s the meaning of 45,511,769,567 Joules?''


    ''According to my mechanics'' teacher, if a crossbow''s kinetic energy was greater than 100 Joules, it couldn''t be displayed or carried in some places as it would kill people. This is also the regulation that Andaman Federation used to judge whether a crossbow could be used as a weapon or not. Many countries across Waii Subcontinent have the same regulation. The lowest standard for the kinetic energy of crossbow weapon is 100 Joules. Some countries might even take 90 Joules or 110 Joules as the lowest standard for the kinetic energy of crossbow weapons. No matter what, no country would take crossbow weapons whose kinetic energy was 200 Joules as toys.


    ''The kinetic energy of a light crossbow, such as that excellent "Irongate T21" that Fattie Barley carried to attend the survival training is about 800 Joules. The kinetic energy of a medium-sized crossbow could reach about 2,000 Joule. The so-called heavy crossbow''s kinetic energy could reach at least 4,000 Joule. Some single pawn heavy crossbows'' kinetic energy could reach 10,000 Joules. City-defense steam ballista''s kinetic energy could reach over 50,000 Joule. The kinetic energy of more powerful steam centrifugal ballista could reach at least 2 million Joule.''


    ''What about the kinetic energy of my blow?''


    ''Over 45 billion Joules. This explained why my strike could be so powerful.''


    ''The shocking effect was caused by three reasons; first, also the most important reason lay in my terrifying kinetic energy; second, the shattering and lightning damage effects attached by the Thor''s Hammer; third, my strength and the power of battle qi. Only with the three strengths could I shatter the 7 knights of Sacred Light Empire and cause such a terrifying destructive effect.''


    Zhang Tie thought it through at once as he stood up with a bit excited look. A wholly new world was then pushed open by Zhang Tie silently.


    After standing up, Zhang Tie threw another glance at the current scenery.


    The mountain and the sea were as same as that he saw half an hour ago. A flock of pure white sea mews was hovering under the cliff. The sun had just risen up for a short while.


    Nothing in front of his eyes changed; however, they were already different in Zhang Tie''s mind. From the perspective of kinetic energy, the mountain''s kinetic energy was zero, the sea mew''s kinetic energy was greater than that of the mountain; the kinetic energy of the sea wave was greater. The sun above his head had the greatest kinetic energy. The trace of the sun was like a brilliant avenue that hung over the sky...From a certain perspective, this was a world composed of kinetic energies.


    Zhang Tie immediately entered Castle of Black Iron and appeared in the palace tree of Castle of Black Iron.


    ...


    "Castle Lord..." Edward hurriedly bowed towards Zhang Tie when he saw Zhang Tie in the lobby of the palace tree.


    "Leave me alone. I''m thinking about something!"


    Zhang Tie soon came to the palace under the small tree. Without even throwing a glance at the fruits on the small tree, he had sat down with crossed legs. At the same time, he closed his eyes and triggered the trouble-reappearance situation of Xuanyuan Hill. Closely after that, he entered his own Xuanyuan Hill once again.


    Edward scratched his head as he didn''t know why Zhang Tie was so anxious. The moment he walked out of the lobby of the palace tree, he had seen Heller going downstairs.


    "Is Castle Lord back?"


    "Yes, Castle Lord said that he wanted to stay alone!" Edward said respectfully.


    Heller waved his hand as he replied, "Fine, I see, mind your own business!"


    Edward then left. Heller came to the lobby of the palace tree casually. Standing far away, he watched Zhang Tie who was completely in the trouble-reappearance situation under the small tree.


    Heller seemingly let out a long sigh before muttering, "Woah, Castle Lord, you finally reached this step. If you still didn''t understand which step you reached until today, I even want to remind you directly. It seems that those jerk pastors of Sacred Light Empire are still useful. After grasping the secret of the power of kinetic energy, Castle Lord should have been clear about your strengths and cultivation orientation. Only such a future is promising!"


    After muttering for a short while, Heller revealed a smile. After throwing another glance at those fruits over the small tree, he left the lobby of the palace tree. Heller knew that Zhang Tie might not exit the trouble-reappearance situation in a short period; otherwise, Zhang Tie would not enter trouble-reappearance situation right after returning to Castle of Black Iron.


    Of course, Heller could guess what Zhang Tie wanted to do.


    ...


    Zhang Tie still appeared in the manor of Lord Guangnan in Xuanyuan Hill. Like usual, the LV 9 demon fighter''s limbs were broken and thrown away by Zhang Tie once again. Closely after that, Zhang Tie grabbed the metal candlestick and flew towards a conspicuous building in the distance.


    In less than 10 seconds, Zhang Tie had come to the gate of that conspicuous building along with the loud sonic booms. After dropping off the metal candlestick, he entered the 50-m higher gate.


    That building was the Library of Xuanyuan Hill. This library was the largest database of humans as of now, which contained hundreds of millions of materials and books. This library collected many materials before the Catastrophe. Last year, Bai Suxian showed him around here. In the underground of this library, there was the largest difference engine array in this age.


    When he came here last year, this library was bustling. The materials in this library were classified. Only people with the corresponding class could have the access to some materials. Some materials could only be inquired by the officials of Taixia Country. Even Bai Suxian couldn''t read whatever she wanted here.


    By contrast, Zhang Tie was the only person in the entire library. All the guards and staff in the library had disappeared. It completely became Zhang Tie''s private place.


    Last year, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian were not qualified to enter the inquiry zones on Class 7 and above; this time, Zhang Tie directly came to the top of the library and entered the Class 9 inquiry zone.


    Class 9 inquiry zone was independent. Each inquiry room was almost as large as a theater. There was no serviceman in the room. He could only see a set of terminal inquiry machine which was linked to the underground difference engine array and a huge black metal curtain which was higher than 10 m and wider than 20 m. On the black metal curtain, there were numerous dense and tidy round metal pushpin-shaped bulges.


    Zhang Tie had heard about this advanced object. However, it was his first time to see it. The metal curtain was one of the most delicate and expensive machines in the world. It was a terminal metal pixel display being connected to the large difference engine. The signals output by difference engine could be reflected on this metal curtain through complex transcoding and translation. This product combined typography and the most advanced steam technologies...

 1233 An Attemp

    Chapter 1233: An Attempt


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It was said that the underground difference engine network array of this largest human library was driven by geothermal energy. It was available around the clock. The entire library included a lot of information entry clerks and maintenance engineers, who maintained the normal operation of this huge difference engine system. As this difference engine system ran normally when the trouble-reappearance situation came into being, Zhang Tie could normally use this system even though he was alone in the library.


    With the trouble-reappearance fruits that Zhang Tie used in Xuanyuan Hill, besides killing Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong, he also gained the largest legacy, this huge database in Xuanyuan Hill...


    The largest human library and database became Zhang Tie''s private study at this moment.


    Besides this library, the database in the headquarters of those major human trade unions in Xuanyuan Hill was also open to Zhang Tie completely.


    This was the largest achievement that Zhang Tie had made in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Compared to this achievement, it was worthwhile for him to consume those trouble-reappearance fruits.


    On one side of the operation panel of the inquiry machine, there was an operation manual. Zhang Tie skimmed it over rapidly before knowing how to manipulate it.


    With the sound "Da da da", the metal keyboard carried a strong metallic texture. Zhang Tie had long borne the universal remote-sensing crystal communications information codes in mind. Therefore, he soon input the keywords into the machine.


    He only input one key word¡ª¡ªkinetic weapon!


    After tapping on the key "Enter", Zhang Tie listened to the tinny and euphonious sounds of the running gears for 1 minute when the numerous fine metal pushpin-shaped bulges on the huge black metal curtain started to reverse and turn white. These white fine points connected with each other and formed a succession of words, which was a booklist.


    Within Zhang Tie''s imagination, these references were mainly humans'' study of kinetic weapons before the Catastrophe.


    "The Prospect of Kinetic Weapon on the Basis of Gutungs Explosion"


    "Summary of Kinetic Weapons"


    "Heavens-Based Kinetic Weapons¡ª¡ªthe Commanding Height in future Wars"


    "On the Functions of Kinetic Weapons in Anti-missile and Anti-satellite Realms"


    "The Report on the Current Situation of Kinetic Weapons after Nuclear Weapons"


    "A Study on the Feasibility of Matching Large Surface Combat Ships with Electromagnetic Cannons"


    "The Plan on God''s Spear"


    "A Study on the Application of Hypersonic Aerospace Aircrafts in Strategic Kinetic Weapons"


    "Convention on Limiting Heavens-Based Kinetic Weapons¡ª¡ªProtecting the Last Pure Area in the Sky"


    ...


    Zhang Tie got over 40 books about kinetic weapons. He pressed the button on the operation panel and turned on the first book¡ª¡ª"The Prospect of Kinetic Weapon on the Basis of Gutungs Explosion"...


    A succession of words appeared on the metal pixel display in front of Zhang Tie.


    In the following 3 hours, Zhang Tie digested all the knowledge that he could collect about kinetic weapons in the room.


    Kinetic weapons were different than traditional weapons. Before the Catastrophe, humans'' traditional weapons such as missiles, bombs and nuclear weapons killed, wounded or destroyed the targets through explosion; however, kinetic weapons killed the targets through their great kinetic energy instead of explosions.


    Kinetic weapons had great destructive power. It was said that the inspiration for developing kinetic weapons originated from a big explosion caused by a meteor that collided with the earth of a subcontinent. When a meteor hit the ground with a great speed and mass, the kinetic energy and power that it released would be greater than that of the explosion of 1,000 atomic bombs. A high-speed collision of the meteor would turn thousands of square miles'' land into scorched earth in a split second.


    The power of kinetic weapon was only related to the object''s speed and mass. As long as an object could reach a great speed, it could carry a great kinetic energy even though its mass was not great.


    As for all the kinetic weapons that were invented by humans before the Catastrophe, to gain a great speed was the key for a great kinetic energy.


    In order to gain a great speed, people had worked out many methods. Electromagnetic cannons'' bullets gained a great speed in electromagnetic acceleration principle. As for heavens-based kinetic weapons, electromagnetic cannons were installed on the geostationary orbit of the planet and turned into rail cannons. The bullets being fired by rail cannons towards the earth carried a great initial velocity; additionally, the acceleration of gravity could make bullets move increasingly faster. When a kinetic bullet fired by a rail cannon touched the earth, its speed could reach hundreds of Machs with a terrifying power. Take the Heavens-based kinetic weapon mentioned in the Plan on God''s Spear as an instance, it was actually an "iron spear" driven by a rocket booster after being fired towards the ground from the outer space. In this way, the "iron spear" could be accelerated two times like the bullets of rail cannons, which could definitely destroy the target on the ground.


    Before the Catastrophe, people had already invented the interception technologies for ballistic missiles. Therefore, all the nuclear weapons'' effects were discounted. However, kinetic weapons couldn''t be intercepted. Because kinetic weapons had great power and couldn''t be intercepted, all the human countries had been competing for developing kinetic weapons so as to replace nuclear weapons as the new strategic threat power before the Catastrophe.


    Zhang Tie saw a form in a book, which listed the comparisons on the kinetic energy between various human weapons. After reading that form, Zhang Tie finally understood how terrifying his strike was.


    Before the Catastrophe, the lightest tactic nuclear weapon that humans invented was David mini tactic nuclear weapon, whose explosive power was 41.8 billion Joules, which was equal to the explosive equivalent of 10 tons'' TNT explosives. Zhang Tie''s hammer carried 45 billion Joules. It meant that his hammer''s kinetic energy was even 10% greater than that of a mini tactic nuclear weapon.


    Power of nuclear weapon was dispersive; by contrast, kinetic weapon''s strike was more concentrative and carried a greater destructive power.


    Facing such a great destructive power, Zhang Tie''s battle qi and the two indirect effects of Thor''s Hammer, of course, the 7 jerk pastors of Sacred Light Empire were wiped out at once.


    Among all the books, Zhang Tie was most interested in the thesis "A Study on the Application of Hypersonic Aerospace Aircrafts in Strategic Kinetic Weapons".


    It was a proposition posed by a Hua scientist before the Catastrophe ¡ª¡ªProduce a hypersonic aerospace aircraft whose moving speed could reach 10 times the speed of sound; throw an iron rod towards the target in flight. When the iron rod left the aircraft, it would carry tens of times the speed of sound. After entering the atmosphere, it would gain the second acceleration due to gravity. In this way, when the iron rode fell onto the ground, its destructive power would be similar to that of a nuclear weapon.


    When he read this thesis, Zhang Tie''s face turned increasingly weirder. Because he sensed that this proposition was referring to his current ability. With the flight ability of divine dominator, after reaching the speed greater than 10 times the speed of sound, he threw his spear towards the target...


    By then, his spear''s speed would be composed of 3 parts, namely 10 times the speed of sound, the initial speed that Zhang Tie''s granted to the spear and the acceleration granted by the gravity...


    Of course, he couldn''t casually throw Thor''s Hammer towards his enemy at such a high speed. What if it was a spear?


    ''My palm bolts could kill battle spirits in a split second. If my palm bolt increases its weight by a few times and gains a speed which is greater than 10 times the speed of sound, what about the kinetic energy of that spear? How powerful would it be?''


    Zhang Tie stood in the room for quite a while. After that, he suddenly patted his head forcefully before rushing out of the room like the wind...


    ...


    Only after a few minutes, the gate of an arsenal of Black Armor Army in the north of Xuanyuan Hill was shattered with a boom. Zhang Tie then entered it with an excited look.


    As he couldn''t use his space-teleportation equipment in the trouble-reappearance space, Zhang Tie could only look for the ready tools in the trouble-reappearance situation to verify his thought.


    Thankfully, Xuanyuan Hill gathered all the delicate weapons in the world. It was very easy for him to find some weapons especially helmets, armors and spears in the arsenal of one of the top 4 armies in Taixia Country in Xuanyuan Hill.


    What a Black Armor Army! There were all sorts of top-class weapons and equipment in the arsenal.


    Zhang Tie found a copper-colored proper metal battle armor from those armors. After putting on the metal caligas, metal waistband, metal chest armor and metal wristers, Zhang Tie tried to fly at a high speed with the flight ability of divine dominator; after that, he came to the location of weapons and found some heaviest spears before leaving the arsenal.


    Soon after he left the arsenal, Zhang Tie had flown off. With the ability of rapid moving skill and divine dominator, Zhang Tie soon reached his maximal speed¡ª¡ª3,487 m/s.


    The heaviest spear weighed 56 kg. However, Zhang Tie still felt it was as light as a straw. As he mainly wanted to try its power at a high speed, Zhang Tie didn''t care about that.


    Zhang Tie didn''t mean to select a target on purpose. At over 1,000 m high, Zhang Tie noticed a building of over 20 floors. Closely after that, he threw his spear towards it forcefully...

 1234 A New Road of Cultivation

    Chapter 1234: A New Road of Cultivation


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie''s flight speed was 3,487 m/s, which was close to 10 times the speed of sound.


    The speed of spear that Zhang Tie could throw at rest was 1,689 m/s, which was close to 5 times the speed of sound.


    When in flight, the moment the spear left Zhang Tie''s hand, although its speed being relative to Zhang Tie was 1,689 m/s, its real speed was 5,176 m/s, ignoring the gravity acceleration from over 1,000 m high.


    When the spear hit the building, its kinetic energy was 750,147,328 Joules. The moment the spear left his hand, Zhang Tie had got its kinetic energy through his powerful mental arithmetic by abacus.


    According to the standard before the Catastrophe, the kinetic energy of over 750 million Joules was almost equal to the explosive quantitive of 180 kg''s TNT.


    Of course, in this age, there was no explosive except for alchemist''s bomb; additionally, the strike of kinetic weapon was more concentrative and more destructive to a single target.


    When the spear hit the building, over 10 floors'' structure was collapsed at once, causing dust and broken stones flying in all directions.


    After that, Zhang Tie threw out another two spears and hit the remaining part of the building. As a result, the entire building collapsed, leaving a huge pit on the ground whose diameter was a few meters.


    Then, Zhang Tie tried to manipulate an object to attack his target with the ability of divine dominator.


    Zhang Tie found that the inertia of his body in high-speed flight couldn''t be passed to the object which was under control by his spiritual energy. When he controlled an object, the object''s flight orientation was consistent with his flight orientation; additionally, the object under the control of spiritual energy could only fly as fast as the maximal speed of his body. Only when he threw out his spear by hand could his flight speed and inertia be passed to the spear.


    Normally, the kinetic energy of a spear weighing 56 kg at the speed of 1,689 m/s was 79,876,188 Joule.


    However, at 10 times the speed of sound in the air, the kinetic energy of spear which was thrown out by his hand was 750,147,328 Joules.


    By contrast, it was a difference of 9.39 times. If he could further increase his flight speed, this sharp difference could be further enlarged.


    The power of spear was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. However, Zhang Tie felt the 50-odd kg''s spear was too light to play the effect of the kinetic strike. He had not fully exerted his strength yet. He could increase the kinetic energy of this spear by a few more times.


    Launching an attack by a spear in flight with the ability of divine dominator was the swiftest, simplest and most powerful kinetic strike pattern for Zhang Tie.


    ''As long as I could easily kill a black iron knight by a spear in this way, does it mean that I could kill all the black iron demon knights in an overwhelming way like killing ants? Even heavenly knights couldn''t do it.''


    Zhang Tie couldn''t help getting thrilled because he realized that a bright avenue of cultivation was right in front of his eyes. As long as he combined speed and strength, he would defeat all the opponents. Speed and strength were his greatest advantages. From then on, the combat mode of divine dominator would enter a completely new realm. At the same time, he had one more powerful trump card that could change the situation.


    ''F*ck, I became a humanoid hypersonic strategic bomber that could fire momentum weapons!''


    After looking at the collapsed building and thinking about his achievement, Zhang Tie exited the trouble-reappearance situation immediately...


    ...


    After opening his eyes, Zhang Tie saw Heller under the small tree. Heller might have already known that Zhang Tie would wake up at this moment.


    "Castle Lord, you might have made an achievement in the trouble-reappearance situation!"


    Zhang Tie stood up as he revealed a confident and brilliant smile before saying, "I just suddenly realize what I should do in the future..." After saying that, Zhang Tie seriously looked at Heller''s calm smile and wise eye light for a short while. He then immediately realized, "Have you long known about the secret of kinetic weapon? You should have long told me about that. If not raid the expeditionary corps of Sacred Light Empire, I might have not discovered that I could have such a powerful striking means!"


    "When Castle Lord could fly at an increasingly higher speed with the ability of divine dominator, the so-called secret of kinetic weapon would just be a window paper which would be broken sooner or later. If I told you too early, I might have influenced your cultivation base and exploration in fighting skills. It''s not good. No matter what, although you have promoted to a knight, you have to observe the world with your own eyes and sense and think about the world using your own brain. Only in this way could you get a real and reliable experience and gnosis. Castle Lord, if I told you about the striking mode that you could select when you were in a hypersonic flight, would you still have such an excited and deep feeling?"


    "Well, you''re right!" Zhang Tie didn''t argue with Heller on this event because it was Heller''s usual demeanor. Heller never provided any excessive suggestion for his road of cultivation; instead, Heller just worked as the steward of Castle of Black Iron and gave him some tips at most. Zhang Tie then asked Heller, "Do you think the kinetic strike is promising or not?"


    "The power of kinetic strike is closely related to strength and speed. The extreme strength is close to the universal law. Castle Lord, don''t you want to look at the scenery in extreme strength and speed. Additionally, Castle Lord''s kinetic strike could already match a mini tactic nuclear weapon before the Catastrophe. In the future, as Castle Lord''s battle strength gradually increases, Castle Lord''s kinetic strike would grow increasingly more and more powerful. How could such a powerful, simple and efficient striking means be not promising in the holy war? Castle Lord, did you see anyone else among humans who could use the same means?"


    Zhang Tie understood Heller''s words. It was Heller''s first time to advocate a striking means so much. Heller''s words made Zhang Tie further strengthen his belief.


    ''This way is definitely promising!''


    "Speaking of increasing the power of kinetic strike, I think those jerk pastors of Sacred Light Empire must have left something for me!"


    Zhang Tie looked up at the brilliant fruit of brilliance and the fruit of judgment as his eyes shone at once...

 1235 The Initial Success of Kinetic Energy Strike

    Chapter 1235: The Initial Success of Kinetic Energy Strike


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    3 days later, in Castle of Black Iron...


    A human flashed in the sky of Castle of Black Iron at a terrifying, high speed like a lightning bolt. People could barely catch his movement by naked eyes even being close to him. Only in the distance could people see a looming grey fine line streaking over the sky...


    With a "boom...", a barren 50-m higher hill was exploded into pieces after the human flashed by, sending broken stones flying about 1,500 m in all directions, leaving a huge hole whose depth and radius were both over 10 m.


    "Boom...", "Boom...", "Boom..."


    The thunder-like explosions sounded one after another. At the same time, those hills at different heights were exploded one after another, leaving many huge and deep holes on the ground. The flying man was like a hypersonic bomber. Wherever he flew over, he would leave a huge, evident trace on the ground.


    Heller, Edward, Agan and Aziz were standing on the top of a mountain peak of Immortal Mountain in Castle of Black Iron and watching how the land over 10 miles away was spoiled by Zhang Tie''s kinetic energy strikes.


    That land was newly formed a couple of days ago right beside the Immortal Mountain. It covered 1,200 square miles and was 1,000 m in thickness. It was taken as the training field for Zhang Tie to practice his battle skills in Castle of Black Iron.


    Based on his current battle strength; of course, Zhang Tie could practice common battle skills in trouble-reappearance situations; however, as the battle skill of kinetic energy strike which required special spears couldn''t be trained in trouble-reappearance situations. Whatever, he couldn''t find a blacksmith''s shop in the trouble-reappearance situation and build his spears over there before taking them out for the practice. Although it was feasible theoretically, Zhang Tie didn''t have so much time to do that.


    As the Immortal Mountain had a very picturesque scenery, of course, Zhang Tie couldn''t destroy it. After leaving Immortal Mountain, there were many residents. As those residents had already regarded Castle of Black Iron as their home, even though Castle of Black Iron belonged to Zhang Tie, he didn''t expect to practice his battle skill on the land in others'' home and spoil the earth surface.


    Given those factors, Zhang Tie finally accomplished another space and terrain formation and modification after so many years.


    In the eyes of those residents in Castle of Black Iron, their God was creating the world once again.


    Since the elements abyss connected the elements realm, elements had been constantly flowing into Castle of Black Iron. After 4 months'' absorption, the basic energy storage in Castle of Black Iron had been available for an unprecedented terrain and space expansion.


    This space and terrain modification of Castle of Black Iron was indeed unprecedented.


    The basic energy storage converted by elements abyss each month could provide Castle of Black Iron with 540 square miles'' land as thick as 50,000 m. If he didn''t need such a thick earth''s crust, 130,000 square miles'' land as thick as 200 m could be formed per month in Castle of Black Iron.


    After negotiating and calculating with Heller, Zhang Tie knew that over 110,000 square miles'' water and land area was increased this time.


    Before this, the total area of Castle of Black Iron was only 2,400 square miles. This time, Zhang Tie increased the total area of Castle of Black Iron by over 40 times.


    Besides the increase in land area, the average thickness of the earth''s crust of Castle of Black Iron also increased from 200 m to 1,000 m. In the 1,000 m thick earth''s crust, the upper half part of the earth''s crust was fertile soil; the lower half part was hard rocks. Therefore, the entire Castle of Black Iron became thicker and steadier.


    The earth''s surface increased by 40-50 times; the earth''s crust''s thickness increased by 5 times. What a tremendous change for Castle of Black Iron!


    Besides the increase of the earth''s surface area, Zhang Tie increased over 12,000 square miles'' ocean in the east of Castle of Black Iron. The appearance of this ocean made the surface landforms of Castle of Black Iron more complete. Castle of Black Iron had contained both land and ocean; instead of being purely land. Although the ocean in Castle of Black Iron was a bit small and was more like a salty lake than an ocean, it could already serve as the base for the reproduction of all the maritime plants in Castle of Black Iron and make Castle of Black Iron more vigorous.


    Of course, this new land included the exclusive training field which covered over 1,200 square miles at the foot of the Immortal Mountain.


    Looking down from the top of the Immortal Mountain, this training field was completely a barren land. It was crisscrossed with rises and falls like a checkerboard. Additionally, it was covered with dense stone hills and mounds. As the best training field for practicing his battle skill, such a terrain could never be seen in nature.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was testing the power of his kinetic energy strike.


    Compared to his trial in the trouble-reappearance situation 3 days ago, Zhang Tie completely displayed the terrifying effect of kinetic energy strike at this moment.


    Zhang Tie''s flight speed in the sky could reach 4,478 m/s in Chaos. At such a high speed, he threw out the two spears that he had people made in Castle of Black Iron.


    The spear weighing 680 kg left Zhang Tie''s hand at a speed of almost 1,600 m per second and accelerated to greater than 6,000 m per second in a split second. Like a flame and lightning bolt, it hit the ground within 0.1 seconds. The kinetic energy of almost 12.9 billion Joules made a huge pit which was wider than 30 m and deeper than 70 m in a split second. The invisible hypersonic impact wave caused the land within 500 m to rise and fall like ripples and caused dust flying in the air. After the dust fell down, many rocks within dozens of meters were shattered and cracked...


    After throwing out the last spear, Zhang Tie roared as he flashed back to the mountain peak where Heller and the three servants were standing on.


    "Congratulations, Castle Lord, you''ve almost grasped the kinetic energy strike skill!" Heller and the other three people bowed towards Zhang Tie at the same time as they said in unison.

 1236 In the Name of the Dominator

    Chapter 1236: In the Name of the Dominator


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie immediately put away his Chaos and revealed his face. Closely after that, he threw a glance at the other 4 people in Castle of Black Iron as he burst out into laughter...


    "Edward, well done. Your spears are indeed great. Your judgment is right. In kinetic energy strike, round-end spears indeed face fewer air-resistance than pointed-end spears at higher speeds in flight..."


    Edward was overwhelmed by an unexpected favor. Therefore, soon after he straightened up, he bowed towards Zhang Tie once again as he said, "It''s my honor to serve Castle Lord!"


    These days, Zhang Tie and Edward were producing proper spears in Castle of Black Iron. After hundreds of times'' experiments, Zhang Tie finally fixed the most proper weight of his spear as 680 kg on the premise that the spear didn''t weaken his velocity of throwing. Although Zhang Tie could also throw a heavier spear; his velocity of throwing could not be such great. In general comparison, they finally fixed this weight.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie''s and Edward''s opinions were divided on the pattern of spear. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, when a spear flew at a high speed, its end should be pointed in order to reduce the air resistance; however, Edward insisted on that the end of the spear should be a bit rounder. In order to convince Zhang Tie, Edward produced spears in different patterns for Zhang Tie. After having a try, Zhang Tie found that round-end spear could really fly faster than sharp-edged spear on the premise that they had the same weight. It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that sharp-edged spear had to face a greater air resistance than a round-ended spear in flight.


    A row of spears with round ends and sharp ends were put behind Heller and the other 3 servants. Each spear was about 2 m in length. Being made of gold, they looked very brilliant and luxurious.


    It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that he could use golden spears one day. Before producing golden spears, Edward had made some spears using navyblue iron. However, at the sight of those spears, Zhang Tie almost burst out into laughter.


    The thick parts on both ends of those spears made of navyblue iron were 20 cm in thickness; however, the middle part of the spear turned slim for the sake of hold. This structure looked weird and funny. It looked like a sausage on a bamboo stick. At the sight of the slim waist and the thick ends of the spear, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but laughing out.


    Zhang Tie didn''t want to arouse laughter when he intended to kill his enemy by spear in an imposing manner one day.


    Additionally, the body of spear made of navyblue iron was too thick; of course, it would face a greater air resistance in flight.


    In this case, even though Zhang Tie disliked being luxurious, he had to allow Edward to build gold spears for him as gold was the best high-density metal for making kinetic energy weapon.


    Due to a greater density, the golden spear was smaller than half the size of a spear made of navyblue iron. Zhang Tie didn''t feel improper holding it; additionally, he could casually make some poses with a golden spear. With a golden spear in hand, he felt having a much greater qi field than that of the "sausage". Therefore, Zhang Tie accepted a golden spear.


    Zhang Tie walked over there and took up a round-ended spear and a sharp-edged spear by holding the middle part of the golden spears at the same time. After comparing with the ends of the two spears carefully, Zhang Tie asked Edward, "Why does this round-ended spear face a smaller air resistance than a sharp-edged spear in flight?"


    "Castle Lord, in low-speed flight, sharp-edged spear definitely meets a smaller air resistance than that of a round-ended spear; however, it''s reverse in hypersonic flight. It''s involved with very complex aerodynamics and thermotics in hypersonic flight. Some indistinctive features of some objects in the common state would grow significant in the hypersonic state. If Castle Lord wants to know the reason, please refer to the self-similar solution of the flow boundary layer equation of laminar flow in hypersonic speed. The convective heat transfer on the end stagnation point is inversely proportional to the square root of the radius of curvature on the end. By making the end a bit rounder, we could reduce thermal load."


    When it came to his profession; although, Edward still remained humble, his voice undoubtedly sounded like that of a master.


    Zhang Tie blinked his eyes. He understood every single word of Edward; however, he didn''t understand the meaning of the total paragraph. Even though Zhang Tie was a master artisan, he still couldn''t understand Edward''s words.


    Only after thinking about Edward''s words for 0.1 seconds, Zhang Tie had given up his exploration in this question. He was neither an engineer nor a scientist, he only cared about the result. He only cared about the result. He only wanted to know which sort of weapon was more proper and powerful for him. Through this thing, Zhang Tie understood that the so-called common sense had their limits. Almost everyone knew that sharp-edged objects would face smaller air resistance in flight than round-ended objects; however, if hypersonic flight, this common sense was wrong.


    "Can you make this spear more powerful?"


    "If we use platinum to make a spear, due to its greater density, this spear could be about 10% smaller while its air resistance would reduce by some percentage points on the same weight. Additionally, we could add a consolidating rune and a sharpening rune to it..."


    "Well, no need to use platinum. We don''t have more platinum than gold in Castle of Black Iron. Just make them in gold. I don''t care about the trivial difference in size and air resistance!" Although Zhang Tie hesitated a bit at the beginning; after making his decision, Zhang Tie said, "Make 2,000 golden spears for me!"


    "2,000?" Edward reconfirmed it. After seeing Zhang Tie nodding, Edward immediately nodded forcefully and pleasantly.


    "Let''s go back to the palace tree. I''m a bit hungry..." Zhang Tie walked towards the palace tree below the mountain peak, followed by the 4 people.


    Each spear would consume him 680 kgs of gold. After throwing out each gold spear, Zhang Tie would lose 27,200 gold coins. Although it seemed wasteful, it was nothing compared to the life of a black iron knight.


    After taking the latest fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy bulged once again. The latest fruit of brilliance could almost match that of Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong in spiritual energy; because this new one contained the spiritual energy of the 2 throne pastors and the 5 chief pastors, along with the other pastors, chief pastors and over 10 officials on the flagship of Sacred Light Empire.


    With bulging spiritual energy, Zhang Tie gained a greater flight speed, a more destructive kinetic energy strike. After hundreds of tests, Zhang Tie was sure that he could kill a black iron knight with a 680 kg''s golden spear; even if the black iron knight released his protective battle qi. When the energy of 12.9 billion Joules focused on one point in milliseconds, it was much more destructive than any alchemist bomb or tons of TNT. Alchemist bomb''s or TNT''s explosion affected a wide area in a short period; however, kinetic energy strike focused on one point.


    From then on, black iron knights were nothing but sh*t in front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie finally sensed how imposing was a divine dominator. The one who could determine a knight''s destiny was the real dominator!


    This might be the real combat mode for a divine dominator. After grasping the secret of kinetic energy strike, he had various combat modes; instead of being limited to the combat mode that cut through the opponent by sharp weapons which were very preliminary for a divine dominator.


    Actually, Zhang Tie had grasped 3 combat modes as a divine dominator. First, having sharp weapons cutting through the opponent; second, make kinetic energy strike by golden spear; third, make a kinetic energy by the 6.8 ton Thor''s Hammer at the speed of 13 times greater than the speed of sound. As for the third combat mode, he could release the energy of 60-70 billion Joules and easily kill earth knights.


    ...


    Zhang Tie felt pretty good today. Therefore, he had a good appetite and enjoyed the yummy food in the dining hall of the palace tree.


    After having a yummy dinner, the dark fell in Castle of Black Iron which indicated that it was also dark outside...


    After leaving the dining hall, Zhang Tie entered a warehouse of palace tree alone, which was filled with various plant seeds.


    ''It''s time to solve another problem...''

 1237 The Foodies Paradise

    Chapter 1237: The Foodie''s Paradise


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    This warehouse was on the 2nd floor of the palace tree. Covering over 50,000 square meters, it was clean, refreshing and translucent. It was not filled with treasures but plant seeds.


    Zhang Tie had not received the seeds that he reserved from Jiang Clan of Herbal Palace in Xuanyuan Hill until he left Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. In January, Jiang Clan had people sent a message to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory¡ª¡ªdue to the catastrophe of bloody figures, Jiang clan''s industry in Taixia Country was influenced; especially the logistics. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s seeds bank couldn''t arrive until this May.


    Although it was a bit late, it didn''t matter. After returning to Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie had Zhang Yang prepare the best nut seeds across Taixia Country for him.


    All the nut seeds in this warehouse were prepared by Zhang Yang according to Zhang Tie''s request. There were only over 10 kinds of nut seeds. Although they couldn''t match the seeds bank of Jiang Clan of Herbal Palace, it was enough for Zhang Tie. It worked as long as the plants of these nut seeds could provide sufficient aura value for Castle of Black Iron. Of course, it would be better if they could provide food. When the entire world was afflicted by the holy war, people might not buy food even if they had money.


    Those seeds which could provide sufficient aura value for Castle of Black Iron had better be able to grow into trees; additionally, they could produce food and could be easily stored and dealt with. Therefore, Zhang Tie selected nut seeds.


    There were a large number of nut seeds in the warehouse, which were mainly walnuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, cashews and pine nuts, etc.. Although there were only such a few kinds of nut seeds, they were great in quantity. Each kind of nut seeds weighed hundreds of tons. They were piled in special metal containers like hills.


    Additionally, there were various fruits, edible wild herbs, herbal medicines, grains and fungi sporopollenin and plant and tree seeds, totally over 10,000 kinds. Many species could only be seen in Castle of Black Iron. Over these years, most of the mutated species trained in Castle of Black Iron came from those plant seeds; however, their absolute quantities were much fewer than that of those nut seeds.


    If those nut seeds were regarded as regular units, these plant seeds were guerrillas and ragtag troops, which even included some marine plant seeds that he had collected in Hidden Dragon Island and Ewentra Archipelago waters. Senior marine plants had seeds which were put in containers. Inferior marine plants such as seaweed didn''t have seeds; therefore, they were just put in some transparent media. Heller was responsible for looking after them over these years.


    "Have all the seeds been dealt with?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    Heller nodded as he looked at Zhang Tie with a strange expression before saying, "Those newborn lands are very fertile. As long as these seeds were sowed, they would take root. But...Castle Lord, do you want to do that by yourself?"


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter. When he walked by those containers, he put away all of them into his portable super space-teleportation equipment as he said, "There''s one thing called the sense of achievement. It won''t feel same by watching others sowing my seeds, there''s something different about sowing them myself when these seeds grow into woods in the future!"


    As Zhang Tie replied, he had taken around in the warehouse and put away all the seeds.


    "I see, Castle Lord, if you want to do that by yourself, you''d better pay attention to your flight speed. If you fly too fast and too high, these seeds might be broken the moment they fall onto the ground!"


    "I know, I''m sowing seeds, not launching a kinetic energy strike!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie immediately pushed open a transparent window which was covered by trumpet-shaped tree leaves before flying out of the warehouse. Zhang Tie soon flew away from Immortal Mountain and the Immortal Lake surrounding the Immortal Mountain.


    The dark had already fallen. Zhang Tie could only see the faint brilliance given out by the colorful clouds.


    Looking up at the colorful clouds, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he thought, ''Previously, I didn''t know what was behind the colorful clouds due to the poor capability; each time I approached the colorful clouds, I would feel like touching a super large cotton ball and was bounced off. I wonder whether I could penetrate through them now.''


    After grasping the wholly new battle skill as a divine dominator, Zhang Tie''s overall strength bulged; at the same time, he became much more courageous and confident. When he thought this way, he directly flew towards the highest place in the sky.


    As the space of Castle of Black Iron was constantly expanded, those colorful clouds grew higher. They had already arrived higher than 100,000 m.


    Even so, it only took Zhang Tie a few minutes to arrive at the highest place of the sky without using his flight ability as a divine dominator.


    The colorful clouds gradually became distinct and as vivid as a living being in Zhang Tie''s eyes right over 10 m away. However, the invisible marshmallow-like barrier still existed. Zhang Tie tried his utmost efforts only to make the barrier shrink inside a bit. However, the invisible barrier bounced off Zhang Tie once again in an irresistible way.


    The situation remained unchanged. Zhang Tie tried it for dozens of times and got the same result.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie determined to make the last try. Besides putting on his Chaos in a split second, he held Thor''s Hammer too. After reaching his greatest flight speed in the shortest speed, Zhang Tie, his Thor''s Hammer and his powerful battle qi forcefully collided against the invisible barrier.


    Even heavenly knights might not resist this strike while staying still. However, it still couldn''t shock the invisible barrier.


    The invisible barrier was pushed in a bit like a slightly deformed huge plasticine. However, in a split second, Zhang Tie was helplessly bounced back like a ping-pong floating up in a barrel which was gradually filled with water.


    After putting away the Chaos and Thor''s Hammer, Zhang Tie slightly frowned as he watched the colorful clouds over 10 m away at the highest altitude of the space of Castle of Black Iron.


    ''Were these colorful clouds made by a cultivator? But how could a cultivator make such splendid things? Heavenly knight couldn''t make that. Is that a sage knight? Even if it was made by a sage knight, it''s still a bit exaggerating!'' Zhang Tie muttered. After watching the colorful clouds for quite a while, Zhang Tie could only shake his head helplessly before flying towards the ground.


    Looking down from the sky, Zhang Tie found that the entire land covering over 100,000 square miles was like a huge island floating in an ocean being surrounded by colorful clouds.


    When Zhang Tie recalled ocean, he immediately flew towards the easternmost part of Castle of Black Iron. Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had declined from 100,000 m to hundreds of meters high. After reducing his flight speed, he saw a coastline in front of his eyes.


    Even though it was evening, Zhang Tie could still see clearly the pure white, fine and soft sea sands beneath the crystal sea water. The sea water was shimmering and reflecting the starlight and moonlight, which looked pretty beautiful and tranquil.


    The greatest depth of this waters was only 300 m; however, the sea water was so crystal that Zhang Tie was almost unaware of its depth.


    There was nobody else here. As the aborigines in Castle of Black Iron were immersed in the shock of the "Genesis" of their God these days, they were constantly praying and holding rituals, they had not explored here yet. There was no living beings or plant in the crystal sea water. Therefore, this scenery felt a bit lonely although being beautiful and tranquil.


    However, the loneliness would be broken soon.


    Zhang Tie took out some transparent containers which held various seaweeds from his portable space-teleportation equipment; closely after that, he opened those containers and sprayed those solutions into the ocean from dozens of meters high.


    After finishing spraying inferior seaweed solutions, Zhang Tie took out senior seaweed seeds before spraying them into the ocean.


    Zhang Tie sprayed over 10 kinds of seaweed seeds, including large-leaf seaweed, shrimp-shaped seaweed, needle-leaf seaweed, fine-spirit seaweed, silk-leaf seaweed, rainbow seaweed and Enhalus acoroides, etc..


    Such a job was more like an entertainment program for Zhang Tie. When Zhang Tie imagined that these seaweeds would grow up and make this waters vigorous and green in a few months, he would feel pleasant and have a great sense of achievement.


    After spraying over all the seaweed seeds, Zhang Tie had just passed half of the waters. Therefore, he sprayed some more senior marine plant seeds, which included the seeds of mangrove, sea lotus, sea mulberry, Aegiceras corniculatum and Avicennia marina, etc..


    After doing all this, Zhang Tie flew onto the newborn land from the ocean.


    Zhang Tie then flew over those lands and sowed various nut seeds onto it like a seeding aircraft.


    Zhang Tie didn''t move too fast. When those seeds fell onto the black, fertile and soft soil, most of them could enter the soil 5-10 cm. Zhang Tie didn''t even dig pits for them...


    After that, he saw a large area of woods of walnut, pine and chestnut which covered thousands of square miles. Among these woods, Zhang Tie saw apple woods, peach woods, hills being covered with plum trees, wildernesses being covered with strawberries and corridors being covered with blueberries and sunflowers, which ranged from a few square miles to over 60 square miles.


    Of course, Zhang Tie sprayed various spores of mushrooms and seeds of flowers and grasses in the pine woods...some fruit seeds, sweet potatoes or dendrobium in the walnut woods...some peanuts, soya beans or traditional Chinese medicines such as rhizoma atractylodes and Chinese bellflower seeds in chestnut woods...some pieces of potatoes in the corridors of sunflowers...


    As for those grains, traditional Chinese medicines and those seeds which were used to preserve the plant diversity, Zhang Tie directly sprayed them casually. He didn''t even care how they would grow.


    Sometimes, when his spirits rose, Zhang Tie would directly draw some strange patterns over the ground by seeds.


    After one night''s work, Zhang Tie turned the newborn land which covered almost 100,000 square miles into a paradise which was even out of the imagination of foodies.


    Besides being a foodie''s paradise, the aura value that could be provided by the plants in the ocean and on the land in the future would match the number of elements that were absorbed by the elements abyss from the elements realm. After such a series of actions, the basic energy storage and aura value that were required for further space expansion in Castle of Black Iron would almost be in ready and self-sufficient. Zhang Tie didn''t need to worry about them anymore.


    He only needed to care about his merit value.


    This space expansion almost used up all the basic energy storage and aura value. Additionally, he only had 1/5 of merit value left, which couldn''t provide for another large-scale space expansion. Additionally, his lab in Castle of Black Iron was consuming a great number of merit value each day for various experiments of mutated living beings. Those mutated rats that Zhang Tie gained from Han Zhengfang''s son consumed merit value greatly...


    That night, Zhang Tie was not the happiest one in Castle of Black Iron. After sowing seeds, Zhang Tie sent an order to all the No.1 earthworms and bees in Castle of Black Iron¡ª¡ªto march on towards the wilderness. In the future, the new land would belong to those earthworms in the soil and those bees above the ground...

 1238 Returning to Sacred Iceland Kingdom

    Chapter 1238: Returning to Sacred Iceland Kingdom


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Since the evening of the 26th day of this month, the bloody massacre of the red gloves of the Order Jury had frozen the entire Ewentra Archipelago like a cold current that came from the polar region.


    The 43 members of Ewentra Autonomous Parliament and their clans represented by Renard Clan on Arkray Island were exterminated overnight. Starting from Arkray Island, the cruel massacre had covered each isle across Ewentra Archipelago in only 3 days.


    On March 31st, sitting on the highest rostrum of the conference hall of Ewentra Autonomous Parliament, Ms. Olina couldn''t help but let out a sigh when she found almost 1/3 of seats were vacant.


    A few days ago, this conference room was as boisterous as a fish market; however, it became pretty quiet now. Those eloquent members of Ewentra Autonomous Parliament had disappeared. All the other members here were as docile as rabbits and as quiet as cicadas in late autumn. Almost nobody at present dared look straight into Ms. Olina''s eyes. Those who saw her eyes by accident would always look humble and flattering.


    Brightman the clan head of Wilis Clan was speaking in excitement on the rostrum at this moment. At the same time, he wove his fist as if he wanted to punch someone into pieces like a righteous man who was giving a speech on the square.


    Since they got acquainted with Brightman, all the people at present including Ms. Olina had not imagined that this man who was always urbane in a pair of glasses could have such a fierce side.


    "...This is a shameless betrayal and naked blasphemy. Renard Clan and those members of Ewentra Autonomous Parliament betrayed the entire Sacred Iceland Kingdom and profaned His Majesty''s mercy and generosity. What were they doing when the enemy was coming? They didn''t intend to resist the enemy and pledged their loyalty to His Majesty; instead, they had people monitor the traces of Northwind Fleet and exposed our intelligence to our enemy; they were betraying our His Majesty for the sake of glory..." Brightman said with a very distressed look as he forcefully punched onto the hard rostrum which was made of teakwood, causing a loud bang. Hopefully, his fist was not red. "Whenever I recalled that we were staying in the same room with such people and negotiated about the future of Ewentra Archipelago, I would feel ashamed as a countryman of the Sacred Iceland Kingdom and a member of Ewentra Autonomous Kingdom..."


    Ms. Olina didn''t know that a red glove stood outside the castle of Wilis Clan and gazed at the castle of Wilis Clan icily overnight until March 26. Ms. Olina didn''t know how Wilis Clan got through that night. She found that Brightman''s hair near his temples had turned a bit pale only after a few days. Besides being "awake", the entire Wilis Clan seemed to feel "lucky" overnight...


    Of course, Wilis Clan was not the only clan which was "awake" and felt "lucky".


    Brightman was still speaking in excitement. He turned around and deeply bowed towards Ms. Olina who was sitting on the rostrum as he said, "If Your Excellency allows, I suggest to vote the Act on the Mobilisation for the Duel once again. We have to fight those greedy invaders to the end across Ewentra Archipelago..."


    After listening to Brightman''s suggestion, all the members who followed Brightman''s head broke the silence as if they were making a performance according to a script.


    "Yes, we should vote right now. We should never let those invaders of Sacred Light Empire step in Ice and Snow Wilderness..."


    "We should mobilize all the ships; we should renovate all the merchant ships so as to block the fleet of Sacred Light Empire..."


    "We should have a duel with them in the offshore waters and send those invaders to the bottom of the sea..."


    "If Sacred Light Kingdom issues the war voucher, I would like to spend all of my deposits to support this war..."


    These gentle members of parliament''s hopping performance and cries reminded Ms. Olina of a performance in a museum all of a sudden. These days, the entire Arkray Island was imposing a curfew. Brightman didn''t have any chance to reach any agreement with these members of parliament; neither did they dare do that. However, the current scene seemed like that they had rehearsed it for hundreds of times.


    The members of parliament were better than street pedlars in bargaining. Their artful talent couldn''t make old sailors who had worked for dozens of years feel ashamed. Even performers needed scripts. However, these members of parliament didn''t even need any script. All the contents of the script were in their mind. They could make the most proper performance only when in need...


    ''The future of the entire Ewentra Archipelago was determined by these people previously. How could such self-centered and artful people resist the demons?'' Ms. Olina couldn''t help but feel disappointed when she thought about this.


    However, Ms. Olina didn''t disappoint them. Under the "fervent and expectant" eye light of all the people at present, Ms. Olina opened her cherry mouth, "Let''s vote then!"


    In the following few minutes, all the members of Ewentra Autonomous Parliament voted the Act on the Mobilisation for the Duelat the fastest speed. When the voting result came out, the conference hall was even reverberated with "cheers". Those gentlemen, whose attitude towards this act was uncertain, became so thrilled that they even dropped off tears as they embraced each other to celebrate this victory...


    ...


    After being promoted to the president of the Ewentra Autonomous Parliament, Ms. Olina had people build a castle in Arkray Island as her residence too.


    The new castle was named as Heavensblue Castle, which sounded similar to Seablue Castle in Saint Herner Island.


    As the head of the clan guards in Heavensblue Castle, Gitta ruled all the guards beside Ms. Olina and was responsible for the defense and safety across Heavensblue Castle.


    These days, due to the intense atmosphere in Arkray Island, even the atmosphere in Heavensblue Castle became intense.


    "From now on, all the fruits and vegetables which are transported into the castle from outside should be checked 3 times in case of any problem. All the food that is provided for Ms. Olina should go through poisoning test. If there''s any problem in the food of Ms. Olina, you all should be the funeral objects, am I clear?"


    Gitta was warning the steward, cooks and servants in the kitchen of Heavensblue Castle.


    Over these years, Gitta became stronger and had promoted to LV 10. Therefore, Gitta brought a great stress to the steward and all the others in the kitchen when he looked serious in whiskers. None of them dared utter a sound in front of Gitta. They all behaved very carefully.


    "Mr. Gitta, don''t worry; I will keep a close eye on this kitchen. I promise there would not be any problem!" The steward said meticulously, who was 20 cm lower than Gitta and much smaller than him.


    Gitta glanced around before saying in a bit tender voice, "Don''t blame me for being so strict to you. You have to know that those rebellious clans that we are wiping out are deeply rooted in Arkray Island. They have a lot of accomplices and partners. If they want to avenge Ms. Olina, they would definitely use all the possible means. They would never dare seek for death in Heavensblue Castle in the public; however, we have to prevent from their dirty means!"


    "Yes...yes...yes..."


    Gitta didn''t leave the kitchen until he found all the others in the kitchen looked solemn.


    After leaving the kitchen, Gitta checked the training of the entrance guards and the squad of bodyguards in Heavensblue Castle before returning to the inner castle of Heavensblue Castle.


    These days, when the red gloves wiped out those rebels in Arkray Island, Gitta also bore a great stress as the head of the clan guards of Ms. Olina.


    According to the intelligence, those rebellious clans and their affiliated parties had been uprooted by red gloves. But some small fish and shrimps were still escaping; therefore, Gitta dared not be careless.


    It was some female barbarians who were responsible for the safety of the inner castle of Heavensblue Castle. Adelina and some female fighters had followed Ms. Olina to the conference room, leaving a female barbarian shaman and a team of female fighters in the inner castle.


    In the entire Heavensblue Castle, Gitta was almost the only male who could access the inner castle. As Gitta was clear about this point, he mostly entered the inner castle for patrolling when Ms. Olina was not there in case of any gossip for the sake of the reputation of Ms. Olina.


    Some elite female barbarian fighters were guarding outside the gate of the inner castle and on both sides of the stairs. After ensuring that all the female fighters were in good conditions and that female barbarian shaman was in vigilance in the hall of the inner castle, Gitta became reassured.


    Perhaps female barbarian shamans didn''t have great battle strength, however, they had exceptional sensing capability. Over these years, as Ms. Olina''s position gradually rose in the Sacred Iceland Kingdom and Ewentra Archipelago, the barbarian tribe which had been cooperating with Ms. Olina directly assigned their most powerful female fighters and female shaman to the side of Ms. Olina.


    With these female barbarian fighters and that female shaman, not even a mosquito could enter the inner castle of Heavensblue Castle.


    After arriving at the 2nd floor of the inner castle and passing an aisle, Gitta entered the living quarters of Ms. Olina. Being over 20 m away, he had discovered that the door of Ms. Olina''s office was open. Therefore, Gitta frowned.


    ''The female servants in the inner castle are so careless. I have to have Adelina give them a lesson when she comes back. How could they don''t close the door of Ms. Olina''s office after cleaning it!''


    Gitta shook his head as he walked over there and wanted to close the door. However, when he stretched his hand towards the handle, his muscles all over became stiff at once.


    Through the gap, Gitta saw a man standing in front of the table of Ms. Olina against the door...

 1239 A Reunion

    Chapter 1239: A Reunion


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    With a sound "tsuang", Gitta drew his longsword out of his sheath as he pushed open the door forcefully and entered the door. He pointed at that man''s back as he said, "I''ve not imagined that the rebels'' accomplice could slide into the inner castle of Heavensblue Castle. Turn around slowly. Don''t move. Don''t touch any object in the study. Otherwise, my longsword will not forgive you. How did you come in here? Whether have you dug a secret tunnel beneath the Heavensblue Castle or have any accomplice here? As long as you tell me, I promise to keep you alive..."


    That man slowly turned around with a smile as he said, "Gitta, long time no see..."


    "Peter...no...His Majesty!" The moment Gitta saw that man''s face, he immediately widely opened his eyes as he almost dropped his longsword...


    Of course, it was Zhang Tie who appeared in the office of Ms. Olina in Heavensblue Castle.


    After staying in Castle of Black Iron for a few days, Zhang Tie ate up his fruits; got hang of the powerful kinetic energy strike as a divine dominator and sowed his seeds. After that, he returned to Arkray Island in Ewentra Archipelago and found the Heavensblue Castle before incarnating in Peter Hamplester once again.


    How could a team of female barbarian fighters and a female barbarian shaman catch sight of Zhang Tie?


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Gitta with a smile before saying, "You''ve grown much stronger and have a greater battle strength after these years..."


    After realizing that His Majesty had come back, Gitta hurriedly put away his sword as he showed his respect by kneeling down on the carpet by one knee and said, "Welcome back, His Majesty!"


    After confirming that it was Zhang Tie, Gitta didn''t care why Zhang Tie entered here; because Gitta thought this man who ruled the entire Sacred Iceland Kingdom was almighty.


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh. At the sight of Gitta''s demeanor, Zhang Tie knew that they couldn''t joke and chat freely like before. He might not care about maintaining the usual relaxed atmosphere between them; however, Gitta had a deep-rooted sense of hierarchy in his mind.


    "Hmm, get up!"


    Not until Gitta heard Zhang Tie''s command did he get up in a restrained way once again. Gitta had met Zhang Tie when he came here last time. Last time, Zhang Tie had already promoted to a knight. However, this time, Gitta felt that Zhang Tie''s qi was much greater than before. Therefore, Gitta was more awe-struck by him.


    "Where''s Olina? Aww, what do you mean by rebels? Did anyone stage an armed rebellion in Ewentra Archipelago these days?" Zhang Tie asked calmly. As he could even sweep over the entire expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire by one hammer; Zhang Tie didn''t mind that tiny chaos in Ewentra Archipelago at all.


    "Ms. Olina is in the conference hall of the parliament. Those rebels refer to Connar the deputy president of Ewentra Autonomous Parliament and his henchmen..." Gitta described what happened in Arkray Island to Zhang Tie honestly.


    Zhang Tie was not shocked by that too much. When the expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire from the Western Continent was coming, those people who were less determined and didn''t succumb to the existing order would seize this chance to seek for private gains. In their eyes, Sacred Iceland Kingdom could never have any chance to defeat Sacred Light Empire. They had already regarded the problem facing the Sacred Iceland Kingdom and the disaster facing Ancient God Church as a good opportunity for the rejuvenation of their clans. No wonder Maxim and the other red gloves would wipe them out.


    If Gitta didn''t mention it, Zhang Tie almost forgot about Connar. Zhang Tie only remembered that he had met Connar when he came to Ice and Snow Wilderness for the first time after promoting to a knight. Previously, Renard Clan might have some influence on Ewentra Archipelago; however, this clan was nothing but sh*t in Zhang Tie''s eyes now. He was not even interested in the process of how this clan was exterminated. ''Since the third holy war begun, tens of hundreds of human countries and clans had been exterminated. Even Waii Subcontinent had become a barren land. As a two-faced trivial clan, they had no reason to laugh until the end. Did they really treat me as a yes-man who won''t kill any people?''


    "I will stay here. Go notice Olina and tell her I''m back!"


    "Bishop Maxim and Hags the clan head of sea bear tribe are in the island. Do I need to notice them too?" Gitta asked carefully.


    After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie replied, "Yup, let them come to see me in Heavensblue Castle the next morning!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s command, Gitta left the room as he closed the door from outside, leaving Zhang Tie alone in the office of Ms. Olina. Hearing Gitta''s rapid footsteps, Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    Zhang Tie took up a photo frame from the desk before stroking the surface of the photo frame gently. In the photo, Olina was crouching on the ground with a big, loving smile. A 3-year old little, naked boy was holding a dandelion as he approached his tiny face to Olina and wanted to kiss her. The background of this photo was a grape garden inside Seablue Castle. The sun had just risen; the two people''s faces were covered with tender golden sunlight. Additionally, there was a drop of crystal dew on one leaf of the dandelion in the hand of the little boy...


    That little boy looked very similar to Olina. Although being young, his tiny face was strongly defined. However, his black hair, pupils and his qi field told Zhang Tie that this was his baby.


    Olina got pregnant in the 899th year of Black Iron Calendar and delivered his baby the next year. As of now, this baby should have been 4 years old.


    Looking at the photo, Zhang Tie''s tender eyes gradually turned firm and profound...


    ...


    After Gitta left the room, Zhang Tie felt that many people across Heavensblue Castle became busy. Gitta might have already told them that Tsar had already arrived at Heavensblue Castle. After hearing this news, of course, everyone would feel intense across Heavensblue Castle.


    Only after half an hour, as the gate of Heavensblue Castle was opened, a fleet had entered Heavensblue Castle. Ms. Olina finally came back. Gitta might have met the fleet on the way.


    Even though Olina tried her best to be reassured, Zhang Tie could still sense the faint anxiety and impulsion from her crispy footsteps in the staircases and aisle.


    The urgent footsteps didn''t slow down with her heavy pants until she arrived outside her office.


    After Ms. Olina came to the door of his office, the door opened itself. Closely after that, Zhang Tie and Olina saw each other.


    Zhang Tie walked to the door and put his arms around her waist tenderly. At the same time, he kissed Olina passionately and made her tilt backward. As a result, Olina had to put her arms around Zhang Tie''s neck.


    This kiss lasted 5 minutes. After separating from each other, Zhang Tie helped her stand steadily. After that, they just stood close to each other face to face.


    "Thank you..."


    "I thought you wouldn''t come back!" Ms. Olina said after panting for a short while with a red face.


    "My woman and kid is here, how could I not come back?" Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    "You''d better leave with our kid!" Ms. Olina suddenly said.


    After hearing Olina''s words, Zhang Tie became stunned as he asked, "Leave? Why?"


    "The expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire is very powerful. They have 2 throne pastors and 5 chief pastors. This strike is definitely different than that last time. You cannot defeat them. As you''ve killed one of their chief pastors. If you stayed here, they would kill you for sure. As long as you and our kid could survive. I would have no regret! I cannot leave. Otherwise, those who stay here would lose their morale. By then, your undertaking and the belief of the Ancient God Church would collapse. As long as you could survive, you would have a chance to avenge them. Didn''t you tell me that you were going to the Eastern Continent? You could take your kid to the Eastern Continent." Ms. Olina said firmly with a decisive and bright eyelight.


    Tender women would be more decisive and dauntless than men sometimes.


    ''Hasn''t the news about the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire arrived here? It''s possible. It''s a distance of over 6,000 miles. Ewentra Archipelago might not have received the precise intelligence. After all, I attacked them too fast and had severely damaged them only in a few minutes. Unless they witnessed it, very few people could believe it. Additionally, I didn''t contact Pontiff Sarlin these days. Ice and Snow Wilderness must not have confirmed the intelligence about the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire either.''


    After thinking it through, Zhang Tie was deeply moved by Olina''s words. Cupping his face, he watched her seriously as he said, "Trust me, nobody could hurt me, you and our baby. Nobody could destroy what I left here. Neither demons nor the Sacred Light Empire could do harm to us. The expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire wouldn''t arrive at the Ewentra Archipelago waters anymore. Perhaps, Sacred Light Empire would assign people here to sue for peace in a few days."


    "Ahh, impossible!" Ms. Olina was shocked too much. If it was not told by Zhang Tie, she must have thought that someone was raving.


    "Why not possible?"


    "They have assigned 7 knights. Such a battle strength could even defeat the entire Waii Subcontinent!"


    Zhang Tie sneered, "7 knights are nothing but sh*t. Do you know how many knights died in a large-scale battle between humans and demons in the Earth-elements Realm?"


    "What happened?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t reply. He just closed the door by foot. Closely after that, he cradled Ms. Olina and put her on the desk as he said, "It''s a nice environment here. I will tell you about the details after a while..."


    ...

 1240 Zhang Ties Descendants in Ice and Snow Wilderness

    Chapter 1240: Zhang Tie''s Descendants in Ice and Snow Wilderness


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    On April 6th, the 904th year of Black Iron Calendar...


    Only after a few hours, the airship that set off Ewentra Archipelago had already passed by Oro Strait and arrived at Ice and Snow Wilderness...


    If Zhang Tie came here alone, it would be much faster. As for Zhang Tie, a round trip of thousands of miles was similar to commoners who went to the market to buy vegetables by bus. However, as he was followed by some people, he could only take an airship.


    The airboat was borrowed from Golden Roc Bank. The two customized airboats that Gold and Power Law promised him had not arrived at Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory yet.


    As one of the hubs between the Western Continent and Eastern Continent in trade and personnel exchanges, Sacred Iceland Kingdom''s geographical location was growing increasingly important and special over these years. Therefore, Golden Roc Bank had increased their investment in Sacred Iceland Kingdom; especially that Golden Roc Bank founded a inter-continental secondary banking clearance center in Saint Petersburg. Previously, airboat could be barely seen in Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago; however, now airboat had become a symbol of the existence of Golden Roc Bank in Sacred Iceland Kingdom and an important traffic tool provided by Golden Roc Bank for some VIPs to travel between Eastern Continent and Western Continent.


    The airboat that old bear Dally and Elder Gulas took to Taixia Country was also provided by Golden Roc Bank.


    Zhang Tie came to Saint Petersburg accompanied by Ms. Olina, Bishop Maxim, Hagus the clan head of sea bear tribe and Alexander the baby of Ms. Olina and Zhang Tie.


    Alexander was only 4 years old. Although Ms. Olina hadn''t told anyone about the father of the baby, the father of Alexander was not a secret among the management of Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    When Ms. Olina intrigued against the other members of the Ewentra Autonomous Parliament on Arkray Island, Alexander was left in Saint Herner Island by her. As the encampment of Northwind Fleet, Saint Herner Island was close to Ice and Snow Wilderness. Additionally, Ms. Olina was the ruler of the island; therefore, Saint Herner Island could serve as the nest of Seablue Business Group and Ms. Olina.


    Compared to Iron-Dragon Airboat that Zhang Tie had returned to Taiyi Fantasy Sect, this airboat that they borrowed from Golden Roc Bank was not large in size; neither was it more magnificent than Iron-Dragon Airboat. This airboat was only 100 m in length in the shape of the shuttle. However, such an airboat was unique in Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    Of course, it was available for some influential figures and their followers in Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    On March 5th, the latest news about the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire was finally received and confirmed by Sacred Iceland Kingdom through different channels¡ª¡ªBefore arriving at Ewentra Archipelago, the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire had already become completely defeated. The remaining ships of the fleet had turned around and returned to Sukbi Sea Gulf where they anchored in for replenishment last time as they had sent a distress signal to Sacred Light Empire.


    This disaster was caused by a mysterious and powerful knight that they met on the sea being over 6,000 miles away from Ewentra Archipelago. That mysterious and powerful knight ended the future of the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire only by one blow.


    With the blow of the mysterious and powerful knight, the 2 throne pastors and the 5 chief pastors were wiped out in a split second; at the same time, the 20-ton flagship of the expeditionary fleet was smashed and sent to the bottom of the ocean. Only 1 of the 8 battleships could be available after maintenance. Furthermore, half of the supply ships and troopships were damaged.


    This news deeply shocked both Sacred Light Empire and Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    After hearing this news, everybody thought that it was caused by a heavenly knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Additionally, countrymen in Sacred Iceland Kingdom and followers of Ancient God Church were driven mad; some onlookers were delighted in the misfortune of Sacred Light Empire. At the same time, those chief pastors in the eastern parish of Sacred Light Empire felt flurried as if they had lost their parents. All the chief pastors over there quivered all over as they realized that they had met a powerful enemy this time.


    On the second day since this news reached Sacred Iceland Kingdom, the dominoes effect of this news started to take effect. Zhang Tie then determined to leave for Saint Petersburg in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    ...


    As it was Alexander''s first time to take airboat, he kept crying. Zhang Tie then cradled Alexander and played a game with him on a lounge in an independent berth cabin. Alexander gradually became sleepy as he fell asleep while lying on Zhang Tie''s belly. Zhang Tie then kept his eyes closed in such a gesture.


    After a while...


    "His Majesty, we''ve arrived at the supper palace of Saint Petersburg..." Ms. Olina said.


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he saw Bishop Maxim, Hags and Ms. Olina standing in front of him. The three people were all looking at him in a bizarre expression.


    It was the 3 people''s first time to see such a paternal love; especially among Slavs who favored male chauvinism. Hags revealed an unimaginable look; Bishop Maxim meditated about the profound meaning behind Zhang Tie''s paternal love; Ms. Olina''s eye light had turned completely tender while watching the father and the son falling asleep. Just now, she didn''t even want to open her mouth; instead, she wanted to keep this scene forever.


    "Hush" Zhang Tie made a hand gesture silently as he slightly drew his finger out of Alexander''s palm. After that, he picked up Alexander. At the sight of this scene, the two professional babysitters on the side of Ms. Olina hurriedly moved forward and took over Alexander from his hand deftly before moving to one side.


    Not until Alexander was taken away did Zhang Tie open his mouth, "Let''s go. Don''t let Pontiff Sarlin wait too long outside..."


    "Wait a moment..." Ms. Olina stopped Zhang Tie as she walked forward to help him smoothe his clothes. After that, she stood behind Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile towards Ms. Olina before walking towards the hatch door of the airboat.


    The airboat parked on the square in the front palace of the Summer Palace. When Zhang Tie approached the hatch door, he had seen those familiar faces¡ª¡ªPontiff Sarlin, Elder Gulas and Elder Toles of huge bear tribe; Elder Turing of Spencer Clan of iron bear tribe, Dally of wild bear tribe and all the knight elders of fire bear tribe, mountain bear tribe, black bear tribe and mutated bear tribe. Plus Hags behind Zhang Tie, all the members of the Cardinal Elders Committee of Sacred Iceland Kingdom were at present.


    Besides, O''Laura the princess of Sacred Iceland Kingdom, Sabrina the sweet dew goddess of Ancient God Church and 6 women of Spencer clan such as Mattia and Ballier were all at present.


    All the women were well dressed up and contended in beauty and fascination. After such a few years, Ballier who was most innocent among the 6 women of Spencer Clan at the beginning looked faintly like enchanting, young mature women.


    Each of the 8 women was followed by a little boy who was almost as old as Alexander.


    Behind them were 5,000 fighters of Thor''s Hammer in helmets and armors tidily who were waiting for his inspection.


    The moment Zhang Tie appeared at the hatch door of the airboat, all the eyes focused on him at once. Watching this man who could appear in the critical moment of Sacred Iceland Kingdom once again, many people became thrilled. O''Laura held back her tears. All the 8 little boys were looking up at this man walking out of the airboat with black eyes. Before coming here, they had been instructed what to call this man and how to show their respect to his man. Their moms told them this man was their father, the very hero who saved Sacred Iceland Kingdom once again.


    At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie sighed with emotion. Suddenly, he ran his spiritual energy as he gave out a brilliant golden light, which then swept over the entire Summer Palace like an invisible, impact wave. Everybody in Saint Petersburg and Summer Palace was bathing in the strength and tranquility brought by this golden light.


    ¡ª¡ªThe supreme protection of the aiding strength!


    With the effect of the supreme protection, all the fighters above LV 6 and knights were covered with beautiful halos. As a result, the entire palace of Summer Palace looked dreamlike.


    Zhang Tie declared his arrival in this manner.


    All the 5,000 fighters of Thor''s Hammer released their battle qi totems as they roared at the same time, "Wula...wula...wula...", which shocked the entire Summer Palace.


    "Welcome back, His Majesty!" All the elders headed by Pontiff Sharlin bowed towards Zhang Tie together with his women.


    Zhang Tie took in a deep breath as he got off the airboat and came to the front of O''Laura. Watching her beautiful face, he lightly wiped off one drop of tear that rolled down her face.


    O''Laura didn''t speak. She just drew a little boy as old as Alexander to her front.


    "Welcome back, father..."


    The little boy who was dressed like a crown prince knelt down in front of Zhang Tie by one knee as he looked up and called Zhang Tie in child''s tone out of curiosity.


    "I hope he could be as brave as you when he grows up. Therefore, I call him Andre..." O''Laura said.


    Zhang Tie stroked the little boy''s head as he nodded. After that, he walked towards Sabrina.


    Sabrina spoke to Zhang Tie with a smile, "He''s Matvey, your gift to me..."


    In the language of Slavs, Matvey meant God''s gift.


    "Welcome back, father..." The little boy who was dressed like a prince knelt down in front of Zhang Tie by one knee.


    Later on, all the 6 little boys on the side of the 6 women of Spencer Clan greeted Zhang Tie one after another.


    Mattia''s kid was called Anatoli, which meant protector!


    Ballier''s kid was called Victor, which meant winner!


    Katerina''s kid was called Igor, which meant the beloved son of the God of Wealth.


    Diana''s kid was called Orego, which meant the sacred.


    Eva''s kid was called Nigolas, which meant great victory.


    Sally''s kid was called Lev, which meant lion.

 1241 The Joss of Ancient God

    Chapter 1241: The Joss of Ancient God


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie''s arrival sent the entire Saint Petersburg in an uproar. In the evening, the entire city was covered with colorful lanterns and in a carnival. The Summer Palace was also holding a grand evening banquet...


    They held this evening banquet to welcome Zhang Tie for his return and celebrated the Sacred Iceland Kingdom for tiding over this crisis brought by Sacred Light Empire.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t tell them explicitly, all the people were firmly convinced that there was a powerful heavenly knight on Zhang Tie''s back, including Pontiff Sarlin. With such a reliance, they didn''t need to worry about anything at all. Therefore, all the big figures in Sacred Iceland Kingdom let out a sigh as they were excited too much.


    This evening banquet gathered all the big figures across Sacred Iceland Kingdom, including all the elders, clan heads, junior ones and family members of bear tribes, those above chief bishop and chief priest of Ancient God Church in Saint Petersburg and Zhang Tie''s lovers and concubines such as O''Laura, Sabrina, Mattia, Ballier and Ms. Olina and his crown prince and princes.


    Among all the people at present, besides O''Laura, the most eye-catching females were the 6 women of Spencer Clan. With 6 princes, Spencer Clan which was known by beauties shocked the entire Sacred Iceland Kingdom once again.


    Because the crown prince and those princes were born in the same year with the same strange phenomena such as giving out the bizarre fragrance and having black pupils, the followers of Ancient God Church regarded them as the certificates of Ancient God''s bloodline and their black pupils as the Ancient God''s pupils.


    After displaying the mysterious manifestations, dictating the Eternal Book and having so many boys with strange abilities, although Zhang Tie was not in Ice and Snow Wilderness these years, his reputation grew more and more famous. More and more commoners believed that Zhang Tie was the incarnation of the Ancient God.


    Of course, the tribes which owned the descendants of Ancient God were favored and blessed by the Ancient God. But what about those tribes which had no descendants of Ancient God?


    In Sacred Iceland Kingdom, except for that sexy fox in Ewentra Archipelago, only 3 tribes had the descendants of Ancient God, namely; immortal fox tribe, wild bear tribe and iron bear tribe. None of the other tribes had the descendants of Ancient God, even bear tribes.


    The predecessor of immortal fox tribe was the grey eagle tribe where O''Laura the queen of Sacred Iceland Kingdom came from. After O''Laura was selected as the queen, the grey eagle tribe in the south region of Ice and Snow Wilderness developed rapidly. Many small and medium-sized tribes which were related to O''Laura by blood went and sought for refuge with the grey tribe on their own initiatives. After absorbing a lot of immigrants, the small grey tribe had already expanded into a fox tribe, which would soon upgrade into a bear tribe.


    Previously, the bear tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness only paid attention to Zhang Tie''s descendants. With the further expansion of Ancient God Church and the dissemination of legends about Zhang Tie''s mysterious manifestations over Ice and Snow Wilderness, clan heads and elders of some tribes felt an increasingly growing stress. Although nobody dared doubt their clan heads and elders, many people had such a question, ''Why don''t our tribe have the descendant of Ancient God?''. Additionally, they felt that the management of their tribes should be responsible for that outcome.


    Even the three elders of the huge bear tribe were facing the same great stress.


    At this moment, many young beauties which were brought by the clan heads and elders of each bear tribe were gazing at Zhang Tie as they expected that Zhang Tie could throw a glance at them.


    After the crisis facing Sacred Light Empire was relieved, those heads of tribes who realized that Zhang Tie had a heavenly knight on his back were more awestruck by Zhang Tie; especially those old guys of the Cardinal Elders Committee. Since Zhang Tie got off the airboat, although he didn''t mean to put on his airs, someone still felt the special qi of earth knight over Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie left Ice and Snow Wilderness a few years ago, he was just a black iron knight; however, when he came back, he had promoted to an earth knight. What an amazing speed!


    Honestly, in Ice and Snow Wilderness, an earth knight could wipe out all the tribes. Those old guys were firmly convinced that Zhang Tie was an earth knight and there was a heavenly knight on Zhang Tie''s back although they might not believe that Zhang Tie was the incarnation of Ancient God. With such a powerful reliance, even idiots would seize this opportunity.


    Therefore, at the order of those big figures at present, those beauties from all the tribes became nice scenery in the fervent atmosphere of the evening banquet. Those women who had the best frames and looks in their own tribes contended with each other in beauty and fascination by singing and dancing in front of Zhang Tie...


    Now that females of Spencer Clan could do that, women of other tribes could do that too. No woman would acknowledge defeat on this aspect.


    Women and men had different battlefields. When women contended in beauty and fascination, the young male warriors and elites of all the tribes entered the stage to compete with their fighting skills and display their braveness to Zhang Tie. Although they were not fighting at the risk of their lives, their fights were very ferocious. It''s normal for them to suffer from wounds.


    Zhang Tie sat alone at the highest seat. He was clear about the thoughts of those tribes. O''Laura was sitting close to Zhang Tie under his left hand, whose seat was higher than that of the others. All the others were sitting on Zhang Tie''s two sides according to their identities.


    The atmosphere at present was very fervent; however, Zhang Tie felt cold.


    In this fervent atmosphere, Zhang Tie determined his mind. Actually, that decision had gone off his mind when he arrived at Ewentra Archipelago a few days ago. Watching his 9 kids and lovers in Saint Petersburg, Zhang Tie finally determined his mind.


    When he was young, he was dissolute wherever he went; but now, he realized that he should shoulder the heavy responsibility as a man. The future of these women and these kids had long been closely related to him and was destined to share a common fate with him. He had to look after them.


    In such a state of mind, Zhang Tie became distant of those beauties from all the tribes at present.


    As he raised his glass and proposed a toast, he threw an icy glance at the outside of the palace by his lotus-flower eyes.


    At this moment, two brave warriors of the mutated bear tribe and mountain bear tribe were fighting ferociously in the palace. When Zhang Tie put down his glass, the combat had come to an end. The longsword of the warrior of mountain bear tribe was sent flying away by the longsword of the warrior of the mutated bear tribe. Closely after that, the warrior of the mutated bear tribe penetrated through the shoulder armor of the warrior of the mountain bear tribe by his longsword. Even though, the warrior of mountain bear tribe didn''t retreat; instead, he moved forward suddenly as he roared and twisted the arm of the warrior of the mutated bear tribe by two powerful hands. Closely after that, they kicked onto the opponent''s lower abdomen and fell backward at the same time...


    When the two brave warriors sprung up and intended to rush towards the opponents in an emulative way, a silvery sound of copper bell reverberated around the palace. Closely after that, the two brave warriors who had lost the battle strength of one arm stopped as they knelt down towards Zhang Tie''s table by one knee at the same time.


    Those who entered the ring for a performance were all powerhouses above LV 10 who could control their battle qis and attacking rhythms. No tribe would find a boorish fellow who couldn''t control his emotion; if anyone was killed in the ring, they would have His Majesty''s spirits dampened.


    "You''re all the brave warriors in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Each of you could have one vial of senior recovery medicament and a rune longsword!" Zhang Tie told them calmly.


    Soon after Zhang Tie''s words, two servants had cupped the two items to each of the two brave warriors.


    "Thanks, Your Majesty!" The two warriors answered calmly as they received the reward by one hand. Closely after that, they stood up and bowed towards the opponent before returning to the seats of their own tribe. They didn''t need to cure their wounds with senior recovery medicament. After taking a vial of medium recovery medicament and having 2 days'' rest, they would recover their wounds ultimately. The vial of senior recovery medicament could only be used for saving their lives.


    The clan head of the mountain bear tribe threw a glance at the two top beauties of his tribe. The moment he wanted to stand up and say something while gritting his teeth, Bishop Maxim who was sitting among the management of Ancient God Church on the opposite side of him had already stood up and bowed towards Zhang Tie as if he wanted to say something.


    "Your Majesty, Ancient God Church has been the national church of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. It''s growing prosperous in all aspects. Ancient God Church has already won hundreds of millions of followers. We''ve built thousands of churches and abbeys over Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago. All the followers of Ancient God Church expect to look at the ancient god and offer sacrifice to the ancient god. However, we dare not make the joss of ancient god freely. Your Majesty, please gift us the joss of ancient god or the relevant speculations!"


    The moment bishop Maxim opened his mouth, all the clergies of Ancient God Church at present had stood up as they said in unison, "Your Majesty, please gift us the joss of ancient god..."


    Ancient God Church originated from the Eternal Book , which emphasized on the perfection of the individual spiritual world and the tranquility of one''s soul and inner heart. There was no joss of ancient god at all. Those stone vats that were put outside the grey palace were just the emblem of Ancient God Church. All the followers of Ancient God Church treated that emblem as the incarnation of ancient god and the representative of the joss.


    Over these years, some followers of Ancient God Church stealthily made various josses of ancient god according to their own understandings. Although being different, they all looked like Peter Hamplester more or less. Those who had met Zhang Tie could make them a bit more similar to Zhang Tie. By contrast, those who had not met Zhang Tie completely made the joss according to their own imaginations and the legends about Zhang Tie. Due to so many kinds of josses, those followers couldn''t reach an agreement. They didn''t know which one was real. Additionally, that church emblem was not personified and lacked intuitive influence. Therefore, the management of Ancient God Church was longing for a standard joss so as to end this chaos among the followers and made the followers of Ancient God Church reassured.


    ''It''s just a sculpture!''


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about that.


    The moment Zhang Tie told Maxim and those clergies in the grey palace to make a joss themselves through negotiation, Heller''s voice sounded in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "No need to be that troublesome. Don''t we have the ready-made joss in Castle of Black Iron?"


    Zhang Tie understood Heller''s words. Because the josses in Castle of Black Iron were made by those people who were saved by him at the beginning. The first joss in Castle of Black Iron was even made by Agan.


    "Is that...good?"


    Zhang Tie felt that the matter of sculpture was trivial; however, he didn''t feel comfortable having so many people worship his statue. He felt that it was like a playing house full of kids. He could accept it in Castle of Black Iron. However, he really felt a bit bashful having hundreds of millions of people worship him in the real world. That was too self-important and presumptuous.


    "Castle Lord has determined to face all this in your real identity, not to mention a statue. Additionally, Ancient God Church was founded by Castle Lord, the mark that you leave in your own church could be regarded as a souvenir. It''s greater than an unreal, strange and meaningless face!"


    Zhang Tie was convinced by Heller.


    Zhang Tie didn''t speak. All the people at present were watching him as they thought that Zhang Tie was still considering the image of the joss. Under the gaze of the public, Zhang Tie shook his head with a smile. Closely after that, a joss higher than 0.5 m appeared in his hand...


    That was a vivid mithril joss. The joss had shiny eyes. He was holding a broomy small tree by one hand while holding a spear by the other hand. He was standing in the fiery hell barefoot. A sacred and brilliant arch door was opened while those hopeless living beings in the hell were swarming into the arch door flurriedly with vivid facial expressions. That joss wore a bizarre immortal crown, which was covered with patterns of suns, moons, stars, insects, fishes, birds and beasts...


    At the sight of that joss, all the people at present were shocked spiritually; especially Pontiff Sarlin and the other two people who had seen Zhang Tie''s original look were all watching Zhang Tie with unbelievable looks, because the joss''s image was completely as same as that of Zhang Tie''s.


    ...

 1242 Only the Great Hero Could Reveal his Original Look

    Chapter 1242: Only the Great Hero Could Reveal his Original Look


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Right under the gaze of all the people at present, Zhang Tie had people hand the joss that was made according to his original look to Bishop Maxim.


    It was reasonable for those at present to be shocked by this scene. They were shocked by the joss instead of Zhang Tie''s portable space-teleportation equipment. The moment Bishop Maxim opened his mouth, Zhang Tie had taken it out. This indicated that this joss had long existed. Due to some reason, Zhang Tie always kept it secretly.


    At the sight of that joss, all the clergies'' eyes gleamed. If not on such an occasion, they might have long swarmed up.


    Those who knew a bit about sculpture and art understood that the joss was a masterpiece, not to mention the significance of the joss to the Ancient God Church.


    Under the brilliant lamplight, the mithril gave out a mysterious and sacred metallic luster as if it had spirituality.


    Undoubtedly, as the first joss of an ancient god in this world, it was qualified to be the holy item of Ancient God Church.


    After receiving the joss, Bishop Maxim looked solemn. Although the joss was heavy, he still embraced it uprightly by two hands forcefully.


    At the sight of the joss, the spot of the evening banquet was in an uproar. However, the moment Zhang Tie raised his hand, all the noises disappeared at once. Everyone moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie once again because they all knew that Zhang Tie wanted to say something.


    Not knowing why, when Zhang Tie was going to make such an important decision, he felt tranquil and frank.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie really understand the sentence of Zhao Yuan¡ª¡ªNo matter what, just ask yourself whether you''re afraid of death or not!'' It meant, only the great hero could reveal his original look!


    Over the past years, Zhang Tie changed his identity between Zhang Tie, Peter Hamplester and Cui Li due to different situations positively or negatively. Therefore, he had different experiences and memories. Now, it was time for everything to return to their original look.


    ''Even Gold and Power Law, the imperial households of Taixia Country, Han Zhengfang, demons and Three-eye Association might have known the secret, why do I cover it in front of my closest people?''


    The process from Zhang Tie to Peter and Cui Li and from multiple identities back to Zhang Tie was a nirvana for Zhang Tie''s soul and growth.


    After experiencing the complete collapse of Waii Subcontinent and the crises brought by the Gobbling Party, Han Zhengfang, the Heavens Reaching Church and the Sacred Light Empire, Zhang Tie found that he could now bear any enemy and stress. He could not escape any enemy or stress only by changing one identity. What was destined to happen would happen sooner or later. In this age, battle strength determined everything. In this case, he didn''t need to wear his mask anymore here.


    Under the quiet gaze of everybody at present, Zhang Tie took his glass as he stood up and came to the front of Ms. Olina. He revealed a tender smile towards Ms. Olina as he said, "You''re the first one that I met in Saint Herner Island. Thank God, I saved you from the raid of those bandits of Demon Snake Island. When I saw you, I knew that the God favored me. It was you who made that shadow in my dream rich, warm, alive and beautiful. Do you know I was so moved when you ordered your subordinates to kill that b*stard of demon snake island who provoked Seablue Castle? From that day on, I''ve determined to protect you for the rest of your life. I propose a toast to you for loving me and protecting me!"


    Zhang Tie raised his head as he bottomed up that glass of liquor.


    As tears fell into her glass from Ms. Olina''s face, she bottomed up her glass of liquor too.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s sincere monologue, not only Ms. Olina, even O''Laura, Sabrina and all the other women had dropped off their tears.


    Watching Zhang Tie stretching out his empty glass towards them, a maid on his side hurriedly filled his glass once again.


    Holding his glass, Zhang Tie came to the front of O''Laura as he said, "The karma between humans is strange. When you wanted to kill me for 5,000 gold coins as a bounty hunter, we''ve already been destined to stay with each other. Thank God, you didn''t chop off my head and exchange it for 5,000 gold coins in Eschyle City when I lost my ability to resist; instead, you spared a chance for me, who didn''t look like a bad person. You spared me a chance to prove myself and move your mask away from your face. Do you know that you''re most beautiful when you envy other women in front of me and set me free while refusing the 500,000 gold coins paid by others? In my eyes, your beautiful look is unrivaled and earthshaking. Do you remember what you told me at that time? You could risk your life to be a bounty hunter for money; however, you dislike to do any trade with the person whom you love. Because I''m priceless in your eyes. Even if you urgently need money, you would not trade me for 5,000 gold coins, 500,000 gold coins or more. I also want to let you know that you''re also priceless in my eyes. I won''t trade you for anything. It''s my greatest achievement in Ice and Snow Wilderness to give you a happy home. I propose a toast to you for loving me and protecting me!"


    O''Laura bottomed up her glass of liquor with tears over her face.


    Zhang Tie came to the front of Sabrina with the third glass of liquor.


    "You''re the most beautiful scenery that I saw in the water. I could still clearly remember the plot when you swam in the river. That was my most beautiful encounter. In water, you were a mermaid. On the back of a xiphodon, you were a spirit with a smile. Everybody else said you were a slut; however, only I knew that you were as innocent as the most crystal white snow on the top of Elzida Mountain until you got pregnant. You''re qualified to be the goddess. In the underground relics, in the most hopeless environment, you always stood by my side. Even if all the others thought that I was scared stiff, you still didn''t give up. Do you remember what did you say to me at that time? I still remember your words. You said, "my little man, don''t worry; we could still keep in touch with the outside. The rescue teams of the wild bear tribe and the other tribes would arrive here in a few days. As long as we stood 3 more months here, we would be saved for sure. As long as I could leave out of here alive, I would definitely take you out of here." Sabrina, thank you for sparing me a chance to be your man. I propose a toast to you for loving me and protecting me!"


    Sabrina bottomed up her glass of liquor with tears over her face too.


    The entire palace became silent. Even Tally the old wild bear on the side of Sabrina threw a glance at her with jumping eyebrows when he heard that Sabrina was the most crystal white snow on the top of Elzida Mountain.


    Zhang Tie then walked to the front of the 6 women of Spencer Clan with the 4th glass of liquor.


    "This glass of liquor is for our encounter. Although we have no romantic encounter, memorable experience of difficulties, I still respect you. Do you know why? Because in my eyes, you''re also great women. Although being women, you shoulder the responsibility which couldn''t even be assumed by men. You assume the hope of reinvigorating your clan. You didn''t marry me; instead, you have married your clan which delivered you and raised you up. I know that each young and beautiful woman have their own dream. You have your own Mr. Right. I might not be that person in your dream; however, you still treat me sincerely and make me happy without regret. You realize the reinvigoration of Spencer Clan at the cost of your youth and whole lives. It''s a sacrifice and the supreme righteous deed of a woman. My mom once told me that when a woman could abandon herself for her family or sacrifice herself for others, she deserves to be treasured and loved. Perhaps others only see your beautiful look and shrewdness, but I see your noble temperament and soul. When our kids grow up, I will tell them that their moms are great and admired by their dad. Thank you for loving me and protecting me!"


    Zhang Tie bottomed up for the 4th time.


    When Zhang Tie had not finished his words, the 6 women who had received strict education and always manifested themselves to the public with a shrewd and elegant image had long been covering their mouths tearfully. They watched this man who occupied their bodies and future as if they had just recognized him.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Elder Turing threw a complex glance at those women as he let out a sigh gloomily. Anatoli, Victor, Orego and the other kids were looking at Zhang Tie and their moms with widely opened eyes. They didn''t know why this man whom they saw for the first time could make their moms drop their tears only by saying a few words.


    "Beloved ones are rarest in the world. In Ice and Snow Wilderness, Sacred Iceland Kingdom, my biggest wealth is not my imperial throne, power, numerous gold coins or the worship from billions of people, but you. You''re my biggest wealth and most precious things!" Zhang Tie looked at his women as he added, "Please forgive me and believe me that I didn''t mean to cheat you. When I came to Ice and Snow Wilderness in the identity of Peter Hamplester, I''ve not imagined that I could meet you here. Not until today you have seen my original look!"


    As Zhang Tie spoke, his hair and pupils started to turn black while his figure and look gradually turned into his original look under the gaze of everybody else at present¡ª¡ªa Hua teenager at about 16 years old.


    "My real name is Zhang Tie. You might have already heard this name!"


    The palace became quiet at this moment as if they had just been struck by lightning bolts...

 1243 The Appearance of A Powerful Enemy

    Chapter 1243: The Appearance of A Powerful Enemy


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    All the people at present were stunned by what they saw, including those who had just known Zhang Tie''s real identity and those who had just seen Zhang Tie''s body-changing immortal bloodline.


    Even the 3 elders of the huge bear tribe who had known Zhang Tie''s real identity were dumbfounded by Zhang Tie''s body-changing bloodline. Although they knew that Zhang Tie had grasped some disguising skills, they had not imagined that Zhang Tie could change his look in the public in such a shocking manner.


    Hua people thought immortal bloodlines were most mysterious, astonishing and closest to the ancestors of Hua people among the ancestral bloodlines. From a perspective, immortal bloodlines were closest to that of immortals.


    In places outside Taixia Country which were not polished by Hua culture, immortal bloodlines were as shocking as the manifestations of God''s will.


    In the legends of the Western Continent and among Slavs, only God could change his look in the public. According to the familiar plots in epics and classic myths among Slavs, the God left the immortal mountain or the paradise from where he ruled the world and came to the mortal world in the incarnation of a male. He married a mortal woman and gave birth to semi-Gods or heroes who had extraordinary abilities. They had the bloodlines of God; therefore, they ruled the world on behalf of God. There were many similar stories in the traditional cultures of Slavs.


    It was out of their imagination that such a plot could happen in front of them.


    Zhang Tie''s body-changing bloodline and the extraordinary specialties and abnormal phenomena of the crown prince and the 8 princes when they were born were reappearances of the plots in classic myths.


    These people in the banquet; especially those pious followers of Ancient God Church were thrilled so much that they couldn''t even control themselves when they witnessed the plots in the epics and classic myths.


    Zhang Tie recovered his original look; however, he reappeared the plots in classic myths unconsciously.


    Although others might not have heard about the name of Zhang Tie, those knights in the Cardinal Elders Committee were so familiar with this name; because this name was far more famous than that of Peter Hamplester in knight''s world and was the legend among knights.


    Ms. Olina, O''Laura, Sabrina and the 6 women of Spencer Clan were too shocked that they covered their mouths by hands at the same time.


    At this moment, besides a few people, most of the people in the palace of the Summer Palace felt their heads buzzing and their hearts pounding; however, they remained silent and didn''t know what to say.


    Right in the silence, the palace reverberated with Pontiff Sarlin''s sacred and ethereal sound...


    "Our lord''s look belongs to himself; however, the others couldn''t identity his original look..."


    "Our Lord, the creator who established the immortal undertaking comes from the east and the south..."


    "Our Lord''s most powerful weapon is the spear in his hand, which carries a terrifying, destructive power like that of a lightning bolt. His weapon will destroy all the enemies in front of us..."


    "As the most sacred one among all the identities. He grasps all the powers of gods. He will bring the brilliance in the paradise to the mortal world and let everyone return to their original honor, regardless of gender and race!"


    This was the prophecy of Elzida the greatest prophet among Slavs.


    After hearing Pontiff Sarlin''s words, everybody in the palace recovered their composure.


    Zhang Tie had returned to his imperial seat. As he looked at those people at present, his words shocked them once again.


    "From tomorrow onwards, I will abdicate as the tsar of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Andre, the son of O''Laura and I will become the new tsar. Andre will ascend to the throne at the age of 18. Before that, Queen O''Laura will administer the affairs of state while being aided by the elders in the Cardinal Elders Committee. All the others remain unchanged..."


    ''His Majesty is going to abdicate?''


    Zhang Tie''s decision blew over the palace like a hurricane as fast as a lightning bolt.


    ''Why? Why?''


    Everybody at present had the same question.


    Zhang Tie''s following words answered this question.


    "After abdication, I will not assume as any title in the Sacred Iceland Kingdom and Ancient God Church. I will take Andre and the other kids to Eastern Continent, where they would receive the best education. I hope they could assume their own responsibilities in the future!"


    All the people at present immediately understood that Zhang Tie gave up his imperial throne for the sake of his family and those beloved ones.


    If Zhang Tie was still tsar, it was equal to giving up the entire Sacred Iceland Kingdom when he took all of his family members to Eastern Continent; however, it was acceptable if he gave up the imperial throne of tsar and took his kids to Eastern Continent for better education before the new tsar grew mature.


    Everybody understood it; however, different people would always have different understandings.


    O''Laura and the other women were watching Zhang Tie with complex expressions. Zhang Tie told them they were his most precious things just now. Only after such a short while, he had put his words into action. He could abandon everything in the Sacred Iceland Kingdom for the most precious things, including the much-adored, powerful imperial throne.


    By contrast, Bishop Maxim and the other pastors accepted this fact most quietly. In all the legends and myths, when the deity exposed his real identity, he would leave the mortal world and return to his paradise or the immortal mountain. By then, no deity would continue to be fascinated by the power in the mortal world and sit in the mortal imperial throne. What happened in front of them were making the myths come true step by step.


    Although Taixia Country and Eastern Continent were not paradises and immortal mountains, how could the deity''s world be understood by mortals?


    Zhang Tie became unprecedently relaxed at this moment. He sensed that he had really got rid of the affairs about Ice and Snow Wilderness and accomplished the promise that he had made to Pontiff Sarlin and the others. He lived up to Elzida who had seen him through the time and space maze.


    To be honest, Zhang Tie didn''t feel being great by making such a decision. He even felt being a bit selfish. He thought that he just took the most precious things with him so that he could protect and look after them well.


    It was a simple multiple choise between "beloved ones" and the imperial throne. Zhang Tie chose the first one.


    The Sacred Iceland Kingdom was just a small country in a subcontinent, which was nothing in Zhang Tie''s eyes. He didn''t want his women to waste their precious days in this place. The outside world was bigger and broader. ''After leaving, if Andre and the others kids grow up, they could come back if they want. With my overall strength, do I need to worry about these things being robbed away? Additionally, after having private airboats, it''s nothing difficult for O''Laura and the other women to come back as long as they want.''


    "Heh...heh...do you want to leave in this way?" An icy voice drifted from outside in an overwhelming manner when it was quiet in the palace. After hearing this sound, everybody''s heart pounded while all the members of the Cardinal Seniors Committee changed their faces greatly...

 1244 The Greedy Person

    Chapter 1244: The Greedy Person


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Who''s that?" Roslav, a bodyguard of Zhang Tie roared as he threw his spear towards the source of the sound outside the palace.


    As Roslav was not a knight, his sense about the qi outside the gate was not as sensitive as that of those elders of Cardinal Elders Committee. As Zhang Tie''s bodyguard, of course, he should launch an attack on the uninvited guest firstly in this case.


    As a great battle master, although Roslav''s blow was powerful, his spear suspended outside the gate of the palace in the air. Closely after that, the steel spear gradually turned into pieces like sands being blown over by the wind. All the people in the palace were shocked by this weird scene.


    When the spear only had a 30 cm longer handle left, the stranger uttered a cold harrumph suddenly as he said, "Ant, how dare you fight me? Take it back..."


    Closely after that, the spear''s handle suddenly flew back towards the chest of Roslav with a shrill sonic boom with a much greater destructive power.


    It happened as fast as a lightning bolt. The moment he finished his last word, the remaining handle had arrived at the chest of Roslav after drawing a fine fiery line in the air with a shrill sonic boom. Even though Roslav wore a heavy armor, his chest could still be penetrated through with an explosion.


    Roslav didn''t have time to dodge away. Even a LV 15 battle spirit would be killed by such a blow. This strike could match Zhang Tie''s palm bolt.


    However, when the short handle was about 16 cm away from Roslav, a clean and delicate hand stretched over here and pinched that handle steadily like pinching a bug.


    The shrill sound and flame in the palace disappeared in a split second. Roslav who was saved changed his face greatly.


    Zhang Tie watched the outside of the gate with a glassy-eyed look as he sneered, "A powerful shadow knight fought a fighter who''s only a bit higher than LV 10, is that the demeanor of a halo pastor of Sacred Light Empire?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the others at present understood what happened as they all changed their faces greatly.


    If an earth knight was unrivaled over Ice and Snow Wilderness; a shadow knight was definitely a deity for these people in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Before the Catastrophe, shadow knights were at the top of the food chain. Shadow knight would disdain to come to Waii Subcontinent, not to mention Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    The air outside the gate of the palace was covered with mist in a split second. As the mist twisted, a human suddenly appeared and stood in the air outside the gate of the palace.


    That stranger was tall and thin in a bizarre golden religious crown and a set of extremely brilliant religious boa silk robe which was covered with thin diamon and gem pies. Additionally, there were patterns of suns, moons and stars on the robe. Under the reflection of lamplight, his robe gleamed all over. Furthermore, it might have a runed effect as a brilliant halos which was similar to the cat eye effect covered his body, which looked pretty sacred and frightening.


    That man overlooked those people at present like looking down at a cluster of ants. However, when he caught sight of Zhang Tie, his eye light changed greatly.


    The tidy footsteps of guards in heavy armors and the scurries of xiphodons drew closer from all directions, causing ripples in the glasses on the tables. All the guards in the palace drew out their weapons immediately while rows of guards soon stood in front of Zhang Tie with heavy shields and spears.


    Facing such a powerful opponent, neither the fighters of Thor''s Hammer nor the imperial guards in the Summer Palace were scared away; instead, they all fully released their battle qis as they were gazing at that powerful knight who was suspending in the air outside the gate of the palace with fiery eyes and waiting for Zhang Tie''s command. As long as Zhang Tie gave them a sign, they would rush forwards dauntlessly.


    Fighters of Thor''s Hammer could only fight to death; instead of being scared of death over Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Those junior fighters among tribes who were displaying their battle skills in front of Zhang Tie had also drawn their sabers and swords out of their sheaths and targeted at that stranger.


    Bishop Maxim and the other clergies of Ancient God Church had stood up and glared at that shadow knight.


    By contrast, those elders of Cardinal Elders Committee didn''t make too excessive responses. They just watched Zhang Tie calmly because they all knew that nobody across the Summer Palace might survive on if Zhang Tie really wanted to fight that shadow knight here. These people at the banquet could barely survive themselves as long as they were affected by the impact wave of the two knights.


    The distant shadow knight revealed a sneer. In his eyes, the responses of those fighters of Thor''s Hammer and the other people in the banquet were nothing but sh*t. It seemed that a huge dragon was ridiculing the struggling ants.


    Zhang Tie slightly raised his hand to stop the fighters of Thor''s Hammer and all the others from moving. He was relieved by the dubious and dauntless fighters of Thor''s Hammer. At this critical moment, Zhang Tie who knew clearly about the power of shadow knight understood that these fighters of Thor''s Hammer were just seeking for death. Even if the entire Thor''s Hammer was wiped out, that shadow knight would not lose one hair. This was the result of an absolute difference in power, which couldn''t be fixed by quantity.


    "As a powerful shadow knight, don''t you introduce yourself to us in this case?" Zhang Tie asked that stranger without any fear. Actually, Zhang Tie had already known that when he arrived here just now. What Zhang Tie had not imagined was this crisis brought by Sacred Light Empire was not relieved with the extermination of the entire expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire. Actually, this stranger came to Ice and Snow Wilderness even earlier than Zhang Tie. He just hid somewhere. This man was the absolute dominating power that Sacred Light Empire assigned to Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    What made Zhang Tie puzzled was how could a shadow knight be attracted to Ice and Snow Wilderness? Did he know that the piece of God''s Star was in the huge bear tribe? Besides that reason, Zhang Tie really couldn''t think about another reason for the time being.


    "Zhang Tie, no wonder you''re the famous Hua knight in the knights'' world. It''s out of my imagination that you could still remain calm in front of a shadow knight. I''m Ockham, the halos pastor of the eastern parish of Sacred Light Empire." That man looked at Zhang Tie with shimmering and profound eye light. Although his eye light contained a sharp killing intent, it also contained a bit concern. The shadow knight continued, "You have one opportunity. As long as you and Ancient God Church join Sacred Light Church; pledge to be loyal to me and submit that immortal space-teleportation item, I will keep you alive; besides, I will let you be a throne pastor. It''s your last opportunity..."


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded, ''Does he know that I have Castle of Black Iron? That''s impossible!''


    "I indeed have one space-teleportation equipment; but what do you mean by that immortal space-teleportation item?" Zhang Tie asked calmly as many thoughts flashed through his mind.


    "Do you want to waste time for the arrival of that heavenly knight?" Ockham''s eye light turned perilous at once as he revealed a sneer, "Although I don''t know how did you invite a mysterious heavenly knight to have him destroy the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire, I think that you must pay a lot for that. Additionally, that heavenly knight is not in Ice and Snow Wilderness. No matter how fast he could fly, he couldn''t appear here in half an hour. Before he arrives, I could kill all of you and turn the entire Saint Petersburg into ashes. That''s the price for you ants to offend Sacred Light Empire..."


    As a shadow knight who ruled a suburban area of Sacred Light Empire, although Ockham couldn''t match a heavenly knight in battle strength, he definitely knew the power of heavenly knight much better than commoners. Neither did he fear heavenly knight as much as commoners. Actually, Sacred Light Empire had heavenly knights too.


    What was more, after Zhang Tie exposed his real identity, Ockham had known almost everything about Zhang Tie. He knew that Zhang Tie had no heavenly knight on his back whether in Huaiyuan Palace, among his friends or his masters. In this case, of course, that heavenly knight was invited from Taixia Country. That powerful heavenly knight probably had returned to Taixia Country. If not, the one on the highest seat in Summer Palace should not be Zhang Tie, but someone else. Additionally, it was not reasonable for a heavenly knight to hide somewhere to guard Zhang Tie who was just an earth knight. Zhang Tie was not the crown prince, he couldn''t enjoy such a special treatment.


    After thinking through all this, Ockham showed up immediately. As the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire suffered a great loss; if he couldn''t achieve anything from the culprit of this event, it would be a laughingstock.


    "You''re causing me trouble only for that so-called immortal space-teleportation item? What if I tell you that I don''t have one?" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    As for Ockham, Zhang Tie''s words sounded like the clumsiest lie. After bursting out into laughter, he said, "Don''t tell me that you could provide drinking water for over 100,000 people for a few months in the underground relics. The so-called manifestations of God''s will are just used to cheat those idiots. You''d better be smart in front of me. I''ve manifested the same God''s will for over 100 times..." Ockham licked his lips as his eye light turned greedy, "After calculating the amount of drinking water that you provided in the underground relics, I know that you must be carrying an immortal space-teleportation equipment. Nothing else is worth my visit to Ice and Snow Wilderness except for that equipment!"


    Zhang Tie saw a light suddenly as he finally understood the real purpose of Sacred Light Empire to launch a strike towards Ice and Snow Wilderness. The so-called revenge was just an excuse for cheating idiots. ''The fact that I killed that unfortunate guy of Sacred Light Empire a few years ago served as an excuse for Sacred Light Empire to launch a strike towards Ice and Snow Wilderness. As for Ockham, land, gold coins and population were nothing but sh*t because he could have as many as he wants. A shadow knight only cast greedy eyes on available powerful secret items...''


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, Ockham was both extremely cunning and stupid...

 1245 Starting a Strike

    Chapter 1245: Starting a Strike


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Ockham was cunning as he could discover the truth of the so-called manifestations of God''s will in the underground relics from a trail of clues; additionally he was tolerant and could judge the occasion and dared seize the opportunity to launch an attack when he knew that Zhang Tie had a "heavenly knight" on his back.


    Perhaps the so-called "manifestations of God''s will" performed by jerk priests of Sacred Light Empire were just deceitful tricks that used to bewilder others by space-teleportation equipment. Therefore, they thought that all the "manifestations of God''s will" were deceitful tricks. Additionally, each deceitful trick was supported by a space-teleportation equipment. The greater and the more shocking the deceitful trick was, the more powerful was the space-teleportation equipment on their back.


    Of course, the use of Castle of Black Iron was utterly different than that of ordinary space-teleportation equipment. Ordinary space-teleportation equipment existed in the form of material objects. However, Zhang Tie had integrated with Castle of Black Iron. Castle of Black Iron didn''t exist in this world. If Zhang Tie wanted to use Castle of Black Iron, he only needed to run his spiritual energy. Ockham thought that Zhang Tie used an immortal space-teleportation equipment to accomplish the performance of the so-called "manifestations of God''s will". He almost approached the truth.


    Ockham was stupid because he believed in his empirical judgment too much. Additionally, he was deeply convinced by his great battle strength as a shadow knight. Besides the fact that Zhang Tie couldn''t give Castle of Black Iron to him, what was more important was that he had forgotten that this world would not center on one person. Even a heavenly knight or a sage knight might be in trouble, not to mention a shadow knight. If powerful ones could rule everything, Zhang Tie''s master would not be the frightening alchemist devil; Han Zhengfang should still be alive; Emperor Xuanyuan would not be missing. Even these people who were much more powerful than him couldn''t control their fates, how could a shadow knight think that he''s unrivaled and could get whatever he wants in Ice and Snow Wilderness?


    Of course, it was a laughingstock.


    Ockham was a rich reward gifted by God to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie watched Ockham with slightly narrowed eyes while the light in his eyes was as same as that in Ockham''s eyes.


    Ockham thought that he had caught a fat sheep; however, he didn''t know that he was that fat sheep in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    After hearing Ockham''s words, Zhang Tie didn''t speak; instead, he just looked at Ockham calmly, which made Ockham upset.


    "In front of me, you''re just humble ants. Treasure my kindness and the opportunity that I spare to you. This is the last opportunity for you heretics to accomplish your self-redemption. If you don''t submit the item to me within 10 seconds, I could only get it myself. You''d better determine whether you''re going to live or die in 10 seconds!" Ockham released a powerful qi as he kept a close watch on Zhang Tie with his sharp eagle eyes, sparing no chance for Zhang Tie to wait for the arrival of that powerful heavenly knight in case of trouble. He started to count down, "1...2..."


    As this powerful shadow knight started to count down, many people in the palace became anxious. Only the most pious followers of Ancient God Church were still looking at Zhang Tie with firm eye light. These people had unshakable confidence in Zhang Tie. As the incarnation of the Ancient God, how could Zhang Tie be troubled by a shadow knight?


    The so-called truth of manifestations of God''s will in the mouth of Ockham was completely like a laughingstock in the eyes of Maxim and the other priests of Ancient God Church. Because Zhang Tie was manifesting the God''s will under the gaze of over 100,000 people without using any space-teleportation equipment at all. The holy vase that Zhang Tie used to manifest the God''s will was still worshiped in the grey palace. How could such a manifestation of God''s will be as same as the deceitful trick of those jerk priests of Sacred Light Empire?


    "3..." Ockham''s icy sound was like pronouncing judgment towards a group of mortals.


    "Battle strength prevails the knight''s world. Now that you and I are both knights, let''s determine the result of this dispute in the means of knights!" Zhang said calmly as he looked at Ockham who carried a strong qi, "This is a bet between two knights. As long as you stand there and could bear a strike of my spear safe and sound, I would give you whatever you want. Even the entire Sacred Iceland Kingdom and Ancient God Church could be incorporated into the territory of Sacred Light Empire..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Ockham burst out into laughter crankily. In the eyes of Ockham, Zhang Tie just wanted to save his face. The bet was always better than being forced to make a choice. Additionally, Ockham benefited from this manner. Ockham was very afraid about that heavenly knight on the back of Zhang Tie. If he killed Zhang Tie, he had to worry about being avenged by that heavenly knight. If Zhang Tie and that heavenly knight were just trade partners, that heavenly knight might not make any response to Zhang Tie''s death; however, if they were good friends, that heavenly knight might find Ockham trouble. If he stirred up a heavenly knight, even though he had Sacred Light Empire on his back, he would not feel good.


    Zhang Tie was so famous that even Ockham knew the power of Zhang Tie''s spear; however, even though an earth knight''s spear strike was powerful, it could at most threaten ordinary black knights; however, spear strike was definitely a laughingstock for a shadow knight. Even a heavenly knight couldn''t promise that his spear strike could threaten a shadow knight, not to mention an earth knight.


    Each knight would gain a rare opportunity to strengthen their overall strength whenever they formed a chakra, such as from battle spirit to black iron knight and from black iron knight to earth knight; however, the most powerful overall advancement happened when one promoted to a shadow knight from earth knight. When one formed his water chakra, over 70% water in his body would be cleansed by and resonated with the water element in the elements realm. After this process, the body of a shadow knight would enter an unimaginable, powerful realm. In this realm, even if the shadow knight didn''t release his protective battle qi, he could still match a black iron knight in defensive capability. Therefore, shadow knights were all confident.


    "Well, I will have a bet with you. I just stand here, just attack me with your spear. I will make you sincerely convinced!" Ockham stood in the air outside the gate of the palace as he crossed his arms without even releasing his protective battle qi. He just looked at Zhang Tie like watching a clown.


    In that case, even the closest seat in the palace was over 50 m away from Ockham. Those guards were holding rows of heavy tower-shaped shields around him from over 50 m away.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he ran his spiritual energy. Closely after that, a golden spear appeared in his hand. At the sight of that golden spear, Maxim and all the other clergies held their breath at once.


    "Keep away from us, watch out!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, those people in the nearest seats hurriedly moved back towards the center of the palace. Those guards who were holding heavy tower-shaped shields also retreated backward in tidy footsteps, including those fighters of Thor''s Hammer who were surrounding Ockham outside the palace.


    Ockham revealed a faint disdainful sneer because the others'' responses were like a laughingstock for him. At the sight of that golden spear in Zhang Tie''s hand, his sneer became more ironical as he confirmed that Zhang Tie just wanted to save his face by putting on his airs.


    Golden weapons were always used by deities in myths and legends. There were many such weapons in the Sacred Light Empire; however, all of them were sacrificial vessels and religious supplies. As one of the top 3 halos pastors in Sacred Light Empire, Ockham had a team of honor guard who used golden weapons in special occasions for the sake of face; honestly, gold was not a good material for making weapons. Although gold had good durability, it was too soft to be made into weapons. Even though they could have a good processability after being mixed with some silver and copper, they couldn''t match some senior alloys, not to mention match precious metals such as abyss magical iron.


    Golden weapons were used to bamboozle idiots so as to make them hold in awe and veneration. Gold was not precious for knights; however, Zhang Tie was the first knight who used a golden weapon in the world.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie''s look when he held a golden spear, Ockham felt that this famous Hua knight was extremely like those honor guards on his side. Therefore, he couldn''t help but burst out into laughter as he watched Zhang Tie like looking at sh*t, "You''re smart; if you surrender to me, I will let you rule all the halos retinues in the east parish of Sacred Light Empire..."


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile too, "Are you ready..."


    "Come on, I..."


    Before the halos pastor of Sacred Light Empire finished his words, Zhang Tie had launched a strike...


    ...


    With the deafening sound, an invisible impact wave swept over those heavy tower-shaped shields that were standing on the ground, causing them to buzz like being hit by heavy hammers...

 1246 Camouflage and Idio

    Chapter 1246: Camouflage and Idiot


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The impact wave and loud bang passed by so fast. With sound lingering in the air of the palace, all the people at present were stunned. Because Zhang Tie and Ockham had disappeared in a split second as if they were never here at all...


    Actually, very few people in the palace could really understand what happened just now.


    ''Where''re the two people? How could they disappear out of the void? Am I dreaming?'' All the people wondered as they exchanged a glance with each other.


    With a loud bang, the two brilliant wooden gates of the palace fell onto the ground in pieces. At the same time, the entire screen wall facing the gate of the palace along with the building that extended 20 m all the way to the palace collapsed, causing dust swirl in the air. As a result, the gate of the palace was blocked. Thankfully, there was nobody within 100 m; especially O''Laura and the other wives of Zhang Tie who were farthest away from the gate of the palace; additionally, they were surrounded by those guards by heavy tower shields. So were the crown prince and the other princes. Therefore, none of them suffered from any harm...


    The only injured ones were those imperial guards who were holding heavy tower-shaped shields in the frontline. Due to the great power of the first impact wave, some guys'' wrists were dislocated.


    All the fluorite lamps within 50 m were blown up; therefore, it became dimmer in the palace.


    The loud, collapsing sound and the diffused smoke caused a chaos inside the palace...


    "Where''s His Majesty? Where''s His Majesty..." Someone shouted.


    "Thor''s Hammer, protect His Majesty..."


    "It collapses outside the gate of the palace. Break out. Break out..."


    Various sounds drifted in the palace.


    All the knight elders in the Cardinal Elders Committee went into action at once. Pontiff Sarlin and the two elders of the huge bear tribe helped O''Laura, Sabrina, Olina, the 6 women of Spencer Clan and Zhang Tie''s 9 kids leave the palace through a secret tunnel.


    O''Laura looked a bit pale. As she tightly bit her lower lip, she was utterly upset. She didn''t know what happened either. Therefore, she was a bit worried about Zhang Tie as she didn''t want to leave out of here, Pontiff Sarlin''s words stopped her from resisting anymore.


    "Before His Majesty launched a strike, he had told me through a secret means. He let me and two elders of the huge bear tribe lead queen, concubines, the crown prince and the other princes to wait in the haven in Summer Palace and defend Summer Palace, Saint Petersburg..."


    "What happened just now?" O''Laura asked in a quivering sound. As the queen of Sacred Iceland Kingdom, O''Laura was not weak; she was already a LV 12 great battle master. Even though she was sitting on Zhang Tie''s side just now, she still didn''t know what happened. Zhang Tie and Ockham disappeared in a split second. Like all the others, she just heard a boom and sensed an impact wave sweeping over the tower-shaped shields in the middle of the palace. Closely after that, she found that the buildings outside the palace had collapsed.


    Pontiff Sarlin replied with a bitter smile, "I don''t know either, it was really too fast..."


    Those fighters of Thor''s Hammer outside the collapsed gate of the palace rushed forward at once like being driven mad as they wanted to clear the way outside the gate. Those people inside the palace also coordinated with those people to clear the debris. It took them almost 2 minutes to do that.


    "Get out of the way..." Dally the old wild bear roared impatiently as he fully released his battle qi. Closely after that, he punched onto a complete wall of the palace like a barbarous wild bear, making a big hole on the wall. Closely after that, he rushed out of the big hole and flew off. Standing in the air, he started to look around the summer palace...


    The moons were bright and the stars were few. After seeing nobody within 60 miles, Dally the old wild bear changed his face at once...


    All the other elders of Cardinal Elders Committee flew off one after another in a split second.


    "Where''s His Majesty?" Hags asked after looking around and not discovering any trace of flying knights...


    "Just now..." The clan head of mutated bear tribe said with an unbelievable look.


    "It was too fast. Even I didn''t see clearly what happened..." The clan head of the mountain bear tribe shook his head too.


    "What do we do?"


    "Pontiff Sarlin and the others will be responsible for the safety here. We could only try our fortune. I suggest dividing into 2 groups, 3 people in one group, 4 people in another. We search over the north and south respectively. If there''s any special situation, we can release our battle qi smokes..." Dally the old wild bear was very resolute at this moment as he immediately displayed his mature side. In a group of three, they could form a 3-in-1 battle formation. If they searched for Zhang Tie and Ockham independently, a black iron knight would be too weak in front of a shadow knight.


    All the other tribes'' knights exchanged a glance with each other before nodding. In a split second, they had divided into two groups before heading for the south and the north of Saint Petersburg.


    ...


    Humans'' naked eyes could only capture a moving object within 2 milliseconds. If an object moved too fast to be captured by human eyes constantly within 2 milliseconds, the object was equal to disappearing out of the void.


    Just now, Zhang Tie launched a strike so fast. The moment he moved, he had reached greater than 13 times the speed of sound. In the limited observation space and the relatively narrow visual space between individuals in the palace, when everyone was gazing at him, the moment he moved, he had been out of their visions; because he stayed fewer than 2 milliseconds in everyone''s vision.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t wear Chaos, he wore a pair of metal caliga, a full-moons dragon soul waistband and a pair of rune metal wristbands. Although these items were not as integrated as the Chaos, they didn''t reduce Zhang Tie''s flight speed with the ability of the divine dominator.


    Zhang Tie moved fast; however, his spear moved faster.


    Zhang Tie aided a master-level god''s rune effect on the 680 kg golden spear which he had not used before¡ª¡ªcracking effect.


    In a golden and brilliant robe, Ockham revealed a commanding and steadfast smile. He didn''t even release his protective battle qi. What a good performer!


    ''Idiot!''


    When he threw out his spear, Zhang Tie swore inside.


    ''It''s hard to find a shadow knight as a target for an earth knight-level divine dominator frankly in this age.''


    ...


    When those knights of the Cardinal Elders Committee were searching for Zhang Tie and Ockham in two groups, Ockham was retreating at a high speed.


    Ockham was escaping like a strayed dog.


    The brilliant religious robe that Ockham wore a few minutes ago had completely become strips of cloth like broken sacks that were picked up from the battlefield. Additionally, there was a punch-sized bloody hole on his lower abdomen, which directly penetrated through his body.


    Ockham had lost his religious crown. His hair was swaying disorderly in the air; at the same time, he kept spitting out blood...


    In this case, Ockham had used his trump card to escape as a shadow knight¡ª¡ª the light of life.


    With this skill, he burned the source of his life for a greater speed. If not in dilemma, Ockham would never use this skill. Because each minute that he spent in this skill meant a one-year reduction in his longevity.


    With the effect of the light of life, Ockham soon raised his speed to 8 times the speed of sound. This was a terrifying speed even for shadow knight. In the flight, a looming mist was wrapping around his body. As a result, his flight was quiet and secret...


    The moment his body was penetrated through by Zhang Tie''s golden spear, Ockham had been immersed in the sharp pains. He knew that he had a big trouble this time. He had not even heard about such a strike. He even doubted that Zhang Tie was a heavenly knight, who set a trap especially to screw him.


    As long as Zhang Tie kept using such a striking skill, Ockham who had been severely injured would never win the fight. Therefore, the moment his body was penetrated through by the golden spear, Ockham had made his decision, namely, lighting his light of life and escaping away from Saint Petersburg as fast as possible with the inertia when he was sent flying backward.


    In flight, Ockham wanted to close his wound; however, he found that the flesh near his wound had completely become dead like being struck by a lightning bolt with the bizarre cracking effect. Therefore, although being a powerful shadow knight, Ockham couldn''t control his physical function at all.


    What made Ockham more embarrassed was that his spiritual energy was experiencing a terrifying storm after being severely injured. His spiritual energy was fluctuating greatly. As a result, all of his spiritual energy had been disrupted and sealed in his mind sea. As a result, he couldn''t use any secret spiritual methods or use remote-sensing telecommunications device; not to mention taking out medicament from his portable space-teleportation equipment.


    It was Ockham''s first time to fear death...


    Ockham kept flying towards the north of Ice and Snow Wilderness as he gritted his teeth and dropped blood. Lands, mountains and rivers flashed backward at his foot. After over 40 minutes and burning over 40 years'' longevity. Ockham felt that he should have got rid of Zhang Tie''s vision. When he wanted to stop and deal with his wound, he heard Zhang Tie''s lazy voice behind him...


    "Ha, you''re really good at flying. I thought you could have stood a bit longer..."


    Together with the voice was a 6.8 ton Thor''s Hammer which crashed onto Ockham''s protective battle qi at a speed greater than 13 times the speed of sound ...

 1247 The Winner

    Chapter 1247: The Winner


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    "Divine dominator, who the hell are you?" Ockham shouted exhaustively as his eyes turned bloody. At the same time, his battle qi turned berserk as he shot out booming battle qi towards Zhang Tie constantly. Meanwhile, a spray of blood spurted out from the bloody hole on his body, causing his strike to stagnate slightly. As a result, the destructive power of his strike declined by 30% at once.


    The shadow knight''s battle qi hit onto the ground like impact waves while rubbing Zhang Tie''s body, exploding the top of a 100 m higher iceberg into pieces in a split second. At the same time, Ockham constantly changed his location rapidly.


    However, Ockham was in vain. After fighting Zhang Tie for almost half an hour when he was severely injured, Ockham had proved that shadow knight was powerful. However, at this moment, Ockham had almost been exhausted. This situation could be judged from his increasingly unstable battle qi strikes and protective battle qi.


    It had been in disorder within dozens of miles in the north of Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Zhang Tie flew around Ockham at the speed of over 13 times the speed of sound as he constantly changed his location like jumping lightning bolt in the air. As a result, Ockham could barely cope with Zhang Tie''s strike.


    In the most dangerous close combat, knight''s visual angle was limited. As Ockham''s visual''s angle couldn''t follow Zhang Tie''s moving speed, he couldn''t threaten Zhang Tie essentially. Since the beginning, Ockham''s strikes at his full strength had been dodged away by Zhang Tie at an extremely high speed, at most touched the edge of Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi. Additionally, Ockham''s large-range strikes were directly blocked by Zhang Tie.


    Actually, since the beginning, Ockham had not completely hit Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi, not to mention breaking through Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi.


    Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi of king roc sutra experienced a cruel test this time.


    The last test was in the fight with Han Zhengfang.


    Compared to the last fight with Han Zhengfang, Zhan Tie was more advantageous this time.


    Because Zhang Tie at this moment was definitely more powerful than that when he fought Han Zhengfang. However, Ockham was not as powerful as Han Zhengfang; therefore, Zhang Tie took the initiative.


    Ockham didn''t get rid of Zhang Tie''s strike. Zhang Tie''s Thor''s Hammer crashed onto Ockham''s volatile protective battle qi mercilessly once again.


    After almost half an hour''s fight, Zhang Tie could use his Thor''s Hammer much better. Therefore, his striking frequency gradually grew. He could also release more power by Thor''s Hammer and kinetic energy strike in a shorter distance.


    This fight meant a wholly new start for Zhang Tie. He finally experienced the effect of the hypersonic strike in fight.


    Hypersonic speed was his weapon and his shield.


    The loud sound of Thor''s Hammer reverberated through the heavens and the land like thunders.


    As long as he could move at a speed greater than 13 times the speed of sound, the destructive power of Thor''s Hammer from over 6 miles away was as same as that from 100 m away or 1 m away. However, the latter situation could shorten the responsive time of the opponent and make the opponent harder to respond to the strike of Thor''s Hammer. In close combat, Thor''s Hammer would have an overwhelming advantage when it could reach 13 times greater than the speed of sound in the air.


    In fist positions, inch strength was emphasized; namely, how to maximize the strength of the fist in the shortest distance between the fist and the target. When fighting Ockham, Zhang Tie was also comprehending the law of "inch strength" in close combat by Thor''s Hammer.


    What a rare opportunity! If not make full use of this shadow knight-level target and sparring partner, Zhang Tie would feel sorry about himself.


    Even Ockham had felt that he was taken as a sparring partner when Zhang Tie was striking him in an increasingly higher frequency with an increasingly greater strength. It was a humiliation for Ockham. However, he couldn''t shriek off this humiliation. He even started to doubt that this person was not Zhang Tie but a divine dominator with a terrifying destructive power...


    In this world, there were less than 10 divine dominators. Each of them was famous. Ockham didn''t believe that there was another divine dominator who came out of nowhere.


    Although Zhang Tie was well-known across the human knights'' world, nobody mentioned that Zhang Tie was a divine dominator. Therefore, Ockham doubted that this man in front of him was not Zhang Tie at all.


    With another strike, the Thor''s Hammer completely shattered Ockham''s protective battle qi and turned it into enshrouding battle qi like snowflakes before falling down in pieces. The energy of tens of billions of Joule not only completely shattered Ockham''s protective battle qi but also shattered the greater part of Ockham''s bones all over. Ockham wanted to stretch out his hands to resist the strike; however, his arms were shattered by the irresistible strength of the Thor''s Hammer, including his bones and muscles...


    The bloody hole spurted out blood once again. Some broken innards even sprayed out of that hole. At the same time, Ockham''s eyes, nostrils, mouth and ears spurted out blood as his body smashed onto the icy and snowy land with a boom, causing land cracks while ice scums, hard soil and snowflakes sprayed in all directions. Additionally, there was a 30 m deeper pit on the point where Ockham fell down.


    This was the last strike of Zhang Tie.


    "Hahahaha, I see..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he muttered. In the last blow, he finally comprehended the secret of making a kinetic strike by Thor''s Hammer in close combat¡ª¡ªBy combining spirit, consciousness, eye light, body, hand and hammer at the same time, he could release a kinetic energy strike by Thor''s Hammer in the shortest distance.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Ockham who was lying in the deep pit. Closely after that, the Thor''s Hammer disappeared as he fell on one side of Ockham who had completely lost his ability to resist...

 1248 An Unbearable Load

    Chapter 1248: An Unbearable Load


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Heavy snowflakes fell from the lingering night sky. Just now, the fight between the two people made this air territory brilliant and full of rumbling thunders; additionally, the land here was covered with pits. However, the moment the fight came to an end, the surroundings became quiet at once. Besides snowflakes, there was only icy and hard wind in the air...


    Ockham had lost his arms and was bleeding all over; however, he was still alive.


    Zhang Tie looked down at Ockham as he exclaimed about the strong vitality of this shadow knight inside. Even 10 earth knights would have been killed by Zhang Tie in this case; however, after being penetrated through by Zhang Tie''s golden spear, Ockham could still fight Zhang Tie until now. Therefore, Zhang Tie became more expectant about the realm of shadow knights.


    Ockham looked at Zhang Tie hardly with bloody and tearful eyes. He still had faint battle qi response as if he wanted to form his battle qi once again. At this moment, a snowflake flew over here and covered his eye, causing his eyelid to quiver. Ockham seemingly wanted to take away this snowflake; however, his body twitched for a short while as he could only wait for that snowflake to melt on his face with a bit cold.


    The halos pastor who was pretty arrogant in Summer Palace just now was like a dead dog at this moment. Besides anguish, there was only fear on his face.


    When the big figure who had been used to power, beauties and all the luxuries in the world found that he might say goodbye to all these things, he would not behave more dignified than those hooligans on the streets.


    Ockham moved his lips as if he wanted to say something; pitifully, Zhang Tie''s last strike was too powerful. After penetrating through his powerful body which he was proud of, it even tore his vocal cords. As a result, he couldn''t utter any complete sound...


    Ockham faintly roared for a short while. Through his mouth shape, Zhang Tie guessed that Ockham wanted to say, "Don''t kill me..."


    Zhang Tie revealed a sneer as he squatted down in front of Ockham as a winner. Closely after that, he waved his hand and drew away those snowflakes on Ockham''s face as he looked at Ockham from his foot to his head like how an experienced butcher looked at a big fat pig. After that, he patted Ockham''s old face as he said tenderly, "How could I kill you? You don''t know how happy I was when I saw you. I won''t agree even if you want to commit suicide..."


    Ockham watched Zhang Tie with an amazed look. Although his hearing had been damaged greatly, he could still hear Zhang Tie''s words. Although Zhang Tie expressed that he wouldn''t kill him, Zhang Tie''s eye light made Ockham twitch all over...


    Ockham wanted to say something; however, he couldn''t. At that moment, Zhang Tie''s hand suddenly quivered while a bizarre strength passed onto Ockham''s, causing him to pass out at once.


    Closely after that, Ockham disappeared as he was teleported into Castle of Black Iron.


    "Heller, this guy is a fat sheep, he''s yours!" Zhang Tie told Heller through a secret means.


    After that, Zhang Tie heard Heller''s answer with a smile, "Castle Lord, don''t worry, I will keep this guy alive. But I''m afraid that I couldn''t completely recover him without using some senior medicaments that Castle Lord collected and some demonized fighters who were frozen in Castle of Black Iron."


    "It doesn''t matter. It''s all worth it, right?"


    "Of course, this one is a shadow knight. If not being severely injured by Castle Lord''s golden spear, it would be not easy for us to teleport a shadow knight who has lost his resistance ability into Castle of Black Iron!"


    "Greed is an original sin of humans!"


    "5 days later, Castle Lord would be able to enjoy this achievement. I''m expecting for that..."


    "I''m expecting for that too!"


    "This guy carries a lot of rarities. Castle Lord might be interested in it. This must be a bumper harvest..."


    Closely after Heller''s words, a golden necklace appeared in Zhang Tie''s hand. The moment this guy was teleported into Castle of Black Iron, none of his belongings could be covered in front of Heller.


    Zhang Tie looked at that necklace. Compared to the precious material of the necklace, the emblem on the necklace was more valuable.


    That emblem was bloody which had a metallic texture. It looked like a sun; of course, it was not as completely round as the sun; instead, it was like that kind of shiny sunflower in abstract paintings. In the dark, as long as there was faint light in the surroundings, the purple light being reflected by the surface of the bloody sun-shaped emblem could be seen. Additionally, there was an odd-looking classic mark of Sacred Light Church on the emblem. Touching the emblem on the necklace, Zhang Tie gradually felt a bizarre warmth. Furthermore, the necklace had been aided with a strong rune effect.


    Of course, Heller would not give it to Zhang Tie if it was just a rune equipment.


    After injecting his spiritual energy into the necklace, Zhang Tie knew that this sun-shaped bloody emblem was actually a space-teleportation equipment.


    There was a huge cubic space whose length, width and height were over 30 m respectively in the emblem. The moment Zhang Tie injected his spiritual energy into space, he had seen two hills of golden bricks, which occupied over 3,000 cubic meters. It indicated that there were at least 60,000 tons of gold.


    At the sight of such golden hills, Zhang Tie immediately swore inside, ''F*ck.'' He knew that Sacred Light Empire was rich. The halos pastor who ruled one of the three major parishes of Sacred Light Empire would definitely not lack money; however, he had not imagined that a shadow knight''s space-teleportation equipment could contain so much gold. ''How greedy this guy is! Why did he put so much gold which is meaningless for knights into his portable space-teleportation equipment?''


    Zhang Tie was greatly shocked by the items in this space-teleportation equipment.


    Although this space-teleportation equipment was not bad; it was still far worse than the other space-teleportation equipment that Zhang Tie had gained such as Xuanwu Secret Warehouse of Bloody Soul Temple. What shocked Zhang Tie most was that he had not seen such a crowded space-teleportation equipment before.


    The space-teleportation equipment contained about 35,000 cubic meters. Those gold only occupied less than 1/10 of this space. Besides gold, it was filled with various items.


    Earth element crystals, water element crystals, wind element crystals and fire element crystals occupied one corner of the space respectively. As for a shadow knight, earth element crystals and water element crystals couldn''t further promote his cultivation base anymore; however, earth element crystals and water elements occupied most of the element crystals. There were over 100,000 earth element crystals. If Zhang Tie could have so many earth element crystals before he promoted to an earth knight, he didn''t even need to grasp any purgatory samsara method at all. Because he could promote to an earth knight only by absorbing all the earth element crystals.


    Besides earth element crystals, there were over 30,000 water element crystals, over 5,000 wind element crystals and over 1,000 fire element crystals.


    Besides these gold and four element crystals, there were tens of thousands of square boxes which were made of precious metals such as gold, mithril, mountain copper, abyss magical iron, violet gold, platinum,etc.. These boxes were not furnishings or artworks; instead, they were used to maximize this space. Those boxes contained dazzling priceless treasures. Hundreds of boxes among them contained various gold checks and certificates about the ownership of lands, manors, castles, share certificates of business groups, mines and factories of Sacred Light Empire and the other countries on Western Continent. Zhang Tie really wondered whether these things were plundered by Ockham from Sacred Light Empire or being presented by others.


    ''F*ck, this is more like a bank vault than a portable space-teleportation equipment of a shadow knight.''


    Besides these items, there were living necessities in this space such as grains, a water tank and clothes.


    Over 1,000 expensive metal boxes contained medicaments.


    There were 3 silver secret items which included an odd-looking long saber, a golden-horned helmet and a long spear.


    At the sight of these 3 silver secret items, Zhang Tie started to feel lucky about the strong effect of his master-level cracking rune on the opponent''s spiritual energy. Without this effect, Ockham might be able to use his silver secret items; if so, it would be more difficult for Zhang Tie to deal with him.


    There were 2 boxes of bronze secret items in this space, among which, Zhang Tie saw elements gathering matrices in different specifications. He even saw another full-moons dragon soul waistband which was as same as that on his body.


    Besides, there were other items which Zhang Tie could count for the time being...


    The entire space was almost occupied by these items. Only less than 20 cubic meters'' space was available. Although the word "overload" was not used to describe space-teleportation equipment, this space-teleportation equipment reminded Zhang Tie of an old truck which had been overloaded by many times that of the speculation on a mountain road.


    Zhang Tie finally knew why Ockham was fascinated by his marvelous space-teleportation equipment. ''Perhaps that guy was thinking about having a space-teleportation equipment with a greater space so as to contain more items. Perhaps that guy usually struggles due to the limited space of his space-teleportation equipment. He had to give up something each time he wanted to put something more inside...''


    When Zhang Tie looked at this space-teleportation equipment in a dumbfounded way, he suddenly understood something, ''What this space-teleportation equipment couldn''t bear was not treasures, but humans'' greed...''

 1249 Truths and Lies

    Chapter 1249: Truths and Lies


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Not until the next day broke did Zhang Tie slowly fly back to Saint Petersburg.


    It only took Ockham over 40 minutes to fly over 3,600 miles away and enter the unpopulated zone on the border of the iced land in the north of Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    There was only ice, snow, and storm here. Nobody else but Zhang Tie and Ockham could be seen here. Even few living beings could be seen here. Of course, their fight would not arise the attention of anyone else. Neither were the members of Cardinal Elders Committee able to fly so far away in such a short period. Furthermore, as Ockham''s spiritual energy was disrupted by people, he couldn''t even send a message to his men through the remote-sensing crystal. Therefore, this entire battle process was both earth-shaking and silent. Besides Zhang Tie and Ockham, nobody else in this world knew that a fight had broken out between a powerful shadow knight and a more powerful divine dominator in the ice-capped land in the north of Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Zhang Tie was very satisfied with this fight. It was a bumper harvest for him.


    After this fight, Ockham became his captive. Benefited from this, he would promote to a shadow knight more easily. It was predictable that he could at least enter the 5 change earth realm after absorbing Ockham''s water chakra.


    The wealth in the portable space-teleportation equipment of Ockham was even greater than that he gained from those Three-eye Association clans and the demon general in Waii Subcontinent. What made Zhang Tie more reassured was that his kinetic energy skill and the ability of divine dominator could already match the battle strength of a shadow knight completely through the test and improvement of this fight.


    Although Ockham was not a top shadow knight, his battle strength was at least between 3 change shadow realm and 5 change shadow realm. Although Zhang Tie severely injured Ockham with his golden spear at the beginning before the latter made any preparation, it was his first time to defeat a shadow knight in the public by force. Being different than that fight between him and Han Zhengfang, this was a milestone fight for Zhang Tie.


    When the first sunlight reached the tip of the highest tower in the Grey Palace, Zhang Tie arrived at the air territory of Saint Petersburg too. He started to slow down.


    Overnight, Saint Petersburg as a whole had been heavily guarded. Looking down from the sky, Zhang Tie found that armies were mobilized both inside and outside the city. Some large-scale battle airships were patrolling around Saint Petersburg.


    The moment Zhang Tie arrived there, he had been discovered. A knight rushed into the sky towards him while some battle airships also flew towards him from afar.


    "Your Majesty..." Elder Toles greeted Zhang Tie with a big surprise as he continued, "Are you okay?"


    "Of course, I''m okay. Oh, was there any trouble last night? Is everybody good?"


    "We''re all fine. There''s no trouble!" After approaching Zhang Tie, Elder Toles looked at Zhang Tie carefully from head to toe. After confirming that Zhang Tie was fine, he finally became reassured as he asked, "Your Majesty, have you met Dally and the other elders?"


    "No, where are they?" Zhang Tie replied as they flew back towards the Summer Palace. After those battle airships approached Zhang Tie, the crew saw clearly Zhang Tie''s look. Closely after that, those fighters on those battle airships cheered up as their airships turned around.


    "Last night, closely after Your Majesty and Ockham left Summer Palace, they had rushed outside. However, they couldn''t see your trace; therefore, they divided into two groups and searched for you towards the north and the south respectively!"


    Ice and Snow Wilderness was so large in size. Generally, as long as they left Saint Petersburg for about 120 miles, even if they were in the same direction with Zhang Tie and Ockham, they could barely meet Zhang Tie and Ockham. Additionally, over one night, old bear Dally and the other elders could at most move 600 miles. They could never approach that battle area between Zhang Tie and Ockham. Therefore, it was normal that Zhang Tie had not met them on the way back.


    "I''m fine. Call them back!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile. ''Although these elders of tribes in Ice and Snow Wilderness didn''t give me a favor last night, their loyalty satisfied me. At least, they were more loyal to me than before. Previously, a chief pastor of Sacred Light Empire could almost split up the entire Ice and Snow Wilderness. However, it was a halos pastor from Sacred Light Empire who came here last night. Even in that case these guys still dared come out to find me, that''s not bad.'' Zhang Tie thought as he continued, "Is Saint Petersburg in a state of siege?"


    "Yes, the entire Saint Petersburg had been in a state of siege since last night..."


    "You''re overreacting. Cancel it off..."


    "Yes, Your Majesty!" Although Elder Toles wanted to ask about the condition of Ockham, he didn''t as he found Zhang Tie didn''t mean to talk about that. What happened last night was too weird. Even those elders of the Cardinal Elders Committee didn''t know what happened at that moment.


    "Ockham will not come anymore..." Zhang Tie said calmly.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Elder Toles'' heart pounded as Zhang Tie''s reply contained many meanings...


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had arrived at the Summer Palace. At the sight of Zhang Tie coming back safe and sound, all the fighters of Thor''s Hammer who were ready to fight the shadow knight of Sacred Light Empire to the end immediately cheered up, which could be heard within miles...


    "Wula...Wula...Wula..."


    These fighters were single-minded. No matter what, as Zhang Tie and Ockham disappeared at the same time last night; now that Zhang Tie came back alone safe and sound, it meant that Zhang Tie was the winner.


    After one night''s oppression and tension, so many people were waiting for the news. The cheers of the Thor''s Hammer immediately drove away that oppressive and intense atmosphere like a warm current.


    The collapsed part of the palace was still in clean-up; however, the loud cheers and the command of lifting the martial law and the return of those fighters to their own camps indicated that the crisis brought by that shadow knight of Sacred Light Empire had been defused. Therefore, a fervent and festive atmosphere spread over the entire Saint Petersburg at once.


    When Zhang Tie returned to the Summer Palace, his wives and kids also returned to the earth surface from the hidden shelter. At the sight of Zhang Tie, all the women''s eyes were filled with tears.


    Many people across Saint Petersburg and the Summer Palace must be worried about Zhang Tie last night. However, Zhang Tie''s lovers were more worried about Zhang Tie. They didn''t sleep last night at all. Although it was just one night, when they saw Zhang Tie once again, they felt like experiencing a life or death situation.


    Zhang Tie wiped off their tears one after another and finally made his women reassured.


    Andre, Matvey, Alexander, Anatoli and the other kids were watching Zhang Tie with extremely adoring eyes. What they heard most were various legends about Zhang Tie''s braveness and manifestations of God''s will. Their moms told them their father was a real hero. Those kids did not have a concept of hero previously. However, last night, they witnessed their father''s braveness and how their father alone overcame that shadow knight.


    "Papa, when I grow up, I will also protect mom and all the others using my spear like how you did..." Andre raised his tiny face as he told Zhang Tie decisively with shiny eyes, "Can you teach me how to use a spear?"


    After hearing Andre''s words, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he stretched out his hand and touched Andre''s head, "As long as you want to learn, I will teach you for sure. Besides spear, I could teach you many others skills. After you grasp them all, you will protect your moms like me by driving away the enemies!"


    All the kids nodded forcefully.


    "Let''s go, I''m afraid that you''ve not had breakfast yet. Let''s go and have breakfast..." Zhang Tie waved his hand.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the kitchen of the Summer Palace became busy at once...


    ...


    Old wild bear Dally and the other members of Cardinal Elders Committee didn''t return to the Summer Palace until 2 pm.


    After all the members of Cardinal Elders Committee returned, Zhang Tie called them in a study. He had to make an explanation to these core figures of the Sacred Iceland Kingdom about what happened last night.


    Zhang Tie sat on the most important seat in the study. All the elders of Cardinal Elders Committee sat on both sides of the study as they exchanged glances with each other. As a result, the entire study was in a weird atmosphere.


    "Your Majesty, how about Ockham the halos pastor of Sacred Light Empire who raided the Summer Palace last night?"


    Many elders wanted to ask the same question; however, only old wild bear Dally dared ask it carelessly.


    Actually, Zhang Tie was waiting for someone to ask that.


    "The power of Sacred Iceland Kingdom is definitely not as weak as you see, a shadow knight couldn''t rock the foundation of Sacred Iceland Kingdom!" Zhang Tie said firmly and vaguely.


    All the elders understood it right away. They immediately recalled that legendary heavenly knight who exterminated the entire expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire only by one blow¡ª¡ªLast night, that mysterious heavenly knight gave a favor to His Majesty once again. That heavenly knight must be hiding somewhere in the Summer Palace last night; he must have long predicted that someone more powerful from Sacred Light Empire would launch a strike; therefore, that heavenly knight was waiting for the halos pastor to seek for death himself. That explained why Zhang Tie could come back safe and sound...


    The power of a heavenly knight was out of black iron knights'' imaginations. This might explain why Zhang Tie and Ockham directly disappeared in the public in a split second last night.


    The elders of Cardinal Elders Committee thought that they had got the answer. Only Pontiff Sarlin threw a glance at Zhang Tie; meanwhile, he slightly frowned with a dubious eyelight; however, he didn''t say anything.


    "Realm, it must be the power of realm grasped by the heavenly knight..." The clan head of the mountain bear tribe, who was always taken as a rustic nodded and said loudly as if he had seen the realm of a heavenly knight...


    "That heavenly knight would almost promote to a semi-sage..." The clan head of the fire bear tribe was also shocked.


    Hearing their discussions and watching their looks, Zhang Tie could only speak to himself inside¡ª¡ªI''m not cheating you. I''m telling the truth; if you misunderstand my words, don''t blame me for not clarifying it to you...


    ...


    In less than 1 day, a news had spread over Saint Petersburg. The halos pastor from Sacred Light Empire who raided the Summer Palace last night had been killed by a heavenly knight who had promoted to semi-sage. That heavenly knight was actually always the secret No. 1 knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom...


    The gossip was so vivid that those who attended the evening banquet last night even swore that they had witnessed how that mysterious heavenly knight displayed his power of realm and had Ockham the halos pastor of Sacred Light Empire and His Majesty disappear in front of the public.


    The gossip spread over Saint Petersburg on the 2nd day and the entire Sacred Iceland Kingdom on the 3rd day.


    Like how the Sacred Iceland Kingdom acquired the intelligence about the expeditionary army of Sacred Light Empire through various channels, Sacred Light Empire could also acquire the intelligence about the Sacred Iceland Kingdom through almost the same channels. One of the simplest methods was to pay those merchant ships who traveled between subcontinents, Western Continent and Ewentra Archipelago and many forces'' offices or diplomatic agencies in the Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    After hearing this news, Sacred Light Empire was scared too much...


    After another 2 days, Golden Roc Bank sent a news to the Sacred Iceland Kingdom as the intermediator. The pope of Sacred Light Empire had already dispatched a special envoy to Ice and Snow Wilderness for diffusing the disputes between the two countries...


    Now that a special envoy would arrive, it meant that the Sacred Light Empire really wanted to sue for peace...

 1250 Qianji Hermi

    Chapter 1250: Qianji Hermit


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Peter Hamplester''s real identity was Zhang Tie, the famous Hua knight...


    Zhang Tie founded Ancient God Church in Ice and Snow Wilderness...


    Ockham the halos pastor of the eastern parish of Sacred Light Empire raided the Summer Palace; however, he was killed by a semi-sage knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom...


    Zhang Tie abdicated...


    Zhang Tie awakened a powerful, immortal Hua bloodline...


    Andre, the 4-year old son of Zhang Tie and O''Laura, namely his eldest son would become the next tsar of Sacred Iceland Kingdom...


    The Sacred Light Empire on Western Continent assigned a special envoy to Saint Petersburg to sue for peace...


    In April of the 904th year of Black Iron Calendar, various news about Zhang Tie became the focus of the Mountain of Brightness once again.


    On April 12th, a paid article "Deciphering the Legendary Life of Qianji Hermit Zhang Tie" became a hot topic in Mountain of Brightness only after it was posted for 2 days.


    This article was like a legend of Peter Hamplester. As for knights, what Peter Hamplester did in Ice and Snow Wilderness was not amazing including how he saved sexy fox Olina from the conflict between Ewentra Archipelago and Demon Snake Island, how he saved over 100,000 people in the underground relics and founded Ancient God Church, how Peter Hamplester pacified the disaster of demons in Eschyle City; how he proposed the Axis Railway Plan; how he housed refugees and founded Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Many ambitious knights would establish countries and religions in poor subcontinents and regions out of specific purposes.


    However, when the legends about Peter Hamplester and the legends about Zhang Tie who had long been famous in knight''s world combined with each other, the result became dramatic and subversive as if a more marvelous chemical reaction happened when two marvelous elements mixed with each other, which made everybody dumbfounded for sure.


    Peter Hamplester, the former tsar of Sacred Iceland Kingdom was Zhang Tie the Hua knight who had been famous in the knight''s world.


    What an unbelievable fact!


    ...


    "¡ª¡ªNobody in the main palace of Summer Palace could imagine that Peter Hamplester could say such words and display his body-changing bloodline in the public after standing up. This was Zhang Tie''s second public display after holding his rotating chakra ceremony as an earth knight. All the people in the banquet had seen that. In the eyes of the followers of the Ancient God Church, Zhang Tie''s display of body-changing ability was undoubtedly another manifestation of God''s will. As a result, they further firmed their belief..."


    ...


    "¡ª¡ªZhang Tie''s women are undoubtedly happy at this moment. This man who incarnated into Peter Hamplester using his immortal body-changing bloodline proved who''s most precious in his eyes by abdicating his throne. At this moment, Zhang Tie indeed treated the country as sh*t and ignored the sneer of powerful ones..."


    ...


    "...However, according to the most reliable first-hand news that I received, closely after Zhang Tie recovered his original look, the halos pastor had appeared and wanted to threaten Zhang Tie by destroying the Summer Palace and Saint Petersburg. He wanted some equipment from Zhang Tie. However, the result was that Zhang Tie and the halos pastor had disappeared in front of the public before they started a fight..."


    ...


    "¡ª¡ªIs there really a semi-sage knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom? Do Zhang Tie, Qianji Hermit have other secret identities? Black Iron Know-All will pay attention to the relevant information constantly for you..."


    ...


    Zhang Tie read the entire article in Mountain of Brightness.


    As this was a paid article. In order to know what he looked like in others'' eyes, Zhang Tie immediately paid 1,000 gold coins for this hot article after logging on the Mountain of Brightness...


    When Zhang Tie was reading the article, this article had been viewed for over 30,000 times.


    After knowing that guy called "Black Iron Know-All" had made over 30 million gold coins by selling his intelligence, Zhang Tie became speechless.


    Black Iron Know-All was a very famous byname in Mountain of Brightness. Many hot articles in Mountain of Brightness were written with this byname. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether Black Iron Know-All was a person or an organization. However, given the content of this article, Zhang Tie knew that it probably was an organization. Because the intelligence about Zhang Tie in the article was very detailed and complete. Therefore, the article was very infectious and influential.


    Even Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could gain the byname of Qianji Hermit in the Mountain of Brightness. In Taixia Country, it was outstanding for a knight to gain a widely accepted byname which had nothing to do with his cultivation method. Special bynames represented the special position and a much greater influence and reputation among his peers. Zhang Tie revealed his incarnation of Cui Li on his rotating chakra ceremony; this time, he revealed his incarnation of Peter Hamplester; plus the fame of his original name, the three identities shocked the public too much. Only in a few days, through Black Iron Know-All, the byname of Qianji Hermit had spread over Mountain of Brightness and become Zhang Tie''s signboard.


    "Qian" referred that Zhang Tie could change his looks whenever he wanted; "Ji" referred to the secret methods and trump cards of Zhang Tie. It seemed that Zhang Tie would not get rid of this byname in the future.


    At the bottom of this article, there were many replies.


    Most of the people replied this article anonymously in Mountain of Brightness. Even someone didn''t hide their bynames, nobody could identify who were they.


    ¡ª¡ªWith terrifying body-changing immortal bloodline, soul-forbidden method, amazing battle strength and various secret methods, Qianji Hermit hid his true identity for so many years. Qianji Hermit''s enemies would have nightmares. I feel worth spending 1,000 gold coins for this article.


    ¡ª¡ªI mostly want to know who''s that semi-sage knight on the back of the Sacred Iceland Kingdom and Qianji Hermit. I would like to spend 100 earth-element crystals on this news...


    ¡ª¡ªI wonder whether you''ve found that, after reading the confession of Qianji Hermit, I speculate that Qianji Hermit might have gained a great secret item when he was young. Since then, Qianji Hermit grew more and more powerful from a common teenager in a short period.


    This article was followed by many replies too.


    ¡ª¡ªIt''s said that Qianji Hermit has been struck by a lightning bolt. After that, his potential was gradually tapped.


    ¡ª¡ªI''ve also heard about that.


    ¡ª¡ªI still stick to my opinion.


    ¡ª¡ªLuck is also a part of one''s power; actually, it''s a very important part of one''s power. I feel that Qianji Hermit is a lucky person. A lucky person would be special wherever he is.


    ¡ª¡ªI''m on the Western Continent, who knows what conditions are required to be Qianji Hermit''s disciples?


    ¡ª¡ªIt seems that Qianji Hermit should be one of the most powerful earth knights among Hua people.


    ¡ª¡ªQianji Hermit is young and dissolute; he''s a good example for our Hua people. Hahahaha, by the way, I make an advertisement here. This man is handsome, tall, tender and considerate. I have a good moral standing and excel at 2-person secret method. I''m in 7 change black iron realm. I want for a foreign female knight for 2-people cultivation, regardless of race. Female Hua knight preferred. Best in above 5 change black iron realm. Female earth knight is also welcome. If you intend to be my partner, please contact me according to the following method. Sincerely...


    ¡ª¡ªAhh, over 20 years ago, I''ve flown over Blackhot City in Waii Subcontinent. At that moment, Qianji Hermit must be in the city below as a common teenager.


    ¡ª¡ªThis is the handsome boy that I want; he''s too handsome and tender...


    ¡ª¡ªI''m Zhang Tie the Qianji Hermit. This is my another byname on the Western Continent. Any female knight who wants to get pregnant could come for me. I promise that you could give birth to boys. Additionally, our babies might have a chance to inherit my body-changing immortal bloodline. 20 water-element crystals for each pregnancy. Discount! 1 for 3. More discount for group purchase. I could keep you secret and never find you trouble after that...


    ...


    There were various replies. In Mountain of Brightness, as they were all knights, they were on the equal footing. Knights might put on their airs in front of commoners. However, in Mountain of Brightness, many knights would not put on their airs. Being covered by their bynames, all the knights could talk freely in Mountain of Brightness. It was like the cyberspace before the Catastrophe. In this virtual space, many people became different than that in reality. Knights might require a place to relax themselves and release pressure...


    After reading that "paid pregnancy" thing, Zhang Tie was dumbfounded.


    When Zhang Tie was immersed in Mountain of Brightness, a voice sounded, "The airboat of the special envoy of Sacred Light Empire has already arrived..."

 1251 Returning to Taixia Country

    Chapter 1251: Returning to Taixia Country


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The special envoy assigned by the pope of Sacred Light Empire was called Astor. Although he was just a chief pastor, his title as the clerk of pope clearly indicated that he was the henchman of the pope. Astor came to the Sacred Iceland Kingdom to negotiate with Zhang Tie about how to diffuse the conflicts between the two countries as the plenipotentiary of Sacred Light Empire.


    Golden Roc Bank had spoken volumes for the identity of a special envoy to the Sacred Iceland Kingdom before his arrival.


    Astor arrived at Ice and Snow Wilderness by an airboat of Golden Roc Bank on April 19th. Zhang Tie received him in a pavilion of the garden of Summer Palace on the second day.


    According to diplomatic customs, after coming to Saint Petersburg, Astor met Elder Gulas who was responsible for diplomatic affairs, the Cardinal Elders Committee and Queen O''Laura consecutively. After releasing those merchant ships and businessmen of Sacred Iceland Kingdom which were intercepted and detained by Western Continent and compensating for that, Astor was received by Zhang Tie in the garden of Summer Palace.


    At his 50s, Astor looked a bit fat with a kind smile. If not that religious robe and the faint knight''s wave and qi, this man was like a common boss of a bar.


    All the big figures must be handsome, ugly, abnormal or have some strange hobbies or exceptional temperaments. These contents were all plots in novels and stories. Zhang Tie also thought so when in Blackhot City; however, as his experience grew rich, Zhang Tie gradually found that it was far-stretched. Although those big figures had distinctive temperaments and impressed people deeply, Zhang Tie found that over 80% of big figures above knight level didn''t look much different than commoners.


    Zhang Tie himself was not outstanding.


    So was Astor. Now that he could become the henchman of the pope of Sacred Light Empire, how could he be average?


    At the sight of Astor, Zhang Tie was not cheated by Astor''s smile; instead, he told himself to be vigilant inside.


    "Your Majesty, this is Astor the personal secretary of the pope and a chief pastor of Sacred Light Empire!" Astor put his right hand on his chest sincerely as he bowed towards Zhang Tie sincerely.


    "I''m not the tsar anymore. You can call me Zhang Tie or Qianji Hermit, please take a seat!" Zhang Tie told Astor politely.


    The two people then sat down in the pavilion. There were a pond and a garden in the surroundings. It was April, the best season in Ice and Snow Wilderness and Gozidari Plain. It would be the traditional flowers picking festival of Slavs in Ice and Snow Wilderness after a few days. At this moment, the garden of Summer Palace had been covered with various fresh flowers such as rose, herb trinity, marigold and iris. Swarms of bees and butterflies were flying across the garden. Sitting in the pavilion and smelling the fragrance of flowers, they became reassured at once.


    "The secular imperial crown is eye-catching and could be easily put down. However, the imperial crown of one''s belief is invisible and immortal!" Astor said as he came to Zhang Tie''s front and sat down on the opposite of Zhang Tie''s seat; at the same time, he started to look Zhang Tie up and down decently.


    Zhang Tie''s young look and his great fame among humans made Astor curious.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he said, "You''re right. Invisible things are always more valuable than visible things!"


    "It''s not my words, it''s our pope''s proverb!"


    "If so, we have a common habit. Your pope and I always pay more attention to invisible things than visible things..."


    Zhang Tie faintly expressed his sincerity for compromise. No matter what the others said, Zhang Tie was clear that there was no real heavenly knight or semi-sage knight in the Sacred Iceland Kingdom. He might be advantageous for one or two times; however, Sacred Light Empire had a much deeper background than the Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Additionally, the pope of the Sacred Light Empire was a real heavenly knight. The Sacred Iceland Kingdom couldn''t maintain its long-term advantageous position in the wrestle with Sacred Light Empire. Now that the opponent would like to compromise, Zhang Tie would seize this opportunity for sure.


    As Zhang Tie had a good card for the time being, he would make the greatest profit for Sacred Iceland Kingdom while diffusing the threat from Sacred Light Empire. Otherwise, even if they returned to Taixia Country, they would not be reassured as Sacred Light Empire would always cast greedy eyes on Ice and Snow Wilderness. In this case, they didn''t need to be deadlocked. If Zhang Tie was too soft; the opposite would engulf Sacred Iceland Kingdom completely; if he was too hard, those crazy guys who had been brainwashed by Sacred Light Church could do anything. The best way was to inflict heavy losses on the opponent and save the opponent''s face at the same time.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Astor''s eyes turned bright. Actually, Astor''s mission was not easy. As for Sacred Light Empire, Sacred Iceland Kingdom was just a tiny sesame. Ockham the jerk halos pastor of the eastern parish of Sacred Light Empire and his subordinates created so many troubles only for such a tiny sesame. Finally, they ruined the reputation of the entire Sacred Light Empire; additionally, the pope might offend a heavenly knight or a semi-sage knight. Of course, the pope was irritated by what they did.


    "In Sacred Light Empire, the halos pastors in each major parish had pretty great rights. They could make decisions on many issues. The expedition towards the Sacred Iceland Kingdom is not out of the original intention of the pope. It''s definitely a pitiful mistake. Even our pope is very furious about this outcome!"


    "I also believe in the foresight of the pope of Sacred Light Empire. I don''t think he wants this fuss..." Zhang Tie said with a smile too.


    Astor''s words were true. The power of the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire indeed came from the eastern parish under the leadership of Ockham. Because the Sacred Iceland Kingdom was too small, such an expedition would almost not fail. Even if the pope knew it, he would absolutely acquiesce in the action of the eastern parish. However, the pope didn''t wish to see it if this action failed.


    "Ockham should be fully responsible for this event..."


    "I also think so!"


    "Sacred Light Empire will compensate for Ockham''s mistake; however, our pope wants to know whether Ockham is still alive or not. If he''s still alive, could Sacred Iceland Kingdom give him back to us?" Astor said while looking straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    To confirm whether there was a heavenly knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom and bring Ockham back if he was still alive was one of Astor''s missions.


    Zhang Tie had long prepared for this question.


    Zhang Tie shook his head as he said calmly, "I don''t know whether Ockham is still alive or not. That day, Ockham displayed a powerful ability in crisis. He escaped away in a speed of about 8 times the speed of sound in the air towards the northwest of Ice and Snow Wilderness. He moved so fast that even heavenly knight couldn''t catch up with him..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Astor''s eyes turned bright at once. Ockham grasped the secret method of life halos. Therefore, he could escape away from Saint Petersburg at such a high speed. Pope said that Ockham''s flight speed was 8 times the speed of sound in the air. Only a couple of people in Sacret Light Empire knew this secret. Now that Zhang Tie said that Ockham could fly at such a high speed, he was definitely not telling a lie. Additionally, there must be a heavenly knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom; otherwise, Ockham wouldn''t fly at such a high speed.


    After escaping away from Saint Petersburg using his life halos, Ockham had not contacted the pope yet. Nobody knew whether he was alive or not. If not being severely injured by the heavenly knight, Ockham would never use this secret method. The northwest of Ice and Snow Wilderness was a vast, unpopulated ice-capped land, which was far away from the sphere of influence of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Therefore, it tallied with Ockham''s thought in that case.


    "I wonder about the heavenly knight on the back of Sacred Iceland Kingdom..." Astor asked carefully.


    "He''s a friend of mine. We got acquainted with each other in Earth-elements Realm. We''re good friends despite the great difference in age. He''s not famous and likes to be alone. He''s entering a secluded cultivation somewhere in Ice and Snow Wilderness..." Zhang Tie said solemnly as if it was true.


    After analyzing all the information that he received, Astor stretched out his hand while a scroll suddenly appeared in his hand. He put the scroll onto the desk and pushed it in front of Zhang Tie as he said sincerely, "This is a bit sincerity of our pope. His Majesty hopes that this gift could express that Sacred Light Empire is not ambitious about the territory of Sacred Iceland Kingdom and diffuse the misunderstanding between the Sacred Iceland Kingdom and Sacred Light Empire..."


    Zhang Tie opened the scroll and found that it was a map. The name of the map was the Fadillan Province of Sacret Light Empire, which was a piece of land in the southwest corner of the Western Continent. It was far away from Sacred Light Empire. Fadillan Province neighbored a country called Federation of Barbarians in the northeast. and another powerful Rhesa Republic on the Western Continent in the northwest. In the south of this piece of land, it was a coastline. On the map, this piece of land covered over 6 million square miles, which was almost half of that of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. However, it was definitely larger than that of Zhang Tie''s Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory although it couldn''t match that of Sacred Light Empire and Western Continent.


    Zhang Tie looked up at Astor.


    "This is an enclave that Sacred Light Empire acquired dozens of years ago. It''s far away from Sacred Light Empire. Although being not large, it belongs to you from now on, Qianji Hermit..."


    After watching Astor for a few seconds seriously, Zhang Tie revealed a smile. Closely after that, he put away the scroll as he stretched out his hand and said, "As it''s in the holy war, all the human countries could seek for peace commonly. Let the bygones be bygones..."


    "Pah..." Astor clapped with a big smile.


    ...


    After Astor left the garden of Summer Palace for less than half an hour, Zhang Tie had gained the information about this "gift" from Golden Roc Bank. The predecessor of Fadillan Province was Fadillan Empire on the Western Continent. Since Sacred Light Empire let Fadillan Empire "voluntarily merge into" Sacred Light Empire in various means and made the imperial households of Fadillan Empire have no offsprings 6 decades ago, this enclave had become Fadillan Province of Sacred Light Empire.


    However, this piece of land was always in troubles over the past 60 years. The dignitaries of the former Fadillan Empire constantly opposed with the secret support of the Federation of Barbarians and Rhesa Republic. As a result, pastors and chief pastors of Sacred Light Church were always assassinated here. Even so, Sacred Light Empire still tried its best to maintain its ruling in this piece of land for the sake of face. That was to say, Sacred Light Empire had not completely ruled this piece of land. With this opportunity, Sacred Light Empire used this piece of land to pacify the conflict between Sacred Light Empire and Sacred Iceland Kingdom.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about the intention of Sacred Light Empire. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, this piece of land could work as his springboard and base to enter the Western Continent. What was more, over 600 square miles'' land was not small? Although it lagged behind Western Continent economically, it was still much more prosperous than Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    Zhang Tie really made a big fortune this time.


    Being different than the fact that Ice and Snow Wilderness belonged to so many Slavic tribes. Zhang Tie gained this piece of land from Sacred Light with his own ability. He didn''t use any force of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Sacred Light Empire also expressed that they would send this gift of Zhang Tie; instead of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Of course, this piece of land belonged to Zhang Tie''s personal property.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about the current situation facing Fadillan Province and whether he could rule this piece of land effectively. Now that Sacred Light Empire had gifted him this piece of land, legally, Zhang Tie and his descendants would be the owners of this new piece of land. Nobody could replace them. As long as he wanted it, he could take over this piece of land in a justifiable way whenever he wanted.


    On the same evening, Zhang Tie had called in all of his lovers and kids in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Like holding a family party, he showed that map and the corresponding certificates left by the special envoy of Sacred Light Empire to those kids as he told them, "Andre is your eldest brother; therefore, I leave Sacred Iceland Kingdom to Andre. When you grow up, if you want any land, this piece of land on the Western Continent belongs to you. It depends on you how much could you take. If you couldn''t even safeguard what I left to you, stop thinking about others. Just live your steady and leisure lives!"


    Alexander and the other kids couldn''t fully understand Zhang Tie''s words. However, Zhang Tie''s women exchanged a glance with each other as they nodded. Zhang Tie had too many kids, as the moms of these kids, they should consider about the future of his own kid.


    ...


    After becoming reconciled with Sacred Light Empire, Zhang Tie stayed in Saint Petersburg for 1 more month.


    Although those women and kids would still come back after returning to Taixia Country, they should make a long-term plan. They had a lot of things to deal with in Ice and Snow Wilderness and Ewentra Archipelago. They should take some people away. It would take them about 1 month to deal with all the things.


    On May 9th, at Zhang Tie''s request, Gold and Power Law directly drove a heavenly cloud-class airboat to the Summer Palace of Saint Petersburg. When the airboat arrived, all the people across the Summer Palace were gathering in the square and watching the huge airboat to slowly decline.


    The heavenly cloud-class airboat was customized by Gold and Power Law for Zhang Tie. Given its speculations, it was on the same class with that of the military commanders and the elders of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country. The airboat that Zhang Tie won from Taiyi Fantasy Sect was also a heavenly cloud-class airboat, which could rank top in luxury and specifications.


    Of course, this airboat aroused a shock in Saint Petersburg once again. Few people across Ice and Snow Wilderness had seen such a huge airboat, not to mention taking a ride in it. Not only Zhang Tie''s lovers and kids, but even the members of the Cardinal Elders Committee also visited it.


    This airboat was Zhang Tie''s new Iron-Dragon Airboat.


    After the iron-dragon airboat arrived at Ice and Snow Wilderness for 1 week, Zhang Tie left for Taixia Country with his lovers, kids and the other relevant personnel...


    During the month when Zhang Tie was in Ice and Snow Wilderness, the severest crisis since the beginning of the holy war broke out in Taixia Country...

 1252 The Great Catastrophe Facing Taixia Country I

    Ninghe Prefecture was a big prefecture in Yanzhou Province. Because Ninghe River flew across this prefecture, this prefecture was called Ninghe Prefecture. After the surging Ninghe River flew by Yanzhou Province, it made two convolutions on the southeast part of the vast land of Yanzhou Province like an undulating huge dragon, each convolution covered over 1,000 miles. After that, the surging Ningheriver turned winding and headed for the east like a masterpiece and a splendid landscape work of a painter.


    Tender wind and winding river both benefited Ninghe Prefecture a lot. The great convolutions of Ninghe River irrigated thousands of miles'' fertile land and led to the prosperity of the entire Ninghe Prefecture.


    Ninghe Prefecture was called the Granary of Yanzhou Province. The entire Ninghe Prefecture was famous for its grains across Youzhou Province, Northeast Military Region, even across Taixia Country. Xuanyuan Hill would assign officials to purchase the best grains from Ninghe Prefecture every year for the dignitaries in the Emperor''s Imperial City and the imperial palace of Xuanyuan Hill.


    The Ninghe River and the fertile black earth led to Ninghe Liquor, one of the top 10 liquors in Taixia Country.


    Ninghe Liquor was brewed by the fall wheat in Ninghe Prefecture. The fall wheat in Ninghe Prefecture was sowed in late September and became ripe in late May. When it came to the bumper harvest, the entire land of Ninghe Prefecture would be covered with endless golden color. The return of the earth brought hope to many people.


    Previously, in each late May, when the fall wheat became ripe, a lot of airships and airboats would arrive at Ninghe Prefecture. Of course, they were not here for reaping ears of wheat, but for enjoying the scenery.


    Sitting in the airships or airboats, travelers would watch the vast land being paved with a golden carpet. When the breeze blew over, the golden carpet would undulate like sea waves, which became a wonderful scenery.


    At this moment, some airboats were suspending over a piece of a wheat field in the main producing area of Ninghe Prefecture. However, being different than those in the past years, these people were not here for enjoying the scenery. Hundreds of people were standing on one side of the golden wheat field in different colors such as green, red, purple and blue.


    Green, red, purple and blue represented different ranks in Taixia Country. All the big figures in northeast military region headquarters, Yanzhou Provincial Governor''s Mansion and Ninghe Prefecture were here. Such a grand reunion could be barely seen in normal times except for the banquets held by the commander-in-chief of northeast military religion. Commander-in-chief always held banquets; however, today, they all reunited on one side of the wheat field in Ninghe Prefecture.


    Although the breeze blew over with the faint heat of early summer at noon, the place where they stood almost froze. Many officials especially officials in Ninghe Prefecture looked poor as their legs shivered. The sweat on their backs and their temples made their uniforms wet all over.


    Nobody dared utter any voice; even the Yanzhou provincial governor clenched his fist as he stood on one side of the wheat field with a cold look.


    The commander-in-chief looked like an experienced old farmer. He squatted down as he stretched out one hand and broke a handful of ears of wheat. Closely after that, he opened all the hulls of the ears of wheat by rubbing them. There was nothing inside the hulls, not even a single wheat. Commander-in-chief clapped his hands, having the handful of wheat hulls fly away lightly in the breeze.


    He broke other ears of wheat and got the same result.


    All the ears of wheat were empty.


    Watching the handful of wheat hulls flying away in the breeze, some officials felt that it was their bodies and souls that were broken by the hands of the commander-in-chief.


    With a sound of "Dong", a grey-haired official in class 8 uniform passed out as he fell down onto the ridge between wheat fields with a red face and closed eyes.


    If it were in normal times, the other officials had long swarmed up to look after him; however, at this moment, nobody dared move or even have a smooth breath.


    At this moment, if the commander-in-chief was irritated, many officials'' heads would be chopped off, not to mention passing out.


    The commander-in-chief stood up as his face turned darker and colder. All the people at present sensed a great killing intent from Commander Cheng''s frown.


    Commander Cheng took in a deep breath as he glanced around those officials and asked calmly, "Where''s Liu Yuntao the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture?"


    "This humble man is here!" After hearing Commander Cheng calling his name, a 60-year old official who looked loyal and honest quivered a bit before walking out of the crowd and bowing deeply towards Commander Cheng.


    "Do all the ears of wheat in Ninghe Prefecture face the same problem?"


    "Yes...all...all of them..." The magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture quivered once again as he answered.


    "What about the loss?"


    "This year, Ninghe Prefecture plant 111,955,950,000 square meters'' wheat in total. As the soil in Ninghe Prefecture is fertile, plus the irrigation of Ninghe River, the wheat fields in Ninghe Prefecture always have a high yield. We could usually produce 920 kg per mu. We lose over 154 billion kg''s wheat this year..." Although the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture was intense, he could still report the relevant data easily.


    Ninghe Prefecture was a big farming prefecture. The magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture was previously a farmer. After being promoted to a farming official, he was favored by Zhu Tong the Yanzhou provincial governor and was finally promoted to the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture. Of course, he was very familiar with agriculture.


    "Over 154 billion kg''s wheat. It''s almost one year''s grains for 400 million people..." Commander Cheng let out a deep sigh as he looked at the quivering magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture for a short while before asking in a kinder voice, "As you were a farmer, you excel at farming works. In your opinion, can the autumn grains this year and summer grains next year be guaranteed in Ninghe Prefecture?"


    After hearing this question, the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture''s face turned pale at once as he looked up at the other officials at present before stammering, "I...I don''t know..."


    Commander Cheng''s eyes turned serious at once as he said, "As the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture, you don''t even know this, what a good-for-nothing!"


    The magistrate answered with a bitter look, "This...this is really not under my control..."


    "Why?"


    "This humble man dare not say that..."


    "Just say it!"


    The magistrate gritted as he raised his head at once and said, "Now that Commander Cheng allows me to say it, I will put it straightforwardly. This year, Ninghe Prefecture''s agriculture is good in all aspects such as fertility, farming season, climate, tillage, irrigation and insects and disease prevention. In normal times, it should be a bumper harvest like usual. However, the wheat failure is too severe and special. Given its scale and severity, it''s definitely not caused by ordinary plant pests or the weather and the fertility of the soil. There''s only one reason, namely all the wheat in Ninghe Prefecture have been demonized. Only demonized plant seeds could lead to such a large-scale crop failure!"


    All the people at present listened to his explanation quietly, including Commander Cheng. Therefore, the magistrate said loudly with a red face regardless of any outcome.


    "The seeds of fall wheat in Ninghe Prefecture don''t come from only one clan. Many seeds were preserved by farmers themselves. In this case, they could still sow the demonized seeds unconsciously, it indicates that the farmlands in Ninghe Prefecture might have long been contaminated by demonized seeds dozens of years ago. Only after generations'' constant contamination and dissemination could cause such a large-scale crop failure. If it is real, not only the summer crops this year, the farmlands in Ninghe Prefecture would not produce any other grains in the future!"


    Commander Cheng''s face turned black as ink as he said, "What about using pure seeds?"


    "Commander Cheng, as you know the seeds'' genes have been contaminated. Take this piece of farmland as an instance, If demonized seeds were planted on its neighborhood; even if the seeds in this farmland were pure, these pure seeds'' next generations would also be contaminated by the demonized genes of those neighboring demonized seeds through pollen dispersal between crops, farming tools, transport vehicles even the same water source and the same soil. Besides mutual contamination between plants, after humans or animals had those demonized grains, those contaminated genes would stay in farming fertilizers. Through fertilizers, they would contaminate the farmland for the second time. Therefore, after being contaminated by that, even a pure farmland would face a crop failure." The magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture revealed a bitter smile as he continued, "Given the current situation facing Ninghe Prefecture, if this demonized contamination had sustained for several decades, the 111,955,950,000 square meters'' farmland which suffered from a crop failure probably have been contaminated completely, including the soil and the water source. If so, the future grain yield would never be guaranteed."


    "Do we have any method to wipe out the pollutant source?"


    "If it was in lab, all the materials should go through inactivation treatment before being taken out of the lab in case of gene pollution and flow; all the demonized plants should be burned in the lab, even the soil in the lab should be steamed at high temperatures in boilers before being taken out of lab. Therefore, unless all the soil across Ninghe Prefecture were steamed in boilers..."

 1253 The Great Catastrophe Facing Taixia Country II

    ''Are you kidding me? Steam all the dozens of billions of square meters'' soil in a boiler so as to eliminate the contamination of demonized plants? Who could do that? I''ve not heard that any brick kiln could hold dozens of billions of square meters'' soil in Taixia Country.''


    After hearing the magistrate''s words, all the officials at present swore inside; however, nobody dared burst out into laughter or refute him. Because the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture was undoubtedly an agricultural expert. Nobody else at present knew agriculture better than him. Liu Yuntao might be like a bookish; however, Commander Cheng couldn''t doubt Liu Yuntao''s authority even though he was a shadow knight.


    However, after hearing Liu Yuntao''s words, Commander Cheng''s frown grew deeper.


    "You mean, Ninghe Prefecture as the granary of Yanzhou Province would not only suffer from a wheat failure this year but also from a constant failure in the future even if pure seeds are sowed here..."


    "The gene contamination and flow caused by demonized plants would not only cause gene change of near-source species; in the worst scenario, the entire ecological environment would change structurally. Take these farmlands in Ninghe Prefecture as an instance, demonized grains not only cause crop failure. As these demonized grains root in soil, they could cause severe impact and a major change to the microbial system in the soil. As a result, the specialties of the soil would be changed..."


    Commander Cheng waved his hand to interrupt the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture impatiently as he asked straightforwardly, "Just tell me whether the fertile soil in Ninghe Prefecture could produce any grains in the future?"


    The magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture gritted once again as he nodded forcefully, "Yes, they will. However, the yield would be reduced. These high-yield farmlands might be low-yield farmlands and couldn''t recover the high yield until dozens of years later..."


    "As Ninghe Prefecture is suffering from a summer wheat failure, what''s your countermeasure as the magistrate of Ninghe prefecture?"


    "Burn them!"


    "Burn them?"


    "Yes, as there''s no yield, these ears of wheat are not qualified to be reaped. In case of greater contamination, we''d better burn them all. After that, the ashes could serve as fertilizers. Through careful tillage, as long as the next batch of grain seeds are pure, we will have a harvest more or less!"


    "Good, burn them then..."


    "However, as the entire Ninghe Prefecture is suffering from summer wheat failure. All the people in Ninghe Prefecture are in a state of anxiety. If we want to recover the fertility of the farmlands in Ninghe Prefecture, we need to invest more into it. This humble man sincerely expects Commander Cheng to exempt this year''s taxes for Ninghe Prefecture. Additionally, please deliver farming loans to farmers in order to make people reassured in case of other concerns. Furthermore, please open the top 6 warehouses of class A cities within Yanzhou Province and deliver pure grain seeds to the farmers. In this way, I promise that all the farmers of Ninghe Prefecture would put their full efforts in farming work sincerely..."


    The magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture proposed three suggestions.


    "Well, I will exempt 3 years taxes for Ninghe Prefecture. 3 years later, the taxes of Ninghe Prefecture will be halved. Additionally, the northeast military region headquarters will allocate 20 million gold coins to Ninghe Prefecture..." Commander Cheng said after hesitating slightly for less than a second. If not on his side, perhaps nobody could discover his hesitation at this moment, "As to the other suggestions, as you wish!"


    "Thanks, Commander Cheng!" The magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture bowed deeply towards Commander Cheng as he said generously, "If so, if Ninghe Prefecture''s fertile land still suffered from such a crop failure 3 years later, this humble man would like to commit suicide for that!"


    "No need to commit suicide, just do your job at your full efforts!" Commander Cheng said. After that, he threw a glance at the official who had passed out and fallen onto the ridge between fields before waving his hand and sending an order, "Carry him away and cure him. Given his age, he''s not suitable to serve as any local official in Ninghe Prefecture. After he wakes up, let him resign and return home."


    "Yes!"


    "Let''s go..." Commander Cheng said as he flew off towards his airboat which was suspending in the sky, followed by some attendants. All the attendants were knight-level officials in the northeast military region headquarters.


    "Bon Voyage, Commander Cheng..." All the other officials in Yanzhou Province and Ninghe Prefecture below said as they saw Commander Cheng flying away. As Commander Cheng didn''t kill anyone to have them assume the responsibility for this crop failure, many officials had let out a deep sigh inside. However, it was just a temporary relaxation. Looking at the large-scale crop failure, everybody was in a low mood.


    "Now that Commander Cheng has sent the order, let''s do it..." Zhu Tong the Yanzhou provincial governor finally opened his mouth...


    ...


    Zhu Tong was silent just now because he was also in a low mood.


    Zhu Tong had already guessed why Commander Cheng didn''t lose his temper here today. Because Ninghe Prefecture was not the only place that suffered from a large-scale crop failure. Most of the top 100 crops production places in Taixia Country suffered from similar large-scale crop failures. This summer harvest was in an unprecedentedly worse situation. 80% of all the other places across Yanzhou Province suffered from the same crop failure.


    Even idiots knew that agricultural production which was concerned about the stability and lifeline of Taixia Country was facing a big problem. It could be confirmed from the prices of the crops in the latest 2 months. The crops'' prices across Taixia Country had increased by two times in April and May. All the major clans had started to stockpile grains. Official grains were put into the market. Additionally, major clans were limited to purchase grains. As a result, the prices of crops were stabilized slightly.


    Taixia Country was facing a big problem in agriculture. Of course, this problem was closely related to Han Zhengfang the former finance minister, Heavens Reaching Church and demons. Any smart one could understand the cause and the effect.


    However, the storage of official grains was limited. If the farmland across Taixia country couldn''t produce any grains, the official grains in military regions and prefectures couldn''t stand too long.


    ''As one of the top 9 ministers in Taixia Country, Han Zhengfang surrendered to demons. How many fatal plots have Han Zhengfang set in Taixia Country over these years?'' Zhu Tong felt chilly inside the moment he thought about this.


    ...


    ¡ª¡ªHope no more problems in the future.


    Liu Yuntao the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture was also restless. ''After the summer harvest, according to farming season and customs, soya beans should be sowed in the most part of farmlands in Ninghe Prefecture in late June. If these soya beans suffered from a failure too...''


    Liu Yuntao dared not think about it anymore. ''If such a situation really cropped up, the farmers in Ninghe Prefecture would reap nothing after one years'' hard work. If so, before demons arrived, Taixia Country would be in a large-scale chaos...''


    Liu Yuntao only expected that the soya beans in the top 6 warehouses in class A cities had no problem.


    ...


    The officials started to leave the ridge. After receiving the order, the soldiers started to burn the ears of wheat in the farmlands.


    ...


    Only after a few minutes, before the Cheng Honglie''s airboat left Ninghe Prefecture, heavy smoke had risen from the farmlands below within 1,000 miles...


    The flames were at most higher than 10 m. However, the smoke was heavy. Looking down from the airboat, they found the farmlands were covered with smog by lots.


    Standing in the airboat, Commander Cheng frowned as he watched the rising smoke. When the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture mentioned about using the stored grains in the top 6 warehouses in Taixia country, Commander Cheng hesitated slightly. Because he was not sure whether the stored crops in the top 6 warehouses of class A cities in the northeast military region were safe or not.


    The grains in the top 6 warehouses in class A cities couldn''t be stored forever. When they reached the corresponding time limits, they would be replaced by new grains. Otherwise, those grains would go bad. If Han Zhengfang and demons determined to demonize grains in Taixia Country, now that the grains across Taixia Country were demonized unconsciously, it was hard to say those grains in the top 6 warehouses across Taixia country were safe although the process for entering warehouses was very strict.


    ''Demons and Three-eye Association clans had demonized human grains before the Catastrophe. As long as humans ate demonized grains for a long time, they would be infertile, weak, sick and be inflicted by various incurable diseases. This point could be discovered from the epidemic data collected by those hospitals. Taixia Country could make and have made preventions and countermeasures about that; however, each time, demons could use the same trick to have Taixia Country as a whole suffer from crop failure in a specific period, sparing no time for Taixia Country to make any response and early-warning to it. Besides making Taixia Country run out of grains, they also destroyed the fertile land in Taixia Country. What a vicious plan!''


    Commander Cheng let out a deep sigh inside.


    Although demons had not arrived, Taixia Country had been chaotic. Xuanyuan Hill was missing; the crown prince was acting as regent; the catastrophe of bloody figures across Taixia country had not been pacified; the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church had not been exterminated; Taixia Country''s agriculture faced a big problem. In the past half a year, the prices of grains had been roaring; the housing prices in cities started to skyrocket; major clans across Taixia Country started to build high city walls and expand their private armies in the name of exterminating bloody figures. All this indicated that Taixia Country was going to be in big chaos.


    The moment he thought about this, Commander Cheng would be worried...


    ...


    "Commander, we''ve inspected Gaozhou Province, Mozhou Province, Tongzhou Province, Qiongzhou Province, Yanzhou Provine, Huizhou Province and Chaozhou Province. Where do we go now?" Gao Tianqi the assistant of Cheng Honglie drew Commander Cheng back from his train of thoughts.


    "We''ve not been to Youzhou Province yet. Have you received any message about Youzhou Province these days?" Commander Cheng turned around as he asked Gao Tianqi calmly.


    "Youzhou Province has started its summer harvest. They''re not severely affected by demonized grains. It''s said that only two prefectures in Youzhou Province suffered from crop failures. Yanghe Prefecture and the other prefectures in Youzhou Province even have greater yields than previous years. As Commander Cheng was busy patrolling across northeast military region these days, you might have not heard that. This humble man heard a shocking news about Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory from one of my friends recently!"


    "Is that about Fiery Oil or Zhang Tie''s romantic affairs in the subcontinent?"


    Speaking of Zhang Tie, Commander Cheng''s tone turned strange. Gao Tianqi remembered that when he said that Zhang Tie came back to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory with a lot of wives and kids from the Sacred Iceland Kingdom in Waii Subcontinent a few days ago, Commander Cheng replied with a cold harrumph in his study as he replied, "Naive!". Commander Cheng still seemed to be dissatisfied about Zhang Tie as the latter only cared about his own family. However, Commander Cheng couldn''t stop Zhang Tie as Zhang Tie was not an official of Taixia Country anymore.


    "Ahem, ahem, it''s neither about Fiery Oil nor Qianji Hermit''s dissolute affairs in the subcontinent!"


    Gao Tianqi pretended to cough twice. Although Commander Cheng could call Zhang Tie''s name directly, as a black iron knight, it was improper for Gao Tianqi to call a legendary earth knight who was famous across Eastern Continent and Western Continent like what Commander Cheng called. When Zhang Tie served as the Youzhou provincial justice, Gao Tianqi might be able to call Zhang Tie''s name directly; however, he couldn''t do that now. Only after a few years, the man who had met him a few times and was on the same footing with him before had grown increasingly powerful. Gao Tianqi didn''t even know what he felt at this moment. When he mentioned about Zhang Tie, Gao Tianqi would unconsciously recall the scene that Zhang Tie squatted down on the riverside outside Youzhou City and washed tableware. A powerful black iron knight traveled with his family by touring care and was responsible for washing tableware. Nobody else might believe in it. It was definitely a fairytale. Gao Tianqi had not washed tableware since he was born, whether at home, in the sect or on the side of Cheng Honglie.


    "It''s said that Qianji Hermit the master of Iron-Dragon Sect took out a great treasure that he gained from Earth-elements Realm a few days ago. It''s called bloody sacrifice furnace. One could improve his cultivation base and cure his incurable diseases and wounds by sacrificing bloody figures in the bloody sacrifice furnace. Only in a few days, the bloody sacrifice furnace has aroused a shock. Due to the existence of the bloody sacrifice furnace, the prices of bloody figures across Youzhou Province and Tongzhou Province rose amazingly and are in short. Many major clans across Youzhou Province and Tongzhou Province have assigned more manpower to hunt for bloody figures alive. Someone even purchase bloody figures at high prices. Being allured by such a high profit, bounty hunters across Youzhou Province and Tongzhou Province are all in action..."


    Commander Cheng turned around immediately. Looking at Gao Tianqi, he suddenly asked, "What do you think about Zhang Tie..."


    After hearing Cheng Honglie''s question, Gao Tianqi took in a breath before replying calmly, "Commander, you might not know that, this humble man has met Qianji Hermit outside the city before we met Qianji Hermit in Youzhou Province. When this humble met Qianji Hermit, he was squatting down and washing tableware on the riverside beside an army ranch!"


    "What? Squat down and wash tableware on the riverside?" Commander Cheng asked with an amazed look as if he felt that Gao Tianqi was joking. A knight would wash tableware? Neither Gao Tianqi nor Commander Cheng had ever done that since they were born.


    "Yes, he was. Qianji Hermit was driving a new touring car and traveling in Youzhou Province with his parents, wives and kids. They traveled all the way towards Youzhou City. At that moment, Feng Cangwu and I were trying horses in the military ranch. When we came to the riverside, we saw Qianji Hermit. At that time, we didn''t find that teenager who was washing tableware on the opposite side of us was a powerful black iron knight. Over these years, the scene when I met Qianji Hermit for the first time always appeared in my mind and reminded me that I should treat people and things in ordinary mentality. After these years'' experience, I feel making a great improvement in my mental realm. I feel that Qianji Hermit grasps mysterious earthshaking skills although he looks average. He''s definitely qualified to be Qianji Hermit. I really admire him..." Gao Tianqi said solemnly.


    After hearing Gao Tianqi''s comment about Zhang Tie, Commander Cheng''s eyes gleamed as he said, "Go to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory..."


    ...

 1254 A Live Military Drill

    Chapter 1254: A Live Military Drill


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory neighbored Gaoping Prefecture in Yanzhou Province. It only took Commander Cheng''s airboat 3 hours to arrive at Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory from Ninghe Prefecture in Yanzhou Province.


    Even though nobody reminded him, Commander Cheng had already known when the airboat entered the air territory of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    A team of 9 silver airplanes flew over from below the airboat of Commander Cheng in a tidy herringbone formation over 2,000 m high with the booms of engines.


    Compared to the airboat, airplanes were much smaller and slower. However, at the first sight of those airplanes, Commander Cheng was indeed attracted by them.


    Soon after Commander Cheng entered the air territory of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, he had relieved his slight frown.


    "Are these airplanes being driven by Fiery Oil?" Commander Cheng asked Gao Tianqi while gazing at those airplanes flying across the clouds below with shiny eyes.


    "Yes, they''re airplanes!" Gao Tianqi also seriously watched that team of airplanes below the airboat. Although Gao Tianqi was Commander Cheng''s chief guard nominally, he was always trained as a provincial governor. Therefore, Gao Tianqi also served as Commander Cheng''s secretary. He also paid attention to the military and political affairs in the northeast military region. Of course, Gao Tianqi had channels to acquire the messages about Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory in late months. He replied, "These airplanes are Air Cavalry Type-I. Over the past 2 months, all the cities in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory were building and renovating the universal airports for airships, airboats and airplanes. Additionally, they established an air cavalry academy outside Xuantian City, which drove the youngsters in Youzhou Province mad. Youngsters from other military regions and prefectures also went to learn how to drive airplanes over there..."


    In this age, besides knights, nobody else could fly; therefore, it was very attractive for these youngsters to fly in the sky by driving a set of machine.


    "Air cavalry academy? Where do their coaches come from?"


    "It''s said that coaches were recruited from the crew of airships who could drive gliders. Nice treatment. The manipulating and flight principles of airplanes are not too much complex than that of driving gliders. They could attempt to drive an airplane only after being familiar with that. Aww, the teaching material of Iron-Dragon Air Cavalry Academy is called "Pilot Driving Manual". It''s said that it was compiled by Qianji Hermit himself!"


    After hearing that, Commander Cheng became really surprised, "Zhang Tie compiled that?"


    "Commander, don''t forget that Qianji Hermit was known as Selnes Eagle before promoting to a knight and coming to Taixia Country when he was in the fiercest battlefield between humans and demons in Waii Subcontinent. It''s said that Qianji Hermit was the only air cavalry on the battlefield. He could drive the only artificial man-powered airplane on that battlefield. At that time, Qianji Hermit protected the entire airship troop in the sky alone and was regarded as the patron of many crews of airships in the sky!"


    When Zhang Tie was a black iron knight, Gao Tianqi might still be jealous of Zhang Tie. However, due to the increasingly greater difference between them, Gao Tianqi only admired him.


    "Let''s take a look downside there..." Commander Cheng became interested in the airplanes.


    In this case, Gao Tianqi could only notice the crew of the airboat before following Commander Cheng off the airboat.


    ...


    When the 9 airplanes were flying below the airboat, Cheng Honglie and Gao Tianqi suddenly appeared to one side of the first airplane. Being a few meters away from that airplane, they started to observe that airplane seriously. Meanwhile, they started to assess the performance and value of this airplane.


    Thankfully, it was not the first time for the pilot to meet knights in the sky. Although the appearance of Cheng Honglie and Gao Tianqi shocked him a bit, he recovered his composure soon.


    The pilot made a hand gesture to tell the other pilots to fly as scheduled.


    The pilot of the first airplane was the team leader of this formation.


    Behind the cockpit of the first airplane, the crew member who was responsible for manipulating a crossbow was only over 20 years old. He was watching Cheng Honglie and Gao Tianqi with widely opened eyes who were a few meters away.


    Common fighters could barely see two flying knights in such a short distance.


    When he found that this flight formation was not in a panic after seeing the two knights, Commander Cheng nodded inside.


    Compared to the prototype that Zhang Tie once tried, the Air cavalry type-I was slightly modified in the cover of the cockpit, the chair in the cockpit, the rearview mirror, breathing system and the type of the steam crossbow behind the shooting cabin according to the opinions of the pilots and the bowmen after large-scale training over the past 2 months. After making these modifications, the 9 Type-I air cavalries were finally produced as the fixed type for mass production.


    Just now, Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi didn''t see the item below the abdomen of these airplanes due to visual angle. When they approached, they saw an item which was similar to that of white phosphorous gel incendiary bomb under each airplane.


    The airplanes flew rapidly. Like that in Ninghe Prefecture, the land in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was also golden all over. It was the season for summer harvest in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Ninghe Prefecture''s summer harvest turned into a big fire on the fertile land. By contrast, the summer harvest in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was ongoing fervently. When the prices of grains were rising across Taixia Country, the bumper harvest in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory made all the major clans and commoners in farming villages across Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory happy and spirited as if they were in a Shangri-la.


    Farmers were busy reaping ears of wheat in farmlands. When they saw airplanes flying over, those people would raise their heads and wipe off their sweat as they waved their hands and cheered towards those airplanes.


    In the half past month, Commander Cheng had inspected all the main grain producing areas across the entire northeast miliary region except for Youzhou Province. Wherever he was, he would always see miserable scenes. This summer grains failure was absolutely a large-scale catastrophe. Facing such a miserable situation, both officials and commoners were frightened, sad and restless. Therefore, the moment Commander Cheng saw the vigorous and hopeful scene in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, Commander Cheng felt pretty good immediately.


    Although with two uninvited guests on their side, the formation of airplanes still stuck to their flight route as they were not affected by it at all.


    After over 1 hour''s flight, the 9 airplanes finally entered the air territory of Yangui Mountain Range after passing by Wugong City and Dongyang City. After flying another half an hour over Yangui Mountain Range, they saw a valley being covered with mud, rocks and few shrubs and weeds within 100 miles under the formation of airplanes.


    In the sky, they could see a huge, round area being drawn by lime whose diameter was hundreds of meters. Many people in military uniforms were waiting for something a few miles away from the other side of the round area.


    When the 9 airplanes entered the air territory of this valley, all the airplanes suddenly tilted their wings as the entire formation divided into two groups. Closely after that, they dove down from thousands of meters high at high speed, causing wuthering sounds.


    When the two groups of airplanes were hundreds of meters high above the round area, they suddenly dropped off the item which looked like white phosphorous gel incendiary bomb which flew towards that round area. When those bombs were dozens of meters away from the ground, all the bombs burned while giving out raging flames. In a split second, hot waves rushed into the sky. As a result, the greater part of the round area was covered by the hot flames. The land, weeds, shrubs even rocks in the white round area were burning heavily. Weeds and shrubs were burned into ashes; rocks were collapsed; mud was hardened. In the center of the white circle, the air turned thin due to surrounding flames...


    When those airplanes started to dive down, Cheng Honglie and Gao Tianqi suspended in the sky. Actually, at the sight of the huge white circle on the valley, they had realized what these airplanes were doing.


    It seemed like a live military drill. The achievement of this drill was really out of the imagination of the two people. The 9 incendiary bombs turned the round area into a purgatory in a split second. Even being thousands of meters high, Cheng Honglie and Gao Tianqi could still sense the hot wave.


    Ordinary white phosphorous gel incendiary bombs could never be that powerful. That was not a white phosphorous gel incendiary bomb, but a more powerful and destructive incendiary bomb which had never existed in Taixia Country before...

 1255 Fiery-Oil Incendiary Bomb

    Chapter 1255: Fiery-Oil Incendiary Bomb


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After throwing off the bombs, the 9 airplanes made a circle above the valley before heading far away, leaving raging flames within the white circle. Commander Cheng watched the scene for a short while before flying towards those people on the hillside, closely followed by Gao Tianqi.


    In the blink of an eye, Commander Cheng had landed in front of those people in military uniforms on the hillside.


    Those people neither wore the military uniforms of the regular army across Taixia Country nor that of the top 4 armies in Taixia Country; instead, they wore grey-green military uniforms which were similar to that of the armed forces of business groups and private armies of major clans. The sharp difference between this military uniform and that of the regular army in Taixia Country lay in that there was an eye-catching diamond-shaped mark on the sleeve of this military uniform. Those who were familiar with the military legal system in each military region could find more information from the details such as their shoulder mark, collar badge, cap badge and armband. Their cap badge was a sword made of crisscrossed steel gears.


    Among the crowd, there were 5 people in blue engineer''s uniform and eyeglasses, which looked a bit eye-catching.


    There were 50-60 people on the hillside. All of them were capable and vigorous. Additionally, there were more than 10 six-wheeled SUVs in the nearby. Compared to that of ordinary steam vehicles, those vehicles'' steam engine, boiler, accumulator and smoke evacuation system which were easily identified could be barely seen from outside...


    After landing on the hillside, Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi glanced around these people and those vehicles behind them for a short while out of curiosity.


    When Cheng Honglie and Gao Tianqi landed on the hillside, those people were all shocked a bit as they gazed at the two strangers; however, they didn'' look afraid or intense.


    "You''re in the Arms Testing Field of Fire-Dragon Corps. May I know your purpose here?" A youth official at his 20s asked.


    Unless making a report to Emperor Xuanyuan in Xuanyuan Hill, Commander Cheng would not wear the official uniform. Although being a shadow knight, he didn''t release his battle qi purposefully when he was not in a battle; in that case, people below knight rank could barely identify the concrete rank of a knight.


    Cheng Honglie threw a glance at that youth official who was only LV 9 before asking in an imposing and direct manner, "I''m Cheng Honglie the commander of the northeast military region, who''s your head here?"


    After hearing Commander Cheng''s words, these officials were in an uproar. As many knights had been to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory these days, they had been used to see knights here. However, they had not imagined that they could see the commander of the northeast military region here.


    Zhang Su, who was younger than 40 years old with a handlebar mustache in a military uniform, walked out of the crowd as he said, "I could make decisions here. As we''ve not seen Commander Cheng before, please prove your identity; otherwise, please leave this important military place!"


    Zhang Su said in neither humble nor pushy way. He was not afraid at all even in front of the two knights.


    Commander Cheng nodded inside, ''That''s how soldiers should behave. As these people have not seen me before, if they believe in my words immediately, I would feel that these people are idiots and don''t comply with military disciplines.''


    Commander Cheng moved his hand while a big, brilliant seal appeared in his hand. He had the "words" side face Zhang Su and the other officials. After everybody else saw the words "Seal of Cheng Honglie the Commander of Northeast Military Region in Taixia Country" clearly, Cheng Honglie put it away in his portable space-teleportation equipment.


    "Welcome, Commander..."


    Zhang Su gave a military salute to Commander Cheng, followed by all the others.


    Commander Cheng nodded as he moved his eyes onto Zhang Su, "What''s your name?"


    "This humble man is Zhang Su!"


    "What''s your title in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory?"


    "This humble man is the deputy regimental commander of the Fire-Dragon Corps of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory!"


    Besides being fluent in reply in neither a humble nor a pushy way, Zhang Su''s look always felt familiar as if Commander Cheng had seen him somewhere. After watching Zhang Su''s face carefully for a short while, Commander Cheng asked, "What''s the relationship between you and Zhang Tie?"


    "I''m Zhang Tie''s cousin..."


    ''I see!'' Cheng Honglie nodded. As cousins, Zhang Tie and Zhang Su were close in blood ties. Therefore, the facial contours of Zhang Tie and Zhang Su especially their jaws and noses were similar to each other. "Were you testing the news arms?"


    "Yes!"


    "What''s that?"


    "It''s Fiery-Oil Incendiary Bomb!"


    "Fiery-Oil Incendiary Bomb?" Commander Cheng''s eyes turned bright as he asked, "Is it made of Fiery-Oil?"


    "Yes!"


    Pointing at the raging flame on the barren land in the far, Commander Cheng let out a sigh, "Only 9 Fiery-Oil Incendiary Bombs could reach such a great effect. At least 20 white phosphorous gel incendiary bombs are required to reach the same effect. What a sharp weapon!"


    "This benefits from our far-sighted master!"


    "Oh?"


    "Our master said Fiery-Oil could release greater heat than that of gasoline before the Catastrophe. Before the Catastrophe, humans invented powerful gasoline incendiary bombs. In this age, we''ve got white phosphorous gel incendiary bombs. Our master enlightened us to draw the strengths of the two kinds of weapons and make a new incendiary bomb made of Fiery-Oil. Through months'' experiments, our engineers and researchers finally invented the new Fiery-Oil Incendiary Bomb!"


    Of course, the white phosphorous gel bomb was a weapon of mass destruction on the battlefield and a strategic human resource in the holy war. As the commander of the northeast military region, Cheng Honglie was clear about the high cost and complex manufacturing process of a white phosphorous gel bomb. A 500 kg''s white phosphorous gel incendiary bomb would cost at least 3,000 gold coins. Additionally, due to rare raw materials and strict requirements on the manufacturing process, the largest official factory within the northeast military region could only make fewer than 10,000 tons'' white phosphorous gel incendiary bombs a year. Although this figure seemed big, it indicated a very small production scale.


    Especially in the holy war, none of countries or troops would feel that they had enough white phosphorous gel incendiary bombs. Those white phosphorous gel incendiary bombs that were produced in the largest factory within the northeast military region had almost been shared by all the troops across the northeast military region before leaving the factory. In order to get more white phosphorous gel incendiary bombs, generals and provincial governors of each province would almost stir up trouble in the northeast military region headquarters yearly, which made Commander Cheng pretty upset.


    The major clans in each province across the northeast military region also had clan factories and enterprises which could produce white phosphorous gel incendiary bombs. By contrast, these clan enterprises had poorer production capabilities. Although these clan enterprises would sell white phosphorous gel incendiary bombs before the holy war, after the holy war broke out, these clans would keep stockpiling these arms except for selling them to the other clans which got along well with them.


    It was said that Zhang Tie''s Fiery-Oil was made of fermented straws; therefore, the cost of Fiery-Oil should be low. Additionally, its manufacturing process should not be that difficult. If Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory got hang of the method of manufacturing Fiery-Oil Incendiary Bomb in a large scale at a low cost, they could shock the military of Taixia Country for sure.


    Over the past 2 months, the names of Fiery-Oil and Airplanes had shocked the world. Nobody could imagine that Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory could make new arms using Fiery-Oil so fast.


    Besides ordinary white phosphorous gel incendiary bombs, Cheng Honglie knew that the military of Taixia Country had been dedicated to studying minimizing white phosphorous gel incendiary bombs and expected to turn them into individual equipment. After so many years'' study, they had made major progress. Minimal white phosphorous gel incendiary bombs had been gradually put into use in the battle fields of Earth-elements Realm. However, due to some reason, minimal white phosphorous gel incendiary bombs couldn''t be matched to troops in a large scale due to low capacity.


    Commander Cheng glanced around those engineers in blue uniforms as he asked Zhang Su directly, "Besides Fiery-Oil, what other raw materials are needed to make Fiery-Oil Incendiary Bomb? Can you realize continuous production? What''s the maximal yearly output in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory?"


    "Sorry, Commander, it''s classified in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Without the consent of the master of Iron-Dragon Sect, I have no right to reveal this intelligence to you!" Zhang Su shook his head with a solemn look as he refused to answer this question immediately.


    "Audacious!" Commander Cheng widely opened his eyes as he released his overwhelming qi towards Zhang Su and all the others at present. As a result, they all felt like falling into a 10,000 years'' ice cave while their body, battle qi, qi, blood even mindset were frozen at once. In front of the majesty and qi field of a shadow knight, all the people at present whose highest rank was lower than a battle spirit felt like being ants at the crater. As long as Commander Cheng ran his spirit and waved his arm, all the people at present would become sh*t.


    "Even if the commander wants to kill us, I will still stick to my words. Without the consent of our master, I have no right to reveal this intelligence to you!" Zhang Su said while gritting his teeth.


    "Hahahaha..." Commander Cheng burst out into laughter at once while the overwhelming stress disappeared. He then pointed at Zhang Su as he nodded and commented, "You''re not bad. You''re polite and disciplined. Zhang Tie selects the right man. I''m looking for Zhang Tie, please be my guide..."

 1256 Zhang Ties Entertainmen

    Chapter 1256: Zhang Tie''s Entertainment


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    As soon as the overwhelming stress disappeared, those people in military uniforms recovered their composure; however, those engineers lost their balance. If not being held up by someone on their side, they might have sat on the ground.


    It was out of their imagination that Commander Cheng could play such a terrifying joke with them.


    Zhang Su let out a sigh inside too. ''Although one life for one life is applicable to knights in Taixia Country; in fact, the number of knights who compensated for commoners with their own lives is definitely fewer than that of shadow demons that I''ve ever heard. If Cheng Honglie killed everybody at present out of fury, I''m afraid that nobody else would like to find him trouble except for Zhang Tie. Not only that, someone might find various reasons to prove the "necessity" and "legitimacy" of Commander Cheng''s deed such as moles of Three-eye Association are discovered among the crowd, disrespect Commander Cheng or Commander Cheng kills us by mistake when he''s hunting for bloody demons. Wherever it is, as there are humans, power would predominate. It''s determined by humanity. It''s the same wherever it is.''


    After such a train of thoughts flashed through Zhang Su''s mind, Zhang Su took in a deep breath before saying, "I could take Commander Cheng to find our master. However, he''s about 120 miles away. I wonder which traffic tool did Commander Cheng take? Do you need me to have people pick you up by the airboat of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory?"


    Zhang Su didn''t see the airboat of Commander Cheng; therefore, he thought that Commander Cheng and his assistant just flew over here themselves. Given the status of Commander Cheng, he deserved such a hitchhike.


    Cheng Honglie waved his hand as he pointed at those cool military SUVs over there and said, "No need, let''s go there by that vehicle..."


    "Sure, please follow me, Commander Cheng..." Zhang Su immediately took Cheng Honglie and Gao Tianqi towards one military SUV after saying something to one military official on his side.


    After coming to the front of a military SUV, Zhang Su opened the trunk and took out a metal cranking bar. Closely after that, he came to the front of the vehicle and inserted one end of the cranking bar into a hole. Only after waving the cranking bar for a few circles forcefully, he had already started the engine of the SUV, causing a muffled and euphonious sound; at the same time, the exhaust at the end of the vehicle started to smoke.


    Gao Tianqi''s eyes turned bright as he asked, "Is this vehicle''s engine driven by Fiery-Oil?"


    "Right..."


    Cheng Honglie looked at this military SUV for a short while before sitting on the back seat. Zhang Su put the cranking bar back in the trunk before sitting in the front of the vehicle together with Gao Tianqi.


    "Bang...bang..." After they closed the doors. Zhang Su pulled down the handbrake. After that, he put the vehicle into gear and pressed down on the accelerator. The vehicle started to move rapidly. This vehicle was much better ordinary steam vehicles in starting speed, acceleration performance, ride comfort, controllability and the output range of torque. Although there was also noise in the vehicle, it was much lower than that of the ordinary steam engine. After closing the windows, the noise inside the vehicle was only about 40-50 decibels.


    After getting on the vehicle, Commander Cheng didn''t speak anymore. He just watched the scenery outside the window. By contrast, Gao Tianqi was more interested in this vehicle. He then started to chat with Zhang Su. As a result, the atmosphere in the vehicle was not embarrassing.


    "Is the engine of this vehicle as same as that of the airplane above Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory?"


    "No, this engine is much smaller than that of the airplane. Its cylinder is only 5 liters. Its driving force is over 320 horsepowers. By contrast, the engine of Air Cavalry Type-I is 18.5 liters and could output 1,500 horsepowers comprehensively. The two engines are also different in structures. This engine is the latest product produced in the factory of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory; this vehicle and those vehicles that you saw are the trial vehicles of the first batch of vehicles which are going to be handed to Fire-Dragon Corps. They''re not in official production and matched with the corps yet. They''re used for discovering problems..."


    "Is there any problem?"


    "Yes, there is!"


    "What''s that?"


    "The problem is that this vehicle drives pretty well. Anyone who has tried this vehicle would not like to drive those steam vehicles anymore..."


    Gao Tianqi looked at Zhang Su who was driving solemnly as he wondered whether Zhang Su was joking or not!


    The military SUV soon rushed out of the mountainous road and came to the vast plain. It was rough land all over. As Zhang Su changed his gears and gradually accelerated the vehicle, the speed of the SUV gradually reached 120 miles per hour. Ordinary steam cars could never reach such a high speed. Only expensive alcohol cars such as Faerie-Dragon sports car could make that on the standard highway.


    After half an hour later, the vehicle entered a residential area and moved onto the highway. There were large areas of farmlands, cities and towns on both sides of the highway. The summer wheat harvest led to a prosperous and pleasant scene everywhere.


    When they passed by a piece of wheat field, Commander Cheng let Zhang Su pull over the vehicle when he saw those farmers busy working in the field. After that, he got off the vehicle. He then picked up a heavy ear of wheat and rubbed it.


    After breaking the hulls, he saw full and crystal kernels. It seemed to be a new species as the kernels were full; besides, the two ends of the kernel were a bit slim. Under the sunlight, the kernels gave out shiny, golden light. After looking at it carefully, he found that the kernels even looked a bit reddish. Holding it, he could smell the faint fragrance of the kernels.


    Even if Commander Cheng had no experience in farming, he also knew that this wheat was good. He had not even seen this kind of wheat before.


    "Hey, man, how''s your harvest?"


    Commander Cheng asked a 40-year-old farmer who was busy working kindly.


    As a steam wheat reaper was working in the field, the farmer was shoveling the straws left by the steam reaper onto the oxcart.


    When the farmer found Zhang Su''s military uniform of Fire-Dragon Corps and the unusual looks of Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi, that farmer stopped what he was doing for the time being as he pulled off his gauze scarf which was used to cover his mouth and nose and revealed a swarthy and honest face. He then replied with a smile, "It''s better than last years. I''m afraid that each mu could produce over 800 kg''s grains..."


    Of course, the farmlands in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory were not as fertile as that in Ninghe Prefecture. In Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, each mu of land could at most produce a bit more than 700 kg''s wheat; therefore, over 800 kg''s wheat per mu was a big harvest in the eyes of the farmer.


    Commander Cheng nodded as he asked, "How''s your harvest last year?"


    "About 700 kg''s wheat per mu!"


    "Why so many this year?"


    "Thanks to Qianji Hermit the master of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Soon after Qianji Hermit arrived at Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory last year, he had sent people to deliver many wheat seeds to us. As those seeds looked fuller than those wheat seeds that we usually preserved for sowing, we sowed his seeds with uncertainty. We''ve not imagined that it could have such a high yield. A few days ago, someone came here and wanted to purchase our wheat at 30% higher price than the market price. But I didn''t agree. It''s my first time to see such good wheat after being a farmer for so many years. I plan to use them as seeds..."


    "You don''t need to sow many seeds!"


    "I have some relatives in Spiritualmaple Prefecture. It''s said that they suffered from a crop failure this summer. After hearing that I didn''t suffer from a crop failure, they all came here."


    After chatting with the farmer for a short while, Commander Cheng returned to the vehicle. Gao Tianqi and Zhang Su changed their seats.


    ...


    1 hour later, this SUV entered Yangui Mountain Range which was over 60 miles away from Xuantian City in the south. After entering this region, they passed two posts before entering a manor on one side of a lake.


    The scenery in this manor was beautiful. With a lake in the front and a mountain on its back, it''s a rare scenic spot. Soon after they got off the vehicle, Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi had noticed that there were posts everywhere in the landscape, visible or invisible as they were targeted by those hidden sentries. If not being knights, they could not sense such a considerate arrangement.


    Zhang Su took them all the way to a leisure wharf on the lakeside after passing by a garden and a pine wood in the manor.


    Many people were over there. Some distinctive top beauties were standing in the pavilion beside the wharf, talking and laughing while pointing at something in the center of the lake...


    In the center of the lake, a steel-hull boat was dashing forward on the lake, leaving a white line at the stern. It almost flew off. In the rapid movement, the boat rose waterdrops in the air. Under the sunlight, a small rainbow was looming at the stern...


    Each time the boat bumped and flew off on the lake, kids'' exclamations and Zhang Tie''s chipper and pleasant laughter would drift from the boat to the lakeside, "How about that? Is your papa something..."

 1257 The Most Shameless Old Guy

    Chapter 1257: The Most Shameless Old Guy


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Su led Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi to the lakeside. Before they approached there, the steel-hull boat had made a turn before heading for the lakeside.


    When the boat approached the riverside, Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi finally saw it clearly. It was not an ordinary boat. This boat neither had paddles nor hand- or feet-operated impellor. Instead, there was an item which was similar to the steering wheel of cars. At the stern, there were two engines being aligned with each other which could drive the impeller. The greater part of the engines was exposed in the air while being covered by a beautiful white iron hull. There was no boiler or smoke. The engines were smaller than steam engines. They were driven by Fiery-Oil. The 10-m longer steel-hull boat being painted with white lacquer had a beautiful and smooth look. It was not an ordinary boat anymore; it was more like a yacht which could move many times faster than steam yachts. It felt like flying on the water...


    When the yacht approached the wharf, it decelerated at once. Zhang Tie who manipulated the rudder immediately jumped onto the plank, followed by two people. His kids left in the end.


    Over 10 people made this yacht full.


    "Go find your moms, take some fruits. Your father has guests. I will play with you tomorrow!" Zhang Tie said with a smile as he stroked those little guys'' heads and pointed at those women in the pavilion. As those little guys were already sensible, they immediately ran over there with twitters cheerily.


    Ms. Olina, O''Laura, Sabrina, Linda, Beverly, Aimei and Aixue were in the pavilion. Besides Bai Suxian, almost all of Zhang Tie''s women were here. After coming to Taixia Country for a few days, they had been familiar with each other and got along well with each other.


    After those kids ran over there, those women took their kids into a lakeside villa after throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, Zhang Su and their guests.


    "Old Zhou, how about this yacht?" Zhang Tie patted that tough man''s shoulder enthusiastically as he asked him with a smile after those kids left.


    That tough man was Old Zhou whom Zhang Tie got acquainted with on the bank of Golden Water River in Xuanyuan Hill last year. After the new year festival, Zhang Tie grew increasingly famous across Taixia Country. Even Old Zhou who was far away in Xuanyuan Hill had heard about his fame; therefore, after making a preparation, Old Zhou directly came to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory by airship together with one of his sons as he wondered about the exclusive business that Zhang Tie promised him on the Golden Water river. As this chance might improve the destiny of the Zhou family, of course, Old Zhou didn''t want to give it up.


    After coming to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, through 2 days'' efforts, Old Zhou finally found the residence of Iron-Dragon Sect. After showing that gold coin with Zhang Tie''s fingerprint to one person, he was taken here.


    Just now, Zhang Tie had Old Zhou and his son board the yacht before driving the yacht and showing them around on the lake, having them enjoy the lightning speed on the water.


    "Are...are you gifting me this yacht..." Old Zhou asked Zhang Tie with an unbelievable and thrilled look.


    "Of course not!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Old Zhou''s face became stagnated at once. However, Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he continued, "This yacht has been used. Of course, you need to take a new yacht back to Xuanyuan Hill. Transport it back by airship. I''ve prepared 3 sets of spare engines and components for you. You can have your son learn how to maintain Fiery-Oil engine in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. When this yacht arrives at Xuanyuan Hill, you will monopoly this business on the Golden Water River. You can have each people pay 20 gold coins for traveling around Golden Water River by your yacht. It could hold 10 people at a time. In this way, you could easily make hundreds of gold coins. If anyone wants to rent it, you can ask him 1,000-2,000 gold coins per day. Later on, you will be responsible for the business of yacht on the Golden Water River. I promise no other Fiery-Oil yachts would compete with you. Otherwise, I will stop providing Fiery-Oil for them. You''d better prepare for some oil storage tanks in Xuanyuan Hill. I will deliver dozens of tons of Fiery-Oil to you per year. When you could purchase Fiery-Oil in Xuanyuan Hill in the future, you could buy it over there..."


    Dozens of gold coins for traveling on Golden Water River might be unimaginable for commoners in other places as it was too extravagant; however, in Xuanyuan Hill which was full of rich men and dignitaries, money was sh*t. As it was a fresh thing, a lot of people would even spend hundreds of gold coins to try it, not to mention dozens of gold coins.


    Now that Zhang Tie could control the production and provision of Fiery-Oil, he could control this business too.


    Old Zhou''s eyes turned red as he directly pulled his son to kneel down and kowtow towards Zhang Tie. This business could definitely reinvigorate the Zhou family. Of course, they had to extend their thanks to their savior.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly pulled up Old Zhou and his son as he said, "Old Zhou, don''t do that. We''re destined to get acquainted with each other. Just take it as an advertisement for my Fiery-Oil in Xuanyuan Hill. In fact, I''m taking advantage of you..."


    Old Zhou let out a long sigh as he wiped off his tears and said, "Hermit, don''t comfort me. These days, I found that Xuantian City and Iron-Dragon Sect are pretty boisterous. Those major clans couldn''t even have a chance to see hermit even if they queue up. Many dignitaries in the emperor''s imperial city must be longing for such a business every day, not to mention me, a boatman on the Golden Water River. Hermit is really a good and faithful man. If I''m not clear about this point, I spent my life in vain. I know hermit doesn''t lack money. This Old Zhou doesn''t know how to repay you for your generosity, I hope that this Old Zhou could still have the strength to show you around the Golden Water River by paddle and invite you for a bottle of peach flower liquor which is made by my wife one day..."


    "Fine, that''s the deal then. When I come to Xuanyuan Hill next time, I will definitely taste your peach flower liquor on the Golden Water River!"


    Old Zhou nodded forcefully.


    After chatting with Old Zhou for a short while, Zhang Tie had a servant take off Old Zhou and his son. Now that Zhang Tie had promised Old Zhou, his subordinates would accomplish that for him.


    After seeing off Old Zhou, Zhang Tie directly walked towards Commander Cheng who was standing not far away.


    Of course, Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi had heard the talk between Zhang Tie and Old Zhou. As they were both smart, they could already guess how Zhang Tie got acquainted with Old Zhou. They had not imagined that Zhang Tie could make friends with such a commoner sincerely and frankly and be so faithful to him. Watching Zhang Tie coming over here, Commander Cheng''s and Gao Tianqi''s eyes turned a bit weird.


    "Long time no see, Commander Cheng, Brother Tianqi..." After approaching them, Zhang Tie greeted them with a faint smile before nodding towards Zhang Su.


    Zhang Tie called them as same as before. However, Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi had utterly different feelings after hearing his greetings.


    Gao Tianqi dared not call Zhang Tie "brother". After hearing Zhang Tie calling him in that intimate way, the assistant of Commander Cheng hurriedly bowed towards Zhang Tie. Gao Tianqi sensed that Zhang Tie still respected him. The appellation "Brother Tianqi" sounded pretty comfortable and intimate as if being blown by the spring breeze.


    It was Commander Cheng''s 3rd time to see Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie still respected him like how he did before. However, this time, it sounded that he intended to make friends with Commander Cheng on the equal footing instead of looking up to him. If Zhang Tie was an ordinary earth knight, Cheng Honglie would feel that he was pretty arrogant; however, as he had seen how Zhang Tie chatted with "Old Zhou", Commander Cheng didn''t feel unhappy about Zhang Tie''s appellation at all; he just thought up a proverb¡ª¡ªa gentleman is like a jade, being firm yet not outstanding, being smooth yet not enchanting; being beautiful yet not excessive.


    Watching the unchanged young face, Commander Cheng suddenly understood that Zhang Tie was not the same Zhang Tie anymore; he''s already the world-famous Qianji Hermit.


    ''Those old d**chebags of Heavens Fortune Sect are really far-sighted.''


    "I appoint you as the director general of the financial administration of northeast military region, do you take it?" Commander Cheng put it straightforwardly.


    After hearing that, Zhang Tie''s heart couldn''t help but pound for a short while. The director general of the financial administration of the northeast military region was responsible for the economy of the northeast military region. Its position was even one level higher than that of provincial governors.


    Zhang Tie became slightly stunned as he revealed a bitter smile, "If Commander Cheng let Meng Shidao resign, I would consider about this suggestion. Otherwise, are you screwing me up?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Commander Cheng let out a long sigh. Being involved with the case of Han Zhengfang, the prime minister would resign. The one who was going to be the next prime minister was Meng Shidao. After promoting to a semi-sage knight, Meng Shidao was being more and more popular in Xuanyuan Hill. Additionally, he was favored by the crown prince. Who else dared stop him?


    Commander Cheng shook his head as he said, "It''s my first time to come to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, just accompany me to take a look around..."


    "Right!"


    Soon after Zhang Tie finished his word, Commander Cheng had flown off as fast as a lightning bolt, closely followed by Zhang Tie and Gao Tianqi.


    "Commander Cheng, what do you want to see?"


    "If you do not want to keep it a secret, show me around where you produce Fiery-Oil Incendiary Bombs..." Commander Cheng kept his close eye on Zhang Tie.


    "Erm..." Zhang Tie scratched his head.


    Commander Cheng widely opened his eyes as he looked at Zhang Tie with a strict look in an imposing manner, "If you dare keep your secret in front of me, I will demolish the site of your f*cking dragon sect. I will demolish it whenever you build it in the future. I will see how do you save your face in front of your disciples. Don''t think that I dare not do that. I will ruin their nest wherever I doubt that the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church are hiding somewhere. Even the imperial court and Taixia Law couldn''t have me lose one hair!"


    ''F*ck!''


    Zhang Tie looked at Commander Cheng with a dumbfounded look as he found that Commander Cheng was the most shameless old guy.


    After finding that Zhang Tie became silent, Commander Cheng directly told Gao Tianqi with a solemn look, "Send my order, assign 2 corps of 500,000 people here from the army corps of engineers of northeast military region; tell them that I have discovered the trace of the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church near Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Let them dig the entire region..."


    After hearing Commander Cheng''s order, Gao Tianqi twitched his face as he threw a glance at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, a military remote-sensing communications device appeared in his hand silently...


    "Enough, Commander Cheng, I owe you because I drank your Dragon''s Marrow Liquor. Follow me..." Zhang Tie put up his hands hurriedly...

 1258 The Trump Card of Fire-Dragon Corps

    Chapter 1258: The Trump Card of Fire-Dragon Corps


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    It was hills and basins in the periphery of Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks. The largest basin covered over 16,000 square miles. The basins were surrounded by grotesque and magnificent high mountains. The lowest mountain was over 1,000 m high. Looking down from the sky, the mountains around those basins were like petals of an open flower. However, Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks looked like special stamens in the flower.


    After a few months, a wide and tidy industrial park covering about 10 square miles had been built near that town of the residence of Iron-Dragon Sect at the foot of the Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks.


    Outside the industrial park was a universal airport, which was connected to Tongzhou Province, Yanzhou Province and Youzhou Province through railways and highways.


    Zhang Tie directly took Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi into a factory of that industrial park.


    The factory director was selected from one of those dare-to-die people who was gifted by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Of course, he knew Zhang Tie. After Zhang Tie expressed his intention here, the factory director fetched three sets of clothes and let Zhang Tie, Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi put them on. After that, Zhang Tie took them into the workshop of the factory.


    "All the workshops of Fiery-Oil incendiary bombs are anti-explosive. Anything that might cause sparkles through friction is forbidden inside. According to the production regulations of the factory, people are not allowed in unless they wear special uniforms." Zhang Tie explained to Commander Cheng.


    Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi didn''t refuse to put on special uniforms. Whatever, each industry had their own regulations and requests which were not transferable according to the status and power of the visitors. Even Emperor Xuanyuan couldn''t stop an accident if he entered there without the anti-explosive uniform.


    In the following half an hour, Zhang Tie introduced the entire production process of Fiery-Oil incendiary bombs to Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi.


    The main material of Fiery-Oil incendiary bomb was Fiery Oil. They made Fiery-Oil incendiary bombs by mixing Fiery Oil with carbon powder, thermit reagent and palmitic acid according to certain proportions.


    Carbon powder was a very ordinary industrial raw material, which could be acquired through the fractionation of coal under high temperature.


    Thermit reagent was made of aluminum powder, alum powder and limonite powder according to certain proportions.


    Palmitic acid could be acquired from palm trees or animal fats such as lard and beef tallow through saponification.


    As the main raw material of Fiery-Oil Incendiary Bomb, Fiery Oil could be acquired through the fermentation of straws.


    After knowing that Fiery-Oil incendiary bombs could be acquired only by mixing these ordinary raw materials, Commander Cheng watched Zhang Tie with a more amazed look.


    "If so, what''s the cost of a 500 kg''s Fiery-Oil incendiary bomb?" Commander Cheng asked Zhang Tie.


    "Less than 10 gold coins!" Zhang Tie replied honestly.


    "No limit on output?"


    "Yes, as long as these raw materials could be provided constantly and the capacity of the factory could catch up with that, the output of Fiery-Oil incendiary bombs is indeed unlimited!"


    "Do you know the cost and raw materials of a 500 kg''s white phosphorous gel incendiary bomb?"


    "White phosphorous gel incendiary bomb is indeed expensive. Additionally, it''s made of over 40 raw materials, some of which are rare. Therefore, we could barely realize a mass production of white phosphorous gel incendiary bombs!"


    "I really wonder about your brains. How could you develop such a marvelous thing!" Commander Cheng let out a long sigh.


    "I just mentioned it. It''s my subordinates who developed the Fiery-Oil incendiary bomb. Actually, as long as they have Fiery Oil, many people could figure out the formula!"


    After visiting the workshop of Fiery-Oil incendiary bombs and entering another workshop, Commander Cheng''s eyes turned bright at once.


    "These are Fiery-Oil spears and Fiery-Oil grenades..." Zhang Tie answered.


    This workshop was producing individual weapons instead of heavy Fiery-Oil incendiary bombs which were dropped by airships or airplanes. They were actually two minimal Fiery-Oil incendiary bombs. As for the Fiery-Oil grenado, it looked like an average bottle with a wooden handle. It was similar to the grenade that humans used before the Catastrophe. As for Fiery-Oil spear, it was longer than 1 m in the shape of a spear. It could be thrown. The former one weighed about 1 kg while the latter was lighter than 3 kg.


    Commander Cheng couldn''t help but hold them and made some gestures to throw them. Closely after that, he realized the strengths of the two weapons. As they were portable, they could absolutely be individual weapons on the battlefield; besides a Fiery-Oil spear, throwing troops could be established which could further narrow the gap between human corps and demon corps.


    As long as a LV 9 demon fighter was struck by a Fiery-Oil spear which was thrown by a LV 3 or LV 4 human fighter, it was destined to die. Similarly, Fiery-Oil grenade also had a great destructive power over a short distance.


    "Will you match Fire-Dragon Corps with these weapons?"


    "Yes, I will match a part of soldiers with these weapons. After they gain experiences in using them, they could make improvements in them. When the corps come into being, I will match the entire corps with these weapons. By then, the Fiery-Oil grenade will be the standard weapon of the fighters of Fire-Dragon Corps. Each fighter should carry at least 3 Fiery-Oil grenades. According to my plan, Fiery-Oil spear fighters would become an independent arm of the services. A squad should have at least 3 Fiery-Oil spear fighters; a platoon should have at least a squad of Fiery-Oil spear fighters; a company should have at least a platoon of Fiery-Oil spear fighters and the like. Fiery-Oil spear fighters should not be fewer than 1/3 of the total ground troop in the frontier..."


    "That''s a high percentage! Are you confident about that?"


    Zhang Tie became silent for a few seconds before lowering his voice, "I''m not the most powerful fighter in Taixia Country; however, I have the richest experience in fighting demon fighters on battlefields. I''m clear about the combat mode of demon corps, the combat abilities and features of demon fighters. Commander Cheng, you might not have sensed how disappointing it was when common human fighters faced corps of LV 9 demon fighters. When in Selnes Theater of Operations, due to the sharp difference in the battle strength between two parties, many brave human fighters couldn''t even have a LV 9 demon fighter die with them. Millions of human elites over Waii Subcontinent couldn''t resist the corps of 100,000 LV 9 demon fighters..."


    "I don''t believe that human fighters are afraid of death or our humans lack eggs than those demons. Sometimes, even the timidest person would pluck up his greatest courage on the battlefield at the critical moment. We have many dauntless human fighters; especially in the dilemma. However, what makes human fighters most despaired and scared on the battlefield is that they find that they will die in vain. By then, they would collapse mentally and couldn''t stick to their belief; they would be waiting to be slaughtered. As long as 10 human fighters could kill a demon on the battlefield, their sacrifice would be meaningful..."

 1259 A Trade

    Chapter 1259: A Trade


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After visiting the factory of Fiery-Oil incendiary bombs, Commander Cheng visited the Fiery-Oil production bases, airplane manufacturing plant, engine manufacturing plant, vehicle manufacturing plant and Air Cavalry Training Academy within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    One Fiery-Oil production base within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory had been officially put into use, 6 more were going to be put into use. In the following 2 years, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would be able to produce 4 million tons of Fiery Oil per year. Being corresponding to it, the arable land in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would be further expanded; especially the corn planting area would be doubled each year. In this critical period, they planted corns not only for food but also for the holy war.


    The airplane manufacturing plant within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory could produce 70 air cavalry type-I airplanes a day, the type of which had been completely fixed. This capacity was constantly growing. When showing Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi around the airplane manufacturing plant, Zhang Tie generously admitted that the daily production of 70 airplanes was far from his anticipation. Zhang Tie expected that this airplane manufacturing plant could at least produce 100,000 various airplanes a year within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. It meant that he should expand the current capacity by 4 times so as to meet his demand.


    Besides air cavalry type-I, they were also developing air cavalry type-II which was larger in size, longer in flying range and heavier in load.


    The engine plant in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory could already produce 4 types of engines: one dual-drive engine for air cavalry airplanes, one dual-drive engine for vehicles, two for tanks and armored vehicles.


    It only took them a bit more than 2 hours to look around all the important places in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory under the guidance of Zhang Tie.


    After visiting the Air Cavalry Training Academy, Commander Cheng posed to take a look at the encampment of Fire-Dragon Corps. Zhang Tie then took them over there.


    Over 300,000 fighters were being trained in the encampment of Fire-Dragon Corps.


    Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi were both shocked at the sight of over 300,000 fighters training spear throwing skills in the training field which covered almost 24 square miles.


    Although there were spear throwing elites in the official corps and troops of Taixia Country, Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi had never seen such a grand scene before.


    On the training field, almost all the fighters only wore one pant and a pair of field boots. Under the hot sunlight, hundreds of thousands of male fighters were sweating heavily. Due to long-term exposure to the sunlight, everyone''s upper body had been dark red. Many newbies'' skins were cracking. After tearing off their skins, their flesh looked like being hurt by boiling water.


    The dust over the training field changed the look of those fighters. Their sweat caused clear gullies on their chests and backs...


    "Thunder..." With the roar of a coach, a matrix of 900 fighters threw out their spears in standard gesture, which fell onto the land over 100 m away while the greater part or those spears entered the soil.


    "Wind..." With another roar on the other side of the training field, a row of 100 fighters moved forward rapidly in tidy steps. After rushing over 10 footsteps ahead, they threw out their spears towards afar almost in a line in a lower angle of elevation.


    Soon after that, this row of fighters squatted down at once. In the following 2 seconds, the second row of 100 fighters had rushed out and come to the front of the first row before throwing out their spears. Closely after that, the second row of fighters squatted down. The third row of fighters repeated the same process and the like. When the 9th row of fighters finished their action, the first row of fighters had taken out their second spears and prepared for the second round...


    This was called 9-section spear strike. In this striking state, a spear striking matrix could build a steel wall in front of them in a short period.


    With the roar of "electricity", a matrix of hundreds of fighters on the other side of the training field threw out their spears, all of which hit the mound over 200 m away precisely...


    On the training field, over 100,000 fighters were throwing spears in different patterns. At the same time, more fighters were gritting and doing a martial-art squat while


    There were many other training methods and battle skills...


    ...


    Standing on a hillside nearby the training field of Fire-Dragon Corps and watching those fighters receiving tough and special training, Commander Cheng became silent for a short while before suddenly turning around and looking at Zhang Tie, "Who developed these training methods and spear battle skills?"


    "Ahem, ahem, I have a bit knowledge about spears. I compiled the training outlines for these Fiery-Oil spear fighters!"


    "Do you prepare to turn all these people into Fiery-Oil spear fighters?"


    "Of course not, a basic requirement for becoming a Fiery-oil spear fighter is that they could throw a spear over 200 m away. Not everyone could do that. Through such a training, I intend to select Fiery-Oil spear fighters and have all the members of Fire-Dragon Corps to be familiar with the main combat mode of the corps in the future. The combat mode of Fire-Dragon Corps is utterly different than that or the other corps!"


    "How?"


    "In the cases where common fighter''s battle strength couldn''t match demon fighters, I only have one request to Fire-Dragon Corps, namely, throw all your weapons onto the demons'' heads and evacuate as fast as possible so as to survive themselves..."


    "You treat them as cavalry archers!"


    "Yes, however, cavalry archers ride horses; the fighters of Fire-Dragon Corps should realize the mechanization through steel and technologies..."


    "Are you preparing to fight or what? If not in the holy war, I would have already accused you as an insurgent!"


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh, "I''m indeed preparing to fight. I don''t believe that Commander Cheng didn''t know that demons would never spare too much time for Taixia Country to make preparations. From now on, demons might appear in Taixia Country at any time. If not make preparations at this moment, what if demons suddenly launched a strike towards Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory?"


    "It''s just a small problem. Even if all the provinces and prefectures across Taixia Country are suffering from a crop failure, Taixia Country''s storage is enough for 10 years'' demand across the country. Why are you so confident?" Commander Cheng asked calmly.


    "Commander Cheng, based on your identity and position, you must know how Xuanyuan Hill is preparing to resist demons!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he moved his eyes onto the training field and said, "Starting from Pingsha Valley, the moment those bloody seas were discovered across Taixia Country, they would be immediately taken over and demolished by the supreme court and the military of Taixia Country. The catastrophe of bloody figures broke out suddenly; however, I think Xuanyuan Hill must have got the time for bloody figures to grow mature in bloody seas spontaneously from those dead bloody figures or bloody seas. In my opinion, those bloody figures would have grown mature completely at most this June, namely now. Perhaps Commander Cheng is the first one who has received the notice from Xuanyuan Hill about this. Am I right?"


    Cheng Honglie''s eyes gave out a shrewd light at once as he fixed his eyes onto Zhang Tie.


    "Commander Cheng, relax. I''ve not arranged any mole on your side. It''s unnecessary for me to do that. However, now that Xuanyuan Hill could get the intelligence, it doesn''t mean that the others couldn''t get it across Taixia Country!"


    Commander Cheng frowned as he suddenly recalled something. After that, he let out a sigh, "You''re really qualified to be Qianji Hermit. I believe that you didn''t get this news from Zhang Taixuan because even Zhang Taixuan didn''t know that. Now, I really wonder about the heavenly knight on your back who helped you exterminate the expeditionary fleet of Sacred Light Empire. Did you get the news from those old d**chebags from Heavens Fortune Sect?"


    Zhang Tie shrugged. He didn''t make any explanation about that. Since he returned to Taixia Country with so many wives and kids, all the people across Taixia Country were guessing about the identity of that heavenly knight on the back of Zhang Tie. Many people guessed that the heavenly knight on the back of Zhang Tie should be a grand elder of Heavens Fortune Sect because only Heavens Fortune Sect could be so close to Zhang Tie. Many people wondered what benefits had Zhang Tie promised to Heavens Fortune Sect for having a grand elder give him a favor.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about such gossips and speculations at all. Because he could never clarify it. Additionally, if he intended to clarify it to the others, they would feel that he was covering something. If he didn''t explain it, everybody would feel that there was a heavenly knight on his back. With such a powerful reliance, no ordinary people would dare offend him from then on.


    "Now that the time when bloody figures would grow mature is inconsistent with that of the grains crisis, why do we still believe that demons would spare time for Taixia Country and allow Taixia Country to deal with them leisurely after solving these problems and recovery in about 10 years? When alchemist''s bombs explode at the same time, they would have the greatest destructive power; similarly, only when these crises facing Taixia Country were detonated at the same time could demons make Taixia Country flurried and more chaotic. Therefore, Taixia Country have less time left in preparation for the coming demons. If I were the demon general, after knowing that the bloody figures in bloody seas were exposed in advance, I would definitely plan ahead in case of sparing any chance for Taixia Country to train its soldiers leisurely!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Commander Cheng''s eye light recovered back to normal. After looking at Zhang Tie for a short while seriously, he suddenly opened his mouth, "You''re right, demons are coming soon. They''ve already found the way to Eastern Continent after detouring the Lion Fortress in Earth-elements Realm. Few people know this news. According to Xuanyuan Hill''s judgment, demons would arrive at the Eastern Continent at the end of next year at most!"


    After hearing Commander Cheng''s words, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he asked, "How did Xuanyuan Hill know that?"


    "It was told by Han Zhengfang when he fought Meng Shidao in Sincerity Garden. In that case, Han Zhengfang would never lie about this thing for the sake of the dignity of heavenly knight no matter which side he was on. After receiving this news, Xuanyuan Hill had already contacted Lion Fortress and had Lion Fortress investigate and prove it. Last month, Du Guyi the Demon-Suppression General wrote a letter to Xuanyuan Hill and revealed that demons indeed have found the method to enter Taixia Country by detouring Lion Fortress. You could never imagine what suggestion had Du Guyi proposed to the imperial court."


    "What suggestion?"


    "Du Guyi wants Lion Fortress to destroy itself so as to block the tunnel from the Military Province to the Earth-elements Realm. After that, have all the human knights in Lion Fortress fight demons before breaking into the underground demon''s world unexpectedly..."


    As Zhang Tie had been in the Lion Fortress in the Earth-elements Realm, he was dumbfounded by the Demon-Suppression General''s opinion...


    Watching Zhang Tie''s shocked look, Commander Cheng finally had a strange feeling. After being shocked by Zhang Tie for so many times today, it was finally his turn to see Zhang Tie''s shocked look.


    "Xuanyuan Hill would never agree with that!" Zhang Tie shook his head.


    "Of course not. If they drop tens of thousands of human knights into the Earth-elements Realm like dropping a dice, they have to bear the great stress from human countries, major clans and sects.


    Zhang Tie replied with a frown, "Commander Cheng, why did you tell me about this?"


    "Because I want to make a deal with you!"


    "What deal?"


    "Help me train 10,000 military officials. I request these people to be as same as your military officials in Fire-Dragon Corps when they leave. Additionally, give me 10 Fire-Dragon Corps'' war preparedness equipment!" Commander Cheng said straightly. As a far-sighted man, he had already seen the value of Fire-Dragon Corps; especially the special training method of Fiery-Oil spear fighters.


    "I could help Commander Cheng train 10,000 military officials. But the capacity and equipment in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory should meet the demand of Fire-Dragon Corps ahead of the outside demands. If you want to match troops of 5 million people with these ware preparedness equipment, you might need to wait for a few years..."


    "If so, expand the capacity!"


    "But I''ve not got enough people!"


    "I will assign one most powerful arm corps of engineers within the northeast military region to you. Additionally, I will allocate 100,000 technicians and engineers to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory from Aibei Prefecture, Yanzhou Province. With this manpower, you could build a powerful industrial production base in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory in the shortest period. As for the resources, I don''t think that Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and Youzhou Province lack resources..."


    Aibei Prefecture was the industrial center of the northeast military region. It gathered the most excellent industrial elites across the northeast military region. Wherever these people were, they were always popular.


    "That''s a deal!" Zhang Tie nodded at once. After thinking for a few seconds, he added, "However, if the industrial production base in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory wants to survive, it has to produce blood itself. The later trades shouldn''t be one-way blood output, we have to follow commercial rules. Of course, all the equipment that I provide to Commander Cheng will be sold at cost price."


    Commander Cheng wanted 10 Fire-Dragon Corps'' "war preparedness equipment" instead of "equipment". The two terms were sharply different from each other. The prior required at least 3 times military supplies of weapons and ammo of that of the later. It indicated that Zhang Tie should produce more Fiery-Oil incendiary bombs and Fiery-Oil incendiary spears so as to make Commander Cheng satisfied. It was definitely an astronomical amount of cost. Fewer than 5 clans within the northeast military region could afford it, including Zhang Tie''s clan. Additionally, they had to suffer a great loss.


    Commander Cheng left a good impression in Zhang Tie''s mind; however, it didn''t mean that Commander Cheng could make Zhang Tie suffer a great loss and work hard until death for the benefit of the official only by one sentence.


    Commander Cheng waved his hand with a smile as he said, "If you give me these things, I will have all-purpose medicament enter the purchasing storage contents of the top 6 warehouses within the northeast military region!"


    Zhang Tie looked at Commander Cheng while still feeling like suffering a great loss. No matter what, he always felt the black face of Cheng Honglie was very cunning. After a while, he finally nodded forcefully as he said, "That''s a deal!"


    After being solemn for quite a while, Commander Cheng finally revealed a faint smile. However, the faint smile flashed over at once and was soon replaced by an expression which felt like suffering a great loss. Commander Cheng then told Zhang Tie with a faithful look, "Don''t feel that you''ve suffered a great loss. How about this? From today on, I will hand the best 120 million mu official fields in Ninghe Prefecture in Yanzhou Province to you. You rent it for 100 years. You know that so many major clans and dignitaries in Xuanyuan Hill liked to rent those official fields through relationship, but I didn''t agree with them. They''re the best official fields in the northeast military region. You only need to submit 50% of the grains output on those fields last year to the northeast military region headquarters each year as a rent. That''s a deal! Here''s a remote-sensing communication device; you can contact me with it. I have to go now!"


    After throwing a remote-sensing communication ring to Zhang Tie, Commander Cheng immediately flew off before Zhang Tie opened his mouth. In the blink of an eye, he had disappeared in front of Zhang Tie. After blinking his eyes towards Zhang Tie, Gao Tianqi also rushed into the sky and disappeared...


    Not knowing why, seeing Commander Cheng leaving so hurriedly, Zhang Tie always felt being screwed...


    ...


    Only after a short while, Commander Cheng and Gao Tianqi had returned to their airboat. The moment they entered the airboat, Commander Cheng had ordered the pilot to return to Youzhou Province as fast as possible.


    Not only small figures felt being guilty as thieves.


    "Commander, why did you..."


    Gao Tianqi looked at Commander Cheng with a curious expression.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Commander Cheng pretended to cough twice. The benefit of having a black face was that people could not see his blush. He replied, "His byname is Qianji Hermit. Erm...someone might give you a surprise if you force him to do something!"


    Gao Tianqi became speechless as he could only pray for Zhang Tie inside. The farming rent in Ninghe Prefecture was at most 40% of grains output last year. Previously, many major clans and dignitaries indeed wanted to rent the official fields in Ninghe Prefecture; however, they were all scared away by the rent of 50% of grains output last year in the mouth of Commander Cheng...


    However, Ninghe Prefecture suffered from a crop failure this summer...

 1260 A Peaceful Family Will Prosper

    Chapter 1260: A Peaceful Family Will Prosper


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    After Commander Cheng left, Zhang Tie inspected the encampment of Fire-Dragon Corps. He held a meeting with Zhang Su and the other officials such as Liu Xing; by the way, they fixed the military supervision system of Fire-Dragon Corps.


    The disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect were absolutely different than the other sects. Most of the other sects'' disciples always cultivated in mountains. they barely went off their mountains unless contingencies. By contrast, disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect would practice and cultivate in the secular world at Zhang Tie''s request. If it were not in the holy war, Iron-Dragon Sect might imitate other sects by having the disciples cultivate on mountains. Now that the holy war was going to break out in a large scale, besides enclosed cultivation in mountains, they should also practice and cultivate in the army and the secular world.


    Additionally, they should touch something the earlier the better. In the future, these disciples would be better adaptable to the chaotic world.


    Zhang Tie served as the commander-in-chief of Fire-Dragon Corps. All of his disciples above LV 9 held positions in Fire-Dragon Corps, male or female. Male disciples directly entered the combat troops of Fire-Dragon Corps while female disciples directly served in administrative and logistic agencies of Fire-Dragon Corps.


    Fire-Dragon Corps was a military unit. Of course, military ranks counted in such a military unit. Besides, all the fighters in Fire-Dragon Corps were divided into two parts, ordinary fighters and disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect, which included Zhang Tie''s indoor disciples and many outdoor disciples, etc..


    In some republic or federal countries which were founded by a certain party, in order to prevent armies from being controlled by hostile forces or Three-eye Association, these parties always seized upon the armies. In the army, besides the main battle officer, there were also political officials who were loyal to the party in order to make their armies loyal to them. Sacred Light Empire set pastors, chief pastors and the like to ensure that the armies were in the hand of Sacred Light Church.


    The history proved that this was an effective means for human countries to control their armies. Therefore, all the human countries would adopt the same means to control their armies whether they were democratic countries or centralized religious countries. With these experiences, although Zhang Tie was accompanying his wives and kids these days, he had gradually framed up the military supervision system of Fire-Dragon Corps.


    Some disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect directly served as battle officials; some served as supervisory officials. To be honest, supervisory officials were used to guaranteeing a country''s leadership about the army. They were similar to political officials in countries which were ruled by parties and pastors in Sacred Light Empire. With the effect of the supervisory officials, the corps would always be loyal to Zhang Tie.


    In Zhang Tie''s opinion, members of parties, followers of religions or apprentices of sects were all the same. They were just interest groups with different names. Some names were for political pursuits; some were for religious beliefs. However, in the final analysis, all the interest groups were pursuing meeting people''s demands on different levels, such as living, eating, avoiding from being bullied, gold coins, land, sex, power, battle strength, fame, dreams and the realization of self-worth, etc..


    In Fire-Dragon Corps, any excellent fighters could promote to outdoor disciples through approval. After that, they would gain certain resources and higher positions and have chances to learn greater battle skills. Additionally, they could serve as officials in the corps. In the future, they might promote to indoor disciples from outdoor disciples and win the favor of the mountain peaks'' owners even the master of the sect. By then, they would have a promising future.


    All the supervisory officials in Fire-Dragon Corps were at least outdoor disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    Starting from companies of Fire-Dragon Corps, the lowest supervisory official was supervisory sergeant; the supervisory officer was a bit higher; the supervisory major was higher than a supervisory officer; the supervisory ambassador was the highest supervisory official. Supervisory sergeant, supervisory officer and supervisory major were divided into gold, silver and copper. The supervisory ambassador was corresponding to the commander-in-chief of the corps.


    In the conference, Zhang Tie gave them the topic of military supervision system. In order to avoid from the disputes between supervisory officials and main officials in the troops in the future, Liu Xing and the other people suggested to record the functions and responsibilities of supervisory officials on papers in terms of articles and deliver them to all the members of Fire-Dragon Corps so that everybody could be familiar with them. After 2 hours'' discussion, they formulated nearly 100 genuine opinions and suggestions.


    Zhang Tie had someone collect those opinions and suggestions. After Zhang Tie''s review, these articles would be delivered to all the people of Fire-Dragon Corps as "Articles for Supervisory Officials".


    After fixing the frame of supervisory officials system, Zhang Tie didn''t care about it anymore. He handed the affairs about Fire-Dragon Corps to Zhang Su and returned to the manor on the bank of Cloudwashing Lake over 60 miles away from Xuantian City in the south before sunset.


    This was a large manor. Right on one side of the lake, the villas and courtyards were connected to each other in a classic style. Additionally, there was a universal airport. It was evidently a major clan''s manor. Previously, it was a summer resort built by the magistrate of Gaoping Prefecture in Yanzhou Province for the officials of Gaoping Prefecture. Pitifully, before this project was completed, it had been merged into Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. In Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, all the official assets of Taixia Country were transferred to Zhang Tie.


    This manor was not far from Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks. Zhang Tie had not been here before. Not until Donder came to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory to count properties for Zhang Tie did he know that he had a real estate on the bank of Cloudwashing Lake.


    On the bank of Cloudwashing Lake, there were many manors and villas of major clans. This manor was in the largest basin around Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks. Additionally, it was in the center of the 10 cities of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. It was very convenient to go to Miyun Prefecture in Youzhou Province, Gaoping Prefecture in Yanzhou Province even Xingyuan Prefecture in Tongzhou province from here by airships or airboats. After having people build the highways, it was just 2 hours'' ride from here to Xuantian City and Dashang City.


    Before coming to the Sacred Iceland Kingdom, Zhang Tie told Lu Yishan to renovate this place so as to welcome its new owners.


    After O''Laura and the other women followed Zhang Tie to Taixia Country, this manor had become the residence of these women and their kids. Zhang Tie knew that these women would never feel relaxed in Jinwu City, he only stayed in Jinwu City for 3 days with them. After they got acquainted with Zhang Tie''s family members, they had been taken to this manor together with Linda, Beverly and Fiona by Zhang Tie.


    It was the first official reunion for the entire Zhang family except for Zhang Chenglei , Zheng Chengting and Zhang Chengpei who were still in Heavens Fortune Sect.


    Over these days, Zhang Tie accompanied his wives and kids to travel across the entire Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    It was the most leisure time in Zhang Tie''s life. During that period, he only showed them around Xuantian Eighteen Mountain Peaks; he didn''t even return to Iron-Dragon Sect.


    When he returned to the manor, he found his wives and kids were waiting for him to have supper.


    The moment he entered the main hall, Zhang Tie had seen over 10 women chatting something attentively while those kids were playing toys and games in a dollhouse on one side.


    "Papa, papa, I will learn how to fly too; I will learn how to fly too..."


    The moment Zhang Tie came back, those kids had surrounded him as they looked up at him with smiles, while jumping and exclaiming.


    "Hahaha, when you grow a bit elder, I will teach you how to fly step by step, how about that?" Zhang Tie said as he stroked the heads of these kids.


    "Great..." Those kids became thrilled. In their eyes, their dad was almighty.


    His wives also walked towards him with smiles.


    "What''re you talking about?" Zhang Tie asked Olina.


    Olina just shook her head with a smile. All the women then exchanged a glance with each other. After that, Beverly said mysteriously, "We''ll tell you in the evening..."


    "So mysterious?"


    "Certainly!" Ballier replied with an enchanting smile.


    Zhang Tie waved his hands as he burst out into laughter, "Well, let''s have supper first. After wandering outside for a few hours, I''m really hungry..."


    There were two tables in the dining hall. Each table could hold more than 10 people. Zhang Tie and his wives were at one table; their kids were at the other table. The dining hall was in a festive atmosphere.


    Sitting in the dining hall and watching his 10-odd wives and 10-odd cute and vigorous kids, Zhang Tie really felt being the owner of a family and a real man.


    It was a bizarre sense of achievement, which made Zhang Tie feel warm, satisfied and happy. Additionally, Zhang Tie could sense his accountability. Watching those beautiful and cute smiles, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled his father''s tender smile whenever he pushed open the door and saw him and his elder brother when in Blackhot City.


    When Zhang Tie was young, no matter how tired his dad was, he would always look brilliant when he saw his two kids and wife at home. Additionally, his dad always got up the earliest in his family, who was always diligent in work and never complained about that.


    At that time, Zhang Tie could only see his dad at supper. If his dad worked overload, Zhang Tie could not see him for a long time. During the period that his dad worked overload, his dad would not come back until he went to bed; before he got up, his dad had long got up and went to work.


    Previously, Zhang Tie always thought that his dad loved his work because he hadn''t seen anyone else being that serious and passionate about their work.


    At that time, Zhang Tie didn''t understand it; but now, he suddenly understood that his dad was diligent everyday not for that work but for this home. As that man loved his home so much, he had to be serious about his work. Over 10 gold coins'' annual salary meant the hope and dependence of the home in Blackhot city, the clothes and food of Zhang Tie and his elder brother, the shelter of the family and the calmness when they walked on the streets of Blackhot City without shamelessness and inferiority...


    Therefore, that man had more and more wrinkles for all of the above things. Even the hair near his temples turned grey and his straight frame turned humpbacked and obese, his dad had never complained about being tired...


    A man couldn''t understand the love of a man and a father until he became a real man and a father. A real man had two chances to become the idol and good example of his sons: first, when his sons were still young; second, when his sons had families and became fathers.


    Zhang Tie''s hand suddenly became still in the air as his eyes turned red...


    "What''s wrong with you?" All the women stopped what they were doing as they turned around to see Zhang Tie.


    "Nothing!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile while his red eyes recovered. He then changed the topic, "Don''t you want to know why Commander Cheng was looking for me?"


    Since he returned to the manor, Zhang Tie had been talking with his wives in Hua language. In other places outside Taixia Country, Hua language was widely accepted by the upper class and dignitaries. As for those women from Ice and Snow Wilderness, the 6 women had started to learn Hua language since they were young; after Olina ruled Navyblue Castle Business Group, she also started to learn Hua language; as the princess of the wild bear tribe, Sabrina had started to learn Hua language since young. The old wild bear was far-sighted in educating his children.


    Only O''Laura started to learn Hua language after becoming the queen of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. However, after so many years, O''Laura had been able to speak Hua language fluently; she could also read and write. Especially after they followed Zhang Tie back to Taixia Country, they had made great progress in Hua language. They became more adapted to live in Taixia Country too. At the table, they had been adapted to use chopsticks instead of knives or forks. Of course, these women knew clearly about the influence of the commander of the northeast military region in Taixia Country.


    "Commander Cheng should be asking for your help!" Olina said with a smile.


    "I think it should be related to Fiery Oil!" Sabrina said.


    "As Taixia Country is suffering from a large-scale crop failure, only Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory have a bumper harvest this summer; therefore, it should be related to grains!" O''Laura said affirmatively.


    "Although hubby has a large undertaking, you also have a lot of wives and kids to feed. I think you would not just let Commander Cheng take away our things for free!" A Spencer woman said as she covered her mouth with a smile.


    Zhang Tie was dumbfounded. These women just stayed at home. However, they had already almost known why Commander Cheng was looking for him. Zhang Tie suddenly realized that he had looked down upon his wives. Zhang Tie then looked up at the sky as he let out a long sigh, "You could really be my interior of wives..."


    "Ahh, you''ve guessed that?" Fiona suddenly looked at Zhang Tie with widely opened eyes.


    "Guess, guess what?"


    "Guess what we''ve been negotiating about..." Innocent Fiona immediately exposed the "secret" at the table.


    "Do you really want to be my interior of wives?" Zhang Tie became shocked.


    "As you''ve got such a big undertaking. Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory covers over 5 million square miles and contains 10 cities; plus your Fiery Oil which has rocked the whole world. Now that you couldn''t take care all of them; neither could Donder alone deal with so many things, our sisters were thinking about helping you deal with the affairs inside Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory in case you''re concerned about the business and the odd jobs in your territory!" Beverly opened her mouth.


    Watching these women sitting around the table, Zhang Tie suddenly patted his head forcefully. He was worried about having no reliable assistants these days. He had forgotten that his women could help him a lot.


    ''Now that Olina could push Navyblue Castle Business Group into top places across Ewentra Archipelago where males dominate the commercial world, she must be a far-sighted and talented iron lady in commerce. At least, I''ve not seen any woman greater than Olina in the commercial world.''


    ''As Sabrina grew up in wild bear tribe, she is also visionary. Now that she could play tricks with old wild bear Dally and cheat those men across Ice and Snow Wilderness for so many years, of course, Sabrina is not an ordinary woman.''


    ''Not to mention O''Laura. As the clan head of grey eagle tribe since young, now that she could keep grey eagle tribe from being annexed for so many years, this woman is definitely very smart, diligent and persistent. Additionally, after being the queen of the Sacred Iceland Kingdom for so many years, O''Laura has been more experienced in controlling her power and her subordinates. She could definitely be responsible for something.''


    ''When in Ice and Snow Wilderness, O''Laura and Olina didn''t get along well with each other and were always distant of each other. After coming to Taixia Country, the two women forgot about the past resentment and form a close ally. Therefore, they became close to each other at once.''


    ''Spencer women are a famous brand over Ice and Snow Wilderness. With the special training, when they are in banquets and balls, they could be powerhouses in social intercourse and dancing; when they are in offices, they could be accountants and actuaries; when they are on the bed...ahem ahem...''


    ''Although Linda, Beverly and Fiona couldn''t match Olina and the other women in Ice and Snow Wilderness in experience and insight, they also had two strengths: first, intelligence. They could do whatever well soon after they were instructed; second, tenacity and meticulousness; especially Linda. Although Linda is tender, her tenacity and meticulousness make here especially attractive; third, the relationship between them and me and their loyalty to me. It could be said that they are the last ones who would betray me and the most reliable ones in this world.''


    ''Aimei and Aixue are also smart and have an innocent background. They have both promoted to LV 6 at a young age; additionally, they grasp two battle qis with the attribute of water and wood. After so many years'' diligent cultivation, they have both promoted to LV 8. As long as there are opportunities, the two sisters are definitely the most flexible ones among those women.''


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "There are two Hua lines, people don''t know the true look of Lushan Mountain because they are in the mountain. After staying with wives so many days, I almost forgot about your talents. You''re qualified to be my good helpers and help me manage many affairs in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. A peaceful family will always prosper. It''s my great honor to have you be my assistants..."


    "Ahh, you''ve agreed?" Fiona asked with a surprised look.


    "Of course, I agree. You could help your husband manage the Master''s Intelligence Center. Starting from the Master''s Intelligence Center, you will further develop your Interior of Wives. With your help, I would not have any concerns..."


    ...


    On the same evening, in Zhang Tie''s huge bedroom, after hours'' sweaty "Pah Pah Pah", those women finally lay on the huge bed lazily in a crisscrossed manner. As they were in half coma, Zhang Tie had already sat up. Leaning against the bedstand, he quietly watched those beautify, smooth naked bodies under the hazy moonlight which threw into the bedroom through the window...


    Commander Cheng''s visit meant an opportunity for Zhang Tie and that the overall situation facing Taixia Country was growing increasingly worse. Even Commander Cheng had sensed a heavy sense of crisis. The previously accumulated crises in Taixia Country were breaking out concentratively. As a result, the world was becoming more and more chaotic...


    Over these days, Zhang Tie just stayed with his women and kids and had fun with them as he wanted to compensate them for what he owed them. Therefore, he didn''t pay attention to what happened outside. Zhang Tie didn''t know that whether he could continue to stay with his family members as the most famous knight in Taixia Country if demons arrived at Taixia Country.


    However, people could not evade something only by not thinking about it.


    ''The fundamental principle of Iron-Dragon Sect is to enable commoners to resist demons with the help of steel and Fiery Oil. If demons really arrived at Taixia Country one day, numerous commoners would face the same miserable fate as those commoners in Waii Subcontinent. By then, will I still stay here and do nothing?''


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about fame because he had not thought about pursuing anything at all. However, he should be worthy of his conscience.


    ''If you kill one LV 9 demon fighter, it means that you might save 100 commoners'' lives. As an earth knight whose battle strength might match that of a shadow knight and a human fighter who could easily kill tens thousands of LV 9 demon fighters in a battle, do you feel reassured when you watch hundreds of millions of people die miserably? Don''t you fight demons until they arrive at Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory?''


    Zhang Tie couldn''t do that.


    Some people were born to be unable to tolerate and do something. After being born in Blackhot City and living 16 years among commoners, Zhang Tie felt that some of his temperaments had been fixed, which couldn''t be changed for the rest of his life.


    "What are you thinking about..." Olina who made love with Zhang Tie in the end didn''t pass out due to extreme excitement. After a few hours'' rest, she woke up closely after Zhang Tie. After waking up, her hair was disordered while her skin was covered with fine, sweat drops, which gave out the rosy luster. Her hot skin soon turned a bit cold. As Zhang Tie was sitting against the bedstand, Olina leaned against Zhang Tie''s thigh with her head.


    "Nothing..." Zhang Tie stretched out his hand and pulled over the thin quilt to cover Olina''s smooth and elegant back. By the way, he helped her smoothen her hair, revealing her face...


    "Are you thinking about when to leave us, right?" Olina whispered.


    Olina''s words made Zhang Tie''s hand slightly stagnated. Zhang Tie then said, "You''ve guessed that?"


    "If not, how could we behave so crazily tonight? Didn''t you want to accompany us more before you leave us?"


    Zhang Tie revealed a self-mocking smile, ''It seems that my women have long discovered my intention.'' The women around him murmured, "Will you blame us?"


    "As of now, the best love for you is to have you live without regret!" Olina closed up her eyes as she muttered as if she was going to fall asleep. At the same time, she put her arms around Zhang Tie''s waist.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was completely moved once again.


    "Sometimes, I really want to take you to a place where nobody else could find us and live with you. It has been my dream when I was young!"


    "We''re in the holy war, we cannot hide anywhere, Ice and Snow Wilderness, Eastern Continent or Western Continent. As long as I''m on your side, I will not feel regretful even if we''re waiting for the whole world to be destroyed. What you need to do now is to give a promising future to Alexander and the other kids. We all support you, have more sleep..."


    Olina and the others fell asleep; however, Zhang Tie became spirited all over.


    ''Yes, besides those things that I have to do, what I should do now is to give my kids and more kids a promising future...''


    ''Nobody could stop me, the Gobbling Party, Three-eye Association, the Heavens-Reaching Church or demons!''


    Zhang Tie''s eye light became faintly firm...

 1261 Virtuous Domestic Assistants

    Chapter 1261: Virtuous Domestic Assistants


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    10 days after Commander Cheng visited Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, Zhang Tie started his inspection and acceptance of over 100 million mu official fields in Ninghe Prefecture, Yanzhou Province together with his wives, Donder and the other subordinates by airboat.


    Olina''s words deeply touched Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªgive a promising future to those kids.


    This sentence was both the driving force of Zhang Tie and his wives.


    Over these days, those women had already taken over the Master''s Intelligence Center of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory which had been established by Donder; additionally, they started to establish a new agency¡ª¡ªIron Heart Pavilion centered on the Master''s Intelligence Center.


    Zhang Tie''s joke "Interior of Wives" came true.


    In Iron Heart Pavilion, O''Laura was responsible for the political affairs of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory; Olina was responsible for economy and commerce; Sabrina was responsible for intelligence collections and delivery; the 6 Spencer women, Linda, Fiona and Beverly had also found their own positions in Iron Heart Pavilion.


    Beverly and Fiona were responsible for information exchanges and classification of Master''s Intelligence Center, which was the most important function of Iron Heart Pavilion. As the directors of this part grasped all the secrets in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and could contact Zhang Tie directly, they must be the most reliable ones of Zhang Tie.


    The 6 Spencer women were responsible for accounting and auditing, etc.. Aimei and Aixue were responsible for money, currency, finances and inventory; as Linda was tender and meticulous, she was responsible for the administrative affairs of Iron Heart Pavilion just like the domestic steward.


    All the major events in Iron Heart Pavilion were determined by those women through negotiations. When in divergencies, these women would vote for that; if the ballots were on even, the final result would be determined by Zhang Tie.


    Only after a few days, Zhang Tie''s women had played a great role. Even Linda, Beverly and Fiona who were always relaxed were also immersed in their jobs in Iron Heart Pavilion with high spirits.


    Zhang Tie''s women became the heads of Iron Heart Pavilion. The subordinates of these women, including the henchmen that Olina and O''Laura brought from Ice and Snow Wilderness and those female assistants of Linda, Beverly and Fiona such as Sonia had also joined Iron Heart Pavilion.


    Therefore, Iron Heart Pavilion became more like a women''s kingdom than Zhang Tie''s Interior of Wives. There was no male in Iron Heart Pavilion at all.


    Before Zhang Tie took so many people to Ninghe Prefecture today, Zhang Tie''s Interior of Wives finally sent the first clear order to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory¡ª¡ªStarting from next month, namely July 1st, consumption taxation of liquors and beer brewed by grains across the 10 cities of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would be increased from 30% to 180%. The consumption taxation of fruit wines remained unchanged.


    With this order, the consumption of liquors and beers in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was limited at once.


    As Taixia Country was suffering from grain shortage, liquor and beer brewing were competing for grains with humans. By increasing the consumption tax of liquors and beers, they could restrict the consumption of liquors and beers and put more grains in the key places. Although a kg liquor or beer couldn''t save one''s life, several kg grains could save one''s life in many cases.


    It was Olina who proposed this suggestion. After elaborating her reason, Olina''s suggestion gained all the votes of Zhang Tie''s wives. After that, it was sent from the Master''s Intelligence Center as a political decree and would be followed by Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory as a whole.


    Zhang Tie''s wives sent this decree before boarding the airboat. After boarding the airboat, Zhang Tie''s wives started to talk about the first decree of Iron Heart Pavilion.


    This decree was not made casually. They made it after collecting enough data. They had made strict measurements and considerations.


    There were almost 20 million people in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. After increasing consumption tax of grain liquors and beers, the annual liquors and beers brewing and production scale within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would be reduced by 80% from 170,000 tons to 30,000 tons. In this way, almost 400,000 tons of grains would be saved each year. Additionally, due to a rising consumption tax of grain liquors and beers, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory could gain 20% more consumption tax of grain liquors and beers per year, which meant over 1 million gold coins.


    Furthermore, by raising the consumption tax of grain liquors and beers, they were inducing those alcoholics in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory to have fruit wines. Therefore, the demand for fruit wines would be expanded. As a result, the supply of fruits would be intense in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. In order to alleviate the tension supply, more people in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would think about planting more fruits.


    As grain prices were high, orchardmen couldn''t invade grain fields; instead, they would reclaim mountain lands which were not suitable for planting grains so as to expand orchards.


    The increasing supply of fruit wines would cause higher taxes on fruit wines. As a result, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory could gain more revenues each year.


    The expansion of orchards promoted the wasteland reclamation inside Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and stimulated the local economy.


    The diversification and increasing supply of fruits also laid a solid foundation for the mass production of all-purpose medicaments within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory in the future.


    Through sending this decree, they could save 400,000 tons of grains annually and purchase the grains at market price with the increasing taxes on liquors and beers as the grains storage of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. The more grains Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory stored, the more grains supply would be guaranteed in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Benefited from that, more people would be attracted to settle down in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. As a result, the population of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would expand step by step and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would become more prosperous and more confident when facing crises.


    After hearing his women''s explanation, Zhang Tie felt really fortunate having these women on his side.


    The first trial of Iron Heart Pavilion had made Zhang Tie hold his wives in high esteem.


    "With the assistance of my wives, I will not be worried about the affairs in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory anymore. Previously, I was always told about the shortages in a matriarchy or a matrilineal society, after seeing my wives'' ability, I feel that actually it''s not bad for men to live in a matrilineal society!"


    Zhang Tie''s comment made all the women burst out into laughter.


    "I agree!" Donder said solemnly.


    "Thanks to Steward Donder, otherwise, how could we share your burdens soon after coming to Fire-Dragon Prefecture?" Aimei said with a smile, "We really admire the insight of elder sister Olina!"


    "A few days ago, I heard Fiona complain that men would hold things up after drinking; therefore, I thought about doing something on the consumption tax of liquors and beers. I found O''Laura to negotiate about first. It''s O''Laura who proposed the suggestion to separate grain liquors and beers from fruit wines!" Olina said honestly.


    O''Laura also shook her head as she said, "Beverly told me that Jinwu City was suitable to plant fruits while the brewing of all-purpose medicaments required a lot of fruits; furthermore, when people drink too many all-purpose medicaments, they would feel drunk. Therefore, I suggest Olina to separate grain liquors and beers from fruit wines..."


    Beverly also shook her head as she said, "Elder sister Matia and the other elder sisters are good at calculations and planning..."


    "We have to appreciate elder sister Linda for preparing for all the materials, which is the most troublesome work!" Matia hurriedly declined.


    After seeing that even Linda declined it modestly, Zhang Tie waved his hand with a smile, "Well, my wives, don''t be that modest, you all have made meritorious deeds this time. You''re really my virtuous domestic assistants. Steward Donder also had a hard work. Hopefully, from now on, we could make concerted efforts to deal with the affairs in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory..."


    "Not only Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, but the sphere of influence of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory has also already reached Ninghe Prefecture this time. However, Commander Cheng is too...too excessive. It''s absolutely a pit...ahem...ahem..." Donder coughed twice. He dared not speak ill of Commander Cheng casually even in this case, "Last year, Ninghe Prefecture had a good weather and had a bumper harvest. Last year, Ninghe Prefecture''s official fields produced 10% more grains than the previous years. Those official fields could only have such a high yield in each 7-8 years. In the past, even though there weren''t any catastrophe or plague of insects, they could only produce 90% of that of last year. Therefore, 50% of the grain tax of the yield last year is equal to 55% of the grain tax in normal times. In this case, even if those official fields in Ninghe Prefecture could recover the past average grain yields, we would only get 45% of the yield each year."


    "Really?" Zhang Tie rubbed his nose as he asked.


    "Yes, only 45%!" Donder nodded as he let out a sigh, "45% of total yield is our total benefit from those official fields. We have to deduct the farming cost. Employment would account for the most part of the farming cost, including employed farmers, supervisors of tenant farmers and stewards. We have to provide meals and accommodation to them. Additionally, we should pay them each year so that they could have hope for the future. Besides, we have to be responsible for the seeds, farming tools, fertilizers and grains cutting and harsh processing which would account for about 40% of the total annual yield. Even though the grain prices are high and the expenditure on employment of farmers is a bit less, the employees have to eat. It depends whether we could reduce the cost from 45% to 25%. In this way, we have to spend over 80% of the total annual yield of those official fields. As long as there''s any catastrophe or a plague of insects, we will suffer a loss for sure!"


    "Didn''t anyone rent the official fields in Ninghe Prefecture previously?"


    "According to my knowledge, many dignitaries in Xuanyuan Hill would like to rent the official fields in Ninghe Prefecture. However, they could only afford 40% of the total yield as land rent. If it were higher, they would be in red. In this year, as many farmlands are suffering a crop failure, we don''t even know whether the farmlands would grow crops in the following years. The fertility of farmlands which have been planted with demonized seeds would be weakened for sure. Even if seeds were good, the yield would also be reduced. Therefore, people across Taixia country would become worried about that, not to mention renting the official fields in Ninghe Prefecture at such a high price. Commander Cheng is famous for being dark in both face and means in officialdom of Taixia Country. Nobody dares to offend him. If ordinary major clans promised to rent over 100 million mu official fields in Ninghe Prefecture at the rent of 50% of the total yield, they might go bankrupt if crop failure lasts for a few years..."


    Zhang Tie shook his head. He knew what Commander Cheng was thinking about. Commander Cheng wanted to see whether Qianji Hermit had countermeasures. If over 120 million mu official fields suffered a crop failure for constantly a few years, Fire-Dragon Sect had to pay off 60 million mu official fields'' yield each year given such a high grain price in Taixia Country. That was a great consumption!


    Zhang Tie was not worried about what Donder said. He was confident. Crisis meant fortunes for able ones.


    Although Zhang Tie was not worried about that, his women were worried about that for him. The 6 Spencer women exchanged a glance with each other as they felt that it was a big trap. Diana opened her mouth as she looked at Zhang Tie, "Have you signed the contract with Commander Cheng? If not, you could have a talk with him!"


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile, "I know, but the contract is not always necessary in Taixia Country!"


    "Ahh, what does that mean?"


    "Aixue, you can explain it to Diana. Taixia''s customs are not consistent with that in the Sacred Iceland Kingdom; especially in Ewentra Archipelago!"


    "Sure!" Aixue replied with a smile as she started to explain it to the 6 Spencer women.


    Both Commander Cheng and Zhang Tie were faithful. Now that Commander Cheng had completely "lent" all the official fields in Ninghe Prefecture to Zhang Tie for 100 years, this agreement had taken effect the moment Commander Cheng left Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory even though they didn''t sign any contract.


    In Taixia Country, the so-called contracts were only accepted by small businessmen. As for influential ones, if anyone asked for them to sign a contract, it was nothing different than doubting them and insulting them. If so, they would never do that business at all. Even some influential bosses of big business groups would not sign any contracts, not to mention Commander Cheng and Zhang Tie.


    All-purpose medicaments and Fiery Oil would bring tens of millions even hundreds of millions of gold coins to Zhang Tie each year. However, Zhang Tie had not signed any contracts with anyone. It was just a lip service. Not only Zhang Tie, even Zhang Yang barely signed any contract as the boss of Jinwu Business Group. After making a deal, Zhang Yang would only clap with his partners.


    Guan Qianchong the commander-in-chief of Black Armor Army also bet with Zhang Tie in this way. So was the bet between Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Zhang Tie. If they dared to regret for one time, their fame would definitely be ruined completely across Taixia Country. They would never reinvigorate their business anymore.


    This custom in Taixia country was different than those commercial rules on the Western Continent and Ewentra Archipelago, where everybody followed contracts and would always write all the articles on paper. However, in Taixia County, verbal agreement prevailed.


    "The agreement between two parties on the Western Continent and Ewentra Archipelago are written on paper; however, many agreements between two parties on Eastern Continent are endorsed on one''s moral standing and fame. Therefore, even though the agreement between Commander Cheng and our husband has not been written on paper, it''s already unalterable. If our husband regrets, our husband''s moral standing and fame would be severely blown!" Aixue concluded.


    After hearing Aixue''s words, Zhang Tie nodded inside. Even Zhang Tie wondered why it was said that Hua people didn''t have the spirit of contract in a period before the Catastrophe. That''s too far-stretched.


    "Ahh, what should we do then?" Those Spencer women slightly frowned.


    "Younger sisters, don''t worry. Look at him, he''s not worried about it at all!" Olina pointed at Zhang Tie with a smile.


    Those women looked at Zhang Tie as they only saw a faintly decisive smile on Zhang Tie''s face. It seemed that Zhang Tie didn''t care about such a big "trap" at all.


    Even Donder became curious. After looking at Zhang Tie from his head to his toe, Donder asked Zhang Tie with a hesitated look, "You know farming? But why didn''t I discover that before?"


    "I''m Qianji Hermit!" Zhang Tie replied with a solemn look...


    It was Zhang Tie''s humorous style. In Zhang Tie''s imagination, he felt that those people would definitely throw a despised expression at him before replying "drop it" in an easy and relaxed atmosphere...


    If it were before, Donder might jump up and knock at his head forcefully while saying, ''Brat, you''re arrogant once again.''


    In fact, after saying those words, Zhang Tie found that Donder and his wives just watched him with admirable looks as they felt that he was making a solemn promise instead of spicing up the atmosphere. They didn''t sense the "distinctive" humor in his words at all...


    Not until then did Zhang Tie realize that he was not suitable to make such a humor anymore; because all of his words would be believed by all the others.


    Therefore, our Qianji Hermit could only stroke his nose as he felt lonely...


    Ninghe Prefecture was in the northeast of Yanzhou Province. They would arrive there only by passing through Gaoping Prefecture in Yanzhou Province. As for Zhang Tie who had a private airboat, such a bit distance was equal to having a trip in the most boisterous business quarter in the downtown by bus. As they talked with each other, they had already arrived at Ninghe Prefecture in only a bit more than 2 hours.


    Looking down from the sky, they found that the entire territory of Ninghe Prefecture was pitch-dark within thousands of miles like having been covered with ink.


    Nobody in the airboat had ever seen such a scene since they were born although they had seen thousands of miles white snow-covered landscape...

 1262 Three Countermeasures

    Chapter 1262: Three Countermeasures


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    The Iron-Dragon airboat slowly declined in a huge grain-sunning ground outside a fortress at the riverside of Ninghe River.


    It was Ninghe Fortress which was responsible for managing all the official fields in Ninghe Prefecture.


    In Ninghe Prefecture, the universal airport was not required as all the grain-sunning grounds being attached to each farm or fortress being paved with cement or stones which were hundreds of meters in length and width at least. These grain-sunning fields were natural universal airports in Ninghe Prefecture.


    Zhang Tie saw a lot of people waiting for him on the grain-sunning fields, some were in eye-catching red, blue and purple uniforms.


    "Why have the officials of Ninghe Prefecture arrived here?" Zhang Tie asked Donder.


    Donder let out a sigh as he replied, "The 120 million mu official fields that you rented in Ninghe Prefecture are the best water-irrigated farmlands in the south of Ninghe Prefecture. Plus those mountain lands and dry lands, Ninghe Prefecture had over 300 million mu farmlands in total. From now on, you will be the largest landlord of Ninghe Prefecture. As all the officials in Ninghe Prefecture are anxious, when they heard that the famous Qianji Hermit would like to rent all the official fields in Ninghe Prefecture with the rent of 50% of its yield, what do you think they would feel?"


    "They must think that I have the countermeasures and that''s why they treated me as their life-saving straw!"


    "Of course, after hearing that you''re heading for Ninghe Prefecture, these officials hurriedly ran over here to look after you; by the way, they would like to see what great means could you use to help Ninghe Prefecture tide over the crisis!"


    As they talked, the Iron-Dragon airboat had already landed on a grain-sunning field. Zhang Tie rubbed his face as he walked towards the hatch door of the airboat, followed by Donder.


    Previously, Zhang Tie''s wives would like to take a look at the granary of Yanzhou Province. However, at the sight of the scorched dark scene all over, they became disappointed. When the wind blew over, the pitch-dark wheat ash flew all over the sky and made it a black wind. Additionally, there were too many people outside, these women lost their interest in showing up at once.


    The moment the hatch door opened, Zhang Tie had seen those people bowing deeply towards him, headed by those officials of Ninghe Prefecture.


    In Taixia Country, earth knights were qualified to be on the equal footing with provincial governors. Plus Zhang Tie''s fame, none of the provincial governors in northeast military region dared say that they were more famous than Zhang Tie.


    Everybody was regarding Zhang Tie with reverence.


    "Welcome, Qianji Hermit!"


    Over 100 people greeted Zhang Tie in unison. They had evidently practiced it in advanced. Additionally, these people must have inquired about Zhang Tie''s look and frame in advance in case of mistaking Zhang Tie as a lackey of Qianji Hermit.


    Not until getting off the airboat did Zhang Tie notice that the grain-sunning field had been surrounded by straw mats so as to prevent those black ash. Those straw mats were 3-layered and higher than 4 m. It was like an artificial windbreak. However, as this grain-sunning field was as large as the airstrip of the new Class A airport in Fire-Dragon Prefecture, a great amount of manpower, time and straw mats were required.


    Donder got off the airboat closely after Zhang Tie.


    Being paved with cement and bluestones, the ground was pretty smooth and firm. It was still wet on the ground as if it had just been seriously cleaned. However, as these people had been waiting here for so long, charcoal grey ash could still be seen here and there over the ground. Now that Zhang Tie''s airboat had arrived, of course, these people would not clean the ground in front of Zhang Tie.


    After straightening up their bodies, they all started to look at Zhang Tie. Although they looked calm and polite, their eye light revealed that they regarded Zhang Tie with reverence very much.


    Those who saw Zhang Tie for the first time would always be shocked by the young and innocent look of Qianji Hermit. If not see him, nobody would believe that it was true.


    "Sorry for having you wait for so long!" Zhang Tie said tenderly, being neither too passionate nor too cold. It sounded as comfortable as facing the spring wind and autumn dew; therefore, everybody at present felt much relaxed at once.


    Among those people, the one in the official uniform of the prefectural governor hurriedly cupped his hands as he said, "At this moment, Qianji Hermit''s arrival must be a timely assistance for the commoners in Ninghe Prefecture!"


    This official was over 60 years old. Although being sincere and kind, he didn''t look good as he had swollen eyelids and blisters on his lips. Zhang Tie guessed that he must have not slept well these days. "Are you the prefectural governor of Ninghe Prefecture?"


    "This humble official is Liu Yuntao, the prefectural governor of Ninghe Prefecture!"


    "Who''s responsible for Ninghe Fortress?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, a round guy immediately drilled out of the crowd behind Liu Yuntao. Closely after that, this man replied with an insinuating look, "This humble man is here!"


    This man was too short. Although Liu Yuntao was not tall, this man was only as high as Liu Yuntao''s shoulder. Therefore, when he was standing behind those officials, he was completely covered by them. As a result, Zhang Tie could barely see such a person. Additionally, he was round and fat. Plus his little eyes, nose and brandy nose, he was absolutely the legendary hedgehog spirit. At the sight of him, Zhang Tie almost burst out into laughter.


    With swarthy skin and taupe hair, this man was a foreigner from the subcontinent.


    "What''s your name?"


    "I''m Xiao Ciwei!"


    As he was a foreigner, his accent was a bit strange; therefore, Zhang Tie almost misheard it as Xiao Ciwei which meant little hedgehog.


    "What, little hedgehog?" Zhang Tie repeated it with an amazed look as he felt that this guy was teasing him.


    "Thanks for the byname, from now on, I will be little hedgehog from today on!" Xiao Ciwei knelt down at once as he kowtowed loudly 3 times. When he raised his head, his forehead had been red all over; however, there was still a big smile on his face.


    All the other officials in Ninghe Prefecture slightly frowned as they revealed a despised look at the sight of his demeanors. What a shameless realm!


    Zhang Tie threw a deep glance at this guy. Now that this guy could behave in such a shameless way in the public, he must be born to be that flattering or have a special talent. Otherwise, this man could never be responsible for the Ninghe Fortress. As this position ranked first among all the managers of official fields in Ninghe Prefecture, it meant a great power for commoners. As for whether Xiao Ciwei could reach this position by flattering or by talents, we would know it soon.


    All the official fields in Ninghe Prefecture belonged to Zhang Tie now. Of course, the fates of these people who survived on official fields were in the hand of Zhang Tie.


    After moving his eyes away from Xiao Ciwei, Zhang Tie said, "Well, don''t stand here; let''s go take a look around..."


    "Hermit, where are you going to look first?" Liu Yuntao asked respectfully.


    "Let''s go to the riverside first. Let him show us the way!" Zhang Tie replied as he pointed at Xiao Ciwei...


    "It''s the great honor of this humble man!" Xiao Ciwei replied with a pleasant look as he hurriedly showed Zhang Tie the way towards Ninghe River in the north of the grain-sunning field.


    Of course, Zhang Tie should walk in the front with Liu Yuntao and Xiao Ciwei on his sides, closely followed by Donder. The rest hundreds of people followed the 4 people.


    The moment they left the grain-sunning field, they had seen ashes everywhere on the ground, on the tree leaves, grasses, the walls and eaves of those houses. The entire Ninghe Prefecture almost looked like the same. These ashes could never be cleaned by manpower. Over these days, over 120 million mu wheat fields had been burned in Ninghe Prefecture this summer, the flying ashes and charcoaled land almost changed the color of the entire Ninghe Prefecture. These ashes could never be cleaned without some heavy rains.


    After noticing that Zhang Tie paid more attention to the roadside leaves, Liu Yuntao hurriedly explained the reason for burning the wheat fields to Zhang Tie.


    Even now, the wind would still be mixed with ashes.


    "It''s not a big deal to burn them. But those straw mats were too time-consuming and labor intensive. No need to do that in the future. I''m not that fragile. These ashes are not as poisonous as the air in the abyss of Earth-elements Realm. And, how many straw mats have you used?" Zhang Tie asked Xiao Ciwei casually.


    "Totally 8761 straw mats!" Xiao Ciwei immediately replied.


    "That''s not right, I saw 8786 straw mats." Zhang Tie said casually.


    "8786 complete straw mats. Additionally, there are 50 broken straw mats. I had people keep half of those broken straw mats and get 25 more complete straw mats..." Xiao Ciwei said in a bit quivering voice.


    After hearing their talk, all the others'' hearts pounded at once as they all held in awe very much. It was not strange for Xiao Ciwei to know the number of straw mats because it only meant that he was meticulous in doing his job and didn''t lose his face in the public. However, the moment Qianji Hermit got off the airboat, he had already known the number of straw mats around the grain-sunning field. That indicated a terrifying power...


    Right then, a heavy wind blew over with the ashes. Many people in the team hurriedly covered their mouths and noses with their sleeves. However, when the wind automatically detoured around Zhang Tie from 1 m away.


    Zhang Tie continued to walk towards the riverside as if he had not discovered it.


    The roads from Ninghe Fortress to Ninghe River were all 6-lane roads being paved with cement and slabs. Right on both sides of the road, there were large areas of willows and locusts. On the way, they could see many tidy canals as deep as 4-5 m in the woods. One end of the canals was connected to Ninghe River; the other end was reaching far away into those farmlands like blood vessels of human bodies. There were water houses and water gates on the way, which could allocate the water to the farmlands flexibly and freely. Besides, 0.5 m thick cement prefabricate canals connected these water houses and water gates to the farmlands. There were also water gates in the cement canals from where water flew into the farmlands for the sake of water irrigation. It was as convenient as the water faucets in people''s kitchens. It was no exaggeration to say that the water irrigation project in Ninghe Prefecture was absolutely the best one in Taixia Country and among all the human countries.


    "How many farms, fortresses, farmers and farm machinery are there in these official fields?"


    Zhang Tie asked Xiao Ciwei as he walked forward.


    "There are 3147 farms and fortresses, 1765521 farmers and over 512180 sets of farm machinery in the official fields of Ninghe Prefecture!" Xiao Ciwei immediately reported all these figures.


    "What did these farmers do before?"


    "Most of the farmers were border inhabitants from Yinyue Subcontinent like this humble man!"


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Xiao Ciwei as his answer was a bit out of his imagination. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that most of these farmers should be native people.


    However, after thinking about it for a short while, Zhang Tie found it was reasonable. The so-called border inhabitants were not official citizens in Taixia Country because they were just foreigners who escaped to Taixia Country or were sold to Taixia Country. Out of kindness, Taixia Country, which always regarded itself as the ruling human country didn''t treat these people as slaves; but gave them a special identity¡ª¡ªborder inhabitants.


    In order to survive in Taixia Country, these border inhabitants could always endure hardships and be capable of hard work. They dared not commit any crime in Taixia Country. The moment border inhabitants committed any crime, they would be severely punished and suppressed by the judicial agencies in Taixia Country. If the border inhabitants could survive the punishments, they would always be expelled from Taixia Country. In that case, they had to stew in their own juice.


    It was indeed a good method to reduce cost by employing border inhabitants to till the arable lands in Ninghe Prefecture. From a certain perspective, Taixia Country provided a method to survive these border inhabitants.


    There were two kinds of border inhabitants. First, those border inhabitants who were sold here. These border inhabitants were more inferior. Their human rights and lives were basically in the hands of those magnates and major clans in Taixia Country. Over these years, none of those major clans had slaughtered and killed these border inhabitants in the public. In fact, these people who controlled their contracts had a lot of methods to kill them as long as they wanted. Additionally, these methods could always avoid the sanctions of Taixia laws. For instance, if tens of thousands of border inhabitants carried out a non-violent non-cooperation campaign, these people could never be killed casually in Taixia Country; the imperial court of Taixia Country would not ignore them either. In that case, the major clans who controlled their contracts only needed to transport all of them to the high sea outside Taixia Country by a ship which was registered in somewhere of a subcontinent and killed all of them on the ship before throwing all the corpses in the ocean. This method was out of the sphere of influence of Taixia Country.


    This iron hand method was always used in Taixia Country as the most effective way for major clans of Taixia Country to frighten their border inhabitants.


    The second kind of border inhabitants was evolved by refugees. After coming to Taixia Country, these people had no vacancy; therefore, they could only be border inhabitants. Their jobs were managed by the officials of Taixia Country. Compared to the first kind of border inhabitants, this kind of border inhabitants was much luckier.


    "How many years have you been in Taixia Country? Have you signed any contracts?"


    "We''ve been in Taixia Country for 23 years. We''ve not signed any contract at all!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he almost understood the background of these border inhabitants.


    They soon arrived at the riverside of Ninghe River.


    Zhang Tie saw the irrigation works that connected Ninghe River to the farmlands just now. After approaching Ninghe River, he found that people had made a lot of efforts in managing the Ninghe River.


    There was a 30-m thicker river bank which was paved with stones, steel bars and cement on the riverside. The entire riverbank was spacious, bright and firm, which formed a unique tree-lined riverbank avenue.


    The water of Ninghe River was very limpid. The current water level was over 10 m lower than the highest level of the riverbank. There were some iron column markers near the riverside, which marked the water level of the Ninghe River. Zhang Tie saw an eye-catching red line on the top of those iron column markers which was about 2 m away from the highest level of the riverbank.


    "Is that red line the highest water level in the history of Ninghe River?" Zhang Tie asked Liu Yuntao.


    "Yes, this riverbank was built to defend the highest water level of Ninghe River that would be met in every 1,000 years!"


    "What if the riverbank of Ninghe River collapsed during the flood?"


    Liu Yuntao replied in a muffled voice, "If the riverbank burst, over 40 officials in the prefectural governor''s mansion of Ninghe Prefecture would be killed, including me. Additionally, the entire clans of the director of the construction business group which is responsible for building the river bank, the inspector general, the inspector of the river reach and the main local officials of the burst section would be killed..."


    After hearing Liu Yuntao''s reply, Zhang Tie shook his head. With such a severe punishment, who dared make a mistake in the construction of such a kind of project.


    In the far, Zhang Tie also saw a large-scale wharf. However, compared to those boisterous wharves in Zhang Tie''s imagination, this wharf looked sluggish as if it went out of business.


    "What''s happening to that wharf?"


    "That wharf is for transporting grains. As there are no grains this summer, the wharf goes out of business!" Xiao Ciwei explained.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at that sluggish wharf as he let out a sigh inside. The moment the wharf went out of business, the livelihood of the workers on the wharf and those boatmen would be greatly influenced for sure. On one hand, they would not have any revenue and work to do; on the other hand, prices of grains grew higher due to crop failure. The plot of Three-eye Association not only influenced the farmers'' livelihood but also influenced the other aspects.


    The prefectural governor of Ninghe Prefecture kept observing Zhang Tie''s look stealthily. When he noticed the sad look flashing across Zhang Tie''s face when the latter looked at the empty wharf, Liu Yuntao let out a sigh inside at once.


    After enjoying the scenery in Ninghe River and checking the irrigation facilities in the official fields, Zhang Tie went to inspect Ninghe Fortress.


    Like what Xiao Ciwei said, given the looks of those people in the houses of Ninghe Fortress, they indeed came from the same place with Xiao Ciwei.


    What shocked Zhang Tie was that Xiao Ciwei enjoyed a very high position among those border inhabitants. Many elder border inhabitants would kneel down in front of Xiao Ciwei while saying something that Zhang Tie didn''t understand. Those male young adults also held great reverence in Xiao Ciwei.


    Of course, Zhang Tie knew that it could not be made only in coercive means. Xiao Ciwei must really have a great prestige among all the border inhabitants.


    There were old men, women and kids in Ninghe Fortress. Of course, the employed farmers didn''t refer to these weak laborers, but those young male adults. These women, kids and elders were those young male adults'' family members.


    Although they had clothes to wear, given their clothes and expenditures in all aspects, they could only survive themselves.


    Those women and elders raised some livestock outside Ninghe Fortress such as chicken, ducks, pigs and sheep; however, besides the ducks which could find food in water, all the other livestock was in a poor condition as the fodders supply were becoming increasingly intense in Ninghe Fortress.


    Xiao Ciwei said 1765521 farmers were employed for the official fields in Ninghe Prefecture; actually, many farmers had their families. Over 5 million people were living on the official fields in Ninghe Prefecture.


    In these farms and fortresses, men were responsible for looking after the official fields, women, kids and elders did some sidelines by relying on the official fields.


    "I know a bit about the local language in Yinyue Subcontinent. Those elders call Xiao Ciwei His Highness..." Donder whispered to Zhang Tie.


    ''His Highness? I''ve not imagined that Xiao Ciwei is a prince of a country in Yinyue Subcontinent who seek for refugee in Taixia country together with his clansmen.''


    Zhang Tie seemingly understood something when he thought about the obsequious look of Xiao Ciwei.


    However, even emperors of many countries in Subcontinents were nothing serious in Taixia Country, not to mention a prince. Many emperors of countries in Subcontinents treated it as an honor by being received by provincial governors in Taixia Country.


    When he was inspecting Ninghe Fortress, Zhang Tie suddenly threw a glance at the attic on the top of a high building as he asked Xiao Ciwei, "Who''s living there?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question and looking at the place along Zhang Tie''s finger, Xiao Ciwei who usually stayed calm replied flurriedly, "This humble man and this humble man''s family members live in there!"


    Zhang Tie replied with a silent smile.


    After showing Zhang Tie around Ninghe Fortress and noticing that Zhang Tie was going to return to the grain-sunning field where the airboat had declined without staying in the hall of Ninghe Fortress which was used to deal with public affairs or leaving any words, Liu Yuntao became anxious as he suddenly knelt down forcefully in front of Zhang Tie regardless of his identity.


    "Just now, I noticed hermit''s sad look when you caught sight of the empty wharf and your merciful look when you caught sight of the border inhabitants in Ninghe Fortress. Hermit, you might not know that, but the boats that accessed to this wharf were all transporting grains. Previously, this wharf was the largest and most prosperous wharf in Ninghe River. However, this year, as Ninghe Prefecture suffered a crop failure, this wharf became sluggish at once. There are over 60 more wharves like this one in Ninghe River. Ninghe Prefecture is an agricultural prefecture. Above 90% of people are living on farmlands. Besides border inhabitants who served as farmers and those boatmen at the wharves, the other industries such as rice mills, flour mills, food processing factories and animal husbandry which were closely related to agricultural production also suffered a great loss. Additionally, the prices of grains skyrocketed across Taixia Country. If those jobless people couldn''t make money to survive their families, they would arouse trouble for sure sooner or later. Qianji Hermit, please save hundreds of millions of commoners in Ninghe Prefecture for mercy''s sake..."


    Liu Yuntao, the prefectural governor of Ninghe Prefecture seized the opportunity and clarified the current situation facing Ninghe Prefecture before directly putting his arms onto the ground in front of his head, followed by all the other officials in Ninghe Prefecture. They had completely treated Zhang Tie as a life-saving straw.


    "I''ve already seen the problems facing Ninghe Prefecture. In one word, there are two points: first, seeds; second, land. You''re afraid of suffering another crop failure after sowing the grain seeds in Ninghe Prefecture, right? Even though the grain seeds are good, as the lands in Ninghe Prefecture have been contaminated by demonized grains, they might suffer a reduction of output, right?" Zhang Tie watched Liu Yuntao with a smile.


    "Hermit, you have bright eyes. That''s what we''re concerned about. If Hermit could rent the 120 million mu official fields in Ninghe Prefecture with such a high rent, you must have got the solution!"


    "The solution is simple. Just give tit for tat. After having the lands in Ninghe Prefecture recover their vitality and sowing good grain seeds, we will solve the problem!"


    "Yes!"


    "You should be able to see those items on the grain-sunning field. My crew should have already discharged those goods from the airboat. Those items should be able to solve the problems facing Ninghe Prefecture!"


    ...


    When they returned to that grain-sunning field, the empty land on the grain-sunning field had been covered with piles of bags and crates.


    At the sight of those items, Liu Yuntao directly lifted his official uniforms as he ran at full speed towards those items, leaving Zhang Tie alone, regardless of etiquette.


    Those bags contained soybean seeds. After unveiling those crates, Liu Yuntao saw piles of earthworms...


    ''Earthworms, earthworms?''


    Liu Yuntao suddenly recalled something when he saw those earthworms. Closely after that, he forcefully patted his head.


    When Liu Yuntao returned to Zhang Tie''s side, he saw Zhang Tie taking 2 blueprints and an extremely brilliant box out of his portable space-teleportation equipment and handing it to Xiao Ciwei. He then said, "You make an arrangement. From today on, all the 3147 farms across Ninghe Prefecture should build the two facilities as soon as possible according to the blueprints. One is rearing pond of earthworms, the other is a fermentation tank. As long as the two facilities are completed, the output of the official fields in Ninghe Prefecture will be guaranteed. When this batch of soybean seeds get ripe, I will have people send another batch of seeds here. My subordinates will teach you how to use the item in this box. Additionally, your compensation remains unchanged, even in the catastrophe!"


    The seed and land problem that made so many people in Ninghe Prefecture anxious and the compensation problem facing the border inhabitants that haunted Xiao Ciwei with fear were solved by Zhang Tie only by a few words. After saying that, Zhang Tie left Donder and a team of professionals that Donder brought here and two dare-to-die men who were proficient in agriculture and management here before going back by airboat without even having a meal.


    After seeing off Zhang Tie''s Iron-Dragon Airboat, Liu Yuntao and the other officials in Ninghe Prefecture fixed their eyes on the blueprints and the extremely brilliant box on Xiao Ciwei''s hands.


    "Prefectural governor could have people copy the blueprints; the surplus soybeans could also be lent to the prefectural governor; prefectural governor could even take away some earthworms; however, the item in the box couldn''t be unveiled until the fermentation pools are completed. This humble man is working for Qianji Hermit, prefectural governor, please don''t make this humble man embarrassed. When the item in the box is available, I could notice prefectural governor. By then, prefecture governor could come here yourself or assign people here to get it..." Xiao Ciwei tightly nipped the box under his armpit before revealing a big smile towards the surrounding officials.


    No matter how dignified were those officials and how humble was Xiao Ciwei, nobody dared grab Xiao Ciwei''s item. They all guessed that the item in such a brilliant box must be an earthshaking treasure.


    Strangely, before Qianji Hermit arrived here, everybody was worried; however, after seeing Qianji Hermit leaving in such a casual way and those seeds, earthworms, two blueprints and a mysterious box, everybody realized that the problems facing Ninghe Prefecture had been easily diffused by Qianji Hermit...


    ''Qianji Hermit really deserves his fame!''


    Everybody in the grain-sunning field had the same thought...


    ...


    On the airboat, Zhang Tie unconsciously stroked his jaw as he saw the gradually smaller Ninghe Fortress.


    This journey to Ninghe Fortress was indeed out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. Besides Xiao Ciwei, what shocked Zhang Tie most was that there was a knight in such a small Ninghe Fortress!


    ''Interesting!''


    ''Interesting!''


    ...

 1263 Disruptions

    Chapter 1263: Disruptions


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie''s journey in Ninghe Prefecture not only influenced the entire territory of Ninghe Prefecture but also almost the entire territory of the northeast military region.


    After Zhang Tie returned to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and accompanied his wives and kids for 2 more days, the aftermath and shocks of his journey in Ninghe Prefecture gradually became greater.


    Everybody was saying that Qianji Hermit left 3 treasures to Ninghe Prefecture, which could solve the problem facing Ninghe Prefecture for sure.


    First, soybean seeds; second, earthworms; third, an item being held in a box that nobody knew what it was.


    These days, nobody had seen Zhang Tie collect soybeans in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory or Youzhou Province; therefore, many people guessed that these soybeans might have been prepared by Zhang Tie in advance or brought from the Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Many people who had seen Zhang Tie''s bloody sacrifice furnaces knew that Zhang Tie carried an extremely powerful space-teleportation equipment. Those soybeans could be absolutely held in that space-teleportation equipment.


    The soybeans indeed came from Castle of Balck Iron. Being a mutated high-yielding soybean cultivated by Heller, they were named as No. 1 soybean by Zhang Tie. No. 1 soybeans could produce about 750 kg per mu. Besides, they were nutritious and contained far more aura value than that of ordinary soybeans. The grain shortage facing Ninghe Prefecture was diffused by Zhang Tie using these high-yielding soybeans that he stored in Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie didn''t give too many No. 1 soybeans to Ninghe Prefecture. Besides meeting the demand for soybeans in the official fields in Ninghe Prefecture this summer, even the official mansion of Ninghe Prefecture could only borrow tens of thousands of soybeans, not to mention the others who expected to get some No. 1 soybeans from Ninghe Prefecture from the mouth of the tiger.


    Although they couldn''t get any soybeans from Ninghe Prefecture, they could expect something from the other two things.


    The earthworms that Zhang Tie brought to Ninghe Prefecture were dug in designated places in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and in the wild outside Jinwu City.


    In consecutive days, in the places where Zhang Tie had people dig earthworms had been crowded with people. Earthworm being dug from these places were purchased in a large scale at the price of one silver coin per earthworm.


    Many people who purchased earthworms came here by airboats on behalf of the major clans on their back. Therefore, More airboats accessed to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and Jinwu City these days than ever.


    Some smart ones in Fire-Dragon Prefecture had already started to collect these earthworms and raised them for sale.


    Earthworms were easily produced. Additionally, its price was super high. Of course, those people who came here by airboat didn''t mind such a bit of money. They only wanted to know whether these earthworms were useful or not and the function of these earthworms. Whatever, the fame of Qianji Hermit had been spread all over the world.


    People''s name was like the shadow of a tree. Nobody felt that Qianji Hermit would do something useless at this critical moment. As long as these earthworms had unimaginable functions, they would be of great significance even strategic significance to those major clans in Taixia Country which had tens of thousands of mu fertile farmlands respectively. These major clans didn''t even care about spending hundreds of gold coins even thousands of gold coins to get these earthworms.


    However, this small amount of money was an astronomical figure for commoners. Even a copper coin for one earthworm would indicate 100 times profit for those pedlars who raised earthworms for sale, not to mention one silver coin for one earthworm.


    After taking No. 1 earthworms out of Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie drove a lot of people in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and in the wild outside Jinwu City mad, forming a unique earthworm industry in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and Jinwu City, which shocked the entire world.


    To be honest, even Zhang Tie had not imagined about this result. He had not imagined that any of his actions would arouse the attention of so many people and any of his casual movements would drive commoners mad and have so many major clans imitate him.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that there was a term especially for expressing this effect before the Catastrophe¡ª¡ªcelebrity effect.


    Zhang Tie was now the "celebrity", one of the most brilliant celebrities among humans. Zhang Tie''s story was legendary. Since he came back from Ice and Snow Wilderness, his name had already shocked both Eastern Continent and Western Continent. In the eyes of numerous people, even some knights, Zhang Tie was a legendary figure. Each of his actions would arouse the attention of numerous people.


    In the eyes of many people, this event proved that Qianji Hermit really had mysterious abilities as his byname Qianji.


    Besides awakening an immortal body-changing bloodline and grasping a lot of secret methods, he even founded a religion which drove foreigners mad. Additionally, he was even proficient in agriculture. What a Qianji Hermit!...


    Those tiny earthworms made numerous people excited in June.


    Even Cheng Honglie was curious about the function of Zhang Tie''s earthworms through remote-sensing communications device after assigning 10,000 officials to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory to be trained by Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie replied briefly¡ª¡ªthose earthworms could make the soil more fertile. Of course, the fertile soil could lead to better crops.


    When earthworms were connected to Qianji Hermit, another gossip spread over Taixia Country only in a few days. Some knight issued a post in the Mountain of Brightness and expressed that he or she saw Qianji Hermit in Xuanyuan Hill...


    On the same day when Qianji Hermit appeared in Xuanyuan Hill, Han Zhengfang''s identity was exposed. Han Zhengfang was the culprit of the tragedy in Fuhai City. Zhang Tie was screwed by him. All this reminded people that the fuse of the army of swans in the sky above Xuanyuan Hill on the 15th day was designed by Qianji Hermit...


    If so, Qianji Hermit must excel at animal controlling skills and could control the overall situation in the world individually. He exterminated Heavens Reaching Church easily by unveiling the conspiracy of Heavens Reaching Church so as to make himself innocent. Closely after that, he stayed outside the plot as if nothing was related to him. What a formidable Qianji Hermit!


    Zhang Tie neither admitted the gossip nor denied it.


    In the turmoil and boisterous scene, Zhang Tie received a message from his dad on June 18. Zhang Ping wanted Zhang Tie to come back to Jinwu City and said that he had something to negotiate with Zhang Tie.


    After receiving the news, Zhang Tie became muddle-headed. However, he dared not waste any time. The moment he received the news, he had left for Jinwu City alone...

 1264 Brotherhood

    Chapter 1264: Brotherhood


    Translator: WQLEditor: Aleem


    Zhang Tie''s parents rarely contacted Zhang Tie directly. In most cases, Zhang Tie''s parents would have Zhang Yang notice Zhang Tie.


    When he returned home last time, Zhang Tie gave his dad a remote-sensing communications finger ring, through which his dad could directly contact Zhang Tie. This time, Zhang Tie''s dad directly contacted Zhang Tie by that remote-sensing communications finger ring.


    "Elder brother, do you know why our dad called me back home?" Zhang Tie contacted Zhang Yang when he was in the sky.


    "You''ve also been called back by dad?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "I''ve also received the news. He wants me back home and told me that he had something to negotiate with me!"


    "Dad, where are you now?"


    "I''m in Tongzhou Province. I''m going back to Jinwu City by airboat. These days, Tongzhou Province is a bit chaotic. The business and investment of Jinwu Business Group are influenced a bit. I went to Tongzhou Province to deal with it!"


    "Elder brother, are you all right?"


    "I''m fine. I will arrive at Jinwu City soon. Let''s talk about it later at home!"


    "Right!"


    After ending the remote-sensing communications with his elder brother, Zhang Tie contacted Zhang Gui and inquired Zhang Gui whether something happened at home these days.


    Zhang Gui told Zhang Tie that nothing happened at home these days. Therefore, Zhang Tie became reassured.


    "However, there was one thing in Jinwu City these days. A grandson of Tang Clan, the Shengzhou provincial governor''s clan was detained in the prison of Jinwu City. Over the past months, Tang Clan had assigned people to look for him in Jinwu City many times in vain. After Tang Clan reported the case to the Supreme Court of Taixia Country, the officials of Taixia Supreme Court and northeast military region''s headquarters and an elder of Tang Clan finally saved the grandson of Tang Clan out of the prison of Jinwu City through negotiations with Jinwu City. However, that grandson''s one leg had been lame as he almost lost his life. This case has shocked the Supreme Court; additionally, it is related to the fame of Shengzhou provincial governor and Jinwu City. As a result, both parties have oral disputes about that. These days, there''re gossips in the folk..."


    Zhang Tie thought about it for a short while and finally recalled it. Zhang Yang just mentioned it to him briefly at that time. Zhang Tie remembered that when he returned home at the end of last year, a grandson of a provincial governor loosened his tongue in Jinwu City and was put into prison...


    This was not a big deal for Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie would not care about it even if it was Shengzhou provincial governor, not to mention his grandson.


    "Nothing else?"


    "Nothing else!"


    "Well, I see!"


    Zhang Tie ended up the contact with Zhang Gui.


    Zhang Gui was indeed useful in Jinwu City.


    A whale couldn''t be raised in a fishbowl; similarly, the thunder hawk couldn''t be limited in a small space either. The vast space outside Castle of Black Iron could make the thunder hawk happy and free. The thunder hawk''s sphere of activity was within hundreds of thousands of square miles centered by the Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Additionally, it disliked crowded place. In most cases, it moved in the unpopulated regions in the north or west of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and returned to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory occassionally. Even Zhang Tie had not seen the thunder hawk for a few months. He could only sense the general location and direction of the thunder hawk and would not call it back except for emergencies.


    This time, Zhang Tie flew back to Jinwu City from Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory by himself; of course, his speed could match that of the thunder hawk.


    Zhang Tie soon arrived at Jinwu City when the dark had fallen.


    In the sky, Zhang Tie could see tens of thousands of people


    This place was where Zhang Tie had people dig No. 1 earthworms. It was now more boisterous than marketplaces.


    This business could have been under the control of Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie; however, the two brothers were not interested in such a bit amount of money. Of course, those people couldn''t dig all the No. earthworms outside Jinwu City. Actually, before Zhang Tie had people dig them outside Jinwu City, he ordered the earthworms to gather here in advance. Therefore, those people could easily dig so many earthworms and bring them to Ninghe Prefecture. After Zhang Tie canceled his order to gather those earthworms, those earthworms had already scattered.


    However, one silver coin for one earthworm was still very attractive to commoners; especially those kids. Try to imagine, with one hope going down, they could get a few silver coins. It was more like digging a gold ore instead of digging earthworms.


    At this moment, those people who were digging earthworms were mainly youngsters; especially children from 5 to 15 years old.


    It was cheerful over there. As long as any kid could find an earthworm, they would be jubilant at once. If they could get a lot of earthworms, they would be more cheering. The moment these kids got earthworms, adults would come here to purchase them with crates, one silver coin for one earthworm. No pay, no goods.


    A lot more airboats seemed to be at the airport outside Jinwu City, making it pretty boisterous.


    Zhang Tie saw a businessman driving his car into the airport before handing the big crate being full of earthworms to a person who got off an airboat. The one who got off the airboat opened the box and threw a glance at it as he nodded and passed a gold note to that man. The man who sent the crate of earthworms here took the gold note with a big smile. Closely after that, that airboat flew off towards south...


    ...


    Soon after he arrived at Jinwu City, Zhang Tie had found that Jinwu Airboat had just landed in the airport while his elder brother was getting off the airboat.


    "Elder brother..." Zhang Tie''s sound drifted into Zhang Yang''s ears before he arrived in case that Zhang Yang''s bodyguards mistook Zhang Tie as an assassin who declined from the sky.


    "Ahh, you''ve also arrived!" Zhang Yang looked at Zhang Tie with a smile. Closely after that, Zhang Yang threw a glance at his bodyguards. His bodyguards then scattered as they dared not disturb the two brothers'' communication.


    After his bodyguards scattered, Zhang Yang forcefully punched Zhang Tie''s shoulder before whispering in a genial way, "You''re having cool days in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory these days. Can you bear over 10 wives?"


    Only Zhang Yang dared ask Zhang Tie about that. The others were not qualified to do that as they did not have such a stance or the close relationship with Zhang Tie.


    That was a talk between brothers and men.


    "I could keep standing for many weeks without leaking any drop of sperm or firing dozens of times a day under my control. What do you think about that, elder brother?" Zhang Tie blinked his eyes as he replied in a secret way.


    Zhang Yang became stunned, "That''s amazing!"


    "Knights are as vigorous as dragons and tigers. Such a bit consumption is nothing for knights. I was told that some knight in Taixia Country built a city; married thousands of wives and had thousands of babies. Finally, that knight couldn''t even remember his kids'' names and always mistook the mothers of those kids..."


    "Ahh, to be honest, how many times could you make one day at most?" Zhang Yang further lowered his voice with a strong curiosity.


    The two brothers walked towards home as they talked about this "private topic" through whispers.


    "A few days ago, we returned to Taixia Country by airboat, erm...Elder brother, you know...it''s a bit boring on the airboat. I couldn''t make any of my wives feel being treated coldly; therefore, I kept firing over 40 times a day on the airboat; I treated all of them equally..."


    Zhang Yang shook his head while revealing a smile, "It seems that I really can''t match you on that. When I could make 7 times a night, I even felt pleased about that; lately, I feel a bit tired..."


    "Elder brother, didn''t you use the Taiyi soul-building pills that I gave you? As long as you lit your surging points one by one, your physical potential would be gradually tapped..."


    "I''ve not started to use that yet. I was taking care of Jinwu Business Group these days. Therefore, I have little time to polish my surging points. Our dad took some Taiyi soul-building pills and had already lit the 13th surging points on his spine..."


    Zhang Yang''s words made Zhang Tie stunned. Closely after that, Zhang Tie felt pretty thrilled. Zhang Tie had not imagined that his dad could promote to a LV 7 fighter. Although LV 7 fighters were as weak as kids in front of Zhang Tie, it was great for his dad to be a LV 7 fighter. Because Zhang Tie''s dad didn''t have any talent in cultivation at all, it was already very difficult for Zhang Ping to promote to LV 6 a few years ago. Without Zhang Tie''s Taiyi soul-building pills, Zhang Ping might not light so many surging points for the rest of his life.


    "Hasn''t our dad formed the soul''s fire this time?"


    "Nope, dad said he didn''t want to kill living beings. He only needs battle qi to keep healthy!"


    That was a good choice. No matter what, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang would never allow their dad to go to the battlefield. It was already great for Zhang Ping to light more surging points.


    "Where''s mom? Has our mom taken those Taiyi soul-building pills?"


    "Yes, dad and mom supervised and urged each other to practice. They''re very interested in cultivation. Mom has lit 6 surging points on her spine. Our mom has already been a LV 5 warrior. After finding that dad and mom are practicing so hard, I also reflect on myself and feel that I could hand some jobs of Jinwu Business Group to someone else and spend more time in cultivation. No matter what, health couldn''t be bought. If I was surpassed by our dad one day, that would be a laughingstock at home..." Zhang Yang shook his head.


    "Hahaha, it''s good if you could think in this way. Our family doesn''t lack anything at all. It''s meaningless even if we could make billions of gold coins more per year..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he felt pretty good. Zhang Tie felt that nothing was valuable than hearing his parents lighting more surging points. This was absolutely the best news that he had ever heard in late months. If his parents could light more surging points, they would be healthy and have a longer longevity; additionally, they would enjoy a more happy lot from their sons, which could never be bought. "It''s worthwhile for me to return the airboat to Taiyi Fantasy Sect. We have to appreciate Taiyi Fantasy Sect for having our parents being so passionate about cultivation. Later on, if there''s an opportunity, I will have Taiyi Fantasy Sect send us thousands of Taiyi soul-building pills more. I dare not guarantee the sufficient provision of Taiyi soul-building pills for others; I promise our family could have enough Taiyi soul-building pills..."


    "Each person could only take 99 Taiyi soul-building pills at most. It doesn''t work if you have more..."


    "So what. LV 10 is not bad. If our parents could promote to LV 10, that would mean greater happy lost and longer longevity. After promoting to LV 9, people would live 120 years; after promoting to LV 10, people would live 150 years. No matter what, I would try my best to help our parents promote to LV 10 at least..." Zhang Tie said it decisively as if this was his firmest will.


    "You''re right. If our parents could promote to LV 10, you and I would not live in vain as their sons!" Zhang Yang said firmly too.


    "Oh, elder brother, as you''ve just come back from Tongzhou Province, how''s the situation facing Tongzhou Province?"


    "It''s very worse..." Zhang Yang looked gloomy at once...

 1265 A Gossip in Zhang Mansion

    Zhang Tie had been accompanying his wives and kids in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory over these months. Everything was fine in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Those bloody figures in Yangui Mountain Range had been killed and captured by the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect and the garrisons in the 10 cities of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Those bloody figures only raided some independent hunters'' houses and a couple of villages in Yangui Mountain Range and caused a casualty of hundreds of people. Although Taixia Country was suffering from large-scale crop failure this summer, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory had a bumper harvest. Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was a completely a Shangri-la compared to the rest of Taixia Country.


    After those bloody figures entered Yangui Mountain Range and caused some casualties, Zhang Tie had sent an order to move all the other hunters and their families out of Yangui Mountain Range; additionally, he selected a region to build fortresses so that these hunters and their families could live near cities. Besides, all the hunters could enjoy higher compensation than being hunters as the rangers of Yangui Mountain Range under the control of Zhang Tie. Some old hunters with rich experience were even invited into the encampment of Fire-Dragon Corps and recruited as coaches for teaching those fighters of Fire-Dragon Corps to fight and survive in woods.


    As the prices of grains had increased by two times, the bumper summer harvest in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory made those commoners, dignitaries and local seniors pretty happy. As a result, the entire Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory looked vigorous and boisterous.


    In this case, if not being told about the worse situation facing Tongzhou Province by his elder brother, Zhang Tie could barely imagine about that the current situation in some provinces of Taixia Country could be so severe.


    In the second half of last year, the catastrophe of bloody figures broke out in Tongzhou Province. As a result, over 10 prefectures in the core inflicted region turned bloody and became full of smokes.


    In the core inflicted region of the bloody figures, those cities being protected by high city walls were suffering the minimal damages; however, those towns and villages outside the cities were severely damaged. After being invaded by bloody figures, all the towns and villages had been burned into ashes while numerous corpses were exposed in the wild.


    Due to the panic of bloody figures, commoners swarmed into cities. However, cities could hold a limited population. Not all the people outside the cities were allowed in. As long as local authorities made limits in population entering cities, many people would be blocked outside cities. Over 1,000 conflicts had been aroused from the end of last year to now.


    Large troops of bloody figures had been scattered by force. However, bloody figures had a greater sphere of activity. Some independent bloody figures would kill passers-by in the wild or farmers in farmlands occasionally. Therefore, the panic caused by bloody figures had not been completely eliminated until now.


    Facing such a worse situation, the prices of grains in Taixia Country had started to roar since the end of last year. Additionally, Tongzhou Province was suffering a large-scale crop failure this summer. Those places being violated by bloody figures would cause large-scale wasteland in the wild. As a result, fewer grains would be supplied; even commercial circulation was severely influenced.


    When more and more people entered cities, living resources started to reduce. However, they didn''t make enough money. Farmers suffered from a crop failure while revenues which were related to agriculture in all aspects declined greatly. However, the living cost was skyrocketing. Although the official authorities across Tongzhou Province were relieving people in stricken areas, some local places were almost in the worst scenario.


    A transfer materials storage warehouse and an orchard that Jinwu Business Group invested in Tongzhou Province were rooted by insurgents and caused some casualties. As it was Jinwu Business Group''s first time to meet such an accident, Zhang Yang went to Tongzhou Province to deal with it himself.


    After hearing Zhang Yang''s words, Zhang Tie started to realize that some places outside Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory were in a much worse situation than he could imagine. Some places might be as worse as being raided by demonized puppets in Waii Subcontinent.


    "How about the loss of Jinwu Business Group in Tongzhou Province?"


    "It''s a small loss. Over 3 million gold coins in total. Jinwu Business Group lost over 100,000 vials of all-purpose medicaments, some stored grains, medicines and some other commodities in its warehouse in Tongzhou Province. Additionally, the business group''s orchard also suffered from a loss..." Although over 3 million gold coins might be an astronomical figure for other business groups, it was not a big deal for Jinwu Business Group and Zhang Yang. "But a capable director in Jinwu Business Group, some bodyguards who were inspecting the warehouse and some lads of the business group who looked after the warehouse were killed by insurgents. When I arrived at Tongzhou Province, those principal insurgents had been captured and beheaded in the public by the local judicial court. After that, the riot was pacified..."


    Zhang Tie shook his head as this was not a good omen. Although the authorities in Taixia Country still had a strong control over local places and could suppress the riot rapidly by beheading the principal criminals, now that such a malignant riot happened, it indicated that some local places in Taixia Country had been in a worse scenario after being stricken by bloody figures and grains shortage.


    Some ambitious guys who wanted to make a fortune when the country was in trouble as a whole or some guys who were always indignant or were in their low ebbs had started to stir up troubles. They might not be driven by Three-eye Association or Heavens Reaching Church on their back but be driven by human nature. There were so many people in Taixia country. Not all of them were good people. Perhaps many people would not do something excessive in normal times; however, when in catastrophe; especially in some extreme occasions, many people would expose their dark and ugly side.


    Zhang Tie had seen too many such things after experiencing the extermination of Waii Subcontinent.


    Even in peaceful times, there were also thousands of notorious gangsters on the wanted list of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country such as Zhu Liang the poisonous wolf. When facing major issues, these people might still be clear-minded and knew that they were on the human side when facing demons. For instance, Zhao Yuan Zhang Tie''s master directly sought for his own road in the realm of gods. Of course, he would not add fuel to the flames in Taixia Country; however, some greedy and vicious guys who were obsessed by wealth might do something stealthily to help deteriorate the situation as a fish in troubled waters on the opposite of humans.


    Zhang Yang''s words reminded Zhang Tie at once. Besides demons, Heavens Reaching Church and the Gobbling Party, he might face some unimaginable enemies and situations.


    If the same riot happened in Fire-Dragon Prefecture, would he kill those insurgents or not?


    The two brothers talked as they approached the main mansion. On the way, all the maids, servants even guards of Zhang Mansion hurriedly stopped from a few meters away as they bowed towards the two people the moment they caught sight of Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang; especially those maids who were greatly shocked by Zhang Tie''s young look.


    Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang had long been much different than before. Jinwu Business Group had become the biggest business group in the northeast military region. Zhang Yang played a decisive role in the northeast military region; however, Zhang Tie had been well-known across the world.


    As Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie grew more and more famous, the domestic rules grew increasingly stricter. More and more qualified people were employed by Zhang Mansion.


    Even the stewards in Zhang Mansion could barely see Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang walking shoulder to shoulder in the mansion, not to mention those maids and male servants.


    "Ahh, that''s the second young master. He''s so young. He looks younger than me. What a handsome teenager!" A beautiful maid in a green skirt hurriedly lowered her body to one side at the side door of a garden a few meters away from the two brothers. Not until Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang walked far away did she silently stick her tongue out and tell the other beautiful maid in a pink skirt.


    The two maids were both carrying a basket, which contained some fresh flowers that they had just cut off from the garden. It seemed that the two maids were especially here to cut off fresh flowers so as to adorn them with the rooms.


    "Watch out, our second young master is a knight. I was told by a guard that our second young master''s cultivation base has reached a mysterious realm. Therefore, he could maintain his young look..." The maid in pink skirt whispered.


    "Ahh, I wonder whether second young master needs maids or not..." The maid in the green skirt muttered with a faint blush as she saw Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang turning to the other side of the rockery and fountain in the far.


    "Hah, little girl, are you falling in love with the second young master? But I suggest you to stop thinking about that!" The maid in the pink skirt let out a sigh. She looked at the tiny breast of the maid in the green skirt, then moved her eyes onto her breast which only deserved a small grip before saying in a frustrated way, "Never dream about approaching the second young master. As you''ve just come here, you might not know that second young master favors plump and enchanting women most. In normal times, the second young master doesn''t even feel like throwing a glance at us!"


    "Second young master favors that sort of women?"


    "Of course, all the members in the mansion know that. You''ve not seen the wives of the second young master. Among the wives of the second young master, Madam Linda is more mature and plump. It''s said that most of the women that second young master brought back from a subcontinent are like that. Even the princess of Lord Guangnan that second young master brought back is said to be mature and beautiful. Haven''t you discovered that even those maids of the second young master are much plumper..."


    "Second young master prefer cougars!" The maid in the green skirt widely opened her watery eyes as she poured out straightforwardly. At the same time, she lowered her head and threw a glance at her breast as she realized that her dream was crushed in the blink of an eye...

 1266 Separation of Brothers I

    "Hush, cougar? Only those uncouth guys outside the mansion say that. If the steward heard your gossip, watch out your butt. Hurry up, let''s go. Elder sister Ping is waiting for our fresh flowers. These flowers would be sent to the room of old madam. Keep it in mind. Elder sister Ping serves old madam and could even have a right of speech in front of old madam. With the protection of elder sister Ping, nobody in this mansion dares to bully us. When you see elder sister Ping, you could only call her elder sister Ping instead of calling her aunt Ping. Last time, a newcomer called her aunt Ping. Finally, elder sister Ping casually told the steward something and assigned the newcomer to a village outside Jinwu City..."


    The maid in the green skirt stuck her tongue out as she replied, "Ahh, I see..."


    "Hurry up..."


    The two maids then walked towards the main mansion along a path.


    ...


    ''I prefer...cougar?''


    It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that he could hear such a gossip in the mansion.


    .


    After hearing the two maids'' words, Zhang Tie only revealed a smile. He didn''t care about these gossips at all, because he would not lose a hair because of these gossips. ''Perhaps I have started to prefer mature women since I met Miss Daina. Linda, Olina, Sabrina; even Spencer Clan sent Matia to me as they had heard about my choice. As for Bai Suxian, we were destined to meet each other.''


    ''It seems that I really have a lot of mature women.''


    But the gossip that he preferred "cougars" really made Zhang Tie embarrassed.


    ...


    When Zhang Yang talked about the current situation facing Tongzhou Province, they had arrived at the main mansion.


    After coming to the main mansion, Zhang Yang stopped talking as it was not proper to chat on the way.


    "After meeting our parents, we will talk about it later. I''ve already heard about what you did in Ninghe Prefecture these days when in Tongzhou Province!"


    "Fine!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    The moment they came to the main mansion, they had seen their dad standing at the gate. Zhang Ping greeted them with a smile, "You came back together?"


    Zhang Tie looked at his dad and found that his dad looked much more spirited. It seemed that Zhang Ping''s physical potential had been further tapped. Therefore, Zhang Tie became reassured at once. However, after looking at his dad carefully, Zhang Tie found that his dad seemingly looked a bit sorrowful as the places beneath his eyes looked faintly cinereous. It seemed that he had not slept well for a few days. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s heart slightly pounded. Burning night oil hurt people''s health most. Although LV 7 fighter had a much better physical strength than LV 6 fighter, his physical strength was still much weaker than that of a knight; especially Zhang Ping was at his 60s. If he couldn''t sleep well for consecutively a few days, he would definitely reveal an abnormal look.


    "Coincidentally, the moment I arrived here, I''ve seen elder brother returning home by airboat. Therefore, I came back together with elder brother..." Zhang Tie smiled. In front of his dad, Zhang Tie had completely hidden his imposing look as Qianji Hermit. He still behaved as same as in Blackhot City by making jokes. After saying those words, Zhang Tie purposefully widely opened his eyes as he looked at Zhang Ping from his head to his toe with an amazed look. He even rubbed his eyes before exclaiming, "Wow, is that real? Dad, you''ve lit 13 surging points. You''re already a LV 7 fighter and have a much better health. Dad, are you finding a good sister for my mom or what? Our mom is so generous that she would never mind that..."


    Previously, Zhang Tie''s dad felt a bit sad. After hearing Zhang Tie''s exaggerated words, his face blushed faintly as he glared at Zhang Tie and swore him with a smile, "You''re also a father now. Don''t make such an excessive joke anymore..."


    Zhang Tie said with a big smile, "Heh heh, even though I''m also a father now, I''m still your son. I would never be as old as you!"


    Watching Zhang Tie''s pleasant look, Zhang Ping felt warm. However, closely after that, he felt guilty as he reserved his smile, "Your mom cooked supper for you today. It''s all the favorite dishes of you two. Come on, have supper first!"


    After finishing his words, Zhang Ping turned around and entered the mansion. Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang exchanged a glance with each other as they both felt that their dad had concerns.


    After entering the main mansion and coming to the dining hall, Zhang Tie found his mom was also much more spirited than before. However, due to poor sleep lately, she also looked a bit fatigued. Both their mom and their dad must have concerns.


    The supper was cooked by their mom. Compared to the usual supper in Zhang Mansion, this supper looked a bit special.


    In normal times, there were a lot of chefs in the kitchen of Zhang Mansion. They could cook any food and dish that Zhang family could cook. Besides, all the dishes that they cooked met the ordinary requirements on color, aroma and taste, not to mention a feast of fat things. In Zhang Ping''s words, he didn''t even feel like moving his chopsticks in case of ruining the dishes.


    However, the dishes today were all very simple. Compared to the current position of the Zhang family, it was almost "stingy". There were only two meat dishes: braised turnips with beef; fried pork in soy sauce. All the others were vegetable dishes such as fried white cabbage, fried sliced potatoes, fried red beans, boiled sweet potatoes and mixed lettuce with sugar. Besides, there was a huge stockpot, which just held some leftover rice soup.


    Although the dishes were simple, they were enough for the family.


    These were all "delicious dishes" that Zhang Tie''s family could enjoy in Blackhot City only on special days. Even the rice soup was once a rare, tasty food that the family could enjoy before dinner after being added with some sugar or salt.


    At the sight of the rice soup, Zhang Tie became absent-minded. When in Blackhot City, after boiling rice, they would always keep the rice soup. When the rice soup was served on the table, there was always a thick cover over it, which was Zhang Tie''s favorite. It tasted smooth and aromatic. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the thick cover of rice soup was even more delicious than milk. His mom always left the thick cover to him.


    It had been too many years since Zhang Tie enjoyed the cover on rice soup last time.


    At the sight of such dishes, Zhang Tie had known that his parents must have something important to tell him and his elder brother...


    Zhang Tie''s elder sisters-in-law were also at the table. As they were all clever, at the sight of Zhang Tie and these ordinary home-cooked dishes, they had known that this meal was unusual for sure.


    As they all had concerns, the atmosphere was a bit depressive. Thankfully, Zhang Tie''s nephews and nieces were scrambling for the cover on rice soup, spicing up the atmosphere more or less, making it a little less embarrassing.


    At the end of the meal, Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie lowered their heads and finished all the dishes, even the rice soup, leaving nothing at all. After that, they put down their bowl and chopsticks and expressed that they were full.


    After finding that the two brothers were as same as usual, Zhang Tie''s mom revealed a faint smile too.


    Zhang Tie''s elder sisters-in-law were all observant. After finishing the meal, they had a short chat with Zhang Tie''s parents and Zhang Tie before bidding a farewell to them politely and returning to Zhang Yang''s mansion with their kids, leaving Zhang Yang, Zhang Tie and their parents alone.


    Those maids and male servants also moved away when Zhang Tie''s elder sisters-in-law left.


    "Dad, mom, why did you call us back? Just say it, no need to be that grand. Even mom cooked the dinner for us, including the secret gold and white jade soup..." Zhang Tie told his parents with a smile.


    When in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie named rice soup as gold and white jade soup. When rice became ripe, it looked golden all over in the farmlands. After being boiled, the rice soup looked as rich and smooth as white jade. When the family had a meal, Zhang Tie named rice soup as gold and white jade soup. When the others heard this name, they would even think that it was a top delicacy. Actually, it was just a bowl of ordinary rice soup.


    After hearing the name gold and white jade soup, Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie''s parents revealed a reminiscent, warm smile at the same time.


    "I''ve not drunk this gold and white jade soup for a long time. It tastes much better than the so-called feast of fat things. The gold and white jade soup is fresh and white without any impurity. It is aromatic and rich and is suitable to both old and young. I suggest the kitchen to keep the rice soup. Do not waste it. This is a tradition of dad and mom. It should root in our home. No matter how rich we''re, we shouldn''t forget about the source; neither should we be extravagant!" Zhang Tie''s elder brother opened his mouth.


    "Elder brother is right. Pitifully, I still want to eat the essence of gold and white jade soup today. However, I''m ashamed to scramble for it with my nephews and nieces. When I return to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, I will also send the order to keep this rule as the tradition of Zhang family..." Zhang Tie laughed too.


    Zhang Tie''s mom threw a glance at Zhang Ping.


    "Ahem ahem..." Zhang Ping pretended to cough twice as he threw a glance at the parlor and asked Zhang Tie''s mom, "Do we need to talk about it in the study?"


    "No need, we''re at home. There''s no outsider here. Additionally, our servants are not used to eavesdrop our talk. Just talk about it here!" Zhang Tie''s mom said.


    "Fine, let''s talk about it here!" Zhang Tie''s dad straightened up his body as he turned solemn at once. After looking at Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang silently for two seconds, he slowly opened his mouth, "I called you back because your mom and I feel that you brothers should have your own families after a few days'' negotiations..."

 1267 Separation of Brothers II

    Separation of brothers might be common for other families; especially in families which had brothers. However, when Zhang Tie heard it from his dad, he still felt a bit strange.


    Because Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang never scrambled for something at home. The family had tided over all the difficulties together since in Waii Subcontinent. Why would they separate from each other?


    Zhang Tie exchanged a glance with his elder brother as they both saw suspicion in each other''s eyes.


    "Dad, have you and mom heard some gossips lately?" Zhang Yang asked while frowning.


    Zhang Tie''s dad and mom didn''t directly answer Zhang Yang''s question; instead, Zhang Tie''s mom opened her mouth, "You brother don''t think too much about that. As you''re brothers, after having your own families, it''s normal for you to separate from each other. It has nothing to do with those people outside. As your dad and I are old, you two have already got married and have a lot of children, we shouldn''t fasten you to us for the sake of us and the jollification. After a few months, Zhang Yang would marry the daughter of Yanzhou provincial governor. Zhang Tie should also be engaged to Suxian as soon as possible. Last time, Suxian said that you would be engaged to Lord Guangnan''s Mansion after she observed mourning for her grandmother''s death for 3 years. She''s already observed mourning for her grandmother''s death for about 1.5 years. As the daughter of the Yanzhou provincial governor and the daughter of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion will enter our family, you two need to separate from each other as soon as possible in case of troubles..."


    "Yea, your mom and I both know that you two are filial towards us. You would not scramble for anything even if you''re going to separate from each other. Additionally, it doesn''t mean that our family is separated. You only need to reason through the properties that you''ve created over these years for the sake of the harmony of the family when you have more wives and kids!" Zhang Tie''s dad added.


    Zhang Tie''s dad and mom were both clear about that. Their suggestion was also reasonable. However, watching the faint tiredness under their parents'' eyes, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang could still seize the keywords¡ª¡ªwe shouldn''t fasten you to us for the sake of us and the jollification!


    Their parents looked very serious, which meant that they were not joking and couldn''t be treated in a perfunctory way.


    ''How could dad and mom bear such a great stress for the separation of our brothers?''


    ''Why?''


    Zhang Tie was muddle-headed. However, now that his parents didn''t explain it in details, he didn''t feel convenient to ask about that. Therefore, he just maintained silence.


    Zhang Yang was also in silence.


    Zhang Yang''s eye light sparkled as if he had thought about something from his parents'' words.


    "All the properties are made by you brothers, as your mom and I are at present, you two should talk about how to separate these properties first!" Zhang Tie''s dad said seriously.


    "Dad, don''t you know the temperaments of Zhang Tie and me? I don''t feel comfortable about hearing that. Can we not separate from each other? If we really separated from each other, outsiders would think that Zhang Tie and I don''t get along well with each other." Zhang Yang said carefully. Even though their parents'' words were reasonable, Zhang Yang still could not accept it emotionally as it came too suddenly.


    "Don''t try to be perfunctory in front of your mom and me today. Even if you separate from each other, you are still brothers. Your mom and I are still your parents. If you brothers don''t reason through it today, your dad and I would not feel reassured even at home. We will move away from Jinwu City and live outside tomorrow!" Zhang Tie''s mom said with a solemn look as she added, "I could still make rice brew. I will survive myself by selling rice brew; your dad could also continue to work in a factory!"


    Their mom had not said such serious words for dozens of years. Zhang Yang threw a glance at Zhang Tie which meant, ''It seems that our parents have been determined to separate us today, what should we do?''


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile.


    "Zhang Tie, I want to listen to your opinion first. How would you share the properties with Zhang Yang?" Zhang Tie''s dad told Zhang Tie firstly.


    "My elder brother looked after parents and my family members all these years. Jinwu Business Group is also expanded by my elder brother. Without my elder brother''s care of home affairs, I would never be reassured outside. If we have to separate from each other, Jinwu City belongs to my elder brother; Jinwu Business Group belongs to my elder brother too. As for Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, my elder brother could have 5 cities!"


    Zhang Tie immediately poured out what he wanted to say.


    As for Zhang Tie, money and land were nothing but sh*t compared to the brotherhood between him and Zhang Yang. For the sake of his wives and kids in Ice and Snow Wilderness, he could even abandon the throne, not to mention the brotherhood.


    Soon after hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Yang had become anxious, "No, no. Jinwu Business Group''s business is about all-purpose medicament, which is invented by Zhang Tie. Without Zhang Tie, I could at most be a boss of a small firm. It''s my responsibility to look after my parents. Additionally, dad and mom are still young. They don''t need to be looked after at all. Actually, they''re always looking after me and helping me stabilize this home. Over these years, although Zhang Tie was outside, he had promoted to a knight and become the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace. Zhang Tie is the greatest backup and reliance of Jinwu Business Group. Although being his elder brother, I was just helping Zhang Tie look after the business. Strictly, Jinwu Business Group and Jinwu City both belong to Zhang Tie. Even Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory is made by Zhang Tie and has nothing to do with me. No matter how shameless I am, I would never scramble over my younger brother''s properties!"


    "Elder brother, if you say so, I will take my wives and kids back to Ice and Snow Wilderness tomorrow. Without you, Zhang family would never be so prosperous. If you regard yourself as an employed worker, do you intend to make me embarrassed?"


    "Easy, bro, think about your wives and kids. If I shared Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory with you, I would not raise my head in front of your wives and kids. If you insist on this, I will also leave Jinwu City together with your elder sisters-in-law. I will do my own small business..."


    The two brothers pretended to glare at each other.


    The other brothers would always fight and quarrel with each other for properties, even in imperial households and major clans; however, in Zhang family, the two brothers behaved very modestly as they urged to push the properties to the opposite as if the business group, cities and land felt blazing hot.


    Watching the two brothers'' performance, their parents both smiled with relief. They let out a sigh inside as they threw a glance at each other as if they had long predicted it.


    "Fine, you brothers don''t decline any more. I have a solution, if you feel it doesn''t work, we can further negotiate with each other..."


    "Fine, dad, go ahead!" Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie said in unison.


    "Jinwu Business Group is founded and developed by you two brothers. You share with it, fifty-fifty. Later on, Jinwu Business Group will be managed by Zhang Yang and Zhang Yang''s descendants. Jinwu City is our earliest foundation in Taixia Country. According to the custom of Taixia Country, Jinwu City is the "old real estate" of Zhang family. Your mom and I will live inside for the rest of our lives. Zhang Yang is the eldest son; therefore, Jinwu City and the surrounding land would be inherited by Zhang Yang. Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory is made by Zhang Tie himself; therefore, it should belong to Zhang Tie. I know that the business of Fiery Oil is large. However, Jinwu Business Group is not involved in the business of Fiery Oil yet. Later on, this business will not be merged into Jinwu Business Group. As to the business of Fiery Oil, Zhang Tie, you manage it yourself..."


    Zhang Tie''s dad paused for a second before continuing, "When Zhang Tie held his rotating chakra ceremony last year, he received many gifts; of course, those gifts belong to you. However, one gift from Huaiyuan Palace is 60,000 square miles'' land outside Jinwu City. As this land is far away from Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and neighbors the original land of Jinwu City, I suggest you to transfer it to Zhang Yang at a price. What do you think about it?"


    Zhang Tie estimated that his parents had been thinking about it for a few days. ''This method covers the businesses, cities and lands. As for the 60,000 square miles'' land, just transfer it to my elder brother for free. If my elder brother bought it, it would be a laughingstock...''


    "Do you agree?" Zhang Tie''s mom asked.


    Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang exchanged a glance with each other.


    Zhang Yang expressed his opinion, "I agree!"


    Zhang Tie replied with a bitter smile, "Dad, mom, you''re going to live in Jinwu City for the rest of your lives together with my elder brother. Are you leaving me alone? Why do I feel that I''m driven out of home..."


    "Nonsense. How could we leave you alone? Later on, your dad and I would live wherever we want, Jinwu City or Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. You''d better prepare a residence for your dad and me over there. I will go there to see my grandchildren!" Zhang Tie''s mom patted Zhang Tie''s head with complex moods.


    "If you brothers agree, I will invite your elder uncles and Elder Muyuan to have a dinner and tell them about this decision a few days later!"


    "Fine!"


    ...


    The separation of the great properties only took Zhang family a few minutes. It was as smooth as buying a furniture in a store.


    ...


    ''I''ve not imagined that elder brother and I are called back to Jinwu City for separation. Later on, dad and I would be independent economically.'' Zhang Tie thought as he walked out of the main mansion together with Zhang Yang a few hours later. At the sight of the stars over the sky, Zhang Tie felt a bit weird as he didn''t know whether he should be pleased or sad about that.


    "Elder brother, what do you think about it?" Zhang Tie couldn''t help but ask Zhang Yang.


    "Due to the event of the grandson of Shengzhou provincial governor, there''re some evil gossips in Jinwu City. Dad and mom might want to be responsible for those gossips; therefore, they worked out the opinion to separate us for the sake of us..." Zhang Yang felt a bit depressed after experiencing such a sudden and "sharp change" at home. Therefore, he didn''t want to say anything anymore, "It''s already too late. I will go to bed. You''d better sleep earlier!"


    "Fine!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he returned to his own residence.


    As Zhang Tie''s wives were in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, there were only maids and male servants in Zhang Tie''s residence. The moment Zhang Tie returned to his residence, Zhang Gui had appeared like a spirit, "This old humble slave welcomes master back..."


    Zhang Tie immediately asked Zhang Gui through a secret means, "What''s wrong with those gossips in Jinwu City?"


    The event about the grandson of Shengzhou provincial governor was a bit severe. As the castellan of Jinwu City, of course, Zhang Tie''s dad had known that and cared about it himself. However, the words of the grandson of Shengzhou provincial governor spread over Jinwu City in a very vicious way. It was said that Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang shared wives and properties with each other. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s wives delivered babies after Zhang Tie left home for 1 year...


    Zhang Tie finally understood why his parents said those severe words today.


    Their parents felt that they ruined the fame of Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang by fastening the two brothers to them and caused the gossips. Therefore, they requested the two brothers to separate with each other...


    Zhang Tie was driven infuriated while the bricks under his foot shattered completely...


    ''F*ck, the Gobbling Party is too excessive!''

 1268 The Border

    The eastern continent was vast and boundless. Outside Taixia Country, there was a large, unpopulated wild area, which was covered with venomous animals and mutated beasts. With the sharp increase of the population in Taixia Country, Taixia Country''s territory almost expanded every year. However, no matter how Taixia Country expanded its territory, there were always large gray-black areas outside those barren provinces in the north and the west, which indicated that they had not been exploited and explored yet.


    Taixia country was adjacent to the ocean in the east and the south. Therefore, the unidentified gray-black areas were mainly in the north and the west.


    It was said that there was only one continent on this planet before the Catastrophe, namely Kun''ang Continent. The Catastrophe caused sharp geological movement and broke apart Kun''ang Continent. Those small pieces were the current subcontinents while the Eastern Continent and the Western Continent were the main pieces of the original continent. Eastern Continent was the eastern region of Kun''ang Continent; Western Continent was the western region of Kun''ang Continent. The two main pieces neighbored each other previously. After the Catastrophe, there was an unimaginably large unpopulated zone between the two continents. Additionally, there was a large black iron world in the unpopulated zone which was known as the no-life zone. Being isolated by the black iron world, the Eastern Continent and the Western Continent looked like two continents. Therefore, people traversed between two continents mainly by sea instead of land.


    Before the first holy war, the black iron world was also called the realm of catastrophe. This place was where God''s Star fell down over 900 years ago and where God''s Star released its terrifying power. Until now, that place was still the terrifying forbidden zone in people''s eyes. Even knights could barely survive that place. It was the only place on the surface of the earth which was riskier than the Earth-elements Realm.


    Those knights who could survive the realm of catastrophe always described this region as a terrifying area!


    The bizarre power brought by the god''s star would not reduce as time passed by. In the realm of catastrophe, the dangers and terrors caused by earth element, water element, wind element, fire element and the weird power of time and space were out of the imagination of commoners.


    In the realm of catastrophe, there were absolutely zero super ice storms, flame volumes which could melt gold and iron, cracks which could shatter shadow knights through movement, monstrous billows that could drown everything, full of mutated venomous living beings and fatal traps caused by invisible space cracks...


    Nobody would like to go there; even knights.


    Because of this reason, that place was originally called realm of catastrophe.


    Realm of catastrophe was where black iron age started from. As for humans, black iron age was the start of a wholly new age of humans, which carried a positive meaning. Therefore, after the first holy war, realm of catastrophe gradually won the widely accepted neutral and commemorative expression "black iron world" in all the official human documents.


    ...


    Besides the established provinces of Taixia Country, the border of Taixia Country was about 100,000 miles away from the black iron world in the west and the north. Within this distance, there were vast wild areas which could be further exploited and developed.


    According to the preliminary research made by the financial and farming ministry of Taixia Country a few years ago, the current territory of Taixia Country basically occupied half of the available land area on Eastern Continent. It meant that another Taixia Country could be held between the realm of catastrophe and the current border of Taixia Country.


    Therefore, Taixia Country was never worried about overpopulation. The official of Taixia Country was always encouraging childbirth...


    Therefore, there would be new cities every day in Taixia Country. In each decade, those former barren provinces in the border of Taixia Country would be promoted to lower provinces after absorbing enough population...


    Therefore, Taixia Country formulated the policy to absorb border inhabitants. The major clans in Taixia Country would participate in trading border inhabitants and constantly purchasing manpower from subcontinents for the development of the barren provinces in Taixia Country...


    ...


    However, although that available region was vast, it couldn''t be visited for free. Being 6,000 miles away from the barren provinces of Taixia Country, many places had been basically unpopulated for hundreds of years. Even medicine diggers who sought for treasure medicines in the wilderness and those powerful animal controlling masters who would like to look for mutated mounts would not easily deepen into the region which was 6,000 miles away from barren provinces of Taixia Country. The region neighboring the black iron world was at least 100,000 miles away from the barren provinces of Taixia Country. Therefore, fewer people would go there. Usually, only knights or clan members of very few major clans in Taixia Country could approach the black iron world.


    Being also affected by the god''s star, there were also many high-level mutated beasts in the wilderness being less than 6,000 miles away from the border of the black iron world. These high-level mutated beasts were favored by many knights of major clans in Taixia Country.


    In black iron age, knights'' positions were determined by their chakra-based cultivation base. Mount was not a necessary factor for becoming knights. From this aspect, knights in black iron age were utterly different than those knights before the Catastrophe. However, due to the word "knight", some knights always felt that they should have a powerful mount to make it cool and better according to their identity of knights and the tradition. Therefore, mutated beasts above LV 13 were always best-sellers among some knights and a few playboys of major clans in Taixia Country.


    People could also catch many mutated beasts above LV 13 in the hundreds of millions of mountains in the south border of Taixia Country. However, in the south border, besides dealing with mutated beasts, they should also deal with those hostile local aborigines and powerhouses who would jump out at any time. Those local aborigines and powerhouses would always treat the mutated beasts in the hundreds of millions of mountains in the south border of Taixia Country as their own properties or spiritual beings and were always hostile towards outsiders who came to the southern border for hunting mutated beasts. They were tricky. Therefore, those able men would always come to the region being close to the black iron world to hunt for mutated beasts.


    Since the turmoil in Xuanyuan Hill last year, Taixia Country had experienced catastrophe of bloody figures and turmoils across the country. As a result, fewer people felt like catching mutated beasts by airboat here; especially this June, when the bloody figures had not been completely pacified, Taixia Country started to suffer from a large-scale summer crop failure. From then on, fewer people would come to this place for mutated beasts. Even so, there were always some playboys and someone who didn''t care about the secular world as there were so many major clans across Taixia Country. These people were born to be rich. Bloody figures or grain shortage seemed to not exist in their world.


    In early July, a red airboat longer than 500 m slowly moved in the sky being over 1,200 miles away from the black iron world.


    On the ground, the 2 m-high weeds rolled as six LV 13 fighters flashed by...


    All the 6 fighters wore quality rune leather armors with weapons in hands. Someone held a customized heavy crossbow, someone held a shield, someone held a saber or a sword...


    Being over 100 m away in front of these fighters, a 2 m-longer huge and strong beast with fiery mane was escaping rapidly in the grass.


    It was a LV 13 mutated beasts¡ª¡ªwind lion.


    In the former fight with the 6 human fighters, the LV 13 wind lion had been injured. Therefore, its speed was reduced. Even so, it could still run 3 times faster than ordinary galloping horse. Flashing in the lush weeds, it looked like a fiery wind.


    The wind lion kept escaping as it sprayed blood from its legs. It even roared now and then, revealing its dismal and despairing look in the dilemma as the king of the wilderness.


    The signal lamps of the airboat in the sky reminded those human fighters of the trace of the wind lion and the possible dangers by sparkling every now and then.


    The fighters cooperated with each other tacitly as they moved rapidly. With the help of the signal lamps on the airboat, they finally surrounded the wind lion when it turned around and moved about 10 miles forward in an open land being surrounded by some shrubs...


    "Net..." The head of the 6 fighters sent an order in low voice.


    Being over 50 m away, the 6 fighters targeted their heavy crossbows at the wind lion and pressed the triggers at the same time.


    When the wuthering bolts entered the sky, the blunt arrowheads exploded as they covered the wind lion in terms of a net from 3 directions.


    With a roar, the wind lion accelerated abruptly as it revealed its fangs and sharp claws and dashed towards the direction where there was no net.


    "Shield..."


    With another order, two fighters holding shields immediately rushed forward and prevented the wind lion from breaking out.


    The shields were rune weapons, which carried the effect of dizziness. After being hit back by the shields, although the wind lion didn''t pass out at once, it slowed down. During this interval, 3 bolts were shot towards the wind lion once again.


    This time, the wind lion was not as lucky as last time, it was immediately covered by 2 of the 3 nets. As a result, it immediately fell down when it was going to charge forward. Only after it struggled for a few seconds, the fighter who had sent the two orders just now had charged at it as he stabbed a long sharp needle into the neck of the wind lion. After kicking its legs for a couple of times, the wind lion finally became still...

 1269 The Fall of the Dark I

    After the 6 human fighters caught the wind lion for less than half a minute, the airboat had slowly landed onto a lush meadow which was over 200 m away from this open land.


    When the hatch door of the airboat was opened, a 20-odd years old handsome man who looked slightly green due to overconsumption of alcohol and plenty of sex got off the airboat.


    This young man was only LV 8. However, he wore an expensive boa silk robe. As it was hot. He held a folding fan in an arrogant and personable manner.


    An old man in the clothes of steward followed the young man.


    Seeing the young man getting off the airboat, the 6 human fighters bowed towards the young man and the old man behind him at the same time.


    The playboy seemingly had not seen their movement. He just slightly raised his folding fan to have them straighten up their bodies before hurriedly coming to the front of the wind lion whose head was still covered by the nets and starting to check the mutated beast.


    "Ahh, you''ve not killed this wind lion, have you?"


    "Childe Deng, this wind lion has just passed out after being drugged by the anesthetic. It will wake up in 1 day. After waking up, it would be a bit fatigued; however, 3 days later, as long as it could eat and drink, through careful nurture, it would recover. As for the wounds on its legs, just daub some medicament on them..." One of the 6 human fighters said.


    The young man was not an idiot. After hearing his words and checking the situation of the wind lion, he had known that the wind lion was still alive.


    With a sound of "pah", the young man folded his fan as he looked at the 6 fighters with a smile, "You 6 brothers of Mangshan Mountain are really good. I''ve been here 3 times in vain; I''ve not imagined that you could catch one only after coming here for 2 days. Good, I will pay you 20% more. I was told that there are rarer golden-crown bloody boa living beings less than 1,200 miles away from the border of the black iron world. Can you catch one for me? I will pay 10 times higher, how about that?"


    "Childe Deng, the golden-crown bloody boa is a LV 14 mutated living being. Its ability is close to LV 15. Our 6 brothers are really not enough to catch it..."


    "You can''t..." The young man revealed a hopeless look. However, at the sight of the wind lion at his foot whose tail was longer than 2 m, he felt a bit better, "It doesn''t matter. After all, with this wind lion, I could also be imposing for a period in Huaiyin Prefecture..."


    After hearing his words, the 6 brothers lowered their heads without an empty look. They were serving people for money within their own abilities.


    "Childe, we''ve been out for almost 1 month. As this wilderness is close to the black iron world, it''s very dangerous. It''s inconvenient for us to stay here too long. As we''ve already caught a wind lion, we''d better go back home as soon as possible in case that old madam is worried about us..."


    "Fine, let''s go back then. Oh, contact Qionglou Pavilion. After coming back, have them send me a set of saddle and armors according to the size of this wind lion. I don''t care about the price. It must be cooler than that of the mount of the 3rd son of Liu Clan that I saw last time..." Childe Deng''s eyes flickered with hope.


    "Yes, young master!" The old steward behind Childe Deng threw a glance at the 6 brothers of Mangshang Mountain before walking towards the airboat with Childe Deng.


    The 6 human fighters carried the wind lion and followed them towards the airboat.


    Soon after they walked a few steps forward, the earth quaked suddenly. The 6 fighters became shocked at once. Childe Deng also looked around with a vacant look, "Ahh, is it an earthquake?"


    When the earth quaked, the surrounding flocks of birds flew off at once.


    The quake seemingly happened under their foot at an increasing frequency. The leaves of the shrubs on the surface of the earth quivered constantly.


    The old man behind Childe Deng tightly frowned. Only after a few seconds, he suddenly changed his face greatly as he shouted, "Childe, hurry up, leave out of here..."


    Closely after that, he grabbed Childe Deng''s waistband as he shot towards the hatch door of the airboat as fast as a lightning bolt.


    This steward was a black iron knight.


    The 6 human fighters also responded to it rapidly. However, they could never match a knight in speed.


    Not until the old man flew into the hatch door with Childe Deng did they realize what happened and hurriedly run towards the airboat.


    The 6 human fighters didn''t know why the earth suddenly quaked. Now that the knight had changed his face and escaped away, they realized the severity of the event as they made the same response to it.


    "Drop the wind lion and all the heavy equipment..." The eldest brother roared. These hunters who usually stayed in the wilderness understood what was most valuable for them.


    The moment the steward rushed into the airboat, the airboat had started to ascend rapidly as if it had received the order of the steward. Before the arrival of the 6 brothers, the hatch door had been closed.


    When the 6 brothers arrived at where the airboat landed, the airboat had already reached 100 m high in the sky.


    The 6 brothers could only see the airboat accelerating towards the direction of Taixia Country like a stray dog with pale looks.


    "F*ck your ancestors..." The eldest brother roared.


    "Eldest brother, what should we do?" As the earthquake intensified, the other 5 brothers became flurried.


    "Run..." The eldest brother replied. Closely after that, the 6 brothers ran towards the east at their full efforts. At the same time, they took out a vial of full-purpose medicament respectively and drank it.


    ...


    Only after 1 minute, when the airboat was only over 12 miles away and the 6 brothers were only about 1.8 miles away, the earth within 1 mile where they caught the wind lion suddenly bulged. Closely after that, a black monster as huge as the huge deep-sea monster being covered with steel scales broke out of the earth like a submarine that rapidly floated up from the bottom of the ocean.

 1270 The Fall of the Dark II

    Only after a few minutes, the airboat had been hundreds of miles away; additionally, it was still ascending constantly. Sitting in the airboat, Childe Deng looked completely pale. Quivering all over, he saw those giant, despairing monsters drilling out of the earth one after another through the optical imaging device.


    They looked like huge earthworms or centipedes.


    After these monsters drilled out of the earth, they left many huge and pitch-dark bottomless holes which seemingly led to the abyss in the hell and looked like the mouths of devils which were going to devour everything.


    Even the huge airboat became slim compared to those things.


    Childe Deng''s teeth were quivering.


    The airboat was constantly ascending. However, the higher he was, the more fearful would Childe Deng feel. Such a terrifying monster would drill out of the earth every hundred miles. There were not only 1 or 2 monsters, but there were also numerous monsters as far as he could see.


    It looked like a pile of earthworms drilling out of the earth. Childe Deng was scared so much.


    Soon after these things drilled out of the earth, all the birds within thousands of miles had flown off. At this moment, numerous mutated beasts just escaped towards far like tides instead of attacking each other.


    At this moment, even the least intellectual wild beast had sensed the fear of the doomsday as they escaped in all directions.


    The old man was shouting as loudly as he could in the command room with a pale look, "Ascend...ascend...ascend it to the highest altitude at the greatest speed..."


    The greatest speed of the airboat was just close to the sonic speed in the air. However, the airboat could only reach the middle region of the stratosphere at most.


    Everybody in the airboat had been scared so much that their faces had turned completely pale.


    "What...what...are...those things...drilling out of the earth?" Childe Deng stammered.


    "They...they are demons'' war fortresses..." The steward replied in a quivering voice.


    Soon after he finished his words, the steward had felt something as he changed his face greatly. Before he made any response, the airboat had been collapsed. Childe Deng and the others on the airboat were directly shattered by the unimaginable power together with the airboat...


    The steward was severely injured as he flew backward at his utmost effort towards the east...


    Bang...


    A black light flashed by while the steward who was less than 500 m away from the airboat immediately exploded into blood foam in the air. In the strong wind of the stratosphere, it soon disappeared.


    At such a high altitude, a 4-m higher wing demon with 6 wings and a longhorn in a crown that represented that it was a demon prince suspended in the stratosphere, releasing the powerful qi of a heavenly knight. He looked at the east at the end of the wilderness with flickering, bloody eye light quietly and icily. It seemed that it was just a piece of cake for it to shatter the airboat and kill that human knight.


    Beneath this wing demon, a flock of wing demons suddenly flew out of a dark, bottomless cave.


    There were 400-500 wing demon knights. Wing demon knights could even fly without the help of wings. However, they could fly faster in a more flexible way by flapping wings...


    After flying around the wing demon prince for a few seconds, they flew towards 4 directions by batches...


    After these wing demon knights flew away for a few seconds, tens of thousands of wing demons started to fly out of the caves like rats that flew out of deep mountains and woods. They flew towards all directions like locusts over the sky and black clouds...


    Those wing demons were at least LV 9. They were more than that Zhang Tie had seen in Waii Subcontinent. Actually, they were numerous...


    The wing demon prince turned around and looked at his back while the 6 brothers of Mangshan Mountain lost their qi of vitality immediately.


    On the vast land covering hundreds of millions of square miles, tens of thousands of demon corps, large batches of demon knights and overwhelming wing demons constantly poured out of the black holes, which seemingly linked the earth surface to the demon''s world...


    On this occasion, the black human knight who had disappeared in the sky and the 6 brothers of Mangshan Mountain who had disappeared on the earth just looked like a trivial ripple in the huge billows.


    When the demon corps and demon knights constantly poured out of the earth, those demons'' war fortresses were also converting their forms.


    Their "steel scales" fell off the demons'' war fortresses first.


    Those "steel scales" were not dead. All the "steel scales" were living beings like hermit crabs and spiders. Being as large as a millstone, they were flat with a scale-like hard shell on their back. They could completely hide their limbs under their shells in order to live on the demons'' war fortresses.


    After these "steel scales" fell off the demons'' war fortresses, they scattered in all directions, exposing the tender and tangled bloody flesh inside the demons'' war fortress. The huge demons'' war fortress then started to shrink while its long feet deepened into the earth like crisscrossed roots of a towering odd-look tree. At the same time, it injected its blood and body fluid into the earth through its feet. After a short while, the land had gradually become dark brown. Meanwhile, it smelt bloody; the plant leaves on the earth started to change their colors too...


    During this process, the land was changing its color. The demons'' war fortresses were also slowly turning gray and as hard as wood.


    Bloody, thick, sliced tree leaves grew out of the demons'' war fortress. The huge mouthparts of the demons'' war fortress started to exhale black smoke which gradually suffused in the air...


    Only after a short while, clusters of bizarre fruits had grown out beneath those leaves. As a result, the demons'' war fortress turned into a plant form from an animal form...


    ...


    Those "steel scales" that fell off the demons'' war fortresses could move as flexibly and fast as LV 6 human fighters. The moment those "steel scales" started to move, they had started to capture all the living beings on the earth.


    When those "steel scales" met weaker animals, they would rapidly siege and nip preys by their huge pliers which looked like that of cancers; when they met stronger animals, they would spit glue-like mucilage, which could fly over 50 m and gradually glued those preys, poisoning them, weakening them and making them unable to move. After that, all the "steel scales" would swarm up and draw the preys back into their fortresses...


    A swarm of hundreds of springboks was captured by those "steel scales". After being captured, those springboks would be thrown into the demons'' war fortresses'' huge mouthparts which were full of black mucilage...


    As a result, those fruits beneath the thick leaves grew faster...


    It was a catastrophe on the earth...


    In a few hours, more and more demons'' war fortresses had completed their form transformation and more and more demons corps had poured out of the earth.


    The land was changing its color while the black smoke turned increasingly thicker and wider, forming a black heavenly curtain that covered hundreds of millions of square miles...


    In the center of all the demons'' war fortresses, a larger war fortress as high as 10,000 m completed its final form transformation. 9 crowned demon knights were standing on the platform at the highest point of the war fortress which had just completed its form transformation. Over 100,000 demon knights in some major formations were standing still in the sky facing a knight who wore a grim, full black armor while holding a huge fork which was giving out black flame at the highest throne of the fortress.


    With an illusory and disorderly imposing manner, the look of the demon knight at the highest throne was not clear. After the 9 demon princes gave a salute to that demon knight, he moved his hand while a meters high diamond-shaped crystal being covered with bizarre runes appeared in his hand while giving out purplish-red light. After injecting a bizarre qi into that crystal, the demon knight tossed that crystal high and had it suspend at the highest point of the war fortress. Closely after that, a blurry vertical eye appeared in the crystal, which directly looked at the east...


    "The dominating demon god''s eye is watching you and protecting you. Go, go destroy the enemies that the dominating demon god abhors most..."


    The demon knight pointed the burning huge fork to the east...

 1271 Ice and Flames

    In early July, the news that Zhang Tie shared properties with each other aroused a shock in Youzhou Province. It was normal for brothers in ordinary families to share properties with each other; however, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang were almost the most popular ones in Youzhou Province. Of course, this news was attractive in Youzhou Province.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie declared a message in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory soon after sharing properties with his elder brother¡ª¡ªFire-Dragon Bounty Territory was looking for business groups and clans across Taixia Country to produce Fiery Oil through cooperation. This news made the news that Zhang Tie had shared properties with his elder brother more shocking.


    Soon after this message was released, many major clans became spirited.


    In the past months, perhaps even Zhang Tie had not realized that Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory had become the focus of many clans across Taixia Country.


    Except for idiots, anyone could realize the great value of Fiery Oil in economy and military; especially, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory had already proved the value of Fiery Oil with new engines and airplanes. As a result, those major clans couldn''t wait to cooperate with Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    However, those who were qualified to be involved in the business of Fiery Oil in Taixia Country were definitely not ordinary business groups or clans. Besides focusing on the cooperation with Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory on Fiery Oil, they were also focusing on Xuanyuan Hill.


    In Xuanyuan Hill, Meng Shidao the leader of the Gobbling Party was destined to take over the position of prime minister of Taixia Country, which was one of the most remarkable positions in Taixia Country.


    Everybody had known the animosity between the Gobbling Party and Zhang family of Huaiyuan Palace; especially Zhang Tie.


    As Meng Shidao was going to ascend to the peak of his power in Taixia Country, many major clans in Taixia Country were weighing the advantages and disadvantages of cooperation with Qianji Hermit and Huaiyuan Palace on Fiery Oil.


    Because of the hesitation, wait-and-see attitude of those major clans in Taixia Country towards Fiery Oil, Fiery Oil which had an extremely sensational effect and a time-epoching significance in black iron age didn''t arouse too much attention across Taixia Country except in Youzhou Province and the northeast military region.


    Of course, it was just a superficial and temporary phenomenon; in the final analysis, the great value of Fiery Oil couldn''t be ignored.


    Those major clans were slowly considerating and weighing the advantages and disadvantages of cooperation with Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory on Fiery Oil as none of them would like to offend the top three chancellors in Taixia Country first; however, in Taixia Country, there were always many people who didn''t care who were top three chancellors.


    After Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and Heavens Fortune Sect declared that they started to produce Fiery Oil within their own territories, those major clans in Taixia Country gradually became relaxed.


    The current situation was as follows: a group of hungry kids was drooling as they watched a cage of steamed stuffed buns. However, when they saw an adult with a whip in hand a few meters away, they hesitated at once. Those kids exchanged glances with each other and were itching for a try; however, nobody dared rush out first. They were all waiting for someone brave to rush out...


    Those kids were clear that they would not be punished if they all rushed out at the same time; however, the one who rushed out first would be punished for sure.


    When these kids were hesitating, two adults walked over there and picked up the steamed buns before enjoying them.


    Those kids kept swallowing their saliva as they longed for the steamed buns.


    Those kids were major clans in Taixia Country while steamed buns referred to Fiery Oil. Of course, the 2 adults were Heavens Fortune Sect and Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    When these kids were hesitating, another one walked to the table and started to enjoy the steamed buns.


    This one was Guan Clan of Mingwu Palace, the very clan of Guan Qianchong the commander of Black Armor Army of Taxia Country.


    Guan Clan was the third partner of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory on Fiery Oil. Guan Clan of Mingwu Palace''s participation in the feast of sharing Fiery Oil made those hesitating major clans relaxed at once. Besides preparing to cooperate with Qianji Hermit to produce Fiery Oil, Guan Clan also brought the orders for Fiery Oil and airplanes to Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory. Later on, Black Armor Army even assigned 2,000 crews of airships to learn how to drive airplanes in the aviation academy in Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory...


    Black Armor Army was one of the top 4 armies in Taixia Country. Such an army was almost a good model of all the other armies in Taixia Country. To a certain extent, the attitude of Black Armor Army was as same as that of the top 4 armies, the military and the commander-in-chief, one of the top 3 chancellors in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Black Armor Army needed Fiery Oil, what did this mean?


    It meant that the military and the commander-in-chief of Taixia Country thought that the value of Fiery Oil to armies was much more important than the reputation of the Gobbling Party even the moods of Meng Shidao.


    Now that Black Armor Army had expressed their stance, of course the other 3 top armies in Taixia Country stood on the side of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Now that the top 4 armies had expressed their attitude, not to mention the provincial and prefectural armies across Taixia Country. As a result, the market of Fiery Oil in Taixia Country was opened at once.


    Except for profit, those private armies of major clans would also regard the top 4 armies of Taixia Country as their good models and try their utmost efforts to enhance the military capability of their private armies by Fiery Oil. Even Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Heavens Fortune Sect and Guan Clan had stood on the side of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, not to mention the other major clans.


    Right then, the news that Qianji Hermit and his elder brother shared properties with each other spread over. Closely after that, the news that Qianji Hermit was looking for cooperators to produce Fiery Oil spread over Taixia Country.


    Especially the second news which was really a timely rain for those major clans who had been longing to cooperate with Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Now that Qianji Hermit had thrown out the olive branch, many people''s dream would come true.


    Therefore, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was filled with airboats once again.


    Only after a few days, Qianji Hermit had declared in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory that all the major clans that had cooperation and marital relations with Tang Clan the Shengzhou provincial governor''s clan would be excluded from this feast for Fiery Oil. Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would never collaborate with these clans.


    After hearing this news, someone was muddle-headed; someone felt pleasant; however, those major clans which collaborated with Tang Clan in Shengzhou Province became dumbfounded completely.


    Everyone knew that the Tang Clan was the backbone of the Gobbling Party. But why Qianji Hermit fired Tang Clan this time? After inquiring about it secretly, they had known the reason. It turned out that a grandson of Tang Gaolin the Shengzhu provincial governor talked rubbish in Jinwu City by slandering the relation between Qianji Hermit and Zhang Yang a few days ago. Later on, he was put behind upon bars in Jinwu City. After this event deteriorated, the Supreme Court assigned an exclusive official to save him out of there. Even so, his ramblings and this event still spread over Jinwu City and Youzhou Province. Qianji Hermit even shared properties with his elder brother due to this event.


    Qianji Hermit was infuriated. Of course, he would vent his spite on Tang Clan.


    Provincial governors'' clans like Tang Clan must have marital relations with a lot of clans. Now that they had marital relations with each other, it was normal for them to have trade ties. Actually, major clans in Taixia Country were always close to each other through marital relations and trade ties.


    Therefore, Qianji Hermit directly prevented these major clans which had relations with Tang Clan from sharing the feast of Fiery Oil out of fury...


    Only after Qianji Hermit released the message for 2 days, the marital relation between Tang Clan and another major clan in Shengzhou Province had blown up...


    Zhang Tie''s one sentence sent many clans in Shengzhou Province and the neighboring provinces in general turmoils...


    Fiery Oil, crop failure, the aftermath of the catastrophe of bloody figures, the threat brought by the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church. This July was not only hot but also berserk...


    Among disruptions, the news that demons corps appeared outside a barren province in the west of Taixia Country and many cities collapsed in one day struck everybody in Taixia Country like a basin of icy water in winter...

 1272 The Return of Minling Swordsmanship Sec

    An airboat slowly landed at the airport of Xuantian Peak of Iron-Dragon Sect...


    Zhang Tie, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Bai Suxian were all standing in the airport, followed by Zhang Tie''s disciples and some stewards in Iron-Dragon Sect. It was a grand scene in Iron-Dragon Sect.


    It had been late July. At about 1 pm, the sun was right above their heads. However, as there were many tree shadows in Xuantian Peak, it was not very hot over there. Additionally, cicada''s chirps sounded very melodious, leisure and pleasant. However, a solemn atmosphere still diffused among those disciples unconsciously.


    This airboat belonged to Bai Suxian. After Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi dealt with the affairs of Minling Swordsmanship Sect in Guzhou Province, they returned to Iron-Dragon Sect officially today by this airboat.


    Without this airboat, it would take Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi at least 4 more months to make a round trip from Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory to Guzhou Province.


    Watching the slowly declining airboat, Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile.


    After receiving the news that demons invaded the barren province of Taixia Country, Zhang Tie had ended up his short period with his wives and kids and returned to Iron-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Thankfully, with the establishment of Iron Heart Pavilion and the adjustment of the liquors'' taxation of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, the domestic affairs and businesses in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory were also gradually on the right track. Although some aspects still needed adjustment, Zhang Tie didn''t need to be worried about that. Iron Heart Pavilion and Donder had gradually controlled Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    He always stayed with his family members for short periods. Over these years, Zhang Tie really had less time to accompany his family members as a husband or a father. Take this time, a few months, as an instance, it was the longest period that he had ever accompanied with his family members. Therefore, Zhang Tie always felt a bit guilty when he left his wives and kids.


    However, he had to leave them. Zhang Tie was the real man at home, a human fighter, a knight in Taixia Country and the master of Iron-Dragon Sect and the owner of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Numerous people were focusing on him. Each of his movements could influence the fates of millions of families and tens of millions of people. When the demons corps appeared in the barren province in the west of Taixia Country and the battle flames and smokes of the holy war covered the land of Taixia Country, Zhang Tie had to assume the corresponding responsibilities for each identity.


    As the force of demons was still in the westernmost part of Taixia Country, Youzhou Province in the northernmost part of Taixia Country seemingly became the rear area of Taixia Country. That was to say, demons would not arrive at the northernmost part of Taixia Country in a few years even dozens of years. However, if Zhang Tie didn''t make a response to it until the demons arrived at the northeast military region or Youzhou Province, how could Zhang Tie and Iron-Dragon Sect resist the demons corps which had swept over the most part of Taixia Country?


    Therefore, the appearance of demons corps in Taixia Country meant the start of the second fight between Zhang Tie and demons since the fight in Waii Subcontinent.


    Zhang Tie felt a bit guilty about O''Laura and Linda; however, he was a bit moved by Bai Suxian who was on his side.


    Over these months, Bai Suxian had been cultivating quietly in her own mansion on Immortalsgathering Peak of Iron-Dragon Sect instead of scrambling for Zhang Tie''s care with the other women. Zhang Tie knew that Bai Suxian wanted to compensate O''Laura and the other wives by having them stay with Zhang Tie alone.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Bai Suxian could be that considerate and understanding.


    After realizing the lovely aspect of Bai Suxian, Zhang Tie suddenly pulled Bai Suxian''s hand and pinched it forcefully regardless of the eye light of his disciples behind them.


    Bai Suxian turned around.


    "It''s my honor to have you on my side!" Zhang Tie directly told Bai Suxian through a secret means.


    "You bet?" Bai Suxian replied while blinking her eyes.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Mountain Lifting Hermit pretended to cough twice. Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian then looked at each other with a smile tacitly.


    ...


    When the airboat landed and the hatch door opened, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi got off the airboat immediately.


    "Master..."


    The deep bow that Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi made towards Zhang Tie also meant that the identities between both parties had been fixed. From then on, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi joined Iron-Dragon Sect officially.


    "It''s nice that you''ve come back. It''s nice that you''ve come back. From now on, we will be of the same family. Your residences and courtyards on Immortalspring Peak have been completed. You''re welcome to come back. From then on, you two will be the elders of Iron-Dragon Sect and the owner of Immortalspring Peak!" Zhang Tie smiled as he helped Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi stand up.


    Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi then nodded towards Mountain Lifting Hermit and Bai Suxian.


    There were over 1,000 disciples behind Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi, who were original disciples of Minling Swordsmanship Sect. They tidily got off the airboat in lines before kneeling down and kowtowing towards Zhang Tie, "Master..."


    These disciples of Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi might have understood their identity in Iron-Dragon Sect. As Zhang Tie was a legendary figure in Taixia Country. All the disciples of Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi would like to join the sect of Qianji Hermit. With the protection of Qianji Hermit, they would be safe.


    It was the first time for most of the disciples of Minling Swordsmanship Sect to meet Zhang Tie. Therefore, many people couldn''t help but glance at Zhang Tie stealthily. Zhang Tie''s young look shocked everyone greatly. Facing the fame and imposing manner of Qianji Hermit, those people dared not breathe smoothly at all.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at these disciples of Minling Swordsmanship Sect. ''These disciples of Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi were not bad. The lowest rank among over 1,000 people were LV 6 fighters while the highest rank was LV 14 battle demon. After these people joined Iron-Dragon Sect, it would be more boisterous here. Immortalspring Peak might have most disciples in one period in the future.


    "From today on, you will be the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect in Immortalspring Peak. As the master of Iron-Dragon Sect, I will be fair in giving out rewards or punishments. Additionally, all the resources in Iron-Dragon Bounty Territory will be open to you. All the rules in Iron-Dragon Sect originate from filial piety, obedience, loyalty and righteousness. When you are in the Iron-Dragon Sect, be filial to the seniors; when you are outside, you need to follow your superiors like how you do at home. In Iron-Dragon Sect, you need to respect seniors and be friendly to your fellow apprentices sincerely. As Taixia Country was going to break out a large-scale war and the battle smokes of the holy war had been suffusing in the northwest border of Taixia Country, as human cultivators, you should shoulder the responsibilities voluntarily. The ultimate loyalty and righteousness is to kill demons and eliminates moles as soon as possible in order to protect your home and country. You should practice hardly in Iron-Dragon Sect and be ready to join in the war at any time so as to live up to what you''ve learned. Additionally, you should make military exploits in the chaotic world. You have to believe in karma. In the void, universal laws manifest in an extremely fantastic and mysterious way. If you want to promote to a knight and form chakras, you have to choose the bright way no matter what you''re pursuing for, wealth or position. Bear my words in mind."


    Zhang Tie encouraged these new disciples with a solemn look.


    His words sounded genuine and plain as if they contained endlessly deep meaning. Not only the 1,000-odd disciples, even Lu Zhongming, Lin Huanxi and Zhang Tie''s disciples were shocked by his words.


    "Yes, master!" The 1,000-odd disciples bowed towards Zhang Tie once again.


    Zhang Tie let some of his favored disciples show around these new disciples in Xuantian Peak so that they could be familiar with the environment in Iron-Dragon Sect. Closely after that, Zhang Tie, Lu Zhongming, Lin Huanxi, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Bai Suxian entered the main hall to discuss issues.


    The main hall of Iron-Dragon Sect was even more magnificent than that of the shrine palace of Huaiyuan Palace. The diameter of the huge sandalwood pillars in the main hall was about 4 m. The obsidian floor in the main hall reflected the shadows of these people.


    After entering the main hall, Zhang Tie sat down in the main seat. All the other 4 people sat on Zhang Tie''s two sides respectively.


    Just now, these knights still revealed a faint smile. The moment they entered the main hall, the atmosphere became solemn at once.


    Before opening his mouth, Zhang Tie put his hand in his coat and pretended to fumble for a short while before taking out 2 finger rings and pushing them in front of Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi.


    As black iron knights, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi immediately identified that they were precious space-teleportation equipment at the sight of the nanobeads and bizarre runes.


    Although having promoted to knights for so many years, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi had not received any precious space-teleportation equipment yet.


    The couple then exchanged a glance with each other.


    "Master, these..." Lu Zhongming asked hesitantly.


    "These are for elders of Iron-Dragon Sect. From now on, the two space-teleportation finger rings belong to you. As elders of Iron-Dragon Sect, you could have 6 earth-element crystals per month. Additionally, Iron-Dragon Sect would allocate 2 million gold coins to Immortalspring Peak each year. The amount of money would be dominated by you two..."


    Black iron knights could have 6 earth-element crystals per month as same as the treatment in Lion Fortress. It was a rich treatment for any black iron knight. Additionally, 2 million gold coins a year was also a big amount of money. Actually, when in Guzhou Province, Minling Swordsmanship Sect had never made so much money a year.


    Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi were shocked so much by Zhang Tie''s generosity...

 1273 Xuanyuan Command

    "Erm...the two space-teleportation equipment...is too expensive. Additionally, the monthly provision of our peak is too much..." Lu Zhongming said bashfully.


    "This is the treatment for the owner of each peak and each elder of Iron-Dragon Sect. Don''t decline any more. The space-teleportation equipment belong to Iron-Dragon Sect; however, you have the usage right. Don''t have any mental burden. As for the monthly earth-element crystals, Iron-Dragon Sect has countless money; additionally, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and Heavens Fortune Sect will convert some of my profits into element crystals and send them to me every year. So will the other cooperators. Therefore, you don''t need to worry that such a bit provision would drag down Iron-Dragon Sect. If you two could promote to an earth knight in the future, it might also be a good thing for our Iron-Dragon Sect..." Zhang Tie threw a glance at Mountain Lifting Hermit quietly after saying that.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit directly showed the space-teleportation equipment that Zhang Tie gave him to them as he said, "I''ve also got a space-teleportation equipment presented by the master. Don''t decline any more. As Taixia''s overall situation is becoming more and more chaotic, it''s safer if we could have a space-teleportation equipment. Now that we''ve joined Iron-Dragon Sect, just follow the rules!"


    "If so...we will... keep them..."


    Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi threw a glance at each other before taking their space-teleportation finger rings.


    There were 72 earth-element crystals and gold notes which were worth 1 million gold coins in each space-teleportation finger ring. These provisions could meet the demand of Immortalspring Peak and the cultivation of Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi in next year.


    Lu Zhongming sighed with feelings inside as he looked at Zhang Tie, ''What a Qianji Hermit! Although it has just been a few months, Zhang Tie has become more profound and more imposing than before. It seems that his cultivation base had entered a mysterious realm. At the sight of him, I will regard him with reverence.''


    Over these months, although Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi were not in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, they had also heard about what Zhang Tie did in the Sacred Iceland Kingdom. When they thought about Zhang Tie''s influence in the Sacred Iceland Kingdom and the mysterious heavens knight on his back, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi both felt that Zhang Tie had other secrets. They could never seek through Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie manifested his trump cards such as immortal bloodline and Fiery Oil before they left, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi both felt that they had known Zhang Tie pretty well. However, a few months later, they both felt that they seemingly knew nothing about Zhang Tie.


    As Qianji Hermit often manifested his new trump cards, he was more awe-inspiring.


    After considering such a rich treatment, the couple exchanged a glance with each other. They both felt that they had made a correct decision by joining Iron-Dragon Sect a few months ago.


    "That''s it!" Zhang Tie finally revealed a faint smile after seeing Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi put away their space-teleportation finger rings as he added, "Thankfully, you came back today; if you came back two days later, you might not meet me for a period as I have to leave Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory 2 days later."


    "Master, you''ve also received the Xuanyuan command?" Lin Huanxi realized it at once.


    "Huaiyuan Palace is a major clan in Youzhou Province. The head of Huaiyuan Palace is Youzhou provincial governor. Additionally, I have a bounty land in Youzhou Province. I received the message 3 days ago. According to the request of the Xuanyuan command, each clan with knights in Youzhou Province should at least assign 1/3 of its knights to receive the order of gathering. This time, I will go to the west border of Taixia Country to fight demons together with the other 2 elders of Huaiyuan Palace, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Suxian!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    Being issued by Xuanyuan Hill, Xuanyuan command was an emergency mobilization order to gather knights in Taixia Country, which represented the authority of the imperial court of Taixia Country and Emperor Xuanyuan. All the major clans, aristocratic official families, noble families of power and influence, sects, churches and knights who had one more city or over 6,000 square miles'' land should receive Xuanyuan command, including the top 7 clans in Taixia Country.


    It only took Xuanyuan Hill less than 10 days to deliver the emergency Xuanyuan command since demons were found in a barren province in the west of Taixia Country.


    Last time, Taixia Country delivered Xuanyuan command since the second holy war had broken out for over 30 years. Given the emergency of this Xuanyuan command, it must indicate the extremely critical situation outside the barren provinces of Taixia Country in the west. The demon corps and knights in the west of Taixia Country could not be resisted unless all the knights across Taixia Country were mobilized.


    It was not a good omen for anyone living in Taixia Country. Those knights who were experienced in fighting demons immediately realized the great dangers. At this moment, human knights were urgently needed to resist demons in the west of Taixia Country. It was so urgent that Xuanyuan Hill had to deliver Xuanyuan command to gather human knights in Taixia Country regardless of the shocks and panics.


    Actually, shocks and panics were inevitable after the Xuanyuan command was delivered!


    ...


    "We will leave with you too, master!" Lu Zhongming immediately said.


    "If you leave too, nobody would be responsible for Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and Iron-Dragon Sect anymore. Additionally, you couple have been busy moving homes these months, you''d better be familiar with the current situation facing Iron-Dragon Sect and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory first..."


    After finding that Lu Zhongming still wanted to urge, Zhang Tie interrupted him calmly, "Each holy war would last long. It will not end in 5 years or 1 decade. Although our Iron-Dragon Sect is a bit famous, it''s not a major clan in Taixia Country; neither could it stand any large consumption. Iron-Dragon Sect should not assign all the knights in order to respond to the Xuanyuan command. 3 knights are enough. We should spare some strength to respond to more dangerous situations. You could go there by shifts in the future!"


    Looking at Zhang Tie''s calm expression, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi finally nodded.


    ...


    This summit of Iron-Dragon Sect only lasted less than 1 hour. After confirming some other affairs of Iron-Dragon Sect, they adjourned. Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi returned to Immortalspring Peak; Mountain Lifting Hermit left one sentence before flying towards Pines Peak, "Remember to call me when we''re leaving...".


    The Pines Peak had the fewest population among all the 18 mountain peaks. As Mountain Lifting Hermit preferred to be quiet, he only kept some servants on his peak.


    Only Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian were on Xuantian Peak.


    Standing on the top of Xuantian Peak and watching the prosperous scenery at the foot of the mountain together with Bai Suxian, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh, "What if we could have 2 more years to prepare?"


    Although Zhang Tie knew that demons would come sooner or later, he still sighed with emotions about such a fierce and swift attack of demons.


    These days, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was developing fast in all aspects. There were already 4 high-power alcohol production bases and 3 air cavalry training academies. Besides that air cavalry training academy in Xuantian City, Zhang Tie increased another 2 air cavalry training academies outside Ningan City and Wugong City respectively. Those aviation students of Fire-Dragon Corps who had just grasped how to drive airplanes immediately became aviation coaches so as to barely meet the demand of the new aviation academies.


    Starting from Commander Cheng, each major clan in the northeast military region had started to have their clan disciples learn how to drive airplanes in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Even though Zhang Tie rose the training fee of the pilot to 10,000 gold coins per person, he could still not weaken the passion of those major clans in the northeast military region.


    After black armor army assigned people to learn how to drive airplanes, the aviation academy outside Xuantian City became more popular.


    As for the first batch of aviation pilots trained by Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, besides those who were kept for instructing new students, Zhang Tie had already assigned all the others to cooperate with clans and business groups within the northeast military region to build other aviation academies. Commander Cheng also supported it very much. However, it was still too hasty...


    Besides aviation academies, except for meeting the basic demand for teaching in aviation academies, all the air cavalry type-I airplanes produced in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory during this period had been purchased the moment they left the factory even though Donder priced it as high as that of an airship.


    Generally, those business groups and clans only bought 1 or 2 airplanes. Therefore, they didn''t care about the price of the airplane. Zhang Tie also knew what did they want to do by purchasing those airplanes. All the air cavalry type-I might have been demolished after being purchased for the sake of learning, imitation and modification, etc... Therefore, Zhang Tie supported them pretty much instead of opposing them.


    Given the large size of Taixia Country, even though Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory expanded its airplane production capacity by 10,000 times, it couldn''t meet Taixia Country''s demand for airplanes. Zhang Tie only wanted to stimulate it. As there were so many elites in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie even expected that the official and some clans in Taixia Country could manufacture better engines, airplanes and Fiery Oil depending on their powerful accumulations in manufacturing as soon as possible...


    If they could have 2 years'' development, they would face an utterly different situation; however, demons didn''t spare them 2 years...

 1274 Gathering I

    2 days after Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi officially returned to Iron-Dragon Sect and became the owner of Immortalspring Peak, Zhang Tie, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Bai Suxian had to leave for gathering.


    2 days flashed by. During that period, Zhang Tie returned to Jinwu City and bade farewell to his dad, mom and elder brother. After hearing that the old man Zhang Haitian was getting worse these days, Zhang Tie paid a visit to the old man in Yiyang Prefecture.


    Since he participated in Zhang Tie''s rotating chakra ceremony, the old man had been getting worse in the latest months. At the sight of so many age spots on the face and hands of the old man and his much dimmer eye light, Zhang Tie felt grieved more or less.


    No matter what animosity it was in the last generation, Zhang Tie was still blood-related to the old man. Additionally, the previous small conflict between Zhang Tie''s family and the old mansion had long faded away after Zhang Tie became an elder of Huaiyuan Palace.


    The old man was very happy to see Zhang Tie. After taking medicine, he talked with Zhang Tie for quite a while at his full spirit. After that, he became sleepy. Therefore, Zhang Tie bade a farewell to Zhang''s old mansion.


    After leaving Zhang''s old mansion in Yiyang Prefecture, Zhang Tie returned to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. After telling his wives something, he went back to Iron-Dragon Sect and waited for the arrival of the airboat.


    After Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi joined Iron-Dragon Sect, Iron-Dragon Sect had 2 more knights. This event could definitely arouse a shock in Youzhou Province in normal times; however, at this critical moment, due to the arrival of demons, it didn''t win too much attention of the public.


    At a bit later than 3 o''clock on the afternoon of July 28th, a provincial governor''s airboat approached Xuantian Peak of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory when it was sunny with leisure clouds...


    All the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect were crowding outside the main hall of Xuantian Peak. After Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi returned to Iron-Dragon Sect, the disciples on Immortalspring Peak immediately accounted for most of the disciples in Iron-Dragon Sect.


    Zhang Tie''s disciples, Zhang Su, Donder, Li Tao, Lu Yishan and the hit-plane brotherhood were all here.


    Zhang Tie looked up at the airboat before telling Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi, "When we''re not here, please look after Iron-Dragon Sect and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory for us".


    "Don''t worry, master, we will definitely safeguard the foundation of Iron-Dragon Sect and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory for the master!" Lu Zhongming told Zhang Tie while cupping his hands with a decisive look.


    Zhang Tie nodded as he looked at Zhang Su and Liu Xing, "You should lose no time in training Fire-Dragon Corps. Continue to recruit soldiers and military officers. Although Fire-Dragon Corps don''t need to fight on the battlefield this time, you might have to take action next time..."


    "Don''t worry, master..." Liu Xing promised solemnly as Zhang Su nodded.


    Looking at those familiar faces, Zhang Tie became silent although he had a lot of words to say.


    The members of hit-plane brotherhood were watching him silently with complexed eye light.


    The hotel business managed by Barley and the other guys of hit-plane brotherhood was growing much better. Only after a few years, their business had spread over Youzhou Province. However, this business was still too trivial compared to Zhang Tie''s undertakings, insight and layout.


    They bore brotherhood deep in mind. However, over these years, as Zhang Tie grew stronger with an increasingly high position, the difference between him and the other members of hit-plane brotherhood grew sharper. They could barely have any common language. It was not one''s problem; the only problem was that commoners such as Barley made a bosom friend with a knight who was famous among humans.


    After coming to the front of the members of the hit-plane brotherhood, Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile silently. He just patted the shoulders of Barley, Bagdad, Irving, Hista and Leit one after another.


    Although Zhang Tie remained as young as before in Blackhot City, the members of hit-plane brotherhood had been over 30 years old and changed their looks. Even Irving kept his beard as he grew much stronger and maturer than before.


    When Zhang Tie patted their shoulders one after another, their eyes turned red as they felt warm inside. They knew that Zhang Tie still regarded them as brothers.


    "I was told that you''ve been a dad for 2 months!" Zhang Tie asked as he patted Doug''s shoulder. Doug threw a customary glance at Barley with slightly red eyes as he took in a deep breath and stroked his head. He wanted to say something; however, he didn''t know whether it was the proper moment for him to say that.


    Zhang Tie glanced around these years as he said with a smile, "If you believe in me, you could send your sons to Iron-Dragon Sect. I''m sure I will help you teach them well. I dare not say all of them could promote to knights but I''m sure that they would be greater than their father!"


    Doug nodded forcefully. So did Barley and the other members of the hit-plane brotherhood. They had been longing for that for a long time; however, they didn''t know how to say. Because they knew that all the disciples in Iron-Dragon Sect came from major clans across Taixia Country or had rich experience in fighting demons in the earth-elements realm. As outsiders, Barley and the other members of hit-plane brotherhood had just got a firm foothold in Taixia Country these years. They could never match these people on Zhang Tie''s side. Even Bagdad who was most diligent in cultivation was only LV 7. Bagdad''s cultivation speed was normal for commoners. The others didn''t share the miracles with Zhang Tie.


    "I''ve told Donder. This year, a piece of land will be divided from Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory for building a city. Besides hotel management, you will also be responsible for managing the new city. I hope you could have a real foothold in Taixia Country. As we''re all so busy, you guys couldn''t continue to be indolent in duty!" Zhang Tie smiled as he said casually which shocked the members of hit-plane brotherhood pretty much.


    From hotel management to city management, it was a tremendous leap for these members of hit-plane brotherhood in their lives.


    After saying that, Zhang Tie waved his hands towards them as he flew off towards the airboat in the sky with Bai Suxian and Mountain Lifting Hermit before they made any response to him.


    "Wish suzerain (master) (owner) to safeguard humans by killing more demons on behalf of our country..." Thousands of people said in unison.


    ...


    That airboat suspending above Xuantian Peak was exclusive to Zhang Taixuan. It only took Zhang Tie, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Bai Suxian over 10 seconds to arrive at the open deck at the entrance of the airboat.


    Zhang Taixuan the Youzhou provincial governor, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu of Huaiyuan Palace and a lot of knights in Youzhou Province were on the deck.


    The moment Zhang Tie landed, he had cupped his hands towards the surroundings as he said, "Sorry for being late, provincial governor and all the other friends..."


    Zhang Taixuan was here to pick those knights of the clans in Youzhou Province who had received the Xuanyuan command as Youzhou provincial governor according to the regulation. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t call Zhang Taixuan clan head, but provincial governor.


    Besides Zhang Taixuan, Zhang Tie knew most of the knights on the deck.


    Lu Dingzhi the clan head of Lu Clan and the other two elders of Lu Clan nodded towards Zhang Tie.


    Gu Clan assigned 3 knights here too. However, Gu Dashou the clan head of Gu Clan and Gu Qingyun the one who was regarded as the future star of Gu Clan were not here. The head of the 3 knights of Gu Clan might be Elder Gu Qinglong whom Zhang Tie got acquainted with in the competition for the title of Youzhou provincial governor 2 years ago. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see Elder Gu Qinglong since the competition for the title of Youzhou provincial governor.


    At the sight of Elder Gu Qinglong, Zhang Tie had discovered that this Gu elder might always be in closed cultivation these years. This time, Elder Gu Qinglong''s power looked much greater than that 2 years ago as his chakra grew thicker. He had just promoted to 5 change realm of the black iron knight.


    Previously, Zhang Tie was unable to see through the realm of the black iron knight; however, after grasping Purgatory Samsara Method, having lotus-flower eyes and promoting to an earth knight, Zhang Tie already had an exceptional sensing capability about the realm of black iron knights. Generally, only by throwing a glance at the opponent, he would know the cultivation base of that person.


    Generally, one''s cultivation base and forming schedule of one''s chakra could be barely known by outsiders. Therefore, Han Zhengfang could hide his real identity and cultivation base for so many years with the secret methods of Bloody Soul Sutra. However, this situation seemingly didn''t exist for Zhang Tie as he could almost see through all the low-level knight''s cultivation bases.


    Zhang Tie wondered whether it was related to the Purgatory Samsara Method, his lotus-flower eyes or his great spiritual energy. He had asked Mountain Lifting Hermit and Bai Suxian about that; however, the two people had not heard that any other knights in Taixia Country could have this special ability.


    After Zhang Tie arrived at the deck, Elder Gu Qinglong threw a glance at Zhang Tie for a short while. As the muscles near his eyelids jumped, he nodded towards Zhang Tie in a reserved way.


    During the past 2 years, Elder Gu Qinglong had just reached one realm higher as a black iron knight. However, this insidious "junior" knight who yelled "win people by virtue" in the White Tiger Platform of Youzhou City had promoted to an earth knight unconsciously. When Gu Qinglong left his back room, Qianji Hermit''s fame had already spread over the country. Even Elder Gu Qingyun who was always Gu Clan''s pride was also dwarfed by Zhang Tie''s brilliance. Therefore, Elder Gu Qinglong felt pretty embarrassed...

 1275 An Enlightenmen

    Besides Lu Clan and Gu Clan, Zhang Tie was also familiar with a couple of elders of Yan Clan of Chaoyang Prefecture, Liu Clan of Changshan Prefecture, Ximen Clan of Xingbei Prefecture, Sun Clan of Guide Prefecture in Youzhou Province at present. Of course, there were also some strange faces. However, Zhang Tie was familiar with over 3/4 of the 40-odd knights on the airboat.


    Although Gu elders felt complexed, the other clans'' elders didn''t think as much as them; instead, they all nodded towards Zhang Tie with smiles as they came over here to greet Zhang Tie and Mountain Lifting Hermit. Zhang Tie immediately felt like being a moon surrounded by a myriad of stars. As the clan disciples of many knights on the airboat were Zhang Tie''s indoor disciples, of course, they treated Zhang Tie much better.


    Not to mention that Zhang Tie was an earth knight. In the knight''s world, people won respect by battle strength. As an earth knight and Qianji Hermit who enjoyed a great reputation among humans, of course, Zhang Tie was especially venerated.


    Guo Hongyi was also at present.


    Zhang Tie remembered that Guo Clan might only have 3 knights. He had not imagined that Guo Hongyi could come here alone.


    Being independent among those male knights, Guo Hongyi was distant, arrogant and pretty eye-catching.


    When Zhang Tie looked at Guo Hongyi, Guo Hongyi was looking at him too.


    Soon after Zhang Tie threw a glance at Guo Hongyi, his arm had been tightly embraced by Bai Suxian and pasted onto her plump and soft breasts. Guo Hongyi turned around at once.


    It took them 2 minutes to greet Zhang Tie.


    ...


    "Qianji Hermit and the other two knights of Iron-Dragon Sect have arrived. 38 knights should arrive; however, 43 people actually arrived. Please take a rest for the time being. We will set for Yanzhou City now!" Zhang Taixuan in provincial governor''s uniform said. Closely after that, the movable cover slowly covered the deck while the airboat left for Yanzhou Province.


    As Zhang Tie''s Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was between Yanzhou Province and Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie, Elder Muray, Elder Muyu, Bai Suxian and Mountain Lifting Hermit boarded the airboat in the end.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit and Bai Suxian actually didn''t need to come.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit was always alone. Although being an elder of Iron-Dragon Sect, he didn''t have any undertaking in Youzhou Province. Neither did he have any family in Taixia Country. Even if he didn''t come here, nobody would blame him.


    Bai Suxian''s another identity was the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. As Lord Guangnan''s Mansion also responded to the Xuanyuan command by assigning many knights to join the war. Therefore, Bai Suxian didn''t have to come.


    Additionally, some clans assigned 3 knights when they only needed to assign 2. With 1 more knight, although it seemed that these clans had contributed more to the war, actually, it was just a method for the clans to protect themselves. Because on the battlefield, 3 clan knights who were familiar with each other could form a 3-in-1 battle formation. Through long-term practice and cooperation, the 3-in-1 formation was far more powerful than average. After forming a 3-in-1 formation, the 3 clan knights could have a much greater viability in the battlefield. That was to say, 3 clan knights could have a greater chance to survive back than 2 clan knights.


    After Zhang Taixuan''s words, they all entered the airboat from the deck.


    There was also a lobby inside the provincial governor''s airboat. Some drinks and food were put on the tables. This lobby still looked very spacious after holding fewer than 50 knights. After Zhang Tie''s group arrived, all the knights who responded to the Xuanyun command within Youzhou Province had arrived.


    If it was in peaceful time, when so many knights across Youzhou Province gathered, they might feel like chatting with each other. However, at this critical moment, of course, they didn''t feel like having a party anymore. It would take them over 3 hours from Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory to Yanzhou City by airboat. After greeting each other and Zhang Taixuan''s brief speech as Youzhou provincial governor, they had taken seats. With closed eyes, they entered meditation with crossed legs or took out earth-element crystals from their portable storage bags and absorbed them.


    On the battlefield, if they could have a bit greater battle strength, they would have a bigger chance to survive themselves. On this occasion, of course these human knights wouldn''t like to waste their time. Only the personages Zhang Taixuan and Lu Dingzhi seemingly shared the same interest as they felt like playing the game of go.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit and Bai Suxian also found a place to sit down respectively. Under the "admiring" looks of those people, Mountain Lifting Hermit took out a water-element crystal from his portable space-teleportation equipment and started to absorb it.


    After finding that all the others were cultivating with crossed legs, Zhang Taixuan and Lu Dingzhi left the lobby too. Zhang Tie called Elder Muray and Elder Muyu out of the lobby by a secret means.


    They didn''t feel strange when the 3 people left. After all, Zhang Tie was the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace. It was too normal for a grand elder to talk something to two elders of the same clan.


    After being far away from the lobby, Zhang Tie drew the two people into a mini-conference. The moment they entered the room, Zhang Tie had pretended to fumble something in his coat before taking out something and putting an item on each elder''s hand.


    "Erm, we''re all elders of Huaiyuan Palace...I got these items from Earth-element Realm by good fortune. I will...lend it to you. You could have a greater chance to survive on the battlefield with it. When you come back and don''t need it...you could give it back to me then!"


    After saying that to the two elders, Zhang Tie directly opened the door and left before the two elders made any response.


    At the sight of the item in their hand, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu were shocked greatly, mentally and spiritually...


    "This is..." Elder Muyu swallowed his saliva forcefully as he looked up at Elder Muray.


    Elder Muray''s hand also quivered as he said, "There is something inside it..."


    In the two space-teleportation finger rings, there were various medicaments, food, water and over 200 earth-element crystals, which could enable a knight to survive 10 years in Taixia Country without any supply. Additionally, there was a brilliant silver secret longsword which was used for close combat floating in the space of each finger ring.


    Except for Zhang Tie, only Zhang Taixuan the clan head of Zhang Clan obtained a provincial governor''s space-teleportation finger ring when he took the chair of Youzhou provincial governor.


    Zhang Tie gifted 2 space-teleportation finger rings for one time; additionally, there was a silver secret item in each space-teleportation finger ring. What a generous deed!


    Elder Muray and Elder Muyu had not imagined that Zhang Tie could give them such a rarity after calling them out.


    "Qianji Hermit could always bring us surprises..." Elder Muyu sighed with emotions as he was completely convinced by Elder Mushen...


    "Put it away, it''s Elder Mushen''s sincerity..." Elder Muray also sighed with feeling.


    As this equipment could bring them a greater chance to survive themselves on the battlefield, of course, the two people would not decline it.


    The moment Elder Muyu was going to put on the finger ring, he found that Elder Muray directly strung it onto a mithril rune necklace before hiding it under his clothes carefully. Elder Muyu became hesitated for a second before taking off the finger ring from his finger and hanging it over his neck with a necklace.


    Being low-key was always good!


    If a black iron knight wore a portable space-teleportation finger ring, it would be too eye-catching as only some powerful elites in very few super clans and top 7 sects of Taixia Country could wear it.


    After putting on the finger ring, the two elders smiled at each other before opening the door and returning to the lobby...


    ...


    Zhang Tie and the two elders of Huaiyuan Palace had not noticed that the finger of Zhang Taixuan which wore a colorful finger ring slightly moved when Zhang Tie took out the two space-teleportation equipment from Castle of Black Iron.


    Besides Zhang Taixuan who was walking, nobody else had noticed that.


    "Brother Lu, here we are..." Zhang Taixuan pushed open the door of the silent room, revealing one table and two cattail hassocks which were folded with each other.


    "Hahaha, it''s my first time to play the game of go with brother Taixuan, brother Taixuan, hope you do not reserve your skills..." Lu Dingzhi laughed.


    "Brother Lu must have a great psychological diathesis as you''re still interested in playing the game of go before going to fight demons on the battlefield in the west border of Taixia Country. Through having "hand talk" with brother Lu, I''m also learning how to be quiet in the chaos and nourish my vital spirit like you..." Zhang Taixuan said modestly.


    "I''m overpraised; my ability to nourish my vital spirit is far worse than that of the late sages of Taixia Country. Hope you do not laugh at me!"


    The two people laughed as they started the game of go...


    ...


    This time, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to show off his wealth by presenting two space-teleportation equipment and two silver secret items to Elder Muray and Elder Muyu; neither would like to draw the two elders over to his side. He just did that for his conscience. On the battlefield between humans and demons, even knights would be killed easily. As a member of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie just expected that the two elders of Huaiyuan Palace could have a greater chance to survive on the battlefields on the premise of his own ability. If Zhang Tie didn''t give any favor to the two elders of Huaiyuan Palace and the two elders finally died on the battlefield, Zhang Tie might be conscience-stricken for the rest of his life.


    Zhang Tie knew that Elder Muray had a silver secret longbow; however, the longbow was only suitable for long-distance combat; instead of close combat. Therefore, he directly left a weapon that was suitable for close combat in each space-teleportation finger ring.


    Only in a few days, Zhang Tie had gifted 4 space-teleportation equipment. However, he still had a lot of space-teleportation equipment. Others would definitely be shocked greatly if they knew that.


    After gifting two space-teleportation equipment to Elder Muray and Elder Muyu, Zhang Tie also returned to the lobby and sat next to Mountain Lifting Hermit with eyes closed. He visualized dozens of abacuses in his mind and started to calculate at the same time.


    In the next 1 minute, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu came back too. They also sat somewhere with common looks and started to cultivate quietly.


    After a short while, the lobby had been quiet although over 40 knights were inside it.


    ...


    Zhang Tie was carrying out four arithmetic operations by 27 abacuses at the same time in mind.


    After coming back from Ice and Snow Wilderness, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy roared once again. As a result, Zhang Tie could do 27 tasks at the same time.


    However, Zhang Tie felt that he had reached the upper limit of "thousands of beads mental sutra" and his multi-tasking ability. After reaching this step, even though he could visualize more abacuses at the same time, he couldn''t operate the 28th abacus at the same time.


    27 was a miraculous figure.


    Hua people said that 9 was the extreme of numbers. 27 was three times that of 9. 27 was also the cube of 3. 27 was a natural number, odd number, composite number and the 7th number of Lucas Sequence. 1/27 was an infinite number of circles whose repetend was 037...


    Like that the numbers of fruits bore by the small tree were limited, Zhang Tie knew that multi-tasking skill was also limited.


    Through constant attempts, Zhang Tie could also visualize over 1,000 abacuses in his mind at the same time, even more. Zhang Tie felt that he still had surplus spiritual energy. However, no matter how much he tried, he could only manipulate 27 abacuses independently at the same time. He could have all the other abacuses move; however, he could only calculate 20 kinds of equations by all the other abacuses at the same time instead of doing independently.


    After trying it for quite a while and confirming that he couldn''t operate 28 abacuses independently at the same time, Zhang Tie finally gave it up. The moment Zhang Tie prepared to eradicate those abacuses in his mind, the scene that over 1,000 abacuses gathered with each other suddenly reminded Zhang Tie of something.


    Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy while over 1,000 abacuses in his mind moved at the same time.


    However, this time, Zhang Tie didn''t use those abacuses to do any arithmetic calculations; instead, he gathered those abacuses and turned them into some huge walls being covered with beards of abacuses...


    These huge walls immediately reminded Zhang Tie of those dense calculation gears like sugar-coated haws on sticks in those steam computers...


    They were so similar.


    ''What if I could visualize those round beards as gears and all the other components of a steam computer? If so, I could visualize a steam computer in my mind.''


    An enlightenment flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind...


    ...


    "We''re arriving at Yanzhou City..."


    Before Zhang Tie tried it, a voice had sounded...


    Over 3 hours had passed so fast...


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes at once...

 1276 Gathering II

    "We''re arriving at Yanzhou City. You will set for the west border of Taixia Country with all the other knights across the northeast military region from here. Zhang Taixuan wishes you could give a big blow to the demons for the safety of Taixia Country; hope you could return safely as soon as possible. I''m waiting for you with a banquet!"


    The moment Zhang Tie opened his eyes, he had seen Zhang Taixuan standing in the lobby and talking to them. After saying that, Zhang Taixuan deeply bowed towards them.


    The hatch door of the airboat had been opened. All the knights from Youzhou Province started to get off the airboat one after another. Zhang Taixuan just stood on one side of the hatch door with crossed hands in front of his body as he saw off those knights.


    Zhang Tie also stood up and walked towards the exit with Mountain Lifting Hermit, Bai Suxian, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu. However, he became hesitated slightly when he passed by Zhang Taixuan.


    ''I''ve not received the news of Lan Yunxi for a long time. I wonder whether Lan Yunxi has become the goddess of Yaogong Palace of Taiyi Fantasy Sect? Will Lan Yunxi go to the battlefield in the west border of Taixia Country this time?''


    Not until Zhang Tie found that he could not see Lan Yunxi anymore did he realize that he had forgotten to leave a remote-sensing communications device in the necklace of patron for the sake of communication.


    Sometimes, when you missed someone for too long, you might be accustomed to it. When that person stood in front of you, you would forget how to catch her.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t help but want to ask Zhang Taixuan about Lan Yunxi; however, he finally said¡ª¡ª


    "Clan head...after I leave Youzhou Province, please take care of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and Jinwu City for me!"


    Zhang Taixuan threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie before revealing a faint smile, "Elder Mushen, don''t worry!"


    After such a brief talk, Zhang Tie got off the airboat.


    Not knowing why, Zhang Tie always felt being estranged from the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace. The feeling was utterly different than that marked by the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace.


    ''Is it the stress like how a young man meets his father-in-law or because Zhang Taixuan is hard to approach due to deep considerations as the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace?'' Zhang Tie was perplexed...


    When Zhang Tie got off the airboat, he had long forgotten about those distracting thoughts. A huge military camp appeared in front of him under the setting sun.


    Being outside Yanzhou City, the camp was within the jurisdiction of Yanzhou City. It was about 20 miles away from Yanzhou City. Right on the hillside in the camp outside Yanzhou City, the high and magnificent city walls of Yanzhou City in the far turned glow under the setting sun.


    Yanzhou City was both the provincial city of Yanzhou Province and the hub of the northeast military region. Yanzhou City was also a class-A city; however, Yanzhou City was much larger than Youzhou City. As Yanzhou City had developed for hundreds of years, its prosperity could never be matched by that of Youzhou City which had just been established.


    Zhang Tie could see many open uncultured lands; however, Zhang Tie saw many uneven buildings outside Yanzhou City. The density of population around Yanzhou City was definitely over ten times even dozens of times greater than that around Youzhou City.


    Airboats were rising and falling in the training fields which covered over 80 square miles. Whenever an airboat landed, someone would get off it.


    Zhang Tie got off one of these airboats.


    All the people who got off these airboats were imposing human knights in different costumes. They all looked around as if they were something.


    Needless to say, Zhang Tie knew that they were also called here by Xuanyuan command like him.


    The moment Zhang Tie got off the airboat, he had felt the intense atmosphere filling the military camp.


    ...


    "Knights from Youzhou Province gather in the blue region on the training field... Knights from Youzhou Province gather in the blue region on the training field..."


    ...


    "Knights from Mozhou Province gather in the black region on the training field... Knights from Mozhou Province gather in the black region on the training field..."


    ...


    "Knights from Chaozhou Province gather in the green region on the training field... Knights from Chaozhou Province gather in the green region on the training field..."


    ...


    The moment he got off the airboat, Zhang Tie had heard a loud sound. Zhang Tie looked up and saw a human knight in battle armor suspending in the sky above the military camp while fully releasing his qi and repeating those monotonous decrees in a majestic manner like a huge humanoid loudspeaker.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit looked up as his pupils contracted. At the same time, he muttered, "Shadow knight..."


    "If not a shadow knight, how could he control so many knights?"


    "That''s true!" Mountain Lifting Hermit nodded.


    "This knight is a high chancellor in Black Armor Army..." Bai Suxian whispered.


    "How do you know that?"


    "High chancellors of Black Armor Army always have evident features on their battle armor. I''ve seen that in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion!"


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at that shadow knight as he nodded and said, "Let''s go gather in the blue region first..."


    Perhaps Zhang Tie would feel that shadow knight was awe-inspiring previously; however, after defeating a shadow knight himself, Zhang Tie had not been afraid of shadow knights anymore although shadow knights were still powerful in Zhang Tie''s heart.


    Zhang Tie looked around and found the other knights getting off airboats were also shocked by that humanoid loudspeaker. Hearing that sound, they went to their own region consciously.


    43 knights from Youzhou Province also walked towards their own region in the training field. Only after a short while, they had arrived at their location.


    It was a drill ground in the military camp. It was a high rostrum on the opposite of the drill ground. The drill ground had been divided into 8 regions. Each region had an eye-catching color and could be easily identified. They were respectively red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple and black which corresponded to Youzhou Province, Gaozhou Province, Mozhou Province, Tongzhou Province, Qiongzhou Province, Yanzhou Province, Huizhou Province and Chaozhou Province respectively. After getting off their airboat, those knights went to gather in different regions.


    After arriving at the drill ground, Zhang Tie immediately realized that too few knights came from Youzhou Province. Each region on the drill ground covered dozens of mu and could hold thousands of people. The other regions were crowded as they all held 300-1000 knights. Only the blue region for Youzhou Province contained 43 knights, forming a sharp contrast with the number of knights in the other regions...

 1277 Gathering III

    "Ahh, there are very few knights in Youzhou Province."


    "Youzhou Province was just a barren province a few years ago. It has just been established. The province is vast and sparsely populated. It''s already something for them to have these knights..."


    "They even assigned 2 top beauties. They really feast my eyes." One guy said while clicking on his tongue.


    As very few knights came from Youzhou Province, the 43 knights attracted the attention of many other knights, causing hot discussions...


    As they had few people, Bai Suxian, Guo Hongyi and Zhang Tie became very special. In Taixia Country, the number of female knights was much fewer than that of male knights. It could be said that female knights were rarities in Taixia Country. Any female knight would attract great attention wherever they were, not to mention Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi who were distant and brilliant respectively.


    Zhang Tie was more outstanding. Among all the knights at present, no one else was younger than Zhang Tie. Among the other knights, the youngest ones were black iron knights who were at their 20s. Given Zhang Tie''s look, he was absolutely like a teenager. Even a 17-year old black iron knight would become the focus of the public, not to mention that Bai Suxian was standing on Zhang Tie''s side like a well-behaved wife. Being set off by such a brilliant and mature female knight, of course, Zhang Tie was most eye-catching at present.


    "Who''s that 17-year old knight beside that female knight over there? How could he be so young?"


    Many eye lights were thrown onto Zhang Tie.


    "It''s said that there''s a young talent in Gu Clan of Youzhou Province called Gu Qingyun. He''s been a knight at a young age. Is that person Gu Qingyun..."


    "Impossible. Haven''t you seen the 3 people in yellow clothes? They are elders of Gu Clan. I know Elder Gu Qinglong. That young man is not on the side of Gu elders..."


    "No more guesses. The youngest knight among the knights from Youzhou Province is Zhang Tie, Qianji Hermit, also the owner of Iron-Dragon Sect. The female knight on his side is the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion..."


    "Yes, yes, yes. That person is Zhang Tie the Qianji Hermit. I remember his photo when Qianji Hermit was framed by Heavens Reaching Church and wanted by the Supreme Court a few years ago. His looks remain unchanged..."


    "It''s said that Qianji Hermit could maintain his young look and that he favored mature and brilliant women. It seems true..."


    Hearing those discussions in the surroundings, Bai Suxian threw a glance at Zhang Tie with a kind smile. Zhang Tie stroked his nose bashfully as he swore, ''Damn, they don''t talk about so many good things that I did in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory; but only pay attention to which kind of woman I like. Are all knights that gossipy?''


    In the discussions, an airboat landed as another team of knights got off the airboat. The latest team of knights then walked over here from afar. Before arriving at the drill ground, one person among those knights had burst out into laughter, arising the attention of so many people at present.


    "Hahaha, I''ve not imagined that I could meet Qianji Hermit here. After the fight with the hermit, I''ve got some new enlightenment on fix position. It''s a pleasant thing in my life to fight demons together with Qianji Hermit in the west border of Taixia Country..." Nangong Sheng strode out of those knights as he said while cupping his fists towards Zhang Tie.


    Nangong Sheng said loudly with a passionate and heroic look. He expressed the fact that he was defeated by Zhang Tie in another manner as he felt that it was not a shame or a failure but manifesting that he was qualified to fight Qianji Hermit. After hearing his words, many knights on the drill ground moved their eyes onto Nangong Sheng''s face.


    Zhang Tie was clear about Nangong Sheng''s thought; however, out of kindness, people with a smile should not be beaten. After suffering a loss in front of Zhang Tie, Nangong Sheng had changed his attitude towards Zhang Tie greatly and respected him pretty much. In his rotating chakra ceremony, Nangong Sheng even sent a heavy gift to him; therefore, Zhang Tie would not make Nangong Sheng embarrassed at this moment.


    Nangong Sheng just liked putting on his airs and was a bit obsessed with fame and gain. Although he was good at sailing with the wind, he was not too evil or vicious. Of course, Zhang Tie could forgive him.


    Under the gaze of the public, Zhang Tie also cupped his fists towards Nangong Sheng as he said, "Master Nangong, I''m overpraised. I''m just fulfilling my responsibility after receiving the Xuanyuan command. By contrast, Immortal Fist Position Sect is more generous. In order to respond to Xuanyuan command, all the owner and the elders of your sect have come. I really admire about the loyalty and braveness of master Nangong and the other two elders of Immortal Fist Position Sect!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s praise, Nangong Sheng immediately looked as brilliant as being shone by a searchlight. Even the two elders behind him chested out unconsciously. Nangong Sheng glanced around as if he was a hero before replying, "Thanks for your praise, Qianji Hermit. All the knights of Iron-Dragon Sect have arrived too. Besides hermit, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Princess Bai had also arrived. You''re more admirable. Hopefully, I could see hermit''s powerful fist position on the battlefield in a few days..."


    Zhang Tie knew that Nangong Sheng might not know that 2 more elders had joined Iron-Dragon Sect. However, he didn''t need to explain it to Nangong Sheng at this moment; instead, Zhang Tie just nodded with a smile. Closely after that, Nangong Sheng and the other two elders of Immortal Fist Position stood in the region of knights from Yanzhou Province.


    The talk between Nangong Sheng and Zhang Tie confirmed Zhang Tie''s identity. Through their talk, the others also knew that Iron-Dragon Sect and Immortal Fist Position assigned both owner and all their elders to respond to Xuanyuan command. To be honest, Iron-Dragon Sect and Immortal Fist Position were really "loyal and brave".


    Therefore, Iron-Dragon Sect and Immortal Fist Position won many people''s respect at once.


    The other airboats constantly landed as more and more knights got off the airboat and entered their own region on the drill ground.


    Compared to the constantly growing number of knights from the other provinces, the number of knights from Youzhou Province remained unchanged.


    The knights of Zhu Clan the Yanzhou provincial governor''s clan and Qian Clan the Tongzhou provincial governor''s clan also arrived constantly. All the clan elders who were familiar with Zhang Tie greeted Zhang Tie by nodding towards him with a smile or having a brief talk with Zhang Tie. Watching all this, many people who were observing Zhang Tie stealthily made a new comment on Qianji Hermit¡ª¡ªQianji Hermit is not only powerful and famous but also have a high popularity. He''s never that kind of narcissistic person.


    As more and more knights arrived at the drill ground, Zhang Tie sensed the great power of Taixia Country as the center of humans for the first time.


    The entire 8 provinces across the northeast military region assigned over 10,000 knights here. Except for Youzhou Province, each of the other provinces had assigned at least 1,000 knights here. Among them, major provinces such as Qiongzhou Province, Yanzhou Province, Huizhou Province and Chaozhou Province assigned about 2,000 knights here respectively. Such a contingent of human knights was unimaginable in Waii Subcontinent.


    Many knights at present wore clothes with the same color and uniform. At the sight of them, people would know that they came from the same clan.


    Zhu Clan the Yanzhou provincial governor''s clan assigned 18 knights; Qian Clan the Tongzhou provincial governor''s clan assigned 11 knights. The number of knights assigned by the two clans was at most average among those clans in Yanzhou Province and Tongzhou Province. In the region of knights from Tongzhou Province and Yanzhou Province, many clans assigned 20-30 knights here.


    "Although there''re clans who have the history of thousands of years in Taixia Country, there are no provincial governors who were in office for over 100 years. Except for the position of Youzhou provincial governor which was competed for when Youzhou Province was established, all the provincial governors in other provinces are directly appointed by the supreme court or Xuanyuan Hill. The provincial governor from one clan could at most serve a few times from over 10 years to dozens of years. After that, they would either promote to higher positions or resign. Actually, all the major clans in each province had provincial governors. In many people''s eyes, if a clan could have a provincial governor, that clan would be a major clan. The provincial governors of Qian Clan and Zhu Clan have just been in office for a few years; it was reasonable that their clans'' backgrounds couldn''t match that of the other clans in Yanzhou Province and Tongzhou Province. Those major clans which could assign dozens of clan knights might have clan members serve in Xuanyuan Hill or the top 4 armies in Taixia Country or be unrivaled in one region as an independent sect or have a bosom relationship with the top 7 sects of Taixia Country even if they do not have provincial governor at present."


    When Zhang Tie was wondering about such a grand scene, Bai Suxian told him in secret means which helped Zhang Tie see light suddenly.


    After the two clans'' knights arrived here for a few minutes, an odd-looking airboat declined. Closely after that, the hatch door was opened while a team of over 200 knights in red-black boa silk robe got off the airboat under the leadership of a shadow knight, which included over 20 earth knights. They were all steady and solemn. Each of them wore a bamboo hat with a rectangular, odd-looking luggage on their back. The moment they got off the airboat, they had entered the region for knights from Mozhou Province, increasing the number of knights in Mozhou Province greatly. As a result, it aroused the attention of the public.


    "They''re knights of Fraternity Palace from Mozhou Province..."


    "Mo''s head clan..."


    Someone exclaimed...

 1278 Strict Military Diciplines

    ''Head Clan?''


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see the head clan. To be honest, Zhang Tie was indeed shocked by the great qi field of Mo Clan.


    One clan could assign over 200 knights to respond to the Xuanyuan command. What a super powerful clan!


    "What''s the relationship between Mozhou Province and Mo Clan of Fraternity Palace?" Zhang Tie asked Bai Suxian through a secret means.


    As Bai Suxian grew up in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, she was constantly influenced by what she saw and heard. Bai Suxian was very familiar with various inside stories, relations and allusions of officialdom of Taixia Country. Therefore, Bai Suxian was qualified to be Zhang Tie''s consultant.


    "Before Mozhou Province was established, Mo clan of Fraternity Palace had rooted in Mozhou Province and had a great influence over there. When Mozhou Province was established, Mo clan of Fraternity Palace was already a very powerful local clan. Mo clan of Fraternity Pavilion is also the head clan surnamed Mo; additionally, Mo clan is also called Mo sect. The core of the ideology of Mo sect originates from the far-ancient sage in Taixia Country. The name of Mozhou Province is also related to Mo sect and Mo clan. Over the past hundreds of years, at least 10 Mozhou provincial governors came from Mo clan; 2 clan heads of Mo clan had even taken the office of commander of northeast military region. Although Mo sect is not as outstanding as the top 7 sects in Taixia Country, they deserve our respect..."


    "Which is more powerful, Mo sect or the Gobbling Party?"


    "Mo sect might not have greater influence than that of the Gobbling Party; however, Mo sect is definitely more solidarity and cohesive than the Gobbling Party. Even top 7 sects are not as solidarity


    as Mo sect. Only Mo clan of Fraternity Palace in Mozhou Province is a clan and a sect in Taixia Country!"


    "Mo clan has too many knights!"


    Bai Suxian threw a glance at Zhang Tie with a faint smile as she said, "You should know how they request their knight-level descendants?"


    "How?"


    "All the knight-level descendants of Mo clan should at least deliver 100 babies for Mo clan. If they couldn''t reach that target, they would be severely punished in Mo clan. Those who deliver more babies would be rewarded. Ordinary members of Mo clan are also proud of having more babies!"


    ''At least 100 babies? Domestic discipline?'' Zhang Tie almost popped out his eyes as he said, "That''s too exaggerated. Knights could afford that, what about ordinary members of Mo clan?"


    "It''s not exaggerating for Mo clan to assign so many knights here. Additionally, Mo clan is famous for its skilled craftsmen. Mo clan''s wares are well-known across the world. Additionally, Mo clan is also a rich clan in Taixia Country. Besides, Mo clan also worships frugality. It''s said that Mo knights usually wear cloth gowns and straw sandals and take coarse food and drinks. My father told me that Mo clan of Fraternity Palace is the most frugal and rigorous clan in Taixia Country..."


    Zhang Tie understood it right away. Although Mo clan''s regulation seemed inflexible, if they could strictly follow this rule for hundreds of years, Mo clan and Mo sect would be very powerful. To a certain extent, delivery was fighting; people were power. The clans with more babies would be advantageous over those clans with fewer babies. Although this advantage didn''t seem evident at the beginning; when it reached a scale, the advantage would be decisive.


    Of course, it was not difficult for a rich and frugal clan to raise a lot of kids.


    When Zhang Tie thought about that, he threw a glance at the team of Mo clan of Fraternity Palace. Coincidentally, a shadow knight who led the team of Mo clan was watching him.


    That was an old man with a wrinkled and unpretentious face. The moment they looked at each other, they became slightly shocked at the same time. However, Zhang Tie felt that that old man was not hostile to him. Zhang Tie then slightly nodded towards the shadow knight of Mo clan. The elder of Mo clan also nodded towards Zhang Tie with a faint smile.


    After the knights of Mo clan arrived here for a short period, some more airboats arrived. After that, no more airboats landed for over 10 minutes.


    The moment Zhang Tie thought that these might be all the knights in the northeast military region, he saw 5 black airboats as long as over 1,000 m flying towards here from the north with a strong killing qi. They directly suspended above this military camp. The moment the airboat arrived, some human shadows had shot off the airboats, making people giddy. In a split second, 5 people had stood on the rostrum.


    One person in the middle of the 5 people was an old man who had snow-white long eyebrows and cold eyes. The moment the old man arrived, Zhang Tie had felt like seeing an aggressive, towering mountain peak which was composed of longswords in front of his eyes with a strong sense of oppression. People could barely look straight into his eyes. The moment the old man glanced over from the rostrum, it felt like tens of thousands of sword qi sweeping over the drill ground. Some knights'' longsword directly jumped out of their sheaths. As a result, so many people at present changed their faces while the entire drill ground was filled with the hums of swords...


    ''What a realm!'' Zhang Tie was also scared. Given the strong qi of this old man, he felt like the king of swords. In front of this old man, Zhang Tie felt that his so-called cultivation base as sword sage was just a laughingstock. Who dared say that he was a sword sage in front of this old man?


    The shadow knight who was suspending in the sky just now was also on the rostrum right beside the old man. Additionally, Commander Cheng of the northeast military region and the other two strange knights were also on the side of the old man.


    "I''m Ye Qingcheng..." The old man opened his mouth which sounded metallic. The moment he opened his mouth, all the hums of swords across the drill ground had stopped while there was an uproar among the knights as if this name was magical.


    "This is the former marshal of Black Armor Army, the class I Pillar Marshal of Taixia Country. He has already retired since the last holy war..." Bai Suxian said beside Zhang Tie.


    Undoubtedly, this old man was a heavenly knight.


    "At the request of Emperor Xuanyuan over 10 years ago, this old man would be responsible to rule the army of knights within the northeast military region as long as Xuanyuan Hill delivered Xuanyuan command to summon knights to fight demons. Here''s the Xuanyuan tiger-shaped tally that Emperor Xuanyuan gave me!" The old man explained as a brilliant tiger-shaped tally which was about 33 cm in length appeared in his hand. The old man loosened his hand. The tiger-shaped tally then floated on his side while giving out yellow light. In the light, the image of a fierce tiger appeared like a battle qi totem. The fierce tiger roared towards the sky, which could be heard by everyone at present. After that, the fierce tiger entered the tiger-shaped Xuanyuan tally.


    After gazing at the tiger-shaped tally for a while, Zhang Tie found that Ye Qingcheng was not controlling the tiger-shaped tally by his spiritual energy as a divine dominator, but the looming sword qi around him. The sword qi carried the tiger-shaped Xuanyuan tally in the air like water. Evidently, this tiger-shaped tally was also a special rune equipment...


    The tiger-shaped Xuanyuan tally given by Emperor Xuanyuan was an authoritative evidence for Ye Qingcheng to lead so many knights. Without the consent of Emperor Xuanyuan and the qualification as a heavenly knight, who could command over 10,000 knights within one military region? At the sight of the tiger-shaped Xuanyuan tally in Ye Qingcheng''s hand, all the knights at present admitted Ye Qingcheng''s identity and authority.


    "Now that you could come here after receiving Xuanyuan command shows that you all are loyal to Taixia Country. As you''re going to fight demons in the west border of Taixia Country, please accept this old man''s bow!" Ye Qingcheng deeply bowed towards all the other knights at present on the rostrum.


    Many knights immediately bowed towards the old man too, including Zhang Tie.


    After straightening up his body, Ye Qingcheng said with an extremely solemn look, "As the situation facing the west border of Taixia Country is constantly changing and very dangerous; the commoners of Taixia Country are suffering from slaughters. You will fight demons at the risk of your life on the battlefield. Collisions between large formations of humans and demons are inevitable. You should follow the commands on the battlefield. From now on, there''s no clan head, elders, sect owner on the drill ground; but only soldiers of Taixia Country who have received Xuanyuan command. In Taixia Country, soldiers should comply with military disciplines. All the knights at present have to follow the following 17 military disciplines. Those who dare violate the following military disciplines would be chopped by this old man for sure. Please bear them in mind!"


    "First, anyone who doesn''t march on after hearing drumbeat; who doesn''t stop after hearing the sound of gongs; who doesn''t get up after seeing banner; who doesn''t ambush after banner is put away will be regarded as violating military disciplines and be chopped."


    "Second, anyone who doesn''t respond to it after hearing his name being called; who doesn''t come when being called; who doesn''t come on time and alter master''s laws will be regarded as being indolent and be chopped."


    "Third, anyone who has heard about the enemy''s latest situation in the evening; who doesn''t report it to the superior; who gets up late and is confused about signals would be regarded as making the army slack and be chopped."


    "Fourth, anyone who always complains about the rules; who is furious about his chief commander; who doesn''t follow the order will be regarded as being disobedient to the army and be chopped."


    "Fifth, anyone who laughs loudly; who despises the forbidden contracts; who breaks the gate of the camp will be regarded as despising the army and be chopped."


    "Sixth, anyone whose bows have no arrows; whose arrows have no feathers or heads; whose sword blades and spears are not sharp; whose banner is broken and unclear will be regarded as a liar and be chopped."


    "Seventh, anyone who cooks rumors to bewilder the public; who fabricates deities or ghosts; who believes in dreams; who publicizes heresy will be regarded as rumormonger and be chopped."


    "Eighth, anyone who likes talking; who confuses right and wrong; who alienate the relations between soldiers will be regarded as a troublemaker and be chopped."


    "Ninth, anyone who mistreats commoners; who rape women will be regarded as a rapist and be chopped."


    "Tenth, anyone who steals properties; who kill commoners and take their heads as meritorious deed will be regarded as a thief and be chopped."


    "Eleventh, anyone who gathers together to talk about issues and enter the other''s tents privately for intelligence will be regarded as a detective and be chopped."


    "Twelfth, anyone who leaks what he has heard and planned to the outside and is known by the enemy will be regarded as a betrayer and be chopped."


    "Thirteenth, anyone who doesn''t respond to the command timely by lowering their eyebrows and heads with sad looks will be regarded as hating the army and be chopped."


    "Fourteenth, anyone who runs about in the army; who talk loudly and don''t follow the disciplines will be regarded as disordering the army and be chopped."


    "Fifteenth, anyone who pretends to be sick, wounded or dead so as to avoid from attending the war will be regarded as deceiving the army and be chopped."


    "Sixteenth, anyone who''s responsible for money and grains delivers more money and grains to his relatives which arouses the animosity of the other soldiers will be regarded as provoking strifes among soldiers and be chopped."


    "Seventeenth, anyone who doesn''t observe the enemy carefully; who report the number of enemies wrongly will be regarded as delaying the army and be chopped."


    After hearing the 17 military disciplines, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he bore all of them in mind.


    After saying the military disciplines, Ye Qingcheng waved his hand while tens of thousands of light spots shot out of his hand towards all the knights at present, one token for one person.


    At the sight of those light spot, each knight stretched out their hand and grasped the token.


    After holding his token, Zhang Tie found it was yellow and felt icy. It was neither made of gold nor jade. A piece of remote-sensing crystal was inlaid in the token, which had a pattern of a dragon fighting a tiger. Besides, there were three classic Hua characters "Xuanyuan Command" on the token. Below the three characters, there was a line of words "No. 136 earth knight from the northeast military region". Additionally, there was another line of smaller words at the bottom of the token, "Fantasy No. 76 cabin of black-dragon airboat!"


    "What about yours?" Zhang Tie threw a glance at the tokens of Fire-Dragon Hermit, Bai Suxian, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu.


    They showed their own tokens towards Zhang Tie at the same time.


    Only the numbers on their tokens were different from each other.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit''s room was "Fantasy No. 77 cabin of black-dragon airboat!" as it was close to that of Zhang Tie. By contrast, the cabins of Bai Suxian, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu are both yellow cabins of black-dragon airboat...


    Elder Muray and Elder Muyu accepted it pleasantly; however, Bai Suxian pouted her mouth when she found that her cabin was a bit far from that of Zhang Tie''s.


    After looking at the token, Zhang Tie looked up at those grim airboats in the sky and caught sight of the three words Black-Dragon Airboat on one airboat.


    "As you''ve got the military disciplines and received the Xuanyuan command''s tokens. We will set off right away. Please board the airboats according to the number on your token and follow me to fight demons..."


    Soon after Ye Qingcheng finished his words, he had flown off towards the sky. Except for Commander Cheng, all the other 3 knights on his side followed him off.


    All the knights on the drill ground also flew towards the sky like meteors...


    "Let''s go!" Zhang Tie said as he flew off too...


    "Come back alive..." Soon after Zhang Tie flew off, he had heard a voice. Zhang Tie looked around and found that Commander Cheng was watching him. Zhang Tie nodded towards him as he entered the Black-Dragon Airboat immediately, followed by Bai Suxian, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu...


    Only after 2 minutes, as the last knights entered the airboat, the 5 huge airboats had set off towards the west...

 1279 Arriving at the Base

    In the mysterious mind space of Zhang Tie, there were so many sparkling stars and 2 full moons. The entire mind sea was like the void of the universe. The sparkling stars and the moons gave out faintly golden light, turning the entire mind sea into a paradise...


    The All-spirits Pagoda which represented the inheritance of "Great Wilderness Sutra" was more resplendent while bathing the moonlight. Vivid birds and beasts were constantly flying and jumping out of the tower from below floor 15 as if they were going to incarnate into real living beings. At the same time, the endless true words of the Great Wilderness Sutra were resonating in the void...


    The mysterious portal accessing to Castle of Black Iron was on the top of the All-spirits Pagoda.


    Additionally, numerous immortal runes were surrounding the All-spirits Pagoda like how planets flew around the sun. They slowly rotated in Zhang Tie''s mind sea as a unity.


    The golden rune of the binding skill was constantly changing its shape like chains and ropes...


    The golden rune of the hiding skill was looming...


    The golden rune of the rapid moving skill was the fastest "planets". Before the other golden runes flew around the tower for 1 circle, the golden rune of rapid moving skill had already flown around the tower for numerous circles, causing a light ring...


    The mysterious rune was the golden rune of body separation skill. Under the golden moonlight in his mind sea, the rune of body separation skill incarnated into Zhang Tie''s look. Like a naked naive kid, sometimes it sat in the void with crossed legs while sucking its fingers; sometimes, it sprung up and jumped here and there over those golden runes cheerily; sometimes, it would climb onto the tower and drill inside before jumping out of it from one window in a pretty naughty way...


    ...


    In this void which was filled with runes, precision gears and numerical dials in different sizes constantly manifested themselves in the golden light as if they were real.


    If a master craftsman or a senior engineer of difference engine was here, he would definitely identify that these gears and numerical dials were parts of steam computers.


    Those who were more familiar with steam computers could even identify the identities of these "parts" from those super huge gears in the void¡ª¡ªthey were absolutely the temporary storage of gears of the Xuanyuan Type-1 large steam computer.


    As over 60,000 components in different sizes had been visualized, it looked pretty magnificent in the void of his mind sea.


    All of a sudden, all the gears and components moved at the same time and started to assemble as if they were under the control of an invisible hand...


    A huge steam computer gradually came into being in Zhang Tie''s mind sea...


    When he assembled over 30,000 parts, which almost accounted for 70% of the complete steam computer, the assembly rhythm suddenly slowed down. In the following minutes, those gears and the part of the steam computer which had been assembled quivered for a few seconds and collapsed. They turned into sparkling light and finally dispersed in the mind sea.


    ...


    In his private cabin of Black-Dragon Airboat, Zhang Tie opened his eyes at once as he shook his head and let out a long sigh.


    After almost 10 days, Zhang Tie had tried many times. After failing so many times, Zhang Tie realized that it was definitely a tough challenge for him to visualize a complete steam computer in his mind sea. Even if he had super great spiritual energy and the ability of divine dominator, it was still very difficult for him to visualize a complete steam computer which was composed of over 60,000 parts without making any mistake.


    Thankfully, it was still hopeful. Through these days'' efforts, Zhang Tie was gradually approaching success. Each time, he would assemble some more parts than that in last time. The complete Xuanyuan Type-1 steam computer was gradually coming into shape in his mind.


    The most important point was that the process of visualization required strict exercise on the control of spiritual energy. This process was similar to that of mental arithmetic by abacus. Over these days, although he didn''t succeed, the spiritual energy in his mind sea would always increase after each failure. It was even more effective than the visualization of mental arithmetic by abacus.


    As for the first method, he had tried his utmost effort; as for the other, he still had surplus spiritual energy. Of course, the effects were different.


    Zhang Tie''s private cabin was less than 30 square meters. It only had a bed, a table, a locker and an isolated washroom. Such a cabin was just like the simplest small apartment. In military camp, only middle- and lower-level military officers lived in such kind of rooms; however, it was absolutely a luxurious treatment for a knight in airboat when in wartime. This treatment was for earth knights; the cabins of Bai Suxian, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu were even smaller than this one.


    In airboat, water and food were provided at the regular time. Everything had been in the state of war. Zhang Tie looked at the clock on the wall and found it was over 5 pm. It was time for supper. When he was thinking about leaving his cabin for Bai Suxian, the entire airboat suddenly quivered lightly as if it stopped. Closely after that, a sound drifted from the sound amplifying port.


    "We''ve already arrived at the advanced base of Huanzhou Province in Peacewest Military Region. All the knights who have arrived at the advanced base of Peacewest Military Region please gather in the lobby of the base; all the knights who have arrived at the advanced base of Peacewest Military Region please gather in the lobby of the base..."


    After being transmitted from the copper pipe, although it lacked a bit fidelity, people inside cabins could still hear it clearly.


    They had already arrived at Huanzhou Province. Huanzhou Province was neighboring the Military Province in the west. After moving 2 more provinces towards the west, they would exit the border of Taixia Country. The barren province was farther away in the west. The advanced base of Black Dragon Airboat was in Huanzhou Province, which meant that the territory from Huanzhou Province all the way to the west had been the theater of operations of Taixia Country.


    It only took them less than 1 month to arrive at the theater of operations since they heard the news about demons. Unimaginably, those provinces in the westernmost part of Taixia Country had been involved in the battle flames. The advancing speed of the battle flames was completely out of Zhang Tie''s imagination.


    At such a high advancing speed, demons might exterminate Waii Subcontinent in less than 1 week.


    Such an occasion made Zhang Tie''s heart slightly pound. Compared to the current problem facing Taixia Country, what happened in Waii Subcontinent was absolutely an appetizer.


    After hearing the notice, Zhang Tie instantly opened his hatch door and walked out.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit and the other knights also opened their hatch doors and walked out...


    ...


    In the sky, an aggressively huge air battlefortress was quietly floating over 10,000 m high in the sky. After those black airboats flew over here from the northeast military region, the battlefortress opened its huge holes. Those airboats then slowly approached them as they inserted their ends into the huge holes before being locked up by the huge metal locking members on the battlefortress. As a result, these airboats became components of this battlefortress.


    Only after a short while, the huge air battlefortress had got some more tentacles like that of an octopus...


    Under the huge battlefortress, hundreds of thousands of airships flew over here from the west between 1,000m and 5,000 m in altitude. Those airships had different marks. Some belonged to clans; some belonged to business groups; some belonged to aviation business groups. They were different in size, type, performance and speed. They flew over here like escaping fish shoals that covered the entire sky...


    Between 6,000 m and 12,000 m in altitude above these airships, dense airships in tidy teams also advanced towards west voluntarily like air trains. Compared to those airships blow, those airships above were all black war airships. Those who were familiar with the military legal system of Taixia Country would know that these airships belonged to Black Armor Army, one of the top 4 armies in Taixia Country the moment they caught sight of these airships.


    Each team of airships was led by a knight of Black Armor Army who was standing solemnly on the air sac outside the first airship of each team in order to protect the safety of the airship troop.


    After one troop of over 1,000 war airships flew away from the air battlefortress for over 200 miles, they arrived at the edge of an endless forest. At this moment, all the hatch doors of the airships were opened while numerous black rotachutes appeared in the sky like black dandelions.


    Those black dandelions were bizarre fighters in clothes which were made of tree leaves and Chinese alpine rushes whose faces were covered with tiger stripes or leopard stripes...


    After landing on the ground, those fighters put away their rotachutes silently. Only a few fighters twittered like birds. After hearing the twitters, all the surrounding fighters drew close to each other as they ran towards the forest. Only after over 10 minutes, the corps of 500,000 fighters had disappeared in that vast forest like a waterdrop that entered the ocean.


    Two knights suspended in the sky with solemn looks.


    One of them let out a sigh, "I wonder how many of them could finally survive!"


    "This is the destiny of the tigers and leopards corps of Black Armor Army, unless demons completely destroy the woods covering about 4 million square miles or this holy war comes to an end, this forest would be the forever battlefield of these fighters..."


    "What about Weasel Corps?"


    "They''re in, including Green Snake Corps. This forest could survive the three corps..."


    "Let''s go, we''ve got a new task..."


    The two knights then flew towards the west...

 1280 Human Heroes

    With the effect of lotus flower eyes, Zhang Tie could see through everything around him. Even though the airboat and the air battlefortress were covered with thick metal, Zhang Tie could still see clearly the scene outside the airboat and the battlefortress when he walked into the lobby of the advanced base.


    So many airships covered the sky...


    Those corps of Taixia Country landed from the air and entered the woods...


    Those battlefortresses and multi-floored defense fortifications on the ground...


    On the ground, east-west railways and highways had been crowed by vehicles.


    Those vehicles which were moving towards the east were civilian vehicles. Even the tops of the trains were covered with people and items. Those advancing towards the west were basically military vehicles, which were filled with ordnances and military armored vehicles.


    At this moment, those which could arrive at Peacewest Military Region through ground traffic tools were all corps within the territory of Peacewest Military Region or corps from neighboring provinces. It was unrealistic for the farther local corps such as that within Northeast Military Region to arrive here timely as the expense of transporting a corps from hundreds of thousands of miles away to Peacewest Military Region by ground traffic tools would be too high to bear; additionally, it would be in a low efficiency.


    In this critical situation, only the top 4 armies of Taixia Country were able to accomplish the employment in the theater of operations at the fastest speed.


    What Zhang Tie saw reminded him of the Selnes Theater of Operations.


    However, he was not in the Selnes Theater of Operations, but in Peacewest Military Region of Taixia Country. This theater of operations covered many provinces.


    The so-called air battlefortress in the advanced base was nothing different than the air battlefortress that Zhang Tie had ever seen in the Earth-elements Realm essentially. This air battlefortress was just a bit larger.


    Although over 10,000 knights from the Northeast Military Region gathered here, the lobby still felt very spacious.


    Although so many knights were at present, the lobby was pretty quiet.


    The lobby of the advanced base was more like a square. Near the 200 m high dome above the square, there was a huge round plate. Thousands of people in military uniforms of Taixia Country were busy working on the round plate. It seemed to be a command and information center of the advanced base.


    Zhang Tie saw Ye Qingcheng once again.


    Soon after Ye Qingcheng appeared in the sky, he had waved his hand. At the same time, a triangular, colorful crystal being covered with runes became outstanding from the center of the round plate as it projected the model of a huge three-dimensional sand table in the lobby.


    A heavy black fog was invading it from the west of the three-dimensional sand table like a virus. The fog gradually covered the region of Yezhou Province in the west of the sand table as it was still extending towards the surroundings...


    "7 days ago, Yezhou Province in the westernmost part of Taixia Country has been completely collapsed. Cheng Minggong the Yezhou provincial governor and Cheji General Liu Wusheng of Yezhou province fought to death. Yezhou City collapsed. However, there are still over 400 million Hua people in Yezhou Province. One week before Yezhou''s collapsed as a whole, all the communications between the barren province outside Yezhou Province and Taixia Country had been cut off..." Ye Qingcheng said calmly. However, everyone''s heart pounded after hearing his words. During the process of their flight, Taixia Country had lost one barren province and one lower province. The striking power and speed of demons shocked everybody at present.


    What made everyone''s heart pound was the death of Yezhou provincial governor and Cheji General of Yezhou Province. They were the first senior officials of Taixia Country who fought to death since the beginning of this holy war.


    Yezhou Province was established 10 more years earlier than Youzhou Province. After these years'' development, the military legal system of Yezhou Province had been completed. Yezhou Army was under the control of Cheji General. Compared to Yezhou Province, Youzhou Province had not completed its military legal system yet. Youzhou Province didn''t even have a Cheji General yet.


    "Before Yezhou City collapsed, Chen Minggong the Yezhou provincial governor sent his last words to Peacewest Military Region and Xuanyuan Hill¡ª¡ªCountless wing demons covered the sky like dark clouds in an overwhelming manner. They have thousands of wing demon knights and over 100 earth knights. It''s hard to keep Yezhou Province; however, although Yezhou Province could be collapsed, Taixia Country wouldn''t be collapsed; although my home could be exterminated, the country wouldn''t be exterminated. I Chen Mingong would like to safeguard Yezhou City with all the male adults of my clan and swear to protect Yezhou City until the death. Chen Clansmen will spray their blood even die for Xuanyuan Hill. However, demons are utterly different than before. Among the vanguards of wing demons alone, there are already thousands of knights who could easily exterminate one province. The vanguard of demons must be closely followed by the main forces of demons. After Yezhou City was broken through, demons would definitely spread over Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province. The entire Peacewest Military Territory would definitely be deteriorated in a short period. We couldn''t resist the vanguards of demons for the time being. Remember to not put only a few knights and corps of Taixia Country into the battlefield in case of regrets. Chen Minggong is proposing my sincere suggestion for the consideration of commander and the lords in Xuanyuan Hill. You should make plans ahead. Kill demons; kill demon; kill demons..."


    When he talked about "Kill demons", Ye Qingcheng suddenly raised his voice like a sword that went out of the sheath. In a split second, the sky collapsed, the clouds rolled away, revealing a surging, magnificent qi of a heavenly knight...


    "Yezhou Province has been collapsed. The vanguard of demons has already passed by Yezhou Province and entered Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province. Yesterday, the knights of Black Armor Army has already fought wing demons in the border between Huanzhou Province and Wuzhou Province. The vanguard of wing demons might have entered Huanzhou Province partially. Peacewest Military Region will receive the news of collapsing cities every day. Today, Windpeace City in Wuzhou Province, Whitedeer City in Zhuzhou Province and Heavenlywater City in Yinzhou Province are being slaughtered by demons. Numerous loyal and dauntless people are serving the country at the risk of their lives..."


    Hearing the words of Ye Qingcheng, everyone could see that the heavy black region was flooding over cities one after another while some black sparkling spots like rats had entered Huanzhou Province.


    Watching the black tide on the sand table and recalling what happened in Waii Subcontinent, Zhang Tie silently clenched his fists. Many knights panted abruptly in the lobby.


    "Marshal, we''re waiting for your command..." A knight suddenly roared as he strode out one step and continued, "To fight demons until death, we''re elites of Taixia Country and Hua heroes!"


    "Marshal, we''re waiting for your command..." More people roared in unison...

 1281 Shoulder Heavy Responsibility

    "I''ve got a position which needs you to assume it voluntarily!" Ye Qingcheng slowly glanced around as the roars gradually faded away. Nobody lowered their eyes; even Zhang Tie was watching Ye Qingcheng frankly and calmly.


    With a dignified and solemn eye light, Ye Qingcheng said, "This position could only be assumed by an earth knight. The earth knight should move 6,000 miles alone. He will face enemies without any relief. He even needs to deepen into the rear of the enemy. It''s very dangerous. The one who takes this position will be the vanguard of the land force, air force and water force. He will be the eye and ear of Taixia Country, the dare-to-die one among knights and the gut of marshal. As long as you take it, you''re forbidden to stop on the halfway. Neither will you be allowed to shirk work or responsibility; otherwise, don''t blame for the merciless military disciplines. Therefore, this marshal doesn''t want to assign anyone by force. Any volunteer?"


    After hearing Ye Qingcheng''s words, everybody at present knew that black iron knights couldn''t be able to take this position. The one must be the scout and dare-to-die member among the knights. As the army of demons was arriving in an overwhelming way, the person would definitely highly risk his own life assuming this position in the place where demons and humans broke out the fiercest conflicts.


    After hearing Ye Qingcheng''s words, Lu Dingzhi turned solemn; Mountain Lifting Hermit quivered his long eyebrows. They were all making decisions.


    Even those dauntless people had to think twice before taking this dangerous and tough task.


    When all the other knights in the lobby became silent, Zhang Tie strode one step out as he said calmly, "I..."


    Bai Suxian became flurried as she wanted to say something; however, after Zhang Tie threw a solemn glance at her, she swallowed her words back.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit raised his long eyebrows as he shot out shrewd eye light. The moment he wanted to say something, he heard Zhang Tie''s words secretly, "Elder brother, Iron-Dragon Sect needs an earth knight. If you and me both die, Iron-Dragon Sect will be collapsed. I will take it; not you!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Mountain Lifting Hermit became silent.


    Elder Muray and Elder Muyu widely opened their mouths with a dumbfounded look as they had not imagined that Zhang Tie could take the most dangerous task.


    At this moment, Ye Qingcheng and all the surrounding people moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie at the same time.


    At the sight of the man with a teenager''s look, many people''s hearts pounded.


    However, Zhang Tie looked as cool as a cucumber.


    "Do you wish to be the volunteer?" Ye Qingcheng asked Zhang Tie as his eye light covered Zhang Tie like a sharp blade.


    "Yes!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Who''re you? Tell me your name!"


    "Zhang Tie from Youzhou Province, Zhang Mushen..."


    "Do you know that joking is not allowed in the army?"


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "I know. It''s not my first time to attend the army; neither it is my first time to execute such a task."


    "Fine!" Ye Qingcheng threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie before moving his eyes onto the others and asking calmly, "Who else? This marshal needs another 19 volunteers!"


    As if they were stimulated by Zhang Tie, soon after Ye Qingcheng''s words, a lot of more earth knights from Northeast Military Region stood out. In a short while, the 20 vacancies had been occupied.


    Among the other 19 earth knights, Zhang Tie saw a Zhu elder of Yanzhou provincial governor''s clan, a Mo elder of Mozhou Province, 2 more came from provincial governor''s clans in Northeast Military Region. All the other 15 earth knights were strange to Zhang Tie.


    Nangong Sheng the owner of Immortal Fist Position didn''t stand out; Lu Dingzhi''s face changed for a short while as he was a bit hesitated. However, before he made his decision, all the 20 vacancies had been occupied.


    "Follow me, I will tell you about your tasks alone..."


    Soon after the 20 vacancies were occupied, the "humanoid trumpet" that floated outside the military camp outside Yanzhou City had flown outside as he called the 20 earth knights to leave the lobby after him.


    This "humanoid trumpet" was a shadow knight, who was on the equal footing with Guan Qianchong in Black Armor Army. Therefore, none of the 20 earth knights dared put on airs in front of that shadow knight; they just followed the shadow knight away from the lobby...


    Before leaving the lobby, Zhang Tie heard Ye Qingcheng''s voice from the lobby...


    "Demons are powerful. Through the negotiation between the crown prince and the top three chancellors, Taixia Country will set up a western theater of operations in Peacewest Military Region. Relying on the Military Region, we will build 11 advanced bases in 20,000 miles from Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province all the way to Ningzhou Province in the east of Helan Mountain Range and in the south of Weishui River. We will mobilize over 10,000 knights and over 800 corps to punch against demons and shatter them within the territory of Peacewest Military Region completely. The military minister will go to the frontier himself. The top 7 sects of Taixia Country will also organize powerhouses to fight demons in this region. Our current main task is to consolidate this line of defense, prevent the vanguard of demons from further moving towards the east and help commoners and armies in the west of Huaizhou Province to evacuate as soon as possible..."


    After hearing Ye Qingcheng''s words, Zhang Tie immediately understood Taixia Country''s layout in the west.


    On this occasion, small troops of Taixia Country couldn''t reverse the overall situation anymore; instead, they could only accelerate the failure. Before gathering enough power, the forces of Taixia Country in the west was at a disadvantageous position; they could only increase their forces at the cost of some space, which referred to the territory of Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province...


    Although he knew that this was the most correct countermeasure as far and a right judgment that Chen Minggong the Yezhou provincial governor made before death, Zhang Tie''s heart still pounded the moment he realized that tens of billions of commoners had not evacuated from Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province...


    Taixia Country didn''t give up the commoners in the three provinces; however, the brutal outcome of strategical decision inevitably fell on tens of billions of commoners in Taixia Country. According to Zhang Tie''s experience, it was already something if Taixia Country could evacuate half of the commoners in this critical moment. What about the other half?

 1282 The First Task

    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie walked out of one room in the command post of the advanced base.


    Those who came and went in the command post of the advanced base were all soldiers in uniform in Taixia Country. Not all of them were knights; additionally, there were some female soldiers in civilian posts. However, all of their eyes carried a bit of admiration when they looked at Zhang Tie.


    Half an hour ago, 20 earth knights who would like to be the scouts for the whole army held a conference. Luo Tiancheng the marshal of Black Armor Army was responsible for introducing the situation facing the Western Theater of Operations and the deployment of forces of Taixia Country to all of them. After that, the 20 earth knights separated and entered a smaller back room respectively. Each of them then received a military map for the theater of operations which was divided by grids. Furthermore, each of them bore a remote-sensing communications code and received their first task.


    When Zhang Tie approached the lobby of the advanced base, Zhang Tie stroked the wholly new remote-sensing finger ring on his hand unconsciously. He could contact this advanced base with this finger ring. Each earth knight who applied to be scout would get one exclusive remote-sensing communications finger ring. In emergencies, he could directly contact Ye Qingcheng by this new finger ring and transmit the latest news to Ye Qingcheng as a guarantee.


    All the knights who were gathering in the lobby had scattered, except for some knights who were still wandering over there.


    Elder Muray and Elder Muyu, Bai Suxian and Mountain Lifting Hermit were waiting for Zhang Tie in the lobby.


    When they saw Zhang Tie walking out of the path which was guarded by soldiers on both sides, they soon surrounded him. Those men were fine; however, Bai Suxian almost cried out.


    "I have one hour here. Half an hour later, I will set off. I know what you want to say. Let''s talk about it back in the airboat!" Zhang Tie said before they opened their mouths.


    On the way from the advanced base to their airboat, Zhang Tie felt that those people on the roadside paid more attention to him. Qianji Hermit had become more famous among all the knights in this advanced base. Previously, Qianji Hermit was well-known across the country due to his mysterious methods, immortal bloodline, battle skills and endless means; now he was also known as being dauntless.


    ...


    After 5 people crowded in Zhang Tie''s room, they didn''t even have a place to sit. Therefore, they could only stand there. However, on this occasion, nobody would care about that.


    "Easy, even though I am a scout, it doesn''t mean that I''m destined to die. Am I not standing here safe and sound?" Zhang Tie said. Although he wanted to make them relaxed, he had not imagined that Mountain Lifting Hermit, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu turned more solemn while Bai Suxian dropped off her tears at once.


    "If you deepened into the rear of the enemy, it would definitely be 10 times more dangerous than that in the Earth-element Realm..." Mountain Lifting Hermit said with a solemn look.


    "Elder Mushen, you''re the pillar of Huaiyuan Palace and the owner of Iron-Dragon Sect, why would you enter such a dangerous place..." Elder Muyu let out a sigh as Elder Muray nodded forcefully.


    "Do you want me to become a widow before marrying you, you d**chebag..." Bai Suxian almost cried.


    Looking at these people''s expressions, Zhang Tie rubbed his nose. Closely after that, he asked them as he pointed at his own nose, "Do you think I''m an idiot?"


    The other 4 people became silent as they exchanged a glance with each other.


    Zhang Tie asked once again, "Perhaps you feel that I''m lunatic or have no hope for life?"


    The other 4 people''s eyes moved as if they had understood Zhang Tie''s meaning slightly.


    Zhang Tie let out a long sigh as he said calmly, "Actually, Elder Muyu''s words are not enough. I''m not only the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace and the owner of Iron-Dragon Sect, but I''m also the son of my parents, the husband of a lot of women, the father of over 10 kids, also the Mr. Right of you, Bai Suxian and the dad of our kid in the future. If I died, how sad would my parents be? How could I leave so many wives alone? How could I feel like having my kids lose their father since they are young?" Zhang Tie looked around those people whose expressions were changing before continuing, "Therefore, please believe in me, I will not die. Now that I''m called Qianji Hermit, I could survive any dangerous situation. Additionally, it''s my responsibility to go there. This task suits me most. Even Ye Qingcheng didn''t'' say that, I would also request to leave this advanced base to fight demons!"


    Zhang Tie finally convinced the other 4 people and told them that he was not playing a funky game. In the final analysis, Zhang Tie had never let them down no matter what dilemma he was in. Additionally, Zhang Tie''s trump cards were always shocking.


    Bai Suxian stopped dropping tears immediately as she asked, "Will you leave in half an hour?"


    "Yes!"


    "What''s your task?"


    "In a period of time, I will stay near Helan Mountain Range between Huanzhou Province and Wuzhou Province to snipe and kill those demon knights who invaded Huanzhou Province from Wuzhou Province as the scout of the vanguard of this base. I should try my best to prevent the wing demon knights from invading Huanzhou Province after crossing Helan Mountain Range. Additionally, I should pay attention to the actions of the vanguard corps and large troops of demons in the west of Helan Mountain Range and provide early warning to the advanced base..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the 4 knights finally knew why only earth knight could execute this task. This task requested the scout to snipe demons'' advance wing knights and defend the border of a province while paying attention to the actions of the demons'' army and providing early warning to the advanced base behind him. Black iron knights could barely face such a tough challenge because demons could easily sweep all the black iron knights assigned by Taixia Country as scouts.


    Certainly, theoretically, earth knights were destined to die when they met a shadow knight or a heavenly knight. However, both humans and demons had few shadow knights or above. Shadow knights and those above shadow knights were all major and cardinal figures in the opponent''s camps. Only idiots would assign high-level knights as vanguards and scouts for the safety of low-level knights. It might happen in some special situations; however, from the perspective of wargaming, this was not the normality of wars and could be ignored on most occasions.

 1283 Going on an Expedition

    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie set off from the advanced base in Huanhou Province¡ª¡ªBlackwter Base.


    Zhang Tie had only stayed in Blackwater Base for less than 2 hours.


    When Zhang Tie left from there, the sun had just set off.


    Zhang Tie waved his hands towards the back as he threw a glance at his partners. After that, he left Blackwater Base and flew towards that red sun which was setting off.


    At that time, Guo Hongyi was also at the exit of the base; however, she didn''t stand together with Bai Suxian, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu; instead, she just stood far away and saw Zhang Tie off silently with a complexed expression as if she was bidding a farewell to Zhang Tie. However, she didn''t say anything to Zhang Tie. As a result, Zhang Tie didn''t know what to say even though he wanted to say something to her. Therefore, Zhang Tie could only wave his hands to them.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t move fast, under the red glow and warm sunlight, Zhang Tie soon disappeared in the halos as if a hero who was going on an expedition alone in a decisive and brave manner.


    After Zhang Tie disappeared, Bai Suxian and the other 3 knights turned around and saw Guo Hongyi turning around and leaving there too...


    "Elder Mushen and the clan head of Guo Clan..." Elder Muyu also noticed Guo Hongyi who came here to bid a farewell to Zhang Tie. Only Zhang Tie left the base from this exit at this moment. Therefore, it was impossible for Guo Hongyi to come here to bid a farewell to others. Elder Muyu also noticed something special from the eyes of Guo Hongyi. He just didn''t believe in that as he was shocked inside. Elder Muyu had not heard any gossips between Zhang Tie and Guo Hongyi, ''But why do I feel that this rouge tiger who''s well-known across Youzhou Province is in love with Zhang Tie? That''s too unbelievable!''


    Bai Suxian threw a glance at Guo Hongyi''s back. As Bai Suxian was still immersed in the depression caused by Zhang Tie''s departure, she didn''t feel like being at odds with Guo Hongyi. After hearing Elder Muyu''s secret question, she just shook her head as she answered secretly, "Don''t ask me about that, I have no idea..."


    Mountain Lifting Hermit shrugged as he suggested, "Let''s go back for cultivation. I''m afraid that we will take tasks in a few days!"


    The 4 people then separated.


    On the way towards their cabins, Elder Muyu asked Elder Muray, "What do you think?"


    Elder Muray revealed a bitter smile as he stroked his beard and replied, "Whenever I stayed with Elder Mushen, I would feel that I was growing old rapidly. I have not had such a feeling previously; but now, I have to admit that I''m already old. Such a young earth knight! I admit that I couldn''t match Elder Mushen on cultivation. But now, I am also lagged far behind by him on love. I was also personable when I was young; I''m also strong even now; but why am I not favored by any female knight? Does Qianji Hermit even have mysterious means to pick up girls?"


    Elder Muyu became dumbfounded as he had not imagined that Elder Muray who used to be solemn could speak such sort of words. After thinking about it carefully, Elder Muyu could only shake his head as he revealed a bitter smile, "But the love affairs between Elder Mushen and Yunxi..."


    Elder Muray threw a glance at Elder Muyu. There were some gossips about the love affairs between Zhang Tie and Lan Yunxi. As the elders of Huaiyuan Palace, of course, they knew the gossips. However, due to certain reasons, those elders prevented the disciples of Huaiyuan Palace from spreading over the gossips...


    "We don''t need to worry about that. Yunxi''s surname is Lan; instead of Zhang. Even if Yunxi''s surname was Zhang, after so many generations, it would absolutely be easy for them to get married. It''s better. They would be more intimate as they were relatives. At least nobody would compete for the position of the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace in the future. As a result, Huaiyuan Palace would grow stronger. Although Elder Mushen would not compete for the position of the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace, it doesn''t mean that the descendants of Elder Mushen would not compete for this position with the descendants of the branch in Yiyang City either. You must have heard about the three sons of Elder Mushen in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Based on their talents, they are destined to be knights one day. Who else among the descendants in the branch of Yiyang City could match them in the future? If not, do we expect that Elder Mushen''s sons could be as modest as Elder Mushen? Even if they could be as modest as Elder Mushen, what about the dignity of the clan head in the future? Don''t forget that Elder Mushen belongs to the branch of Goldensea City..." Elder Muray didn''t seem to be joking when he mentioned about the future of the clan.


    Elder Muyu nodded before shaking his head and replying, "But Yunxi is going to be the goddess of Taiyi Fantasy Sect!"


    "If we had long known that Elder Mushen could make such a great achievement, I would definitely have prevented Yunxi from joining Taiyi Fantasy Sect..."


    "We''re humans, not deities. Nobody could predict the future..." Elder Muyu let out a sigh too.


    "Yes, we''re humans, not deities..."


    Speaking of this, the two elders of Huaiyuan Palace threw a glance at each other as they recalled the word "God" that Zhang Tie selected by rotating the chakra. From then on, everything that happened to Zhang Tie seemingly proved that Zhang Tie was destined to select this word because Elder Mushen seemingly was always favored by God...


    "We''re far-stretched...let''s talk about it after this holy war!" Elder Muyu revealed a bitter smile.


    Elder Muray nodded...


    The words "holy war" were enough to make the two elders of Huaiyuan Palace forget about everything else which was not related to "holy war"...


    ...


    Under the Blackwater Base, so many airships were coming and going around the clock. The location of the Blackwater Base was regarded as the safest place in Peacewest Military Region. All the human airships would choose the airline which was close to the base for the sake of safety; therefore, people could see the grand scenery in the air.


    What Zhang Tie saw looked like a shaol of fish crossing the river.


    Under the sunset, at over 10,000 m in height, Zhang Tie watched numerous airships bathing the afterglow, the clouds and the vast land below. If there was no demon or the holy war, such a scene would be pretty spectacular; even a bit poetic. However, because of demons and war, what he saw would have utterly different meanings.


    "No. 136 has already left Blackwater Base for Helan Mountain Range..."


    After flying off the Blackwater Base for 10 minutes, Zhang Tie injected his spiritual energy into that Xuanyuan remote-sensing crystal as he sent a message to Blackwater Base in the communications code which was commonly adopted by him and Blackwater Base.


    "Blackwater received; wish you come back safely!"


    Blackwater Base gave him a feedback almost the moment Zhang Tie sent out the message, which indicated a smooth communications channel.


    After using the remote-sensing communications device, Zhang Tie nodded inside as he felt pretty pleasant. Although Zhang Tie was not clear about the situation facing the command post of Blackwater Base, given the great feedback speed of the remote-sensing device, Zhang Tie knew that at least 2 fighters above LV 9 were responsible for contacting him around the clock.


    After receiving the reply, Zhang Tie sped up abruptly as he constantly ascended...


    When Zhang Tie left Blackwater Base, he looked handsome and calm; however, Zhang Tie had been long berserk inside and longing to use his Purgatory Samsara Method...


    Those demon knights might be threatening to others; however, in Zhang Tie''s eyes, they were just gifts for his chakra. When Zhang Tie was worried about not having sufficient raw materials for the Bloody Sacrifice Furnace, so many demon knights had presented themselves to him.


    With black iron knights, Ockham whose water chakra had been absorbed by Zhang Tie would recover his water chakra once again. Additionally, earth demon knights were the best raw material for Zhang Tie by Purgatory Samsara Method. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, as long as there were not too many demon knights to be digested for one time, demon knights were definitely mobile treasures.


    As for shadow demon knights and heavenly demon knights, Zhang Tie didn''t care. If he could defeat them, he would do that; if not, he would escape. With the great flight ability as a divine dominator and Castle of Black Iron on his back, he was not afraid of anything.


    The catastrophe that demon corps brought to Taixia Country made Zhang Tie hard to be happy. At the same time, Zhang Tie became excited inside as he found a way to rapidly improve his battle strength. Therefore, Zhang Tie left Blackwater Base with a complexed feeling.


    After flying for a short while, as the sun gradually went down, due to his optimistic temperament as a small figure essentially, Zhang Tie thought it through at once.


    ''Damn it, whatever, I will kill as many demons as possible and save as many people as possible. As long as I live up to myself, I don''t need to think too much. No matter what I think, will I do any harm to the demons? Will one fewer commoner die?''


    ''Yes, f*ck them!''


    When Zhang Tie thought it through, he felt pretty relaxed immediately.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie suddenly felt that a person was gazing at him from the direction of Blackwater Base...


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he estimated that only one person in Blackwater Base could do it¡ª¡ªYear Qingcheng.


    If not Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy had been extremely high and he had a similar experience, Zhang Tie would never sense the faint gaze from a heavenly knight.


    After thinking about it for a few seconds, Zhang Tie didn''t look back; instead, he roared towards the sky with a bizarre smile.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s roar, the thunder hawk dove downwards at the speed which was 2 times the speed of sound and came to Zhang Tie''s side. After Zhang Tie rode on its back, the thunder hawk flew towards Helan Mountain Range at the same speed...


    ...


    ''No wonder...''


    Ye Qingcheng moved his eye light away from the west near a window at the highest place of Blackwater Battlefortress; however, he was still a bit shocked inside...

 1284 Prey

    Before Zhang Tie determined to leave for the west border of Taixia Country, he had already called back the thunder hawk. These days, the thunder hawk followed afar Black Dragon Airboat all the way to Huanzhou Province.


    It was not a secret in Iron-Dragon Sect that the thunder hawk was Zhang Tie''s mount and pet. Zhang Tie purposefully exposed his trump card of thunder hawk to Ye Qingcheng. With the help of the thunder hawk, Zhang Tie could escape away from dilemmas or travel 6,000 miles a day. Of course, Ye Qingcheneg would not doubt that Zhang Tie might have any other trump cards such as Castle of Black Iron or a super high-speed flight ability as a divine dominator.


    This was the benefit of having a lot of trump cards. Any trump card that Zhang Tie exposed to the public would make people see the light suddenly and think that it''s all the abilities of him. However, it was just a tip of the iceberg.


    ''Sometimes, I could better hide myself by exposing some of my secrets to the public.''


    Riding on the thunder hawk, Zhang Tie suddenly thought through it pleasantly.


    As the thunder hawk flashed towards Helan Mountain Range between the border of Huanzhou Province and Wuzhou Province at tens of thousands of meters high, the land below was gradually covered by the dark.


    In the high altitude, Zhang Tie activated his lotus-flower eyes as he could see far away in all directions...


    Even though the night fell, the floods of airships and cars didn''t stop moving. The army of airships was evacuating towards the east like a floating milky way. So did those cars. On the highway from Huanzhou Province to Tongzhou Province, numerous vehicles were slowly moving with high luggage on the top, carrying old and young, brightening up the entire road as if it was daytime.


    It was very noisy over the road, which included kids'' cries and adults'' quarrels.


    The local garrison of Huanzhou Province was maintaining the order on the highway. In each a few miles on the highway, there would be a resting area, from where people could get food, drinking water and coal.


    On the roadsides, all the temporary vacancies for vehicles had been occupied. In the wild, there were bonfires here and there, reflecting on the flurried and helpless faces of adults.


    People in the towns and villages on both sides of the road were also evacuating. Many smaller villages had been empty. Coincidentally, those who evacuated from the west could take a rest in these empty villages and towns. Zhang Tie saw many airships of Black Armor Army landing in the wild or outside the cities on the way back after carrying troops of soldiers and materials to the destination. After that, those people in the nearby villages and towns would board the airships organized by local officials by batches before flying eastward.


    As demons had not arrived here, the commoners in Huanzhou Province still evacuated orderly.


    Women, pregnant women, old and young would be firstly evacuated, followed by male adults; then local militia officials; local garrisons evacuated in the end.


    However, not all of them would evacuate.


    ...


    In an empty small village, a group of strong adults with red cloth strips on their hair were standing quietly on the grain-sunning field with the resolute look, sabers in hands, crossbows on the back. A tough man with whiskers was speaking loudly and passionately on the millstone of the grain-sunning field. After he said something, all the strong adults raised their sabers and swords as they roared. Closely after that, all of them divided into two batches. One batch of people carried bags of grains and the other materials into the mountain; the others silently buried something somewhere near the village...


    ...


    A grey-haired old man was sitting in a small ordinary downtown courtyard in an unlined garment while grinding a sword with a long blade and a short hilt wielded with both hands which was usually used by ordinary soldiers in Taixia Country on a hone, causing shrill sound. In the room, a grey-haired old woman took out an old set of armors from a crate and was sewing and mending the lining of the armor for the old man. Before the old man polished his saber, 5-6 grey-haired old man in the armor of soldiers in Huanzhou Province had entered his courtyard, making the courtyard boisterous at once. Some guys felt bored as they directly started to perform saber skills in the courtyard...


    ...


    Although the entire town outside the city was empty, the official residence was still brightly lit. A low-level official was sitting in the lobby in tidy uniform solemnly and drinking alone...


    ...


    In the downtown, a fatty and drunk butcher closed his meet store with a pig sticker and a bone chopper on his waistband. Additionally, with a liquor-containing gourd in hand, he went to the blacksmith''s shop and broke the ironmaking furnace and the steam hammer together with the blacksmith. After that, the two people burst out into laughter. The blacksmith carried a long saber and an iron bow; the fatty butcher found a helmet and a set of light armor in the blacksmith''s shop and put them on. After that, the two people drove an old pickup truck to the west...


    ...


    youngsters and teenagers would leave the teams that evacuated towards the east individually or in a group of 2 or 3 people and turned around towards the west...


    ...


    In a school which filled with osmanthus trees, a teacher in the green robe was standing outside the door of the room. A lot of young students were kneeling down outside the room. They were talking about something. The teacher in the green robe shook his head as he entered the room. At the same time, he let his old servant close the door. From then on, he refused to meet with those people outside the room and talk to them. Only a thin shadow which was cupping a book was reflected onto the window by the candlelight. Those who were kneeling down outside the room became tearful as they all kowtowed towards the door before leaving...


    The airship was parking outside the school. When these youngsters were going to board the airship, the old servant of the teacher in the green robe ran out of the courtyard as he gave some books and an envelop to those youngsters. After saying something to them, the old servant returned to the school.


    After opening that envelope, the young students saw a fresh poem in vigorous handwriting on the letter.


    After reading over 10,000 books of sages, you will be unrivaled.


    You will always feel inspired.


    When you burst out into laughter, you will scatter all the guests.


    When you grow furious, you prefer to climb the mountain being filled with tigers.


    You will not be afraid of death.


    Your song will make it sunny.


    When you become alone, you don''t need to bow towards anyone.


    Just break the sky and ground to make yourself relieved for the rest of your life!


    The last line was¡ª¡ªas long as poems and articles still exist in Taixia Country, Taixia Country will be fine!


    After reading that poem, those youngsters burst out into tears as they knelt down and bowed towards their teacher''s residence before leaving...


    ...


    With lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie saw all these scenes in Guizhou Province; especially in that school, the poem that the teacher in the green robe wrote to his students were as clear as they were in front of Zhang Tie even if it was hundreds of miles away.


    Zhang Tie was deeply moved by Huanzhou Province and Taixia Country as he immediately sent a message to the Iron Heart Palace of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    ''I''ve already arrived at Huanzhou Province. I''m fine. My dear wives, you don''t need to worry about me. However, the large-scale war between humans and demons in the territory of Peacewest Military Region will break out soon. In the future, this region might be in ruins while commoners here would live on the edge of starvation. All the commoners in the theater of operations are evacuating; however, they''re limited in the speed of evacuation as they lack traffic tools; especially airboats. I have an idea. When Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory choose to cooperate with major clans on producing Fiery Oil, could we consider the achievements of these major clans in helping commoners evacuate from the theater of operations?''


    ''The major clans in Taixia Country had numerous airboats and airships. If only they could participate in the evacuation positively! One airboat might transfer over 10,000 people rapidly away from the theater of operations and survive them in the future.''


    ''I am not doing this for reputation. Because I grew up among commoners and have witnessed the tragedy facing commoners across countries when Waii Subcontinent was exterminated by demons, I don''t want to see the same scene in Taixia Country. Although Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and I have limited capabilities, we could use Fiery Oil to force major clans in Taixia Country to contribute to the evacuation. Dear wives, please consider it carefully and formulate articles. Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory could make a discount for them on Fiery Oil!


    After sending the message to Iron Heart Palace, Zhang Tie told his elder brother that he was safe.


    After doing all this, Zhang Tie felt a bit reassured.


    He just wanted to do his best.


    ...


    The thunder hawk was approaching the border of Huanzhou Province after flying over many cities at the speed of 2 times the speed of sound.


    After Zhang Tie left Blackwater Base for 3 hours, a shadow suddenly appeared in the sight of Zhang Tie''s lotus-flower eyes. Zhang Tie fixed his eyes closely onto the shadow at once.


    That was a wing demon. In the dark, it silently flew out of the woods towards a city in the south at an extremely high speed.


    As Zhang Tie had fought wing demons, given its speed and figure, Zhang Tie knew that was a wing demon knight.


    The wing demon knight was very careful. It didn''t fly high; instead, it just flew close to the top of trees. Based on the terrain and the nightscape, this wing demon knight moved very secretly. The others could barely find him within dozens of miles.


    However, that wing demon could not imagine that someone had fixed his eyes on it from over 1,000 miles away.


    It seemed that the wing demon was also spying the situation within Huanzhou Province in the east of Helan Mountain and Taixia Country''s deployment over there. After flying over a small city far away and observing that small city for quite a while, the wing demon saw a troop of airships being escorted by an airboat flying over. The wing demon even flew into a small lake from the top of a tree and lurked inside there. The wing demon stealthily watched the scene in the sky as it was thinking about launching a strike...

 1285 The First Achievemen

    As for wing demons; especially wing demon knights, human airships were absolutely their toys, even weaker. Any wing demon knight could easily hit down all the airships within their sight and cause great damages to humans.


    There were so many airships in the sky as if they came from Wuzhou Province. Being close to each other one after another, over 500 airships were evacuating towards Huanzhou Province like a chain of barges on the canal.


    This was a piece of fat. It might belong to the official or the major clans of Taixia Country.


    The wing demon kept watching the airships with bloody eyes being close to the surface of the water.


    The airships in the sky were alluring to wing demons. However, there were also two blurred black points ahead of the airboat in front of those airships.


    The two human knights in the sky could barely find the wing demon knight under the water.


    ''Damn human knights!''


    The wing demon knight swore under the water. Without the two human knights, the 500-odd human airships would be completely its toys. However, because of the two human knights, the wing demon knight could only watch these toys sliding away in front of his eyes.


    Of course, it could launch a strike and hit down dozens of airships; however, he would be surrounded by the two human knights. As they were all black iron knights, the wing demon knight could barely survive the siege of the two human knights.


    After thinking about it for a while, the wing demon could only see those airships flying away escorted by the two human knights...


    ...


    The moment Zhang Tie caught sight of that wing demon knight, Zhang Tie had already left the thunder hawk and flew towards the wing demon from tens of thousands of meters high at the speed which was 13 times the speed of sound.


    With the effects of rapid moving skill and hiding skill, the sonic boom in flight was reduced to the lowest volume; additionally, Zhang Tie''s body emerged like an invisible owl.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie wore a pair of metal caliga, a full-moon dragon''s soul waistband and a pair of metal wristbands. Although these items looked trivial and nobody knew what they were, they were actually Zhang Tie''s "simplified flight suit". With the ability of divine dominator, if he flew 100,000 miles, of course, this simplified flight suit didn''t feel as comfortable and labor-saving as Chaos. However, it was enough for Zhang Tie to fly 1,000 miles by these equipments.


    Zhang Tie also saw a troop of airships and the two human knights flying towards him. Zhang Tie didn''t know who was inside those airships and the airboat; however, in order to avoid from being discovered by them, Zhang Tie purposefully ascended and kept flying higher than 300,000 m. Additionally, he passed by the airships from aside instead of from above them.


    When Zhang Tie flew over, the two knights also heard the faint sonic boom; however, as the sonic boom was too weak, they could barely identify the precise location of the sonic boom. What was more, the speed of sound was much slower than the speed of Zhang Tie''s movement. The two knights looked up with suspicious looks; however, they found nothing abnormal.


    After discussing it for a short while, the two human knights determined to prioritize the convoy of the troop of airships. They didn''t look for the source of the faintly strange sound as this sound might be the resonance of thunder in the far or some sound on the ground...


    At 13 times the speed of sound, it only took Zhang Tie 10 minutes to arrive at the lake since he fixed his eyes on the wing demon knight. However, the wing demon knight was still lurking in the lake.


    Not until Zhang Tie arrived above the lake did he slow down and enter the lake quietly.


    The moment Zhang Tie returned to the lake, it was like how a dragon returned to the ocean and how a tiger returned to the deep mountain.


    When in flight, Zhang Tie would cause some sound more or less; however, when in water, as long as he liked, he could completely be as quiet as a bubble or a drop of water.


    Ironically, not until Zhang Tie came to the side of the wing demon knight from over 1,000 miles away, the demon knight had not discovered Zhang Tie.


    It was already a bit unfair for an earth knight to raid a black iron knight; however, that earth knight was a divine dominator who cultivated an emperor-level secret method and had a myriad of secret skills. Such a duel was like putting a 150 kg professional boxer and a 7-year old kid in the same ring. That''s too unfair...


    Finding that the wing demon knight was still immersed in his own world and plan, Zhang Tie became a bit embarrassed.


    "Ahem...", Zhang Tie purposefully coughed in water which was finally heard by that wing demon knight through water waves.


    The wing demon knight was shocked as it turned around at once; however, it saw a punch approaching him...


    Zhang Tie directly punched onto the lower abdomen of the wing demon knight. Before the wing demon knight released its protective battle qi, its bones all over had been completely broken. Additionally, its eyeballs bulged 1 inch outside of its eye sockets. Its face twisted like a wrinkled dishcloth.


    Besides the extremely terrifying strength, Zhang Tie''s punch also carried a strange strength. When Zhang Tie''s fist touched the wing demon''s lower abdomen, the strange strength immediately disordered the battle qi of the wing demon as a whole. At the same time, its mind sea shocked heavily as if it was going to pass out.


    This punch was called Bloody Mark Three-Kill Fist that Zhang Tie had just learned from Bloody Soul Sutra. With this punch, Zhang Tie could break the opponent''s body, qi and soul. This wing demon was fortunate to be the first target of Zhang Tie soon after Zhang Tie grasped the secret skill in Bloody Soul Sutra.


    Before this wing demon screamed or ran its battle qi, Zhang Tie had punched onto its head. As was imagined, this wing demon knight passed out at once.


    Zhang Tie grasped its neck and teleported it into Castle of Black iron...


    Since the beginning of this raid, Zhang Tie only caused some ripples on the lake when he punched towards the wing demon knight as if a big fish jumped out of the water and fell down, nothing else...


    Heller''s chuckle drifted from Castle of Black Iron as he said, "Congratulations, Castle Lord, if you teleport 20-more black iron demon knights like this one, Ockham will be alive once again..."

 1286 You Should Read More Books

    It soon came to late October as it turned a bit cold. However, demons'' strike was still surging towards the west border of Taixia Country. As a result, Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province almost collapsed consecutively. Cities in Taixia Country almost collapsed every day. Taixia Country was shocked as a whole. Tens of thousands of miles'' land on Eastern Continent were covered with smoke signals while the battle flames of the holy war started to spread over the Eastern Continent...


    Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province were neither barren provinces nor lower provinces, but medium-sized provinces in Taixia Country. They were much more powerful than lower provinces and barren provinces. When demons'' vanguard entered the three provinces and gradually expanded, the battle situation facing the west border of Taixia Country almost made every commoner of Taixia Country concerned.


    Over these months, wing demons were always mentioned in the news about demons. As it was wing demons who invaded the three provinces, a lot of news were about wing demons. It was said that demons had assigned over 100 million LV 9 wing demons as the vanguards. Besides, there were thousands of wing demon knights in the vanguards.


    Within the three provinces, billions of commoners deteriorated into refugees as they were evacuating towards eastern provinces...


    ...


    In a mountain area of Helan Mountain Range, all the maple leaves had turned red after the autumn arrived. Like wildfires, they spread over one hundred square miles.


    As the sun had just come out, the dew in the woods had not fully evaporated. A frost was suffusing in the valley. With the sound of footsteps, over 20 people suddenly drilled out of the woods in embarrassed looks with luggage on the back, male or female.


    At the sight of those dense and high maple trees hundreds of meters in front of them, the front ones had cheered up, "Sugar maple, we''ve got something to eat..."


    After hearing that there were something to eat, all the people became spirited as they accelerated towards that maple woods...


    As for starved ones, nothing was more attractive to them than food.


    "Wait for me...wait for me...leave some to me..." A panting fat man at his 50s lagged behind those people for a distance. Given the extremely dirty and broken golden silk robe of ministry councilor and the expensive fox-fur robe of the fat man, they must have traveled a lot of days in the woods.


    Watching those people running towards those maple trees, leaving him alone, the fat man couldn''t help but swear, "You...b*stards...how could you only care about yourself at this moment...and leave your owner alone...when this owner leave out of here, I will punish you by beating your butt...none of you could get any copper coin from this owner..."


    In front of the team were some bodyguards in leather armor and wristbands who looked strong and powerful with weapons in hand. Although they looked embarrassed, they were much more agile than the fat man. After reaching that maple woods, one of them selected a 30 m higher maple wood whose diameter was about 2 m as he made a cut on the trunk; closely after that, some dense, slightly tawny fluid started to flow off the cut.


    After taking some by his dagger and putting it into his mouth, the person immediately started to receive the fluid with his iron-sheet kettle.


    All the other men also imitated him. Some people in the uniform of servants directly approached their mouth onto the cut and started to suck the dense fluid...


    "Thankfully, it''s autumn...when it comes to winter, there will be no syrup..." Someone said as he drank the fluid.


    "This one...this one...choose this one...yours look too dark...the more transparent the syrup is, the sweeter it will be..."


    The maple woods became noisy at once.


    A person who looked like a steward at his 40s with a thin face and three wisps of long beard didn''t run towards here; instead, he just walked leisurely behind these people. Among all these people, this steward looked tidiest with fewest broken places on his clothes.


    This steward directly walked to the front of the bodyguard who rushed into the maple woods first. The sturdy bodyguard hurriedly gave the kettle of syrup to the steward.


    After having two mouths of the syrup and licking his lips, the steward looked much better as he said, "God bless us. I''ve not imagined that we could meet such a large area of sugar maple woods at such a critical moment!"


    "Thanks to Steward Li''s guidance; otherwise, we could never leave Helan Mountain Range!" A servant hurriedly flattered him soon after Steward Li finished his words.


    Steward Li neither looked pleasant nor blamed the servant for speaking the wrong words; instead, he just revealed a smile which looked profound more or less. He then told the bodyguard who gave him the kettle, "Although few fierce magical beasts above LV 10 is left in Helan Mountain Range, there''re still many wild beasts below LV 10. You bodyguards need to be alert by shifts. We will rest 2 hours here. After being full, fill all your kettles with syrup. It seems that we will leave Helan Mountain Range after hundreds of miles. With syrup, as long as we could drink some water in later days, we will survive ourselves..."


    "Yes, sir..." The bodyguard replied. After looking around, the bodyguard''s eyes turned a bit weird. Before he said something, two women had walked over here with an enchanting smile in a bashful way. The steward threw a glance at the bodyguard, who hurriedly lowered his head and walked away...


    ...


    When the fat man entered this maple woods, the others had rested for over 10 minutes.


    Previously, the fat man moved slowly. After being flurried, he fell down, bruising his forehead and spraining his ankle. As a result, he moved slower.


    When he came to the maple woods, the fat man''s face had turned green and white while his forehead had been covered with fine sweat drops. The fat man instantly threw himself onto the ground and sat against the trunk of a maple tree while panting heavily.


    "Owner, try some. This humble man especially kept it for you. I wanted to prepare your drink, therefore, I ran so fast just now..." A servant gave a kettle of syrup to the fat man as he licked the syrup over his lips.


    "Hmm, Liu Shan is most loyal to me...after leaving this damn place...this owner will reward you greatly..." The fat man said while panting. Only after throwing a casual glance at the servant, he had grabbed away the kettle and drank it as if he didn''t mean to leave even a bit to the servant.


    "Thanks, owner; thanks, owner..." The servant called Liu Shan smiled while narrowing his eyes. At the same time, he bowed deeply towards the fat man as he dreamed about the owner''s reward.


    After bottoming up the syrup served by "loyal" Liu Shan, the fat man felt a bit better. However, he still had a pain in his sprained foot. Soon after he put down the kettle, the fat owner had turned around and saw his two concubines sitting on both sides of Steward Li and drinking his syrup.


    Of course, this was not the point. The point was that the two concubines had completely stuck to Steward Li''s clothes. One concubine even whispered to Steward Li in an enchanting way while having one breast stick to Steward Li''s arm. The other concubine was helping Steward Li rub his shoulders.


    At the sight of the two bitches'' movements, they had long forgotten about the existence of the owner. Those outsiders would mistake them as Steward Li''s women.


    People''s hearts would be seen in adversities. Since their airships crashed in Helan Mountain Range by accident a few days ago, this fat owner had felt that something was wrong with his two "beloved concubines" as if they were staying with Steward Li longer and longer. Just now, the two b*tches directly ran over here, leaving the fat owner behind.


    In a split second, the fat owner felt extremely furious as he immediately threw his kettle towards Steward Li and the two b*tches.


    As the three people were over 10 m away from the fat owner, the fat owner didn''t hit his target; instead, he only hit a maple tree beside the 3 people.


    The sudden noise startled all the others who were resting here.


    With exclamations, the two beloved concubines turned around as they immediately saw their owner whose eyes almost burned.


    The steward also turned around. Although the steward changed his look, he didn''t dodge away.


    However, the moment he was going to reprimand Steward Li, he realized that they were all escaping and he was inconvenient in movement; if he stirred up the steward, he might not have a good result. Therefore, he directly lost his temper towards his two concubines.


    "Liu Shan..." The fat owner roared as he pointed at the two beloved concubines with a quivering finger, "Come over there, draw the two b*tches over here and slap each of them 10 times!"


    Only after being slightly hesitated, Liu Shan had rolled up his sleeves and walked over there.


    Steward Li and the two beloved concubines of the fat owner had stood up. After hearing the fat owner''s order, the two women changed their looks at once as they tightly held the sleeves of Steward Li and hid behind Steward Li. Seeing their response, the fat owner was more furious as he realized that the two b*tches had long been on the side of Steward Li.


    At this critical moment, women''s response was real. If the two women still treated the fat owner as their husband, they would kneel down and beg for his forgiveness; however, they hid behind Steward Li, which meant that they only had Steward Li in their hearts.


    "Steward Li, please give way to me, owner let me..." Liu Shan told Steward Li politely and carefully.


    Before Liu Shan finished his words, he had quivered all over as a wisp of blood flew out of his mouth corner. He lowered his head and looked at his chest with widely opened eyes.


    A dagger had been inserted into Liu Shan''s chest. Steward Li was holding the handle of the dagger. Not until then did Liu Shan know when Steward Li had a dagger in hand; neither did he believe that Steward Li could kill him...


    Liu Shan had seen Steward Li holding a pen and using abacus; however, he had not seen Steward Li holding any dagger.


    Steward Li looked gloomy. His hands didn''t quiver at all. He clutched the handle of the dagger, exposing the green veins on his hand. Under the shocked eye light of Liu Shan, Steward Li forcefully wrenched the handle of the dagger.


    As the dagger had hit Liu Shan''s heart. After Steward Li wrenched the handle of the dagger, Liu Shan immediately spurted out a mouth of blood over Steward Li''s face. At the same time, he fell down and died.


    The sudden event and the strong killing qi of Steward Li startled all the others in the maple woods.


    "Murderer..." A timid servant exclaimed as he immediately scrambled away towards far.


    The two women behind Steward Li had been scared too much that they directly stood on the ground. More people were dumbfounded. The fat owner also exclaimed like a pig being slaughtered, "Zhao Wu, Zhao Wu, Steward Li is mad, hurry, catch him...".


    The sturdy safeguard immediately ran towards Steward Li with saber in hand. However, he just watched Steward Li instead of launching a strike.


    Steward Li wiped off the blood from his face. After that, he threw a glance at that servant who was running far away. Zhao Wu immediately caught up with the servant as he stabbed into the servant''s heart...


    At the sight of this scene, all the other servants exclaimed as they ran towards the outside of the woods with great fear.


    "Kill them all..." Steward Li said icily.


    Those bodyguards then rushed towards those escaping servants...


    ...


    As was imagined, only after 1 minute, all the bodyguards had returned with bloody sabers. They then surrounded the fat owner with brutal and greedy eye light like a flock of wild wolves surrounding a fat pig.


    Watching these grim and terrifying faces which were usually familiar and humble, the fat owner became scared too much that he even had a pee in his pants. Sitting against the maple tree, he had nowhere to go. He had not imagined that all the bodyguards had been bought over by Steward Li. "Ste...Steward Li...what...what are you doing?"


    "Previously, I want you to die in a relatively graceful manner as you were once my owner. However, I''ve not imagined that you could lose your temper here. Don''t blame me for that then!" Steward Li walked over here. Although he had wiped off the blood from his face, his face still looked red which was pretty terrifying.


    "You...you want my wealth?" The fat owner realized it at once.


    "Whatever, you have no posterity and have so many diseases. You couldn''t even f*ck women. Isn''t it worthless for you to keep so many properties? Why not let me enjoy them for you?" Steward Li sneered which sounded a bit terrifying.


    "You...aren''t you afraid of being punished by God?"


    "Being punished by God?" Steward Li burst out into laughter at once as if he had heard a joke, "It''s really funny for you to say that. If you believe in God''s punishment, how could Boss Hong of Huaien Cloth Store die soon after becoming your sworn brother for less than 1 year? Don''t you think that I don''t know that?"


    After hearing Boss Hong, the fat owner''s face turned pale at once as if he was struck by a lightning bolt. At the same time, his body quivered all over as he pointed at Steward Li with a finger and stammered, "You...you...you...".


    "I will let you die clearly. Don''t you feel strange why you''re getting worse with more and more diseases these years and have no posterity? Even doctors couldn''t help you?"


    "You did that..." The fat owner quivered all over. Closely after that, he shook his head as he said, "Impossible. All the doctors said that I was suffering from the shortage of sperms and weak sperms. Because of my physique, I could barely make women pregnant!"


    "Hahaha, if you have posterities, it will not be my turn to inherit your properties..." Steward Li burst out into laughter, "Do you remember what I usually told you? Even though you''re rich, you have to read more books. There''re gold and beauties in books. You read too few books. Additionally, you despise scholars. Now you know that, if you read too few books, it would be useless no matter how much money you have. Because you don''t even know why you have no posterities and are getting worse spiritually and physically. The method is not strange at all. I just added some potassium iodate in your salt. After so many years, of course, you''re getting worse. If you could read some more books like me, you will know that demons and Three-eye Association had used the same method to strike and exterminate Hua people. If you read some more books, you will know the secrets..."


    "Potassium iodate?" The fat owner muttered as this name was too strange to him. It sounded that he had heard about this thing before, "Is...isn''t it used to add iodine to human bodies in case of a big neck?"


    Steward Li let out a sigh as he said, "This is why, if you could reincarnate into another person, you have to read more books. Otherwise, you don''t even know the difference between potassium iodate and potassium iodide and don''t know why you''re getting worse spiritually and physically. Although you can widely open your eyes, you''re living nothing different than a blind. If it were before, demons and Three-eye Association must like such a kind of idiot like you. Although they''re utterly different, you think they''re same just because they sound similar to each other..."


    In the beginning, the fat man thought that it was caused by excessive drink and sex; he had not imagined that he was framed by someone. The elements of the salt that he ate 3 times a day had long been changed by someone. Therefore, he was getting worse spiritually and physically.


    "I will kill you..." The fat owner immediately sprung up with a grim look as he wanted to charge at Steward Li. However, the moment he sprung up, he had been forcefully kicked by a bodyguard onto his chest and fell down, causing him to spurt out a mouth of blood. He then shouted with a miserable smile, "You will be punished by God. Even if you kill me, don''t dream about taking my properties."


    Steward Li sneered as he said kindly, "Didn''t you sew the gold notes inside your fox-fur robe? How could you take away your gold checks after I kill you? Do you really think this airship crash is an accident? Without this accident, how could I know that you''ve carried all of your properties with you?"


    "You..."


    The fat owner still wanted to say something; however, Steward Li had released his battle qi while chopping off his head, spraying his blood over the trunks of maple trees on one side. The fat owner''s head then rolled away with widely opened eyes...


    After chopping off his head, Steward Li immediately peeled off the fat owner''s fox-fur robe, exposing the brilliant gold checks inside. The minimal par value of those gold checks was 10,000 gold coins...


    The surrounding bodyguards panted. When Steward Li looked around them, all the bodyguards'' hearts pounded as they lowered their heads at once. All the bodyguards knew the power of Steward Li; otherwise, Steward Li couldn''t buy over them all these years.


    Steward Li took out those piles of gold checks from the corpse''s fox-fur robe and put them in his portable luggage before saying, "Now we''re grasshoppers on the same rope. Don''t think too much. I will pay you what I promised you. As it''s chaotic in Taixia Country. We could leave Huanzhou Province by chance and settle down somewhere. Later on, I will be your owner. You will live much better than now if you follow me..."


    "As you will, owner..."


    "Fine, clean up these corpses. Dig a pit here and bury them all..."


    "Yes, sir!" Zhao Wu and the other bodyguards started to dig a pit on the ground with their tools and buried all the corpses.


    Only after such a short while, the 2 beloved concubines of the fat owner had been scared too much by the series of accidents. Watching Steward Li walking towards them with a bloody face, the two enchanting women quivered all over with pale faces.


    "Steward Li, later on...we will both follow your orders..."


    "Steward Li, we...our sisters...will serve you well later on..."


    Steward Li just walked towards them with a glassy-eyed look. Even though the two women begged for his forgiveness, he still killed them, one prick for one life.


    After that, Steward Li squatted down and cleaned his dagger on the collars of the two women. After that, he said, "You were just two prostitutes previously. Owner bought you over given your beautiful looks and provided you good clothes and delicious food. However, you betrayed him. How do I know whether you will not betray me one day? Do you really think that the man will not kill you if you could make him happy on the bed? You''re just b*tches. Do you think that you could dally with a man based on your tricks and beautiful looks? Do you think that the man couldn''t live without you..." After cleaning his dagger, Steward Li stood up. Watching the two human corpses which were gradually turning colder, he shook his head as he made a conclusion, "You should read some more books..."


    In less than 10 minutes, all the corpses had been buried, leaving a faint, bloody smell in the maple woods.


    After doing all this, the moment Steward Li was walking out of the maple woods, followed by his bodyguards, they stopped as their pupils contracted.


    A 17-year old young man was standing in front of them. They didn''t even know how long had this young man stood there.


    The young man didn''t carry any weapon as if he was a noble childe who was making an autumn outing.


    The young man looked at the maple leaves, then the fresh blood stains in the woods before shaking his head and saying pitifully, "The red color of the maple woods looked beautiful previously; however, after being covered with blood, it turned dazzling!"


    Steward Li narrowed his eyes as he couldn''t see through the true abilities of this young man. However, there was no servant on the side of this young man. What was more, this man looked too young that he didn''t look like a powerhouse. Therefore, Steward Li had a fluke mind that he could kill this young man here.


    "Zhao Wu, kill him!" Steward Li sent an order to Zhao Wu.


    Soon after receiving Steward Li''s words, Zhao Wu had rushed out.


    Watching Zhao Wu rushing over here, the young man rubbed his fingers, causing a sound. The sound was seemingly magical. The moment the sound deepened into the consciousnesses of everybody else, all the people at present became stiff all over at once. They couldn''t even move.


    The young man watched these people as he shook his head and said which carried a bizarre heart-breaking resonance and strength, "I don''t even want to contaminate my hands by killing you myself. You''d better commit suicide to beg for my forgiveness!"


    Soon after the young man''s words, all the stiff bodies had taken their weapons and stabbed into their own necks or chests forcefully.


    The strong bloody smell diffused over the maple woods once again...


    ...

 1287 A Problematic Region

    Of course, this young man was Zhang Tie.


    Even Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could see such a hideous scene in this maple woods of Helan Mountain Range. Over these days, as Zhang Tie had seen so many righteous, loyal men and strange commoners who assisted each other when in evacuation in Peacewest Military Region, he felt very disgusted the moment he saw these people.


    All the maple leaves were red in the woods. Those corps turned a large area of land red too, which looked miserable, icy and brutal...


    Just now, Zhang Tie tried a hypnosis soul-controlling secret skill in Bloody Soul Sutra on these small figures. Zhang Tie could have these small figures commit suicide only by moving his own lips.


    Steward Li penetrated a dagger through his own heart. He was gazing at the sky with extremely pale eyes even though he was already dead.


    Greed and betrayal always existed wherever there were people. However, Zhang Tie was still shocked when he saw servants and concubines screwing up their master. Watching the painful expression of Steward Li, Zhang Tie suddenly thought about a question¡ª¡ªas all humans have their hideous side, will I also suffer from such a betrayal due to others'' greed?


    When it occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded. Closely after that, Zhang Tie forgot about it. As it was in the holy war, it was not necessary for him to be worried about that here.


    Although this Steward Li was as weak as an ant in Zhang Tie''s eyes, this person had terrifying thoughts and means.


    As Zhang Tie had not read too many books, he knew less about medicaments and pills. Therefore, if Steward Li didn''t mention it, Zhang Tie didn''t even know that potassium iodate would make male lack sperms, not to mention that demons and Three-eye Association once changed potassium iodide into potassium iodate in the table salt of Hua people before the Catastrophe. Most of the people didn''t have such a remote knowledge. Even though Zhang Tie was a knight, he didn''t know all the details of the knowledge and history before the Catastrophe.


    Zhang Tie only knew that Blackhot City lacked iodine in the inland. At his mom''s request, he would always buy 2 bags of table salt for his family each year. Additionally, the iodine indeed existed in terms of potassium iodide; instead of potassium iodate. Even if the salt was added with potassium iodide, his mom who was responsible for the food and drinks of the family still prevented them from eating too much table salt.


    Only after thinking about it for a short while, Zhang Tie had dropped it. As for Zhang Tie, if he wanted to know the dangers and influences of potassium iodate to human beings or how demons and Three-eye Association screwed up Hua people by changing the elements of their table salt before the Catastrophe, he only needed to enter the trouble-reappearance situation of Xuanyuan Hill and look them up in the database of Human Pharmacists Union Headquarters. He could definitely get the most authoritative and professional literature and research materials over there. Otherwise, he could directly ask his elder brother Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang was also a pharmacist, who must know much more than Steward Li on this aspect.


    However, it was unnecessary!


    "Even if you''ve read too many books, it doesn''t work if you don''t follow the path of righteousness." Zhang Tie let out a sigh with emotions as he took out the gold checks from Steward Li''s body.


    These people deserved to die. However, money was not guilty. Zhang Tie shouldn''t waste these gold checks which were worth over 600,000 gold coins. Such a bit of money was not worth mentioning for Zhang Tie; however, the amount of 600,000-odd gold coins was already an astronomical figure for commoners.


    Only after bending his body, he would enable 50,000 refugees to have a residence. Of course, Zhang Tie would like to do that. Zhang Tie was not that high-hearted. As for a person who grudged drinking a bowl of rice brew only to save some copper coins, Zhang Tie knew better about the power of money when in dangerous and a chaotic world.


    After throwing those gold checks into Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie didn''t stay here anymore; instead, he walked towards the depth of the maple woods. This was an ugly performance that revealed the hideous side of humans that Zhang Tie met in Helan Mountain Range over the past 2 months.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was not here especially to watch this performance.


    It was just a coincidence. Actually, this maple woods was the most dangerous place in Helan Mountain Range; instead of only providing those dead guys with syrup. Those guys who only thought about hundreds of thousands of gold coins couldn''t see the dangers at all...


    At this moment, besides knight scouts such as Zhang Tie, there were also a lot of human fighters in Helan Mountain Range. These human fighters were sentinels and field scouts of Black Armor Army in this region. Their mission was almost like that of Zhang Tie''s, namely being the eyes and ears of Blackwater Base in Helan Mountain Range. Because there were too many sentinels and field scouts, the messages that they sent back to Blackwater Base could complement and verify the messages sent by Zhang Tie and the other earth knight scouts. Sometimes, when these sentinels and field scouts discovered the traces of local knights, they could even send the message to Blackwater Base and have Blackwater Base send an early warning to Zhang Tie and the other earth knight scouts in the nearby. Therefore, these sentinels and field scouts were also unnecessary forces of humans in Helan Mountain Range¡ª¡ªIn holy wars, those in battlefields were not only knights.


    Zhang Tie received the message from Blackwater Base 2 days ago. He was told that a large number of human sentinels and field scouts had disappeared in this region of Helan Mountain Range on the border between Yunze Prefecture of Huanzhou Province and Jishi Prefecture of Wuzhou Province and lost contact with Blackwater Base completely in late 2 weeks. 2 days ago, an earth knight scout assigned by Blackwater Base to this region, also one of the 20 earth knight scouts from Youzhou Province lost his contact with Blackwater Base too.


    As a knight scout, even though Zhang Tie didn''t discover anything, he should also send a message to Blackwater Base every day to express that he was still alive and in his post. This was also one of the methods that scout knights adopted to send an early warning to Blackwater Base. They were sending an early warning back to the base at the risk of their lives. If an earth knight lost contact with Blackwater Base for 2 days for no reason, he probably would have been killed by the enemy.


    As too many human sentinels and scouts had disappeared in this region of Helan Mountain Range and Zhang Tie was mainly patrolling the neighboring region, therefore, Blackwater Base sent an order to Zhang Tie to have him take a look over here.


    Other knights could barely discover a problematic place in the mountain range which covered over 500,000 square miles for 10 days; however, it only took Zhang Tie 2 days to discover this problematic region which covered over 10,000 square miles and confirmed that the problem might be in the vast maple woods or nearby.


    Zhang Tie just walked into the maple woods leisurely. Even if he stepped onto tree leaves, he didn''t make any sound. Although there was still dew in the shrubs and weeds, they couldn''t stick to Zhang Tie''s clothes at all as if they were isolated by a bizarre strength. Zhang Tie just walked in the woods like a shadow.


    Only after walking a few minutes in the maple woods, Zhang Tie had discovered something from less than 300 m away from where Steward Li made the spree killing for money.


    Zhang Tie saw a metal pipe which was 20 cm in length and 2 cm in width on a trunk of a tall sugar maple. The inside of the metal pipe had been frozen by syrup.


    Zhang Tie drew that metal pipe out of the trunk. The metal pipe was black with one sharp end. After looking at it carefully, Zhang Tie identified that it was a multi-purpose tool carried by field scouts of Taixia Country. With this tool, they could release a needle quietly. The needle could kill a target or a wild prey which had no defensive mentality quietly within 50 m. Additionally, this tool could accelerate blood flow when it was stabbed into people''s body as the wound could be hardly healed. Of course, they could also insert this metal pipe into the trunk to drink and collect syrup.


    A field scout would never casually drop this tool. Given the spot, this pipe had been inserted into the trunk for a few days.


    Zhang Tie looked at the ground under the trunk and found some special trace with the sensory perceptions of knight''s consciousness. After walking less than 10 m along the trace, he had seen a small bloody piece of camouflage coat of a wild scout...


    Zhang Tie picked the small piece of cloth. Closely after that, he looked up at the sky and made a bizarre hand gesture. Soon after that, a woodpecker and 4 titmice have flown over here. After flying around Zhang Tie for a short while, the woodpecker and 3 titmice flew away while the other titmouse landed onto Zhang Tie''s palm which carried a small piece of camouflage cloth. After jumping up a couple of times in Zhang Tie''s hand, it nodded and flew away towards another direction of the maple woods.


    Zhang Tie then followed that titmouse...

 1288 Tracing

    Under the guidance of the small titmouse, Zhang Tie had another discovery over 100 m away...


    That was a patch of ground whose color looked a bit deeper than the surrounding land. Right here, Zhang Tie sniffed a faintly bloody and stinky smell. Some small pieces of camouflage cloth scattered over 20 square meters while a cluster of ants was busy carrying fine flesh and bones into their own nests...


    At the sight of such a spot, Zhang Tie circled around this place for a short while. After that, he stood somewhere as he made a hand gesture; at the same time, a scene occurred to his mind¡ª¡ªa field scout who was sucking syrup in this maple woods suddenly found an enemy. As the enemy was much more powerful than him, he determined to escape right away; pitifully, when he arrived here, he had been caught up by that field scout. Only with one punch, the enemy had completely shattered the human field scout''s body into blood foam, spraying over the ground in terms of a fan shape and became the food of the ants...


    Along the direction of the fan shape, Zhang Tie found a distorted scout''s matt longsword.


    Zhang Tie picked the longsword and looked at it carefully. He didn''t find any breach on the blade. Zhang Tie guessed that it should be bounced back by at least an earth knight''s protective battle qi.


    A brave Hua fighter then sacrificed in this maple woods of Helan Mountain Range quietly, leaving not even a complete corpse or a name, except for that distorted longsword, which indicated the decisiveness of this fighter before his death.


    Being not far away from where the field scout fought to death, Zhang Tie found another two shattered bodies of field scouts, a broken remote-sensing communications device and some equipment.


    The 3 field scouts could form a group in the army of Taixia Country. Now that a group of 3 field scouts died so miserably here, it could be imagined that there must be more casualties in this maple woods.


    When field scouts were taking actions or executing missions, they could not gain the supply from the base; especially in the Helan Mountain Range, they had to be self-sufficient. In this case, syrup would be the best supply for field scouts. If demon knights knew this law, they only needed to wait here for groups of Hua field scouts.


    The earth human knight who was responsible for patrolling this region probably had been killed. Among the demons in this region, there should be at least one top earth demon knight.


    Zhang Tie''s eyes gave out an aggressive light as he licked his lips with a faintly grim smile...


    Although the other humans might feel that demon knights were terrifying and tricky; as for Zhang Tie, the more, the better. Even the war between demon and humans in the west border of Taixia Country had turned white-hot, knights were minorities among humans and demons respectively. Over the past 2 months, Zhang Tie had been longing for demon knights so much. Besides the first black iron wing demon knights that Zhang Tie met here on the first day, Zhang Tie only killed 3 more black iron wing demon knights who intended to slide into Huanzhou Province from Helan Mountain stealthily. As for Zhang Tie, the 4 wing demon knights were just like kittens or puppies. The more, the better.


    Even Zhang Tie could only meet 4 black iron wing demon knights; not to mention the other human earth knight scouts. If they were unfortunate, such as that missing one, they might meet a powerful opponent.


    If not shoulder such a heavy responsibility, Zhang Tie even wanted to hunt demon knights in the frontline or the areas which had been occupied by demons.


    Out of his imagination, Zhang Tie could meet a big fish over here.


    The titmouse kept hovering beside Zhang Tie. After Zhang Tie checked these traces, he directly followed the titmouse deep into maple woods. However, only after flying over 200 m away, that titmouse had started to hover beside Zhang Tie once again.


    Zhang Tie took out some food and fed the titmouse before having it leave.


    After the titmouse flew away, Zhang Tie made another hand gesture. Only after a few seconds, a grey fox had run over here as he continued to lead Zhang Tie towards the depth of the maple woods.


    Over 15 miles away, the grey fox got its reward and left jubilantly while a uang continued to lead Zhang Tie into the depth of the maple woods...


    After the uang, two boars continued to guide Zhang Tie. After that an owl guided him...


    The demon knights in this woods might not know the outcome of being hostile to an inheritor of "Great Wilderness Sutra" in a vigorous mountain area where lived various animals. They were actually hostile to the whole world; instead of one person...


    ...


    On the way, Zhang Tie found some more corpses of human fighters...


    2 hours later, at the entrance of a mountain cave in the depth of this maple woods, a mutated viper moved around Zhang Tie for a couple of times...


    Zhang Tie stretched out his hand and stroked the head of the viper. After that, he directly poured some all-purpose medicament into the stomach of the mutated viper which was preparing for hibernation. The viper stuck out its tongue and licked Zhang Tie''s palm before drilling into the weeds a few meters away by twisting its body.


    Zhang Tie took at look at this mountain cave for a short while before walking inside quietly.


    In this mountain area covering hundreds of thousands of square miles, there were at least 1,000 such kinds of mountain caves. Some mountain caves were shallow as they were on the mountainside. Zhang Tie could see through such mountain caves easily with lotus-flower eyes; some mountain caves were dozens even hundreds of miles deep which contained numerous bypasses and gaps like Dragon Cave in Hidden Dragon Island. Even though Zhang Tie had lotus-flower eyes, he could not see through such mountain caves.


    Undoubtedly, this mountain cave belonged to the latter type.


    The inside of the mountain cave was gloomy and dark. Only after entering it for less than 100 m, it had been completely dark. Additionally, over 100,000 bats were living inside. Bats'' feces had been thick in the mountain cave. Of course, Zhang Tie''s arrival didn''t shock those bats. Instead, after communicating with these bats, Zhang Tie got a more useful intelligence from these bats¡ª¡ª2 days ago, 8 wing demons and a human like him flew into the mountain cave together...

 1289 A Delicate Trap

    ''8 wing demons and 1 human knight flew into the mountain cave?''


    After hearing this news from those bats, Zhang Tie became dubious at once. It was not strange for wing demons to hide in this mountain cave; neither it was strange for a human knight to stay inside; the point was those wing demons and a human knight stayed with each other.


    ''Is that human knight the missing earth knight or someone else? It''s a problem. What was more, why would this human knight stay with wing demons?''


    As bats had limited intelligence, Zhang Tie couldn''t get details from these bats even being a top animal controller. He couldn''t know how the human knight looked. Zhang Tie only knew that that human knight almost flew into the mountain cave together with 8 wing demons at the same time. Those bats didn''t know the levels of those wing demons; however, Zhang Tie knew that the human must be at least a black iron knight as he could fly.


    Given the environment here, Zhang Tie judged that the 8 wing demons seemingly had not broken out a fight with that human knight. None of the bats in the mountain cave were involved in either. Given these signs, Zhang Tie judged that the human knight probably was on the same side with those wing demons.


    In Taixia Country, those humans who stayed with demons must be remnants of Heavens Reaching Church...


    Zhang Tie revealed a cold smile. He had been longing for catching some more b*stards for bloody furnace these days and here they came.


    After triggering a hiding rune effect and placing some tracing feathers near the entrance of the mountain cave so as to remind him when someone else entered, Zhang Tie flashed into the mountain cave like a lightning bolt.


    Powerhouses were always dauntless. As Zhang Tie was growing more and more powerful, he wouldn''t fear about it even if there were 9 earth knights in the mountain cave at this moment.


    It was very dim inside the mountain cave. After flying a few miles, Zhang Tie had seen some strange small insects which looked like the combination of fireflies and spiders. Besides giving out light like fireflies in flight, they could even spit out fine noddle-like webs onto the palisades and stalactites on the top of the mountain cave, making this mountain cave a bit fantastic...


    These illuminant small insects were the favorite food of bats. However, their fine webs could stick bats'' wings and scare them too much. Being protected by those fine webs, these illuminant small insects maintained a subtle balance with bats in the mountain cave.


    Additionally, the feces that bats left in the mountain cave for so many years could survive smaller insects such as salamanders, centipedes, snakes and dark mice. Therefore, there was an inter-dependent macroecological system in the entire mountain cave.


    There were not too many bypasses and gaps in this mountain cave. Some of them were too narrow to pass or were dead ends. Therefore, there was basically only one path in the mountain cave. Zhang Tie even discovered some corpses of Hua fighters with miserable looks whose guts and brains had been eaten up. Therefore, Zhang Tie determined to catch all the 8 demons and the human knight of Three-eye Association...


    After twisting in the mountain cave for about 60 miles, Zhang Tie came to a dangerous place in the mountain cave and stopped there...


    In the mountain cave, Zhang Tie slightly looked at this place with slight frown.


    It was deep underground as it turned more and more spacious. Zhang Tie even saw some special fungi here. However, this place looked very dangerous as the space abruptly narrowed and became deeper. It turned into a tunnel which was only 3 m in height and 2 m in width and extended all the way towards the depth of the underground space.


    There were hard granite rocks outside the small entrance, so were inside the tunnel. The tunnel was surrounded by hundreds of millions tons of rocks. Being similar to a magnifying rat''s hole, the moment he entered it, he would barely come out easily if someone blocked the two ends unless he made a spree killing inside.


    At the sight of this tunnel, Zhang Tie''s heart suddenly pounded as he felt that this distant and narrow tunnel was full of killing intents.


    Zhang Tie didn''t enter it immediately; instead, he looked around the entrance of the tunnel. With the effect of lotus-flower eyes, the rocks surrounding the winding small tunnel gradually turned transparent as the overall look of the small tunnel gradually became clear in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    In this case, even though Zhang Tie had lotus-flower eyes, he could still only see through about 10,000 m in thickness as the granite rocks contained some quartz and metal. The rocks over 10,000 m away would form a thick color temperature barrier and block what was behind it.


    Although Zhang Tie was taking the seeds of fiery-flame red lotus, he could at most see through granite rocks about 10,000 m in this case.


    The winding tunnel''s length was over 10,000 m; therefore, Zhang Tie couldn''t see what was over 10,000 m away. However, at least everything in this tunnel was normal within 10,000 m.


    After thinking about it for a few seconds, Zhang Tie flew into the small tunnel slowly as he fully triggered the effect of his lotus-flower eyes.


    After flying about 13,000 m in the small tunnel, Zhang Tie stopped once again; because he could already see the scene on the other end of the tunnel.


    After extending over 9,000 m in linear distance, the winding tunnel reached a huge bubble-shaped underground space. If this winding tunnel was one''s intestine, that underground space was like one''s stomach. On the other end of this underground space, there were some slightly bigger entrances which could lead to far away...


    Besides the superficial look of this underground space, Zhang Tie could see everything in this space through the thick granite rocks.


    A human knight was lurking on top of the underground space near the other end of this narrow tunnel while hiding his qi. If not lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie could almost not see him at all. Additionally, 6 wing demon knights were lurking at the entrance of the other entrance of the underground space. Furthermore, 2 more wing demon knights were flying in the underground space as if they were looking for something. They even looked at the other end of this narrow tunnel now and then...


    All the 8 wing demons were knights, 5 of them were two-winged black iron knights, 3 of them were earth demon knights who had started to grow out the second pair of wings. Although that human knight was hiding secretly, his look was still clearly exposed under Zhang Tie''s lotus-flower eyes. That human knight looked grim in grey hair. Given his look, he was already old. What was more impressive was the terrifying black pigmented nevus between his eyebrows...


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded, ''Gao Tianzhao, the founder of Gao Clan of Time-honored Flavor Palace in Lingzhou Province, a top figure in Heavens Reaching Church who''s wanted by the Supreme Court in Taixia Country, whose daughter has married Han Zhengfang''s son.''


    If not have seen the wanted image; especially being impressed by that black nevus between the two eyebrows of Gao Tianzhao, Zhang Tie could not identify him at once.


    Although being in concealment, that human knight was still keeping a close eye on the exit of that narrow tunnel while narrowing his eyes.


    Even though he had not reached there, Zhang Tie could still sense the strong killing intent from that spacious underground space.


    Gao Tianzhao and those demon knights were lurking inside for someone.


    ''That''s a trap!''


    In this case, even an ordinary shadow knight might be killed if he entered the trap set by one shadow human knight and 8 demon knights.


    ''Who''s their target?''


    After thinking about it for a short while, Zhang Tie got the answer at once¡ª¡ªThis trap will target anyone who probably breaks in.


    ''After one human earth knight and a lot of field scouts and sentinels lost their contacts with Blackwater Base, of course, the one who probably is assigned here to investigate about the situation in this region is me who "looks not bad"!''


    ''They''re trapping me...''


    ''It''s not a coincidence for Heavens Reaching Church and demons to attract me here by making troubles; but how could they confirm that I would find this place?''


    ''Unless they have guessed that I''m an animal controller who could use animals to locate them. If so, those corpses that I saw in the mountain cave must be purposefully left by them.''


    ''However, aren''t they afraid of scaring me away? If they''re targeting me, that''s evidently a big loophole. How could an earth knight casually enter a trap ambushed by 9 opposite knights? Do they target someone else? But who else would come except for me?''


    Zhang Tie''s eyes gleamed. All of a sudden, he patted his head as he thought it through.


    ''They had guessed that I''m an animal controller; however, they had not imagined that I''m cultivating "Great Wilderness Sutra", the ability of which could not be matched by any other animal controlling skills. The other animal controllers who had not cultivated "Great Wilderness Sutra" probably locate this mountain cave too with the help of animals; they could also get information from those bats that some giant things flew into the mountain cave recently; however, those animal controllers could never know the number of these arrivers and their physical features.''


    ''Therefore, this trap became perfect. Because the opponents didn''t know that I''m cultivating "Great Wilderness Sutra", they''re trapping me in this way. Of course, they don''t know that I have lotus-flower eyes and could see through everything before entering their trap...''


    ''F*ck, 9 knights, 1 shadow knight of Heavens Reaching Church, 3 earth wing demon knights and 5 black iron wing demon knights. Demons and Heavens Reaching Church really gave me face. What a great trap...''


    Zhang Tie licked his lips...


    ''The 9 knights means shiny water chakra for me. How alluring they are! But the point is the great dangers in the allure...''


    ''What should I do?''


    ...

 1290 Qianji Hermits Countermeasure

    When Zhang Tie stayed still in the gloomy narrow tunnel, with the effect of hiding rune skill, Zhang Tie almost combined with those rocks in the surroundings as he could completely hide his qi.


    Those knights who were ambushing over 10,000 m away couldn''t notice that Zhang Tie at all.


    Although Zhang Tie''s body remained still, he was racking his mind and looking for the solutions while many thoughts occurred to his mind like meteors.


    As they were fat, if not have a fierce bite, Zhang Tie would feel that he was wasting treasures. Zhang Tie was not clear about the real battle strength of Gao Tianzhao; however, as a shadow knight of Heavens Reaching Church, Gao Tianzhao should not be weaker than Ockham in battle strength. Facing such a shadow knight whose battle strength was unknown and had made preparation in ambushing him, Zhang Tie was not sure whether he could keep Gao Tianzhao alive.


    Whereas, as long as he kept Gao Tianzhao alive, Zhang Tie''s battle strength would be greatly improved after enjoying the fruit of bloodline, the fruit of brilliance, the complete water chakra brought by the shadow knight.


    Although Gao Tianzhao was tricky, Zhang Tie would feel regretful if he didn''t try his best.


    ''Even though I could catch Gao Tianzhao alive, I should also adopt flexible strategies; I should never expose my real battle strength.''


    ''Now that demons and Heavens Reaching Church could assign a shadow knight and 8 demon knights to kill me, it indicates that they''ve determined to kill me.''


    Zhang Tie also became alert about the reason that demons and Heavens Reaching Church made such a delicate trap to kill him.


    ''Is that because of Han Zhengfang''s event? It might be. When the turmoil in Xuanyuan Hill broke out, someone saw me in Xuanyuan Hill. After that, Han Zhengfang was in trouble and lost his contact with demons and Heavens Reaching Church. What would demons and Heavens Reaching Church think about it? I''m afraid that only they know that this might be related to me. Additionally, the animosity between me and Heavens Reaching Church was also a reason. What''s more, I''m afraid that the Fiery Oil and the all-purpose medicaments that I invented made demons and Heavens Reaching Church flurried.''


    ''Fiery Oil and all-purpose medicaments were important strategical resources that could intensify the overall strength of Taixia Country and humans in the holy war and help them maintain a balance with demons to a certain aspect. Their functions couldn''t be matched by some knights. Qianji Hermit himself is not terrifying; however, Qinaji Hermit who could invent Fiery Oil and all-purpose medicaments is the great resistance facing demons in the holy war and has to be eliminated. I''m afraid that''s why Han Zhengfang wanted to kill me.''


    ''When demons and Heavens Reaching Church are making a delicate trap to kill me, if I exposed my real battle strength and killed the shadow knight that they assigned here, I would be much more threatening to them at once. If so, they might assign a heavenly demon knight to kill me next time.''


    ''Therefore, in this case, the best way to protect me is to not expose my real battle strength. It''s necessary for me to be low-key.''


    ''If I have to catch Gao Tianzhao and all the other 8 demon knights alive on the premise of not exposing my real battle strength, I have to make a good plan.''


    If the others faced such a case, they would definitely be perplexed; however, as Qianji Hermit who had grasped a lot of secret skills, of course, Zhang Tie could work out a countermeasure.


    After working out a plan, Zhang Tie slowly revealed a calm smile. At the same time, a barrel-sized red alchemist''s bomb appeared in his hand. Zhang Tie then squatted down as he touched the ground. In a split second, he had taken a boulder out of the ground, exposing a huge pit.


    Zhang Tie put the alchemist''s bomb into the pit. Soon after that, a silver secret longsword floated in the air beside him. Like cutting a piece of bean curd, it cut off a part of the bottom of the boulder. After that, Zhang Tie put the rest boulder on the alchemist''s bomb as he turned the part of the boulder into a pile of fine sands using soft strength silently and covered them on the pit. Even a shadow knight could barely discover Zhang Tie''s trap if not check it carefully.


    Zhang Tie gained the alchemist''s bomb from the space-teleportation equipment of Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong. There were 500 more alchemists bombs in Castle of Black Iron. Previously, Han Zhengfang and Han Yuanhong might collect so many alchemist''s bombs for evil purposes. However, this time, coincidentally, Zhang Tie used it to deal with the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church and demons. It seemed that it was destined to happen.


    After burying the alchemist''s bomb and leaving a spiritual touch signal, Zhang Tie slowly moved 50 m backward, where he buried another alchemist''s bomb silently.


    In the next 10 more minutes, Zhang Tie totally buried over 40 alchemist''s bombs in the narrow and winding tunnel. After estimating that these alchemist''s bombs could collapse the entire tunnel and severely wound Gao Tianzhao, Zhang Tie stopped.


    After that, he stroke the place between his eyebrows by his right palm while that jumping body separation rune immediately flew out of the place between Zhang Tie''s eyebrows. Right in front of Zhang Tie, a shadow gradually turned as same as naked Zhang Tie.


    Although it was not his first time to use his body separation skill, Zhang Tie still felt as strange as looking into the mirror when he saw another him. As Zhang Tie could complete two tasks at the same time easily, there were two angles of view in his mind. It felt really special for him to watch another him from the other''s angle of view.


    The others might be driven mad by such a feeling. However, Zhang Tie felt as easy as drinking the water. Only in this case did Zhang Tie know that his multi-tasking capability could match his body separation skill perfectly. After combining the effects of two secret skills, Zhang Tie gained a greater effect.


    This case reminded Zhang Tie that in the far-ancient age, the so-called multi-tasking skill might be one fundamental ability that everybody could grasp and was as natural as breathing. With the assistance of multi-tasking capability, he could use his body separation skill and secret skills of "Great Wilderness Sutra" much better. However, as time went by, when humans couldn''t grasp this multi-tasking skill anymore, it became harder for them to use body separation skill and animal controlling skills. People then gradually took this difficulty as reasonable...


    When Zhang Tie thought about it, he took out a set of clothes and a pair of socks to have another Zhang Tie put them on. After a short while, two Zhang Tie just watched each other face to face. Even Zhang Tie couldn''t identify any difference between him and that incarnation.


    Zhang Tie''s incarnation''s battle strength was about 40% of that of Zhang Tie''s. Additionally, the incarnation grasped all the secret skills that Zhang Tie himself had grasped. The incarnation could use "Super" god''s runes which was only a bit inferior to "master-level" god''s runes. Furthermore, the incarnation could fight over half an hour with the ability to control objects as a divine dominator...


    This was the effect of the most powerful master-level body separation skill. At this moment, even though Zhang Tie''s incarnation was standing in front of his dad and mom, it would not be recognized by his parents. Of course, he paid a lot for triggering a master-level body separation rune. As this incarnation was completely formed by Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy and battle qi, even though Zhang Tie was powerful spiritually and physically, he could barely use 2 master-level body separation runes within 1 month. Otherwise, Zhang Tie might feel being drained.


    The more you paid, the more you would reap. Watching this incarnation, Zhang Tie felt everything was worthwhile.


    "You are me!" Zhang Tie told that incarnation secretly. At the same time, he triggered a master-level rapid moving rune on that incarnation.


    "I am you. That would be a bit safer." Zhang Tie''s incarnation told Zhang Tie secretly too.


    After smiling at each other, Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron. Closely after that, he called out that little black beetle. Zhang Tie''s incarnation then put the little black beetle in its sleeves before flying towards the other end of the narrow, winding tunnel as fast as how Zhang Tie flew just now...

 1291 Being Trapped I

    Zhang Tie''s incarnation and the little black beetle in the sleeve of Zhang Tie''s incarnation were inter-dependent as well as independent. Nobody else could reach such a mysterious realm by combining the top-secret animal controlling skill of "Great Wilderness Sutra" with the master-level body separation skill with the effect of multi-tasking skill except for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s incarnation moved forward rapidly. When it was approaching the winding and narrow tunnel, it purposefully slowed down and looked a bit meticulous. Because even an idiot would know that he was easily ambushed when he entered a vast space from a relatively, hidden space.


    Being less than 100 m away from the other end of the tunnel, the little black beetle quietly flew out of the sleeve of Zhang Tie''s incarnation and combined with the surrounding palisades in a remote place.


    When Zhang Tie''s incarnation reached the other end of the tunnel, it stopped at once out of the instinct and meticulousness of an earth knight in this case as if it didn''t know there was an ambush in the spacious space. It just stood at the edge of the end and looked around this underground space with shiny eyes.


    Under the gaze of lotus-flower eyes whose effect had declined by half, Zhang Tie''s incarnation found Gao Tianzhao and those demon wing knights held their breaths at once as they became more careful in case of failing this task. Zhang Tie knew that Gao Tianzhao was still observing his incarnation in the dark. As a shadow knight, Gao Tianzhao was confident to observe Zhang Tie''s incarnation without being noticed. Gao Tianzhao was less than 3,000 m away from Zhang Tie''s incarnation, who was observing Zhang Tie''s movements behind a stalactite on the top of the spacious underground space. Meanwhile, Gao Tianzhao was waiting for the right chance to launch a strike towards Zhang Tie''s incarnation.


    The two wing demon knights were "performing" good. The moment Zhang Tie came to the edge of this space underground space, the two "baits" had been "shocked". The two wing demon knights then rushed towards Zhang Tie with bloody eyes while uttering weird sounds, one after another, which looked normal in this case.


    The two wing demon knights were both black iron knights. As for Zhang Tie, he could catch them alive only after a short while; however, if they were two earth demon knights or one earth demon knight and one black iron demon knight, they might scare Zhang Tie away as they almost had the same battle strength as Zhang Tie superficially. Given this point, the one who set the trap was really considerate.


    However, no matter what, the one who screwed up Zhang Tie had not imagined that Zhang Tie had lotus-flower eyes and had already seen through everything in this underground space from 10,000 m away.


    "You''re really dauntless..." Zhang Tie sneered as he punched towards the two wing demons as fast as lightning bolts. As a result, the two grim wing demons were sent flying backward in a pretty embarrassing way from 100 m away.


    "Earth knight..." The two wing demon knights screamed as they turned evidently flurried after realizing that Zhang Tie was an earth knight through "probe". After knowing that they couldn''t defeat Zhang Tie, they hurriedly flew back towards the entrance of another tunnel in the far...


    In their script, when Zhang Tie saw two wing demon knights escaping away in front of him, he would definitely fly out of the mountain cave and chase after them. After Zhang Tie left the other end of the winding, narrow tunnel for a distance, Gao Tianzhao and the other demon knights would show up and block Zhang Tie''s route of retreat. Being dominated by a shadow human knight, the 8 demon knights would kill Zhang Tie in this spacious underground space for sure...


    They were confident about their trap. As long as Zhang Tie left the other end of the winding, narrow tunnel, he would be killed by them in this spacious underground space no matter how powerful was this earth knight.


    Zhang Tie flew out of the other end of the tunnel; however, soon after he left there for less than 200 m when Gao Tianzhao had just revealed a faint fleer, Zhang Tie had moved back at the other end of the tunnel. He threw a dubious and meticulous glance at the tunnel behind him, then this spacious underground space, then the two escaping wing demon knights. He looked hesitated...


    After seeing Zhang Tie moving back, Gao Tianzhao''s fleer instantly froze as he continued to hide there. If Zhang Tie flew hundreds of meters more and was over 1,000 m away from the other end of the winding, narrow tunnel, Gao Tianzhao would be confident to kill Zhang Tie in this spacious underground space. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie could be so careful.


    The two wing knights continued to escape towards the entrance of another tunnel in the distance. Right under Zhang Tie''s eyes, they entered the other tunnel and disappeared...


    At the sight of this scene, most of the earth knights would probably chase after them, except for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie was still standing at the end of the winding, narrow tunnel as he gazed at this underground space inch by inch. Meanwhile, a steel spear appeared in Zhang Tie''s hand. When he saw a riprap over 800 m away, Zhang Tie directly threw his spear over there.


    The spear drew a fiery line in the air and caused a thunder like how it was called Bolt-in-Palm.


    With a "boom...", the riprap over 500 m away was shattered at once, exposing a hidden place.


    Another spear appeared in Zhang Tie''s hand. With another boom, a cave on the top of the underground space over 800 m away was blown up.


    As more and more steel spears were thrown away, all the places which might contain enemies had been broken or laid flat by Zhang Tie''s Bolt-in-Palm.


    Watching what Zhang Tie was doing, Gao Tianzhao became dumbfounded as he wondered whether they had left any loophole...


    The latest spear blew up a stalactite over 400 m away from Gao Tianzhao on the top of the underground space.


    Gao Tianzhao struggled inside. If he just stayed here, he would be discovered by Zhang Tie''s incarnation sooner or later. But Zhang Tie might just be probing and would stop...


    When Gao Tianzhao was struggling, Zhang Tie threw out something once again...


    ''Wait...''


    Gao Tianzhao was shocked as this time it sounded evidently different than those in earlier times. Additionally, it might be flying towards Gao Tianzhao.


    ...


    Whereas, before Gao Tianzhao left those stalactites, one thing had arrived at the place above Gao Tianzhao''s head. Before Gao Tianzhao fully released his protective qi, that thing had exploded...


    "Boom..." With explosive flames, a sound which was much louder than Zhang Tie''s thunder-in-palm rocked the entire underground space as numerous spalls and broken stalactites fell off the top of the spacious underground space...


    A figure rushed out of the explosive flames. Although he had released his brilliant protective battle qi, he looked pretty embarrassed. Besides losing half of his hair, his clothes turned into rags. Additionally, there were some bloody bruises on his face. He was like a beggar...


    "Gao Tianzhao the founder of Gao Clan!" Zhang Tie "exclaimed" as if he had just discovered Gao Tianzhao. However, soon after that, he burst out into laughter as he said, "You look really special. Why do Heavens Reaching Church become so poor? Look at you, you don''t even have complete clothes. That''s too excessive. That''s the outcome of becoming a lackey of demons. Hahaha..."


    Not until then did Gao Tianzhao believe that such a trap would fail. However, the small bruises over his body reminded him that the last thing that Zhang Tie threw must be an alchemist''s bomb. As the alchemist'' bomb exploded too close to him, he didn''t even have time to hide from it. As a result, Gao Tianzhao suffered a bit loss. He was ambushing Zhang Tie; however, he was ambushed by Zhang Tie. What a shameful thing it would be if it was exposed to the public! Gao Tianzhao would not be reconciled to that if he didn''t figure out how his trap was recognized by Zhan Tie. Gritting his teeth, he watched Zhang Tie in the far instead of charging at the latter immediately, "Junior, how did you find me here?"


    "I just felt that this place is a bit dangerous. After leaving the end of this tunnel, as long as the tunnel was blocked by someone, I would barely escape away. I''ve not imagined that you''re really ambushing here. Additionally, you''re a shadow knight..." Zhang Tie replied as he slowly moved backward.


    "I''m a shadow knight, it''s impossible for you to find me." Gao Tianzhao shouted as he didn''t believe in Zhang Tie''s words.


    "Hehe, don''t be overconfident. It''s true that I could not find you, but my spears could find you!"


    "Impossible!" Gao Tianzhao roared, "Bolt-in-Palm is nothing but sh*t in front of me..."


    "Bolt-in-Palm is indeed nothing but sh*t in the eyes of a shadow knight; however, I could find you based on the sound of the spear. No matter where you hide and how great your hiding skill is, your body''s resonance would not be as same as that of the stalactites in this underground space. I''ve got a secret skill to test where there were human bodies in this closed space through constant resonances..." Virtual was real; real was virtual. Zhang Tie didn''t mind making up a lie at this moment. After all, his byname Qianji Hermit was used to frighten people.


    "It seems that I have to kill you..." After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Gao Tianzhao''s eyes turned solemn at once as he charged at Zhang Tie...


    Zhang Tie escaped away instantly...


    In front of a shadow knight, unless he wanted to die, Zhang Tie could only escape...


    Watching Gao Tianzhao following Zhang Tie into the winding, narrow tunnel, all the other hiding demon knights including the two "baits" showed up as they entered the same tunnel...

 1292 Being Trapped II

    In the loud sound caused by Zhang Tie''s spears, the little black beetle had long drilled out of the winding, narrow tunnel and hid behind a rock in the spacious underground space near the other end of the tunnel...


    After the 8 demon knights rushed into the winding, narrow tunnel, the little black beetle immediately entered Castle of Black Iron. Closely after that, Zhang Tie''s original body appeared near the other end of the tunnel quietly.


    Watching that deep and narrow tunnel, Zhang Tie sneered. Closely after that, he wrapped up his whole body by Chaos. From then on, the hunter and the prey alternated...


    At this moment, the fierce chase was happening in the winding, narrow tunnel.


    Zhang Tie''s incarnation was flying backward rapidly, closely followed by Gao Tianzhao who was full of killing intent. The 8 demon knights were closely following Gao Tianzhao. The three forces were over 1,000 m away from each other. As Gao Tianzhao was a powerful shadow knight, he was constantly approaching Zhang Tie while extending the distance between him and the other 8 demon knights.


    "Shii..." A sharp shiny battle qi shot into the palisades of the narrow tunnel after rubbing the edge of Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi, leaving a 20-m deeper hole as thick as one''s thumb on the palisades. The spalls were easily blocked by Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi.


    It was Gao Tianzhao''s blow by his finger from over 1,000 m away. In the rugged winding, narrow tunnel, this distance was relatively linear. As Zhang Tie appeared in Gao Tianzhao''s sight, the latter immediately launched a strike towards Zhang Tie.


    "Hahaha, are you getting old? You cannot even target me precisely..." Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he sighed with feeling inside, ''Gao Tianzhao is really something. Even if an earth knight who has reached the 9 change realm couldn''t reach the effect of Gao Tianzhao from over 1,000 m. It''s just Gao Tianzhao''s finger skill; it could be imagined that Gao Tianzhao''s battle strength must be very powerful when in real face-to-face battle. Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had realized that Gao Tianzhao was more powerful than Ockham. Therefore, Zhang Tie became more meticulous as he sped up a bit and moved as fast as a lightning bolt. Even so, he still burst out into laughter in a pretty heroic way.


    "Zhang Tie, this day next year will be your death anniversary. This old man will slag you with my Unrivaled Bolt Finger!" Gao Tianzhao roared.


    "Haha, even Han Zhengfang failed to do it. How could you think that you would do it? I also have an earth-shaking finger skill called F*ck You Finger Skill. What do you think about that..." Zhang Tie erected his middle finger when flying backward.


    After that, Zhang Tie came to a turn. Almost the moment Zhang Tie made a turn, Gao Tianzhao''s second battle qi-strike had penetrated through the heart of Zhang Tie''s shadow on the palisades, causing another small hole on the palisades.


    After seeing Zhang Tie escaping away from his sight once again, Gao Tianzhao roared as he hurriedly caught up with Zhang Tie.


    The part of the tunnel where Gao Tianzhao attacked Zhang Tie was the only linear distance in the winding, narrow tunnel where Gao Tianzhao could attack his target from over 1,000 m away. After making a turn, the tunnel had become winding as there would be a turn in each dozen of meters or over 100 meters. In this case, unless narrowing the distance between him and Zhang Tie''s incarnation to 100 m, Gao Tianchao could barely hit Zhang Tie even if he was a powerful shadow knight. When he couldn''t see Zhang Tie, no matter how powerful his off-hand strike was, it would be blocked by the palisades of the winding, narrow tunnel.


    8 demon knights closely followed Gao Tianzhao into the next curve.


    Almost 2 minutes later, Zhang Tie entered the part of the tunnel where he had buried alchemist''s bombs in advance. During the past 2 minutes, Gao Tianzhao had been hundreds of meters closer to Zhang Tie; however, he still couldn''t catch up with Zhang Tie...


    When Zhang Tie entered this part of the tunnel, Gao Tianzhao had been over 2,000 m away from the 8 demon knights. Given that he only buried the alchemist''s bombs in 1,000 m long in the tunnel, Zhang Tie could only choose one of them, Gao Tianzhao or those wing demons behind him.


    Only after thinking about considering it for less than 0.1 seconds, Zhang Tie had made a decision¡ª¡ªI will let go Gao Tianzhao first and keep those wing demon knights in the spacious underground space...


    Gao Tianzhao closely followed Zhang Tie into the part of the tunnel which was full of alchemist''s bombs as he didn''t discover anything abnormal over there. When all the wing demon knights entered the middle of that part of tunnel, all the alchemist''s bombs were detonated by Zhang Tie at the same time...


    The earth-shaking bombs drifted from the winding, narrow tunnel as the entire underground space started to rock like a small-scale earthquake. The spalls also fell off the top of the tunnel like raindrops. A fierce flame caught up with Gao Tianzhao rapidly in the tunnel with a strong impact wave, rocking the protective battle qi of Gao Tianzhao. Closely after that, Gao Tianzhao changed his face greatly. In the loud explosive sounds, Gao Tianzhao felt that a part of the tunnel over 1,000 m long had collapsed behind him. However, those 8 demon knights were right in that explosive region. After the explosions, they must have been buried by numerous spalls; even if they were not killed, they might have been severely injured...


    At this moment, it would be hard for Gao Tianzhao to clear out that section of the collapsed tunnel even if he wanted.


    "Alchemist''s bombs? You buried alchemist''s bombs in the tunnel..." Gao Tianzhao exclaimed as he was driven mad like a rat whose tail had been stomped by someone.


    "Hahaha, just a preventive measure. Even a human earth knight scout has disappeared in this region, how could I not make any preventive measure in this region? Otherwise, I would have long been killed by Han Zhengfang..."


    "Damn it..."


    Zhang Tie was so cunning that even Gao Tianzhao was scared by his deed. The fatal trap that they made must have killed the target if it were someone else. However, in front of Zhang Tie, the fatal trap made by 1 shadow knight and 8 black iron demon knights could not gain any extra advantage at all from the beginning. Although Zhang Tie''s countermeasure had not severely injured Gao Tianzhao until now, the sense of frustration made Gao Tianzhao more uncomfortable as he determined his mind to kill Zhang Tie...


    With a shrill roar, Gao Tianzhao''s eyes suddenly turned red as his body turned into a bloody shiny fog with moisture. Right in the bloody shiny fog, numerous runes were flying. Closely after that, the shiny fog suddenly turned into a 3-eye huge boa with two wings, which chased after Zhang Tie at a greater speed with a pretty grim look...


    This time, Zhang Tie was really startled. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see the real body of a shadow knight''s virtual image. That process was too amazing. Zhang Tie could only change into another person with the help of his body changing immortal bloodline; however, the process that a shadow knight transformed into the real body of his virtual image was like how a person transformed into a powerful monster.


    In the tunnel, the giant boa was as free as fish in water. Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had felt that the real body of Gao Tianzhao''s virtual image was rapidly narrowing the distance between them. At the same time, the bloody and grim qi of the giant boa became hot at once...


    ''Mamma Mia.'' Thankfully, Zhang Tie''s incarnation was carrying a portable space-teleportation equipment which contained something; otherwise, Zhang Tie''s incarnation would be killed in such a case.


    The giant boa crashed here and there in the tunnel at a great speed. After feeling that it turned increasingly noisier behind him, Zhang Tie swore. Closely after that, an alchemist''s bomb appeared in his hand. Zhang Tie instantly threw it backward. When the real body of Gao Tianzhao''s virtual image approached him, it was exploded.


    However, the explosion of the alchemist''s bomb didn''t hurt the real body of Gao Tianzhao''s virtual image at all. It only slightly slowed it down. Although the tunnel was blocked by the boulders that fell off the top of the tunnel, the giant boa directly break them up and passed by.


    Before Gao Tianzhao was driven furious, the second alchemist''s bomb arrived. Flames, impact waves and the boulders slowed it down once again.


    In the following explosions, the advantage of the giant boa in speed was gradually offset by Zhang Tie''s alchemist''s bombs...


    Gao Tianzhao had never imagined that Zhang Tie could have so many alchemist''s bombs.


    ...


    6 minutes after the consecutive explosions, 8 injured wing demon knights flew out of the other end of the tunnel and returned to where they ambushed Zhang Tie just now; they were wounded all over their bodies as their wings were broken.


    Among those 8 wing demon knights, 3 black iron knights were severely injured as they were covered with blood; they couldn''t fly anymore. Although the other 5 earth wing demon knights were also injured and some had holes on their wings, they were not that severely injured like the 3 black iron wing demon knights due to their powerful protective battle qi.


    Soon after they returned to this spacious underground space, all the wing demons had become relaxed. However, the moment they stopped releasing their protective battle qi, Zhang Tie had launched a strike towards them. At the speed of over 10 times the speed of sound, Zhang Tie charged at them from the dark in Chaos. Almost at the same time, the strong qi of Three-Kill Punch and the gloomy cutting edges of Gold-Eaten Dagger had covered all the wing demon knights at present...

 1293 Destroying the Enemy One by One

    With a "boom" caused by the shadow knight''s battle qi strike, numerous bats flew out of the mountain cave in a flurried manner. At the same time, Zhang Tie also flew out of the mountain cave and entered that fiery maple woods...


    Almost the moment Zhang Tie''s incarnation arrived at the air territory above the maple woods, a golden light had shot towards him as it stretched out its sharp claws and caught Zhang Tie''s incarnation at once. In a split second, they flew towards the east at a speed which was twice the speed of sound.


    Only after 3-4 seconds, the real body of the virtual image of giant boa had rushed out of the mountain cave. Closely after that, it looked up and caught sight of Zhang Tie on the back of that golden thunder hawk over 2,000 m away. Zhang Tie was turning around and laughing at the entrance of the mountain cave...


    The moment he burst out into laughter, Zhang Tie had spurted out a mouth of blood. However, Zhang Tie still maintained a smile as he shouted, "F*ck you. If you have guts, come and catch me; otherwise, you''re my son..."


    At the sight of the great speed of the thunder hawk, Gao Tianzhao had given up catching up with Zhang Tie''s incarnation. ''Even if I try my utmost effort, I couldn''t catch up with Zhang Tie. Additionally, Zhang Tie is flying towards the east that means he must have already contacted Blackwater Base. After being told that I''m here, the Black Armor Army''s shadow knights or heavenly knights might be on the way here. If I go to east at this moment, it''s nothing different than seeking for death.''


    The real body of the virtual image of the giant boa quivered as Gao Tianzhao''s original body reappeared in the haze of light and runes.


    "I will kill you..." Gao Tianzhao roared towards the sky with bloody eyes while floating in the sky. His sonic waves blew up many bats that flew out of the mountain cave into the bloody mist...


    Gao Tianzhao''s sound failed to catch up with Zhang Tie. Gao Tianzhao didn''t know whether Zhang Tie had heard about him or not; no matter what, Gao Tianzhao saw Zhang Tie erecting his middle finger towards him!


    After Zhang Tie escaped away from such a delicate ambush. Gao Tianzhao was so furious that he almost spurted out blood. Through this wrestle, Gao Tianzhao finally knew why Zhang Tie could win the name of Qianji Hermit only in a few years.


    After his plan failed, the preoccupancy was to evacuate from Helan Mountain Range before the arrival of human powerhouses.


    Gao Tianzhao estimated that he could at least have 2 hours to evacuate. He realized that it was too dangerous to stay here. After throwing another glare at the little black point of Zhang Tie diminishing in the skyline, Gao Tianzhao immediately turned around and flew back into the mountain cave.


    The way of evacuation was a tunnel behind that spacious underground space where they prepared to ambush Zhang Tie. That bypass led to Wuzhou Province. If they evacuated from underground space, even Taixia Country''s powerhouses couldn''t catch them. They had already arranged it in advance. Additionally, the 8 demon knights were still in the mountain cave, Gao Tianzhao had to take them away...


    Before entering the mountain cave, Gao Tianzhao contacted somewhere in the distance by his portable remote-sensing communications finger ring and noticed them that their plan failed. After the opposite inquired about the reason, it sent an order to Gao Tianzhao¡ª¡ªWe''ve underestimated the subtlety of Zhang Tie. We''ll deal with him later on. This action comes to an end. The powerhouses of Taixia Country might be already on the way here, evacuate as soon as possible!


    After ending the communication, Gao Tianzhao flew into the underground space unpleasantly. Meanwhile, he was imagining about the cool feeling when he killed Zhang Tie with maltreatment next time.


    ...


    When Gao Tianzhao flew towards the spacious underground space once again, Zhang Tie recovered his composure as he put away his gold-eaten dagger; closely after that, he teleported the last earth wing demon knight who was in a coma due to severe wounds into Castle of Black Iron.


    5 earth wing demon knights and 3 black iron wing demon knights. The moment Zhang Tie thought about this achievement, he couldn''t help but reveal a smile under his helmet.


    That was Zhang Tie''s fortunate day! According to Zhang Tie''s estimation, the 5 earth wing demon knights were all top guys among earth wing demon knights who had reached higher than 6 change realm. If not being powerful, they would not have been assigned here. When he thought about the water chakras of the 5 earth wing demon knights, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand but flow out his saliva.


    In this case, it was as easy as how a lion fought some rabbits for Zhang Tie to deal with those flurried wing demon knights who had been wounded by alchemist''s bombs with the ability of divine dominator. At Zhang Tie''s full efforts, the moment he launched an attack towards them, they had been destined to lose the battle.


    Not until Zhang Tie''s god-eaten dagger scratched their bodies did they imagine what was happening.


    After being attached to the master-level cracking rune effect, this gold-eaten dagger caused nearly 2 times greater injuries to those demon knights. The combination of master-level cracking rune effect and gold-eaten dagger brought Zhang Tie a surprise.


    Facing various factors, Zhang Tie ended this battle as fast as he could.


    In Zhang Tie''s mind sea, a tracing feather was approaching the spacious underground space at a high speed. Zhang Tie knew that was Gao Tianzhao. Therefore, Zhang Tie took out a golden spear and entered the winding, narrow tunnel.


    The part of the tunnel where Gao Tianzhao struck him by unrivaled bolt light finger skill was where Zhang Tie prepared to give Gao Tianzhao a surprise. That place was narrow, deep and relatively straight like a deep well. If he launched a strike over there, Gao Tianzhao could never avoid from his strike. Therefore, Zhang Tie could gain the maximal kinetic strike effect with his golden spear.


    ''However, before Gao Tianzhao returned, I should send a message to Blackwater Base.''


    ''When Gao Tianzhao saw me leaving by thunder hawk, he didn''t seem to be too amazed. Combining with the terrain of this underground space where they wanted to trap me, it means that demons and Heavens Reaching Church have already known that I have the mount of thunder hawk. Soon after I exposed the secret that I have a thunder hawk, demons and Heavens Reaching Church have known that, what does this mean?''


    Zhang Tie''s eyes turned gloomy as he immediately sent a message to Blackwater Base...


    ¡ª¡ªI''m ambushing in the underground mountain cave of Helan Mountain Range. Gao Tianzhao and some demon knights set a trap to kill me. Thankfully, I''ve escaped away. However, I''m severely injured and looking for somewhere to recuperate. Additionally, demons and Heavens Reaching Church might have already known that I have a mount of thunder hawk...


    After sending this message to Blackwater Base and attaching the coordinates of this place on the map, Zhang Tie put away his remote-sensing communications finger ring.


    ...


    When he sent back the message to Blackwater Base, the thunder hawk flew out of the cloud and dove into a lake in Helan Mountain Range together with Zhang Tie''s incarnation. In water, Zhang Tie''s incarnation put its portable space-teleportation equipment into the mouth of the thunder hawk. Closely after that, Zhang Tie''s incarnation turned into waterdrops and powders together with its clothes in a split second.


    Over 10 seconds later, the thunder hawk flew out of the lake alone.


    After doing that, Zhang Tie recovered his composure and waited for Gao Tianzhao calmly in the part of the winding, narrow tunnel...

 1294 Fighting the Shadow Knigh

    As a part of the winding, narrow tunnel had been collapsed by Zhang Tie''s alchemist''s bombs, if Gao Tianzhao wanted to go back, he had to clear the ruins. However, it was nothing difficult for such a powerful shadow knight to do it. Gao Tianzhao completely blew up those boulders and spalls in the winding, narrow tunnel by force. With a rumble, Gao Tianzhao soon cleared out a way in the tunnel...


    Under the gaze of lotus-flower eyes, Gao Tianzhao was approaching the spacious underground space. Zhang Tie could sense that Gao Tianzhao had been completely relaxed after fighting him just like the 8 wing demon knights. It seemed that Gao Tianzhao was focusing on clearing out that tunnel so as to evacuate from here with those demon knights as soon as possible.


    Holding a golden spear, Zhang Tie remained still and calm as if he were a piece of icy, lifeless black granite. Standing solemnly and quietly on the other end of the winding, narrow tunnel, he felt his battle qi surging inside. At this moment, even Zhang Tie himself felt a bit strange. Facing a shadow knight, he should be a bit intense; however, Zhang Tie didn''t feel intense in front of such powerful knights anymore, even though the shadow knight was much more powerful than him; instead, he only felt tranquil.


    All the way from Blackhot City to now, after experiencing so many battles, Zhang Tie''s heart realm had long been as hard as steel and as pure as crystal and diamond facing a battle. That was the heart realm of real powerhouses.


    After breaking through the collapsed tunnel, Gao Tianzhao started to accelerate towards the spacious underground space.


    The moment Gao Tianzhao entered the sight of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie accelerated to over 14 times the speed of sound in a split second in the tunnel as he threw out his golden spear. When the golden spear left Zhang Tie''s hand, its speed reached over 20 times that of the speed of sound immediately, which meant about 6,800 m per second. At the same time, Zhang Tie attached a "cracking" god''s rune effect to the golden spear...


    This kinetic strike was the most powerful strike that Zhang Tie had ever launched since fighting Ockham. This strike was greater than the most powerful strike which Zhang Tie launched towards Ockham in both speed and strength. It indicated Zhang Tie''s wholly-new realm and battle strength after breaking through 5 change earth realm after absorbing the water chakra of Ockham.


    Zhang Tie had calculated the time and the distance. Almost the moment the golden spear left Zhang Tie''s hand, Gao Tianzhao had entered Zhang Tie''s sight. The golden light almost touched Gao Tianzhao''s protective battle qi at the same time. Gao Tianzhao couldn''t even have time to respond to it.


    Gao Tianzhao had not imagined that he could encounter the secondary strike in the winding, narrow tunnel where Zhang Tie had ambushed them with alchemist''s bombs. It was psychological blindness that everyone would have in this case. After being ambushed by Zhang Tie in the place where he prepared to ambush the opponent, Gao Tianzhao had been aggrieved; however, who could imagine that he could encounter the secondary strike after the opponent left?


    When the golden spear approached him as fast as a lightning bolt, Gao Tianzhao didn''t even see clearly what it was. However, Gao Tianzhao lost his guts immediately after noticing this thing''s super great speed and the unrivaled sharpness that could penetrate through and destroy everything. Gao Tianzhao realized that he could neither evacuate nor make a turn. In the split second, he couldn''t even fully release his protective battle qi before the golden spear reached Gao Tianzhao''s chest...


    When a 680 kg golden spear collided with Gao Tianzhao at the speed of over 6,800 m per second, it released over 15 billion Joules of kinetic energy in a split second on a tiny point.


    The great power of the kinetic strike was restricted to an extremely small scope, causing greater destruction. In a split second, the rocks beside Gao Tianzhao had turned into ashes. Only after bearing a split second, Gao Tianzhao''s protective battle qi had been broken through. Closely after that, the golden spear immediately penetrated through Gao Tianzhao''s body, vaporizing all of his clothes and shattering all of his remote-sensing communications finger rings. Besides, Gao Tianzhao was sent flying back against the rocks, causing a huge pit which was dozens of meters in depth. The golden spear broke into pieces; some broken parts of the golden spears directly flew out of Gao Tianzhao''s body, causing the secondary strike onto his body. The shock wave did the third time harms to Gao Tianzhao...


    The entire underground space started to rock. It was as destructive as detonating hundreds of alchemist''s bombs, which was over 10 times more destructive than that just now.


    Gao Tianzhao was so angry that his eyes almost popped out of eye sockets as he spurted out blood constantly. His hair and beard had been burned by the kinetic energy and high temperature of the golden spear in a split second.


    If it was someone else, he would have long been killed; however, as a shadow knight, the moment his body was penetrated through by the golden spear, he had released his protective battle qi, diffusing the greater part of the harms caused by the broken pieces of the golden spear and all the impact waves in the mountain cave...


    If Gao Tianzhao was given a bit time, he could completely cure his injuries and leave out of here alive. Pitifully, Zhang Tie didn''t spare any time to Gao Tianzhao.


    "Who are.." Not until then did Gao Tianzhao see clearly who was ambushing him. Pitifully, Gao Tianzhao didn''t have lotus-flower eyes. Of course, he couldn''t see through Zhang Tie''s face under the Chaos. Before he uttered "you", Zhang Tie''s second blow had arrived.


    In Chaos, Zhang Tie was holding Thor''s Hammer in an extremely grim look. In the smokes and high temperature brought by the impact waves, he forcefully knocked onto the protective battle qi that Gao Tianzhao had just released by Thor''s Hammer at the speed of over 14 times the speed of sound as fast as a lightning bolt like a ruthless God of Death who was ready to reap a life...


    Chaos, Thor''s Hammer plus Zhang Tie''s weight made it to 7,486 kg in total. At the speed of over 5,000 m per second, Zhang Tie reached a new height in strength.


    The shattering effect and lightning harm of Thor''s Hammer with the kinetic energy of over 93 billion Joules fell onto the body of Gao Tianzhao once again.


    Soon after Gao Tianzhao''s protective battle qi was released, it was collapsed once again together with the hard rocks behind him. As a result, Gao Tianzhao was bleeding from eyes, ears, mouth and nose all over. Each of his wounds was enlarging and bleeding like running water. Gao Tianzhao directly sunk about 100 m into the rocks...


    "Argh..." Gao Tianzhao roared as he started to launch a counterattack by punching towards Zhang Tie by two fists. At the same time, he released his battle qi...


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t spare any chance to Gao Tianzhao.


    Zhang Tie kept surging forward as bravely as a God of Battle. The moment Gao Tianzhao punched his battle qi, Zhang Tie''s Thor''s Hammer had arrived again. The large flat side of the hammer collided with the shadow knight''s two fists with the kinetic energy of over 93 billion Joules...


    The collision between such terrifying kinetic energy and the battle qi of a shadow knight in a narrow tunnel would cause greater harm. Zhang Tie almost lost his control of the hammer. At the same time, a great strength directly hit onto Zhang Tie''s body. Although Chaos and Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi diffused the greater part of the strength, Zhang Tie still uttered a muffled sound; at the same time, blood surged to his throat. However, he swallowed it...


    The great strength sent Zhang Tie over 100 m backward.


    In the second collision, Gao Tianzhao was sent over 50 m deeper into the rock. At the same time, Gao Tianzhao''s fists were completely shattered, leaving two bald wrists which were spraying out blood in a grim and terrifying way...


    A lot of rocks collapsed from the top. After swallowing his blood, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth while launching the third time strike towards Gao Tianzhao after uttering a muffled roar...


    In this case, Zhang Tie was deeply convinced that the braver one would win the battle in such a narrow path. He could only exert his utmost efforts to fight Gao Tianzhao.


    After losing his fists, Gao Tianzhao turned into a bloody mist while being surrounded by numerous flying runes. Before Zhang Tie''s strike arrived, Gao Tianzhao had turned into the real body of the virtual image of a giant boa as long as 100 m. The moment it quivered its body, it would cause an earthquake.


    However, the wings of this real body of the virtual image of giant boa had been broken. Additionally, there was a big bleeding hole in its body. When Zhang Tie rushed over here for the third time, the giant boa suddenly opened its bloody mouth while its weird, black battle qi formed a huge black swirl in its mouth. Various bizarre runes were rotating in the huge black hole. When Zhang Tie approached it at the speed of 14 times the speed of sound, he was suddenly drawn by the strange suction in the swirl. He then slowed down at once. However, he felt like losing his control.


    Before Zhang Tie made any response to it, the real body of the giant boa directly swallowed Zhang Tie...

 1295 The Power of the Emperor-Level Sutra

    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to sense the great power of the real body of the virtual image of a shadow knight...


    The moment Zhang Tie was swallowed by the giant boa, he felt like he was sucked into a hole in an oceanic trench by a great undercurrent and swirl. As a result, he couldn''t even use the capability of divine dominator for the time being.


    After being dizzy for a short while, Zhang Tie felt like falling into the liquid. In a split second, Zhang Tie felt being tightened all over while he was covered by bloody water.


    The bloody water''s density was absolutely greater than that of mercury. As dense as the melting iron, the bloody water was squeezing Chaos. Besides, the bloody water had strong corrosiveness as Zhang Tie could hear the fine sound of "tsi tsi" like that when water dropped onto a hot iron plate.


    Before his Chaos was broken by the bloody water, Zhang Tie didn''t need to worry about his health for the time being. Additionally, he could release his protective battle qi. However, now that the bloody water could corrode the Chaos which was made of abyss iron, Zhang Tie was afraid that his protective battle qi could also be corroded.


    Numerous black snake-shaped runes were floating in the bloody water. Zhang Tie found that those snake-shaped runes were connecting with each other like real snakes and chains. They wrapped Zhang Tie''s limbs, waist and neck tightly so that he could not move. Additionally, those snake-shaped rune chains were tightening up constantly. Zhang Tie tried to move as he found that his strength was rapidly sucked by those rune chains. It was completely opposite to the function of vitality ring which could help him recover his strength rapidly. Therefore, Zhang Tie was so sad that he almost wanted to spurt out blood.


    Zhang Tie was still holding Thor''s Hammer; however, the dense corrosive bloody liquid was like a bizarre barrier as Zhang Tie found that his spiritual energy as a divine dominator could not penetrate through the liquid.


    ''Where am I? Principally, I should be in the stomach of the incarnation of Gao Tianzhao. However, it doesn''t look like that. When in the winding, narrow tunnel, the giant boa''s size was limited; however, I feel being in a large water pond and losing my direction in it. It''s like a terrifying fatal trap. The bloody, glutinous liquid and my encounter remind me of the scene when Meng Shidao fought Han Zhengfang in his semi-sage realm.''


    ''Is this also a realm? No way. Gao Tianzhao is just a shadow knight. How could a shadow knight have the strength of the realm? But what else?''


    A lot of questions occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind; however, it was not the right place for Zhang Tie to think about it carefully and calmly.


    ''No, I have to leave out of here. If not, when I become extremely weak or my protective battle qi is fully corroded, I would die here for sure.''


    ''Open..." Zhang Tie roared as he used his full efforts by his limbs.


    Although Zhang Tie had great strength, the moment he exerted his full effort, the rune chains over his limbs, waist and neck were tightened up at once, causing Zhang Tie''s limbs to be closer to each other. Due to the great strength of Zhang Tie and the binding effect of the rune chains, the entire Chaos started to creak.


    When those rune chains were going to be broken by Zhang Tie, many more snake-shaped runes came into being in the bloody liquid before swimming over here, restoring those breaking rune chains at once, making them thicker and thicker. Gradually, Zhang Tie''s arms were pulled apart once again while the rune chains became more and more powerful as if they were going to separate up Zhang Tie...


    Zhang Tie roared as he exerted his full efforts to resist the increasing binding strength of the rune chains. At the same time, the bloody glutinous liquid which was squeezing and corroding Zhang Tie''s Chaos started to rock, causing ripples around Zhang Tie which gradually spread around in all directions...


    "Hahahaha, you have a great battle strength; however, it doesn''t work, there..." Gao Tianzhao''s voice resonated around this place which directly entered Zhang Tie''s ears secretly. Given Gao Tianzhao''s sound, he had been weak. It seemed that he wouldn''t stand too long. Additionally, Zhang Tie identified a complex feeling of hatred and pleasure from Gao Tianzhao''s voice. Gao Tianzhao continued, "The binding strength comes from the power between the Elements Realm and my earth chakra and water chakra. If you''re a heavenly knight, you might break out; pitifully, you''re not. If not swallow you, I''ve almost been cheated by you. You''re a divine dominator. Are you from Penglai Immortal Realm and came here together with Zhang Tie? I"ve not imagined that even Penglai Immortal Realm has favored Fiery Oil..."


    "Where am I?" Zhang Tie asked as he forcefully resisted the binding strength from the rune chains.


    Through his body-changing immortal bloodline and the special sound-producing device of his Chaos, Zhang Tie''s voice sounded tinny. Gao Tianzhao couldn''t identify that was Zhang Tie at all. Not until now did Gao Tianzhao feel that this one was not Zhang Tie. He even brainwashed it and connected Penglai Immortal Realm with Zhang Tie with evidence. Zhang Tie didn''t feel like explaining about it at all...


    "You''re in the stomach of the real body of the virtual image of Heavens-eaten Boa. Although shadow knight couldn''t grasp the strength of the realm, the stomach of Heavens-eaten Boa could form a Heavens-eaten Bloody Realm which was similar to that of the realm. As a shadow knight, I could use the strength of earth and water here. As long as you''re swallowed by the Heavens-eaten Boa, your life will be under my control unless you''re a heavenly knight or above..." Gao Tianzhao said icily.


    "Really?" Only after having such a short talk with Gao Tianzhao in Chaos, Zhang Tie had been oozing sweat heavily. Additionally, Zhang Tie found something more terrifying. The more strength he used, the faster the rune chains would suck his physical strength. Thankfully, Zhang Tie had super great strength which didn''t even seem like being owned by humans. As a result, the rune chains couldn''t suck his strength faster than the speed that he recovered his strength. Therefore, although the rune chains'' binding strength was terrifyingly great, Zhang Tie could still bear it.


    "You will know it soon. Don''t expect that someone else could come to save you here. No matter how powerful you''re as a divine dominator, you will turn into a puddle of bloody water in the end. Hehehe, it''s my first time to devour a divine dominator..."


    After Gao Tianzhao finished his words, Zhang Tie had felt this giant boa was moving. It seemed that it was moving forward and evacuating away from their battlefield rapidly. As long as Gao Tianzhao left here, if a shadow knight wanted to hide somewhere in the underground space, even the powerhouses assigned here by Blackwater Base could barely find him.


    When Zhang Tie was resisting the corrosion of the bloody liquid, he kept thinking about the solution. Although it was very dangerous, Zhang Tie was not running out of his ability. Zhang Tie felt that Gao Tianzhao couldn''t kill him in a short period even though Gao Tianzhao trapped him with this real body of the virtual image of the giant boa. They were actually in a stalemate. It depended on who could last longer.


    In this case, Zhang Tie felt that he underestimated the real power of a shadow knight. Now that shadow knight was higher than earth knight in level, he must have powerful battle strength. Additionally, the secret methods cultivated by shadow knights absolutely had reached a wholly new level. At least Zhang Tie had not imagined that a shadow knight could form a space which was close to the realm in the real body of his virtual image previously.


    It should be the unique ability of the real body of the virtual image of Heavens-eaten Boa. It could be judged by the words "Heavens-eaten". The secret method that Gao Tianzhao cultivated must be something even in Taixia Country as a whole.


    Shadow knights were indeed terrifying in power; however, Zhang Tie felt lucky that Gao Tianzhao was only a shadow knight. Given the power of the real body of the virtual image of Gao Tianzhao, as long as Gao Tianzhao promoted to a heavenly knight, the realm in the stomach of the Heavens-eaten Boa might be more terrifying.


    ...


    The giant boa rapidly flew in the underground space. Even Zhang Tie didn''t know where it was. Zhang Tie just attempted to tear apart and break those rune chains. However, as was told by Gao Tianzhao, the power of those rune chains was connected to Gao Tianzhao''s chakras and the Element Realm, which represented the earth strength. No matter how Zhang Tie struggled, he could at most transform those rune chains; instead of breaking them.


    After almost 3 hours'' struggle, Zhang Tie felt the giant boa suddenly stopped. It seemed that Gao Tianzhao had already hidden somewhere.


    In the past 3 hours, although Zhang Tie had not used up his strength, he was still resisting the great strength of the rune chains. However, his Chaos had long been severely corroded by the bloody liquid with many pits on it. The bloody liquid which was denser than mercury was indeed terrifying.


    "In the Heavens-eaten Bloody Realm, you could survive at most 2 days. I''ve already hidden somewhere. I have enough time to deal with you. If you want to survive yourself, we could make a deal..." Gao Tianzhao''s voice sounded once again.


    When Zhang Tie was thinking about the countermeasure, he heard Gao Tianzhao''s sound once again. Therefore, he asked, "What deal..."


    "You give me the cultivation method that Penglai Immortal Realm uses to train divine dominator..."


    "Fine, you let me out of here. I will tell you about the cultivation method of divine dominator..." Zhang Tie replied without any sincerity.


    "Don''t be that stubborn; I will see how long could you stand there..."


    "Really? I will see how long could you remain the real body of your virtual image. When your virtual image collapses, do you think that you could trap me?" Zhang Tie sneered as he said dauntlessly.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had not fully released his protective battle qi. From the beginning, Zhang Tie was resisting the corrosion of the bloody liquid using his Chaos. Even though the Chaos was completely damaged, Zhang Tie was still confident to stand a few more days inside with his protective battle qi. However, Gao Tianzhao was severely injured too. Could he maintain the real body of his virtual image for a few more days?


    "Do you think that''s all I have?"


    "Just use them all..."


    "Although I''ve not fully formed my wind chakra, I could have you taste different flavors in the Heavens-eaten Bloody Realm..." Gao Tianzhao said while hundred more bizarre silver runes suddenly appeared in the bloody glutinous liquid around Zhang Tie. The moment they appeared, they had stabbed onto the Chaos like snake''s fangs, causing several times heavier burden on Zhang Tie''s Chaos in a split second...


    ...


    Being corroded and attacked by the sharp spines, only after half an hour, a fingernail-sized hole had been caused on the most fragile joint of Zhang Tie''s Chaos. Soon after that, the bloody glutinous liquid and those fangs had poured into the hole as they started to attack Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi and body...


    "Hehheh, it''s just the beginning. Enjoy it..." Gao Tianzhao''s ruthless voice entered Zhang Tie''s ears.


    However, the moment the bloody glutinous liquid and fangs touched Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi and body, an extremely furious and dignified voice had sounded in the hot sun of Zhang Tie''s qi sea as if an unrivaled person''s authority was challenged and despised by a clown. In that voice, Zhang Tie''s body rocked heavily all over. At the same time, the virtual image of king roc in the "King Roc Sutra" manifested itself in the hot sun of battle qi. Closely after that, the image of this king roc turned into a huge golden rune in a split second as it rushed up and exploded in Zhang Tie''s mind sea...


    In a split second, Zhang Tie finally knew why the virtual image of king roc was driven mad.


    Rocs ate dragons. As the king of rocs, king roc ate 300 big dragons and 500 small dragons. The entire dragon species would be scared by king roc. At the sight of king roc, dragon king would become weak, sore and lose all of its strength...


    King roc was nuts for dragons. Imposing dragons were just like noodles in front of king roc, not to mention the Heavens-eaten Bao which was even inferior to dragons and hated that it couldn''t turn into a dragon due to the height of the sky.


    However, a Heavens-eaten Boa wanted to swallow a king roc. When the Heavens-eaten Bloody Realm touched Zhang Tie''s body, the "King Roc Sutra" that Zhang Tie cultivated took effect at once. In a split second, Zhang Tie mastered a new skill...


    ...


    All this really happened in a split second...


    "Break..." Zhang Tie suddenly opened his eyes under the Chaos as his eyes shone while uttering this voice unconsciously. At the same time, Zhang Tie''s 10 fingers turned straight or bend like how a roc stretched out its wings.


    Soon after Zhang Tie uttered this voice, the entire Heavens-eaten Bloody Realm had been frozen. Closely after that, all the rune chains and fangs turned into ashes. The Heavens-eaten Bloody Realm then blew up into endless fiery flames with Gao Tianzhao''s earth-shaking screams...

 1296 Aftermath

    Zhang Tie gained his freedom in the fiery flames of Gao Tianzhao''s broken Heavens-eaten Boa...


    The moment Zhang Tie escaped away from the trap, Zhang Tie had been able to use his Thor''s Hammer once again. In a split second, Zhang Tie called two silver secret longswords out of Castle of Black Iron and prepared to give Gao Tianzhao a heavy blow. Kill him when he was sick! However, after seeing everything in front of him, Zhang Tie stopped at once.


    He was in a hidden mountain cave. The dull red magma in the magma pond made the entire mountain cave look red. The mountain cave was closed in the surroundings. Only that magma pond led to outside. On the earth near the palisades, there was some magma. Given the current situation, the Heavens-eaten Boa should arrive at this place through that magma pond. Zhang Tie really wondered how Gao Tianzhao found such a secret place. The magma pond must be connected to a magma lake or a magma river. It was as hard as finding a needle in the ocean by finding such a secret place in the underground space.


    Due to the existence of the magma pond, the temperature in the mountain cave was about 50-60 degrees Celsius. Besides making people suffocated, the air in the mountain cave was also thin. Commoners could barely survive this place or stay here for a long time. However, such an environment was just so-so for a shadow know or an earth knight.


    Gao Tianzhao was lying on the ground naked. He was scorched like a roasted duck which was tossed out of the oven. Crouching on the ground, Gao Tianzhao was showing the white in his eyes and spitting black blood. Additionally, he would twitch time and then.


    Zhang Tie was really startled by Gao Tianzhao''s look. If not fight Gao Tianzhao all the way here, Zhang Tie couldn''t believe that the one who looked more miserable than a beggar could be Gao Tianzhao.


    ''Is this guy dying? He''s got a complete water chakra. I will suffer a great loss if he just dies in this way.''


    When he thought about that, Zhang Tie hurriedly put away his Thor''s Hammer and two silver secret items. Being vigilant, Zhang Tie walked over there and squatted down before checking him carefully.


    ''Thank God, he''s alive. His water chakra doesn''t seem to collapse. However, Gao Tianzhao has already lost his battle strength for the time being.''


    Watching Gao Tianzhao who was as poor as a chick whose hair had been plucked up, Zhang Tie poured some all-purpose medicaments into Gao Tianzhao''s stomach so as to prevent his injuries going worse. After that, he threw Gao Tianzhao into Castle of Black Iron like picking odds and ends from refuse reaps before standing up...


    Right then, Zhang Tie''s remote-sensing crystal finger ring rocked. Zhang Tie found it was a message from Blackwater Base...


    ¡ª¡ªNo. 136, powerhouses of Blackwater Base have already arrived at the coordinates that you marked on the map in Helan Mountain Range and are searching for you. How''re you? Do you need any help? Waiting for your response...


    When Zhang Tie was thinking about how to reply it, he received the same message once again.


    ¡ª¡ªNo. 136, powerhouses of Blackwater Base have already arrived at the coordinates that you marked on the map in Helan Mountain Range and are searching for you. How''re you? Do you need any help? Waiting for your response...


    A few seconds later, he received the same message for the third time.


    Although being not in Blackwater Base, Zhang Tie could almost feel the anxious look of the Hua official who was texting him from Blackwater Base.


    When in the stomach of the Heavens-eaten Boa, Zhang Tie didn''t pay attention to his remote-sensing communications finger ring. Therefore, he didn''t know how long had Blackwater Base insisted on trying to contacting him. Zhang Tie realized that Blackwater Base wondered whether he was still alive or not.


    The moment Zhang Tie wanted to reply to Blackwater Base, he suddenly became hesitated as he thought about his thunder hawk. He realized that there might be some moles of demons and Heavens Reaching Church in Blackwater Base. If someone was keeping a close eye on Zhang Tie, Ye Qingcheng might not be the only one who saw Zhang Tie leaving the base by riding a thunder hawk. As Ye Qingcheng was gazing at him as a heavenly knight at that time, Zhang Tie could sense it; however, if someone watched him by telescope in a room of Blackwater Base or on the nearby ground, Zhang Tie might ignore that because there were many ground-to-air observation posts in Blackwater Base at that time.


    When Zhang Tie thought about that, he made a reply after a consideration.


    ¡ª¡ªI''m still alive. I''ve got enough medicaments and materials with me. But I need to recuperate myself. I''m in a hidden place and might not be able to execute the mission as a scout in a short period anymore.


    Zhang Tie and Blackwater Base communicated in terms of independent and special codes. Besides Zhang Tie himself, even though the others gained his remote-sensing communications finger ring, they could not pass the message in the correct way. Of course, they could not decipher the messages received by this finger ring. Now that Blackwater Base could receive the correct information, it indicated that Zhang Tie was still alive.


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s message, Blackwater Base waited for half a minute before sending another message.


    ¡ª¡ªHow long will it take you to recover?


    ¡ª¡ªAbout 1-2 months!


    Zhang Tie dared not make it too short. The difference in battle strength between an earth knight and 8 demon knights was greater than 10 times. In such a case, it was already fortunate for Zhang Tie to keep his life. If not have so many trump cards, Zhang Tie might have been killed this time. Even if he told them that he could recover in 3-5 days, they would not believe in that.


    Actually, it was already amazing for a knight to recover in 1-2 months after fighting a knight who was higher than him in level. It indicated that Zhang Tie was at least not completely passive facing the ambush of a shadow knight. It proved Zhang Tie''s great power and fitted the powerful image that Qianji Hermit left to the public.


    ¡ª¡ªFine, please contact Blackwater Base after you recover! End!


    ¡ª¡ªReceived, end!


    In the communication, Zhang Tie didn''t tell them where he was. Blackwater Base also didn''t ask him about that tacitly. Zhang Tie knew that Blackwater Base had already paid attention to the contents in his last message.


    After contacting Blackwater Base, Zhang Tie sent a message to Bai Suxian and Mountain Lifting Hermit respectively and told them that he was safe. After that, he looked around that space before entering Castle of Black Iron while rubbing his hands.


    If those people in Blackwater Base knew that Zhang Tie was safe and sound and had caught Gao Tianzhao and all the 8 demon knights alive. The entire Blackwater Base might be in an uproar at once.


    ...


    "No. 136 received the message and replied: received, end!"


    A female Hua official in short hair was putting her hands on a mini pyramid-shaped remote-sensing communications device in a safety communications room of the control center of Blackwater Base. After receiving Zhang Tie''s last message, she turned around and reported it to some guys behind her.


    Ye Qingcheng and two knights of Blackwater Base were standing behind this female official who was responsible for contacting Zhang Tie. After receiving Zhang Tie''s messages, they all became reassured.


    Ye Qingcheng listened to her reply as he asked her with a slight frown, "How''s the situation over Helan Mountain Range?"


    "General Zhao has already sent a message. They have found a lot of corpses of human scouts and sentinels in that maple woods that Zhang Tie reported. Meanwhile, they found the combat traces of knights in that underground tunnel. The entire underground tunnel was collapsed. The combat was very fierce. It should at least be caused by a shadow knight. Additionally, at least 5 demon knights'' qis were discovered in that tunnel. However, all the demon knights and Gao Tianzhao have disappeared and could be barely traced." A knight who looked gentle beside Ye Qingcheng replied kindly.


    Even in the room, Ye Qingcheng was also talking with the knight beside him secretly. Even though the female officer who was responsible for contacting Zhang Tie on one side didn''t know that No. 136 is Zhang Tie''s byname in Blackwater Base. It was classified. Commoners could not know that. It was a confidential method adopted by Taixia troops which had passed the test of two holy wars.


    "At least?" Ye Qingcheng turned around at once as he accented unconsciously as if he was not satisfied with this blurry word.


    "Yes, besides the traces of combats between powerful knights, there were also a lot of explosive traces of alchemist''s bombs in the underground tunnel, the two regions mixed with each other, causing great destruction. Therefore, we could barely identify the highest battle strength level among them. It should be at least a shadow knight!"


    "Alchemist''s bomb?" After hearing that word, Ye Qingcheng became slightly stunned. Closely after that, he became relieved, "It''s not difficult for Zhang Tie to get some alchemist''s bombs!"


    "Jinwu Business Group have started to stockpile alchemist''s bombs a few years ago. Zhang Tie probably escaped away from the fatal trap of Gao Tianzhao with the help of his portable alchemist''s bombs. Qianji Hermit should have preventive measures!"


    "It''s your turn. Before Blackwater Base arrived at Helan Mountain Range, I want to know who else has seen Zhang Tie leaving the base by riding his thunder hawk..." Ye Qingcheng said with a sort of killing intent, "Now that he has revealed his tail, catch him out of there..."


    "I see!" The gentle knight replied as a shrewd light flashed by his eyes.


    In late weeks, the vanguards of demons aggravated their strikes in Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province. More and more demons were discovered in Helan Mountain Range and Weishui River in an increasing frequency. After the 11 advanced bases of humans completed their gathering steadily and consolidated the defense line in the rear of Peacewest Military Region, in order to prevent Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province from be fully isolated by the vanguards of demons and for less loss, the 11 advanced bases of humans had been thinking about officially pushing the defense line of the advanced bases to Helan Mountain Range and Weishui River...

 1297 The Secret Skill sBreaks

    Zhang Tie didn''t know what happened in Blackwater Base. Zhang Tie had just entered Castle of Black Iron and prepared to stay for a period over there so as to completely digest his achievements.


    Almost the moment Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron, he had seen a smile as Heller said, "Castle Lord, congratulations on your new achievements..."


    With a sound of "Huala...", Zhang Tie quivered all over for once as the Chaos left his body and returned to the armor stand in the lobby. After looking at so many pits and broken parts on Chaos, Zhang Tie shook his head. He didn''t lose his mind due to triumph; instead, he looked a bit solemn, "It was a bit dangerous this time; let Edward mend the Chaos..."


    When he defeated Ockham and absorbed Ockham''s water chakra, Zhang Tie promoted to 5 change earth realm and gained an overall increase in his strength. He thought that he would not be afraid of shadow knights. However, he had not imagined that he almost suffered a great loss from Gao Tianzhao. If not the manifestation of his emperor-level cultivation method at the critical moment, Zhang Tie really dared not imagine about the outcome of this battle.


    Although he was to be congratulated for defeating Gao Tianzhao and making a great achievement; after the battle, Zhang Tie was deeply impressed by Gao Tianzhao''s ability in the stomach of Heavens-eaten Boa which was close to the realm and the terrifying power of his emperor-level secret method.


    After this combat, Zhang Tie knew that the difference in levels would always be insurmountable in many cases. ''Shadow knights, heavenly knights, sage-level knights, all these people have greater power than me. Although I have a lot of trump cards and a great power, it''s not the right moment for me to be pleased. I still have a long way to go. More and more powerful opponents would appear.''


    ''If I want to be more powerful and defeat enemies and opponents unconditionally, I have to improve my level and overall strength. The ability of divine dominator is limited; however, the power of higher level is most effective. If I''ve long promoted to a shadow knight before this combat, I could even defeat Gao Tianzhao without exposing the trump card that I''m a divine dominator.''


    When he thought about the manifestation of King Roc Sutra in the stomach of Heavens-eaten Boa, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but raise his palm and look at it. Not until now did Zhang Tie feel that what happened just now was as unbelievable as a dream. All of a sudden, he had grasped the secret skill "break" in King Roc Sutra, which was especially used to curb the real bodies of virtual images of dragons, snakes and all the mutated beasts in the sky, in the underground space and in the abyss realm which had the bloodlines of dragons and snakes. This secret skill was the manifestation of the dignity and killing intent of king roc. With the imposing power of the secret skill "break", all the real bodies of virtual images of dragons and snakes, all the species which shared the bloodlines with dragons and snakes would be easily destroyed whether they were special species in the wild or mutated beasts no matter how high level was the cultivation method practiced by that knight.


    Zhang Tie was really shocked by the power of the secret skill "break" of the emperor-level cultivation method. Not until then did Zhang Tie realize how unrivaled was a complete emperor-level cultivation method. ''If I had the complete version of King Roc Sutra, I should have long grasped the secret skill "break" instead of gaining such an insight in the extreme environment in the stomach of the Heavens-eaten Boa responding to the qi of King Roc Sutra.''


    Of course Zhang Tie was happy that he could grasp the secret skill "break"; however, when he realized that King Roc Sutra must contain more than one secret skill "break", Zhang Tie felt faintly regretful and disappointed. It was completely fortunate for him to grasp this secret skill "break"; however, what about the next time?


    Now that an emperor-level cultivation method could have such a terrifying power, how powerful would be Emperor Xuanyuan who had grasped the complete emperor-level sutra Xuanyuan God Sutra and had long promoted to sage-level knight? Even so, demons were still invading Taixia Country and Emperor Xuanyuan was missing. Did it mean that some powers were greater than sage-level knights who cultivated emperor-level secret method? It seemed that even sage-level knights who cultivated emperor-level secret method could not be free-will and almighty; otherwise, demons should have long disappeared in the world; neither could Han Zhengfang hide his real identity for so many years.


    ''All the powers have their limits. In another word, the powers that humans could control have their maximal limit. Even Emperor Xuanyuan couldn''t eliminate demons, not to mention me.''


    Zhang Tie watched his palm as a lot of thoughts flashed in his mind. He gradually thought through something and became relaxed.


    Only when a person looked at the stars in the sky while standing high could he find that he was trivial.


    Sometimes, if a person could admit that he was trivial and weak and desert his arrogance and illusion, he might live in a more comfortable and freer way.


    Because of being trivial, humans would pursue immortality and greatness; because of being trivial, it would be meaningful for humans to struggle and fight.


    Zhang Tie let out a long sigh as if he had cast off a heavy burden.


    Zhang Tie was clear what a great stress he was sustaining inside in the last few days.


    When Zhang Tie was in meditation, Heller just stood aside quietly as he kept watching Zhang Tie''s face with profound and wise eyes.


    "It''s demons who are making disasters and massacres in the western provinces of Taixia Country; instead of Castle Lord. Even if Castle Lord didn''t participate in it, it would happen too. All this doesn''t exist because of you. Even though Castle Lord has Castle of Black Iron, you still couldn''t change anything; additionally, Castle Lord has exerted your utmost efforts to do what you could. Because of Castle Lord, many people have survived in Taixia Country; additionally, Taixia Country and humans could have greater abilities to fight demons. Cheer up, Castle Lord. Sometimes, if you bear too much stress and a sense of responsibility due to excessive kindness, it might not be good! Demons would not kill fewer people or make less trouble because of you..."


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie realized that Heller knew what he thought and what great stress and remorse he was sustaining these days...

 1298 The Dungeon in

    "You''re right. After seeing too many refugees in Taixia Country and finding that I couldn''t help them a lot, I felt a bit depressed!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile. Closely after that, he shook his head and said, "Whereas, I''ve already thought it through. I don''t need to consider too many things. It''s better to form my water chakra as soon as possible than thinking about so many uncertainties in the future. In this world, many problems couldn''t even be solved by Emperor Xuanyuan. I only need to try my best. No matter what, I''m the greatest winner in this combat. 1 shadow knight, 5 earth knights and 3 black iron knights came to increase my cultivation base as if they were virgins of wealth. That''s amazing!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Heller revealed a smile as he replied, "It''s nice that Castle Lord could think in this way. Speaking of increasing your cultivation base, Castle Lord has not entered Castle of Black Iron and taken any fruit for a long time."


    After hearing Heller''s implication, Zhang Tie turned around and looked at the small tree in the far.


    Under his naked eyes, the entire small tree was covered with fruits of redemption, which almost made Zhang Tie dizzy. Before walking to the front of the small tree, Zhang Tie had identified the properties of those fruits of redemption.


    The fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs counted most. At the sight of them, Zhang Tie found that there were dozens of fruits of redemption, which also included gratitude from earthworms, sea gulfs and hairy shells.


    Zhang Tie immediately knew that Paul who had always been busy outside had finally found stable channels to purchase and set free golden uangs and earthworms once again after the termination of the supply side.


    Zhang Tie felt pretty good at once as he burst out into laughter. To be honest, these fruits felt more genial than demon knights. All the demon knights looked disgusting; however, these fruits felt pretty intimate. A single fruit might not be more effective than a single demon knight; however, if he took these fruits day after day, he would gain an unquantifiable improvement in his battle strength. One fruit of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs would be able to increase Zhang Tie''s overall strength by over 70 kg.


    "Castle Lord, which do you want first, the water chakra of those demon knights or the fruits?" Heller asked.


    "Hahaha, of course, step by step. I will digest the water chakras of those demon b*stards first. As for these fruits, leave them here for the time being as good scenery. I''ve not been so happy for a long time..." Zhang Tie said as he threw a glance at the small tree for a couple of times before walking towards the dungeon beneath the palace tree with a big smile. All the demon knights that he had just teleported into Castle of Black Iron, Ockham and Gao Tianzhao were locked up in the dungeon beneath the palace tree which was specially designed for them. A corner of the lobby of the palace tree led to the dungeon.


    It was brightly-lit in the tunnel. Although the dungeon was beneath the palace tree, it was not gloomy and dirty at all. It was at most a bit cold and solemn.


    As long as these demon knights and knights of Three-eye Association fell in the hand of Heller, they would never escape away no matter how powerful they were. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not worried about it at all.


    Each cell in the dungeon covered about 30 square meters which independently locked up those knight prisoners that Zhang Tie had caught. As Zhang Tie made such a great achievement today, Edward, Aziz and Agan were all busy doing their work in the dungeon by "disarming" the knights who were in coma and sent them to their "exclusive guestroom", making them Zhang Tie''s "live bears" or "sacrificial offerings"...


    This process might be pretty cruel; however, Zhang Tie was ruthless about those demons, members of Heavens Reaching Church even Ockham who came from Sacred Light Empire; because these b*stards had caused much more pains than what they were suffering at this moment. Zhang Tie was actually doing a good deed by crippling these b*stards. On the contrary, if Zhang Tie fell in their hands, they would also be ruthless to Zhang Tie.


    The moment Zhang Tie''s footsteps resonated in the tunnel of the dungeon, a sound of drawing iron chains had drifted from a cell in the dungeon. Before Zhang Tie reached that place, two arms had been stretched out of the iron rails as they were waving crazily as if they wanted to grab a life-saving straw. At the same time, a miserable voice drifted from the cell, "Let me out, please, let me out...I''m the sacred light chief priest of the eastern parish of Sacred Light Empire...as long as you let me out, I could meet all your demands..."


    Zhang Tie approached it as he turned his head and saw a beggar with messy hair and weak qi screaming loudly in his cell while watching outside with a poor and mad look. The previous supreme sacred light chief priest of the eastern parish of Sacred Light Empire had been on the brink of collapse only after he was teleported into Castle of Black Iron and his water chakra was absorbed by Zhang Tie for a few months.


    "I know you...you''re Zhang Tie...you''re the king of Ice and Snow Wilderness...as long as you let me out...I could do everything for you..." Ockham stretched out his hands and wanted to grab Zhang Tie as he roared in the cell like he was mad. Besides his water chakra which had not been completely collapsed, his battle strength had been reduced to LV 9 when he couldn''t even release his battle qi.


    Zhang Tie threw an icy glance at Ockham. Without saying anything to him, Zhang Tie continued to walk forward...


    "I know many secrets of Sacred Light Empire...I''ve got many subordinates in Sacred Light Empire...The entire eastern parish of Sacred Light Empire belongs to me..." Ockham shouted exhaustively behind Zhang Tie which resonated in the tunnel. Zhang Tie just walked forward like hearing nothing as he asked Heller, "Can this guy be another Zhang Gui?"


    Heller revealed a faint smile as he said, "As long as Castle Lord recover his water chakra and destroy it once again, it would be easy to do it. Greedy people are always more afraid of death than commoners. As a religious organization, now that Sacred Light Church could dominate 10 billion followers in one region of Western Continent and manage the entire country strictly, they must have unique secret methods, which might match Soul Forbidden Method in some aspects. As the sacred light chief priest of Sacred Light Empire, Ockham must know the secrets. Besides his water chakra and wealth, Castle Lord could extract more things from him step by step..."

 1299 A Great Return

    Heller''s words made Zhang Tie''s heart pound. If he could really control Ockham spiritually and physically, it would be very meaningful. If a secret method could control a shadow knight like Ockham, not to mention earth knights and black iron knights.


    However, Zhang Tie was a bit suspicious whether Sacred Light Empire really had such a secret method which could match Soul Forbidden Method in some aspects. Nevertheless, Zhang Tie didn''t care whether there was such a secret method or not; it was good if he could find one; if not, it didn''t matter. Because he had already got the Bloody Soul Sutra and the Great Wilderness Sutra. Although such kind of secret methods might make others drool, they were just so-so for Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie realized that it was better to make himself stronger than controlling others.


    "It''s good if there''s such a secret method; if there isn''t, it''s okay. Before lighting the last scale on my water chakra, I should get one fruit of bloodline and one fruit of brilliance by killing a shadow knight. I''m sure I will make full use of him!" Zhang Tie responded to Heller''s words. Zhang Tie suddenly thought about something as he asked, "Oh, I always forget it. Does Gao Tianzhao carry some good items? The real body of the virtual image of Heavens-eaten Boa is something that I could learn from..."


    "Gao Tianzhao only carries an ordinary space-teleportation equipment. I''ve already helped Castle Lord put it in the equipment warehouse. His space-teleportation equipment only contains some food, medicaments, millions of gold coins and some weapons made of abyss iron. Perhaps, he knew the danger of ambushing Castle Lord; therefore, Gao Tianzhao didn''t carry regular cultivation method with him."


    "Alright!" Zhang Tie shook his head as he didn''t care about it. Heller''s words were reasonable. Real battlefields between humans and demons were covered with dangers. Even though knights carried a portable space-teleportation equipment, they barely carried any important secret methods when in missions. It was similar to commoners who would not carry their passbook when going to the battlefield.


    As for the new space-teleportation equipment, Zhang Tie didn''t even feel like taking a look at it. Nobody else across Taixia Country might have such a temperament of mushroom.


    Cells in the dungeon were a bit far away from each other. Additionally, Heller had Edward, Aziz and Agan set rune tricks between cells in order to control these prisoners. Even though there was a tunnel beside cells, the sound would also be isolated by the devices in the middle line of the two cells. Therefore, even though two knights were neighboring each other, they couldn''t make any communications. Heller said that such an environment would easily make people collapse mentally.


    As expected, when Zhang Tie and Heller passed by the middle line between Ockham''s cell and the other cell, Ockham''s voice had disappeared at once, leaving the footsteps of Zhang Tie and Heller alone.


    The direct descendant of Augulas Clan that Zhang Tie captured from Earth-elements Realm was neighboring Ockham. From this guy''s mouth, Zhang Tie knew that one of top 9 ministers in Taixia Country colluded with demons and finally figured out that it was Han Zhengfang who framed him in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Zhang Tie felt this guy was a bit special. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see a demon knight who was afraid of death. Given that this guy would be useful in the future, Zhang Tie just locked it up in the dungeon.


    Compared to Ockham, this black iron demon knight was more afraid of Zhang Tie. Watching Zhang Tie coming over here, it directly hid in a corner of the wall of his cell as it lowered its head and quivered all over. The longer it stayed in Castle of Black Iron, the clearer this demon knight would be about Zhang Tie''s terror and the outcome of those demon knights in Zhang Tie''s hands...


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at it as if he was watching a bizarre clown. After gazing at this black iron demon knight for half more second than Ockham, Zhang Tie directly passed by without leaving any word.


    ...


    Edward, Aziz and Agan were soaking Gao Tianzhao who had completely lost his resistance with special medicaments. It would take them some time to keep Gao Tianzhao alive and crippled. At the sight of Zhang Tie, they hurriedly came out of the cell to bow towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie directly waved his hand as he asked them about the locations of those earth demon knights. Closely after that, he walked towards the cells of those earth wing demon knights.


    When Zhang Tie came to the front of the cell of the first wing earth demon knight, the cell''s door opened automatically. The earth wing demon knight was completely in a coma. Zhang Tie directly walked over there as he put his hand on its head. At the same time, he started to trigger his Purgatory Samsara Method to refine the water chakra of this earth wing demon knight...


    In a coma, the earth wing demon knight suddenly woke up due to great pain. However, under Zhang Tie''s hand, the earth wing demon knight just struggled weakly like a chick or duck whose neck had been broken by a butcher by flapping its broken wings...


    A few minutes later, Zhang Tie opened his eyes.


    When Zhang Tie opened his eyes, it meant that the water chakra that this earth wing demon knight had been trying to form over these years had been broken and refined by Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie nodded satisfactorily. The water elements in the water chakra of this earth wing demon knights were very dense which felt greater than half of the number of water elements in the water chakra of Ockham. It seemed that this earth wing demon knight should be at least in 6 change earth realm.


    After dropping the paralyzed earth wing demon knight, Zhang Tie changed another cell with a big smile like a hyper pimp.


    The earth wing demon knight in the second cell was different than that in the first cell. This earth wing demon knight was slightly injured. When Zhang Tie entered its cell, it had already woken up. Watching Zhang Tie coming in, although being fastened by rune chains, this earth wing demon knight still struggled to charge at Zhang Tie with red eyes.


    Watching this earth wing demon knight, Zhang Tie sneered. ''It couldn''t defeat me when being a healthy earth knight, not to mention now when it''s almost like a LV 9 fighter. Zhang Tie almost completely ignored how it bared its fangs and brandished its claws. Like how an adult bullied a toddler, Zhang Tie directly walked over there and broke its hand easily, causing a cracking sound. Closely after, he put his hand on the head of this earth wing demon knight...


    With the effect of Purgatory Samsara Method, the earth wing demon knight felt that his water chakra started to be shattered. In great pain, the earth wing demon knight who was pretty fierce just now revealed its fearful look for the first time as it screamed, "Purgatory Samsara Method...you grasped Purgatory Samsara Method...kill me...kill me...everything of me belongs to the demons'' god...including my chakra...you mean human...dirty burglar and blasphemer...kill me if you have guts...kill me...argh..."


    Zhang Tie continued to run his Purgatory Samsara Method without even blinking his eyes. Only after a few minutes, when Zhang Tie started to absorb its water chakra, the earth wing demon knight finally widely opened its bloody eyes with anger, breaking its lips by teeth and passing out due to the great pain physically and spiritually when its water chakra was drawn away by Zhang Tie.


    If this earth wing demon knight was a human knight, he must be an admirable tough man based on his performance. Actually, most demon knights could be so dauntless. Pitifully, Zhang Tie was on the opposite stance with demons. The dauntless spirit of the demon knight didn''t move Zhang Tie at all. Zhang Tie still did what he wanted without any halt.


    A few minutes later, Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he walked to the other cell, which was then filled with the furious and hopeless swear and painful screams of the earth wing demon knight...


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie left the 5th cell. As he absorbed too many water elements at once using Purgatory Samsara Method, his face turned red while oozing sweat heavily. He even felt being drunk when he left there. It seemed that he needed some time to digest these water elements. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to encounter such a situation. Previously, Zhang Tie had not imagined that it could have such a "side effect" by absorbing too many elements using Purgatory Samsara Method at once.


    "Castle Lord, are you all right?" Heller felt ridiculous about Zhang Tie''s look.


    "I''m fine. As I''ve attached too many water elements to my water chakra at once, I''ve not fully digested these water elements. It''s out of my imagination that too many water elements could influence the work of the other two chakras and the circulation of my qi and blood. I will come to refine Gao Tianzhao''s water chakra next time..." Oozing sweat all over his face, Zhang Tie told Heller while panting, "I will digest and form these water elements first. Take good care of these earth wing demon knights. I will offer a bloody sacrifice with them when I come back. 5 earth wing demon knights and some black iron wing demon knights could recover Ockham''s water chakra for sure..."


    "Fine, don''t worry, Castle Lord!"


    After telling Heller about that, Zhang Tie left the dungeon and returned to his cultivation room in the palace tree. Regardless of those fruits on the small tree, he immediately entered closed cultivation and started to digest and form the enormous water elements that he absorbed from the 5 earth wing demon knights.


    That''s really a bumper harvest. Besides providing enormous water elements to Zhang Tie, the 5 earth wing demon knights could work as top-class sacrificial offerings to the bloody sacrifice furnace. With these materials for bloody sacrifice, Zhang Tie could extract the gall from an alive bear once again...


    Before this enclosed cultivation, Zhang Tie had only lit less than 181 scales on his water chakra after absorbing the water chakra of Ockham and had just entered 5 change earth realm. In this enclosed cultivation, Zhang Tie felt that he could definitely make much greater progress than any time before...

 1300 A Terrifying Leap in Battle Strength

    It took Zhang Tie 5 days to completely digest the water elements that he drew from the 5 earth wing demon knights and made them a part of his water chakra.


    Zhang Tie had just made an improvement in his overall strength after promoting to 6 change earth realm a few days ago. As he absorbed too many water elements from the 5 earth wing demon knights, after Zhang Tie fully absorbed the water elements and made them a part of his water chakra, he found that he had lit 63 more scales. With 8 more scales, he would be able to break through 7 change earth realm and gain the secondary improvement in his overall strength during this closed cultivation.


    After absorbing the water chakra of Ockham, Zhang Tie had just lit about 20 scales on his water chakra; however, the 5 earth wing demon knights helped him light 3 times more scales. Except for that he lit after absorbing the water elements from Han Zhengfang, he lit most scales on his water chakra this time.


    Zhang Tie stood up and warmed up his body. Besides sensing the changes in all aspects after reaching the 6 change earth realm, he also had a sensation of hunger. Therefore, he walked out of his cultivation room.


    Heller and Zhang Tie''s 3 servants had long prepared a lot of nutritious food and drinks for Zhang Tie in the dining hall of the palace tree.


    During this closed cultivation, Zhang Tie had entered 6 change earth realm. He updated his body in all aspects once again. Therefore, after leaving his cultivation room, Zhang Tie urgently needed to replenish nutrients and energy. He could only gain them from food.


    It took Zhang Tie 2 hours to finish his first dinner after leaving the cultivation room. After consuming delicious food full of vital essence produced in Castle of Black Iron as much as that of 6 tough men and drinking two dozens of vials of all-purpose medicaments, Zhang Tie burped as the faint sense of hunger that he felt after promoting to 6 change earth realm and the slight tension that had existed for over 2 months since he entered the theater of operations finally disappeared.


    When Zhang Tie was eating, Heller just stood behind Zhang Tie in a black ceremonial robe corresponding to his status. In front of Zhang Tie''s table, Edward in the snow-white uniform of cook was standing in front of a circular kneading board which was covered with various ingredients. Edward would make food for Zhang Tie on the spot when he saw which dish Zhang Tie liked. Aziz and Agan in the clothes of waiters were busy serving dishes and drinks to Zhang Tie or helping Edward to prepare for the ingredients.


    The best ingredients, the best cooks, the freshest delicious food, the best drinks, the most considerate steward. All was so comfortable and pleasant here. That was a living style that Zhang Tie pursued for, whether it was a feature of nobility or the enjoyment of a mushroom!


    After having food, Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside satisfactorily. ''If people could live such a pleasant life every day, who the motherf*cking would like to fight on battlefields at the risk of their lives?''


    "Heller, whether those demon b*stards are lunatic? Humans live on the earth''s surface; demons live in the underground space. We just live our own lives respectively. The subterranean layer between demons and humans is so thick. Additionally, there''re abundant materials on both earth''s surface and in the underground space, each party could live well. But why demons always think about having a fight, ruling and eliminating humans?" Zhang Tie said with a helpless sigh after cleaning his mouth by a snow-white napkin.


    "Everything has a reason. Castle Lord could only seek for it yourself!"


    Zhang Tie was just complaining about that casually. However, he had not imagined that Heller could reply him in such a solemn and profound manner. Therefore, Zhang Tie turned around and threw a glance at Heller. Heller told Zhang Tie with a slight smile, "Gao Tianzhao has been stabilized. Castle Lord, do you want to refine his water chakra right now?"


    "No need to be that hasty. I will do that after adapting to the 6 change earth realm!" Zhang Tie replied as he looked at his palm. Only after lightly clenching his fist, a boom had happened in the air, causing the tableware to jump up. After promoting to 6 change earth realm, Zhang Tie felt that he had reached a new height in all aspects. He had made great progress in spiritual energy, strength, speed, defensive capability and the perception of his knight''s consciousness. As a result, his overall strength had increased by another 10%.


    Sometimes, if one''s battle strength improved too fast, his body and combat consciousness had to adapt to such a change; otherwise, he would make silly mistakes in combat.


    "Castle Lord, Gao Tianzhao could wait; however, those fruits on the small tree couldn''t wait anymore; otherwise, new fruits would have no place to bear..."


    "What does that mean?"


    "Castle Lord could take a look over there!"


    When Zhang Tie came to the lobby of the palace tree and caught sight of the small tree, he widely opened his mouth at once. Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could see such an exaggerated scene.


    Before Zhang Tie entered the closed cultivation, Zhang Tie had been shocked by over 40 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs on the small tree. It was out of his imagination that there were 5 times more fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs only after less than 1 week. Zhang Tie found the small tree was fruitful and was almost bent over. There were at least 160 fruits of redemption from golden uangs on the small tree.


    Zhang Tie was so pleased with the bumper harvest.


    After making a circle around the small tree, Zhang Tie found that there were 177 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs. That was amazing!


    ''Did Paul buy all the golden uangs across Taixia Country and set them free? How fruitful it is!''


    Zhang Tie almost took out his remote-sensing crystal to contact Paul; however, when he realized that he was in Castle of Black Iron where remote-sensing communications could be isolated, Zhang Tie stopped.


    ''Something happened for sure!'' Zhang Tie thought. However, it was a good thing for him because these fruits would finally enter his stomach.


    "Wait until I digest the food..."


    Watching those fruits, Zhang Tie touched his belly. After saying that, Zhang Tie directly flew out of the palace tree.


    After a short while, dense booms had drifted from the training ground which covered over 1,200 square miles.


    In order to adapt to the overall strength of 6 change earth realm and digest the food that he had just taken, Zhang Tie immediately started a fierce live drill in the training field of Castle of Black Iron; instead of entering the trouble-reappearance situation.


    6 hours later, Zhang Tie flew back to the lobby of the palace tree while oozing sweat all over. Closely after that, he came to the side of the small tree and started to engulf those fruits one after another.


    After taking one fruit of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs, he could immediately increase his strength by 71.5 kg.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could enjoy so many fruits once. After eating 177 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs, Zhang Tie felt that his body was almost broken by a great strength from inside. The blood in the vessels that covered his muscles all over his body was as hot and powerful as magma.


    Besides his blood that started to turn hot, Zhang Tie''s muscles, tendons and bones all over started to slightly rock. Zhang Tie''s boa silk robe had already been broken into pieces by that great strength from inside unconsciously.


    Besides increasing Zhang Tie''s strength, the fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs also helped Zhang Tie adapt to this strength.


    After taking the last fruit of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs, Zhang Tie felt a dragon was running here and there inside his body. He uttered a long exclamation. Closely after that, the Thor''s Hammer appeared in his hand once again as he flashed out of the lobby of the palace tree.


    Only after a short while, louder booms drifted to the palace tree from the training field outside immortal mountain once again.


    After a few more hours, Zhang Tie in rags flashed back to the lobby of palace tree as he screamed, "It''s not enough; it''s not enough; the 6.8 ton Thor''s Hammer is too light, too light..." Zhang Tie looked around as he asked, "Where''s Edward? Where''s Edward?"


    "Castle Lord, your loyal servant is here." Edward immediately flashed out of Heller''s back.


    "Build a proper weapon for me as soon as possible. It should be at least 15 tons in weight..."


    "Castle Lord, what type of weapon do you want? Do you have any requirements on the materials?"


    "A hammer. No request on its materials. The firmer the better. Can you finish it before I leave my cultivation room next time?"


    "No problem, all as you will!" Edward hurriedly replied as his eyes turned squint.


    After assigning a task to Edward, Zhang Tie walked towards the dungeon excitedly once again, regardless of his rags. When he reached the entrance of the dungeon, he stretched out his hand to draw the door; however, as his strength was too great, the entire iron gate was pulled off from the wall. The copper knocker was completely transformed. Zhang Tie was startled by himself.


    That was the result of increasing over 12 tons'' strength once.


    "Castle Lord, don''t worry. I will deal with it, let me do it, let me do it..." Edward hurriedly ran over here.


    Touching his head, Zhang Tie put aside the door.


    "Castle Lord, as you have too great strength, you''d better control your strength in case of pinching Gao Tianzhao to death. Gao Tianzhao has no ability to resist you at all. Otherwise, it would be too wasteful..." Heller reminded Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie nodded his head forcefully.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie saw Gao Tianzhao once again, he found Gao Tianzhao was much better. His wounds had almost been cured. The big hole on his chest had disappeared. Additionally, he wore a set of clothes. Otherwise, it would be too embarrassing for Zhang Tie to absorb his water chakra as they would make physical contact...


    "Zhang Tie..." At the sight of Zhang Tie, Gao Tianzhao felt like watching a ghost as he changed his face right away. Even the black pigmented nevus between his eyebrows started to quiver. He shouted, "Where am I? How could you be here? That divine dominator from Penglai Immortal Island is really on your side. What did you do to me? Is this the dungeon of Blackwater Base? Why didn''t Ye Qingcheng come here? I warn you..."


    After his real body of the virtual image of Heavens-eaten Boa was broken by Zhang Tie, Gao Tianzhao had been in a coma. He didn''t know what happened afterward. He even didn''t know that he was in Castle of Black Iron; neither did he know that the divine dominator he was referring to was Zhang Tie. He still thought that he was in the dungeon of Blackwater Base...


    What a poor guy!


    In this case, Zhang Tie didn''t even feel like explaining it to Gao Tianzhao. After all, this guy had been destined to die like the fish on the kneading board.


    In the widely opened eyes of Gao Tianzhao, Zhang Tie immediately put his huge hand on Gao Tianzhao''s head.


    "Don''t dream about capturing my soul. I''ve long known that you''ve grasped Soul Forbidden Method, but it doesn''t work on me. Soul Forbidden Method originated from our Bloody Soul Temple. When I grasped Soul Forbidden Method, you were still a baby in diapers..." Gao Tianzhao revealed a scornful sneer.


    "Idiot..." Zhang Tie threw a cold glance at Gao Tianzhao.


    Only after a few seconds, Gao Tianzhao''s eyes had almost popped out as he quivered all over. At the same time, he changed his face greatly while uttering, "Argh..." At that time, Gao Tianzhao finally understood why Zhang Tie treated him so well. "Purgatory Samsara Method...you''re using Purgatory Samsara Method...how could you grasp it...what''s the relationship between you and alchemist''s demon...ahh, you''re alchemist''s demon''s disciple..."


    In crazy screams, Gao Tianzhao passed out at once while foaming at the mouth.


    After refining and absorbing the complete water chakra of Gao Tianzhao, Zhang Tie smacked his lips as he dropped Gao Tianzhao who had been in coma once again.


    After dealing with Gao Tianzhao, Zhang Tie immediately brought Ockham back to the lobby of the palace tree. Like Gao Tianzhao, Ockham also wondered what Zhang Tie wanted to do with it. However, now that it was in such a magnificent lobby, it must be not a bad thing.


    Ockham even thought that Zhang Tie had finally "realized its value" after listening to what it told Zhang Tie yesterday...


    However, Ockham soon became fearful when it saw Zhang Tie taking the bloody sacrifice furnace out of the void in the lobby of the palace tree and some demon knights being brought here by Zhang Tie''s subordinates. When Ockham itself was put on the altar of the bloody sacrifice furnace by Zhang Tie, it almost collapsed spiritually.


    Although it had not seen a bloody sacrifice furnace, Ockham didn''t feel good on the altar.


    "Ahh, don''t kill me...I''m the sacred light chief priest of Sacred Light Empire...if you kill me...Sacred Light Empire will revenge you..." Ockham started to talk rubbish.


    "Don''t worry. How could I kill you? I''m just curing your disease!" Zhang Tie said as he manipulated the bloody sacrifice furnace adroitly. Closely after that, Agan, Aziz and Edward put those demon knights into the furnace one after another.


    When the first earth wing demon knight was put into the bloody sacrifice furnace, a warm glow fell on Ockham''s body. Compared to the pains when Zhang Tie refined its water chakra using Purgatory Samsara Method a few days ago, this process was so comfortable that Ockham almost started to groan.


    After putting 4 earth wing demon knights and 3 black iron wing demon knights into the bloody sacrifice furnace, Zhang Tie stopped after receiving the message from the bloody sacrifice furnace.


    It would take Ockham some time to recover his water chakra once again. After doing all this, Zhang Tie had Agan and the other two servants brought Ockham back into its cell.


    When Ockham was immersed in the warm glow at the beginning, it was a bit happy. however, later on, it found that the glow could only work on its water chakra which had been refined and destroyed by Zhang Tie, Ockham immediately knew why Zhang Tie would cure him. Therefore, when it was taken back into the dungeon, Ockham started to wail mournfully once again with a pale look.


    "Let me out, please, let me out...I''m the sacred light chief priest of the eastern parish of Sacred Light Empire...as long as you let me out, I could promise you everything...I''ve got a lot of subordinates in Sacred Light Empire...the entire eastern parish of Sacred Light Empire belongs to me..."


    Zhang Tie ignored Ockham. After doing this, he started to enter closed cultivation once again.


    ...


    It took him 3 days to digest the water elements from Gao Tianzhao''s water chakra.


    Gao Tianzhao''s water chakra was much greater than that of Ockham''s with more quantity of water elements. As a result, Zhang Tie lit 26 more scales on his water chakra and had reached 270 scales in total. In only 3 days, Zhang Tie had entered 7 change earth realm and gained another improvement in all aspects.


    Like how he left his cultivation room last time, Zhang Tie enjoyed dinner at first. After that, he took 51 more fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs. Then, Zhang Tie started his training on the training field outside the immortal mountain with the new 15-ton battle hammer that had just been built by Edward so as to adapt to his new strength and abilities.


    Because Zhang Tie took 51 more fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs, his strength increased by another over 3,600 kg. As he had not completely adapted to the strength that he gained last time, this round of training and adaption took him 2 days. When Zhang Tie changed the 15-ton battle hammer into a 3 kg'' ordinary longsword which was made of high-quality steel and didn''t shatter the longsword while launching a casual strike with the longsword, he had basically adapted to his new strength.


    After that, Ockham experienced the same pain when its water chakra was drawn and refined by Zhang Tie once again; it even wanted to die.


    3 days later, Zhang Tie left his cultivation room after entering 8 change earth realm...

 1301 Exiting

    When a 680 kg golden spear hit onto the ground which was covered with holes at a speed of over 9,000 m per second, it released over 27 billion Joules'' kinetic energy. As a result, it caused an earthquake and a terrifying big hole on the ground in a split second. Its impact wave reached over 2,000 m away with great destructive power.


    Before the golden spear''s impact wave completely disappeared, a figure in pitch-dark battle armor had hit 3 over 100 m higher mountain peaks forcefully with his 6.8-ton battle hammer at the speed of over 6,600 m per second, releasing over 140 billion Joules energy once again.


    The impact of the later strike was much greater than that of the golden spear. The entire earth was quaking. Additionally, a huge mushroom cloud rose up. After everything became quiet, the figure in pitch-dark battle armor nodded in the sky before shaking his head.


    "Alas, it still feels as light as a kid''s wooden stick. However, a hammer which weighs over 20 tons couldn''t stand such a great impact. I wonder whether there''s any heavier silver secret item. Well, I prefer Thor''s Hammer..." The figure in the sky looked down before looking up as he muttered, "If I have such a great force of attack when I met Gao Tianzhao, I would never spare any chance for him to launch a counterattack. 2 months flew. I''ve already adapted to the 8 change earth realm; however, after eating over 600 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs, it''s really troublesome for me to adapt to my strength. After staying in Castle of Black Iron for so long, I should take a look outside. I really wonder about the current situation facing the theater of operations. I will take those fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs slowly later on. If I ate too many at once, I would have to spend a long time adapting to it. How''s Paul? I''ve not imagined that even the fruit of redemption which could grant me a medium recovery body will become ripe because of what he did..."


    After saying that, the figure stood still in the sky for a short while. Finally, he threw a glance at the distance before shooting towards the immortal mountain in the far...


    The fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs were indeed alluring. After eating at least 8 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs each day, Zhang Tie''s strength was steadily growing. After taking fruits, he would adapt to his growing strength and improve his battle skill. Even though Zhang Tie had entered 8 change earth realm, he still couldn''t help staying for a longer time in Castle of Black Iron while being allured by the strength of golden uangs.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie thought that these fruits wouldn''t continue to grow on the small tree. However, after staying almost 2 months in the Castle of Black Iron, he still could gain fruits every day. Zhang Tie even dreamed about eating up all the fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs before leaving there. By the way, he wanted to see whether there were some other rewards on the small tree.


    The fact was that the small tree could totally bear over 1800 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs. Zhang Tie had eaten fewer than 700. If he determined to the eat up all these fruits, he had to wait for another 4-5 months in Castle of Black Iron.


    However, after considering the urgent battle situation outside, Zhang Tie gave up this thought as he decided to leave Castle of Black Iron.


    ...


    Half an hour later, a figure flashed out of the void in the hot underground space.


    Everything remained as same as that 2 months ago. However, Zhang Tie had changed a lot. Compared to that person 2 months ago, Zhang Tie was full of a shocking qi at this moment. With a sense of surging strength and great confidence, Zhang Tie felt overwhelmed while standing there.


    Zhang Tie had entered 8 change earth realm. After taking over 600 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs, Zhang Tie''s strength increased by 42,000 kg. A weapon weighing dozens of tons could be brandished freely and rapidly by him. Additionally, he finally promoted to medium recovery body from preliminary recovery body, which meant a sharp improvement in his invisible power.


    Soon after exiting Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie had contacted Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory instead of paying too much attention to the surrounding environment.


    Only after 1 minute, Zhang Tie had got his answer as he let out a sigh and muttered, "I see..."


    The reason that the small tree could bear fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs constantly over the past 2 months lay in that Paul had finally found the stable supply channels of golden uangs. Paul established long-term trade ties with three major clans in Taixia Country which raised golden uangs on a large scale, namely Lu Clan of Yunzhou Province, Peng Clan of Qingzhou Province and Song Clan of Huizhou Province.


    The number of golden uangs raised by the above 3 major clans occupied over 50% of the total supply of golden uangs across Taixia Country. Previously, Zhang Tie purchased golden uangs from a local clan in Taixia Country. Later on, that clan ended the cooperation with Paul facing the stress from the Gobbling Party. At that time, Lu Clan of Yunzhou Province, Peng Clan of Qingzhou Province and Song Clan of Huizhou Province told Paul that they had no quota for Youzhou Province as they were afraid of the power of the Gobbling Party too.


    A few days ago, after Paul returned to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and met Zhang Tie''s wives in Iron Heart Palace, they planned to allure the three major clans by the interest of Fiery Oil. After hearing that, Lu Clan of Yunzhou Province, Peng Clan of Qingzhou Province and Song Clan of Hui Zhou Clan immediately forgot about the stress facing the Gobbling Party and shifted to the side of Fire-Dragon Territory as they started to provide golden uangs to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory with the largest quotas.


    Although Zhang Tie''s wives didn''t know why Zhang Tie told Paul to set living beings free, they all supported him whatever he wanted unconditionally. During the past 2 months, they even established an exclusive agency called Setting Free Group under the leadership of Paul. There were already over 200 members in Setting Free Group, who were responsible for setting living beings free at the order of Zhang Tie. Iron Heart Palace would support them at full efforts from manpower, material resources, and financial resources. With the support of Zhang Tie''s wives and the concerted efforts of over 200 members of Setting Free Group under the leadership of Paul, fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs were produced every day. Not only setting free golden uangs, the Setting Free Group even paid higher attention to setting free earthworms in an amazing high efficiency.


    Zhang Tie was shocked by the high efficiency of Iron Heart Palace and Setting Free Group. Previously, Zhang Tie just set living beings free stealthily out of many concerns. He didn''t prioritize the production of fruits of redemption; therefore, his schedule proceeded slowly. Actually, he should have long established a Setting Free Group.


    When the small tree could bear fewer and fewer kinds of fruits, the functions of the fruit of redemption grew increasingly more outstanding. Additionally, as long as he put into enough financial resources and manpower, he would gain fruits of redemption at an amazing speed and increase his strength sharply in a short period. It was a shortcut to increase his strength sharply...


    ''Based on my fame and overall strength, I don''t care even if someone knows that I''m setting living beings free on a large scale. I have too much money and just like setting living beings free, so what?''


    After thinking through it, Zhang Tie became spirited at once as he realized the significance to have a lot of virtuous wives at home.


    After speaking highly of the Setting Free Group and the Iron Heart Palace and telling Setting Free Group to continue to run in this way, Zhang Tie ended his contact with Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    After that, Zhang Tie wanted to contact Blackwater Base. However, after looking around, Zhang Tie didn''t even know where he was. After staying in the belly of the Heavens-eaten Boa for a few hours, he estimated that he had been over 1,000 miles away from the winding, narrow tunnel. ''It would be funny if I couldn''t tell Blackwater Base about my precise location. How could I not know where I am recuperating?''


    ''I will go back to the earth surface first.''


    When Zhang Tie made up his mind, he immediately jumped into the magma pond while releasing his protective battle qi.


    There was indeed an underground magma lake outside the magma pond. After exiting the magma lake, Zhang Tie found a hole that led to the earth surface. Therefore, Zhang Tie flew upwards through that hole...


    ...


    10 minutes later, Zhang Tie flew out of a cave which was surrounded by mountains.


    After looking around, Zhang Tie saw a miserable scroll painting of war...


    Dense columns of smoke rushed into the sky from the earth outside these mountains. A large city was burning all over in the fiery flames. Besides, the villages and fields outside the city were also covered with dense smoke...


    There were thousands of airships in the sky, whose formation had been disrupted. They were escaping in all directions. When Zhang Tie flew out of the cave, as the greater part of air sacs of a war airship was burning, the large airship was frothing smoke as it dove all the way towards the earth. Like a fiery phoenix, it crashed onto the earth heavily and broke into parts in the flames. In this process, only some crew members who responded fast jumped off the airship while opening their parachutes in the sky.


    The moment a crew member opened his parachute, he had been shattered into bloody foam while his blood made the pure white parachute red.


    At this moment, a wing demon knight flashed by and punched another Hua crew member who jumped off the airship by parachute into blood foam. After that, it accelerated towards the closest airship. In the distance, dozens of columns of battle smoke and 4 battle qi tornadoes rushed into the sky as knights of Taixia Country were fighting a group of wing demons in the sky...

 1302 Seckill

    Coincidentally, the moment Zhang Tie flew out of the mountain cave, one of the escaping airships had rushed towards him, which was also the target of the wing demon knight.


    The airship was firing steam bolts towards that wing demon knight.


    Honeycomb-type steam ballista could fire hundreds of bolts at the same time. The huge bolts fired by the main ballista at the stern were as powerful as whale-hunting harpoons.


    However, due to the great difference in levels, the counterattack of the crew members looked pretty weak.


    The honeycomb-type steam ballista and the main ballista might threaten demons below battle spirits, but they couldn''t even break the protective battle qi of demon knights, not to mention a wing demon knight. Without the protection of human knights, it was impossible for human airships to defeat wing demon knights who were dominating the sky.


    The crew members on the airship were roaring as they kept firing at the wing demon knight. The captain seemingly had known the fate of this airship. Therefore, he drove the airship downwards the earth at a great angle of inclination. Before the wing demon knight destroyed this airship, the closer this airship was to the earth surface, the more crew members would survive.


    The wing demon knight directly rushed towards the airship without even dodging away from the bolts. In front of the wing demon knight, hundreds of bolts turned into dandelions as they were all blocked by its protective battle qi easily. When an over 1 m longer huge bolt fired by the main steam ballista came to the front of the wing demon knight, it was patted away by the wing demon knight casually.


    When the crew members launched the first round of strike towards the wing demon knight, they were over 2,000 m away; however, when they started the 4th round of strike, the wing demon knight had been 700 m away from the airship. Additionally, the wing demon knight didn''t even lose a hair.


    "Brothers, it''s time for us to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of the country by spraying our blood into the sky..." A military officer of Taixia Country roared on the deck at the stern as he released his battle qi totem "king snake". Fixing his eyes onto that wing demon knight, he spurted out a mouth of blood into the air before firing his bolt towards that wing demon knight through his own blood...


    It was not an ordinary bolt. When the bolt penetrated through the blood mist in the air, it absorbed all the blood at once; at the same time, it gave out a glow; closely after that, it burned and turned into the shape of a phoenix. The phoenix then stretched its wings and accelerated towards that wing demon knight abruptly.


    This military officer had already activated his ancestral bloodline; therefore, his bolt became absolutely special.


    When the burning phoenix reached over 100 m before the wing demon knight, the wing demon knight finally changed his look a bit; however, it still kept its route unchanged. The wing demon knight immediately punched out its bat-shaped battle qi towards that phoenix. After colliding with each other over 50 m ahead of the wing demon knight, they broke out a fierce flame and battle qi wave in the air. Before the flame disappeared, the wing demon knight had accelerated once again as it immediately narrowed the distance to 300 m. Additionally, it had fixed its eyes on that military officer who was standing on the deck at the stern of the airship with a grim smile.


    Wing demons hated human powerhouses who excelled at archery most. In the former 2 holy wars, human powerhouses in archery; especially Hua people who had awakened their ancestral bloodlines would be targeted by wing demons for sure.


    As he had just spurted out a mouth of blood, the Hua military officer looked pale. However, seeing the wing demon knight approaching him with full killing intent, the Hua military officer prepared to fire another bolt. Right then, he suddenly heard a voice, "Leave this wing demon knight to me. You have a nice ancestral bloodline..."


    After hearing the orthodox Hua language, the military officer immediately realized that it was the secret sound transmission skill of a knight-level powerhouse. Therefore, he gave up fighting the wing demon knight at the cost of his life...


    Zhang Tie moved too fast to be recognized by the military officer. When Zhang Tie''s sound reached the ears of the military officer, he had arrived in front of the wing demon knight while holding high his Thor''s Hammer...


    The wing demon knight didn''t notice Zhang Tie just now at all. After sensing that a human knight was approaching him rapidly and was only dozens of meters away from him, the wing demon knight was shocked too much as it used its instinct to punch a surging battle qi towards Zhang Tie.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, this wing demon knight''s movement was too slow. When the wing demon knight''s battle qi was going to touch Zhang Tie''s body, Zhang Tie immediately flashed away and came to the side of that wing demon knight. Closely after, he swung Thor''s Hammer at it...


    Zhang Tie used his ability as a divine dominator; therefore, he reached a high speed in a split second. At such a high speed, the Thor''s Hammer actually had carried great energy before it was swung at the wing demon knight. It was already a kinetic strike.


    A black iron wing demon knight was actually a piece of cake for Zhang Tie. In this case, how could it resist the destructive power of Zhang Tie''s kinetic strike? When the Thor''s Hammer touched the wing demon knight''s protective battle qi, its protective battle qi was immediately shattered as if it was as fragile as an eggshell. Closely after that, Zhang Tie''s Thor''s Hammer blew up the wing demon knight''s body, spraying over a blood rain.


    Under the gaze of so many people, it was not proper for Zhang Tie to knock it out and teleport it into Castle of Black Iron. He should save people as more as possible. Therefore, he killed the wing demon knight as soon as possible.


    After this wing demon knight was killed, no other wing demon knight was hunting airships in this air territory anymore; therefore, Zhang Tie directly flew towards the air territory above the city in the distance where human knights and demon knights were fighting ferociously.

 1303 An Unrivaled Strike I

    In the air territory covering hundreds of square miles, over 30 knights were fighting ferociously. As battle qi tornadoes and battle qi smoke rushed into the sky one after another, the fiery flames and rumbling thunders caused by knights'' off-hand booms reverberated in the sky. As knights were chasing after each other above the city, their battle qi would always involve the buildings below, collapsing a lot of buildings and causing a blazing fire.


    Across the battlefield, demon knights were taking the initiative.


    Even commoners could identify the number of knights given the number of huge battle qi tornadoes and battle qi smoke in the sky from afar.


    The battle qi tornadoes and smokes of demon knights could be easily identified. The battle qi tornadoes and smokes of all the demons would look purple-black in the periphery even though they cultivated the same secret method as human knights.


    All the demons at present were wing demons, including 5 earth wing demon knights and 13 black iron wing demon knights. As for human knights, there were 3 earth human knights and 16 black iron human knights. Given the number of knights, human knights had an advantage; however, given the overall battle situation, human knights were disadvantageous and were on the edge of collapse. Because demons had two more earth knights than humans. Given the current situation, the two earth knights were enough to influence and break the balance of this battlefield.


    2 earth human knights fought 2 earth demon knights; 9 black iron human knights fought 13 black iron demon knights. There were 2 black iron human knights who fought 2 black iron wing demon knights respectively. A more powerful black iron human knight''s battle qi restricted 3 black iron wing demon knights in the shape of a huge net. 2 earth demon knights were restricted by 7 black iron demon knights temporarily, 1 versus 3, 1 versus 4...


    The black iron wing demon knight whom Zhang Tie had just killed didn''t find any human knight; therefore, it started a massacre among the airship troops of Taixia Country.


    Only after throwing a glance at the battlefield, Zhang Tie had understood the current situation facing those human knights. They were on the verge of a life or death situation...


    Given such an urgent situation, Zhang Tie realized that he had to spirit up these human knights; otherwise, the team of human knights might collapse at any time. Actually, the 3 black iron human knights who were besieging an earth demon knight were already on the verge of collapse. Even though the 3 black iron human knights were sharing the stress from the earth demon knight, any casual strike of the earth demon knight would cause the wounds on the bodies of 3 black iron human knights to bleed heavily.


    As long as an earth demon knight broke a 3-in-1 formation of black iron human knights, the scale would incline towards demons completely. As a result, a domino effect would be aroused and the balance would be completely collapsed.


    It was a very urgent battle situation. After killing a wing demon knight by Thor''s Hammer in a split second, Zhang Tie immediately gave out an extremely brilliant golden light beam which was like a huge golden pillar between the heavens and the earth. Closely after that, the golden light beam turned into the brilliant, rotating holy geometric halos being covered with complex geometric patterns over Zhang Tie which represented his aiding strength. Then, the halos swept over the battlefield like a mysterious huge wheel. At the same time, golden halos covered all the 19 human knights at present. With the aiding gentle strength of Zhang Tie, the entire battle situation stabilized at once as all the human knights at present gained a much stronger defensive ability and recovery ability in a split second...


    After releasing his aiding strength, Zhang Tie accelerated towards the earth demon knight who was besieged by three black iron human knights. In a split second, he had cut into the battle. Only with a sharp off-hand battle qi strike, he had set free the 3 severely injured black iron human knights.


    "Leave this earth demon knight to me, you go support the others..."


    The 3 black iron human knights were respectively a grey-haired old man, a young man at his 20s and a tough man in half-body armor. After Zhang Tie entered the battle, the 3 black iron human knights immediately felt relaxed as they hurriedly left the earth wing demon knight.


    It was not the right moment to chat. After confirming that Zhang Tie was a powerful Hua knight and the very person who released the aiding strength, they knew that Zhang Tie would never suffer a loss facing this earth wing demon knight alone. Therefore, the 3 black iron Hua knights immediately flew towards another earth wing demon knight who was besieged by 4 black iron human knights...


    Although there was one more black iron human knight over there, they were also on the verge of collapse.


    ...


    "A Hua knight who grasped aiding strength..." The earth wing demon knight watched Zang Tie with a grim look. Closely after that, it flew towards Zhang Tie and stabbed its pitch-dark steel fork which was made of abyss iron towards Zhang Tie''s head as it said, "Your brains must taste very good..."


    "Idiot.." Zhang Tie swore inside. ''If this earth wing demon knight chose to escape the moment it saw me, it might be a bit difficult for me to deal with this guy; however, this guy rushed towards me and would like to try close combat with me. It''s nothing different than seeking for death.''


    With a loud sound "boom...", Zhang Tie had knocked his Thor''s Hammer onto the steel fork; besides hitting the steel fork away from the earth wing demon knight''s hand, he even injured its hand.


    As Zhang Tie''s strength was too terrifying, the moment they collided with each other, the earth demon knight had suffered a small loss.


    After feeling the great strength from Zhang Tie''s Thor''s Hammer; especially Zhang Tie''s relaxed and easy look, the earth wing demon knight slightly changed its face. Ignoring the wound on its hand, it hurriedly flashed backward so as to enlarge the distance between Zhang Tie and it. However, it was already too late. The earth wing demon knight felt dizzy as Zhang Tie who was over 10 m away from it just now had already appeared in front of it. Facing the irresistible strength, its protective battle qi was collapsed in a split second. When the great strength passed to its body, half of its bones and muscles were shattered immediately. What was more, it was directly hit onto the earth, causing a huge pit on the earth. As a result, it was severely injured...


    Before the earth wing demon knight released its protective battle qi once again, Zhang Tie had flashed downwards. With another strike, the earth wing demon knight''s head smashed up like a watermelon while its battle qi tornado disappeared at once...


    Not until death did this earth demon knight understand why it felt dizzy when the human knight launched the second strike towards it. It seemed that this human knight could realize instant transfer. Additionally, that human knight''s hammer was even more powerful than a blow of a shadow knight at his full efforts.


    When the earth demon knight''s battle qi tornado disappeared in a split second, all the Hua knights and demon knights at present were startled.


    Especially the 3 black iron human knights who had just been liberated by Zhang Tie, who almost looked backward at the same time. However, they only saw a huge pit and the headless corpse of the earth wing demon knight and Zhang Tie who had already flown away from the huge pit.


    The moment Zhang Tie left the huge pit, he immediately reached the speed which was close to the speed of sound in air as he flashed towards the city. From hundreds of meters away, he had punched a battle qi fist towards a black iron wing demon who was chasing and fighting a black iron Hua knight and hit it onto the ground. The moment the black iron wing demon knight flew off, Zhang Tie had arrived there. In the close combat, only after two movements, Zhang Tie had shattered that black iron wing demon by Thor''s Hammer. Another battle qi smoke of demon knight exterminated at once...


    When Zhang Tie killed that earth wing demon knight, all the knights at present didn''t see the concrete process; however, all of them almost saw how Zhang Tie killed the black iron wing demon knight.


    When Zhang Tie rushed towards a nearest earth wing demon knight, the earth wing demon knight only did one thing¡ª¡ªescape, escape away from the battlefield as fast as it could.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie release his battle qi tornado. Additionally, he killed wing demon knights so fast; therefore, all the knights at present, including those human knights mistook Zhang Tie as a shadow knight.


    Now that a shadow human knight had arrived, this fight didn''t need to continue anymore. What counted most for demons was to escape from here. Although demon knights were dauntless, they didn''t feel shameful to escape when they faced a human knight who was on a higher level; neither would they be blamed by their partners...


    The overall situation was reversed at once.


    When the earth wing demon knight turned around and escaped, it was actually sending a clear signal to all the other demon knights at present. Therefore, all the other demon knights turned around and escaped at once too.


    The earth wing demon who was besieged by 4 black iron human knights became berserk at once. When it broke through the encirclement, it tore apart a Hua knight''s body in front of it while bearing the common strike of the other 3 black iron Hua knights. Closely after that, the earth wing demon knight flew far away...

 1304 An Unrivaled Strike II

    The overall situation reversed too fast. The entire process only cost a few seconds. That was the battlefield of knights and the manifestation of the dignity of a real powerhouse.


    Besides being able to fly with their chakras, wing demon knights were born to be good at flying with their wings. Therefore, the flight ability of wing demon knights would be much greater than that of human knights on the same level. Additionally, as demon knights were taking the initiative just now, if they wanted to evacuate, most of the human knights couldn''t block them at all.


    The evacuation of wing demon knights was not towards a particular direction; instead, they escaped towards the 3 directions except for the east in a split second like birds whose nest had been broken. It was a standard tactical evacuation action that all the knights would choose when they encountered a knight on a higher level. In the pursuit of a high-level knight, if they all escaped towards the same direction, they were seeking for death as a whole. If they escaped in different directions, besides one or two unlucky guys, most of the people might survive.


    However, humans were not idiots. Although they didn''t know who was Zhang Tie, none of them would miss such a good opportunity. Human knights responded as fast as demon knights.


    The 3 earth human knights didn''t chase after those escaping earth demon knights; instead, they chased after a black iron wing demon knight respectively. Although black iron wing demon knights could fly faster than ordinary black iron human knights, they couldn''t match the speed of earth human knights.


    As to the other black iron human knights. Except for some severely wounded ones who couldn''t fly fast anymore, they were all at least in a group of 3 and chased after the black iron wing demon who was nearest to them. The black iron human knight who fought 3 wing demon knights alone directly entangled a black iron wing demon knight who was escaping...


    ...


    The moment the overall battle situation was reversed, an anguished sound drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears, "Elder brother..."


    In the distance, a black iron Hua knight was shaking in the sky as his hands quivered. He was cupping the head of a Hua knight.


    When the earth wing demon knight broke through the encirclement of the 4 black iron human knights, it blew up one of the 4 black iron human knights.


    After breaking through the encirclement of the 4 black iron human knights, the earth wing demon knight flew towards the west at the greatest speed among all the demon knights in this battle. In the blink of an eye, it had reached miles away.


    After hearing the anguished voice, Zhang Tie turned around. Closely after that, a killing intent flashed across his eyes. He directly let go another earth demon knight whom he had fixed his eyes on and chased after another earth wing demon knight who had killed a black iron human knight.


    Zhang Tie almost reached his limit in speed without using the ability of divine dominator. It was near the speed of sound in the air. It was also the maximal speed of an earth knight. Before promoting to a shadow knight, over 99% of earth knights who had entered 9 change earth realm couldn''t break the sonic barrier in flight, humans or demons.


    Including that earth wing demon knight, whose speed was almost 300 m per second.


    Zhang Tie moved faster than this earth wing demon knight. When in flight, Zhang Tie could clearly sense that sonic barrier which was like a bubble in front of him. It was easy for Zhang Tie to break this bubble; however, as long as he broke the sonic barrier, he would expose his flight ability of divine dominator too.


    In the previous close combat, Zhang Tie used the kinetic strike with the ability of divine dominator. However, it couldn''t be identified by the others just like an inch punch. He could increase his speed to the level of divine dominator in over 10 m, a couple of meters even 1 m. With such a great speed, although it seemed like an ordinary strike by hammer, Zhang Tie actually had released the enormous strength of kinetic strike. Therefore, he could kill a black iron demon knight or an earth demon knight in a split second.


    What counted most was the short distance and millisecond level explosive time. Besides Zhang Tie, almost nobody else in this world could adopt such a kinetic strike in close combat. At least, Zhang Tie had not heard that someone else could adopt such a combat mode in close combat. His opponents couldn''t figure it out. Even a heavenly knight couldn''t figure out his secret, not to mention those onlookers. They could only believe that Zhang Tie had grasped a terrifying close combat skill with which he could release a great power in a split second or Zhang Tie''s silver secret heavy hammer was too destructive...


    It was also why Zhang Tie dared kill demon knights in close combat in this way under the gaze of so many onlookers. Besides feeling that Zhang Tie was as fierce as a shadow knight, none of the onlookers could figure out the reason.


    ...


    Zhang Tie''s flight speed was about 10% greater than that of the earth wing demon knight. Therefore, only after flying over 150 miles away, Zhang Tie had blocked that earth wing demon knight in a mountainous region by launching a battle qi towards it.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie approached it and started a close combat.


    Even though he didn''t use the ability of divine dominator, his Thor''s Hammer still carried a terrifying strength. Although that earth wing demon knight could resist Zhang Tie''s strikes, its protective battle qi would also quiver heavily. Each time Zhang Tie swung his Thor''s Hammer towards it, the earth wing demon knight would be hit onto the earth or the mountain, causing a huge hole or breaking a mountain peak...


    Only after a few knocks, the earth wing demon knight had spurted out a mouth of blood as it couldn''t have a strength to resist Zhang Tie''s strike anymore.


    "Who''re you..." The earth wing demon knight roared.


    Zhang Tie remained silent with a cold look as he didn''t need to explain anything to a demon b*stard who was going to die.


    After suffering another kinetic strike, the protective battle qi of the earth wing demon knight collapsed in a split second as its body was severely injured. The moment its protective battle qi collapsed, Zhang Tie had cut across its neck by his palm horizontally like a using a dagger, causing the earth wing demon knight''s neck to spray out blood column which was several meters high. Closely after that, its head flew off. Zhang Tie immediately caught its head while its headless body dropped into the stream between mountains...


    In this situation, Zhang Tie could have a chance to knock it out and teleport it into Castle of Black Iron. However, when he heard the anguished voice, "Brother...", Zhang Tie was moved as he determined to kill this earth wing demon knight and behead it as soon as possible.


    As the western border of Taixia Country had been the fiercest battlefield between humans and demons, Zhang Tie didn''t need to worry about having any earth demon knights to kill.


    Lifting the bloody head of the earth wing demon knight, Zhang Tie returned to the battlefield where he heard the anguished voice of the human knight...

 1305 The Crisis Facing Xiangshan City

    The city was still covered with flames while the airships that scattered just now had already gathered in the distance and started to fly eastwards once again. An airboat was suspending above the burning city. All the demons had disappeared. The 3 earth human knights who chased after demon knights just now had already returned. When Zhang Tie flew back from afar, he saw many human knights flying towards him.


    The bloody head of the earth wing demon knight in Zhang Tie''s hand indicated Zhang Tie''s military exploit. At the sight of that bloody head, all the human knights watched Zhang Tie with evidently respectful and admirable looks.


    If not Zhang Tie''s timely arrival, it was hard to say how many people among these human knights could survive.


    Zhang Tie''s young look shocked those human knights so much and made himself more formidable. They could barely imagine such a young shadow knight in Taixia Country. That was unbelievable! Of course, some shadow knights could recover youth after taking precious medicines. Most of the human knights at present felt that this young man might have taken many precious medicines. They had indeed heard about such precious medicines. However, none of these human knights had ever seen them. Because such precious medicines would always be collected by minor top clans or powerhouses. They were treasures for all the female knights. Nobody would like to auction these precious medicines. Only a couple of human knights felt a bit familiar with Zhang Tie''s look. However, they didn''t believe that the young man was Zhang Tie.


    "Immortal, may I know your name?" One old man of the three earth human knights who fought demons just now asked as he bowed towards Zhang Tie.


    Immortal was an honorific appellation for shadow knights in Taixia Country. Not until now did these human knights think that Zhang Tie was a shadow knight.


    "I''m Zhang Tie from Huaiyuan Palace in Youzhou Province!"


    "Qianji Hermit..." Someone couldn''t help but exclaim when he heard Zhang Tie''s name.


    Qianji Hermit was so famous that everyone at present had heard his name. However, these human knights could not imagine that Zhang Tie would be so powerful and kill demon knights as easily as killing a chick, whether it was a black iron demon knight or an earth demon knight.


    Under the "amazed" gazes of these people, Zhang Tie flew over there and gave that bloody head to the middle-aged man who looked anguished with bloody eyes while saying, "Here''s the head of the earth demon knight who killed your elder brother. Pitifully, I could not save your elder brother. It''s an admirable and heroic deed for your elder brother to fight an earth demon knight to death. Dead people couldn''t be resurrected; please restrain your grief..."


    Zhang Tie''s eldest brother also fought to death on the battlefield, which always made his parents, his second elder brother and him grievous. Therefore, Zhang Tie could understand the anguished feeling of this human knight who lost his elder brother and determined to revenge for this human knight by beheading that earth demon knight.


    Watching Zhang Tie giving the head of the earth demon knight to him, the middle-aged human knight dropped off his tears at once as he took the head with quivering hands. Although being in the sky, he still knelt down in front of Zhang Tie as he said, "Zhang Yushan from Qingxi Palace, Wuzhou Province appreciates Qianji Hermit for your righteous deed. Qianji Hermit saved our Qingxi Palace out of danger and venged for my elder brother. As long as one member of Qingxi Palace is left in the world, we would never forget about your great kindness..."


    "Hurry, stand up!" Zhang Tie immediately pulled up the middle-aged man.


    After feeling the great strength from Qianji Hermit''s hand, the middle-aged knight could only stand up. Closely after that, he undid an emerald plate from his waist which was carved with some words and gave it to Zhang Tie, "This is my portable token. Please take it. Later on, if Qianji Hermit needs my help, you could have someone bring this token to Qingxi Palace. Zhang Yushan would definitely shrink from no sacrifice..."


    After feeling Zhang Yushan''s solemn attitude, Zhang Tie took it solemnly too; otherwise, Zhang Yushan might feel that Zhang Tie despised Qingxi Palace.


    Not until Zhang Tie took the token did Zhang Yushan seemingly feel reassured as he said in a bit sorrowful and resolute manner, "As my elder brother has just fought to death, I need to deal with the funeral affairs for him. Additionally, my clan suffered a loss more or less. We''ve got some airships. The airship troop of Qingxi Palace is waiting for me to command. I have to go now..."


    After saying that, Zhang Yushan extended his thanks to Zhang Tie and the other knights who fought together with him just now before flying far away.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie understand that those airships that were attacked by wing demons just now were withdrawal forces of Qingxi Palace in Wuzhou Province.


    After Zhang Yushan left, Zhang Tie learned what happened from the others through a brief talk.


    The burning city beside them was Xiangshan City in the Xiangshan Prefecture of Wuzhou Province, which was a standard Class A major city. Xiangshan City was also one of the transit bases in Wuzhou Province from Xiangshan Prefecture to Helan Prefecture. Yesterday, the withdrawal airship troop of Qingxi Palace was resting and reorganizing in Xiangshan City. Unexpectedly, when they were going to evacuate today, a team of wing demon vanguard raided them. As a result, 1 earth human knight and 3 black iron human knights were severely injured; Xiangshan City and Qingxi Palace which was going to evacuate suffered a great loss. Thankfully, Xu Baoan the Cheji General of Wuzhou Province was patrolling in the nearby by airboat. When he saw the battle qi smokes and tornados in Xiangshan City, he hurriedly came over here and weakened the force of demon knights. However, humans were generally in a disadvantageous position.


    When they were having fierce combat with wing demon knights and were on the brink of collapse, Zhang Tie''s arrival reversed the battle situation at once.


    Besides a human knight of Qingxi Place and a human knight who was responsible for defending Xiangshan City fought to death before Zhang Tie''s arrival, Zhang Tie himself killed 2 earth wing demon knights and 2 black iron wing demon knights. Besides, the other human knights killed another 4 black iron wing demon knight in later pursuit. Given the casualties, humans gained a triumph...


    After hearing that he was in Xiangshan City, Zhang Tie knew that Gao Tianzhao had flown over 1,200 miles towards the west from the mountainous area of Helan Mountain Range and entered Xiangshan Prefecture after penetrating through Helan Prefecture in Wuzhou Province which neighbored Helan Mountain Range...


    He was in the frontline of the holy war...

 1306 The Overall Situation Facing the Theater of Operations

    During the 2 months when Zhang Tie entered closed cultivation in Castle of Black Iron, the battle situation facing the western theater of operations became fiercer. The battle smokes and flames lasted thousands of miles. Many provinces had deteriorated to battlefields. Taixia Country and demons had started to exert their greater force of the attack and destructive power like two heavyweight champions through preliminary tentative attack and defense. Even though Taixia Country was not only defending...


    Over the past 2 months, the 11 advanced bases and air battle fortresses of Taixia Country had entered Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province in the west of Helan Mountain and the north of Weishui River. They had completely stabilized the tunnel of evacuation in the above three provinces. Additionally, 1 month ago, the 11 advanced bases surged forward over 3,000 miles in one day through coordination and suddenly joined the frontline where demons were attacking humans ferociously. With the coordination of over 100,000 human knights, the 11 advanced bases inflicted heavy losses to the wing demon vanguards. It was said that they had killed at least 3 shadow wing demon knights and thousands of other wing demon knights. The 11 advanced bases even resumed some cities which were occupied by demons'' vanguards. As a result, demons'' raging offensive was immediately weakened in Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province.


    It was the first good news that Taixia Country received since the start of the holy war when Peacewest Military Region was gradually losing its land.


    Although the 11 advanced bases'' strike didn''t completely curb the offense of demons, it was of a special strategical significance. This small victory not only boosted the morale of soldiers and commoners across Taixia Country that had been low since the beginning of this holy war, but also won more than 1 month for the soldiers and commoners to evacuate from the 3 provinces.


    After this raid, the 11 advanced bases retreated orderly step by step; at the same time, they set traps to eliminate some small teams of wing demon knights who tried to make tentative attacks on the way back. Behind the 11 advanced bases, Taixia Country as a whole had organized over 10,000 airboats and hundreds of thousands of airships to accelerate the evacuation of soldiers and commoners from Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province. Meanwhile, they strengthened the defenses and cleared the fields, making demons flurried.


    After suffering a big loss and some small losses, the demon''s vanguard didn''t surge forward anymore; instead, they became very meticulous. After evacuating all the commoners from the three provinces, Taixia Country also evacuated the armies from the three provinces orderly, causing a vacuum region as wide as 600 miles between demons and humans. The vacuum region was actually composed of many deserted cities, towns and villages. The demon''s army was on the west of this vacuum region while Taixia Country''s army was on the east of this vacuum region.


    Over the past 1 month, the frontline remained relatively calm. When demons moved forward, Taixia Country''s force retreated. Although there were battles and conflicts every day, none of the battles and conflicts involved over 100 knights. Wing demon knights were passing by that vacuum region and penetrating into Taixia Country in small scale; at the same time, many human knight powerhouses were ambushing in the cities, woods or wild of the vacuum region and sniping those wing demon knights who attempted to pass by that vacuum region.


    The battle that Zhang Tie experienced in Xiangshan City today was one of the fiercest battles between human knights and demon knights in Wuzhou Province over the past 1 month.


    All the commoners had almost evacuated from Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province. Only a minority of people would like to stay apart from those commoners in the regions occupied by demons.


    The highest commander in the entire western theater of operations of Taixia Country was Zuoqiu Mingyue, the military minister of Taixia Country who was known as Military God.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue had been in the office of military minister of Taixia Country for over 100 years. In the second holy war, Zuoqiu Mingyue who had promoted to heavenly knight had been one of the pillar generals of Taixia Country. At that time, he commanded Taixia troops to fight demons and killed a heavenly demon knight. This time, at the request of the crown prince, Zuoqiu Mingyue came to the western theater of operations from Xuanyuan Hill as one of the top three chancellors of Taixia Country. As was expected, he stabilized the overall battle situation only in a couple of months. Zuoqiu Mingyue''s popularity and power were definitely the greatest in the western theater of operations.


    It was even said that Zuoqiu Mingyue might have long promoted to sage-level knight over the past 100 years. If Zuoqiu Mingyue was there when Xuanyuan Hill was in chaos last year, Han Zhengfang could never escape away from Xuanyuan Hill.


    Due to the arrival of the Military God of Taixia Country, the entire western theater of operations had evidently greater morale than that 2 months ago.


    Besides, even the top 7 sects'' troops had arrived at the theater of operations and joined the raid together with the 11 advanced bases over 1 month ago.


    The above was the changes facing the western theater of operations that Zhang Tie learned in Xiangshan City in the last 2 months.


    After that, Zhang Tie contacted Blackwater Base and reported that he had recovered his wounds and had just joined a battle in Xiangshan City. Additionally, he asked for his next mission.


    Zhang Tie was not overconfident due to his surging battle strength. Since he came out of the underground space, he had been bearing his duty on the battlefield in mind¡ª¡ªa scout dispatched by Blackwater Base!


    Blackwater Base soon replied Zhang Tie, which surprised Zhang Tie a bit. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that Blackwater Base would have him continue to hunt demons in the vacuum region between demons and humans as a scout. However, he had not imagined that Blackwater Base told him to stay a few more cays in Xiangshan City and escorted the airship troops in Xiangshan City to return to Helan Mountain Range 3 days later before returning to Blackwater Base for a rest.


    Now that he had received this order, Zhang Tie could only follow it.


    After knowing that Zhang Tie was going to stay in Xiangshan City for a few days and escort Taixia troops back from Xiangshan City, some knights in Xiangshan City and Xu Baoan the Cheji General of Wuzhou Province went ecstatic. As they had witnessed Zhang Tie''s powerful battle skills. With Zhang Tie''s protection, Xiangshan City would never have any trouble in the following days. Additionally, the garrisons of about 1 million members in Xiangshan City wouldn''t worry about any raid from wing demon knights any more in the process of evacuation.

 1307 Damages and Clearance

    With a cracking sound, being drawn by over 1,000 soldiers and dozens of armored vehicles using steel cables, a 100-m long half-collapsed section of the city wall in the north of Xiangshan City fully collapsed. Before dust fell down, over 10,000 soldiers and hundreds of trucks had swarmed up as they started to fill those bricks and cement into the trucks. Closely after that, those trucks poured them into the moat, filling a part of the moat.


    Before these "construction wastes" were poured into the moat, some big steel gates in the north of Xiangshan City had long been demolished and thrown into the moat and were buried by tens of thousands of tons of construction wastes. Many reaches of the moat of Xiangshan City had been cut out and become narrow ditches. The entire Xiangshan City was like a large demolition site¡ª¡ªthe city gates were demolished, the city walls were destroyed, the steam defense facilities in the city walls were severely damaged.


    It was the one million members inside Xiangshan City who did all this...


    ...


    "Come here, after demolishing the walls of that house, tell engineer battalion to carry 2 more trucks of cement over here and completely fill this well. Son of b*tches. Even though this dad is going to leave, I will never leave anything to those lackeys of demons..."


    Soon after Zhang Tie turned to a street, he had seen a captain of Taixia Country stepping on the stony rails of an open well whose diameter was about 4-5 m by his leather shoes while opening the button near his collar by a tug as hundreds of soldiers behind him were demolishing a delicate house.


    Watching this scene, Zhang Tie shook his head towards those people on his side as he let out a sigh with feeling, "What a pity! We have to abandon this place..."


    "This ancient well of Xiangshan City has a history of over 500 years. The ancient-well bean curds made of the water in this ancient well is a delicacy in Xiangshan City. Before I promoted to a black iron knight, I would taste the ancient-well bean curds whenever I came to Xiangshan City. In this block, each family has a workshop for making ancient-well bean curds for many generations. Because ancient-well bean curds in Xiangshan City was well known across Wuzhou Province, the supply was not adequate to the demand. Even though these households could live well by making and selling ancient-well bean curds..."


    The old man who fought an earth demon knight a few days ago explained as he shook his head with a sigh.


    This old man was called Long Miao. Previously, he was the grand elder of Long Clan of Sande Palace in Xiangshan Prefecture of Wuzhou Province. After demons invaded Taixia Country, he was assigned by the commander of Peacewest Military Region to defend Xiangshan City. There were two black iron knights on the sides of this old man, one was called Fang Hui, the other was called Peng Yulin. The two black iron knights both wore armors. Fang Hui looked fierce; Peng Yulin looked gentle. Fang Hui and Peng Yulin were now the leaders of two corps of Wuzhou Province which were defending Xiangshan City. Another black iron knight who was assigned to defend Xiangshan City had sacrificed a few days ago. Therefore, there were only four knights in Xiangshan City now, namely, Zhang Tie, Long Miao, Fang Hui and Peng Yulin.


    Zhang Tie had stayed in Xiangshan City for 2 days. The two corps would evacuate tomorrow. Zhang Tie was suddenly touched by such a scene as he wanted to look around this city which was going to be deserted. Of course, the other 3 knights just accompanied him. In Xiangshan City, Zhang Tie didn''t interfere with any military or administrative affairs. He was only responsible for the demon knights who raided them. Fang Hui and Peng Yulin were responsible for military and administrative affairs. However, all the other 3 knights regarded Zhang Tie as their head faintly according to the rule of the knight''s world. Knights'' positions would be determined by their battle strength. As Zhang Tie had the greatest battle strength among the 4 knights; of course, he was taken as their boss.


    Although they had just acquainted with Zhang Tie for a few days, they had been completely conquered by Zhang Tie''s overwhelming battle skills that day. As Qianji Hermit was a famous person, the grand elder of Long Clan of Sande Palace and the two leaders of corps of Wuzhou Province would like to stay with him. Although Zhang Tie was well-known across the world, he didn''t put on airs in front of average soldiers in Wuzhou Province and elders of major clans. His words and deeds felt pretty comfortable and satisfied people very much.


    "As long as we could kill all the demons and regain Xiangshan City, we would open this ancient well again..." Fang Hui said with full killing intent, "As we''ve passed 2 holy wars, nothing to be afraid about one more!"


    Peng Yulin remained silent. When in the army of Wuzhou Province, Peng Yulin was always arrogant as a corps leader of Wuzhou Army. Additionally, he was also very powerful. Take that battle a few days ago as an instance, he could fight 3 black iron demon knights alone and could kill one black iron demon knight in the end. Everyone in the Wuzhou Army knew that General Peng never admitted that he was weaker than others; even in front of the commander of Peacewest Military Region, he was still very stubborn. He was even called Strongneck General. However, after witnessing Zhang Tie''s overwhelming battle skills, Peng Yulin was completely convinced by Zhang Tie.


    After seeing the 4 knights approaching him; especially that his corps leader was standing on one side of a person, the military officer who was going to fill the well immediately knew the identity of the new arriver. Closely after that, he ran over here and stood at attention, causing a loud sound "Pah" as he reported, "Corps Leader, I am Captain Gao Fei of No. 6 Division of the 3rd Formation of Copper Furnace Corps of Wuzhou Province..."


    "Hmm, go finish your job!" Fang Hui waved his hand, letting this little official officer leave.


    "Yes, sir..." As Gao Fei left, he kept throwing a stealthy admirable glance at Zhang Tie. The news that Zhang Tie the Qianji Hermit was responsible for defending Xiangshan City had long been spread over the city these days together with the news that he had killed 2 earth demon knights and 2 black iron demon knights that day. In the eyes of ordinary soldiers, Zhang Tie was a legendary figure who was their super idol.


    Zhang Tie walked towards the ancient well which was going to be buried. After that, he touched its stony rails.


    The rails were covered with 1 cm deep marks left by slopes, which carried the hopes of so many households in this city for many generations. Those bluestones on the earth beside the ancient well became as smooth as a mirror in the baptism of years.


    There were a barrel and some ropes on the rails. Although the nearby households had left here, these items were still placed well.


    As this well had a history of over 500 years, the water could be seen 5 m beneath the mouth. Additionally, there was a light mist on the water. The water in the well was as limpid as the mirror.


    The most part of the courtyard walls of a mansion had been demolished. When Zhang Tie sighed with feeling and was going to leave, a grey-haired old man in plain clothes walked out of a lane from aside with two barrels on his shoulder by a shoulder pole. The old man came to the well and lifted a barrel of water from the well...


    As all the commoners in Xianghan City had been evacuated, Zhang Tie was a bit dumbfounded when he saw such an old man coming here for water.


    Given his age, it was a bit difficult for him to lift the second barrel of water.


    "Grandpa, let me help you..." Zhang Tie hurriedly came to the side of the old man and helped the old man lift a barrel of water. Zhang Tie then asked, "Grandpa, all the commoners in Xiangshan City have been evacuated, why are you still here?"


    The old man revealed a smile, "Just carry those young men away. I grew up here by drinking the water in this ancient well since I was born; my father grew up here; my grandpa grew up here; my grandpa''s grandpa also grew up here; even my wife had stayed here. Demons would arrive, so what? Why do I have to leave when the demons arrive? Am I afraid of them? At such an age, what am I afraid of? If I leave here, who will accompany my wife?"


    The old man''s reply made the 4 knights ashamed.


    "But this ancient well is going to be filled!" Zhang Tie said kindly.


    "I know, I know. I heard the military officer shouting outside just now. I just want to lift some water from here and make ancient-well bean curds for one more time before this well is filled. My wife favored ancient-well bean curd most when she was alive. As I could make ancient-well bean curd, she got married to me..." The old man said as he revealed a nostalgic look. He then looked at Zhang Tie from his foot to his head before asking, "All the young men who stay in Xiangshan City are Hua heroes; you look so young. Do you also come here to fight demons?"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he lifted another barrel of water. As the barrels carried here by the old man were a bit large, 2 barrels of water lifted by the common barrel on the rail could only fill 80% of one of old man''s barrels.


    "Where''s your hometown?" The old man had a free chat with Zhang Tie.


    "Youzhou Province!"


    "Youzhou Province, within Northeast Military Region. It''s indeed far away from here. I''ve only been to Huanzhou Province and Yinzhou Province since I was born!" The old man suddenly became interested in talking with Zhang Tie as he asked, "Have you killed any demon?"


    "Just a few!" Zhang Tie replied modestly as he pulled up the 4th common barrel and poured the water into one barrel of the old man.


    "My youngest grandson is as old as you. However, he''s not as great as you!" The old man sighed with feeling, "Our northwesterners; especially our Wuzhou people are all hospitable. As you come here from afar to fight demons, if you don''t mind, how about tasting my ancient-well bean curds? You might not enjoy it after today..."


    "Fine, thanks, grandpa. Where do you live? Let me help you carry water back!" Zhang Tie said as he took the shoulder pole from the old man''s hand and lifted the two barrels of water.


    "Not far away in front, I will show you the way..." The old man directly walked in front of them towards the lane.


    After lifting the barrels, Zhang Tie looked back at Long Miao, Fang Hui and Peng Yulin, "Let''s go there together. It seems that we have the luck to enjoy the ancient-well bean curd today. Otherwise, we could only eat it after this holy war!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Fang Hui hurriedly rushed over here and would like to take Zhang Tie''s shoulder pole. At the same time, he said, "Let me do it, let me do it..."


    Few black iron knights across Taixia Country could feel at ease and justified having an earth knight carry water for them, not to mention that the earth knight was Zhang Tie the Qianji Hermit.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he waved his hand, which indicated that he didn''t mind it. At the same time, Zhang Tie replied, "Haha, don''t care about that, I''m just helping this grandpa. Brother Fang, after today, you could brag that water of the last ancient-well bean curd that you ate in Xiangshan City was carried by me..."


    The grand elder of Sande Palace burst out into laughter as he replied, "That''s true. The water of the ancient-well bean curd that we will eat today is carried by Qianji Hermit. Who else would believe that we could enjoy such special treatment? Who else in Taixia Country is qualified to enjoy it? In the future, even if I fought demons to death on the battlefield, I would not have any regret..."


    "I suggest keeping this ancient well. Even if demons really occupied this place, given the strong suspicion of demons, they would not dare drink the water from this well. Because we have filled all the other wells and destroyed the freshwater system."


    Being more considerate than Fang Hui, Peng Yulin had sensed Zhang Tie''s commiseration. If they filled the last well, there would be no fresh water across the city. In this situation, after the army evacuated tomorrow, this old man would die before the arrival of the demons'' army.


    "Keep it then. Younger brother Peng is right. Even though such an ancient well is kept in Xiangshan City, demons dare not drink the water inside it..." Fang Hui thought it through at once. The decision of the two corps leaders was the supreme order in Xiangshan City. Therefore, Fang Hui especially called the military officer Gao Fei to leave 2 people here to prevent this well from being filled before they evacuated.


    They soon came to the old man''s home in the depth of the lane. The old man was alone. His wife''s sacrificial tablet was put in the middle of the main room...


    The old man''s surname was Zhou. He was an aborigine in Xiangshan City. The residents in Xiangshan City had started to evacuate 4 months ago. The old man swore to not leave Xiangshan City. Therefore, he stayed with a cat. There were enough grains and woods which were enough for him to live a few years. Additionally, the old man even reclaimed a patch of arable land in his courtyard. Therefore, he could meet self-sufficiency.


    The old man had a private workshop and a small mill. He had prepared soybeans...


    The old man was happy about inviting the 4 knights to his home. After taking out some jujubes and letting them enjoy themselves, the old man started to make bean curds.


    ...


    On the next early morning, over 3,000 large airships arrived at Xiangshan City and landed at the airports in the city and outside the city. Soon after that, they started to evacuate the garrisons in Xiangshan City.


    All the city gates of Xiangshan City had been demolished. Some 100-200 m long sections of city walls were destroyed. All the water resources in the city had been destroyed. They had burned everything they could into ruins. As for those which couldn''t be burned, they had smashed them, destroyed them or buried them. Additionally, the engineer teams of the two corps had set some traps especially targeting at LV 9 demon fighters inside and outside the city...


    Only after a couple of hours, all the garrisons in Xiangshan City had boarded airships and all the airship had flown off.


    When he left Xiangshan City, Zhang Tie threw the last glance at the city which had been completely damaged and cleaned. He also saw that old man who was lying and napping on a sling chair on a jujube tree leisurely with a colorful cat in his arms in his own courtyard under the warm spring sunshine.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what to say. He only had a strange feeling. In a split second, he felt that his spirit had been sublimed...


    ''If you''re not afraid of it and have something to rely on mentally, what could this world do to you?''


    The ancient-well bean curd, the ordinary old man who was lying on the sling chair bathing the sunshine with his wife''s sacrificial tablet and didn''t even care about the hundreds of millions of demon fighters and hundreds of thousands of demon knights became the last impressions in Zhang Tie''s mind about this city...


    "Let''s go..." Zhang Tie turned around and told the other 3 knights in the sky. Closely after Zhang Tie''s words, a golden light had shot here which startled Long Miao and the other two knights very much. Fang Hui even thought that they were raided by a demon powerhouse as he almost launched a counterattack.


    Zhang Tie stopped Fang Hui at once as he said, "Brother Fang, don''t worry, this is my pet mount..."


    Soon after Zhang Tie''s words, the thunder hawk had arrived in front of Zhang Tie and started to circle around Zhang Tie jubilantly.


    All the other 3 knights were shocked by such a mighty bird.


    "Ahh, what kind of bird is it? How could it move even faster than the speed of sound?" Fang Hui and Peng Yulin both widely opened their eyes as they watched the thunder hawk like watching a monster. The two knights had not heard and seen such a nice bird at all.


    Only the grand elder of Long Clan of Sande Palace''s eyes shone when he caught sight of the thunder hawk as if he had seen a rarity.


    "Older brother Long might know it." Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s hint, Fang Hui and Peng Yulin moved their eyes onto Long Miao at the same time.


    Rubbing his mustache, Long Miao said with uncertainty, "It seems...like the legendary thunder hawk which could gain a rebirth after being struck by thunderbolts. Thunder hawks could fly fast. According to the legend, thunder hawk should at least experience the baptism of thunderbolt once in its whole life. If it succeeded, it would accomplish a round of evolution and mutation. Like how snake sloughs and how knight forms a new chakra. After being struck by a thunderbolt, it would make a spurt of progress in ability. Previously, I saw a thunder hawk which had survived thunderbolts three times in an auction. Finally, it was purchased at the price of over 1 million gold coins. This thunder hawk is many times larger than that one I saw and could move at such an amazing speed. If it becomes so nice after experiencing the baptism of thunderbolts, it must have evolved many times. It could be called an immortal bird. If it was tamed, it would be even more precious than a silver secret item..."


    "Haha, Elder brother Long is really experienced and knowledgeable!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter. Closely after that, he rode on the thunder hawk and rushed into the sky under the admirable looks of the other 3 knights. At the same time, he said, "Besides flying at a high speed, this thunder hawk also has a sharp sight in the sky. It could even discover target from hundreds of miles away. With its help, I promise to clean up all the demon knights who dared harass and raid the airship troop..."

 1308 Achievements On the Way

    Over 3,000 large airships were 40 miles in length and 12 miles in width. The three large formations from 5,000 m high to 10,000 m high were like an eye-catching large cloud if someone watched it on the earth.


    If it was not blocked by clouds, anyone could see such a giant slowly moving in the sky from hundreds of miles away. It was not difficult for demon knights to discover them because demon knights had much greater vision and senses than commoners. Those which could fly always had a good vision, not to mention wing demon knights.


    As so many airships were flying in large formations, they couldn''t move fast. Additionally, being affected by wind, all the airships could only move over 30 miles per hour. It was as slow as tortoise for knights.


    Like how dogs liked chasing after frisbees, when wing demon knights caught sight of so many airships, they couldn''t wait to bring down all the airships.


    Being easily discovered; a large quantity; a great flight speed. They were the favorite targets of wing demon knights in the sky.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought this mission would be boring and peaceful; however, he soon realized that it was a profitable trip to wait for wing demon knights. He didn''t even need to look for wing demon knights; instead, he only needed to escort these airships when the wing demon knights would come for him.


    He was more like angling than executing the mission of convoy.


    After the airship troops left Xiangshan City for 6 hours, the dark fell; Zhang Tie who was sitting on the back of the thunder hawk and reciting the endless true words of the Great Wilderness Sutra as well as having the thunder hawk fly dozens of miles around the airship troops noticed a wing demon knight.


    It was not the thunder hawk who discovered the wing demon knight first but Zhang Tie; because the thunder hawk''s sight could never match that of Zhang Tie''s lotus-flower eyes. Additionally, that wing demon knight excelled at hiding himself. It was not flying towards the airship troops at a high altitude, but close to the woods.


    It was a black iron wing demon knight who might have guessed that the airship troop was escorted by some knight-level powerhouses. However, it didn''t know how many human knights were there. Therefore, it just hid somewhere far away from the airship troop and observed them carefully.


    ''Now that you''ve come, don''t leave then.''


    Zhang Tie knew that a black iron wing demon was nothing but sh*t for him; however, it could pose a great threat to ordinary human fighters even ordinary black iron human knights. Now that Zhang Tie had discovered the threat, he would eliminate it for sure.


    Watching this wing demon knight approaching them, Zhang Tie directly had the thunder hawk fly over there.


    As the thunder hawk moved at the speed which was 2 times the speed of sound, when the black iron wing demon discovered Zhang Tie, it didn''t even have time to escape. Therefore, it could only fight Zhang Tie to death. However, no matter what, a black iron wing demon''s struggle in front of Zhang Tie was neither meaningful nor challenging at all.


    In the wild, the black iron wing demon had been knocked out and teleported into Castle of Black Iron in less than 2 minutes.


    Smacking his lips, Zhang Tie flew back as he felt unsatisfied.


    ...


    "What happened?" Long Miao, Fang Hui and Peng Yulin were sitting on the air sacs of airships. Long Miao was in the middle of the airship troop; the two corps leaders were respectively in the front and at the end of the airship troop. Zhang Tie flew around the airship troop in the periphery. The four knights formed a defense matrix to respond to the possible emergencies. As the thunder hawk moved too fast, not until the 3 people saw the battle qi smoke of the black iron wing demon knight which soon disappeared did they realize that a battle had finished. Therefore, they hurriedly flew over there.


    "Nothing, just a black iron wing demon knight. I''ve already dealt with it!" Zhang Tie told Long Miao, Fang Hui and Peng Yulin casually.


    The 3 people exchanged a glance with each other. After revealing a bitter smile, they returned to their own posts.


    ...


    Starting from this black iron wing demon knight, this airship troop was like a piece of fishy and bloody beef which was thrown into the ocean which constantly attracted sharks. However, Zhang Tie defused all the dangers.


    During this process, even Long Miao, Fang Hui and Peng Yulin didn''t know how many wing demon knights had Zhang Tie killed; because starting from the first black iron wing demon knight, Zhang Tie had enlarged his flight radius from 30 miles to 60 miles. Sometimes, Zhang Tie even flew farther away to launch an attack on his own initiative in the excuse that the thunder hawk would like to chase after demons the moment it discovered them in the far in case of troubles. Therefore, wing demon knights would always be discovered by Zhang Tie and his thunder hawk from over 120 miles away.


    Long Miao, Fang Hui and Peng Yulin only remembered that they saw one battle qi tornado and two battle qi smokes from over 120 miles away and over 250 miles away respectively in the last 3 days. Besides, they had not seen any demon knight being less than 60 miles away from their airship troop.


    In order to not attract the attention of more human knights, demon knights who had penetrated into the territory of humans would not always release their battle qi tornadoes or battle qi smokes on their own initiative in each battle. When some demon knights found human powerhouses approaching them, they would choose to escape; therefore, Long Miao, Fang Hui and Peng Yulin estimated that Zhang Tie might have already driven away or killed at least 4 demon knights in the last 3 days, one of them should be an earth wing demon knight.


    As for Zhang Tie, the achievements that he made in the last 3 days was enough for him to promote to 9 change earth realm easily; because he actually killed 3 earth wing demon knights in the last 3 days. He swept all the way from Xiangshan Prefecture to Helan Prefecture in the name of escorting the airship troop...


    It was also out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that he could make such a great achievement only after leaving the underground space for a few days. With one more earth wing demon knight or some more black iron wing demon knight, Zhang Tie was sure that he could promote to a shadow knight at the end of this year.


    Even Zhang Tie was shocked by such a great advancing speed. ''Purgatory Samsara Method is too terrifying in such a holy war. With such a secret method, how could I not promote to a shadow knight rapidly?''


    On December 28, the 904th year of the black iron calendar, Zhang Tie returned to Blackwater Base after leaving there for over 4 months as an earth knight scout like flying a kite...

 1309 The City of Knights

    "Let''s bid farewell to each other. Bon voyage! You might not meet any demon knights in Helan Mountain Range in the following days..." Zhang Tie waved his hand towards Long Miao, Fang Hui and Peng Yulin.


    The large formation of over 3,000 airships had already entered the air territory above Helan Mountain Range. Besides, tens of thousands of airships as long as 60 miles were flying towards the east. What a splendid scene!


    After completing replenishment in some large airports within Helan Prefecture, Wuzhou Province, these airships would fly over Helan Mountain Range towards Huanzhou Province without any halt.


    Besides so many airships, there were also hundreds of airboats in the sky. The last batch of commoners and soldiers who were evacuated to Helan Prefecture would be further transferred to Huanzhou Province rapidly by airships and airboats.


    Airboats had a higher efficiency than airships. It would only take an airboat 2 hours to fly over Helan Mountain Range and make a round trip between Wuzhou Province and Huanzhou Province. Each airboat could transport thousands of people to tens of thousands of people each time. There were over 10,000 airboats in Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province which were responsible for evacuating the last batch of commoners and soldiers over there. With such a terrifying national strength and ability of mobilization, most of the commoners had been evacuated from Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province in only a few months.


    Besides so many airships and airboats, many human knights were also flying here and there in the sky within hundreds of miles. There was more than one patrolling team of knights in the sky; therefore, they didn''t need to worry about being raided by demon knights here.


    Although there was not a platform in the sky, the four people had to part with each other¡ª¡ªZhang Tie would return to Blackwater Base; Long Miao, Fang Hui and Peng Yulin would continue to convoy the troop of 1 million soldiers to enter Huanzhou Province. After that, Fang Hui and Peng Yulin would be responsible for reorganizing the troop. Some fighters would stay in Huanzhou Province; some would leave there. The grand elder of Long Clan of Sande Palace would converge with his clan members and reinvigorate Sande Palace. Of course, a major clan would suffer a great loss after evacuating from their foundation. However, if they didn''t leave there, the entire clan would be exterminated by demons.


    "Fine, let''s part with each other then. Hopefully, I could have another chance to fight demons together with Qianji Hermit!" Fang Hui said heroically, "After I reorganize the troop, I will apply for coming to the frontline; otherwise, I will resign..."


    "Hopefully, I could have a chance to learn about battle skills from Qianji Hermit after I promote to an earth knight. I really admire Hermit''s battle skills!" Peng Yulin told Zhang Tie while cupping his hands. Before departure, the arrogant corps leader finally couldn''t help but reveal a faint pride.


    Zhang Tie had just held his rotating chakra ceremony of earth knight for a few years; Peng Yulin had been in the 9 change black iron realm and might promote to an earth knight in a few years. Therefore, Peng Yulin thought that he could narrow the gap between him and Zhang Tie after promoting to an earth knight.


    Of course, when an arrogant person saw another person who was younger and more excellent than him, he would think about catching up with the latter.


    After hearing Peng Yulin''s words, Zhang Tie just replied with a smile as he nodded. If Peng Yulin knew that Zhang Tie would soon promote to a shadow knight, this young corps leader of Wuzhou Army might have a shadow side to his personality in the future.


    It was nothing bad for him to be a bit arrogant corps leader as he was as young as Zhang Tie. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt it was unnecessary to make him disappointed at this moment.


    Even Zhang Tie wondered when did a black iron knight become a "young man" whose feelings and self-respect should be considered.


    "Grand elder Long, what''s your plan?"


    "Long Clan of Sande Palace has a city and some properties in Hongzhou Province of Middlepeace Military Region. Our clan will move to Hongzhou Province. As some elders and the clan head of Long Clan are fighting demons in the western theater of operations, I should go to Hongzhou Province for the sake of our properties!" Grand elder Long Miao said.


    "If Long Clan is interested in Fiery Oil, Elder Long could come to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory..."


    Grand elder Long threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie as he cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie forcefully and silently¡ª¡ªthe greatest gratitude couldn''t be expressed. As for Long Clan of Sande Palace, the gift of Fiery Oil was a timely assistance for Long Clan. If Long Clan could manage the business of Fiery Oil, they would recover their prosperity in a few years, even more than that. How could such a great kindness be expressed by the word "thanks"? If he said "thanks", it meant that he despised Zhang Tie.


    "Take care of yourself!"


    "Take care!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards Long Miao, Fang Hui and Peng Yulin; so did the 3 knights to Zhang Tie. Closely after that, Long Miao, Fang Hui and Peng Yulin flew towards the formation of airships in the far. Zhang Tie turned around and flew towards the southeastern part of Helan Prefecture in Wuzhou Province which was the border between Helan Mountain Range and Weishui River as Blackwater Base and all the other 10 advanced bases of Taixia Country were gathering there.


    ...


    Zhang Tie flew along the horizon at average speed as fast as the other earth knights. Only after less than half an hour, Zhang Tie had seen Blackwater Base.


    4 months later, Blackwater Base remained unchanged, except that 10 more advanced bases were less than 600 square miles away from Blackwater Base.


    All the 11 advanced bases of Taixia Country were gathering here, which looked like huge air castles. Those advanced bases were about 20 miles away from each other, forming a large steel ring in the sky. Additionally, there was a huge metal fortress which was on the same level with Lion Fortress in the middle of the large steel ring.


    Numerous knights were flying between advanced bases and the air fortress. A lot of airboats in different sizes were suspending below this large base group and fortress meticulously.


    As it was at noon, the sun had just reached its culmination. The 12 giants'' shadow covered the ground like that of a city in the sky.


    There was no land forces here. Everybody flew here and there. It was like a legendary city of knights.


    Zhang Tie was shocked by such a magnificent and epic scene...


    After taking deep breath for a few times, Zhang Tie threw a glance at the location of Blackwater Base before flying over there. However, before arriving there, he had heard a slightly surprised sound from his back...


    "Zhang Tie...is that you..."


    Zhang Tie looked back as he saw Feng Cangwu and some young knights flying towards him...

 1310 The Real Defiance

    "Brother Cangwu..." Zhang Tie stopped as he revealed a surprised smile. Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could meet Feng Cangwu here. It was really thrilling for friends and brothers to meet on the battlefield. It felt even better than meeting a fellow-townsman in a foreign country. Before Feng Cangwu responded, Zhang Tie had given a bearhug to him as he fervently and forcefully patted Feng Cangwu''s back and said, "I''ve not imagined that I could meet you here. Does Tianji Sect assign people here too..."


    As Zhang Tie grew up in Waii Subcontinent, his deeds and temperaments were always similar to the customs of people in Waii Subcontinent. In Waii Subcontinent, if good brothers met each other somewhere, they couldn''t help but give a bearhug to each other to express that they were kind. However, in Taixia Country, people''s etiquettes would be more implicit.


    "Ahem..ahem...I''ve not imagined that I could meet...meet you here..." Feng Cangwu who was always distant might have not been hugged by a male on this occasion. Therefore, being hugged by Zhang Tie, he didn''t know where to put his arms as he said, "Erm...can you release me first?"


    "Hahaha..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he felt much better at once. After patting Feng Cangwu''s back for 2 more times, he moved a few steps backward. He then looked at Feng Cangwu from his foot to his head while his smile grew bigger, "8 change black iron realm. Congratulations. You will promote to an earth knight in a few years. When you promote to an earth knight, I will gift you a big red packet..."


    "You, feel..." Feng Cangwu looked at Zhang Tie as his heart pounded.


    Less than 1 year ago, Feng Cangwu could still sense Zhang Tie''s cultivation base to a certain degree when in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory; however, this time, Feng Cangwu felt that Zhang Tie''s qi was as profound as the sea. If not being familiar with Zhang Tie, Feng Cangwu couldn''t sense the trivial change of Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie reminded Feng Cangwu of those senior fellow apprentices and uncle masters of Feng Cangwu who would soon promote to shadow knights after long-term seclusion that Feng Cangwu saw a few years ago. Zhang Tie slightly felt as flexible as shadow knights...


    ''No, Zhang Tie is even more powerful than those senior fellow apprentices and uncle masters in Heavens Fortune Sect.'' Feng Cangwu''s heart palpitated; because he faintly felt the indifferent look of ignoring everything that would be owned by real powerhouses. It was not because of arrogance or disguise; but a unique temperament that a person would have on a certain level. It was a kind of high realm that a person would enter after standing on the top of the mountain peak. Even though Zhang Tie behaved fervently and modestly, his unique temperament would never disappear.


    As Feng Cangwu was familiar with Zhang Tie and had seen the world, he could sense the indifferent temperament of Zhang Tie. Commoners could never sense it.


    "Well, I was almost ambushed by some b*stards when I went out for a mission 2 months ago. After 2 months'' recuperation, the moment I came out, I''ve received a task to convoy two corps of Wuzhou Provincial Army to evacuate to Huanzhou Province from Xiangshan City. I''m heading for Blackwater Base to report on my mission!"


    Even though it was an earth-shaking dangerous experience, Zhang Tie would describe it casually like buying vegetables in a marketplace. As Zhang Tie said it, he blinked his eyes towards Feng Cangwu. Feng Cangwu understood that it was not the proper place for a chat.


    However, someone caught the loophole from Zhang Tie''s words at once.


    "Hehheh, I''ve not imagined that the famous Qianji Hermit is just so-so in the holy war..." One of the young knights who flew towards here together with Feng Cangwu immediately satirized Zhang Tie with a sneer, "After being ambushed by demons, you recuperated for 2 months; you missed the toughest counterattack under the leadership of Commander Zuoqiu. Finally, you came back after completing an easy mission, haha..."


    Feng Cangwu had 5 partners, 4 males and 1 female. All of them were black iron human knights. The 6 people were all very young and had a special qi field. At the sight of the 5 knights, Zhang Tie had guessed that they came from the top 7 clans of Taixia Country.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at that knight who made impertinent remarks. At the 20s, he had thin lips and an oval face, which didn''t look bad. Some women might like him. However, this man''s eye light contained some jealousy and defiance.


    In front of Zhang Tie, who dared say that they were geniuses, even the most excellent and youngest elites among the top 7 sects? Zhang Tie''s reputation in the Western Continent and Eastern Continent were much better than these people. It could be said that Zhang Tie made these so-called geniuses too ashamed to show their faces.


    "Who''s this idiot?" Zhang Tie asked Feng Cangwu straightforwardly.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Feng Cangwu became speechless. He knew Zhang Tie''s temperament. If the others didn''t offend him, Zhang Tie would not offend them; if the others offended him, they had to be ready for being trampled. Zhang Tie didn''t treat everyone modestly, enthusiastically and kindly...


    "Zhang Tie, you..." The knight''s sarcastic sneer disappeared at once as his face turned red. If it was someone else, the young knight might have long launched a strike; he was not even afraid of ordinary earth knights. However, as Zhang Tie was too prestigious, the young knight really dared not fight Zhang Tie. Additionally, the young knight looked around and found that none of the rest 5 knights would like to stand on his side as all of them just watched aside with a distant look...


    Feng Cangwu pretended to cough twice once again as he answered Zhang Tie, "This one is Wen Qingkong, one of the 9 young elites in Taiyi Fantasy Sect..."


    "Oh, I see!" Zhang Tie looked as if he had long known that. Even if Zhang Tie didn''t say it, his words between lines had made all the other 4 young knights look serious as they suppressed a smile. Feng Cangwu also resisted the impulse to laugh. Not until now did Feng Cangwu sense that Zhang Tie''s words were even more destructive than his. Only by opening his mouth, Zhang Tie would be able to kill someone. "I see" sounded even more destructive than stabbing blades into people''s body.


    Wen Qingkong''s face turned purple as he quivered all over. Since he joined Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Wen Qingkong had not imagined that he could meet someone who dared not give him a face in the public.


    "Zhang Tie, don''t be too excessive. As an earth demon knight, my senior fellow apprentice Liu of Taiyi Fantasy Sect killed 1 earth demon knight and 4 black iron demon knight alone a few days ago. With his military exploits, he could rank top 3 on the List of Earth Knights in the Western Theater of Operations. I also killed a black iron wing demon knight. At that time, everybody was fighting demon knights. Where were you?" Wen Qingkong asked with a twisted, arrogant and vicious look.


    "I will report in Blackwater Base. Let''s have a drink somewhere after a while..." Zhang Tie told Feng Cangwu before flying towards the Blackwater Base.


    Since the beginning, Zhang Tie just treated Wen Qingkong as nothing. He didn''t even talk with Wen Qingkong; neither did he turn his face towards Wen Qingkong. That was the real defiance! Zhang Tie told Wen Qingkong with practical actions that Wen Qingkong was not even qualified to talk to him.


    Watching Zhang Tie flying away, Wen Qingkong''s face turned blue at once. Closely after that, he shook his body in the sky and spurted out a mouth of blood...

 1311 The Masters and the Apprentices

    Zhang Tie didn''t care how the disciple of Taiyi Fantasy Sect spurted out blood out of fury as he couldn''t evade it.


    ''Perhaps since I slapped the face of a grand elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect in Earth-elements Realm and won an airship from Feng Yexiao, Taiyi Fantasy had been hostile to me. Given Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s position in Taixia Country, how could it suffer such a loss from an ordinary knight and lose its face?''


    ''Later on, through the mediation of Zhang Taixuan, although the conflict between Taiyi Fantasy Sect and I was relieved superficially, the more famous I am, the clearer it would be for Taiyi Fantasy Sect to remember the experience of suffering a loss from me. This point could be identified from the performance of Taiyi Fantasy Sect after I promoted to an earth knight.''


    ''At that moment, if Taiyi Fantasy Sect really forgave me, they should at least assign an elder to attend my rotating chakra ceremony. However, the fact was that they only assigned some small figures here. Additionally, those representatives of Taiyi Fantasy Sect were not there to congratulate me but to show off and find troubles. However, they were unsuccessful in their plan.''


    ''Later on, I didn''t list Taiyi Fantasy Sect as one of the first batches of partners on Fiery Oil. It remembered that O''Laura told me 2 months ago that some major clans indeed wanted to cooperate with Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory on Fiery Oil in the name of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. However, these clans'' conditions for cooperations were very harsh; additionally, they behaved arrogantly and almost wanted to monopoly the business of Fiery Oil in the provinces where their clans were located in. They even wanted to expand their business to other provinces and prefectures without any restriction. It seemed that Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory became a pure supplier of cheap Fiery Oil and Taiyi Fantasy Sect had given me a big face by cooperating with me. Given their conditions, they must have taken themselves as the boss of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Of course, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would not accept it. In the eyes of someone in Taiyi Fantasy Sect, the attitude of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory indicated that they despised Taiyi Fantasy Sect.''


    ''Just now, a black iron knight of Taiyi Fantasy Sect dared satirize me in the public after knowing my identity. What did this mean?''


    ''At least it means that these knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect always spoke ill of me when they gathered together. I must have become an unruly one, even opponent and enemy that should be defeated by Taiyi Fantasy Sect as a whole in the eyes of many elders and knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect...''


    ''If there''s not such an atmosphere and recognition about me in Taiyi Fantasy Sect, how dare a black iron knight to despise an earth knight? Aren''t the so-called "nine young elites", his senior fellow apprentices and uncle masters even elders on the back of Wen Qingkong?''


    ''Why would I spoil and give concession to such a person?''


    Zhang Tie then recalled how Sarlon threw some dirty plates in front of him when he was sitting under a small tree in the campus of No. 7 Male Middle School in Blackhot City.


    ''Many fierce conflicts started from trivial affairs. At that time, Grace and the others felt that they were unrivaled at school; therefore, they thought that I should follow their order and serve them willingly.''


    ''As for Taiyi Fantasy Sect. When one of the 4 grand elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect led a team of elites to show off in the Earth-elements Realm and make military exploits; however, they had not imagined that the largest bonus of killing that earth shadow demon knight was grabbed away by me who was an average black iron knight at that moment. As Taiyi Fantasy Sect was almost the most famous sect in the top 7 sects of Taixia Country, how embarrassed Feng Yexiao would feel? Therefore, Feng Yexiao always targeted at me and would like to make me embarrassed by finding my loopholes.''


    ''However, when my loophole was proved to be not a loophole, Feng Yexiao lost his airboat and his face at the same time. The magnificent brand of Taiyi Fantasy Sect was then shattered by a small figure. From then on, Taiyi Fantasy Sect was destined to become hostile to me. As one''s position determined his thought. As the disciples of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, of course, they treat me as their enemy and opponent.''


    After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Tie suddenly discovered that the fate of one person or a group of people was usually determined by one person''s simple thought.


    ''If they knew that they would lose their lives by throwing some plates in front of me, Grace would never dare do that to me anymore. They just did it because of a presumptuous yet reasonable thought in their mind...''


    ''If Feng Yexiao knew that he would lose his face completely, would he bet with me? Feng Yexiao made a bet with me because of a simple thought of jealousy, arrogance and killing intent. Because of such a bit evil thought, Taiyi Fantasy Sect turned hostile to me.''


    ''However, all this could have been avoided based on the relationship between Huaiyuan Palace and Taiyi Fantasy Sect and the fact that I was a member of Huaiyuan Palace. However, I turned hostile to Taiyi Fantasy. Is this my destiny or the so-called destiny was just a trajectory of some thoughts?''


    ''Thoughts!''


    ''The word was shocking and made me meticulous!''


    Zhang Tie didn''t know the final result between him and Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Zhang Tie didn''t feel that he could deal with Taiyi Fantasy Sect alone even now. Zhang Tie stuck to the principle that he would offend people only if he was offended first. ''However, if the conflict between Taiyi Fantasy Sect and I further deteriorates, the relation between Lan Yunxi and I might be much unsteadier.''


    ''In this case, I couldn''t eat humble pie. If I were regarded as good-for-nothing by the disciples of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and humiliated by a black iron knight of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, how could I grab Lan Yunxi''s heart? Will Taiyi Fantasy Sect agree with the marriage between Lan Yunxi and I because I was docile to them? I''m afraid that I would face a greater resistance by then. An ugly, short man could marry a beautiful common woman; however, he could never marry a gentlewoman or a princess.''


    ''F*ck!''


    When he thought about the boring thing, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand to swear inside. If Zhang Tie knew that he would incur so many troubles and so many obstacles to the marriage between Lan Yunxi and him after killing an earth shadow knight in the Earth-elements Realm, he preferred to leave that earth shadow knight to Feng Yexiao the old guy.


    However, regret didn''t work.


    ...


    Only after a short while, Blackwater Base had appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    So many knights were accessing the Blackwater Base. Everyone should present their Xuanyuan Order before entering Blackwater Base. These people came from everywhere across Taixia Country, including those from the Northeast Military Region. With so many human knights flying in the sky, it was as same as that in the legendary heyday of humans¡ª¡ªIn a large city floating in the sky, everyone living in the city could fly as if they were walking on the earth...


    Zhang Tie was too young. Although there were so many knights here, nobody else could be as young as him.


    The moment Zhang Tie arrived there, those passers-by had moved their eyes on his face.


    Some people didn''t know Zhang Tie; however, most of the knights from Northeast Military Region had already known Zhang Tie''s look.


    "Ahh, Qianji Hermit is back..."


    "This person is Qianji Hermit!"


    "Of course, Zhang Tie is the youngest earth knight in Taixia Country!"


    "But I didn''t see him in the raid!"


    "Qianji Hermit has already served as a scout for over 4 months..."


    "Ahh, scout!" Someone repeated with an exclamation.


    "Although Qianji Hermit didn''t attend the raid, he must be executing another mission!"


    "But I''ve not seen his name on the List of Earth Knights in Xuanyuan Fortress..."


    "Perhaps he didn''t report his military exploits. You know that earth knights who serve as scouts are never afraid of death..."


    Those who knew Zhang Tie couldn''t help but become slightly dumbfounded as they whispered something to those who didn''t know Zhang Tie on their sides. Some of them even nodded towards Zhang Tie politely. Zhang Tie also nodded towards them with a smile. Soon after Zhang Tie came back, he had already heard the news of List of Earth Knights in Xuanyuan Fortress 2 times. However, Zhang Tie didn''t care about it. Compared to the deed of that b*stard of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, the others'' responses made Zhang Tie feel much warmer.


    The knight at the entrance of Blackwater Base was also from Northeast Military Region. After taking Zhang Tie''s Xuanyuan Order respectfully and checking it, he gave the Xuanyuan Order back to Zhang Tie with full of admiration. He even said, "Welcome in, thanks for your hard work, Hermit!"


    "Pleasure..." Zhang Tie nodded with a smile as he took his Xuanyuan Order and entered Blackwater Base.


    Soon after entering Blackwater Base, Zhang Tie had felt dizzy as two female knights were exiting Blackwater Base.


    Coincidentally, one of the two female knights was Guo Hongyi; the other one looked a bit younger than Guo Hongyi. In a white skirt, she wore a pagoda-shaped bun. She looked very delicate while her beautiful eyes inclined towards her temples, making her pretty aggressive and different. When they walked towards Zhang Tie, all the surrounding male knights hurriedly gave way to them.


    What made Zhang Tie feel strange was that Guo Hongyi respected that woman in the white skirt very much as Guo Hongyi always stayed half a step behind her.


    Guo Hongyi and that woman saw Zhang Tie too. At the sight of Zhang Tie, Guo Hongyi''s eyes shone at once which contained a slight love that could only be sensed by Zhang Tie. However, when that strange woman saw Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie immediately felt that his hair all over was frozen. As a result, Zhang Tie quivered all over once as he swore inside, ''Damn, what an abnormal eye light! It''s like how an old virgin who was responsible for punishing criminals and had not seen light for hundreds of years interrogated a liar and rapist who was bound by ropes in a religious judicial office...''


    ''F*ck, she''s a shadow knight.'' Zhang Tie''s heart raced at once!


    "What a coincidence..." Zhang Tie greeted Guo Hongyi after dodging away from the eye light of the shadow female knight in the white skirt.


    "Hmm!" Guo Hongyi replied as she lowered her eye light and nodded towards Zhang Tie, being neither passionate nor indifferent.


    "Who''s this man?" The female knight in the white skirt turned around and asked Guo Hongyi in front of Zhang Tie.


    "Master, he''s Zhang Tie!" Guo Hongyi answered.


    "He''s Zhang Tie?" The female knight in the white skirt became slightly stunned. This time, she nodded to Zhang Tie while her eyes turned a bit warmer; however, her eye light was still cold. "Now that he could write the poem "The beloved ones", he''s a bit conscientious. However, as he''s married to a lot of women, he must be a lecherous and eloquent man. Stay away from him from now on. None of the men are good, not to mention male knights!"


    Zhang Tie became stunned. Although he had seen a lot of women, it was his first time to be commented in this way. ''Damn, have I offended her or what? How could such a woman be the master of Guo Hongyi?''


    "Hmm!" Guo Hongyi replied briefly while lowering her head. The woman in the white skirt threw a glance at Zhang Tie once again. Closely after that, she passed by Zhang Tie as if she had not seen Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie wanted to say something; however, he couldn''t. Finally, Zhang Tie could only scratch his head helplessly as he saw them off...


    ...


    After Zhang Tie returned to Blackwater Base, he went to report on his mission in the control center.


    Zhang Tie didn''t see Ye Qingcheng; however, the knight who received him told him that he was on a 2 weeks'' leave, during which period, he could make a free arrangement. However, if he was called by Blackwater Base, he had to arrive at the base in half an hour...


    After hearing that Ye Qingcheng was on a 2 weeks'' leave, Zhang Tie understood that the demons'' attack must have been relieved recently...

 1312 Meeting Bai Suxian and Her Family Members

    Elder Muray and Elder Muyu of Huaiyuan Palace were executing missions in a Class A city in Xing''an Prefecture of Huanzhou Province. In peaceful times, Class A cities in Taixia Country didn''t need to be defended by so many knights; however, as it was in the western theater of operations, it was necessary to allocate more knights to defend Class A cities.


    Although Huanzhou Province was in the western theater of operations, it was far away from the frontline. Additionally, it was in the east of Helan Mountain Range. Xingan Prefecture was also close to Bingzhou Province in the northeast of Huanzhou Province, also the place where Blackwater Base stayed for the first time. Actually, it was an easy and safe mission for Elder Muray and Elder Muyu. At least Xingan Prefecture could barely be attacked by demon knights before demons officially broke through Helan Mountain Range.


    After communicating with Elder Muray and Elder Muyu through a remote-sensing communications finger ring, Zhang Tie knew that the two people were assigned to Xingan Prefecture as garrison knights soon after he became a scout. Due to their duties, they didn''t even attend the raid under the leadership of Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    Smacking his lips, Zhang Tie felt that this arrangement was very interesting, ''As I''ve assumed the most dangerous mission as a scout on my own initiative, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu who are my clan members gained a relatively safer and easier mission.''


    Zhang Tie felt comfortable about this arrangement. He had to admit that Taixia Country was human-friendly in many aspects. For instance, if there was only one son in a family, he didn''t need to serve in the army; when two brothers served in the army at the same time, if one had sacrificed, the other could retire in advance...


    After contacting Elder Muray and Elder Muyu, Zhang Tie contacted Bai Suxian and told her that he had come back.


    "You''re back?"


    Soon after Zhang Tie sent the message, he had received the reply of Bai Suxian.


    "Yup, I''ve just come back. I''ve reported on my mission 1 minute ago. Where''re you?"


    "I''m on the airboat assigned by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion!"


    "Airboat? Have Lord Guangnan''s Mansion also assigned people to fight here?"


    "Of course, the airboat of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion had long arrived here 2 months ago. Under the leadership of my 2nd uncle, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion assigned one airboat and over 30 knights here. Where''re you?"


    "I''m going back to my cabin for some rest!"


    "Okay, wait a moment, I will come for you!"


    ...


    The Black Dragon Airboat was still connected to Blackwater Bas as the "dorms" of knights from Northeast Military Region. After contacting Bai Suxian, Zhang Tie returned to his Fantasy No. 76 cabin of Black Dragon Airboat.


    After opening his cabin, he found that everything in the room remained unchanged after over 4 months. The two master-level tracing feathers were still lying in the cabin, which indicated that nobody had visited here over the past 4 months. As there was a special air purification system in cabins of the airboat, none of the poisonous and harmful smoke, dust or suspended particle matters could enter cabins. After over 4 months, this cabin was still as clean as before.


    After escorting the airship troop for 3 days without any rest, the moment he returned to his cabin, Zhang Tie had taken off his clothes and started to take a bath.


    Due to limited water resources, it was very luxurious to take a bath on the airboat. Even being an earth knight, Zhang Tie could only enjoy limited water every day. Thankfully, Zhang Tie moved fast. He had finished his bath in less than 5 minutes. The moment he finished his bath, Zhang Tie had heard the knocks. He knew it must be Bai Suxian.


    After covering his lower body with a towel, Zhang Tie cleaned his head by another towel as he opened the door of his cabin.


    Bai Suxian was indeed standing outside the door while looking beautiful. The moment Zhang Tie opened the door, Bai Suxian had entered as she locked the door by hand. Closely after that, Bai Suxian gave a long kiss to Zhang Tie.


    Reunion after a brief separation was as sweet as a honeymoon. After parting with Bai Suxian for over 4 months, Zhang Tie couldn''t cover his excitement.


    After parting from each other physically, Bai Suxian watched Zhang Tie affectionately as she put one hand onto Zhang Tie''s chest and said, "Do you know how much I was worried about you after hearing that you were injured?"


    "It''s fine, it''s not fatal!" Zhang Tie smirked as he started to fumble over Bai Suxian''s body.


    "What happened?"


    "I was ambushed by Gao Tianzhao and some demon b*stards!"


    "Ahh, you were ambushed by a shadow knight..." Bai Suxian became shocked as her face blushed. She even forgot that Zhang Tie was fumbling over her body. Now that Zhang Tie could survive the ambush of a shadow knight, he must be fortunate or have a great ability...


    "Ahh...stop; have you recovered your injuries...let me see..."


    "I''ve cleaned my body and was waiting for you. You tell me whether I''ve recovered or not?" Zhang Tie smirked.


    "My...2nd uncle knows you''re back and wants to see you...now!" Bai Suxian pressed Zhang Tie''s hands as she stammered.


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s words, Zhang Tie stopped his movement at once. Watching Bai Suxian with a bitter look, he said, "I''ve already taken off my pants, and you''re telling me this..."


    "Puffft..." Bai Suxian threw a glance at Zhang Tie whose bath towel had fallen onto the ground before saying, "Who told you to be so lascivious?"


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile as he took out a set of decent clothes from his portable space-teleportation equipment and put them on. No matter what, he was going to see Bai Suxian''s family member. Bai Suxian''s 2nd uncle should also be an influential figure in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. If Zhang Tie didn''t see him, it would be a bit rude. "By the way, why were you in the airboat of Lord Guangna''s Mansion? Did you execute missions these days?"


    Bai Suxian let out a sigh as she replied, "Soon after my 2nd uncle came here a few days ago, he had met Ye Qingcheng. On the 2nd day, Ye Qingcheng had assigned me to the airboat of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion to follow the order of my 2nd uncle!"


    Zhang Tie understood it at once. Of course, the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion should stay with the members of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion in this case. Privileges existed everywhere. It was already remarkable that Lord Guangna''s Mansion didn''t assign Bai Suxian away from the frontline.


    Bai Suxian then helped Zhang Tie put on his clothes carefully.


    "Who led the team of Taiyi Fantasy Sect here?"


    "It''s Feng Yexiao, one of the top 4 grand elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect!"


    "Do Taiyi Fantasy Sect have some young men called 9 young elites?"


    "They are 9 black iron knight elites in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Above them, there are some earth knight elites called 5 peaks. Feng Yexiao brought here all of his beloved disciples..."


    "Is there a disciple among the 9 young elites surnamed Wen?"


    "Yup, might be Wen Qingkong. He likes to be in the limelight. You know him?" Bai Suxian threw a glance at Zhang Tie out of curiosity.


    "All right!"


    Zhang Tie understood it at once. ''No wonder that Wen Qingkong kept biting me like a mad dog the moment he saw me regardless of the basic etiquettes. It turns out that he''s a disciple of Feng Yexiao...''


    ''What a boisterous theater of operations! All the elites have arrived here, old and young!''

 1313 Six Lords of Taixia Country

    According to Bai Suxian, except for different temperaments, her 2nd uncle looked very similar to his dad, Lord Guangnan.


    Since the founding of Taixia Country, although it had experienced 2 holy wars, there were only 6 lords in Taixia Country. Given the title of nobility, except for Emperor Xuanyuan, the 6 lords could rank top in the officialdom of Taixia Country.


    Bai Suxian knew that Zhang Tie didn''t know too much about the history of Taixia Country and the major clans in Taixia Country because Zhang Tie didn''t grow up in Taixia Country. Therefore, on the way from Blackwater Base to the airboat of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Bai Suxian started to supplement knowledge to Zhang Tie in case of embarrassment when Zhang Tie chatted with her 2nd uncle. Bai Suxian''s 2nd uncle paid attention to the face of major clan and sect very much.


    According to Bai Suxian''s introduction, Zhang Tie started to understand the situations of the six lord''s clans in Taixia Country generally.


    Besides Lord Guangnan, the other 5 lords were respectively Lord Xuanwu, Lord Jingtian, Lord Dingxi, Lord Yian and Lord Xianhai.


    The foundation of Lu Clan of Lord Xuanwu was in Jinzhou Province and Pingzhou Province, which were immortal provinces and the most prosperous places in Taixia Country. Lu Clan''s wealth and influence were not weak among the six lords'' clans. Additionally, Lu Clan of Lord Xuanwu was the largest military supplier in Taixia Country, which had very great power on its back.


    The foundation of Sun Clan of Lord Jingtian was in Xiangzhou Province, Yuezhou Province and Dingzhou Province which were in the middle of Taixia Country. The three provinces were full of elites and heroes. Lord Jingtian''s Mansion almost monopolized the entire mining industry in the three provinces and had a bounty land of 6,000 miles. Additionally, Lord Jingtian''s Mansion had over 100 Class A cities, 300,000 employed guests. Therefore, Lord Jingtian was known as a very hospitable person.


    The foundation of Cao Clan of Lord Dingxi was in Shouzhou Province and Xianzhou Province in the west of Taixia Country. Compared to the other lords'' clans, Cao Clan of Lord Dingxi had slightly declined. After Cao Yan the Lord Dingxi was awarded as a lord in the first holy war for less than 10 years, he had been missing. After confirming that Cao Yan had been missing for 3 decades, as Cao Yan didn''t leave any will, at the request of Cao Clan, Xuanyuan Hill awarded the eldest son of Cao Yan as Lord Dingxi. However, the eldest son of Cao Yan was not as excellent as the other sons of Cao Yan. Therefore, it led to the frustrations and disruptions facing the branch of Lord Dingxi.


    Over the past hundreds of years, Cao Clan had experienced many animosities for the title of Lord Dingxi. Outsiders didn''t know what happened inside Cao Cao. However, the fact was that all the successors of the title of Lord Dingxi had died suddenly in cultivation after succeeding to the crown for less than 10 years, whether they were clan heads or the direct descendants of Lord Dingxi and the like. Of course, Cao Clan would gradually decline among those lords'' clans in Taixia Country. Even so, Cao Clan could still not be matched by common clans. Lord Dingxi''s Mansion had over 30 Class A cities and hundreds of other cities.


    The foundation of Qin Clan of Lord Yian was in Xuanyuan Hill. It was the only Lord''s Clan that built its mansion in Xuanyuan Hill. However, Qin Clan of Lord Yian''s influence could reach every corner and nook of the world; besides imperial households of Taixia Country, Qin Clan of Lord Yian was also on the back of Xuanyuan Bank the largest bank of Taixia Country. Actually, Qin Clan was managing Xuanyuan Bank. Besides, Qin Clan of Lord Yian was also favored by Emperor Xuanyuan. It could be said that Qin Clan of Lord Yian was in the lowest profile yet had the greatest potential among the six lord''s mansions of Taixia Country.


    "However, the most mysterious clan among the six lords of Taixia Country was Lord Xianhai. Nobody knew the name of Lord Xianhai until now!"


    "Ahh, why?" Zhang Tie asked Bai Suxian with a surprised look as they were flying at a steady speed. They could already see the airboat of Lord Guangnan in front of them.


    The airboat of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion was nearby Xuanyuan Fortress. Xuanyuan Fortress was also a city in the sky like Lion Fortress in the Earth-elements Realm being surrounded by 11 air battlefronts. The airboat of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion was longer than 1,000 m, which was even larger and more domineering than the Black Dragon Airboat. At the sight of the airboat, people would be able to sense the high social status of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    "Lord Xianhai is a human lord being awarded in the 2nd holy war. When many knights were dropping their blood to manifest their military exploits in Heavens Fortune Sect, that man in white clothes just stood among the people in an average manner. Nobody knew his military exploits. However, when it was his turn to drop his blood on the tester, the Heavens Fortune List immediately indicated that he could be awarded as a lord; additionally, the word Xianhai appeared on the Heavens Fortune List. Numerous people were shocked at that time. Right then, that person left a sentence, "There''re immortal mountains in the overseas. I live in the clouds". After that, that person burst out into laughter three times before flying away even faster than a heavenly knight.


    "Nobody knew his name until now?"


    "Not exactly. It''s said that Lord Xianhai actually comes from Penglai Immortal Island; because Emperor Xuanyuan had awarded him with the 50,000 miles'' waters in the east sea after awarding him Lord Xianhai. It''s said that Penglai Immortal Island is in that waters..."


    "Really?" Zhang Tie became interested in it at once. He had not imagined that there was such a legendary figure in Penglai Immortal Island besides the inheritance of divine dominator.


    "Hmm, because nobody knows where is Penglai Immortal Island. People in Penglai Immortal Island always behave mysteriously. I''ve not heard that any outsiders could find Penglai Immortal Island until now. Many people would go to sea by boat for Penglai Immortal Island each year; however, none of them could find Penglai Immortal Island at all."


    Zhang Tie was stunned by Bai Suxian''s words. Previously, Zhang Tie was thinking about making a trip to Penglai Immortal Island and learning battle skills and secret methods of divine dominator from them. After being told that nobody could find Penglai Immortal Island at all, Zhang Tie became speechless.


    Smacking his lips, Zhang Tie said, "There''re too few lords in Taixia Country. I was told that each major sect has sage-level knights. Those old monsters have great battle strength and made a lot of military exploits. Why don''t they drop their blood on the tester in Heavens Fortune Sect for a title of the lord?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    Bai Suxian threw a bitter smile at Zhang Tie before saying, "If you''re Emperor Xuanyuan, will you allow the sage-level figures of major sects to drop their blood for a title of the lord? Will you allow them to rule numerous commoners in Taixia Country while being the leader of hundreds of millions of disciples? Even commoners and officials will bow towards them!"


    Zhang Tie shook his head as he said, "Of course I won''t. Otherwise, Emperor Xuanyuan will not have a good sleep. If someone among them was ambitious to be an emperor, it would cause great trouble across the country! You mean Emperor Xuanyuan forbids the sage-level knights of the top sects dropping their blood for a title of the lord?"


    "Emperor Xuanyuan doesn''t need to forbid it. The top sects and the imperial household of Taixia Country are all clear about it and are in privity. The disciples of those top sects could drop their blood on the tester for a title of the lord by doing which they could manifest their own battle strength and enhancing the reputation of their own sects. However, the sage-level knights of the top sects could do that; even heavenly knights of these top sects barely did that. If sage-level knights are awarded the title of lord, they would pose threats to Emperor Xuanyuan; if heavenly knights are awarded the title of lord, they would become the chancellors of Emperor Xuanyuan. The top sects don''t feel like accepting that; neither is the heavenly knights of those top sects willing to do that. Therefore, nobody among the top sects of Taixia Country could be awarded as the title of lord. According to the regulations of Heavens Fortune Sect, all of its disciples from black iron knights to sage-level knights are forbidden to drop their blood for the title of lord."


    Zhang Tie finally understood it. He had not imagined that the top sects could reach such privity with Emperor Xuanyuan on this point. Therefore, Xuanyuan Hill could maintain balance with the top sects.


    "Introduce me your Lord Guangnan''s Mansion..." Zhang Tie said with a grin.


    "You''re seeking for death!" Bai Suxian pouted.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter. Of course, Bai Suxian didn''t need to introduce Lord Guangnan''s Mansion to Zhang Tie. If a person who was going to be the son-in-law of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion didn''t know about Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, he had no sincerity to marry Bai Suxian at all. Bai Suxian had already told Zhang Tie about Lord Guangnan''s Mansion previously. If Zhang Tie asked some dare-to-die fighters who were gifted by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, he would basically know Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    It could be said that each lord''s mansion had their own features. Lord Guangnan''s Mansion could match the other lords'' mansions on both influence and wealth. Bai Clan of Lord Guangnan was based on Yuezhou Province, Hongzhou Province, Kunzhou Province and Zhaozhou Province in the south of Taixia Country. It had over 1,000 cities and over 100 million armored soldiers. Not only that, but Lord Guangnan also had a great influence among the tribes in the hundreds of millions of mountains in the south border of Taixia Country. The entire southern border of Taixia Country was like the backyard garden of Lord Guangnan. Even many barbarians had to follow the order of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. It was said that everyone surnamed Bai in the hundreds of millions of mountains in the south border of Taixia Country could be safe. Lord Guangnan almost ranked top among the six lords of Taixia Country.


    When Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie chatted with each other, they had come to the entrance of the airboat of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Some bearded and strong old men blocked the entrance when they gazed at Zhang Tie who was flying towards them with Bai Suxian as if there was a beautiful flower on Zhang Tie''s face.


    At the sight of them, Zhang Tie had known that they were all knights; 3 of them were even earth knights.


    At the sight of this scene, Bai Suxian immediately acted like a spoiled child as she said, "Uncles, what are you doing?"


    "Hehhehheh, 2nd master said young lady was coming back with the son-in-law, of course, we''re here to check him for you..."A silly guy whose arm was almost as thick as Zhang Tie''s thigh touched his bald head as he smirked, "According to the regulation of southern border, the son-in-law should pass 3 tests set by our old men..."


    ...

 1314 Conquering Bai Suxians Family Members

    Zhang Tie indeed had heard about some wedding customs in some regions of Taixia Country. In some regions, when a son-in-law proposed marriage in the female''s house, the female''s family members would find him troubles. Take these knights from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion as an instance, although they were blocking Zhang Tie''s door, they were never malicious. They might have long heard about Zhang Tie and couldn''t help but "test" Zhang Tie''s ability out of curiosity.


    The knights of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion had already treated Zhang Tie as their brother''s son-in-law, which made Bai Suxian happy and a bit coy. However, when these guys wanted to make Zhang Tie embarrassed, Bai Suxian became a bit unhappy as she was worried that Zhang Tie would be infuriated. Therefore, she could only throw a glance at Zhang Tie carefully.


    If they were ordinary ones, Bai Suxian had long reproached them; however, they were all Lord Guangnan''s myrmidons, who saw Bai Suxian growing up since she was young. They were like Bai Suxian''s uncles. Bai Suxian really didn''t know what to say.


    Zhang Tie smiled at Bai Suxian as he comforted her that he was not that narrow-minded.


    "Now that elder brothers would like to be intimate with me, please ask questions. If I could, I would answer you; if I cannot, I will admit that I''m a loser. After all, we''re of the same family. It''s just a game; never mind it!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter brightly and clearly.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the knights at the entrance of the airboat exchanged a glance with each other as Zhang Tie left a good impression in their mind. They spoke highly of Zhang Tie inside, "What a Qianji Hermit! His easy-going personality is indeed unusual. No wonder, he could win the favor of the "magic woman" of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    "Fine, frank guy!" The bald-headed silly guy patted his own thigh forcefully, causing the fat of the half of his body to quiver. He watched Zhang Tie as he said heroically, "When our brother''s son-in-law propose marriage in the female''s house, he should pass three tests: first, a test on culture; second, a test on battle strength; third, a test on drinking capacity. When you went to Xuanyuan Hill, you detoxicated Old Zhong''s poison. Old Zhong was so excited when he mentioned it to us. We are convinced by your culture. You passed the first test. Therefore, you only need to match battle strength and drinking ability with us today..."


    "How?" Zhang Tie asked with a smile.


    "As we''re all knights, if we fought, we might be injured more or less. Let''s make it easier, just match strength. Attention! strength, not battle qi. I''m standing here. If you could push me away, you will win..." The bald-headed silly guy continued.


    "No, Uncle Meng, you shouldn''t bully him in this way..." Bai Suxian hurriedly refused it for Zhang Tie before Zhang Tie expressed his opinion. Widely opening her eyes and pouting her mouth, Bai Suxian watched that silly guy as she added, "Uncle Meng, you''re born to have great strength. Additionally, you''re cultivating a count-level "Sky-Supporting Sutra". "Sky-Supporting Sutra" could increase people''s strength most among all the cultivation methods that could help people promote to knights. Uncle Meng has promoted to an earth knight for over 3 decades; however, Zhang Tie has just promoted to an earth knight for a few years. Furthermore, Uncle Meng awakened the Fantasy-level Ancestral Wuding Bloodline of Meng Clan last year; you could even able to split open a mountain. Nobody else in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion could have greater strength than you. Even my dad said that you had the greatest strength in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. If you match Zhang Tie on strength, it''s nothing different than bullying him. I don''t agree with that. Change one..."


    "Erm..." Watching Bai Suxian pouting her mouth, the bald-headed silly guy felt a bit bashful. Touching his bald head, he turned around and looked at the other guys. Watching him turning around his head, Bai Suxian immediately understood it that this opinion on matching strength was worked out by them together. Although Zhang Tie was the son-in-law of Lord Guangnan, these myrmidons of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion would like to have Zhang Tie understand their high positions in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion; therefore, they chose such a program which they believed that "they would never lose" to frighten Zhang Tie to a certain degree. If Zhang Tie lost the match only in strength, he didn''t lose his face too much; because knight'' battle strength included more than just strength.


    "Well, if uncles bully me, when I return to the Mansion, I will speak ill of you in front of my aunts; especially Uncle Meng. I will tell the aunt that you''ve fallen in love with another female knight here!"


    After hearing that Bai Suxian was going to speak ill of him in front of his wife, the silly bald-headed guy immediately changed his face as he hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Little princess, you cannot do that. If your aunt fell for your words, I would have big trouble. She would peel off my skin..."


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter at once as he had not imagined that an earth knight could be so afraid of his wife, "Well, Suxian, it''s fine. It''s just a match on strength. I don''t care even if I lose it. Just have a try..."


    "But..."


    Bai Suxian still wanted to say something. However, Zhang Tie blinked his eyes to her. Bai Suxian then closed her mouth at once.


    After hearing that Zhang Tie agreed to match strength with him, the silly guy hurriedly lowered his body as he put his arms forward horizontally, facing Zhang Tie with his palms. At the same time, he said, "As long as you could push me backward one step, you''re the winner. Don''t worry. This Old Meng will not hurt you. I will at most use 70% of my full strength. If you couldn''t move me for one time, you could try some more times..."


    After saying that, the silly guy''s muscles bulged like a weird boa. At the same time, his body sounded like beating a drum from inside. As his qi and blood boiled, his body steamed, which indicated that he had exerted his strength to the extreme.


    Zhang Tie watched him with interest. To be honest, this earth knight from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion was indeed the most powerful earth knight that Zhang Tie had ever seen. However, even so, his strength was still not on the same scale with Zhang Tie. ''Bai Suxian didn''t know that "King Roc Sutra" could increase more strength than "Sky-Supporting Sutra" did. Although I''m not born with an unusual strength, my 7 strengths have reached an unimaginable level after I took so many seven-strength fruits. Additionally, source fruits could not only enhance my vital essence but also increase my strength, not to mention so many fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs that I ate these days...''


    "Are you ready?" Zhang Tie walked over there casually. After seeing the firm, the plain metal wall inside airboat 7-8 m behind that silly guy, Zhang Tie became reassured.


    "Come on..." The silly guy said while exhaling.


    Standing in front of him, Zhang Tie put his palms against the silly guy''s palms. After seeing Zhang Tie''s arrogant deed, the silly guy and all the other onlookers looked a bit angry at once; however, their indignation soon flashed by. Soon after having a good impression of Zhang Tie, they had felt that Zhang Tie was pretty presumptuous. However, they still doubted that Qianji Hermit wanted to admit defeat in such a manner.


    Whereas, the silly guy didn''t know that Zhang Tie used 2 hands given his face. Zhang Tie was actually worried about that the hand of this silly guy was shattered because of uneven force.


    "Are you ready, one, two, three..." Zhang Tie opened his mouth...


    Soon after Zhang Tie''s words, with a sound of "bang...", the silly guy had been sent flying into the airboat and hit onto the metal wall before sliding off...


    Everybody became stunned, including Bai Suxian, except for Zhang Tie who still maintained his smile.


    "Old Meng, even though you''re afraid of being beaten by your tigress at home, you don''t need to behave in such a poor way. That''s too ridiculous. Holy sh*t! This father has known you for 5-6 decades. When did you start to show the white feather in such a manner? When did your deadhead become enlightened..." Another knight couldn''t help but exclaim soon after the silly guy picked himself up.


    Of course, the others thought Old Meng did that on purpose; there were no other possibilities. Because of the following 2 reasons: first, Zhang Tie had not triggered his battle qi; second, he didn''t use too much strength at all. However, Old Meng was sent flying backward. Evidently, Old Meng intended to show his weakness.


    The silly guy shook his head as he roared. Closely after that, he tore apart his boa silk robe regardless of the others'' irony, exposing his muscled upper body. After that, he rushed towards Zhang Tie once again. This time, he made a pose by bending his legs in a heavier way; meanwhile, his upper body slightly inclined forward as his body steamed and the blood vessels in his hands and neck undulated like boas. After that, he said, "I''ve not used my full strength, one more time..."


    Zhang Tie smiled. Like how he did just now, he put his hands against the palms of this silly guy once again as he said, "Ready? One, two, three..."


    Just like before, soon after Zhang Tie finished his words, the silly guy had been sent flying backward and hit on the same metal wall before sliding off, causing another bang.


    This time, all the onlookers had seen it clearly. Soon after Zhang Tie finished the word "three", he had pushed forward while straightening up his arms. At the same time, Old Meng was sent flying backward without any resistance like an ox being collided by a train.


    This time, a part of the metal wall sunk inside.


    After picking himself up, Old Meng shook his head as if he still didn''t believe that he could be sent flying backward by Zhang Tie''s hands which looked "weak". Therefore, he rushed towards Zhang Tie and made a pose for the 3rd time as he shouted, "One more time..."


    At this moment, two other earth knights exchanged a glance with each other before jumping out of the crowd and coming to the back of that silly guy. Closely after that, they both made a pose as they put their arms straightly on the silly guy''s shoulders. Being as wide as the gate of a warehouse, the silly guy''s shoulders could easily hold 4 palms at the same time.


    "One, two, three..."


    "Bang..."


    Undoubtedly, soon after the word "three", the 3 earth knights had been sent flying backward and hit onto the metal wall behind them.


    All the onlookers were dumbfounded by Zhang Tie''s superhuman strength. ''How could a person send 3 earth knights flying backward so easily? What a terrifying strength does Zhang Tie have? Given Zhang Tie''s look, he''s not used his full strength at all.''


    "Superhuman strength...real superhuman strength...this Old Meng is conquered..." The silly guy said with full of admiration as he cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie when he picked himself up once again. The other two earth knights also cupped their hands towards Zhang Tie with an admiring look. All the knights at present realized that Zhang Tie had a terrifying, great strength in close combat even though he didn''t release his battle qi. He could even tear apart steel by hand. They really wondered how did Zhang Tie practice his strength.


    Bai Suxian watched Zhang Tie with a blush in an adoring look. Although Zhang Tie was the winner, it seemed that she was happier than Zhang Tie. Such a pure wrestle on masculinity and strength was convincing to her.


    "Hahaha, Qianji Hermit really excels at culture and combat. Suxian''s insight is sharp..." A gentle and noble middle-aged man with a long beard walked out of the tunnel from the back of the entrance with his candid smile.


    "2nd master!"


    "2nd uncle!"


    Soon after this middle-aged man appeared, Bai Suxian and the other knights at the entrance hurriedly greeted him. After knowing his identity, Zhang Tie also greeted him politely.


    After looking at Zhang Tie from his head to his toe, that person nodded towards Zhang Tie with a smile. Closely after that, he turned around and watched that silly guy and the onlooking knights, "Do you admit defeat now?"


    "We admit defeat!" All the myrmidons of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion nodded as they replied because Zhang Tie''s strength was really great enough to win people''s admiration.


    "Now that you''ve admitted defeat, come in; I''ve had people prepare well the banquet. If you couldn''t even match his drinking capability, don''t blame me for flogging you with the bamboo!"


    "Hahaha, 2nd master really cares about our faces..." The silly guy surnamed Meng smirked as he touched his bald head once again as if he didn''t care about the result of the test at all.


    "Please..." Bai Suxian''s 2nd master made a gesture to invite Zhang Tie in as if he treated the latter as a VIP of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion instead of the ordinary elder brother''s son-in-law.


    "2nd uncle first!" Zhang Tie replied modestly with a smile.


    Bai Suxian''s 2nd uncle nodded as he burst out into laughter. At the same time, he walked into the airboat together with Zhang Tie arm in arm...

 1315 Fuma

    It was already the next early morning when Zhang Tie woke up.


    After that, Zhang Tie found that he was lying on the bed of a luxurious bedroom which covered over 100 square meters. He then realized that he was still in the airboat of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    Zhang Tie drank the most amount of alcohol since he was born yesterday. Zhang Tie didn''t remember how much he had drunk. He only remembered that it was very fervent at that time. He matched the drinking capability of those knights of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. After defeating 5 people, Zhang Tie finally became dizzy. Closely after that, Bai Suxian accompanied him here.


    After sobering up, Zhang Tie checked himself and found that he was very clear-minded. Therefore, he became reassured. Meanwhile, he had not imagined that he had such a great drinking capability.


    Although drinking would cause mistakes. Honestly, after having a "cool" drink last night, Zhang Tie found that he was relaxed all over. The bit tiredness that was caused by the 3 days'' escort and those upside-down things seemingly had disappeared. ''But I shouldn''t drink so much in the future. Otherwise, it might really incur troubles. People say that they would not feel comfortable after sobering up. But I don''t have such a feeling. I wonder whether it''s because that Lord Guangnan Mansion''s liquor is good or that I''m a knight or it''s related to my medium recovery body...''


    As he thought about it, Zhang Tie got up and cleansed himself up. After that, he put on his clothes, opening the hatch door and walking out.


    The moment Zhang Tie exited his berth, two maids hurriedly lowered their bodies sideways towards Zhang Tie as they greeted him, "Fuma!"


    As the two maids greeted him, they stealthily glanced at Zhang Tie out of curiosity. The crew of the entire airboat was talking about that the Fuma had infinite power. Even Meng Chao the one with the greatest strength in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion was defeated by him. Not only that, but the drinking capability of the princess'' husband was also superb. It was said that the princess'' husband himself defeated 5 knights who had the greatest drinking capabilities in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. After hearing such gossip, the two maids even thought that Zhang Tie was a tough man. However, they had not imagined that Zhang Tie was only a handsome youngster who looked even younger than them.


    ''Fuma?'' Zhang Tie couldn''t help but laugh. He had not imagined that his identity as the princess'' husband had been fixed since he came to the airboat of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion yesterday. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether this appellation was fixed by Bai Suxian''s 2nd uncle or these maids, he didn''t mind it. No matter what, he would win this appellation sooner or later. He only felt that appellation was a bit fresh. Zhang Tie then replied, "Hmm, get up!"


    After recovering their standing posture, the two maids stealthily glanced at Zhang Tie for a couple of times with blushes. If the princess really married Zhang Tie, these maids would be her dowry and belong to Zhang Tie too. That was to say, they would warm up the bed and serve Zhang Tie to go to bed in the future for sure. However, it was already a lot for them to meet such a good princess'' husband.


    "Fuma, do you need inducing resuscitation dew?" A maid asked tenderly.


    "Inducing resuscitation dew? What''s that?"


    "Inducing resuscitation dew is the specialty in our southern border. It has a marvelous effect on sobering people. No matter how drunk one is, he would be sobered up only with one drop of inducing resuscitation dew. With it, people won''t cause any mistakes. Last night, princess told us to stay here. If there''s an emergency, princess told us to wake Fuma up!" Another maid with almond eyes and rosy cheeks said straightforwardly.


    "Hehe, no need. You''ve worked hard..."


    "It''s our pleasure..." The two maids hurriedly lowered their bodies at once.


    When they talked, Bai Suxian had already come over here from the aisle. At the sight of Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian''s eyes turned bright at once as she said, "Ahh, you''ve sobered up. My 2nd uncle has just sobered up too. He wants me to call you for a breakfast together..."


    Yesterday, Bai Suxian''s 2nd uncle was the first one becoming drunk.


    ...


    5 minutes later, in the dining hall where they had a banquet yesterday, Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian and Bai Suxian''s 2nd uncle were eating breakfast together in a quiet and graceful room of the airboat.


    All the items on the airboat of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion were carried here from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. It was said that various supplies would be sent here by airboat every month. Therefore, the breakfast on this airboat was pretty bumper.


    Through the competition on strength and drinking capability with Bai Suxian''s 2nd uncle and the myrmidons of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, it seemed that Zhang Tie had become the real Fuma of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. When the family members had breakfast together, all of them became relaxed and started to chat about the affairs in the western theater of operations and the south border of Taixia Country as if they had already accepted Zhang Tie as their family member.


    "Oh, Zhang Tie, what kind of weapon do you use? After the battle strength competition, yesterday, Meng Chao and the other guys have been wondering what sort of weapon do you use given your superhuman strength. If you have no proper weapon, I could have people in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion bring here some superhuman weapons that the Mansion collected these years for your selection!" Bai Ruicheng, also Bai Suxian''s 2nd uncle suddenly asked.


    Soon after Bai Ruicheng opened his mouth, all the surrounding knights had moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie.


    After cleaning up his mouth by a piece of napkin, Zhang Tie immediately took out his Thor''s Hammer.


    The handle of Thor''s Hammer was almost 2 m in length. The huge, grim head of Thor''s Hammer was like an oil drum. However, the grunge and mysterious grains on Thor''s Hammer and the shimmering light that flashed by the surface of the swarthy body of the hammer reminded the onlookers that it was a precious silver secret item.


    Soon after Thor''s Hammer was taken out, everybody had been dumbfounded.


    "How heavy is this hammer?" Bai Runcheng asked Zhang Tie after looking at it carefully.


    "6,800 kg!"


    "Silver secret item?"


    "Silver secret item!"


    Zhang Tie held Thor''s Hammer weighing 6,800 kg like holding a straw. All the others at present were conquered by Zhang Tie''s great strength.


    "Let me have a try..." At the sight of Zhang Tie''s Thor''s Hammer, Meng Chao the silly guy who compared strength with Zhang Tie yesterday immediately sprung up from his seat as he wanted to try its weight. Zhang Tie directly passed it to him.


    After taking the Thor''s Hammer, Meng Chao immediately revealed a solemn look. He couldn''t carry it easily. Only after brandishing it for a few times in the lobby, the others at present had felt a strong wind blowing over their faces.


    "That''s powerful; that''s too powerful!" Meng Chao screamed as he added, "It''s fine using it on the ground; however, it would be too hard to use it in the sky for me; additionally, my moving speed would be reduced. If I want to beat others by this weapon, my opponents could torture me to death only by striking me with battle qi instead of having close combat with me. Additionally, even though in close combat, I could at most stand 1 hour with this weapon..."


    "Let me have a try..." The other earth knights hurriedly swarm up to have a try as it was their first time to see such a heavy silver secret item. Like Meng Chao, although these earth knights could lift and brandish this hammer, they moved much slower than Zhang Tie.


    All of them at present had tried the Thor''s Hammer, including Bai Runcheng. Finally, it was passed back to Zhang Tie. Closely after that, Zhang Tie teleported it into his portable space-teleportation equipment.


    "How do you feel about this hammer?" Bai Runcheng asked Zhang Tie.


    "It''s proper before. However, it feels lighter and lighter lately. I''m almost not accustomed to it." Zhang Tie said honestly.


    ''A 6,800 kg silver secret item feels light!'' All of the knights at present would spurt out a mouth of saliva towards that person if it was told by someone else; however, they all believed in it when it was told by Zhang Tie; because they had already seen Zhang Tie''s performance yesterday.


    Bai Runcheng revealed a bitter smile as he shook his head, "After seeing your hammer, I realize that I''ve been overconfident just now. Among all the superhuman weapons collected by the Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, the largest and heaviest one is a silver secret item-level long spear weighing only 4,900 kg. We couldn''t even provide any weapon heavier than this one. Now that you could take this heavy hammer as your weapon, no wonder you could survive the trap of Gao Tianzhao..."


    "2nd uncle, do you know where could I get a heavier weapon than my Thor''s Hammer in Taixia Country?"


    "How heavy do you need? Do you have any request on the category?"


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie replied, "At least 10 tons, over 20 tons is also acceptable. Saber, spear, hammer and sword, each of them works!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the others at present became speechless. Commoners'' weapons were measured in terms of kilograms; however, Zhang Tie''s weapons were measured in tons. The Thor''s Hammer was already frightening, they really couldn''t imagine how it felt after being hit by a 10-20 ton weapon. Actually, Zhang Tie was telling truth as the Thor''s Hammer was really too light for him. As for Zhang Tie, the Thor''s Hammer couldn''t completely exert the power of his kinetic strike in close combat; because 10 ton was just the most conservative estimation given the constant fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs and the surging strength after promoting to a shadow knight.


    "It''s easy for us to make heavier weapons using abyss iron, mithril and alloys of all kinds. However, their destructive strength could never match that of this silver secret item. Only a silver secret item could match your request. You could find silver secret items only in two places, "First, Earth-element Realm; second, Taiyi City. You might not find a silver secret item heavier than Thor''s Hammer for hundreds of years; therefore, I''m afraid that you could only find it in Taiyi City."


    "Taiyi City?"


    "Right, Taiyi City is the largest trading center of secret item pearls among humans. In Taiyi City, there''re numerous secret item pearls. Most of the secret item pearls that major sects and clans and individual knights of Taixia Country gain from other continents and subcontinents are finally gathered in Taiyi City for sale. I remember that a powerful heavy sword weighing 8,800 kg was opened from a secret item pearl in Taiyi City 140 years ago. Later on, this heavy sword was bought by Taiyi Fantasy Sect. They even named it as Immortal Taiyi Sword. As a trump card of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, it''s preserved by Immortal Xuanyuan, the head of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. The 4,900 kg long spear collected by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion was also gained from Taiyi City. Someone would find something special from a secret item pearl in each decade. Therefore, there might be a heavier silver secret item there. However, it depends on your luck if you want to gain a proper silver secret item from Taiyi City besides your own ability..."


    "Thanks for your suggestion, 2nd uncle. If so, I should try my luck in Taiyi City..." Zhang Tie smiled.


    "All the secret item pearls in Taiyi City are traded in terms of element crystals. You''d better invite some doctors who were proficient in the learning of secret items for a higher possibility. Lord Guangnan''s Mansion has a store in Taiyi City. If you go there, you could go for the boss of Lord Guangnan''s Treasures Pavilion with this plate if you meet some inconvenience. After seeing this plate, the boss would definitely try his best to help you!" As Bai Runcheng told Zhang Tie, he took out a crystal token and had a person on his side pass it to Zhang Tie.


    In this case, Zhang Tie didn''t decline it; instead, he took that token straightforwardly. After looking at it, he teleported it into his portable space-teleportation equipment...


    As for Zhang Tie, he didn''t lack element crystals. However, the so-called learning of secret items was just a joke in his eyes. The learning of secret items might be useful for others; however, the learning of secret items that made numerous knights scramble for was nothing but sh*t in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    "It''s said that Taiyi City has not been opened until now. The trade of secret item pearls have been suspended!"


    Bai Runcheng replied with a casual smile, "It''s for the time being. The turmoil in Xuanyuan Hill shocked the entire world. It was just a stance of Taiyi City, which was like flying a flag at half-mast. Each holy war would last 100-200 years. How could they suspend their business for 100-200 years? As Taiyi Fantasy Sect have land, they could receive too much rent. Taiyi City is a major source of income of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, which has long been making the others jealous. Only after a few days, if Taiyi Fantasy Sect doesn''t open their market in Taiyi City, their business might be grabbed away by Xuanyuan Hill and the other sects. I''m afraid that Taiyi City will open its market soon after the battle situation facing Western Theater of Operations becomes stable..."


    "2nd uncle, do you think that the Western Theater of Operations could be stabilized?"


    "Of course, no matter how powerful demons are, they could never defeat Taixia Country only by one round. Each holy war would last over 100 years, including this holy war. Now that the lords in Xuanyuan Hill are confident to curb the aggressiveness of demons in Helan Mountain Range and Weishui River, they must have reasons. Additionally, according to my intelligence, something unusual was happening in the regions occupied by demons over past days; demons are becoming smarter..."


    When Zhang Tie was going to ask Bai Runcheng what happened in the regions occupied by demons, he suddenly received a message through his remote-sensing finger.


    "What happened?" Bai Suxian knew that something was going to happen as she had been fixing her eyes onto Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie looked at Bai Suxian as he also felt it strange. He then told her, "I''ve just received a message, the commander-in-chief Zuoqiu Mingyue wants to see me..."


    "Commander-in-chief wants to see you?" Bai Suxian became stunned too. Closely after that, she moved her eyes onto her 2nd uncle.


    Stroking his beard and watching Zhang Tie for a few seconds, Bai Runcheng suddenly burst out into laughter, "It must be a good thing if you''re called in by one of the top 3 counselors..."

 1316 Being Hostile Openly

    A knight subordinate of Zuoqiu Mingyue was waiting for Zhang Tie in Blackwater Base. After seeing Zhang Tie in a bit more than 10 minutes, the subordinate was very satisfied. After confirming Zhang Tie''s identity, that knight subordinate only said, "Follow me..." before leaving Blackwater Base for Xuanyuan Fortress.


    Although Zhang Tie had just covered over here from the airboat of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, after hearing that the commander-in-chief was waiting for him in Blackwater Base, Zhang Tie could only go back to Blackwater Base first before following that knight subordinate to Xuanyuan Fortress.


    On the way, Zhang Tie was wondering why Zuoqiu Mingyue wanted to see him.


    The knight subordinate was silent with an inflexible look and behaved in a rigid way without even greeting Zhang Tie. Therefore, Zhang Tie gave up inquiring something from this man. No matter what, he would know it after a short while.


    Xuanyuan Fortress was similar to Lion Fortress in structure and staffing. They were both super large war fortresses. Over half of passers-by on the roads in the war fortresses were knights. Additionally, there were various metal towers on both sides of the roads, which could serve as people''s residences. Of course, there were also bars and stores where knights could become relaxed and exchange materials. As Zhang Tie had stayed in Lion Fortress for a few days, he didn''t feel too amazed about Xuanyuan Fortress. There was also a no-fly air territory and a marvelous energy cover above this fortress. Most of the knights couldn''t fly in the fortress except for heavenly knights.


    "Zhang Tie..." a thunder-like voice sounded the moment Zhang Tie entered the fortress and walked with that knight on the road. Zhang Tie turned around as he saw Feng Yexiao, one of the top 4 grand elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect who once lost a bet with him. Additionally, there were some knights on Feng Yexiao''s side. Given their looks, they should be Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s disciples. Soon after they walked out of a high roadside tower, they had caught sight of Zhang Tie.


    Like how he looked when Zhang Tie saw him for the first time, Feng Yexiao also wore an extremely ordinary plain-colored linen robe. Of course, after seeing the luxurious configuration inside Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s airboat, Zhang Tie would not consider that Feng Yexiao pursued frugality or diligence. Ladies in nightclubs didn''t wear a lot less because they were born to be coquettish, but because of demand for work and livelihood. Similarly, grand elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect didn''t dress in this way to save some gold coins for the sect or they couldn''t afford a boa silk robe; but for pretending to be frugal in order to catch outsiders'' attention.


    At the sight of Feng Yexiao, Zhang Tie stopped as he said calmly with a glassy-eyed look, "Elder Feng!"


    The knight subordinate in front of Zhang Tie also stopped as he turned around and looked at Feng Yexiao and Zhang Tie silently.


    Compared to Zhang Tie''s calmness, Feng Yexiao widely opened his eyes as he questioned Zhang Tie strictly, "Zhang Tie, as an earth knight, why do you hurt my disciple the moment you came back yesterday?"


    "Grand elder Feng, what do you mean?" Zhang Tie said with a distant look, "Since I came back yesterday, I''ve not fought anybody at all. Additionally, I only greeted some familiar ones. I''ve never talked with any disciple of Taiyi Fantasy Sect at all. Grand elder Feng''s words really made me feel puzzled. I wonder how did I hurt your disciple. Could you explain me about the causes and effects?"


    "You..." Feng Yexiao was so angry that his face was red. Nobody else across Xuanyuan Fortress would sympathize his disciple if he told them what happened yesterday. However, his disciple suffered a loss from Zhang Tie; additionally, this event was related to his own face. After recalling that his face was slapped by Zhang Tie for a couple times, he lost a bet with Zhang Tie which almost made him a laughingstock in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. This time, his disciple was driven infuriated so much by Zhang Tie that he even spurted out a mouth of blood. Therefore, Feng Yexiao finally lost his temper.


    "My junior fellow apprentice Wen was once out of control when in cultivation; as a result, his heart meridian was injured. After being insulted and stimulated, his disease relapsed as he had a pain in the heart and spurted out blood. Qianji Hermit understood what happened yesterday, why do you pretend to be innocent here?" A disciple younger than 30 years old behind Feng Yexiao opened his mouth.


    Zhang Tie glanced at that disciple of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Given his long and narrow eyes, he looked very scheming. Additionally, his slightly thinner lips and sunken eye sockets looked a bit gloomy. At this moment, that person was gazing at Zhang Tie with narrow eyes dauntlessly. The moment he opened his mouth, he had attributed the responsibility to Zhang Tie.


    "As a Hua sage said, one should not impose on others what he himself does not desire. Now that he couldn''t stand being stimulated or humiliated, why did he always want to stimulate and humiliate others? Because he''s the disciple of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, the others have to grasp the ability to have his saliva dry itself on their faces?" Zhang Tie sneered.


    "Taiyi Fantasy Sect is the first sect in Taixia Country. Standing in the opposite of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, it''s not strange even if you grasp the ability to have one''s saliva dry itself on your face." Feng Yexiao said with a faint sneer.


    "Elder Feng, I got up early this morning. I''ve not even cleaned my teeth. However, you told me about this. I really have no preparation mentally..." Zhang Tie looked at Feng Yexiao with a smile as he continued, "As I have something to deal with, I have to go. If Elder Feng wants to grasp the ability to have one''s saliva dry itself on your face, I suggest Elder Feng have a try at a high place by spitting your saliva towards the strong wind. When Elder Feng promotes to sage realm one day and could match Emperor Xuanyuan, you might have already grasped this top skill. See you!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie directly told that knight subordinate of commander-in-chief without looking at Feng Yexiao before saying, "Let''s go!"


    After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie and the members of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, the knight subordinate continued to walk forward in front of Zhang Tie silently.


    Soon after Zhang Tie moved less than 5 footsteps, he had heard a sound. The one who spoke secretly was the young earth knight of Taiyi Fantasy Sect who talked to Zhang Tie just now, "It''s said that Qianji Hermit has a senior fellow apprentice called Lan Yunxi in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. She''s already a black iron knight and looks good. Hehheh, after seeing Qianji Hermit, I realize that I''ve cared about junior fellow apprentice Lan too less before..."


    Zhang Tie stopped at once as he slowly looked around. At the same time, he raised his arm and pointed at that earth knight of Taiyi Fantasy Sect who was watching him with a sneer and said straightforwardly, "Bear it in mind, from now on, as long as Lan Yunxi encounter any accident or misfortune in Taiyi Fantasy Sect, even if she broke one finger in cultivation, I will kill you for sure regardless of the reason. If you want to see whether I dare do that or not, just have a try. This is the price that you will pay for using the member of Huaiyuan Palace to threaten me. Wen Qingkong the son of a b*tch dared swear me in front of me; however, you the b*stard only dared threaten me secretly...You couldn''t even match Wen Qingkong"


    "Zhang Tie, you''re too presumptuous..." The earth knight instantly changed his face. Feng Yexiao was also driven mad as he roared and grabbed the chance to punch towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie narrowed his eyes at once; at the same time, he punched against Feng Yexiao''s palm. With such a loud boom, Zhang Tie remained still; however, Feng Yexiao was sent back to his original place.


    This round of combat was as fast as a lightning bolt. Zhang Tie and Feng Yexiao had finished their combat before the onlookers'' response. However, the loud boom attracted the attention of all the passers-by within 100 m.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Feng Yexiao. Closely after that, he flicked his sleeves and turned around. Watching Zhang Tie''s back, Feng Yexiao''s facial expression turned mysterious. Only Feng Yexiao himself knew that his hand which punched against Zhang Tie''s palm was slightly quivering inside his sleeve...


    ''What a terrifying strength!'' Feng Yexiao was shocked inside.


    ''F*ck, I finally became hostile against Taiyi Fantasy Sect!'' Zhang Tie swore inside. However, after punching against Feng Yexiao openly just now, Zhang Tie had a feeling of exaltation upon fulfillment. He wouldn''t feel suppressed anymore. After becoming hostile against Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Zhang Tie found that he didn''t have anything to fear about from then on. Therefore, he felt as broad as sea and sky inside at once...


    ...

 1317 Heavens Reaching Empire

    Zhang Tie saw Zuoqiu Mingyue and Ye Qingcheng in a room at the top of the huge pyramid-shaped building in the middle of Xuanyuan Fortress. It seemed that the 2 people were waiting for Zhang Tie.


    Through this room at the greatest altitude, Zuoqiu Mingyue and Ye Qingcheng could overlook all the 11 advanced bases in the entire Xuanyuan Fortress through the huge crystal French windows which carried the strong alchemical qi.


    White clouds arrived outside the windows leisurely at their foot. Ye Qingcheng and Zuoqiu Mingyue had been fixing their eyes onto Zhang Tie since Zhang Tie entered the room.


    "Commander-in-chief, commander..." Zhang Tie instantly made a military salute to the two people soon after he entered the room after glancing over the room. The two people were respectable from both cultivation base and military exploits. Although Zhang Tie didn''t know about their moral standings, he felt they should be better than Feng Yexiao at least.


    When Zhang Tie gave a military salute to them, he especially paid attention to Zuoqiu Mingyue who was known as the Military God in Taixia Country. Given his look, Zuoqiu Mingyue was just an elegant, hale old man like an immortal being. His qi as a whole was calm. If not the special uniform that was specially designed for top 3 counselors of the state, nobody could believe that this person was the Military God of Taixia Country, the commander-in-chief of numerous soldiers in Taixia Country next to Emperor Xuanyuan.


    Of course, Zhang Tie knew that was just his superficial look or a supreme realm of simplicity. However, if anyone felt that commander-in-chief was such a calm and plain old man, that would be totally wrong. When Zhang Tie caught sight of the wall behind Zuoqiu Mingyue and Ye Qingcheng, his eye light suddenly froze.


    There was a specimen on the wall behind the two people, which was the head of an ox horn demon. The change of demon knight''s cultivation base would be reflected on their own bodies. After promoting to a heavenly knight, ox horn demon would have one more horn in the middle of their forehead. The head belonged to a 3-horn heavenly demon knight.


    There was even a faintly grim and painful look before his death on its face.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see a specimen of a heavenly demon knight''s head in an office. Therefore, he was shocked more or less.


    "It''s a demon prince. It was brutal and killed so many human knights in the 2nd holy war; additionally, it liked to chop off human knights'' heads and hang them on the wall for collection and appreciation. Therefore, I chopped its head and hung it on my wall. Only in this way could we frighten demons!" Zuoqiu Mingyue opened his mouth as he pointed at a location in the room as if he had sensed that Zhang Tie was gazing at the head of the heavenly demon knight on the wall, "Take a seat..."


    "Commander-in-chief is really mighty and admirable. This really raise people''s morale!" Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards Zuoqiu Mingyue as he took a seat frankly.


    "Blackwater Base have already figured out why you were ambushed by Gao Tianzhao. Among the knights from Northeast Military Region in this base, You Dazhong the clan head of You Clan in Mozhou Province is a mole of Heavens Reaching Church. He leaked the intelligence that you have a mount and your traces to the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church after you came to the Western Theater of Operations. You Dazhong has been cleared secretly. You Clan in Mozhou has been confiscated. As we don''t want to make people in the base flurried, we won''t make any notice to the public. Now that you''ve come back, I should be responsible for you!" Ye Qingcheng said.


    "Thanks, Commander Ye, Heavens Reaching Church has penetrated into our party so deeply that we could barely defend them!"


    "Therefore, most of the military exploits for clearing moles in the base should owe to you this time. If you''re not meticulous and don''t provide us the clues, I''m afraid that bigger troubles would be aroused in the future if You Dazhong continued to lurk in Blackwater Base!" Ye Qingcheng let out a sigh too, "Oh, how did you discover that Go Tianzhao would ambush you in the underground space and survive his ambush?"


    After hearing Ye Qingcheng''s question, Zhang Tie started to depict what he experienced at that time. In front of Ye Qingcheng and Zuoqiu Mingyue, Zhang Tie admitted that he had grasped animal controlling skills. However, he didn''t tell them that he had lotus-flower eyes. Through meticulous probe, Zhang Tie discovered the traces of Gao Tianzhao. Alchemist''s bomb was also a method that Zhang Tie adopted to keep himself safe in a hopeless situation. After getting injured and leaving the mountain cave, Zhang Tie flew off Helan Mountain with the help of thunder hawk. After that, he started to recover his injuries in a hidden place. Although Zhang Tie didn''t tell them where did he recover his injuries, now that he appeared in Xiangshan Prefecture, Wuzhou Province for the first time lately, the listeners must think that Zhang Tie didn''t have the thunder hawk fly back to Huanzhou Province, but have it fly to a mountain region in Xiangshan Prefecture, Wuzhou Province out of the imagination of Gao Tianzhao and those demon knights.


    Zhang Tie was telling the truth in details. Nobody could find any fault in his words. Even though those demon knights and Gao Tianzhao were here, it was hard to say Zhang Tie''s depiction was wrong. Because Zhang Tie was telling true. However, nobody could imagine that Zhang Tie had body separation skill. His secret skills were also amazing. Finally, he could defeat Gao Tianzhao easily by the secret skill of King Roc Sutra.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Ye Qingcheng and Zuoqiu Mingyue exchanged a glance with each other before nodding inside at the same time. Zhang Tie''s depiction was completely consistent with the information that they got through investigation later on. Although nobody else saw Gao Tianzhao chasing Zhang Tie out of the mountain cave and Zhang Tie escaping away by thunder hawk, like how Zhang Tie could find that mountain cave by animal controlling skill, the tracing professionals assigned by Blackwater Base and Xuanyuan Fortress could also restore what happened at that time using animal controlling skill too.


    "Did you see Gao Tianzhao any more from then on?"


    "At that time, Gao Tianzhao chased after me very hurriedly; however, he didn''t catch up with me in the end. After that day, I''ve not seen Gao Tianzhao in the western theater of operations for over 2 months!" Zhang Tie was telling the truth. Zhang Tie spoke very carefully facing two powerful figures because high-level knights might grasp some unpredictable lie testing skills. If he told a lie in front of them, they might be able to sense it. In fact, Zhang Tie''s reply was true. If he didn''t add "in the western theater of operations", he was telling a lie; if he added "in the western theater of operations", he wasn''t telling a lie. Zhang Tie saw Gao Tianzhao in his Castle of Black Iron since then instead of in the western theater of operations. "Why do you ask me about this? Commander Ye?"


    "The knights in Xuanyuan Fortress and the 11 bases might not have known that for the time being. But we''ve got the concrete information. The remnants of Heavens Reaching Church being wanted by Taixia Country have long escaped to Yezhou Province, a barren province in the west of Taixia Country. They were hiding in secret places over there. Soon after demon''s vanguard arrived, those remnants of Heavens Reaching Church had jumped out and started to coordinate with demons to occupy cities and land. A couple of days ago, the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church have already established a puppet regime in the region occupied by demons called Heavens Reaching Empire. Strangely, as Gao Tianzhao had the supreme position among the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church, he should definitely be selected as the puppet emperor; however, it was Gao Zeji the son of Gao Tianzhao who ascended to the throne. Gao Tianzhao didn''t show up at all..."


    After hearing this news, Zhang Tie became dumbfounded. It was not strange that the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church hid in a barren province in the west of Taixia Country. Even Lancang Palace of Bloody Soul Temple could be discovered in the volcano being so close to Xuanyuan Hill, not to mention the western border of Taixia Country. If the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church really wanted to hide here, it was really hard to find them.


    Actually, Zhang Tie had guessed that the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church being wanted might be hiding in some hidden place of Peacewest Military Region 2 months ago when he caught sight of Gao Tianzhao. However, it was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that Heavens Reaching Church could found a puppet regime openly and select an emperor. Because such a situation didn''t happen in the former 2 holy wars at all.


    However, after thinking about it carefully, it was reasonable. Because Heavens Reaching Church which inherited the doctrine of Bloody Soul Temple excelled at confusing people, controlling and enslaving commoners. The remnants of Heavens Reaching Church needed power, liquors and beauties; demons wanted to consume the strength of Taixia Country and Hua people and have Hua people fall apart into pieces by killing each other. Therefore, the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church and demons made cooperation.


    The same tactic had been used in the history of Hua people for many times. In the history of Taixia Country, all the invaders would finally play off one group of Hua people against the other by means such as differentiation, bribery and threat, assisting traitors, cultivating various ambitious people and agents and having Hua people separate from inside through mutual animosity and carnage for the purpose of ruling, enslaving and eliminating Hua people. Given the large population and land area, if they attacked Hua people blindly, they could only make Hua people more consolidated; however, if they cultivated some agents and puppet lackeys, they could realize the maximal destruction at the lowest price. It was similar to the tactic of leaving one exit while surrounding the other 3 exits of a city.


    There had not been such cunning and delusive guys among Hua people for many years. Now that Heavens Reaching Church founded Heavens Reaching Church with the assistance of demons, it meant that the entire Heavens Reaching Church had completely abandoned the bound and foundation of Bloody Soul Temple and stood on the opposite of Hua people and Taixia Country. No matter what Bloody Soul Temple did at that time, it was still one of the top sects in Taixia Country and didn''t separate Taixia Country openly and deteriorate to the lackeys of demons.


    "Heavens Reaching Church''s traitors are seeking for death..." Zhang Tie said resentfully while gritting his teeth...

 1318 Weiji General

    "It''s true that the cunning rebels of Heavens Reaching Church are seeking for death. However, if the greater part of the land in Yezhou Province which has been completely occupied by demons, Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province which are being attacked by demons are included, almost half of Peacewest Military Region have been occupied. Over 12 people of Taixia Country have been captured by demons in that territory."


    "Over 12 billion commoners?" Zhang Tie was startled by this figure. He knew that many people were in the region of the 3 provinces which were occupied by demons; however, he had not imagined about such a terrifying figure.


    "This figure is on the premise that Taixia Country has tried its best to evacuate people from Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province over the past half a year. Of course, you''ve also made a contribution to it!" Zuoqiu Mingyue said as he looked at Zhang Tie with a favorable expression, "Although it''s a commercial means for major clans across Taixia Country to join in the team of evacuating people from the western theater of operations with the profit of Fiery Oil, it has a great effect. In many cases, by commanding people to do something with the concept of righteousness is not as effective as alluring people by profits. Although the royal court could also order major clans to do this, the major clans might not be as enthusiastic as they''re now!"


    "I''m overpraised, commander-in-chief. I''ve just done what I could!" Zhang Tie didn''t feel proud at all; instead, he behaved in a very sincere way, "When I was in Waii Subcontinent, I''ve seen many people''s miserable lives in the region under the rule of demons. Most of the people would rather die. All of them were lingering on with their last breath of life. Many people deteriorated to the edible slaves of demons like domestic animals being bred in captivity. More people turned into lifeless walking dead. Therefore, I think it''s my compelling obligation to save my countrymen in my power!"


    "What a compelling obligation! If everyone in Taixia Country could behave like you. Even though demons are powerful, our Hua people are destined to be the winner in the end!" Ye Qingcheng nodded as he said, "Do you know why demons allowed Heavens Reaching Church to establish a regime in the region which was occupied by them?"


    "Won''t it be beneficial to both demons and Heavens Reaching Church through this cooperation?"


    "Yes, it''s indeed beneficial to both parties. However, given demons'' temperaments, how could living people be better than walking deads like demonized puppets? Because they''re afraid of mutated moons miasma. Mutated moons miasma could break out among all the people in the 3 provinces after they are completely turned to demonized puppets. If so, demons'' line of attack would be blocked; demons'' plan on attacking Taixia Country would be completely disrupted. Even the main forces of demons would be involved. It''s nothing different than lifting a rock only to drop it on their own feet. At this moment, less than 20% of over 12 billion people in Taixia Country being captured by demons might still be living..." Ye Qingcheng said in a low voice.


    ''Mutated moons miasma?'' Zhang Tie wondered whether the fact that Gorath was his incarnation had been known by Zuoqiu Mingyue and Ye Qingcheng. ''As I could use mutated moons miasma, therefore, they called me here? That''s impossible. Who else except me knows that I''m Gorath?''


    "Commander Ye, you mean..." Zhang Tie asked after being silent for a second.


    "I was told that you got acquainted with Gorath."


    "I met him in Waii Subcontinent, but we''re not familiar with each other because we barely saw each other..." Zhang Tie said carefully.


    "Taiyi Country has assigned professionals to collect samples of mutated moons miasma in Waii Subcontinent. The conclusion is that Gorath''s mutated moons miasma is the destroyer of demonized puppets, which also does great harm to LV 9 demon fighters. I believe that demons and Three-eye Association have carried out the same study and got the same conclusion. Therefore, after Waii Subcontinent was completely collapsed by demons; although all the subcontinents were covered with roaring battle flames, not a single demon disaster being involved with more than 100 million people have ever happened since then. Because of Gorath''s mutated moons miasma, parent puppet worm which is an effective weapon of mass destruction that demons prepare in this holy war is greatly restricted. Demons dare never turn people into demonized puppets on a large scale. It could be said that Gorath''s mutated moons miasma destroyed one trump card of demons. We''ve already received an intelligence. In order to kill Gorath and eliminate this threat, demons and Three-eye Association have already assigned some hunting groups composed of shadow knights to look for Gorath''s traces across the world. As long as they killed Gorath, the trump card of puppet worm would play its role once again. If you could contact Gorath, please notice him this intelligence and tell him that Taixia Country could provide protection for him at any time. If he wishes to serve Taixia Country, all of his conditions could be met by Taixia Country, including cultivation methods, resources, wealth, land, etc.. Taixia Country could even spare efforts to support him in the research of voodoo pills on the premise of sharing the study results with him..."


    Zhang Tie understood it at once. ''It turns out that my mutated moons miasma has posed a great threat to demons'' use of parent puppet worms. Therefore, demons and Three-eye Association want to kill "Gorath". However, mutated moons miasma is Taixia Country''s magic key. If Taixia Country could take control of Gorath and mutated moons miasma, Taixia Country would be able to balance off the threat from demons'' parent puppet worms and ensure that demons and those b*stards of Heavens Reaching Church wouldn''t turn people into demonized puppets casually. Because "Gorath" has shown up at my rotating charka ceremony as if he got acquainted with me; therefore, the senior officials of Taixia Country thought about having me contact Gorath and take control of the trump card mutated moons miasma.''


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt lucky about his foresight by having Gorath appear in his rotating chakra ceremony so as to end up people''s doubt that he was Gorath. ''In this world, nobody else would feel that I am Gorath; otherwise, as long as the fact that I own the body-changing bloodline was exposed, someone would doubt that I''m Gorath. Take this case as an instance, demons and Three-eye Association assigned some hunting teams composed of shadow knights to deal with Gorath. If I''ve not confirmed that I''m not Gorath, I''m afraid that such hunting teams would bring great trouble to my family members even if I don''t feel that such hunting teams could hurt me.''


    "Although I have a history with Gorath, I have no remote-sensing device to contact him. If I saw him, I would definitely tell him about the message. However, I''m afraid that I could not see him in the theater of operations in a short period. When he appeared in my rotating chakra ceremony, he had expressed that he was going to leave Taixia Country. I''m not clear where he was going to, either."


    "Oh, I see. Just bear it in mind. As Gorath''s traces are too mysterious, Taixia Country couldn''t get any message about him even at our full efforts. I''m deeply convinced that demons and Three-eye Association couldn''t find him easily either..." Ye Qingcheng opened his mouth once again after being silent for a second, "There''s another thing about you!"


    "About me?"


    "Yes. From today on, your command and relationship of administrative subordination will be transferred to Xuanyuan Fortress from Blackwater Base. You will be responsible for me directly..." Zuoqiu Mingyue opened his mouth.


    Zhang Tie was shocked for the 2nd time today. He had not imagined that Zuoqiu Mingyue could transfer him here from Blackwater Base. ''What does he want to do?''


    "As you were voluntary to become the scout of Blackwater Base at the beginning, you were very brave and could be a good model of all the knights from Northeast Military Region. Given your ability, I think that you could complete your task as a scout safely; therefore, I assigned you to Helan Mountain Region. However, the fact that you were ambushed by Gao Tianzhao reminded me and commander-in-chief that your ability and strength might not be limited to combat on the battlefield. If you''re just an earth knight only with great battle strength, demons and Heavens Reaching Church wouldn''t assign a shadow knight to kill you. We realize that we might have put fine timber to petty use..." Ye Qingcheng explained.


    "Commander-in-chief, what do you want me to do then?'' Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly.


    "I will use you because of the same reason that makes demons and Heavens Reaching Church being anxious about killing you!" Zuoqiu Mingyue watched Zhang Tie calmly as he added, "The war between Taixia Country and demons is destined to last long. Demons couldn''t devour Taixia Country at once. Taixia Country couldn''t drive all the demons out of Eastern Continent either; especially after Heavens Reaching Empire is founded, the entire Western Theater of Operations will confront with demons and Heavens Reaching Empire for a long term. In the future, Helan Mountain Range and Weishui River will be a barrier that demons could barely break through in a short period. There''s one position in the theater of operations that is most suitable for you. Therefore, I transferred you here from Commander Ye''s Blackwater Base!"


    "It''s Fiery Oil!" Zhang Tie understood it at once.


    "Fiery Oil and grains!" Zuoqiu Mingyue replied with a smile, "Given the current situation facing Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, we''ve known that you must have a good plan in your heart. You''re qualified as Qianji Hermit. If the rear end of Western Theater of Operations could be as same as Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory, Taixia''s defense line in Helan Mountain Range and Weishui River would be safer. By then, it would cost demons more to break through it. I wonder whether you wish to leave the battlefield?"


    After being silent for a second, Zhang Tie replied in a low voice, "It''s fine for me as long as I could serve Taixia Country in the holy war!"


    "Great!" Zuoqiu Mingyue then clapped his hands before saying, "From today on, I will entrust you as the assistant of commander-in-chief and Weiji General of Xuanyuan Fortress. You will be responsible for the affairs of grains and weapons of the troops in Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Bingzhou Province. Class III. You have the right to make an arbitrary decision..."


    Zhang Tie was stunned by Zuoqiu Mingyue''s words. As the assistant and secretary of Zuoqiu Mingyue, he could contact Zuoqiu Mingyue at any time. Weiji General was responsible for logistics and supplies in troops, which was equal to the minister of logistics and weapons department...


    "Yes, sir..." Zhang Tie stood up and replied solemnly only after being dumbfounded for a few seconds...

 1319 A Bet Between Zhang Tie and Feng Cangwu

    The new year''s eve of the 905th year of Black Iron Calendar arrived too early. After returning to Blackwater Base for 3 days, the last day of the 904th year of Black Iron Calendar had slid away unconsciously...


    After heavy snow overnight, many provinces in Peacewest Military Region had been covered with snow. The east side and the west side of Helan Mountain Range were both covered in heavy snow. Even the flowing Weishui River had been frozen with thick ice.


    Due to the dull weather, people couldn''t see the Faerie-Dragon Star that rose from the east. However, the loud drumbeats that drifted from Xuanyuan Fortress last night cheered these Hua knights up and reminded them of the arrival of a new year.


    Besides knights who executed routine inspection and performed tasks, all the knights in Xuanyuan Fortress and the other bases welcomed a rare 2-day leave since they entered the Western Theater of Operations.


    Both scholars and fighters should be relaxed. During this period when demons slowed down their attack, knights in Taixia Country also welcomed their first new year in the theater of operations. All the knights finally had a chance to relax themselves.


    Because they were forbidden to leave Xuanyuan Fortress and the other bases too far away, all the bars and likewise places across Xuanyuan Fortress were filled to capacity at once.


    ...


    "Weiji General? Commander-in-Chief appointed you as Weiji General?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Feng Cangwu stopped drinking immediately as he tilted his head and watched Zhang Tie with widely opened eyes who was looking at the scenery outside the crystal French window in an interesting way.


    Feng Cangwu and Zhang Tie were in the Brilliance Tower inside Xuanyuan Fortress. This tower was the most boisterous place in Xuanyuan Fortress. Like that brilliance tower in Lion Fortress, this brilliance tower also had a lot of functional areas. Knights inside this theater of operations could exchange for element crystals with their booties here. The 81-storey tower was also matched with the largest knights'' bar and dining hall across Xuanyuan Fortress, where knights could consume and relax themselves. Of course, as for many people, the most attractive place in the entire Brilliance Tower were two huge military exploits rankings in the lobby of the Brilliance Tower.


    The military exploits of top 1,000 knights could be manifested on the rankings. The entire rankings were divided into rankings for black iron knights'' military exploits; rankings for earth knights'' military exploits and rankings for shadow knights'' military exploits. The 3 rankings could cover over 99% of fighters joining the battle in the Western Theater of Operations. Their military exploits would be confirmed as long as they were confirmed and counted.


    As for heavenly knights'' military exploits, it was hard to manifest them on the rankings simply. In fact, as long as a heavenly knight was in the base or the fortress, he would shock demons greatly. Additionally, as heavenly knights had supreme positions, every movement of them might be related to the confidential affairs. It was evidently irreverent to rank heavenly knights here. Additionally, confidential affairs might be leaked by ranking heavenly knights'' military exploits. Therefore, there were no rankings of heavenly knights'' military exploits in all the Brilliance Towers.


    The accumulated points of military exploits indicated one''s battle strength and honor. Besides, they could also exchange for anything they wanted with these accumulated points inside Xuanyuan Fortress such as element crystals, wealth, land even various advanced cultivation methods and battle skills collected by the royal households of Taixia Country which were very practical and enticing.


    The highest cultivation method which could be exchanged by these accumulated points were duke-level classics. Of course, those knights couldn''t cultivate another cultivation method. However, if possible, that knight could designate one of his posterities or disciples to accept the enlightenment of the duke-level cultivation method. So many knights and major clans exerted their full efforts to fight demons for this reward.


    Additionally, such rankings were almost a rehearsal on the Heavens Fortune Rankings later on, through which people who ranked top would be conferred with dukedom. As long as they left their names on the rankings, most of them on the rankings might become noblemen and benefit their offsprings; even be conferred as dukes. All the people on the rankings would be the pillars of Taixia Country in the future.


    The square of the Brilliance Tower was always crowded with knights who were here to observe the rankings. Of course, the figures on the rankings became the focus of the public too.


    In each holy war, Taixia Country would set the military exploits rankings in the theater of operations. Such a method was simple, direct and effective. Even the figures among the top 7 sects would like to compete in front of the rankings. No matter what they were pursuing for, fame, benefits, face or vanity, they could always find a reason to pay attention to this military exploits rankings.


    Watching those knights commenting the figures on the rankings, Zhang Tie finally knew that the copycat military exploits that he saw in crystal fortress originated from here...


    Zhang Tie might be interested in such rankings before; however, he didn''t have any interest in it now. Even though his name also appeared on the rankings about military exploits of earth knights, Zhang Tie still didn''t feel thrilled about it.


    Zhang Tie''s name appeared on the rankings 2 days ago. Xu Baoan the Cheji General of Wuzhou Province reported Zhang Tie''s military exploits of killing 2 earth knights and 2 black iron knights to Xuanyuan Fortress. Besides Xu Baoan, there were other witnesses at present when Zhang Tie killed those demon knights. Therefore, after Xuanyuan Fortress approved it, Zhang Tie''s name and his military exploits appeared on the rankings.


    Additionally, if Zhang Tie could present other demon knights'' heads, his rank would be higher on the rankings. However, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like doing that at all.


    In different realms, people would have different thoughts and demands. Someone might feel pleased with the rankings; however, Zhang Tie didn''t think such rankings was meaningful to him. He didn''t even want to catch people''s attention.


    However, after his name and military exploits appeared on the rankings, Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s face was slapped forcefully in an indirect way too. Feng Yexiao couldn''t even find a reason to find Zhang Tie trouble for Wen Qingkong anymore.


    ...


    After hearing Feng Cangwu''s words, Zhang Tie moved his eyes onto Feng Cangwu as he asked with a smile, "Are you surprised?"


    "Of course surprised. If you leave the theater of operations, even though this position looks supreme, you''ve lost the chance to make more military exploits in the theater of operations. What will you use to compete with others if knights are requested to drop their blood on the tester to manifest their military exploits on Heavens Fortune Rankings for dukedom in the future? You should know that the only condition for conferring people with dukedom is the number of demons they kill. It doesn''t work no matter how well you serve as Weiji General. Even if Taixia Country win this holy war by driving demons back to the underground world, whose name do you think will be remembered by people, Zuoqiu Mingyue or your name as Weiji General? Don''t tell me that you don''t want to be conferred with a dukedom or strive for a noble dukedom for your sons..." Feng Cangwu said while frowning.


    As the private room of the bar on the 28th floor of Brilliance Tower was installed with a special device for the sake of rest, drinking and chat for knights, Feng Cangwu and Zhang Tie didn''t need to worry about leaking the information to the public.


    Feng Cangwu''s attitude made Zhang Tie''s heart pound as he recalled the event that Taiyi Fantasy Sect had already been preparing for the "doomsday grain seeds" secretly which was told by Lan Yunxi. ''However, it seems that the talented apprentice of Heavens Fortune Sect is still thinking about the affairs after humans win the holy war. Do the 2 top sects of Taixia Country have an utterly different judgment on the consequence of this holy war?''


    "Do Heavens Fortune Sect feel that humans could still win the holy war in the end?" Zhang Tie asked Feng Cangwu straightforwardly.


    "Have you heard other judgments?" Feng Cangwu also asked Zhang Tie straightforwardly. Given their bosom relationship, they indeed didn''t need to talk in a roundabout way.


    After considering it for a second, Zhang Tie said, "Someone among the top 7 sects might not think that humans could win this holy war!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Feng Cangwu revealed a faint sneer at his mouth corners as he said, "Starting from the Catastrophe, in each holy war, there would be someone who felt that they had already seen the doomsday. However, Taixia finally survived all the doomsday fears. In each holy war, demons would be more powerful than last time; similarly, Taixia would also be more powerful. All the sects have their own strengths. However, speaking of heavens fortune, who else could match our Heavens Fortune Sect? As long as over 2 decades ago when this holy war broke out, some elders in our Heavens Fortune Sect had run the Heavens Fortune Rankings to only get one sentence¡ª¡ªHua people and Taixia Country would be vigorous forever. Therefore, we''re confident to defeat demons in the end!"


    "Hua people and Taixia Country would be vigorous forever. Is this the heavens fortune that Heavens Fortune Sect got?"


    "Of course!" Feng Cangwu bottomed up his drink and made another cup for himself. Closely after that, he said, "According to elders of Heavens Fortune Sect, humans'' heart has endless and mysterious strength; although humans would exhaust their strength physically, they would always have endless spiritual strength; heavens fortune is humans'' heart. when humans'' heart changes, the heavens fortune would change. If humans'' heart is vigorous, humans would be vigorous forever; if humans'' heart is lifeless, humans would lose the battle in the end. If humans'' heart doesn''t die, Hua people would not be exterminated. If demons want to exterminate humans, they have to kill humans spiritually. If demons want to subjugate Taixia Country, they have to wipe out their history."


    "If demons want to exterminate humans, they have to kill humans spiritually..." After pondering this sentence for a few seconds, Zhang Tie finally felt being clear-minded as he said, "Thanks, I see..."


    "See what?"


    "I understand the most important thing that I should do after being appointed as Weiji General!" Zhang Tie smirked.


    "Doesn''t commander-in-chief favor your ability to produce Fiery Oil and do farming work? As an earth knight, it''s amazing that you invented Fiery Oil; however, you''re also good at farming work which would make people envy you pretty much. What else do you want to do in that title?" Feng Cangwu asked as he sighed with a feeling.


    "I want to invent something that could enable commoners or low-level fighters to kill knights; at least common cities could resist knight-level demon knights..." Zhang Tie said seriously.


    "Do you want to deal knights with Fiery Oil? But Fiery Oil is not too destructive to demons even if you use too much of it. Do you want to make alchemist''s bombs? Do you know how difficult it is to make an alchemist''s bomb?" Feng Cangwu thought about alchemist''s bombs at once.


    "No!" Zhang Tie shook his head as he said, "But I feel that I should have other methods except for alchemist''s bombs..."


    Feng Cangwu looked at Zhang Tie for a few seconds. Then, he suddenly burst out into laughter as he pointed at the square outside and said, "If you could really make such a thing, I will marry that woman..."


    Zhang Tie looked over there along Feng Cangwu''s finger. He then saw a "female knight" standing in front of the rankings about military exploits of black iron knights in an imposing manner. With scarlet lipstick over her lips, jewelry and a big red flower on her head, the woman was even stronger than men. Watching the names on the rankings, she was grinning like a rotten pear.


    This woman was followed by some knight bodyguards. At the sight of this "female knight", all the male knights hurriedly gave way to her. Wherever this female knight''s eye light reached, those male knights would instantly become mandarin ducks as they would slide away while covering their faces by hand.


    "Boring. How could these people always want to catch my attention in this way? Why not something fresh? This lady will not come here anymore..." The female knight stomped her foot as she twisted her body. Zhang Tie couldn''t hear what she said due to the sound isolator in this room; however, any knights who had acquired lipreading skill knew what the female knight was talking about through the shape of her mouth. At the sight of that female knight, Zhang Tie immediately felt like vomiting. It felt more afflictive than seeing a tough man with whisker twisting his butt with orchid fingers.


    "Who''s she?" Zhang Tie hurriedly turned around and asked Feng Cangwu.


    "The princess of Lord Jingtian''s Mansion. The only daughter of Lord Jingtian''s Mansion. It''s strange that Lord Jingtian has dozens of sons and only one daughter. Therefore, he treasures her very much. This time, the princess of Lord Jingtian''s Mansion is especially here to select her husband. Lord Jingtian has long released the notice that he would at least use 10 Class A cities as his daughter''s dowry..."


    "Well, I''ve borne it in mind!" Zhang Tie nodded forcefully as he watched Feng Cangwu with a malicious eye light and said, "If this girl doesn''t find her Mr. Right, I really want to be the matchmaker for you and her. As the handsome, talented apprentice of Heavens Fortune Sect, you would definitely be her dish!"


    Feng Cangwu changed his face as he asked Zhang Tie, "Wait, are you serious?"


    "Of course, I''m serious!"


    "How could you have such an insane thought?"


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh before saying, "After taking the ancient-well bean curds in Xiangshan City a few days ago, I couldn''t help but think about it..."


    "After taking the ancient-well bean curds in Xiangshan City, you want commoners and common cities to kill demon knights?" Feng Cangwu was shocked by Zhang Tie''s words so much that he fixed his eyes onto Zhang Tie''s face.


    "Yes, is it a bit insane?" Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he asked in a casual tone, "Do you want to regret? It''s still not late if you regret what you''ve promised now. I will just treat it as nonsense!"


    "That''s a deal!" Feng Cangwu raised his head proudly after being silent for a half second, "If you could really invent such a thing, I will not even be afraid of feeding tigers with myself!"


    "Ahh..." Zhang Tie suddenly recalled something else as he asked, "Do you know why the general being responsible for logistics in the theater of operations is called Weiji General?"


    After throwing a serious glance at Zhang Tie, Feng Cangwu replied to Zhang Tie which sounded a bit familiar, "You should read more books..."


    Zhang Tie became silent...

 1320 Going to His Pos

    On January 11th, the 905th year of Black Iron Calendar, Zhang Tie ended the 2 weeks'' union with Bai Suxian and officially left Xuanyuan Fortress to go to his post.


    Soon after the news of Zhang Tie''s appointment by the commander-in-chief was released to the public, all the people across Xuanyuan Fortress had been shocked. The treatment of becoming a Class III officer of Taixia Country at such a young age was definitely rare in the history of Taixia Country. At least nobody else among all the Class III officers of Taixia Country was as young as Zhang Tie.


    The official rank of the provincial governors of lower provinces in Taixia Country was subordinate Class IV; the official rank of the provincial governors of upper provinces in Taixia Country was Class IV; the official rank of the provincial governors of major provinces in Taixia Country was subordinate Class III; the official rank of the provincial governors of immortal provinces in Taixia Country was Class III; the official rank of Cheji Generals of each province was as same as that of their provincial governors; the official ranks of commanders of military regions including 4 ranks from subordinate Class II to Class I. The official rank of the 9 ministers and the generals of the top 4 armies of Taixia Country was Class I; the official rank of the top 3 counselors was immortal class.


    At such a young age, Zhang Tie had won the favor of commander-in-chief and was appointed as the assistant of commander-in-chief and Weiji General of the Western Theater of Operations in Taixia Country. His rank was already closely under that of commanders of military regions. Across Peacewest Military Region, Zhang Tie''s official rank was just one class inferior to that of the commander of Peacewest Military Region. If Zhang Tie made further progress, he would be promoted to the commander of a military region. How amazing it was!


    If it were in peaceful time, such an appointment would definitely arouse a great shock across Taixia Country. People would definitely wonder how could Zhang Tie be appointed to such a high post at such a young age. However, there were not so many stereotypes in the theater of operations, where military regulations were more useful than background and seniority and anything that could help humans defeat demons would prioritize. The commander-in-chief''s words had to be strictly followed in the theater of operations.


    When the fact that Zhang Tie was appointed as Weiji General and the assistant of the commander-in-chief aroused a shock and disputes among Xuanyuan Fortress and the other 11 bases, Zuoqiu Mingyue''s words made all the disputes disappear¡ª¡ªFiery Oil and grains are the dominating factors of our theater of operations. They''re concerned about the morale of the soldiers in the theater of operations and the consolidation of the defensive line. If anyone dares make a military pledge that he could do better than Zhang Tie on the two things, I could also appoint him in the same post.


    Grain supply could be guaranteed in the Western Theater of Operations as long as they were determined to make it. Even Qianji Hermit didn''t go to the fields himself in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. As long as they wanted to guarantee the grain supply in the theater of operations, they could copy the set of measures adopted by Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory for fertilizing the soil and increasing the yield.


    However, without Zhang Tie''s consent, they couldn''t make even one drop of Fiery Oil, not to mention a ton of it. Without Fiery Oil, many things would be empty talk.


    Besides Fiery Oil, Qianji Hermit also manufactured airplanes and invented dual-drive engines. Additionally, he even produced some powerful weapons using Fiery Oil.


    What was more, the role of all-purpose medicament was growing increasingly important after the holy war broke out. In the theater of operations, the all-purpose medicament had already become one of the most important materials in the logistics supply of the ground force. All-purpose medicaments also belonged to the Zhang family. The others might not get all-purpose medicaments easily; however, Zhang Tie could get as many as he desired.


    If they considered it carefully, they would find that Qianji Hermit was really the only one across the theater of operations who was suitable to be the Weiji General despite his age; besides being familiar with farming, Zhang Tie could also invent Fiery oil and make waste profitable. Additionally, he could provide a lot of all-purpose medicament and be proficient in manufacturing various mechanized equipment and weapons.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie could guarantee the stability of the rear end with his great battle strength. As long as Zhang Tie was there, he could easily deal with it even if some demon knights broke through the defense line and raided the rear end. It was said that Zhang Tie killed 2 earth demon knights and 2 black iron demon knights in the same combat. The entire process was like breaking a dead branch of a tree. Many people witnessed how he fought those demon knights. It was the Cheji General of Wuzhou province who reported Zhang Tie''s military exploits. Additionally, if one wanted to know how many demon knights had Zhang Tie killed when he served as a scout of Blackwater Base, they''d better ask Zhang Tie himself. However, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like revealing it to the public; neither did he prove any certificates of that. Therefore, there weren''t any corresponding records of his military exploits during the process when he served as the scout of Blackwater Base.


    After thinking through it, who dared make a military pledge to the commander-in-chief? Everybody just showed their reverence to Zuoqiu Mingyue inside¡ª¡ªWhat a Military God of Taixia Country! He could make full use of one''s abilities.


    Of course, after hearing that Zhang Tie was leaving the frontline, many people who treated Zhang Tie as a powerful opponent on the Military Exploits Rankings also felt delighted about it. Because it meant that Zhang Tie could barely accumulate any more military exploits by killing demons since he took the office of Weiji General. At this moment, although Zhang Tie looked to be in a high position being paid high, Zhang Tie''s name might not appear on the Heavens Fortune Rankings and be conferred as a duke in the future. Those people of Taiyi Fantasy Sect had such a thought. As they had been totally hostile against Zhang Tie openly, of course, they didn''t want to make Zhang Tie outstanding once more. Besides being jealous of the fact that Zhang Tie became the Weiji General, Feng Yexiao the grand elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect also let out a sigh inside.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie was going to leave Blackwater Base on the morning of the 11th day of the month, Bai Suxian, Bai Runcheng, Feng Cangwu, Mountain Lifting Hermit who had just come back after carrying out his mission, the knights of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, the knight elders of Zhu Clan and Qian Clan who were familiar with Zhang Tie in Northeast Military Region and whose disciples were learning from Iron-Dragon Sect, the clan head of Lu Clan, the elders of Gu Clan, all of these people above came to bid a farewell to Zhang Tie. Loitering in the sky nearby Xuanyuan Fortress, they bade farewell to Zhang Tie. Even so, the group of people who came here to see Zhang Tie off was still not as eye-catching as an official airboat on their side.


    "When an awl is placed in the bag, how could it not pierce the bag? When serving as the chief justice of Youzhou Province, he had already inflicted a heavy loss to Heavens Reaching Church and shocked so many people. Later on, although being framed by cunning traitors and experiencing a lot of troubles, Qianji Hermit still remained loyal to the country and stepped forward bravely and shouldered the heavy burden when Taixia Country was in trouble. What you did greatly rose the morale of knights within Northeast Military Region. We''re really ennobled by you. Qianji Hermit, bon voyage, wish you have a bright future..."


    Although Qian elder''s words sounded a bit flattering, it indeed was what many people among Zhang Tie''s team thought about at this moment.


    The news that Zhang Tie was appointed as Weiji General and the assistant of commander-in-chief was shocking to others; especially to those people who were familiar with him, such as the elders of Zhu Clan and Qian Clan and Lu Dingzhi who once served as the finance director in a small country of Waii Subcontinent. Only these people who came from real official and major clans could sense the importance and influence of Zhang Tie''s position.


    Class III official rank was really something. The official rank of the provincial governor of Tongzhou Province, a medium-sized province was only subordinate Class IV; the official rank of the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province, a major province was only subordinate Class III; Lu Dingzhi as the finance minister of a small country in Waii Subcontinent was just a subordinate Class V official, so was Zhang Tie when he served as the chief justice of Youzhou Province. A Class V chief justice of a lower province was suddenly appointed as a Class III official of Taixia Country after resigning for so many years. That was definitely a miracle. As long as Zhang Tie was ambitious of being a high official, he could definitely be promoted to higher positions if he didn''t make any big mistake. Of course, Zhang Tie''s experience was admirable. Across Northeast Military Region, the Class II Cheng Honglie might be the only one whose official rank was higher than that of Zhang Tie. The commander of Peacewest Military Region''s official rank was subordinate Class II, which was only a bit higher than that of Zhang Tie. To a certain extent, Zhang Tie''s another identity as the assistant of commander-in-chief meant that he could act on behalf of Zuoqiu Mingyue. That was to say, Zhang Tie could almost be arbitrary in the Western Theater of Operations.


    At such a young age, Zhang Tie had won the favor of commander-in-chief and Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Additionally, he had a powerful and terrifying battle strength and had grasped so many secret skills and immortal bloodlines. He would definitely have a bright future. After coming to the theater of operations for less than half a year, Zhang Tie had already made tremendous progress while others had just made bit achievements. How could it not make others enviable? Therefore, Qian elder and Zhu elder both showed their reverence to Zhang Tie much more than before.


    "Thank you for your blessing!"


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile towards Qian elder politely without any arrogance and complacency. The Class III official rank might be very enviable to others; however, Zhang Tie didn''t care about it too much as he was neither ambitious nor did he value official ranks and meritorious deeds. Additionally, he had other pursuits. The reason that he took over this position mainly lay in that he felt nobody else could do it better than him. As long as he worked hard, he might save a lot of soldiers, families and commoners and protect more cities of Taixia Country from being destroyed by demons; that''s all...


    Those knights bade a brief farewell to Zhang Tie one after another.


    As for the elders of Qian Clan, Zhu Clan and Lu Clan, Zhang Tie''s current official rank could win more respect from people; however, as for many knights, Zhang Tie''s military exploits of killing two earth demon knights and two black iron demon knights in one combat was mostly overwhelming. How many earth knights and black iron knights were there in Youzhou Province in total?


    All the knights in Youzhou Province who were free today had come here out of etiquette, including Guo Hongyi.


    Soon after talking to the humble Li elder of Miyun Prefecture, Zhang Tie had seen Guo Hongyi.


    Outsiders couldn''t see Guo Hongyi''s change; however, the moment Zhang Tie caught sight of Guo Hongyi, he had known that she had dressed up, although it was just a light make-up.


    Guo Hongyi wore a festive red dress while her face was slightly daubed with rouge; her eyes were as clear as autumn water; her cheeks were rosy; he red lips were like fiery flames; additionally, she wore a beautiful lily-shaped bun. Being matched with Guo Hongyi''s clearly-shaped and brilliant facial features, Guo Hongyi''s make-up was both elegant and enticing. The lily-shaped bun on her head suddenly reminded Zhang Tie of the language of lily, namely, success, treasure and being closely attached to each other.


    Soon after coming to Guo Hongyi''s side, Zhang Tie had sniffed the mellow fragrance of rose essence dew. Such a fragrance was very attractive to men; therefore, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but be excited inside.


    Not only did Zhang Tie have not seen Guo Hongyi dressing up like this before; even the other knights from Youzhou Province might have not seen her like this before. The moment Guo Hongyi came here today, those knights from Youzhou province had started to glance at her stealthily. Not until Guo Hongyi glared at them like a tigress did those men hurriedly move their eyes away from her.


    At the sight of the beauty, of course, Zhang Tie felt tempted. After being attracted by Guo Hongyi''s qi, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but glance at Guo Hongyi for a few more times. Guo Hongyi was even 3 cm higher than Bai Suxian. She was a tall Hua female. Perhaps because she always exercised her body, her figure was not only hot but also plump like all the other mature women. Actually, her figure was even nicer than his foreign wives such as Linda and Sabrina.


    "Don''t mind what my master said that day. She didn''t mean to offend you. She treats every man in that way..." Guo Hongyi said while slightly opening her red lips. At the same time, she looked into Zhang Tie''s eyes; coincidentally, she saw Zhang Tie''s eye light falling onto her breasts. Closely after that, her rosy cheeks became more appealing. At the same time, she lowered her eyes in a bashful way.


    After looking straight into Guo Hongyi''s eyes, being caught by Guo Hongyi like a thief and seeing Guo Hongyi''s bashful look, Zhang Tie instantly felt his heart racing. Bashful women were the most beautiful ones, not to mention Guo Hongyi.


    Zhang Tie also inquired from others these days about Guo Hongyi''s master. However, he was really startled by what he was told.


    Guo Hongyi''s master was called Yan Feiqing, the head of Fantasy Women Palace in Cloudydream Mountain in Wuzhou Province of Taixia Country. She was a famous shadow knight. Zhang Tie soon acquired two events related to the woman: first, when a promising male knight of Heavens Fortune Sect met Yan Feiqing in a peach woods of Xuanyuan Hill in the most beautiful season when they were black iron knights at a young age. Being surrounded by peach flowers, it was as fantastic as a dream. When the male talent met such a beauty, it should be where the love story started; however, when the male knight of Heavens Fortune Sect saw Yan Feiqing who was as beautiful as a fairy and couldn''t stand teasing her, he was hung over a peach tree and beaten by Yan Feiqing for a whole day. Finally, when Yan Feiqing felt tired of beating him, she flew away as if nothing had happened.


    The male knight of Heavens Fortune Sect who was hung over the peach tree and beaten by Yan Feiqing was Deyang Immortal the Freshwind Elder of Heavens Fortune Sect. This event once aroused a shock across Xuanyuan Hill and became the negative textbook of many playboys and romantic knights. Since then, Freshwind Elder determined to cultivate his battle skills seriously so as to avenge himself on Yan Feiqing. Dozens of years later, Freshwind Elder promoted to an earth knight and grasped the powerful secret method and battle skills of Heavens Fortune Sect. After hearing that Yan Feiqing had established a sect in Cloudydream Mountain, he decided to "seek for his dignity as a man" in Cloudydream Mountain. As for the process, nobody knew. However, the final result was that Freshwind Elder soon entered closed cultivation for another one decade soon after he returned to Heavens Fortune Sect. However, even though he exited his cultivation room 10 years later, the moment he heard the name of Yan Feiqing, he would escape at once. In Heavens Fortune Sect, the name of Yan Feiqing almost became a taboo.


    The second event was that Yan Feiqing killed Black Mountain Ancestor, a shadow knight who ranked 2nd on the wanted list of criminals in the supreme court of Taixia Country. The reason lay in that Black Mountain Ancestor killed a female disciple of Yan Feiqing who went down the hill by mistake. However, Yan Feiqing spent 11 years to kill all the 1178 disciples of Black Mountain Ancestor who kept hiding here and there during that period. Finally, she chased Black Mountain Ancestor all the way from Taixia Country to Yinyue Subcontinent and brought his head back.


    Yan Feiqing the head of Fantasy Women Palace killed Black Mountain Ancestor 50 years ago. From then on, none of Fantasy Women Palace''s female disciples were killed when they went off the mountain. All the female disciples of Fantasy Women Palace were also like Yan Feiqing. Besides being powerful in battle strength, they all despised men. Although Fantasy Women Palace''s overall strength was not as brilliant as that of the top 7 sects of Taixia Country, nobody across Taixia Country dared offend Fantasy Women Palace.


    After hearing about Yan Feiqing''s "splendid experiences", Zhang Tie shrugged as he finally understood why that woman had such a strong qi field and dared educate Guo Hongyi in front of him. The aggressive qi was too fierce that all the grasses would die wherever she passed by. If Guo Hongyi was a tigress in Youzhou Province, Yan Feiqing the master of Guo Hongyi was a female tyrannosaur from far-ancient times.


    "Ahem...ahem, I don''t mind it. Leave it. Thank you for seeing me off..."


    "Take care of yourself, bon voyage!"


    "Take care of yourself too!"


    Under the gaze of the public, Zhang Tie and Guo Hongyi talked to each other normally. Not until Zhang Tie turned around and was about to leave Guo Hongyi, he suddenly recalled Yan Feiqing''s "warning" to Guo Hongyi that day; perhaps out of reverse psychology or that Guo Hongyi was pretty beautiful and enticing today, Zhang Tie felt like conquering her suddenly. Therefore, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand teasing her in a secret way, "Your lily-shaped bun looks nice today..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s comment, Guo Hongyi''s face turned especially adorable after being slightly stunned.


    Soon after Zhang Tie came to the front of Feng Cangwu, he immediately heard Guo Hongyi''s voice and a gloomy sigh. "If you know my heart, Hongyi will never feel regretful!"


    If not in the sky, Zhang Tie almost tumbled.


    No matter what, Feng Cangwu was a favorite student of Heavens Fortune Sect, he had noticed something special when Zhang Tie was talking to Guo Hongyi by secret means. After glancing at Zhang Tie''s face and Guo Hongyi''s face with a puzzled look, he was instantly embraced by Zhang Tie before he uttered any word. At the same time, Zhang Tie told Feng Cangwu by secret means, "Lord Jingtian might appreciate me for finding a good son-in-law for him in a few years..."


    Feng Cangwu''s face turned pale at once...


    ...


    Bai Suxian bade farewell to Zhang Tie with tearful eyes in the end.


    "Don''t cry. Think about the positive side. I''m taking the office of Weiji General in the rear end; instead of being a scout in the frontline. There''re fewer dangers over there. I would be safe, right?" Zhang Tie comforted Bai Suxian.


    Bai Suxian nodded. As she pulled Zhang Tie''s hands, she couldn''t stand dropping tears as she said, "I could also go there with you, but you''re not taking me with you on purpose. I could be your assistant..."


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile. It seemed that Bai Suxian still thought that the theater of operations was as same as Youzhou Province. As he was serving as a military officer; and the relationship between him and Bai Suxian had been opened to the public. If he took Bai Suxian over there and made love with her whenever he wanted, it would weaken the morale of the army. If so, commander-in-chief might even chop off his head after being offended.


    Zhang Tie understood it. So did all the others of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Therefore, they all prevented Bai Suxian from following Zhang Tie over there at this moment...

 1321 The Solution

    Bai Suxian understood it too. However, she was just disgruntled. After having Bai Suxian come down to have a brief chat with Bai Runcheng, Zhang Tie turned around and boarded the airboat.


    "The green mountains would remain still and the clear water would flow forever. Take care of yourselves. When we meet each other in the future, we will talk and drink merrily..." Zhang Tie told the others as he cupped his hands toward them. Finally, he looked at Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi silently.


    Even in this case, women were still exceptionally sensitive. Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi still sensed Zhang Tie''s last gaze at them. After exchanging a glance with each other, Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi turned their face at the same time. Given this special occasion, they should pay attention to their demeanors; otherwise, the two women would definitely have responded with a cold harrumph respectively.


    Zhang Tie became helpless. Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi were born to be enemies as their qi fields were completely out of harmony. ''No romantic affairs have yet happened between Guo Hongyi and me. If I married the two tricky ones in the future, they might fight each other every day. If so, won''t my family be never peaceful?''


    ''Well, whatever, it will be left to the God''s mercy!''


    After putting aside this thought, Zhang Tie boarded the airboat. Soon after the hatch door of the airboat was closed, the airship had slowly moved toward the east. Through a crystal window, Zhang Tie saw that those who came here to see him off also left in different directions¡ª¡ªGuo Hongyi was going back to Blackwater Base; Bai Suxian was going back to the airship of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    Zhang Tie then let out a sigh.


    "General, where are we heading for?" A 40-year-old armored chief guard with purple face asked Zhang Tie respectfully.


    This chief guard was called Long Tao, the chief guard of Zhang Tie''s bodyguards. Before Zhang Tie left Xuanyuan Fortress, commander-in-chief Zuoqiu Mingyue allocated 800 honor soldiers to Zhang Tie, an exclusive airboat which represented the authority of Weiji General, a suit of official uniforms, a seal and a remote-sensing communications device which could be used to contact commander-in-chief. Zhang Tie was going to his post with these items.


    "Take me to Kangzhou City!" Zhang Tie ordered, "I will enter cultivation for a while in my room. Don''t call me until we arrive at Kangzhou City!"


    "Yes, sir!", the chief guard gave a military salute to Zhang Tie before leaving. Zhang Tie then returned to his own berth.


    This airboat was exclusive to Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie''s room in the airboat was also much larger than that in Blackdragon Airboat. The room covering over 200 square meters was two-storeyed. The lower storey was Zhang Tie''s office while the upper storey was Zhang Tie''s bedroom and cultivation room.


    Out of curiosity, Zhang Tie started to check the furnishings in the room as he nodded inside. There weren''t any hidden doors or mechanism inside the room. It was safe here. Because it was especially for Taixia officials, its furnishings were less luxurious than that of those top sects. However, the furnishings here were also considerate, magnificent and comfortable; especially the sound-isolation effect and the confidentiality of berth was even better than that of Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s airboat.


    Nobody else was in Zhang Tie''s office. Zhang Tie had not recruited an assistant and waiters yet. After looking around the lower storey, Zhang Tie went upstairs and entered his bedroom and cultivation room.


    Of course, the furnishings in the bedroom were high-end. A piece of advanced quality "crystal generator" with double shadows of pyramids filled the bedroom with special reiki. It was worth mentioning that a medium-level elements gathering matrix was placed in the cultivation room. Soon after he entered the cultivation room, Zhang Tie had sensed the high concentration of the 4 elements in the cultivation room. If he captured element crystals in such an environment, it would be more efficient than doing that in a common environment.


    Zhang Tie was very satisfied with everything here. Although the officials of Taixia Country didn''t pursue grandness and entertainment, they paid special attention to cultivation.


    "Castle Lord, do you want to digest those fruits? The small tree has borne some more fruits these days. There''s almost no vacancy for more fruits!" Heller''s voice sounded in Zhang Tie''s mind when Zhang Tie was looking around the cultivation room.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile. Closely after that, he entered Castle of Black Iron.


    After about 20 days, there were 188 more fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs.


    "Ahh, so many!"


    "We could only admit that Paul''s group is setting free golden uangs at such a high efficiency..." Heller replied with a smile, "When there''s sufficient source of golden uangs, a team is much more efficient than Castle Lord in setting them free!"


    Zhang Tie touched his head as he thought, ''That''s not good! When I had no fruits to eat previously, I always thought about having fruits; however, there''re too many fruits now and they''re produced too fast. Only after a few days, the small tree would be filled with fruits. It would take me at least 2 days to digest all the fruits. However, as Weiji General, I can''t just disappear for a couple of days. Even 2 hours'' disappearance would cause trouble when we''re raided by demon knights, not to mention two days.''


    ''Additionally, if I ate too many fruits at once, I would not adapt to my surging strength. For instance, if I took all the 188 fruits, I would increase almost 13 tons of strength. With such a great strength, I might hurt those people on my side. When I shake hands with others, I might pinch their hands into pieces; when I pat others'' shoulders, I might severely wound them...''


    "Castle Lord, are you worried that it would take you too long to digest so many fruits?" Heller asked Zhang Tie.


    "Yup, do you have any solution?"


    "Hoho, Castle Lord, you''re confused. Given your ability, you could access to Castle of Black Iron as fast as a lightning bolt; so could you take food at such a fast speed. Additionally, the fruits are not large. Although you could not take them away from Castle of Black Iron, as long as you pick them up and eat them rapidly. You could leave out of there before you digest them. It might take you less than 1 second to complete the process. What on earth are you worried about, Castle Lord? You could seize the chance to enter Castle of Black Iron and leave with fruits in stomach rapidly whenever you want. It won''t take you too long!"


    After hearing Heller''s suggestion, Zhang Tie became stunned for a second. Closely after that, he patted his head. The inertia caused by habit was too great. Since he gained the small tree, he had been digesting those fruits in Castle of Black Iron. He didn''t realize that there was such a feasible solution¡ª¡ªenter Castle of Black Iron rapidly; eat the fruit quickly and leave right away. Just digest fruit outside Castle of Black Iron.


    After thinking it through, Zhang Tie immediately put it into practice.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie flashed to the front of the small tree. After picking off a fruit of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs and putting it into his mouth, Zhang Tie instantly chewed it up and swallowed it. Before the juice of the fruit turned into a bizarre strength that could flow across his full body, Zhang Tie had reappeared in the cultivation room of his airboat.


    Sitting in the cultivation room with crossed legs, Zhang Tie was quietly digesting the fruit of redemption from golden uangs with eyes closed.


    About 15 minutes later, Zhang Tie opened his eyes in the cultivation room. Closely after that, he disappeared once again. 3 seconds later, Zhang Tie reappeared in the cultivation room still with crossed legs. After about another 15 minutes, Zhang Tie disappeared once again. This time, it only took Zhang Tie 2 seconds to reappear in the cultivation room...


    3 hours later, it only took Zhang Tie less than 0.5 seconds to complete the 11th "pilferage". When he reappeared in the cultivation room, Zhang Tie was still chewing the fruit. He didn''t fully swallow it until 2 seconds later.


    "Interesting, interesting..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter in the cultivation room as he felt like a monkey who stole away fruits from an orchard rapidly.


    Through constant tests, Zhang Tie finally fixed the shortest period for the entire process of "pilferage"¡ª¡ªapproximately less than 0.5 seconds. Soon after chewing up the fruit could he exit Castle of Black Iron without even fully swallowing the fruit.


    Even if someone was watching him disappear and reappear in such a split second, they would doubt that they were giddy or might believe that Zhang Tie was cultivating a mysterious battle skill, which could cause an elusive visual effect of physical disappearance in a short period.


    ''Like what Heller told me. After grasping this method, I could rapidly steal fruits from Castle of Black Iron and digest it and intensify my overall strength whenever I want without causing any trouble. Additionally, by taking fruits at different moments in my daily life would also be beneficial for me to adapt to the changes in my physical strength and the other aspects brought by these fruits.''


    When Zhang Tie started to take the 13th fruit of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs, he held 3 walnuts that were produced in Castle of Black Iron.


    The walnuts in Castle of Black Iron were delicious and big with a thin shell. Zhang Tie intended to adjust his rapidly growing strength by fiddling with the 3 walnuts...


    As long as one was arduous and diligent, he could always find the solution to the problem facing his cultivation.


    ...


    10 hours later, Zhang Tie''s airboat landed in Kangzhou City at dusk. The moment the hatch door of the airboat was opened, the group of officials who were waiting for the arrival of the new Weiji General had seen a 17-year old handsome teenager in boa silk robe getting off the airboat calmly while fiddling with 3 walnuts in hand, followed by 2 teams of armored bodyguards...


    Everybody then became stunned. Closely after that, they realized who was this young man.


    "Welcome to Kangzhou City, Weiji General..." All the officials bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie at the same time...

 1322 Making Decisions

    Kangzhou Province was a major province in Peacewest Military Region. Peacewest Military Region Headquarters was located in Kangzhou City the capital city of Kangzhou Province. After Peacewest Military Region was turned into a theater of operations, all the authorities in Peacewest Military Region adapted to the system of the theater of operations. The Agricultural Administration in Kangzhou City also became a powerful hub which was responsible for the logistics of the entire theater of operations. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s field headquarters was set in the Agricultural Administration in Kangzhou City.


    Like the judicial authorities of Taixia Country, the agricultural authorities of Taixia Country were also classified into 6 levels. The supreme agricultural authority was called the Agricultural Ministry under the leadership of the agricultural minister. Those on the level of the military region were called agricultural administrations; those on the level of the province were called agricultural temples; those on the level of prefecture were called agricultural yamen; those on the level of the city were called agricultural agencies; those on the level of the country were called agricultural center. After Zhang Tie was appointed as Weiji General, all the officials in the agricultural authorities of Peacewest Military Region from agricultural administration to agricultural center became Zhang Tie''s subordinates. Additionally, the main officials of all agricultural authorities in Peacewest Military Region would become Weiji envoys and directly follow Zhang Tie''s order.


    Agricultural authorities were previously important among those authorities in Taixia Country. In the theater of operations, logistics counted most besides combat. Weiji General who could make arbitrary decisions would rule all the agricultural authorities in Peacewest Military Region and take control of the industrial and agricultural production as well as the distribution and transportation of various materials across the theater of operations. Actually, Zhang Tie''s power was even much greater than the director general of the Agricultural Administration of Peacewest Administration. He was only close to the commander of Peacewest Military Region.


    The moment Zhang Tie got off the airboat, he had seen a lot of people in red, green, blue and purple official uniforms bowing deeply to him at the same time. Zhang Tie glanced over them and found that there were over 200 people at present. All the main officials of agricultural authorities on provincial and prefectural levels in Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province had already arrived. Besides these officials, those main officials in the Peacewest Agricultural Administration were at present.


    It was grand. Among these people, the lowest rank was Class VII director of agricultural yamen; the highest rank was Subordinate Class III director general of the Peacewest Agricultural Administration, which was also one level inferior to Zhang Tie.


    As it was his first time to be greeted by so many officials of Taixia Country, Zhang Tie felt strange. He suddenly felt that he might be destined to be related to the agricultural authorities of Taixia Country. After killing Han Zhengfang, he was greeted by so many agricultural officials of Taixia Country. That was too dramatic!


    ''Am I born to conquer people in the uniform of agricultural authorities of Taixia Country?''


    Watching this scene, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but mutter inside.


    "Get up..."


    "Thank you, general!" Over 200 people answered in unison before straightening up their bodies.


    "This Agricultural Administration is so large!" Zhang Tie looked around as he found the Peacewest Agricultural Administration covered vast land. The square in front of him was greater than 800 m in both length and width. It could hold 5-6 airboats at the same time. The square was surrounded by red walls, green tiles and trees. Behind the shades of those green trees, Zhang Tie saw a lot of houses and the well-carved auspicious beasts Chiwen on the ridges of those houses, which looked pretty magnificent.


    ''Those houses should be the workplace of the officials of Peacewest Agricultural Administration. My residence should be behind this square.''


    "From now on, all the affairs in the Peacewest Agricultural Administration would be chaired by general. We all will follow your lead!" The official in the front of the team of officials opened his mouth.


    "You must be Director General Lu Yanyu!"


    As Zhang Tie said it, he moved his eyes onto the official in the front of the team who was at his 60s given his look. In a vermilion and purple uniform and a jade belt being embroidered with auspicious clouds, which was attached with a pair of dragon-shaped golden hooks, this man should be the director general of Peacewest Agricultural Administration. Agriculture was the foundation of the country. Additionally, weather counted most in agriculture. Only the director general of agricultural administration of military region could wear a jade belt which was decorated with dragon-shaped golden hooks and auspicious clouds. As only that person''s uniform was matched with them, he must be the director general of Peacewest Agricultural Administration.


    After Zhang Tie became Weiji General, the director general of Peacewest Agricultural Administration became Zhang Tie''s assistant. What Zhang Tie had not imagined was that Lu Yanyu was not even a knight. He had just lit over 600 surging points and was still far away from being a knight. However, after thinking about it for a second, Zhang Tie immediately understood that there was no mandatory request on the cultivation base of the officials in Taixia Country except military titles such as provincial governors and Cheji General, which people below knight were not qualified to compete for. Therefore, it was nothing strange for Lu Yanyu to be the director general of Peacewest Agricultural Administration although he was not a knight.


    "Yes, this humble official is Lu Yanyu!" The official answered calmly. After throwing a glance at the 3 walnuts in Zhang Tie''s hand, he slightly lowered his eye light in a serious and distant way.


    Zhang Tie was adapting to his newly grown strength by fiddling with those walnuts. If a playboy who butchered fowl and walked a dog every day did it, they would definitely feel that he was fickle. However, when it was done by Zhang Tie, everybody at present felt that Qianji Hermit had great confidence and was steadfast; otherwise, he couldn''t be so relaxed. After seeing their main general behaving in such a calm way, all the other officials gradually felt reassured.


    ''A man who could be my grandpa given his age is going to be the assistant of this young man. Of course, Lu Yanyu couldn''t be completely calm inside; however, as Weiji General was appointed by the commander-in-chief, Lu Yanyu couldn''t say no to it. Additionally, I''m not here to win popular support from these officials. I''ve got something more important to do. Therefore, I don''t care what Lu Yanyu and the other officials who are stealthily glancing at me with amazed looks think about it. It''s fine if they could accomplish the tasks that I''ve assigned to them as it''s their commitments. I will award them too. However, if they played any motherf*cking trick with me, I would not blink my eyes even if I had to chop off all of their heads. After being accustomed to the mountains and seas of corpses, hundreds of people are nothing but sh*t. What I want to do could never be easily destroyed by anyone.''


    Zhang Tie didn''t care what these officials thought and whether they were complete or not. He only wanted the result. By then, Zhang Tie finally understood why big figures should have a breadth of mind; because a decision of Zhang Tie would influence the fates of tens of billions of people, even more. By contrast, the life and death, honor and humiliation of hundreds of people became trivial.


    "Have all the Weiji envoys in Peacewest Military Region arrived?" Zhang Tie asked Lu Yanyu straightforwardly.


    "The 4 Weiji envoys of the agricultural temples in Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province have been here; all the Weiji envoys from the 219 prefectures in the other 4 provinces have also arrived, except Zhao Shixian the Weiji envoy of Yuan Prefecture in Huanzhou Province, Dianbo the Weiji envoy of Gonghe Prefecture in Kangzhou Province and Qinshuren the Weiji envoy of Sihuan Prefecture in Military Province!"


    "Why?" Zhang Tie asked calmly.


    "Zhao Shixian the Weiji envoy of Yuan Prefecture, Huanzhou Province is too old. As he was busy arranging refugees for a few months, he has already fallen sick and been on bed for many days. He couldn''t trek for a long time anymore. He''s receiving medical treatment and recuperation at home. Dianbo the Weiji envoy of Gonghe Prefecture, Kangzhou Province suffered obstacles in his airship on the way to Kangzhou City. As a result, he had to land in the wilderness; he couldn''t find any traffic tool for the time being; therefore, he''s late. Qin Shuren the Weiji enjoy of Sihuan Prefecture, Military Province encountered dike breaching in Yongshui River on the way here. As many villages and towns are inflicted by the flood and over 500,000 people were in trouble, Qin Shuren used his airship to transport refugees in the emergency. Therefore, he''s late. The 3 people have already sent a message to me..."


    "Zhao Shixian passed out due to tiredness after arranging refugees for a few months. He''s serving the country at his full effort. He deserves the award. From today on, Zhao Shixian will be promoted to a higher official rank. When he recovers, assign him to the Peacewest Agricultural Administration and let him be responsible for the prison. As for the Weiji envoy of Yuan Prefecture, Huanzhou Province, I will select someone else who''s strong and young!" Zhang Tie glanced around all the others as he continued, "Dian Bo''s excuse is too ridiculous. If he''s had people check his airship in advance, how could such an emergency arise? As Dian Bo is indolent and not good at managing his subordinates, I don''t think such a person is suitable to the position of Weiji envoy because this position is too important and military demands don''t allow any negligence. I will remove him from office from now on. Now that Qin Shuren is providing disaster relief, let him stay there and save people first. After finishing that, he could return to Sihuan Prefecture directly. Send what we will negotiate about today to him in terms of documents. Additionally, as Military Province didn''t suffer any flood until today, the Peacewest Agricultural Administration should assign someone there to investigate the dike breaching. If it was caused by people, punish them severely..."


    The 3 prefectural Weiji envoys who had not arrived faced utterly different fates only after Zhang Tie''s brief words. Zhao Shixian promoted to a higher official rank and would be responsible for the prison of the Peacewest Agricultural Administration; Dian Bo''s official post was directly removed. Qin Shuren was easily released. After tasting Zhang Tie''s decisions which were made in such a short period, all the officials at present including Lu Yanyu felt their hearts racing as they started to show their reverence to Zhang Tie sincerely...

 1323 The Principal Task

    "How many official fields in total in Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province?" Zhang Tie asked as he drank in the banquet hall.


    "There are 13.8 billion mu official fields in the 4 provinces!"


    "As many commoners and major clans have been evacuating from the 4 provinces since the second half of last year, isn''t the farming of the official fields influenced?"


    "Since demons started to invade us, one batch of people have been evacuated from the 4 provinces. Some fields indeed became deserted in the second half of last year. The land prices in the 4 provinces are also plummeting. However, all the official fields in the 4 provinces are taken over by border residents of Taixia Country. Those border residents don''t have the right to migrate casually; therefore, the farming of official fields is not influenced!" Lu Yanyu answered fluently.


    Half of the dinner held by the Peacewest Agricultural Administration for Zhang Tie had passed while the fluorite lamps in the lobby were gradually lit. When Zhang Tie had dinner with them, he didn''t put on airs at all. They just toasted each other. Starting from the main officials of the Peacewest Agricultural Administration, all the Weiji envoys proposed a toast to Zhang Tie by turns. Zhang Tie accepted them all. After having the toast proposer report his name and official rank, he would have a drink with each of them. Therefore, Zhang Tie had drunk kilos of liquor in a short period although using a small cup. After seeing their Weiji General having such a great drinking capacity, the dining hall became fervent while all the Weiji envoys finally became reassured.


    After having kilos of liquor, Zhang Tie''s face turned redder while his eyes turned brighter. However, he didn''t look like being drunk at all. He then started to inquire about public affairs when it gradually turned quiet in the dining hall. Only Zhang Tie was talking with Lu Yanyu in the dining hall. All the other Weiji envoys were just listening to their talk quietly in their own seats.


    "How do you dispose of the deserted fields?"


    "A part of deserted fields are for sale. The others are allocated to the commoners who''re still staying in the theater of operations by the agricultural authorities across the Peacewest Military Region according to the decrees in the theater of operations. When there''s not enough labor force, only by inputting more agricultural machines into fields so that people could manage more fields has the agricultural authorities across the military region solved the problem of the greater part of deserted lands."


    "Have these provinces suffered from a crop failure last year?"


    "Yup, many official and private fields in Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province suffered a crop failure last year, causing a panic in the area!"


    "How do we solve the supply of grain seeds this year?"


    "This year, all the grain seeds for the official fields in these provinces are directly allocated by the Imperial Land Bureau from other provinces through airboats and airships. We could sow them in the spring. We won''t use the grains storage in the 6 top warehouses in each city!"


    After hearing that, Zhang Tie finally became reassured. As long as the grain seeds in the 4 provinces were safe, he would not worry about anything else.


    He was worried about the grains supply within the 4 provinces. Even though he had Castle of Black Iron, the grains storage in Castle of Black Iron was far from meeting the demand of the over 10 billion mu land in the 4 provinces. If the grain seeds in the 4 provinces met any problem, the garrisons in these provinces would not have food timely. By then, even Weiji General couldn''t deal with it. If grains were transported here from other provinces, the enormous freight, materials consumption and human resources would be a problem. They couldn''t even have enough food, not to mention fighting demons. No matter what, the corps of Taixia Country couldn''t eat human fleshes like demons.


    Thankfully, Xuanyuan Hill also realized the severe outcome if there was any problem with the grains in Peacewest Military Region at this critical moment. Therefore, the Imperial Land Bureau was responsible for solving the deficiency of grains in the 4 provinces.


    The grains produced by the Imperial Land Bureau were the best in Taixia Country. All of them were basically provided for the imperial households and the dignitaries in Xuanyuan Hill. Additionally, the agricultural base of Imperial Land Bureau was under strict administration. Each link was under strict control. Neither they would purchase grain seeds from outside nor allow the demonized grains to flow in their fields. Therefore, the grains under the direct control of the Imperial Land Bureau would be the last unsafe grains across Taixia Country when the country was facing grains disaster as a whole.


    As all the items provided by the Imperial Land Bureau were privileged. Many people might abhor privilege the moment they heard it. However, privilege might play a great role in some cases instead of being always bad.


    "But..."


    After finding that Zhang Tie became reassured, Lu Yanyu slightly revealed a worried look after hesitating for a second...


    "But what?"


    "But the grains provided by the Imperial Land Bureau could only meet the demand of 13.8 billion mu official fields in the 4 provinces this year. After this year, the Imperial Land Bureau would not allocate any more grain seeds to us. We have to deal with it ourselves!"


    "Won''t we solve it with enough grain seeds?" Zhang Tie fiddled with his cup as he asked Lu Yanyu while slightly squinting his eyes.


    Gritting his teeth, Lu Yanyu replied, "The grain seeds provided by the Imperial Land Bureau should be safe. However, many official fields in the 4 provinces had suffered a crop failure last year; the soil over there had been destroyed by demonized grain seeds and tend to harden. We''re having big trouble in recovering the fertility of the soil. None of the Weiji envoys in Peacewest Military Region could guarantee a bumper harvest in the official fields this year. It''s not that this humble official is afraid of difficulty and adversity; it''s actually a problem facing all the Weiji envoys in the 4 provinces. They''re all very worried about the yield next year. We expect to notice the general in advance!"


    After hearing Lu Yanyu''s words, all the Weiji envoys at present nodded inside with a worried look. Lu Yanyu''s words were what they wanted to say too. If there was any problem with the grains production this year, the grains supply of the army would be influenced; by then, many people''s heads would be chopped off.


    Zhang Tie was also clear why commander-in-chief insisted on appointing him the Weiji General; because the grains harvest of the official fields in the 4 provinces determined the stability of the entire theater of operations. They were not allowed to make any mistakes regarding grains production. As long as the 4 provinces suffered a crop failure once again, even the Imperial Land Bureau would be unable to help them. The Imperial Land Bureau must have thought twice before providing them such a large quantity of grains. They would barely assist them for another time as they didn''t have such a regular grains storage even as the Imperial Land Bureau.


    Therefore, the principal task of the Weiji envoys in the theater of operations this year was to guarantee the production of grains in the 4 provinces.

 1324 Order of Balancing Awards and Punishments

    As grains supply was the principal task facing all the Weiji officials in the theater of operations, Zuoqiu Mingyue, his Weiji envoys, even ordinary people were paying special attention to it. Of course, Zhang Tie himself would treat it seriously. Thankfully, Zhang Tie had long prepared for it. He had started to make arrangements in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory since Taixia Country started to suffer a crop failure as a whole last year. Now, these arrangements would be available. Meanwhile, the bumper harvest in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory last year made Zhang Tie very confident. Besides, the over 100 million mu official fields in Ninghe Prefecture that he had taken over for less than 1 year also welcomed a big harvest.


    The harvest of the over 100 million mu official fields in Ninghe Prefecture also shocked the entire Northeast Military Region. Because the other fields in Ninghe Prefecture continued to suffer a crop failure or reduction of crop production since the second half of last year; only the official fields that Zhang Tie had taken over registered a marvelous reversal, revealing a sharp difference with the other fields.


    Under the multiple means of Zhang Tie, the over 100 million mu official fields under Zhang Tie''s name gained a bumper harvest of soybeans in late August since sowing them in June. The autumn wheat that was sowed in this September also grew well and was expected to make another harvest.


    With such an experience and background and the relief from Fire-Dragon Territory and Ninghe Prefecture, Zhang Tie had long been confident about the grains production in the theater of operations.


    Besides the resources that were available in the Northeast Military Region, the key to the grains production in the theater of operations still lay in the theater of operations. Therefore, after the banquet, all the officials in Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province instantly left like sheep being whipped by Zhang Tie''s order.


    Zhang Tie arrived at Kangzhou City on January 11. On the next day, over 200 provincial and prefectural Weiji envoys hurriedly left there and returned to their own official residence to preside over things. As there were only a bit more than 2 weeks left in January. On February 2 when the dragon would raise its head legendarily, according to the farming calendar, the earth would thaw and recover its vitality. All the plants would start to grow vigorously. The spring plowing almost started from February 2. As the new grains had been delivered to the 4 provinces, all the farming officials hurriedly returned to preside over spring plowing and seeds delivery.


    If it was in peacetime, spring plowing was just a common work; the provincial and prefectural farming officials would not be so hurried and anxious about it.


    However, it was different this year. Because the first order of Zhang Tie the Weiji General was "Order of Balancing Awards and Punishments".


    As for the order of awards and punishments, from this year on, the Peacewest Farming Administration would count the average grain production per mu official field within the 4 provinces. After that, they would determine whether to award or punish the provincial and prefectural Weiji envoys in the 4 provinces based on the average grains production per mu. If the grains production per mu official field of a prefecture or a province was higher than the average, the provincial or prefectural farming officials would be awarded in terms of monthly compensation, one-off payout or convenience in qualification assessment and promotion. By contrast, those farming officials whose official fields were lower than the average would be severely punished, even be chopped off their heads. When there wasn''t any natural disaster, if the grains production per mu official field under their governance was lower than 80% of the average for consecutive 2 years or 60% of the average that year in the theater of operations, the farming officials would be beheaded.


    For instance, the average grains production per mu official field in the 4 provinces counted by the Peacewest Farming Administration this year was 3,000 kg, if the grains production per mu official field in a prefecture of Military Province was lower than 1,800 kg, the Weiji envoy of this prefecture would be beheaded; if the grains production per mu official field in a prefecture of Ningzhou Province was lower than 2,400 kg, the Weiji envoy of this prefecture would almost be beheaded. If the average grains production per mu official field in this prefecture next year was lower than 80% of the average grains production per mu official field across the theater of operations, the Weiji envoy of this prefecture would be beheaded for sure.


    The same principle suited the provincial Weiji envoys of Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province too. If the average grains production per mu official field of a province didn''t reach any requirement, the provincial Weiji envoy would be beheaded.


    Soon after Zhang Tie released his order of balancing awards and punishments, besides some officials of Peacewest Farming Administration who were slightly relaxed, all the provincial and prefectural officials hurriedly left Kangzhou City after the dinner.


    As Zhang Tie threatened these officials with the order of balancing awards and punishments, these officials also threatened the officials in farming agencies and farming centers. Therefore, all the officials in farming authorities across the theater of operations went into action and started to be busy preparing for the coming spring plowing.


    ...


    On the afternoon of January 12, Zhang Tie was strolling on the ridge of the crisscrossed fields which covered 300,000 hectares outside Kangzhou City...


    After hearing that there were 300,000-hectare official fields outside Kangzhou City, Zhang Tie became interested. He then appointed Lu Yanyu to make a field investigation of the official fields in the theater of operations. They didn''t take any airboat; instead, they just left Kangzhou City with some bodyguards by cars.


    When they arrived here, Zhang Tie told the driver to pull over; after that, he got off the vehicle and started to stroll on the ridge of the fields, carefully followed by Lu Yanyu.


    At the end of the year, there was small snow outside Kangzhou City. After slightly making up the earth, it soon disappeared. By mid-January, it was still a bit cold outside Kangzhou City. However, when the sun came out, it became a bit warm.


    Zhang Tie was still fiddling with 3 walnuts. After ending the dinner last night, he had returned to his residence in Peacewest Farming Administration. Over last night, he ate another 17 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs through his "illusory movement". As a result, he increased 1,000 more kg strength. Therefore, he had to continue to adapt to his newly increased strength.


    After Zhang Tie released his order of balancing awards and punishments last night, Lu Yanyu turned more silent today. If not being asked, this farming administrator of Peacewest Farming Administration would never utter a word.


    There were two things in Lu Yanyu''s sleeve. He was pinching the corners of the two things and was considering whether to take them out at this moment. When people''s own interest was involved, they would always hesitate...

 1325 Being Confident I

    As Lu Yanyu was thinking about something; he didn''t notice that Zhang Tie had stopped at the riverside until he walked 2 more steps forward and surpassed Zhang Tie. Therefore, Lu Yanyu''s face blushed at once as he explained, "Ahem...ahem...sorry about that, this humble official was thinking about something..."


    Zhang Tie looked at Lu Yanyu with a faint smile which made Lu Yanyu feel that he was naked and Zhang Tie had completely known what he was thinking about. Even the 2 letters of appointment might have been seen clearly by Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s eyelight made Lu Yanyu''s heart race.


    Of course, he did not call Lu Yanyu only to make an investigation here with him. As Lu Yanyu had ruled Peacewest Farming Administration for many years, he was a qualified local tyrant. Zhang Tie couldn''t be a good Weiji General without the help of this assistant. Given the current situation, one was the main official as powerful as a dragon that swam across the river; the other was an experienced and influential local power. If the two parties coordinated with each other, it would be more beneficial. Zhang Tie really didn''t want to play any hide and seek game with Lu Yanyu as it was not allowed by the holy war. He just wanted to talk with Lu Yanyu sincerely.


    Through yesterday''s observation, Zhang Tie also found that Lu Yanyu was shrewd and able; instead of being cunning. Additionally, Lu Yanyu had great prestige among all the officials in the farming authorities of Peacewest Military Region. Therefore, Zhang Tie determined to have a good talk with Lu Yanyu today. By the way, he wanted to draw Lu Yanyu over to his side.


    "Mr. Lu, how long have you been serving in the farming authorities?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "This humble official served as the clerk of the farming center of Xiaqu County, Yuzhou City, Tieling Prefecture, Military Province at the age of 23. It''s been 64 years now..."


    "Were you only serving the farming authorities over the past 64 years?"


    "Yes. I''m the only official who promoted all the way from exiled Class III to subordinate Class III in the farming authorities of Peacewest Military Region. I''ve almost experienced all the posts in the farming authorities of Peacewest Military Region!" Lu Yanyu said confidently when he mentioned his experience.


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh. ''Lu Yanyu is almost as old as my grandpa. It really makes him a bit embarrassed to be my assistant. However, this decision was made by the commander-in-chief. It has nothing to do with age.'' "Across Taixia Country, very few people might be able to promote to subordinate Class III all the way from a grassroots official like Mr. Lu. After hearing Mr. Lu''s experience, Zhang Tie shows great reverence to you. If Ms. Lu had no talent, you could never get such opportunities!"


    "I''m overpraised. Besides being appreciated from all the superior officials, I''m just a bit diligent and meticulous!" Lu Yanyu said flurriedly after hearing Zhang Tie''s praise, "By comparison, Weiji General''s experience is more admirable..."


    Waving his hand, Zhang Tie replied, "I''m just a bit lucky. I can''t match you in many aspects!"


    "You''re so modest, it makes this humble official flurried..."


    "Nothing to be flurried about. Who dares to say that he''s almighty? Even Meng Shidao dares not say that he has richer experience in farming authorities than you...not to mention me." Zhang Tie said without any scruple, "In Kangzhou City, any farmer would be more proficient in farming than Meng Shidao. I''m afraid that any roadside pie pedlar would make pies better than Meng Shidao. Dare Meng Shidao to say that he could make embroidery better than an embroidered woman?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie talking about Meng Shidao who was said to become the prime minister this year, Lu Yanyu closed his mouth instantly. Zhang Tie could casually comment Meng Shidao based on his social status and the hostile relationship between him and the Gobbling Party without any scruple; however, Lu Yanyu dared not do that. However, after hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Lu Yanyu''s heart pounded as he felt that Zhang Tie might not be as scheming as how he imagined. Zhang Tie today was utterly different than the one he met yesterday. Therefore, Lu Yanyu became puzzled as he wondered whether Zhang Tie was sounding out his intention or was indeed innocent.


    "Do you feel that I was sounding out your intention?" Zhang Tie asked Lu Yanyu as he threw a glance at him.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Lu Yanyu became a bit embarrassed at once as he said, "This humble official dares not think about that. As the crown prince''s master is in a high position and is going to take over the position of prime minister, each of his action is related to the well-being and safety of Taixia Country, this humble official can''t comment casually!"


    "Haha..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "Well, now that you''re inconvenient to talk about Meng Shidao, let''s talk about public affairs. How do you feel about the order of balancing awards and punishments that I released yesterday?"


    "It''s a very good order..." Lu Yanyu answered with a bit solemn look, "The word balancing is the essence of this order. If the farming officials were just awarded or punished due to the grains production in their own official fields, if the figure of grains production was too high, the subordinates would definitely blame you about it; therefore, the figure might be changed. As long as Weiji General killed someone or punished someone due to this, you would not escape from being commented as too strict to your subordinates; if you set it too low, it would not work effectively. Besides influencing the supply of the logistics in the theater of operations, the public would criticize you that you don''t understand how to be a Weiji General or you''re too benignant like a woman. It would ruin your reputation. If the figure was neither high nor low, it would be hard to mobilize the officials in the theater of operations. With this order of balancing awards and punishments, you could avoid from being blamed by the public. Even if Weiji General killed someone later on, nobody would criticize that you''re too rigid. Later on, all the farming officials across the theater of operations have to compete with each other at their full efforts on solving the grains production problem facing the theater of operations being affected by this order. From now on, all the officials might be striving for implementing the methods to raise yield without the order of Weiji General. This order of balancing awards and punishments is really marvelous and considerate. This humble official admires it very much."


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter. Lu Yanyu was indeed an experienced official who had been in the officialdom for 6 decades. Besides being sharp-eyed, his words were also pungent...

 1326 Being Confident II

    "Whether the order of balancing awards and punishments could be properly executed lies in the supervision of the Peacewest Farming Administration. I have to extend my thanks to you for your work!


    "It''s this humble official''s responsibility. Of course, this humble official would try his best to do that!" Lu Yanyu slightly bowed toward Zhang Tie as he said, "The official fields in Taixia Country are all Class A Level I. They''re all fertile. All the official fields have been registered in brochures. In wartime, all the grains produced by official fields should enter warehouses after being weighed for military purpose. No province or prefecture could make misregistration about the quantity of grains production per mu official field. Even if they make misregistration on the figure, the provincial and prefectural officials couldn''t conjure grains of the void to make up for the vacancy. There''re strict and unified regulations on the categories, quantities and proportions of the crops from the official fields of each province which were planted according to farming seasons; mainly potatoes, corns, rice and wheat. Farmers couldn''t plant whatever they want. The only concern is that some low-level officials might casually alter the areas for some crops in official fields; for instance, sowing more potatoes as potatoes are high-yielding. They would use the yield of potatoes to replace that of rice and wheat. In order to solve this problem, we could adopt the following solutions, the Peacewest Farming Administration assign inspection team to investigate it among all the 4 provinces and have them hand in the report about the yields and proportions of different crops in the official fields of the 4 provinces each season and scrutinize the provinces and prefectures so as to ensure that they could plant crops according to the requests in the wartime and offer a reward to commoners who could report illegal behaviors!


    Zhang Tie nodded inside as he sighed with emotions, ''No wonder Lu Yanyu has been in the farming authorities for so many years, the moment I released my decree, Lu Yanyu was clear about the tricks the subordinate officials would play and he worked out the solution to prevent from the possible problems. This man is very able. If he found me trouble, I would be terribly defeated.''


    "Mr. Lu, do you know why commander-in-chief wants me in this job?


    "Commander-in-chief is the military god and pillar of the country. Weiji General also has your own considerations. Qianji Hermit is well-known across the country. Additionally, this humble official was told that Weiji General has some secret methods to turn stone into gold only by touching. Commander-in-chief must know about your talents..."


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "No crap, the reason why commander-in-chief appointed me as Weiji General lies in grins and Fiery Oil!" Zhang Tie said. After a second, he pointed at the vast area of farmland in front of his eyes as he sighed with feelings, "As long as there''re grain seeds, it would be too easy for me to make them high-yielded fields. Even if these farmlands were destroyed by demonized grains, I could still have them recover their fertility!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Lu Yanyu''s eyes sparkled as he said, "This humble official was told that the over 100 million mu official farmlands that suffered a crop failure in Ninghe Prefecture, Northeast Military Region before won a harvest last year once again!"


    "The harvest over there benefited from the 3 solutions!" Zhang Tie erected his finger as he further explained, "The first solution was to keep the grain seeds free from being contaminated; second, the earthworms in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory which were mutated species that I brought from Waii Subcontinent, they''re very effective to recover soil''s fertility; third, restore the destruction that demonized crops brought to the soil. Demons and Heavens Reaching Church are very insidious and vicious. When they had Taixia Country suffer crop failure as a whole, they didn''t forget about using demonized grains to destroy the fertility of the arable lands. However, every poison could be detoxified. Now that the poison could be made, its antidote could also be produced. The trick of demons, though being vicious, was also solved!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Lu Yanyu''s face turned solemn. After Zhang Tie finished his words, Lu Yanyu went off to the roadside field and held a piece of hardening soil before coming to Zhang Tie''s front. He then rubbed the piece of soil by two hands so that Zhang Tie could see it carefully, "General, look, this official field also suffered a crop failure last year. Although the crops in the field have been burned and irrigated, the soil here still tends to harden. After being dried in the sun, the soil would be like mud which''s dug out of the earth. Demonized crops could reduce the number of microorganisms and flora and their structures. When all the microorganisms and flora were destroyed together with their structures, this farmland would never recover its fertility no matter how many fertilizers we used. It would be as useless as filling fertilizers into the sand. Additionally, the soil would provide increasingly fewer nutrients. Therefore, the soil would become less available for growing crops. It is similar to that when people used too many fertilizers in their farmlands before the Catastrophe. General, I''m longing for your solution!"


    Lu Yanyu''s eyes turned a bit eager in the end because this problem was the major problem that almost faced 1 trillion people across Taixia Country.


    "The earth under our feet is the real treasure land!" Zhang Tie sighed with feelings, "The grains, the silk, the linen and the instruments that we use all come from the earth. People couldn''t live without it. The earth breeds everything to raise people; however, it gets nothing in return. What a shame! Actually, as long as we know how to extend our thanks to the earth, we will solve the problem of hardening soil easily!"


    "How to extend our thanks to the earth?" Lu Yanyu''s heart raced as he felt Zhang Tie was talking about his enlightening and insight about the greatest law between the heavens and the humans.


    Zhang Tie looked into the distance as his voice sounded a bit reminiscent, "I remember when I was in Waii Subcontinent at a young age, I lived a poor life. My mom sold rice brew to help my father survive our family. Rice brew was fermented in a sealed terrine. After a terrine of rice brew was sold out, there would be some remains in the terrain. Therefore, after I cleaned up the terrain in the terrain, I would water the flowerpots and parterres using the water which contained leftover rice brew. Gradually, the plants in the flowerpots and parterres grew brilliant. At that time, I didn''t discover the marvelous effect of the water containing leftover rice brew!"


    "An old man lived next to our home. He was an engineer in Blackhot City. After retirement, he liked to do gardening to kill time and cultivate his taste. In the beginning, the old man used some civilian means to make fertilizers by using broken bones and phosphate ores as phosphate fertilizer; carnallite and nitrate as potassic fertilizer and boiled, moldy beans and overdue edible oil which have been sealed for a period as nitrogenous fertilizer!"


    "One day, when I left school, I coincidentally saw the old man taking a pot of withered flower out of his house and put it onto the garbage collection can outside. I saw how it opened its flower right on the window sill of the old man. It was very beautiful. However, it gradually started to die. After the old man left there, I ran over there as I noticed that there was still a tender sprout at the root of the withered flower. Therefore, I brought the flowerpot back home and planted it in our own parterre. "


    "As the old man used too many fertilizers inappropriately, the mud at the root of that flower had been hardened and become completely like a sun-dried mud brick. You couldn''t even break it by hands. It didn''t have anything to do with nutrients. The soil was even harder than that we see in front of us as the microorganisms and flora had almost been completely destroyed by the natural fertilizers made by the old man..."


    When Lu Yanyu heard Zhang Tie talking about the hardening soil flowerpot that he picked on the way back home, his heart raced at once. ''Could he...''


    After throwing a glance at Lu Yanyu, Zhang Tie continued, "I planted the withered flower together with the hard soil at the root of the flower into my parterre. After that, I would water them with water containing leftover rice brew whenever I have a chance. Guess what?"


    "You saved it..." Lu Yanyu said out of his excitement.


    "Right. I saved the flower. More than that, the hard soil at the root of the flower also got its breath again!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "It''s just an experience of mine. After saving that flower, I didn''t think too much about it; nor did I think about making a fortune in this means. Not until Taixia Country was suffering a grain shortage as a whole and most of the soil across the country was destroyed by demonized crops and hardened did I have a try with a fluke mind. I found some hardened soil, I sowed some grains in it. After that, I watered them with water containing leftover rice brew. I''ve not imagined that it indeed worked. Later on, I spread this method across Ninghe Prefecture..."


    Zhang Tie explained it calmly as if he was talking about something trivial. However, as for Lu Yanyu, Zhang Tie''s words sounded as earthshaking as thunders. He didn''t recover his composure until a few seconds later. Because Zhang Tie had already told him about the solution.


    This was a great secret that could influence numerous people and defuse the current land crisis facing Taixia Country. Taixia Country had tried so many methods; however, none of them could be as effective as Zhang Tie''s method. It was out of Lu Yanyu''s imagination that Zhang Tie could share this secret with him so frankly.


    Lu Yanyu''s voice started to tremble, "General, whether the substance in the water containing the leftover rice brew is as same as that in the all-purpose medicament or not..."

 1327 Being Confident III

    "How could it be as advanced as the all-purpose medicament?" Zhang Tie almost burst out into laughter.


    "It''s not as advanced as the all-purpose medicament. It''s not even as fine as rice brew!" Zhang Tie shook his head as he added, "Commoners could casually make a barrel of it by fermenting their deserted green leaves, roots and stems, peels, kernels with ferment and water. Some people have already started to do it since a long time ago. Commoners liked to call it environmental ferment. However, I''d like to call it earth pulp. Only after irrigating a bit of earth pulp with water into farmlands will we gradually recover the quantity and structure of the destroyed microorganisms and flora, even better than before. This is how we extend our thanks to the earth..."


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that what he did occasionally in his teenage years could remind him of its great value when Taixia Country as a whole was facing grains crisis. Even Zhang Tie wondered whether this was the God''s will or not. Only irrigating a bit of ferment with water into the soil in which the microorganisms and flora had been destroyed could they recover the level of microorganisms and flora to its original level. However, the ferment being irrigated into the farmlands didn''t pose a high request to people. People could make it easier.


    The land gifted people happiness and richness and people should return the earth with the pulp¡ª¡ªgreen leaves, roots and stems, fresh food and peels all come from the nutrients in the earth. After turning these things into ferment which contained a large number of microorganisms and probiotics and returning them to the earth, the mysterious energy and mysterial circulation would be established. In accordance with the great law, the microenvironment which was destroyed in the soil would be fixed. Additionally, the soil would be more fertile.


    The thing in the container that Zhang Tie took to Ninghe Prefecture was actually ordinary ferment. The reason that Zhang Tie treated it so seriously at that time lay in that he had a simple thought inside¡ª¡ªhe wants to arouse the attention of people by this trick so that this simple yet efficient method could be spread across Taixia Country as soon as possible and the influence of the demonized grains could be reduced to its utmost extent.


    However, Zhang Tie had not imagined that the demon army had invaded Taixia Country before his method took effect. Therefore, all the people in Taixia Country were attracted by the war in Peacewest Military Region. As a result, what he arranged with his full efforts at Ninghe Prefecture didn''t arouse too much shock.


    However, gold would always glitter. With the coordination of No. 1 earthworm, the "earth pulp" made by Zhang Tie took effect in the official fields of Ninghe Prefecture soon. Benefited from it, the soil of the official fields in Ninghe Prefecture soon recovered its fertility and even got a big harvest in the second half of last year. Because of this, commander-in-chief appointed Zhang Tie as Weiji General.


    "General...why do you talk about this to me?" Lu Yanyu couldn''t help but be thrilled although he asked Zhang Tie calmly, "If the general doesn''t tell me this secret, you could arouse a greater shock and win a greater reputation for sure. You could even win countless wealth..."


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he shrugged and watched Lu Yanyu with shiny eyes, "What do I need such a great reputation for? As for wealth, do you feel that I lack money? As a knight, even the position as one of the top three counselors of Taixia Country is not as practical as forming one more chakra. I''m not interested in the career of officials. As Meng Shidao is going to be the prime minister, I won''t find trouble myself. If not being called by the commander-in-chief, I also had methods to do something in grains and Fiery Oil. I didn''t want to be Weiji General at all. The reason why I called you here is that I wanted to have an honest talk with you so that you will know that what I''m pursuing for in Peacewest Military Region doesn''t conflict with your pursuit. As my assistant, I hope you could help me sincerely. If you give me a hand at this critical moment, you''re actually helping Hua people and the Taixia Country as a whole..."


    Lu Yanyu finally changed his look as understood why Zhang Tie called him here. With a bitter smile, he watched Zhang Tie, "General, you have your plans. Without my help, you could also do your job well whether on grains supply or Fiery Oil..."


    Before Lu Yanyu finished his words, Zhang Tie had waved his hand to interrupt him, "I know what you want to say. It''s not difficult for me to do that. However, I would feel more relaxed if I handed it over to a completely reliable and able assistant. At least, I won''t play boring tricks with those people on my side as Weiji General. As the frontline is still fighting, many people are dying every day. I don''t want to stay here quietly. My time is precious. I''ve already done what I needed to do in Peacewest Military Region in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. I don''t feel like repeating it myself. Am I clear?"


    "Clear. But I wonder why the general chose me?"


    "Because of your ability and moral standards. Is that enough?"


    "What if I refused your good intention, general?"


    "If you dare to refuse it, I will find an excuse to kick you off, have you retire in advance or behead you so as to scare the others. After that, I will find another one from the Weiji envoys in the Peacewest Farming Administration and the other farming authorities who was a bit able and ambitious and would like to serve me sincerely. If one is not enough, I will find two; if two is not enough, I will make it three. As there''re so many envoys, I don''t believe in that I couldn''t find someone proper. At your position, I will give him only two choices, serve me sincerely or die..."


    Zhang Tie didn''t mind telling him about his plan to behead Lu Yanyu if the latter didn''t agree with him. That was so imposing!


    After gazing at each other quietly for a short while, Zhang Tie''s eye light remained as firm and calm as a mountain; however, Lu Yanyu''s eye light was a bit complex. After a few seconds, Lu Yanyu suddenly let out a deep sigh as he moved a couple of steps backward and bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie once again, "From today on, Lu Yanyu would definitely exert my utmost effort to assist the general sincerely!"


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he helped Lu Yanyu straighten up his body, arm in arm and said, "That''s great..."


    After making his decision, Lu Yanyu felt much relaxed. The moment he wanted to take out the two letters of appointment from his sleeve, Zhang Tie waved his hand towards him as he said, "You can determine the new Weiji envoys of Yuan Prefecture, Huanzhou Province and Gonghe Prefecture, Kangzhou Province by yourself. As you''re familiar with it more than me, don''t need to ask me about that on these trivial things..."


    Lu Yanyu''s heart palpitated. Closely after that, he revealed a bitter smile as he thought, ''Qianji Hermit is really something and unpredictable. What I am considering carefully is nothing but sh*t in his eyes...''

 1328 Making an Inspection Tour in the Theater of Operations

    Although work did not always make people pleasant, people had to do it. The more important the position was, the more limits there would be. In many cases, people had to deal with it in high spirits in order to fulfill their obligations.


    On the second day since Zhang Tie finished his talk with Lu Yanyu beside the field, he had started an inspection tour across Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province with Lu Yanyu by airboat.


    Besides inspecting the official fields, Zhang Tie paid special attention to some major mines and large industrial complexes and plants in the four provinces.


    Besides grains supply, Weiji General and Weiji envoys should also be responsible for providing armies with weapons, leather belts, military uniforms, kettles, sabers, swords, helmets, steam tanks, armored vehicles and military vehicles in the theater of operations.


    Within days, the total population of the Taixia corps within the 4 provinces of Peacewest Military Region reached almost 480 million, including that from the top 4 armies of Taixia Country and the provincial armies in Peacewest Military Region. It was absolutely not an easy job to meet the demand for logistic equipment from so many soldiers.


    Thankfully, Taixia Country was deeply rooted with a powerful state power mechanism on its back. Therefore, the military demand from almost 500 million people was not difficult to meet across Peacewest Military Region, which contained over 100 Class A major cities based on equipment manufacturing industry, thousands of large- and medium-sized mines and metallurgical production bases, tens of thousands of industrial production plants and over 10 billion mu official fields, more than 7 billion people were still serving the corps in the theater of operations. Besides, there was a sound ground and air traffic network and perfect logistics operation as well as guarantee mechanism. All this made Taixia country confident to confront with demons in the western theater of operations.


    The airboat moved very fast. Without any stop, it could fly almost 12,000 miles a day.


    It only took Zhang Tie less than 7 days to travel across the entire Peacewest Military Region. During that short period, Zhang Tie understood a truth¡ª¡ªthe holy war was definitely not only between human knights and demon knights but related to everyone.


    In a metallurgical base of Ningzhou Province, Zhang Tie saw an old, experienced technician who had retired for many years. In order to contribute to humans in the holy war, he returned to the workshop and taught some apprentices to make quality steel works as well as supervised the duration and quality of each furnace of liquid steel.


    In the farms of those official fields of Military Province, Zhang Tie saw many foreign border men who had settled down in Taixia Country being driven indignified after hearing that demons had been invading Taixia Country and were going to destroy their homeland once again.


    In a small city of Huanzhou Province, Zhang Tie saw all the households being busy making belts and special steel buttons on caligas, male or female, old or young.


    In an arsenal which produced steam armored vehicles in Kangzhou Province, Zhang Tie saw the factory directory and main engineers directly moving their homes into the production area. They had already made a military pledge to guarantee the quality of the products...


    Within 7 days, Zhang Tie saw too many similar people, most of which were commoners. Everybody was exerting their utmost efforts on their own posts for the sake of the holy war.


    After 7 days'' inspection, Zhang Tie finally understood how big his power was as Weiji General.


    Within the 4 provinces, over 5 million officials on different levels would follow his order directly. Any of his orders would influence over 7 billion people who served the logistics system of the theater of operations. All the 68,772 official and non-governmental industrial and mining enterprises would follow his order. This year, he could allocate 5.6 billion gold coins for the logistics system of the theater of operations as a whole, half of which would flow into official enterprises while the greater part of the rest would be used to purchase various quartermaster materials and equipment in terms of bidding. Those who were qualified to participate in the bidding were all major clans from the 4 provinces in the theater of operations. Wherever Zhang Tie was, he would always be escorted imposingly by local major clans like a local emperor.


    Besides, Zhang Tie could allocate enormous resources. For instance, he could allocate 64 airboats and over 200,000 airships and numerous ground vehicles. Additionally, all the railways, trains, inventory, distribution and transfer of materials in the theater of operations were at his discretion.


    With such great power, he could definitely hoodwink the public in the rear end of the theatre of operations.


    After acknowledging the situation facing the theater of operations, Zhang Tie finally understood why Lu Yanyu had a complex feeling when he saw Zhang Tie at the beginning.


    As for people who loved power, such great power would make them feel like being in the paradise and vigorous all over just like having taken drugs. By contrast, as for Zhang Tie, such great power only made him feel a bit peacockish within a few days. After that, he was still deeply impressed by those ordinary people who were working in common posts. Because Zhang Tie saw his parents and the other Zhang Tie who had no Castle of Black Iron from those commoners.


    Through the inspection, Zhang Tie didn''t get lost in the illusion brought by power; instead, he strengthened his belief.


    On January 20th, Zhang Tie and Lu Yanyu returned to Kangzhou City after the 7 days'' inspection. On the same day, soon after Zhang Tie returned to Kangzhou City, the 2 airboats from Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory had landed in the square of the Peacewest Farming Administration of Kangzhou City.


    ...


    With a smile, Zhang Tie watched the opening hatch doors of the two airboats while fiddling with the 3 walnuts as usual.


    When the hatch door of the first airboat was opened, Zhang Tie''s elder brother, Li Tao, Lu Yishan and Sun Qiming got off one after another, followed by many people.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang revealed a smile too. The others were slightly shocked at the sight of the two rows of imposing bodyguards in golden armors and that man who was waiting for them with a smile in the Class III official uniform of Peacewest Farming Administration.


    Zhang Tie didn''t want to put on airs. However, in this case, even though he didn''t put on airs, the great qi field among those people behind him had already implied everything. Across Taixia Country, perhaps only major officials on the level of commanders of military regions could have a subordinate Class III official wait for them on his side with a kind smile.


    ...


    "Thanks for coming from afar..." Zhang Tie told his elder brother with a smile.


    "Pleasure. It''s only a couple of days'' trip by airboat even from Youzhou Province..." Zhang Yang smiled as he looked at Zhang Tie from his head to his foot. After that, the two brothers exchanged a glance with each other silently.


    After Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang finished greeting each other, Li Tao and Lu Yishan hurriedly moved forward to hail Zhang Tie.


    "Master!" Li Tao and Lu Yishan called Zhang Tie at the same time with an exciting and awe-struck look. The two people had not imagined that Zhang Tie could be directly promoted to such an influential figure in the western theater of operations of Taixia Country only after coming to the theater of operations for less than half a year.


    1 month ago, when the news that Zhang Tie was appointed as Weiji General of the Western Theater of Operations by Zuoqiu Mingyue reached Youzhou Province, the entire Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory even the entire Youzhou Province had been shocked. As Zhang Tie''s myrmidons, Li Tao and Lu Yishan were more excited. Zhang Tie''s rising position also indicated their rising positions. Since Zhang Tie was appointed as Weiji General in the theater of operations, it indicated that Zhang Tie''s influence had reached out of Northeast Military Region and Zhang Tie had officially become a top-class figure among major clans and knights in Taixia Country. At the sight of Zhang Tie, Li Tao was a bit reserved more or less; however, Lu Yishan had been so excited that his face was red with excitement.


    "Hmm!" Zhang Tie nodded toward them with a smile as he continued, "You had done a good job in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory these days. I''ve already heard about that. Hopefully, you could contribute to the Western Theater of Operations of Taixia Country with the ability that you presented in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory..."


    "It''s owed to the great leadership of the madams in Ironheart Palace. As the master called us here, we would certainly not shrink from any sacrifice!" Li Tao said after exchanging a glance with Lu Yishan. As Lu Yishan was a bit clumsy in remarks, he just nodded on one side. The two people both knew that Zhang Tie would like to put them in important positions this time. By following up Zhang Tie, the two people would definitely reach new heights in their lives and undertakings in Peacewest Military Region. As long as they did a good job at Zhang Tie''s request, the so-called vanity and wealth would come for them naturally.


    Zhang Tie nodded as he was very satisfied with the two people''s attitude.


    After Li Tao and Lu Yishan finished their talks with Zhang Tie, Sun Qiming took in a deep breath before moving one step forward as he greeted, "Hermit!"


    "I wonder whether my junior sister apprentice Lv Shasha would blame me for separating you from her in a short period!"


    Although Zhang Tie was joking, given his tone, he didn''t treat Sun Qiming as an outsider at all. As his words sounded somewhat familiar, Sun Qiming felt a bit thrilled as he cupped his hands toward Zhang Tie and said, "If hermit needs me, it means that you''re trusting and favoring our Sun family. Before setting off, my wife warned me to finish the tasks arranged by hermit carefully; additionally, my wife also asked me to relate one sentence to hermit¡ª¡ªhermit should take care of yourself on the battlefield. All the senior and junior sister apprentices of hermit on Hidden Dragon Island are still contacting each other. They all hope to watch hermit''s imposing look by forming a sword dance in front of them once again..."


    The junior sister apprentice who once liked crying had already been a mother and wife. In case of gossips, since Zhang Tie exposed his real identity to the public, he didn''t meet that junior sister apprentice privately anymore although being in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. After hearing that those senior and junior sister apprentices were still contacting each other, their expectations and wishes to him, Zhang Tie had a complex feeling at once...

 1329 Zhang Ties Fundamental Forces

    The memories of the experiences with those senior and junior sister apprentices made Zhang Tie silent for a second. Closely after that, Zhang Tie watched Sun Qiming seriously as he slowed down his tone, "I''m not treating you as an outsider, don''t be estranged..."


    Sun Qiming nodded as he moved back to one side.


    All the people getting off the second airboat wore grey-green military uniforms of Fire-Dragon Corps. All of them looked very handsome. There was a pattern of a pair of wings being composed of steel gears on their hats. Besides, there was a special pattern on their armband, namely, a thunder hawk flashing across clouds.


    The emblem on their hats indicated that they belonged to Fire-Dragon Corps. The armband of thunder hawk carried a special meaning in Fire-Dragon Corps, namely, these people were air cavalries who had been able to drive airplanes through strict training.


    Over 4,000 people got off the 2nd airboat, led by Zhang Su, Zhang Tie''s cousin. Some of Zhang Tie''s disciples such as Liu Xing were also among the crowd. As they wore military uniforms, they were not eye-catching at all. Perhaps only those who were familiar with Liu Xing and the other indoor disciples of Zhang Tie could notice the thrilling mood of them.


    Those people getting off the 2nd airboat were very quiet. However, they all carried a strong qi field and great arrogance. Because of the special temperament, Lu Yanyu couldn''t stand throwing more glances at them.


    "Mr. Lu, what do you feel about my soldiers from Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory?" Zhang Tie turned around and asked Lu Yanyu with a smile.


    "The top 4 armies of Taixia Country are well-known as they all have great arrogance and strong killing intent; however, I feel they could not match these soldiers in front of us!" Lu Yanyu told Zhang Tie seriously after observing those soldiers who had got off the 2nd airboat. Lu Yanyu was not trying to flatter Zhang Tie; instead, he really felt that these soldiers of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory were special.


    "You''re right, Mr. Lu. They''re all the best soldiers of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. If there''s no knight on the battlefield, these people could easily eliminate a corps of 500,000 people!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Lu Yanyu was shocked once again. However, he knew that Zhang Tie wouldn''t joke with him on this issue. Therefore, when Lu Yanyu looked at those soldiers once again, he turned a bit solemn and exploring...


    In the silence of most of the people, Zhang Su strode to the front of Zhang Tie before making a military salute to him. Closely after that, he reported loudly and seriously, "Corps leader, the thunder hawk instruction unit of Fire-Dragon Corps have already gathered up. What should we do now?"


    "The officials stay here. All the other soldiers took a rest first!"


    "Yes sir!"


    Without Zhang Tie''s order, Lu Yanyu threw a glance at someone. Closely after that, a staff of Peacewest Farming Administration started to arrange those people to take a bath and rest. After introducing Lu Yanyu''s identity to them, Zhang Tie instantly took the remaining people to his headquarters for a meeting.


    Besides these people who came from Youzhou Province, dozens of officials in charge below Lu Yanyu within the Peacewest Farming Administration had arrived. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to hold a meeting since he promoted to Weiji General...


    In the lobby of his headquarters, Zhang Tie was sitting in the main position while fiddling with 3 walnuts. There was a bronze tiger-shaped desk in front of him, on which were a row of arrows that indicated general''s command. It was a huge map of the theater of operations as wide as 10 m and as high as 5 m behind Zhang Tie. Rows of bodyguards were standing behind Zhang Tie and on both sides of the lobby of the headquarters in an extremely solemn manner.


    Lu Yanyu was sitting on the left side of Zhang Tie''s bronze tiger desk together with the other officials in charge of Peacewest Farming Administration while Zhang Tie''s elder brother and the others from Youzhou Province were sitting on the right side of the table. As all of them had seen the world, they just waited for Zhang Tie to speak meticulously while lowering their heads.


    "Mr. Lu, please make an introduction about the battle situation facing the western theater of operations and the Weiji affairs within Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province!" Zhang Tie opened his mouth.


    "Yes, sir!" Lu Yanyu then stood up. He spent 10 minutes in introducing that to those at present before sitting down.


    Even though it was their first time to come to Peacewest Military Region Headquarters, they had also acknowledged the overall situation facing the western theater of operations after hearing Lu Yanyu''s introduction.


    Within days, the news that demons and Heavens Reaching Church founded Heavens Reaching Empire in Yezhou Province, Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province which were occupied by demons had been delivered to provincial officials. As it gradually turned warmer, demons'' offensiveness slowly recovered. By contrast, Taixia Country which had seen hope also became more positive. Under the guidance of Zuoqiu Mingyue, the commander-in-chief of Taixia Country, the armies and knights of Taixia Country were evacuating Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province orderly while fighting demons. They determined to weaken the sharpness of the demon corps step by step through the strategy of exchanging space for time. The strategical purpose of Taixia Country in the western theater of operations was to ultimately prevent demons'' vanguards from crossing Helan Mountain Range and Weishui River so that they could confront with demons for a long time.


    Additionally, it seemed that demons didn''t have the ability to devour Taixia Country as a whole in a short period. Given the motive that demons assisted Heavens Reaching Church to establish Heavens Reaching Church, demons were using Heavens Reaching Church and Heavens Reaching Empire to gradually collapse Taixia Country''s internal forces.


    Facing such a battle situation, the Weiji affairs in the four provinces in the rear end of the western theater of operation became especially important. Grains and materials counted most. Furthermore, Lu Yanyu also clarified the problems facing grains production and equipment in the four provinces.


    Those from Youzhou Province all moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie''s elder brother. At this moment, Zhang Yang should be the first one who opened his mouth on Youzhou Province''s side. As was expected, only after being silent for a few seconds, Zhang Yang had stood up and told Zhang Tie.


    "After hearing Mr. Lu''s words, we''ve already known the situation facing the theater of operations. If the general has any arrangement, just tell us about that. We''re here to solve the problems!"

 1330 The Decisiveness of Jinwu Business Group

    As Zhang Tie was the Weiji General of the Western Theater of Operations of Taixia Country, even Zhang Yang should call him general in the headquarters instead of calling him younger brother.


    Of course, Zhang Tie understood it too. After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, he instantly noted, "Now that you''re all clear that you''re fetched here for tasks, I will put it straight. As I''m in charge of the logistics affairs in Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province, I''ve got an all-around plan within these days. I need your help. The following issues were to be solved: first, the insufficiency of all-purpose medicaments in the theater of operations; second, the production of Fiery Oil; third, the training of air forces in the theater of operations; fourth, the provision of armed equipments driven by Fiery Oil; fifth, the grains production in the theater of operations. If we could solve the 5 issues, I will never regret being Weiji General."


    As Zhang Tie expressed, he stood up and came to the front of that huge map of the theater of operations behind him. Closely after that, he gave out a cluster of green light by his finger toward the map.


    The green battle qi, with the attribute of wood among the five-elements battle qis, carried a brilliant light. However, under Zhang Tie''s control, it was not destructive at all; nor did it destroy that map. It was just like the laser pointer before the Catastrophe for the sake of Zhang Tie''s narration.


    It was the manifestation of turning one''s battle qi into physical shape. Knight''s visible battle qi had a very terrifying striking strength. In case of Zhang Tie''s battle strength, his battle qi could easily penetrate through metals like gold, copper and iron and kill powerhouses below knights as easily as killing livestock. It was the first time for these people at present to see Zhang Tie putting this trick to use in such a smooth and harmless way.


    It was the manifestation of the high-level realm of cultivation base by turning one''s battle qi into physical shape and making it destructive. But it was just the necessary result of constant cultivation. Conversely, if one wanted to use his powerful battle qi in physical shape freely without causing any damage, it would require an amazingly high request on one''s controlling force just like that it was hard to make an irregular stone into an aesthetic sculpture by an alchemist''s bomb, though it was easy to destroy a skyscraper by an alchemist''s bomb.


    Everybody at present was shocked by the green light on the map emitted by Zhang Tie''s finger so much that they almost forgot that Zhang Tie was going to say something.


    At the sight of their amazed looks, Zhang Tie realized that this trick seemingly shocked them too much. Therefore, he could only pretend to cough twice to attract the others'' attention before opening his mouth.


    "First, all-purpose medicament plays a remarkable role in the theater of operations. However, the supply falls far short of the demand for all-purpose medicament from Jinwu Business Group. Since I was promoted to Weiji General, I''ve investigated the number of all-purpose medicaments stored by all the corps in the theater of operation in the past half a year and found it was less than 50 million vials in total. That is to say, almost 1 of 10 fighters in the theater of operations could use one vial of all-purpose medicament. This situation needs to be changed. After contacting Commander-in-Chief Zuoqiu lately, I won a full confirmation from commander-in-chief toward the function of all-purpose medicament on armies of Taixia Country. According to the materials allocation reports handed by all corps, there has been a huge demand for all-purpose medicament among corps. Each corps would like a bit more. Nevertheless, our supply always falls short. In order to solve such a sharp conflict, I hope that Jinwu Business Group could provide at least 300 million vials of all-purpose medicament to the theater of operations by the end of this year. This figure should reach 1 billion in the next year. In order to guarantee that each fighter in the theater of operations could carry at least 2 vials of all-purpose medicament, the figure should reach at least 2 billion 3 years later..."


    Zhang Tie pointed or circled with his cluster of green battle qi on over 20 places of the map as he said, "These places have advantageous natural resources within Peacewest Military Region. They could provide vegetables and fruits all the year round; additionally, they are abundant in medicinal materials. I hope to see at least 10 all-purpose medicament bases within the four provinces by the end of this year. Half a year later, I hope these bases could provide all-purpose medicament to the theater of operations. Because of the relation between Jinwu Business Group and I that you all know, in case of suspicion, I wish Jinwu Business Group could reduce the purchasing price of all-purpose medicament to its minimum extent in the theater of operations!"


    "To defend demons and safeguard Taixia Country, everybody is responsible for that. As a member of Hua people, Jinwu Business Group would definitely live up to general''s expectation. I''ve taken 17 managers here. All of them will go for inspection across Peacewest Military Region for building all-purpose medicament bases. Within this year, Jinwu Business Group would establish 17 bases within Peacewest Military Region. Before these bases were officially available, Jinwu Business Group would allocate its resources across Taixia Country and guarantee the demand of Western Theater of Operations for all-purpose medicament first. Within this year, we will provide at least 500 million vials of the all-purpose medicament for the theater of operations!" Zhang Yang expressed solemnly at this moment, "As for the purchasing price of Weiji General''s Mansion about the all-purpose medicament of Jinwu Business Group, I will call it one gold coin per vial. This is definitely the lowest price in Taixia Country!"


    After hearing Zhang Yang''s words, all the officials on the side of the Peacewest Farming Administration changed their looks. The purchasing price of all-purpose medicaments within the theater of operations last year was 3 gold coins a vial, which was already very cheap compared to that in former days; however, it still couldn''t meet the demand; Zhang Tie''s promise meant that Jinwu Business Group would give up hundreds of millions of gold coins'' profit a year.


    Hundreds of millions of gold coins was an astonishing figure. In the future, this figure might become over 1 billion gold coins. After hearing Zhang Tie''s elder brother, those people who admired Zhang Tie''s good luck made head or trail of the case at once. It was rather Zuoqiu Mingyue''s good use of people than Qianji Hermit''s good luck. By having Qianji Hermit as Weiji General, the Zhang brothers would feel ashamed to make money from the theater of operations any more. Zhang Tie would save an enormous amount of money for the theater of operation on the item of government procurement of all-purpose medicament alone. Who else could have such an amazing ability? Therefore, the others were not qualified to compete for this position of Weiji General...

 1331 Zhang Ties Arrangemen

    Zhang Yang''s decisive attitude on providing all-purpose medicament was astounding; however, from the other perspective, even though the purchasing price of an all-purpose medicament was one gold coin per vial, Jinwu Business Group would also make an astronomical amount of money in the theater of operations each year in the future. How many major clans in Taixia Country could make hundreds of millions of gold coins a year?


    As the holy war further went on, all-purpose medicaments would win an increasingly bigger market in Taixia Country. If it kept going on like this, Zhang family would be the richest family in the world only in a few years...


    The officials of the Peacewest Farming Administration were sensitive about figure and money. Therefore, they were calculating the revenue of Jinwu Business Group in the future inside as they changed their looks toward Zhang Yang. They were watching Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang like watching the bright future of a rising top sect in Taixia Country. As Zhang Tie took up the position of Weiji General of the theater of operations and was going to marry the daughter of Lord Guangnan, Zhang family was growing more like a top clan in Taixia Country. Money, power, influence and human relationship, all these were expanding in an amazing way...


    "Fine, now that Jinwu Business Group has such a plan, Mr. Lu, you will be responsible for collaborating with Jinwu Business Group from now on..." Zhang Tie immediately fixed the thing after his elder brother expressed his opinion.


    "All the corps in the theater of operations are longing for the all-purpose medicament. This humble official will definitely select able subordinates and accompany the boss of Jinwu Business Group to carry out an investigation across Peacewest Military Region and coordinate with the local forces so as to build all-purpose medicament bases as soon as possible..." Lu Yanyu stood up as he said solemnly.


    Zhang Tie nodded. Lu Yanyu then sat down once again. Zhang Tie''s eye light then fell onto Li Tao as he said, "Li Tao..."


    "Here I am!" Li Tao instantly sprung up from his seat after hearing his name.


    "Although you''re my myrmidon, as you were responsible for building all the Fiery Oil Bases in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, nobody knows Fiery Oil Base better than you across Taixia Country!"


    "Thanks for your trust and cultivation, master!"


    "That''s because you''re trusted and worthy of cultivation. I want you to be in charge of the production of Fiery-Oil in the entire theater of operations. I will appoint you as the supervisor of Weiji General''s Mansion. You will have the full right to manage the production of Fiery Oil within the four provinces. There are over 10 billion mu official fields within the four provinces. Corns would be planted on all of these official fields this February and be reaped this June. I want you to guarantee that at least 200 Fiery Oil bases are available and would meet the primal demand of the theater of operations by this June, can you do it?"


    Li Tao flushed abnormally. At the same time, he took in a deep breath as he chested out, "This humble man would like to make a military pledge to guarantee the work!"


    "Fine, I will allocate an airboat to you for traversing across the theater of operations. Additionally, you will have 20 bodyguards of mine. Here''s my token arrow. You could chop anyone below provincial Weiji envoys within the theater of operations before reporting the case to me..." Zhang Tie said in a muffled voice. Meanwhile, he withdrew a token arrow from the tiger-shaped table. At this moment, a bodyguard walked to him and took his token arrow before handing it to Li Tao.


    Li Tao bowed as he held high his hands over his head and received Zhang Tie''s token arrow meticulously. Closely after that, he looked at Zhang Tie and asked him loudly, "This humble man has a question. As only master''s family could benefit Fiery Oil across Taixia Country, may you tell me about the property rights of the new Fiery Oil bases within Peacewest Military Region and the purchasing price of Fiery Oil in the future?"


    After hearing Li Tao''s question, all the officials of Peacewest Farming Administration pricked up their ears.


    After considering about it for a second, Zhang Tie made a decision, "Divide the property rights of all the Fiery Oil bases within the Peacewest Military Region into 10 parts. Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would only take 3 parts; the rest 7 parts would be allocated to these officials and commoners who were still standing fast in the theater of operations as an award. Concretely, the local officials of the place where the Fiery Oil bases are founded will possess 30% of its shares; non-governmental major clans could possess 30% of its shares; the managers and workers of the Fiery Oil bases would possess 10% of its shares. The purchasing price of Fiery Oil within the theater of operations should not surpass 60% of its sales price outside the theater of operations!"


    Many officials in Taixia Country came from major clans, which meant that Taixia Country didn''t forbid officials'' clans to engage in business. When Zhang Tie mentioned that local officials could possess 30% of the shares of the Fiery Oil base in their territory, the eyes of all the officials from Peacewest Farming Administration sparkled.


    When Taixia Country''s officials took bribes or feathered one''s nest at public expense, they would be punished to eat gold. Therefore, very few officials in Taixia Country dared take bribes and make profits for his family members with the convenience of their positions. In this case, although officials had nice salaries, most of the officials; especially medium- and low-level officials were not rich, not to mention luxurious. Even Mr. Lu''s family couldn''t match that of major clans across the theater of operations as he had about 1,000 relatives and servants to raise at home. By contrast, his compensation was not enough.


    The profit of Fiery Oil was open to the public. Otherwise, the major clans across the theater of operations would not scramble for that. By promising local officials 30% shares of Fiery Oil bases, Weiji General was gifting money to the officials within the theater of operations. How could those officials at present not long for such a reasonable and legal wealth? Additionally, all the officials at present were in major positions in the Peacewest Farming Administration and were incisive, the moment they heard Zhang Tie''s words, they had known that Zhang Tie was gifting them money. "A waterfront pavilion gets the moonlight first!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the officials at present immediately realized that Weiji general quoted the purchasing price of Fiery Oil too low. 80% of its sales price in other places outside the theater of operations was okay; however, he made it 60%.


    At the sight of the looks of those officials of Peacewest Farming Administration on his side, Lu Yanyu let out a sigh inside, ''Without my assistance, Weiji General could also easily buy over all the officials in Peacewest Farming Administration with his human relationship, wealth, power, dignity and the trust of commander-in-chief while having no interest in wealth and power himself. What an amazing person...''


    After hearing that Li Tao was assigned with such a vital position by Zhang Tie and crowned with eternal glory, all the people at present realized that the meritorious deeds of Li Tao were destined to be recorded on the local history within the provinces, prefectures even the entire Peacewest Military Region as they all watched Zhang Tie with widely opened and shiny eyes and pricked up their ears to listen to Zhang Tie''s following arrangements...


    an arrow used as a token of authority.

 1332 Ending up the Secular Affairs

    Under the expectant eye light of people, Zhang Tie moved his eyes onto Lu Yishan''s face as he said, "Now that we''ve got the Fiery Oil, of course, we need to use them. The advantage of Fiery Oil could first be manifested on airplanes. There was not a single airport in Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province within the Peacewest Military Region. Lu Yishan, I appoint you as the supervisor of Weiji General''s Mansion too. You will also have an airboat and 20 bodyguards. Half an hour later, I want a Class A airport in every 500 miles and a Class B airport in every 200 miles within the four provinces. Can you do it?"


    "This humble man has already been clear about the rules and regulations regarding the establishment of airports within Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory. I dare make a military pledge. If I cannot accomplish the task on time, the homeowner could behead me!" Lu Yishan stood up as he said while thumping his chest thrillingly.


    The last thing that Lu Yishan was not certain was airport construction; especially in the theater of operations. With Zhang Tie''s support, Lu Yishan had so many methods to meet Zhang Tie''s requirement. In the second half of last year, over 20 airports had been completed in Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory and Youzhou City under the leadership of Lu Yishan. Therefore, Lu Yishan had long been versed in constructing airports. It was too simple for him to do that. Additionally, he would enjoy great fame after making it; therefore, he became so thrilled.


    Zhang Tie nodded as he picked up a token arrow from his tiger-shaped table and had a bodyguard give it to Lu Yishan.


    After taking the token arrow, Lu Yishan sat down. Zhang Tie then moved his eyes onto Sun Qiming''s face as he said, "Although you''re not my myrmidon, you and Sun family have participated in the whole process of the production of dual-drive engine and airports in Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory and are pretty familiar with this process. Therefore, I also appoint you as the supervisor of Weiji General''s Mansion and gift you a token arrow, an airboat and 20 bodyguards. You could casually allocate the resources of the official plants within the four provinces. I don''t care what you will do, purchase or build plants within the 4 provinces, all in all, you will be in charge of this thing. I want each of the 4 provinces to have the industrial capacity to produce at least 500,000 operational aircrafts a year!"


    "Yes, sir. If not make it on time, Sunqiming would have no complaint about accepting punishment!" Sun Qiming said in a low voice.


    Zhang Tie then picked up a token arrow and had one of his bodyguards hand it to Sun Qiming.


    After Sun Qiming sat down, Zhang Tie moved his eyes to Zhang Su. The moment Zhang Tie opened his mouth, Zhang Su and the other air cavalries had blushed.


    Zhang Tie said, "As you''re my students, I dare say that the air cavalries from Fiery-Dragon Territory could turn up your nose at the whole world. Besides being matched with the most advanced operational airplanes of human, you''ve also learned the most advanced and established air-combat tactics and ideology. None of the human troops across Taixia Country could match you. You will be the protagonists of Taixia Country and Humans on the stage of the holy war. All the past ground forces would be dwarfed in front of you!"


    "I''m waiting for your order, corps leader!" Zhang Su shouted while all the other officers of Fiery-Dragon Corps stood up at once and watched Zhang Tie''s flashing eyes.


    "I did not call you here for the battle. I want you to kindle. I wish air cavalries are not exclusive to Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory, but the entire Taixia Country as a whole. I hope all the commoners who couldn''t become powerful fighters above LV 9 could become air cavalries as long as they''re healthy. I hope that even the weakest people could resist demons. The Thunder Hawk Instruction Unit is here to establish pilot training schools. You need to establish one pilot training school in each prefecture of the 4 provinces and enable more and more people to drive operational aircraft. I hope your students are waiting for driving airplanes, not the other way round.


    "I swear to make it!'' Zhang Su said resolutely.


    "Fine, you''re also a supervisor of Weiji General''s Mansion. You will also take the token arrow, one airboat and 20 bodyguards. You will be responsible for all the members of the Thunder Hawk Instruction Unit of Fiery Dragon Corps..."


    "Trust me, corps leader, each member of Thunder Hawk Instruction Unit is qualified to be a coach..."


    "Nice!" Zhang Tie took out the token arrow and had a bodyguard give it to Zhang Su.


    Zhang Tie finally moved his eyes onto the last person who looked honest, tolerant and average at his 40s at the end of the representatives of Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory. That person, who had been sitting there silently since the beginning, was one of Zhang Tie''s men of sacrifice and one of the senior agricultural agent that Bai Suxian gifted Zhang Tie.


    As this man was reliable, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like having this man die for him. This person was one of Zhang Tie''s general managers who was responsible for those fertile farmlands that Zhang Tie rented in Ninghe Prefecture. The execution of "new policies" in those farmlands of Ninghe Prefecture including the feeding of No.1 earthworms and production of "earth pulp" in each farm would be arranged by this person.


    "Zhang Fu!"


    "Here I am, owner!'' The middle-aged man at his 40s instantly stood up after hearing his name being called.


    "There''s a patch of official land outside Kangzhou City. From tomorrow on, you will be responsible for the management of that patch of official land with your men. Just imitate what you''ve done in Ninghe Prefecture. If someone comes to the farms for a visit or learning, just manifest the methods of feeding "No. 1 earthworms" and producing "earth pulp" as much as you could. No need to keep any secret. You will take charge of the sales of No.1 earthworms within Peacewest Military Region. Its price depends on you. Don''t suffer a loss. Although what you do seems ordinary, it''s related to the overall battle situation of the theater of operations. I don''t trust anybody else but you!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    "Yes, sir. I see!'' The middle-aged man called Zhang Fu answered before sitting down quietly.


    After making a clean breast of these things, Zhang Tie finally became reassured. Although the problem of grain supply counted most among the 5 urgencies, it was easiest to solve too. Thankfully, the seeds provided by the Imperial Land Ministry were safe. Only after having people make a "demonstration field" near Kangzhou City, those Weiji envoys who were stimulated by the order of balancing rewards and punishments across the entire military region would promote the new technologies of "No. 1 earthworms" and "earth pulp" which could help farmland realize steady, growing yield like that "demonstration field" to the rest of the military region as soon as possible. In this way, the issue of grains supply could be basically solved. ''Given my ability and fame, if I have people make such a "demonstration field" outside Kangzhou City, not only those officials even those major clans across the military region would imitate it as much as possible...''


    Besides the issue of grains supply, the supply of all-purpose medicaments, the production of airplanes, the construction of airports in the theater of operations and the training of air cavalries indicated that he had exerted his utmost efforts to fulfill his commitment as Weiji General. At least, the 5 aspects would not face the same problem anymore.


    Actually, Zhang Tie could do it without having to select other people exclusively.


    "Mr. Lu. There''re some manufacturing blueprints and formulas of Fiery-Oil weapons on the airboat from Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory. After a while, you have people duplicate those maps and materials and deliver them to each arsenal within the theater of operations so that they could make the corresponding preparation in producing weapons..."


    Fiery-Oil weapons such as Fiery-Oil inflammable bombs and Fiery-Oil spears could be easily produced by major clans across Taixia Country as long as Fiery-Oil spread over the country. It was just a matter of time. Zhang Tie just took the lead. Zhang Tie had not thought about occupying the formulas himself; instead, he just shared them with the public so that each weapon factory within the theater of operations could accomplish the preparation for production of Fiery-Oil weapons.


    Through one year''s R&D, Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory had been able to produce 5 categories of Fiery-Oil weapons as follows: first, different types of Fiery-Oil inflammable bombs in different specifications for airplanes and airships; second, inflammable spears; third, inflammable bolts for crossbows and ordinary bows; fourth, single-soldier inflammable grenades; fifth, inflammable flamers. Now, the entire Fiery-Dragon Corps had started to be matched with these new weapons. Among these weapons, the most destructive one was inflammable flamer which was lethal to the enemy from 50 m away. This weapon had started to be deployed for squads. After being matched with these destructive inflammable weapons, the overall battle strength of Fiery-Dragon Corps would definitely reach a new height.


    This time, Zhang Tie brought the manufacturing blueprints of the 5 weapons.


    "Yes, sir!" Lu Yanyu said as he stood up. After that, he threw a glance at Zhang Tie, "Could we deliver these manufacturing blueprints of Fiery-Oil weapons to the commoners so that the corps across the military region could purchase them through multiple channels?"


    "We could. But I have to clarify that the non-governmental workshops and factories which receive these manufacturing blueprints should give us discounts on the premise of quality guarantee! Additionally, what I''ve told you just now is closely related to the overall situation facing the theater of operation. All the 4 provinces and local places should coordinate with it at their full efforts. Nobody was allowed to stir up trouble. In the case of coordination, I don''t need to know about it. Mr. Lu could arrange it yourself. Later on, I will only pay attention to the result. If the result is good, all the participants would be awarded; if not, I will have to chop off your heads..."


    "This humble official is clear. All the staff in Peacewest Farming Administration would live up to the expectation of general!" Lu Yanyu bowed towards Zhang Tie, closely followed by all the other officials of Peacewest Farming Administration who stood up and bowed before saying in unison, "We will live up to the expectation of general!"


    "Good. My heart is at peace with your words..." Zhang Tie nodded after these urgencies were fixed.


    ...


    On the second day since they arrived here, Zhang Tie''s elder brother, 2 myrmidons and Zhang Su had left Kangzhou City by airboat and started their actions.


    Besides Zhang Tie''s bodyguards, Lu Yanyu also assigned some experienced officials from the Peacewest Farming Administration who were familiar with the affairs of the 4 provinces to help them.


    The only ones who stayed in Kangzhou City were Zhang Fu and his retinues. However, these people were not inside the city wall; instead, they went to take over the official farmlands outside Kangzhou City accompanied by 2 officials from the Peacewest Farming Administration.


    There was neither Fiery-Oil nor No.1 earthworm in Peacewest Military Region yet, which could only be transported from Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory, Youzhou Province for the time being. Lu Yanyu had already worked out a plan last night by arranging airboats to transport them from Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory. As airboats had a large carrying capacity and great speed, they could make a round trip in about half a month. The components of thousands of airplanes, also the first batch of airplanes demanded by all the pilot training schools within the theater of operations could be transported from Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory to the theater of operations by 50-60 airboats only in one trip. In case of Fiery-Oil demanded by pilot training schools, Zhang Tie had contacted Heavens Fortunes Sect and had them distribute the latest batch of Fiery Oil over here from the territory of Heavens Fortune Sect. It would cut off 50% of cost by transporting them from Youzhou Province.


    Everybody across Peacewest Farming Administration had also been busy solving the "5 issues" mentioned by Zhang Tie in the conference today.


    When everyone started to "be busy", Zhang Tie got free from these secular things. Like how he said before, from now on, he would only pay attention to the result and determine who to award and punish. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether this was his way as an official. This way of being an official was a bit indolent more or less. Perhaps, the others might be more diligent in this position by making an inspection across the military region by airboat or make comments and instructions on various documents that were handed in each day and would never lose their interests in doing it as an official; however, Zhang Tie was not addicted to being an official. He felt that it was enough to do so by having experts to give full play to their strong points. He only needed to assign proper people to proper positions. As for the details, it depended on themselves.


    ...


    "General, after knowing that you''re back yesterday, 7 major clans in Kangcheng City have presented their posts to invite you together..."


    Raising his head and watching the last airboat leaving Kangzhou City, Zhang Tie was thinking that he could finally become relaxed and promote to 9 changes earth knight and study the bet between him and Feng Cangwu, Lu Yanyu''s voice sounded.


    The highest official in Kangzhou City was the commander-in-chief of Peacewest Military Region, closely followed by the provincial governor of Kangzhou Province. However, at this moment, the commander of Peacewest Military Region was in Xuanyuan Fortress; the provincial governor of Kangzhou City was also making an inspection across Kangzhou Province and in charge of the reorganization of the Kangzhou Provincial Army; instead of being in Kangzhou City. Therefore, Weiji General became the highest official in Kangzhou City. After knowing that Zhang Tie was going to take drastic measures soon after he came back yesterday, of course, those major clans in Kangzhou City would like to strike up an acquaintance with him.


    Kangzhou City was really boisterous and eye-catching that Zhang Tie could not stay here any longer.


    Those who were called major clans and qualified to send their posts to invite Zhang Tie for a banquet in Kangzhou City were all local forces in Peacewest Military Region. Zhang Tie was clear what these people would speak after attending their banquet. It was boring; however, Zhang Tie didn''t want to offend these local forces out of no reason.


    After rubbing his hand, Zhang Tie put down his hand as he turned solemn, "Reply them on behalf of me. I''m going for inspection across the military region right now. I''m too busy. Therefore, I couldn''t accompany them for the time being..."


    "Ahh, general, you''re going for inspection once again?" Lu Yanyu asked with an amazed look because Zhang Tie had just come back from inspection yesterday, "General, where are you heading for? Do you need my arrangement..."


    "Ahem...ahem...no need. This time it is confidential. I will be there alone. Remember to report me once per 7 days. If there''s something that you couldn''t solve, I will solve it when I come back..." Zhang Tie replied with an undoubted reason without even blinking his eyes. As Weiji General, anything that Zhang Tie regarded as confidential was confidential. If Zhang Tie liked, all of his schedules, opinions, words and plans and the likes could become confidential. Commoners were not qualified to ask about it, not to mention making a discovery about it.


    Now that it was confidential, Lu Yanyu didn''t ask about it as he continued, "When will you set off, general?"


    Zhang Tie finally blinked his eyes as he replied, "Right now..."


    Closely after saying that, Zhang Tie had rushed into the sky with a roar before Lu Yanyu uttered anything. When Zhang Tie was in the sky, a thunder hawk dove downwards him from the clouds. After being mounted by Zhang Tie, the thunder hawk instantly turned into a golden lightning bolt and disappeared from the sight of Lu Yanyu...


    "Is that what knights usually do?" Lu Yanyu muttered as he watched Zhang Tie disappearing into the sky...

 1333 Heavenly Craftsmanship City

    Under the control of Zhang Tie, the trickling water elements filled into the patterns like how liquefied steel was poured into delicate molds from steelmaking furnaces. Pieces of molds were assembled like gears of a difference engine or the steel structure of a skyscraper. They started to have reiki and utterly different abilities. They would not be icy, useless or simple anymore. This was how Zhang Tie formed his water chakra.


    When the last extremely sophisticated, mysterious, geometric pattern, which was shaped like a diamond, was fully filled by water elements under the control of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie quivered all over at once while a familiar strength reappeared in his body. Being penetrated and affected by this strength, Zhang Tie''s body as a whole started to update automatically while each cell was becoming stronger and more energetic. The battle qi in the void of his qi sea surged once again like a rising tide. There were some more spiritual stars in the space of his mind sea. Those sparkling stars adorned the brilliance of the two full moons in his mind sea, making them more brilliant and denser. The light poured down like mercury...


    After a long while, when this energy wave recovered its composure, Zhang Tie, who had promoted to the 9 change realm of earth knight and was only one step away from shadow knight, opened his eyes.


    Zhang Tie then threw a glance at the empty water-element crystal in his hand before throwing it into Castle of Black Iron. After that, he got off the bed.


    It was a strange room featured by the rich style of steel and steam. The room was made of the steel frame as all the beams, columns, basic partitions and floors were made of steel. Only the walls were made of pinewood. Given the look of the pinewoods, they had been used for a long time. After taking anti-corrosive treatment, the pinewoods gave out a bright yellow luster in the baptism of years. Such a luster brought the room some warm tint more or less. A row of 10 cm-thick steam pipelines penetrated through the walls like pronunciation tubes of the organ in the church. The exposed part of steam pipelines was connected to a row of crude yet durable heating units. As it was already March, of course, those heating units were not open yet. In winter, if the heating units were not available, it would be hard to tide over.


    The room was not large at least for Zhang Tie. The entire room, covering less than 150 square meters, was divided into a bedroom, guest room, parlor, study, toilet and workshop. It was a high-level serviced apartment, especially for singles. Zhang Tie had been here for over 1 month. Everything in the room was practical and ordinary. Only the study and the workshop made people feel it a bit unusual.


    The study included many professional books such as Metal Processing Manual, Preliminary Learning on Alloy, Middle-level Learning on Alloy, Advanced Learning on Alloy, Science of Steam Dynamics, Self-cultivation of Runed Instruments Master, Dictionary on the Parameters of Crystal Energy and Mechanical Association, A Summary on the Steam City-Defense System of Class A Cities; The XXth Issue of Steam World Magazine and Yearbook of Theses of Runed Instruments Masters Labor Union Headquarters on the 904th Year of Black Iron Calendar. Additionally, there were over 1,000 metal samples, a set of mini advanced alloy smelting crucible, a set of multi-functional steam processing lathe, a complex, comprehensive metal processing table and a set of input ports that could be available for acquiring computing power of the difference engine in the hotel at any time.


    This workshop almost occupied half of this apartment. Given the arrangement in the study and workshop of this apartment, anyone could easily get a conclusion¡ª¡ªthis was an apartment, especially for rune instrument masters.


    That was truly an apartment for rune instrument master.


    Rune instrument master was also a senior human profession. The low quantity and supreme position of this kind of professional led to the very rare quantity of serviced apartments especially for rune instrument masters in many continents and subcontinents; unless the boss''s head was kicked by ass. Nobody would like to spend so much on preparing for such a room for such few customers. Starting from advancing to golden hammer artisan, a rune instrument master would not lack money wherever he was because there would always be advanced talents scrambled for by major clans and local forces. Such professionals would always have their own workshops; instead of doing studies in hotels.


    Only Heavenly Craftsmanship City in Military Province of Taixia Country could provide serviced apartments and rooms especially for rune instrument masters in Eastern Continent and Western Continent.


    The influence of Heavenly Craftsmanship City among people in Taixia Country could be seen from a familiar common saying¡ª¡ªBattle fortresses in Taixia Country rank first in the world; Battle fortresses in Military Province rank first in Taixia Country; Battle fortresses in Heavenly Craftsmanship City ranked first in Military Province.


    Heavenly Craftsmanship City was a unique Class A city with a rich feature of this age. As for steam engineers and rune instruments masters, Heavenly Craftsmanship City was their holy land.


    The entrance from where humans entered the Earth-element Realm was in Military Province. The special geographical location and the history of Military Province in the former two holy wars led to Heavenly Craftsmanship City.


    Zhang Tie left Kangzhou City directly for Heavenly Craftsmanship City about 2 months ago.


    Strictly, Zhang Tie''s trace was indeed confidential. Because Zhang Tie was here for developing a weapon that could be used to kill demon knights and completely grabbing the highest-level force of demons away from the air to the ground by the power of steel and steam in the hand of humans.


    Zhang Tie wanted Taixia cities and commoners to get hang of the power for resisting even killing demon knights. That was absolutely a crazy whim.


    Zhang Tie rarely had any ambition, except for this one. By then, it had been Zhang Tie''s obsession rather than his whim...


    Since Zhang Tie entered the theater of operations and saw numerous commoners evacuating from their hometowns and so many cities being destroyed and abandoned and the surging tide of demon army that crossed so many provinces, this obsession had gradually been strengthened in Zhang Tie''s heart. After eating the last meal of Ancient-well bean curds in Xiangshan City, this obsession became clear abruptly.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie had already aimed at the power of having commoners resist even kill demon knights¡ª¡ªkinetic strike!


    The energy of kinetic strike of Zhang Tie himself originated from his ability as a divine dominator. As for commoners, if they could acquire the necessary speed and energy required by the kinetic energy through mechanical equipment or steam dynamic devices, they would make it come true too.


    Before the Catastrophe, humans had already invented kinetic weapons. Within days, Zhang Tie was racking his mind to try to have kinetic weapons reappear in the world. As long as humans got hang of kinetic weapons and each Class A city in Taixia Country was matched with such a weapon, the scale of the holy war would completely tilt to one side. By then, the combat pattern of the holy war would change.


    In case of the proper place for attempting to make devices and weapons concerning steel and steam, Heavenly Craftsmanship City in Taixia Country would definitely rank first.


    Coincidentally, Heavenly Craftsmanship City was also in Military Province, right in the rear end of the area under the jurisdiction of Weiji General. After making a short inspection of this city with Lu Yanyu by airboat, Zhang Tie had already made a decision.


    After coming to Heavenly Craftsmanship City for 2 months, this kinetic weapon was still a concept and barely in its embryo. However, Zhang Tie had already promoted to 9 change realm of earth knight...

 1334 New Friends

    Zhang Tie promoted to 9 change realm of earth knight after consuming the energy of the three demon earth knights that he captured when he escorted the squad of airships from Xiangshan Prefecture. Because the 3 earth demon knights didn''t have great battle strength, it took Zhang Tie 800 more water-element crystals to light 324 scales of his water chakra.


    Zhang Tie accomplished this promotion in his serviced apartment silently.


    After sitting on his bed overnight and completing his promotion, Zhang Tie got off the bed to warm up; after that, he washed up in the washroom quietly.


    After opening the water faucet in the washroom and washing his face, Zhang Tie looked up as he saw a 40-year old gentle face of a Hua man who had keen eyesight. Over the past 2 months, Zhang Tie had been showing up in Heavenly Craftsmanship City with this face. His current name was Tie Changgong.


    As Zhang Tie had not performed his expertise in rune instruments development, nobody across Heavenly Craftsmanship City would connect this strange face and name with that of Zhang Tie.


    There were so many rune instruments masters in Heavenly Craftsmanship City. Besides those from Taixia Country, a lot of rune instruments masters from other subcontinents also gathered here. Strange faces would arrive here almost every day; similarly, familiar faces would leave out of here every day too. Therefore, it was fine for Zhang Tie to use that face.


    "I''ve already reached 9 change realm of earth knight, do I need to continue staying here?" Zhang Tie muttered towards himself in the mirror before shaking his head.


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel surprised after promoting to the 9 change realm of earth knight smoothly. Not until he stayed in Heavenly Craftsmanship City for 2 months did Zhang Tie realize how difficult it was by making that dream come true.


    Over the past hundreds of years, Zhang Tie was not the first rune instruments master who wanted to make weapons that were lethal to knights. However, nobody had ever succeeded. Compared to the process of forming chakras, this road seemed to be a more difficult, steeper and harder to ascend.


    In the trouble-reappearance situation of Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie had looked for the confidential materials of the headquarters of all the human trade unions over the past 2 months. He found that all the influential forces even the top 7 sects across Taixia Country were making the similar study. This topic had been one of the most classified topics among Humans Rune Instruments Master Trade Union, Alchemists Trade Union, Pharmacists Trade Union and Animals Controllers Trade Union over the past hundreds of years. Rune instruments masters would like to invent mechanical equipment which could be used to kill knights; alchemists would like to invent more destructive alchemist bombs which could kill knights in a normal environment; pharmacists were studying terrifying drugs to kill knights; animal controllers were training odd things that could devour knights. All these were proceeding in the name of resisting demons; despite some top professionals who were thinking about pulling human knights off their thrones.


    The reason that alchemist masters were in a high social station lay in that only alchemist bombs could kill black iron knights in specific environments by far; however, earth knights could barely be killed by alchemist bombs. Neither could the other trade unions'' research findings could make it.


    If some professional could invent something that could kill knights, undoubtedly, that person would become the king in that profession; however, such a king had not appeared until now.


    Facing such a tough challenge, even Edward in Castle of Black Iron couldn''t provide too much help to Zhang Tie; he had to depend on himself. Although Edward could accomplish something according to Zhang Tie''s requirement as a rune instrument master which was one level higher than Zhang Tie, who was a major craftsman, Edward couldn''t make innovative studies and inventions.


    Zhang Tie maintained his confidence. However, during the period in this city, Zhang Tie had been clearer about that tough challenge facing him¡ª¡ªa high mountain, the top of which could not be reached by one step.


    After cleaning up himself in the room, Zhang Tie groomed his hair and clothes before leaving the apartment. Before leaving, he flashed in and out Castle of Black Iron with the fruit of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs in mouth.


    This serviced apartment was called Steam World. There were many serviced apartments especially for rune instruments masters in this city. Zhang Tie selected a medium-grade one which fit his current status and frame pretty well, making him not that eye-catching at all.


    Heavenly Craftsmanship City was rooted in one of the largest mining areas in Military Province. Therefore, metals were usually seen in this city. Only by digging the earth for a few meters by a shovel could people see high-end ferromanganese ores.


    When Zhang Tie walked out of the gate of the hotel, it was already afternoon when the entire city was boisterous.


    Zhang Tie barely saw clusters of chimneys in other Class A cities of Taixia country. However, chimneys could be seen almost everywhere in Heavenly Craftsmanship City. As a result, the black smoke that emitted from the chimneys made the azure in the sky blurry. The moment Zhang Tie walked out of the apartment, he had sniffed the faint smell of coal tar.


    Environmentally, Heavenly Craftsmanship City was severely polluted. Whenever it was, the booms of steel and machines couldn''t be compatible with green mountains and crystal water. However, the popular wisdom didn''t fit this city as nobody in this city cared about it. Actually, in this city, that blurry azure in the sky won a special appellation in Military Province¡ª¡ªHeavenly Craftsmanship Azure.


    Among the cities that Zhang Tie had ever seen, only Kalur the city of machines in Waii Subcontinent could have such a feature after being 10 times more in its prosperity and 100 times larger in its area.


    With the arrival of the holy war; especially after demons started to invade Taixia Country, all the battle fortress manufacturers and steam weapons plants had been facing an explosive growth in order. Numerous large airships were rising and falling in this city so as to carry products from here to the other places.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at the sky, then the passers-by on the road; closely after that, he pulled down the respirator to cover a small part of his face. After leaving the hotel for 50m, he jumped onto a free trolley that passed by him and headed for the eastern urban district of Heavenly Craftsmanship City...


    Over 10 minutes later, after shifting another 2 trolleys, Zhang Tie got off the vehicle. After over 10 minutes'' walk in the familiar streets and lanes of the city, he came to the gate of a building which was covered with bizarre, complex geometric patterns and made of full steel components.


    There was no label on this building, neither was there any post outside the gate. It was just a naked thick iron gate with a special device near the lock catch.


    Zhang Tie took out a gold coin and inserted it into the slot on the device. Closely after that, he ran his spiritual energy and jostled down an ordinary rune of consolidating skill on a mithril rune writing board beside the slot. With the effect of the gold coin and that rune, the thick iron gate slowly opened. Zhang Tie then flashed inside.


    This was a place where rune instruments master in this city gathered. The entry fee was 1 gold coin. Additionally, the visitor should at least be a runemaster. If not leave a rune on the mithril rune writing board, the gate would not open automatically itself. Actually, the iron gate was a high-end rune instrument.


    There was an aisle behind the gate, guarded by two tough guys who would guarantee that only one person was allowed in each time. After passing that aisle, Zhang Tie entered a bar.


    Even though it was daytime, there were also many groups of people in this bar who were talking with each other.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered, two people at one table had waved their hands towards him.


    Zhang Tie unveiled his aspirator as he walked towards them. When he reached there, he sat beside them.


    The two Hua rune instrument masters at the table looked elder than 50 years old. One of them was tall, sturdy and unkempt while his beard and hair could almost touch each other. The other man in glasses looked more delicate.


    "Old Tie, you''re late. We thought you would not come." The rune instrument master who looked strong and unkempt said loudly.


    "I lit one more surging point today. Therefore, it''s a bit late!" Zhang Tie said calmly as he made a cup of lemon wine by the bottle on the table. Most of rune instrument masters didn''t like alcohol; because alcohol would make them less responsive and cause their spiritual energy wave. If they always drank, they would even be afflicted by shaking hands, which was considered taboo for rune instrument masters. As lemon wine''s proof was as low as that of soda drinks and champagne, it was the favorite drink of rune instrument masters here.


    "Hahaha, Old Tie, you still dream about promoting to a knight. If you could really do it, I promise to send you a big gift on your rotating chakra ceremony..." The straightforward rune instrument master burst out into laughter as he beat Zhang Tie''s shoulder for a couple of times forcefully.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was just telling a lie. Because Zhang Tie''s current status was just a LV 10 strong fighter who had just grasped the ability to release his battle qi as of far like most of rune instrument masters. Few people who had the talent and made a great achievement in this line could make a great breakthrough on their cultivation base. Over 99% of rune instrument masters above the level of rune craftsman could barely promote to a knight in their whole lives. This was the objective law for the development and growth of things just like how a great athlete couldn''t be a successful pianist. It was already something for a qualified person to make a great achievement in a line in his whole life. Few people could make great achievements in more than 2 areas.


    Alchemist monster Zhao Yuan was both a superb alchemist master and a powerful heavenly knight. Very few people could match Zhao Yuan across Taixia Country.


    Zhang Tie was also something as he was both a knight, a rune alchemist master and a powerful animal controller. However, Zhang Tie had to rely on Castle of Black Iron and the fruits of plunder. Without fruits of plunder, he could never become a major craftsman in rune instruments manufacturing.


    The two rune instruments masters who shared the same table with Zhang Tie were Zhang Tie''s new friends. They were both major craftsmen. The strong and unkempt one was called Lin Xiuxian, one of the local tyrants in this city who had stayed in this city for over 5 decades. According to him, he could do everything in the city.


    The other guy who looked delicate and gentle was called Zhu Daqian, who was born in a major clan. According to him, he was sent here from his family with great hope. He couldn''t go back home to be a leading role unless he promoted to a "craftsman master". In the beginning, Zhang Tie believed in his words until when Zhu Daqian revealed the truth after being drunk¡ª¡ªhe was exiled to this city by his clan head due to a woman.


    He could become drunk by drinking lemon wine; the key was that he got a heroic name. What a weirdo! Each time Zhang Tie saw Lin Xiuxian who didn''t take a bath for a couple of weeks and Zhu Daqian who changed a set of clothes per day and cleaned his aspirator with dust-free runes, Zhang Tie would feel that they should exchange their names with each other.


    "Have you brought my thing?" Zhang Tie asked as he moved his eyes onto a 0.5 m long lead barrel beside Lin Xiuxian...

 1335 Road

    Lin Xiuxian smirked as he said, "It''s difficult to get this thing. A knight found a few of it from Earth-element Realm a few days ago, after coming back, he deposited it in my friend''s store for sale. Take a look at it, whether it''s enough?"


    Lin Xiuxian said as he passed the lead barrel to Zhang Tie.


    After taking that lead barrel, Zhang Tie opened it. Closely after that, a punch-sized golden crystal escaped out of it like a balloon as it flew all the way towards the ceiling. Zhang Tie instantly caught that crystal by hand. After that, he closed the lead barrel.


    "Watch out, I also don''t know what to do if you let it go..." Lin Xiuxian hurriedly reminded Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie nodded as he pinched that punch-sized crystal and watched it carefully.


    The punch-sized crystal was like a combination of gold and crystal. It possessed the metallic luster and was semi-transparent. What was more marvelous was that as long as you opened the lead barrel, this thing would escape away. Even though Zhang Tie was holding it, he could still feel it struggling to escape away from his hand.


    This was also the most expensive and mysterious metal in the world, the raw material of the core components of airboats¡ª¡ªair floating gold.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see the look of the raw ore of air floating gold.


    "How many are there in the lead barrel?"


    "7 more of the same size!"


    "Okay, thanks..." Zhang Tie said as he opened the lead barrel and foisted that air floating gold into it. Closely after that, he put the lead barrel into his space-teleportation finger ring. What was strange was that the air floating gold immediately became calm soon after it was put into the lead barrel.


    After that, Zhang Tie took out 14 earth element crystals from his portable space-teleportation finger ring and pushed them to the front of Lin Xiuxian.


    Lin Xiuxian and Zhu Daqian watched how Zhang Tie took earth crystals out of his portable space-teleportation finger ring and put the lead barrel into his portable space-teleportation finger ring like performing magic with an amazed look.


    Even knights treasured space-teleportation equipment, not to mention these runed instrument masters. The two people had been shocked when Zhang Tie showed this space-teleportation finger ring to them at the beginning.


    "F*ck, when this father makes a fortune and promotes to a craftsman master, I will also fetch a portable space-teleportation equipment..." Lin Xiuxian said as he hurriedly put those earth crystals into his portable storage bag one after another. Compared to space-teleportation finger ring, these earth element crystals were also very eye-catching.


    "Come on, don''t dream anymore. We''d better stock enough earth element crystals and buy some secret item pearls to try our luck in Taiyi City!" Zhu Daqian said after throwing a glance at Zhang Tie''s finger ring for a couple of times greedily.


    "Your finger ring is too attractive. It''s safe in Heavenly Craftsmanship City; however, you''d better take care of yourself outside the city. Even knights would envy you at the sight of it. You''re just a LV 10 strong fighter, a knight could kill you and make you disappear without blinking his eyes. If people were possessed by devils, they would be as cruel and cold as demons. Your space-teleportation equipment could easily make people be possessed by devils!" Lin Xiuxian reminded Zhang Tie after putting away his earth element crystals.


    "Thanks for your warning, Brother Lin, I see. I also know a bit of disguising skill, I will protect myself outside the city!" Zhang Tie said with a faint smile, "Brother Lin, do you have other methods to get air floating gold? I don''t care about the price!"


    "Air floating gold is a product in Earth-element Realm. The largest mine of air floating gold is under the control of imperial households of Taixia Country. Nobody else could acquire a large amount of air floating gold. Even this bit of air floating gold is got by a knight in a mine of the Earth-element Realm by fortune. Additionally, air floating gold was useless to commoners as the manufacturing method of airboat using air floating gold is grasped by the imperial households of Taixia country!" Lin Xiuxian threw a serious glance at Zhang Tie as he continued, "As for our rune instrument masters, this rune of air floating gold has poor compatibility. It couldn''t combine with other metals. Even though you could make a set of equipment using air floating gold, you couldn''t use it at all as it was as unstable as flying a kite. You couldn''t even determine the direction. Previously, a rune instrument master in this city made a pair of wings using air floating gold, which looked pretty dignified. However, as he failed to control his direction in the air, he almost killed himself. What do you want it for..."


    "I''m designing a set of the wholly new steam centrifugal ballista. As the bearing of the principal axis of steam centrifugal ballista that we use now is facing issues such as overheat and poor endurability when running at a high speed. I prepare to collect some air floating gold and make a set of suspension bearing which is featured by zero wear and high endurability..." Zhang Tie said as he started to draw it on the table by hand.


    As this bar was especially for rune instrument masters, it was common for rune instrument masters to discuss weapons, equipment and their design drawings. Therefore, the surface of each table here was magnetic rune plotting platform. Anyone could draw something on it for the sake of discussion whenever they got the inspiration.


    Zhang Tie just drew the drawing of the illusory steam centrifugal ballista on the table.


    As a rune instrument master, it was his basic skill to draw. Zhang Tie''s drawing was as same as the blueprints drawn by other designers by rulers and compasses. His lines were so straight and his rounds were perfect. It took Zhang Tie less than 1 minute to finish drawing the sketch of the steam centrifugal ballista together with the approximate parameters.


    Lin Xiuxian and Zhu Daqian watched the sketch seriously as they winked and considered about it. After a while, Zhu Daqian stroked his jaw as he asked Zhang Tie, "Your design is a bit interesting. The main turntable of your steam centrifugal ballista is akin to the traditional energy storage flywheel. Such a design requires the flywheel to run in a vacuum so as to reduce the energy loss. Additionally, with the non-contact suspension main bearing, the flywheel could reach its maximal speed; as a result, the ammo would gain a much greater initial velocity. However, it requires many times higher cost; especially that the suspension main bearing should be made of air floating gold. Given the input and the output, it''s not economical. You could make over 10 ordinary steam centrifugal ballistas and could gain a few times greater effect when you spend time making one of it. Do you want to attend the annual competition on the range of steam centrifugal ballistas held by Rune Instrument Masters Union..." Zhu Daqian asked as he threw a couple of times more glance at Zhang Tie. After that, he shook his head too as he said, "That''s impossible. That match is specially set for rune instrument masters below rune craftsmen. Old Tie, you don''t need to join in the fun..."


    "No..." Lin Xiuxian''s eyes shone at once as he said, "Old Tie, there''s something else that you''ve not presented to us, here..." Lin Xiuxian said as he pointed at the sketch on the table, "Old Tie, something should be here..."


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside, ''What an experienced man! After staying in Heavenly Craftsmanship City for a few decades, this guy really has an unusual insight. He found an interface for a reserved function module from the sketch.''


    Now that Lin Xiuxian had already noticed it, Zhang Tie didn''t need to hide it anymore. Therefore, he added something with an ordinary symbol that was widely accepted by rune instrument masters on the place where Lin Xiuxian pointed at.


    "High-speed vacuum flywheel''s centrifugal disk made of air floating gold plus an explosive high-pressure steam propulsion valve. Even though it requires a high cost, it''s enough to kill a battle spirit. However, it seems to be a bit wasteful by killing battle spirits using this device..." Lin Xiuxian suddenly watched Zhang Tie with widely opened eyes as he said, "Old Tie, do you also want to make steam centrifugal ballistas that could kill knights?"


    Zhang Tie kneaded his face as he answered, "What do you mean by ''also''?"


    "Because I''ve seen the similar design decades of years ago. It was designed by my master; however, he failed in the end!" Lin Xiuxian let out a sigh as he started to improve the sketch, "My master was already a major craftsman when I was young. He was also ambitious about designing equipment or weapon to kill knights. Finally, he chose steam centrifugal ballista as a breakthrough. My master also chose the steam centrifugal ballista with flywheel structure. He thought that the highest speed of revolution of flywheel could reach 200,000 rpm; if a flywheel whose diameter was hundreds of meters, the linear velocity of the edge of the flywheel might reach a terrifying level when its speed of revolution could reach 200,000 rpm. Anything being tossed out at such a terrifying speed would carry great kinetic energy which would kill knights. However..."


    "However, did your master find that the greatest linear velocity of the edge of any flywheel could never reach the speed of sound? The theoretical speed of 200,000 rpm of a flywheel is just limited to a small-diameter of the flywheel in a vacuum. As long as the size of the flywheel was magnified, it would meet its physical upper limit!" Zhang Tie replied with a bitter smile.


    "Right, therefore, my master thought about giving the ammo an impetus the moment it left the turntable, namely, adding an explosive high-pressure steam propulsion valve at the exit. Even so, my master could at most make the initial speed of the ammo 1,700 m/s after 2 decades'' effort, which was only equal to 5 times that of the speed of sound. With such a speed, he could kill battle spirit by steam centrifugal ballista; however, he still couldn''t kill knights using it..."


    "Then?"


    Lin Xiuxian pursed his lips with red eyes, "That old thing didn''t admit defeat; he abandoned the design of explosive high-pressure steam propulsion valve and would like to increase initial speed using pure alchemist''s bomb. After a few experiments, he was exploded to death due to an accident, leaving me alone in Heavenly Craftsmanship City!" Lin Xiuxian watched Zhang Tie as he said seriously, "Old Tie, I know you don''t lack money; however, many top rune instrument masters wanted to break through it and carve themselves a place in history and reach their heyday; however, none of them succeeded..."


    Zhang Tie knew that Lin Xiuxian was telling the truth, because what he said rightly verified what Zhang Tie got in his lab and Castle of Black Iron over the past 2 months. The maximal linear speed of the edge of the flywheel of steam centrifugal ballista could only approach 340 m/s infinitely. In terms of explosive high-pressure steam propulsion valve, the upper initial speed limit of the ammo could not reach 2,000 m/s.


    "I still want to have a try; there might be some other method!"


    "There''re two methods. First, to have the linear speed of the flywheel break the speed of sound; second, to add a greater impetus to the steam centrifugal ammo; however, we''ve already seen the upper limit of that. Alchemist bomb doesn''t work at all. Because of its overreaction, it would kill yourself ahead of the enemy..."


    "Steam and alchemist bombs are not the mere methods!"


    "You''re right. Before my master passed away, he suddenly became greatly discerning and apprehending. He said someone might be able to increase the initial speed of ammo or break through the maximal linear speed of the edge of the flywheel in terms of runes array. However, only god-level craftsmen could grasp the knowledge of runes array. Less than 10 god-level craftsmen could be found in Taixia Country. Importantly, none of the runes adopted by modern runes instrument masters could increase speed for lifeless objects. The Rune Instrument Masters Union spent a lot of money and time in seeking for such a far-ancient rune from the Earth-element Realm annually. However, they always failed. I even doubt that there was not even such a rune even in far-ancient times. Old Tie, the road that you chose would be very very difficult..."


    "I know it would be very very difficult; however, at least I have two methods to go. If not try them, I would feel regretful for the rest of my life. I will do my best and leave the rest to Heaven!" Zhang Tie also let out a sigh.


    Over the past 2 months, after so many attempts and failures, Zhang Tie maintained his belief. He was more aware of the road facing him. If it was an easy way to go, it might have long been occupied by others numerous times.


    "If so, wish you good luck. I will have to leave Heavenly Craftsmanship City in a couple of days. Hongsheng Palace, Yunzhou City is going to build a Class A city, as I acquaint with an elder of Meng Clan, he invited me to preside over the establishment of the city-defense system of the city with the compensation of 1 billion gold coins. Just go to make some pocket money. Therefore, I want to bid a farewell to you two here..."


    Zhu Daqian replied with a bitter smile, "You also have a part-time job? I might go to Military City in a couple of days!"


    "What''s up?"


    "As I invented a mini nitrogen separator previously, I know something about separating nitrogen from the air. I didn''t think it was useful; I''ve not imagined that an official of the Weiji General''s Mansion found me yesterday and invited me to attend the design of a weapon program in a military arsenal of Huanzhou Province..."


    ''I''ve not imagined that Zhu Daqian''s schedule is related to me.'' Zhang Tie sighed with feelings that it was such a small world. Of course, the one who came here for Zhu Daqian was not arranged by Zhang Tie himself. Zhang Tie estimated that it was a subordinate of Lu Yanyu. In this case, Zhang Tie didn''t know what to say.


    "What weapon program?"


    "A Fiery-Oil driven flaming tank. I''m responsible for the liquefying nitrogen device in the tank!"


    "Flaming tank?" Lin Xiuxian was stunned evidently; however, Zhang Tie remained calm because it was within his expectation. When he took out those Fiery-Oil weapons from Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory, he had guessed that Taixia Country would make more destructive weapons based on their overall strength. Zhang Tie''s invention was just a beginning.


    "Of course, look at the provinces in the theater of operations. They''re all busy building Fiery-Oil bases. All the farmlands have been covered with Qianji Hermit''s fermentors of earth pulp and earthworms rearing pools. This scene is even more boisterous than when in peacetime. Qianji Hermit really has unpredictable abilities. Previously, the 4 provinces were filled with negative emotions; only after he served as Weiji General for a few months, all the disappointed emotions have been dispersed while all the commoners, major clans, officials became active and many factories in this city started to study Fiery-Oil weapons. No wonder he was appointed as Weiji General by the commander-in-chief!" Zhu Daqian said with full of admiration.


    "Ahem, ahem, Qianji Hermit might only be a bit fortunate. It''s said that he''s still young and knows nothing at all!" Zhang Tie pretended to cough twice before saying.


    "Hahaha, Old Tie, we all know that you''re ambitious; however, Qianji Hermit is indeed an affectionate and righteous man. His military exploits and meritorious deeds could never be matched by us. It''s said that he''s the founder of Iron-Dragon Sect in Youzhou Province. Last year, Old Zhu and I were talking about seeking refuge in Iron-Dragon Sect after we were bored of this city. Based on our abilities, we might not be refused..." Lin Xiuxian said while bursting out into laughter.


    "Based on two elder brothers'' talents, if you go to Iron-Dragon Sect, Qianji Hermit would definitely open a palace for each of you!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    "Hahaha, thanks for your auspicious words. Oh, how long will you stay in Heavenly Craftsmanship City? If you plan to stay here for a longer time, I will introduce you to some friends..."


    "I would leave soon too. After coming here for over 2 months, I''ve made a great achievement. I''ve realized that something could only be done step by step. As it''s growing more and more chaotic, if that thing couldn''t be invented for the time being, I''d like to cultivate for a period seriously first. Hopefully, I would promote to a higher level as soon as possible. It''s not bad whatsoever!"


    After coming to this city for 2 months, Zhang Tie''s greatest achievement was that he understood what difficulties and obstacles he would overcome in order to make his dream come true. It couldn''t be reached in one day. It couldn''t even be done by himself based on his current rune instrument manufacturing level. After realizing this point, Zhang Tie had determined to leave as it would be meaningless for him to further stay here.


    He didn''t need to care about the rear end because he had made arrangements properly in all aspects. As long as they proceeded it orderly, there would not be any big trouble. Therefore, Zhang Tie would like to deepen into the theater of operations alone only for promoting to a shadow knight first. The so-called Weiji General was unrealistic in Zhang Tie''s eyes because the title could be conferred and canceled whenever the commander-in-chief wanted. The vanity meant nothing for Zhang Tie. Additionally, Meng Shidao was observing him in Xuanyuan Hill maliciously; Zhang Tie didn''t want to be involved in the officialdom of Taixia Country too much as it was not necessarily a good thing for him.


    As for a knight, battle strength and rank were their largest dependence. After deepening into the theater of operations, he could at least kill some demon nights or give demons and Heavens Reaching Church a hard time so as to make the rear end less stressed. Over the past 2 months, although Taixia Country didn''t face that urgent situation anymore; it was still not facing an optimistic prospect. As a knight, Zhang Tie really couldn''t waste time at this critical moment...

 1336 Leaving Heavenly Craftsmanship City

    3 days later, Zhang Tie was sitting on the opposite of an old man with grey eyebrows and beard while drinking tea and talking about runes knowledge and universal laws with him in an elegant and tranquil courtyard of Heavenly Craftsmanship City...


    "What''s the definition of runes?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Runes are the shuji of good luck, bridge of two realms, immortal essence of six senses!" The old man replied.


    "What do you mean by shuji? What''s the bridge? What''s the immortal essence?" Zhang Tie continued.


    "Shuji refers to the law of changes. It''s born in the original chaos in the universe. There''s no rune in the original chaos. After the chaos was divided into heavens and the earth, runes were born too..." The old man replied to Zhang Tie as he sipped the tea water leisurely, "The two realms refer to the elements realm and the material realm. The rules of runes connect the two realms in a fantastic and mysterious way. The bridge is manifested in the material realm with the strength of the elements realm. The six senses refer to eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind. As runes are born in nature, people could only get them accidentally. If people''s six senses could observe the universal laws, it would be no different than picking fruits from the tree..."


    "How?"


    "Your body is the shuji, two realms and 6 senses. If you ask me, who will I ask?"


    Zhang Tie picked up his teacup which was covered with enshrouding steam with eyes closed. After a few seconds, he emptied the teacup before cupping his hands towards the old man and saying, "Thanks!"


    "Could this old man''s words solve general''s puzzle?" The old man asked with a smile.


    Zhang Tie''s eyes shone at once as he asked, "How do you know me?"


    "In recent years, this old man has got some gnosis using the laws of runes. Last night, I dreamed about a brilliant immortal bird flying into my courtyard with a pair of huge feather wings. This morning, I practiced divination and knew that a Class III major official would come here from the theater of operations. After finding that you''re a stranger who has stayed in this city for over 2 months, I suddenly recalled a person. He''s also a well-known Class III major official of Taixia Country in the theater of operations and was born with the body-changing immortal bloodline. It''s said that that person has also left Kangzhou Province for over 2 months and always moved secretly; therefore, this old man has known who you''re..." The old man said nonchalantly.


    Zhang Tie became silent. The laws of divination practice were too fantastic. He had not imagined that this old man could see through his real identity after staying in this city for over 2 months. Zhang Tie had experienced the similar thing in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Therefore, he was not too shocked this time. According to Elzida, someone could indeed predict the future. However, the immortal bird mentioned by this old man reminded Zhang Tie of the King Roc Sutra that he was cultivating.


    ''Whether this person has known something or is suggesting something to me?''


    A whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind together with slight killing intent. However, closely after that, his killing intent disappeared completely at the sight of a kind and wise eyes of the old man.


    ''Am I thinking too much? It''s just a dream.'' Zhang Tie then revealed a self-mocking smile. ''Even if he knows my real identity, so what? If everyone in the world finds out my real identity, will I have to kill everyone in the world?''


    After promoting to the 9 change realm of earth knight, Zhang Tie would soon become a shadow knight; therefore, Zhang Tie''s mentality gradually changed unconsciously. Previously, he was worried that his secret of cultivating King Roc Sutra would be exposed to others; however, now, although Zhang Tie wouldn''t write the secret that he was cultivating an emperor-level classics onto his forehead and let everybody know it, he had seen through it. Even if this secret was exposed to the public, so what? Even if Emperor Xuanyuan and the imperial households of Taixia Country were cultivating the complete secret method "Xuanyuan God Sutra" was exposed to the public, so what? Who would dare harm them? In the final analysis, in this world, forces counted most.


    This was the mentality of powerful ones.


    "Now that the master has known that I''ve stayed in Heavenly Craftsmanship City for over 2 months, you must also know why I''m here. Please give me some instructions." Zhang Tie asked calmly.


    "What general wants to do is as hard as climbing up to the sky. Your ability is far greater than this old man''s ability. This old man is just an ordinary person who knows something about runes instrument manufacturing skills. How could I give any instructions to general? You could only try it and think about it yourself. All the others couldn''t give you any favor. What I said just now could only serve as a reference to general..."


    Zhang Tie let out a long sigh before asking, "Really?"


    "The strength of flywheel and steam have already reached their limits. If you want to make a further breakthrough, you might not make it unless general could discover a rune that could increase the speed of the lifeless object and make a runes array with this rune!"


    The same words had been talked about by Lin Xiuxian 3 days ago. Zhang Tie realized that it must be the last possibility as it was right what he had concluded in the end.


    "Do you mean that we could only expect that someone discovered some relics from Earth-element Realm?"


    The runes that rune instrument masters used now were all excavated from those mysterious relics in Earth-element Realm. People could only discover 2 rune relics in the Earth-element Realm over the past 900-odd years since the Catastrophe. The 2 rune relics well developed the profession of human rune instrument masters. It''s as difficult and impossible as looking for a needle in the bottle of hay if people expected to discover any new rune relics in the Earth-element Realm, not to mention discovering some runes that could increase the speed of a lifeless object among the rune relics.


    Zhang Tie''s words sounded a bit disappointing.


    "It is possible. But..."


    "But what?"


    "We don''t know whether someone could invent such a rune which could increase the speed of the lifeless object."


    "Could really someone make it?"


    ''Inventing a rune? That sounds a bit exaggerating. '' Although Zhang Tie had seen the world, he also felt that it was impossible.


    "The runes that we got today were all acquired by far-ancient immortals through observing the marvels in the universe. This old man doesn''t have such an ability to invent it. However, there''re so many talents in the word. Some top knowledgeable sages might be able to create the magnificence of human rune instrument masters by evolving new runes from the changes in the universe..."


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile. After appreciating the old man once again, he left the teahouse.


    The old man stood up and saw Zhang Tie off.


    It was a courtyard outside the teahouse, which was filled with peach blossoms. In March, peach blossoms were in full bloom. These peach blossoms reminded Zhang Tie of those peach trees in Xuanyuan Hill. The old man''s disciples were waiting outside the teahouse. Watching the old man seeing Zhang Tie off himself in such a kind and respectful way, the two disciples watched Zhang Tie with their eyes widely opened as if they were watching a monster. Because their master had a lofty status in Heavenly Craftsmanship City, over these years, the old man only saw the other visitors off the teahouse politely at most; instead of entering the courtyard. However, today, the old man saw Zhang Tie all the way off the courtyard.


    After recovering their composure, the two disciples hurriedly showed the way.


    Many people were waiting to visit the old man outside the courtyard below the stages. They were at least mysterious rune instrument masters. After the gate of the small courtyard was opened, all the others were dumbfounded when they watched the old man and his two disciples seeing Zhang Tie off.


    "Ahh, who''s that one? How come Mr. Jinlong saw him off himself?"


    "I have no idea. Could he be the new disciple of Mr. Jinlong?"


    "No, I don''t think so. Additionally, Mr. Jinlong has already taken his last disciple a few years ago!"


    Those people who were waiting outside whispered to each other as they watched Zhang Tie with jealous, admiring and abhorrent looks. The reason that they were abhorrent was that they blamed Zhang Tie for being that presumptuous to be seen off by Mr. Jinlong himself.


    "Please go back!" Zhang Tie turned around and told the old man.


    "See you!" The old man said with a smile.


    Zhang Tie nodded. Closely after that, he threw a glance at those onlookers outside the courtyard before going downstairs and leaving the lane.


    Not until the old man saw Zhang Tie disappear at the end of the lane did he return to his courtyard. By then, all the onlookers recovered their composure as they hurriedly rushed towards him.


    "My master won''t receive any more guest today. Please leave your letters for paying a visit and go back!" One of the old man''s disciples opened his mouth to stop all of them.


    After hearing his words, those people could only present their letters for paying a visit to the two disciples of the old man. Whenever the two disciples received a letter for paying a visit, they would give a metal plate to the very person which was marked with time. The latest time on the plate was June 21, which means 3 months later.


    Mr. Jinlong was a venerable rune instrument master in Heavenly Craftsmanship City; especially in the study of runes. Additionally, Mr. Jinlong was glad to give instructions to those junior rune instrument masters. Therefore, a lot of rune instrument masters would come here for him every day. Zhang Tie presented the letter for paying a visit to the old man over 2 months ago and was received by him today...


    ...


    After leaving the small courtyard, Zhang Tie wandered in the city alone. After meeting Mr. Jinlong, Zhang Tie was all clear-minded.


    ''It''s time to leave!''


    Zhang Tie muttered to himself inside.


    Soon after he made the decision, reverberating exclamations had entered his ears. Everybody in the street looked up at the sky.


    So did Zhang Tie. He then saw 7 air-cavalry I airplanes flying over the sky, leaving 7 wisps of colorful smoke...


    It was sunny; therefore, the 7 airplanes were especially clear; especially the 7 wisps of colorful smoke behind the airplanes which drew an eye-catching rainbow in the sky.


    Many people in Heavenly Craftsmanship City might have been used to airships, even airboats; however, it might be their first time to see airplanes. Therefore, the entire city became boisterous.


    They were air-cavalry I airplanes assembled by the factories in Heavenly Craftsmanship City according to the blueprints. Fiery Oil was transported from afar. The pilots must come from the Thunder Hawk Instructions Squad of Fiery-Dragon Corps.


    This trial flight was the best adversisement and the most thrilling encouragement...


    When they saw airplanes drawing rainbows in the sky, kids and juveniles chased after it on earth; all the adults moved their heads out of the balcony and windows to watch them. At this moment, those fighters who were patrolling in the city seemingly had forgotten about their duties as they all stopped and watched the 7 airplanes in the sky with bizarre eye light. The driver of the trolley moved half of his body outside the window and looked up at the sky. Many drivers on the street were looking up at the sky from inside the vehicles...


    "Bang..." Some vehicles tailgated one after another. However, the drivers didn''t quarrel with each other; instead, they directly parked their vehicles and walked out of their cabs before looking up at the sky.


    Many people even ran onto the roof and watched the airplanes by telescope seriously.


    Those workers in the city who participated in making airplanes and providing components also ran out of their workshops under the leadership of their heads and managers. Watching the airplanes and the brilliant rainbows in the sky, they all felt pretty proud because those airplanes were assembled by them.


    ...


    "They are airplanes, Fiery-Oil airplanes brought by Qianji Hermit. With them, we could f*ck those demon b*tards ferociously. We will never be afraid of demons no matter what their population is..." Someone cried on the street.


    "Fiery Oil? What''s that?"


    "You will know it in a couple of months. We''ve got a Fiery Oil base outside Heavenly Craftsmanship City. When corns are ripe, we will be able to produce Fiery Oil..."


    "Could we defeat demons with it?"


    "Of course, even airships can''t defeat these airplanes in the sky!"


    ...


    At this moment, many colorful pieces of paper were thrown off the airplanes from the sky like snowflakes. The moment these pieces of paper fell onto the ground, the onlookers had started to grab them.


    ...


    "We''re protecting Taixia Country by producing Fiery Oil!"


    "We''re fighting demons by producing airplanes!"


    "Males would become heroes by joining the unrivaled air cavalries of Taixia country!"


    "We extend our thanks to all the workers in Heavenly Craftsmanship City who are participating in the major airplanes manufacturing projects in the western theater of operations!"


    "Taixia Country will win the holy war for sure; Hua people will win the holy war for sure!"


    All the colorful pieces of paper were marked with thrilling words.


    The people started to cheer up increasingly loudlier. Gradually their cheers covered the entire city like a tsunami.


    ...


    When a red piece of paper reached in front of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie caught it at once. At the sight of the content on the slogan, Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he said inside, ''Those sons of b*tches are really good at capturing opportunities!''


    Things were unpredictable. Over the past 2 more months, although he didn''t know when he could develop his high-power steam centrifugal ballista to kill knights, the airplanes had been developed.


    ''What I sowed finally sprout. All the dauntless fighters in Selnes Theater of Operations could finally close their eyes at this moment.''


    ''Whatsoever, I will not feel regretful.'' Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside before putting away the piece of paper.


    In the cheers of people in Heavenly Craftsmanship City, Zhang Tie silently left this city...


    ...


    Soon after Zhang Tie left that small courtyard, Mr. Jinlong had already stood under a peach tree in his courtyard. Watching the gradually thinner rainbow in the sky quietly and hearing the increasingly louder cheers from his neighbors, Mr. Jinlong muttered, "That''s the remarkable military exploits of people who''re good at fighting..."


    Except for Mr. Jinlong, nobody else across this city knew that the one who brought all these marvels had visited his courtyard today. Perhaps, that person had already left the city at this moment.


    ...


    In the sky, tens of thousands of meters high, Zhang Tie flashed as fast as a lightning bolt while he had already recovered his original look.


    After leaving Heavenly Craftsmanship City for hundreds of miles, Zhang Tie felt a strong gold wind blowing towards his face while his thunder hawk had caught up with him from behind.


    Zhang Tie instantly mounted the thunder hawk as he patted the thunder hawk''s head and ordered heroically, "Let''s go to Yezhou Province to kill demons, slaughter traitors, eat fruits and promote to a shadow knight..."


    The thunder hawk replied with a long yowl as if it had understood what Zhang Tie said. Closely after that, its speed broke the sound barrier as it flew towards the west...

 1337 Returning to the Theater of Operations

    With two moons and sparse stars in the sky, a squad of over 100 wing demon knights flew by like specters. They had circled around this mountain area twice only in 2 hours.


    Right on a vigorous old pine that grew out of the cliff in the mountain area, a little black beetle was squatting on some pine needles and looking at the sky.


    Of course, it was Zhang Tie''s incarnation.


    This place was within Xiangshan Prefecture, Wuzhou Province where Zhang Tie once killed demon knights after coming out of the underground space. With the help of bright moonlight, Zhang Tie could even see the Xiangshan City in the far.


    Everything here had been changed only after a few months.


    By the end of January, all the soldiers and civilians in Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province had been evacuated except for those in the areas occupied by demons. Only human knights still stuck to the region in the west of Helan Mountain Range.


    The collisions between humans and demons in the theater of operations in Peacewest Military Region grew increasingly fiercer and turned white-hot. This could be speculated according to the number of scouts and vanguards of demons.


    When Zhang Tie just arrived at the western theater of operations, demons only assigned one demon knight as a scout or vanguard.


    3 months ago, the number of scouts and vanguards assigned by demons had reached the scale of the squad while fewer and fewer demon knights executed their tasks alone.


    Zhang Tie flew all the way from Military Province. After flying by Helan Mountain Range, with the assistance of lotus-flower eyes, he found the number of teams of demon scouts and vanguards was decreasing sharply as he only met 2 teams in total. By contrast, the population of demon knights in each team was increasing sharply. Take this team of demon knights as an instance, there were over 100 wing demon knights in this team, which included over 10 earth knights and over 80 black iron knights. What a great star-studded cast!


    Such a situation could never be predicted 3 months ago.


    What did this mean? It meant that both parties had inputted more and more knights into the battlefield. The atmosphere of a large-scale war between human knights and demon knights was growing more and more intense while the battles between human knights and demon knights were growing fiercer. As more and more knights attended the war, the small-scale team of knights would be at great stake when executing tasks alone.


    In the battlefield, when knights started to gather, it indicated that the real large-scale war was coming.


    After flying by Helan Mountain Range, Zhang Tie had already had the thunder hawk leave because he didn''t want his baby thunder hawk to suffer any harm in the theater of operations. Although it could fly very fast, it would also face dangers in the sky. If it met a heavenly demon knight, the thunder hawk might encounter some dangers. Therefore, after having the thunder hawk leave the perilous area, Zhang Tie continued to move westwards alone.


    Lotus-flower eyes with which he could see clearly what happened over 600 miles away, master-level hiding rune effect with which he could completely hide his qi and shape; plus his superb flight ability as a divine dominator, all the 3 tricks enabled Zhang Tie to feel like entering an unpopulated zone in the theater of operations. As a result, human knights'' or demon knights'' patrol unit could not find Zhang Tie or had been avoided by Zhang Tie in advance.


    In this case, Zhang Tie felt like being the most powerful and stealthy jet-fighter that was invented by humans before the Catastrophe.


    Previously, Zhang Tie had been ready for making a spree killing on the way; however, after meeting 2 squads of demon knights, he instantly realized that the demon knights in the theater of operations could not be easily killed like that a couple of months ago.


    Even Zhang Tie felt helpless facing such a patrol or scout squad which contained over 100 demon knights.


    If it was just 1 vs 1 battle, Zhang Tie would not be afraid at all. However, facing such a squad of demon knights, even though Zhang Tie could kill some of them, it was meaningless. Because he couldn''t teleport those demon knights that he captured into Castle of Black Iron right under the gaze of so many demon knights.


    Additionally, when there were too many demon knights at present, it would almost be impossible for him to break through it. When these demon knights gradually formed larger 3-in-1 formations, it would be too hard for Zhang Tie to break them than kill one demon knight. Even an ordinary shadow knight might have to detour around a squad of over 100 demon knights in case of trouble.


    A fundamental 3-in-1 formation required 3 knights; 2 secondary 3-in-1 formations required 9 knights; a third-level 3-in-1 formation required 27 knights and the like. Besides being 3 squared, 3-in-1 formations on different levels could also combine with each other flexibly in various forms. For instance, the large-scale collisions between tens of human knights and demon knights that Zhang Tie saw in the Earth-element Realm. It was also profound learning on how to combine knights'' formations, which manifested the experience and ability of the knight general who led these knights. Frankly, Zhang Tie didn''t have any experience in this aspect.


    Xiangshan City was in the far. After those wing demon knights flew over, Zhang Tie flew towards Xiangshan City once again in the incarnation of the little black beetle being driven by an unspoken strength.


    Xiangshan City, which was empty all over 3 months ago, had been completely different. The entire city, both inside and outside, was covered with the tents of demon fighters which lasted for dozens of miles. The dark scene brought people a strong sense of constriction.


    Those demons on the ground were not limited to wing demons, but included iron-armored demons, ox-head demons and spider demons.


    The residence of spider demons was in the periphery of the camp of demon corps. Spider demons were demon fighters that didn''t require tents; when they took rest, they only needed to lie on all fours like spiders...


    The clear and bright moonlight was thrown onto the wilderness outside Xiangshan City, reflecting the pitch-dark round bodies of spider demons. From the sky, Zhang Tie saw dense, round balls all over the ground as if the earth was a grain-sunning ground being covered with black soybeans. Even Zhang Tie felt goosebumps all over...

 1338 Quick Retribution

    Only after a casual look, Zhang Tie had known that there were definitely more than 2 million demons over Xiangshan City. They were at least LV 9 fighters. By contrast, the corps of 100,000 demons that appeared in Waii Subcontinent were well dwarfed.


    The camp of the demon corps was in Xiangshan City. Looking from afar, Zhang Tie could see a lot of demon knights rising and falling in an area of Xiangshan City. In the periphery of this demon corps, the squad of over 100 demon knights that Zhang Tie saw just now was patrolling in the sky. The inside of the camp was also guarded by demon knights. Those spider demons were moving rapidly in the periphery on earth like scouts. The entire encampment of demons was covered with demon scouts and knights within hundreds of miles'' territory. Even human knights could barely break into the encampment of the demon corps all of a sudden.


    Except for the little black beetle which could freely access to such a place which was crowded with demons.


    With the effect of a master-level hiding rune, the little black beetle almost integrated with the nightscape by hiding both its sound and qi. Even in knight''s consciousness, it was also like a speck of lifeless dust.


    Zhang Tie directly flew 100 m above those demon fighters and their tents towards Xiangshan City.


    Not knowing why, when he saw Xiangshan City once again, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand taking a look at the old man who didn''t feel like leaving the city.


    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had reached the street where the only ancient well was left open. Many houses in this block had been destroyed while a great number of iron-armored demons were stationed in the city. Zhang Tie arrived at the small courtyard where the old man was living in. However, the small courtyard had long been burned into ashes along with the neighboring houses and courtyards.


    Although Zhang Tie knew that the old man had determined his mind to stay in Xiangshan City, Zhang Tie still felt a bit sad when he imagined how the old man burned down his own home when the demons arrived.


    As for some, this war was just about changing figures, namely, how many cities Taixia lost, how many fighters sacrificed and how many civilians died. However, it was numerous commoners'' blood and tears behind these changing figures.


    A strong killing intent rose from Zhang Tie''s heart.


    With a sound "boom...", when Zhang Tie was loitering above that scorched ruins, a boom drifted into his ears from behind which attracted Zhang Tie''s attention at once.


    The sound drifted from the direction of that ancient well. Zhang Tie turned around and flew over there.


    Under the guidance of an iron-armored demon official, a team of iron-armored demons was pushing down a building beside the ancient well. After that, they carried a 2-m higher rockery out of the ruins and threw it into the ancient well to cover it.


    Instead of being buried by the army of Taixia Country, this ancient well was finally buried by demons.


    The demon official issued its orders in gibberish.


    Honestly, Zhang Tie didn''t understand demons'' language very well. He just learned it on occasions after promoting to a knight. Therefore, he could only understand a few words, though he couldn''t understand coherent sentences.


    Zhang Tie could only understand some words such as "only", "problem" "forbid drinking" and "new pool..."


    Compared to that it was very difficult for humans to learn demons'' language, it was much simpler for demons to learn humans'' language, namely, by taking human brains. By taking human brains, a demon knight could grasp that human''s gift of tongues. That was terrible! Given this point, all the demon knights who could speak human language must have eaten human brains.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t completely understand what this demon official was talking about, he could almost figure it out by combining with what it said with what he saw¡ª¡ªafter finding that this was the only ancient well available in Xiangshan City, the demon corps was worried that the human corps had poisoned it; therefore, they directly buried it and forbade demon fighters to get water from here. As over 2 million demon fighters were in Xiangshan City, they had to drink water; therefore, they could only open new wells for water.


    Zhang Tie instantly remembered that he saw some demon fighters safeguarding some water pools on the way here. Those water pools were completely caused by knights'' strikes. The powerful battle qi strikes caused many big pits whose depth varied from 10 m to 20 m. After that, those demon knights casually dug and dealt with them. This was the most convenient way for demon corps to get water on the premise that they had demon knights.


    ''Water pool!''


    In a split second, the strong killing intent disappeared because Zhang Tie had thought of a method.


    ''It''s feasible as long as demons could drink water.''


    Because Zhang Tie had Heller raise 4 fat and strong double-headed parent puppet worms in Castle of Black Iron, which were acquired from Pingsha Valley, Longxi Prefecture, Zhongzhou Province. Since he got them, Zhang Tie had not put them in use. The astronomical worm eggs that the 4 double-headed parent puppet worms laid every day were all preserved by Heller for study.


    As long as he stealthily put those worm eggs into those water pools and had them take it themselves could Zhang Tie easily kill a lot of demon fighters.


    Of course, it was almost impossible for others to do it; however, with the incarnation of little black beetle and Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie could do it easily. Those who only grasped the secret method of the incarnation of "Great Wilderness Sutra" couldn''t do it; neither could the one with only Castle of Black Iron do it. Only by combining the two abilities could one do it.


    When Zhang Tie thought about it, he directly flew to the nearest water pool.


    That water pool was over 200 m away. The strong battle qi strike caused a big pit whose diameter was over 30 m and depth over 10 m. They only paved some stone plates at the bottom of the pit.


    There were burning torches around that water pool. Over 10 iron-armored demons were on sentry duty around the water pool with their backs against it. Nobody irrelevant could approach the water pool for free. Perhaps, demons were afraid that they were poisoned by humans; therefore, they assigned exclusive people to keep an eye on these water pools in the encampment.


    An end of a water pipe which was once used by humans was deep in the water pool. Some demon fighters were rocking a common manual pumping unit and extracting water from the water pool into a water tank constantly.


    Teams of demon fighters were queuing up to get water around the water tank. There were 2 fish in the water tank, which was the easiest way of testing the quality of water being always adopted in the war. If the water quality was fine, the fish would not die.


    Although the fish in water tank could react to poison, they couldn''t react to the eggs of parent puppet worms. Even demons might have not imagined that they could be trapped by eggs of parent puppet worms.


    Soon after Zhang Tie arrived there, some demon fighters had started to roar and fight each other for water, causing a bit of turmoil. A demon official instantly rushed forward. After blaming them loudly in gibberish, he whipped them forcefully, causing bloody wounds on those iron-armored demons. The turmoil soon stopped. Closely after that, those demon fighters continued to get water.


    Even demons couldn''t imagine that someone would give them an unforgettable lesson tonight.


    The little black beetle declined and reached the bottom of the water pool directly.


    The moment the little black beetle touched the bottom of the water pool, its body had become a tunnel that connected Castle of Black Iron while it started to release a transparent, glutinous liquid into the water.


    The transparent, glutinous liquid contained the eggs of the double-headed parent puppet worms. Each drop of liquid would contain tens of thousands of tiny eggs.


    In less than 1 minute, Zhang Tie had left numerous eggs of double-headed parent puppet worms into the water. Closely after that, he flew out of the water toward another water pool.


    None of the demon fighters at present had noticed anything abnormal, those who were rocking manual pump or those who were safeguarding the water pool. When the water was extracted into the water tank, the two fish were still swimming happily as if they were not influenced by the change at all. Teams of iron-armored demons were still queuing up for water. After whipping those demon fighters, the official immediately drank some water to his heart''s content as he didn''t realize anything was wrong at all. When this official finished drinking, the little black beetle had already reached the bottom of the second water pool. Like what he did before, he released a lot of eggs of parent puppet worms into the water...


    The 3rd, the 4th, the 5th, the 6th...


    Parent puppet worm was a special tool that demons usually used in wars. This item was not used on humans until the last holy war came to an end. Soon after this holy war broke out for a few years, demons and Three-eye Association had already caused so many disasters and terrors in continents and subcontinents using parent puppet worms. Demons might not imagine that they could be attacked by parent puppet worms. To be honest, demons had not made any preparation and defense against such a strike...


    That was quick retribution!

 1339 Accidents

    There were total 184 water pools in the encampment of the demon corps in Xiangshan City. Additionally, some spider demons were stationed outside the city, who got water directly from a river near Xiangshan City.


    It took the little black beetle almost 5 hours to "feed" all the 184 water pools with eggs of parent puppet worms.


    During this period, demon fighters constantly got water from these water pools.


    Zhang Tie arrived at Xiangshan City at about 10 pm. 5 hours later, namely 3 am, the entire city was in deep dark peace. Except for those patrolling demon fighters and knights, even the demon corps became quiet in the camp.


    Like humans, demons also needed to sleep and rest according to the law of yin and yang in the universe.


    After finishing the process of "feeding", Zhang Tie became relaxed at once. He was confident to give an unforgettable lesson to this demon corps in Xiangshan City.


    When double-headed parent puppet worms laid eggs rapidly, they could also maintain their control towards puppet worms. Only 100,000 demon fighters were under the control of double-headed parent puppet worms and could cause great damage to this camp which contained millions of demons. Undoubtedly, 100,000 demon fighters could at least die together with 2 times more demon fighters after losing their mind.


    Zhang Tie estimated that at least 100,000 demon fighters would get water from the 184 water pools.


    In the evening, especially after 12 pm, few demons came for water; 1 or 2 hours later, more and more demons would come for water when double-headed parent puppet worm would become more destructive.


    Now that he had finished "feeding" those water pools with eggs of parent puppet worms, he only needed to wait.


    After circling around the camp for a while, Zhang Tie was thinking about taking rest and waiting for the demons to get up; however, seeing so many demon knights still rising and falling in Xiangshan City, Zhang Tie directly flew towards there.


    Without the effect of a master-level hiding rune, it was a bit risky for Zhang Tie to do that within the vision of so many demon knights. However, with the effect of a master-level hiding rune, Zhang Tie had much fewer concerns.


    Zhang Tie soon arrived at the urban square of Xiangshan City.


    Those demon knights set a huge black tent which was dozens of meters high and almost 1,000 m long and wide in the square, making it the core of the demon corps in Xiangshan City.


    There were torches and bonfires over there, brightly lighting the entire square. Teams of grim demon fighters were patrolling in the periphery of the square. Some demon knights would come back or set off in the air occasionally...


    The little black beetle easily fell on the top of the huge black tent without arousing the attention of anyone.


    The moment he rested there, Zhang Tie had heard the wails under the tent. Zhang Tie then drilled inside the tent through the narrow transoms as he saw what was happening down there at once.


    What he saw made Zhang Tie so annoyed that his eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets.


    Some demon knights were mistreating some naked Hua women whose ages ranged from younger than 10 to over 50 years old. All the Hua women were covered with wounds. Being fastened by iron shackles over their limbs and necks, they were suffering a ravage.


    As knights were too powerful, some Hua women were directly killed with a big, tearing hole between their legs, which were still bleeding heavily. Additionally, their corpses were covered with wounds. The entire tent was covered with blood and snow-white colors. It was like a slaughterhouse of humans. As for those Hua women in the tent, it was more like a hell...


    Right below Zhang Tie, a dead Hua woman''s guts and intestines had been pulled out. Lying on the ground, facing the top of the tent where the little black beetle was, it was widely opening its eyes with a painful look quietly.


    Right then...


    An iron-armored demon knight roared as a Hua woman whom it was ravaging suddenly exerted her full strength to bite this iron-armored demon''s penis...


    The iron-armored demon''s body was too hard that even the most fragile part of his body couldn''t be easily harmed by an ordinary woman. Watching that, the iron-armored demon was driven furious as it directly broke the Hua woman''s neck and pulled her head out of her body together with a part of the badly mutilated spine.


    The iron-armored demon knight widely opened its mouth as it raised its head and the head in its hand. After drinking up her blood, it threw away her head...


    ...


    "Mom..." Right beside that Hua woman who had been brutally killed by that iron-armored demon, another 15-year old Hua girl woke up. As she saw what her mother experienced, she uttered a heart-wrenching roar which reverberated around the tent while struggling forcefully...


    After throwing away the woman''s head, the iron-armored demon burst out into laughter as it stretched its huge hand towards that Hua girl...


    ...


    ''Fuck...''


    At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie''s head "hummed" while being filled with extreme fury and killing intent. Perhaps others could stand it at this moment; however, Zhang Tie couldn''t. No matter how many demon knights were there outside the tent, he would definitely kill all the demon knights at present, regardless of any difference in battle strength or risk of exposing his trump cards.


    ''Go die!'' Zhang Tie would never let go any one of the 20-odd demon knights.


    However, the moment Zhang Tie wanted to recover his original body, he sensed a colder qi declining from the sky. After breaking the top of the tent, a shadow flashed into the tent. In the surprised sounds of those "beasts", the figure instantly shocked the very iron-armored demon into pieces by one palm before it released its protective battle qi...


    The one who declined from the sky as fast as a lightning bolt was like a fairy in white skirt. However, her beautiful eyes were burning as if she was the King of Death. This woman was the very Yan Feiqing the owner of Fantasywomen Palace, Cloudydream Mountain, Wuzhou Province that he met a few months ago.


    At the same time, Yan Feiqing chopped off the head of an ox-head demon knight who was closest to her by a longsword in another hand.


    In the blink of an eye, two demon knights were killed.


    What a powerful woman!


    Such an accident was completely out of Zhang Tie''s imagination.


    However, what happened next was more unexpected...


    After doing that, Yan Feiqing pulled up that young girl; however, before Yan Feiqing said anything, that young girl suddenly revealed a weird smile as she opened her mouth and spat out a 1 cm-thick golden viper. As it was all of a sudden, Yan Feiqing was bitten immediately, leaving two fine bloody points on her wrist.


    With furious eyelight, Yan Feiqing shook her wrist, shattering the golden viper together with that maid by her battle qi.


    At the same time, it broke out an earthquake while another figure broke out of the soil and came to Yan Feiqing''s side. Only by one punch, Yan Feiqing had been sent flying outside the big tent while spraying out a mouth of blood. The afterwinds of the punch shattered the big tent together with all the other alive Hua women.


    The entire process lastest less than 1 second since Yan Feiqing broke into the tent.


    The one who broke out of the soil had a such a great battle qi that even Zhang Tie was sent almost 100 m away when the big tent was shattered.


    Thankfully, the little black beetle had a shell as hard as an iron sheet. Additionally, it was at the top of the tent; therefore, besides being a bit dizzy, it didn''t suffer any injuries.


    When Zhang Tie recovered his composure, Yan Feiqing had already been surrounded by a lot of demon knights in the sky above Xiangshan City. The figure who attacked Yan Feiqing just now was evidently an iron-armored heavenly knight who had a very aggressive qi...

 1340 Saving the Beauty

    The demon camp inside and outside Xiangshan City had been fully chaotic. The earth was quaking slightly. A lot of demon fighters in the periphery of the camp were roaring weirdly while batches of powerful crossbows that had been pushed out of the city were targeting at Yan Feiqing in the air.


    In the chaos, the little black beetle was almost stomped by a LV 9 demon fighter who was rushing towards here. Although the loss of an incarnation would not do any harm to Zhang Tie except for losing a bit essential energy, it would be too depressing to be stomped to death by a demon fighter. Additionally, Zhang Tie had already treated this little black beetle as his own friend; of course, he wanted to keep it alive.


    Among the caligas of demon fighters, the little black beetle flew off. After penetrating through the bodies of those demon fighters, he moved all the way onto an eave of a ruined building in the far from where he started to gaze at the battle situation in the sky.


    In the chaos, of course, none of the demon fighters across the city would pay attention to such an insect.


    As it was in such an emergency, Zhang Tie could only observe it for the time being.


    "It''s a trap..." Yan Feiqing''s sound drifted from the sky in a deep, icy pattern. Even being besieged by demons, she still didn''t look frustrated at all; instead, she remained as powerful as before. Someone pretended to be powerful; however, this woman was powerful from inside.


    Soon after the little black beetle rested on the eave of the ruined building, it had heard such a voice. Her voice didn''t sound like that Yan Feiqing had ever been injured. The bizarre golden viper and the strike of the heavenly demon knight seemed to have acted on someone else.


    "This is a trap, for you..." The heavenly demon knight burst out into laughter as it raised its head which sounded brutal and obscene. It spoke in orthodox Hua language, "Woman, you look nice. Lately, you''ve killed many knights of our 4 routes of armies. It seems that you hate us treating human women as a plaything. Pitifully, your preference is your death trap. We were waiting for you and here you''re!"


    "Really?"


    The heavenly demon knight gazed at Yan Feiqing with greedy eyes as it said, "A friend of Heavens Reaching Church told us that you''re Yan Feiqing. A very famous female Hua knight. Since the last holy war, I''ve fooled around many Hua women; but I''ve not tried a female Hua knight. After a short while, I will let you taste it!"


    "B*stard!" Yan Feiqing rebuked it coldly as she started to launch a strike by her longsword. By drawing her long sword in the sky, a Milky Way-like sword light covered over 1 square mile. A green lotus flower slowly opened grandly in the sword light whose killing intent involved a lot of demons in...


    The moment she launched a strike, Zhang Tie had known why she was so famous in Taixia Country. Even the elders of Heavenly Fortune Sect had to eat humble pie in front of her.


    This was the most powerful swordsmanship that Zhang Tie had ever seen. Yan Feiqing was also the most powerful shadow knight that Zhang Tie had ever seen. With swaying white skirt, she was like a fairy in the moon. Her longsword rolled the Milky Way and shocked the earth while the sword light turned into green open lotus flowers in a picturesque and aggressive way. The vast sky above Xiangshan City became a 10,000-hectare pond being full of lotus flowers...


    If her opponent was just a shadow knight or a battle formation composed of common demon knights, they could never stop her. Pitifully, her opponent was a heavenly demon knight while over 100 demon knights were fighting her in terms of a large battle formation. That was really a threatening battle strength for a shadow knight.


    The heavenly demon knight didn''t use a weapon at all. Its terrifying punch-shaped battle qi was like a black billow which swept over the horizon and cracked all the green lotus-flowers.


    The huge battle formation composed of over 100 demon knights was like a huge net. Coordinated with that heavenly demon knight, it seemed that it was going to capture this fairy and was hard for her to break through.


    Yan Feiqing tried several times to extend the battle onto the ground which would cause greater casualties to the demon corps on the ground; however, the huge net composed of those demon knights just blocked her from below. Meanwhile, the heavenly demon knight kept preventing her from doing that. Therefore, Yan Feiqing failed to do it.


    Whatever, Yan Feiqing had been injured. In this case, no matter how powerful she performed, she was still influenced by her wounds. Only after 10 more minutes, under Zhang Tie''s gaze, those green lotus flowers in the sky had started to turn dark. Even the sharp Milky Way-like sword light started to tremble faintly...


    "Hahaha, catch her alive. This woman won''t stand too long. The poison of Demon God''s golden viper has started to take effect. I will let you all taste a Hua female knight today..." The heavenly demon knight''s presumptuous sound reverberated in the sky. At the same time, he punched against Yan Feiqing''s sword light, causing her to spurt out another mouth of blood while her protective battle qi started to wave all over...


    Zhang Tie realized that he couldn''t wait anymore; otherwise, Yan Feiqing would fall in the hand of that heavenly demon knight. However, even if he presented his skill as a divine dominator, he might not defeat that heavenly demon knight either.


    Since the beginning, Yan Feiqing had not released her virtual knight''s image although being in such a dilemma. It indicated that this woman still spared a trump card to resist. The best way by far was to create a chance to enable this woman to escape herself.


    It was not the best time for Zhang Tie to activate those eggs of the parent puppet worm. If it could be a bit later, he would gain a better effect. However, what happened tonight was always out of one''s expectation. That was how it always went on the battlefield, where things varied from minute to minute and were not always pleasing.


    Once he had determined his mind, the little black beetle had flown into an empty house. Closely after that, it entered Castle of Black Iron. After putting on his Chaos, Zhang Tie immediately appeared in the house.


    Zhang Tie instantly broke the head of the glutinous double-headed parent puppet worm by hand. Closely after that, he injected his spiritual energy into the merely head of that parent puppet worm. At the same time, a bizarre spiritual wave reflected Zhang Tie''s forehead from the only head of that double-headed parent puppet worm. Through such an exchange spiritually, the parent puppet worm was activated. As long as Zhang Tie made the same spiritual exchange every 3 days, he would be able to control all the eggs of this double-headed parent puppet worm.


    When they made such a spiritual exchange, Zhang Tie felt that all the eggs of the double-headed parent puppet worm were hatching rapidly. Additionally, he was aware of the quantity of all the eggs that started to hatch. Only after a few hours, eggs of that double-headed parent puppet worm had entered the brains of 324,716 demon fighters.


    Zhang Tie then threw that parent puppet worm into Castle of Black Iron. Right then, over 300,000 demon fighters roared almost at the same time...


    ''Go kill all the demons beside you...''


    A bizarre spiritual wave was released from Zhang Tie''s forehead, which was similar to the principle of remote-sensing crystals. This bizarre spiritual wave soon spread over hundreds of square miles together with Zhang Tie''s order.


    At this moment, those demon knights who were fighting Yan Feiqing still didn''t'' know what was happening.


    It permitted of no delay. When Zhang Tie issued an order to all the eggs of that double-headed parent puppet worm, he shot into the sky. With Thor''s Hammer in hand, like a lightning bolt, he caused a huge hole in the net composed of those demon knights...


    As the huge net composed of demon knights was facing Yan Feiqing. The ground forces had the weakest defensive power. Nobody could imagine that some human knight could raid them from the ground. Therefore, the battle formation of demon knights was instantly broken through by Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie had reached his maximal speed without using the flight ability as a divine dominator, which could definitely match that of a shadow knight; especially the Thor''s Hammer. Even if Zhang Tie didn''t use any kinetic strike, the energy carried by Thor''s Hammer could not be withstood by an ordinary earth knight either.


    Over the past 2 months, Zhang Tie had eaten over 1,400 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs. Additionally, he had already entered 9 change realm of earth knight. His casual move would carry over 100 tons'' strength. Such a terrifying strength had already surpassed the level of shadow knights. After raiding the weakest part of that battle formation with his Thor''s Hammer, Zhang Tie immediately cracked two black iron demon knights into pieces. At the same time, two 3-in-1 battle formations connected with the two black iron demon knights collapsed from the large formation, causing a transient stagnation and chaos...


    When he broke through the battle formation of demon knights, Zhang Tie threw an ordinary spear towards that heavenly demon knight.


    The heavenly demon knight slapped away that spear by one hand safe and sound. However, Zhang Tie had already created a rare chance for Yan Feiqing...


    "Hurry up, go..." Zhang Tie roared towards Yan Feiqing.


    As Yan Feiqing was such an experienced fighter, of course, she could catch such a precious chance. Almost the moment Zhang Tie finished his words, Yan Feiqing had arrived at his side and grabbed Zhang Tie''s arm. At the same time, she released her virtual image of a shadow knight. Being wrapped by the virtual image, they then penetrated through the broken battle formation of demon knights as fast as a lightning bolt. After two flickers, they had already reached several times higher than the speed of sound and flew towards the northwest...


    Right then, over 300,000 demonized puppets started to attack the demon fighters on their side, causing the entire camp of demons to be chaotic.


    The iron-armored heavenly demon knight roared towards the other demon knights, "Go pacify the turmoil downside there, I will deal with the two human knights..."


    After issuing such an order, the heavenly demon knight accelerated towards the direction where Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing had disappeared. Its speed soon reached as great as that of the two people''s.


    ...


    Zhang Tie really had not imagined that Yan Feiqing could leave with him. Although he performed like a shadow knight, he had another plan. It was not too difficult for him to leave the battlefield. ''I''m afraid that because Yan Feiqing doesn''t know my trump card; therefore, she leaves together with me in case that I fall into the hand of the heavenly demon knight.''


    Given this point, this woman was still a bit compassionate although having a weird temperament.


    "Can you put away your battle hammer? I want to fly a bit faster as the heavenly demon knight is catching up with us..."


    When Zhang Tie was thinking about that, Yan Feiqing''s voice drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears secretly.


    Because they had reached 3 times more than the speed of sound, namely over 1,000 m per second, they could only talk in secret means by battle qi.


    After being reminded by Yan Feiqing, Zhang Tie realized that he had not put away his Thor''s Hammer yet. Therefore, he instantly put it away. As a result, their speed soon reached almost 4 times the speed of sound...

 1341 A Chase in the Wilderness

    Yan Feiqing''s virtual image was very strange. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see such a virtual image which was completely like a 10-m long silver shuttle. Being wrapped by that silver shuttle, they flew in the sky rapidly...


    ''Maybe this is not a virtual image at all but a secret method. It might just be similar to the virtual image in effect and is used to save her life. There''re so many secret methods in Taixia Country, I couldn''t know all of them whatsoever!''


    The heavenly demon knights kept catching up with them with a distance of less than 5,000 m.


    This might be a long distance for commoners; however, it would only take a heavenly demon knight a few seconds to finish it. Yan Feiqing couldn''t extend the distance between them and that heavenly demon knight; instead, that heavenly demon knight was gradually narrowing the distance between him and Yan Feiqing. Only after a few minutes, their distance had been narrowed to about 4,500 m...


    When Han Zhengfang was severely wounded and escaped out of Xuanyuan Hill using the secret method of Bloody Soul Sutra, he also reached almost 4 times the speed of sound. Given the speeds of Yan Feiqing and that heavenly demon knight, Zhang Tie immediately understood it. As for ordinary heavenly knights, they might only reach 4-5 times the speed of sound normally; if they wanted to move faster, it depended on their cultivation bases and overall strength.


    The heavenly demon knight kept approaching them aggressively with its eyes closely on Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing.


    "You can never escape away..." From over 4,000 m away, the heavenly demon knight''s voice sounded in their ears, "The armored shadow knight. When I catch you, I will withdraw each of your bones out of your body and make your skull into a cup..."


    When knights used their secret sound-transmitting skill, they spurted their pure battle qis out of their mouth by turning them into fine waves through their chests, abdomens and throats. Therefore, their sounds could be transmitted far away at a speed many times greater than the speed of sound while not being destructive. However, only heavenly knights could transmit their voice secretly from over 4,000 m away.


    As Zhang Tie''s first strike was unusual and was in his Chaos, that heavenly demon knight treated him as a shadow knight.


    It was not simply threatening. Now that a heavenly knight''s voice could enter their ears, it indicated that his battle qi strike would soon arrive.


    "Is the shuttle your virtual image?" Zhang Tie asked Yan Feiqing secretly.


    "It''s one of my secret methods. It''s neither a virtual image nor a non-virtual image..." Yan Feiqing replied as her face turned abnormally pale and as icy and crystal as jade. Even in flight, Yan Feiqing was also releasing a faintly cold qi, which formed a thin fog around her body.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know about Yan Feiqing''s current situation. He didn''t know whether the cold qi was aroused by her secret method or caused by the poisonous Demon God''s golden viper. It was hard to judge it; however, her cold qi and pale face didn''t look good. Therefore, Zhang Tie cut the crap, "I''m afraid that the demon knight would strike us when he was about 3,000 m away from us. I could slow down his speed by darting spears. However, I need your coordination..."


    "How?"


    "When I would dart my spears, could you stop releasing this virtual image for the time being; it would work even for a millisecond. If you cannot do that, just let me go. I will block him. You leave first..." Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly. However, he didn''t know that what he said sounded like that he was going to sacrifice himself for the sake of Yan Feiqing at this moment.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Yan Feiqing turned around as she gazed at Zhang Tie''s face under his mask. After being silent for a few seconds, she opened her mouth, "I could control the virtual image of this Fantasy Fair Heavens-Breaking Boat, just send me a signal..."


    After hearing Yan Feiqing''s words, Zhang Tie knew what this virtual image was called. It was a special name. Not until now did Zhang Tie know that there was such a bizarre secret method whose effect could be similar to that of the virtual image. This secret method was simply a wholly new tool. That was amazing! When Zhang Tie recalled his incomplete King Roc Sutra, he could only let out a sigh inside.


    "Fine. When I pinch your hand, you remove the shield of this Fantasy Fair Heavens-Breaking Boat for the time being..."


    "You eject when I pinch you..." Yan Feiqing said icily. Even in this state, she also maintained a mighty position as she didn''t want Zhang Tie to touch her hand casually.


    ''You eject when I pinch you?''


    Zhang Tie muttered inside as he felt her words sounded a bit weird. However, in this case, Zhang Tie dared not make a joke with her. Zhang Tie knew that this kind of woman had the weirdest temperament. Sometimes, a common sentence might irritate her. As a result, she might chase after you with a saber. Therefore, Zhang Tie directly replied, "Fine!"


    Soon after that, an ordinary spear appeared in Zhang Tie''s hand. Closely after that, Zhang Tie felt Yan Feiqing to intensify her gripping power. Zhang Tie then instantly darted his spear towards that heavenly demon knight.


    When the spear left Zhang Tie''s hand, the virtual image that covered the two people disappeared in a millisecond. Closely after Zhang Tie finished his ejection, the Fantasy Fairy Heavens-Breaking Boat recovered its original look.


    It was such a transient period that even though they were not covered by the Fantasy Fairy Heavens-Breaking Boat, their flight speed would also not be influenced due to great inertia.


    When the spear left Zhang Tie''s hand, it had reached several times the speed of sound. Zhang Tie didn''t trigger his ability as a divine dominator because he felt it was not necessary for him to manifest that trump card at that moment.


    The spear that Zhang Tie had thrown collided with the heavenly demon knight. Due to the great speed of the heavenly demon knight, the relative speed between the spear and the heavenly demon knight increased by 4 times abruptly and the spear became much more powerful...


    This principle was akin to how a bird could destroy an airplane in the sky.


    Zhang Tie threw a spear instead of a bird; neither the heavenly demon knight was an airplane. The heavenly demon knight only had 3 choices to deal with the spear which was darting towards it at a speed of almost 10 times the speed of sound, namely, face-to-face, dodge and hit it down.


    Whichever choice it made, it would slow down.


    The first spear was hit down by the heavenly demon knight from 2,000 m away. During this interval, the distance between the Fantasy Fairy Heavens-Breaking Boat which covered the Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing and the heavenly demon knight increased by over 50 m at once.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as one more spear appeared in his hand, "One more..."


    Yan Feiqing pinched Zhang Tie''s hand once again. Zhang Tie then threw the second spear, causing a loud sonic boom in the night air...


    The spear was hit down once again. However, the distance expanded by 100 more meters.


    The heavenly demon knight was driven mad as it kept screaming loudly...


    ''This method works!''


    Zhang Tie was spirited, ''Who said that the bolt-in-palm, the highest realm of spear throwing skill could only be used to deal with battle spirits at most? In this case, such a simple spear throwing skill could absolutely save our lives. Even a heavenly demon knight is at the end of its rope.''


    ...


    After 1 hour later, the distance had been expanded to over 10,000 m. Whenever the heavenly demon knight approached a range, Zhang Tie would throw his spear towards it so as to expand the distance once again. When Zhang Tie felt that they could completely extricate it, Yan Feiqing''s snow face suddenly turned red while she spurted out a mouth of blood...


    At this moment, the two people might have been out of the territory of Wuzhou Province and entered the wilderness while an endless lake appeared in front of them. The Fantasy Fairy Heavens-Breaking Boat suddenly quivered a bit as it instantly dove into the wild lake out of control or on purpose, arousing a 100 m higher billow...

 1342 An Underground Crystal Cave

    The moment they entered the water, the Fantasy Fairy Heavens-Breaking Boat of Yan Feiqing had collapsed being influenced by the great impact force and water pressure. The cold qi over this woman even made Zhang Tie tremble once and froze her body in a split second...


    Zhang Tie ran his battle qi and shattered the ice over Yan Feiqing. After that, he found her lips were so pale that they looked almost transparent.


    ''Damn, that''s not good.''


    "Ahh, are you okay?" Zhang Tie asked as he started to accelerate in water by pulling Yan Feiqing''s arm.


    In water, Zhang Tie could be as free as fish. Even though Zhang Tie didn''t use his ability as a divine dominator, he could also reach over 1,000 m per second, which could even match their speed in air.


    In the case of Zhang Tie, it was not difficult for him to extricate from the chase of the heavenly demon knight. However, he had to consider well about the method.


    Since he appeared, Yan Feiqing had been treating him calmly. Additionally, as he had shown his Thor''s Hammer in front of her and met her before, Zhang Tie didn''t know whether this woman knew his real identity or not. Zhang Tie didn''t want to expose his ability as a divine dominator to this woman; neither did he allow this woman to be bullied by demons; therefore, it was a bit tricky now.


    "There''s a huge hole at the bottom of the lake in front of us...enter it..." Yan Feiqing said faintly.


    After hearing Yan Feiqing''s words, Zhang Tie became relaxed at once¡ª¡ªit turns out that Yan Feiqing has been here before. Nice!


    Zhang Tie hurriedly rushed towards that hole with Yan Feiqing. Being in their protective battle qis, they were moving as fast as torpedoes.


    After hearing the noise from behind, Zhang Tie knew that the heavenly demon knight had been approaching them.


    They were in a saltwater lake in the wilderness. The salinity of water must have been in full saturation. With no fish in the lake, there were only a few aquatic plants and a large area of salt crystals at the bottom of the lake.


    In salt water, sound''s transmission speed could almost reach 1,500 m per second. Therefore, they could easily hear the noise from behind them. Given the decibel, the heavenly iron-armored demon knight was even moving faster than Zhang Tie in water as their distance was constantly narrowing. Zhang Tie was really startled by that. Not until then did Zhang Tie realize that iron-armored demon could move so fast in water because the shell and scales over iron-armored demons could reduce resistance to its minimum in water. On the premise that Zhang Tie didn''t trigger his ability as divine dominator or Castle of Black Iron, the heavenly iron-armored demon knight could even move a bit faster than him in water.


    Wing demons were responsible for the air; spider demons were responsible for the earth while iron-armored demons were amphibious which could even move faster in water than on earth. This was the establishment of the main arms of the services of demons.


    ''F*ck!''


    Zhang Tie hurriedly rushed towards that huge hole while pulling Yan Feiqing''s arm.


    In water, Zhang Tie''s spear didn''t work anymore. Zhang Tie had tried before. Although water looked weak, it could form numerous barriers to weapons being darted in it. No matter how powerful your spear was, as long as it reached 500 m away in water, it would lose its power.


    After moving forward less than 120 miles in water, they had seen a pitch-dark hole in front of them. The distance between them and the heavenly demon knight also shrunk to about 2,000 m from over 10,000 m...


    "You can never escape..." A grim and sinister sound drifted from behind together with the heavenly demon knight''s powerful battle qi strike from over 2,000 m away.


    The moment the heavenly demon knight launched a strike, the powerful battle qi strike had directed the water all the way towards Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing in terms of a light pillar-like impact wave.


    When in water, Zhang Tie had an extremely sensitive sense. The moment his surrounding water flows moved, Zhang Tie had sensed great strength from behind. Zhang Tie instantly punched back while surging forward...


    As the danger approached, even Yan Feiqing who was a bit weak lashed out a sword towards the heavenly demon knight...


    In the great shock, Zhang Tie instantly felt his chest and back being hammered heavily by two forging hammers of hydraulic presses. After being involved by the aftermaths of the heavenly demon knight''s strike, his Chaos crashed. As a result, Zhang Tie felt sweet in his throat while he almost spurted out a mouth of blood.


    Zhang Tie swallowed it back. However, Yan Feiqing who had long been injured spurted out a mouth of blood.


    ''Is that the power of a heavenly demon knight?''


    This strike was the first round of the fight between Zhang Tie and a heavenly-level demon knight.


    Although Han Zhengfang was a heavenly knight, he had declined to be a shadow knight when he was killed by Zhang Tie.


    Both the halos priest of Sacred Light Empire and Gao Tianzhao were shadow knights.


    Honestly, without using the ability of a divine dominator, Zhang Tie felt that the heavenly knight could kill him in an overwhelming way. The heavenly demon knight''s strike could be so destructive over 2,000 deep in water, not to mention in the sky or in close combat.


    After this strike, Zhang Tie sped up with the strength of counter-shock in water as he instantly entered that hole together with Yan Feiqing.


    The diameter of the entrance of the hole was over 100 m. After entering the hole, he found that the hole extended all the way to the underground space. After hundreds of meters, the cave constantly shrunk with some bypasses...


    "The 3rd on the left..." Yan Feiqing''s voice entered Zhang Tie''s ears once again. Zhang Tie immediately rushed inside.


    It was a complex underground watercourse like the crisscrossed roots of an old tree. After entering the 3rd hole on the left for less than 500 m, Zhang Tie met another bypass.


    "2nd on the right..." Yan Feiqing opened her mouth while her voice sounded weaker. Zhang Tie instantly rushed into the 2nd watercourse on the right side.


    At this moment, the diameter of the watercourse had been only a few meters high. As Zhang Tie moved forward, he kept dropping alchemist'' bombs into the pits in that watercourse like setting torpedoes.


    After moving hundreds of meters ahead, he ran his spiritual energy and detonated those alchemist''s bombs directly.


    With the loud booms and the impact waves in water, Zhang Tie directly destroyed a 100 m long watercourse. When the impact wave reached them from behind, their protective battle qi could withstand it easily.


    Zhang Tie was thinking about that, construction would always be more difficult than destruction. Take a kid building a sand castle on the beach as an instance, it might take a kid a couple of hours to build a sand castle; however, it would take another kid only half a minute to destroy that castle. It was easy for Zhang Tie to destroy a section of the watercourse; however, it would take that heavenly demon knight much longer than him to break through that watercourse. No matter what, it couldn''t crash onto the rocks with its head.


    As was imagined, the moment Zhang Tie ruined that section of the watercourse, he had heard the roars and earthshaking strikes from that heavenly demon knight.


    Yan Feiqing opened her mouth which was slightly quivering, "Turn right..."


    There were two watercourses in front of them. Zhang Tie directly entered the right one. After that, he continued to set torpedoes by dropping 7-8 alchemist''s bombs. Before that heavenly demon knight approached them, another 100 m long section of watercourse had been collapsed with another boom.


    In this case, that heavenly demon knight was driven berserk.


    Who could imagine that there was such a weirdo like Zhang Tie in this world? Besides moving as fast as a heavenly demon knight, he also carried a portable space-teleportation equipment. Importantly, he dropped alchemist''s bombs like dropping cheap white cabbages.


    At this moment, even though Yan Feiqing didn''t feel like doing that, she could only allow Zhang Tie to pull her forward. Just now, this woman was giving out cold air all over; however, at this moment, Zhang Tie had felt that this woman''s body turned increasingly hotter. Whereas, Zhang Tie didn''t care about that. No matter what, he could cure her as long as she was not dead. Additionally, given her look, she would not die for the time being.


    Yan Feiqing served as Zhang Tie''s guide while Zhang Tie was responsible for moving forward at a high speed. Furthermore, whenever he entered a new watercourse, he would drop 7-8 alchemists'' bombs and destroy it, causing so many obstructions and difficulties for that heavenly demon knight.


    When Zhang Tie destroyed the 5th watercourse, he had not been able to hear the berserk roars of the heavenly demon knight. However, Zhang Tie was still not reassured. Not until he ruined 5 more did he stop dropping alchemist''s bombs.


    ...


    After half an hour, under the guidance of Yan Feiqing, they flew out of an underground saltwater ocean and entered a bizarre underground space.


    The moment Zhang Tie caught sight of that underground space, he had widely opened his mouth.


    The underground space was covered with clusters of huge crystal which were always longer than 100 m. It was like a crystal wood and an urban crystal plaza.

 1343 Seeing Another Tower of Time

    Zhang Tie had seen the world and mountains of jewelry; however, he was still stunned by this world being composed of numerous huge crystals.


    Usually, Zhang Tie could at most see crystals which were a few tons in weight and a few meters in length. However, each crystal at present was like a skyscraper.


    The crisscrossed crystals which were hundreds of meters in length and dozens of meters in thickness were like bridges in the underground space. The entire ground had been covered with finer crystals which were growing vigorously like weeds on the prairie. As a result, Zhang Tie felt like entering a paradise.


    Compared to such huge crystals, Zhang Tie felt being dwarfed and turned as small as an ant. What a wonderful crystal world!


    This world was filled with colorful huge crystals. Each crystal contained a pyramid-shaped shadow. It was the brilliance reflected by crystals that made this space resplendent. Additionally, the strong high-intensity energy carried by those crystals filled each nook and corner of this underground space.


    Any piece of crystal which was heavier than 3 kg was called crystal generator as it could make people energetic and do a favor to people''s cultivation. By contrast, this place was more like a crystal nuclear plant rather than a crystal generator. Anyone below knight who cultivated in this place would undoubtedly light their surging points in high efficiency. This was a holy land for cultivation, which was dreamed by everyone below knight.


    Zhang Tie almost stopped moving at the sight of such a dreamland. He was really shocked by this scene, not because of his greed, but because of his reverence to the marvel in the great nature.


    Such a marvel might take a few billions of years. How magnificent it was!


    Each crystal here might drive people mad and would worth a lot if it was taken out of here. However, Zhang Tie thought that very few space-teleportation equipment could hold those huge crystals besides his Castle of Black Iron. Additionally, each of those crystals would weigh tens of thousands of tons. They couldn''t be taken away from here unless being broken in parts.


    "Hurry...the demon knight is catching up with us..."


    Yan Feiqing''s body turned increasingly hotter. When she spoke, she started to pant while her snow-white face turned as red as the morning glow as if she was drunk.


    "Could that demon knight find us here?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity as he felt that it was difficult for that heavenly demon knight to break through those ruined watercourses, not to mention the maze-like bypasses.


    In case of commoners, money was not almighty; however, money worked in many cases. Similarly, as for knight, equipment was not almighty; however, equipment worked in many cases. For instance, those alchemist''s bombs in his portable space-teleportation equipment helped them a lot today. Without those alchemist''s bombs, he might have to expose his trump card today.


    "When we fought just now, it has already positioned me by its spiritual energy. That''s the exclusive ability of heavenly demon knight. Within 7 days, he could sense my precise location within thousands of miles. As the crystals in this hole have strong energy, they could disrupt its spiritual energy for the time being. As a result, it could only roughly judge the location from where we disappeared. Before it comes here and sees us, it''s the last chance for us to escape away..." The female shadow knight who was pretty powerful just now oozed over her forehead when she spoke at this moment. Additionally, her body looked ramshackle as if she was going to fall off at any time.


    "Spiritual positioning possessed exclusively by heavenly demon knights..." Zhang Tie was startled. ''That''s simply a portable tracing feather. Damn, it seems that we''re not over yet.'' "Ahh, it seems that you''ve been here before. Where''re we going then?"


    "There''s a tunnel right in front of us. There''s an underground chasm inside there. After entering the chasm, we will enter a magma sea. A location at the bottom of the magma sea could completely isolate the spiritual perception of the demon knight..."


    "What about you now? Can your protective battle qi bear it? If you need, I''ve got some medicament..."


    After seeing Yan Feiqing nodding hardly and taking out a vial of blue medicament from her portable space-teleportation equipment and drinking it up, Zhang Tie instantly pulled her towards the destination.


    After drinking up that vial of blue medicament, Yan Feiqing''s body temperature slowly recovered like having been poured with a basin of cold water. However, Zhang Tie felt that she was turning weaker as her limbs turned soft as if she had lost her strength completely.


    In this case, no matter how magnificent this underground crystal cave was, Zhang Tie didn''t have time to appreciate it; instead, he could only escape at first.


    "You''re so familiar with this place. Have you been here before?" Zhang Tie asked Yan Feiqing as he surged forward.


    Yan Feiqing remained silent. Zhang Tie felt so embarrassed that he could only touch his nose quietly.


    The underground crystal cave was so large that they had not flown out of it after 120 miles'' distance according to Yan Feiqing''s guidance. After making so many turns, he finally caught sight of a calm magma sea. Being reflected by the crystals, the tumbling glow of the magma sea looked more splendid in this underground space.


    After feeling that Yan Feiqing had already released her protective battle qi which meant that he could enter it, Zhang Tie immediately released his protective battle qi and dove into this magma sea together with Yan Feiqing.


    "Right, 9 o''clock..."


    Like before, Yan Feiqing kept guiding Zhang Tie in the magma sea.


    Although their speed in magma sea couldn''t match that in water, they could also move above 300 m per second. After moving forward for over 20 minutes, they heard a faint earthquake and noise from the crystal cave behind them. Zhang Tie instantly knew that the heavenly iron-armored demon knight had already caught up with them. As it had lost its target, it was losing temper in the crystal cave...


    "Did the iron-armored demon lose its target?"


    "Yes..."


    "Are we still in that huge crystal cave?"


    Yan Feiqing nodded. Zhang Tie then became reassured. In this case, unless that heavenly demon knight also had lotus-flower eyes, it would be as difficult as looking for a needle in a bottle of hay for it to find the two people in the magma sea.


    Except for Zhang Tie, the other knights couldn''t see anything in the magma sea; instead, they could only sense it based on their powerful knight''s consciousness. By contrast, Zhang Tie could see clearly those black mountain ranges at the bottom of the magma sea.


    Those mountain ranges were not composed of rocks but high-purity precious gold ores that had been deposited for hundreds of millions of years. Like those huge crystals, these gold ores would also worth a lot when they were carried to the surface of the earth. However, in the underground space, they just piled up like mountains and accepted the baptism of ages quietly. Unless another earth-shaking geological movement happened in this world, these items would lie in this underground magma sea forever quietly.


    After a short while, the faint rock and noise gradually faded away, which meant that that heavenly demon knight had chosen the wrong way to chase after them. On the way towards this magma sea, Zhang Tie had observed the surrounding environment and found hundreds of bypasses in the crystal space. In this case, it would be impossible for that heavenly demon knight to position them. It could only try its fortune.


    Zhang Tie was curious about the location which could isolate the spiritual perception of the heavenly demon knight. If that heavenly demon knight just stayed somewhere in the crystal cave in the following 7 days, it would be troublesome. Zhang Tie might be able to stay in the magma sea for 7 days; however, what about Yan Feiqing who was already injured?


    Yan Feiqing was in a volatile state as her body turned cold and hot now and then. Therefore, Zhang Tie kept a close eye on her while moving forward in the magma sea and preparing to give her a favor at any time. If her protective battle qi collapsed, she would instantly turn into ashes facing such a great stress and high temperature.


    Nevertheless, when Zhang Tie was wondering which thing attracted Yan Feiqing here from far away, he was dumbfounded.


    Zhang Tie''s lotus-flower eyes caught sight of one thing that would be the last thing in his mind that could exist here.


    Right among those gold mountain ranges, Zhang Tie caught sight of a huge pyramid, which was erecting at the bottom of the magma sea quietly and profoundly.


    Compared to that pyramid that Zhang Tie saw before, this one was higher as it was higher than 10,000 m. The entire pyramid was a huge crystal which was as red as the surrounding magma sea. By contrast, it was another tower of time...

 1344 The Males Frankness

    A tower of time, surrounded by gold mountain ranges at the bottom of a magma sea, was pretty alluring for any knight.


    Additionally, given the height and size of this tower of time, even though Zhang Tie was not an expert in the tower of time, he had known that this tower of time was unusual.


    Whether a tower of time was precious or not could be judged by its size. The larger a tower of time was, the more functions it would have and the more precious it would be. This was once told by Charles, the No. 1 knight of Ramland Empire and a friend of Zhang Tie.


    Among Zhang Tie''s friends, Charles was an expert in studying tower of time who was very familiar with all kinds of knowledge about the tower of time. Pitifully, Charles had not experienced it in the tower of time. Additionally, before Waii Subcontinent was fully collapsed by demons, Charles had already escorted the imperial households of Ramland Empire to the Western Continent. From then on, Zhang Tie had lost contact with him. Zhang Tie even failed to see that cute and enchanting princess Candis of Ramland Empire from then on.


    The current situation of the holy war changed many people''s fates.


    Because of this tower of time, the bygones between him and Ramland Empire flashed by Zhang Tie''s mind.


    However, in the blink of an eye, under the guidance of Yan Feiqing, Zhang Tie had already come to the entrance of that huge pyramid with her. After leaving the magma sea, they stood on the crystal steps of the tower of time.


    It was a huge crystal gate being covered with numerous flowing runes in front of Zhang Tie. Because of the mysterious power possessed by this tower of time, the magma stayed 2 m away from the tower of time automatically, causing a 2-m wide vacuum belt between this tower of time and the magma. The magma just flew around this pyramid in a clock-wise manner...


    Standing in front of the crystal gate of the tower of time, Zhang Tie clicked the tongue in wonder about the brightly red magma 2 m away, the heavenly curtain of flowing magma and the golden mountain ranges in the far. Additionally, Zhang Tie found that Yan Feiqing looked pretty sophisticated while her emotions were changing heavily which could be seen from her eyes. It seemed that she was in pain, a bit hesitated and finally became decisive...


    ''Does this woman have a story here?''


    Zhang Tie muttered inside.


    Referring to the time when Yan Feiqing promoted to a black iron knight, evidently, it was not her first time to be here. Therefore, it was normal for her to have a story here. Based on Zhang Tie''s experience, it must be a man that made her emotions so complex at this moment...


    "I''m weak. You can push open the gate..." Yan Feiqing''s facial expression changed for a short while before she sighed with emotion and told Zhang Tie while watching the 20-m high gate of the tower of time in front of them.


    "You''ve been here before?" Zhang Tie asked as he put his hand onto the crystal gate of the tower of time.


    "Just push it open..." Yan Feiqing accented her voice distantly after hearing Zhang Tie''s question although being weak, "As you''ve saved my life, I owe you. Given the look of this tower of time, you could at least cultivate 50 years inside, during which period, you could easily promote to a shadow knight. After leaving this tower, your reputation of Qianji Hermit would be more famous. Additionally, there''s something special inside this tower. It''s not only a tower of time, but it also contains something else. During the 5 decades, you could promote to an advanced profession inside..."


    Yan Feiqing''s words contained too much knowledge. Given her words, she might not have used this tower of time yet; therefore, she was not sure how many years could people cultivate inside. However, the fact that she was very familiar with this place was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. What was more amazing was that this tower of time could help people promote to an advanced profession. According to Charles'' description, this tower of time was the most precious one...


    "You''ve recognized my identity?"


    "I''ve grasped a secret method. As long as I saw someone once, I would be able to identify him no matter how much he disguised himself in front of me. I''ve already known that it was you the moment you showed up in Xiangshan City..."


    ''What a secret method!'' Zhang Tie shook his head as he forcefully pushed open the gate of the tower of time.


    The gate of the tower of time was very heavy. Ordinary knights might have to exert their full effort to open it. However, Zhang Tie could easily open it slowly only by putting one hand on it.


    As the gate was opened, a milky-white light with strong energy leaked out of the gate. Zhang Tie felt like opening a huge treasury as the qi inside the tower of time was both familiar and strange to him. Therefore, Zhang Tie became a bit thrilled.


    Watching the gate of the tower of time to open, Yan Feiqing kept her eyes close on Zhang Tie. After opening the gate, Zhang Tie didn''t rush into it although being a bit thrilled; instead, he turned around and asked Yan Feiqing, "Could this tower of time allow two people to enter at the same time? If only one person is allowed to access it, you can go in. After 50 years, you might have already promoted to a heavenly knight. Don''t worry about me. I have my trump card to leave out of here even though the heavenly demon knight is still outside there!"


    "If only one person is allowed in, don''t you feel like having a try facing such a rare chance? How could you decline such a rare chance..." Yan Feiqing''s facial expression turned complex as she looked at Zhang Tie and asked him such a strange question.


    Now that Yan Feiqing had already known his identity, Zhang Tie directly took off his helmet and exposed his original look. At the same time, he threw the helmet into his portable space-teleportation equipment.


    After hearing Yan Feiqing''s question, Zhang Tie revealed a frank smile as he shook his head, "Although the tower of time is precious, I don''t need to scramble for it with a woman. Additionally, you need a tower of time more than me for treatment and cultivation..."


    The tower of time might be precious for others; however, it was just so-so for Zhang Tie; especially after grasping purgatory samsara method, Zhang Tie really didn''t feel that the tower of time was something on purely forming chakra.


    Yan Feiqing seemingly wanted to see some hypocrisy and lies from Zhang Tie''s face; however, she only saw frankness and brightness...

 1345 Bizarre Corpses

    Facing Zhang Tie''s frankness and brightness, Yan Feiqing finally lowered down her sharp eye light as she let out a long sigh. Closely after that, her voice turned a bit warmer, "This tower of time is unusual. Two people could cultivate inside at the same time. Therefore, if you could bear the long boring period inside the tower of time, you could go inside together with me..."


    Zhang Tie would not cast greedy eyes on the tower of time; however, now that he could have such a rare chance, he would not let it go casually. Powerhouses would always be accompanied by stars and loneliness. It was definitely an unexpected chance for him to increase decades'' cultivation base only in dozens of days.


    "Fine. As I''ve saved you and you brought me to this tower of time. We''re even..." Zhang Tie said, "But I wonder whether that heavenly demon knight would find this place?"


    "The space being connected to this underground crystal cave is limited. It might take it 3-5 years to find this place; however, as it''s in the holy war, it couldn''t leave the battlefield for so long. I guess it could only stay in the underground space for 7 days at most. If it couldn''t sense its spiritual target in 7 days, it would leave this underground space. Even if it finds this place in 7 days, we don''t need to be afraid of it because tower of time couldn''t even be destroyed by sage knights. Even if it stays outside this tower of time, it''s just waiting for death. As long as I promote to a heavenly knight, I would be able to kill that b*stard..." Yan Feiqing said icily.


    "Hahaha, well, let''s go inside then!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he looked at Yan Feiqing and asked, "Do you need help?"


    Yan Feiqing shook her head decisively, "No need, you can go inside ahead of me!"


    "Wait, I don''t know how long would I stay in this tower of time; I have to notice someone in advance; otherwise, if they couldn''t contact me for a few months, they might think that I''m in danger or something. That would not be good!"


    Under the gaze of Yan Feiqing, Zhang Tie took out a bunch of remote-sensing communications finger rings as he started to contact his elder brother, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Bai Suxian and Lu Yanyu respectively and told them that he was going to enter a closed cultivation and would not be in contact with the outside world for a couple of months. After finishing that, Zhang Tie put the bunch of finger rings back onto his neck once again before hiding them into his underclothes.


    The bunch of finger rings was too eye-catching that no other human knights across Taixia country could carry so many remote-sensing finger rings like him. Therefore, Yan Feiqing couldn''t stand peering at his finger rings for a few seconds.


    "Harrumph, you''re so busy..."


    "I''m a man. You see. I have my wives, brothers, undertakings and families to care about!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    Yan Feiqing replied with a cold harrumph before resolutely entering the milky-white light that leaked out of the gate.


    After being in meditation for half a second, Zhang Tie followed her inside too.


    After Zhang Tie entered the tower of time, the crystal gate automatically closed up slowly while those bizarre runes started to flow. Unless it was opened from inside, nobody else could open it from outside including sage knights.


    Closely after the gate was closed, Zhang Tie had felt that he was immersed in rick energy of the pyramid. It was as rich as honey that Zhang Tie couldn''t stand taking a deep breath of the fresh air inside. From now on, Zhang Tie felt that his remote-sensing finger rings, portable space-teleportation equipment and Castle of Black Iron had been isolated by a powerful space-time strength and were not available anymore. That indicated the power of this tower of time.


    Since they entered the magma sea, Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing had not breathed yet.


    The structure of this tower of time was similar to the one Zhang Tie visited last time. After passing the gate, they entered a long crystal tunnel which was covered with crystals tightly. The crystals were covered with bizarre glowing runes. People''s shadows could be seen on the surface of the crystals, making Zhang Tie feel like entering a kaleidoscope.


    However, this crystal tunnel was many times wider and larger than that Zhang Tie saw before. Additionally, Zhang Tie entered this one together with a woman.


    Yan Feiqing was breathing heavily. The rich energy in the pyramid made her face look a bit better as if it was conducive to her wound.


    As Yan Feiqing breathed heavily, Zhang Tie naturally moved his eyes onto her plump breasts under her white robe. Just now, Zhang Tie didn''t notice her figure carefully. At this time, he found that this woman''s figure could even match that of Guo Hongyi. However, this woman looked very aggressive. After being glanced by her, timid men would lose their courage at once. Few males might dare gaze at her body like Zhang Tie did. Even the grand elder of Heavens Fortune Sect was hung and beaten by this woman in the peach wood when he was young, who else across Taixia Country dared stir her up?


    "What are you looking at?" Yan Feiqing asked when she sensed that Zhang Tie was gazing at her undulating breasts and was irritated about his deed. When she glared at Zhang Tie icily, her hand moved habitually. However, she finally stopped that.


    Watching Yan Feiqing''s hand movement, Zhang Tie hurriedly jumped off. ''Damn, this woman is really tricky. If she was holding a sword just now, she had long-lashed out towards me. Thankfully, she has already put away her sword.''


    "Ahem...ahem...ahh, nothing, nothing, I just wanted to confirm that you''re okay..." Zhang Tie said in a guilty manner.


    Yan Feiqing glared at Zhang Tie once again before turning around and continuing to move forward. Zhang Tie didn''t act too presumptuous; instead, he just followed Yan Feiqing towards the end of the tunnel casually. According to the structure of this tower of time, the end of this tunnel should lead to the core area of this tower of time.


    The two people''s silvery footsteps reverberated around the bright crystal tunnel.


    "May you tell me about the advanced profession?" Zhang Tie changed a topic as it would be too awkward if they remained silent at this moment.


    "I don''t know..." Yan Feiqing opened her mouth icily without even looking at Zhang Tie.


    However, her voice sounded a bit trembling which was a bit strange. The closer Yan Feiqing was to the end of this tunnel, the more mood fluctuations would she have as if there was something over there. Although Yan Feiqing tried her best to calm down, the trivial change in the frequency and strength of her footsteps evidently manifested that she was struggling inside.


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie finally understood what this woman was struggling for inside.


    After passing by that crystal tunnel which was filled with milky-white energy, Zhang Tie saw two corpses at the end of the tunnel.


    Honestly, Zhang Tie was really startled by the two corpses. He had not imagined seeing corpses in the tower of time.


    Due to the rich energy inside the tower of time, the corpses remained as fresh as before.


    One corpse was over 100 m long. It was a crocodile-like monster that Zhang Tie had never seen before. It seemed that this monster was a prehistoric mutated species. It was covered with bloody scales with a grim look. Its head was equal to the size of a locomotive. Each scale on its body was as large as people''s palm...


    The tunnel was scattered with its scales and golden blood stains. Strangely, the blood stains seemingly had just dried up although this corpse might have already lain here for many years.


    There were also many wounds with different depths on this monster''s corpse. A longsword was inserted onto its head, splitting off its head into two halves.


    Together with this dead monster was a Hua male''s corpse which was hung over a steel-saber like the sharp front claw of that monster. The two sharp front claws of the monster directly split open the male''s body from his neck to his abdomen with one of that man''s legs in its mouth.


    At the sight of this scene, anyone would imagine about a life or death fight between this man and this prehistoric monster which appeared in the tower of time out of no reason. The result of this fight was that both of them died.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what that prehistoric monster was thinking about before death; however, given the male corpse, besides being full of pain, he also looked a bit confused and hateful while he was looking at the entrance of the tower of time with one hand reaching towards that place as if he was going to catch something...


    Now that they could enter this place, undoubtedly, that male who died together with that monster was a knight. Additionally, as that male''s corpse was well preserved, Zhang Tie found that that male was handsome with sword-shaped eyebrows and shiny eyes. If this guy was alive, he would definitely be very eye-catching wherever he was. Pitifully, this guy had already been dead in a poor way.


    There was a finger ring on the hand of the male corpse which reached towards the entrance of the tower of time. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie had known that it was a space-teleportation finger ring.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know about the identity of this guy. However, in the principle of being frugal, Zhang Tie was going to take off the finger ring from the male corpse. However, Yan Feiqing screamed abnormally...


    "Don''t touch his belongings..."


    Zhang Tie turned around with a dumbfounded look as he found that Yan Feiqing was watching this corpse with disordered qi and undulating breasts as well as a complex look while clenching her fists tightly, causing her fingers to be as white as her face...

 1346 A Dreamland

    Yan Feiqing''s scream stopped Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie turned around and watched Yan Feiqing for a few seconds. He then guessed that Yan Feiqing might be familiar with this man; not only that, they might have emotional collisions. Otherwise, Yan Feiqing would never have acted so abnormally. However, given the poor look of this male''s corpse, Zhang Tie concluded that Yan Feiqing might abhor him more than love as she didn''t even feel like burying his corpse.


    Now that this man could perish together with this bizarre prehistoric monster inside this tower of time, it seemed that he must be very hapless.


    After moving his hand back, Zhang Tie shrugged as he said casually, "I only felt that it''s a bit useless to have the space-teleportation finger ring lie here. Now that you''re familiar with this man, I will not touch his belongings then!"


    Yan Feiqing tightly pursed her mouth as she watched Zhang Tie for a short while silently before continuing to move towards the core area of the tower of time.


    Right being not far away from the two corpses, Zhang Tie saw a bright light film, which was the last barrier for distorting the space-time strength. After entering it, Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing would be completely isolated from the outside.


    After coming to the front of the light film, Yan Feiqing said calmly with her back against Zhang Tie''s face, "As this tower of time is available for 2 people at the same time, we need to enter this time-space barrier at the same time. On the count of three, we will enter it simultaneously..."


    Zhang Tie came to the light film. He stretched out his hand to touch it as he really discovered that there was an invisible barrier outside that light film which prevented his hand from reaching inside. No matter how much strength did he use, he could never move that light film even a bit.


    "Okay..." Zhang Tie replied.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to know that a tower of time could pose such a request for two people to enter it at the same time. Even Charles might have not heard about such a tower of time. As there were so many mysteries about the tower of time, Zhang Tie would not feel too amazed no matter how strange it was in front of such a marvelous project.


    However, after hearing Yan Feiqing''s words, Zhang Tie seemingly understood why there were two corpses outside this light film. The probability was that the two corpses might have encountered outside there due to some reason. They then started a fight there and finally died together. If that man was an animal controller, he might be able to communicate with that prehistoric beast in case of conflict; if not, in that case, he could only fight that berserk and aggressive prehistoric beast to death.


    "One, two, three..."


    When Yan Feiqing counted three, Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing strode forward at the same time. Closely after that, the two people entered the core area of the tower of time as if they had penetrated through a layer of the transparent bubble.


    The moment they entered it, the tunnel behind them had disappeared and turned into a huge piece of crystal. The two people were then surrounded by crystals, on which numerous bizarre runes started to flow at an increasing speed. Finally, those runes turned into light and made the space a huge light cocoon. At the same time, the crystals disappeared. As the light cocoon slightly rocked, a brilliant galaxy appeared above the two people. From then on, time inside started to freeze...


    When the brilliant galaxy appeared, the information about this tower of time also appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    ¡ª¡ªThe tower of time has been started. The space-time torsion is equal to the standard difference between the rotation time and the revolution time of this celestial body; namely, one year inside this space is equal to 1 day outside.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter 2 change circles of the phase of moons, namely, 60 years inside this space or 60 days outside, the space-time torsion would return to zero. From then on, the tower of time would enter silent energy storage period once again.


    ¡ª¡ªDuring this period, the essential energy inside this pyramid would cater to all the demands of the living beings inside it and ensure that the lives and cells of those living beings who enter this space does not age.


    ¡ª¡ªThis space connects to the elements realm, which could allow two entrants to cultivate inside at the same time.


    ¡ª¡ªThis space is matched with a rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region. Within 60 years, the entrant would promote to immortal art craftsman at most. None of the articles inside the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region could be taken away.


    ¡ª¡ªIf the entrants want to leave out of here in advance, the two people need to rotate the time ball on the ground in an anti-clockwise manner and leave 1 hour later at the same time. Otherwise, the time ball would continue to run.


    ¡ª¡ª120 years later outside, the tower of time would restart.


    These tips were similar to that Zhang Tie saw in the last tower of time.


    However, Zhang Tie still almost sprung up due to excitement as he had not imagined that this tower of time was matched with the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region. It was like a dream. A few days ago, Zhang Tie was worried about his steam centrifugal ballista because he had to grasp the skill of runes array if he wanted to invent a steam centrifugal ballista that could be used to kill demon knights. Such a skill was exclusive to the immortal craftsman. As Zhang Tie was just a major craftsman, he might not promote to a immortal craftsman in 100-200 years.


    The rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region in this tower of time was simply like a dreamland for Zhang Tie.


    "I''m not going to leave until 60 years later, namely, 2 months that of the outside. If you cannot bear being lonely for such a long time, you''d better think about how to deal with it yourself. I''m not interested in becoming a rune instrument master. During this period, the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region will be available for you. It depends on you which level could you reach during the 60 years. Additionally, when I''m in cultivation, don''t disturb me. Otherwise, I will show you something..."


    Yan Feiqing said icily, ignoring Zhang Tie''s emotion fluctuations. After finishing her words, she walked all the way towards the only crystal bed. Sitting on it with crossed legs, she started to cure her wound.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how was Yan Feiqing''s wound. However, after seeing that this woman could sit down and cure her wound herself, Zhang Tie realized that she might be okay. Therefore, he left her alone. Actually, after entering this space, Zhang Tie had sensed that Yan Feiqing was still a bit on guard against him from inside and intended to keep away from him. Therefore, Zhang Tie could only treat it as this old virgin''s weird temperament and didn''t care about it too much.


    The space of the core area of this tower of time was over 10 times larger than that he saw in the last tower of time. It was very simply furnished inside this space. Besides that crystal bed at a corner, he only saw a high platform in the middle of the space and the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region in the far.


    This place could hold 10,000 soldiers for drill, not to mention only 2 of them.


    After Yan Feiqing sat down with crossed legs, the space became pretty quiet with the hovering galaxy and the sufficient energy...


    Zhang Tie ran towards the high platform in the middle of this space.


    That high platform was over 100 m high, making it pretty eye-catching. The steps were composed of crystals. On the top of the platform, there was a round region which covered over 1,000 square meters. In the center of that region, there were two time balls which were standing there quietly with a distance of over 20 m. Being not far from the two time balls, Zhang Tie saw two raised crystal mattresses. Zhang Tie came to the front of a crystal mattress and sensed it. He found that the locations of the two crystal mattresses were where this tower of time was connected to the elements realm. This place was like an advanced elements gathering matrix where people could form their chakras rapidly due to the plentiful elements.


    Zhang Tie estimated that it would take him almost 20 years to form the last 36 scales of his water chakra at this place. In the remaining 40 years, even if he exerted his full efforts in forming wind chakra, he could at most promote to 1 change realm of shadow knight. As he cultivated an emperor-level secret method, after promoting to a shadow knight, he needed more wind elements than others who cultivated secret methods below shadow knights which meant a slower speed to form his wind chakra.


    The tower of time might be the best place for others to cultivate; however, the tower of time was a bit useless for him. As he had grasped the secret method of Purgatory Samsara Method, it would be unreasonable for him to cultivate in the tower of time. During the 60 years, he could definitely reach the 16h floor of his All-spirits Pagoda and promote to an elder of Great Wilderness Sect, who could control knight-level mutated beasts.


    Without Great Wilderness Sutra, he could also practice secret skills of Bloody Soul Sutra inside. Moreover, there was a rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region inside which Zhang Tie had always been dreaming for.


    During the 60 years, even if Zhang Tie only promoted to one level higher, he could also become at least a craftsman master, which meant a lot for him...

 1347 Being Busy

    The rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region in the tower of time was as large as 5 football courts. This region was a huge semi-closed crystal Mongolian yurt with a portal.


    Out of great curiosity, Zhang Tie entered that region through that portal.


    Being different than that simple and spacious space of the other regions in the tower, this rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region shocked Zhang Tie for quite a while.


    Given its look, the region was only as large as a few football courts; however, after entering it, Zhang Tie discovered that the inner space of this Mongolian yurt was over 100 times greater than that 6f the outside. This was a bizarre space whose inner space was greater than that of the outside. Although the inner space was not as large as that of Castle of Black Iron, it was the only space that could allow living beings to access which Zhang Tie had ever seen, except for Castle of Black Iron.


    It was all wilderness in this space; precisely, the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region was an exotic theme amusement park.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered it, he had already seen the land which carried the pristine qi of soil. Zhang Tie thought it was an illusion. However, after stepping onto it by foot, taking some soil and rubbing it, Zhang Tie confirmed that they were real with a thick layer. Additionally, the soil was special quality clay which was abundant in high alumina which was always used to make refractory bricks in a blast furnace.


    It was a necessary skill for a major craftsman to identify the property of soil. Zhang Tie didn''t know about it before. However, after being a major craftsman, he knew it.


    On the land which was as large as dozens of football courts, Zhang Tie noticed the traces of various ores; importantly, coal and iron ores. Besides, he also found some other ores and rotten wood...


    A brook, which was filled with stones, was flowing by this land. After washing his hands in the brook, Zhang Tie cupped a bit water and tasted it when he found that it was drinkable.


    Zhang Tie had never imagined about meeting such things in the tower of time.


    After passing this wilderness, he came to a region which was covered with stones. Various bizarre smelt metals and some coarse metal tools were placed on rows of standard racks tidily and respectively, which accounted for almost half of this region. As a result, Zhang Tie felt dizzy.


    Mithril, mountain brass, abyss iron, black gold, violet gold, platinum, blue gold and navyblue iron, all these that Zhang Tie could identify existed here in a large quantity. There were also many more precious metals that Zhang Tie had never seen before. Those metals were the raw materials for rune instrument manufacturing masters.


    After passing this region, Zhang Tie came to a region whose floor was covered with crystals. This region, as small as a common warehouse, was close to the edge of rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region. There were a bizarre smelting furnace, a senior metal processing platform, various rune metal processing tools and some strange devices in this region.


    The rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region was divided into 3 parts which were clearly hierarchical from the primary level to the senior level. That pristine land was like a wilderness while the last crystal region was like a master''s workshop.


    What Zhang Tie was interested in most was that huge crystal ball whose diameter was about 1 m in the most eye-catching location of the last region. The crystal ball was covered with numerous runes. There was a concaved palm-shaped mold on the crystal ball which could allow one''s palm to be put in. Only after observing this crystal ball for a short while, Zhang Tie had already known its usage. He then put his palm onto the mold. In a split second, enormous information poured into Zhang Tie''s mind from that crystal ball.


    The information that Zhang Tie acquired was mainly composed of two parts: first, the introductions about all the metals, tools and strange devices in the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region. After acquiring such information, Zhang Tie was very familiar with this region.


    Second, 10 functional modules. There was the most professional and comprehensive guidance in each module. The entrant could gradually grasp all the skills and knowledge required by craftsman apprentice, craftsman, copper hammer craftsman, silver hammer craftsman, gold hammer craftsman, mithril craftsman, mysterious runes craftsman, major craftsman, craftsman master and immortal craftsman.


    Zhang Tie attempted to select the module of craftsman apprentice spiritually. In a split second, all the information concerning craftsman apprentice started to pour into Zhang Tie''s head.


    Being not limited to words, the information also included pictures and images and some pure experience and gnosis which could only be passed through conscious waves.


    Although being a major craftsman, Zhang Tie was also shocked by what he acquired about craftsman apprentice. Because this knowledge was definitely more complete and deeper than that he inherited from "Old Jiang". The most precious knowledge was in the "implicit knowledge" of this phase.


    Human knowledge was divided into two categories. The common knowledge being expressed by words, map or mathematic equations that we learned at school or library was called explicit knowledge. The other sort of knowledge which couldn''t be expressed systematically was called implicit knowledge which was our recognition about some actions.


    The phrases being close to implicit knowledge were experiences and gnosis. Usually, all the experienced senior technicians in factories had accumulated implicit knowledge which couldn''t be learned from books. Being implicit knowledge, they were principles and methods that could only be comprehended through practice.


    The crystal ball in the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region contained a lot of implicit knowledge about each level of rune instrument manufacturing master, which was priceless in the eyes of each rune instrument manufacturing master.


    Zhang Tie kept absorbing information from the crystal ball thirstily.


    After learning the knowledge about craftsman apprentice, Zhang Tie selected the knowledge about craftsman, copper hammer craftsman, silver hammer craftsman, golden hammer craftsman, mithril craftsman, mysterious rune craftsman and major craftsman consecutively.


    Standing beside the crystal ball, and with one hand on it, Zhang Tie maintained this gesture for over 50 hours before absorbing all the knowledge about the 8 levels of rune instrument manufacturing master.


    Of course, it was not enough for him to only absorb the knowledge from the crystal ball; otherwise, it would be too easy for one to promote to a rune instrument manufacturing master. The most important function in the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region was that he could practice inside himself.


    Previously, Zhang Tie wanted to learn the knowledge about craftsman master directly; however, after absorbing the information, Zhang Tie sensed that he lacked practice on rune instrument manufacturing skills and manipulative ability. Therefore, after thinking about it for a short while, Zhang Tie determined to lay a solid foundation on his manipulative abilities and fundamental skills ahead of contacting contents about craftsman master until he was able to promote to a higher level.


    This was what Zhang Tie concluded after absorbing those "implicit knowledge" over the past 50 hours; namely, to accumulate richly and break out vastly.


    Being unlike commoners, knights who were immersed in cultivation and gnosis felt that 2 days was just the blink of one eye.


    As it was quiet outside the Mongolian yurt, Zhang Tie knew that Yan Feiqing was still healing her wound on the crystal bed. Therefore, he didn''t care about what was going on Yan Feiqing''s side.


    ''Just do it!''


    After recalling what he had learned about craftsman apprentice, Zhang Tie immediately ran to the barren land and started his work.


    After running to the riverside, Zhang Tie found a sharp-edged stone over there. After that, he started to dig soil using the stone not far away from the brook. After a short while, Zhang Tie had dug a pit. He then went to fetch a rotten wood. He made a groove on the rotten wood using the sharp-edged stone. After running here and there for a few rounds, Zhang Tie made the soil in the pit into mud before starting to knead it.


    When the mud could be shaped, Zhang Tie made a simple brick kiln using the stones alongside the brook and the mud in the pit...


    ...


    When Zhang Tie was busy doing his work, Yan Feiqing who was healing her wound turned hot and cold and was quivering slightly; besides, her face turned red and white every now and then...

 1348 A Hot Kiss

    Zhang Tie was completely immersed in his own world in the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region of the tower of time.


    In the wilderness, Zhang Tie started to practice what he had learned from the fundamental skills of craftsman apprentice in the wilderness.


    Zhang Tie had never done that before which was both familiar and strange for him. In the outside world, Zhang Tie would never feel free to fiddle with these things which looked naive and time-consuming. However, in the tower of time, Zhang Tie had enough time to do that. Additionally, his principal target in the tower was to promote to an immortal craftsman, which was the key step for him to make his dream come true.


    Zhang Tie completely took what he was doing as an amusement. The entire rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region was like an exclusive amusement region for Zhang Tie.


    After making that simplest brick kiln, Zhang Tie didn''t stop.


    After sharpening the edge of that stone on a rock alongside the brook, Zhang Tie fetched two more rotten timbers and some small wooden clubs.


    After having those wooden clubs roll down a piece of flat rock, Zhang Tie could easily choose the best one for making fire. After that, he sharpened one end of the wooden club a bit using that sharp-edged stone and made the first tool for making fire.


    Although this link sounded simple, the simplest way to choose the best fire-making wooden club and to ensure that the angle of the sharp end of the wooden club could maintain the biggest friction heat coefficient when being drilled couldn''t be learned from books.


    After doing all these, Zhang Tie broke a dried and rotten wood by a piece of stone and ground them into wood bits. After that, he went to the bank of the brook and picked two brown stones. After rubbing them with each other, he saw sparkles. Therefore, he was sure that the two pieces of stones contained a high content of sulfur. He then rubbed a part of one piece of stone into pieces and put some particles of the stone into the concaved part of a rotten wood plus some wood bits. After that, Zhang Tie started to drill the wood for fire using a wooden club.


    Those particles of the stone which contained a high content of sulfur could increase the friction force between the wooden club and the dried wood so that those wood bits could be lit at a faster speed.


    If he used his battle qi or ability as a knight, Zhang Tie could easily make all these; however, by doing all these with the ability of a common craftsman apprentice, he could gain different achievements and pleasures.


    Only after a few minutes, the wooden base had started to smoke while those fine wood bits started to turn red and burn up. Zhang Tie then added more fine wood bits and woods on it. After a short while, the fire had flared up.


    After moving the fire into the brick kiln, Zhang Tie added some woods inside. After having the blaze under control, Zhang Tie ran to the bank of the brook and dug another big pit where he started to make mud once again.


    The content of water was an important factor in making mud. If too much water was used, the mud would be too diluted and could barely be shaped; if too less water was used, the mud would not be too glutinous and would easily crack up when heated. Besides, in the process of making mud, the mud should be sticky in a balanced and fine way. No single particle or bubble was allowed. Most importantly, also the last step, he should fix the size of the bricks according to the property of the mud. The size of a brick was in correspondence with the property of mud, which determined the degree of fire-resistance and durability of the refractory bricks. If the size of bricks couldn''t match the property of the mud, the bricks would face problems. Although it seemed to be a coarse job, it also contained fine knowledge.


    After making mud well, Zhang Tie fetched some wood blocks and two pieces of stones as he made a simple manual brick making tool using them. After stabbing this tool into the well-made mud, Zhang Tie moved some mud out of there. After that, he spread it over the flat stone and made a relatively regular rectangular mud brick.


    When he was making mud, he kept making tens of thousands of bricks.


    When the former mud bricks were dry, Zhang Tie placed those bricks into the kiln and started to bake them.


    Whatsoever, Zhang Tie would not feel hungry or thirsty inside the tower of time; therofore, he was just preoccupied in it and almost forgot about time...


    After baking bricks, he built the first coke oven using the first batch of well-baked refractory bricks.


    After building the coke oven, Zhang Tie went for coal and used coal as coke.


    Zhang Tie kept working as follows:


    Baking bricks; making coke; making a simple blower device; digging iron ores by simple tools; building a smelting furnace using the well-made refractory bricks and glutinous soil; putting in coke and iron ores...


    When Zhang Tie saw red liquefied iron flowing out of the smelting furnace, he almost dropped tears. It was really not easy for one to start an undertaking from scratch.


    At the sight of the liquefied iron, Zhang Tie hurriedly led the liquefied iron into a simply baked sand mold which was made of glutinous soil and sand from the brook.


    Zhang Tie made over 30 molds in total. After pouring liquefied iron into these molds, Zhang Tie got the first batch of iron tools only after having the liquefied iron to cool down in the molds and simply dealing with them. With this batch of iron tools, Zhang Tie could raise his productive efficiency by many times and do a lot of things. Later on, Zhang Tie could produce steel in this wilderness through various methods that he had grasped such as bloomery steelmaking method, steel frying method, perfusing steelmaking method, raw and cooked steelmaking method, crucible steelmaking method, converter steelmaking method, open-hearth steelmaking method, one-step steelmaking method and runes steelmaking method...


    With steel, he would make more tools easily such as a steam engine...


    This process was fundamental for craftsman apprentice which was the preliminary step for rune instrument manufacturing masters.


    After trying it from scratch, Zhang Tie indeed gained a lot.


    After those molds cooled down, Zhang Tie dealt with over 30 iron tools using the sands and rocks alongside the brook. Watching these iron tools, Zhang Tie finally let out a deep sigh satisfactorily.


    After picking a complex iron chisel that was used to process wood, Zhang Tie flipped it, causing a melodious metallic sound. Zhang Tie then nodded. The quality of iron varied due to its maker. Although Zhang Tie''s iron making equipment was the simplest, he used the skill of steel frying method as he lowered the content of carbon in pig iron to a certain degree. Therefore, although these tools were ironwares, their quality was absolutely much better than ordinary iron tools. Actually, they looked more like steelwares.


    ''After coming out of here, I would not be doubted by people anymore after exposing my identity as a rune instrument manufacturing master to the public.''


    Zhang Tie thought as he put down the tool satisfactorily. Previously, if he revealed his identity as a rune instrument manufacturing master, he might be doubted and treated as a weirdo. From then on, he would not worry about that. ''My skills as rune instrument manufacturing master come from the tower of time. I don''t know about plundering fruits at all. I will see who can say no to me. The fact that I could meet another tower of time only indicates that I have great moral standing. Goodness will always have a good reward, admire me or not...''


    "Hahahaha..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter. After that, he stroked his face as he muttered, "I wonder whether that woman has healed her wound or not? I should at least show my solicitude to her. It seems that I''ve been in this region for 15 days..."


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had stayed in the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region for 15 days, during which period, Zhang Tie made his first batch of iron tools from scratch. Not until then did he feel a bit fatigued.


    Even knights had to sleep in the tower of time; otherwise, it would violate the universal laws of the existence of living beings. Although Zhang Tie was energetic, he would also feel fatigued.


    After cleansing his face, Zhang Tie exited the huge crystal Mongolian yurt.


    The moment he walked out of the crystal Mongolian yurt, he had moved his eyes onto that high platform.


    Yan Feiqing was not cultivating there; otherwise, he would sense evident elements response over there. Therefore, Zhang Tie walked towards her crystal bed.


    Soon after he made a detour around that cultivation platform, Zhang Tie had already caught sight of Yan Feiqing...


    Zhang Tie was startled so much that he instantly accelerated more than 100 times and arrived at the bedside in the blink of an eye.


    Yan Feiqing was not sitting on the bed; instead, she was lying there with eyes closed and messy hair. There was a puddle of blood on the bed, which was flowing out of Yan Feiqing''s left wrist. Additionally, Yan Feiqing was holding her bun by her right hand. The wound on her left wrist might be caused by Yan Feiqing herself. Zhang Tie wondered why this woman would try to commit suicide in this way...


    Zhang Tie hurriedly checked it. There was still fresh blood on her bun; additionally, her wound was still gurgling blood. All these indicated that Yan Feiqing had just tried to commit suicide...


    Zhang Tie instantly tore off one sleeve and split it into strips. Closely after that, he started to dress the wound of Yan Feiqing.


    When he prepared to dress the wound, he cleaned the blood stains and found that there was more than one wound on her left wrist. Zhang Tie then knew that it was definitely not her first time to try committing suicide these days.


    ''Is she crazy?'' Zhang Tie wondered.


    Yan Feiqing was cold all over. Strangely, the moment Zhang Tie took her hand and touched her body, Yan Feiqing''s body had started to turn as hot as a kettle of boiling water...


    When Zhang Tie helped her bind up her wound, Yan Feiqing, being in a coma, uttered a low groan. Closely after that, she opened her eyes. When she saw Zhang Tie tearing off his sleeve and helping her bind up her wound, she roared with quivering and faint voice, "Piss...piss...off..." while a struggling eye light flashed across her face unconsciously.


    "Ahh, my lady, don''t do that. Even if I know that you and that dead guy outside there have any emotional collisions, you don''t need to do that. Don''t choose to die here for love. As we''re alone here, if you really died here, the others would doubt that it''s me who killed you. I can''t stand a woman seeking for death in front of me..." Zhang Tie said as he kept bindng up her wounds while lowering his head. Honestly, as Zhang Tie had a self-healing body, he did not excel in dealing with wounds; especially that there was more than 1 wound on her wrist. "As you''ve not healed your wounds, if you need any help, just let me know. No matter what, I will always be a good man here. By the way, I''ve got some vials of medicaments..."


    "Let...let go of my hand...don''t touch me..." Yan Feiqing''s face had turned red only after a few seconds while panting. At the same time, she wanted to draw her hand out of Zhang Tie''s grasp. However, even being a shadow knight, she still couldn''t match Zhang Tie in strength. Zhang Tie just held her wrist steadily and kept binding up her wounds.


    "Don''t move. It will be okay soon. I''m not used to that. Yi, why are you turning so warm? You were cold just now..."


    Zhang Tie just felt that Yan Feiqing''s current state and voice were a bit strange; however, he didn''t think about it too much.


    At this moment, Yan Feiqing slapped towards Zhang Tie''s shoulder by another hand. Zhang Tie had not imagined that this woman could attack him in this case. As they were close to each other, he directly fell down...


    Due to her wounds, her palm couldn''t be as powerful as that of a shadow knight. Plus Zhang Tie''s great strike-resistant ability, he only felt a bit pain; instead of being injured.


    As Zhang Tie was holding her wrist by one hand, he directly drew Yan Feiqing off the crystal bed. With the inertia of her palm, Yan Feiqing directly rolled into Zhang Tie''s chest...


    Before feeling any pain, Zhang Tie had felt soft in his chest while Yan Feiqing''s face almost touched his. At the same time, he tightly held a plump, soft thing coincidentally while supporting Yan Feiqing''s waist by another hand...


    Zhang Tie was almost driven mad. However, after feeling the plump and soft thing, he clenched it habitually. That was absolutely a conditioned reflex that Zhang Tie had formed when he stayed with his wives.


    The moment Zhang Tie moved, he had heard a pant. He was so scared that he immediately loosened his grip. At the same time, he apologized, "Ahh, I''m so sorry, I didn''t mean it..."


    Zhang Tie wanted to turn around and explain it to Yan Feiqing. Coincidentally, Yan Feiqing was also turning around her face. As a result, their lips encountered in the air...


    Nose to nose, eyes to eyes and mouth to mouth...


    Zhang Tie widely opened his eyes in a daze as if he had been struck by a lightning bolt...


    ''I''m dead; I''m dead. I''ve touched her before and now kissed her. Will this woman kill me?''


    When he thought about Yan Feiqing''s stubborn temperament and her comment about him when she saw him for the first time, Zhang Tie''s heart kept pounding as he just prayed for Yan Feiqing to not lose her temper; otherwise, it would be a tough way to go in this tower.


    Whereas, Zhang Tie didn''t know that this kiss was the last match that would ignite a powder cask.


    When Zhang Tie was dumbfounded and thought that Yan Feiqing was going to kill him, Yan Feiqing moved. In a split second, she had embraced Zhang Tie tightly as she started to kiss him forcefully...

 1349 The Reason

    The ardor came as suddenly as volcanic eruptions, making it dark and dizzy all over...


    Someone said that love had nothing to do with age. Zhang Tie didn''t have any feelings about this aphorism; however, he felt that it was pretty true at this moment.


    Zhang Tie really didn''t sense any difference in age between Yan Feiqing and him. At that time, he didn''t even consider about Yan Feiqing''s age at all; instead, he only felt that Yan Feiqing was nothing different than other women as he saw vigor and charm from this woman like what he had seen on all the other young and beautiful women. Additionally, as a shadow knight, Yan Feiqing was even more vigorous and enthusiastic than Linda and the other wives of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie sensed a maiden-like innocence from Yan Feiqing like what he sensed from Beverly and Pandora when in Blackhot City. At the same time, Zhang Tie felt that she was as enchanting as Linda and Ms. Olina. ''This is a bewitching beauty! A top-class bewitching beauty!''


    Some men could even accept getting along well with inflatable dolls. Given her beautiful look and marvelous frame, even hypocrites and idiots would not care about her age.


    Previously, Yan Feiqing was an iceberg; however, she was now an erupting volcanic vent. The passion and armor of this woman melted Zhang Tie like how magma melted ice and snow.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t remember how many times had he erupted to cool down this volcano completely.


    After extinguishing this volcano consecutively for two more weeks, Zhang Tie also felt a bit fatigued. He then fell asleep. Before that, a whim occurred to his mind, ''Erm, I''ve f*cked Yan Feiqing. It''s Yan Feiqing. Damn it! It''s nothing serious, no, she did it first. It should be that I was raped. I''m the very victim...''


    After then, Zhang Tie closed his eyes...


    ...


    "You smelly rascal. Son of a b*tch, go die..." Yan Feiqing glared at him with widely opened eyes and in a white robe as she slashed out her sword towards Zhang Tie from the sky. Zhang Tie realized that he had nowhere to escape; therefore, Yan Feiqing''s sword directly penetrated through his heart, causing his blood to pour out of the wound like big rivers constantly. Yan Feiqing flew towards him by stepping on the bloody billows. With another slash, Zhang Tie felt his lower body cold...


    Zhang Tie was completely awakened by this dream...


    After waking up, Zhang Tie saw stars over the sky. After being in a daze for a couple of seconds, Zhang Tie finally recovered his composure when he realized that he was still lying on the crystal bed of the tower of time. Not only that, Zhang Tie lowered his head and saw Yan Feiqing lying against his chest naked and sleeping well. There was even blood on the bed. Zhang Tie''s clothes were lying under the bed disorderly...


    Her white skirt had been burned into ashes by the yin fire that suddenly flared up in her body. In that case, if Zhang Tie did not release his protective battle qi timely, he might have been wounded.


    When he recalled the yin fire, Zhang Tie seemingly understood something.


    That yin fire was the symbol of a top libertine poison inside the body of the female knight. As it was too arbitrary that it could even cause a yin fire inside the woman''s body. Over the past half a month, Yan Feiqing had been tussling with that top libertine poison as she wanted to suppress it. However, when the top libertine poison took effect, she felt like being burned by the yin fire as her guts were in a furnace where she felt that she was not even alive.


    Libertine poison was different than ordinary poisons. Ordinary poisons were external toxins which aimed at destroying people''s physical and psychological functions. Ordinary poisons might be diffused; however, libertine poison couldn''t be cured unless being balanced by yang fire as libertine poison suddenly amplified the essences and life energy of people by 1,000 times and dominated people''s behaviors. The sharper the libertine poison was, the fiercer it would be.


    ''Of course, Yan Feiqing didn''t want to let nature take its course. In order to suppress the yin fire, she chose to hurt herself in order to maintain calm and clear-minded. Since entering this tower, she has been distant from me. That day, the moment I touched her wound that day, her body had turned warm. That was because her yin fire was activated by my yang fire. It''s similar to how thunder would cause a fire on the ground.


    Undoubtedly, the top libertine poison inside Yan Feiqing''s body was injected by that little poisonous viper inside the main tent of demons in Xiangshan City.


    After waking up for a short while, Zhang Tie had made head or tail of this thing.


    But what was troublesome was approaching. When he recalled that dream he just had, he was even afraid that the same scene would repeat in the reality.


    After swallowing his saliva for a couple of times, Zhang Tie got off the bed carefully and quietly like a thief.


    After getting off the bed, Zhang Tie stealthily picked up his clothes. The moment he wanted to leave, he suddenly thought about something. He then turned around and glanced at that naked woman. After that, he returned and covered his clothes onto Yan Feiqing''s body. After doing all these, he stood on tiptoe and escaped all the way towards the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region only in a pair of short pants...


    When Zhang Tie escaped away, Yan Feiqing suddenly opened her eyes.


    When she saw Zhang Tie''s clothes and how he escaped away in a pair of short pants, a sophisticated look flashed across Yan Feiqing''s face.


    Unlike what Zhang Tie thought, Yan Feiqing actually woke up earlier than him. However, she was also in a daze facing this situation. In case of being embarrassed, she could only pretend to fall asleep so that Zhang Tie could wake up and leave first.


    After stroking those clothes left by Zhang Tie, she covered her body using those clothes. The moment she straightened up her body, she had frowned. Yan Feiqing then touched the place between her legs as her face blushed...


    Yan Feiqing covered her breasts with Zhang Tie''s clothes, which still carried Zhang Tie''s odor. If it were before, Yan Feiqing would have long been irritated; however, now she had another feeling while sniffing the familiar odor.


    Yan Feiqing let out a sigh dismally...

 1350 Just a Dream

    After returning to the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region, Zhang Tie became a bit restless as he was not sure about Yan Feiqing''s response after she woke up, whether she would accept it plainly or fight him to death like how he had dreamed or marry him like what was described in some knight novels...


    Being very upset for 2 hours, he finally saw Yan Feiqing standing in the huge crystal Mongolian yurt.


    Yan Feiqing looked as tall as Zhang Tie. In Zhang Tie''s clothes, she looked pretty charming. However, her face had been cold once again while her dismal qi felt like how Zhang Tie saw her for the first time.


    At the sight of her, Zhang Tie felt a bit embarrassed as he didn''t know what to say. However, Yan Feiqing''s coldness made him hesitated as he was afraid that this woman would lose her temper towards him. Scratching his head, Zhang Tie then said, "Erm...are you going to rape me before killing? I was actually a bit passive as for what happened last night..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the icy look of Yan Feiqing was shattered instantly while being replaced by a faint blush. Closely after that, she glared at Zhang Tie as she said icily, "Nothing happened last night. You must be dreaming. Am I clear?"


    "Oh, I see, I see. It''s just a dream..." Zhang Tie also told a lie with his eyes widely opened. As Yan Feiqing was still wearing his clothes, his words sounded especially unconvincing. However, as there were only 2 people inside this tower, now that they had agreed on that point, it was then just a dream.


    "So why are you here?"


    "I think there might be water for promoting rune instrument manufacturing skill. I''d like to see whether there''s water here..." Yan Feiqing said calmly as her eye light passed over Zhang Tie and moved all the way towards the brook on the wilderness far behind Zhang Tie. The widest place of the brook was only 2-3 meters. Although the water was not deep, it was enough for one person to take a bath. "Please leave out of here. I will expropriate this place for the time being. I want to take a bath..."


    "Oh, well, well..." Zhang Tie let out a sigh hurriedly in a pair of short pants. With a bit smile like a waiter in a restaurant, he said, "I will be your watchdog. I swear to beat anyone who dares peep at you to death. Last night...erm...it was too much...especially it was your first time to do that. You indeed need a bath. Then, you will feel cool all over..."


    With eyes widely opened, Yan Feiqing gritted her teeth while her battle qi rose up as if she was going to attack him, "Roll out of here..."


    Zhang Tie hurriedly escaped out of this crystal Mongolian yurt with hands on his head.


    After exiting this place, Zhang Tie felt relaxed at once. Yan Feiqing''s response was out of his imagination. If she could treat it as nothing had happened between them, Zhang Tie would feel much relaxed later on; otherwise, in this circumstance, if this woman always thought about chopping him into pieces, he would have a great headache. Even though he had the ability of a divine dominator, he couldn''t kill this woman.


    Although Yan Feiqing was taking a bath inside, she must be paying special attention to the entrance of this crystal Mongolian yurt. If she found that Zhang Tie was peeping at her, there would be hell to pay. Zhang Tie didn''t mean to stir her up at this moment. However, out of curiosity, he still peeped inside using his lotus-flower eyes...


    It felt like how he watched at Meng Shidao''s semi-sage realm above Xuanyuan Hill. Under his lotus-flower eyes, he saw a picture that a beauty was taking a bath. Only after such a transient glance, Zhang Tie had remembered what happened between him and Yan Feiqing last night. His heart then palpitated and he was almost out of control. Zhang Tie then hurriedly closed his eyes. After a short while, he finally calmed down.


    ''Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie! You''re so libertine! How could you peep at a woman taking a bath using your lotus-flower eyes? F*ck...''


    Zhang Tie despised himself pretty much inside. After that, he just waited for Yan Feiqing to come out of there solemnly.


    Yan Feiqing''s bath lasted 2 hours.


    Besides taking a bath, Yan Feiqing even washed Zhang Tie''s clothes. After drying them up using her battle qi, she left in a wholly different manner.


    "Erm...these clothes..." Zhang Tie pointed at his clothes which Yan Feiqing was wearing as he wanted to say that they fit her pretty well. Whereas, Zhang Tie swallowed his words back after hearing Yan Feiqing''s reply.


    "They''re mine!" Yan Feiqing replied as she glared at Zhang Tie who looked poor only in a pair of short pants with a glassy-eyed expression like a queen. "From today on, except for this place and the cultivation platform, you''re not allowed to visit anywhere in this tower without my consent. Additionally, I would expropriate this place at any time when you should leave here forwardly..."


    After leaving her words, Yan Feiqing directly left while raising her head with rolled eyes before Zhang Tie made any response.


    Zhang Tie finally understood that he should never reason with any women, 3-5 little girl or 300-500 shadow knight.


    "It seems that all the women should be coaxed after their first time..." Zhang Tie muttered.


    Soon after his words, an aggressive off-hand battle qi strike had been released towards him. If ordinary earth knights were struck by it, they would definitely spurt out blood. Zhang Tie hurriedly dodged away as he ran all the way towards that huge crystal Mongolian yurt without looking back, leaving words, "You''re right. You''re right. I will do as you said..."


    ...


    After returning to the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region, Zhang Tie recovered his composure. When he thought about the furious strike of Yan Feiqing, he suddenly revealed a smile. Zhang Tie knew the real power of her full-strength strike. Given her strike, she only used 30% of her full strength. She was definitely not behaving maliciously. It indicated that she didn''t hate him that much...


    After thinking through it, Zhang Tie felt much better.


    After coming to the bank of the brook where Yan Feiqing had just taken a bath, Zhang Tie observed it for a short while. He found that the water here was pretty limpid; however, it was only a bit deeper than 1m. It was available for taking a bath; however, it was a bit difficult for one to have a comfortable bath...


    A whim suddenly occurred to his mind. Zhang Tie knew that a woman would definitely come here for the secondary bath if she knew that there was such a place; especially a woman like Yan Feiqing. A male knight might not take a bath for decades in a tower of time because he would not turn dirty; however, female knights especially Yan Feiqing would definitely not go without a bath for such a long time; especially being witnessed by a male knight, if he knew that she didn''t take a bath for 6 decades, Yan Feiqing might even kill him.


    Given the word "expropriation" mentioned by Yan Feiqing, she might want to take this place as a permanent bathtub later on.


    "Whatever, I''m here to improve my rune instrument manufacturing skill. Why not make a template here? I''m always free here..." Zhang Tie muttered. After that, he started his renovation.


    In a pair of short pants, Zhang Tie felt much convenient to work.


    By renovating that brook, Zhang Tie started to check and comprehend what he had learned.


    With iron tools and his great strength, Zhang Tie''s efficiency increased by dozens of times than before. On the same day, Zhang Tie had found graphite clay and made his first crucible.


    2 days later, Zhang Tie produced his first batch of steel material in crucible steelmaking method and made his first batch of steel tools. He then owned the first simple metal processing desk in this space.


    During the 2 days, Zhang Tie ran out of the crystal Mongolian yurt to check Yan Feiqing''s situation. After seeing 4 elements flickering over that high platform in the middle of that tower of time, Zhang Tie knew that Yan Feiqing had started to recover her wounds and was cultivating officially. Therefore, Zhang Tie became reassured.


    With steel tools, Zhang Tie renovated the brook at a much greater speed. The place where Yan Feiqing took bath was relatively deeper and wider in the brook. Zhang Tie then made that place a ladder-shaped water pool covering 70-80 square meters.


    All the impurities in the water pool had been moved out of there. After that, Zhang Tie paved the bottom of the water pool with fine sands and round cobbles that he got from other places. He even paved a path leading to the entrance of the crystal Mongolian yurt using the stones that he got from the bottom of the brook. He arranged the stones in the shape of plum blossom. After doing all that, Zhang Tie made a screen-shaped rockery using mud, sand and clay that he had prepared so that this water pool could be sheltered. Besides, Zhang Tie even moved some edgeless boulders ranging from 5 tons to over 10 tons to the bank so that people could rest or place clothes on them...


    ...


    Yan Feiqing came to the crystal Mongolian yurt 1 month later. At the sight of considerate yet a bit coarse bath place which was utterly different than that she saw before, she was stunned...


    "Don''t think too much. I was just practicing my skills. I also like to be clean. I don''t expect anything from you..." Zhang Tie had explained and ran out of there before Yan Feiqing asked.


    Watching Zhang Tie running away, Yan Feiqing''s mouth corners slightly raised...

 1351 Independent Cultivation

    Zhang Tie kept practicing what he had learned in the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region as the bath place was gradually improved...


    Even if Yan Feiqing was not there, Zhang Tie would also take it as something interesting. If battle strength was not considered, rune instrument manufacturing masters were those who could almost change the world mostly with their intelligence and manipulative ability.


    Pharmacists were excelled in making medicinal pills. What people ate all belonged to the research field of pharmacists.


    Alchemists were proficient in stones. Concretely, gems, semi-gems and crystals. Alchemists could definitely touch a stone and turn it into gold. After being treated by alchemists, those gems, semi-gems and crystals which were originally decorative would always carry marvelous effects like having been blessed by buddists or the God. They could match medicinal pills in curing diseases and strengthening people''s body; improving equipment attributes as effectively as runes. Of course, what made people awe-struck most was alchemists'' ability to make alchemists'' bombs, which was, as of now, the only object that could be used to kill knights on specific occasions.


    Rune instrument manufacturing masters were good at melting and forging metals.


    The early stage of rune instrument manufacturing master; especially the stage of craftsman apprentice and craftsman was like technicians, engineers and blacksmiths in plants. If a fresh rune instrument manufacturing master was put into a blacksmith''s store or a plant, it was nothing different than putting a drop of water into the ocean.


    The middle stage of this profession was equal to the advanced stage of technicians, engineers and blacksmiths as they could almost make all kinds of machines using metals ranging from a tiny ordinary screw to a complex steam turbine. All the relevant knowledge was in the mind of rune instrument manufacturing masters. In this stage, rune instrument manufacturing masters started to make big items such as machines, sabers, swords and helmets and gradually made them more delicate. Additionally, their scope of business started to expand. Any experienced silver hammer craftsman would have adept skills in fine arts and sculpture. If a silver hammer craftsman was put with those craftsmen who could make fine and delicate jewelry, their real identity would also not be identified.


    Since Zhang Tie took the fruit of plunder from Old Master Jiang, he had already grasped the profound skills in fine arts and sculpture. However, Zhang Tie didn''t show it in the public. With such proficient skills, he would be qualified as a professor in fine arts or sculpture in every university in Waii Subcontinent.


    Starting from mithril craftsman, they had officially entered the advanced stage of rune instrument manufacturing masters. In this stage, rune instrument manufacturing masters started to contact higher-level metals and comprehend the mystery of combining metals with runes. In the stage of the major craftsman, they had reached a superb level in comprehending the mystery of metals and runes.


    Crafstmen masters had reached personal sublimation in each realm being involved with this profession. Craftsman masters were masters in processing and applying fine art products, sculptures, metals and machines manufacturing. From the purely artistic perspective, fine art works or sculptures of craftsmen masters were almost overhwelming against all the works of the so-called masters who were simply immersed in arts. In Taixia Country, all the top painters, sculptors, sword makers and steam engineers were unexceptionally craftsmen masters and above. Additionally, craftsmen masters had been able to use runes array.


    Immortal craftsman was the apex of the profession of rune instrument manufacturing master. The symbol was that they were proficient in using runes array and had reached an immortal realm in all the other regions concerning this profession.


    Preoccupation could bring people a bizarre strength. As long as people were immersed in something, they would have many discoveries and more happiness.


    That was also Zhang Tie''s current state. He found it very enjoyable to turn what he thought into reality and gradually improve this wilderness. Everything that he could experience in this process could never be matched by fruits of plunder.


    He didn''t have stress facing cultivation, tussle, hideous demons or despicable enemies here; he only needed to do whatever he liked here.


    When he was free, he would recite the endless true words of Great Wilderness Sutra or read some books in the library in Xuanyuan Hill or the database of the Rune Instrument Manufacturing Masters Union. The process of having such a rest was also a rare enjoyment.


    During this process, Yan Feiqing''s "bath place" also changed day by day.


    After making steel, Zhang Tie had a greater ability to renovate this wilderness. Besides making various molds and tools using the steel that he had melted and upgraded his metal processing desk with them, a few days later after he made steel, Zhang Tie had made the first batch of special alloy in the method of powder metallurgy.


    Zhang Tie made the first set of 7 treasured wares manually using the first batch of a special alloy that he had just made. The independent production of 7 treasured wares symbolized that a craftsman apprentice had promoted to a craftsman officially.


    The 7 treasures wares of rune instrument manufacturing masters referred to 7 simple tools, which included one hammer, 3 metal files, metal slicers and gravers in different specifications.


    As for qualified rune instrument manufacturing masters, as long as they carried the 7 tools and had enough raw materials, they would almost be able to make everything. One of the standards for a qualified silver hammer craftsman was whether he could keep the precision within 1/100 of the thickness of hair when he processed a metal ware manually by any file or graver. The precision should be limited to 1/1000 of the thickness of hair for major craftsmen. A successful rune instrument manufacturing master was a set of the movable precision lathe with the set of 7 treasured wares.


    After Yan Feiqing took her bath for a few days, Zhang Tie had made the first set of steam pumping machine and the first set of a steam boiler in the wilderness; additionally, he even made some steel pipes.


    With these items, Zhang Tie upgraded the bathplace once again.


    Zhang Tie paved two pipelines at the bottom of the brook in its upper reach. He drew water into the steam boiler by steam pumping machine and heated it inside. After that, he introduced the hot water back into the pool. After commissioning it twice, the cold water in the brook was heated and maintained a temperature of 41 degrees Celsius, which was suitable for bathing...


    1 month later, when Yan Feiqing came here for a bath once again after her closed cultivation, she was stunned by the enshrouding vapor over the pool. She had not imagined that Zhang Tie could heat up the water in this environment...


    Yan Feiqing didn''t leave until 3 hours later.


    After taking a hot bath, Yan Feiqing''s face looked red and shiny, making her more fetching and enchanting. At the sight of Yan Feiqing who exited the crystal Mongolian yurt, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand widening his eyes as he swallowed his saliva twice stealthily.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Yan Feiqing slowed down as she glanced over Zhang Tie as if she had recognized Zhang Tie once again, "I''ve not imagined that you could have a gift to be a rune instrument manufacturing master. It''s amazing that you could make that in only 2 months. However, if you don''t form your chakra here, it would be too pitiful. As for knights, cultivation base counts most. Even if you could promote to an immortal craftsman within 60 years, it would not be as meaningful as promoting to a shadow knight..."


    "Do you care about me?"


    Yan Feiqing thought that Zhang Tie started learning rune instrument manufacturing skills from scratch. Zhang Tie didn''t explain it to her; instead, he flirted with her.


    "Harrumph..." Yan Feiqing turned icy as she turned around and left right away.


    Zhang Tie smiled. If he greeted her like this when he saw her at the beginning, he would definitely be hunt down by her; however, she only replied with "harrumph". What did this mean...


    After stroking his jaw, Zhang Tie returned to the crystal Mongolian yurt.


    ...


    As time went by, the two people were still doing their own business independently.


    Although shadow knights could enter closed cultivation for a long time, they had to take rest too; especially in the tower of time, relaxation was very important as she had to stay here for 6 decades. If she always behaved intensely, she would be tired sooner or later. Zhang Tie gradually found that Yan Feiqing had regarded taking bath as a pattern of relaxation.


    After each 30-day cultivation, Yan Feiqing would come here for a bath. After that, she would go back for sound sleep and continue her cultivation on the next day. Since she was molested last time, she had not talked with Zhang Tie for 2 months, during which period, she remained silent even if she had seen Zhang Tie twice. Zhang Tie just passed by her without flirting.


    Over these months, Zhang Tie continued to check what he had learned about rune instrument manufacturing skills as he further renovated that pool in the wilderness.


    On the 3rd month, he had built a stony mermaid sculpture which could spray hot water in the pool.


    Sitting on a piece of rock in the pool, the mermaid was holding a conch. After being heated, water would spurt out of conch which served as a shower device...


    After this mermaid sculpture was completed, Yan Feiqing made her bathing time longer...


    On the 4th month, Zhang Tie made a brick making machine and expanded his kiln in the wilderness. Additionally, he built a new kiln which could help him bake bricks with over 100 times higher efficiency. At the same time, the marlite that he got from the wilderness served as a raw material for the simplest natural cement after being baked by the new kiln.


    With the assistance of this brick making machine, Zhang Tie baked a lot of bricks. He then paved over 6,000 square meters'' land around the pool. Zhang Tie then erected a wall around the pool using bricks and cement. He even built a house with two isolated courtyards.


    Zhang Tie didn''t have experience in being a construction worker. However, it was not difficult for a knight and major craftsman to build a house. After reading over 10 engineering books in the library of Xuanyuan Hill in his trouble-reappearance situation, Zhang Tie had been more proficient in housebuilding than most of the construction workers...


    After entering the tower of time for half a year, Zhang Tie had given Yan Feiqing a big surprise...

 1352 The Heart of Stone

    The "surprise" that Zhang Tie prepared for Yan Feiqing was a beautiful female longuette.


    There was no cloth in the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region. He could only find metal there. This longuette was made of metals.


    How could a longuette be made of metal?


    It might be tricky for others; however, it was nothing difficult for a rune instrument manufacturing master.


    Because metals could be made into wire, which was as soft and ductile as cloth; especially that from gold and mithril. A metal called cocoon gold which originated from the depth of the crust was most suitable for being made into wire. In rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region, there were a lot of such metals. Wire making tool could also be found here. Zhang Tie used these items to make a lot of wires from gold, mithril and cocoon gold. Zhang Tie also made a set of simple steam textile machine, using which he made rare golden, white and black metal cloths.


    After that, Zhang Tie learned some tailoring skills in the trouble-reappearance situation and made clothes using these metal cloths easily.


    As long as there were raw materials, a rune instrument manufacturing master would be able to make everything. That was why rune instrument manufacturing masters were something.


    ...


    After preparing all these, Zhang Tie estimated that Yan Feiqing was going to end her cultivation; therefore, he ran out of the crystal Mongolian yurt and waited for her.


    After being flirted by Zhang Tie, Yan Feiqing had not talked to him for 2 months. During that period, each time she passed by Zhang Tie, she would look steadily forward. With the great qi field, she was like a forbidding, icy queen.


    Although Yan Feiqing didn''t look at Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie looked at her each time she came and went.


    Zhang Tie still felt that this woman was eye-pleasing. Even though she remained silent, she was still much more excellent than those models on the catwalk. With a strong qi field and the curve of her rocking butt and waist, she looked pretty charming and special in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    Only Zhang Tie could sense her specialty because her charm contained some trivial physiological changes. As the culprit who made Yan Feiqing a real woman, Zhang Tie inevitably had a bizarre sense of achievement when he tasted her change.


    It was very boring inside the tower of time. Each of them had to kill time by doing something. As for Zhang Tie, it was one of his amusement activities by appreciating Yan Feiqing''s "catwalk show" after working for one month in the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region.


    Like before, Yan Feiqing arrived on time after another 30-day penance.


    Zhang Tie just watched Yan Feiqing coming in a dignified manner. Although Yan Feiqing knew that Zhang Tie was looking at her, she ignored him like before.


    "I have a gift for you..." Zhang Tie said as he jumped forward to stop Yan Feiqing by putting one arm in front of her when he found that Yan Feiqing was going to pass by him.


    As was imagined, Yan Feiqing stopped. It was her first time to move her eyes to Zhang Tie over the past 2 months. Frowning her delicate eyebrows slightly, she asked, "A gift?"


    After hearing Yan Feiqing''s words, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh at once inside, ''Her distant attitude towards man was indeed just a habit that she had formed after so many years. It''s nice that I could break her habit.''


    "Nice, a gift especially for you. I feel you might like it..."


    "What''s that? Is there anything more in the bath place?" Yan Feiqing immediately thought that Zhang Tie had prepared something more in the bath place for her. Actually, after seeing Zhang Tie doing so many things for her one bit by another over these months, Yan Feiqing''s attitude towards him had been slowly changing whenever she was soaking in the hot water and watching the new changes in the wilderness. Therefore, she gradually had another feeling about Zhang Tie...


    Blinking his eyes, Zhang Tie kept her guessing, "You will see it. I guess you will like it..."


    "Hmm..." Yan Feiqing directly entered the entrance of the crystal Mongolian yurt.


    "Oh, I''ve set a door for that courtyard and locked it up in case you were worried about being peeped when taking a bath. Here''s your key..." Zhang Tie said as he passed a golden key to her.


    Yan Feiqing slightly hesitated as she had a bizarre feeling about the key...


    "I know you''re something. But you''d better not fly inside your courtyard through the wall only for a bath. As the line goes, as you''re such a beauty, why do you..." Zhang Tie said. However, before he finished his lines, Yan Feiqing had grabbed away the key. Closely after that, she entered with a cold harrumph.


    Watching Yan Feiqing''s back, Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    It was Zhang Tie''s pleasure to watch Yan Feiqing''s "catwalk show". However, the biggest pleasure for him was to conquer this woman''s heart completely in the tower of time.


    Yan Feiqing said that was just a dream. However, it happened. Perhaps for others, it was just a one night stand; however, as for Zhang Tie, now that he had slept with such a virgin, he would be responsible for her out of his passion and pity about her or selfishness...


    Zhang Tie remembered that his mother had once told him that no woman in this world would like to be lonely until the end of her life. Each woman desired love. Based on Zhang Tie''s understanding of women, he felt that his mother''s words were true. As Yan Feiqing was also a woman, she should never be the exception...


    Although Zhang Tie treated her as a bilious old virgin before, he learned from two corpses outside that this woman also needed love. Perhaps she had been hurt by a man; therefore, she decided to be alone and distant about all the men.


    Actually, there was a fragile, badly wounded female heart under her forbidding, iceberg-like look.


    Previously, her heart had withered and frozen. However, due to occasions, her icy heart became vigorous once again while the iceberg that protected her heart cracked. As a result, a ray of sunshine could cast in, thawing that frozen heart once again...


    Zhang Tie knew that he was the ray of sunshine. If this woman turned hopeless towards him too, no more light would enter her heart from then on and she would completely close the portal towards her heart. Even though this woman could promote to a heavenly knight, a sage knight or even was unrivaled in this world, so what? As she only stood on the clouds or perilous peaks alone, nobody else to share with what she saw and what she felt. Although numerous people would admire her, nobody loved her at all. Finally, she would leave this world alone. Was it a happy life?


    To be shameless, Zhang Tie felt that it had been his inevitable responsibility to conquer this woman mentally. Now that he had slept with this virgin, he had to be responsible for her and couldn''t make her completely hopeless. Neither could he leave a grey-hair stubborn hag who had been fully despaired about this world. That was what Zhang Tie was indeed thinking about that time...


    ...


    When Yan Feiqing opened the door of that courtyard in the wilderness using the key, she was in a daze. However, when she approached that pool, she immediately saw a metal rack and a silver longuette hanging on it. Additionally, there was a piece of bright mercury mirror beside that metal rack...


    Yan Feiqing didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could make such things because there were no raw materials in the tower of time at all. Neither could he use his space-teleportation equipment inside. When she arrived there and touched it by hand, she found the longuette was made of wire of mithril...


    The longuette was as thin as cicada wings with a gilded skirt. Although mithril was heavy, the longuette was light. It felt like being stoned. The longuette''s style was as pristine and descend as her former longuette which had been burned. Additionally, this one was ordinarily brilliant. No woman could withstand such a gripping thing.


    Inside that longuette were a set of black corsage and knickers...


    The black corsage and knickers were made of another metal, whose wire was softer and more tenderer and felt a bit warm. There was even a semi-circular wire inside the corsage which looked pretty good and had a good texture. At the sight of that corsage, Yan Feiqing had known that the corsage fit her body very well.


    When she realized all these items were prepared for her by that man, her face blushed at once...


    ...


    After a few hours, Yan Feiqing put on this new suit of clothes. Then, she found that not only did it fit her pretty well but also felt very comfortable. Being set off by that corsage, her "white rabbits" looked more magnificent and plump. What made her irate was that the peach-shaped collar of the vest was a bit low, exposing a small part of her breasts along with a deep groove in between...


    This longuette was more revealing and sexier than what she used to wear outside. However, it was not that excessive. Actually, it had just reached her bottom line.


    Standing beside the pool and watching that enchanting female with half-exposed boobs in the mercury mirror, her face blushed once again. After struggling for a short while, she looked at this longuette and Zhang Tie''s "dirty clothes", she stomped to the ground and swore, "That bad thing..."


    ...


    After half an hour later, Zhang Tie''s eyes almost popped out when he saw Yan Feiqing exiting the Mongolian yurt in that longuette with a faint blush.


    Watching her walking to his front in a daze, Zhang Tie swallowed his saliva twice before muttering, "That''s too beautiful. You''re really beautiful. My young lady, you''re simply a fairy. No, you''re even beautiful than fairies..."


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt what he had done for Yan Feiqing was too worthwhile.


    Unconsciously, after hearing Zhang Tie''s praise and sensing his hot eyes, Yan Feiqing felt furious, bashful, flurried and pleasant. After glaring at Zhang Tie and biting her lips, she left some words, "I''ve left your clothes inside..." before leaving out of there hurriedly.


    Watching Yan Feiqing''s back, Zhang Tie even whistled.


    After hearing the whistle, Yan Feiqing didn''t turn around and launch another fierce off-hand battle qi towards him; instead, she sped up and left there as soon as possible...


    After Yan Feiqing disappeared from his vision, Zhang Tie returned to his manor when he saw the clothes left by Yan Feiqing, which had been washed and dried by battle qi and were put on a piece of bluestone tidily...


    Zhang Tie took his clothes and moved it closer to his nose when he sniffed the faintly charming body fragrance of Yan Feiqing...


    ''What a true feeling!''


    Zhang Tie estimated that it might be her first time to wash clothes for a man. When he imagined how Yan Feiqing washed clothes for him, Zhang Tie smirked while stroking his jaw.


    ...


    After one night''s rest, Zhang Tie leisurely left the crystal Mongolian yurt towards the high platform when he estimated that Yan Feiqing had started to cultivate once again...


    4 elements were covering the high platform. When Zhang Tie ascended to the top of the high platform, he saw Yan Feiqing sitting on a crystal seat with crossed legs in the suit of sexy longuette that Zhang Tie had prepared for her yesterday.


    Although Yan Feiqing closed his eyes, Zhang Tie knew that she had already known his coming.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie went to his own seat before sitting down with crossed legs.


    However, Zhang Tie was not cultivating but looking at Yan Feiqing by supporting his jaw by hand...


    In less than 3 minutes, Yan Feiqing''s qi had been disrupted as she instantly stopped absorbing element crystals. After opening her eyes, she found Zhang Tie was watching her breasts from some distance in a libertine manner.


    "What are you doing?" Yan Feiqing asked out of fury.


    "Cultivation!" Zhang Tie said innocently.


    "Why not close your eyes and form your chakra?"


    "I''m cultivating a secret mental method called the heart of stone. This scene is suitable for me to cultivate it very well!" Zhang Tie explained with a solemn look as he put his palms together devoutly towards Yan Feiqing and said, "Benefactress, emptiness is color; color is emptiness. If you''re influenced by my movement, you''ve been possed by your dirty thought..."


    After glaring at Zhang Tie for a short while, Yan Feiqing closed her eyes once again. After that, she turned around and started to cultivate once again, back against Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie then picked himself up and made a circle before coming to the opposite of Yan Feiqing not far away. After that, he sat down and started to gaze at her firmly once again. At the same time, he swallowed his saliva forcefully.


    2 minutes later, Yan Feiqing opened her eyes once again with raised eyebrows as she asked, "What''re you doing again?"


    "The so-called heart of stone means that I could move whatever I want as long as my heart remains unchanged. If the enemy moves, I will move; if the enemy doesn''t move, I will remain still. No matter how wind moves and shadow moves..."


    Before Zhang Tie finished his words solemnly, Yan Feiqing''s off-hand fierce battle qi had arrived. Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he flew off the high platform.


    After flirting with her for 2 times, Zhang Tie didn''t come here anymore. He knew that he would have a good beating if he came here once again...


    After entering her cultivation with closed eyes for a short while, Yan Feiqing''s mouth corners faintly raised...

 1353 Being Isolated by One Wall

    Since Zhang Tie made a longuette for Yan Feiqing, he had felt that the relationship between them had been not as intense as before. During the period when Yan Feiqing was in cultivation, Zhang Tie would come to the high platform to flirt with her for a short while in about every 10 days. The moment Yan Feiqing started to lose her temper, Zhang Tie would slide away.


    Zhang Tie''s every flirtation only lasted a few minutes, which didn''t pose any influence to Yan Feiqing''s cultivation. It was as simple as how commoners held their breath temporarily for a shadow knight to absorb elements from elements realm. Yan Feiqing''s cultivation would not be disturbed by Zhang Tie''s flirtation. Instead, Zhang Tie''s movements and words spiced up Yan Feiqing''s cultivation period.


    It was true that the powerful ones would always be accompanied by loneliness and stars. However, it was not bad for both Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing to be accompanied by each other in the lonely trip towards the apex of cultivation under the stars.


    At least Zhang Tie felt that this experience in the tower of time was much more interesting than how he felt last time. Although 6 decades felt pretty long for commoners, it was not that long for a shadow knight who wanted to promote to a heavenly knight or a major craftsman who wanted to be an immortal craftsman.


    Being accompanied by a beauty in the tower of time, Zhang Tie was really gratified!


    When he practiced and comprehended the techniques of rune instrument manufacturing master, Zhang Tie kept renovating that wilderness in the crystal Mongolian yurt. Additionally, the courtyard also gradually looked more like a home.


    In the following 2 months, Zhang Tie renovated the banks of that brook using the pebbles in the brook, natural cement that he had baked and clay. Furthermore, he built a stone bridge across the brook. He even divided that courtyard into a vestibule, a garden and two smaller courtyards. Yan Feiqing would take bath in the garden. Zhang Tie also divided the room into two smaller ones and filled them with wood, metal or stony furniture in accordance with homestyle...


    No matter what, the clothes that Zhang Tie had made and was making for Yan Feiqing tested his rune instrument manufacturing skills most.


    Gold, mithril and cocoon gold were most suitable for fine wires. With this property of the 3 metals, Zhang Tie attempted to make different alloys in various methods and formulas using the raw materials in the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region. After receiving metals with different properties and colors, Zhang Tie got their fine wires. After further renovating his loom, he would be able to make various metal cloths in different patterns, styles, colors, grains and textures. With these metal cloths, of course, he would make different clothes for Yan Feiqing.


    In the Library of Xuanyuan Hill, there were records of millions of patterns of female clothes, most of which had been preserved since the Catastrophe. Zhang Tie didn''t need to worry about lacking reference at all.


    Zhang Tie provided clothes to Yan Feiqing at a frequency of one set per month.


    Like what Zhang Tie imagined, as a woman, even as a shadow knight, Yan Feiqing indeed couldn''t stand just wearing one set of clothes for 6 decades when she had the condition to change new clothes with a man on her side.


    Therefore, Yan Feiqing would always wear every set of new clothes made by Zhang Tie for her.


    Since she accepted the styles of the first set of clothes and underclothes tailored by Zhang Tie for her, Yan Feiqing had not been exclusive to the same styles. Zhang Tie sought for excellence in each set of clothes in the principle of flexible design style. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s each masterpiece could win Yan Feiqing''s favor. As the adage went, women''s closet always lacked a new suit; especially in the tower of time, it was already luxurious for a woman to have a new set of clothes per month.


    In the blink of an eye, the two people had stayed in the tower of time for over 1 year. One day, after finishing the 6th set of clothes for Yan Feiqing, Zhang Tie waited outside the crystal Mongolian yurt and watched Yan Feiqing coming toward the entrance in a solemn way.


    "What''s wrong?"


    Yan Feiqing would never open her mouth to Zhang Tie at the beginning; however, after staying here for 1 year, she didn''t realize that she had felt normal to talk with Zhang Tie.


    Scratching his head and blinking his eyes, Zhang Tie replied, "As I''ve made so many sets of clothes for you, you might not have enough place to store them. I''ve made you a wardrobe right in the room of that courtyard. I''ve cleaned it up. How about putting your clothes in that wardrobe? Although your clothes were piled up tidily on your crystal bed outside, it felt a bit disordered. That doesn''t fit your status. Even I feel bashful for you. It''s okay if you could put them in your space-teleportation item; however, if not, I think that you''d better put your clothes in the wardrobe. What do you think about it?"


    It was her first time to be commented as being disordered by a man since she was born. Therefore, she felt a bit bashful. However, Zhang Tie was telling the truth.


    "Well, that''s fine!"


    "Do you need any help?"


    "No, I will deal with it..." Yan Feiqing replied as she returned to her crystal bed. Over the past months, all the clothes that Zhang Tie had made for her were just piled up on the crystal bed. Although the crystal bed was spacious, there wasn''t any surplus space for clothes on the bed. No matter what, she couldn''t put clothes on the floor.


    Although those clothes were tailored by Zhang Tie, Yan Feiqing still felt a bit embarrassed by having Zhang Tie touch them.


    "I remember that the wardrobe is in the locker room in the left wing behind the bathing pool..." Zhang Tie reminded her "kindheartedly"...


    With her clothes, Yan Feiqing went to the wing-room mentioned by Zhang Tie. After pushing open the door of the locker room, she indeed saw a row of wardrobes. This closet was especially for a female, which seemed to be available for hundreds of sets of clothes. It was definitely a better choice to put her clothes here than on the crystal bed...


    ...


    After a few more months, Zhang Tie posed another suggestion when Yan Feiqing had been used to all these, "As you''ve finished so many things in that courtyard, including taking bath, changing and washing clothes. You have even stored your belongings over there. How about turning one of those empty rooms in that courtyard into your bedroom? I''ve got some furniture for you. If you feel it''s convenient, why not live there? Whatever, you only take a rest in your bedroom for one night per month. If you put your belongings in that courtyard and go to bed outside in the empty lobby after taking a bath and changing your clothes, it feels very strange. What do you think about that?"


    Previously, Yan Feiqing didn''t feel that her behaviors were improper; however, after being reminded by Zhang Tie, she also felt it was very strange. Additionally, she even seemed to be a bit foolish, ''Yeah, after taking a bath, changing and washing my clothes, I go to bed in the empty lobby outside, that really feels strange; especially when my belongings are all in the courtyard.''


    Yan Feiqing then watched Zhang Tie with a slight smile as if she had already seen through Zhang Tie''s "trickery", "Fine, you''ve reminded me. I declare that I will occupy that courtyard whenever I come back in the future. Whenever I come back, you should move away!"


    "My empress dowager, don''t be that merciless. That courtyard is so large and has been divided into two smaller courtyards. We can share it as we don''t interfere with each other. That''s too unreasonable that I would move away whenever you come back. Trust me, I won''t offend you. Do you know how long I''ve spent in building this courtyard? It took me over 1 year. Additionally, even if I want to offend you, I dare not do that as I can''t defeat you..." Zhang Tie shouted.


    Yan Feiqing''s face turned icy at once as her qi became aggressive, "Empress dowager? Do you think that I''m too old?"


    "If you don''t treat me hideously, I could even call you Little Qingqing..." Zhang Tie pulled his face, causing Yan Feiqing''s aggressive qi to fade away immediately.


    "Peh, shameless..." Yan Feiqing''s face blushed at once.


    "Little Qingqing, that''s the deal. Whatever, I will live in my own courtyard. As I''ve prepared your courtyard and rooms, it depends on you whether you come or not. Unless you could really defeat me, never dream about driving me away..." Zhang Tie said as he returned to the courtyard inside the crystal Mongolian yurt and closed his door, leaving Yan Feiqing alone.


    Would Yan Feiqing really fight Zhang Tie in this case? Of course not. As a result, Yan Feiqing really settled in her courtyard which was only separated from Zhang Tie''s courtyard by one wall in between.


    Not only that, from today on, Zhang Tie directly stayed in his own courtyard in the crystal Mongolian yurt when Yan Feiqing took a bath in her courtyard.


    It was Yan Feiqing''s first time to sleep in her new bedroom. Therefore, she felt restless.


    She was lying on a golden bed in her bedroom. A wooden pillow was put on the bed along with a thin cocoon gold quilt. This place was much more comfortable than the icy crystal bed outside. There was a dressing table in her room. The entire room was decorated like a woman''s bedroom. Next to the wall, Zhang Tie''s snores were so clear as she was a shadow knight who always had a sensitive sense of hearing.


    It was the first experience for Yan Feiqing to hear a man''s snore since she was born, which discomposed her.


    "Little Qingqing, why are you still awake?" Zhang Tie asked Yan Feiqing in a secret way which sounded as clear as a face-to-face chat, "Hehheh, are you still missing me?"


    "Break wind..."


    "Why are you still awake then?"


    "None of your business!"


    "I''ve got a method which might help you form your chakra two more times faster. Do you want to hear it?"


    "What''s that?" Zhang Tie''s words aroused her curiosity.


    Zhang Tie then explained her about the principle of mental arithmetic and his gnosis about capturing element crystals using multi-tasking skill, "This is a secret method of Iron-Dragon Sect called Thousands of Beads Mental Sutra. With your spiritual energy, you could easily proceed two tasks at the same time only after practicing it for a few days and form your chakra two times faster!"


    Yan Feiqing became silent for a short while. She knew that Zhang Tie''s secret method was real and would play a special role in helping her raise her cultivation speed.


    "Why did you tell me about that?" Yan Feiqing asked.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "Because you''re my Little Qingqing..."


    "Don''t lie..."


    "I''m telling the truth. If you don''t believe that, here''s one more reason. Actually, I admire you very much. Hopefully, you could promote to a heavenly knight as soon as possible. You were really manly when you deepened into the area occupied by demons and killed those demon knights who were insulting those Hua women..."


    ''Manly?'' Yan Feiqing felt like crying at this comment. No woman in this world might like that comment. However, because of the word, Yan Feiqing knew that Zhang Tie was indeed telling the truth. If Yan Feiqing could reach Zhang Tie at this moment, she really wanted to pinch Zhang Tie forcefully.


    "What about you? As Weiji General, why did you go to the area occupied by demons?"


    "Can''t I be even as brave as a woman? Isn''t a man''s responsibility to fight demons..."


    "Aren''t you afraid that I can grasp your secret method of Iron-Dragon Sect..."


    "Haha, just take it. As Qinji Hermit, I''ve got a myriad of secret methods. I won''t worry about that even if you pass this secret method to your disciples of Fantasy Female Palace. In case of troubles, Iron-Dragon Sect and Fantasy Female Palace could hold parties together. I was told that all your disciples in Fantasy Female Palace are female. We could even be match-makers..."


    Yan Feiqing suddenly interrupted, "What about Hongyi? Hongyi is also my disciple, whom do you prepare to marry her to..."


    "Ahh..." Zhang Tie pretended to yawn while his words sounded sleepy, "It''s a nice weather tonight. Bright moon and sparse stars. Monkeys are chattering on the banks of the river and Lord Zhou has passed by mountains. We''d better sleep too. If a woman sleeps late, it would not be good for her skin..."


    After saying that, Zhang Tie became silent. Only after a few seconds, his snores had drifted to Yan Feiqing''s ears once again...


    Yan Feiqing gritted her teeth out of fury as she couldn''t stand breaking the wall and beating up Zhang Tie ferociously.

 1354 Smile in Peach Blossoms

    Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing had stayed in the tower of time for over 7 years...


    7 years inside the tower of time was equal to 7 days outside. During the past 7 years, nothing happened in the tower of time except for what Zhang Tie had done for Yan Feiqing, which meant that the heavenly demon knight, who was chasing them, didn''t find this tower of time.


    After 7 days, the heavenly demon knight lost its possible spiritual grasp of Yan Feiqing completely. From then on, it would not sense Yan Feiqing''s location anymore. Therefore, it could only leave that underground space. As a high-level battle force among demon corps, of course heavenly demon knight couldn''t loaf around in the underground space aimlessly. It failed to find Yan Feiqing when he might sense Yan Feiqing''s location, not to mention that when it lost its possible spiritual grasp of her.


    During the 7 years, Zhang Tie constantly strengthened his skills as a rune instrument manufacturing master and almost gained achievements and gnosis every day. During this period, Zhang Tie almost practiced all the skills of rune instrument manufacturing master from craftsman apprentice to major craftsman.


    Yan Feiqing didn''t know that Zhang Tie was already a major craftsman when he entered this tower of time. Therefore, when she found that Zhang Tie''s skills were growing better and he could make increasingly more delicate items, Yan Feiqing admired him more or less as she realized that Zhang Tie had a super gift in becoming a rune instrument manufacturing master.


    Within 7 years, Zhang Tie had made so many goods for Yan Feiqing, including clothes, shoes and jewelry. Even Yan Feiqing had been used to receiving "gifts" and "surprises" at the end of each monthly cultivation...


    Habits were gradually formed, Yan Feiqing was not an exception.


    During the past 7 years, besides being used to receiving Zhang Tie''s "gifts" and "surprises", Yan Feiqing had even been accustomed to Zhang Tie''s flirts and jokes and his appreciative and libertine eye light whenever she wore beautiful and sexy clothes designed by Zhang Tie. Besides, Yan Feiqing had been conditioned to Zhang Tie''s wolf howls in the neighboring courtyard whenever she took bath in the warm bathing pool, the night chats between Zhang Tie and her and those dirty jokes and stories from Zhang Tie with a wall in between...


    With the company of Zhang Tie, 7 years passed by so fast. Unconsciously, Yan Feiqing didn''t find that Zhang Tie had gradually become a part of her life.


    During this period, Yan Feiqing''s cultivation base also improved day by day; especially after grasping the multitasking skill imparted by Zhang Tie, Yan Feiqing''s efficiency became much faster.


    One day, Zhang Tie saw Yan Feiqing once again after her monthly cultivation.


    It was his very time to enjoy Yan Feiqing''s "catwalk show". Zhang Tie had never missed it during the past 7 years. Whenever Yan Feiqing ended her cultivation, Zhang Tie would run out of the crystal Mongolian yurt and wait outside there to watch Yan Feiqing walking down from the high platform like a fairy leaving from an immortal region with expectant eye light...


    Yan Feiqing had also been accustomed to Zhang Tie''s greedy and libertine eyes.


    "I''ve got some news for you. I will promote to 9 change realm of shadow knight soon. It''s a bit earlier than my expectation..." Yan Feiqing said as she revealed a smile towards Zhang Tie.


    "Ahh, so fast. 9 change realm of shadow knight. It''s only one step away from being a heavenly knight. Congratulations..." Zhang Tie also revealed a smile after being hesitated for a second, "How long will it take you to promote to 9 change realm of shadow knight..."


    "Next time maybe. I might cultivate a bit longer next time. Might be 1 year. I prepare to hurtle up the 9 change realm of shadow knight next time..." Yan Feiqing replied calmly yet resolutely. As a powerful knight, even at such a critical point, she was still that forbidding and decisive.


    Scratching his head, Zhang Tie revealed a bitter look, "It seems that I will have to stay in the empty room alone for 1 year. I''m really unaccustomed to that..."


    Yan Feiqing''s face blushed as she said, "What are you driveling about..."


    "Well, cut the crap. Come on, let''s see what I''ve prepared for you this month..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter...


    ...


    Right on the rack in the courtyard, Yan Feiqing saw the gift that Zhang Tie had prepared for her this month.


    There was a black one-piece skirt which was more like of the style in the Western Continent instead of the Hua style. The point was that this skirt was too short. If she put it on, Yan Feiqing would find that the hemline of the skirt was even higher than her knees; actually, it just reached her thighs. Additionally, it was as thin as yam, which would make her body loom. The part below the waist was very next to her skin. After being wrapped tightly, her butt would look pretty plump. The neckline of her skirt was in the shape of lotus leaf which was so low that it had even broken her bottom line. If Yan Feiqing really put it on, at least a greater part of her boobs would be exposed. It could be imagined how she would look after putting on such an exposed, tight and translucent one-piece skirt...


    Being matched with the longuette was a set of bikini underclothes and a pair of high-heeled shoes made of pure gold. The heels were like goblets. The lower part of that suit of underclothes was like a T-shaped fine metal chain while its upper part was like a small fishing net made of metal chains.


    "This is my gift?" Yan Feiqing glared at Zhang Tie while being both bashful and irate. Yan Feiqing had not seen such longuette, inner clothes and high-heeled shoes before, not to mention wearing them. But Yan Feiqing knew that only a few women would wear such clothes at home in front of their husband. Who dare go to the street in such a dress...


    "Of course, I think you would definitely look beautiful, considering your delicate figure..." Zhang Tie replied with a libertine smile as he gazed at Yan Feiqing and continued, "You could have a try. Whatever, there''s nobody else here. Haven''t you heard that? A woman who has not worn high-heeled shoes in her whole life is not a complete woman. This skirt matches this pair of high-heeled shoes pretty well..."


    "Who said it?"


    "Qianji Hermit..."


    "Roll out of here..."


    Zhang Tie then escaped out of there, followed by Yan Feiqing''s battle qi strikes...


    After throwing another glance at Zhang Tie''s "masterpiece", Yan Feiqing felt a bit bashful...


    ''That bad thing!''


    ...


    On the same night, Zhang Tie kept asking Yan Feiqing which flower did she love the most. After being discomposed by Zhang Tie, Yan Feiqing finally told him, ''Peach blossom''.


    After getting her answer, Zhang Tie yawned and fell asleep. When she recalled the gift that Zhang Tie had prepared for her, Yan Feiqing would always feel a bit flurried...


    ...


    On the second day, Yan Feiqing entered her closed cultivation on the high platform and started to hurtle up the 9 change realm of shadow knight.


    Zhang Tie didn''t come here to flirt with her anymore as he knew the importance of this closed cultivation for her...


    ...


    This closed cultivation lasted 11 months and 7 days. When Yan Feiqing got off the platform, she didn''t see Zhang Tie outside the entrance of the crystal Mongolian yurt. After receiving no earnest eye light from Zhang Tie, she felt empty inside at once. Therefore, she instantly became a bit dismal although she was happy when she had promoted to 9 change realm of shadow knight...


    ''Is it because that bad thing is still angry with me after I refused to wear that "gift"?''


    Yan Feiqing thought. She might not find that she had started to speculate about Zhang Tie''s thoughts.


    When Yan Feiqing entered that crystal Mongolian yurt, she was stunned at once.


    It was a multitude of peach blossoms in front of her, instead of that familiar wilderness. It was colorful everywhere with the vigor of spring. The wilderness had been replaced by a world full of peach blossoms...


    There were tens of thousands of peach blossoms, each of which was vigorous and distinctive...


    Plants were not available in the tower of time, not to mention that Zhang Tie didn''t take peach seeds. Even if he had taken them with him, he could make such an achievement in less than one year.


    This scenery was both familiar and strange. Quivering all over, Yan Feiqing stroked a peach blossom and the twig of a peach tree as she found that the petals were made of metal and were connected with each other delicately. Each peach blossom had been painted. They were so picturesque...


    Their trunks were made of clay which had been carefully carved. There were metal frames inside the clay. The color of their trunks was vivid because they were covered with fine wood powder.


    Each peach tree in front of Yan Feiqing was a delicate masterpiece. She really wondered how long he had worked for such a peach wood...


    Yan Feiqing found Zhang Tie under an unfinished peach tree.


    Lying on the ground, facing towards the sky, Zhang Tie was covered with paint, mud and wood powder with a pile of things that he was preparing to process. As he was too tired, he fell asleep here unconsciously. Even in that case, he was still holding a peach blossom by one hand and a brush with pink paint on it by the other...


    Watching Zhang Tie who was having a sound sleep due to tiredness while lying on the ground, Yan Feiqing''s vision became blurry at once. She wanted to cry; however, she was afraid of waking him up. Therefore, she just covered her mouth by hand while surging out her tears.


    Although she came here silently, when her tears dropped onto the ground, the sound woke Zhang Tie up.


    "Ahh, you''ve finished your cultivation..."


    Zhang Tie hurriedly sprung up from the ground. Yan Feiqing instantly turned around in case that Zhang Tie saw her tearful look.


    "What happened..."


    "Nothing. I''ve seen this peach wood soon after I came here. Therefore, I came over here for you..." Yan Feiqing''s voice recovered, but it sounded a bit hoarse...


    "Haha, I planned to give you a surprise. I''ve not imagined that you could finish your cultivation some days earlier than my expectation..." Zhang Tie smirked as he continued, "With 20 more peach trees, I would complete my masterpiece. Later on, this peach wood would blossom forever. You could come here to enjoy it whenever you want. Pitifully, I have no spice; otherwise, it would look more vivid..."


    "You must be tired. Don''t sleep here. Just go back to your bedroom. As I''ve entered a closed meditation for 1 year, I want to take a bath first..." Yan Feiqing''s voice turned tender which stunned Zhang Tie. However, Yan Feiqing didn''t turn around; instead, when she told Zhang Tie, she directly walked towards her courtyard.


    Scratching his head, Zhang Tie also walked towards the courtyard. He felt a bit disappointed as Yan Feiqing had seen his masterpiece before he completed it...


    He had made a peach wood in the wilderness, not to mention that courtyard. The garden and the banks of the brook had been filled with vivid peach trees with open blossoms...


    Zhang Tie was really tired. Over the past year, he had been busy making these peach trees and blossoms. Whenever he was tired, he would fall down and have a nap. After he woke up, he would continue his job. In order to process the peach petals and leaves, Zhang Tie made a set of steam stamp and over 100 molds for peach petals and leaves in different specifications. In order to look for the most proper paint for peach trees and petals, Zhang Tie also made over 1,000 kinds of paint samples based on his current condition. Finally, he selected some of them. Each peach tree sample here directly originated from Xuanyuan Hill. Zhang Tie always sought perfection in every detail.


    After returning to the courtyard, Zhang Tie fell asleep at once in his bedroom for almost 2 days...


    The moment he woke up, Zhang Tie had thought about Yan Feiqing. As he also knew how long he had slept. According to his estimation, Yan Feiqing might have long gone back to the cultivation platform. As a much self-disciplined woman, even though she had promoted to 9 change realm of shadow knight, Yan Feiqing would not lose her cultivation.


    Watching his embarrassed look, Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile. He then walked out of his courtyard and came to the bank of the water pool which was emitting hot vapor. After taking off his clothes, he entered the water pool and lay prone on a comfortable rock inside there. With his eyes closed, he became completely relaxed...


    At this moment, he heard a spraying sound as he opened his eyes at once. The moment he wanted to look at his shoulder, another human body had moved closer to him as she embraced Zhang Tie tightly from his back. Zhang Tie turned around when a hot kiss was waiting for him...


    Zhang Tie became thrilled immediately...


    ...

 1355 Promoting to Immortal Craftsman

    Dense runes spread over a 1 m-long mithril templet progressively in the pattern of the Fibonacci numerical array, carrying an exotic, aesthetic feeling. Zhang Tie was concentrating on his rune brush at his full spirit. He had been in a strange state, where Zhang Tie became runes while a mysterious strength resonated with the lines drawn by his rune brush.


    When he finished his last stroke, all the 2584 runes had been in shape. In a split second, the entire mithril templet started to give out brilliant white light and heat up. When the templet was going to be liquefied, Zhang Tie pressed down a metal level on his side while two huge mechanical arms clipped two ends of a 20-m longer metal pipe and moved it here. As Zhang Tie pointed at there, the liquefied mithril templet immediately flew into the metal pipe, forming a film over the entire pipe both inside and outside. After a sudden flicker, the 2584 runes had become still over the inner wall of the pipe. As a result, the entire pipe became as brilliant as mithril as they started to heat up...


    With Zhang Tie''s manipulation, the huge metal arm put that hot metal pipe into a cement gully and had it tightly joined with the pre-set interfaces inside the cement gully.


    Zhang Tie ran away from the auxiliary operation desk and came to the valves of the pipe. After turning on the valves, cold water flushed into the pipe. Closely after that, Zhang Tie ran towards the bathing place. Only after a short while, hot vapor had been arising from the surface of the cold water of the pool as the water that was flowing into the pool started to heat up. Zhang Tie squatted down and touched water inside the pool as he surged out his tears at once.


    "I''ve succeeded. This father has succeeded. This father has succeeded in the rune array. From today on, I''m finally an immortal craftsman..." Zhang Tie screamed and jumped up and down as if he had been driven mad.


    After staying in the tower of time for almost 6 decades, Zhang Tie finally broke through the last bottleneck of rune instruments manufacturing master and reached the apex of the profession of rune instrument manufacturing master¡ª¡ªimmortal craftsman. He had been proficient in the application of rune array and been able to build a large-scale rune array templet which contained over 1,000 runes above 18 levels...


    Immortal craftsman was really a national treasure even in Taixia Country.


    The first thing that Zhang Tie did after promoting to an immortal craftsman was to make a self-heating water pipe using mithril instead of making any earth-shocking invention. With the help of this water pipe, the second heating boiler could finally be retired gloriously.


    During the past 6 decades, the first heating boiler that Zhang Tie made had long been retired gloriously after 2 decades'' service. The second heating boiler that he made using better techniques and raw materials didn''t go off duty until today. From now on, the water that flew into the bathing place would be heated soon after passing by that mithril pipe instead of going through the boiler.


    Although the self-heating pipe looked simple, its principle was similar to that of the core dynamic constituent in huge ships that weighed millions of tons. In the eyes of all the rune instrument manufacturing masters, that self-heating water pipe that Zhang Tie buried underground was an appalling treasure and the crown...


    After streaming for quite a while alongside the pool, Zhang Tie had rushed out of the crystal Mongolian yurt towards the cultivation platform outside as fast as the wind.


    After sensing Zhang Tie flying towards her, Yan Feiqing opened her eyes at once and ended her cultivation. Before she made any response, Zhang Tie had burst out into laughter as he hugged her and made circles on the cultivation platform. If Yan Feiqing was an ordinary female, she might have been dizzy by Zhang Tie''s series of deeds, "Haha, I''ve succeeded; I''ve made it! I''m already an immortal craftsman..."


    Zhang Tie was extremely thrilled that he couldn''t help sharing this news with Yan Feiqing.


    "Please put me down first..." Yan Feiqing was also affected by Zhang Tie''s excitement and pleasure.


    "Ahh, fine, fine!" Zhang Tie put her down as he put his arm around her slim waist and repeated, "I''ve made it. I''ve already mastered the LV 18 rune array. Your husband has already been an immortal craftsman..."


    Zhang Tie was even happier than how commoners felt when they hit the jackpot and won millions of RMB at this moment.


    With a smile, Yan Feiqing watched Zhang Tie who was as jubilant as a kid. At the same time, she wiped off the fine sweat drops over his forehead as she said tenderly, "I knew that you will do it..."


    Besides Zhang Tie, only Yan Feiqing knew how hard Zhang Tie had tried for this goal during the past 6 decades. Sometimes, Yan Feiqing even felt distressed about Zhang Tie''s arduous work.


    Besides the special cultivation environment and Zhang Tie''s hard work over the past 6 decades, only Zhang Tie was clear that it was his great spiritual energy as a divine dominator which played a key role in helping him promote to an immortal craftsman.


    "Thanks for accompanying me the past 6 decades. Without your assistance, I might have been driven mad..." Zhang Tie put Yan Feiqing in his arms as he whispered to her.


    Yan Feiqing said nothing; instead, she just put her arms around Zhang Tie as she kissed Zhang Tie''s face. At the same time, she leaned against Zhang Tie''s shoulder and said, "6 decades flashed by. I cannot believe that you and I have stayed with each other for 6 decades..."


    "When male and female coordinate with each other, they would not feel tired and lonely. I''m afraid that''s how this tower of time is designed for..." Zhang Tie replied with a smirk while Yan Feiqing nibbled Zhang Tie''s neck.


    Over the past 6 decades, the two people respected and loved mutually. They had long been like a couple. Zhang Tie promoted to an immortal craftsman today. Yan Feiqing had long promoted to a heavenly knight 3 decades ago. Now, Yan Feiqing had consolidated her level as a heavenly knight and had already entered 2 change realm of a heavenly knight.


    After the two people separated from each other, they smiled at each other. After that, they moved their eyes at that time ball at the same time.


    According to the time display on the time table of the cultivation platform, there were only 53 days left in this tower of time before it recovered its silence once again.


    Zhang Tie instantly picked her up and walked towards the entrance of the crystal Mongolian yurt...


    "Ahh, what''re you doing?"


    "Of course, we need to have a dream to celebrate..." Zhang Tie said confidently and sensibly...

 1356 Exiting the Tower of Time

    53 days later, the runes on the crystal wall of the tower of time gradually slowed down and finally became frozen as if a river dried up. At the same time, an entrance appeared on that flaring film...


    Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing then walked out of there, hand in hand.


    "Ahh, we''ve finally come out..." Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh.


    After staying in the tower of time for 6 decades, when he suddenly left the lonely Milky Way, the familiar small courtyard and the peach wood which carried so many memories of Yan Feiqing and him, Zhang Tie was not even accustomed to it.


    Although they had stayed in the tower of time for almost 6 decades, it had just been 59 days outside the tower of time.


    "Ahh..." Yan Feiqing suddenly screamed as the beautiful golden wire longuette that Zhang Tie tailored for her turned into sparkling sands and flew into the light curtain of the tower of time. As a result, Yan Feiqing was naked at once as she only covered her vital positions using hands.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he said, "I almost forgot to tell you that all the metal articles inside the rune instrument manufacturing skill promotion region couldn''t be taken out of the tower of time..."


    "Why not tell me about that in advance..." Yan Feiqing threw a glance at Zhang Tie. The former icy beauty turned especially fetching at this moment.


    In the blink of an eye, Yan Feiqing had taken a wholly new suit of longuette from her portable space-teleportation equipment and put it on. To be honest, Yan Feiqing really didn''t have the courage to wear those dresses which Zhang Tie made for her during the past 6 decades in the public.


    The time and space twisting ability of the tower of time was weakening. The moment Zhang Tie exited that light curtain, he had felt that he had recovered his contact with Castle of Black Iron while his remote-sensing crystals also became responsive. It was utterly different than that when he entered this light curtain 2 months ago.


    The two corpses were still lying outside the light curtain like that 2 months ago.


    Watching that man who was hung on the giant monster''s claw, Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside. During the past 6 decades, Zhang Tie had been clear about Yan Feiqing''s bygones. It could be said that Yan Feiqing''s merciless temperament was caused by this man. Otherwise, Zhang Tie would not have a chance to stay with her in the tower of time for almost 6 decades.


    The process that Yan Feiqing got acquainted with this man was as same as the scene in romantic fictions. That year, Yan Feiqing had just promoted to a black iron knight when she met this man in the peach wood of Xuanyuan Hill.


    This man was born in a major clan of Taixia Country. With a handsome look, this man had also just promoted to a black iron knight at his 20s. The two young people favored by the God met each other in the blooming peach wood of Xuanyuan Hill.


    A handsome boy met a beautiful girl in their best age at the best place in the best season. Yan Feiqing was like a fairy in the eyes of that young man. Therefore, he started his eager pursuit after this girl.


    Besides having a handsome look, that young man was also proficient in music, the game of go, calligraphy, painting and poem. Plus his status as a bachelor knight from a major clan and his eloquence, he soon won the favor of Yan Feiqing. The two people then traveled across the world together by visiting mountains, rivers, scenic spots and exploring the underground world. Yan Feiqing gradually fell deep in love with that young man...


    If the story continued like this, it would be the most classic plots in knight novels and romantic fictions. Pitifully, everything had changed in an underground exploration.


    The place, where Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing were in, was discovered by her and that young man when they were young. That year, they discovered both the crystal cave outside and this hidden tower of time in the magma sea. However, at the same time, they were also discovered by an abyss dragon lizard.


    Abyss dragon lizard was a pre-historical beast, whose battle strength was far greater than that of ordinary knights; especially in magma, which was absolutely predominated by abyss dragon lizard. After discovering the two trespassers, the abyss dragon lizard immediately chased after them. As Yan Feiqing and that young man couldn''t defeat that abyss dragon lizard and they couldn''t get rid of the estrangement of abyss dragon lizard, that man wounded Yan Feiqing at the critical moment and threw her towards the abyss dragon lizard. Closely after that, he opened the gate of the tower of time and rushed into it.


    One end was death while the other was the tower of time; one end meant ending while the other meant to start. That man left death and ending to Yan Feiqing and the tower of time and a new start to himself.


    At that moment, Yan Feiqing became hopeless as she felt gut-wrenching. As for Yan Feiqing, that man''s betrayal was more painful than death.


    When Yan Feiqing prepared to face her death, she saw a dramatic scene¡ª¡ªthe abyss dragon lizard suddenly dropped Yan Feiqing as it followed that man into the tower of time.


    That man thought that this tower of time was only available for one person per time; however, he had not imagined that this tower of time could allow two people to enter or one person and one abyss dragon lizard at the same time...


    When Yan Feiqing realized what happened, the gate of the tower of time had already closed automatically. Later on, when Yan Feiqing entered this tower of time, she saw the same scene that Zhang Tie had seen, namely the betrayer and that abyss dragon lizard died together in the periphery of the core region of the tower of time...


    From then on, one more merciless woman who treated all men as betrayers appeared in the world.


    ...


    A few years later, when the peach blossoms in Xuanyuan Hill were in full blossoms, Yan Feiqing traveled there once again. When she watched the peach blossoms and recalled the bygones, she gritted her teeth and wanted to send all the men into the hell. However, right then, an unfortunate playboy appeared.


    At the sight of such a fairy, that unfortunate guy couldn''t stand flirting with her. As a result, he was hung over a peach tree and was fiercely beaten, leaving a mental obstacle for the rest of his life...


    Of course, that unfortunate guy was Immortal Being Deyang of Heavens Fortune Sect.


    When Zhang Tie heard about her bygones, Zhang Tie could only pity Immortal Being Deyang for a couple of minutes inside...

 1357 Abyss Dragon Lizard

    The heartless man deserved his death. However, Zhang Tie was a bit attracted by the corpse of abyss dragon lizard who had killed that b*stard.


    When he entered the tower of time 2 months ago, he didn''t know that this pre-historic beast was an abyss dragon lizard. During the past 6 decades, Zhang Tie made an achievement in the "Great Wilderness Sutra" as he had already entered the 17th floor of All-spirits Pagoda and sensed the description of abyss dragon lizard. Therefore, he was sure that this corpse belonged to a mutated prehistoric abyss dragon lizard.


    As for an animal controller, a sheer terrifying mutated species like abyss dragon lizard was priceless.


    The object being called "bone of a saint beast" by Crell, a follower of the Church of Patron in Ice and Snow Wilderness, was actually a piece of bone of another prehistoric mutated species on the same level as abyss dragon lizard.


    Mutated species like abyss dragon lizard were knights among mutated beasts. When they were alive, they could even defeat human knights. Even after their death, their bones still carried strong and mysterious strength.


    Even a piece of bones of such mutated beasts would play a great role in the hand of an animal controller. It could increase the chance of success and the power of an animal controller. In some extremes, as long as an animal controller could have such a piece of bone of the mutated beast, he would not be devoured by wild beasts and mutated beasts when failing to drive them. Such a piece of bone could serve as the best equipment and amulet of an animal controller.


    The "Bone of Saint Beast" that he saw in Ice and Snow Wilderness was small and might come from a common part of such a kind of mutated beasts; however, this abyss dragon lizard contained over 100 tons "Bones of Saint Beast".


    It was really too wasteful for Zhang Tie to leave such a top treasure here.


    "That dead man''s space-teleportation finger ring contains a silver secret item and some other items. They should still be available..."


    Watching Zhang Tie walking towards the two corpses, Yan Feiqing didn''t stop him; instead, she just stayed calm. After staying in the tower of time for 6 decades with Zhang Tie, Yan Feiqing had long become Zhang Tie''s wife. Therefore, when she saw that dead b*stard once again, she didn''t have any mood swings at all; instead, she always considered for Zhang Tie. That was how Yan Feiqing had changed. Actually, when the two people saw the two corpses at the beginning, Yan Feiqing didn''t allow Zhang Tie to touch that b*stard''s belongings at all.


    Both Yan Feiqing and Zhang Tie had changed. Previously, Zhang Tie wanted to take the dead man''s space-teleportation finger ring and Yan Feiqing didn''t allow him to do that. By contrast, when they finished their cultivation inside the tower, although Yan Feiqing agreed on him to do that, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like doing that anymore. Zhang Tie felt it was wasteful to leave that b*stard''s space-teleportation finger ring here at the beginning. Whereas, after being told about the bygones between this b*stard and Yan Feiqing, Zhang Tie had totally ignored the space-teleportation finger ring and a bit silver secret item of this b*stard. As he had got enough space-teleportation finger rings and silver secret items, Zhang Tie actually didn''t show interest in them anymore.


    As for Zhang Tie, he had many space-teleportation equipment and silver secret items that he could even gift them to others casually.


    "Haha, let''s call them an end. Even if it was a space-teleportation finger ring and a silver secret item, as they have been used by that b*stard, they have already become dirty despite their value. In my opinion, they couldn''t even match a hair of you. I won''t touch it even if that b*stard had an emperor-level secret method..." Zhang Tie said with a scornful smile. After that, he pointed at the corpse of the abyss dragon lizard and asked, "Do you know it?"


    "No..." Yan Feiqing slightly frowned. Her look suddenly turned lively although she would never make any excessive actions in the public, "This item is too rare. I only know that it should be a prehistoric beast. As for its concrete name, I haven''t seen any description about it after traveling around Taixia Country so many years..."


    "It''s called abyss dragon lizard!" Zhang Tie explained to her, "The bones of abyss dragon lizard are a top treasure for animal controllers. Its brain and guts are also precious for pharmacists as they could be used to make various rare medicinal pills. Besides, there''s another top treasure in its body. Guess what''s that, Qing''er?"


    "Is it its scale?"


    "Its skin and scales are also the best raw material for making powerful helmet and armor. In such helmet and armor, anyone who could release protective battle qi would be able to deepen into magma. Haha, this abyss dragon lizard is also our matchmaker. Without its chase, you and I would not have such a fortune to meet and fall in love with each other. Later on, I will use its scales to make a set of beautiful battle armor for you in memory of our affection. Besides, we could save some for our kids. However, the very top treasure that I said doesn''t refer to its skin and scales..." Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he peeped at Yan Feiqing, "Qing''er, you must like it..."


    "Ahh, I will like it too?" Yan Feiqing asked amazingly.


    "Of course, this abyss dragon lizard might have lived in the magma for tens of thousands of years. Therefore, its penis is the most masculine thing in the world. Only with a small slice of its penis in liquor could the impotent man become a tough man and dominate it in making love with his wife as masculine as a dragon. If I could use it, our Zhang family would have endless posterities. Additionally, I could have Qing''er make a nice dream every night. It''s not a problem for me to make love with you for 10-20 times a night. Don''t you like such a thing, Qing''er?"


    "Disgusting..." Yan Feiqing''s face blushed at once when she realized that Zhang Tie was flirting with her. Zhang Tie then burst out into laughter.


    "Do you want to take abyss dragon lizard away?"


    "Of course!"


    After throwing a glance at the over 100 m long corpse, Yan Feiqing took off a space-teleportation finger ring and passed it to Zhang Tie, "If yours couldn''t hold it, you can use mine. As this abyss dragon lizard is too large, it might not be loaded in one space-teleportation equipment. We could cut it into a few pieces. If we couldn''t load its full corpse, we would come back for the rest next time..."


    After throwing a glance at that nanobead embedded on the space-teleportation finger ring of Yan Feiqing, Zhang Tie had known that the capacity of her space-teleportation finger ring was almost 50-60 cubic meters. It was just a quality one; instead of being a top-class one. It was very normal for Yan Feiqing to have such a finger ring. However, such a finger ring was too ordinary for Zhang Tie.


    "Qing''er, put away your finger ring. My space-teleportation equipment has no problem holding such an abyss dragon lizard..." Zhang Tie said as he put his hand on the dead abyss dragon lizard. In a split second, its corpse had disappeared out of the void. At the sight of it, Yan Feiqing''s eyes flickered as she became slightly shocked...

 1358 The Demeanor of the Dominating Wife

    Zhang Tie knew why Yan Feiqing was shocked. Because a space-teleportation equipment that could hold over 100 m long dead abyss dragon lizard was rare even in Taixia Country. It was the top treasure for all the major clans and sects. ''In the past decades, albeit Yan Feiqing had already known too many secrets about me; however, I have not displayed my ability to own any space-teleportation equipment. Therefore, she would feel so amazed at the sight of such an amazing space-teleportation equipment.''


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he put his hand inside his coat and took out the Xuanwu Secret Warehouse of Bloody Soul Temple. He then directly gave it to Yan Feiqing as he said, "Take it..."


    After taking it and injecting her spiritual energy into it, Yan Feiqing changed her eye light towards Zhang Tie immediately as the capacity of Xuanwu Secret Warehouse had long been out of Yan Feiqing''s imagination. Additionally, it had been filled with mountains of jewelry and element crystals, medicaments, water, food, etc. Actually, the stockpile inside it could cater to the demands of an army of tens of thousands of soldiers for one year. Even though Yan Feiqing had seen the world, she was still dazzled by what she saw.


    "What do you mean?"


    "What do I mean?" Zhang Tie repeated her question as he couldn''t stand beating her raised butt and saying, "Of course it''s for you. I''ve not gifted you anything officially, how about having this object as the token of love? I got it from Old Monster Qi in the Earth Realm after killing him. Its origin is bright and aboveboard. All the wealth and element crystals inside it are my only stockpiles. As you''re the head of Fantasy Women Palace and my wife, I, as the head of Iron-Dragon Sect, know that you would face a great expenditure. You might not lack money; however, you might use them sooner or later; not to mention that it''s in the holy war and you''re already a heavenly knight. If you take it with you, you would have one more trump card for an emergency. You could be a bit more comfortable in dealing with it as men make money for their women..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Yan Feiqing silently put away the Xuanwu Secret Warehouse of Bloody Soul Temple like a wife who received her husband''s salary. Soon after that, she asked Zhang Tie, "Have you gifted the same thing to that Bai Suxian of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion?"


    "Ahem...ahem..." Zhang Tie pretended to cough at once. Yan Feiqing''s tone was calm; however, Zhang Tie could sense that she was jealous of Bai Suxian. Although some women might not dress themselves up, no woman would be calm.


    "Is there any heavy wind or what? Why do you cough?" Yan Feiqing raised her eyebrows.


    "Erm...I guarantee that they''re all younger than you!"


    "They?" Yan Feiqing''s voice raised greatly at once as if she had been stimulated by the very word. Yan Feiqing widely opened her eyes as she asked, "You''ve gifted such precious space-teleportation equipment to other women besides that foxtrel Bai Suxian?"


    Yan Feiqing''s tone and expression suddenly reminded Zhang Tie that when in Blackhot City, his mom caught his dad visiting a brothel with his friends with the case-dough that he had saved stealthily. The two women''s voices were absolutely the same. The only difference between them was that Zhang Tie''s mom was wearing an apron with her hands against her sides, a rolling pin in hand. By contrast, Yan Feiqing didn''t wear an apron; neither did she put her hands against her sides. However, the two women had the same aggressive qi. Zhang Tie had been a bit regretful and doubted that he was too high-profile. ''Perhaps I should have presented Xuanwu Secret Warehouse a bit later...''


    "Not too many, just Fiona, Sabrina and O''Laura..." Zhang Tie said with a sense of guilt. He didn''t mention the one that he had gifted to Lan Yunxi.


    "As space-teleportation equipment is so rare, how could you have so many of them?" Yan Feiqing asked with an unimaginable look.


    "I explored an entire Weapons Mountain when in Earth Elements Realm..."


    "Hubby..." Yan Feiqing asked Zhang Tie tenderly. Closely after that, she leaned her head against Zhang Tie''s shoulder. Petting his chest, she slowed down her tone, "As you and I have been living together in the tower of time for over 5 decades, I''m already yours and have given everything to you. You''ve told me that you''re going to bring me to see your parents and marry me. Now that we''ve been a couple, do you think whether I should concern about your affairs or not..."


    "Of course you should concern about my affairs. Of course..."


    Although Zhang Tie knew that Yan Feiqing was setting a trap for him, he could only reply to her shamelessly.


    "Now that hubby has agreed with me, I will take it seriously. Later on, I will help hubby manage his family. As space-teleportation equipment is not ordinary. Even an earth knight in Taixia Country would not get space-teleportation equipment easily. My space-teleportation equipment was gained at a great cost. As you''ve gifted space-teleportation equipment to your wives previous, I will not comment on it. From now on, you''d better not gift such rarities to people; especially women easily. As Taixia Country is such a large country, if all the female knights across the country know that you''re so generous and would always gift people space-teleportation equipment, you and I might not have peaceful days in the future!" Yan Feiqingg let out a sigh dismally...


    "Erm, that should not happen..."


    "Why not? Even if hubby doesn''t flirt with them, they would flirt with you. One space-teleportation equipment is enough to catch numerous girls'' attention. As you''ve been well-known at such a young age and are spirited and generous, any woman would like you, not to mention those b*tches in brothels!"


    Now that Yan Feiqing had said that, Zhang Tie had been fully aware of her meaning. Zhang Tie had not imagined that this "Little Qingqing" had started to display her demeanor as a dominating wife of Zhang family the moment she exited the tower of time although she behaved like a docile kittie inside the tower of time. Therefore, Zhang Tie could only let out a sigh inside as he put his hand back into his coat and fumbled inside for a short while. He then took out 9 space-teleportation equipment in terms of a finger ring, tag, necklace and nanobead as he said, "Now that Qing''er is so considerate, from now on, you will manage these pieces of space-teleportation equipment..."


    "If hubby is unhappy or doesn''t want me to manage these affairs, let''s call it an end." Yan Feiqing let out a sigh once again.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly replied with a brilliant smile, "Of course not, how could I find any other wife who''s better than you? I''m happy that you''re so considerate about me!"


    "Really?"


    "Really!"


    After kissing Zhang Tie''s face, she immediately put the space-teleportation equipment into her portable jewel case like how Zhang Tie''s mom took his dad''s case-dough.


    "Later on, if hubby wants them, you only need to tell me about that and I will give it back to you. If I know that hubby keeps some more precious space-teleportation equipment and silver secret items privately and gifts them to other foxtrels, I will take them back in whatever means I could. As all these items belong to our family, now that hubby has agreed to have me manage them, I have to be responsible for them..."


    Zhang Tie could only give concessions to her as he knew that Yan Feiqing could definitely do it. Besides space-teleportation equipment, she had already added silver secret items confidentially and defined all those women who interfered with Zhang Tie''s living without her consent as foxtrels. However, Zhang Tie couldn''t say no to her at all. Not until now did Zhang Tie know how sharp was this woman.


    "Qing''er, how did you change so fast? I remember that you were not that dominating inside the tower of time. I cannot even adapt to it for the time being..." Zhang Tie said helplessly as he rubbed his face.


    "As there''re only two people inside the tower of time, of course, I will do everything at hubby''s request. There''s no dispute inside the tower of time. Therefore, I would feel comfortable as long as I could make hubby happy. However, after coming out of there, you and I have to experience many disputes and competitions in this secular world; plus that man''s heart is incomprehensible, of course, I should think more for the sake of hubby. Even if it''s not for you and me, we have to consider it for our children in the future..." Yan Feiqing replied with a bashful smile.


    "Well, let''s go..." Zhang Tie became silent. He faintly felt that it would be hard for him to flirt with other women from now on after conquering this fairy inside the tower of time. Among his wives, as of now, only Yan Feiqing could really take control of him. There was really something in the world that needed no pay.


    As Zhang Tie replied, he kept walking towards outside with Yan Feiqing.


    The b*stard''s corpse also floated up itself and followed Zhang Tie away from the tower of time.


    After living with Yan Feiqing for 6 decades in the tower of time, most of Zhang Tie''s secrets had already been known by Yan Feiqing, except for Castle of Black Iron, King Roc Sutra and his relationship with alchemist demon. She even knew that Zhang Tie was a divine dominator.


    During the past 6 decades, Zhang Tie had compared notes with Yan Feiqing many times inside the tower of time using the ability of divine dominator. Although Zhang Tie had not promoted to a shadow knight, his battle strength and application of kinetic strike using the ability of divine dominator had long entered a high realm.


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t need to conceal his trump card as a divine dominator in front of Yan Feiqing.


    After coming to the outside, Zhang Tie immediately threw that scumbag''s corpse along with its equipment into the boiling magma. In the blink of an eye, that d**chebag, that space-teleportation equipment and that long sword had disappeared into the scorching magma.


    Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing then flew out of the magma sea.


    The two people finally didn''t meet that heavenly demon knight outside the tower of time. However, some crystal caves where people could hide in had been severely destroyed.


    ...


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing flew out of that salt water lake at the same time and came to the land surface. They saw stars over the sky once again...

 1359 Returning to Kangzhou City

    The lake in the wilderness was in Yezhou Province, which was a barren province in the western border of Taixia Country. The realm of the disaster was in the west of Yezhou Province. After a few cities in Yezhou Province were collapsed, this province had already become demon''s territory or the territory of the puppet regime founded by the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church.


    Even when Yezhou was not collapsed, very few people could be seen in the wilderness of this province, not to mention now.


    Under bright moonlight and sparse starlight, besides sparkling waves within 100 miles over the lake, twittering insects in the wilderness alongside the lake and some wild beasts that would always hide by day and come out by night, nobody else could be seen in the surroundings, not to mention any demon.


    ''What a pity!'' Zhang Tie sighed inside.


    If that heavenly demon knight was still waiting for them outside there, Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing had 70% possibility to kill it or capture it alive. Pitifully, it was not there. Therefore, they couldn''t even find some demons to test their promotion in cultivation base.


    "Qing''er, where are you going?"


    After standing still in the air and looking around for a few seconds, Zhang Tie asked Yan Feiqing.


    "I''m going back to Fantasy Women Palace, Cloudy Dream Mountain, Wuzhou Province!"


    "You''re going back to Fantasy Women Palace?" Zhang Tie became a bit amazed as he thought that Yan Feiqing would stay in the theater of operations for a few more days.


    "Yup, 2 months later, I have to attend an appointed fight. I need to prepare for it..."


    "Who''s that blind? How dare he offend my Qing''er? I will go deal with him together with you..." Zhang Tie said with an exaggerated expression on purpose.


    Yan Feiqing then replied with a smile while covering her mouth by hand, "It''s between women. Hubby doesn''t need to go there. I will go there alone. It''s Zhu Qianqian, one of the 4 elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect who appointed a fight with me. 10 years ago, the disciples of Fantasy Women Palace and Zhu Qianqian bore grudges against each other after going downhill. She and I then opted to have a fight 10 years later to end up this enmity. I was here to kill demons in the theater of operations so as to sharpen my battle strength and further improve my cultivation base..."


    ''Zhu Qianqian?''


    The moment Zhang Tie heard this name, he had felt being a bit familiar with it. He then remembered that this woman was Huaiyuan Palace''s reliance in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. She might even be Lan Yunxi''s master.


    ''My god, what a coincidence!''


    Zhang Tie suddenly felt his head swollen.


    "Hubby, what''s wrong? Are you acquainted with Zhu Qianqian?" Yan Feiqing''s voice turned strange as she looked at Zhang Tie with a special, dubious eye light that would especially be possessed by women.


    "Don''t think too much!" Zhang Tie rubbed her raised butt twice as he said, "I''ve not seen Zhu Qianqian. But an elder of Huaiyuan Palace told me that Zhu Qianqian is closely related to Huaiyuan Palace. She''s even an old friend of Lord Huaiyuan...ahem...ahem...a disciple of Huaiyuan Place is even learning from Zhu Qianqian. I remember that Zhu Qianqian is still a shadow knight..."


    "10 years ago, Zhu Qianqian reached 5 change realm of shadow knight. Even if she had entered the Dongtian of Taiyi Fantasy Sec for cultivation, she would not reach 8 change realm of shadow knight in one decade!" Yan Feiqing then added with a smile, "Now that Zhu Qianqian has a close relationship with Huaiyuan Palace and hubby is the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace, I will not make her too embarrassed in the fight..."


    "That''s great. That''s great..." Zhang Tie let out a sigh of relief at once.


    "Zhu Qianqian only recruits female disciples like how I do. I wonder about the name of Zhu Qianqian''s disciple from Huaiyuan Palace. She might bring her disciples to watch the fight between us. By then, I will watch out in case of hurting that disciple..." Yan Feiqing asked casually.


    Soon after Zhang Tie recovered his composure, Yan Feiqing''s question had made his heart race. He could only reply with a solemn look, "Zhu Qianqian''s disciple from Huaiyuan Palace is the daughter of Longwind Count called Lan Yunxi!"


    "Although I don''t need hubby''s assistance in the appointed fight, welcome to watch it if you like..."


    "Ahem...ahem...no need. As it''s between women, men would better not interfere with it. Additionally, I''m now serving as the Weiji General of the theater of operations and have not cared about public affairs for months. There should be a lot of public affairs in Kangzhou City to deal with. Therefore, I''m afraid that I will have no time to watch that..."


    As Zhang Tie explained, even he felt that was a poor excuse. However, he had to be decisive in this case. Even if he wanted to see Lan Yunxi, it shouldn''t be in the fight between Yan Feiqing and Zhu Qianqian. That would be a catastrophe for him if Lan Yunxi found that Zhang Tie''s wife defeated her master...


    Yan Feiqing kept gazing at Zhang Tie''s face with brilliant eye light. Not until Zhang Tie felt a bit embarrassed did she reveal a sudden smile, "Now that hubby is busy with public affairs, you don''t have to go there. If hubby is going back to Kangzhou City, I could give you a ride..."


    "Sure, thanks, wife..." Zhang Tie had no other choice but to agree with her suggestion. Actually, he still wanted to loaf around the theater of operations for some days; now that he had already said it, he should not regret whatsoever.


    Yan Feiqing then pulled Zhang Tie''s hand. In the blink of an eye, the virtual image of Fantasy Woman Heavens-Breaking Boat had covered the two people.


    Although the virtual image was only 10 m longer, it had already turned into a golden shuttle from a silver one after she promoted to a heavenly knight. Additionally, there were two fairies looming on both sides of her virtual image while their skirts and waistbelts were flying in the sky. Even Zhang Tie clicked his tongue in wonder...


    The golden shuttle broke the skyline and flew towards east like a meteor. In the blink of an eye, it had reached over 6 times the speed of sound. It was a sharp increase compared to when she was a shadow knight. Even ordinary heavenly knights couldn''t fly as fast as her.


    On the way, Yan Feiqing and Zhang Tie met some teams of demon knights; however, as the golden shuttle moved so fast that it had flown far away before those demon knights responded to it...


    Because there was more than one heavenly demon knight in the theater of operations, Yan Feiqing made a detour around the core region of demons which might exist high-level demon knights and dodged away from the eastern marching route of demon corps. After passing by Yezhou Province and Wuzhou Province, they soon come to the border between Huanzhou Province and Wuzhou Province...


    Fortunately, they were not intercepted by heavenly demon knights on the way here. However, when they were about 500 miles away from Helan Mountain Range, Zhang Tie saw a huge air battlefortress moving horizontally nearby Xuanyuan Fortress as if they had already discovered Yan Feiqing and were going to intercept her. However, when Yan Feiqing released a brilliant light towards the sky and shone the stars in the sky, a virtual image of the fairy appeared in the sky. Although the process only lasted for 2 seconds, the air battlefortress stopped its horizontal movement at once as it gave way to them...


    ...


    Before daybreak, after a golden shuttle flashed by the air territory of Kangzhou City, Zhang Tie descended from the sky and appeared in the back garden of the Kangzhou Provincial Farming Administration...


    A team of bodyguards, which was making an inspection tour in there, instantly surrounded him. After seeing clearly the one who declined, all the bodyguards knelt down as they greeted in unison, "General..."

 1360 Zhang Familys Heyday I

    In July, the sun was as hot as fire. At noon, a black cloud flew over here from the east and covered the sun, casting a huge and dense shadow...


    Wherever the black cloud flew by, mountains, rivers, cities and farms would be in shadow. Watching the dark cloud, all the soldiers and commoners of Taixia Country inside and outside cities were dumbfounded.


    Even those who had seen the world were also shocked inside by that dark cloud.


    That dark cloud was actually a moving, huge group of aircraft which contained over 10,000 huge transport airships from thousands of meters high to over 10,000 m high in a certain formation. These airships were led by one commander-level airboat. These airships were guarded by air cavalries on their flanks and at the end.


    Besides that huge shadow, the booms caused by tens of thousands of engines were earth-shaking.


    This was the manifestation of power and the will of steel and iron...


    Although people on the ground didn''t know what task were these airships and airplanes carrying out, they were all spirited by such an overwhelming scene. They were all conquered by the power of Taixia Country. Numerous people kept waving their arms and towels towards the sky. Some people were even running after that huge shadow and cheering up.


    The largest flying range of air cavalries couldn''t match that of huge airships. Therefore, in every hundred miles, some airplanes would land at new airports while the other airplanes which had been hovering over the sky would join in the army of air cavalries.


    The huge steel and iron group flew all the way from Kangzhou Province. Wherever they passed by, they would arouse great shocks on the ground.


    Since the start of the holy war, some soldiers or commoners might have seen so many airships; however, nobody had ever seen so many airplanes. Actually, nobody had seen so many airplanes in the sky at the same time since the Catastrophe.


    At the fore of the airboat ahead of the steel group, a handsome youth in snow-white clothes was watching the clouds, mountains and rivers moving forward while many whims flashed across his mind...


    Of course, this youth was Zhang Tie.


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had already returned to the land surface for over 2 months.


    In June, all the 138 mu official corn fields in Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province registered a bumper harvest which shocked the whole world...


    Starting from last year, Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province had been in shortage of grains. Only after serving as the Weiji General for less than half a year, Zhang Tie had already successfully solved the problem of grain shortage in the theater of operations. Starting from June, the news that the four provinces realized a bumper harvest in the western theater of operations had spread over Taixia Country in a few days as if it had wings. Like a dope, it made all the people across Taixia Country thrilled and highly spirited.


    Taixia Country and the western theater of operations urgently needed this change. Starting from the catastrophe of bloody figures in the Zhongzhou Province on the 903rd year of Black Iron Calendar. In only a bit more than 1 year, the oriental empire had been constantly facing troubles. Before the catastrophe of bloody figures in Zhongzhou Province was suppressed, the chaos in Xuanyuan Hill had shocked the whole world. Closely after that, the catastrophe of bloody figures completely spread over the country. Before the catastrophe of bloody figures across the country was cracked down, the problem of grain shortage had spread over Taixia Country. When the problem of grain shortage deteriorated, the army of demons started to spread over the provinces and prefectures in the west of the country, involving the country into the holy war completely, leaving no chance for it to take a breath...


    Over the past 2 more years, the entire country was like taking a roller coaster. People were singing and dancing to extol the good times yesterday as if the holy war was still far away from Taixia Country; however today the country had been covered with battle flames and smoke while over 10 billion people had been under the control of demons.


    Over the past 2 years, everyone in Taixia Country was anxious, ranging from imperial households to commoners in barren lower provinces.


    Undoubtedly, the soldiers and commoners in the four provinces in the west of the country were most intense. The four provinces were in the frontline of the war; besides, they were heavily afflicted by grain shortage. Any error would lead to big chaos; especially the problem facing grains, if there were not enough grains, the four provinces would be in total disorder before the arrival of demons.


    Since the second half year of last year, Taixia Country had been transporting grains to the four provinces. Even the freight was an astronomical figure, not to mention the cost of these grains.


    In this case, the four provinces won a bumper harvest which even broke the record. When everyone was dumbfounded or driven ecstatic, the morale of the theater of operations was stabilized at once. Additionally, being affected by the achievement of the four provinces, even the morale of the neighboring provinces and military regions had been stabilized. At the critical moment, the significance of the bumper harvest in the four provinces would never be overestimated.


    Everyone had owed the bumper harvest in the four provinces to Zhang Tie and pushed his reputation to a new height. This was definitely a great military exploit that could stabilize the undertaking of the country in the dilemma.


    Honestly, besides Zhang Tie''s meritorious deed, the most important factor for this bumper harvest in the four provinces was the seeds provided by Imperial Land Resources Bureau. Actually, starting from the second half year of last year, the bureau had been providing grains for both the four provinces and the other provinces which had been afflicted by grain shortage. The result was that the four provinces under Zhang Tie''s governance won an unprecedented bumper harvest while all the other provinces and prefectures that received grains from the bureau were dwarfed by Zhang Tie''s achievement. Some places were still suffering from grain shortage. In this case, everyone would completely owe the amazing achievement to Zhang Tie instead of the Imperial Land Resources Bureau.


    The bumper harvest achieved by the four provinces aroused the attention of the rest of the world. Such a meritorious deed could never be buried. In this situation, even Xuanyuan Hill and the crown prince had to award Zhang Tie by having an imperial envoy to bring Zhang Tie a golden robe and a waistband being embedded with pieces of jade which implied supreme social status and dignity. The crown prince even assigned imperial envoy to confer "Ms. Rong" on Zhang Tie''s mom and a title of nobility on Zhang Tie''s dad in Youzhou Province...

 1361 Zhang Familys Heyday II

    Zhang Tie''s meritorious deed in the western theater of operations could really glorify his forebears.


    According to the regulation of Taixia Country, people couldn''t be awarded a title of nobility unless they had killed demons. The title of nobility acquired by Zhang Tie''s dad was almost the only one that could be awarded by Xuanyuan Hill. Being inferior to prince, duke, marquis, count, viscount and baron, this title of nobility was not awarded according to the heavenly fortune ranking. It symbolized great honor and was used to award those people who had made great contributions to humans in the holy war although having not killed demons on the battlefield.


    Zhang Tie''s dad and mom were both awarded which indicated that the country appreciated them for having such a great son.


    Besides solving the problem of grain shortage facing the theater of operations at the critical moment and making people reassured, Zhang Tie also invented Fiery Oil and all-purpose medicament as well as founded the first air force of humans in this age...


    Zhang Tie invented the battleplanes that were serving the air forces of Taixia Country, along with their dual-drive engines and the Fiery Oil. Even the "Airpilot Guidelines" and "Air Combat Manual" adopted by the pilots of air forces were compiled by Zhang Tie based on his own experience. In a sense, Zhang Tie was the father of human air forces in Black Iron Age.


    When Zhang Tie''s dad and mom became noble members of Taixia Country, Meng Shidao officially took the office of prime minister in Xuanyuan Hill in July and became one of the top 3 chancellors of Taixia Country.


    If it were before, Zhang Tie would worry that Meng Shidao might bring more stress to Huaiyuan Palace and his family after becoming the prime minister of Taixia Country; however, he didn''t worry about it now. Because Zuoqiu Mingyue, the ruler of the western theater of operations of Taixia Country and one of the top 3 chancellors, officially sent a request to Xuanyuan Hill to have Fiery Oil listed as the storage of the 6 top warehouses of Taixia Country in the same period.


    Given Zuoqiu Mingyue''s prestige, the moment he sent the official request to Xuanyuan Hill, it had aroused the attention of the rest of the world. Because any increase or decrease of materials in the top 6 warehouses of Taixia Country was a major event that was concerned with the stability of the country. Since the end of the first holy war, the storage materials of the top 6 warehouses had remained unchanged. To a certain degree, the action of including Fiery Oil as one storage material of the top 6 warehouses meant that Taixia Country would include the application of Fiery Oil into national policy.


    Not only Zuoqiu Mingyue, even those commanders of the top 4 armies of Taixia Country, Lord Guangnan Mansion, Northeast Military Region, sectors and forces under the affiliation of Heavenly Fortune Sect, major clans, provincial governors and prefectural governors across Taixia Country even Human Rune Instrument Manufacturing Masters Union had sent official request to have Xuanyuan Hill include Fiery Oil into the storage materials of the top 6 warehouses across the country.


    As it was very important for the country to vary the materials storage of the top 6 warehouses, its procedures were very strict. Generally, the first step for increasing or decreasing materials storage of the top warehouses was that the material should form a huge momentum, a strong foundation in use and a high support rate among the people. Second, at least one provincial governor should send an official request to Xuanyuan Hill. Third, it would be negotiated by the top 3 chancellors of Taixia country. After reaching a consensus among the top three chancellors, the decision would finally be made by Xuanyuan Hill before being issued.


    As the military committee chairman of Taixia country, Zuoqiu Mingyue''s official request pushed the procedure directly to the remaining two steps. As long as the top 3 chancellors reached a consensus and the crown prince agreed with it, the proposal would finally be fixed.


    Nobody dared doubt that Zuoqiu Mingyue''s proposal had any issues. Because any discerning people would see the prospect of Fiery Oil. Additionally, with the invasion of demons, Fiery Oil had spread over the country within 1 year in an overwhelming manner, arousing the attention of numerous people.


    After Zuoqiu Mingyue posed his proposal, the deputy prime minister had agreed with this opinion very much. The last person who determined whether Fiery Oil would be included as storage of top 6 warehouses of Taixia Country would be Meng Shidao who had just been promoted to prime minister. As long as the top 3 chancellors had agreed with this proposal, the crown prince who had the broad seal of Xuanyuan Hill would definitely not refuse it given such a case. Even Emperor Xuanyuan would not veto their consistent opinion if he came back, not to mention the crown prince. Otherwise, all the people across Taixia Country would doubt that the crown prince didn''t have the ability to supervise the country; instead of suspicioning the abilities of the top 3 chancellors. As long as the crown prince was normal in intelligence, he would not dig a hole to bury himself in this case.


    Everybody was paying special attention to Meng Shidao''s decision.


    In the entire July, Xuanyuan Hill was in a weird atmosphere. When Meng Shidao had just become the prime minister of Taixia Country and numerous members of the Gobbling Party started to cheer up, Meng Shidao faced the first problem, namely, whether they would have Fiery Oil as the storage of the top 6 warehouses in Taixia Country.


    Firey Oil belonged to Zhang family and Zhang Tie, who was still the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace. The vendetta between Meng Shidao, the Gobbling Party and Huaiyuan Palace was known across the world. As long as Zhang family''s Fiery Oil entered the storage of top 6 warehouses, Zhang family''s rise and decline would be related to the safety and stability of Taixia Country. By then, nobody would dare offend Huaiyuan Palace or Zhang family...


    If Meng Shidao agreed with that proposal, he would create a powerful enemy for himself; if not, this new prime minister''s moral standing would be deteriorated in the mouths of the public and the reputation and prestige that Meng Shidao had spent great efforts in building over these years would suffer a devastating strike...


    Everybody in the world was waiting for Meng Shidao''s final decision.


    Everybody was waiting for the good show, except for Zhang Tie.


    Besides grains, soon after the corns started to be reaped, all the Fiery Oil bases across the theater of operations that had been completed in the past half a year had been in busy operation. The first batch of Fiery Oil was soon dispatched to all the arsenals across the country. The arsenals which had been longing for Fiery Oil soon produced the first batch of Fiery-Oil equipment by 3 shifts around the clock.


    On July 29th, Zhang Tie himself escorted the first batch of Fiery Oil equipment to the frontline corps from the rear end of the theater of operations.


    Standing at the fore of the airboat, Zhang Tie watched the clouds and billows flashing backward. At the same time, he was thinking about Fiery Oil. Fiery Oil was important for both Taixia Country and Zhang family. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that the all-purpose medicament would first enter the storage of top 6 warehouses of Taixia Country; however, he had not imagined that Fiery Oil entered the storage of top 6 warehouses ahead of the all-purpose medicament and became an important resource for combating demons, which attracted the attention of all the people in the world...


    ''Would Meng Shidao refuse it?''


    It might be difficult for others to make such a decision, except for Meng Shidao...


    At this moment, Lu Yanyu hurriedly came out of the hatch door behind Zhang Tie.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s back, Lu Yanyu took in a deep breath as he tried his best to recover his composure. At the same time, he slowed down his footsteps.


    "General, I''ve just received the news. 10 minutes ago, Xuanyuan Hill has already officially issued a new decree and had listed Fiery Oil as the storage of top 6 warehouses of Taxia Country. The new decree would be delivered to all the provinces across the country through the National Farming Ministry on the same day. Congratulations, general..."


    ...

 1362 Zhang Familys Heyday III

    ''It has passed.'' Zhang Tie''s heart slightly pounded...


    If a person had been waiting too long for something, when it really came, he might recover his composure. That was the very situation facing Zhang Tie. At this moment, Zhang Tie was not thinking about Fiery Oil, but that Meng Shidao was really something.


    Zhang Tie turned around with a smile, "Oh, I see. Thanks for your notice, Mr. Lu..."


    "It''s my responsibility, general..." Lu Yanyu bowed towards Zhang Tie once again as he continued, "I''ve just noticed the Kangzhou Agricultural Administration, from today on, all the class A cities in Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province would increase oil depots for their top 6 warehouses and increase storage of Fiery Oil..."


    "What''s the request on the quantity of Fiery Oil storage in each class A city in the new decree?"


    "Each class A city should store at least 2 million tons of Fiery Oil. Additionally, some developed class A cities should be installed with facilities in line with Fiery Oil production base inside the city. When in wartime, all the class A fields in each city should plant maize..." Lu Yanyu replied in details.


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    After finding that Zhang Tie stayed calm after hearing this news, Lu Yanyu admired him pretty much. After having a brief talk with Zhang Tie, Lu Yanyu left the fore of the airboat.


    The moment Lu Yanyu left, Zhang Tie had felt a slight vibration from the remote-sensing finger ring that was especially for the communication between his elder brother and him among the bunch of finger rings that he was wearing.


    "A news from Xuanyuan Hill, Fiery Oil has been the legit storage material of the top 6 warehouses in Taixia Country..."


    Zhang Yang''s news sounded a bit flurried as he even forgot to check the identity of the other person by code which the two brothers had always opted for usually.


    Zhang Tie could understand his elder brother''s feeling. He knew how thrilled was his elder brother at this moment from this news.


    Zhang Yang''s excitement made Zhang Tie feel inexplicably warm. Zhang Tie knew that even though they had already divided family property and lived apart apparently, they still shared the same pleasure whichever entered the top 6 warehouses of Taixia Country, Fiery Oil or all-purpose medicament.


    "I''ve just received it too. This news is of great significance to Huaiyuan Palace. Within days, Youzhou Province might be very boisterous. Elder brother should pay more attention to Youzhou Province lately. And, how are dad and mom lately?"


    "They''re pretty fine. Since they know that you will not go to the frontline any more, they had both let out a sigh of relief. After dad won a title of nobility and mom was conferred as Ms. Rong, many people requested to pay a visit to them. Some were even introduced by elders of Huaiyuan Palace. Therefore, our parents didn''t feel it was proper to decline their visits. Guess what those visitors would like to get the most from our parents?"


    After his attention was successfully aroused by his elder brother, Zhang Tie seemingly saw his elder brother''s smile although they were far away from each other. It was like how they lived in Blackhot City, when being extremely thrilled, Zhang Yang would always like to keep his family members guessing what happened.


    "What do they ask about?"


    "Our dad and mom have already been authoritative experts on family education in Taixia Country. All the visitors are there to ask for their experience in family education. They all want to know how our parents cultivated our two brothers in such a tough environment in Blackhot City. Hahaha..."


    Zhang Tie became speechless. However, he knew that his elder brother''s words were not exaggerated. His elder brother was ruling Jinwu Business Group who was also dignified in the commercial world of Taixia Country. What was more important, Zhang Yang was also a pharmacist who had made a great achievement. In such an ordinary family, one son had become a famous earth knight who had opened his own sect, the other had become a top-notch in commercial world who had made achievements in pharmacy in such a tough environment. From the perspective of family education simply, such an achievement could match that of heavenly knights among knights which were really admirable.


    "Hahaha, I really want to know what our parents had told those people..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter too.


    "Haha, you will know that when you come back. Our mom is now being surrounded by an array of noble women and turns more like a noble madam. Oh, there''s one more thing that you might not have imagined..."


    "What''s that?"


    "A few days ago, some major clans in Youzhou Province posed a proposal to the Youzhou Provincial Governor''s Mansion and suggested our dad to be recruited as the principal of Youzhou University..."


    This news was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. Youzhou University was the highest level official university in the province which was converged with elites. The principal of a provincial university was the most innocent and noblest title in a province. Although his rights couldn''t match that of a provincial governor or prefectural governor, or even major officials that ruled a provincial justice temple or an agricultural administration, his influence could never be ignored in a province. Because all the elite students in a province were his disciples, as long as these elite students became famous in the future, they would mean a well-connected network with endless potentials.


    "What did dad say?"


    "Youzhou Provincial governor has already issued the decree. Although dad intends to take that office; however, he was still a bit hesitated..."


    Zhang Tie thought about it as he found that his dad could definitely be qualified as a principal based on his temperament. Zhang Ping''s biggest advantage was being patient. Additionally, he was a yes-man. The two features were the most important qualities that should be owned by educators. ''Perhaps, dad should really try it. He''s not too old whatsoever.'' Zhang Tie thought as he sent a message to Zhang Yang, "Elder brother, tell dad that we will support him whatever decision he makes. It''s just a title of principal. If dad really wants to try it, it''s not a big deal. If he couldn''t do that, he could resign. With the assistance of our two brothers, if others could become well-educated by dad, they should owe it to their dull qualifications and failure to comprehend the essence of the education of our dad..."


    "Hmm, I will tell our dad about that. Let''s talk later. A lot of partners of Jinwu Business Group have already received the news and are congratulating me by sending messages. I''ve received hundreds of messages. I will be very busy in the following days..."


    "Fine!"


    "Zhang family''s heyday is coming..."


    Zhang Yang couldn''t stand revealing his ambition in the end...


    Soon after ending the communication with Zhang Yang, Zhang Tie had known what did Zhang family''s heyday mean. Starting from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Deyang Immortal Being of Heavenly Fortune Sect, Guan Qianchong the head of Guan Clan, Cheng Honglie the commander of Northeast Military Region and almost all the others who could contact Zhang Tie had already sent a message to him to congratulate him after knowing that Fiery Oil had officially been listed as the storage of the top 6 warehouses in Taixia Country...


    The profits of Fiery Oil ranked first in the world. Even if Zhang family only took half of the profits of Fiery Oil, it had already laid a foundation for Zhang family to become a top major clan in Taixia Country...


    When Taixia Country was in danger, Zhang family entered their heyday...

 1363 Meeting Old Friends

    Before sunset, the huge airboat had landed at an airport in Huanzhou Province near the foot of Helan Mountain Range.


    This airport was very large. It was one of the largest airports in the east of Helan Mountain Range and an important logistics base in the theater of operations. Being 300-350 miles long and over 200 miles wide, the base was even larger than a class A city. Having a bird''s-eye view from the sky, the entire airport was absolutely a small plain in the east of Helan Mountain Range. Being barren and plain, it was covered with sandstone within 600 square miles. There were only some short bushes and thorns on the ground.


    After the vanguard of demons invaded Taixia Country, a professional army corps of 500,000 engineers only spent 2 months in renovating this place into a huge logistic base for aircraft based on its topography.


    Over 3 million people of 7 field corps within over 60 square miles were depending on this logistic base.


    After Zhang Tie''s airboat landed there, those huge transport airships also started to land there by batches with the guidance of ground light signal, together with batches of airplanes which landed in the surrounding airports...


    Before the hatch door was opened, a strong wind had arrived, causing banners and sands flying. As a result, everything was covered by the shallow sand in the blink of an eye...


    After passing by the open land around the airboat, the fine sands hit the steel helmets and armors of those officers, which was aggressive and metallic like that when saber and sword slid over the surface of hone.


    Being influenced by the strong wind, some nearby airships slightly deviated due to the unstable center of gravity. As a result, those ground logistics personnel soon rushed into the windy sands while an officer''s hoarse voice sounded, "Hurry...No. 3 berth...start steam capstan to fasten the mooring lines of the airboat..."


    In the strong wind and sands, the hatch door of the airboat was opened while Zhang Tie walked out in white.


    "General!"


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, all the armored marshals cupped their hands, causing clatters between pieces of metal armor.


    "Marshals, take it easy!" Zhang Tie bowed towards them too. After that, he looked around and watched the sands in the strong wind as he sighed with feeling, "This place is a wind gap of Helan Mountain Range. It''s wise to select the airport here. We could put this base in use as fast as possible. However, the garrisons have to suffer from such bad weather..."


    "As soldiers of Taixia Country, it''s normal for us to fight to death on the battlefields. By contrast, such weather is nothing serious!" Fang Hui grinned as he watched Zhang Tie, "As long as the general brings us some good weaponry for killing demons, our soldiers would feel worth staying here..."


    Besides Fang Hui and Peng Yulin whom Zhang Tie had long acquainted with in Xiangshan City, there were 5 more black iron knights in armors of corps leaders standing in front of the team. All the leaders of the surrounding 7 field corps had arrived.


    Followed by the 7 corps leaders were senior officers of each corps. In total, there were over 100 people, making it an armored team of officers.


    Fang Hui and Peng Yulin were old friends that Zhang Tie made in Xiangshan City who killed demons together with Zhang Tie. Later on, they escorted the Wuzhou Provincial Army to return from Xiangshan City together while all the dangers on the way back had been cleared by Zhang Tie.


    Fang Hui then introduced the other 5 corps leaders to Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie also introduced Lu Yanyu and some officers of the agricultural administration to the 7 corps leaders. They then became familiar with each other.


    Zhang Tie came here with the first batch of Fiery Oil weapons that had been produced in the rear end. On the way here, Zhang Tie inspected the construction of airports, airplanes and training of pilots in each province and prefecture. He was very satisfied with the result. Over the past half a year, the bumper harvest of grains could cater to the production of Fiery Oil. Production of Fiery Oil airplanes and weapons, training of pilots and the construction of airports which Zhang Tie treasured most had been on track and gained pleasant achievements.


    "Old Fang, we''re friends. No need to be so constrained in front of me. As you''re all here, I will cut the crap. I will find a proper place to show the latest weapons and their usage to you. After that, you, corps leaders, could have people take away your own weaponry. The earlier troops are matched with such weaponry, the more confident would our soldiers be when facing demons..."


    "Haha, frank guy..." Fang Hui burst out into laughter as he threw a glance at the other 6 corps leaders and asked, "What do you think?"


    "Hahaha, we would benefit from the association with Old Fang and Yulin this time. In the past half a year, I''ve heard that Fiery Oil weapons were especially powerful. However, it''s said that only a small part of frontline troops and special forces of the top 4 armies are matched with some weaponry. They all treat weaponry as treasures. Whereas, most of the troops in the theater of operations have no chance to get such equipment. Many people have not even seen them before. I''ve long been desiring for them!" A knight with whiskers said straightforwardly.


    As Zhang Tie''s words satisfied these corps leaders'' tastes very much, their attention was aroused at once.


    "Well, there''s a training ground not far from here, which is used for training garrisons of the base in normal days. How about showing us the power of these Fiery Oil weaponry over there?" Another corps leader suggested while all the others nodded. Therefore, they came to a training ground near the place where Zhang Tie''s airboat had landed. Although those marshals didn''t have a chance to chime in just now, they all went there to take a look at the power of Fiery Oil weaponry.


    The training ground was right on a small undulating hillside which covered a few square miles. As there were some mountain slopes and ravines over there, airships couldn''t land there. To fill and level up that place, it meant a great quantity of work. Therefore, they kept it as a training ground for the garrisons of the airport. Usually, it was used for training fighters in the base. Taking a broad view, Zhang Tie found a lot of training facilities on the training ground such as obstacles, trenches, water pools, marshy land and high slopes which were indeed convenient for training.


    When they arrived there, the strong wind gradually stopped. As a result, the visibility grew increasingly greater. Many Hua fighters were rolling, crawling and fighting on the training ground while the air was filled with their hoarse roars. Right on the hillside, 5,000-6,000 people with red strips of cloth on their arms were fighting another 5,000-6,000 people with blue strips of cloth on their arms at their full efforts, bared to their waists. The fierce scene looked like that they were really having a fight at the risk of their lives. While rolling and wrestling on the ground, those fighters'' sweat, blood and mud combined into bizarre muddy strips and mottled regions on their skin...


    Zhang Tie was moved by such a tough training as he felt the same qi of Hua fighters in Iron-Blood Camp from them. They were really training at the risk of losing their lives. Many people were severely beaten that even their faces were covered with blood; whereas, they still roared and rushed towards the opponents; instead of moving a step backward...


    "Where does the garrison corps of this base come from?" Zhang Tie asked those marshals on his sides.


    "This garrison corps is rearranged from the original Wuzhou provincial army!" A corps leader said in a muffled voice, "Many relatives of these people have been killed by demons or collapsed in the areas occupied by demons. Therefore, they all want to avenge demons. They all know that their opponents are at least LV 9 fighters in demons corps. Most of the people among them are below LV 6. Although they''re clear that they might not be able to kill those demon b*stards, they still strengthen their training and expect to kill one demon so as to not live in vain..."


    "Not only them, those fighters of corps in the theater of operations even brothers of top four armies of Taixia Country think that they would not live in vain by killing one demon and win by killing two..." Fang Hui also sighed with emotions, "We''re afraid that it''d be useless even if they sacrificed themselves. That would be really despairing..."


    After watching the training on the training ground for a couple of seconds, Zhang Tie said, "Gather them, they should see what I''ve brought for them to fight demons..."


    After Zhang Tie''s words, the mort had reverberated around the training ground. After hearing the mort, all the Hua fighters stopped their training immediately as they gathered up in terms of 1,000 people matrix on both sides of the hillside beside the training ground solemnly...


    Almost the moment those fighters gathered up, Zhang Tie''s subordinates had already carried crates to the graining ground. At the sight of the items inside those crates, all the corps leaders'' and officers'' eyes lit up like bulbs...

 1364 New Weaponry

    After those crates were opened, they saw wholly-new Fiery Oil weapons lying inside tidily. Being simply isolated by tissue paper, the swarthy and shiny weapons were lying quietly in the crates in rows and floors. At the sight of them, all the marshals at present drooled as they moved their fingers.


    Before Zhang Tie came to the theater of operations, the ground troops of Fiery Dragon Corps mainly used inflammable grenades, inflammable spears and inflammable crossbows and bolts. Zhang Tie carried some crates of inflammable spears, inflammable grenades and inflammable crossbows and bolts. Besides, engineers and craftsmen in Taixia Country invented two more Fiery Oil weapons and matched them with ground troops on a large scale, namely, inflammable mines and inflammable flamers...


    "This is an inflammable grenade..." Zhang Tie said as he took up an inflammable grenade from a crate under the gaze of those corps leaders. After rotating its handle anticlockwise by 90 degrees, Zhang Tie threw it towards a wooden target in the training ground over 50 m away. The moment the grenade fell in front of the wooden target, it had turned into a fierce flame, which instantly covered the wooden target. Only after a few seconds, the wooden target had been burned into ashes. Not only that, after the wooden target was burned into ashes, the flame didn''t die out until it turned 20 square meters'' area into scorched black, leaving some wisps of smokes...


    The power of an inflammable grenade made those corps leaders and officers thrilled.


    After seeing Zhang Tie''s gesture, all the 8 corps leaders gathered about as each of them took up an inflammable grenade and started to look at it. They weighed up the grenade by hand while nodding inside.


    "I saw that the general rotated the handle of the inflammable grenade before throwing it out just now. I wonder about the principle?" Peng Yulin asked with an inflammable grenade in hand.


    "This is the safety switch of the inflammable grenade. When you don''t rotate it, this inflammable grenade would be very safe and wouldn''t be detonated by ordinary collisions. After you rotate its handle anticlockwise by 90 degrees, you would trigger its fuse. Inflammable grenades adopt two modes of fuses. After switching on its fuse, it would be detonated soon after it crashes against any object. The other mode is that it would be detonated automatically after its fuse switches on for 4.2 seconds even if it doesn''t touch any object. Whenever each of the two modes'' condition was satisfied, the inflammable grenade would be detonated in that mode..." Zhang Tie said as he took up another inflammable grenade. After rotating its handle by 90 degrees, he threw it out in the same trajectory. This time, that grenade exploded directly in the air. After turning into a fierce blaze in the air, it finally landed on the ground and started to burn up.


    "The mixed modes of detonation of an inflammable grenade are designed for the sake of actual combat. Because Hua fighters'' opponents on the battlefield are at least LV 9 demon fighters, whose speed and responsiveness were far out of the reach of ordinary Hua fighters. In this case, if time-delayed fuse were adopted, the grenade might be kicked back or thrown back before explosion. The outcome might be that we have to suffer an accidental casualty. However, if we only adopt contact-mode fuse, the inflammable grenade would not explode unless it touched the ground or hit the opponent. The opponents would not easily dodge away from the attack of an inflammable grenade in the second mode..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, all the 8 corps leaders nodded. The mixed fuse of the inflammable grenade was indeed developed for the sake of actual combat. It could never be developed by nerds or those who had not attended any fight in the frontline at all. Additionally, 4.2 seconds was the optimal period given the throwing speed and the distance on the battlefield...


    "Great, that''s really great!" Fang Hui clapped his hands on one side forcefully as he continued, "Those who have not fought demon fighters on the ground could never work out such modes. The inventors should be well awarded..."


    Zhang Tie remained silent with a slight smile while Lu Yanyu who was standing on Zhang Tie''s side opened his mouth, "The idea of mixed modes of the fuse of an inflammable grenade was proposed by the general. The general has joined in the design of many key links in the production of these weapons in the arsenals of Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province..."


    After hearing Lu Yanyu''s words, those corps leaders changed their viewpoints about Zhang Tie once again. They all knew that Zhang Tie was something; however, they had not imagined that Zhang Tie could have such great accomplishments and insight in technologies and craftsmanships. It seemed that the Military God had made a pretty correct choice in having Qianji Hermit serve as Weiji General. Previously, those corps leaders were not sure that dual-drive engines were invented by Zhang Tie as they thought the accomplishment might be achieved by someone else for the honor of Zhang Tie. However, now they realized that Qianji Hermit''s abilities might not be out of the imagination of commoners...


    Zhang Tie just smiled after hearing the exclamation and praise of those corps leaders. He didn''t look arrogant at all. The mixed modes of the fuse of inflammable grenades were indeed the best design that Zhang Tie worked out after so many combats with demons. Besides inflammable grenades, inflammable spears also adopted mixed modes of the fuse...


    After trying the power of inflammable grenades themselves, the 8 corps leaders were all thrilled...


    After showing inflammable grenades to them, Zhang Tie started to introduce inflammable spears and inflammable crossbows and bolts to them. Even officers and Hua fighters in the training ground were in a tumult when they watched those new Fiery Oil weapons, not to mention those corps leaders.


    Especially when Zhang Tie demonstrated the usage of the inflammable spear. He took up an inflammable spear and threw it out casually. As a lightning bolt flashed by, it hit a huge piece of weathered rock on the hillside over 1,000 m away. The entire piece of rock was broken completely. Closely after that, it started to burn heavily. The destructive capability and sphere of influence of inflammable spear were over 3 times more than that of the inflammable grenade.


    The inflammable mine was weirder. Being of the same size as an inflammable grenade, the inflammable mine was flatter and could be easily buried under the ground. Its fuse was based on contact mode. As long as a demon stepped on it, it would be covered with high-temperature flame and burnt into ashes. Even those on its side might be involved. The inflammable mine was as destructive as an inflammable grenade. After being detonated, it would cover about 20 square meters...


    The inflammable flame thrower was most destructive among all the Fiery Oil weapons.


    The prototype of inflammable flame thrower was flamethrower that human troops were matched with before the Catastrophe. With a pair of steel cans on one''s back, one held an over 1-m long spraying gun, as long as he pressed down the switch, Fiery Oil would be sprayed out of the spraying gun under high-pressure nitrogen in the shape of a 40-50 m long berserk fiery dragon, which would sweep over everything nearby. As a result, stones, wooden targets and bushes started to burn up...


    Even those corps leaders were dumbfounded by the destructive capability of inflammable flamethrower, not to mention those Hua fighters in the training ground. Because everybody knew that this destructive weaponry would be available to them soon...


    "With such sharp weapons, our fighters of Taixia Country would never be afraid of demons even if all the demons are above LV 9..." A corps leader sighed with feeling.


    "Even LV 10 battle demons who are able to release protective battle qi could only stand such a high temperature for a few seconds, not to mention those LV 9 fighters..."


    "It seems that one Hua fighter could kill dozens of LV 9 demons with a set of an inflammable flamethrower in proper topography..."


    "Based on its destructive capability, it could even be used to deal with low-altitude wing demons. Therefore, those wing demons would not be scrupulous in the sky anymore..."


    "As long as demons suffered some losses, they would definitely know the destructive capability of the inflammable flamethrower. In the future, our fighters who manipulate inflammable flamethrower would definitely be the primary target of demons. Therefore, only dauntless fighters could use inflammable flamethrower..."


    All the corps leaders at present were in hot discussion as they were conquered by the destructive capability of the inflammable flamethrower. In some sense, the inflammable flamethrower was even more destructive than some powerful battle qi strikes with fire attribute.


    "Besides being available for a single pawn, the inflammable flamethrower could also be installed on the armored vehicle..." Peng Yulin said while all the others moved their eyes on Zhang Tie.


    "Actually, we''ve already invented inflammable tanks, which is matched with a reinforced inflammable flamethrower by adding a steam pressure device and a small nitrogen separator. This sort of inflammable flamethrower could reach over 100 away..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the corps leaders'' eyes shone once again. However, Zhang Tie''s following explanation disappointed them for the time being...


    "However, the topography in Helan Mountain Range doesn''t allow heavy weaponry such as armored vehicles to access. Therefore, the first batch of inflammable tanks could only be transported to corps near Weishui River by train..."


    "What about airplanes and air force?"


    Zhang Tie replied while blinking his eyes, "I have no idea about the concept of the air force. I''m just a Weiji General. I''m responsible for training pilots and making weapons. As for the arrangement of those pilots, it''s within Military God''s consideration. If I established an air force in the rear end, those imperial around-the-clock censors might find an opportunity to find me trouble..."


    After exchanging a glance with each other, all the corps leaders were clear of Zhang Tie''s concerns. Therefore, they shifted the topic at once.


    "How many weapons does General bring to our corps this time?"


    "1.5 million inflammable grenades, 500,000 inflammable mines, 100,000 inflammable spears, 200,000 inflammable crossbows and bolts, 10,000 inflammable flamethrowers and some matched equipment and supplies for each corps for the time being..."


    "We extend our thanks to the general on behalf of our soldiers!" Some corps leaders cupped their hands towards Zhang Tie as they said in unison, "Our fighters are happy to see general in the theater of operations!"


    Shaking his head, Zhang Tie sighed with emotions inside as he threw a glance at those ordinary fighters on the training ground and said in a low voice, "Hopefully, their parents, wives and children don''t hate me in the future. Without the weaponary, they might still have a chance to escape; however, with the weaponry, they would seek for death..."


    At this moment, a breeze blew by, causing dirt to rise and fall. It was quiet all over. Those corps leaders and officers were all watching Zhang Tie silently as they could barely understand Zhang Tie''s feelings.


    "Our Hua men could fight to death for the country, the people on the battlefields. We all wish to fight to death and not feel pitiful at all..." Peng Yulin said while raising his head, revealing a pair of heroic, raised sword-shaped eyebrows under his helmet...

 1365 Going Back for Reporting on His Work

    When Xuanyuan Fortress appeared in his vision, Zhang Tie could still faintly hear the exclamations of the Hua corps fighters who were receiving new weaponry. As a result, Zhang Tie felt a bit less guilty unconsciously. Perhaps, nobody knew that Zhang Tie disliked war since he was born; neither did he like to see others going for death. Zhang Tie didn''t feel like celebrating it whether the others were dying in a glorious or humble manner.


    However, as a male knight in such a damned secular world, he had no other choice but to escape and hide somewhere like a coward or go to the battlefield like a fighter who buried his mercy and sadness in his heart resolutely by turning himself into a scorching piece of steel and faced challenges one after another as well as cleaning up all the demons who wanted to enslave and exterminate humans once again. The more demons he killed, the more comfortable he would be; if he could kill all the demons, he would feel completely satisfied with it.


    Because it was wartime, after Zhang Tie escorted the first batch of weaponry to the ground logistic base in Helan Mountain Range, he didn''t stay there too long. After having a short drink with the 7 corps leaders, he had restarted his trip by airboat towards the air territory between Weishui River and Helan Mountain Range where Xuanyuan Fortress was located in before the weaponry was fully transferred.


    When he saw Xuanyuan Fortress once again, it was evening while the sky was covered with stars. Xuanyuan Fortress and those surrounding battle fortresses were bathing starlight in the sky.


    As Weiji General, Zhang Tie could directly keep his airboat at a berth in Xuanyuan Fortress.


    "I might stay in Xuanyuan Fortress for a few days. All the other things would remain unchanged and at your disposal. You could return by this airboat..." Zhang Tie told Lu Yanyu before getting off the airboat.


    "Erm...general, this airboat is your private vehicle. Just keep it here. Airboats would come here to provide supplies at regular time from provinces. We could return by one of those airboats..."


    "I don''t need to be that luxurious here. It''s a waste for this airboat to stay here. You go back by airboat first. When I need it, you could assign the airboat to pick me up..." Zhang Tie waved his hand to stop Lu Yanyu. After 2 seconds'' silence, Zhang Tie added, "Perhaps...there would be a new Weiji General..."


    Zhang Tie''s last words had Lu Yanyu widen his eyes at once as he watched Zhang Tie with an unbelievable expression, "General...general...wants to resign..."


    After being in the officialdom of Taixia Country for dozens of years, Lu Yanyu didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could make such a decision in his heyday. After taking office for over half a year, Zhang Tie had successfully met the supply of grains, Fiery Oil and airplanes in the theater of operations. So many official businesses, major clans and commoners had benefited from the grains, Fiery Oil, airplanes and weaponry that Zhang Tie had provided in the Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province. Everybody appreciated him very much. Weiji General was prevailing in the officialdom and was deeply favored by the people; especially after the bumper harvest when Zhang Tie''s prestige skyrocketed and could almost match that of the commander of the Peacewest Military Region. In that case, as long as Zhang Tie maintained everything in the rear end unchanged without doing anything else for a couple of years, when the rear end''s situation was completely consolidated with a few more times'' bumper harvests, his meritorious deeds on production and supply of Fiery Oil, grains and weaponry would be as great as that of commander of a military region in Taixia Country. When Zhang Tie promoted to a shadow knight, he would easily be elected as the commander of a military region.


    Lu Yanyu couldn''t understand why Zhang Tie would resign at this moment. If he resigned at this moment, it was equal to gifting his meritorious deeds to others. ''Is cultivation so important for a knight?'' Even if Zhang Tie served as Weiji General, he could still cultivate. Take a few days ago as an instance. Although Zhang Tie disappeared for over 2 months, the rear end still ran as usual.


    "I indeed have such an idea..."


    "General..." Lu Yanyu moved one step forward out of excitement as he bowed towards Zhang Tie deeply, "Although this subordinate is not very familiar with general''s temperament, this subordinate has noticed everything that general has done for the theater of operations over the past half a year and kept it deep in mind. General''s method is too inspiring. Without the general, there would not be such a good situation facing the rear end. General is far-sighted and generous. Gentleman''s morality is fine intoxication and education which glorifies all the 4 provinces. This subordinate really admires the general for what you have done. General, please listen to this subordinate''s sincere words. If you resign at this moment, it would be too pitiful. Please think twice before making a decision..."


    Watching Lu Yanyu, Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards him solemnly as he said, "Thanks for your sincere advice, Mr. Lu. I don''t feel regretful hearing your words at this moment!"


    "This subordinate expects that the general could continue to be the Weiji General of the theater of operations. If the general resigned at this moment, the subordinates'' morale would decline, the pretty good over situation facing the four provinces would also be weakened. I believe that Military God would never agree with your resignation!" Lu Yanyu said. After being silent for a few seconds, he added, "Even though the prime minister has an unrivaled power, Meng Shidao would not dare offend the general given your status of Weiji General and your great military exploits."


    Zhang Tie shook his head with a smile as he replied, "It''s not because of Meng Shidao. Even though I have a bright future in officialdom and could become one of the top 3 chancellors of Taixia Country in the future, it''s not what I want!"


    "I see, it seems that the general has other ambitions..." Lu Yanyu was enlightened suddenly as he watched Zhang Tie with an admirable and sophisticated eye light as if it was his first time to know Zhang Tie. What a strange world! What many people strove for was nothing but a piece of sh*t for others because someone would jettison high position and vanity like abandoning a pair of broken shoes.


    Patting Lu Yanyu''s shoulder, Zhang Tie said, "Take care of yourself...". Closely after that, Zhang Tie left the airboat under the sophisticated gaze of Lu Yanyu.


    A knight subordinate of Zuoqiu Mingyue was waiting for Zhang Tie outside the airboat.


    Since he left Xuanyuan Fortress as Weiji General, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to return to Xuanyuan Fortress for reporting on his work.


    A black sedan was waiting outside the airboat. Zhang Tie became a bit stunned by it. Because no knight would even throw a glance at it on the ground; however, in Xuanyuan Fortress, there were very few sedans and were pretty eye-catching. It''s the traffic tool for important figures in the fortress. Even a heavenly knight would not fly here and there in the air fortress.


    After getting in the sedan, Zhang Tie had been transported towards the high tower in the center of the fortress. On the way, all the knights on two sides of the roads moved their eyes onto the passenger in the vehicle...


    "What? Is that Qianji Hermit? Qianji Hermit has returned to Xuanyuan Fortress..." Some knights recognized Zhang Tie at once...


    "Isn''t Qianji Hermit the Weiji General of the rear end? Why did he come back to Xuanyuan Fortress..."


    "Do not make a fuss! Who told you that Weiji General can''t come back? Hillbilly..."


    The result was that the news that Zhang Tie had returned to Xuanyuan Fortress had been spread over the air fortress before he met Zuoqiu Mingyue...


    ...

 1366 A Countermeasure I

    In the same room, facing the same person, Zhang Tie didn''t feel anything different than that when he met Zuoqiu Mingyue here for the first time. After more than half a year, Zuoqiu Mingyue was still like a spirited immortal except for some imperceptible wisps of pale hair near his temples. Zhang Tie sighed with emotions inside.


    Commoners could not imagine how great stress was this old man sustaining whose figure was not imposing. He had to face the great stress of a multitude of demon knights and demon corps while sustaining the expectation of hundreds of millions of commoners across the entire empire. Within days, the frontline near Helan Mountain Range and Weishui River had already become the focus of both humans and demons in this holy war. Even the iron man might be collapsed mentally facing such great stress. However, this old man didn''t fall inside. After stabilizing the western line of defense, Zuoqiu Mingyue still stood here and accepted the coming storm frankly.


    In the past half a year, although Zhang Tie was not in the frontline, he also knew that the demon army was approaching the human line of defense. During the same period, human knights and frontline battle fortresses had made great achievements under the guidance of Zuoqiu Mingyue in "sawtooth tactics" by separating the vanguards of demon army into parts. Under the general guidance of Zuoqiu Mingyue, the vanguard of demon army gradually slowed down their marching speed while those separated demon knights troops and ground corps had to combine with each other on a large scale once again so as to respond to the counterattack from Taixia Country...


    "Commander-in-chief, Zhang Tie the Weiji General of western theater of operations is coming..." Zhang Tie still bowed towards Zuoqiu Mingyue politely in case of being regarded as fickle and arrogant because of Zuoqiu Mingyue''s favor.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue revealed a very warm smile as he threw a tender yet sharp glance at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, he slowly nodded as he said, "Hmm, not bad, very good. I''ve not selected the wrong person!"


    Zhang Tie was not familiar with Zuoqiu Mingyue; otherwise, he should have long been excited after hearing Zuoqiu Mingyue''s praise. Only those who were familiar with Zuoqiu Mingyue knew that the commander-in-chief barely acclaimed any person usually. He would comment someone as "not bad" or "very good" at most. It was really his first time to speak highly of someone using "not bad", "very good" and "I''ve not selected the wrong person" together. Nobody else across Taixia Country had ever gained such an acclamation from Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    "I''m overpraised and embarrassed by such praise, commander-in-chief!"


    "You''re too modest..." Zuoqiu Mingyue burst out into laughter, "I''m clear about your achievements as Weiji General. Everybody else has known what you''ve done for the theater of operations. Take the Fiery Oil weapons that you sent to the 7 corps near Helan Mountain Range and the performance of the students of the pilot academies in the four provinces as an instance, soon after that, I''ve received reports from hundreds of corps leaders of provincial armies and top 4 armies. All of them have been jealous about that and urged me to replenish the latest Fiery Oil weapons and air force for each corps. Look at you, a single action of yours would bring me a lot of troubles..."


    Although Zuoqiu Mingyue''s words sounded like complaining, his tone implied he was very happy. Therefore, these words could also be regarded as praise.


    After hearing Zuoqiu Mingyue''s words and looking at the pale hair near his temples, Zhang Tie could only decline politely, "Benefited from the concerted efforts of soldiers and commoners and the spirit of sacrifice of officials in these provinces, I made such a bit achievement by fortune..."


    "The total population of corps of Taixia Country within Peacewest Military Region has almost reached 500 million. As Weiji General of the theater of operations, you have the biggest right to speak on some issues. How long do you think it will take for these corps in the theater of operations to accomplish its first weaponry update?"


    "At least 22 months!" Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly. As Weiji General, Zhang Tie might not interfere with all the details, he was very clear about the productive capacity of weaponry of the 4 provinces within Peacewest Military Region. This figure was calculated by the Peacewest Agricultural Bureau.


    "22 months?" Zuoqiu Mingyue slightly frowned.


    "The arsenals across the 4 provinces have been producing weaponry by 3 shifts. I''ve already told my subordinates to have mill owners and major clans participate in it in terms of bidding. Now, all the Fiery Oil bases in the 4 provinces have been put into production. All the provinces are releasing their productivity. This figure was an optimistic estimation that has excluded the demon army''s influence on the productivity of those provinces.


    In the following year, the productivity in each province could increase 30% more. The weaponry update of Taixia troops within the 4 provinces could also be finished 4 months earlier; however, the outcome is that the quality of Fiery Oil weaponry would not be guaranteed while the yield rate of each kind of weaponry would degrade by 2 levels. Many weaponry''s problems might not be exposed unless in use. Because skilled workers couldn''t be trained in one day. Otherwise, we might suffer an unexpected loss. Even the troops'' confidence about Fiery Oil weaponry would be weakened..."


    Zhang Tie said calmly while watching Zuoqiu Mingyue, "The same plan has been posed by some officials in the Peacewest Agricultural Bureau. However, I''ve vetoed it. I am experienced in the grassroots of troops. I know that what sort of weaponry does a fighter need. As for all the fighters in the frontline, unreliable weaponry means a high risk of losing their lives. Weaponry of poor quality would even weaken fighters'' morale instead of enhancing it. At the critical moment, we''d better not use such poor-quality weaponry. According to the plan on matching corps with Fiery Oil weaponry, corps in Military Province and in the east of Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province and Ningzhou Province would be matched with Fiery Oil weaponry. Generally, it will not play a negative role in the defensive line near Helan Mountain Range and Weishui River..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s statement, Zuoqiu Mingyue slightly frowned for a couple of seconds before nodding.

 1367 A Countermeasure II

    "Whether the air cavalries trained by pilot academies in the 4 provinces could attend battle now?"


    "I could only say they have mastered the basic combat skills by airplanes. However, the real fighters couldn''t be trained by pilot academies; instead, they could only be trained on the battlefields!"


    "How many air cavalries could be trained by the end of this year?"


    "There''re total 341 pilot academies within the 4 provinces. By the end of this year, these pilot academies could train over 1 million air cavalries in total. We''ve already produced an equal number of airplanes. In the next year, the number of pilot academies within the 4 provinces could even increase by two times. Some excellent flight students could become coaches. Therefore, over 2 million air cavalries could be trained in the 4 provinces by next year..."


    "Besides those in the theater of operations, whether Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory has established other pilot academies across Taixia Country?"


    "Starting from two years ago, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory has started to train a batch of air cavalries for Black Armor Army. Later on, we trained a batch of air cavalries for Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and Heavenly Fortune Sect. Last year, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory also accepted the requests from some major clans who got along well with us and helped them train a batch of air cavalries. As of now, the air cavalries trained by Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory have started to spread over the country. Many air cavalries of Fire-Dragon Corps have been assigned to establish pilot academies across the country at the request of provincial governors and prefectural governors and major clans. Up to now, the number of pilot academies across the country has been over 3,000. Additionally, the figure is also increasing day by day..."


    Those pilot academies in Taixia Country were the silent achievements of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory in the past 2 years. Since commander Cheng Honglie assigned soldiers to learn airplane driving skills and usages of Fiery Oil weapons in Fire-Dragon Corps, the number of pilot academies had experienced explosive growth in the past 2 years. Any slightly far-sighted local officials or clan heads and elders of major clans and sects would understand the great prospect of Fiery Oil on the battlefield; especially the significance of the appearance of large batches of air cavalry troops. Therefore, after Commander Cheng Honglie''s action, those people who wanted to learn airplane driving skills and the usages of Fiery Oil weaponry almost wore out the doorstep of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Provincial and prefectural governors, clan heads and elders of major clans, their relatives or special envoys almost wore out the doorstep of Zhang family.


    Zhang Tie knew them all. He had turned over the management of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory to the Iron Heart Palace. Under the management of his wives, Zhang family won an increasingly greater sphere of influence with the opportunity brought by Fiery Oil, Fiery Oil weaponry and pilot academies.


    After Zhang Tie left Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory for less than 1 year, the entire Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory had become the holy land for cultivating air cavalries in Taixia Country. It could be said without exaggeration that all the people who could drive airplanes in Taixia Country were basically trained by Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    As of now, there had been 16 pilot academies within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory; however, the great demand for training air cavalries still couldn''t be met. Therefore, Fire-Dragon Corps could only assign fighters who had grasped airplane driving skills to help the other prefectures, provinces and major clans to establish pilot academies. The batch of fighters who learned airplane driving skills from Zhang Tie were almost headmasters and coaches of those new pilot academies. According to the tradition of the succession of teachings of Taixia Country, those air cavalries cultivated by these people were Zhang Tie''s disciples'' disciples.


    The person who won the reputation of "the first air cavalry in Selnes Theater of Operations" had already been an instructor all over the country and become the forebear of all the air cavalries in Taixia Country. Zhang Tie was definitely the authoritarian in the realm of air cavalry being widely accepted by Taixia Country as a whole.


    "In your opinion, whether these fresh air cavalries should be separated under the leadership of each corps or be arranged into an independent army?" Zuoqiu Mingyue inquired Zhang Tie about air cavalries. Given the performance of Zuoqiu Mingyue, he might have considered this question for a long time; however, he had not made the final decision. It''s concerning about the stability of the theater of operations and the frontline of Taixia Country as well as the life or death situation of hundreds of millions of people. Even at such a high position, Zuoqiu Mingyue should also pay special attention to it.


    It''s not strange for air cavalries to be an independent armed service. It''s actually a tradition of human countries before the Catastrophe. The air force among the three services before the catastrophe referred to air cavalry troop. However, after the Catastrophe, because humans could only make airships instead of high-performance aircraft, whose combat capability couldn''t match that of airplanes, human countries don''t establish independent air force anymore. In this age, all the airship troops were almost the auxiliary armed services of the ground corps and were under the leadership of each corps leader. In emergencies, airship troops might be gathered to coordinate with the airship troops. However, if air cavalries became an army independently, it would be utterly different.


    Zhang Tie had also considered about this question seriously. Therefore, the moment he heard Zuoqiu Mingyue''s question, Zhang Tie had answered him, "The new air cavalry troops are different than the previous airship troops on both weaponry and battle strength. If such a troop was completely commanded by a ground troop, it would not fully exert its battle strength. According to the experience of human air force before the Catastrophe, the air force was always more effective than ground troop in many cases..."


    "Do you agree to make air cavalry an independent armed service?" Zuoqiu Mingyue asked solemnly.


    "It''s very necessary to make air cavalry an independent armed service; however, we don''t need to be that anxious. Given the situation facing the theater of operations, each corps was matched with airship troops; all the air cavalry students in the theater of operations come from each corps. The ground corps have been accustomed to the coordination of air troops when in fight and have developed the corresponding combat and guidance system and concluded combat experience. This custom and system couldn''t be altered within a short period. I think that the first batch of air cavalries in the theater of operations will still be affiliated to the ground corps. As the subsidiary combat unit of ground corps, they should follow the order of ground corps so that the air cavalries could rapidly respond to the combat demand of the ground corps in some areas when maintaining the original combat and battlefield guidance system of those ground corps. In this way, the overall battle strength and morale of ground corps would not be weakened too much due to adjustments!"


    Zhang Tie became silent for a few seconds before continuing, "Meanwhile, we should see many shortcomings from ground troops'' command of air cavalries. The air cavalries that are affiliated to ground corps would play their advantages in some areas; however, as long as the battlefield covers one province even many provinces, single air cavalry troops being affiliated to ground corps would become sparse and hard to coordinate with. As long as a large-scale encounter or battle being involved with dozens of even over 100 corps happens, the air cavalry troops that are fully commanded by the ground corps would barely form a powerful punch due to excessive decentralized strength or meet the overall strategic demand of the entire theater of operations. Therefore, it''s urgent to establish an independent air cavalry troop that is especially governed by the commander-in-chief which could take into account the overall situation facing the theater of operations!"


    "You mean our air cavalry troops should be divided into two parts. One part could form an independent armed service which could take into account the overall situation facing the theater of operations and fight demons independently; the other part is still affiliated to the ground corps!" Zuoqiu Mingyue relieved his frown as he asked calmly.


    "Yes!"


    Zuoqiu Mingyue finally revealed a faint smile as Zhang Tie''s answer was as same as the system of air cavalries of Taixia Country in the future that he had conceived. Because this issue was of great importance, although Zuoqiu Mingyue had already got the idea, he didn''t make a decision urgently. Now that Zhang Tie was a "top expert" in this issue, Zuoqiu Mingyue inquired Zhang Tie about his opinion by hand in order to confirm whether his idea had any loopholes or somewhere to fix. Zhang Tie''s answer made Zuoqiu Mingyue reassured completely. At the same time, he had a greater comment on Zhang Tie inside. As the commander-in-chief of Taixia Country, Zuoqiu Mingyue should have such a judgment. However, Zhang Tie shared the same opinion with him on this issue. This indicated that Zhang Tie was already qualified to rule the overall situation. What was more, Zhang Tie was selfless about the solution to this issue. In some sense, it implied that Zhang Tie was sincere and loyal to Taixia Country very much.


    Squinting his eyes, Zuoqiu Mingyue watched Zhang Tie as he found that Zhang Tie was more and more favorable. He realized that Zhang Tie could stabilize the overall situation facing the rear end and diffuse his concerns in the theater of operations. If Zhang Tie stayed on Zuoqiu Mingyue''s side, he could give Zuoqiu Mingyue advice; even if Zhang Tie was on the battlefield, he could also be responsible for the security of an area by slaughtering and threatening demons. What a rare hero in Taixia Country!


    "Qianji Hermit really has a well-deserved reputation. Zhang Huaiyuan really has a good successor. I couldn''t match you at your age..." Zuoqiu Mingyue let out a deep sigh.


    It was a bit excessive for the Military God to praise Zhang Tie''s alias. Therefore, Zhang Tie hurriedly bowed after hearing it...


    After feeling Zhang Tie''s silence, Zuoqiu Mingyue suddenly said, "I''ve got a junior at home. She''s beautiful and talented, able and virtuous. Given her look, she could ensure her husband to have a bright future. She''s the pearl of Biyong Palace of Zuoqiu Clan. As she''s not married yet, I intend to marry her to you, what do you think about it?"


    After hearing Zuoqiu Mingyue''s suggestion, Zhang Tie became dumbfounded as he had never imagined that...


    ''What...what the hell...''

 1368 Being a Matchmaker

    "Thanks, commander-in-chief. I''m overwhelmed by your unexpected favor. However, you might not know that I''ve already got too many wives in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. They have been sharing my joys and sorrows for so many years. I treat all of my wives equally, regardless of age and status. My wives call each other sisters. If the pearl of Zuoqiu Clan marries me, I''m afraid to embarrass her..." Zhang Tie said frankly.


    Zhang Tie had been utterly different than the boy in Blackhot City. At that time, he was young, frivolous and hot-blooded like a horny hyena. At the sight of beauties, he would have a maggot in his mind. He even had an absurd one-night stand with those girls of Rose Association. By contrast, Zhang Tie had already known that the real women in a man''s life should be sentimental instead of being a top beauty or a princess of a major clan. The sentimental woman was priceless while the callous woman was like flowing water. Even if the pearl of Zuoqiu Clan was as beautiful as a fairy and would bring a mountain of benefits to Zhang family, Zhang Tie still felt such a woman was like flowing water. Even if she was sweet and brilliant, he could only appreciate her quietly on the bank...


    Additionally, Zhang Tie didn''t need to associate with any major clans or sects through marriage anymore; neither would he embarrass his wives only for the sake of one person.


    Although being dignified, Bai Suxian''s emotional experience and life experience couldn''t be matched by commoners. Additionally, she had fought demons together with Zhang Tie in the Earth-elements Realm. Zhang Tie didn''t expect that other princesses of major clans in Taixia Country could make it. Additionally, Zhang Tie was clear that he couldn''t treat other princesses of major clans as same as how he did to Bai Suxian.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue was not stupid. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zuoqiu Mingyue had understood the deep meaning of the simple word "embarrass"¡ª¡ªZhang Tie was worried about making the pearl of Zuoqiu Clan embarrassed by having her on the same footing with the other wives, which might offend Zuoqiu Clan. Additionally, if the pearl of Zuoqiu Clan had a great qi field, the other wives of Zhang Tie might not feel comfortable.


    Zhang Tie declined it politely.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue had not imagined that his suggestion could be declined. How could he refuse the good intention of the Military God? Was he lunatic or an idiot? However, Zuoqiu Mingyue didn''t lose his temper; instead, he appreciated Zhang Tie''s high EQ more.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue had long heard about the identities of Zhang Tie''s wives. Those foreign women and a pair of twins were all humble commoners with ordinary family backgrounds. In the eyes of the Military God of Taixia Country, Zhang Tie''s wives were nothing different than those from common families on the roadside, including Ms. Olina who had a great talent in commerce and O''Laura who was a queen. Zhang Tie''s property in Waii Subcontinent was really too poor in the eyes of the Military God of Taixia Country. Zhang Tie refused the princess of Zuoqiu Clan for the sake of these common people and give up the beautiful jade for the sake of some stones, which impressed Zuoqiu Mingyue that Zhang Tie was a sentimental and reliable person.


    "It seems that our Zuoqiu Clan''s junior isn''t destined to marry you..." Zuoqiu Mingyue let out a sigh pitifully and became silent. If he kept urging that, the Military God of Taixia Country would lose his face too much.


    After throwing a glance at Zuoqiu Mingyue, Zhang Tie revealed a smile, "My elder brother is in the prime of his life. He''s talented and remarkable with decent and tolerant morality. His family doctrines are rigorous. My elder sisters-in-law are all Hua women who''re cultured, elegant and reasonable. They all look as noble as those from major clans. At commander-in-chief''s favor, this humble man suggests one princess of Zuoqiu Clan to marry my elder brother as my elder sister-in-law. How about that?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zuoqiu Mingyue became silent for a second. He then became a bit interested in it. He had heard about Zhang Tie''s elder brother. Although Zhang Yang''s achievement in cultivation was not as brilliant as that of Zhang Tie, the reputation of Jinwu Business Group had also spread over Taixia Country over these years. Additionally, it was said that Zhang Tie''s elder brother was also a pharmacist. Therefore, Zhang Yang was also not bad. The two brothers assisted with each other with a profound brotherhood. It''s also a good choice for Zuoqiu Clan''s female junior to marry Zhang Yang as Zhang Tie''s elder sister-in-law if she couldn''t marry Zhang Tie...


    "Fine, you have my words..." Zuoqiu Mingyue promised Zhang Tie at once.


    "Now that commander-in-chief has agreed, I will notice my family members to propose marriage in Biyong Palace someday..."


    Zuoqiu Mingyue nodded, which meant that they had fixed it. The two people didn''t even mention whom to marry Zhang Tie''s elder brother. Because there was an existing rule on connections through marriage between major clans of Taixia Country, Zhang Tie knew that Zuoqiu Clan would definitely find a proper female junior to marry his elder brother. That lady would never look ugly while she must be a direct descendant of Zuoqiu Mingyue; otherwise, this connection through marriage would be meaningless.


    After fixing the connection through marriage in brief talk, Zuoqiu Mingyue and Zhang Tie instantly felt the other one a bit closer. Additionally, Zuoqiu Mingyue''s words sounded much more genial.


    "I have one more thing to negotiate with you!"


    "Go ahead, please, commander-in-chief."


    "It''s said that you''ve established Fire-Dragon Corps in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. In the beginning, Fire-Dragon Corps have been matched with Fiery Oil weaponry; additionally, they have mastered special battle methods?"


    "Yes!" Zhang Tie nodded as he felt it was unnecessary to cover it.


    "The Fiery Oil weaponry have just been delivered to the troops in the theater of operations. However, those corps are still learning to use them. As there''s no reference or model, I want you to assign a part of your Fire-Dragon Corps to the theater of operations and have them stationed at the bank of Weishui River..."


    After hearing Zuoqiu Mingyue''s request, Zhang Tie instantly understood that Zuoqiu Mingyue wanted a part of Fire-Dragon Corps to serve as a reference of those corps in the theater of operations so that those corps could be familiar with the use of Fiery Oil weaponry as soon as possible.


    The army would finally be put into use in the theater of operations. Zhang Tie couldn''t refuse such a request. Actually, since he established Fire-Dragon Corps, Zhang Tie had been preparing for that.


    "Fine..." Zhang Tie nodded straightforwardly, "I wonder how many people do you need, commander-in-chief?"


    "50,000!"


    "But who would be responsible for guiding the part of Fire-Dragon Corps in the theater of operations?"


    "I will direct them!"


    "Okay, I will have people arrange it!"


    "The earlier they come, the better it will be. Because the large-scale war near the frontline of Weishui River and Helan Mountain is coming soon!" Zuoqiu Mingyue said sincerely.


    "Don''t worry, commander-in-chief, I will have 50,000 people of Fire-Dragon Corps appear at the bank of Weishui River together with their weaponry within 1 week!" Zhang Tie said resolutely.


    "Fine!"


    ...


    After fixing the matter of assignment of Fire-Dragon Corps, the knight subordinate of Zuoqiu Mingyue who led Zhang Tie here just now reported that the Cheji General of Ningzhou Province had arrived and was waiting for Zuoqiu Mingyue. After finding that Zuoqiu Mingyue was busy, Zheng Tie bade a farewell to him right away.


    Not until he left the high tower in the center of Xuanyuan Fortress did Zhang Tie patted his head as he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to resign.


    Strangely, since he saw Zuoqiu Mingyue, Zhang Tie had felt bashful talking about it.


    Now that he had forgotten about it, Zhang Tie could only comfort himself to serve this term for another period. No matter what, everything about the four provinces had already been in the right way. Nothing more to worry about. Zhang Tie had enough time to do whatever he wanted. Additionally, Lu Yanyu''s suggestion was reasonable. If he mentioned his resignation at this critical moment, Zuoqiu Mingyue would probably disagree with him. The reason was that the four provinces couldn''t stand any big trouble anymore. Even if he did nothing in his position, as long as he could reassure the people, Zuoqiu Mingyue would never replace him with someone else.


    ''Whatever. I will talk about it next year. After half a year later when the four provinces'' situation stabilizes, I will ask to resign. By then Zuoqiu Mingyue might agree with it.''


    Zhang Tie muttered.


    ...


    Soon after he came to the avenue in Xuanyuan Fortress, white light had flashed by. Before Zhang Tie responded to it, Bai Suxian had already thrown herself into Zhang Tie''s arms tenderly.


    "Why didn''t you tell me that you''re coming back in advance?" Bai Suxian complained with a pleasant and spoiled look. After leaving him for half a year, Bai Suxian instantly ran over here soon after she heard that Zhang Tie had returned to Xuanyuan Fortress. Therefore, the moment Zhang Tie left the central high tower of Xuanyuan Fortress, he had been captured by Bai Suxian.


    All the passers-by were attracted by such a scene¡ª¡ªa beauty embraced a teenager as she acted in a spoiled way in the teenager''s arms as if nobody was on their sides.


    "Ahem...ahem. I just wanted to give you a surprise." Zhang Tie said tenderly as he patted her soft waist as he looked around without caring about the onlookers'' eye light. Closely after that, he buried his head into Bai Suxian''s hair and took in a deep breath. After smelling her body fragrance, Zhang Tie became reassured physically and mentally at once. He then kissed her tender cheek as he looked straight into Bai Suxian''s eyes and said, "I miss you so much. Although we''ve just departed from each other for half a year, I feel that I''ve not seen you for a long time..."


    Zhang Tie indeed had not seen Bai Suxian for a long time because he had stayed in the tower of time for 6 decades. Therefore, Zhang Tie sighed with emotions at this moment.


    After sensing Zhang Tie''s sentimental deeds to her in the public, Bai Suxian felt warm-hearted at once as she almost turned soft all over. She then whispered to Zhang Tie, "I miss you too..."


    The two people then looked straight into each other''s eyes with a smile...

 1369 Arrival of Fiery-Dragon Corps

    6 days later, over 40 airboats landed on the open land in the south of Weishui River.


    The moment the airboats landed, those fully-armored fighters of Fiery-Dragon Corps had walked out of the airboats in teams, followed by those wholly new wheeled dark green armored vehicles which drove out of the stern of the airboats.


    These armored vehicles were much greater and flatter than the ordinary armored vehicles in Taixia Country. Two tentacle-like steel pipes stretched out of the top of this kind of vehicle. There was a huge oil tank under the armor in the back of this armored vehicle. This kind of armored vehicle could start and move rapidly and flexibly. It only emitted euphonious and muffled sounds from its engine and heatwaves from the air-bleed hole...


    Being not far from the airport, a wholly new battle fortress was the new encampment of these fighters of Fire-Dragon Corps. After getting off the airboats, these fighters had started to quickly unload weaponry from the airboats. The entire encampment then became boisterous...


    Only in one hour, 50,000 armored fighters with weaponry had stood solemnly in front of Zhang Tie in 5 formations and waited for Zhang Tie''s review.


    ...


    "Corps leader, Zhang Wumu as well as the 50,000 officers and fighters of No. 1 corps of Fire-Dragon Corps have been ready..."


    A over 2-m high heavily armored tough man with a 1.7 m high battle crossbow on his back reported to Zhang Tie loudly in front of the team on an open land near the bank of Weishui River.


    This tough man had been mentioned before. He was Zhang Tie''s "senior fellow apprentice" in Hidden Dragon Island, who ranked top 3 on the battle strength rankings and family donation rankings in Hidden Dragon Island, a clan disciple of Huaiyuan Palace being close to Lan Yunxi.


    When in Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Wumu was well-known. He was even famous as Fiery King kong among the disciples of Huaiyuan Palace. At that time, he was much more eminent than Zhang Tie. Even Zhang Tie would call him senior fellow apprentice in Hidden Dragon Island.


    However, as time went by, after Zhang Tie who was only a bit famous among the clan disciples of Huaiyuan Palace in Hidden Dragon Island became Huaiyuan Palace''s clan elder, the two people''s positions and prospects had seen a sharp difference.


    As of now, Zhang Tie had promoted to an earth knight and was known across the country. Besides, he had become the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace, the head of Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory, the founder of Iron-Dragon Sect and the Weiji General of the western theater of operations of Taixia Country. His status was even greater than that of Zhang Taixuan the head of Huaiyuan Palace. Given the past performance of Zhang Wumu, Zhang Tie appointed him as a valiant general of Fiery-Dragon Corps.


    Zhang Wumu was a disciple of Elder Muyuan''s branch in Goldensea City. Because Elder Muyuan and Zhang Tie both came from the branch of Goldensea City, the relationship between Elder Muyuan and Zhang Tie was a bit closer than that between other elders and Zhang Tie. Therefore, after Zhang Tie established Fire-Dragon Corps in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, Elder Muyuan recommended Zhang Wumu to Zhang Tie. In the beginning, Zhang Wumu just served as an ordinary officer in Fire-Dragon Corps. After promoting many times, he finally became the leader of No. 1 corps of Fire-Dragon Corps, which was the most powerful corps in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    It was actually not the first time for Zhang Wumu to be Zhang Tie''s subordinate. When Zhang Tie took over the Hurricane Corps of Huaiyuan Palace in Waii Subcontinent, Zhang Wumu served as an officer of Hurricane Corps. He might feel a bit jealous of Zhang Tie at that time; however, after Zhang Tie promoted to an earth knight, this former senior fellow apprentice was only in awe of Zhang Tie while his jealousy had completely disappeared. In the hearts of Zhang Wumu and the other disciples of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie''s experience in Hidden Dragon Island seemingly became their glory.


    ¡ª¡ªWould I have to tell you that Elder Mushen and I met each other every day as classmates in Hidden Dragon Island and fought demons in Heavenly Cold City?


    This sentence could definitely rank first among the awe-inspiring words of the young generation of Huaiyuan Palace. If those young disciples of Huaiyuan Palace who had heard about Zhang Tie in Hidden Dragon Island and joined the task of exterminating Zhen Clan in Heavenly Cold City together with Zhang Tie said this sentence when they were full and almost drunk, they would instantly become the focus of everybody at present and win a lot of awe-stricken eye light.


    Zhang Wumu had heard this sentence from others; however, he felt bashful speaking it.


    As for "senior fellow apprentice", who, in Huaiyuan Palace, dared say that they were the senior fellow apprentices of Zhang Tie the grand elder of Zhang family? If someone was caught despising the clan elder of Huaiyuan Palace, their prospect in the clan would be stygian for sure. Even their family members and friends might be involved...


    As Zhang Tie was familiar with Zhang Wumu, after Zuoqiu Mingyue requested Zhang Tie to assign 50,000 fighters of Fire-Dragon Corps to the theater of operations, Zhang Tie directly dispatched Zhang Wumu and the No. 1 corps of Fire-Dragon Corps here.


    Zhang Wumu''s voice was stentorian while he was spirited and ambitious. After glancing over Zhang Wumu and those fighters behind him, Zhang Tie nodded. Closely after that, he pointed at the over 5 miles wide billowy Weishui River while his voice entered the ears of all the 50,000 fighters, "We''re here for a fight. From today on, this place would be your battlefield. Perhaps after a short period, a multitude of LV 9 demon fighters would rush over here from the opposite bank. Are you afraid of that..."


    "No, we''re not!" 50,000 fighters held high their sabers and swords while roaring furiously.


    "If we were afraid of death, we would have not been soldiers!" Zhang Wumu watched the river with a solemnly look as he replied loudly, "Even if all the 50,000 fighters of Fire-Dragon Corps die here, we swear to save our cost. We will never lose face for corps leaders!"


    "Good!" Zhang Tie nodded as he looked around before saying, "Demons are not almighty; they also have flesh and blood. If we kill a demon at the cost of our own lives and have gray-haired men bid farewell to black-haired men, kids would lose their fathers, wives would lose their men, elders would lose their sons, then we''re not the real heroes. You have to kill demons by staying alive. You have to return alive and tell your sons and grandsons the story about how their fathers killed demons at the bank of Weishui River in the future. Only such people would be real heroes in my eyes and would make me glorified. Tell me whether you can make it or not?"


    "Yes, we can!" 50,000 people answered in unison in high spirits.


    "Good. Remember what you said. Men should never break their promise. You''re elites of Fire-Dragon Corps. No matter what kind of demons you meet, as long as you deal with them according to the skills that you''ve been trained over the past 2 years, you will not be afraid of any enemy. I will also fight and bleed with you here to the end. If you fight to death, I will avenge your death. In the future, all of your kids will be the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect..."


    "Long live!"


    "Long live!"


    "Long live!"


    All the 50,000 fighters were extremely hyper while their morale reached the zenith...


    ...

 1370 The Large-Scale War

    After the No. 1 corps of Fiery-Dragon Corps reached the bank of Weishui River for 2 months, the demon army finally approached the line of defense of Helan Mountain Range and Weishui River, which officially proclaimed that Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province had been completely collapsed.


    On the ground, those LV 9 demons corps'' vanguards approached Weishui River and Helan Mountain Range while submerging hills, roads, forests, deserted farmlands, towns and villages over 6,000 miles.


    Those in front of demon corps were a mountain of spider demons on the ground. Looking down from the sky, those numerous spider demons were like army ants that ran out of ant nests. Galloping on the ground at a great speed, almost 10 million spider demons caused rustles on the ground like flowing sand in the desert...


    Although a single spider demon could cause a low rustle; however, when there were too many spider demons, they would cause a loud resonance and even shake the ground.


    Wherever the 10 million spider demons passed by, all the animals in the wilderness would feel scared and start to escape including pye-dogs, boars, wild wolves and mutated leopards as if the doomsday was coming. They rushed out of the woods and the wilderness in an embarrassed way, causing many animal tides...


    However, those escaping animal tides were soon caught up by those spider demons and were devoured. Like water dropping into flowing sand, those escaping wild beasts soon disappeared after leaving some mournful wails.


    The spider demons'' moving speed was not decreased by those wild beasts; instead, they continued to surge forward, followed by hundreds of millions of ox-horn demons army.


    In black armors, all the ox-horn demons were higher than 2.2 m with formidable heavy weapons in hand such as huge wolf fang''s mace, totem pillars, huge guillotine-shaped sabers and nailhead hammers. Following spider demons, they were running steadily while their nostrils were emitting heat like how funnels on steam trains did.


    Wherever spider demons passed by, there would be no living beings on the ground. Additionally, those ox-horn demons brandished their heavy weapons to shatter all the obstacles on their route.


    After ox-horn demons rushed over woods, there would be no woods.


    After ox-horn demons passed by deserted villages, the villages would disappear.


    When ox-horn demons submerged a small city, the small city would gradually disappear like collapsing castles on the sand beach.


    When ox-horn demons galloped, the entire ground was shaking. When they were dozens of miles away, they had caused ripples in ponds.


    Those ox-horn demons were followed by over 100 million iron-armored demons and hundreds of meters high giant demon beasts which were surrounded and protected by iron-armored demons. When the giant demon beasts slowly moved forward, they caused deep ravines on the ground...


    In the sky, the army of wing demons flew over here from the west, causing a dark heavenly curtain like that of doomsday.


    Those in front of the army of wing demons were wing demon knights.


    Those wing demon knights were followed by numerous wing demons, among which there were one large and four smaller stygian demon battle castles being covered with pitch-dark and deep holes like animal nests.


    Each demon battlefortress was fastened by those wing demon fighters by numerous shackles which looked like tentacles. In the sky, over 100,000 wing demons were moving forward by pulling those battle fortresses floating in the sky like boat trackers while flapping their wings.


    Almost 100,000 demon knights gathered in the two flanks of the battle fortresses and moved forward together with them.


    Nine crowned demon knights were chesting out and standing there solemnly at the top of the battlefortress in the middle of the demon army. Beside these demon knights, 2 human knights were standing aside in a humble way. A knight in black full-body armor was sitting on a seat being piled by human skulls while holding a huge fork which was burning black flames; he was watching the distance quietly while his pupils were flickering chaotic light under his black mask.


    In the eyes of this demon general, Xuanyuan Battlefortress over 400 miles away and the billowy Weishui River behind Xuanyuan Fortress were almost close at hand.


    Xuanyuan Fortress and over 10 battle fortresses were connecting into a line as they blocked the demon army like an overwhelming, steady mountain.


    At the sight of this scene, the demon general''s gloomy pupils broke out fierce flames.


    Right then, some abnormal phenomena happened on the ground.


    Looking down from the sky, flames appeared on the ground now and then.


    The flames broke out among those vanguards of spider demons. Whenever galloping wild-horse like spider demons stepped on the ground, they would soon be wrapped in flames and burned into ashes...


    If there were more than one spider demons at the place where the flame was aroused, those nearby might also be involved. As long as they touched the flame, they would start to burn up while the flame could barely be put out...


    Because of it, although the vanguard of spider demons didn''t stop, they were in chaos more or less.


    Looking down from the sky, over 100 flames would appear on the ground in each second while each flame represented that at least 1 LV 9 spider demons would be burned into ashes...


    Such a scene was a bit inharmonious more or less in the overwhelming demon army. Watching those burning corpses on the ground, all the following ox-horn demons'' and iron-armored demons'' hearts raced while their qi was a bit weakened at once...


    The second batch of flames involved with more ox-horn demons while explosions could be heard among the army of ox-horn demons. As a result, many ox-horn demons were directly turned into charcoals in the wilderness.


    The flames instantly lit a forest which was a bit dry in autumn. After a short while, the forest had started to burn up while tens of thousands of ox-horn demons were involved in at once...

 1371 Near Weishui River

    Heavy smoke rushed dozens of meters high in the sky from the burning woods. Being blown by the wind, it instantly covered dozens of square miles. Under 1,000 degree Celcius, moisture in plants vaporized rapidly, even though autumn was soon coming. The batch of ox-horn demons that rushed into the woods were devoured by the burning woods only after a short while.


    LV 9 demon fighters were unable to withstand over 1,000 degree Celsius flames. Even battle spirits who had formed their protective battle qis couldn''t stand too long in the fierce flames.


    Those flames that were caused by ox-horn demons from time to time looked very eye-catching for those demon knights in the sky, which ruined their mood more or less.


    There were hundreds of millions of demons; however, spider demons and ox-horn demons had been constantly devoured by flames without any resistance. Before they approached humans, they had already suffered casualties.


    The eye light of the demon knight sitting on the throne being made of human skulls flicked like elf fire. At the same time, it looked at the two humble human knights while uttering a muffled yet icy voice from its mask, causing an air vibration. The two human knights couldn''t stand quivering their bodies.


    "What''s happening?"


    "It''s...it''s incendiary mine, new weaponry of Taixia Country..." A human knight replied in a low voice as he moved one step forward.


    That human knight was Gao Zeping, the son of Gao Tianzhao and one of the backbones of Heavens Reaching Church on the Rankings of Criminals Being Wanted by Supreme Court of Taixia Country. Although being an earth knight, he dared not even breath smoothly in front of these heavenly and sage-level demon knights.


    In the past 2 years, although Heavenly Reaching Church was causing more and more troubles in Taixia Country, its overall strength had been greatly weakened. After Han Zhengfang and his two sons disappeared, Heavenly Reaching Church had already lost their heads. Gao Tianzhao''s disappearance meant that no more shadow knight could be found in the entire Heavenly Reaching Church. All the earth knights in this church were considering their own interests and ruling Heavenly Reaching Church by scheming against each other. Although Heavenly Reaching Church had established a Heavenly Reaching Empire in the areas occupied by demons, there were only 7-8 earth knights and some black iron knights over there. Actually, they had completely deteriorated to the vassals and puppets of demons and gradually lost their right of speech in front of demons.


    Although nobody knew why Han Zhengfang, Gao Tianzhao and the others disappeared, everybody was clear that these people might have already been dead; otherwise, if they were still in cultivation, they should at least send a message by remote-sensing crystal. If they couldn''t send a message at this moment as knights, it meant that they would not send any message to us ever again.


    The consecutive disappearance of the powers of Heavenly Reaching Church had already become the largest pending criminal cases, which caused those lackeys of Heavenly Reaching Church flurried and gun-shy.


    "Incendiary mines..." The demon general muttered as it threw a cold and seemingly furious glance at Gao Zeping and added, "Why didn''t you tell me about that in advance..."


    After swallowing his saliva, Gao Zeping said timidly, "It''s produced in the last year after Taixia Country started to produce Fiery Oil. The Taixia armies have just been matched with them, we...we had just received the news from Taixia Country..."


    "Could Heavens Reaching Empire produce Fiery Oil and incendiary mines now?" The demon general asked calmly which carried overwhelming, surging stress.


    "We...we''re acquiring secrets about Fiery Oil production from Taixia Country...However...however, as many forces of Heavenly Reaching Church have been destroyed in Taixia country over the past 2 years, we couldn''t get them for the time being. We...we still need some time..." Gao Zeping replied as he gazed at the floor. He dared not look up at the demon general at all.


    "You should know the meaning of the existence of Heavens Reaching Empire. You have 1 year. Hopefully, Heavens Reaching Church could produce the same things and match our troops with them by the same time next year. I will also have Taixia army become burning balls while marching on the ground..." The demon general watched the Hua knight with flickering eye light, "Don''t let me down. You know the result of letting me down..."


    Gao Zeping''s forehead had been covered with fine sweat drops. However, at this moment, he could only grit his teeth while bowing down and saying, "Yes, sir..."


    The demon general waved his hand. Gao Zeping then moved back to his original location while bowing down.


    Those nearby demon heavenly knights watched him with an indifferent even scornful expression¡ª¡ªAs for both demons and humans, anyone who betrayed their own race could barely gain the real respect of the opposite whenever and wherever it was. Heavens Reaching Church was useful for demons. If Han Zhengfang was still alive, demons might treat members of Heavens Reaching Church a bit politely; however, with the disappearance of Han Zhengfang and the loss of Bloody Soul Sutra, a top secret method of Heavens Reaching Church, the value of Heavens Reaching Church had been greatly discounted. The remnants of Heavens Reaching Church were like toilet bowls and brush brooms in toilets; although they were useful, they could barely gain the real identification and respect from demons; neither would they gain a high position among demons.


    Flames would break out every second on the ground, which meant that at least 1 demon fighter was killed and burned into ashes per second. However, it didn''t stagnate the marching frequency of demons. When ordinary demon fighters saw the complexity of Xuanyuan Fortress on the bank of billowy Weishui River, the demon general raised one arm. Closely after that, a demon knight subordinate took out a bizarre horn being covered with black runes. The horn was like a horn of a powerful ox-horn demon knight. The moment it was blown, its sound had reverberated across the sky while a strange wave spread over the sky at a speed much faster than the speed of sound...


    When the vanguards of demon corps were about 120 miles away from the bank of Weishui River, the over 6,000 miles long frontline stopped at the same time.

 1372 A Rule on the Battlefield

    The demon army stopped at once. At the same time, the demon general flew off its throne from the demon battlefortress in the air all the way towards Xuanyuan Fortress under the gaze of over 100 million demon fighters. At the same time, a human knight flew off Xuanyuan Fortress towards the demon army. They both flew as fast as lightning bolts. After flying over 60 miles away forward, they encountered in the air.


    The demon commander and the human knight stopped 1,000 m away as they looked straight into each other''s eyes.


    That human knight who flew off Xuanyuan Fortress was Zuoqiu Mingyue, the commander-in-chief of Taixia Country.


    The demon commander was followed by 100,000 demon knights and hundreds of millions of demon fighters.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue was also followed by 100,000 human knights, the complex of Xuanyuan Fortress and hundreds of millions of demon fighters. They were in the east of abyss of billowy Weishui River.


    At this moment, the air seemingly became frozen while numerous human and demon knights were gazing at the sky.


    "I''m Sagus, the Monarch Abyss of the Realm of Darkness of demons and the conqueror of Hua people. Who''re you?" The demon commander uttered its voice as if it was reflected from the heavens instead of its body and throat. The moment it opened its mouth, its voice had shocked the territory within 6,000 miles like thunders. Everybody within this territory could hear it clearly. It seemed that even the billows of the broad Weishui River had started to quiver.


    What a great power!


    The moment the demon commander opened its mouth, many human knights nearby Xuanyuan Fortress had changed their face. As for common knights, the power of sage-level knight was out of their imaginations and reach.


    After hearing the sound, hundreds of millions of demons cheered up as their morale rose rapidly.


    "Zuoqiu Mingyue, the commander-in-chief of Taixia Country!" Zuoqiu Mingyue opened his mouth while his voice was also reflected from the heavens which covered the voice of Sagus at once. It indicated that Zuoqiu Mingyue''s power was no weaker than that of Sagus the Monarch Abyss of demons. The moment Zuoqiu Mingyue opened his mouth, those Hua knights near Xuanyuan Fortress had been in an uproar. Because Zuoqiu Mingyue had just manifested his power as a sage-level knight instead of a heavenly knight. It was his first time to display his power as a sage-level knight in the public. Zuoqiu Mingyue continued, "Over the past hundreds of millions of years, numerous powers had dreamed about conquering Hua people. In the early two holy wars, the demon armies that intended to submerge Taixia Country was like water drops in the ocean and dust over the ground. Taixia Country had been lasting and leading people for hundreds of millions of years in the Eastern Continent. All the powers and armies that once thought about conquering Taixia Country have been ashes in the history. Do you think that you''re an exception?"


    "Taixia!" "Taixia!" "Taixia!"...


    Hua fighters held high their weapons while their overwhelming sound drifted from the east bank of Weishui River. Their rising morale was not lower than that of demons.


    "If so, let knights and warriors witness the end of this history at the cost of their lives and blood..." Sagus the Monarch Abyss said calmly.


    "Hua people would never be exterminated. We could last among steel, blood and flames..." Zuoqiu Mingyue''s voice remained as calm as before.


    "Knights'' battlefield and honor are in the sky. The halos of the Demon God would never decline!" Sagus the Monarch Abyss said with its arm on its own chest.


    "Knights'' battlefield and honor are in the sky. Almighty Hua people would last as long as the sun and the moons!" Zuoqiu Mingyue said as he raised his head out of pride.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, the two people flew back to their own battlefortress in the air...


    ...


    Among the knights in Xuanyuan Fortress, Zhang Tie watched Zuoqiu Mingyue flying back as he scratched his head and looked around. Feeling a bit puzzled, he asked Feng Cangwu on his side in a secret manner, "What were they doing?"


    "They were negotiating. Even bosses of two street gangs would give an opening speech before scrawling. In such a case, if commander-in-chief of Taixia Country and Monarch Abyss of demons didn''t talk with each other in advance, it would not even match a street brawl!" Feng Cangwu said while the latter half of his words evidently carried his amazement and admiration, "I''ve not imagined that Zuoqiu Mingyue has already promoted to a sage-level knight. He was already a heavenly knight in the last holy war. After so many years, he promoted to a sage-level knight..."


    "Of course I know it''s a negotiation. I wonder about the meaning of their last words. It sounds weird!"


    "My God. As Weiji General of the Western Theater of Operations, how could you not know about that?" Feng Cangwu turned around as he looked at Zhang Tie with extremely weird eye light. In a split second, his amazement had turned into understanding, "I see. You were not born in Taixia Country. In Waii Subcontinent, I''m afraid that no war could be involved with over 100 human knights and demon knights. It''s reasonable that you don''t know about it!"


    "Can you put it in details?"


    "According to their last words, they''ve made an agreement. In the frontline battlefield, knights versus knights. If not break down the opposite knights, a party''s air force couldn''t interfere with the fight against the opposite ground forces on the premise that it was not attacked by the opposite ground troops. Otherwise, it would not be glorious for knights."


    "Ahh, is there such an agreement? Does it mean that we could only fight demon knights and wing demons for the time being?" Zhang Tie became shocked. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that it would be a super chaotic war; he had not imagined that the commanders of both parties could make such a fair agreement on the battlefield.


    "Of course, soldiers versus soldiers; generals versus generals. It''s been a tradition for tens of thousands of years. Generally, knights would not be restricted in using their battle strength; however, in such a high-level battle, they should comply with some necessary rules. As for commoners, urban gangsters would not spray concentrated sulfuric acid over the face of the opponent; neither would they call the police nor have judicial agencies involved in it. Before the Catastrophe, armies were forbidden to hurt civilians; additionally, no biochemical weapons or nuclear weapons were allowed on the battlefield. The sentence that Military God said just now, "Knights'' battlefield and honor are in the sky" serves as the rule in this case. Unless we could kill all the demon knights in front of us, if a knight fought those who were inferior to him in the frontline battlefield instead of fighting those on the same level with them, it would not be a glorious deed for a powerhouse. Therefore, it should be forbidden. This is the rule that both parties had widely accepted by far. Demons might be brutal and vicious; undeniably, they have sense of honor and belief too..."

 1373 The Original Intention of Zhang Tie

    Zhang Tie had just returned to Xuanyuan Fortress for less than one day.


    2 months ago, when the No. 1 corps of Fire-Dragon Corps arrived at the east bank of Weishui River, Zhang Tie had left Xuanyuan Fortress and deepened into the areas occupied by demons alone so as to seek for chances to promote to a shadow knight.


    As the demon army gradually approached Xuanyuan Fortress, fights between human knights and demon knights increased on an increasingly larger scale. Therefore, it became more and more difficult for Zhang Tie to capture demon knights or refine water elements from them alone.


    In the past 2 months, Zhang Tie almost met a team of over 100 demon knights in the areas occupied by demons. Generally, he had no chance to launch an attack at all. In such a case, he could barely make any achievement. With his powerful secret methods and Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie only caught 2 earth demon knights and 6 black iron demon knights.


    After refining the water elements of two earth demon knights who had just promoted to an earth knight, Zhang Tie formed 7 more scales on his water chakra.


    After that, Zhang Tie performed bloody sacrifice using those demon knights in Castle of Black Iron and fix Gao Tianzhao''s water chakra once again. After absorbing Gao Tianzhao''s water chakra, he lit 26 more scales on his water chakra.


    After 2 months, Zhang Tie finally lit 357 scales on his water chakra, only 3 scales left than promoting to a shadow knight. He could almost touch the realm of a shadow knight.


    After refining the water elements of another earth demon knight, he would be able to promote to a shadow knight. Even if he couldn''t capture an earth demon knight, it would take him only a couple of months to promote to a shadow knight only by absorbing water elements from the elements realm.


    However, the situation on the battlefield was changing from time to time. Demons didn''t spare a chance to Zhang Tie. Over the past 2 months, the demon army which had gathered and finally approached the line of defense near Helan Mountain Range and Weishui River. As the large-scale battle was about to break out soon, Zhang Tie instantly chose to return to Xuanyuan Fortress as he would like to fight demons together with Fire-Dragon Corps and the other human knights of Taixia Country.


    Only after arriving at Xuanyuan Fortress for less than 24 hours, the demon army had arrived in an overwhelming manner.


    This was Zhang Tie''s experience in the past 2 months...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie witnessed how Zuoqiu Mingyue talked with Sagus for the first time in terms of a large battle formation with all the other human knights of Taixia Country in the sky above Xuanyuan Fortress in the theater of operations ...


    Zuoqiu Mingyue flew back to Xuanyuan Fortress while Sagus flew back to the battle fortress of demons in the air.


    "Ready for the fight..." Zuoqiu Mingyue''s voice sounded in the ears of all the human knights of Taixia Country.


    Zhang Tie''s blood boiled with indignation as if he had returned to Selnes Theater of Operations...


    Only after Sagus returned to its floating battlefortress for less than 1 minute, the demon army had started their action.


    Almost 20,000 demon knights charged towards Xuanyuan Fortress from its flanks. The moment they moved, over 20,000 battle qi smokes and tornadoes rushed into the sky in different colors such as black, blue, purple and brown, which cut the sky into pieces, making it a cage being woven by battle qi smokes and tornadoes.


    The 20,000 demon knights were led by two heavenly demon knights, who directly manifested their virtual images, a 9-headed fierce dragon as long as 1,000 m and a cyclops as high as 1,000 m.


    Such an offense could even match that of the demon army which marched forward just now.


    On the ground, two corps of 200,000 iron-armored demons rushed out of the formation of the demon army, surpassing ox-head demons and spider demons and surging towards Weishui River with a distance of 60 miles between each other.


    Sagus was sitting on the throne made of human skulls decently and watching the demon knights surging towards Taixia''s base. Over 80,000 demon knights around the floating demon battlefortress and most of the demon corps on the ground remained still.


    It was just a beginning. Demons didn''t exert their full efforts. Sagus the Monarch Abyss didn''t even launch a strike himself.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue immediately issued his order to Xuanyuan Fortress while 20,000 human knights in the flanks of Xuanyuan Fortress rushed forward towards the demon''s air force.


    At this moment, the two parties didn''t choose to collide with each other in terms of large-scale formation directly. As for demons, they had an advantage in attack. However, it would be too stupid if they gathered all of their knights to collide with the most powerful point in Taixia''s line of defense. Additionally, Taixia''s Xuanyuan Fortress had an evident advantage over the large formation of demon knights.


    As for Taixia Country, as long as all the human knights gathered into a large formation, too many gaps would be left in the line of defense along Weishui River. As long as the large formation of human knights were dragged by demons, the wing demons would easily break through the natural chasm of Weishui River from the air. As a result, Taixia corps in the east bank of Weishui River would be very passive facing the wing demons in the sky. Even though there were airplanes and air cavalries in the theater of operations, it was hard to say whether they could completely defeat wing demons. What was more, in the current stage, there were only about 2 million air cavalries and airplanes in the theater of operations in total, which was outnumbered by wing demons.


    In this case, the party which used the large formation of demons would be idiot. Although the large formation of knights had great power, it would not play any positive role if it was used in the wrong place. For instance, although armored vehicles corps could be very destructive on plains, they would become as useless as scrap iron in swamps and mountain areas. If both parties determined to fight at their full efforts in terms of large formation of knights, take when humans and demons scrambled for the ore in Tiewei Mountain in the Earth-elements Realm as an instance, when one party outnumbered the other, it could crack down the opponent completely at the lowest cost; however, when two parties had almost the same battle strength; especially in the battle of attack and defense with a long line of defense, the effect of large formations would be very limited.


    ...


    Zhang Tie and Feng Cangwu were among the 10,000 human knights in the left flank of Xuanyuan Fortress under the leadership of Ye Qingcheng.


    Ye Qingcheng shot out first while releasing his virtual image¡ª¡ªa huge sword. As long as hundreds of meters, that huge sword flew out of an open lotus flower and lashed towards the 9-head fierce dragon. On the other side, the first heavenly human knight of Taixia Country shot towards the cyclops in shape of a huge fiery ape as high as 1,000 m.


    "Hahaha, let''s have a competition. The one who kills more demon knights would win a jar of liquor..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he rushed towards over 10,000 demon knights on the other side in the left flank.


    "That''s a deal!" Feng Cangwu instantly released his battle qi smoke. The favorable apprentice of Heavens Fortune Sect recovered his arrogance as he added, "I will kill black iron demon knights. You kill earth demon knights. If you kill a black iron demon knight, it doesn''t count. Hopefully, it''s a fair competition..."


    "Hahah...no problem. I will kill earth demon knights more than black iron demon knights that you will kill!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he accelerated at once, lagging Feng Cangwu behind immediately. Feng Cangwu swore inside as he hurriedly sped up to catch up with Zhang Tie.


    Seeing so many battle qi smokes and tornadoes of demon knights in front of him, Zhang Tie was completely hyper...


    As a member of Taixia Country, he would not feel pitiful if he could kill demons for the sake of the country on the battlefield of holy war at the cost of his life.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie was clear that he would not die easily. After staying with Yan Feiqing in the tower of time for 6 decades, even if he didn''t use the ability of divine dominator, he could still survive a heavenly demon knight''s hunt.


    At this moment, halos covered Zhang Tie, which meant that he benefited from the aiding strength of Ye Qingcheng, who was giving out a golden light. All the Hua knights rushing towards the demon army benefited from Ye Qingcheng''s aiding strength.


    Such aiding strength brought Zhang Tie his favorite speed, strength and the immunity to the influence of the dark aiding strength of the opposite camp below a heavenly knight. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s battle strength surged immediately.


    At the same time, all the demon knights on the other side were covered with the halos of dark aiding strength as they accelerated their speed instantly.


    Facing those demon knights in the air, Zhang Tie found back the long-awaited feeling of being alone. Zhang Tie immediately realized that he had not been a real corps leader, a general or an owner of a bounty territory since he left Blackhot City. He was just Zhang Tie, a son of a common family, a commoner who had his dreams, a Hua teenager who hoped his family members and friends could live better and a former second lieutenant in Iron-Blood Camp...


    Perhaps over 120 miles was a long distance for commoners; however, as for knights who were rushing forward, they soon saw clearly the grim faces of demon knights in the blink of an eye.


    The 2 heavenly demon knights and 2 heavenly human knights collided over 50,000 m high in the air, shielding the light of the sun and the two moons at once while a multitude of thunders happened in the sky.


    Below the battlefield of the 4 heavenly knights, when the 20,000 human knights were still 1,000 m away from the 20,000 demon knights, they had already launched their battle qi strikes towards the opponent. In a split second, tens of thousands of brilliant fireworks broke out in the sky in the west of Weishui River, forming a beautiful firework belt over hundreds of miles long in the skyline...


    That was the most brilliant moment for a knight in his whole life.


    A fierce strike flew by closely along Zhang Tie''s body. After missing his strike, a 2.5 m tall earth knight was rushing towards Zhang Tie with a fleer while brandishing a huge wolf-fang mace which was thicker than Zhang Tie''s waist...


    "After experiencing so many frustrations, my original intention still lies there, namely, I will be a vanguard to chop off demon''s head by sword..."


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt warm and clear inside as he recited some lines of a poem. Soon after he finished his word "sword", a bizarre huge sword which was longer than the body of the earth ox-head demon knight had appeared in his hand. When they passed by each other, sword light flickered. After Zhang Tie passed the earth demon knight over 100 m away, the earth ox-head demon knight''s body froze in the air for a second before blowing up and turning into the bloody mist...


    On the battlefield of the holy war, it was the first earth demon knight that Zhang Tie had killed by sword...

 1374 Being the Vanguard

    The huge sword in Zhang Tie''s hand was called Devouring Dragon, the largest and heaviest silver secret item that Zhang Tie gained from the Weapons Mountain except for Thor''s Hammer.


    Devouring Dragon was 3.46 m in length, as wide as a threshold and as thick as 20 cm. After being manifested, it weighed 2,700 kg and could easily cut gold, jade and iron. Additionally, the sword carried two powerful striking effects: super great sharpness and blade storm. This sword was another version of the "man''s certificate" that Zhang Tie used before. It was definitely a rarity even among silver secret items.


    It was his first time to use this sword since he gained it. This time, Zhang Tie used the blood of an earth demon knight to activate it...


    During the 6 decades in the tower of time, through so many times'' combat simulation with Yan Feiqing, Zhang Tie''s kinetic strike skill had long entered an immortal realm. With Devouring Dragon in hand, he could kill earth demon knights easily like chopping melons and vegetables.


    As Devouring Dragon was lighter than Thor''s Hammer, the energy of kinetic energy carried by DevouringDragon was less than half of that of Thor''s Hammer. However, on the battlefield; especially in large-scale chaotic battle, Devouring Dragon was more destructive than Thor''s Hammer.


    Why?


    Because Thor''s Hammer attacked its enemy using its flat side; however, Devouring Dragon attacked the opponent using its sharp blade. The force area of Thor''s Hammer was many times that of the blade of Devouring Dragon. In this case, even the energy of kinetic strike carried by Devouring Dragon was less than a half of that of Thor''s Hammer, its blade would cause greater stress and destruction to the opponent''s protective battle qi and body within a unit area. Plus its super great sharpness effect, how could the protective battle qi of an earth knight resist Zhang Tie''s marvelous "inch strength" skill in close combat?


    When the Devouring Dragon split open its protective battle qi and cut off its body, the earth demon knight had already been shattered into pieces by the blade storm effect of Devouring Dragon. It didn''t know what had happened until it died.


    Being a bit late than Zhang Tie, soon after Feng Cangwu dodged away from a battle qi strike of a demon knight and was approaching a black iron demon knight had he seen how Zhang Tie got such a terrifying huge sword out of the void and shattered an earth demon knight into pieces in a split second. Feng Cangwu was really startled by what he saw. ''F*ck, is that a motherf*cking man? Did that demon knight make any preparation or it''s just a coincidence...''


    Since he had a fight with Zhang Tie in the trouble-reappearance ball in the incarnation of a demon fighter, Feng Cangwu had known that there was a difference between him and Zhang Tie on battle strength. However, he had not imagined that this difference was so irreparable. ''What the hell! That''s impossible...''


    After killing that earth ox-head demon knight at such a transient moment, Zhang Tie''s battle intention surged at once. By killing demons, he would save humans. To kill one demon knight meant to save tens of thousands of people. Zhang Tie felt that he had returned to the former Iron-Blood Camp as he was fighting demonized puppets by the "man''s certificate" together with his brothers.


    "Go die..." Zhang Tie roared as he flashed and slashed his longsword towards the head of a black iron iron-armored demon knight. In a split second, the iron-armored demon knight''s protective battle qi was cut open while its head was sent flying off. At the same time, Zhang Tie activated the effect of blade storm and shattered the entire iron-armored demon knight together with its armor.


    In less than one minute, Zhang Tie had already killed two demon knights. After noticing that at the corner of his eyes, Feng Cangwu immediately gave up contending with Zhang Tie. ''What the hell! What a man...''


    With Devouring Sword in hand, Zhang Tie roared as he flashed into the demon knights which were as thick as huckleberries in terms of a sharp sword light. Singing a song loudly, he started to slash demons...


    "What is more frustrating and dismal is the departure, not to mention that northeast and southwest is so far away from each other. When the moss has just put forth in spring, the autumn wind has risen. Therefore, people leaving their hometown would feel desolate..."


    The familiar lyrics flew out of Zhang Tie''s mouth, which couldn''t be covered by the battle calls on the battlefield. Being different than that when he sang it for his junior sister apprentices in Hidden Dragon Island at the beginning, this time, this song was filled with dismal and sad feeling. At this moment, even though the lyrics remained unchanged, they sounded especially heroic, imposing, frank and heart-wrenching...


    After the word "dismal", Zhang Tie''s Devouring Dragon had turned into a sword qi hurricane which involved 4 black iron wing demon knights inside, though they were hundreds of meters away from him. After the word "desolate", the four black iron wing demon knights had been shattered into pieces by Zhang Tie''s sword qi, leaving blood mist in the air...


    "Go die..." An earth demon knight brandished its huge black saber towards Zhang Tie with an air-splitting killing saber intent.


    This earth demon knight was an iron-armored demon knight, whose battle strength was indeed much greater than the first earth ox-head demon knight that Zhang Tie had just killed.


    "The wuthering wind sounds different than usual. The undulating clouds presented a bizarre color. Ships stagnate near the bank. Vehicles became hesitate beside mountain path. How could oars be pushed forward? Horses are neighing forlornly."


    In the song, Zhang Tie''s DevouringDragon vibrated and rang. Zhang Tie combined with his sword and broke the strong saber qi face to face. He split the saber qi into halves using his sword while resisting the cutting of the opposite saber qi. In a split second, he had pushed to the front of the earth demon knight.


    "The sunbeams on the wall gradually disappear. The clear and bright moonlight spray over the corridor. The red orchid holds autumn dew. The green catalpa is covered with thin frost..."


    After the word "disappear", the hug saber in the hand of the earth demon knight had been broken by Zhang Tie''s Devouring Dragon. Closely after the word "Corridor", blood had spurted out of the place between its thumb and index finger while half of its handle flew out of its hand. Soon after the word "dew", one arm of the earth demon knight had been broken by Zhang Tie. The earth demon knight was so scared that it wanted to escape; however, after Zhang Tie finished the word "frost", the former fierce earth demon knight had turned into blood mist as it diffused like frost...


    It was the 2nd earth demon knight that Zhang Tie had killed on this battlefield...


    ''Parents travel across the old rooms and close the doors. They stroke the brocade curtain and feel cold and dismal. After their sons leave home, they often dream about their sons lingering around them and guess that their sons'' souls are wandering after departure.''


    At this moment, a 3-in-1 formation of 3 earth demon knights besieged Zhang Tie while Zhang Tie''s sword light flashed in a confident and elusive way...


    When Zhang Tie killed the second earth demon knight, all the 100,000 more human and demon knights from Xuanyuan Fortress and demon battlefortress moved their eyes onto him at the same time...


    On the battlefield, Zhang Tie''s sword light and song were like a bright moon in the evening and a morning huge sun which lit up the bank of Weishui River, the main battlefield of the holy war...

 1375 Sword Singer Shocking the Battlefield

    "Thus, departure feels different in different situations. Tall, handsome horse matches silver-inlaid saddle; red vehicle matches colorfully-painted wheels; I built a tent outside the gate of capital and bade farewell to my old friends in Golden Valley Park. Strings of harp, flute and drums produce music; sad songs of Yan State and Zhao State make beauties weep; pearls and jades are brilliant in the late autumn; silks and brocades are fascinating in the early spring. Being shocked by the song, horses raise their heads and chew; fish jumps out of the deep water. When in departure, with tears in eyes, I feel lonely and gloomy."


    Zhang Tie used his sword with all heart as he combined his spirit with the sword. As a result, his state of mind had entered an impervious bizarre realm. Although being besieged by three earth demon knights in the 3-in-1 formation, Zhang Tie''s sword light kept flashing around like as free as a lotus flower in the mud. In his song, his sword moved like flying dragons and galloping horses in the abyss. His sword light presented warm spring or dismal autumn from time to time. His sword sound carried the music of zither, yuqing, vertical bamboo flute and drum. His sword intention held tears and sadness. Flashing around, the sword light was as dazzling as that in a dream. Although being in the army of 10,000 demon knights, he felt pretty lonely as he was just accompanied by the starry sky...


    Under such marvelous battle skills and sword light, the 3-in-1 battle formation of earth demons was soon about to collapse as if a rotten net bounded a dragon after Zhang Tie''s one line of lyrics.


    However, the 3-in-1 battle formation of earth demon knights didn''t collapse; instead, it grew firmer. After rushing into the army of demon knights, Zhang Tie was immediately besieged by 6 more earth demon knights and 9 more black iron demon knights. The 6 earth demon knights formed 2 more 3-in-1 battle formation and integrated with the first 3-in-1 battle formation of earth demon knights. The 9 black iron demon knights formed three 3-in-1 battle formations, which further integrated into one unity. Finally, the 9 earth demon knights and the 9 black iron demon knights trapped Zhang Tie like two powerful shackles and two rotating huge mills...


    Such a battle formation was more like against a shadow knight than an earth knight.


    Facing such a battle formation, even steel and gold would be shattered...


    At the sight of this scene, many people above Xuanyuan Fortress felt heart-wrenching as they sighed inside, ''What a pity! Qianji Hermit has an amazing talent; however, he made a mistake of despising the enemy in such a large-scale battle formation. From ancient times to now, many valiant knights and powerhouses had made a mistake of despising the enemy and were finally killed by the opponent...


    Even though an earth knight was powerful enough, how could he resist the battle formation composed of 10 times more enemies?


    Watching Zhang Tie to be in a dilemma, Bai Suxian was going to give him a hand; however, Bai Runcheng stopped her by griping her wrist.


    "Second uncle..." Bai Suxian turned around as she watched Bai Runcheng with tears rolling down her eyes out of fury. All the other valiant knights from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion were also ready for saving Zhang Tie as they looked at Bai Runcheng. As long as Bai Runcheng nodded, all of them would set off to do that.


    Bai Runcheng kept his eyes close on Zhang Tie who had been tightly besieged by the demon''s battle formation. He shook his head resolutely as he stopped his subordinates and Bai Suxian, "Hold on..."


    Bai Suxian was stopped by Bai Runcheng; however, a scarlet figure flew out of the tens of thousands of knights directly towards the place where Zhang Tie fought those demons...


    That was Guo Hongyi.


    Feng Cangwu had already reached 9 change realm of a black iron knight and would promote to an earth knight soon. With the silver secret item weapon gifted by Zhang Tie in hand, Feng Cangwu''s battle strength definitely ranked top among black iron knights.


    At this moment, Feng Cangwu had just killed a black iron demon knight. After noticing that Zhang Tie was in a dilemma, he instantly rushed towards Zhang Tie. However, an iron-armored demon knight had stopped Feng Cangwu by slashing towards his head by a guillotine-shaped weapon...


    Standing above Xuanyuan Fortress, Zuoqiu Mingyue watched Zhang Tie who was being besieged with a calm look. However, when he saw someone flying out of the large formation regardless of his order, Zuoqiu Mingyue slightly frowned...


    "Who''s that female knight?"


    "She''s Guo Hongyi from Youzhou Province!" A subordinate knight on one side of Zuoqiu Mingyue threw a glance at her before answering. After a few seconds, he added in low voice, "Her master is Yan Feiqing..."


    After hearing that, Zuoqiu Mingyue frowned more deeply. A few days ago, Yan Feiqing suddenly promoted to a heavenly knight and defeated Zhu Qianqian, one of the 4 elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect easily. From then on, Fantasy Women Palace of Cloudydream Mountain was renowned across the country once again and almost became the No.1 female sect in Taixia Country. Even Zuoqiu Mingyue was afraid of such a woman who was self-centered, bilious and didn''t respect men. It was one reason that Zuoqiu Mingyue frowned. As for the other reason, Zuoqiu Mingyue didn''t know when did Zhang Tie get acquainted with the disciple of Fantasy Women Palace. ''Zhang Tie is too dauntless. But I''ve not seen him get acquainted with a disciple of Fantasy Women Palace since he came to the theater of operations. Is it only the one-sided wish of the disciple of Fantasy Women Palace...''


    "There are swordsmen who feel ashamed for not appreciating their masters and young righteous men who targeted their masters, such as Nie Zheng who assassinated Xia Lei, the prime minister of Han State; Yu Rang who intended to assassinate Zhao Xiangzi in the toilet of the imperial palace; Zhuan Zhu who assassinated the emperor of Wu State; Jing Ke who assassinated the first emperor of Qin Dynasty. All of them abandoned the warmth of their mother and wife. They left their homeland and bade farewell to their family members. Before leaving, they wiped off their tears and blood and gazed at each other. After riding on the battle horse, they didn''t look back anymore, leaving dust on the way. They paid gratitude to their masters at the cost of their own lives. When bells rang, cowards turned faces while their parents and wives wailed to death."


    Being besieged by the 18 demon knights, Zhang Tie didn''t know that Guo Hongyi was heading for him. At this moment, Zhang Tie was immersed in a bizarre realm while his sword light was changing alongside his song...


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, over 10,000 demon knights were nothing with the huge sword. It seemed that the whole world centered on him and his sword. He danced and sang in the air while the sword paid him with the wuthering wind. His shadow flashed along with his sword, drawing flowers in the sky.


    In the song, he felt like marching forward with his sword on the back. He reached the greatest depth of Liaoshui River and ascended to the peak of Yanshan Mountain to visit clouds. He saw the sun rising and spreading its brilliance over all the living beings; he saw rain and dew falling and rising. He felt like traveling across the world and sensing the feeling of departure, laughter, sadness, crankiness, affection, hatred with his sword at the same time...


    ''Although people are affectionate, they are always hurt by mercilessness!''


    ''Although sword is not affectionate, it is always accompanied by affectionate people!''


    ''Who''s leaving? Who''s hurt? Who''s happy?''


    ''Even though being far away, people who could share this feeling with me are still my partners and are still close to me in my heart...''


    "Daoist who cultivates in the stony room of Huashan Mountain expects to be an immortal by taking medicinal pills. Although he''s already grasped profound skills, he''s still in cultivation. Although he''s reached the realm of "silence", he''s not got the true feelings. He exerts his full efforts in making pills instead of caring about secular affairs. He even wants to ride a yellow crane or a phoenix to go straight to the heavens. He hopes to travel 10,000 miles a day in the heavens. A small period in the heavens is equal to 1,000 years in the secular world. Only ordinary people values departure. Although being an immortal being, he still feels reluctant to bid farewell to the secular world..."


    In the song, a sword light rushed into the sky accompanied by a rising cauldron, a dancing phoenix and a crane as if it was a dreamland...


    At the same time, all the swords of humans and demons within 6,000 miles vibrated, causing a sound which was as loud as thunder. All the longswords felt like freeing themselves and flying towards the place where the sword light rose.


    Ordinary longswords only trembled and roared. By contrast, those silver secret longswords would like to slip the leash of their owner and fly towards the place where Zhang Tie was manifesting their virtual images...


    Sagus the Monarch sitting on the throne of human skulls immediately sprung up as it kept its eyes close on that place where the sword light rose.


    "Sword singer. He''s a sword singer. I''ve not imagined that I could witness a sword singer on the battlefield in my life..." Zuoqiu Mingyue sighed with emotions as his eyes gave out golden light, "From today on, green lotus would not be alone in Taixia Country, the God blesses our country..."


    The 2 battle formations which were akin to two huge "shackles" mills and were composed of 9 earth demon knights and 9 black iron demon knights were shattered and diffused by the overwhelming sword light in a split second...


    "Kill him..." Sagus issued an order while gritting his teeth and watching the sword light crossing the entire battlefield of knights.


    Zhang Tie was immersed in the wholly new realm. He felt the whole world had changed. Each action of those grim demon knights looked so stupid, hilarious and full of loopholes; especially those who used sword whose movements were really coarse...


    The Devouring Dragon was not Zhang Tie''s hand anymore; instead, it manifested its virtual image of a silver sturdy dragon, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws. It could almost shatter everything. It was not the ability of divine dominator; instead, it was the manifestation of qi and fortunes and the most powerful, spiritual swordsmanship. Zhang Tie didn''t hold the Devouring Dragon; however, his sword light spurted out of his limbs, joints, waist, back and hair ends in an overwhelming manner.


    Many abnormal phenomena appeared in his sword light and song, making it more shocking.


    "There''s a secular love poem called peony and a love song called beauty. Sentimental maids in Sangzhong city, Wei State; beautiful Chun''e in Shanggong, Chen State. Spring grasses are verdant. Ripples are on spring water. How sad and sentimental it is to see you off to Nanpu city! Frost and dew in deep autumn are like pearls; bright moons in autumn nights are like jades. Clear and bright moonlight; pearl-like frost and dew; time went and came. After departing with you, I miss you so much."


    Therefore, although it''s uncertain that someone would leave due to different reasons, departure would definitely lead to whines. Whines would lead to loss of mind and great mental and spiritual trauma and shock. Despite the excellent proses of Wang Bao and Yang Xiong, the narrations of Yan An and Xu Le, those talents before Golden Horse Gate, those literatus in Central Archives Center whose proses were as imposing as that of Sima Xiangru and essays as delicate as that of Zou Shi, who else could describe the scene and feeling of departure?


    One step for one line of the lyric; one line of the lyric for one movement; one movement for one life. After moving 28 steps in the air, Zhang Tie launched his strike 28 times. As a result, 4 earth demon knights and 24 black iron demon knights were killed and turned into ashes by Zhang Tie''s sword light...


    What a chivalrous hero!


    After the word "departure", Zhang Tie found that he had already penetrated through the army of 10,000 demon knights and appeared on their back...

 1376 The Ongoing Battle

    After penetrating through the army of demons, Zhang Tie looked back as he saw a tunnel whose length, width and height were over 500 m respectively. There wasn''t even one demon knight throughout the tunnel. All the ordinary earth demon knights and black iron knights near that tunnel unconsciously stayed far away from Zhang Tie.


    Demon knights were valiant; however, they were not idiots. Neither would they seek for death when they were clear that they were destined to die. With his sword and song, Zhang Tie had scared those demon knights so much that very few of them dared confront with Zhang Tie''s blade anymore.


    The fact that he himself scared the army of demon knights really made Zhang Tie arrogant.


    Besides Zhang Tie, the other human knights and demon knights were in a fierce battle while colorful battle qis flickered in the sky and collided with each other alongside sabers and swords. Most of the knights had not ended their first fight in such a short period. Many knights launched battle qi strikes towards the opponent collectively. Some of them had not even found their opponents. The 4 heavenly knights in higher altitude were still fighting. However, those knights below them couldn''t involve in their fight. Occasionally, some aftermaths of the battle between heavenly knights would escape downwards...


    "What..why is she here?" Zhang Tie noticed Guo Hongyi when he looked back as he was a bit shocked.


    "Go die..." A destructive wind approached from far. Zhang Tie slightly moved aside rapidly to dodge away from a fierce battle qi strike. Although it passed by Zhang Tie, it rubbed against Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi ferociously. Based on its destructive ability, the battle qi strike was definitely from a shadow knight.


    The moment Zhang Tie raised his head, he had seen a dark, purple shadow wing demon knight charging at him with a grim look.


    This shadow wing demon knight was a fat piece of meat for Zhang Tie. If it were underground, Zhang Tie would definitely catch it alive; however, in this case, as he had already attracted the attention of the public by his "sword song". If he killed this shadow demon knight at this moment, even the Monarch Abyss and those heavenly demon knights would be shocked, which would not be good for him.


    Additionally, shadow demon knights'' protective ability and knight''s consciousness were a level higher than that of earth demon knight. If Zhang Tie wanted to kill this shadow demon knight, he could only use kinetic strike skills. Even if he used the most implicit "inch strength" strike, if he couldn''t kill that shadow knight instantly, the shadow demon knight would know his secret for sure. By then, his ability as a divine dominator would be exposed to the public.


    It was not opportune for Zhang Tie to reveal his trump card to the world. At least a shadow demon knight didn''t deserve him to do that.


    ''However, this shadow demon knight is a good training partner. As I''ve just got the insight of "Sword Song" and top swordsmanship, I urgently need a training partner. Given the power of "Sword Song" and the top swordsmanship, it''s okay for me to use them to challenge a shadow demon knight...''


    ''Alright, I will play with it then.''


    As the shadow demon knight was flying towards him, Zhang Tie determined his mind in a split second.


    Zhang Tie continuously moved towards the shadow wing demon knight while extending his sword light. Closely after that, they wrestled with each other. On the battlefield beside Weishui River and under the gaze of so many human knights and demon knights, the legendary fight between an earth knight and a shadow knight rose the morale of all the onlooking human knights as it was absolutely impossible for an earth knight to defeat a shadow knight...


    In this case, even though Zhang Tie didn''t use his ability as a divine dominator, he still didn''t think that a shadow demon knight''s strike was terrifying and irresistible. With a sword in hand, he was not afraid of the strike of shadow demon knight at all. Not only that, even a powerful shadow demon knight had to treat the "Sword Song" and the top swordsmanship meticulously.


    However, shadow demon knights might have already received the order of Sagus the Monarch Abyss of demons and were requested to kill Zhang Tie. Only after this shadow wing demon knight fought Zhang Tie for a short while, another shadow iron-armored demon knight had approached as it wanted to join hands with the first shadow wing demon knight to kill Zhang Tie.


    In such a large-scale battle in the sky, it was normal for two shadow demon knights to kill an earth human knight.


    "Aren''t you shameless? Do two shadow knights fight an earth knight? Do you think that there''s nobody in Taixia Country..." Before the shadow iron-armored demon knight joined the fight, a growl had sounded while the shadow human knight whom Zhang Tie had seen many times on Ye Qingcheng''s side accelerated towards them with a pair of golden sword breakers, eyes widely opened. After slashing his golden sword breakers, he instantly launched two surging battle qi strikes, blocking the second shadow demon knight.


    No matter what, shadow knights were not as cheap as white cabbage. As demons had one more shadow knight than humans, the surplus shadow demon knight just fought Zhang Tie while the other shadow demon knights were fighting the shadow human knight. Zhang Tie then started to practice his new swordsmanship...


    In the distance, Sagus the Monarch Abyss of demons was watching Zhang Tie with flickering eyes. He had wanted his heavenly demon knights to fight Zhang Tie for a few times; however, every time he looked up, he would sense the clear and cold eye light of Zuoqiu Mingyue. Even from hundreds of miles away, Zuoqiu Mingyue was still paying attention to its movement. If Monarch Abyss assigned powerhouses, Taixia Country would definitely make a response to it. In this way, they wouldn''t be able to kill that earth human knight; instead, more and more knights would be involved in.


    ''Would all of my knights join in the battle?''


    ''No.'' Sagus vetoed this idea. Although this idea was alluring, it was not facing second- or third-rate human knights on the battlefield; instead, it was facing the entire Hua empire that had been confronted with demons for almost 1,000 years. Given the battlefield and line of defense which was preset by the opponent, it was not favorable for demons to throw the helve after the hatchet...


    ''Perhaps, the opponent is waiting for me to do that. That eye-catching earth human knight might be a loop preset by the opponent...''


    Sagus the Monarch Abyss of demons calmed down slowly.


    "Who''s that Hua knight?"


    As of now, Sagus was convinced that those representatives of Heavens Reaching Church on its side had already known that special Hua knight''s identity. Now that he could be so attractive at the beginning, he was definitely not a commoner in Taixia Country. Members of Heavens Reaching Church must know his identity.


    "He''s Zhang Tie, the Weiji General of Taixia Country. He invented Fiery Oil and all-purpose medicament...'' The lackey of Heavens Reaching Church knew Zhang Tie''s identity as fast as possible.


    No other human knights could be so powerful at such a young age. Zhang Tie''s look almost became his signboard.


    ''He''s the very one who invented Fiery Oil and all-purpose medicament, solved the problem of grain supply facing the rear end of the western theater of operations and established the air cavalry troops for Taixia Country?''


    Sagus the Monarch Abyss did not expect it while the whim that it had just abandoned hung over its mind once again.


    ''I will make a decision after figuring out the deployment that humans make on the ground...''


    Sagus the Monarch Abyss stared at Zhang Tie fiercely who was fighting that shadow wing demon knight. After bearing Zhang Tie''s look in mind completely, it moved its eyes onto the ground.


    The other human knights and demon knights had been in a fight in the sky. However, the two corps of 200,000 iron-armored demons that rushed out of the camp of demons were galloping on the ground towards the bank of Weishui River like entering an unpopulated region...


    On the ground in the west of Weishui River, there was not a fighter of Taixia Country at all. Therefore, the iron-armored demons didn''t encounter any opponent. However, it didn''t mean that the corps of 200,000 iron-armored demons could rush to the bank of Weishui River smoothly. Conversely, they faced fatal traps in each step forward...


    The ground leading all the way to the bank of Weishui River was covered with incendiary landmines. Each step forward would cause the death of some LV 9 iron-armored demon fighters.


    Flames spurted out of the ground one after another. Each flame indicated that at least one demon fighter became a burning torch. After a short while, the demon fighters had been burned into ashes.


    In sprint, the iron-armored demons had learned how to reduce their casualties to minimum by changing their formation¡ª¡ªthey enlarged their gap so that an incendiary mine would not kill more than 2 iron-armored demon fighters. Additionally, their formation constantly shrank in the flames. By narrowing the width of the vanguard, the later teams of iron-armored demons would suffer fewer casualties...


    However, even so, the corps of iron-armored demons still couldn''t avoid from being damaged by incendiary mines while those iron-armored demons in front were becoming wailing biological fuel by batches in the flames of incendiary mines...


    The closer they were to Weishui River, the greater the density of incendiary mines under the earth would be. Later on, the quantity and density of incendiary mines on the bank of Weishui River became so abnormal that those demon fighters fell down in rows instead of one by one...


    Such a scene made Sagus crumb the handle of his throne which was made of human skulls...

 1377 Great Casualties Facing Demons

    After over 120 miles'' gallop, fewer than 100,000 of over 200,000 iron-armored demons finally survived the west bank of Weishui River...


    Such great casualties shocked Sagus the Monarch Abyss of demons greatly.


    Since the demon''s army appeared in the periphery of the Realm of Disaster, they had been taking cities and seizing territory over the past 2 years. The demon knights and wing demons might suffer a bit loss; however, the ground forces had always been carrying all before one while Taixia''s army had been evacuating. Actually, the two parties rarely had any positive contact. In Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province, ground forces of humans and demons rarely collided with each other. Even if they did, they must be small-scale. Additionally, all the human forces that confronted with demon corps on the ground were easily shattered by the latter.


    Purely given the battle strength, the demon corps being composed of LV 9 demons had already completely surpassed any existing corps of Taixia Country. Even the corps among the top 4 armies of Taixia country couldn''t establish such a powerful troop.


    Therefore, Sagus the Monarch Abyss of demons had been full of ambition on the way here. In its eyes, besides knights, no other forces in Taixia Country could prevent the attack of the demon army. Additionally, as long as the demon army could gain an absolute advantage on the ground, even though human knights could defend the attack of demon army for the time being, their threat would finally diffuse with the failure of ground forces, loss of a great amount of population and cities.


    As knights derived from the large population of Taixia Country. The reason why Taixia feared demons was not because of its existing battle strength, but its constant war potential, which came from its large population.


    As long as demon''s ground forces balanced Taixia''s advantage on population, the knights in Taixia Country would finally lose its root and couldn''t provide constant war potential anymore. Finally, the entire Taixia Country would be destroyed by demons in this holy war. By then, the wholly new world that demons had been expecting for would come.


    It was the strategy that demon powers adopted for dealing with Taixia Country and the importance of the existence of the LV 9 demon corps, namely, balancing Taixia''s advantage in population as fast as possible so as to completely destroy the foundation for producing human knights.


    Before this holy war, the demon powers had made a conclusion through a precise reckoning. As long as demons could reduce the population of Taixia Country to its half, the speed of the appearance of new human knights would not catch up with the consumption speed of human knights on the battlefield. By then, the entire country would gradually decline as its the number of human knights would gradually decrease. Finally, the entire country would be exterminated by demons.


    The situation facing Yezhou Province, Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province had fully verified the speculation of demon powers about this holy war. As long as demon knights could counterbalance human knights in Taixia Country, the demon corps of LV 9 demons would accomplish its attack and occupation about the population and cities in Taixia Country. As demons had plundered a large number of Hua people and cities, the Heavens Reaching Empire was soon established on the Eastern Continent in such a short period since demons launched a strike towards Taixia Country and gradually had the power to oppose the imperial court of Taixia Country as a part of demon forces.


    Sagus thought that demon''s ground forces could absolutely become irresistible in this holy war. However, it was out of its imagination that the demon''s ground force was severely damaged by Taixia''s ground force near the bank of Weishui River after the demon army occupied the 4 provinces of Taixia Country.


    In about 120 miles, half of the unrivaled corps of 200,000 iron-armored demons fell down when they didn''t even see their enemy at all.


    Before the holy war, the demon powers had already assessed the influence that the industrial strength and new weapons of Taixia country might pose to this holy war. At that time, all the demon powers thought that the biggest threat that Taixia Country posed to the demon''s ground forces based on their industrial strength was white phosphorous gel combustible bomb. In the fights between demons and humans, Taixia Country had already put portable white phosphorous gel bombs into use. In the future, Taixia Country might match its troops with such portable weapons on a large scale.


    However, the so-called "large scale" was just relative to the former use of white phosphorous gel bombs. In the last holy war, the white phosphorous gel bombs produced by Taixia Country were mainly for airships. Ground forces barely used it. After making a serious assessment about the production procedures of white phosphorous gel bombs and the small amount of portable white phosphorous gel bombs that they acquired from earth elements realm, they all thought that Taixia''s ground forces couldn''t be matched with such a portable weapon on a large scale being limited to the manufacturing technologies, raw materials and cost. Only officials of Taixia''s ground forces could be matched with such portable weapons. Given the scale of Taixia troops, each official above LV 6 of Taixia ground forces could at most be matched with 2 portable white phosphorous gel bombs.


    The white phosphorous gel bombs would bring troubles to demon''s ground forces; however, it was nothing serious compared to such a large corps of LV 9 demon knights.


    As Fiery Oil appeared after the holy war broke out, the demon powers and elites had not imagined that the new Fiery Oil weapons could cause such a heavy loss to their ground forces.


    Watching the flames that spurted out of the ground from time to time, Sagus instantly understand that these new weapons of Taixia Country were far more destructive than they had imagined. Additionally, it seemed that Taixia troops could be easily matched with such new weapons on a large scale.


    Being driven mad, Sagus crumbled the handle of his throne...


    If Sagus knew how many incendiary mines had the engineering corps of millions of members buried on two banks of Weishui River and in Helan Mountain Range, he might be more shocked...


    The fight in the sky and on the ground continued as the first positive collision between demons and Taixia army would not stop so fast. After surviving the "explosions and flames", those iron-armored demons immediately dove into the icy river and swam towards the opposite bank.


    Iron-armored demons were ambitious who had an exceptional battle strength on the ground and a nice watermanship. Although being wide, Weishui River couldn''t block the army of iron-armored demons...


    ''Is that the only trump card of Taixia Country?''


    The small frustration facing the ground troops didn''t scare the demon general away. Under his pitch-dark metal mask, Sagus'' gloomy eye light jumped while over 20,000 wing demon fighters flew towards Weishui River from the demon army like a cloud...

 1378 Fiery Battle Flames

    Weishui River was billowy and turbulent. The narrowest place across the river course was almost 6 miles. The remaining iron-armored demons that rushed to the riverside instantly dove into the river by batches like migrating herds on the prairie, causing a wealth of ripples and waves.


    Iron-armored demons didn''t wear armor or helmet. Their skin and shell were smooth and streamlined, which helped them move swiftly in water. Those iron-armored demons bit their weapons as they pushed forward by limbs like how those amphibious animals in the water. It was really terrifying to see such dense demon fighters rushing forward...


    The wing demons in the sky also accelerated towards the riverside.


    Thousands of meters away from the place where the iron-armored demons entered the river in the upper reach, dozens of iron warships were loafing in the river.


    Since the first iron-armored demon entered the river, the dozens of warships had rung jarring alarms at the same time. The sailors awaiting on the warships while holding their breath hurriedly accomplished the preparation for the coming battle faster than they could in daily training.


    "The target has already entered water..."


    "Distance 4800..."


    "Direction 3..."


    "Water speed 7..."


    "Fixed depth 5..."


    Some sound from sentry posts were transmitted into the command room of the fleet rapidly through sound-transmission pipes.


    In the command room of the fleet, a resolute captain at his 50s put down his telescope as he sent the order, "Let go the torpedoes..." while a killing intent flashed across his eyes.


    Closely after his order, dozens of warships released black wax-gourd shaped objects with some tentacles on their surface into the water in the frequency of one batch per two seconds.


    There was a distance between each warship. Those torpedoes were released into the water at a fixed tempo. Along with water, they gloomily flowed towards the lower reach of the river.


    Although there were so many torpedoes over the river, they didn''t touch each other. They just flew towards the lower reach like a huge net...


    When iron-armored demons entered the river, they would inevitably encounter those floating torpedoes. If there was only one torpedo, iron-armored demons could dodge away from it. However, due to the large quantity of iron-armored demons, too many torpedoes were laid into the water. Therefore, they would collapse unavoidably.


    Brighter flames rose on water while the entire water level of Weishui River turned into a sea of fire in a split second. Iron-armored demons were struggling in the sea of fire while many of them were being scorched.


    Smarter iron-armored demons dove deeper to avoid from the first wave of collisions. However, closely after that, the ear-splitting sound of high-pressure steam centrifugal ballista drifted from the fleet in the distance while dense shells fell into the region where iron-armored demons were in. As a result, on the burning water level, many iron-armored demons were penetrated through by the shells of the steam centrifugal ballista, covering the river with blood. What was more important, the rainlike shells from steam centrifugal ballista detonated those dense incendiary torpedoes over the river, expanding the area of the fire sea by more than 10 times...


    ...


    Over 20,000 wing demons flew over here, facing over 20,000 air cavalry I airplanes that set off from the east bank of Weishui River.


    Over 20,000 wing demons flapping their wings were like a cloud; over 20,000 air cavalry I airplanes were also like a cloud. Additionally, the buzz of the engines and propellers of airplanes reverberated in the sky...


    "Brothers, follow me and let''s kill the enemy..." The battalion chief in professional goggles and leather coat of the air cavalry I airplanes in the front airplane made a pose when he saw wing demons flying towards them. Closely after that, he pressed down his operation lever and led his battalion towards those wing demons.


    "Aim and fire when we''re about 100 m away from them. We have to find our Wuzhou Army''s face back and tell the other provincial armires and top 4 armies that our Wuzhou Army is not sh*t..." The battalion chief told the shooter while gritting his teeth...


    "Yes, sir..." The shooter in the back seat answered calmly as he kept his eyes close on the approaching wing demons.


    They were the first batch of air cavalry I airplanes that were selected from the Wuzhou Army which evacuated from Wuzhou Province last year. Last year, these people were chased after and beaten brutally and lost their territory. Therefore, all the fighters of Wuzhou Army were irate about that. As the first batch of air cavalries, they finally got a chance to avenge the death of their comrades-in-arms and the loss of territory.


    However, the human airplanes didn''t scare off those wing demons; instead, they cried as they darted with weapons in hand, narrowing their distance to about 100 m in a split second.


    At this moment, the shooters of air cavalry I airplanes triggered their steam ballista, firing those incendiary bolts one after another. In the blink of an eye, thousands of flames had appeared in the sky like fiery firecrackers.


    The incendiary bolts that were fired from airplanes adopted mixed fuses too. When incendiary bolts touched the targets, they would burn up at once. Even though they didn''t touch the targets, when the power of the incendiary bolts started to decline, the time delayed fuse would also be activated.


    Only after the first blow, hundreds of wing demons had fallen off the sky while whining in terms of fireballs. Some wing demons were directly hit by incendiary bolts; some were not hit; however, they were involved when they entered the effective region of incendiary bolts and finally faced the same consequence.


    Due to strong wind, the power of incendiary bolts intensified while those wing demons being involved and struck instantly turned into fireballs.


    After avoiding from the first wave of the strike, those wing demons broke into the formation of air cavalry I airplanes. Almost at the same time, some airplanes had been hit down while emitting black smoke and twisting their wrecks...


    It was the first official battle between air cavalries of Taixia Country and wing demons. Almost the moment the battle started, it had become white-hot. The tidy formation of air cavalry I airplanes was scattered while 20,000 wing demons and 20,000 air cavalries entered a chaotic battle within 6,000 miles in the sky...

 1379 Spraying Blood Over the Sky

    Wing demons were very flexible in the sky. They could fly and slide rapidly like birds. When in need, they would hover in the sky while flapping their wings like dragonflies. They could even turn around and fly backward. Actually, they could fly in any direction at any time. Such great flexibility could barely be matched by any bird in the sky. Although Zhang Tie''s thunder hawk could easily fly faster than wing demons and could also hover in the sky for a short period, it couldn''t fly backward like wing demons.


    As air cavalry I airplane had a pair of fixed wings and relied on mechanical strength, its flexibility couldn''t match that of wing demons. Even so, air cavalry I airplane still had an advantage¡ª¡ªspeed. Air cavalry I airplane could even fly faster than battle spirit wing demons, not to mention LV 9 wing demons. If speed was regarded as the only reference, air cavalry I airplane was much more powerful than wing demons.


    An air cavalry I airplane was matched with a steam crossbow and many incendiary bolts. Incendiary bolt''s effective range was over 100 m. However, LV 9 wing demons could only realize melee attack. Even though wing demons above LV 10 could realize battle qi strike, the effective range of their battle qi strike was limited to 100 m.


    Given the effective range of the strike, air cavalry I airplane had an advantage. With this advantage, bolts shot from an airplane could reach wing demons while wing demon''s battle qi strike couldn''t reach the plane. However, whenever an airplane set off, it could only carry a limited number of incendiary bolts due to objective reasons such as take-off weight, capacity, spatial layout and pneumatic efficiency. Take air cavalry I airplane on the battlefield as an instance, each air cavalry I airplane could only have 35 incendiary bolts at most. That was to say, after shooting out 35 incendiary bolts, the steam crossbow would be useless. Unless the airplane could return to the base for replenishment, it would lose its battle strength in the sky.


    By contrast, wing demons'' melee attack times was not limited. As long as a wing demon was alive, it would almost exercise limitless strikes.


    Although airplane could exert its role in a long distance, its crossbow''s effect was limited when in close combat; especially on its wings and under its belly where were dead angles. As long as wing demon approached these dead angles, the steam crossbow would be ineffective. Whereas, wing demons didn''t have striking dead angles. The closer wing demon was to the airplane, the better it would exert its battle strength in the air.


    Additionally, wing demons were more sensitive than air cavalry I airplanes in the sky. An air cavalry I airplane was matched with 2 fighters, one for driving, the other for shooting. Two people should coordinate with each other. A wing demon versus an air cavalry I airplane was actually equal to 1 wing demon versus 2 human fighters plus a battle machine.


    Wing demons could fly longer than air cavalry I airplanes. Whenever and wherever in need, wing demons would set off. Additionally, wing demons could land almost anywhere on land, wilderness, mountains or deep woods. Only by taking something casually or having a short nap would they recover their battle strength. It was nothing serious even if they were slightly injured. By contrast, as long as airplanes ran out of its Fiery Oil, it had to land at an airport or a plain, open land. Without being filled with Fiery Oil, it could not set off once again. Additionally, the components of the airplane had to be repaired and maintained routinely.


    In some sense, the wrestle between air cavalry I airplane and wing demon was about speed and flexibility, striking range and striking ability, individual and teamwork. It was actually a holistic confrontation on the feathers and strengths of races between demons and humans.


    In such a confrontation, airplanes and wing demons both had their own advantages and shortcomings. Neither of them was overwhelming in the sky. They were on even. Therefore, from the beginning, the battle between wing demons and air cavalries had entered a chaotic and extremely fierce state.


    In each second, fireballs would fall off while wuthering planes emitting black smoke would crash onto the ground and explode. Some planes were directly shattered by the battle qi strike of high-level wing demons as they flipped over and fell off.


    At the critical moment, pilots would jump off the planes by a rotachute. It''s a necessary skill for air cavalries to use rotachutes. However, not all the air cavalries could have a chance to escape by rotachute; neither would all the air cavalries survive themselves by rotachute.


    Some air cavalries were killed in the seats by wing demons using their weapons when the latter approached. After that, the airplane would lose its control and crash onto the ground, arousing a huge fireball while the components of the plane flew in all directions. Some air cavalries were brutally killed by wing demons in the air before they landed.


    After shooting off all the incendiary bolts in the airplane, some airplanes didn''t leave as they saw how wing demons killed their brothers who had jumped off their airplanes by rotachute. They were looking for a chance to perish together with the wing demons...


    Given the great speed of airplanes, the number of wing demons and the chaotic state, as long as there was a chance, an airplane could absolutely crash against a wing demon; especially the propeller in the front of the airplane, which was like sharp blades when in high-speed rotation. As long as it crashed against a wing demon''s body or wing, it would badly mutilate the latter or ruin the latter''s flight ability. However, the airplane would also be damaged. Additionally, wing demon might escape away while giving a fatal blow to the plane or the air cavalries in the plane by hand. In such an air fight, the most perilous movement for an air cavalry was to approach a wing demon.


    "Do you fear about the crash?" "Are you afraid of death?" "Will we do it?" "Will we risk doing it?"


    Many pilots would ask the shooter in the back seat the similar questions before their last struggle.


    "F*ck them off!"


    "Why would I be here if I were afraid of death?"


    "Cut the motherf*cking crap, I''m not a b*stard..."


    "Even if you don''t fear what this father is afraid of..."


    "As our brothers came here together, we have to return together or die together here..."


    "Whatever, we''ve killed one and won''t live in vain. If we kill one more, we will win..."


    None of the shooters in the back seats were timid at this moment.


    Thus, many air cavalry I airplanes and wing demons flipped over and fell off...


    ...


    An air cavalry I airplane''s tail unit was broken by a wing demon as it flipped over and fell off. The two air cavalries almost popped out of the cockpit and the shooting module at the same time. However, the moment they opened their rotachute, the wing demon which had just broken the tail unit of the airplane had flown towards them once again. Only by one strike, it had shattered the skull of the shooter using the spine in its hand.


    "Old Gao..." The former pilot widely opened its eyes out of fury as he whined and saw his comrade-in-arms loosen his grip and fall off.


    Old Gao''s blood and brain sprayed over the LV 9 wing demon''s head, making the wing demon pretty grim. Closely after that, the wing demon sped up towards the former pilot. When its spine approached the former pilot''s body, the air cavalry roared as he suddenly loosened his rotachute and charged at the spine. Undoubtedly, the spine penetrated through the air cavalry''s chest; however, the air cavalry put his arms around the wing demon.


    "F*ck you..." The air cavalry swore while gritting his teeth, blood filling his mouth. Under the dumbfounded look of the wing demon, he instantly triggered the fuse of his portable incendiary grenade.


    In the flame, this air cavalry and that wing demon flipped over and fell off at the same time...


    The first combat between the air cavalries and the wing demons in this holy war opened the brilliant historical chapter in such a fierce way.


    When in Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie became the first human air cavalry.


    As of now, the human air cavalry troop which was almost founded by Zhang Tie alone appeared on the stage of Black Iron Age for the first time on the bank of Weishui River of Taixia Country.


    So many hot-blooded human fighters were spraying their blood over the sky like how Zhang Tie did in Selnes Theater of Operations. However, being different than that in Selnes Theater of Operations, the air cavalry troop of Taixia Country was not waiting to be slaughtered by wing demons anymore; instead, they formed an iron great wall in the sky and uttered the loudest sound under the heavens...


    The air fight continued. On the ground, the first batch of iron-armored demons finally tided over Weishui River and reached the east bank of Weishui River.

 1380 Endless Annoyance

    Even though incendiary torpedoes were combustible in water, their destructive power was much weaker than that on land.


    As for the 100,000 iron-armored demons that jumped into Weishui River, besides the first batch which suffered a loss and some were killed by centrifugal ballista on the warships of Taixia Country, most of the iron-armored demons directly dove deep in water when encountering dangers. Although this method was nothing ingenious, it reduced the loss of iron-armored demons greatly.


    Almost 90,000 iron-armored demons finally arrived at the east bank of Weishui River. Taixia troop only reduced a bit more than 10% of the total amount of iron-armored demons in the river, which figure was much smaller than the loss of iron-armored demons on the west bank of Weishui River.


    Of course, it owed to iron-armored demon''s good swimming skill. If it was ox-head demons or spider demons that tided over Weishui River, those incendiary torpedoes would definitely have killed more demons. Given this point, it was indeed a smart decision for Sagus the Monarch Abyss to assign iron-armored demons to be the vanguard.


    The air fight finally affected the ground troops.


    Some wing demons wanted to attack the warships of Taixia Country over the river; however, the warships gathered up in an air-defense formation and shot at those wing demons in a dense manner the moment those wing demons approached. As a result, some wing demons were hit down without causing any damage to the warships.


    Besides shotting traditional bolts, the steam ballista on warships could also shoot more powerful incendiary bolts. The incendiary bolts being matched for these warships were different than those on air cavalry I airplanes in specifications as the former were longer, thicker with the evidently bigger caliber and more powerful. The moment these bolts exploded in the sky, they would cause a fireball whose diameter was over 10 m. Additionally, their land-to-air range could reach higher than 400 m. No wing demon could gain any advantage facing such a powerful air-defense strike.


    Additionally, before those iron-armored demons which had reached the opposite bank gathered up, two wuthering and smoking air cavalry I airplanes had precisely hit the region on the east bank where there were most iron-armored demons. The moment the airplanes crashed onto the ground, they had exploded while their flames and flying metal parts devoured some more iron-armored demons.


    After receiving the order, the iron-armored demons continued to march on.


    To respond to this order, iron-armored demons which had embarked on immediately roared and rushed towards the east.


    There was once a wood in the east bank of Weishui River. However, at this moment, the entire wood had been weeded out by Taixia troops. As a result, it was bald and full of undulating yellow ground and hills within hundreds of miles. Besides some short weeds, shrubs and some patches of stumps, no plant higher than 1.7 m could be seen. In that case, even a troop of over 1,000 people could barely hide there, not to mention large-scale troops.


    In the last year, the troops of hundreds of millions fighters and the engineering corps of tens of millions of engineers had already well renovated the entire east bank of Weishui River. As a result, demons embarking on the east bank could barely take advantage of resources and topographical strengths.


    The east riverside was absolutely a battlefield preset by Taixia troops.


    However, not a single human could be seen over the east bank, except for undulating hills. The warships'' shells reached the east bank; even though, the iron-armored demons embarking on the east bank continued to surge forward.


    At this moment, flames rose from the ground, devouring those surging iron-armored demons one after another. The flames were caused by incendiary mines. Compared to that on the west bank, more incendiary mines were buried in the undulating hills, hillsides, gullies, shrubs and plain, open area. As a result, each step forward would mean the loss of many lives.


    The entire east bank was covered with mines, where iron-armored demons couldn''t see those human fighters but flames rising from the ground and those of their same kind whining and turning into charcoals in flames...


    Iron-armored demons roared as they became hopeless. All the iron-armored demons above LV 10 started to launch battle qi strikes towards the ground in front while running.


    However, iron-armored demons above LV 10 were not like Zhang Tie who was cultivating an emperor-level secret method and had constant battle qi in his qi sea. As for most of the iron-armored demons above LV 10, off-hand battle qi strike was an advanced battle skill, which required them to convert their battle qi into aggressive energy. This battle skill was powerful; however, it consumed a lot of battle qi.


    An ordinary LV 10 iron-armored demon could release its off-hand battle qi strike 6-10 times within one day. Some elites could make it over 10 times. As long as an iron-armored demon ran out of its battle qi in a short period, its battle strength would decline rapidly. Before the battle qi in his qi sea recovered, it would not launch a battle qi strike anymore.


    This law suited to LV 10 iron-armored demons and those above LV 10. However, more advanced iron-armored demons could release off-hand battle qi strike a few more times within one day. Ordinary LV 11 iron-armored demons could release off-hand battle qi strike 12 to 20 times; LV 12 iron-armored demons could make 18 to 40 times; LV 13 iron-armored demons could make 35-60 times... The higher level the iron-armored demon was, the more off-hand battle qi strikes would it exercise. However, it was not limitless. Additionally, as for high-level fighters, as long as they ran out of their battle qi in their qi sea, they might not even able to release their protective battle qi.


    The east bank was filled with battle qi booms, brilliant and surging flames which looked pretty boisterous. Advanced demon fighters'' off-hand battle qi strikes indeed worked as incendiary mines were constantly detonated. However, if someone made calculations cautiously, they would find that an advanced demon fighter could strike the ground 7-10 times for detonating one incendiary mine on average.


    As incendiary mines were buried under the ground, iron-armored demons above the ground couldn''t see them. As a result, they couldn''t make tentative strikes. Therefore, it was a matter of probability to detonate incendiary mines using off-hand battle qi strikes.


    This probability had been counted before these incendiary mines were buried. The probability was determined by the density of mines per square km, which was closely related to war cost.


    Over 60 miles away from the east bank of Weishui River, Liu Xing and some officers of Fiery-Dragon Corps were standing on a hillside and observing the flickering battle qis and flames that rose among those iron-armored demons rushing towards Taixia corps from time to time by telescope.


    The vanguard of iron-armored demons was almost 1.2 miles in width. Only a bit more than 1,000 of over 90,000 iron-armored demons were above LV 10. Although over 1,000 iron-armored demons exerted their full efforts to detonate some incendiary mines using their battle qi, more incendiary mines were detonated by the foot of their kind. Meanwhile, as they constantly released their battle qi strikes, an increasing number of iron-armored demons above LV 10 gradually ran out of their battle qi and couldn''t release off-hand battle qi strike any longer. Therefore, although they were surging forward, the quantity of battle qi lusters among demon corps gradually decreased...


    "The cost of an incendiary mine is less than one silver coin. One silver coin for the life of one LV 9 demon. On average, we could paralyze a LV 10 iron-armored demon at the cost of 10 silver coins by having it lose its long-distance striking ability or consuming the greater part of battle qi of a battle master-level or a great battle master-level demon. That was to say, a gold coin could afford 100 mines on the battlefield. It would take them hundreds or 1,000 times'' off-hand battle qi strikes to weed out these mines. A battle spirit-level demon could never clean up 100 mines by off-hand battle qi strikes even if it ran out of its battle qi. That''s really economical..." Zhao Bing said while shaking his head after putting his telescope.


    "That illustrates the strength of gold coins as was mentioned by our master. If we just keep going like this, we will not fear about demons regardless of their population. Money could really kill demons..." Wu Yinhui nodded.


    "Besides our master, who else among humans could kill demons using gold coins?"


    "Guess whether these demons could reach us or not..."


    "If the airship troop didn''t set off, it''s possible; however..." Liu Xing replied as he put down his telescope. At this moment, a huge shadow covered the hillside. Needless to look up, they had known that airships had been dispatched.


    The iron-armored demons surging forward among the flames of incendiary mines finally became dismayed. After moving over 20 miles forward, over 90,000 iron-armored demons didn''t even see a single human fighter; instead, they saw endless wires in front of them which looked like a cage and a huge formation composed of wires.


    Although wires couldn''t block iron-armored demons, they could slow down iron-armored demons'' speed. Additionally, many incendiary mines were buried between wires too.


    When the iron-armored demons slowed down, a row of airships of Taixia Country appeared above them while a string of black points fell off the airships. When they were over 20 m high above the ground, those black points exploded and turned into a fierce fire sea before falling onto the heads of iron-armored demons...

 1381 The End of the First Frontal Battlefield

    Being withheld by the endless wires and the flames of incendiary mines and incendiary bombs that fell off the airships, iron-armored demons gradually shrunk like an ice cube that fell into hot water. After jumping and surging forward dozens of miles resolutely and bravely, only a dozen of them survived.


    Among the alive ones, those with the highest level was a battle spirit.


    At the final hopeless moment, over 10 iron-armored demons were still breaking forward dauntlessly which was really touching. However, their destiny would not be altered.


    After a flame fell onto the last high-level iron-armored demon, thousands of square meters instantly became a fire sea, submerging the demon fighter. The most powerful iron-armored demon didn''t break out of the fire sea like before with the protection of his battle qi. After the flames died out, a large patch of wires had melted down, turning the ground black. The final iron-armored demon had been burned into ashes. Its final location of existence could even be barely seen on the ground...


    Although protective battle qi could resist ordinary physical strikes, it couldn''t withstand high temperature. Only knight-level protective battle qi could prevent them from being hurt by magma. However, the temperature of the flames of incendiary bombs and incendiary mines were both above 1,500 degree Celsius, which was even higher than many sorts of magma. Even battle spirits'' protective battle qi couldn''t protect them from such a high temperature...


    In the air battlefortress in the distance, Sagus the Monarch Abyss of demons was gazing at the extermination of iron-armored demons that had rushed over Weishui River. During the process, Sagus was always clenching its fist. However, when the last iron-armored demon was killed, Sagus loosened its punch while its scorching qi turned chaotic and deadly which was forbidding.


    After throwing the last glance at the wing demons above Weishui River wrestling with human air cavalries and the knights of both parties; especially at the brilliant battlefield between Zhang Tie and the shadow demon knight, Sagus the Monarch Abyss finally uttered its muffled voice from below its mask.


    "Be stationed on the west bank. Call back the knights and fighters..."


    Sagus waved its arm as it continued when a subordinate heavenly knight moved one step forward, "The holy war has just come to a start. The wrestle between us and Taixia Country would not end within one day or one year. If Taixia Country could be conquered so easily, it would not be our turn to do that..."


    The heavenly demon knight then became silent as it slightly bowed and returned to its original position.


    Sagus'' order was soon passed down.


    Demons were also something. Before the demon army completely collapsed, they were always in order even in evacuation.


    After receiving the order, 20,000 wing demons set off at once. To respond to such a sudden change, the second batch of air cavalries also set off the airport on the east bank of Weishui River and prepared to fight the enemy.


    However, the second batch of wing demons didn''t fly over Weishui River; instead, they hovered in the sky above the west bank and covered the first batch of wing demons which evacuated from the battlefield.


    Noticing the wing demons'' evacuation, the first batch of air cavalries didn''t chase after them; instead, they returned to the airport on the east bank while the second batch of air cavalries started to patrol in the sky above the east bank in case of demon''s tricks.


    After wing demons evacuated, black iron demon knights started to leave the battlefield, followed by earth knights. Shadow demon knights stuck to the last moment.


    ...


    "Bang...", before the shadow demon knight''s off-hand battle qi strike fell onto Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi, it had been shattered by the light surrounding Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi. It was a natural response in a high swordsmanship realm that Zhang Tie had just reached and consolidated that shattered the off-hand battle qi strike of the shadow demon knight.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t even know the name of the powerful battle skill that he had just got and consolidated. He only felt a strong strength staying glued to his body. As long as he thought about it, he would release great strength in a terrifying manner. Sometimes, he didn''t even think about it. Whenever it sensed a potential threat, it would release automatically and eliminate the threat.


    The special strength on Zhang Tie''s side was a bit like sword qi. It could be both rigid and soft, coming from and going to void like Zhang Tie''s shadow and magnetic field. It had already become a part of Zhang Tie''s body. After being released outside Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi, this special strength provided one more protective cover for Zhang Tie. By comparison, protective battle qi just sustained the strike of the enemy negatively and purely enhanced his anti-strike ability; however, this special strength could both bear others'' strike and launch a strike at its discretion to diffuse the enemy''s strike.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know about this special strength; however, this strength reminded him of the active reactive armor over tanks before the Catastrophe. At that time, active reactive armor could sense incoming shells and missiles before their arrival and detonate the latter where they were near.


    If a knight''s protective battle qi was regarded as the armor of traditional tanks, in some sense, this new skill was like Zhang Tie''s active reactive armor. Of course, it was much more powerful than the so-called active reactive armor.


    Zhang Tie stretched out his hand while the Devouring Dragon sword qi turned into a 100-m long light sword and slashed towards the shadow demon knight in an overwhelming manner.


    Zhang Tie slashed against the shadow demon knight, causing its protective battle qi to quiver. Half of it collapsed almost in a split second. However, the shadow demon knight instantly separated from Zhang Tie and flew back towards the demon camp on the west bank. Before leaving, this shadow demon knight even turned around and glared at Zhang Tie with full killing intent.


    Zhang Tie didn''t chase after it; instead, he hovered there and saw the shadow demon knight and the other demon knights returning to their camp. The 4 heavenly demon knights also returned to their camp. Such a short fight was just a warm-up for heavenly knights. In the 2nd holy war, the duration of the fight between a human heavenly knight and a demon heavenly knight ranged from 1 week to 47 days. The world of heavenly knights was out of the imagination of commoners.


    Zhang Tie knew that this fight had come to an end for the time being.


    The virtual image of Devouring Dragon was dozens of meters long silver dragon, which was circling around Zhang Tie in an imposing and brilliant manner. Every detail of the dragon was like the real one, including its scales, buckhorn, long beard and fishtail. Zhang Tie was standing in the sky while this silver dragon protected Zhang Tie by circling around him. If this virtual image showed up in front of ordinary Hua people, it would win the worship of them for sure because this dragon had been an admirable immortal beast of Hua people since ancient times. Hua people regarded themselves as the descendants of the dragon. Among Hua people, dragon represented authority, dignity, mystery and strength.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie also received the command to return to Xuanyuan Fortress.


    "Let''s go..." The shadow human knight who blocked another shadow demon knight at the critical moment for Zhang Tie asked Zhang Tie as he threw an extremely strange glance at Zhang Tie and that virtual image circling around Zhang Tie.


    Even though this shadow human knight was not hostile, his approach also aroused the response of the virtual image of the Devouring Dragon. The 3-claw silver dragon bared fangs and brandished claws while one of its head was targeting at this shadow human knight as it was ready for a strike.


    As the shadow human knight was a bit afraid of the Devouring Dragon, he didn''t approach Zhang Tie too close.


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced while the dozens of meters long virtual image instantly minified and turned into a 30 cm long snake before finally drilling into Zhang Tie''s sleeve...


    Previously, Zhang Tie didn''t know that the virtual image of a silver secret item could be so inscrutable. After this fight, Zhang Tie really understood the subtlety of silver secret items. From then on, Zhang Tie opened the gate of a wholly new world. The virtual images of silver secret items were inclusive which didn''t exist for good look and fashion. The moment Zhang Tie got the head or tail of it, he''d become thrilled inside.


    In the sky, Zhang Tie fought demons in a heroic way and hid a dragon in his sleeve, which made him pretty alluring.


    After fighting a shadow demon knight and returning to Xuanyuan Fortress, Zhang Tie finally knew what was it like being eye-catching...

 1382 Giving No Concession

    All the 100,000 more human knights in Xuanyuan Fortress were keeping their eyes on Zhang Tie when Zhang Tie returned. Their eye light contained admiration, shock, reverence, pure jealousy and favor and worship from female knights. Zhang Tie glanced over them and kept most of their expressions in mind.


    For instance, Feng Yexiao and his disciples of Taiyi Fantasy Sect looked like how a group of misers behaved when they saw someone on their side hit the jackpot of 5 million gold coins; especially Feng Yexiao whose expressions really made Zhang Tie feel cool. Those disciples of Taiyi Fantasy Sect who dared sneer at Zhang Tie previously almost dared not look straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes at this moment.


    Although Zhang Tie had not promoted to a shadow knight, his heroic deed of killing an earth demon knight in a split second by sword scared those people of Taiyi Fantasy who disliked him before. Now that Zhang Tie could kill an earth demon knight as easily as slaughtering livestock, it would not be difficult for him to kill them.


    As for Feng Yexiao, he just tightly pursed his mouth as he pretended to be dismissive; however, he still couldn''t hide his jealousy and a bit fear in his eyes when he looked at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie felt pretty cool...


    The first one who rushed towards Zhang Tie was Bai Suxian.


    Under the gaze of the public, the red-eyed princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion directly threw herself into Zhang Tie''s arms as she put her arms around Zhang Tie''s neck and said, "You scared me too much..."


    "I''m fine. Look, I''m back." Zhang Tie comforted Bai Suxian as he patted Bai Suxian''s back.


    "When did your swordsmanship become so powerful? I''ve not seen that before." Bai Suxian asked out of curiosity. Since she got acquainted with Zhang Tie, she only saw Zhang Tie use his punches and spears in front of her. However, he barely presented his swordsmanship in front of her.


    "Haha, you will know that in the future..."


    As it was on the battlefield, it was impolite for them to show off their love. Only after having a brief talk with Bai Suxian, Zhang Tie had returned to the army of knights in Xuanyuan Fortress by pulling her hand.


    The moment Zhang Tie returned, he had seen Guo Hongyi being taken away by two law enforcement knights. Before leaving, Guo Hongyi turned around and threw a glance at Zhang Tie. Although Guo Hongyi looked calm, it seemed that she had a lot of words to say...


    "Harrumph, foxtrel. She''s always looking for a chance to entice my man..." Bai Suxian whispered to Zhang Tie.


    Just now, Zhang Tie only saw Guo Hongyi break into the battlefield; however, he was confused about the details. After hearing Bai Suxian''s words out of jealousy, Zhang Tie seemingly understood something, "What''s wrong with Guo Hongyi?"


    "Don''t you know that?"


    "Do you think I''m a telescope, clairaudient or a heavenly knight?" Zhang Tie pinched Bai Suxian''s waist as he added, "I was fighting so many demon knights just now; how could I know everything within hundreds of miles?"


    "Well, don''t care about it. Someone disobeyed the command on the battlefield..." Bai Suxian smiled as she shifted the topic right away instead of talking about Guo Hongyi with Zhang Tie anymore.


    Zhang Tie knew that Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi disliked each other and it was almost impossible for him to hear anything good about Guo Hongyi from Bai Suxian. However, he couldn''t put her to ''torture'' in the public, therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t ask Bai Suxian about Guo Hongyi anymore.


    The demon army was experiencing a change. On the land covering thousands of miles about 120 miles away from the west bank, those war giants started to transform into war trees while rooting in the earth, covering the entire sky over 120 m away from the west bank with grey mist...


    Only after a short while, those war trees had started to grow out leaves and trunks. Among those leaves and trunks, dense bizarre fruits gradually came out, which served as the portable supply of the demon army.


    Given the morphological transformation of demon war giants, they were going to be stationed here for a long time. As the morphological transformation started, some floating battle fortresses of demons also gradually moved backward to the center of the camp of hundreds of millions of demons.


    Zhang Tie was shocked too much by the morphological transformation of the war giants of demons. Zhang Tie knew that Chinese caterpillar fungus could change its morphological existence between plant and animal. However, demon''s war giants were much bigger than Chinese caterpillar fungus. Those war giants being transformed from war trees were like skyscrapers. As a sharp war weapon, war tree''s crown was as large as a cloud as it covered several square miles'' land.


    After seeing demons'' encampment and the evacuation of floating demon battlefortress, Xuanyuan Fortress and those floating human battle fortresses also slowly moved back to over 120 miles away from the east bank of Weishui River. With a distance of about 300 miles, two parties started a confrontation with each other.


    The war had not come to an end. However, the demons'' attack had been shattered in Weishui River today. Therefore, it was not easy for demons to break the firm line of defense of Taixia Country on the east bank of Weishui River in a short period.


    Watching the retreating demon''s floating battlefortress and the safe return of Xuanyuan Fortress and the other human battle fortresses to the air territory above the east bank of Weishui River, hundreds of millions of Taixia fighters cheered up on the ground. Since demons started to invade Taixia Country, Taixia Country finally won a battle in the frontal battlefield.


    Although being a small triumph, it was of great importance for Taixia Country as a whole as the morale of all the Taixia troops was raised.


    The news of the victory was instantly sent to Xuanyuan Hill. Xuanyuan Hill then spread the good news to all the provinces in Taixia Country officially. On the same night, Xuanyuan Fortress and the other human battle fortresses in the sky were a scene of jubilation...


    In such a scene of jubilation, Zhang Tie and Zuoqiu Mingyue were looking straight into each other''s eyes in the latter''s office of Xuanyuan Fortress while banging their fists on the desk.


    On the way to Zuoqiu Mingyue''s office, all the knight-level officers and subordinates on Zuoqiu Mingyue''s side in the headquarters treated Zhang Tie much politer than before. However, after closing the door and expressing his intention, Zhang Tie soon irritated Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    "Let her go now..." Zhang Tie said while strengthening up his neck.


    "Guo Hongyi set off the formation without my consent. According to the military decree, she should be beheaded; however, I''ve only sentenced her to 3-month detention given her gender and dauntless deed in the battle. Additionally, she''s killed a black iron demon knight. Therefore, I didn''t give her a severe punishment..."


    "You won''t make any concession, right?" Zhang Tie took in a deep breath.


    "I won''t!" Zuoqiu Mingyue refused Zhang Tie''s proposal right away.


    With a sound "Pah!", Zhang Tie dropped his seal of Weiji General and remote-sensing communication finger rings onto the desk as he turned solemn at once, "I resign. You''d better find someone else to supersede me, commander-in-chief..."


    Zuoqiu Mingyue widely opened his eyes as he watched Zhang Tie furiously. Pointing at Zhang Tie by finger, he raised his beard while quivering all over, "You resign? Do you know what you''re talking about? You''re proud because of my favor. You''ve made a great military exploit today and gained a high reputation, you should be the good role model for the entire army. How could you become so frivolous? Are you afraid of being derided by the public?"


    Zhang Tie looked straight into Zuoqiu Mingyue''s eyes dauntlessly as he replied, "I don''t care about the military exploit. I prefer to offset Guo Hongyi''s violation using the military exploit. As for being proud due to your favor. If I, as a Weiji general, couldn''t even protect a woman from been punished for me, I prefer to resign. I agree if you say I''m proud due to your favor. As for being derided by the public, so what? Previously, I was even a scapegoat and wanted by the Supreme Court. Even Heavens Reaching Church and the Supreme Court of Taixia Country wanted to kill me. By comparison, it''s nothing serious for me to be derided by the public. Whatever, I would not lose a hair or take one meal fewer..."


    Zuoqiu Mingyue revealed a smile out of extreme fury, "How dare you threaten this old man?"


    "Whatever, I''ve expressed my stance. It depends on you, commander-in-chief..."


    Zhang Tie behaved like a rascal in front of Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    The two people just looked straight into each other''s eyes without giving any concession...


    ...


    3 minutes later, Zhang Tie opened the door of Zuoqiu Mingyue''s office as he walked out of there with a glassy-eyed look.


    The moment Zhang Tie closed the door, a loud sound had drifted from inside the office while the desk was shattered instantly.


    After hearing such a sudden noise, the subordinate of Zuoqiu Mingyue awaiting outside the door was startled too. After following Zuoqiu Mingyue for so long, it was his first time to hear Zuoqiu Mingyue lose his temper. As Hua people caused a heavy loss to demons today, everyone was so happy, why did commander-in-chief lose temper at this moment? Therefore, the subordinate moved his eyes onto Zhang Tie with a dubious look.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Zhang Tie pretended to cough twice. After that, he rubbed his face softly as he looked at the knight-level subordinate solemnly and said, "I''ve got a lot of gnosis on swordsmanship on the battlefield. I was asking for commander-in-chief''s guidance just now. I''m afraid that the commander-in-chief is deducing the mysteries. Don''t bother him now. After a while, change the desk for him..."


    ...


    After leaving the highest tower, Zhang Tie touched that pardon decree in his clothes as he walked towards the Law Enforcement Center of Xuanyuan Fortress...

 1383 Visiting Guo Hongyi

    Xuanyuan Fortress was pretty boisterous tonight. Besides those on duty, the fortress'' avenues were full of passers-by. All knights and ordinary officers converged in the avenues. Some had a cool drink; some sang loudly. All the bars in the fortress had almost been full. The entire Xuanyuan Fortress seemed to hold a festival...


    Since demon army invaded Taixia Country, the nerve in everyone''s mind finally loosened today.


    Learning to be intense and relaxed at the right moment was the law of yin and yang and could enable people to carry on longer on the battlefield. Even the most powerful knights couldn''t be intense for 100 years constantly in the holy war. Zhang Tie didn''t look down upon the boisterous and relaxed crowd on the streets because Zhang Tie also became relaxed inside now.


    Since in Selnes Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie had been intense. Until today, a sea tortoise in a corner of Zhang Tie''s heart finally rose to the surface of the sea and started to breathe fresh air over the sea.


    Strictly, what counted most today was not the battle between heavenly knights, between tens of thousands of knights or Zhang Tie''s heroic deed on the battlefield but the triumph of the human ground troops and air cavalries against demon corps. Such a triumph was of great importance. Without exaggeration, today''s triumph was historical and a milestone.


    On the ground, 200,000 iron-armored demons had been completely annihilated by endless mines and airship troops before they touched the ground troops of Taixia Country.


    In the air, less than 15,000 out of over 20,000 wing demons could finally survive back. By contrast, about 6,000 of 20,000 airplanes were hit down by wing demons. Perhaps, some people didn''t feel it was something great. However, as for Zhang Tie who had joined the battle in Selnes Theater of Operations, this result had already ended the unrivaled history of wing demons in the former 2 holy wars. This result was definitely much better than that human corps faced in Selnes Theater of Operations. When in Selnes Theater of Operations, so many airships and human fighters were hit down and killed by wing demons... Additionally, wing demons had caused too many other losses to humans. Besides Zhang Tie himself, human corps could barely kill any wing demons in Selnes Theater of Operations. Wing demons almost became the nightmare of humans in the sky of Selnes Theater of Operations. If there were 20,000 air cavalries in Selnes Theater of Operations at that time, the history of Waii Subcontinent might have been rewritten and the nightmare caused by wing demons might have long been ended.


    However, "if" didn''t exist. Today''s battle meant the start of a bright new future of humans.


    The Age of Fiery Oil had arrived!


    The age belonging to human air cavalries had arrived!


    This was the signance of today''s battle.


    The number of wing demons couldn''t match that of iron-armored demons and ox-headed demons. They were even fewer than spider demons. If shadow demons were not included, wing demons were the rarest species among demons. However, human air cavalries came from ordinary people. Although they required a paid training, as long as humans could last forever and could produce planes constantly and Fiery Oil, wing demons would not be a threat. Perhaps one day when wing demons'' consumption overreached their birth rate, human air cavalries would gain an advantage in the air.


    Maybe others didn''t know that; however, Zhang Tie felt that he was the most intense person across Xuanyuan Fortress before today. This triumph also made the Military God of Taixia Country relaxed.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie seized the opportunity to behave like a rascal in front of this sage-level knight and finally got his decree of pardon.


    Because Guo Hongyi was put behind upon bars due to him, Zhang Tie couldn''t just leave her to stay inside the jail. Therefore, Zhang Tie aimed to scoop her out of there even on the risk of stirring up Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    There were so many people on the streets of Xuanyuan Fortress. Zhang Tie knew that he had been renowned across Xuanyuan Fortress. When he came here just now, he almost aroused a turmoil, causing so many people to block the way as onlookers. Therefore, Zhang Tie became a bit low-key on the streets this time. The moment he left the highest tower where Zuoqiu Mingyue was, Zhang Tie had put on his hood, covering half of his face. Additionally, he lowered his height by 3 cm using his body-changing immortal bloodline. In this way, very few people would be able to identify him.


    The Law Enforcement Center of Xuanyuan Fortress was also a high tower. As this place was to regulate illegal knights coming from all provinces of Taixia Country, the Law Enforcement Center was especially imposing while 4 black iron knights were standing outside the tower.


    After coming to Law Enforcement Center, Zhang Tie presented his identity card; closely after that, he showed the decree of pardon which had been issued by Zuoqiu Mingyue. Then, he came to Guo Hongyi''s cell under the leadership of a knight-level officer.


    Now that it was a jail, it would not feel comfortable even for holding knights. Otherwise, custody would be meaningless. This jail was beneath the high tower of Law Enforcement Center. The underground tunnel was clean, yet there was no sunshine. Besides, there was some restrictive equipment inside the jail, making it a bit repressive.


    "This is the Guo Hongyi''s cell!"


    After passing by many corridors and restrictive equipment, the officer guided Zhang Tie to the front of a small alloy door through the narrow tunnel under the gloomy lamplight of everlasting fluorescent lamps. After that, he took out a key and inserted it into the keyhole on the door. After rotating his key for two circles, he opened the door with a crack.


    Zhang Tie saw Guo Hongyi instantly.


    There was almost no light inside the cell. There was only a palm-sized window on the iron door. After opening the door, the lamplight of the everlasting fluorescent lamps in the corridor slightly lit up this cell along with Guo Hongyi''s blurry red skirt.


    Guo Hongyi was sitting on the iron bed with crossed legs. She opened her eyes when the door was opened.


    Zhang Tie lowered his head and entered the cell. Watching Zhang Tie entering it, the officer of Law Enforcement Center left out of there in case of being an eyesore. Anyone with a bit EQ would not watch aside at this moment. Although it was a bit dim inside the cell, an onlooker was always disgusting...

 1384 Being Sentimental

    After meeting Guo Hongyi once again, Zhang Tie felt a bit embarrassed. He didn''t know what to say. Nothing had ever happened between Guo Hongyi and him. Neither had he thought about marrying her. However, since he got acquainted with Guo Hongyi in the incarnation of Cui Li, their relationship had been blurry and ambiguous; especially after fixing the love affairs between Yan Feiqing and him.


    ''Hongyi, we will be a family from now on... Actually, you should call me...master''s husband!''


    After thinking about it, Zhang Tie finally didn''t dare say it out. If he said it at this moment, he might drive Guo Hongyi mad if not dead.


    ''Ahem ahem...Qing''er. From today on, you and Hongyi could warm up bed for me together. Whatever, you''re familiar with each other and could look after each other. We''re a family...''


    If Zhang Tie told Yan Feiqing about this, he dared not guarantee whether Yan Feiqing would beat him to death or not. However, Zhang Tie really pitied Yan Feiqing from inside.


    Scratching his head, Zhang Tie dared not imagine about the two scenes at all.


    ''Who the motherf*cking said that one wife and one concubine is enjoyable?''


    "Erm...are you all right?"


    After thinking about it for a few seconds, Zhang Tie finally squeezed out such a sentence.


    Guo Hongyi revealed a bashful smile as she turned especially enchanting at this moment although she used to be indifferent and arrogant. She said, "Do you know that you really look like a kid when you scratch your head?"


    Watching Guo Hongyi under the dim lamplight of the cell, Zhang Tie finally knew why photographers would like to take photos and portraits for beauties in the wilderness or ruins. Because these places which didn''t feel nice would become especially outstanding, brilliant and distinctive due to the existence of beauties.


    "I''ve not imagined that you could be that brave today. How dare you rush towards the battlefield of tens of thousands of knights?" Zhang Tie let out a sigh.


    "Beloved ones are rare in the world. As Hongyi''s beloved one was in a dilemma, I would dare to go save him even if it was more dangerous than that. Although we were not born on the same date, I expect to die together with him on the same date. I could even die for my beloved one!" Guo Hongyi said as she soon looked into Zhang Tie''s eyes fervently with widely opened eyes although Zhang Tie''s words made her slightly lower her head bashfully, "However, I don''t know whether that man also has Hongyi in his heart and also treats Hongyi as his beloved one..."


    Zhang Tie was not an idiot. Guo Hongyi was expressing her love to him. All the indifferent beauties were ice-capped volcanoes. As long as they erupted, it would be earth-shaking...


    ''Holy sh*t! What the hell! Am I that manly?'' Zhang Tie felt depressed.


    "Let''s leave out of here. It''s not comfortable here..." Zhang Tie could only shift the topic as Guo Hongyi''s question was hard to answer.


    "That man was unrivaled on the battlefield and could kill one earth demon knight by sword in the blink of an eye. Is Hongyi''s question trickier than a shadow demon knight? Could he only escape from it..." Guo Hongyi still looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes. However, her hot eye light gradually became dimmer. She then revealed a miserable smile as she lowered her head. After a tear dropped onto her red skirt, Guo Hongyi said, "Hongyi had understood it. It turns out that I''m just self-sentimental since the beginning. it seems that Hongyi would face green lamplight and the cold moonlight for the rest of my life without any excessive expectation..."


    Watching such a beauty lowering her head and dropping off her tears, Zhang Tie swore inside. Regardless of the result, he strode towards her bed. He then cupped Guo Hongyi''s jaw by one hand as he lowered his body and heavily kissed onto her plump and sexy lips, tasting the scent on the lips of this mature woman.


    Kissing required skills. After being baptized by so many women, Zhang Tie''s kissing skills were definitely master-level. As a result, Guo Hongyi became soft all over while her face blushed. Later on, Guo Hongyi directly fell into Zhang Tie''s arms as she put her arms around Zhang Tie''s waist. Raising her pretty face, she closed her eyes and sought for more kiss out of control.


    The kiss lasted 5 minutes.


    After separating their lips, Guo Hongyi opened her eyes as she looked at Zhang Tie with a fascinating expression. At the same time, her chest rose and fell.


    Zhang Tie lowered his head as he watched this woman who had completely opened herself to him in an overbearing expression, "What the motherf*cking green lamplight and cold moonlight? Stop having a bee in your mind. You''re my woman. Am I clear?"


    "Hmm..." Guo Hongyi tightly embraced Zhang Tie as her hot face stayed glued to Zhang Tie''s chest. If it was a commoner, he would have been strangled to death by her. They hugged each other for about 2 minutes when Zhang Tie felt that Guo Hongyi gradually calmed down.


    The kiss witnessed their love. After that kiss, Zhang Tie felt that their relationship had been different than before.


    It was another debt of love!


    "Let''s leave out of here..." Zhang Tie whispered tenderly while patting Guo Hongyi''s back.


    "I can''t..."


    "Ahh, why?" Zhang Tie asked out of amazement.


    Guo Hongyi raised her head once again as her eye light was still affectionate though her calm and wise eye light reappeared a bit. She explained, "I set off without the consent of commander-in-chief today. I''ve violated the military regulation in the public and was sentenced to 3-month imprisonment. It''s already a light punishment. I know that you''ve already appealed to his mercy. However, the commander-in-chief is always selfless and would never agree with you. If you take me away from here. Over 100,000 human knights in Xuanyuan Fortress would definitely think that you''re so arrogant due to the favor of commander-in-chief that you asked the commander-in-chief to mitigate Hongyi''s punishment. You''re Weiji General and have made such a great military exploit on the battlefield today. You''re in your heyday and won the admiration of the public. However, someone must be jealous of you. If they seized your loophole, they would definitely publicize it. That would be greatly disadvantageous to your prospect. Hongyi would never let you suffer such infamy for me. Therefore, I would not leave before 3 months. As a knight, I could enter closed cultivation here quietly. It will be alright soon..."


    Zhang Tie watched Guo Hongyi with a confounded look as he felt that this woman could never be matched by ordinary women given her dauntless spirit of rushing into the battlefield of tens of thousands of knights, her identity as the owner of Guo Clan in Youzhou Province and her decisiveness even being sentimental. Additionally, this woman was also far-sighted. She preferred to be in the imprisonment for 3 months than to ruin his reputation for a bit peace and happiness.


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh with feeling, ''How could I win the favor of such a good woman? As a man, what else could I say?''


    Zhang Tie remained silent. He pulled Guo Hongyi''s right hand. After that, he took out a space-teleportation finger ring from his clothes and put it on Guo Hongyi''s fourth finger.


    "Keep this space-teleportation finger ring. It contains a silver secret item, some medicaments, water and food. If you take it, I will be a bit reassured..."


    Looking at that finger ring, Guo Hongyi felt pretty happy. As for Guo Hongyi, this finger ring was the token of love between them. Even if it was just an ordinary iron or copper finger ring, it was also very precious for Guo Hongyi, not to mention that it was a precious space-teleportation equipment...


    Yan Feiqing had "confiscated" many of Zhang Tie''s space-teleportation equipment and silver secret items. She was indeed clear of Zhang Tie''s personality. Yan Feiqing knew that Zhang Tie was sentimental. With precious equipment, he would easily gift them to others. It was okay for him to gift them to men; if he gifted them to women, it was nothing different than finding sisters for Yan Feiqing. Therefore, Yan Feiqing took away some of his precious equipment in advance. Even so, Zhang Tie still had some "case-dough", which took effect at this moment.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about it for the time being. As for the love affair between Guo Hongyi and him, Zhang Tie prepared to explain it to Yan Feiqing when he saw her next time. ''Whatever, the master and her apprentice should have some common words to share with. Additionally, I remember that I got acquainted with Guo Hongyi ahead of Yan Feiqing. Therefore, it''s uncertain whether it''s the master who robs away her apprentice''s husband or the apprentice robs away her master''s husband. I don''t care about others'' opinions. No matter what, I will not lose one hair...''


    Zhang Tie entered the Law Enforcement Center of Xuanyuan Fortress and left there alone. Zuoqiu Mingyue''s decree of pardon didn''t work.


    After exiting the Law Enforcement Center, Zhang Tie found that the streets in Xuanyuan Fortress were still boisterous. However, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like joining the fun; therefore, he directly left Xuanyuan Fortress for Blackwater Base.


    As so many knights and Taixia fighters were living in Xuanyuan Fortress, the residences inside it were in urgent demand. After taking the office as Weiji General, Zhang Tie could have a residence in Xuanyuan Fortress; however, Zhang Tie didn''t care about that. Therefore, he didn''t change his room. He still lived in the Fantasy No. 76 room of BlackDragon Airboat.


    Soon after Zhang Tie entered the hall of Blackwater Base, he had heard someone screaming.


    "Ahh, Qianji Hermit is coming back..."


    Zhang Tie was so scared by it. After looking around, he found thousands of knights were gathering in the hall, male or female. The noisy hall instantly became quiet while thousands of pairs of eyes instantly moved onto Zhang Tie, causing goosebumps all over Zhang Tie''s body.


    ''What are they going to do?'' Zhang Tie muttered inside...


    "It''s my great honor to meet you, Qianji Hermit. This humble man is Guo Zhongyin, the owner of DragonMountain Swordsmanship Sect in Yunzhou Province. As I admire hermit''s swordsmanship, I especially wait here for your instructions..." A handsome earth knight with long beard moved forward and bowed towards Zhang Tie as he said respectfully.


    "Ahh, you''re..." Someone else shouted unsatisfactorily as he rushed forward to Zhang Tie''s front before Zhang Tie finished his question.


    "I''m here first. It''s my pleasure to see you. I am Tang Bohu, an elder of JadeFantasy Swordsmanship Sect in Zhongzhou Province. I''m especially here for your instructions..."


    The second man was as sturdy as Cui Li. He was also an earth knight. In whiskers, he looked ferocious with a fiery huge sword on his back. The black hair on his chest was 30 cm long. With such a look, he would scare passers-by away while dropping off their properties if he walked out of the mountain pass in the daytime. However, he was called Tang Bohu.


    Zhang Tie became speechless.


    "Nice to meet you, Qianji Hermit. This lady is Gongsun Lirong from Gongsun Clan of Dragonfly Palace. I''m especially here for your instructions..." A beautiful female knight said as she approached Zhang Tie while twisting her waist. In short hair, she looked beautiful and enchanting. Additionally, she even ogled Zhang Tie. Her waist really looked beautiful. Therefore, Zhang Tie couldn''t help paying more attention to her waist. But...but this woman looks a bit familiar...


    Before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, thousands of knights had swarmed up...


    "This humble man is..."


    "This humble man is..."


    "This humble lady is...also, who steps on this mother''s foot. Are you seeking for death..."


    "F*ck, queue up..."


    Zhang Tie became stunned. Before he made any response, he had been inundated by the surging crowd...

 1385 Making an Inspection Tour

    On the second early morning, when the sun rose, those knight-level officers of Xuanyuan Fortress were inspecting the battlefield and checking combat readiness on the east bank of Weishui River...


    As Weiji General of the theater of operations, Zhang Tie was among the group of inspectors.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue was in the front of the team. Zhang Tie stood on his side, followed by some other people. Besides Zhang Tie, all of them were heavenly knights in the Western Theater of Operations. Among them, Zhang Tie, as an earth knight, was a bit special.


    Earth knights were great; however, it depended. In such a case, an earth knight was really not something. Because Zuoqiu Mingyue was a sage-level knight, all the other 7 inspectors were heavenly knights.


    It was also Zhang Tie''s first time to stay with a sage-level knight and 7 heavenly knights. Although being low in level, Zhang Tie didn''t feel uneasy. Because he knew that these counterparts were the most powerful existences among humans. Such a grand scene could be barely seen even in Xuanyuan Hill. If demons didn''t invade Taixia Country and called for such an occasion, ordinary knights might not see such a grand scene for the rest of their lives, not to mention commoners.


    Without exaggeration, any one of them could change the overall situation facing Taixia Country.


    Among them, Zuoqiu Mingyue was the chairman of Military Committee of Taixia Country and the Military God of Taixia Country. As for the other heavenly knights, Ye Qingcheng was the former commander of BlackArmor Army. 5 of the other 6 heavenly knights were the incumbent or former commanders of the top 4 armies of Taixia Country. The remaining one was an elder of the imperial household of Xuanyuan Hill.


    Besides Zuoqiu Mingyue and Ye Qingcheng, over half of these people were strange to Zhang Tie even though Zhang Tie had come to the theater of operations for almost 2 years.


    To be honest, if not Zhang Tie''s duty as Weiji General, the fact that they were checking the combat readiness of the battlefield and the Military God''s insistence, Zhang Tie was not qualified to stay with these people at all.


    One could be austere if he had no selfish desires. As Zhang Tie didn''t require their help, he maintained mediocre and relaxed even if he stayed with these most powerful ones in this age. Zhang Tie''s attitude won higher praise from these heavenly knights who had been observing him stealthily. However, these people didn''t know that Zhang Tie had already slept with a heavenly knight for dozens of years in the tower of time. Of course, he wouldn''t feel restrained staying with such a group of heavenly knights.


    The biggest achievement that Zhang Tie made in the tower of time was that he had been clear that heavenly knights were also humans who had emotions and mental puzzles. Although heavenly knights were powerful, they still preserved their humanity. Actually, they were more sentimental, such as Yan Feiqing and Zhao Yuan. Some heavenly knights felt eccentric because of their lofty position and the fact that they had long experienced life or death situation and prosperity. What commoners pursued for was not treasured by them anymore. They only treasured something that was out of the imagination of commoners.


    Only in one day, the sky over 120 miles away from the west bank of Weishui River had been gloomy, which was caused by the black smoke that those demon war trees were sprouting out. At the same time, in the open land where demon knights and human knights were confronting with each other in the west bank of Weishui River, some battle qi smokes and tornadoes were tangling with each other, which meant that the sentinels and guerrilla knights of both parties were fighting over there. However, compared to the overall battlefield of tens of thousands of elite fighters, these were just normal skirmishes.


    It was a mess on the battlefield. Some scorched corpses of iron-armored demons were lying on the ground in front of the group of inspectors. The corpses of iron-armored demons had already shrunk by 2/3 like scorched old trunks while their original looks had been unidentified, leaving a looming scorching taste in the air.


    They then passed by those scorched corpses of iron-armored demons leisurely and confidently.


    An open land had been created by over 90,000 iron-armored demons yesterday in the minefield in the east bank of Weishui River. Therefore, this early morning, an engineering corps of Taixia Country had already entered this minefield for intense work.


    The open field was covered with scorched corpses of iron-armored demons. However, the engineering corps of Taixia Country didn''t move these corpses; instead, they started to deploy mines from the east riverside once again. Although it was a dangerous task, these engineers had a general impression about the distribution of mines here as they were the same engineering corps who buried the first batch of mines here. After entering this region, everybody was pretty meticulous while those engineering fighters were looking for those remaining mines which had not been detonated inch by inch. After that, they set white cordons around the place where there was mine along with a red warning banner. Then, they buried new incendiary mines over the open land and restored the ruined wires. Wires could effectively delay the offensive speed of ground demon forces like a huge quagmire. When demon ground corps bogged down in this quagmire, the airship troops of Taixia country would play their great role...


    Zhang Tie knew that heavenly and sage-level demon knights could definitely see how the engineers deployed mines here, though being 240-300 miles away. However, Taixia Country didn''t care about it at all. Even if the commander and heavenly demon knights of demons could see it, they wouldn''t impart that to those demon vanguards whom these incendiary mines were mainly targeted at.


    Previously, engineering corps of Taixia Country was just an auxiliary corps; however, the appearance of incendiary mines turned it into a frontline combat corps. They didn''t need to fight demons face-to-face; instead, they only needed to deploy mines in order to kill demon fighters. Yesterday, most of the late 200,000 iron-armored demons were actually killed by these mines. Such a victory raised the morale of the entire engineering corps across the Western Theater of Operations. As a result, these engineers were full of vigor to clear the battlefield and bury new mines. Being not far away, some engineers were singing happily while burying mines, arousing laughter from surrounding people. The victory yesterday improved the atmosphere across the Western Theater of Operations greatly.


    "We need to intensify the engineering corps!" Zuoqiu Mingyue said after observing the battlefield seriously for a short while, "As for the rearrangement of the provincial army in the rear end, besides turning a part of them into air cavalries, each rearranged corps should include at least 2 engineering divisions; some special corps could include 3 divisions. Frontline engineering troops should be mechanical. All the vehicles and airships of engineering troops should be allocated according to the standard of Class A corps among the top four armies. Frontline corps might not have to run faster than demon troops; however, frontline engineering troops have to run faster than demon troops!" Zuoqiu Mingyue said as he moved his eyes onto Zhang Tie, "How many incendiary mines are in stockpile in the rear end?"


    "By yesterday, there''re still 25 million incendiary mines in the four provinces of Taixia Country..." Zhang Tie answered, "Because too many mines were deployed in the frontline of Weishui River and Helan Mountain, we''ve consumed a large amount of inventory. Additionally, the productivity of those arsenals in the rear end couldn''t catch up with it for the time being!"


    When Zuoqiu Mingyue saw Zhang Tie today, he was glassy-eyed; however, at this moment, the moment Zuoqiu Mingyue opened his mouth, Zhang Tie had known that Zuoqiu Mingyue had already forgotten about the quarrel between them yesterday. That decree of pardon finally didn''t take effect.


    "Only such a bit?" Zuoqiu Mingyue frowned.


    Although over 20 million mines were too many for others, it was too small for the hundreds of millions of demons in the Western Theater of Operations. Actually 2 months ago, Taixia Country had deployed over 170 million mines on both banks of Weishui River and Helan Mountain...


    Through yesterday''s battle, the power of incendiary mines had been evident. Everybody had recognized the importance of this sharp weapon. Before this, who could imagine that incendiary mines could kill such a great number of LV 9 demon fighters? In yesterday''s battle, Zhang Tie''s performance was imposing on the battlefield; however, very few people knew that it was Zhang Tie who insisted on deploying incendiary mines on a large scale over the theater of operations before the battle.


    "The arsenals in the rear end are gradually expanding their production capacity of incendiary mines. Additionally, after yesterday''s battle, I''ve already had Heavens Fortune Sect distribute a batch of incendiary mines to the theater of operations. They would arrive in about 1 week!"


    "How many incendiary mines did you have Heavens Fortune Sect distribute to us?"


    "200 million at cost price..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s answer, besides Zuoqiu Mingyue, all the other 7 heavens knights slightly changed their expression as they all threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie. Besides Zhang Tie, who else could enable Heavens Fortune Sect to distribute 200 million incendiary mines here at the cost price from thousands of miles away even at the request of Zuoqiu Mingyue. After yesterday''s battle, various incendiary weaponry became hot across Taixia Country. Except for the imperial court of Taixia Country, all the major clans and sects started to stockpile such weaponry. Zhang Tie was absolutely providing timely assistance to the theater of operations by having Heavens Fortune Sect distribute 200 million incendiary mines here at the cost price.


    Everybody knew that Zhang Tie was cooperating with Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory on the production of Fiery Oil and various incendiary weaponry. Additionally, Heavens Fortune Sect could even produce Fiery Oil a bit faster than those arsenals in the Western Theater of Operations. However, nobody could imagine that Zhang Tie could influence Heavens Fortune Sect so much.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s answer, even Zuoqiu Mingyue nodded towards Zhang Tie and said, "Thank you so much..."


    "It''s my pleasure. In the holy war, it''s my commitment to serve Taixia Country and humans, not to mention that it''s my duty to do that!" Zhang Tie said modestly without any complacent expression.


    Even though Zhang Tie "threatened" him in his office for a woman, he instantly had Heavens Fortune Sect distribute 200 million incendiary mines here. It meant that he still had the public interest in mind. Additionally, Zhang Tie was farsighted to expand the productive capability of incendiary mines across the country. Such an elite was really an able assistant of Zuoqiu Mingyue and the pillar of the country. After recalling that his junior couldn''t marry Zhang Tie but be his elder sister-in-law, Zuoqiu Mingyue let out a sigh with emotions inside...


    After having a quarrel with Zhang Tie, Zuoqiu Mingyue valued Zhang Tie more inside.


    "Air cavalries and wing demons were on even in yesterday''s battle. Undoubtedly, you have made great military exploits in organizing air cavalries in the theater of operations. I will report it to the superior for rewarding you!" Zuoqiu Mingyue ''comforted'' Zhang Tie while looking at him.


    However, Zhang Tie sighed with emotions, "In yesterday''s battle between air cavalries and wing demons, many air cavalries chose to perish together with wing demons after running out of their incendiary bolts or crash the iron-armored demons on the ground by plane. Fewer than half of them baled out. Hopefully, the commander-in-chief could issue an order to have air cavalries survive themselves the moment they lose their combat ability in the air instead of seeking for death..."

 1386 Giving Tit for Ta

    "It''s the greatest honor for a fighter to die on the battlefield, not to mention that they perished together with their enemy while the latter was more powerful. They actually died for their country. By killing one more demon, they will save hundreds even thousands of commoners. Any courageous fighter would not retreat in that case. Neither should they retreat. I feel that we should encourage and publicize their heroic deeds; instead of preventing them from sacrificing themselves together with wing demons and iron-armored demons. We need to make more fighters determine their mind to fight demons to death..."


    The heavenly knight elder of the imperial court of Taixia Country had opened his mouth calmly before Zuoqiu Mingyue expressed his opinion.


    In silver beard, he had a high nose and narrow, long eyes. Given his look, Zhang Tie couldn''t identify his age. Additionally, he had a super great vibe. Previously, Zhang Tie had heard about him in Xuanyuan Fortress. According to Zhang Tie''s knowledge, this man was employed by the imperial court of Taixia Country. He was called Ning Taisheng and was assigned by the crown prince. In the theater of operations, this man was actually on behalf of the crown prince and the imperial court of Taixia Country in some sense. Even Zuoqiu Mingyue had to treat him politely. Zhang Tie didn''t see this person until yesterday. He didn''t have a chance to exchange with this person in such a short distance until this morning.


    Since he saw Zhang Tie just now, Ning Taishou had been gazing at Zhang Tie in an unscrupulous way from his head to his toe. Therefore, Zhang Tie became a bit unpleasant inside; however, he didn''t show his unsatisfaction given their identities.


    "Courageous and ferocious fighters don''t have to perish together with enemies!" Zhang Tie started his contradiction now that Ning Taisheng expressed his opinion which was opposite to that of his, "In my opinion, if fighters always choose to die, they''re actually not confident about their future. Soon after the air cavalry troops were established, they had been able to draw a tie with wing demons. LV 9 wing demons don''t have too much potential to tap; however, the air cavalries still have a great space of growth. The operational performance of our planes could be further improved. The tactics and strategies of air cavalries, especially that of large-scale air cavalry troops when they encountered a multitude of wing demons in the air, could be further fumbled and improved. As long as they have enough time, I believe that the air cavalries of Taixia Country would definitely defeat wing demons one day. All the air cavalries who have experience in fighting wing demons are the most precious resources of our country. As prospective kindling, it would be more valuable for them to be alive than to be dead!"


    "Hahahaha, I don''t agree with you, general!" Ning Taisheng burst out into laughter as he pointed at the encampment of the demon army and said in a domineering manner, "Time works for everything. But the problem is that the demons might not spare us time. In that case, how could we prevent the attack of demons without the sacrifice of our fighters? If each fighter on the battlefield were thinking about surviving themselves on the battlefield, how could they serve our country? It''s said that the general once stayed in a dare-to-die camp in a remote country on Waii Subcontinent and behaved very ferociously and dauntlessly over there. You were even awarded by your army. How could you become so hesitated and soft-hearted in Taixia Country? Do you think that our fighters are not as brave as those barbarians?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t know where did Ning Taisheng acquire his "events" from while naming Iron-Blood Camp as dare-to-die Camp; however, these events were not confidential to the public. Given his reputation, it was hard to get his past experience. If not Zhang Tie was always dauntless on the battlefield; especially his heroic deed yesterday which was known to the public, Ning Taisheng must have already denounced Zhang Tie as "timid"...


    Zhang Tie looked straight into Ning Taisheng''s sharp eyes without making any concession as he said, "It''s not easy for the theater of operations to cultivate a qualified air cavalry. It would be too pitiful if the air cavalry died the moment he joined the battle. Besides killing the enemy, an air cavalry should also learn how to survive himself on the battlefield. It''s the basic quality of a fighter. If they could survive themselves, they would also create more opportunities for killing an enemy in the future. It''s not necessary for us to lose an air cavalry so easily on the battlefield..."


    "I was told that the general had founded many pilot academies in the four provinces in less than one year, which could already easily cultivate a lot of air cavalries. After learning 3 months in a pilot academy, a qualified fighter of the provincial army would be able to master the driving skills and basic combat skills in the sky. An air cavalry only costs us less than 20 gold coins. The shooters on planes are much easier to be trained. A qualified fighter of the provincial army could join a battle only after 2 weeks'' training as long as he doesn''t have airsickness. Additionally, it only costs us dozens of gold coins to produce an air cavalry I airplane in mass production. If we could kill a LV 9 demon fighter by one or two ordinary fighters plus equipment which was worth fewer than 100 gold coins in total, I think it''s an economical trade. In this way, we could exploit the advantage of Taixia''s resources and population. We could actually suppress the wing demon troops now. Don''t need to wait until tomorrow!" Ning Taisheng said as he revealed a faint sneer as if he was deriding that Zhang Tie was too innocent, "General, you''d better be not as compassionate as women in the holy war!"


    ''An economical trade?'' Zhang Tie was infuriated by these words at once. Zhang Tie didn''t feel angry about the words "as compassionate as women" as he would not even lose a hair due to it. However, he couldn''t accept the three words about ordinary fighters. Therefore, his words instantly became much more acrid, "Now that Elder Ning advocates dying together with the enemy, I''d like to see how you behave as a good model next time. I believe that demons don''t have more heavenly knights than us. If Elder Ning would like to be a good model for the air cavalries of Taixia Country, you would definitely enjoy a high glory forever along with my admiration..."


    "You, unscrupulous..." Ning Taisheng, who behaved leisurely just now, instantly turned angry as he pointed at Zhang Tie and stammered.


    "Elder Ning, didn''t you say that it''s the greatest glory for a fighter to die on the battlefield? Do you take it as a f*rt or what?"


    Of course, Ning Taisheng didn''t break wind; instead, his battle qi instantly became undulated.


    Zhang Tie just raised his head and watched him icily without any fear.


    All the 7 heavenly knights watched Zhang Tie out of amazement as they had not imagined that Zhang Tie could offend an elder employed by the imperial household of Taixia Country for such a "trivial thing"...

 1387 Being Gifted with A Secret Book

    "Ahem...ahem..." Zuoqiu Mingyue pretended to cough twice at the critical moment. Closely after that, Ning Taisheng hid his battle qi. After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie and Ning Taisheng, Zuoqiu Mingyue opened his mouth calmly, "Stop arguing. All the air cavalries that fought to death yesterday were martyrs of Taixia Country. We have to comfort and compensate their family members accordingly and reward them with the glory that they deserved. It''s great and courageous for fighters to sacrifice themselves for our country. We should pity them. As human lives are not as trivial as straws, we should love our fighters like how we love our sons. We couldn''t encourage our fighters to die or sacrifice themselves with the enemy on the battlefield. However, Hua people are always full of heroes. Since ancient times, there have been so many heroes. In each holy war, a great number of heroes would build the halos of Hua people and write the history of Hua people at the cost of their own blood and lives. It''s a heroic deed for fighters to kill demons at the cost of their lives. We should not denounce that. If we issue an order to forbid fighters to do that, we might not gain the prospective effect; besides, even the morale of the troops would be declined..."


    Zuoqiu Mingyue said while all the heavenly knights at present nodded.


    "I agree with us, commander-in-chief..."


    "Elder Ning and General Mushen are both pillars of the army. Although you have different angles of view and concerns, to be honest, you''re both concerned about Taixia Country and Hua people selflessly. Don''t hurt the harmony because of it..."


    "Yes, yes, if you hurt the harmony because of it, demons would laugh at you..."


    All the other heavenly knights started to persuade them. Ning Taisheng then threw a cold glance at Zhang Tie before turning around quietly.


    Now that Zuoqiu Mingyue had expressed his opinion, Zhang Tie didn''t speak anymore either, though he still felt a bit bitter inside.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue''s attitude looked neutral. Although he faintly warned Ning Taisheng to not say anything that might decline the morale of the army, he actually didn''t agree with Zhang Tie''s words; instead, he preferred Ning Taisheng''s opinion. All the other 6 heavenly knights'' opinion was approximate to that of Zuoqiu Mingyue. Of course, Ning Taisheng was not wrong. As heavenly knights were at the top of the pyramid in Taixia Country, they could overlook all the living beings in the world and talk about life or death with laughter. The fury of heavenly knights would cause bloodstream. In their eyes, those ordinary lives might be as trivial as ants and birds and were not even qualified to be their pieces. From the angle of view of a heavenly knight, it was the cost-effective advantage for Taixia Country to consume the advantageous corps of demons at the cost of some people and gold coins, which were purely figures. Perhaps 100 corps'' loss might faintly influence the mood of a heavenly knight, these heavenly knights would not even blink their eyes about the loss of those air cavalries in air combat; instead, they felt that Zhang Tie was too compassionate.


    It was an economical trade for consuming wing demons using air cavalries. Of course, the more the better. Ning Taisheng''s words were straightforward and acrid. However, it was almost what all the other moguls thought about in the theater of operations. However, as the other moguls were generals, they wouldn''t put it so straightforwardly. As Taixia Country''s commander-in-chief and Military God, Zuoqiu Mingyue had already experienced two holy wars. Compassionate people could never be generals. Zuoqiu Mingyue would never hesitate in such a case.


    In the final analysis, neither Zhang Tie nor Ning Taisheng was wrong. They just had different ideologies. As for Zhang Tie, even though he was in a high position in the theater of operations, he still couldn''t view these things from the angle of view of those heavenly knights by treating fresh lives as figures for exchanging with demon fighters. Zhang Tie remembered that the eldest brother that he had not ever seen fought to death on the battlefield. Although many years had passed, this event was always a scar in the hearts of his parents. Even now, his father would still always sigh with emotions and his mom would weep, "How good it would be if our eldest son was still alive..." in the deep night in their bedroom.


    In the eyes of those heavenly knights, a group of simple figures might only be combat that involved tens of thousands of people; however, they actually involved the life or death situation and endless lament of tens of thousands of ordinary families.


    ''Perhaps I''m really as compassionate as women and not proper to be a general on the battlefield'' Zhang Tie mocked himself.


    After such a short quarrel, although Zhang Tie still accompanied Zuoqiu Mingyue to inspect the battlefield, he remained silent in the whole process unless being asked by Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    After finishing the inspection, all the 7 heavenly knights returned to their own battlefortress. Zhang Tie also wanted to leave. However, he was stopped by Zuoqiu Mingyue, who said he had something to negotiate with Zhang Tie. Therefore, the two people returned to Zuoqiu Mingyue''s office in Xuanyuan Fortress.


    After one day, a new desk had been moved inside. Given the environment of the office, it didn''t seem that Zuoqiu Mingyue had lost his temper yesterday here.


    Like yesterday, after Zhang Tie entered the office, Zuoqiu Mingyue had told his subordinate to leave. Since Zuoqiu Mingyue fixed the marital relationship between his female junior and Zhang Tie''s elder brother, he had been treating Zhang Tie much more kindly in private as he looked at Zhang Tie like watching a junior of his own family.


    "Who do you think has the greatest military exploits in resisting demons in the Western Theater of Operations?" The moment Zuoqiu Mingyue entered the office, he had turned around and asked Zhang Tie while gazing at the latter. However, evidently, Zuoqiu Mingyue didn''t mean to have Zhang Tie answer this question. Before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, Zuoqiu Mingyue had continued, "Do you think it''s you? No. Is it me? No. Only one person has the greatest military exploits, namely, the crown prince, who''s ruling the country in Xuanyuan Hill. Am I clear?"


    Zuoqiu Mingyue''s reply was acrid and impressive, shocking Zhang Tie''s mind.


    Zhang Tie lowered his head and became silent for a few seconds before nodding slowly, "Thanks, commander-in-chief, I see!"


    "Hmm, you''d better see!" Zuoqiu Mingyue nodded too as he slowly sighed, "People are not different than grasses and woods. How could we have no emotions? However, in such a chaotic world, the higher our position is, the less soft-hearted we should be. If one person''s life could save ten people, in my opinion, it would be valuable and must die. You''re so soft-hearted that you don''t even look like a knight who has experienced life or death situations. In peaceful days, it''s okay; however, in the holy war when so many evil forces behave unscrupulously in the world, your mercy would be your biggest shortcoming. As long as your enemy take advantage of your shortcoming, they might kill you..."


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile, "I might not be as merciless as commander-in-chief and the other generals for the rest of my life!"


    Waving his hand, Zuoqiu Mingyue said, "Alright. You don''t have to eliminate your original intention. Perhaps you will see through it at my age. You''ve already done what you could. You''re impeccable. However, after the battle yesterday, you''ve already become sore in demon''s eyes. The demon general has been determined to kill you. It has already ordered two shadow knights to kill you in the fight. I''m talking to you about it!"


    "Glad to hear commander-in-chief''s instruction." Zhang Tie''s face turned solemn. As it was concerning his life, Zhang Tie would not treat it casually.


    "From today on, you''re forbidden to fight demon knights on the battlefield without my consent. As you''re too eye-catching, if you joined combat once again, you would bring dangers. Even heavenly demon knights might be assigned to kill you. You have to be alive. If you were killed by demons, it would be a great loss for the entire Xuanyuan Fortress. The rear end of the Western Theater of Operations might also be in troubles. As for you, being alive is equal to making military exploits..."


    "Being alive is equal to making military exploits." Zhang Tie became dumbfounded as he had not imagined that Zuoqiu Mingyue could say that and that he could reach this step on the battlefield. What an "auspicious" treatment!


    "Yes, like what I said, if one person''s life could save 10 people. I prefer that person to die. Similarly, if one person could help hundreds of millions of people live better, I would guarantee his safety. Therefore, you''d better stay on my side lately. As you''re the secretary of commander-in-chief, others would not make idle talk about it..."


    Zuoqiu Mingyue, as a sage-level knight, kept a close eye on Zhang Tie so that demons wouldn''t have a chance to kill him.


    Zhang Tie became hesitant as he had to consider Zuoqiu Mingyue''s words well. However, Zhang Tie always felt unwilling staying on Zuoqiu Mingyue''s side and thought that he could still do something...


    Only after thinking about it for a few seconds, Zhang Tie''s eye light had turned resolute, "Commander-in-chief, I want to join air cavalry corps."


    "What..." Zuoqiu Mingyue almost thought that he had misheard it.


    "All the flight and battle skills that the current air cavalries have mastered are based on my conclusion in Selnes Theater of Operations. These skills are partial to individual air combat experience. After seeing the battle between air cavalries and wing demons yesterday, I found that the coordinated air combat tactics of air cavalry troops in the air could be further improved when they fight the troop of wing demons. Therefore, I want to join air cavalry troop as an ordinary air cavalry and further improve the air cavalry troop''s coordinated tactics in the air. I expect for your approval, commander-in-chief!"


    "As an ordinary air cavalry..." Zuoqiu Mingyue became hesitant.


    "I have body changing immortal bloodline. I only need to change the face. Additionally, I would fight wing demons below knight level. No demons above earth knights would be aimed at me especially. No matter what, it''s always good for me to do something for the theater of operations rather than staying on your side, commander-in-chief..."


    Zuoqiu Mingyue knew that it was another choice that Zhang Tie had made when he couldn''t prevent something. Zhang Tie still didn''t make a compromise; instead, he still exerted his utmost effort to do something. If Zhang Tie couldn''t prevent those air cavalries from perishing together with wing demons after running out of their incendiary bolts, he wanted them to kill some more wing demons before they ran out of their ammo so as to reduce casualties.


    What a stubborn guy!


    Watching Zhang Tie''s young and eager face, Zuoqiu Mingyue suddenly sighed with emotions inside as a piece of purple crystal appeared in his hand. Zuoqiu Mingyue directly handed it to Zhang Tie as he said, "It''s a secret book of swordsmanship that I got by accident when I was young. It''s already useless for me now. Therefore, I gift it to you. As you''ve just got the gnosis of sword song, you could verify your sword song with the contents in this book. It might be useful to you..."


    After taking it, Zhang Tie injected his spiritual energy inside it. A sword light instantly flashed in Zhang Tie''s mind. Closely after that, the chaos was split open while some words gradually appeared in Zhang Tie''s consciousness¡ª¡ªBig Sword Sutra...

 1388 A New Identity

    At noon, the sun was hanging high over the sky. An SUV was moving forward at a high speed, leaving the golden wheatfields on both sides behind...


    The Jasper SUV was painted with military camouflage. It had just set off a large-scale airship base from Ningshui Prefecture, Ningzhou Province. Besides the driver, there was only a common-looking young man at his 20s in an azure uniform of major in the vehicle.


    The uniform was provided by the new air cavalry troops in the theater of operations. It was a bit eye-catching for a young man to wear such a uniform. After picking up this young man at the airport, the driver had been peering at that young man who was sitting on the back seat through the rearview mirror with great admiration.


    The driver was a teenager in the ordinary corporal uniform of the air cavalry base. According to his armband, this driver was affiliated with the logistics system of the base. Therefore, the major''s uniform was full of temptation to him as the most attractive uniform in the world.


    The young passenger was a man of few words. Since he got on the vehicle, he had been watching the rich scenery in the farm fields with military luggage on his side.


    After leaving the airport for almost 5 minutes, the driver finally couldn''t stand opening his mouth.


    "Sir, is it your first time in the Western Theater of Operations?"


    After hearing the driver''s words, the young major fixated onto the driver in the rearview mirror with a smile as he replied, "Well, almost like that. I''ve been here before; however, I didn''t wear this uniform at that time..."


    The major''s voice was tender and calm instead of being icy or ostentatious. After hearing this voice, the driver became reassured at once as he continued.


    "Sir, do you drive planes?"


    "Yes, I do..."


    "Did you learn it in the pilot academy of the theater of operations?"


    "No, I''ve already learned it before..."


    After hearing this answer, the driver instantly became dumbfounded as he widely opened his mouth, "Before? You mean you''ve already learned to drive airplanes before the establishment of the pilot academies in the theater of operations? If so, you must be the most orthodox air cavalry as you''ve learned it in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory..."


    "You know Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory?" The major asked with an interest.


    "Sir, don''t look down upon me. Of course, I know that Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory is the holy land for air cavalries. It''s said that all the coaches of the pilot academies in the theater of operations derived from Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory..." The driver said before letting out a sigh, "Sir, if only you came here 1 week earlier, you could have encountered the first large-scale battle between our air cavalries and wing demons. In that fight, we killed over 10,000 LV 9 wing demons. Previously, wing demons were always unrivaled. After this battle, those birds finally know that we''re something..."


    The driver made the achievement two times greater. However, the major didn''t mind it; instead, he just replied with a smile, "Really?"


    "Of course, when I promote to LV 3 warrior in a couple of years, I will not drive the car anymore. I will also apply to learn how to drive an airplane. I will also f*ck those demons by plane. That''s cool..." The young driver said as he punched the wheel out of excitement.


    "Cool?" The major turned slightly solemn as he threw another glance at the driver through the rearview mirror, "It''s risky. After setting off, you might not even come back. Your family members expect you to serve the country and survive back!"


    "Sir, aren''t you here too? Even you''re not afraid of death, why do I fear about it?" The young driver said in an undaunted manner.


    "I came here because I''ve already mastered great battle and driving skills. I''m here to kill wing demons, not for death. It''s far from being ''cool''..."


    The young driver slightly opened his mouth as he felt the major was pretty pretentious and overbearing. However, he sounded reasonable.


    "Ahh, sir, do you have an orderly? If not, how about me? As you''ve got the driving skills, I could learn from you..." The young driver rolled his eyes as he said wisely.


    "You..."


    "Yup, I''m serving the logistics department of the No. 46 air cavalry base. I know that you will register in the base today. If you want me to be your orderly, the logistics department would definitely agree with you!"


    "What''s your ability?"


    "Driving, cooking, dealing with internal affairs, making inquiries, setting traps and keeping secrets. I know everything that the other orderlies know!" The young driver said confidently.


    The major replied with a smile, "What''s your name?"


    "I''m Stone!"


    "Stone?"


    "The name was given by my grandpa. He said this name would extend my life expectancy..."


    "It seems that we''re destined to know each other. My name would also extend my life expectancy!"


    "What''s your name, sir?"


    "Zhang Tie..."


    "Ahh..." The young driver widely opened his mouth as if there was an egg inside, "Sir, your name sounds really...really...how to say...a bit...a bit....that..."


    "Pretentious?"


    "Yes, pretentious. Those who dare share this name is too pretentious and motherf*cking great!" The young driver sighed as he punched the steering wheel once again.


    "Whatever, it''s named by my parents. Too many people share this name in Taixia Country..."


    The young air cavalry major was the real Zhang Tie. After changing his face, Zhang Tie changed his identity while maintaining his name. After making a round, he directly came to the No. 46 air cavalry base in Dragonwater Prefecture, Ningzhou Province for registration.


    Being only 130 miles away from Weishui River, the No. 46 air cavalry base was one of the frontline air cavalry bases. An air cavalry regiment was encamped inside. This air cavalry regiment was directly affiliated to Xuanyuan Fortress. All the 5,000 air cavalries in this base joined the air battle that broke out 1 week ago. As a result, 1,200 of them died. The base was now supplying air cavalries. Zhang Tie then came here in a new identity and a new look.


    Besides Zhang Tie and Zuoqiu Mingyue, nobody across Xuanyuan Fortress knew Zhang Tie''s real identity, including Bai Suxian.


    At the same time, when Zhang Tie set for this base, Zuoqiu Mingyue had arranged a stand-in to leave Xuanyuan Fortress by airboat in Zhang Tie''s look. The stand-in would make an inspection tour of autumn harvest in the grain-based areas of the four provinces and leave the sight of the knights in Xuanyuan Fortress for the time being. Everybody knew that it was because that Military God treasured Zhang Tie. Of course, nobody felt that Zhang Tie was timid by leaving Xuanyuan Fortress at this moment. Because Zhang Tie had long proved his braveness on the battlefield.


    Battle was actually a matter of craft. None of the knights in Xuanyuan Fortress knew that Zhang Tie who already left Xuanyuan Fortress by airboat had already joined land forces as a major in air cavalry base. In fact, Zhang Tie still stayed in the frontline. Even though demons wanted to kill Zhang Tie, they might not even be able to find him.


    ...

 1389 Registration

    As an air cavalry base in the frontline, the no. 46 air cavalry base covered about 6 square miles. Looking down from the sky, this base and the other air cavalry bases were close to the human line of defense in the east bank of Weishui River like dense pearls. The distance between two air cavalry bases near Weishui River was about 120 miles. Each ordinary air cavalry base contained an air cavalry regiment. Some large air cavalry bases were directly renovated from airports, where more air cavalries were encamped.


    In fewer than half an hour, they had already approached the no. 46 air cavalry base.


    The no. 46 air cavalry base was surrounded by farm fields. As it was an autumn harvest, it was golden all over the farm fields. Two farm villages were near the base. Famers were busy reaping wheat by machines in farm fields. Some air cavalry I airplanes would fly across the farm fields in a formation from time to time.


    Being fewer than 1.2 miles away from the base, when Stone was introducing Zhang Tie to the situation in the base, one guy suddenly flashed out of the pile of straw on the roadside as he waved his hand towards Stone. Stone slammed on the brake at once, leaving two black lines on the road.


    "Damn it, do you wanna die..." Stone stretched his head out of the window as he started to swear that person.


    The guy who stopped the vehicle looked languish. He was a bit elder than Stone. He was wearing a blue uniform of air cavalry while one of his arms was fixed by a bandage around his neck. When this guy stopped the SUV, Zhang Tie saw a foreign girl drilling out of a nearby roadside pile of straw. After smoothing her dress, she ran towards a farm village in the far along the ridge...


    "Stop it, Stone. This elder brother has a pair of sharp eyes. I''ve long spotted your driving plate. I believe in your driving skills. Give me a ride. If there''re good girls, this elder brother will introduce them to you..." That guy told Stone with a big smile as he came to the door of the driver.


    Stone peered at the young major through the rearview mirror while feeling guilty. Closely after that, he insinuated that guy to leave out of here right away.


    "Wuh, you''ve got a passenger..." That guy looked at the back seat after seeing Stone''s eye light as he found that Zhang Tie was also looking at him. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s uniform, that guy''s smile froze at once as he stammered, "Si...sir..."


    Any human army was a hierarchical organ of violence, including those in Taixia Country. Zhang Tie''s military rank was major; however, that guy was just a sergeant. There was a sharp difference between them. In the army, Zhang Tie could easily send him into the hell by one word. However, this guy was not sure that Zhang Tie didn''t see anything just now.


    "Do you want a hitchhike? Get on. There''re a few miles to go..." Zhang Tie said calmly.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, that guy could only make a detour as he sat in the co-pilot''s seat. After that, Stone restarted the car and headed for the base.


    The moment that guy got on the vehicle, he had tipped Stone a wink as he wanted to get some "tip" from Stone. However, Stone dared not make any petty action in front of Zhang Tie at all. He stared blankly forward as if he had not seen that guy''s impression.


    "How''s that girl?" Zhang Tie opened his mouth.


    "No...not bad..." That guy instantly became spirited as he kept twisting his body restlessly.


    "She doesn''t look Hua!"


    "Right, she...she came to Taixia Country from Fengyang Subcontinent 4 years ago. She''s living in a nearby farm village..."


    "How do you know each other..."


    "When I flew over a farm field by plane, she was waving her towel towards me...I also waved my hand to her. From then on, we knew each other..."


    "Oh, you indeed have sharp eyes. You could flirt with girls even in training..." Zhang Tie said as he revealed a smile.


    "Our air cavalries have good eyesight. Of...of course..." That guy wanted to show off; however, he instantly realized that it was not the right atmosphere. Therefore, he slowed down his voice...


    "Did you force her to do that..."


    "Ahh, of course not. We''re voluntary!" That guy almost sprung up as if his butt had been branded by a piece of searing iron. "Erm...She said her dad didn''t feel good lately...As I''m injured, I''ve got 2 vials of all-purpose medicament from my camp...I...I gave one to her...later on...as you''ve all seen..."


    "I''ve not imagined that you''re a Casanova!" Zhang Tie let out a sigh.


    "No, no, I''m not!" That guy replied with a smile.


    "However, the all-purpose medicament that your camp delivered to you were for curing your wounds. After curing your wound, you need to go back to your troop for the fight. The all-purpose medicament is a military good. Even if they were delivered to you, they didn''t belong to you, just like the airplane that you drive. You gift military good to others, do you know what crime have you made and what punishment would you face?"


    Zhang Tie''s words froze the atmosphere inside the car at once while that guy who was smiling just now instantly turned completely pale. Anyone who dared trade or embezzled military goods privately would be beheaded. In the theater of operations where military laws took effect, as his superior, Zhang Tie could even directly kill him at present without the trial of the Military Trial Center.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Stone swallowed his saliva forcefully. He wanted to say something; however, he dared not. Because Zhang Tie''s calm voice was overbearing, that guy was also too shocked to utter a word...


    "How did you get wounded?"


    "Ahh...One week ago, when I fought a wing demon, the wing demon broke the cockpit and pierced through my hand by its spine. Thankfully, I survived myself by returning to the base by one hand..."


    "Given your wound, I will pretend to not know about what happened to you today. No more! If you were caught by the Military Trial Center, you might barely escape from their punishment..."


    "Ahh, thanks, officer; thanks, officer..." That guy was so happy that he had not imagined that he could survive the criminal punishment. After experiencing such mood fluctuations, his back had been wet all over.


    Stone who was intense all over just now relaxed his muscles on the hands and the back at once as he let out a deep breath.


    The SUV soon arrived at the gate of No. 46 air cavalry base. After checking, the SUV entered the gate. Stone soon parked it somewhere and let off the guy on the co-pilot seat.


    "Wait a moment..."


    Watching that guy getting off the vehicle, Zhang Tie stopped him, causing the guy intense once again.


    "Return to your troop as soon as possible!" Zhang Tie raised his hand as he threw an item towards him through the window. That guy instantly caught it dexterously as he found that was a vial of an all-purpose medicament...


    "Let''s go..." Zhang Tie ordered Stone to continue driving. From the rearview mirror, Zhang Tie found that the guy was seeing off the SUV blankly with a vial of all-purpose medicament in hand...


    "Sir, you''re a good man..." Stone finally opened his mouth seriously after being silent for a short while.


    "We''ve all been young..." Zhang Tie sighed with emotions.


    Stone stared at Zhang Tie with a weird look through the rearview mirror as he wondered why Zhang Tie let out such a sigh. Because Zhang Tie was still very young given his look; why did his words sound as if he was an elder?


    Zhang Tie just replied with a smile silently as he shook his head. That guy reminded Zhang Tie of his past experience. When in Kalur Theater of Operations, Zhang Tie was also that free. At that time, he got acquainted with Hanna, Linda and reached his heyday using earthworms. Zhang Tie thought that that was really a rare free, leisure and happy period since he joined the army...


    This air cavalry base occupied a wide area, being filled with soldiers in blue or pale blue uniform. Besides that high observation post, the base was full of low buildings, which were at most 3-storeyed. The oil warehouse was underground. All the other buildings such as plane warehouses, material warehouses and dorms were low in the same style. Even those plants in the base were shorter than people. Although it was Zhang Tie''s first time to visit here, he was very familiar with this base. Because all the air cavalry bases in the theater of operations referred to the air cavalry base in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Zhang Tie even participated in determining the specifications and construction standards about various facilities in these air cavalry bases. Actually, all the air cavalry bases in the theater of operations were founded with Zhang Tie''s support. This base proved Zhang Tie''s "meritorious services" as Weiji General in one aspect...


    Stone directly parked the car outside the regimental headquarters of the base. Zhang Tie then went to the regimental headquarters for registration alone.


    ...

 1390 Conquering No.1 Camp of Air Cavalries

    The no. 46 air cavalry base was ruled by a lieutenant colonel. This officer was a slightly fat Hua man called Xing Xiangtian, the regimental commander of No. 46 air cavalry regiment. On the way here, Stone told Zhang Tie that the regimental commander of No. 46 air cavalry regiment was always proud of his name as he felt that his name could bring him good luck. It was said that more than one candidate competed for the position of the regimental commander of No. 46 air cavalry regiment. As his name was auspicious, Xing Xiangtian was enrolled.


    After clarifying his identity, Zhang Tie was instantly brought into the office of the regimental commander by a second lieutenant.


    Zhang Tie''s CV satisfied Xing Xiangtian very much. According to the CV, Zhang Tie was once a member of BlackArmor Army. He was one of the first batches of officers assigned to the pilot academy in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory of Youzhou Province. Zhang Tie touched airplanes even earlier than Xing Xiangtian, not to mention those air cavalry coaches in the theater of operations. Zhang Tie gained very exceptional marks in training. Additionally, he was a LV 9 fighter. According to his identity, Zhang Tie could definitely lead a camp of air cavalries.


    However, at the sight of the name "Zhang Tie" on Zhang Tie''s CV and certificates, Xing Xiangtian revealed a painful look.


    ''That name is really unpretentious...''


    Xing Xiangtian worried that this name "Zhang Tie" might bring troubles to this air cavalry regiment. Although his name was auspicious, he didn''t want to incur troubles because of another person''s name. What if those moguls who were in charge of the supply of Fiery Oil and incendiary bolts had some bad thoughts after knowing that there was such a "famous person" in the no. 46 air cavalry regiment? No matter what, commoners had better not share the name with great figures in Taixia Country.


    After skimming over Zhang Tie''s certificate of an officer, Xing Xiangtian glanced at Zhang Tie for a few more times as he thought, "He''s too young. Such a young officer in BlackArmor Army who has received training in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory might be assigned by a major clan to further beautify his CV."


    Xing Xiangtian didn''t think that Zhang Tie''s CV was fabricated. However, he was not sure whether someone was dominating Zhang Tie''s transfer order. Some things couldn''t be avoided even in the army.


    The military exploits of the battle between air cavalries and wing demons one week ago had already spread over Taixia Country. It was those major clans that were most excited about this result; instead of the imperial court of Taixia Country. Those major clans were busy establishing their private air cavalry troops while those provincial armies were establishing their air cavalry regiments. Even Xing Xiangtian had heard about that in the theater of operations. ''If this Zhang Tie is really here for beautifying his CV, only after staying in the theater of operations for a few months and fighting wing demons for a couple times with good military exploits, he would be assigned back. It would be a glorious experience for him to take charge of a program in the army or his clan in the future.''


    "Did you receive training in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory?" Xing Xiangtian watched Zhang Tie with a bizarre look as he stroked his jaw.


    "Yes!"


    "Did anything special happen in training? Weren''t you beaten or forced to change your name..." The regimental commander asked him like a gossiper.


    Gossip was not exclusive to women. Almost everyone was gossipy. Therefore, the name of Zhang Tie aroused the curiosity of this lieutenant colonel greatly.


    With a calm look, Zhang Tie said, "I know what you''re worrying about, officer. However, "Zhang" is a popular family name in Taixia Country. So many people share this family name in the country. Additionally, knights have their special character. Therefore, I didn''t meet anything abnormal in Fire-Dragon Bountry Territory. Nobody told me to change my name either. I think General Mushen would not mind that others share his name..."


    Xing Xiangtian threw a glance at Zhang Tie for a couple more times. After being silent for a second, he stood up from his chair behind the desk and gave the certificate of officer back to Zhang Tie before saying, "Hmm, I will introduce you to those fighters. You''re now the battalion commander of the no.1 camp of No. 46 air cavalry regiment!"


    "Okay!" Zhang Tie took his certificate and put it inside his pocket.


    Xiang Xiangtian then left the office, followed by Zhang Tie. At the same time, he said, "Oh, you could have an orderly. What''s your request on your orderly?"


    "The driver who drove me here today is not bad. He''s smart. If possible, I want him to be my orderly!"


    "What''s his name?"


    "Stone!"


    "Stone? Haha. I know that brat. Okay, I will have people arrange it for you..."


    As they talked with each other, they had left the regimental headquarters. Stone was still waiting for them in the vehicle. Xing Xiangtian then came to the front of Stone''s SUV and pulled open its door. After getting on, he told Zhang Tie to get inside. After that, he ordered Stone to drive them to the camp of No.1 camp of air cavalries.


    "The former battalion commander of No. 1 camp of air cavalries is called Long Haitao. He''s an able subordinate of mine. In the air combat one week ago, Long Haitao and his shooter killed 4 wing demons. However, due to adjustment of personnel of air cavalry regiments, Long Haitoa and some fighters of No. 1 camp have been assigned to other air cavalry regiments for instructing newbies. After being replenished, over 1/3 of the fighters of No. 1 camp are tough guys who have fought wing demons in the sky one week ago. They''re tricky. Therefore, if you''re not something, you could barely win their respect!" Xing Xiangtian told Zhang Tie meaningfully in the vehicle.


    "I see, don''t worry about that, regimental commander!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    Xing Xiangtian then replied with a smile, "That would be great!"


    In less than 2 minutes, they had already arrived at the camp of No. 1 camp of air cavalries.


    The camps of air cavalries were close to those airstrips. In this case, they could set off as soon as possible in emergencies. 500 silvery air cavalry I airplanes were in their places besides those airstrips.


    After getting off the vehicle with Zhang Tie, Xing Xiangtian immediately told the administrator to assemble all the air cavalries in front of tarmac.


    After the administrator sent a signal of two long calls and one short call, a great batch of people had run out of their dorms and all the other places. In less than 1 minute, almost 1,000 fighters had assembled tidily on the tarmac. As it was just an emergency muster instead of a combat muster, someone only wore a pair of military short pants with bubbles on their hair as if they were taking a bath just now. Some were stripped to their waist.


    Everybody had fixated onto Xing Xiangtian and Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie nodded inside, ''Not slow.''


    "Regimental commander, the no. 1 air cavalry camp has 1,000 people in total; 986 people are present. 14 are absent due to injuries as they''re receiving medical treatment in the hospital." The administrator reported loudly.


    "Fine!" Xing Xiangtian nodded as he continued, "I muster you up to introduce your new battalion commander, Major Zhang Tie. From today on, Major Zhang Tie will be responsible for the no. 1 camp. You will continue to fight demons in the theater of operations under his leadership. Show your applause..."


    Everyone clapped their hands; however, it didn''t sound fervent. Only after 2 seconds, the applause had gradually faded away while a lot of dubious, curious and exploratory eye light fixated onto Zhang Tie.


    Xing Tian threw a glance at Zhang Tie as if he was saying, ''Look, I didn''t cheat you. It''s not easy for you to be their battalion commander.'' "Do you want to say something?"


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at those air cavalries as he realized that action was much better than words at this moment.


    "I''ve not touched the operating arm for a long time. I want to try the performance of these airplanes first..." Zhang Tie told Xing Xiangtian as he fixed his eyes onto an airplane which was covered by a piece of cloth on the tarmac.


    Xing Xiangtian raised his eyebrows at once as he had not imagined that Zhang Tie could be so straightforward. Watching Zhang Tie''s calm expression, Xing Xiangtian was also curious about him as he wanted to check the ability of this officer from BlackArmor Army who had received training in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    "No problem!" Xing Xiangtian nodded directly.


    Zhang Tie then strode towards the nearest air cavalry I airplane. Without using an access ladder, he directly jumped onto a wing of the airplane dexterously. Closely after that, he pulled open the cockpit cover and turned on the accelerator. Then, he jumped off and came to the fore. He grasped a blade of the propellor and jerked it forcefully. With a boom, the propeller of the airplane started to rotate rapidly. The engine was started at once with a noise, "Tu, tu tu..." while emitting hot steam. Zhang Tie then came to the front of the cockpit seat, creeping to the abdomen of the airplane and removing the trigger. After doing all this, he creeped out and jumped into the cockpit nimbly. After closing the cover of the cockpit, he drove the airplane to turn a corner and slid out of the track.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s fluent movements, Xing Xiangtian nodded inside. Given his movements, this Zhang Tie was not a newbie. However, it was not enough. His driving skills could only be judged when in flight.


    All the air cavalries of the no. 1 camp just widely opened their eyes to watch their new battalion commander''s performance.


    After moving over 200 m on the airstrip, the airplane raised its head as it flew off.


    Only after 1 minute, those air cavalries and Xing Xiangtian had widened their mouths.


    ''What the hell! Is he driving a plane? He''s more like playing acrobatics...''


    Zhang Tie was having the plane roll and accomplish various movements of super great difficulty. His movements were as constant and fluent as flowing clouds and water. The air cavalry I plane was like a dexterous monkey in the sky...


    As a result, those onlookers were all dumbfounded.


    With a buzz, the plane nosed down vertically. When everybody held their breath and felt that the plane was going to crash against the ground, Zhang Tie instantly elevated the plane''s nose. He then flew over their heads at a bit higher than 3 m, blowing off their hats..


    "Danger, elevate it right now..." Xing Xiangtian shouted loudly as he changed his face before picking up his hat.


    Right in front of Zhang Tie, there were two flagpoles. Zhang Tie''s plane directly rushed towards the flagpoles.


    ''No, it''s too late...''


    When everyone thought that there would be an air accident, the plane suddenly tilted. When its wings almost touched the ground, it penetrated through the gap between the two flagpoles.


    ''No way!'' Everybody thought that they had blurred vision. The distance between the two flagpoles was fewer than 4 m, precisely 3.7 m while the height of the plane was 3.56 m. It was a superb driving skill for him to drive the plane to penetrate through the space of 3.7 m vertically when it almost hit them. It was challenging the ultimate driving capacity of the air cavalry...


    Everybody became stunned.


    ''Is that a coincidence?''


    However, soon after this whim occurred to someone''s mind, the plane had come back. When it almost hit the ground, it raised its nose once again. At the same time, it made a half circle in the air before penetrating through the gap between the two flagpoles for the second time...


    This time, everybody saw it clearly. When Zhang Tie''s plane penetrated through the gap between the two flagpoles, the narrowest distance between the airplane and the flagpoles was fewer than 10 cm.


    If it were a coincidence for the first penetration, the second penetration would never be a coincidence. Additionally, the second penetration was much more difficult than the first one. Because when Zhang Tie elevated its nose, he had it tilt and penetrate through the gap between the two flagpoles. Each detail of the flight was extremely marvelous, impeccable and unimaginable.


    Even Xing Xiangtian had widened his mouth as it was his first time to see such a perfect driving skill.


    After accomplishing two penetrations, Zhang Tie finally had his plane land on the airstrip and slowly stop in front of them.


    After the propellor stopped rotating, the cover of the cockpit was opened while Zhang Tie jumped out of it dexterously.


    "The torque nut on the left side of the dual-drive balanced convex axis of the second piston cylinder of the dual-drive engine is a bit overtight. As a result, the dual-drive balanced convex axis couldn''t transmit rock evenly. When the revolving speed of the entire engine reaches above 800 rad/s and enters a complete supercharged state, it would consume 1.5% more energy. There''s a special tool for tightening torque nut. This torque nut must have been tightened illegally by ground mechanician using an ordinary tool when in maintenance. There should be some trace on the torque nut..."


    Before Xing Xiangtian opened his mouth, he had been shocked by Zhang Tie''s words. He instantly tipped those mechanicians the wink. Two mechanicians instantly rushed forward, opening the protective cover of the engine and starting to check it...


    When Zhang Tie was performing his flight, those mechanicians who were responsible for maintaining airplanes stopped their work and watched Zhang Tie''s performance.


    The result of the check soon came out. It was as same as that Zhang Tie had described, namely the same torque nut was slightly overtightened, leaving some traces on it...


    When they reported the check result, the two mechanicians watched Zhang Tie as if they were looking at a deity.


    ''Are you kidding me?'' Xing Xiangtian swallowed his saliva as if realized that the no. 46 air cavalry regiment had got a treasure...


    Before Xing Xiangtian uttered any word, a thunder-like applause had sounded. Those air cavalries of No. 1 camp applauded forcefully that their palms had been red. Over 1,000 people immediately swarmed up as they bowed and drooled like dogs, pushing aside the regimental commander.


    "Battalion commander, where''s you luggage? Oh, it''s on the vehicle. Why not notice us in advance so that we could go pick you up..."


    "Yes, yes, yes..."


    "Yes, battalion commander''s dorm might have not been cleaned..."


    "Hurry up, have someone tell the canteen. We will hold a reception dinner for battalion commander tonight..."


    "Battalion commander, I will follow you from now on. Please don''t blame for my stupidity..."


    "We will all follow battalion commander..."

 1391 The Journey of Hear

    Water elements were gradually drawn from water element crystals by Zhang Tie like a trickle and were filled into the sophisticated geometric patterns on Zhang Tie''s water chakra. As a result, those empty geometric 3D patterns were gradually becoming solid at a conspicuous speed...


    Zhang Tie had already lit 357 scales of his water chakra, with only 3 to go before a circular object was completely closed.


    At this moment, only Zhang Tie could sense that his emperor-level water chakra was slowly rotating like a huge millstone in the peripheral of his void. Like a huge whale that was going to jump out of the tranquil sea level, it silently disrupted the water elements in the elements realm. Being close to the water chakra from its inside was earth chakra. Being close to the earth chakra from its inside was the first chakra that Zhang Tie had formed when he promoted to a black iron knight. The first chakra had many appellations, such as surging points chakra, black iron chakra, the chakra of heart and light of dragon, etc... The energy core of the first chakra contained the secrets of the secret method that each knight was cultivating. The great power of knight''s consciousness originated from this core.


    Even though Zhang Tie had not completely lit his water chakra, he still experienced some abnormal phenomena. Mysterious and powerful energy had already started to flow gloomily between water chakra and earth chakra. After being lubricated by water chakra, the earth chakra had started to be more vibrant while it was emitting some strange brilliance, in which, mysterious feather-shaped runes loomed one after another. Right in the middle of the energy core, a huge bird loomed there as if it was going to hatch any time.


    Zhang Tie knew that the huge bird that was going to hatch was the virtual image of King Roc. When he fully lit his water chakra, the virtual image of King Roc would integrate with his body.


    ...


    It seemed that it had been too long or transient when Zhang Tie fully absorbed the water elements from the crystal in his hand and lit a corner of a tiny geometric pattern on his water chakra, Zhang Tie finally opened his eyes.


    For several weeks consecutively, Zhang Tie absorbed 4 water elements crystals before getting up each day. Such a cultivation efficiency might be terrifying for other earth knights; however, it was too slow for Zhang Tie.


    As Zhang Tie had adapted to the terrifyingly high cultivation efficiency brought by Purgatory Samsara Method, when he formed water chakra by absorbing water elements from crystals, he felt like returning to the Stone Age from the human society before the Catastrophe. Additionally, as each scale on the water chakra of King Roc Sutra would require a lot of water elements, even though Zhang Tie had been cultivating and absorbing almost 100 water element crystals since he joined the no. 46 air cavalry regiment, there was still a long way to go before he lit the 358th scale.


    However, Zhang Tie became especially calm in this case. He told himself to be carefree. ''Patience is a virtue. It''s the best time for me to cultivate my disposition. Besides being powerful physically, knights should also have a strong mind and self-discipline. Since I promoted to a knight, I had been promoting to higher levels faster. Additionally, I could absorb water elements dozens of times faster than others. As I don''t lack water element crystals and would promote to a shadow knight only after lighting 3 more scales. If I couldn''t wait to lit them with such good conditions and couldn''t stand the temporary loneliness outside the threshold of shadow knights'' world; and just want to seek for the shortcut in a faster way, such a mentality would definitely leave an irreparable loophole and shortcoming in my soul for the rest of my life. It would definitely become the hurdle for me to reach higher peaks. It might even become a fatal shortcoming that my enemy would use to capture me.''


    As for the reasons that he joined No. 46 air cavalry regiment, besides the reaon that Zuoqiu Mingyue knew, Zhang Tie wanted to strengthen his heart in a purely traditional manner in the identity of an ordinary officer and promoted to a shadow knight step by step.


    It was his original intention to become an air cavalry while a calm cultivation was to purify his heart. By changing his identities, Zhang Tie was actually making a bizarre journey of purifying his heart.


    ...


    After opening his eyes, Zhang Tie sat on a simple camp bed with crossed legs. The four water element crystal on the bedside had been empty. It was an officer''s dorm, which was almost as constrictive as his attic in Blackhot City. However, such a dorm was already a luxurious configurement in the camp. It was also matched with a private washroom where the officers could take a bath; instead of queuing up in the bath house.


    The dorm was clean and tidy.


    The head of Zhang Tie''s bed was facing the only window of the dorm. When Zhang Tie opened his eyes, he saw the dim sky through the gap between the curtain and the wall.


    Zhang Tie waved his arm, teleporting the 4 empty water element crystals into Castle of Black Iron at once. After that, Zhang Tie entered the washroom. After a short while, the sound of the shower had drifted from there.


    10 minutes later, Zhang Tie walked out of the washroom naked while drying his wet hair using a towel. He then put on clothes and arranged his dorm well before leaving.


    It was still dim outside, except that the eastern skyline was a bit yellowish.


    Two fluorescent lamps lit up the corridor. There was a lawn and a parterre outside the dorm. The verdant cypresses were evergreen while the grass in the lawn had turned yellowish while being covered with thick frost. Like a snowy day, the moment Zhang Tie exited his dorm, he had felt chilly as the desolate chill in late autumn drilled into Zhang Tie''s collar.


    Unconsciously, Zhang Tie had joined No. 46 air cavalry regiment for over 1 month. Through daily training with air cavalries, Zhang Tie had been constantly absorbing water elements from crystals and learning the Big Sword Sutra. It soon came to November.


    Strangely, over the past 1 month, demons didn''t launch any battle which involved over 1,000 people in the air and on the ground, although skirmishes never stopped during this period. The entire battlefield seemed to be the stage of knights. After the dogfight over 1 month ago, brave knights would pose a challenge to the opponent''s knights of the same level for a duel each day. As such duels underwent under the gaze of hundreds of thousands of knights of both parties, neither participant would retreat...


    The duel between two knights on the same level was the stage that could mostly display the courage and power of knights of both parties as the most heart-wrenching mode in the holy war. Through such a combat mode, many heroes presented themselves to the public while many elites and powerhouses lost their lives. Since the first holy war, such heroic combat had become the most splendid and fiercest mode between human and demon knights. A lot of renowned legends and popular names among human knights came from such duels. In the Western Continent, such combat mode was the source of bardian poems and the realistic reason for the appearance of knight novels.


    Such duels were called combats of honor. After Zhang Tie joined No. 46 air cavalry corps for 1 week, the news, that battles of honor had started, spread over the camp through various channels and became the most frequent topic among fighters in the air cavalry regiment.


    Battles of honor happened everyday. Black iron knights and earth knights were the main forces of battles of honor. Both parties would win, lose or tie. At least neither party could have an overwhelming advantage given the current military exploits.


    When everybody was talking about the news of daily battles of honor, Zhang Tie just focused on his own job quietly as an onlooker and audience.


    Over the past 1 month, Zhang Tie only did two things in the first air cavalry battalion of No. 46 air cavalry regiment. In the daytime, he led all the air cavalries of his battalion to carry out ultra-low altitude jump intensive training and the drill and coordination of formation of air cavalries in the air. In the evening, Zhang Tie mustered up all the officers above team leader to reduce tactics in a conference room and concluded their views. After doing all this, Zhang Tie would return to his dorm, where he would further light his water chakra and comprehend the secret of Big Sword Sutra besides short deep sleep.


    Such days were so rich for Zhang Tie that he had not realized that it had already been 1 month.


    Lately, Zhang Tie always felt a bit restless when he exited his dorm and breathed the increasingly chilly air. Demons'' ground forces and air cavalries were both too quiet which was not a good omen...

 1392 A Higher Fame

    In camp, Zhang Tie''s routine was as precise as the gears of a difference engine. When he went down the steps of his storm, the wake-up call of No. 46 air cavalry regiment had just been blown. Under the dim lamplight of fluorescent lamps in the camp, Stone trotted towards him from the playground.


    "Morning, sir..."


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Stone. Closely after that, he nodded and walked towards the playground of the camp, followed by stone.


    "Did you go to bed after 1 am last night?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Ahh, how do you know that, sir?" Stone scratched his head with an amazed look as he threw a surprised glance at Zhang Tie and explained, "I didn''t see anybody over the tumbling frame last night; therefore, I practiced alone for a while..."


    Tumbling frame training was a basic skill for air cavalries. A qualified air cavalry should stay awake and stood steadily after 10 minutes'' training on the tumbling frame. It was very difficult for commoners to do that; however, a warrior above LV 3 could soon adapt to various movements on the tumbling frame after training. As Stone wanted to be an air cavalry very much, he spared time in training on tumbling frame each night stealthily.


    "You''d better not go to bed later than midnight. Young men like you should go to bed before midnight. If you burned the night oil, your health would be severely undermined as you would overdraft your physical potential. You''d better get up early than go to bed late if you want training..."


    "Yes, sir!" Stone bore Zhang Tie''s words close in mind as he treated Zhang Tie''s words as authoritative as the Bible for Stone.


    When Zhang Tie and Stone came to the playground of the no. 1 battalion, everybody else had already mustered up over there only after the wake-up call was blown for a few minutes.


    Air cavalries had to run about 6 km every morning. Since Zhang Tie became their battalion commander, he would arrive at the playground on time and finish the 6 km running every morning, regardless of weather.


    Today was not an exception.


    Under Zhang Tie''s leadership, the entire battalion''s morale rose rapidly. Over the past 1 month, none of them complained about their hardship and tiredness no matter how hard they trained.


    After Zhang Tie finished 6 km running with the fighters of the no. 1 battalion, it was still dim, except that the skyline was getting light faintly in the east. After running, everybody went to the canteen for breakfast. Starting from the first day when Zhang Tie joined this battalion, he had been taking breakfast with the fighters of no. 1 battalion. He never sought for any personal privileges.


    The moment they entered the canteen and got their service plates, they had turned relaxed.


    The moment they smelt the aroma that filled the entire canteen, all the fighters'' bellies had started to coo.


    "Ahh, what''s that? It smells so good! Pork braised in brown sauce. Hahaha, it''s my first time to eat that in the theater of operations..." Guo Haichao, a subordinate battalion chief of Zhang Tie said as he burst out into laughter. At the same time, all the battalion chiefs escorted Zhang Tie to get the breakfast.


    Old Gao the director of the canteen was making an inspection tour in the canteen with a big smile in a chef hat like a Maitreya as he guided some cooks to serve the breakfast. When Old Gao saw them coming here, his smile became more genial.


    "Old Gao, it''s nice today. You even got us braised pork in brown sauce. You should request to try jump training as a reward..." Fang Shiming, another battalion chief made a joke with Old Gao.


    "Look at my shape. If I got on the airplane, I''m afraid that the airplane would consume oil by two more times. Our battalion commander would never agree with that..." Old Gao grinned while patting his round belly.


    "From where did you get the braised pork in brown sauce today?" Zhang Tie asked as he took over his service plate from Old Gao.


    "Some farmers from peripheral farm villages sent us dozens of fatty pigs and a flock of sheep to us. I will make sheep soup for you tonight. As a tonic, it could drive away the chill from your body..."


    "If you cook mutton tonight, don''t forget to send some to our brothers in the hospital..." Zhang Tie told Old Gao.


    "Yes, sir. Even battalion commander is concerned about those assholes, not to mention this Old Gao!" Old Gao nodded with a smile.


    Over the past month, as the no. 1 battalion intensified low altitude and super low altitude jump training, an increasing number of people were suffering wounds, although nobody died. Over 10 people had broken their limbs. However, Zhang Tie didn''t give up jump training at super low altitude.


    As Zhang Tie jumped ahead of them each time, all the fighters and officers followed him to do that at their full efforts.


    After getting their breakfast, Zhang Tie and those battalion chiefs then sat at the same table and started to enjoy it.


    Besides braised pork in brown sauce, the breakfast also included steamed maize bun, porridge, rice, vegetables, pickled vegetables and some preserved fruits.


    The battalion canteen was large. Even though there was no inferiority or superiority at the table, team leaders didn''t feel proper to swarm up when they saw those battalion chiefs were surrounding Zhang Tie, not to mention ordinary fighters.


    Compared to those battalion chiefs who all filled their bowls with braised pork in brown sauce, Zhang Tie just added a bit into his bowl.


    After putting a piece of aromatic braised pork into his mouth, Guo Haichao closed his eyes in an intoxicated way as if he was taking drug. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and sighed with full emotions, "Damn it, I finally got an orthodox piece of braised pork after coming to the theater of operations for 2 years..."


    Among Zhang Tie''s subordinate battalion chiefs, Guo Haichao was relatively forthright. The other battalion commanders had their distinctive traits too. Those tricky guys that Xing Xiangtian warned Zhang Tie one month ago referred to these battalion chiefs. However, these tricky guys had almost become Zhang Tie''s loyal followers, who would follow Zhang Tie''s order immediately.


    "We have to appreciate General Mushen. Otherwise, we could only take porridge and radish strips..."


    "Yes. We could barely be full last year. I''ve not imagined that we could take meat this year..."


    Those battalion chiefs sighed with emotions as they enjoyed the braised pork in brown sauce.


    Before Zhang Tie took the office of Weiji General last year, the troops in the theater of operations were pretty poor. At that time, frontline troops could be full; however, they could barely take any meat. Although some meat cans were delivered to troops, after being mixed in the big pot, they would become very diluted while ordinary fighters could only get a bit oil. It was definitely a matter of luck whether or not someone could enjoy a piece of meat. Secondary troops were poorer. Last year, each fighter of secondary troops could only get rations. They could barely be full. Grains supply in the theater of operations was very tight. Many grains were transported from top 6 warehouses from surrounding cities in the theater of operations, some were even transported from places outside the theater of operations. Besides a high cost, they even occupied a lot of transport resources in the rear end. Due to the grains supply shortage, the deployment, allocation and normal training of forces in the Western Theater of Operations were greatly influenced.


    After Zhang Tie took the office of Weiji General, the four provinces in the Western Theater of Operations made their first bumper crop harvest. The grains supply shortage facing the entire theater of operations was then alleviated. Especially after the second bumper harvest, the depression and famine that many people predicted previously never appeared anymore.


    If not in a chaotic world, people could barely comprehend the important function of grains. Crop harvest could lead to the stability of everything and would slowly bring industrial and agricultural production to the right track. Fewer people would outflow. Later on, people would even flow in. With the recovery of agricultural production, dietary in camps would be richer. After autumn harvest, pork, mutton, chicken egg, aquatic products even beef appeared on the menu of the canteen in troops.


    As the helmsman was responsible for navigation, of course, the improvement in the logistics supply of the theater of operations was owed to Zhang Tie by frontline fighters.


    Before Zhang Tie joined the troop, he didn''t know that the fame and prestige of Weiji General could be so high among the hundreds of millions of ordinary fighters in the theater of operations. Especially after Zhang Tie got the essence of sword song in the combat with demon knights and killed a handful of demon knights one month ago, undoubtedly, Zhang Tie had been the hero widely accepted by the countrymen and the pillar of the country.


    Zhang Tie enjoyed such a high prestige in ordinary troops while his prestige among air cavalries could even catch up with that of Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    Because all the air cavalry troops across the theater of operations were almost established by Zhang Tie, including airplanes, Fiery Oil, airports and logistics.


    Those battalion chiefs of no. 1 regiment just discussed about General Mushen; however, they didn''t know that General Mushen was sitting at the same table with them and listening to their praise. Those battalion chiefs didn''t think that their battalion commander would be jealous of Zhang Tie as they thought there was a great difference between General Mushen and them.


    Hearing their talks, Zhang Tie felt a bit strange and bashful; meanwhile, a warm feeling surged in his heart. Zhang Tie found that what he had done in the theater of operations was all worthwhile. It was already worthy to have so many people keep your contributions in mind. Justice was in people''s hearts. Precisely, Zhang Tie didn''t like awards and vanity.


    "If General Mushen was here, those earth demon earth knights would never be that rampant..."


    "Yup, it''s said that General Mushen alone penetrated through the large battle formation of demons by sword. As a result, most of the demon knights were afraid of him. He was even at deuce with a shadow demon knight!"


    "Oh, battalion commander, have you heard that news?"


    He Jiajun, a battalion chief, suddenly approached Zhang Tie and whispered to him when Zhang Tie was listening to their talk quietly.


    "Which news?" Zhang Tie threw a glance at He Jiajun while all the other battalion chiefs moved closer as they pricked up their ears.


    Compared to forthright Guo Haichao, He Jiajun was more gossipy and well-informed. He was born in He Clan, Starlight Prefecture, Kangzhou Province. Additionally, he had an uncle who was serving as local supervisor of a corps in Ningzhou Province.


    "It''s said that Taixia Country plans to establish an exclusive air cavalry army, which would be on the equal footing with top 4 armies. Commander-in-Chief Zuoqiu intends to appoint General Mushen as the leader of the air cavalry army!"


    "From where did you get the news?" Zhang Tie asked with a frown.


    He Jiajun revealed a mysterious smile as he further lowered his voice, "When my uncle followed his corps leader to attend a conference, some corps leaders chatted about that. It''s said that Commander-in-Chief Zuoqiu had already submitted a written statement to Xuanyuan Hill; however, the crown prince has not agreed with his proposal. It seems that the resistance comes from the Gobbling Party..."


    Such vivid gossip could really frighten many people. However, it was far-stretched for Zhang Tie. ''If it was true, Zuoqiu Mingyue must have told me about that. How could he suddenly pose it to Xuanyuan Hill without my consent? Zuoqiu Mingyue knows that I don''t even want to be Weiji General, not to mention leading Air Cavalry Army of Taixia Country.''


    However, except for Zhang Tie and a few people, most of the people almost believed this gossip because it was too vivid. Additionally, what made Zhang Tie reassured was that at least the Gobbling Party had already been in a disadvantageous position in such gossip. Although it was not a reliable gossip, it manifested the opinion of people in the theater of operations...


    ''I really wonder who fabricates such a news!''


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at He Jiajun. After pretending to think about it for a short while, he said calmly, "This news might be fake. The air cavalry troops have just been established in the Western Theater of Operations. There''s even no establishment of air cavalry troops in other provinces of Taixia Country, not to mention the leader of air cavalry army being on equal footing with top 4 armies of Taixia Country. You know, all the leaders of the top 4 armies of Taixia Country are heavenly knights. Zhang...Mushen is just an earth knight. I don''t think that he could be on equal footing with them for the time being..."


    "If General Mushen really becomes the leader of air cavalry army of Taixia Country, I don''t think that anyone would doubt his ability. To be honest, all the air cavalries who drive planes in the air are General Mushen''s apprentices and apprentices'' apprentice. It could be said that General Mushen is the first human air cavalry. Additionally, I don''t think that anyone else in Taixia Country fits this position better than Elder Mushen!'' Guo Haichao said while wiping his mouth.


    "Old Guo is right. It''s our great honor to have General Mushen become the leader of our air cavalry army. I would approve him for sure!"


    "Haha, your words don''t work. You''re just a battalion chief in charge of 100 air cavalries. When you promote to a knight and have 1 million air cavalries, your words might be convincing..." Fang Shiming said before bursting out into laughter.


    "Damn it. Even though this father is not a knight, I would also approve it. You bite me..."


    When He Jiajun wanted to say something, he saw a regimental adviser at the entrance of the canteen. After noticing Zhang Tie, that adviser walked over here and whispered to him. Zhang Tie nodded towards him. Then, the adviser left.


    After that adviser left, Zhang Tie ate up all the food and dishes inside his service plate before putting down his tableware and throwing a glance at those battalion chiefs as he said, "The corps leader told me to attend a conference. If I''m not back in time for the training, you just proceed routinely..."

 1393 Unbelievable

    Not until Zhang Tie finished his breakfast and was sent to the regimental headquarters by Stone did a faint light appear in the east skyline.


    Despite incomplete daybreak and those roadside fluorescent lamps in the camp which had already been turned on, all the personnel of no. 46 air cavalry regiment had already been busy.


    The moment the vehicle parked, Zhang Tie had opened the door and jumped out of the car. Watching Zhang Tie coming here, some guards being on sentry duty outside the regimental headquarters hurriedly gave a salute to Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie gave a salute to them too as he entered the building of the regimental headquarters leisurely. Over the past 1 month, the "marvelous flight skill" that Zhang Tie performed when he came to the no. 46 air cavalry regiment at the beginning had long been spread across the regiment. Wherever it was, those real talents would always be discovered and respected by people. Therefore, Zhang Tie had already become a renowned person in the no. 46 air cavalry regiment. Of course, nobody would treat this person as the same hero in the large-scale battle between human knights and demon knights in the sky. It was just a topic for them.


    When he came to the conference room of the regimental headquarters, Zhang Tie found that 2 of the 4 battalion commanders in the air cavalry regiment had already arrived. After greeting with each other, Zhang Tie took his seat.


    No. 46 air cavalry regiment contained 5 air cavalry battalions. Each battalion contained 1,000 air cavalries and 500 operational aircraft. As Xing Xiangtian also served as the battalion commander of the battalion which was subsidiary to No. 46 air cavalry regiment, there were only 4 battalion commanders in total in this regiment, including Zhang Tie.


    "Zhang Tie, do you know why our regimental commander called us here?" Xiang Yusheng the battalion commander of the no. 3 battalion asked Zhang Tie on his side.


    "I''ve just received the notice. I have no idea about what our regimental commander wants to say..." Zhang Tie shook his head.


    After joining the air cavalry regiment for 1 month, Zhang Tie had been familiar with those battalion commanders in the air cavalry regiment. They got along well with each other. Nothing embarrassing had ever happened to him. The other battalion commanders had already known the training that Zhang Tie advocated in the no. 1 battalion. They just watched aside and observed the training effect; instead of deriding him. Of course, they would not follow Zhang Tie doing that so easily. As they were of the same rank, although they admired Zhang Tie''s flight skills, it was not necessary for them to follow Zhang Tie''s opinion for the time being based on Zhang Tie''s prestige and comprehensive ability. The plot that the strong vibe of the main character of a knight novel allowed some subordinate heroes to kowtow towards him didn''t happen to Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie and the battalion commander of no. 3 regiment chatted with each other, Zhu Huaien the battalion commander of the no. 2 regiment also arrived. After greeting them, Zhu Huaien also took his own seat.


    Soon after they had a brief talk, Xing Xiangtian the regimental commander of the no. 46 air cavalry corps had entered the conference room.


    The moment Xing Xiangtian entered, Zhang Tie and the other battalion commanders had stood up.


    "Sit down..." Xing Xiangtian threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie before waving his arm casually.


    Except for Zhang Tie who was new here, Xing Xiangtian had been very familiar with the other battalion commanders. Therefore, the atmosphere here was not that solemn.


    "Regimental commander, do we get a new task?" Xiang Yusheng asked.


    Xing Xiangtian remained silent. He just peered at his adjutant while the latter opened a portable briefcase and took out a document before passing it to Xiang Yusheng.


    After skimming over the document, Xiang Yusheng immediately looked at Zhang Tie amazingly as if he saw a ghost.


    "Old Xiang, what do you mean by that expression..." Before Xiang Yusheng passed it to the next, Zhu Huaien had grabbed the document away from his hand.


    As it was just a page, Zhu Huaien finished reading it soon as he revealed the same amazed look towards Zhang Tie like Xiang Yusheng...


    When the document went to Zhang Tie, 4 of the 5 people at present had already fixated onto Zhang Tie.


    After throwing a glance at the document, Zhang Tie remained as calm as before. The document was delivered by the air cavalry headquarters of the Western Theater of Operations, which requested them to properly increase or enlarge the training programs of low altitude and super low altitude jump.


    The document was issued yesterday, namely November 19th, the 905th year of Black Iron Calendar. However, Zhang Tie had already carried out the same training programs for about 1 month. This document made Zhang Tie a prophet. Therefore, all the battalion commanders including Xing Xiangtian watched Zhang Tie full of shock as if he was a ghost.


    That was definitely something for him to predict what the headquarters of the Western Theater of Operations was going to do. With such an insight and talent, Zhang Tie was even qualified to be the assistant or adviser of those generals, not to mention a battalion commander of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment. Actually, the no. 46 air cavalry regiment had never got such a weirdo before.


    "I received this document last night and knew the reason of this document. 3 weeks ago, all the pilot academies in the Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and the four provinces in the theater of operations including many pilot academies in other provinces across Taixia Country had remedied their training guidelines by adding the training program of low altitude and super low altitude jump to their training guidelines. As a result, the 3-month training is now dropped in favor of a 4-month training!" Xing Xiangtian watched Zhang Tie with a strange look as he slowed down his tone, "However, the similar training that you carried out in your battalion was 1 week earlier than the others. Tell me, how did you do it? Why did you think about increasing such a training program for the no. 1 battalion..."


    Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was the cradle breeding air cavalries in Taixia Country. In the hearts of all the air cavalries, Fire-Dragon Bountry was the holy land and the most authoritative existence for them. After hearing that Zhang Tie carried out the training programs 1 week earlier than Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, all the other battalion commanders could never conceal their amazed look.


    However, Zhang Tie was not shocked by the revise of the pilot training guidelines in Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory and the theater of operations, because it was him who sent the order...

 1394 Alarm

    "It''s some genuine figures that pushed me to add the two training programs in the no. 1 battalion!" Zhang Tie explained it to Xing Xiangtian and the other battalion commanders seriously.


    "In the first large-scale air combat between human knights and demon knights, 57% of the air cavalries of Taixia Country were killed by wing demons in the sky after they jumped off their planes..."


    "However, on the battlefield, 96% of air cavalries fought wing demons between 3,000 m and 7,000 m in the air. During this height range, it would take an air cavalry at least 50 seconds to stay in the air since he ejected out of the cockpit. Most of them would stay in the air for longer than 2 minutes. However, after jumping off their airplanes for 1 minute which was the time of Death God for air cavalries, over 90% of them would be killed by wing demons. During this period, air cavalries would be naked targets of wing demons when they could only wait for death..."


    "By reducing the period that air cavalries stay in the air after jumping off their airplanes, we could spare less time for wing demons to attack our air cavalries. As our planes could move faster than wing demons, even damaged airplanes which couldn''t be normally manipulated would also fall rapidly and be barely caught up by wing demons!"


    "Therefore, after planes are damaged by wing demons, as long as air cavalries could jump off their planes properly between 200 m and 400 m, they would have a greater chance to survive after jumping off!"


    "I''ve made a calculation. As long as our cavalries are familiar with low altitude and super low altitude parachuting skills between 200 m and 400 m and limit the period that they stay in the sky to 20 seconds, fewer than 30% of them would be killed by wing demons after jumping off their planes. In order to meet this target and survive more fighters, I felt that it was necessary for us to strengthen fighters'' parachute skills in low altitude and super low altitude when in danger. Therefore, I carried out such training programs in my battalion..."


    Zhang Tie explained it to them calmly.


    Xing Xiangtian watched Zhang Tie with a sigh, "It''s a nice opinion. However, you''re too audacious. If someone wants to find you trouble, they could blame you for suspecting the training pattern of air cavalries in the pilot academies in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and the theater of operations. That would be big trouble and ruin your prospect!"


    How could a tiny air cavalry battalion commander find Weiji General trouble and question the absolute authority of air cavalries of Taixia Country? It was a taboo wherever it was. Xing Xiangtian the regimental commander of no. 41 air cavalry regiment was warning Zhang Tie slightly.


    "It''s said that the teaching material and training guidelines in the pilot academies in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and the Western Theater of Operations was compiled by General Mushen. As the first human air cavalry, his experience and ability in air fight are unquestionable. However, he also has loopholes. Because Zhang Mushen had not been brought down by wing demons in Selnes Theater of Operations, his experience in emergencies is different than that facing most of the fighters. This leads to some loopholes in training guidelines!" Zhang Tie explained as he threw a glance at the others at present. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the people at present were shocked by his "audacity". However, Zhang Tie had not finished his words, "I''m not questioning General Mushen''s training ideas, neither am I finding him trouble. As human air cavalry is a wholly new armed service, the relevant training and tactic exploration are a long-term, changing process that constantly adapts to war requirements. It''s not gonna be improved in all aspects within a short period by one person. Many problems could only be discovered and solved through combats. We should seek truth from facts. Zhang Mushen is a knight; instead of a deity. Therefore, he would also make mistakes and have loopholes. He alone couldn''t fully predict all the changes on the battlefield in the future. He just introduced this armed service for us. We shouldn''t entrust all of our hope to him..." Zhang Tie added after being hesitant, "If one day Zhang Mushen is dead, would the air cavalries'' development be stagnated?"


    "It''s enough..." Xing Xiangtian reproached Zhang Tie loudly while all the other officers in the conference room had changed their face.


    The entire conference room instantly deteriorated to embarrassingly and icily silence.


    Not until 2 minutes later did Xing Xiangtian recover his composure by taking a deep breath for a few times and say, "As you''ve already read the notice that was delivered by the headquarters. I believe that the powers of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and the Western Theater of Operations have already paid attention to the problems facing the first combat between us and wing demons and are trying their utmost efforts to solve them. Thankfully, they''ve already got the solutions. It''s a good news. We all should have confidence in the headquarters and our air cavalry training system. Therefore, from today on, those battalions of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment could carry out distinctive training programs according to their own situation. The regimental headquarters would also support you on materials and logistics services..." Xing Xiangtian threw a glance at those battalion chiefs as he said, "The training that the no. 1 battalion carried out was a beneficial exploration. Their general orientation is right. However, we''d better not spread the news that the no. 1 battalion has started such similar training programs 1 month ago to the public. As Zhang Tie is a new battalion commander, it''s not bad for him to have good thoughts. However, It''s not necessary for us to expose it to the public..."


    Only after being silent for a short while, those battalion commanders had already got the meaning of the regimental commander as they all nodded. The regimental commander was not suppressing Zhang Tie''s deed, but protecting it. Although Zhang Tie was talented, he was too impulsive and hard-edged. Given his temperament, if he was exposed to the public, what he said just now could completely ruin his prospect or even kill him in the sky if someone else disliked him. Even a lot of human knights had fought to death in the theater of operations, not to mention a LV 9 battalion commander; especially in the holy war.


    Zhang Tie maintained a glassy-eyed look as he revealed a bitter smile inside about Xing Xiangtian''s consideration.


    "Okay, adjournment..."


    After glancing at Zhang Tie''s face, all the other battalion commanders stood up and exited the conference room.


    "Zhang Tie, wait a minute..." Xing Xiangtian stopped Zhang Tie as he peered at the later''s ordinary face solemnly.


    Not until the other battalion commanders left the office did Xing Xiangtian open his mouth, "Besides low altitude and super low altitude jump training, it''s said that your battalion is undergoing other training programs."


    "Yes, the no. 1 battalion is exploring a new tactic!"


    "What tactic?"


    "I call it air wolf pack tactic..."


    "Air wolf pack tactic?" Xing Xiangtian smacked his lip without making any comment, "Your prospect is never limited to the no. 46 air cavalry regiment. It''s good for young men like you to be hard-edged; however, don''t be blind by that. Otherwise, your prospect might be declined. As you''re wise, you should understand what I mean..."


    "Thanks for your advice, regimental commander!" Zhang Tie gave a salute to Xing Xiangtian.


    "Hmm, you can leave now. There''re a bit more injured ones in the no. 1 battalion recently. You''d better properly control your training rhythm..."


    "Yes, sir!"


    Zhang Tie left Xing Xiangtian''s office, then the building of the regimental headquarters. Stone was still waiting for him in the car. Not until Zhang Tie got on the vehicle did he reveal a bitter smile and shake his head.


    Nobody else knew what Zhang Tie was feeling at this moment.


    "Battalion commander, you''ve finished your conference?"


    "Yup, let''s go back to the camp..."


    "Yes, sir..."


    Stone opened the door and jumped off the vehicle. Closely after that, he started the vehicle using his manual crank handle rapidly. Then, he drove toward the camp of no. 1 battalion.


    ...


    In the following week, all the battalions in the no. 46 air cavalry regiment started their low altitude and super low altitude jump training programs.


    Although Xing Xiangtian prevented those battalion commanders from exposing the news that no. 1 battalion had already executed the special training programs 1 month ago to the public, the phrase time of Death God that Zhang Tie concluded in that conference instantly spread over the no. 46 air cavalry regiment.


    The so-called time of Death God referred to the 1 minute before air cavalries fell onto the ground after jumping off their plane. This phrase was too vivid and profound that everybody who heard it would bear it in mind.


    The target of low altitude and super low altitude parachute training programs was to avoid from the time of Death God.


    In this world, there weren''t idiots, not to mention those who sought for death on the battlefield. If they could win the time of Death God, of course, they would try their utmost efforts. In this case, all the members across the no. 46 air cavalry regiment were at full blaze and in high morale...


    It soon came to December when it turned colder. When Zhang Tie wondered when would he encounter wing demons in the sky again, that day finally arrived...


    At noon of December 3rd, the shrill battle alarms suddenly reverberated across the camps of no. 46 air cavalry regiment when the fighters of the no. 1 battalion were having lunch in the canteen...


    ...

 1395 Demonss Vicious Countermeasure

    Ear-splitting battle alarms immediately spread across all the camps of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment like air raid alarms, causing shrill and distant sound "Wuh wuh wuh wuh..."


    In the canteen of the no. 1 battalion, the moment Zhang Tie took a seat with his service plate and moved his chopsticks, he had heard the shrill alarms...


    After hearing the alarms, Zhang Tie immediately shouted, "All the teams, prepare for battle. Follow me..." Zhang Tie roared as he rushed out of the canteen towards the tarmac ahead of all the others.


    All the air cavalries of the no. 1 battalion immediately rushed out of the canteen closely after Zhang Tie...


    "Ahh, what''s happening...what''s happening..." Old Gao who was responsible for the canteen swore loudly when he came out of the kitchen with a basin of hot fried dishes and saw everybody rushing out the canteen, ''B*stard demons, couldn''t you wait till we finished the lunch...''


    "I will ascend at first. All the teams, follow me up in order according to the tactic that we used to train these days..." Zhang Tie issued an order as he zipped up his combat uniform. Zhang Tie didn''t run too fast; he was just ahead of all the others. Seeing Zhang Tie rushing forward, all the other fighters roared and rushed out closely after him. At that time, a person instantly caught up with those battalion chiefs as dexterously as a monkey as he came to the side of Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then called him, "Fei Hao..."


    "I''m here, battalion commaner, I''m with you..."


    Although being short, Fei Hao was pretty capable and vigorous. He was Zhang Tie''s shooter, one of the best shooters in the no. 1 battalion.


    After hearing the battle alarms, even those ground forces who had been staying glued to the tarmac and airstrips instantly became busy running across the tarmac and on both sides of the airstrips. As the ground forces of air cavalry battalion, they had to be in place and prepare well for the coming ascension before pilots reached their aircraft...


    Zhang Tie''s aircraft was in the first parking space in the no. 1 battalion''s tarmac. He was also the first one who arrived there. After stepping on the ladder, he opened the cover of his cockpit and entered it. After sitting down, he started the engine, put on his battle helmet and fastened his safety belt. After Zhang Tie accomplished all these movements, the ground forces of no. 1 aircraft had already started the propeller. Closely after that, the land forces moved away from the no-slipping device and the ladder before making a gesture to Zhang Tie, implying that he could fly off...


    Fei Hao who closely followed Zhang Tie to the airplane on his back was also ready. After checking the steam ballista, he patted the ballista to indicate that Zhang Tie could fly off.


    Zhang Tie then had the aircraft turn a corner dexterously. After leaving the parking space, it rushed into the airstrip and ascended ahead of all the others.


    A pattern of wolf head widely opening its mouth had been printed on the fore of every aircraft compared to that one month ago, making it grisly and aggressive.


    Closely followed by Zhang Tie''s aircraft were the aircraft of the other air cavalries of the no. 1 battalion, which flew off the other airstrips. After ascending, they were all circling above the airstrips of the no. 1 battalion, waiting for their brothers.


    Only after Zhang Tie made two circles in the sky, all the 500 air cavalry aircraft of the no. 1 battalion had flown off and entered the sky like 500 wild wolves.


    The operations tower of the air cavalry regiment sent decrees using lamplight signals. After receiving lamplight signals, Zhang Tie led 500 aircraft of the no. 1 battalion towards the west.


    In this age, operational aircraft were not matched with radio stations like those before the Catastrophe. Across the no. 1 air cavalry battalion, only Zhang Tie''s aircraft was matched with a crystal remote sensing device which was used to contact the regimental headquarters after leaving the camp.


    When in emergencies, in order to enhance combat efficiency, the air cavalry regiment headquarters would send decrees using the signal lamplight on the control tower.


    The crystal remote-sensing device in the army was similar to Zhang Tie''s remote-sensing finger rings. However, there was a sharp difference between them. Knight''s remote-sensing finger rings were matched with small and portable top-quality remote sensing crystals. However, the remote-sensing crystal device on battalion level was as large as an alarm clock. Zhang Tie had not used that device ever since he joined the air cavalry battalion.


    In the sky, as the head of all the aircraft of the no. 1 battalion, Zhang Tie would send his decree to the other aircraft by waving his wings or making circles in the sky when in need. It was similar to how bees transmitted information. Although being not advanced, it was the mere choice that officers of air cavalries made in the air.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that only 6,000 operational aircraft were assigned to join the battle this time, namely 12 air cavalry battalions, 3 from no. 46 air cavalry regiment while the other 9 from the other air cavalry regiments.


    It indicated that at most 5,000 wing demons had been assigned by demons, which scale was much smaller than that over 1 month ago.


    ''What could 5,000 wing demons do?'' Zhang Tie had a question in mind. ''Such a bit number of wing demons was far less enough to break through the first airline of humans'' defense. Is it a tentative strike or provocation of demons?''


    Nobody could answer Zhang Tie''s question. As Zhang Tie was just a battalion commander of air cavalries, nobody would explain it to him.


    The distance of over 150 miles between the base of air cavalries and the billowy Weishui River was fewer than half an hour''s journey for those air cavalries.


    In the sky, they found that the earth was full of killing intent. The eastern and western banks of Weishui River were covered with lofty battle fortresses of humans and demons. Neither party could be overwhelming.


    Above the formation of operational aircraft were the magnificent Xuanyuan Fortress and the other air battle fortresses. When they watched Xuanyuan Fortress and those huge battle fortresses from inside their aircraft, they immediately sensed that the magnificent and bulky Xuanyuan Fortress was pretty oppressive. As for air cavalries of Taixia Country, this great sense of oppression represented great confidence. As long as all the air cavalries could still see Xuanyuan Fortress and those huge battle fortresses, they would not be worried.


    The formation of air cavalries then flew by Xuanyuan Fortress and the other battle fortresses.


    In the sky above the west bank of Weishui River, those wing demons were hovering sparsely hundreds of meters high instead of forming a combat formation. Those wing demons didn''t approach Weishui River. All the aggressive 6,000 air cavalries were in a daze at the sight of that. ''What''re the demons doing? Just now, we received the order to block wing demons above Weishui River. However, it seems that the wing demons don''t mean to fly over the river at all. Will we fly across the river?''


    Although fighters could be fraught, the head shouldn''t. At this moment, only Zhang Tie took out the remote-sensing crystal device to contact the regimental headquarters.


    The decree from the regimental headquarters was pretty simple, namely, the air cavalries of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment would just stay hovering above the east bank of Weishui River and check what those wing demons intended to do. If wing demons didn''t fly over the river, the air cavalries would not take any action either in case of falling into their trap.


    Although this decree was a bit conservative, it would not bring any unprecedented trouble.


    All the other air cavalries should have received the same decree like Zhang Tie as all the 6,000 aircraft were just hovering in the sky above the east bank of Weishui River and waiting for the coming battle seriously in a battle formation...


    Only after a few minutes, Zhang Tie had already known those wing demons'' intention. After seeing those people walking out of the camp of demons, Zhang Tie''s heart froze at once...


    ...

 1396 Being Extremely Brutal

    On the ground, a whopping team lasting about 6,00 miles was driven out of the camp of demons, which was composed of millions of wailing Hua civilians in shabby clothes, old or young, male or female.


    Those wing demons were monitoring these Hua civilians while iron-armored demons and ox-head demons were lashing them brutally from behind.


    As it was December, it was pretty cold. Those Hua civilians in shabby clothes quivered in the chilly wind. Being threatened by the sabers and axes of demons, they were watching afar in a daze as they crawled with fear towards the wilderness. They didn''t know their destiny at all.


    "Keep going. After crossing Weishui River, you will enter the territory of Taixia Country. Don''t you want to be the citizens of Heavens Reaching Empire? Don''t you bear Taixia Country in your mind? Here''s a chance for you! As long as you could rush over there, you will be free. The army of Taixia Country is right on the other bank of Weishui River. They could provide you with food and drinks. Look at that fortress over the sky in the east, that''s the Xuanyuan Fortress where Hua fighters are encamped..." Some people in brilliant official silk robes, who were different than natives of Taixia Country, were shouting loudly by huge iron sheet trumpets behind those Hua civilians.


    After hearing the words, although the millions of Hua citizens were still doubting its veracity, someone looked up at the looming bulky Xuanyuan Fortress in the distance as their eyes shone with hope...


    ''As long as I could rush over there, I would enter the territory of Taixia Country, leaving the hell and regaining my freedom.''


    "Taixia, we could finally return to Taixia Country..." Those old men among the crowd dropped tears as their lips quivered. Gazing at the east, they held deep affection in eyes, "I''ve not imagined that I could survive back to Taixia Country..."


    The mother in shabby clothes tightly cradled her baby as she peered at the east with a faint, hopeful brilliance in eyes, "Baby, as long as we reach that bank, we would have food..."


    "Mom, will I be well fed then..." The baby who looked poor and weak asked.


    "Yes, you will be. Because that''s Taixia Country..." The mom''s words brought faint brilliance to the baby''s naive face...


    Those male citizens panted heavily...


    Being in an uproar, the Hua citizens poured out of the camp. Finally, someone couldn''t stand sprinting towards the east, closely followed by more and more people. Within 600 miles, the Hua civilians were rushing towards the east like a surging tide...


    Some were even cheering up as they couldn''t help weeping due to extreme pleasure.


    Whereas, in the blink of an eye, the brutal reality had shattered all the beautiful dreams...


    A flame rose up, turning a Hua male who was rushing forward into a fireball. The male just screamed miserably as he rolled on the earth.


    Another flame appeared while the second Hua male turned into a fireball.


    Those who screamed and rolled immediately soon became still as they gradually burned like trunks quietly yet miserably...


    Over 600 miles, more and more flames rose up as more and more incendiary mines were detonated. After being burned, those Hua civilians were wailing miserably and rolling over the ground. Closely after that, they became quiet.


    The quiet and cold wilderness was full of killing intent which was pretty terrifying...


    Those Hua civilians being driven out of the camp of demons were scared so much; especially those in front who were all shocked and stopped their footsteps with pale faces as they just gazed at the ground with panic...


    "Hurry up, rush forward..." The voice in the trumpet became fierce at once as if it was a jackal or wolf whose hypocritical mask had been torn off, "The army of Taixia Country is right in front of you; if you don''t rush forward, you will die..."


    Those demons instantly raised their huge sabers as they started to slay the last Hua civilians one after another.


    As LV 9 demons, they had terrifying battle strength and could split a person into two halves from head to feet, spraying blood and guts everywhere. As for ox-head demons, they could shatter half of a Hua civilian''s body by mace and heavy hammer.


    With abyss in front and brutal holocaust behind, those Hua civilians were scared so much. In order to secure themselves from being killed, those in the end of the contingent exerted their utmost effort to move forward, pushing those ahead of them to surge forward...


    "Don''t surge forward, those lackeys of demons and Heavens Reaching Empire want to kill us. No matter what, we will die. Let''s fight them to death..." A middle-aged man in shabby literal long robe shouted loudly in front. Right then, a wing demon descended from the sky as it penetrated through the middle-aged literate''s chest by a steel fork. With his miserable scream, the wing demon lifted the man to over 100 m high in the air before dropping him off...


    Being stuck in limbo, more than one Hua person resisted the demon''s violence. However, in the blink of an eye, these dauntless people had been killed by wing demons or ox-head demons.


    In the panic of death, all the Hua civilians were driven towards the wilderness.


    "Don''t fire. Don''t attack us. We''re Hua civilians..." An old man with a completely pale beard and hair roared exhaustively towards the wilderness in quivering voice while being pushed forward as if he hoped that Taixia army could hear his words.


    Since their homes were collapsed by demons, these Hua civilians had been in custody and became slaves who could get the latest news. These Hua civilians basically didn''t know that those flames rising from the earth were caused by incendiary mines that Taixia Country invented to deal with demons. That old man thought that Hua soldiers and powerhouses were hiding somewhere in the wilderness and preventing them from drawing near...


    At this moment, another flame rose from the earth, engulfing that old man and two people near him at once. They shrieked miserably at the beginning; closely after that, they were burned into ashes.


    Being pushed by someone behind, a mother who was cradling her baby staggered forward a couple of footsteps. Closely after that, she was engulfed by a flame.


    "Ahh, my baby..." The mother tossed her baby out of the flame; however, her baby had already been burning and shrieking loudly. The mother wanted to put out her baby''s flame regardless of the flame on her body as she kept flapping her baby''s body. However, incendiary mine''s flames could even burn in water and could barely be put out on earth. As the mother kept flapping her baby, they both gradually became still...


    "My God, what bad things have we done..." An old woman with pale hair immediately knelt down as she raised her hands and cried miserably with tears all over her face, "Demons are killing us. But why is Taixia Country killing us too?"


    The other Hua civilians passed by the old woman hurriedly. At that moment, an ox-head demon arrived as it raised its mace and ferociously smashed the old woman into a pump of flesh...


    They would die, whether they moved forward or backward...


    Over the vast land, Hua civilians'' cries shocked the merciless wilderness, which became their purgatory...


    ...


    "Ahh, battalion commander, the ground forces of demons are launching an attack towards us..." Fei Hao who was sitting on the back seat of Zhang Tie''s aircraft shouted when he noticed the constantly sparkles on the ground in the distance out of excitement, "Burn those sons of b*tches to ashes..."


    As for air cavalries who were loafing in the sky near the east bank of Weishui River, they could see those sparkles over 120 miles away due to their altitude. However, due to the great distance, they thought those flames were detonated by demon''s ground forces. Therefore, some air cavalries were cheering up in the sky...


    However, as Zhang Tie owned lotus flower eyes, he could see the miserable scene over 120 miles away clearly.


    Feeling cold and heart-wrenched, Zhang Tie couldn''t help pouring out his tears as he was so in pain...


    With quivering hands, Zhang Tie took out the remote-sensing crystal device as he sent a message to the headquarters of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment¡ª¡ªZhang Tie the battalion commander of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment asks to launch a strike towards demons...


    ¡ª¡ªVeto!


    ¡ª¡ªStay where you''re for the order!


    The headquarters of No. 46 air cavalry regiment sent 2 messages to Zhang Tie immediately in a scathing and succinct manner.


    Military orders were forbidding!


    Facing the tens of thousands of Hua civilians being slaughtered by demons and incendiary mines, Zhang Tie felt weak once again...


    As a result, Zhang Tie pinched the remote-sensing crystal device into pieces at once!


    The other air cavalries couldn''t actually see what was happening over there. However, Zhang Tie knew that Xuanyuan Fortress must know. Even air cavalries didn''t make any response; at least knights in Xuanyuan Fortress and Zuoqiu Mingyue could do something...


    In the sky, Zhang Tie kept his eyes close on Xuanyuan Fortress and the other battle fortresses...


    One minute...two minutes...ten minutes...twenty minutes had passed... Besides some battle qi smokes and tornadoes in the sky within 6,000 miles, Xuanyuan Fortress still remained as icy and irresistible as a steel city...


    Zhang Tie became completely disappointed...

 1397 Assassination

    What happened on the ground in the west of Weishui River was completely a holocaust.


    After receiving the order, all the air cavalries just hovered above the east bank of Weishui River and monitored the movements of wing demons. Xuanyuan Fortress and the other human battle fortresses above air cavalries didn''t make any response to it as if they had not discovered what was happening on the ground.


    Right under Zhang Tie''s gaze, tens of millions of Hua civilians were being killed. The death of these Hua civilians paved a "safety belt" with 6,000 miles in length and 24 miles in width for demons. All the landmines in this safety belt had been cleared by Hua civilians at the cost of their lives...


    Except for Zhang Tie, the other air cavalries didn''t know what was happening on the ground.


    Zhang Tie flew back to the base of no. 46 air cavalry regiment in a trance. Although being in the sky, his mind had been filled with that tragic scene of desperate tears, wails and exclamations of a mass of people on the ground where soil and human flesh had been mixed. Like a sharp saber, the scene tore apart Zhang Tie''s soul, almost suffocating him in the tide of despair...


    That was the real hell.


    That was the real brutal side of the holy war.


    Zhang Tie operated the plane and had it land on an airstrip of the no. 1 camp adroitly in a daze based on acquired reflex and instinct. After parking it in the fixed stand, he turned off the engine and opened the cover of the cockpit before getting off the plane like a zombie...


    The stand of Zhang Tie''s plane had long been surrounded by bystanders. The other air cavalries who had landed before Zhang Tie had long run over here as they would like to check whether their battalion commander was okay. Because Zhang Tie''s performance in the last hour of this flight task was very abnormal, which was far worse than the standard in usual training. Additionally, when they were called back, Zhang Tie seemed to have not received the decree of the regimental headquarters. Not until Xiang Yusheng the battalion commander of the 3rd battalion of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment superseded the regimental headquarters to pass the signal of return in the air did those air cavalries of the no. 1 battalion "escort" Zhang Tie''s aircraft back to the base in a protective formation...


    Nobody knew what happened to Zhang Tie. Therefore, when Zhang Tie''s aircraft parked, all the other air cavalries of the no. 1 battalion swarmed up out of concern.


    However, Xing Xiangtian the regimental commander of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment and two soldiers from the Law Enforcement Center had been waiting for Zhang Tie earlier than those fighters of no. 1 battalion.


    Xing Xiangtian looked furious as if he was going to burn up. The moment Zhang Tie got off the aircraft, he had seen Xing Xiangtian''s bad look, which reminded Zhang Tie of a volcanic eruption.


    At the sight of this scene, Fei Hao just stood aside in a daze.


    "Colonel Zhang Tie, where''s you remote-sensing device? Why didn''t you receive the order from the regimental headquarters?" Xing Xiangtian questioned Zhang Tie loudly.


    Zhang Tie watched Xing Xiangtian, pulsing his mouth.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s pale face, dejected expression and strange silence, Xing Xiangtian became more irate. He threw a glance at one of the two fighters coming from Law Enforcement Center. The fighter then entered Zhang Tie''s cockpit. After checking it for a short while, he took out of a piece of metal in an irregular shape.


    "Regimental commander, the remote-sensing device of Zhang Tie the battalion commander of the no. 1 battalion has been damaged..."


    "Colonel Zhang Tie, do you know what crime have you committed by damaging remote-sensing device in wartime on purpose, leading to failure of contact between the superior and the junior?"


    Zhang Tie still remained silent. However, after hearing Xing Xiangtian''s words, all the bystanders finally understood what happened. However, they didn''t know why Zhang Tie would damage the remote-sensing device which was used to contact the regimental headquarters. If Zhang Tie''s aircraft was brought down in wartime, damaging the remote-sensing device, the no. 1 battalion could initiate the corresponding emergency response plan and establish a temporary leadership and guidance mechanism of the no. 1 battalion in case of being flurried. However, Zhang Tie damaged his remote-sensing device on the premise that his aircraft was not brought down. This made people perplexed.


    Of course, none of them knew what Zhang Tie felt when he pinched his remote-sensing device into pieces.


    "Guo Haichao..." Xing Xiangtian roared.


    "I''m here..."


    "From now on, you will supersede Zhang Tie to be the battalion commander of the no. 1 battalion of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment for the time being..."


    Guo Haichao threw a glance at Zhang Tie. When he saw Xing Xiangtian''s sharp eye light, he chested out and replied loudly at once, "Yes, sir...''


    "You two, take Zhang Tie away. Put him in custody for one week. He needs to premediate it..." Xing Xiangtian told the two members from Law Enforcement Center out of fury.


    "Colonel Zhang Tie, please follow us..." A soldier then talked to Zhang Tie icily.


    Zhang Tie remained silent as his face looked very solemn. He just followed the two members from the Law Enforcement Center. Fighters of the no. 1 battalion gave way to them as they watched Zhang Tie getting on a vehicle being cuffed with complicated expressions...


    Xing Xiangtian got on a vehicle too. Closely after that, the two vehicles left the base of the no. 1 battalion.


    "Ahh, why would our battalion commander damage his remote-sensing device?" The moment the two vehicles left, the fighters of the no. 1 battalion had started their discussion as they didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could do such a silly thing in that case.


    "Could it be that our battalion commander was a bit...a bit nervous as it was his first time to attend a fight?"


    "Fart!" The team leader''s reason was immediately inundated by swears, "How could an anxious pilot penetrate through the narrow gap between two flagpoles? Additionally, wing demons were far away from us at that time. Even this father was not nervous, how could Battalion commander Zhang be nervous?"


    "Even if you brat had peed in your pants, our battalion commander would not even blink his eyes..."


    The team leader instantly shrugged as he dared not say anything anymore.


    "Fei Hao, you were staying with our battalion commander, do you know what happened?" Guo Haichao asked Zhang Tie''s shooter about the reason.


    "I...I have no idea..." Fei Hao scratched his head. After being hesitant for a couple of seconds, he added, "But battalion commander...battalion commander..."


    "Cut the crap, what happened to our battalion commander?"


    "When we arrived at the sky over Weishui River, I found that...battalion commander was dropping tears..." Fei Hao stammered.


    "Dropping tears? Impossible!" Someone shouted, "We''re so happy to see those demons detonating land mines, why did our battalion commander drop tears? You must have an illusion..."


    "No wonder our battalion commander''s eyes were red..." Someone else realized it at once.


    "No way..."


    "Is it because of heavy wind?"


    "But the cover of our battalion commander''s cockpit is closed..."


    Those fighters of no. 1 battalion were in an uproar...


    ...


    In his vehicle, Xing Xiangtian was still angry as Zhang Tie''s performance in this move was too disappointing. Xing Xiangtian even doubted that Zhang Tie had falsified his CV. ''How could a colonel behave so abnormally on the battlefield? Is it because that Zhang Tie has not seen any demon before?''


    ''Impossible! I remembered that Zhang Tie even asked to launch a strike towards demons using his remote-sensing device. However, I vetoed his proposal.''


    ''Is it because I vetoed his proposal that he damaged the remote-sensing crystal out of fury?''


    When he recalled what Zhang Tie said in the conference, Xing Xiangtian felt this might be the very reason. ''Zhang Tie is an able man; however, he''s too pretentious and ostentatious. He''s too self-centered. I should tackle his weakness so that he could be a qualified battalion commander...''


    As he thought about Zhang Tie''s temperament, Xing Xiangtian fixated onto the wreck of that metal bracket as he slightly frowned. He could also break that metal bracket by pinching it; however, Zhang Tie''s strength seemed to be a bit too great as the wreck of this metal bracket seemed to have been fully glued together. Additionally, the edge of the metal bracket seemed to have melted slightly...


    At the sight of that faintly melted trace, Xing Xiangtian''s frown intensified. However, a few seconds later, he became relieved as he muttered, ''Impossible. He''s just a LV 9 fighter. I prefer that this remote-sensing crystal device was not well processed at the beginning...''


    ...


    The two soldiers directly drove Zhang Tie to the guardhouse of the Law Enforcement Center of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment and closed him inside.


    The guardhouse only covered about 2 square meters, which only contained an extremely simple camp bed and a toilet bowl. The camp bed was made of cold wire. There was neither a quilt nor a window. After the iron door was closed from outside, Zhang Tie sunk in darkness, coldness and silence at once.


    Sitting on the camp bed, Zhang Tie lowered his head as he covered his face by palms. At the same time, he gripped his hair tightly. After a while, he roared in a muffled and painful manner like a lonely wild beast...


    ...


    Two days later, Anxi City, Xinglin Prefecture, Military Province...


    That day, the exclusive airboat of Weiji General arrived at Anxi City, causing the entire city to be boisterous, including local major clans and commoners.


    Anxi City was an important agricultural town and the traffic hub in Xinglin Prefecture. ''Zhang Tie'' came here to inspect the military equipment in Anxi City.


    Zhang Tie had been pretty dignified in the theater of operations while his marvelous talent of touching stones and turning it into gold had long been spread across the country.


    Wu Chunlai the prefectural governor of Xinglin Prefecture, Qiu Youjin the weiji envoy of Xinglin Prefecture, the other high-level officials in the prefecture, the mayor of Anxi City, some major clans in Xinglin Prefecture and some local tycoons and civilians in Anxi City had been gagging for Zhang Tie''s arrival out of excitement.


    They accompanied Zhang Tie to tarry quite a while outside Anxi City by inspecting an airport, a granary for war preparedness, a Fiery-Oil production base and an arsenal near Anxi City. Noticing Zhang Tie to keep nodding satisfactorily on the way, those officials and heads of major clans of Xinglin Prefecture who had been accompanying Zhang Tie meticulously finally became reassured.


    Zhang Tie arrived there at noon. They finished the inspection when the sun was going to set. With the insinuation of those heads of major clans of Xinglin Prefecture, Wu Chunlai the prefectural governor of Xinglin Prefecture pretended to cough twice as he asked ''Zhang Tie'' meticulously, "General, where else do you want to inspect..."


    "I''m very satisfied with the war preparedness and production in Anxi City. Therefore, I think the other places in Xinglin Prefecture should not be bad either. You really did a good job..." ''Zhang Tie'' made a comment while all the others grinned.


    "It''s owed to general''s strict guidance, meritorious services to the consolidation of the country. Without general''s Fiery-Oil airplane and good farming policies, we really couldn''t imagine about the current situation facing the theater of operations, not to mention Xinglin Prefecture. Given meritorious services, the general is worth to rank first. We just share the general''s glory in according with our commitment..." Wu Chunlai the prefectural governor of Xinglin Prefecture replied eloquently. Wu Chunlai was famous for being strict and selfless; however, his attitude also varied with people. He usually treated his subordinates and civilians strictly and selflessly while in front of Zhang Tie his eloquence made the other officials and local tycoons bashful.


    A mass of civilians was onlooking them from far away as they were blocked by soldiers who were responsible for maintaining order.


    "Yes...yes..." Someone else chimed in with Wu Chunlai immediately in case of an embarrassing atmosphere.


    After Wu Chunlai finished his words, he threw a glance at Qiu Youjin the weiji envoy of Xinglin Prefecture stealthily.


    Qiu Youjin had already met Zhang Tie in Kangzhou City. It was his second time to see Zhang Tie. Last time, he just stood far away and watched Zhang Tie. This time, he finally got a chance to stand on Zhang Tie''s side. Qiu Youjin didn''t feel that this ''Zhang Tie'' was different than the one he saw last time, except for that this ''Zhang Tie'' was more forbidding and dignified.


    Of course, Qiu Youjin understood Wu Chunlai''s eye light.


    "General, as you''ve been busy for a whole afternoon, you must be a bit tired. Right at the foot of Anshan Mountain in front of us, there''s a spectacular courtyard. We''ve made an arrangement for you to take some rest over there..." Qiu Youjin said. As he had met Zhang Tie before, it would be a bit intimate for him to suggest Zhang Tie to do that.


    All those at present thought that at least they could entertain Zhang Tie with supper so that these officers and major clans could leave an impression in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "This humble man has already arranged my family members to prepare a simple banquet for general and the other officials in the spectacular courtyard." A local tycoon of Anxi City said as he bowed his body.


    "No need, I will go to other prefectures tonight. It would take me at least half a year to travel around all the prefectures in the four provinces, even one day for one prefecture. I will not waste time here..." ''Zhang Tie'' said as he waved his arm, "Let''s apart here..."


    As the airboat was right above them, Zhang Tie could leave at any time.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s reply, all the other officials and heads of major clans felt pitiful. However, they dared not urge Zhang Tie to do that; instead, they could only see Zhang Tie off modestly.


    "General is worried about the national affairs. We really admire you. We will have to bid a farewell to general here. Bon Voyage...''


    "It''s not easy for Xinglin Prefecture and Anxi City to get such a rosy situation. Hopefully, you could continue to work hard and avoid from being frivolous and restless. If you live up to Taixia Country, Taixia Country would live up to you too!" ''Zhang Tie'' even mustered them up before leaving. After that, ''Zhang Tie'' ascended into the air and entered his exclusive airboat...


    Right under the gaze of so many people, Zhang Tie''s exclusive airboat flew towards the south...


    However, before onlookers moved their eyes away from the airboat, a terrifying qi descended from the heavens and hit Zhang Tie''s airboat as fast as a lightning bolt after Zhang Tie''s airboat left for less than 6 miles. In a split second, Zhang Tie''s exclusive 600 m longer airboat had been cut into pieces by tens of thousands of battle qi.


    At this moment, a purple-golden 4 m longer heavenly wing demon knight with a unicorn, a crown on head and 6 feather wings on back appeared in the sky. Only by waving its claw, a powerful battle qi storm lasting miles long had covered the broken pieces of Zhang Tie''s airboat completely. Closely after that, the heavenly demon knight entered its own battle qi storm...


    At this time, Zhang Tie''s growls reverberated in the sky while a silver battle qi tornado rushed into the sky. However, in a split second, the battle qi tornado had disappeared...


    The heavenly wing demon knight reappeared in the sky as it threw a glance at those officials and heads of local major clans icily like looking at ants. Even being about 10 miles away, its casual look could almost freeze the blood of those people below knight level, which felt overwhelming and breathless.


    The heavenly wing demon knight then revealed a faint ignorant smile. Closely after that, it ascended and disappeared in front of everyone in terms of light.


    Not until then did the pieces of the airboat fall onto the ground with blood rain...


    Witnessing all this, everybody on the ground felt like being struck by a lightning bolt as they all turned pale and felt cold all over. Many of them almost fell down.


    "Hurry...hurry up, go check...check...ge...general..." Wu Chunlai who was very eloquent just now stammered at this moment as he staggered forward.


    There were various pieces over the crashing site, including metal pieces, pieces of human bodies. Among those pieces, someone discovered shredded flesh being covered by boa silk robe of Zhang Tie...


    Half an hour later, the news that Zhang Tie the Weiji General of the Theater of Operations was ambushed and killed by a heavenly wing demon knight in Anxi City, Xinglin Prefecture had spread over the theater of operations...


    ...

 1398 Succor from Xuanyuan Fortress

    It was pitch-dark and quiet in Zhang Tie''s cell. In the darkness, the time flew by; especially for a knight, two days flashed by...


    Darkness drove away brightness while silence shielded uproar. In darkness and silence, the images in Zhang Tie''s mind became increasingly clearer.


    Burning corpses of Hua civilians...


    The mother who was burned to death with her baby...


    Numerous whines...


    Endless blood penetrated through the ground in the west bank of Weishui River as if it was going to flow out of the floor of the guardhouse. After reaching Zhang Tie''s instep, it kept going upward as it almost made Zhang Tie suffocated.


    It was the quivering remote-sensing finger rings that Zhang Tie carried that broke this sense of suffocation. In the beginning, those remote-sensing crystals in the finger rings started to quiver one after another. In the end, all the remote-sensing finger rings that Zhang Tie carried were quivering constantly and repeatedly...


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to meet such a situation. The urgent, constant waves from the crystals in the remote-sensing finger rings shattered the images in Zhang Tie''s mind, drawing him back to the reality as he raised his head in the bloody darkness.


    Zhang Tie knew that something crucial must have happened outside.


    In this case, Zhang Tie contacted Zhang Yang first, "Elder brother, what''s up..."


    "Who are you?"


    "I''m Zhang Tie, why..."


    "Where''re you?"


    "I''m in Ningzhou Province!"


    "Are you alright?"


    "I''m okay..."


    "I''ve just received the news that you were ambushed and killed by a heavenly wing demon knight when you inspected Anxi City, Xinglin Prefecture, Military Province. You scared me..."


    "Tell our parents that I''m fine. I''m very good..."


    "Okay. Take care of yourself. Don''t loaf outside recently. Your safety comes first. If you got hurt, what about our parents..."


    Zhang Tie finally knew what happened. His stunt was inspecting Anxi City, Xinglin Prefecture, Military Province under the arrangement of Zuoqiu Mingyue. Zhang Tie had not imagined that demons could assign a heavenly demon knight to ambush and kill him.


    After finishing the contact with his elder brother, Zhang Tie instantly injected his spiritual energy into 10 more remote-sensing finger rings and told them that he was safe and sound...


    At this moment, Zhang Yang was not the only one who was gagging for confirming Zhang Tie''s existing situation. Zhang Tie''s family members in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, elders of Huaiyuan Palace, Bai Suxian, Feng Cangwu, Immortal Deyang, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi, Zhang Tie''s disciples, Zuoqiu Mingyue, Agricultural Administration of Kangzhou Province, Pontiff Sarlin...almost all those who could contact Zhang Tie were hurriedly trying to contact him to confirm that he was safe.


    Since Yan Feiqing defeated Zhu Qianqian, one of the four elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect a few months ago, she had been in closed cultivation for a secret method of Fantasy Lady Sutra. Therefore, she didn''t know what happened to Zhang Tie for the time being.


    Feeling those vibrating remote-sensing finger rings, Zhang Tie was in a trance as he had not imagined that so many people were concerned about him. The moment he was "murdered", the news had already spread over the country and made everybody intense. By contrast, 2 days ago the death of tens of thousands of Hua civilians outside the camp of demons seemingly didn''t arouse too much attention in the Western Theater of Operations.


    However, the reality always went like that.


    ''Which is more valuable, my life or the lives of tens of thousands of people?'' Zhang Tie retrospected...


    At the same time, Zhang Tie realized that he couldn''t stay in the no. 46 air cavalry regiment any more.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie was contacting those people who were concerned about him using remote-sensing finger rings, two human knights appeared outside the regimental headquarters of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment as fast as lightning bolts, driving those fighters which were on sentry duty dizzy.


    "Where''s Xing Xiangtian, come out!" The moment they arrived, a black-faced knight had urged in a stentorian voice, regardless of the dumbfounded fighters outside the regimental headquarters.


    After hearing that voice, Xing Xiangtian hurriedly rushed out of the regimental headquarters. At the sight of that black-faced knight, Xing Xiangtian instantly gave a solemn salute to him.


    "General, I''m here..."


    The black-faced knight was Wei Jingxian, the supreme officer of air cavalries in the theater of operations and the former Cheji General of Ningzhou Province. He was the immediate superior of Xing Xiangtian. All the independent air cavalry troops around the theater of operations were under his leadership. In usual days, Xing Xiangtian was not even qualified to meet Wei Jingxian.


    As Wei Jingxian came here without any advance notice, Xing Xiangtian became dumbfounded as he didn''t know why would the general suddenly come here all of a sudden.


    "I wonder whether a major called Zhang Tie came here for registration as the battalion commander of no. 46 air cavalry regiment a month ago?" Wei Jingxian asked urgently.


    "Yes!" Xing Xiangtian nodded as he was shocked inside. He had not imagined that Wei Jingxian knew Major Zhang Tie. ''Does Major Zhang Tie have any special background?''


    After hearing Xing Xiangtian''s words, the two new arrivers seemingly let out a sigh of relief at once.


    "Your excellency..." Wei Jingxian then looked at the silent knight on his side.


    The moment Wei Jingxian opened his mouth, Xing Xiangtian had already realized that the other knight on Wei Jingxian''s side might have a higher position than Wei Jingxian. ''Is that a shadow knight? My god! What a day...''


    "Where''s the camp of no. 1 battalion? Lead us there!" The other knight said calmly as he threw a glance at Xing Xiangtian.


    "Are...are you looking for Major Zhang Tie..." Xing Xiangtian asked as he scratched his head.


    "It''s none of your business. Just lead us to Zhang...Zhang Tie!" Wei Jingxian stammered.


    "But Major Zhang Tie is not in the camp of no. 1 battalion!" Xiang Xiangtian said. Soon after the two knights heard his words, they had widely opened their eyes and become intense. Xing Xiangtian hurriedly added, "Major Zhang Tie is in the guardhouse of the Law Enforcement Center of the regimental headquarters..."


    "What, guardhouse?" The two knights became both stunned with splendid facial expressions.

 1399 Leaving Air Cavalry Regimen

    "Two days ago, Major Zhang Tie destroyed the remote-sensing device on his plane, causing connection failure between the regimental headquarters and the no. 1 battalion. Therefore, I sent him in custody for one week!" Xing Xiangtian immediately interpreted it to them when he noticed the two knights'' weird expressions.


    "How...how...how could you do that..." Wei Jingxian pointed at Xing Xiangtian as he stammered, "Hurry, lead us there..."


    Xing Xiangtian was confused about Wei Jingxian''s anxiety. Out of timidity, suspicion, amazement and curiosity, he brought the two knights to Zhang Tie''s guardhouse.


    ...


    When the sound of footsteps approached the door, Zhang Tie almost finished his communication with many people. With flickering lotus flower eyes, he threw a glance outside through the thick iron wall when he saw Xing Xiangtian bringing here 2 knights.


    When he contacted Zuoqiu Mingyue just now, Zhang Tie had received the news that Zuoqiu Mingyue assigned two people to "escort" him back to Xuanyuan Fortress. The two knights, one heavenly knight, the other shadow knight must be assigned by Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    The four provinces in the Western Theater of Operations had already been chaotic. Those pilot academies in this territory had already suspended. The provincial and prefectural agricultural agencies across the region had been struck all of a heap. As a result, the Kangzhou Provincial Agricultural Bureau received a multitude of inquiries, driving Lu Yanyu mad. Many senior officers of frontline corps and knights in Xuanyuan fortress had already known this news, eradicating the morale very much. Xuanyuan Fortress urgently needed Zhang Tie to show up in the public for shattering the "rumor" and reassuring the people.


    The no. 46 air cavalry regiment would not be a permanent choice for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside. ''I''ve not accomplished my plan in the no. 46 air cavalry regiment. Air cavalries are still exploring and improving air wolf pack tactic of wing demons. With over one month, I could only lead the low altitude or super low altitude parachute training of air cavalries into the right track and reduce some loss for them in the future. That''s all I could do. However, individual power always has its upper limit. It''s a national affair. In many cases, it couldn''t be tackled by me alone. After leaving the no. 46 air cavalry regiment, I could only have the subordinates explore the corresponding training themselves. Thankfully, I have Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and could have them explore the training skills themselves in advance. As long as Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory make their achievements, all the other local air cavalries would definitely imitate them based on the position and influence of air cavalries in Taixia Country. There would definitely be a rosy future.''


    At this moment, unlocking sound drifted from outside the door. With a click, the iron door of the grim guardhouse was pushed open from outside.


    "Ahem..ahem..." The heavenly knight on Wei Jingxian''s side pretended to cough twice before opening his mouth, "General must have already known what happened outside. The commander-in-chief is waiting for the general in Xuanyuan Fortress so as to make people reassured..."


    The moment this knight opened his mouth, Xing Xiangtian who was standing outside the guardhouse had felt a buzz in his mind, ''General? Why this knight who seems to have a higher rank than Wei Jingxian calls Zhang Tie general? Is that a hallucination...''


    "Thanks..." Zhang Tie picked himself up with a calm look as he exited the guardhouse.


    "It''s my pleasure!" Even the shadow knight dared not behave insolently in front of Zhang Tie.


    "I''m clear that the general is merciful. However, I''ve not imagined that the general would like to enter the camp once again for the sake of tens of millions of air cavalries in the theater of operations. On behalf of tens of thousands of air cavalries in the theater of operations, Wei Jinxian extends my thanks to general..." Wei Jingxian bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie with a long sigh and a complicated expression.


    "General Wei, you''re being too polite. As a member of Taixia Country and a knight, I just did what I should do..." Zhang Tie helped Wei Jingxian stand straight.


    Xing Xiangtian widely opened his mouth with a shocked look. He couldn''t utter any voice anymore. Even Wei Jingxian called this Zhang Tie ''general'', who else could he be other than Zhang Mushen the Qianji Hermit and Weiji General who stabilized the rear end of the theater of operations and invented the airplane and Fiery Oil? ''Major Zhang Tie is the very renowned one who was sent in confinement...''


    "Regimental Commander Xing..."


    "Ahh...this humble...humble...humble officer is here..." Xing Xiangtian stammered at once.


    "Regimental Commander Xing, sorry to bring you troubles these days in the no. 1 camp!" Zhang Tie said elegantly and gently.


    "It''s...it''s the honor...aww, no, the glory of this humble officer...and the no. 46 air cavalry regiment..."


    "Over the past month, the no. 1 battalion has been carrying out the training of air wolf pack tactic. Here are my gnosis and training guidelines. Please have officers of the no. 1 battalion continue the training of fighters of the no. 1 battalion if possible..." Zhang Tie said as he took out a thick pile of documents from his space-teleportation equipment.


    Although being the Weiji General of the theater of operations, Zhang Tie couldn''t interfere with military affairs directly. Therefore, Zhang Tie presented what he had compiled over the past month to Xing Xiangtian.


    Xing Xiangtian nodded as he took Zhang Tie''s compilation of documents by two hands respectfully which felt so heavy.


    "Additionally, Stone has been LV 2. I''ve promised him to enroll him as an air cavalry in the pilot academy after he reaches LV 3. Stone is talented. Please take care of him after I leave, Regimental Commander Xing..."


    "It''s my pleasure; it''s my pleasure..." Xing Xiangtian said.


    After saying these words, Zhang Tie looked at the other two knights as he said, "Okay, let''s go..."


    Zhang Tie and the other two knights then walked outside while slowly changing his look. When they exited this building of Law Enforcement Center of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment, Zhang Tie had already recovered his original look¡ª¡ªa comely Hua teenager.


    Watching Zhang Tie gradually becoming another person, even the other two knights were greatly shocked, not to mention Xing Xiangtian.


    All the officers and fighters in the Law Enforcement Center of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment were gazing at Zhang Tie out of amazement who came out of the guardhouse while changing his look.


    When something icy fell onto his face, Zhang Tie raised his face as he found some snowflakes were descending facing the north wind in the evening sky.


    It was snowing...


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie flew off and made a circle above the camp of the no. 1 battalion. Zhang Tie''s arrival shocked the fighters of the no. 1 battalion while many fighters ran out of their barracks and pointed at the sky. Zhang Tie just threw a last glance at them before flying towards Xuanyuan Fortress above the east bank of Weishui River...


    Not until Zhang Tie left did the fighters of the no. 1 battalion realize that it was him who came here to bid a farewell to them...

 1400 Zhang Ties Return

    Before they arrived at Xuanyuan Fortress, the north wind and snow had grown stronger while great drifts of snow had blown towards them...


    Knights were not afraid of extreme weather. Such weather, although being bad, didn''t affect knights at all, not to mention Zhang Tie.


    In the sky, Zhang Tie felt a bit gloomy when he saw the ground and the distant Weishui River through strong wind and snow. Bad weather didn''t affect knights; however, it could severely affect the ordinary ground forces; especially when Weishui was not far from being frozen in this first heavy snow at the advent of winter.


    The three people moved faster than the airplane. Only after a short while, they had already finished the travel of about 180 miles and seen the giant Xuanyuan Fortress in front of them.


    In the heavy snow, Xuanyuan Fortress and the other human battle fortresses were still standing to tower in the sky, distantly confronting with the army of demons and the demon battle fortresses. On the battlefield covering 120 miles, battle qi tornadoes and smokes were twisting wind and snow, indicating ceaseless fight...


    Teams of human knights were patrolling around Xuanyuan Fortress and the neighboring battle fortresses while casting covetous eyes on the demon camp. More human knights were accessing Xuanyuan Fortress and the neighboring human battle fortresses. Fighters'' camp was on the ground while knights'' camp was in the sky.


    When Zhang Tie approached Xuanyuan Fortress, he had already rapidly exchanged his military uniform with a boa silk robe. No matter what, it would be too eye-catching if a knight in the uniform of major of air cavalries appeared in Xuanyuan Fortress which was no different than fishing for fame.


    "The news that the general was assassinated has just reached Xuanyuan Fortress, which shocked those knights in Xuanyuan Fortress very much. There''re various gossips about your assassination around Xuanyuan Fortress. Many knights are discomposed about that. As general has returned safely, you''d better do something to attract their attention..." The shadow knight on Zhang Tie''s side reminded Zhang Tie.


    "Your Excellency, it''s easy for me to attract their attention, hold a minute please..." Zhang Tie instantly released his battle qi tornado. Closely after that, a huge fiery dragon appeared in the sky while flapping its wings and skyrocketing. Its roar rocked hundred of miles...


    In Taixia Country, this virtual image of a fiery dragon almost became Zhang Tie''s sign. Except for Zhang Tie who could imitate the virtual image of Fiery Dragon Sutra using "Chaotic Treasure Body" that he fabricated, nobody else in Taixia Country could manifest the virtual image of a fiery dragon.


    The moment they saw this virtual image, everybody knew that Zhang Tie had returned.


    The virtual image of a fiery dragon almost drew the attention of all knights nearby Xuanyuan Fortress.


    Zhang Tie didn''t enter Xuanyuan Fortress immediately; instead, he watched the battlefield in the distance for a few seconds. Closely after that, his eyes gleamed as he rushed over there as fast as a lightning bolt.


    Zhang Tie didn''t rush towards the battlefield in the sky, but that on the ground. After flashing dozens of miles away, Zhang Tie released his Engulfing Dragon, which instantly expanded into a huge fierce dragon. Closely after that, the Engulfing Dragon changed into an immortal weapon and fell into Zhang Tie''s hand. With Engulfing Dragon in hand, Zhang Tie slashed towards the ground from over 500 m high in the sky.


    The berserk and sharp sword qi instantly lurked into the earth like a lightning bolt, causing a huge pit around dozens of meters in diameter. Right from the huge pit, a badly mutilated earth spider demon knight shot into the sky while spewing out blood. 3 of its 8 feet had been broken by Zhang Tie''s sword. After being severely wounded, the spider demon was escaping towards the demon camp. However, only after hundreds of meters'' flight, it had been split open by a sword light. Zhang Tie then flew back lifting the spider demon''s bloody head, whose fangs were exposed.


    Right under the gaze of everyone, Zhang Tie rapidly killed an earth demon knight who was lurking on the battlefield.


    The shadow knight then gazed at Zhang Tie with widely opened eyes. It was not shocking for Zhang Tie to kill an earth spider demon knight as Zhang Tie had already displayed his ability to fight a shadow knight after he got the essence of sword song in last large-scale battle between human knights and demon knights. What shocked him was how Zhang Tie knew a spider demon was hiding beneath the earth.


    "How do you know that a spider demon was hiding beneath there?" The shadow knight asked.


    "No matter how it hides, it would always leave some clues. You can discover it using your mind!"


    Zhang Tie put it simply, which shocked the shadow knight as he felt Zhang Tie was really profound.


    Holding the bloody head of the earth spider demon knight, Zhang Tie entered Xuanyuan Fortress with that shadow knight.


    "Qianji Hermit, Qianji Hermit is back..."


    "Ahh, wasn''t Qianji Hermit assassinated..."


    "I''m sure about that. The virtual image of the fiery dragon is a sign of Qianji Hermit..."


    At the entrance of Xuanyuan Fortress, a group of strange knights hurriedly gave way to Zhang Tie respectfully at the sight of that bloody head of demon knight in his hand.


    Zhang Tie had already hidden his virtual image of the fiery dragon.


    There were many knights inside Xuanyuan Fortress. There was a square near the entrance. Many knights on the square had seen Zhang Tie entering with a bloody head of a spider demon knight in hand. Since he showed off his ability in the last large-scale battle and got the essence of sword song, almost everybody had been familiar with his look in Xuanyuan Fortress even though he didn''t release his virtual image of a fiery dragon. Across Xuanyuan Fortress, only Zhang Tie was a comely 17-year-old earth knight whose look formed a sharp contrast with his battle strength.


    The bloody head of an earth spider demon knight in Zhang Tie''s hand was more convincing.


    "Ahh, Zhang Mushen is back..."


    "Wasn''t Zhang Tie ambushed and killed by a heavenly demon knight according to the news from Xinglin Prefecture, Military Province..."


    "Sh*t, I''ve just sent the news back to my clan. Who''s cooking the rumor..."


    ...


    Spider demons could secrete venom; especially those above LV 10 could already cause extra wounds to human fighters using their venom in fight. The toxicity of spider demons could barely be eradicated by common drugs. The best antidote was a gland in the mouth of a high-level spider demon. The higher level the spider demon was, the more effective and precious it would be as an antidote. The gland of earth spider demon was a war rarity which could hardly be bought in the market.


    Under the gaze of all the others, Zhang Tie came to the front of a counter on the square. Closely after that, he dropped the spider demon''s head onto the counter before heading for Zuoqiu Mingyue''s office...


    Only after a short while, the news of Zhang Tie''s return had spread over Xuanyuan Fortress. The panic that filled the entire Xuanyuan Fortress disappeared in a split second. The same news soon spread over all the 4 provinces in the theater of operations. Therefore, the discompose caused by Zhang Tie''s death gradually subsided...

 1401 Asking for Resignation

    In the same room of the highest tower in the center of Xuanyuan Fortress, Zhang Tie faced Zuoqiu Mingyue once again...


    Sitting beside a teapoy, Zuoqiu Mingyue was holding his breath and slowly injecting hot water into a teacup full of ritual sense, causing a dense and elegant fragrance of tea leaves gradually fill the room...


    Although having met this old man for many times, Zhang Tie still felt strange about Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    The death of over 10 million civilians of Taixia Country outside the camp of demons, the whines and cries, the corps that covered over 600 miles two days ago didn''t leave any trace on the face of Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    This old man still remained calm and nonchalant while performing the teaism of Taixia Country consummately without shaking his hands.


    However, sitting on the other side of the teapoy, Zhang Tie''s heart slowly sunk.


    A cup of limpid and dark green tea water was pushed in front of Zhang Tie by Zuoqiu Mingyue. The tea cup''s porcelain was as white as the moon with the gentle and lubricating luster of moonlight. Some tea leaves were swiveling, rolling and pursuing each other in the water like tumbling and rising mist and cloud in mountain and the mysterious rule deduced by yin and yang. This cup of tea seemed to contain the entire universe.


    "Sitting there, I pour cold water into a pot; watching the green matcha as fine as dust being boiled, I hold a cup of tea, sending this sentiment to the one who likes tea..." Zuoqiu Mingyue suddenly opened his mouth leisurely. Closely after that, he sipped it as he closed his eyes satisfactorily.


    Watching the cup of tea water, Zhang Tie didn''t move. Even though being a famous earth knight, Zhang Tie still didn''t understand tea. No matter how qualified and rare the tea was, Zhang Tie would always feel lacking a bit pureness and sweat, which, although being cheap, was Zhang Tie''s favorite. At home, all of Zhang Tie''s family members knew that Zhang Tie liked to add sugar in his tea. This was the sear of one''s born which was hard to alter. Neither did Zhang Tie prepare to change it.


    "Why..." Looking at Zuoqiu Mingyue''s calm face, Zhang Tie asked, "Why not save those innocent civilians instead of watching them dying in front of demons?"


    "How?" Zuoqiu Mingyue let out a sigh as he put down his teacup and asked Zhang Tie calmly with abruptly sharp eye light, "Would I have human knights fight demons at the risk of their lives only to save those common civilians?" Zuoqiu Mingyue revealed a faint, genial yet cold smile as he continued, "I opine that all the civilians in the area occupied by demons had been dead the moment they were captured by demons. They''re now demon''s war resources and tools instead of being civilians of Taixia Country. The civilians of Taixia Country is in the east of Weishui River and Helan Mountain instead of in the west. Knights in Xuanyuan Fortress are for civilians in the east of Weishui River and Helan Mountain..."


    "However, they''re not captured by demons voluntarily. Taixia''s army couldn''t protect them that they finally fell in the hand of demons..." Zhang Tie demurred out of excitement.


    "The army of Taixia Country have already tried their best, including me. I''m the military god of Taixia country; instead of being a real deity. The army of Taixia Country is also comprised of a multitude of commoners. Undoubtedly, demons are powerful. It''s a holy war, not a court on morality!"


    "You''ve long known that demons would have those civilians of Taixia Country clear mines?" Zhang Tie asked with his eyes close on Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    "I''ve told you that everything could become their war resource and tool for demons. Facing Taixia''s new weapons and war pattern, demons would send these captives onto the battlefield without demur. It''s the same on the battlefield, whether they''re forced or voluntary!" Zuoqiu Mingyue watched Zhang Tie calmly as he said, "Demons have even done something more brutal in the last holy war. It''s nothing fresh at all. The difference between you and me is that you could be responsible for your conscience; however, I should be committed to more civilians and thousands of corps of Taixia Country in the theater of operations. I should not live up to their trust. In order to not turn more civilians of Taixia Country into slaves of demons, I would issue a decree to wipe out anyone who dare wallop the troops or line of defense of Taixia Country regardless of their identity and reason. I believe that each mine being detonated actually curtails the war potential of demons and contributes to Taixia Country in the holy war..."


    Being silent, Zhang Tie felt a bit bitter in the mouth. Taking up a teacup, he raised his head and bottomed up the tea water. Closely after that, he put down his teacup and revealed a bitter smile, "It seems that I really don''t fit to be an officer..."


    "Nobody is born fit to be an officer. Nobody is born to be hard-hearted. Nobody is born to be a butcher!" Zuoqiu Mingyue lowered his tone, "But we have no other choice..."


    "Would the same tragedy happen again?"


    "Over the past 1 month, demons were constantly transporting civilians of Taixia Country that they''ve captured to the camp of demons. It''s roughly estimated that the population of human captives being transported to the frontline has already reached 200 million. In the following days, as long as Weishui River becomes icy, demons would drive all of them onto the battlefield to wipe out the landmines that we''ve buried on both banks of Weishui River. By then, the large-scale war would come to a start..."


    "If so, commander-in-chief would never allow them to pass Weishui River..."


    "Yes!" Zuoqiu Mingyue put it straightforwardly, "I would never allow them to pass the line of defense in the east bank of Weishui River. As long as these captives pass the landmines in the west bank of Weishui River, I will order the troops of airships and bombers to tackle them..."


    Zhang Tie knew that the word "tackle" mentioned by Zuoqiu Mingyue actually referred to eradication. As long as the airships and bombers could block those captives near Weishui River for 2 days, most of the Hua civilians would be starved or frozen to death.


    Within imagination, the 200 million common civilians being moved to the frontline by demons had long been destined to die.


    Zhang Tie seemed to have seen two banks of Weishui River being covered with corpses...


    "I''ve already taken the office of Weiji General of the theater of operations for almost 1 year. During the past year, the production of grains and Fiery Oil have been basically stabilized. As long as everything goes smoothly, as usual, it would be fine. I couldn''t do anything more in this position..." Zhang Tie said as he put the seal and relevant tokens of Weiji General onto the desk in front of them, "Therefore, commander-in-chief, I officially propose to resign today!"


    After looking at Zhang Tie for quite a while, Zuoqiu Mingyue let out a sigh, "You''ve made remarkable achievements in this position and you are too eye-catching. Even demons have sensed the threat and would like to assign a heavenly knight to kill you. If you were killed in Anxi City, the rear end of the Western Theater of Operations would be in great chaos for sure. If you resign at this time, it would not be bad for the entire theater of operations. All the provinces around Taixia Country have been preparing to establish an air cavalry army. I''ve already sent a proposal to Xuanyuan Hill lately. His Majesty has already agreed on it and named it Heavenly Army. In the future, the Heavenly Army would be on equal footing with the top 4 armies. I prepare to recommend you as the marshal of Heavenly Army with the awards of heavens suppression general and deputy commander-in-chief. You could leave the theater of operations and establish Heavenly Army in the rear end. By then, all the air cavalries of Taixia Country would be under your leadership. You could turn your innovative thoughts about air cavalries into reality no matter what it is. What do you think about it?"


    If it was another person who sat in front of Zuoqiu Mingyue, this special treatment would definitely make his heart pound. Compared to the position of Weiji General, marshal of Heavenly Army, heavens suppression general and being able to be on the same footing with the other marshals of top 4 armies of Taixia Country in the near future was already able to drive people mad by its brilliance and privilege.


    If Zhang Tie accepted this promotion, he would make great progress as his ability and meritorious services had been confirmed. To be honest, nobody else could match Zhang Tie in understanding air cavalries around Taixia country.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that the "gossip" that he received from the no. 46 air cavalry regiment 1 month ago was actually real.


    It seemed that that "gossip" was either an insight of a wise person towards the trend or Zuoqiu Mingyue''s temptation.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue''s recommendation of Zhang Tie as the marshal of Heavenly Army indicated his favor and protection about the latter.


    "Thanks, commander-in-chief. But I clear that I''m not suitable to rule the army due to my limited ability and poor experience. Therefore, I dare not accept it! If commander-in-chief really favors me, please recover my freedom and enable me to be free in the theater of operations, even I could be a scout once again..." Zhang Tie declined...The art of tea.

 1402 Regaining Freedom

    ''Would a person who''s ambitious about power refuse such a rare chance?''


    ''Of course not!''


    ''Is this young man cheating me?''


    Zuoqiu Mingyue denied the second thought immediately at the sight of Zhang Tie''s pure eyes. Based on Zuoqiu Mingyue''s rich experience, no trick could cheat his eyes. As a sage-level knight, his sharp insight could see through all the ruses.


    Zhang Tie''s bright and pure eyes caused Zuoqiu Mingyue to sigh with emotions. In Zuoqiu Mingyue''s opinion, this young knight was consummate in all aspects except being too soft-hearted sometimes and lacking interest in power. What others gagged for was nothing but sh*t for him.


    If not, how could he leave those poetic lines of "The Beloved Ones" and get the essence of sword song by reciting a poem on the battlefield?


    Because he was sentimental, he could get the truth.


    "If so, you could be a guerrilla general..." Zuoqiu Mingyue let out a sigh as he added, "From today on, you, as a guerrilla general, don''t have to follow anyone''s decree. Guerrilla general could fight demons wherever he wants at his discretion, above the ground or beneath the ground. When you encounter enemies, you could launch a strike whenever you want. As the proverb goes, being far away from Xuanyuan Hill, you could not follow His Majesty''s decree..."


    When Zuoqiu Mingyue said these words, a bizarre token appeared in his hand. Closely after that, he gave it to Zhang Tie.


    "Guerrilla general..." Zhang Tie was a bit curious about that. Holding the token, he started to observe it carefully. The token looked very delicate being similar to his Xuanyuan token. However, this one was apparently more senior. A line of words was engraved on one side of the token¡ª¡ªGuerrilla General of Taixia Country; while "Being free from His Majesty''s decree" were on the other side. The entire token was covered with secret grains. The token also carried some special rune effects. Additionally, a top quality remote-sensing crystal was embedded in the center of the token. The token looked very distinctive.


    "The position of the guerrilla general is definitely special. Because it is specially prepared for heavenly knights of the top 6 sects in Taixia Country on the battlefield. With this token, you could even access to the emperor''s city in Xuanyuan Hill and the camps of armies in Taixia Country. In emergencies, you could even assign all the soldiers and mounts under the affiliation of Cheji General of a province. In Lion Fortress of Earth Element Realm, you could even enter heavenly knight''s tower for cultivation by showing this token..."


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he finally understood that this token was the exclusive result when the imperial court gave compromise to the top 6 sects in Taixia Country. When in a holy war, the top 6 sects might fear that the imperial court would curtail the power of them by assigning their heavenly knights to fight demon heavenly knights. Therefore, the imperial court set guerrilla generals so that both parties thought it was fair-minded. Nominally, those heavenly knights of top 6 sects followed the leadership of His Majesty; actually, both parties could counter with each other when it was involved with their lives. No matter how powerful Xuanyuan Emperor was, he could not order a heavenly knight of a top clan to die for him.


    Although guerrilla general was not well-known around the country, he enjoyed an exceptional position.


    This token was appropriate for Zhang Tie well.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t fully agree with what the imperial court and Zuoqiu Mingyue did in the theater of operations and what he did might not satisfy everyone, he shared the general orientation with Zuoqiu Mingyue and imperial court of Taixia Country. With this new identity, he might cooperate with and maintain a distance with the imperial court of Taixia Country.


    "Thanks, commander-in-chief..." Zhang Tie stood up as he bowed deeply towards Zuoqiu Mingyue sincerely.


    "Perhaps others might be unsuitable to take this token, but I opine that you''re qualified to own it. Your strength is indeed not in using people and commanding the army. Perhaps you could perform better if you''re given greater freedom. With the identity of guerrilla general, you could leave the theater of operations whenever you want without any concern..."


    "Commander-in-chief, do you want me to leave the theater of operations?"


    "Demons have already assigned a heavenly knight to kill you. Unless you leave Xuanyuan Fortress, you would be killed for sure even with the help of the mutated thunder hawk!" Zuoqiu Mingyue told Zhang Tie sincerely as he looked into Zhang Tie''s eyes, "There''s still a long way to go before the end of this holy war. You''re still too young. You should have a bit insight. Based on your quality, you would definitely have a bright future after promoting to a heavenly knight. The demon army''s attack is still strong with great potential. Taixia Country has also just spared one hand to deal with the crisis facing the Western Theater of Operations. Neither party has fully exerted their efforts. The four provinces in the Western Theater of Operations might also be collapsed in the future. If Taixia Country could win the holy war in the end, it would be acceptable for us to lose the four provinces!"


    ''It depends even if I encounter a heavenly knight!''


    Zhang Tie muttered inside. However, he still appreciated Zuoqiu Mingyue''s good intention. Additionally, Zuoqiu Mingyue''s insight and judgment about the general trend of the holy war enlightened Zhang Tie well, "Thanks, commander-in-chief. I will consider whether to leave or not. As there are still so many things to enjoy, I treasure my own life very much!"


    "Glad you think that way. With body changing immortal bloodline, as long as you don''t want demon heavenly knight to discover you, they would never be able to find you no matter how many heavenly knights do they have!" Zuoqiu Mingyue said as he looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes, " Who do you think could take the office of Weiji General after you?"


    "I opine that commander-in-chief must have your own consideration about that. I don''t think it''s proper for me to say too much about that. However, given the situation facing the rear end of the theater of operations, everything has already been on the right track. As long as Lu Yanyu is there, the rear end would run normally as usual even if this position is vacant. In this way, it could indicate that commander-in-chief prefers to make people reassured than having a new Weiji General disrupt the existing order of the rear end for meritorious services in case of the internal disorder..."


    Zhang Tie suggested as Zuoqiu Mingyue nodded slowly and sighed with feeling, "You''re indeed experienced, talented and considerate. After you leave, it''s indeed a way for adjustment by leaving that position in vacancy. With this suggestion, you don''t live up to be my assistant over the past year..."


    Zuoqiu Mingyue''s words revealed his favor and pity about Zhang Tie.


    "I''m so sorry about that..." Zhang Tie was indeed sorry about that. Over the past one year, being nominally Zuoqiu Mingyue''s secretary and assistant, he didn''t even fulfill his responsibility at all. Not only that, he even quarreled with Zuoqiu Mingyue, causing the latter to smash his desk. What an audacious assistant of commander-in-chief...


    "Have the last cup of tea with me..." Zuoqiu Mingyue made another cup of tea for Zhang Tie.


    ...


    After finishing the last cup of tea with Zuoqiu Mingyue, Zhang Tie left. When he exited the highest tower in the center of Xuanyuan Fortress, he felt pretty relaxed all over and regained his freedom like a dragon returning to the ocean. Although the identity guerrilla general was not well-known or powerful, it was much more valuable than being a Weiji General for Zhang Tie. Its value could be manifested based on the identity of those who could get this token.


    In some sense, this token could be his amulet in Taixia Country. With this amulet, he could basically avoid from being suppressed and taken as cannon fodder by someone in name of righteousness.


    To date, it''s self-evident that nobody in Taixia Country could suppress him in name of righteousness. Zuoqiu Mingyue didn''t put it straight; however, Zhang Tie still owed to Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    As the adage went, one felt carefree when he was relieved of official duties. Zhang Tie had the same feeling at this moment. However, when he realized that 200 million innocent Hua civilians would be killed by his incendiary mines and incendiary bombs whose corpses would spread over the west bank of Weishui River, Zhang Tie felt an extremely heavy burden once again, causing a heavy frown...


    "I got you. Do you know how much I worry about you..." A figure threw into Zhang Tie''s arms like a baby swallow returning to its nest as she put her arms tightly around Zhang Tie...


    Of course, it was Bai Suxian.


    In Zhang Tie''s arms, Bai Suxian''s shoulder was quivering out of fear. She just put her arms around Zhang Tie tightly as if she was afraid of losing him all of a sudden. Zhang Tie''s chest soon turned wet by her tears.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know Bai Suxian''s response when she heard about his assassination. However, given her current look, Zhang Tie knew that Bai Suxian must have been scared too much by that news.


    After quite a long while, Bai Suxian separated with Zhang Tie. Raising her tearful eyes, she looked into Zhang Tie''s eyes affectionately.


    "If something bad happened to you, I would have died..."


    Bai Suxian''s voice sounded resolute yet weak, causing Zhang Tie''s heart to pound. Being silent, Zhang Tie just wiped off her tears tenderly as he kissed her forehead slightly...


    Feng Cangwu also appeared in front of Zhang Tie. As he walked towards Zhang Tie slowly on the street, he checked Zhang Tie all over carefully. Closely after that, he pursed his lips and punched Zhang Tie''s shoulder.


    "You disappointed me. I guessed that you lack an arm or a leg. How could you enjoy such a beauty here? That''s too preposterous..."


    Zhang Tie also punched Feng Cangwu''s shoulder as they laughed at each other.


    At this moment, another person appeared. It was Mountain Lifting Hermit whom Zhang Tie had not seen for a long time. At the sight of Zhang Tie, Mountain Lifting Hermit let out a deep sigh...


    "Let''s go for a drink..." Zhang Tie waved his arm as he burst out into laughter, "No drunk, no return!"


    ...

 1403 Being Hot-Blooded

    When Zhang Tie opened his eyes, Bai Suxian was still sleeping on the bed sweetly.


    After opening the quilt, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Bai Suxian''s elegant curve. He then covered her with the quilt lightly before getting off the bed and walking to the front of the window in a coat, looking in the distance.


    The day had just broken outside the window of the airboat. It was cold and frozen outside with flying snowflakes. Overnight, the earth had been in a vast expanse of whiteness.


    At the sight of this scenery, the poet might feel like creating a poem. When Zhang Tie saw Weishui River gradually icing up, he heavily frowned as he knew that the demon army''s attack would arrive once again after a couple of months'' rest with the freeze-up of Weishui River.


    The Weishui River, when it was frozen, would offset the advantage of Taixia''s fleet on water and collapse many means of Taixia Country in water. Additionally, the ground forces of demons would drive straight in the east bank of Weishui River without any tool.


    As the cannon fodder and vanguard of this attack of demons, hundreds of millions of Hua civilians'' corpses would cover 600 miles on the west of Weishui River.


    There might be more in the days to come!


    ''The incendiary mines that I''ve invented would become the hell of those captured Hua civilians.''


    Zuoqiu Mingyue could regard all this as the consumption of demon''s war resources and potential; however, as the inventor and culprit of Fiery Oil and various Fiery-Oil weapons, Zhang Tie felt guilty when he saw his inventions being used to slaughter common Hua civilians...


    As Zhang Tie watched the ground grimly with a heavy frown, he was brewing a thought.


    Since Zhang Tie was in custody in the Law Enforcement Center of the no. 46 air cavalry regiment, Zhang Tie had already got this thought. In the beginning, he was not sure whether this method was feasible. However, after a heavenly knight was assigned to assassinate "him", Zhang Tie had confirmed its feasibility, namely, he could save almost 200 million Hua civilians!


    Even so, he should pay a high price for it. He should not only expose all of his trump cards, but also might lose his life.


    Such a decision could barely be made by anyone. Therefore, Zhang Tie was still a bit hesitant. Zhang Tie didn''t mean to be a renowned saint; neither had he dreamed for a legendary life. He only wanted a comfortable life being accompanied by wives and kids, which was also his favorite. He would also be hesitant, balk at and measure dangers. However, whenever he closed his eyes, he would see numerous poor Hua civilians being driven to clear mines by demons, a mother trying to put out the flame over her baby, the old man kneeling down to whine, causing Zhang Tie hot-blooded ceaselessly.


    He could continue to watch everything happening distantly and calculate all the benefits and shortcomings precisely like a difference engine. He would not expose his trump cards and risk his life unless in need.


    On the other hand, he could live and do as he liked. He would surge forward even if there were tens of thousands of demon knights!


    ''Which way should I choose?''


    Forming a sharp contrast with the cold outside the airboat, the inside of the room was as warm as spring. When Zhang Tie was watching the scenery outside the window and simmering his plan, Bai Suxian had already come to his back and put her arms around Zhang Tie tightly, putting her face close against Zhang Tie''s back.


    "You''re thinking about something..." Bai Suxian muttered.


    As Zhang Tie''s woman, Bai Suxian could well sense Zhang Tie''s feeling.


    Revealing a smile, Zhang Tie looked at the distance as he said, "There''s a flower called udumbara in the legend. It opens per 3,000 years when it encounters someone who could interact with it. Do you think it is worth that or not?"


    "Some flowers open yearly and fade lonely in woods with its fragrance. Although they have opened millions of times, they''re still alone. By contrast, some flowers open per 3,000 years when they could interact with people who understand them, even if they won''t open anymore..." Bai Suxian replied with emotions as she put her arms around Zhang Tie tightly.


    "Thanks, I see..." Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh as he finally determined his mind. Turning around, he cupped Bai Suxian''s pretty face and said, "I have to leave Xuanyuan Fortress for some days. During this period, you''d better not stay here. Go back to Iron-Dragon Sect..."


    As the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Bai Suxian was actually already free when Bai Runcheng and the other knights of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion arrived at the theater of operations. Nobody forced her to stay in the theater of operations to fight demons.


    "You want me back?" Bai Suxian asked Zhang Tie out of amazement.


    "I''m a guerrilla general. I''m free. I will go back after a few days too. I will be more reassured when you''re at home. Additionally, your uncle and the other knights of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion would not allow you to fight demons on the battlefield. Why not help me look after the house..." Zhang Tie said with a casual smile.


    "Where''re you heading for?"


    Zhang Tie slapped Bai Suxian''s plump butt and said with a serious look, "Women don''t need to know their man''s plan..."


    "I just care about you..." Bai Suxian liked Zhang Tie''s crafty very much. When she found that Zhang Tie was silent, she embraced Zhang Tie as she twisted her waist and acted like a spoiled child cheerily.


    ...


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie left Xuanyuan Fortress after bidding a farewell to Feng Cangwu and the other friends using remote-sensing crystals.


    Zhang Tie left stealthily. Even Bai Suxian didn''t come out to see him off. As for Mountain Lifting Hermit, he had already left after escorting a batch of materials to Xuanyuan Fortress and having a drink with Zhang Tie last night.


    Standing in the strong wind and snow, Zhang Tie threw a deep glance at the demon''s camp. Closely after that, he whistled while his thunder hawk flashed towards him from the skyline. After Zhang Tie jumped onto its back, the thunder hawk instantly rushed into the sky and disappeared from the bank of Weishui River at a speed which was two times the speed of sound towards east...


    The thunder hawk moved so fast that the wind and snow had been blown away by the wave caused by the supersonic flight before they touched the thunder hawk. None of it fell onto Zhang Tie.


    The moment Zhang Tie left Xuanyuan Fortress, many people had already known that...


    ...

 1404 Being Determined

    "Master, Zhang Tie has left Xuanyuan Fortress this morning..." a disciple of Feng Yexiao passed this news to him soon after Zhang Tie left there for more than 10 minutes.


    As Zhang Tie was already a pillar in Xuanyuan Fortress like a star, each of his movement would catch others'' attention for sure.


    Feng Yexiao frowned. After hearing that Zhang Tie was assassinated by a heavenly demon knight yesterday, Feng Yexiao felt pretty good. Although he couldn''t celebrate it apparently, he couldn''t stand hiding his smile. However, after hearing that Zhang Tie came back and killed an earth spider demon knight outside Xuanyuan Fortress, Feng Yexiao felt completely disappointed. He had sworn that the heavenly demon knight was as silly as an idiot many times inside.


    Feng Yexiao didn''t have a liking for Zhang Tie since they met in Earth-elements Realm. After Zhang Tie won an airboat from him, Zhang Tie had become sore in his eye.


    Zhang Tie was an earth knight; Feng Yexiao was a shadow knight. Previously, Feng Yexiao could still look down upon Zhang Tie as Zhang Tie was just sore in his eyes; after Zhang Tie got the essence of sword song on the battlefield, this sore had become a rising morning star, whose brilliance ached Feng Yexiao''s eyes, scorching his heart. As a result, Feng Yexiao could not look down upon him in a discomposed way anymore...


    "Where is he going?" Feng Yexiao asked with a frown.


    "He left for the east by his thunder hawk..."


    Feng Yexiao sneered as he told his disciples, "After his substitute was assassinated by that heavenly demon knight yesterday, he has resigned as Weiji General out of fear. I''ve not imagined that he has left the theater of operations for the rear end out of fear soon after being a guerrilla general. It''s so preposterous that such a timid guy who escaped with the onset of the large-scale war could have such a great reputation in the theater of operations..."


    "I agree with you, master..."


    "I agree with you, Elder Feng..."


    "Zhang Tie is just an undeservingly honored person..."


    Those disciples of Taiyi Fantasy Sect who had suffered a loss from Zhang Tie started to swear Zhang Tie one after another after getting the essence of Feng Yexiao''s words.


    In less than 1 hour, the news that Zhang Tie had left Xuanyuan Fortress for the rear end out of fear had been spread over Xuanyuan Fortress being pushed by someone malicious...


    After hearing this news, someone held his own wrist out of concern, someone was disappointed, someone was driven mad, someone swore, someone was delighted in his discomfiture...


    Zuoqiu Mingyue also got the news.


    In the highest tower in the center of Xuanyuan Fortress, Zuoqiu Mingyue stood there with hands on his back and a slight frown as he looked at the gloomy sky in the far.


    ''Where''s Zhang Tie?''


    Zuoqiu Mingyue would never believe that Zhang Tie escaped out of fear. However, with the outset of the large-scale war, Zhang Tie left Xuanyuan Fortress for the east soon after he was appointed as a guerrilla general. No wonder it arose heated discussions...


    ...


    When many people in Xuanyuan Fortress were talking about Zhang Tie''s sudden departure, the thunder hawk had already landed in a remote, lofty and towering mountain in Ningzhou Province over 1,200 miles away.


    Snowflakes were flying over the vast land of Ningzhou Province, whitening the ground. Facing strong wind and snow, Zhang Tie could barely open his eyes. Nobody else could be found within hundreds of miles of this mountainous area, except for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie landed on a boulder that reached out of the cliff in the mountainous area. It was a clough beneath this cliff. In dense mist and cloud, the cliff was enshrouded by woods, making it a pretty hidden place.


    There was an old vigorous pine beside the boulder. A mountain cave was right behind the boulder.


    "Go back to Youzhou Province. Don''t come back unless I call you..." Zhang Tie whispered to the thunder hawk while stroking its furry head.


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s order, the thunder hawk rubbed its head against Zhang Tie for a few seconds before rushing into the sky towards Youzhou Province.


    As the thunder hawk only stayed here for less than 10 seconds, nobody could find that Zhang Tie had already got off his thunder hawk within hundreds of miles.


    Seeing off his thunder hawk, Zhang Tie turned around and entered the mountain cave behind him.


    A faint, sweet flavor emitted from the mountain cave. However, it was definitely not from an exotic herb.


    A 30 cm-thick and over-30 m-long mutated bloody boa was hibernating in the cave while emitting a faintly sweet flavor.


    After sensing someone entering the cave, the boa opened its eyes. However, the moment it looked into Zhang Tie''s eyes, it had been still out of fear. After sensing a bit of Zhang Tie''s looming qi, the bloody boa had felt soft all over, including its bones as if the doomsday was coming. It didn''t even have the thought to resist.


    It was the qi from the "Weapon" sutra in "King Roc Sutra" that Zhang Tie cultivated. Any sort of dragon or snake would be completely oppressed by this qi, whether it was a virtual image or a mutated beast, not to mention such a tiny bloody boa.


    "Baby, just sleep; don''t look around; I will not hurt you. However, if you see something, some animal controlling powerhouses might get some information from you. By then, I have to kill you..." Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    Zhang Tie entered this mountain cave only for the sake of changing his clothes and look. While resting inside, he started to wait for the night.


    The bloody boa seemed to have understood Zhang Tie''s words as it nodded and closed its eyes.


    Zhang Tie then sat down on a clean rock inside the mountain cave. With eyes closed, he took out a water element crystal as he started to absorb it.


    Zhang Tie left Xuanyuan Fortress only for promoting to a shadow knight.


    He had to promote to a new stage of shadow knight at his utmost effort before Weishui River was completely frozen. Only by making it come true could he carry out his plan for a greater probability of success.


    He only had fewer than 7 days left. Therefore, Zhang Tie had to break through it within 7 days.


    As for common knights, it was a pretty tough breakthrough; however, for Zhang Tie who had already lit 357 scales on his water chakra, he only needed 1 or 2 earth knights of demons or heavenly reaching church to accomplish this promotion...


    As earth knights of demons and heavenly reaching church were in the west, Zhang Tie especially left the theater of operations towards the east so as to eliminate suspicion.

 1405 A 10,000 miless Rush

    Whenever it was, the deep night was always the best protection for all the nocturnal animals.


    Few people moved in the evening. Additionally, even if they had night-viewing medicaments, their vision could never match that in the daytime. If it was too far away from the target, the effect of night-viewing medicaments would be greatly discounted.


    After using up all the 20-odd water-element crystals in his hand, Zhang Tie opened his eyes. Although it was still windy and snowy outside the mountain cave, it had already been pitch-dark. As the gloomy sky was covered with thick clouds, no starlight could be seen through.


    It was time for action.


    The huge boa just slept on Zhang Tie''s side quietly. Zhang Tie picked himself up as he teleported those empty water-element crystals into Castle of Black Iron. In a split second, he was in the hard and grim armor of Chaos.


    Zhang Tie triggered a master-level hiding skill. Closely after that, the pitch-dark Chaos had become looming like the skin of a chameleon, completely integrating its color with the background color of the mountain cave, manifesting the grains of nearby stones.


    When Zhang Tie exited the mountain cave, the Chaos changed its color into a dark gray. When the snowflakes fell onto his Chaos, snowflake-shaped spots soon covered over his Chaos.


    Being silent, Zhang Tie immediately rushed into the sky from the boulder and reached the cloud over 20,000 m high as fast as a lightning bolt before moving towards the north.


    In this case, clouds could prevent him from being discovered.


    Zhang Tie could see through the clouds and see things far away by his lotus flower eyes; however, the others couldn''t do it.


    Zhang Tie moved very fast as he had already triggered his flight ability as a divine dominator. Only after a short while, he had reached 8 times the speed of sound. Benefited from such a high speed, he soon flew across Ningzhou Province and entered the air territory of Huanzhou Province. After passing by Huanzhou Province, Zhang Tie changed his direction and flew towards Helan Mountain Range in the west.


    At such a high speed, Zhang Tie was like a specter and a lightning bolt that penetrated through clouds. Even heavenly knights couldn''t catch up with him.


    Only after a short while, the familiar Helan Mountain Range had appeared under his foot.


    Compared to the two banks of Weishui River, Helan Mountain Range was another battlefield. Because Helan Mountain Range had sophisticated terrain, high mountains and dense woods like a huge barrier that lasted thousands of miles, no troop of over 10,000 population could carry out the action in the mountains freely. Additionally, ground forces would find it difficult to move to the mountains. There were many dangerous abysses in the mountain range where even birds couldn''t fly across. In this case, demons put their main force to break through Weishui River while only leaving 10 more spider demon corps in Helan Mountain Range and some demon knights in the periphery of Helan Mountain Range.


    Helan Mountain Range had become the battlefield of middle and small forces between Taixia Country and demons.


    The battles in Helan Mountain were not as mighty and overwhelming as that on banks of Weishui River. However, it was more dangerous for fighters of Taixia Country to attend battles in Helan Mountain Range.


    Even at a high altitude, Zhang Tie could still see clearly the sparkles and silent killings in the woods of Helan Mountain Range lasting 600 miles.


    The sparkles were caused by incendiary mines and bolts. Killings were undergoing throughout the time. Both parties were trapping and killing each other. Tens of thousands of small units of Hua fighters and demons were crisscrossing and spraying blood over the snow land in Helan Mountain Range.


    Zhang Tie flew by Helan Mountain Range and continued to move towards the west.


    Although the battlefield at the foot was fierce, it didn''t belong to him.


    Demons set a floating battlefortress in the west of Helan Mountain Range. Demon Knights were accessing to it. Similarly, Taixia Country set two floating battle fortresses in the east of Helan Mountain Range, confronting with demons.


    This place was not far from the main camp of the demon army. Additionally, many demon knights were guarding there. It was not proper for hunting earth demon knights here. Therefore, Zhang Tie rushed over without demur, leaving behind the floating battlefortress of demons.


    After flying across Helan Mountain Range, Zhang Tie entered the air territory of Wuzhou Province. At this moment, the entire territory of Wuzhou Province had been collapsed. Zhang Tie kept moving towards the west.


    After crossing the frontline of the demon army, Zhang Tie could see a demon camp in every 600 miles. Each demon camp was based on the original city of Taixia Country and contained millions of demon fighters and over 100 demon knights. In case of Hua knights'' raid, demon camps were strictly safeguarded. Knights were taking actions in terms of squads, sparing no chance for Zhang Tie.


    Last time, Yan Feiqing almost fell in a trap set by demons in such places. Of course, Zhang Tie would not make the same mistake.


    In fact, Zhang Tie had long predicted about such a situation. Therefore, he didn''t target these demon camps. His target was actually in Yinzhou City. Yinzhou City was once the provincial city of Yinzhou Province and now the "capital" of Heavens Reaching Empire. A band of remnants of Heavens Reaching Church who betrayed Taixia Country and went and sought refuge and honor with demons was ruling the city.


    At least half of the 29 earth knights on the ranking list of criminals in Supreme Court of Taixia Country were in Yinzhou City.


    Yinzhou City was about 8,000 miles away from Helan Mountain Range.


    In addition, Yinzhou City had already been renamed as Heavens Reaching City by the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church.


    Zhang Tie flew over demon camps and cities which were occupied by demons one after another. At the speed which was 8 times the speed of sound, it only took him less than 2 hours to arrive at the sky above Yinzhou City.


    Yinzhou City was a magnificent Class A city. The entire city was girdled by a demon camp. All the way here, Zhang Tie found that most of the cities occupied by demons were pitch-dark. However, in order to prove the "prosperity" of the capital of Heavens Reaching Empire, the entire city was covered with fluorescent lamps, including the top of city walls. From the sky, Yinzhou City was a bit boisterous.


    Squads of demon fighters were patrolling in the city. Whenever those patrolling demon fighters passed by Hua captives, those fraught Hua civilians would hurriedly give way to them as they stood on the roadside...

 1406 Zhang Ties Trap

    Although Yinzhou City looked brightly lit from the sky, it was a bit contradicting behind those lamplights.


    In such heavy, snowy weather and such a deep night, most of the stores in other provinces must have been closed. However, all the stores in the downtown of Yinzhou City even those small shops in lanes were still brightly lit, making it a bit unreasonable.


    Previously, Zhang Tie heard that the band of remnants of Heavens Reaching Church founded Heavens Reaching Empire with the support of demons and issued some absurd decrees to display the prosperity and popularity of the region under the rule of Heavens Reaching Church, for instance, those stores inside the city couldn''t close up until 12 am. At the sight of the nightscape here, Zhang Tie realized that the gossip was true.


    Demons and humans had been living together in the same city while the former was in a supreme position. This city might be the blueprint and template of demons'' rule over Hua people in the future.


    The aborigines inside Yinzhou City had already started to be brainwashed. When Zhang Tie saw those patrolling demon fighters passing by, those Hua captives balked at them on the roadsides while giving a salute to them. Nobody dared oppose demons. Those dissidents might have already been "tackled" by demons and Heavens Reaching Church...


    Of course, such a case looked a bit abnormal for the time being. However, if demons really won this holy war, when the brilliant history of humans and Taixia Country was completely eliminated and all the seniors who knew this period of history had passed away for 100 or 200 years, would those commoners who were born to worship demons as nobles and idols feel it abnormal to worship demons? By then, demons might prefer themselves to be called deities while those puppets and lackeys with the support of demons would also become the ruling class of humans...


    New religion would appear; so would history being comprised of lies. By then, humans might be forced to forget about cultivation; instead, they would submit themselves to the ruling system established by demons and their lackeys.


    It was not an illusion, but the reappearance of the reality facing humans before the Catastrophe.


    Watching Yinzhou City, Zhang Tie further determined his mind to fight demons until the end.


    Many buildings inside Yinzhou City had been ruined by battle flames. At least the White Tiger Platform in the center of the downtown, where the Yinzhou Provincial Mansion was, had been burned into ashes. Although half of it had been restored, nobody was living inside. The entire White Tiger Platform was girdled by building materials. Those construction workers were crowding in low tents in order to avoid from the sharp frost...


    Many residents had migrated into the city. The factories in the city were still running. Even the villages outside the city were occupied by people. Even the farmland was not wasted. Given the current situation, the industrial and agricultural production in Yinzhou City were both running normally. Many people were living there according to the will of Heavens Reaching Church and demons.


    In this case, even though there were knights of Three-eye Association inside the city, it was not easy for Zhang Tie to find them from such a big city even with lotus flower eyes.


    After thinking for a short while in clouds and glancing at Yinzhou City for a few seconds, Zhang Tie had already got an idea.


    With a master-level hiding skill, Zhang Tie was like a transparent snowflake. Being covered by darkness, he slowly declined into a tidy storage area in the west of Yinzhou City from over 20,000 m high.


    Just now, Zhang Tie found that this storage area was full of new weaponry and military materials.


    ...


    "Old six, it''s too cold. Why not take out the sweet potato spirit that you got from widow Xu outside the city and share it with our brothers?"


    In the gatehouse, 6 soldiers in odd uniforms of Heavens Reaching Empire were warming themselves around a fire basket meticulously. The moment Zhang Tie landed, he had heard these words.


    "Hehhehheh, Brother Xu, I have no sweet potato spirit..."


    "No crap. I saw you drink it yesterday. Don''t be that stingy. Otherwise, how about our brothers traveling to the village outside the city and having a chat with widow Cao in a couple of days and be your brothers-in-law? That woman is a good b*tch. You must have been coveting her for a long time. Previously, you were sent to prison for the crime of pilferage; after being released, you could still open her door with your uniform. Wouldn''t our brothers do it?" A libertine and a threatening voice sounded.


    "Brother Xu, it''s my fault. Here''s the sweet potato spirit. I''m holding it for you. Let''s share it..." That man instantly gave concession to the other one.


    As Zhang Tie listened to the talk, he walked over there quietly.


    "Tut-tut...it tastes great. I''ve not drunk for a long time...Old six, don''t be that narrow-minded. This father respects you today for letting us drink your sweet potato spirit. Do you know 3rd Boss Ma? This father might serve him one day..."


    "Ahh, you know 3rd Boss Ma, Brother Xu..." Brother Xu was soon buried by flattery.


    "Of course, when 3rd Boss Ma was hunted by those black-skin dogs of the court in Langu County due to some beauties, I saved him by hiding him in my cellar and had him stay inside for half a month. Now, 3rd Boss Ma has gained the favor of a high-rank official and become the chief patroller of the east city district of Heavens Reaching City. If I met him, of course, he would promote me. It''s just a matter of one sentence. By then, we would not be worried about our lives..."


    "Yes, yes..."


    "Brother Xu, how about taking a round?"


    "It''s so cold. Who would dare find trouble here? The gate is right in front of us. We have the key. Let''s go inside. Don''t worry about that..."


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had already arrived at the gate of the guardhouse. A guy with some pigmented naevus and some fine hair on his red face replied loudly, sending saliva in the air. When he finished the word "that", he had already seen Zhang Tie in Chaos. Under the lamplight, the Chaos started to change its color.


    Brother Xu was struck dumb at once. At the sight of Brother Xu''s abnormal look, all the others turned around. When they caught sight of Zhang Tie, they instantly became still as if their heads were frozen.


    These lackeys were nothing but sh*t for Zhang Tie. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like paying any attention to them. Only by snapping his fingers, a magical note had entered their ears, causing their eye light puzzled. However, in a split second, all of them recovered as if they had not seen Zhang Tie at all or Zhang Tie was transparent. They continued to drink fervently inside the door...


    "I heard that 3rd Boss Ma married Boss Liu''s daughter a few days ago. I''ve seen her daughter before. She''s really bright and beautiful. 3rd Boss Ma is really lucky..."


    "Of course, how could Miss Liu be matched by old women like Widow Cao?"


    ...


    Zhang Tie just gazed at the lock of the gate of the warehouse. Only by running his spiritual energy, he had already unlocked the gate. After the gate opened partly and quietly, Zhang Tie entered it calmly.


    After staying in the warehouse for 2 minutes, Zhang Tie left out of there. The guardhouse was still noisy. The gate of the warehouse then closed while being locked up automatically. After that, Zhang Tie flashed away.


    After returning to the sky, Zhang Tie just hid in the cloud and waited quietly.


    Only after one minute, the warehouse where Zhang Tie entered just now had caught fire. Closely after that, with a boom, a part of the roof of the warehouse was sent flying into the sky, exposing the top of the flame. The glow of the flame reflected the sky at once while the boom shocked almost half of Yinzhou City.


    "Ahh, hurry up, put out the fire..." When the warehouse was burning up and exploding, those guys outside the gate of the warehouse instantly rushed over here like heroes...


    The demon camp both inside and outside Yinzhou City was shocked by the explosion. A band of colorful meteors instantly flew towards this warehouse.


    Over 30 demon knights rushed out of the demon camp under the leadership of an ox-head shadow demon knight. Among 20-odd knights that flew towards here from inside the city, 7-8 of them were earth knights of Heavens Reaching Church being hunted by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country.


    None of them could find Zhang Tie who was right above their head in the cloud. However, Zhang Tie had already born their looks and origins where they came from in mind.


    As long as the ruse of beating the grass and frightening away the snakes was adopted well, it would save a lot of strength and time. Zhang Tie thought in the cloud as he revealed a sneer.


    The ox-head shadow demon knight entered the warehouse first. Closely after that, it flew out of the warehouse as it said in a stentorian voice, "Nobody''s inside..."


    All the other knights looked around and didn''t find anybody at all.


    A nearby camp was shocked while thousands of soldiers set off their barracks towards the warehouse in preparation for putting out the fire.


    The reason for the fire accident was a bit strange. It seemed that some military materials in the warehouse got burned all of a sudden. However, the gate and all the facilities in the warehouse were well preserved. After putting out the fire, they found no loss greater than some materials and the lives of some soldiers who were responsible for guarding this warehouse, not to mention any enemies.


    As it was cold, mismanagement might lead to some loopholes sometimes. However, sabotage was not excluded. However, it was not a big deal, at least for knights. Therefore, after over 1 hour''s relief, they finally put out the fire. After realizing that nothing else happened, all the over 30 knights returned to the places where they came from.


    Standing in the cloud, Zhang Tie watched those earth knights of Heavens Reaching Church as he licked his lips...


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t move; instead he just fixed his eyes onto his targets with lotus flower eyes. Not until 6-7 hours later when it came to midnight did Zhang Tie start his action like a nocturnal predator.


    Zhang Tie''s first target was the most powerful one among those earth knights of Heavens Reaching Church.


    However, as for Zhang Tie, that lackey was just a joke.


    With the effect of divine dominator, lotus flower eyes and master-level hiding skill, Zhang Tie''s movement was so secretive that he was not discovered until he came to the bedside of that earth knight. Soon after that guy opened its eyes, before it uttered any voice and released its protective battle qi, it had been knocked out by Zhang Tie''s punches on its temples...


    ...


    On the next early morning, the entire Yinzhou City was filled with alarms and in chaos. All the members of the the demon camp outside the city had been mobilized; because half of the 20-odd knights who were pillars of Heavens Reaching Empire inside Yinzhou City disappeared overnight, driving all the other lackeys of Heavens Reaching Church flurried...


    ...

 1407 A Merciless Feas

    "I''m the prime minister of Heavens Reaching Church, Wang Baozhong, where am I? Who''re you..."


    "Let me go..."


    Inside Castle of Black Iron, the band of remnants of Heavens Reaching Church who were knocked out and teleported into Castle of Black Iron woke up one after another. After finding that they were restricted by the professional cage prepared for them by Edward, all of them shrieked.


    In the lobby of the palace tree, Zhang Tie took out of a bloody furnace. The solemn 30 m higher deity integrating human and snake was looking down at the sacrificial altar with its 3 eyes, causing the atmosphere of the lobby depressive and dangerous at once.


    Not to mention that it was a palace in front of their eyes. Additionally, a Hua teenager was talking to his foreign steward with his back against them. What a weird scene! They could never figure out where they were no matter how they racked their mind.


    Edward and Zhang Tie''s three servants were pushing Zhang Tie''s "captives" out of the dungeon one after another.


    Zhang Tie gained 7 earth knights and 4 black iron knights from Yinzhou City. Those d**chebag "pillars" of Heavens Reaching Empire were reduced to half by Zhang Tie. If Zhang Tie submitted them to the Supreme Court of Taixia Country, it would be a great meritorious service. However, that bit of meritorious service could never match that of promoting himself to a shadow knight, not to mention that he could enjoy fruits after killing these b*stards.


    The 11 knights of Heavens Reaching Church brought Zhang Tie 2 space-teleportation equipment. Zhang Tie was speechless about it. It appeared to be very difficult for others to get space-teleportation equipment; however, Zhang Tie could always get space-teleportation equipment. Even though some of them had been taken away by Yan Feiqing, Zhang Tie still got two more in Yinzhou City. Zhang Tie didn''t even know what to say...


    From Han Zhengfang and his sons, Gao Tianzhao to these "pillars" of Heavens Reaching Empire, even Zhang Tie found that he was born to eliminate the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church. Since these b*stards started to screw him in Fuhai City, what he did later could always almost uproot the foundation of Heavens Reaching Church in Taixia Country; additionally, he had destroyed Heavens Reaching Church''s conspiracy regarding the construction of bloody pools across Taixia Country. If what he had done could be counted as his meritorious service, Zhang Tie wondered how he would be awarded.


    When Zhang Tie heard that guy''s clamor, he couldn''t help but turn around as he threw a cold glance at that guy. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the so-called prime minister of Heavens Reaching Empire was completely a little-known small figure. Even though their names were on the Ranking List of Criminals of Taixia Country, Zhang Tie was still not interested in them.


    "Zhang Tie..." The ''prime minister of Heavens Reaching Empire'' instantly recognized Zhang Tie as it shouted in a daze.


    Since Zhang Tie became hostile against Heavens Reaching Church, he had been familiar with their top brass.


    "You''re right. But you''ve got no reward..." Zhang Tie said calmly, "But, I''m not used to mistreating people. Don''t worry. I promise you a quick death!"


    "Where are we? What do you want to do with us..."


    "You''re in the world that I''ve created. You could call it Castle of Black Iron. Simply, I want you to die..." Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the captives of Heavens Reaching Church changed their faces as they drooled sweat all over. They might not know where was Castle of Black Iron, not to mention the meaning that "you''re in the world that I''ve created". However, all of them guessed that they were in the private territory of Zhang Tie. Additionally, they would have no good result in Zhang Tie''s hand. As for how they were transported here from Yinzhou City, they didn''t feel like asking about it as their lives counted most at this moment...


    "It''s not us who screwed you in Fuhai City. It''s the order from our leader..." The ''prime minister of Heavens Reaching Empire'' still argued that he was innocent to survive himself.


    Zhang Tie sneered, ''At this moment, do these people really think that they could survive by their "eloquence"? You''re too naive...''


    Right then, Zhang Tie''s three servants had already pushed out the two shadow knights, Gao Tianzhao and Ockham from the dungeon.


    At the sight of Gao Tianzhao, all the other knights of Heavens Reaching Church at present were dumbfounded as they had not imagined that Gao Tianzhao who had disappeared was also in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    "Elder Gao, why''re you here..."


    "Elder Gao, what happened to you..."


    Those knights of Heavens Reaching Church exclaimed.


    At this moment, Gao Tianzhao had been sluggish and moribund with disordered hair after several times'' extraction. He was far from a shadow knight. Previously, Gao Tianzhao''s eyelight still contained hatred and killing intent; whereas, his eyes were full of fear at this moment.


    Zhang Tie didn''t waste time anymore.


    ''As I''ve almost fully extracted the value of Gao Tianzhao and Ockham, after killing these two shadow knights, I could still get fruits of bloodline and fruits of brilliance. But after promoting to a shadow knight, I would not have any fruit of bloodline. Additionally, the knights of Heavens Reaching Church could donate a quality fruit of brilliance to me. As I''m desiring for a great strength, it''s unnecessary for me to leave them alive.''


    ''This is the last and merciless feast before I promote to a shadow knight.''


    Zhang Tie didn''t have any mental burden about those knights of Heavens Reaching Church who betrayed humans and went and sought refuge with demons and that Ockham who couldn''t wait to sweep out Ice and Snow Wilderness. In this world, someone''s existence was a disaster; Zhang Tie would not casually kill a stray dog; however, he felt that these b*stards couldn''t even match a stray dog.


    Under the gaze of all the knights of Heavens Reaching Church at present, Zhang Tie walked straight to the front of "The prime minister of Heavens Reaching Empire, Wang Baozhong". In Wang Baozhong''s frightened eyelight, Zhang Tie put on hand onto his head as he started his Purgatory Samsara Method.


    Wang Baozhong was an earth knight who had reached 6 changes realm. He had already lit over half of his water chakra. It could be said that he had plentiful water elements which were sufficient for Zhang Tie to promote to a shadow knight.


    Therefore, Wang Baozhong became Zhang Tie''s first target...

 1408 The Baptism of Deity

    Someone said that labor pain ranked highest. The one who said that must have not tried the taste of Purgatory Samsara Method. The pain of Purgatory Samsara Method could be recognized literally. Being tortured by Purgatory Samsara Method, even knights would collapse physically and mentally...


    When Zhang Tie started to shatter the water chakra of the "prime minister of Heavens Reaching Empire", this guy instantly dropped off tears and nasal mucus while uttering earth-shaking howls.


    Hearing the miserable howls of the "prime minister of Heavens Reaching Church", Gao Tianzhao and Ockham couldn''t help but turn pale. Like a rabbit in cold wind, Ockham the chief halos priest of the east parish of Sacred Light Empire kept quivering.


    As Ockham was quivering, he kept randomly glancing here and there. Based on his "existential experience", he had already sensed that the atmosphere today was apparently different than before. Zhang Tie behaved more grimly, Today, Zhang Tie didn''t even pay attention to him. After he was pushed out of the dungeon by Agan, Ockham had felt that he was more like livestock being sent into the slaughterhouse or a rusty part being thrown into the steelmaking furnace for recycling instead of a knight.


    "If you knew that you would face such a result, did you do that at the beginning? Whatever you howl, can you imagine how many innocent Hua people died miserably because of the bloody figures that you curtained in bloody pools after the turmoil in Xuanyuan Hill? Do you know how many harmonious and warm families were disrupted because of you? Until today, the bloody figures had not been eradicated. Some bloody figures are hiding in the depth of dense woods and still causing troubles everywhere. Over dozens of years, you''ve deliberately demonized the grains of Taixia Country. Do you know how many tragical scenes of exchanging children for food would happen in Taixia Country if the food crisis really happened across Taixia Country in the holy war? A knight could be wealthy and dignified wherever he is; is it really that necessary for you to serve demons at the risk of your lives?"


    Zhang Tie said icily as he kept shattering Wang Baozhong''s water chakra and refining his water elements.


    The "prime minister of Heavens Reaching Empire" completely fainted in miserable howls.


    With the effect of Purgatory Samsara Method, Zhang Tie soon absorbed enough water elements to light 3 scales of his water chakra. Closely after that, he grabbed Wang Baozhong''s head and threw Zhang Baozhong into the furnace.


    "The prime minister of Heavens Reaching Empire" was instantly burned into ashes in the bloody sacrifice furnace.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie moved his hand onto the head of the other pillar of Heavens Reaching Empire. As that b*stard turned miserably pale, Zhang Tie threw the second earth knight into the bloody sacrifice furnace without demur once again.


    After throwing these b*stards into bloody sacrifice furnace, even though Zhang Tie killed them, he could still get corresponding fruits from the small tree. Meanwhile, their bodies could serve as the source of energy for the bloody sacrifice furnace.


    Only after eating two earth knights, the third eye on the forehead of that deity above the bloody sacrifice furnace had started to shine. At the same time, the small tree which was not far started to give out strange brilliance and exotic fragrance as a fruit of brilliance gradually grew up on a twig.


    "Ahh, don''t kill me. I will do whatever you want me to do..." The third earth knight started to implore.


    Not everyone could withstand the test of life or death situation.


    "You''re too dirty. I''d rather raise a dog..." Zhang Tie said coldly as he waved his arm, throwing another earth demon knight into the bloody sacrifice furnace.


    Watching Zhang Tie throwing 3 earth knights who could be throne priests in Sacred Light Empire into the incinerator, Ockham who was quivering all over had incontinence. He finally figured out why the atmosphere today was different than usual; because Zhang Tie had lost his patience and wanted to dispose of all of them today. However, Ockham still had a faintly fluke mind¡ª¡ªperhaps Zhang Tie only wants to recover the water chakra of his or Gao Tianzhao''s like before...


    That was a marvelous sacrificial platform and furnace. However, all this was a nightmare that Ockham would not touch anymore for the rest of his life. In Ockham''s eyes, Zhang Tie was the devil of the devil. If the time could turn back, Ockham preferred to not step in Ice and Snow Wilderness as well as hope that he had not heard Zhang Tie''s name and seen this young yet chilling face.


    However, after realizing that Zhang Tie didn''t spare any chance for them to surrender, all of them started to swear Zhang Tie ferociously.


    "Zhang Tie, let''s see it. Our patriarch would avenge for us and break you into ashes and destroy your entire family..."


    "I wouldn''t let you go even if I were a ghost..."


    "You will die in a miserable way..."


    "I''m sorry, Han Zhengfang and his sons have already been killed ahead of you by me. I''ve already turned their bones into ashes. Therefore, don''t expect that someone else could avenge for you. As for being ghosts. You couldn''t even live as a sensible person, not to mention being ghosts. As you encounter me, I will refine you both physically and spiritually..." As Zhang Tie said, he soon threw all the 7 earth knights and 4 black iron knights into the bloody sacrifice furnace without demur and eradicated them.


    Zhang Tie then came to the front of Gao Tianzhao.


    "Humans would not win this holy war. Zhang Tie, don''t be complacent too early. You will not have a good result either..." Gao Tianzhao said with forlorn laughter, "You will also have a miserable fate like me. You can never escape it..."


    As an elder of Heavens Reaching Church, Gao Tianzhao performed a bit more backbone.


    "I prefer a clear conscience. I don''t consider whether humans would win the holy war or not. I would only do my job well. Even if humans couldn''t win in the end, I would still survive myself. It''s none of your business. But, you would not see the end of this holy war whatever it is..." Zhang Tie smiled as he grabbed Gao Tianzhao with his neck and threw him into bloody sacrifice furnace like how he did to a chick.


    The moment Gao Tianzhao was thrown into the bloody sacrifice furnace, he had turned into ashes. Closely after that, the deity above the bloody sacrifice furnace gave out strong brilliance as if it had taken a tonic.


    Zhang Tie then came to the front of Ockham as he frowned about the latter''s wet pant. It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that Ockham was such a coward.


    Gao Tianzhao''s annihilation had already destroyed the last glimmer of hope for Ockham. Ockham cried and howled as he told Zhang Tie in the most pious way as soon as possible.


    "Don''t kill me. I could be your most pious slave servant. There''s a secret method in Sacred Light Empire in which a knight could submit his fate to another one by opening his own awareness and chakra to that one in case of betrayal. I wish to open my awareness and soul to you and become your most pious servant. I wish to donate all the honors and wealth that I''ve acquired in Sacred Light Empire, Western Continent to you and follow you forever. Your most pious slave servant Ockham beseech you to spare me a chance of confession, my master..."


    Ockham put it very poorly. However, before Zhang Tie replied, Edward, Agan and Aziz on the side of Ockham had fixed him with a furious glance.


    "B*stard, we''re the most pious servants of our master. Do you want to deprive of our honor?"


    "How dare you ignore our existence..."


    "Liar. When I started to run an errand for our master and brewed wine for our master, you''ve not even entered Castle of Black Iron yet..."


    The 3 pious slave servants of Zhang Tie couldn''t curb their anger as they directly beat up Ockham, causing him to shriek miserably.


    The poor Ockham, who was the former renowned halos priest of Sacred Light Empire couldn''t even believe that he would be beaten badly by Zhang Tie''s slave servants when he expressed his instance.


    When Ockham was shrieking miserably, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Heller. Heller then nodded slightly.


    Everyone had his own strong point. Zhang Tie had not imagined that there was a secret method that could be used to control knights in Sacred Light Empire. In addition, this secret method was so abnormal and distinctive that it required someone to open his awareness and chakra to another one voluntarily. Unless the knight himself wished to do that, he could never be affected by this secret method. This explained why many ''controlling'' secret methods of Bloody Soul Sutra were futile for knights.


    Zhang Tie waved his arm to end his servants'' ferocious beating. With bruised nose and swollen face, Ockham watched Zhang Tie with a poor look, trying to be loyal.


    "Now that Sacred Light Empire has such a secret method, why did you not tell me about that before?" Zhang Tie asked calmly.


    "Who would reveal it to be under other''s control unless life or death situation..." Ockham said pitifully.


    "Haven''t you been under other''s control before..."


    "In Sacred Light Empire, most of the knights have to open their awareness and soul to someone on higher levels for more cultivation resources and greater power. In Sacred Light Church, this ritual is called baptism of deity; namely, the one being baptized would submit his fate to another one by opening his awareness and soul. During this process, the one being baptized would find a more powerful reliance as he joins a cult or faction of Sacred Light Church. When I promoted to a knight, I received this ritual from a halos priest of Sacred Light Empire. Pitifully, that halos priest has fought to death in the later stage of the 2nd holy war. Therefore, I''m free now. As I''m a halos priest of Sacred Light Empire, unless the incumbent pope abdicates voluntarily and seeks for a reliable one to take over of his position, nobody else across the country could baptize me..."


    "Did you also control others using this secret method?"


    "I baptized 3 throne priests in the eastern parish of Sacred Light Empire..."


    "Only 3?"


    "The time of the baptism of deity is limited. As it undergoes between knights, a black iron knight could only baptize 2 people; an earth knight could baptize 3; a shadow knight 5, a heavenly knight 8. It''s said that a sage-level knight could make it 13. However, the baptism of deity poses high request on the baptizer. Each baptism would consume a lot of spiritual energy and part of the vital essence of the baptizer..." Ockham said with a bit bashful look, "Therefore, I could only control 3 although I could at most control 5 with my existing ability..."


    ''What? Each baptism of deity would consume vital essence?'' Zhang Tie slightly frowned, ''Isn''t it like the animal controlling skill in the Great Wilderness Sutra? Could it be said that the baptism of the deity of the Sacred Light Empire shares the same principle with the secret method in the Great Wilderness Sutra or Ockham''s expression is incorrect? The "vital essence" that he mentioned might be utterly different than that consumed by triggering the secret method in the Great Wilderness Sutra.''


    "Well, I''d like to check your baptism of deity before determining whether to keep you alive or not..." Zhang Tie said calmly.


    "Okay, okay. The baptism of deity is similar to the pattern of enlightenment in process. Only by putting your hand onto my head and receiving my awareness would you understand it..."


    Zhang Tie then put his hand onto Ockham''s head as he closed his eyes...


    A few minutes later, Zhang Tie suddenly opened his eyes out of shock.


    Even though Zhang Tie had made well preparation for it, he still couldn''t curb his surprise...


    If not being proficient in many secret skills of the Great Wilderness Sutra, Zhang Tie would not be shocked that much. As Zhang Tie excelled at the "incarnation" skill of "Great Wilderness Sutra", he found that the so-called baptism of deity was akin to the "incarnation" skill of Great Wilderness Sutra. Actually, it shared a central ideology with the "incarnation" skill of Great Wilderness Sutra, plus the essence of two other secret methods.


    This modification was basically based on regarding knights as mutated beasts as an "animal controller". That was why the process would consume the baptizer''s vital essence. Zhang Tie even discovered the trace of a secret method of Bloody Soul Sutra that could sow one''s soul in other''s 8 senses...


    Those who could fuse different secret methods and create a wholly new secret method was definitely a top genius. Even Zhang Tie couldn''t do it as such a secret method required him to master both the animal controlling skill of the Great Wilderness Sutra and the soul sowing method of Bloody Soul Sutra. Perhaps, the creator didn''t read the complete version of the Great Wilderness Sutra and Bloody Soul Sutra, he could only speculate some know-how. Therefore, this baptism of deity was not consummated.


    This imperfection was reflected in the number of knights that could be baptized. Additionally, this process couldn''t be started until the one voluntarily opened his awareness and soul to the baptizer...


    If the creator of this secret method could have the Great Wilderness Sutra and the Bloody Soul Sutra, he would be able to control knights as many as he wanted and treat knights as his own pets and slaves...


    When Zhang Tie realized that, he couldn''t help but quiver a bit. That was really terrifying. Although Zhang Tie mastered the Great Wilderness Sutra and the Bloody Soul Sutra, he couldn''t further improve the baptism of deity. Because another secret method that was used to connect the two utterly different secret methods which Zhang Tie had not heard of...


    In a split second, a whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind¡ª¡ªthe extermination of the Great Wilderness Sect and the Bloody Soul Temple might not be a pure coincidence. Perhaps the culprit who toppled over the Great Wilderness Sect and the Bloody Soul Temple was related to the creator of this baptism of deity...


    What a terrifying and shocking presumption...

 1409 The Earth-shaking Birth of King Roc

    After the last geometrical patterns on the water chakra of King Roc Sutra were lit, a strong wave spread over every inch of the space of Castle of Black Iron centered on Zhang Tie. The sky appeared to catch fire within 600,000 miles with rolling colorful mist. The entire sky was in a glow. A pair of huge wings covered the sky. Behind the wings was a pair of golden pupils of the virtual image of the domineering king roc. Closely after that, it roared and flapped its wings as if it was not satisfied with the limited space, causing a tsunami-like tide of elements in the Elements Realm...


    After flapping its wings once again, the virtual image of king roc couldn''t be held by the space of Castle of Black Iron anymore as if it immediately flew out of Castle of Black Iron and appeared in the wuthering Elements Realm. When it flapped its wings for the 3rd time, it appeared in the real world...


    The sudden wuthering tide of elements shocked over 100,000 human and demon knights who were cultivating. They were instantly pushed out of the Elements Realm. Just now, it was cloudy outside. The sudden glow within 600,000 miles frightened both ground forces and knights; especially those knights who cultivated virtual images of dragons and snakes felt heart racing, dry and sweating all over. As for them, this scene was like doomsday. Therefore, they were all in great panic and held this scene in special reverence...


    Zuoqiu Mingyue and Sagus the Abyss King of demons appeared above Xuanyuan Fortress and the demon''s central battlefortress almost at the same time as they both looked up at the glow in the sky with shiny eyes.


    The virtual image of a pair of wings covering 6,000 miles appeared behind the fiery clouds. The extended wings covered Xuanyuan Fortress and the demons'' main camp.


    Behind the virtual image of the pair of wings was a pair of looming, golden domineering pupils. The pair of eyes threw a glance at Zuoqiu Mingyue and Sagus. After flapping its wings, the king roc disappeared immediately. It flew eastward, splitting the rolling fiery clouds which lasted one million miles into two halves...


    It was the king roc. Someone was cultivating the King Roc Sutra and had promoted to a shadow knight, arousing a tide of elements in the Elements Realm at the same time...


    Zuoqiu Mingyue was really shocked as his face turned a bit pale. Based on his experience, he had already understood what happened.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue looked at Sagus. When he saw Sagus'' shocked and dubious expression, he let out a sigh immediately. Given Sagus'' expression, it was also wondering about who was cultivating King Roc Sutra and had promoted to a shadow knight. At least it was not a top brass among demons; otherwise, Sagus the Abyss King would not reveal such a shocked expression.


    Such an abnormal phenomenon caused an uproar in both human and demon armies...


    Zhang Tie felt he was dreaming where he became the king roc. As he flapped his wings, he broke the void and traveled across the universe freely.


    He saw the camps of humans and demons above Weishui River along with Zuoqiu Mingyue and Sagus the Abyss King of demons. Oddly, the two sage-level knights who were so powerful and domineering became minuscular in his dream, feeling not threatening at all...


    After flying across the theater of operations, Zhang Tie wanted to take a look around Xuanyuan Hill. Only by flapping his wings twice, he had seen Xuanyuan Hill under his feet.


    Xuanyuan Hill was as magnificent as before. Zhang Tie saw numerous sparkles on the ground of Xuanyuan Hill. Additionally, a great band of knights had already flown into the sky and was watching him like facing a powerful enemy. Some people flashed out of the emperor''s city and stood still above the imperial palace as they were observing the king rock like how Zuoqiu Mingyue did. Meng Shidao was among them. However, in the dream, Meng Shidao was different than that Zhang Tie saw last time. This time, Meng Shidao was dressed like a prime minister, one of the top three Immortal-level officials in Taixia Country. A middle-aged man in a golden boa silk robe with dragon patterns on it was standing beside Meng Shidao and watching the king roc with an extremely embarrassed look...


    ''F*ck, are you jealous that I could fly faster than you?'' Zhang Tie muttered in sleep.


    As those people in Xuanyuan Hill were boring, Zhang Tie didn''t stay there for too long. After throwing a glance at those noisy ones, he continued to move forward.


    Only after flapping his wings once again, he had already arrived at a vast ocean. Even the seawater could not block Zhang Tie''s vision. Zhang Tie looked down, scaring away all the living beings without exception, whether large or small. Huge whales, brutal mutated beasts hiding in oceanic trenches and huge deep-sea monsters were all scared away in a flurried way like little fish and shrimps, making Zhang Tie speechless.


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had already flown across the endless sea and came to the waters in the north of Weiyi Subcontinent.


    When Mutated Snake Island entered Zhang Tie''s vision once again, Zhang Tie immediately caught sight of a mutated snake hiding in the magma tens of thousands of meters deep beneath a volcano. Being over 100 m long, that mutated sea serpent was covered with pitch-dark scales with horns on its head. It appeared to be more powerful than ordinary black iron knights. Only after throwing a glance at that little loach, Zhang Tie had felt that the little loach became still all over. Eyes closed, it had already passed out due to panic...


    Ice and Snow Wilderness remained unchanged. As it was winter, the ports in the south of Ice and Snow Wilderness had been frozen. Few ships could be seen over there. However, due to developed trade, numerous ships were traveling on the waters between Ewentra Archipelago and the Western Continent.


    When Zhang Tie flapped his wings once again, he saw a strange continent and many cities under his feet. It should be the Western Continent.


    Some sparkles rushed into the sky and gazed at him like those in Xuanyuan Hill.


    After taking a round in the Western Continent, Zhang Tie felt bored as he instantly entered the void above his head...


    AAnazure planet appeared behind Zhang Tie. Two satellites were revolving around that azure planet. The sun was not far away. Zhang Tie felt strange as the sun was like a fireball at the bottom of a funnel. Due to the existence of the sun, the space surrounding the sun was like a deep funnel-like pit. Those stars were revolving around this sun like hoodles. The entire universe was like a piece of huge sponge being full of such pits. Those sun-like fixed stars in the pits were like heavy objects on the sponge. Sometimes, although two heavy objects were far away from each other, the ''pit'' space, where they were in, were very close to each other. Precisely, those suns were actually portals to other galaxies.


    In the ''pit'' space, Zhang Tie found that he could rapidly slide down the sun like how a kid played on a slide. Actually, he could move faster than light.


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had entered the sun...


    ...


    After that, Zhang Tie quivered all over as he found that he had "woken up"...

 1410 Being a Shadow Knigh

    What happened just now felt illusory but was real. In the eyes of king roc, everything in the universe was different than that in commoners'' eyes: the so-called sage-level knights were as weak as ants; space barriers didn''t exist at all; his destination belonged to numerous stars; even suns were free accesses. Everything was too fantastic and marvelous. After sitting quietly for a while, Zhang Tie gradually recovered from the visual angle of king roc.


    After that, Zhang Tie introspected himself as he saw a blue water chakra slowly rotating like a gear in a huge machine. At the same time, a pretty great strength appeared in his body.


    Water was the source of life. Water chakra was composed of water elements, which was different than the water that we usually drank. Even so, with the rotation of water chakra, each cell, nerve, gland and organ of the human body would be unprecedentedly vigorous being lubricated by the energy of water chakra, enhancing his physical agility, defensive power, explosive force and endurance into a wholly new realm.


    The interaction between earth chakra and water chakra brought him changes. Earth chakra carried water chakra; water chakra lubricated earth chakra, making it steadier and more powerful. Additionally, there were many more changes, after seeing which Zhang Tie understood it at once.


    Those mysterious feather-shaped runes in the core of the chakra of black iron knight had been replaced by the virtual image of a 4-wing king roc.


    Sometimes, this virtual image flapped its wings and flew across the space extended by those chakras; sometimes, it incarnated into an exotic, big fish and jumped into a water chakra before having fun inside.


    It was the very virtual image that Zhang Tie owned when he promoted to a shadow knight by cultivating King Roc Sutra; and another incarnation that combined his body, will, energy and awareness.


    The virtual image could change freely between a huge bird and a huge whale. The virtual image was Zhang Tie and Zhang Tie was the virtual image.


    Water was variable. In different temperatures and conditions, it could change into intangible gas and fill the space; it could exist in liquid state which could lubricate living beings silently in terms of raindrops or dew with the beauty of tranquility; it could turn into heavy fog which covered the sky and the earth; it could become flood and billowy ocean; it could be beautiful and dignified snowflakes, covering the sky and the earth with white; it could also become icicles as sharp as sabers and swords and as firm as steel.


    Any knight would own more possibilities after forming his or her water chakra. With more existential space, he or she would enter a wholly new realm.


    This was the spiritual realm of shadow knights.


    After promoting to a shadow knight, King Roc Sutra brought Zhang Tie some more bizarre changes besides more powerful overall strength and the incarnation of the virtual image.


    Previously, Zhang Tie could already simulate the effects of other secret methods using the ability brought by King Roc Sutra. Now, after promoting to a shadow knight, this simulative ability had become consummated. Besides the emperor-level secret method, he could already present the effects of any secret method. Not only that, he could even casually simulate the levels and realms of secret methods and a virtual image in the stage of shadow knight. Even sage-level knights couldn''t see through it.


    What shocked Zhang Tie most was that he could even simulate the heavenly knight realms of the baron-level secret method after reaching 4 change realm of shadow knight.


    In the 4 change realm of shadow knight, Zhang Tie could simulate the heavenly knight realm of the baron-level secret method; when he reached 5 change realm of shadow knight, he could simulate the heavenly knight realm of the viscount-level secret method; when he reached 6 change realm of shadow knight, he could simulate the heavenly knight realm of the count-level secret method; when he reached 7 change realm of shadow knight, he could simulate the heavenly knight realm of the marquis-level secret method; when he reached 8 change realm of shadow knight, he could simulate the heavenly knight realm of the duke-level secret method; when he reached 9 change realm of shadow knight, he could simulate the heavenly knight realm of the throne-level secret method.


    It meant that Zhang Tie could promote to a heavenly knight who cultivated the baron-level secret method whenever he wanted after entering 4 change realm of shadow knight.


    Before promoting to a shadow knight, the latest fruit of brilliance that he took included all the spiritual energy of a shadow knight, 7 earth knights and 4 black iron knights, enhancing his spiritual energy to a record high. After promoting to a shadow knight along with a series of strengthening and extension, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy in his mind sea had already expanded into an unimaginable, brilliant galaxy.


    Zhang Tie accomplished this promotion atop the boulder besides Elements Abyss. After feeling his changes, Zhang Tie picked himself up and left out of there.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt stoned. Even though he didn''t dip into any flight ability, he still felt flying with wind by foot.


    Zhang Tie instantly took out his Thor''s Hammer.


    When he held his Thor''s Hammer which weighed 6,800 kg, Zhang Tie shook his head helplessly, ''It''s light, too light.'' Previously, he had already felt it was light. This time, it became even lighter than it used to be.


    Shaking his head, Zhang Tie teleported his Thor''s Hammer into his portable space. Closely after that, he went towards the palace tree along mountainous steps. Being mature mentally, Zhang Tie didn''t feel too thrilled except for the pleasure surging in his mind when he promoted to a shadow knight. Actually, Zhang Tie had been an earth knight for a long time if the 6 decades that he spent with Yan Feiqing in the tower of time was counted. During such a long time, Zhang Tie had already fostered enough patience and tenacity.


    Castle of Black Iron remained unchanged. However, due to different realms, the trees, water and stones inside there felt different with various colors than those he saw in the level of earth knight. The most evident change was that Zhang Tie could have a deeper and clearer sense about "water" in the void and the mountains, stones and trees. Water existed in air, mountain, stones and trees.


    Such a profound feeling came from the resonance of Zhang Tie''s water chakra to the water in the material universe. Such a resonance directly acted on Zhang Tie''s strong perception as the divine dominator.


    Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy while a broad, bean-sized icy bead came into being out of the void. Closely after that, it fell onto the stone step and broke into pieces...


    As Zhang Tie walked forward calmly, the icy beads started to increase in quantity and density, causing a mini hail.


    The hail was condensed by moisture in the air. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to attempt to manipulate the invisible moisture in the air with the ability of divine dominator. That was as marvelous as legendary magic. Even Zhang Tie was shocked by such an amazing ability.


    The hail slowly turned into snowflakes as if it was snowing. Zhang Tie walked towards the top of the mountain along with the snowflakes. If commoners outside Castle of Black Iron saw it, they might fabricate a legend that the Thunder God, Goddess of Lightning, Wind Deity or Rain Man incarnated into a teenager and made a journey to the secular world...


    After the baptism of the mini hail, a verdant tree leaf fell down the tree when Zhang Tie passed by it. Soon after it arrived in front of Zhang Tie, it had stayed still in the air after Zhang Tie''s glance. Closely after that, all the moisture of the tree leaf was gradually separated as the verdant tree leaf immediately turned withered and yellow.


    Zhang Tie stretched out a finger and had a big drop of water that was separated from the tree leaf stand on his finger in the shape of a tiny humanoid water drop and run on his palm. After losing Zhang Tie''s control, the dried tree leaf fell onto the ground like a piece of weathered wood. The moment it touched the ground, it had broken into pieces although being pretty light.


    As another whim occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind, the tiny humanoid water drop jumped up from his palm and bowed towards him in the air. After that, it turned into snowflakes and floated down...


    When in the level of earth knight, Zhang Tie could control metals as the divine dominator. After promoting to a shadow knight, Zhang Tie could control water as the divine dominator. As water was ubiquitous and variable, Zhang Tie, as a divine dominator, was granted with endless changes and means and entered a wholly new realm.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter.


    Heller and the other people were waiting on the top of the Immortal Mountain.


    "Congratulations, Castle Lord, you''ve promoted to a shadow knight!" Heller hailed Zhang Tie. Closely after that, he warned Zhang Tie, "But Castle Lord, your promotion aroused a pretty great shock this time. Besides arousing a tide of elements that spread over the entire Elements Realm, the virtual image of King Roc rushed out of Castle of Black Iron. I''m afraid that the outside world has been in a heated discussion about that. Everybody knows that someone has promoted to a shadow knight while cultivating King Roc Sutra. Hopefully, Castle Lord could make preparations for that..."


    Zhang Tie became shortly stunned, ''Wasn''t I dreaming? All I saw just now was real...''


    When Zhang Tie promoted to an earth knight, he didn''t know that his promotion could arouse a tide of elements until later. This time, he had not imagined that his promotion to a shadow knight could arouse a greater shock.


    However, Zhang Tie soon recovered his composure as he nodded calmly, "Hmm, I see..."


    ''To date, unless I expose it myself, nobody around the world would know that it''s me who cultivates King Roc Sutra. There''re so many knights in the world, as to who has just made it, let them guess...''


    In the following 2 days, Zhang Tie was adapting to the changes in his abilities and strength brought by his promotion.


    In the same period, the training ground in Castle of Black Iron was always full of thunders, which could be heard across the space...


    ...


    Two days later, Zhang Tie exited Castle of Black Iron and appeared in the same mountain cave where he stayed shortly in the wild mountainous area of Ningzhou Province a few days ago...


    That bloody huge boa who was in hibernation a few days ago had long escaped away even though it was snowing outside.


    After leaving the mountain cave, Zhang Tie remained as same as that a few days ago, exposing no qi of shadow knight at all. He was still an earth knight given his qi. Even Zuoqiu Mingyue couldn''t figure out any loophole.


    After throwing a glance at the gloomy weather, Zhang Tie flew off towards Weishui River.


    Only after 2 hour later, Zhang Tie had seen Xuanyuan Fortress and the main camp of demons in front of him. Weishui River was still frozen while the armies of both humans and demons on both banks of Weishui River were driven restless. It seemed that the large-scale battle was going to break out soon.


    Zhang Tie didn''t flew towards Xuanyuan Fortress; instead, he moved towards the battlefield of knights between Xuanyuan Fortress and the central demon battlefortress.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie''s stentorian voice reverberated around the entire battlefield.


    "Zhang Tie from Taixia Country is here. Does any demon knight dare fight me fairly..."


    Zhang Tie repeated it 3 times, shocking the entire Xuanyuan Fortress and the main camp of demons immediately...

 1411 A Shock

    Zhang Tie''s departure after resignation a few days ago had already aroused a heated discussion. Being pushed by someone on the back, it turned into suspicions and condemnations about Zhang Tie. They had not imagined that that voice could drift across Xuanyuan Fortress from the battlefield of knights today.


    "Zhang Tie from Taixia Country is here. Does any demon knight dare fight me fairly..."


    When the same voice drifted across Xuanyuan Fortress for the second time, all the knights in Xuanyuan Fortress had been in an uproar.


    ...


    "Master, Zhang Tie is back..."


    When Zhang Tie''s voice sounded for the 3rd time, a knight of Taiyi Fantasy Sect knocked at the door of Feng Yexiao who was resting inside and reported him flurriedly.


    Zhang Tie''s sudden return was indeed out of everybody''s imagination.


    "I''ve heard it. Let''s take a look outside..." Feng Yexiao''s face was a bit stiff. Zhang Tie''s sudden return was like a slap on his face, reducing his comment a few days ago to a laughingstock. Of course, Feng Yexiao didn''t feel good. After saying that, he swayed his long sleeves and left the high tower, followed by the other knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    ''Zhang Tie left Xuanyuan Fortress a few days ago. What the hell is he doing?''


    A question occurred to his mind.


    When Feng Yexiao recalled the shock aroused by the King Roc''s birth a few days ago and the tide of elements that Zhang Tie aroused when he promoted to an earth knight in the Earth Elements Realm, he suddenly felt a faint connection. As a result, Feng Yexiao slightly slowed down in the air. Closely after that, he sped up abruptly...


    ...


    In a knight''s bar of Xuanyuan Fortress...


    "As the large-scale battle is going to break out, hasn''t Zhang Mushen escaped by leaving the theater of operations after the resignation and gaining the new title of guerrilla general?"


    "Fart. Does leaving Xuanyuan Fortress necessarily mean he escaped? Qianji Hermit is amazingly talented and dauntless. On the battlefield, he alone penetrated through the large formation of demon knights and fought a shadow demon knight ferociously. Qianji Hermit would never do such a timid thing..." A knight with a long sword on back refuted loudly as he struck the table forcefully and sprung up.


    The bar had a fervent atmosphere. When someone talked about Zhang Tie''s departure, the knights in the bar divided into 2 groups at once. One group were reproaching, doubting and swearing Zhang Tie; the other was maintaining Zhang Tie''s reputation as they didn''t believe that Zhang Tie had escaped away. Interestingly, most of the people who were on Zhang Tie''s side used swords. When Zhang Tie''s sword song shocked the battlefield that day, he had already become an idol in their mind.


    "If Qianji Hermit didn''t escape away, why did he move eastwards, the rear end of the theater of operations instead of moving westwards where demons have occupied?"


    "How could a sparrow know the ambition of a large swan? The human heart is the sword heart! If Qianji Hermit is such a person, he could not have got the essence of sword song. Qianji Hermit always has his tricks and plans; of course, you couldn''t understand what he did. Otherwise, he might have long been assassinated by demon powerhouses. Those who swear and doubt Qianji Hermit''s disposition could keep your words until you''re qualified to be assassinated by a heavenly demon knight..."


    "No matter what, Qianji Hermit has already left and doesn''t need to go to the battlefield anymore. It''s us who would go to the battlefield instead of him in a few days; it''s nonsense for you to argue about that..." One person satirized.


    Soon after that, Zhang Tie''s voice had drifted into the bar like dull thunders.


    "Zhang Tie from Taixia Country is here. Does any demon knight dare fight me fairly..."


    After hearing this sound, all the knights who were in a heated discussion just now were stunned. They all forgot about their drinks; instead, they tilted their heads to hear it clearly...


    Zhang Tie''s sound drifted into the bar once again...


    "I''ve told you that Qianji Hermit is not a coward..." Whiskered Tang Bohu, the head of Yuyu Swordsmanship Sect in Zhongzhou Province threw his glass onto the ground as he rushed out of the bar, closely followed by all the other knights who were on Zhang Tie''s side. Those knights who doubted and swore Zhang Tie looked complex and bashful. After being hesitant for a few seconds when Zhang Tie repeated his words for the 3rd time, all the knights rushed out of the bar...


    The entire Xuanyuan Fortress was shocked by Zhang Tie''s movement. Zuoqiu Mingyue and some heavenly demon knights flew out of the high tower in the center of Xuanyuan Fortress immediately.


    In that case, all the knights who had heard that voice had already flown out of the fortress and battle fortresses without receiving any order.


    Because Zhang Tie''s name was too popular in Xuanyuan Fortress.


    So was it in demon''s camp. Zhang Tie''s heroic deed on the battlefield a few days ago and the failure of a heavenly demon knight''s assassination pushed Zhang Tie to be a hot name across demon''s camp in a short period too.


    Only after a short while, all the over 200,000 human and demon knights had appeared in the sky.


    ...


    When he saw Zhang Tie''s tall and straight frame in the sky and the battle qi tornado which represented the realm of an earth knight, Feng Yexiao finally let out a sigh, ''It''s not him...''


    At this moment, nobody knew how many people let out a sigh like Feng Yexiao; even Zuoqiu Mingyue''s eye light changed when he saw Zhang Tie once again.


    Someone might connect Zhang Tie''s departure a few days ago with the abnormal phenomenon caused by the birth of King Roc; because it was an extremely sensitive and suspicious topic that who cultivated King Roc Sutra had promoted to a shadow knight in Taixia Country. The entire Mountain of Brightness had been in an uproar.


    Because of Zhang Tie''s sudden appearance, all the black iron knights and earth knights who were fighting on the battlefield ended their fights immediately and returned to their own camp, leaving only one person in the zone for an honorable fight lasting almost 60 miles in the center of the battlefield.


    Zhang Tie was standing there confidently like a steep mountain peak facing demons in the strong wind and snow...

 1412 The Fight for Honor

    In each holy war, the fight for honor between human knights and demon knights was always the most splendid and ferocious component when two armies were confronting with each other.


    Starting from the first battle between Taixia Country and demons in the west bank of Weishui River, the fight for honor between human knights and demon knight had been proceeding every day. Each party would win or lose in each round. Usually, it underwent between knights on the same level. Each knight could fight for their own meritorious service in the fight for honor. As long as both parties reached an agreement, a lower-level knight could pose a challenge to a higher-level knight.


    The latter rarely happened. However, each fight for the honor of the second kind would become the classic in the holy war. Especially if the lower-level knight challenger won the fight, he would definitely be a hero. Such a victory would sap the opponent''s morale and enhance the morale of his own party in an inestimable manner. Additionally, the latter one was similar to a wager for both parties as it could determine many other aspects besides the result of that fight. It was almost impossible for a lower-level knight to fight a higher-level knight like seeking for death without condition.


    Zhang Tie''s wager was his own life. He would like to save the 100 million Hua people who were going to be cannon fodder on the battlefield in terms of the fight for honor.


    As for smart ones, this was not a smart way. It was even a bit ruthless and lacked considerations. As for some iron-hearted knights, he was a bit merciful. However, as for Zhang Tie, watching the over 100,000 demon knights above the demon camp, he was pretty calm inside. Zhang Tie only followed his own heart. He couldn''t bear that 100 million commoners were killed by his incendiary mines. Therefore, he would like to give a try, regardless of the result...


    Many sophisticated affairs actually could be solved in simple ways. As for knights on the culmination of battle forces in the secular world, the simplest way to solve problems was to fight, as was said by Zhao Yuan¡ª¡ªeverything determines on whether to die or not and your own heart!


    A fight had to end with life or death while following one''s own heart. As for the pattern of a fight, it was a matter of intelligence!


    After thinking through it, Zhang Tie felt pretty frank and bright inside. He would not fear even if the number of demon knights increased tenfolds.


    Zhang Tie realized the difference between him and his master Zhao Yuan. Zhao Yuan might directly rush towards the opponent and only care about the result of the fight and his own heart. However, Zhang Tie wouldn''t. Because Zhang Tie had too many trump cards. If he didn''t make full use of his trump cards, set traps for demons and get him out of others'' suspicion, he would even feel sorry for himself. Zhang Tie was not silly.


    ''Would anyone doubt that I''m a shadow knight who cultivates King Roc Sutra after seeing my battle qi tornado which symbolizes that I''m an earth knight?''


    ''Of course not...''


    ''Because I will accomplish the promotion to a shadow knight in the fight under the gaze of all the knights at present.''


    "Zhang Tie, I heard you''ve already left Xuanyuan Fortress 2 days ago. I''ve not imagined that you could come back. I admit that I''ve underestimated you..." Sagus'' voice drifted across the entire battlefield from the large formation of demon knights.


    Given Sagus'' words, it had already admitted that Zhang Tie was qualified to talk with him on the battlefield along with Zhang Tie''s great battle strength and meritorious service. Usually, Sagus ignored ordinary earth knights, even shadow knights. On this battlefield, not everyone could be qualified to have the opposite commander-in-chief open his or its mouth. Similarly, Zuoqiu Mingyue might not respond to the words of a knight who was casually selected among demons.


    "I''ve not imagined that a sage-level demon knight could assign a heavenly demon knight to assassinate me. Sagus, I indeed overestimated you..." Zhang Tie said loudly and aggressively in the air as he didn''t fear about the identity of the opponent at all.


    With a distance of over 60 miles, even if he didn''t use lotus flower eyes, Zhang Tie could still see clearly that Sagus was sitting decently on the "skull" seat on the top of the central demon battlefortress and looking at him icily while a band of heavenly demon knights were surrounding it.


    "In a holy war, some would always die. As long as we could win the war, we would adopt all the possible means. It''s not demons'' patent by assigning a heavenly knight to assassinate an important opponent. In the last holy war, your Demon Supression General Du Guyi assassinated our demon''s crown prince..." Sagus said calmly instead of being driven furious by Zhang Tie''s words, "You should be proud of being assassinated by our heavenly demon knight. Only you''re worth my assassination among all the earth knights of Xuanyuan Fortress. The others don''t deserve that..."


    "As Abyss King, you only sap the morale of so many earth human knights in Xuanyuan Fortress by playing with words. I''m really disappointed with you, Sagus..." Zhang Tie roared as he pointed at the army of over 100,000 demon knights on the other side, "Is there anyone among you who dare fight me like a knight on the battlefield of fight for honor? Have your demon knights forgotten about and betrayed the dignity and honor of knights and only deal with your enemy by despicable means? Do you only launch strikes like humble worms in the dark? Where''s your courage and vigor as demon knights?"


    Soon after Zhang Tie finished his dull words, so many demon knights had roared among the large formation of demon knights while releasing so many battle qi smokes and tornadoes. The entire large formation of demon knights was in an uproar. Additionally, an irate look flashed across Sagus'' face. Those heavenly demon knights beside Sagus just gazed at Zhang Tie and couldn''t wait to tear apart Zhang Tie alive...


    "Your Majesty, please let me fight him. I swear to bring that b*stard''s head back to adorn Your Majesty''s seat..."


    "Your Majesty, let me kill that d**chebag..."


    So many earth demon knights were hammering their chests and growling for the fight.


    Zhang Tie''s words irritated all the demon knights. As knights, they could be brutal, vicious and fish-blooded; however, they had to keep their dignity and honor. Because knights themselves symbolized dignity and honor; especially demon knights who usually regarded themselves as brave and dauntless ones. None of the demon knights at present could imagine that they would be despised by a teenager of Taixia Country. Therefore, all of them were driven mad.


    Sagus indeed had not told a lie. As for a sage-level knight, besides Zhang Tie, Sagus indeed despised all the other earth knights of Taixia Country but Zhang Tie. However, the moment it said that, its loophole had been caught by Zhang Tie, sending the entire camp of demon knights into commotion.


    However, as Abyss King of demons, although Sagus was irritated by Zhang Tie''s words, he didn''t lose its mind. Instead, it recovered its composure at once. Only by raising its hand, the camp of demon knights had been quiet while Sagus'' icy eye light fell onto Zhang Tie from hundreds of miles away.


    "Zhang Tie, as an earth knight, only our demon''s crown prince could counterbalance you in this level. Pitifully, our demon''s crown prince is not in the army of demon knights at this moment. If you want to irritate me and have me assign brave earth demon knights to kill you, you''re absolutely wrong. The battle should be carried out between knights of similar battle strength. If you want to show off your bravery, you should challenge more powerful ones to match your dignity and honor..."


    "Hahaha..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter heroically, "Don''t you want to assign a high-level knight to kill me? Why not make it extravagant? I''m here waiting for you. That shadow demon knight who fought me last time should be in its 3 change realm. It''s said that you demons have enough treasury. As long as you could afford it, you could assign the same shadow knight to have a duel with me again."


    ''That''s insane! Qianji Hermit must be insane!'' Many human knights felt worried inside after hearing that Zhang Tie was going to challenge a shadow demon knight. ''Is Qianji Hermit that poor? How could he strive for such a battle at the risk of his life? Even though Qianji Hermit has got the essence of sword song and could counterbalance a shadow demon knight, it doesn''t mean that an earth human knight could kill a shadow demon knight. No matter what, the sharp gap between two levels couldn''t be fixed easily; especially in the fight for honor, the longer their duel lasts, the more evident advantages would shadow knight have in speed, strength, endurance and striking strength and the more disadvantageous it would be for the earth knight. Qianji Hermit is really taking a big risk this time...''


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Feng Yexiao the elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect revealed a sneer.


    "I disagree..." Zuoqiu Mingyue''s voice had drifted over the battlefield before Sagus opened its mouth, carrying a bit sense of interrogation and condemnation, "General Mushen, it''s too dangerous. Do you know what you are doing?"


    "Thanks for your concern, commander-in-chief. However, as guerrilla general of Taixia Country, I could not follow your decree. All the battles are at my discretion and I will be responsible for my death, if that happened..." Zhang Tie answered Zuoqiu Mingyue calmly...


    Sagus'' eyes were flickering in a shrewd way under its black helmet as it kept its eyes on Zhang Tie. Soon after Zhang Tie''s words, Sagus had burst out into laughter as its icy voice had drifted across the battlefield, "Fine, what''s your condition..."

 1413 Killing the Shadow Demon Knigh

    "Now that my opponent is a shadow knight in its 3 change realm, just pay me 30,000 crystals of earth, water, wind and fire elements respectively, plus a piece of space-teleportation equipment. Put those element crystals in the space-teleportation equipment and give it to me..."


    Zhang Tie quoted soon after Sagus'' words.


    Zhang Tie''s price shocked all the knights in Xuanyuan Fortress.


    As for common knights, this price was astronomical; however, Zhang Tie knew that Sagus would never miss such a rare, public opportunity now that it could assign a heavenly demon knight to assassinate me.


    In the eyes of demons, an earth knight was not worth that much; however, a human knight who could get the essence of sword song and invented Fiery Oil, all-purpose medicaments, incendiary weapons and solved the food crisis in the theater of operations was definitely a great threat facing demons in the holy war. Given the angle of view and judgment of commander-in-chief, it could afford such a bit price for the life of this human knight.


    As demons lived under the ground, they naturally had more means to acquire items such as element crystals and silver secret items than humans. Given the quantity of silver secret items in the space-teleportation of the demon general that Zhang Tie killed, demon knights absolutely had more silver secret items than human knights, not to mention the other resources.


    Shadow knight in its 3 change realm was just a piece of cake for Zhang Tie. What counted most at this moment was to induce Sagus to continue to bet with him like a gambler who had lost a lot step by step on the premise of consuming the overall strength of demons.


    With the onset of the large-scale battle between humans and demons, Sagus would definitely disagree to exchange over 200 million Hua captives for Zhang Tie''s life. Even if he agreed, demons and Three-eye Association would also transport more Hua captives to the frontline from their rear end. Zhang Tie aimed at eliminating the similar actions of driving innocent Hua captives forward as cannon fodder on the battlefield.


    "Fine, I agree..."


    As was predicted, Sagus instantly agreed with Zhang Tie''s request.


    Sagus waved its hand, fetching that demon knight in its 3 change realm who fought Zhang Tie ferociously last time. Closely after that, it spoke something to a knight-level bodyguard on its side. The knight-level bodyguard then turned around and entered the nest-like battlefortress of demons. After a short while, it came out, holding up a tray with a sanguine finger ring on it.


    With that sanguine finger ring, the wing shadow demon knight in its 3 change realm flew towards Zhang Tie.


    It stopped when it was 1,000 m away from Zhang Tie. After throwing its grim and bloody glance at Zhang Tie, it licked its lips and threw the sanguine finger ring towards Zhang Tie silently.


    Although the sanguine finger ring flew towards Zhang Tie as fast as a lightning bolt, Zhang Tie caught it at once. After checking it, Zhang Tie found it was a top-notch product, containing 30,000 crystals of water, wind, wind and fire elements respectively and tidily.


    So many knights were gazing at Zhang Tie''s finger ring.


    "Commander-in-chief, please keep this object for me. If I died, please hand everything inside this finger ring to my family members in Fire-dragon Bounty Territory!"


    Even the performance should be complete. At this moment, if Zhang Tie put away the finger ring in the public, he might arouse others'' suspicion. Because if he really fought to death, these items would become the booty of the opponent, in which case, he would be doubted as a traitor of humans. On the premise that Zhang Tie was not sure that he could win the duel, of course, he should hand these valuables to a reliable person; otherwise, his death, if there was, would be futile.


    Zhang Tie said solemnly which indicated his decisiveness for such a duel. Of course, Sagus and the other demon knights didn''t feel that they suffered a great loss after hearing that.


    Soon after Zhang Tie''s words, a shadow knight had flown out of Zuoqiu Mingyue''s side. Zhang Tie threw that finger ring to him when the latter was 1,000 m behind. After taking the finger ring, the shadow human knight threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie before returning to Zuoqiu Mingyue''s side, leaving Zhang Tie and that shadow demon knight who fought Zhang Tie last time in the center of the battlefield.


    "Brat, I will break your neck today. Can we start the fight now?" That shadow demon knight was itching for a try with a silver secret item¡ª¡ªlong spear in hand.


    After flying out of Zhang Tie''s sleeve, the Devouring Dragon instantly incarnated into a longsword. Zhang Tie pointed at the shadow wing demon knight with his long sword and was ready for the combat immediately with a solemn look, "I''m ready..."


    The shadow wing demon knight''s eyes sparkled. Closely after that, Zhang Tie and that shadow wing demon knight disappeared from where they were standing and collided with each other ferociously in the middle of the battlefield.


    The moment the duel came to a start, Zhang Tie had given out a golden halo, indicating that he had released his aiding strength¡ª¡ªsupreme protection.


    "It''s the light of a gentleman..."


    "Ahh, aiding strength, it''s aiding strength of Qianji Hermit..."


    The golden halo around Zhang Tie immediately aroused the exclamations of many knights in Xuanyuan Fortress. It was the first time for most of those knights to see Zhang Tie''s light of gentleman and aiding strength.


    The body and battle qi of the wing shadow demon knight was purple-red. Looking at it from afar, people could see a golden light and a purple-red luster wrestling with each other like two fierce dragons. Battle qis were shooting towards different directions from the middle of the battlefield as fast as lightning bolts. The collisions between Zhang Tie and that shadow demon knight were as loud as thunders. Almost since the start, the duel had become white-hot as they started the most dangerous close combat almost at the same time...


    The shadow demon knight determined to kill Zhang Tie. Therefore, it had already exerted its utmost effort since the beginning. So did Zhang Tie...


    Shadow demon knight''s strength, speed, defensive power, endurance and lethality of battle qi couldn''t be matched by earth knights. However, Zhang Tie had made progress in cultivating the "Big Sword Sutra" these days; especially in that bloody sacrifice ritual of those d**chebag knights of Three-eye Association 2 days ago, during which process, he had recovered the water chakra of Ockham and broken through his swordsmanship using the greater part of the energy of the bloody sacrifice. Therefore, although it was only a short period, Zhang Tie had made much greater progress in his cultivation base of swordsmanship than that when he got the essence of sword song...


    Watching Zhang Tie''s crisscrossing sword light facing the strike of the shadow demon knight, his grand and longsword qi like big rivers and his sword awareness like flying waterfall and galaxies, which were as light as cicada''s wings, as heavy as mountains, as hot as the sun and as concealing as a dragon entering the clouds, all the knights who cultivated swordsmanship in Xuanyuan Fortress were in daze as they felt thirsty. Even Zuoqiu Mingyue''s snow-white long eyebrows quivered as he had not imagined that Zhang Tie could reach such a high realm in the cultivation base of swordsmanship only in less than 2 months.


    The wing demon had an advantage in speed in the sky; especially a shadow wing demon knight; however, Zhang Tie''s supreme protection offset the wing demon''s advantage in speed in the sky. The wing demon''s protective battle qi was powerful; however, Zhang Tie''s sharp Devouring Dragon couldn''t be born by an ordinary knight. The wing demon had an exceptional striking strength; however, the protective sword wind outside Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi could automatically face and shatter the strike of the shadow wing demon knight before the latter fell onto Zhang Tie...


    Previously, Zhang Tie didn''t know about the name of this powerful skill that he acquired when he got the essence of sword song. After reading the "Big Sword Sutra", Zhang Tie knew that this extremely powerful skill was called protective sword wind.


    Zhang Tie could better understand the great power of protective sword wind; especially in combat.


    Protective sword wind could not reach far. Like Zhang Tie''s shadow, the protective sword wind only existed within over 10 m around Zhang Tie. However, protective sword wind could be either rigid or soft, aggressive or defensive; it could appear out of the void and disappear in the void. It had already become an integral part of Zhang Tie''s body and instinct. As long as Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy, he would bring about his protective sword wind. Sometimes, protective sword wind could even manifest automatically when it sensed the strike. It could be more powerful and sharp than sword qi like the blade of Devouring Dragon, and as tender as protective battle qi. All the strikes from the shadow wing demon knight should penetrate through Zhang Tie''s protective sword wind before hitting Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi.


    With supreme Protection, protective sword wind, protective battle qi, body built by too many iron-body fruits, medium recovery body and great vitality, Zhang Tie''s physique and defensive ability had been out of everybody''s imagination except Zhang Tie himself.


    In this case, that shadow wing demon knight was so dejected that most of its strikes against Zhang Tie had been offset by Zhang Tie''s protective sword wind before falling on Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi. As for the rest energy, even though it could penetrate through or break the protective sword wind and fall onto Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi, its destructive power would be weakened a lot...


    Even so, the shadow wing demon knight''s overall strength was still something due to the sharp gap between levels; especially that long spear in the claw of the shadow wing demon knight. As a silver secret item, each prick of the long spear would send a scorching snake flying out, which could even melt metals. The shadow wing demon knight also performed its long spear at its utmost efforts. In the sky, Zhang Tie would be surrounded by hundreds of burning snakes at any time which seemed to burn Zhang Tie into ashes in a split second...


    On the premise of not exposing the other trump cards, such combat was still pretty hard for Zhang Tie; however, it was what Zhang Tie wanted.


    ...


    The mesmerizing, fierce combat lasted over 2 hours under the gaze of over 200,000 human and demon knights...


    At the most ferocious moment, the long spear pierced through Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi and came out from the back of Zhang Tie''s left shoulder. Zhang Tie also broke the arm of the shadow demon knight which was holding its long spear by his Devouring Dragon. The shadow wing demon knight flew backward rapidly as it growled and released its virtual image¡ª¡ªa hundred meter long, bizarre, burning bird. The huge bird pricked at Zhang Tie with its sharp claws and peak, which looked more aggressive than before...


    After uttering a long growl, Zhang Tie integrated with his longsword and turned into a 100 m long silver sword light, penetrating through the virtual image of the shadow wing demon knight.


    The entire battlefield became quiet while over 200,000 knights held their breath at this moment.


    Zhang Tie and that shadow demon knight both stayed still in the air. After that, the shadow demon knight turned around its head as it moved its wings and threw a glance at Zhang Tie...


    With a loud sound "bang", the shadow wing demon knight exploded in the air, spraying blood foam and flesh in the sky and tinting the sky red.


    Zhang Tie pulled the long spear out of his left shoulder by his right hand; the blood tinted half of his body red. At the same time, Zhang Tie swayed in the air as he spurted a mouthful of blood, which seemed "pretty miserable"...


    Zhang Tie won the combat. Qianji Hermit killed the shadow demon knight!


    All the knights of Taixia Country in Xuanyuan Fortress cheered up immediately. It was always a legend that a knight could kill another one on a higher level in the fight for honor. Fortunately, they witnessed this legend...


    Feng Yexiao''s face turned pale in a split second...

 1414 What a Rare Chance

    After being penetrated through by the long spear, Zhang Tie''s shoulder spilled out blood heavily, tinting Zhang Tie''s whole body red. With such an extremely severe wound, Zhang Tie looked pretty miserable.


    If the head of the long spear was 3 cm rightward or a bit downward, it would penetrate through Zhang Tie''s fatal parts such as chest or heart. Any other knight could sense the "risk". Zhang Tie just made a "narrow victory".


    In fact, Zhang Tie''s wound was not that severe.


    Zhang Tie could actually block or dodge away from the long spear; however, he frankly accepted that strike. When the long spear penetrated through his left shoulder, Zhang Tie had had his muscles and blood vessels expand automatically so as to minimize the wound. The greater part of the blood was pushed out by Zhang Tie himself.


    Besides the wound on his left shoulder, Zhang Tie pretended to spurt out blood after colliding with the shadow wing demon knight in the end.


    The combat was real; however, the result of the combat contained a bit "performance". At this moment, Zhang Tie manifested his "performer" talent perfectly. Any ancestral bloodline and ability would play a great role as long as it was put in the right place.


    ''If not suffer a wound, bleed or behave in a tough and miserable way and bring hope to Sagus, how could Sagus and demon shadow knights swallow the bait?''


    This was how gamblers thought, whether it was a sage-level knight or middle-aged women on the roadside, in lanes or gambling houses.


    He might not encounter the same opportunity of having Sagus assign a shadow demon knight along with a bonus in the public. Therefore, Zhang Tie could afford such a bit payment, even only for the value of the 120,000 crystals of four elements.


    Not only that, when nobody could see and sense it, Zhang Tie had already triggered the secret skill Lock of Bloody Chakra in Bloody Soul Sutra and locked the water chakra of the shadow demon knight when he killed that shadow demon knight. Therefore, its wind chakra would not collapse immediately; Zhang Tie could still refine a part of its wind elements.


    Zhang Tie mastered the secret skill Lock of Bloody Chakra first after promoting to the shadow knight. This secret skill would not be exposed when it was triggered closely before the death of the demon knight. With the help of Purgatory Samsara Method, Zhang Tie could maximize the profit of the death of the shadow demon knight stealthily in the public.


    The legendary fight for honor shocked the entire battlefield. Closely after that, Zhang Tie took out two vials of senior recovery medicament, drinking one and daubing the other on his wound.


    After daubing his wound with the senior recovery medicament, Zhang Tie''s wound was soon healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. In the air, Zhang Tie made use of this short period of healing to refine the broken wind chakra of the late shadow wing demon knight in Purgatory Samsara Method.


    If that shadow wing demon knight was still alive, Zhang Tie could completely refine its wind chakra. However, it was dead; even if its wind chakra was locked by Zhang Tie''s Lock of Bloody Chakra before death, the shadow wing demon knight''s wind chakra was still disappearing and collapsing rapidly. Zhang Tie could only rescue it like rescuing materials from a sinking ship. Finally, he only got 1/3 of its wind elements.


    Perhaps someone would guess and worry that Zhang Tie''s battle strength would be weakened by the wound. Actually, Zhang Tie had completely recovered as his wounds gradually healed. In addition, he had gained a lot of wind elements. Even though it was only 1/3 of the wind elements of the shadow wing demon knight who was in its 3 change realm, Zhang Tie was delighted.


    ''A shadow knight, a mountain of element crystals, space equipment, silver secret item; and a target for Purgatory Samsara Method. My God! What a rare chance! That''s too crazy!''


    Zhang Tie revealed a bit of arrogance and relaxation after victory; he also looked somewhat solemn. If not, Zhang Tie was afraid that he would have burst out into laughter and the cat was out of the bag.


    After losing a shadow wing demon knight, Sagus looked a bit colder and pitiful. If the head of the long spear was a few centimeters away on Zhang Tie''s chest, the result would be different.


    However, the death of the wing demon knight didn''t stop Sagus from aiming to kill Zhang Tie; conversely, this thought was simmering in its mind.


    ''This human knight has to die. Otherwise, when he promotes to a shadow knight or a heavenly knight in this holy war, he would cause hundreds even one thousand times more loss to demons. Therefore, Zhang Tie has to die.''


    People always had shortcomings, which could be utilized. This was how demons felt humans. In the eyes of Sagus, Zhang Tie had two shortcomings: conceit and greed. ''It''s just a bit element crystals and some silver secret items. As long as you dare continue to bet it with your life, it would be fine...''


    "It was splendid combat. During this process, our demon knight displayed its bravery and strength. Even though it has fought to death, it deserves it!" Sagus'' voice drifted over the entire battlefield as it gazed at Zhang Tie''s face with sharp eye light from over 60 miles away, "Human knight, do you want to continue?"


    "He cannot!" Zuoqiu Mingyue''s voice reached with a sigh of feeling, "Zhang Tie, you don''t have to continue. You''ve already been able to be renowned across the world and have a bright future after this combat. Don''t have to prove anything..."


    A faint struggle and hesitation flashed across Zhang Tie''s eyes, which was very vivid with the effect of his "performer" talent.


    "I''ve got a great handful of element crystals, silver secret items and jewelry from the underground world. If you could continue, we could negotiate with the condition..." Sagus started to lure Zhang Tie.


    "Zhang Tie, as long as the green hills are there, one needs not to worry about firewood..." Zuoqiu Mingyue reminded Zhang Tie, "Demons want to catch this opportunity to kill you, watch out..."


    After a short struggle, Zhang Tie finally appeared to have made his decision as he told Zuoqiu Mingyue in an impassioned way, "Thanks, commander-in-chief; but I feel that I have spare efforts to continue. Only in such life or death situations could I tap my potential and sharpen my battle skills; as a human knight, I''m committed to even fight to death on the battlefield. I would not feel pity about that..."


    Zuoqiu Mingyue sighed with emotions and didn''t say anything else.


    However, Sagus laughed loudly, "Hahaha, that''s the way how knights preserve their dignity and honor!"


    "I could continue to have another combat..." Zhang Tie said as he watched the demon camp with a solemn look, "You could assign another shadow demon knight in its 3 change realm..."


    "In the former combat, you''ve already proved your battle strength. It''s already meaningless for you to fight another shadow demon knight in its 3 change realm..." Sagus refused Zhang Tie''s proposal without demur. Otherwise, instead of killing Zhang Tie, the second shadow demon knight probably be killed by Zhang Tie again. Of course, Sagus would not agree with suffering such a loss.


    "How about a shadow demon knight in its 4 change realm..." Zhang Tie asked "meticulously".


    Sagus shook his head as he pointed at a 2-3 m high ox-head shadow demon knight and said, "This is Urigaus, my bodyguard. He''s a shadow knight in its 6 change realm. If you promise to fight him, I could pay you 50,000 crystals of the four elements respectively, plus a space-teleportation equipment..."


    The ox-head shadow demon knight panted at once as it kept its eyes on Zhang Tie like an old ox.


    Zhang Tie just looked at that tall and sturdy ox-head shadow demon knight next to Sagus quietly as if he was considering it. However, only after a few seconds, Zhang Tie had made a decision, "That''s a deal; but I want 60,000 crystals of each element. Besides, I want 2 more silver secret items..."


    "Hohoho..." Sagus burst out into laughter which carried endless cold. It agreed with Zhang Tie''s request almost immediately, "Okay..."


    ...


    The ox-head shadow demon knight then flew towards Zhang Tie with a space-teleportation finger ring and strong killing intent. From 1,000 m away, it stopped and threw the finger ring towards Zhang Tie.


    After checking the finger ring, Zhang Tie gave it to Zuoqiu Mingyue and had him keep it for him.


    ...


    The second combat between Zhang Tie and a shadow demon knight soon came to a start.


    The ox-head shadow demon knight who was in its 6 change realm was much more powerful than the shadow wing demon knight who was in its 3 change realm; especially that mace in its hand which weighed heavier than 2 tons. The lethality of such a weapon was self-evident in combat...


    However, soon after the combat started, when the ox-head demon knight appeared to take a bit advantage over Zhang Tie, the sky suddenly changed its color while a powerful fist intention that integrated with the universe appeared on Zhang Tie.


    Right then, Zhang Tie kept punching by his left hand and brandishing Devouring Dragon by his right hand; his sword light flashed like a lightning bolt while his punches carried thunder-like sounds. The combination of punches and sword light skyrocketed his battle strength suddenly. As Zhang Tie punched out, lightning bolts kept striking the ox-head demon knight, causing its hair all over to rise...


    "The interaction between heavens and human. Zhang Tie has reached the realm of interacting his punch skills with the universe..." A knight in Xuanyuan Fortress exclaimed.


    Sagus'' smile froze...

 1415 Bloodline Awakening

    With the interaction of heavens and Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie instantly filled the gap of battle strength between him and that ox-head demon knight who was in its 6 change realm. His berserk sword qi and strong punch qi tore the void as his protective sword wind involved in the ox-head demon knight like a skyrocketing tornado. Thunders and lightning bolts that fell off were also impossible to guard against for the ox-head demon knight.


    Both parties underwent the most ferocious close combat in the air. No matter how ox-head demon knight roared, it still gradually lost its advantage over Zhang Tie bit by bit.


    In the beginning, all the onlookers felt that Zhang Tie''s punch was separated from his sword; gradually, they couldn''t identify whether Zhang Tie was using his punch or sword as Zhang Tie''s punch intention and sword intention had already integrated with each other.


    When Zhang Tie slashed his Devouring Dragon, it would also bring dull thunders like how his punches always did.


    Similarly, when Zhang Tie punched out, his punch qi looked like crisscrossing sword qi in an overwhelming way like how his sword qi always did.


    However, this ox-head demon knight called Urigaus was definitely much more powerful than the wing demon knight who was in its 3 change realm. Sagus must have strong confidence about Urigarus.


    Wing demons excelled at flight and could gain the maximal speed and flexibility in the air. By contrast, the ox-head demon was well-known by their demon grain totem, which was a special ability of ox-head demon. Like runes on ox-head demon knight, as long as demon grain totem was activated, it would bring a great aiding effect to the ox-head demon knight.


    When the combat reached its apex, a patch of demon grain totem beneath the skin of its arm started to give out the glow, revealing a bizarre demon grain totem. Closely after that, Zhang Tie felt that the ox-head demon knight''s strength had enhanced pretty much.


    Whereas, it was just a start; as closely after that, its legs also gave out the glow, bulging its flexibility suddenly; then, its frontal chest and back also manifested a wide area of demon grain totem, skyrocketing its defensive ability and aggressiveness too.


    ...


    "That''s too bad. The shadow ox-head demon knight is definitely a powerhouse of its kind. It has already triggered 4 parts of demon grain totems. Average ox-head demon knight could at most trigger 2. That''s too dangerous..." One of those knights next to Zuoqiu Mingyue in Xuanyuan Fortress immediately exclaimed as he changed his face.


    "Zhang Tie might have hidden some more trump cards..." Zuoqiu Mingyue said calmly as he kept an eye on the center of the battlefield and Sagus, "This ox-head demon knight must be unusual now that it could become Sagus'' bodyguard. Zhang Tie must have already realized that before fight..."


    Zuoqiu Mingyue understood Zhang Tie''s disposition. When Zhang Tie saw that ox-head demon knight''s rising demon grain totems, he was not flurried, which meant that Zhang Tie had other trump cards.


    ...


    With a loud "boom...", although Zhang Tie blocked its berserk battle qi aroused by its battle ax and its crit, he was still sent flying backward. Before Zhang Tie made any counterattack, the grim ox-head demon knight had already hefted its wheel-sized battle ax and chopped towards Zhang Tie again with bloody eyes as if it was going to split Zhang Tie into halves.


    The ox-head demon knight''s terrifying battle ax directly entered the range of effectiveness of Zhang Tie''s protective sword wind as it aroused shocking waves around Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie also coordinated with the fierce attack of the ox-head demon knight by turning himself into a boat among billows. Bumping among billows, it was tossed up or pressed down from time to time; yet didn''t capsize.


    Although being powerful, the ox-head demon knight still couldn''t threaten Zhang Tie''s safety. Zhang Tie coordinated with its crits by pretending to spurt a couple of more mouthful of blood. He even performed some dangerous acts by having its battle ax cut through the edge of his protective battle qi, causing his protective battle qi all over to rock...


    Such scenes caused the hearts of so many Taixia knights to pound at once. The ox-head demon knight always had terrifying battle strength as it had reached 6 change realm. Nobody could imagine that it could activate 4 patches of demon grain totems.


    ''Cross-level challenge is really not that easy.''


    ''Zhang Tie is mired in a dilemma...''


    Among human and demon knights at present, at least shadow knights could see clearly the battle process. Some earth knights could also see a part of the battle process; however, they couldn''t absolutely follow it up. As for most of the black iron knights, they were far from shadow knight''s battle rhythm. In the eyes of black iron knights, the fight was just like two clouds of smoke of different colors colliding against each other constantly in the air. Most of the people couldn''t see the details. As for which party was more advantageous, it could only be judged by the size of "flames" which carried different colors and styles.


    In the eyes of over 90% of black iron knights, the "flame" on behalf of Zhang Tie was completely oppressed by the other one.


    Sagus had already revealed a smile under its mask. As for the side of Xuanyuan Fortress, Feng Yexiao looked solemn as he hid his vicious yet cool sense inside.


    Nevertheless, Zhang Tie would always let down these d**chebags who hoped him to die as early as possible.


    In those collisions, a brilliant light gradually appeared on Zhang Tie in shape of a huge sword pointing at the heavens. Its brilliance covered the entire battlefield. At the sight of this scene, many people among those "sword" knights at present widely opened their eyes out of admiration...


    "That...that is..." Tang Bohu the elder of Yuxu Swordsmanship Sect in Zhongzhou Province stammered, "That...is a powerful ancestral bloodline of swordsmanship..."


    The virtual image of the sword was full of the magnificent qi of a king as it covered Zhang Tie. Closely after that, the sword image divided into two and entered Zhang Tie''s body.


    "That''s...unrivaled double-sword bloodline..." Ning Taisheng the employed elder of imperial households of Taixia Country couldn''t help but hold his breath on Zuoqiu Mingyue''s side.


    When the two sword images entered Zhang Tie''s body, Zhang Tie''s Devouring Dragon abruptly grew more brilliant. Whenever Zhang Tie slashed his Devouring Dragon, the sword qi and light would expand by two times.


    Two times! It meant that one sword qi turned into two; two sword qi turned into four; if the quantity of sword qi remained unchanged, the power of sword qi and light would grow by two times.


    Unrivaled double swords! It meant two more times of power! The ancestral bloodline concerning this swordsmanship was called sword king bloodline in Taixia Country. There were too many ancestral bloodlines of swords in Taixia Country. Besides god-level bloodlines, there were sword-related ancestral bloodlines on eight levels, namely Heavens, Earth, Black, Yellow, Time, Space, Flood and Chaos. Those ancestral bloodlines concerning sword were weird and changeable and might increase the destructive power of the sword. However, none of the ancestral bloodlines could be as clear and overbearing as double-sword bloodline¡ª¡ªincrease the power of sword by two times straightforwardly. This unrivaled double-sword bloodline carried a strong sword style and the vibe of sword king¡ª¡ªgoing for what one needs straightforwardly in an overbearing manner and killing the opponent with two more times power.


    The others thought that Zhang Tie had awakened a bloodline; however, only Zhang Tie knew that he had just activated that bloodline using the fruit of bloodline.


    Soon after Zhang Tie activated his unrivaled double-sword bloodline, the ox-head demon knight was immediately involved in a sword qi storm.


    It was time for the ox-head demon knight to be a boat in billows. However, the ox-head demon knight didn''t have as many trump cards as Zhang Tie. After Zhang Tie "awakened" his unrivaled double-sword bloodline for half an hour, his sword qi broke the ox-head demon knight''s protective battle qi for the first time, leaving a wound on its body.


    After another half an hour, the tall and sturdy ox-head demon knight was also covered with blood like Zhang Tie due to over 100 wounds, large or small.


    Anyone could see the result of this duel on the premise that the ox-head demon knight didn''t have any more trump card. After "awakening" unrivaled double-sword bloodline at the critical moment, Zhang Tie had already fixed the result of this duel.


    After being chopped off a horn, the ox-head demon knight''s eyes turned completely red while its scalp gave out the glow, revealing a new patch of bloody demon grain totem. Closely after that, it gave out dazzling glow all over. Zhang Tie had not imagined that this ox-head demon knight could have another trump card. When he was going to launch another round of strike, he heard Zuoqiu Mingyue''s words, "Watch out..."


    Soon after Zuoqiu Mingyue''s words, the ox-head demon knight had accelerated towards Zhang Tie. Being pierced through by Zhang Tie''s longsword and bearing the baptism of Zhang Tie''s protective sword wind, it approached Zhang Tie rapidly with widely open arms and grim look as if it was going to fix Zhang Tie, "Go to hell..."


    With a "boom...", a powerful battle qi swept over the battlefield. The impact wave brought by the ox-head demon knight''s explosion could be felt by knights over 60 miles away in the air, changing everyone''s face.


    In the center of the battlefield where Zhang Tie was, a purple-red mushroom composed of battle qi covering hundreds of meters was rising. Even heavenly knights couldn''t approach it.


    All the human and demon knights became quiet as they were shocked by such tragic combat...


    The waning purple-red mushroom cloud slowly exposed the final winner¡ª¡ªZhang Tie who was holding a huge shield, a silver secret item, in a ball-shaped energy hood...


    In a split second, the cheer of human knights in Xuanyuan Fortress shocked the battlefield.


    ...

 1416 Trap After Trap

    This combat was full of twists and turns. Zhang Tie had the advantage over the ox-head demon knight when he interacted his punch skills with sword skills; the ox-head demon knight then oppressed Zhang Tie using its demon grain totem; Zhang Tie then "awakened" unrivaled double-sword bloodline and took the wind. When the ox-head demon knight was going to kill Zhang Tie by exploding itself, the mushroom cloud caused by its explosion slowly waned, exposing Zhang Tie with his silver secret item "shield" to the public in the end.


    Nobody had ever seen such a heart-wrenching fight for honor between shadow knights since the beginning of this holy war.


    Over 100,000 human knights'' yells finally became two words in unison, "Zhang Tie", "Zhang Tie", "Zhang Tie"...


    In the yells, human knights'' morale reached its peak.


    Such a scene was similar to the yells of football fans when a football star on the football field scored a goal at the critical moment before the Catastrophe.


    At this moment, those who were cheering Zhang Tie for killing two shadow demon knights in the public were human knights who were top talents.


    Shadow knights were at least commanders of military regions in Taixia Country, who were also rare among demons.


    Shadow knight was the highest-level demon knight that human knights had killed on the battlefield since demons invaded Taixia Country. Actually, Zhang Tie killed two shadow demon knights this time. What a brilliant military exploit!


    At this moment, even Feng Cangwu, Zhang Tie''s old friend couldn''t help but become thrilled. Contrary to that, those disciples of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Feng Yexiao completedly turned pale. Zhang Tie''s halo was as hot as the sun which could barely be seen straightforwardly by them. All the disciples of Taiyi Fantasy who were teasing Zhang Tie a few days ago felt their hearts racing out of tension. Not until now did they understand that there was someone that they could not offend...


    "When I learned from Qianji Hermit by fighting him in Youzhou Province, I was defeated by the hermit. From then on, I have known that Qianji Hermit would definitely have a much brighter future than me. I''ve not imagined that I could see my old friend constantly kill two shadow demon knights near the bank of Weishui River. When Qianji Hermit returns to Youzhou Province, I will definitely invite him for a drink..." Nangong Sheng the founder of Immortal Fist Position Sect sighed with emotions as he had already forgotten about the scar of being defeated by Zhang Tie and didn''t regard it as anything embarrassing. On the contrary, Nangong Sheng treated their contest as a way of showing himself off.


    Of course, after Nangong Sheng finished his words, all the surrounding knights threw more respectful glances at him. Stroking his long beard, Nangong Sheng looked like a hermit who had got the essence of the universal law.


    ...


    In the yells, Zhang Tie silently yet rapidly refined the wind elements of that late ox-head demon knight which was going to collapse.


    The moment the ox-head demon knight exploded itself, Zhang Tie had taken out the shield and locked its wind chakra using the Lock of Bloody Chakra at the same time.


    This fight for honor was actually a trap. Zhang Tie had too many trump cards and precautious measures. In this case, of course, Zhang Tie would pay heed to demon knights'' trump cards and precautious measures. Therefore, starting from fighting the first demon knight, Zhang Tie had been paying attention to each movement of the demon knight who was fighting him and other powerhouses next to Sagus and preparing for emergencies at any time. Therefore, the ox-head demon knight''s explosion couldn''t hurt Zhang Tie. Actually, since the ox-head demon knight lit up its demon grain totem on its head, Zhang Tie had been ready for responding to it. It was not easy for demons to screw Zhang Tie.


    Before the complete collapse of the wind chakra of the shadow demon knight, Zhang Tie had refined 1/3 of its wind elements, which almost amounted to 2 times that of the former one.


    After that, Zhang Tie directly declined to the ground and put away the huge ax that the ox-head demon knight had dropped just now under the gaze of all the human and demon knights.


    As this huge ax was a top-notch silver secret item and Zhang Tie''s legitimate booty, of course, Zhang Tie wouldn''t abandon it. No matter how many silver secret items he had, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to leave it to others.


    Watching Zhang Tie taking the huge ax of the ox-head demon knight, Sagus tightly frowned as it said, "Zhang Tie, you have amazing battle strength. I''ve got some shadow knights in their 9 change realm. If you agree, you can propose conditions at your discretion..."


    At this moment, Sagus was like a gambler who had become a bit jealous after losing two rounds constantly. It was gagging to kill Zhang Tie. What mostly saddened Sagus was that the opponent''s cards were just a bit better than that of his in the two rounds. Therefore, Sagus felt very pitiful.


    Sagus didn''t suggest Zhang Tie to fight a heavenly demon knight as it regarded it as a pure killing spree. Unless Zhang Tie sought for death or was slow-witted, no knight would pose a challenge to an opponent who was two levels higher than him. In order not to scare Zhang Tie away and lose the opportunity to kill him, Sagus tried to stay calm as it proposed another condition.


    However, Sagus didn''t know that it had already been mired in Zhang Tie''s trap bit by bit without any precautious measures at the cost of its military resources.


    Zhang Tie sneered inside while he looked solemn as if he was considering it.


    "You mean any condition?"


    "Just let me know..." Sagus might have already revealed a "benign smile" so as to persuade Zhang Tie to have another try, though its mask was too grim.


    "How many element crystals left?" Zhang Tie asked while a "greedy" look flashed by...


    "I didn''t bring too many element crystals this time. Those element crystals are for my knights in the war. New element crystals have not been supplied. You could change one condition!" Sagus said calmly with a bit embarrassment.


    "Well, I will not ask for element crystals then. Those element crystals that I got from you is enough..." Licking his lips, Zhang Tie continued, "What else do you plan to exchange for my life then?"

 1417 Unexpected Booties

    "Besides element crystals, I''ve got many silver secret items and rarities from Earth Elements Realm..." Sagus'' voice drifted from afar.


    "Silver secret items and rarities from Earth Elements Realm?" Zhang Tie asked after a "disguised" consideration, "Sure, but, I want at least 100 pieces of silver secret items for fighting a shadow demon knight in its 9 change realm!"


    100 pieces of silver secret items? Were silver secret items as cheap as white cabbages? Of course, Sagus was not an idiot. Silver secret items were different than element crystals. Although element crystals were precious and humans didn''t have as many as mines of element crystals as demons, human knights could still maintain a balance between its supply and demand. In order to get element crystals, more human knights could be summoned to explore mines in the Earth Elements Realm which would strengthen human knights'' strength in the Earth Elements Realm. Hungry mutated beasts were most dangerous. So were hungry human knights. One major reason that Sagus agreed to give so many element crystals to Zhang Tie was that he knew that those element crystals couldn''t be converted into battle strength right away even if Zhang Tie got them. Element crystal was not the only factor to become a knight. Additionally, a knight had limited demand for element crystals in total and only needed to refine limited element crystals within a period. By contrast, silver secret items, as long as they fell into the hands of human knights would greatly improve human knights'' battle strength immediately. On the battlefield, the behavior of gifting silver secret items to the enemy was nothing different than propping up the enemy.


    Therefore, Sagus directly vetoed Zhang Tie''s proposal.


    "100 pieces of silver secret items is too many, I could at most give you 5; plus some rarities from Earth Elements Realm as a compensation..."


    In the eyes of outsiders, it was more or less a bit preposterous for a human knight to bargain with a sage-level demon knight on the battlefield for the "compensation" of the fight for honor. However, nobody tittered; because everyone understood what such an exchange meant¡ª¡ªthe prelude of a life or death combat between two powerful knights which would end at the price of one''s life.


    When Zhang Tie bargained with Sagus, those knights in the air above Xuanyuan Fortress didn''t feel hilarious at all; instead, they turned intense inside.


    Many knights thought that Zhang Tie should stop it. As the shadow demon knight in its 9 change realm would soon promote to a heavenly knight, its battle strength could not be matched by those in their 3 change realm or 6 change realm. Even though Zhang Tie''s sword power skyrocketed by two times after Zhang Tie awakened his unrivaled double-sword bloodline, he could still barely win the third round.


    "Commander-in-chief..." Ye Qingcheng couldn''t help but open his mouth on Zuoqiu Mingyue''s side as he wanted Zuoqiu Mingyue to stop Zhang Tie from continuing. Because it was a rare chance for Zhang Tie to win the 3rd round. Ye Qingcheng was afraid that Zhang Tie had lost his mind by the great prestige after constant victories.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue slightly raised his hand as he replied calmly, "Wait..."


    After hearing Zuoqiu Mingyue''s reply, all the heavenly human knights beside him exchanged glances with each other as they became quiet. Ning Taisheng''s mouth corners raised slightly as he squinted at Zhang Tie from afar. His eyelight kept changing that nobody knew what he was thinking about. As for Zuoqiu Mingyue, he had got a great question in mind although the former two battles aroused his concern. Even though he knew Zhang Tie, he could still sense Zhang Tie''s abnormal performance today. He knew that Zhang Tie was definitely not interested in worldly objects such as element crystals and silver secret items. ''Zhang Tie might have his own plan.'' Zuoqiu Mingyue muttered.


    "5 pieces of silver secret items?" Zhang Tie replied with a sneer. Even though he found that Sagus had already fallen into his trap, he still couldn''t reveal his jubilant mood; instead, he should pretend to behave in a more alert and meticulous way, "Do you think I''m slow-witted or what? How about giving you 10 pieces of silver secret items for a duel between a shadow demon knight in its 9 change realm and a heavenly human knight?"


    "Besides 5 pieces of silver secret items, you will have 100 tons of abyss iron, 100 tons of mithril, 100 tons of dark crystals, 100 tons of air floating gold, 100 tons of eternal stones, 1 ton of dragon-scale gemstones, 1 ton of colorful gemstones, 100 dragon-soul grasses, 100 fruits of cross-world flowers..." Sagus added calmly in an alluring tone, "Do you know cross-world flower''s fruit? It''s even more precious than silver secret items for humans. After taking one cross-world flower''s fruit, a human woman would remain young forever. What do you feel?"


    Abyss iron, mithril, dark crystal and air floating gold were all extremely precious materials for making instruments and weapons. Air floating gold was the key material for making airboat. In Taixia Country, a provincial governor''s airboat would consume fewer than 5 tons of air floating gold; eternal stones, dragon-scale gemstones and colorful gemstones were all top-notch hermetic materials; dragon-soul grass could extend one''s life expectancy and be used to make precious medicaments; cross-world flower''s fruit was pursued by all the women out of their mind. The latter two items were both world-renowned specalties in the underground world.


    Before Zhang Tie replied, those knights in Xuanyuan Fortress had been drooling as they panted; especially those female knights who even wished that they could fight the shadow demon knight in its 9 change realm on behalf of Zhang Tie.


    "Commander-in-chief. His Majesty is looking for cross-world flower''s fruits everywhere for his wives. There''re only 3 cross-world flower''s fruits and too few dragon-soul grasses in the imperial warehouse. All the dignitaries in the imperial palace are hankering for them. If Zhang Tie agrees, hopefully, commander-in-chief could persuade him to sell some of them to His Majesty..." Ning Taisheng told Zuoqiu Mingyue through secret means as his eyes flickered.


    "Even if Zhang Tie agrees, as he gets these items at the risk of his life, he''s entitled to make decisions himself. If Elder Ning has a demand, you could negotiate it with Zhang Tie. If Zhang Tie fought to death, I will hand these compensations to his family members completely. If anyone dare grab and plunder them by cajolery and coersion, you would be my enemy as you trample on the cordial hearts of the whopping population of Taixia Country, whether knights or common soldiers, and I will kill you..." Zuoqiu Mingyue replied as he threw a distant glance at Ning Taisheng.


    Ning Taisheng''s face turned stiff as he forced a smile silently.


    Zhang Tie didn''t pay heed to air floating gold and dragon-scale gemstones; however, when Sagus mentioned dragon-soul grasses and cross-world flowers'' fruits, Zhang Tie had already given concession to it from inside. ''I could give dragon-soul grasses to my parents; as for the cross-world flowers'' fruits, they could be saved for my wives.''


    Sagus believed that these items couldn''t improve knights'' battle strength in a short period. Actually, many among them were not useful for knights. Of course, it could pay them without demur; especially the fruits of cross-world flowers, which might be precious for humans though, but were almost useless for demons. Could it be useful for increasing odds of winning in battle, increasing one''s battle strength or edible by having females remain young forever? Of course not. What demons could understand least was human females attention to their own looks. Actually, Sagus prepared these cross-world flowers'' fruits for "human traitors" instead of their own kind¡­


    "I could accept them but the 5 pieces of silver secret items are too few, how about 10¡­" Zhang Tie still pretended to be hesitant although he had already agreed inside. If he could get some more from demons, of course, he would not let go such a rare chance.


    "Only 5!" Sagus insisted.


    "If so, I''ve got a request. One of the 5 silver secret items should be heavy¡­''


    "The heavy the better?"


    "Yes, I found I have no proper weapon. I need a heavy weapon. If you couldn''t meet this requirement, let''s call it an end then¡­"


    Sagus threw a glance at the Dragon Devouring in Zhang Tie''s hand as it flickered its eyes under the mask. After that, a silver secret item appeared in his hand.


    It was the true object of a silver secret item in its hand¡ªa dozens of meters high golden ape. Even though being over 60 miles away, Zhang Tie could still feel the strong waves of earth element and water element on the huge ape.


    The huge ape thumped its chest and roared in Sagus'' hand as it wanted to escape away from Sagus'' grasp, but how could a silver secret item get out of the control of a sage-level knight? As Sagus ran its spiritual energy, the golden ape gradually turned into a huge metal rod which gave out golden light. The flowing runes over the metal stick gave out subtle light like ripples, amid which was the virtual image of a golden huge ape. The two ends of the rod were a bit thicker than that in the middle. Being shrouded in a bizarre dragon-shaped grain, it was full of exotically aesthetic feeling.


    "I gained this silver secret item from the Earth Elements Realm. It weighs 18.8 tons. For now, I''ve not found the proper person to use it among demon knights¡­"


    Demon knights didn''t like sticks as it lacked lethality. Additionally, this silver secret item was so heavy that average black iron knights, earth knights, even shadow knights couldn''t play with it. As for heavenly knights, as each heavenly knight had already formed their own battle style and used to their own secret sauces, they would not pick a strange, heavy weapon which didn''t seem to have a great lethality. Therefore, nobody had taken this silver secret item away from Sagus; even Sagus itself didn''t use it.


    Zhang Tie was using a sword; additionally, he had just awakened a powerful ancestral bloodline concerning the sword. Of course, it was not benevolent for Sagus to give Zhang Tie such a silver secret item.


    As for a knight who had a deep cultivation base in some weapon, if Zhang Tie changed an improper weapon at this time; especially a weapon that couldn''t be used by commoners, it was usually not good for him.


    Rod was barely used even in Taixia Country. Among over 100,000 human knights around Xuanyuan Fortress, nobody used rod as a weapon. As for most knights, rod didn''t have a great lethality. Its lethality could be imagined when a commoner fought the other ''rod-holding'' commoner by sword or saber. In addition, people who used such a weapon looked like an idiot. Moreover, there were only a few battle skills of rods, most of them were low-level. By contrast, spikes were better. Besides carrying the feature of rod, spear also had a great lethality and more battle skills. Therefore, fewer than 1 out of 10,000 knights would use rod.


    Sagus thought that he had set a trap for Zhang Tie; however, he didn''t know that Zhang Tie''s heart had been racing as he felt thirsty when he caught sight of this silver secret item. Zhang Tie himself had not imagined that his casual words could bring him such a great weapon.


    On the surface, he was still not anxious; instead, after being hesitant for a few seconds, he gritted his teeth as he determined to tell Sagus, "Well, that''s the deal¡­"


    ¡­


    Sagus assigned an shadow iron-armored demon knight who was in its 9 change realm. Like how the former two demon knights did, when this one was 1,000 m away from Zhang Tie, it threw a piece of space-teleportation equipment which contained those items to Zhang Tie. After catching it and checking those items inside it, Zhang Tie gave it to the shadow human knight assigned by Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    The shadow human knight gave the space-teleportation equipment to Zuoqiu Mingyue. After taking it, Zuoqiu Mingyue looked inside; however, he didn''t see the silver secret item of the golden huge ape.


    ''What does this mean?''


    Zuoqiu Mingyue''s heart pounded as he looked at Zhang Tie with sparkling eye light¡­


    ¡­


    When Zuoqiu Mingyue took that space-teleportation equipment, the battle had already broken out¡­


    The shadow iron-armored demon knight''s morale was so high that the moment it launched a strike, its earth-shaking battle qi had broken the void and flown towards Zhang Tie like a surging flood from all directions as if it was going to shatter Zhang Tie in a split second¡­


    Zhang Tie kept flying backward at a high speed as his "shield" swam and roared around him to withstand the demon knight''s strike.


    Under the gaze of over 200,000 knights, Zhang Tie spared his right hand. Closely after that, a water-element crystal appeared in his right hand¡­


    ''Is he absorbing element crystals¡­'' All the onlookers raised their eyebrows¡­

 1418 Five-Elements Rings

    An earth human knight absorbed an element crystal when he fought a shadow demon knight in its 9 change realm. This was insane in the eyes of any knight. However, Zhang Tie was rational as he did all this fluently. Those who could see Zhang Tie''s movements clearly had already realized that Zhang Tie was doing three tasks at the same time in the fight.


    Many people might have seen someone doing two tasks at the same time; however, it was their first time to see someone doing three tasks at the same time.


    Zhang Tie was doing three tasks at the same time: blocking strikes from the demon knight, manipulating the true object of the silver secret item; absorbing wind elements.


    Zhang Tie spent 70% of his energy on defense, 30% on attack. He was stifled by the shadow iron-armored demon knight, but the latter couldn''t hurt him at all; neither was Zhang Tie in a disadvantageous position.


    Just now, Zhang Tie displayed his secret sauce of combining fist position with swordsmanship. This time, Zhang Tie displayed his secret sauce of combining fist position with a shield. Even in the eyes of Zuoqiu Mingyue, Zhang Tie''s defense was also consummated.


    In the image of a silver dragon, the Devouring Dragon flew around Zhang Tie within 10-20 m, spilling sword qi in all directions.


    It was Zhang Tie''s protective sword wind inside Devouring Dragon''s cover. The protective sword wind could be rigid or tender, whether attack or defend. Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi was closely inside his protective sword wind. Zhang Tie''s shield was inside his protective battle qi. His body was in the core.


    Even though the shadow demon knight had a strong offensiveness, it couldn''t hurt Zhang Tie easily as it had to break the following layers one after another: the sword qi of Devouring Dragon, Zhang Tie''s protective sword wind, Zhang Tie''s shield which was a silver secret item, Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi, Zhang Tie''s iron body.


    In this case, no matter what terrifying striking strength did that shadow demon knight have, those brilliant light would finally disappear in front of the shield.


    Zhang Tie''s defense really broadened the vision of all the onlookers as they all lost in wonder.


    The demon knight to Zhang Tie was what a wild wolf to a sliding weight of a steelyard full of steel spines. The demon knight could only use its last strength¡ªendurance. When Zhang Tie couldn''t bear his fierce strike and ran out of his energy, it would be the end of this combat.


    When Zhang Tie was defending the demon knight without any loophole, he was gradually refining water element under the gaze of the onlookers.


    Zhang Tie absorbed water elements so fast that people could see the elapse of the water elements by naked eyes.


    ''Does Zhang Tie want to promote to a shadow demon knight in the fight? That''s unlikely!''


    Many human knights in Xuanyuan Fortress didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could promote to a shadow human knight in the fight; however, they had to think so as Zhang Tie was absorbing water elements from a water-element crystal at an abnormal speed.


    "Ahh, how could Qianji Hermit absorb water elements so fast¡­"


    "It''s said that Qianji Hermit''s secret sauce is called Thousands of Beads Multi-task Sutra. He won an airboat from Taiyi Fantasy Sect using this secret sauce¡­"


    "How did you know that¡­"


    "A friend in Earth-elements Realm told me about that. Almost all the knights in Lion Fortress know that¡­"


    It seemed that those speakers didn''t notice that Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s disciples were not far from them or might have already noticed their talk. Feng Yexiao heard this dialogue as he slightly twisted his face and gazed at Zhang Tie on the battlefield with red eyes. Nobody knew what he was thinking about.


    In this case, after a knight mentioned the secret sauce Thousands of Beads Multi-tasking Sutra for a short while, over 100,000 human knights above Xuanyuan Fortress had already known it. From then on, that secret sauce of Zhang Tie''s spread over Taixia Country at an amazing speed.


    Even though others mentioned the secret sauce for 10,000 times, it was still not as shocking or impressive as that of witnessing it oneself.


    Only after one hour, Zhang Tie had already absorbed the greater part of that water-element crystal under the gaze of the public without leaking any loophole. After then, with a sudden, powerful wave of elements, a yellow halo appeared on Zhang Tie and gradually expanded, covering Zhang Tie.


    When this yellow halo appeared, most of the shadow demon knight''s strike was collapsed by the wave of elements. When the halo expanded, even the demon knight had to move backwards as it felt the shock of its chakras. It moved out of the scope of effect of that yellow halo. Not until it reached 400-500 m away from Zhang Tie did he start to attack Zhang Tie once again.


    Even if a person was cultivating the most average secret sauce, when he formed a new chakra, there would also be a special virtual image and abnormal phenomenon within a few meters, hundreds of meters even tens of thousands of meters, although there would not be such an exaggerated elements tide and wide-ranging abnormal phenomenon. With the new-born wave of chakra and strong vitality, such a new virtual image and abnormal phenomenon would affect the stability of the chakras of surrounding knights. Like how metal would be magnetized by rubbing with a magnet, although being not fatal, this influence could barely be eliminated and would last for a long time. It would cause greater influence to those knights on the same level. Therefore, every knight would stay away from those knights on their same level who had just formed their new chakra. Like how superstitious men would stay away from the delivery room, they would draw closer to him after his virtual image stabilized and the abnormal phenomenon waned even if they wanted to congratulate him on it.


    From 400 m away, the shadow demon knight''s strike became much weaker than that before. Of course, Zhang Tie could respond to it easily.


    The moment the yellow halo came into being, a silver halo had appeared on Zhang Tie which was thicker than the first one with a sharp metallic qi¡­


    The information that Zhang Tie "promoted to a shadow demon knight" in fight shocked everybody else again¡­


    Watching those halos of shadow-level virtual images on Zhang Tie, Sagus had long swore him numerous times inside.


    Sagus believed that their party should at least have 70% odds to win the combat even if Zhang Tie had other secret sauces. Actually, Sagus didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could have any other trump card besides awakening another ancestral bloodline of Hua people in this case, which probably would not happen. Sagus thought that it had already been clear about all of Zhang Tie''s trump cards, but the current scene drove it mad once again¡­


    It was similar to the following scene: a gambler who had got a good card and defeated two opponents thought that he was unrivaled in this round; right then, the last opponent presented a greater card, causing him breathless.


    "No way!" Sagus couldn''t help but roar.


    On the contrary, all the human knights almost cheered up at the same time at the sight of that colorful halo on Zhang Tie after a short pause out of shock.


    "What''s that virtual image¡­"


    "It''s the virtual image of Five-elements Earth-look Sutra. The first one was the halos of the earth; the second one was the halos of gold¡­"


    "Ahh, isn''t Qianji Hermit cultivating Fire Dragon Sutra?"


    "Idiot! That''s simulated by Qianji Hermit using his Chaotic Treasure Body. The fundamental secret sauce that Qianji Hermit cultivates for promotion is Five-elements Earth-look Sutra¡­"


    This discussion had already spread across the knights'' camp of Taixia Country only after a short while.


    At this moment, all the heavenly human knights raised their eyebrows as they gazed at Zhang Tie''s halos with eyes wide open.


    "Good¡­" Ye Qingcheng couldn''t help but highly praise Zhang Tie, "Commander-in-chief, you''ve long known that General Mushen has his precautious measures?"


    "Zhang is not rash. I could see that he has already been in his 9 change realm. However, I''ve not imagined that he could promote to a shadow knight at this moment. He deserves the reputation of Qianji Hermit¡­" Zuoqiu Mingyue revealed a faint smile.


    ¡­


    ''Earth reinforces gold; gold reinforces water; water reinforces wood; wood reinforces fire; fire reinforces earth¡­''


    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had formed 5 halos, which altogether was the virtual image of Five-elements Ground-look Sutra when Zhang Tie promoted to a shadow knight. The five halos were respectively yellow, silver, water blue, grass green and fiery. They covered Zhang Tie, all linked with one another. At the same time, they formed a new protective ring outside the protective sword wind.


    Everything had its limits. Although Five-elements Ground-look Sutra was only the most average viscount-level secret sauce and would not bring people too much surprise until one promoted to a black iron knight, after promoting to a shadow knight, one would also have a virtual image¡ª¡ªFive-elements Rings which he could be used to fight like all the others who cultivated other secret sauces.


    Nevertheless, the Five-elements Rings were not used to attack but to defend¡­

 1419 The Rainbow

    The shadow iron-armored demon knight launched its powerful battle qi towards Zhang Tie, breaking the greater part of the fiery halos which was flying around Zhang Tie.


    Its strike carried a strong, sharp sense, which belonged to the attribute of gold. Fire was contradictory to gold. Therefore, it was the fiery halos that Zhang Tie used to defend the iron-armored demon knight''s strike.


    Bearing the iron-armored demon knight''s battle qi strike, Zhang Tie''s fiery halos rocked, yet not collapsed. At the same time, the green wood halos sped up to generate fire so as to stabilize the fire halos. The water halos then injected great energy into the wood halos in order to offset the missing energy in the wood halos. At the same time, the water halos gained energy from the gold halos. Therefore, when the sharp qi and energy passed to Zhang Tie''s gold halos, step by step, it had been completely diffused. Not only that, Zhang Tie''s gold halos even expanded a bit, further strengthening the defense of the Five-elements Rings¡­


    All this happened within a millisecond. In the principle of mutual promotion and restraint between the five elements, the Five-elements Rings could well protect Zhang Tie in terms of 5 shields around Zhang Tie. It was a complex process. In a split second, they might have attacked and defended for dozens of times as the Five-elements Rings had adjusted for dozens of times too.


    For now, the most peripheral part of Zhang Tie was the five colorful rings. Being close to the Five-elements Rings was the invisible protective sword wind, followed by Zhang Tie''s shield and protective battle. Such an amazing defensive power would disappoint any opponent in the combat, including that shadow iron-armored demon knight. Before Zhang Tie "promoted to a shadow knight", the shadow iron-armored demon knight''s battle qi could still reach Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi and might break it. However, after Zhang Tie aided the Five-elements Rings, the strikes of that shadow iron-armored demon knight could almost reach Zhang Tie''s shield.


    With the appearance of the Five-elements Rings, Zhang Tie immediately took the wind.


    Gradually, those Taixia knights above Xuanyuan Fortress started to shout in unison, "Zhang Tie", "Zhang Tie", "Zhang Tie" as loud as battle drumbeats. In such exclamations, the Devour Dragon incarnated into a huge sword in Zhang Tie''s hand once again while much more powerful sword qi involved that iron-armored demon knight in like a great river in the air.


    Previously, Zhang Tie had already exerted the power of his sword to its utmost on the level of earth knight after getting the essence of sword song, swordsmanship and awakening the ancestral blood concerning blood when he could already kill a shadow demon knight in its 6 change realm, not to mention now; after promoting to a shadow knight, of course, Zhang Tie''s swordsmanship had also promoted to the shadow knight level. On that level, Zhang Tie''s swordsmanship improved at least two times in power and change.


    The moment Zhang Tie lashed his sword, the surging sword qi had reached over 10,000 m away. It shattered the clouds, causing moisture to rise in the air. As a result, wind, frost, rain and snow appeared alternatively. When the sword qi fell onto the ground, it caused a trench which lasted hundreds of meters long. The power of this swordsmanship was absolutely out of the imagination of commoners.


    At this moment, in the eyes of all the onlookers, Zhang Tie''s sword was not releasing sword qi or light, but stars over the sky, rising and falling sun and moons, vicissitudes of the fortune and the picturesque landscape¡­


    All the human knights who were obsessed with swordsmanship above Xuanyuan Fortress were fascinated by this scene.


    Facing such a powerful change, the shadow iron-armored demon knight in its 9 change realm who was oppressing Zhang Tie just now in an overbearing manner had lost its popularity as it had already declined to a common meteor among the other bright stars over the sky, the shadow of the rising or falling sun and moons, the aging one as time went by and a gloomy corner in the picturesque landscape¡­


    It was not because the shadow iron-armored demon knight who was in its 9 change realm was not powerful, but because its opponent was so unrivaled that made it dwarfed.


    When all the onlookers were obsessed with the combat, the fight abruptly ceased while all the sword qi and light disappeared in a split second. As a result, the "vast landscape" faded away. Zhang Tie was standing still arrogantly in the air with the bloody head of the shadow iron-armored demon knight in hand.


    The body of the shadow iron-armored demon knight had long been shattered.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie broke the dense dark clouds where they fought, causing a crack. The sunlight then penetrated through the crack, casting onto Zhang Tie. A beautiful rainbow that should never manifest in this season appeared in the rising, changeable vapor above the west bank of Weishui River.


    Standing below the rainbow and holding the bloody head of the shadow demon knight, Zhang Tie was like a deity.


    ...


    At the same time, the sunlight which had broken through the clouds also cast onto a corner in the demon camp.


    "Mom, look, rainbow..." An 8-9-year-old Hua boy who was withstanding the cold in his mother''s arm raised his faint hand and pointed at the rainbow while a hopeful light flashed across his eyes which were full of despair.


    "Yes, that''s rainbow, that''s rainbow..." The mother who was emaciated and had a sallow expression raised her head and threw a hard glance at the sky in daze.


    The wisp of warm light that penetrated through clouds also attracted the attention of hundreds of millions of Hua captives in demon camp. They looked up at the rainbow which could never happen in winter.


    ''Is that the comfort from the deity or the collective illusion before death?''


    Some Hua civilians started to kneel down and pray...


    "Mom, can...can we survive?" The little boy asked hesitantly.


    "Yes, we can. Have you seen that rainbow? We will survive on..." The mother tightly huddled up her boy as she burst out tears of hardship.


    ...


    With eyes closed, Zhang Tie was quietly absorbing the wind chakra of the shadow iron-armored demon knight which was about to collapse. After quite a few minutes, Zhang Tie opened his eyes and threw a glance at the demon camp. Closely after that, a sadness appeared in his eyes. Zhang Tie closed his eyes once again. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes again and peered at the demon camp, roaring, "Who else?"


    Zhang Tie crumbed the demon knight''s head as his sound drifted across the air like a dull thunder. Over 100,000 demon knights became pretty quiet at this moment...

 1420 The Bloody Pledge of the Demon God

    Sagus'' eyes turned completely red. Even his mask couldn''t cover his burning eyes and anger.


    In the fight for honor, Zhang Tie won all the three rounds and killed 3 shadow demon knights above Weishui River in the public. Demon army had not experienced such a huge strike and frustration since they started this invasion.


    Of course, this frustration was caused by Zhang Tie.


    Even a shadow iron-armored demon knight in its 9 change realm, a reliable subordinate of Sagus had been beheaded by Zhang Tie. The only thing that Sagus wanted to do at this moment was to kill Zhang Tie at any price. The later it got, the harder it would be to kill him. Because Zhang Tie''s overall strength was strengthening day by day; additionally, Zhang Tie might not appear at battlefield any more from today on. If it let Zhang Tie go today, it would mean a great loss for all the demon knights.


    Sagus'' mentality at this moment was like those gamblers who had lost their mind after losing many rounds in the gambling house.


    "Do you want to continue? Now that you''re already able to kill our shadow knight in its 9 change realm who couldn''t even break your safety cover, I''ve got some heavenly knights for your choice. What about your condition..."


    Sagus'' words, which were full of killing intent, could be heard by everyone at present. This time, Sagus put it straightforwardly without even civilities.


    Zhang Tie didn''t speak; instead, he took out a colorful vial of medicament from his portable space-teleportation equipment and bottomed it up under the furious gaze of Sagus.


    "I''ve already got space-teleportation equipment, silver secret items and rarities that demons could discover in the Earth-elements Realm, what else do you have that is worth my life?" Zhang Tie asked calmly.


    "Even though you''ve got so many rewards, you could get more. Go ahead, what''s your condition?"


    "I wanna know which heavenly demon knight tried to assassinate me outside Anxi City, Xinglin Prefecture, Military Province?"


    Soon after Zhang Tie''s words, an over 4 m high heavenly wing-demon knight who was purple-gold all over with a longhorn in demon lord crown flew out as it gazed at Zhang Tie above the main nestle-shaped demon battlefortress while its magisterial qi rushed into the heavens.


    "It''s me, Prince Antorier from the Department I of wing demons under the affiliation of abyss king who tried to assassinate you outside Anxi City!" That heavenly wing-demon knight watched Zhang Tie icily as it said in a pretty pretentious way, "Pitifully, you escaped away. I just killed your substitute. You should really take a look at how I shattered your substitute into foams, hahahaha! Do you want to avenge on your substitute? I''m here. It feels so bad that you escaped away last time, let me smash you here today..."


    Antorier knew what Sagus was thinking about. Therefore, he started to stimulate Zhang Tie. Additionally, Antorier had already located Zhang Tie spiritually. Because all the heavenly demon knights had already received Sagus'' order just now. If Zhang Tie didn''t accept the challenge, demon knights would launch an all-out assault. In the coming dogfight, they had to kill Zhang Tie; they could never let that human knight who had killed three shadow demon knights become a hero among humans.


    If Zhang Tie agreed, Antorier would kill Him in the coming fight for honor; if Zhang Tie didn''t agree, Antorier would also kill him in the dogfight among human knights and demon knights¡ª¡ªheavenly wing demon knights excelled at flight. As long as Antorier kept its eyes on Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie could never escape today.


    After Zhang Tie won the third round, another large-scale battle between human and demon knights had been brewing above Weishui River.


    On the side of Xuanyuan Fortress, Zuoqiu Mingyue had already issued an order to his heavenly knights and shadow knights to be ready for the coming large-scale battle through secret means.


    "As long as the large-scale battle breaks out, save Zhang Tie and cover him so that he could evacuate from the battlefield. As long as Zhang Tie could survive today, demons would not take too much advantage today, and we would be the final winner..."


    "Is it necessary for us to have over 100,000 human knights of Taixia Country fight demon knights only to save one human knight?" Ning Taisheng asked as his eyes sparkled.


    After hearing Ning Taisheng''s words, Zuoqiu Mingyue was driven mad as he pointed at Ning Taisheng with shiny eyes and said icily, "If I heard similar words again from you, I will behead you here in the crime of vilifying general. Even if you escaped to the imperial palace, I could also bring your head out of there. Do you want a try?"


    Ning Taisheng changed his face abruptly as he had not imagined that Zuoqiu Mingyue who used to treat him politely could be so merciless at this moment.


    Ning Taisheng didn''t know that his words had already touched the commander-in-chief''s bottomline. Zuoqiu Mingyue would never be hesitant on this issue, neither would he care about Ning Taisheng''s identity as the the employed elder of imperial households.


    When Zuoqiu Mingyue spoke to Ning Taisheng, he had already isolated the region where those heavenly human knights were using his battle qi. Therefore, only some heavenly knights on his side could hear the dialogue between the two people.


    "Zhang Tie is fighting for the country. Without his efforts, demons would also fight us. If we want to drive demons out of Taixia Country, we should also carry out an all-out battle with demons. How could you say that we are fighting demons only for Zhang Tie? If Zhang Tie was killed and we stayed still today, the morale of over 100,000 human knights of Xuanyuan Fortress would wane. Taixia Country would lose the war for sure. Elder Ning, what you said just now is really improper..." A heavenly knight on Zuoqiu Mingyue remined Ning Taisheng.


    Seeing that all the surrounding heavenly human knights were watching him unsatisfactorily, Ning Taisheng''s face turned gloomy. He remained silent and watched Zhang Tie in the center of the battlefield without emotion.


    However, it appeared that Zhang Tie had already made his decision.


    "Fine, I agree to start a fight for honor with Antorier!" Zhang Tie''s words drifted across the battlefield, "However, I don''t need your rarities this time. I have another condition."


    "Go ahead!" Sagus replied with an amazement.


    "If you want me to agree with you, you have to make a bloody pledge of the demon god. Demon army have to retreat 300 miles after this battle, allowing over 200 million Hua civilians to return to Taixia Country safe and sound..."


    "Hahaha, anything more?" Sagus burst out into laughter. The lives of over 200 million Hua civilians couldn''t even match a space-teleportation equipment in its eyes. Sagus felt that Zhang Tie must be foolish or insane. It thought such a condition was extremely preposterous for a powerful human knight.


    "One more. If I defeat Antorier, I hope demon army not to force Taixia civilians to die for demons in any corner and nook of Taixia Country. Even in the holy war, each party should have its own bottomline and rules to comply with. If I lose the battle, the second condition would be ineffective..."


    Sagus felt like listening to something unlikely just as all the other demon knights. A human knight wanted to make a rule for the demon army? That''s ridiculous!


    "Are you making a rule for the demon army?"


    "Yes, I''m making a rule for the demon army at the cost of my life, do you dare to accept?" Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly.


    "What if I disagree?" Sagus said icily.


    Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile, "I know you''ve already had Antorier keep its eyes on me. You could try whether I have other secret sauces or could survive this battlefield. If you disagree, I swear to intrude your territory and pay back you with 10 times more what you''ve done to Taixia civilians after I leave out of here. If you kill 200 million civilians here today, I will slaughter 2 billion demon civilians in your territory one day..."


    Pay back demons with 10 times more what they had done to Taixia civilians? All the human and demon knights on both banks of the Weishui River were shocked by Zhang Tie''s heroic promise.


    Sagus kept its eyes on Zhang Tie. Nobody else knew what it was scheming at this moment. The battlefield recovered its silence for 2 mintues.


    Zhang Tie just waited for Sagus'' reply, standing arrogantly at the battlefield.


    "Okay, I agree!" Sagus replied. Closely after that, Sagus took off its gloves as it cut a wound on its palm using its fingernail, sending some blood flying in the air in front of Sagus. The blood gave out a weird glow, forming a rune in the shape of a strange devil face. "I, Sagus makes my pledge of honor in the name of the demon god and my bloodline. In the following fight for honor, if Zhang Tie the human knight of Taixia Country undergoes a fight for honor with Antorier face-to-face, as Zhang Tie has said, I will comply with the agreement between him and I; If I violate this agreement, the demon god will deprive all of my glory, having my chakras collapse in the void along with my life..."


    After making this bloody pledge, the strange rune composed of blood turned brighter abruptly, covering Sagus and finally entering Sagus'' body...

 1421 Fighting the Heavenly Demon Knigh

    Watching the shiny bizarre rune of blood entering Sagus'' body, Zhang Tie finally revealed a smile.


    He finally brought Sagus into the largest pit step by step.


    This was what Zhang Tie wanted. He not only wanted to save over 200 million innocent Hua captives but also didn''t want to see helpless Taixia civilians on the battlefield from then on. Otherwise, demons and Heavens-reaching Church of Three-eyes Association would bring another 200 million Hua captives to clean out mines after today, and there would be no end.


    It was easy for him to save 200 million people; however, it was not easy for demons to not repeat the same holocaust. Zhang Tie knew that Sagus must not agree if this condition took effect whether he won or lose the battle, at least it would be hesitant and weigh the advantages and disadvantages; however, if this condition was taken as a bet, as the demon army didn''t need to comply with this rule unless he defeated the heavenly demon knight, Sagus would have a chance to win the bet, though risking a heavenly demon knight''s life. If Zhang Tie was killed by the heavenly demon knight, his life would only be compensated with the freedom of 200 million civilians'' lives. After that, Sagus would not suffer the threat from Zhang Tie anymore. Even though they left over 200 million Hua captives to Taixia Country, demons could carry more constantly from the rear end.


    However, as Zhang Tie had another identity¡ª¡ªGorath, the black-robed knight, whose moons-demon miasma could frighten demons, demons would not turn all the Hua captives into demonized puppets before having them clean out mines here. Otherwise, demons would bring about a dangerous barrier to themselves in front of their own army, which would absolutely be more destructive than incendiary mines in front of them.


    In Sagus'' opinion, that heavenly demon knight could at least have 60-70% odds to kill Zhang Tie. It thought that Zhang Tie had already exposed all of his trump cards. No matter what, Zhang Tie could never kill a heavenly demon knight; even if he had some other trump cards, he could only increase his odds to escape. The gap between a shadow human knight and a heavenly demon knight was absolutely many times greater than that between an earth human knight and a shadow demon knight, not to mention that Zhang Tie had just promoted to a shadow knight. If Zhang Tie could really escape, the prestige that he had established in this fight for honor would collapse; Sagus would not comply with the bet, which meant that it could continue to push Hua civilians onto the battlefield in the future.


    As long as Zhang Tie didn''t kill that heavenly demon knight in the fight for honor, Sagus would not lose its ground and this bloody pledge would lose its effect. This was also why Sagus dared make a bloody pledge of the demon god.


    Bloody pledge of the demon god had a great constraint on each demon knight. It carried a strength of rule that demons believed in. Unless Sagus hoped to die along with its chakras, this bloody pledge had to be followed by all the demons in Taixia Country in the future.


    As abyss king, Sagus was not stupid; instead, it was far-sighted; however, it couldn''t imagine that Zhang Tie was a divine dominator.


    What''s the odds for a knight to be a divine dominator? During the 900 years after the Catastrophe, there had been many knights; however, there was only one divine dominator who was like a flash in the pan in the second holy war between humans and demons¡ª¡ªthe legendary King Fairy Sea who had disappeared.


    The odds for Zhang Tie to be a divine dominator was definitely lower than that of hitting the jackpot. It was so normal that Sagus couldn''t guess that point as the odds was one in a million. Otherwise, Sagus would be a deity, rather than a sage-level demon knight.


    After killing that shadow iron-armored demon knight in its 9 change realm, everything was sliding along the track preset by Zhang Tie smoothly. All the fights today that Zhang Tie designed was for this ultimate target.


    If Sagus agreed with his condition, Zhang Tie had to fight that heavenly demon knight at his full efforts and had to expose his ability as a divine dominator.


    If Sagus disagreed with him and would like to kill him by force illegitimately, Zhang Tie would also expose his ability as a divine dominator and give an unforgettable lesson to the demon army for the rest of their lives. Because he had to let all the demon knights and Sagus know that it was a divine dominator who threatened to avenge them if they killed innocent people in Taixia Country, instead of a common knight.


    Someone''s death was as light as a stick of feather; someone''s death was as heavy as Mount Tai. Each person''s life was priceless, yet could be measured. So was one''s secrets.


    If Zhang Tie didn''t expose his secret as a divine dominator at this moment, his ability as a divine dominator might save his single life or bring him huge benefits at another time and in another place. Zhang Tie had considered whether to expose this secret as divine dominator for his own sake; however, when he recalled the miserable shrieks of hundreds of millions of Hua captives and that mother and her baby who had been burned into ashes by incendiary mines which he had invented, the hesitation and selfishness in Zhang Tie''s mind dispersed immediately. Nothing could alter Zhang Tie''s decision anymore.


    He would not care about the upcoming troubles and dangers on him anymore.


    In a difficult time, it was a knight''s destiny to fight demons for the countrymen.


    Zhang Tie stayed calm inside at this moment. He didn''t feel any tension or restlessness because of the coming dangerous duel. Under the gaze of hundreds of thousands of human knights and demon knights, Zhang Tie took off that string of remote-sensing communication finger rings from his neck as he sent a message to his elder brother, Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing respectively.


    After doing that, Zhang Tie watched the demon prince who had been over 10,000 m away as he said with a smile, "Let''s start..."


    ...


    Heavenly knights'' value could be judged by the word "heavenly".


    Heavenly knights were heavens among knights which all the other knights must look up at!


    Antorier''s killing intent surged as all the snowflakes above Weishui River disappeared at this moment.


    Soon after Zhang Tie''s words, Antorier had already advanced 10,000 m and launched its attack towards Zhang Tie in an overwhelming way like Mount Tai.


    When attacking Zhang Tie, Antorier was teleporting as fast as a lightning bolt, causing it to loom in the air. Each time it showed up, it had already marched 1,000 m forward.


    The irresistible Five-elements Rings facing the strike of the former shadow demon knight in its 9 change realm collapsed immediately this time.


    The strike of the heavenly demon knight had already surpassed the maximal bearing capacity of the Five-elements Rings. In front of great power, the mutual promotion and restraint between five elements didn''t work anymore.


    After the Five-elements Rings collapsed, Zhang Tie''s protective sword wind also collapsed. However, Antorier''s overwhelming strike still failed to hit Zhang Tie''s body.


    Because Zhang Tie had already disappeared from where he stood and was already rushing towards the heavenly demon knight.


    A shadow human knight launched a counterattack towards a heavenly demon knight.


    Zhang Tie always improved his battle skills by fighting Yan Feiqing in the tower of time; therefore, he knew the terrifying battle strength of a heavenly demon knight. Zhang Tie''s gold spear was not that threatening to a heavenly demon knight. In this case, the strike of his gold spear was only equal to a strike of a heavenly knight. Of course, a heavenly knight couldn''t be killed by another heavenly knight only by one strike. It was a lasting wrestle between two heavenly knights'' fight on tenacity and battle strength. In such a battle, even if Zhang Tie threw out all the gold spears that he got from Castle of Black Iron in one day, he might still not cause a fatal strike to Antorier. Therefore, close combat was necessary for him to win Sagus'' bet by killing Antorier. Only by constant kinetic strikes in close combat could he get the chance to kill the heavenly demon knight.


    The first strike of Antorier had already caused over 20 fine wounds on Zhang Tie''s body after breaking his Five-elements Rings and protective sword wind while its sharp and ferocious battle qi was like spines and sabers that could even break through his protective battle qi, spraying his blood over the air...


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t feel the pain at all; instead, he just kept his eyes on Antorier''s shadow.


    Of course, Antorier was not teleporting and jumping in the air. The effect of teleport was caused by its super high moving speed, plus its weird movements¡ª¡ªover 7 times that of the speed of sound.


    Average wing demons used light weapons such as spines or forks; however, Antorier used a pair of a golden, heavy hammer.


    The two figures soon approached to 1,000 m from each other.


    "Go to hell..." Antorier roared as it fleered. At the same time, it swung its hammers at Zhang Tie with a greater battle qi.


    Right then, Zhang Tie''s eyes shone...


    When Antorier''s second wave of strike was about to fall on Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie immediately disappeared from its vision, leaving Antorier''s hammer strike in vain, like how Antorier disappeared in the public before.


    Zhang Tie almost increased his flight speed in a split second by over 20 times, reaching more than 8,000 m per second.


    At the same time, the mallet weighing 18.8 tons that Sagus gave Zhang Tie just now appeared in his hand...


    "Go die..." Zhang Tie widely opened his eyes out of fury as he swung the mallet towards his opponent along with his blood.


    "Boom..."


    Being struck by hundreds of billions of Joule energy in a split second, the low yet dense dark clouds in the sky of the battlefield revealed many strange shapes by this heavy impact wave like a domino...


    One mallet''s strike shocked the world!


    All the human knights and demon knights in the battlefield were left dumbfounded...

 1422 Killing the Heavenly Demon Knigh

    Zhang Tie moved too fast; his first kinetic strike was completed within milliseconds.


    Within such a short period, only powerhouses above heavenly knight-level among the two camps could see Zhang Tie''s movement clearly; even shadow knights didn''t know what happened at that moment. They were just shocked by the destructive power of Zhang Tie''s kinetic strike.


    Precisely, Zhang Tie''s flight speed was 8,221 m/s, which was higher than 24 times the speed of sound. At that speed, with a secret item weapon weighing 18,800 kg, Zhang Tie''s kinetic strike released as high as 640 billion Joule energy in a split second, a new height as a divine dominator since he promoted to a shadow knight.


    640 billion Joule energy was equivalent to the explosive power of over 150 tons of TNT.


    When he exterminated the leading battleship of the expedition fleet of Sacred Light Empire, his kinetic strike released tens of billions of Joule energy; by contrast, he released hundreds of billions of Joule energy today, which meant a new high in level and energy.


    The improvement in the kinetic strike could already bring a disastrous, terrifying outcome to that heavenly wing-demon knight.


    Even so, Antorier could still sustain Zhang Tie''s huge rod by its hammers; however, Antorier''s protective battle qi was torn apart in a split second. At the same time, it fell onto the ground all the way from the sky like a meteor.


    Antorier''s fall caused a huge pit of hundreds of meters in diameter and depth; its great shock and impact wave caused the hard and icy ground to rise and fall like waves on the sea. As a result, snow within thousands of meters on the ground was sublimed immediately.


    ''Divine dominator! Only a divine dominator could have such a terrifying speed and striking strength!''


    Zuoqiu Mingyue and Sagus almost understood Zhang Tie''s trump card immediately. All the heavenly human and demon knights figured out the reason for Zhang Tie''s terrifying strike.


    Closely after the first kinetic strike, before Antorier flew out of the huge pit, Zhang Tie had entered the huge pit at a speed which was 20 times more than the speed of sound before launching the second kinetic strike towards the center of the huge pit.


    The great impact wave shook the ground within 600 miles. Before the rise and fall of the ground caused by the first wave stopped, another billow had been aroused. In addition to that, a huge fireball, thousands of meters in diameter, rose up from the center of the huge pit. The entire ground was shaking like that in an earthquake. The "hurricane" impact wave instantly cleaned everything within 6,000 m on the earth...


    Antorier rushed out of the rising hot "sun" like a lightning bolt.


    However, at this moment, Antorier didn''t look like a demon prince anymore. Zhang Tie''s two kinetic strikes broke Antorier''s horn and a pair and a half of its purple-gold feathers; Antorier was covered with wounds, hands bleeding, crown off.


    In this case, the heavenly demon knight had to exert its utmost; otherwise, it would lose its life. It had realized that it was facing a terrifying divine dominator; instead of a genius shadow human knight.


    If a heavenly knight was the heavens among knights, a divine dominator was the dominator among knights.


    There was sage-level knight above heavenly level; however, there might not be a dominator among hundreds of thousands of knights.


    At this moment, a brilliant light appeared on Antorier, in which, Antorier increased its speed once again. Meanwhile, 6 pairs of huge wings appeared behind it like a virtual image. When it flapped its wings, an irresistible battle qi storm that could tear apart everything appeared on its side over 1,000 m in diameter. In the storm, its battle qi turned into wing-shaped blades and moved as fast as lightning bolts with the aiding effects of cracking, cutting, freezing, lightning and corrosion. Antorier was covered in that battle qi storm.


    This special skill was the prototype and template of the realm of a sage-level knight that Antorier had just got¡ª¡ª"storm space". It was Antorier''s trump card. Ordinary shadow knights would instantly be torn apart into pieces the moment they entered this space.


    Zhang Tie flew out of the pit towards Antorier like a sharp sword rushing into the sky; three shields which were all silver secret items were flying around him like satellites...


    When they collided, Antorier growled in great lightning bolts and sparkles as it swung its hammers downwards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie kept teleporting in the air to dodge Antorier''s attack; instead of bearing the latter''s strike using his shields, using his advantage in speed. Meanwhile, he approached Antorier and intruded into Antorier''s "storm space".


    Zhang Tie''s shields blocked off tens of thousands of wing-shaped battle qi blades in the storm. However, as there was a sea of tiny battle qi blades in the air, some sharp blades finally penetrated through the gaps of the three shields, tearing apart Zhang Tie''s protective sword wind before falling onto his body.


    Those sharp battle qi blades contained bizarre battle qi of the heavenly demon knight. They then penetrated through Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi like water drops that permeated a piece of sponge, leaving over 100 wounds on Zhang Tie''s body, large or small.


    Ordinary knights might have been killed by over 100 wounds. Without so many iron-body fruits that Zhang Tie had taken, any battle qi blade of the heavenly demon knight would have already penetrated through his body.


    Being heavily injured, Zhang Tie didn''t even frown; instead, with fiery eyes, he kept his eyes closely on Antorier with a strong battle will.


    A battle qi blade lacerated Zhang Tie''s left face, which lasted from Zhang Tie''s eyebrow to his chin. The deepest 4 cm wide wound was on his leg, which was constantly struck by three battle qi; from outside, he could directly see his bone through that wound.


    A harp battle qi blade flew by Zhang Tie''s right ear, cutting off a 5 m long piece tidily.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had been soaked in blood as if he had just broken through a bloody rain.


    It was out of Antorier''s imagination that Zhang Tie could be so valiant. ''It seems that Zhang Tie has already determined his mind to kill me even risking injuries.''


    Zhang Tie swung his rod towards Antorier without demur.


    "Boom..."


    After swinging his rod onto Antorier''s hammers again, Zhang Tie broke Antorier''s protective battle qi for the second time. Under such great kinetic energy, Antorier''s bloody hands and one of his wings were vaporized in a split second. Spurting out blood, Anotorier''s hammers had long been sent flying away. From thousands of meters high in the air, Antorier was further sent upward by Zhang Tie''s third kinetic strike.


    Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi couldn''t defend a heavenly demon knight''s strike; similarly, Antorier couldn''t bear Zhang Tie''s kinetic strike either.


    Zhang Tie caught up with Antorier as fast as a lightning bolt once again, ascending their battlefield from thousands of meters high to tens of thousands of meters high at once...


    His eyes had been filled with blood coming from the wounds on his face, Zhang Tie found the whole world was bloody.


    The heavenly demon knight''s battle qi was definitely unusual. Even though Zhang Tie had already contracted his muscles and blood vessels, he couldn''t stop bleeding. Some wounds had already started to fester.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie only had one firm belief¡ª¡ªvictory!


    ''I have to kill Antorier as fast as possible at any cost...''


    ''As long as I killed Antorier, the bloody pledge of the demon god that Sagus had made would officially take effect.''


    As a divine dominator, Zhang Tie actually had more than one solution to tackle Antorier''s battle skills. However, all the solutions required a very long time, which was the last thing that Zhang Tie would like to spend at this moment. The longer they fought, the more dangers there would be; because he had already exposed his identity as a divine dominator.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie selected the fiercest and most efficient combat mode. Zhang Tie knew that he had already suffered wounds; however, he was clear that Antorier''s wounds were even severer than that of his; additionally, after each kinetic strike, Antorier''s protective battle qi would become thinner than before even though it could release its protective battle qi. In this case, Antorier could never stand too long.


    As his blood was gurgling all over his body, Zhang Tie kept his eyes closely on Antorier. At the same time, Zhang Tie constantly transported all-purpose medicament into his mouth from Castle of Black Iron, converting the energy of all-purpose medicament into his blood and moisture.


    Zhang Tie had a variety of medicaments; however, all-purpose medicament had the least side effect in this case, which could help Zhang Tie stand longer in such a fierce battle.


    It was difficult to find any complete palm-sized skin on his body.


    With another "boom", Zhang Tie completed his 9th kinetic strike, also the last time at over 100,000 m high in the air.


    In the dazzling light, Antorier, a heavenly demon knight in its 4 change realm, also a demon prince under the affiliation of abyss king dispersed in the air with its unwilling growl...

 1423 A Legend

    Zhang Tie killed the demon knight by rod through 9 kinetic strikes above the bank of Weishui River, who was the first heavenly demon knight to be killed in this holy war...


    Many human knights below shadow knights didn''t know what happened until then.


    Zhang Tie and Antorier moved too fast and fought too ferociously. Many onlookers had been confused about the battle situation since Zhang Tie exposed his secret as a divine dominator. Later on, they were shocked by the effect of the great kinetic strikes. They all watched the impact waves that spread across the battlefield and the combat as dazzling as the sun in the air in a daze out of amazement...


    Many earth knights and black iron knights were still confused when they saw Zhang Tie alone in the air¡ª¡ªWhat happened? How could Zhang Tie look so poor? Where''s the heavenly demon knight?


    Compared to the dumbfounded look of low-level knights, many knights above shadow-level had already known what happened on the battlefield when Zhang Tie launched the second and the third kinetic strikes towards Antorier.


    ¡ª¡ªZhang Tie is a divine dominator!


    Watching Zhang Tie completely suppressing the heavenly demon knight by bashing the latter from the sky to the ground, then from the ground to the sky, Feng Yexiao of Taiyi Fantasy Sect had completely turned pale; additionally, he was quivering all over. Not until then did Feng Yexiao know why Zhang Tie was always so pretentious and didn''t respect him, a shadow-level elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Because Zhang Tie was a divine dominator, the dominator of knights.


    Although Taiyi Fantasy Sect was powerful, it didn''t have a divine dominator.


    ...


    Compared to the dumbfounded look of many low-level knights above Xuanyuan Fortress, Sagus gritted its teeth with bloody eyes after seeing the power of Zhang Tie''s 2nd kinetic strike. It finally understood that it had been leading to the trap preset by Zhang Tie step by step since the beginning.


    Zhang Tie was always hiding his most powerful trump card.


    When Zhang Tie entered Antorier''s "storm space" and sent it flying upwards, Sagus had already seen the result of this duel. At the same time, it made a decision.


    "Zhang Tie is a divine dominator. Antorier could barely win this battle. No matter what, Zhang Tie has to die today even if he wins the battle. As long as we could kill Zhang Tie, we would be the winner of this battle and get back all the losses. The moment Zhang Tie kills Antorier, we will launch a strike to kill him..." Sagus told the other 8 heavenly demon knights on its side with a furious look.


    All the 8 heavenly demon knights then kept their eyes on Zhang Tie.


    ...


    "All knights, be ready for the fight..." Zuoqiu Mingyue also issued an order when Zhang Tie launched his 3rd kinetic strike towards Antorier.


    Watching the dazzling sun and recalling how Zhang Tie urged him for saving those Hua captives in the demon camp that day, Zuoqiu Mingyue sighed inside, ''Are you doing all this for those Hua captives?''


    ...


    When Antorier dispersed in the dazzling light of Zhang Tie''s kinetic strike, the clarino spread over 600 miles above the demon camp. At the same time, over 100,000 demon knights released their battle qi smokes and tornadoes as they accelerated towards Xuanyuan Fortress like a black tide in an overwhelming way.


    Besides demon knights, many wing demons also flew off and charged at the defense line of Weishui River in an overwhelming way from the flanks of the demon knight''s army at a low altitude.


    Only ground demon forces didn''t move.


    "Fight..." Zuoqiu Mingyue sent a simple order. In a split second, all the heavenly human knights flew off and hundreds of thousands of battle qi smokes and tornadoes rose up above Weishui River. The moment wing demons set off, all the air cavalry I planes took off from their runways at the same time in the east of Weishui River towards west bank of Weishui River in a huge formation, wuthering loudly.


    Zhang Tie''s killing of Antorier by the 9th kinetic strike was like a starting gun. The moment it triggered, all the demon knights and human knights had set off. In a split second, the first all-around battle between human knights and demon knights had broken out over the 600 miles wide battleline of Weishui River from over 1,000 m to over 100,000 m in the air.


    After killing Antorier, Zhang Tie instantly became alert before taking a deep breath. In a split second, he had felt being aimed spiritually by 8 heavenly demon knights. However, what made Zhang Tie most alert was the sudden disappearance of Sagus; instead of being aimed spiritually by the 8 heavenly demon knights.


    Even in fight, Zhang Tie was still paying head to Sagus. The moment Sagus disappeared, Zhang Tie had sensed a great danger charging at him which was about to guffaw him by opening its big mouth like a far-ancient fierce beast.


    Zhang Tie instantly left the center of the battlefield at a speed about 20 times more than the speed of sound.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie know the terrifying power of a sage-level demon knight. The moment Sagus moved, Zhang Tie had lost his perception of its position. Zhang Tie couldn''t even sense Sagus'' existence by his knight''s consciousness as a shadow knight. Sagus just disappeared in the void. That was too powerful.


    Zhang Tie knew that Sagus must be aiming to kill him. As it was a fight for honor just now, Sagus couldn''t join the battle. However, it was a dogfight now when it was legitimate for Sagus to kill him.


    When Sagus disappeared in the void, Zuoqiu Mingyue disappeared too.


    After Zhang Tie left the center of the battlefield for over 10 seconds, a black shadow collided against a white shadow fiercely at tens of thousands of meters high in the air behind Zhang Tie, causing a loud boom.


    The black one was Sagus the abyss king of demons; the white one was Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    The two sage-level knights, also the highest rank officers of both armies officially collided above Weishui River for the first time since this holy war broke out.


    In the air, Sagus in grim battle armor was shrouded by black mist, which revealed a looming, bizarre face and frame as if numerous fiends were twisting and whining and were about to charge out of there to wreak havoc and make a spree killing.


    At this moment, Zuoqiu Mingyue wore a bizarre battle armor too while two bright full moons were rising up from his back. The moonlight was silvery, spreading over the ground. In the moonlight, clouds and afterglow rose up with a looming moon palace inside.


    The black mist and the silvery moonlight pushed and grappled to offset each other. Neither party could gain an overwhelming advantage. In a split second, the bizarre region over 60 miles had been covered by black mist and silvery moonlight. Nobody else could access it.


    "Your opponent is me..." Zuoqiu Mingyue told Sagus.


    ...


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded out of tension. It had been a long time since he got this feeling last time. The destructive power of annihilating everything from the collision between two sage-level knights was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. Zhang Tie knew that it was Zuoqiu Mingyue who prevented Sagus from killing him.


    "You''ve done too much today. You have to stay far away from the battlefield right now..." Zuoqiu Mingyue''s voice sounded calm and decisive, "As long as you could survive today, we would win regardless of the result of this all-round battle..."


    After hearing Zuoqiu Mingyue''s words, Zhang Tie wanted to leave the battlefield right away. However, seeing so many demon knights speeding up towards Xuanyuan Fortress, Zhang Tie changed his mind.


    Among the human knights above Xuanyuan Fortress, Zhang Tie saw Feng Cangwu''s battle qi smoke, Tang Baohu''s long sword, the huge battle formation of air cavalry I planes that set off the base in the east bank of Weishui River and heard the growls of many knights from Northeast Military Region who came to the theater of operations together with him by airboat...


    Many familiar and strange faces entered Zhang Tie''s vision, all of whom were rushing towards the army of demon knights without demur.


    Zhang Tie roared as he instantly turned around and accelerated towards the vanguard of demon knights...


    ''My life is as tasteful as spirit. It''s time for me to have a drink;


    ''A Knight''s battle qi is as brilliant as a flower, which shall be open right at this moment;


    When I was drunk, I would close my eyes; so what even if I withered!


    That''s how a real knight should be, a knight who would defend Taixia Country and its countrymen!''


    Above the east bank of Weishui River, Zhang Tie led the army of human knights towards the black billow being composed of over 100,000 demon knights like an arrogant sea swallow...


    At that moment, all the human knights saw Zhang Tie at his amazing speed.


    ''Divine dominator! Zhang Tie is a divine dominator! All the knights realize Zhang Tie''s identity instantly.''


    Watching the shadow in front of them, a multitude of human knights felt like crying with skyrocketing morale when they followed after Zhang Tie and roared, "Kill those b*stards..."


    ...


    Heavenly demon knights'' strikes arrived like a storm; however, Zhang Tie kept flying and capering in the storm like a dexterous sea swallow. With his strength in speed, he dodged from all the heavenly demon knights'' strikes. Meanwhile, he approached the vanguard of demons rapidly with a golden spear in hand.


    "Go die..." Zhang Tie roared as he threw out his golden spear which weighed 680 kg like a lightning bolt of judgment. The moment it left his hand, an earth demon knight over 10,000 m away had been blown up with a boom...


    ...

 1424 So What Even if It Withered

    When over 200,000 human and demon knights collided against each other, Zhang Tie had already thrown out 7 golden spears.


    When the 680 kg golden spear left Zhang Tie''s hand, its speed had already reached 36 times the speed of sound. Additionally, Zhang Tie triggered a master-level cracking rune effect for each spear, which would intensify the spears'' lethality. As a result, 7 earth demon knights had been blown up by Zhang Tie before the two armies crashed each other...


    Earth knights'' protective battle qis and physical strength were to 70 billion Joule energy what common fighters were to Zhang Tie''s bolts-in-palm.


    Such lethality was definitely two times greater than that when Zhang Tie penetrated through the battle formation of demon knights using his Devouring Dragon. Additionally, the effective range of his kinetic strike could reach over 10,000 m away. Even earth demon knights could be killed immediately. Divine dominator''s battle strength made many demon knights hopeless.


    Heavenly demon knights'' siege failed at once. Because each of 7 heavenly human knights had already intercepted a heavenly demon knight at battlefield respectively after Zuoqiu Mingyue blocked Sagus, including Ning Taisheng. The combats between 7 groups of heavenly knights instantly carried out at tens of thousands of meters high in the air, battering the clouds and cleaning them all...


    There were 9 heavenly demon knights. With the death of Antorier and the other 7 heavenly demon knights being intercepted by 7 heavenly human knights respectively, a heavenly iron-armored demon knight was still aiming at Zhang Tie and catching up with him as if it still wanted to intercept Zhang Tie.


    However, the fact proved that a heavenly iron-armored demon knight could never catch up with a divine dominator unless it was dreaming.


    Although that heavenly demon knight didn''t give up catching up with Zhang Tie, after some empty strikes, it had lagged far behind Zhang Tie.


    After promoting to a shadow knight, Zhang Tie could manipulate water. However, water accounted for over 70% of the human body. Therefore, Zhang Tie could directly manipulate his body in flight using the ability of divine dominator, which brought him a flight speed and flexibility far greater than that brought by metal equipment and Chaos. In this case, Zhang Tie could really move freely in the air no matter how he would like to use his instinct in the ability of divine dominator.


    Zhang Tie had already exerted his utmost effort, almost exposing all of his trump cards.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie only had one firm belief¡ª¡ªas long as he killed one more demon knight, he would make Taixia knights a bit more relaxed and survive more of them in the war.


    After exposing his ability as a divine dominator, Zhang Tie immediately displayed his terrifying lethality to demon knights like a shark breaking into a shoal of sardines.


    Zhang Tie sped up towards a shadow wing demon knight at the speed of 24 times the speed of sound. Before that shadow wing demon knight made any response, Zhang Tie''s 18.8-ton rod had already bombarded the shadow wing demon knight, causing a loud sound "boom...".


    The shadow wing demon knight could only reach up to the speed of sound in air, which was as slow as a crawling tortoise compared to Zhang Tie. The shadow wing demon knight couldn''t even escape from Zhang Tie''s strike at such a low speed.


    The kinetic energy carried by Zhang Tie''s huge rod could even break a heavenly demon knight''s protective battle qi and severely wound the latter, not to mention the protective battle qi of a shadow demon knight. As shadow demon knight''s protective battle qi and anti-striking capacity were weaker than that of heavenly demon knights, the shadow wing demon knight was destined to die facing the fatal kinetic strike.


    When the impact wave started to spread over at a super high speed, the shadow wing demon knight was instantly broken into pieces.


    Zhang Tie killed another shadow demon knight.


    At the same time, the Devouring Dragon flashed out of Zhang Tie''s sleeve. After being applied with a "cracking" effect, the sword shot out from Zhang Tie''s side and torn two black iron demon knights and one earth demon knight into pieces over 2,000 m away as fast as a lightning bolt in the void...


    This was not a part of swordsmanship, but the same kinetic strike.


    At the speed of 8,221 m/s, the Devouring Dragon weighing 1,700 kg carried almost 100 million Joule energy, which was even greater than that of golden spears. However, being limited to Zhang Tie''s control ability as a divine dominator, its striking distance couldn''t reach more than 10,000 m, unlike golden spears. Even so, Devouring Dragon could also make all the black iron demon knights and earth demon knights hopeless within 2,000 m.


    With Zhang Tie''s manipulation, Devouring Demon was more precise for the sword than Devouring Dragon.


    Devouring Dragon swam around Zhang Tie within 2,000 m like a lightning bolt, causing a blood wind and rain...


    Soon after killing a shadow demon knight, Zhang Tie had targeted at another one, which was a shadow iron-armored demon knight as he flew towards the latter.


    As Zhang Tie flew forward, he got golden spears out of nowhere and threw them one after another, killing earth demon knights and black iron demon knights within 10,000 m.


    Zhang Tie was not flying in a straight line; instead, he chose a route that could maximize his lethality as a divine dominator.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had completely become a terrifying all-around triple battle strength output platform¡ª¡ªThe scope of the kinetic strike above 700 billion Joule energy of his huge rod within 500 m, the scope of kinetic strike above 100 billion Joule energy of his Devouring Dragon between 500 m and 3,000 m and the scope of kinetic strike about 70 billion Joule energy of his golden spears between 3,000 m and 10,000 m.


    Wherever Zhang Tie passed by, demon knights would collapse and fall like tree leaves in the sky. Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had killed over 100 demon knights.


    Today, those who had no insight about the ability of a divine dominator finally understood why divine dominator was called the knight of knights.


    On one hand, such a killing spree skyrocketed the morale of Taixia knights; on the other hand, it made those heavenly demon knights and Sagus, who was fighting Zuoqiu Mingyue, extremely furious.


    Sagus finally realized that it had made a mistake¡ª¡ªit underestimated Zhang Tie''s terrifying battle strength as a divine dominator and his trickery once again.


    Even Fairy Sea King might show the white feather to him given their deterrent force to demon knights below heavenly. At least Fairy Sea King didn''t use such terrifying golden spears or carry out such terrifying kinetic strikes in close combat. Additionally, Fairy Sea King was already a heavenly knight when he killed a heavenly demon knight. However, Zhang Tie had just promoted to a shadow knight today.


    Facing such a terrifying divine dominator, demon knights below heavenly would escape far away from him and better not enter Zhang Tie''s vision. Those who couldn''t escape far away could only form a battle formation for the sake of their safety. As for Zhang Tie, such a frontline operation lasting over 600 miles composed of over 100,000 demon knights was nothing different than having him approach a holocaust.


    Even though Sagus realized the mistake that it had made, it had to sustain the great loss. In this case, if the frontline operation of demon knights contracted, Taixia knights would be able to exterminate the wing demon corps in the sky.


    Zhang Tie was the largest variable on Taixia''s side in this large-scale battle. All the failures that demons sustained today were caused by this person.


    ''No matter what, Zhang Tie has to die today...''


    At this moment, Sagus had determined his mind to kill Zhang Tie.


    ...


    When being aimed by Zhang Tie and seeing Zhang Tie speeding up towards it, that shadow demon knight was covered with goosebumps in a split second as it started to exert its utmost effort to escape away from Zhang Tie''s aim and killing intent. At the same time, a huge night owl-shaped virtual image appeared over that shadow demon knight, which was giving out glow as if it caught fire. The shadow demon knight started to escape at the speed of 2 times the speed of sound.


    Demon knights were not afraid of death; however, it didn''t mean that all the demon knights hoped to be killed, especially by a human knight who had much greater battle strength than them. On the battlefield, it was almost a must for all the low-level demon knights to escape from high-level human knights'' chase and aim. It was not shameful to do that but a skill for battle and survival on the battlefield. Human knights and demon knights would be executed if they escaped from the strike of same-level opposite knights; however, those who escaped from higher level opposite knights would not be executed.


    Whereas, no matter how hard the shadow demon knight struggled, its speed couldn''t even reach 1/10 of Zhang Tie''s current speed.


    Zhang Tie chased all the way after that shadow demon knight, leaving broken pieces and blood of demon knights over the sky.


    Watching Zhang Tie approaching it, the burning virtual image launched a strike towards Zhang Tie.


    Of course, its strike was very powerful for common human knights; however, it was defused by the shields and the protective sword wind flying around Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie seemed to feel the hopeless look on the bizarre face of that night owl.


    ''I might be thinking too much.'' Zhang Tie muttered as he brandished his huge rod...


    The escaping virtual image of that shadow demon knight shattered into pieces in a split second, revealing the shadow demon knight''s original look, which was sent flying away while spurting blood from eyes, ears, nostrils and mouth.


    Zhang Tie was slightly shocked that he didn''t kill this shadow demon knight. So what?


    ''If I couldn''t kill it by my rod immediately, I would try it for the second time. It''s nothing serious for me to have it breathe for a bit longer time...''


    Zhang Tie then caught up with that shadow demon knight. In its hopeless and mad look, Zhang Tie brandished his rod for the second time without demur, collapsing its counterattack in an overwhelming manner and breaking its body into pieces...


    This one was the 5th shadow demon knight that Zhang Tie killed on the battlefield today.


    After losing 2 shadow demon knights and over 100 black iron and earth demon knights, demon knights finally made a response to it¡ª¡ªbatches of demon knights started to disengage from Taixia knights and form battle formations. At the same time, ground demon forces started to retreat.


    More and more demon knights started to escape in all directions like escaping from the God of Death as long as they saw Zhang Tie flying towards them from over 60 miles away...


    At this moment, a powerful battle qi strike approached Zhang Tie from his back. Needless to look back, Zhang Tie had known that the same heavenly demon knight had been about 10,000 m away from him once again. However, such a strike didn''t have any effect except for warning him to keep a distance from it.


    When the heavenly demon knight blocked Zhang Tie from returning after having a killing spree in the army of demon knights, it approached Zhang Tie rapidly with the second round of off-hand strike...


    At this moment, a corps of almost 100,000 wing demons appeared on the left lower of Zhang Tie and flew towards the air zone above Weishui River like a large cloud.


    The escaping shadow demon knight had brought Zhang Tie to the left flank of the demon army.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at the corps of wing demons before flying towards them without demur.


    In a split second, moisture in the air had turned into snowflakes, causing snow within 10,000 m. However, the snowflakes didn''t fall onto the ground, instead, they stayed in the sky and were approaching the corps of wing demons rapidly along with Zhang Tie.


    It was pretty cold above Weishui River; additionally, it contained high moisture in the air. What was more, it was snowing here. Therefore, it was too easy for Zhang Tie to manipulate moisture and turn it into snowflakes using the ability of divine dominator.


    Zhang Tie just had a try, but he had not imagined that hundreds of millions of crystal snowflakes would appear within 10,000 m the moment he tried it.


    With Zhang Tie''s control, hundreds of millions of snowflakes were rotating in the air rapidly. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had been surrounded by a high-speed snowstorm, where snowflakes could move at a speed over 20 times the speed of sound...


    With Zhang Tie''s control, those snowflakes were actually moving at a high speed along the invisible moisture in the air.


    With the snowstorm, Zhang Tie broke into the formation of wing demons.


    The scenario of living animals being ground at a high-speed meat grinder was similar to how Zhang Tie broke into the corps of wing demons with the snowstorm.


    Snowflakes then cut through wing demons at a speed of over 20 times more than the speed of sound like blades.


    There were not only a couple of blades but hundreds of millions of blades. The moment one blade disappeared, 2 more appeared; the moment 2 blades disappeared, 4 more appeared. Moisture in the air was the source of those blades, especially in such cold weather.


    Each wing demon in the air was cut through by tens of thousands of such blades at the same time...


    Even battle-spirit level protective battle qi could only stand a few seconds facing such terrifying snowflakes. Although this snowstorm was nothing serious for knights, it was definitely a call from the depth of hell for those who were below knights.


    Could wing demons move faster than Zhang Tie? Of course not.


    ...


    Red snowflakes, stinky flesh and blood fell onto the ground...


    Only after a short while, the entire corps of wing demon had disappeared in the sky. Over hundreds of square miles of land was covered with black-red tint in the white snow. Looking at it from afar, people would feel goosebumps all over...


    Within hundreds of miles, not a single wing demon dared approach Zhang Tie anymore.


    When Zhang Tie exterminated the entire corps of wing demons, he didn''t know how great of a shock did he bring to the other knights. To be honest, even Zhang Tie himself was shocked by his terrifying ability as a divine dominator. He just wanted to have a try; he didn''t imagine that he could get such an amazing effect with the coordination of his great spiritual energy, his ability to manipulate water as a divine dominator and such snowy weather.


    The heavenly demon knight had stopped chasing after Zhang Tie and ascended. Almost at the same time, a heavenly demon knight gave a greater strike to Ning Taisheng, sending him flying backward. So did another heavenly demon knight do it to a heavenly human knight. In a split second, the 3 heavenly demon knights had formed a 3-in-1 battle formation. When Sagus was fighting Zuoqiu Mingyue, they immediately joined the battle between two sage-level knights, emancipating Sagus from the battle in a split second.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue changed his face instantly as this shift was really out of his imagination.


    However, Zuoqiu Mingyue soon understood Sagus'' intention.


    As for a sage-level powerhouse, it could do a lot of things in a millisecond.


    After emancipating itself from the battle with Zuoqiu Mingyue, Sagus aimed at Zhang Tie in a split second as it sped up towards Zhang Tie.


    The 3-in-1 battle formation composed of three heavenly demon knights restricted Zuoqiu Mingyue for about 10 seconds. After that, Zuoqiu Mingyue gave out much brighter moonlight suddenly, sending the three heavenly demon knights flying backward, spurting out blood.


    10 seconds were enough for Sagus to move far away from Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    ...


    Almost the moment Sagus sped up towards him, Zhang Tie became alert at once. After casually throwing out a golden spear to kill another black iron demon knight over 7,000 m away, Zhang Tie immediately sped up towards Sagus at his utmost effort.


    Sagus moved even faster than that when he chased after Zhang Tie last time.


    Almost in a split second, Sagus had approached 30 miles behind Zhang Tie.


    At this moment, a pitch-dark item that seemed to be able to absorb all the surrounding light and destroy everything with almost 1 meter in diameter suddenly appeared in Sagus'' hand.


    At the sight of this item, Zuoqiu Mingyue cried out in alarm as he became stagnated, "It''s thunder of nirvana, watch out, Zhang Tie..."


    "Previously, I planned to use it to deal with you. It seems that he would enjoy it ahead of you..." Sagus fleered while a drop of blood flew out of its finger and melted with that terrifying, destructive black ball. After that, he pointed at Zhang Tie, sending the black ball flying towards Zhang Tie.


    ...


    The moment the black ball left Sagus'' hand, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy had blown out. In a split second, Zhang Tie had felt that the connection between him and Castle of Black Iron was cut off by that black ball. There seemed to be an invisible line between that black ball and Zhang Tie. Being tightly bound by that invisible line, Zhang Tie couldn''t return to Castle of Black Iron, causing goosebumps over his scalp.


    At the clutch time, the bizarre feeling that time was about to stop occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind once again.


    At this moment, all the sounds in the world became blurry. Even Zuoqiu Mingyue''s sound carried a bizarre, long resonance as if someone was talking in his sleep by his ears. Zhang Tie couldn''t sense any human or demon knight, even the sky and the earth.


    He only sensed a frightening item approaching him at a high speed.


    That item moved much faster than him.


    In a split second, that item had come to Zhang Tie''s front.


    The first shield collapsed and disappeared...


    The second shield collapsed and disappeared...


    The third shield collapsed and disappeared...


    The fourth shield collapsed and disappeared...


    The fifth shield collapsed and disappeared...


    The Devouring Sword was destroyed...


    The protective sword wind was destroyed immediately like an egg under a 10,000-ton hydro press...


    Zhang Tie goggled and roared as he brandished his huge rod...


    The huge rod was destroyed...


    Zhang Tie''s hands instantly broke into hundreds of pieces due to great anti-vibration, spurting blood...


    Zhang Tie had not felt being so close to death. After being aimed by that item, Zhang Tie found that he couldn''t even return to Castle of Black Iron...


    However, Zhang Tie was not reconciled to that. He roared as his spiritual energy in mind boiled and exploded.


    A thick ice wall appeared between Zhang Tie and that black ball. The molecules and crystals in the ice wall were compressed to the extreme, causing the ice wall as irresistible as steel.


    The ice wall was destroyed.


    7 ice walls were destroyed constantly.


    The black ball finally touched Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi.


    The moment Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi touched the black ball, he felt that the connection between his awareness and Castle of Black Iron had recovered.


    In the last moment, Zhang Tie could only transfer the terrifying energy carried by that black ball into the Abyss of Elements of Castle of Black Iron...


    "Hubby..." A mournful yet familiar sound subtly drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears.


    ''My life is as aromatic as spirit. knights'' brilliance is like that of a flower;''


    ''If I were drunk, I would have a dream. So what even if it withered!''


    This was the last thought in Zhang Tie''s mind. When numerous faces flashed across Zhang Tie''s mind, Zhang Tie closed his eyes calmly as if he was dreaming.


    A light blew out at the bank of Weishui River, brightly lighting the sky and the ground over 6,000 miles, causing it to be as white as daytime...

 1425 Waking up from a Long Dream in the Moonlight and Limpid Stream

    Zhang Tie thought that he was dead, at least when the blurry awareness reappeared in his mind like a sparkle swaying in wind...


    When the unstable, weak awareness recovered, Zhang Tie''s brain started to run again slowly and steadily like a steam engine being restarted. His cells started to recover their consciousness one after another, causing the last scene in Zhang Tie''s mind before he fell asleep to be more and more vivid.


    Moonlight, valley, path and bamboo wood...


    A girl in a red skirt was sitting on a black-ox like a boulder, bathing the clear and bright moonlight and leisurely blowing into a green jade flute.


    Sitting on the black boulder in a decent manner, the girl was like a fairy in the painting with snow-white skin and straight and smooth black hair. She was playing water with her tender feet lightly.


    If death was a dreamland, Zhang Tie wished to die watching such a fascinating, beautiful face in such a picturesque dreamland.


    As long as he could see that girl playing with water and blowing into the flute, sitting on the black boulder, he would have no regret even if he couldn''t wake up.


    The last scene in his mind undulated a bit like ripple before it melted, closely followed by a great sense of fatigue and weakness. Zhang Tie felt his head being pressed into a piece of cotton. He was sinking constantly towards the depth of the cotton, being left in dark...


    It made Zhang Tie so sad that he even wanted to spurt out blood.


    However, this sad feeling flashed away at once, replaced by another whim¡ª¡ªI am still alive!


    ¡ª¡ªIf I was dead, I would not have such a feeling. It indicates that my body and brain are still working and returning signals to me.


    Zhang Tie had a similar experience in Kalur Theater of Operations when he fought the Black Feather Corps of Sun Dynasty with the rest of Iron-Blood Camp. That time, he also thought that he was about to die; however, he finally survived.


    Although being still weak physically and spiritually, when he realized that he was still alive, he burst out an irresistible will to survive himself; instead of being further deteriorated.


    His "sinking" feeling gradually stopped. Zhang Tie tried his utmost effort to raise his head in the soft cotton...


    At this moment, a blurry voice drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears from afar...


    "Don''t put too much dragon marrow ointment into the blood pool. Otherwise, he wouldn''t be able to bear it. Only 1.86 gram between 11 am and 1 pm every day. I suggest adding some Jiuyou Life Continual Grass as an adjustment..."


    Closely after this voice was another one.


    "Jiuyou Life Continual Grass is feasible, but I''d better protect his meridians all over using my golden needles ahead of Jiuyou Life Continual Grass so as to make it more effective..."


    Then came the 3rd voice.


    "Over these days, Qianji immortal''s bones are gradually healing. I suggest injecting some vital essence into his body so as to stimulate his vital essence besides using the blood pool. I''ve already calculated it. As Qianji immortal cultivates Five Elements Ground-look Sutra, he still has some five-elements qi left in his body. If we find a 16-year-old girl who''s born on the same day and cultivates the same secret method to inject her vital essence into Qianji immortal''s body, we will definitely see a miraculous effect. Born on a yang day, yang month of a yang year, his battle qi possessing the attribute of wood is yang wood. Wood reinforces one''s vital essence and "fire" attribute. The moment his wood qi was reinforced, his fire qi would be opened. Heart possesses "fire" attribute. When "fire" qi rises, his heart meridian would be reinforced. After that, his physical foundation would be stabilized. Additionally, the 16-year-old virgin is purely yin, which dominates constriction. The combination of yin and yang methods would bring us a much greater effect..."


    "The condition is too rigorous. I''m afraid that we could barely find a proper one..."


    "Rigorous?" Another one said with discontentment, "Are those guys in Agricultural Bureau across Taixia Country good-for-nothing? The birth population is recorded in each city, each province across Taixia Country. As for what secret methods do they cultivate, I don''t believe that those officials don''t know that. They''re humans, not pigs. After all, I''ve already provided the suggestion. As for whether you could find her, it''s none of my business."


    "Haven''t you heard what Mr. Mao said? Hurry up..."


    "Yes, sir..." Someone replied before leaving out of there.


    After being silent for 1 minute, the one who opened his mouth first continued.


    "Thanks to the constant, vital essence inside immortal''s body, he could stay alive until now. Otherwise, even celestial beings couldn''t save him. I''ve been a doctor for 100 years. It''s my first time to sense such a powerful vital essence in one''s body..." The very person sighed with feeling.


    "Hopefully, immortal could be supremely fortunate and live through this catastrophe. That would be the great fortune of humans and the happiness of Taixia Country..."


    "Good people always die earlier than evil people. F*ck! Why are good people always hapless? Why not those b*stards get struck by the thunder of nirvana? Whereas, now that he could survive the thunder of nirvana, I don''t think that he would die easily..."


    Hearing this dialogue, Zhang Tie tried his best to open his eyes.


    However, such an extremely simple movement was as hard as lifting two 10,000-ton sluice gates for Zhang Tie.


    Even so, Zhang Tie finally opened his eyelids.


    After being blurry for a second, the scene in his eyes became clear.


    Zhang Tie found that he was lying in a huge crystal bathtub, being immersed in some strange liquid. The pattern of the crystal bathtub and the bloody runes wandering around the crystal bathtub reminded Zhang Tie of the blood pool in Pingxi Valley, even though this one was only a bit larger than an ordinary bathtub.


    The liquid in the crystal bathtub was not blood, but a bizarre herbal medicine. Although the herbal medicine felt cold, a warm qi was entering his body through his skin all over, making him very comfortable...


    Zhang Tie faced a brilliant and tall dome while three elders were talking with each other on his side.


    All the three elders had gray hair and beard. However, each of them was distinctive. One of them wore a uniform of imperial doctor; another one wore a white boa silk robe like a celestial being; the rest one was skinny and bald like a monkey. With a spirit-containing gourd on his back, he looked unkempt. He was the very one who asked why good people always died earlier than evil ones.


    Zhang Tie''s eyes fixated onto the last elder. The old man sensed Zhang Tie''s eye light at once as he turned around and looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    After realizing that Zhang Tie had woken up, that old man became stunned for a second. Closely after that, he became delighted and pointed at Zhang Tie, stammering, "Ahh, he''s awake; he''s awake; he''s awake; Qianji Immortal is awake..."


    The other two old men also turned around. At the sight of Zhang Tie opening his eyes, the two elders couldn''t cover their ecstasy on their face...


    "Where...where are...we...Xuanyuan Fortress?" Zhang Tie opened his mouth as he started to pant due to weakness.


    The three elders exchanged a glance with each other. Closely after that, they became busy. The one in imperial doctor''s uniform and the one in white boa silk robe held Zhang Tie''s hands respectively as they started to feel Zhang Tie''s pulse by putting some fingers onto Zhang Tie''s wrists. As for that bald old man who carried a gourd, he directly put his palm onto Zhang Tie''s chest.


    10 seconds later, the three old men exchanged a glance with each other as they nodded and moved their hands away. They all felt that Zhang Tie''s vitality was very weak; however, he was already recovering rapidly.


    "You''re not in Xuanyuan Fortress, but in Xuanyuan Hill..." The old man in the imperial doctor''s uniform told Zhang Tie in a tender voice. At the same time, he turned around and told a person on his side, "Hurry, go report the crown prince that Qianji Immortal is already awake..."


    A servant hurriedly left the room.


    Almost at the same time, two voices sounded outside the room.


    "Husband..."


    "Hubby..."


    The first voice came from Yan Feiqing; the second came from Bai Suxian.


    The two voices were so euphonious for Zhang Tie.


    At the sight of Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian, the three old men hurriedly stayed aside. The two beautiful faces immediately appeared in front of Zhang Tie as they pulled one of Zhang Tie''s hands respectively.


    Bai Suxian had long burst out into tears while Yan Feiqing''s eyes turned wet too...


    They both watched Zhang Tie with deep love.


    Zhang Tie wanted to reply to them with a smile; however, he couldn''t due to the sense of weakness and fatigue. On the contrary, he felt a bit sleepy and closed his eyes again.


    "Doctors, how''s my husband?" Yan Feiqing''s voice sounded in Zhang Tie''s ears.


    "Qianji immortal is recovering his vitality. However, he''s still very weak and needs more rest..." That imperial doctor said meticulously as if he was clear of Yan Feiqing''s status.


    "Hmm, thanks for your hard work. Please take a short rest outside. I will accompany my husband here..."


    The three old men exchanged a glance with each other before leaving the room.


    "You too. I alone am enough..." Yan Feiqing told Bai Suxian distantly.


    "Why? I will also stay here..." Bai Suxian said stubbornly as if she was mistaken.


    "You always cry. Our husband can''t have a good rest. I alone am enough..."


    "You...you''re too much..." Bai Suxian said with a cry.


    Yan Feiqing''s voice remained calm and dignified, "Later on, I will be responsible for the internal affairs of our family. I''ve lived with him for 6 decades in the tower of time. I should be the principal wife of our husband. If you don''t agree, you can fetch your dad here to argue with me. If you continue to stay here, I will throw you out of here..."


    Bai Suxian was then driven out of the room by Yan Feiqing, tears over her face.


    After driving Bai Suxian away, Yan Feiqing pulled one hand of Zhang Tie; put it on her face and slowly moved Zhang Tie''s hand against her face as she watched Zhang Tie with deep love and grief who was already in deep sleep.


    "What an idiot..." Yan Feiqing whispered to Zhang Tie as she couldn''t stand to drop off tears, making Zhang Tie''s palm wet...

 1426 Waking up Again

    When Zhang Tie woke up for the second time, he had recovered his spiritual and physical strength much more. Although he still felt weak, at least the feeling that his head was pressed into cotton had disappeared. Additionally, his limbs could move too. He had recovered his senses all over.


    Furthermore, Zhang Tie found that he was lying on a spacious and comfortable bed in a soft gown; instead of being immersed in a crystal blood pool.


    The moment Zhang Tie opened his eyes, he had seen the vermilion windows, jade roof, imperial lanterns and golden hooks and sniffed a looming, refreshing fragrance in the room.


    Brilliant sunlight burst through windows as Zhang Tie heard twitters of birds outside windows.


    It was so precious and nice for Zhang Tie who had experienced "death" to see warm sunlight, hear twitters of birds, sniff the refreshing fragrance and recover his senses. Zhang Tie couldn''t stand to take a deep breath.


    ''It''s so nice to be alive!''


    "Ahh, husband, you''re awake..."


    Yan Feiqing just sat on the bedside with eyes closed. The moment Zhang Tie opened his eyes, she sensed it right away.


    In a one-piece longuette and a noble, elegant and tall bun, Yan Feiqing looked decent, beautiful and charming with thin rouge over her face.


    Zhang Tie struggled to get up. Yan Feiqing hurriedly knelt on the bedside by one knee as she supported Zhang Tie by one hand and put a pillow against Zhang Tie''s waist so that Zhang Tie could sit up against the head of the bed. Yan Feiqing then sat beside Zhang Tie, putting her arm around Zhang Tie and having his upper body lean against her.


    "Husband, how do you feel now?"


    "Hmm...much better..." Zhang Tie sat up with a higher spirit.


    The brilliant sunlight and twitters of birds told Zhang Tie that he didn''t need to fight demons at the bank of Weishui River anymore. He wondered how long had he been in a coma.


    "Qing''er, what time is it now..."


    "It''s March!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie calling her "Qing''er", Yan Feiqing revealed a smile as her voice turned tender too.


    Zhang Tie became stunned for a second. ''Does it mean that I''ve been in a coma for almost 100 days?''


    "I''ve been in a coma for almost 100 days?"


    "Precisely 96 days. Husband, you woke up yesterday for the first time. It''s the 2nd time for you to wake up..."


    "I''m in Xuanyuan Hill?"


    "Yes!"


    "Why?"


    "Husband, you were severely injured that day. It was Zuoqiu Mingyue who assigned people to send you to Xuanyuan Hill for medical treatment by airboat. I escorted you all the way here..."


    "What happened that day? How am I still alive..."


    "Husband, do you really not remember what happened?" Yan Feiqing watched Zhang Tie with a bizarre expression.


    "I really don''t remember it..." Zhang Tie replied with a bitter smile, "When that black, weird ball broke through all the obstacles and touched my protective battle qi, I thought I was destined to die and disappear both physically and spiritually. I had already closed my eyes at that moment. As for what happened in the following, I had no impression about it..."


    "That''s impossible. Husband, do you know how valiant you were at that moment..."


    As Yan Feiqing described it, Zhang Tie gradually opened his mouth. Even though Zhang Tie himself had not imagined that he could create a chance for survival at that critical moment when he thought that he was destined to die.


    In many cases, people could make physical responses using their instincts. For instance, when a father who was carrying a baby suddenly slipped down on the road, he would tighten his arms so as to protect his child with his own body as a buffering effect. That was an instinctive response of a parent at a critical moment. Here was another example, when one was suddenly touched by a spine, he or she would jump away at once. Such an instinctive response wouldn''t go through one''s mind; it was a natural response that everyone could own in a split second and was the accurate response that one could make in many emergencies.


    Even knights had similar responses.


    When the thunder of nirvana touched Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi, Yan Feiqing saw a virtual image shooting out of Zhang Tie''s forehead as fast as a lightning bolt and striking the thunder of nirvana, detonating it right away. At the same time, Zhang Tie seemed to have awakened an ancestral bloodline as he flew backward at a super high speed in the impact wave caused by the explosion of the thunder of nirvana. He left the most destructive region of the thunder of nirvana. Although being severely injured, he finally survived the Abyss King''s special skill.


    In Yan Feiqing''s eyes, it was Zhang Tie''s instinctive response in that case.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that it was his instinct that saved him in the split second.


    Anyone would have a limit in their mind, even sage-level knights. At that critical moment, Zhang Tie could at most lead the energy carried by that black, weird ball into Castle of Black Iron. He didn''t even have time to think about which trump card to use.


    "The thunder of nirvana? You mean the black energy is the thunder of nirvana?" Zhang Tie asked as it was his first time to hear this term.


    "Yes, nirvana is one of the most terrifying secret items in the world. Some think it''s a silver secret item; some think it''s even more senior than silver secret items. The thunder of nirvana made its debut in the last holy war. It''s not strange that you don''t know what it is, because those who know its existence are at least heavenly knights. The thunder of nirvana carries a destructive power. As long as one was aimed by it, even sage-level knights probably would be harmed, not to mention a heavenly knight. You''re the first one who survived the thunder of nirvana. What''s that virtual image that shot out of your forehead at that moment? How could it detonate the thunder of nirvana..." Yan Feiqing finally asked Zhang Tie out of curiosity.


    As Yan Feiqing had lived with Zhang Tie for almost 60 years in the tower of time, she could ask this question. However, it was a taboo for commoners to ask about it.


    After hearing Yan Feiqing''s question, Zhang Tie became stunned.


    ''What''s that virtual image that shot out of my forehead as fast as a lightning bolt? Was that a binding chain? No, how could a binding chain detonate that thunder of nirvana? What else could it be?''


    Zhang Tie then looked inside with eyes closed as he found it was void and disordered inside his body. His entire body was severely injured, including his guts and meridians, the void in his qi sea and his mind sea. Bizarre strength was constantly devouring his spiritual energy and battle qi in the void of his qi sea and mind sea like a black hole in the universe. This explained why he felt weak now.


    Thankfully, the portal that led to Castle of Black Iron, the All-spirits Tower and those immortal rune skills in his mind sea were still available.


    Only after throwing a glance at his mind sea, Zhang Tie had known what was that virtual image that shot out of his forehead at the critical moment.


    It was another Zhang Tie, the master-level mirror body separation rune that detonated the thunder of nirvana when it left his forehead.


    In that case, if Zhang Tie''s "duplicate" failed to detonate the thunder of nirvana, as long as that master-level immortal rune flew out of Zhang Tie''s forehead, another Zhang Tie would appear in front of the public closely after that.


    ''At that time, because my "duplicate" had not fully manifested from its immortal rune, even though Yan Feiqing could only see a virtual image flying out of his forehead which then detonated the thunder of nirvana. It meant that I''ve not exposed my special skill of body separation yet.''


    ''Although I couldn''t return to Castle of Black Iron after being aimed by the thunder of nirvana, as my master-level mirror body separation rune carried my full energy, qi and blood, it made the thunder of nirvana mistake that "duplicate" as me and detonate it in advance as a result.''


    After thinking through this point, Zhang Tie felt lucky. At the same time, he had oozed sweat all over his forehead.


    In that case, even though Zhang Tie was extremely smart, he couldn''t realize that his master-level mirror body separation skill was the conqueror of the thunder of nirvana.


    It was Zhang Tie''s instinct that saved him. Actually, even Zhang Tie didn''t know that his master-level mirror body separation skill could detonate the thunder of nirvana in advance even using his instinct. However, being threatened by death, Zhang Tie used his instinct to block that dangerous thunder of nirvana by one thing or a substitute that was under his control, sparing a chance for him to survive. Therefore, Zhang Tie used his instinct to release his substitute at that moment.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie used his instinct to activate an ancestral bloodline automatically so that he could escape away from the central explosion zone of thunder nirvana as fast as possible.


    The new ancestral bloodline being activated was "Driving Wind", precisely "Lietsi''s Driving Wind"!


    Besides increasing Zhang Tie''s flight speed in air, this ancestral bloodline could also enable Zhang Tie to move like a sail being pushed by "external forces" such as fine air flows and waves in the air. The greater strength the air flow carried, the faster would Zhang Tie fly...


    This ancestral bloodline was most effective in saving people from explosions. Because the impact waves and changing air flows caused by the explosion would drive Zhang Tie away before the explosion destroyed Zhang Tie. After activating this ancestral bloodline, Zhang Tie could gain a super high speed to escape away from the most dangerous region, which was far greater than the maximal speed that he could acquire as a divine dominator.


    The ancestral bloodline "Lietse''s Driving Wind" consumed 2,877 bloodline energy points.


    ''Is that worthwile? That''s too worthwhile! It saved my life!''


    Zhang Tie felt lucky once again. He didn''t use all the bloodline energy points to activate a single powerful bloodline, because he realized that the so-called ancestral bloodlines were just different tools. Although a single tool was composed of many levels, it was not right to say a tool was greater than the others. As long as a tool was used in the right place, the tool would be great. Therefore, Zhang Tie preferred to keep those bloodline energy points available rather than spending a great sum of bloodline energy points in some rare, expensive tools. At a critical moment, he could buy any bloodline that he needed so as to maximize the value of those bloodline energy points...


    The fact proved that Zhang Tie was right.


    ...


    A legendary figure in Warring States Period of ancient China who could fly by wind.

 1427 The Current Situation

    "You don''t know how terrifying you were when you survived the battlefield. You''ve got over 300 wounds all over, many of which led to your bones. If you were a commoner, you''ve long been killed..." Yan Feiqing worried.


    "Over 300 wounds?"


    "Yes..."


    After receiving the confirmation, Zhang Tie hurriedly put one hand into his gown and touched his crotch. Closely after that, he let out a sigh.


    "What''re you doing?" Yan Feiqing blinked her eyes out of amazement.


    "I''m checking whether my heirloom is still there or not. It''s fine. I will not spice up your life..." Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he joked. As for Zhang Tie, it was nothing different than receiving a new life. Everything in life is so nice and precious. The sunlight that shone in the window, the twitters, the fragrance and such a tender beauty whom he was leaning against, all these were so fresh and delicate. Although his wounds looked heavy, Zhang Tie didn''t worry about that. As long as he was alive, he didn''t need to worry about his recovery. With bloody sacrifice furnace, he could further promote to a senior recovery body. Zhang Tie was deeply convinced that his sequela caused by the thunder of nirvana could recover.


    If not drunk, one didn''t know the high degree of the spirit; if not in love with someone, one didn''t know the importance of deep love.


    ''As long as I''m alive and could be drunk and love others, I would feel fortunate. As for the temporary loss of battle strength, just take it as a vacation.''


    After thinking it through, Zhang Tie felt pretty good. He then put one arm over Yan Feiqing''s waist and put another arm into the collar of Yan Feiqing''s one-piece gown. After that, he started to squeeze her plump and tender, huge white rabbit beneath her bra.


    "What''re you doing..." Yan Feiqing whispered into Zhang Tie''s ear as she twisted her waist. Yan Feiqing had been used to Zhang Tie''s wanton behaviors in the tower of time; however, she was not used to it and felt a bit bashful about it outside.


    "I''m fondling with my wife, is there any problem..." Zhang Tie answered confidently like the owner of a family. At the same time, he started to change his gimmicks, causing Yan Feiqing to quiver all over in waves, "It''s so nice to be alive. Qing''er, haven''t you found that your white rabbit is growing bigger and more and more plump after leaving me a few months? It''s growing even bigger than that of Olina''s and Linda''s. In my mom''s words, you must be good at delivery and have enough breast milk given your breasts. Don''t even need to employ a nurse for our baby..." Zhang Tie sighed satisfactorily as he fondled with her breast, "Go ahead, what happened after I came to Xuanyuan Hill..."


    Even as a heavenly knight, Yan Feiqing''s dignity and indifference would also be easily crumbled by Zhang Tie''s freaky hand. Therefore, Yan Feiqing could only hand her breasts to Zhang Tie''s hand as she introduced Zhang Tie about the situation after he entered Xuanyuan Hill.


    That was how a couple always behaved on bed.


    When Zhang Tie came to Xuanyuan Hill, his military exploits at the bank of Weishui River and his identity as a divine dominator had already shocked the entire country. His wounds also aroused the concerns of people across the world. Therefore, no sooner did he come to Xuanyuan Hill than the crown prince of Xuanyuan Hill spared no efforts to arrange medical forces to save and cure Zhang Tie.


    Soon after Zhang Tie was sent to Xuanyuan Hill, the crown prince had arranged people to invite Du Zhongling the medical mills immortal of Taixia Country from Mingzhou Province as soon as possible so as to save and cure Zhang Tie together with Fei Zhengtao the medical sage and imperial doctor of Taixia Country who presided over the imperial hospital of Xuanyuan Imperial Palace.


    Du Zhongling and Fei Zhengtao were both significant figures in medical science in Taixia Country. Crown prince''s deed displayed his concern about Zhang Tie. In addition, the crown prince delivered a notice to the rest of the world to employ nongovernmental medical experts and collect elixir who or which could cure the wounds caused by the thunder of nirvana. Not only that, the crown prince even completely opened the imperial warehouse to Zhang Tie, providing various precious herbal medicines to Zhang Tie for free. In this way, all the people across the country knew that the crown prince was sparing no efforts to save and cure Zhang Tie.


    After crown prince delivered his notice to the rest of the world, Sun Tiancheng the herbal medicine king of Taixia Country also arrived at Xuanyuan Hill and requested to join the medical team for curing Zhang Tie.


    Namely, the top three medical experts of Taixia Country had arrived at Xuanyuan Hill and gathered at Zhang Tie''s side for his medical treatment.


    Hearing Yan Feiqing''s description, Zhang Tie could only force a bitter smile. Even though Zhang Tie was aware that the crown prince spared no efforts to save him in such a grand scope was helpful to the stability and improvement of His Majesty''s position as a crown prince, Zhang Tie had to appreciate the kindness from His Majesty.


    "Is Sun Tiancheng the old man who carried a gourd that I saw yesterday?" Zhang Tie asked Yan Feiqing.


    "Yes, Sun Tiancheng the herbal medicine king is a freak talent. His expertise in medical science could even match that of Du Zhongling and Fei Zhengtao. However, this person is eccentric, playing at life and always alone. Many anecdotes that he left among the people were mysterious. After hearing that you were heavily wounded by the thunder of nirvana, he voluntarily came here to cure you, it seems that he''s also a kind-hearted man..."


    "How''s the battle situation at the bank of Weishui River?" Zhang Tie asked with a squint as he sensed the delicacy of Yan Feiqing''s breast.


    "After I arrived, I saw you heavily wounded by the thunder of nirvana. Therefore, I escorted you to leave the battlefield. Later on, Abyss King was heavily wounded by Zuoqiu Mingyue. Demons didn''t gain any extra advantage; instead, they suffered a great loss. Finally, they had to retreat 300 miles. The demon army didn''t carry out any action since then..."


    "What about the over 200 million Hua captives?"


    "On the 2nd day of the battle, Zuoqiu Mingyue had assigned airboats and airships to transport them to the rear end. A few days ago, I was told that most of those Hua people had already arrived at Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and were properly arranged by your wives..." Yan Feiqing rolled her eyes to Zhang Tie as if she blamed Zhang Tie for having too many wives.


    Zhang Tie smirked, "How''s Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory now?"


    "Everything is normal. I''ve already noticed Zhang Yang about the news that you woke up yesterday. Zhang Yang would arrive at Xuanyuan Hill in 2 days!"


    After hearing that Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was normal and Sagus had kept its promise, Zhang Tie finally felt relieved.


    "Do you know the most splendid scene on the battlefield above the bank of Weishui River?" Zhang Tie suddenly stopped his hand as he asked Yan Feiqing seriously.


    "Although I didn''t see how husband killed that heavenly demon knight by striking it 9 times with a huge rod, I could imagine how splendid it was through others'' description. If Fairy Sea King was there that day, he might also feel dwarfed in front of you!" Yan Feiqing said as she watched Zhang Tie in an affectionate way.


    Zhang Tie shook his head as he said, "No, it''s not that scene."


    "Ahh, what else then?" Yan Feiqing blinked her eyes out of amazement.


    "In my heart, of course, the most splendid scene is that over 100,000 human knights heard you call me husband and watch you "the men-frightening owner of Fantasy Women Palace" take me away from the battlefield. I can''t imagine how our Military God looked when he saw that..." Zhang Tie blinked his eyes as he continued, "As for me, no matter how many heavenly demon knights even sage-level knights could I kill, it would never match that willing "husband" in your mouth. It''s similar to that between firefly light and the great brilliance of moonlight..."


    As for Yan Feiqing, Zhang Tie''s words were sweeter than the sweetest words in the world.


    No sooner did Zhang Tie finish his words than Yan Feiqing shot out tender eye light as she called Zhang Tie like a spoiled daughter, "husband". At the same time, she turned soft all over as she threw herself into Zhang Tie''s arms.


    The entire room was then quiet. Sitting at the head of the bed, Yan Feiqing and Zhang Tie were leaning against each other, enjoying the tranquility and warmth in the room after the trouble and listening to the twitters outside the window.


    However, only after being quiet for a few minutes came the pattering footsteps from outside the room. Carrying a bit of anger and arbitrariness, the footsteps destroyed their warm tranquility.


    "Here comes your little princess. Hurry, move your freaky hand away..." Yan Feiqing threw a glance at Zhang Tie as she told him. At the same time, she sat up straight and well smoothened her skirt. An indifferent yet powerful qi field of heavenly knight reappeared on her.


    Zhang Tie then moved his hand away with a smile. Looking at the gate, he also knew that it was Bai Suxian. Additionally, he also sighed about Yan Feiqing''s change. Women were always changeable. The more powerful she was, the more changeable she would be.


    Although Zhang Tie had lost his battle strength and knight''s consciousness, his lotus flower''s eyes still worked. Therefore, even though there was a wall in between them, Zhang Tie could still see Bai Suxian walking towards the room with a decisive yet a bit angry look.


    After coming to the outside of the door, Bai Suxian looked a bit hesitant as she paused for a second. Finally, she gritted her teeth and raised her head as if "this lady was not that easily bullied"; at the same time, she pushed open the door and entered the room.


    When she entered, she saw Zhang Tie smiling at her as he said, "Baby, come on over here...", sitting at the head of the bed.


    Bai Suxian stopped her footsteps at once as the strong qi field that she pretended instantly collapsed. At the same time, her tears gushed out.


    "Hubby..." Bai Suxian called him like a spoiled lady as she immediately threw herself into Zhang Tie''s arms with tears all over her face...


    ...

 1428 A Competition between Women

    "Hubby, she bullied me..."After bursting out into tears for quite a while, Bai Suxian finally stopped crying with Zhang Tie''s comfort. Closely after that, she raised up her head. When she saw Yan Feiqing sitting on the bedside, she immediately pointed at Yan Feiqing and complained about it to Zhang Tie, "This woman said that she would be the principal wife of Zhang family from then on. She even said that she had been your wife for 6 decades in the tower of time. She''s a liar, right? She speaks nonsense because she has greater battle strength than me..."


    Yan Feiqing just replied with a cold harrumph before turning around in an arrogant way.


    Fondling with his temple by finger, Zhang Tie felt a bit headache. The scene that over 100 wives of one man get along well with each other could only exist in the novel. In fact, as long as a man had 3 wives or above, it would be very difficult for his wives to be harmonious with each other. It would be a marvel if the figure rose to 5, not to mention that these women had to share a man. Even 2 wives of a man could rarely stay harmonious with each other. It was almost impossible for a lot of women to be in coexistence with each other without any contradiction and schemes.


    When in Ice and Snow Wilderness, O''Laura didn''t always get along well with Olina. After coming to Taixia Country, they improved their relationship in order to stabilize their positions in Zhang family in the new environment. Those women had divided into a few groups faintly. Linda, Fiona and Beverly belonged to one group, who were closer to each other. Among those women from Ice and Snow Wilderness, Olina was most aggressive. Martyr, Baylier, Katerina, Diana, Eva and Sali of Spencers'' Clan were in a group. Sabrina was closer to Olina and O''Laura. Both Sabrina and O''Laura were very independent, who got along well with Olina and Spencer''s women. In one word, Zhang Tie''s wives from Ice and Snow Wilderness had already divided into 3-4 groups.


    Before Bai Suxian''s identity was accepted by Zhang family, Aimei and Aixue were Zhang Tie''s only Hua concubines, whose identity was a bit special. Aimei and Aixue just got along well with Linda, Beverly and Fiona apparently. After the marital relationship between Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie was fixed, Aimei and Aixue stayed closer to both Bai Suxian and Linda, Beverly and Fiona. To a certain degree, Aimei and Aixue became the bridge that linked Bai Suxian with the other foreign wives and concubines of Zhang Tie.


    Obviously, Olina and O''Laura disliked Bai Suxian, the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. All the other women from Ice and Snow Wilderness always avoided meeting Bai Suxian. So did Bai Suxian.


    Although Zhang Tie only had over 10 wives and concubines, with the rise of his social status and battle strength as well as the growth of his children, the relationships between his wives and concubines would grow complicated and could even be written into a book.


    After Yan Feiqing joined them, Zhang Tie couldn''t imagine the scene when so many women sat together.


    Bai Suxian had a greater identity and battle strength among them. Occasionally, she would also lose temper as a princess. However, after Yan Feiqing joined them, Bai Suxian could only give way to her. Before promoting to a heavenly knight, Yan Feiqing was always aggressive. After promoting to a heavenly knight, she might not lower her head even in front of Bai Suxian''s dad Lord Guangnan.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie could only patiently explaine what he and Yan Feiqing had experienced in the tower of time to Bai Suxian.


    With eyes wide open, Bai Suxian listened to the secrets between Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing.


    Bai Suxian had already heard about such things from outside these days. However, she didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could conquer Yan Feiqing when he served as Weiji General in the Western Theater of Operations under her eyes.


    "This...is true?" Bai Suxian looked at Zhang Tie with big, watery eyes without a blink as she stopped dropping tears.


    "Of course it''s true!" Zhang Tie coughed twice with a solemn look as he said, "Don''t call her "her" from now on, it''s too rude. You should call her "elder sister", am I clear?"


    Bai Suxian pouted her mouth stubbornly.


    "Do you know why Qing''er doesn''t allow you to accompany me these days?" Zhang Tie slowed his tone.


    "Of course she wants to occupy you alone; bully me by the way!" Bai Suxian replied as if she was aggrieved.


    "It would be wrong if you think so!" Zhang Tie patted her plump butt as he fondled with it in front of Yan Feiqing. I''ve killed so many demons on the battlefield and have exposed my trump card as a divine dominator. Additionally, I''m severely wounded and can''t even protect myself. Although being in Xuanyuan Hill, it''s not necessarily safe here. Don''t forget that Han Zhengfang had hidden his real identity in Xuanyuan Hill for so many years. What if there''s someone else like Han Zhengfang here? In this case, if demons and Heavens Reaching Church want to kill me, they might assign heavenly knights, at least shadow knights. If you stay with me, you could not protect me; besides, you might even lose your own life. Therefore, Qing''er let you leave for the sake of your safety. Am I clear? Why do you think that she bullies you and feel aggrieved? Tell me whether should you do that or not?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bai Suxian lowered her head in shame.


    Yan Feiqing threw a glance at Zhang Tie which only carried one meaning¡ª¡ªyou''re really talkative.


    "Oh, I see..." Bai Suxian didn''t pout her mouth anymore.


    "Hurry, call her "elder sister"..."


    "Elder sister..." Bai Suxian finally lowered her head as she called reluctantly.


    Yan Feiqing remained silent, indifferent and arrogant as usual.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Zhang Tie pretended to cough twice.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s coughs, Yan Feiqing finally turned around as she replied lightly, "hmm"...


    With two beauties on his side who were harmonious with each other, Zhang Tie finally burst out into laughter, "That''s great; that''s great; from now on, you''re good sisters. Qing''er is the elder sister; Xian''er is the younger sister. You two should get along well with each other like now!"


    However, Zhang Tie was happy too early...


    Zhang Tie''s resilience was indeed terrifying. After waking up, he felt relaxed. With two beauties on his bedside and plump breasts and butt in his hands, the "heirloom" in his gown gradually became grim, pitching a tent.


    Bai Suxian raised her head as she caught sight of the small tent under Zhang Tie''s gown. She then abruptly burst out into sweet laughter towards Yan Feiqing who remained arrogant as if it was another one who just felt angry and aggrieved.


    "Our husband said that he had lived with the elder sister for decades in the tower of time. I wonder whether you''ve made love with each other?" Bai Suxian asked Yan Feiqing tenderly and respectfully.


    After hearing this question, Yan Feiqing slightly twisted her body on the bedside.


    "As we were deeply attracted and attached to each other and have been a couple for 6 decades in the tower of time, of course, we''ve made love!" Yan Feiqing answered calmly.


    "That''s great. Now that elder sister has some experience in making love and that she has lived with husband for 6 decades, Suxian wants to learn something from the elder sister. Even in front of our husband, he would not feel that I''m too rude..." Bai Suxian''s smile grew fascinating and enchanting.


    "What do you want to learn?" Yan Feiqing slightly frowned. Bai Suxian''s attitude changed so fast that Yan Feiqing didn''t know what trick was she about to play.


    Bai Suxian let out a sigh gloomily, "Since I met husband, we''ve not made love with each other in a long time. Each time we met, we would be firmly attached to each other. However, husband is as strong as a lion and a dragon and likes tricks on the bed. We usually made love for 10 times a night. To be honest, elder sister, in order to please husband, Suxian has been studying relevant skills stealthily. However, even though I''ve used all of my gimmicks, I could still not bear husband''s torture. Elder sister is so beautiful in look and hot in figure, husband must love you very much. If I could have an "anus and vagina song" together with the elder sister, listen to elder sister''s euphonious long sigh and muffled harrumph, watch elder sister''s undulating breasts and butt, the irresistible sense would definitely make our husband thrilled. One song like this could last 3 days. Suxian has sung such a song many times; however, none of them could satisfy him. As elder sister has lived well with husband for 6 decades in the tower of time, I admire you so much. As husband has woken up and seems to be interested in doing that. Elder sister, how about giving Suxian some tips about that? I want to see how the elder sister satisfies our husband. As an elder sister, you should not feel bashful about the "bed" thing..."


    After saying that, Bai Suxian looked around the bed as she nodded and started to take off her skirt. At the same time, she said, "This bed is available for a few people. Suxian could add oil for elder sister and husband on one side. Oh, elder sister, which one do you want first, a "male phoenix conquering a female chick" or a "white lion jump"?" Bai Suxian looked at Yan Feiqing seriously before revealing a charming smile, "However, given husband''s liking and elder sister''s look and figure, I guess husband must want elder sister to raise high your legs when we sing an "anus" song. Am I right, elder sister?"


    Zhang Tie watched Bai Suxian with a dumbfounded look. Not until then did he realize that Bai Suxian who grew up in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion didn''t care about what it was whenever she became interested in something, even though on the other side was a heavenly knight. She wanted to learn from Yan Feiqing about how to make love? That was unbelievable! Zhang Tie was speechless.


    When Zhang Tie listened to Bai Suxian''s words with a dumbfounded look and watched her putting off her underclothes, Yan Feiqing''s face turned rosy as if it caught fire. Being restless, she felt numerous ants crawling over her body. It was Yan Feiqing''s first time to hear someone saying that to her since she was born.


    "Ahem...ahem...Xian''er, stop, that''s too embarrassing..." Zhang Tie could only open his mouth as he found that Yan Feiqing became extremely bashful.


    "It''s a private affair of our husband. It''s an unquestionable moral truth for us to make love, not to mention that we''re alone. It''s not excessive at all!" Bai Suxian raised her face as she watched Yan Feiqing with a provocative expression which was especially disguised as kindness and docility. Although fixating on Yan Feiqing, she was actually talking with Zhang Tie.


    "I''ve already asked Doctor Fei. He said husband has already recovered after taking so many precious medicines except for losing his battle strength for the time being. Not only that, husband, if you could do exercies properly, you might recover your vital essence very fast!" Bai Suxian finally displayed her shrewdness and unruliness as her words became openly expressive and challenging like rockets shooting towards Yan Feiqing, making her unbearable. Hearing her words, Yan Feiqing felt dull thunders rolling by as she became restless.


    "Additionally, doesn''t a husband like such affairs most at home? It''s nothing embarrassing for a husband and wives to do that. Besides me, don''t all the other wives and concubines of husband at home such as Linda, Olina, Aimei and Aixue try their best to satisfy husband? Aimei and Aixue told me that husband had suddenly allowed over 10 wives and concubines to lie on the table and sofa in the study and f*cked them in the daytime for many times, even if you were discussing about something at that moment. Sometimes, you did that in the dining hall. Even the slave girls and maids at home know that they couldn''t disturb you when the dining hall was closed at meal time. Husband was not embarrassed at that time. Now that elder sister Yan is the principal wife of husband, you should be a good example for us in making love with our husband too so as to conquer all of us. Husband always likes to be straightforward. Elder sister Yan, do you know what did husband ask me when he met me in the public for the first time? He asked me whether I could bear f*ck or not. If elder sister don''t believe in that, you could ask him now. I also wonder whether the elder sister could bear f*ck or not..."


    Noticing how Yan Feiqing watched him, Zhang Tie could only cover his face by hands as he gradually hid himself into the quilt. At the same time, he started to regret, ''Why did I wake up today? Why didn''t I stay in a coma for a few more days?''


    ''Neither the princess nor the owner of Fairy Women Palace is easy to deal with. Why the 2 women couldn''t get along well with each other like Linda, Fiona and Beverly?''


    Bai Suxian revealed a "triumph" smile, "If elder sister Yan feels it too direct, how about having some warm-up programs? As elder sister Yan has stayed with husband for 6 decades in the tower of time, I think elder sister Yan''s mouth skills must have been well trained by our husband. Suxian also wants to learn it from the elder sister. Why do you remain silent, elder sister? Don''t feel bashful about it. If the elder sister doesn''t oppose it, how about Suxian doing it ahead of you and you could give me some instructions from one side..."


    Yan Feiqing instantly sprung up silently. After throwing a glance at Bai Suxian, she left the room...


    After Yan Feiqing left there, Zhang Tie looked at Bai Suxian who looked pleasant helplessly as he moved Bai Suxian''s hand away from him and sighed with emotions, "Baby, you don''t need to do that. Qing''er is not as bad as you imagine. She''s indeed a bit indifferent sometimes; however, she would never do harm to you!"


    Bai Suxian raised her eyebrows as she put her hands on both sides of his waist and said, "I''m a black iron knight; she''s a heavenly knight. I couldn''t defeat her on battle strength; however, very few women compete for a man by force. This lady is 200 years younger than her. I might not match her in other aspects; however, I''m not afraid of her on the bed..."


    Zhang Tie became speechless once again. That was too horrible when a woman became jealous, even a knight was no exception.


    However, Bai Suxian was happy too early. When Bai Suxian thought that she had driven Yan Feiqing away, Yan Feiqing returned to the room. Standing on the bedside, she looked at Bai Suxian calmly as she said, "I''ve told the bodyguards outside that nobody is allowed in this courtyard for one day. Otherwise, I will chop off the intruder''s head. Don''t you say that you''re not afraid of me on the bed? Show me your expert skills then..."


    "What about you?" Bai Suxian said unpleasantly, "You would do whatever I do?"


    Yan Feiqing immediately undid the waistband of her one-piece gown.


    Yan Feiqing''s movement shocked both Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie had not imagined that even Yan Feiqing cared about such a topic and preferred to compete with Bai Suxian about it on the bed. Sometimes, women were really hard to understand; especially powerful women.


    The two women just gazed at each other like fighting hens, turning Zhang Tie as their battlefield.


    When Bai Suxian gritted her teeth and was about to unveil Zhang Tie''s robe, Zhang Tie jumped off the bed at once as he slapped their butts forcefully with an angry look, "My ladies, what do you think I am, the test field of reform and opening up of female knights? How dare you fight over me? Hurry! Put on your clothes. Follow me out. If anyone of you doesn''t follow my order, I will divorce you and have you die alone, whether you''re a princess or an owner of a palace. You''re too naughty..."


    After saying these words with a furious look, Zhang Tie directly walked outside the room barefooted.


    Zhang Tie pretended to lose his temper. He didn''t know whether it worked. However, at this moment, the husband should make rules for his wives. If he really let the two women fight over him at this moment, his family would never be peaceful from then on. He had to consider about his face!


    ''Ahem...ahem...even though the two women would like to do that together, they have to receive my consent. They cannot do it now.''


    Zhang Tie pushed open the door and came to the corridor. He then immediately saw peach blossoms over the garden. Besides, there were rockeries, glistening ripples in lotus flower pond and picturesque pavilions in the far. Facing the warm spring wind, he felt pretty pleasant and spirited...


    This garden was not small; it was filled with the masterpieces of landscape garden masters.


    Zhang Tie was appreciating peach blossoms and waiting for something. Only after a short while, he had heard footsteps approaching him from behind. Almost at the same time, his arms were respectively gripped by two women.


    "Hubby, watch out your foot; it''s cold on the ground..."


    "Husband, you''d better put on a coat..."


    Two warm and sweet voices entered Zhang Tie''s ears.


    After putting on the coat and shoes, Zhang Tie looked at Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian and asked, "Continue?"


    The two women exchanged a glance with each other. Closely after that, they moved their eye lights away as they shook their heads at the same time.


    "Elder sister Yan has lived with husband in the tower of time for 6 decades and saved husband on the battlefield; she''s now husband''s good assistant too. It''s my fault. Husband, don''t blame me anymore..." Bai Suxian slightly swayed Zhang Tie''s arm as she admitted her fault.


    "Feiqing was reasonless just now. I shouldn''t have argued with the younger sister. Sorry for that, younger sister..." Yan Feiqing made a concession too.


    "Hahaha..." Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he put his arms around their waists and kissed their faces, "My girls. Let''s go take a walk in the garden..."


    ...


    2 hours later, a meticulous voice drifted into the pavilion, "Erm...Master Yan...the crown prince has come to take a look at General Mushen after being told that he''s awake..."


    ''The crown prince? That''s too fast!'' Zhang Tie became hesitant for a second before smiling at the two women as he said, "Look, here comes the crown prince. I should not put on my airs anymore. Neither should I violate the rule that Qing''er has just made. I will meet the crown prince outside the courtyard then..."


    Only after half an hour, Zhang Tie had seen the crown prince of Taixia Country in a parlor outside this courtyard...


    ...

 1429 The Surname Xuanyuan

    Neither Zhang Tie liked nor disliked the crown prince of Taixia Country.


    As the crown prince''s master was Meng Shidao, they were on the same side. However, given the relationship between Meng Shidao and Huaiyuan Palace, as the offspring of Lord Huaiyuan and the grand elder of the Zhang family, Zhang Tie was not on the same side with the crown prince.


    Whereas, Zhang Tie didn''t dislike the crown prince, because the crown prince always enjoyed a good reputation across the country. Zhang Tie had never heard any immoral incidents about the crown prince. Additionally, demons were invading Taixia Country. Zhang Tie admired him more or less as the crown prince could carry the heavy burden in Xuanyuan Hill and stabilize the overall situation of Taixia Country under that circumstance. At least Zhang Tie was not that patient to do that if he were the crown prince.


    Zhang Tie felt that the crown prince of Taixia Country was like those moguls and big figures in Andaman Federation when he was a small figure in Blackhot City. Neither did Zhang Tie like them nor dislike them. However, after establishing a connection with these moguls and big figures, Zhang Tie became valuable in their eyes; therefore, he could only spirit up to deal with them.


    It was a matter of etiquette. Zhang Tie''s mom usually told Zhang Tie to behave properly.


    ''Now that the crown prince has fetched top-notch doctors to cure my wounds and opened the imperial warehouse to me, I have to meet him. Better early than late. Whatever, the crown prince has behaved pretty politely after knowing that I''m awake. I couldn''t put on my airs and make him embarrassed. Otherwise, the Gobbling Party would screw me.''


    Zhang Tie was aware of this situation and the plan of the crown prince; however, when he saw the crown prince, he still remained kind and calm; instead of showing his arrogant and unyielding attitude on his face.


    The so-called mature performance referred to how you could make the opponent feel at ease when you feel free whenever it was and whoever you were facing as long as you two were in a duel.


    After experiencing so much, Zhang Tie had been much more mature.


    Zhang Tie was living in an imperial manor called Purple Manor in the Emperor''s Imperial City of Xuanyuan Hill. Being very famous, this place was only about 13 miles away from the imperial palace. It was being guarded by knights of Imperial Guards.


    The crown prince was called Xuanyuan Changying. Xuanyuan was an imperial surname, which was the most honorable family name in Taixia Country. Although being similar to how knights rotated a chakra to select the exclusive word for their name, Xuanyuan was not exclusive to a clan. Any Hua emperor who ruled Hua people could use Xuanyuan as their family inheritance. All the other family names of Hua people originated from Xuanyuan. Those Hua emperors could be coronated with the family name Xuanyuan. It was one of the most solemn ceremonies to coronate someone with the family name Xuanyuan like the coronation of an emperor. The imperial households of Taixia Country surnamed Xia dated back to the Catastrophe. Because family Xia had an emperor, Xia was then renamed as Xuanyuan.


    What was Xuanyuan? Before the Catastrophe, ignorants always said that Xuanyuan referred to the axle shaft. They said Emperor Xuanyuan Huang invented axle shafts; therefore, Xuanyuan referred to the axle shaft. That was a big mistake! Xuanyuan actually referred to the axis of the planet. The planet was rotating around this axis. Before the Catastrophe, countries founded by Hua people usually called "XXÖÐ". The character "ÖÐ" referred to the axis of the planet given its shape, which also represented the descendants of Xuanyuan clan. However, before the Catastrophe, due to vicissitudes and many large-scale wars, human civilizations were destroyed one after another. Most of those Hua people who survived those wars had already forgotten about the glory of their ancestors. Although they knew Xuanyuan and "ÖÐ" in their countries'' names, most of them didn''t know the meanings of "Xuanyuan" and "ÖÐ". After the Catastrophe, when Hua people gradually regained their glory, more and more people started to know the true meaning of "Xuanyuan".


    Therefore, the family name Xuanyuan became the supreme family name today.


    ...


    Zhang Tie just waited in a parlor of Purple Manor for the arrival of Xuanyuan Changying as he considered about the background of family name Xuanyuan. ''It seems rather interesting. A person''s surname means the axis of a planet. How overbearing it is! That''s really something! Only the most powerful Hua people could match this family name.''


    Not until a string of footsteps drifted from the path outside the parlor did Zhang Tie raise his head as he saw a man in his 30s walking towards the parlor by strides, followed by some guards. With a straight nose, high forehead and sparkling eyes, he wore an imperial robe made of gilded and black silk and a crown on which two Hua dragons played with a pearl.


    No sooner did Zhang Tie see that man than he stood up from the chair.


    Watching Zhang Tie standing up to greet him, the man in gilded imperial robe immediately revealed a fervent and brilliant smile as he nodded inside, ''Previously, I thought Zhang Tie might be frivolous, but I find him solemn and decent.'' The crown prince felt comfortable.


    "His Majesty..." Zhang Tie clenched one hand in the other towards that person when the latter entered the parlor alone, leaving his guards outside.


    As a knight, Zhang Tie didn''t even need to kneel down towards Emperor Xuanyuan, not to mention the crown prince.


    The moment he entered the parlor, Xuanyuan Changying had fixated onto Zhang Tie. Although being born with a noble look, Xuanyuan Changying also exclaimed inside at the sight of Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie still looked like a teenage boy in an official school. Given Zhang Tie''s look, nobody could imagine that he had already promoted to a shadow knight and killed a heavenly demon knight by striking the latter 9 times with a rod as a divine dominator. Average earth or black iron demon knights were as weak as pigs or dogs in front of this person.


    "Without Mushen, Weishui River would be as dark as a long night forever!" Crown prince raised his head and sighed with feeling after watching Zhang Tie seriously for a while.


    "Thanks, His Majesty. Zhang Tie is embarrassed by the undeserved praise!" Zhang Tie really felt a bit embarrassed by such high praise from the crown prince Chang Ying...


    "It''s from Commander-in-chief Zuoqiu. Across the country, everyone is aware of General Mushen''s military exploits above the bank of Weishui River. What you did will glorify you, your family and the country forever..."

 1430 Crown Prince Changying

    "As a Hua knight, it''s my commitment to serve humans in the holy war!" Zhang Tie didn''t lose his mind although he was moved by Zuoqiu Mingyue''s comment. He remained modest. In fact, Zhang Tie didn''t have a liking for fame, wealth or power. Therefore, he didn''t overreact to other''s overpraise, "Actually, besides me, numerous knights, officers and people from all walks of life are still working for Taixia Country in the frontline of Weishui River and the rear end. Commander-in-chief Zuoqiu and those heavenly knights were especially the pillars of Taixia Country in the western theater of operations. I''m just a bit lucky to do that..."


    "Nobody could promote to a knight by luck, not to mention the knight of knights!" Crown prince Changying replied as he gazed at Zhang Tie seriously. Based on the crown prince''s experience in judging people, of course, he knew that Zhang Tie''s calm look was not fake. One of his most important purposes here today was to check Zhang Tie''s disposition. Only after having a short chat with Zhang Tie and observing the latter''s speech and conduct for a short while, the crown prince had already known Zhang Tie''s temperament. With a forthright laugh, Xuanyuan Changying pointed at two chairs in the parlor as he said tenderly, "As you''ve just recovered your wounds, let''s take a seat!"


    "Please, His Majesty!"


    The two people then sat on two ends of a bench in the parlor. The moment they sat down, a maid in Purple Manor had served tea and pastries for them.


    Previously, Zhang Tie would feel intense even when he sat together with the elders of Huaiyuan Palace. However, now, even though he was sitting together with the crown prince of Taixia Country, he still behaved very calmly. Zhang Tie had seen through many things after experiencing "death". The so-called social status was useless when one was about to die.


    "General Mushen, how do you feel now? Doctor Fei told me yesterday that as long as the general could wake up, you would rehabilitate rapidly. However, as the strength of thunder of nirvana still exists in your body, your mind sea and qi sea are both devoured by that strength, and you could barely use your battle strength for the time being." Crown prince Changying showed concern the moment he sat down.


    "As was told by Doctor Fei, I indeed have survived myself; however, I''ve not completely eliminated the strength of thunder of nirvana. It might still take a few days to completely recover my battle strength!" Zhang Tie said as he rubbed his face by fingers, "His Majesty, you can call me Zhang Tie. I feel uneasy when His Majesty calls me general!"


    "Hahaha, I will call you Zhang Tie, but may you call me elder brother Changying as I''m only a few years elder than you?" Crown prince Changying immediately drew the relationship closer between them.


    Watching the crown prince''s easygoing smile, Zhang Tie hurriedly shook his head as he said, "How come I will be His Majesty''s brother?"


    The crown prince let out a sigh in a disappointed way as he replied, "It seems that General Mushen doesn''t feel that I''m qualified to be on intimate terms with you. I understand it. General could kill demons like slaughtering dogs on the battlefield; however, I have really humble military exploits on the battlefield, although I also have some experience in Earth-elements Realm..."


    After hearing the crown prince''s words, Zhang Tie hurriedly forced a bitter smile as he waved his hand, "Please forgive me, His Majesty. As long as His Majesty could prevent those chattering daws in imperial censorate from finding faults with me, I will call His Majesty Elder brother Changying from then onwards..."


    Crown prince Changying burst out into his laughter as he said, "I promise, if anyone in the imperial censorate dares to find faults with you, I will slash him!"


    "The king''s words are to be taken seriously. With Elder brother Changying''s promise, I will not be afraid of calling you Elder brother Changying from now on!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter too.


    After hearing the sentence "The king''s words are to be taken seriously", the crown prince felt more genial as he felt that it was much more interesting to talk with Zhang Tie than that he could imagine. Although the crown prince had not seen Fairy Sea King and was not sure whether Fairy Sea King was more powerful than Zhang Tie, he asserted that Zhang Tie was much more interesting than Fairy Sea King. The crown prince sighed with emotions inside, ''No wonder he conquered Yan Feiqing. Nobody else could make Yan Feiqing docile except for Zhang Tie, even sage-level knights could do nothing to Yan Feiqing but to be beaten...''


    When the crown prince thought about it, he waved his hand over the table, revealing a pile of jade cases and vials in various patterns that gave out colorful light at once. No sooner did these items appear than the entire parlor was suffused with looming, bizarre herbal fragrance. The moment Zhang Tie sniffed it, he had felt spirited as if he was bathing in a warm spring. Not only that, Zhang Tie found that each jade vial and case contained a looming, vivid image of an animal.


    It indicated that these were top-notch medicinal pills. Even Zhang Tie had only heard about that. However, the crown prince brought him 6 such pills.


    "These medicinal pills are articles of tribute that the top 5 sects of Taixia Country provided to the imperial households and the secret recipes of imperial financial and living affairs ministry collected in the imperial household!" The crown prince picked one jade vial as he said, "It contains Taiyi Golden Pills of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. It''s said that it could bring the dead back to life and enable flesh to grow over bones. This is Heavens Fortune Dew of Heavens Fortune Sect. A drop of it is more effective than that of a vial of super recovery medicament. This is the pulp of Qionglou Sect. It could cure 36,000 diseases in the world. This is Heavens Holding Powder of Heavens Holding Pavilion. A spoon of Heavens Holding Powder could detoxify various poisons. This is Demons killing Life-saving Pill of Demons killing Valley. With one Demons killing Life-saving Pill, you could save one life at the critical moment. This is the Xuanyuan Dragon Marrow Incense, a recipe of the imperial household of Taixia Country. When you cultivate or sleep, you only need to light it to make your meridians relaxed, purify your marrow, nourish your battle qi and increase your spiritual energy..." After introducing the usage of all these items, the crown prince pushed all of them in front of Zhang Tie as he said, "I''ve already sent an order to the imperial hospital and told them to work out the solution against the thunder of nirvana. Before they work it out, these items should be useful to your wounds..."


    After looking at those priceless pills and powders on the table, Zhang Tie moved his eyes on the crown prince and replied with a smile calmly, "Thanks, Elder brother Changying". Closely after that, he waved his arm and teleported all of them into his portable space-teleportation equipment as if he had taken some kilograms of fruits.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s deed, the crown prince burst out into laughter once again...

 1431 Crown Prince Changyings Hospitality

    "How do you feel about Purple Manor? Are you satisfied with it?" Crown prince Changying asked out of concern with a smile after seeing Zhang Tie taking those secret pills and powders.


    As an imperial landscape garden, Purple Manor covered over 3 million square meters. It contained dozens of courtyards, over 1,000 pavilions and attics, either large or small. There were various landscapes. The price of land in Xuanyuan Hill was very high. All the lords and dignitaries of subcontinents would feel proud to have a private residence in Xuanyuan Hill. The high value of land in the core of Xuanyuan Hill was out of people''s imagination, which couldn''t even be bought even if you had enough money. The emperor''s imperial city was the most prosperous region for humans. Each flower, grass, brick and tile across Purple Manor was the best in the world. Take this long, rectangular table facing the two people as an instance, besides looking decent and magnificent, it was made of starry catalpa wood, a wood which was provided to the imperial households from other subcontinents. Less than 10 clans in the emperor''s imperial city were qualified to use furniture made of such wood.


    All the glazed tiles on the roofs of buildings in Purple Manor came from the official kiln under the affiliation of imperial financial and living affairs ministry. According to secret methods, they were well carved in each detail. Each glazed tile of the building here would be a rarity among the people with a name called glazed tile inkstone. Because some literati would be proud of having one glazed tile like this and displaying it in a private party.


    The carpets in rooms here were also provided by the imperial households from other subcontinents, which could barely be bought from the market.


    Such a place was even more luxurious than mansions of princes and marquises. Few places across Taixia Country could match Purple Manor. Of course, Zhang Tie was very satisfied with it.


    "Thanks, Elder brother Changying. I''ve taken a walk around the landscape garden today and found that everywhere here is picturesque. Purple Manor carries the soul of mountains and rivers, the masterpieces of craftsmen and the rarities in the world. It''s inclusive. How could I not be satisfied with such a place?"


    "Ahh, glad to hear that!" Crown prince Changying said with a smile, "Younger brother, you might have no private estate in Xuanyuan Hill. I''ve already ordered the imperial financial and living affairs ministry to transfer the property rights of Purple Manor to you. From now on, Purple Manor would be your private manor in Xuanyuan Hill. If the younger brother comes to Xuanyuan Hill in the future, you could directly live in Purple Manor. Oh, I''ve already had people change Purple Manor into Qianji Manor when I came in. Younger brother, If you have enough people in Firey Dragon Bounty Territory, you could have your stewards come here to deal with the affairs in this manor. Now, this manor is guarded by the guards of Imperial Guards for the time being. When younger brother recovers, these guards would be able to leave..."


    Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile inside. Now that Crown prince Changying had done so much for him, how could he say no. Therefore, Zhang Tie could only cup his hands towards Crown prince Changying as he said, "Thank you so much, Elder brother Changying, when I came to Xuanyuan Hill last time, I just lived in Lord Guangnan''s Manor due to lack of private residence here. Previously, I was also thinking about purchasing a residence in Xuanyuan Hill as it''s so prosperous here. Now that Elder brother Changying presents it to me, I will not decline..."


    "That''s good; that''s good; that''s good..." Crown prince Changying became more thrilled when he saw Zhang Tie accepting his gift. His eyes even shone. After that, the crown prince clapped his hands while a team of mesmerizing slave servants and maids entered the parlor. Zhang Tie was instantly dazzled by so many beauties.


    "Qianji Immortal..." Those people lowered their bodies at the same time towards Zhang Tie as if hundreds of larks and orioles were twittering in the parlor.


    There were a total of 36 women, whose looks and figures could even match that of Bai Suxian. In smooth and fair skin and imperial gown, all of them behaved gracefully. No sooner did they enter the parlor than they lowered their bodies towards Zhang Tie in two lines. They fixated onto Zhang Tie at the same time.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at them as he immediately noticed their deep cleavages under their belly bands.


    As Zhang Tie had seen too many women, he was not curious about women; however, strangely, all the 36 women were Zhang Tie''s favorite types like Linda and Olina. They all had a graceful bearing that was possessed by mature women, plump breasts and butts. Being tall, their ages ranged from 30 to 40. Due to good skin care and health care, they all had fair skin and the most beautiful looks. What was more, Zhang Tie found that these women were still virgins. Additionally, each of them was distinctive.


    It might not be difficult to find one beauty like them; however, it was difficult to find 36 beauties like them.


    When Zhang Tie was looking at them, these women were also looking at Zhang Tie with different eye light. Some women''s eye light was affectionate as if Zhang Tie was their Mr. Right. Some women''s eye light was bashful and a bit scared like what young girls usually did in front of their beloved ones; the moment they made eye contacts with Zhang Tie, they would lower their heads out of shyness with a blush on their face. Some women''s eye light was elegant and intellectual like how a female professor looked at her student. Some women''s eye light contained flirtation. The moment they made eye contact with Zhang Tie, their eye light would be as tender as water. Some women''s eye light felt indifferent and arrogant. Being similar to that of Yan Feiqing, such eye light could easily arouse a man''s desire to conquer...


    "I know that the younger brother likes mature women. These women are all Hua women who have learned in the Imperial Etiquette Academy for many years. Their family backgrounds are all innocent. They''re proficient in music, the game of go, calligraphy, painting and dance. They could even match top geishas in recreational sites and local female poets. Additionally, they''re all good at flirtation. Some of them possess musical instruments and other necessary tools, which could spice up your free time. As the younger brother has just woken up and is recovering rapidly, why not let them sing and dance for you..."


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that his dissolute reputation in Youzhou Province had spread to Xuanyuan Hill. Even the crown prince had known it, who especially prepared these beauties to amuse him. ''It seems that I could not cast off the gossip of "cougar master" in the future.''


    Now that Zhang Tie had received Purple Manor as his private estate in Xuanyuan Hill, he couldn''t decline the following gifts. Although they were 36 beauties, actually given their value, even 10 more times beauties might not match a pill in Crown prince Changying''s eyes. Crown prince Changying just used these beauties to express his sincerity to Zhang Tie...


    What else could Zhang Tie say? Zhang Tie then waved his arm to have people take these beauties away.


    "Hahaha, younger brother is indeed dissolute; you''re not hypocritical at all. This is how a hero should behave! From now on, if younger brother likes, you could select whichever you want from the beauties in the Imperial Etiquette Academy. As a Hua knight, if you marry too many foreign wives and concubines, it might arouse some gossips, why not marry some more Hua wives and concubines..." Crown prince Changying burst out into laughter.


    "Haha, erm, it''s already enough to have so many wives and concubines. Otherwise, the grape trellises at home would fall; if the largest grape trellis fell, it would be earth-shaking and I wouldn''t bear it. I''d better not do that; I''d better not do that..." Zhang Tie said as he waved his hand.


    The two people then looked at each other before bursting out into laughter at the same time.


    After recovering his composure, the crown prince took up his teacup and had a sip. After putting down the teacup and being silent for a few seconds, he finally opened his mouth, "Younger brother, I''ve got a question to ask you out of curiosity. If it sounds offensive, please don''t blame me. If you feel inconvenient to answer it, you could keep silent!"


    "Please, Elder brother Changying. I will answer it if I could. I will not blame His Majesty if I couldn''t answer it!" Zhang Tie put it straight.


    "Hmm, actually Commander-in-chief Zuoqiu also wants to know the answer!" Xuanyuan Changying gazed at Zhang Tie for a second before tossing out the question, "Younger brother, you''ve not talked about your master. I wonder whether your master is Fairy Sea King from Penglai Immortal Island. Whether did you learn the skill of divine dominator from Fairy Sea King?"


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "I''ve not seen Fairy Sea King. I got the essence of the ability of divine dominator myself by luck. It''s nothing to do with Penglai Immortal Island!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Crown Prince Changying raised his eyebrows as he asked, "You got the essence of the ability of divine dominator yourself by luck?"


    "Yes, no trick!" Zhang Tie threw a glance at Crown prince Changying. After a pause, he added, "The key for common knights to become a divine dominator lies in making a breakthrough in their spiritual energy..."


    "The key for common knights to become a divine dominator lies in making a breakthrough in their spiritual energy?" Crown prince Changying''s eyes sparkled.


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Younger brother, trust me. Nobody else will know this secret except you and me!"


    "It doesn''t matter even if others know this secret. Making a breakthrough in one''s spiritual energy is far more difficult than promoting to a knight. I succeeded after experiencing too many life or death situations. The others might not grasp it even if they want..."


    "Younger brother is the good fortune of Taixia Country. Younger brother alone could match the army of 100,000 knights..." Crown prince Changying sighed with emotions gain, "As younger brother has just recovered, I will not disturb you any longer. Younger brother, have a good rest! It''s said that the younger brother likes heavy weapons. On the battlefield that day, your heavy weapons and silver secret items were all destroyed by the thunder of nirvana. After a couple of days, when you further recover, I will take you to take a look in the imperial warehouse. There''re many silver secret items. I promise to select some proper weapons for you. Here''s one remote-sensing finger ring. You could directly contact me with it. If you have any problem, you could ask me directly..." Crown prince Changying told Zhang Tie as he gave a remote-sensing finger ring to the latter. After that, he stood up and bade a farewell to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie also stood up to see off the crown prince. Because the crown prince has already presented Purple Manor to him, Zhang Tie accompanied the crown prince to pass three doors continually before returning to his courtyard at the request of the crown prince according to the etiquette.


    Crown prince Changying came here only for being solicitous about Zhang Tie health. Besides gifting recipes, manor, beauties and secret items, he even called Zhang Tie younger brother. He almost gave his throne as the crown prince to Zhang Tie; instead of mentioning anything else. Zhang Tie could only speak highly of the crown prince''s hospitality inside.


    After returning to his courtyard, When Zhang Tie wanted to dispose of those beauties gifted by the crown prince, he was told that Bai Suxian had already taken those beauties to the other courtyard.


    After shaking his head, Zhang Tie returned to the courtyard where he stayed with Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing just now.


    After entering the courtyard, Zhang Tie heard some music. Along the music, Zhang Tie came to the house beside the peach wood. The moment he entered the room, he had seen Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing leaning against the bedstand of a soft bed and appreciating the performance of those beauties...


    Bai Suxian''s eyes sparkled as if she was a bit thrilled while Yan Feiqing slightly frowned.


    Growing up in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Bai Suxian had been used to such a scene; however, Yan Feiqing was not used to Zhang Tie bringing back dozens of beauties after taking a round outside.


    Watching Zhang Tie coming in, Bai Suxian waved her arm. All the beauties then stopped and lowered their bodies towards Zhang Tie at the same time.


    "These beauties gifted by the crown prince are great in both looks and talents. I''m checking their talents..." Bai Suxian smiled at Zhang Tie, "Husband, do you want to appreciate them with us..."


    Zhang Tie then came to the front of the bed before sitting down in between Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing. Putting his arms around their waists, he replied, "Nice, I will appreciate it. You remind me that I''ve enjoyed too few songs and dances. I have to feast my eyes on them today..."


    Bai Suxian then threw an enchanting smile at Zhang Tie, then Yan Feiqing. After that, she told those beauties calmly, "Play a Jade-Crown Backyard Flower for husband then!"


    Zhang Tie almost spurted out a mouth of tea water. He hurriedly checked Yan Feiqing''s look. After finding that Yan Feiqing remained as serious as usual who just threw a glance at Bai Suxian, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but slap Bai Suxian''s butt only to get a sweet smile from her.


    Only after a short while, the music started while a maid sang the wong. Over 20 maids then danced and shuttled in front of Zhang Tie like butterflies, constraining butts and raising legs, swaying sleeves and spinning.


    ''Like fragrant flowers contending in front of high pavilions and buildings, concubines, you look most beautiful after well dressed-up.


    When you cover the windows, the fascinating spring scenery couldn''t be seen.


    After you leave your bedroom, all the spring sceneries become dwarfed.


    With cute smiles, you walk out of your room dexterously.


    Your faces are like fresh flowers being adorned with crystal dew.


    Your frames are as beautiful, resplendent, elegant and chic as jade trees.


    It''s a very temporary period for flowers from contention to droop.


    When all the petals fell, everything would return to commonplace.''


    The song was as euphonious as the sounds of nature. The dance was also enchanting and tender. They were both top class. No sooner did he hear the song and see the dance than he was attracted by them. What charmful music and dance!


    Enjoying the song and the dance, with beauties in arms, Zhang Tie couldn''t help but let out a sigh with emotions, ''If only there were no demons...''


    ''Crown prince...''


    Zhang Tie could only shake his head as he forced a bitter smile inside...


    An ancient music which was played in the imperial court of the last emperor of south dynasty, ancient China. It symbolizes the decline of a country. This flower is usually seen in imperial court. Bai Suxian wants to warn Zhang Tie to not be obssessed with sex.

 1432 In Gradual Recovery

    Zhang Tie recovered very quickly. Except for the two wisps of energy of the thunder of nirvana in his mind sea and qi sea, Zhang Tie had been as vigorous as before on the 4th day after he woke up for the second time with the medical treatment of Du Zhongling the Immortal Medical Pills, Fei Zhengtao the Medicine Sage and Sun Tiancheng the Medicine King in various methods.


    Lately, the crown prince didn''t come to Qianji Manor anymore. However, His Majesty would assign his subordinate or female director in the imperial palace to inquire about Zhang Tie''s sickness in Qianji Manor every day with items from the imperial warehouse. Those officials in imperial financial and living affairs ministry almost came here to visit Zhang Tie every day. Some sent contracts of the estate of Qianji Manor; some sent imperial chefs to help Zhang Tie adjust his diet; even tailors, brewers, gardeners and hostlers of imperial financial and living affairs ministry were sent to Qianji Manor by batches.


    As the imperial financial and living affairs ministry was exclusive to imperial households, all the personnel assigned to Qianji Manor actually served imperial households, including the crown prince previously. These people had top abilities across the country. At the order of the crown prince, they were sent to Qianji Manor to serve Zhang Tie. Therefore, Zhang Tie had a chance to experience the living of imperial households although being not in the imperial palace.


    Growing up in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Bai Suxian was very familiar with affairs in the mansion and possessed great demeanor. Zhang Tie then had Bai Suxian take charge of the internal affairs of Qianji Manor. As for Zhang Tie himself, he just waited for someone to put on his clothes, eat a ready-cooked meal, watch beauties dance and flirt with Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian day by day.


    After the large-scale war between knights over 3 months ago, demons suffered a great loss. Besides a heavenly demon knight and 5 shadow demon knights who were killed by Zhang Tie, it was said that the demon general itself was also heavily injured by Zuoqiu Mingyue. The demon army had already retreated 300 miles away from Weishui River. As a result, human army and demon army were in a new stalemate, which was relatively calm for the time being; especially after the thaw set in, the latest round of attack of the demon army would be launched at least in winter.


    As for Heavens Reaching Empire, the disappearance of those powers caused some chaos to those provinces inside the region occupied by demons. The remnants of Heavens Reaching Church were in great confusion. In this case, the demon army could barely launch a large-scale attack. Therefore, they could only stop it for the time being. Over these months, the demon army still brought stress to Taixia Country in Helan Mountain Range. The troops of both parties were still in fierce battles in that region. Although Taixia Country''s individual fighters couldn''t match that of demon fighters in battle strength, with the support of a multitude of fiery-oil weapons, Taixia Country was still not in disadvantageous position over there.


    Not only that, besides regular elite corps of Taixia Country, many clan elites and paladins also entered the Helan Mountain Range, most of which were above LV 10. They entered that region to hone themselves and adapt to fight with demon troops; some were for bounty award. After these heroes poured in that region, the gaps between Taixia Country and demons on the ground forces and the armed forces were further evened up. As of now, Helan Mountain Range had completely become a battlefield for powerhouses below knights between humans and demons.


    In Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Military Province, after Zhang Tie was appointed as Weiji General of the Western Theater of Operations last year, the bumper harvest helped the four provinces to recover its vitality completely. With the further expansion of production capacity of Fiery Oil, Pilot Training Academy spread over the country, leading to a greater army of air cavalries. In only a few months, Taixia Country had already matched its second-tier troops with fiery-oil weapons in the Western Theater of Operations. With the completion of the spring plowing across the Western Theater of Operations, the homecoming tide even happened in some places of the 4 provinces¡ª¡ªThose major clans which escaped away from the 4 provinces last year constantly assigned people back to deal with their undertakings in the four provinces.


    The decline of demon forces and the recovery of human forces determined that this holy war would definitely last long. As long as demons didn''t gain an overwhelming advantage over Taixia Country again, the battle situation at Weishui River could remain stable for a couple of decades.


    Zhang Tie learned this information after waking up when he became completely reassured.


    If Weishui River was in peace, Jinwu City and Fiery-Dragon Prefecture in Youzhou Province would remain as peaceful as before. Not only that, after the news that Zhang Tie killed a heavenly demon knight by striking it 9 times with a rod spread over there, Jinwu City and Fiery-Dragon Prefecture had been pretty boisterous these months. Besides those major clans in Youzhou Province and Northeast Military Region, all the major clans from the other military regions had assigned representatives to visit Zhang family with precious gifts too, even from far away.


    Those who would like to marry their female youngsters to Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang, have their clan disciples join Iron-Dragon Sect and strike up an acquaintance with Zhang family were as many as fish across the river.


    What Zhang Tie had not imagined was that many major clans which were gagging for establishing marital relationships with Zhang family in Jinwu City and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory had fixated onto the children of Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang. As a result, Zhang family''s third generation became pretty popular.


    According to the schedule, Zhang Yang would come to Xuanyuan Hill for Zhang Tie by airboat after Zhang Tie woke up for 2 days. However, due to an emergency, Zhang Tie''s elder brother had to postpone it for a few more days.


    The emergency was that Zhang Tie''s parents also wanted to go to Xuanyuan Hill with Zhang Yang.


    Like before, in order to make their parents reassured, Zhang Yang only told their parents that Zhang Tie suffered wounds in the frontline and was accepting the best medical treatment in Xuanyuan Hill.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie''s parents were reassured as they thought that Zhang Tie was not severely injured. Additionally, being in Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie should be fine. However, when Zhang Tie''s military exploits and the news that Zhang Tie was close to death and couldn''t wake up anymore after being struck by the thunder of nirvana spread over the world, as long as Zhang Tie''s parents took a walk in the streets, they would hear various gossips about Zhang Tie. By then, Zhang Yang''s white lie didn''t work anymore.


    During the period when Zhang Tie was in a coma, Zhang Tie''s parents were always worried about him. If not Zhang Yang pointed to the sky and swore that Zhang Tie was still alive and was receiving the medical treatment of some national level imperial doctors, they might have long come to Xuanyuan Hill.


    This time, after hearing that Zhang Tie had already woken up and recovered, being afraid of getting cheated by Zhang Yang again, their parents also wanted to see Zhang Tie in Xuanyuan Hill out of concern.


    Besides Zhang Tie''s parents, Aimei, Aixue, Linda, Fiona and Beverly wanted to visit Zhang Tie on behalf of Zhang Tie''s wives and concubines in Ironheart Palace of Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory along with his kids.


    After receiving the news, Elder Muyuan also came to Xuanyuan Hill to visit Zhang Tie on behalf of the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Therefore, a great batch of family members finally would like to go to Xuanyuan Hill. Before they left home, of course, they had to deal with domestic affairs properly. As a result, a few more days were required.


    Everything was in the right place, in the frontline and at home. Therefore, Zhang Tie just stayed at his manor for recuperation. By the way, he would wait for the arrival of his family members.


    These days, peach flowers were in full bloom and most beautiful in Xuanyuan Hill. Therefore, Zhang Tie expected for such a family reunion in Xuanyuan Hill in this period, more or less. Zhang Tie knew that it would be his parents'' first time to visit Xuanyuan Hill.


    After being told that Zhang Tie''s parents were coming, Bai Suxian became more passionate. She had long made people prepare the rooms and daily needs for Zhang Tie''s family members. She really expected to show off her talent on management as a princess to Zhang Tie''s parents.


    These days, Du Zhongling, Fei Zhengtao and Sun Tiancheng came to review Zhang Tie''s sickness every day. In gradual recovery, Zhang Tie became more aware of his sickness. Zhang Tie knew that the problem caused by the thunder of nirvana couldn''t be cured by average medical pills and skills.


    One day, after reviewing Zhang Tie''s sickness, Du Zhongling, Fei Zhengtao and Sun Tiancheng frowned as they were discussing about which medicine and skills to use to eliminate the effect of the thunder of nirvana in Zhang Tie''s body, Zhang Tie waved his arm over the table, displaying 3 jade cases in front of the three national level imperial doctors.


    As Zhang Tie had not recovered his spiritual energy in his mind sea, he still couldn''t use his skills as a divine dominator. The increasing spiritual energy was being constantly devoured by the energy similar to that of a black hole. Even so, the remaining spiritual energy in his mind sea was available to space-teleportation equipment, including Castle of Black Iron.


    These days, under the gaze of so many people, Zhang Tie didn''t have a chance to enter Castle of Black Iron to take a look at the human fruit of redemption; however, it was no problem for him to use space-teleportation equipment in front of the public.


    No sooner had the 3 jade cases been presented than the entire room was filled with an ethereal fragrance. With a sense of bizarre magic and flexibility, when one sniffed it, one would feel much younger...


    After presenting the jade cases, Zhang Tie watched the three national level imperial doctors with a smile...

 1433 A Heavy Gif

    Among the three people, Sun Tiancheng''s response was more exaggerating. After sniffing the air for a couple of times like a monkey, that old urchin gazed at one jade case with a dubious look as he scratched his face, "That''s strange. I''ve not smelt such a fragrance before. That''s impossible! I could identify over 100,000 herbal medicines and poisons even if they were mixed with each other. What''s inside this jade case? It''s so strange..."


    Compared to Sun Tiancheng''s straightforwardness, Du Zhongling silently touched his beautiful long beard in a reserved manner but with a confused look.


    Fei Zhengtao slightly changed his face; however, he remained silent.


    Among the 3 people, only Fei Zhengtao immediately recognized what was inside the jade case. Fei Zhengtao must have seen it in the imperial warehouse. As for the other two, although they were still national level doctors, they didn''t have a chance to contact such an item.


    Zhang Tie told them the answer directly, "Each jade case contains a cross-realm flower''s fruit. I''d like to extend my gratitude to you with them. Without your help, I might have already died. Of course, I''m clear about my sickness. Since God didn''t want me to die, he sent you to save me. The effect of the thunder of nirvana couldn''t be solved by average medical pills and skills, as you''ve already exerted your utmost efforts to cure me, I will deal with it myself. Sincerely and hopefully, you could take my gift!"


    Fruits of cross-realm flowers?


    After hearing the answer, Sun Tiancheng and Du Zhongling both were shocked. Fruits of cross-realm flowers were legendary items. Very few people across Taixia Country could have a chance to see it. It was even rarer than silver secret items. Even though the imperial palace in Xuanyuan Hill collected very few of them. Many dignitaries in the imperial palace were drooling at them.


    The gift was too precious. If one fruit of cross-realm flower was to be auctioned in Gold and Power Market of Xuanyuan Hill at this moment, the entire Xuanyuan Hill might be in chaos at once. Some women would definitely do everything they could to get this item.


    "Immortal, you have made great meritorious services at the risk of your life above the bank of Weishui River. It''s my responsibility and honor to treat immortal at the request of the crown prince. The fruit of cross-realm flower is too precious. This humble official dares not accept it!" As Fei Zhengtao had stayed in imperial palace for too long as the official of Taixia Country, he was a bit more meticulous. After realizing that Zhang Tie presented a fruit of cross-realm flower to each one of them, he hurriedly shook his head as he changed his face.


    "Hahaha, Old Fei, if you don''t want to take it, why not give it to me?" Sun Tiancheng became straightforward and witty at this moment. After bursting out into laughter, Sun Tiancheng immediately took a jade case and teleported it into his portable space-teleportation finger ring without looking inside, "This item is very useful to me. I''ve been looking for it for dozens of years. It''s out of my imagination that I could make my dream come true after coming to Xuanyuan Hill. Immortal is really forthright. Thank you so much..."


    After saying that, Sun Tiancheng looked at Zhang Tie while his little nose and eyes almost stuck together, making him pretty bizarre. He then asked Zhang Tie very seriously, "Would you think that I''m especially here for your fruit of cross-realm flower?"


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "Herbal Medicine King, you''re chivalrous, hot-blooded and righteous. You came to Xuanyuan Hill for the sake of humans in the holy war. How could I despise your temperament because you took a fruit of cross-realm flower from me? In my heart, you''re not tall, but you''re not shorter than anyone else either..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Sun Tiancheng gazed at Zhang Tie for a short while in a sophisticated look before suddenly letting out a deep sigh, "Alas, I''ve not come here in vain. Hurry, you two, don''t be hesitant any more. It''s Qianji Immortal''s sincerity. Just take it. As you both have wives, you could gift it to one of them. All the women like it. Even if you don''t gift it to your wife, you could exchange it for whateever rare medicines you want. With those rare medicines, you could make some obstacle-breaking pills, spirit-gathering pills and stars pills for yourself so that you could promote to knights easily; especially Fei Zhengtao, if your lioness knew that you didn''t bring back the fruit of cross-realm flower due to shame, you might not only kneel down on washboard..."


    After hearing Sun Tiancheng''s words, Fei Zhengtao''s face blushed at once as he said bashfully, "It wouldn''t be that worse; it wouldn''t be that worse..."


    When he was young, Fei Zhengtao was very poor; however, he had exceptional talent. Later on, he came to Xuanyuan Hill for learning, where he was favored by a lady in a major clan and got married to her. With the financial assistance of that major clan, Fei Zhengtao gradually made brilliant achievements in medical pills and medical science. However, at the same time, he also formed a habit¡ª¡ªbeing afraid of his wife. Even though Fei Zhengtao had become an influential figure in Taixia Country and was an honored guest wherever he was in the emperor''s imperial city, he had to be docile to his wife at home. A few years ago, Fei Zhengtao stealthily married a concubine outside and made her pregnant. Later on, after being discovered by his tigeress, he faced great trouble. The lioness directly had her servants take Doctor Fei''s concubine away from Xuanyuan Hill. Nobody knew where his concubine was hidden. It was said that Doctor Fei had to kneel down on washboard for half a year due to this reason. This event didn''t come to an end until that concubine gave birth to his baby.


    Even commoners had heard about Doctor Sage''s domestic affairs in Xuanyuan Hill.


    "Thanks, Immortal. Whenever you need me, just let me know. I would definitely come for you regardless of the distance..." Du Zhongling cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie solemnly. After that, he put that jade case into his portable space-teleportation equipment.


    After Du Zhongling took his jade case, Doctor Fei could only take his with a blush, "All right...thanks...thanks..."

 1434 Traveling to Peach Mountain

    After the three national level doctors received his gifts, Zhang Tie burst out into laughter, "It''s just a bit sincerity of mine. Never mind. If you need my help, just let me know!"


    The three doctors then exchanged a glance with each other before extending their solemn thanks to Zhang Tie in unison...


    Zhang Tie didn''t return to his courtyard until he saw the three national level doctors out of the gate of Qianji Manor.


    After that, Zhang Tie let out a sigh of relief.


    Zhang Tie would deal with his health problem himself in the future instead of bringing troubles to the three national level doctors. Additionally, Zhang Tie had told someone to notice the crown prince to not have people send any rarities to him anymore. Neither did he want any young maids who met the conditions mentioned by Sun Tiancheng. If such young maids touched him every day, there might be new troubles. As Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing had already been troublesome, Zhang Tie didn''t want to incur more troubles anymore.


    Zhang Tie''s main courtyard in Qianji Manor was called Zhenghua Courtyard. Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian respectively occupied the east and the west pavilion inside the courtyard. All the 36 beauties gifted by the crown prince were also living in the rooms of this courtyard. Plus some beautiful maids, Zhang Tie felt to be in a women''s kingdom.


    "Husband..." Bai Suxian had already hung herself over Zhang Tie''s arm the moment Zhang Tie returned, "Have the three doctors left?"


    "Hmm, they would not come here anymore!" Zhang Tie said as he threw a glance at Bai Suxian and coughed twice, "Erm...after a few days, dad and mom would come...erm...you''d better not keep so many women in this courtyard. Find another courtyard for those beauties gifted by the crown prince. As for those maids, their costume could be a bit...a bit more official..."


    As it was in spring, the courtyard was growing warmer. Being influenced by Bai Suxian, all the other women''s skirts became increasingly thinner except for Yan Feiqing. In belly bands and one-piece skirts, their plump breasts rose and fell. Take Bai Suxian as an instance, she only covered half of her secret parts. As she hung herself over Zhang Tie''s arm, her white rabbits pushed Zhang Tie''s arm and almost jumped out of her undergarment. Not only that, her yarn skirt was thin and transparent. Even without lotus flower eyes, Zhang Tie could still clearly see her snow-white arms and thighs.


    "Ahh? why..." Bai Suxian pouted her cherry mouth.


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh before replying, "I''m in recuperation and has just recovered a bit. I''m always docile these days. If my mom sees this, she would think that I don''t treasure my health and stay with beauties all day long. By then, I''m afraid that my ears would be pulled off by my mom..."


    "Well, I see..." Bai Suxian smiled at once. Closely after that, she threw a bizarre glance at Zhang Tie as she asked, "Don''t you feel pitiful sending 36 beautiful virgins away? It''s still a few days left before your family members come. During these days, these beauties are still waiting to serve you on the bed..."


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he pinched Bai Suxian''s pretty face, "I will make an arrangement for them!"


    "What arrangement?"


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh with feeling before saying, "Thos women are poor. They grew up in an Imperial Etiquette Academy. Their whole lives are under the control of others. In the eyes of the crown prince, they might just be an item or a piece of furniture in the manor, which could be gifted to others by hand. They''re most valuable when they''re young. When they age and have grey hair and wrinkles, most of them would be abandoned in remote rooms like sundries. Facing faint lamplight, they would die alone. How could I bully such beauties? I''m afraid of not living up to beloved ones, not to mention them. At their age, the most important is to find a reliable man to marry them and accompany them for the rest of their lives!"


    Bai Suxian was a bit moved by Zhang Tie''s explanation as she let out a sigh slightly, "They''re fortunate to meet you. Okay, now that you think in this way, I know what to do!"


    "Where''s Qing''er?"


    "She''s cultivating in the peach wood!" Bai Suxian said while showing signs of jealousy, "Why do you always mention her in front of me..."


    Zhang Tie scraped his finger on Bai Suxian''s nose as he said, "You should learn more from Qing''er on cultivation. Spend more time on it. Each knight should make progress step by step. No indolence is allowed!"


    "Do you mean that you will not love me if I don''t promote to a heavenly knight..." Bai Suxian asked in a spoiled way.


    "I wish to see my baby as beautiful as now in 800 years..."


    Bai Suxian revealed a big smile after hearing Zhang Tie''s words.


    Zhang Tie then took Bai Suxian to the peach wood. After feeling their arrival, Yan Feiqing who was cultivating in a pavilion immediately opened her eyes as she put away her fire element crystal and stood up.


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he put his arm around Yan Feiqing at once.


    "It''s said that the peach mountain outside the emperor''s imperial city is most beautiful in this season. These days, we''ve stayed too long in the manor and I''ve almost recovered and could move freely. How about taking a walk in the peach mountain?"


    Yan Feiqing''s eyes sparkled as Bai Suxian clapped her hands at once, "That''s great..."


    "What do you think, Qing''er?"


    "It''s fine!" Yan Feiqing nodded too.


    "Haha, Qing''er, when we come to peach mountain tomorrow, you have to show us the very peach tree where you beat someone. I wonder whether that peach tree is still there?" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter.


    "That tree has already been removed!"


    "How do you know that?"


    Yan Feiqing covered her mouth with a faint smile as she said, "That man said himself. Before he came for me for the second time, he had already uprooted the peach tree so as to pluck up his courage..."


    "Never mind. The pit must be still there..." Zhang Tie waved his hand and said heroically, causing the two women to laugh...


    ...


    On the second day, Zhang Tie left Qianji Manor with light luggage and few attendants, accompanied by Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing.


    With Yan Feiqing, a heavenly knight and Bai Suxian, a powerful black iron knight, on his side, Zhang Tie didn''t need any bodyguards anymore. Even though some powerhouses of Imperial Guards still disguised and followed them from far away. Zhang Tie was speechless about that.


    Looking from afar, the peach mountain was like a pink dreamland. Tens of millions of peach trees were in full bloom while the fragrance of peach blossoms reached miles away.


    With so many travelers, literati, playboys, young ladies, servants and maids of major clans, the peach mountain was pretty boisterous.


    Zhang Tie was very familiar and obsessed with such a scene. Watching this beautiful scenery, Zhang Tie felt like staying far away from the holocaust on the battlefield and relax completely.


    On the way up the mountain, there were roadside taverns and pergolas where waiters were peddling peach blossom spirit, dried peaches, peach wood swords and tokens which were used to exorcise evil spirits, peach blossom essence which women favored and dazzling delicate items.


    In such a populated place, of course, the intimate behaviors between the teenager and two beauties who were much older than him attracted the attention of so many people on the way.


    Given Zhang Tie''s tender face, everyone else thought he was still a teenager. When he walked together with Bai Suxian who was noble and beautiful as a princess and Yan Feiqing, who had a super strong qi field, it was hard for them to not be attractive. Anyone who saw them couldn''t help but glance at Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian stealthily...


    Some dissolute literati purposefully recited "Gentlemen always have a liking for beautiful women" around them by shaking their heads so as to attract the attention of Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing. Bai Suxian had been used to that; however, Yan Feiqing wanted to lose her temper for several times.


    As for a heavenly knight, even if she didn''t reveal her realm or just replied with a cold harrumph, the strong qi field of her spiritual energy could already make those literati''s faces turn pale. As a result, they all escaped away; some even threw themselves onto the ground in a very embarrassed way.


    "The dried peaches in the front pergola must taste great as so many people are queuing there. It''s cold here. You could wait here for a second. I will buy some snacks for you..." Zhang Tie ran forward after saying these words.


    Watching Zhang Tie to jostle there among commoners only to buy snacks for them, Yan Feiqing''s eye light turned as tender as water as she felt pretty moved and sweet inside...


    On this peach mountain, the first man that Yan Feiqing met betrayed her and showed his despicable and selfish look at the critical moment. The second men she met here was hung over here and beaten almost to death. By now, Yan Feiqing finally confirmed that what she experienced in the peach mountain was for watching a man who could kill a heavenly demon knight by striking it 9 times with a rod jostled among the commoners in order to buy some dried peaches for her...


    "That''s my man. I would like to do everything for him. As long as he''s happy, I don''t mind how many wives and concubines he has. However, if someone wants to grab him away from me, I will fight her to death..." Yan Feiqing told Bai Suxian using battle qi.


    After turning around, Yan Feiqing found that Bai Suxian who looked pretty happy just now was watching her very seriously with a firm will in her eyes.

 1435 Old Friends

    It took them almost 4-5 hours only to visit a small corner of the peach mountain. The peach mountain occupied a large area in Xuanyuan Hill. It was full of picturesque sceneries such as brooks, cliffs, waterfalls, stone carvings left by generations of literati and underground karst cave which was known as one of the top 10 sceneries in the peach mountain, and the like. It would take people at least 1 week to travel across the entire peach mountain.


    After taking a walk near the place where Yan Feiqing hung over and beat someone, it was already noon.


    As the taverns near the brook at the foot of the peach mountain started to be boisterous, Zhang Tie then pleasantly took Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing to a nice-looking tavern for lunch and nap.


    Those waiters were known by their sharp eyes across the country. As these people had been used to various people such as lords and dignitaries, rich businessmen and imperial households from other subcontinents, peddlers and exotic people, they had long formed great power of discrimination.


    No sooner did Zhang Tie take Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing to the gate of that tavern called Immortal Guests Pavilion, a waiter had shouted towards inside euphoniously like singing, "A ''heavenly'' private room for the three honorable guests..." After saying that, the waiter immediately nodded and bowed towards the three people with a big smile as he extended his arm to invite them, "Please, come on in, come on in. It''s this humble tavern''s great honor to have you here. We guarantee to meet your demands..."


    Zhang Tie burst out into laughter. He flipped a gold coin towards the waiter as he said, "Take the tip; lead the way..."


    The waiter nimbly caught the gold coin as his smile became a bit more genial with a more enthusiastic service.


    As it was lunchtime, there were already many people inside the tavern, making it pretty boisterous.


    There was a courtyard in the tavern, which lay a platform in the middle of the courtyard. There was an echo wall behind the platform. A decent and beautiful woman was sitting on a stool and plucking strings of a dulcimer, sending out a jubilant, euphonious and fascinating music which was as tender as spring water.


    Sitting around the courtyard, diners were eating and listening to the tender tunes of the dulcimer. They occasionally shouted "bravo" as they threw some copper coins and silver coins into the flume in front of the platform as an award.


    Because it would be inelegant for them to directly throw their awards into metal boxes, which would cause noises and might influence the performance of the woman. Therefore, they threw their awards into the plume. Being silent, being elegant! After each music, the boss of the tavern would count the awards. After taking away his share, he would leave the rest to the performer. "Water" money was legal. Across the country, tens of thousands of people were living on "water" money. Performers and audience''s awards formed a spetacular scenery in taverns across Taixia Country.


    With the guidance of the waiter, the three people came to the 2nd floor through the stairs in the winding corridor on the left of the entrance before entering an elegant private room.


    The private room was isolated by a two-ply foldable peach wood barrier. The window in the back of the private room faced the peach brook while the other faced the performance understairs.


    "What do you think about this room?"


    "Not bad!" Zhang Tie wasn''t always picky about similar things. If not with Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian, Zhang Tie even feel easy in the lobby understairs. As this private room was clean and elegant, the three people decided to stay here at the table.


    "It''s said that the mandarin fish in the peach brook of Xuanyuan Hill tastes good..." Bai Suxian told Zhang Tie with a smile.


    "This humble tavern doesn''t provide mandarin fish today. If you want it, you''d better wait for another 2 months..." The waiter immediately reminded them with a bashful smile.


    "Ahh, but why?"


    "Honorable guests, look!" The waiter then pointed at a painting and a couplet on two sides of the painting in the private room.


    ¡ª¡ªmandarin fish with slightly bigger bellies are swimming in the limpid peach brook. Some of them were opening their mouths to eat the peach blossom petals that fell onto the water; some birds were twittering on the peach twigs as they were feeding squabs in nests. These birds and fish were all vivid.


    A couplet was on two sides of the painting.


    "Please don''t eat fish in March as a sea of roe are in their bellies."


    "Please don''t catch birds in March as their fledglings are waiting for their parents in nests."


    "This is this humble tavern''s rule. So was it in most of the taverns in the peach mountain. I beg for your forgiveness, sir..." These days, except for mandarin fish in the peach brook, this humble tavern actually has many special cuisines and brand dishes. Our peach pastry and peach blossom spirit are also superb. I promise to satisfy you..."


    "Hmm, serve us your best snacks and dishes then!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile instead of making the waiter embarrassed.


    "In case of waste, how about some branded fruits in season, some tea and pastry?"


    "Fine!"


    The waiter bowed as he exited the room by moving backwards.


    After throwing another glance at that painting and the couplet, Zhang Tie suddenly told Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian with emotions, "Not until now did I know that Hua people and Taixia Country are powerful not only in their large quantity of knights, but also in culture. Due to the rise and fall of dynasties and races, subcontinents would see a new overall situation in each 200-300 years. Dynasties and major clans in subcontinents would always decline after reaching their apex; however, since the Catastrophe, Taixia Country has grown more and more powerful. Because only Hua people know how to treasure good fortune and accumulate virtue. It''s rooted in the powerful genes inherited in Hua culture. How could Hua people not be powerful with such a cultural inheritance?"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian both nodded.


    Only after a short while, the food and drinks had been served.


    They then started to enjoy the food and drinks as they chatted and appreciated the performance downstairs in a pretty relaxed and pleasant way.


    When they finished half of their meal, they heard heavy footsteps from the winding corridor outside. It seemed that a team of people were approaching them. Among the footsteps, a man shouted loudly in coarse, non-standard Hua language, "What? If we don''t consume more than 30 silver coins, we have to spend 2 silver coins as a service fee? It''s too expensive!"


    Hearing that voice, Zhang Tie became spirited at once as he stopped his chopsticks...


    Zhang Tie could never forget this voice as it belonged to Captain Kerlin, the cyclops who had left the most darkest and terrifying impression to all the horny male students in their puberty in National 7 Male Middle School in Blackhot City. None of those horny ones in National 7 Male Middle School were living in his shadow. Even Zhang Tie felt that cyclops might be the most terrifying person in this world during that period.


    If he hadn''t recovered his hearing, Zhang Tie almost doubted that he had got a hallucination.


    After realizing Zhang Tie''s abnormal movement, Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing both fixated onto him as they guessed that Zhang Tie might be familiar with that person outside the door.


    "You know that man?" Yan Feiqing asked Zhang Tie using battle qi. Zhang Tie nodded.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian became silent as they both wondered the relationship between Zhang Tie and the one outside.


    "Kerlin, it''s a private room, not a standard room. I''ve told you so many times. Why do you always mix them?" Another helpless and a bit sluggish voice sounded, which Zhang Tie was familiar with too¡ª¡ªIt''s Zerom. Compared to Captain Kerlin''s non-standard Hua language, Zerom spoke Hua language much more fluently, "Alright, as there''s no table downstairs, we will order a private room upstairs..."


    Zerom told the waiter.


    "Could we afford that? Who told me to be frugal this morning? Although it''s very cool to dine and dash, but I''m afraid that we can''t bear the outcome..." Captain Kerlin complained in Hebrew.


    "Who told you we will dine and dash? Although we are a bit frugal, we shouldn''t treat ourselves too bad..." Zerom answered in Hebrew as a group of them entered a private room beside Zhang Tie, "If we run out of money, apply for a bit more expenditure from Milton..."


    "However, that old d**chebag''s face has turned increasingly bad these days. I feel that he might think we''re liars. He might deal with us by chopping us into pieces!" Captain Kerlin muttered in Hebrew.


    "Please show us your menu?" Zerom told the waiter in Hua language, ignoring Captain Kerlin.


    After they ordered some dishes and the waiter left their private room, Zerom said in Hebrew, "He''s just suspecting us, nothing''s confirmed yet. We''re in Xuanyuan Hill, the capital of Taixia Country. Even knights would be beheaded if they killed people here. Any influential figures from any country doesn''t have the right to execute punishment here, neither does Milton. In addition, it''s not our fault. After coming here for over 3 months, he has not even got a chance to meet a diplomat of the Lesha Republic in Xuanyuan Hill, not to mention a diplomat of Taixia Country itself. What can we do..."

 1436 The Same Person

    "Even if Milton doesn''t dare to harm us, will we continue to stay here like this?" The Cyclops asked with a complaint, "I don''t think that we should come to this motherf*cking place. Do you know how much is Milton''s rent in that inn per day? It''s said that it''s cheap there. All the money that I accumulated for so many years couldn''t afford me to live here for 2 years! Those foreign people who could live in Xuanyuan Hill are all nouveau riche from those subcontinents. The number of imperial households and dignitaries here is even greater than that of prostitutes near the railway station of Blackhot City. We''re still in the periphery of Xuanyuan Hill. It''s said that more dignitaries were living in the emperor''s imperial city. Additionally, although Milton always held his head high, he dared not breath smoothly in Gold and Power Market. It seems that they could grow gold coins in the farm. They spent tens of millions of gold coins by hand. God knows how heavy those gold coins weigh if they''re piled up. You know, in Blackhot City..."


    "Stop, let''s not mention Blackhot City anymore!" Zerom interrupted the Cyclops, "If you always mention a remote city in a subcontinent, others would treat us as yokels who have not seen the world..."


    "Yokel? So what? I feel Blackhot City is good, at least better than here!" The Cyclops muttered, "Didn''t Zhang Tie live in Blackhot City? His first job was even introduced by me..."


    "That''s Zhang Tie. He''s the No. 1 human knight who killed a heavenly demon knight as a shadow knight. Do you think that we could compare with him? We can''t even imagine about his current social status. If not him, who knows Blackhot City in Waii Subcontinent?"


    "Therefore, Blackhot City is not bad, at least a powerful knight comes from Blackhot City!" The Cyclops said stubbornly.


    "If you feel that Blackhot City is better than here then that''s because you''re poor. When you''re as rich as those nouveau riche in subcontinents, you would feel here better too. Before coming here, do you know how Humans Pharmacists Union look like? Can you imagine that so many human elites and senior professionals are in one building here? Can you see so many knights? Can you see so many imperial households, dignitaries and beauties of all human races on one street? Can you imagine about so many rarities? Can you imagine how a country or throne is traded in a market?" Zerom explained with full of emotions as if he was in a dream, "I feel we''re in the paradise, the paradise of the rich. We have to be rich. This time, at least we know how real people in authorrity and dignitaries live. By comparison, those capitals in Western Continent are just barren lands of barbarians..."


    "Do you think that Zhang Tie would still treat us as his friends if he were here?" The Cyclops asked Zerom hesitantly.


    "I think you know him better than me. When in Wild Wolf Valley, you gifted him that secret book Immortal Iron-blood Fist. Sometimes, you have much greater intuition than me on judging people. At least I''ve not imagined that Zhang Tie could be a knight and reach such a high level. What do you think?"


    "I feel...I feel he shouldn''t be that merciless, at least based on his performance in the past!" The Cyclops became much more cautious speaking of Zhang Tie as he lowered his tone, "However, I failed to see through him when I saw him last time. After so many years, I''m afraid that he doesn''t feel like meeting us at all given his current social status..."


    "At least we might have a chance to meet him, right?" Zerom remained optimistic as he continued, "We didn''t come here in vain if there''s a minor chance for us to meet him. Because it''s a chance for us to improve our fate. Additionally, we could save a lot of people. Doesn''t it worth a try even if it''s a minor chance? You know that those important ones in our eyes might not be important in his eyes anymore. However, those unimportant ones in our eyes might still be very important in his heart. Additionally, we don''t want to bring him trouble or make him embarrassed; instead, we only want to cooperate with him. It''s beneficial to both parties. As long as he nod, you and me would not worry about the rest of our lives anymore. It''s nothing shameful. We''re looking for an anchor at most..."


    "Well, you''re right. But we only know that he''s receiving medical treatment in the emperor''s imperial city now. We could never access to that place. Even Milton couldn''t make it. Neither does Zhang Tie know that we''re here. Would we stay here all the way?"


    "If we couldn''t contact him in the next 2 months, we will go to his bounty territory to wait for him to come back. It would be much easier for us to meet him in his private territory!" Zerom put it straightforwardly.


    "What if Milton leaves?"


    "Let him go then!" Zerom said in a nonchalant look, "You''ve seen Fiery-Oil airplanes, Fiery-Oil buses and Fiery-Oil yachts on water these days, how do you feel about Fiery Oil?"


    "To be honest, I don''t believe that Fiery Oil is produced by straws in the farm. It only existed before the Catastrophe. It''s said that Fiery Oil could be also be used in powerful weapons in the Western Theater Operations!"


    "Therefore, as long as Zhang Tie nods, we will be able to find new partners with his license. If we''re authorized to produce Fiery Oil, are you still afraid of lacking partners? I''m afraid that people would come to us by then..."


    After hearing their dialogue, Zhang Tie knew the target of Zerom and Captain Kerlin.


    Zhang Tie''s reputation had been spread over the Western Continent along with his marvelous Fiery Oil. After hearing Zhang Tie''s news, Zerom and Captain Kerlin came to Taixia Country, aiming to contact him.


    Zhang Tie had not heard about Milton. Now that Milton was someone that Zerom and Captain Kerlin acquainted with on the Western Continent, he must be insignificant for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie exclaimed about his amazing fate by meeting these two people in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Last time Zhang Tie saw Zerom and Captain Kerlin in his first rotating chakra ceremony in Yiyang City, Huaiyuan Prefecture, Waii Subcontinent. Zerom and Captain Kerlin attended that ceremony as the backbones of Thor''s Mercenary Regiment under the affiliation of Armes, an empire of mercenaries. Since then, Zhang Tie didn''t see them anymore. Later on, he heard that the two people evacuated from Waii Subcontinent to Western Continent with the other backbones of Thor''s Mercenary Regiment.


    It had soon been 11 years since the 895th year of Black Iron Calendar when Zhang Tie saw them last time. Plus the 60 years that he stayed in the tower of time, it had been 71 years since Zhang Tie saw them last time.


    Zhang Tie wasn''t the only one who had heard the dialogue between Zerom and Captain Kerlin, even Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing had heard it. The two women had almost guessed the relationship between Zhang Tie and the two strangers.


    Zhang Tie made a hand gesture to the two women before he picked himself up and left his private room. After coming to the outside of the folding screen of the private room of Zerom and Captain Kerlin, Zhang Tie let out a sigh of relief slightly before entering it calmly.


    "Captain Kerlin, Mr. Zerom, long time no see..." Zhang Tie watched the two people sitting in front of a table with a smile the moment he entered the room.


    After hearing the familiar voice, the two people turned around at the same time as if they saw a ghost.


    It had been 11 years since they met last time. Captain Kerlin''s and Zerom''s looks had changed to a certain degree. However, Zhang Tie''s face remained unchanged.


    In the same black eyeshade, Captain Kerlin looked like a vicious pirate with some more wrinkles on his face. Zerom had some more grey hair. Both of them looked a bit elder and more experienced. It seemed that they didn''t live smoothly on the Western Continent over these years in troubled times...


    Zerom and Captain Kerlin almost sprung up at the same time. Due to a big belly, Captain Kerlin almost knocked over the table...


    "You...you...you..." Captain Kerlin stammered as he pointed at Zhang Tie.


    Not just Captain Kerlin, even Zerom who used to be able and crafty didn''t believe in Zhang Tie''s sudden appearance.


    "What''s the color of Shrek''s hair..." Zerom asked a strange question immediately.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "Of course, it''s brown. Oh, how are Jordan and Professor Simon?"


    Zhang Tie acquainted with Jordan and Professor Simon in Heavens Cold City in Waii Subcontinent. They were also backbones of Thor''s Mercenary Regiment. As Zhang Tie violated the rule by leading Zerom, Captain Kerlin, Jordan and Professor Simon to Heavens Cold City for first-hand raw materials of demonized puppets, he was punished by the clan elder.


    "This is real!" Zerom became thrilled at once after confirming Zhang Tie''s identity. He wanted to embrace Zhang Tie; however, he slightly hesitated.


    Noticing that the two people were a bit hesitant, Zhang Tie strode forward and gave a bearhug to the two people as he slapped their backs forcefully, saying, "It''s so nice that you''re alive; it''s so nice that you''re alive..."


    When he embraced them, Zhang Tie had an indescribable complex feeling, watching the familiar aging faces.


    Zhang Tie would never forget that Zerom and Captain Kerlin had saved him in Wild Wolf Valley.


    "Ahh, how come sand gets in my eyes..."


    The Cyclops'' only eye turned wet in Zhang Tie''s passionate arms. After Zhang Tie separated from him, Captain Kerlin hurriedly wiped off his tears as he made an excuse bashfully.


    Zerom''s eyes turned a bit red. With such a warm embrace, Zerom knew that Zhang Tie was still the same one in Heavens Cold City...


    ...

 1437 Fates

    "Soon after the Thor''s Mercenary Regiment arrive at Western Continent, it had disbanded. If an organization like mercenary regiment wants to survive in troubled times, it has to establish a wide network of relationships, have a powerful reliance or at least a knight on its back. Pitifully, Thor''s Mercenary Regiment didn''t meet either of the three conditions. Additionally, it was pushed aside by the other mercenary regiments. Of course, we could barely develop. After one year''s struggle, Thor''s Mercenary Regiment received a task which was schemed by someone. Our director was heavily injured in the execution of this task. Additionally, we lost 1/4 of middle- and high-level backbones. From then on, Thor''s Mercenary Regiment had been declining. Later on, it was disbanded and we separated from each other..."


    As they had not seen each other for a long time, of course, they would have a drink. After having cups of 10-year peach blossom spirit, Zerom and Captain Kerlin both blushed as they started to pour out their experience to Zhang Tie over these years.


    In troubled times, very few people could really live well in a foreign country. What Zerom and Captain Kerlin experienced on the Western Continent was the epitome of many middle- and low-level fighters.


    Watching the wrinkled faces of the two people, Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside as he bottomed up his spirit and said, "Where did you go after that?"


    "After leaving Thor''s Mercenary Regiment, Kerlin and I also attempted to join other mercenary regiments in 2 years. However, we didn''t feel having a good prospect of joining them. Facing the threat of demons, those mercenary regiments on the Western Continent were all cheap pieces in the hands of countries. There''re many shady deals in this line. It was nothing different than being the cheapest cannon fodders like those youngsters who expected to prove their own values out of their passion using sabers and swords on the battlefield for us to join those powerful mercenary regiments. Even our compensations would be saved..."


    Hearing Zerom''s words, Captain Kerlin took his glass and bottomed up his spirit with a bit gloomy look. After that, he forcefully put the glass onto the table, causing a loud sound, "All those b*stards should be torn to shreds. They''re even more inhumane than demons..."


    Zerom forced a bitter smile as he threw a glance at Captain Kerlin, "We met a female fighter in that mercenary regiment. Like us, she was also treated as cannon fodder. Additionally, as a female, she would even encounter some special troubles in the male-dominated mercenary regiment. If not help her, she might even face a more miserable situation than males. Later on, Kerlin killed a middle-level backbone of that mercenary regiment out of fury for the sake of that female fighter. As a result, we were hunted by that mercenary regiment and could only leave out of there. And that female knight fell in love with Kerlin in this process. Additionally, they had the father of a church hold a wedding ceremony for them in a rural area of Shardline Dukedom by force at the cost of 2 silver coins. That is to say, Captain Kerlin has already got a family..."


    Zhang Tie really felt happy for the Cyclops after knowing that he met his beloved one in an escape. At this moment, Captain Kerlin blushed with a happy look, "You''ve got a family too." Captain Kerlin said as he turned around and unveiled Zerom''s secret, "You could never guess this guy''s wife."


    "Who is she?"


    "You know her!" Captain Kerlin revealed a smile.


    "I know her?" Zhang Tie became amazed as he really couldn''t imagine whom he got acquainted with would marry Zerom.


    "It''s Miss Killy!" Captain Kerlin unveiled the answer.


    "Miss Killy?" This name sounded familiar. No sooner did Captain Kerlin mention it than Zhang Tie recalled a beautiful figure who drove away Glaze on the square of Wild Wolf Castle. Of course, at that time, that female teacher who always gazed all the male horny ones in an alert way also disliked Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie felt a bit abrupt hearing Mr. Zerom got married to Miss Killy. However, after considering it for a short while, Zhang Tie admitted that Zerom and Miss Killy really had pretty harmonious qi fields.


    "What? How did you contact Miss Killy on the Western Continent?" Zhang Tie watched Zerom with a curious look as he added, "I''ve not imagined that Mr. Zerom could have such a great secret, hahaha..."


    "Ahem, ahem, erm, before leaving Blackhot City, I had been contacting Killy. She had an uncle doing business in Nordinham Commercial Federation on the Western Continent. Killy said she would go to find her uncle after leaving Blackhot City. After crossing a small part of the Western Continent, Kerlin, Angelina and I finally came to Nordinham Commercial Federation after escaping from the chase of that mercenary regiment. As a scaled organization on the Western Continent, Nordinham Commercial Federation was coveted by some forces. In order to divide the sphere of influence of Nordinham Commercial Federation, those forces bribed many mercenary regiments to fight the army of Nordinham Commercial Federation. After tiding over those crises, Nordinham Commercial Federation has forbidden to carry out any campaign with any mercenary regiment in its territory. After coming to Nordinham Commercial Federation, we settled down there. I also started to contact Killy. As to what happened later, you already know..." Zerom shrugged...


    "Milton is the deputy president of Nordinham Commercial Federation. After coming to Nordinham Commercial Federation, both Kerlin and I wanted to settle down as we didn''t want to have any relationship with any mercenary regiment anymore. In the beginning, we found a job in a business group under the affiliation of Nordinham Commercial Federation and did a good job. We could barely see big figures like Milton. Last year, Milton knew that Kerlin and I came from Blackhot City by accident and got acquainted with you; therefore, he wanted to establish a relationship with you using us. Previously, we didn''t know about your situation in Taixia Country. It was Milton who told us about your situation!" Zerom forced a bitter smile as he continued, "I also felt that this was a good chance for us to improve our fate. Therefore, we came to Taixia Country with Milton by an airboat of Golden Roc Bank..."

 1438 Making an Arrangemen

    Zerom and Captain Kerlin had been in Xuanyuan Hill for almost 3 months. During this period, although they both knew that Zhang Tie was receiving medical treatment in Xuanyuan Hill, they couldn''t have a chance to meet Zhang Tie, even those who were familiar with Zhang Tie.


    Milton was the deputy president of Nordinham Commercial Federation, which had a good relationship with Rhesa Republic on the Western Continent. Precisely, Rhesa Republic provided protection to Nordinham Commercial Federation to a certain degree. As one of the most powerful countries on the Western Continent, Rhesa Republic could almost match Sacred Light Empire in overall strength. Its overall strength was far greater than that of Nordinham Commercial Federation; they were not on the same scale at all.


    Taixia Country had established an official diplomatic relationship with Rhesa Republic. They had dispatched embassadors mutually. By comparison, because Nordinham Commercial Federation had just risen for dozens of years, such as small force on the Western Continent had not established an official diplomatic relationship with Taixia Country. Actually, it only had a small office in Xuanyuan Hill.


    After realizing that Zerom and Captain Kerlin couldn''t have a chance to meet Zhang Tie, Milton even dreamed about having Rhesa Republic''s diplomat in Xuanyuan Hill to facilitate the relation so that Zerom and Captain Kerlin could enter emperor''s imperial city to meet Zhang Tie.


    However, such a request was absolutely a big joke for the Rhesa Republic''s diplomat in Xuanyuan Hill.


    The Rhesa Republic''s diplomat in Xuanyuan Hill was aware of Zhang Tie''s influence and social status in Taixia Country. How would he dare to guarantee two strange guys to enter the emperor''s imperial city without doing any harm to Zhang Tie, who was receiving medical treatment? If an emergency occurred, all the Rhesa Republic''s diplomats in Xuanyuan Hill would be sentenced to death; even Rhesa Republic as a whole couldn''t bear the fury of Taixia Country. Even the speaker of Rhesa Republic posed the request, their diplomats in Xuanyuan Hill should also confirm it with their domestic authorities before making a decision, not to mention the deputy president of Nordinham Commercial Federation.


    Therefore, Milton couldn''t have a chance to meet Rhesa Republic''s diplomats even though he had tried so many times that he even became emaciated.


    After learning the situation from Zerom and Captain Kerlin, Zhang Tie became hesitant for a few seconds before asking, "How''s Milton Clan''s power in Nordinham Commercial Federation?"


    "Milton Clan have one city, some towns and some small mines in Nordinham Commercial Federation. Additionally, they control over 7 million people and have a federal army of about 50,000 people. According to the rankings on wealth issued by Nordinham Commercial Federation, Milton Clan had about 12 million gold coins last year. In addition, they employed a clan knight..." Zerom answered.


    Stroking his jaw, Zhang Tie continued, "How''s the power of Nordinham Commercial Federation?"


    "Nordinham Commercial Federation has totally 87 members of parliament, which represent 87 cities. Anyone who has one private city is qualified to join Nordinham Commercial Federation and become a member of the parliament of the federation. The clan of Angor the speaker has an experienced black iron knight and 6 seats of members of parliament in Nordinham Commercial Federation. They''re the most powerful one in the federation. There''re 5 deputy speakers. Milton Clan has one, who ranks 3rd among the 5 deputy speakers. This man is ambitious, insightful and adventurous..."


    "They could employ one knight with one city?" Zhang Tie became amazed, "I remember that all the clans which could employ a knight in Waii Subcontinent are unusual. Many knights were No. 1 knights of countries. Andaman Federation had 17 cities; however, they couldn''t afford a knight!"


    Zerom forced a bitter smile, "Erm, there are a bit more knights on the Western Continent. Cities and countries are a bit more prosperous over there, which could not be matched by Waii Subcontinent. Additionally, these knights employed by small clans don''t take too many compensations. Accordingly, they have greater freedom and discretion. Generally, they would not interfere with the common disputes of these clans. Conversely, these clans are a tool of these knights. Actually, employed knights could have these clans do something for them for the sake of convenience. Each takes what they need. There''re also many No. 1 knights on Western Continent. Being similar to those in Waii Subcontinent, their compensation are in line with their efforts!"


    After hearing Zerom''s explanation, Zhang Tie had given up meeting Milton. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, this deputy speaker was absolutely a trivial role who had not seen the world. What to negotiate with such a person? Based on the power of Milton Clan, they could at most run a Fiery-Oil Production Base with an annual output of 500,000 tons. It was unnecessary for Zhang Tie to negotiate with him on it.


    Like how Zerom had concluded, although Milton was ambitious, insightful and adventurous, such a kind of person could be found almost everywhere across the Western Continent. This guy was just lucky enough to meet Zerom and Captain Kerlin and wanted the two people to introduce him to Zhang Tie for profit. Therefore, they came to Xuanyuan Hill. Such a person was useful; however, it was not necessary to expect too much from him or respect him too much.


    With growing experience and ability, Zhang Tie''s horizon was far greater than that a few years ago. Even the halos priest of Sacred Light Empire had to kneel down in front of him and become his puppet and piece, not to mention a deputy speaker of a small organization on the Western Continent. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the overall strength of the Milton Clan was so weak that it could even be ignored.


    After looking at Zerom and Captain Kerlin, Zhang Tie became hesitant for a few seconds before saying, "Do you want to settle down in Taixia Country. If you want, I could make an arrangement for you. You could settle down wherever you want, even in Xuanyuan Hill, not to mention Guizhou Province and my private territory. If you want, I could have Golden Roc Bank bring your wives and family members here by airboat today!"


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Zerom and Captain Kerlin shook their heads at the same time.


    "Although Taixia Country is great, I prefer Western Continent. Like how you Hua people like Hua people-populated places, I would also feel comfortable on the Western Continent. Additionally, we could have more chances on the Western Continent. What could we do in Taixia Country?"


    Zerom said as Captain Kerlin kept nodding forcefully on one side.


    "In many cases, I couldn''t even understand people''s words here. I''m afraid that I couldn''t even find a job in Taixia Country!" the Cyclops let out a sigh as he continued, "There''s not even a mercenary regiment here. Even if I want to be a watchdog for rich people, very few people would employ me. Even though I don''t have to worry about my daily needs, I don''t want to live out my life in retirement so fast. I''m already LV 10; I might make a few more progress in the future..."


    Zerom and Kerlin were both enterprising and didn''t feel like being average for the rest of their lives. Although Taixia Country was great, they still felt that it would be a bit easier to develop a great undertaking on the Western Continent.


    "Hmm, I see..." Zhang Tie considered it for a few seconds before taking out a remote-sensing finger ring and ten gold checks from his space-teleportation finger ring. Each gold check was worth 10,000 gold coins. Closely after that, he gave them to Zerom and Kerlin as he said, "Take them. You could contact me whenever you want. You''d better live in Xuanyuan Hill for the time being. I will make arrangements for you. Don''t worry about that..."


    Many people might not be able to make a gold check worth 10,000 gold coins for their whole lives. Even Zerom and Kerlin barely saw gold checks of such a big denomination. At the sight of those gold checks, they both felt thirsty. As for the remote-sensing finger ring, it must be a senior communications device matched for knights. Zerom and Kerlin had not seen such a delicate device before at all. What they had seen were as large as alarm clocks and hourglasses.


    "Is this a remote-sensing communications device?" Zerom took that remote-sensing communications mithril finger ring and fondled with it seriously.


    "Yes, its usage is as same as that of common remote-sensing communications device. Its communication code is the universal code that we used in Wild Wolf Valley!"


    After gazing at those gold checks for a few seconds, Captain Kerlin finally moved his eye away from them as he stammered, "It''s...too much, more than we could spend..."


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he blinked his eyes, "In Xuanyuan Hill, it''s not too much. Just take it. I promise that you will not feel it''s too much soon!"


    After having enough drink and talk, Zhang Tie had already made a decision inside. Therefore, he told the neighboring room, "Qing''er, Suxian, come over here to see my two teachers. They saved my life in Wild Wolf Valley!"


    Sitting in the neighborhood, of course, the two female knights could hear Zhang Tie''s words. Actually, all the contents of their dialogue had entered their ears.


    "Ahh, you''ve got friends here?" Zerom and Kerlin uttered with an amazed look in unison.


    "We''re traveling to the peach mountain today. Soon after we arrived here, I''ve heard Captain Kerlin''s voice..." Zhang Tie gave an explanation.


    Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing had already entered the room when Zhang Tie explained it.


    At the sight of the looks and qi fields of Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing, Zerom and Kerlin were shocked so much that they hurriedly sprung up as they held their breath.


    "This is Mr. Zerom whom I''ve talked to you about. This is Captain Kerlin, the most powerful man in the hearts of all the male students in No. 7 National Male Middle School..." Zhang Tie introduced them, "This is Bai Suxian, the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, a black iron knight; this is Yan Feiqing, the owner of Fantasy Women Palace, Cloud Dream Mountain, Wuzhou Province, a heavenly knight. They''re both my wives..."


    Zerom and Kerlin were both dumbfounded by the identities of Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing as they didn''t know what to say. One was the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion; the other was a heavenly knight. They were absolutely legendary existences in the hearts of Zerom and Kerlin.


    "Thanks for saving my husband!" Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing exchanged a glance with each other before lowering their bodies and tilting to one side elegantly.


    "Ahh, pleasure, pleasure, Zhang Tie is favored by the god. He was not destined to die!" Zerom hurriedly answered fluently as Captain Kerlin couldn''t utter a word due to shock.


    Given Zhang Tie''s introduction, Zerom realized that the two women were both very dignified. If not meet Zhang Tie here, they were not even qualified to run an errand for Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing, not to mention receiving their thanks.


    After having Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing greet Zeron and Kerlin, Zhang Tie stayed in the private room for a few more minutes. After saying some words, he left the tavern with Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian.


    Not until the three left for a few minutes did Zerom and Kerlin recover their composure as they exchanged a glance with each other.


    The Cyclops swallowed his saliva forcefully before saying, "The moment the two women entered, I''ve felt pretty intense and couldn''t run my battle qi smoothly. I even felt breathless and head buzzing. One of them is a princess; the other is a heavenly knight. Am I right?"


    "Yes, you''re. Zhang Tie indeed said so!"


    The Cyclops scratched his head as he asked, "What does a princess in Taixia Country mean?"


    "Is Waii Subcontinent large?" Zerom asked.


    "Yes!" The Cyclops nodded.


    "I''m afraid that that princess'' private territory is 5-6 times that of Waii Subcontinent. Her father is a lord. I''m afraid that her family has tens of hundreds of knights and hundreds of millions of soldiers!"


    "Is she Zhang Tie''s wife?"


    "Yes..." Zerom''s voice turned ethereal like a somniloquy, "The other woman is a heavenly knight. Given battle strength and influence, that woman might even match that princess'' father. For the sake of your comprehension, that woman might be like a pope of Sacred Light Empire or a sage of Rhesa Republic who''s responsible for the national security!"


    "Am I...dreaming..." The Cyclops pinched himself forcefully.


    "No, you''re not dreaming. Do you remember what I told you in Wild Wolf Valley?¡ª¡ªI feel that Zhang Tie might be a person out of our imagination in the future like today..." Zerom fondled with the remote-sensing communications finger ring meticulously as he gave the gold checks to the Cyclops and said, "Take them. It might be safer if you take them. At least I don''t have to worry about being robbed in Xuanyuan Hill..."


    "I also remember that you said that Zhang Tie would never be an average person based on his talent on flirting with girls!" the Cyclops watched Zerom with a bit of admiration.


    "Yes, we two won''t be average either from then on..." Zerom said as he meticulously put on the finger ring before observing it carefully, revealing a bizarre smile.


    "Ahh, how? 100,000 gold coins are unable to make us famous!" Captain Kerlin asked as he kept scratching his head with a dubious look.


    After hearing Kerlin''s words, Zerom rolled his eyes on him at once. He could only raise the remote-sensing finger ring in front of Kerlin along with his face as he said carefully, "Look at this using your remaining eye carefully."


    "It''s just a senior remote-sensing finger ring, why?"


    Zerom patted his own forehead as if he was passing out. He then rolled his eyes on Kerlin again as he said, "Alright, listen, if I go to Western Continent and tell others that I could contact Zhang Tie directly and help people pass one message to him at the price of 100,000 gold coins, people who need our help would queue up all the way from here to the hotel. Do you believe that we would accumulate more wealth and acquire higher social position than Milton Clan in one month by doing nothing else but passing messages for others..."


    "Ahh, how could we make so much money only by passing messages using a finger ring?" Captain Kerlin watched Zerom with a dubious look¡ª¡ªI didn''t read too many books. Don''t cheat me.


    Zerom became speechless. He could only let out a sigh again as he said, "Alright, it might be a bit difficult for you to understand it. I will deal with the part which requires intelligence. I could only tell you that we don''t need to depend on Milton''s favor anymore. On the contrary, Milton should depend on our favor. Let''s go back to the hotel. I will let you feel being in the limelight today..."


    After saying that, Zerom walked outside the room.


    "Hua language is too difficult to learn. How could the same meaning be expressed in so many ways? What''s "in the limelight"? Shouldn''t it be showing our face in the public on the Western Continent?" The Cyclops muttered as he walked outside.


    Hearing Kerlin''s words, Zerom almost fell down.


    Zerom turned around as he watched the Cyclops helplessly, "Kerlin, you could describe those women who were in the most time-honored professions near the railway station of Blackhot City as showing their face in the public but not us..."


    "Really? But I feel it''s good. When I saw Zhang Tie''s two wives, I even wanted to speak highly of their "tiger backs and bear waists". They really have good figures and great power. However, I didn''t say it due to intension..." Captain Kerlin said with a pitiful look.


    Zerom oozed sweat as he sighed, "Alright, you''d better not speak Hua language when I''m with you; especially Hua idioms. You''re really not suitable to live in Taixia Country. I''m afraid that you would be beaten to death sooner or later!"


    ...

 1439 Zhang Ties Plan

    After a few hours of journey in the peach mountain and a good talk with Zerom and Kerlin at lunch, it was already late than 2 pm. Zhang Tie, Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian then left the tavern and returned to Qianji Manor.


    Both Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing were clear about Zhang Tie''s temperament. When Zhang Tie chose to meet Zerom and Kerlin, the two women had already known that Zhang Tie would never let them come here in vain.


    Because Zhang Tie was an affectionate person.


    The vehicle was a black, low-key, long Fairy-Dragon Limo exclusive to Qianji Manor with a driving license that could access to the emperor''s imperial city. The backspace was isolated from the cab of the vehicle. There was a set of circular sofas and a mini-bar in the backspace. The driver was a powerhouse from Imperial Guards. After coming to the peach mountain, the driver parked it in the parking lot and waited for Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing to come back.


    This vehicle returned to Qianji Manor, followed by two vehicles.


    "Are you thinking about arranging your two teachers?" Sitting at the back of the vehicle, Bai Suxian made a glass of spirit for Zhang Tie and gave it to him before asking, "I find that they''re also working hard. Why not give them some money or directly buy a city for them on the Western Continent? As long as the relationship between you and them is exposed to the public, I think nobody dares find them trouble on the Western Continent..."


    After taking the glass, Zhang Tie had a sip. In a split second, a sour and sweet feeling spread over his body; his tipsy feeling flew away at once. The liquor in this mini-bar was also top-notch. Smacking his lip, Zhang Tie shook his head and said, "Are emperors and lords born to be dignified? Many commoners don''t have a chance to display their ability instead of having no ability. Given cultivation talent, Captain Kerlin could match many senior brothers below knights that I met in the Hidden Dragon Island of Huaiyuan Palace. Over these years, Captain Kerlin has already promoted to LV 10. He could go further in cultivation. Zerom is very wise. His insight and judgment are far greater than commoners. If there''s a chance, the two people would definitely make a great achievement. Therefore, I don''t only intend to give them some money. Actually, I prepare to let Zerom become the speaker of Nordinham Commercial Federation!"


    "Ahh, won''t it overreach him?" Yan Feiqing asked as she slightly frowned, "Sometimes, haste makes waste. Additionally, one''s ability couldn''t be trained in one day!"


    "I see. I won''t push him. It''s just an objective. He could start by becoming a member of the parliament. I think that Zerom should be able to be a member of the parliament of Nordinham Commercial Federation now. When there''s an opportunity, he could compete for deputy speaker and speaker step by step. As for Kerlin, actually, he''s most suitable to stay in troops as an officer. He''s forthright and is born to be a soldier. If he could join Fiery-Dragon Corps, he might become a corps leader in the future. On the Western Continent, he could coordinate with Zerom to rule his subordinate troops!"


    "But the two people should at least have a private city so that Zerom could become a member of the parliament of Nordinham Commercial Federation. Are you ready to buy a city for them on the Western Continent?"


    Zhang Tie shook his head as he said, "When the two people talked about Rhesa Republic, I recalled that I actually have a private territory on the Western Continent. If everything goes well, I don''t need to buy any city for them anymore!"


    "Ahh, you''ve got a private territory on the Western Continent?" Bai Suxian''s interest was aroused at once as she continued, "I''ve not heard of it! When did you get it?"


    Not only Bai Suxian, but even Yan Feiqing''s eyes also shone. As for Yan Feiqing, she was more interested in the source and purpose of Zhang Tie''s "case-dough".


    Zhang Tie smiled as a map that Sacred Light Empire gifted him for mediating the event of its expedition army against Ice and Snow Wilderness appeared in Zhang Tie''s hand. Zhang Tie showed it to Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian.


    "After the expedition fleet that Sacred Light Empire assigned to attack Ice and Snow Wilderness was exterminated, Sacred Light Empire assigned an envoy to negotiate peace with me. That special envoy was called Astor, a chief priest and a clerk of the pope of Sacred Light Empire. According to the pope of Sacred Light Empire, they exchanged for my forgiveness with Fadiland, an enclave on the southwest corner of the Western Continent. I agreed. Therefore, jurisprudentially, I''m already the owner of the autonomous region of Fadiland on the Western Continent!"


    "Ah, not bad. Fadiland covers about 6 million square miles although being smaller in size. Additionally, it has a part of the coastline and some islands in the sea in the southern border. It might not lack resources. This place is adjacent to a barbarian federation in the northeast and adjoins Rhesa Republic in the northwest. Now that Sacred Light Empire spent efforts in getting this region, it seems that this region is not too poor..." Bai Suxian analyzed as she watched the map.


    "Fadiland Province''s predecessor is Fadiland Empire. After joining the Sacred Light Empire, this region is not bad as a whole besides being a bit chaotic. Additionally, look..." Zhang Tie pointed at a region linking the Barbarian Federation and Rhesa Republic in the north of Fadiland Province which was marked as Nordinham Commercial Federation on the Western Continent. The entire territory of Nordinham Commercial Federation covered about 1,300 square miles. Zhang Tie drew a circle on a place as he said, "As long as I build a city here and buy this region, my private territory would adjoin Nordinham Commercial Federation..."


    "This place might link barbarian federation and Rhesa Republic. It covers about 600,000 square miles. Barbarian Federation and Rhesa Republic are both powerful forces that could match the Sacred Light Empire on the Western Continent. God of barbarians and National Saint of Rhesa Republic were both heavenly knights. It might not be easy for you to get land from them!"


    Zhang Tie replied with a confident smile, "No need to fight them. As long as the condition is proper, I believe that everything could be exchanged. Now that Sacred Light Empire could cut off Fadiland Empire for me, it''s not strange for Barbarian Federation and Rhesa Republic to cut off some land for me too!"


    ...

 1440 An Invitation Card for National Banque

    Zhang Tie was not ambitious about occupying the Western Continent. Now that he had already got Fadiland Province on the Western Continent, he should make some preparation for the future. Likewise, a farmer collected some firewood for stockpile; it didn''t mean that he wanted to occupy the entire mountain.


    As Zhang Tie was pondering the map of Fadiland Province, Barbarian Federation, Rhesa Republic and Nordinham Commercial Federation and the future of Zerom and Kerlin, his vehicle had already entered emperor''s imperial city and returned to Qianji Manor.


    After returning to Qianji Manor, Zhang Tie didn''t imagine that an imperial official had been waiting for him.


    After having Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing return to their courtyard, Zhang Tie received that imperial official in a parlor of Qianji Manor.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, that imperial official immediately gave an invitation card which was made of violet gold to Zhang Tie.


    After taking it and skimming over it, Zhang Tie''s face turned strange, "The crown prince is about to hold an evening reception in the imperial palace?"


    "Yes!" That imperial official behaved very respectfully; instead of looking straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes, he watched the part below Zhang Tie''s knees, "Since demons invaded Taixia Country, crown prince had been busy with national affairs, and no more banquet was held anymore in the imperial palace. After Taixia Country made a triumph in the Western Theater of Operations and the general woke up, the crown prince is thrilled as he prepares to hold an evening dinner for celebration and displaying the power of Taixia Country to the foreign forces!"


    A whim occurred to Zhang Tie as he asked, "Will any other foreign ambassadors attend this banquet?"


    "Yes, it''s a national banquet. Besides those prominent chancellors of Xuanyuan Hill, many foreign ambassadors and imperial households from other continents and subcontinents would attend it!"


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at the date and found it would be held after 10 days. Family members were also allowed to attend it. Only after being hesitant for a second, Zhang Tie had told the imperial official, "Please notice the crown prince that I will attend it on time!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s promise, the imperial official immediately felt a sense of relief as he deeply bowed towards Zhang Tie and said, "If the general doesn''t have other order, this humble official would return to notice the crown prince!"


    After Zhang Tie nodded, the imperial official left the parlor. After arriving at the gate, he bowed towards Zhang Tie again before leaving. After seeing off that imperial official, Zhang Tie sat in his room for a short while. After that, he fetched a steward and gave a name card to him, having him pay a visit to Rhesa Republic''s Embassy in Xuanyuan Hill. After leaving some words to the steward, Zhang Tie stroked his face as he returned to his courtyard with that invitation card.


    In the courtyard, Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian took the invitation card and skimmed over it. Yan Feiqing then let out a sigh, "I remember that Emperor Xuanyuan issued so many orders to invite Immortal Sea King to Xuanyuan Hill, even by assigning many fleets to look for him in overseas. Your military exploits on the battlefield could even match that of Immortal Sea King. It''s His Majesty''s great virtue and honor to invite you to Xuanyuan Hill by holding an evening dinner. If you could attend it, the crown prince''s prestige among officials and the people would definitely rise rapidly. It''s not enough for him to gift you 10 Purple Manor..."


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "I see, but he''s too hospitable to be declined. In addition, it''s just a banquet, not a big deal. Taixia Country is in a holy war. Emperor Xuanyuan is still missing. Such a big country should have a ruler in the crisis. Crown prince is virtuous. The greater reputation and prestige he had, the stabler the overall situation facing Taixia Country would be. In this case, I prefer to show my face in the public for the crown prince. No need to think too much about it!"


    After Zhang Tie expressed his attitude, Yan Feiqing became silent. After staying with Zhang Tie for so long, Yan Feiqing found that Zhang Tie still kept his innocence.


    "Alas!" Bai Suxian sprung up as if she thought up something, scaring Zhang Tie a lot.


    "What''s wrong?" Zhang Tie asked out of concern.


    "If I attend this banquet, I have to customize a new set of costume. How should I dress on this occasion? And, the clothes have to be matched with proper jewelry. No, I will have to prepare for it right now..." Bai Suxian shouted as she ran away out of excitement.


    Zhang Tie sighed inside, ''How could two women have such a great difference...''


    "Do you remember Hongyi?" Yan Feiqing suddenly asked Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie revealed an ''embarrassed'' smile towards Yan Feiqing whose emotion was uncertain as he replied, "Erm, of course..."


    "How do you prepare to arrange her?"


    "Have you told her to return to Fantasy Women Palace?"


    In Taixia Country, on one occasion, knights who had received the order to fight demons could be set free in advance¡ª¡ªexchange demon knights'' heads for freedom. Such regulation was very flexible. Taixia Country made this rule for some sects and major clans which had powerful knights. In some occasions, not each people would like to be restrained to the army or would like to fight in large formations. Therefore, as long as any human knight of these sects and major clans could bring back the heads of two demon knights on their own level as his or her military exploit, they would be set free.


    When Yan Feiqing went to the frontline of Weishui River for the second time, she saved Zhang Tie and escorted him back to Xuanyuan Hill for medical treatment. At the same time, she dropped off some demon knights'' heads so that Guo Hongyi could be set free in advance.


    Zhang Tie heard about it from others after waking up.


    "Hongyi couldn''t stay in Fantasy Women Palace for the rest of her life..." Yan Feiqing threw a glance at Zhang Tie with a bit blush as she added, "If not being god-damn destined to meet you, how could Hongyi and I be in such an embarrassing relationship?"


    Zhang Tie refuted in a serious look, "In Taixia Country, master and apprentice are not forbidden to fall in love with the same man. It''s not the god-damn destiny, but real love. Never care about others'' comments. No matter what, I would not lose hair. After I return to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory in a few days, you''d better call her back. You need a good talk, so does she and I. Ahem, ahem...you may be master and apprentice in Fantasy Women Palace, but you could also be sisters in front of me..."


    "Alas, you''re really the destined god-damn star in our hearts!" Yan Feiqing let out a sigh gloomily.

 1441 Arrival of Zhang Ties Family Members

    3 days later, an airport in the periphery of Xuanyuan Hill.


    It was a fine day with blue sky, white clouds and breeze. Zhang Tie came to the airport a few hours earlier out of excitement.


    The airport of Xuanyuan Hill was almost the only airport exclusive for airboats.


    Whenever Zhang Tie saw an airboat approaching from the north, he would watch it through the glass window of the lounge. Watching Zhang Tie''s anxious look, Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing couldn''t help but laugh. Finally, at the sight of the familiar Iron-Dragon airboat approaching from the north and parking on the apron, Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to rush out of the lounge...


    After the airboat parked, a hatch door on one side slowly opened. The first one who rushed out of there was Zhang Chengba, the second son of Zhang Tie and Beverly, followed by a group of children: Zhang Chengxiao, Zhang Chengbing, Zhang Shini, Zhang Shixia, Alexander, Andre, Matvey, Anatoli, Victor, Igor, Oleg, Nigolas and Lev.


    Except for Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei, all the other 14 children of Zhang Tie had arrived.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, those children immediately charged at Zhang Tie as they shouted "Papa" like tiger cubs and little birds.


    "Papa!"


    "Papa!"


    "Papa!"


    Squatting on the ground, Zhang Tie opened his arms with a big smile before putting his arms around Zhang Chengba. After kissing Zhang Chengba''s face, Zhang Tie had been surrounded by his kids. Hearing their shouts, Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he kissed their faces forcefully one after another.


    These kids'' ages ranged from 6 to 7. Due to inheritance, these kids were stronger than their peers.


    Since he left Youzhou Province at the order of Xuanyuan Command on the 904th year of Black Iron Calendar, Zhang Tie had not seen these kids for almost 2 years. As for Zhang Tie, he had actually not seen these kids for 62 years. Therefore, both Zhang Tie and these kids were very thrilled to see each other.


    "Papa, I missed you..." Zhang Chengshi put her arms around Zhang Tie''s arm as she dropped off her tears.


    Watching her daughter''s tears, Zhang Tie was so moved that he hurriedly helped her wipe off her tears as he said kindly, "Shini, don''t cry. Papa missed you too..."


    "Papa, it''s said that you''re injured. Are you still in pain?" Zhang Shixia drew Zhang Tie''s hand as she blinked her sparkling eyes and said, "Is that on your hand? Let me blow it off for you. When I fell off and broke my hand, mom said that it would not ache when you blow it..." After the little girl finished her words, she started to make her mouth bloated and blow Zhang Tie''s hand.


    "Younger sister, papa is a hero. Papa fought demons and saved a lot of people..." Alexander said as he watched Zhang Tie with an admiring look. After coming to Taixia Country for over 2 years, Alexander could already speak Hua language very fluently.


    "Shini, papa is fine. Papa has already recovered his injuries. He''s pretty good!" Zhang Tie kissed the little girl''s face again before kneading Alexander''s head.


    Zhang Tie loved the two daughters the most. Watching her cute daughters, Zhang Tie felt that all he did in the frontline was worthwhile.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s fatherly smile and his kind look, Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian revealed strange looks; especially Yan Feiqing who was in a daze.


    Zhang Tie then walked towards the airboat, cradling Zhang Shini and Zhang Shixia.


    At this moment, Linda showed his face at the hatch door, followed by Aimei and Aixue, Fiona and Beverly. They all watched Zhang Tie with tears in eyes.


    Over these months when Zhang Tie was heavily injured and receiving medical treatment in Xuanyuan Hill, undoubtedly, his wives and concubines were concerned about him pretty much. However, they knew that it wouldn''t do any help to Zhang Tie''s recovery if they came to Xuanyuan Hill during that period. Therefore, they gave up coming here for the time being.


    Zhang Tie''s parents followed after Beverly. Zhang Yang came in the end.


    Besides Zhang Tie''s father and elder brother, all the women that got off the airboat had red eyes when they saw Zhang Tie again.


    "Hahaha, come on, I''ve told you I''m fine. No more tears!" Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he turned around and shouted towards Yan Feiqing, "Qing''er, Suxian, come over here to greet our parents..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Yan Feiqing moved to Zhang Tie''s side lightly before lowering her body to one side towards Zhang Tie''s parents by putting her hands on both sides and saying decently, "Papa, Mama, I''m Yan Feiqing..."


    "Papa, Mama, I''m Suxian!" Bai Suxian imitated Yan Feiqing.


    Zhang Tie''s mother and father exchanged a glance with each other. After that, Zhang Tie''s mother looked at Yan Feiqing from her head to her toe before hurriedly helping Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian to stand up as she said, "We''re a family now. No need to be that formal..."


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at his elder brother. Given his elder brother''s eye light, Zhang Tie knew that his parents had long known Yan Feiqing''s identity.


    Not only Zhang Tie''s mother, but even Zhang Tie''s elder brother, wives and concubines were glancing at Yan Feiqing stealthily. Given his elder brother''s eye light, Zhang Tie knew that Zhang Yang had been conquered by his ability.


    "It''s not the right place to talk. Papa, mama, let''s talk about it after returning to my manor!"


    After greeting each other, even though they had a lot of words to say, it was not the proper place for them to talk at the airport. Zhang Tie waved his hand, fetching some vehicles.


    Zhang Tie''s elder brother and Zhang Tie''s kids got on a sedan. Zhang Tie''s wives and concubines got on a limo. Zhang Tie and his parents entered the same sedan.


    It was knowledge of sharing vehicles. In this way, Zhang Tie''s wives and concubines could communicate with each other privately earlier; so could Zhang Tie and his parents.


    After all of them got on vehicles, with the convoy of some cars, the fleet started to drive towards the emperor''s imperial city.


    ...

 1442 Domestic Affairs

    "Ahh, Xuanyuan Hill is really as prosperous as that in legends..." Zhang Tie''s dad couldn''t stand to exclaim as he watched the buildings on both sides of the road through the window.


    "Dad, mom, you could have a nice journey in Xuanyuan Hill. There''re so many scenic spots and historical sites such as Heavenly Harp Lake, Heavenly Fairy Lake and Heavenly Music Lake outside the city and Golden Water River and Peach Mountain in the city. Many major human agencies are located in Xuanyuan Hill. Additionally, you could pay a visit to Gold and Power Market where you could see sorts of rarities from all the other continents and subcontinents. I always wanted to accompany you for a journey in Xuanyuan Hill and here''s the chance..." Zhang Tie told his parents with a smile as he pointed at a huge complex which was hundreds of meters in height outside the window and said, "Look, dad, it''s Human Pharmacists Union..."


    "Oh, that''s Human Pharmacists Union, I could...ahem, ahem..." Zhang Tie''s dad suddenly stopped as he found Zhang Tie''s mom gazing at him distantly with a strong killing qi.


    Zhang Tie comforted her mom with a smile, "Mom, I''m fine. No need to worry about me. As you and dad finally got a chance to travel to Xuanyuan Hill, we would take a trip around this place!"


    "Is that Yan Feiqing the very one whom you''re about to marry?" Zhang Tie''s mom whispered.


    "Yes!" Zhang Tie threw a glance at the vehicle in front of them. His mom might not know that such a short distance indicated that Yan Feiqing could hear their dialogue clearly. "Qing''er and I met in the theater of operations. We went through thick and thin together and stayed in the tower of time for 6 decades. We''ve already got married privately. How do you feel about her, mom?"


    "This girl has a good figure and a nice look. She has outstanding temperament too. She must be able to deliver healthy babies. Even your mom has not seen many girls like her. Now that you like her, your dad and I like her too, but..." Zhang Tie''s mom became hesitant for a second before asking Zhang Tie in a low voice, "Zhang Yang said this girl has a greater battle strength even than the total of that of your former wives and concubines. Even Suxian couldn''t defeat her. Is she a heavenly knight and an owner of a major sect in Taixia Country?"


    "True, Qing''er is a heavenly knight and the owner of Fantasy Women Palace, Cloud Dream Mountain, Wuzhou Province, Taixia Country!"


    "Does a heavenly knight have a greater battle strength than Commander Cheng?"


    "Yes, she has a bit greater battle strength than Commander Cheng..."


    "I observed her carefully, yet I couldn''t see through her real age. It''s said that the higher level a knight was, the elder she would be. Have you asked her real age..."


    "Ahem, ahem, mom, I''ve really not asked her about that!" Zhang Tie kneaded his nose as he replied with a smile. In case of embarrassment, Zhang Tie dared not tell his parents that Yan Feiqing shared the times with Lord Huaiyuan. No matter what, Yan Feiqing remained young in front of him. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t ever ask her about her real age. "No matter what, given her look, she''s almost as young as Linda and Olina. Therefore, you''d better not care about that. No matter what, she''s my wife and your daughter-in-law. Additionally, she has sound health and could still give birth to babies. In a couple of years, I will bring you some more grandsons..."


    "She could still give birth to babies?" Zhang Tie''s mom asked.


    "Yes, she could..." Zhang Tie nodded forcefully.


    "That''s fine. That''s fine..." Zhang Tie''s mom finally became reassured as she continued, "How do you feel now..."


    "I''ve already recovered. It''s not a big deal. According to some gossips, I don''t have a complete skin all over. Don''t believe in that..." Zhang Tie patted his chest as if he was strong, causing loud sounds "Pah, pah". Finding that Zhang Tie had a good look and was as strong as before, Zhang Tie''s parents finally became reassured.


    Actually, Zhang Tie''s physical condition was classified. Besides Bai Suxian, Yan Feiqing, the three national doctors and the crown prince who knew Zhang Tie''s current physical condition, the public was told that Zhang Tie had completely recovered for the sake of humans in the holy war. This would frighten demons greatly and extremely arouse the morale of Taixia Country as a whole.


    A divine dominator who had completely recovered could even frighten a heavenly demon knight.


    A few months ago, Zhang Tie killed a heavenly demon knight by striking it 9 times with a rod; after that, he killed 5 shadow demon knights and consumed a thunder of nirvana. At least it was equal to saving a heavenly human knight indirectly. Zhang Tie''s survival would definitely frighten demons a lot. After Zhang Tie exposed his ability as a divine dominator, the entire demon camp and the territory occupied by demons had almost been open to him freely unless sage-level demon knights. Even a solo heavenly demon knight might be killed by Zhang Tie in a short period, not to mention other knights below heavenly knights. Therefore, the demon army''s offensive pace was disrupted by Zhang Tie. As a result, demons had to revamp their measures for defending the regions that they had occupied and the use of demon knights. Besides Weishui River had thawed, this was also a major reason for the human army and demon army to be in a stalemate.


    It was no exaggeration to say that Zhang Tie himself almost curbed the aggressive attack of demon army at the bank of Weishui River and heavily crashed the demon army for the first time in Taixia Country. As was commented by Zuoqiu Mingyue¡ª¡ªWithout General Mushen, Weishui River would remain dark like long night forever!


    "Elder Muyuan said you''re a divine dominator..." Zhang Tie''s dad finally got a chance to ask Zhang Tie out of curiosity after Zhang Tie''s mom finished the "important" question. Zhang Ping knew what were knights. However, he had no idea about divine dominators. Therefore, he had long wanted to ask Zhang Tie about that.


    Elder Muyuan got off the airboat in the end. When Zhang Tie greeted his parents and wives, Elder Muyuan stood on Zhang Yang''s side. He just nodded towards Zhang Tie without talking too much with him. At this moment Elder Muyuan was sitting in the same vehicle with Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie''s kids.


    "Yes, I''m a divine dominator. It''s a profession that I''ve advanced previously. It''s one of my trump cards. I had to expose it while fighting demons above the bank of Weishui River..."


    "Is a divine dominator something?"


    "Of course, it''s what your son uses to stay alive!" Zhang Tie said with great confidence.


    "Can you explain it in details?" Zhang Tie''s dad asked out of curiosity. Even Zhang Tie''s mom turned around and watched Zhang Tie seriously.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "If your son wants to kill someone below knight, I only need to throw a glance at him or her..."


    "Cut the crap..." Zhang Tie''s dad pretended to be serious as he had not imagined that he only got a "joke" as a reply. He then flicked at Zhang Tie''s head as he said, "Don''t cheat me. How could you kill a person only by throwing a glance at him or her..."


    Zhang Tie remained smiling, "When mom throws a glance at you, dad always stay still."


    Zhang Tie''s dad blushed slightly as he coughed, "Ahem, ahem...when?"


    "Almost like that..." Zhang Tie''s mom said.


    When this topic was shifted to a domestic affair, Zhang Tie''s dad and mom both felt that Zhang Tie was joking with them...


    ...


    In another vehicle where Zhang Tie''s wives and concubines were in, Yan Feiqing showed her strong qi field as a heavenly knight and confirmed her principal position in the hearts of the other wives and concubines of Zhang Tie''s with only one question.


    In that limo, Yan Feiqing looked around the other women calmly as she told them using her battle qi.


    "Zhang Tie is now the pillar of Zhang family. He''s responsible for all-purpose medicament and Fiery Oil and Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory of Zhang family. It''s in the holy war. It''s full of uncertainties like what Zhang Tie has experienced these months. If something happened to Zhang Tie, the pillar of the Zhang family would fall. By then, nobody else in Huaiyuan Palace would be able to protect these things of Zhang family, not to mention Zhang family itself. Zhang family''s all-purpose medicament and Fiery Oil would attract numerous hungry wolves. You and the kids of you and Zhang Tie might deteriorate to miserable situations. This is the survival of law in troubled times, which is dominated by battle strength. As for me, you might have already known. I''m the principal wife of Zhang Tie and Zhang family is my family. You''re my sisters and Zhang Tie''s kids are my kids. Even if Zhang Tie fell one day, I would also be able to protect this family from being invaded by foreign forces and ensure that Zhang kids could grow up and inherit the undertakings of Zhang family. Do you want to call me elder sister?"


    The carriage was in silence for a few seconds. Even Bai Suxian who always had contradictions with Yan Feiqing admitted that Yan Feiqing was telling the truth. In this age, a heavenly knight''s battle strength and influence were undeniable.


    After hearing Yan Feiqing''s words, Aimei and Aixue exchanged a glance with the others before lowering their heads towards Yan Feiqing and saying, "Elder sister, we''re Aimei and Aixue..."


    "Elder sister..." Linda, Beverly and Fiona also admitted in a few seconds.


    Among Zhang Tie''s wives and concubines, only Bai Suxian had a great background. All the others had to depend on Zhang Tie, except for Yan Feiqing.


    As Zhang Tie had many wives and concubines, he might not feel pitiful lacking one; however, if Zhang Tie fell, Zhang family would be in great danger. In this world, there were very few heavenly knights. With Yan Feiqing''s help, Zhang family could be much safer in troubled times. Yan Feiqing believed that those women were not too stupid to call her elder sister and admit her principal status in the Zhang family.


    Yan Feiqing threw a glance at Bai Suxian. Bai Suxian also lowered her head as she called again in a different mood, "Elder sister..."


    At this moment, Bai Suxian realized that she would be repelled out of the circle of Zhang Tie''s women if she didn''t admit Yan Feiqing''s principal status in Zhang family, which would be much worse than lowering her head in front of Yan Feiqing.


    As she couldn''t match Yan Feiqing on battle strength, Bai Suxian had to lower her head in front of Yan Feiqing even though she was a princess.


    ...


    The fleet passed by many prosperous streets and finally entered the emperor''s imperial city through the Sheep Bridge over Golden Water River and returned to Qianji Manor.


    Even though Zhang Tie''s parents, wives and concubines had seen the world, they were still shocked by the magnificence of Qianji Manor.


    After knowing that Qianji Manor was a former royal garden and was gifted to Zhang Tie by the crown prince, Zhang Tie''s dad felt intense as he asked, "Erm...I was told that the land in Xuanyuan Hill is worth a lot. Would it be too luxurious for us to live here..."


    "Trust me, dad, if mom and you come to Xuanyuan Hill in the future, you could live here for as long as you like!" Zhang Tie explained as he burst into laughter.


    Compared to Zhang Ping''s intense look, Zhang Tie''s kids were pretty thrilled about this new environment. After getting off the vehicle, they had been running here and there.


    "It was younger sister Suxian who has been preparing for domestic affairs these days. How about having younger sister Suxian show these younger sisters their courtyards and rooms? It''s a long trip. You must have a lot of inconvenience on the airboat. How about getting washed before having supper together?"


    After getting off the vehicle, Zhang Tie found that Yan Feiqing''s qi field grew much stronger while the other women respected Yan Feiqing pretty much; they even called her elder sister. Even Bai Suxian became much more docile in front of her.


    Zhang Tie''s mom kept glancing at Yan Feiqing stealthily. After finding that Yan Feiqing could manage the other wives and concubines and arrange everything orderly like how a principal wife should behave, Zhang Tie''s mom was very satisfied too as she said, "Hmm, just do as Feiqing said. I''m a bit tired. We''d better take some rest before having supper..."


    After Zhang Tie''s mom opened her mouth, it was fixed.


    After everybody else settled down, Zhang Tie came to Zhang Yang''s room. After a brief chat, Zhang Tie pushed a gold crate in front of Zhang Yang.


    "What''s this?" Zhang Yang asked as he watched that crate out of curiosity.


    "The fruit of cross-realm flower couldn''t be taken directly. I will give some to you after having people deal with them so that elder brother could satisfy my elder sisters-in-law. It''s something of abyss dragon lizard inside this crate. With it, elder brother would definitely keep one night stand no matter how many wives and concubines you have..."


    Zhang Yang widely opened his eyes as he said, "Abyss dragon lizard? Doesn''t it only exist in legends? Is it the penis of an abyss dragon lizard..."


    "Right, I found it in the underground magma. What an able pharmacist, elder brother!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he blinked his eyes, "I even prepared a piece for our dad. I wonder whether dad will appreciate me or not..."


    "Watch out, mom would beat your head if she finds out!" Zhang Yang smiled.


    "Don''t worry. I won''t let her know!"


    "Have you received the invitation for the national banquet from the crown prince?" Zhang Yang asked Zhang Tie suddenly.


    "What? You''ve also got one?" Zhang Tie became stunned.


    "I received it when I replenished materials in Lingzhou Province two days ago. The crown prince had someone wait in Lingzhou Province in order to give the invitation card to me. Both Elder Muyuan and our parents received one too. It''s very considerate!" Zhang Yang watched Zhang Tie as he said, "We all share your glory, I wonder about your opinion?"


    "Let nature take its course. At least the crown prince treats me considerately as of now. It''s not bad for the crown prince to supervise the national affairs. By far, even if Meng Shidao became prime minister, I wouldn''t fear that!" Zhang Tie said with an arrogant smile, "I''m not even afraid of abyss king and hundreds of thousands of demon knights, not to mention the Gobbling Party. I believe that the crown prince would balance the gains and losses and restrict the Gobbling Party to a certain degree..."


    "Hmm, I see!" Zhang Yang nodded.


    After that, Zhang Tie came to his parents'' room and gave the same gift to his dad. Then, he came to Elder Muyuan''s room. After a brief talk with Elder Muyuan, he learned about the current situation facing Youzhou Province and Huaiyuan Palace and left the same gift to Elder Muyuan before returning to his own courtyard and meeting Yan Feiqing.


    ...


    "Husband, I want a baby too!" Yan Feiqing tightly hugged Zhang Tie the moment she saw Zhang Tie as she whispered and turned into a tender woman in Zhang Tie''s arms once again.


    "Ahh, why..." Zhang Tie was amazed.


    "When I saw you play with your kids, I suddenly realized that my life would be incomplete as a woman if I don''t give birth to a baby for you!" Yan Feiqing''s eyes turned enchanting as she asked, "You told your mom in the vehicle that you wanted me to deliver some more kids for you. Did you cheat her?"


    "Of course not!"


    "I want now!"


    "Now?"


    "Now!"


    Zhang Tie immediately cradled Yan Feiqing and strode towards the building where the other women were arranged in.


    "Ahh, not over there..." Yan Feiqing shouted in Zhang Tie''s arms. After knowing what Zhang Tie was going to do, her face turned red at once.


    "You''re good sisters. Of course, you should share good things together..." Zhang Tie smirked, ignoring Yan Feiqing''s symbolic struggle, and entering the building...

 1443 An Unexpected Trouble

    On April 3rd, the 906th year of Black Iron Calendar, when demons invaded Taixia Country, a high-level national banquet was held in the emperor''s imperial palace of Xuanyuan Hill once again after two years in silence, arousing a great shock in the powers of Xuanyuan Hill...


    Yan Feiqing remained elegant, distant and arrogant as she didn''t have a liking for such an eye-catching occasion. Zhang Tie''s parents were not used to it as they didn''t feel like being the focus of the public. Therefore, after a negotiation, Zhang Tie determined to attend the banquet with Bai Suxian, Linda, Fiona, Beverly, Aimei and Aixue, Zhang Yang and Elder Muyuan. All the other family members just stayed in Qianji Manor.


    Although Zhang Tie intended to visit the luxurious scene and the top figures in the imperial palace with his parents and have them enjoy the honor of being the parents of a divine dominator, Zhang Tie''s parents were not interested in fame and wealth. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t force them to do so.


    As for Yan Feiqing, Zhang Tie couldn''t force her to attend the banquet either. Perhaps, he could do whatever he wanted in the bedroom with the other women in front of Yan Feiqing, he might make Yan Feiqing embarrassed to share a man with a lot of women under the gaze of so many people.


    Over these days, Zhang Tie showed them around Xuanyuan Hill every day, pleasing his parents and kids very much, not to mention his wives and concubines. After being "lubricated" by Zhang Tie for a few days, his wives and concubines looked much brighter.


    Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang didn''t need to make any preparations for this banquet except for changing a set of clothes; however, his wives and concubines had already prepared for it.


    The most frequent topic among these women were types of dresses, shoes, jewelry, make-up, hairstyles, perfume, etc..


    At a bit later than 5 pm, April 3rd, Zhang Tie and his family representatives left the Qianji Manor. Zhang Yang and Elder Muyuan sat in the same vehicle; Zhang Tie and his wives and concubines sat in another vehicle. After leaving Qianji Manor, the two vehicles drove all the way towards the emperor''s imperial palace.


    Women were still tweeting in the vehicle at this moment. They were discussing their jewelry, hairstyles and costumes. Sitting in the vehicle and watching his enchanting wives and concubines in rich dresses, Zhang Tie felt a bit pitiful although being satisfied.


    If Lan Yunxi and Pandora were here and the holy war didn''t break out, he would not feel pitiful anymore as his life would have been perfect; even if he were to become a commoner from now on. This scene was what he had been pursuing for since he was young.


    "I''ve not imagined that I could enter the imperial palace of Taixia Country along with you and attend such a high-level national banquet..." Linda said as she put her head against Zhang Tie''s shoulder and whispered, "When I managed my garments store in Blapei, I could never imagine about such a life. Daily life now is like a dream. It''s like what a lord''s wives enjoy..."


    Linda wore a western, blue, brilliant bobtail in wavy hair. With top-notch jewelry over her neck and wrists, Linda looked beautiful and fascinating; especially her elegant, calm and sexy feminity which attracted Zhang Tie the most. After giving birth to two babies, her fragrance and sweet feminity grew richer and made her more attractive to Zhang Tie.


    "You worth it. I think you could match all the good things in the world. Although there''re so many lord''s wives in this world, there''s only one Linda. You should know that you''re more dignified than those lord''s wives in others'' eyes!" Zhang Tie raised Linda''s petty face using one hand as he sniffed the fragrance that was emitted from her dense maroon hair and kissed her lip.


    Linda closed her eyes as she responded to Zhang Tie fervently.


    "Elder sister Linda, stop it. I couldn''t help but join you..."


    Hearing their "kiss", all the other women who were discussing became quiet at once. Realizing that all the other women were watching her and hearing Fiona''s voice, Linda felt bashful as she separated from Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he patted the seat on his side and drew Fiona over here. After kissing Fiona''s face too, he said, "I found that you might be very excited about such a banquet."


    "Of course, don''t you know that all the women are banquet-manic?" Fiona said with a sweet smile.


    Scratching his head, Zhang Tie asked, "Why?"


    "Beverly, tell him why."


    "Because women could show their beautiful look, figure, wealth and happiness to others in the most elegant gesture in such banquets, and this is the meaning of their existence..." Beverly said with a smile, "You could treat this banquet as special showtime and catwalk for women. Each woman dreams of being eye-catching on such an occasion..."


    "It''s a woman''s largest achievement to gain other women''s admiration and jealousy on such an occasion. Of course, if we find women more beautiful and elegant than us on such occasions, we would learn from them and try to surpass them next time. Am I clear?" Fiona kissed Zhang Tie''s face.


    "Haha, now that you like it, when we return to Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory, you could hold such a banquet monthly and invite whoever you want!"


    "Really?"


    "Really!"


    All the women cheered up.


    ...


    Qianji Manor was located in the most prime location of the emperor''s imperial city. It was only less than 20 minutes'' ride.


    The imperial palace of Taixia Country was almost the largest one for humans. Starting from the Jade Belt River in the periphery of the imperial palace, the radius of the entire imperial palace was 6 miles. It occupied almost 200 square miles, which was even larger than that of many cities in subcontinents and continents. The national banquet was held in Anyan Palace in the east of the imperial palace.


    Vehicles from Qianji Manor had to be checked twice when they passed by Jade Belt River. After presenting the invitation card for the national banquet, they went across a bridge on Jade Belt River and entered the imperial palace from a palace gate.


    When the bus crossed Jade Belt River, Zhang Tie felt that marvelous arch door in his mind sea which linked Castle of Black Iron slightly trembled. At the same time, the arch door became almost transparent in his mind sea and was covered by mist.


    Zhang Tie watched the palace wall which was as thick and tall as gate tower and the imperial guards in gold armors as he sensed the qi which forced the portal accessing to Castle of Black Iron to hide as he sighed about the magnificence of the imperial households of Taixia Country.


    When Zhang Tie came to Xuanyuan Hill last time, he loitered above the imperial palace stealthily. At that time, he could sense a powerful, terrifying qi in the imperial palace. Additionally, in those trouble-reappearance situations where he left when he came to Xuanyuan Hill for the first time, the territory in Jade Belt River was completely dark. Heller said that there was a rarity which was not inferior to Castle of Black Iron in the imperial palace, which caused empty inside trouble-reappearance situations. When Zhang Tie entered the imperial palace, he couldn''t sense the hidden qi anymore.


    Of course, that hidden qi didn''t disappear, but Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy level couldn''t resonate with that hidden qi anymore. However, Castle of Black Iron could still sense the existence of that hidden qi while covering itself.


    After getting that point, Zhang Tie could only force a bitter smile. One of his purposes to attend this national banquet was to sense the hidden rarity in the imperial palace in a close distance. As was imagined, that rarity couldn''t be sensed by everyone.


    "Do you feel anything special in the imperial palace?" Zhang Tie asked Bai Suxian.


    "Strict defense and magnificence. Why..." Bai Suxian asked Zhang Tie as she blinked her beautiful eyes.


    "Nothing, I also feel good here..." Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    It seemed that Bai Suxian didn''t sense the hidden qi either. Therefore, Zhang Tie put it aside for the time being. In the final analysis, Zhang Tie was just curious about that rarity in the imperial palace. He didn''t cast covet on it. Therefore, he didn''t carry any metal burden.


    ...


    Zhang Tie''s vehicle parked after passing the first palace gate less than 1.2 miles. The moment it parked, waiters had already opened the doors. Zhang Tie got off the vehicle first. After that, he stood aside from the door and stretched out a hand, helping his wives and concubines to get off the vehicle.


    A western building was hundreds of meters away in front of Zhang Tie. Being high and magnificent, the stony building occupied a wide area. It was Anyan Palace.


    Its middle gate and the 4 smaller side doors had been opened. 5 red carpets extended to the outside from inside the palace.


    At this moment, many limos parked in those red carpets as big figures were getting off their vehicles and entering Anyan Palace through red carpets, raising their heads.


    Imperial guards in gold armors were standing on both sides of the red carpets, raising their heads. Imperial photographers were converging on both sides of the red carpets and recording the images of figures who attended the national banquet, causing rising smoke due to burning magnesium powder. These photos would be precious historical records in 100 years.


    The attendants were top powers in Xuanyuan Hill, diplomats and imperial households from other continents and subcontinents who lived in Xuanyuan Hill. It was no exaggeration to say that this banquet collected top dignitaries of different skin colors in different costumes. Given their costumes, it was like a universal expo on Hua costumes.


    "I really gained great honor from you today, but I feel very intense staying with you. I will go inside with Elder Muyuan ahead of you..." Zhang Yang in ceremonial robe came over here to notice Zhang Tie when the latter got off the vehicle. After that, Zhang Yang and Elder Muyuan walked upstairs along the middle red carpet under the guidance of a waiter.


    When Zhang Tie and his wives and concubines got off the vehicle, they rightly touched the middle red carpet. Although the red carpet in the middle was broadest, it was least occupied. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie had known that this red carpet could only be available to the most honorable figures. The moment he and the 6 women got off their vehicle and stood on the middle red carpet, they had become the focus of the occasion as onlookers especially those on the other 4 red carpets fixated onto Zhang Tie.


    Besides Zhang Tie''s young look, his 6 women were also brilliant. Bai Suxian, Aimei and Aixue wore traditional Hua imperial longuettes which looked pretty noble. Linda, Fiona and Beverly wore sexy and brilliant western ceremonial robes. In 6 colors and styles, they were like a myriad of stars surrounding the moon, making them pretty eye-catching.


    "Let''s go. Stop looking around. Only the most honorable guests could be able to walk on this red carpet besides the prime minister, grand justice and military secretary, heavenly knights and human lords. Previously, I walked on this middle red carpet with my father. Today, I get to walk on it with my husband. Let''s go..." Bai Suxian said as Zhang Tie felt his left arm being curbed by Bai Suxian. Zhang Tie smiled as he stretched out his right arm so that Linda could curb it. After those women exchanged a glance with each other and smiled, they walked towards the middle gate of Anyan Palace in brilliance under the gaze of so many people.


    "What a national banquet!" Zhang Tie sighed with emotions as he looked at the broad Anyan Palace on the red carpet.


    "Anyan Palace could hold 10,000 people. Given its size, there''re at least 3,000 attendants today!" Bai Suxian threw a glance at the other 4 red carpets as she added, "Additionally, at least half of them are female. We have to curb you well today; otherwise, we might have more sisters after this banquet..."


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s words, all the other 5 women giggled as they looked at Zhang Tie.


    "Haha, am I that kind of person?" Zhang Tie asked as he kneaded his face.


    "You''re not that kind of a person, but many people want you to be that kind of a person today. Look how those women on the other 4 red carpets gazing at you. I''m afraid that they''ve already known who you''re. After a short while, they might approach you in some way!" Bai Suxian said before pouting her mouth towards the other red carpets.


    Zhang Tie looked over there along Bai Suxian''s eye light. With some fountains, sculptures and gold-armored imperial guards in between, Zhang found some women were observing him with an interested look. A blonde in western imperial robe on the second red carpet from left directly ogled at him.


    "Who''re those on that red carpet?"


    "They should be imperial households from other countries..."


    ...


    "Qianji Immortal from Huaiyuan Palace...is...coming..."An official in red robe called at the sight of Zhang Tie and his wives and concubines; his sonorous sound filled the palace...


    When the official finished his call, Zhang Tie and 6 women entered Anyan Palace. In a split second, the entire palace became quiet as everybody else fixated onto them.


    If eye lights could focus on one point and increase temperature like sunlight, Zhang Tie''s ceremonial robe might have been burned.


    With a calm look, Zhang Tie and his women took seats under the gaze of so many people with the guidance of a waiter in Anyan Palace. Not until they sat down did Zhang Tie find that his seat was close to the highest seat on the left.


    Zhang Yang and Elder Muyuan shared the same table with him. On this occasion, even though being a knight, Elder Muyuan still looked intense and serious. Not until he saw Zhang Tie did Elder Muyuan let a sigh of relief.


    ...


    "Prime Minister Meng...is...coming..."


    No sooner did Zhang Tie take a seat than another name was called from the middle gate.


    Zhang Tie looked at the middle gate as he saw Meng Shidao entering the palace from the middle gate calmly in immortal official robe.


    With a smile, Meng Shidao looked easygoing and decent. After entering the palace, Meng Shidao threw a glance at Zhang Tie. When he looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes, he slightly nodded towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie also nodded towards Meng Shidao with a smile.


    That was how things went on official occasions. Even though being hostile against each other and couldn''t wait to beat the opponent to death, you shouldn''t show your animosity on this occasion.


    "Engineering Minister Yu...is...coming..."


    Another influential figure entered closely after Meng Shidao. Like how Meng Shidao did, that person also threw a glance at Zhang Tie.


    Meng Shidao and Yu Lianqing''s table was dozens of meters away on the opposite side of Zhang Tie. According to seniority, Yu Lianqing sat in the first place as Meng Shidao sat in second place next to him.


    All the influential figures had almost arrived and time was nearly up. The crown prince would arrive in a few minutes.


    On this occasion, Zhang Tie didn''t think that anyone would dare to find him trouble. However, at this moment, a person opposite to Zhang Tie suddenly stood up as he gazed at Zhang Tie with sparkling eyes. The moment he opened his mouth, he had been the focus of everybody else in the palace.


    "I''ve long heard that Qianji Immortal is dissolute. That''s real. It''s really admirable for immortal to fight demons above the bank of Weishui River and save hundreds of millions of people!" That official stood up as he cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie. Closely after that, his voice became spirited, "However, one person couldn''t determine the fate of humans in this holy war. With fiery oil, average fighters could fight demons and save numerous commoners. It''s said that immortal grasps the recipe of fiery oil, although Fang Keyan is humble, I expect immortal to share the recipe of fiery oil with the public for the sake of the people on behalf of trillions of commoners; instead of enjoying the profit of fiery oil alone and ignoring the overall situation facing Taixia Country in the holy war..."


    After saying that, that person deeply bowed to Zhang Tie.

 1444 Counterattack

    Zhang Tie became clear-minded at once!


    These days, Zhang Tie was recuperating in Xuanyuan Hill. He had not completely recovered yet. Additionally, with the concern of His Majesty Changying, Zhang Tie gradually relaxed his vigilance. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that nobody would come here to find him trouble as he just attended this national banquet out of his respect for the crown prince. However, the moment Fang Keyan opened his mouth, Zhang Tie had realized that he was too naive. The so-called national banquet had become a white vengeance targeting him.


    He was in Xuanyuan Hill, the capital of Taixia Country and the city of cities, the most prosperous and remarkable place and the most dangerous place for humans.


    Human heart was most dangerous.


    Although Fang Keyan looked impassioned, selfless and people-oriented, his last sentence exposed his malicious original intention¡ª¡ªImmortal, please expose your recipe of fiery oil to the public for the sake of people''s well-being; instead of enjoying the profit alone and ignoring the overall situation facing humans in the holy war...


    If Zhang Tie didn''t expose the recipe of fiery oil to the public, he would become a selfish person and a crafty sycophant who ignored the life or death of the commoners and the overall situation facing humans in the holy war for his own profit.


    Even though Zhang Tie invented fiery oil, if he didn''t comply with Fang Keyan''s suggestion, he would be guilty; instead of having made meritorious services.


    With such a vicious crime, Zhang Tie felt pretty disappointed all of a sudden.


    Who told Fang Keyan to say it at this moment?


    Zhang Tie didn''t believe that it was Fang Keyan''s opinion. Given Fang Keyan''s official robe, he was just a Class IV official. Although he might be something in a province, he was nothing in Xuanyuan Hill. Therefore, he must have a reliance.


    The first culprit occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind was the crown prince. However, he vetoed this whim at once.


    Even though the crown prince had the ambition to control fiery oil, he would never choose to make him embarrassed at this moment. Because Zhang Tie attended this national banquet out of his respect to the crown prince. If he was embarrassed on this occasion, it indicated that the crown prince was ruining his own power. As long as the crown prince was not too silly, he would never do such a stupid thing.


    Zhang Tie instantly fixated onto Meng Shidao and Yu Lianqing. Meng Shidao''s slight frown and Yu Lianqing''s faint furious look puzzled Zhang Tie.


    The second power that occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind was the Gobbling Party. If the Gobbling Party found him trouble at this moment, they could meet many purposes at the same time. Firstly, they could ruin Zhang Tie''s reputation; secondly, they could grab away fiery oil from Zhang Tie; thirdly, they could break the relationship between Zhang Tie and the crown prince so that the crown prince would depend more on the Gobbling Party.


    However, Zhang Tie slightly wavered his mind at the sight of Meng Shidao''s frown. He was not sure whether it was related to the Gobbling Party or that Meng Shidao intended to kick off the Gobbling Party using him.


    ''Who else?''


    When Zhang Tie was racking his mind rapidly, Fang Keyan revealed a bizarre smile as he watched Zhang Tie with bright eyes. He continued in a more generous and aggressive tone, "The profit of a family and the profit of the country, the profit of a person and the profit of humans in the holy war, mere worldly possessions and the righteousness, which one is greater? I don''t believe that immortal is not aware of it."


    "It''s a national banquet. We don''t talk about national affairs. Watch out your words, Director Fang..." Yu Lianqing opened his mouth to remind Fang Keyan with a bit fury as the grand justice.


    "Grand justice, please forgive me!" Fang Keyan bowed deeply towards Yu Lianqing. Closely after that, he straightened up his body and said in a selfless look, "Immortal Qianji is not an official. Additionally, this humble official could barely meet immortal in usual days. Now that I could have a chance to see immortal today, I have to say something to him. Even though it''s a bit rude, hopefully, immortal could make a decision as soon as possible..."


    After hearing Fang Keyan''s words, Zhang Yang and Elder Muyuan on Zhang Tie'' side were driven mad and would like to spring up and refute him. However, Zhang Tie threw a glance at them as he slightly waved his hand towards them, calming them down.


    Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile as he replied, "Since we made the first drop of fiery oil in Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory, fiery oil has spread over Taixia Country over the past 2 years. There are already thousands of fiery oil production bases across the country. Our fiery oil weapons have already been received by the fighters of each corps in the Western Theater of Operations. This year, we would start to provide them to second-tiered corps in the theater of operations. The air cavalries of Taixia Country also began to take shape. Even Xuanyuan Hill have got fiery oil planes, buses and yachts. I wonder which new technology, invention and thing could realize such rapid development on the premise that its recipe is not exposed to the public over the past 1,000 years? Therefore, the recipe of fiery oil has long been exposed to the country. We just kept it a secret for demons, Heavens Reaching Church and Three-eye Association. After the remnants of demons and Heavens Reaching Church realized the threat of fiery oil weapons, they have been thinking about getting the recipe of fiery oil. If Sagus the abyss king heard your words, it would definitely treat you as its bosom friend..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Fang Keyan suddenly changed his face as he sneered calmly, "Immortal Qianji, don''t smite me with the tongue..."


    "I didn''t." Zhang Tie smiled as he waved his hand towards a waiter on his side. Closely after that, he took out a letter and had the waiter give it to Yu Lianqing.


    Thousands of people fixated onto the letter out of curiosity. So did Yu Lianqing. When the waiter approached him with a tray, Yu Lianqing took that letter and read it.


    All of a sudden, Yu Lianqing changed his face as he raised his head and watched Zhang Tie with a shocked look.


    Zhang Tie said with a smile, "I am really shocked by the deep penetration of demons and Heavens Reaching Church to Xuanyuan Hill besides Han Zhengfang..."


    Zhang Tie''s words immediately beat Fang Keyan into hell. After reading the letter, Yu Lianqing had to make a decision right away.


    The grand justice looked at the gate as he moved his lip. The others immediately knew that he was sending an order using his battle qi.


    In a split second, two gold-armored knights had appeared in front of Fang Keyan heroically. Closely after that, they had dislocated Fang Keyan from head to toe. Then, they caught the arms and the other key body parts of Fang Keyan and took him away rapidly.


    When he was caught, Fang Keyan gazed at Zhang Tie with a shocked and horrified look as he wondered how could Zhang Tie have the grand justice make such a decision in such a short period. Honestly, even if his words irritated the crown prince in the imperial palace, as he was righteous, he would be demoted or fired in the worst scenario; instead of being caught by imperial guards right away.


    It happened so fast that nobody knew why the grand justice sent an order to catch Fang Keyan the moment he read the letter.


    Thankfully, those attendants were all foreign ambassadors and imperial households who had seen the world and been used to various emergencies. Although this official was taken away, it didn''t arouse any turmoil and discussion.


    However, Zhang Tie''s method refreshed people''s recognition and respect for him.


    Immortal Qianji''s trickery was not limited to battlefields.


    Zhang Tie looked around all the other foreign ambassadors and imperial households with a smile. When he found all the others were listening to him carefully, he continued, "As it''s in the holy war, fiery oil is definitely not exclusive to Zhang family. As I grew up in Waii Subcontinent, I know the hardships of commoners in the holy war. Some of my wives also came from subcontinents. I treat all the human countries equally. This year, Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory will choose partners from continents and subcontinents to produce fiery oil!"


    Soon after Zhang Tie finished his words, those foreign ambassadors and imperial households had become thrilled as the entire palace became fervent once again. The little trouble seemed to have been forgotten by them at once.


    As for Fang Keyan who had just been drawn away, who could still remember his name?


    At this moment, the musicians played music when the crown prince showed up.


    The crown prince looked a bit gloomy as he forced a bitter smile. What happened just now had been reported to the crown prince. After hearing that some official dared find Zhang Tie trouble on this occasion and ruined the relationship between him and Zhang Tie, the crown prince had already been driven mad...


    After coming to the rostrum of Anyan Palace, the crown prince threw a glance at Zhang Tie out of apology. He then slightly nodded towards Zhang Tie. After Zhang Tie revealed a smile, the crown prince finally controlled his fury as he started to give a keynote speech, which indicated that the national banquet had come to a start officially...

 1445 The Free Time of the National Banque

    The national banquet of Taixia Country combined both eastern style and western style. The first half of the national banquet was orientalism when the crown prince gifted the banquet and all the others extended thanks to him. Sitting in the banquet hall decently, they enjoyed the top delicacies and the performance of beauties. The second half of the national banquet followed western style. After dinner, they would take a short rest and communication before entering the rear courtroom to enjoy the ball and free exchange.


    Zhang Tie wondered who formulated the style of national banquets. He felt it was pretty interesting. Additionally, the top officials, the crown prince, ambassadors and imperial households could make private exchanges, trades, even mate in the second half of the national banquet...


    Such a national banquet was a stage on which Taixia Country showed its leadership among humans, the hunting ground for humanity and desires and the abyss for vanity. Behind the curtain of such a national banquet, a decision of the crown prince and the trade between the moguls would lead to the wars between agents and the rise or fall of the imperial households of small countries in subcontinents. Someone''s eyesight and hint could also determine whom would many female attendants sleep with tonight.


    There were many lounges for VIPs in the front courtroom of Anyan Palace, where male and female guests could fix their make-up or dress up after dinner. Bai Suxian and the other 5 wives and concubines of Zhang Tie were fixing their make-up. Zhang Tie had just come out of the lounge and was waiting for them to go to the rear courtroom together. At this moment, a waiter of the crown prince came over here and invited Zhang Tie into the lounge exclusive to the crown prince.


    After Zhang Tie entered the room, he found 4 people inside the room¡ª¡ªthe crown prince, Meng Shidao, Yu Lianqing and military secretary of Taixia Country who looked black with heavy eyebrows in Xiezhi crown and Class I official uniform. As one of the top 9 chancellors of Taixia Country, the last one was in charge of the military system of Taixia Country.


    The crown prince didn''t look good. Not until he watched Zhang Tie enter the room did he force a bitter smile.


    No sooner did Zhang Tie see them than he knew that the crown prince was going to lose his temper although he didn''t just now.


    "General Mushen, Pu felt so sorry about you. I''m inquiring these chancellors about what happened just now. I swear to give you a satisfied answer!" The crown prince told Zhang Tie before taking in a deep breath.


    "Pu" was how the crown prince called himself on official occasions, which was similar to Guaren and Zhen which emperors usually called themselves.


    "Thanks, crown prince!" Zhang Tie respected the crown prince very much in front of two of the top three powers of Taixia Country; instead of calling him ''Brother Changying''. "It doesn''t matter if I was wronged, but it''s really not good for Taixia Country to have cunning people who look loyal to the country such as Fang Keyan to occupy a place in the imperial palace!"


    After hearing how Zhang Tie described Fang Keyan, Meng Shidao, Yu Lianqing and military secretary exchanged a glance with each other silently.


    "Fang Keyan is indeed abhorrent. As the minister of imperial financial and living affairs ministry, Fang Keyan has been in Xuanyuan Hill for many years. He''s not Prime Minister Meng''s student. He had an ulterior motive to find you trouble in Anyan Palace..." Crown prince said with a hateful look as he struck the table forcefully, causing a loud sound "Pah". Through his words, he had implied that this event had nothing to do with the Gobbling Party.


    "The contradiction between the forebear of Huaiyuan and Prime Minister Meng was caused by different political ideologies. I also believe that Prime Minister Meng wouldn''t use such a despicable method!" Zhang Tie said calmly as he threw a glance at Prime Minister Meng.


    "Lord Huaiyuan has a good successor!" Meng Shidao said with a deep sigh as he looked at Zhang Tie seriously.


    "Thanks, prime minister. I only live up to my consciousness. If I offended you before, please forgive me. The contradiction between the Gobbling Party and Huaiyuan Palace should be limited to the imperial court. It''s a domestic competition. However, our country is facing the invasion of demons. We shall forget about the former contradictions for the time being. Honestly, I disagree with the path that the prime minister pursues and the ideology of the Gobbling Party. However, I don''t care about that. It''s a large world and a large country. There are tens of thousands of sects in Taixia Country, each has its own pursuit. There''re also tens of hundreds of human churches and more than one idols. It''s acceptable that the Gobbling Party possesses a different opinion than me. In my eyes, the Gobbling Party is as same as the other sects and churches. It has nothing to do with me. My belief is that if people don''t offend me, I won''t offend them; if people offend me, I will offend them for sure!" Zhang Tie said decisively. The crown prince was moved by Zhang Tie''s words as he had not imagined that Zhang Tie could respect him so much.


    "From today on, I have my word in front of the crown prince and two chancellors¡ª¡ªthe Gobbling Party would never enter Northeast Military Region. All the disciples of the Gobbling Party inside the Northeast Military Region would retreat in 3 months!" Meng Shidao said in a muffled voice as a light flashed across his eyes.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Zhang Tie and Meng Shidao stretched out their hands and clapped in front of the other 3 people.


    "That''s great!" Crown prince couldn''t help but spring up out of excitement as he watched Zhang Tie clap with Meng Shidao, and said, "The generous and righteous deed of the prime minister and General Mushen could become the model of all the other officials. We should have a drink to celebrate it..."


    Previously, the crown prince felt pretty bad. Watching Zhang Tie and Meng Shidao promise to not violate each other by clapping against each other, he felt pretty good at once. Neither was Emperor Xuanyuan able to fetch Immortal Sea King nor eliminate the contradiction between Huaiyuan Palace and the Gobbling Party. However, the crown prince did it today. Therefore, he was in high and vigorous spirits.


    Without Fang Keyan, this national banquet would be perfect. Therefore, the crown prince felt that Fang Keyan was like a thorn in his heart. The more he thought about Fang Keyan, the worse he would feel.


    Zhang Tie thought this "thorn" was targeting him; however, the crown prince believed that the humble minister of imperial financial and living affairs was just a sword in other''s hand, which finally targeted him. If Zhang Tie lost his temper, left the banquet, or broke out a conflict with Meng Shidao due to this event, this national banquet would become a laughingstock in Xuanyuan Hill. In someone''s eyes, the crown prince would be the main character of this laughingstock, which was what the crown prince couldn''t tolerate.


    "Deal with the case of Fang Keyan together with that of Han Zhengfang and the other remnants of Heavens Reaching Church..." Crown prince told the grand justice, which determined the fate of Fang Keyan.


    "Yes!" Grand justice received the order as he lowered his body. Closely after that, he couldn''t help but ask Zhang Tie, "Elder Mushen, I wonder from where did you get the secret letter of Heavens Reaching Empire?"


    "The secret letter is the resolution that the emperor and the prime minister of Heavens Reaching Empire have made to gain the recipe of fiery oil at any cost. You can see the imperial seal of Heavens Reaching Empire and the annotations of the relevant people on it. It''s definitely real. What was more, there''s one line on the secret letter: Although our church has suffered a heavy loss after the chaos in Xuanyuan Hill, we still have sparkles. We shall contact our informers in Xuanyuan Hill and have them gain the recipe of fiery oil from Xuanyuan Hill."


    Zhang Tie didn''t know the relationship between Fang Keyan and Heavens Reaching Church. Probably there was no relationship between them at all. However, now that Fang Keyan had found him trouble in the public, Zhang Tie''s secret letter could kill him for sure no matter whether Fang Keyan was a member of Heavens Reaching Church or not.


    Without this secret letter, Fang Keyan would have offended him by having a quarrel with him in the worst scenario. Additionally, Fang Keyan was "righteous". Even though the crown prince felt unpleasant, he couldn''t punish Fang Keyan severely. Even the engineering minister just stopped him orally. Whereas, with this secret letter in hand, everything became different.


    Fang Keyan could only regret about his bad luck. He was over smart as he didn''t know that Zhang Tie had such a secret letter. Therefore, he got big trouble.


    ''Hundreds of millions of commoners of Taixia Country in the Western Theater of Operations have died in the frontline. Couldn''t such a man with artful speech and flashy manners be sentenced to death? Go to hell...'' thought Zhang Tie.


    "I encountered a knight of Heavens Reaching Church in the wilderness of Western Theater of Operations. After killing him, I discovered this secret letter from his portable space-teleportation equipment..." Zhang Tie explained calmly, causing grand justice speechless.


    That secret letter actually came from Yinzhou City. Zhang Tie acquired it from a night raid. If Zhang Tie didn''t expose the truth, nobody would know it.


    After a short negotiation in fewer than 10 minutes, the minister of imperial financial and living affairs had been destined to die; the relationship between Huaiyuan Palace and the Gobbling Party also entered a new stage.


    Zhang Tie then left the room pleasantly.


    ...


    After everybody left that room, the crown prince looked up and squinted at a mural painting of many galloping horses. With sparkling eyes, he slowly pursed his lips, revealing explicit lines at his mouth corners.


    A middle-aged literatus in green robe had already stood behind the crown prince relaxedly, with a jade-bone feathered fan in hand.


    "Mr. Fang, which one do you think schemed this event, the 3rd brother or the 9th brother..." Crown prince asked distantly as he gazed at the mural painting without turning around.


    "We couldn''t figure it out at all. Fang Keyan is not a knight. Even if the memory-reading secret method is adopted, the supreme court still couldn''t get any trail of it because his memory about that event might have been erased by taking secret medicine and corresponding secret method. Similar events have happened in the imperial court. Now that Fang Keyan dares risk to offend Your Majesty, he must have made well preparations about it. The opponent is throwing a sprat to catch a herring. Nevertheless, they have not imagined that Zhang Tie has the secret letter of the remnant of Heavens Reaching Church..."


    "Alas, could we really not find the culprit?" Crown prince let out a sigh, "As long as pu doesn''t ascend to the throne, someone would always find me trouble and expect to replace me!"


    "Actually, it''s not important who''s behind this event. What''s important is that the crown prince could break his hand in Xuanyuan Hill in the public to frighten others. From then on, fewer people would dare play tricks in front of Your Majesty. Even if they dared, they would have to consider the result of Fang Keyan. How could people''s plan defeat God''s plan? Zhang Tie is indeed the lucky star of Your Majesty!" The middle-aged literatus in green clothes said calmly.


    The crown prince finally turned around as he looked straight into the literatus'' eyes and asked, "Mr. Fang, do you think whether Zhang Tie could be loyal to me or not?"


    "Your Majesty, I''ve told you about that before. Given what Zhang Tie have done before, he''s only concerned about affection and righteousness!" The literatus in green robe watched the crown prince with calm, wise and sparkling eyes as he added, "This person treasures affection and righteousness most. As long as Your Majesty could associate with him in the name of friendship and righteousness, he would stand on your side even if he''s not loyal to Your Majesty. His assistance to you would be much greater than that of a sage-level knight..."


    "Could he be loyal to me?" Crown prince continued to ask Mr. Fang with a bit of hope.


    "Your Majesty, you will rule the whole world in the future and reach the apex of humans. No need to pay attention to the loss of one talent. You should be generous like what an unrivaled Hua emperor should be. Do you really think that Emperor Xuanyuan couldn''t force Immortal Sea King to go to the imperial court..." The literatus in green robe said. When he found that the crown prince was considering about it, he continued,


    "Additionally, what Your Majesty would like to exchange for Zhang Tie''s loyalty? Given wealth, Zhang Tie has already been rich enough due to the profits of Zhang family''s fiery oil and all-purpose medicament. He would be the richest person in the world in a few years. Given secret cultivation methods, Zhang Tie has been a divine dominator. I feel his power as a divine dominator is even above that of Immortal Sea King. He''s also famous for grasping a lot of secret methods. Even if Your Majesty gives him Xuanyuan God Sutra, you might not improve his battle strength. Zhang Tie gave up the throne in Ice and Snow Wilderness and returned to Taixia Country only to be the husband of those foreign women and the father of a group of kids. After he was declared innocent by the supreme court, he refused to be the head of Huaiyuan Palace and only became a clan elder. He rarely cares about the affairs in Huaiyuan Palace. Although he has made great meritorious services in the Western Theater of Operations, he refused to be the marshal of air cavalries of Taixia Country recommended by Commander-in-Chief Zuoqiu; instead, he only became a guerrilla general. At the critical moment, he could step forward bravely regardless of his own life and vanity. Very few ambitious people could abandon chances to make further progress constantly, except for Zhang Tie. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s not an ambitious person as he has no liking for power and social status. He''s a real virtuous man! He''s qualified to have gentle light. Zhang Tie cares most about the feelings of his familiar ones and does not feel regretful about it. It''s the good luck of Hua people, especially Your Majesty to have such a virtuous divine dominator. Your Majesty, you should treasure him..."


    "Thanks, Mr. Fang. I see!" Crown prince slowly let out a sigh. After being hesitant for a few seconds, he continued, "I''ve considered about one thing for a long time; however, I couldn''t make a decision about it. As Zhang Tie has not fully recovered, it''s inconvenient for me to negotiate with him in case he feels I''m in hurry for profits and kick down the ladder too fast. Take this national banquet as an instance, so many people would like to approach Zhang Tie with their eyes closely on fiery oil. As fiery oil is even more important than all-purpose medicament, if it''s fully under control of Zhang family, I''m afraid..."


    "Your Majesty, do you really feel that fiery oil is completely under control of Zhang family?" The literatus in green robe asked with a smile as he said calmly, "Your Majesty, you could get as much fiery oil as you want if you go for Lord Guangnan and the head of Heavenly Fortune Sect. Two years later, more major sects would be able to produce fiery oil. How could you say it''s under control of only one family? As it''s too eye-catching, even if Zhang family would like to manage it alone, I''m afraid that Zhang Tie would not agree with it. Given this point, we could see that Zhang Mushen is pretty wise¡ª¡ªwhen he doesn''t intend to compete with others, nobody else could defeat him!"


    "What about the future..."


    The literatus in green robe slightly wove his feathered fan as he said, "Zhang Tie''s 14 kids have arrived at Xuanyuan Hill. He has 17 kids now, 3 of them are in Heavenly Fortune Sect. They''re very clever and were born to have a leakless body. They would grow mature in a few years. The 3 boys are destined to promote to knights at about 20. All the other 14 kids are about 6-7 years old. 12 of them are sons; 2 are daughters. I remember that Your Majesty also has a lot of sons and daughters, most of whom are as young as Zhang Tie''s kids. More kids among the imperial households are as young as Zhang Tie''s kids. Your Majesty, you don''t need to worry about the future at all. The profit of fiery oil might only be your domestic affairs in the future..."


    After being silent for a couple of seconds, the crown prince instantly thought it through as he burst into laughter, "Mr. Fang''s words really enlightened me..."


    "Your Majesty, you could use fiery oil to stabilize the foundation of Taixia Country and strengthen the overall strength of the country so as to defend demons. Additionally, you could use it to manage the other continents and subcontinents, which would be the rich assets for Your Majesty to ascend to the throne of Hua emperor in the future..."


    "How to manage it?"


    "Zhang Tie''s elder brother Zhang Yang manages Jinwu Business Group. He''s able, young and enterprising. After Han Zhengfang''s real identity was exposed, Gold and Power Law declined greatly and was repelled by all the other major sects of Taixia Country. Now, the leadership of Gold and Power Law has been transferred to Your Majesty. You could entrust Zhang Yang with an important post in Gold and Power Law and the imperial court. By then, given the brotherhood between Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie, Your Majesty could use either of them as you wish. You could use fiery oil to manage the other continents and subcontinents with the help of Zhang Tie. Even if you don''t control fiery oil, you could still gain benefits from it..." The literatus in green robe said seriously.


    Crown prince let out a sigh with feeling, "It''s really Changying''s good luck to gain the assistance of Mr. Fang!"


    The literatus in green robe then slightly lowered his body towards the crown prince as he said, "The sky is unlimited for birds to fly at ease as the ocean is boundless for fish to leap at will. It''s also Qingming''s good luck to serve Your Majesty!"


    The crown prince burst into laughter out of ambition...


    ...


    After Zhang Tie left the crown prince''s room, he found his wives had already left the lounge and entered the ball in the rear courtroom of Anyan Palace. Zhang Tie smiled as he shook his head and entered the rear courtroom.


    Before he entered the rear courtroom of Anyan Palace, the euphonious sound of violin had drifted into his ears. After passing the corridor, Zhang Tie felt bright in front at once.


    The rear courtroom of Anyan Palace was completely different than that of the front courtroom¡ª¡ªFountain spraying water drops, beautiful royal Hua courtyard, pagoda-shaped crystal lamps, snow-white tablecloth, pastries and drinks on tables, shuttling waiters, beauties of different races and those gentlemen who were talking with each other.


    When Zhang Tie entered the ball and was looking for his wives, a slightly fat guy in swallowtail rapidly passed by a waiter and two groups of people and took the preoccupancy. Like a boxer, he dexterously passed by some guys who were approaching Zhang Tie and appeared in front of Zhang Tie with a big smile.


    "Hi, Your Excellency Zhang Tie. Firstly, please allow me to extend my sincere thanks to your brilliant meritorious services above the bank of Weishui River!" This man in swallowtail slightly bowed towards Zhang Tie elegantly. Before straightening up his body, he started to introduce himself, "Secondly, please allow me to introduce myself to you. I''m Mayers, the plenipotentiary diplomatic ambassador of Rhesa Republic in Xuanyuan Hill..."


    Zhang Tie looked at this "guinea pig" as he revealed a smile and stretched out his hand to greet him like how westerners usually did, "It''s my pleasure to meet you, Mr. Mayers. My teachers Zerom and Captain Kerlin have mentioned to me about you!"

 1446 The Focus of the Ball

    "It''s my great honor!" Mayers'' smile grew more brilliant after hearing that Zhang Tie had heard his name. He then clenched Zhang Tie''s hands and waved them forcefully as he said, "Your Excellency, if you like, you could also call my Hua name¡ª¡ªMai Aihua..."


    Bai Suxian told Zhang Tie that the diplomatic ambassadors of foreign countries in Taixia Country always had a Hua name. Even those foreign imperial households who usually lived in Xuanyuan Hill had Hua names in order to Hua culture. It was popular for dignitaries and foreigners in Xuanyuan Hill to have a Hua name. However, Zhang Tie almost burst into laughter when he heard this touchy-feely Hua name of this "guinea pig".


    Rhesa Republic''s plenipotentiary diplomatic ambassador in Xuanyuan Hill was interesting, of course for Zhang Tie. Each person displayed his or her different side in front of different people. Perhaps this interesting guy would become as high, cold and forbidding as an iceberg in front of Milton the deputy speaker of Nordinham Commercial Federation.


    "I prefer to call you Mayers. I lived in Waii Subcontinent when I was young. Therefore, it''s not difficult for me to remember your name. I might not adapt to it if I have to call your Hua name!" Zhang Tie said casually. When he saw a beautiful waiter coming over here, he waved his hand as he got a glass of wine from her tray.


    "After knowing General Mushen''s meritorious services above the bank of Weishui River, His Majesty Sparta, also the national saint of Rhesa Republic once contacted me. He wanted me to extend his sublime thanks to you and your family members for what you''ve done for humans in the holy war on behalf of him and Rhesa Republic, to your parents who could cultivate such a great knight, to your family members for supporting you to contribute to the country at the risk of your life on the frontline at home and in your territory; your light of knight not only gloried Weishui River, but also Western Continent; your events and meritorious services inspire the human fighters and knights who were fighting demons in the frontline greatly; your existence bring hope and confidence to many people!"


    Watching Mayers speaking so seriously, Zhang Tie felt pretty pleasant even though he knew that most of his words were diplomatic parlance and were overexaggerated. At least his words sounded much better than that of Fang Keyan who wanted him to expose the recipe of fiery oil to the public on behalf of people and righteousness.


    The Rhesa Republic was a big nation that could match the Sacred Light Empire on the Western Continent. According to the tradition of Western Continent, like how people in Taixia Country called shadow knight hermit and heavenly knight immortal, any shadow knight could be called His Highness and any heavenly knight could be called His Majesty on the Western Continent. As Sparta the national saint of Rhesa Republic was a heavenly knight, it was not contradictory to the national system to call him His Majesty. It could be one of the features of the Western Continent. The national saint was the No. 1 knight of Rhesa Republic and the nominal supreme military commander of Rhesa Republic.


    Zhang Tie touched Mayers'' glass as he said, "Please extend my sincere greeting to His Majesty Sparta on behalf of me!"


    "I will convey it to him for sure!" Mayers looked at Zhang Tie with brilliant eyes as he added, "As an essential and just human power in the holy war, Rhesa Republic would like to be the solitary friend and partner of General Mushen on Western Continent. I believe that His Majesty Sparta would definitely share more topics with the general. If the general is convenient, we welcome the general to pay an official visit to the Rhesa Republic in any identity!"


    "It''s said that Rhesa Republic is proficient in wine!" Zhang Tie said with a smile as he had a sip of wine, "After this national banquet, I would stay a few more days in Xuanyuan Hill. After that, I would return to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory..."


    If Mayers couldn''t understand such an explicit indication, he could go die. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Mayers'' eyes instantly turned bright like bulbs. He immediately said, "I''ve got some bottles of top-notch wine produced from Salvador Manor, Rhesa Republic in the embassy. I wonder whether the general is free tomorrow or not? If you''re free tomorrow, I could carry those wines to the general''s manor for your taste..."


    "You''re welcome!"


    Mayers felt pleasant as he had almost reached his target so easily. After looking around those counterparts who were casting covet at them, Mayers touched Zhang Tie''s glass once again before leaving him.


    At this moment, if Mayers "occupied" Zhang Tie''s time all the way, he would definitely arouse the fury of the public.


    Zhang Tie had already caught sight of Bai Suxian, who was surrounded by a group of women over 100 m away. The other wives of Zhang Tie were also being surrounded by ladies. The moment Zhang Tie smiled and was going to stride towards them, another guy in swallowtail had appeared in front of him with a big smile.


    "Your Excellency Zhang Tie, I''m Copernicus the plenipotentiary diplomatic ambassador of German Empire on Western Continent in Xuanyuan Hill..."


    ...


    It took Zhang Tie 20 minutes to only reach half of the distance between him and his wives. After Mayers left him, diplomatic ambassadors from Western Continent came for him one after another like making a pilgrimage.


    Each foreign diplomatic ambassador in Xuanyuan Hill only took Zhang Tie''s 1-2 minutes. However, as there were so many foreign diplomatic ambassadors, he felt overwhelmed.


    The moment the diplomatic ambassador of Barbarian Federation on the Western Continent left him, another man had walked over here with a big smile. Right then, Zhang Tie saw a woman smiling at him in a bizarre way on one side of the ball, with a glass of wine in hand.


    "Your Excellency, Zhang Tie, it''s my great honor to see you, I''m..."


    "Excuse me..."


    Zhang Tie became hesitant for a second before revealing a smile. After putting down his glass, he dropped off that man who had come to his front. He then turned around and strode towards that woman.


    Under the amazed gaze of all the others, Zhang Tie passed by a corridor and the crowd with a smile. After coming to the side of that woman, he extended his sincerity to that woman like what a gentleman usually did, "Could I invite the beautiful flower of knights of Francia Empire to have a dance?"


    Watching Zhang Tie coming over, Cecilia revealed a smile too. She then put down her glass and stretched out a hand towards Zhang Tie before saying, "It''s my pleasure!"


    Zhang Tie then held her hand and came to the ball with her before having an elegant Waltz.


    There was a philharmonic society beside the ball. Only 4-5 groups of people were dancing in the ball. The moment Zhang Tie and Cecilia entered the ball, they had become the focus; however, they didn''t care about others'' eye light at all.


    Like comrades-in-arms who had fought demons together in the earth-element realm, when they encountered each other again after a long time, of course, they would never care about others'' eyesight.


    "I almost failed to recognize you..." Zhang Tie told Cecilia.


    "Do you think that I have to wear armor and helmet? I could absolutely treat your words as discrimination on a woman!" Cecilia smiled as she looked at Zhang Tie for a few more seconds seriously and said, "You look much more handsome and lovable than Cui Li. No wonder so many women like you..."


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh, "Cecilia, if you''ve said so a few years earlier, I would never let Bolam grab you, the beautiful flower of knights of Francia Empire, away so easily even at the risk of being caught by the supreme court! Oh, would Bolam feel jealous of me after knowing that I danced with her wife here?"


    "It''s not late..." Cecilia raised her mouth corners.


    "Come on. I''m born to be timid. I dare never sleep with others'' wives!" Zhang Tie said with a sad look in exchange for Cecilia''s smile.


    "How could a divine dominator who could kill a heavenly demon knight by striking him 9 times with a rode be timid on such an issue? Do you know how Bolam talks about you? He said you''re absolutely an existence for destroying other knights'' confidence!"


    "Is Bolam good? When I contacted him last time, he said he had already become a father. I''ve not congratulated you yet!"


    "We''re both fine!" Cecilia replied as she lowered her head to look at the collar of her dress and said bashfully, "But I indeed wore less this time as this bobtail''s collar is too low. If not dress like this, the ambassador of Francia Empire would never bring me to this national banquet..."


    "You''ve been assigned to Xuanyuan Hill?"


    "I came here 3 days ago. Guess what I''m here for?" Cecilia covered her smile as she looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes seriously.


    "Fiery oil?"


    "The battle situation of Taixia Country in Western Theater of Operations attracts the attention of so many countries. Everybody is paying heed to the movement of the army of Taixia Country and knows that fiery-oil weapons and the air cavalries of Taixia Country could defend ground demon forces and air demon corps. Any human country that doesn''t want to wait for extermination is trying their best to get fiery oil! As I know you, I proposed to come here to meet you..." Cecilia sighed too before looking straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes, saying, "Francia Empire needs your help. Francia could pay everything within its reach for fiery oil!"

 1447 End and Star

    The sky had been covered with stars when Zhang Tie and his wives left Anyan Palace on the red carpet.


    Not until he got on the vehicle did Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh.


    Zhang Tie felt pretty tired dealing with so many people in such a societal situation. It felt even more tiring than fighting demons.


    Zhan Tie couldn''t remember how many people had he dealt with during the past 2.5 hours. Actually, he was surrounded by people in the whole process.


    Many people in the ball didn''t know that Zhang Tie had known Cecilia and fought demons with her in the earth-elements realm. After seeing that Zhang Tie invited Cecilia for a dance, many people had figured out Zhang Tie''s "hobby". Therefore, more and more beauties appeared on Zhang Tie''s side later on.


    Lords'' wives, queens, princesses, grand duchesses, ambassadors'' wives and beautiful knight-level female military officers made Zhang Tie confused.


    Watching more and more beauties around Zhang Tie, more and more people felt that Zhang Tie liked various beauties.


    In this case, even though Zhang Tie wanted to explain that the relationship between him and Cecilia was not as what others imagined, nobody might believe him. Through this national banquet, Zhang Tie estimated that his "dissolute" temperament would go abroad and spread over all the continents and subcontinents.


    Zhang Tie was really mistaken this time.


    "Who''s that foxtrel who blocked you and whispered to you beside the fountain when we left the rear courtroom? She was so close to you and purposefully pushed your arm using her breasts while moving her lips on your tears. When she left you, she even licked your ear and almost wanted to swallow you. I''ve seen that..." Bai Suxian hugged Zhang Tie''s army as she asked him in a spoiled way.


    Soon after Zhang Tie leaned against the comfortable back of the back seat and watched the vehicle being started, he had been surrounded by his wives for an "interrogation".


    As Zhang Tie had been surrounded by too many beauties at the ball, even his wives felt jealous about that.


    "Which one are you referring to? I''ve no impression of her..." Zhang Tie said as she kneaded his temple.


    Zhang Tie really couldn''t remember it. During the 2.5 hours'' ball, over 20 beauties had whispered to him. Although being in Anyan Palace of Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie felt being surrounded by those girls of Rose Association back in Blackhot City.


    "That blonde in red low-collar ceremonial robe!" Fiona pouted her mouth too as she added, "That woman is too shameless. I saw that she came here with her husband, arm in arm. How could she seduce you in the end..."


    "Don''t be stupid, Fiona. I''ve also seen her entering the ball with a fat old man. That old man might have long been paid head to Zhang Tie. Perhaps he told her to seduce Zhang Tie..." Beverly said scornfully.


    "Why?"


    "Nothing is impossible. As for some men, a woman is nothing serious compared to what they could acquire from Zhang Tie. In some countries, even after getting married, male and female could still have lovers respectively. Even if their women bring their lovers back home, they would not mind it either; instead, those men might leave home for a drink, leaving the bathroom and bedroom to their wives and the lovers of their wives..."


    Zhang Tie racked his mind as he finally got that woman in his mind. Her perfume was very special and seductive. Her white rabbits were also very plump, which almost jumped out of the collar of her red ceremonial robe. Not until the ball came to an end did that woman get a chance to approach him and have a brief chat with him. What counted most was that the woman allured him too evidently, "She might be a queen of Phila Kingdom in Canaan Subcontinent. She even appointed me to have a drink with her in her villa in Xuanyuan Hill..."


    Canaan Subcontinent was similar to Waii Subcontinent in size, with an ocean in between. It''s in the south of Taixia Country. The Phila Kingdom was just a middle-level country in this subcontinent. Only a few clans had knights in this country. With such a humble background, Phila Kingdom''s queen and king were destined to be trivial costars on such an occasion. When Zhang Tie was surrounded by representatives of more powerful countries, the representative of Phila Kingdom was not even qualified to approach him. Of course, she could only catch a chance to have a brief chat with Zhang Tie when the ball was coming to an end.


    "Shameless..."


    "Foxtrel!"


    "Drink what? I''m afriad that that woman wants to drink your ''tea''..."


    Zhang Tie''s wives instantly pouted. As the last woman teased Zhang Tie too evidently, she irritated all of Zhang Tie''s wives at present. They might not mind Zhang Tie being dissolute occasionally as his wives were fewer than that of common knights. Actually, Zhang Tie actually didn''t have a liking for sex. However, they minded it very much when other women seduced Zhang Tie too evidently in front of them, which was actually violating their private territory as women.


    "Don''t be jealous anymore. As a queen, she would do whatever she could for her country, family, social status and what she cares about at this moment!" Zhang Tie shook his head as he comforted his wives.


    Actually, Zhang Tie didn''t look down upon those women who approached him and wanted to tease him; instead, he felt sympathetic and pitiful about them. Zhang Tie knew what those women wanted and prepared to sacrifice. Most of the women were just men''s tools or at most a piece on this occasion no matter how brilliant they were and how valuable their jewelry was.


    "Won''t you taste these foreign beauties?" Bai Suxian whispered to Zhang Tie as she slightly moved her lips on Zhang Tie''s ear, licking Zhang Tie''s auricle like how those women teased Zhang Tie in the ball and causing his ear itchy, "It''s said that wives cannot match concubines and concubines couldn''t match mistresses. How could you be not interested in that with so many beauties around you? I suggest Elder Sister Yan to accompany you on similar occasions in the future. With Elder Sister Yan on your side, no other woman would dare to approach you..."


    "Interest in what? After attending this national banquet, I''ve already returned a favor the o crown prince. Additionally, I''ve been fed up with Xuanyuan Hill and don''t want to stay here anymore. Let''s go back to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory after I deal with some things..." Zhan Tie said with a smile.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all his wives cheered up.


    As for these women, they didn''t feel Xuanyuan Hill was better than Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Therefore, the news that they were going back to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory drove them ecstatic.


    Watching his wives'' excited looks, Zhang Tie leaned against the back of his seat as he looked at the roof of the vehicle. He was thinking about what happened just now. Although it was a national banquet, it was actually circling around fiery oil. The performance of fiery-oil weapons in the Western Theater of Operations had showed "travelers" in "desert" a sweet spring. As a result, those countries facing the threat of demons on the Western Continent and those subcontinents charged at him, ignoring any result and their images...


    Zhang Tie had long predicted about this result; however, he had not imagined that the tide of fiery oil could arrive so fiercely.


    Over 2 years, fiery oil had not been fully spread over Taixia Country; however, this tide had rolled over the entire human world in an overwhelming manner along with his rising reputation after his heroic deed at Weishui River...


    Honestly, Zhang Tie had not thought through how to make good use of this opportunity. Therefore, he was a bit passive.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie suddenly realize that he lacked a wise and insighted adviser.


    How could he find such a person?


    ...


    After returning to Qianji Manor and having a short communication with his elder brother and Elder Muyuan in his study room, Zhang Tie had known that Zhang Yang and Elder Muyuan had a similar encounter in the ball. Those foreign women who approached Zhang Yang didn''t go for Zhang Tie anymore. Elder Muyuan was surrounded by many high-level officials and their relatives, who inquired about the marriage of Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang. Some relatives of officials even proposed to unite Zhang Tie by marrying their kids...


    Zhang Tie told Zhang Yang and Elder Muyuan how the crown prince got rid of Fang Keyan and what Meng Shidao had promised him in front of the crown prince.


    After hearing that the crown prince treated Fang Keyan as a remnant of Heavens Reaching Church, Elder Muyuan shook his eyebrows as he finally became reassured. After hearing that Meng Shidao had promised that the Gobbling Party would not interfere with the Northeast Military Region, Elder Muyuan dropped off tears as he quivered his lips at once.


    "Since Lord Huaiyuan was forced by the Gobbling Party to leave for Waii Subcontinent about 100 years ago, Huaiyuan Palace had been covered by the shadow of Gobbling Party. Even though we''re back to Taixia Country, we would still behave meticulously as if treading on eggs. The name "Meng Shidao" was always like a mountain on the top of Huaiyuan Palace. Elder Mushen kicked off the mountain and stood up to him equally. If Lord Huaiyuan''s soul knows it, it would also smile. From today on, Huaiyuan Palace''s disciples could finally hold our heads high; instead of being troubled by the Gobbling Party. Thank you so much, Mushen!" Elder Muyuan said as he stood up and bowed towards Zhang Tie deeply.


    "Don''t do that! Don''t do that! Elder Muyuan, you make me embarrassed!" Zhang Tie hurriedly helped Elder Muyuan to stand up, and said, "As the grand elder and descendant of Huaiyuan Palace. It''s my responsibility to protect the fame of Huaiyuan Palace''s forebear and make the disciples of Huaiyuan Palace feel no regret!"


    "This is really a good news for Huaiyuan Palace. I will notice the clan head and all the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace right away!" Elder Muyuan said as he started to send messages to them.


    ...


    Deep night, inside a backroom of the Youzhou Provincial Governor''s Mansion, Youzhou City...


    After sensing the spiritual wave, Zhang Taixuan, who was holding a top-class water-element crystal and absorbing it, immediately opened his eyes...


    Lowering his head, Zhang Taixuan looked at the remote-sensing crystal finger ring which was exclusive to him, the head of Huaiyuan Palace, as his eyelight changed slightly. Only after a few seconds, he closed his eyes and continued to cultivate.


    However, in less than 5 minutes, Zhang Taixuan''s eyelids had quivered a couple of times. At the same time, the veins on his hand bulged as his blood meridian went wild grimly. Closely after that, he broke that precious water-element crystal into pieces.


    The broken crystals tore his palm, causing his palm to bleed heavily. Zhang Taixuan opened his eyes again. After throwing a distant glance at his bleeding palm, he let out a deep sigh as he ended his cultivation. Putting his hands on his back, he tightly clenched his bleeding palm and exited the backroom.


    There was a garden outside the backroom. It was pretty tranquil outside there. He was in the forbidden region of the provincial governor''s manor. The bright moonlight filled the void, dwarfing the sea of stars.


    The nightscape was pretty good. With hands crossed on his back, Zhang Taixuan looked up at the sky with a dismal eyelight. He muttered inside, "A shadow knight and divine dominator at his 30s could kill a heavenly demon knight by striking it 9 times with a rod, convince the owner of Fantasy Women Palace and force the Gobbling Party to retreat Northeast Military Region; the main character in the national banquet held by the crown prince who controls fiery oil and all-purpose medicaments. Why? Why?" Zhang Taixuan moved that palm being covered with minor injuries and blood in front of him and opened it before saying, "I am the owner of Huaiyuan Palace. I should be the most powerful one in Huaiyuan Palace. Why am I dwarfed so much by you as the head of Huaiyuan Palace and the Youzhou provincial governor..."


    The injuries were like wide open bloody mouths on the faces of clowns, which were jibing something in a hilarious expression. The colorful finger ring reflected the moonlight.


    At the sight of the gloomy light reflected on the finger ring, Zhang Taixuan''s eye light turned fathomless.


    A black shadow had already appeared behind Zhang Taixuan as it knelt down on the ground by one knee.


    "How''s that going?" Zhang Taixuan asked calmly without turning around.


    "It''s all in the control of you, my master. You could let it come to an end whenever you want..." The black shadow said in a muffled voice.


    "You can leave. Don''t make any movement without my consent..."


    "Yes, sir!"


    The black shadow disappeared out of the void in a split second.


    Zhang Taixuan looked up at the bright moons again as his eye light became icy this time...

 1448 Ambassadorss Visit to Qianji Manor

    At 10 am next morning, a black limo with the license of a foreign embassy which could access to the emperor''s imperial city drove into Qianji Manor.


    After the vehicle parked, Mayers the plenipotentiary diplomatic ambassador of Rhesa Republic in Xuanyuan Hill got off the vehicle, followed by well-dressed Zerom and Captain Kerlin as well as a bald shrewd man at his 50s who behaved most meticulously among them.


    No sooner did they get off the vehicle than Captain Kerlin was shocked by the magnificence of Qianji Manor as he looked around this luxurious former imperial garden with eyes wide open.


    "This is where Zhang Tie lives in Xuanyuan Hill. Ahh, Zerom, look at that goldfish sprouting water in the fountain. It seems to be carved with a piece of top-notch red cloud crystal. How much would it cost?" Captain Kerlin couldn''t help but exclaim in a low voice.


    "Ahem...ahem..."


    After hearing Zerom''s coughs, Captain Kerlin instantly shut up, being on alert, as if he was an experienced one on such an occasion.


    When they got off the vehicle, another black limo with the license of a foreign embassy in Xuanyuan Hill drove into Qianji Manor and parked beside them. Closely after that, the plenipotentiary diplomatic ambassador of Barbarian Federation on Western Continent got off his vehicle.


    Barbarian Federation reminded people of barbarians on Western Continent. However, in Xuanyuan Hill, the plenipotentiary diplomatic ambassador of Barbarian Federation in a pair of glasses looked like a decent professor whose hair was so smooth and shiny that even flies could barely stand steadily on it.


    Therefore, it depended on whom the barbarian faced.


    The two parties were a bit shocked to see each other here. After throwing a glance at each other, the two ambassadors smiled as they nodded towards each other.


    On the Western Continent, although adjoining with Barbarian Federation, Rhesa Republic was not harmonious with the latter. Over the past 100 years, divisions of valleys and rivers and the cross-border of the herds of Barbarian Federation always caused skirmishes. However, no big wars had ever broken out between them. Additionally, the two powers carried the same attitude towards the Sacred Light Empire.


    ...


    "Please follow me..." A knight-level imperial guard in Qianji Manor came over here and led them towards the parlor after glancing at them carefully and nodding towards them.


    "Ahh, Zerom, I feel this guide is a knight?" Captain Kerlin whispered to Zerom in Hebrew.


    "Nothing strange at all. Zhang Tie today is not the very one yesterday. You need to adapt to it..." Zerom let out a deep sigh.


    After a short while, after passing by a porch twisting in a garden, the 5 people finally came to a parlor and met Zhang Tie.


    "Mr. Zerom, Mr. Kerlin, what''s up?" Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he got downstairs. Under the gaze of the other 3 people especially the amazed look of Gula the ambassador of Barbarian Federation, Zhang Tie hugged Zerom and Kerlin before shaking hands with Gula. After that, Zhang Tie fixated onto the middle-aged man.


    "Your Majesty, I''m Milton the deputy speaker of Nordinham Commercial Federation..." Milton smiled like a Pekingese, a smart Pekingese while Mayers looked like a guinea pig and Gula looked like a professor in Zhang Tie''s manor.


    "I''m not the tsar of Sacred Iceland Kingdom anymore..." Zhang Tie said with a smile as he shook his head.


    "On Western Continent, heavenly knights could be called His Majesty. Although being a shadow knight, you already killed a heavenly demon knight; therefore, you''re already Your Majesty in my heart..."


    His flattery made Zhang Tie bashful. Captain Kerlin watched Milton with widely open eyes as if it was his first time to meet him. The other two ambassadors just maintained their smiles as if they had been used to similar things.


    The moment they entered the parlor, they had caught sight of a map of the countries in the southwest of Western Continent on a table in the middle of the parlor.


    After entering the parlor, Zhang Tie directly pointed at that map as he told Mayers, Milton and Gula straightforwardly, "I want Zerom to become a member of the parliament of Nordinham Commercial Federation and Kerlin to become the general of Nordinham Commercial Federation. You could share your good means and suggestions here. As my parents are happy to meet my two teachers from Blackhot City, I would take my two teachers to the rear house for a short talk. I will come back after you make your decision..."


    After saying that, Zhang Tie directly drew dumbfounded Zerom and Captain Kerlin out of the parlor, ignoring the other three.


    Although being always sober-minded, Zerom was also driven flurried by Zhang Tie this time. He knew that the fates of him and Kerlin would come to a turning point after meeting Zhang Tie; however, he had not imagined that it could exceed their mental expectations so much.


    Zerom should at least have a private city before becoming a member of parliament of Nordinham Commercial Federation.


    Whereas, Zhang Tie directly left this question to the 3 people in the parlor as if it was a trivial matter.


    "Is...is...it proper?" Zerom finally couldn''t wait to ask Zhang Tie out of excitement after leaving the parlor for a long distance.


    "Mr. Zerom, I''m sparing them a chance to show their sincerity to me out of respect. If you don''t believe, you could go try to drive them away in the excuse that I was joking them and see whether they would leave or not!" Zhang Tie said as he moved ahead, "Additionally, I believe in your abilities. It''s not hard for you to manage a city in Nordinham Commercial Federation! Nobody would know his future. I didn''t know that I could reach this step when in Blackhot City either."


    "We...I and Kerlin might not be able to rule so many people!"


    "Do you feel that anyone dare find you trouble now? After knowing the relationship between you and me, the Rhesa Republic and Barbarian Federation would root for you even if I was not on the Western Continent. Nobody across Nordinham Commercial Federation would dare find you trouble anymore..."


    "What do you want us to do for you?"


    Zhang Tie stopped walking at once as he turned around and revealed a smile at Zerom and Kerlin, "Just treat it as my investment in you. A pure commercial investment. I believe in your abilities and my insight. You''re my partners. You will share the profit with me using your wisdom and abilities, 50/50, how about that?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zerom and Kerlin exchanged a glance with each other as they let out a sigh of relief at the same time.


    ...


    In the parlor, the three people remained silent for 5 minutes after Zhang Tie, Zerom and Kerlin left there.


    The two ambassadors of Rhesa Republic and Barbarian Federation didn''t open their mouths; instead, they just looked at the map with glaring eyes as they contacted their domestic superiors by pressing their remote-sensing finger rings. Milton the deputy speaker of Nordinham Commercial Federation could only stand aside silently. As for Nordinham Commercial Federation, Rhesa Republic and Barbarian Federation were both giants that they couldn''t offend and their most important business partners.


    Finally, Mayers the plenipotentiary diplomatic ambassador of Rhesa Republic in Xuanyuan Hill broke the silence, "Ahem...ahem...I feel we could have a win-win plan¡ª¡ªsolving the long-term problem at the border by this opportunity!"


    "I agree with you. As major powers on Western Continent, I think it''s not good for Rhesa Republic and Barbarian Federation to adjoin with each other due to some historical reasons. Hereby, I feel it''s not bad to establish a reliable independent country between us so as to separate our border!"


    "Jurisprudentially, Frandiland Empire should be Zhang Tie''s private territory. Our Rhesa Republic root for Zhang Tie''s legal ownership of Frandiland Empire."


    "Our Barbarian Federation will also support Zhang Tie''s legal ownership of Frandiland Empire. If an economic corridor was established here to connect Frandiland Empire with Nordinham Commercial Federation, it would definitely bring benefits to all parties..."


    ...


    Zhang Tie''s parents were pretty happy to meet Zerom and Kerlin after knowing that they were Zhang Tie''s teachers in Blackhot City. They were too passionate that Zerom and Kerlin almost couldn''t bear it.


    Those who had no similar experience in meeting fellow-countrymen in a foreign country could never understand Zhang Tie''s parents'' feeling at this moment.


    Zerom and Kerlin were also very happy to meet Zhang Tie''s parents. Being affected by Zhang Tie''s passionate family members, Zerom and Kerlin finally defused their last bit tension.


    ...


    In fewer than 1 hour, the final plan had been worked out when Zhang Tie, Zerom and Captain Kerlin returned to the parlor.


    Mayers and Gula had already drafted a document and a joint statement...


    The moment Zhang Tie, Zerom and Captain Kerlin returned to the parlor, the two ambassadors had given the drafts of their document and joint statement to Zhang Tie...

 1449 Fiery Oil! Fiery Oil!

    In the draft of the document, the Rhesa Republic, Barbarian Federation and Frandiland Empire divided their boundaries once again. According to the new plan, two countries would cede some land to establish an economic corridor between the north of Frandiland Empire and Nordinham Federation. Additionally, the two countries invested to build a city in this economic corridor before gifting it to Zerom and Kerlin. Nordinham Commercial Federation then adopted this city as a member of their federation.


    After browsing the document and the joint statement, Zhang Tie nodded. Closely after that, he gave them to Zerom and Kerlin. Kerlin immediately shook his head as he gave the document to Zerom. After skimming over it, Zerom nodded as he subdued his excitement...


    Now that Zerom nodded, it meant that this thing had been done.


    "We need to fix something in this document. You don''t need to pay for this city. I will pay for it. After it is established, the new city would become one of the largest fiery oil production bases on the Western Continent!" Zhang Tie said as he flicked at the map. As of now, Zhang Tie didn''t care about the cost of a city anymore. What Zhang Tie wanted was the peaceful and modest attitude of the Rhesa Republic and Barbarian Federation. After the opponents showed their sincerity, Zhang Tie didn''t want to gain any extra advantage from them at all. He then added, "Haven''t the Rhesa Republic and Barbarian Federation started to build fiery oil production bases in their countries since the end of last year?"


    Mayers and Gula exchanged a glance with each other.


    "Erm...let me explain it for you. Countries on Western Continent are actually focusing on the battle situation facing the Western Theater of Operations of Taixia Country; especially the usage of fiery oil weapons on the battlefield!" Mayers pretended to cough twice as he added, "It''s also one of my major works in Taixia Country. After receiving the intelligence through legit channels that Taixia Country wiped out the army of 200,000 demons at the bank of Weishui River and the great meritorious services that the air cavalries troops of Taixia Country made in the air, I sent the intelligence back to my superior. After that, I got a command¡ª¡ªget the design drawing of the fiery oil production base in Taixia Country. Ahem...ahem...General Mushen, you know that the fiery oil production bases in Taixia Country adopt mature alcohol production skills. There''s almost no difference between the main production procedures of fiery oil and that of alcohol production. There''s actually no confidence in production engineering across bases. As long as an insider takes a round in the base, he would master it and provide the design drawing. The key in the base is actually the enzyme inside the core fermentation device. There''re so many fiery oil production bases and attendants across Taixia Country, we could barely keep confidence for the design drawing of fiery oil production base at all. In the latter half of last year, we could already buy it through some semi-open channels in the circle of diplomats in Xuanyuan Hill. In the beginning, the price for one set of design drawing was 500,000 gold coins; later on, it dropped to 20,000 gold coins. I only spent 50,000 gold coins for a fiery oil production base which could produce 100 tons of fiery oil annually. I''ve already sent it back to my country..."


    "Actually, countries on the Western Continent hold the same opinion!" Gula the diplomatic ambassador of Barbarian Federation said, "As for fiery oil, a strategic resource that could determine the overall situation facing humans in the holy war, we prefer to build a fiery oil production base in advance and wait for core fermentation device. The earlier we could produce fiery oil, the earlier fiery oil weapons would appear on the battlefield on Western Continent. The earlier fiery oil weapons we could produce, the more human fighters would be saved. I believe that General Mushen could understand it well. Those who most need fiery oil weapons are numerous low-level human fighters. Fiery oil weapons are their support in fighting demons. As for fighters of Barbarian Federation, as long as those fighters could have an incendiary grenade, any of them would dare pose a challenge to an army of LV 9 demons. Because our fighters know that they might kill a demon with that incendiary grenade. With this support, they would not be afraid of death..."


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside. Last night, Cecilia had told him that the Western Continent had started to build fiery oil production bases. Actually, besides the Rhesa Republic and Barbarian Federation, Francia Empire, Sacred Light Empire and almost all the other middle- and large-sized countries on the Western Continent were building fiery oil production bases. All the powers were trying building fiery oil production bases even though these bases might get rusty due to a shortage of enzyme. In addition, many foreign countries had already bought I and II air cavalries and their dual-drive engines, of course, for reverse development, revamping and planning their layout on airplanes production capacity as soon as possible.


    Compared to fiery oil production, plane production was much easier; because plane production could almost be completed based on the existing industrial production conditions. Basically, any country which was able to produce buses could produce planes.


    Cecilia also told him that some countries on the Western Continent had long produced planes and many dual-drive engines. They were all waiting for fiery oil. According to the latest intelligence from Western Theater of Operations, countries on the Western Continent had already had volunteers accept training of air cavalries in Western Theater of Operations, Taixia Country. After receiving training, most of them would establish air cavalry regiments on behalf of their own countries in the Western Theater of Operations so as to help Taixia Country defend demons while the rest would return to their own countries on the Western Continent.


    It was a trade. Taixia Country helped countries on Western Continent cultivate air cavalries as the latter had their students help Taixia Country fight demons.


    Fiery oil and fiery oil weapons were spreading over the human world in an overwhelming way. At the same time, they would cause a series of revolutions. Those countries and powers which missed this round of revolutions might be lagged behind by the train of development and become the pronoun of annihilation in this holy war.


    After being silent for a second, Zhang Tie watched the two diplomatic ambassadors as he said, "I know that the Rhesa Republic and Barbarian Federation have already started to build fiery oil production bases domestically since last year. As a return, I would provide each of you core fermentation devices that could produce 1 million tons of fiery oil annually in the early stage so that you could produce fiery oil this year. As for the mode of cooperation, we could refer to that between Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and the other major sects in Taixia Country. It''s the most preferential condition that I could promise for Western Continent. Furthermore, I''ve got a hard requirement for you. All the fiery oil weaponry that you produce could only be used to fight demons; instead of fighting hostile human forces in your countries or other human countries. Bear it in mind! If I found that you''ve violated this rule, I would stop the cooperation right away forever!"


    Hearing that Zhang Tie was going to build the city and make it the largest fiery oil production base on the Western Continent in the future, Mayers and Gula exchanged a glance out of excitement. When they heard Zhang Tie''s compensation, they bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie sincerely at the same time as they subdued their excitement.


    "Our Barbarian Federation will never forget our friend who provided us assistance at the critical moment. Such a friend is more like our brother and blood-tied relative in our eyes!" Gula said as he hammered his own chest by the right hand, which was the most official etiquette for Barbarian Federation.


    "This friendship is irresistible. Our Rhesa Republic would maintain it forever!" Mayers also said seriously.


    Zhang Tie nodded at them. After that, he fixated onto Milton the deputy speaker of Nordinham Commercial Federation as he said with a smile, "In order to extend my thanks to your care of my two teachers, you could gain a quota of 100,000 tons fiery oil each year after the fiery oil production base in the new city is put into operation!"


    After being silent for a second, Milton became thrilled. If 100,000 tons of fiery oil were used to produce weapons, he could also make a lot by selling them. Importantly, he could contact Zhang Tie, who would bring him a constant profit.


    "Your generosity and mercy could match the brilliance of sunlight and moonlight!" Milton said as he bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie. At the same time, he cleaned the dust off Zhang Tie''s shoes using his own sleeve¡ª¡ªthe largest veneration that a businessman could give to the others in Nordinham Commercial Federation.


    Everyone in the room was very happy, including Zhang Tie; especially when he saw Zerom''s and Captain Kerlin''s smiles, Zhang Tie felt that what he had done was worthwhile.


    Actually, Zhang Tie was compensating Zerom and Captain Kerlin instead of investing them except for the significance of fiery oil. Zhang Tie expected to make everyone who had helped him realize their dreams and live more meaningful and splendid lives; he hoped them to succeed and enjoy wealth, position and a great honor as early as possible.


    If they couldn''t, Zhang Tie would feel meaningless about his success and efforts.


    In Zhang Tie''s heart, if a person became a king atop a mountain and all the others that he knew knelt down at the foot of the mountain as his slaves, it was not a success; instead, it was the humbler ambition of a humble person.


    Zhang Tie would despise such a person even if he was a deity, not to mention a king.


    "Mayers, bring us your wine. It''s time for us to enjoy your wine..."


    "As you wish..." Mayers replied in a witty way.


    ...


    As Zhang Tie sipped the wine, his thought had already flown to Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory! It had been too long since he was at home last time, including the 6 decades that he spent in the tower of time.


    It was also the start for fiery oil to board on Western Continent. With two good models, the Rhesa Republic and Barbarian Federation, Zhang Tie believed that it would be easier to solve latter problems.


    ...


    After the two ambassadors of the Rhesa Republic and Barbarian Federation, Zerom and Captain Kerlin left Qianji Manor in the morning, Cecilia and the plenipotentiary of Francia Empire paid a visit to Qianji Manor together in the afternoon.

 1450 Returning Home

    On April 7, 4 days after the national banquet, the execution ground outside the Meridian Gate of emperor''s imperial city of Xuanyuan Hill...


    Handcuffed, Fang Keyan closed his eyes involuntarily as a beam of sunshine cast onto his face the moment he got off a black prison van escorted by some guards. At the same time, he raised his hand to cover his eyes.


    Meanwhile, Fang Keyan heard a sea of sheer roars in the surroundings.


    "Beat him to death..."


    "Beat him to death..."


    "Beat this lackey of Heavens Reaching Church to death..."


    "Beat this son of a b*tch to death!"


    In the overwhelming roars, Fang Keyan''s forehead ached as it was struck by a smelly egg. Broken pieces of eggshell and stinky, degenerative yolk and egg white sprayed over Fang Keyan''s face in a split second, making him pretty embarrassed.


    Fang Keyan turned around as he saw a 7-year old kid, who was gazing at him fearlessly. At the same time, the kid threw the second smelly egg towards him.


    "Go die, you b*stard..."


    "Beat him to death!"


    All the onlookers around the execution ground were looking at him in furious, despicable and hateful expression.


    When the turmoil in Xuanyuan Hill happened, Han Zhengfang''s party members and accomplices were struggling in Xuanyuan Hill. The party members of Heavens Reaching Church killed people and set fire everywhere so that they could have a chance to escape away from Xuanyuan Hill. Commoners in Xuanyuan Hill were deeply afflicted by them. Therefore, commoners in Xuanyuan Hill abhorred Heavens Reaching Church very much. After knowing that the "remnant" of Han Zhengfang''s party was going to be beheaded today, the onlooking commoners couldn''t wait to eat his flesh and sleep under his skin.


    At the same time, Fang Keyan was struck by more dirty things such as broken soles, rotten vegetable roots even dried sh*t being wrapped by paper.


    If not being towed by those guards of supreme court and stones were forbidden to throw at the criminal in case he was beaten to death ahead of the execution or his face was broken by stones which would be hardly identified after his death in that age, Fang Keyan would have been beaten to death by irritated people in the short distance of about 100 meters from where he got off the prison van to the ground of execution.


    When he looked at the ground of execution, Fang Keyan''s face turned dismal at once as he quivered all over. The minister of the imperial financial and living affairs who was qualified to be an honorable guest in Anyan Palace could never imagine about such a reversal of his fate in only a few days¡ª¡ªhe would face the end of his life in the ground of execution outside Meridian Gate.


    Previously, as an official in the emperor''s imperial city, he would always be escorted imposingly when he inspected each province. Even the commanders of military regions would respect him.


    By contrast, as a convict awaiting execution, his official uniform had been peeled off. He would be pointed and hated by a multitude of people wherever he passed by. Even a 7- year old kid would like to kill him.


    One thought would lead people to paradise or hell.


    "I want to see grand justice. I''m wronged. I want to see Grand Justice Yu; I want to see the crown prince..." Fang Keyan was still yelling even after being embarrassed; however, his yells became as low as the sound of flies flapping their wings in the overwhelming roars "beat him to death", "beat this son of a b*tch to death".


    "General Mushen saved hundreds of millions of people from the demon camp at the bank of Weishui River; he also heavily destroyed the demon army and enabled commoners in the theater of operations to have enough food and give officers and soldiers sharp weapons to kill demons. Although we don''t read too many books, we also know that General Mushen is a hero of Taixia Country. These days, when we drank in boite, even the storyteller who described Legend of Black Iron Hero said that General Mushen is the pillar of Hua people and the country. He''s righteous, merciful and dignified. Because of the existence of General Mushen, demons fail to cross the Weishui River. You sh*t, vicious official, how could you dare screw General Mushen and stand on the side of demons and Heavens Reaching Church? You ungrateful b*stard! You''re wronged? Peh..."


    A guard at his 40s said as he looked at Fang Keyan in a despicable expression. Watching Fang Keyan struggling and wailing, those guards exchanged a glance with each other. The guard who said just now tipped the other two a wink. The other two guards then forcefully thrust their iron-wrapped wooden sticks against Fang Keyan''s shanks, breaking his bones at once. Feeling a sudden heavy pain, Fang Keyan wailed miserably before passing out. Those guards then drew him onto the ground of execution.


    When Fang Keyan woke up a few minutes later, his head had been buckled onto the rack. An official in vermeil uniform was having someone spraying water over his face.


    After seeing that Fang Keyan woke up, that official took a flagon and made a cup of spirit for him. After that, he raised the glass to Fang keyan''s lips.


    "Mr. Fang, it''s your last drink..."


    Seeing that official''s face, Fang Keyan''s flurried eyelight turned bright at once as if he caught a life-saving straw. Struggling, he uttered, "Mr. Xiang, Mr. Xiang, as we know each other, please let me see Mr. Yu and the crown prince. I''m wronged. You know that I''m wronged..."


    "Mr. Fang, don''t you know that civil officials are more useful in governing a country in peaceful times while military officers are more useful in troubled times?" The official in vermeil uniform sighed, "We''ve already been in a position far greater than that of common provincial governors. We take compensations from the country; therefore, we should be diligent, act dutifully and be loyal to our country. General Mushen is a moral and righteous hero. How could Mr. Fang expect to offend him with words in Anyan Palace and make the crown prince embarrassed? It''s not beneficial to the country! How could you be that stupid? You know that it''s in the holy war, civil officials like us couldn''t even match a common field officer on the battlefield. In the eyes of the countrymen, even 1 million of people like you and me couldn''t even match a finger of General Mushen. It''s okay that you couldn''t kill enemies on the battlefield; how dare you offend General Mushen in the public? You''re zoning out by profit! You''re seeking for death! If you''re wronged, everybody else in the world would become idiots. We should live up to people''s heart..."


    Fang Keyan burst into tears as if he was driven mad, "I''m wronged...I''m wronged...I want to see the crown prince...I could bear the rod and willingly take the punishment..."


    "If Su Qianling was here, I''m afriad that he would feel lucky that his letter of impeachment was submitted a few years ago before General Mushen''s name became remarkable and demons'' invasion into Taixia Country. If he submitted it now, Mr. Fang would not be the only one person who''s going to be beheaded..." The official in vermeil uniform said calmly, "Mr. Fang, no need to say anything now. You''re too talkative. As your old friend, it''s my final willingness to serve you this glass of spirit. After taking this glass of spirit, Mr. Fang shall prepare for going onto the path. I will have the executioner do it fast in case Mr. Fang suffer any pain..."


    Su Qianling was one of the censors who impeached Zhang Tie in earlier years. Finally, he failed it and was therefore demoted to Yinzhou Province as a deputy class VIII fiscal administrator. Thankfully, he was still alive.


    "I want to see the crown prince...I want to see General Mushen...I''m the minister of imperial financial and living affairs, who of you dare to kill me...officials are not to be killed by his words in Xuanyuan Hill; I want to see Emperor Xuanyuan..." Fang Keyan fell into a trance as he started to exclaim.


    Watching Fang Keyan, that official''s eyesight gradually turned distant. He then poured the last glass of spirit over the green rock in front of Fang Keyan before turning around and returning to the surveillance platform.


    Two more officials were sitting on the surveillance platform with glassy-eyed looks. Watching that official in vermeil uniform returning, one of them waved his hand as a shrewd inferior official moved forward to authenticate the identity of Fang Keyan.


    The inferior official then returned and nodded towards that official.


    "Mr. Xiang, it''s not because we don''t trust you. As it''s a major crime with the consent of the crown prince, no error is allowed. This humble official could only follow the procedure..." That official said as he cupped his hands towards Mr. Xiang.


    "Mr. Hong, you''re too polite. You''re right. You''re right..." Mr. Xiang said with a smile, "Fang Keyan''s clan have been thoroughly investigated. All of his male relatives have been banished to illegal mines in Mozhou Province as all of his unpregnant female relatives have been banished to the imperial training center in Liangzhou Province. From then on, this case would come to an end..."


    The other official on one side of the table threw a cursory glance at the sundial on the ground of execution before turning around and saying, "Time''s up..."


    With the hot sun above, the shadow of the needle on the sundial reached 12:45, when the yang qi would be the most vigorous in one day. If they executed a criminal at this moment, they could break evils and ghosts, leaving no aftermath.


    After throwing a glance at the sundial, Mr. Xiang took a "token" arrow in front of him before throwing it forward, saying "Execution..."


    After receiving the order, the executioner had a mouth of drink before spraying half of it onto the broad saber whose handle was carved in the shape of a ghost''s head. Closely after that, a light flashed, head off, spraying blood over the green rock where remained traces of spirit...


    "Fabulous..." Onlooking commoners shouted in unison.


    ...


    At the same time, in the airport of Xuanyuan Hill...


    Zhang Tie looked up at the sun hanging high in the sky as he told the crown prince, "Crown prince, see you!"


    Zhang Tie''s family members had already boarded the airboat. However, the crown prince still stood on the tarmac and felt pitiful leaving Zhang Tie. Because of the arrival of the crown prince, the entire airport had been blocked and was covered by imperial guards.


    Additionally, the crown prince also brought a imperial airboat which was especially made by the imperial financial and living affairs ministry for His Majesty as a gift. The magnificent imperial airboat was almost 1,000 m in length and six-storeyed. It was absolutely a top rarity among airboats. There were fewer than 20 such airboats across Taixia Country.


    Due to the great passion of the crown prince, Zhang Tie had to receive this gift before leaving as he told his family members to board on this new airboat.


    "Alas, I really wish to see you soon. After returning to Youzhou Province, if younger brother couldn''t recover your wounds smoothly, hopefully, you could let me know it as soon as possible. I must collect all the top medical forces across the country to work out the recipe for your recovery!" Crown prince said with emotions.


    "Thanks for your care, Brother Changying. If I couldn''t recover smoothly, I would never decline your good intention!" Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    "That''s fine. That''s fine. Bon Voyage!"


    "Here''s a small gift. Courtesy demands reciprocity. Hopefully, Brother Changying could accept it!" Zhang Tie said as a jade case appeared in his hand. Closely after that, he gave it to the crown prince.


    After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, the crown prince accepted his gift with a smile.


    After cupping his hands towards the crown prince, Zhang Tie turned around and boarded on the 1,000 m long airboat.


    Watching the airboat slowly ascending and accelerating towards the north, the crown prince opened the jade case out of curiosity as he saw 10 cross-realm flower''s fruits, the quantity of which was even greater than that in the imperial warehouse of Xuanyuan Palace.


    After seeing the 10 fruits of cross-realm flowers, the crown prince looked up as he sighed with an implicit complex feeling...


    ...


    On the airboat, Zhang Tie gradually recovered his composure as he let out a deep sigh, watching Xuanyuan Hill gradually fading away in the horizon.


    Xuanyuan Hill was a huge swirl which contained wealth, positions, beauties, great ambitions, and dirty tactics and desires. Zhang Tie could rarely settle down in such an environment. When he recalled what he had experienced in Xuanyuan Hill these days and that Meng Shidao had stayed in Sincerity Garden of Xuanyuan Hill for decades, Zhang Tie sincerely admired Meng Shidao''s disposition and cultivation base.


    Today, someone was beheaded; someone was happy for his leave; someone would sigh for his leave. However, all these were not important anymore. Importantly, Zhang Tie could return to Youzhou Province and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Compared to the prosperity in Xuanyuan Hill, Youzhou Province and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory were what he really cared about.


    No matter how magnificent and prosperous the place was, if there was nobody to recall with nostalgia over there, it would be strange for Zhang Tie.


    Besides, after returning to Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory, Zhang Tie could enter Castle of Black Iron to check the fruit of redemption from setting free humans in the name of cultivation. By contrast, so many people were paying heed to his movements in Xuanyuan Hill; as a result, he couldn''t have a chance to enter Castle of Black Iron unless exposing the secret of Castle of Black Iron.


    In Qianji Manor, as long as he disappeared, Yan Feiqing would sense it right away. The disturbance from outside couldn''t be completely isolated unless he was in the back room which was especially built for knight''s cultivation.


    "Dad, are we going back home?" Zhang Shini asked him as she gripped Zhang Tie''s hand and raised her naive face with light footsteps.


    Zhang Tie cradled her baby as he let out a deep sigh and slightly pinched her tiny nose, replying, "Yes, we''re going back home, Xiao Nini, do you like it?"


    "Mom likes it; grandma likes it; I like it too..."


    "Do you like this airboat?"


    "Very much. I''ve got a lot of toys in my room..."


    Kid''s world was always simple. Zhang Tie burst into laughter...


    ...

 1451 Welcome Back

    After the airboat flew over prefectures and provinces, Zhang Tie''s family members finally arrived at Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory 3 days later.


    The almost 1,000 m long imperial airboat slowly declined and parked on the top of Xuanyan Peak, Iron-Dragon Sect while mountains of people were waiting for them eagerly on the ground.


    After the airboat steadily landed, Zhang Tie showed up at the hatch with a smile.


    "Congratulate to your triumphant return, Suzerain!" All the disciples and elders of Iron-Dragon Sect called in unison. At the same time, the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect knelt down and put their arms in front of them while all the elders of Iron-Dragon Sect bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie.


    As for those disciples, it was a triumphant return given Zhang Tie''s military exploits above the Weishui River. Not only that, after Zhang Tie''s trump card as a divine dominator was exposed to the public, the social status of all the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect skyrocketed immediately as they enjoyed a bright future. In Taixia Country, Penglai Immortal Island was the only sect owning divine dominators ahead of Zhang Tie. Based on the mysterious inheritance of divine dominator, Penglai Immortal Island became one of the top 7 sects in Taixia Country. The influence of the news that the master of Iron-Dragon Sect was a divine dominator posed to Iron-Dragon Sect was immeasurable.


    Zhang Tie saw disciples from all peaks of Iron-Dragon Sect, Lu Zhongming, Lin Huanxi, Mountain Lifting Hermit, elders of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Taixuan the head of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie''s other wives, Donder, Barley, Sarwin, Bagdad, Leit and Hista.


    Almost all the central figures on Zhang Tie''s side in Youzhou Province had arrived, except for Li Tao and Lu Yishan, who were still in the theater of operations.


    When Zhang Tie served as Weiji General in the Western Theater of Operations, Li Tao and Lu Yishan were his myrmidons. In case of reproaches and declining morale, Zhang Tie didn''t promise them too high positions. However, after Zhang Tie resigned, Lu Yanyu ruled the rear area of the Western Theater of Operations. Due to their meritorious services and their relationship with Zhang Tie, Li Tao and Lu Yishan had been promoted to higher officials by Lu Yanyu. They were pretty brilliant now.


    During the period when Zhang Tie received medical treatment in Xuanyuan Hill, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu had been set free from Xuanyuan command and been dispatched back to Youzhou Province by Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    After Zhang Tie was heavily injured, everybody across Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, Youzhou Province was keeping a close eye on him. Additionally, Zhang Tie needed helpers urgently. It was also a wise choice for having elders of Iron-Dragon Sect and Huaiyuan Palace return to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, Youzhou Province. Of course, Zuoqiu Mingyue wouldn''t make a mistake on such an issue.


    It was also reasonable for Zhang Taixuan to welcome Zhang Tie back given Zhang Tie''s status as the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace and his meritorious services.


    Zhang Tie got off the airboat, closely followed by his parents, Zhang Yang, his wives and concubines.


    When Yan Feiqing got off the airboat, almost everybody fixated onto her; however, they dared not gaze at her for too long because her qi field was too strong and oppressive for them.


    Watching Yan Feiqing to get off the airport, Donder gave Zhang Tie a surreptitious glance. Besides, he thumbed up towards Zhang Tie stealthily, which meant only¡ª¡ªBrat, you rock! You could even f*ck a heavenly knight!


    Zhang Tie then introduced Yan Feiqing to them.


    With so many people at present, it was pretty boisterous. It took them almost 15 minutes to finish greetings and introductions.


    After that, Zhang Yang took Zhang Tie''s parents away for a rest. Yan Feiqing and the other women of Iron-heart Palace communicated with each other in a room. Zhang Tie had Donder take the pillar members of Brotherhood away for a rest. As for Zhang Tie himself, he talked with the clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace in the Clan Head''s Pavilion.


    After Zhang Tie''s female disciples served tea for them and left the Clan Head''s Pavilion, Zhang Taixuan uttered, "Elder Mushen, you promoted to a shadow knight, killed many demon knights above the bank of Weishui River. You even killed a demon prince by striking it 9 times with a rod. After receiving this news, all the disciples of Huaiyuan Palace were so spirited. Everybody in the world has known Huaiyuan Palace now. It''s all due to the meritorious services of Elder Mushen..."


    After exposing the relationship between Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing to the public, everybody in the world would accept the fact that Zhang Tie had promoted to a shadow knight because he had stayed in the tower of time with Yan Feiqing for 6 decades. What amazed people was that he was a divine dominator.


    Zhang Taixuan didn''t ask him anything about the divine dominator; however, Zhang Tie still felt that he should explain it to clan elders in case of grudges.


    "Clan head and clan elders, I need to tell you that I made a breakthrough in my skill of divine dominator when in Waii Subcontinent. The process was very risky. After promoting to a divine dominator, I could challenge knights at higher levels than me; however, my basic battle strength is not great. After coming to Taixia Country, I was wanted by the supreme court facing the pressure from the Gobbling Party. If I exposed my trump card as a divine dominator at that time, I might not be able to shock the opponents; instead, it might incur disasters to myself and Huaiyuan Palace. Therefore, I had been keeping this secret. Hopefully, the clan head and clan elders could forgive me!" Zhang Tie said sincerely as he cupped his hand towards Zhang Taixuan, Elder Muyuan, Elder Muan and Elder Muray, Elder Muyu and Elder Muen.


    "That''s fine. That''s fine. As it''s of great significance, if you expose it to the public abruptly, it would be as cursory as a kid passing a boisterous market carrying gold in arms!" Zhang Taixuan nodded with a smile as if he was understanding. All the other elders rooted for Zhang Tie''s deed as they nodded.


    "Oh, Elder Mushen, here are the items that you gave us before coming to the theater of operations..." Elder Muray and Elder Muyu exchanged a glance with each other. After that, they took out the space-teleportation finger rings that Zhang Tie gifted them and put them on the table in front of them, "Silver secrets are in the finger rings. We''re not giving them back to their owner!"


    Zhang Tie smiled. He didn''t take their items; instead, he took out 4 more space-teleportation finger rings. After that, he stood up and gave them to Zhang Taixuan and the other clan elders, one for each, saying, "I''ve achieved a lot in the theater of operations from demon knights and knights of Heavens Reaching Church. I cannot use all of them. Therefore, I want to share them with you. As it''s in the holy war, as pillars of Huaiyuan Palace, if clan elders could be a bit more powerful, Huaiyuan Palace would be more peaceful. If you want to give them back to me, wait until the end of the holy war..."

 1452 Tittle-Tattle

    It was out of the imagination of Zhang Taixuan and the other clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace that Zhang Tie could take out 4 space-teleportation finger rings and 4 silver secret weapons at the same time. Even earth knights might not have such precious space-teleportation equipment. However, it was like wholesale for Zhang Tie. It seemed that silver secret weapons were as cheap and common as white cabbages for Zhang Tie. All the clan elders were shocked by Zhang Tie''s generosity, including Zhang Taixuan.


    At their age, those clan elders were shrewd as they knew that Zhang Tie just wanted to let them not feel embarrassed although Zhang Tie said they could return those finger rings and silver secret items to him after the holy war. Based on Zhang Tie''s temperament and the fact that each holy war would last about 100 years, they knew that Zhang Tie would not ask them to return it by then.


    Actually, Zhang Tie gifted these items to Huaiyuan Palace for the sake of its overall strength.


    All the clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace were moved; however, they had to consider about Zhang Taixuan''s attitude as they fixated onto him.


    In the beginning, Zhang Taixuan watched space-teleportation equipment solemnly. After a few seconds, he suddenly burst into laughter as he relaxed his facial expression, saying, "As the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace, Elder Mushen is in a lofty position. Now that it''s gifted by Elder Mushen sincerely, just take them. It''s not late when we return it to Elder Mushen after the holy war comes to an end!"


    Zhang Taixuan then took the finger ring, followed by all the other clan elders.


    As for Elder Muray and Elder Muyu, they didn''t look abnormal when they took the finger rings; however, they both felt relieved inside¡ª¡ªAfter being used to something, people would rely on it. After a knight was used to carry a space-teleportation finger ring, if the finger ring was taken away from him, he would not be used to it. It was similar to be naked after being used to wear clothes.


    Everybody was happy now.


    Zhang Tie''s generosity intensified those clan elders'' understanding about him.


    "There we go!" Zhang Tie nodded with a sincere smile when the others took his space-teleportation finger rings.


    "It''s said that Elder Mushen was struck by the thunder of nirvana above the bank of Weishui River. The thunder of nirvana is very terrifying. People could barely survive it, even heavenly knights and sage-level knights. Elder Mushen is really fortunate. I wonder whether Elder Mushen has recovered or not?" Zhang Taixuan asked Zhang Tie with a concerned look after taking that space-teleportation finger ring.


    Zhang Tie had already explained it to Elder Muyuan when he paid a visit to him in Xuanyuan Hill. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt it unnecessary to conceal it from Zhang Taixuan and the other clan elders. Therefore, he said honestly with a bitter smile, "To be honest, the injuries caused by the thunder of nirvana have not been fully cured although the crown prince and the three top doctors have used all the possible means they could. The strength of the thunder of nirvana still remains in my body. With its influence, my spiritual energy and battle qi were engulfed bit by bit and are not available at all. Although appearing fully recovered, I actually have just recovered my sheer strength and the abilities of some ancestral bloodlines. It''s okay for me to deal with demons below knights, but I couldn''t even release my battle qi towards a knight; neither could I exert my special skills. I''m afraid that I could only be captured or escape at most facing a demon knight. As my recovery situation is confidential to demons and Three-eye Association, please keep the secret for me."


    Zhang Taixuan and all the other clan elders nodded. However, nobody noticed that abnormal light flashing across Zhang Taixuan''s eyes when he lowered his head...


    "Elder Mushen is concerned about the safety of the human world at your solo effort. You''re the pride of Huaiyuan Palace. Just let me know if you need Huaiyuan Palace to do anything for you. I, Zhang Taixuan would meet your demand as long as it could help you recover your injuries even at the cost of losing my blood and flesh!" Zhang Taixuan said solemnly.


    "Thank you so much, clan head!"


    ...


    After meeting Zhang Tie, the clan head and the other clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace had left there by airboat.


    Zhang Tie then met Donder and the over-arching members of Brotherhood.


    The key members of Brotherhood had spent all their efforts in building the New Blackhot City in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. After 2 years of construction, New Blackhot City had begun to take shape. Half of its city wall and city-defense facilities had been completed. The new city had been put into use partially.


    In some sense, Blackhot City in Waii Subcontinent was the prototype of the New Blackhot City in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory except for some minor differences. Urged by the key members of Brotherhood, this new city basically referred to the layout of the original Blackhot City.


    As for everybody of the former Hit-Plane Brotherhood, Blackhot City was closely related to their adolescence and dreams. The Waii Subcontinent had already deteriorated into a depopulated zone, including the original Blackhot City. The process of its reappearance in Taixia Country was full of excitement and driving force.


    Hearing the members of Brotherhood depicting about the things in the New Blackhot City, Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to take a look over there with the guidance of them.


    As Barley and the other guys knew that Zhang Tie must have a lot of words to tell about his family members after leaving home for 2 years, they only stayed in Iron-Dragon Sect for less than 2 hours. After appointing with Zhang Tie on the time to show him around the New Blackhot City, they left by airship.


    "This world is growing more and more complex. The reality is more bizarre than that in knight novels too!" After seeing off Barley and the other key members of Brotherhood, Donder let out a sigh as he told Zhang Tie, "Who could imagine that an apprentice in a grocery nearby the railway station of Blackhot City could become a divine dominator. Blackhot City was not a treasure land. Very few knights would even fly over it. According to the standard in Taixia Country, Blackhot City was absolutely a place where even birds didn''t feel like taking a shit. How could such a freak like you come from that sort of a place? It seems that all the vitality across the Waii Subcontinent had been absorbed by you. You would always change greatly only in a few days. Therefore, I have to pinch myself a couple of times whenever I see you so as to remind me that I''m not dreaming..."


    Zhang Tie looked at Donder. Although this guy''s temperament remained unchanged, he had got some pale hair near his ears and deeper wrinkles on his forehead after only 2 years. Over the past 2 years, Donder had really tried his best to serve Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Kneading his face, Zhang Tie asked, "Really? I feel my shortcomings are becoming more and more evident. I really need to trouble you!"


    "What''s that?" Donder asked as he raised his eyebrows.


    "Fetch a batch of resourceful figures within Youzhou Province, Northeast Military Region or the rest of Taixia Country to build a think tank for me. I feel that I couldn''t contemplate everything well!"


    "How poor I am! I''m born to go on errands. I won''t be busier when you come back. Look, I''ve lost more than 10 kg weight over the past 2 years..." Donder sighed with a sad smile.


    "Forget about it if you don''t want to do it. Previously, I was thinking about sending you a fruit of cross-realm flower. Now that you complain about being tired, you''d better take a good rest. I will have people send you hundreds of pounds of flesh. I''m sure that you will get your weight back. It seems that I will have to find someone else to do that for me!" Zhang Tie said solemnly as he turned around and intended to leave in a measured manner.


    After hearing that Zhang Tie was going to send him a fruit of cross-realm flower, Donder sprung up at once as he towed Zhang Tie with sparkling eyes, saying, "Who''s tired? Who''s tired? Damn it! You should ask you consciousness. You''ve known me for so many years. Am I that kind of a person? Don''t you know that I''m actually expecting to lose weight recently? I feel better to be thin and spirited. I will do that for you well!"


    After leaving those words, Donder instantly scuttled away towards the airport as he was going to leave Iron-Dragon Sect by airboat.


    Seeing Donder off, Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he shook his head. After that, he met Mountain Lifting Hermit, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi...


    ...


    When Zhang Tie returned to the courtyard of his wives and concubines, he found Yan Feiqing was not there. After asking someone, he knew that Yan Feiqing had flown away after having a short chat with O''Laura and the other wives and concubines in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and gaining their approval. She wanted to live in Threespring Prefecture for some days...


    Zhang Tie knew that Guo Hongyi had already returned to Threespring Prefecture. Additionally, the news that he had returned to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would soon spread over Youzhou Province. In this case, Yan Feiqing felt embarrassed to continue to stay in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Therefore, she could only go back to Threespring Prefecture for the time being in case of embarrassment.


    "It''s also not bad to have an elder sister who''s a heavenly knight!" O''Laura smiled as she added, "At least similar events such as Sacred Light Empire assigning its expeditionary army to attack Ice and Snow Wilderness would not happen anymore..."


    O''Laura''s words almost represented the opinion of these women at present. What Yan Feiqing told Aimei, Aixue, Linda, Fiona and Beverly in Xuanyuan Hill a few days ago would get the same effect here for sure. No matter what, the great power of a heavenly knight was out of doubt. Now that they could accept domineering Bai Suxian; of course they could accept Yan Feiqing who was more domineering. No matter how domineering she was, she was just a woman on Zhang Tie''s side.


    "During the past 2 years, thanks for your hard work, my dear wives. It''s really my great honor to win your favor and help..." Zhang Tie looked at his wives and concubines as he bowed deeply towards them sincerely.


    Zhang Tie''s words aroused tears in their eyes.


    "No matter what, you''re more laborious than us as you fought demons on the battlefield. As women, we never feel meticulous when we see our man fighting demons on the battlefield for the sake of the country and home at the risk of your life!"


    "I would stay here for a period. I could stay with you..." Zhang Tie said with a smile. Closely after that, he revealed an erotic expression, "Raise your hands if anyone wants kids..."

 1453 Leaving Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory

    Only after staying one night in Iron-Dragon Sect, Zhang Tie''s parents had left for Jinwu City with Zhang Yang by the latter''s airboat so that Zhang Tie could stay with his wives and concubines.


    Zhang Tie had left home for about 2 years during which period he had experienced life-and-death situations. Of course, it was full of warm sweetness and brilliant tenderness when he reunited with his wives, concubines and children.


    Iron-Dragon Sect and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory were both Zhang Tie''s nests. Zhang Tie didn''t need to concern about his safety over there. Additionally, the fact that Zhang Tie had not recovered was still confidential to demons and Heavens Reaching Church. Given that he could kill a heavenly demon knight by striking it 9 times with a rod, nobody dared offend him in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory in this case.


    Additionally, as demons invaded Taixia Country, all the provinces and major sects in Taixia Country had triggered their multiple-level monitoring and defense system. If a heavenly demon knight wanted to launch a raid from the west of Taixia Country all the way to Youzhou Province in the east of Taixia Country, it would be even more dangerous than a human knight raiding the nest of demons. It was definitely a great adventure. In addition, besides Zhang Tie, there were 4 more knights in Iron-Dragon Sect. Bai Suxian almost stayed with Zhang Tie all day long. Therefore, Yan Feiqing could leave Zhang Tie at this moment without any concern.


    On the second day since Zhang Tie returned to Iron-Dragon Sect, major sects within or out of Youzhou Province and Northeast Military Region had constantly sent representatives to visit Zhang Tie in Iron-Dragon Sect.


    These representatives were always heads of major clans. Although Zhang Tie could have Lu Zhongming, Lin Huanxi and Mountain Lifting Hermit receive some of them on behalf of him, he had to receive many of them himself as they once attended the ceremony when Zhang Tie opened Iron-Dragon Sect or had their disciples join Iron-Dragon Sect, even being a divine dominator. This was a rudimental principle that Zhang Tie always stuck to¡ª¡ªHe shouldn''t forget about his helpers and old friends even if he grew stronger in the future.


    Those who came here to visit him would bring him gifts for sure. Most of those heavy gifts were elixirs and precious medicines collected by those clans for the sake of the recovery of Immortal Qianji.


    It was already 4 days later after Zhang Tie dealt with these affairs.


    ...


    At 5 am, April 15th, the 906th year of Black Iron Calendar, Zhang Tie woke up from deep sleep...


    On the luxurious huge bed, the six Spencer women who slept with Zhang Tie last night were still lying horizontally, sweetly. After glancing at the situation on the bed, Zhang Tie could only lightly move those limbs away. After that, he tenderly got off the bed before covering those women with a quilt. After that, he put on his night robe and came to the bathroom. After taking a cool bath in the cold water plunge, he changed a set of common clothes before leaving his courtyard.


    "Ahh, good morning, master..." A guard on duty hurriedly gave a salute to Zhang Tie respectfully when he saw Zhang Tie coming out.


    It was Qian Jingxuan who served as the chief guard on duty for Zhang Tie. He was one of two disciples that Zhang Tie received from Qian Clan, whose clan head was now the provincial governor of Tongzhou Province. Featured by long eyes, dense eyebrows, spirited eyesight, tall and straight figure and mighty look, he had a good aptitude among all the other disciples of Zhang Tie.


    "After a while, if elders and your master''s wives ask you about my whereabouts, tell them that I''ve left Iron-Dragon Sect for a few hours. I will come back by noon. In addition, let Liu Xing prepare 100 bloody figures in the Divine Favor Palace. I will use them when I come back..." Zhang Tie told Qian Jingxuan.


    "Yes, master!" Qian Jingxuan lowered his body as he asked, "Master, do you need guards to accompany you..."


    "Haha, no need!" Zhang Tie waved his hand. After that, he left the Clan Head''s Pavilion and went downhill dexterously...


    With the return of Mountain Lifting Hermit and elders of Huaiyuan Palace, Liu Xing and the other officers of Fire-Dragon Corps were also sent back to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory by Zuoqiu Mingyue. Previously, Liu Xing and the other officers of Fire-Dragon Corps already had high positions in the ground forces in the theater of operations. After Zhang Tie exposed his trump card as a divine dominator, Liu Xing and the other officers became dazzling rather than eye-catching on the battlefield. In case that Liu Xing and the other officers of Fire-Dragon Corps became demons'' targets, Zuoqiu Mingyue had to send them back, in order to make Zhang Tie reassured on another hand.


    All the bloody figures collected by Iron-Dragon Sect were locked in the iron cells of the battle fortress. Today, Zhang Tie wanted to try whether bloody sacrifice furnace would do a favor to his injuries with 100 bloody figures. At the same time, Zhang Tie also considered opening some hidden functions of the bloody sacrifice furnace to disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    If not being busy in worldly affairs recently, Zhang Tie had long wanted to try the effect of bloody sacrifice furnace on healing the injuries caused by the thunder of nirvana instead of having to wait until now.


    The day had not broken except for being a bit white in the skyline. A sea of stars and moons were alternating with the sun. In the light and shadow stood the dimly Xuantian Eighteen Peaks tranquility. The main peak was verdant as its grasses and woods contained dew. Halfway up the mountains, clouds and frost rose and rotated rapidly. In the valley, the mist was floating on the stream and the swamp, making it a mysterious area. The tweets of birds and insects and growls of apes made it more tranquil...


    Even though his eyes were closed, Zhang Tie could still sense the looming reiki and the fresh and sweet smell in the pure air.


    The air in the morning here was so fresh that Zhang Tie even wanted some more lungs to breathe it. The air contained moisture lubricated by mountains and rivers. The moisture contained hundreds of scents and the vigorous qi of the essence of grasses and woods. After intaking the air, he felt sweet and being purified physically and mentally.


    Breathing the air heavily, Zhang Tie walked on the winding mountain pass nimbly as he hummed a song. After a short while, Zhang Tie had felt being relaxed and refreshed suddenly as his fatigues and "battle smoke" were wiped out absolutely...


    Zhang Tie entered the warehouse of planes of Iron-Dragon Sect and jumped into a fully-fueled Air Cavalry I plane. Under the dumbfounded look of those people who garrisoned the warehouse and the runway, he drove the plane onto the runway and flew away...


    At daybreak, the plane steadily landed at a civilian airport over 500 miles away from Iron-Dragon Sect outside Dongyang City. After opening the hatch, Zhang Tie jumped off the plane in the same clothes, yet with another face...

 1454 Airpor

    As the birthplace of air cavalries and planes in Taixia Country, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was the first place having civilian airports. In only 2 years, besides dozens more military airports, over 100 civilian airports were newly built in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. It was also the place where Civilian Aviation Flight Brochure and Commercial Airport Service Guidelines were firstly formulated across Taixia Country. So many airports and perfect rules and regulations symbolized the vigorous development of planes in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and the leadership of the air cavalries training system of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Zhang Tie landed on the airport outside Dongyang City, the largest civilian airport outside Dongyang City.


    Almost the moment Zhang Tie parked his plane in a standard parking apron for air cavalry I, the ground crew had already pushed the access ladder to the side of Zhang Tie''s cockpit. At the same time, a blue fiery-oil convertible cross-country vehicle drove over here from afar and parked aside Zhang Tie''s plane. A plane service personnel in blue uniform got off the vehicle.


    Zhang Tie opened the cover of his cockpit before jumping off his plane nimbly and coming to the front of the plane service personnel.


    The plane service personnel was a spirited old man in short hair at his 60s.


    "Sir, how long do you plan to park here?"


    "One day!"


    "Do you need to refuel?"


    "Yes, please fill it up!"


    "What about the maintenance and overhaul service?" The personnel asked as he jostled Zhang Tie''s needs down onto a notebook.


    "Yes, please!" Zhang Tie answered with a smile.


    "What sort of maintenance and overhaul do you want. We''ve got 3 levels here. The highest level is comprehensive maintenance and overhaul; the medium level includes the engines and principal components of the plane; the lowest level is only available for regular programs including its frame and undercarriage!"


    "The lowest level!"


    The old man climbed onto the plane fast. After recording the oil meter calibration of his plane, he got off it, saying, "It''s okay. Look, here''s the deed. If there''s no problem, please sign your name here. Take this copy. We will keep one too. The total expenditure is 26 silver coins including parking fee, fuel fee and preliminary maintenance and overhaul fee. You need to pay it off now. When you come back, please show me your deed. We''re only subjective to the deed; instead of people. If your plane is damaged here due to an accident, you could ask for compensation with this deed!"


    Nice service! Zhang Tie took the deed and took a cursory glance at it. After that, he nodded and gave a gold coin to him, saying, "Keep the changes..." After that, he jumped onto the back seat of the convertible cross-country vehicle.


    After taking that gold coin, the old man revealed a smile. Closely after that, he sat in the cockpit and drove away from the airport.


    Perhaps that gold coin worked, as the old man treated Zhang Tie more passionately. He started to chatter, "You pilots are really in high demand. As long as you could drive a plane, you would be urgently needed outside. Your annual emolument would always be hundreds of gold coins. If I was 30 years younger, I would also learn to drive a plane..."


    "Haha, it''s not late for you to learn it now!" Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    "Haha, I''m old. I cannot fit this job. Even if I master the driving skills, nobody would employ me given my age. However, I''m also doing a good job at the moment. I''ve not imagined that I could find such a good job when I was young!" The old man glanced at Zhang Tie as he drove the vehicle and sped up his speech, "But if you want to make money, I''ve got some news for you. Some major clans outside Northeast Military Region recruit excellent pilots here all the year round. If you went there and became a coach, you would make at least 400 gold coins a year. If you come from Fire-Dragon Corps, you could have 200 gold coins more. If you could drive big planes such as air cavalry 2, you would enjoy higher compensation and a lot of more benefits..."


    "What? Many people in Dongyang City are recruiting pilots from Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory?"


    "Not only Dongyang City. If you went to look at the outside of the pilot training academies, you would understand the term "urgent need". Any young man graduating from pilot training academies would be scrambled by a lot of people right away. Actually, even when they had not graduated, they had already been ordered. Taixia Country was so large. However, only air cavalries trained by our Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory could overlook the world. All the major clans, big business groups and local authorities across the country rushed into Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory for recruiting pilots and coaches. Those graduates from pilot training academies across Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory could never meet the demand..."


    Zhang Tie slightly nodded as if he was meditating. Such a shortage couldn''t be met within a short period. Like an imbalance between supply and demand, it was seller''s market, pilots and air cavalries were in urgent need. The demand across such a large country couldn''t be met by those pilot training academies in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory at all. Even though the existing pilot training academies in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory were running at overload, Iron-Heart Palace still intended to expand two pilot training academies, although it still fell far short of demand.


    Such a situation might be gradually relieved until 2 years later when pilot training academies spread over Taixia Country and air cavalry became an independent armed service in Taixia Country.


    "To tell you the truth, those major clans have very good conditions. If I could introduce one pilot or coach to them, I could get 10 gold coins as compensation..." The old man told Zhang Tie as he took out a name card and gave it to Zhang Tie, saying, "Here are the addresses of the offices of some major clans in Dongyang City that recruit air cavalries. If you want to have a try, take this name card and tell them that I''ve introduced you to them..."


    "Fine. I will show this name card to them if I went there..." Zhang Tie took the name card with a kind smile.


    "Thanks, thanks. You young men are easy to communicate with. When I save enough money, I will also send my grandson to a pilot training academy..." The old man said as he hurriedly apologized to Zhang Tie, "I''m sorry, erm, I don''t mean that. Please don''t misunderstand it..."


    "Haha, it''s okay; it''s okay..."


    The old man directly drove Zhang Tie out of the airport.


    There were a bus station, some hotels and commercial facilities outside the airport, appearing vigorous and boisterous...

 1455 Down to Earth

    Even though the day had just broken, Zhang Tie found that the outside of the airport had begun to be active when he left the airport.


    Being over 12 miles away from Dongyang City, this airport was previously barren saline and alkaline land. A small town had already taken shape around this airport.


    There were two boisterous commercial streets outside the airport with hotels and various stores in the streets. As the sun had come out, the hotels and taverns had started to sell breakfast.


    Some taxis were already waiting in the parking lot outside the airport for the business. Among those taxis, Zhang Tie found 2/3 of them were traditional coal-fueled steam vehicles; 1/3 of them were fiery-oil taxis. These taxis were all matched with dual-drive engines whose displacement was basically below 1.0 liter, fewer than that of cross-country vehicles. Recently, as Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory pushed out more and more dual-drive engines of different types and displacements, these dual-drive engines with minor displacements were improving the lives of people in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Besides, many farming machines in farmland, such as combine harvester and multi-functional tractor were installed with dual-drive engines, which brought people great efficacy in the farmland.


    With a buzz, a two-wheeled motorcycle rushed out of the exit of the underground garage of the airport behind Zhang Tie. The rider wore a helmet and a leather jacket which were similar to that of pilot''s.


    The buzz of the motorcycle aroused the attention of many people in the street. The rider enjoyed being attractive very much. Accelerating his vehicle, he drove into the distance and disappeared in the street.


    The production of the dual-drive engine also led to the reappearance of this traffic tool which could only be seen in the materials about the times before the Catastrophe. The motorcycle won the favor of some people. Before fiery oil was produced, the volume and power of its engine could barely coordinate with its manipulation. In this age, motorcycles could be rarely seen in the street. Some factories or mechanical manufacturers could build two-wheeled motorcycles, which, however, were as odd-looking as monsters and suffered from shortcomings in poor convenience, safety and amenity.


    Watching that motorcycle which drove away like a lightning bolt and those fiery-oil cars which could be taken as taxis, Zhang Tie suddenly had a blurry, strange feeling.


    Finally, Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he got on a common steam taxi...


    ...


    "Ahh, they''re repairing the road ahead. My car couldn''t pass by. Therefore, you''d better get off here..." It took the taxi more than half an hour to arrive there.


    Many building materials were piled on roadsides. As a result, taxis could barely pass by it. The moment the day broke, many people had started their work on the roadsides. In the rising dust, some locomotives were shattering those stones, causing loud sounds...


    "Alright, just let me get off. I will take the rest of the distance by foot..."


    "If you went to God''s Favor Tower, it would still be 1.5-2 miles away. I''m afraid you have to bear the bad road condition. When I came here last time, it was still an unsurfaced road. However, I could pass by it last time. I''m afraid that it would take a few days for the road to be paved well..." The driver reminded Zhang Tie.


    "Master, I will give you one gold coin. May you wait for me here for a few hours and send me back to the airport when I come back?"


    "Ahh, aren''t you kidding me or cheating me?" The driver looked at Zhang Tie with a dubious look as he added, "Even if I wait here one day for you, it wouldn''t cost 10 silver coins. You let me wait for you here for one gold coin like an idiot? What if you escaped away without payment? If that really happens, I would be in vain today. Whom would I ask for money from? Do you really treat me as an idiot?"


    After being dumbfounded for a second, Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he took out a gold coin and gave it to the driver, saying, "I pay you one gold coin in advance and you only need to wait for me here. If I don''t come back when the sun sets, you could leave!"


    After weighing the gold coin, the driver instantly revealed a brilliant smile as he said, "Sure, I will wait for you here. It''s no problem for me to wait for you for 1 week, not to mention 1 day..."


    Zhang Tie then gave the driver a gold coin before getting off. The driver turned the car around as he parked it in a tree shade on the roadside.


    ...


    Zhang Tie got off the vehicle in a new farm village and town about 40 miles away from Dongyang City.


    Although vehicles couldn''t pass by it, people could pass by it easily. Neither did Zhang Tie feel the road dirty as he walked towards the distance along the roadside drainage ditch made of stones and cement.


    As it was in April, the farms on roadsides appeared green because of luxuriant French beans. At this moment, the day had totally broken as more and more farmers entered the farmland.


    Like those in farmland, construction workers could be seen almost everywhere on the road. These construction workers just lived in roadside tents, male or female, old or young. Although the accommodation condition was not good, everybody enjoyed very high morale when at work. With hopeful eye light and smile, they looked very thrilled. Someone even sang work songs, the rhythm of which aroused the resonance of all the others.


    "Come on, come on..."


    "Heyo...heyo..."


    "Let''s repair the road..."


    "Heyo...heyo..."


    "Let''s fix the road..."


    "Heyo...heyo..."


    "For the bright future..."


    "Heyo...heyo..."


    The work song was passionate and generous with the special rhythm of dialect in Hua regions. It was of strong influence. The tone was featured by people in the western provinces of Taixia Country; instead of that in Youzhou Province and Northeast Military Region.


    Zhang Tie didn''t see any indolent person on the road. Everyone was doing labor work in laughter and songs. Maybe only these laborers could sense how happy and hard it was for them to build their own homeland with efforts.


    The others might only feel it interesting; however, Zhang Tie felt pretty satisfied as the forthright work song sounded as beautiful as the nature call...

 1456 A Serene Land

    After passing by that road under construction, Zhang Tie came to the town.


    The houses in the town were basically new bungalows. Many of them were even makeshift houses made of iron sheets. Lime and cement could be smelt everywhere. Everything appeared new. Many houses were under construction.


    The town had a high population.


    "Hey, fellow townsman, where''s the nearest school?"


    Seeing an old man moving a stool out of his house and twisting straws into a rope in the roadside tree shade seriously, Zhang Tie went forward and asked him.


    Zhang Tie''s current look was average, simple and honest. His words carried the orthodox tone of Wuzhou Province. The old man raised his head before throwing a glance at Zhang Tie. Almost at the same time, he pointed at a direction without demur as he said in the accent of Wuzhou Province, "There''re 6 preliminary schools and 1 middle school in the town. As for the nearest, turn left in front before working 50-60 m forward!"


    "I see, thanks!"


    After bidding farewell to this old man, Zhang Tie walked towards the direction pointed by the old man. After a short while, he had seen a preliminary school.


    Compared to other buildings in this town, this school was almost the best and tidiest building that Zhang Tie had ever seen.


    This preliminary school occupied almost 70,000 square meters. He could see the dense green belt and tree shades through the iron-art wall. Behind the tree shades were spacious and bright teaching buildings. Additionally, there was a playground on the campus. The school was well-matched with facilities.


    When Zhang Tie came here, kids were carrying school bags and book bags and running on the road in a naughty and mischievous manner. All the kids wore clean Hua-style school uniforms.


    "Universal Peace and Righteousness" were hung over the traditional arched building close to the school gate. An old man was standing outside the school gate with a smile as he watched those kids entering the gate under the brilliance of the morning sunlight. Every now and then, he would touch kids'' heads.


    "Good morning, sir..." Each kid would bow and say hello to the old man when they passed by the school gate.


    It was a lane in the opposite of the school. There were some simple and crude snack bars inside. Under the canopy of a snack bar, a log fire roared in the open hearth as the aroma of the oil spilled out of the pot. The boss was kneading dough on the cutting board. As dough sticks were put into the pot one after another, with the sizzling sound, the white dough sticks gradually expanded and turned golden. The aroma of the fried dough sticks then started to suffuse in the lane in a split second.


    The boss fried stick doughs outside as his wife made soya-bean milk and bean curds inside. The couple was busy serving food as there were so many customers.


    "Boss, 4 deep-fried dough sticks and 1 bowl of soya bean milk..." Zhang Tie found a stool and sat down at an empty table beneath the canopy which was made of waterproof canvas.


    "Got it. 4 deep-fried dough sticks and a bowl of soya bean milk for table No. 6..." The boss shouted, reminding his wife to serve Zhang Tie what he wanted.


    In less than half a minute, the landlady with a blue cloth over her bun nimbly served Zhang Tie what he ordered, reminding him out of concern, "Add sugar as much as you like..."


    "Thanks..." Zhang Tie told the landlady.


    "Dad, mom, I''m going to school..." A brat with a satchel on his back ran out of the store. When he passed by that man, he grabbed two deep-fried dough sticks rapidly.


    "Brat, you''re so hasty. Have you lit incense for the Long-live memorial tablet of our savior..." The man who was frying deep-fried dough sticks swore as he pretended to kick off that kid.


    "Yes, I''ve done..." The kid had long run away with laughter.


    "Eat slowly..." The landlady reminded the boy after serving Zhang Tie deep-fried dough sticks and soya bean milk.


    Sitting on the roadside, Zhang Tie drank soya bean milk and ate deep-fried dough sticks as he watched those kids entering the school under the brilliant sunlight.


    Watching those kids'' smiles, listening to their laughter and feeling the simple warmth of the family in this store, Zhang Tie slowly calmed down. Like a how pious pilgrim would feel when he saw the sacred Temple of God, Zhang Tie felt the unity of mind and body peacefully.


    After Zhang Tie ate 2 deep-fried dough sticks, two strong people in official uniforms arrived, sabers fixed on one side of their waist. They were bowmen of the town.


    Bowmen were lowest-level civil servants in Taixia Country on exiled Class VI. Although being humble in position, they were able to weld both the pend and the gun. These bowmen were the finest tenacles of the huge state machine as their scope of work covered buglar arrest, putting up signs, maintaining security, registered population management, collecting intelligence and aiding superiors to deal with local affairs.


    After the two bowmen arrived, most of the diners in the store nodded towards them.


    The moment the two bowmen sat at an empty table and put their sabers on the table, they had started to glance at Zhang Tie. Strange looks would always be their principal targets.


    "Boss, a bowl of soya bean flower..." Zhang Tie shouted in the accent of Wuzhou Province as he added, "The bean curd really tastes like the ancient-well bean curd in Xiangshan City..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s accent and contents, the two bowmen became relaxed at once as they moved their eyes away from Zhang Tie.


    The landlady served Zhang Tie a bowl of soya bean flower and the two bowmen two bowls of soya bean milk, six deep-fried dough sticks and two bowls of soya-bean flowers with chili sauce.


    The two bowmen seemed to often visit this snack booth as the boss had known they wanted without their order.


    "Old Wang, I heard from the village constable yesterday that our savior had already come back from Xuanyuan Hill a couple of days ago. Our savior had already recovered. He''s inviting guests in Xuantian Peak these days..." One of the two bowmen released a news only after biting the dough stick two times and having a small half of soya bean milk.


    This bowman''s sound could be heard by everyone in the snack booth.


    Certainly, after hearing this news, almost everyone in the snack booth had stopped what they were doing.


    The man who was lifting an elongated dough and putting it into the pot. After hearing this news, he became slightly stunned as he almost put his hand into the pot with boiling oil. Sensing the hot oil, he instantly raised his hand due to conditioned reflex. After that, he became ecstatic, saying, "That''s great. Thankfully, I have my son to light incense for savior every day. Our savior should live thousands of years, even longer..."


    "Ahem...ahem...Old Wang. Long live couldn''t be said casually. You should watch out your words later on..." Another bowman who was drinking soya bean milk said in a low voice after glancing around the other diners.


    "Yes, yes, yes, it''s my fault. I always couldn''t be so considerate when I was happy..." The male boss responded it at once as he slightly patted his face, saying, "Would we express our gratitude to our savior for his return..."


    "It''s not our turn. We''re far away from our savior. We couldn''t touch him even by air. We only need to do our own job well!" The same bowman said, "Old Wang, you''ve got so many customers here; you need to pay close attention to any strange and weird people. Once you find anything strange, you shall report to us as soon as possible; especially those people with strange faces whose luggage appears to contain seeds..."


    "Ahh, but why?" The male boss asked him out of amazement.


    "Old Wang, you don''t know that it indicates the malice of those b*stards of demons and Heavens Reaching Church. They take demonized seeds and stealthily spray them into the farmlands when you sow seeds. Those demonized seeds would sprout and blossom in the future too. When their pollen was blown away by wind, they would demonize the gene of those good seeds. As a result, all the grains in the farmland would be polluted. Additionally, such pollution would gradually expand. Such b*stards had been caught by criminal hunters in other provinces. Therefore, no strangers are allowed in farmlands casually across Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and provinces now. Some people were in charge of guarding grain seeds in each place. If there were any problem facing the grain seeds of a town, many people would be beheaded. We''ve also received the notice¡ª¡ªpay special attention to those strangers who disguise as grain traders and dealers..."


    "Hmm, I see..." The man who was frying dough sticks said as he threw a glance at where Zhang Tie sat. However, he saw nobody, "Wuh? Where''s that man?"


    Zhang Tie had already left this snack booth silently with a gold coin on the table in the doorbells of the morning classes and the reading sounds from classrooms.


    He was loafing alone in God''s Favor Town as he watched the schools, the new plants and workshops, the farmers in farmlands and those houses and huts under construction as if they were the most beautiful scenery in the world.


    Being close to God''s Favor Town was Mind Gratitude Town and Military Gratitude Town. Zhang Tie spent the whole morning wandering in the three towns as he observed the lives of commoners in these towns.


    As for others, such commoners'' living style was boring; however, Zhang Tie found it interesting as he really enjoyed such lives...


    Because all the commoners here in these towns were saved by Zhang Tie from the demon camp after winning the wager.

 1457 Having Hundreds of Millions of Followers

    Last year, Zhang Tie saved over 200 million commoners from the demon camp who were previously used to wipe out land mines for demons after winning the wager from Abyss King in the War of Weishui River. After being saved by Zhang Tie, half of these people had already arrived at Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory as they chose to settle down here as Zhang Tie''s followers.


    Previously, it was almost impossible for the Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory to transport over 100 million people from the bank of Weishui River to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory at its solo effort within a short period. Thankfully, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory had tens of thousands of allies. Each major clan and sect which cooperated with Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory on the production of fiery oil assigned one group of airships or some airboats so as to transport over 100,000, hundreds of thousands or millions of people from the bank of Weishui River to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. With their concerted efforts, they finally transported these people into Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Take Heavens Fortune Sect and Lord Guangnan''s Mansion as an instance, they assigned groups of airboats and airships to transfer about 10 million refugees respectively.


    As of now, there were over 1,000 towns like God''s Favor Town which had almost 100,000 people across Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. These towns shared the same feature, namely, their names definitely contained one word from the following lines: Immortal Qianji''s favor is as heavy as Mount Tai; we extend our gratitude to you as if you are our parent.


    These towns had just been founded in late months. All the residents in these towns were innocent commoners whom Zhang Tie had saved from the demon camp. The two lines also symbolized Zhang Tie''s high position in the hearts of those commoners.


    Zhang Tie was their savior as he saved them from demons.


    When they arrived at Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, they were penniless. With Zhang Tie''s help, they settled down there, living in the houses which Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory built especially for them, plowing the farmland which Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory gifted them and working in the plants and workshops invested by Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Their kids studied in schools in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory too...


    Actually, they had become Zhang Tie''s subordinate followers. Zhang Tie became their superior leader and master.


    Therefore, these people regarded Zhang Tie as their savior.


    These people were different than the former ones in the cities of Fire-Dragon Prefecture. The former ones had independent properties who were not attached to Zhang Tie and could leave or stay whenever they wanted. By contrast, these over 100 million people who arrived at Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory were much closer to Zhang Tie as they enjoyed everything brought by Zhang Tie and were willing to attach themselves to Zhang Tie. In some sense, they had already become the followers of Zhang Tie and the members of the Zhang family. They enjoyed all the rights that commoners enjoyed outside; however, they had to follow Zhang Tie''s order completely within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Whereas, they were not slaves; they were more like the laborers of Zhang Tie and Zhang family.


    Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was vast and had fertile land. With the concerned coordination and support of all parties, over 100 million people could completely be held on the land covering 6 million square miles given the wealth of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    In the following 3 months, 100 million more people would arrive at Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory by batches. Finally, all the over 200 million people that Zhang Tie had saved at the bank of Weishui River would come to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and became the laborers of Zhang Tie and Zhang family.


    Laborers and land were the foundation of major clans in Taixia Country. These laborers and land were inherited and bound to each other as the firmest mass basis and material foundation of a clan and a major sect. Among major clans in Taixia Country, servants, stewards, directors, myrmidons, private guards and dare-to-die fighters were basically selected from laborers. It could be said that major clans in Taixia Country depended closely on laborers as the interests, rise and fall of major clans and laborers were bound to each other. Major clans to laborers was what water to fish!


    Zhang Tie''s family and Huaiyuan Palace both had laborers. Zhang Tie''s elder brother had tens of thousands of laborers in Jinwu City; Huaiyuan Palace brought over 1 million laborers from Waii Subcontinent; Zhang Tie''s Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory also had more than 100,000 laborers since Bai Suxian gifted him so many dare-to-die fighters.


    After all the people that Zhang Tie had saved from demons arrived at Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, Zhang Tie would have over 200 million laborers, who would become Zhang Tie''s firmest supporters and advocates as well as the foundation for Zhang family to be a major clan.


    Many time-honored major clans in Taixia Country held that if a clan didn''t have over 100 million laborers, it was not qualified to be a real major clan¡ª¡ªhaving over 60 billion square meters land, over 100 million laborers, flocks of knights and a long history; founding a head clan.


    Zhang Tie didn''t pay heed to the foundation of major clans in these new towns outside Dongyang City; instead, he only paid attention to commoners.


    Nobody could understand Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie did nothing but take a look around here. He wanted to see how those people whom he had saved from demons at the bank of Weishui River lived. Those kids'' smiles satisfied him as if he took panacea. Even though Zhang Tie had not fully recovered, he felt everything he did was worthwhile.


    All the other 11 towns were similar to God''s Favor Town. Therefore, Zhang Tie became reassured.


    He would not live in vain until death.


    As for the others, Zhang Tie had thought it through¡ª¡ªjust let it be.


    When the sun was hanging high over the sky, Zhang Tie chewed a steamed bun as he took some in hand, returning to his taxi.


    "Let''s go back to the airport!" Zhang Tie said as he wrapped the two steamed buns with paper before giving them to the driver, adding, "I''m afraid that you''ve not eaten lunch; therefore I bring you two steamed buns in case of hunger..."


    After taking Zhang Tie''s steamed buns, the taxi driver gazed at Zhang Tie for a couple of seconds in a trance. Then, he suddenly let out a sigh, "You''re a good man. I even feel bashful taking your money..."


    "Haha, don''t be that reserved. If you didn''t take money, I wouldn''t take your vehicle. It''s not easy for you to make money. I understand you. Just treat it as a tip..." Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he said, "Eat slowly. We have time. We can set off after you finish it..."


    After eating the two steamed buns, the driver sent Zhang Tie back to the airport as fast as possible.


    After returning to the airport, Zhang Tie drove his plane back to Iron-Dragon Sect at cost of almost the same time that he spent all the way here...


    When Zhang Tie returned to Iron-Dragon Sect, his disciples had already prepared well the bloody figures for him...

 1458 Bloody Sacrifice

    The 100 bloody figures had been prepared well for him when Zhang Tie returned to the Bloody Sacrifice Hieron of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    "How many bloody figures are locked up in the iron cells of our battle fort?" Zhang Tie asked Liu Xing as he walked towards the hieron.


    "Master, we''ve got 318,000 bloody figures. Over the past two years, due to the increasing number of bloody figures, we had built another two battle forts to hold them!" Liu Xing replied respectfully as he added, "Since master displayed the bloody sacrifice furnace last time, all the clans across Taixia had started to stockpile bloody figures these two years, arising an increasingly higher purchase price. Master, during the past two years, many major clans in Taixia Country came to Iron-Dragon Sect to ask us whether we planned to open bloody sacrifice furnace to them or not. These people were all received by Elder Lu and Elder Lin. They should be put on records!"


    "Hmm, I see!" Zhang Tie nodded as he added, "How''s the disaster of bloody figures across Taixia Country over the past two years?"


    "The disaster of bloody figures across the country have been basically pacified. Large-scale bloody figures have been exterminated. Only very few bloody figures escaped into the wilderness and woods, drinking blood and eating the flesh of wild animals. It''s nothing to be worry about!"


    "Hmm, I see!" Zhang Tie then asked, "What''s the purchase price of a living bloody figure now?"


    "In late months, the purchase price of an alive, complete bloody figure has already reached 100 gold coins. Those with broken limbs would cost fewer. This line had already become an exclusive business in Taixia Country. Many people are in this trade..."


    "100 gold coins?" Zhang Tie was startled as he asked, "Why so high?"


    Liu Xing replied with a bitter smile, "This year, there''s a gossip that the fact that master becomes a divine dominator is related to the use of bloody sacrifice furnace. Being stimulated by this news, the price of bloody figures start to skyrocket..."


    Zhang Tie was shocked by this imagination; however, he was glad to hear this news.


    Actually, by displaying bloody sacrifice furnace to the public Zhang Tie also intended to have major sects in Taixia Country involve in capturing bloody figures more actively and end the disaster of bloody figures as soon as possible so that commoners in the country could suffer fewer losses. Zhang Tie found that his purpose had almost been reached.


    Zhang Tie had definitely contributed to the pacification of the disaster of bloody figures across the country within a couple of years.


    It was very dangerous to hunt bloody figures. However, when it became profitable for major clans in Taixia Country, they would become active at once. Even though some of them were still confused about the functions of the bloody figures, they would also follow the general trend when they found Iron-Dragon Sect started to purchase living bloody figures at a high price and in large scale.


    As for these major forces, their logic was that they preferred to spend more on investment when they were confused rather than miss the opportunity when they understood it. Actually, they had enough asset to trial error.


    "Is there a relation between Iron-Dragon Sect and those organizations which sell bloody figures?"


    "Yes, there is!"


    "What are the backgrounds of those organizations?"


    "Apparently, they''re composed of bounty criminal hunters; actually, they have various backgrounds. Many of such organizations were propped up by major clans and business groups. Some organizations are even closely related to provincial armies and top four armies. Actually, provincial armies and top four armies would stealthily sell bloody figures to these organizations!"


    It was only human nature to pursue profits. Now that bloody figure was money and the trade of bloody figures was legit in Taixia Country, of course, people would make profits in this line.


    A lot of thoughts had occurred to Zhang Tie when he heard this news.


    "Release the news. From today on, Iron-Dragon Sect will start to purchase demon fighters and demon knights. We want them as long as they''re alive..." As the battle between humans and demons in the Helan Mountain Range continued, Zhang Tie added oil to it, "Besides, we also want demonized puppets from all the subcontinents. After that, you tell the director of Lu Clan in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory to see me tomorrow..."


    As Zhang Tie told Liu Xing, they had already entered the hieron.


    All the bloody figures were locked up in iron cages as their limbs were bound by alloy and iron chains. Some bloody figures were naked; some only wore a simple pant. The high and spacious heiron was constantly filled with muffled roars which sounded like roars of wild animals. Bloody figures were gazing at the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect and Zhang Tie with widely open, red and aggressive eyes as they struggled, causing cracking sounds.


    In addition, the entire hall was suffused with a looming, bloody smell.


    Bai Suxian, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi were waiting in the lobby.


    Besides Zhang Tie and those elders of Iron-Dragon Sect, even Zhang Tie''s disciples might not know that Zhang Tie had already completely lost his battle strength and couldn''t even defeat a black iron knight.


    Watching Zhang Tie entering the lobby, Mountain Lifting Hermit remained silent; however, his eye light carried a bit condemnation. Zhang Tie disappeared for the whole morning. Although he left by plane, he was still within the territory of Iron-Dragon Sect. However, those elders of Iron-Dragon Sect who were clear about Zhang Tie''s situation were still worried about Zhang Tie''s safety.


    "Liu Xing, you could leave here with the other disciples. Close the gate before leaving!" Mountain Lifting Hermit told them.


    "Yes, elder!"


    Liu Xing and the other disciples then left the lobby.


    Not until Liu Xing and the other disciples left and the gate was closed did Mountain Lifting Hermit tell Zhang Tie solemnly, "Head, your safety is closely related to the wellbeing of Iron-Dragon Sect and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, and you''re looked up by all the people in the world, how could you leave Iron-Dragon Sect so frivolously? What if any emergency occurred? I''m the elder of Iron-Dragon Sect and in charge of the implement of disciplines. I have to blame you even if you''re the head..."


    "Elder brother, you''re right. It''s my fault this time. I won''t do it again..." Zhang Tie hurriedly cupped his hands for the forgiveness of Mountain Lifting Hermit.


    Bai Suxian rolled her eyes to Zhang Tie, which meant If you did that again, I would beat you.


    After Zhang Tie apologized sincerely, Mountain Lifting Hermit didn''t blame him anymore. Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi exchanged a glance with each other silently.


    Even though Zhang Tie''s prestige and social status had been much higher than before, he still respected the other elders of Iron-Dragon Sect very much. Therefore, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi felt that they had made a wise decision to join Iron-Dragon Sect.


    "Well, please take out the bloody sacrifice furnace. We will give you a favor. Let''s see whether these bloody figures could cure your injuries!" Mountain Lifting Hermit lowered his tone.


    "Fine!" Zhang Tie replied as he waved his hand towards Bai Suxian, "Suxian, come here. I need your help to take out the bloody sacrifice furnace!"


    Bai Suxian approached him as she asked, "How?"


    "Bloody sacrifice furnace is too huge. I could barely take it out of my space-teleportation equipment. You should hold my hand and pass your spiritual energy to me..."


    Bai Suxian then held Zhang Tie''s left hand as she slowly transmitted her spiritual energy into Zhang Tie''s body, saying, "Like this?"


    After sensing the spiritual energy, Zhang Tie nodded. Closely after that, he waved his hand as the bloody sacrifice furnace and that huge joss as high as dozens of meters appeared in the lobby in a split second.


    Watching such a heavy treasure, Bai Suxian, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi revealed their amazed looks unconsciously.


    After letting go of Bai Suxian''s hand, Zhang Tie stood on the sacrificial altar of the bloody sacrifice furnace as he started the manipulation. After the mouth of the furnace was opened, the chilly black flame started to burn up in the furnace.


    Zhang Tie nodded towards Mountain Lifting Hermit.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit then opened the iron cages. At the same time, he released his battle qi, causing all the struggling bloody figures stiff all over. Closely after that, Mountain Lifting Hermit threw them into the bloody sacrifice one after another.


    After those bloody figures entered the furnace, they instantly disappeared in the black flame.


    After eating 100 bloody figures, the eyes of the joss on the bloody sacrifice furnace gradually turned bright. Closely after that, a light was cast onto Zhang Tie from the eyes of the joss.


    100 LV 9 bloody figures could definitely bring enough energy to him.


    The bizarre light soon faded away. Zhang Tie sat there with crossed legs for a short while as he carefully sensed the change in his body after absorbing that energy.


    In the light, Zhang Tie felt that his body was washed completely. Some injuries and obstacles among cells in his guts and some negative energy were gradually healed and cleaned. His guts were revitalized as the stagnant vital energy among guts gradually flowed fluently once again...


    However, the two black holes in his mind sea and qi sea remained unchanged...

 1459 Surprise and Bitterness

    As his great physical functions had already been recovered, Zhang Tie could even sense the strong waves caused by constantly growing battle qi and spiritual energy in his qi sea and mind sea respectively.


    The new battle qi and spiritual energy had already reached the level of shadow knight as powerful as that Zhang Tie had in his culmination at the bank of Weishui River. However, what made Zhang Tie wordless was that the new battle qi and spiritual energy would still be completely devoured by the two black holes.


    It was similar to that the moment a miner discovered gold in the farmland and took it out of the mine, the gold had been confiscated and thrown into a bottomless abyss, making the miner disappointed and hopeless in a split second.


    Zhang Tie kept his eyes closed; however, he could sense that bitterness.


    Undoubtedly, it was a strike, a huge strike for Zhang Tie.


    The bloody sacrifice furnace that could even fix broken chakras of knights remained helpless facing the bizarre energy brought by the thunder of nirvana.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined such a consequence.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that the bloody sacrifice furnace could at least take effect on the strange energy in the two black holes by gradually suppressing and nibbling it up, even though it couldn''t cure him completely. It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that the sacrifice of 100 LV 9 bloody figures didn''t work on the special energy at all.


    However, facts didn''t change with one''s feelings.


    The two black holes were constantly devouring Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy and battle qi. However, Zhang Tie knew that he had already completely recovered physically given the feedback on the operation panel of the bloody sacrifice furnace. After completely fixing Zhang Tie''s cells, the energy of the 100 bloody figures had partially transferred to Zhang Tie''s brain, slightly improving his sensing capability of "water element" in the realm of shadow knight...


    All of his physical functions had completely recovered. Although the two black holes in his qi sea and mind sea respectively appeared to have nothing to do with him, they attached to his body. Metaphorically, the energy of the two black holes was like a dye that stuck to Zhang Tie''s body or Zhang Tie''s finger rings or clothes, which didn''t influence his normal physical functions. Therefore, the bloody sacrifice furnace didn''t work on it.


    As for the bloody sacrifice furnace, the missing spiritual energy and battle qi were like being consumed by Zhang Tie himself or being endlessly absorbed by a marvelous finger ring or ornament on him. The bloody sacrifice furnace only cared about whether his function of producing battle qi and spiritual energy had recovered; instead of the whereabouts of his spiritual energy and battle qi.


    As for the bloody sacrifice furnace, the only difference between the energy of the two black holes and the dye and ornaments on his body lay in that one was external and the other was internal. Actually, they were both foreign goods.


    It took Zhang Tie a few seconds to think it through when he became more worried.


    Bloody sacrifice furnace didn''t work on it, even though Zhang Tie promoted to advanced recovery body. As he had already completely recovered, the effect of advanced recovery body would not be different than that of the bloody sacrifice furnace, neither would it be greater than that of the latter.


    ''What the f*ck?''


    Zhang Tie was almost driven mad. Apparently, he had already recovered. Pitifully, the new battle qi and spiritual energy were unavailable. Before he used them up, they had been siphoned off by a foreign force. If the two black holes were ornaments, he could still pick them off; helplessly, he couldn''t pick them off at all. No matter what, he couldn''t dig holes on his head and his belly...


    Zhang Tie fell into a trance. Not until he recovered his composure and accepted this reality did he open his eyes.


    The four elders of Iron-Dragon Sect were standing in front of him and watching him with a concerned look.


    "How do you feel?" Bai Suxian broke the silence.


    Although Mountain Lifting Hermit, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi didn''t open their mouths, their eye light had revealed what they wanted to know.


    Zhang Tie picked himself up as he revealed a smile on purpose, "I''ve almost recovered, and I feel much more spirited. However, the two wisps of energy in my qi sea and mind sea still exist. I need a close cultivation so as to consolidate and confirm this effect..."


    It was reasonable for him to enter close cultivation in this case. None of the other elders doubted his motive. However, Zhang Tie was thinking about entering the Castle of Black Iron in the name of close cultivation.


    Since he recovered his awareness, Zhang Tie had been gazed by numerous people, including Yan Feiqing. Therefore, he didn''t have a chance to enter Castle of Black Iron until now even though he had returned to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    "You indeed need close cultivation for further rehabilitation!" Mountain Lifting Hermit nodded as he pointed at the high bloody sacrifice furnace and said, "Put it away..."


    "Just let it be here for the time being. I prepare to enter close cultivation for 3 days. During this period, elder brother, you make an arrangement to let all the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect enjoy the bloody sacrifice furnace. No matter what, we''ve got so many bloody figures. It would be wasteful if we didn''t use it. Over the past two years, all the disciples have performed well and made great efforts and progress. Many of them have already promoted to LV 10. Everyone has contributed a lot to Iron-Dragon Sect. They deserve the award. As for the quota of bloody figures for each disciple, it depends on elder brother and the other elders!"

 1460 A Plan

    Zhang Tie said calmly with a smile. Even Bai Suxian couldn''t find his bitterness.


    "Head, speaking of bloody sacrifice furnace, I and Huanxi actually have one thing to report to you!" Lu Zhongming told Zhang Tie politely and respectfully as usual, "Over the past two years, you were fighting demons outside. During this period, many major clans and sects in Taixia Country assigned representatives to inquire about the effect and usage of bloody sacrifice furnace and expressed the sincerity to cooperate with us. I and Huanxi have already written a document about the information of those clans and sects and suggestions on cooperating with them. We''re waiting for your decision, head!"


    Lu Zhongming instantly took out a document before passing it to Zhang Tie, saying, "Bloody sacrifice furnace has too many marvelous functions. If we could use it properly, we would make it another immortal item besides fiery oil in Iron-Dragon Sect. However, this event is of great significance, I and Huanxi couldn''t make a decision about it; therefore, we have to ask for your deliberation. As the head has just come back a couple of days ago and was busy entertaining guests, we could only wait until today..."


    After taking Lu Zhongming''s item, Zhang Tie skimmed over it for a few seconds. After that, he closed it as he looked at the others, "I will mention about it later on. Just now, I wanted to say that you, as the elders of Iron-Dragon Sect, should also enjoy the welfare of Iron-Dragon Sect¡ª¡ª1,000 bloody figures for each of you. You could try whether you could make a breakthrough in some aspects. As for knights, even if bloody sacrifice couldn''t break through bottlenecks in cultivation, it could also improve your knight''s awareness and make your cells more energetic!"


    "Ahh, 1,000? It''s too many..." Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi were startled by Zhang Tie''s generous compensation before Mountain Lifting Hermit expressed his opinion.


    As the elders who stayed in Iron-Dragon Sect after Zhang Tie and the other elders left there for fighting demons, of course, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi knew the value of 1,000 bloody figures. As for those major clans or sects who didn''t have a bloody sacrifice furnace, 1,000 bloody figures might only mean 100,000 gold coins; however, as for Iron-Dragon Sect, the value 1,000 bloody figures couldn''t only be measured by gold coins as this sacrifice was actually a precious strategic resource. Zhang Tie himself only cost 100 bloody figures to recover his injuries, not to mention the value of 1,000 bloody figures.


    "Hahaha..." Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he added, "Elder brother Lu, stop talking about it. As for Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, the problems that could be solved by gold coins are actually not problems. We should spend them as we''ve got so much money. Additionally, I know Elder Brother Lu and Lin Huanxi are cultivating a 2-in-1 battle skill and have not made a breakthrough in it. Why not have a try? When you grow more and more powerful, Iron-Dragon Sect could also be indestructible without me!"


    "Erm..."


    "No more hesitation, Elder Brother Lu, let''s fix it. Two years ago, I didn''t leave bloody sacrifice furnace in Iron-Dragon Sect as I was afraid that bloody sacrifice furnace was too eye-catching. After Elder Brother Mountain Lifting and Suxian left Iron-Dragon Sect, Elder Brother Lu and elders sister Huanxi stayed here alone. I''m worried about your safety. After we come back, nobody would dare rob it away!"


    Zhang Tie said confidently. By killing a heavenly demon knight and exposing his status as a divine dominator, he indeed incurred some problems; however, by displaying his real battle strength, he also solved some problems. It was a dialectical process. "I was told today that a huge industrial chain on trading bloody figures has already taken shape in Taixia Country. Perhaps, we could make use of this industrial chain to expand our overall strength!"


    "Ahh? What''s your opinion?" Bai Suxian asked him with an interest.


    "I was told that each major sect in Taixia Country has their unique business and a great influence in one aspect such as Gold and Power Market of God and Power Law and trade of secret pearls in Taiyi Fantasy City. Although these industries are related to profit, they also display the overall strength and influence of each sect. We''ve got fiery oil; however, the profit of fiery oil is relatively too decentralized. We couldn''t produce fiery oil only in Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory; however, we could monopolize a business among humans..."


    "What business?"


    "The trade of bloody figures and demon fighters!" Zhang Tie said with a smile, "We could build a city exclusively for trading bloody figures and demon fighters within Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory. Bloody figures and demon fighters are all materials for bloody sacrifice furnace. As long as we have a bloody sacrifice furnace, we will make the game rule so as to gain a great profit from it. This would benefit those clans and sects in Taixia Country and the holy war as a whole. It would benefit multiple parties! After building this new city, we will put the bloody sacrifice furnace inside the city."


    Zhang Tie explained as the eyes of Mountain Lifting Hermit, Bai Suxian, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi gleamed at the same time.


    "That''s great..." Bai Suxian clapped her hands out of excitement.


    "Hmm, that works!" Mountain Lifting Hermit stroke his long beard as he said in a leisure tone, "That''s the supreme realm for a sect or clan to build a city and enjoy profits from it!"


    "If so, our Iron-Dragon Sect would have a greater influence!" Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi exchanged a glance with each other as the latter said in a tender voice.


    "Now that we''ve all passed it, let''s do it!" Zhang Tie nodded as he added, "Just now, I''ve told Liu Xing to fetch the steward of Lu Clan tomorrow. Today, you could work out the initial plan through negotiation..." Zhang Tie said as he passed what Lu Zhongming gave him to Bai Suxian, adding, "You negotiate about it first. After that, Suxian, you give it to the other members of Ironheart Pavilion and tell them your opinion. Let them include those people who migrated to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory from the Western Theater of Operations in this city and make a coordinated consideration. After the steward of Lu Clan arrives, tell him what to do!"


    "If so, we''re going to build two cities at the same time besides the New Blackhot City!"


    "Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory is so large and we have people and money, couldn''t we build two cities at the same time?" Zhang Tie said with a smile as he added, "Additionally, by now, I also feel that there should be a class A city in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory..."


    After thinking about it for a few seconds, they all nodded.

 1461 The Sacred Frui

    In many cases, when one reached a certain stage, he would have a greater insight and ability and could treat many things calmly.


    When in Blackhot City, one of Zhang Tie''s dream was to buy a big house for his family members. Zhang Tie pursued this target at his full efforts and had dreamed about it for many times, including the location of the house in the downtown, the layout of the rooms, the furniture, curtains, lawn and trees in the courtyard, Zhang Tie had considered about these details carefully. No matter what, it was a "major event" of hundreds even thousands of gold coins, but now, even though it was a class A city after Zhang Tie made a decision and communicated with the other elders of Iron-Dragon Sect, he would not care about its construction anymore.


    Even though this new city was a big program of tens of millions even hundreds of millions of gold coins and would become the "trade center of sacrifices for bloody sacrifice" of Taixia Country and humans as a whole in the future, Zhang Tie would not care about it anymore. He didn''t even care about its location.


    Zhang Tie had already lost his interest in money.


    Zhang Tie cared most about that small tree in Castle of Black Iron after knowing that bloody sacrifice furnace couldn''t do any more help to him for the time being.


    The small tree had displayed many miracles and brought him many surprises. This time, Zhang Tie expected that the small tree could bring him another miracle and surprise.


    After leaving the lobby where the bloody sacrifice furnace was placed, Zhang Tie came to the outside of the backroom where he used to enter close cultivation on the top of Xuantian Peak. After leaving some words to those disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect outside there, he entered the tunnel leading to the backroom.


    Not until the 0.5 m thick alloy composite gate was slowly closed by disciples from outside by rotating the capstan did Zhang Tie lock the capstan from inside as he let out a deep sigh and walked towards inside, relieving his calmness.


    The tunnel led downwards all the way to the hinterland of Xuantian Peak. On both sides of the tunnel were inlaid with eternal fluorites, which brightly lit the entire tunnel. It was tranquil in the tunnel except for the fine footsteps when he stepped on the steel steps. Walking inside it, Zhang Tie felt entering the ghostdom.


    When a knight was officially in close cultivation, he was fragile and very dangerous. When a knight was in close cultivation, he couldn''t prevent threats from outside. Actually, when a knight was in a realm of the secret method, he was actually as weak as a sleeping commoner and could be easily killed. Additionally, when a knight was possessed by the devil when in close cultivation, he could easily do great damages to commoners.


    Previously, due to poor safety precautions, some knights in close cultivation were assassinated by commoners or enemies.


    A knight was possessed by the devil when in close cultivation. As a result, he was in hallucination and broke out of the backroom easily. He then killed all of his family members and disciples. When his consciousness recovered, he couldn''t accept the fact that all of his family members and disciples had been killed by him; therefore, he chose to commit suicide.


    To prevent these emergencies from happening again, the backrooms of knights today had to meet very strict requirements.


    The first requirement was that outsiders even high-level knights couldn''t easily break, enter or sense the backroom of knights; the second was that only sober-minded knights could exit it.


    To meet such strict requirements, the backroom for close cultivation could even match the underground havens which were built to prevent nuclear weapon attacks before the Castastrophe.


    There were many alloy gates in the tunnel. Like doors of safes, those alloy gates were all locked by Zhang Tie after he passed through them. They could only be opened from inside using a code when he was sober-minded.


    Many places on the walls and the ground were supported by hard metal frameworks. The tortuous structure lasting 1,000 m inside the tunnel determined that this tunnel couldn''t even be destroyed by a sage-level knight by one strike.


    There were 3 heavy lead isolating layers outside the backroom at the end of the tunnel, each layer was 0.5 m in thickness. These heavy lead isolating layers could isolate the consciousness and spiritual energy of all knights.


    After entering the backroom and closing the last protective gate, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh of relief.


    The fact that his wife was too powerful was also an obsession for Zhang Tie. As long as Yan Feiqing was on his side, she would discover it right away the moment he entered Castle of Black Iron. This was why Zhang Tie couldn''t find a chance to enter Castle of Black Iron in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Certainly, Zhang Tie trusted Yan Feiqing; however, he felt that he should have a bit of individual space and secrets. It was like why his dad liked to have some case-dough at home. Was it that his dad didn''t trust his mom? Of course not.


    The backroom was less than 1,000 square meters in size. The entire room was divided into two regions, one bright, the other dark. In the dark, there were some plants which usually grew in the underground world. These plants could constantly synthesize oxygen; therefore, the air in the backroom was always fresh.


    Besides, there was a hidden escape passage leading to the outside.


    ''Small tree, I''m here!''


    Zhang Tie had not entered this backroom for a long time. After looking around, he didn''t find any problem. Therefore, Zhang Tie ran a bit of spiritual wave in his mind sea as he entered Castle of Black Iron in a split second and appeared in the lobby of the Palace Tree.


    "Welcome back, castle lord!"


    Handsome Heller had long been waiting for him along with the three slave servants.


    Eyes closed, Zhang Tie breathed the fresh air which carried reiki deeply before opening his eyes.


    "It''s so nice to see you again. I almost thought that I couldn''t come back this time!" Zhang Tie said as he tightly put his arms around Heller and forcefully patted Heller''s back.


    When he was hugged by Zhang Tie, Heller became stiff for a second as his eyesight changed. Closely after that, he recovered his composure.


    After that, Zhang Tie gave a hug to his three slave servants respectively, causing them flurried.


    Although Heller, Agan, Aziz and Edward always regarded themselves as Zhang Tie''s slave servants, Zhang Tie felt they were more like his reliable friends as they were helping him sincerely.


    "Easy, it''s just a hug! It''s my fortune to survive myself this time. Do you know what I was thinking about when I woke up in Xuanyuan Hill?" Zhang Tie had uttered before the other 4 answered, "I was thinking that you would be too poor if I died this time. I should find wives for you at least!"


    Watching the dumbfounded looks of them, Zhang Tie finally burst into laughter. Closely after that, he turned around and walked towards the small tree. He was then attracted by the change of the small tree instantly...


    A bizarre fruit was hanging over the small tree while its brilliant and tender golden light was covering the entire tree. The small tree as a whole was like a golden torch, which gave out strange waves from time to time...


    Zhang Tie was shocked by such a scene very much as he stopped his feet at once.


    "That''s the fruit of redemption from the gratitude of humans..." Heller''s voice sounded behind Zhang Tie.

 1462 The Consciousness of Universal Laws

    Zhang Tie had never seen such a brilliant and sacred light from any fruit.


    Without touching the fruit, Zhang Tie had felt the brilliance reflected on his body the moment he walked onto the steps below the small tree. In a split second, he felt pure inside as his body as a whole started to resonate with the fruit as if it was accepting the most sacred baptism. At the same time, the purest pleasure filled Zhang Tie''s bosom.


    With the pleasure, Zhang Tie''s negative emotions disappeared completely, including the bitterness that he sensed when he found that the bloody sacrifice furnace couldn''t cure the sequela caused by the thunder of nirvana.


    At this moment, if Zhang Tie''s bosom were the ocean, the pleasure would be the sea water; if Zhang Tie''s bosom was the sky, the pleasure would be endless tolerance.


    The pleasure exceeded the maximal degree of tolerance of one''s senses, which was too fabulous to express.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that the fruit could bring him such a great shock.


    With piety, reverence and expectation, Zhang Tie mounted the steps towards the fruit which was giving out sacred, brilliant light as he stretched out one hand.


    Compared to the other fruits on the small tree, this fruit was unpretentious in shape¡ª¡ªbeing a perfectly golden ball in the size of a fist, it was covered with some strange grains, which appeared to carry some mysterious strength that could completely absorb one''s spirit and consciousness.


    Zhang Tie slowly stretched out his hand towards it.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of redemption, class I consciousness of universal laws; already ripe!


    Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of redemption, originating from the gratitude of all the spiritual lives who were saved from life-and-death situations. Each living being appreciative emotion and awareness would carry special, great energy exclusive to this living being. After being reflected onto the savior through the net of infinity, this great energy becomes the key to open the genebank of the savior. After gaining their rebirth, the spiritual lives would light the genes on the savior by the flame of spirituality that represent the most remarkable, same life features of the spiritual lives and grant the savior with the same ability.


    ¡ª¡ªThis is a fruit due to the redemption of humans. Human beings are an existence on top of the pyramid of spiritual lives. God creates humans after his own look. Therefore, a human''s body is as almighty as God. The difference between humans and the other species lies in that human''s almighty body sensitive perception and understanding of powerful universal laws.


    ¡ª¡ªThe power of rules is ultimate. It''s the greatest ability for humans to understand and grasp this power.


    ¡ª¡ªWith this fruit of redemption, the consumer could get the power of class I rules.


    The consciousness of universal laws is the fruit of redemption from the gratitude of humans!


    Zhang Tie was completely shocked by the floating words in the transparent textbox. Although he had a lot of expectations about the fruit of redemption from the gratitude of humans, he had never imagined its great power.


    Golden uangs brought him their great strength!


    Earthworms brought him great vitality and resilience.


    What did humans bring him? As the No. 1 spiritual life on the top of the pyramid of all species, what was humans'' reliance? It was humans'' comprehension of universal laws. In the historical course of hundreds of millions since humans appeared, they depended on such a great ability to rule all the other species and create brilliant civilizations and marvels.


    The fruit of redemption from the gratitude of humans was the consciousness of universal laws. Although it appeared to be out of Zhang Tie''s imagination, it should be reasonable.


    Zhang Tie was indeed shocked by the consciousness of universal laws; however, what shocked him more was the determiner in front of consciousness of universal laws¡ª¡ªclass I. This consciousness of universal laws was just a beginning. If more people were saved, Zhang Tie could gain fruits of consciousness of universal laws of higher classes.


    Heller had already stood under the high platform of the small tree as he was watching Zhang Tie calmly.


    Zhang Tie was indeed thrilled by this fruit; however, after a few seconds, Zhang Tie found that he had not figured out some questions. Zhang Tie knew that Heller would never talk about anything about this fruit before it grew out based on his temperament; instead, Heller would let Zhang Tie explore and try it himself. As long as the fruit appeared, Heller would solve all the questions about this fruit for him as his best adviser.


    "Can you tell me what is consciousness of universal laws in the simplest way?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    "Consciousness of universal laws refers to the understanding of Dao as is usually mentioned by you Hua people. People''s inventions couldn''t exist without comprehension of rules. Wheels, aircraft, fighting skills, runes and cultivation rules, secret items, all these were people''s comprehension and reflection of rules and Dao on different levels. Preliminarily, this comprehension is reflected in low-frequency material inventions such as industrial and scientific civilizations that humans created within a long period before the Catastrophe. The higher the level is, the closer it would approach the essence and core of universal laws, display the perfect essence of humans as the No. 1 spiritual being and one''s great ability to renovate and master the universe, including space and time!"


    Hearing Heller''s explanation, Zhang Tie gradually became more aware of the concept of consciousness of universal laws as he said, "Concretely, what level of rules and abilities could I comprehend with class I consciousness of universal laws?"


    "The power system of sage-level knights is the performance of power that the one with class I consciousness of universal laws could comprehend in his cultivation!"


    "What? I could comprehend the power of sage-level knights with class I consciousness of universal laws?" Zhang Tie almost shouted due to a great shock.


    "When heavenly knights form a complete fire chakra, they would be semi-sage knights. However, there''s a great chasm and barrier between semi-sage knights and sage-level knights, which is one''s manipulation about the power of the realm. Only after promoting to a semi-sage knight could people sense this barrier. It''s very hard to cross it. As long as you take this consciousness of universal laws, this chasm and barrier would not exist anymore. From now on, you would promote all the way to sage-level knights fluently!"


    Swallowing his saliva, Zhang Tie said, "You mean, with the consciousness of universal laws, I could gradually realize and master the power of realm without any obstacle and promote to a semi-sage knight and a sage-level knight smoothly after promoting to a heavenly knight?"


    "Yes, additionally, it''s just a reflection of consciousness of universal laws in one aspect. When you master the power of realm, it''s just a reflection of universal laws and power on cultivation; however, it was not the only reflection. With the consciousness of universal laws, you might comprehend things in other aspects on the same level!"


    "Might?"


    "Yes, might!" Heller nodded as he added, "Class I consciousness of universal laws grant you with the ability to comprehend class I rules; instead of imparting class I rules directly to you. Nobody could make that. Because the resonance between the comprehension of rules and rules themselves is a miraculous realm. The power of the realm that sage-level knight could master is just one of class I rules. There''re many more class I rules!"


    "Other class I rules?


    "Of course, do you think that power of realm includes everything? Do you think a sage-level knight could be almighty?" Heller asked with a smile, which made Zhang Tie think through at once, "There should be kinds of power of realm, strong or weak. Could sage-level knights produce space-teleportation equipment? Could sage-level knights produce silver secret items? Could sage-level knights produce a tower of time and bloody sacrifice furnace?" Of course, they cannot. If so, who has produced the above items? What kind of power could create so many miracles?"


    "Are there greater powers above sage-level knights?" Zhang Tie asked as he looked straight into Heller''s eyes with shrewd eyesight.


    "Castle Lord, when you entered Castle of Black Iron firstly in Blackhot City, you should have known it. I remember that Castle Lord asked me whether there were deities in this world at that time. You didn''t even know what was a sage-level knight at that moment. However, Castle Lord could also imagine that the life that created Castle of Black Iron must have an unimaginable power, which is far greater than that of sage-level knights!"


    Heller looked at Zhang Tie with flashing eyes as he said, "In front of Castle of Black Iron, a sage-level knight''s power is trivial. Sage-level knights only refer to knights in a realm that is relative to commoners according to people''s recognition of power. After forming earth charka, water chakra, wind chakra and fire chakra and mastering the power of realm, one would become a sage-level knight. However, from a higher point of view, you would find it was just a beginning. Castle Lord, do you remember why the small tree couldn''t bear any fruit of demon knights? It''s also because of some greater rules and powers. Castle Lord, have you thought about who''s dominating these rules and powers..."


    ...

 1463 Another Shock

    Zhang Tie was really shocked by Heller''s question like as if he was struck by a lightning bolt.


    "Heller, you mean that there...there''re some spiritual beings more powerful than sage-level demon knights?" Zhang Tie couldn''t help but stammer.


    "I could only tell you that sage-level demon knight couldn''t pose any influence to the bearing rules of the small tree. It''s a very advanced power that is far greater than that of sage-level knights as it could directly prevent demon knights from being affected by the bearing rules of the small tree!"


    Although Heller didn''t tell Zhang Tie explicitly, Zhang Tie, who was familiar with Heller''s talking style had already got the answer. In the past, Zhang Tie had already sensed it. However, he didn''t want to face it. Now, this answer was finally proved by the fruit of redemption from the gratitude of humans given Heller''s explanation.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what to do, cry or smile.


    The new fruit was a piece of good news for Zhang Tie. However, the fact that demons had powers far greater than sage-level knights let Zhang Tie feel a heavy burden. As for Zhang Tie, this stress was similar to that when he realized that the holy war was going to break out soon when he was a horny boy. In a trance, the invisible stress shocked his soul and made him suffocated about his fate facing the sea of stars at night.


    "Is...is there really a demon deity?"


    "What''s your definition for deity? Based on your current ability, if you were in the age before the Catastrophe, you could live hundreds even thousands of years; you could fly in the sky out of the effect of gravity of the planet; you could be immune to sabers and guns; you could remain young forever; you could read others'' memories; you could control one''s soul by throwing a glance at him; you would also be a deity for those people in that age. However, do you really think that you''re a deity?" People always say that deities are almighty. However, the word "almighty" itself is contradictory; it''s the product of a paradox; it''s an innocent fantasy."


    After being silent for a few seconds, Zhang Tie asked another question, "Would the small tree bear other fruits of consciousness of universal laws on higher levels?"


    "Yes, the small tree could bear another 8 fruits of consciousness of universal laws from class II to class IX. Each level of the fruit of consciousness of universal laws could enable Castle Lord to touch the rules of a new level. The last fruit that this small tree could bring Castle Lord is also the class IX fruit of consciousness of universal laws!"


    Heller''s words meant that there were at least 9 greater realms above a sage-level knight. Attention! It was at least. Due to the limited abilities of the small tree, it could not bear anything higher than itself...


    It was not an end, but a beginning to become a sage-level knight.


    There were unimaginable, more powerful existences above sage-level demon knights.


    However, Zhang Tie was just a shadow knight. He should promote to a heavenly knight, then a sage-level knight, from when he just gained a new start as there would be more powerful realms above it.


    Such a new recognition was like an ice bucket challenge for Zhang Tie. After quivering all over for a bit, he abruptly woke up from the sense of achievement after he killed a heavenly demon knight above the bank of Weishui River.


    "Now that there''re such powerful demon existences, why would the holy war last for so many years?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    "What do you think?" Heller gazed at Zhang Tie seriously too.


    "Are there also unknown powerful human existences?" Zhang Tie felt there probably was as he added, "The more powerful the individuals are, the longer would they live. Many unimaginable powerful existences which created brilliant human histories and civilizations might...might still be alive..."


    This conclusion was a bit horrible. However, it was the most reasonable explanation that Zhang Tie could imagine. If there were really demons higher than sage-level knights, there must be balanced forces on the same level. Otherwise, demons would have been unscrupulous and such holy wars would not last almost 1,000 years.


    Heller maintained a smile silently. At the sight of Heller''s expression, Zhang Tie knew that he couldn''t get any answer from Heller.


    Zhang Tie then suddenly let out a sigh as he said, "If I could make a choice, I prefer there''s no such a fruit!"


    "Ostrich is used to bury its head in sand; however, it doesn''t mean that it could live longer than a lion. Under the sea of stars, each of us is small. Tens of millions of years is just a ripple rising and falling in the long course of the river. " Heller looked at Zhang Tie calmly as he added, "Castle Lord, would you take this fruit?"


    "I would; of course; why not?" Zhang Tie suddenly revealed his side of decisiveness and ferocity as he added, "No matter what, I''ve already secured advantages. I''ve f*cked the most beautiful women, killed fierce demons and saved a lot of people at the risk of my life. I''ve got everything that others could have or have not. I''ve got everything that I want. What I''m afraid of? F*ck! Whatever, no matter how powerful the guys behind demons are or how higher the realms above sage-level knight are, this f*ther would not lose one hair now!"


    Zhang Tie said as he directly picked off the fruit of consciousness of universal laws before sitting down under the small tree with crossed legs and engulfing it...


    When the energy of that fruit started to spread over Zhang Tie''s body, Zhang Tie''s consciousness and senses were instantly involved in overwhelming energy. Zhang Tie felt being engulfed by that fruit as he felt each cell and nerve in his body was melting in that fruit...


    In the overwhelming energy, Zhang Tie couldn''t sense the existence of time and his body anymore; instead, he only felt his awareness and senses skyrocketing. After a period, the fresh sense immediately broke through the thick clouds and the skyline briskly and openly.


    When he gradually recovered his consciousness and senses, he opened his eyes.


    Heller was still standing in front of the small tree; however, the bizarre light in the palace tree had been lit, which reminded Zhang Tie that it was already night.


    Zhang Tie looked around as he found that everything in front of his eyes appeared as same as before. However, as long as he slightly concentrated on something, he would find that everything had become different...

 1464 A Shocking Experience

    Everything in Palace Tree had suddenly become "clean" in Zhang Tie''s consciousness as they were completely in another state. Zhang Tie couldn''t describe it; however, he found that everything that he could see appeared to lose their "names", including Heller''s clothes, the stone steps and the furnishings in the lobby of the Palace Tree.


    Everything was independent and interdependent out of the bound of nouns and concepts in his mind. They had recovered the purest, cleanest and most majestic state which carried limitless possibilities.


    Zhang Tie watched the stone steps at foot quietly as he couldn''t remember that they were called steps; they were not square, humble stones anymore. In this world, nothing was really square and humble. They just existed in a lofty and beautiful state. When Zhang Tie looked at them, they were also looking at Zhang Tie. After that, both Zhang Tie and the stone steps became "pleasant". All of a sudden, Zhang Tie felt being full of tranquility and sweetness.


    In this state, Zhang Tie felt like watching a lover who had left him for a long time and how a jewelry trader gazed at a top-notch jade.


    He was startled by this feeling as he thought that there was something wrong with his mind. Looking at the stone steps, he felt pleasant as if he were looking at his lover and the most perfect jade in the world.


    As Zhang Tie''s attention dispersed, he immediately exited that bizarre realm. Everything in front of his eyes recovered, including Heller''s clothes, stone steps and the furnishings in the lobby of Palace Tree.


    Everything remained unchanged. At the same time, Zhang Tie couldn''t sense that tranquility and pleasure anymore. Everything in front of his eyes recovered their original looks as they didn''t look lofty or beautiful anymore.


    ''Is this the real experience of the consciousness of universal laws?''


    Zhang Tie went downstairs the high platform as he walked out of the lobby and came to the hillside under the calm gaze of Heller. As long as he focused on his attention, he would enter the same bizarre state again.


    It was already pitch-dark outside the lobby of Palace Tree. Grasses and woods were verdant on the Immortal Mountain. A waterfall flew off a mountain stream in the distance like a Milky Way. In the dim light given out by the colorful mist in the sky, the undulating ranges in the far were like having a sound sleep. In the farther place, it was the billowy ocean...


    Squatting down, Zhang Tie looked at a common small grass as he felt pleasant again.


    It was not a small grass anymore.


    Even though rooting in soil, it was still as clean as crystal.


    Although growing in the hillside, it was as lofty as the mountain.


    Foiled by luxuriant flowers, the glass was distinctively beautiful.


    It was just an existence that integrated with the universe. Its delicate body was full of firmness and freedom.


    In this strange state, the grass could last tens of thousands of miles like a mountain and cover the sky and the sun like a tree. Even a drop of dew on the grass could surge like billows in the ocean...


    Everything in the universe was the reflection of rules. Even a speck of dust was as brilliant as the myriad of stars; because the rules to maintain the existence of a speck of dust was nothing different than that to maintain the existence of the myriad of stars and the universe as a whole.


    In front of the same rules, why would there be humbleness and loftiness?


    It was a human heart which discerned them. The human heart was the biggest thief that stole the secret of universal laws. By being sincere and silly could one reveal the secret of universal laws.


    Those concepts which could be named were not eternal concepts!


    Those laws which could be explained were not real universal laws!


    Those rules which could be made were not real rules!


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had understood the truth that Meng Shidao was pursuing. Additionally, his comprehension of "sincerity" instantly reached an extremely high realm.


    This was the world that one could see with class I consciousness of universal laws.


    As night breeze blew over the hill, the grass slowly waved itself towards Zhang Tie with a smile.


    Zhang Tie could even get gnosis from common grass. Immersed in a bizarre realm, Zhang Tie felt that the rocking delicate grass was performing a rapid "dodging" skill facing the stormy battle qi strikes.


    The grass was people; people were grass; the wind was as aggressive as saber and sword...


    Right outside the Palace Tree, Zhang Tie suddenly strode forward. At the same time, he shook weirdly. Closely after that, he strode out for the second time as his body tilted backward, making it an unimaginable gesture in others'' eyes.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie strode out for the 3rd times. This time, he tilted backward completely and was almost parallel to the ground, with less than 3 cm in between. When he strode out for the 4th time, he sprung up and entered the breeze like a weightless feather. Then, he accelerated his footsteps. In a split second, the entire hillside was covered with his weird movements. He loomed in the breeze as swiftly as a lightning bolt and as solid as a mountain. What weird movements! Even though Zhang Tie cut into the breeze, it appeared that the tender night breeze could barely touch the corner of Zhang Tie''s clothes...


    After a short while, all the frames on the hillside had disappeared. Zhang Tie still stood on the original position with his eyes closed as if he had not moved at all, leaving 49 bizarre footprints on the ground around him.


    When Zhang Tie moved with the wind, Heller had already walked to Zhang Tie''s back silently as he watched Zhang Tie''s weird movements out of a bit amazement.


    "Congratulations, Castle Lord, you''ve created another great skill. Combining with your gnosis of "One Step, One Scenery", you could easily deal with surging battle qi strikes. Although the realm of "One Step, One Scenery" couldn''t be reached by everyone, such weird movements could be cultivated by everyone. I think such weird movements could rank among top skills that could be available to people below knight level. If you push it into the world, you would shock the world for sure. Iron-Dragon Sect has got a new trump card. Castle Lord, why not dub it?"

 1465 A New Achievemen

    Zhang Tie was awakened by Heller''s words from behind. Looking down at the disorderly yet mysterious footprints, Zhang Tie wondered how could he create such a powerful battle skill only by looking at a small grass for a few seconds with the consciousness of universal laws.


    Even though being a shadow knight with the gnosis of One Step, One Scenery, Zhang Tie could never create such a powerful battle skill so easily. Otherwise, such battle skills would not count anymore.


    With the effect of consciousness of universal laws, Zhang Tie instantly sensed the wisdom of small grass and the strength of some rules followed by the small grass.


    After gazing at the common small grass quietly for quite a while, Zhang Tie let out a sigh as he said, "I will call it Vigorous Grass Gait..."


    "There''s a Hua line called strong wind knows the ability of vigorous grass. Good name!" Heller commented.


    Zhang Tie turned around as he asked, "Could all the sage-level knights sense and access to such a realm whenever they want?''


    At the same time, Zhang Tie was wondering about the frightening ability of sage-level knights.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Heller shook his head decisively as he said, "Sage-level knights couldn''t access to such a realm whenever they want. This realm is not subjective to sage-level knights; on the contrary, this realm creates sage-level knights!"


    "If we divide the universal laws that could be sensed by the consciousness of universal laws into different classes, a semi-sage knight could sense the power of the realm in consistence with class I rules after forming earth chakra, water chakra, wind chakra and fire chakra in some circumstances; after mastering the power of realm, semi-sage knights would promote to sage-level knights. However, the power of the realm is just one reflection of class I rules. The rule of the realm is just a start from where powers enter a higher realm of cultivation. Before this, all the cultivation is about material and elements, lighting surging points or forming chakras; after promoting to a sage knight, all the cultivation would be comprehension, application and sublimation of spiritual energy and rules. Earlier cultivation process works as a foundation for later cultivation. Later cultivation is the root of power. Castle Lord would sense it when you promote to sage-level knights..."


    "What are the names of realms above sage-level knight?"


    With a wink, Heller said, "The realms above sage-level knights are grade I, II, III, IV. Castle Lord, the name of the realm doesn''t count. What''s important is whether it exists or not. Because the same thing has different names among different human races and carries different meanings in different regions and periods. As long as Castle Lord could take care of yourself, you would know it sooner or later!"


    "Will my King Roc Sutra still be available after I promote to a sage-level knight?"


    "Castle Lord would understand it..."


    Realizing that he couldn''t get any secrets about it from Heller anymore, Zhang Tie shook his head silently. However, he made a comparison between the consciousness of knights and the consciousness of universal laws. Zhang Tie found that the consciousness of knights basically improved one''s perceptive ability about "superficial things"; however, the consciousness of universal laws could get the "root" behind "superficial things". The first told him what was happening while the second told him the reason. The latter was the real foundation and source of power of powers.


    When he thought about his current situation, Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile. After the fight at the bank of Weishui River, he couldn''t use his spiritual energy and battle qi. However, he gained consciousness of universal laws as compensation. What you lose on the wings you get back on the roundabouts.


    He lost battle strength above knight level; however, he acquired the ability to observe the essence of things that even sage-level knights longed for. Zhang Tie wondered whether such an exchange is worthwhile or not.


    Vigorous Grass Gait originated from his perception and his experience in fights. Whereas, the secrets carried by Vigorous Grass Gait actually couldn''t match that of class I rules which only sage-level knights could understand. It was just a bit like the class I rules.


    "I''m not a genius. Nevertheless, after taking this fruit, I feel that I might be able to pretend to be a genius from now on...''


    ...


    "Castle Lord, you''ve not enjoyed the scenery in Castle of Black Iron for a long time. Two months ago, when you were in a coma, I had just accomplished a large-scale topographic expansion. What do you think about that?" Heller moved one step forward and came to Zhang Tie''s side as he pointed at the scenery outside the Immortal Mountain and told Zhang Tie satisfactorily.


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie fixated onto the other places outside the Immortal Mountain.


    The Palace Tree was on the highest range in Castle of Black Iron, from where, Zhang Tie could see clearly the entire space.


    Zhang Tie could still use his lotus flower eyes, even though he could barely run his spiritual energy in the mind sea. Therefore, he could see everything clearly inside Castle of Black Iron.


    After over 2 years, even Zhang Tie felt a bit strange about the layout of Castle of Black Iron especially after the latest renovation carried out by Heller.


    Zhang Tie looked in the far as he found that the land area in Castle of Black Iron had covered 600,000 square miles. The undulating ranges and dense woods contained almost all the plants that could be found in the real world. The vigorous growth of these plants provided enough reiki for Castle of Black Iron.


    Beneath the earth, Zhang Tie saw many karst caves, underground holes, "bubble" space as well as other environments which were suitable to the growth of underground plants...

 1466 A Family Member

    Two years ago, before Zhang Tie set for Western Theater of Operations, the seed bank that he ordered from Jiang Clan of Herbal Palace had arrived at Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Although being a bit late, the seed bank contained enough seeds in quantity and quality, including 125,471 underground plants, 39,817 aquatic plants as well as hundreds of thousands of kinds of plant seeds. After the arrival of these seeds, Zhang Tie had teleported them into Castle of Black Iron and had Heller deal with them. As of now, except for over 100 rare plants, all the plants in the outside world could be found in Castle of Black Iron.


    In recent years, these plants provided more and more Reiki for Castle of Black Iron. Plus the Reiki that was provided by those earlier plants, the quantity of Reiki that Castle of Black Iron could produce per day could already match that of basic energy storage that Elements Abyss could convert every day, even more than the latter.


    "Castle of Black Iron could already provide the best geographical environment for the growth of all plant seeds. All the plants are growing pretty well..."


    "I''ve seen it..."


    When Heller opened his mouth, Zhang Tie had already moved his eyes onto those woods where he had sprayed edible plant seeds.


    The walnut woods had already covered hundreds of square miles. All the walnut trees were growing well. Zhang Tie was imagining about the bumper harvest of walnuts in the future. In addition, many fruits and herbal medicines in the walnut woods had become ripe.


    The hills where Zhang Tie had sprayed strawberry seeds had been covered with ripe strawberries. Stepping on it, people would feel like walking in the pulp.


    The pine trees had been very high. The ground within the pines was covered with a mushroom and large pieces of top-notch truffles. The entire pine woods was like a fairyland.


    Some valleys were filled with fresh berries. After falling in swallets and low-lying places, the berries started to ferment, filling the entire valleys with the special aroma that could usually smelt in berry wine taverns.


    Furthermore, there was a plain of peanuts covering hundreds of square miles. All the peanuts over there had been ripe, making the entire plain a huge warehouse of peanuts.


    Those sunflower seeds that Zhang Tie once sprayed had turned into golden heavenly roads.


    Besides, sweet potatoes and fruits could almost be seen everywhere.


    Few people had seen paradise; however, many people could imagine it through Castle of Black Iron.


    "Those residents in Castle of Black Iron have built many huge warehouses to store grains. They made fresh fruits into wine and spirits as well as preserved and dried fruits. Sweet potatoes are made into starch. Herbal medicines are collected too. Even though residents could reproduce, the growth of the population could never catch up with the speed of the expansion of space in Castle of Black Iron. The larger the space was, the more complete the ecological system would be. That''s the universal law of balance..." Heller told Zhang Tie.


    "You mean, I could bring in more people..."


    "Castle Lord, it depends on you. But I want to say, there are too few animals in Castle of Black Iron. The existence of enough plants is the foundation of the existence of animals. We''ve already got the foundation..."


    "Yes, we could make more preparations for the future..." Zhang Tie nodded as he asked, "There''re already enough Reiki and basical energy storage. As long as we''ve got sufficient merit values, Castle of Black Iron would accomplish its expansion constantly, right?"


    After knowing that there were unimaginable existences above sage-level demon knights, Zhang Tie had been intense. The greater the threat was, the more the value of Castle of Black Iron would be; especially after Zhang Tie lost his battle strength. In Zhang Tie''s heart, the more complete Castle of Black Iron was, the more people would he save in the future.


    "Castle of Black Iron has already got enormous merit values. What''s more important, the merit values that could be produced in Castle of Black Iron everyday could also match that of Reiki and basic energy storage..."


    "What? You mean Castle of Black Iron could produce merit values constantly every day?" Zhang Tie widely opened his eyes, ''How could Castle of Black Iron produce merit values itself? Is it a new ability that Castle of Black Iron evolved itself?''


    "Yes, Castle of Black Iron could already produce enormous merit values every day itself."


    "How?"


    "Castle Lord, don''t forget about the bet between you and Sagus." Heller looked at Zhang Tie as he reminded, "Since Castle Lord won the bet, Sagus'' bloody pledge to the demon god had already taken effect. As a result, many Hua people would avoid miserable lives every day. Actually, these Hua people''s destinies would be changed. Therefore, as long as this bloody pledge takes effect, Castle of Black Iron would gain enormous merit values every day!"


    "If this bloody pledge lost its effect, would it not produce merit values any more?"


    "Certainly!" Heller nodded as he told Zhang Tie meaningfully, "Therefore, if Castle Lord wants Castle of Black Iron to produce enormous merit values every day, you have to maintain the constraint of the bloody pledge!"


    The key was to keep Sagus alive. Otherwise, if a new sage-level knight was arranged to rule the demon army, this bloody pledge to the demon god would not work anymore. By then, Castle of Black Iron would not produce merit values every day anymore; the expansion speed of the space of Castle of Black Iron would also be affected and fewer people could be saved in the future...


    As long as Sagus was alive, more people would be teleported into Castle of Black Iron in the future...


    Zhang Tie stood on the hillside for a long while as he felt that the world was like a black humor sometimes.


    ...


    Zhang Tie had already spent 2 days in digesting the fruit of consciousness of universal laws. Additionally, there were fruits of redemption from the gratitude of gulf shrimps and hairy shells. It had been 3 days after he took these fruits of redemption and returned to the head''s backroom of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    3 days'' cultivation in Castle of Black Iron was like 3 minutes'' stay in the backroom. Everything remained unchanged in the backroom as the gate was still closed.


    However, Zhang Tie was not the very one 3 days ago. After taking the fruit of consciousness of universal laws, Zhang Tie understood that he was small once again. He almost refreshed his concept of the world and realized the real crisis facing humans. Compared to such a crisis, the situation in the Western Theater of Operations was not the toughest. The real crisis facing humans had not arrived yet.


    In the backroom, Zhang Tie raised his two hands and watched them. Closely after that, he shook his head as he muttered, "The consciousness of universal laws that could be owned by living beings above sage-level knight plus the battle strength below a knight. What a marvelous match!"


    After this self-mockery, Zhang Tie recovered his composure as he walked outside.


    ...


    After leaving the backroom, Zhang Tie was shocked to see Zhang Chengxu waiting for him.


    Zhang Chengxu, Zhang Tie''s nephew and disciple, was slightly frowning. At the sight of Zhang Tie, he slightly relieved his frown as if he let out a sigh.


    "Chengxu, why are you here?"


    "Second uncle, the eldest uncle has been in Iron-Dragon Sect for one day. He''s waiting for you!" Zhang Chengxu said as he slightly lowered his tone with a bit sad feeling, "Eldest uncle said...said...grandpa''s father''s disease is deteriorating..."

 1467 Nostalgia

    Zhang Tie didn''t imagine that his grandpa''s health could deteriorate so fast.


    Zhang Tie remembered that it was over 2 years ago when he saw his grandpa last time before he was going to leave Youzhou Province for the Western Theater of Operations at the Xuanyuan command. In his second chakra rotating ceremony, Zhang Haitian had started to cough as he became humpbacked with a crutch in hand. Before he left Youzhou Province for the Western Theater of Operations, he paid a special visit to his grandpa. Zhang Haitian didn''t look bad then. Zhang Tie even left some tips and secret medicines to him. Therefore, he was outrightly shocked by such a piece of news.


    It was Zhang Lin who came here to notice Zhang Tie. Zhang Lin was Zhang Su''s father, Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle, the eldest son of the eldest son of Zhang Haitian and the principal of Zhang family''s old mansion.


    Of course, he was not new. After Zhang Tie promoted to a knight; especially after Jinwu Shipyard''s merger of Long Wind Shipyard, Zhang family''s core had shifted to Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang.


    Jinwu Shipyard was now the largest shipbuilding enterprise in Youzhou Province, which could rank top 5 in Northeast Military Region. This enterprise was being managed by Zhang Tie''s uncles and cousins. Zhang Tie didn''t care about it at all; Zhang Yang just assigned a chief financial officer over there.


    Compared to the scale of all-purpose medicaments managed by Jinwu Business Group, although Jinwu Shipyard was large, its annual profit couldn''t even reach 1 percent of that of Jinwu Business Group. Therefore, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang didn''t care about it at all. In the eyes of the two brothers, this shipyard was used to arrange their relatives on the side of their grandpa.


    Zhang Haitian had 11 children, 5 female and 6 male. Zhang Ping ranked 8 at home. Therefore, besides two younger uncles and one younger aunt, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang had 4 elder aunts and 3 elder uncles. Plus the spouses of these uncles and aunts, they had over 30 seniors and 20-30 cousins at home. Additionally, due to the young age of Zhang Tie''s cousins, their reproductive abilities were in the peak. Therefore, the Zhang family could have a few more juniors each year. Unless their parents, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang could never tell how many relatives did they have without looking up the pedigree.


    Zhang Tie was famous and powerful; of course, these relatives shared his glory. In case of trouble, after the merger of Long Wind Shipyard of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang, through negotiation, determined to hand Jinwu Shipyard completely to their relatives on the side of their grandpa. If any relative wanted to share his glory, they could join Jinwu Shipyard directly. Those talents would find their own positions in this enterprise; those commoners could also find a job there. Near home, dear bonus and fair day!


    Those able ones would naturally join Jinwu Business Group or hold higher positions in the officialdom; those commoners just needed to stay at their family firm. If Jinwu Shipyard which worth tens of millions of gold coins went bankruptcy in their hand, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang didn''t care about that either as they had already agreed through negotiation that they would take some money to establish a home fund, allowing them to maintain their lives and the decency of Zhang family. By then, Zhang members would feel embarrassed speaking ill of them.


    Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang didn''t clarify it. However, their uncles were not idiots. They were clear that if Jinwu Shipyard went bankrupt in their hand, it would be impossible for the juniors on the side of Zhang Haitian to be favored by Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang. Even if they didn''t consider the business of Jinwu Shipyard for themselves, they had to consider it for the sake of their juniors. Therefore, Zhang members were running Jinwu Shipyard conscientiously these years. Zhang Su''s father Zhang Lin was the CEO of the shipyard; all the other uncles were in the board. All the major events of the shipyard were determined by the board. Over these years, although Jinwu Shipyard was not as prosperous as Jinwu Business Group, it was also developing steadfastly and could win about one million gold coins a year.


    After a short greeting with Zhang Lin, Zhang Tie left some words to Mountain Lifting Hermit. Closely after that, he flurriedly boarded an airboat and left for Golden Light City together with Zhang Lin and Zhang Su.


    Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze were not entitled to go back home as the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect; especially because of the poor health of their elders except for their parents. The disciples were strict. Even being the founder of Iron-Dragon Sect or his grandpa was in Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie would still not break the rule for them.


    "Previously, father lived in Tiger Embracing City. However, as his health grows worse these days, he suddenly requested to go back to the old mansion in Golden Light City. Therefore, all the family members are now in Golden Light City..."


    Zhang family originated from Golden Light City in Huaiyuan Palace. Now that the old man urged to go back home, it meant that he was going to leave his will and die there.


    On the airboat, Zhang Lin was talking with Zhang Tie. Zhang Su listened beside them with red eyes. As Zhang Tie grew up in Blackhot City, honestly, he didn''t have a deep love for his grandpa. By contrast, Zhang Su was the eldest son of the eldest son of Zhang Haitian and was mostly favored by the old man since young. After hearing that his grandpa was going to die, Zhang Su felt most sad as his eyes were always red.


    "I''ve just come back for a couple of days. Previously, I planned to pay a visit to my grandpa after dealing with the affairs in Iron-Dragon Sect. How could my grandpa''s health go worse so fast..."


    "When dad knew that you had come back a few days ago, he was very happy as he directly got off the bed and took a walk by crutch in the garden. He even drank two bowls of millet congee with sugar. Previously, he was lying on the bed and ate less. We all thought that he was getting better. Unexpectedly, he was soon in a coma on the second day since you came back to Youzhou Province..."

 1468 In the Old Mansion of Zhang Family

    "Grandpa didn''t look bad when I saw him last time. Additionally, we''ve got enough secret medicines at home. How could he go worse in 2 years?" Zhang Tie asked Zhang Lin.


    Zhang Lin became hesitant for a second before answering in a low tone, "Papa''s health abruptly deteriorated in the last four months..."


    "Last four months?" Zhang Tie slightly frowned.


    "Yes. After being told that you were struck by the thunder of nirvana of a heavenly demon knight at the bank of Weishui River and losing your message during the period when you received medical treatment in Xuanyuan Hill, the old man''s health turned worse rapidly. During that period, he would ask about you many times a day. If not blocked by family members, he would have gone to Xuanyuan Hill for you. Afraid of being cheated, he even had people collect newspapers across the country every day. He wanted to find some news about you. Sometimes, he even insisted on listening to others'' discussions in teahouse despite our persuasion. We''ve fetched many doctors for him. They all said that the old man was poor physically and spiritually due to long-term concerns. Previously, his health was not good. After his heart failure, nothing could do any help to him anymore..."


    Zhang Tie instantly felt like crying with red eyes. He had not imagined that his grandpa''s disease was related to him.


    Blood is thicker than water!


    Zhang Tie bore his sorrow as he asked, "Where are my parents?"


    "They''ve already been to Golden Light City 3 days ago. Zhang Yang is also over there. Almost all family members have arrived. The old man just wants to see you and Zhang Su in the end..."


    Zhang Tie didn''t ask Zhang Lin anymore. He only wanted to go to Golden Light City as soon as possible.


    Thankfully, the imperial airboat gifted by the crown prince could move about 20 percent faster than common airboats. Therefore, it was just a 3-hour ride from Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory to Golden Light City. Before sunset, Zhang Tie''s airboat finally arrived at GoldenLight City.


    The afterglow of the setting sun was cast over the entire Golden Light City, which, although being nothing strange, looked not auspicious in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    Zhang family''s old mansion in GoldenLight City covered a wide range of area; however, it could not hold a common airboat, not to mention the imperial airboat which was about 1,000 m in length. Therefore, the airboat could only be parked outside the city according to the regulation. However, Zhang Tie directly had it suspend over 100 m high above Zhang family''s old mansion before jumping off it.


    After jumping off the airboat, Zhang Tie activated the bloodline of Liezi Driving the Wind that he awakened at the bank of Weishui River using a bit wisp of spiritual energy. When he was over 10 m away from the ground, he suddenly turned as light as a feather. At the same time, he stagnated in the air before falling on the lawn steadily.


    After seeing Zhang Tie''s airboat, many family members in the old mansion exited the courtyard as they raised their heads and watched Zhang Tie jumping off the airboat.


    Together with Zhang Tie was Zhang Su. Zhang Su''s landing manner was more appropriate. After jumping off the airboat, he opened his parachute when he was near the ground. After slowing down suddenly, he rapidly closed his parachute from over 10 m high in the air before landing steadily on the lawn.


    After Zhang Tie and Zhang Su jumped off, Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle was let off by a piece of lifting equipment on the airboat.


    The moment Zhang Tie landed, he had opened his mouth, "Where''s my grandpa? Hurry up, show me the way..."


    The onlookers included relatives on the side of Zhang Haitian, servants and guards. Some of them had already seen Zhang Tie. Even those who didn''t see him had already known who he was at the sight of the imperial airboat above them¡ª¡ªBesides Qianji Immortal Zhang Tie, nobody else across Northeast Military Region was qualified to take such an imperial airboat.


    In fact, the airboat had already aroused a shock across Golden Light City. Besides those on the side of Zhang Haitian, uproars and noises had been drifted from outside the old mansion.


    "The old man is in Benigncloud Building..." Someone instantly stood out and showed the way for Zhang Tie and Zhang Su. They moved so flurriedly that all the servants and maids on the way hurriedly gave way to them. Therefore, Zhang Tie and Zhang Su had already come to Benigncloud Building in less than half a minute.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s nephews and nieces were gathering in the periphery of the building. Almost all the juniors had arrived, including the children of Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang. There were over 100 juniors among the crowd outside Benigncloud Building, male or female, ranging from 6 to over 20 years old.


    Zhang Tie''s kids and Zhang Yang''s kids were being attended by the crowd with specific temperaments. They looked very special among the juniors of Zhang family like cranes standing among chickens.


    Among these kids, Zhang Yang''s 4th daughter Zhang Shiyu was almost 15 years old. Elegant and decent, she was already a beauty. By contrast, some like Zhang Chengba and Alexander were still young and full of curiosity. Although with serious looks, they were glancing around stealthily; instead of being affected too much by the depressive and sad atmosphere in the old mansion. Only Zhang Shini''s and Zhang Shixia''s eyes looked red while some others were comforting them.


    As the old man was going to pass away and Zhang Tie was in close cultivation, Zhang Tie''s parents and Zhang Yang took juniors here so that the old man could see them for the last time.


    "Ahh, second uncle, you''re back..." Zhang Shiyu hurriedly greeted Zhang Tie.


    "Ahh, papa..." Zhang Chengba and the other little guys shouted.


    Zhang Tie just nodded towards them as he told them to wait here with his eyes.


    Many juniors in the Zhang family were not qualified to see Zhang Tie before. It was their first time to see Zhang Tie. Given Zhang Tie''s young look, they even treated him as another junior of the Zhang family. Therefore, few of them could recognize Zhang Tie. After hearing Zhang Shiyu calling someone second uncle and Zhang Chengba calling someone dad, they even looked around out of curiosity as they were confused about who they were calling. Those smarter juniors who had seen Zhang Tie had long pushed out of the crowd and knelt down on the roadside, greeting Zhang Tie.


    "Welcome back, Uncle, I''m..."


    Zhang Tie glanced at them with a nod. Closely after that, he entered Benigncloud Building rapidly.


    Dozens of Zhang Tie''s cousins were staying in the Benigncloud Building. At the sight of Zhang Tie, those who were sitting on chairs immediately sprung up.


    Zhang Tie remained silent. After Zhang Su glanced at them, all of them lowered their heads as they stood well and dared not look straight into Zhang Su''s eyes.


    "Where''s the grandpa?" Zhang Su lowered his tone.


    "Upstairs!" Someone replied at once.


    Zhang Su nodded. Zhang Tie then went upstairs silently.


    After going upstairs, Zhang Tie saw over 20 people in the side hall, including 11 children of the old man and Zhang Tie''s uncles and aunts in law. Zhang Tie''s parents and Zhang Yang were talking about something in a low tone.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, everybody let out a sigh of relief. Zhang Yang hurriedly moved forward with a sad look, saying, "Grandpa has just woken up; he''s missing you and Zhang Su..."

 1469 The Death of Zhang Haitian

    The air was filled with herbal and a bit stinky smell, which came from someone whose guts had deteriorated to the extreme.


    After passing two curtains, Zhang Tie smelt it as he abruptly became disappointed.


    The old man''s guts had already started to exhaust. Even immortal pills couldn''t save him.


    In the bedroom, the eldest grandma was sitting on the bedside with a haggard look and red eyes. She was watching the old man in a trance. A doctor with grey hair was looking after Zhang Haitian and touching his pulse now and then.


    Previously, the eldest grandma was extremely authoritative and delicate at home. However, this time, she appeared 10 years elder as more grey hair could be seen and her face turned much more gaunt.


    Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang had long forgotten about the old story between their parents and the side of the old mansion. This time, Zhang Tie found she was just a common old woman as he started to feel a bit compassionate about her.


    "Grandma..." Zhang Su called.


    After hearing Zhang Su''s sound, the old woman slowly moved her eyes from the old man to Zhang Su and Zhang Tie.


    At the sight of Zhang Su, the old woman instantly dropped off her tears as her voice quivered, "You came back. That''s good. That''s good. Your grandpa is waiting for you..."


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at the old man as he let out a sigh inside.


    Lying on the bed, the old man''s fleshy face had dried with dazzlingly sunken eyebrow ridges and cheekbones. Many senile plagues could be seen on his dark skin. With some needles on his head and a piece of ginseng in the mouth being linked with a red line, he only had the last mouth of breath.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at him using his lotus flower eyes as he found that his grandpa''s guts had started to deteriorate while his brain fluid was almost empty. He had already withered up.


    Watching the old man who had worked hard for so many years to establish such a great undertaking of Zhang family in his whole life, Zhang Tie slightly held his emaciated hand with tears.


    Without his life-and-death situation, the old man could live a few more years.


    "Doctor, the last ones that my husband want to see have arrived. Please, wake up him so that he could have a talk with his two grandsons..." The old woman withheld her grief as she turned around and told the doctor.


    "Madam, the old man''s last moments are held by the piece of ginseng and the needles. After I drew out of the needles and wake him up, he would look brighter; however, he could at most stand half an hour. I couldn''t do any help then..." The doctor reminded the old woman.


    "It''s okay. It''s not your fault. I know you''ve already tried your best. Please wake him up..." The old woman said with sobs.


    "Fine!" The doctor replied before drawing out of all the needles from the old man''s scalp. Later on, he took out the piece of ginseng from the old man''s mouth before pinching his philtrum heavily. The old man''s eyelids then quivered before opening up with a faint flush on his cheeks.


    The old woman had someone on her side take the doctor away.


    "Zhang Tie and Zhang Su are back..."


    "Grandpa..."


    "Grandpa..."


    Zhang Tie and Zhang Su called Zhang Haitian lightly at the bedside.


    After seeing Zhang Tie and Zhang Su clearly, Zhang Haitian''s dim eye light gradually became bright. Watching the old man struggling to sit up, Zhang Tie and Zhang Su hurriedly supported him before padding two pillows under his back.


    "Go out...it''s none of you woman''s business...I''m talking with my grandsons..." The old man told the old woman.


    The old woman could only stand up before leaving the bedroom with the help of her maids.


    "Zhang Tie, Zhang Su...you''re back..." The old man didn''t open his mouth until the old woman left there. Due to extremely poor health, he immediately panted after a simple line.


    "Grandpa, we''re back..." Zhang Tie and Zhang Su nodded.


    "Zhang Su..." The old man panted for quite a while before fixating onto Zhang Su.


    "Grandpa, I''m here..." Zhang Su instantly knelt down beside the bed.


    "You''re the most promising one in Zhang family...later on, you should...learn from Zhang Tie...Zhang Tie said...you have the most odds to promote to a knight in our family...when he saw me last time...when you promote to a knight...remember to notice me with joss paper..."


    Zhang Su poured out tears as he forcefully nodded with a closed mouth.


    "Zhang Tie..."


    "I''m here..." Zhang Tie hurriedly held his grandpa''s hand forcefully.


    "They...they say you''re...already a shadow knight..."


    "Yes...I''m already a shadow knight!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Even the commander of military region...couldn''t defeat you?"


    "Yes, he could not!" Zhang Tie nodded forcefully with tears.


    "It''s said...that quite a few demon knights and a demon prince as powerful as the commander of the military region...had been killed by you at the bank of Weishui River...you even saved a lot of people..."


    "Yes...I didn''t lose face for Zhang family!"


    "What...what is divine dominator? Is that powerful?" The old man asked as his eyes twinkled hopefully.


    "It''s powerful. I could fly everywhere. Nobody could defeat me!"


    "That''s great...that''s great...I will be reassured about the safety of our home..." The old man said as he started to pant heavily. His face turned pretty red. Zhang Tie hurriedly smoothened his qi. After a few seconds, the old man felt a bit better as he continued, "Two more things..."


    "Grandpa, go ahead, I''m listening!"


    "I''ve seen your kids...Alexander and...they''re your posterities...they also have the blood of Zhang family...they should be surnamed Zhang too; additionally, their names should be listed on our pedigree. They should have Hua names..."


    "Grandpa, don''t worry. They will have Hua names. They all are surnamed Zhang and should be recorded on pedigree!"


    "Those on the side... of the old mansion...you should...take care of them later on. Those who have no hopes, don''t let them starve to death...in these troubled times; those who have hopes...could help you manage the undertakings... No matter what, blood is thicker than water...I know, from now on, all the major events at home...would be determined...by you...with Zhang Su''s help...I will not worry about you anymore."


    "Grandpa, don''t worry. All the people on the side of the old mansion are Zhang family members. I will look after them!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    "Fine...fine...fine..." The old man nodded three times as he said, "Open the curtains...let them in...it would be a bit boisterous..."


    Zhang Su then stood up and opened the curtains, having people enter the bedroom.


    Zhang Tie''s parents, Zhang Yang and their uncles and aunts on the side of the old mansion knew that it had come to the last moments. Therefore, they all forced bitter smiles.


    The old man looked more spirited as he talked to each one of them briefly.


    "I feel a bit bitter in the mouth...do we have iced waxberry soup..." The old man became less spirited and wanted to drink something after leaving some words to them.


    After hearing that, someone immediately ran out. In the blink of an eye, he had served the iced waxberry soup.


    At this moment, the old man pointed at the door as he told Zhang Tie''s dad, "Ah, Zhang Ping, your mom is picking me up..."


    Zhang Ping''s mom was Zhang Tie''s real grandma, the fourth wife of the old man, who had passed away many years ago. Neither Zhang Tie nor Zhang Yang had seen her.


    After hearing the old man''s words, many people in the room felt goosebumps all over due to fear. They all looked at the door only to see nothing. After they fixated their eyes back onto Zhang Haitian, the old man had already closed his eyes and lost his breath without even having a sip of the waxberry soup...


    The room was filled with cries at once...

 1470 Big Terror

    Only after a short while, the cries in Benigncloud Building had spread over the entire old mansion.


    Zhang family members were crying in and out the Benigncloud Building, followed by the servants in the old mansion outside the building. The servants of Zhang family had to push out some drops of tears more or less whether out of sincerity or not.


    At this moment, the masters of the old mansion might not remember who was crying; however, anyone, if dared smile at this moment, must have trouble later on. As long as one cried, all the others could only follow him or her. In fact, Zhang Haitian treated the servants mercifully. Besides rewarding them a bonus in festivals, the old man would always help them whenever their family got trouble. Many senile servants in the old mansion appreciated Zhang Haitian. Therefore, after the old man passed away, the greater part of the servants cried sincerely.


    The dark had just fallen. With the cries from Benigncloud Building, the butler had servants replace those red lanterns across the mansion with white lanterns.


    After the old man was heavily sick and returned to Golden Light City, many people in the city had been paying heed to Zhang Mansion; especially after Zhang Tie arrived at Golden Light City by imperial airboat today which had shocked the entire city. After knowing that Zhang Tie had arrived, the moment the red lanterns were replaced with white lanterns outside the gate of the old mansion many people in the street and boites had run away.


    White lanterns were equal to obituary.


    Those who were staying outside the old mansion were all assigned by influential clans and sects in the downtown. At the sight of the white lanterns, they instantly knew that Zhang Haitian had passed away as they hurriedly left to notice their clans and sects.


    Without Zhang Tie, the death of Zhang Haitian was just a minor affair in Golden Light City. Because of Zhang Tie, the death of Zhang Tie''s grandpa became a major event.


    In the mournful atmosphere across the old mansion, when all the servants were busy doing their own business, a guard silently came to the lawn where Zhang Tie had just landed. Squatting there, he started to fumble something in the lawn.


    Just now, this guard was one of the onlookers. He saw how Zhang Tie and Zhang Su jumped off the airboat just now and was clear about the landing point of Zhang Tie.


    He soon got two footprints on the lawn.


    Being covered by grasses, the two footprints couldn''t be easily discovered. However, they were about 3 cm in depth due to wallop.


    In the eyes of commoners, the two footprints were nothing special; however, someone could get much information from them. Because these footprints were left by Zhang Tie, a shadow knight and a divine dominator. If a knight could maintain the manipulative ability of his chakra and battle qi, he could never leave such footprints on the lawn.


    Even Zhang Tie couldn''t imagine that the simple movement of jumping off the airboat could be studied by someone because he only wanted to see the old man at that time. Even lions would doze, not to mention humans.


    "Zhang Yue, what are you doing? We will have visitors soon, go make a tour inspection right now..."


    A butler hurriedly blamed the guard as he hurriedly negotiated a wall behind the garden. As everybody else in the mansion had started to work, of course, this butler felt a bit angry about this guy''s indolent deed.


    "Fine, butler Niu, my trousers are loose. I want to fix them. I will be there right away..." The guard said humbly as he moved his hands from below the grasses onto his legs as if he was really fixing his leggings. After that, he threw a glance at the two footprints in the grasses. With a flash of exotic light in his eyes, he left the garden...


    It was just a little episode in the mansion. Nobody could notice that.


    ...


    Although Zhang family members were mounful, they had long prepared for the funeral ceremony according to rules. After negotiating with each other for a short while, some uncles in the old mansion had arranged everything well as everybody had started to work.


    Personnel had been arranged for the layout of the mourning hall, noticing relatives and friends, dressing up the old man, preparing for greeting guests who came here for condolence respectively.


    In this case, Zhang Tie became free. He just stayed in Benigncloud Building and quietly watched the others preparing the funeral ceremony for the old man.


    Even though being not a strike, the death of the old man was a wallop for Zhang Tie. Previously, Zhang Tie had not experienced similar things at all. He had to face such a question again and again sooner or later.


    The death of the old man reminded Zhang Tie of his parents. As his parents were not real cultivations. They were far from the realm of knights. One day, they would also pass away. What would Zhang Tie do then?


    Zhang Tie didn''t look good when it occured to his mind.


    Watching his parents among his uncles and aunts and their grizzled hair, Zhang Tie felt his heart pounding a second.


    There was a big terror in a life-and-death situation. Zhang Tie felt unacceptable when he thought such a big terror would decline to his parents one day.


    ''Isn''t there a solution? I wonder whether people above sage-level knights could get rid of this great terror!''


    ''I wonder whether the existence who created Castle of Black Iron could get rid of such a great terror.''


    The realm above sage-level knights was still far away from Zhang Tie. At present, Zhang Tie couldn''t even solve the aftermath left by the thunder of nirvana. However, the death of the old man suddenly aroused Zhang Tie''s aspiration about that mysterious realm.


    ''I swear to reach that realm for the sake of my parents!''


    Zhang Tie clenched his fist as he made a decision inside...


    "Elder Muyuan and the mayor have arrived..." A butler noticed as Elder Muyuan and the mayor of Golden Light City who shared the same branch of a bloodline with Elder Muyuan entered the old mansion with a sad look in white clothings. Zhang seniors hurriedly exited the room to greet them...


    Before the mourning hall was arranged well, the closest relatives in Golden Light City had arrived...

 1471 A Multitude of Guests

    Starting from the second day when the mourning hall was well arranged, the old mansion in Golden Light City had started to be boisterous. The head and the elders of Huaiyuan Palace in Yanghe Prefecture came to offer their condolences first, followed by the heads of branches of Huaiyuan Palace. After that, all the representatives of major clans and sects from Gaozhou Province, Mozhou Province, Tongzhou Province, Qiongzhou Province, Yanzhou Province, Huizhou Province and Chaozhou Province within Northeast Military Region poured into Golden Light City. Then, major clans and business partners which cooperated with Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and Jinwu Business Group across the country arrived one after another.


    Additionally, none of them were small figures. Actually, all of them were clan heads, grand elders or regimental commanders. As they all knew that Zhang Tie was in the old mansion of the Zhang family. If they assigned small figures here, they might not even have a chance to meet Zhang Tie, which would be in vain.


    Golden Light City had never been so boisterous since it was founded. Now, it was even more boisterous than that when major clans scrambled for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province years ago. The sky above Golden Light City was covered with airboats. The airports outside the city had almost been filled with airboats as those airships in the airports had been transferred to other places by the mayor.


    Thankfully, the Zhang family had long predicted that many people would come here to offer their condolences to the old man''s death. Therefore, two walls in the old man had been demolished in the very evening for the sake of the space of the mourning hall.


    Besides Zhang Taixuan who left Golden Light City for Youzhou City after offering the condolence due to public affairs, Elder Muyuan, Elder Muyu and Elder Muen just stayed there and greeted moguls from all walks of life. With the help of the three elders, the old mansion didn''t meet any trouble.


    Zhang Tie was the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace. Therefore, the death of his grandpa was a major event for Huaiyuan Palace and it was reasonable for the clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace to stay here for greeting guests.


    The best hotels and inns in Golden Light City had long been rented by the Zhang family for the sake of their guests.


    Due to the large population, officers and soldiers were maintaining the two streets outside the old mansion.


    Zhang Tie put on a mourning dress and started to greet those guests in the old mansion on the second day. After offering their condolences to Zhang Haitian, those clan heads and elders of major clans and sects would be guided to Zhang Tie for a short chat. After that, they would be arranged to take a rest somewhere.


    There was an old Hua saying¡ª¡ªthe poor would be ignored in the boisterous market while the rich would have relatives in deep mountains. That was how things went. Zhang Tie could accept this fact; instead of being cynic and self-assured. Zhang Tie knew his role in the old mansion and the purpose of many guests. Therefore, he just listened to the arrangement of family members tenderly. At this moment, the arrival of these guests represented their sincerity and was the the glory of the old man. Therefore, Zhang Tie treated them politely. As for those who wanted to have a short chat with him, Zhang Tie didn''t put on airs at all; instead, he just talked with them casually and kindly so that they could return satisfactorily.


    Disasters and pain would make people mature. After the old man passed away, the future of the Zhang family would be determined by Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie found that he became much more mature overnight.


    As more and more guests arrived, the monetary gifts frightened Zhang Tie''s uncles and aunts.


    ...


    The first night fell soon. After 12 am, according to the rules, nobody would come to the mourning hall any more although the old mansion was brightly lit with an open gate. Those who hadn''t offered condolences could only come here after sunrise. The mourning hall would last for 7 days. After then, they would hold funeral rites such as amnesty, offering sacrifice in each 7 days and burial ceremony. The entire process would last 49 days.


    Of course, it was the custom persisted by major clans in Taixia Country. As for small families, the funeral ceremony would only last 3 days or 7 days.


    "...Fraternity Palace of Mo Clan in Mozhou Province 17 million gold coins; Qian Clan with the provincial governor of Tongzhou Province 3 million gold coins; Morality Palace of Gu Clan in Gaozhou Province 3 million gold coins; RockEmbracing Palace of Wang Clan in Qiongzhou Province 3 million gold coins; Liu Clan with the provincial governor of Huizhou Province 3 million gold coins; SkyDistant Palace of Xiong Clan in Chaozhou Province 2 million gold coins; SageMiss Palace of Hong Clan in Chaozhou Province 6 million gold coins; Zhu Clan with the provincial governor of Yanzhou Province 4 million gold coins, WoodsPiling Palace of Sun Clan in Yanzhou Province 2 million gold coins and..."


    Zhang Tie who had received guests for the whole day was listening to Zhang Su''s father reading a list of gifts in a chair in a room beside the mourning hall.


    The thin page of gifts sounded as heavy as Mount Tai for Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle as he kept quivering his hands and his voice.


    Hundreds of clans'' names and gifts were recorded on the long list. The total of the monetary gifts was astronomical. It took Zhang Su''s father a few minutes to finish reading them.


    However, this list of gifts only contained those clans whose gifts worth over 1 million gold coins. Those below 1 million were not even recorded.


    The monetary gift of Fraternity Palace of Mo Clan alone was already several times greater than the total asset of the former Galaxy Shipyard of the old mansion. No wonder Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle became intense.


    Besides, Zhang Tie''s other uncles were also in the room in mourning clothing, including Zhang Tie''s father. They were all listening to the report. The figures on the list of monetary gifts made them dazzled and thirsty. Even Zhang Tie''s dad was not interested in money, he was also shocked by such an astronomical figure.


    Zhang Yang was also listening to it aside right on a chair beside Zhang Tie. When he drank tea, he glanced over his uncles every now and then.


    "A younger cousin said that the old man passed away brightly and received so many monetary gifts; the money should be shared by all of us as the old man''s heritage. Each one could at least get millions of gold coins. All the posterities of the Zhang family would be millionaires and don''t worry about money for ten generations. We could all lead steady lives. I wonder whether the other uncles are also thinking this way?" Zhang Yang put down the teacup as he opened his mouth the moment Zhang Lin finished his words.


    Zhang Yang said with a smile; however, it sounded a bit cold.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at his elder brother. Of course, he didn''t doubt Zhang Yang''s intention, but he couldn''t imagine that some disciples on the side of the old man had already lost their mind by the money on the list of monetary gifts only after the old man passed away for one day.


    In the following days, there would be more monetary gifts. No wonder someone would think about having this money.


    Was it the heritage of the old man? Of course, it was apparently; however, everyone knew what it was as long as he or she was not an idiot. These monetary gifts were more like the sincerity that these major clans and sects expressed to Zhang Tie than their respect to the old man. Without Zhang Tie, even Zhang Taixuan''s death would not be so attractive, not to mention Zhang Haitian.


    Under the gaze of Zhang Yang, some uncles remained calm while others looked a bit embarrassed...

 1472 Disposal

    "Erm...erm...the monetary gifts in the funeral ceremony of the old man belong to the public money at home. After the funeral ceremony, we could deal with it slowly; we could deal with it slowly. We could make a considerate negotiation about its distribution..." An uncle evaded from Zhang Yang''s eye light as he whitewashed with a flash of his eyes.


    The speaker was Zhang Fan who was delivered by the second wife of Zhang Haitian. This uncle behaved well at home and assumed as a senior executive in Jinwu Shipyard. However, Zhang Tie had not imagined that this senior had already been obsessed with money only in one day.


    It was normal. Very few people could remain sober-minded in front of such an astronomical wealth. One could become blind to 10,000 gold coins, 100,000 gold coins or 500,000 gold coins. What about millions of gold coins? Only a few people could remain innocent in front of such a high figure.


    The moment Zhang Fan opened his mouth, the atmosphere in the room had become a bit strange. Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang remained silent as they just drank tea. However, Zhang Tie''s dad looked gloomy at once. At home, Zhang Tie''s dad was always uncompetitive; neither did he argue with his family members. However, it didn''t mean that he was an idiot. After realizing that his brothers were going to rip off Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang in such a shameless way, Zhang Tie''s dad couldn''t bear his fury anymore.


    "What do you mean by dealing with it slowly? The brat might make a farce, but 9th younger brother, are you also that innocent?" Before Zhang Ping opened his mouth, Zhang Sheng, Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle, had blamed Zhang Fan with a furious look, "How could the old man and Zhang family gain so many monetary gifts from clans with provincial governors outside Youzhou Province? Isn''t it because of Zhang Tie? These monetary gifts were made by Zhang Tie at the bank of the Weishui River at the risk of his life. Although they were sent to the old mansion, we owed Zhang Tie. How could we share them?"


    Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle made the starkest condemnation, causing Zhang Tie''s 9th uncle to be silent; however, he still muttered out of unwillingness, "I didn''t mention to share them. No matter what, they sent the gifts for the old man''s funeral ceremony. Aren''t we going to negotiate it..."


    "Negotiate what?" Zhang Sheng was driven furious.


    "4th elder brother, you don''t need to be that angry..."


    Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle still wanted to say something; however, Zhang Tie slightly raised his hands to stop him. After that, Zhang Tie watched Zhang Lin as he asked calmly, "What did my eldest grandma say?"


    "She said it''s at your discretion!" Zhang Lin answered calmly.


    After hearing Zhang Lin''s words, Zhang Fan''s face turned slightly stiff. Another one who wanted to say something instantly closed his mouth after finding the atmosphere in the room was strange.


    Although Zhang Tie was also drooling about such an astronomical figure, he was still sober-minded. He knew that how Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang thought about the people on the side of the old mansion counted most. Without Zhang Tie''s consent, nobody could take away the money. Even if he could, he wouldn''t enjoy it. As was persisted by Hua people, great virtues carried things. If a person lacked virtue, even if he made a fortune suddenly, he wouldn''t enjoy it. Similarly, when a sampan was suddenly loaded with some fully-laden containers, it would sink facing a bit wind or wave. Most of those Zhang juniors might be in trouble in a few years after getting millions of gold coins.


    After getting the opinion of the old lady, Zhang Tie nodded inside, ''Thankfully, there''s someone sober-minded in the old mansion.''


    "How about this? The old mansion keeps the part of gifts from the major clans in Youzhou Province. After reducing the expenditure of this funeral ceremony, my uncles could make a decision on how to distribute the rest of them. I will not interfere with it!" Zhang Tie had a sip as he put the teacup onto the table lightly, adding, "As for the rest from other provinces, just use them to create a clan fund. My elder brother Zhang Yang would be responsible for the expenditure of this clan fund. Additionally, we should put away this list of gifts. As we Hua people pay attention to "courtesy demands reciprocity", we should pay back at proper moments. As for the monetary gifts that we pay, we could take them from this clan fund. We should not be too mean; otherwise, we would be regarded as being impolite. We have to pay more than their figure. The gap would be fixed by Zhang Yang and me..."


    Zhang Tie''s opinion was very convincing. Even Zhang Tie''s dad and eldest uncle nodded slowly. That was how a major clan should behave. If being too greedy about money, it would be shameless.


    Zhang Fan looked stiff. However, he couldn''t refute Zhang Tie at this moment given Zhang Tie''s words, not to mention Zhang Tie''s identity and authority. No matter what, they couldn''t share the monetary gifts now and say no when they should pay back. If Zhang family couldn''t pay back, it would lose its face completely. That would be preposterous if they took the money now and had Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang pay back later.


    After saying these words, Zhang Tie looked straight to Zhang Sheng with a smile as he said, "I heard that two elder cousins in the home of elder uncle had become adults and enjoyed good fame in Jinwu Shipyard these years. After a couple of days, elder uncle could negotiate with my two elder cousins about whether they would like to manage this clan fund together with my elder brother Zhang Yang as his assistants. You could invest in some businesses using the clan fund..."


    Needless to say, the clan fund would be at least tens even dozens of times greater than the asset of Jinwu Shipyard. They would have a bright future after joining the management of the clan fund.


    Those people in the room were all watching Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle Zhang Sheng with admiring looks. Zhang Sheng blushed as he took in a deep breath and said in a low tone while suppressing his excitement, "I''m afraid that my two sons are not familiar with the management of clan fund..."


    "It''s fine. My two elder cousins have good foundations and management experience. They could learn about it slowly. Both my elder brother and I would be reassured about that. In the future, many things about the clan fund would be monitored by people..."


    "Fine!" Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle nodded as he fixed this thing. Even idiots would not refuse it.


    "In addition, the Liaozhou Province in the north of Yanzhou Province has vast land and is abundant in mines and other resources, although being cold as half of a year there is winter. I was told that Jinwu Shipyard is preparing for prospecting over there and investing in mines in Liaozhou Province. We need helpers there. 9th uncle, you could go there!" Zhang Tie had another sip as he looked at Zhang Yang instead of looking at Zhang Fan whose face had been completely pale, saying, "Elder brother, you could recommend some disciples of Zhang family to do some exercises in Liaozhou Province!"


    Zhang Yang nodded. The disciples of the Zhang family are too indolent and depraved. Previously, they even dared screw Zhang Tie with a trick. When the old man was alive, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang didn''t care about that. After the old man passed away, those idiots couldn''t wait to jump out again. No wonder Zhang Tie would throw these idiots to Liaozhou Province to calm them down.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s calm and easy look, Zhang Yang found that Zhang Tie had already changed in one day. He didn''t behave that casually; instead, he started to consider many things.


    "I...I..." Zhang Fan stammered with a pale face.


    "What? Are you unsatisfied with my arrangement? You don''t want to go there?" Zhang Tie fixated onto Zhang Fan. In a split second, Zhang Fan had felt overwhelming stress which almost shattered him. Not until then did Zhang Fan remember that this man with a young look was not only an unrivaled knight but the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace...

 1473 Responsibilities

    Taixia Country had national laws; each clan across the country had its own rules, which were definitely more authoritative than national laws. A person could be executed to death penalty according to national laws or clan rules. As the grand elder of a clan mastered the clan rules, Zhang Tie''s words were absolutely more authoritative than an imperial decree in the old mansion or Huaiyuan Palace as a whole. Nobody dared violate his decisions...


    Zhang Tie could call him 9th uncle out of respect. If Zhang Tie wanted him to die, only with a flash of eye light, many people in Huaiyuan Palace would swarm up to stomp him to death.


    "No...I dare not!" Zhang Fan''s heart pound due to fear. In only a couple of seconds, Zhang Fan''s forehead had oozed sweat as he didn''t even have the courage to refuse Zhang Tie''s order.


    "Let''s call it tomorrow. You don''t need to care about the funeral ceremony of the old man anymore. After leaving some words to your family members, you shall leave for Liaozhou Province tomorrow!"


    Zhang Tie''s words made Zhang Fan''s face appear paler as he slightly quivered all over. However, Zhang Tie didn''t look at Zhang Fan anymore; instead, he told Zhang Yang, "The disciples who need an exercise should also leave for Liaozhou Province tomorrow. Elder brother, you tell Zhang Su who they are. If they resist, let Zhang Su assign guards to send them there. If anyone of them dares run back stealthily, break their legs and throw them back, having them stew in their own juice!"


    Zhang Tie''s words caused everybody''s heart race. It was equal to banishment soon after daybreak.


    "From today on, Zhang family should have starkest rules for the wellbeing of the family!" Zhang Tie told everyone else. Finally, he threw a glance at Zhang Fan meaningfully as he added, "Uncles could relate my words to the disciples at home¡ª¡ªHopefully, every one of Zhang family could bear rules in mind. Before they do something or say something, remember to ask themselves whether it''s legit or not. A nation has its laws; a family has its rules. To follow rules is to follow your heart and fairness. It''s the bottom line of one''s virtue. Anyone who breaks the rules would accept the punishment. In Zhang family, only selfless ones could get real respect. Those vicious ones had better stay in bitter and cold places such as Liaozhou Province. If you have gimmicks and the competitive mind, why not compete with outsiders? Our home is not the place where they play their tricks!"


    "Erm...how long will they stay in Liaozhou Province?" Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle asked hesitantly.


    "If some of them could gain a good reputation in Liaozhou Province by competing with outsiders, it indicates that they have become sober-minded and could be useful to the clan; they then could go back home and be granted with high positions. If not, they''d better not come back until death in case of bringing trouble to their families..." Zhang Tie said calmly.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Fan almost slid off the chair.


    "If uncles have nothing more to discuss, please go back for a rest. We have jobs to do tomorrow. Eldest uncle, don''t forget to have someone take over the job of 9th uncle. If we have not enough staff at home, tell Elder Muyuan to send some more here!" Zhang Tie said as he picked up the tea cup.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Zhang Tie''s uncles stood up before leaving there one after another. Zhang Fan even felt difficult to stand up at this moment. The other uncles of Zhang Tie just threw a glance at him; some were sympathetic; some were distant. However, no one spoke for him. Zhang Fan looked at an uncle delivered by the second wife of the old man for help; however, that one didn''t even dare look at him. When Zhang Fan spoke just now, that one wanted to root for him; however, he didn''t have a chance to speak. At this moment, knowing Zhang Fan''s consequence, he felt sweaty all over his back.


    When Zhang Fan left there, he fell down at the gate. After climbing up, he disappeared in Zhang Tie''s vision in a trance.


    Zhang Tie''s dad and Zhang Yang stayed in the end with Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Ping was also infuriated just now. However, he felt a bit sorry when he saw Zhang Fan leaving there. Therefore, after everyone else had left, he whispered to Zhang Tie, "Guoguo...is it...too...too excessive..."


    "Dad, do you know how these people screwed Zhang Tie in the birthday of the old madam in Huaiyuan Prefecture?" Zhang Yang opened his mouth before Zhang Tie in a disdainful way, "Zhang Tie just kicked the ball back at that time. However, these guys forgot everything else at the sight of such an astronomical amount of money. Before the old man''s corpse turns cold, they have thought about gaining profits at the cost of Zhang Tie with a shameless reason. They treated Zhang Tie and I as idiots. Such people are blinded by money, shortsighted and extremely silly. They would be black sheeps at home and would incur troubles sooner or later. I feel Zhang Tie''s deed is not excessive at all. If it were me, I would have whipped them today. Zhang Tie is right. We have to follow starkest rules at home since today!"


    "Erm, no matter what, Zhang Fan...is your 9th uncle. Those people are your cousins!" Zhang Tie''s dad said with a sigh of relief.


    "Therefore, I didn''t have people chop off their head for the sake of the old man; instead, I left a chance to them!" Zhang Tie watched his dad as he added, "The goodwill, tolerance and trust of my elder brother and I about this family is not weeds in the wild. We''re not to be spoiled and disappointed by them. Otherwise, they have to pay for that and prepare to face the other side of us..."


    "Alright. I won''t talk about it any more. You''re clearer than me about these things. You two brothers should go to bed early. I will go accompany your mom..." Zhang Tie''s dad said helplessly as he shook his head and left there, leaving Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang alone in the room.


    Zhang Yang threw a glance at Zhang Tie, saying, "I feel you''ve changed a lot after the death of the old man."


    "Before the old man passed away, he handed the entire family to me. I have to live up to his trust!" Zhang Tie forced a bitter smile at his elder brother as he added, "Additionally..." Zhang Tie became hesitant as he stopped...


    Zhang Tie''s hesitation aroused Zhang Yang''s curiosity as the latter watched him with explorative eye light.


    Zhang Tie shook his head silently with a bitter smile...


    The existence above sage-level demon knights was the biggest crisis facing Zhang Tie. As Zhang Tie had lost his battle strength, he felt intense more or less as he longed for gaining a greater ability to respond to it before the real crisis arrived. To make it, he had to make a great reform about his clan so that his clan could grow stronger even if he incurred swear and condemnation.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t feel necessary to tell his elder brother about it, as his elder brother was not even a knight. Otherwise, his elder brother would only feel more fretful.


    Men''s shoulders were used to carry burdens, even a mountain. Zhang Yang could carry burdens for the family, even Huaiyuan Palace as a whole. However, if one was not able to tread a heavenly demon knight under foot, he could only feel fretful about such a stress.


    In front of Zhang Yang, Zhang Tie had already called Zhang Su in by remote-sensing finger ring. He then repeated his decision to Zhang Su before having him assign some guards to take away those cousins who wanted to share the monetary gifts.


    Zhang Su propped up Zhang Tie''s decision very much. When Zhang Tie spoke, Zhang Su''s eye light had turned downright cold with shrewd and aggressive light. After Zhang Tie finished his words, Zhang Su clarified the names of those cousins to Zhang Yang. Then, he cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie and left there.


    Only after a short while, the two courtyards in the old mansion where Zhang disciples lived had been filled with cries. However, only after a few seconds, the cries had disappeared. The old mansion recovered its tranquility. At this moment, a team of powerhouses of Fire-Dragon Corps towed some people out of the old mansion from the rear door and left Golden Light City by airship in the evening.

 1474 Top Glory after Death

    The atmosphere in the old mansion refreshed after last night...


    What happened in the old mansion last night shocked Zhang disciples very much. On one hand, some disciples were promoted to manage the clan fund of hundreds of millions of gold coins, causing the others very jealous. On the other hand, Zhang Fan Zhang Tie''s 9th uncle and his three cousins were "banished" to Liaozhou Province before the funeral ceremony of the old man came to an end. They might not come back in dozens of years. The sharp difference between the two treatments immediately awakened all the Zhang disciples and relatives and reminded them that Zhang Clan had been different than before.


    Additionally, "follow the starkest rules" had been born in mind by all the Zhang disciples overnight.


    Someone had already exemplified the consequence of violating clan rules.


    After knowing the reason that Zhang Fan and the others were banished to Liaozhou Province, many Zhang disciples felt shameless about them as they clapped their hands and spoke highly of Zhang Tie''s punishment. Very few of them felt sympathetic about them. Even idiots understood why the old mansion could receive so many monetary gifts. Before the old man''s funeral ceremony came to an end, someone had already wanted to instigate the others to share the money. Being so unscrupulous and shameless, these people must have been blinded by profit.


    ...


    "Zhang Fan''s wife and the mothers of Zhang Zhukang, Zhang Zhufang and Zhang Lide were crying as they wanted to see you last night. However, my father had people take them away from the old mansion and monitor them. They''re not allowed to come back until the old man''s funeral ceremony comes to an end. Zhang Zhukang and Zhang Zhufang are sons of the 4th uncle of the 2nd wife of the old man; Zhang Lide is the son of the 5th aunt of the 3rd wife of the old man. 5th aunt married a man surnamed Zhang in Huaiyuan Palace in Goldensea City; therefore, she''s close to the side of the old mansion..." Zhang Su told Zhang Tie when they had porridge and pickles in the early morning. Zhang Tie nodded slightly.


    Compared to Zhang Tie, Zhang Su drank porridge like drinking water. After finishing drinking it, he put down the chopsticks and started to talk about domestic affairs to Zhang Tie.


    These two days, the family members ate simply due to the death of the old man according to the rule adopted by major clans in Taixia Country. Zhang family were not forbidden to eat meat in 49 days. It was called "filial food". There were two explanations for "filial food". First, after a senior passed away, it would be impolite for juniors to eat meat in near days. Second, "filial food" meant no kill. During the 49 days after the death of the senior, the juniors would save many fowls, poultry, fish and shrimps so that the late senior could ascend to heaven as soon as possible.


    "Zhang Fan, Zhang Zhukang, Zhang Zhufang and Zhang Lide have been on the way. They''re not allowed to get off the airship until they arrive at Liaozhou Province. As for those who cried for them, they''ve been warned¡ª¡ªif they continued to cry, they would also be banished to Liaozhou Province so as to reunite with their family members. Therefore, they all calm down. The 2nd wife and the 3rd wife of the old man remained silent. It would be ridiculous if the domestic rules could be amended casually because of someone''s cries. Fortunately, we got a chance to correct this evil wind at home this time.


    After drinking it, Zhang Tie put down his bowl and chopsticks as he cleaned his mouth by a piece of napkin, saying, " I made a rule for family members as an evil person. Elder cousin, you should be responsible for the side of this old mansion from now on. In the future, nobody would dare not follow your orders. Previously, it was a bit lenient at home and a lot of jokes have been made. Later on, you should deal with them right away if anyone dare violates domestic rules..."


    "I see!" Zhang Su took in a deep breath as he nodded.


    ...


    Like yesterday, the moment the day broke, the first guest had arrived. It was the head and two elders of Sun Clan of Guide Prefecture, Youzhou Province. As Sun Clan had no airboat, after getting orbituary, Sun representatives spent one day to arrive at GoldenLight City by airship. In order to express their sincerity, they had been waiting outside the old mansion in the early morning. The moment the sun rose, they had offered their condolence to the late old man.


    Sun Clan 1 million gold coins.


    After Sun representatives finished their condolence, Zhang Tie met them and had a short chat with them. After that, Sun Clan people left there satisfactorily.


    After Sun Clan came people from all walks of life. Therefore, the drum outside the gate of the old mansion kept sounding.


    When it was close to noon, the drum sounded once again while a distant and euphonious voice drifted into the backyard of the old mansion.


    It sounded more like a roar.


    "Yan Feiqing the head of Fantasy Women Palace, CloudyDream Mountain, Wuzhou Province and Guo Hongyi, the head of Guo Clan, ThreeSpring Prefecture, Youzhou Province are coming..."


    After hearing this voice, all the people in the old mansion were shocked, including Zhang Tie who was in the mourning hall. After being stunned for a second, Zhang Tie paced up towards the ante-court.


    Soon, Zhang Tie saw Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi.


    In white longuette and simple make-up, the two people looked like brilliant twins; instead of master and apprentice. The moment they entered the old mansion, they had won the attention of many people, including Zhang servants, relatives and guests.


    Yan Feiqing looked calm while Guo Hongyi looked a bit embarrassed. Watching Zhang Tie coming over here, Yan Feiqing revealed a smile. After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, Guo Hongyi lowered her head as her ear roots and neck turned faintly rosy.


    Watching the two people, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh of relief. Although he wondered how they communicated with each other this period, he realized that the two people would really call each other sisters in front of him later on.


    "Feiqing, Hongyi." Zhang Tie opened his mouth.


    "Hmm!" Yan Feiqing answered.


    "Go light some incenses for my grandpa!" Zhang Tie said as he led them towards the mourning hall.


    After Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi entered the mourning hall, Zhang juniors and the wives of the old man instantly fixated onto them. Yan Feiqing remained calm as usual while Guo Hongyi''s face turned redder.


    "Wait a moment!" Zhang Tie told Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi. After that, he told a butler in the mourning hall, "Go fetch two linen belts..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s order, that butler was shocked for a second. Closely after that, he understood Zhang Tie''s meaning as he rushed into the rear court at the fastest speed and brought Zhang Tie two white linen belts in a split second.


    Under the gaze of everyone else, Zhang Tie gave a linen belt to Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi respectively, "Fasten it..."


    To wear a linen belt in this case meant that they were the late old man''s granddaughters-in-law. All the women with linen belts were the wives of Zhang Tie''s cousins.


    The two linen belts were more persuasive than any swears.


    Yan Feiqing took the linen belt and fastened it. Guo Hongyi also imitated Yan Feiqing as she took Zhang Tie''s linen belt and fastened it.


    After they fastened the linen belts to their own waists, Zhang family members in the mourning hall instantly looked at them with different eye light. Zhang Tie also let out a sigh of relief outright. After something became a fact, it would not haunt people anymore.


    From then on, Guo Hongyi had become Zhang Tie''s woman officially. As for whether the fact that he married Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi would incur him some dissolute gossips and the reproaches of some traditionalists or not, it was out of Zhang Tie''s concern.


    Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi then knelt down, kowtowed and served incenses in the mourning hall according to the rules of granddaughters-in-law...


    After their sacrifice, Zhang Tie introduced Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi to the wives of the old man. After that, he led the two women to the rear court to meet his parents, mainly Guo Hongyi.


    ...


    In the following days, more and more guests with increasingly higher social status arrived to offer their condolences to Zhang Haitian, including representatives of Gold and Power Law and Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, elders of Heavenly Fortune Sect, Cheng Honglie the commander of Northeast Military Region. Even Lord Xuanwu, Lord Jingtian, Lord Dingxi and Lord Yian had assigned representatives here with great monetary gifts.


    Watching so many dignitaries converging Golden Light City for the sake of the death of the old man, even the servants in the old man had been downright spirited these days, not to mention Zhang Tie''s uncles and cousins.


    On the 5th day, the crown prince assigned representatives to offer his condolence with a great monetary gift. Additionally, His Majesty granted the late old man with the title of posthumous count.


    According to the rule in the black iron age, only those who killed demons could be granted with the title of nobility. However, imperial dignitaries in Taixia Country were entitled to grant late people with posthumous titles, which couldn''t be inherited and were exclusive to the late ones.


    Because of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie''s dad was granted with the title "lord" while Zhang Tie''s grandpa was granted with the title of posthumous count. Therefore, everyone across Taixia Country knew how much the crown prince valued Zhang Tie.

 1475 The Arrival of Senior Sister Apprentices

    In the blink of an eye, 6 days had almost passed. After the 7th day, the mourning hall would be demolished. After that, the funeral ceremony would gradually come to an end except for 6 rituals in 42 days, 7 days for each time.


    In order to fulfill the last wish of the old man, Zhang Tie named Alexander and the other hybrids Hua names respectively these days. Actually, Zhang Tie had long planned to do that. Previously, Zhang Tie wanted to name them again after a few years. Now that it was the old man''s will, it was nothing serious for him to do it a bit earlier.


    After negotiating with his dad, Zhang Tie had fixed their Hua names.


    Like Zhang Chengan and Zhang Chengba, the middle name of his hybrids would also be Cheng. Additionally, as they came from Ice and Snow Wilderness, it was easier for him to name them.


    Alexander meant guardian; therefore, his Hua name was Zhang Chengwei(ÎÀ).


    Andre meant brave; therefore, his Hua name was Zhang Chengyong(ÓÂ).


    Matvey meant God''s gift; therefore, his Hua name was Zhang Chengli(Àñ).


    Anatoli meant guardian too; therefore, his Hua name was Zhang Chengbao(±£).


    Victor meant victory; therefore, his Hua name was Zhang Chengsheng(ʤ).


    Igor meant the beloved son of the God of Wealth; therefore, his Hua name was Zhang Chengfu(¸»).


    Orego meant the sacred; therefore, his Hua name was Zhang Chengdao(µÀ).


    Nigolas meant great trumph; therefore, his Hua name was Zhang Chengwei(ΰ).


    Lev meant lion; therefore, his Hua name was Zhang Chenghou. Previously, Zhang Tie suggested Lev Zhang Chengshi; however, Zhang Tie''s dad vetoed it as he said it was not good for a name to carry a fierce beast. As lions could roar loudly, Zhang Tie wanted to name him Zhang Chenghou(ºð); however, it didn''t sound good; therefore, he replaced "ºð" with "ºî".


    Honestly, Zhang Tie didn''t master too much Hua culture, nor did he read too many ancient Hua books; therefore, he didn''t excel at naming his sons. However, all the hybrids felt pretty happy about their Hua names.


    On the 7th day, although there were still guests, all the major clans across the country had already assigned their representatives here. After staying in Golden Light City for a day, all of them had left. Even Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi who had left Golden Light City for Three Spring Prefecture on the next day. Those who came here to offer their condolences were almost local people in Yanghe Prefecture, Youzhou Province. Zhang Tie didn''t need to greet them himself as they could be received by his uncles in the old mansion.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that he didn''t need to see anyone anymore; however, a butler brought him a piece of news which caused him to run out of the rear courtyard to greet the guests.


    It was Ma Aiyun, Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi. They were all Zhang Tie''s senior sister apprentices and bosom friends in Hidden Dragon Palace. It had been 16 years since he set apart from them in Heavens Cold City, Waii Subcontinent, excluding the 6 decades when he stayed in the tower of time.


    Therefore, when a butler told Zhang Tie about the arrival of Ma Aiyun, Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi, Zhang Tie became stunned for a second. Closely after that, he went to greet them himself.


    Zhang Tie saw the three senior sister apprentices in the parlor beside the mourning hall.


    Zhang Tie''s look almost remained unchanged during the past 16 years. However, the three girls had already turned into charming beauties.


    No sooner did Zhang Tie open the curtain and enter the parlor than the three pairs of beautiful eyes fixated onto his face.


    There were pure friendship and ambiguous love between them; especially Zhang Tie and Ma Aiyun, who had one night stand in Heavens Cold City. Therefore, Zhang Tie couldn''t subdue his excitement at the sight of the three people.


    Zhang Tie and the three women looked at each other for a minute. Even though Zhang Tie had a lot of words to say, he didn''t know how to express.


    "16 years no see. Three senior sister apprentices are still so beautiful and brilliant..." Zhang Tie broke the silence.


    "We dare not be the senior sister apprentices of the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace!" Gu Caidie revealed a faint smilec as she said with bright eyes and white teeth in an extremely alluring manner, "If other elders heard it, we three would be punished severely. Just call our names. Very few people in Taixia Country dare say that they''re your senior sister apprentices now!"


    "Alright. I will call your names. Caidie, Ziyi and Aiyun sound better!" Zhang Tie said with a generous smile.


    "Are you afraid of your wives'' jealousy? Although we''ve not seen you these years, we''ve heard a lot of dissolute affairs about you!" Yuan Ziyi said as she threw a casual glance at Ma Aiyun.


    "I''m not afraid of that. I could subdue them..." Zhang Tie said as he patted his chest like how he always did when he joked with his senior sister apprentices in Hiding Dragon Island. After hearing his words, the three women couldn''t help but giggle. The estrangement caused by 16 years'' departure appeared to be solved in a split second.


    Later on, Zhang Tie told them to take a seat and have people serve tea for them. After that, he started to chat with them and learned about their recent situations.


    Since the three women returned to Taixia Country from Waii Subcontinent, they had been staying in Huaiyuan City, Yingzhou Province, another basement of Huaiyuan Palace in Taixia Country. However, as this basement was not near Youzhou Province, the three people didn''t have a chance to visit Youzhou Province these years.


    Huaiyuan Palace also built a place similar to Hidden Dragon Island in an island nearby Huaiyuan City so as to train clan elites who were transferred to Taixia Country from Waii Subcontinent. As the three people were talented in cultivation and had perseverance, they promoted to LV 9 at the same time 3 years ago. Since then, they could recover their freedom to a certain extent and leave the clan base in Huaiyuan City.


    This time, the three people received the tasks of Long Wind Business Group at the same time and came to Youzhou Province. By the way, they offered a condolence to the late old man in Golden Light City and met Zhang Tie...

 1476 End of the Funeral Ceremony

    Ma Aiyun, Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi promoted to LV 9 within 16 years. It was neither a high speed or low speed for women. No matter what, women were always weaker than men in cultivation. Of course, they could never match Zhang Tie.


    The three people had not imagined that Zhang Tie could reach such a high position within 16 years. They and Zhang Tie sighed with feelings when they talked about their own experience.


    The three women''s life trajectories remained unchanged in the past 16 years. However, Zhang Tie had long reached his heyday as he had become a well-known powerful knight and the 1st person in Huaiyuan Palace from the imperious teenager in Hidden Dragon Island with brilliant achievements.


    Ma Aiyun spoke less. After 16 years, this vixenish senior sister apprentice became much more graceful, restrained and womanly. Recalling the one night stand in Heavenly Cold City, the moment Zhang Tie''s and Ma Aiyun''s eye light touched each other, they had got a special feeling.


    "We three would stay one more day in Golden Light City. We will leave here the day after tomorrow. We''re living in Wild Lake Building outside Golden Light City..." Ma Aiyun told Zhang Tie leisurely as her beautiful eyes sparkled.


    After Ma Aiyun finished her words, the three women exchanged a glance with each other before fixating onto Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie understood women well. According to Ma Aiyun''s words, the three women actually wanted to have another meeting with him. Because this old mansion was not the right place to chat, they were all restrained; additionally, women were always shameful to put it simply. Furthermore, there was a large difference between them and Zhang Tie in position. In case of offense, they could only put it indirectly. Perhaps, the three senior sister apprentices had met some trouble and needed his help; therefore, they wanted to find another chance to tell him about it.


    "After today, I would be free tomorrow and return to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory the day after tomorrow. Not until 42 days later would I come back to Golden Light City. Let me bid a farewell to you three in the Wild Lake Building next evening!" Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    "It''s a deal!"


    "Hmm, it''s a deal!"


    After making an appointment on time and place, the three senior sister apprentices had a short chat with Zhang Tie before leaving the old mansion.


    After seeing off the three senior sister apprentices, Zhang Tie didn''t need to meet guests anymore today.


    In the afternoon, fewer people come to offer their condolences. After 3 pm, almost nobody arrived. After the sunset, the mourning hall was demolished. The old man''s corpse was then moved into the coffin. In the same evening, the Zhang family buried him.


    It was a funeral custom of major clans in Taixia Country to bury the dead in the evening. As the sun set, the old man''s spirit and soul wouldn''t be harmed. However, due to poor visibility in the evening, the old man''s spirit and soul might not find the way back without light. Therefore, more preparations and investment were required, which couldn''t be afforded by small families. Gradually, it became a custom for major clans to bury the dead in the evening.


    When the old man was going to be buried, Zhang family lit lamps for dozens of miles all the way from the old mansion to Phoenix Mountain, 2 special evocation lamps on two sides of the road in every 7 meters. The lamps didn''t go out overnight as they were guarded by soldiers of Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang people. Some streets in Golden Light City were directly closed as outsiders were not allowed in at all.


    Some Masters were spraying water and leading the way ahead of them while reading mantras in weird tone. Some great-grandsons on the side of the old mansion were holding evocation banners, money trees and some funeral utensils at the end of the team. Zhang people kept spraying gold foils and joss paper. Guided by the evocation lamps, they accompanied the late old man all the way to the Phoenix Mountain.


    Women didn''t go back until they reached the city gate while men accompanied the old man all the way to the mountain. After burying the coffin, they covered the coffin with a thin layer of soil on the same level with the ground¡ª¡ªthe completion of initial burial.


    After the initial burial, most of Zhang men returned overnight, leaving some filial sons and grandsons to "guard mausoleum" for the old man.


    As the old man had just come here like how people moved to their new home, he had not completely settled down in the first evening. Therefore, he needed some guards in case of being bullied by those wandering souls and wild ghosts in the evening.


    Masculine males were required to stay to guard the mausoleum. Of course, Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang, Zhang Su stayed.


    A shed was put up above the mausoleum of the old man. Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang, Zhang Su and some cousins stayed in the shed to guard the old man for one night.


    After daybreak, some more people would come from the old mansion to replace them so that they could return to Golden Light City.


    As of now, the old man''s funeral ceremony had almost come to an end besides mausoleum defense and sacrifice per 7 days. 42 days later, all the Zhang people should gather together again, build a tomb and a stele for the old man. After the final steps were accomplished, the funeral ceremony would completely come to an end.


    When Zhang Tie returned to the old mansion, Elder Muyuan, Elder Muyu and Elder Muen came here to bid farewell to him. After staying in Golden Light City for 7 days to do favor to Zhang family and Huaiyuan Palace, the three elders had to leave there due to important affairs. After extending his thanks to the three elders solemnly, Zhang Tie saw them off till they boarded on an airboat, He had people take the three elders to their destinies by his imperial airboat.


    Elder Muyu and Elder Muen left for Youzhou City; Elder Muyuan would go to Tiger Embracing City. As clan elders, none of them were free.


    After last night and this morning, the mourning hall had already been demolished. Everything had gradually recovered, except for the two walls in the old mansion, which had been demolished, witnessed the glory and brilliance of the old man''s funeral ceremony. No clans across Northeast Military Region could hold such a grand funeral ceremony.


    Watching the old mansion which suddenly became tranquil, many Zhang people were not even used to it. Some servants in the old mansion were still missing the grand scene and were talking about the big figures that they saw in the old mansion...

 1477 A Fatal Trap

    "Erm...shall I leave some guards for you?"


    "No need. I will just stay in Golden Light City and bid farewell to some senior sister apprentices tonight and go back to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory tomorrow!"


    "Take care of yourself!"


    "Don''t worry about me. Who would dare find me trouble? These days, our parents are a bit tired. So are you, elder brother. After returning to Jinwu City, our parents should have a good rest or travel outside!"


    "Hmm, I will make the arrangement!"


    At dusk, after ending the trivial things on the old mansion, Zhang Yang returned to Jinwu City with his parents.


    After staying in Golden Light City for 7 days, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang were fine; however, their parents had felt a bit fatigued due to their age. Plus the wallop of the death of the old man, their parents looked gloomy. Therefore, they should have a good rest at home.


    Zhang Tie saw them off until they boarded on the airboat. Before they boarded on the airboat, Zhang Tie talked with Zhang Yang.


    Zhang Yang knew Zhang Tie well. Previously, Zhang Yang was a bit worried about Zhang Tie''s safety. However, after being told that Zhang Tie was bidding a farewell to his senior sister apprentices in Golden Light City, he relaxed his vigilance and only said a few words to Zhang Tie.


    Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi had left Golden Light City for Three Spring Prefecture a few days ago. An uncle of Bai Suxian stayed in Golden Light City for 2 days on behalf of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion politely and considerately, who left here this morning. Zhang Tie had Bai Suxian bid a farewell to him. After that, Bai Suxian directly returned to Iron-Dragon Sect. Mountain Lifting Hermit, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi offered condolence two days ago and had escorted the members of Iron Heart Palace back to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory yesterday. Therefore, Zhang Tie became free.


    When the airboat took off, the sun had almost set in the west. In the afterglow, Zhang Tie saw his elder brother''s airboat flying towards Jinwu City. After that, he left the airport outside the city and had the driver leave for the Wild Lake Building.


    The airport was in the north of Golden Light City while the Wild Lake Building was in the south. It would take him almost 1 hour from the airport to the Wild Lake Building by car after circling around half of the Golden Light City.


    When he arrived there, night had fallen. Watching it gradually turn darker from inside the car, Zhang Tie slowly became relaxed as he forgot about all the sophisticated thoughts haunting his mind these days.


    In the south of Golden Light City, there were so many green mountains, making it pretty marvelous. Many major clans in Golden Light City had luxurious manors and villas with courtyards near mountains and rivers outside the city in the south. Wild Lake Building was rows of wooden complex, the highest one among which were 3-storeyed. It was a hotel right on the lakeside at the foot of a mountain. The entire complex was girdled by pines, dense reeds and wetland. What a landscape of mountains and rivers!


    Many waterfowls were living in the reeds and wetland. The lake was connected to a big river within Youzhou Province in the distance. The big river linked all the prefectures in Youzhou Province in the west and directly entered the ocean in the east. From time and then, Zhang Tie could see looming ferries in the far, making it pretty artistic.


    After getting off the car, Zhang Tie looked around as he nodded inside.


    Ma Aiyun, Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi were delicate women previously in Hidden Dragon Island. After so many years, they must have not changed their taste given the hotel they chose. Zhang Tie felt it was a proper place for a party.


    The Wild Lake Building was not large and was very tranquil. Besides the three women, some other guests were living here. Although it was already night, only half of more than 10 attics and cabins were bright. The moment Zhang Tie entered the gate of the complex, a male waiter had greeted him, "Welcome sir, are you going for supper or accommodation here?"


    "I''m here for three girls!"


    "Oh!" That waiter suddenly realized whom did Zhang Tie refer to as he threw an ambiguous and admiring glance at Zhang Tie before replying, "The three guests are living in Cloudmissing Building over there. You could see it by going there from here. Do you need any more help?"


    "No, thanks!" Zhang Tie frankly walked towards the residence of the three women alone.


    All the buildings here were connected by wooden bridges and corridors which were built on water. Reeds and rosy fluorescent lamps were on both sides of the wooden bridges and corridors, making it pretty tranquil.


    Zhang Tie soon came to the door of the No. 9 cabin. Before he knocked at the door, the door had been opened as Ma Aiyun, Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi were watching him with a smile behind the door.


    Although the three senior sister apprentices had changed their costumes today, they wore rigorously and seriously, exposing nothing sexual. Zhang Tie let out a sigh of relief inside. To be honest, Zhang Tie was afraid of seeing them standing in front of him in thin silk dress. If they did that, Zhang Tie would feel embarrassed, disappointed and sad instead of enjoying it.


    "Where are you looking at?" Yuan Ziyi threw a glance at Zhang Tie as she said, "Are you not satisfied with our dress? I remember that someone said Aiyun had a good figure, was plump and sunken in the right places and womanly. Do you want her to show her good figure..."


    After hearing Yuan Ziyi''s words, Ma Aiyun threw a glance at Zhang Tie as her face blushed at once.


    Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he said, "Zi Yi, Caidie, you''re not worse than her either. If you want me to enjoy it one day, I wouldn''t refuse it..."


    "Peh, you''ve got so many wives. Haven''t you been satisfied with it? We''ve heard so many dissolute affairs about you in Yingzhou Province these years..."


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh as he replied, "It couldn''t be so exaggerating. Actually, I''m always innocent!"


    "Who believes that?"


    The three people then welcomed Zhang Tie in. After making jokes, they all felt much relaxed.


    "We didn''t know when you would come tonight; therefore, we''ve not had people serve the dishes and drinks in case they turn cold..." Gu Caidie explained as she pulled the rope of a bell outside the door so as to remind the waiter to serve dishes and drinks.


    After glancing at the building, Zhang Tie asked, "Do you live upstairs?"


    "Yup, do you want a visit?"


    "Females only! I remember that there was always such a board outside the doors of your female dorms when in Hidden Dragon Island. I dare not intrude it. It was told that all the senior fellow apprentices who dared intrude female dorms had been beaten heavily!"


    "But you''re already a knight, no need to be that timid!"


    "The more experienced one was, the timider he would be!"


    The three women were delighted once again as they directly led Zhang Tie to a room neighboring water on the first floor.


    There were a soft bed and a long table in the room. Through the window, they could righty see the ripples on the lake. The window was covered by a bamboo curtain. In the room, they could hear surging water beneath the room. It was suitable for a drink.


    After taking a seat, they continued to talk about their recent situations. Only after a short while, the bell had rung as Gu Caidie stood up, saying, "Here''re dishes and drinks. I will open the door..."


    The waiter served some trays of delicate and fresh dishes and a jug of spirit. After saying "Enjoy it", he had left.


    Ma Aiyun stood up and made four glasses of spirit. After that, she took her own glass. After watching Zhang Tie for a second, she said, "When you promoted to a knight, we three didn''t attend your rotating chakra ceremony. Congratulations!"


    Gu Caidie, Yuan Ziyi both took their glasses after hearing Ma Aiyun''s words. After that, the three women exchanged a glance with each other as they bottomed up their own spirit.


    Of course, Zhang Tie would not decline. He took his glass as he raised his head and bottomed it up...


    After putting down his glass, Zhang Tie found Ma Aiyun was watching him with tears.


    "Aiyun, what''s wrong with you..."


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie felt the spirit exploding in his body like an alchemist''s bomb in a split second...

 1478 Soul Leave

    The poison in the spirit was even more effective than that of leakless fruits. Without any omen, it instantly took effect as powerful as an alchemist''s bomb. Zhang Tie almost believed that he was already dead as he felt that his body had been shattered completely. However, closely after that, Zhang Tie realized that it was not his body being shattered but the contact between his awareness and his body.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie felt that his soul was removed out of his body due to the "explosion". He became purely his awareness.


    The toxicity of the poison blocked his mind sea and qi sea as well as cut off the contact between his awareness and body, his qi sea and mind sea completely.


    Zhang Tie was instantly "split up" by the poison. Besides being still sober-minded, he couldn''t control any of his cells at all.


    The toxicity of the poison in the spirit was unimaginably overbearing and weird. Additionally, this poison appeared to be specially targeted at knights. Zhang Tie faintly remembered that he had heard about the name of this poison in the Mountain of Brightness.


    It was Soul Leave¡ª¡ªthe number one poison in the world.


    With cracking sounds, Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi instantly passed out as they bent over the table, pushing all the bowls and trays onto the ground as they were also poisoned.


    Watching Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi bending over the table in a split second, Zhang Tie became disappointed completely.


    This was a trap targeted at him. All the details had been considered only for this moment.


    Since Ma Aiyun, Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi offered condolence in the old mansion, the trap had been triggered. The time that they offered condolence was arranged on purpose so that they could appoint to meet Zhang Tie here in case of any suspicion.


    If they came to Golden Light City a few days earlier, Zhang Tie would not have time to meet them here. Because so many powerhouses including Bai Suxian, Mountain Lifting Hermit and elders of Huaiyuan Palace were on his side a few days ago, when the trap-maker could find a chance to poison him at all.


    Today was most suitable. The old man''s funeral ceremony had almost come to an end while all the guests had returned, leaving Zhang Tie alone. Therefore, the trap-maker suddenly caught the opportunity to poison him.


    Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi didn''t know what happened at all as they both looked nothing strange. In this case, two attendants who knew nothing about the conspiracy worked as the best cover, reducing Zhang Tie''s alert to the minimum.


    The trivial detail that they had the waiter to serve dishes and drinks after Zhang Tie arrived reduced Zhang Tie''s vigilance again.


    The trap-maker had also understood Zhang Tie well as he dared poison Zhang Tie in the first glass of spirit. He knew that Zhang Tie would not refuse the first glass of spirit toasted by his three senior sister apprentices.


    The culprit was so considerate and vicious that even Zhang Tie felt chilly about his deed.


    ''Senior sister apprentice Ma doesn''t have such an ability; neither does she have such a motive. She must be threatened under one''s control.''


    Zhang Tie couldn''t move anymore. He just watched Ma Aiyun whose face had been covered with tears as he asked using his eyes, "Why?"


    Ma Aiyun walked towards him as she tightly hugged Zhang Tie by arms. Her tears dropped onto Zhang Tie''s body as she answered with sobs in a lower tone, "Sorry...sorry...it''s for our kid...I have to do that...If not...they would kill our kid...They''ve promised me...as long as they get your secret skill and cultivation method of divine dominator, they would let go of you and our kid... From then on, we could live together..."


    ''Our kid?''


    Although Zhang Tie couldn''t speak or move, his heart still pounded immediately as he thought, ''Ma Aiyun got pregnant in the evening in Heavens Cold City?''


    After recalling what happened that night seriously, Zhang Tie suddenly became shocked. ''That night, I drank a lot and felt a bit sleepy. Senior sister apprentice Ma slid into my tent in the midnight. I had a one night stand with her. I couldn''t remember whether I had made her pregnant or not.''


    The moment he heard the "as long as they get your secret skill and cultivation method of divine dominator, they would let go of you and our kid...", he had known that they were cheating her. However, Zhang Tie couldn''t tell Ma Aiyun about that at this moment.


    After saying some words to him in a low tone, Ma Aiyun decisively wiped off her tears. She then walked to the window and opened the bamboo curtain, hanging a red lantern on the window.


    In less than 1 minute, the wooden floor suddenly revealed a hole while three people in black clothes drilled out of there from the water. One of them was gloomy in his 50''s. After checking Zhang Tie and found that Zhang Tie couldn''t move anymore, he let out a sigh of relief.


    In a few seconds, this man had searched over Zhang Tie''s whole body and collected all of his belongings including remote-sensing finger rings and put all of them into a bag. After that, he threw a glance at Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi. As a cold light flashed across his eyes, he shot out two battle qi from his finger and broke the heart meridians of the two women. In a split second, they spurt out blood from their mouths. After quivering a bit, they became still.


    Zhang Tie''s two senior sister apprentices died in front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie watched them while tears rolling down...


    "Ah, you promised me to not kill them..." Ma Aiyun charged at him; however, that man moved too fast. Additionally, his battle strength was many times greater than that of Ma Aiyun.


    The moment Ma Aiyun moved, another person on her side had struck her hindneck by a palm. Ma Aiyun instantly passed out as she fell down.


    Zhang Tie gazed at these strangers with tears in eyes. That one who killed Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi appeared to be shocked by Zhang Tie''s decisive eye light; however, he remained silent. With a cold expression, he instantly got some snake-shaped black metal needles from the air before stabbing them into Zhang Tie''s qi sea, chest and back...


    Zhang Tie quivered all over a bit with great pain. Closely after that, he saw endless dark. Before passing out completely, he heard the icy words, "Take him away..."


    After that, Zhang Tie felt being covered by something as he was carried and slid into the water...


    Hearing the surging billows time and then, Zhang Tie was in endless dark and pain...

 1479 Launching the Strike

    It took Zhang Tie''s parents 1 hour from Golden Light City to Jinwu City. When they arrived at home, Zhang Tie had not arrived at Wild Lake Building yet.


    Due to the old man''s funeral ceremony these days, Zhang Tie''s parents both felt a bit tired. Therefore, after returning to home and finishing supper, they had gone to bed.


    However, only after 2 hours'' sleep, Zhang Tie''s mom had woken up without any certain reason.


    "Ah, what''s wrong..." Zhang Tie''s dad also woke up after turning over as he turned on the light at the head of the bed. Under the lamplight, Zhang Tie''s mom looked a bit pale with fine sweat drops over her forehead.


    "Are you alright?" Zhang Ping asked.


    "I just feel a bit flurried and sleepless!" Zhang Tie''s mom said as she shook her head.


    "Is it because you didn''t rest well these days and met too many people in Golden Light City?"


    These days, like Zhang Tie, his parents almost had a short chat with every female guest as old as them before they left. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s mom didn''t feel relaxed either.


    "Is Guoguo safe?" Zhang Tie''s mom suddenly asked Zhang Ping as she revealed a faint, gloomy look through her eye corners, saying, "As soon as I had fallen asleep, I recalled Guoguo. It felt like as same as that when Zhang Tie''s eldest brother died in Blackhot City as a soldier..."


    Zhang Tie had the eldest brother who sacrificed in Blackhot City very long ago. The family didn''t feel like mentioning about it any longer.


    "Cut it out, Guoguo is safe!" Zhang Tie''s dad sat up at once. Although he comforted Zhang Tie''s mom, he also suddenly became worried about Zhang Tie''s safety as he suggested, "How about having Zhang Yang to contact him? They have remote-sensing finger rings..."


    "Hmm..."


    "I will have someone fetch Zhang Yang here..." Zhang Tie''s dad then put on his clothes and prepared to exit the bedroom. Right then, the skyline in the distance suddenly became fiery. They knew somewhere in the downtown had caught a big fire without opening the curtain. Jinwu City was not large; therefore, half of the city was shocked by such a big fire.


    Zhang Tie''s dad went over to the window. After opening the curtain, he saw the glow that shone in the sky.


    "Ah, what''s happening?" Zhang Tie''s mom also went over there in pajamas. At the sight of the heavy fire through the window, Zhang Tie''s mom had been stunned as she stammered, "Is...is that...the valley where we produce all-purpose medicament..."


    Previously, Zhang Tie''s dad was the mayor of Jinwu City. Therefore, he almost immediately realized what was happening at the sight of the heavy fire as his heart raced.


    Many guards and servants of Zhang mansion had been shocked by the big fire and gotten up. Many bedrooms became bright again.


    In the place where servants lived in the Zhang mansion, Zhang Gui was standing in a tree shade and watching the big fire in the distance with a flash of shrewd light in eyes.


    As a person who always took actions in dark, Zhang Gui''s hands had touched too much blood while his heart was full of darkness. However, that dark heart also granted him an extremely sensitive feeling about dark.


    Watching the big fire shooting into the sky from the valley¡ª¡ªthe all-purpose medicament base, Zhang Gui appeared sniffing something darker.


    In only 2 minutes, the fire had grown increasingly bigger while the sky was growing redder. As a result, the dark red reflected from the skyline gradually lit up the tree shade where Zhang Gui was in. As the flame grew brighter, Zhang Gui slowly moved backward with the tree shade. Finally, he disappeared in the dark of the garden.


    ...


    A few minutes later, Zhang Tie''s parents had already put on their clothes as they saw Zhang Yang in the lobby who looked solemn.


    "Did the all-purpose medicament base in the valley catch fire?" Zhang Tie''s mom asked in a bit intense way.


    "Yes!" Zhang Yang nodded. Closely after that, he revealed a smile as he comforted his parents, "Dad and mom, don''t worry. Even if the entire valley was burned up, it would just be a bit loss of money. Nothing serious!"


    "Has anyone got hurt?"


    "I''ve already told the Jinwu Guards to put out the fire. We don''t know about the loss yet. I''m going there with Mr. Zhu. We will deal with it timely if there is any. Dad and mom, just stay at home. I have Mr. Liu protect you at home. Don''t worry! You should take a rest. I will be back soon after I deal with it!" Zhang Tie''s elder brother tried his best to make his parents reassured like Zhang Tie no matter how serious the event was.


    Jinwu Business Group employed a black iron knight surnamed Liu previously. In late years, as the scale of Jinwu Business Group gradually expanded, Zhang Tie''s elder brother became more and more wealthy and powerful; therefore, he employed another knight surnamed Zhu. That was to say, Zhang family had two employed knights now. Zhang Yang held that his family could be safe unless demon attacked or someone dared be hostile against Zhang family in the public.


    "Watch out!" Zhang Tie''s dad reminded Zhang Yang.


    "I see, don''t worry, dad!"


    "Oh, send a message to Zhang Tie. Your mom misses him again!" Zhang Tie''s dad told Zhang Yang after being hesitant for a second.


    "Hmm!"


    After having a short chat with his parents, Zhang Yang had strode away from the Zhang mansion with Mr. Zhu, followed by a team of guards.


    "All the guards at home be alert especially tonight! 2 people in each post!"


    "Close the city gates! Nobody is allowed to leave the city without my written decree!"


    "Curfew execution in the streets near the fire. Anyone who dares rob in chaos shall be killed!"


    Zhang Yang sensed something special tonight too. However, the moment he left the gate of Zhang mansion, he had issued some orders decisively, causing the entire Jinwu City noisy.


    After that, Zhang Yang got on his car as he contacted Zhang Tie by remote-sensing finger ring...


    After sending the signal, he received no reply.

 1480 The Night of Blood and Flame

    Zhang Yang contacted Zhang Tie three times; however, he received no response. Therefore, Zhang Yang felt a bit gloomy.


    However, Zhang Yang didn''t think that Zhang Tie would encounter any danger at this moment. Firstly, most of the people didn''t know Zhang Tie''s current situation. In Zhang Tie''s words, only sage-level demon knights dared find him trouble. Secondly, Zhang Tie was in Golden Light City in the territory of Huaiyuan Palace. Thirdly, Zhang Yang had failed to contact Zhang Tie many times before due to various reasons. In many cases, Zhang Tie contacted him. Therefore, Zhang Yang didn''t imagine the worst scenario.


    Zhang Yang even doubted that Zhang Tie had some love sparkles with his senior sister apprentices after having a drink. As Zhang Tie was "busy", he didn''t respond to Zhang Yang timely.


    As Zhang Tie''s elder brother, Zhang Yang understood Zhang Tie better than anyone else. Zhang Yang knew that Zhang Tie was amorous and soft-hearted. Additionally, Zhang Tie was extremely attractive to women at this moment. Furthermore, as a man, Zhang Yang knew men''s shortcomings. In this case, if Zhang Tie lost his mind, he would really sleep with his senior sister apprentices. In Zhang Yang''s eyes, given Zhang Tie''s status, it was nothing serious for him to do that.


    Out of the concern for Zhang Tie''s health, Zhang Yang contacted an executive of Jinwu Business Group in Golden Light City, having him assign someone to Wild Lake Building to check Zhang Tie''s situation.


    Whereas, Zhang Yang didn''t know that Wild Lake Building had caught a big fire too when the valley in Jinwu City was burning.


    At this moment, the pines and the reeds around Wild Lake Building as well as those buildings in Wild Lake Building were all burning, scaring waterfowls away from the water nearby. However, it was quiet across Wild Lake Building as nobody was alive.


    The big fire wiped out all the malicious traces.


    ...


    After Zhang Yang arrived at the valley 20 minutes later, a shadow had climbed over Zhang mansion''s high wall. The moment it rolled into the courtyard, a voice had sounded, "Who''s that?"


    Closely after that were collisions between sabers and swords, muffled voices and miserable shrieks. Zhang mansion was in a big chaos.


    Such a night was destined to be chaotic. How could Zhang Tie''s parents sleep well? When they were waiting for news in the parlor, unexpectedly, they heard collisions between sabers and swords.


    "Lord and Madam, please go to the basement for the sake of your safety. A group of assassinators intruded into our mansion. We would never let them in with the help of Mr. Liu!"


    When Zhang Tie''s parents felt a bit flurried, the head of guards in Zhang mansion had entered the parlor with a team of armored guards who were holding weapons and shields. They formed two circles around the mansion of Zhang Tie''s parents.


    After taking a deep breath, Zhang Ping asked the head of guards, "How about Zhang Yang''s mansion?"


    "Don''t worry, Lord, I''ve already transferred young master''s wives and children into the basement. Only after a short while, these assassinators would be solved!" The head of guards answered in low voice.


    "Lord and Madam, please wait. As there''re too many assassinators, at the order of the young master, I will protect you to hide from them outside the mansion..."


    The moment Zhang Tie''s parents were going into the basement, they had heard a voice from outside the mansion. At the same time, Mr. Liu approached them with a glassy-eyed look from the garden.


    At the sight of Mr. Liu, Zhang Tie''s parents were both shocked as they didn''t know whose words to follow, Mr. Liu or the head of guards.


    At the sight of Mr. Liu, the head of guards frowned at once. It was not reasonable for Mr. Liu to appear here at this moment; he should be killing assassinators outside. "Is that the order of the young master? But we''ve not received that order!"


    "The young master contacted me just now using remote-sensing finger ring. Give way to me. I will take away Lord and Madam!" Mr. Liu said in the courtyard as he watched the wall of guards outside the mansion of Zhang Tie''s parents.


    "Mr. Liu, please wait for a second. I will contact the young master to confirm it. No matter what, we should have a plan B for any emergency. We''ve been told by the young master. In this case, as long as Lord and Madam hide in the back room, even knights couldn''t break the backroom in a short period, not to mention those assassinators outside!" The head of guards said as he took out his portable remote-sensing device to contact Zhang Yang.


    However, before he took out his remote-sensing device, Mr. Liu had launched a strike.


    With a loud sound "boom...", those guards around this mansion had been covered by Mr. Liu''s battle qi as their limbs flew in all directions in a split second, making it pretty bloody outside the mansion.


    It was absolutely a holocaust for a black iron knight to launch a strike towards these fighters below LV 15 in such a close distance all of a sudden. As a result, dozens of guards outside the mansion were all killed by Mr. Liu before they realized what happened.


    "You..." The head of guards was so infuriated that his eyes seemed about to pop out. Nevertheless, before he made any response, Mr. Liu had already come to his front like a ghost. With only one palm, the guard''s chest had become sunken completely. Closely after that, he exploded into bloody mist in the parlor...


    When some blood sprayed onto the faces of Zhang Tie''s parents, they both quivered a bit.


    Mr. Liu then walked towards them in the bloody mist as his calm face had already turned as grim as that of a ghost, "In case of trouble, please follow me..."


    Zhang Tie''s mom looked completely pale. However, she decisively shook her head facing that knight-level Mr. Liu. She just held Zhang Ping''s hand tightly as she threw a glance at Zhang Ping and shook her head, saying, "We will just stay here!"


    "If so, please forgive me..." Mr. Liu''s voice turned cold at once. The moment he wanted to move one step forward, he suddenly quivered all over. After lowering his head, he saw a part of the pitch-dark tip of the sword that came out of his chest in an unimaginable manner. When he looked back, he saw the old slave servant Zhang Gui was gazing at him icily...


    ''Zhang Gui? No way! Where did he come from? Why such a sword strike is so sharp and terrifying? It''s a sword gesture of assassination that only knights in dark could learn. Additionally, the attacker should be an earth knight...''


    ''Zhang Gui is an earth knight!''


    "You..." Mr. Liu wanted to say something.


    However, Zhang Gui rocked his sword blade, turning Mr. Liu who made a killing spree just now into bloody mist in a split second.


    Zhang Gui killed Mr. Liu like how the latter killed those guards in Zhang mansion. What a quick karma!


    Zhang Tie''s dad and mom were both shocked by such a fast change as they didn''t know what to say.


    "Lord and Madam, it''s young master Zhang Tie who told this old slave to hide my real identity to protect Zhang family secretly..." Zhang Gui bowed towards Zhang Tie''s parents before explaining respectfully.


    "It''s...Guoguo!" Zhang Tie''s dad widely opened his eyes at once.


    "Yes, it''s young master''s order!"


    Right then, some powerhouses among those assassinators in black clothes had reached 100 m away from this mansion and were rushing over here while brandishing their weapons.


    "Lord and Madam, please wait for a short moment..." Zhang Gui told Zhang Tie''s parents. Closely after that, he disappeared from the room. In the next second, Zhang Gui reappeared in the sky above this mansion where he could overlook the entire Zhang mansion. Closely after that, Zhang Gui launched a strike. In the blink of an eye, he had launched hundreds of sword strikes. Like a peacock in its pride, the earth knight''s sharp sword qi immediately spread over Zhang mansion. They even reached 1,000 m away. As a result, all the assassinators were swatted and killed like flies in a split second.


    After killing these assassinators, Zhang Gui released a bloody battle qi tornado into the sky, which could be seen within 600 miles in the evening.


    An earth knight was fighting in Jinwu City, where Zhang Tie''s elder brother and parents were living...


    Zhang Gui''s battle qi tornado shocked the entire Youzhou Province, even Xuanyuan Hill at once...

 1481 The Devil in Zhang Taixuans Hear

    Tonight, many people were destined to be sleepless.


    The study room of the Youzhou Provincial Governor''s Mansion, White Tiger Building...


    It was a deep night. In white robe, Zhang Taixuan was writing characters fluently with a brush dipping ink alone while holding his breath.


    As was pursued by many people, the bigger the event was, the calmer one would be. Zhang Taixuan made it.


    Zhang Taixuan had dealt with so many political affairs in the daytime. In the evening, he met an elder of Gu Clan, East River Prefecture and some representatives of Youzhou Provincial Steel Chamber of Commerce. Not until 10 pm did Zhang Tai Xuan become free. He then came to the study alone. He knew what was going to happen tonight¡ª¡ªmany people would die tonight in Golden Light City and Jinwu City. What happened tonight would also shock the country as a whole. However, Zhang Taixuan was not intense because he had already made arrangements perfectly.


    He had deduced each detail of the event tonight, including what decisions those relevant people would probably make in that atmosphere according to their temperaments, what if someone died and what if not. After reckoning about it many times, he finally launched this strike. As for Zhang Taixuan, this action tonight was destined to succeed; if it failed, it would be due to God''s will.


    Sometimes, success depended on luck. In most cases, success relied on perseverance and patience.


    Many people couldn''t believe that Zhang Taixuan had already prepared for this action for 16 years. However, it was true.


    Eyes closed, Zhang Taixuan was brandishing his brush on the snow-white rice paper with expensive Anhui ink, following his heart. Not until he stopped the last stroke did he open his eyes and look at the table in the study.


    There was already a three-dimensional, magnificent drawing on the table¡ª¡ªan ocean with surging billows; an island was in it. If Zhang people saw it, many of them could identify that it was Hidden Dragon Island and the waters nearby it.


    Being contrast to the surging billows, heavy wind and low dark clouds, the scene beneath the sea in the west of Hidden Dragon Island was utterly different.


    It was calm there. Additionally, there was a huge rock at the bottom of the sea where was deeper than 300 m. A line of magnificent characters was carved there¡ª¡ªZhang Taixuan arrived here at 17!


    Right beside this line was another line which appeared as poor as ants'' legs¡ª¡ªHaha, Zhang Tie also arrived here at 16!


    Actually, Zhang Taixuan knew Zhang Tie much earlier than that many Zhang elders could imagine.


    One year, Zhang Taixuan was leaving for the Earth-elements Realm. He stayed in Hidden Dragon Island for a few days, during which period, he suddenly got an interest to visit the trace that he left at the bottom of the sea at a young age.


    At the bottom of the sea where he got navy blue ores from, Zhang Taixuan saw the inscriptions that he left there along with Zhang Tie''s line.


    It could be imagined how amazed he was at that moment.


    As the beloved one in Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Taixuan was very clear how many resources had Huaiyuan Palace spent on him and how many hardships had he experienced before he left such a trace at the bottom of the sea at 17. How could an unknown common teenager surpass him at 16?


    Because of this new line, Zhang Taixuan started to pay heed to Zhang Tie. Besides Zhang Taixuan himself, nobody else across Huaiyuan Palace knew it.


    Soon after Zhang Taixuan entered Earth-elements Realm, Huaiyuan Palace had started to evacuate from Waii Subcontinent. At this moment, Zhang Taixuan''s henchman in Huaiyuan Palace sent him a piece of news¡ª¡ªA female disciple surnamed Ma got pregnant. Through interrogation, that pregnant female disciple admitted that her kid''s father was Zhang Tie. However, Zhang Tie didn''t know about her pregnancy yet.


    After receiving that news, Zhang Taixuan had made his henchmen hide this affair. Meanwhile, the female disciple was under control. Nobody else knew about it.


    Based on Zhang Taixuan''s means and resources, it was too easy for him to completely control a common female disciple under LV 10 in Hidden Dragon Island and have her follow his will. He could completely turn that female disciple into his puppet step by step using a bit spiritual skill and some allure.


    At that time, Zhang Taixuan just felt that this female disciple might be his card one day; however, he had not thought about how to use it. He had not imagined that he didn''t play this card in this way until 16 years later.


    Zhang Taixuan got an exotic item in Earth-elements Realm. When he left the Earth-elements Realm and saw Zhang Tie for the first time, the teenager who left words at the bottom of the sea had already become a clan elder, a dragon.


    Without that exotic item that he got from the Earth-elements Realm, Zhang Taixuan might not reach this step. However, that exotic item foreshadowed what happened today; especially watching Zhang Tie becoming more and more excellent, admirable and powerful, Zhang Taixuan''s jealousy and the information provided by that exotic item brought him increasingly greater wallop spiritually.


    Zhang Tie''s performance at the bank of Weishui River and the expose of his trump card of divine dominator finally broke Zhang Taixuan''s mental defense line. As a result, Zhang Taixuan determined to rush into danger.


    This time, God appeared to be standing on his side. Previously, Zhang Taixuan was worried that Zhang Tie had already recovered when he was told that Zhang Tie recovered his injuries using bloody sacrifice furnace and wavered his mind; however, according to the information exposed by Zhang Tie footsteps on the grassland when he jumped off the airboat in Golden Light City, Zhang Taixuan finally made his decision.


    Zhang Taixuan knew it was not right. However, which hero had cared about right or wrong since ancient times. Each one standing on the peak of the human world was standing on numerous corpses and skeletons.


    ''Those who killed their brothers could also become emperors and enjoy their good fame forever. By contrast, what I did is nothing serious at all!''


    A few hours ago, Zhang Taixuan had received the news that the plan in Golden Light City had succeeded. As was imagined, Zhang Tie indeed became less vigilant about the three senior sister apprentices that he knew in Hidden Dragon Island; especially that woman who had a love affair with him. Therefore, after Zhang Tie frankly went there, he was naturally under the control of Zhang Taixuan.


    These years, Zhang Taixuan had studied Zhang Tie carefully. He knew that Zhang Tie was most filial besides being sentimental. If Zhang Tie and his parents were under control, Zhang Tie would meet any request of Zhang Taixuan without any resistance.


    At this moment, Zhang Taixuan received news from Jinwu City by remote-sensing finger ring as he frowned at once...


    "Zhang Gui..." Zhang Taixuan read it lightly as he found he had no impression about this name at all. Therefore, he shook his head before looking at the awkward characters on that huge rock in his drawing, muttering, "I''ve not imagined that you could arrange an earth knight on the side of your parents. Amazingly, that earth knight would like to be the slave servant of the Zhang family. It seems that it''s God''s will. If you could have an earth knight be your slave servant, what am I as an earth knight? However, even if the plan in Jinwu City fails, it should still not difficult for me to get that item from you..."


    In the blink of an eye, all the remote-sensing finger rings in his hand rocked, including those which were used to contact elders of Huaiyuan Palace, commander of Northeast Military Region and Xuanyuan Hill... Zhang Taixuan had even heard the flurried footsteps of Elder Muray and his hoarse voice, "I''ve got an emergency. Hurry, lead me to clan head..."


    Zhang Taixuan threw the last glance at the drawing which was still not dried yet on the table. Closely after that, he revealed a faint smile as he wove his hand, leaving nothing at all on the table.


    When he walked out of his study, he had already looked gloomy...


    "It''s too bad. Something happened to Elder Mushen..." Elder Muray said as his face had been covered with sweat when Zhang Taixuan saw him.


    "I''ve got it just now. Commander of Northeast Military Region has already inquired me about the details. We will go to GoldenLight City by airboat right away!" Zhang Taixuan said with a bitter smile, "Hopefully, Elder Mushen could tide over this difficulty..."


    "Do we need to notice other clan elders to go there together?"


    "I doubt that Elder Mushen might be screwed by Heavens Reaching Church. I''ve just issued an order to have Youzhou Provincial Army enter a state of emergency. All the other clan elders are protecting different regions. Let''s stabilize the situation at first..."


    "Fine! Let''s go..."


    Without putting on his coat, Zhang Taixuan had boarded on the airboat with Elder Muray. Of course, he looked flurried in the eyes of outsiders.


    ...


    The army of Golden Light City had already arrived at Wild Lake Building outside Golden Light City. They were putting out the bright forest fire outside Wild Lake Building with loud noises...


    Before the big fire was put out, a Heavens-Penetrating Silver Shuttle had suspended above Wild Lake Building. Closely after that, Yan Feiqing showed her look.


    She instantly flew into the big blazing fire.


    Only after a few seconds, Yan Feiqing had flown out of the fire. Closely after that, she wove her arm, releasing her berserk battle qi towards the fire and isolating flame from the air. As a result, the flame across Wild Lake Building was put out in a split second.


    "Honey..." Yan Feiqing roared with grief as she flew towards the lake in the far...


    ...


    In the next morning, the news that Zhang Tie was assassinated outside Golden Light City had shocked the entire country...


    ...

 1482 Puzzle

    In the natural world, the more powerful the individuals were, the fewer their population would be. Soul leave was an extremely rare poison. Even knights could barely survive this poison. However, soul leave''s duration of effect was limited. After being poisoned by it, one''s awareness couldn''t be completely isolated from his body forever.


    Soul leave denoted that one''s soul would leave his body out of control. After his soul returned to his body, he would feel like having a dream.


    After soul leave completely lost its effect, Zhang Tie gradually opened his eyes.


    He was in a room, which appeared being in a mountain cave covering 600 square meters. The mountain cave was artificially built as everything in the room was well carved. It was covered with huge granites in all directions. Besides, there was an eternal fluorite lamp on the roof, the dim light gave out which made the mountain cave hazy.


    In addition, there were some underground plants which were used to keep the air fresh. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie faintly heard surging sea waves from outside, which represented that this mountain cave was in a sea island or an underground space on the seaside.


    With a sound "Huala..." Zhang Tie found his limbs were tied by huge, thick alloy runed chains. The moment he moved, the chains had clashed.


    After lowering his head and throwing a glance at it, Zhang Tie had found it was made of abyss iron, mithril and dragon silk as an immortal craftsman. The firmness and tenacity of this alloy were completely out of people''s imagination. Additionally, some advanced runes were applied to this alloy: LV 5 consolidating and strengthening rune; advanced recovery rune, which could help people rapidly recover their spiritual energy and physical strength; an advanced reversal rune, which could completely counteract the effect of the advanced recovery rune at the same time and make people weak constantly.


    The chains on his limbs were tightly interconnected with an alloy ring which was made of the same materials. The alloy ring was connected to a huge piece of an alloy which weighed over 1,000 tons. This set of instruments determined that Zhang Tie''s scope of activity was limited to this room.


    As an immortal craftsman, Zhang Tie had heard about it. He just couldn''t imagine that it could be applied to him.


    This whole set was called Dragonbinding Shackle. It could only be made by a craftsman master and above.


    Even heavenly knights could not escape from such a set of instruments.


    However, these were external binding instruments. There was another binding system inside his body, which had been sensed the moment Zhang Tie opened his eyes.


    At this moment, three items being much thinner than hair were swimming in Zhang Tie''s heart, qi sea and mind sea respectively. Few people knew their names except for Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªbloody soul needles.


    As a secret skill of Bloody Soul Temple, bloody soul needles were to seal one''s spiritual energy, physical strength and battle qi. Whenever he wanted to run his battle qi, spiritual energy and do heavy activities, the three bloody soul needles would take effect in his brain, heart and abdomen respectively, causing him extremely miserable. At the crucial moments, the three bloody soul needles could even blow up his heart, brain and qi sea.


    With Dragonbinding Shackle and bloody soul needles, even sage-level knights would be at the mercy what others demand of you.


    When he sensed bloody soul needles, Zhang Tie immediately realized that he had fallen in the hand of the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church; because only they could probably master the secret skill of bloody soul needles.


    ''The conflict between me and the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church couldn''t be diffused any more. Those b*stards have the motive and ability to do it.''


    ''However, how could those b*stards of Heavens Reaching Church know the love affair between senior sister apprentice and me and screw me with it? This could never be done without a considerate plan.''


    ''I offended Heavens Reaching Church after I returned to Taixia Country. Before it, I knew nothing about Heavens Reaching Church. Neither would Heavens Reaching Church care about a common knight on a subcontinent. If Heavens Reaching Church could foretell things, they would have long screwed me; neither would Han Zhengfang be killed by me after his real identity was exposed.''


    ''If senior sister apprentice Ma really got pregnant and had psychological changes, the first one who knew her physical situation in Hidden Dragon Palace probably the head of Hidden Dragon Palace. If she really delivered the baby, how could she cheat so many people in Hidden Dragon Palace? Over these years, even I, as the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace, didn''t know about the pregnancy of senior sister apprentice Ma. Nobody else in Hidden Dragon Palace has mentioned anything about it to me. How could Heavens Reaching Church know it?''


    ''Unless...unless the influence of Heavens Reaching Church have long penetrated into Huaiyuan Palace so deep that even the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace and I don''t know about the secret concerning me in Huaiyuan Palace!''


    The moment this whim occurred to his mind, Zhang Tie had felt a chill all over.


    However, Zhang Tie soon felt that this reason was not right. At that time, Huaiyuan Palace, as a small Hua clan in Waii Subcontinent far away from Taixia Country, was completely like an ugly duckling in front of those major clans in Taixia Country. They didn''t have money or power. Was Huaiyuan Palace worth the penetration of Heavens Reaching Church?


    When Zhang Tie was confused, with a cracking sound, an iron door above the steps that extended upwards was opened as the gloomy and vicious man at his 50''s that Zhang Tie had seen in Wild Lake Building walked downstairs.


    This man reminded Zhang Tie of the late two senior sister apprentices, Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi at once. Zhang Tie then clenched his fists. Closely after that, he loosened his grip as he stood there quietly and watched the man coming to his front.


    "You''re a dare-to-death fighter. Who''s your master?" Zhang Tie asked calmly as he looked at that man.


    That man''s face changed a bit...

 1483 The Real Intention

    "It doesn''t count who''s my master. What''s important is that you will die if you don''t cooperate with me..." that arriver said as he soon recovered his composure and cold look, squinting at Zhang Tie with threatening eyesight.


    "Really? But I don''t think so..." Zhang Tie responded to him calmly as he didn''t care about the threat at all. As for Zhang Tie, the crisis only happened when he drank the spirit which was mixed with Soul Leave.


    Zhang Tie''s error lay in that he had not imagined that the first glass of spirit that he drank with three senior sister apprentices that he had not seen for over 10 years was mixed with Soul Leave. What''s more, Senior Sister Apprentice Ma who had a love affair with him had already known that the spirit was poisoned. The culprit had known everything about Zhang Tie and Ma Aiyun and even let Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi the props of this trap. Therefore, it was too sudden. Even the most meticulous and shrewd person would not be vigilant about all of his relatives and friends all day long. Otherwise, he must have been driven mad by himself before others'' attack.


    No matter what happened outside, Zhang Tie still carried the simplest and sincerest emotion about his relatives and friends; because this was why he struggled to grow powerful. Perhaps, others made a constant improvement on the road of cultivation only to conquer others by stepping them down or become the unrivaled one. However, Zhang Tie held that money making and cultivation are only for one purpose, namely making his family members live better and enabling him to live in love. On the contrary, if he had fewer people to trust and became more vigilant as he grew more powerful, it indicated that he was just a timid guy who wore a set of irresistible helmet and armor and held a saber or a sword which could be used to kill hundreds of millions of people. Zhang Tie disdained it.


    Additionally, Soul Leave took effect as fast and fiercely as an alchemist''s bomb, which didn''t spare any time for Zhang Tie to make any response. Any other poisons that could spare a second for Zhang Tie to make a response would be easily detoxified by Zhang Tie.


    However, that person was absolutely wrong if he thought that he could bind Zhang Tie who couldn''t use his battle qi, physical strength and spiritual energy using Dragonbinding Shackle and bloody soul needles.


    As for Zhang Tie, he had already taken the initiative when he opened his eyes and recovered his awareness no matter how poor he looked now.


    Because he was Zhang Tie, Immortal Qianji!


    Zhang Tie knew that he had already become sore in demons'' eyes. As his battle qi had not fully recovered, if he dared have Yan Feiqing leave him and stroll alone in Golden Light City, Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory, he must have his own confidence and reliance.


    What Zhang Tie wanted to do most now was to find that culprit and tear him into pieces so as to avenge for Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi.


    That 50-year old man didn''t understand that he was already a movable dead man in Zhang Tie''s eyes. Zhang Tie''s tone and eyesight made him very uncomfortable.


    That man gave a heavy blow to Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen after releasing his battle qi; however, Zhang Tie didn''t even frown. Although Zhang Tie couldn''t run his spiritual energy and battle qi, after taking so many iron-body fruits and promoting to a shadow knight, Zhang Tie still had a great defensive capability. In this case, strikes from people below LV 15 battle spirit couldn''t pose any threat to him or hurt him at all. However, it would be too naive if this man in his 50''s below LV 15 wanted to do any harm to Zhang Tie by a bare punch; especially that he was just a LV 13 great battle master, whose punch was like tickle for Zhang Tie.


    Certainly, like how bloody soul needles entered Zhang Tie''s blood and meridians, some rune weapons could also do harm to Zhang Tie when he was not vigilant. No matter what, shadow knight''s body rigidity couldn''t match alloy.


    "Haven''t you eaten food? Where''s your strength?" Zhang Tie looked at that middle-aged man with a cold look as he added, "Small figures like you are not qualified to stand in front of me. Fetch your master here. Let him talk to me..."


    After realizing that he couldn''t hurt Zhang Tie, that person gradually recovered his composure as he said, "My master would come when he wants!"


    "You''ve spent too many efforts in catching me, but still kept me alive, you must want something from me. What do you want?"


    "Smart, what an Immortal Qianji!" that middle-aged man''s facial muscles moved a bit as he said, "We''ve searched over your body. Master said that you''re still hiding one thing. As long as you present that item, you would survive and this thing would come to an end!"


    "I would survive?" This thing would come to an end?" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he said, "What a funny, naive lie..."


    "Our master only wants that thing, not your life. As long as he got that thing, all the dare-to-die fighters who join this action would commit suicide in front of you. That''s why our master doesn''t want to see you. After that, you could reunite with your Senior Sister Apprentice Ma and your kid. As you would not find anyone to avenge for, this thing would come to an end by then!"


    Surrounding three exits, leaving one. It was a psywar for attacking a city. If a city was surrounded in four directions, the fighters and commoners inside would exert their utmost efforts to break out; however, if one exit was left open, the will of the garrisons would be collapsed. That was how the middle-aged man played in front of Zhang Tie. They thought that Zhang Tie had been under their control; therefore, they left hope to him so that he didn''t struggle at his full efforts at the risk of destroying that rarity.


    However, such a gimmick was just a joke for Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie sneered inside as he pretended to consider it. After being hesitant for a second, he said, "Show me Ma Aiyun and our kid first!"


    "No way. Master said that you three couldn''t reunite unless you hand in that thing!" the middle-aged man said, shaking his head.


    Zhang Tie had already seen through this place using his lotus flower eyes when he talked with that man.


    This underground mountain cave was indeed on the seaside. It was on the lowest floor. There were some more floors of underground facilities above this mountain cave. Above ground was a chateau which was on the hillside. Just now, Zhang Tie saw nothing but wilderness hundreds of miles away from the chateau on the open waters or the land.


    The moment Zhang Tie saw it, he had known that he was near the coast of Liaozhou Province in the north of Youzhou Province. The chateau was a small base of a power, which was also used to bewilder people.


    ''I might have been missing for over 5 days. However, who could find me in such a remote place given such a large size of Taixia Country?


    There were over 30 dare-to-die fighters in the chateau and the underground cave, who were all common staff. The middle-aged man should be the head of these dare-do-die fighters.


    Ma Aiyun was locked in a cell above Zhang Tie. The linear distance between Zhang Tie and her was fewer than 100 m. However, Ma Aiyun was not hurt; she was just a bit sluggish.


    Zhang Tie didn''t see his kid or any teenager here; therefore, that kid should be hidden somewhere by these dare-to-die fighters if Ma Aiyun really delivered the baby.


    "Well, tell me what do you want, a piece of space-teleportation equipment, a silver secret item or a cultivation method like Fiery-Dragon Sutra?" Zhang Tie asked calmly.


    "None of them!" that middle-aged man answered as he shook his head.


    "None of them?" Zhang Tie became amazed as he asked again, "What do you want?"


    "Immortal item!"


    Zhang Tie was really shocked by this term.


    "Immortal item? Did I mishear it? Or are you kidding me? It''s just a legendary item. Who has seen the real immortal item? Is it square or round?" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he continued to ask, "Do you want my bloody sacrifice furnace?"


    "No, it''s an immortal item. Master said that you''ve got an immortal item, which helped you rise step by step from Blackhot City. Master wanted me to tell you that if you hand in the immortal item, this event would come to an end; otherwise, it''s just a beginning..."


    "What do you mean?"


    "I mean if you don''t hand in the immortal item, you will see the heads of your family members and friends one after another in a few days..."


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s heart had raced as he appeared having not heard these words¡ª¡ªWho knows that I have Castle of Black Iron?

 1484 Waiting for the Culpri

    If Zhang Tie didn''t know that the opponent had also mastered the secret skills of Bloody Soul Temple, after hearing such a threat, he had long exposed his trump card and escaped from it. After reading the memory of this middle-aged man, he would kill him and go directly for the culprit.


    However, many secret skills of Bloody Soul Temple were curbing each other. There was also a solution against soul reading skill in Bloody Secret Temple; especially these dare-to-die fighters were executing such a confidential action, which would definitely arouse a great shock across the country, even the world. As long as these dare-to-die fighters were caught, and leaked a message, they would bring catastrophe to the culprit behind them. In this case, as long as that culprit was not an idiot, he must have made preventions before the action even at a high cost. As long as their souls were read, the secret skill against soul reading skill would be triggered. In a split second, they would become idiots while their heads would blow up.


    Although Zhang Tie was especially furious inside, he remained calm superficially. Because he was not so sure whether the opponent was sounding out him. As long as he appeared to care about his relatives and friends, they would be more valuable, and more dangerous, in the eyes of the opponent.


    Additionally, now that the middle-aged man mentioned it, they probably had already taken action about his family members and relatives while targeting him. However, those actions had failed. Otherwise, they should have pushed those captives in front of Zhang Tie so as to threaten him; instead of making it a verbal threat.


    Zhang Tie immediately got a lot of information from the opponent''s line.


    "Hahaha, kill as many as you want, but how many could you kill?" Zhang Tie watched that dare-to-die fighter as he burst into laughter, "My family is in Jinwu City and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. After I was screwed, you might have already tried to abduct them. But what about the result? You should know it clearer than me. I''ve got so many knights on my side, Yan Feiqing, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Bai Suxian, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi and elders of Huaiyuan Palace. How many of them dare you fight face to face? In front of such an absolutely overwhelming strength, do you really think that your gimmick and conspiracy could work when they''re vigilant about you? Just do it! Show me how you''re killed?"


    "We couldn''t hurt your family members; however, you''ve got friends!"


    "Stop talking about friends. You could hurt as many family members of mine as possible. I''ve got so many wives, concubines and children. It''s nothing serious to lose some of them!" Zhang Tie sneered casually as his tone turned icy, "If one son dies, I could kill 10 more; if one wife dies, I could marry 100 more. The so-called wives and children were nothing serious for powerful knights like me. I could get as many as possible as long as I want. In this world, I only treasure my parents and my elder brother. If you could hurt them, I might fear you; however, do you think that you could hurt them now? I could even abstain wives and children, what am I afraid of? As for friends, even I myself don''t know how many friends do I have. I''ve not seen many of them for at least 70 years plus the period that I stayed in the tower of time. As for them, you could kill as many as you want. Let''s see whether I would drop a tear or not..."


    Zhang Tie''s rhetoric was perfect; because his opinion represented that of most knights. Great battle strength and vigorous vitality determined that many knights'' family notion was absolutely different than that of commoners. Many knights had hundreds even over 1,000 wives, concubines and children like emperors at their own home. With this mentality, it was really difficult to see how heavy their wives, concubines and children weigh in their hearts.


    As for friends, many people deeply held the notion that when one became rich, he would change his wives; when one became dignified, he would change his friends. Based on Zhang Tie''s current social status, even though he was concerned about those common friends, who would believe it if he didn''t reveal it to the public. Take the members of Hit-Plane Brother as an instance, Zhang Tie always treated them as his brothers. However, if he didn''t reveal it to the public, who knew. Even within Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, many people would regard themselves as Zhang Tie''s subordinates; instead of brothers.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t put it too unduly; instead, he admitted the importance of his parents and his elder brother, which sounded real. So what? These people couldn''t hurt his parents and elder brother at all. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not afraid that they could threaten him with his parents and elder brother.


    Certainly, after hearing Zhang Tie''s words, that man slightly frowned. Apparently, he had not imagined that Zhang Tie could despise his threat so carelessly.


    "You''re a qualified dare-to-die fighter. However, in my eyes, you''re just a tool, a saber of a person. You''re not qualified to talk about conditions with me. I won''t talk about the condition with a tool. All of your words are meaningless for me. I only want you to know that you''d better have your master assign an influential person above knight level in case of wasting my time..." Although being mired in dilemma, Zhang Tie still threw a contemptible and proud glance at that middle-aged man. Closely after that, he directly sat down in front of that man with crossed legs, eyes closed as if that man was dead.


    That man was indeed shocked by Zhang Tie''s attitude. After looking at Zhang Tie for a couple of seconds, he left this basement silently.


    Not until this man left here did Zhang Tie open his eyes with a flash.


    It would be meaningless for Zhang Tie to kill all of these small figures. However, if the opponent assigned a knight here, who couldn''t completely hide his identity, Zhang Tie would get the information about the culprit through him. As long as the opponent was not a sage-level knight, Zhang Tie would kill him for sure.


    From now on, the game came to a reversal. Zhang Tie wanted to see who was going to be trapped.


    ''Senior Sister Apprentice Gu, Senior Sister Apprentice Yuan, believe in me, I, Zhang Tie, swear to God that I will avenge for you!''


    Zhang Tie gritted his teeth as he clenched his punches when he recalled the tragedy of his two senior sister apprentices. With a flash of grief, his eyes were full of killing intent.


    Zhang Tie closed his eyes again as the sweet spring water full of Reiki from Castle of Black Iron was led into Zhang Tie''s mouth. As Zhang Tie swallowed the sweet spring water, his body was lubricated while his vitality and vigor recovered rapidly...

 1485 Shocking Youzhou Province

    Zhang Tie had been missing for over 1 week; however, there was still no news about his whereabouts. As a result, the entire Youzhou Province became the focus of the world while forces from all directions converged in Youzhou Province, including surging hidden forces...


    In the shrine palace of Huaiyuan Palace, Tiger Embracing City, Youzhou Province, Zhang Taixuan and a middle-aged man with narrow eyes and a long face were sitting face to face at a table. That middle-aged man wore a high Xiezhi-shaped crown and a Class I official uniform of Taixia Country who looked very dignified and full of killing intent. As he faintly squinted his eyes, he appeared to be able to see through one''s soul, causing people''s heart to tremble.


    Even Zhang Taixuan had to behave seriously in front of him.


    Zhang Taixuan had not slept for consecutively 5 days for the event of Zhang Tie. Within the 5 days, Zhang Taixuan had traveled across Youzhou Province and met people from all walks of life; he had to soothe the members of Huaiyuan Palace. As a result, he appeared haggard.


    Anyone who saw Zhang Taixuan would sigh inside, ''What a clan head! When the pillar of Huaiyuan Palace is missing, this clan head must bear a great stress.''


    A clan deacon hurriedly entered the room with three wooden boxes in hand. After coming to Zhang Taixuan''s front, he bowed towards Zhang Taixuan before putting the three wooden boxes on the table. After that, he left by moving backward seriously and silently.


    "Mr. Zhao, here are the materials about the three female disciples in Huaiyuan Palace..." Zhang Taixuan said with a faintly bitter look as he pushed the three boxes in front of that stranger, saying, "Hopefully, Mr. Zhao could catch the culprit and avenge for Huaiyuan Palace with these things as soon as possible!"


    "Is there anything special with the three female disciples in the last years; especially that missing female disciple called Ma Aiyun..." Mr. Zhao asked as he opened one box and threw a glance at the documents inside. After that, he nodded as he put the documents back into the box and asked Zhang Taixuan.


    "I was busy dealing with public affairs and didn''t know too much about the three female disciples!" Zhang Taixuan said solemnly, "The three female disciples were the first batch of clan disciples who evacuated from Waii Subcontinent to Taixia Country. They have been living in Yingzhou Province over these years. They''ve not seen Elder Mushen for over 10 years. This event is really out of my imagination. I''ve asked clan deacons about their performance in Yingzhou Province these years. The answer is that they all performed normally in Yingzhou Province, including their cultivation and exercises..."


    "It''s said that the three female disciples got along well with Elder Mushen?"


    "Hmm, when Elder Mushen cultivated in Hidden Dragon Island, he had already got acquainted with the three female disciples. They were bosom friends. They''ve even executed clan tasks together. It''s said that Elder Mushen took care of them very much when in Hidden Dragon Island..."


    Mr. Zhao slightly squinted at the void as he knocked his fingers on the table in a rhythm like beating a drum, asking, "Who else knows that Elder Mushen has recovered in Huaiyuan Palace besides you?"


    "This event is of great significance. Only those clan elders of Huaiyuan Palace know his current situation!"


    "Did the three people have a chance to touch the top poison Soul Leave in Huaiyuan Palace?"


    "As disciples of Huaiyuan Palace, sometimes, they could indeed buy some rank poisons through internal channels for the sake of tasks; however, even Huaiyuan Palace itself doesn''t have such a rare poison, not to mention the three female disciples!" Zhang Taixuan shook his head with a bitter smile.


    "Hmm, in this case, I will not disturb you anymore..." Mr. Zhao said and stood up as he wove his arm over the table, collecting all the three boxes into his portable space-teleportation equipment and saying, "I will assign people to investigate in Yingzhou Province. Hopefully, Huaiyuan Palace could coordinate with us at your full efforts!"


    "We will, we will; Huaiyuan Palace appreciate it very much as Mr. Zhao could spend time in visiting Youzhou Province!"


    "Elder Mushen is the pillar of Taixia Country. How could I not come for such a big event? Additionally, it''s at the order of His Majesty. After hearing that Elder Mushen encountered such an event, Crown Prince was infuriated. Of course, the supreme court of Taixia Country would make their full efforts to solve this case!"


    "Thanks!"


    Zhang Taixuan accompanied Mr. Zhao to the outside of the shrine palace. After that, Mr. Zhao directly flew off and landed on an airboat in the sky. Zhang Taixuan respectfully saw him off with the airboat in the skyline before recovering his calm look...


    It was out of Zhang Taixuan''s imagination that Mr. Zhao, one of the top 9 chancellors of Taixia Country, was assigned by the crown prince to investigate the case in Youzhou Province. Therefore, Zhang Taixuan was a bit jealous of Zhang Tie''s weight in the heart of the crown prince.


    Mr. Zhao rushed to Youzhou Province with a group of elites of Supreme Court of Taixia Country at the order of the crown prince. They lived up to the expectation of the public with their exceptional ability as they had found the important clues from the dust and mud in Wild Lake Building where even a handful of ashes couldn''t be collected¡ª¡ªtwo of the three female disciples had been killed and Zhang Tie was poisoned by Soul Leave. Even Zhang Taixuan was a bit shocked by such efficient means.


    However, the investigation might not proceed anymore. Although the materials that Huaiyuan Palace handed to Mr. Zhao were real, of course, Zhang Taixuan would not leave any loophole to them as he had schemed it for over 10 years.


    Two disciples had died. The grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace had been missing. Even though they couldn''t find Ma Aiyun, they were not sure whether she was still alive; because this was absolutely a method that Zhang Taixuan applied to puzzle the public. Additionally, Huaiyuan Palace exerted its full efforts to coordinate with the investigators. Who would doubt that it was schemed by Zhang Taixuan?


    "I will take a short rest. Don''t have people disturb me..." Zhang Taixuan told the deacons before entering a backroom of the shrine palace. After closing the door, he waved his hand, displaying a lot of items on the table.


    Most of those items were remote-sensing finger rings. Additionally, there were two rune pieces of equipment, one bronze secret item¡ª¡ªfull-moon dragon soul waistband, two space-teleportation equipment with some silver secret weapons and precious medicaments inside.


    Zhang Tie would know that these items were all his if he were there...


    These items were very precious; especially the two space-teleportation equipment and those silver secret items inside them. Zhang Taixuan looked at them as he approached his colorful fingerstall to them. After rubbing his fingerstall against those items for a while, he finally shook his head as he let out a sigh helplessly...


    It was not Zhang Taixuan''s first time to check them. These days, Zhang Taixuan had checked them in different time and environments for many times; however, each time he was left disappointed.

 1486 Whose Trap

    The news from the subordinate of Zhang Taixuan was that he didn''t find any immortal item from Zhang Tie. All of Zhang Tie''s belongings were here.


    Zhang Taixuan believed in the news as all the dare-to-die fighters who executed this action were loyal to him while being supervised and constrained from each other. Additionally, they were under the control of his secret method and could die for him without demur. Therefore, those dare-to-die fighters would never deceive him. That was why Zhang Taixuan assigned them to execute the most dangerous task.


    These days, Zhang Taixuan always thought that Zhang Tie had not taken that immortal item with him; however, Zhang Taixuan gradually wavered this mind as he felt that he never have the immortal item leave his sight if he were Zhang Tie; especially when he got the news that Zhang Tie wanted to talk about conditions with him, Zhang Taixuan became more confident about his deduction.


    ''Zhang Tie is too calm and confident. Why he''s so confident in such a dilemma and think that he''s qualified to talk about conditions with me?''


    ''He probably has the immortal item with him. That immortal item is his trump card. He knows that I would not hurt him before getting the immortal item. Therefore, he''s so confident.''


    After looking at those items on the table in the backroom, Zhang Taixuan waved his arm, hoarding all of them into his portable space-teleportation equipment. After that, with hands on his back, he started to gently stroke his colorful fingerstall as he paced back and forth in the room while faintly frowning.


    Zhang Taixuan was very scared of Zhang Tie. In this case, he didn''t plan to meet Zhang Tie at all. However, that mystical immortal item made him hesitant.


    Immortal items carried unimaginable, exotic abilities. ''It probably still was with Zhang Tie; however, the others couldn''t discover it except for this rarity of mine. However, people below knight level couldn''t drive this rarity at all; therefore, it''s unavailable to those dare-to-die fighters. However, I don''t have fully reliable subordinate knights. Those elders of Huaiyuan Palace are excluded at first. As for those who could drive it, I''m not sure whether they would disappear after getting that immortal item from Zhang Tie...''


    ''Which knight could be immune to the allure of an immortal item?''


    ''Would I go to see Zhang Tie or not?''


    Zhang Taixuan became hesitant as he considered this question in the room for a while. After that, he received a message from his remote-sensing finger ring with a flash of gloomy eyesight. After being hesitant for a second, he let out a deep sigh as he walked out of the backroom and came to the outside of the shrine palace.


    At this moment, after Mr. Zhao''s airboat left came another airboat in the sky above Tiger Embracing Mountain. Whereas, since so many airboats had arrived and left Tiger Embracing Mountain these days, they didn''t feel anything strange about it.


    When Zhang Taixuan came out, three human shadows flew off that airboat. Before one of them arrived, his loud voice had rumbled the entire mountain, "Younger Brother Taixuan, after Huaiyuan Palace encountered such a major event and urgently need help, why not notice this elder brother?"


    "Hahaha, Elder Brother Huang, you''ve come from afar, I''m so sorry for that!" Zhang Taixuan said as he cupped his hands towards the figure in the air.


    With the flash of their shadows, the three people had landed on the ground steadily.


    Among the three people, Elder Brother Huang was tall and strong with snow-like silver hair swaying in the air, making him a lion or a hedgehog. His face was as red as that of wine. Given his look, he should be bad-tempered. This man carried a powerful qi of shadow knight. Although he looked generous, when he landed and watched Zhang Taixuan, a weird, harsh light flashed across his face.


    Catching that faintly harsh eyesight of Elder Brother Huang, Zhang Taixuan''s smile became stiff for a second as he asked, "Elder Brother Huang, they''re..."


    "Hahaha..." Elder Brother Huang burst out into laughter again immediately as he answered, "They''re both my friends. They''re enthusiastic and heroic. After hearing about the event of Immortal Qianji and that I''m your friend, they urged to go to Youzhou Province with me. They want to give you a favor. Younger brother, won''t you welcome us? If you don''t, this elder brother will leave right now..."


    After hearing the introduction of Elder Brother Huang, the other two knights forced a slight smile towards Zhang Taixuan. The two knights were both earth knights with a solemn and cold look. They were far from being enthusiastic and heroic as was extolled by Elder Brother Huang.


    "Haha, Elder brother, no joke. Please, let''s talk inside!" Zhang Taixuan made a hand gesture to invite them in.


    "Fine, let''s talk about it inside!"


    Zhang Taixuan had a deacon forbid outsiders to disturb them. The moment the four people entered the parlor behind the shrine palace, Elder Brother Huang''s smile had disappeared as he turned solemn at once.


    "Zhang Taixuan, you''re so audacious..." Elder Brother Huang said as he looked straight into Zhang Taixuan''s eyes with icy eyesight as he told him by battle qi. His voice sounded which appeared to have nothing to do with the passion that he displayed outside just now.


    No sooner had this man opened his mouth than the room became much colder than before.


    Zhang Taixuan let out a sigh suddenly as he asked, "Has His Majesty long been unsatisfied with me? I didn''t know about such a major event until it was caused a few days later in Youzhou Province. These days, I''ve been waiting in Youzhou Province for your explanation, elder brother."


    After being silent for a second, Elder Brother Huang''s icy eye light changed as he asked, "What do you mean?"


    "Elder brother, don''t pretend anymore." Zhang Taixuan revealed a bitter smile as he asked, "Wasn''t Zhang Tie taken away by His Majesty? And that knight employed by Jinwu Business Group whom His Majesty said fully followed my order as my subordinate in Jinwu City; however, he raided Zhang Tie''s old mansion in Jinwu City that night. I didn''t know it until it happened. Did His Majesty deliver the order to him?"


    At this moment, if Zhang Tie were here, he would doubt that Zhang Taixuan had already awakened his performance talent too. Zhang Taixuan was simply the best actor.


    "Cut the crap, when did His Majesty deliver that order to him?" Elder Brother Huang asked as he became infuriated at once.


    "His Majesty has not delivered that order to Liu Changxiong?" Zhang Taixuan revealed a shocked look as he continued, "What happened to Zhang Tie then?"


    "Didn''t you do that?" Elder Brother Huang asked as he looked straight into Zhang Taixuan''s eyes.


    "Elder Brother Huang, no kidding. All-purpose medicament and fiery oil are fully under the control of Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang. I couldn''t interfere with it. Even though I have eyes and ears in Jinwu Business Group and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, those people are too weak to do any help to me at the critical moments. Zhang Tie became outstanding on the battlefield of Weishui River and promoted to a shadow knight. I was told that he had hooked up with Yan Feiqing in a tower of time. Even if I did it, as long as Yan Feiqing was there, I would not have a say in Zhang Tie''s family and get the production secrets of all-purpose medicaments and fiery-oil. Yan Feiqing alone is able to stabilize the overall situation. What would I do that for? It would have great risk and could bring no benefit at all. Am I that foolish? I''m not able to do that even if I want. After Zhang Tie returned, I feel that what I''ve promised His Majesty is growing more and more tricky as my influence in Youzhou Province is shrinking. I''m asking for relief from His Majesty? Wasn''t it done by His Majesty himself out of patience?"


    Zhang Taixuan''s explanation and rhetorical question made Elder Brother Huang tightly frown as his look became strange.


    "Is that really not you?"


    "Hasn''t His Majesty delivered the order to Liu Changxiong?"


    Zhang Taixuan and Elder Brother Huang asked almost in unison.


    "Liu Changxiong has..." Zhang Taixuan suddenly sprung up as he asked, "Has Liu Changxiong got a new master? Is it done by another force? We''re all screwed. No, we have to report it to His Majesty right now..."


    Elder Brother Huang looked straight into Zhang Taixuan''s eyes for 2 minutes before standing up, saying, "I will report it to His Majesty; however, Zhang Taixuan, I warn you, you''d better not play any trick in front of His Majesty. You know how powerful is His Majesty. His Majesty could figure out the identity of Liu Changxiong sooner or later..."


    "I hope so. Only in this way could I clarify my innocence in front of His Majesty. I''ve worked hard for His Majesty for so many years. Even Huaiyuan Palace as a whole has been taken as a stake; however, I was wronged this time. I want an explanation..." Zhang Taixuan raised his head as he said generously.


    Elder Brother Huang threw another glance at Zhang Taixuan silently as he directly strode out of the conference room, followed by the other two earth knights.


    This time, Zhang Taixuan didn''t see them off; instead, he sat alone in the room.


    Zhang Taixuan had long prepared for this case. He had actually prepared for all the possible situations. However, the failure of Knight Liu was out of his imagination together with that no immortal item was discovered from Zhang Tie, arousing an abrupt increase of risk facing him before getting the immortal item.


    ''I have to make a decision. I only have two choices now, to get the immortal item as fast as possible or to clarify my innocence; otherwise...''


    After sitting for a while, Zhang Tiaxuan''s eyes became increasingly decisive...

 1487 Traps

    Two days later, in the deep night, Tiger Embracing City was having a heavy wind and rain, causing everything dim. As a coastal city, the sudden storm made Tiger Embracing City pretty quiet and cold within 600 miles. Being covered with vapor, it had extremely low visibility.


    The rear of the Tiger Embracing City was a forest. Right in this wood, there was a mountain stream dozens of miles away from the shrine palace in the north. There was a waterfall over there. Due to this storm, the water flow of that waterfall abruptly increased as the dirty water rushed into a deep pool beneath that mountain stream together with mud and fallen leaves, causing tumbling sound, before converging into a river, then the ocean.


    In such weather, such a deep night, such a wilderness, almost nobody could be seen. Even birds and beasts were hiding in their own nests and dens.


    However, a head silently came out of the deep pool at this moment.


    This man was dry all over. Water in the pool was isolated by his battle qi from 2 cm away.


    Given his protective battle qi, he must be a knight; however, he looked strange.


    After exposing his head above the water, he looked around before flying off the pool. Covered by the storm, he rapidly rushed into the heavy clouds before flying northwards.


    After this man flew off this mountain stream for over 10 minutes, with a flash of light, three more people appeared in the mountain stream.


    Elder Brother Huang whom Zhang Taixuan met that day was among them. One was an earth knight who wore sky-blue battle armor with a gloomy look; the other was a shadow knight with exotic, little braids and tattoos of various animals on his face and arms and a string of bone beads.


    At this moment, a colorful, exotic butterfly was flapping two pairs of wings which were changing their colors like a rainbow on a palm of the shadow knight who wore a ring of exotic bone beads over his neck. The two tentacles of that butterfly were pointing at the direction where that knight had left for.


    Before the muffled rumbles arrived, the three knights had disappeared and rushed into the sky, flying northwards after that knight.


    "Zhang Taixuan is really cunning. If not His Majesty has assigned Immortal White Bone to help us, even I was almost cheated by him..." that old man surnamed Huang said with fury and brutality, "When Zhang Taixuan falls in my hand, he will die in my boots..."


    Of course, the Immortal White Bone was a shadow knight. After hearing that old man''s words, the knight with a string of bone beads on his neck sighed, saying, "His Majesty has long seen through everything and long known that Zhang Taixuan is extremely ambitious and could barely be loyal to him. After Zhang Tie disappeared, His Majesty realized it was done by Zhang Taixuan. Pitifully, we will have to waste a soul-chasing butterfly. This one is a class-leading mutated species, universal soul-chasing butterfly. It could position a knight based on the qi of his chakra within over 1,200 miles. It could only survive for one month. Even His Majesty only has fewer than 5 universal butterflies. His Majesty got them at an extremely high cost. He has been preserving them very well. After Zhang Tie missed, His Majesty considered it for quite a while before taking it out. Such a butterfly should at least be applied to the heavenly knight at critical moments..."


    "His Majesty is far-sighted. His Majesty let immortal wake up the soul-chasing butterfly when we met Zhang Taixuan on the airboat so that the soul-chasing butterfly could position the qi of Zhang Taixuan''s chakra; otherwise, we would have been screwed by him..."


    "Hopefully, we don''t waste this universal soul-chasing butterfly!"


    "This universal soul-chasing butterfly is actually used to find Zhang Tie; instead of Zhang Taixuan. Zhang Taixuan is just an earth knight. He couldn''t fly too far away tonight. As his action is so weird, he must have a hidden purpose. This time, let''s show him our ability. How could a trivial earth knight play trick in front of us? That''s preposterous..."


    "I hope so!"


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t sleep tonight. In the underground space, he could still hear the surging sea waves lapping against the reefs on the seaside and the crisscrossed karst caves beneath the mountain, causing loud sound and resonance. Hearing this sound and resonance, even though Zhang Tie didn''t use lotus flower eyes, he had known that it was raining heavily, causing surging billows...


    Zhang Tie had woken up three days ago. Within this period, that dare-to-die fighter only gave Zhang Tie some fresh water and cold food for one time. Therefore, Zhang Tie started to doubt, ''Is the culprit unwilling to talk about conditions with me?''


    ''Is this a psywar or that the person doesn''t want to see me for the time being?''


    Now that that culprit was not anxious, Zhang Tie was not anxious either. He just waited patiently.


    In the underground karst cave, Zhang Tie sat on the ground with crossed legs as he was reciting the endless true words of the Great Wilderness Sutra. The three bloody soul needles in his body had already become three bloody fine lines over his finger which looked like a finger ring.


    As for Zhang Tie who had mastered Bloody Soul Sutra, bloody soul needles were too naive and awkward. Such a secret skill could scare others; however, it was too easy for Zhang Tie to deal with it.


    After hearing the faint noise above the mountain cave, Zhang Tie opened his eyes. After activating his lotus flower eyes, Zhang Tie found that the 50-year old dare-to-die fighter who looked gloomy was escorting Senior Sister Apprentice Ma downward from outside the mountain cave.


    Catching sight of that, Zhang Tie instantly stopped his cultivation. He then raised that finger which was surrounded by three bloody soul needles and put it under his nose. Only with a light inspiration, the three bloody soul needles which were even finer than hair had twisted like a movable earthworm and spiritual snake as they loosed and drilled into Zhang Tie''s nostril.


    After Zhang Tie put down his hand, the iron gate above the mountain cave opened at once with a cracking sound as that dare-to-die fighter walked downward together with Ma Aiyun.


    When he saw Senior Sister Apprentice Ma again, Zhang Tie sighed inside.


    Ma Aiyun looked haggard. When she saw Zhang Tie, she looked a bit thrilled...

 1488 Oncoming

    "Senior sister apprentice, how are your these days?" Zhang Tie asked calmly as he watched Ma Aiyun.


    "I''m... I''m sorry!" Ma Aiyun stammered as she dared not look straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    "It''s fine, never mind!" Zhang Tie said calmly as he didn''t blame Ma Aiyun at all. Zhang Tie knew that Ma Aiyun was also a victim. Ma Aiyun was so weak in front of the culprit that those people could easily take control of her even though she was much greater than those iron-lady housewives.


    "They said... they said... after a few days, I would be able to see our kid..." Ma Aiyun''s eyes shone with an eager look.


    Watching Ma Aiyun, Zhang Tie finally confirmed that she was controlled by an extremely advanced spiritual secret method. Among the secret methods of Bloody Soul Temple, only "Soul Seed" could carry out this effect. One could control people''s senses and consciousness with this secret method secretly and silently. After being affected by "Soul Seed", people would mix aroma with stink, black with white and lose his mind with full of hallucinations. The one being controlled couldn''t even determine whether to live or die. This secret method was too overbearing. The key was that the one being controlled didn''t believe that her action and senses were manipulated by others; instead, she only felt that she did everything according to her own intention and decision.


    Her obsession with her kid became Senior Sister Apprentice Ma''s Achilles Heel and the bed of the "Soul Seed" in her senses and consciousness.


    No wonder Senior Sister Ma didn''t speak too much. Zhang Tie even thought that she was a bit bashful due to that one night stand between them. He realized that she was evidently under control spiritually in case of leaking too much information.


    ''I''m at the fault due to carelessness. It''s none of her business.''


    ''As the aphorism goes, one is not afraid of being stolen, but being remembered by the thief. I''ve borne in mind that person for over 10 years. Due to carelessness, I finally left a chance to him.''


    "Senior sister apprentice, believe me, everything will be better..." Zhang Tie sighed with emotions as he comforted Ma Aiyun.


    "If you want to be better, drink it first!" that silent dare-to-die fighter opened his mouth as he made a glass of spirit and passed it to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie instantly identified that that flagon in his hand was the same one in Wild Lake Building. Of course, the spirit had been drugged with "Soul Leave".


    Zhang Tie watched that dare-to-die fighter with a sneer as he asked, "What? Do you think that I would drink it again?"


    "When I count three, if you don''t drink it, I will chop off one of her hands in front of you; when I count six, if you don''t, I will chop off the other hand of hers; when I count nine, if you don''t, I will chop off her feet; when I count fifteen, if you don''t, I will behead her..." that dare-to-die fighter said in a cold voice, "Be wise, I''m counting...one..."


    Zhang Tie thought, ''They took Ma Aiyun here to threaten me to drink the poisoned spirit. If Ma Aiyun was not here, although they could still force me to drink it, it would cost them a long time. No matter what, even if I have no battle strength, I could maintain my defensive strength. It''s not that easy for them to open my mouth.''


    ''I would not be killed, but I would be in a deep coma. Why would they hurry to do that for?''


    It was raining and winding outside in the deep night. After combining these aspects, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded, ''Is the culprit coming? Or these people want to transfer me to another place...''


    "Second..." the dare-to-die fighter''s voice was full of killing intent as he teleported the flagon into his portable space-teleportation equipment. He put the glass of spirit in front of Zhang Tie by one hand while holding a saber on the other hand, pressing the edge of the saber on Ma Aiyun''s shoulder.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at that fighter before taking the glass and bottoming it up.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie looked straight ahead silently as if he was frozen.


    After putting away his saber, the dare-to-die fighter pinched Zhang Tie''s face to check whether he had swallowed the spirit or not. After discovering it was true, he slightly pushed Zhang Tie, causing the latter to fall down with eyes closed...


    "Zhang Tie..." Ma Aiyun wanted to rush towards him; however, she was stopped.


    "Don''t worry. He''s fine. He''s just having a sleep. Don''t you want to see your kid?" the dare-to-die fighter comforted her. After throwing the last glance at Zhang Tie, he took Ma Aiyun away from this underground mountain cave.


    Not until the footsteps moved far away and the iron gate above the mountain cave was closed up again did Zhang Tie open his eyes.


    Although the spirit appeared having fully entered Zhang Tie''s mouth, all of them had actually been teleported into Castle of Black Iron.


    How could Zhang Tie fall into the same trap for the second time?


    "Heller, you received it?"


    "I''ve received it Castle Lord!"


    "Can you fully separate the "Soul Leave" from the spirit?"


    "Like a piece of cake!"


    "Can you produce it?''


    "Give me a bit time. I could even produce some variants!"


    "Good!"


    After having a short chat with Heller, Zhang Tie closed his eyes again.


    Given the current situation, Zhang Tie was sure that his target was coming.


    However, Zhang Tie still wondered why that culprit wanted him to be in a deep coma. ''Isn''t he here talking about conditions with me? Perhaps, that person is too scared of me as he considered this case as the safest.''


    Although Zhang Tie''s eyes were closed, how could the thin eyelids and flesh resist the power of his lotus flower eyes? At this moment, the eyelids were an absolutely transparent cover for him.


    Lying on the cold ground, Zhang Tie just waited for his target calmly...

 1489 The Cruel Truth

    Lying on the cold ground, Zhang Tie appeared being in a deep coma; however, he was counting time inside.


    After Zhang Tie drank "Soul Leave" for two hours, he saw the same dare-to-die fighter and another one coming to the courtyard of the chateau and waiting there silently. After about 10 minutes, a shadow flashed in the courtyard facing the heavy wind and rain.


    Closely after that, that person displayed something to them. After the two dare-to-die fighters bowed towards him at the same time, the dare-to-die fighter at his 50''s moved forward and told him something before leaving that person into the chateau, then towards the underground facility.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie missed that person''s face as he was looking upwards. When that person walked towards this underground mountain cave, with a cracking sound, he finally presented his look to Zhang Tie.


    Although he had changed his figure slightly and looked a bit short and fat in a metal mask and another disguising mask beneath, all these were transparent to Zhang Tie when he entered the mountain cave.


    With lotus flower eyes, Zhang Tie could see through everything.


    The skeleton and the face under the two masks along with his halos implicated that he was Zhang Taixuan.


    ''The one entering this underground space is Zhang Taixuan, the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace!''


    ''It''s Zhang Taixuan!''


    ''He''s Zhang Taixuan!''


    Zhang Tie immediately felt even colder than the rock on the ground.


    He was waiting for the culprit; however, the incomer was the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace, Lan Yunxi''s father.


    Although Zhang Tie remained still, he had been completely flurried and confused.


    ''No! No! It should be a coincidence! Zhang Taixuan might be saving me!''


    A voice roared in Zhang Tie''s heart.


    However, the moment that dare-to-die fighter opened his mouth, he had shattered Zhang Tie''s mere hope mercilessly. As a result, Zhang Tie sensed the cruelty and despair in reality again.


    "Master, Zhang Tie is lying there. I''ve already fed him Soul Leave at your request. Like how you judge, as long as that woman surnamed Ma was drawn to his front, he had taken it even though he knew that it was poisoned!"


    "Each one has his shortcoming. Zhang Tie''s shortcoming is that he is too concerned about his family members and believes in his beloved ones too much!" Zhang Taixuan uttered a hoarse voice from below the masks, which sounded utterly different than usual. However, Zhang Tie could still identify it right away. With lotus flower eyes, Zhang Tie could even see clearly how Zhang Taixuan controlled the muscles of his vocal cords on purpose to utter such a weird tone. Zhang Taixuan waved his hand, saying, "You leave out of here. I will stay here alone for a few minutes..."


    "Yes, sir!" that dare-to-die fighter replied as he exited the mountain cave and closed the metal gate.


    Zhang Taixuan slowly approached Zhang Tie. He then stood still 3 m away from Zhang Tie. With weird eye light, he started to look Zhang Tie up and down seriously. After that, he took in a deep breath as he raised his hand. Zhang Tie saw Zhang Taixuan scanning over his body using that colorful fingerstall, which was giving out a dark blue light.


    When that dark blue light touched Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie instantly felt that the marvelous arch door in his mind sea slightly rocked. Closely after that, an immortal hiding rune shot towards that arch door as fast as a lightning bolt before integrating with the latter. Then, the arch door became transparent as it gradually disappeared in the void of the mind sea.


    Since Zhang Tie owned Castle of Black Iron, it was the most thorough times for Castle of Black Iron to hide in Zhang Tie''s mind sea. Before it, Zhang Tie didn''t even know that his hiding rune could be applied to the arch door that accessed to Castle of Black Iron.


    The small tree and Castle of Black Iron must have sensed something. Therefore, they made such a reaction themselves.


    Zhang Taixuan scanned over Zhang Tie''s body from his toe to his head with the dark blue light that was given out from that colorful fingerstall, including his shanks, knees, thighs, crotch, lower abdomen, chest, hands, shoulders, neck and head, only to find nothing special.


    However, Zhang Taixuan didn''t abandon it as kept scanning over Zhang Tie two more times in vain.


    "Has Zhang Tie really hidden the immortal item somewhere..." Zhang Taixuan muttered.


    After letting out a sigh, Zhang Taixuan decisively turned around and left the mountain cave.


    When that iron gate was opened again, Zhang Tie even heard Zhang Taixuan leaving words to that middle-aged man, "Keep an eye on him in case of any trouble. I will send you a message when in need!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    It only took Zhang Taixuan fewer than 5 minutes in here. After that, under Zhang Tie''s lotus flower eyes, he flew off the courtyard of that chateau and entered the clouds before flying southwards...


    Zhang Tie had already opened his eyes as he was watching the grey rocks on the top of the mountain cave in a trance. He appeared being extremely hopeless.


    Right then, When Zhang Taixuan was standing beside him, Zhang Tie was struggling hardly which state couldn''t even be described by words. He wanted to open his eyes and tear Zhang Taixuan into pieces; however, Lan Yunxi''s beautiful eyes appeared in his mind sea instead of Zhang Taixuan. Zhang Tie felt that Lan Yunxi was watching him calmly with tears and imploration in eyes.


    Zhang Tie had never struggled so mentally before.


    Zhang Tie was waiting for his target; however, after the target arrived, he became hesitant and finally saw the target to leave.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt that God had played an extremely bad joke with him.


    When Zhang Tie felt that no more preys would come, he saw three more people abruptly with rumbling thunders in the courtyard above the underground mountain cave...

 1490 New Targets

    As the sharp and terrifying fiery battle qi flashed across the air with rain in the courtyard, the first batch of over 10 dare-to-die fighters was shattered into flesh.


    In the clanks, those dare-to-die fighters'' sabers and swords fell onto the ground. In the rain, the entire courtyard was paved with a scarlet carpet as a dense bloody smell started to suffuse in the courtyard.


    With a faint, contemptuous smile, Elder Brother Huang drew back his hands as he said, "Fireflies dare scramble for brilliance with the moons. I''m really moved by these allegiant dogs of Zhang Taixuan!"


    After throwing a glance at that colorful spiritual butterfly flying above his hand as he faintly frowned, "Zhang Taixuan has been here; however, he''s already left. It seems that he''s returned to Youzhou Province, will we..."


    "Let him go. We will catch him sooner or later!" Elder Brother Huang said with a flash of cruel look, "Now that Zhang Taixuan came to such a hidden place stealthily, there must be something important here. Let''s search for it!"


    After hearing his words, the other two people nodded as they all entered the chateau for an investigation.


    With the guidance of that mutated soul-chasing spiritual butterfly, the three people soon found the tunnel leading to the underground space. After that, they killed all the dare-to-die fighters on the way in an overwhelming way.


    Zhang Tie had not seen the three people before. Now that they followed closely after Zhang Taixuan here, they must be here for Zhang Taixuan. ''That''s weird!''


    However, as Zhang Tie was not sure whether the three knights were enemies or friends, even though he continued to pretend to be in a coma, Zhang Tie would not do that with his original body. When the three arrivers started to kill people in the tunnel, Zhang Tie had already started to move.


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes at once. He then sat up and pointed at his forehead with his finger. Closely after that, a light shot out of his forehead as he had triggered his body separation secret skill. Another Zhang Tie almost appeared in front of him in a split second. The new one was still a shadow at the beginning. Gradually, it lengthened with wind and turned into another living Zhang Tie immediately.


    After the battle above Weishui River, although Zhang Tie was severely injured and couldn''t run his spiritual energy, he had already hoarded Yan Feiqing''s spiritual energy with the excuse of using her spiritual energy to look into his injuries after waking up in Xuanyuan Hill. Zhang Tie had long produced an immortal rune of master-level mirror body separation and could call out another substitute at any time. This substitute could save Zhang Tie''s live at the critical moment, which was even more useful than a heavenly demon knight. Therefore, Zhang Tie dared leave Iron-Dragon Sect to inspect those refugees and bid farewell to his three senior sister apprentices.


    This trump card was a secret. By contrast, if Zhang Tie took some knights as his bodyguards at any time, it meant that he had not fully recovered. A divine dominator didn''t need any help at all.


    Zhang Taixuan knew that Zhang Tie had not fully recovered; therefore, he set a trap. Nevertheless, Zhang Tie had so many amazing secret methods. As long as Zhang Tie woke up and recovered his awareness, Zhang Taixuan''s means would be meaningless for him.


    Zhang Tie''s substitute also carried his awareness. The substitute was naked all over. Watching Zhang Tie, it shook his head as he sighed, saying, "What a pity!". After saying that, the substitute gazed at the Dragon Binding Shackle as it put its hand on the shackle and drew a bizarre rune. When that rune covered the Dragon Binding Shackle, the substitute activated its ability as a divine dominator. As a result, the Dragon Binding Shackle was opened quietly in less than 1 second as Zhang Tie''s substitute was also in the realm of an immortal craftsman.


    Zhang Tie had his substitute put on his clothes in a split second. After that, his substitute put on the Dragon Binding Shackle itself before lying on the ground and pretending to be in a coma while Zhang Tie''s original body returned to Castle of Black Iron.


    The entire process was completed in a few seconds.


    After Zhang Tie finished doing all this for almost half a minute, that iron gate above the underground space was pushed open again from outside.


    That middle-aged fighter showed up once again with a pale face in a flurried way. After pushing open the iron gate, he didn''t go downstairs; instead, he directly jumped off and strode forward to Zhang Tie''s side. Closely after that, he lifted Zhang Tie up from the ground and put Zhang Tie in front of him. Then, he waved his arm while a pineapple-sized alchemist''s bomb appeared in his hand. He then put the bomb close to Zhang Tie and his own head as he roared towards the iron gate, "If anyone of you dares move, I will press down the switch at once. As long as I lose my hand, this alchemist''s bomb would be detonated at once. I will die together with you..."


    Two people of the three abruptly widened their eyes when they saw Zhang Tie.


    "Immortal Qianji..."


    "Zhang Tie..."


    The two shadow knights exchanged a glance with each other full of shock as neither of them had imagined that they could see Zhang Tie here.


    At the sight of the Dragon Binding Shackle, the two people had known what happened. However, being abducted by a person below knight with eyes closed, Zhang Tie didn''t appear good.


    The two people exchanged a glance with each other before walking downstairs slowly.


    "Leave here, leave here..." that dare-to-die fighter roared out of mind as his eyes turned bloody, "As long as any one of you dare touch the ground, I will die with Zhang Tie..."


    The two shadow knights stopped on the last step.


    "No need to be that radical!" the shadow knight surnamed Huang persuaded him calmly.


    When that shadow knight surnamed Huang spoke, a semi-transparent finger-nail-sized spider climbed out of the sleeve of the Immortal White Bone behind him and jumped into a shadowy area over 7 m away as fast as a lightning bolt.


    "Cut the crap. Leave out of here, leave out of here..." that middle-aged fighter kept roaring.


    "Put down the bomb. We would pay you 10 times more than that Zhang Taixuan could..."

 1491 A Shocking News

    "When I count three, if you''re still here, I will detonate the bomb..." that fighter roared.


    Right then, the semi-transparent spider had already slid off rapidly and quietly from the top of the mountain cave right above the fighter''s head by a thread.


    The two shadow knights just watched him calmly.


    "You''re just a weak fighter. Your struggle is meaningless." the shadow knight surnamed Huang sighed, "Immortal Qianji is known by his secret methods. How could he be scared by you and such a tiny alchemist'' bomb..."


    "At this moment, Zhang Tie has already been poisoned by Soul Leave. He has no ability to fight back!" that fighter said and threw a glance at the two shadow knights as he began to count, "One..."


    However, before he counted two, the semi-transparent spider had already fallen near his neck and gave him a bite as fast as a lightning bolt.


    In a split second, that dare-to-die fighter became stiff as a layer of white frost covered his face. Even his pupils turned white.


    The two shadow knights got off the last step and came to the front of that fighter. The shadow knight surnamed Huang pinched his hand so that he could take off that alchemist''s bomb. After invalidating its switch, they started to observe Zhang Tie.


    The middle-aged fighter was nothing different than a dead man or a stone statue as for the two shadow knights. He couldn''t pose any threat to the two shadow knights anymore.


    "He''s Zhang Tie!"


    "True, Immortal Qianji has a young face. He''s Zhang Tie, the Immortal Qianji!"


    "Hahahaha, I''ve not imagined that we could find Zhang Tie here. What an easy job!" that shadow knight surnamed Huang burst out into laughter loudly and pleasantly, "Zhang Taixuan, Zhang Taixuan, although you''re smart, how could you have them all? You''re just preparing them for His Majesty. You''ve really saved us a lot of time!"


    Immortal White Bone also burst out into laughter, "That''s true. If not Zhang Taixuan was too greedy, how could we control Zhang Tie so easily? As long as we have Zhang Tie, the recipes of fiery oil and all-purpose medicament would fall into the hand of His Majesty easily. By then, fiery oil and all-purpose medicaments across the world would be under the control of His Majesty. In this way, His Majesty would ascend to the throne sooner or later. Pitifully, being driven by Zhang Taixuan, Liu Changxiong wanted to abduct Zhang Tie''s parents but was killed by an earth knight called Zhang Gui whom Zhang Tie arranged in Jinwu City..."


    "Known as Immortal Qianji, Zhang Tie has myriad secret methods such as Chaotic Treasure Body, Thousands of Beads Mental Sutra, Fiery-Dragon Sutra and the cultivation method of divine dominator. All these are top rarities. Pitifully, Zhang Taixuan might have already achieved them if they were with Zhang Tie..."


    "Just let him hand them in. These rarities could only incur troubles for an earth knight. If he didn''t, we would sweep out Huaiyuan Palace and kill all the members of Zhang Clan. Is Huaiyuan Palace trickier than the Great Wilderness Sect and Bloody Soul Temple?" Immortal White Bone sneered.


    "Haha, you''re right, immortal!"


    "Zhang Tie was bound by Dragon Binding Shackle. That person should have the key. It might be hidden in his portable space-teleportation equipment..."


    "Hmm, let me check it..."


    When the two shadow knights saw Zhang Tie, they both became delighted. However, they had not imagined that all of their words had been heard by Zhang Tie.


    The two shadow knights also knew the power of Soul Leave. However, Zhang Tie''s state puzzled them completely. Therefore, they were not vigilant at all while the secret exposed from their talk shocked Zhang Tie too much.


    The "His Majesty" that they mentioned about must be a brother of Crown Prince Changying. Otherwise, they would not have said: "His Majesty would ascend to the throne sooner or later". Because Crown Prince Changying had already ascended to the throne in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Additionally, the power on the side of this "His Majesty" might be closely related to the extermination of the Great Wilderness Sect and Bloody Soul Temple. It could even exterminate great powers like the Great Wilderness Sect and Bloody Soul Temple in a short period. What a great force! The extermination of the Great Wilderness Sect was still a puzzle while the Bloody Soul Temple was heard to be exterminated by the major sects and the imperial households of Taixia Country. Was there any dominator behind that?


    Especially the extermination of Bloody Soul Temple, the aftermath of which was still influencing the overall situation of Taixia Country as of today. If it was purposefully schemed by someone, it would be horrible.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to know that he had long become the target of another "His Majesty".


    Both all-purpose medicament and fiery oil made people drool with envy. That "His Majesty" had already bought Zhang Taixuan over and arranged the employed knight Liu on Zhang Yang''s side only for Zhang Tie''s all-purpose medicament and fiery oil. If Zhang Gui was not staying on the side of Zhang Tie''s parents, the outcome would be out of Zhang Tie''s imagination.


    Although Zhang Taixuan had been bought over by that "His Majesty", they had not gained full mutual trust. That was why Zhang Taixuan did that.


    However, Zhang Taixuan himself was involved in a great crisis together with Huaiyuan Palace.


    Hearing them talking about killing everybody of Huaiyuan Palace with such a calm look, Zhang Tie was full of killing intent abruptly.


    The two shadow knights instantly discovered the place where the fighter hid his space-teleportation equipment.


    Immortal White Bone stretched out his hand as he peeled off the skin on the fighter''s hand. Closely after that, he rubbed the latter''s wrist into pieces, exposing a nano-bead as large as soybean in the latter''s flesh and blood.


    That fighter appeared to be still alive; however, he couldn''t move. When his wrist was broken, he revealed a bitter look.


    After getting the nanobead, Immortal White Bone directly wiped off its blood on the fighter''s clothes as he smacked his lip, "Although this nanobead''s look is of the lowest class and it has a very little space, Zhang Tiaxuan has truly spent a lot by giving it to a subordinate dare-to-die fighter..."


    "Hahaha, If it was me, I would also do that. That''s highly profitable..."


    The two people then moved the item out of the nanobead as they saw a bizarre palm-sized metal key covered with runes...


    ...

 1492 Go Die

    With the key, it was easy for Immortal White Bone to open the Dragon Binding Shackle.


    He picked up the key being covered with runes densely before inserting it into the keyhole of the Dragon Binding Shackle. By rotating it, the lock was instantly opened with a ''click'' sound.


    As soon as the Dragon Binding Shackle was unlocked, Zhang Tie opened his eyes.


    When Zhang Tie looked at Immortal White Bone straightly in his face, the latter immediately felt being poured by a basin of icy water from head to toe.


    As a shadow knight, Immortal White Bone responded very fast as he immediately released his protective battle qi. However, Zhang Tie responded ahead of him as he immediately struck against Immortal White Bone by Thor''s Hammer which weighed 6,800 kg. Almost at the same time, the second strike of his Thor''s Hammer went to the other shadow knight.


    The kinetic strike of the Thor''s Hammer caused a tremulous sound which was similar to that when an alchemist''s bomb was detonated in the underground space.


    In front of such great strength, Immortal White Bone and that shadow knight surnamed Huang were immediately sent flying backward. After breaking the cliffs as thick as 70-80 m, they came out of the underground mountain cave from the other end.


    The two shadow knights were almost killed.


    After realizing that Zhang Tie still remained a great battle strength, the two shadow knights who talked about sweeping out Huaiyuan Palace as a whole casually just now were instantly scared. With earth-shaking miserable shrieks, they spearheaded the efforts to escape towards south and north respectively in a pretty tacit way.


    In the war at the bank of Weishui River, Zhang Tie killed shadow demon knights like slaughtering dogs and pigs and killed a heavenly demon knight only by striking it with a huge rod for 9 times. His reputation made them scared. The two shadow knights were clear that they were nothing but sh*t in front of a divine dominator.


    If not being the narrow space and the short distance between Zhang Tie and them, in which case, Zhang Tie could only release 20-30% of the full power of his Thor''s Hammer, the two people had long been killed.


    Even so, the two people were still thoroughly scared as they dared not even face Zhang Tie any longer.


    The underground mountain cave and the backroom were on the verge of a cliff. It was surging sea waves beneath. After the cliff was broken, strong wind and storm swarmed in at once.


    Zhang Tie''s substitute followed them out at once.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie''s original body appeared in the mountain cave in clothes. After throwing a glance outwards, he waved his hand. In a split second, Ockham appeared in the mountain cave. In a golden mask, Ockham looked a bit horrible.


    "An earth knight is flying westwards. Catch him up and bring his head back!" Zhang Tie told Ockham calmly.


    "Yes, my master..." the halos priest of Sacred Light Empire bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie before disappearing in the mountain cave.


    With a white flash, a lightning bolt flew across the void. At the same time, a heavy qi wave drifted from the sky while a huge hole was caused on a cloud. With the release of the kinetic strike, Zhang Tie''s substitute had already caught up with a person and launched a strike towards him.


    When Zhang Tie launched his strike just now, the earth knight who was searching over this base above the underground mountain cave was shocked by the miserable shrieks of Immortal White Bone and that shadow knight surnamed Huang and the loud noise underground. Closely after that, he rushed out of the chateau and escaped in another direction...


    That earth knight also had high responsive speed. He was clear that it would be nothing different than seeking for death if he entered the underground space as the opponent could even hurt two shadow knights at the same time. Therefore, he chose to escape immediately.


    After Zhang Tie determined to launch a strike for a few seconds, this secret base had been completely disordered. Nobody else could stand up except for Zhang Tie here.


    The strong wind that blew in from the broken cliff rattled Zhang Tie''s clothes. The strong wind and rain fell onto Zhang Tie''s face, causing a small half of his face and clothes wet instantly. However, Zhang Tie appeared to have not noticed that...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was using his multi-tasking ability. He was controlling himself and his substitute at the same time. When he gathered the information about two places, he formed a unique overall spatial experience in his consciousness. Zhang Tie''s substitute had already shattered that shadow knight surnamed Huang into pieces just now.


    That guy called Immortal White Bone had already escaped dozens of miles away only after a short while. After feeling the heavy qi wave caused by the kinetic strike in the cloud, he was so scared that he directly dove into the ocean, expecting to get rid of Zhang Tie''s hunt by water.


    The fact proved that it was just a joke! Because Zhang Tie was the dominator of the ocean!


    Only after throwing a glance at the ocean with surging billows, Zhang Tie had neglected it as he walked towards that frozen fighter.


    That fighter was still alive. Zhang Tie was clear about the name of that spider¡ª¡ªa rarity in south border of Taixia Country called Glazed Soul Frozen. Immortal White Bone had not fully released its power. When this spider became mature, it would be a very terrifying killer which even black iron knights could barely survive. After growing mature, it would be bigger in size and like glaze as it could change its color; additionally, it would have an amazing jumping ability while his two fangs and venom could even break one''s protective battle qi.


    Of course, the nurture method of Glazed Soul Frozen was recorded in the Great Wilderness Sutra. Outsiders could at most get a bit of the knowledge through exploration.


    That fighter was frozen all over; however, he could still feel the pain. His broken hand was dropping blood which was emitting a faint, cold qi when it touched the ground.


    Zhang Tie came to the front of that fighter. After throwing a cold glance at him silently, he directly gave a punch against his head. Facing Zhang Tie''s terrifying strength, he was shattered into pieces immediately.


    After killing that dare-to-die fighter, Zhang Tie went upstairs calmly...

 1493 As Lonely As the Ocean

    The underground passage and the mountain cave were covered with blood and broken limbs.


    When the three knights entered, they almost killed all the dare-to-die fighters that Zhang Taixuan arranged here. Zhang Tie came all the bloody way to the cell where Ma Aiyun was detained.


    Although Zhang Tie could neither use his battle qi nor his ability as a divine dominator, his sheer strength was also shocking. The cell was girdled by arm-thick alloy rails. The iron gate was locked. Zhang Tie didn''t feel like searching for the key; instead, he directly pulled apart the hard alloy rails, exposing a big hole.


    Ma Aiyun was lying on the ground in a coma. After being brought here, she had already lost her consciousness due to force.


    Zhang Tie checked her as he found she was safe but a bit weak with a poor look. Zhang Tie helped her sit up. Closely after that, he poured some immortal spring water into her stomach from Castle of Black Iron. After a while, he poured two vials of all-purpose medicament into her stomach. After Ma Aiyun''s face looked a bit normal, Zhang Tie cradled her away from the cell before walking upwards along the underground passage.


    When Zhang Tie cradled Ma Aiyun into the courtyard of the chateau, with a flash, another person landed with a bloody head in hand. Kneeling down on the ground with one knee, Ockham raised that head, saying respectfully, "Master, I''ve already brought back this person''s head for you..."


    After being baptized by Zhang Tie spiritually and brainwashed by Heller for so many years, Ockham had long become Zhang Tie''s loyal servant like Zhang Gui. Zhang Tie ordered him to bring back the head of the earth knight and there he went and did it.


    After throwing a glance at that head calmly, Zhang Tie nodded. At the same time, he ran his spiritual energy as space-teleportation equipment flew out of Castle of Black Iron and came to the front of Ockham, who caught it at once.


    "Here''s your own space-teleportation equipment. All of your belongings are inside. Additionally, I''ve put in some more things which are enough for you on the way. Go back, go back to the Western Continent. Go to the Sacred Light Empire and continue to be a halos priest. Go scramble for power and right again. Do whatever you want. I will contact you when I need you..."


    It was time for Zhang Tie to place the piece "Ockham". Besides Ockham himself, nobody else in the world knew what he had experienced. If Ockham fabricated a lie that he was heavily wounded in Ice and Snow Wilderness and was healing his wounds somewhere hidden these years, nobody would doubt him. Because Zhang Tie also told the special envoy of the pope of the Sacred Light Empire that Ockham escaped after being heavily injured. Zhang Tie himself didn''t know about his whereabouts either. Additionally, Zhang Tie was always alone these years, whether in Youzhou Province, Xuanyuan Hill or at Weishui River. Therefore, nobody would doubt that Ockham was always on Zhang Tie''s side under the control of the latter.


    It would definitely be more valuable by having Ockham go back to Sacred Light Empire as a halos priest on the Western Continent than keeping him in Castle of Black Iron.


    Ockham could do many things for Zhang Tie in the future. Zhang Tie had already made a plan well. However, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like talking to Ockham about that at this moment.


    "Master...what else could I do for you?" Ockham asked.


    Zhang Tie remained silent as he slightly waved his hands with which he was cradling Ma Aiyun. Finding that Zhang Tie was in a low mood, Ockham didn''t speak anymore. Before the next lightning bolt brightened the sky, Ockham had disappeared in this courtyard like a vapor.


    The moment Ockham left, Zhang Tie''s substitute had descended into the courtyard as he caught Immortal White Bone like lifting a dead dog by one hand, Thor''s Hammer in another.


    Immortal White Bone who appeared as overbearing as a powerhouse just now had long passed out. With some seaweeds that could always be seen at the bottom of the sea over him, he looked as embarrassed as a dog in the water. Just now, this guy used an animal controlling skill to have some marine organisms cover for him. After realizing that this guy could use an animal controlling skill which was similar to that of the Great Wilderness Sect, Zhang Tie''s substitute kept him alive at the crucial moment; however, Zhang Tie''s substitute stunned him and brought him back.


    This guy was really unfortunate. At first, he wanted to compete for swimming skill with Zhang Tie''s substitute; then he wanted to escape by using animal controlling skill. Perhaps he felt that he had great abilities; however, in Zhang Tie''s eyes, the two abilities of Immortal White Bone were just a bit greater than acrobats in the streets. He was just seeking for death.


    Zhang Tie''s substitute couldn''t use Castle of Black Iron except; unless his substitute stayed close to his original body, in which case, the portal of Castle of Black Iron was also available to his substitute.


    Zhang Tie''s substitute directly threw Immortal White Bone, two space-teleportation equipment and a metal gourd into Castle of Black Iron.


    The three items all belonged to the two shadow knights. The metal gourd contained that mutated soul-chasing spiritual butterfly.


    After doing that, Zhang Tie''s substitute walked towards Zhang Tie and took Ma Aiyun. After that, he put his one hand onto her forehead as he started to relieve the effect of Soul Seed and spiritual control for her.


    This process was spiritual-energy consuming. As Zhang Tie''s original body was limited to spiritual energy, it would be very difficult for him to do that even though he knew how. Therefore, he could only wait until his substitute came back.


    After giving Ma Aiyun to his substitute, Zhang Tie walked out of the courtyard and came to the edge of the cliff facing the ocean in the heavy rain and thunders.


    Lightning bolts flashed; thunders rumbled; heavy wind wuthered and billows rolled, causing dozens of meters high black waves.


    Raindrops mixed with cold wind struck Zhang Tie''s body forcefully, causing him wet all over in a split second. Standing on the edge of the cliff, Zhang Tie just watched the rolling billows.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled a short poem that he had read somewhere.


    He recited it to himself¡ª¡ª


    "When you remember it,


    You have to forget it;


    When you miss it most,


    You have to abandon it;


    You could only say goodbye;


    Like it becomes silent,


    When the billows reach their apex;


    Leaving earth-shaking loneliness!"


    After reciting the short poem, Zhang Tie suddenly burst into laughter out of mind. At the same time, his tears mixed with rains and streamed down his face...


    Zhang Tie raised his head with red eyes. Watching the night sky where heavy rain lines shot down like arrows, Zhang Tie raised his arms as he roared, "Why, you tell me, why..."


    However, he only heard thunders in response...


    At this moment, a long warble broke the sky as it darted towards Zhang Tie through the heavy rain and wind as fast as a lightning bolt.


    It was Zhang Tie''s thunder hawk.


    After coming to the edge of the cliff, the thunder hawk whined constantly while hovering around Zhang Tie.


    At this moment, only this thunder hawk understood Zhang Tie and sensed his overwhelming fury and endless grief.


    When his two senior sister apprentices died in front of Zhang Tie and Zhang Taixuan appeared in front of him, Zhang Tie had determined his mind...


    What a farce! A farce fabricated by some clowns out of greed and ambition. When Zhang Tie woke up, this farce had already come to an end. However, this farce pushed Zhang Tie into the cruelest position as it had destroyed the thing that Zhang Tie treasured most in a split second...


    ''I cannot go back anymore...I can never go back anymore!''


    Standing on the edge of the cliff in a trance, Zhang Tie remained silent like a stone sculpture, having the rain fall on him overnight. The thunder hawk also hovered and whined overnight beside him.

 1494 Returning to Iron-Dragon Sec

    After hearing a long yowl from the Suzerain''s Pavilion, two disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect who looked sad and sighed just now were shocked at the sight of the thunder hawk, the majestic and handsome immortal totem of Iron-Dragon Sect landing in a courtyard in front of them.


    "Su...suzerain..." the two disciples stammered in unison while the other one was rubbing his eyes as he thought there was something wrong with his eyes.


    These days, Iron-Dragon Sect as a whole was in sorrow because there were so many gossips about missing Zhang Tie such as Zhang Tie had been assassinated or had fallen in the hand of demons, etc.. As a result, all the members in Iron-Dragon Sect from elders to disciples were worried about Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie was here, they felt that Zhang Tie didn''t care about the sect at all as if it was not necessary for him to be there at all. However, when Zhang Tie disappeared, everybody suddenly realized that Zhang Tie was the pillar of Iron-Dragon Sect. Without Zhang Tie, Iron-Dragon Sect would not exist virtually anymore.


    "Notice the other elders of Iron-Dragon Sect that I''ve been back and will go to the palace after a while..." Zhang Tie told the two deacons calmly. The two deacons recovered their composure at once before running outside.


    "Suzerain is back...Suzerain is back..." the two deacons shouted as they ran. One of them fell down when he passed the threshold. After picking himself up, he continued to rush out while screaming. The other deacon rushed towards the bell tower of Xuantian Peak.


    Such screams were usually forbidden, except at that moment.


    "Aiyun, how do you feel now?" Zhang Tie asked Ma Aiyun tenderly with a concerned look.


    Ma Aiyun had completely recovered physically and spiritually. However, her face still looked a bit pale and was in a trance. She still didn''t reveal any smile even back in Iron-Dragon Sect.


    "Ahh, I...I''m fine..."


    Ma Aiyun didn''t make any response until Zhang Tie repeated it.


    "You need a good rest. I will deal with the rest. Don''t worry..." Zhang Tie looked straight in Ma Aiyun''s eyes solemnly as he pinched her hand.


    After having Ma Aiyun take a rest in the Suzerain''s Pavilion, Zhang Tie went to the palace. At this moment, the bell sound reverberated from the bell tower on the Xuantian Peak for nine times, followed by the rune bells on the other peaks. The entire sect was shocked.


    "Who''s ringing the main bell on Xuantian Peak at this moment? You need to be severely punished according to the rules..." a figure flew towards Xuantian Peak after his furious rebuke.


    After saying that, Lin Huanxi caught sight of Zhang Tie who was standing outside the palace, hands behind. Zhang Tie was also looking at her.


    If not being a knight, Lin Huanxi might have already fallen down due to such a sheer shock. Lin Huanxi didn''t believe that Zhang Tie was back even when she was arriving at the gate of the palace.


    However, it was Zhang Tie right at the gate of the palace, whose look and temperament could absolutely not be imitated by others. Even if a shadow demon could imitate Zhang Tie''s look, it could never imitate his temperament. Those knights who were familiar with Zhang Tie could identify him immediately.


    "Su...Suzerain, you''re back..." Lin Huanxi was completely shocked like common disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect as a knight.


    "Hmm, I''m back. Are you guarding Iron-Dragon Sect alone? Thank you for that. Where are other people?"


    Lin Huanxi tried to recover her composure as she replied, "As suzerain was missing these days, Mountain Lifting Hermit and Zhongming were looking for you outside. Young sister apprentice Suxian is accompanying your parents in the courtyard at the foot of the mountain..."


    "My parents are at the foot of the mountain? Are they okay..." Zhang Tie let out a sigh of relief when he heard that his parents were right in the courtyard at the foot of the mountain.


    "They''re fine. On the night when suzerain disappeared, Jinwu City was a bit chaotic. Later on, the chaos was pacified. Suzerain''s elder brother then moved your family to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and had them live in the courtyard at the foot of the mountain for the time being!" Lin Huanxi put it straight.


    Zhang Tie nodded as he said, "I''ve lost my remote-sensing finger ring and couldn''t contact the other elders. Notice them that I''ve come back safe and sound. When you''re all at present, I will tell you what happened to me these days!"


    "Hmm!" Lin Huanxi replied as she watched Zhang Tie. With sensitive senses, she could still identify that Zhang Tie was a bit different than before. Whereas, she couldn''t tell the details. After a few days, Zhang Tie''s eye light and qi turned much more profound. Previously, she wouldn''t feel any stress when Zhang Tie looked at her calmly; instead, she could feel sunshine and warmth from Zhang Tie''s eyes. By contrast, this time, being gazed by Zhang Tie''s black pupils, she felt a bit stress unconsciously even though Zhang Tie looked calm.


    Lin Huanxi didn''t know what happened to Zhang Tie these days. However, apparently, Zhang Tie had changed greatly.


    Soon after Zhang Tie had a short talk with Lin Huanxi, another white shadow had arrived.


    "Hubby..."


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian immediately put herself into Zhang Tie''s arms like a baby swallow returning to the nest. She closely hugged Zhang Tie as she cried heavily.


    Not until Bai Suxian almost finished her tears and raised her watery eyes and wanted to say something to him did Zhang Tie pat her back and hold her hand, saying, "It''s all right. I''m fine. I will tell you what happened to me these days when the other elders are at present. Let''s go downhill and take a look at my parents first. They must be concerned about me too much these days..."


    Bai Suxian nodded as she wiped off her tears and flew downhill with Zhang Tie.


    Although Zhang Tie had lost the flight ability as a knight, he could still drive the wind after activating his bloodline "Lietse Driving the Wind". Although he couldn''t fly as fast as a knight, being held by Bai Suxian, he could still fly together with Bai Suxian. Zhang Tie felt like a feather, which was even easier than flying a kite.

 1495 A Reunion

    In a split second, Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie had landed in the courtyard at the foot of the mountain.


    The bell ring also reached the courtyard and shocked everybody over there. Almost all the people had exited the courtyard, including Zhang Tie''s parents, wives, kids and Zhang Yang''s family who were all looking at Xuantian Peak with different looks.


    ''Did someone knock the bell on Xuantian Peak by mistake?''


    Not only Lin Huanxi thought so, almost everyone who heard the bell ring which denoted that the suzerain had returned would think so.


    Not until they saw Bai Suxian coming back with Zhang Tie did they wake up.


    "Dad..."


    "Dad..."


    The moment Zhang Tie landed, his kids had identified as they all rushed forward and surrounded him. Watching him back, all of Zhang Tie''s wives were tearful in their eyes.


    Zhang Tie touched his kids'' heads as he walked towards his parents with them.


    Only after a few days, Zhang Tie abruptly found that his parents had got some more grey hair and eyebrows, which must be caused by overconcern. Although with tears in eyes, his parents were still watching him with a smile.


    Catching sight of the deepening wrinkles on their face, Zhang Tie''s heart raced suddenly as he directly knelt down in front of them, saying, "Dad, mom, it''s my fault, I''ve made you worry about me!"


    "Get up, get up. It''s nice for you to come back; it''s nice for you to come back. It would be better than anything else as long as we as a family could stay together safe and sound!" Zhang Tie''s dad hurriedly helped Zhang Tie stand up as he added, "Your mom and I have realized that we could give up everything else as long as we as a family could stay together, whether it was Jinwu Business Group or a great fortune. You mom even burned incenses for you in the temple. She''s promised to not eat meat and do more good deeds for the sake of our family when you come back."


    "Dad, don''t worry. Such a thing would never happen again. Our family would live an increasingly better life..." Zhang Tie said calmly and decisively after standing up, looking at his father, then the rest at present.


    After staying for 3 hours with his family and soothing his parents, Zhang Tie talked to Zhang Yang and his wives secretly for half an hour about what he had experienced during the past one week.


    Generally, the fact that Zhang Tie was missing shocked the world too much. However, Zhang family''s business was not influenced. None of the idiots dared rob Zhang family, either. At this crucial moment, the value and power of Zhang Tie''s interpersonal relation became significant. Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and Heavenly Fortune Sect both assigned heavenly-knight powerhouses to protect Zhang family in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and stabilize the overall situation facing Youzhou Province and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. The crown prince assigned the chief justice to investigate this case in Youzhou Province. The military of Taixia Country was shocked as a whole. Zuo Qiuming who was at the bank of Weishui River issued an order to have all the provincial armies and top four armies within Northeast Military Region enter the emergency situation. Curfew was executed in many places. The military had been mobilized to search and catch suspects.


    The remnants of Heavens Reaching Church and demons were doubted as the troublemakers. Of course, it was reasonable for Taixia military to take actions for it.


    Besides, all the major clans that cooperated with Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory to produce fiery oil and Jinwu Business Group''s business partners across the country had taken action. They all extended their regards to Zhang Tie''s family constantly whether they were sincere or not. The major clans and top 100 business groups in Taixia Country also offered great rewards for catching the accomplices. Anyone who could provide any clue would gain hundreds of millions of gold coins in total.


    Because of the shocking amount of rewards, all the advanced bounty criminal hunters in Taixia Country couldn''t stand pouring into Youzhou Province or collecting clues in all provinces. Not only that, even many paladins and powerhouses of major clans across the country had been stimulated to search for Zhang Tie.


    In Zhang Yang''s words, the fact that Zhang Tie disappeared shocked the whole world and displayed Zhang family''s influence to the rest of the world. Zhang family had been completely different than before.


    However, Zhang Yang felt a bit scared when he mentioned about Mr. Liu whom he employed to protect Zhang family, "Mr. Liu has followed me for so many years. He''s diligent and docile. I always trusted him. I''ve not imagined that he could betray me at the critical moment. Thankfully, you''ve had Zhang Gui hide his identity at home; otherwise, I would have no face to see you if our parents'' safety was threatened!"


    "Elder brother, you should appreciate that Mr. Liu didn''t target you. As you treated him as your bodyguard, if he suddenly launched a strike against you, you''ve long been killed!" Zhang Tie sighed, "Then, how could I have explained it to our parents and my elder sisters-in-law?"


    Zhang Yang was infuriated as he pinched a delicate and expensive blue and white porcelain cup into pieces, saying, "We would never call it an end. No matter who''s behind Mr. Liu, we brothers have to avenge this time. What do we make so much money for? This father is not a knight; however, this father has money. I could afford almost everything, including cities, land, element crystals, beauties, secret methods, thrones and countries. I don''t believe that knights don''t like them. I will kill him by money..."


    "Elder brother, I will deal with Mr. Liu. I''ve already known who''s behind him..." Zhang Tie said as he hung his eye light.


    "Ahh, you know who''s behind him?" Zhang Yang asked as he looked at Zhang Tie with eyes wide open.


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    Zhang Yang gazed at Zhang Tie as he was waiting for Zhang Tie''s answer; however, after finding that Zhang Tie became silent, he immediately knew that Zhang Tie didn''t want to mention about the culprit. Therefore, he didn''t ask Zhang Tie anymore.


    As brothers, they could say everything to each other. Zhang Yang knew that the silence didn''t indicate mistrust but that Zhang Tie didn''t want to have him involved in this event. Additionally, Zhang Tie had already made a decision inside.


    Zhang Yang also sensed Zhang Tie''s difference. Besides looking more profound, Zhang Tie might be hiding something inside...

 1496 The Arrangemen

    "Like what our parents said just now, we get all these from nothing. We''re still young. We''re not afraid of having another try. As long as we''re alive, I would say no even if we jettison all of our undertakings. Therefore, Tiezi, if there''s something wrong, let me know. This elder brother is not a knight; however, I would never say no to surge forward in the battlefield; neither would I be a b*stard. I would support you no matter what. As we''ve come all the way from Blackhot City and experienced so many difficulties, we''re afraid of nothing..."


    Zhang Yang heavily patted Zhang Tie''s shoulder as he looked at the latter solemnly.


    Hearing his elder brother''s words, Zhang Tie nodded with a faint smile, saying, "Elder brother, don''t worry. If I need your help, I would let you know. From now on, outsiders especially those knights whose backgrounds were unknown shouldn''t be employed anymore. However, elder brother, you and the other family members need powerhouses; I will have Zhang Gui stay with you. Zhang Gui is loyal to me."


    "Is that proper?" Zhang Yang asked as he slightly frowned, and added, "But Zhang Gui is an earth knight..."


    Earth knights were qualified to be a provincial governor and Cheji general in Taixia Country and even grand elders of some clans. It was good to keep him on their side; however, Zhang Yang felt it was too ostentatious and luxurious as few clans across Taixia Country could do it.


    "It''s okay. That''s the deal. With Zhang Gui at home, I will be reassured. Additionally, after our family encountered such an accident, others would think it reasonable for us to use Zhang Gui!"


    Zhang Yang thought about it seriously for a few seconds before nodding, and said, "Okay, we''ll keep Zhang Gui at home as our butler. Hearing him call himself this old slave in front of our parents, I feel goosebumps all over..."


    "Hmm, after a short while, I will talk with Zhang Gui!" Zhang Tie responded as he watched his elder brother, saying, "There''s one more thing that I think you should consider carefully, elder brother..."


    "What''s that?"


    "Elder brother, your cultivation qualification is actually greater than mine. I reach this step because of karma and opportunities. I think you should try to promote to a knight as we''ve got such good conditions and Jinwu Business Group is developing steadily..."


    "Ahh, promote to a knight?" Zhang Yang was shocked.


    "By promoting to a knight, you only need to polish your surging points gradually. Of course, it''s difficult for commoners to promote to a knight; however, it''s not out of reach for elder brother. Because you''ve got a good cultivation qualification. We''ve got the same cultivation means, pills, secret methods and cultivation resources which major clans use to cultivate their elite disciples. Therefore, you could promote to a knight in a fast way. Elder brother, why not have a try? You need to do that. Take this crisis facing our family as an instance, no matter how many money we could make, at the critical moment, only high-level battle strength could resolve the situation. If you promote to a knight, you would protect yourself basically. Additionally, you would live much longer than commoners and have a much brighter future in all aspects..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Yang''s heart pounded. As a man in this age, of course, Zhang Yang would like to be a knight. However, Zhang Yang was clear of his own ability. He only felt his cultivation qualification was not bad; however, it was still far from being excellent. Additionally, over these years, he was busy doing his business and gradually slacked at his cultivation. Neither was he longing for being a knight. However, after experiencing this crisis facing the Zhang family, Zhang Yang realized the role and power of a knight at the critical moment.


    "Hmm, Jinwu Business Group is developing more and more smoothly these years. I''ve also cultivated many assistants. After this event is fixed, I will make an arrangement and only care about the major strategic decisions of the business group. I will spare some time to try it..." Zhang Yang finally made his decision as he forcefully patted his thigh.


    "In my last chakra rotating ceremony, Heavenly Fortune Sect gifted me 20 years'' right of cultivation in the tower of time in its Langya Dongtian. Elder brother, you make a preparation; after I notice Heavens Fortune Sect, you will go there. With plentiful pills and medicaments and 20 years'' cultivation, when you come out of the tower of time in Heavens Fortune Sect, you would be nearly a knight..."


    Zhang Yang hurriedly declined it, saying, "Ahh, that''s a rare opportunity. It fits you more!"


    "I''ve already been in the tower of time twice. Last time, I had stayed for 6 decades in the tower of time. Elder brother, you know that even the tower of time couldn''t eliminate the aftermath of the Thunder of Nirvana; neither could it help me form my chakras again. In this case, it''s meaningless and wasteful for me to enter the tower of time. Therefore, it would be more valuable for you to enter it than me!"


    "You could enter it when you recover!"


    "It depends. I might need 10 years, 25 years, 100 years or even 200 years. However, access to the tower of time in Heavenly Fortune Sect couldn''t wait for me. Immortal Deyang has contacted me and hoped me to cultivate the Langya Dongtian as soon as possible. Therefore, I recommend you to go there, elder brother!"


    "Zhang Su fits it better. Zhang Su has a greater cultivation qualification than me. With 20 years'' cultivation and so many resources, he would have a greater possibility to become a knight than me. If he promotes to a knight, he could help you more than me!"


    "I will consider about Zhang Su''s arrangement. Elder brother, don''t worry. It''s not that only Heavenly Fortune Sect has a tower of time in Taixia Country. Many major clans and sects have towers of time. It''s not that difficult for me to find another tower of time for Zhang Su!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    Although the tower of time was rare, it was not unreachable. Actually, Zhang Tie had already mastered two towers of time. However, both of them were far away from opening again. In the past 800-900 years, those major clans had already discovered a large number of towers of time in the underground world. Zhang Tie believed that many forces and sects would like to exchange him with access to the tower of time as long as he could offer proper conditions. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not worried about it at all.


    After realizing that Zhang Tie had considered it well, Zhang Yang agreed to cultivate in the Langya Dongtian of Heavenly Fortune Sect.


    ''Zhang Tie has really changed.'' A line rolled in Zhang Yang''s heart. However, Zhang Yang didn''t say it. Although he just had a short chat with Zhang Tie, Zhang Yang had already sensed Zhang Tie''s change. Zhang Tie felt profound, cold with a desire for mastery and a bit majesty. As for those on Zhang Tie''s side, such a change was not bad; because, Zhang Tie''s change brought them some other things besides stress. Even Zhang Yang felt reassured listening to Zhang Tie''s arrangement. As a result, the tension that had haunted him these days disappeared in a split second.


    ...


    After chatting with his elder brother, Zhang Tie met Zhang Gui.


    Zhang Gui was as same as before. When he saw Zhang Tie, he didn''t look proud at all; instead, he greeted Zhang Tie by lowering his head respectfully, saying, "Welcome back, master!"


    "You''ve done great. Very good!" Zhang Tie said as he nodded.


    "It''s this old slave''s commitment to do that. It benefits from master''s considerate arrangement!" Zhang Gui replied in a humble tone.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie took out a piece of space-teleportation equipment and gave it to Zhang Gui. After injecting his spiritual energy into it, Zhang Gui instantly revealed an ecstasy.


    In that space-teleportation equipment, Zhang Gui saw a great pile of water-element crystals, a crystal secret method and a tin of bizarre secret medicine...

 1497 Sincerity

    "Besides the water-element crystals, the secret method inside it is Thousands of Beads Mental Sutra; this secret method has myriad functions. If you master it, you could promote to a shadow knight at least two times faster!"


    "Thank you so much, lord. Thank you so much, lord..." Zhang Gui replied. Now, the most precious things for Zhang Gui were such a kind of secret method and element crystals which could promote his cultivation. Therefore, after being rewarded, Zhang Gu became more loyal to Zhang Tie besides being extremely thrilled.


    However, Zhang Gui had not imagined that there was something more precious inside for him.


    Zhang Tie watched Zhang Gui calmly with his pitch-dark pupils as he added, "The secret medicine in that tin is made of the penis of abyss dragon lizard. This secret medicine is extremely yang and powerful as it could produce sperms and accelerate blood circulation. It could completely cure your hidden disease and recover your genetic vitality. You could have descendants in case of being alone in the future. Even though you''re dead one day, you would also have heirs..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Gui was stunned.


    When Zhang Gui was young, he cultivated an extremely yin and vicious secret method in order to promote to a knight as soon as possible. Later on, he made a mistake in cultivation, causing his genetic substance to lose its vitality due to yin. From then on, Zhang Gui lost his ability to make a woman pregnant. Zhang Gui had visited many famous doctors and taken a lot of medicines and means in vain.


    When he was young, he didn''t know the value of bloodline and descendants. He paid a lot for being a knight. When Zhang Gui became a knight, he owned wealth, position and women; however, it was impossible for him to have kids. Therefore, Zhang Gui had always been troubled by this problem. As he grew elder; especially after his parents passed away, he became alone. Therefore, he desired more for kids. However, he failed to make it. One of the reasons that he gave himself up to Han Zhengfang lay in that he hoped that Han Zhengfang could grant him the ability to have babies one day with the secret methods of Bloody Soul Temple.


    After promoting to an earth knight, Zhang Gui didn''t recover even with the assistance of Han Zhengfang. Previously, Zhang Gui had been hopeless and given up. Unexpectedly, Zhang Tie fixed his lifetime regret. With Zhang Tie''s help, Zhang Gui felt being wholly new and having his own family soon.


    Zhang Gui gazed at Zhang Tie as his hands quivered; tears pouring out, he instantly knelt down in front of Zhang Tie as he started to kowtow towards Zhang Tie, saying, "Zhang Gui swears to be loyal to the lord for the rest of my life. If Zhang Gui does any harm to the lord and your family, I would die physically and spiritually together with all of my possible descendants. I, Zhang Gui and my descendants would be loyal to and serve the Zhang family until death to repay the lord''s great help..."


    "You descendants would share the same treatment with Zhang descendants. They would be regarded as my nephews and nieces and be well cultivated by the Zhang family. Zhang family will share honor and stigma with them..."


    "Thank you, lord; thank you, lord..." Zhang Gui said as he was so thrilled that he didn''t know how to appreciate Zhang Tie.


    Previously, Zhang Tie subdued Zhang Gui by "tactics"; now, he subdued Zhang Gui by "the law". As a result, Zhang Tie would be extremely sincere to him and Zhang family as their henchman.


    "Get up!"


    Zhang Gui wiped off his tears as he straightened up his body with bizarre brilliance on his face. With a hope, Zhang Gui instantly gained a new life; even if his temperament had changed.


    After picking himself up, with a wet face, Zhang Gui instantly revealed a vicious and insidious look as he said with strong killing intent, "Lord, I feel Zhang Taixuan has been involved in this event. If lord agrees, this old slave would immediately go and chop off Zhang Taixuan''s head in case of threats. It''s the best opportunity to kill him. If we killed him, nobody would doubt lord. Additionally, we could push it to those who dare fight lord and Jinwu City. This old slave is proficient in assassinations. I would never leave any clue in killing Zhang Taixuan..."


    After hearing Zhang Gui''s words, Zhang Tie closed his eyes in case Zhang Gui saw his changing emotion through his eyes. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes as his black pupils had already turned calm and deep. "I will dispose of it myself. His Majesty gifted me some innocent beauties in Xuanyuan Hill. All of them have good looks and talents. You can choose 4 of them as your wives and concubines. Hopefully, you could have descendants as soon as possible. Later on, stay with my elder brother and do a good job..."


    Zhang Gui then hid his insidious look and aggressive intent as he lowered his head in a humble way.


    ...


    Zhang Tie stayed with his family members for a few hours. When Zhang Tie returned to Xuantian Peak, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Lu Zhongming and Yan Feiqing had already come back, including Guo Hongyi.


    All the disciples had arrived there.


    After confirming that Zhang Tie was safe, everybody became shocked and thrilled; especially Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi, at the sight of Zhang Tie, they instantly dropped off their tears even though Yan Feiqing was still a heavenly knight. Many of Zhang Tie''s disciples also had red eyes.


    After noticing that everybody had been present, Zhang Tie soothed his disciples before having two female disciples look after Ma Aiyun. After that, he summoned all the elders of Iron-Dragon Sect to the shrine palace.


    When Zhang Tie told them to enter the shrine palace, Guo Hongyi felt a bit shameful as she was not sure whether she should enter it or not. However, Zhang Tie threw a glance at her before saying kindly, "Hongyi, come on in..."


    Therefore, Guo Hongyi entered the shrine palace as her identity as Zhang Tie''s first lady was fixed.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit exchanged a glance with Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi silently; Bai Suxian threw a glance at Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi silently too.


    No sooner had the gate been closed and everybody taken their seats on Zhang Tie''s sides than Mountain Lifting Hermit turned solemn and asked Zhang Tie, "Suzerain, what happened?"


    Everybody at present wondered about it. Therefore, the moment Mountain Lifting Hermit opened his mouth, everybody had fixated on Zhang Tie...

 1498 Zhang Ties Answer

    "I know you''re all concerned about me and want to know what happened to me these days. However, I could only tell you that I was screwed and poisoned by Soul Leave in Wild Lake Building. As a result, I was in a dilemma these days. The culprit did that for Zhang family''s all-purpose medicaments and fiery oil. The employed knight surnamed Liu who had been killed by Zhang Gui in Jinwu City was a piece that the culprit had long set in Jinwu Business Group. Thankfully, I got out of the trouble yesterday by secret means and killed a lackey of that culprit..."


    Zhang Tie had considered it for a long while. He didn''t want to keep it from his friends and family members; however, he found it improper to put something in details at this moment; instead, he just gave them an ambiguous explanation.


    "Master, do you know the culprit?" Mountain Lifting Hermit continued.


    "It''s very complex. There might be more than one culprits. I''ve not figured it out yet. After a few days, I will give you an answer!"


    All the knights at present were greater than commoners in sense and intelligence. After catching Zhang Tie''s hesitance, they all knew that Zhang Tie had kept some secrets and didn''t feel convenient to tell them now. Therefore, after exchanging a glance with each other, they remained silent.


    Zhang Tie''s event was really a bit weird. The time and opportunity to screw Zhang Tie was too coincident, not to mention the emergency in Jinwu City. The knight surnamed Liu was an old member of Jinwu Business Group; however, he had long been bought over by the culprit. Zhang Tie appeared having made preparation for such emergencies as he had made Zhang Gui stay in Jinwu City while hiding his real battle strength. After covering all these clues, all the people at present faintly sensed that the culprit of this conspiracy might not be remnants of Heavens Reaching Church and demons.


    "As long as the master could come back safely, it would be the best answer for Iron-Dragon Sect!" Lu Zhongming said.


    Zhang Tie lowered his head as his voice sounded negatively calm and decisive, "My two senior sister apprentices have been killed in the Wild Lake Building; my family was attacked; my parents almost got hurt. These days, you''ve spearheaded the efforts to look for me; therefore, it''s not only concerned about me; I will give you a satisfactory answer!"


    Since she entered the palace, Yan Feiqing had been watching Zhang Tie calmly with her beautiful eyes. Yan Feiqing''s feeling about Zhang Tie''s change was different than that of others. Lin Huanxi sensed that Zhang Tie was profound. Just now, when Zhang Tie said that he would give them a satisfactory answer, Yan Feiqing felt an unspoken pain, duty and silence from Zhang Tie; additionally, he was like a heart-wrenching, despairing beast being mired in a dilemma.


    Among all the people on his side, it was not Zhang Tie''s parents, Bai Suxian or Guo Hongyi who understood him most, but Yan Feiqing. After living with Zhang Tie for 6 decades, Yan Feiqing had long become the one who understood Zhang Tie most in this world. Only she could understand Zhang Tie''s pain from his eyes and body. The pain finally turned into cruelty, which was of himself; not towards others. Yan Feiqing appeared seeing Zhang Tie opening his own chest using a saber and digging out his heart before cutting off a part of his heart and burning it into ashes and spraying it in the air.


    The calmer Zhang Tie looked, the crueler he would treat himself.


    When Zhang Tie exchanged a glance with Yan Feiqing, Yan Feiqing''s heart raced abruptly.


    Because Zhang Tie had also sensed that Yan Feiqing might have sensed something. Zhang Tie knew that Yan Feiqing understood him most than anyone else at present; therefore, he passed an undoubtedly overbearing and decisive message to her through his eyes¡ª¡ªI will handle this thing; it''s none of your business!


    Usually, Zhang Tie would adopt Yan Feiqing''s suggestion on many aspects, except for this case.


    After finding that everyone else became silent, Zhang Tie fixated on Guo Hongyi who had been watching him with a concerned look, "Since we met at the bank of Weishui River, I''ve not have talked too much with you. Whereas, you suffered a lot for me many times. I''m so sorry..."


    "It''s my pleasure. I love you. Therefore, I would do anything for you pleasantly!" Guo Hongyi said as her eyes turned wet; however, she still looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes decently and decisively without being contentious.


    "Which peak do you like among the 18 Xuantian peaks. How about choosing a settlement for yourselves?" Zhang Tie watched Guo Hongyi and Yan Feiqing on her side, which denoted that they had become his wives. Now that Bai Suxian had a peak here, Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi should also have one. The two people might not treasure such a peak; however, if they didn''t have one, they would definitely feel uncomfortable. Zhang Tie understood women pretty well.


    Guo Hongyi fixated on Yan Feiqing. After being silent for 2 seconds, Yan Feiqing answered, "Flying Phonex Peak then. Although I''m Hongyi''s master, we''re sisters in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory!"


    Zhang Tie nodded silently.


    ...


    After having a gathering with Mountain Lifting Hermit, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi, the elders of Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Taixuan hurriedly left for Iron-Dragon Sect by airboat after hearing about Zhang Tie''s return.


    The moment he got off the airboat, Zhang Taixuan had revealed a surprising look at the sight of Zhang Tie. Before Elder Muyuan, Elder Muray and the other clan elders moved, Zhang Tiaxuan had strode forward as he gave Zhang Tie a big hug and said excitedly, "It''s so nice to see Elder Mushen coming back. It''s the felicity of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and Huaiyuan Palace. Elder Mushen is always fortunate and gets the help of the God; of course, you could resolve the difficulty..."


    Since Zhang Taixuan appeared, Zhang Tie had been gazing at him calmly. Not until Zhang Taixuan came over here and gave him a hug did Zhang Tie reveal a smile, saying, "It''s said that clan head has been so busy looking for me these days. I''m so sorry about that..."


    ...

 1499 Zhang Ties Trickery

    After Zhang Taixuan heard Zhang Tie''s words, a weird look flashed across his face. If not Zhang Tie had long figured out everything, he couldn''t catch Zhang Taixuan''s changing eye light either.


    However, closely after that, Zhang Taixuan had recovered his generous and fair look.


    "It''s my pleasure, Elder Mushen! You''re committed to the development of Huaiyuan Palace even at the risk of your life. In this case, I even hate that I''m limited to my ability!" Zhang Taixuan said as he let out a deep sigh towards the sky before asking Zhang Tie out of concern, "I wonder how Elder Mushen tided over these days? Do you know who''s behind that conspiracy..."


    At this moment, the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace had already approached them. Unlike Zhang Taixuan, these elders'' concern towards Zhang Tie was real.


    Soon after they had a short chat, Elder Muray had been furious as he shouted, raising his eyebrows, "What an audacious b*stard! How dare you screw Huaiyuan Palace? This time, our old guys would definitely not let you go even at the cost of our lives..."


    "I think that we could figure it out starting from that knight surnamed Liu. Although Liu Changxiong has died, as long as we investigate it along this clue, we would discover something more or less!" Elder Muyun said with a solemn look too.


    "Hmm, I agree with you!" the other elders said as they nodded in unison.


    "It''s indeed a catastrophe facing our Huaiyuan Palace. We should never give up the investigation until we find the culprit!" Zhang Taixuan said with a serious look.


    At this moment, nobody else could understand Zhang Tie''s complex emotions except Zhang Tie himself.


    Soon after they had a short communication, an airship, longer than 700 m, had flown over here. Before it landed, two beams of light had shot towards Zhang Tie. In a split second, they had landed in front of Zhang Tie.


    They were Cheng Honglie the commander of Northeast Military Region and Zhao Guangli the chief justice of Supreme Court of Taixia Country. The moment they landed, they had started to look at Zhang Tie from his foot to his head with searchlight-like eyes. After confirming that Zhang Tie was fine, they finally let out a deep sigh of relief.


    Zhang Taixuan and the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace hurriedly greeted the two people.


    "It''s not proper to have a conversation here. Clan head, elders and two lords, please take a seat in the palace. We will talk about it in details..."


    After having a short reunion with Zhang Tie, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Bai Suxian and the other peak owners had already left the palace for dealing with other affairs in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Yan Feiqing took Guo Hongyi to visit Zhang Tie''s parents and family members.


    ...


    10 minutes later, the entire palace became silent except for Zhang Tie''s voice...


    "...after I woke up, I found two strange knights standing in front of me with the antidote of Soul Leave in hand. They were also asking me about the recipes of fiery oil and all-purpose medicaments and the cultivation method of divine dominator!" Zhang Tie said as he took his teacup and had a sip before continuing, "As I didn''t tell the former group of people about that, neither did I tell it to the two people. After realizing that I would not tell them about that, they opened the Dragon Binding Shackle to take me away from that mountain cave. I then found that all the former group of people in the underground space who asked me about the secrets had died. The entire mountain cave was full of bloody stink!"


    "You mean they came from two forces?" The chief justice couldn''t wait to ask.


    "I have no idea. When I woke up, the former group of people had died. The two knights wanted to transfer me to a new place. Therefore, I''m not sure whether they were killed by the two knights or not. I felt that the former group of people were all dare-to-die fighters below knight, who were not of significance!"


    "How did you escape?"


    "They used Dragon Binding Shackle and Bloody Soul Immortal Needles to bind me. On that occasion, I could curb Bloody Soul Immortal Needles for the time being; however, I couldn''t open the Dragon Binding Shackle. Actually, I''ve already almost recovered. However, they didn''t know that. Therefore, after they opened the Dragon Binding Shackle for me, I instantly launched a strike and killed one of them. The rest one escaped away after being injured..."


    Only Zhang Tie understood whether his words were true or not. As he spoke, he threw a glance at Zhang Taixuan. Zhang Taixuan was watching him with a concerned look. After hearing that Zhang Tie didn''t see the two knights until he woke up, Zhang Taixuan evidently let out a sigh of relief.


    "Do you remember the looks of the two knights?" the chief justice asked Zhang Tie hurriedly.


    "Of course!" Zhang Tie said as he instantly took out the head of the earth knight hunted by Ockham from Castle of Black Iron. Although the head was bloody, nobody at present felt uncomfortable at all; instead, all of them were gazing at that head. Zhang Tie passed it to chief justice as he said, "It belongs to an earth knight. The one escaped away was a shadow knight..." Zhang Tie said as he paved a piece of white paper on the table and started to draw on it by a pencil. Only after a short while, the sketch of the "Elder Brother Huang" had appeared on the paper vividly. "I heard that this shadow knight''s surname was Huang!"


    With sketch, testimony, level and family name, if the supreme court still couldn''t figure out this person, it should be revoked.


    Watching the sketch, chief justice gave out shrewd eye light and strong killing intent. Cheng Honglie the commander of Northeast Military Region said with a frown, "Surnamed Huang? Ah, I might have seen him somewhere..."


    Watching the sketch, Zhang Taixuan changed his face constantly. After turning shocked and vacant in the end, he suddenly opened his mouth, "I...I know him...I''ve not imagined...he''s such a kind of a person..."

 1500 Being Troubled

    The moment Zhang Taixuan opened his mouth, all the others had fixated on him, including Zhang Tie.


    Although Zhang Tie appeared a bit shocked, he was extremely calm inside; because Zhang Taixuan''s response was within his expectation.


    The three knights followed Zhang Taixuan into that mountain cave. According to their talk, they were very familiar with Zhang Taixuan; especially that shadow knight surnamed Huang.


    Additionally, they were not wanted by the supreme court and didn''t need to hide. Therefore, they might have already met Zhang Taixuan in Youzhou Province, in the public. Zhang Taixuan couldn''t disavow it. If Zhang Taixuan remained silent at this moment, when supreme court figured out the background of the shadow knight surnamed Huang and his trace in Youzhou Province, Zhang Taixuan''s silence would bring him big troubles. Therefore, Zhang Taixuan had to take his stand at this moment.


    The reason that Zhang Tie mentioned this shadow knight surnamed Huang lay in that he wanted Zhang Taixuan to expose and denounce him himself.


    After the three people were reported, the "His Majesty" must think that he was betrayed by Zhang Taixuan.


    However, Zhang Taixuan had to do that at this moment for the sake of his own life. Conversely, the relation between him and that "His Majesty" would further deteriorate. Zhang Taixuan had to sacrifice something for his own safety. The deeper supreme court investigated along this clue, the more that "His Majesty" would be furious about Zhang Taixuan. That was to say, Zhang Taixuan would be cornered.


    Zhang Tie''s drawing was more piercing than a direct poke into Zhang Taixuan.


    "You know him?" the chief justice asked as he instantly fixated on Zhang Taixuan.


    "We knew each other in the Earth-elements Realm. I always treated him as a friend. A few days ago, when Elder Mushen disappeared, this person even went to Embracing Tiger City and posed to do me a favor. Unexpectedly, he''s such kind of person..." Zhang Taixuan said with a painful and hateful look.


    "Who''s he?"


    After gritting his teeth inside, Zhang Taixuan replied, "He''s Huang Botao, the Immortal Raging Flame, the grand elder of Huang Clan, Mercury Palace, Qizhou Province..."


    It didn''t matter even if Zhang Taixuan didn''t say it. Because the supreme court could figure out the background of this shadow knight surnamed Huang within one day. However, it would be different after Zhang Taixuan revealed it.


    After hearing Zhang Taixuan''s words, the chief justice slightly moved his fingers as if he had already issued an order. These people dared screw Zhang Tie and hurt Zhang family despite world condemnation, violating Taixia laws and breaking the bottom line of a human knight, the entire Huang Clan, Mercury Palace in Qingzhou Province would be cleaned up for sure regardless of their quantity.


    "Immortal, do you have other clues..." the chief justice asked Zhang Tie again.


    Zhang Tie slightly frowned as he said, "I remember that the two knights planned to send me to Yinzhou Province; they even mentioned Sagus, the Abyss King of demons..."


    Yinzhou Province was the "capital" of Heavens Reaching Empire. Although Zhang Tie didn''t say the two knights colluded with demons as remnants of Heavens Reaching Church, Zhang Tie''s words had already branded them with the stigma of lackeys of Heavens Reaching Church and demons.


    Heavens Reaching Church and demons were the public enemies of humans. Supreme Court, the Military and Xuanyuan Hill would never show mercy to them; instead, all of them would be killed in the end.


    Although neither the three people nor Zhang Taixuan belonged to Heavens Reaching Church or demons, they were as Zhang Tie told. Who else could refute Zhang Tie at this moment? Additionally, it was reasonable for Zhang Tie to owe it to demons and Heavens Reaching Church, which adapted to the guess and anticipation of many people.


    Zhang Tie was using supreme court even the military of Taixia Country to kill people, namely driving tigers to engulf wolves. Zhang Tie essentially aimed at that "His Majesty".


    At this moment, the so-called truth became unimportant.


    No matter how powerful was that prince, he didn''t take any action in this case. Because if they took any action, it was nothing different than admitting themselves as the lackeys of demons and the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church. By then, they would become the public enemy of humans as a whole. Additionally, Zhang Tie could avenge them without having to shoulder any outcome.


    As was imagined by Zhang Tie, both the chief justice and Cheng Honglie revealed a solemn look when they heard Zhang Tie''s words.


    Zhang Tie threw a stealthy glance at Zhang Taixuan. Although Zhang Taixuan looked calm, his face turned much paler when he heard demons and Heavens Reaching Church.


    The deeper the supreme court and the military of Taixia Country investigated along the clue of Huang Botao, the greater condemnation would Zhang Taixuan carry from that prince.


    After catching such a clue, Mr. Li, the chief justice couldn''t wait to watch Zhang Tie, saying, "It''s said that immortal has brought back Ma Aiyun. I wonder..."


    "Ma Aiyun was cheated. She knew nothing at all. These days, she had been terror-shocked and fatigued. I''ve already had her take a rest. If Mr. Li has any question, just ask me..." Zhang Tie said straightforwardly.


    Only one of the three senior sister apprentices who invited Zhang Tie for a party stayed alive. Now that Ma Aiyun was kept alive, it indicated that she was something different than the other two or that she could influence Zhang Tie''s decision. They could definitely find clues from Ma Aiyun. However, as Zhang Tie had already brought the head of an earth knight and exposed the clue of Huang Clan, it could already clarify the problem. A LV 9 fighter of Huaiyuan Palace was at most a piece being used to seduce Zhang Tie. Her life was of significance. It was unnecessary for them to stir up Zhang Tie because of her.


    As many thoughts flashed through his mind, the chief justice instantly stood up as he said with a solemn look, "This event is very important. I shall notice His Majesty right away. Now that it''s concerned about Heavens Reaching Church and demons, it couldn''t be determined by me. I shall go to Qizhou Province to catch Immortal Raging Flame Huang Botao and the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church at once in case they escape away. Before you hear any action in Qizhou Province, please don''t leak this message to the public. See you..."


    ...


    Zhang Tie and the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace then saw off the chief justice and commander of the Northeast Military Region. Watching that airboat heading southwards at the fastest speed, Zhang Tie fixated on Zhang Taixuan as he asked surprisingly, "Clan head, are you okay? You don''t look good..."


    Zhang Taixuan indeed didn''t look good. After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, he forced a smile, saying, "I was very intense these days. After Elder Mushen came back, I feel a bit tired perhaps..."


    "Clan head just stayed in Embracing Tiger Mountain these days for the sake of Elder Mushen. He almost didn''t rest..." Elder Muyuan sighed on one side.

 1501 The Action

    Zhang Tie''s return aroused a great shock, which didn''t fade away until 2 days later.


    During the past two days, Zhang Tie was also busy meeting people from all walks of life and making arrangements in all aspects.


    These days, Ma Aiyun didn''t look good. Zhang Tie spent a bit of time accompanying her every day; however, Ma Aiyun was always silent as she appeared very frustrated. Zhang Tie thought that Ma Aiyun had not completely recovered and might need a few more days of rest. He had arranged some maids to attend her. Additionally, he had people bring Ma Aiyun''s family members here from Huaiyuan City, Yingzhou Province. Zhang Tie thought that this would help Ma Aiyun recover.


    This time, heavenly knight Celestial Guiyuan, the uncle master of Immortal Deyang, from Heavenly Fortune Sect and Celestial Yueyang of south border, a heavenly knight employed by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion arrived at Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory to guarantee the safety of Zhang family. Even Bai Suxian would call Celestial Yueyang grandpa. The two people really helped Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory a lot at the critical moment.


    After knowing that Zhang Tie had returned, the two heavenly knights directly disappeared instead of meeting him at all like what celestial beings always did. Zhang family knew that two heavenly knights were in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory these days; however, none of them had seen the two people, including Zhang Yang.


    However, after the two heavenly knights left Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, the message that they left shocked Zhang family.


    Celestial Guiyuan of Heavenly Fortune Sect and Celestial Yueyang, the heavenly knight employed by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion both wanted to teach Zhang Tie''s kids.


    Celestial Guiyuan favored Zhang Chengba; Celestial Yueyang favored Zhang Chengxiao and Zhang Chengbing. They both left a message that they would come back to take them away one year later when they were 7 years old.


    "Why?" Zhang Tie asked Bai Suxian.


    Bai Suxian became helpless as she said with a bit admiring look, "It''s said that Celestial Guiyuan and Celestial Yueyang met each other a few days ago. They both favored Chengba, Chengxiao and Chengbing. Meanwhile, they made a bet. I didn''t remember about the wager. They just wanted to bet who could have the three kids promote to knights earlier. You know, Celestial Yueyang shares the age with grandpa. As he gets along well with my grandpa, he promises to help Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Celestial Yueyang didn''t even agree to teach my two elder brothers in Yueyang Mount when they were young. The reason was that they were not qualified to inherit his talents. By contrast, Chengba, Chengxiao and Chengbing are born with rare leakless bodies and exceptional gratitude. They''re really lucky to be favored by the two heavenly knights!"


    Zhang Tie then fetched Zhang Chengba, Zhang Chengxiao and Zhang Chengbing for details. Zhang Chengba said that he met a white-beard old man when he played in the backyard these days. That old man liked him very much and always played hide-and-seek with him and pleased him. One day, that old man stroke Zhang Chengba''s head as he asked whether Zhang Chengba would like to be his apprentice or not. Zhang Chengba nodded as the old man revealed a smile and disappeared.


    Zheng Chengxiao and Zhang Chengbing''s descriptions sounded weirder. They both shared the same dream these nights¡ª¡ªA white-beard old man played magic for them to please them. Before Zhang Tie returned, that old man asked whether they would like to be his apprentice or not, the two brothers both agreed. After Zhang Tie returned, the old man didn''t appear in their dreams anymore.


    However, Bai Suxian was living in the courtyard at the foot of the mountain these days. Nobody else was in the courtyard besides those guards. She was really confused when did this old man play hide-and-seek with Zhang Chengba these days.


    Zhang Tie''s return didn''t mean the end of his missing event; instead, it was just a start. With the great shock and guesses aroused by Zhang Tie''s return, the news that Huang Clan, Mercury Palace, Qingzhou Province was exterminated by Supreme Court spread across the country.


    At the same time, the news that Huang Clan were the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church, surrendered to demons and screwed Immortal Qianji also spread across the country.


    Although Huang Clan was exterminated, Huang Tianxiong and his two sons survived the catastrophe because they were not at home. They were being wanted by the Supreme Court.


    Right on the same day, a sect was exterminated¡ª¡ªQitian Sect.


    The earth knight that Ockham killed was the head of Qitian Sect. This sect was a middle-level force in Qizhou Province, just like Iron-Dragon Sect in Youzhou Province before the appearance of fiery oil.


    Many disciples of major clans in Qizhou Province were learning from Qitian Sect. Therefore, the extermination of Qitian Sect aroused a greater shock than that of the Huang Clan, Mercury Palace.


    An elder of Qitian Sect was killed. Another elder was escaping.


    When Huang Clan and Qitian Sect were exterminated, Zhang Tie was cultivating arduously on the same night together with Yan Feiqing.


    In this process of cultivation, Yan Feiqing injected her spiritual energy into Zhang Tie''s mind sea while Zhang Tie used her spiritual energy to form another master-level immortal rune of mirror separation.


    Body separation skill was Zhang Tie''s trump card in this case. After consuming one substitute, Zhang Tie instantly formed another one after he returned to Iron-Dragon Sect.


    This process would consume participants a lot of spiritual energy and require an extremely high coordinated and absolute trust between them. Only Yan Feiqing met the condition.


    Although Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi intended to help Zhang Tie, their spiritual energy was too weak as black iron knights. Even the total amount of spiritual energy of two of them was far from Zhang Tie''s demand. By contrast, only Yan Feiqing''s spiritual energy could barely meet Zhang Tie''s demand.


    However, even so, Yan Feiqing couldn''t bear such an enormous consumption of spiritual energy in one go; instead, she had to do that for a few times. Each day, Zhang Tie would withdraw some spiritual energy from Yan Feiqing to form runes. After each withdrawal, Yan Feiqing had to take a rest. After a few times'' withdrawal, Zhang Tie finally formed the runes of his body separation skill.


    Zhang Tie just told her that he needed her spiritual energy to cultivate his secret method like how they did in Xuanyuan Hill. Yan Feiqing didn''t even ask him what he was cultivating...

 1502 The Couple

    With Zhang Tie''s manipulation, the rune of master-level mirror separation skill was wrapped by the spiritual energy which was injected into Zhang Tie''s mind sea by Yan Feiqing. At the same time, the spiritual energy sunk to Zhang Tie''s qi sea. Flying around that black hole caused by the thunder of nirvana, the rune absorbed Yan Feiqing''s spiritual energy as it scrambled for the battle qi that came into being in Zhang Tie''s qi sea with that black hole. Being lubricated by spiritual energy and battle qi, that immortal rune gradually turned full and golden...


    Spiritual energy was as flexible as water. As long as it was not under purposeful control or any secret method was executed, it would not bring any negative effect to the receiver. By contrast, battle qi was like fire, most of which would damage the receiver''s body like a bullet or an erupting volcano. Only a few battle qis could lubricate the receiver''s body such as the battle qis with the attributes of water and wood that Aimei and Aixue cultivated, which could be used for recovery and massage.


    Even Zhang Tie dared not have Yan Feiqing inject her battle qi into his body to activate his immortal rune of body separation skill, which, otherwise, meant suicide.


    Similarly, it was also very dangerous to have a destructive battle qi enter one''s fragile and sensitive mind sea in one''s brain. Generally, one''s spiritual energy in his mind sea could sink to all the other parts of one''s body without any adverse effect; spiritual energy could even lubricate some body parts. By contrast, battle qi in one''s qi sea couldn''t rush across one''s body under control; one''s brain was also especially the forbidden area of battle qi.


    Thankfully, although Zhang Tie couldn''t use his battle qi, he could lower the rune of body separation skill into his qi sea, which absorbed spiritual energy and battle qi that came into being there itself at the same time. Even if the battle qi was not absorbed by the rune, it would be spoiled by that black hole.


    The rune of body separation skill couldn''t absorb one''s spiritual energy or battle qi alone; instead, it had to absorb two of them together. Therefore, the process appeared marvelous.


    The spiritual energy combined with his battle qi and turned into bizarre energy. Oxygen and hydrogen reacted chemically and produced water, which shared the same secret universal source with fire. Similarly, the immortal rune of body separation skill absorbed "water" and "fire" and caused a new change inside it along with great energy. Gradually, that rune turned into another "Zhang Tie".


    Yan Feiqing only felt that Zhang Tie constantly transferred her spiritual energy into his qi sea, which was then absorbed by an existence over there. Zhang Tie said it was a secret skill. Therefore, Yan Feiqing didn''t ask too much about that.


    Finally, when the master-level immortal rune of body separation skill rocked, the entire rune gave out golden light in his qi sea as it turned into a golden existence in the shape of Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie immediately cut off the connection with her spiritual energy as he had the humanoid immortal rune jump into his mind sea.


    After a long while, Zhang Tie finally took in a deep breath as he opened his eyes.


    What an arduous work! It took them 3 days to accomplish it. Yan Feiqing had spent the greater part of her spiritual energy for consecutive 3 times.


    Sitting opposite to Zhang Tie, Yan Feiqing''s face turned faintly pale. She opened her eyes together with Zhang Tie.


    "Is it done?" Yan Feiqing asked.


    "Done! This secret skill is of great significance for me. It could save my life at critical moments. Without this secret skill, I might have died!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    "No matter how much spiritual energy it costs, as long as it could save your life, it would be worthwhile!"


    "Indeed!" Zhang Tie answered as he took out a vial of rare senior essential energy medicament and gave it to Yan Feiqing, saying, "Take a good rest here. Don''t be anxious to leave here..."


    Senior essential energy medicament was exclusive to knights. A vial of senior essential energy medicament was as valuable as 20 earth-element crystals. Such a medicament could help knights recover their spiritual energy at the critical moment. It had been the 3rd vial that Zhang Tie spent since he came back.


    After watching her drink it up, Zhang Tie kissed her face. After that, he wanted to pick himself up; however, Yan Feiqing stopped him by dragging his arm. She then put herself into his arms tightly as she pasted her face onto Zhang Tie''s face as if she was apprehensive that Zhang Tie would disappear in front of her right away.


    "What''s the matter?" Zhang Tie asked as he stroked her hair.


    "I''ve already known that since I saw you back..." Yan Feiqing muttered as she closed her eyes, tears dropping off. As a result, both hers and Zhang Tie''s faces turned wet. "Aren''t you going to do something that you have to do yet you wouldn''t like to do? If you didn''t do it, you would feel guilty; however, if you did it, you would treat yourself in the cruelest manner. These days, although you appear calm, you''ve long prepared for doing that. Please, don''t treat yourself in that cruel way. If you did it, I would feel very painful for you. I would feel that I''m useless as I couldn''t even look after my husband well..."


    Hearing Yan Feiqing''s words, Zhang Tie''s fingers became stiff for a second as he had not imagined that his secret could be observed by this woman who had lived with him sweetly in the tower of time for 6 decades.


    "Too many people have died this time. We lost over 70 loyal guards at home. My parents almost got hurt. I saw my two senior sister apprentices dying in front of me. Something couldn''t go back after it happens; couldn''t go back after it happens..." Zhang Tie said as he closed his eyes, revealing a grieved look. When he opened his eyes, his eyes had become resolute and calm. He added, "I will give them and their families a satisfactory reply; I will give my two late senior sister apprentices a satisfactory reply. If not treat myself cruelly, I would treat those who trust me and rely on me cruelly. If I have to choose one from the two "cruelties", I prefer to face and bear it myself..."

 1503 The Late Beauty

    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Yan Feiqing hugged him with greater strength as she kept dropping off tears. Always being an overbearing heavenly knight in front of others, Yan Feiqing was just a spoony woman at this moment, "Don''t do that. If you want to kill someone, just let me know. As your wife, I could do that for you..."


    "As a man, I have to resolve some things myself. This event needs my solution urgently..." Zhang Tie said with a smile as he kissed her lips and wiped off her tears, saying, "Don''t think too much. Take a good rest!"


    After saying this, Zhang Tie stood up and left the backroom.


    No sooner did Zhang Tie exit the backroom than a butler in the Sect Head''s Pavilion had come over here flurriedly. With his face oozing sweat, he said, "Head...head...Miss...Miss Ma lost her breath...". Zhang Tie changed his face greatly at once.


    ...


    Ma Aiyun''s room was in a courtyard of the Sect Head''s Pavilion. When Zhang Tie arrived there flurriedly, some maids who were responsible for looking after Ma Aiyun were all kneeling in the courtyard with pale face, quivering all over.


    The day had just broken. These days, Ma Aiyun always got up at this moment; however, she didn''t today. A maid asked whether she had gotten up outside her bedroom or not for a few times. After receiving no reply, she entered the bedroom when she found that Ma Aiyun had lost her breath.


    With a cracking sound, Ma Aiyun''s door was almost demolished by Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then immediately rushed into her room as he saw her lying on the bed quietly, hands on her lower abdomen. An envelope and a lock of hair were under her hands.


    Senior Sister Apprentice Ma had already been cold all over, breathless and eyes closed.


    Some characters on her envelope¡ª¡ªOnly for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie took out her envelope from her hands before opening it.


    He saw Ma Aiyun''s delicate characters in the letter.


    ¡ª¡ªNot until then did I know how to call you, junior fellow apprentice, Zhang Tie or elder, as none of these appellations are what I want. I was very happy when I heard that you had held your rotating chakra ceremony. Meanwhile, I was very contradictory inside. I know the distance between you and me would further expand. By then, actually, I had already lost the qualification to call you junior fellow apprentice or Zhang Tie. According to the rule of Huaiyuan Palace, I would offend you if I called you that.


    However, I don''t want to call you elder either; because that would go against my original intention. I once dreamed about standing in front of you one day and calling you sweet; however, I know that I might only be a passenger in your heart like a meteor flying over the sky. After so many years, I''m not even sure whether you still remember me or not.


    Nevertheless, I would remember you forever; because you''re the first man that I fell in love with, and the last one.


    I''ve never felt regretful about falling in love with you.


    When you read this letter, I''ve already left this world. Please forgive me, I''m a selfish and weak woman. I couldn''t bear all this.


    Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi were killed by me. They were my best sisters. They died in front of me because of me. I feel guilty in front of them and their families, our common friends and myself.


    You thought I was controlled spiritually and I''ve done many things against my original intention. I know you were soothing me; however, I couldn''t forgive myself; because I remember each detail of that day. I know that the spirit was poisoned. I know it was a trap. It was me who made cups of spirit for them. It was me who screwed them and killed them.


    I abhorred everything that I''ve done. I''m actually a common little woman. All that I''ve done was out of my control.


    I don''t want to fight, cultivate or to be any powerhouse. I only want a family, a man whom I love and a tranquil and happy life. I only want to deliver some babies for that man, cook food for him. Previously, I thought he was you.


    As your former woman, I screwed you. As the bosom sister of Caidie and Ziyi, I screwed them. As a mother, I couldn''t even protect my kid.


    I don''t know why I am still alive. Perhaps only when I leave this world could I acquire a real peaceful life, forgive myself and enable Caidie and Ziyi to forgive me genuinely. I only want to say sorry to Caidie and Ziyi.


    After our kid came to this world for 100 days, they had taken him away from me. In the next one more decade, I only saw him 3 times. The latest time was 6 years ago. It was just a cursory glance. I couldn''t even remember his look now.


    Please promise me to find our kid. Don''t let him live alone in the world without the concern of parents.


    That lock of hair is for him. If you could find him, give my hair to him and tell him that I loved him but I was not a qualified mother. Hopefully, he won''t hate me.


    Caidie and Ziyi had been burned into ashes. Sorry to trouble you to have people build two tombs for them before burying me beside them¡ª¡ªWritten by Aiyun.


    A drop of wet imprint spread over the letter; then another one. Zhang Tie held the letter silently while dropping off tears one after another.


    "Why are you so foolish? Why are you so foolish..." Zhang Tie muttered as he stroked Ma Aiyun''s icy face while sitting on her bedside, dropping off tears like rain.


    ...


    A LV 9 fighter could easily break her heart meridian as long as she wanted.


    Zhang Tie was forming his rune of body separation skill in the back room last night.


    On the same night, Ma Aiyun left this will before lying on the bed calmly and breaking her heart meridian. From then on, she had left this world quietly and resolutely, leaving endless grief and regret to Zhang Tie.


    ...

 1504 Zhang Ties Grief

    7 days later, three new tombs were built on a lush hillside being adjacent to a river in the graveyard of Iron Dragon Sect behind Xuantian Peak.


    It was fine weather yesterday. However, this early morning, it started to drizzle in the territory of Iron Dragon Sect.


    The drizzle witnessed Zhang Tie''s grief.


    The greater part of people had left, except for the bereaved whose cries were still reverberating around the mountain. Zhang Tie didn''t leave. He just stood still in front of the three tombs, watching the three black and white crystal photos on the steles.


    In black linen robe, Zhang Tie watched the three tombs in a trance as his hair and eyebrow soon turned wet in the flying drizzle.


    Ma Aiyun''s tomb was in the middle, accompanied by that of Gui Caidie and Yuan Ziyi on her sides respectively. The coffins of Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi only contained their clothes and headgears, which Zhang Tie had people take from Huaiyuan City in Yingzhou Province and were put inside the coffins by Zhang Tie himself. Additionally, Zhang Tie carved the inscriptions on their gravestone by his own fingers.


    What happened lately including that Zhang Haitian passed away, Zhang Tie was screwed, Zhang Tie''s family and undertaking suffered losses, Ma Aiyun committed suicide, all these struck Zhang Tie more than that he had experienced in the past decades.


    In the drizzle, Zhang Tie looked a bit sluggish; however, his straight back was as hard as steel.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s straight back, Elder Muyuan felt complex as if Zhang Tie was a mountain peak.


    "Since Hidden Dragon Palace moved to Taixia Country 16 years ago, it was an old man called Zhang Shifang who was in charge of the training affairs in the base of Yingzhou Province of Hidden Dragon Palace. He''s LV 14. Since he started to take over Hidden Dragon Palace, he had been working diligently and arduously without making any mistake. He also trained a lot of talents for Huaiyuan Palace including the three deceased girls. Therefore, he could promote from a clan butler to a deacon, then to the head of the base. All the major events in Hidden Dragon Palace were at his disposal as long as they didn''t need elders to resolve..." Elder Muyuan said calmly behind Zhang Tie. Since Zhang Tie returned, he had requested Elder Muyuan to investigate about personnel and affairs concerning Ma Aiyun secretly in Huaiyuan Palace over these years.


    Elder Muyuan had been in charge of Clansmen''s Pavilion of Huaiyuan Palace for many years, he was very familiar with various affairs in Huaiyuan Palace. Additionally, Elder Muyuan could use his connections to secretly investigate such affairs. Zhang Tie and Elder Muyuan both came from the branch of the Golden Sea City of Huaiyuan Palace who shared closer bloodlines. Additionally, Elder Muyuan''s posterities even married the kids of Zhang Tie''s eldest uncle. Therefore, Zhang Tie and Elder Muyuan were closer than any other clan elders in Huaiyuan Palace.


    Zhang Shifang was the very person who controlled Ma Aiyun and took away her baby over these years according to Ma Aiyun''s description. In front of such a person who was LV 14 and in charge of Hidden Dragon Palace, of course, Ma Aiyun almost lost her ability to resist.


    In the beginning, when Ma Aiyun and the other disciples of Hidden Dragon Palace returned to Taixia Country and accepted a routine physical examination, she was found pregnant. Later on, Zhang Shifang met her.


    As for disciples of Hidden Dragon Palace, pregnancy was very severe. In most cases, if a female disciple got pregnant before leaving Hidden Dragon Palace, she would accept very stern punishment. Additionally, it was almost impossible for her to deliver the baby.


    After being found pregnant, Ma Aiyun wanted to deliver the baby. Out of the trust of the old man, she told Zhang Shifang about the private affairs between her and Zhang Tie. In the beginning, Zhang Shifang''s performance indeed won Ma Aiyun''s trust as he covered her pregnancy. In Hidden Dragon Palace, almost nobody else knew about her pregnancy. Later on, Zhang Shifang arranged a task for her so that Ma Aiyun could leave Hidden Dragon Palace. She then lived outside for one year and delivered the baby.


    After that, Ma Aiyun fell into the trap of the opponent step by step.


    After surviving back, Zhang Tie had started to have Elder Muyuan investigate the whereabouts of that kid. Unexpectedly, Ma Aiyun had committed suicide after coming back for a few days even before Elder Mushen gave him feedback.


    "It was also Zhang Shifang who distributed this task to Ma Aiyun, Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi in Wild Lake Building. On the evening when you were screwed in Wild Lake Building, Zhang Shifang had already died because of "being obsessed with the devil". Later on, the total of 37 family members of Zhang Shifang had been under control of the criminal affairs pavilion of Huaiyuan Palace. These days, the criminal affairs pavilion didn''t get any information from his family members. Through these days of investigation, Zhang Shifang didn''t find anything strange. He even didn''t leave Huaiyuan City, Yingzhou Province. Nobody had ever seen any boy beside Zhang Shifang. Neither did Zhang Shifang''s family members hear anything about a little boy. As for the doctor who was responsible for the disciples'' physical examination 14 years ago, he had long died in a car accident 14 years ago. It was just a minor affair at that time, which didn''t arouse the attention of the public. That''s all I''ve got these days..."


    "Which branch of Huaiyuan Palace does Zhang Shifang come from?" Zhang Tie asked calmly without turning around as he watched the gravestones.


    This question was a bit acute and sensitive, even a bit heart-wrenching. After 2 seconds of silence, Elder Muyuan opened his mouth, "Zhang Shifang comes from Yiyang City!"


    The branch of Yiyang City was the very one of Zhang Taixuan, the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace.


    ...


    After Elder Muyuan left, Donder arrived. Watching Zhang Tie''s back, Donder sighed, saying, "I''ve already arranged the family members of Ma Aiyun, Gu Caidie and Yuan Ziyi. They would not have any concern regarding living in the future. As they''ve already died, just let the bygones be bygones. Don''t blame yourself. You''ve already tried your best. However, you''re not a deity and couldn''t dominate everything!"


    After turning around, Zhang Tie watched Donder, saying, "I''ve never thought about being a deity. I just want to be a man, a good man as what my mom requested me when I was young. However, I found that it''s more difficult for one to be a good man in the eyes of everyone in this world. Therefore, I''ve made a concession. I will not be a good man; nor will I feel guilty about myself. I will be a man who doesn''t feel guilty about himself when I come back here on the next tomb sweeping day in front of my three senior sister apprentices'' graves."


    "What do you want?"


    "To do what I should!"


    After saying this, Zhang Tie resolutely strode away. Before leaving, he took out the remote-sensing finger that he could use to contact Zhang Taixuan. He would meet Zhang Taixuan in the shrine palace of Huaiyuan Palace in Embracing Tiger Mountain tonight.


    ...


    After doing that, Zhang Tie left the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect and flew towards Embracing Tiger City by airboat 20 minutes later...

 1505 Zhang Ties Vengeance

    At dusk, the shrine palace of Huaiyuan Palace in Embracing Tiger Mountain, Embracing Tiger City...


    When Zhang Tie''s airboat arrived at Embracing Tiger Mountain, the sun was going to set. On the top of Embracing Tiger Mountain, one could see a pretty beautiful scenery¡ª¡ªdense sunglow gradually sunk in the sea level.


    The Embracing Tiger Mountain appeared pretty majestic in the sunset; especially the shrine palace of Huaiyuan Palace. In the afterglow of the sunset, the three characters Huaiyuan Palace above the gate of Shrine Palace appeared especially magnificent.


    The afterglow gradually moved to the top of the gate of the shrine palace from the square outside the shrine palace, and finally went to the golden glazed tiles and auspicious beasts on the eaves of the shrine palace.


    Before the afterglow moved away from the row of auspicious beasts on the top of the shrine palace, bronze cauldrons being filled with whale oil had been lit inside the shrine palace and over the square. The light inside the cauldrons brightened up the entire shrine palace.


    "Elder Mushen...", two clan deacons had come over here to greet Zhang Tie the moment he got off the airboat which was suspending above the square outside the shrine palace.


    Zhang Tie came here alone, even without the accompany of Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing. He wanted to meet Zhang Taixuan alone.


    "Has clan head arrived?" Zhang Tie asked calmly when he threw a glance at the two deacons.


    "Yes, clan head has already arrived. He''s waiting for Elder Mushen in the shrine palace!" a clan deacon answered respectfully.


    "Deliver my order. Nobody else is allowed to approach the shrine palace tonight without my consent. I would negotiate with the clan head tonight. Anyone dared violate my order would be beheaded!" Zhang Tie said before walking towards the gate of the shrine palace.


    "Yes, Elder Mushen!" the two clan deacons exchanged a glance with each other as they both felt Elder Mushen''s faint, shrill tone. Hearts pounding, they became quiet at once.


    After Zhang Tie entered the shrine palace, the gate of the shrine palace had been closed from outside.


    Zhang Taixuan was standing in front of the statue of Lord Huaiyuan as he watched Zhang Tie coming in with a solemn look, eyes squinting.


    "I''ve heard about Miss Ma''s death. What a pity! However, now that your beloved one is already deceased, Elder Mushen, you''d better not be too grieved..." Zhang Taixuan comforted Zhang Tie.


    Hearing Zhang Taixuan''s words, Zhang Tie didn''t reply at once; instead, he just walked to the front of the statue of Lord Huaiyuan. After looking up at the heroic statue, he lit 3 incenses and bowed towards it before inserting them into the censer. After that, he turned around and told Zhang Taixuan, "Indeed, I would like to pay anything I could to save her if possible; if not, we could merely do something to soothe the deceased!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, a sagacious light flashed across Zhang Taixuan''s eyes. Closely after that, Zhang Taixuan turned serious as he said, "You''re right, Elder Mushen. We shouldn''t call it an end. I''ve already used 10 million gold coins to reward people who could catch those escaping members of Huang Clan, Mercury Palace, Qizhou Province and Qitian Sect; additionally, I''ve assigned some corps of elites to look for clues in Qizhou Province!"


    "Thank you so much, clan head!" Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he added, "I''m especially here for negotiating about this thing with clan head!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Taixuan let out a sigh of relief at once as he revealed a smile and recovered his composure, "Elder Mushen is the pillar of Huaiyuan Palace. You''re an integral part of Huaiyuan Palace. Don''t be that polite. As long as you deliver an order, the entire Huaiyuan Palace would spearhead the efforts to do that..."


    "It''s not proper. There''s something that I have to negotiate with the clan head face to face..." Zhang Tie said calmly.


    Zhang Tie said as modestly as usual. Therefore, Zhang Taixuan didn''t discover anything special from Zhang Tie''s words.


    "Go ahead, Elder Mushen?"


    "As I''ve come from a long way. I''ve not taken supper yet. How about eating and chatting..."


    "That''s fine!'' Zhang Taixuan nodded as he suggested, "How about changing a place?"


    "No need. Let''s do it here. It''s much more tranquil here. Hopefully, only you and I know what I''m talking about. Therefore, no need to be that ostentatious!"


    "It''s said that Elder Mushen has a great capability for liquor. Although I''ve acquainted with Elder Mushen for so long, I''ve not drunk with you alone. I will not feel regretful if I could have a drink and chat with you in the shrine palace of Huaiyuan Palace tonight..." Zhang Taixuan said straightforwardly as he took out a voice-transmitting jade plate and flicked it for three times.


    Only after a short while, the gate of the shrine palace had been opened while some butlers served many trays of dishes and drink in the middle of the shrine palace before leaving there.


    Watching the dishes and drink on the table, Zhang Tie took that silver flagon and made a cup of spirit for Zhang Taixuan. After that, he made one for himself. Then, he raised the cup as he looked into Zhang Taixuan''s eyes, saying, "The other elders have told me that clan head had been busy receiving people from all walks of life in Embracing Tiger Mountain and made arrangements for the sake of my event these days at your full effort. You look even more haggard than before. Therefore, I will pose a toast to appreciate you about your concerns these days..."


    After saying that, Zhang Tie bottomed it up at once.


    The dishes and drink were all from Embracing Tiger Mountain, which belonged to Zhang Taixuan. Even those people who served dishes and drink were Zhang Taixuan''s trusted subordinates. Of course, Zhang Taixuan believed that the dishes and drink were safe.


    After the dishes and drink were served, Zhang Taixuan had been stealthily observing Zhang Tie''s movements. He found that Zhang Tie didn''t make other strange movements at all. After watching Zhang Tie making cups of drink and having a cup of drink without making any trick, Zhang Taixuan also took the cup and bottomed it up.


    Closely after having a cup of drink, Zhang Taixuan''s face had frozen. Like a wooden sculpture, he became still at once as he watched Zhang Tie in a shocked manner.


    Letting out a sigh, Zhang Tie twiddled with his cup as his eyes gradually turned icy, saying, "A few days ago, in Wild Lake Building, after three senior sister apprentices posed a toast to me, I had been poisoned by Soul Leave, which was colorless and tasteless. That was really irresistible. Now, the clan head, you''ve tasted the wholly new Soul Leave. How do you feel..."

 1506 Zhang Taixuans True Though

    As for the time being, Zhang Taixuan was shocked like how Zhang Tie was when he found that he was poisoned in Wild Lake Building.


    ''Has Zhang Tie arranged moles in Embracing Tiger Mountain? Has the spirit long been poisoned by him? That''s impossible. Everything in Embracing Tiger Mountain is under my control and in the hand of the branch of YiYang City, Huaiyuan Palace. Zhang Tie was not responsible for arranging personnel affairs; how could there be his mole?''


    ''Additionally, the spirit was served by my trusted subordinates, which had been checked strictly for more than one time in Embracing Tiger Mountain. Does it mean that Zhang Tie has controlled all the people who were in charge of food and drink check?''


    Zhang Taixuan was confused. Additionally, he found that this Soul Leave appeared a bit different than that he knew.


    Although being poisoned by this mutated Soul Leave, Zhang Taixuan was not in a deep coma; actually, except for losing his awareness, battle qi and spiritual energy, he found that he seemed...seemed...still being able to speak.


    "Elder...Elder Mushen...what do you mean?" Zhang Taixuan''s asked and his heart raced as he still remained a bit calm apparently, adding, "If you want to be the clan head, I will abdicate it to you. No need to poison me..."


    Zhang Tie shook his head as he moved his hand. Closely after that, a nano-bead was put on the table before rolling towards Zhang Taixuan.


    It was the same one from the body of that late dare-to-die fighter in the underground cave who was subject to Zhang Taixuan''s order.


    "Here you go...I''m returning it to you..."


    The moment Zhang Taixuan caught sight of that nano-bead, a flurried eye light had flashed across his eyes; however, he didn''t admit it at all, "This is a nano-bead; however, it doesn''t belong to me. I wonder why Elder Mushen said its mine?"


    "This nano-bead is from the dare-to-die fighter who was obedient to you no matter whether you will admit it or not!" Zhang Tie said without any emotional fluctuation after throwing a glance at the nano-bead in Zhang Taixuan''s hand, "You''re indeed meticulous. That day, you came to the underground mountain cave where I was detained after changing your look. You even wore a metal mask outside your disguising mask. Additionally, you scanned over me using that brilliant fingerstall which could give out blue ray. Were you looking for that immortal item? Hoho. I''ve really not imagined that that fingerstall was a treasure. You''re really meticulous. Previously, you always wore the fingerstall; this time, after finding that I have already survived back, you took off that fingerstall lest any trouble. However, do you think it''s useful to do that?"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Taixuan became quiet for a few seconds during which period he just flickered his eyes. Then, he opened his mouth bitterly, "To tell you the truth, I''ve already lost it after you got lost. I''m still looking for it..."


    "You''re really stubborn. As of now, you''re still fooling around. Do you think that I recognized you because of that fingerstall? Do you think that you could shirk off your responsibility in the excuse of losing that fingerstall?" Zhang Tie said as he shook his head, "You should know that no camouflage could lie to my eyes. That day, I just lay on the ground to wait for the culprit; unexpectedly, it was you. Although you had changed your skeleton and frame and covered your face by using disguising mask and metal mask even mix your body odor with a soul-meddling fantastic grass, all these were useless in front of my eyes. I had already known that it was you the moment you went off the doorsteps!"


    "Actually, although you wear clothes, I could still see that red nevus under your armpit. Besides that space-teleportation equipment exclusive for provincial governor in your waist, I could see another space-teleportation equipment inside the muscles on your crus. It''s a quality pale golden nano-bead close to your shin. You cut open your muscles on your crus and foisted it in. After that, you recover the wound with a vial of senior recovery medicament, leaving no trace. You''ve already got this nano-bead when you came back to the ground from Earth-elements Realm before you scrambled for the Youzhou Provincial Governor. Am I right?"


    Zhang Taixuan became stunned. Zhang Tie''s words broke his lies and disguise like a heavy hammer. Zhang Taixuan still wanted to urge something; however, Zhang Tie raised his arm to stop him as he watched Zhang Taixuan icily, saying, "If you deny it again, I will chop off your leg and take out that soul bead right away. I think that fingerstall is in the very nano-bead in your crus..."


    Zhang Taixuan closed his eyes quietly for a few seconds. When he opened his eyes, he had already recovered his composure. He looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes as he burst out into laughter, louder and louder. Later on, the entire shrine palace was filled with his guffaw.


    After guffawing, Zhang Taixuan looked at Zhang Tie with evident ambition and a bit madness in his eyes, saying, "Hmm, it''s me. The entire process is under my arrangement!"


    "You''ve finally admitted it!" Zhang Tie lowered his eyes as he asked in a low tone, "Why? Why did you do that?"


    "Hahaha, why?" Zhang Taixuan burst out into laughter as if he had heard something preposterous, "I''m the clan head; however, you could ask any one of Huaiyuan Palace who''s number one in Huaiyuan Palace; then, you will know whom they respect most. Of course, it''s the well-known Immortal Qianji. As a result, I, Zhang Taixuan, has become your foil. Across Taixia Country, numerous people know Immortal Qianji of Huaiyuan Palace; however, few people know Zhang Taixuan. You tell me why? I, Zhang Taixuan, was born a hero and would die dauntlessly. Why couldn''t I gain as much respect as you? Why couldn''t I promote to a shadow knight or a heavenly knight? Why couldn''t I win great honor from the rest of the world like you..."


    "Therefore, you would sacrifice everyone else for the sake of your ambition?"


    "All of the people in Huaiyuan Palace should be ready to sacrifice for the rise of Huaiyuan Palace. All the great figures in history have killed a multitude of people..." Zhang Taixuan said mercilessly.


    Watching Zhang Taixuan, Zhang Tie realized that this was the real Zhang Taixuan. What Zhang Taixuan performed before was just to win the favor of people.


    "Is that your reason?"


    "Isn''t it persuasive?"


    "What about Ma Aiyun? At that time, I was just an unknown member of Huaiyuan Palace; instead of being a knight. I didn''t pose any threat to you at that time. Why did you fix your eyes on me and Ma Aiyun?" Zhang Tie looked straight into Zhang Taixuan''s eyes aggressively.

 1507 Zhang Ties Decision

    "An unknown member?" Zhang Taixuan revealed a sneer as he looked at Zhang Tie with jealousy, saying, "In Blackhot City, you were indeed an unknown fighter; however, who could become a knight in 1-2 years? The unknown member was an idiot before age 16. After 16, he lit his surging points as easily as drinking water? Do you remember the inscription that you left on the stele at the sea bed where you collected navyblue iron ores? Do you know how much hardships had I experienced and how many resources have Huaiyuan Palace spent on me before I reached there at 17? How could you break my record at 16? You always feel that you''re an unknown person, even now. That''s the common sickness of people from grassroots like you. You don''t know your own value; however, it doesn''t mean that the others are blind. If you were me, wouldn''t you pay attention to such a talent who suddenly appeared in the clan? As I kept an eye on you, of course, Ma Aiyun was under my control..."


    "So you were already preparing for screwing me at that time?"


    "I''ve told you that every one of Huaiyuan Palace should be preparing for sacrificing himself or herself for the clan. As the head of Huaiyuan Palace, of course, I''m entitled to decide whom to sacrifice. If anyone disagreed with me, I could make him agree with me. It''s just a political trick!"


    "Where''s my kid? Where did you hide him?"


    After hearing this question, Zhang Taixuan became silent for a second as he replied, "I have no idea!"


    Zhang Taixuan''s words infuriated Zhang Tie at once as he gave vent to it like a volcanic eruption.


    With a sound "bang...", Zhang Tie broke the table between them by a punch as he sent Zhang Taixuan flying backward in the air. Spurting out a mouthful of blood in the air, Zhang Taixuan didn''t stop until rolling over 30 m away. Zhang Tie had already come to Zhang Taixuan''s side as he caught the latter''s clothes, lifting him up. Gazing at Zhang Taixuan furiously, Zhang Tie roared with a horrible look, "You did the whole thing, yet you told me you have no idea?"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie threw Zhang Taixuan onto the ground forcefully, breaking a lot of floor tiles in a split second.


    Zhang Taixuan spurted blood again as many bones had been broken. He fleered, "I used the kid to control Ma Aiyun and you. Therefore, I dared not keep him in Huaiyuan City. These years, I had my subordinated dare-to-die fighters change a lot of places with him. He would only stay in each place for one or two years. He was in Flyingcloud City last time. I''ve not imagined that bloody figures could spread over the country after the turmoil in the emperor''s imperial city. Flyingcloud City in Tongzhou Province also deteriorated into ruins by bloody figures. Too many people were killed. Even those dare-to-die fighters on his side had lost their contact with me. From then on, your kid had been missing. I''ve dispatched some batches of people to look for him in not only Tongzhou Province but also the other places of the country in vain. Actually, I don''t know where he is either. I guess he''s already been killed by bloody figures..."


    Zhang Taixuan''s words made Zhang Tie hopeless at once. As of now, both parties had come straight to the point. Zhang Tie knew that Zhang Taixuan wouldn''t tell a lie on the whereabouts of a kid in this case because it was unnecessary. However, it was really a piece of shocking news.


    Bloody figures had not been cleaned up completely until now. Due to the existence of bloody figures, so many people had died and been missing across the country. Zhang Tie had just lost Ma Aiyun a few days ago. Ma Aiyun''s last wish was to find their kid; however, given the current situation, this request could barely be satisfied.


    Looking up at the dome of the shrine palace, Zhang Tie couldn''t refrain from his grief...


    "I want that kid safe; however, it was out of my control. It was an accident. Nobody could control it. Like what I did this time, as long as I could get that immortal item, I didn''t want so many people to die at all..."


    With a cracking sound, a shiny long sword appeared in Zhang Tie''s hand. Zhang Tie then pointed at Zhang Taixuan with the long sword as he said icily, "What you did was not for the sake of Huaiyuan Palace, but for the sake of your ambition and lust. The entire Huaiyuan Palace is your tool. When you need it, you could push everybody even Huaiyuan Palace as a whole into the fire pit without demur. Therefore, stop saying that you''re doing that for the sake of Huaiyuan Palace. You''re not qualified to do that. According to the Taixia Law, knights should be beheaded for killing people. According to the rules of Huaiyuan Palace, anyone of Huaiyuan Palace including clan head, elders and relatives who dare screw clan disciples and elders would be sliced into pieces. You deserve death according to both Taixia Law and the rule of Huaiyuan Palace. I will clean up the evil person for Huaiyuan Palace in front of the tablets of the forebears of Huaiyuan Palace, including Lord Huaiyuan today. What else do you want to urge..."


    "Speaking of killing people, you''ve killed much more people than me!" Zhang Taixuan said as he burst out into laughter and almost dropped off his tears, adding, "The so-called life for a life is just a joke, especially for knights. Except for a couple of unfortunate guys who seek for death, few of knights were beheaded for killing people over almost 100 years. The so-called life for a life is just a fig leaf for Taixia Law. Each major clan has late guards, servants or maids being wronged. Aren''t those guards, servants and maids people? But when do you see a major clan pay lives for late commoners? It''s just some trivial person. I''ve just lost some dare-to-die fighters; Jinwu City just lost some guards; Hidden Dragon Palace just lost some ordinary female disciples. Was anyone of them surnamed Zhang? They''re as trivial as grass!"


    "In your eyes, commoners'' lives are like grass? Those being screwed by you could only admit that they''re unfortunate..." Zhang Tie asked as he recovered his composure.


    "Isn''t it? In the holy war, some commoners'' lives are nothing serious. Tens of millions of people were killed for no reason at the bank of Weishui River. Weren''t they commoners? On the battlefield, they''re nothing different than a cattle or a sheep. If I succeed this time, I would become the king; if not, I would be the traitor. I would not say anything about my failure. Hahaha, but if you want to kill me with this excuse, you must be extremely hypocritical. You just want to fully rule Huaiyuan Palace. After my death, you would be the No. 1 person in Huaiyuan Palace. I know..."


    In Zhang Taixuan''s guffaw, Zhang Tie had already raised high his sword...


    Right then, with a boom, the gate was broken from outside as Lan Yunxi showed up. Tears over face, she watched Zhang Tie who was holding high his long sword and his father lying on the ground.


    Battle qi looming over her, Lan Yunxi was apparently an earth knight.


    Zhang Tie and Zhang Taixuan had not imagined that Lan Yunxi could show up at this moment.


    At the sight of Lan Yunxi, Zhang Tie and Zhang Taixuan had utterly different eye light. Besides shock and amazement, Zhang Tie''s eyes were filled with grief. However, Zhang Taixuan''s eyes contained hopeful glimmer.


    "Yunxi..." Zhang Taixuan called.


    "I''ve already heard...your words..." Lan Yunxi said as she shook his head. Instead of looking at Zhang Taixuan, she watched Zhang Tie with tears who was holding high his long sword. Her look was heart-wrenching, "I''ve just promoted to an earth knight in the tower of time. The moment I got out of there, I had heard about your event. Therefore, I hurriedly came over here to meet you. Unexpectedly...he''s my father. No matter how wrong he is, he''s my father, the very one who treasures me. Look at me, look into my eyes, please, for me, for us, please forgive him and forget about what happened...could you?"


    Zhang Tie was in trance for a second because Lan Yunxi''s look and eye light were completely as same as that he imagined when he discovered that the culprit was Zhang Taixuan¡ª¡ªthe same beautiful eyes full of tears and imploration which was heart-wrenching.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Lan Yunxi as a drop of tear flowed off his eyes unconsciously.


    Time appeared coming to a pause when Zhang Tie''s tear dropped off his face.


    Zhang Tie slashed his sword, causing Zhang Taixuan''s blood flew over 10 m away, tinting the instep of Lord Huaiyuan''s sculpture...


    Zhang Taixuan''s faint, glimmering hope froze at that moment. Zhang Tie''s slash destroyed his last hope and verve. In the bloody light, Lan Yunxi''s imploration turned into numerous pieces too.


    "Papa..." Lan Yunxi saw Zhang Taixuan being killed by Zhang Tie. With a miserable roar, she instantly rushed forward to the front of Zhang Taixuan''s bleeding body. Embracing the corpse, she burst out into tears. Zhang Tie just stood aside and watched her kneeling down and crying over there. At that moment, Zhang Tie felt losing all of his strength because of that slash.


    "Go to hell..." Lan Yunxi turned around as she prodded towards Zhang Tie with a sword while gritting her teeth.


    Facing her strike, Zhang Tie didn''t hide; nor block it. He just watched her painful and hateful look calmly.


    With a cracking sound, Lan Yunxi''s long sword turned into pieces from 10 cm away from Zhang Tie.


    At this moment, Yan Feiqing appeared on Zhang Tie''s side. She stretched out her hand to break Lan Yunxi''s long sword into pieces. After that, Yan Feiqing waved her hand, sending Lan Yunxi flying backward before falling on the ground beside Zhang Taixuan. However, she was not wounded.


    After falling on the ground, Lan Yunxi hugged Zhang Taixuan''s corpse as she burst into tears...


    Watching Zhang Tie''s distant look, Yan Feiqing dropped off her tears too. At this moment, she finally understood Zhang Tie''s pain in his calm eyesight.


    Besides killing Zhang Taixuan, Zhang Tie also killed himself, Lan Yunxi and the future of them. Zhang Tie turned himself into the enemy of his beloved woman because he killed her father...


    That slash cut off the animosity and the affection!


    Zhang Tie had long known the result; therefore, he felt pretty miserable.


    Even so, he still slashed his sword...


    "Let''s go..." Yan Feiqing pulled Zhang Tie''s hand. After throwing the last glance at Lan Yunxi, they disappeared in the shrine palace of Huaiyuan Palace, leaving Lan Yunxi''s cries drifting across the shrine palace.


    As for a woman, nothing was crueler than watching his father being killed by her beloved man...


    ...


    When I remember you,


    I should forget you,


    When I miss you so much,


    I lose the reminiscence,


    I have to say bye,


    Like the ocean losing its billows,


    At the most turbulent moment,


    Leaving earth-shaking loneliness!

 1508 The New Start of the Two Brothers

    The month June of the 906th year of Black Iron Calendar was annoying for Huaiyuan Palace.


    In the past two months, too many things had happened in Huaiyuan Palace, all of which determined that this month became the most important juncture for each member''s life and destiny in Huaiyuan Palace.


    Huaiyuan Palace was like a big ship. When it bumped in the ocean facing gale and billows or went ashore, each clan member of Huaiyuan Palace on it would feel somewhat anxious, restless even scared.


    In April, Elder Mushen had disappeared. On the same day, Zhang family in Jinwu City was attacked. The two events shocked the country as a whole.


    On May, Elder Mushen returned safe and sound; however, a few days later, Zhang Taixuan the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace was possessed by the devil and committed suicide when in cultivation.


    Zhang Taixuan''s death shocked the entire Huaiyuan Palace even Youzhou Province as a whole.


    Zhang Taixuan was not only the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace but also Youzhou provincial governor. After his death, the position of Youzhou provincial governor was vacant. Therefore 7 days after his "sudden death", Lu Dingzhi had been appointed as the new Youzhou provincial governor. As a result, Lu Clan of Spiritualmaple Prefecture, Youzhou Province officially entered White Tiger Platform in Youzhou City with the seal of Youzhou provincial governor.


    Undoubtedly, it was no doubt that Huaiyuan Palace was severely struck after losing its clan head and the position of Youzhou provincial governor.


    However, on the same day when Lu Dingzhi was appointed as Youzhou provincial governor, Lan Yunxi promoted to the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace, which was out of the imagination of many people.


    In many people''s opinions, after Zhang Taixuan''s sudden death, Zhang Mushen the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace was most qualified to be the clan head. What was strange was that Zhang Mushen as the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace didn''t take over the position of clan head of Huaiyuan Palace; nor did he express any dissent to the fact that Lan Yunxi was officially elected as the new clan head of Huaiyuan Palace by the branch of Yiyang City. Additionally, the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace couldn''t defeat Lan Yunxi, plus many other factors, Huaiyuan Palace had its first female clan head.


    Female clan head was nothing strange in Taixia Country. In Youzhou Province, Guo Hongyi was the clan head of Guo Clan of Threespring Prefecture. Although it was a bit disputable for Lan Yunxi to be the clan head of Huaiyuan Palace, it was finally widely accepted.


    The aftermath of Zhang Taixuan''s sudden death and his funeral ceremony didn''t fade away until one month later.


    On the afternoon of June 21st, when it was hot in summer, the atmosphere in Embracing Tiger City became abruptly solemn; teams of soldiers of Huaiyuan Palace started to patrol on streets.


    When a team of soldiers of Huaiyuan Palace entered a street not far from Embracing Tiger Mountain, the boss of a restaurant named Huaian went downstairs as he exchanged a glance with the team leader.


    "2 minutes'' rest. We will take some water here, lest heat stroke..." the team leader immediately spoke.


    The team leader''s words were hailed by all the other soldiers of the team at once. In such a hot day, the heat was rising; however, the soldiers were still wearing full-body armors. They had been patrolling on the streets for 2 hours. Like staying in steaming cages, they had long been oozing sweet all over and thirsty. However, they had to follow military order. Without the consent of the team leader, none of them dared be idle.


    Standing in the shadow of a banyan on the roadside, they didn''t undo their armors. They just took a short rest there.


    "Xiaosi, Xiaowu, quick, send pots of tea for the disciples of Huaiyuan Palace..." the boss hurriedly sent an order to his waiters.


    The two waiters hurriedly went out of the restaurant with pots of cold tea and teacups.


    At the sight of the brand of this restaurant, those soldiers didn''t decline as they immediately enjoyed the cold tea.


    In Yiyang Prefecture, all the restaurants whose brands contained the character Huai or Yuan were opened by Huaiyuan Palace. In fact, they were of the same family. Therefore, they trust each other very much. As it went, soldiers and commoners had a bosom relationship.


    When those soldiers and commoners were drinking cold tea, the team leader went to the gate of the restaurant and called the fat boss, "Second uncle..."


    "What''s up?" the boss waved his fan under the awning at the gate as he asked curiously, "Don''t you have to stay outside today? Why''re you in?"


    "I have no idea. It''s an order!" the team leader looked around as he added in a low tone, "It''s said that all the elders of Huaiyuan Palace have arrived. They''re discussing in the shrine palace..."


    "What for? That''s so intense. It''s almost like a curfew!"


    The team leader revealed a bitter smile as he answered, "Second uncle, don''t ask me. I''m just a team leader. How could I know what they''re discussing about. Even my immediate superior doesn''t know that!"


    "Has Elder Mushen arrived?"


    "I didn''t see any airboat from Jinwu City and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory today!" the team leader further lowered his voice as he approached his second uncle, "It''s said that Jinwu City and Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory didn''t assign a person to attend the funeral ceremony of the clan head. Even Elder Mushen and Elder Mushen''s elder brother didn''t attend it, including those people from the their old mansion. These days, the camp has been filled with rumors. I find it grows increasingly weirder. Second uncle, you''re already an old man of Huaiyuan Palace; you''ve even worked as a butler of the clan; you must have a broader vision than me. Can you tell me about the reason..."


    Hearing his words, the boss instantly stopped waving his fan as his face turned gloomy, and said, "Be prudent. Mind your own business. Speak less, do more! The more chaotic the surroundings is, the calmer you should be, am I clear?"


    "Clear!" the team leader nodded.


    After they had a short chat, the soldiers had almost finished their drink. As they were still on duty, they dared not drink too much in fear of going to the toilet. After a short break, the team leader led them away.


    ''What the hell! Huaiyuan Palace has just grown better with a great reputation; even the Gobbling Party has exited Northeast Military Territory 2 months ago. Why did events happen in Huaiyuan Palace one after another? After Elder Mushen disappeared, the clan head died suddenly. After that, Elder Mushen refused to take over the position of clan head; he even didn''t come to Embracing Tiger City. That''s not a good omen...''


    After those people left, the boss murmured as he patted his head by using his fan. Then, he turned around and looked at the Embracing Tiger Mountain in the far with full sadness.


    At this moment, Embracing Tiger Mountain was guarded in a much stricter manner. All the clan deacons and servants were standing around the shrine palace. Many people dared not even breathe fluently.


    EmbracingTiger Mountain was in a hubbub of cicada chirps. By contrast, the shrine palace was in absolute silence full of killing intent.


    In mourning dress, Lan Yunxi was sitting in the seat of clan head with a faint, pale face. She felt aggressive and resolute.


    Except for Zhang Tie, all the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace had been in the seat, none of which had a smile.


    Besides, Lan Yunxi''s 4th uncle and Zhang Taixuan''s younger brother Zhang Taibai was also sitting there.


    In front of the majestic statue of Lord Huaiyuan, the entire shrine palace was filled with Lan Yunxi''s clear and cold voice.


    "That day, right here, Zhang Tie killed my father in front of me. It''s Huaiyuan Palace''s tragedy and scandal. No matter what mistakes had my father made, even if he should not be remitted or was involved with Elder Mushen''s disappearance, he could only be disposed of by the clan''s elders meeting. As the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie privately killed the clan head in the shrine palace. He has broken the law of our clan. Hereby today I propose to dismiss Zhang Tie as the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace before exiling Zhang Tie [Zhang Mushen] and the branch of Jinwu Palace out of Huaiyuan Palace. From now on, the branch of Huaiyuan Palace would have nothing to do with the branch of Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang..."


    All the elders stayed silent as they frowned with a pale face.


    "Clan head, as you were in secluded cultivation in Taiyi Fantasy Sect that day, how did you suddenly appear in Embracing Tiger Mountain?''


    Elder Muray who was always bad-tempered and straightforward finally opened his mouth.


    "After promoting to an earth knight in Taiyi Fantasy Sect, I have been consolidating my cultivation base in the secluded back room. A few days ago before my father''s death, he suddenly contacted me and told me what happened to Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Tie. He hoped me to come back home. My father knew that I acquinted with Zhang Tie in Hidden Dragon Island. Therefore, he wanted me to comfort Zhang Tie. After receiving my father''s notice, I hurriedly returned to Huaiyuan Palace..." Lan Yunxi explained with grief as she looked at Elder Muray, "Elder Muray, why do you ask me that? Don''t you believe in my words?"


    Elder Muray let out a deep sigh before saying, "Sorry. Because so many major events have happened in Huaiyuan Palace in the last two months; additionally it''s not minor to oust the grand elder. Hopefully, we could figure out the details, lest that our Huaiyuan Palace did something that saddened our relatives due to animosity. I suggest the clan head to be cautious."


    "Zhang Tie killed my elder brother, the clan head privately. He has been hostic against the branch of Yiyang City. Hereby today, I would tell you on behalf of Yiyang City. If not oust Zhang Tie today, our branch of Yiyang City would establish another Huaiyuan Palace. Even though Zhang Tie is unrivaled in battle strength and power, our branch of Yiyang City doesn''t lack morale..." Zhang Taibai opened his mouth in muffled voice while Lan Yunxi stayed silent.


    All the other elders were stunned as Lan Yunxi and Zhang Taibai were forcing them to cut off the relation with Zhang Tie with the branch of Yiyang City as a threat. If they didn''t oust Zhang Tie today, Huaiyuan Palace would split up.


    All the elders appeared struggling as they could only choose one between Zhang Tie and the branch of Yiyang City. However, the branch of Yiyang City belonged to the posterities of the first wife of Lord Huaiyuan. Even incumbent clan head of Huaiyuan Palace came from Yiyang City. If Yiyang City declared independence, Huaiyuan Palace would not exist essentially...


    That was the largest crisis facing Huaiyuan Palace ever since its birth. This was a juncture of the future of Huaiyuan Palace. In this case, no matter which party did the elders choose, they would definitely be sworn by people in the future.


    At the sight of the looks of all the elders at present, Elder Muyuan sighed as he took out an envelope, "Elders, here''s the letter that Elder Mushen wrote for us. Elder Mushen has contacted me yesterday. He has already requested to resign from the position of the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace and build a new clan..."


    Elder Muyuan then passed it to Elder Muen.


    This letter meant Zhang Tie''s separation from Huaiyuan Palace as it was written by Zhang Tie''s blood.


    After reading Zhang Tie''s letter, all the elders had complex feelings. It appeared that Zhang Tie had long predicted today''s result. Therefore, in case of separation of Huaiyuan Palace and making all the other elders embarrassed in Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Tie resigned from the position of the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace and cut off the relation with Huaiyuan Palace. He wanted to establish another clan...


    In Taixia Country, when friends cut off a relationship, they would break their sleeves which meant the separation of friendship. Similarly, when someone in a clan would cut off the relation between him and the rest of the clan, he would write a letter by using his own blood which meant the separation of the bloodline.


    Zhang Tie did that to maintain the decency of Huaiyuan Palace; meanwhile, he shouldered all the responsibilities and bad comments due to this event.


    Reading that letter, Lan Yunxi''s face turned whiter.


    Zhang Taibai threw a glance at Lan Yunxi as he saw a very complex emotion from her eyes...


    ...


    At the same time, Zhang Yang was drawing a big circle on a map of available land for sale about Youzhou Province on a table in the Land Resources Mansion of Youzhou Province in Youzhou City, which included the large area of land between Jinwu City and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. The total of the land occupied a small part of Youzhou Province which was equal to the size of some prefectures...


    "This area, I want them all..." Zhang Yang turned around and told an elder of Lu Clan who was in charge of land trading affairs in the Land Resources Mansion.


    "Aah, this area covers over 2,000 square miles. You want them all?"


    "I want them all!" Zhang Yang nodded as he added, "I don''t care about its price. Hopefully, Land Resources Mansion could handle with the proceedings as soon as possible!"


    After that, Zhang Yang left Land Resources Mansion accompanied respectfully by the Lu elder.


    When he exited the Land Resources Mansion, Zhang Yang looked up at the sunny sky. Unconsciously, Zhang Yang felt ambitious and confident instead of being disappointed.


    ''From today on, Zhang Tie and I would establish a new clan.''


    ...


    Soon after Zhang Yang left the Land Resources Mansion, the Lu elder had hurriedly come to the White Tiger Platform.


    At this moment, Lu Dingzhi in the official robe of Youzhou provincial governor was reading books quietly in the newly rennovated study. After being told that a clan elder wanted to see him, Lu Dingzhi let him in as he heard what Zhang Yang had done for him.


    Lowering his head, Lu Dingzhi watched the map which was marked by Zhang Yang for a short while before looking up at his clan elder, saying, "It appears that Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang would like to establish a new clan!"


    "What should we do?"


    "What can we do?" Lu Dingzhi sighed, "Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie are unrivaled in wealth. It''s reasonable and legit for them to purchase land. We have no reason to stop them from doing that!"


    The Lu elder said as he watched such a big piece of land marked on the map of Youzhou Province, "If so, Youzhou Province as a whole would almost belong to Zhang family''s private land. It depends on their opinion who would be the Youzhou provincial governor in the future!"


    "Do you think that we should ignore their opinion now?" Dingzhi asked with a self-deprecating smile, "Do you know how many earth demon knights have Zhang Tie killed at the bank of Weishui River? A Youzhou provincial governor, an earth knight is nothing but sh*t in front of Zhang Tie. If he doesn''t agree, do you think that I could ascend to the position of Youzhou provincial governor? There''re two reasons why the commander chooses me to take over the position of Youzhou provincial governor: I could handle with political affairs as good as Zhang Taixuan; what''s more, I''m more docile than Zhang Taixuan. I know what to do and what not to do..."


    "Is that gossip real? Was Zhang Taixuan killed by..." the Lu elder asked in a low voice.


    "It''s the domestic affair of Huaiyuan Palace. Don''t mention it anymore. After losing a Youzhou provincial governor, even Xuanyuan Hill didn''t care about that as they had admitted Zhang clan''s explanation. Zhang Taixuan''s corpse had been burned. Our outsiders shouldn''t comment it in case of trouble. Immortal Qianji is always bright and frank. He''s never that merciless. Later on, Lu disciples are forbidden to talk about it. Otherwise, I would severely punish them..." Lu Dingzhi said as his face gradually turned solemn.


    "Yes, clan head..." Lu elder said as he bowed.


    "You can leave. Handle with Zhang Yang''s land purchase proceedings as soon as possible. Give him the biggest discount we can. We Lu Clan don''t need to be involved with this affair!"


    "I see!"


    After that Lu elder left, Lu Dingzhi strolled for a while in the study before fetching another Lu elder.


    "It''s said that Zhang Tie has a nephew learning in the official school of Youzhou Province?"


    "Yes, he''s Zhang Chengan, Zhang Yang''s son!"


    "Is he as old as Wanqing?"


    "Almost..."


    Lu Dingzhi then watched that clan elder silently while stroking his mustache with a smile. That Lu elder immediately understood it as he replied, "I see, I will arrange it right away..."


    "Keep secret. You''re free to use Lu''s resources. As Wanqing is clever and sagacious, she would coordinate with you. Make it as natural as possible..."


    After the Lu elder left, Lu Dingzhi shook his head as he looked at the direction of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and let out a sigh...


    ...


    On June 21st, Zhang Tie cut off the relation with Huaiyuan Palace by writting a letter using his own blood and resigned from the position of the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace; Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang would establish a new clan. The news had almost spread across the territory of Northeast Military Region in the evening...


    ...

 1509 Flying Cloud City

    Flying Cloud City, Shangyu Prefecture, Tongzhou Province...


    At night, the roadside lamps had been lit up in Anping City. All the hotels and restaurants in the downtown had started to be filled with guests. In a hotel called As You Will in Redsparrow Avenue, Flying Cloud City, a waiter with a white towel on his shoulder was soliciting guests outside the gate.


    "Come on in please. Our food and drinks are cheap. No fraud, we''ve got all sorts of drinks and food as you want..."


    Flying Cloud City was originally a big city in Shangyu Prefecture with over 4 million people. However, the catastrophe of bloody figures affected over 10 prefectures 2 years ago. Shangyu Prefecture was heavily afflicted by bloody figures. Flying Cloud City had also suffered a great loss in this catastrophe. The entire Flying Cloud City along with dozens of towns outside the city had almost deteriorated into ruins. Fewer than 400 thousand people finally survived this disaster.


    After two more years, the bloody figures in Shangyu Prefecture had almost been swept over. At least no bloody figure could be seen in cities and the suburbs. Even if there were, they had already hidden in deep woods and were being chased by many bounty criminal hunters. However, the damages left to Flying Cloud City couldn''t be mended within a short period.


    Although Flying Cloud City was already in reconstruction over the past 2 years, traces left by bloody figures could still be seen everywhere in this city. Some city walls inside the city had not been fixed well. Ruins could also be found in prosperous areas and residential districts. After ruins were cleared on roadsides, large areas of open land were left there, most of which place had been covered with weeds.


    However, the largest change to Flying Cloud City was the sharp decrease in its population. Although some beneficial policies had been executed to stimulate people to migrate in Flying Cloud City these two years, it still contained fewer than 1 million people, which was fewer than one-quarter of the former population. As a result, the former prosperous city turned a bit sluggish.


    As it was in the holy war, it was already very fortunate for a person to find a job and feed himself in such a sluggish city which was once prosperous.


    Therefore, the waiter solicited guests at his full efforts.


    "The specialties today are pleasant eight treasures. If you consume 6 silver coins, we will gift you a pot of self-brewed dark plum spirit..."


    At this moment, a person who looked a bit tired negotiated a dim alley aside As You Will slowly. When he passed by the roadside lamp, his travel-stained face was immediately recognized by that waiter. The waiter''s eyes turned bright at once as he hurriedly strode forward with a big smile. At the same time, he turned his head to have his towel circle around his neck while he started to clean the guest''s trouser legs, then the latter''s clothes as a whole.


    "Come on in, friend. Long time no see. You appear having not taken food. Come on in, come on in..." the waiter passionately welcomed the guest in.


    The guest looked up at the waiter with a bit shock, asking, "You remember me?"


    "Why not? Haven''t you come here one month ago?" the waiter asked with a sincere simile, adding, "You even asked me something before rewarding me with a gold coin as a tip. You''re the first VIP who rewarded me with one gold coin since I became the waiter of this hotel. I even kept that gold coin till now. How could I forget you..."


    The waiter said as he led the guest to a table next to the street on the first floor, saying, "Look, you said you liked to sit close to the street. You even chose this table last time!"


    The guest replied with a faint smile as he said, "Give me some food and drinks..."


    "Got it, please wait for a moment. I will serve you right now..."


    Of course, the guest who had been in As You Will was Zhang Tie.


    Over one month ago, Zhang Tie had already come to Flying Cloud City to look for the kid of Ma Aiyun and him. Zhang Tie had almost traveled across all the prefectures and cities in Shangyu Prefecture and Tongzhou Province as a whole where were affected by bloody figures and had communicated with a lot of survivors. He had tried every means he could. He even had Golden Roc Bank and the Bright Way Building in Tongzhou Province to deliver a notice with a great amount of reward for clues. However, all these didn''t work.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know the look of that kid; however, if he was his son, Zhang Tie could definitely sense it and recognize him when he saw him. With this belief, Zhang Tie kept looking for his son for over one month.


    Yesterday, after traveling across Tongzhou Province, with concern and the last bit hope, Zhang Tie returned to Flying Cloud City. Today, Zhang Tie kept walking in Flying Cloud City in vain...


    Too many people had died in Flying Cloud City that day. Additionally, bloody figures had burned the entire city, turning it almost into ruins as a whole. As a result, many people were turned into ash. The place where Zhang Taixuan arranged that kid in the south of Flying Cloud City had completely been in ruins. Therefore, it would definitely be more difficult than finding a needle in the hay in the residential area which suffered a great casualty.


    Zhang Tie had just traveled there. The ruins in the residential area had already been cleaned up. However, the weeds there were as high as 1 m. At night, some will-o''-the-wisp were floating over there which appeared very frightening. Almost nobody lived in the surroundings. That place was going to be built into a camp for city guards...


    After a short while, the waiter had served Zhang Tie 5 dishes and 1 flagon of spirit. Sitting beside the window, Zhang Tie watched the sparse population passing by as he ate food numbly. He was envisioning a blood-tied teenager who looked like Ma Aiyun among the crowd...


    Zhang Tie would soon leave here. If he couldn''t find his kid, he had to return to Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    After over one month''s search, although he didn''t want to face that possibility, Zhang Tie realized that the kid of him and Ma Aiyun probably had already perished in the disturbance caused by bloody figures three years ago.


    Zhang Tie had a mouth of time-honored dark plum spirit; although it tasted sweet, it was bitter later. Only Zhang Tie could taste the bitterness...

 1510 Living Well

    Zhang Tie had been looking for his kid in Tongzhou Province for over one month. He might not get rid of the series of strikes unless making himself busy without any illusion.


    It was Zhang Tie''s nadir over the past two months. During this period, he lost his grandpa, his two cute senior sister apprentices, his beloved woman and might have lost his son. He was even betrayed by someone on his side and killed the former clan head of Huaiyuan Palace, turning Lan Yunxi from the one who loved him to his rival.


    The scandal that the clan head intended to screw the grand elder of Huaiyuan Palace was a fatal blow to the clan cohesiveness of Huaiyuan Palace. As long as it was exposed, Huaiyuan Palace would be separated at a stroke.


    Not until now did Zhang Tie completely tell others about what Zhang Taixuan had done; nor did he know how much did Lan Yunxi know about this event and how much had she heard outside the shrine palace that day!


    As a descendant of Lord Huaiyuan, the last thing that Zhang Tie did for Huaiyuan Palace was to silently bear the "clan scandal" which would make Huaiyuan Palace a laughingstock and negative example for the other clans hundreds of years later.


    Despite some gossips and guesses outside, as long as Zhang Tie didn''t admit it, they would never be widely accepted.


    These gossips and rumors would fade away with time and Huaiyuan Palace would barely be influenced.


    Children in poor families were more sensible. Disasters and frustrations would help a man grow up much faster. Over the past two months, what Zhang Tie experienced had brought him great changes.


    Zhang Tie killed both Zhang Taixuan and the former immature and romantic Zhang Tie.


    That day, when Zhang Tie exited the shrine palace of Huaiyuan Palace, he had determined that his drop of tear in the shrine palace was the last drop for the rest of his life.


    ...


    "Have you heard that? I received a piece of news from Youzhou Province yesterday that Immortal Qianji has already written a letter to Huaiyuan Palace so as to end up the relationship between them. He''s going to establish a new clan..." Some diners were discussing the "major event" that had already spread across the Northeast Military Region at a table beside Zhang Tie. These commoners were most interested in talking about the animosity and anecdotes concerning major clans.


    "If it was me, I would definitely not agree with it. What the hell is Huaiyuan Palace doing? Zhang Taixuan has died. Immortal Qianji should take over his position for sure. How could they have Zhang Taixuan''s daughter take over this position? Immortal Qianji is a great hero! How could he aid a female in Huaiyuan Palace? Of course, he would establish a new clan!" the other diner said as he shook his head, continuing, "I''m afraid that those elders of Huaiyuan Palace would stir up Immortal Qianji this time. It''s said that Immortal Qianji has already given concession to Zhang Taixuan for the position of clan head of Huaiyuan Palace. How could Immortal Qianji stand it again..."


    As they were not involved in this affair, these commoners would always deduce various versions of grotesque explanations.


    Zhang Tie listened to their talk as he kept his eyes closely on the passers-by in the avenue. He then made another cup of dark plum spirit to raise a toast to what had happened in the past.


    The past was sour, bitter and sweet. The reality was as spicy as fire. After melding with spirit, the sourness of the dark plum would be replaced by the flavor of spirit...


    "Do you know that? I was told that Zhang Taixuan died after meeting Immortal Qianji. Someone said that Zhang Taixuan was killed by Immortal Qianji..." a diner at the same table muttered after looking around.


    "That must be a rumor. Zhang Taixuan was a provincial governor with a good reputation. How could Immortal Qianji kill him out of no reason? It''s said that the Gobbling Party was driven out of Northeast Military Region by Immortal Qianji a few days ago, I''m afraid that the rumor was cooked by the Gobbling Party. What an evil trick..." someone instantly refuted with a disdainful look.


    "I wonder about the name of the new clan of Immortal Qianji. Given Immortal Qianji''s reputation and majesty, his clan would definitely be another major clan titled Zhang in Taixia Country..."


    In discussions, that table of diners was full as they left the hotel satisfactorily.


    Zhang Tie drank alone. Not until those people left the hotel did the waiter reappear on his side, saying, "Sir, I''m so sorry, the boss is going to close the door. He sent me to notice you..."


    The person who looked similar to Ma Aiyun that Zhang Tie had been waiting for a few hours finally didn''t show up. Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside. After forgetting about that luxurious thought, he turned around to ask the waiter, "Really?"


    "As there''re few people in Flying Cloud City at present. After being afflicted by bloody figures, will-o''-the-wisp could be seen somewhere in the evening which was pretty frightening. Therefore, stores and hotels in Flying Cloud City close their doors earlier than before. You''ve got two dishes complete. Do you need me to heat them up?"


    "Aren''t you going to close the door? Why would you heat up the dishes for me?" Zhang Tie asked with a smile.


    "Don''t worry. I''m here with you. The boss would not blame me for that if we stayed here for a long while..."


    "Well, I will not bother you. I''ve been full..." Zhang Tie picked himself up as he put his hand into his coat while he actually took out a gold coin from his portable space-teleportation equipment.


    "No need. Sir, you''ve already paid for that..."


    "I''ve already paid for it?" Zhang Tie became a bit transfixed as he asked, "Who did that?"


    "Sir, you''ve already rewarded me with a gold coin last time. This meal only costs a bit more than 4 silver coins. After deducting 4 more silver coins, I''ve still got more than 90 silver coins from you..." The waiter smiled, revealing snow-white teeth in a passionate, considerate and warm manner. Zhang Tie, therefore, threw one more glance at him as he continued the talk.


    "It''s so late. Don''t you have to go back home?"


    "I have no home!"


    "What happened?"


    "All my family members have perished in the disaster of bloody figures two years ago, including my parents, my wife who had just married me and the whole family of my father-in-law. Two years ago, I went errands in a firm. When the disaster broke out, I was not in the city. Therefore, I survived myself fortunately!" the waiter''s voice soon turned gloomy.


    "Sorry to hear that!"


    After taking in a deep breath, the waiter revealed a jarring, passionate and sunny smile as he said, "It''s fine. I was too sad at that time; I almost committed suicide. However, I feel better now. I could learn and save money in the hotel. When I have enough money, I will open a hotel and marry a woman, have some babies. Previously, my parents both hoped me to be a boss one day. I''ve thought through it. Even though I am alone, I would also live well for them. If they could see me, they would definitely hope that I could restart my life with a smile every day. Therefore, I would never let them down. Previously, my papa used to tell me that a man should live well with a smile no matter how many hardships had he experienced. I''m going to live well with a smile for them..."


    ¡ª¡ªA man should live well with a smile no matter how many hardships had he experienced!


    Zhang Tie was deeply touched by this line. Facing this waiter who had lost all of his family members yet still with a brilliant smile, Zhang Tie suddenly realized that what he experienced in the past two months seemed nothing serious. In this world, too many people were more hapless than him. As a male knight, he had no reason to immerse in that hapless event.


    Watching the waiter''s smile, Zhang Tie nodded after a short silence as he said, "You''re right. We will live well no matter what. Never mind the cold dishes. Give me two bowls of rice!"


    "Don''t you need to heat them up?"


    "No need!"


    "Okay, wait for a moment please!"


    Only after a short while, the waiter had already served two bowls of hot rice. Zhang Tie devoured them all as fast as he could.


    "Here you are..."


    After his dinner, Zhang Tie took out a golden earth-element crystal from inside his coat and put it on the waiter''s hand.


    "Aah, why?"


    "When you''re ready to be a boss, take this earth-element crystal to Golden Roc Bank, and request them to exchange it for gold coins..."


    "It appears to be a crystal. It should be very expensive!" the waiter looked at the crystal as he asked Zhang Tie in a bashful way.


    It was very normal for a commoner to be confused about the value of an earth-element crystal.


    "Haha, not exactly. Treat it as my gift for this meal! We''re friends!"


    "That''s too generous..." The waiter wanted to return it back to Zhang Tie.


    "Bear what you said in mind. We should both live well with a smile!" Zhang Tie said as he took in a deep breath and patted the waiter''s shoulder. Closely after that, Zhang Tie disappeared.


    "Aah..." the waiter was so scared as he almost dropped off the earth-element crystal.


    Although Zhang Tie couldn''t run his battle qi and spiritual energy, he could still use his amazing physical strength and activate his ancestral bloodlines. Right now, Zhang Tie moved too fast that he seemed to have disappeared in only a split second in the eyes of that waiter.


    Almost the moment Zhang Tie left the hotel had he ascended to almost 100 m high in the sky. Right then, the thunder hawk which shared telepathy with him arrived as fast as a lightning bolt and carried Zhang Tie on its back steadily.


    "Let''s go back home..." Zhang Tie said as he patted the thunder hawk''s head.


    After sensing Zhang Tie''s changing mood, the thunder hawk hooted, which could be heard across Flying Cloud City. Before the knights in Flying Cloud City arrived here, they had already accelerated towards Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory as fast a lightning bolt...


    ...


    Shangyu Prefecture was only about 2,000 miles away from Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory. It only took them fewer than one hour to arrive there.


    When he arrived at Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory, the sky was dotted with stars. When he was hundreds of miles away from Eighteen Xuantian Peaks, Zhang Tie found that Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi were talking in an attic of Flyingphoenix Peak and Bai Suxian was cultivating in her backroom...


    With the relentless efforts of thousands of able craftsmen and hundreds of airships, the courtyards and buildings in Flyingphoenix Peak had been completed in fewer than one month. Flyingphoenix Peak was already available to living now. During the past one more month, Yan Feiqing had been staying in Flyingphoenix Peak and stabilizing the rear end of Zhang Tie''s Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Zhang Tie had the thunder hawk hover above that complex in Flyingphoenix Peak. Closely after that, he jumped off the thunder hawk and landed outside the attic where Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi were in.


    Almost the moment Zhang Tie returned, Yan Feiqing had already known that. No sooner had Zhang Tie landed than Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi exited the attic.


    Yan Feiqing knew that Zhang Tie was looking for the kid of him and Ma Aiyun alone. At the sudden sight of Zhang Tie, Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi were both exhilarated and surprised.


    At this moment, Yan Feiqing was in white skirt while Guo Hongyi in red skirt. The two women were like sisters with utterly different personalities. Guo Hongyi was as hot as fire while Yan Feiqing was as cold as ice.


    "Aah, you''re back..." Yan Feiqing revealed a smile. Before she finished her words, she had been stopped by Zhang Tie''s long kiss.


    It was Guo Hongyi''s first time to see Zhang Tie kissing her master. Watching Zhang Tie kissing Yan Feiqing in an overbearing manner and kneading her breast forcefully, changing her breast''s shape in a various way, Guo Hongyi''s face turned red as she was at a loss of what to say...


    After the kiss, Zhang Tie cradled Yan Feiqing as he walked towards the attic. When he reached the gate, he turned around and sent an order to Guo Hongyi, "Follow us in..."


    After saying these words, Zhang Tie entered the attic with Yan Feiqing in his arms. Only after a short hesitation, Guo Hongyi had gritted her teeth as she entered the attic...

 1511 New Life

    Overnight, Zhang Tie felt being a teenager again as he gave vent to Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi at his full efforts. He fully released his depression and grief that he had accumulated over the past two months through creampies.


    After so many times'' release, Zhang Tie finally calmed down as he fell asleep for the first time over the past two months.


    He woke up late. When he opened his eyes, the sun rays had already cast onto the bed through the windows which were covered with carved patterns. Birds were tweeting cheerily on the twigs outside the room. It seemed to be almost noon.


    The body fragrance of Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi were still over the bed and pillows; however, the two women were not on the bed.


    Squinting his eyes, Zhang Tie leaned against the head of the bed as he looked at the bright sunshine outside the windows in a trance.


    With a cracking sound, the door was pushed open as Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi entered with a basin of water respectively.


    "You''re awake?" Yan Feiqing asked.


    "Hmm!" Zhang Tie nodded as he fixated on Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi, who had already dressed up. After being "lubricated" by Zhang Tie overnight, Yan Feiqing''s face turned red and shiny and more charming while Guo Hongyi appeared a bit more womanly. With a straight upward bun, Guo Hongyi looked more like a woman, Zhang Tie''s wife.


    Watching them entering with water, Zhang Tie also got off naked. Standing aside from the bed, he was waiting for their service. Guo Hongyi still felt a bit bashful. By contrast, Yan Feiqing was straightforward as she directly squatted down to clean Zhang Tie''s body with water.


    Guo Hongyi then imitated Yan Feiqing to serve Zhang Tie.


    "You were too ferocious last night. Hongyi almost passed out and couldn''t get up this morning. She didn''t recover until I fed her a vial of a senior medicament..." Yan Feiqing said as she cleaned up Zhang Tie''s body and rolled her eyes on Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie recalled the grandeur when she conquered the master and her apprentice last night, being stimulated by water, Zhang Tie''s "mummy" turned grim at a stroke.


    Yan Feiqing remained calm as she continued to clean Zhang Tie''s body. As Guo Hongyi had just become a woman, her hands quivered as she almost dropped her towel and dared not look into Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    "Thank you so much for the last night. It would be fine in the future..." Zhang Tie told Guo Hongyi gently.


    "Hmm..." Guo Hongyi replied in a low tone.


    Enjoying their service, Zhang Tie kept looking outside the window with profound eye light. When they were going to put on clothes for him, Zhang Tie suddenly told Yan Feiqing, "How about merging Fantasy Lady Palace into Iron-Dragon Sect?"


    "Merging Fantasy Lady Sect into Iron-Dragon Sect?" Yan Feiqing slowed down at once.


    In the bedroom, Yan Feiqing always treated herself as Zhang Tie''s first wife. However, she was officially the head of Fantasy Lady Sect outside. Zhang Tie''s suggestion was not only a domestic affair but also involved the two sects and many people. Therefore, Yan Feiqing slowed down as she started to deliberate it.


    "Why?" Yan Feiqing asked Zhang Tie as she implied Guo Hongyi to fasten the waistband for Zhang Tie.


    No matter how serious she was in front of outsiders, Guo Hongyi was always docile in front of Yan Feiqing and Zhang Tie. Therefore, she just listened aside.


    "I have been thinking about it for a long time. I didn''t mention it before as it was not proper!" Zhang Tie replied calmly as he added, "However, it''s different now. From today on, I will establish a new clan. I have nothing to do with Huaiyuan Palace anymore. As you''re my wives, it''s unnecessary for you to support Fantasy Lady Sect alone. Additionally, you don''t have too many disciples in Fantasy Lady Sect. It''s not difficult for you to move all of them here. Besides you and Hongyi, none of the other disciples of yours are knights. If you stay in Iron-Dragon Sect, Fantasy Lady Sect would be weak and we could barely provide any relief timely in emergencies. Additionally, if you return to Fantasy Lady Sect when I was not in Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory, I would worry about the safety of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Therefore, the best way is to merge Fantasy Lady Sect into Iron-Dragon Sect. In this way, at least one of us is in Iron-Dragon Sect. As it''s too dangerous now, Taixia Country is full of hidden forces, plus demons, if Fantasy Lady Sect merges into Iron-Dragon Sect, we would realize a win-win situation; if not, both of us would suffer a loss!"


    "Let me think about it. The female disciples in Fantasy Lady Sect have been used to the living style in Cloud Dream Mountain, where men are forbidden inside. They didn''t see any man at all; if they suddenly moved here, I''m afraid that they would not be able to adapt to it..."


    "After they move here, Flyingphoenix Peak would be only exclusive to female. I would not come here either. They could adapt to it slowly. There''re too many exotic and tranquil places in Flyingphoenix Peak, where they could enter secluded cultivation without being disturbed!" Zhang Tie said as he touched Yan Feiqing''s lower abdomen, saying, "Furthermore, you''ve got a baby now. Do you want to traverse between the two locations? If you delivered a baby in Fantasy Lady Sect, I would worry about you. No matter what, our kid should not grow up among female!"


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s last words, Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi stopped what they were doing at the same time like being frozen.


    "What...I...I''ve got a baby..." Yan Feiqing widely opened her eyes as she asked Zhang Tie in a quivering sound.


    When Zhang Tie was receiving medical treatment in Xuanyuan Hill, Yan Feiqing had expressed to have a baby. However, she didn''t get pregnant during the period when she stayed with Zhang Tie. Therefore, Yan Feiqing was a bit intense as she was scared that she had lost her fertility due to age. Of course, she was pretty shocked when she heard that she had got a baby.


    "Yes, yesterday, we''ve created a baby. I have telepathy with the baby. You''ve already got pregnant. You will sense its existence this month. You will deliver the baby one year later. It''s a boy..." Zhang Tie said firmly.


    Closing her eyes, Yan Feiqing gently stroked her lower abdomen as if she was sensing the young and sacred life. When she opened her eyes, her eyes had already turned solemn. Closely after that, she turned to Zhang Tie with a bit complex eye light, saying, "I feel you''ve changed too much..."

 1512 Zhangs Jinwu Palace

    Yan Feiqing knew that Zhang Tie possessed too many secrets. As a smart woman, although she could take away her husband''s purse, even extrude his physical strength, she could never get all of his secrets.


    Zhang Tie said he had telepathy with the oncoming baby; whereas, Yan Feiqing could clearly sense that her pregnancy was completely under Zhang Tie''s control. Although she didn''t know whether Zhang Tie had used a secret method or not, for practical purposes, she could imagine it when she referred to the bygones of the other women''s pregnancy.


    Zhang Tie didn''t say it; therefore, Yan Feiqing didn''t ask about it.


    When in Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie didn''t make Yan Feiqing pregnant because he might think that the overall situation and environment were not suitable to her pregnancy, which, otherwise, would be affected by many aspects. Therefore, he procrastinated it until now.


    No sooner had Zhang Tie returned than Yan Feiqing got pregnant. Meanwhile, he wanted to incorporate Fantasy Lady Sect into Iron-Dragon Sect. Although being a couple, Zhang Tie didn''t spare a chance for Yan Feiqing to refute. Therefore, Yan Feiqing could only listen to his arrangement.


    If it were before, Zhang Tie would have negotiated with Yan Feiqing carefully and spared some time for her to deliberate it if he wanted to merge Fantasy Lady Sect. He would even pay a visit to Fantasy Lady Sect. However, after his return, though one night''s extreme pleasure together with Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi, Zhang Tie had resolved Yan Feiqing''s resistance and incorporated Fantasy Lady Sect silently, restricting Yan Feiqing to Iron-Dragon Sect and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory as a result.


    It was neither a trick nor means; instead, it denoted that Zhang Tie was growing maturer, more powerful and overbearing.


    This was Zhang Tie''s change which Yan Feiqing didn''t say that she liked it or not. Zhang Tie was still her beloved man. However, after this man left Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory for over one month, his return implied some invisible changes which Yan Feiqing couldn''t describe it explicitly. Purely from the angle of view of a wife, she felt that Zhang Tie was more concerned about his family and became more obscure for this first lady, a heavenly knight.


    Zhang Tie''s change made Yan Feiqing reassured and painful; because only she knew why Zhang Tie had changed.


    "A new life, a new start..." Zhang Tie sighed with feeling as he stroked her lower abdomen, "Let''s call this baby Zhang Chengzong. With I as his father and a heavenly knight as his mother, he would never be screwed in the future even if he passed his time with food and women every day. I don''t pose a high request to him. I only want him to carry forward our bloodlines..."


    "Peh, shut up! That sounds disgusting..." Yan Feiqing rolled her eyes on Zhang Tie as she slammed Zhang Tie''s palm, forcing him to move his palm away from her lower abdomen. At the same time, she said with the instinct as a mother, "As long as I''m with him, I will definitely have him promote to a knight, even greater than you..."


    "Haha, hope so. So, you''ve already got a family. Don''t run here and there all day long. Just stay in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory to attend your husband and teach the babies and protect our family..."


    "What will you do then?"


    Zhang Tie burst into laughter, saying, "Women should always stay at home while men should always fight outside. Of course, I would fight outside so that they could live in a peaceful and happy environment; instead of being slaved by demons. Besides, I will make more milk-powder money and create greater undertakings for them so that they could have something to share in the future!"


    Zhang Tie said with a joke. However, Yan Feiqing believed that as she nodded, "You''re right. But what about your wound..."


    "There''s always a solution. After handling the domestic affairs, I will go to the southern border with Suxian. After coming back, I will focus on solving it. If I couldn''t resolve it in one year, I will make it in two, ten or twenty years. I don''t believe that the aftermath of the thunder of nirvana could haunt me for the rest of my life!" Zhang Tie said straightforwardly.


    "Oh, you''ve not confirmed the name of our new clan yet. Zhang Yang was waiting for you these days so as to fix it!"


    ...


    "Stop it, elder brother. Qianji Palace doesn''t work. I don''t like it. As Zhang family belongs to you and me, let''s call it Zhang''s Jinwu Palace. With the predecessor of Jinwu Business Group, all the people in Taixia Country would know that Zhang''s Jinwu Palace belongs to us..."


    At afternoon, Zhang Tie was negotiating with the elders of Iron-Dragon Sect, Zhang Yang, his wives and Donder in the shrine palace of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to gather so many people for a conference since he was screwed by Zhang Taixuan. Basically, it was a conference for expanding the scale of Zhang family or Iron-Dragon Sect. Because it was concerned about both Iron-Dragon Sect and Zhang family, Zhang Tie summoned all the major figures.


    Almost the moment Zhang Yang opened his mouth, Zhang Tie had fixed the name of the new clan.


    Zhang Yang then replied with a warm smile. As brothers, they didn''t need to argue about that. Therefore, their new clan would be Zhang''s Jinwu Palace.


    "Besides, the knights of Zhang''s Jinwu Palace should have an exclusive character in their names. As there''re already 875 clans surnamed Zhang who have founded shrine palaces, none of the 875 characters in the names of their knights could be used by the knights of Zhang''s Jinwu Palace anymore. I''ve already had people make a list of available characters through sifting. All the characters on the list are available to Zhang''s Jinwu Palace..." Zhang Yang said as he passed a list of characters to Zhang Tie.


    After skimming over it, Zhang Tie asked his elder brother, "I''m not familiar with the proceedings for establishing a clan and a shrine palace; what else should we do after selecting the exclusive character?"


    "After confirming the name of our clan and fixing the exclusive character for our knights, on the date when the shrine palace of Zhang''s Jinwu Palace is founded, we will pass an introduction of our clan to all the other 875 Zhang clans. By then, this event would almost come to an end. Later on, all the other Zhang clans would avoid from using the name of our clan and the exclusive character in the names of our knights!"


    "Which character do you select, elder brother?"


    "I''m not a knight yet. Therefore, the selection of the character could only be done by you. Later on, all those who select their last characters for their names would be knights. With the exclusive character selected by you in the middle of their names, our juniors would be blessed by you for a greater battle strength. Besides being a tradition in Taixia Country, it''s also an incentive. It would be a joke if I selected it!" Zhang Yang said as he shook his head.


    ...

 1513 The Middle Character

    After being told that it was a tradition in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie didn''t insist on it anymore; instead, he started his selection on the list of characters conscientiously.


    There were too many regulations on establishing a clan and a shrine palace in Taixia Country. As 875 of totally over 3,000 characters had been selected by Zhang clans across the country, after deducting those strange and unfortunate words which couldn''t be used in names, there were only hundreds of characters left available on the list.


    After looking at it for a short while, Zhang Tie fixed his eyes on one character unconsciously¡ª¡ª"Pu"


    Hua culture was extensive and profound. Each Hua character was of great meaning. Unconsciously, Zhang Tie was attracted by this character. Being composed of a radical which meant person on the left and a character denoting prediction on the right, this character carried deep meaning. Zhang Tie implicitly felt that he had seen this character somewhere.


    "Elder brother, how about the character ''Pu''..." Zhang Tie asked as he circled the character "Pu" with a pen before returning the list to Zhang Yang.


    "Pu?" Zhang Yang was shocked by Zhang Tie''s decision as it was too unusual. However, he accepted it soon as he said, "Great, let''s take the character ''Pu''!"


    After exchanging a glance with each other, all the others at present considered about the meaning of the character as they nodded in unison.


    If so, the official names of all the knights in Zhang''s Jinwu Palace would be Zhang PuX, including Zhang Yang, Zhang Su, even Zhang''s junior knights.


    Therefore, the character "Pu" became exclusive to all the knights of Jinwu Palace. As for the official name of Zhang Mushen, even though Zhang Tie had denounced Huaiyuan Palace by writing a letter with blood, he didn''t mean to change it.


    Zhang Yang then told Zhang Tie about the land purchase.


    This trade went smoothly. Only after one day later since Zhang Yang visited the Land Resources Mansion of Youzhou Province, he had received the notice that the relevant proceedings would be handled in 5 days.


    It took Jinwu Business Group more than 440 million gold coins in purchasing over 2,300 square miles'' land in Youzhou Province. After linking with the territory of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and Jinwu City, the total land area of Jinwu Palace would cover over 3,000 square miles, which was almost half of the land area of Youzhou Province.


    Because Jinwu Business Group was shared by Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang, of course, this land belonged to their common assets.


    After reaching agreements on these issues, they would wait for 7 days. After the land purchase proceedings were completed, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang would officially establish a new clan and a shrine palace and distribute the notice to the other Zhang clans across the country. With the establishment of Zhang''s Jinwu Palace, the two brothers welcomed a wholly new, brilliant start.


    Since the beginning, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang had not grown up in Huaiyuan Palace and were always incongruous with Huaiyuan Palace. After denouncing Huaiyuan Palace, the two brothers finally got rid of all the bonds from Huaiyuan Palace and could develop their own clan and undertakings.


    Zhang Yang was fully ambitious about the future. Zhang Tie also had a complex feeling. When the two brothers were in Blackhot City, they could never imagine establishing an unrivaled clan and shrine palace in Taixia Country.


    "There''s one more thing that I''d like to negotiate with you..." Zhang Tie opened his mouth after his elder brother.


    "Go ahead."


    "I''ve traveled around Tongzhou Province these days. The bloody figures in the province have basically been pacified; however, the damages and influence caused by bloody figures could barely be eliminated in a short period. Many cities had sparse populations; more people lost their homes and family members in the disaster. Orphans and single parents who had lost their children could be seen everywhere. Although the official mansions across the country have been spearheading their efforts to eliminate the aftermath, due to the large scale of population and area being affected, the rising prices of grains across the country and the fight in the western theater of operations, many disaster-stricken places couldn''t be attended well, many survivors were still struggling for food. I cannot even describe how hard their lives are!"


    Zhang Tie said as he threw a glance at the others, who were all listening to him conscientiously.


    These days, Zhang Tie had been looking for that child of him and Ma Aiyun in Tongzhou Province. Although he failed to find him, he had deepened in the grassroots and genuinely sensed the severe damages of the bloody figures and the miserable lives of grassroots after the disaster.


    Flying Cloud City was fine as it was circled by city walls. By contrast, many places outside the city were severely damaged by rampant bloody figures. Many villages and towns had completely turned into ruins. In many places, no people but herds of stray dogs could be seen within one hundred miles. Skeletons could be seen everywhere across the wilderness, woods, riverside and beaches. Not until now had not the damages been mended and the survivors been attended well.


    Those survivors, especially those underprivileged who had lost their family members were most pitiful as none of them had the ability to look for food; instead, they could only rely on relief. It''s hard to say that.


    "After reviewing those places being afflicted by bloody figures in Tongzhou Province, I''m afraid that the other places across the country are similar to them. Therefore, I''ve got an idea¡ª¡ªI prepare to build Jinwu branches in those places afflicted by bloody figures across the country!"


    "Jinwu Branches?"


    "Right, I mean Jinwu orphanage which is especially used to raise orphans who lost their family members in the disaster. Meanwhile, it is a college where those orphans could learn various abilities to survive themselves. When they grow up, those who are talented in cultivation could be enrolled by Iron-Dragon Sect. Those with the other talents could enter Jinwu Business Group or the Fiery-Oil Bases across the country. If they wish, they could even become a member of Jinwu Palace and have families, lest they''re alone in the world..."


    Zhang Tie said as Mountain Lifting Hermit, Lu Zhongming, Lin Huanxi and Zhang Tie''s wives'' eyes shone.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit nodded, saying, "I agree. It''s a benevolence for the future of orphans. In this way, Iron-Dragon Sect''s influence would be further expanded. In the future, we might be able to break Northeast Military Region..."


    "Jinwu branches could be administered by disciples above LV 9 from Iron-Dragon Sect as coaches and masters. Through imparting knowledge to those orphans, they could also improve their own knowledge and skills. In the future, this task could be taken as a compulsory one in our clan for disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect!" Lu Zhongming said as he nodded...


    ...


    ÆÍ

 1514 Zhang Ties Ambition

    No sooner had Mountain Lifting Hermit and Lu Zhongming opened their mouths than the atmosphere in the shrine became active while everybody discovered the benefits of Jinwu Orphanage from various perspectives.


    Soon after Lu Zhongming finished his words, Lin Huanxi had opened her mouth, "People are needed to attend those orphans in Jinwu orphanages. I suggest employing some jobless old and weak females to do some simple jobs in Jinwu Orphanage such as cooking food. We could save a lot of people by doing this..."


    "Both our clan and sect require the constant provision of people. If Jinwu Orphanages spread over the country, they would provide talented people to Iron-Dragon Sect and Zhang''s Jinwu Palace constantly. It''s conducive to the development of Iron-Dragon Sect and Zhang''s Jinwu Palace. In fact, all the major sects and clans in Taixia Country had agencies similar to orphanages across the country to select talented ones and cultivate dare-to-die fighters. This is an open secret in Taixia Country..."


    As Zhang Tie didn''t come for her last night, Bai Suxian was a bit jealous all day long; especially when she saw Guo Hongyi''s mature hairstyle, which made her eye light more resentful. Not until now, she was still angry with Zhang Tie. However, her interest was aroused by Zhang Tie as she commented too.


    "According to my knowledge, the lands among those cities being struck by bloody figures are all very cheap. Besides safety guarantee, Jinwu orphanages in these cities would cost less money. Additionally, we would enjoy many preferential measures. If we built them now, we could reduce the cost to the minimum..." Donder said after consideration.


    "As long as Jinwu orphanages across the country start to run, they would output humans resources constantly. In the future, Zhang''s Jinwu Palace''s expansion would be better accomplished. Many industries would be involved. In addition, Zhang''s Jinwu Palace could also play a great role in intelligence collection and merchandise transportation as the juncture of commerce and logistics of Jinwu Business Group..." Olina supported Jinwu orphanage commercially on behalf of the other women of Iron-Heart Palace.


    "I also think it''s feasible!" Zhang Yang nodded too.


    "That''s the deal!" Zhang Tie made a decision after looking around as he added slowly, "After we establish Zhang''s Jinwu Palace and our shrine palace, we will establish Jinwu orphanages in all the provinces and prefectures which were struck by bloody figures. I''m afraid that the total of Jinwu orphanages would be over 1,000. The detailed number depends on our plan. Jinwu orphanages would be commonly administered by Zhang''s Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect!"


    Everyone at present nodded.


    The establishment of Jinwu orphanages was a good deed, but also utilitarian. What was more, Zhang Tie hoped that the kid of him and Ma Aiyun could be found in this pattern. Even if his son couldn''t be found, the other orphans could also have a safe and warm place to live which would comfort Zhang Tie and the late Ma Aiyun.


    "Elder brother, after Zhang''s Jinwu Palace is established, you will be the first clan head. I will be the grand elder!" Zhang Tie said. Before Zhang Yang declined, Zhang Tie had urged, "Elder brother, don''t decline it; I could be the clan head too; however, domestic affairs would influence my cultivation. As we''re in troubled times, my largest commitment and obligation to Iron-Dragon Sect and Zhang''s Jinwu Palace is to maintain my battle strength and grow more and more powerful. Therefore, anything being irrelevant to my cultivation would be minor to me. I would care less about them!"


    Zhang Tie''s words were convincing. In this age, high-end battle strength was the core and key stand of a clan and a sect. Without high-end battle strength, a clan and a sect would decline for sure. By contrast, with high-end battle strength, even though a clan and a sect fell one hundred times, they could rise for the 101st time.


    Zhang Tie was the core and key stand of Zhang''s Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect. Zhang Tie''s principal task was to grow more and more powerful constantly and keep alive. As long as he could reach the two points, he would be the most qualified clan head and grand elder.


    Zhang Tie put straightforward what he was deliberating these days.


    "After the establishment of Zhang''s Jinwu Palace, the former system adopted by Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory should be abolished. The Fiery-Dragon Corps of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and the Jinwu Guards should be unified. The system and training of the new corps would refer to that of Fiery-Dragon Corps. However, we should change the Fiery-Dragon Corps into Jinwu Corps. In order to adapt to the situation, Jinwu Corps should be expanded in scale by at least 10 times in the following two years after the establishment of Zhang''s Jinwu Palace!"


    "So would a new clan management system be established to adapt to Zhang''s Jinwu Palace. There''s already a considerate clan management system in Taixia Country, most of which could be borrowed. The Iron-Heart Palace of Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would be revoked. After that, my wives would join in the new clan management system. Elder brother, later on, you could negotiate with my wives on details of the clan administration!"


    "The existing management system in Iron-Dragon Sect would remain unchanged. It would still be determined by the elders. Iron-Dragon Sect is involved with too many aspects like military construction and management and local internal affairs. These aspects should be detached from the scope of the administration of Iron-Dragon Sect. Its military affairs should be transferred to Jinwu Corps while its local administration should be transferred to the clan administration system of Zhang''s Jinwu Palace. From now on, Iron-Dragon Sect would shift its focus on the cultivation of high-end fighters and knights and its expansion again. I will mainly concentrate on Iron-Dragon Sect. In the future, Iron-Dragon Sect only has one purpose¡ª¡ªfrom today on, Iron-Dragon Sect would strive to be the most powerful sect in the world under my leadership!"


    As Zhang Tie''s voice resonated in the shrine palace calmly, everyone in the shrine palace was watching Zhang Tie silently as they were transfixed by his words.


    From today on, Iron-Dragon Sect would strive to be the most powerful sect in the world under Zhang Tie''s leadership!


    What a real, great ambition!


    In such suffocating silence, Donder who used to have no dream but indulge in pleasure and boring work abruptly felt his heart getting burned as his blood all over heated up and boiled...


    Everybody at present felt Zhang Tie''s change when they watched his calm face. Being utterly different than before, Zhang Tie appeared far from being overwhelmingly charming and majestic...

 1515 An Accidental News

    One week later, on July 1, the 906th year of Black Iron Age, Zhang''s Jinwu Palace in Youzhou Province distributed the introduction of their clan to all the other Zhang clans across the country and founded their shrine palace.


    The ceremony of the establishment of the shrine palace of Zhang''s Jinwu Palace was held in Xuantian City, the same place where Zhang Tie held the opening ceremony for Iron-Dragon Sect. As they stuck to be low-key, they didn''t invite anyone else except Zhang Tie''s family members and the elders of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    The ceremony started on the auspicious time and underwent smoothly and routinely. Males were headed by Zhang Ping, followed by Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang, their uncles from the old mansion, their cousins and the third generation of Zhang family; females were headed by Zhang Tie''s mother, followed by Yan Feiqing and the other women and female cousins standing on both sides. As witnesses, elders of Iron-Dragon Sect and Donder were watching the ceremony solemnly on one side.


    Under Zhang Ping''s leadership, Zhang family started to offer sacrifices, and burnt incenses to their forbears. After that, Zhang Tie''s dad mounted on a high sacrificial altar. After clearing his throat, he started to deliver an elegiac address.


    "With fair administration, the magnificent Taixia Country has existed ever since immemorial and contained numerous population. Today, a Zhang clan with the bloodline of Xuanyuan will establish a new clan and a shrine palace. We set a sacrificial altar to memorize our forefathers. In the secular world, we intend to link with sages morally and expect that God could bless our ceremony. Despite vicissitudes, there''re always odes. The sun rises and falls; the moon waxes and wanes. The landscape in the secular world is so fabulous that Youzhou appeared being carved by Jade. When swallows are shocked and fly off, they will traverse across the country by eyes and see Zhang''s Jinwu Palace being built. The magnificent scenery contains universal laws. As universal laws are hiding in waters and classics, how could we not bear in mind the developed culture and military expertise in front of the altar? We''re not here for drawing dragons or phoenixes, we''re building a cauldron to shine people immortally..."


    "In the far-ancient times, the Jupiter circled around the globe from north to east, south to west, then to the east and ruled all the deities in the universe. After that, all the forces who built walls and fortresses to expedite invaders and expand their own borders would hold the sacrificial ceremony in the desert and select the auspicious moments to adapt to the universal laws. Today, based on the material manifestation and people''s will, we''re going to build our great clan and our brilliant undertaking for innovation. All the people in the world would support us like how the bells bang..."


    Zhang Tie slightly squinted his eyes under the sacrificial altar as he watched his dad loudly and sentimentally reading the elegiac address in grand dress.


    The elegiac address was written by a famous litterateur. Zhang Tie knew that his dad had practiced reading it for over one week at home.


    After practicing it time and time again, Zhang Ping performed it exceptionally.


    In Zhang Ping''s words, it was his consummate moment in his life and he must perform it well.


    Watching the righteous and generous look of his father who was always reserved and easygoing, Zhang Tie felt complex inside as he didn''t know what to say.


    These days, after killing Zhang Taixuan, Zhang Tie only told his parents, "Zhang Taixuan was not righteous and not qualified to be the clan head. Therefore, I''ve already killed him in the shrine palace in Embracing Tiger Mountain. As this event couldn''t be resolved kindly and peacefully, I''ve already determined to write a letter to Huaiyuan Palace with blood to exit it for the sake of Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang family!"


    It was a major event for Zhang Tie to kill the clan head and end up the relation with Huaiyuan Palace; however, despite the shock, Zhang Tie''s parents resolutely chose the side of Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang without asking about the reason.


    However, at this moment, Zhang Tie''s dad was loudly making the elegiac address on the sacrificial altar, chest thrusting forward.


    Zhang Tie was a bit moved by his parents'' unconditional favor and love. Meanwhile, he was happy for his dad because his dad also witnessed and sensed the glory of the new clan at this moment. Zhang''s Jinwu Palace is commonly built by Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang, and the man on the altar. Zhang Ping created this family, including Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang and Zhang''s Jinwu Palace as a whole.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt pretty complex.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t turn around, he could still sense the facial expressions of onlookers.


    Zhang Ping, Zhang Su and some of Zhang juniors were very exhilarating while others were a bit fluctuated like Zhang Tie''s two uncles. The rest were a bit puzzled as they wondered why the Zhang family suddenly reached for this step.


    When Zhang Ping read the elegiac address, Zhang Tie sensed Donder''s change in his facial expression as the finger with a finger ring was quivering as if he was communicating with someone else. Donder frowned as he threw a glance at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie was so familiar and tacit with Donder that the moment Donder threw a glance at him, he had known his meaning¡ª¡ªhe''s just received a piece of news.


    Zhang Tie wondered what it was.


    ...


    After a few minutes, Zhang Ping finally finished the elegiac address while the ceremony came to an end.


    "Let''s invite Zhang Yang, the first clan head of Jinwu Palace to unveil the broad..."


    After hearing Zhang Ping''s call, Zhang Yang strutted to the altar as he unveiled the golden broad covered with a piece of red cloth and hung at a high place behind his dad, revealing the shiny characters "Zhang''s Jinwu Palace".


    As of now, the opening ceremony of Zhang''s Jinwu Palace had come to an end!


    After being the clan head, Zhang Yang instantly announced Zhang Tie to be the grand elder within the others'' expectation. Therefore, the top management of Zhang''s Jinwu Palace was fixed.


    After the ceremony, Zhang Tie didn''t even attend the clan''s first conference; instead, he bade farewell to his parents and the others before returning to Iron-Dragon Sect with Mountain Lifting Hermit and Yan Feiqing, Bai Suxian by airboat.


    From now on, Zhang Tie would not care about ordinary affairs in Zhang''s Jinwu Palace; instead, he handed them all to Zhang Yang and his wives'' cabinet. He would only focus on cultivation and the expansion of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    "What''s happening?" Zhang Tie asked Donder the moment he boarded airboat.


    With a strange look, Donder said, "The escaping knights of Huang Clan of Mercury Palace, Qizhou Province and Qitian Sect have been found!"


    "They''ve been caught?"


    "No. I''ve just received the news¡ª¡ªthey were killed by the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church in Yinzhou City in an open fight..."


    "What?" Zhang Tie replied with a deep frown...

 1516 The Powerful Rival

    "What are the details?"


    "I''ve received a message¡ª¡ªthose escaping knights of Huang Clan of Mercury Palace and Qitian Sect suddenly appeared in Yinzhou City and met people from Heavens Reaching Church a couple of days ago. They said they were secretly developed as church members by Han Zhengfang in Taixia Country, who once promised them that they could learn secret skills of Bloody Soul Sutra if they worked for Heavens Reaching Church. They said that they could only flee to Heavens Reaching Empire after the exposure of secret and the loss of their families. They even requested Heavens Reaching Church to fulfill what Han Zhengfang promised them. However, only after staying in Yinzhou City for one day, they had already failed in the negotiation. Finally, the two parties broke out a fierce open war in Yinzhou City, destroying half of the city. As a result, those escaping knights of Huang Clan of Mercury Palace and Qitian Sect were killed by knights of demons and Heavens Reaching Church..."


    "How was this message distributed?"


    "As the capital of Heavens Reaching Empire, Yinzhou City is always the focus of all parties. The entire Yinzhou City is like a screener which would leak message at any time. All forces including the Supreme Court of Taixia Country have moles in Yinzhou City, open or in dark. When those escaping knights of Huang Clan of Mercury Palace and Qitian Sect appeared in Yinzhou City, they had aroused great attention, not to mention their battle. After the battle, Heavens Reaching Church delivered the notice to the public; therefore, almost all the church members in Yinzhou City knew that they were in Yinzhou City." Donder said. Watching Zhang Tie''s solemn look, Donder muttered, "After receiving the news and confirming the death of those escaping knights, the Supreme Court of Taixia Country have already prepared to revoke their order for arrest..."


    After hearing Donder''s answer, Zhang Tie sighed inside, "Insidious!"


    Zhang Tie was clear whether Huang Clan of Mercury and Qitian Sect in Qizhou Province were remnants of Heavens Reaching Church or not. He accused them of the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church because he wanted to scare all the forces that wanted to screw him and Zhang''s Jinwu Palace. In addition, he wanted to take advantage of the official force of Taixia Country to find the culprit, the mysterious "His Majesty" behind Huang Clan of Mercury and Qitian Sect...


    Zhang Tie''s plan was feasible; however, he had not imagined that the opponent could present such a show in Yinzhou City by sending those escaping knights of Huang Clan of Mercury Palace and Qitian Sect into Yinzhou City over the past one month.


    Beat Zhang Tie at his own game.


    ''We were not only members of Heavens Reaching Church, we even fought to death in Yinzhou City. Show me your ability in the investigation.''


    Those escaping knights of Huang Clan of Mercury Palace and Qitian Sect in Qizhou Province were thrown out like vanguards crossing the river. After admitting that they were members of Heavens Reaching Church developed by Han Zhengfang, they fought to death, destroying all the evidence, transferring the responsibility to Heavens Reaching Church while remitting their culprit. As a result, the Supreme Court could barely continue their investigation within the territory of Taixia Country.


    ''Break his own arm to keep himself alive or abandon soldiers to keep the general alive.''


    Even Zhang Tie was shocked by such a ferocious means. When he recalled that "His Majesty" was casting covetous eyes on Huaiyuan Palace and him and could resolve his counter-measure easily, how could Zhang Tie feel good?


    Undoubtedly, "His Majesty" was hostile against Zhang Tie and Zhang''s Jinwu Palace. Additionally, His Majesty''s prowess was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination, which might be involved with the extermination of the Great Wilderness Sect and Bloody Soul Temple. Of course, Zhang Tie was scared of such a great force.


    Being screwed, killing Zhang Taixuan and renouncing Huaiyuan Palace, to a certain extent, owed to "His Majesty".


    Because of the existence of such a hidden, powerful opponent, Zhang Tie should put all of his efforts on Iron-Dragon Sect and the recovery of his battle strength. Without the guarantee of great battle strength, no matter how well Zhang''s Jinwu Palace would develop, it was just a castle on sand, which might perish overnight like the Great Wilderness Sect and Bloody Soul Temple, each of which was much more powerful than Zhang''s Jinwu Palace in the end.


    Zhang Tie bore all these in mind.


    "His Majesty" probably did not know that Zhang Tie had already known the existence of him, though he could guess that Zhang Tie abhorred Huang Clan of Mercury Palace according to that Zhang Tie accused them as remnants of Heavens Reaching Church and used the official force of Taixia Country to exterminate those who screwed him.


    This was Zhang Tie''s vantage point. As long as he pretended not to know the existence of "His Majesty", "His Majesty" would not show up if unnecessary.


    Additionally, "His Majesty" was also shocked by the death of those knights in front of Zhang Tie. Even though "His Majesty" knew that Zhang Tie had not fully recovered from his wounds, Zhang Tie would not be scared of anyone under sage-level knight with the ability of divine dominator.


    With the combination of the two strengths, Zhang Tie had time to recover his battle strength and find the culprit.


    Therefore, what counted most was to recover his battle strength as fast as possible on the premise that he pretended to not know the existence of that "His Majesty".


    If that "His Majesty" knew that Zhang Tie had already known his existence and had not recovered his battle strength, he might do everything possible to kill Zhang Tie.


    The airboat soon arrived at Iron-Dragon Sect.


    Zhang Tie then recovered his composure and told all the elders of Iron-Dragon Sect about the news that he had just received in a cheery tone and facial expression.


    After hearing that, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Lu Zhongming, Lin Huanxi, Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing let out a sigh of relief at a stroke.


    "I was worried that these remnants of Heavens Reaching Church might lurk in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory for sabotage. Thankfully, they''re dead. Let the dogs bite dogs..." Mountain Lifting Hermit said in a relaxed manner.


    Both Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi nodded.


    "Now that they have died, this event has come to an end!" Zhang Tie said with a smile as if he had already neglected this event, adding, "From now on, the affairs in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory would be handled by Zhang''s Jinwu Palace. I will not interfere with it. Hopefully, you could manage it well. As I''ve promised Suxian to go back to South Border with her, I plan to set off for there with her tomorrow..."

 1517 The Reform of Iron-Dragon Sec

    Soon after Zhang Tie''s words, Bai Suxian had jumped out of the crowd as she hugged Zhang Tie''s arm and said in a spoiled way, "Aah, hubby, are you going to the South Border with me? You''re so good..."


    After saying that, Bai Suxian threw an arrogant glance at Guo Hongyi and Yan Feiqing. Like having not seen her arrogant look, Guo Hongyi moved her eyes away from Bai Suxian while Yan Feiqing remained glassy-eyed as she put her hand on her lower abdomen quietly, which denoted something. At the sight of their response, Bai Suxian''s arrogant look instantly faded away greatly. As their relations with Zhang Tie were not a secret to each other, their relations turned a bit subtle in the sect.


    Zhang Tie had long told Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi about that. Therefore, the two women didn''t comment on it. As Zhang Tie had slept with the princess of Lord Guangnan, of course, he should pay a visit to her family. If Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi had seniors, Zhang Tie should also visit their families.


    "Ahem...ahem..." watching the intimate behavior of Bai Suxian, Mountain Lifting Hermit pretended to cough twice as he moved his eyes away from Bai Suxian, saying, "That''s good. Head, you''ve mentioned about adjusting the organizational structure of Iron-Dragon Sect and the levels division system for disciples a few days ago. Have you worked out a solution or not? Or let''s negotiate about it when you come back from South Border?"


    "Hmm, I''ve already got an idea. We could discuss it right now!" Zhang Tie said as he patted Bai Suxian to have her return to her seat. After that, he returned to his own throne. After throwing a glance around the others, he said, "These years, Iron-Dragon Sect have already been loose internally. We''ve got an increasingly greater number of knights and powerhouses. After the founding of Zhang''s Jinwu Palace, we should adjust some rules in Iron-Dragon Sect. After a few days, disciples of Fantasy Lady Palace will join Iron-Dragon Sect. By then, we will have more disciples. I prepare to have Feiqing become the deputy head of Iron-Dragon Sect. When I''m absent, Feiqing will be in charge of Iron-Dragon Sect!"


    Mountain Lifting Hermit, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi nodded in unison. As a heavenly knight and the former head of Fantasy Lady Palace, she was qualified to be the deputy head of Iron-Dragon Sect. Additionally, with a heavenly knight as the deputy head, the overall pattern of Iron-Dragon Sect would be improved. Across the country, those who could have a heavenly knight as the deputy head would definitely be top sects.


    Yan Feiqing didn''t oppose it. After knowing that she got pregnant, she had experienced some trivial changes in mind. In the future, Iron-Dragon Sect would probably belong to the kids of her and Zhang Tie. Yan Feiqing was confident that her kids would be brilliant. Therefore, she just followed Zhang Tie''s arrangement.


    After gaining all-out pros, Zhang Tie continued.


    "The levels, rights and commitments of disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect should be further refined. I prepare to divide disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect into three categories: first, registered disciples, whose level ranges from LV 1 to LV 5. They''re mainly responsible for odd jobs and simple tasks and their sense of belonging and agreement to Iron-Dragon Sect should be strengthened. Second, outdoor disciples, whose level ranges from LV 6 to LV 9. After promoting to LV 6, registered disciples would become outdoor disciples. As outdoor disciples, they would serve Fire-Dragon Corps outside the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect. After promoting to LV 9, they would become strong fighters when they could become indoor disciples; indoor disciples could become the subordinate disciples of elders, I or Yan Feiqing and accomplish more tasks for the sect!"


    Zhang Tie said as all the knights and elders in the shrine palace listened to him conscientiously.


    "In addition, the indoor disciples would be further divided into two classes, which included 7 levels according to the number of surging points that they have lit. The first class ranges from LV 10 to LV 15, which is marked with a different number of stars from one to six, attached with different rights and interests; the second class is consistent with 7 stars, who, as battle spirits, might promote to a knight. Disciples in the second class are the core of the sect and should catch special attention!"


    "After promoting to knights, disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect would become elders for different peaks. Additionally, elders of Iron-Dragon Sect would be divided into four ranks for the time being; black iron knights are elders; earth knights are big elders; shadow knights are grand elders while heavenly knights are deputy heads. According to this standard, Elder Brother Mountain Lifting Hermit would be a big elder. After promoting to a shadow knight, you would become a grand elder. Similarly, Elder Brother Lu, Sister Huanxi, Suxian and Hongyi are all elders. After promoting to earth knights, you would be big elders..."


    Zhang Tie''s new plan contained all the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect. In addition, he clarified the promotion road for each knight in Iron-Dragon Sect. As long as they could promote to heavenly knights, they would be deputy heads of Iron-Dragon Sect. In this sense, anyone joining Iron-Dragon Sect would see clearly their road ahead in Iron-Dragon Sect, even if they''re a commonly registered disciple for the time being. As long as they make progress step by step, they would have a chance to reach the apex of the sect. What a great incentive for everyone!


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s plan, Lu Zhongming exchanged a glance with Lin Huanxi out of spirit. In this sense, the couple would make efforts together as their future was definitely not limited to the position of the heads of a peak. If Iron-Dragon Sect could become as powerful as the major clans in Taixia Country, the deputy heads of Iron-Dragon Sect could even be on the same footing with the top three lords of Taixia Country.


    Bai Suxian exchanged a glance with Guo Hongyi occasionally, sparking an invisible flame in the air. As women, besides Zhang Tie''s love for them, their importance for Zhang Tie also determined on their positions in Iron-Dragon Sect.


    "As to the rights and obligations of elders, big elders and grand elders, I still have not worked out a way. During the period when I leave for South Border, you could discuss it and work out a solution!" Zhang Tie continued, "The above is just the internal levels and ranks for disciples and elders, as for the organizational operations in details, I prepare to set internal seven palaces and external seven palaces to conclude everything about Iron-Dragon Sect..."

 1518 Zhang Ties Overall Plan

    "The first palace of seven internal palaces of Iron-Dragon Sect is Heavens Palace. Being ruled by the deputy head, the "Heavens" Palace was in charge of general affairs across the sect. The second palace of seven internal palaces is Personnel Affairs Palace, which is in charge of the personnel promotion, rewards and punishments of the sect. The third palace of seven internal palaces is Ground Palace, which is responsible for the administrative affairs and construction of the sect. The fourth palace of seven internal palaces is Ritual Palace, which accounts for rites and sacrifices. The fifth palace of seven internal palaces is Criminal Penalty Palace, which, literally, takes in charge of the execution of criminal laws. The sixth palace is Safety Palace, which will guard and patrol the territory of Iron-Dragon Sect and clear out the moles. The seventh palace is Methods Palace which is responsible for managing and imparting secret methods to disciples."


    "The first palace of the seven external palaces is Counseling Palace, which works as the counselors and think tank for Iron-Dragon Sect. The second palace of the seven external palaces is Stockpile Palace, which, literally, refers to the management of wealth, grains and the undertakings of the second. The third palace is Intelligence Palace, which will collect intelligence for the sect. The fourth palace is Military Palace, which accounts for the expedition, crackdown and assassination and like. The fifth palace is Craftsmanship Palace, which is for studying and producing weapons, pills, rune and alchemist''s equipment. The sixth palace is Talents Selecting Palace, which is for recruiting and selecting talented disciples across the country. The seventh palace is Treasures Seeking Palace, which, literally, is looking for pre-historical relics and secret treasures like the tower of time in the underground world..."


    "Above seven internal palaces and seven external palaces is Elders Council, which is responsible for negotiating major events in Iron-Dragon Sect!"


    After putting out his idea about the reform of Iron-Dragon Sect, Zhang Tie asked, "I wonder whether there''s any dissent."


    After exchanging a glance with each other, all the elders at present shook their heads which denoted that they fully agreed with Zhang Tie''s idea.


    "Now that you all root for it, I will nominate some people for ruling seven internal palaces and seven external palaces. Donder..."


    "Aah..." Donder responded at a stroke.


    "You will be responsible for Stockpile Palace in the seven external palaces!"


    "Zhang Su!"


    "Here!" Zhang Su hurriedly sprung up.


    "You will account for Treasures Seeking Palace for the time being!"


    "Yes, sir!" Zhang Su understood that it was just a provisional position. As the Treasures Seeking Palace should comprise of professional underground exploration teams, which didn''t need knights for the time being. Therefore, Zhang Su fit this position well!


    "Mountain Lifting Hermit, you''re in charge of Criminal Penalty Palace as usual!"


    Mountain Lifting Hermit nodded.


    "Elder Brother Lu and Sister Huanxi will be responsible for Safety Palace. Safety counts most in our sect. It''s a bit hard for merely one knight to maintain it in the current stage. I will be reassured if it''s jointly managed by a good couple. From then on, the Iron-Dragon Sect should be free from danger at least inside!"


    Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi nodded in unison as they thought that Zhang Tie''s arrangement was proper.


    "As the head of Guo Clan, Hongyi has been ruling Guo Clan for many years. The prosperity of Guo Clan implies your shrewd ability to identify talents. You will be responsible for Personnel Affairs Palace!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s extolment, Guo Hongyi became delighted as she revealed a brilliant smile towards Zhang Tie.


    "As Suxian grew up in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, you must be deeply intoxicated by the atmosphere of the mansion and seen the world. You will account for the Ritual Palace!"


    Bai Suxian nodded too.


    Ritual Palace was the most relaxed palace in Iron-Dragon Sect. However, it was very important on occasions. Given Bai Suxian''s personality as a princess, she must feel pretty bored managing Ground Palace or Methods Palace. Therefore, she suited the position of the head of the Ritual Palace.


    "All the other directors could be in vacancy for the time being. During the period when I leave for South Border, you could negotiate about that. We will list the leaders of all the palaces first and promote some able deputy directors. Take Craftsmanship Palace as an instance, we could promote a couple of deputy directors so as to make it run. A few days ago, I''ve already had Donder search for exceptional talents across the Northeast Military Region. They could run the agency first. As for the other vacancies, we will make further arrangement when more knights join Iron-Dragon Sect. In addition, Mountain Lifting Hermit could absolutely serve as an elder teacher in the Methods Palace provisionally at the same time..."


    "Actually, Iron-Dragon Sect wouldn''t lack knights. When the head''s military exploits at the bank of Weishui River spread over, we''ve already received a lot of inquiries. Many knights admire head''s reputation and would like to join Iron-Dragon Sect, many of which come from the Northeast Military Region. Whereas, head, we''ve not formulated a charter for that. Therefore, we turned them down kindly for the time being!" Mountain Lifting Hermit said.


    "We will talk about it later. We should take the event in Jinwu City as a mirror. As we''re not clear about the background of new attendants, once someone among them wants to screw us, it would pose a great threat to Iron-Dragon Sect. Therefore, we prefer completely trusted ones!" Zhang Tie said resolutely.


    ...


    Zhang Tie''s new regulations spread over Iron-Dragon Sect on the same day and aroused a great shock among those disciples.


    According to the new regulations, even though two of his nephews were taught directly by him, they had to follow the standard of outdoor disciples as they were not even qualified to access to the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect. They had to hone themselves in Jinwu Corps. Only after reaching LV 9 could they enter the mountain gate and become indoor disciples, lest disappointing other disciples.


    Meanwhile, these new rules showed a golden road to many people. Every disciple of Iron-Dragon Sect would have their heyday as long as they would like to ascend.


    Each one''s effort and contribution to the sect would not be a waste.


    Although the new regulations had not been delivered yet, the entire sect had become vigorous as it started to display strong cohesiveness.


    On the same day, Zhang Tie did three more things.


    First, he had Zhang Yang release news to those clans and sects who had deep cooperation with Zhang''s Jinwu Palace that Zhang''s Jinwu Palace would like to enter deep cooperation with clans and sect which had the tower of time by exchanging the access of tower of time with fiery oil and all-purpose medicament.


    Every resource had a price, including the tower of time, not to mention fiery-oil and all-purpose medicament. As long as conditions were met, such resources would be available for exchange. Each took what needed pleasantly. Everybody was happy.


    When this news was released on the same day when Zhang''s Jinwu Palace was founded, it also aroused a great shock across the country.


    On the same day, Zhang Tie left 49 footsteps, each of which was as deep as 6 cm, on a huge rock as large as a house on the verge of the cliff behind Xuantian Peak. Additionally, he recorded the method of "Vigorous Grass Gait" into a piece of crystal and handed it to Mountain Lifting Hermit. From today on, all the disciples could have a chance to sense the "Vigorous Grass Gait" on the verge of the cliff as long as his or her credit points reached 3,000 in the sect.


    After knowing that "Vigorous Grass Gait" was comprehended and concluded by Zhang Tie himself and learning it and experiencing its power, Mountain Lifting Hermit admired Zhang Tie so much that he told Zhang Tie such a gait was absolutely on the top of ground ranks and was close to the power of heavenly rank. Very few people across the country could create such a great battle skill.


    Zhang Tie didn''t tell Mountain Lifting Hermit that the "Vigorous Grass Gait" was just his comprehension of some rules adopted by the grass based on his LV 1 consciousness of universal laws, which was not difficult for him at all.


    The third thing was that Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron in the name of secluded cultivation to meet White Bones Immortal again on the same evening.


    White Bones Immortal''s obstinacy was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. Since he was captured and thrown into Castle of Black Iron, this guy had been in hibernation like an animal. He cut off all the senses of the outside world. In this sense, even if he was chopped, he would not feel any pain or fear; nor would he wake up.


    These days, Zhang Tie neglected him. Therefore, he just pretended to die for over one month as he thought that Zhang Tie couldn''t get any information from him.


    Whereas, before leaving for South Border, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like playing hide-and-seek with him any longer...


    ...


    In the evening, after entering Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie directly came to the underground cell where White Bones Immortal was locked up without the guidance of Agan and Heller.


    Too many knights had been locked here. However, most of them had been sh*t and fertilizers, except the timid demon knight Akino of Augusto Clan who was captured by Zhang Tie from Earth-elements Realm.


    Watching Zhang Tie passing by his door, Akino was so scared that he immediately shrunk himself into the shadow at the corner of the cell like seeing a man-eater beast, head down.


    Zhang Tie just threw a glance at Akino as he directly came to the front of the cell where White Bones Immortal was locked up.


    In the cell, White Bones Immortal was crumbling like a snake while completely hiding his qi and temperature. He was stiff as dead and appeared not waking up no matter how one tortured him.


    This guy had already maintained this gesture for over one month. Since he woke up and found that he was locked up here, he had been maintaining this gesture as if he was going to test Zhang Tie''s patience...

 1519 Imperial Alliance

    Watching White Bones Immortal with a sneer, Zhang Tie opened the door and entered the cell quietly. After that, he moved his finger and pointed over 10 locations on White Bones Immortal''s body before standing aside.


    Only after a short while, White Bones Immortal''s stiff body had turned red as it started to twist on the ground. Then, he woke up and started to scream loudly as he incessantly tore his clothes, causing many bloody marks on his skin. He appeared as painful as in the purgatory.


    "Aah...how do you know the solution of Dragon and Snake''s Qi Concealing Method...aah...who the hell are you..."


    Dragon and Snake''s Qi Concealing Method was a secret skill of the Great Wilderness Sect. Its cultivation method and solution were completely recorded in the Great Wilderness Sutra.


    As long as one activated this secret skill, he would appear dead, in which state, the executor couldn''t sense anything wrong with his body at all. However, he was still sensitive to the surrounding environment while maintaining extremely low consumption of life energy.


    Dragon and Snake''s Qi Concealing Method was used by knights in the former Great Wilderness Sect in emergencies. After activating this method, one could maintain such a state for months, even years long until the arrival of the rescue force. In addition, by activating this secret method, knights of the former Great Wilderness Sect could be free from pain and fear when they were caught and interrogated.


    That was how White Bones Immortal prepared to do.


    Of course, Dragon and Snake''s Qi Concealing Method was nothing but a joke in front of Zhang Tie.


    Dragon and Snake''s Qi Concealing Method could be hardly resolved; however, once being resolved, it would cause an adverse effect¡ª¡ªthe executor''s life energy would burn rapidly and he would feel as itchy as being bitten by tens of thousands of ants or how a boa cast off its skin. He couldn''t help but tear open his skin to alleviate the pain and itch. Meanwhile, he would become ten times more sensitive and painful.


    To experience ten times greater pain of casting off his skin in terms of burning his life energy, White Bones Immortal was in his purgatory.


    The Great Wilderness Sutra had long been missing. The solution of Dragon and Snake''s Qi Concealing Method was recorded in the Great Wilderness Sutra, which even White Bones Immortal himself was confused about. Therefore, he was not fearful at all. Nevertheless, White Bones Immortal could never imagine that his Dragon and Snake Qi Concealing Method was preposterous in Zhang Tie''s eyes. When he remembered the reputation of Qianji Immortal, it had been too late...


    Zhang Tie watched White Bones Immortal rolling like a water snake on a piece of soldering iron. Only after a short while, his clothes had been shabby as he was covered with blood on his chest, back and thighs. Many pieces of his skin had been torn off.


    "Aah...help me...help me...stop...stope me...quick..."


    After pretending to be a tough man for over one month, White Bones Immortal almost collapsed at this moment as he was rolling, whining and dropping tears on the ground. Due to incontinence, his blood mixed with his urine, covering everywhere on the ground and himself. As a result, he looked like a horrible ghost, who was poor as a beggar. The reversal of Dragon and Snake''s Qi Concealing Method brought a sharp pain which was enough to destroy one''s will no matter how strong it was.


    If Zhang Tie didn''t stop, White Bones Immortal would tear off all of his skin, along with his muscles and finally his guts in the most painful manner in the world.


    Zhang Tie just watched him whining without any sympathy. After a while, Zhang Tie opened his mouth, "Answer me and I will keep you alive..."


    "Aah...go ahead...go ahead...I will tell you everything...everything...quick, stop me..." White Bones Immortal rolled as he tore off a piece of bloody skin on his arm, revealing his muscles and blood vessels beneath his skin...


    "Who''s His Majesty?"


    This question might have brought greater pain to White Bones Immortal as he became a bit hesitant.


    Zhang Tie instantly turned around as he intended to leave.


    Watching Zhang Tie striding out of the door, White Bones Immortal completely collapsed...


    "I will say it...I will say it...I will tell you everything..." White Bones Immortal rolled and whined, "His Majesty is the third royal prince of Emperor Xuanyuan¡ª¡ªXuanyuan Infinity..."


    Although Zhang Tie had long predicted that the "His Majesty" probably was one of the royal members, he was still transfixed and felt much colder in the cell all of a sudden when he heard White Bones Immortal''s admission.


    Previously, Zhang Tie had already heard the third royal prince in Xuanyuan Hill. Among those royal members, only two people were qualified to scramble for the throne from Xuanyuan Changying, namely Xuanyuan Infinity and the ninth royal prince Xuanyuan Lie.


    "Who''s that shadow knight together with you that day?" Zhang Tie asked another question to test his royalty.


    "Aah...he''s Immortal Fiery Huang Botao, the grand elder of Huang clan of Mercury Palace, Qizhou Province..."


    Zhang Tie asked another two questions about Huang Clan and Qitian Sect to test him and White Bones Immortal answered him faithfully...


    Zhang Tie then touched one location on his head, relieving his sharp pain by almost 10 percent so that he could pant...


    "Why do you follow the command of Xuanyuan Infinity?"


    "Because Xuanyuan Infinity...is the leader of Imperial Alliance...Huang Botao and I are both members of Imperial Alliance..."


    The two words "Imperial Alliance" brought Zhang Tie greater shock than that caused by the exposure of Xuanyuan Infinity.


    "What''s the doctrine of Imperial Alliance? Did Imperial Alliance exterminate the Great Wilderness Sect? Is your animal driving skill from the classics of the Great Wilderness Sect? Who else is in the Imperial Alliance besides you?" Zhang Tie asked and fixed his eyes onto White Bones Immortal in a shrewd manner as he appeared catching a great conspiracy. After asking these questions constantly, Zhang Tie pointed his body once again, relieving his pain by 10% more, providing him a driving force to answer...


    "The doctrine of Imperial Alliance is helping Xuanyuan Infinity be the celestial emperor of Taixia Country...the Great Wilderness Sect in the South Border and the Bloody Soul Temple...were both exterminated by Imperial Alliance...my animal driving skill also comes from a secret method that Imperial Alliance acquired from the Great Wilderness Sect... Besides us, Imperial Alliance''s influence covers Taixia Country as a whole; among the top six sects, Taiyi..."


    Right then, a bizarre blue rune flew out of the forehead of White Bones Immortal who was still rolling on the ground. In a split second, Zhang Tie felt four elements gathering towards that rune from the near elements abyss and filled that blue rune. Closely after that, the rune sank into the forehead of White Bones Immortal, exploding his head right away.


    With some blood stains on his face, Zhang Tie became stunned as he didn''t believe that White Bones Immortal had already died.


    The process appeared magical.


    Heller had already been standing in front of Zhang Tie with a solemn look.


    "This is an extremely powerful secret skill like a curse of spiritual constraint. It displays the power of rules. That rune seed was hiding in the depth of his mind sea. Even I couldn''t discover it until it flew out and gathered four elements. However, it was too late. The isolation between the Castle of Black Iron and the principal world was like a time and space barrier which delayed the duration of the curse, causing it two minutes late. If in the outside world, it might have already taken effect the moment he opened his mouth..."


    Heller explained calmly.


    "You mean I could have barely got any information from him in the outside world?"


    "Yes!" Heller nodded as he added, "The constraint of that rune is very powerful which couldn''t be subdued by this person. He couldn''t even realize that a time bomb had been buried in his mind..."


    Watching that headless corpse, Zhang Tie let out a sigh suddenly, saying, "I am a bit regretful. I prefer to have not known anything about that. I prefer to have shattered him by a hammer. Sometimes, only idiots are the happiest..."


    Although White Bones Immortal didn''t complete his words, Zhang Tie had already known that he wanted to say Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Taiyi Fantasy Sect was a member of Imperial Alliance as it had been involved in the scramble for the throne and rooted for Xuanyuan Infinity to be the celestial emperor of Taixia Country, the highest position of humans. That was amazing! If Xuanyuan Emperor knew that the top six sects had attended the scramble for the throne, the entire world would be in trouble. What was more, it was uncertain whether other sects of the six top sects of Taixia Country had been involved in this scramble; because White Bones Immortal probably say the word "and" after "Taiyi Fantasy Sect" according to his tone...


    Besides, how many major clans and other sects were involved in it? How did the Imperial Alliance bought over these people and won their trust?


    No wonder the Great Wilderness Sect could be exterminated overnight. The destroyer was too powerful to make Zhang Tie feel no warm.


    ****!


    In this case, Zhang Tie only murmured inside, "What the f*ck!"


    Even Heller sighed, "Castle Lord, you could pretend to have known nothing about that..."


    "Hmm, we could only pretend to have known nothing about that for the time being!" Zhang Tie said after being silent for a while.


    "Castle Lord, you need to recover your battle strength, even promote to a heavenly knight as soon as possible. That''s the safest way by far..."


    ...


    On the second day, Zhang Tie exited the backroom as he found Bai Suxian had long dressed well and been waiting for him to return to South Border.


    "You don''t look good!" Bai Suxian said after throwing a glance at Zhang Tie.


    "It''s fine. I tried too hard last night..." Zhang Tie stroked his face in a casual way.


    "Let''s go. I''ve already told Mountain Lifting Hermit and the others not to bid farewell to us..."


    Zhang Tie looked around as he truly found nobody. Therefore, he nodded, saying, "Well, let''s go!"


    Bai Suxian grinned as she directly pulled Zhang Tie''s hand and flew onto the imperial airboat which was waiting for them in the sky. After that, the airboat flew towards South Border.


    "This airboat is too ostentatious. Why not change one?" Zhang Tie asked Bai Suxian.


    "That would be better. Which son-in-law doesn''t use a good vehicle that he could when he pays the first visit to his wife''s home?" Bai Suxian riposted with a charming smile as she pulled Zhang Tie into her room and closed the door.


    "Aah, what are you doing?"


    "It would take us one week to arrive at South Border. As you''re not cultivating now, will you be in a trance during that period?" Bai Suxian said as she made a circle in front of Zhang Tie and made a cute pose by drawing her skirt, "Look, am I beautiful?"


    "Could we do that in the evening?"


    "No way!" Bai Suxian urged as she approached him and put her arms around Zhang Tie, nibbling Zhang Tie''s ear, "Yan Feiqing has been pregnant; I want a baby too..."

 1520 Arriving at South Border

    The airboat penetrated through leisure white clouds and flew over ranges for eight days incessantly before arriving at South Border of Taixia Country, traversing hundreds of thousands of miles.


    After arriving at South Border, they spent two more days in arriving at the ruling center of South Border. Zhang Tie finally knew how vast was the territory of the South Border.


    South Border was famous for its numerous mountains. Zhang Tie saw long lasting, undulating ranges across the territory of South Border like endless billows in an ocean.


    Some of those mountain ranges were magnificent and as high as the clouds. Additionally, these mountains were crisscrossed with rivers, deep valleys, grotesque karst caves and underground spaces. Dense woods could be seen everywhere. Many places were cloaked by rosy clouds and bizarre mists all the year round. Some mists were colorful and brilliant, which were actually poisonous miasma due to various reasons. Across the South Border, there were as many as 17 poisonous miasmas. In addition, there were countless rare beasts and materials among the multitude of mountains. In one word, the entire South Border was the largest, natural treasury.


    There were too many big mountains and less flat ground in South Border. All the cities in South Border were built in basins girdled by magnificent mountains. Basins were called Bazi here. There were tens of millions of Bazi in South Border, which ranged from dozens of miles to hundreds of miles in size. The megalopolis of South Border was adorned by many a Bazis, large or small, among the countless mountains.


    Some Bazis were close to each other with large populations and fewer obstacles, which could be linked by highway or railway. By contrast, some Bazis were surrounded by lofty mountains, which could only communicate with the outside world by airship.


    Most of Hua people lived in those Bazis.


    However, the main race living in South Border was not Hua people, but barbarians who lived in the countless mountains generations after generations. Although over 10 billion Hua people were living in South Border, the population of barbarians in South Border multiplied that figure.


    Barbarians in South Border were ferocious and valiant, who excelled at using poisons and driving fierce beasts and insects with mantras. Superficially, these barbarians subdue themselves to Taixia Country; in fact, they had their own systems, including totem, culture and cultivation inheritance. There were too many recalcitrant barbarians, most of which were living in the mountains, where Hua people could barely access to. Of course, Hua people couldn''t manage and rule them effectively. One principal task for Lord Guangnan was to maintain the stability of the South Border. The conflicts between Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and those unruly barbarian tribes had been ongoing since its establishment.


    Zhang Tie gained this information of South Border from Bai Suxian during these days on airboat every once in a while; because Zhang Tie was really "busy" these days...


    These days, Bai Suxian had turned herself into an enchantress. As a result, Zhang Tie experienced the living style of a fatuous and self-indulgent ruler¡ª¡ªspirits and sexy beauties. In fact, Zhang Tie almost had not left that brilliant room since he boarded the airboat. Begin with the second day, Bai Suxian had started to call in her maids one after another. The enthralling scenery was really forbidden for children.


    Not until two hours before they arrived at Immortalwood Plains, the ruling center of South Border, Zhang Tie was still lying in a bathtub shrouded with steam vapor. Drinking spirits, he was enjoying the arbitrary service of Bai Suxian and some of her maids.


    Not until one hour before they arrived did Zhang Tie end up his dissolute travel. After cleaning up himself, he changed a set of clothes. After that, he prepared to get off the airboat with Bai Suxian who had changed a wholly new set of a ceremonial robe, especially for a princess.


    "Lord, which do you think will serve you better, this vassal and my apprentices or Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi?" Bai Suxian turned around as she licked her lip and whispered to Zhang Tie at the front of the hatch door when the airboat was slowly descending.


    Of course, Bai Suxian''s apprentices referred to those beautiful maids on her side!


    Females were really good at contending. Zhang Tie glared at her before patting her plump butt as he muttered inside, ''What an enchantress! Always being unruly when staying with me alone.'' "Are you serious?"


    Bai Suxian turned around with a big, enchanting smile as she answered, "Of course, when lord goes back home and have Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi serve you on bed, don''t forget to call this vassal. This vassal will check whether their service could match half of mine..."


    After the airboat parked, the hatch door slowly opened. Bai Suxian immediately turned decent as she smoothened her skirt and put her hands in front of her lower abdomen with a smile in a pretty grand manner.


    After finding that Bai Suxian changed completely at a stroke, Zhang Tie became speechless.


    No sooner had the hatch door been opened than Zhang Tie saw Bai Zhengnan.


    Bursting into laughter, Bai Zhengnan extended his arms and walked forward, saying, "Younger brother Mushen, long time no see. When I left Youzhou Province last time, you had just finished your rotating charka ceremony as an earth knight. I''ve not imagined that Younger Brother Mushen has already promoted to a shadow knight and been well known across the world due to the battle at the bank of Weishui River. That''s really cool! You should have the trump card as a divine dominator. Why not let me know lest my concern..."


    "Hahaha, Brother Bai, forgive me. Trump card is to be covered; otherwise, it would not work anymore..." Zhang Tie said and burst into laughter as he got off the airboat and gave a fervent hug to Bai Zhengnan.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie looked around as he found the airport outside the city had been surrounded by soldiers of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, 3-5 meters in between.


    Some black vehicles parked aside. Additionally, a man who looked similar to Bai Zhengnan in long, blue gown and glasses was standing aside and observing Zhang Tie as if he was a prehistorical animal.


    Zhang Tie at his 30s still looked like a 17-18 years old teenager in the neighborhood, which was really unbelievable...

 1521 Encountering an Understanding Friend

    "This is my second younger brother Bai Zhengxi, the second elder brother of Suxian..." Bai Zhengnan started to introduce that man behind him to Zhang Tie, "Zheng Xi admires heroes most. After hearing that you''re coming today, he urged to pick you up together with me and have a look at the legendary Qianji Immortal..."


    "Hahaha, hopefully, I don''t let second elder brother down!" Zhang Tie greeted Bai Zhengxi with a brilliant smile.


    "You deserve that reputation. I know why Suxian doesn''t feel like returning home!" Bai Zhengxi said with a smile after observing Zhang Tie seriously.


    Bai Suxian came over here as she hailed them, "We''re a family. Let''s get on the vehicle and talk about it when we reach home..."


    They then got on the same vehicle before leaving the airport.


    Soon after the vehicle left the airport, Zhang Tie had heard booms above his head as he saw a group of 7 type I air cavalries flying over them in a formation through the window.


    "Last year, we''ve established 47 pilots training academies in Yuezhou Province, Hongzhou Province, Kunzhou Province and Zhaozhou Province which helped us train over 300,000 air cavalries within the territory of South Border. By the end of this year, there would be 1 million air cavalries in South Border; the figure would reach 5 million by next year..." Bai Zhengnan sighed with emotion as he watched the airplanes above them and told Zhang Tie, "After the first air battle between air cavalries and wing demons, my second uncle had sent a message to us from Weishui Theater of Operations in which he acclaimed the performance of air cavalries on the battlefield greatly. My father prepares to establish 10 independent air cavalries corps in the territory of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Without you, the air cavalry forces in South Border could never realize such rapid development, even leading the country..."


    Hearing that the air cavalry force reached such a large scale within one year in South Border, Zhang Tie was really shocked by the wealth and power of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. As Lord Guangnan''s Mansion owned the four provinces in South Border, the moment he delivered a decree, the entire territory would be in mobilization, including wealth, materials, manpower and like in such an amazing, high efficiency. If it were in other places especially those republican or federal countries in the Western Continent, they could barely reach such high efficiency. One year might not even be enough for the quarrel between those parliamentary members and politicians in those democratic countries.


    "It''s all because of the good leadership of Lord Guangnan and the concerted efforts of the people..." Zhang Tie answered modestly at once.


    "Come on. Everybody has known that you''re the father of air cavalries, the first human air cavalry and air battle master. You should stay for a few days to give teachings to the training of air cavalries in South Border..."


    "Father of air cavalries?" Zhang Tie became dumbfounded.


    "Don''t you know that? This reputation aroused from the Western Continent. Your reputation in this aspect could definitely match the reputation of divine dominator. These days, this name has been spread over Xuanyuan Hill by ambassadors who were designated to Xuanyuan Hill from countries in Western Continent!" Bai Zhengnan explained as he pointed at Bai Zhengxi, "Zhengxi has no interest in cultivation since young. He would not cultivate without the monitoring of my father. Therefore, he''s just LV 14 and is far from promoting to a knight. However, he''s very interested in metal machinery and manufacturing. He''s already a great artisan master. All the industries and enterprises under the leadership of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion within the territory of South Border are administered by Zhengxi, including fiery-oil bases, airplane plants and those new arsenals. He''s prepared a lot of questions to learn from you..."


    "Hahaha, you''re too polite. We could learn from each other..."


    "The structure of dual-drive engine is really delicate. I''ve designed some similar works before; however, none of them could match type I air cavalry in terms of efficiency. It''s said that you have designed and produced dual-drive engine?" Bai Zhengxi asked as he watched Zhang Tie with bright eyes.


    "Yes, it''s just a whim; just a whim..."


    "If it''s just a whim, what about fiery-oil weapons?" Bai Zhengxi sighed, saying, "Pitifully, I didn''t attend the battle at the bank of Weishui River with my second uncle. It''s said that the first wave of attack of a corps of LV 9 demons were easily destroyed by your fiery-oil mines. That''s...really..." Bai Zhengnan smacked his lip as he continued, "According to my knowledge, all the rune instruments for individuals are just tricks. The ultimate purpose for a rune instruments master is to match weapons of massive destruction which could kill numerous enemies and scare them off on the battlefields."


    It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that Bai Zhengnan was a techanical otaku, who was interested in mechanics. His last line aroused Zhang Tie''s resonance. Since he promoted to a runed instrument master, Zhang Tie had almost not used his skills to produce any equipments for the individual purpose; because he felt it was meaningless. What Zhang Tie pursued for was to develop some weapons that could do harm to numerous people on the battlefield.


    "Rune instrument master shouldn''t become the subordinate and equipment producer of knights! Instead, they should draw knights off the throne!"


    "May you put it simply?" Bai Zhengxi asked and fixed his eyes on Zhang Tie.


    "Invent some rune instruments that could kill knights!" Zhang Tie explained calmly.


    With a sound "Pah..." Bai Zhengxi slapped his thigh excitedly as he almost sprung up from his seat. He treated Zhang Tie as his understanding friend, saying, "That''s what I was thinking about. I''ve told them about that; but they treated me as a lunatic..."


    "It''s not that you''re lunatic, but the rune instrument skills being carried forward are incomplete..."


    "Yes, you''re right..." Bai Zhengxi couldn''t stand slapping his thigh again as he started his speech, "The current rune instrument masters have not completely carried forward the runed instrument skills of ancient times. Take tower of time as an instance, aren''t runes in the tower of time masterpieces of runed instrument masters? Whereas, which rune instrument master today could interpret and apply those runes? In the far-ancient times, runed instrument masters must be very very powerful so that they could build a tower of time. If today''s rune instrument master could invent weapons that are fatal to demon knights, the universal game rule of the holy war would be rewritten. That should be the ultimate target of rune instrument masters..."

 1522 Lord Guangnan

    Immortalwood Plains was one of the largest Bazis within the territory of South Border, which covered over 10 million square miles. As one of the core areas of Kunzhou Province in South Border, it was also the location of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    Zhang Tie''s airboat parked outside Guangnan City.


    Guangnan City was the most prosperous Class A city in South Border. Covering almost 6,000 square miles, Guangnan City had a population of about 100 million people.


    Guangnan City was as prosperous as the capitals of Immortal provinces. If not being told that he was in South Border, except for the towering tree with huge crowds on the roadside, people could barely believe that they were in South Border.


    Zhang Tie''s vehicle moved all the way into the city from the airport outside. Because of his arrival, all the roads from the airport outside the city to Lord Guangnan''s Mansion were in traffic control, manifesting the magnificence of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    Lord Guangnan''s Mansion was located in the center of Guangnan City, the structure of which was similar to that of the emperor''s imperial city. Besides, the mansion was girdled by a river. The entire mansion covered 60 square miles with city walls 55 m in height. Teams of fighters were guarding the city on the city walls in bright outfit. Lord Guangnan''s Mansion was no smaller than a small city.


    Not until the fleet arrived at Lord Guangnan''s Mansion did Zhang Tie know that his airboat could actually park inside the Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. However, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion urged him to park his airboat outside the city while implementing traffic control on some traffic arteries in Guangnan City in an ostentatious manner. He did that for announcing to the rest of the world that the renowned Qianji Immortal was going to be the son-in-law of Lord Guangnan as he came to Guangnan City for proposing marriage to the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    The result was that the news of Zhang Tie''s arrival had already spread over the city before he arrived at Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, arousing an uproar.


    The gate in the middle of the gate of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion was opened widely for welcoming Zhang Tie. From the city gate all the way to Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, there were beautiful maids lifting a basket of flowers in each one meter standing on both sides of the road, face to face and a tough man in golden outfit. Their vehicle drove on the red carpet and the petals that were falling off the sky.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see such a luxurious hailing pattern.


    Since he got off the airboat, Zhang Tie had already become a bosom friend of Bai Zhengxi. Bai Zhengxi felt so regretful that he had not seen Zhang Tie earlier as he almost drew him away for an overnight drink if not the latter was here for proposing marriage to Bai Suxian.


    After getting off the vehicle, Zhang Tie saw a handsome middle-aged man who looked faintly similar to Bai Suxian and Bai Zhengnan with a majestic look in a ceremonial robe with a pattern of a three-clawed golden dragon on it. Followed by generals and officials of different knight levels in gloomy outfit, he fixated onto Zhang Tie with gleaming eyes at a porch.


    This person was outstanding among the crowd of knights. He was extremely dignified and exceptional as his eyes were as penetrative and sharp as that of a hawk. Zhang Tie immediately knew who he was.


    "Lord..." Zhang Tie bowed towards him politely.


    Watching Zhang Tie, that person''s eyes shone out of curiosity as he observed Zhang Tie carefully from his head to his toe. After that, he stroked his beautiful beard which reached his breast and burst out into laughter, "Not bad; not bad!"


    "Dad, what''re you doing? How could you hail your son-in-law in this way? With so many uncles at present, are you planning a murder or what?" Bai Suxian moved out of Zhang Tie''s back as she started to condemn Lord Guangnan in a spoiled manner.


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s words, everybody revealed a smile. Lord Guangnan burst into laughter as he told Zhang Tie, "Girls are always standing on the side of their husbands. Look, the moment you arrive, I have to stand aside. My second elder brother Ruicheng said that you had great physical strength and drinking capacity and you''ve subdued all of his subordinates. These brothers on my side don''t admit defeat easily when it comes to drinking; they''re waiting for having a contest with you at the table today!"


    "Haha, uncles were modest that day. They didn''t mean to compete with me at all!" Zhang Tie answered while all the knight-level generals and officials at present exchanged a glance with each other as they all favored Zhang Tie inside.


    Zhang Tie had already been renowned around the world. After the battle at the bank of Weishui River, many people compared Zhang Tie with Fairy Ocean King. At such a young age, it was great for him to treat Lord Guangnan''s myrmidons modestly and kindly. Therefore, even Lord Guangnan nodded inside.


    Not to mention that Zhang Tie had cured his brother''s disease concerning poisonous insects when he came to Xuanyuan Hill for the first time. Of course, he would not refuse such a son-in-law. Bai Suxian really had a special insight.


    After a short chat, Lord Guangnan Bai Runtian simply held Zhang Tie''s arm as he led the latter into the mansion, directly to the seat.


    Today, Lord Guangnan held a grand banquet for receiving Zhang Tie while more than 800 people including civil officials, officers, myrmidons and the relatives of Lord Guannan were present.


    Of course, such a banquet would be especially boisterous. Zhang Tie, like a giant panda, won attractions incessantly from every corner and nook of the lobby.


    Before taking a seat, Bai Suxian maintained a smile. However, after taking a seat, she murmured beside Zhang Tie "b*tch" as her look turned gloomy the moment Fang Xinyi showed up.


    It was not Zhang Tie''s first time to see Fang Xinyi. Honestly, Zhang Tie didn''t feel that she was disgusting; nor did he feel that she was a good woman.


    In beautiful and colorful circular-jade headwears, Fang Xinyi looked dignified and decent being utterly different than that one in Xuanyuan Hill. She was already the queen of Lord Guangnan. Zhang Tie realized that Lord Guangnan had already married her officially after Bai Suxian''s grandma passed away for three years.


    At the sight of her, Lord Guangnan''s eyes shone.


    Watching Fang Xinyi sitting beside Lord Guangnan decently and womanly, Zhang Tie really wondered why Lord Guangnan was fascinated by her. No matter what, a man''s feelings towards a woman was hard to interpret. If Miss Diana showed up, the others at present might also wonder why Zhang Tie lost his mind over such a foreign lady.

 1523 Yousre the one for me

    It was none of Zhang Tie''s business which kind of woman did Lord Guangnan like; nor did he want to know it. Watching Bai Suxian who glanced at Fang Xinyi out of animosity every once a while, Zhang Tie patted her thigh under the table, lest of any trouble.


    After Fang Xinyi''s arrival, Bai Suxian''s elder brothers were all tipping Bai Suxian a wink to calm her down.


    As Lord Guangnan was there at the moment, although being boisterous, nobody dared compete for drinking capacity with Zhang Tie across the banquet. These myrmidons of Lord Guangnan might have long heard of Zhang Tie''s great drinking capacity; therefore, they wouldn''t find trouble.


    Zhang Tie was modest, kind and didn''t talk too much. Although everyone was watching him in the banquet, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to do something special to arouse their attention, which won the awe of all the people at present.


    After having three rounds of drinking, the atmosphere in the banquet was in a climax. Soon after the dancers and singers left, Fang Xinyi on Lord Guangnan''s side had thrown a glance at Zhang Tie as she told Zhang Tie with a smile, "Qianji Immortal, the news of your arrival has already spread over the entire city. As the dignified princess, Suxian''s marriage could never be handled in a hasty way. I am really curious about what you''ve brought here as a betrothal present."


    No sooner had Fang Xinyi opened her mouth than everyone in the lobby stopped what they were doing. Because Fang Xinyi appeared to crack a joke, even Lord Guangnan felt embarrassed saying anything about it. Actually, the matter of betrothal present was nothing serious for Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and Zhang Tie. The key to the marriage lay in Zhang Tie''s importance and sincerity. After the battle at the bank of Weishui River, Zhang Tie had been able to be on the same footing with Lord Guangnan. Zhang Tie''s sincerity also satisfied everyone by paying a visit to the whole family of Lord Guangnan and Bai Suxian in South Border. As to the details like betrothal present, even though Zhang Tie didn''t mention it, Lord Guangnan would also have people properly handle it in case of evil gossips.


    Nevertheless, now that Fang Xinyi had mentioned it, nobody should stand out and judge it as a minor event.


    Watching Fang Xinyi''s smiling eyes, Zhang Tie muttered inside, ''I''ve not stirred up her; why does she stir me up? Her words sound both unintentional and intentional at the same time, which, despite being out of a good intention, is uncertain for the onlookers.''


    However, as for Bai Suxian, Fang Xinyi''s words sounded like she was Bai Suxian''s "senior". When Bai Suxian changed her face and intended to start an argument, Zhang Tie answered with a smile, "In my heart, Suxian is priceless. Any single hair of hers couldn''t be bought by even millions of gold coins. Therefore, anything visible couldn''t be qualified as her betrothal present!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bai Suxian who was going to lose her temper immediately blushed as she watched Zhang Tie with full of emotions. Zhang Tie rarely sweet talked with her; however, the moment he sweet talked, he had caught Bai Suxian''s heart.


    Stroking his long and dense beard, Lord Guangnan smiled comfortably as he acclaimed inside that Zhang Tie knew how to please her daughter and mediate conflicts in the public. Only with one line, Zhang Tie had pleased everyone at present. Lord Guangnan even threw a glance of approval that was known to men only.


    "Qianji Immortal, you''re really versatile. You were unrivaled on the battlefield as your power as the divine dominator shocked Weishui River and frightened demons. I''ve not imagined that immortal''s one line could even match one million of sturdy soldiers on the love field. It''s really great for immortal to have this sincerity!" Fang Xinyi said with a decent smile.


    "Hahaha..." Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he added, "I mean those portable are too light and couldn''t match the identity of Suxian; but I don''t mean that I''ve not brought betrothal present here. However, I couldn''t carry it..."


    "Immortal could even brandish a silver secret item weighing 18,800 kg at the bank of Weishui River like a straw, how could you not carry the betrothal gift?" Fang Xinyi asked out of curiosity while all the others were watching Zhang Tie and wondering whether Zhang Tie''s reply contained his secret.


    "The betrothal gift is my share of the benefit of fiery oil trade from the cooperation between Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory and Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. According to the agreement, I could share over 82 million gold coins from the benefit of the trade of fiery oil in South Border last year; it''s said that I could at least share 100 million gold coins from you. As fiery oil gradually pushes into the market, I could get more. However, I don''t mean to take any of them. From now on, all my share from South Border in fiery oil trade would be taken as the betrothal gift of Suxian; because only such a betrothal gift could match Suxian''s importance in my heart. How about that?"


    Zhang Tie''s words sent the entire lobby into silence. Everybody else at present were transfixed, including Bai Suxian''s dad Lord Guangnan.


    The benefit of fiery oil was enormous because of its extensive and great use. Across the territory of South Border, Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory and Lord Guangnan''s Mansion would share the benefits of fiery oil trade by 50/50. Whereas, Zhang Tie gifted them all to Lord Guangnan''s Mansion as Bai Suxian''s betrothal present.


    Each year, there would be at least hundreds of millions of gold coins, which could afford many cities. With such an amount of money, he could buy almost whatever he wanted, including silvesecretet items and element crystals. What an unrival betrothal present! Even imperial betrothal presents were dwarfed by it. If these gold coins were turned into gold, a hair of Bai Suxian could really value tons of gold.


    The betrothal gift could really match mountains of gold. 40,000 gold coins weighed one ton of gold. It meant over 2,000 tons of gold last year, which figure would further grow. What an unparalleled betrothal gift!


    Bai Suxian watched Zhang Tie obsessively as tears came out of her eyes, which carried her deep love.


    "In my heart, you''re always the one for me. Only such a betrothal gift could match you. Don''t cry!" Zhang Tie cupped Bai Suxian''s face as he wiped off her tears lightly...

 1524 A Piece of News

    "Hahaha, Suxian really found a good son-in-law for Lord Guangnan''s Mansion..."


    When Zhang Tie was wiping off tears for Bai Suxian, a figure with fiery battle qi landed outside the lobby with a great qi field like a burning comet with laughter. Closely after that, a person in fiery battle outfit entered with a strong qi field, breast trusting forward.


    "Aah, third uncle..." Bai Suxian hailed.


    Watching this man coming in, Bai Zhengnan, Bai Zhengxi and all the civil officials and myrmidons of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion had stood up.


    This person broke the silence caused by Zhang Tie''s amazing betrothal gift, enlivening the atmosphere of the lobby again.


    "This is my third uncle Bai Runshan..." Bai Suxian introduced him to Zhang Tie secretly by battle qi as she hurriedly wiped off her tears and stood up with Zhang Tie, "My third uncle is Powercracking General; he rules the military forces of South Border as a whole. He''s outright and good..."


    Zhang Tie fixated on Bai Runshan.


    Bai Runshan looked much like Lord Guangnan. He looked stronger and masculine, featured by a dense, hard and black mustache, curve and sharp eyebrows. Given his qi, Bai Runshan was already a shadow knight, a very powerful shadow knight who had reached 8 changes stage.


    "Third younger brother, I thought you were not coming."


    Lord Guangnan watched Bai Runshan with a smile as he waved his hand. Closely after that, a waiter set a new table next to Lord Guangnan''s seat on his left, right opposite to Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian.


    "Why not? As Suxian has brought the nephew-in-law, of course, I, as her third uncle, would definitely come here for a look. However, I met some shit men on the way here and beat them up. That''s why I''m late..." Bai Runshan strutted towards them as he spoke even louder than a trumpet.


    Seeing Bai Ruinshan walking to the front of Zhang Tie and her, Bai Suxian called, "third uncle" decently while Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards him. After looking at Zhang Tie from his head to his foot with gleaming eyes, Bai Runshan grinned as he thumbed up towards Zhang Tie. Closely after that, he took a seat in front of his table and instantly bottomed up a flagon of spirit. Then, he dropped it aside and told a waiter behind him, "Come on, don''t be that mean. Bring me a big jar of spirit..."


    After hearing his order, the waiter hurriedly left; in a few seconds, he returned with a big jar of spirit as he put it on Bai Runshan''s table.


    "What happened just now?" Lord Guangnan asked.


    "A bit more knights came to South Border these days. I''m afraid that someone had spread news concerning the Dongtian of the Great Wilderness Sect again. They must be here for it..." Bai Runshan answered as he patted away the jar. After taking a deep breath in an intoxicating manner, he said loudly, "On the way here, I saw some knights acting stealthily. When I inquired about them, those sh*t men didn''t answer me; therefore, I beat them up. After that, they displayed their identities¡ª¡ªmembers of Taiyi Fantasy Sect..."


    ''Dongtian of the Great Wilderness Sect?''


    Zhang Tie''s nerve got intense at a stroke when he heard it.


    "Where did they get the news this time?" Lord Guangnan sighed as he shook his head.


    "I have no idea. I''ve had my men investigate it. What are these sons of bitches doing? Dongtian of the Great Wilderness Sect is just a legendary matter. Nobody knows where it lies. Even the disciples of the Great Wilderness Sect themselves didn''t know where it was. The Great Wilderness Sect has already been exterminated for dozens of years; however, there''re gossips concerning its existence every year. So many people have been looking for it. They have searched for Xiyuan Mountain, Barbarians Mountain, Wulong Mountain, Blackdragon Cave, Insects Abyss, Huangquan Valley and Wild Range in vain. Even if there was Dongtian, it might have already been exterminated together with the Great Wilderness Sect..."


    Taiyi Fantasy Sect and the Great Wilderness Sect caused Zhang Tie''s eyes to squint at a stroke.


    However, Zhang Tie had not imagined that none of those at present were shocked by the news. Even Bai Suxian''s dad merely slightly frowned as he waved his hand, saying, "Let the garrisons of cities in South Border pay attention to it lately, lest those barbarians make any trouble; if there is, crack down it. Dispatch our air cavalries there and check their battle strength by the way..."


    "Hmm, since we got air cavalries last year, those barbarians had realized that we could crack down their insurgency without having to search for them in woods. Many of their methods became useless; therefore, they turned much stabler..." Bai Runshan said as he raised his jar and added generously, "Come on, let''s drink. From now on, we will be a family. Feel at home. From now on, because of Suxian, the world-renowned Qianji Immortal would call me third uncle, haha..."


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he forgot about the doubts concerning the Great Wilderness Sect and raised his glass, saying, "Third uncle, please!"


    ...


    The banquet didn''t come to an end until everyone enjoyed the drink at midnight. Zhang Tie was then arranged to rest in a courtyard of the Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    A butler led Zhang Tie to the courtyard and had some beautiful maids serve him.


    After coming to the courtyard, Zhang Tie sat in his room quietly as he drunk tea. Given Bai Suxian''s temperament, she would definitely come here stealthily to serve him tonight. He just waited there patiently. By the way, he had some questions about the Great Wilderness Sect to ask her.


    As was anticipated by Zhang Tie, only after a cup of tea, he had heard Bai Suxian''s voice from outside the door, "You can leave..."

 1525 Fairy Vassal

    Closely after that, the door was opened from outside as Bai Suxian entered the room in a new set of clothes elegantly.


    The moment she entered, she had thrown herself into Zhang Tie''s arms as she tightly put her arms around Zhang Tie''s neck, resting her head on Zhang Tie''s chest silently, her fragrant shoulders quivering slightly. Only after a short while, a wide patch of Zhang Tie''s clothes at his chest had turned wet.


    Bai Suxian didn''t give vent to her move until now.


    Hugging Bai Suixian, Zhang Tie remained silent. Perhaps only he understood Bai Suxian''s feelings the most at this moment.


    Despite being a princess, Bai Suxian was actually always less confident among his wives and concubines. Besides, she always felt being in danger. Sometimes, Bai Suxian was not even sure if Zhang Tie loved her or not. Therefore, Bai Suxian was always obedient to Zhang Tie and exerted her full efforts to help Zhang Tie. She didn''t even put any airs as a princess in front of Zhang Tie''s family members and wives and concubines.


    What was more, Bai Suxian appeared to have a drastic thought¡ª¡ªAs long as she could enable Zhang Tie to stick to her on bed and always miss her, she would stay with him forever; as long as she could stay with Zhang Tie, even though Zhang Tie didn''t love her so much or she was just a tool for Zhang Tie to give vent to his sexual desire, she felt nothing serious about it; as long as she could stay with this man and be not dislodged by him due to abhorrence, she would feel satisfied...


    Previously, Bai Suxian was the only female knight among Zhang Tie''s wives and concubines, which made her feel a bit safer and reassured. Later on, when she found Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi might cause her to lose this "exclusive" identity, she started to be hostile, jealous and competitive.


    However, Zhang Tie''s betrothal gift today finally opened her mental shackle. She knew that her position in Zhang Tie''s heart was much more important than she could imagine. She was irreplaceable in this man''s heart. It was this man who turned her into the most valuable woman in the world.


    Not until Bai Suxian finished her cries did Zhang Tie pat her shoulders and help her smoothen her hair at her temples, saying, "Hush, stop thinking about it; let the bygones be bygones. From now on, be committed to be my wife and teach our children, could you?"


    Bai Suxian then looked up at Zhang Tie with tearful eyes with a bit sophisticated and bashful look, "How do you know what I''m thinking about?"


    Zhang Tie scratched her nose by his fingers as he wiped off her tears and said with a smile, "Of course, although I might not know what others are thinking about, I''m clear about your thoughts. I''m your lord. You''re my maid. How could I not know what you''re thinking about..."


    Bai Suxian was moved at a stroke as her face turned warm. She looked up at Zhang Tie with tearful eyes as she pasted her face against Zhang Tie''s chest, saying, "Lord, do you remember what did you say when you met me for the first time? From now on, I will be your maid, lord, your only maid. I would belong to you physically and mentally, no matter what you want. How about that, lord?"


    This might be the most blatant words that Zhang Tie had ever heard from a woman. Watching her and listening to such words, Zhang Tie felt pure love and sympathy.


    Finding that Zhang Tie remained silent, Bai Suxian asked, "Lord, how about that?"


    "Great!" Zhang Tie replied as he nodded.


    Receiving Zhang Tie''s nod, Bai Suxian''s face turned bright at once, which shocked Zhang Tie.


    "If so, Lord, why not give me a pet name exclusive to you?"


    "Let''s call it fairy vassal!"


    "Fairy vassal, fairy vassal, that sounds nice..." Bai Suxian muttered twice as she revealed a smile. Sticking out her tongue, she licked Zhang Tie''s neck and made a circle on his adam''s apple using her tip end, adding, "From now on, lord would like this vassal to be a fairy and princess in the public but a maid and fairy vassal in front of you, right?"


    Bai Suxian''s tongue made Zhang Tie itchy as he felt thirsty. When he remembered the matter concerning the Great Wilderness Sect, Zhang Tie could only pretend to cough twice as he cradled Bai Suxian and let her sit on his thigh before saying, "I''ve got something to ask you!"


    Pouting her mouth, Bai Suxian answered in a spoiled manner, "When we''re alone, lord should call me by my pet name!"


    "Erm, ahem...ahem...fairy vassal, I''ve got something to ask you."


    "Go ahead, lord. Fairy vassal is listening!" Bai Suxian replied with a sweet smile.


    After recovering his composure, Zhang Tie cleared his throat, "What''s the matter with Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect? When you talked about it, I felt your father and your third uncle and the others appeared not caring about it at all. If there''s really a Dongtian of the Great Wilderness Sect and treasure inside it in South Border, it should be a major event!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Bai Suxian looked a bit solemn as she replied, "Hmm, it''s simple. Lord, you must have heard about the story of "wolf is coming"; the existence of treasure and Dongtian of the Great Wilderness Sect is like such a story. When the Great Wilderness Sect was just exterminated, our mansion paid special attention to this event. Whenever we heard any news, we would take actions to search for it by organizing a lot of powerhouses. However, after over ten years'' effort, despite the expenditure of wealth and manpower, we found nothing at all. Therefore, we renounced it!"


    "Why?"


    "Because none of the news and gossips were real. They just made a fuss. Even Lord Guangnan''s Mansion couldn''t afford such a great expenditure if we would check each news and gossip. In South Border, the gossips about treasure and Dongtian of the Great Wilderness Sect is the hottest subject. Everybody is interested in it. Over the past dozens of years, there would be news about the discovery of treasure and Dongtian of the Great Wilderness Sect every year in South Border. You will hear some pieces of such news if you stay in a teahouse for one day in downtown. Numerous knights would look for treasure and Dongtian in South Border every year. However, we didn''t hear any progress at all. Therefore, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion basically neglect such news!"


    "What about knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect? Do they always visit South Border?"


    "South Border is one of the training fields for knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect; therefore, it''s very normal for them to be seen here..."


    Zhang Tie finally figured it out. After suffering losses from such news for many times, even Lord Guangnan''s Mansion had been numb about it. As for the people in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, this news was as useless as they had heard over the previous decades.


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s explanation, Zhang Tie''s hope had perished. Even if he had fully recovered, he would not spend dozens of years in looking for a purported thing.


    As for Zhang Tie, his primary task was to recover his battle strength.


    ''Perhaps I''m just too sensitive. It''s just a coincidence!''


    Zhang Tie was in meditation as Bai Suxian started to wriggle her body on his thigh with a sweeter voice, "Lord, do you want fairy vassal to do something for you to relax you? This fairy vassal will do whatever you want..."


    The atmosphere in the room slowly became rosy...


    ...


    Previously, Zhang Tie didn''t think that he would stay too long in South Border, at least looking for the purported treasure and Dongtian of the Great Wilderness Sect among a multitude of mountains here; however, this thought had been completely denied by the next morning...

 1526 Dongtian

    "Centralpolar Mountain is 600 miles ahead..." Bai Suxian said as she and Zhang Tie were watching the lush and lofty mountains below from the command module of the airboat.


    Although the dense, undulated ranges looked normal, they contained great dangers.


    The territory 600,000 square miles away from Centralpolar Mountain was one of the top ten dangerous places in South Border.


    Closely after Bai Suxian''s words, the crew in the command module started to report one after another.


    "Sir, the air floating dynamic system is facing a sharp decrease in its efficacy..."


    "We''ve detected a super strong gravity from the ground, which slows down the marching speed by 10%..."


    "Something is wrong with the horizontal gyro!"


    "The rune navigation wheel is ineffective..."


    After hearing these reports, Zhang Tie instantly made a decision, "Suspend it, move backward out of the perilous region..."


    Zhang Tie could drive airship; he even guided the battle formation of airships in Selnes Theater of Operations. The operation of airboat was similar to that of the airship; therefore, Zhang Tie issued the order. After moving backward for 20 miles, the airboat recovered to normal.


    Shaking his head, Zhang Tie sighed with feeling, "Centralpolar Mountain is really something!"


    "Of course, it''s one of the top ten perilous places in South Border. Every metal object would be affected within the territory of Centralpolar Mountain. The closer it was to the Centralpolar Mountain, the greater the influence would be. Even knights couldn''t enter Centralpolar Mountain with metal objects..." Bai Suxian said with a solemn look as she watched the mountain below.


    "I''ve not imagined that someone could discover a tower of time of the Great Wilderness Sect here." Zhang Tie said, shaking his head.


    Three days ago, on the second day since Zhang Tie came to Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, soon after Zhang Tie finished his breakfast and was talking with Lord Guangnan in the study of the latter, they had received an astonishing piece of news¡ª¡ªsomeone had already discovered Dongtian and a tower of time of Great Wilderness Sect in Centralpolar Mountain of South Border. A knight had already accessed to the tower of time.


    Zhang Tie could still remember the facial expression of Lord Guangnan when he heard this news; it was simply like stepping onto sh*t in a pair of new, dear shoes.


    Lord Guangnan''s Mansion had been tortured over 10 years by the news concerning treasures and Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect at a great cost of manpower, wealth and rations in vain, with the result that Lord Guangnan''s Mansion was already numb about that. In the following decades, although news about treasures and Dongtian arose every year, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion didn''t dispatch any knight to join similar actions anymore.


    The news concerning the discovery of trace of Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect near Centralpolar Mountain also spread over South Border a few days ago; however, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion disregarded it; because Barbarians Mountain and Endlove Sea were also purported to have Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. Similar news could be heard across the South Border.


    Nobody could imagine that it was real in Centralpolar Mountain.


    As the top power of South Border, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion must feel extremely disappointed missing such a rare opportunity.


    On the day they received the news, Bai Suxian''s third uncle Bai Runshan had already taken a group of knights to Centralpolar Mountain at the fastest speed. Zhang Tie didn''t leave for there with Bai Suxian until two days later.


    Honestly, Zhang Tie''s heart also pounded when he heard that Dongtian and a tower of time were discovered in Centralpolar Mountain of South Border. As a knight and the head of a sect, Zhang Tie was also attracted by the treasures and Dongtian left by Great Wilderness Sect; especially the tower of time, which Zhang Tie felt lacking the most now. If he could have a few more towers of time available and enable his elder brother and subordinates promote to knights in a short period, it would be of unusual significance for both Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect.


    If not for proposing marriage here, Zhang Tie might have left for Centralpolar Mountain on the same day when he heard the news.


    However, as the son-in-law of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Zhang Tie couldn''t drop everything else and leave for treasures which otherwise would be rude. Given Zhang Tie''s social status, he could really not do it.


    Even an ordinary son-in-law couldn''t run away for money when he heard a nouveau riche was scattering money on the roof of a building a few blocks away from his father-in-law''s house, not to mention Zhang Tie.


    Therefore, after hearing the news, Zhang Tie stayed two more days in Immortalwood Plains calmly, during which period, he enjoyed the special treatment of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion with Bai Suxian. After traveling around some cities in Immortalwood Plains, Zhang Tie gave some suggestions to the training of the air cavalries corps of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, and discussed the future of rune instrument artisans with his second uncle-in-law Bai Zhengxi. After fixing the marriage between him and Bai Suxian, they headed for Immortalwood Plains out of curiosity.


    Thankfully, although Zhang Tie didn''t go to Centralpolar Mountain these two days, he realized that he still had a chance when he heard that the tower of time was discovered in the periphery of the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect while the internal region of Dongtian had not been explored yet.


    The airboat suspended in the periphery of the influence of Centralpolar Mountain. After leaving some words to his crew, Zhang Tie then flew out of the airboat with Bai Suxian.


    Before Bai Suxian left the airboat, she almost took off all of her metal jewelry. She only wore a hairpin made of bloodydragon wood.


    Zhang Tie held Bai Suxian''s hand while the latter injected a bit spiritual energy into Zhang Tie''s body. Zhang Tie then manipulated the spiritual energy and flew towards Centralpolar Mountain at a speed three times greater than the speed of sound using his ability as a divine dominator.


    Such a flight cost them minimal spiritual energy at such a high speed, which could be frankly accepted by Bai Suxian...

 1527 An Encounter on the Way

    After activating his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie could see many airboats within thousands of miles. Even within 150 miles, Zhang Tie saw three airboats suspending on the verge of the influence of Centralpolar Mountain. Apparently, these airboats came here for the discovery from far away.


    In the distance, some more airboats were suspending in the sky. Even in the daytime, a multitude of meteors could still be seen as many knights were heading for Centralpolar Mountain at their full speeds, fully releasing their battle qis.


    Previously, the Great Wilderness Sect was almost a qualified ruler among numerous mountains in the South Border, which possessed a great influence there; especially among barbarians where it was like an unrivaled power. Additionally, South Border was abundant in rarities and treasures. Therefore, after receiving the news, numerous people were shocked as they set for Centralpolar Mountain in groups.


    The speed of Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian was even far greater than that of shadow knights. On the way, Zhang Tie had also met some waves of knights heading for Centralpolar Mountain. However, all the other knights kept far away from Zhang Tie''s route, showing their great reverence to him like avoiding from a huge prehistorical beast.


    When a black iron knight saw Zhang Tie flying towards him, he instantly became flurried as he changed his direction and dove into the woods, destroying a row of huge trees on the ground. His embarrassed behavior made Zhang Tie speechless.


    "What the hell? Am I a monster or what?" Zhang Tie sighed using the bit of remaining battle qi in his qi sea.


    On this occasion, their moving speed was faster than the speed of sound. Therefore, they could only communicate by battle qi.


    "How''d they know?" Bai Suxian answered with a smile, "Given our speed, they must treat us as heavenly knights. Of course, they are flurried. In peaceful times, heavenly knights would behave legally and not bully knights with lower levels; however, when it comes to treasure scramble, they would reveal their evil and ferocious temperament and easily kill any knights with lower levels because of one offensive word or behavior; especially those standalone knights with no special background. As long as they stir up high-level knights on this occasion, they might be killed and nobody would speak for them. Such events have happened more than once in Taixia Country. That one might be alone and timid. He must have been scared too much when he found himself blocking our way..."


    "What are those standalone low-level knights doing here, aren''t they moths flying towards fire?"


    "People die in pursuit of wealth while birds die in pursuit of food. That''s how humans do. Those standalone knights don''t have too many cultivation resources. In such case, even though they know there''re perils in front of them, they would also have a try with fluke mind. Additionally, the Dongtian and treasures of Great Wilderness Sect are too alluring. It''s no strange for so many people to try their luck here. Before the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect, everyone said that Bazis and plains are ruled by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion while numerous mountains were ruled by Great Wilderness Sect. Apparently, Great Wilderness Sect could be on the same footing with South Border. Even Lord Guangnan''s Mansion should show its courtesy to the Great Wilderness Sect at that time..."


    Bai Suxian simplified the understanding of Great Wilderness Sect to Zhang Tie in flight, "It''s said that some secret skills of Great Wilderness Sutra elders and disciples of Great Wilderness Sect cultivated consumed them too much physical and spiritual energy. In order to mend up their losses, the warehouse of medicines of Great Wilderness Sect almost contained all the treasures, rarities and marvelous medicines that could be seen in South Border. In their heyday, Great Wilderness Sect even was exchanged for enormous element crystals and secret cultivation books with major sects and knights across Taixia Country using its collections. The collections in the secret warehouse of Great Wilderness Sect could even match that of major sects in Taixia Country. After the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect, even Xuanyuan Hill was jealous of their collections as they dispatched employed elders to search for the purported secret warehouse. This time, there must be many forces coming to South Border. What was more, if the Dongtian discovered in Centralpolar Mountain was real, the number of towers of time in the Dongtian must be out of imagination..."


    "Aah? Why?"


    "Previously, 7 people of Great Wilderness Sect promoted to knight elders within two months. Therefore, outsiders guessed that the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect at least contained 7 towers of time!"


    When Zhang Tie recalled the letter left by Cloudcrane, a late disciple of Great Wilderness Sect, Zhang Tie felt sad about Great Wilderness Sect too. Who could imagine such a remarkable sect could collapse overnight.


    While creating prosperity for Great Wilderness Sect, Great Wilderness Sutra also destroyed Great Wilderness Sect. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, after becoming the top sect in South Border and owning a large handful of knights and elders, Great Wilderness Sect still treated its animal controlling skills as its foundations instead of stressing its cultivation in battle strength which provided a chance for Imperial Alliance to destroy it. If Great Wilderness Sect could walk on two legs instead of one and not have those knight elders obsessed with the experience of the animal control, it might not have been easy for Imperial Alliance to destroy Great Wilderness Sect.


    ''I gained Great Wilderness Sutra by chance in Waii Subcontinent; when I came to South Border, the Dongtian and a tower of time of Great Wilderness Sect were discovered. Is it destined for me?''


    Zhang Tie had a strange feeling when he thought about the connections between him and the Great Wilderness Sect in the air.


    ...


    "Pah..pah..pah..."


    A dusty guy climbed out of the pit that he had created as he hid in the shade. After looking up at the sky out of fear, he found that "heavenly knights" who approached him at a speed three times greater than that of sound had been far away; closely after that, he jumped out of the shade, swearing towards the sky, hands on his sides, "Heavenly knights, so what? Heavenly knights could bully me? F*ck your grandma! When, I Fan Sanguang, become a sage-level knight, I will deal with you!"


    After swearing for a while, he suddenly felt itchy on his neck. He touched there as he found a nail-sized, colorful spider was there and had already given him a bite silently.


    "Aah..." that guy exclaimed miserably as he released his protective battle qi, shocking the spider off to the ground. Before the spider climbed away, he had raised his leg and stomped onto it. At the same time, he swore, "Shit spider, damn spider; how dare you bully me? how dare you bully me? Go to hell; go to hell..."


    The spider had already turned into shit; however, he didn''t stop until he created another deep pit. Gritting his teeth, he forcefully spat towards the ground, saying, "Have you seen that? That''s your destiny. Son of a bitch! This father could also kill you even though I''m not a sage-level knight..."


    Closely after his words, he felt his neck a bit heavy as if something was hanging over there. He touched there again as he found a steamed-bun sized bump over there where he was bitten. As a result, he appeared to have a big neck. Not only that, the swollen region was expanding; additionally, he felt dizzy...


    "Aah..." This guy shrieked miserably as if being beaten by a number of tough guys. At the same time, he took out a container of medicaments as he took many vials out of it. Hands quivering, he hurriedly took pills and daubed ointment on his wound...


    Over 10 minutes later, the knight whose head was as swollen as a pig-head staggered as he swore and flew off the ground towards Centralpolar Mountain...

 1528 The Perilous Land

    After leaving their airboat, it only took Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian a short while to arrive at the core region of Centralpolar Mountain.


    On the way, Zhang Tie felt strange as not a single bird could be seen within 600,000 square miles. Not until they arrived at the core region of Centralpolar Mountain did he know why Centralpolar Mountain could be listed as one of top ten perilous lands in the South Border.


    When they were about 150 miles away from the core region of Centralpolar Mountain, the landscape suddenly changed as the lush woods were instantly replaced by bare, pitch-dark rocks and crisscrossed gullies. Because of the unique geographic environment, Zhang Tie saw many mutated venomous living beings among those rocks and gullies.


    Some airship wrecks spread over the bare surface of the land which was covered with black spots; perhaps they were eroded by something. Besides, Zhang Tie saw many beast bones.


    Before they arrived here, it was sunny; however, when they came here, the weather abruptly turned weird. In the periphery of Centralpolar Mountain, some places were hot with big suns while the other places were facing the rain. As for the earlier places, they might be filled with bloody smell every once a while.


    Under his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie could see layers of invisible energy in the space around Centralpolar Mountain, whose movements caused a sharp change in the temperature surrounding Centralpolar Mountain. As a result, the weather nearby Centralpolar Mountain turned as mobile as a kid''s face.


    Closing his eyes, Zhang Tie sensed that the elements in the elements realm turned berserk nearby the region of Centralpolar Mountain. Before coming here, the elements in the Elements Realm were as calm as water level; however, after coming here, four elements turned as berserk as an ocean being troubled by storms.


    "It''s Centralpolar Mountain ahead of us..." Bai Suxian said as she pointed at a mountain in front of her.


    The entire Centralpolar Mountain was like a sharp sword pointing into the sky. As high as over 10,000 m, it was pitch dark, barren and formidable.


    The number of knights increased sharply here. It appeared that knights were gathering here from all directions as they were all heading towards the peak of the Centralpolar Mountain.


    After arriving at the peak, they saw a huge, pitch dark cave leading all the way to the underground like Dragon Cave in Hidden Dragon Island. All the knights were flying into the cave.


    Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian also flew inside at the same speed.


    Like Bai Suxian had said, all the knights gave way to them out of fear of their speed. In the eyes of the others, their speed denoted that they were heavenly knights. When Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian passed by them, they were all shocked as they wondered what immortal beings were Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian.


    As they were holding hands with each other, the others were not sure which one was a heavenly knight, Zhang Tie or Bai Suxian.


    When they came to 20,000 m beneath the earth, the road began to be sinuous and have bypasses. Whereas, Zhang Tie was not afraid of going in the wrong way; because huge arrowheads had been painted by fluorescent powder on the walls of the bypasses. Many independent knights were wandering near those bypasses and glancing at those people behind them.


    Some independent knights shouted, "Team members wanted; team members wanted. The road leading to the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect has been marked by earlier brothers. Is there anyone who would like to join me. Unity is power. We grassroots knights should unite with each other. As three of the top six major clans have already dispatched people here, including the powerhouses from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Even an independent shadow night could barely get any benefits. If we don''t team up, we might get nothing but shit there..."


    "Knights from top six major sects have already claimed to clear here. Team members wanted..."


    "I''m an earth knight in a three-change realm. I''m looking for earth knight partners, 8 people at best. We could form a bigger battle formation..."


    Many knights were shouting under the ground there. After hearing such voices, some knights such as Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian neglected them basically as they continued to fly inside while some other knights stopped to inquire them about the details or joined teams.


    In order to confront those forces from major clans, earlier independent knights chose to expose this secret to the public as soon as possible, causing the Mountain of Brilliance to be boisterous at this moment. By contrast, these independent knights hereby left marks all the way here so that other independent knights coming after them could gather up.


    Zhang Tie felt speechless about such a situation. As for ordinary people, knights were powerhouses; however, those ordinary people didn''t know that the ordinary knights were also relatively weaker sometimes. If not unite with each other, these ordinary earth and black iron knights were never qualified to compete with those major sects and clans.


    Even though knights were striving for survival in many cases.


    The patch in the mountain cave was pretty sinuous and grew increasingly narrower like a maze. As a result, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian slowed their speed.


    After flying over an underground magma lake covering hundreds of square miles and tens of thousands of meters more downwards, the space in front abruptly became open as a spacious underground space appeared.


    This huge underground space covered almost 600,000 square miles as it was filled with dozens of meters high black metal spines in the shape of stalactites, which came into being naturally. Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian were shocked by the marvel of mother nature.


    What was more surprising was that the ground of this space appeared completely to be an unimaginably huge piece of natural metal. On the ground covered with metal spines, there were 81 huge black holes, over half of which were reflected with flames as white high-temperature flames spurted out of the holes, the height of which ranged from dozens of meters to over 100 m. Given the color of the flame, it could be estimated that they would be at least 5,000 degree Celsius in temperature, which was even higher than that of underground magma. Even steel would melt at about 1,600 degree Celsius. Facing such a high temperature, shadow knights would perish; even heavenly knights couldn''t stand too long...


    It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect could be located in such a perilous environment...

 1529 The Entry

    Right outside one of the 81 entrances of caves, Zhang Tie saw the same mark. However, this entrance was emitting a hot flame as high as dozens of meters while being surrounded by a lot of knights. They appeared to be waiting for a proper moment to enter it. The moment Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian arrived, a knight from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion who had long been waiting here flew towards them.


    "Princess, Guye, I, Bai Yuanan, have been waiting for you..."


    As the relation between Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian had been fixed, all the myrmidons and knights in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion called him Guye instead of Qianji Immortal as the former one sounded more intimate.


    Zhang Tie had indeed seen this knight in the banquet two days ago. He was a myrmidon of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Bai Suxian''s third uncle was in the hole. After being told that Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian were coming, he especially had a knight wait here for him.


    "Can we access to the underground space through that entrance?" Bai Suxian asked as she pointed at that crater.


    "Yes, we can!" Bai Yuanan said as he nodded, "There''re 81 craters. Previously, someone had already searched over here; however, they didn''t imagine that the access to the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect is one of these craters..."


    "Only one?"


    "Only one. As for the other 80 craters, even if the flames stopped for the time being, people would die for sure inside; except for this one, when the flames stopped, people could rapidly rush in. After reaching greater than 20,000 m underneath the crater, people would see 9 bypasses, only one of which is safe; all the others are dead ends. As long as one goes the wrong way, one would perish when it emits flame again, even if he is a knight!"


    "Aah, that sounds so precarious!" Bai Suxian took in a deep breath after hearing the knight''s introduction.


    "Each one hour would permit two minutes'' interval, during which period people have to enter it if they want. Because it''s a bit perilous here. Third lord especially had me stay here to lead you the way lest any trouble!"


    Hearing Bai Yuanan''s words, Zhang Tie started to observe these craters using his lotus-flower eyes.


    From the ground, he saw 81 entrances; however, when his vision entered those entrances, he found almost every cave has complex and dense bypasses when it reached 10,000 m underground, which were like roots and stems of underground old trees. The deeper it was, the more complex the bypasses would be. Many bypasses were linked with each other. After a short glance, Zhang Tie had seen at least tens of thousands of bypasses within tens of thousands of meters vertically, only one of which was correct.


    Therefore, it was the best way to protect the secret. If people didn''t know the correct route, it was almost like seeking for death inside the entrance.


    However, as Zhang Tie''s vision reached further and deeper, Zhang Tie gradually had an erratic feeling¡ª¡ªthere''s an integral piece of bizarre metal underground while those flaming tunnels inside this metal reminded Zhang Tie of human''s lung. The tunnels emitted flames every once a while as if a huge lung was breathing.


    The mother nature''s marvelous craftsmanship was awesome.


    "How did people discover it?" Zhang Tie asked Bai Yuanan.


    "It''s four sage freaks of South Border who discovered this place."


    "Four sage freaks?"


    "It''s their nickname..." Bai Suxian answered as she added, "Four sage freaks refers to four black iron knights who gathered together because of common interest. They were one group of freaks in South Border. Although the others called them four sage freaks, they call themselves four sage intelligentlemen. They''re respectively Mr. Plum, Mr. Orchid, Mr. Bamboo and Mr. Chrysanthemum..."


    After Bai Suxian''s explanation, Bai Yuanan added, "When the Great Wilderness Sect existed, the four people befriended an elder of Great Wilderness Sect and knew something about Great Wilderness Sect. After Great Wilderness Sect was exterminated, the four people are most interested and active in discovering the Dongtian and treasures left by Great Wilderness Sect. Over these years, although they failed to discover the Dongtian and treasures of Great Wilderness Sect, they indeed have discovered some places associating with Great Wilderness Sect such as courtyards and secret caves of Great Wilderness Sect in South Border. This time, nobody knows how the four people knew the secret access to the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. They stealthily came to Centralpolar Mountain; however, they didn''t imagine that they had long been followed by their opponents. After following them in, their adversaries didn''t gain any benefit; instead, they suffered a loss; therefore, after exiting the tunnel, their rivals exposed the news to the public as they obviously didn''t want the four sage freaks to enjoy the benefits alone. Otherwise, nobody else could have known this secret..."


    "What''s the situation inside?"


    "Mr. Bamboo has already entered a tower of time. The other three people are just guarding outside. These days, all the major sects and clans had already assigned people here. Therefore, it''s a bit sophisticated downside there..." Bai Yuanan said. Finding the flame was gradually fading away, he added hurriedly, "The moment the flame dies out, we should enter the entrance. We only have a few minutes. If we miss it, we have to wait for another one hour..."


    "Hmm, let''s move closer..."


    After reaching the crater, the three people only waited for less than one minute before the white flame died out. After another 10 seconds, all the knights outside the crater flew inside hurriedly.


    The diameter of the crater was over 30 m. Although the flame had already died out, the temperature inside was still very high. It took Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian and Bai Yuanan about 2 minutes in reaching almost 20,000 m downwards when they saw 9 bypasses. Bai Yuanan then flew into one bypass, followed by Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian, the other knights. Only after all of them entered that bypass for 30 seconds, the white flame had reappeared behind them, filling all the tunnels behind them again...


    If it took them half more minute to come here or they went the wrong way, they would perish at a stroke. Some knights really oozed sweet all over.

 1530 An Urgent Situation

    Ten minutes later, after flying over 60 miles deeper, Zhang Tie suddenly felt entering a deeper basement by staircase as a bizarre underground space appeared in front of him.


    This underground space was much smaller than the former one; however, it still covered about 6,000 square miles. When Zhang Tie saw this underground space, he was shocked so much that he almost cried out.


    The entire underground space comprised of an integral piece of metal as same as that he saw before. Actually, Zhang Tie was more stunned by the shape of this space rather than its component.


    This underground space was completely in the shape of the space inside the All-spirits Tower of Great Wilderness Sutra that he cultivated.


    The entire space was composed of five facades, each of which was a metal wall as high as 30,000 m. Additionally, each wall was covered with a myriad of still vivid totems and images of animals and mutated beasts like reliefs.


    Right in the middle of this underground space, there was a huge metal mountain with 8 facades like a sacrificial altar. Right on the top of this metal mountain rested still a huge colorful tower of time.


    This underground space was dark. However, yellow, green, blue and purple lights were flowing like water on the surface of the tower of time. The tower as a whole was like a huge eternal fluorite lamp, which tinted the entire underground space into a magical stage.


    Knights'' brilliant battle qis made this place more dazzling while colorful light spots were constantly flying around the tower of time. From Zhang Tie''s perspective, a horde of fireflies was flying around a huge lighting device.


    This place was so magnificent that Zhang Tie could barely imagine the power that created such a colossal engineering masterpiece.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered this space, the All-spirits Tower in his mind sea had started to rock as if it resonated closely to this place.


    Under the leadership of Bai Yuanan, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian flew towards that huge tower of time.


    At this moment, all the knights had almost gathered around the octahedral altar.


    The entrance of the tower of time was in an emergency as a lot of knights were circling around three blue-faced knights.


    "Old freak Plum, it''s said that you''ve gained a lot of element crystals before entering the tower of time. Why not present them to us? We''re all curious about the measures that you''ve gained from Great Wilderness Sect..."


    A slightly haunched knight with gloomy expression opened his mouth among the onlookers, which instantly received resonance from the others.


    "Yea, as we''re all here, we should share it; quick, take them out..."


    "Your four sage freaks have already enjoyed too much. Don''t be too gracious. With so many people at present, be careful of your lives..." someone said in a vile way.


    Some knights booed and hooted at once while many eyes were searching over the three people incessantly.


    At the same time, some knights were just watching it silently in the periphery of these people, some of which were from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    Bai Suxian''s third uncle Bai Runshan and some other knights were watching it quietly outside the crowd.


    Seeing Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian descending from the sky, Bai Runshan revealed a smile at Zhang Tie as he tipped them a wink to let them watch the performance quietly.


    When Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian arrived, some knights fixated onto Zhang Tie as if they were guessing Zhang Tie''s identity.


    Zhang Tie just watched it quietly. This scene was too familiar for Zhang Tie. Vile and greedy human natures were always exposed in front of rich profit.


    "Hahahaha..." one of the three knights being surrounded in white robe and grey hair with some plum blossoms embroidered on his shoulder burst into laughter as he pointed at the faintly haunched knight by his flute and said, "Qi Tianhao, is that your real nature? You vile b*stard! I... I know you''re such a merciless person, I should not have let you go in Thunder Valley one decade ago. After ten years, you became so audacious that you instigated the others to rob us. Go ahead! As long as you could kill us three, of course, you will have our belongings. Whereas, who among you would like to fight us to death? Even if we three die here, when my third younger brother comes out of the tower of time after promoting to an earth knight, he would avenge for us surely!"


    After saying that, one knight in pale blue robe and whiskers and one bald knight in yellow robe exchanged a glance with each other. Closely after that, the three people stood close to each other with resolute looks as they held fast their weapons and released their protective battle qis. At the same time, they had connected their knights'' consciousness. It appeared that they had already prepared for a duel in the form of an entity.


    Watching the three knights'' response, all the other knights who were urging them to hand in their achievements became hesitant for a second.


    Of course, good items were pursued by everyone. However, given the three knights'' response, if they really had a duel, more than three people among their opponents would die for sure. Four sage freaks were famous in South Border because they excelled at fighting together in a formation of two, three, or four people. When four of them fought their enemies together, they were said to set a complex formation of heavens, land, wind and thunder. Therefore, they were tricky guys in South Border.


    In this case, nobody would like to die for nothing; instead, they preferred to pick up profits alive at the cost of others'' lives. The death of Daoists invested the lives of a sagacious monk. That was how most of the people were thinking about at this moment.


    As they were thinking about it, nobody dared approach the three people. Even though there were some earth knights among the crowd, when they thought about the other person in the tower of time who would probably have promoted to an earth knight when he exited it, they didn''t feel like stirring up such life-or-death trouble...

 1531 Be Forthrigh

    "Is that speaker Mr. Plum?" Zhang Tie whispered to Bai Suxian.


    "Yes, he''s the old freak plum!"


    After receiving Bai Suxian''s confirmation, Zhang Tie nodded inside as he started to admire four sage freaks more or less.


    Besides being resolute, the old freak plum''s words were most effective in destroying one''s mental defense. Although the opponents were overwhelming in quantity, in fact, they just appeared so due to the temporary combination. At such a life-or-death moment, each of them would only consider themselves. In one word, they definitely lacked cohesiveness like sands. As a result, the old freak plum''s words made these selfish and vile people hesitate.


    What a wise man!


    According to the old freak plum''s words, the three people didn''t scramble for entering the tower; instead, they allowed the old freak bamboo to enter it while guarding at the entrance. That exemplified the meaning of friendship.


    As they had wisdom, friendship and braveness, Zhang Tie started to admire the four people at a stroke.


    "Don''t believe him. If we fight them together, the three of them could never defeat us. When they hand in what they''ve acquired here, we''ll share it lest of coming here for nothing!" Qi Tianhao shouted among the crowd again.


    "Yes, we outnumber them absolutely. We don''t have a concern..."


    "It''s said that four sage freaks have discovered thousands of element crystals and some space-teleportation equipment on the sacrificial altar..."


    Being instigated, some hesitant ones started wriggling again.


    Right then, an earth knight in half-body outfit said in an overwhelming way, "A flock of wastes is dreaming about scrambling for the tower of time and treasure of Great Wilderness Sect? That''s ridiculous. As long as you three join in Heavens Holding Pavilion now, I guarantee that nobody here dares do any harm to you..."


    After he finished his words, he became silent at once. Only after a few seconds, another younger yet aggressive earth knight who was always watching him silently aside revealed derision, "You Heavens Holding Pavilion is really good at doing business. After four sage freaks join you, all their achievements would belong to you. Even the tower of time would also belong to Heavens Holding Pavilion in the future. What a scheme!"


    "Who''re you?" that knight from Heavens Holding Pavilion asked distantly.


    "Fang Tongzhen from Demons-kill Valley!"


    "You Demons-kill Valley also intends to join the competition?" the knight from Heavens Holding Pavilion said as his voice turned cold.


    "Hahaha, no crap! The owner of this place was Great Wilderness Sect. After Great Wilderness Sect was exterminated, this place will belong to nobody. According to the rules among knights, anyone would get it as long as they could. Now that Heavens Holding Pavilion could come, why couldn''t Demons-kill Valley? We, Demons-kill Valley, are not as hypocritical as you Heavens Holding Pavilion!" Fang Tongzhen said in an acrid tongue with a sneer. Closely after that, he told the old freak plum, "We, Demons-kill Valley, are always straightforward; we prefer to be evil than being hypocritical. We don''t compel you to join in Demons-kill Valley. As long as you agree, we could make a trade. Hand those b*stards who want to kill you for your achievements. Demons-kill Valley could guarantee that nobody here dares to hurt you. As repayment, the access of this tower of time would be shared between you and Demons-kill Valley, 50/50. If you don''t plan to use it, you could exchange your access of this tower of time for element crystals, secret knowledge, pills, cities and land, as much as you wish..."


    The condition of Demons-kill Valley was absolutely much better than that provided by Heavens Holding Pavilion. At least four sage freaks could remain free as they still had half of the access of the tower of time.


    Certainly, after hearing his suggestion, the three people of four sage freaks exchanged a glance with each other as if they had been moved by this condition. At least, they were not inimical about it.


    Zhang Tie was also attracted by the argument between the representatives of Heavens Holding Pavilion and Demons-kill Valley, each of which was a member of top six sects. Therefore, Zhang Tie fixated onto Bai Runshan.


    "South Border is the survival training fields of Heavens Holding Pavilion and Demons-kill Valley. Over the past hundreds of years, the two sects always had conflicts and skirmishes in scrambling for training resources or rarities. It''s said that the disciples of the two sects almost fought to death for a 1,000-year-old 9-leaf glossy Ganoderma in South Border. After those disciples who participated in survival training here became the pillars of their own sects, the two sects'' relationship would not be good for sure. As long as it''s not a duel, the two sects would always pretend to be blind about it. Even the other four of the top six sects had mutual contradictions instead of being kind to each other!" Bai Runshan told Zhang Tie secretly using battle qi as he noticed Zhang Tie''s doubt.


    ''Really?'' Zhang Tie nodded inside. At the same time, Zhang Tie''s heart raced¡ª¡ªgiven the poor relationship between Demons-kill Valley and Heavens Holding Pavilion, if one of them joined Imperial Alliance, the other one would probably not join it or neither of them would join it.


    By contrast, even though Pandora was excluded, Demons-kill Valley''s manner won Zhang Tie''s admiration.


    However, when he saw the expression of the three of the four sage freaks again, he heaved a sigh inside, ''In this world, when small figures'' treasures are discovered by big powers, they might suffer from similar results, be plundered or shared with a price. That''s small figures'' sadness. Even knights couldn''t avoid facing such a fate. Even I was screwed because of Castle of Black Iron.''


    When Zhang Tie recalled his own experience, he understood the feelings of four sage freaks as he opened his mouth forthrightly, "Brother Fang, albeit being outright, no need to be that mean. Now that we''re in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, there must be more than one tower of time. We should be only in the vicinity of the Dongtian. There should be some more inside. We could look for it with our own ability. As it''s the four sage freaks who discovered this place first, they deserve to have it. Without their help, we couldn''t even have a chance to find this place. It''s advisable that we don''t make them too embarrassed. Why not be a bit more generous?"


    Zhang Tie''s words aroused the others'' attention at once as the others wondered who dared be the mediator for the top six sects...

 1532 The Power of Reputation

    "Who''re you?" the knight of Demons-kill Valley Fang Tongzhen instantly fixated onto Zhang Tie with shrewd eye light like a gamecock.


    Zhang Tie''s tone was polite; however, his overtone was that he disagreed with the Demons-kill Valley. Therefore, some knights from Demons-kill Valley fixated onto Zhang Tie at a stroke.


    Even the four sage freaks moved their eyes onto Zhang Tie. As they knew Bai Runshan, they only treated Zhang Tie as a knight of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Therefore, they wondered why Lord Guangnan''s Mansion treated them so well.


    Not until Zhang Tie explained did they know Zhang Tie''s real identity.


    "Brother Fang, although we''ve not met each other before, in my rotating chakra ceremony in Youzhou Province a few years ago, I met the Elder Long of your sect who even gifted me 1,000 sets of rune war outfits..." Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Fang Tongzhen slightly frowned. Closely after that, he changed his face as he finally knew who was this young man. In fact, Demons-kill Valley felt disdainful to attend the rotating chakra ceremonies of ordinary knights. If their elder attended his rotating chakra ceremony in Youzhou Province with 1,000 sets of war outfits, only one person suited this condition.


    After Zhang Tie''s young look aligned with the image in his mind, Fang Tongzhen immediately changed his attitude as he hid his unruly look at once and said something to the other knights of Demons-kill Valley on his side secretly using battle qi. Closely after hearing his words, the other knights of Demons-kill Valley changed their face too as they showed their awe to Zhang Tie in unison, "It''s our great honor to meet Qianji Immortal!"


    The entire Demons-kill Valley knew the good relationship between Zhang Tie and their young princess Pandora, which explained why Demons-kill Valley had people attend Zhang Tie''s rotating chakra ceremony. Whereas, what won Demons-kill Valley''s respect most was Zhang Tie''s performance at the battle near Weishui River. In that battle, Zhang Tie killed almost half a dozen of shadow demon knights and killed the demon prince heavenly knight by striking it with a rod for 9 times. The number of earth and black iron demon knights being killed by him couldn''t even be calculated. It was said that Zhang Tie could kill earth and black iron knights as easily as killing dogs with only his unrivaled swordsmanship instead of using his capability as a divine dominator.


    After that battle, Zhang Tie''s position in the heart of knights in Taixia Country could almost match that of sage-level knights.


    No sooner did they hear the words of Fang Tongzhen and the other disciples of Demons-kill Valley than everyone changed their face.


    As Zhang Tie came here as fast as ordinary knights, although the others had noticed them, they were just curious about Zhang Tie''s young look and thought that he was an unknown young knight of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Not until then did they realize that the world-renowned Qianji Immortal had already arrived here quietly.


    This event implied the power of one''s good reputation. The moment Zhang Tie displayed his real identity, it became quiet around the tower of time at once. All the independent yet temporarily organized, valiant knights had lowered their heads silently as everybody understood that the total of them might not defeat Qianji Immortal given the latter''s performance at the battlefield near Weishui River. At that time, Qianji Immortal alone could penetrate through the entire formation of tens of thousands of demons without using his capability as a divine dominator, one slash for one demon life, causing demons to stay far away from him out of fear. Even earth knights were nothing but shit in front of Qianji Immortal''s sword. Although they outnumbered Qianji Immortal today, they could match the demon knights'' formation in quantity. Besides, they were not cohesive; neither could they match demon knights in battle strength. In such a case, Qianji Immortal alone could dominate everything.


    ''What the f*ck! Only after the news was released to the public for a few days had this deity been attracted here. Qianji Immortal is nothing different than a sage-level knight. Now that a sage-level knight is here, what others are waiting here for?''


    Some knights swore inside; however, none of them dared show their complaints. Many of those independent knights who teamed up immediately considered to leave here the moment they saw Zhang Tie. However, they felt unwilling to leave such a top rarity in front of them.


    Watching all the others turning quiet, Bai Suxian held tight Zhang Tie''s hand like a spoiled woman. At the same time, all the other knights of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion became spirited. The other lord mansions'' son-in-laws shared the lord''s mansion''s glory; however, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion shared their son-in-law''s glory. The princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion was really farsighted.


    "Qianji Immortal, do you want to occupy all the treasures here?" the knight of Heavens Holding Pavilion who talked with Fang Tongzhen just now pretended to speak calmly after being silent for a while the other aggressive knights of Heavens Holding Pavilion instantly lost their morale after knowing Zhang Tie''s identity. "The powerhouses of our sect are all the way to South Border after receiving the news. They will arrive here tomorrow. It''s not easy for immortal to engulf it alone..."


    After hearing his retort, Zhang Tie burst into laughter, "The things in the world would be occupied by people due to karma. If I want to occupy it, I''ve long driven all of you out of here. I just wonder about the game rule that you follow when I saw someone bullying the weak. The rarity of Great Wilderness Sect is right in front of you, I wonder what rules are you going to follow here or you prepare to scramble for it by force, even though naming it a robbery?"


    "As one of the top six sects of Taixia Country, of course, Heavens Holding Pavilion is about to follow rules..." the same knight of Heavens Holding Pavilion instantly opened his mouth as if he was afraid that Zhang Tie would regret about his words and beat him.


    All the other independent knights who surrounded four sage freaks shouted one after another too.


    "Of course, we will follow rules; follow rules..."


    "We should follow rules and cannot bully others by force..."


    "Yea, yea, yea, Qianji Immortal is right. No matter how many people we got, we should follow rules. We''re all civilized men..."

 1533 Setting a Rule

    Even idiots would not fight Zhang Tie who could kill a heavenly demon knight through striking it using a rod for 9 times¡ª¡ªthink about fighting a man who could even survive the attack of the thunder of nirvana.


    Although Zhang Tie couldn''t run his spiritual energy and battle qi, it was unknown to the public. Therefore, in the eyes of these people, Zhang Tie''s reputation was real as his performance near Wishui River almost conquered everyone at present.


    "That''s great. Now that we all want to follow the rule, who do you think is most qualified to own the treasure and this tower of time?" Zhang Tie nodded and asked the others as he looked around.


    "It''s four sage freaks who discovered the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect first. According to the rule, unidentified objects should belong to the one who discovered them first. Therefore, all that they''ve achieved including this tower of time should belong to them as their private belongings. We should follow the same rule in the next!" the knight of Heavens Holding Pavilion opened his mouth only after being silent for a second.


    "Yes, yes, yes, this tower of time should belong to the very one who entered it first. That''s the rule..."


    "We shouldn''t rob by force..."


    All the independent knights expressed their attitude.


    Knights of Heavens Holding Pavilion knew that the group of knights that Heavens Holding Pavilion had dispatched on the way were never qualified to fight Qianji Immortal¡ª¡ªone deputy head, some elders and ordinary knights. The sage-level knights of Heavens Holding Pavilion were in secluded cultivation or staying in some secret places. Even the deputy head of Heavens Holding Pavilion couldn''t win a vantage point in front of Qianji Immortal.


    If they followed the rule of force, not only this tower of time, even the latter rarities that Heavens Holding Pavilion discovered might be taken away by Qianji Immortal.


    Not only Heavens Holding Pavilion, but the other sects of Taixia Country could also at most dispatch heavenly knights here, who were enough to deal with such events. However, who could imagine that Qianji Immortal the great was here? Nor would sects dispatch sage-level knights here for fighting Qianji Immortal.


    "If so, let''s not stay here anymore. You make it like a robbery! Come, leave!" Zhang Tie said as he waved his hand.


    All the other independent knights exchanged a glance with each other before leaving for their own footholds with a hubbub.


    The knights of Heavens Holding Pavilion at present also felt embarrassed as they left there.


    As for knights of Demons-kill Valley, as long as Heavens Holding Pavilion couldn''t get any benefit, they would be satisfied. Additionally, Zhang Tie''s judgment was just and polite, which didn''t arise their discontentment at all; instead, they admired Zhang Tie. After cupping their hands towards Zhang Tie, they flew away.


    The three of the four sage freaks exchanged a glance with each other as they looked a bit thrilled. They had not imagined that Zhang Tie could resolve the trouble for them.


    "Qianji Immortal, thanks for you righteous deed..." the old freak plum said solemnly as he cupped his hands towards Zhang Tie.


    "Ha, pleasure..." Zhang Tie kneaded his face as he told four sage freaks in a helpless manner, "I planned to talk about the rule by force with them. In that way, I would be able to rob them. Unexpectedly, we''re all civilized persons. You didn''t even spare a chance to me..."


    Zhang Tie waved his hands before leaving here with Bai Runshan and the other knights of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    Watching Zhang Tie leaving away, the three people looked complex...


    ...


    Although they were leaving, they were actually not far away; because people chose their footholds nearby the tower of time for the time being.


    The knights of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion chose to set up their tents less than 3 miles away from the tower of time. Both Demons-kill Valley''s and Heavens Holding Pavilion''s tents were not far from the tower of time with some sparse tents in the nearby.


    As for knights, a tent was very cheap; however, the existence of tents implied an utterly different identity and social status here.


    Because all those with tents were not alone, which, additionally, meant that they carried space-teleportation equipment. Only major sects and clans could afford it.


    Just now, those silent ones also contained representatives from major sects and clans. Take the other two major sects in South Border besides Lord Guangnan''s Mansion as an instance, Lin Clan of Qianshan Palace and Jiang Clan of Herbal Palace also dispatched knights here. Zhang Tie was familiar with the second one as the seeds in Castle of Black Iron were purchased from Jiang Clan.


    Lin Clan of Qianshan Palace dispatched one shadow knight, two earth knights and two black iron knights while Herbal Palace dispatched one earth knight and two black iron knights.


    ...


    "I wonder who led you here..." Zhang Tie had paid a visit to Demons-kill Valley''s camp the moment the knights of Demons-kill Valley returned.


    Zhang Tie''s active visit showed his reverence to Demons-kill Valley which made Fang Zhentong and the other knights of Demons-kill Valley glorious. Besides the relationship between Zhang Tie and Pandora, the sincere cooperation between Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory and Demons-kill Valley''s subordinate clans on fiery oil also laid a solid foundation for the development of the relationship between two parties. Among the top sects of Taixia Country, although Demons-kill Valley joined the industry of fiery oil a bit later than Heavens Fortune Sect, they could definitely match the latter in scale.


    Because of the above reasons, the knights of Demons-kill Valley answered Zhang Tie sincerely, "It''s our deputy head Treasurefame Immortal..."


    "Will Pandora come here?"


    "Young princess is still in secluded cultivation. She should not be here..."


    After hearing Fang Tongzhen''s words, Zhang Tie became shortly silent and said, "Before the arrival of Treasureflame Immortal, if you have any need or trouble, come for me!"


    "Thank you so much for your kindness, immortal!" all the knights of Demons-kill Valley extended their thanks hurriedly.

 1534 The Huge Full-Moons Gate

    Since he walked out of the camp of the knights of Demons-kill Valley, Zhang Tie had been recalling the beautiful face of Pandora when he saw her last time.


    Many things'' value was disregarded until you lost it.


    Zhang Tie recalled as he found that the life philosophy of lying on a pile of gold coins with some beauties in arms was like black humor or a joke for him now. Starting from that weak young man in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie had been increasingly stronger and richer and more and more famous. At the same time, he lost more and more things.


    He lost Alice at first, who left him because she didn''t want to share him with other women. Zhang Tie respected her.


    Then, the girls of Rose Association who had died or chosen to leave him positively or negatively.


    After that, he lost contact with Miss Diana.


    Finally, he lost Lan Yunxi two months ago.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether it was the price for growing mature; some of which became the best wishes in his life while the others became the greatest regret in his life which could never be mended for the rest of his life.


    This world was so motherf*cking that many beautiful and simple things had already not adapted to it.


    When Zhang Tie recalled the heavy rain that night when he promised to marry Pandora in the railway station, Zhang Tie felt sad...


    "Aah, these are said to be extremely irresistible full-moons gates, which would not open until the two moons turned full in the sky..."


    "Couldn''t we break them?"


    "Many knights have tried to break them a few days ago. However, they''re made of the same material as that of the tower of time and could never be destroyed by external force!"


    "Let me have a try..."


    "Boom...boom..."


    When Zhang Tie heard the loud sound, he had already approached the huge metal octahedron in the core of the region.


    It was a thousand meters high facade on the surface of the metal mountain which carried the tower of time on its top.


    The entire octahedron had six facades. The tower of time was located on the level top of this octahedron, which looked like a mountain, a sacrificial altar and a base. Additionally, six staircases led to the tower of time on the top from the bottom of each facade. The entity of the tower of time and the octahedron below it was complex, simple and mysterious.


    "Aah, here comes Qianji Immortal..."


    "Qianji Immortal..."


    "Come, give way..."


    With the exclamations, when Zhang Tie recovered his composure, he saw the huge full-moons gate as all the others had already given way to him in front of him.


    There was a full-moons gate in the middle of each facade. Therefore, there were totally six full-moons gates. None of those footholds of big forces would stay too far away from the six full-moons gates, including that of the knights of Demons-kill Valley. Therefore, Zhang Tie unconsciously arrived here after leaving Demons-kill Valley''s base.


    The entire full-moons gate was higher than 100 m and wider than 30 m. As a portal for giants, it was fully majestic. In front of this full-moons gate and the facade on its back, Zhang Tie felt like being an ant in front of the city gate of giants. Looking up his head, he observed this magnificent and marvelous creation which was out of the mundane world.


    If it was Zhang Tie''s first time to see it, he must have exclaimed like those black iron knights. However, Zhang Tie had seen many similar buildings these years. Therefore, he remained calmful.


    This full-moons gate reminded Zhang Tie of the huge gate of the bloody sacrifice hieron as they were too similar to each other.


    Watching the awful, fearful or obsequious look of the surrounding people, Zhang Tie didn''t walk away. Now that he had been here, he would take a good look at it. In fact, he had prepared to see it.


    "Ahh, you''ve left there..." Bai Suxian uttered as she flew over here. The moment she landed, she had leaned against Zhang Tie while grasping his hand.


    Bai Suxian knew Pandora and that Zhang Tie went to inquire about the information of Pandora in Demons-kill Valley''s camp just now. Smart women always knew that they should spare private and free space for their men. As it was relevant to the little princess of Demons-kill Valley, she felt inconvenient to follow Zhang Tie there; therefore, she just waited outside for Zhang Tie.


    After Zhang Tie came out of there, he had been walking towards here. At the sight of this, Bai Suxian hurriedly flew towards here.


    Holding her soft, tender hand and sensing her trickling spiritual energy, Zhang Tie felt warm at a stroke as he smiled at Bai Suxian, saying, "Here''s a full-moons gate, I''m here for a look..."


    Bai Suxian replied with a sweet smile silently as her spiritual energy surged a bit like an impulse. Zhang Tie knew that Bai Suxian was warning him that he couldn''t run his spiritual energy and battle qi and should take care of himself. Zhang Tie slightly nodded as he fixated onto this full-moons gate and started to observe it carefully.


    This full-moons gate was magnificent. It appeared being made of metal or crystal while bizarre runes were flowing on it. On the top of the gate, there was a pattern of the circle of two snakes connecting with each other, head to end, one black, the other white. This pattern or mark was as same as the one on the entrance of the tower of time that they had just seen. Additionally, it was the mark of Great Wilderness Sect, because of which, they confirmed that this was a hidden Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect...

 1535 Weird Similarity

    Watching the two snakes engulfing each other, Zhang Tie had a doubt¡ª¡ªwhy most of the religious totems of humans were reptiles or carried the features of reptiles?


    In human history, even races and civilizations on different continents or subcontinents which had no communication with each other shared same elements in their religious totems.


    In this world, there were too many kinds of animals; then why only reptiles occupied such a high percentage among their religious totems?


    Zhang Tie didn''t know the answer, nor did he believe that the others in this world knew it; because the knowledge and fields might be involved with great secrets in far-ancient times. Therefore, people in this age were confused about the religious totems which shared the same elements.


    Thankfully, it was just a doubt. As Zhang Tie was not here for archaeological and academic study, he dropped this whim at once.


    Under the totem comprising two snakes, there were some bizarre symbols, among which, Zhang Tie, even having no knowledge about astrology, could instantly see stars and two full moons in the sky.


    There was not a single hole for key or crystal. As it was full of light nearby, the patterns on the gate became the only information.


    The key to this gate was the power granted when two moons waxed.


    As it was already mid-July, only less than two weeks left from full moons.


    Drawing Bai Suxian''s hand, Zhang Tie strutted forward a few footsteps as he pushed one hand against the gate forcefully.


    Zhang Tie had such great strength that he could even press a piece of alloy flat by one hand. However, even though he pushed this gate with his full strength, this gate still remained still. It indicated that this gate could indeed not be destroyed by external force.


    Zhang Tie tried to look through the gate and the ground by lotus-flower eyes. Pitifully, In front of the mysterious strength, Zhang Tie failed to see anything inside.


    But...


    ''Yi...''


    When Zhang Tie fixated onto those stars and full moons on the gate, Zhang Tie''s heart slightly pounded.


    Under his lotus-flower eyes, those stars and full moons should be an entity which remained still; however, strangely, the energy carried by those patterns was different than the rest of this gate in level. The color temperature of the two energies didn''t completely coincide.


    Without lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie could never discover such a difference.


    However, because Zhang Tie didn''t see the same full-moons gate before, he didn''t know the meaning of the difference. Perhaps all the full-moons gates were the same. Therefore, Zhang Tie only felt a bit strange about it.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t tell Bai Suxian about his discovery. After throwing another glance at this gate, Zhang Tie told Bai Suxian instantly, "Let''s take a look at other gates!"


    "Hmm!" Bai Suxian replied as she flew away with Zhang Tie towards another nearby full-moons gate, hand in hand.


    "Have you seen a full-moons gate before?" Zhang Tie asked Bai Suxian secretly by battle strength.


    Bai Suxian shook her head as she replied, "Not yet. However, my third uncle said he had seen many full-moons gates. Many hidden underground entrances of Dongtians were full-moons gates. In far-ancient times, many human activities and ceremonies were carried out according to natural phenomena so as to answer the call of nature perfectly and for the optimal effects. My third uncle told me just now that the six full-moons gates looked completely as same as that he had seen before. The waxing and waning of moons, the eclipse of the sun or the moons, specific constellations or stars in certain locations were all keys to natural phenomena gates. All those who have studied the tower of time and natural phenomena gates confirmed that these were natural phenomena gates!"


    "Really?"


    "What are you worried about?" Bai Suxian asked Zhang Tie with a smile as she added, "The full-moons gate could never be destroyed or triggered by human force. Don''t you believe it''s true?"


    "Nah, let''s take a look at other gates!"


    The two people then circled around the tower of time while stopping in front of each full-moons gate and observing it seriously for a short while.


    The six full-moons gates were completely the same. Additionally, all the patterns on the six gates didn''t completely coincide with the rest of the gates in energy level as was discovered by Zhang Tie before.


    After observing the gates, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian seriously observed all the eight walls of this Dongtian.


    There were metal sculptures of various vivid, grim, tan birds and beasts on the walls. However, all the sculptures shared a commonplace¡ª¡ªeyes closed.


    On each wall, there was a huge, white metal sculpture. If these sculptures could be sold, they were definitely priceless artworks. Zhang Tie found that some knights wanted to remove those sculptures, despite, in vain. These sculptures were organically integrated with the octahedral metal mountain, the tower of time, the ground and the dome of this underground space, which could hardly be ruined.


    However, watching those sculptures, Zhang Tie gradually got a strange feeling because those sculptures were too familiar for him.


    "Don''t you feel a bit familiar with these sculptures on the walls alongside this place?" Zhang Tie asked Bai Suxian, suspending in the air in front of an over 100 m long metal sculpture in the shape of a grim snake with a pair of wings.


    "Familiar? But we''ve not been here before..." Bai Suxian replied as she watched Zhang Tie with a bit surprised look.


    "Think about it!" Zhang Tie gave her a tip as he pointed at the sculpture of that weird snake, "In the lobby full of war puppets in the bloody sacrifice hieron when we were in Earth-elements Realm..."

 1536 Zhang Ties Doub

    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bai Suxian instantly revealed a shocked look as she looked around and said, "You mean..."


    "Enclosed space, metal ground and walls, nothing could be easily destroyed; and the sculptures are similar to war puppets. If this place was closed, have you imagined about the outcome?"


    "You think these sculptures are war puppets?" Bai Suxian asked out of exclamation as she pointed at an over 100 m long-winged snake with a bit terrifying look. At the same time, she fired a battle qi towards the head of the snake.


    Besides a muffled sound, she only left a shallow fingerprint on the head of the snake.


    All the other statues on the walls remained still with eyes closed.


    Zhang Tie observed the vivid, long metal snake once again by his lotus-flower eyes as he found that this long snake integrated with everything in this space. It was completely like these war puppets that he saw in the bloody sacrifice hieron. When those war puppets remained still, Zhang Tie couldn''t find that they were anything different than normal sculptures; however, when they moved, their battle strength could even match that of black iron knights. Additionally, they could be barely exterminated, which was the most terrifying aspect of war puppets.


    Although this Dongtian had a large space, Zhang Tie noticed that many of those fierce beasts on the five walls had wings like this boa. This might be a coincidence; however, it might also be a purposeful setting.


    "Civilisations in far-ancient times look like myths now! We could barely figure out such myths!" Zhang Tie heaved a sigh, "We don''t know about the secret of the tower of time; we don''t know about the secret of war puppets; we don''t know about the secrets of space-teleportation equipment and silver secret items. However, this place is absolutely a sacred land for Great Wilderness Sect. In these places, it''s very normal to have war puppets as guards. In addition, Great Wilderness Sect was always immersed in driving various animals and special beasts. If we''re indeed in a sacred land of Great Wilderness Sect, do you feel strange that those sculptures on the walls would turn into war puppets on some occasions?"


    "However, all the sculptures look good. Additionally, after so many human knights have arrived, they remained still. If they were like war puppets in the bloody sacrifice heiron, they should have long been activated when strangers entered for driving us away!" Bai Suxian retorted seriously after thinking about it for a few seconds, "Additionally, according to my knowledge, war puppets would be activated the moment outsiders intrude in the space that they were defending. Most of the places with war puppets meet this condition besides bloody sacrifice hieron!"


    "As I say, there are still too many things about these far-ancient civilizations that we don''t know. The manufacturing skills and control mode of war puppets are still unknown to us all. What if these war puppets could be under the control?"


    "Impossible. I''ve never heard that anyone could manipulate these war puppets. Additionally, Great Wilderness Sect has already perished for so many years. Even if these war puppets could be under control, who would make it? Aren''t we safe here?" Bai Suxian said as she pointed at the entrance on the dome, "Even if it''s unsafe here, we could leave here at least."


    Kneading his face, Zhang Tie revealed a smile and said, "I always feel something is not right about that tunnel. Perhaps, I''m thinking too much. But do you know what did I feel when I passed through that tunnel?"


    "How did you feel?"


    "I felt like passing through a living object''s belly!"


    "A living object? Impossible! They''re just metal!"


    If it was Zhang Tie who said so, Bai Suxian might have touched his forehead to see whether he had got a fever.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how to answer Bai Suxian. In fact, the weird feeling rightly came from the resonance between the Great Wilderness Sutra that he was cultivating and this place.


    "I always feel it''s a bit too coincidental. We should take care of ourselves. We don''t feel any danger here at this moment, because we could leave here every once a while. Have you imagined about the outcome when those war puppets are triggered and so many knights couldn''t leave here?" Zhang Tie squinted his eyes as a sagacious light flashed across his eyes.


    "You mean we''ve walked into a trap?" Bai Suxian asked as she looked around.


    "I didn''t mean it. I just feel that it''s not as safe as it appears. Additionally, some aspects couldn''t be seen through. As a large number of knights gather in a small place, once they lose their way of retreat, they would face a very serious outcome..."


    Her face turning solemn, Bai Suxian said, "Do we need to tell my third uncle? If it''s as dangerous as you say, we knights of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion could leave first..."


    After considering it for a few seconds, Zhang Tie shook his head as he replied, "No need. I couldn''t prove it. Additionally, it''s just a feeling. Perhaps, I''m just thinking too much. We should take care of ourselves..."


    Bai Suxian nodded. Closely after that, they flew back to the base of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion in this space and entered a tent. Like the other knights, they just waited for the full-moons gates to open.


    In fact, there were many words that Zhang Tie didn''t tell Bai Suxian. Humans died in pursuit of wealth while birds died in pursuit of food. As for knights, the lure of secret items and the tower of time were almost irresistible. The moment he came to this Dongtian, Zhang Tie had recalled the scene where Stars and Moons Sword Sage Samaranqi was trapped and killed in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    It was too coincidental for the four sage freaks to discover this place. According to the popular gossip, the group of four occasionally discovered a map and some clues left by Great Wilderness Sect which led them here. Although this reason sounded reasonable, Zhang Tie always felt something was wrong when he connected the discovery of this Dongtian with the following series of events...


    After taking a round here, Zhang Tie found that everything in this Dongtian was as same as that of All-spirits Tower that was manifested by Great Wilderness Sutra that he was cultivating in his mind sea. When he arrived here, the All-spirits Tower in his mind sea even resonated with this place. However, strangely, when he entered this place, the response of his All-spirits Tower appeared having been restricted and isolated by something, making it a bit constrained...


    This feeling from his All-spirits Tower was like returning to his home after a long journey outside while the owner of the home had been changed.

 1537 The Hot Topic

    From a certain perspective, the full-moons gates were used to attract more people there after the discovery of Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect was exposed to the public.


    If there was only one tower of time in this Dongtian, which had been occupied by four sage freaks, even though the location of this Dongtian was exposed, not too many people would come here. Perhaps, in a few days, when they realized that they couldn''t share any profit here, they would not come here anymore. By contrast, knights were coming here one after another day by day to share the profit after the full-moons gates opened.


    Such a situation made Zhang Tie restless. However, the news of the discovery of Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect continued to spread across Taixia Country. Zhang Tie became helpless as he could only wait for the development of the situation.


    Because too many knights were here, as long as an emergency occurred, the outcome would be catastrophic.


    Nevertheless, the dark and greedy side of humanity attracted more and more knights here.


    Over these days, the hottest news in the Mountain of Brilliance was the discovery of the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. After entering the forum of Mountain of Brilliance, people would see that all the hottest news and articles were about the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. As a result, the news about the warfare at Weishui River which took the preoccupancy in the forum of Mountain of Brilliance declined to the second place.


    Being stimulated by the news of the discovery of Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, even the history concerning the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect became a hot topic again in the forum of Mountain of Brilliance.


    ¡ª¡ªThe discovery of dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect


    ¡ª¡ªTop six sects converged in the south border to open the treasury of Great Wilderness Sect


    ¡ª¡ªA summon of independent knights for Centralpillar Mountain


    ¡ª¡ªTrace of suspension of Great Wilderness Sect


    ¡ª¡ªTop treasure discovered in South Border


    ¡ª¡ªAnalysis of treasures in the dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect


    ¡ª¡ªOn the possibility of the discovery of Great Wilderness Sect in Centralpillar Mountain


    ¡ª¡ªDetailed strategies on entering the first floor of dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect


    ¡ª¡ªNatural phenomena gates¡ª¡ªthe secrets of gods


    Such articles filled the entire forum of Mountain of Brilliance, which thrilled all the knights in Taixia.


    When all the elements such as secret items, treasures, tower of time and Great Wilderness Sutra mixed with each other, the Centralpillar Mountain in the south border immediately became the most attractive place in Taixia Country.


    ...


    Over these days, Zhang Tie just stayed in the Dongtian and waited for the opening of the full-moons gates while cultivating endless true words quietly.


    Zhang Tie hitherto didn''t need to cultivate endless true words by opening his mouth anymore. Mouth closed, he just uttered the sound through the rock of his throat and tongue, which then passed to his upper jaw. After that, the voice gathered and rocked his eardrum, causing resonance with the All-spirits Tower in his mind sea.


    In this case, even knights standing in front of Zhang Tie didn''t know that Zhang Tie was cultivating the secret method of Great Wilderness Sutra.


    As he couldn''t run his battle qi and spiritual energy, it became the best method for him to kill time by cultivating Great Wilderness Sutra.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie heard faint footsteps approaching him. The voice broke the door of the tent and came all the way to Zhang Tie''s front. After kneeling down, the familiar tender, fragrant voice sounded at Zhang Tie''s ears, "Deyang Immortal of Heavens Fortune Sect is coming..."


    After hearing it, Zhang Tie stopped his cultivation as he opened his eyes and saw Bai Suxian sitting on her own feet while whispering near his face.


    "Poh..." Zhang Tie lightly kissed her face. Bai Suxian revealed a sweet smile as they stood up and left the tent.


    At this moment, over 20,000 knights had already entered the first floor of the Dongtian before the opening of the full-moons gates. Previously only a few people pitched tents here. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie found that the tower of time and the octahedral mountain were surrounded by tents while more and more knights with powerful backgrounds and space-teleportation equipment arrived.


    The situation in the air of this space was more crowded. To make an improper metaphor, the knights in the air were like flies flying here and there while knocking every once a while. They were all dreaming about discovering some treasure or secret items here. Occasionally, battle qi smokes and tornadoes could be seen in the Dongtian which indicated skirmishes due to overpopulation.


    The first floor of the Dongtian was simply like a vegetable market full of hubbub.


    On the bank of Weishui River, even such a large number of knights could be constrained by military decrees; however, at this moment, all the knights were here for treasures on equal footing. Even the orders of knights of top six sects would not work here. Additionally, in order to respond to major sects, independent knights allied with each other which could guarantee them a greater right of speech.


    Watching the chaotic situation, Zhang Tie could only heave a sigh inside. Humans died in pursuit of wealth while birds died in pursuit of food. Even knights couldn''t escape from this golden law.


    In this case, there was no special request for him to receive a guest. The moment he exited his tent, Zhang Tie had already seen Deyang Immortal.


    Deyang Immortal remained unchanged in appearance at least. However, after taking down Yan Feiqing, at the sight of Deyang Immortal''s solemn look, Zhang Tie had felt like laughing out with a strange look.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Deyang Immortal also blushed faintly. Closely after that, he glared at Zhang Tie, threatening the latter that if Zhang Tie dared mention the shameful bygones between him and Yan Feiqing, he would give Zhang Tie a bite.


    "Ahem...ahem...elder brother, why do you look so brilliant..." Zhang Tie couldn''t stand making a joke.


    "Don''t laugh at me. Although I couldn''t defeat you now, if you make me feel unhappy, I will repay you on your sons. Don''t forget that your three sons are still in Heavens Fortune Sect!" Deyang Immortal directly dropped his disguise, causing Zhang Tie speechless.


    "Immortal, I''ve not imagined that you could be so roguish..." Zhang Tie shook his head as he said with a bitter smile.


    "It''s not me who became roguish, but this world changes too fast. After thinking about it, I feel that sometimes I should behave like Black-face Cheng. Being shameless, I would feel much better. As you''re also an immortal now, we don''t need to be that constrained with each other..." Deyang Immortal said with a sigh as he watched Zhang Tie.


    "Elder brother, do you lead your group of Heavens Fortune Sect?" Zhang Tie asked as his face turned serious.


    "Yup, I lead the group. I''m alone here..."


    "Aah? Why?" Zhang Tie became surprised as he asked, "Don''t you know that Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion dispatched over 100 people here respectively under the leadership of heavenly knights?"


    "Before setting off, my head predicted that Heavens Fortune Sect would gain nothing in Centralpillar Mountain. Besides, we would meet some dangers. Therefore, he just sent one person here in case of big trouble. After being told that you''re here, I proposed to come here to share with your glory!"


    "Glory what?"


    "You''re the only one who could survive the thunder of nirvana. My head said you were favored by God and would never die on any occasion. I would be safe with you..."


    Zhang Tie heaved a sigh as he replied, "Why do you Heavens Fortune Sect have to predict everything so precisely? What would others do?"


    "Aren''t Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s group living well?"


    "Then, can you predict the achievements of the other sects?" Zhang Tie asked as a whim occurred to his mind.


    Shrugging, Deyang Immortal said, "Even though us Heavens Fortune Sect told that Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion, Demons-kill Valley and Qionglou Pavilion that they would get nothing and face dangers here, do you think they would believe me?"


    After thinking for a short while, Zhang Tie shook his head as he answered, "No, they would only believe that you''re playing a trick to engulf all the treasures in the Dongtian and might dispatch more people here!"


    "That''s it!"


    After exchanging a glance with each other, the two people let out a sigh at the same time.


    When they were talking, they felt an abnormal wave from the tower of time¡ª¡ªthe portal of the tower of time opened, giving out light in all directions. After staying inside for almost 20 days, Mr. Bamboo exited the tower of time, arousing the turmoil among the knights at present...

 1538 The Gathering of All Knights

    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Mr. Bamboo had exited the tower of time when he met Deyang Immortal. Two days later, when the two moons waxed, the six full-moons gates would open.


    As the tower of time had been closed for 20 days, Mr. Bamboo should have stayed in it for two decades.


    The noise from the tower of time immediately aroused turbulence while numerous meteors flew towards it.


    Even Bai Suxian''s third uncle was flying towards the tower of time from afar.


    Over these days, Bai Runshan had been loitering around and flying across those sculptures while striking them by battle qi every once a while; pitifully, even though there was something in this Dongtian, it might have long been taken away.


    Too many knights behaved like Bai Ruunshan. Not only those independent knights, but even many knights of top sects also joined the army of discovery. Because they gained nothing here, they possessed great expectation about the items inside the full-moons gates and were more jealous of the four sage freaks; because none of them knew how many treasures had four sage freaks gained here.


    "Will we take a look there..." Bai Suxian suggested as she pulled Zhang Tie''s hand, injecting some spiritual energy into Zhang Tie''s body.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Deyang Immortal, who then nodded, saying, "Something might happen there, we''d better take a look over there!"


    "Hmm, let''s go there!" Zhang Tie replied as he nodded. Closely after that, he pulled Bai Suxian''s hand and flew over there at the speed two times that of sound using the ability of divine dominator, hurriedly followed by Deyang Immortal.


    Thousands of knights flew towards the gate of the tower of time as they surrounded it tightly.


    When Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian arrived there, the onlooking knights gave way to them at once.


    Zhang Tie looked around as he found that some of them were glassy-eyed, some were curious, the others couldn''t hide their greedy eyes and expression when they watched four sage freaks.


    "Are they four sage freaks?"


    "Yes, they''re the first ones that entered this Dongtian!"


    "It''s said that all the treasures in this Dongtian have been collected by them besides this tower of time?"


    "The top-secret knowledge of Great Wilderness Sect Great Wilderness Sutra might be hiding in Dongtian..."


    The surrounding knights were whispering. Watching their greedy eyes and expressions, Zhang Tie abruptly felt something bad was going to happen. This tower of time could be taken as the private belonging of four sage freaks. Additionally, after the tower of time closed, it would enter a long period of silence. There was nothing to scramble for except the treasures that the four sage freaks had achieved on the first floor of Dongtian.


    Zhang Tie found an article in the forum of the mountain of brilliance these days, which predicted that four sage freaks who entered the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect might have gained those secret classics such as Great Wilderness Sutra which could arouse people''s jealousy for sure.


    Four sage freaks were already the target of the public. Even though the others didn''t attack them for the time being, many people must be thinking about screwing them. Once four sage freaks left here, they probably would be killed. Robbery didn''t only happen to ordinary people; even though knights would suffer a tragedy once they exposed the top treasures that they owned while they couldn''t protect themselves. Someone like Zhang Taixuan could even betray their clans by killing his own people, not to mention ordinary people.


    The above also explained why Zhang Tie always hid the secret of Castle of Black Iron. Even though he was already a divine dominator and could kill heavenly knights, Zhang Tie also knew that it would bring him endless troubles after he exposed this secret to the public.


    At the gate of the tower of time, there was one more person. In grey hair and green robe, he looked like a famous scholar with even some sections of bamboos embroidered on his robe. Given his qi, he was already an earth knight.


    The four sage freaks stayed close to each other, weapons in hands. They didn''t look satisfied because of the reunion and someone among them promoted to an earth knight; instead, they all watched the surrounding thousands of knights with indignified looks.


    Now that Zhang Tie could think through it, the four sage freaks could also understand it. They were all clear that after this event was exposed to the public, they would face an extremely precarious situation. Watching those greedy eyes, they knew that they were too weak in front of so many black iron knights, earth knights, even shadow knights.


    Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian were closely followed by Deyang Immortal and a few more shadows with the powerful qi of heavenly knights at above two times the speed of sound.


    "Ahh, immortals are coming..."


    With the exclamations, those independent knights hurriedly gave way to them when those heavenly knights arrived.


    Totally five heavenly knights arrived!


    One was the deputy head of Demons-kill Valley Treasureflame Immortal in fiery boa silk robe and sword-shaped eyebrows.


    When Treasureflame Immortal arrived here two days ago, Zhang Tie paid a visit to him. Therefore, they had already known each other and had a good relationship. When Treasureflame Immortal arrived, he noticed Zhang Tie as he instantly nodded towards Zhang Tie while forcing a faint smile.


    As for the other heavenly knights, after arriving here, they all stayed solemn as they didn''t mean to greet Zhang Tie; nor would Zhang Tie greet them with condescension. Therefore, although they all knew the existence of the others of their kind, they didn''t talk with each other at all.


    "Bitch..." Bai Suxian abused at this moment when Zhang Tie knew that Fang Xinyi was coming too...

 1539 Heavenly Knights

    The heavenly knight dispatched by Taiyi Fantasy Sect was their deputy head Swords Immortal.


    The heavenly knight dispatched by Heavens Holding Pavilion was their deputy head Clouddragon Immortal.


    The heavenly knights dispatched by Qionglou Pavilion was a grandma with goosebumps, the deputy head Reflectingmoons Immortal.


    Another one was Woodbuilding Immortal the founder of Jiang Clan, Herbal Clan.


    Besides 10 knights following the Woodbuilding Immortal, all the other clans'' deputy heads were followed by over 100 knights, which manifested the special domineering qi fields of major clans.


    When Zhang Tie gazed at those heavenly knights flying over there, Bai Suxian immediately discovered Fang Xinyi in the team of Qionglou Pavilion based on her inexplicable intuition and insight.


    Although Fang Xinyi was Lord Guangnan''s wife, in major events, when Reflectingmoons Immortal of Qionglou Pavilion arrived, she joined the team of Qionglou Pavilion without demur; instead of joining the team of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, which really shocked Zhang Tie a bit.


    All the other heavenly knights threw a glance at Zhang Tie silently. Only Woodbuilding Immortal of Jiang Clan nodded towards Zhang Tie politely. Zhang Tie nodded towards him too as a response.


    After sensing being gazed by a pair of eyes, Zhang Tie turned around as he saw a man in the team of Heavens Holding Pavilion watching him.


    It was Gu Qingyun. Before Zhang Tie returned to Youzhou Province, Gu Qingyun was always a genius among the young generation of Youzhou Province. Whereas, after the competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, Gu Qingyun had been dwarfed by Zhang Tie. From then on, Zhang Tie rarely heard any news about Gu Qingyun except that he had returned to Heavens Holding Pavilion for diligent cultivation. They had not imagined that they could meet here once again after departing from each other in Youzhou City.


    Previously, the difference between Zhang Tie and Gu Qingyun in position and social status was sharp. Zhang Tie had already become a shadow knight and a divine dominator; however, Gu Qingyun was still a black iron knight. Only after a few years, if one was not favored by God or had a chance to enter a tower of time, he could never promote to an earth knight. Even though being a genius, Gu Qingyun could never match Zhang Tie.


    Gu Qingyun had not imagined that Zhang Tie could have such a sharp perception. When he saw Zhang Tie turning around and fixating on him, Gu Qingyun instantly turned aside while an embarrassed and flurried look flashed by. Meanwhile, he hid among the disciples of Heavens Holding Pavilion.


    "You''re that black iron knight of four sage freaks who has entered the tower of time?" Swords Immortal of Taiyi Fantasy Sect opened his mouth as he watched the four sage freaks, some tiny sword-shaped braids on his head and two long swords on his back, making him full of aggression and flamboyance like a blade coming out of its sheath. The moment the others heard his voice which was neither pleasant nor furious and saw his distant and majestic eyes, the scene around the tower of time had turned silent at once. All the other heavenly knights didn''t speak either, including Zhang Tie. After looking around, Swords Immortal nodded satisfactorily as he added in a more aggressive manner, "It seems that you''ve achieved a lot in the tower of time. Look, you''ve already promoted to an earth knight. How did you find this place? If you hide any secret to us, I will definitely let you have a miserable death!"


    Watching Swords Immortal''s unruly deed, Zhang Tie slightly frowned; whereas, he remained silent. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, what did the deputy head of Taiyi Fantasy Sect do rightly proved that Taiyi Fantasy Sect had joined the Imperial Alliance to exterminate the Great Wilderness Sect. However, neither did Imperial Alliance nor Taiyi Fantasy Sect get the Great Wilderness Sutra. This time, Taiyi Fantasy Sect might also come here with the intention for gaining the Great Wilderness Sutra.


    As Zhang Tie gazed at Swords Immortal, he kept observing the moguls of the other major sects. Actually, on this occasion, Zhang Tie could easily judge who among the top six sects had joined Imperial Alliance besides Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    After hearing Swords Immortal speaking to them like they were his disciples, all the four sage freaks revealed furious looks. Bad-tempered Mr. Chrysanthemum raised his eyebrows as he was about to rush forward if not being towed by Mr. Bamboo. After throwing a glance at Swords Immortal and the surrounding knights, Mr. Bamboo took in a deep breath as he took out an old piece of tan metal plate, which carried the obvious symbol of double snakes of Great Wilderness Sect. Closely after that, he threw it to Swords Immortal as he said, "We four brothers have lived in South Border for so many years. We were always interested in the treasures and Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. We got this piece of the metal plate one year ago beneath a deserted courtyard of Great Wilderness Sect. It recorded some information about this Dongtian and the way to enter it. We think that this piece of the metal plate might be left by an elder or disciple of Great Wilderness Sect. After studying it for a long time, we finally targeted Centralpillar Mountain, then here..." Mr. Bamboo explained as he threw a glance at the surrounding knights who were casting covetous eyes towards him, "That''s all we know. As for the rest floors of Dongtian and treasures, we won''t participate in the discovery anymore. It depends on yourselves..."


    Zhang Tie found that Swords Immortal had lowered his head and studied the lines and characters on the piece of metal plate carefully who then exchanged a glance with Clouddragon Immortal the deputy head of Heavens Holding Pavilion. Zhang Tie''s heart then slightly pounded.


    "Clouddragon Immortal, take a look..." Swords Immortal then passed the piece of metal plate to Clouddragon Immortal the deputy head of Heavens Holding Pavilion.


    Clouddragon Immortal was slightly fat and looked kind. With two short beards, he always smiled like a rich, innocent local official. After receiving the piece of the metal plate, Clouddragon immortal squinted his eyes and observed it for a short while before nodding and passing it to Reflectingmoons Immortal the deputy head of Qionglou Pavilion.


    Reflectingmoons Immortal replied with a cold harumph as if she was not satisfied that she was the third person who read it. However, she still received it and took a look at it before nodding and teleporting it into her space-teleportation equipment without demur as if it should be.


    Woodbuilding Immortal of Jiang Clan, Herbal Pavilion, as a heavenly knight too, turned gloomy at once...

 1540 Overwhelming

    Watching Reflectingmoons Immortal, the deputy head of Qionglou Pavilion, teleporting that piece of the metal plate into her space-teleportation equipment in the public, Zhang Tie was transfixed. However, Swords Immortal and Clouddragon Immortal didn''t make any response to her deed as if they had been familiar with Reflectingmoons Immortal''s eccentric temperament.


    ''This old woman is really a weirdo. Additionally, she''s very greedy and domineering based on her superiority. Even I have not seen it, not to mention Woodbuilding Immortal. How could she teleport it into her private space? What does she mean? Does she affirm that I won''t fight her or bully me due to my age even being a divine dominator? I could even kill a heavenly demon knight with a rod by striking it for 9 times; I don''t think this old woman is greater than Andorier the wing demon prince in battle strength.''


    At this moment, Deyang Immortal told Zhang Tie using his battle qi, "Reflectingmoons Immortal the deputy head of Qionglou Pavilion is always weird, greedy and tricky!"


    "Have Heavens Fortune Sect suffered a loss from this old witch?" Zhang Tie asked Deyang Immortal secretly.


    "On one occasion, this old witch paid a visit to Heavens Fortune Sect. When she saw our Chaos Imitation Ball, she wanted to borrow it for a few years. Heavens Fortune Sect refused her, making her pretty unhappy!"


    "Did she sleep with Emperor Xuanyuan?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Deyang Immortal looked extremely weird as he blushed and almost burst into laughter; finally, he just shook his head.


    "Now that she didn''t sleep with Emperor Xuanyuan, why is she that unscrupulous?"


    "Erm...I have no idea..." Deyang Immortal became speechless.


    "Harrumph..." Bai Suxian uttered as she told Zhang Tie, "At this moment, why don''t they show the piece of metal plate to you? Do they have greater meritorious services or battle strength than you? Those old guys are definitely putting their airs in front of you, making you embarrassed!"


    Zhang Tie comforted Bai Suxian by pinching her hand once as if it was useless for them to deal with these people orally.


    The old witch appeared to have heard Bai Suxian''s cold harrumph as she turned around and threw a glance at Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian. Bai Suxian then raised her head and thrust forward her chest, feeling no fear looking straight into the old witch''s eyes. The cold light in the old witch''s eyes sparkled as she threw another glance at Zhang Tie and turned back.


    After that piece of metal plate was put away, the four sage freaks exchanged a glance with each other. Then, Mr. Bamboo opened his mouth while cupping his hands towards all directions, "Great Wilderness Sect has already been exterminated for many years. This Dongtian has no owner now. According to the rule, any benefit that we achieved here should belong to us. Now that we''ve clarified all the things, it''s time for us to say goodbye to you all. Please give way to us; green mountains would remain unchanged while crystal water would run forever. See you later..."


    After hearing his words, many onlooking independent knights became shortly hesitant before giving way to them.


    Zhang Tie appreciated the decisive deed of four sage freaks as they knew when to retreat and they could never get any more benefits here, even if the full-moons gates would open right away.


    The moment the four sage freaks were going to leave, another voice sounded.


    "Wait a moment..." Clouddragon Immortal, the deputy head of Heavens Holding Pavilion, opened his mouth with the same smile. At this moment, a fan had already appeared in his hand. Waving his fan, he looked like a boss. However, his words stopped the four sage freaks who were about to leave this place of arguments, "Although you''ve clarified how you found this place, there''s still one thing that you''ve not explained. If you do not make it clear, you will not leave here!"


    Mr. Bamboo asked as calmly as possible, "I wonder what else we''ve not clarified?"


    "Great Wilderness Sect was exterminated overnight, which became the number one pending criminal case in the world. Top six sects have looked for Great Wilderness Sutra in South Border for many times. Pitifully, we didn''t find any clue about it!" Waving his fan, Clouddragon Immortal said righteously as if he was worried about all the living beings in the world, "Great Wilderness Sutra is the most powerful animal driving skill of Great Wilderness Sect. It was said that the Great Wilderness Sutra of Great Wilderness Sect was in this Dongtian and might have already been gained by four of you. As it''s in the holy war, humans are on the verge of crisis. You''d better take out all the items that you''ve got here or let us search you lest Great Wilderness Sutra fell in the hand of demons or heavens reaching church. You could not leave until we confirm that you don''t carry Great Wilderness Sutra with you."


    After hearing Clouddragon Immortal''s suggestion, all the four sage freaks were driven mad while the surroundings were in hubbub at once. However, Clouddragon Immortal just asked the other two heavenly knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Qionglou Pavilion politely as if he had not heard or seen the others'' responses, "Swords Immortal, Reflectingmoons Immortal, what do you think?"


    "Right, as the number one sect of Taixia Country, us Taiyi Fantasy Sect should be responsible for all the humans and prevent Great Wilderness Sutra from falling in the hand of evil persons or demons which, otherwise, would do harm to the rest of the world!" Swords Immortal of Taiyi Fantasy Sect answered with a smile while stroking his beard.


    "Gagaga..." The old witch of Qionglou Pavilion cackled for a short while like a duck before turning cold, "I agree with Clouddragon Immortal''s suggestion. Besides us major clans, nobody else could take away the Great Wilderness Sutra..."


    After Reflectingmoons Immortal finished her words, she even threw a glance at Zhang Tie.


    Three of the top six sects had already combined with each other in an irresistible manner.


    If four sage freaks took the secret book, they should leave it here; if others took it, they would not take it away either in front of the top three sects.


    In front of the other forces of major sects, Woodbuilding Immortal the founder of Jiang Clan was the last heavenly knight at present who didn''t lack a sense of place. Before Reflectingmoons Immortal finished her words, Woodbuilding Immortal''s face had already turned as black as the bottom of a pot.


    The performance of these heavenly knights really opened Zhang Tie''s horizon.


    In addition, watching the consistent attitude of the three heavenly knights, Zhang Tie asserted that Heavens Holding Pavilion, Qionglou Pavilion and Taiyi Fantasy Sect had all joined Imperial Alliance; perhaps Swords Immortal, Clouddragon Immortal and Reflectingmons Immortal had joined the action on exterminating Great Wilderness Sect.


    ''Three of the top six sects are already members of Imperial Alliance. Why do they root for Xuanyuan Infinity the third prince to be the next Emperor Xuanyuan? What are they doing that for?''


    This question occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind at a stroke...

 1541 Thinking Through

    The clout of major sects such as Taiyi Fantasy Sect was even greater than that of many imperial households in continents and subcontinents. Except that their heads were not emperors, these major sects had already reached the pinnacle of mundane sects. The heads of these major sects could even match the emperor and those lords and chancellors in Xuanyuan Hill in influence. In fact, those royal households in other continents and subcontinents could even be neglected by them.


    ''In this case, what on earth do they root for Xuanyuan Infinity the third prince of Emperor Xuanyuan? In other words, what valuable things are worth such a great risk for them?''


    Zhang Tie''s eye light turned profound unconsciously as he watched the heavenly knights of the major sects at present...


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie thought Lord Guangnan loved Fang Xinyi purely which had nothing to do with age and social status. After knowing that Qionglou Pavilion was a member of Imperial Alliance, Zhang Tie realized Fang Xinyi''s real position and role of Fang Xinyi for Lord Guangnan.


    ''Does Lord Guangnan know Imperial Alliance? After all, it was Imperial Alliance that exterminated the Great Wilderness Sect, which would definitely leave some clues. Given Lord Guangnan''s great influence in South Border, Lord Guangnan must have known the inside story of the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect. If so, Fang Xinyi might only serve as a compromise of Lord Guangnan to Imperial Alliance or a tacit agreement between two parties¡ª¡ªBai Suxian''s dad has completely known the background of Fang Xinyi. Therefore, Fang Xinyi might be an informer of the Imperial Alliance on Lord Guangnan''s side and the liaison between the two parties at critical moments.''


    In this sense, Zhang Tie thought through many things at once.


    ''Lord Guangnan must have seen too many kinds of women; but how could he seduce his daughter''s bosom friend? Lord Guangnan didn''t explain it to Bai Suxian because it''s involved with Imperial Alliance and of a great impact. It would not be good if Bai Suxian knew it. On the contrary, it would be good if Bai Suxian turned hostile against her and complained about him, which could better cover the public.''


    In addition, Fang Xinyi officially married Lord Guangnan and became the queen after the news that Emperor Xuanyuan was missing spread across the world, which represented the official compromise and tacit agreement between Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and Imperial Alliance to a certain degree.


    ''Given the response of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion after this underground space of Great Wilderness Sect in Centralpillar Mountain was discovered, Lord Guangnan must have long known that Imperial Alliance determined to get something from the underground palace and would dispatch a great batch of powerhouses here. Therefore, only the third uncle of Bai Suxian arrives here on behalf of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Not even a single heavenly knight has been dispatched here by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, which appears that they were not that active at all.''


    A couple of days ago, Zhang Tie was wondering that even though Lord Guangnan didn''t come here, that employed Yueyang Immortal of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion who would like to take Zhang Tie''s kid as his disciple should come here. However, Yueyang Immortal didn''t come here. By contrast, the founder of Jiang Clan arrived here out of curiosity. At that time, Zhang Tie even thought that Lord Guangnan had completely handed the things here to him on behalf of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. However, given the current situation, Zhang Tie realized that Lord Guangnan''s Mansion just wanted to avoid conflict with the Imperial Alliance here and didn''t want to be used by the Imperial Alliance. Therefore, a shadow knight was the highest level that Lord Guangnan''s Mansion dispatched here.


    A few days ago, Zhang Tie didn''t understand it. Now, he realized that the shadow knight dispatched by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion denoted that the sect was neutral in this event.


    Given the overall strength of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, although Bai Suxian''s third uncle was just a shadow knight, he might also get some benefits when necessary. Although Bai Suxian''s third uncle couldn''t match the powerhouses of the other major sects, he had definitely a vantage point over those independent, valiant knights. Furthermore, Zhan Tie could be his helper.


    Given this point, Lord Guangnan should at least be neutral towards the next emperor of Taixia Country, Xuanyuan Infinity or Xuanyuan Changying. Previously, Lord Guangnan should favor Xuanyuan Changying, who, no matter what, was the orthodox heir of Emperor Xuanyuan. However, given the fact that Emperor Xuanyuan disappeared and the power displayed by Imperial Alliance and the current situation facing Taixia Country as a whole, Lord Guangnan had to consider about it. Instead of making a choice, he remained neutral. Nor did Imperial Alliance completely trust Lord Guangnan; therefore, they put Fang Xinyi on Lord Guangnan''s side as another guarantee.


    This was a tacit agreement and compromise between Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and Imperial Alliance.


    ''What a motherf*cking old fox! I was almost cheated by you!'' Zhang Tie swore his father-in-law inside loudly after thinking it through. ''This old guy is too smart. If not I''ve already got the information about Imperial Alliance from late Immortal White Bones and figured out something here, I really wonder how long would the old guy cover it from me.''


    ''Now that Lord Guangnan''s Mansion remains neutral, I wonder about the attitudes of the other lords'' mansions in Taixia Country and whether do they know Imperial Alliance or not?''


    When he thought about the power displayed by Imperial Alliance and the possible catastrophe caused by different forces for scrambling for the throne of Emperor Xuanyuan, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand feeling grim inside as he gritted his teeth.


    When Zhang Tie was thinking about it, Treasureflame Immortal the deputy head of Demons-kill Valley had shown his dissatisfaction about the mannered overwhelming deed of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion. Soon after that goddamned old witch of Qionglou Pavilion finished her words, Treasureflame Immortal had burst into laughter as he released his surging war intention. At the same time, a terrifying strong qi of heavenly knight appeared to him. Watching the other heavenly knights at present, Treasureflame Immortal said with a sneer, "What you want to do has nothing to do with us Demons-kill Valley. We Demons-kill Valley would come and leave free. We would not take away anything that doesn''t belong to us; however, if something belongs to us, even Emperor Xuanyuan couldn''t take it away from us..."


    "What do you mean, Treasureflame Immortal?" Swords Immortal''s voice turned cold at once.


    "I mean our Demons-kill Valley pursues truth in terms of killing. We fight and kill until death. This is also the lifetime faith of our Demons-kill Valley. In this world, except that our Demons-kill Valley could set rules for ourselves, nobody else could do that for us. If we find something here, we will take it away, whatever it is. If anyone else would like to set rules and talk about reasons for us, you should ask whether the sabers and swords in the hands of the knights of Demons-kill Valley agree with it or not..."


    "Kill...kill...kill..." Soon after Treasureflame Immortal finished his words, all the disciples of Demons-kill Valley behind him roared in unison while some of them directly released their battle qi smokes and tornadoes.


    The atmosphere across the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect became intense all of a sudden...

 1542 Zhang Ties Help

    "Hahaha, Treasureflame Immortal, take easy..." the deputy head of Heavens Holding Pavilion Clouddragon Immortal persuaded them with a smile hurriedly when it turned intense in the underground space, "We''re all from top six sects of Taixia Country. We''re of the same root. We should be kind to each other for the common wealth. We were just thinking for the sake of us all just now. If there''s any problem, we could negotiate about it; we could negotiate about it. Of course, disciples of Demons-kill Valley are reliable and could come and go as you will. We wouldn''t say no to you. However, what the four sage freaks got is of great significance. We shouldn''t just let them go without a check. As this is a dangerous place, once it was a trap, so many knights would be trapped. By then, all of us would have big trouble. We''d better have four sage freaks clarify their innocence. Only in this way could we become reassured. What do you think, immortal?"


    After hearing Clouddragon Immortal''s words, Treasureflame Immortal looked much better. He then raised his hand, causing all the disciples of Demons-kill Valley to calm down and remain still at once. Treasureflame Immortal said calmly, "That sounds good. The doctrine of Demons-kill Valley is that if we''re not offended, we would not offend others. You can do whatever you want, but not have us involved. If you want to control us, our disciples of Demons-kill Valley would feel fearless fighting you three heavenly knights!"


    "We won''t, we won''t!" Clouddragon Immortal replied as he smiled like a philanthropist who provided free porridge to the poor. However, in the blink of an eye, Clouddragon Immortal had changed his face facing the bad-looking four sage freaks as he said coldly, "What are you waiting for? Come, take out your achievements. A fresh earth knight and three black iron knights. Are you waiting for us to force you to do that?"


    It became quiet in the surroundings. After hearing Clouddragon Immortal''s words, all the independent knights who had no strong background became silent as they grumbled inside. Actually, Clouddragon Immortal''s words not only threatened four sage freaks, but also targeted at them. On this occasion, the three major sects, after combining with each other, was definitely overwhelming. Even the heavenly knight of Jiang Clan had no chance to utter a voice. Now that the combination of the three major sects didn''t even look up on a heavenly knight, how could they respect those ordinary knights? It seemed that the three major sects had long aimed to own this Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. Except for knights of major sects, ordinary knights would be dangerous inside. Even if ordinary knights got something from here, they couldn''t keep it themselves in the end.


    "Hahahaha..." Mr. Bamboo suddenly burst into laughter. His voice was full of grief and sadness as he turned around and told the other three of four sage freaks, "Brothers, previously I thought we could move further on the way of cultivation and live happier after getting the map of Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. I''ve not imagined that...alas, it''s me who involves you in this event. It''s Zhu Daqian''s fortune to swear brothers with you. What I owe you in this life would be paid off in my later life. After a while, if we have to fight, I will definitely fight ahead of you. Hopefully, you don''t scramble for that with me..."


    "Brother Zhu, what''re you talking about? When we swore as brothers, we''ve pledged to seek for death on the same day despite the fact that we were not born on the same date. Today, we brothers could prove our swear here. It''s also a great fortune for our lives. Glad to be involved!" Mr. Plum replied as he burst into laughter.


    "Hahaha, Brother Plum is right. Today, we four brothers would join hands towards the paradise. Pitifully, we forgot to bring liquor with us. It would be great if we had liquor at this moment!" Mr. Orchid said with a smile while shaking his head, "Brother Zhu, if you''re the first, I would be the second. After a while, brothers, don''t scramble with me..."


    "Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion, Qionglou Pavilion, pah..." Mr. Chrysanthemum, the thinnest and shortest one among the four sage freaks, spat onto the ground as he glared at those immortals, "Not until today did I know that the so-called major sects were nothing different than bandits with the vantage point in battle strength. Why do you think that we will follow your order? Today, we four brothers would never succumb to such humiliation until death..."


    "Audacious! What shameless and stupid juniors! As we let you submit in the items and keep you alive, you should appreciate us. How dare you grumble for that..." Reflectingmoons Immortal the deputy head of Qionglou Pavilion scolded as she gazed at the four brothers with aggressive, shiny eyes, "If you want to die, I will meet your demand..."


    Soon after that, the old witch disappeared.


    Of course, she didn''t disappear for sure; however, her fast movement couldn''t be caught by the eyes of ordinary knights.


    With a loud sound "boom", a strong qi spilled over the space in front of the gate of the tower of time while numerous sharp light flashed by with vapor suffusing in all directions. All the onlooking knights were startled and hurriedly moved away, leaving a large open land.


    The boom and the vapor diffused after a short while. However, at the gate of the tower of time, the four sage freaks had already formed a battle formation and flew into the air. Reflectingmoons Immortal who disappeared just now had reappeared in her original place as if she had not moved. Besides, a 2 m long shiny, crystal ice sword was floating in the air between Reflectingmoons Immortal and four safe freaks.


    The ice sword was uttering a fine humming sound that could only be produced by metal swords while its sword tip was pointing at Reflectingmoons Immortal the deputy head of Qionglou Pavilion.


    Reflectingmoons Immortal looked very bad as she was deadly gazing at Zhang Tie.


    "Aah, what''s happening..."


    "How could a crystal sword suddenly appear in the air..."


    "Where does the vapor come from?"


    "Isn''t it a crystal sword? That appears to be an ice sword..."


    The surrounding ordinary knights were in a hubbub as they wondered about what happened just now.


    Although ordinary knights couldn''t see it through, all the knights above earth knights; especially heavenly knights had figured out what happened. When Reflectingmoons Immortal launched her attack, an ice sword and an ice shield suddenly appeared in the air. The ice shield blocked her strike and turned into vapor. At the same time, the ice sword forced Reflectingmoons Immortal back at a stroke...


    Only one person at present could force back a heavenly knight silently.


    Therefore, all the heavenly knights fixated onto Zhang Tie while the latter was holding Bai Suxian''s hand and behaved gently and decently like a real immortal...

 1543 What Should Human Knights Do

    When they found all the heavenly knights fixating onto Zhang Tie; especially Reflectingmoons Immortal and the long ice sword which was still floating in the air, all those knights who didn''t know what was happening understood that it was Zhang Tie who had stopped the fight.


    "Aah, it''s Qianji Immortal; Qianji Immortal has stopped it..."


    "It is!"


    "Turning vapor into ice silently and driving ice sword by spiritual energy; that''s what a divine dominator could do!"


    "We''ve not been here in vain after seeing the mysterious skill of the world-renowned divine dominator..."


    "Aah, what if Qianji Immortal was dealing with me just now..."


    "Qianji Immortal could force back a heavenly knight by only one trick; if it was you, you''ve long become sh*t..."


    "Great...that''s great..."


    All the onlooking knights exclaimed as they all fixated onto Zhang Tie with full awe and amazement. Hearing the discussions of surrounding knights, Reflectingmoons Immortal looked much worse. After exchanging a glance with each other, Swords Immortal of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Clouddragon Immortal of Heavens Holding Pavilion turned cold at once. As Zhang Tie always remained silent, none of these heavenly knights had imagined that Zhang Tie could give a hand to the four sage freaks even at the risk of a face-to-face collision with Reflectingmoons Immortal. Furthermore, Zhang Tie''s trick was too mysterious that even shocked the rest heavenly knights at present.


    The old witch''s chest undulated for a short while as she looked at Zhang Tie with shiny eyes and screamed all of a sudden, "Qianji Immortal, what do you want to do?"


    "Reflectingmoons Immortal, are you playing the fool? I even wanted to ask what did you mean by doing that! As an honored heavenly knight, how could you kill Hua knights due to verbal dispute? Your unscrupulous deed is really out of my imagination. As we''re in the holy war, if Reflectingmoons Immortal applied your talent on dealing with demons on the battlefield, you would definitely gain a good reputation for Qionglou Pavilion and yourself. What do you think?"


    Zhang Tie pulled Bai Suxian''s face as he talked calmly. The moment the old witch launched her strike, Zhang Tie had been standing on her opposite. She wanted to give them a seckill. One fresh earth knight and three black iron knights were like four preliminary school students to a heavyweight boxing champion in front of a heavenly knight. The moment she moved, she would be able to crush them into pieces. At the critical moment, Zhang Tie stopped her and forced her back, saving the four sage freaks'' lives.


    Heroes should have their own bottom lines and principles. At this moment, Zhang Tie would stop her even at the risk of offending Imperial Alliance.


    As Zhang Tie accomplished this process using the spiritual energy that Bai Suxian injected into his body, nobody else could see through it. As Zhang Tie was pulling Bai Suxian''s hand, they all felt that Zhang Tie applied this skill calmly; therefore, Zhang Tie became more awesome in their minds. As was imagined by Zhang Tie, the moment he moved, he had frightened everyone else at present. In this case, even though Zhang Tie told others that he had lost his battle strength, nobody might believe in that.


    Zhang Tie''s words made the old witch speechless as she could only pant there and glare at Zhang Tie. However, she dared not move forward again. As an insider, Reflectingmoons Immortal sensed Zhang Tie''s power the most. Zhang Tie could easily block her strike by sword comprising of water. If Zhang Tie had applied his silver secret item, the former strike would be more precarious. Additionally, it was not Zhang Tie''s trump card. It was just a trial for Zhang Tie. If Zhang Tie used his trump cards, it would have been a completely different outcome...


    "Qianji Immortal, are you going to fight us for some trivial persons?" Swords Immortal of Taiyi Fantasy Sect flung an overwhelming reason over Zhang Tie as he gazed coldly at the latter.


    Swords Immortal had long heard about the animosity between Zhang Tie and the elders and disciples of Taiyi Fantasy Sect at the bank of Weishui River. Therefore, Swords Immortal wanted to subdue Zhang Tie with the power of the other major sects in a domineering manner.


    Pitifully, Swords Immortal underestimated Zhang Tie. When in Blackhot City, Zhang Tie had been stubborn although being an anonymous person and would not succumb to the powers. He even dared offend those people whom every student was afraid of at school at that moment, not to mention this moment.


    "Hahahaha..." Zhang Tie burst into laughter before watching Swords Immortal and saying loudly, "In your eyes, four safe freaks might only be trivial figures; however, small figures are not destined to be humiliated by others. Even butchers and prostitutes in markets had dignity and could commit suicide because of fury, not to mention knights of Taixia Country. Heroes could be killed yet could not be humiliated. Don''t you feel that you are doing excessively this time? When it''s unfair, someone would deal with it; when the road is ragged, someone would walk and pave it. Today, I will speak for the four tough men of South Border who don''t succumb to powers, so what?"


    Zhang Tie''s words won the favor of many people while moving them greatly.


    "Great..."


    "Qianji Immortal is right..."


    Soon after Zhang Tie''s words, those surrounding knights had shouted as they applauded for Zhang Tie. Some even uttered weird sounds.


    "Because of this sentence, from today on, Qianji Immortal will be the friends of us Barbarians Mountain in South Border..." a group of barbarian knights in hides and colorful bird feathers shouted which also proved their sense of existence.


    There were many knights in barbarians of South Border. All the cultivation methods that they adopted were carried forward from Great Wilderness Sect through many channels. When Great Wilderness Sect ruled South Border, almost all the influential figures in barbarians among numerous mountains had been subordinate to Great Wilderness Sect or have relationships with the latter. In Great Wilderness Sect, except Great Wilderness Sutra, none of the other cultivation classics could gain the favor of knights of Great Wilderness Sect. However, those classics were top treasures for these barbarians.


    The discovery of the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect attracted more than 1,000 barbarian knights from South Border. However, they were divided into many factions and were not harmonious with each other. Additionally, it was said that the highest level among barbarian knights was shadow knight. On the stage jointly ruled by top sects of Taixia Country, of course, these barbarian knights lacked a sense of existence. Even Zhang Tie didn''t notice them without such a voice.

 1544 Zhang Ties Insistence

    The booing onlooking knights made the three heavenly knights more embarrassed. By contrast, the founder of Jiang Clan who used to be angry felt much smoother now. After revealing a smile at Zhang Tie, he waited to see the fun.


    After realizing that her man was such a responsible hero, Bai Suxian admired Zhang Tie so much that her eyes were almost girdled with stars.


    "Iron-Dragon Sect is just a small sect. How dare you fight us major sects?" Swords Immortal immediately escalated the scale of the argument as he used the war between sects to threaten Zhang Tie.


    How could that work?


    "Hahaha..." Zhang Tie burst into laughter after hearing Swords Immortal''s retort. In a heroic manner, he looked around before pointing at the teams of the three major sects, saying, "When I was at the bank of Weishui River, facing one sage-level demon knight, nine heavenly demon knights, 100,000 demon knights below heavenly knights as well as hundreds of millions of demons, I didn''t retreat a single step. Instead, I brought heavy casualties to them. Do you feel you''re greater than the demon army in battle strength or what?"


    "War between sects is different than a confrontation between two armies!" Clouddragon Immortal said with a squinted smile as he said gloomily, "Qianji Immortal, if you don''t think for yourself; don''t you think for your sect? What''s more, we''re doing this for the sake of the overall situation of the country and the people at present.."


    "Really?" Zhang Tie sneered at Clouddragon Immortal as he accented his tone, "War between sects? So what? Although Iron-Dragon Sect won''t prove the truth by killing, none of our disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect is afraid of death. If anyone dares kill a disciple of Iron-Dragon Sect, I will kill 10 disciples of his sect; if anyone dares kill a knight of Iron-Dragon Sect, I will kill 10 knights of his sect. If a war between sects is needed, I don''t assure how many people of Iron-Dragon Sect could survive in the end; however, I guarantee that none of the sects that wage war with Iron-Dragon Sect could survive except their sage-level knights within dozens of years. If anyone of you wants to try my tricks, go ahead! In addition, Taixia has not perished yet and is still consolidated as a whole. Only Emperor Xuanyuan in Xuanyuan Hill could represent Taixia Country; even if Emperor Xuanyuan is not there, the royal prince could also be committed to it. Furthermore, lords and chancellors in Xuanyuan Hill have their own responsibilities. There''s only one sun and people only have one master. How dare you represent the country as a whole in front of so many human knights? I wonder since when did the major sects represent Taixia Country. Have you Heavens Holding Pavilion acquired the authority of Xuanyuan Hill or you want to rebel when Emperor Xuanyuan is absent?"


    Zhang Tie''s last words were too lethal, causing Clouddragon Immortal, Swords Immortal and that old witch of Qionglou Pavilion change their face at a stroke.


    As it sounded cool, someone among the crowd acclaimed it once again.


    Zhang Tie would never treat politely these people who always proposed to do something on behalf of all the others, which kind of person Zhang Tie abhorred and disgusted most. These people used to do something on the paramount moral point on behalf of Taixia Country and the rest of the world. Whereas, when you look into them, you would find they were just as vile as bandits and burglars. Since ancient times, such people always behaved similarly to each other. By contrast, those with real mores were always low-key, modest and people-oriented, who even enjoyed chopping firewoods and transporting water for commoners and would never propose to represent anyone and screw people like Zhang Tie.


    "Qianji Immortal, don''t frame up Heavens Holding Pavilion. Heavens Holding Pavilion would not accept the crime of "rebellion"..." Clouddragon Immortal said righteously.


    ''You don''t accept the crime of "rebellion"? You''ve already joined Heavens Holding Pavilion and the three major sects have thought about intervening with the throne of Taixia Country on behalf of Emperor Xuanyuan, isn''t that a rebellion?'' Zhang Tie sneered inside as he neglected Clouddragon Immortal and told four safe freaks on his side, "You could leave now. I want to see who dare represent the country, the people and me..."


    After Zhang Tie finished his words, all the long swords became as abuzz as thunders in unison in the Dongtian. Even the long swords of knights in Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion resonated with Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy. While ordinary long swords stayed in their sheaths, all the silver secret long swords had flown off their sheaths and pointed at Zhang Tie like paying their respect to a sage of swords.


    Even the two long swords on the back of Swords Immortal jumped out of their sheaths and flashed towards Zhang Tie before flying around Zhang Tie like his loyal dogs. It seemed that they were ready to charge at the enemies who dared grin at Zhang Tie at any time.


    At the sight of this scene, Swords Immortal''s face turned purple. However, he couldn''t say anything about it; because he knew that Zhang Tie wasn''t targeting him. It displayed Zhang Tie''s unsurpassed swordsmanship which already linked with Zhang Tie''s heart. The swords would move alongside Zhang Tie''s heart; vice versa. It was the omen that Zhang Tie was ready to set upon. At the same time, the light of protective sword cover had already risen and loomed in the air around Zhang Tie full of threat.


    All the knights who only heard about Zhang Tie''s supernatural swordsmanship were transfixed at the sight of Zhang Tie''s sword trick.


    Since the start, Zhang Tie had been drawing Bai Suxian''s hand, which appeared very gentle and confident.


    Hitherto, the four safe freaks didn''t leave. After exchanging a glance with each other, Zhu Daqian gritted his teeth as he took out a bracelet before rocking it shortly, showing over 1,000 brilliant earth-element crystals, dozens of vials of medical pills and some other dazzling strange items.


    "All these are what we''ve discovered in this Dongtian. Nothing is in the bracelet anymore. We four brothers would refuse the humiliation if anyone wants to check our body except Qianji Immortal, who''s frank, just and gave us a hand for two times. We''d like Qianji Immortal to check whether there are Great Wilderness Sutra and other items in this bracelet..." Zhu Daqian said as he flew towards Zhang Tie and submitted the bracelet to Zhang Tie respectfully.

 1545 Concession

    After throwing a deep glance at Zhu Daqian, Zhang Tie took his bracelet.


    The bracelet''s luster was like that of peacock''s feather. Being adorned with blue and green colors, it was covered with light. At the sight of it, people would know it was a rarity. Additionally, there was a mark of two snakes being connected with each other, head to tail and tail to head, which was exclusive to Great Wilderness Sect.


    The internal space of the bracelet was over 300 cubic meters, which denoted that it was the best of its kind. Only after injecting a bit spiritual energy into it, Zhang Tie had ensured that nothing else was in it. Four sage freaks didn''t lie to them.


    "It''s empty..." Zhang Tie said as he passed the bracelet to Deyang Immortal on his side.


    Watching Zhang Tie passing the bracelet to Deyang Immortal, Zhu Daqian threw a glance at Zhang Tie with full of appreciation because he knew that Zhang Tie had already understood what the four sage freaks were thinking about.


    "There''s truly nothing inside!" Deyang Immortal said as he passed it to Treasureflame Immortal.


    "Hmm, it''s true!" Treasureflame Immortal also nodded. After receiving Zhang Tie''s eye signal, he passed it to Woodbuilding Immortal of the founder of Jiang Clan.


    Woodbuilding Immortal had been ignored and constrained from the beginning. After receiving the bracelet, he felt his identity being recognized. Therefore, he looked much better. After nodding at Zhang Tie, he took and checked it, saying, "This bracelet should be the best of its kind of Great Wilderness Sect; however, nothing is inside!"


    The three heavenly knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion watched it eagerly. However, Woodbuilding Immortal directly returned it to Zhang Tie; instead of passing it to the other three heavenly knights.


    After taking the bracelet, Zhang Tie returned it to Zhu Daqian before saying so loudly that anyone else at present could hear it.


    "Even if there is Great Wilderness Sutra in the Dongtian, how could the elders and knights of Great Wilderness Sect place it in the first floor of Dongtian? Aren''t they afraid of losing it if they put the most important item outside? Of course, they wouldn''t do that! When four sage freaks entered here, could they imagine about this scene? I''m afraid not. Swords Immortal, Clouddragon Immortal, Reflectingmoons Immortal, you''ve already seen it, Zhu Daqian has already been surrounded by the others the moment he exited the tower of time. He didn''t even have a chance to cheat you. All the items alongside this space-teleportation equipment that they have acquired are present, it proves that four safe freaks don''t have Great Wilderness Sutra at all. Nor could they gain Great Wilderness Sutra on the first floor of Dongtian. As heavenly knights, why do you have to make juniors embarrassed?"


    After being insistent, Zhang Tie finally spared a chance for the three heavenly knights to give a concession to this event. Additionally, Zhang Tie was reasonable. Even though there was Great Wilderness Sutra in this Dongtian which was the top secret knowledge in the world, it would never be placed on the first floor. Therefore, even though it was four safe freaks who entered this Dongtian first, they could still acquire Great Wilderness Sutra in such a short period.


    Although the three heavenly knights didn''t look good, they had sensed the chance created by Zhang Tie. After recalling Zhang Tie''s military exploits at the bank of Weishui River and the fact that Zhang Tie could survive the strike of the thunder of nirvana and the current scene of numerous swords abuzz, Swords Immortal, Clouddragon Immortal and Reflectingmoons Immortal exchanged a glance with each other before considering it rapidly.


    In the blink of an eye, Clouddragon Immortal the deputy head of Heavens Holding Pavilion had burst out into laughter as if nothing had happened just now as he said, "As Taixia Country is facing the intrusion of demons, as sects of Taixia Country, Iron-Dragon Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion, Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Qionglou Pavilion should suspend our disputes and join hands to deal with the foreign forces. Now that Qianji Immortal has proposed a suggestion, we will not make these juniors embarrassed any more in case of trouble. You could leave!"


    "Hahaha, Heavens Holding Pavilion is really fair and righteous..." Zhang Tie laughed while all the humming sounds of swords in the Dongtian dissipated as the two swords that were flying around Zhang Tie returned to the sheaths of Swords Immortal, diffusing the tension in this Dongtian at a stroke.


    After returning to where the other three of the four sage freaks were, Zhu Daqian picked up the element crystals and those vials as he bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie solemnly, "We four brothers would definitely pay off Qianji Immortal''s favor!"


    "It owes to your fortune and blessings. I just did what I should. Quick, you should leave now!" Zhang Tie replied as he waved his hand modestly.


    The four sage freaks didn''t waste time as they instantly flew towards the entrance at the dome.


    Watching four sage freaks leaving, gloomy Swords Immortal, Clouddragon Immortal and Reflectingmoons Immortal exchanged a glance with each other before flying back to their own bases, followed by their disciples silently.


    ...


    After having a short talk with Treasureflame Immortal and Woodbuilding Immortal, Zhang Tie told Bai Suxian, "Let''s leave..." before flying back to the base of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion together.


    The place near the tower of time then recovered tranquility.


    The tower of time was in its energy resilience period, which might be unavailable within dozens of years. Therefore, all of them left.


    Many onlooking knights were not satisfied with the fast ending of this dispute. Previously, they were ready to watch the fun; especially the performance of Zhang Tie [Zhang Mushen] was definitely shocking today.


    "How could it come to an end so fast? I thought Qianji Immortal could at least fight the other three heavenly knights!" A fat black iron knight grumbled in the air while slapping on the back side of his head.


    "Idiot, if there''s really a war between heavenly knights, do you think that you could watch the fun? By then, people like you and me could barely survive ourselves in the chaos!"


    "Why?" the fat knight argued.


    "What a silly ass, do you think heavenly knights are as stupid as you? A war between heavenly knights would cause great casualties. Do you dream about picking up spoils on the battlefield? I wonder how you promoted to a knight..."

 1546 Trickery

    "Weren''t four sage freaks ready to have a duel with the major sects? Why did they change their mind all of a sudden? How could they show their achievements to you..."


    The moment they returned to their camp, Bai Suxian had asked Zhang Tie.


    The tents of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and the other major sects here were not ordinary. Besides being waterproof and fire-resistant, these tents had two layers of special lead cloths in the middle, which were applied with special runes. The moment people entered the tents, their talks inside would not be eavesdropped by outsiders who tried to scan and sense the situation inside tents using spiritual energy. Therefore, their tents were very good at privacy.


    Zhang Tie found that Bai Suxian was very smart and able when she was not alongside with him; however, as long as they were together, Bai Suxian would not think too much anymore.


    Facing Bai Suxian''s spoiled, tender eyesight, Zhang Tie scratched her nose shortly.


    "If they could survive, who would choose to die? In the beginning, the four sage freaks could only make a sole choice between dignity and duel. As heroes prefer to die than being humiliated. Facing the domineering major sects, they could only choose to have a duel with them. However, I provided a chance for them. Zhu Daqian was brave and smart. He made a decision right away and showed his achievements to me which provided a leeway for themselves on the premise that their dignity was preserved. If Zhu Daqian didn''t do that, they might have already died when we heard of them next time."


    "Aah, really?"


    "Yup." Zhang Tie reaffirmed it with a smile, saying, "Even though we could save them and have them leave here under the eyes of the other major sects today, if they didn''t clarify their innocence in the public that they didn''t gain the Great Wilderness Sutra, they would also be killed secretly by those major sects or the other forces that cast greedy eyes on the possible Great Wilderness Sutra. With my help, they gained the others'' trust by showing all that they''ve achieved here to me and the other three heavenly knights. Now that I''ve decided to help them, I should help them until the end. As they''re good people, I am willing to give them a favor again..."


    "Now that you''ve long known that, why not remind them in advance?"


    "If I opened my mouth, I would be no different than the other three major sects. Because it means humiliation to them and would lead them to a real dead end. I just let them comprehend it themselves and they didn''t let me down!"


    "Don''t you worry about fighting the heavenly knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion today?"


    "Of course, I worry about it too much. As I''ve not fully recovered my battle strength and spiritual energy, if I have to fight them, I would be disadvantageous..."


    "If so, why..."


    "You want to know why I was so insistent today?"


    Bai Suxian nodded.


    Zhang Tie smiled as he touched her head, "Which one do you feel is greater in battle strength, me or the heavenly knights of the other major sects?"


    "Needless to say, you could even kill a heavenly demon knight with a rod by striking it nine times at the bank of Weishui River, how could ordinary heavenly knights defeat you? In others'' eyes, you could almost match a semi-sage knight or a sage knight as a divine dominator!" Bai Suxian said without demur.


    "Hmm, now that I''m so powerful, think about it, why did the three immortals of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion pretend to not have noticed me at the beginning? In the world of knights, battle strength counted most instead of age. Now that I could kill a heavenly demon knight so easily, it would not be difficult for me to kill any of them. How dare they put on their airs and always constrain me? After reviewing the copper map plate left by Great Wilderness Sect, they didn''t even show it to me. Do you think such an unscrupulous manner is normal in front of a divine dominator?" Zhang Tie said with a smile as his eyesight turned profound.


    Bai Suxian became stunned. After considering it carefully, she abruptly changed his face as she asked, "You mean they were actually performing to probe you..."


    "Not exactly. As top figures of top sects of Taixia Country which were superior to numerous sects across the country, their mindset and mentality had long been different than ordinary people. Being like emperors, it was reasonable for them to be unscrupulous and domineering. In their eyes, commoners were as trivial as ants. Even though knights, without great backgrounds, would be looked down upon by them. Therefore, their performance was half true. They were actually performing it in front of me so as to probe and stimulate me. They wanted to verify whether I''ve recovered my power and was as brilliant as the very one at the bank of Weishui River..."


    With cold eyes, Zhang Tie revealed a sneer as he said, "If I don''t respond to their action by offering my concession to them or remaining silent, they might get some key information and judgment from me. In this Dongtian or after leaving this Dongtian, they might do harm to me and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. They probably pose some requests on fiery oil and all-purpose medicament like enjoying the same special treatment as Lord Guangnan''s Mansion..."


    "Wha for?" Bai Suxian exclaimed out of fury.


    "Because I''ve not recovered my power and the three top sects could join hands to stress me and the profits of fiery oil and all-purpose medicament!" Zhang Tie listed three reasons as he added, "Do you think that I was qualified to negotiate with them by then? If I lost the power as a divine dominator, I would only be a tray of a dish in front of them..."


    "How dare they probe you?"


    "The major sects must have studied the destructive weapon the thunder of nirvana which could even destroy sage-level knight, and have known its terrifying effect. They guessed that I couldn''t recover so fast. Plus that I disappeared for a period which reminded them that there might still be some problem with my power. Therefore, they reunited today and played a performance in front of me in order to figure out my bottom line and real power through subtle means. Do you think that four sage freaks were really their target? Don''t you think that they didn''t know that the four sage freaks could barely acquire Great Wilderness Sutra on the first floor of Dongtian? You''re wrong. They were targeting me in fact." Zhang Tie explained with a weird smile, "Now that I''ve already known their purpose, how could I be scared of them? Of course, I should be more unscrupulous than them by slapping their face forcefully..."


    "That''s too perilous..." Bai Suxian quivered all over in a split second as she realized such peril in the boisterous scene.


    "War is about the ruse. This is how military tactics go. When you''re weak, you should show a strong point to your enemy; when you''re strong, you should show your weakness to your enemy. If I insisted on watching the fun silently, they would definitely continue to find me trouble by stressing me or probing me in other tricks until I stood out when would be the real perilous moment for me..."

 1547 Conspiracy

    When Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian returned to their tents, Swords Immortal, Clouddragon Immortal and Reflectingmoon Immortal had also returned to the camp of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    The moment they entered a tent, the three heavenly knights had sat together gloomily. Not until a few minutes'' silence did Swords Immortal open his mouth.


    "It seems that Zhang Tie''s battle strength is as powerful as before..."


    Despite being in the sound-isolated tent, Swords Immortal still spoke secretly by battle qi. In this sense, even if there was any fourth one at present, he would not hear their talks.


    "According to the news from Xuanyuan Hill, Xuanyuan Changying almost used all the means to deal with Zhang Tie''s wound in vain. In the national banquet of Xuanyuan Hill, according to the secret observation of our insiders, Zhang Tie appeared having not fully recovered as his spiritual energy and battle qi wave all over was weak. However, his spiritual energy seems as powerful as before today!" Refectingmoon Immortal grumbled gloomily whose skin was covered with goosebumps like that of chicken''s skin.


    "It''s said that Zhang Tie had triggered his bloody sacrifice furnace after returning to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and used thousands of demon fighters for a bloody sacrifice. It''s said that the bloody sacrifice furnace is so marvelous that it could almost cure any disease at the cost of demons. Although Zhang Tie was not cured in Xuanyuan Hill, he might have been healed by the bloody sacrifice furnace!" Clouddragon Immortal said solemnly as his smile had disappeared.


    "Bloody sacrifice furnace is indeed a top rarity that we don''t have, its value is immeasurable. According to the current situation, we have to change our plan against Zhang Tie. Bloody sacrifice furnace could even cure the wound left by the thunder of nirvana, when we target at Zhang Tie later, we should have the function of bloody sacrifice furnace into consideration. Otherwise, as long as Zhang Tie is alive, he would be able to recover easily. He has an amazing flight ability as a divine dominator, the body-changing immortal bloodline and the bloody sacrifice furnace; even King Fairyocean couldn''t be as tricky as him." Swords Immortal said as he shook his head helplessly.


    Zhang Tie''s secret methods were out of people''s imagination. As long as he combined various secret methods, he would gain much greater power than the total of the pure addition of these secret methods. Like what Swords Immortal had mentioned, after combining the three abilities, Zhang Tie could absolutely become unrivaled. Even if he was besieged by sage-level knights, he would escape to a place and read one''s memory before turning into that person''s look. The moment he caught the opportunity, he would be able to recover using the bloody sacrifice furnace. Additionally, except sage-level knights, even ordinary heavenly knights would be fragile to him. Who was not afraid of such a great opponent? What was more, Zhang Tie was just a shadow knight. As long as he promoted to a heavenly knight, who could control him, a divine dominator?


    The moment they thought about the situation where Zhang Tie promoted to a heavenly knight, all the powers of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavensholding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion became numb.


    There had long been a conflict between Zhang Tie and Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Although being not serious, at the least it could indicate Zhang Tie''s aversion to the Taiyi Fantasy Sect. What counted most, Zhang Tie and Taiyi Fantasy Sect were not of the same kind. Zhang Tie''s attitude towards Taiyi Fantasy Sect could be proved by the fact that he rooted for the royal prince and he widely promoted fiery-oil weapons vigorously across the country. What Zhang Tie was doing was completely against the original intention of Imperial Alliance, which Taiyi Fantasy Sect had joined.


    Imperial Alliance plumped for Xuanyuan Infinity; insisted that fiery oil should be under strict control and forbade commoners to gain fiery oil and made massive destructive weapons using fiery oil. The existence of fiery oil was a great obstacle for the ultimate idea of the Imperial Alliance.


    However, fiery oil appeared all of a sudden and was promoted too fast. As it was in the holy war, before the Imperial Alliance reached an agreement responding to this new matter, fiery oil had already spread across the country and played an enormous role in the holy war. Imperial Alliance didn''t have any reason to prevent its development at all.


    After the war at the bank of Weishui River, Zhang Tie gathered more halos and had already become one of the most attractive figures in the eyes of the Imperial Alliance in Taixia Country. Although the Imperial Alliance had long planned to respond to Zhang Tie''s actions, they didn''t imagine that Zhang Taixuan would suddenly jump out which made Zhang Tie vigilant and thus disturbed the plan of the Imperial Alliance to a certain degree.


    "If we want to deal with Zhang Tie, we have to deal with his bloody sacrifice furnace first. We''d better deal with the two aspects at the same time. Otherwise, the bloody sacrifice furnace could destroy our plan easily. What happened today has to be reported to our sages right away. As to the following steps, we should follow their orders..." Clouddragon Immortal said as he watched the other two people, who both nodded seriously.


    "Now that Zhang Tie has already fully recovered, the other task of ours would not be tricky in this sense. I''m afraid that neither way would barely work, attack by innuendo or coerce and bribe." Swords Immortal said as he shook his head.


    "You mean we should figure out why Zhang Taixuan screwed and caught Zhang Tie?" Reflectingmoons Immortal asked.


    "Yes, Zhang Taixuan is just a piece that we''ve long put. He deserved death. However, without enough motive and allure, it''s hard to imagine that Zhang Taixuan dared do that to Zhang Tie under our eyes and offend the most powerful people and force in Taixia Country. I don''t think that he did that for fiery oil and all-purpose medicament. Even though Zhang Tie was killed, he still had no ability to control the two items as Yan Feiqing alone could kill him easily. In the words of sages, Zhang Taixuan might have already known a top secret about Zhang Tie, which stimulated Zhang Taixuan to do that to Zhang Tie; however, he failed it and was finally killed by Zhang Tie..."


    "We couldn''t figure out this case ourselves. It doesn''t work for us to investigate it by force. We''d better do that from other aspects. What counts most is to deal with the current affairs. As full-moons gates are going to open, now that we''ve already assured that Zhang Tie maintained his battle strength, we should well negotiate on how to deal with him later..."


    "What about four sage freaks? Do we need to..."


    "They are just trivial craps. If we hurt them, we would arouse Zhang Tie''s alert. Just let them go. I don''t think they could arouse any big trouble..."


    "Hopefully, there''s Great Wilderness Sutra in the following floors. However, if Great Wilderness Sutra was acquired by others..."


    "Then, the catastrophe facing Great Wilderness Sect dozens of years ago would repeat somewhere in Taixia Country. No power could block our great undertaking, Iron-Dragon Sect, Demons-kill Valley or Jiang Clan..."


    The tent became full of killing intent once again...

 1548 Featured Means

    Two days had passed since the four sage freaks left the first floor of the Dongtian.


    During this short period, so many people had paid a visit to Zhang Tie incessantly, including barbarian knights in the South Border. However, Zhang Tie received none of them; instead, he just stayed in his own tent and cultivated Great Wilderness Sutra; additionally, he enjoyed Bai Suxian''s tender sexual service. If there was no dispute in the outside world, he was simply living like an immortal.


    Two days later, when the two moons turned full, the gates leading to the second floor of the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect would open. As the sun set, soon after 6 pm, the entire space of the first floor of Dongtian had become boisterous while great batches of knights converged towards the six full-moons gates.


    When Zhang Tie exited his tent, Bai Suxian, Bai Runshan and Deyang Immortal of Heavens Fortune Sect who didn''t mean to acquire anything here had been flying towards him.


    The camp of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion was not far from the full-moons gate. When Zhang Tie left his tent, the sky had been covered with knights.


    Zhang Tie looked up at the sky as he heaved a sigh helplessly. In this sense, even though he had great prestige, if he told them about the possible danger inside, it was afraid that none of them would believe him; instead, they would consider it as his conspiracy¡ª¡ªoccupying the benefits himself. After throwing a glance at Bai Runshan, Zhang Tie asked, "Third uncle, are you ready?"


    After the relationship between Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian was fixed, Zhang Tie had been used to calling Bai Runshan third uncle. Everyone felt it was reasonable for Zhang Tie to call him third uncle; especially those knights of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, who regarded it as their glory.


    "Ready!" Bai Runshan looked around before letting out a sigh helplessly, saying, "Only you, me and Suxian of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion would enter it, all the other members just stay here..."


    A few days ago, Bai Runshan was dreaming about making a fortune in this Dongtian; however, when he found that Heavens Fortune Sect only dispatched Deyang Immortal here, who closely followed Zhang Tie, Bai Ruinshan finally believed in Zhang Tie''s words¡ª¡ªthere might be possible dangers in this Dongtian.


    Heavens Fortune Sect never missed any guess. Now that Heavens Fortune Sect didn''t want to be deeply involved in this event, plus Zhang Tie''s warning, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion finally made a wise choice.


    Zhang Tie looked around before suggesting, "We can leave half of the people here, as for the rest half, let them leave this Dongtian first in case of emergency!"


    "Hmm, I agree!" Bai Runshan nodded as he delivered Zhang Tie''s suggestion as an order to the other knights. The other knights were divided into two batches; one would stay here, the other would wait outside the Dongtian in case of emergency.


    After making an arrangement, Zhang Tie, Bai Suxian, Bai Runshan and Deyang Immortal walked towards the nearest full-moons gate.


    Watching them walking over here, before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, those knights on two sides of the full-moons gate with greedy eyes hurriedly gave way to them, having them access to the front.


    In this case, of course, the most powerful one would be qualified to enter it first. Needless to say, nobody would have any question on this issue. Closely followed the four of Zhang Tie were some strange shadow knights; then earth knights; black iron knights who outnumbered the earlier ones yet were in the end. That was to say, the team in front of the gate had already faintly been divided into four classes.


    After coming to the front of the full-moons gate and watching the images on the gate which nobody else could identify that there was something wrong with them by pure eyes, Zhang Tie faintly frowned as he felt increasingly restless. However, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like leaving as he also wondered about the followings confidently based on his power and Castle of Black Iron.


    All the other heavenly knights had almost arrived at the same time.


    There were six full-moons gates. After Zhang Tie, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and Heavens Fortune Sect occupied one gate, the rest five full-moons gates were respectively occupied by the other five heavenly knights, namely, the Swords Immortal of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Clouddragon Immortal of Heavens Holding Pavilion, Reflectingmoons Immortal of Qionglou Pavilion, Woodbuilding Immortal the founder of Jiang Clan and Treasureflame Immortal of Demons-kill Valley.


    Nobody knew what was behind each gate.


    "From now on, this full-moons gate is only accessible to the disciples of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Anyone else who dares to intrude it would be killed as the enemy of Taiyi Fantasy Sect..." the moment Swords Immortal and his disciples arrived at a full-moons gate, he had looked around with sharp eyes before telling those independent valiant knights who had given way to them in such an unscrupulous manner.


    After they heard Swords Immortal''s order, over 2,000 knights who converged here became transfixed at a stroke.


    "Why? Taiyi Fantasy Sect is too domineering..." someone exclaimed out of fury at once. However, before those beside him booed alongside him, a cold light had flashed across Swords Immortal''s eyes as he shot out an extremely sharp sword qi from his finger. After flying over 500 m, the sword qi struck onto the earth knight, causing him to spurt out blood and drop onto the ground. Despite being not fatal, he had definitely been severely hurt.


    "Because of this..." Swords Immortal sneered as he added, "It''s just a warning. I keep you alive for the time being. As lions are scrambling for food, jackals and ants stay far away. In this place, only the fist speaks. Do you juniors think that I will leave a position for you at the critical moment? I''ve already helped you a lot. Shut up!"


    At the same time, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion also started to declare their dominance.


    "Listen, as our Heavens Holding Pavilion''s knights entered this gate first, we have to face the greatest risks; from now on, anyone else who would like to enter this gate would have to sign a contract with our Heavens Holding Pavilion. As for the acquisitions, our Heavens Holding Pavilion would take 90%..." Clouddragon Immortal looked at those knights who had changed their faces with a smile like a smart boss, "After a while, you''re welcome to enter this gate together with us. We Heavens Holding Pavilion is fair and never cheat anyone, old or young. It''s known to us all. We would never go back on our word..."


    After Clouddragon Immortal finished his words, all the other knights had run away at once.

 1549 The Opening of the Full-moons Gates

    Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion easily subdued the other dissents while all the other knights outside the two gates hurriedly left for the other gates. No matter what, there were four more gates left.


    Compared to the overwhelming manner of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and the trick of Heavens Holding Pavilion, Qionglou Pavilion''s measure was a bit brutal.


    Soon after the disciples of Reflectingmoons Immortal declared the same rule as that of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, some people in the surroundings had jumped out to protest it. Therefore, Reflectingmoons Immortal launched a strike at once, causing casualties for sure.


    How could ordinary knights bear the strike of a heavenly knight?


    "You see the outcome for not following my order..." Reflectingmoons Immortal said coldly as she waved her hand, breaking the neck of the muscled barbarian earth knight who wore a hat of tiger''s hide at a stroke. However the barbarian knight didn''t die at once due to a great vitality; instead, he shrieked loudly while being thrown away by Reflectingmoons Immortal. Before the other barbarian knights caught him, Reflectingmoons Immortal had pushed forward her claw and struck the barbarian earth knight with five icy blue battle qi, exploding his body into pieces in the air while his blood and flesh covered the other barbarian knights'' scalps and faces.


    Such a brutal means scared a lot of onlooking knights away in a split second.


    "Master..." Some barbarian knights shouted at once while the eyes of more barbarian knights turned red as they gazed at Reflectingmoons Immortal and the other knights of Qionglou Pavilion behind Reflectingmoons Immortal...


    Fang Xinyi was standing not far away from Reflectingmoons Immortal in the team of Qionglou Pavilion in a white skirt...


    "Guack, guack, guack..." Reflectingmoons Immortal cackled as she looked at those barbarian knights disdainfully, "Who else would like to try my Fantasy Yin Claw? Come on. Anyone else who dares enter this gate today would enjoy the same outcome..."


    At this moment, a barbarian knight rushed out and shouted loudly at those barbarian knights whose eyes had turned red. After that, these barbarian knights threw a glare at Reflectingmoons Immortal and the other disciples of Qionglou Pavilion before leaving there at the same time.


    In the blink of an eye, besides the knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion, nobody else dared stand outside the three gates occupied by the three sects.


    As a result, all the other knights, 7,000-8,000 in total hurriedly poured towards the other full-moons gates, unavoidably causing some chaos.


    Watching those strangers who appeared behind his team all of a sudden and the bustling scene, Treasureflame Immortal of Demons-kill Valley sneered as he told a disciple, "We will imitate Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion. After driving these people to our team, they would have less trouble; yet more opportunities. That''s too ridiculous! Don''t we kill people? We Demons-kill Valley could always kill people as many as them. Send my order¡ª¡ªanyone else who enter this gate has to break one of his or her arms and dig out one of his or her eyes. Anyone who violates this rule would be killed!"


    ''Are you kidding me? Break one arm and dig out one eye? Disable ourselves before seeing a f*cking sh*t of treasure? Who''s that foolish?''


    They had not imagined that Demons-kill Valley''s rule was more merciless; therefore, all the knights who had just gathered here ran away at a stroke.


    ...


    Watching the sudden appearance of so many knights, Zhang Tie asked one of them what happened to the other gates.


    Those knights just watched Zhang Tie with innocent and desirable eyes as they were afraid that Zhang Tie would set a similar rule, when they could only cry without tears. Although they dared not stir up the other major sects, they knew that Zhang Tie was trickier than the other heavenly knights. When they recalled how Zhang Tie threatened the other three heavenly knights alone, none of the knights nearby Zhang Tie''s gate dared breathe smoothly.


    "What about Jiang Clan?" Zhang Tie asked Bai Suxian.


    "Jiang Clan doesn''t set any rule. Woodbuilding Immortal is tolerant!" Bai Suxian commented.


    "Not exactly. In this sense, Jiang Clan is weaker than the other major sects and Zhang Tie. They dared not offend so many knights. If not have these knights enter the gate, Woodbuilding Immortal might not be able to deal with the other heavenly knights alone inside the gates. On the contrary, if these people are allowed in, those heavenly knights would think twice before taking any action inside. In that case, Jiang knights might be able to get some benefits in the chaos!" Deyang Immortal explained to Bai Suxian as he stroked his beard.


    "What about these people then?" Bai Suxian nodded as she asked Zhang Tie.


    "Never mind. They could enter this gate after us..."


    "Hmm!"


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s opinion, all the knights behind him heaved a sigh as they all acclaimed Zhang Tie for being frank, just and righteous. Even barbarian knights cast Zhang Tie with admiring looks. A few days ago, Zhang Tie confronted with the other three major sects for the sake of four sage freaks. This time, he didn''t occupy the full-moons gate. Through the two events, Zhang Tie''s prestige reached a new height in the hearts of these knights.


    Zhang Tie was clear about the intentions of the other major sects; however, Zhang Tie didn''t care about that. As Zhang Tie had long got the Great Wilderness Sutra and had all kinds of secret books, he was only interested in towers of time. However, given the weird aspects in this place, Zhang Tie was always worried about their safety. Thankfully, the more people on his side, the safer they would be. At least, he could notice any danger in advance in case of more casualties. No matter what, these knights were all human elites...


    After throwing a glance at Bai Runshan, Zhang Tie found that Bai Runshan didn''t look good. Only after thinking for a second, Zhang Tie had understood it¡ª¡ªQionglou Pavilion had another purpose by killing a barbarian knight in South Border. Because Fang Xinyi was in the team of Qionglou Pavilion, who was also the wife of Lord Guangnan, given the fact that the conflict between Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and barbarian knights had just been relieved, Qionglou Pavilion, ah, no, Imperial Alliance used a ruse to further intensify the conflict between Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and barbarians in South Border.


    ''What a vicious trick! They screw up Lord Guangnan''s Mansion in public while the latter have to accept it...''


    ''Schemes between these major sects and forces are really everywhere and impossible to defend against.''


    After being restless for almost one hour, all of a sudden, the gate in front of Zhang Tie revealed brilliance, causing the entire Dongtian to be as bright as daytime. After the light disappeared, they found the full-moons gate had already opened...

 1550 Entering the Gates

    To be honest, when the full-moons gates opened and gave out brilliance, Zhang Tie didn''t feel any energy connection between the full-moons gates and the two full moons outside. Whereas, when those mysterious runes inside the gates started to flow, Zhang Tie felt a sharp resonance between the All-spirits Tower in his mind sea and this full-moons gate.


    Zhang Tie was confused about this response while the opening gate and the pitch-dark hole behind the gate didn''t allow Zhang Tie to think about it too much.


    "Let''s go..." when the gate fully opened and over 6,000 knights suddenly stopped their hubbub, Zhang Tie drew Bai Suxian''s hand as they exchanged a glance with each other tacitly. Then, Bai Suxian injected some spiritual energy into Zhang Tie''s body as they flew into the gate at a stroke.


    Despite being pitch-dark to others, it was clearly a downward tunnel in the eyes of Zhang Tie.


    Watching Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian entering the tunnel, Bai Sunshan and Deyang Immortal exchanged a glance with each other as they flew inside at the same time. Half a minute later, some shadow knights behind them looked at each other.


    "What are we waiting for? The treasures of Great Wilderness Sect are right downside there, quick..." some knight couldn''t help shouting.


    After this yell, those shadow knights rushed into the pitch-dark hole behind the full-moons gate, closely followed by all the others like a shoal of fish for fresh water at their full efforts in fear of missing something.


    In the tunnel, Zhang Tie just flew at the speed of 4 times that of sound, which although being fast for others was nothing for Zhang Tie.


    The entire tunnel was like a deep well with a downward inclination. It was smooth on its walls which were covered with faint, flowing runes. At the speed four times that of sound, those illuminating runes receded as fast as light besides Zhang Tie and Bai Suixian.


    "Faster?" Bai Suxian asked Zhang Tie.


    "No need! We should just stay close to the other heavenly knights. No need to rush out first. It''s okay for us to move a bit slowlier than them!"


    "Aren''t you afraid that they might get the treasures ahead of us?"


    "Those ahead of us might also be martyrs!" Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    Bai Suxian became silent...


    ...


    As for the other full-moons gates, the moment they opened, all the heavenly knights had rushed in. Needless to say, those knights behind Zhang Tie and Woodbuilding Immortal had also rushed in within 2 minutes.


    There were four knights of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion guarding the full-moons gate for Zhang Tie''s group. Similarly, some knights were also left by Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion, Qionglou Pavilion, Demons-kill Valley and Jiang Clan outside their gates in case of emergency.


    Four knights were left outside the gate occupied by Heavens Holding Pavilion. When they thought that nobody else would come in, a stranger appeared there.


    Being short and fat, the arriver appeared to be a black iron knight. As his head was severely swollen, his original look could barely be identified. Half face wrapped with gauze, he looked like a mummy while being covered with an uncomfortable smell of low-quality ointment. Because of his swollen head, his eyes turned into a gap. From all angles of view, the pair of stealthy eyes inside the gap looked obscene.


    At the sight of this obscene guy, all the four knights frowned as one of them asked him, "Stop, what are you doing?"


    "Going inside..." that stranger replied innocently.


    "Stay away from here. If you want to enter, choose other gates..." A knight said impatiently as he waved his hand like driving away a fly.


    "Can''t I go inside from here?"


    "Of course you could. But haven''t you heard the words of our deputy head Clouddragon Immortal? If you want to enter here, you could only get 10% of what you get inside. If you lost your life there, nobody would care about you. It has nothing to do with Heavens Holding Pavilion!" another knight said maliciously.


    "Erm, I''ve already heard it. It''s okay..." that guy answered generously with his swollen head as he nodded and bowed towards the four knights of Heavens Holding Pavilion, adding, "Heavens Holding Pavilion is always fair to everyone, young or old. It''s known to us all. I would be glad to even get 10% of my achievements..."


    "You..."


    Before a knight finished his words, that short and fat guy had already flashed in.


    No matter what, none of the people of Heavens Holding Pavilion could imagine that someone would like to adopt this condition including Clouddragon Immortal. Until this guy rushed in did the four knights look at each other blindly.


    After looking around, they found nobody in the surroundings. Therefore, the four people exchanged a glance with each other weirdly.


    "I wonder whether that guy is stupid or not? No, I should take a look inside in case of trouble!" one earth knight told the other three.


    "If nobody else was in the tunnel..." another knight said with a cold look as he made a hand gesture of cutting down something.


    "I see..." After that, the earth knight hurriedly flew into the pitch-dark tunnel to chase after that person.


    In the pitch-dark tunnel, after flying about 1 minute downside, the earth knight of Heavens Holding Pavilion still didn''t find that short and fat guy. Therefore, he became curious about him.


    Suddenly, a hand appeared on the wall which was covered with looming, flowing runes, holding a black rectangular item like a brick. When the earth knight passed by, he got a sneak attack on the back side of his head.

 1551 Trick in Trick

    When the earth knight of Heavens Holding Pavilion entered the gate, he had already released his protective battle qi. However, the pitch-dark brick directly penetrated through the protective battle qi of the earth knight as some bizarre golden runes flashed by, striking heavily against his head.


    Like how a commoner got a sneak attack against the back side of his head by a piece of brick, the earth knight passed out at a stroke silently...


    Before he fell off freely, another hand appeared in the air as it seized the falling earth knight who was spurting white foam, suspending in the air of tunnel.


    Not until then did that fat fully display his body with a bizarre wave like a chameleon.


    At the same time, the black brick in his hand gradually shrunk; finally, it turned into a beam of light and shot into the fat''s forehead. If those treasure-seekers saw what happened just now, they would definitely be shocked¡ª¡ªThe piece of pitch-dark brick was definitely special. Even silver secret weapons couldn''t lurk in its owner''s body in such a marvelous manner.


    After putting away his brick, the fat started to observe the earth knight who had already passed out from his head to foot like how a timber wolf looked at a little white rabbit. Licking his lip obscenely, he almost drooled.


    "F*ck, knights from top six sects are really rich. An earth knight could carry a portable space-teleportation finger ring, and this super vigorous waistband; it has already broken through the black iron effect. His clothes are also made of top-quality boa silk mixed with secret silver silk; they could match soft armor in defensive capability. Look at the shoes, it''s caliga with a layer of rune alloy plate on its sole; it''s puncture-resistant and more agile in movement. F*ck, even your underwear could clean itself automatically and could wear for one year without washing. It is worth at least thousands of gold coins. That''s too lavish! This dad couldn''t even afford a pair of your underwear with the money that I made in 10 years previously. Haha, what a Heavens Holding Pavilion! Pitifully, all of them belong to me now..."


    In the blink of an eye, that earth knight had been naked, leaving not even a pair of underwear.


    Watching this naked man, the fat teleported all the items into the space-teleportation finger ring that he had just got as he said, "Don''t blame me; it''s you who intended to kill me first. Therefore, it''s reasonable for me to screw you up. I know that you Heavens Holding Pavilion always took your promise as f*art; like that you want to make a fortune alone and maintain your reputation at the same time, I want to be a pimp using your fortune!"


    After finishing his grumble, the fat looked at that space-teleportation finger ring as he hid it into one of his smelly shoes before revealing a big smile.


    No knights might feel like searching for treasures from his dirty and smelly shoes.


    After doing all this, the fat found a problem. Looking around, he muttered as he scratched his own head, "How should I deal with you? I only seek for fortune instead of taking people''s life. If I let you drop off, you would die; and I would expose my secret item; later on, I couldn''t use my brick anymore. However, I couldn''t take you with me; otherwise, I Fan Sanguang, as a virgin, would arouse misunderstandings and could barely marry wives in the future."


    After thinking about it for a short while, Fang Sanguang finally got an idea. Eyebrows jumping, he revealed an obscene smile as he took a vial out of his portable medicine container. After opening its lid carefully, he sprayed some liquid onto the naked earth knight.


    The moment the liquid met air, it caused white bubbles which kept expanding themselves, wrapping the naked earth knight at once, leaving his head outside for the sake of breath. When the white bubbles almost reached his hand, Fang Sanguang forcefully threw that naked earth knight away.


    Being wrapped by the white bubbles, the naked earth knight and those white bubbles instantly stuck onto the wall of the tunnel; instead of dropping off.


    "Hehheh, this super foaming glue is great. I''m a genius..." Fang Sanguang murmured pleasantly as he watched the earth knight being fixed onto the wall. However, in a split second, his face turned weird as he mumbled, "Motherf*cker, this scene appears so familiar. I feel ejecting an earth knight onto the wall. Whatever! No matter what, this guy would wake up 3 days later, when he would remember nothing at all. I''d better take a look at the treasures of Great Wilderness Sect right away..."


    After saying that, Fan Sanguang threw the last glance at that naked guy before slowly increasing his height, making his fat frame normal. Later on, he unveiled his gauze and wore a disguising mask. After changing himself completely, he started to fly downside stealthily... leaving that naked earth knight in white bubbles on the wall of the tunnel, who might have a psyche shadow after waking up three days later.


    ...


    After flying downwards for over 60 miles, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian reached the end of the tunnel as they found it pretty bright in front of them.


    The space of the second-floor of Dongtian was almost as same as that of the last one like that in All-spirits Tower. The mere difference between the two spaces was that there were two towers of time instead of one on the huge octahedron in the center of the floor.


    Meanwhile, another item was floating quietly above the two towers of time, giving out brilliant double-color light.

 1552 A Rarity

    The value of the two towers of time was immeasurable. Even Zhang Tie''s heart pounded at the sight of them.


    However, what was more attractive than the two towers of time was the item giving out golden and silver light above the towers of time¡ª¡ªa totem of two metal snakes, tails in mouths, which was the symbol of Great Wilderness Sect.


    ''A metal totem, giving out two brilliant colors, floating in the air, a totem of Great Wilderness Sect...''


    Anyone who integrated these pieces of messages would know that the two metal snakes were the unparalleled treasure of Great Wilderness Sect.


    At least Zhang Tie held that opinion. At the sight of the totem, he had realized that the two snakes were definitely more valuable than that of the two towers of time.


    After triggering his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie felt bizarre energy around the two snakes. Like Centralpillar Mountain, it carried a strange gravity; additionally, the two snakes appeared having formed an unknown energy circulation.


    When Zhang Tie caught sight of all this, another person had already accelerated towards the two odd-looking snakes floating above the two towers of time as fast a lightning bolt¡ª¡ªSwords Immortal of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian also moved very fast; however, Zhang Tie retained his real flight ability. Therefore, Swords Immortal arrived at this space of Dongtian ahead of Zhang Tie.


    Of course, Swords Immortal saw what Zhang Tie had seen and thought almost like Zhang Tie.


    Watching Swords Immortal rushing over there, before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, Bai Suxian had already enlarged her infusion of spiritual energy into Zhang Tie''s body.


    "Hahaha, Swords Immortal, nice to see you again..." Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he took Bai Suxian towards the two snakes above the towers of time. In this sense, Zhang Tie would never allow Taiyi Fantasy Sect to occupy the treasure of Great Wilderness Sect ahead of him.


    Taiyi Fantasy Sect had definitely joined the action of Imperial Alliance on destroying Great Wilderness Sect. It would be intolerant even by God if such a murderer could grab the treasure of Great Wilderness Sect at this time. Otherwise, those late members of Great Wilderness Sect would never be reassured in their afterlife! If Jiang Clan or Demons-kill Valley grabbed the treasure of Great Wilderness Sect ahead of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, although Zhang Tie wouldn''t feel happy for that, at the least he would not feel unhappy. However, if the Imperial Alliance grabbed the treasure of Great Wilderness Sect, Zhang Tie would never feel comfortable as he would feel sorry about the fact that he was cultivating Great Wilderness Sutra.


    Even though Zhang Tie himself couldn''t get it, he would never let Imperial Alliance get it. In fact, Zhang Tie was infuriated about Imperial Alliance''s brutality inside at this moment.


    When Zhang Tie entered the space, he scanned the octahedron under the two towers of time by his lotus-flower eyes.


    Like the former one, this octahedron still had six gates, which seemed to be leading to the next floor of Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. Whereas, Zhang Tie felt strange that these six gates didn''t have patterns on them, but flowing runes and faint, flickering luster.


    It seemed unimaginable. When a rich man decorated his villa, if the first floor was with Hua characteristics, the second floor would be with styles of other subcontinents, which felt extremely uncoordinated and weird.


    When he imagined about the abnormality of the natural phenomena gates on the first floor, Zhang Tie felt a bit strange. However, he had no time to discern them and figure out the reason.


    ...


    Swords Immortal almost reached 6 times the speed of sound; however, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian moved faster. The moment Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian accelerated, they had already reached 10 times that of the speed of sound. Only after a short while, they had already caught up with Swords Immortal.


    The exits of Zhang Tie and Swords Immortal were both on the dome of this space with a distance of a few miles, right in the center of the stamen of the huge lotus flower. Within nearby a few miles, there were four more exits. The towers of time and the weird totem were only about 200 miles away from them. As for heavenly knights, it was too short a distance. At the speed many times that of sound, it would take Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian less than 2 minutes to finish this distance.


    Swords Immortal didn''t even hear Zhang Tie''s sound at all. Because he moved too fast that Zhang Tie''s words couldn''t catch up with him. However, the moment Zhang Tie caught up with him, Swords Immortal found them at once.


    After sensing the faint waves behind him due to rapid flight, Swords Immortal turned around as he saw Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian approaching him from 7 o''clock behind him at a terrifying speed.


    Of course, Zhang Tie targeted at the totem that gave out brilliant golden and silver light above the two towers of time.


    Noticing their high speed, Swords Immortal sensed the terror of a divine dominator for the first time. Meanwhile, he understood why Zhang Tie could survive the battlefield at the bank of the Weishui River¡ª¡ªZhang Tie was flying with the ability of divine dominator rather than his chakras. Ten times the speed of sound was far greater than the maximal speed of heavenly knights. It could almost match that of sage-level knights.


    At the same time, Swords Immortal also noticed that Zhang Tie was flying together with Bai Suxian, hand in hand.


    ''That''s unreasonable. At this critical moment, the faster the better, why Zhang Tie would stick to Bai Suxian?''


    A question occured to Swords Immortal.


    Like how Zhang Tie felt strange about the six portals downside there, Swords Immortal also felt something strange. Similarly, Swords Immortal didn''t think too much about that. Thankfully, Bai Suxian beside Zhang Tie could reduce Zhang Tie''s speed.


    After noticing Zhang Tie''s amazing speed, Swords Immortal had already intended to adjust his direction. Like two vehicles moving neck by neck on two lanes of an expressway, when Zhang Tie almost surpassed Swords Immortal, the latter''s eyes suddenly turned cold as a brilliant quality sword appeared in the hand of Swords Immortal before being hacked towards Zhang Tie without demur...

 1553 The Scramble

    In front of the top treasure of Great Wilderness Sect, even being afraid of Zhang Tie''s power and reputation, Swords Immortal didn''t think too much about it. If he couldn''t prevent Zhang Tie, he could only watch Zhang Tie taking away that top treasure.


    However, tactics and rules were emphasized in this case. In such cases, if these powerful knights with strong backgrounds couldn''t solve their problem verbally, they would definitely deal with it by force. Whereas, if they were not rivals with vendettas, they were not destined to kill the opponents at their full efforts; instead, they would keep the opposite alive at the least.


    Heavenly knights were powerhouses with exceptional control abilities. In such a competition, if heavenly knights didn''t mean to kill the opponent, the opponent would know it immediately the moment the brawl started.


    Swords Immortal''s swordsmanship was really something. The moment he launched his attack, a heavenly Knight-level sword aura had shot out of his hand and charged at Zhang Tie in the shape of a glazed long dragon. However, that sword aura stopped less than 100 m away from Zhang Tie when it turned into a huge net comprising of numerous tiny sword aura with the shake of the glazed long dragon, blocking Zhang Tie''s way right away.


    Such extremely brilliant swordsmanship and battle skill!


    Previously, Swords Immortal just wanted to stop Zhang Tie for a second; unimaginably, his strike caused much greater trouble to Zhang Tie.


    When the net of sword aura approached him, Zhang Tie thought of his substitute; however, he devoted it at once.


    Almost at the same moment, Zhang Tie felt the other heavenly knights, namely Clouddragon Immortal the deputy head of Heavens Holding Pavilion, Moonsreflecting Immortal the deputy head of Qionglou Pavilion and Treasureflame Immortal of Demons-kill Valley, almost appearing in this Dongtian.


    The other heavenly knights also found the two towers of time and that totem giving out brilliant, golden and silver light above them.


    Like what Zhang Tie and Swords Immortal were thinking about, all the heavenly knights moved towards the totem in the air at their maximal speeds almost at the same time.


    Body-separation skill was Zhang Tie''s trump card, which even helped Zhang Tie to survive himself in the battle at the bank of Weishui River. If he exposed this trump card for a treasure whose function was unknown, he might have to sustain a series of outcomes.


    The others might choose the totem at the cost of exposing this trump card; however, as for Zhang Tie who had Great Wilderness Sutra, Castle of Black Iron and lotus-flower eyes was actually not very immersed in looking for treasures. To tell the truth, the treasure of Great Wilderness Sect couldn''t match his trump card which could save him in emergencies.


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie determined to not expose his body-separation skill.


    Given the great consumption of Bai Suxian''s spiritual energy, if he triggered his counterstrike ability of divine dominator, Zhang Tie could only choose to detour the net!


    If Zhang Tie could trigger his battle qi, he could definitely break the net of sword aura; if he had spiritual energy, he could also break it easily; he could even break through it by his protective battle qi and protective sword qi. As long as he had recovered, he could have a myriad of counter-measures. Pitifully, Zhang Tie had not recovered as he could neither trigger his battle qi nor run his spiritual energy.


    Zhang Tie could only scare them away. If he had to fight them, the fact that he had not recovered would be exposed right away. If he used Bai Suxian''s spiritual energy to counterattack, her spiritual energy could never be available to the constant consumption of his skill as a divine dominator.


    Even if he broke this net of sword aura using Bai Suxian''s spiritual energy, he had to do the same thing for the second time or the third time. Although it was easy for a heavenly knight to launch such a strike, Bai Suxian couldn''t bear such a great consumption of spiritual energy. By then, Zhang Tie''s factual situation would be exposed either.


    After detouring Swords Immortal''s net of sword aura, Zhang Tie''s vantage point in speed was offset at a stroke.


    Swords Immortal and the following heavenly knights were all shocked by Zhang Tie''s choice.


    As heavenly knights, they were all very sagacious. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s reaction to the net of sword aura, they immediately knew that Zhang Tie had not recovered and they were all frightened by him that day.


    That day, Zhang Tie held Bai Suxian''s hand when he frightened the others; so did he today...


    ''There''s definitely something wrong with him!''


    "Hahaha, Qianji Hermit is really something. Besides strong power, you also have a myriad of tricks. We were almost frightened by you. It''s said that all the skills of divine dominator are driven by spiritual energy. I guess that Princess Bai is constantly injecting her spiritual energy into your body. No wonder I''ve not seen you manifest your own battle qi and power..." Clouddragon Immortal of Heavens Holding Pavilion said as the battle qi behind him turned into a cloud of mist, which enabled him to speed up abruptly and surpass Moonsreflecting Immortal and Treasureflame Immortal at once. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s response, a weird look flashed across his eyes as his words reached the dome, which then was reflected downwards, filling the entire space.


    "Clouddragon Immortal, do you want to have a try? Haha, you''re so smart! You hit it..." Zhang Tie burst into laughter in front of him.


    Zhang Tie''s frank admission made Clouddragon Immortal frown at once. Out of suspicion, Clouddragon Immortal didn''t know whether it was another trap of Zhang Tie...

 1554 Coalition

    Flying in front, Swords Immortal launched strikes for consecutively a few times in an overwhelming manner, forcing Zhang Tie to detour, offsetting the latter''s vantage point in speed at a stroke.


    In this case, Swords Immortal approached the totem first.


    The moment Swords Immortal stretched out his hand to take the totem of two snakes which was giving out brilliant, golden and silver light with an ecstatic look, another light caught up with him from behind, hitting the totem at a stroke. As a result, the totem was sent flying far away while rotating, sliding away from the tips of Swords Immortal''s fingers, breaking the ecstasy of Swords Immortal at once.


    The light was carried by Zhang Tie''s bolt-in-palm. It moved so fast that even Swords Immortal didn''t catch its existence. Additionally, its angle was erratic. Before it touched the totem, it made a turn in the air. Therefore, after being hit, the totem rotated and flashed downwards with an inclination.


    "Zhang Tie..." Swords Immortal roared as his face turned purple, adding, "Do you mean to oppose Taiyi Fantasy Sect?"


    "Hahaha, it''s a ritual to exchange gifts with each other. Immortal, can''t you stand it? If so, what do you mean by striking me just now?"


    Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he neglected Swords Immortal''s feeling and chased after the totem. However, Swords Immortal hated Zhang Tie so much at this moment that he instantly launched a fiercer swords aura that covered Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie and Swords Immortal brawled with each other at a stroke.


    They were soon caught up with by Celestial Treasureflame, Celestial Clouddragon and Celestial Reflectingmoons. Watching the treasure of Great Wilderness Sect flying downwards, the three people sped up after it at the same time.


    Celestial Woodbuilding arrived in this space a bit later than the other heavenly knights before Zhang Tie released his bolt-in-palm. When Celestial Woodbuilding appeared, he saw everyone chasing after the totem of snakes. Only after a short thought, he had given up scrambling for the treasure of Great Wilderness Sect; instead, he rushed towards the two towers of time on the ground.


    Although there were hundreds of birds in the wood, it''s no better than having one bird in your hand. As for Celestial Woodbuilding, he preferred to occupy one tower of time rather than scrambling for an unknown treasure with the other extremely powerful heavenly knights.


    As he was here a bit later than them, he had already lost the vantage point in time. Even though he joined the scramble, he would have a very low possibility to get it. When none of the other heavenly knights couldn''t get the treasure, some of them might head for the towers of time, by then, it would very difficult for him to scramble for one tower of time. Therefore, Celestial Woodbuilding made such an unexpected, yet reasonable response.


    After all, Celestial Clouddragon, Celestial Moonsreflecting Moons and Celestial Swords were partners who had reached many secret agreements. In this case, the moment Swords Immortal wrestled with Zhang Tie, the three heavenly knights had already reached a tactful action.


    There were only 6 heavenly knights here, besides Celestial Woodbuilding who didn''t join them, only Zhang Tie and Celestial Treasureflame could threaten three of them. That was to say, as long as Zhang Tie and Celestial Treasureflame were prevented, the treasure of Great Wilderness Sect would belong to them.


    "Celestial Treasureflame, easy..." Celestial Clouddragon said with a smile as he released a "meteor" battle qi, blocking Celestial Treasureflame at once.


    With a sound of "boom...", Celestial Treasureflame launched a counter-strike as his eyes turned cold. The first close collision between the two heavenly knights sounded like a thunder in the Dongtian while the vigorous battle qis swept over dozens of miles. Besides, the entire space was brightly lit as if fireworks were launched.


    "What do you want?" Celestial Treasureflame reproached as he threw a distant glance at Celestial Clouddragon in rapid flight.


    "I''ve long heard about the Six-yang flame of Celestial Treasureflame. Coincidentally, I want to try it here..." Celestial Clouddragon said as he burst into laughter.


    Celestial Treasureflame threw a glance at Celestial Reflectingmoons while Celestial Clouddragon had already blocked him. Celestial Reflectingmoons then chased after the brilliant totem of snakes.


    The privity displayed by the three major sects of Taixia Country shocked Celestial Treasureflame while Celestial Clouddragon became his biggest obstacle...


    In the blink of an eye, Celestial Treasureflame disappeared at once; closely after Celestial Clouddragon. The space was then filled with wrestling lightning bolts while thunder-like collisions resonated across the entire space like firecrackers.


    When these heavenly knights scrambled for the totem, Bai Runshan, Immortal Deyang and the other shadow knights of the major sects had poured in the space, closely followed by earth knights. At the sight of the boisterous scene in the space, almost all the shadow knights shot over there.


    ...


    Celestial Woodbuilding flew towards the two towers of time in a low height; unimaginably, the happy lot fell towards him. After being touched by Zhang Tie''s bolt-in-palm, the totem was flying towards Celestial Woodbuilding at a high speed, closely followed by Celestial Reflectingmoons.


    The moment Celestial Woodbuilding felt ecstatic, he had heard the icy voice of Celestial Reflectingmoons, "Is Jiang Clan going to imitate the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect?"


    After hearing that, Celestial Woodbuilding''s heart pounded as he saw the berserk battle qi strikes and the icy eyesight of the old witch of Qionglou Pavilion, which after crossing thousands of meters, cascaded towards the head of Celestial Woodbuilding like that in a real duel...

 1555 The Coming Crisis

    Even clay figurine carried the feature of fire, not to mention heavenly knights.


    If the old witch didn''t say the last sentence, Celestial Woodbuilding might have already left; however, the old witch''s crankiness and ruthlessness irritated Celestial Woodbuilding at once.


    Facing the coming berserk strikes and the treasure of Great Wilderness Sect, Celestial Woodbuilding didn''t yield; instead, with a flash of eye light, he made a hand gesture as he roared, "Break..." while facing the strike of Celestial Reflectingmoons by two hands.


    In the loud collisions, one of Celestial Woodbuilding''s battle qis struck against the totem of snakes, causing it to change its direction once again alongside the vigorous qi at a greater speed towards the dome while a lot of knights were pouring out of the tunnels over there.


    Celestial Reflectingmoons was infuriated so much that she accelerated towards the dome with a roar, leaving Celestial Woodbuilding alone. Watching her back, Celestial Woodbuilding sneered as he continued to dash towards the towers of time.


    The rest knights had not imagined that they could have a chance to get the treasure of Great Wilderness Sect.


    At this moment, all the barbarian knights and independent shadow knights had already swarmed in. At the sight of the coming totem of snakes, over 10 shadow knights rushed towards it at once at their full efforts.


    At this moment, only two shadow knights at present were a bit hesitant: Immortal Deyang, who paused when he recalled the manifestation of divination about this travel in front of the coming totem; he then flew towards Zhang Tie; instead of that treasure.


    Another one was a barbarian shadow knight. In a bizarre hat made of an unknown animal''s horn, with tattoos on the face, when he saw the totem of the brilliant head-to-end snakes, he didn''t reveal ecstasy like the other shadow knights; instead, he looked shocked and extremely scared as he uttered a shrill sound, "Hagusira..." Closely after that, he escaped away as fast as possible.


    After hearing the barbarian shadow knight''s shriek and seeing him escaping backward as fast as possible, Bai Runshan who was rushing forward with sparkling eyes quivered all over as he retreated at his full efforts as well.


    Growing up in South Border, Bai Runshan was very proficient in the language of barbarians in South Border. He knew that barbarian shadow knight who was a barbarian overlord in South Border called Serila, who ruled Insects Mountain and had negotiated with Lord Guangnan''s Mansion for more than once; despite the two parties didn''t get along well with each other, they didn''t turn completely hostile against each other. What Serila shrieked just now meant the snakes of destruction.


    Bai Runshan might not care about it if it was shrieked by others; however, Serila was the former outdoor disciple of Great Wilderness Sect and later on the outdoor elder of Great Wilderness Sect. When Great Wilderness Sect was exterminated, Serila was not there as an outdoor elder; therefore, he survived that catastrophe. All of his accomplishments were learned from Great Wilderness Sect. Serila who had contacted some secrets of Great Wilderness Sect must know more about Great Wilderness Sect than anyone else at present.


    Additionally, Serila was of great ambition. Since he ruled the Insects Mountain for so many years, he used to call his men the direct affiliate of Great Wilderness Sect and made destructions with the aftermath of Great Wilderness Sect. Moreover, he was thinking about hefting the great banner of Great Wilderness Sect once again. However, such a person instantly escaped away while changing his face at the sight of this treasure of Great Wilderness Sect.


    When he thought about this, Bai Runshan made a decision to evacuate from here as well; instead of charging at the totem-like the other shadow knights...


    The other knights were constantly rushing downwards from the six entrances...


    ...


    "Impossible!" Celestial Woodbuilding muttered when he tried to push open the gate of a tower of time. The gate on which runes were flowing remained still. At the same time, he received a message from the gate of the tower of time¡ª¡ªNot received All-spirits Tower yet; great wilderness seal couldn''t be connected to confirm your identity; forbidden in.


    The tower of time was actually a rare tower of great wilderness seal, which was only accessible to disciples of Great Wilderness Sect who have cultivated Great Wilderness Sutra. As a result, Celestial Woodbuilding wasn''t accepted in.


    ''What the hell?''


    Celestial Woodbuilding hurriedly charged at the gate of the second tower of time. When he put his hand on the portal and intended to push it open, he was transfixed by the same message.


    ''Impossible! If they are towers of great wilderness seal which requires identity verification, how could one of four sage freaks enter the tower of time on the first floor easily?'' Celestial doubted as he had already checked the tower of time on the first floor, which didn''t need any identity confirmation at all.


    ''What the hell!''


    Celestial Woodbuilding was flurried inside in front of the tower of time.


    ...


    Almost at the same time, those knights who served as watchdogs outside the portals of the six full-moons gates of the first floor of Dongtian were also flurried.


    According to the information displayed on the full-moons gates, it would take the six full-moons gates at least 1 month to close when one of the two moons outside turned into crescents.


    At this moment, right in the eyes of those knights of major sects, the six full-moons gates closed up within a few seconds firmly and slowly in an irresistible way...

 1556 The Fall of a Celestial

    Watching the full-moons gates of the first floor of Dongtian closing themselves while all the patterns on the gates gradually faded away like words on paper being erased, all the knights guarding the gates widely opened their eyes.


    However, something more terrible had not happened yet.


    "Ahh, look..." a knight of Heavens Holding Pavilion suddenly shrieked as he pointed at the entrance of the first floor of Dongtian.


    The other knights nearby raised their heads as they saw that the entrance to the first floor of Dongtian gradually shrunk like shrinking intestinal tracts of an animal. The entire metal dome appeared to have become alive as the hard metal started to change its shape like a huge piece of jelly. When the dome stopped wriggling, the entrance leading to the first floor of Dongtian had disappeared as if it had never existed before.


    "Ahh, what happened?" some knights didn''t believe their eyes as they tried to strike the metal dome by their battle qis fiercely in vain.


    All the knights in the first floor of Dongtian turned pale at this moment...


    Nobody could enter this space anymore; nor could over 10,000 human knights of Taixia Country exit this space; instead, they were all isolated in the second floor of the Dongtian.


    Why?


    ...


    Those knights who were pouring in the second floor of Dongtian didn''t know that the full-moons gates and the portals accessible to the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect behind them had already closed and disappeared as they were all rushing downwards for the possible benefits.


    "Those in front of me will die..." Celestial Reflectingmoons of Qionglou Pavilion revealed a grim look like a real old witch as she roared and launched a battle qi strike towards the heavenly knight who was not backed by a major sect yet was scrambling for the totem of snakes. Only with one strike, she had already driven away some shadow knights who were also rushing towards the totem.


    Those shadow knights were all frightened by the terrifying deputy head of Qionglou Pavilion as they hurriedly dodged away; instead of confronting with her battle qi strike.


    The other knights of Demons-kill Valley were hauled by the knights of Qionglou Pavilion and Taiyi Fantasy Sect while knights of Heavens Holding Pavilion coordinated with Celestial Reflectingmoons to scramble for the treasure. All the other knights and forces were dwarfed by the combined strength of the major sects of Taixia Country. Only after a short and fierce moment, the brilliant treasure of Great Wilderness Sect in the air had been seized by the old witch of Qionglou Pavilion.


    "Quack, quack, quack, quack..." Celestial Reflectingmoons cackled in an extremely pleasant way as she held the totem of a golden snake and a silver snake.


    After seeing the treasure falling in the hand of Celestial Reflectingmoons, Celestial Swords burst into laughter as he relieved his sword qi strike and extended the distance between him and Zhang Tie. At the same time, he watched Zhang Tie with doubtful sparkling eyes, "I''ve not imagined that the world-renowned Immortal Qianji couldn''t even use your battle qi now; even your ability as a divine dominator appears to have been severely declined; you even need other''s spiritual energy. What a surprise!"


    Due to his wound, although he could cheat others verbally, as long as he joined a fight; especially with a heavenly knight, it was almost impossible for him to cheat such an experienced and cunning person. During the short period of close combat, Celestial Swords instantly discovered the problem facing Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªZhang Tie couldn''t use his protective battle qi; nor could he launch battle qi strikes. Even his ability as a divine dominator was only limited to rapid movement, which required Bai Suxian''s help. If Celestial Swords still couldn''t figure out Zhang Tie''s problem in this case, he could go die; instead of being the deputy head of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    Zhang Tie remained silent as he just smiled and watched Celestial Reflectingmoons who was cackling with that "treasure", letting out a sigh. The combined strength of the other major sects was really overwhelming on the premise that he had not fully recovered. The cooperation of the three heavenly knights could almost determine the final result of this scramble.


    At the same time, he saw Immortal Deyang rushing towards him while Bai Runshan was catching up with a shadow knight and saying something. Celestial Treasureflame and Celestial Clouddragon had also separated as they rushed down towards the towers of time together.


    Right in front of the two towers of time, Celestial Woodbuilding was still striking the entrance of one tower of time fiercely by battle qi. Although he had gained the initiative, he was still outside the gate till now.


    More and more knights were pouring into this space. A large number of black iron knights had already shot inside, who then instantly started their treasure exploration in a pretty fanatic manner.


    Immortal Deyang and Bai Runshan almost arrived at Zhang Tie''s side at the same time. Celestial Swords'' words shocked everyone in the space within 600 miles, including Immortal Deyang.


    "Are you all right?" Immortal Deyang flew towards Zhang Tie with a concerned look.


    "I''m fine. Don''t worry about me!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he knew what Celestial Reflectingmoons would like to know, "Let''s talk about it when we get out of here..."


    "Hmm!"


    Just now, Celestial Swords must have bad intention by spreading loudly Zhang Tie''s current situation. However, it was not the right moment for Zhang Tie to argue with him on this point.


    "Hahaha, like what Celestial Qianji has said, only people with great mores could occupy the treasures across the world. This treasure of Great Wilderness Sect has already got its owner. The two towers of time downside there might also not belong to you. Immortal Qianji, if you try your best to search, you might get something else here before the arrival of all of the other knights..." Celestial Swords teased Zhang Tie as he cackled on one side.


    The moment Bai Suxian wanted to refute him, she was stopped by Zhang Tie by raising his arm. At this moment, Zhang Tie was fixing his eyes on Celestial Reflectingmoons and that "treasure of Great Wilderness Sect" in her hand as he had a complex feeling inside.


    Just now, when Zhang Tie used his bolt-in-palm to hit and deflect the "treasure of Great Wilderness Sect" with the ability of divine dominator. In fact, when the bolt-in-palm almost touched the ''treasure", Zhang Tie felt it hitting onto an extremely powerful protective battle qi. Before his bolt-in-palm touched that item, that item had already flown away alongside the direction of the strength of his bolt-in-palm.


    ''How could an object have the powerful protective ability like protective battle qi?''


    Zhang Tie was shocked.


    ...


    Celestial Reflectingmoons guffawed as she held high the brilliant totem of a golden snake and a silver snake. Watching the surrounding knights who were looking at her with admiring and jealous eyes, she said in an extremely unscrupulous and cold tone, "Come over here if you want. This grandma has not seen the blood today. I''m waiting for it..."


    Nobody dared move in the surroundings.


    After looking around, Celestial Reflectingmoons became satisfied.


    Right then, Celestial Reflectingmoons received a message delivered by watchdogs of Qionglou Pavilion outside the gate of the first floor¡ª¡ªThe full-moons gates have already closed themselves; even the entrance leading to the first-floor of Dongtian on the dome had disappeared.


    ''Rubbish!''


    After being slightly stunned, Celestial Reflectingmoons swore inside. When she entered the first floor of Dongtian, she had checked the entrance on the dome, which was composed of special metal. Even sage-level knights couldn''t destroy it. How could it disappear? Does it mean that the watchdogs have been killed?


    In case of trouble, after throwing a glance at that brilliant treasure in her hand, Celestial Reflectingmoons was going to teleport it into her portable space-teleportation equipment; however, when she ran her spiritual energy, she found that that treasure remained still. Right then, she felt a sharp pain on her palm...


    The golden snake had already become alive as its mouth had already left the tail of the silver snake and was biting her right hand. Besides sharp pain, Celestial Reflectingmoons watched her right arm gradually burning into ashes from her palm to her wrist, all the way to her elbow and shoulder like burning mosquito-repellant incense...


    It was a sharp pain both physically and psychologically. Even a heavenly knight would suffer a great wallop when she saw her arm burning into ashes in the air.


    "Aah..." Celestial Reflectingmoons'' eyes almost popped out of her eyesockets as her shrieks shocked the entire space.


    All the surrounding people were stunned, more were transfixed.


    When she opened her mouth, the silver snake instantly lurked into her mouth in terms of silver light, freezing Celestial Reflectingmoons as a whole at once.


    A few seconds later, Celestial Reflectingmoons immediately turned into ashes as a whole as it spread over the sky. Like having just woken up, the golden snake and the silver snake gradually recovered their original looks. As they started to wriggle in the air, they grow increasingly larger...

 1557 The Power of the Two Snakes

    As Celestial Reflectingmoons perished, the treasure of Great Wilderness Sect instantly turned into sheer fierce beasts. The process underwent too fast.


    The face of Celestial Swords who was jeering at Zhang Tie just now had already frozen and turned pale.


    The death of a heavenly knight was enough to scare off all the onlooking knights near her, breaking their gall bladders and souls.


    What the f*ck! These people were here for the treasure. They had never imagined that such terrifying monsters were hiding here even after the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect.


    "Mamma, what are those f*cking things? Hurry, go..."


    "Devil snakes, devil snakes; those are devil snakes..."


    "Quick, run..."


    In the earth-shaking wails, all the knights nearby Celestial Reflectingmoons escaped away in all directions at their maximal speed while complaining that they were not granted with two more legs.


    Despite Celestial Reflectingmoons didn''t release her protective battle qi, she was always a heavenly knight. Now that the two snakes could perish a heavenly knight in this case, not to mention the other knights.


    Watching the two weird snakes who were gradually enlarging their sizes, Zhang Tie felt Bai Suxian''s palm full of sweat. Women were born to be afraid of snakes, not to mention such terrifying creatures who could even kill a heavenly knight.


    "What...what are they?" Bai Suxian asked Zhang Tie in quivering voice.


    "I have no idea. They should be treasures of Great Wilderness Sect. However, they''re alive instead of being dead objects. Let''s leave out of here first..." Zhang Tie answered. As he was not aware of anything at present and had not recovered his power, it was not his primary option to be showy facing such an unknown danger. Additionally, it was a member of the Imperial Alliance who was killed, Zhang Tie had been benign enough as he didn''t applaud for her death. Instead, Zhang Tie just threw a glance at Celestial Deyang before pulling Bai Suxian''s hand and flying far away, intending to leave out of here through the tunnel from where they entered here.


    ...


    Under the gaze of everyone at present, the two small snakes who were only about 1 m in length soon grew into overwhelming boas as long as 50-60 m, swimming in the air.


    In such a short period, the knights of the three major sects who surrounded the two bizarre snakes were not too far away. The fastest one was only thousands of meters away. Closely after their transformation, the two bizarre boas, one golden, the other silver, had flown towards the knights of the three major sects with red eyes.


    "Aah..."


    "Help..."


    The two boas moved much faster than ordinary knights in the air. Only after a few seconds, the two boas had already caught up with a disciple of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion respectively.


    The moment the golden boa opened its grim mouth, it had sent off a golden flame, charring a black iron knight of Taiyi Fantasy Sect hundreds of meters away at once. Similarly, when the silver boa opened its mouth, it had shot out a silver storm, turning the disciple of Heavens Holding Pavilion into shattered ice scums in a split second.


    The two weird snakes were really fierce. Despite being far away from them, Zhang Tie was still dumbfounded by them. As each of the two boas could kill a black iron knight immediately, Zhang Tie estimated that they must have already reached the power of heavenly knights.


    After killing two knights of a major sect, the golden boa coiled itself in the air, making it like a cylinder and covering one knight of Qionglou Pavilion, who was an earth knight. In panic, the earth knight exerted his all efforts to strike at the 1 m thick body of the golden boa. However, the strike of the earth knight didn''t work at all. Actually, it felt itchy and didn''t even drop a scale. As the golden boa tightened up its body, with the roars of the earth knight, his protective battle qi and whole body were broken as his blood and flesh poured down...


    At the same time, the silver boa swept its tail at a speed many times that of sound, causing a shrill air-splitting metallic sound across the Dongtian. Its strength was so enormous that the moment it touched two slower black iron knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, it had turned the two into powders in the air, who didn''t even leave any shriek.


    Watching it, all the escaping knights sped up in a flurried manner.


    "Ruinous beasts..." Celestial Swords the deputy head of Taiyi Fantasy Sect finally woke up as he roared and flashed towards the two weird boas after knowing that three of his disciples were killed.


    As a confident heavenly knight and the top figure of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Celestial Swords couldn''t shirk his responsibilities so as to maintain his reputation when he saw his disciples being slaughtered by two weird boas.


    ...


    The second floor of the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect was in complete chaos as over 10,000 knights who had not been organized flew here and there disorderly in the space.


    Pulling Bai Suxian''s hand, Zhang Tie stayed far away from the two weird boas together with Immortal Deyang. After making a detour, they converged with Bai Runshan at a place.


    At this moment, Bai Rushan was flying towards them with that barbarian shadow knight Serila, whose lips were quivering as his face turned completely pale.


    As it was not the right moment for them to greet each other, Zhang Tie instantly made a decision before Bai Runshan introduced that barbarian shadow knight to him, "Quick, follow me, we should leave out of here along the tunnel where we came from. If we continue to stay here, we might face other dangers..."


    "Just now, knights of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion who were left outside the gates of the first floor sent a message...the full-moons gates of the first floor had been closed all of a sudden!" Bai Rushan said as he looked pretty gloomy. When Zhang Tie told him that there might be dangers here just now, Bai Runshan doubted that; he had not imagined that Zhang Tie''s judgment was confirmed so fast..."

 1558 A Fatal Trap

    "What, the full-moons gate above have already closed up?" Zhang Tie was shocked inside.


    "Yes, besides the full-moons gate where we entered just now, all the other five full-moons gates have closed up. In addition, the entrance leading to the first floor of Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect has disappeared too..."


    "Aah, disappeared? But how?" Celestial Deyang almost jumped up flurriedly before Zhang Tie opened his mouth.


    In such a short period, the location over 60 miles away had been filled with golden and silver flashes. When they turned around, they saw some more disciples of the three top sects turning into ashes and ice scums in front of the two boas. Celestial Deyang''s eyebrows kept jumping.


    "They just disappeared out of the void. Knights had been dispatched to guard the entrance of the first floor of Dongtian and the full-moons gates of the first floor. Just now the two teams of knights both sent me a message that a huge area of metal ground appeared to be softened suddenly as it started to wriggle. In a few seconds, the original entrance had been inaccessible. After a few more seconds, the entrance directly disappeared..."


    "Does it mean that none of us could leave here?"


    "Unless we could break those portals; otherwise..." Bai Runshan said bitterly.


    How could those portals be easily destroyed? Otherwise, they had long entered them. Such portals were never produced in this age. Even sage-level knights could barely break them.


    After hearing such an answer, Immortal Deyang didn''t know what to say. He could only look at Zhang Tie along with all the others besides Zhang Tie.


    The moment Zhang Tie wanted to speak, he felt a bizarre wave as the All-spirits Tower in his mind sea rocked. Closely after that, Zhang Tie looked up at the six stamens in the middle of the huge lotus flower which were six tunnels from where they came in. Right then, he found the open lotus flower gradually closing up with flashing light and looming runes, covering the six tunnels at once.


    Many knights had noticed such a change. If the news that above tunnels had closed up was only known to very few people, the disappearance of the six tunnels downside there aroused a panic that instantly spread across the entire space of the second floor of the Dongtian.


    "Aah, why did these entrances suddenly close up..."


    "Can''t we leave out of here?"


    "No, I want to leave out of here..."


    Some knights close to the dome of this space noticed the chance at once as they instantly rushed over there before launching colorful battle qi strikes onto that huge lotus flower. However, what they had done was like how ants tried to shake a giant tree.


    At this moment, more knights realized that the gates of the two towers of time downside there couldn''t even be opened. Besides Celestial Swords, Celestial Clouddragon also flew over there to fight two boas.


    As heavenly knights, Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon could both strike enemies over 10,000 m away. The two weird boas couldn''t make this point; however, their defensive capability was amazing. Even though Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon both used their silver secret weapons, they couldn''t hurt the two boas at all; instead, the strikes of the two heavenly knights irritated them, causing the two boas to speed up towards them.


    In a split second, the entire space was filled with the battle qi light of heavenly knights and the flames and storms of golden and silver boas, which scared the rest of people.


    To be honest, Zhang Tie felt a family of mice drilling into the same cage at the same time. Over 10,000 knights were trapped in this cage.


    At this moment, everyone''s heart pounded out of fear; except Zhang Tie who remained calm both inside and outside.


    Such an accident was within Zhang Tie''s imagination. Because he had already felt something wrong here before he came down. If everything went normal, Zhang Tie would doubt his feeling and intelligence.


    Zhang Tie tried Castle of Black Iron at this moment as he found that he could still access to it freely. Therefore, he became much reassured and was not afraid even a bit of the two weird boas, nor the Dongtian which was full of crises; instead, he felt somewhat intimate and safe, which was resonance to the Great Wilderness Sutra that he cultivated.


    Zhang Tie''s calmness affected many people in the surroundings, which couldn''t be disguised at all; instead, it was a message released by Zhang Tie''s qi field. Watching Zhang Tie''s calm look, Bai Suxian, Immortal Deyang, Bai Runshan and that barbarian shadow knight who was flurried just now became much more reassured. Additionally, they had great confidence in Zhang Tie as they all felt that they would be safe as long as they were with Zhang Tie.


    The battle in the distance would not affect them for a short period. Neither did Zhang Tie move without a destination. No matter what, he couldn''t get out of here for the time being. Therefore, he preferred to think about the solution. After being silent for a few seconds, Zhang Tie asked Bai Runshan, "Besides the sudden closure of the six full-moons gates and the disappearance of the entrance to this Dongtian, is there any other abnormal phenomenon?"


    "Ohh, there''s one more. With the closure of the full-moons gates, those patterns of stars gradually faded away too..."


    ''The patterns on the full-moons gates disappeared? Does it mean that those patterns were not on the gates at the beginning? No wonder I found something wrong with those patterns.'' Zhang Tie realized it at once...


    "Ahh, puppet fighters..."


    All of a sudden, louder shrieks filled the space while all the reliefs on the metal walls opened their eyes as they became alive and started to attack people here.


    Like what Zhang Tie had predicted, those metal sculptures were really puppet fighters.


    At this moment, watching the disappearing tunnels, the rampant weird boas and those live puppet fighters, the other knights had long been in turmoil...


    Celestial Woodbuilding flew over here flurriedly followed by a team of knights of Jiang Clan as he shouted at Zhang Tie loudly, "It''s a trap. Only disciples of Great Wilderness Sect could access to the towers of time downside there. We couldn''t have any chance to escape away unless cooperation..."

 1559 The Chaos

    Like that on the first floor of Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, there were thousands of totems of bizarre beasts on the metal walls of the second floor of Dongtian in this floor of Dongtian, most of which could fly. Not until these totems started to move did everyone realize that they were not just useless metal sculptures; they were also terrifying puppet fighters in the shape of various fierce beasts that none of people could have imagined.


    At this moment, the walls were simply like dens from where puppet beast-shaped fighters flapped their wings and constantly charged out before fighting those human knights who were bumping around aimlessly, causing casualties among humans at once.


    All the puppet beasts were close to black iron human knights in battle strength. Besides enormous in quantity, they almost remained alive forever. Even if they were shattered, for the time being, their broken metal pieces would also converge and recover their original complete forms in a split second before continuing their fight with human knights. Such a scene was as same as that Zhang Tie encountered in the lobby of puppets in the bloody sacrifice hieron.


    However, what the puppet lobby that he saw before to this scene was what a guerrilla to a corps.


    In a split second, the space of the second floor of Dongtian covering hundreds of thousands of square miles had been filled with roars, miserable shrieks, exclamations of human knights and the sonic booms caused by beast-shaped puppet fighters as well as various metallic growls and colorful battle qis. When all these were interwoven with each other, it was as earth-shaking as the battlefield at Weishui River between humans and demons.


    As puppet beasts couldn''t release battle qi; therefore, they could only carry out close combat. Although human knights could release battle qis and realize distance strike, most of them couldn''t fight incessantly. Whereas, puppet beasts could realize endless fight in their territory once they were triggered.


    Especially at this moment when they found their route of the retreat was cut off and they were enclosed in this space, all the knights became flurried as they didn''t mean to fight at all. Even though they outnumbered puppet beasts, most of the human knights were in small teams and couldn''t coordinate with each other in such a short period. In this case, they could only barely draw a tie with puppet beasts. In addition, their space was constantly narrowed by puppet beasts. When puppet beasts were shattered one after another, some low-rank black iron knights were also torn into pieces.


    After being shattered, puppet beasts could still recover their original looks; however, dead human knights couldn''t revive.


    In the distance, Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon were still fighting fiercely the two boas. Even though they felt having vantage points in battle strength as heavenly knights, they couldn''t hurt the two boas substantially as the latter appeared being resistant to all strikes even from heavenly knights; instead, they could only cause them to fly away or stagnate their movements. The two boas'' battle strength was too terrifying that any one of them would far surpass shadow knights.


    Watching the result of the fight between the two heavenly knights and the two boas, all the others stayed far away in fear of being involved in it.


    Conversely, more and more knights gathered around Zhang Tie.


    With the help of Celestial Woodbuilding, Bai Runshan and that barbarian shadow knight Serila, Zhang Tie''s combination could easily shatter all the puppet beasts that approached them.


    Watching their excellent performance, all the other aimless knights instinctively approached Zhang Tie''s group.


    Zhang Tie''s reputation, personality and moral standing automatically attracted the surrounding knights like a piece of magnet in this case.


    Although Celestial Swords revealed Zhang Tie''s "secret" in the public out of malicious intention¡ª¡ªZhang Tie had almost lost his battle strenghth, his words had long been forgotten by those knights on Zhang Tie''s side when they saw Zhang Tie''s valiant performance.


    Zhang Tie''s performance was so valiant that he was simply more reassuring than the two heavenly knights. As light appeared in Zhang Tie''s hand constantly, Zhang Tie released spears one after another like lightning bolts, shattering all the grim puppet fighters within 10,000 m who were rushing over here in a split second as if they were toys. None of the puppet beasts could resist Zhang Tie''s strike. Of course, such a scene strengthened the courage and confidence of those human knights. A great number of knights were constantly gathering around Zhang Tie for the sake of protection.


    Watching a pterosaur-shaped metal bird flashing over here from over 7,000 m away who was going to break through a black iron knight''s back using its meters long sharp peak, Zhang Tie squinted his eyes as a spear appeared in his hand before shooting it out.


    After detouring some human knights like a lightning bolt by drawing some arcs in the air, the spear penetrated through that puppet bird before it was about to peck through the knight''s back, shattering it into pieces before falling off with a boom.


    The black iron knight who survived such a sneak attack realized that he was saved by Zhang Tie. After throwing an appreciative glance at Zhang Tie, he instantly flew towards the latter.


    Zhang Tie launched another strike as another lightning bolt flew off and shot into the big mouth of a flying snake over thousands of meters away. With a loud boom, the snake collapsed into pieces and fell off too...


    "Quick, quick, gather around Immortal Qianji..." those knights near the dead snake exclaimed as they rushed to Zhang Tie''s side...

 1560 Troublemakers

    Unlike regular human knights, puppet fighters didn''t have protective battle qi. Because of this difference, those puppet fighters became standard targets of Zhang Tie, whose body could be easily penetrated through by Zhang Tie''s spears.


    Based on Zhang Tie''s terrifying strength, even though he didn''t use his ability as a divine dominator, he could easily kill those puppet fighters although he might not kill black iron knights who could release protective battle qi by spear.


    Therefore, spears flashed out of Zhang Tie''s hand one after another; after being granted with dexterity and spirituality like birds and Zhang Tie''s terrifying strength, they turned into lightning bolts and displayed horrible destructive ability within thousands of meters.


    The spears that Zhang Tie threw out were not golden spears, but those alloy spears which were stored in Castle of Black Iron. Each alloy spear weighed 360 kg, which was lighter than a golden spear, yet was heavier than ordinary bolt-in-palm. So was its destructive power between that of the other two. Over these years, Edward who had made over 10,000 alloy spears for Zhang Tie besides making golden spears so as to kill time in Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie''s spear could realize distance strike while Celestial Woodbuilding and some shadow knights could easily clean up the puppet fighters within 1,000 m. Bai Suxian and Immortal Deyang stayed on Zhang Tie''s side like his guards. As a result, Zhang Tie''s group occupied a relatively safer place.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s valiant performance, almost no knight believed that Zhang Tie had lost his battle strength while a big array of people poured towards Zhang Tie. In 3-in-1 battle formation in various scales, they gradually stabilized the situation while fighting those puppet fighters.


    Not only that, even those knights of top sects unconsciously approached Zhang Tie. If not joined hands with the others, the knights of top sects might be isolated and precise targets of those puppet fighters, who could never defend the endless strike of the latter.


    Celestial Treasureflame also rushed over Zhang Tie with the disciples of Demons-kill Valley as they formed a battle formation facing the endless strike of puppet fighters.


    "Immortal, may I know your countermeasure? If we continued like this, our knights would be exhausted sooner or later. By then, the entire army of us would perish..."


    After punching a flying dragon over 1,000 m away into pieces, Immortal Treasureflame turned fiery all over and flew towards Zhang Tie before asking Zhang Tie about his plan.


    In this case, even Immortal Treasureflame possessed great anticipation for the reputation of Immortal Qianji.


    Among the top sects, besides Heavens Fortune Sect, only Celestial Treasureflame faintly understood that Zhang Tie was a bit worried about the safety here before coming down. That also explained why none of the members of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion came down except Bai Runshan and Bai Suixian.


    Even Celestial Treasureflame previously had to admire Heavens Fortune Sect. Heavens Fortune Sect might have already forecasted something. Therefore, they only dispatched a grand elder here, who even closely followed Zhang Tie so as to reduce loss. When Celestial Reflectingmoons was exterminated, Celestial Treasureflame remembered that Immortal Deyang didn''t scramble for the treasure first; instead of converging with Zhang Tie. What a great Heavens Fortune Sect!


    "We''re dishes on the kneading board. Celestial, watch out yourself. Calm down; let''s stabilize the situation first..." Zhang Tie told Celestial Treasureflame secretly as he threw out another spear, shattering a puppet fighter over 5,000 m away.


    Celestial Treasureflame was really shocked by Zhang Tie''s words, which revealed too much information. It appeared that Zhang Tie had already discovered and confirmed something.


    Zhang Tie indeed had already discovered something. When he shattered those puppet fighters one after another which then recovered, his All-spirits Tower had already sensed the faint waves over those puppet fighters, which came from the secret method of "controlling" in Great Wilderness Sutra. Being mysterious and weak, the electric wave-like qi filled the entire Dongtian. If not Zhang Tie had reached a high realm of Great Wilderness Sutra, he couldn''t sense it at all. Additionally, the qi must be many levels higher than that of Zhang Tie concerning the secret methods of Great Wilderness Sutra. Thus, Zhang Tie was not sure where the mysterious qi came from.


    Combining with the abnormalities in the former floor and the new situations in this floor, Zhang Tie had already got a conclusion. However, as it was too terrifying, Zhang Tie could barely accept it for the time being. Meanwhile, he was racking his mind, thinking about the countermeasures.


    "The two monsters are too powerful; Celestial Woodbuilding, Celestial Treasureflame and Immortal Qianji, please come over here to defend them with us together..."


    As Celestial Clouddragon said, he was flying rapidly towards Zhang Tie''s group with Celestial Swords, closely followed by the two boas.


    "Shameless..." Bai Suxian couldn''t stand swearing on Zhang Tie''s side when she saw Celestial Clouddragon and Celestial Swords coming over with the great trouble.


    When the three top sects scrambled for the treasure, they were so scrupulous as they wanted to occupy the treasure of Great Wilderness Sect alone; when they found it was fatal, in fear that Celestial Woodbuilding, Celestial Treasureflame and Zhang Tie got the benefits after they and the two boas were both hurt, Celestial Clouddragon and Celestial Swords directly came over here to have more people share burdens with them...


    Zhang Tie turned around as he looked into Celestial Swords''s vicious and weird eyes despite the distance...

 1561 Zhang Ties Choice

    &lt;p&gt;It was hard to say when a divine dominator who had lost his battle strength fought two bizarre boas who could match heavenly knights. During the fight, if anyone else screwed him, it was not impossible for him to fall.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even though the two heavenly knights who came over here with such great trouble didn''t fully target at Zhang Tie, as long as over 10,000 ordinary knights on Zhang Tie''s side were involved in such a fight, they would suffer a great loss for sure. Those knights of top sects could form tacit and coordinated battle formations which could never be matched by those ordinary knights who were not backed by top sects. If the two boas rushed into their camp, knights of top sects might escape easily; however, the reminders might be in a miserable situation. Similarly, when some ordinary people were chased by two tigers; they didn''t need to run faster than tigers; instead, they only needed to run faster than their partners.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;That might be how Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon thought about. As long as the two people didn''t face the two boas alone, they thought the situation facing them would be better more or less even though many people were killed. It would be better if they could have Zhang Tie killed by the two boas in the chaos.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Zhang Tie didn''t regard himself as a very noble person. However, he still had bottom lines in many aspects. Although being erotic, he didn''t force women to make love with him. He would never bully the weak. Although he loved money, he didn''t take dirty money. Although he was not broad-minded, he was never narrow-minded. Although he was concerned about his family, he didn''t mean to hurt anyone for his family. In many cases, he would think carefully before saving people like how he did at Weishui River. He would never rush forward at the cost of his life.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Take this moment as an instance, Zhang Tie was not great enough to sacrifice himself for these strange people. However, at least Zhang Tie would give them a favor within his ability in case of more casualties. Neither would Zhang Tie sacrifice these people for himself. No matter what, these people were all human knights, the elites among humans and the source of the confidence of humans against demons. They were here just for treasure, despite a few of them were very vicious and cunning.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;However, in the eyes of Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon, these human knights of Taixia Country even Zhang Tie could die at any time; they would instantly do it if they could kill Zhang Tie here. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As powers, they were arrogant, grim and self-important.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Watching Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon flying towards him, a killing intent rose in Zhang Tie''s heart.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Only after a short while, Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon had already arrived there and converged with the knights of their own sects, closely followed by the two boas. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Many knights on Zhang Tie''s side started to exclaim when the two boas approached them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Boas, the boas are coming..."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Quick, run..."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Facing the two boas, the knights who had just formed battle formations hurriedly evaded. As a result, the battle formations constantly collapsed. Besides heavenly knights, who dared challenge the two terrifying boas.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Watching the two boas approaching them, which would cause great casualties right away, Bai Suxian couldn''t stand asking Zhang Tie, "What should we do?"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After throwing out another spear and shattering a puppet fighter in the distance, Zhang Tie immediately made his decision.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Do you believe in me?" Zhang Tie asked.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bai Suxian nodded forcefully.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pulling her hand, Zhang Tie directly rushed towards the two boas.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Watching Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian flying out of the great battle formation towards the two boas, everybody was stunned as they wondered what Zhang Tie was about to do.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Facing the two destructive boas which could match heavenly knights, Bai Suxian constantly injected spiritual energy into Zhang Tie''s body as she forcefully held his hand without any panic.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this case, Bai Suxian completely handed her life to Zhang Tie without demur.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Zhang Tie then stopped on an eye-catching location. Watching the two destructive boas, he opened his mouth using his spiritual energy as his words spread across the entire space with rumbles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Forebears of Great Wilderness Sect, please receive my bow!" Zhang Tie said as he bowed towards the void.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the knights who were fighting puppet beasts and were preparing to fight the two boas were transfixed. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;¡ª¡ªWhat is Immortal Qianji doing? Is he making a performance or having a dream? Is there anyone alive of Great Wilderness Sect? Perhaps, he mistook the two boas as the forebears of Great Wilderness Sect? That''s too ridiculous!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The same thought flashed by many people''s mind as they saw Zhang Tie bowing towards the void.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;However, Zhang Tie just looked around with brilliant eyes as if he had not seen the two destructive boas. Chesting out, he said loudly, "Most of the knights are only for the treasures and secret books of Great Wilderness Sect, we never mean to offend Great Wilderness Sect. Because Great Wilderness Sect was thought to have been exterminated many years ago, we don''t believe that there''s any alive disciple of this sect; therefore, many knights think the items here have no owner. As it''s in the holy war, demons are killing living beings outside, forebear, please forgive us and don''t kill us; please leave some aura for Taixia Country and humans!"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After Zhang Tie finished his words, the two destructive boas had already approached him as they widely opened their bloody mouths, changing the faces of Bai Runshan and Immortal Deyang immediately as they exclaimed in unison, "Watch out..."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Clenching Zhang Tie''s hand, Bai Suxian''s palm had been sweaty. Facing the hollow destructive mouths, Bai Suxian was so scared that she directly closed her eyes. However, Zhang Tie still watched the two boas calmly without a blink. He didn''t even mean to dodge. In a split second, the two boas had come to Zhang Tie''s front as their piercing destructive qis almost touched Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;¡¡¡¡&lt;/p&gt;

 1562 The Sage-level Knight of Great Wilderness Sec

    &lt;p&gt;Watching the two destructive boas approaching them with huge, grim mouths, not only Bai Suxian, even those people in the distance oozed sweat for Zhang Tie. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;However, Zhang Tie just watched the two destructive boas calmly with a faint smile while remaining still.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;When the two destructive boas were a few meters away from Zhang Tie, their mouths suddenly closed as they rushed over Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian by the corners of their garments, causing Bai Suxian''s longuette to fly in the air. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After rushing over Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian, the two destructive boas turned around and flew back; instead of attacking Zhang Tie again, they started to circle around Zhang Tie. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At the same time, thousands of puppet beasts who were fighting those human knights also stopped their attack; instead, they just circled around those human knights, leaving the space, which was filled with a myriad of battle qis, calm in a split second. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Everybody became stunned.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Alas...", a distant sigh suddenly appeared on the second floor of Dongtian, which, although being not loud, was very clear in each human knight''s ears. Ordinary knights were confused while those heavenly knights at present changed their face greatly. As heavenly knights, they could directly sense the strength carried by this sigh.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this sigh, a figure as fantastic as one under painters'' brush and as visional as one in dream gradually showed up near the dome above their heads.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Given the stranger''s look, he was almost at his 30''s or 40''s; however, his hair had turned fully white. Additionally, he smelt pretty old. He was looking downwards at all the human knights at present without any mercy in eyes; instead, only cold flames were jumping in his eyes. As for Zhang Tie, his qi was pretty strong, which was at least much stronger than that of King Abyss and Zuoqiu Mingyue. The moment he appeared, his qi had filled the entire space which was as brilliant and forbidding as a hot sun in the dark.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Undoubtedly, this person was a powerful sage-level knight. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The moment he showed up, the two destructive boas who fought heavenly knights just now had flown towards him. Only by moving one step, he had disappeared from where he stood and came to the head of the golden boa as if space didn''t exist for him at all. Circling around by the silver boa, he was like a deity descending there while his strong qi field made the entire space quiet. Everyone in the space including Zhang Tie fixated onto the stranger. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"I''ve not imagined that someone among you could still discover me and call me forebear even after the Great Wilderness Sect had been exterminated for so many years!" Standing on the head of the golden boa, the stranger threw a glance at Zhang Tie. The moment Zhang Tie looked straight into his eyes, Zhang Tie had felt the All-spirits Tower in his mind jumping suddenly. With a humming sound in his mind sea, Zhang Tie felt his head numb while the body of the All-spirits Tower below 16 floors was giving out light and many great wilderness seals were rotating rapidly in the tower. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;''F*ck!''&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Zhang Tie swore inside as he immediately realized that it was a resonance brought by the same secret method. The sudden change of Zhang Tie''s All-spirits Tower reminded Zhang Tie that the secret that he was cultivating Great Wilderness Sutra had known by that person. Additionally, that person must have reached several levels higher than Zhang Tie on &lt;em&gt;Great Wilderness Sutra&lt;/em&gt;. He might have already reached above the 20th floor. Otherwise, Zhang Tie couldn''t sense such great tension.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;When Zhang Tie was concerned that the person would expose this secret to the public, that person shortly squinted his eyes before recovering to normal. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"As you''ve called me forebear, you and your company could leave here safely. I won''t make you embarrassed..." that person told Zhang Tie as his voice reverberated around the space.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Thanks, forebear!" Zhang Tie let out a sigh as he said, cupping his hands towards the stranger. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After hearing the stranger''s promise, Bai Suxian on Zhang Tie''s side, Immortal Deyang in the distance and Bai Runshan let out a sigh immediately. Although they didn''t know how Zhang Tie discovered this sage-level knight, it was absolutely a good piece of news that they didn''t have to fight an unpredictable sage-level knight in such a perilous environment.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After Zhang Tie''s group received the good news, someone else had to face their nightmare. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"As for you..." that person threw a glance at those knights of Taiyi Fatasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion as he pointed at Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon, adding, "have to die..."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After hearing his words, Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon changed their faces at once while all the knights nearby the groups of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion escaped away like avoiding from sheer terror in fear of being involved. In a split second, the two groups of knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion were isolated as they stood alone in the air.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Who are you? How dare you be so presumptuous in front of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion? Is everything here your trap?" Celestial Swords asked loudly. With the background of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Celestial Swords was not afraid of even a sage-level knight at this moment, "The two bizarre boas have already killed many disciples of our sects, you have to give us an explanation!"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Explanation?" that person burst into sheer, miserable and grim laughters after throwing a glance at Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon, replying, "If I have to give you an explanation after killing some of your disciples, why didn''t you give us an explanation when you joined hands to exterminate Great Wilderness Sect by killing numerous elders and disciples of us, causing their blood flow into river?"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"What are you talking about? Don''t frame us!" Celestial Clouddragon urged loudly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"I''m framing you?" that person watched Celestial Clouddragon as he continued, "That night, you two were just shadow knights in black clothes and masks. Although I couldn''t recognize your look, I bear in mind the features of your battle qi. The moment you launched a strike, I''ve already recognized you..." that person said as he suddenly revealed an extremely icy smile, "I know that you want the &lt;em&gt;Great Wilderness Sutra&lt;/em&gt;; however, you might have not realized that I especially prepared this trap for you. Over these years, I knew as long as there was any news about Great Wilderness Sulra, those who exterminated Great Wilderness Sect and didn''t get Great Wilderness Sutra must rush over there. Now, look, you''ve all been here. Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Sect; very good, very good..."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After hearing his words, all the knights around became astir and ablare. The case of the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect shocked the entire country of Taixia Country then and had become one of the largest pending criminal cases in Taixia Country over the past 100 years. None of the knights here could imagine that this pending criminal case could be completely exposed to the public today. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Great Wilderness Sect has already perished for dozens of years. At that time, all the members of Great Wilderness Sect had been killed. Why do you disguise as a reminder of Great Wilderness Sect to frame Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion?" Celestial Swords refuted as he didn''t admit any relevance between Great Wilderness Sect and Taiyi Fantasy Sect. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"On the evening when Great Wilderness Sect was exterminated, I had just mastered the incarnation skill and was cultivating in a hidden place as a lark. I was fully immersed in it. Therefore, I forgot to attend the conference. When you were executing a holocaust, I could only watch aside helplessly. It''s too late for you to make any explanation today..." that person said as he jeered at Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon, "Are you contacting the sage-level knights in your sects and urging them to come here as fast as possible? It''s useless even if they could arrive here in a short period. This Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect was a far-ancient treasure whose portals could be barely broken from outside once being closed. I will take some interests today, using your lives to console the spirits of the later members of Great Wilderness Sect..." &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After finishing his words, that person immediately charged at Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;When that person charged at them, a green light beam extended behind him. After rushing into the sky, the light beam extended over 60 miles in the sky like a heavenly curtain. Closely after that, it fell off like a huge pot upside down. In the blink of an eye, it had fully covered Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Sage-level knight realm..." Immortal Deyang who had already come to Zhang Tie''s side exclaimed while the other onlooking knights were scared so much that they all escaped away as far as possible like ducks being driven away. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Celestial Treasureflame and Celestial Woodbuilding had already come to Zhang Tie''s side as they found all the knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion were covered by that realm. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"What should we do now?" Celestial Woodbuilding asked Zhang Tie and Celestial Treasureflame secretly, "We''re not sure whether that person is our friend or not. Would he be..."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Zhang Tie knew what Celestial Woodbuilding was about to say. Therefore, he interrupted him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Celestial, have you seen the two flying boas outside the realm? Even if you two rush over there, which do you want, having a fight with the two snakes or being involved yourselves in that sage-level knight''s realm..." Zhang Tie let out a sigh as he shook his head, "This is the vendetta between Great Wilderness Sect and them. Do you want to be involved..."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Celestial Treasureflame and Celestial Woodbuilding remained silent.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Watching Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon being covered in the realm, although it was not right for him to delight in the misfortunes of them, Zhang Tie still wanted to guffaw. This time, if that person didn''t mean to fight them, Zhang Tie wouldn''t let them survive here either. The current situation was the best for Zhang Tie...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As the old Hua saying went, anyone entering the secular world had to pay it back sooner or later. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The others might not know what was happening in the realm; however, Zhang Tie squinted his eyes with looming lotus flowers inside, reflecting everything in the realm onto his eyes. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Being in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, the realm of the sage-level knight was full of green mountains. All the knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion were surrounded by the magnificent mountains. Unknowingly, all the people inside the realm appeared to have lost their flight ability including the two heavenly knights while various fierce beasts were pouring towards them. In a split second, all the knights below two heavenly knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion had been surrounded while the realm was full of flying blood and flesh. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had seen Celestial Clouddragon''s virtual image clouddragon struggling to fly off. However, before it flew off, the dragon in the cloud had been seized by a 1,000 m high giant ape before being torn into pieces. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As the virtual image collapsed, Celestial Clouddragon had already broken one hand as he was spurting blood all over. Before he shrieked miserably, he had been stomped onto the ground by the giant ape. With an earthquake, Celestial Clouddragon''s fat body directly exploded into a blood mist and flesh like a balloon being popped...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;''Motherf*cker; that''s too violent and bloody!''&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The massacre in the realm of the sage-level knight was too shocking that even heavenly knights were like clay chickens and pottery dogs. Being utterly different than the Han Zhengfang''s fight in the semi-sage realm of Meng Shidao that Zhang Tie saw in Xuanyuan Hill, this fight was totally one-sided. As a result, Zhang Tie couldn''t help swallowing his saliva forcefully.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Why are you here?"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hearing Bai Suxian''s hostile cold harrumph, Zhang Tie saw Fang Xinyi flying over here with a miserably pale look.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"You owe me. I met you in Xuanyuan Hill when the turmoil broke out. I''m sure that Han Zhengfang and his two sons were killed by you. Don''t deny it. I didn''t mention it to anyone else, even my master. Therefore, you have to take me away today..." Fang Xinyi directly told Zhang Tie, neglecting Bai Suixian. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;''What a motherf*cking debt!''&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;''But this woman is really something.''&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Zhang Tie watched Fang Xinyi calmly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"I''m Lord Guangnan''s woman. If I died here or was humiliated, would Lord Guangnan''s Mansion feel glorious?" Fang Xinyi opened her mouth as she told Bai Runshan and Bai Suxian, which forced Bai Suxian, who was going to say something, to close her mouth. As a result, Bai Suxian could only throw a glare at Fang Xinyi; Bai Runshan threw a glance at Zhang Tie as if he didn''t want Fang Xinyi to die here either.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The current situation here was too perilous. If Fang Xinyi mingled with the other members of Qionglou Pavilion, it was hard to say whether she could leave out of here alive.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"From now on, don''t talk or move on my side. If you dare stir up trouble for me, I don''t care who''s your husband as this father will rape before killing you..." Zhang Tie threw a glare at Fang Xinyi as he warned her.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fang Xinyi nodded as she stood still not far away from Zhang Tie quietly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Zhang Tie then fixated onto the realm of the sage-level knight again.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Only after such a short while, there were less than 5 people alive in the sage-level knight''s realm...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"I don''t care whether you believe me or not, but Lord Guangnan has never slept with me at all. I''m just executing my task on his side..." Fang Xinyi''s voice entered Zhang Tie''s ears, causing Zhang Tie''s heart to race. Zhang Tie then turned around and threw a glance at her. Fang Xinyi also looked straight in his eyes. Closely after that, they moved their eyes away at the same time...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;''What does she mean?''&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;¡¡¡¡&lt;/p&gt;

 1563 Karma

    Only after a few minutes, when the green light curtain dispersed in front of them, Celestial Clouddragon the deputy head of Heavens Holding Pavilion, Celestial Swords the deputy head of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and hundreds of knights who followed them here including some shadow knights had perished...


    In this case, everybody else had long forgotten about exploring for treasures; instead, they were just thinking about how to survive themselves.


    Everyone knew that they had got big trouble this time. Over hundreds of years, top sects like Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion had never suffered such a great loss. When Alchemist Devil Zhaoyuan who was renowned in the world swept over Mojiang City in Songzhou Province, Taiyi Fantasy Sect only lost one heavenly knight-level deputy head while Heavens Holding Pavilion only lost one junior head and five more ordinary knights.


    By contrast, this time, excluding the late Celestial Reflectingmoons of Qionglou Pavilion, Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion lost over 100 knights respectively, including heavenly knights, shadow knights, earth knights and black iron knights. Despite being members of top six sects, Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion still suffered a great loss this time. From then on, the two top sects would never stop until they killed that culprit.


    Zhang Tie had just witnessed the entire process of the extermination of the bands of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion. After the death of Celestial Clouddragon, Celestial Swords was almost dismembered by that giant ape by holding his limbs. Watching this scene, Zhang Tie could only let out a sigh inside.


    That was how karma went. No matter how Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon refuted, Zhang Tie knew that the two people deserved their death. They had never imagined that someone could survive that extermination facing Great Wilderness Sect and promote to a sage-level knight. The discovery of this Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect was totally a trap preset by him.


    The power of the two bands was definitely great if they could join the battle at Weishui River as they could save a lot of people there. They could even enjoy a great honor after death. By contrast, they were all dead here silently like stray dogs with neither dignity nor benefit. Besides being used as the materials for people''s topics, they were totally valueless. What a pity!


    After killing so many people of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion in his sage-level knight''s realm, that person stood in the air still, looking up at the depth of the dome as if he was recalling something or thinking about something. He looked lonely and experienced while the two destructive snakes were circling around him.


    Almost all the people alive in the Dongtian were holding their breath as they widely opened their eyes, heart racing and feeling thirsty.


    Right then, a voice appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind sea through his All-spirits Tower.


    "Where did you learn Great Wilderness Sutra from?"


    It was the voice of that sage-level knight of Great Wilderness Sect.


    This was a secret technique for people who cultivated Great Wilderness Sutra to pass the message. Through this method, people who had formed All-spirits Tower in their mind sea could communicate with each other within a certain distance. It was more secret and safer than transmitting voice through battle qi. Since Zhang Tie started to cultivate Great Wilderness Sutra, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to sense this secret technique. Previously, it was impossible for Zhang Tie to communicate with people using this secret technique even if he wanted to.


    "Previously, I was hunted by people in Ice and Snow Wilderness in the north of Waii Subcontinent and entered a deep valley. Fortunately, I got Great Wilderness Sutra in that deep valley. I even saw the skeleton of forebear Cloudcrane and his letter..." Zhang Tie answered honestly as he passed the message through All-spirits Tower.


    "Cloudcrane...Cloudcrane didn''t die either?"


    That person exclaimed out of a bit excitement as his voice entered Zhang Tie''s mind sea.


    "Yes, Forebear Cloudcrane didn''t die at that time. He just escaped to the wilderness with Great Wilderness Sutra. He found a den of mutated rats in that valley and wanted to cultivate them so that they could be used to restore Great Wilderness Sect. Pitifully, he failed until death!"


    "Who else have you imparted the Great Wilderness Sutra to besides you?"


    "Nobody else. In his letter, Cloudcrane mentioned the event of the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect; he also told me to not leak the Great Wilderness Sutra unless necessary; otherwise, it would bring me great unknown troubles. Therefore, I didn''t impart Great Wilderness Sutra to anyone else these years. Even those on my side don''t know that I''m cultivating it..."


    "Have you thought about restoring Great Wilderness Sect?"


    "I did before. However, as you have killed the deputy heads and so many knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion, you''ve already offended them. Unless that you could clean up the top sects of Taixia Country, it''s no different than further offending them and seeking for death if anyone wants to restore Great Wilderness Sect at this moment. I still want to live a few more years. Therefore, I''ve abstained the thought of restoring Great Wilderness Sect. Additionally, I''m already the head of Iron-Dragon Sect in Youzhou Province. There''re a lot of affairs to be solved by me across Iron-Dragon Sect. I can''t restore Great Wilderness Sect alone..."


    Zhang Tie put it frankly.


    "It''s reasonable for you to think so. However, I''m afraid that some things don''t depend on you!"


    "What do you mean, forebear?"


    "As you cultivate Great Wilderness Sutra, you should belong to Great Wilderness Sect. As only you and I in this world have mastered Great Wilderness Sutra, according to the rule of Great Wilderness Sect, the one who had Great Wilderness Sutra have to shoulder the responsibility for the rejuvenation of Great Wilderness Sect. As you''re already the head of Great Wilderness Sect, don''t you dare think about not restoring Great Wilderness Sect!"


    After hearing the words, Zhang Tie swore inside frenziedly.


    "If so, could I give Great Wilderness Sutra back to you? I don''t want it!"


    "Yes, you could; but if I become the head of Great Wilderness Sect, as you''ve cultivated Great Wilderness Sutra and are already a knight, you should be the elder of Great Wilderness Sect and follow my order!"


    ''What the f*ck!'' Zhang Tie goggled. Although he sighed about the karma facing Celestial Swords and Celestial Clouddragon, now he got his own...


    Those in the secular world should pay it back sooner or later...

 1564 The New Head of Great Wilderness Sec

    Zhang Tie felt like being drawn into a pyramid selling organization as he could only bear his dissatisfaction...


    "Forebear, you mean I''m already a member of Great Wilderness Sect whatever!"


    "Since you started to cultivate Great Wilderness Sutra, the relationship between you and Great Wilderness Sect had been fixed. Therefore, you only have two choices, to be the head of Great Wilderness Sect or be an elder of Great Wilderness Sect. No matter which title you choose, you have to contribute to the rejuvenation of Great Wilderness Sect..."


    "What If I don''t like it?"


    That voice sounded like a pure threat, "If so, I will tell everyone at present that you''ve cultivated Great Wilderness Sutra, which is right with you!"


    "If I wish to be the head of Great Wilderness Sect, will you be the elder of Great Wilderness Sect?"


    "Yes, if you''re the head of Great Wilderness Sect, of course, I will be the grand elder of Great Wilderness Sect!"


    "Does it mean that you have to follow my order?"


    "It is if you could prove that you''re greater than me in battle strength!"


    "If so, what''s the significance of the title head of Great Wilderness Sect?"


    "As the head of Great Wilderness Sect, you could determine everything about Great Wilderness Sect. You could decide the method and the time of restoration. Additionally, I could negotiate with you about anything concerning Great Wilderness Sect; but it depends on you!"


    Zhang Tie understood that the opponent had determined to have him join Great Wilderness Sect; if Zhang Tie disagreed, the relationship between him and Great Wilderness Sect would be fixed too because this sage-level knight would expose this secret to the public. Therefore, Zhang Tie only had one choice, to shoulder the heavy responsibility of restoring Great Wilderness Sect voluntarily or to be forced to shoulder this heavy responsibility by that old b*stard. As for the prior choice, he still had the freedom to a certain degree; as for the latter choice, he would completely lose his freedom.


    When Zhang Tie was thinking about it, that person''s words made Zhang Tie''s heart pound completely.


    "If you could be the head of Great Wilderness Sect, I could hand all the resources in this Dongtian to you. As you''ve already formed All-spirits Tower, you should know that the pattern of this Dongtian is as same as that of All-spirits Tower. All-spirits Tower has 21 floors. By contrast, this Dongtian has 7 floors, which respectively represented the top 7 floors of All-spirits Tower. There''re totally 28 towers of time in this Dongtian. The entire Dongtian was a top treasure that was created in Far-ancient times. It has a myriad of marvelous functions. Although I''ve not entered the Dongtian of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion and don''t know the difference between ours and theirs, I''m sure that the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect could definitely match that of any existing top sect. Additionally, this Dongitan is definitely safer than any other Dongtian..."


    "28 towers of time?"


    Although Zhang Tie had long heard about the legends concerning towers of time of Great Wilderness Sect, Zhang Tie was still startled by the number of towers of time in it. ''Motherf*cking 28 towers of time! That''s too crazy! I''m longing for towers of time so that all the people on my side could improve their battle strength as fast as possible. Here they are! 28! It''s so considerate!''


    By then, Zhang Tie started to doubt that he was destined to be involved with Great Wilderness Sect; he didn''t believe that it was so accidental.


    "Right! 1 tower of time on the first floor, 2 on the second floor, 3 on the third floor and so on. Everything in this Dongtian is under control. Even if this Dongtian was exposed, sage-level knights could barely break inside..."


    ''If I abandon such great resources, I would definitely be an idiot. Additionally, as I''ve long been intolerant about Imperial Alliance; if I didn''t become the head of Great Wilderness Sect, I would turn hostile against them sooner or later. If I became the head of Great Wilderness Sect, besides various rich resources, I would also gain a lot of benefits at present. Why not?''


    What was more, Zhang Tie was confident that the sage-level knight couldn''t do harm to him. Even if he became the new head of Great Wilderness Sect, as long as he recovered his battle strength and promoted to a heavenly knight, he would probably surpass this sage-level knight in power. By then, everything of Great Wilderness Sect would be determined by Zhang Tie substantially. Nothing to worry about. By then, even if Zhang Tie told the people of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion that he had Great Wilderness Sutra, dared they grab it from him or frame him?


    After having all situations in consideration, Zhang Tie made a decision right away, "Sure, I will be the head of Great Wilderness Sect. However, how do you plan to deal with the current situation? Don''t you want to kill all of them! If so, you would offend too many forces. Later on, all the knights in the world would be the enemies of Great Wilderness Sect. By then, Great Wilderness Sect would really become mice crossing the streets like demons and Heavens Reaching Church and could barely realize its restoration..."


    "As you''re the head of Great Wilderness Sect, you could determine everything concerning our sect. What should we do now?"


    As a light flashed by his mind, Zhang Tie instantly got an opinion.


    "How about this? Let''s make a performance here..." Zhang Tie expressed his thought¡ª¡ªwhat should you do and what should I do, then...


    "Great, that''s the deal!" The moment Zhang Tie finished his words, that man had agreed before letting out a sigh, "If the former head of Great Wilderness Sect could be so smart, how could our sect deteriorate to such a miserable situation. It seems that you''re the proper one to take the throne of Great Wilderness Sect..."


    "Haha, thank you, forebear. Ohh, I should call you elder. May I know your name..."


    "I am surnamed Xi, literally Yun Zhongzi. You could call me Elder Xi!"


    As Zhang Tie and Elder Xi were communicating with each other through All-spirits Tower, the entire process was unknown to the public. Even though Celestial Treasureflame and Celestial Woodbuilding on Zhang Tie''s side had not discovered any abnormality about Zhang Tie; nor did spiritual wave exist in the surroundings. Additionally, the entire process of communication was short. Being face-to-face communication between knight consciousnesses, it was one hundred times faster than that of verbal talk. They could actually exchange much information within one second. Therefore, the entire process only cost them 5-6 seconds despite rich and decisive contents.


    The others in the Dongtian might not imagine that Zhang Tie had already become the new head of Great Wilderness Sect after the sage-level knight of Great Wilderness Sect killed Celestial Clouddragon the deputy head of Heavens Holding Pavilion and Celestial Swords the deputy head of Taiyi Fantasy Sect for a few seconds.

 1565 A Super Wonderful Performance

    During this short period, everybody in the Dongtian was still immersed in the shock caused by the death of two heavenly knights as they dared not even breathe smoothly. However, as Yun Zhongzi opened his mouth, the entire space froze like having been blown by a cold wind.


    After hiding his experienced and lonely look, Yun Zhongzi looked around at those knights who had escaped far away, saying, "Only two kinds of people could enter the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect; first, disciples of Great Wilderness Sect; second, dead. You''ve already seen how deads are. Therefore, you have 3 minutes to consider whether to join Great Wilderness Sect, serve Great Wilderness Sect and rejuvenate it together with me or die!"


    Closely after Yun Zhongzi''s words, the qi of the two destructive snakes circling around him instantly became precarious as they opened their huge grim mouths and stuck out their tongues. In the brilliant light, the boas expanded once again. At the same time, all the puppets which had just calmed down became restless and alive again as they flew around those human knights and were ready to attack them.


    In this case, it was absolutely possible for one sage-level knight, two bizarre boas which could match heavenly knights and thousands of undying puppets to kill all the human knights here. As the bands of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion were exterminated as a whole, none of the rest doubted the decisiveness of this sage-level knight of Great Wilderness Sect to kill all of them; nor did they feel that their lives were more dignified than that of deputy heads of two of top six sects in the eyes of Yun Zhongzi.


    As a result, those knights turned astir and ablare at once due to shock. Actually, both choices meant dead ends for them. If they joined Great Wilderness Sect, it denoted that they were about to turn hostile against Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion. However, the power of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion were much greater than that. The total number of sage-level knights of the two sects was definitely greater than that of Great Wilderness Sect, not to mention others. If they joined Great Wilderness Sect, it was nothing different than to be killed by powerhouses of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion. However, if they didn''t agree, they could barely pass it for the time being.


    "Ahh, what should we do? What should we do..."


    "Ahh, how about fighting him..."


    "We can''t defeat him. If we would like to have a duel with him, before he launched a strike towards us, the two boas and these puppets would have already killed us all..."


    "Do you have to join Great Wilderness Sect?"


    "But it''s nothing different. It''s just a matter of the location of death, here or outside..."


    Many kights had lost their mind at such a critical moment.


    At this moment, Celestial Treasureflame and Celestial Woodbuilding had both released their battle qis in case of being attacked by Yun Zhongzi.


    "Forebear, you said you would not make me and my partners embarrassed and could have us leave here safe and sound, are you serious?"


    Zhang Tie''s sound started to reverberate around the space when everybody''s heart raced.


    Disguising to be unpleasant, Yun Zhongzi watched Zhang Tie with a frown, "Of course, gentlemen never go back on their words!"


    "That''s good. I''ve got too many partners with me. This is my wife the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion; this is my second uncle; this is Immortal Deyang from Heavens Fortune Sect. They''re all my partners!" Zhang Tie said as he pointed at those people on his side.


    "No problem, all of them could leave!" Yun Zhongzi spoke frankly.


    "Thanks, forebear!" Zhang Tie made a deep bow towards Yun Zhongzi as he triggered his trivial disguising talent again. It was so vivid that nobody else could identify that he was making a performance with Yun Zhongzi, "I''ve got some more. This is Celestial Treasureflame of Demons-kill Valley. I''ve long appointed with the little princess of Demons-kill Valley to marry her one day. Therefore, Demons-kill Valley is also my relative. Additionally, we''ve already coordinated with each other before coming down. Therefore, disciples of Demons-kill Valley are also my partners!"


    The moment Zhang Tie opened his mouth, all the disciples of Demons-kill Valley including Celestial Treasureflame looked at Zhang Tie with appreciative eyes. None of the disciples of Demons-kill Valley were afraid of death as they all stuck to the principle of seeking for truth through killing. Even so, given the sharp contrast in power between the two forces, it was nothing different than seeking for death if they just rushed forward. Of course, disciples of Demons-kill Valley and Celestial Treasureflame were rational as they didn''t want to die here out of no reason. After hearing that Zhang Tie treated them as their partners, they all held that Zhang Tie was righteous. It was really useful for Demons-kill Valley to get along well with Zhang Tie these years.


    After looking around Celestial Treasureflame and the disciples of Demons-kill Valley, Yun Zhongzi nodded, "Hmm, now that they''re your partners, they could leave too. I won''t make them embarrassed!"


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Celestial Woodbuilding as he found the latter was looking at him appreciatively as if the latter had too many words to say.


    After Celestial Treasureflame left, there was only one heavenly knight Celestial Woodbuilding of Jiang Clan among the explorers, who would be more lonely and could never defeat Yun Zhongzi. Therefore, Celestial Woodbuilding''s mood could be imagined. Compared to others, Celestial Woodbuilding actually had to face greater intentions. As the founder of Jiang Clan, once Celestial Woodbuilding fell, the entire Jiang Clan would deteriorate and lose its current position.


    "This is Celestial Woodbuilding of Jiang Clan. Jiang Clan has already engaged one of my elder brother''s kid. Just now, Celestial Woodbuilding was also fighting puppets with me just now. Forebear, you must have seen it. This celestial is also my partner. Hopefully, forebear could also promise the Jiang celestial to leave with me!"


    Of course, Jiang Clan had not engaged with Zhang Yang''s kid. However, Celestial Woodbuilding was clear about Zhang Tie''s meaning. Closely after Zhang Tie''s words, Celestial Woodbuilding had hurriedly nodded, "Yes, yes, yes, Jiang Clan and Jinwu Palace are already a family. We''re partners; we''re partners..."


    Yun Zhongzi then fixated onto Celestial Woodbuilding and the other Jiang knights around Celestial Woodbuilding silently for a few seconds while icy flames were jumping in his eyes, causing great tension to them. It appeared that Yun Zhongzi had already seen through Zhang Tie''s "trick". As Yun Zhongzi looked at them, the two destructive snakes appeared to have sensed his thought as they both turned around at them and intended to charge at them...


    As Yun Zhongzi didn''t express his attitude, Celestial Woodbuilding and those knights of Jiang Clan became so intense.


    "Besides Jiang knights, who else are your partners..." Yun Zhongzi asked Zhang Tie with a bit discontentment.

 1566 Elder Sanguang

    According to the agreement that Zhang Tie and the sage-level knight had agreed on, Zhang Tie was about to say no. Right then, a person suddenly flew out of over 10,000 knights towards Zhang Tie at his full effort as he exclaimed exhaustively, "Master, master, and me, and me Fang Sanguang. Don''t you remember me..."


    ''What is he doing?''


    The sudden appearance of this person caused Zhang Tie to forget to reply Yun Zhongzi; instead, Zhang Tie kept his eyes on that strange human knight who was flying towards him.


    All the others beside Zhang Tie were shocked as they watched Zhang Tie and thought whether Immortal Qianji had arranged moles among those standalone so as to acquire the latters'' intelligence in case of emergency. It was not a big deal.


    Only after a short while, that person had already arrived in front of Zhang Tie.


    He was a strange black iron knight whom Zhang Tie had not seen before. Only after throwing a curious look at that guy using his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie had found that he was wearing a disguising mask, beneath which was also a strange look. Although his figure looked normal, in fact, his muscles and bones were abnormal when Zhang Tie looked at them seriously. Zhang Tie judged that this person might have applied a secret method similar to bones shrinking skill to himself.


    This stranger didn''t possess any perilous qi while his battle qi could also be neglected by Zhang Tie. ''Who''s that guy?'' Zhang Tie became puzzled.


    "Who are you? I don''t think I''m familiar with you." Zhang Tie asked as he stroked his jaw after throwing a glance at him.


    "Head, you must have forgotten about it. I''m A''Guang..." Fan Sanguang grinned brilliantly as his passionate gesture and sweet words made Bai Suxian and Immortal Deyang quiver a bit. Zhang Tie felt goosebumps all over.


    "But I don''t know you. You must have mistaken the wrong person!"


    "I''ve mistaken the wrong person? No, I would never make such a mistake..." Fan Sanguang became thrilled as he instantly burst into tears and sobbed, saying, "Aren''t you the world-renowned Immortal Qianji and the head of Iron-Dragon Sect? Since head fought demons at Weishui River, you have always been my idol and lifetime beacon. I miss you day and night and couldn''t wait to join your sect one day. Fortunately, when I was about to set for you, I was told that you have arrived at South Border. Therefore, I followed you all the way here. It''s my lifetime dream to join Iron-Dragon Sect. As long as I could join Iron-Dragon Sect, I would be happy even guarding the mountain gate for you. To tell you the truth, after knowing what you had done at Weishui River, I had already treated myself as a member of Iron-Dragon Sect. I''ve long determined to serve and die for Iron-Dragon Sect..."


    Fan Sanguang''s words made Zhang Tie dumbfounded. Even Immortal Deyang and Bai Runshan had felt goosebumps all over. Watching Fang Sanguang''s face being covered with tears and nasal mucus, Bai Suxian who had been holding Zhang Tie''s hand was scared one step back in fear of being touched by Fan Sanguang''s tears and nasal mucus.


    All the others beside Zhang Tie had figured it out that this guy was absolutely a shameless guy who came here for a relative at the critical moment. His face was even thicker than the protective battle qi of heavenly knights.


    Celestial Treasureflame frowned as he squinted at Fan Sanguang with a disgusted look as if he was looking at a puddle of mud or sh*t. Given his look, as long as Zhang Tie agreed, Celestial Treasureflame couldn''t wait to kill this guy by palm at once.


    Zhang Tie was also wondering how to deal with this guy as he remained silent...


    Looking straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes, Fan Sanguang directly unveiled his mask, revealing a swollen face like that of a pig. Meanwhile, his skeletons and muscles transformed with abnormal sound, completely revealing his original look. Fan Sanguang tried his best to look at Zhang Tie sincerely as he pointed at his swollen face, asking, "Head, do you remember me? It''s not our first time to meet each other. A few days ago, we''ve already met each other on the way. At that time, you were with Princess Bai. You two flew over the sky like a celestial couple at a pretty high speed, scaring me off all the way from the sky to the earth. I had already recognized you at that time, from when I followed you all the way to the Centralpillar Mountain to express my love...oh, pah, pah, pah..." Fan Sanguang spat out saliva for consecutive three times as he corrected his words, "to express my sincerity. I''ve not imagined that I could finally get such a rare opportunity until now..."


    Zhang Tie thought for a few seconds as he really remembered such a thing. When Bai Suxian and Zhang Tie flew towards Centralpillar Mountain, Zhang Tie indeed remembered that a guy appeared being scared so much by their great speed who then lost his balance and fell off. ''Could it be this guy...''


    "Erm, you look much fatter..."


    "Aah, head, you finally remember me; you finally remember me..." Fan Sanguang burst into tears once again. However, this time, his tears were caused by extreme pleasure. The fast change of his expression could even match a film star, making Zhang Tie who had awakened his disguising talent embarrassed. "After falling off the sky, I was bitten by a venomous animal. Therefore, I look swollen now. However, in order to follow you, head, and express my sincerity and admiration to you, I kept moving after you. Even at the risk of losing my life, I would still stick to your footstep which symbolizes brilliance, not to mention such a bit injury..."


    Zhang Tie stood him quite a while. When Fan Sanguang spoke the last sentence, Zhang Tie finally couldn''t stand him anymore as he felt this guy was definitely a top weirdo among knights.


    Zhang Tie threw a deep glance at Fan Sanguang before asking, "Do you want to join Iron-Dragon Sect and be restricted to me?"


    "Yes, I do; I do..." Fan Sanguang kept nodding his head like how a chick pecked rice as he appeared relieving a heavy burden, "I do even if I''m only requested to hack firewood and cook food for Iron-Dragon Sect every day..."


    Zhang Tie nodded as he told Yun Zhongzi, "Besides Jiang knights and this...Elder Sanguang who has just joined Iron-Dragon Sect, I have no more partner here..."


    The moment Zhang Tie finished his words, all the other knights had abruptly realized that it was too late for them to imitate Fan Sanguang...

 1567 Kind and Evil

    "Now that you and your partners are all here, you could leave then. As for the rest, it has nothing to do with you..." Yun Zhongzi said distantly as he pointed at the petals of lotus flowers which hung downwards. The petals then gradually opened, revealing one of the former entrances while all the other stamen-like entrances were still closed. "You could leave from this tunnel. When you reach the first floor of Dongtian, you would see the exit open for you too. Quick, leave out of here and don''t come back..."


    After hearing Yun Zhongzi''s words and watching the only exit, over 10,000 knights felt cold at once as they felt being dogs to be beaten with the door closed. If Immortal Qianji and the two Celestials of Demons-kill Valley and Jiang Clan were at present, the remaining ones might still have a bit confidence; however, after Zhang Tie, representatives of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, powerhouses of Demons-kill Valley and Jiang Clan left here, the highest level of the rest was just shadow knight. Therefore, they were all disappointed in this case.


    Only when they were in a despair did they realize Fan Sanguang''s greatness. Fan Sanguang''s ability to seize the opportunity and make a decision to join Iron-Dragon Sect shamelessly in a split second couldn''t be matched by commoners.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t waste time anymore. After Zhang Tie threw a glance at those on his side, all the knights around him started to fly towards the only exit on the dome, including that barbarian shadow knight Serila.


    Watching them leaving out of here, all the others became restless.


    "The exit reappears, Immortal Qianji and his partners are about to leave out of here. Let''s follow them up. If we could rush out of there, we will survive..."


    "That''s right. Why could only Immortal Qianji leave out of here? We should leave too. Let''s rush out..."


    "Even the sage-level knight couldn''t block us; Let''s rush forward..."


    Someone among over 10,000 knights also wanted to follow Zhang Tie''s group away as they booed and stimulated to urge all the others to rush out of here with them.


    "You''re seeking for death!" Yun Zhongzi sneered as he punched out, exploding a knight''s body into pieces over thousands of meters away. As Yun Zhongzi launched his attack, the two destructive boas beside him also charged at them, turning some leading the rebels into ashes.


    A sage-level knight and two destructive boas which could match heavenly knights were absolutely one-sided holocaust facing some knights, whose highest level was only shadow knight. As a result, dozens of people who incurred trouble were immediately killed.


    All the puppets had been alive again while cracking down those restless knights.


    Watching someone jumping out of over 10,000 knights at this moment, Zhang Tie only sighed inside, ''When it''s a natural disaster, it could still be forgiven; if a person wants to find trouble, it couldn''t be forgiven.''


    Zhang Tie and Yun Zhongzi had long predicted this situation. Even though Zhang Tie and Yun Zhongzi were just performing, Yun Zhongzi still killed those rebels mercilessly. Those who dared jump out at this moment deserved death.


    Those people knew that everything in this Dongtian was under Yun Zhongzi''s control and Yun Zhongzi could close the exit whenever he wanted. When they saw Zhang Tie leaving out of here, those people also urged to leave here, what did they mean?


    To be honest, they wanted Zhang Tie to die with them.


    If Yun Zhongzi was infuriated or couldn''t control the current situation, as long as he closed the exit, Zhang Tie''s group couldn''t leave here either. By then, Zhang Tie and the other heavenly knights had to save them out of there or to die with them.


    As long as Yun Zhongzi became shortly hesitant, they would be able to mingle with Zhang Tie''s group and escape out of here.


    It was the darkest side of people in dilemma¡ª¡ªIf I couldn''t survive myself, you would die too. In other words, you have to take me when you escape.


    Not every one of over 10,000 knights had their bottom line. There were always some b*stards and rubbish. In this case, those gloomy and evil knights would jump out for sure.


    Zhang Tie and Yunzhongzi had reached an agreement on dealing with this situation in the script.


    Such knights were definitely rubbish and b*stards. Even if they could leave here, they might not do good things; nor would they appreciate Zhang Tie. Therefore, Zhang Tie and Yun Zhongzi preferred to have them seek for death at this moment. Those who jumped highest, exclaimed loudliest were the gloomiest and should especially be killed. By killing such people, they were actually resolving evil persons for the human world. By the way, their performance would appear more vivid.


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel guilty about Yun Zongzi''s deed.


    "Sh*t..." Noticing the situation behind him, Celestial Treasureflame of Demons-kill Valley instantly released his killing intent as his eyes turned bloody.


    He was definitely not complaining Yun Zhongzi; instead, he was swearing those knights who found the trouble as Celestial Treasureflame understood those people''s intention right away.


    "How evil they are..." Immortal Deyang threw a glance backward as he let out a sigh.


    "Let''s talk about it later when we leave here..." Zhang Tie said in a muffled voice as he approached the exit ahead of the others rapidly by throwing only a glance backward.


    Behind them, the two destructive boas were giving vent to their dissatisfaction while crushing all the evil knights who tried to follow them into ashes and ice scums. Yun Zhongzi didn''t sympathize these evil people at all. With some flashes in the air, some knights who exclaimed loudliest had already been killed by him.


    What comforted Zhang Tie most was that more knights were not bewildered by the minority as they were conscious about the outcome of the turmoil.


    Some knights were even roaring furiously, "Don''t move, Immortal Qianji has already tried his best. In the first floor of Dongtian, he helped four freak sages; he had just stopped a massacre and had already saved a lot of people. He''s trying to take away as many knights as possible. If we create troubles now, even Immortal Qianji couldn''t leave here. We could only cause Immortal Qianji to die with us. Are we knights of Taixia Country just merciless and unrighteous timid rabbits? This father is never afraid of being beheaded as it''s just a scare in the shape of the bowl. Who the f*ck dares to move, this father Zhuo Feiyang would chop off your head first..."


    "Yes, we should be real men even if we die..."


    "Fine, before Immortal Qianji''s group leave here, anyone who dares move should pass us first. We owe Immortal Qianji for that. We should be real men of Taixia Country!"


    More knights responded to their call while those who intended to arouse troubles were submerged in the furious crowds before Yun Zhongzi launched his attack...

 1568 Zhang Ties Return

    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie and his partners had arrived at the exit on the dome. Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian entered it first, closely followed by many others.


    By then, many people finally let out a sigh of relief.


    However, when Zhang Tie entered the exit, he let go of Bai Suxian''s hand at a stroke. Floating in the sky, he told Bai Suxian solemnly, "You and the others leave out of here first. I will leave soon too..."


    Watching Zhang Tie''s hesitation, Bai Suxian and all the others stopped.


    "Aah, what are you going to do?" Bai Suxian asked.


    "I want to return!" Zhang Tie said calmly after throwing a glance at everyone else.


    "Return?" Zhang Tie''s response caught everyone by surprise.


    "True, I want to return. If not, the remainders would face a great risk, which might arouse great chaos across the country in the future. By then, demons might seize the opportunity to bring us trouble. Therefore, I have to return and stop it." Now that it''s a performance, Zhang Tie couldn''t ruin it. He then added seriously, "If I return, the remainders might be able to survive!"


    "I will be back together with you!" Bai Suxian said at once.


    Celestial Treasureflame and Celestial Woodbuilding then exchanged a glance with each other. After a short silence, Celestial Treasureflame opened his mouth decisively, "I will go back with you too. I could give you a hand!" Celestial Treasureflame nodded too.


    People''s heart could be judged at critical moments. It was really great for two heavenly knights to face difficulties or retreat together with Zhang Tie in this case. They were almost sacrificing for Zhang Tie. It mainly owed to Zhang Tie''s great mores, personality and abilities. Undoubtedly, Zhang Tie had acquired everyone''s trust and favor in this situation.


    Zhang Tie forcefully pinched Bai Suxian''s hand and threw a glance at Bai Suxian, before telling the others in the tunnel, "Thanks for your kindness, two celestials. But I''m not returning to fight that sage-level knight. If you go back, the situation would go worse and uncontrollable. You''d better take the others out of here first. I have methods to protect myself. That sage-level knight couldn''t do harm to me. I was fine at Weishui River after being hurt by the nirvana thunder, not to mention this situation. If I failed, I would converge with you!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words and sensing his decisive belief, none of the others spoke anymore given his great reputation and remarkable military exploits.


    "Immortal, you could tell that person. If he dared hurt you, Demons-kill Valley would absolutely fight him to death. When I come back, I would request the elders of our valley in reclusion to avenge for you!" Celestial Treasureflame promised Zhang Tie solemnly before leaving.


    Bai Runshan gnashed his teeth as he took out a brightly green jade knife from his portable space-teleportation equipment and passed it to Zhang Tie, saying, "This is the token of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion in South Border. Everyone in South Border is clear of it. When in need, you could present it. If that person dared hurt you, he would be the enemy of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion!"


    Immortal Deyang also let out a sigh as he took out a tan eight diagrams token and passed it to Zhang Tie, saying, "This is the token of Heavens Fortune Sect. Anyone who possesses it would be protected by Heavens Fortune Sect. You could present it when necessary so as to scare that person!"


    "If immortal needs me later on, Jiang Clan would do the same as the others do!" Celestial Woodbuilding expressed his gratitude solemnly too.


    "Thank you so much!" Zhang Tie said as he cupped his hands towards the others after taking the tokens of Bai Runshan and Immortal Deyang and putting them away in his own portable space-teleportation equipment, "You''d better leave here as fast as possible. No matter what, I would come out alive to converge with you!"


    As knights were all straightforward, after Zhang Tie''s persistence conquered those heads of top sects, especially Bai Suxian, all the others left there after reaching a brief agreement with Zhang Tie on the location of convergence. Conversely, Zhang Tie went back.


    At this moment, as Zhang Tie couldn''t use his battle qi and spiritual energy, he could only rely on the Liezi bloodline that he had awakened to fly. Liezi was one of the sages in ancient times in Taixia Country. The story of how Liezi flew by wind had been spread across the country for thousands of years. The greatness of Liezi bloodline was that one could float and fly in the air without external force as long as it was activated.


    According to the record of an ancient book in Taixia Country, Liezi flew by wind by his spiritual energy without external force. Only sages could do it!


    The state of Liezi flying by the wind was similar to the flight state of knights. However, its speed was not as fast as that of knights.


    It was a bizarre flight state by activating Liezi bloodline. Being different than birds, driving a plane, or that knights flew by their running chakras, this state was as follows as Liezi had described¡ª¡ªqi flew across one''s whole body. After that, one''s eyes were like one''s ears; ears like the nose; nose like a mouth; one would focus on one point and forget about his physical figure; one would not feel relying on anything as he would feel stepping on the void and moving by wind like dried wood, leaves or shells. It was uncertain whether one was flying by wind or the wind was flying by that person.


    Such was a free state. Zhang Tie felt dissolving in the void. The moment he thought about it, he would move forward.


    Almost the moment Zhang Tie returned, Yun Zhongzi and all the others had discovered Zhang Tie on the second floor of Dongtian.


    Of course, in this case, even though Zhang Tie flew at a low speed, nobody cared about it.


    When Zhang Tie returned, the chaos and turmoil had just been suppressed, during which process, about 100 people who wanted to mingle with Zhang Tie''s group were killed by Yun Zhongzi and the two destructive boas in an overwhelming way. The bloody smell in the air had not fully dispersed yet. The atmosphere in the space was as intense as steel wire while the reminders were ready for the duel.


    "Immortal Qianji, why are you back?" Yun Zhongzi asked Zhang Tie with a frown, eyes sparkling in a distant way, "Do you think that you could come and go casually?"


    Closely after Yun Zhongzi''s words, the huge lotus-flower petal on the dome had closed again. As a result, even Zhang Tie could leave here.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s reappearance, many knights who were already in despair revealed brilliantly hopeful eye lights again.


    At this moment, many hopeful eye lights fixated onto Zhang Tie.


    With hands on the back, Zhang Tie arrived as free as the wind calmly with a compassionate look.


    "Despite the vicious, ruthless and terrifying deed of Taixia Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion on exterminating Great Wilderness Sect, it''s just the vendetta between three top sects. It has nothing to do with others. Forebear, we don''t need to have so many innocent knights involved in the conflicts and wars between the top sects!"


    The moment Zhang Tie opened his mouth, the crime that Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion joined in the extermination of the Great Wilderness Sect had been exposed to the public...

 1569 A Big Be

    "Now that these people dare intrude in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect for the sake of our rarities, don''t blame me for trouble!" Yun Zhongzi said coldly while full of killing intent as his tone sounded a bit infuriated, "Additionally, there''s no absolute reason and justice in the secular world. If there is, Great Wilderness Sect which didn''t mean to compete with the other top forces would never suffer such a catastrophe while many people were killed miserably. Who would speak for Great Wilderness Sect? In this case, as I could determine whether they are alive or not, my words are fixed rules. If anyone disagrees with me, you could fight me..."


    Looking up, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh like a righteous envoy, "Now that forebear has said that, I have to argue about rules with forebear!"


    "What! I''ve told you that I won''t make you embarrassed. But do you want to fight me?" Yun Zhongzi watched Zhang Tie as he released his battle intention. The two destructive boas in the distance turned around and started to brandish their claws and exposed their long fangs towards Zhang Tie at a stroke.


    "I don''t want to fight you, forebear. However, in order to prevent forebear from killing more innocent people, I''m afraid that I have to witness your sage-level realm!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the knights were shocked as they were moved too much inside.


    "Hahaha, I''ve long heard that your ability as a divine dominator is world-renowned. It''s not bad for me to try it today!" Yun Zhongzi burst into laughter. Closely after that, he reserved his smile as he said distantly, "Do you want to exchange for the lives of over 10,000 knights here with your own ability? That''s too naive. At this moment, everything here is under my control. If I don''t open the tunnel, over 90% of people here would be starved to death within 1 month. Even sage-level knight couldn''t leave here without my order. You''re already under my control. Why are you so confident to fight me in this case?"


    "You''re right, forebear. If so, forebear, dare you to bet with me?"


    "What bet?"


    "I will exchange myself with their lives. If I failed my challenge, I would join Great Wilderness Sect and follow your order. Forebear could also deal with them as you will. But if I win, forebear, please let them go in case they were involved with the vendetta between Great Wilderness Sect and other sects. What do you think, forebear?"


    "If you lose, you will join Great Wilderness Sect?" Yun Zhongzi''s eyes flickered as if he was moved by Zhang Tie''s proposal.


    "Right!" Zhang Tie said frankly.


    "Now that it''s a bet, why not make it a big one?" Yun Zhongzi said and looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes as he added, "It''s said that Jinwu Palace controls the recipes of fiery oil and all-purpose medicament, the profits of which rank first in the world. Additionally, Jinwu Palace also has tens of millions of square miles'' bounty land. How about joining Great Wilderness Sect together with the recipes of fiery oil and all-purpose medicament as well as your bounty land if you lose? In this way, Great Wilderness Sect would rejuvenate and be on the equal footing with the other top sects again. Dare you?"


    "Hahaha, forebear, you''re really ambitious!" Zhang Tie burst into laughter too as he added, "Forebear, you also know that the profits of fiery oil and all-purpose medicament rank first across the world. Besides joining Great Wilderness Sect myself, I should also hand the recipes of fiery oil and all-purpose medicament of Jinwu Palace to you. Forebear, you know that fiery oil and all-purpose medicament are the foundation of Jinwu Palace. Besides myself, Jinwu Palace also includes my elder brother and my parents. If I take the foundation of Jinwu Palace as the wager, how could I explain it to my parents and elder brother if I lost it? I''m not akin to these knights. I just want to save them for the sake of righteousness and maintain a bit aura for the country and humans. Neither do I want to say anyone being killed here innocently. Forebear, do you think I''m an idiot or that an intelligent man could be bullied casually?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t agree with Yun Zhongzi at once; instead, he refuted Yun Zhongzi righteously and solemnly which appeared real and could better move the reminders. In this case, if Zhang Tie instantly agreed to take Jinwu Palace as a wager and disguised as a saint, it would be too excessive and would bring him a converse effect. Zhang Tie''s refusal felt more reasonable and more touching. In the hearts of those knights, Immortal Qianji was the number one tough man across Taixia Country.


    "Now that I agree bet with you; of course, I will make you reassured. As you''ve taken fiery oil and all-purpose medicament as the wager, I would take something else as the wager too. If you win, the top rarities across this Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect and Great Wilderness Sect as a whole would belong to you. I would hand the controlling power and the rarity in the control center to you. All the treasures in this floor and all the others below and those collected by Great Wilderness Sect in South Border would be determined by you, including over 20 towers of time in this Dongtian. What do you think about my wager?"


    After hearing Yun Zhongzi''s words, all the onlooking knights swallowed their saliva as they goggled and dared not even breathe smoothly. Such a wager really drove people mad. The entire Dongtian, over 20 towers of time and treasures and rarities of Great Wilderness Sect. That was amazing!


    "Forebear, by the top rarities of Great Wilderness Sect you mean the Great Wilderness Sutra?"


    "No. I won''t give you the Great Wilderness Sutra!" Yun Zhongzi said as he pointed at the golden boa and the silver boa, continuing, "The top rarities of Great Wilderness Sect are them. They''re species from far-ancient times¡ª¡ªSnakes of destruction as is called in South Border. They''re overlords among magnificent mountains in South Border, the only ones of their kind among humans. Each of them could match the heavenly knight in battle strength. If you win, I will gift them to you along with all the others of this Dongtian!"


    Yun Zhongzi''s words revealed fake news¡ª¡ªGreat Wilderness Sutra was with him. He would not gift the Great Wilderness Sutra to Zhang Tie. Therefore, nobody would doubt that Zhang Tie possessed the Great Wilderness Sutra.


    Zhang Tie gazed at the two boas for quite a while as if he was a bit moved, "These two boas are too powerful and weird. If they could serve me, of course, it''s like how a tiger gets wings. But how could I control them?"


    "If you win, of course, I could let them identify you as their owner!"


    "Forebear, what about the details of our duel?" Zhang Tie lowered his voice as if he had made his decision.


    "It''s simple. I will contain the two destructive boas into my realm. As long as you could resist the common strike from me and the two boas in my realm with your ability as a divine dominator and could exit it alive, you would be the winner..."

 1570 Within the Sage-level Realm

    "As long as I could withstand the strikes of forebear and the two destructive boas and break your realm, I would be the winner and you would allow these people to leave here safe and sound; additionally, you should hand this Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect and the two destructive boas to me!"


    "True. Conversely, we will set one day as the time limit. If you couldn''t break my realm within 24 hours, I would be the winner and you should join Great Wilderness Sect; additionally, fiery oil and all-purpose medicament of Jinwu Palace would belong to Great Wilderness Sect. Do you agree?"


    "Haha, forebear, you know that I never lost a bet even with the King Abyss of demons!" Zhang Tie said with great interest.


    "I''m different than him. If you''re brave enough, you could have a bet with me. If you win, I would leave this place to you!"


    "Fine, that''s the deal!" Zhang Tie looked around in a pretty heroic manner as he added, "Let''s have the other knights at present as our witnesses. Let''s see whether I could break forebear''s realm or forebear could win everything and rejuvenate Great Wilderness Sect within one day!"


    "Fine!" Yun Zhongzi said with shred eyes as a green light beam extended from his back like how he did when he swept over the knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion just now. After he activated the sage-level realm, the two destructive boas instantly entered his realm, closely followed by Zhang Tie. Instead of entering the realm himself slowly, Zhang Tie was actually brought in by the extension of the realm...


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie, Yun Zhongzi and the two destructive boas had already disappeared. Within the Dongtian, there was only a large realm covering 600 square miles in the shape of a green ball.


    Over 10,000 knights were goggling at the mysterious sage-level knight on one side as they held their breath, waiting for the result of this "duel" between Zhang Tie and Yun Zhongzi.


    "This is the most merciful, righteous, wisest and bravest deed. From now on, I only admire Immortal Qianji across Taixia Country..." a knight was so thrilled as he said with tears.


    "Our five righteous men of Qilian Mountain have not received such a great favor from others. I''ve not imagined that Immortal Qianji wants to save us at the risk of his life in South Border..."


    "From now on, Immortal Qianji would be the great benefactor of all the barbarians among numerous mountains in South Border..." a band of barbarian knights exclaimed out of excitement.


    Some other knights didn''t speak as they just looked around for exits. However, before they moved, those puppets had become alive as they circled around all the human knights in the air. Anyone dared break the border would receive endless strikes of those puppets at once...


    "No matter what, if immortal died for us here, we will fight that person to death..."


    "Yes, fight to death..."


    "Immortal is always favored by God. He could even survive the large-scale war at Weishui River, he would definitely be safe this time too..."


    "But that''s one sage-level knight and two heavenly-level fierce beasts..."


    After hearing that, many people among 10,000-odd knights looked a bit worried. Although Zhang Tie''s military exploits at Weishui River was world-renowned, everyone knew that Zhang Tie didn''t fight King Abyss face-to-face although he could kill a heavenly knight by striking it with a rod for 9 times. In this case, they were not sure which one was greater, Zhang Tie or Yun Zhongzi...


    The green light curtain blocked their vision. Unless one had lotus-flower eyes, nobody could see through what was happening in the sage-level realm even sage-level knight.


    Whereas, if someone could see through the realm, he must be extremely startled...


    ...


    "Aah, what a sage-level realm..." Zhang Tie widely opened his eyes like Grandma Liu who entered Da Guanyuan, the official mansion of Jia Mansion, one of the top four mansions in the story A Dream of Red Mansions, for the first time. He just looked around everything out of curiosity. Zhang Tie had hardly ended the performance and entered the sage-level knight when he let out a sigh of relief and became relaxed.


    It was like another world within the realm. After entering this world, Zhang Tie felt it was utterly different than that outside using his lotus-flower eyes.


    When Zhang Tie looked at it from outside, Zhang Tie found this realm was full of undulating ranges like another world. After entering it, although everything remained unchanged like how he saw outside, the undulating ranges and landscape became more fantastic as they all looked true or false while the woods and rivers looked completely real. However, Zhang Tie was conscious that it was not real; instead, it was a sage-level realm. Everything in front of his eyes possessed four elements, which were completely composed of the four elements, earth, water, wind and fire according to certain rules. This world was full of changes and killing intent. However, it seemed to be lacking something compared to the realm world.


    Yun Zhongzi accompanied Zhang Tie as he started to observe Zhang Tie with bizarre eyesight.


    Neither of them launched any strike; instead, they took this sage-level realm as a garden as they started to wander and chat inside.


    "Why do you watch me this way?"


    "Head, your intelligence is really out of my imagination. Additionally, it seems that you''re a bit different than that in gossips!" Yun Zhongzi commented calmly.


    "Haha, you''re smart too. Some gossips are not real. Don''t pay heed to them!" Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he commented, "You''ve got a good performance too..."


    "Just now, I just constantly reminded myself that everything in front of me was real!"


    At this moment, the two destructive boas flew over there and wandered around them like two docile kitties without any killing intent.


    "Oh, could you please make this place a bit more cloudy and mysterious in case outsiders see through what we''re doing inside."


    Yun Zhongzi slightly frowned as he said, "Besides those in the sage-level realm, nobody else could see through it!"


    Zhang Tie then let out a sigh inside. In this world, even sage-level knight couldn''t imagine about some things. Additionally, the so-called powerhouses always had a fixed mindset and arrogance. This might be the fatal weakness of many powerhouses.


    "Oh, do you think so?" Zhang Tie rubbed his nose, saying, "However, how you stomped Celestial Clouddragon to death in the shape of a giant ape was really terrifying..."


    No sooner had Zhang Tie finished his words did Yun Zhongzi goggle his eyes as he watched Zhang Tie as if Zhang Tie was a ghost...


    According to Yun Zhongzi''s experience, Zhang Tie couldn''t see what happened within his realm at all from outside...

 1571 The Spirit for Spiri

    Watching Yun Zhongzi''s shocked look, Zhang Tie remained calm while he couldn''t stand giggling inside.


    As the new head of Great Wilderness Sect, if Zhang Tie couldn''t frighten Yun Zhongzi, he would feel bored taking the position or might be the puppet of Yun Zhongzi. Although Zhang Tie couldn''t have a trial fight with Yun Zhongzi and determined who was greater in battle strength, Zhang Tie''s exposure of his ability with lotus-flower eyes could also win Yun Zhongzi''s admiration.


    Yun Zhongzi threw a shocked glance at Zhang Tie before nodding, saying, "Head really deserves the reputation Immortal Qianji!" Closely after his words, Yun Zhongzi had waved his arm while the periphery within 1500 m was covered with dense fog. Even the mountains under their foot started to undulate like billows in the ocean. With the sudden topographic change, only after a short while, the location where Zhang Tie and Yun Zhongzi were had become a deep well surrounded by over 10,000 high lush mountain peaks. Additionally, Zhang Tie and Yun Zhongzi were standing on a high platform in the deep well while some rocks served as tables and benches where they could sit and have a chat for free.


    The sudden change reminded Zhang Tie of the topographic renovation function of Castle of Black Iron. The only difference lay in that the topographic renovation in Castle of Black Iron was realm while everything in front of his eyes was virtual. Even so, Zhang Tie was still stunned by the top ability of sage-level human knight.


    Watching this scene, Zhang Tie got a question unknowingly inside¡ª¡ªwhether some functions in Castle of Black Iron were actually simulations and copy of some great cultivator''s abilities? The topographic renovation ability of Castle of Black Iron was very similar to that of how a sage-level knight controlled his own realm. The other abilities such as life renovation and evolution might also be similar to an ability owned by greater cultivators. Nevertheless, the existence who created the Castle of Black Iron must be much advanced than a sage-level knight.


    Standing on the high platform, Zhang Tie looked up as he saw rising clouds and gathering sunglow at the exit in the dome. Many odd-looking fierce beasts were flying in the sky. The sudden topographic change made the two people more hidden at a stroke.


    When he thought about that question, Zhang Tie was shocked by the new landscape. Not until two minutes later did Zhang Tie recover his composure as he extorted sincerely, "What exceptional sage-level means!"


    "Thanks, head. Please take a seat!" Yun Zhongzi said as he pointed at those rocks in front of them.


    After taking a seat, Zhang Tie stretched out his hand and started to pat and touch the stone table and benches, which felt real. Zhang Tie forcefully inserted his fingers into a table and dug out a piece of rock. Zhang Tie then rubbed it, which then turned into quiet, disordered four elements dispersing in Zhang Tie''s hand instead of turning into powders. All the real objects in front of Zhang Tie comprised of four elements mobilized by the sage-level knight. Although they looked real, they were not real; if you said they were fake, they were actually more vivid.


    Yun Zhongzi watched Zhang Tie''s movements as he waved his hand in the air, displaying two jade cups and a delicate jar with two snakes circling around it on the table. After patting it to remove its lid, a fresh and enthralling fragrance like that of orchid suffused in the air.


    "Oh, what''s this?"


    "It''s a spirit for strengthening your spiritual energy made of 81 natural rare resources among numerous mountains in South Border by Great Wilderness Sect. This spirit is one of the secret spirits in Great Wilderness Sect. It could fix and improve one''s essential strength. Head, as you''ve cultivated Great Wilderness Sutra, you should know that incarnation could consume our essential strength. This spirit could fix the consumption of our spiritual energy..."


    As Yun Zhongzi said, he took the jar and made a cup of spirit for Zhang Tie.


    At the same time, a rainbow appeared in the jade cup, which constantly changed its color from red to green, from blue to purple. The mysterious liquid in the snow-white jade cup won Zhang Tie''s acclamations constantly.


    Zhang Tie then took the jade cup and drank it. It tasted like the fruit of source. No sooner had it entered his throat did Zhang Tie''s cells as a whole become restless.


    When Zhang Tie realized that all the knights outside thought that he was fighting Yun Zhongzi in the latter''s sage-level realm at the risk of his life while he was actually tasting Yun Zhongzi''s spirit for strengthening his essential strength which was brewed by Great Wilderness Sect inside, Zhang Tie had a bizarre feeling at once. Even though Zhang Tie, who rarely disguised to do anything had to make a performance, Zhang Tie wondered how many things and how many people were performed or performing across the world so as to cheat the others.


    "What a pity..." Zhang Tie sighed after taking a cup of spirit.


    As this spirit could match the effect of fruit of source, it was definitely invaluable. According to Zhang Tie''s knowledge, although Taiyi Fantasy Sect and the other top sects had a myriad of marvelous medical pills, none of them could match this spirit.


    "Hmm, Great Wilderness Sect was once unparalleled in South Border. As long as disciples could grasp the skill of incarnation, they could gain rationed spirit monthly. Additionally, disciples were also awarded this spirit. However, now, besides the reminders in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, there''s no more such kind of spirit in the world anymore. I wonder when the new spirit for strengthening one''s spiritual energy could come out..." Yun Zhongzi sighed with full of emotion.


    "You mean as long as disciples of Great Wilderness Sect could grasp the skill of incarnation, they would receive some spirit monthly?" Zhang Tie asked as he blinked his eyes, "What''s the volume of spirit could they receive monthly? Wasn''t there any other request or limitation such as donations to the sect?"


    After a short silence, Yun Zhongzi replied, "As long as disciples who had grasped the skill of incarnation could get half a jar of spirit monthly. If they have better performance, they could have more!"


    "What would they do after the disciples and elders of Great Wilderness Sect received such a spirit?"


    "Of course, they could use more skill of incarnation to wander across the great wilderness so as to experience the marvels of the mother nature!" Yun Zhongzi said in a narcissistic look.


    After hearing Yun Zhongzi''s response, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand rolling his eyes.

 1572 A Long Talk between Zhang Tie and Yun Zhongzi

    "This spirit is greatly beneficial to one''s cultivation. If the essential strength increased by this spirit was used to light one''s surging points, form one''s chakra or polish one''s fighting skills instead of being used for the experience of incarnation, Great Wilderness Sect could definitely cultivate a great number of powerhouses. Didn''t Great Wilderness Sect restrict the use of this spirit or guide those elders and disciples to use it in other places?"


    "No, as for Great Wilderness Sect, only Great Wilderness Sutra was the top classic. All the other cultivation methods, if there is, would not be valued by the elders and disciples of Great Wilderness Sect. If the promotion to higher realms and levels couldn''t enable elders and disciples of Great Wilderness Sect to make further progress on the cultivation of Great Wilderness Sutra, and grant them with greater longevity and stronger essential strength, almost no elders or disciples of Great Wilderness Sect would like to improve their fighting skills or cultivate calmly."


    "What if you encounter the incursion of a foreign enemy?"


    "Numerous powerful mutated and fierce beasts among so many great mountains in South Border could be my helpers. The skill of incarnation and animal driving skill could both be used to kill the enemy. As for disciples of Great Wilderness Sect, we don''t need cultivation of battle skills; instead, we only needed to find powerful mutated, fierce beasts from the great mountains in South Border and control it!"


    "Were the towers of time here always be used by elders and disciples to cultivate the endless true words of Great Wilderness Sect instead of forming chakra?"


    After being silent for a short while again, Yun Zhongzi nodded hardly, "Almost like that..."


    With the classic Great Wilderness Sutra, this secret spirit, numerous resources among great mountains in South Border and the amazing Dongtian, elders and disciples were always immersed in the realm of incarnation and the experience of the marvels of the mother nature and entrust the safety of the sect and individuals to a myriad of mutated and fierce beasts; instead of thinking about competing with the other top sects of Taixia Country and ruling the rest of the world. Zhang Tie became speechless; neither did he know whether such a deed was out of confidence or too presumptuous. No wonder Imperial Alliance cast a covetous glance at Great Wilderness Sect.


    All the elders and disciples of Great Wilderness Sect appeared to be romanticists who pursued the mother nature. The administration of the sect was loose. Besides spoiling the top rare spirit, some cultivation classics of Great Wilderness Sect could even be imparted to barbarians selflessly. Zhang Tie himself couldn''t understand such a mode as he guessed that this mode led to the extermination of this sect overnight to a certain degree.


    As one popular line before the Great Catastrophe went, Zhang Tie only wanted to tell the elders and disciples of Great Wilderness Sect that this world was too perilous, you''d better go back to the Mars as fast as possible.


    Before the elders and disciples of Great Wilderness Sect returned to the Mars, almost all of them had been killed.


    "As the martial force counts the most in this world, knights are definitely the leading force of this world. The so-called animal driving skill or the skill of incarnation could only work as the auxiliary means for elders and disciples to cultivate, which could never be used as the foundation of a sect. Without powerful knights as the base, everything would be empty talk. If you want to rejuvenate Great Wilderness Sect, you should never take the Great Wilderness Sutra as the principal cultivation orientation for your disciples. Disciples below LV 10 couldn''t touch the animal driving skill of Great Wilderness Sutra; disciples below knights could cultivate the skill of incarnation. If the battle strength and level of knights couldn''t be promoted, never think about touching the senior cultivation skills of Great Wilderness Sutra. Otherwise, even if Great Wilderness Sect could restore again, it would perish sooner or later again..." Zhang Tie told Yun Zhongzi.


    "Head, you''re right. After the Great Wilderness Sect was exterminated, I''ve been considering about the reason in the Dongtian over these years. I''ve also realized a lot of problems facing Great Wilderness Sect. In the future, if Great Wilderness Sect was restored, it would never repeat the previous mode!" Yun Zhongzi said as he nodded too, "Head, could you show me the Great Wilderness Sutra and Cloud Crane''s letter?"


    Zhang Tie had already put the Great Wilderness Sutra and Cloud Crane''s letter in Castle of Black Iron. In this case, now that Yun Zhongzi would like to see them, of course, Zhang Tie had no reason to not show them to him as he knew that Yun Zhongzi just wanted to confirm whether his previous words were real or not.


    Yun Zhongzi had hardly finished his words when Zhang Tie waved his arm over the stone table, presenting the Great Wilderness Sutra and Cloud Crane''s letter in front of Yun Zhongzi.


    At the sight of the two items, Yun Zhongzi took the Great Wilderness Sutra first by quivering hand. Stroking the surface of the Great Wilderness Sutra, Yun Zhongzi read it without opening it. With red eyes, he put it back. Then, he took Cloud Crane''s letter, after reading which, he finally dropped off his tears.


    Watching Yun Zhongzi''s miserable look and his falling tears, Zhang Tie could only let out a sigh inside. Even the so-called sage-level knight had emotions and would feel sad sometimes.


    ''Oh, as Yun Zhongzi and Cloud Crane (Yun Hezi) are both disciples of Great Wilderness Sect and have similar literary names, they might know each other.'' Zhang Tie thought as he asked Yun Zhongzi about that.


    "Cloud Crane was my elder brother. He was kind and righteous. We joined the Great Wilderness Sect together!" Yun Zhongzi said as his voice turned hoarse, "This letter, head, could you please give it to me?"


    "If you want it, take it as a souvenir!" Zhang Tie showed his sympathy. Meanwhile, he put away the Great Wilderness Sutra again.


    "Head, it seems that you''re destined to be the new head of Great Wilderness Sect as you encountered the last alive person of Great Wilderness Sect!" Yun Zhongzi said as he put away Yun Zhongzi''s letter and hid his mournful look, recovering his composure gradually, "Even though being in the dilemma, my elder brother still didn''t think about promoting to a higher level; instead, he wanted to train mutated rats to restore the Great Wilderness Sect. It seems that we truly shouldn''t prioritize the Great Wilderness Sutra in the future..."


    "When the catastrophe facing Great Wilderness Sect happened, why didn''t Cloud Crane seek for protection in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect?"


    "This Dongtian is the most classified place of Great Wilderness Sect. It has too many secrets. Generally, disciples'' six senses should be isolated before they were led into the Dongtian by the guardian elder. Even though many disciples or elders had been here for more than once, they still didn''t know about the location of this Dongtian. Although Cloud Crane had been here once, after leaving here, he didn''t know its location either..."

 1573 The Unexpected Gods Will

    "Through strict selection and test, I was enrolled as the disciple of the guardian elder of the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. That''s to say, I''m going to be the next guardian elder of this Dongtian and could access to Dongtian for free. When the Great Wilderness Sect suffered the catastrophe, I was cultivating in the Dongtian, leaving merely one incarnation outside. Therefore, I survived that catastrophe!"


    "What about the guardian elder of Great Wilderness Sect?"


    "The guardian elder was also killed when he joined that party held by Great Wilderness Sect!"


    "I was told that someone of Great Wilderness Sect poisoned the drinks in the party so that many people were trapped without any preparation. Is that real?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "Yes, those people had long joined Great Wilderness Sect as disciples. The day when the Great Wilderness Sect suffered the catastrophe was the most festive opening day of the exchange meeting of Great Wilderness Sect. Almost all the elders and disciples joined it where they shared their animal controlling skills and their experience of incarnations as well as their discovery of mutated, fierce beasts in South Border. Those people stealthily put a colorless and tasteless rare poison in the food and drinks of elders and disciples of Great Wilderness Sect. Therefore, on the same evening, the poison suddenly broke out. Besides a minority, most of disciples and elders in the sect had lost their battle strength before being swept over!" Yun Zhongzi explained.


    Zhang Tie realized that the late Great Wilderness Sect was a real team of romanticists. They even regularly held the meeting to exchange the experience of the cultivation of Great Wilderness Sultra. It was a bit similar to the modern salon or forum. Gathering at one place, elders and disciples forgot about their identities as they exchanged experiences with each other freely. Such a gathering was almost impossible for other sects. However, everyone took it for granted in Great Wilderness Sect. Such a sect might be suitable to live in a prosperous world where humans and demons could completely coexist with each other. However, in this age, humans and demons were fighting each other while the ambitious men and conspirators surged here and there in Taixia Country. How could such an environment be available to the Shangrila that Great Wilderness Sect opened in South Border?


    "Did the former head or other elders of Great Wilderness Sec survive that catastrophe?"


    "After finding that they were poisoned and suffering the incursion of foreign enemy, the former head and many elders of Great Wilderness Sect exerted their final efforts to kill some rebels. Some of the elders and disciples were killed while the reminders didn''t succumb it even death as they all detonated the fatal witched insects or All-spirits Towers inside their bodies. The other disciples were killed by the invaders and fought the enemy to death as they swore to exist and perish with their sect..." Yun Zhongzi said in a sad tone, "That day, the Taishi Mountain where the Great Wilderness Sect was located was filled with blood. After sensing their owners'' death, the marvelous beasts that the elders and the disciples of Great Wilderness Sect incarnated incessantly rushed towards Taishi Mountain so as to protect the corpses of our elders and disciples while counterattacking the invaders. Finally, they all perished with the sect as a whole.


    At this moment, Yun Zhongzi looked up at the void in a distant look as if many scenes were flashing across his eyes. He then recalled what happened that night in an ethereal tone, "I had incarnated into a bird and was watching the Great Wilderness Sect being exterminated. I still remember that an elder was obsessed with controlling swallows for his whole life as the swallow king and always led the flock of swallows wandering in South Border. He looked for nests for swallows and cured them. That night, the elder exploded himself, causing over 1 million swifts flying out of the mountain caves outside Taishi Mountain and hit onto the Heavens Cliff where that elder committed suicide one after another like a dense cloud. After that, over 1 million dead swifts fell off the Heavens Cliff like rain and paved over the hillside. Previously, the rocks on the Heavens Cliff were grey. After that, the color of the rocks on the Heavenly Cliff turned red due to the blood of swifts.


    "There''s another junior fellow disciple who tamed a wolf pack. That night, the junior fellow disciple fought the invaders to death. At that time, the entire wolf pack rushed into Taishi Mountain to avenge. The last alive wolves found the junior fellow disciple''s corpse and carried it before diving into the bottomless abyss from the Cloud Platform on Taishi Mountain in case it was further humiliated..."


    As Yun Zhongzi recalled how the Great Wilderness Sect was exterminated, Zhang Tie really sensed the tragical situation facing Great Wilderness Sect that night. The pictures of the common death of humans, beasts and sect made Zhang Tie sigh.


    The Great Wilderness Sect might be loose in management and idealized view of reality; undeniably, it enabled the disciples of Great Wilderness Sect to be highly loyal to the sect. At the crucial moment, besides very few moles arranged by foreign forces, almost no disciples would like to betray the sect. As for the disciples who survived the catastrophe, such as Cloud Crane who escaped to Waii Subcontinent and still thought about restoring Great Wilderness Sect and Yun Zhongzi who didn''t know how many years had he stayed in the towers of time of this Dongtian. Not until he promoted to a sage-level knight did he set this trap and allure the enemies for revenge with the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect...


    Watching Yun Zhongzi''s young yet experienced face, Zhang Tie let out a sigh, saying, "According to you, after the catastrophe, you''ve been cultivating in this Dongtian. I wonder how many years have you stayed in the towers of time since you promoted to the sage-level knight?"


    "I stayed over 400 years in all the towers of time of this Dongtian before promoting to a sage-level knight. After that, I spent 100 years more on consolidating the cultivation base of the sage-level knight. I feel I''m going to touch the next realm. In addition, I''ve met a bottleneck in cultivation base and couldn''t move further within the towers of time. Therefore, I decided to exit the Dongtian and set this trap for revenge..." Yun Zhongzi said.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that he had stayed too long in towers of time. However, compared to Yun Zhongzi, he finally understood that someone was always sharper. What relentless spirit and perseverance was needed for one person to constantly sharpen himself in towers of time while bearing the loneliness for a long time!


    Watching Yun Zhongzi in front of him, Zhang Tie knew that Great Wilderness Sect might be destined to not exterminate due to its remaining facility. After the catastrophe, the God spared a bit vigor to Great Wilderness Sect. The obscure God''s will was really unexpectable and formidable.


    The realm above sage-level knight mentioned by Yun Zhongzi made Zhang Tie''s heart pound once...

 1574 The Far-ancient Classic

    "What''s the realm above the sage-level knight?"


    Zhang Tie asked Yun Zhongzi seriously as the answer was very important for him. Since he gained the fruit of redemption from saving humans and acquired the Class I universal consciousness, Zhang Tie had been troubled by this question. However, nobody on his side could give him an answer.


    Was there a greater realm above the sage-level knight and what on earth was that? Any knight at a high level like Zhang Tie couldn''t avoid it. Additionally, it was so attractive that people would also be trapped in this question. However, only very few people across Taixia Country could able to discuss this question.


    "I don''t know what on earth is the realm above sage-level knight, either!" Yun Zhongzi said as a confused look flashed across his face, adding, "Previously, I thought that the sage-level knight was the culmination of the cultivation of human knights. However, after forming the chakras of earth, water, wind and fire, mastering the strength of realm and consolidating the level of sage, I started to gradually feel that the so-called sage level might only be the ceiling of cultivators'' recognization about power system in this age. As most of the knights could hardly touch this ceiling, this ceiling becomes mysterious and high in the eyes of those knights and they call it sage. In fact, this ceiling is not the culmination knights'' power system; instead, it might only be a starting line!"


    "Similar to that when we completely lit our surging points, we thought we''ve reached the apex of fighters; however, it was just a beginning for a knight. Similarly, the completion of chakras of four elements might only be a starting point of a higher realm. To form four chakras, we could gain a foundation for ascending to a higher realm. Look at the tower of time, our space-teleportation equipment, those silver secret items that were passed from far-ancient times and those legendary gold secret items that very few people have seen, even immortal items, could all these items be controlled and created by sage-level knights? Of course not! Even the lowest-level baron-level secret knowledge that we cultivate couldn''t be created by a sage-level knight. The realm of the sage-level knight is definitely not the peak of power. Actually, there might be strength far greater than a sage-level knight on the side of demons behind the holy war..."


    Yun Zhongzi''s words aroused Zhang Tie''s resonance. Zhang Tie shared the same opinion with Yun Zhongzi in many aspects, "You''re right. Previously, I also thought that sage-level knight was the culmination of knight''s power; however, after mastering the ability of divine dominator and with the growing abilities, I gradually realized that I''m innocent about power. The real power is never purely destructive; instead, it''s one''s consciousness about universal rules and the ability to control them. Rules lead to realms while realms contained destruction and creation of power. What doubts me the most is that all the classics that our cultivation based on rarely mention the realm, power and cultivation methods after forming the four chakras. Therefore, it causes an illusion that sage-level knight is the culmination of power..."


    "The so-called sage-level knight is special in Black Iron Age. This name was granted by this age. In far-ancient times, this realm might have other names. Even knights that we call as powerful guys in this age had other names at other times. For instance, in the ancient times of Taixia Country, powerful ones were classified into deity, real man, immortal, taoist, sage and wisdom. Knight in modern times might be called wisdom in far-ancient times." Yun Zhongzi said as a bizarre, classic piece of crystal of secret knowledge appeared in his hand, "This piece of crystal is called "Secret Code in Peace Times". It was discovered together with Great Wilderness Sutra in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. It records some far-ancient things and contains the descriptions about deity, real man and immortal. You could take a look at it..."


    Zhang Tie then took that piece of crystal. Although he could use less spiritual energy, he would still check the contents of the crystal. After injecting some spiritual energy into it, he started to browse it...


    The contents of this book shocked Zhang Tie too much. In this book, the history of Hua people was divided into six historical phases in far-ancient times, namely phases respectively ruled by deities, real men, immortals, taoists, sages and wisdom. Each phase lasted at least tens of thousands of years, even millions of years. It was said that the age ruled by deities was the peak period of Hua people. Deities came from galaxies, who could easily fly across the sea of stars. Only by waving their hands, deities could shatter stars, break the void, shape the world and create living beings. Deities dominated the sky in a supreme position. By contrast, in the period dominated by real men, all the real men had lost the abilities to fly across the sea of stars; they couldn''t fully live without earth. They even lost the greatest ability to create living beings. However, real men still had very great abilities as they could also renovate topography and create various magical rarities using bizarre metals and minerals in the earth. However, the rarities that real men created were just used to pursue the ability of deities. Therefore, real men dominated the earth. When it came to the period dominated by immortals, immortals'' abilities gradually weakened as they could only manifest their dignity by arousing wind, rain, thunder, bolt, volcanic eruption, earthquake and tsunami. The periods dominated by taoists and sages weakened much more. They even lost the ability to manipulate wind, rain and bolt. The tools and instruments created by taoists and sages were also used for pursuing and imitating predecessor''s abilities. When it came to the period of sage, sages could only fight wild beasts with bare hands and foot and manage the people. Many powerful wild beasts in the period of sage were created by deities...


    One line in the Secret Code in Peaceful Times spirited Zhang Tie. The most powerful sages and wisdoms might sense a bit of the ability of immortals as they could manipulate wind and thunder...


    ''F*ck, doesn''t it mean the realm of interaction between human knights and the universe? It turns out that this state indicates that I only sense a bit of the power of immortal. Attention, it''s only "a bit"...''


    In the secret book, deities were the most powerful ones. The age of deities were the most powerful periods. The fall of the period of deities was caused by the war between two deities, Gong Gong and Zhu Rong who were both deities...


    Instead of being water deity and fire deity as they were usually considered in later myths of Hua people; precisely, the two heads of deities should be contradictory to each other just like water and fire...


    The so-called deity, real man, immortal, taoist, sage and wisdom were just names, which could be renamed as bird man, bear man, tiger man, ox man, robot man, auto man or what. Their names didn''t count at all and wouldn''t influence their existence. Take many names for knights in this age as an instance, knights were actually hatchet men and violent machines. You could name or classify them as you wanted, such as gold-medal hatchet men, silver-medal hatchet men, copper-medal hatchet men or class I violent machine, class II violent machine, whatever it was. What counted most behind these divisions were the realms and abilities that these people with different levels in different historical periods owned...


    "Far-ancient times was divided into periods of deities, real men, immortals, taoists, sages and wisdoms in the book Secret Code in Peaceful Times, which reminded Zhang Tie of the periods of deities, gold, silver, bronze, heroes and black iron which were divided in western myths and legends that Zhang Tie once read in Waii Subcontinent. The descriptions and memories about powers in far-ancient times were similar in civilizations of different backgrounds. It was never simply a coincidence...

 1575 It Would be Fine If Theres No Greater Realm

    The stories in the book Secret Code in Peaceful Times were indeed enlightening and made people open-minded. Perhaps people could get much secret knowledge about far-ancient times from this book. However, as for all the people in this age, including those top knights in this age, the most attractive point in the book Secret Code in Peaceful Times was merely the next realm after the sage.


    As for the legends about deities, real men, immortals, taoists, sages and wisdoms, they were useless and could only be taken as the balderdash of lunatics if they couldn''t be used to resolve the puzzle facing all knights, to kill the demons army on the west bank of Weishui River, to make them more powerful, to help them rob money, land and women. Too many similar myths could be found on each continent. In the final analysis, it was knights who ruled this world; instead of those ethereal things in far-ancient times. Established on the societal relations and various superstructures, knights'' power system was irresistible even facing the demons army.


    Knights were the most realistic, powerful and wisest ones in this age, including Zhang Tie who wouldn''t easily get lost in those far-ancient legends.


    After browsing the Secret Code in Peaceful Times, Zhang Tie withdrew his spiritual energy from the piece of crystal as he gradually recovered his composure, before asking Yun Zhongzi, "As you''re already a sage-level knight and are on the highest position among knights, now that you''ve sensed that bottleneck, do you know how to break it?"


    "I don''t know. As a sage-level knight, you might be standing at the highest peak..." Yun Zhongzi sighed, "Only when one becomes a sage-level knight could he understand that it''s lonely to be in a high position. After completely consolidating their sage level, each sage-level knight could sense the ceiling above them. Although they could touch that hard ceiling, they could barely break it. It appears to be a new world above it. You just look around the clouds and mountains in confusion; however, you couldn''t find any stairs and roads leading to the next level. You might also sense helplessness and frustration in the future..."


    "Isn''t there really any road above sage-level knight?"


    "Yes, after promoting to a sage-level knight, you would find no road ahead in cultivation. You couldn''t know the level after a sage-level knight from any classic secret knowledge!"


    After being silent for a short while, Zhang Tie suddenly burst into laughter as if he was very happy. Yun Zhongzi watched Zhang Tie with a confounded look as Yun Zhongzi himself was also puzzled when he touched the ceiling.


    "Head, why are you so happy?"


    "Hahaha, of course, I''m happy. It''s good news for me..." Zhang Tie replied as he burst into laughter and almost danced, "It''s good if there''s no more road after the sage-level knight. It means that these old guys who have promoted to sage-level knights...ahem...ahem...I''m sorry, not including you, would not improve their power any more even after 1,000 years. They are just waiting for me. After I promote to a sage-level knight and consolidate my realm, with the means of the divine dominator, I could beat whoever I want. By then, no old guys would dare neglect or offend me. Of course, I should be happy. Previously, I was worried about old monsters above sage-level knights in the top six sects. Now that there was no higher level, all of them would have to respect me in the future. Why not be happy?"


    "Head, aren''t you anxious?" Yun Zhongzi goggled at Zhang Tie like watching an alien as he added, "Head, based on your qualifications, power and resources, you could promote to a sage-level knight sooner or later. By then, head, you couldn''t improve your battle strength either; nor could you ascend to a higher realm!"


    "Do people have to ascend to a higher realm?" Zhang Tie hid his smile as he refuted Yun Zhongzi.


    "Yes, for knights and cultivators like us!"


    "What do we ascend to a higher realm for?"


    "Of course by ascending to a higher realm we could grow more and more powerful and be free from the universal law one day!" Yun Zhongzi replied without demur.


    "Be free from the universal laws. Good reason!" Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile at his mouth corners as he continued, "If all the contents of the Secret Code in Peaceful Times are real, as was recorded, deities or those deities in far-ancient times are the highest realms that we could reach through cultivation, do you think whether they have been free from universal laws as they could fly across galaxies, break the void, shape the world and create various living beings?"


    "Of course they were!"


    "If so, why would wars break out among deities? Why would Gong Gong and Zhu Rong fight each other? Now that there are wars and battles, it indicates that those deities were not all-mighty; nor could they do whatever they want at any moment. If they really lived in such a self-sufficient state and were really free from the universal laws, there would be no war between them. Nor would enemies exist. If so, they didn''t need to feel comfortable or prove something by destroying their opponents. Am I right?"


    Yun Zhongzi was stunned as he had not imagined that Zhang Tie could view this question in this manner. However, he couldn''t refute Zhang Tie at all. Now that deities should also fight, struggle and kill others, it meant that deities didn''t live well either. If so, why did they have to pursue such a supreme realm?


    "Therefore, people are not living for ascending to a higher realm as it might be an endless way. If you could reach that level, the others could also reach that level. After that, two of you would dislike each other and fight again. What was the meaning of the fight? Is it the purpose of one''s life?"


    "If so, head, what do you think people live for?" Yun Zhongzi refuted Zhang Tie.


    Spreading his arms, Zhang Tie said, "It''s very simple. People are living for a better life. As long as you could help yourself and those on your side to live better, although in many states and levels, at least, you would not be bullied by others; nor would you have to worry about losing your life every once a while; at least you could live with great respect, rich clothes and food. Additionally, you could stay with the ones you like and your family. As for me, the above is the meaning of life. If someone could enable others to live better besides himself, it would be better. Isn''t our cultivation and the war between us and demons are for better living rights?


    At least for me, as long as I promote to a sage-level knight, I would be able to make everything above come true and have no rivals anymore. Therefore, as for me, the road of cultivation after sage-level knight doesn''t work at all. It would be best without it. I don''t care about the periods of deities, real men or immortals. It''s not bad for weakening people''s abilities from ages to ages. After all, neither demons nor I have them. We''re even. Neither do we admire each other. I only expect to promote to a sage level knight when I would be the boss of this age. I don''t care about those things in far-ancient times. Besides immortals, Pangu in ancient Hua times was also the creator who was said to split the universe into sky and earth by ax. Do I have to practice ax skills? Even if I practice it for over 1 million years, I wouldn''t be as giant as Pangu. When I die, I''m afraid that I would be nothing but ash. There might be some roundworms in my belly, which I don''t think could become sun, moons, stars, mountains, rivers and earth as was recorded in legends. Am I right..."

 1576 Gold Sage and Silver Sage

    As for Yun Zhongzi, since the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect, he had been bearing the humiliation and the heavy burden while cultivating in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect alone. In order to reinvigorate the sect, the entire meaning of his life was to cultivate and grow stronger.


    Undoubtedly, Zhang Tie''s words were a great wallop against him.


    Before meeting Zhang Tie, Yun Zhongzi couldn''t imagine that someone in this world didn''t want to make further progress after promoting to a sage-level knight. Zhang Tie was really a freak!


    As for Zhang Tie, cultivation was just for a better life; instead of growing stronger. Zhang Tie''s opinion completely reversed Yun Zhongzi''s life philosophy and world view.


    "Head, don''t you want to grow stronger?"


    "What do you mean by growing stronger?" Zhang Tie refuted, "In this age, the sage-level knight is the strongest. Therefore, I feel it would be great when I promote to a sage-level knight. I only need to be more powerful than the other sages, humans or demons. I don''t need to care too much about others. Even if there''s much greater power behind demons, so what? Have demons or humans perished after two holy wars? Have we seen any power above sage-level knight on the battlefields? Therefore, even if there''s a power above the sage-level knight behind demons, I guess the use of the special power must be limited to many aspects. Demons couldn''t use it for free. Otherwise, holy wars would not have lasted for so many years. Over these years, even though that power was helping demons, it didn''t enable demons to acquire an overwhelming advantage over humans. That''s the point! Therefore, I could neglect it. As for now, which one do you think is the largest threat facing Taixia Country, the power above sage-level knight or the demon army on the west bank of Weishui River? Undoubtedly, the answer is the second one. As long as the number of human sage-level knights is two times more than that of demon sage-level knights, we would be able to solve the problem. High-level power doesn''t suit all situations..."


    When Zhang Tie realized that he couldn''t get any fruit from the small tree by killing demon knights, he had guessed that there might be a greater power behind demons. This guess once made Zhang Tie restless in a period. However, after a few years, Zhang Tie had been gradually used to it. He had understood that he didn''t need to fear about it even if there was a greater power behind demons. The existence of this greater power was utterly different than fully displaying it in front of humans. He only needed to deal with the power displayed by demons.


    It was similar to the sun in the sky. Although the sun was very powerful and to a certain degree very perilous as the surface of Sun could even vaporize steel and sage-level knights due to its high temperature. So what? Although sometimes the hot sun could cause drought and high temperature even various abnormal climates, that was all that the sun could present its power to the secular world. It didn''t matter if you couldn''t deal with the powerful sun, and it would be fine if you could deal with the greatest power that the sun presented to you.


    Although the sun was powerful, it was also limited to the universal laws as it could only rotate in the fixed orbit. In this world, every power would be restricted. As long as you didn''t lose your mind wanting to fight the sun in its orbit and splitting it into two halves, sometimes, its threat could be resolved only by an umbrella, an ice cake or a bowl of iced sour plum soup. No matter what you did, the sun wouldn''t bite you, right?


    This was Zhang Tie''s life philosophy.


    Through reading the Secret Code in Peaceful Times, Zhang Tie confirmed that there might be some deities, real men and immortals behind demons. However, now that those powerful civilizations could be replaced by modern civilizations, there must be deep reasons. Even though Zhang Tie was weaker than them, it didn''t matter as he only needed to handle the threat facing Taixia Country and humans. Being similar to the sun, the powerful existences would also face the constraint of powerful rules, which was always the universal law.


    As long as Zhang Tie recovered his power and promoted to a sage-level knight, all the problems would be resolved.


    At least now, Zhang Tie didn''t find what he couldn''t resolve after promoting to a sage-level knight. If there was, plus his ability as a divine dominator and the power of the small tree.


    Even though Yun Zhongzi didn''t agree with Zhang Tie, he could also sense his great confidence through Zhang Tie''s words.


    "However, there are indeed higher realms above sage-level knight. We shouldn''t evade it as knights."


    "I''m not evading it. I''m just facing reality. We don''t have the road leading to that realm, neither do demons have I think. Even there is, it might not be that easy to reach that realm. If the realm couldn''t be duplicated, it could only be a legend. When far-ancient civilizations cascade like waterfall one level after another, causing sharp differences between energy levels of civilizations, there must be deep reasons and greater rules on its back. Anyone would be trivial in front of such a power or rule. I don''t repel that realm; I also want to reach a higher place. One day, if that road could appear in front of us and enable every sage-level knight to further ascend, of course, I would have a try like what others do. However, it was too unrealistic for me to pursue that realm. It''s nothing different than wasting time. It''s meaningless to do that. If I''m already a sage-level knight, the most meaningful thing for me is to exit here and tell the others that we''re going to reinvigorate Great Wilderness Sect tomorrow!"


    "Head, you might be right. However, the meaning of my life is to grow stronger than the sage-level knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion. I would not give up..." Yun Zhongzi said decisively as he lowered his head and watched the cup of spirit, "After this thing comes to an end and head takes over the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion would definitely find me trouble. I would go to the realm of deities where I might get a bit chance to improve my battle strength. If I could break through the sage-level knight before you promote to a sage-level knight, I would come back and reconstruct Great Wilderness Sect aboveboard. By the way, I would sweep over Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion and cleaned up all the forces that once joined the action in exterminating Great Wilderness Sect..."


    ''Realm of Deities?''


    It was Zhang Tie''s second time to hear it since he heard that his master Alchemist Demon Zhao Yuan was going to the Realm of Deities.


    "Realm of Deities, what''s that?" Zhang Tie asked Yun Zhongzi out of curiosity.


    "Realm of Deities is a mysterious and perilous land in the Earth-element Realm. It''s said that it''s the ruins and battlefield of far-ancient civilizations. Until today, there''re still numerous sites and traces of battles between powers tens of thousands of years ago according to the secret information in the Great Wilderness Sect when it existed. It''s said that many things of far-ancient times are left in the realm of deities, which might contain the clues on how to break through sage-level knight. However, that place is too precarious. Those who could enter it are at least heavenly knights!"


    "Are there many powerhouses over there?"


    "It''s said that the sage-level knights of the top sects of Taixia Country and many heavenly human knights usually enter the Realm of Deities. Besides, even heavenly demon knights and sage-level demon knights could always be seen there!"


    "What if you met the sage-level knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion over there? Isn''t it dangerous?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Yun Zhongzi revealed a confident smile, saying, "Head, as long as you promote to a sage-level knight, you would know that it''s very difficult for a sage-level knight to be killed by another sage-level knight. Each sage-level realm is a powerful asylum like what you see now. If I was besieged by three sage-level knights, I might not defeat them; however, I could escape and they could barely stop me!"


    "If so, take care of yourself. Oh, if you met Alchemist Devil Zhao Yuan in the Realm of Deities, avoid conflicts with him!"


    "Alchemist Devil Zhao Yuan?" Yun Zhongzi frowned as he seemed to know who was Zhao Yuan, "What''s the relation between you and him, head?"


    "He''s my master!" Zhang Tie said frankly. It was not a big deal for Zhang Tie to expose this secret to Yun Zhongzi. After all, they were both rivals of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion now. Zhang Tie replied straightforwardly, "When I was in Waii Subcontinent, before promoting to a knight, I had already known him and become his apprentice. You''re the first one who knows the relation between Zhao Yuan and me!"


    After knowing Zhang Tie''s "secret", Yun Zhongzi nodded seriously as he said, "Realm of Deities is very large. It''s almost impossible for two strangers to meet each other there. However, don''t worry, head, if I met him, I would never break out conflict with him!"


    "That''s fine!"


    Yun Zhongzi then remained silent. After waving his hands towards the sky, the two destructive boas as long as 100 m instantly broke the fog in the sky as they flew towards Yun Zhongzi and Zhang Tie.


    "The two boas are sacred items of Great Wilderness Sect. They were found here together with the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. They always guarded the Dongtian. Barbarians in South Border who knew a bit of the history of Great Wilderness Sect once called them destructive boas due to fear. Actually, we call them gold sage and silver sage in Great Wilderness Sect. As the Dongtian had been exposed to the public and I''ve already promoted to a sage-level knight, it''s useless for them to continue to stay here with me. From now on, the gold sage and the silver sage would follow head as good helpers..."

 1577 The Method of Owner Authentication

    As Yun Zhongzi introduced it, the two boas gave out brilliant lights in the sky while their bodies constantly shrunk.


    Zhang Tie was a bit curious about such a wonderful scene. Although Zhang Tie had seen the world and a myriad of animals on the earth, underground and in water, it was his first time to see two boas changing their sizes casually.


    It appeared that the two boas were completely made of metal. Besides their abilities of flight and changing size, Zhang Tie even felt the rocking four elements. When they expanded, the four elements in the void started to gather up like solid silver secret items; when they shrunk, a part of their bodies would disperse in terms of four elements.


    That was too marvelous. The secrets of life were really endless.


    "Have the two boas been guarding the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect since the beginning?''


    "Yes, they have!"


    "If so, before they were discovered in the Dongtian, what did they eat over the past tens of thousands of years? I don''t think any living being could live without supplementing any energy."


    When Zhang Tie said, gold sage and silver sage had already turned as small as ordinary snakes as they were flying around Yun Zhongzi. Zhang Tie just watched them with strong interest without any fear. Even though he knew that the two snakes could kill a heavenly knight in a split second, Zhang Tie still didn''t feel anxious at all when he saw the two snakes moving on his side. Since he started to cultivate King Roc Sutra, Zhang Tie had found that he didn''t fear any snake or insect anymore.


    "Head, before you entered this Dongtian, did you notice Centralpillar Mountain which was highly magnetic within 600 miles?"


    "Yes, I did. Why?"


    "It sounds a bit strange that gold sage and silver sage eat a kind of extremely high magnetic core in the hinterland of Centralpillar Mountain. The entire Centralpillar Mountain is equal to a huge piece of magnet while this kind of magnetic core was a highly magnetic crystal, especially in Centralpillar Mountain. Its magnetic power is over 1,000 times higher than that of an ordinary magnet. Gold sage and silver sage like to eat them. After so many years, they almost eat up the core of the entire Centralpillar Mountain!"


    As Yun Zhongzi said, he waved his hand while two black grape-sized crystals appeared in his hand. At the sight of the two pieces of magnetic crystals, the two snakes instantly sped up as they waved their tails in a way as if they were waiting for Yun Zhongzi to feed them.


    However, Yun Zhongzi gave the two pieces of magnetic crystals to Zhang Tie so that Zhang Tie could observe it carefully.


    They felt as heavy as mithril, even heavier than gold. Being similar to black crystal in appearance, they were slightly transparent. Additionally, there were many beautiful spiral grains inside the magnetic crystals.


    "How many magnetic crystals would the two snakes eat per year?" Zhang Tie asked Yun Zhongzi.


    "Gold sage and silver sage only need to eat one piece of magnetic crystal per three months respectively. Of course, they would not refuse it if you feed them more; instead, they would be happier about that!"


    "How many magnetic crystals are left in the Centralpillar Mountain? Haven''t they eaten up all of them over so many years?"


    "It''s hard to describe. The point is that the entire Centralpillar Mountain could produce magnetic crystals each year in the hinterland like how shells could produce pearls in the ocean. It''s enough to feed them. You could try to feed them so that they could be familiar with you!"


    "Haha, fine, I will have a try..." Zhang Tie opened his palm with two magnetic cores on it as he prepared to feed them. The two snakes then flew towards Zhang Tie from Yun Zhongzi''s side. Strangely, when they were about 3 cm away from Zhang Tie''s palm, they flew backward abruptly as if they were startled.


    Such a situation stunned Zhang Tie slightly. Yun Zhongzi also goggled as he murmured, "Yi, that''s strange. Head, gold sage and silver sage appeared to be a bit afraid of you. Gold sage and silver sage have bizarre and sensitive sensing capability which could even match that of heavenly knights. In some apsects, they''re even greater than heavenly knights. Head, do you carry some rarity with you? I think that thing could scare away snakes or insects. That''s why the two snakes are so afraid of you. Such situation has not happened before!"


    As Yun Zhongzi asked, Zhang Tie instantly realized that it was not because of some rarity, but because that the two snakes sensed the qi of King Roc Sutra, which could scare off dragons or snakes like how slaves felt in front of their owner. Therefore, the two snakes moved backward.


    "All right, you''d better do that on behalf of me!" Zhang Tie said with a smile as he gave the two magnetic cores back to Yun Zhongzi.


    "Head, I''m afraid that they have not identified you as their owner. After identifying you as their owner, they would not be scared of you!"


    "How do they identify their owner?"


    "Head, as long as you release the fundamental seal of your All-spirits Tower in the method of bloody seal and have gold sage and silver sage eat it, they would identify you as their owner. From then on, they would understand you. Head could also control the entire Dongtian through them!"


    "They could be used to control the Dongtian?"


    "Yes, gold sage and silver sage are closely related to the Dongtian like a unity. They''re the highest control center of Dongtian. Only by controlling them could you really manipulate the entire Dongtian. However, I''m afraid that nobody else could imagine that it''s two mutated snakes who control this Dongtian!" Yun Zhongzi said as he made a hand gesture according to Great Wilderness Sutra, continuing, "Gold sage and silver sage still carry my fundamental bloody seal. After a while, I will withdraw my fundamental bloody seal from them. By then, head, you could plant your fundamental bloody seal in..."


    "Good!" Zhang Tie nodded as he let out a sigh inside. ''Thankfully, the execution of fundamental bloody seal wouldn''t cost him too much spiritual energy. Actually, the fundamental bloody seal has already existed when he formed his All-spirits Tower in mind sea. As for those who cultivate Great Wilderness Sect, each person has different fundamental bloody seal in their All-spirits Tower, just like individual fingerprints and DNA. Although the method of bloody seal transfer would consume a bit of his fresh blood, it''s not a big deal compared to the benefits it would bring to me...''

 1578 Mutation of Gold Sage and Silver Sage

    "Come out..." Yun Zhongzi uttered as he pinched his fingers while a shrewd light flashed across his eyes. At the same time, light and shadow of All-spirits Tower loomed on his forehead. He then pointed at the two snakes, which then instantly became still in the air. After that, a pentagon loomed on the two snakes'' skin.


    There were sophisticated and mysterious geometric grains in the pentagons, including fish scale, claw, feather and horn. Being integrated with the pentagons, these mysterious grains formed the fundamental bloody seal of each one''s All-spirits Tower. In Great Wilderness Sect, the fundamental bloody seal was like a unique symbol of each disciple, which would be used when executing many secret methods of Great Wilderness Sect.


    While giving out scarlet light, the fundamental bloody seal in the All-spirits Tower slowly came out of the two snakes'' bodies and showed its completeness.


    "Disperse!" As Yun Zhongzi uttered, the fundamental bloody seal disappeared from the two snakes at a stroke.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie on Yun Zhongzi''s side also revealed light and shadow of All-spirits Tower on his forehead. After pinching his fingers like Yun Zhongzi, Zhang Tie also uttered "Come out" as a fundamental bloody seal giving out white light appeared in the void in front of Zhang Tie.


    The fundamental bloody seal of Zhang Tie was also a pentagon in shape like that of Yun Zhongzi. However, Yun Zhongzi''s pentagon was much larger than that of Zhang Tie''s. The mysterious grains in their fundamental bloody seals were also utterly different.


    When the light and shadow of his fundamental bloody seal appeared, Zhang Tie broke the tip of his tongue as he sprayed some blood onto his fundamental bloody seal, causing it to give out brilliant red light at once.


    "Go..." Zhang Tie uttered as he pointed at the two snakes while his fundamental bloody seal divided into two and flew towards the two snakes at once.


    Right then, something unexpected happened.


    Normally, after Zhang Tie executed his fundamental bloody seal, the fundamental bloody seal would lurk into the two snakes which symbolized the completion of this rite. However, when Zhang Tie''s fundamental bloody seal arrived at the front of the two snakes, the two snakes instantly gave out brilliant gold light and silver light as they fixed their eyes onto the fundamental bloody seal as if they were very thrilled; actually, they were almost driven mad. Finally, before the fundamental bloody seal lurked into their bodies, they had widely opened their mouths and engulfed it.


    Zhang Tie was shocked by such a scene as he thought that something was wrong with his secret method. After all, it was his first time to execute this secret method. He was not sure whether there was something wrong with his manipulation. Scratching his head, he looked at Yun Zhongzi, saying, "Erm, is there anything wrong with my method? It appears to be a bit different than the implementation of the rite recorded in Great Wilderness Sutra." According to the Great Wilderness Sutra, the fundamental bloody seal would lurk in the body of the animal that it is going to control. I don''t remember that there''s such description that fundamental bloody seal would be engulfed by the animal..."


    Heavily frowning, Yun Zhongzi stroked his beard as he watched the two snakes giving out brilliant light, saying, "That''s indeed weird...I''ve not heard that gold sage and silver sage could engulf fundamental bloody seal. There''s nothing wrong with your execution of fundamental bloody seal, but what''s the reason..."


    Soon after Yun Zhongzi''s words, he widely opened his eyes as he watched gold sage and silver sage.


    No sooner had they engulfed Zhang Tie''s fundamental bloody seal, the two snakes had given out brighter light while twisting with each other like mating. At the same time, they grew increasingly larger and became longer than 100 m like before. In addition, their scales started to bulge with cracking sounds like numerous gongs were rubbing with each other.


    With a sound of "Gua..." The two snakes tweeted in unison as they grew increasingly larger. As a result, the deep-well like valley where Zhang Tie and Yun Zhongzi were in couldn''t hold them. Closely after that, they skyrocketed and flew out of the valley like rockets before entering the sky. Only after a short while, they had become longer than 200 m. Meanwhile, their golden light and silver light turned brighter like sun and moons were breaking out of their bodies. The brilliant light caused Zhang Tie and Yun Zhongzi to close their eyes.


    Right in the brilliant light, the two snakes twisted their bodies in the sky, casting off their scales like snowflakes.


    The two snakes were molting.


    The falling golden scales and silver scales were like numerous golden and silver meteors. Giving out brilliant light, they all flew away from the two snakes, burning and converting into fiery rain full of four elements in the sky before dispersing in the realm of Yun Zhongzi.


    The change shocked Yun Zhongzi''s realm as a whole while the green light in his realm was dwarfed by golden light and silver light and the meteor-like fiery rain over the sky...


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Zhang Tie and Yun Zhongzi both saw surprises and puzzles from the opponent.


    ...


    At the same time, over 10,000 knights outside Yun Zhongzi''s realm were also goggling at the change in the realm with awe and surprise.


    As for those knights outside the realm, they shouldn''t see the change inside the sage''s realm; however, unknowingly, they could see the change in color in that realm at this moment as the brilliant golden and silver light tinted the entire realm with changing glaze.


    In the changing golden light and silver light, the knights outside the realm could faintly see two terrifying huge boas tumbling and struggling in the realm. Meanwhile, they saw flames and meteors over the sky in the realm...


    All the knights outside the realm interpreted it as that Immortal Qianji was carrying out a heavy battle with the two boas and that old douchebag.


    "Look at the marvelous kill of the divine dominator. Immortal Qianji has already executed his skill as a divine dominator..."


    "Aah, that''s great..."


    "Immortal Qianji is really the number one knight in Taixia Country..."


    Some knights exclaimed which instantly won the support of the surroundings.


    However, such an effect was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination, either...


    ...

 1579 The Return of Zhang Ties Power

    Under the gaze of Zhang Tie and Yun Zhongzi, the two boas constantly cast off their scales. As a result, the entire sage''s realm became a huge colorful egg reflected by various colorful lights. When the two snakes completely cast off their skins, the hundreds of meters long skins burned up in the sky, turning into colorful four elements before dispersing in the sky. Such a scene was really like a doomsday.


    Besides having new skins and scales, the two snakes had two evidently bulged horns on their heads. In addition, Zhang Tie noticed that the two snakes changed their way of movement. Previously, the two snakes moved forward by twisting their bodies left and right; now, they started to twist up and down.


    Unless being blind, everyone knew that they were evolving.


    "Aah, that''s unbelievable..." Yun Zhongzi was stunned as he murmured facing the flying fiery rain of four elements and the extremely brilliant golden and silver lights.


    "Didn''t Great Wilderness know that the two snakes...erm, gold sage and silver sage could evolve themselves..."


    "I have no idea. Gold sage and silver sage might have already lived tens of thousands of years; by contrast, Great Wilderness Sect''s life is too short. Therefore, Great Wilderness Sect couldn''t fully understand them. Gold sage and silver sage are the sacred items of Great Wilderness Sect. We''ve never imagined that gold sage and silver sage could evolve one day..." Yun Zhongzi said as he suddenly recalled something, turned around and looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes, "It''s your blood, something is wrong with your blood. There''s nothing wrong with the process of the execution of your fundamental bloody seal. Many people in Great Wilderness Sect have executed the same secret method; however, none of them could cause such a great change in gold sage and silver sage. The only difference between you and the former elders of Great Wilderness Sect lies in your blood when you executed your fundamental bloody seal. Due to the specialty of your bloody, gold sage and silver sage would like to engulf your blood and, as a result, evolve themselves..."


    "My blood?" Zhang Tie became slightly shocked as he asked by pointing at his own nose.


    "Yes, it''s your blood. Your blood must contain some vital energy for gold sage and silver sage. Only with this reason could we interpret everything in front of us..." Yun Zhongzi confirmed.


    "But I didn''t find anything wrong with my blood since I was born..." Zhang Tie scratched his head helplessly while the current situation puzzled him too much. He had not imagined that his blood could be a great tunic for gold sage and silver sage. ''Motherf*cking, that''s too far-stretched. Why have I not discovered it over so many years?''


    "That''s weird. Is there any mysterious energy and gene of your ancestral bloodline in your blood..."


    After hearing Yun Zhongzi''s words, Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he thought about a possibility.


    ''Is...is that because of King Roc Sutra...''


    ''Since I started cultivating King Roc Sutra, my body has become the incarnation of king roc to a certain degree and is nothing different than that of king roc. It''s King Roc Sutra which grants my blood with such bizarre energy. It''s said that king roc eats dragons like how chicks peak rice. What if the process becomes converse? What if fierce beasts such as dragons or snakes eat king roc or drink the blood of king roc? Would it be an amazing effect?''


    As Zhang Tie thought, the fiery rain of four elements disappeared while the gold sage and silver sage who had completed their evolution flew downwards. At the same time, they instantly shrunk and became dozens of meters in length and flew towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie''s consciousness was also connected with that of the two snakes at a stroke. All the information in the Dongtian poured into Zhang Tie''s mind sea at the same time.


    There was too much information pouring into Zhang Tie''s mind sea, which contained everything about this Dongtian, including the number of floors, the quantity of towers of time, the amount of puppets in each floor, the number of portals and how to control the hub of the entire Dongtian through consciousness so as to manipulate each portal and puppet in it for free...


    What shocked Zhang Tie most was the entrance above the Dongtian which was called Mire of Thunder Fire. The entire Mire of Thunder Fire was not dead; instead, it was almost like a living being. According to Zhang Tie''s demand, Mire of Thunder Fire could change the location of the entrance or completely close the tunnel leading to Dongtian...


    When the two snakes approached Zhang Tie, they had been only as long as two chopsticks. Flying around Zhang Tie, they didn''t forget to rub Zhang Tie every once a while as if they were spoiled. They had completely neglected Yun Zhongzi as if the latter was just an onlooker.


    Yun Zhongzi watched all this with an amazed look. As a sage who had already reached a high realm of Great Wilderness Sutra, Yun Zhongzi instantly sensed the relation between gold sage and silver sage and Zhang Tie. It was definitely not the effect of the fundamental bloody seal which had actually already lost its effect in gold sage and silver sage. Additionally, from today on, nobody''s fundamental bloody seal would take effect on them, because gold sage and silver sage had already identified Zhang Tie as their owner. It was a senior connection between souls like that between the parent bewitched insects and their owner. This effect was even deeper than that of the fundamental bloody seal. Gold sage and silver sage had already connected their fate with Zhang Tie. From now on, they would follow Zhang Tie''s order. If Zhang Tie perished, they would perish too.


    "Erm...I don''t know either..." Zhang Tie looked at Yun Zhongzi who was suddenly forgotten by the two snakes as he said bashfully.


    "It seems that head is destined to rule Great Wilderness Sect..." Yun Zhongzi sighed as he nodded, saying, "In the future, I believe that Great Wilderness Sect would definitely reinvigorate under your rule, head..."


    "Hmm, erm, I will try my best..." Zhang Tie said as he stretched out two palms so that gold sage and silver sage could land on his palms. To be honest, Zhang Tie was not a bit afraid of the two snakes at all. Neither did he feel disgusted about them; instead, Zhang Tie felt their bodies were full of beautiful metallic texture as they felt like movable sculptures. What was more, after completing their evolution, the two snakes had already grown out two small horns on their heads while their tails became a bit flat. They looked pretty adorable.


    At this moment, the two snakes appeared being a bit afraid of Zhang Tie. Watching Zhang Tie stretching out his palms, they flew around Zhang Tie for a few more circles before meticulously landing on his palms.


    After that, the two snakes started to climb upwards towards Zhang Tie''s shoulder along his arms. Meanwhile, their bodies gradually turned virtual like the original body of silver secret items. Actually, they turned into two illuminous objects as they further shrunk. Like two earthworms, they instantly lurked into Zhang Tie''s body despite Zhang Tie''s surprise.


    ''What does that mean?''


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel that they would hurt him; instead, he felt their excitement. When they lurked into Zhang Tie''s body, it felt like how Zhang Tie put away two original objects of silver secret items.


    ''Do the two snakes plan to settle down in my body like those silver secret items being absorbed by knights? Wouldn''t they become my roundworms by then?''


    When Zhang Tie was thinking about it, he found that the two illuminous objects of the two snakes were swimming towards his mind sea and qi sea. The golden snake was targeting at his mind sea while the silver one was targeting at his qi sea.


    ''Wait, won''t they be absorbed or hurt by the black hole in my mind sea and qi sea?''


    Before Zhang Tie ordered them to stop, the two snakes had already reached his mind sea and qi sea. After circling around the two black holes which were constantly engulfing Zhang Tie''s energy for a short while, the gold snake twisted its body around the black hole in Zhang Tie''s mind sea like catching prey while the silver one twisted its body around the black hole in Zhang Tie''s qi sea. Closely after that, the two snakes widely opened their mouths as they started to gnaw the two black holes bit by bit...


    This scene shocked Zhang Tie so much as he watched the two snakes gnawing the two black holes in his body.


    The two black holes were engulfing Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy and his battle qi while the two snakes were engulfing the two black holes.


    As the two black holes were gradually engulfed by the two snakes, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy and battle qi started to gurgle out of his mind sea and qi sea bit by bit like an underground fountain, lubricating the mind sea and qi sea which had been dry for so long. As a result, his mind sea and qi sea gradually became energetic.


    It felt like a walker having a cold, sweet drink in the desert. It was so yummy and unforgettable...


    The long-awaited power, the great battle qi of a shadow knight and the terrifying spiritual energy of a divine dominator were gradually coming back to Zhang Tie bit by bit.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how long had he been immersed in such a pleasure. Not until the two snakes completely engulfed the two black holes his mind sea and qi sea and left there did Zhang Tie recover his composure.


    At that time, one-third of Zhang Tie''s qi sea had already been filled with battle qi. Not knowing whether it was because that his mind sea and qi sea had been thirsty for so long, at this moment, Zhang Tie felt his spiritual energy and battle qi was returning five times faster than that before. They were blowing out constantly as if he had taken some senior medicament.


    After leaving Zhang Tie''s qi sea and mind sea, the two snakes swam out of Zhang Tie''s nostrils at the same time. After coming out, their light gradually faded away as they both turned solid. With a satisfied look, the two snakes swam towards Zhang Tie''s left wrist in an adorable way. After that, the golden snake bit the silver one''s tail while the latter bit the golden one''s tail. Circling Zhang Tie''s left wrist, they recovered the original look of the totem of Great Wilderness Sect and became still.


    Raising his left hand, Zhang Tie watched the two snakes as he felt like wearing a delicate snake-shaped bracelet made of gold and silver. If not know the identities of the two snakes, everyone would treat it as a bizarre metal bracelet.


    The final message that the two snakes passed to Zhang Tie was that they were very full and needed a nap...


    Ignoring Yun Zhongzi''s amazed look, Zhang Tie suddenly pinched his punch, causing an explosion in the air.


    After that, Zhang Tie punched out, shooting out his surging battle qi like a shell, striking against a mountain wall over 10,000 m away, causing a huge hole as wide as several meters. Zhang Tie then pointed at a peak in the distance as a silver secret long sword suddenly appeared on his side. Closely after that, the long sword flashed towards the peak as fast as a lightning bolt.


    With loud thunders and collapsing rocks, in a split second, the peak was removed by the long sword, turning into four elements before dispersing in the sage realm.


    As the lightning bolt flashed by, the long sword reappeared on Zhang Tie''s side while breaking through the void. Floating in the air quietly, it was waiting for Zhang Tie''s order...


    Putting his two palms in front of him, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand guffawing, "I''m back; I''m back again, hahahaha..."


    What an unexpected achievement! How could Zhang Tie imagine that the two snakes would restore his battle qi and spiritual energy when he was looking for the methods to recover his power everywhere!


    ''No, actually, the two black holes caused by the thunder of nirvana might bring me a surprise...''

 1580 The Perfect Resul

    Within the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, all the other knights were waiting anxiously as they were gazing at the sage realm...


    The sage realm isolated all the eye light from outside. In this process, even though the onlookers couldn''t see anything, they still gazed at the green light curtain as they expected to see something like how they saw the light and shadow of the two terrifying boas in the realm a few hours ago.


    They just waited there with anxiety, restlessness and a bit indescribable expectation.


    This was how all the onlooking knights were thinking about at this moment.


    No matter what, this battle determined the fate of all the onlookers at present. It was no exaggeration to say that many knights had not experienced such a thrilling and intense scene since they were born.


    In this state, those onlookers even forgot about the elapse of time.


    Not knowing how long had passed, all of a sudden, the green light curtain appeared rocking while a bit of golden light in the light curtain started to grow brilliant from a sparkle. When all the onlooking knights felt spirited and widely opened their eyes again, with a loud sound "boom..." the light curtain of the sage realm broke into green light rain with an extremely strong light like that of a sun while the powerful battle qi swept over the entire Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect with a bit power and sharpness of a sage-level knight. Besides a sonic boom, all the knights within tens of thousands of meters had to close up their eyes or turn around or cover their face by arm in the split second.


    When the dazzling light and the impact wave of the battle qi completely disappeared, all the knights turned around as they saw Zhang Tie holding a long sword half a mile away from the sage-level knight in the sky while the two terrifying boas were flying around the two people.


    ''What''s the result? Is Immortal Qianji the winner or not?''


    At this moment, all the onlookers'' hearts were pounding heavily.


    ...


    In the void, Zhang Tie threw a glance at Yun Zhongzi as he acclaimed inside, ''The sage realm really has a myriad of functions. It could produce some sound and light effect.


    Everything here was fine; however, gold sage and silver sage who had just woken up and expanded flew around Zhang Tie with confused looks. They threw a glance at those onlookers with a strong killing intent every once a while as they thought that Zhang Tie was going to have them kill all of them.


    As Zhang Tie had already recovered his battle strength, Zhang Tie felt more relaxed; therefore, he could perform better at this moment.


    With a ''solemn'' look, Zhang Tie issued an order to gold sage and silver sage with consciousness to calm them down; then, he opened his mouth as he cupped his hands towards Yun Zhongzi.


    "Sage realm is really great. Zhang Tie won by a narrow margin. Thanks for your concession, forebear..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, over 10,000 knights instantly burst out into hubbub; many of them started to drop tears due to extreme excitement.


    "Immortal Qianji is the winner!"


    "Immortal Qianji wins this bet. We could leave here alive..."


    "What righteous and merciful Immortal Qianji..."


    "Long live Immortal Qianji..."


    All the knights exclaimed due to extreme excitement.


    At this moment, Yun Zhongzi looked glassy-eyed like an iron sheet. However, the more he behaved like this, the more the onlookers felt that this sage-level knight had a sophisticated mood. Of course, Yun Zhongzi''s performance at this moment had already been negotiated between Zhang Tie and him. As Zhang Tie had already awakened his disguising talent, Zhang Tie told Yun Zhongzi to maintain expressionless which would be the best performance. Yun Zhongzi just followed Zhang Tie''s suggestion.


    As Yun Zhongzi waved his hand, all the puppets that surrounded the onlookers had dispersed and returned to the surrounding walls before becoming solid sculptures again.


    "You win..." Yun Zhongzi''s mechanical sound reverberated around the entire space. The cheers of knights then submerged Yun Zhongzi''s words at a stroke. "This top rarity is used to control the entire Dongtian. I''ve already cleaned my trace and spiritual brand from it. As long as you drop a bit blood on it, this Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect as a whole would be under your control; the two snakes would identify you as their owner too!"


    As they talked, Yun Zhongzi had already taken out a bizarre copper rune instrument which was giving out faint, luxurious light, before throwing it at Zhang Tie.


    Over 10,000 knights widely opened their eyes as they heavily swallowed their saliva and watched that copper rune instrument flying towards Zhang Tie.


    It was the top rarity that controlled the entire Dongtian. After controlling it, Zhang Tie would own the entire Dongtian. Therefore, this item was priceless.


    Of course, if those knights knew that the so-called copper rune instrument was just a useless thing that Zhang Tie casually found from a pile of disordered items in his portable teleportation equipment and was just a prop in this scene, they might spray blood at once.


    A copper rune instrument was actually a tiny item that Zhang Tie collected from a clan of Three-eyed Association when he swept over Waii Subcontinent. It was useless. Besides being made of special material and giving out light and changing its light color after being injected with battle qi, it seemed just to be a bit bizarre item from far-ancient times. That also explained why a clan of the Three-eyed Association in Waii Subcontinent collected it. Finally, Zhang Tie got it and used it in this scene.


    Besides Zhang Tie and Yun Zhongzi, nobody else would know that so-called top rarity controlling the entire Dongtian was just a fake item. However, in this critical moment, nobody doubted it at all.


    After taking the copper rune instrument, Zhang Tie broke his finger by teeth and dropped a drop of blood onto it. Then, he stealthily injected a battle qi into it, causing it to turn its white light into brilliant red under the gaze of all the others. From then on, this copper rune instrument''s identity was confirmed by the others.


    In the red light given out by the copper rune instrument, Zhang Tie closed his eyes as his eyelids slightly quivered as if he was receiving a message from the copper rune instrument. After half a minute, Zhang Tie opened his eyes again as he let out a deep sigh. Meanwhile, he looked up at the entrance on the top of the Dongtian and issued an order to the two snakes to open it. As was imagined, the upside-down lotus-flower shaped entrance opened.


    Under the gaze of all the other knights, Zhang Tie opened that entrance after controlling that copper rune instrument.


    Watching the escaping access being opened, all the knights became thrilled again.


    "Aah, it''s open; it''s open..."


    Holding the copper rune instrument which was giving out red light, Zhang Tie looked pretty magnificent as he shouted at the two boas, "Get back, solid..." The two terrifying boas then rapidly shrunk their bodies under the gaze of all the others as they flew towards Zhang Tie. Closely after that, they twisted around Zhang Tie''s wrist, head to tail, in the shape of a metal bracelet, ending up their temporary performance.


    After doing all this, Zhang Tie took out a mithril necklace in front of all the others and put the copper rune instrument on the mithril necklace. After that, he put it on his neck and had the copper rune instrument close to his chest. Closely after that, he cupped his hands towards Yun Zhongzi again, saying, "This time, it''s not Zhang Tie who wants to offend you. I really don''t want to see a massacre here which would destroy the foundation of Taixia Country as a while. Sorry to offend you, forebear!"


    "It''s fine!" Yun Zhongzi let out a long sigh as he threw a glance at those knights, saying coldly, "Now that you want to save them, it seems that they''re not destined to survive this catastrophe. Even though Great Wilderness Sect doesn''t restore today, it would restore one day. From then on, you would be the owner of this place. If there''s a chance in the future, I would like to have another cool fight with you. I''d like to see which is greater, a divine dominator''s ability, or my sage realm!"


    After leaving these words, Yun Zhongzi had arrived at the entrance on the dome with a flash. With another flash, he disappeared as he had left there...


    "In case of trouble, we''d better leave this perilous place as soon as possible..." Zhang Tie told all the others as he flew towards the entrance on the dome.


    Watching Yun Zhongzi and Zhang Tie leaving, over 10,000 knights hurriedly flew out of the entrance one after another like how they desired to enter it just now. Nobody dared stay here anymore...


    Zhang Tie flew as fast as that when he triggered his Liezi bloodline.


    In this case, Zhang Tie was not anxious telling all the others that he had fully recovered; perhaps, it would be better if someone chose to attack him at this moment as they didn''t think that he had recovered. He should live up to the line that Celestial Swords shouted in front of so many people here when the latter was alive.


    After feeling that someone was watching him from behind, Zhang Tie looked back as he found some knights of Qionglou Pavilion were stealthily observing him among those knights who were scrambling out of there.


    As Celestial Reflectingmoons died earlier, many knights of Qionglong Pavilion survived in the chaos.


    Those knights of Qionglou Pavilion threw a glance at that snake-shaped bracelet on Zhang Tie''s wrist and that item on his chest. After noticing that Zhang Tie was looking back, they hurriedly moved their eye light away while hiding themselves in an array of knights.


    Zhang Tie sneered inside...

 1581 Winning Peoples Hearts

    "Third uncle, do you think Zhang Tie would be fine or not..."


    "Zhang Tie is not rude. He would be fine. Thanks to his prudence, otherwise, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion would have suffered a great loss!"


    Above Centralpillar Mountain, the first batch of people including Bai Suxian and Celestial Treasureflame who had exited the Dongtian last night just waited there for Zhang Tie.


    That was a short night. As for knights, one night would flash away in a split second if they entered secluded cultivation. They were waiting for Zhang Tie as they were curious about what happened inside after their departure.


    Since they exited the underground space last night, nobody else had exited there. When the fiery sun showed itself above the horizon, repelling the darkness, it brought sunshine and vitality to the magnificent mountains and dense woods.


    Bai Suxian gradually became restless. The others might feel that Zhang Tie could protect himself downside there; however, only Bai Suxian was clear that Zhang Tie was as weak as a whale stranded in a shoal inside and might not even deal with an ordinary earth knight. How could such a weak person face one sage-level knight and two terrifying destructive snakes?


    "Zhang Tie always gets the favor of God. Don''t worry. He would tide over the troubles!" Immortal Deyang stroked his beard as he comforted Bai Suxian after noticing her anxious look.


    If it was told by others, Bai Suxian would at most take it as a comfort; however, it was told by Immortal Deyang, an elder of Heavens Fortune Sect, which would be highly reliable. Across the country, everyone knew that Heavens Fortunes Sect could always predict unknown things. The words of an elder of Heavens Fortunes Sect were definitely reliable.


    "Hope so!" Bai Suxian threw an appreciative glance at Immortal Deyang as she recovered his composure and fixated onto the exit under Centralpillar Mountain again.


    After hearing Immortal Deyang''s words, Celestial Treasureflame and Celestial Woodbuilding exchanged a glance with each other as if they were thinking about something.


    The greatness of Heavens Fortunes Sect could be seen from this event. Compared to the other top sects, Heavens Fortune Sect appeared to have long known the perils in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect in Centralpillar Mountain; therefore, they only assigned one elder who got along well with Zhang Tie. In the entire process, Heavens Fortune Sect didn''t suffer any loss. By contrast, Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion suffered a great loss. Heavens Fortune Sect was definitely full of cunning foxes.


    "I''ve long heard that the Heavens Fortune Rank has a myriad of marvelous functions as a top rarity in far-ancient times. It could be used to predict the unknowns in the chaos. I wonder whether has Heavens Fortune Sect predicted Zhang Tie''s fortune in the future using Heavens Fortune Rank?" Celestial Treasureflame asked Immortal Deyang secretly by battle qi.


    "Hahaha, Heavens Fortune Rank is indeed a top rarity in the far-ancient times. However, its functions are exaggerated. The so-called law of fortune, in the final analysis, is that the lucky dogs would always be favored by God. At the bank of Weishui River, even the thunder of nirvana could kill Zhang Tie; he also saved hundreds of millions of people alone. Kindness knows no bounds. God would always give a hand to such people; instead of having him die there..." Immortal Deyang replied by battle qi too.


    Celestial Treasureflame threw a glance at Immortal Deyang as he nodded silently.


    Immortal Deyang''s words could cheat ordinary knights; however, as the deputy head of Demons-kill Valley, Celestial Treasureflame had seen the world. He knew that Immortal Deyang was just perfunctory.


    "Someone is there..." Celestial Woodbuilding who had been fixing his eyes on the exit abruptly opened his mouth closely after Immortal Deyang''s reply.


    Closely after that, a shadow had flashed into the sky at a speed ten times that of sound.


    Of course, it was Yun Zhongzi.


    Only after throwing a silent glance at them, Yun Zhongzi had hidden his body. With a few more flashes, he disappeared in front of them.


    After knowing that it was Yun Zhongzi, Bai Suxian''s heart raced at once. However, at this moment, she received Zhang Tie''s message by her remote-sensing communications ring. After reading Zhang Tie''s message, Bai Suxian''s intense expression relieved at once as she heaved a deep sigh and revealed a smile, telling the others at present, "Zhang Tie said he''s coming back soon..."


    ...


    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had appeared at the exit downside there as he slowly ascended from there.


    The scene shocked everyone at present because Zhang Tie was followed by over 10,000 dense knights. Although Zhang Tie didn''t fly fast, no other knights dared surpass him. Even those shadow knights among them flew after Zhang Tie naturally too.


    It was really like how a boss in a secular world led his gang to have a duel with his opponents. The formation of over 10,000 knights was relatively tidy while the qi field and sense of oppression couldn''t be described easily. They had to admit that such a formation could sweep over the other six top sects.


    After coming into the sky, Zhang Tie stopped, closely followed by over 10,000 knights.


    In the sky, Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards those knights as he said loudly, "It was destined for us to meet each other in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect today. Let''s bid farewell to each other. In the future, if you''re free, you could come to Iron-Dragon Sect to have a drink with me in Youzhou Province when we could talk about what happened today!"


    "To put it straightforwardly, in the future, if immortal needs my help, I Immortal Ethereal Xu Tiange would definitely give you a hand. Despite perils, if I refused, Immortal could directly behead me!" a blue-haired shadow knight flew out closely after Zhang Tie. After cupping his hands towards Zhang Tie solemnly, he flew eastward.


    "The entire Qilian Sect appreciate Immortal Qianji for your mercy..." another shadow knight flew out with a few knights as he bade farewell to Zhang Tie, "In the future, if immortal needs my help, you only need to have someone come for me with this token. At the sight of the token, Qilian Sect as a whole would work for you even at the risk of being perished..."


    After the shadow knight gave a token to Zhang Tie, his team bowed towards Zhang Tie again before flying away...


    A great handful of knights fervently surrounded Zhang Tie at a stroke as they all extended their gratitude to him...


    Bai Suxian, Bai Runshan and Celestial Treasureflame revealed confused looks at each other as they wondered what Zhang Tie had done inside the Dongtian so that all the knights from all walks of life gathered here to extend their thanks to him.


    However, at this moment, Zhang Tie was appreciating Xu Tiange the Immortal Ethereal who left here closely after him. At the sight of him, Zhang Tie had known that he was a freak. However, this guy created a good beginning for him today...

 1582 Zhang Ties Explanation

    Before leaving there, batches of knights came here to bid farewell to Zhang Tie solemnly. Many of them even left a token to him.


    It took them almost half an hour to completely finish their farewell as they all returned to their own bases, leaving the space above Centralpillar Mountain calm.


    "Aah, what happened just now?" Bai Suxian asked as she flew towards Zhang Tie with the others who had been waiting for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he put away the last tokens, including a delicate, tiny golden knife, a crystal abacus, a red copper waist decoration with Eight Diagrams on it, a red tooth of an unknown beast, which were respectively left by the head of Goldenknife Sect in Yunzhou Province, an independent earth knight called Shen Suanzi, the head of Liu Clan in Anzhou Province and head of a barbarian tribe in Fierycloud Mountain, South Border.


    Zhang Tie received over 200 gifts, including tokens and remote-sensing communications rings, while the earlier ones had been put into his portable space-teleportation equipment.


    Compared to so many gifts, the friendship between Zhang Tie and so many knights might be his largest achievement. Of course, so many knights appreciated him because Zhang Tie indeed saved their lives this time; what was more, Zhang Tie''s moral standing and various gossips won him a high reliance from these knights. All the knights knew that even though they gave their tokens to Immortal Qianji, given his moral standing, Zhang Tie would never request them to do evil things or have them die for him. Additionally, if they dealt with it well and could get acquainted with Immortal Qianji, they would gain great benefits from it as Zhang Tie could also be their assets.


    The world-renowned Immortal Qianji, the powerful divine dominator, the inventor of fiery oil and all-purpose medicament, the one whom even royal prince would rope in! Who would refuse such a rare chance to get acquainted with such a person? Even the barbarian knights in South Border knew Zhang Tie''s importance; not to mention Hua knights in Taixia Country.


    "Moral standing is like the money that you deposit in the bank. When you don''t withdraw it, your feelings would be useless no matter how much it is. People with bad moral standing couldn''t be identified from those with good moral standing. Nor could they bring too much profit to you. However, when you deposit so much money in the bank that even if you didn''t present your deposit book to the public, they''ve already known that, those strangers would change their attitude about you. After changing enough people, you would be able to do great undertakings. That''s called a moral standing bonus!" Zhang Tie told Bai Suxian with a smile. When finding the others were still confused about that, Zhang Tie smiled as he held Bai Suxian''s hand slightly, continuing, "I won a bet with that sage-level knight just now; now, the entire Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect belongs to me. By the way, I saved so many knights!"


    "What?" Celestial Treasureflame, Bai Runshan and Celestial Woodbuilding widely opened their eyes at the same time.


    "What? This Dongtian belongs to you?" Bai Runshan asked in an unbelievable look.


    "Yes. It''s not the proper place to talk about it. As you''ve already waited here for long, let''s go back to the airboat first..."


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Celestial Treasureflame and the others tried to calm down as they nodded, "Good!"


    "Aah, what''s this? You''ve got a nice bracelet. It''s made of two snakes..." Bai Suxian instantly noticed that bizarre "decoration" on Zhang Tie''s left wrist. After watching it carefully, Bai Suxian doubted, "But why do I feel it''s similar to the two snakes that we saw underground? However, these two have two little horns on their heads; their tails look a bit different too..."


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s words, all the others fixated onto the bracelet out of curiosity...


    "Let''s talk about it back in the airboat..."


    Zhang Tie smiled as he grasped Bai Suxian''s hand and flew towards the airboat in the distance, closely followed by all the others. Bai Suxian still had not found Zhang Tie''s complete recovery as she was still injecting her spiritual energy into Zhang Tie''s body. However, Zhang Tie didn''t stop her at this moment...


    What happened in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect was completely a farce for Zhang Tie. However, through this farce, Zhang Tie gained more achievements than that he could imagine. When he was flying towards the airboat, Zhang Tie finally figured it out why there were so many liars in this world. Because sometimes one performance could bring a liar too much profit, which was even more useful than killing 100 demon knights.


    ''Actually, it feels good acting a liar occasionally!'' Zhang Tie murmured.


    ...


    Three hours later, in a lounge of the airboat, Zhang Tie had finished his story about what happened downside there as they enjoyed the tea.


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t say that he was already the head of Great Wilderness Sect; nor did he say that this crisis was just a performance between Yun Zhongzi and him since the beginning. He told what the others knights downside there had experienced and witnessed.


    Both Bai Runshan and Immortal Deyang were convinced that Zhang Tie could win this bet because of Zhang Tie''s former military exploits and his ability as a divine dominator. Nobody knew how many trump cards did Zhang Tie Immortal Qianji have. Given Zhang Tie''s ability, he might be able to survive the besiege of one sage-level knight and two heavenly Knight-level boas.


    Over these years, the "surprises" even "shocks" that Zhang Tie had brought to them had long enabled those familiar ones to blindly rely on and trust him as if Zhang Tie was almighty.


    Soon after Zhang Tie''s speech, Bai Suxian had clapped her hands as she said pleasantly, "Aah, I finally understand why Yun Zhongzi looked so bad when he flew out of the exit. Only after throwing a glance at us, he had flown away. It turns out that he''s lost the bet and feels embarrassed showing off..."

 1583 Class I Towers of Time

    "Ahem ahem, not exactly right. No matter what, this bet between Yun Zhongzi and me is not determined by a duel; additionally, I admire him because he, as the only sage-level knight of Great Wilderness Sect, didn''t go back on his words after losing the bet..." Zhang Tie answered with a serious look.


    "Do the two snakes also belong to you?" Bai Suxian fixated onto Zhang Tie''s wrist again out of curiosity.


    "Right!"


    "They look much smaller!"


    "I don''t know what they''re either. They might be species from the far-ancient times. Their ability is out of imagination!"


    "Could I touch them?"


    "Wait, I''ll wake them up!"


    "Aah, here? Isn''t it perilous?"


    "It''s fine. They''ve already identified me as their owner. It''s safe!"


    As Zhang Tie replied, he ran his spiritual energy to wake them up. Under the curious gaze of the others, the two snakes slowly moved as they looked up and split their tongues. After licking Zhang Tie''s wrist for two times, they flew off his wrist before circling around him.


    The moment the two snakes moved, all the others in the room became intense at once including Celestial Treasureflame and Celestial Woodbuilding as they all widely opened their eyes and paid heed to the two snakes and prepared to give out their protective battle qi at any time, except for Bai Suxian. As they saw the two snakes turn a heavenly knight into ashes in a split second, none of them were intense. They were more like two terrifying heavenly knight-level killers than two snakes.


    "Aah, what are their names?" Bai Suxian appeared to have fully forgotten about their terrifying performance as she asked with sparkling eyes. As for Bai Suxian, as long as Zhang Tie said the two snakes were safe, Bai Suxian was deeply convinced that they were safe. Additionally, the two snakes looked pretty cute at this moment. Bai Suxian even stretched out her hand to touch them...


    "Watch out..." Bai Runshan hurriedly warned Bai Suxian. In Bai Runshan''s opinion, as long as the two snakes were out of control and gave a bite to Bai Suxian, Bai Suxian would lose her life in a split second. She would even have no chance to seek for help. Bai Runshan didn''t want to see such an emergency.


    "It''s fine!" Bai Suxian said as she touched that golden snake. The golden snake didn''t dodge away; instead, it flew around Bai Suxian''s wrist for a circle.


    Bai Runshan was so worried on one side. However, after finding that Zhang Tie was as calm as usual, Bai Runshan became a bit reassured.


    "Yi, they feel as cold as real metal..." Bai Suxian exclaimed pleasantly as she touched that silver one, saying, "So does this one. Have they got their names?"


    When Zhang Tie wanted to say that they were called gold sage and silver sage, he swallowed his words back as he replied, "I''ve not asked Yun Zhongzi about their names..."


    "Let me name them!" Bai Suxian had already named them before Zhang Tie nodded, "This golden one is Wealthy; the silver one is Felicity. How about that?"


    The two snakes appeared to have understood her words as they twisted in the air unpleasantly. Such secular names as same as that of pet dogs in commoners'' house could never match that of gold sage and silver sage.


    Finding that Bai Suxian was happy, Zhang Tie nodded, "Hmm, let''s call this golden one Wealthy; and the silver one Felicity!"


    "Hubby, you''re so good!" Bai Suxian ogled at Zhang Tie.


    Watching them sitting seriously and intensely, Zhang Tie had the two snakes returning to his wrist in terms of a bizarre bracelet.


    After the two heavenly knight-level killers became still, all the others finally let out a sigh.


    "Now that the Dongtian has belonged to you. What do you plan to do with it?" Immortal Deyang asked.


    Zhang Tie threw a smile at them before saying, "The Dongtian has 7 floors and contains 28 towers of time. Besides the one on the first floor, all the 27 towers of time could be put into use at any time. Additionally, each tower of time could freeze 20 years..."


    "20 years. It''s not too long!" Immortal Deyang commented as he nodded calmly, "Given the length of the time required to restore energy, these towers of time are ordinary ones; yet useful given their quantity!"


    "I''ve not finished my words..." Zhang Tie smiled, "Although they could only freeze 20 years, it only needs 10 years to restore their energy!"


    "What? They could restore their energy only in 10 years?" Immortal Deyang asked surprisingly.


    At the same time, Celestial Woodbuilding, Celestial Treasureflame and Bai Runshan were shocked as they all looked at Zhang Tie out of curiosity.


    Zhang Tie nodded calmly as he replied, "Nice!"


    "Class I; Class I. They are class I towers of time!" Celestial Woodbuilding sighed with feeling, adding, "The ratio between the time that they could freeze and the time that it needs to restore their energy is 2: 1. Such towers of time are rarities!"


    Zhang Tie agreed with Celestial Woodbuilding pretty much. Because the first tower of time, that he entered, required 60 years to restore its energy while the ratio was 1: 4. Given the standard on qualities of towers of time, the first tower of time that he entered was just an inferior one. The ratio 1: 1 was a critical threshold, after surpassing which, towers of time would be pretty precious undoubtedly.


    Like women, weapons, gemstones, drugs and various secret items, although all the towers of time were precious, they were also divided into classes.


    The towers of time in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect were all Class I...


    ...

 1584 Sharing the Achievements

    The most important standard for accessing the value of a tower of time was its efficiency per unit time.


    Comparing the tower of time that Zhang Tie accessed in Waii Subcontinent with the current towers of time in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, the first one could be used for 15 years per time while the second ones could be used for 20 years. Whereas, the first one needed 6 decades to recover its energy during which period the towers of time in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect could be used for 6 times, namely they could provide 120 years for cultivation, indicating that the efficiency of the latter ones was 8 times that of the first one. Of course, the latter ones were more precious.


    Nevertheless, there were 28 such precious towers of time in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect.


    Even Zhang Tie became speechless when he thought that such a great sect with such rich resources was finally exterminated by other forces.


    Watching the others'' splendid expressions, Zhang Tie continued after a short silence, "If you''re interested in the towers of time, we could make a trade..."


    Closely after Zhang Tie''s words, Celestial Treasureflame, Celestial Woodbuilding, Bai Runshan and Immortal Deyang gazed at Zhang Tie with greedy eyes.


    As for all the cultivators, despite so many kinds of cultivation resources in this world including wealth and sites, what counted most was time. Tower of time was the very thing that could provide such a kind of cultivation resource. Therefore, the value of the tower of time became self-evident. Across Taixia Country, almost no sects which had private towers of time would like to trade their towers of time with others. Of course, these guys were thrilled by Zhang Tie''s plan.


    "How?" Celestial Treasureflame put it straightforwardly.


    "It''s very simple. For rent!" Zhang Tie threw a glance at Immortal Deyang and Celestial Treasureflame with a smile as he continued, "Sects like Heavens Fortune Sect and Demons-kill Valley have a lot of disciples, I believe that your towers of time couldn''t satisfy your needs no matter how many you have. Neither elders nor disciples could use towers of time freely..."


    "Right, Demons-kill Valley has more than 30 towers of time; however, the schedule for using them is always crowded. Ordinary disciples could barely access to towers of time unless they have exceptional flair. There''re also strict conditions for elders to use towers of time. Even I could not use it whenever I want!" Celestial Treasureflame admitted frankly.


    "Although towers of time are very precious for you, both Heavens Fortune Sect and Demons-kill Valley have secret methods for cultivating knights..."


    "Not exactly. In Demons-kill Valley, secret methods for cultivating knights are all imparted through "soul enlightenment"; we couldn''t trade towers of time with our secret methods!"


    "Haha, I''m not asking for the secret methods for cultivating knights; instead I want Demons-kill Valley to cultivate knights; precisely, I want you to help ordinary fighters to light surging points as fast as possible!" Zhang Tie smiled at Celestial Treasureflame as he continued, "I know that all the top sects in Taixia Country have their exclusive secret recipes for aiding fighters to light their surging points rapidly like Taiyi Soul-building Pills of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. When I held my rotating chakra ceremony, Taiyi Fantasy Sect gifted me 1,000 Taiyi Soul-building Pills. As for cultivators with top talent, one Taiyi Soul-building Pill could light one surging point. Those ordinary ones could light one surging point by assimilating 2 or 3 Taiyi Soul-building Pills. I believe that Heavens Fortune Sect and Demons-kill Valley have the same kind of pills. I''d like to exchange your pills with the right of use of towers of time. Actually, these pills are what Iron-Dragon Sect want most..."


    "How do you plan to exchange?" Immortal Deyang opened his mouth seriously.


    Since what Zhang Tie talked about was of great significance concerning the benefits of a sect, Immortal Deyang had to consider it carefully.


    "It depends on the concrete effect of your pill!" Zhang Tie replied. After a short consideration, Zhang Tie added, "However, given the effect of Taiyi Soul-building Pills for a fighter with top talent, I would like to exchange the right of 20 years of one tower of time for 987 Taiyi Soul-building Pills.


    987 Taiyi Soul-building Pills or pills of a similar effect could be exchanged for the right of use of 2 decades of one tower of time. This condition was already very bountiful for Demons-kill Valley and Heavens Fortune Sect because it was calculated in terms of lighting all the surging points of a fighter with top flair from the beginning. In fact, there were few disciples with top flair in either Iron-Dragon Sect or the top sects. As for Taiyi Fantasy Sect, over these years, a disciple would spend over 1,200 Taiyi Soul-building Pill on average in letting all of his or her surging points from the zero. Besides being members of top sects, Heavens Fortune Sect and Demons-kill Valley had mutual competitions and exchanges; therefore, Immortal Deyang and Celestial Treasureflame were both aware of the number of resources being consumed for lighting all the surging points of one disciple. Therefore, the two people both knew that they had made a fortune this time after hearing Zhang Tie''s condition.


    Even idiots would agree. Otherwise, after returning to their own sect, they would be drowned by saliva.


    "In Demons-kill Valley, we use Demons-fire Pill to help disciples light their surging points. Its effect is a bit strong as it requires external fire as principal media and internal fire as a subsidiary to light surging points. Generally, fighters below LV 9 couldn''t bear its power. Only disciples above LV 9 could bear it physically and mentally; therefore, only disciples above LV 9 in Demons-kill Valley could take Demons-fire Pills. When we studied and developed Demons-fire Pills, we referred to the effect of Taiyi Soul-building Pill. Therefore, its effect is almost like that of Taiyi Soul-building Pill. If you want to exchange for it. I provide 1,000 Demons-fire Pills for the right of use of tower of time for one time!" Celestial Treasureflame watched Zhang Tie with gleaming eyes as he asked, "I wonder how many towers of time do you plan to exchange with..."


    "Could Demons-kill Valley afford the two towers of time on the second floor of the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect?"


    "Well, Demons-kill Valley will exchange for the right of use of the two towers of time with 2,000 Demons-fire Pills, one for 10 years. We could pay 6,000 Demons-fire Pills for 3 decades in advance. Later on, we will pay it every 30 years; hopefully, the price remains unchanged. How about that?"


    "That''s a deal!" Zhang Tie agreed at once as he stretched out his hand to shake hands with Celestial Treasureflame.


    Celestial Treasureflame then burst into laughter...

 1585 A Perfect Partner

    When Zhang Tie was talking with Celestial Treasureflame, Immortal Deyang was pressing on a remote-sensing communications finger ring as if he was contacting the powers of Heavens Fortune Sect.


    As the deputy head of Demons-kill Valley, Celestial Treasureflame could determine many things and use sufficient resources. However, as a common elder of Heavens Fortune Sect, Immortal Deyang had to inform the powers of Heavens Fortune Sect about such a major event.


    Even so, Immortal Deyang got the reply of Heavens Fortune Sect very quickly. Soon after Zhang Tie finished his negotiation with Celestial Treasureflame, Immortal Deyang''s hand had already left the remote-sensing communications finger ring as he revealed a decisive smile.


    "In Heavens Fortune Sect, disciples use Seven-color Pills to light their surging points. A set of Seven-color Pills contains seven pills, respectively red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and purple, which need to be taken for 7 times. It has no side effects. Even kids above the age of 7 could take it safely. The effect of a set of Seven-color Pills could match that of a Taiyi Soul-building Pill. Actually, it''s even better than that of the latter slightly. Referring to the condition of Demons-kill Valley, Heavens Fortune Sect could also contract two towers of time. We pay you 6,000 sets of Seven-color Pills for one time; and 3 decades per time!"


    "Hahaha, good, that''s the deal!" Zhang Tie guffawed as he shook hand with Immortal Deyang immediately.


    Celestial Woodbuilding watched Zhang Tie with a bit embarrassed look. Before uttering, he pretended to cough twice, "Erm...I wonder whether Jiang Clan could...could also make such a trade with immortal..."


    "Of course!" Zhang Tie smiled at once as he said, "Celestial, you should know that I don''t lack anything, but this kind of pills which could help ordinary people to promote to knights in a short period. If Jiang Clan also has such a kind of pill, I could also make a trade with Jiang Clan at the same price!"


    "Although Jiang Clan doesn''t have Taiyi Soul-building Pill or Demons-fire Pill, we have another thing for trade!"


    "Oh, what''s that?"


    "It''s All-spirits Liquid!"


    "All-spirits Liquid?!"


    "Right. It''s a secret medicine which Jiang Clan extracted from thousands of precious plants. Although it couldn''t directly help fighters to light their surging points like Taiyi Soul-building Pills or Demons-fire Pills do, it could gradually nourish one''s spiritual energy. Immortal, you know, a fighter needs spiritual energy the most to light surging points. The more spiritual energy one has, the easier would it be to light surging points. That''s the effect of Jiang Clan''s All-spirits Liquid!" Celestial Woodbuilding said as he took out a tiny blue glass of medicament and passed it to Zhang Tie.


    After taking it, Zhang Tie watched it for a bit before opening its lid. There was about 40 ml green liquid in the blue glass which could be drunk up in the mouth.


    After putting it under his nose, Zhang Tie sniffed a pale fragrance coming out of the glass. It smelt like that of orchid flower or plum blossom. As if it was mixed with many kinds of items, the fragrance made Zhang Tie satisfied.


    After throwing a glance at Celestial Woodbuilding, Zhang Tie nodded as he drank it up. Eyes closed, he started to taste it carefully.


    The All-spirits Liquid tasted good as it was a bit cold and bitter; then, it tasted a bit sweet. After drinking it, Zhang Tie instantly felt the liquid spreading over his stomach like liquor. Meanwhile, trivial bizarre energy penetrated into his blood vessels across his body. With his running qi and blood, the trivial bizarre energy gradually reached Zhang Tie''s head. Like how stalagmites in karst case dropped off water, the liquid gradually penetrated into Zhang Tie''s mind sea and turned into his spiritual energy. At the same time, the same part of bizarre energy in his body failed to penetrate into his blood vessels; instead, it started to disperse gradually. It seems to be the natural consumption of All-spirits Liquid. Although this strand of energy penetrated into his mind sea fast, a part of it dispersed fast too.


    In this case, unknowingly, Zhang Tie recalled how the two black holes devoured his spiritual energy as a whim occurred to him. He then suppressed almost all of his spiritual energy in his mind sea. After that, he used a bit of spiritual energy to visualize an abacus and started the mental calculation on the abacus. As the virtual abacus started to run rapidly, the bit of spiritual energy carried by All-spirits Liquid in his blood vessels which was penetrating into his mind sea was instantly caught by the sliding beads and completely assimilated. As a result, Zhang Tie immediately accelerated his calculation, causing the beads to move much more smoothly.


    Metaphorically, this process was like how engine oil started to lubricate the frictional parts of the engine when the engine of a bus started.


    Not only that, as that abacus was running in his mind sea, the bit of energy of All-spirits Liquid which didn''t enter his blood vessels or mind sea and was going to disperse instantly stopped dispersing as it was immediately absorbed by that golden abacus like how sponge absorbed water before being integrated into Zhang Tie''s mind sea.


    When Zhang Tie finished this temporary visualization, he got a bit more spiritual energy in his mind sea.


    Although such a strand of spiritual energy was as trivial as a drop of water in the ocean for Zhang Tie, it was almost two more times than the total of spiritual energy increased when Zhang Tie practiced mental calculation by abacus and drank All-spirits Liquid independently.


    Zhang Tie immediately understood that it was a perfect match between All-spirits Liquid and mental calculation by abacus. The effect of All-spirits Liquid could enable mental calculation by abacus more smoothly while mental calculation by abacus could improve the absorption of All-spirits Liquid and the conversion efficiency of spiritual energy. The combination of the two was greater than that of each of them independently.


    Although All-spirits Liquid could not match a fruit of brilliance, if an ordinary fighter could have enough All-spirits Liquid and master mental calculation by abacus, his or her spiritual energy would see a terrifying growth. In this way, it would be very simple for ordinary fighters to light their surging points...


    ''F*ck! Unimaginably, Jiang Clan has such a great thing...''

 1586 Fair

    When Zhang Tie was feeling the effects of All-spirits Liquid with his eyes closed, Celestial Woodbuilding fixed his eyes on Zhang Tie''s face with a little tension.


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie finally opened his eyes as he nodded towards Celestial Woodbuilding, saying, "The effect of All-spirits is gentle and lasting. It could gradually improve one''s spiritual energy. It''s not bad!"


    Watching Zhang Tie''s satisfactory expression, Celestial Woodbuilding finally let out a sigh as he explored Zhang Tie''s intention, and he said, "Although All-spirits Liquid couldn''t match the pills that the other top sects use to light one''s surging points, its effects couldn''t be matched by ordinary pills; additionally, All-spirits Liquid doesn''t have any side effects; everyone from 3-year-old baby to heavenly knight could drink it. Immortal, do you think whether four vials of All-spirits Liquid could match a Taiyi Soul-building Pill in value?"


    "Yes, I think so!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s response, Celestial Woodbuilding finally revealed a smile as he said, "Now that immortal has agreed, how about exchanging 4,000 vials of All-spirits Liquid for using one tower of time once."


    "Fine, no problem. I wonder how many towers of time do you want?"


    "Ahem...ahem...one, only one is enough!" Celestial Woodbuilding said bashfully, "It''s not easy for Jiang Clan to make All-spirits Liquid. It requires some precious plants. Even Jiang Clan couldn''t produce it on a large scale. Therefore, we don''t have too many inventories. If immortal agrees, Jiang Clan could prepay 4,000 vials of All-spirits Liquid for 10 years. One decade later, we will pay 4,000 more vials..."


    Jiang Clan''s background could never match that of Demons-kill Valley and Heavens Fortune Sect. The latter top sects immediately contracted for two towers of time respectively and promised to pay in every 3 decades. However, being limited to its power, Jiang Clan could only pay for 10 decades per time.


    "I understand the difficulty facing Jiang Clan. Let''s call it 10 years per time then. No problem!" Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly, "That''s a deal!"


    "Great!"


    Thereafter, the two people shook their hands.


    "Oh, I wonder how did Jiang Clan discover the formula of All-spirits Liquid?" Zhang Tie asked Celestial Woodbuilding after making an agreement on cooperation with him.


    "It''s not easy for Jiang Clan to explore its formula. We don''t explore it ourselves actually; instead, 200 years ago, when I traveled to Taiyi City, someone auctioned some bronze secret items that he got from far-ancient relics, among which, I found an incomplete formula, the very formula of All-spirits Liquid. After that, I have Jiang elders do experiments for dozens of years. Through constant improvement and exploration, we finally got today''s All-spirits Liquid!"


    "Aah, I see!" Zhang Tie replied.


    "Even I don''t know whether the All-spirits Liquid of Jiang Clan is the original one or not. But we could only make it. Thankfully, it is useful. After all, the current environment is far different than that in far-ancient times. Many things could only be speculated. Exotic items could be barely found!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he threw a glance at Immoral Treasureflame, Immortal Deyang and Celestial Woodbuilding, saying, "I wonder when do you plan to dispatch disciples to take over towers of time?"


    "What''s your opinion, immortal?" Celestial Treasureflame asked Zhang Tie politely.


    "I''ve already informed the elders of Iron-Dragon Sect in the underground space. Iron-Dragon Sect''s airboat would arrive soon. I will wait here for a few days. After elders of disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect arrive here, I will reenter the Dongtian to open the towers of time. Of course, the faster the better. It would be wasteful for leaving the 27 towers of time in vacancy, even for one day!"


    "In case of troubles, I agree with you!" Immortal Deyang said as he stroked his beard, "Some forces suffered a loss in the Dongtian; however, we''re talking about achievements. In case of troubles aroused from imbalanced mentality, we''d better not leave time for them!"


    After that, Celestial Treasureflame, Immortal Deyang and Celestial Woodbuilding exchanged a glance with Zhang Tie as they burst into laughter.


    ...


    The airboats of Heavens Fortune Sect, Jiang Clan, Demons-kill Valley and Lord Guangnan''s Mansion were close to each other in the air. After negotiating with Zhang Tie, Bai Runshan, Celestial Treasureflame, Immortal Deyang and Celestial Woodbuilding returned to their own airboats, leaving Zhang Tie''s airboat empty.


    ...


    "Tower of time is so precious that I''ve never heard anyone renting tower of time. These days, Jinwu Palace is looking for opportunities everywhere across Taixia; however, no sect or clan would like to exchange the tower of time for Jinwu Palace''s resources. This time, why do we share towers of time with Heavens Fortune Sect and Demons-kill Valley?"


    After all the others left, Zhang Tie and Bai Suxian became relaxed as they returned to their bedroom. After taking a bath and putting on a loose informal dress, Zhang Tie leaned against the bear-hide lounge while Bai Suxian in thin silk dress, breasts half exposed, was sitting on the bedside, peeling grapes for Zhang Tie and asking him out of curiosity.


    With a smile, Zhang Tie ate a grape before slowly saying, "We couldn''t make plans with the others; however, we have to share profits with others. Because tower of time is too precious, after owning all the towers of time of the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, I have to share them with Heavens Fortune Sect, Demons-kill Valley and Jiang Clan so as to fully control the Dongtian!"


    "Aah, but why? Haven''t you already got the control center of the Dongtian? You won it. Who would dare to speak ill of you?" Bai Suxian argued.


    With a bit sneer, Zhang Tie said, "If problems could be solved by reasoning, how could Great Wilderness Sect be exterminated overnight? Did those evil forces spare any chance to Great Wilderness Sect? Iron-Dragon Sect is still a bit weak now. Given the power of Iron-Dragon Sect, even if I fully recovered my power, it would still be very difficult for me to own the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect alone. As Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion lost heavenly knights here together with all the knight representatives of the earlier two. If they want to be hostile against me, this would be the best reason for them. Through cooperation with Demons-kill Valley, Heavens Fortune Sect and Jiang Clan, although I appear sharing some profits with them, actually, I don''t suffer any loss at all. With such cooperation, it would be much easier for Iron-Dragon Sect to cultivate knights in the future. This is the foundation of Iron-Dragon Sect!"


    "Dare they rob us?" Bai Suxian asked unbelievably.


    After hearing Bai Suxian''s words, Zhang Tie''s eyes became profound as he replied, "Rob? It''s far more than that! Someone is too audacious to be out of your imagination. In this world, they could almost do everything they want. Even though..." Zhang Tie stopped...


    "Even though what?" Bai Suxian foisted another grape into Zhang Tie''s mouth.


    "Forgot about it. It''s all damn things. Let''s shift the topic!" Zhang Tie waved his hand as he continued, "You''d better make a preparation these days. A few days later, when we enter the Dongtian again, you should also enter a tower of time for cultivation. You''d better promote to an earth knight as fast as possible. Based on your current cultivation base, you should be able to promote to an earth knight in 2 decades..."


    "Aah, 2 decades? You mean this slave would not be able to see you for 20 years..." Bai Suxian instantly stopped what she was doing with a bitter look.


    "The current situation is growing more perilous. Even black iron knights couldn''t protect themselves. If you could promote to an earth knight, I would be a bit reassured!" Zhang Tie patted Bai Suxian''s shoulder as he added, "Additionally, if you concentrate on cultivation, you would not find it too difficult to pass 20 years in the tower of time. Just take it secluded cultivation..."


    "Could two people enter a tower of time at the same time?"


    "No!"


    "Why..." Bai Suxian pushed Zhang Tie''s shoulder in a spoiled way, and she said, "Why did you and Yan Feiqing enter a tower of time at the same time for 6 decades? Why did you two behave so intimately in a tower of time and I have to enter it alone. Whatever, I want to enter one together with you. If you don''t enter it, I will not enter it either..."


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh on purpose, "There''s no such a tower of time which could allow two people inside at the same time. If you don''t want to enter it, I will have Hongyi and Qing''er enter it. After 2 decades, Qing''er would be able to reach one change realm of the heavenly knight. As Hongyi has almost reached 8 change realm of the black iron knight. I''m afraid that she would be able to promote to an earth knight too in 2 decades..."


    "Aah, Guo Hongyi would also enter it?" Bai Suxian became intense at once.


    Zhang Tie peered at Bai Suxian before saying solemnly, "Of course, if you don''t enter it this time, I will not force to do that. I will arrange for others to enter it. We should not waste a tower of time. When Hongyi promotes to an earth knight in the future, you''d better not blame me for favoring heer more than you. Don''t worry. Even though Hongyi promotes to an earth knight, I would not allow her to bully you either!"


    "Bully me? Dare she?" Bai Suxian''s eyebrows instantly bulged. With a decisive look, she said, "No way. I will enter it!"


    Zhang Tie laughed inside, ''If I could make good use of women''s jealousy, I could turn it into positive energy.''


    Closely after that, Bai Suxian started to undo Zhang Tie''s waistband with an enchanted look.


    Zhang Tie was shocked by the fast change of her look as he uttered, "Aah, what are you doing..."


    "I will not see the owner for 2 decades after a few days. This slave has to stay alone for 2 decades. Owner, you know what this slave wants to do..."

 1587 The Changing Situation

    Time flew past on the airboat, at least for Zhang Tie.


    Celestial Woodbuilding, Celestial Treasureflame, Immortal Deyang and Bai Runshan were all wise. They just cultivated in their own airboats and waited for their own elders and disciples. Even if they had something to talk with Zhang Tie, they just used remote-sensing communications finger rings to contact Zhang Tie.


    During these days, what happened in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect had already spread over the country and arisen many topics, causing the turbulent overall situation facing Taixia Country more weird and unpredictable.


    During these days, despite being in South Border, as long as one browsed the articles in the forum of Mountain of Brightness, he would find that the entire forum had been pretty active.


    The bloody case of the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect became a hot topic across Taixia Country again.


    Although Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion both delivered articles on Mountain of Brightness to refute a rumor, the gossips concerning that the two sects joined hands to exterminate Great Wilderness Sect still spread over the world. Even ordinary swordsmen had already known that, not to mention knights. As a result, Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion which always regarded themselves as the orthodox and righteous sects of Taixia Country suffered unprecedented doubts and condemnations. The two sects were both deeply mired in the swirl.


    Those who doubted and condemned Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion held the same reason¡ª¡ªthe deed that Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion chose to exterminate another top sect of Taixia Country by killing so many knights had already broken the tolerance of Taixia Country as a whole.


    As for those ordinary knights and clans, now that Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion dared do that to Great Wilderness Sect, they were afraid that the two sects might do the same to their own sects and clans.


    As for the official, namely Xuanyuan Hill, what Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion did was intolerant either. According to Taixia Laws, if knights killed people, they should accept the same punishment as commoners. Although this law was flexible to a certain degree, for instance, when knights scrambled for rarities and cultivation resources in Earth-elements Realm in terms of fight or duel, this law would not be applicable. According to an unwritten rule widely accepted by the official of Taixia Country and the circle of knights, duels between ordinary knights and top sects due to vendetta would not be resolved through official means.


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    Take this treasure exploration in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect as an instance, if some knights were killed by other knights due to conflicts in this process, the official and the royal court of Taixia Country would not care about it. If some idiots wanted to report the case to the official, they would get the consistent contempt; besides, they would be repelled out of the circle of knights. Such a rule was similar to that the duel between gangs due to vendetta would not be resolved by the criminal courts.


    However, the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect was not caused by the vendetta between sects. Actually, Great Wilderness Sect had no vendetta with Taiyi Fantasy Sect or Heavens Holding Pavilion at all. It was a pure murder and crime. Besides the death of almost all the knights of Great Wilderness Sect, that night, tens of thousands of ordinary disciples and commoners in the sect and in a town nearby were killed. Besides barbarians from the South Border, many of the commoners were Hua civilians and individual traders from South Border.


    If Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion really did that, as the ruler of Taixia Country, Xuanyuan Hill had to give an explanation for the death of those innocent victims. If Xuanyuan Hill chose to be silent in this case, its authority would be severely weakened.


    Therefore, on the second day since Zhang Tie exited the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, Xuanyuan Changying the honorary emperor of Xuanyuan Hill had delivered an order to thoroughly investigate the case of the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect. On the said day, the document of Xuanyuan Hill had already reached Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, which was requested to coordinate with the Supreme Court of Taixia Country to investigate the case.


    Of course, Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion would not wait for punishment in this case; instead, the two sects immediately labeled Yun Zhongzi as demons'' lackey as they commonly declared that the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect was a conspiracy of demons. Yun Zhongzi just slandered and framed them. In addition, demons wanted to use the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect to destroy the internal unity of Taixia Country and waver the foundation of Taixia Country as a whole.


    The two sects'' declaration acquired the support of Qionglou Pavilion at once. Closely after that, the three sects sent a shiki-jitsu to Yun Zhongzi with a reward more than that for Zhao Yuan who always ranked first on the Criminals Wanted List of Supreme Court.


    However, Yun Zhongzi''s trace was mysterious. After leaving the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, Yun Zhongzi had disappeared.


    The battle in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect in South Border directly influenced the overall situation facing Taixia Country. Besides stimulating hidden turbulent forces, it also caused Imperial Alliance to confront with Xuanyuan Hill face-to-face for the first time. As a result, Zhang Tie, who as an outsider but knew everything about it, held his breath unknowingly and waited for the result patiently.


    Only after staying in the airboat for two days, Zhang Tie''s overall strength had already recovered to his heyday. That gentle yet powerful sun rose up from his qi sea again while the void above his mind sea was filled with bright moons and sky again. With surging spiritual energy and battle qi in each cell, Zhang Tie mastered the long-awaited power again.


    Compared to the intention of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion, Zhang Tie, although being indulged in Bai Suxian''s concern in the airboat, had shocked the world again together with his heroic deed "saving over 10,000 human knights at the risk of his own life. As a result, Zhang Tie became the symbol of righteousness in the mouths of all the human knights in Taixia Country. He became the number one knight in Taixia Country while his reputation reached a new high.


    Lord Guangnan, Zhang Tie''s father-in-law was resolute. After knowing that Zhang Tie got the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, Lord Guangnan directly gifted the entire Centralpillar Mountain and the area within 6,000 miles to Zhang Tie as his bounty land for awarding that Zhang Tie saved so many human knights of Taixia Country.


    Previously, the orders of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion were only applicable to Bazis in South Border, which was only restricted to the regions nearby Bazi. The farther it was to Bazis, the weaker the influence of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion would be. Previously, the surrounding areas of Centralpillar Mountain were the hinterland of barbarians in South Border. Although they belonged to Taixia Country nominally, they had their own way of dominance. At that time, the barbarians in numerous mountains would never admit the effect of the orders from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Whereas, this time, when Lord Guangnan''s Mansion awarded these areas as Zhang Tie''s bounty land, the first ones who rooted for it were those barbarian knights...

 1588 The Completion of a New Castle

    When the overall situation facing Taixia Country was complex, Zhang Tie was waiting for the arrival of the airboat of Iron-Dragon Sect in his private airboat as he contacted Lord Guangnan''ss Mansion, preparing for the exploitation of this bounty land in South Border.


    His bounty land awarded by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion was within 600 miles centered on Centralpillar Mountain, which was widely regarded as one of the top 10 perilous lands in South Border.


    Of course, the so-called ten perilous lands were former appellations. Previously, given the strong magnetic performance of Centralpillar Mountain and the dangerous fiery cave where even knights couldn''t survive, this land was indeed forbidding. By contrast, now, after the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect was discovered, everyone knew that the fiery entrance was leading to the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. From now on, the perilous land became a treasure land.


    Almost nobody else could live in this bounty land except for knights or barbarians who always lived in surrounding mountains and woods. Therefore, the exploitation in Zhang Tie''s opinion didn''t refer to urban construction as it couldn''t meet the conditions. In the early stage, Zhang Tie just wanted Lord Guangnan''s Mansion to build a castle on the top of Centralpillar Mountain where passers-by could take a rest.


    Of course, it was very difficult for others to build a castle here; however, it was a piece of cake for Lord Guangnan''s Mansion.


    During these days when Zhang Tie was waiting for the arrival of the airboat of Iron-Dragon Sect, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion had already dispatched some airboats, over 400 modified airships whose steam boilers and some metal components had been removed. In a form of formation, those airships were trailed by airboats by rope to converge with Zhang Tie''s group in the air. When they entered the sphere of the magnetic influence of Centralpillar Mountain, the airboats were replaced by human knights. When they arrived at Centralpillar Mountain, all the able craftsmen got off the airships as those accompanying knights took out the well-prepared building materials from their portable space-teleportation equipment. Closely after that, they chose a source with water near the top of the mountain before starting to construct the castle.


    Zhang Tie requested the castle to contain about 1,000 people. He didn''t request it to have strong defensive strength; nor did he urge them to install any city-defense facilities for it. His only condition was that it should meet people''s basic necessities.


    Such a castle was very simple for thousands of able craftsmen dispatched by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Only after 3 days, before the airboat of Iron-Dragon Sect arrived, an exotic castle featured by South Border made of stones and woods had already erected on Centralpillar Mountain.


    When it was completed, at the invitation of Zhang Tie, Celestial Treasureflame, Immortal Deyang and the others left their own airboats for visiting this castle. By the way, they would celebrate the completion of this castle.


    It was also Zhang Tie''s first time to leave his private airboat since he returned to it a few days ago. He could breathe the fresh air by the way.


    ...


    When they arrived at Centralpillar Mountain, they all caught sight of that castle on it.


    The exterior wall of the castle was mixed with two colors. Its bottom was made of taupe stones, above which were three floors made of stones and woods. Those woods looked as crimson as rust, which was very special. There were some turrets in higher places. The entire castle covered over 26,000 square meters. Right at the entrance of Centralpillar Mountain, it could enable people to look down at the entire Centralpillar and its surroundings.


    When Zhang Tie and his friends arrived, thousands of craftsmen and some knights of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion were standing in the square of the castle and waiting for them quietly. Zhang Tie''s group directly declined from the sky and landed on a high platform inside the castle. Some knights from Lord Guangnan''s Mansion hurriedly came over here to greet Zhang Tie, Bai Runshan and Bai Suxian. Almost at the same time, all the craftsmen knelt down on the ground to welcome them.


    Coincidentally, most of these craftsmen were white Hebrews and were always blonds. Some of them had brown or black skin. At the sight of them, Zhang Tie almost thought that he had returned to Waii Subcontinent.


    "They are..." Zhang Tie became a bit stunned as he asked Bai Suxian when he saw these craftsmen welcoming them in such a great manner.


    "These craftsmen are domestic servants of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion; actually, their forebears had started to be loyal to Lord Guangnan''s Mansion..."


    "Aah, they might be Hebrews."


    "Almost. These people are just the lowest-level slave craftsmen raised by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Over the past hundreds of years, they were descendants of those foreigners who were sold to Taixia Country in the former two holy wars and were kept by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Of course, even though there were no holy wars, those subcontinents and continents would also suffer from natural calamities and man-made misfortunes constantly; as a result, foreigners would be incessantly sold over here due to various reasons!" Bai Runshan turned around as he said casually, "If you want them, I will give them to you. After gathering tens of thousands of people, I will have them sent to Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory. Whereas, these foreigners could only do some heavy manual labor and slightly skilled works. They''re too coarse to be used by you and within the Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Most of these Hebrews are fishy; their cultivation flair couldn''t match that of Hua people. Although female Hebrews are a bit better than male, they''re really awkward. Hopefully, you could stand them. By contrast, those slave craftsmen that Suxian gifted you last time were all selected by Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, who could not be matched by these Hebrews..."


    Zhang Tie had been living in Waii Subcontinent with Hebrews since he was born. Although Zhang Tie was proud of his status as Hua people, he didn''t discriminate Hebrews. Actually, he had Hebrew brothers and wives. In this case, when he saw so many slave craftsmen in front of him, he became completely speechless. It was said that some racists treated Hebrews as first-class people before the Catastrophe; even some Hua people felt Hebrews were more senior than them. Unexpectedly, Hebrews were the lowest-level slave craftsmen within Lord Guangnan''s Mansion in this age.


    "How many Hebrews are there in Lord Guangnan''s Mansion?"


    "Not too many, just a bit more than 140 million!"


    "Didn''t they come to South Border in the identity of border residents?"


    "Border residents?" Bai Runshan threw a glance at Zhang Tie before bursting into laughter, "Only Guizhou Province have some border residents. Actually, all those who could be border residents have some stockpiles. At least, they would not be starved to death in Taixia Country. As for other places, besides the official fields which would be attended to by some border residents, which top clan of Taixia Country would like to use border residents. Actually, border residents couldn''t even match domestic slaves or slaves."

 1589 Granting Honor to Hebrews

    "Did all of them abandon their identity of border residents voluntarily?" Zhang Tie widely opened his eyes at a stroke.


    "The so-called border residents is just an appellation used by Taixia Country as the most powerful country of humans which represents our politeness to foreigners. Actually, especially in wars, these foreigners who come to Taixia Country would finally become the domestic slaves of major clans or slaves who''re used to exploit the wild. Their lives are actually in the hands of others. They''re far away from border residents!"


    "Won''t they find trouble for that?"


    "What trouble? Even if all of them died or were killed, do you think someone could speak for them?"


    "Nobody cares about them?"


    "They couldn''t even if they want!" Bai Runshan shook his head as he said, "If too many foreigners die, and the official agencies are involved in the investigation, major clans have many methods to deal with that, one of the simplest is to correct their identities. As long as they''re slaves employed by major clans, their death would arouse no trouble!"


    "Slaves employed?"


    "No slaves are allowed to exist in Taixia Country. However, slaves exist in subcontinents and other foreign countries. Therefore, superficially, these people are border residents; nevertheless, as long as major clans find some agencies or business groups to turn these people''s identities into slaves rent from foreign agencies or business groups, they would be able to shirk their responsibilities as long as they present a relevant agreement between them and foreign agencies or business groups to the criminal courts. Slaves don''t have human rights; even if they have, their human rights are in the hands of those foreign agencies or business groups. The relation between Taixia Country and the other countries in subcontinents are restricted to the Human Charter of Brightness. Nationally and legally, Taixia Country has no right to interfere with the internal affairs of the other countries. As long as the victims are not Hua people, as long as the slave owner doesn''t care about their death, Taixia Country won''t execute the law in foreign countries. Therefore, the officials are clear about the outcome facing those foreigners in Taixia Country..." Immortal Deyang sighed as he explained.


    Since Zhang Tie came to Taixia Country, he had less contact with the Hebrews at the bottom of the society of Taixia Country. Unimaginably, there was also such a dark side in human trafficking in Taixia country. The so-called border residents were just a figleaf for the slave trade.


    Perhaps this problem could not be solved at all. As long as classes existed, there would be the bottom class. It was said that human society had reached an unprecedented, advanced degree before the Catastrophe. At that time, all the human countries declared that they had eliminated slaves; however, in some dark corners, there were still a large number of slaves, who became the toys of the rich.


    Zhang Tie thought inside, ''Now that this class of slave exists, why not tear off the figleaf of border residents and expose it to the public? Additionally, improve laws to guarantee the basic human rights of these people, leaving no loophole to others. In addition, provide ascending tunnels for them to get rid of the identity of a slave. In this way, the foreigners would live better; at least, they would not be killed for free like now.''


    "Although the domestic slaves of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion are like slaves, they would not meet those damn things. As for Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, it''s not worthwhile for us to be blamed for being brutal and fierce!" Bai Runshan threw a glance at Zhang Tie before explaining, "Most of these people in subcontinents and other continents were living under the strict rule of lords and fake nobles. They would risk their lives every day and always become homeless. Those rulers wanted to exploit them while not guaranteeing their safety and tranquil life. As a result, they escaped to Taixia Country and came to the territory of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Many people even live better than that in subcontinents and other continents. They could also have houses, wives and children here. Additionally, Lord Guangnan is a real heir of Lord and a real human noble. They treat Lord Guangnan as their owner; they serve Lord Guangnan''s Mansion and follow all the orders of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Meanwhile, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion guarantees their safety in case they feel homeless. Many of them even feel happy and proud of being a domestic slave of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. You could ask them, even if you promise them freedom, who among them would like to leave South Border and live alone outside?"


    Zhang Tie threw another glance at those domestic slaves as he found those people''s eye light didn''t contain pure fear; instead, it''s full of awe while being meticulous with a bit humble hope.


    Watching the slightly hopeful eyes, Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside.


    "I am Zhang Tie, known as Immortal Qianji, the husband of the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, the guerrilla general of Taixia Country and the founder of Iron-Dragon Sect in Youzhou Province, Taixia Country..." Zhang Tie turned around as he introduced himself to those craftsmen. Hearing Zhang Tie''s introduction, the craftsmen became a bit boisterous while many people goggled at Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie was too famous; especially Zhang Tie''s fiery oil had deepened into the lives of commoners. Therefore, many craftsmen had heard about him. "This is my castle. This castle would serve as the place for knights who feel like cultivating and resting here. After leaving here, those knights would grow stronger. In the future, many of those powerful knights would become the human vanguards against demons or safeguard more humans. They would be the most important power of humans. Therefore, to a certain degree, the castle that you''ve completed is as important as those battle fortresses facing demons. Even more than that! What you have done here definitely donates to humans in the holy war. Thank you!"


    After finishing his words, Zhang Tie pointed at three smooth stone walls around the square as he continued, "You should leave here today. You could leave your names on the walls before you leave. Your names would accompany this castle forever. Later on, each knight who comes here would see who have participated in constructing this castle on the top of this mountain!"

 1590 Beliefs

    When those craftsmen were queuing up to leave their names on the walls of the new castle, Celestial Treasureflame, Immortal Deyang, Bai Runshan and the others watched Zhang Tie curiously as Zhang Tie''s respect towards these humble slaves was out of their expectation. As for these shadow knights and heavenly knights, even ordinary fighters were as trivial as ants, not to mention these foreign slaves.


    "When I was young, I traveled across many continents and subcontinents. I feel that most of the foreigners treat being fond of eating and averse to work as ambiance and customs, stupidity as their culture and tradition, cruelty and rudeness as braveness and power, selfishness as intelligence and personality, lust as romance and taste. Even in major countries on the Western Continent which always called themselves civilized countries, most of them are also extremely fickle. They don''t even know yin or yang, five basic elements; they are afraid of power; yet don''t pay attention to good morality; they''re obsessed with benefits; instead of being righteous. It''s nothing different than regions of beasts. By contrast, besides being full of natural treasures and delicate items, our country is also the land of rich culture and heroes. " Celestial Treasureflame said and threw a glance at those craftsmen like watching sands, and he continued, "These foreign slaves are humble and low; they''re born to serve Hua people. We only need to meet their basic necessities. Immortal, why do you care them by granting them with honor?"


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Celestial Treasureflame was a racist. However, it was not strange in Taixia Country as many people thought the same.


    "What celestial describe might exist. However, as I lived and grew up in Waii Subcontinent together with these foreigners, I know them better than you. They have clans, human emotions, dignity, and dreams. When demons arrive, many male foreigners also take weapons and go to the battlefields, sparing time for women, elders and children to retreat to safe places. Many of them are dauntless fighters and heroes; some of them are wiser who could predict the future. I don''t feel there''s any great difference between them and us. If there is, I feel the largest difference between Hua people and them lies in that Hua people''s talent in cultivation is greater than any other foreign races. Among the same population, the proportion of Hua people who could become fighters above LV 9 is many times higher than that of foreigners. This also explains why Hua people are powerful. This age also belongs to Hua people. However, they couldn''t make a choice on it. It''s not their fault. Basically, Hua people chose the different route of neuron evolution than foreigners when in their mothers'' wombs.


    "Immortal, you ''re right. Hua people choose the different route of neuron evolution than foreigners when in their mothers'' wombs. By contrast, foreigners couldn''t make such an advanced choice in genes. Therefore, Hua people is the dominator and the selected one by the gods in this world..." Celestial Treasureflame said stubbornly and proudly as he watched Zhang Tie.


    After a short silence, Zhang Tie said, "Perhaps there''s no difference on the level between lives in this world. All the lives are actually equal. Even an earthworm, an insect or a fish has its special talent, meaningful life, pride and brilliance..."


    "As for me, all the lives'' positions in this world have been fixed since they were born. Some are born to be senior; some are born to be inferior; some are born to stand on the top of the pyramid of power while some are destined to succumb to the others!"


    Finding Zhang Tie and Celestial Treasureflame arguing with each other on this topic, Bai Suxian on one side hurriedly shifted the topic as she asked Zhang Tie, "You said many knights would come in the future for rest and grow more powerful after leaving here. What do you mean by that?"


    The moment Bai Suxian opened her mouth, Zhang Tie had known that she didn''t want him to continue the argument with Celestial Treasureflame on this topic. Zhang Tie then made Bai Suxian reassured with a smile. As this argument came from each one''s deep-rooted notion and recognition, it couldn''t be changed by others only in some words. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t want to argue anymore. From another perspective, human knights like Celestial Treasureflame who had such a stubborn racism notion¡ª¡ªHua people are born to be paramount is also a reason for the prosperity of Taixia Country and its ruling position of humans.


    Bai Suxian''s question instantly aroused the others'' interest as they all turned around at Zhang Tie.


    "I want to open the first floor of the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect to all the human knights for free!" Zhang Tie said with a smile after throwing a glance at the others.


    "What?" All the others were startled by Zhang Tie''s decision. The fact that Zhang Tie determined to rent towers of time to Heavens Fortune Sect and Demons-kill Valley had already broadened their outlook; they really had not imagined that Zhang Tie could make such a crazier decision.


    "Haha, easy, listen to my explanation. As we all came from the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, you must have a deep feeling about the battle strength of those puppets in the Dongtian. Except for being unable to release their off-claw battle qi strikes, those puppets, all the puppets are as powerful as knights. Additionally, they''re almost perennial in the Dongtian. These puppets are always used to safeguard this Dongtian. However, these puppets actually have a better function; namely the best knight-level training partner in this world!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, everyone was shocked inside as they fixed their eyes onto Zhang Tie; especially Celestial Treasureflame, who argued with Zhang Tie just now, looked more curious as if he had understood something, "You mean..."


    "Without the control center of the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, everything here would be an empty talk; however, after gaining the control center of the Dongtian, it becomes a reality..." Zhang Tie said as he patted his breast, indicating that the control center of the Dongtian was right beneath his clothes, "I could set some special regions on the first floor so that the puppets on the first floor could wander in those regions by turns to fight human knights over there. Quantity of puppets would vary in different regions, which represents the different difficulty in fight and survival. If some knights want to improve their battle skills, this place would be the most ideal one for them. Any knight from black iron knight to shadow knight could find enough and proper training partners here..."


    "Aah..." Bai Suxian exclaimed at a stroke.

 1591 The Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sec

    Zhang Tie''s thought, although sounded unrealistic came from his real experience and gnosis.


    Do you remember that battle puppets hall in the underground Bloody Sacrifice Hieron?


    During the period when Zhang Tie stayed there, Zhang Tie purposefully activated those battle puppets time and time again to improve his battle skills. As a result, in that precarious lobby, Zhang Tie''s battle skills gained a surging momentum in a short period; especially his "Fiery-dragon Spear Skill".


    As for a knight or a fighter, actual combat was always the very shortcut to improve battle skills and power. If a knight wanted to test his battle strength and sharpen his battle skills, he''d better have actual combats with others knights.


    Whereas, it was not easy for a knight to sharpen his battle strength with other knights. Even in major sects and clans, few knights could find some knights to help them sharpen their battle skills as their training partners while fearing no problems, not to mention those independent knights.


    If this problem could be solved easily, the Heavenly Treasure Ball of Heavens Fortune Sect would not enjoy such a supreme position.


    However, the Heavenly Treasure Ball of Heavens Fortune Sect was still different than real situations according to Zhang Tie''s experience. The point was there were only two Heavenly Treasure Balls in Taixia Country, one in Heavens Fortune Sect, the other in Earth-elements Realm. Ordinary people had better not give up having a try of that on in Heavens Fortune Sect because few knights could use it except for the members of Heavens Fortune Sect. It was also very difficult for ordinary knights to try that Heavenly Treasure Ball in Earth-elements Realm. Besides serving humans in the Earth-elements Realm, they had to wait for a long time before getting one chance to use it.


    As for all the knights in Taixia Country, this sort of resource which could provide a site for them to sharpen their battle skills in actual combats was too scarce.


    In this case, what if Zhang Tie turned the first floor of the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect into a training field for all the human knights for free under the absolute control?


    A word occurred to Celestial Treasureflame, Celestial Woodbuilding, Immortal Deyang, Bai Runshan and Bai Suxian almost at the same time¡ª¡ªhot!


    No wonder Zhang Tie would like to build a castle on Centralpillar Mountain as this castle served as the transfer station towards the first floor of the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect.


    "Demons-kill Valley will order chances for 50 knights to sharpen their battle skills on the first floor!" Celestial Treasureflame immediately opened his mouth.


    "Heavens Fortune Sect, 50 too!" Immortal Deyang said closely after Celestial Treasureflame.


    "Don''t you Heavens Fortune Sect have Heavenly Treasure Ball?"


    "Hahaha, Heavenly Treasure Ball is different than this live scene of battle puppets in strengths. They could complement with each other!" Immortal Deyang squinted at Zhang Tie with a smile, "Perhaps Heavens Fortune Sect could share Iron-Dragon Sect with Heavenly Treasure Ball to a certain degree!"


    "I wonder about the price for one knight to sharpen his or her battle skills inside?" Celestial Woodbuilding asked Zhang Tie meticulously.


    Zhang Tie''s idea also attracted Celestial Woodbuilding. However, Jiang Clan couldn''t match Demons-kill Valley and Heavens Fortune Sect in the background as he dared not order it without inquiring about the price in case of embarrassment.


    "I''ve not thought about the details. I think the price would depend on the difficulty of each region and the period where they stay on the first floor!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "The price would not be low; however, it would not be too much for knights either. I guarantee that most of the knights could afford it. As for the details, I will make a decision after negotiating with the other elders of Iron-Dragon Sect!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Celestial Woodbuilding became reassured at a stroke. Now that Zhang Tie said most of the knights could afford it, Jiang knights should afford it too. "If so, Jiang Clan would buy five tickets!"


    "Nice!" Zhang Tie agreed. Closely after that, he asked Celestial Treasureflame and Immortal Deyang, "Your sects have private Dongtian too. You could imitate it in your Dongtian. Why do you prefer here?"


    "The location of Dongtian of each sect and the resources and rarities in each Dongtian are the most classified information for each sect. In addition, the so-called Dongtian of Heavens Fortune Sect doesn''t contain battle puppets at all. Nor do most of the Dongtians. Even if there is, the number of battle puppets or the space of sites over there could not match the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect in all aspects. Given the quantities of battle puppets and the towers of time, this Dongtian definitely ranks first across the country!" Immortal Deyang told Zhang Tie seriously while Celestial Treasureflame nodded aside.


    After hearing Immortal Deyang''s explanation, Zhang Tie understood it as he turned around at Bai Runshan, saying, "Third uncle, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion could enjoy free entry for 50 knights annually. Is that enough?"


    "Enough, of course..." Bai Runshan burst into laughter as his eyebrows raised. Actually, the surplus quota could become a flexible resource that Lord Guangnan''s Mansion could mobilize for free and would play a greater role. "However, we''d better change the name of this Dongtian into Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sect!"


    "Yes, we will call it Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sect from then on!" The other knights nodded at the same time. Of course, this Dongtian should be named after Zhang Tie''s sect.


    "Oh, we''ve not named this castle!" Bai Suxian said as she shook Zhang Tie''s arm.


    After thinking for a few seconds, Zhang Tie said, "Let''s call it No-fight Castle. We will take it as the external Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sect in the South Border. Anyone who came here would be treated equally, Hua people or foreigners or barbarians. No matter what vendetta they have, they''re forbidden to fight in the territory of No-fight Castle. Anyone who dares fight here would be forbidden to enter the Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sect for the rest of their lives besides being punished by Iron-Dragon Sect as their rude behaviors would be taken as the defiance towards Iron-Dragon Sect."


    "No-fight Castle, no fight among humans for fighting demons. Nice, that''s a nice name!" Bai Rushan acclaimed.


    ...


    Two hours later, those craftsmen boarded the airships and left here, leaving 3147 tidy names on the walls of the new castle in Hua characters, Hebrew or other unknown languages.


    A few days later, the airboats of Demons-kill Valley and Heavens Fortune Sect arrived. Two more days later, the airboat of Iron-Dragon Sect finally arrived too...

 1592 The Gathering

    All the elders of Iron-Dragon Sect arrived at Centralpillar Mountain, including Yan Feiqing, Guo Hongyi, Hermit Mountain Lifting, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi.


    Zhang Gui, Aurola and Zhang Su arrived there too.


    However, Zhang Yang didn''t come; because when these people were setting for the South Border, Zhang Yang was setting for Heavens Fortune Sect to cultivate for 2 decades in the Dongtian of Heavens Fortune Sect. Zhang Yang had already prepared well for it. As the access of 2 decades to Dongtian was gifted to Zhang Tie by Heavens Fortune Sect, now that Zhang Tie didn''t go there, Zhang Yang would not waste the good opportunity.


    After all the knights of Iron-Dragon Sect left Iron-Dragon Sect, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and Jinwu Palace became boring; therefore, Zhang Yang took his parents and Zhang Tie''s children to Heavens Fortune Sect for visiting Zhang Chenglei by the way. Of course, these people were safe in Heavens Fortune Sect.


    Zhang Tie''s wives also had a holiday these days as they appointed to travel and go shopping in Xuanyuan Hill while enjoying the prosperity over there.


    Zhang Tie had a mansion in the central region of Taixia Country. With the protection of the royal prince, nobody dared find those women trouble. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t worry about them.


    As a result, Donder was responsible for attending the entire Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    When those knights of Iron-Dragon Sect, Aurola and Zhang Gui met Zhang Tie again, they were all thrilled.


    Previously, Zhang Tie was coming for South Border to propose marriage to Bai Suxian; however, none of the members of Iron-Dragon Sect and Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory could imagine that Zhang Tie would shock the country again and acquire the entire Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect.


    That was really fantastic!


    Zhang Tie was so happy to meet them as he summoned them to describe what he experienced in the Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sect, how he cooperated with Heavens Fortune Sect and Demons-kill Valley, his intention to open the first floor of the Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sect to the public and displayed the power of the two snakes around his wrist to the others. The two snakes moved as they grew into 7-8 m long boas and flew around the others before returning to his wrist.


    That was too amazing. Not until the two snakes returned to Zhang Tie''s metal bracelet did everyone in the room gaze at it, including Yan Feiqing.


    Before the others said something, Zhang Tie continued, "Heavens Fortune Sect, Demons-kill Valley and Jiang Clan would rent the towers of time on the second floor and the third floor of the Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sect in the future. As compensation, they would constantly provide Devil-fire Pills, Seven Colors Pills and All-spirits Liquid to Iron-Dragon Sect. From now on, the towers of time from the 4th floor to the 7th floor would be available to Iron-Dragon Sect, 22 in total. In the following two months, all of you at present could promote to one level higher, except for me and Qing''er!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, everyone fixated onto Zhang Tie''s face. No matter how powerful the two snakes were, it could never match their promotion in level.


    "Do all of us go inside?" Yan Feiqing asked Zhang Tie as she stroked her lower abdomen by hand.


    "Yes, all of us. After entering it, you could at least promote to one change realm of a sage-level knight in 2 decades, even if you couldn''t promote to a semi-sage level knight. You would grow more powerful; additionally, our baby would not be influenced!"


    Watching Zhang Tie, Yan Feiqing became silent for a second as she nodded.


    "As it''s in the holy war. We mostly depend on our own power. This time, the god favors Iron-Dragon Sect by gifting us such a chance to promote to a higher level. Hopefully, you all could seize it!" Zhang Tie said as he threw a glance at the others, "Now, I will talk about the distribution of towers of time. The four towers of time on the 4th floor are for me, Aurola, Elder brother Lu and Sister Lin; the five towers of time on the 5th floor are for Suxian, Hongyi, Elder brother Mountain Lifting, Zhang Su and Zhang Gui; Qing''er is on the 6th floor. After making preparations, we will enter the secluded cultivation together. We will reunite after 20 days. Given our progress, we will make a further decision on the secondary distribution. If there''s no problem with you, let''s go back to prepare and enter the Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sect together next morning!"


    "Owner, this old slave should not enter it!" Zhang Gui, who always remained silent and had no sense of existence among them, finally opened his mouth, "As the tower of time is so precious, you''d better not waste it on this old slave..."


    Zhang Tie watched Zhang Gui seriously as he said, "You''re also a member of Jinwu Palace. You''ve made great contributions to Jinwu Palace. I take you as a family member. I would be pretty happy if you could promote to a shadow knight!"


    Zhang Gui lowered his eyes as he shrunk his shoulders, saying in a low tone like a timid old dog, "Yes, owner, this old slave would work hard to live up to your expectation!"


    After throwing a glance at all the others, Mountain Lifting Hermit said, "Now that owner has already made a decision, I will make a preparation back in the room. Let''s enter the Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sect next morning!"


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi also stood up and intended to leave the conference room with Mountain Lifting Hermit, followed by all the others. Aurola even threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie.


    After a short while, Zhang Tie had become alone in the conference room.


    Sitting on the main seat, Zhang Tie stroked his beard for a few minutes before picking himself up and leaving the conference room.


    Although they all left, it didn''t mean that they didn''t want to talk anything with Zhang Tie; instead, they wanted to talk with him privately. Zhang Tie could understand them from their eyes.


    There were many cabins on the airboat. Zhang Tie came to the front of Aurola''s room before knocking at it.


    After Aurola opened the hatch door with a calm look, Zhang Tie entered it. Aurola then closed the door as she suddenly, tightly hugged Zhang Tie from his back and pasted her face onto Zhang Tie''s back.


    Zhang Tie thought Aurola was just a bit afraid as she had to cultivate alone for 20 years after entering the tower of time tomorrow. Therefore, he comforted her, "Don''t worry, in fact, if you could concentrate on your mind, time passes by quickly in the tower of time. I''ve already prepared enough All-spirits Liquid and Seven Colors Pills for you. The combination of the two medicaments would see a better effect. You could definitely promote to a knight if you cultivate inside for 2 decades. Besides, I''ve prepared some secret books, tens of thousands of various books, an array of cosmetics, many clothes and some interesting items which could help you kill time..."


    Aurola didn''t speak as she just shook his head. Zhang Tie felt that his back turned wet at a stroke...


    After turning around and raising her tearful, petite face, Zhang Tie asked, "What''s wrong?"


    Aurola kept shaking his head as she poured out tears heavily and watched Zhang Tie with a fascinating look, "I don''t want to be a knight; nor do I want you to be the world-renowned divine dominator. Let''s go back to Ice and Snow Wilderness. You could be the very Peter Hamplester, the very wanted murderer of mine and I could be the very Aurola again, shall we?"


    Zhang Tie became stunned as he asked, "Why? Aren''t we good now?"


    Aurola smiled with tearful, miserable beauty and bitterness as she replied, "These days, I would always dream about the situation where we met in Ice and Snow Wilderness. At that time, you were not a knight; nor was I the queen of Ice and Snow Wilderness. Despite lacking power and struggling in our own fates, I feel we were happiest in that period. I could stay with you every day, listen to you, watch you hunt, eat with you and share moods with you. At night, we even sit by the bonfire and watch the stars all over the sky. I felt pretty happy and full in those days. However, now, I have no idea about the meaning for me to stay with you..."


    Aurola''s tears and miserable, bitter smile petrified Zhang Tie...

 1593 Being Unhappy

    "Do you remember the last time we sat together and watched the stars all over the sky?"


    "Do you remember the last time we leaned against each other and poured out our hearts towards each other?"


    "Do you know how women like us tide over without you?"


    "Do you know that you are also the father of Andre and the other kids besides being our husband. Do you know they always urged to celebrate a birthday together with you, to celebrate the new year festival with you, to have a snowball fight with you, to go sledding with you, even have you coax them to go to bed? Over these years, have you fulfilled the responsibility of a father? Have you really cared about us? Do you even love us or not?"


    O''Laura said with tears as her questions and denouncement were as sharp as sabers and swords for Zhang Tie. As a result, Zhang Tie''s face gradually turned pale; however, he couldn''t refute.


    "Do you know my feeling after coming to Taixia Country? Olina, Sabrina and I are like widows who lie on gold coins inside a steel castle every day. As long as we leave the castle that you built for us, we would see strange looks from people in black hair and eyes. We don''t have partners here; nor do we have clansmen. We don''t feel free. Even you were not on our side. Do you remember our smiles? Do you remember how long it has been since Olina and Sabrina poured out their hearts towards you? Peter, you''ve changed since you promoted to a knight. You''re moving increasingly farther away from us. You don''t need us in your world anymore. We have been not that important in your world. What we could do for you now could be easily replaced by more people..."


    "I..."


    O''Laura put her finger on Zhang Tie''s lip to stop him from talking as she continued, "I know you want to say it''s not your original intention. Previously, we thought we could really stay with you after coming to Taixia Country from Ice and Snow Wilderness like before. We could live together and face all the difficulties together. However, now, we know that we''re wrong. Yes, it''s you who''s protecting us from being killed. You have Andre and the others kids learn the most powerful battle skills and provide them with the best education and the best teacher; however, by doing all these, you just want to keep us alive... O''Laura watched Zhang Tie with sad, despairing eye light as she grew a bit thrilled, "Stay alive. Do you know? You just want to keep us alive. However, that''s the least demand for people in this world. None of us would like to live in this way, whether it''s Olina, Sabrina or I. Do you know that Alexander, Andrew and the others were also bullied by other kids outside? Do you know how many fights have they had with other kids these years? Do you know that one day Andrew suddenly asked me, ''Mom, why is dad not with us and left us here alone? Why would we stay in this place being full of strangers? Why not return to Ice and Snow Wilderness?" O''Laura shook her head as she said painfully, "I really don''t know how to answer him. Could I tell him that it''s just for keeping us alive and preventing ourselves from being killed by bad guys by his dad..."


    "O''Laura, you''re right. I''m not a good husband or father. I only consider my own feelings; instead, I ignore the feelings of you and our kids. I don''t know how sad you are over these years. However, please believe me, I''m the very one like before. As long as all these pass by, I will compensate for you!" Zhang Tie said excitedly as he seized O''Laura''s hand.


    "You will; however, not like how you imagine!" O''Laura shook her head decisively as she added, "You would grow more and more powerful. As a shadow knight, you would promote to a heavenly knight, a semi-sage level knight, even a sage-level knight, even above all the others knights one day. Iron-Dragon Sect would grow more and more powerful. Jinwu Palace would also become the number one sect in Taixia Country. Even if you don''t want to change, this world, those people around you, your friends and your enemies like demons would push you towards it. By accepting it, your heart would stay farther and farther away from us and we would have little chance to give you a hand. We would grow more and more unimportant like the decorations at your home. When you recall us, you would have dinner with us and make love with us; you would care about our kids and throw a pile of items to us before leaving us. You would pay more attention to those which are more important for you, rather than us. Olina, Sabrina and Matyr could already see clearly how we will live in one decade, two decades even 1 century. That''s not what we want. We don''t just want to stay alive. If we''re destined to be the passers-by in your life, we hope you could still have a sweet memory of us after 100 years even longer. Hopefully, you could still recall the nice days you spent with us by then; instead of letting us gradually be the decorations at your home, watching us gradually losing our light and turning old, even being forgotten by you!"


    O''Laura''s words gradually aroused an unfortunate feeling from Zhang Tie. Therefore, Zhang Tie uttered in a slightly quivering voice, "What...what do you want?"


    "We''ve already reached an agreement to leave you and Taixia Country. We''re going back to Ice and Snow Wilderness. As for us, female Slave, Ice and Snow Wilderness is our hometown. We could really feel that we''re not just staying alive only there!"


    "No, never!" Zhang Tie turned green as he roared like an injured wild beast. Eyes red, he tightly grasped O''Laura as he denied decisively, "I would not have you leave me and return to Ice and Snow Wilderness. That''s too precarious!"


    Wiping out her tears, O''Laura watched Zhang Tie calmly, "Do you think someone in Western Continent dares find trouble in Ice and Snow Wilderness?"


    "And demons?"


    "Demons want to hurt us because they might think that we''re very important for you. I''ve already made a plan with O''Laura. As long as you coordinate with us, we would become unimportant for you. Even if we leave you, nobody would find us trouble. Even if we met dangers in the future, we would bear it willingly..."


    O''Laura''s words gave a heavy blow to Zhang Tie...

 1594 The Sadness of Departure

    Zhang Tie only stayed in O''Laura''s room for half an hour.


    When he left her room, he looked a bit pale while his eyes turned a bit red. Not until O''Laura closed her room did Zhang Tie believe that his wives and concubines from Ice and Snow Wilderness Wilderness would leave him.


    It was not O''Laura alone who made the decision. In fact, she had already reached an agreement with Olina, Sabrina. Previously, the six women of Spencer Clan remained neutral; however, after knowing the decision of Aurola, Sabrina and Olina, they wavered their mind too as they also determined to leave for Ice and Snow Wilderness. They even made a considerate plan so that outsiders were convinced that they had broken up with Zhang Tie and were not "important" to Zhang Tie anymore after returning to Ice and Snow Wilderness...


    However, what counted most was that these beloved women were going to leave him.


    It reminded Zhang Tie of Alice. At that moment, they were both innocent and didn''t have a deep feeling about living and love. Whereas, now, the departure of these women who had delivered babies for him was definitely a heavier blow to him than Zhang Taixuan''s betrayal as this strike directly collapsed half of his family which he treasured the most.


    In this age, divorce wouldn''t happen to knights as the battle strength was the most powerful thing in this world. Nevertheless, the decision of Zhang Tie''s wives and concubines from Ice and Snow Wilderness felt like a divorce. The decisive departure of those women who once loved him so much made Zhang Tie doubt the meaning of everything that he had done over these years.


    Zhang Tie recalled it carefully as he realized that he indeed spent increasingly less time with them since he promoted to a knight. He might not have cared for his children enough too. ''But is it my fault? It''s the crises that constantly drive me forward and make me grow increasingly more powerful. If not, how could I protect them and guarantee them a safe and wealthy life?''


    ''Perhaps O''Laura and the others didn''t think so. I indeed spent less time communicating with them. As I have more and more powerful women like Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing, they were gradually pushed aside with less smile.''


    ''Like what Aurola said, they couldn''t just stay alive.''


    ''Perhaps, it''s destined and inevitable. It had to come sooner or later.''


    ''Those who combine with each other due to interest would collapse for sure due to lack of interest.''


    ''Those who combine with each other due to love would blow up due to lack of love for sure.''


    ''O''Laura agrees to enter the tower of time because she wants to grow more powerful before leaving me so as to protect Andrew and herself. After leaving the tower of time and returning to Youzhou Province, she would leave with Sabrina, Olina and the six women of Spencer Clan.''


    ''Because they have not visited the most prosperous place in Taixia Country after coming to this country for so many years, they would like to look around in Xuanyuan Hill. By the way, hand over their responsibilities in Iron-heart Palace.''


    ''They''ve already negotiated everything. O''Laura just came here to notice me on behalf of them.''


    ''Although they might face dangers after leaving me, they prefer to face the possible dangers than continuing such a boring life arranged by me.''


    O''Laura''s wildness and unyielding spirit, Sabrina''s reversal mind and pursuit for freedom and Olina''s firmness and intelligence occurred to Zhang Tie at this moment. Not until then did Zhang Tie feel that each of the three women had strong heart and pursuit which could even match that of knights. He couldn''t bind them to him and turn them into women like Aimei and Aixue. To a certain degree, Zhang Tie was selfish.


    However, it was too late.


    Zhang Tie stood in the corridor outside O''Laura''s room for 10 minutes as he felt as frustrated and fretful as those male losers who couldn''t maintain their own marriage and families.


    ...


    "Aah, master..."


    Two mermaids approached the corner of the corridor and walked towards him with fruit trays. At the sight of Zhang Tie standing there with a disappointed look, they hurriedly moved to one side as they lowered their heads, daring not look at Zhang Tie anymore.


    The word "master" woke up Zhang Tie from the deep sense of frustration and failure. After throwing a glance at the two scared mermaids, Zhang Tie took in a deep breath as he rubbed his face to recover his stiff look.


    As the founder of Iron-Dragon Sect, Immortal Qianji, divine dominator and the pillar of Jinwu Palace, he had to face all the frustrations and strikes calmly with a strong will as numerous people were watching him, depending on him and believing in him. Because he didn''t have the right to be weak. As long as he revealed his weakness, all the jackals, wolves, tigers and leopards around him like demons, Heavens Reaching Church, Imperial Alliance and those forces who were drooling at fiery oil and all-purpose medicaments would charge at him and badly mutilate Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace before digesting them bit by bit.


    Zhang Tie reminded himself to bury everything deep in the heart. Closely after that, the majestic and profound qi reappeared on him.


    "Raise your heads..." Zhang Tie ordered.


    The two mermaids then raised their heads as they were mired in Zhang Tie''s profound eye light...


    After Zhang Tie left there, the two mermaids didn''t leave until a minute later with fruit trays while the memory of Zhang Tie''s frustrated look just now had been completely erased.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie walked to the door of Zhang Su''s room, his expression had already recovered completely. Nobody could identify anything abnormal from Zhang Tie''s expression.


    After hearing the knocks, Zhang Su opened the door with a bit of surprise...

 1595 Double-edged Sword

    Zhang Tie didn''t enter Zhang Su''s room; instead, with a smile, he passed a space-teleportation finger ring to Zhang Su as he said, "There are enough Demons-fire Pills and All-spirits Liquid, some secret books inside it. In addition, I''ve put some ordinary books inside; you could kill time with them. As you will stay in the tower of time for 2 decades, with these items, if you concentrate on cultivation, you would definitely promote to a knight!"


    Zhang Su threw a glance at Zhang Tie as he nodded forcefully. After that, he put away the space-teleportation finger ring.


    At this moment, "thanks" was needless.


    "I will promote!" Zhang Su said in a muffled voice.


    "The usage of a space-teleportation finger ring is very simple. Inject your spiritual energy into it and you would know how to use it. After promoting to a knight, you would keep this space-teleportation finger ring!"After saying this, Zhang Tie patted Zhang Su''s shoulder as he added, "Have a good rest. You''d better contact your family members tonight if you want. After entering the tower of time, remote-sensing communications finger ring would not work anymore!"


    "Okay!"


    "Oh..." Zhang Tie told Zhang Su using his battle qi, "If you use All-spirits Liquid and Mental Arithmetic by Abacus together, you would see a much better effect. The combination of them is very useful for enhancing your spiritual energy. Jiang Clan might not know that. It''s also the secret of Iron-Dragon Sect. You could have a try in the tower of time!"


    Zhang Su nodded silently.


    Zhang Tie then left Zhang Su''s door for the next room.


    ...


    As was imagined, Zhang Su didn''t see anything abnormal from Zhang Tie''s look. After Zhang Tie''s departure, Zhang Su looked at the space-teleportation finger ring for a short while. After that, eyes closed, he slowly penetrated his spiritual energy into it. At a stroke, he got a vial of All-spirits Liquid. A few seconds later, the vial of All-spirits Liquid disappeared from his hand and returned to his finger ring.


    After trying it a few times, Zhang Su had almost mastered its usage.


    When he opened his eyes, Zhang Su looked a bit thrilled while a tenacious light flashed across his eyes. Grasping the space-teleportation finger ring, he felt holding his hope in the future.


    Every fighter dreamed of such a rare chance. Previously, Zhang Su thought that he couldn''t get such a chance until many years later. Unimaginably, he got such a chance so early after following Zhang Tie to South Border.


    Lowering his head, Zhang Su watched his hand while a vial of All-spirits Liquid reappeared in his hand. After drinking it up, he walked to the bedside. Sitting down there, legs crossed, he started to cultivate Mental Arithmetic by Abacus.


    ...


    After recovering his composure, Zhang Tie came to the room of Mountain Lifting Hermit.


    After hearing the knocks, Mountain Lifting Hermit invited him in.


    "It''s said that master had a knight join Iron-Dragon Sect in Dongtian a few days ago. But why couldn''t I see him?"


    "That person left the Dongtian with Suxian and the others first ahead of me. He explained to Suxian that he had offended the Heavens Holding Pavilion. In order to not bring trouble to Iron-Dragon Sect, he determined to find shelter somewhere for a few days. After that, he would come back to Iron-Dragon Sect. As to where he is now, I have no idea either."


    "Head, do you know his background?"


    "No!" Zhang Tie shook his head frankly, and he said, "However, that person is very funny. I will just take him as a friend. If he dares do evil things in the name of Iron-Dragon Sect, I would punish him for sure!"


    "That''s fine!"


    "Elder brother, as you''re going to promote to a shadow knight in the tower of time, have you prepared enough wind element crystals?"


    "Yes, I have enough. Even if not, I could absorb elements from Elements Realm in the tower of time. I won''t lack wind elements!"


    "If you don''t have enough wind element crystals, it would slow down your cultivation. Iron-Dragon Sect would depend on you, elder brother. Don''t be too polite..." Zhang Tie said as he waved his arm, presenting thousands of wind element crystals in front of Mountain Lifting Hermit which looked like a brilliant hill...


    As for knights, these wind element crystal were priceless.


    ...


    After leaving Mountain Lifting Hermit''s room, Zhang Tie came to the room of Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi. After having a succinct chat with the couple and leaving enough earth element crystals to them, Zhang Tie left there.


    After that, Zhang Tie left for Yan Feiqing''s room, then Guo Hongyi''s room.


    After talking about the arrangement with her and leaving enough earth element crystals to Guo Hongyi, Zhang Tie turned around and was going to leave her room.


    "Won''t you...stay here tonight?" Guo Hongyi watched Zhang Tie with a fascinated yet bashful look, saying, "Master said that...she is not convenient psychologically recently and have me...accompany you more..."


    Zhang Tie stopped. Watching her red face and bashful look, he suddenly felt a bit strange about Guo Hongyi.


    Previously, Guo Hongyi was straightforward and outrageous like a vixen. However, after this female fell in love with Zhang Tie and made love with him, this woman had been gradually changing. Love was so powerful that even the female knight whom all the male knights in Youzhou Province would keep far away from could turn them as bashful and sensitive as a young virgin after falling in love with Zhang Tie.


    ''Love is a double-edged sword. Sometimes, love would enable a woman to stay with a man regardless of everything. Conversely, after losing her love, a woman would resolutely leave that man. When he thought about O''Laura''s decision, Zhang Tie had such a feeling deep in mind as his eye light turned gentle and profound in front of Hongyi.


    "Hongyi..." Zhang Tie said gently.


    "Hmm!"


    "If you love a person, he would definitely like you to be the best of you; instead of others. Only such a love would not disappoint you forever! I feel you were the most beautiful one when in the White Tiger Platform in Youzhou Province!"


    Guo Hongyi became petrified.


    Zhang Tie smiled as he kissed her face and left the room.


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t return to Bai Suxian''s room. After occupying Zhang Tie alone for so many days, Bai Suxian knew that Zhang Tie would not stay with her tonight as some more wives of him arrived today. She was not jealous at all.


    Zhang Tie came to the door of O''Laura''s room again as he knocked at her door.


    Half a minute later, the door was opened. O''Laura had just taken a bath and was in pajamas; her hair was a bit wet. With faintly red and swollen eyes, she opened her door as she was shocked to see Zhang Tie again.


    Zhang Tie entered and closed the door. Closely after that, he hugged O''Laura and walked towards the bed...


    O''Laura knew what Zhang Tie wanted to do. Patting her breast and shoulders and wriggling her body, she started to resist symbolically out of her self-esteem, "Put me down, what are you doing?"


    "Whenever it is, wherever you''re heading for, even if you return to Ice and Snow Wilderness and want to leave me, I''m still your husband, your man. You know what I want!" Zhang Tie said rudely as he directly threw O''Laura onto the bed. Closely after that, he tore off her pajamas...


    ...


    Many people in the airboat became sleepless that night...

 1596 Returning to Youzhou Province

    On October 21st of Black Iron Calendar, it was a sunny day; two airboats of Iron Dragon Sect finally arrived at Youzhou Province after flying across the entire Taixia Country...


    The number of airplanes surged the moment they entered Youzhou Province. The two airboats then slowed down. Standing on the viewing platforms of the airboats, people could see swarms of airplanes.


    In black, long robe, Zhang Tie was watching the picturesque mountainscape inside the airboat, hands on his back while numerous whims occurred to him.


    The land under his foot already belonged to Zhang family of Jinwu Palace. As it was in Autumn, the over 600 miles'' land was full of vigor. Being adorned with golden ears of rice, corns and red, hot pepper, the landscape looked pretty nice.


    Many residents of Jinwu Palace were doing farming work in farmlands at this time. Nobody else knew the importance of this harvest and the difficulty of the current life.


    Last year, there were relatively fewer fiery-oil agricultural machines in the farmlands of Youzhou Province; this year, wholly new fiery-oil agricultural machines could be seen everywhere in the vast land.


    From the sky, people could easily distinguish fiery-oil agricultural machines from steam agricultural machines. As the latter burned diesel oil and kerosene oil, the moment they were started, they would emit black smoke from their chimneys which connected with their boilers. By contrast, the former only produce vapor and carbon dioxide, which were both colorless and environmental friendly.


    Zhang Tie saw totally more than 100 fiery-oil reapers on the farmland whose horizontal length in total was over 600 m. Like a marching team, they pushed forward in the cornfield like tidy waves, shoulder and shoulder.


    After these corn reapers passed by, all the corn stalks had fallen tidily. At the same time, packs of corn cobs were separated and entered the tractors behind the reapers, leaving rows of corn straws being engulfed by straws reapers.


    After that, those corns would be transported to garages or food factories while those straws would be sent to the nearest fiery-oil production bases.


    Trucks and tractors that carried corn straws queued up on the highway towards fiery-oil production bases. However, these vehicles left fiery-oil production bases with fertilizers, paper, fiery oil, even fuels like honeycomb stalk bricks towards the rest of the country.


    Some fiery-oil production bases were directly linked to railways so that goods could be transported in a higher efficient way.


    Like a spirit that Zhang Tie released from his box, fiery oil was more like powerful magic. Within a few years, when Zhang Tie gazed at the land below again, he had already been strange about so many fiery-oil machines.


    Many things didn''t need to be guided or concerned by Zhang Tie any more. The efficient division of labor and profit-chasing mechanism in human society would push numerous clans and mechanical engineers across the country to present their fiery-oil products as they had caught great business opportunities from fiery-oil.


    The creative and innovative passion brought by fiery oil to the entire country could only be described by the term Big Boom!


    When the battle flames between humans and demons at the bank of Weishui River and in the Helan Mountain were fierce, more and more eccentric inventions concerning fiery oil started to appear this year.


    Although Zhang Tie was not very familiar with the situation in other places, last month, Zhang Tie had heard that someone was developing fiery-oil locomotive; someone even prepared to invent fiery-oil helicopters inspired by fiery-oil airplanes like those before the Catastrophe. The engineers of some fiery-oil arsenals under his rule were developing a variety of more powerful fiery-oil weapons. Jinwu Shipyard in Zhang Tie''s old mansion was also developing new fiery-oil gas turbines with some shipbuilding enterprises and clans in Northeast Military Region.


    Fiery oil brought him too many unexpected, fast changes.


    "Money is the key for all the portals!"


    When Zhang Tie was watching the landscape, O''Laura in black longuette slowly approached him from his back. When the strong wind around the viewing platform approached O''Laura, it passed by her from her sides. As a result, O''Laura''s hair remained still.


    Standing on his side, O''Laura and Zhang Tie watched the bumper scene together.


    In less than 2 months, O''Laura had already entered a tower of time for two times. As a result, she was already a black iron knight in his 3 change realm.


    Speaking of cultivation flair, without Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie couldn''t match O''Laura at all. When Zhang Tie went to Ice and Snow Wilderness for the first time, O''Laura who was not much elder than him was already a powerful fighter. Even after becoming the queen of Sacred Iceland Kingdom, O''Laura still didn''t abandon her cultivation. Therefore, with the help of All-spirts Liquid and Seven-Color Pills, O''Laura had already become a knight when she left the tower of time for the first time. Closely after that, she entered the tower of time for the second time.


    Actually, 4 decades had passed for O''Laura although being less than 2 months actually.


    Zhang Tie turned around and looked at her beautiful and proud face. After four decades'' cultivation in the tower of time calmly, this woman had determined her mind to leave him; instead of being unwilling to leave him. Not until then did Zhang Tie really sense her hardcore. Perhaps, she had been born to be stubborn facing her environment. If not, this woman could not have survived her tiny tribe facing internal and external powerful threats.


    At this moment, O''Laura seemingly had recovered her unyielding look, which was pretty beautiful.


    Watching her, Zhang Tie felt complex as he didn''t know whether he should smile or cry.


    "Money is the key for all the portals!" Zhang Tie repeated her words as he nodded, "Although being succinct, it is actually a truth. If not, fiery oil could not have spread over the entire country virally in such a short period!"


    ...

 1597 OsLauras Though

    "It''s not my words; its Olina''s!" O''Laura explained as she watched the bumper landscape, "Many agricultural policies in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory were proposed by Olina. Take the New Deal on Subsidizing Straws in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory as an instance, after reaping straws, as long as farmers carried the straws to fiery-oil production bases, they would get fiery oil, straw-based fertilizers and fermented, compressed coal or paper from fiery-oil production bases for free. Actually, these things they get are many times more valuable than straws. Additionally, each household needs them. It''s another sort of agricultural subsidy but money. Benefited from this policy, the fiery oil output across Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory gain an explosive benign momentum; second, agricultural production in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory become stabilized and promoted. When the country as a whole is suffering from grain shortage, the grain output across Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory almost increases in each season; besides, the use of fiery oil is stimulated and expanded across Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory. Fiery oil becomes closely related to people''s daily life and has already become the living necessity of people at the bottom of society. What''s more, from now on, these farmers have completely become your advocates and supporters. They''re the foundation for you to win the world..."


    "Olina!" Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile. He was not shocked by her words at all as that woman had already proved her ability many times. Olina was exceptionally far-sighted and shrewd in both Navyblue Business Group and Iron-heart Palace of Youzhou Province. Sometimes, Zhang Tie thought that Olina would have greater, and more amazing achievement if she was a male.


    "When Olina proposed this subsidy policy, I didn''t understand it right away. Later on, I gradually figured it out. Therefore, I prepare to appoint her as the female premier of Sacred Iceland Kingdom after coming back this time..."


    "Could you not go?" Zhang Tie asked with a sigh as he watched O''Laura calmly.


    O''Laura turned around as she watched Zhang Tie with a smile, "Taixia belongs to you instead of us. This place doesn''t belong to Andrew and Alexander either. Taixia Country is too powerful; so are Hua people. However, such great power and pride belong to people with black hair and eyes like you instead of us. As for us, this pride and power is an invisible barrier. Even being your wives and sons, we still couldn''t eliminate this barrier. It would hide itself very carefully so that we couldn''t observe it. We don''t want to live in front of this barrier and gradually adapt to it. We could only leave here. I believe that Andre and the others of his kind would also like to be in a place of greater freedom as they have the blood of foreign people in the wilderness. Ice and Snow Wilderness, subcontinents and Western Continent might be their stages in the future. If they want to come here, they should come for you with men''s pride and arrogance. They just want to receive your acclamation; instead of the halos gifted by you under which they have to live meticulously in Taixia Country..."


    "You mean you don''t leave here fully for the sake of me, but also for Andrew and the other hybrids?"


    "As for a mother, nothing is more important than her kids. Olina, Sabrina, the six sisters of Spencer Clan and I all both your wives and the mothers of kids. We also want to provide more and better things for our kids. Beverly, Fiona and the three kids of Lina are said to be very exceptional. They might promote to knights before 20. Additionally, they could come back from Heavens Fortune Sect soon. You would have more babies in the future. The princess even the heavenly knight of Taixia Country would deliver more than one baby for you respectively. All the babies would inherit everything of yours in the future. You might not especially favor them; however, have you considered how would they compete with their brothers in the future? The status of their mothers as foreigners determines that they would encounter many obstacles in Taixia Country for sure. As a result, they could barely reach their apex. There''re many similar cases in Taixia Country. You know that many knights and major clans in Taixia Country have foreign wives. However, haven''t you found that none of the major clans are under the control of a hybrid clan head or elder? Those hybrids are raised by their own clans and are free all day long or being dispatched to places far away from the center of their clans or those subcontinents. I don''t want Andre and the others of his kind to repeat it in the future..."


    O''Laura gazed at Zhang Tie with gleaming eyes. After a pause, she continued, "Youzhou Province and Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory are very small; however, the rest of the world is large. Ice and Snow Wilderness is a transfer station between the Eastern Continent and the Western Continent. Being impacted by the tide of fiery oil, the entire Western Continent is open to Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Therefore, we insist on going back..."


    Zhang Tie watched O''Laura as he finally understood why O''Laura and the other eight wives were so decisive. It was not full because of his lack of concern about them, but because of their kids. This was an invisible competition between wives and mothers.


    After having great undertakings, many wives and kids, he could barely avoid similar things. Even royal households faced the same problem. Since ancient times, none of the emperors could solve this problem. Neither could Zhang Tie solve it perfectly.


    As a father and the master of this family, what could Zhang Tie do?


    The problem that O''Laura mentioned was about the system of Taixia Country, the traditional code of conduct that had lasted for tens of thousands of years. In his eyes, all of his kids were equal; however, in the eyes of his elder brother and Zhang Su, those kids were unequal. Some kids'' grandfather was Lord Guangnan; some kids'' mother was a heavenly knight who was going to promote to a sage knight or from major clan in Taixia Country. By contrast, the other kids'' mothers were foreign women from subcontinents. How could these kids be equal to each other?


    Watching her calm face, Zhang Tie suddenly let out a sigh, and said, "My territory of Frandiland Empire in the Western Continent would be transferred to you. Additionally, I would arrange for you as soon as possible so that you would be safe after leaving Taixia Country..."


    "I think our kids would understand it after growing mature. However, this time, you have to do something unwillingly and bear some bad reputation!"


    "As their father and your husband, I should do it..." Zhang Tie responded, "Men are used to bearings. My reputation is bullsh*t compared to your choice. But I''m really sorry about you..."

 1598 A New Heigh

    The content of the talk between Zhang Tie and O''Laura on the viewing platform of the airboat was unknown to everybody else.


    Although being on their own airboat, O''Laura still used her battle qi to transmit voice. Therefore, even heavenly knight on their side didn''t know what they were talking about.


    There was indeed a heavenly knight on the airboat, namely Yan Feiqing.


    In the past two months, Yan Feiqing had entered the tower of time for two times. After four decades'' ascetic cultivation, Yan Feiqing had reached five change realm of the heavenly knight. Additionally, her lower abdomen bulged more evidently. Since she boarded the airboat, Yan Feiqing had been staying in her own hatch room; nor did she have sex with Zhang Tie. Like a female lion, Yan Feiqing was just protecting the coming young life meticulously.


    When the two airboats arrived at the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect, all the disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect had been greeting them outside there. No sooner had they got off the airboat than Yan Feiqing flew back to Flyingphoenix Peak with Guo Hongyi.


    Guo Hongyi had promoted to an earth knight after four decades'' cultivation in the tower of time.


    Two months ago, soon after Zhang Tie left Iron-Dragon Sect, Yan Feiqing had accomplished the combination between Fantasywomen Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect by bringing her disciples to Flyingphoenix Peak. As a result, Flyingphoenix Peak had already become a country for females as it was full of Yan Feiqing''s female disciples. No men across Iron-Dragon Sect was allowed to enter Flyingphoenix Peak, including Zhang Tie.


    The rule on Flyingphoenix Peak was fixed by Yan Feiqing with Zhang Tie''s consent. Zhang Tie admitted this rule as if this rule could block gossips. After making Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi his wives, if Zhang Tie freely accessed to Flyingphoenix Peak, even the members of Iron-Dragon Sect would think that Flyingphoenix Peak had become Zhang Tie''s imperial harem.


    It was a major event for Zhang Tie''s group to return to Iron-Dragon Sect from South Border. It even aroused the attention of all the sects across Taixia Country. The collaboration between Zhang Tie and Heavens Fortune Sect, Demons-kill Valley and Jiang Clan in the Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sect had long been spread among knights in Taixia Country. Additionally, Mountain Lifting Hermit, Zhang Su and the others went to South Border aboveboard; plus the company of knights of Heavens Fortune Sect, Demons-kill Valley and Jiang Clan when they entered the Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sect for the second time. This time, although Zhang Tie didn''t publicize it, the news that elders of Iron-Dragon Sect had entered the towers of time for cultivation including Zhang Tie had long been spread over the country. When numerous people were admiring them, more people were guessing about the improvement in battle strength of elders and Zhang Tie of Iron-Dragon Sect after their cultivation in towers of time.


    The overall strength of Iron-Dragon Sect had already grown after their return.


    After staying in the first tower of time for two decades, Zhang Su had already promoted to an earth iron knight.


    In the tower of time, the toughest period was from a fighter to a knight. The lonely environment in the tower of time might drive people mad. By contrast, if one entered the tower of time after promoting to a knight, he would feel much more relaxed. If a knight formed his chakra in trance every day, he would not sense the elapse of time. As a result, 2 decades felt like a few months or a couple of years.


    Zhang Su bore the test of the tower of time and promoted to a knight successfully. After exiting the first tower of time, he only rested for two days before re-entering the second tower of time. After four decades'' cultivation in the tower of time, he had already reached the three change realm of the black iron knight.


    After four decades'' ascetic cultivation in the tower of time, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi had both promoted to earth knights.


    After four decades'' cultivation in the tower of time, Mountain Lifting Hermit had already promoted to a shadow knight.


    Bai Suxian was already an earth knight.


    Like Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing, Zhang Gui had not promoted to a higher level either.


    As a heavenly knight, each step forward was a tough challenge for Yan Feiqing. She needed more resources and time than others.


    Zhang Tie had already cultivated for four decades in the tower of time, during which period, Zhang Tie only did two things: first, completely absorb and convert the chakras of those demon knights that he gained in the war at the bank of Weishui River into his own chakra.


    At the bank of Weishui River, Zhang Tie killed a great number of shadow demon knights and a heavenly knight. At that time, as long as there was a chance, Zhang Tie would crazily absorb the opponents'' chakras using Purgatory Samsara Method. As a result, he had accumulated a lot of wind elements after that battle. Closely after that, he was heavily injured by the thunder of nirvana and sank into a coma. After waking up, he had not fully recovered; whereas, he still kept those wind elements.


    In the tower of time, Zhang Tie completely absorbed and converted those wind elements into his wind chakra. After that, Zhang Tie reached three change realm of the shadow knight which meant that Zhang Tie realized overall strengthening for three times after promoting to a shadow knight.


    The cultivation in the tower of time was the best cover for the fact that Zhang Tie mastered Purgatory Samsara Method.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s battle strength had long surpassed his best performance in the battle at the bank of Weishui River as his defensive power, spiritual energy, battle qi, speed, change and knight''s consciousness had all reached a new height.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t look powerful at all; instead, he just looked as same as before. Therefore, some knights posted pieces in the forum Mountain of Brilliance where they doubted Zhang Tie''s recovery or discussed Celestial Swords'' discovery in the Dongtian about Zhang Tie. Of course, many knights held that Zhang Tie had long recovered his battle strength while the direct evidence was that Zhang Tie won the bet with Yun Zhongzi.


    In one word, it had become a puzzle whether Zhang Tie had fully recovered his battle strength.


    That was the very effect that Zhang Tie wanted.


    Another thing that Zhang Tie did in the tower of time was to cultivate Great Wilderness Sutra and Bloody Soul Sutra at his full efforts. As the incumbent head of Great Wilderness Sect, if he couldn''t match an elder on the cultivation of Great Wilderness Sutra, it would be unacceptable. Therefore, during four decades, Zhang Tie had already lit the 19th floor of All-spirits Tower in his mind and mastered many powerful secret methods in Bloody Soul Sutra. At this moment, Zhang Tie could even build bloody sea himself...


    After four decades'' cultivation in the tower of time, Zhang Gui had just promoted to a nine change realm of the earth knight from four change realm...

 1599 The New Look of Iron-Dragon Sec

    "Wish master and elders greater development in battle strength and eternal chakras..."


    The palace of Iron-Dragon Sect had already been crowded with indoor disciples, the subordinate disciples of Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi and Zhang Tie''s disciples. Hundreds of people were congratulating Zhang Tie''s group for coming back from South Border with jubilant looks.


    During the past months, Zhang Tie''s new deals in Iron-Dragon Sect had already been displayed by disciples. At this moment, disciples on different levels wore different types of official robes or midis. All the male disciples wore handsome black robes with crimson waistbands, who looked pretty vigorous and valiant while all the female disciples wore white midis with golden waistbands, who looked sweet and enchanting.


    The wristbands of midis and robes were circled with auspicious clouds. Within the grains, there were looming patterns of Great Dipper as large as insects. The contours of stars were embroidered by golden lines while real stars were filled with golden lines whose number varied from one to four.


    The number of stars represented the level of indoor disciples and their status in Iron-Dragon Sect. The indoor disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect were divided into seven levels. The highest level was marked by seven stars, which indicated that these disciples would probably promote to knights. However, the highest number of stars on the wristbands of their disciples was just four by far.


    All the indoor disciples were standing in rows according to their level. Those with higher levels would stand in front of those with lower levels. By contrast, those outdoor disciples lower than LV 10 were all standing outside the gate of the palace to congratulate.


    Outdoor male disciples wore iron-gray robes while female outdoor disciples wore blue midis. There were some silver lines being similar to military ranks on the wristbands of their midis and robes. One silver line meant LV 6 fighter; two referred to LV 7 fighter; three indicated LV 8 fighter while four represented LV 9 fighter...


    All the outdoor disciples were serving the Fiery-Dragon Army as officers at different levels. Therefore, these silver lines similar to military ranks suited to their status.


    Even being Zhang Tie''s subordinate disciples, Zhang Chengxu and Zhang Chengze, Zhang Tie''s two nephews also stood among outdoor disciples; however, there were already two silver lines on their wristbands. Over the past two years, they had grown stronger and taller as they didn''t look as tender as that when they joined Iron-Dragon Sect at the beginning; instead, they looked vigorous and heroic; despite being young.


    Behind outdoor disciples were more registered disciples, whose number reached above 10,000. Standing in tidy rows on the square, they were full of hope as they were exclaiming loudly in unison, resonating with the flowing clouds and causing some wild cranes to fly off the mountain.


    Registered male disciples wore pale gold robes while registered female disciples wore pale blue midis. At the wristbands of these robes and midis, there were green leaves whose number varied from one to five, which represented their levels. In Iron-Dragon Sect, these registered disciples were responsible for miscellaneous affairs and simple missions. At the same time, they should be familiar with the internal affairs of Iron-Dragon Sect and cultivate themselves. When they promoted to LV 6, they would become outdoor disciples; then they would be familiar with affairs inside Iron-Dragon Army.


    Over the past two years, as Zhang Tie''s reputation grew greater, even though he had strictly controlled the population of disciples, the total population of disciples on different levels still broke 10,000.


    However, given Zhang Tie''s fame and cultivation base, over 10,000 disciples were too few.


    Zhang Tie''s throne was at the end of the palace. It was made of mithril and some other precious metals and gemstones. Two dragon heads served as his handrails, which were three steps higher than the ground. The three steps were made of white jades. Behind the throne was a screen made of top LV 9 purple crystals like a peacock fanning out its tail or a mountain peak made of numerous crystals. The height of crystals varied from 3 m to over 10 m. It was brilliant, magnificent, overbearing and awe-inspiring.


    Above Zhang Tie''s throne, there was a broad horizontal board made of violet gold inscribed with two big gold words¡ª¡ªFor Integrity.


    Previously, the palace of Iron-Dragon Sect didn''t look like this. Being in the middle of the palace, Zhang Tie''s former throne didn''t look as exaggerating as this one; instead, it was just average. After Zhang Tie issued the new deals and left Iron-Dragon Sect for a few days, those elders of Iron-Dragon Sect felt that the palace of Iron-Dragon Sect should at least match Zhang Tie''s status; instead of being too shabby; therefore, they made a new one.


    Take the same class 9 purple crystal screen behind Zhang Tie as an instance. Weighing hundreds of tons, it was cut off from a huge cluster of purple crystals and carved by masters. The value of this screen was greater than any major clan in Blackhot City. Nevertheless, it was nothing for Iron-Dragon Sect.


    Like people should be disguised in clothes and Buddhas should wear gold foils, the entire palace of Iron-Dragon Sect instantly looked something after such a simple renovation.


    Sitting on his throne, Zhang Tie looked awe-inspiring. Even though lying there, he still looked as forbidding as a king or a lord. There were seats on two sides of Zhang Tie where elders of Iron-Dragon Sect were sitting.


    Bai Suxian was watching Zhang Tie with beautiful, sparkling eyes while the other elders were watching him with reverence.


    As the head of Iron-Dragon Sect, Zhang Tie had brought great changes to Iron-Dragon Sect, which could be sensed by everyone; especially this time, Zhang Tie won the Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sect from a sage-level knight of Great Wilderness Sect and made a solid foundation for Iron-Dragon Sect at his own efforts, which enabled the other elders of Iron-Dragon Sect to make further progress rapidly on cultivation. Such a head won the loyalty and reverence of all the disciples and elders of the sect...

 1600 Uninvited Guests

    There was an empty chair on Zhang Tie''s left side which belonged to Yan Feiqing the deputy head of Iron-Dragon Sect; and an empty chair on his right side which belonged to Guo Hongyi, a big elder of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    In this case, nobody would feel it strange even though Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi were not at present; because they were Zhang Tie''s family members. Actually, the other elders had learned to ignore Zhang Tie''s domestic affairs.


    When Zhang Tie entered, he was shocked by the grand qi field of the palace of Iron-Dragon Sect. He felt it pretty exaggerated and wasteful. However, after taking his throne, Zhang Tie sensed the magnificence and majesty on this position and watched numerous awe-stricken eyes around him as he gradually recovered his composure.


    Zhang Tie glanced at Zhang Su.


    Zhang Su''s face blushed slightly as his face and waist turned tight like a piece of iron plate, indicating his excitement.


    Zhang Su was also sitting on an elder''s chair at the end of the seats for elders of Iron-Dragon Sect; instead of standing like before.


    Zhang Su''s over solemn expression looked funny; however, Zhang Tie didn''t laugh out given the current situation.


    "Ahem...ahem...I want to declare that" Zhang Tie said as he glanced around, "From today on, Zhang Su, a disciple of Iron-Dragon Sect has promoted to a knight and officially become an elder of Iron-Dragon Sect; he could attend the elders'' conference and discuss the major events about Iron-Dragon Sect together with us!"


    As Zhang Tie finished his words, all the eyes in the palace fixated onto Zhang Su as everyone knew that the cousin of the head officially became an important figure in Iron-Dragon Sect from now on.


    Under the gaze of all the others, Zhang Su''s face blushed more heavily like being drunk. At the same time, he sat up more straightly.


    "Zhang Su!"


    "I''m here!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s summon, Zhang Su instantly sprung up. After giving a salute to Zhang Tie, he stood up well, chesting out.


    "You were responsible for the Treasure Exploration Palace before. But since you''ve promoted to a knight, your title should be adjusted. I want to hear your opinion about that."


    "Zhang Su would strictly follow the orders of the head. I would never be negligent no matter what title it is!" Zhang Su spoke loudly.


    Zhang Tie nodded as he said, "Hand over your affairs of Treasure Exploration Palace; from now on, you''re ruling Power Palace." At the same time, a token marked with the word "power" appeared in Zhang Tie''s hand before flying towards Zhang Su directly.


    Because Power Palace was committed to all the external force actions of Iron-Dragon Sect, to rule Power Palace meant to rule Fiery-Dragon Army. Previously, Zhang Su used to help Zhang Tie to manage the affairs of Fiery-Dragon Army; however, he was too weak and couldn''t win people''s respect at that time. If Zhang Tie handed the entire Fiery-Dragon Army over him, many people would not follow his orders. By contrast, after promoting to a knight, Zhang Su was qualified to do that.


    After taking the token, Zhang Su took in a deep breath as he bowed towards Zhang Tie, replying, "Yes, sir!"


    "There''re still many mountain peaks in vacancy among the 18 Xuantian peaks. You could choose one of them as your territory within Iron-Dragon Sect and have people build houses and mansions over there. Additionally, after being a knight, you should shoulder the responsibility to instruct your own disciples; you can do that!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    Finding that Zhang Su looked pretty serious, Zhang Tie finally laughed out. "It''s nice to us all that you''ve promoted to a knight. Don''t be that serious. From today on, I allow you one month''s leave. You could go back home and negotiate with your family members about your chakra rotating ceremony. All the elders of Iron-Dragon Sect would attend your chakra rotating ceremony. You could come back when you finish it!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhang Su finally looked a bit thrilled. Since he promoted to a knight, Zhang Su had been longing for flying back home to see his parents and brothers. Zhang''s old mansion also had a knight now. It was a really glorious moment for Zhang ancestors. As Zhang Tie''s words catered to Zhang Su very well, the latter''s lips quivered as he watched Zhang Tie. Although he wanted to say thanks to Zhang Tie, he felt it was too superficial and couldn''t express his sincerity at all. As a result, he uttered nothing.


    "Cousin, after coming back home; please go to the old man''s tomb and tell him about that. If the late old man knows that you''re already a knight, he must become reassured!"


    Zhang Su served as a pretty enthralling example for so many disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect around the palace.


    "As I''ve won the Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sect and signed contracts with Demons-kill Valley and Jiang Clan, we will have pills and liquid from them constantly for the sake of your cultivation. All the towers of time in the Dongtian would be open to all the disciples. Even now, two of them are accessible freely inside the Dongtian. All the seven-star indoor disciples or those whose contribution credit to the sect have met the request would be qualified to enter towers of time for cultivation and promote to knights within a short period. Hopefully, you could cultivate diligently and become knights as soon as possible so that you could glorify your own clans and our sect!" Zhang Tie encouraged all the disciples at present.


    After the palace of Iron-Dragon Sect was renovated, Zhang Tie''s voice could be automatically amplified by the rune arrangement inside the crystal screen behind his throne. Resonating across the square outside the palace, it could be heard clearly by all the disciples. As a result, more disciples became thrilled.


    Even though every key member of Iron-Dragon Sect had used towers of time for two times in the Dongtian in South Border, two towers of time were still in vacancy for emergencies.


    ...


    "Hehhehheh, Iron-Dragon Sect is really rich. As Iron-Dragon Sect has gained so many towers of time at a stroke, we''ve not extended our thanks to Immortal Qianji yet!"


    When Iron-Dragon Sect was jubilant as a whole, a jealous voice reached the palace and the square outside from the sky...

 1601 Breaking out a Contradiction

    Knights could fly at high altitude; however, for the sake of etiquette, knights would not directly appear in the others'' core regions when they paid a visit; instead, they would always land outside the mountain gate and express their purpose of arrival before waiting for the clan elders or head to meet or receive them.


    Therefore, the behavior of directly showing up and speaking outside the palace was extremely presumptuous.


    No sooner had Mountain Lifting Hermit hear the strange voice did a shrewd light flashed across his face as he sprung up and would like to fly off. At the same time, all the elders at present looked furious. Raising his arm, Zhang Tie had Mountain Lifting Hermit sit down and remain calm.


    The voice sounded a bit strange for others; nevertheless, it was very familiar to Zhang Tie; because it was from Feng Yexiao the grand elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    Zhang Tie threw a casual glance at outside with his lotus-flower eyes as he saw three knights standing in the air above Xuantian Peak, including Feng Yexiao, a bald, tough and valiant guy and a literati in black robe. They were all shadow knights.


    They finally came!


    Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavenly Holding Pavilion and Qionglou suffered a heavy loss respectively in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect as they lost three deputy heads and a great handful of knights in total. In this case, of course Zhang Tie who didn''t even lose a hair became the greatest winner of the Dongtian. How would the three sects think about it?


    Now, the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect had belonged to Iron-Dragon Sect. Besides, Zhang Tie cooperated with Heavens Fortune Sect and Demons-kill Valey, two of the top six sects. Additionally, South Border belonged to his father-in-law and Zhang Tie was the savior of so many barbarian knights in South Border. Furthermore, in the past two months, Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavenly Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion were mired in the accusation of being the culprits of the extermination of the Great Wilderness Sect. Because of Royal Prince Changying''s help and the fact that the three top sects were severely damaged by Yun Zhongzi, the three top sects were scared of the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. Due to the above factors, Zhang Tie smoothly turned it into the Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sect and had the other top sects accept the fact despite their reluctance.


    Zhang Tie was aware that these top sects would never be reconciled to such a fact. Nor did he dream about having the Dongtian so smoothly.


    The top three sects held that Zhang Tie picked the peaches while they planted the saplings and did all the dirty and painstaking jobs. Although sweating and bleeding, they had to bear suspicion and condemnation. How could they accept that? How could they stay calm?


    Not to mention that there was already a sharp contradiction between Zhang Tie and the Imperial Alliance and the latter had long planned to screw him. Actually, both parties had already contacted due to the case of Zhang Taixuan. Finally, Imperial Alliance chose to sacrifice Huang Clan and Qitian Sect in Qizhou Province. This time, the contradiction between both parties broke out at a stroke due to the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. After catching this opportunity, the Imperial Alliance would never have Zhang Tie feel good. In other words, the contradiction between Zhang Tie and the Imperial Alliance would definitely be tricky.


    Of course, superficially, the contradiction between the Imperial Alliance and Zhang Tie would not be involved with the above reasons; however, the Imperial Alliance must use a reasonable excuse to find him trouble.


    It was not difficult for them to find such an excuse...


    Zhang Tie had long predicted that the Imperial Alliance would find him trouble; however, he didn''t imagine that the opponent could arrive on the first day since he returned to Iron-Dragon Sect. It appeared that the Imperial Alliance couldn''t wait to do that.


    The three shadow knights appeared to be here on behalf of their own sects, Zhang Tie believed that they were here for the Imperial Alliance.


    Imperial Alliance might still think that their existence was a secret; however, they didn''t know that Zhang Tie had long known the secret.


    "Who the f*ck are you? Audacious! I know you could fly; but couldn''t you see the wall of the other''s courtyard? Even swallows have wings, they only stopped under people''s eaves; instead of intruding in their house; someone couldn''t even match such a bird!"


    Zhang Tie let the other elders stay calm as he opened his mouth, which transfixed everyone in the palace. Even so, they all felt pretty comfortable.


    Feng Yexiao came here on behalf of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Previously, he thought that Zhang Tie would come out to meet him as long as he opened his mouth. With such a chance, he could weaken Zhang Tie''s qi field and majesty. Unimaginably, Zhang Tie didn''t even show up. After hearing his words, Feng Yexiao was so irritated that his face turned black at once.


    Not only that that, but the two people beside Feng Yexiao both also looked pretty bad. Watching those low-level disciples looking up and pointing at them, even deriding them, the three shadow knights instantly lost the sense of supremacy as they felt being specimens hanging over the sky.


    In this case, the three people exchanged a glance with each other as they landed outside the palace of Iron-Dragon Sect at the same time.


    At the same time, they released a bit qi fields to frighten those ordinary disciples outside the palace of Iron-Dragon Sect. As a result, many disciples couldn''t stand steadily as their faces turned extremely pale.


    Sitting in his throne decently, Zhang Tie continued with a faint smile, "Ah, it''s Elder Feng from Taiyi Fantasy Sect. After separating from each other at the bank of Weishui River, we''ve not seen each other for a long time..."


    "Harrumph!", Feng Yexiao replied as the three shadow knights walked towards the palace.


    "Stop!" Zhang Tie stopped them as his smile disappeared at a stroke. At the same time, his eyesight turned as sharp as a knife as he gazed at the three uninvited guests coldly, "You''re facing the palace of Iron-Dragon Sect. Have you received my consent on entering it? If you want to say something, just put it straight outside!"


    When Zhang Tie spoke, Feng Yexiao and the other two had already come to the threshold of the palace, which was higher than 20 cm. When Feng Yexiao was going to stride over the threshold, Zhang Tie''s words stopped three of them at the same time. As a result, their bad look turned as icy.


    Feng Yexiao and the other two shadow knights could not imagine that Zhang Tie didn''t even allow three of them to enter the palace of Iron-Dragon Sect; instead, he asked them to speak outside it as if they were humble servants. That was pure humiliation...


    ...

 1602 The Couples Common Ideal

    Among the three uninvited guests, Feng Yexiao was a grand elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, the literati was a grand elder of Qionglou Pavilion while the bald knight was a grand elder of Heavens Holding Pavilion.


    As grand elders of top six sects, they were even taken as VIPs in Xuanyuan Hill; they had already taken others'' flattery and admiration for granted. Whereas, they had not imagined that they would encounter such a bad treatment¡ª¡ªBeing forbidden to enter the gate of the palace of Iron-Dragon Sect by Zhang Tie.


    In the beginning, the three shadow knights thought they had misheard it. Nevertheless, when they saw Zhang Tie''s icy eyes, they instantly realized that Zhang Tie indeed didn''t allow them to enter the palace of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    Being stimulated by embarrassment and fury, Feng Yexiao burst into miserable and lunatic laughter as he said, "Immortal Qianji, you''re too presumptuous. You even dare put on airs in front of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou. Good, Iron-Dragon Sect is really unrivaled; hahaha..."


    "Only after you humiliate yourself could you be humiliated by others. As you intrude the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect without notice, I''ve already shown my mercy to you given that you''re human knights. If you want to enter the Shrine Palace of Iron-Dragon Sect, you have to ask whether I agree or not!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    "Really?" the tough bald guy gazed at Zhang Tie with wolf eyes as he instantly raised his foot and intended to stride over the threshold of the Shrine Palace of Iron-Dragon Sect, "What will you do if I enter it?"


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he peered at that bald knight in a despised manner, "Without my consent, if your foot trespasses it, I will chop off your foot; if your hand passes it, I will chop off your hand; if your head enters it, I could only behead you. If you''re brave enough, you could try it; but don''t blame me for not having noticed you..."


    Zhang Tie''s merciless words froze the bald shadow knight at a stroke. That guy fixed his eyes onto Zhang Tie deadly with a very serious look while Zhang Tie just looked at him coldly. At this moment, the threshold was like a dangerous pool which he dared not pass it at all. Under the gaze of so many people, he felt ashamed of being so rude and impulsive. Watching Zhang Tie''s cold eyes and recalling the means that Zhang Tie used to kill shadow demon knights at the bank of Weishui River, the bald knight changed his face constantly as he struggled and became hesitant. Only after a few seconds, his forehead had been covered with sweat drops...


    At this moment, the elders and disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect in the Shrine Palace had been blood-boiled by Zhang Tie''s words. Someone held their breath while others'' hearts were racing. They all wanted to see whether that bald shadow knight dared to enter the Shrine Palace of Iron-Dragon Sect or not.


    "Who''s so audacious in front of Iron-Dragon Sect..."


    When the bald knight was struggling and hesitant, a distant voice descended from the sky with the strong qi field of Yan Feiqing like lightning bolt. At the sight of the three people in front of the gate of the Shrine Palace of Iron-Dragon Sect, she waved her long sleeve towards the three uninvited guests as she scolded, "Piss off..."


    Yan Feiqing''s movement was extremely delicate full of boiling battle qi. Although others didn''t know the power of her movement, the three shadow knights immediately changed their faces greatly. Before her sleeve arrived, they had already dodged away as fast as a lightning bolt, giving way to the entrance of the Shrine Palace of Iron-Dragon Sect. Yan Feiqing was a step for the three shadow knights.


    Her movement was as fast as a lightning bolt and as still as a mountain. After landing fluently as if nothing had happened, Yan Feiqing glanced over the three shadow knights as she strode over the threshold and entered the Shrine Palace, chesting out.


    Closely behind Yan Feiqing was Guo Hongyi who held a long sword with a cold look. Without even looking at them, Guo Hongyi directly followed Yan Feiqing in.


    "Welcome, deputy head..."


    Watching Yan Feiqing''s arrival, all the elders and disciples at present bowed towards her as they saw her entering calmly, including Bai Suxian.


    In this case, a heavenly knight''s majesty and qi field could almost suppress everything. Walking on the bright floor in midi dress, Yan Feiqing was like a proud queen. Under the gaze of Bai Suxian who was pouting her petite mouth, she came all the way to the chair of deputy head beside Zhang Tie before sitting down elegantly and decently. Guo Hongyi then came to the chair on the opposite of Bai Suxian. After exchanging a glance with each other, Guo Hongyi and Bai Suxian moved their eyes away from each other reluctantly.


    "Qing''er, you''d better stay calm for the sake of our baby. You don''t need to show up in such a trivial thing." Zhang Tie turned around as he told Yan Feiqing gently.


    Yan Feiqing got pregnant when she was very old. Zhang Tie didn''t ask her age in case of trouble. Perhaps others didn''t believe in that; however, Zhang Tie really didn''t know Yan Feiqing''s concrete age. Although Yan Feiqing, being pregnant, didn''t look anything different than Linda, Alice and Beverly, she still felt not that confident. Therefore, she did everything meticulously. After her lower abdomen gradually bulged, she didn''t care about anything else but the cultivation and health maintenance. She even forbade Zhang Tie to touch her. After returning to Iron-Dragon Sect today, she didn''t even feel like attending the congress of the sect; however, as long as she found the trouble here, she had arrived.


    "I''m your wife, also the deputy head of Iron-Dragon Sect. We share troubles and reputation together. Therefore, this case needs me." Yan Feiqing smiled at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, she told the three shadow knights with a cold look, "Why are you still here? If you want to say something; say it; if not, roll out of here. Are you waiting for me to drive you away? If you stir up me, I don''t know whether you could leave here safe or not!"


    What a couple! Yan Feiqing shared the same attitude towards the three shadow knights with Zhang Tie. Even though they knew that the opponents were grand elders of top three sects, they still didn''t show any respect to them at all.


    Gritting his teeth, Feng Yexiao watched Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing in the Shrine Palace as he felt extremely hateful about them. He came here on behalf of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Previously, he planned to humiliate Zhang Tie greatly in the name of Taiyi Fantasy Sect while Zhang Tie intended to beg for their forgiveness. He could even laugh out loud in dreams. Unimaginably, before the three people clarified their intention, the three grand elders of top three sects had been consecutively humiliated by Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing.


    Because of the sharp difference between reality and imagination, Feng Yexiao almost spurted out blood.

 1603 Black Invitation Cards from Top Three Sects

    In this case, Feng Yexiao and the other two knew that it was nothing different than seeking for humiliation if they continued to be rude. Therefore, the literati who always remained silence spoke their intention loudly outside the gate of the Shrine Palace.


    "Within the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, Celestial Moonreflecting the deputy head of Qionglou was killed by the two snakes. It''s said that Immortal Qianji has already subdued the two snakes. Please hand out them for our disposal..."


    "Yes. Besides killing Celestial Moonreflecting, the two snakes even killed many knights of Heavens Holding Pavilion. They even assisted Yun Zhongzi in killing Celestial Clouddragon the deputy head of Heavens Holding Pavilion. We have to avenge it for the fairness!" the bald shadow knight who was humiliated by Zhang Tie just now said loudly full of fury.


    Feng Yexiao gazed deadly at Zhang Tie as he gritted his teeth, saying, "The two snakes also killed some knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Taiyi Fantasy Sect share the same stance with Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou. If you don''t give us the two snakes, Taiyi Fantasy Sect would never let it go!"


    The threat from the three shadow knights made the Shrine Palace silent.


    It turned out to be an excuse of Imperial Alliance for sanction. Zhang Tie finally figured it out.


    This reason was not shrewd as it had some defects. However, it could allow the top three sects to find Zhang Tie trouble aboveboard in the name of avenging for their deputy heads and disciples. From this perspective, the two snakes were actually two weapons. However, weapons wouldn''t incur hatred and it was hilarious for the top three sects to ask the current owner of the two weapons for an explanation if their men were killed by the weapons themselves. Therefore, the top three sects treated the two snakes as mutated beasts. When two dogs were not fastened well and bit someone to death, the two dogs were both murders and should be punished to death. As for whether the people being bitten to death were dog stealers or not, it had nothing to do with the top three sects.


    Similarly, the two snakes also served as an excuse as it concealed the means that Imperial Alliance adopted to sanction Zhang Tie. If Zhang Tie subdued to them under their stress, it would be difficult to deal with. The top three sects would definitely be insatiable as they would fabricate other reasons and propose more excessive requirements until they completely conquered Zhang Tie.


    As they had reliance and knew the means that Imperial Alliance adopted to deal with Zhang Tie, the three shadow knights were very presumptuous in the territory of Iron-Dragon Sect. Because they thought that Iron-Dragon Sect and themselves could never bear the combined power of the top three sects; instead, Iron-Dragon Sect could only apologize to them and accept their punishment.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt like sitting under the small tree in campus again¡ª¡ªGlaze''s lackey Sarlon walked to his front and dropped some plates to his front, telling him to wash them, chesting out...


    This time, the plates became "very large". Glaze''s lackey also turned into the grand elders of the top three sects. However, the two things were similar to each other. Unexceptionally, those who dropped the dinner plates would like to stomp him to their feet.


    Feng Yexiao and the other two gazed at Zhang Tie deadly. After finding that Zhang Tie squinted his eyes as if he was recalling something, Feng Yexiao couldn''t wait to repeat his request. Closely after that, he glanced over all the disciples and elders of Iron-Dragon Sect at present.


    "Head, we should never meet their request. They''re bullying us too much. If head agrees with them and gives the destructive snakes to them, Iron-Dragon Sect would not only be crushed by the top three sects but also our reputation would be destroyed..." Mountain Lifting Hermit''s voice drew Zhang Tie back to the reality from the remote memory.


    Zhang Tie glanced around as he found all the knights and disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect were gazing at him; some with a bit tension; some with a bit fury or anxiety. Even Yan Feiqing looked pretty solemn.


    The combined qi field of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou could be barely borne in this world. Because there were at least 3 sage-level knights, more than 10 heavenly knights and tens of thousands of knights below heavenly and a great number of local powers behind the three sects. Nobody could stay calm facing such great stress and coercion. Even Xuanyuan Hill had to deal with it at full spirits if the three sects combined with each other to go against it.


    Here came the largest crisis facing Iron-Dragon Sect since its founding with the triumphant return of Zhang Tie''s group.


    "How are you going to deal with the two snakes?" Zhang Tie asked calmly.


    "Hahaha, Immortal Qianji, it''s none of your business. As the two snakes had killed our deputy heads, it''s not excessive even if we break them into pieces..."


    "What if I don''t?" Zhang Tie asked calmly as he touched the double-snake bracelet on his left hand.


    Feng Yexiao then sneered with a confident look, "If not, Iron-Dragon Sect must be hostile to the three sects; we could only solve it by force as we''ve already shown our sincerity to you according to the rule on solving conflicts between sects in Taixia Country..."


    What a pure threat of force!


    "Immortal Qianji, may I know your decision?" the literati asked coldly.


    "Fine, I will let you know my decision right away. You three watch my mouth and prick up your ears. My reply is..." Zhang Tie hid his smile as he said silently word by word, "F*ck...you!"


    The three shadow knights changed their faces at once. After exchanging a glance with each other, they became silent. At the same time, each of them took out a black invitation card before throwing them towards Zhang Tie as fast as light.


    "100 days later, on the Yinhai Desert, 6,000 miles Gobi in the west of Taixia Country; hopefully, Immortal Qianji doesn''t come late..."


    After leaving the words, the three shadow knights immediately rushed into the sky and left the Xuantian Peak.


    The three black lights didn''t pose any threat to Zhang Tie. When they arrived in front of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie had already stopped them using his spirit while the three invitation cards suspended in the air like being grasped by an invisible hand.


    Frowning, Zhang Tie watched the three pitch-dark invitation cards made of pure iron. They looked weird and full of killing intent. Right on the three invitation cards, there were names and marks of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou in scarlet letters.


    Zhang Tie didn''t see them before.


    "What are they?" Zhang Tie asked the other elders at present.


    "They...they are black invitation cards from top sects!" Lu Zhongming said in a slightly quivering voice.


    Zhang Tie turned around and threw a glance at Yan Feiqing. He then found Yan Feiqing was also gazing at the three black invitation cards with a slightly pale face...

 1604 The Crisis

    The five-color plum blossoms outside the windows were fully open. Twitters could be heard every once a while. Two black invitation cards from top sects in Taixia Country were placed tidily on the crimson table beside a window which was made of pagoda wood. Additionally, Zhang Tie was fiddling with one by hand.


    "No more look, according to the tradition of Hua people, iron is a vicious metal. Therefore, black invitation cards from top sects are made of iron. Despite its ordinary material, its meaning is unusual. Across the country, only the top six sects were qualified to deliver black invitation cards by far..."


    Since the event of Gold and Power Law, even Yan Feiqing had not regarded it as a top sect in Taixia Country, not to mention that Gold and Power Law had been denied by the top six sects as a sect.


    In the attic, Yan Feiqing was introducing the background of black invitation card in an unprecedented, intense tone as she gently stroked her lower abdomen.


    "Black invitation card is a pattern of war declaration for the top six sects, which targets at a sect or clan in Taixia Country. As long as the top six sects send black invitation cards, the receiver only has two choices, either to surrender or to fight!"


    "Fight?" Zhang Tie moved his eyes away from the black invitation card as he fixated on Yan Feiqing with a frown, "You mean both parties would mobilize all of their members for a duel like how gangs do in downtown?''


    "Of course not. It''s unnecessary for knights to do that. Actually, the black invitation card is the product of the compromise between the powers of top sects and royal households of Taixia Country. The top six sects need to shape their prestige; however, they should not influence the power of Xuanyuan Hill. The top six sects could show off their forces on the premise that large-scale battles by force between sects were forbidden; otherwise, the stability of civilians and local regions would be weakened together with the power of the royal households. The combat after black invitation card refers to the duel between powers among sects at fixed time and place by force. The combat would not come to an end until nobody in a party could continue to fight the opponent. After receiving the black invitation cards, we have 100 days for preparation..."


    "They''re really considerate..." Zhang Tie mocked. As for the top six sects which owned sage-level knights, their black invitation cards were purely overwhelming for the receivers. Even knights couldn''t make essential progress in 100 days even if they could cultivate in the tower of time. After the sect receives the black invitation card, they could only prepare for their funeral ceremony or stay in panic, "Did the top six sects send black invitation cards before?"


    "In past hundreds of years, Taiyi Fantasy Sect had sent black invitation card for six times; Heavens Holding Pavilion 4 times; Qionglou 2 times; 12 times in total..."


    "What are the results?"


    "Most of the sects or clans who received black invitation cards have dissipated. Some of them became the branches of top sects! The situation facing us has not happened before!"


    "Haha, I feel lucky. One-fifth of the 15 black invitation cards that top three sects sent over the past hundreds of years are here..." Zhang Tie smiled as he threw the black invitation card onto the table casually, saying, "We''d better keep the three black invitation cards well. In the future, we could display them in Iron-Dragon Sect, telling our disciples how Iron-Dragon Sect develops..."


    "Don''t you worry about that?"


    "As you said, it''s just a duel between powers. I don''t worry about that as long as they don''t come for me together!"


    Yan Feiqing gritted her teeth in a speechless way as she said, "But you have to face three sage-level knights. It would take me many years to promote to a semi sage-level knight; not to mention promote to a sage-level knight. Across Taixia Country, there''re very few sage-level knights. Don''t you worry about facing three sage-level knights? You know that there''re still two levels between a heavenly knight and a sage-level knight."


    "Worry, so what?" Zhang Tie shrugged as he continued, "Do you think it''s time for me to surrender to the top three sects?"


    After glaring at Zhang Tie, Yan Feiqing said with a bad mood, "There''s still time. As long as you admit your fault in front of the three sects on the Yinhai, Gobi Desert under the gaze of all the others and meet all of their requests 100 days later, we would be forgiven!"


    Zhang Tie became stunned as he watched Yan Feiqing for a while. Finally, he rubbed his face in an embarrassed way, saying, "Erm...I''m afraid that the baby in your womb might not think so even if I admit fault. Do you want our baby to know that his dad is a douchebag? Additionally, as long as we admit fault, Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace would dissipate or become subordinate to the top three sects. That''s absolutely unacceptable!"


    Yan Feiqing turned kind as once as she heaved a sigh, saying, "If so, you should prepare to deal with the three sage-level knights; you know, sage-level knights are a top power in this age. In such a combat, the three sage-level knights would never show mercy to you. This combat is absolutely different than the compromise that you''ve made with Yun Zhongzi in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect!"


    Zhang Tie watched Yan Feiqing amazingly as he had not imagined that Yan Feiqing had seen through what Yun Zhongzi and he had done in the Dongtian.


    "Don''t look at me in that way. As we''ve lived in the tower of time for six decades and I''ve got pregnant, do you think that I couldn''t find any bit of your secret?" Yan Feiqing let out a sigh as she continued, "I don''t know how Yun Zhongzi and you compromise with each other, but I''m sure that you''ve not experienced the real power of a sage-level knight in the realm of Yun Zhongzi. You''re just a shadow knight, even though you''re also a divine dominator, you still have a very low chance to win against more than one sage-level knight..."

 1605 A Nightmare

    "Qing''er, do you know the history of the human navy?" Zhang Tie suddenly posed such a strange question after being silent for a while; instead of asking Yan Feiqing how many secrets did she know about him.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Yan Feiqing was confused; instead of being concerned.


    Before Yan Feiqing replied, Zhang Tie had answered.


    "Over the past hundreds of years before the Catastrophe, before humans'' tentacles and ambition touched the sky, they pursued giant ships and artilleries. In that age, anyone who could have heavier warships with thicker armors and bigger artilleries would be unrivaled on the sea. In that case, fierce, heavy battleships with thick armor were unparalleled on the sea. Besides battleships of the same kind, no warship could match them!"


    Watching Yan Feiqing''s puzzled look, Zhang Tie combed off his train of thoughts as he continued.


    "However, despite being powerful, battleships are very expensive. Not every country could produce it. Therefore, in that age, besides battleships, human navies were also matched with other warships with thinner armors which were smaller and weaker than battleships, such as cruisers and destroyers. Any of these warships couldn''t match battleships independently; however, the combination of some cruisers could inflict heavy losses to battleships or send them to bottom. Similarly, these warships were also components of a country''s maritime hegemony and power; additionally, they had their own strengths. For instance, cruisers might move faster than battleships!"


    "When battleship reached its heyday, someone suggested to build a new warship besides battleship, cruiser and the others; this new warship could combine the great firepower of a battleship with the speed of cruiser. As long as this kind of warship was built, it would make the following effect come true¡ª¡ªas long as it could catch up with its enemy, it would be able to crack them by force and send them to the bottom. However, warships which could send this kind of warship to the bottom by force couldn''t catch up with it. Do you think there''s any problem with this thought?"


    After thinking it for a while, Yan Feiqing replied, "It''s reasonable, correct. However, I''m afraid that the result was not like how those people imagined. Because this kind of warship''s strength couldn''t last. Now that you could make it, the others could make it too. After offsetting the strength interactively, the ocean would recover its balance!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he said, "Therefore, human navy powers built a new warship called battlecruiser. It combines the firepower of a battleship with the great speed of cruiser. Later on, as you say, when it was built, it was pretty powerful; although it couldn''t defeat battleship, the latter couldn''t catch up with it either. Anyone that it could catch up with would suffer a great loss. After that, the strength of this warship was known to the public. As a result, the same battlecruisers were built by other countries, matching up its strength on the sea. From then on, all parties returned to the same starting line and maintained the balance until airplanes were put into use in naval battle...


    "You mean..." Yan Feiqing understood it a bit.


    "If a sage-level knight is regarded as the battleship in this age, I might be a battle cruiser in this age. Even if it was a duel, I could also be unrivaled due to my great speed. In the battle at the bank of Weishui River, if Sagus the Abyss King didn''t use the thunder of nirvana, it couldn''t hurt me at all even if we carry out a fight. The combat between a sage-level knight and I wouldn''t see a result but a stalemate. It depends on who could stick to the end and agrees to leave the battlefield first..."


    "Do you really think so?"


    "Yes!" Zhang Tie nodded. During the long period before his full recovery since he was severely injured from the battle at the bank of Weishui River, Zhang Tie had deducted the combat between a sage-level knight and him for many times. The mere result was that he dragged the opponent into a longlasting stalemate using his strength in speed as a divine dominator. No matter how powerful a sage-level knight was, if he couldn''t touch Zhang Tie, his strength in battle strength would be useless.


    After taking in a deep breath, Yan Feiqing asked, "Do you know that the sage-level knight of Taiyi Fantasy Sect also masters a mysterious yet very powerful aiding strength besides his realm? That aiding strength could offset your strength in speed!"


    "Aiding strength? I have aiding strength too. But I feel..."


    "The aiding strength of sage-level knight is absolutely different than that of common knights. They''re not on the same level. In fact, only the aiding strength of sage-level knight deserves its name. All the aiding strength of knights below sage-level knight are far from the essence of aiding strength, reinforced or weakened. The real aiding strength is always mysterious and unpredictable. Like the edge of universal law, they''re absolutely irresistible for people below sage-level knight..." Yan Feiqing paused as she continued, "When I was young, my master told me that she saw a sage-level human knight striking an escaping heavenly demon knight into pieces from 60 miles away by one punch using his aiding strength in the earth-element realm..."


    Zhang Tie watched Yan Feiqing with a dumbfounded look. At this moment, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled that his master Zhaoyuan told him that aiding strength was the most powerful strength that a knight could master. However, after owning his Supreme Protection, Zhang Tie gradually forgot about the power of aiding strength as he thought it was just mediocre...


    ...


    After staying in the attic for a short while, Yan Feiqing had left there, leaving Zhang Tie sitting beside the window, watching the scenery outside the window.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie find that he actually not had face-to-face combat with a sage-level knight at all although he had contacted sage-level knights for a few times. To tell the truth, he didn''t have a deep recognition of the battle strength or abilities of sage-level knights. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt a bit regretful having not had face-to-face combat with Yun Zhongzi in his realm a few days ago.


    He had not even tried a sage-level knight''s realm, not to mention a sage-level knight''s aiding strength.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie realize that he had underestimated sage-level knights...


    With his growing power, Zhang Tie, unavoidably, became conceited as he was proud unconsciously.


    The sage-level knight of Taiyi Fantasy mastered aiding strength. It seemed that the Imperial Alliance had determined to win the combat.


    This crisis was definitely much severer than he could imagine. In fact, it was absolutely the largest crisis facing him since he promoted to a knight...

 1606 Zhang Ties Arrangemen

    Zhang Tie returned home at night and had supper with his wives.


    Although Zhang Tie looked as normal as before and even told a joke at the table, causing his kids to chuckle around him constantly, his wives didn''t look happy at all; instead, they all looked a bit worried about him.


    Apparently, his wives had already known that the top three sects sent black invitation cards to Zhang Tie. Additionally, they knew what did black invitation card mean.


    Now that Feng Yexiao and the other two shadow knights did it in front of over 10,000 disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect, this event couldn''t be confidential anymore. In fact, when Zhang Tie left Xuantian Peak, a piece called Black Invitation Cards from Top Three Sects in Taixia Country Appeared in Iron-Dragon Sect at the same time had been popular in the forum Mountain of Brightness. Tens of thousands of people had already viewed it. After that, Zhang Tie''s remote-sensing devices started to rock, which he used to contact Guang Clan, Jiang Clan, royal prince, military commander Cheng, military god, Yun Zhongzi, Heavens Fortune Sect, Demons-kill Valley and his elder brother, and so on...


    In the case of Zhang Taixuan, most of Zhang Tie''s remote-sensing finger rings had got lost. As Zhang Taixuan didn''t know the codes and jargons of those finger rings, Zhang Tie thought those remote-sensing finger rings might have long been destroyed by Zhang Taixuan. Therefore, after Zhang Tie recovered freedom, Zhang Tie ordered another batch of remote-sensing finger rings and had people sent them to his friends and relatives so that he could contact them in Taixia Country. As for some friends on the Western Continent, Zhang Tie couldn''t contact them for the time being.


    It took Zhang Tie a few hours to patiently reply to those concerns and inquiries, stop Yun Zhongzi from coming back to the surface of the ground, deal with some affairs and make some arrangements.


    Although having promoted to a sage-level knight, Yun Zhongzi didn''t master the aiding strength of a sage-level knight. Therefore, even though he came back, it couldn''t change anything. No matter what, he was facing three sage-level knights, who were the most powerful ones of top three sects; instead of only one sage-level knight. Besides, Yun Zhongzi''s return might make it trickier. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t have him come back.


    Additionally, he verified the complete difference in aiding strength between a sage-level knight and those below sage-level knight through Yun Zhongzi¡ª¡ªthe aiding strength of sage-level knight combines four elements, namely earth, water, wind and fire, which could resonate with the universe like an immortal strength. Nobody below sage-level knight could resist it. Only sage-level knights who had mastered absolute strength in his own realm could isolate himself from other sage-level knight''s aiding strength.


    Therefore, only sage-level knights could fight sage-level knights as top powers in this age.


    When the sun set, Iron-Dragon Sect looked tranquil as before. However, the entire country had been shocked by the black invitation cards from top three sects. As a result, the news that Iron-Dragon Sect was going to collapse had become popular across the country only in half a day.


    At that time, Zhang Tie left Iron-Dragon Sect and reunited with his wives and kids at the table after months'' departure. They started to enjoy a bumper supper. No matter how billows surged outside, the moment the gate of Zhang Tie''s home was closed from inside, they had been blocked outside.


    ...


    "Alexander, it''s too late. You should go to finish your evening classes with your brothers and sisters and go to bed..." Olina who didn''t eat too much put down her tablewares as she told Alexander who was listing to Zhang Tie''s story with a strong interest when the supper was almost coming to an end.


    Although those little guys were still interested in Zhang Tie''s story, they still constrained their curiosity as they left the table and returned to their own rooms under the guidance of their maids.


    "Dad, what about later? What happened to the two boas later..." Alexander couldn''t stand turning around and asking Zhang Tie when he was going to leave the dining room.


    "They become the bracelet of that warrior and the powerful battle partners who could be summoned at any time by that warrior for the coming challenge and exploration..." Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    "Aah, that''s great..."


    After cheering up, Alexander and the other little guys felt satisfied as they returned to their own rooms pleasantly.


    However, those little guys didn''t notice that double-snake bracelet on the left wrist of their father. Zhang Tie''s experience was dangerous, undulating, shocking and legendary. Only after brief handling, Zhang Tie could make them vivid knight''s stories which these kids were fascinated by. Alexander and the other kids might not know that all the stories that Zhang Tie told them were Zhang Tie''s real experiences; instead, they all took them as fabricated stories. Perhaps, they would understand when they grew up.


    Zhang Tie watched them disappearing at the stairs at the end of the corridor gently and fatherly. Not until they completely left there and the door of the canteen was closed did Zhang Tie turn around when he saw the concerned and worried eyes of his wives.


    Compared to this crisis facing Zhang Tie, the crisis facing Ice and Snow Wilderness from Sacred Light Empire on the Western Continent was just a piece of cake.


    O''Laura became slightly hesitant under the gaze of the other wives before she broke the silence, "This time..."


    "This time, it is just a challenge. I''ve experienced so many similar challenges and dangers!" Zhang Tie interrupted her arbitrarily and calmly as he picked the glass and bottomed up it. After putting down the glass, he watched O''Laura seriously, saying, "I''ve already considered what you''ve told me last time. I feel you''re right. Over these years, I have indeed ignored your feelings. In fact, you didn''t feel happy at all, even in Taixia Country. Therefore, I agree to coordinate with you so that you could leave Taixia Country safely. Additionally, I would arrange everything well for you. Don''t worry. I''ve already found proper teachers for our kids. As long as they''re old enough to receive an education, someone would take them away. From now on, you will be fully committed to the business of fiery oil on the Western Continent. Alexander and the other hybrids would inherit it in the future. Jinwu Palace would not interfere with it. In addition, I''ve contacted Golden Roc Bank and customized a top personal wealth and comprehensive safety plan for each other you; more than that, I''ve bought insurance worth 2 billion gold coins for each of you; it has already taken effect. Linda, Fiona and Beverly, you should leave together with them too..."


    "You bastard; liar..." Watching Zhang Tie who looked pretty calm, O''Laura suddenly became irritated as she tossed her glass towards Zhang Tie, a table in between; at the same time, she burst into tears.


    When the glass arrived in front of Zhang Tie, it was caught by an invisible hand and suspended in the air. Closely after that, it slowly descended onto the table.


    All the women in the room had been in tears.


    "No, I will not go anywhere..." Linda cried as she shook her head, saying, "I will always be with you. I''m not afraid of anything as long as you''re on my side!"


    "I will not go anywhere, either..." Fiona cried as she begged Zhang Tie.


    Beverly was gazing at Zhang Tie while biting her lips.


    Facing those plaintive eye lights, Zhang Tie suddenly felt like giving a compromise; however, closely after that, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth as he sprung up and watched them calmly, saying, "You have to go. I''m a bit tired; I have to take a rest..."


    After leaving these words, Zhang Tie left the canteen, leaving those women behind...

 1607 The Discussion in Stars-picking Pavilion

    In the deep evening, Stars-picking Pavilion, Xuanyuan Hill...


    In long robe, Xuanyuan Changying was standing on the top of Stars-picking Pavilion which was higher than 200 m. Hands on back, he had been looking up at the stars for two hours without moving.


    Not until his trusted bodyguard said in a low tone with footsteps, "Your Majesty, Mr. Fang has arrived..." did he let out a long sigh and turn around abruptly. Being as silent as before, he strode towards the study room...


    In the study room, a literati in green robe was waiting there. Xuanyuan Changying opened the curtain, causing jade beads quiver like how rain beat plantain leaves. Closely after that, Xuanyuan Changying strode forward with the wind as he said, "Mr. Fang..."


    "Your Majesty, you''re going to be the emperor of Taixia Country and rule humans and the universe. As an emperor, you should not change your face even when Mount Tai collapses in front of you. However, Your Majesty has already lost your mind due to the event of the black invitation cards. This is a taboo for the emperor. The greater the event is, the calmer Your Majesty should be..." the literati in green robe watched Xuanyuan Changying in an extremely conscientious and unprecedentedly stern look.


    "I know my fault, but it''s great urgency. Therefore, I have to call Mr. Fang back from Cangzhou Province for the countermeasure..." Xuanyuan Changying explained as he bowed towards that literati.


    "After 4-5 hours'' trip by airboat, I''m a bit hungry and thirsty. It''s said that Your Majesty''s teaism is great in the royal palace and once won the favor of the former Emperor Xuanyuan. How about performing your teaism for Qingming first, Your Majesty?" Mr. Fang said as he took off his boots and sat down quietly beside the tea table. Watching Xuanyuan Changying calmly, he continued, "In such a beautiful day, it''s elegant for us to drink tea in Stars-picking Pavilion and listen to the blow of wind..."


    Xuanyuan Changying instantly got Mr. Fang''s meaning as he took in a deep breath and took off his shoes too. Sitting on the opposite of Mr. Fang, teapoy in between, he clapped his hands, having maids serve tea set.


    The teaism of Taixia Country was extensive and profound. One hour flashed since Xuanyuan Changying started to perform his teaism.


    The anxiety of Xuanyuan Changying slowly faded away as the scented tea water entered his mouth. As a result, his blue face slightly turned kind after Xuanyuan Changying had a cup of tea.


    In the process, Mr. Fang remained silent. He just saw Xuanyuan Changying gradually slow his movement and pour tea water into teacups on the teapoy as fluently as flowing clouds and water like how blossoms opened and fell. Then, Mr. Fang gradually revealed a faint smile.


    ''In teaism, human and tea control each other. Although I work for a royal prince. In my opinion, everything in the world is a piece, including Emperor Xuanyuan and royal prince. If I want to use the royal prince as a piece, I should be involved in the game too. There''s actually no border between player and piece. It''s just a matter of realm. If I could have a fight in the big game and remain famous forever, I would live up to my learning and ambition.'' Fang Qingming thought inside.


    After having two cups of tea, Mr. Fang put down the teacup as he slowly opened his mouth, "It''s a deadlock!"


    The moment he heard Mr. Fang''s words, Xuanyuan Changying, having just recovered his composure, had quivered his hand, sprayed some tea water over the teapoy. Watching the bit of tea water on the teapoy, His Majesty heaved a sigh inside as he lightly put down the teacup and asked, "Why do you say so, Mr. Fang?"


    "These black invitation cards are definitely not the products of the whim of top three sects; nor do they send them because of the event of the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, although top three sects couldn''t bear their losses. There''s only one reason¡ª¡ªthe top three sects have been scared of Zhang Tie too much as they don''t want to spare time for Zhang Tie to grow up anymore. In my opinion, when Zhang Tie killed the heavenly demon knight at the bank of Weishui River, they had already prepared the three black invitation cards!" Mr. Fang said calmly as wise light flashed across his eyes.


    Xuanyuan Changying was shocked at a stroke as he appeared knowing something, "But why now?"


    "There''re two reasons¡ª¡ªfirst, after the battle at the bank of Weishui River, Zhang Tie made a great contribution to Taixia Country and humans and won a great prestige. Besides, he was severely injured. At that moment, the top three sects had intended to launch a challenge to Zhang Tie; however, they couldn''t find any excuse; otherwise, they would become the target of the public. Therefore, they kept bearing it since then. However, there was one more important reason, which is because of Your Majesty!"


    "Aah, because of me?" Xuanyuan Changying became startled.


    "Yes, because of you. If not Zhang Tie instantly expressed that he would like to stand on your side and make Your Majesty more popular among people and closer to the throne, I think the powers of the top three sects should try to contact Zhang Tie and persuaded him to join them. By contrast, now, as long as they seized a bit chance in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, they had intended to kill Zhang Tie. If they succeeded, they would break one arm of Your Majesty. Their fast and fierce move is equal to admit their disguise..."


    As Xuanyuan Changying was smart, he instantly understood what Mr. Fang meant. He was shocked so much that he didn''t make a response until a few minutes later, "Mr. Fang, you mean..."


    "Yes, the top three sects have already been involved in the war for the throne of Taixia Country. Additionally, Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou who sent black invitation cards to Zhang Tie must not root for Your Majesty; instead, they must support third prince or ninth prince..."


    "Audacious..." Xuanyuan Changying was irritated as he slapped onto the teapoy. Giving out light weirdly, the tea set disappeared in the eyes of Mr. Fang due to the great battle qi of Xuanyuan Changying; instead of being broken into pieces.


    ''Is this the power of Xuanyuan Deity Sutra? If it was used for a commoner or an ordinary knight, that person might have been crushed into sh*t by such a palm. As it was Mr. Fang''s first time to see Xuanyuan Changying lose his temper, Fang Qingming''s heart raced as he thought, ''But...the tea water, what a pity...''


    Watching the empty seat in front of him, Mr. Fang shook his head helplessly...


    "How dare they do that? How dare they do that?" Xuanyuan Changying was driven mad as he sprung up and walked here and there in the room like a mad lion while giving out his killing intent, "Top six sects are forbidden to intervene with internal politics. It''s the rule fixed between my father and the top six sects. After my father disappears, they become so rebellious. Besides, they even join the war for the throne of Taixia Country and intended to abolish me and advocate another royal prince. That''s too audacious! That''s too audacious! I will summon the top four armies along with Military God to annihilate those bandits. I will chop off their heads; chop off their heads..."


    "Your Majesty, do you really want to call back Military God?" Mr. Fang heaved a sigh as he continued, "If Military God is fetched back, the first one being beheaded would be me; instead of the knights of the top three sects as I would be accused of bewildering the royal prince so that Your Majesty would do such a stupid thing. As a result, the country as a whole would be in chaos. By then, Military God would definitely have Your Majesty send my head to the top three sects for their forgiveness. Besides, Your Majesty shall at least send a notice of self-condemnation and admit your fault to the rest of the world. It''s not an end yet. After that, Your Majesty''s reputation would decline greatly while all sorts of gossips that Your Majesty is not suitable to take the throne would be popular across the country. Advocated by someone, the one who was rooted for by the top three sects might return to Xuanyuan Hill and take the throne aboveboard..."


    After hearing Fang Qingming''s words, Xuanyuan Changying who was furious instantly became petrified like being poured with a basin of water. At the same time, he recovered his composure.


    "Mr. Fang, you mean..."


    "But we have no evidence. Your Majesty, do you think that the top three sects would reveal any evidence to us if they root for a prince? Even if we could find some evidence, do you think the evidence would be important or not?" Mr. Fang said as he watched Xuanyuan Changying calmly, "There''s a proverb on Western Continent¡ª¡ªBeing furious when you''re weak is meaningless. As Emperor Xuanyuan has disappeared, who in Taixia Country could crack down the sage-level knights of the top three sects?"


    "We could combine with Heavenly Fortune Sect, Demons-kill Valley, Elder Liu who''s on the back of the imperial palace and Military God..." Xuanyuan Changying said with hope.


    "Haha..." Mr. Fang burst into laughter. Closely after that, he let out a sigh, saying, "Your Majesty, have you forgotten how you blamed Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion just now? If Your Majesty wants Heavenly Fortune Sect and Demons-kill Valley to assist you, it''s nothing different than having them transfer their powers to Your Majesty. Your Majesty, do you think Heavens Holding Pavilion and Demons-kill Valley would die for you? Even if they agree, someone would blame Your Majesty for having top sects involve in the war for the throne of Taixia Country. By then, Your Majesty would be the one who violated the law regulated by the former Emperor Xuanyuan. What would you say then..."


    After standing there still for a while, Xuanyuan Changying finally sat down in a bit frustrated manner as he said, "Mr. Fang, you mean, I could only watch the top three sects break my arm this time. As Zhang Tie helped me in Xuanyuan Hill; if I couldn''t keep him alive this time, who would favor me in the future? Who would regard me as a reliable person..."


    "That interprets the evil of the three black invitation cards. Besides defeating Zhang Tie and occupying Iron-Dragon Sect, they also want to ruin Your Majesty''s reputation!" Mr. Fang said as he watched Xuanyuan Changying seriously. After being silent for a short while, he continued, "I''m just a literati; instead of a knight. I don''t know about the battle strength of the sage-level knights of the top three sects; however, I know that Your Majesty must know their powers. Your Majesty, do you think Zhang Tie could escape from the chase of sage-level knights when he used his ability as a divine dominator? Do you think he could carry out longlasting combat with sage-level knights in this way? If he could, I have a method to help Zhang Tie reverse the battle situation..."


    Shaking his head, Xuanyuan Changying heaved a sigh, "It''s impossible. Mr. Fang, you might not know that my father told me that the sage-level knight Taiyi Old Man of Taiyi Fantasy Sect had already promoted to a sage-level knight for over 300 years. His aiding strength is Great Power Sun Flame. This aiding strength is unrivaled. Within hundreds of miles, as long as he glanced at the target, he would be able to have his Sun Flame cover the opponent. Even a heavenly knight couldn''t stand too long facing Sun Flame. Despite Zhang Tie''s fast move, he couldn''t match the transmission speed of the Great Power Sun Flame. Additionally, the site is in the vast Gobi. In that case, the power of the Sun Flame would be greater. I don''t think Zhang Tie could survive the combat..."


    "It still doesn''t work even though Zhang Tie promotes to a heavenly knight in the tower of time within 100 days?"


    "It doesn''t work. Unless he could promote to a sage-level knight within 100 days, he could never resist the aiding strength of a sage-level knight!"


    It was almost impossible for a person to promote to a sage-level knight from a shadow knight. Actually, Zhang Tie couldn''t promote to a sage-level knight even if he stayed 100 years in the tower of time. The key to promoting to a sage-level knight was to form one''s sage chakra. It was the largest obstacle facing all the cultivators who were going to promote to sage-level knights, which couldn''t be broken through in a short period. Someone might still not be able to find the way to promote to a sage-level knight even after promoting to a semi-sage knight for hundreds of years.


    "It''s just the individual power of Taiyi Old Man. I wonder whether the sage-level knights of the other two sects have mastered aiding strength or not?"


    "Not yet in the last holy war between humans and demons; however, this time..." Xuanyuan Changying said as he shook his head, "My father had been paying special attention to the sage-level knights of top sects. However, he couldn''t get any intelligence from the sage-level knights of the other two sects over these years even in Xuanyuan Hill!"


    "According to you, Zhang Tie is doomed to die this time?"


    "Yes!" Xuanyuan Changying replied with a regretful and furious look, "I was too careless. If I''ve long known this, I would have appointed Zhang Tie as the commander-in-chief of air cavalries in Taixia Country when he was in Xuanyuan Hill even if he disagreed. At least, we don''t need to worry about receiving black invitation cards..."


    "Nobody could predict the future in this world. If there is, the holy war has long come to an end. After hearing Your Majesty''s words, I feel pretty self-condemned..." Mr. Fang answered with a bitter smile, "At that time, I thought Immortal Qianji would live free after leaving the officialdom; I thought he would concentrate on managing Iron-Dragon Sect and develop his reputation and influence among the people, which would definitely be more helpful to Your Majesty than being in the officialdom. Therefore, I didn''t persuade Your Majesty to keep him at that time. I didn''t imagine that Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion dare to intervene with the war for the throne of Taixia Country when Your Majesty is still supervising the domestic affairs. It seems that they have long combined with each other; instead of choosing their stance temporarily..."


    "The preoccupancy is the black invitation cards; I wonder about your countermeasure, Mr. Fang."


    "The opponent put down a perilous and powerful piece this time. However, my countermeasure couldn''t solve the problem essentially..."


    "Aah, Mr. Fang, hurry, tell me about that!"


    "Isn''t Your Majesty investigating the case of the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect? We could pin down the top three sects to a certain degree from this point..."


    "But even if we could do something, we wouldn''t have the top three sects withdraw their black invitation cards!"


    "Of course, the top three sects couldn''t withdraw their black invitation cards even if we do that..."


    "If so, does this countermeasure work?"


    After being silent for a while, Mr. Fang slowly opened his mouth, "It depends on the choice of Immortal Qianji. Although it''s very hard to make such a choice at a high price, as long as Immortal Qianji makes this choice, Your Majesty could help him solve the rest things..."


    Xuanyuan Changying was almost confused as he asked, "Mr. Fang, you mean..."


    "Black invitation card is the regulation fixed between top sects in Taixia Country. It''s not from Taixia Law. To tell the truth, it''s just an unwritten rule in folklore. Anyone who receives black invitation cards should attend the combat as requested by the top sects.


    Widely opening his mouth, Xuanyuan Changying understood it at a stroke, "I see..."


    "It''s hard to make such a choice. Additionally, he has to suffer a lot. His reputation might be ruined. Your Majesty, if you agree, I will pay a visit to Zhang Tie in Iron-Dragon Sect tomorrow on behalf of Your Majesty..."

 1608 Zhang Ties Decision

    When Zhang Tie woke up again, he found that Linda was lying on his one arm while Beverly was lying on his chest. His other arm was around Fiona. The big bed was crisscrossed with naked bodies while the tight and thick curtain made the room a bit dim. An extravagant and bohemian atmosphere was fermenting in the room...


    Turning around, Zhang Tie saw a trace of tears on Linda''s face. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether her tears were originated from the pleasure of sex or sad departure or both of them. Last night, when he made her orgasm for the last time, Linda finally couldn''t stand dropping off her tears...


    After throwing a glance at those women, Zhang Tie got off the bed; instead of waking them up. He came to the bathroom for a bath. After changing a set of clothes, he left the room.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to leave this room since he came back five days ago. Over the past five days, Zhang Tie just meddled with them like how he did with those girls of Rose Association in Blackhot City. He rolled with women day and night like what an emperor of uncontrolled lusts did.


    After putting on clothes, Zhang Tie left the bedroom and came to the floor close below them. He came to his kids'' bedrooms one after another and threw a glance at them who was in sound sleep. After covering quilts for them, he lightly kissed each of them before leaving there quietly.


    When Zhang Tie left the villa, the day had not broken yet while the icy moonlight and starlight sprayed over the ground. Misty vapor was drifting above the water pool in the garden. As it was almost November, it had been piercing to bones in Youzhou Province. The leaves of red maples in the garden had already turned red, along which frost, they indicated the coming bleak autumn.


    After taking a deep breath of the fresh and cold air and exhaling a mouth of hot air, Zhang Tie looked up at the skyline as he felt clear-minded.


    O''Laura had just woken up; however, she didn''t open her eyes. Nor did Zhang Tie wake her up; instead, he left the room alone as he pretended to not have known that she was already awake.


    Although they received the black invitation cards five days ago, he felt that it was one year ago. After these days, the stress and faint irritation in his heart had already faded away while the feeling of controlling everything returned.


    A tenacious and decisive look flashed across Zhang Tie''s face.


    After achieving the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, Zhang Tie had not imagined that the Imperial Alliance could give him such an overwhelming blow after he disguised to have not fully recovered and showed the white feather. Zhang Tie had underestimated the decision and strong will of the Imperial Alliance. Instead of stimulating him or making a further attempt, Imperial Alliance directly forced him to the dead end, sparing no chance for them anymore.


    As top three sects of Taixia Country who would like to compete for ruling the country with Xuanyuan Changying, Imperial Alliance finally let Zhang Tie know what opponents he was facing with its evil and decisiveness. Perhaps he was still a bit naive and reckless in the eyes of those old monsters in Imperial Alliance who had lived hundreds of years given shrewdness.


    It was also a lesson that Zhang Tie gained this time¡ª¡ªNever underestimate your enemy. There might be idiots in your enemies; however, don''t expect that all of your enemies are idiots. In fact, they might be smarter and more experienced and vicious than you. They always know how to hide and give you a fatal blow in critical moments.


    However, each coin had two sides. Besides forcing Zhang Tie to the dead end, the three black invitation cards saved a lot of trouble for Zhang Tie.


    Previously, Zhang Tie planned to make an arrangement for disguising the departure of his wives. However, after receiving black invitation cards, he might not prepare too much for that.


    "Master..." Zhang Gui, whom Zhang Tie had not seen for seven days had shown up in front of Zhang Tie, lowering his head, like an old dog in the dark corner of the garden.


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at Zhang Gui as some vials of top disguising medicament appeared in his hand. He then handed them to Zhang Gui.


    As a person who used to do dirty jobs for Han Zhengfang and his son, the moment he took those vials of medicament, Zhang Gui had known their function. Looking at Zhang Tie for a second, Zhang Gui instantly knew what he should do.


    "When my wives leave Taixia Country, you''d better leave with them in another identity. If a trusted subordinate of mine is with them, I would be reassured. Am I clear?" Zhang Tie told Zhang Gui using his battle qi.


    "As long as this vassal is alive, I would guarantee the safety of madams and young masters..." Zhang Gui promised as he put away those vials of disguising medicament.


    "You''d better make preparation in the following days. The language and customs in the west are different than that in Taixia Country..."


    "Yes, sir!"


    After throwing another glance at Zhang Gui and the villa behind him, Zhang Tie shot into the sky at a stroke and disappeared in the next second.


    In this case, it was already meaningless for him to hide his real battle strength for trapping others. Nor did Zhang Tie feel like hiding anything. After entering the sky, he changed his direction towards Jinwu City and reached severe times the speed of sound in a split second.


    O''Laura was standing behind a curtain as she bit her lips and watched Zhang Tie flying away with sparkling tears...


    Zhang Tie''s move of looking back appeared that he was bidding farewell to her.


    O''Laura knew that Zhang Tie had gone downstairs to look at their kids. However, the departure before daybreak meant that Zhang Tie would not come back again. It was the last time when she saw Zhang Tie in Taixia Country.


    O''Laura tried to not cry out; instead, tears flew off her delicate cheeks and gathered at her beautiful jaw before falling onto the soft carpet.


    "Previously, he was the whole world of us. From now on, we should be another world of him..." Olina had already appeared behind O''Laura as she put one hand on the latter''s shoulder. Being different than O''Laura, Olina didn''t have tears in her eyes; instead, she only showed a strong will, "This continent doesn''t belong to us. If this continent doesn''t belong to him one day, his home would be where we are."


    ...


    Zhang Tie stayed in Jinwu City with his elder brother and parents for two more days.


    Over the two days, the black invitation cards had aroused greater influence across the country. Even Jinwu Business Group''s foreign trade had been weakened as some cooperative programs which had been contracted saw changes. As the center of the storm, Youzhou Province, however, was in tranquility weirdly.


    People from all walks of life were queuing up outside the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect to ask for meeting Zhang Tie. However, Zhang Tie had people declined all of them.


    However, two days later, the arrival of one person forced Zhang Tie to return to Iron-Dragon Sect from Jinwu City.


    Zhang Tie had to meet the person dispatched by the royal prince...


    ...

 1609 Family Members

    Zhang Tie''s elder brother Zhang Yang didn''t promote to a knight. Actually, he couldn''t even bear two decades'' silence in the tower of time of Heavenly Fortune Sect. According to Zhang Yang, although he had made preparations well, when he stayed in the tower of time for 14 years, he had felt something wrong as the monotony and loneliness in the tower of time almost drove him mad. Zhang Yang even had hallucination in that environment. Additionally, he couldn''t concentrate on cultivation at all and almost became obsessed with the devil for a few times. As he couldn''t stand it anymore, he could only end his cultivation in the tower of time in advance in case of trouble.


    The strict environment in the tower of time was not suitable for everyone. As Zhang Yang lacked a bit of flair in cultivation, he couldn''t bear such a long period in such an environment.


    After 14 years'' cultivation using the cultivation resources that he had prepared for himself, Zhang Yang totally lit 597 surging points in the tower of time, 13 surging points away from being a LV 15 battle spirit.


    When Zhang Tie saw Zhang Yang, Zhang Yang had already recovered after a few days'' rest. Although he had made great progress in battle strength, he was still scared of the tower of time.


    Zhang Tie stayed at home for two days. In the daytime, he accompanied his parents and declined all the guests'' visits. In the evening, after having supper with his family members, Zhang Tie would have secret talks with Zhang Yang in the study room. Nobody knew what they talked about. Not until the person dispatched by Xuanyuan Changying arrived at Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory did Zhang Tie bid a farewell to his elder brother and his family members and leave Jinwu City.


    When he left, his parents, Zhang Yang and elder sisters-in-law left the house to bid farewell to him.


    "Dad, mom, take care of yourselves. I have something to deal with and have to go back to Iron-Dragon Sect..."


    Under the gaze of everyone at present, Zhang Tie suddenly knelt down in front of his parents. After kowtowing three times for them, he stood up.


    Zhang Yang kept watching Zhang Tie with a solemn look; instead of stopping him to do that. However, their parents were startled by Zhang Tie''s move as Zhang Tie did not do that when he bade farewell to them before.


    "What are you doing? Why do you kowtow? Your dad and I are still young. When Zhang Yang and you become grandpas, we could even look after your grandchildren..." Zhang Tie''s mom cared about his son so much. When Zhang Tie stood up, his mom hurriedly walked over there as she started to blame him and cleared the dust on his pants by patting it.


    "Ahem, ahem, as the head of a sect, you don''t need to kowtow for us. Thankfully, there''s no outsider here. How embarrassing it would be if it was seen by outsiders..." Zhang Tie''s dad said on one side. After a few seconds, he finally asked Zhang Tie, "I heard someone talk about black invitation cards outside yesterday. Is Taiyi Fantasy Sect finding you trouble?"


    After hearing their dad''s words, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang exchanged a glance with each other. Closely after that, Zhang Yang frowned faintly. Nevertheless, Zhang Tie remained calm as usual.


    "What black invitation cards? Guoguo, you have trouble? But why don''t you tell me?" Zhang Tie''s mom instantly caught the topic as she asked Zhang Tie.


    "Haha, it''s nothing. Because of the discovery of Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect in South Border, I have a small conflict with some sects. As we couldn''t solve it orally, we have to have combat..." Zhang Tie said casually.


    "Erm, is it dangerous?" Zhang Tie''s mom asked him.


    "Mom, you know who your son is. I was not even afraid of the demon army at the bank of Weishui River and could survive it, why am I scared of the small conflict between Iron-Dragon Sect and a couple of sects in Taixia Country? Given your son''s fame, I would not worry about Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s threat, not to mention my power!"


    Zhang Tie explained loudly as if it was just a piece of cake. As his parents didn''t know the details, they believed in Zhang Tie''s words and became reassured.


    "We Zhang family would neither stir up trouble nor be afraid of trouble. Guoguo, no matter what you do, your family is always on your back!" Zhang Tie''s mom expressed her stance confidently.


    "However, we should always show mercy to our opponents. As for those problems which could be settled peacefully, you''d better be low-key..." Zhang Tie''s dad persuaded Zhang Tie in case of trouble.


    Zhang Tie constantly nodded as if he was accepting their education modestly. After his parents finished their words, Zhang Tie turned around and saw his elder brother and elder sisters-in-law.


    "Elder brother, elder sisters-in-law..." Zhang Tie told them with a smile, "When I''m not at home, you should take care of our parents; thank you in advance..."


    Zhang Yang nodded while Zhang Tie''s elder sisters-in-law answered modestly hurriedly.


    "Alright, I got to go..." Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he instantly flew off. After making a circle around the mansion, he flew towards Iron-Dragon Sect as fast as a lightning bolt.


    Zhang Yang watched Zhang Yang flying off while he was clenching his fists forcefully, causing his fingernails white.


    After Zhang Tie left home and his family members returned home, Zhang Yang instantly declared a piece of news to his parents¡ª¡ªhe would marry again a few days later.


    "Aah, which family does she come from?" Zhang Tie''s mom''s eyes turned bright at once after hearing the news.


    Their parents didn''t feel strange about having one more daughter-in-law. All the major clans in Taixia Country would have a lot of daughters-in-law and an array of grandchildren. Although having already got wives and concubines, Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang were relatively conservative in this aspect. Whereas, what amazed their parents was that it was Zhang Yang who posed it himself this time.


    "Actually, this marriage was almost fixed by Zhang Tie for his elder brother last year. The female comes from Zuoqiu Clan in Taixia Country..."


    "Zuoqiu Clan? It''s a rare family name. I''ve not heard about such a major clan in Youzhou Province and Northeast Military Region..." Zhang Tie''s dad asked out of confusion after thinking about it carefully.


    "Is it Zuoqiu Clan of Biyong Palace?"


    "Zuoqiu Clan of Biyong Palace?" Zhang Tie''s dad instantly widely opened his eyes. After the founding of Jinwu Palace, Zhang Tie''s dad had been learning about the famous clans in Taixia Country in case of being embarrassed. Biyong Clan was well-known across the country, which was even more famous than Huaiyuan Palace. By contrast, Huaiyuan Palace was like a rural daughter while Biyong Palace was like a princess in a lord''s mansion. This family name shocked Zhang Tie''s dad at a stroke. After a few seconds, Zhang Ping swallowed his saliva as he asked hesitantly, "Is it.. the branch of Zuoqiu Clan or..."


    "She''s the direct descendant of Zuoqiu Clan who has close parental relation with Zuoqiu Mingyue the military minister of Taixia Country. With good look, talent and customs, she could be a good wife..." Zhang Yang explained calmly...


    Zhang Tie''s mom didn''t know the position of Biyong Palace in Taixia Country; however, she was clear about the title of military minister in Taixia Country. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s mom was also petrified...

 1610 The Arrival of Qingming

    It was pleasant to display one''s battle strength at his will. Like that a billionaire didn''t need to hide his deposit; instead, he would like to use it whenever he wanted. It was good for any person.


    It was a sunny day. Zhang Tie was flying at seven times the speed of sound and enjoying the flight while displaying his abilities casually. In this state, the bit fret in Zhang Tie''s heart appeared having been blown away by the heavy airflow.


    It took Zhang Tie less than one hour to arrive above Xuantian Peak of Iron-Dragon Sect from Jinwu City.


    After almost one week, the influence of black invitation cards had been gradually fermenting in Iron-Dragon Sect. Thankfully, it didn''t arouse any chaos within the sect. Whereas, the thousands of meters long line outside the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect became much shorter today.


    An airboat was suspending above Xuantian Peak. Given its magnificence and pattern, Zhang Tie immediately recognized that it was from Xuanyuan Hill. It appeared that His Majesty was not afraid of being known that he had dispatched someone here. Perhaps, His Majesty did it purposefully to tell someone that His Majesty was at least standing on Zhang Tie''s side.


    Nevertheless, Zhang Tie felt much better no matter whether His Majesty did it sincerely or not. At least it was better than framing him. It was not easy for His Majesty to make it based on his temperament.


    After returning to Iron-Dragon Sect and greeting those elders, Zhang Tie entered an attic with beautiful scenery where he solemnly received this important person who came here on behalf of the royal prince at this critical moment.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought he was an internal affairs official of His Majesty or a powerhouse; however, Zhang Tie had not imagined that he was just a gentle literati in three strands of the long beard, holding a jade-framed feather fan.


    Only after throwing a glance at him, Zhang Tie had known his battle strength. The literati had only lit his shrine surging point and 34 surging points on his spine, which meant he was just LV 9. It was really out of Zhang Tie''s imagination.


    Although being low in battle strength, the literati looked decent. Others might look a bit awkward by holding a fan in Youzhou Province in this season, but it felt pretty coordinated when this person held the white feather fan. It was like those stereotyped gentlemen on the Western Continent who always took an umbrella when they left home.


    After bowing towards Zhang Tie, the literati took a seat which was specially set for VIP. At this moment, a maid served them tea before leaving there and closing the gate, leaving the two-person alone.


    "Mr...?" Zhang Tie asked with a smile.


    Now that he could come here on behalf of the royal prince, he must be something. Even though he was a commoner, Zhang Tie wouldn''t neglect him either. Therefore, Zhang Tie treated him politely and modestly.


    "I''m Fang Qingming!" The literati put it straight, which let Zhang Tie feel good.


    "Oh, it''s Mr. Fang. I''ve long heard about you!" Zhang Tie said as he cupped his hands.


    "I''m just doing something trivial for His Majesty, no need to be so polite!" Mr. Fang answered.


    As Mr. Fang talked with Zhang Tie, he was observing the latter. After finding that Zhang Tie was still calm, profound and fank, Mr. Fang spoke highly of Zhang Tie inside at a stroke. Across the country, very few people could behave as calmly as Zhang Tie after receiving the black invitation cards of the top three sects.


    ''His Majesty was definitely not as calm, famous and powerful as Immortal Qianji, this person is really something...''


    Soon after this whim occurred to him, Fang Qingming had quivered a bit all over as he forced himself to drive this rebellious thought out of his mind.


    "I wonder what His Majesty dispatches Mr. Fang here for?" Zhang Tie also put it straightforwardly.


    "His Majesty is always paying heed to you, immortal. When in Xuanyuan Hill, immortal had not fully recovered from the effect of the thunder of nirvana. I''m here to ask whether immortal has already recovered on behalf of His Majesty." Mr. Fang shook his feather fan as he asked Zhang Tie meaningfully yet casually.


    Of course, Zhang Tie knew what did he mean. However, as Zhang Tie had long made a decision, he didn''t plan to hide nothing; therefore, he replied, "Thanks to His Majesty''s concern. When in the south border, I''ve already recovered due to karma..."


    Fang Qingming sighed as he watched Zhang Tie with gleaming eyes, saying, "Immortal, as you suffered the injury for the country and the people, your glory and achievement couldn''t be forgotten by anyone. If the top three sects sent you black invitation cards when you''ve not fully recovered, it would be pretty rude and made all the righteous men in the world disappointed. His Majesty would never allow such a rebellious thing to happen!"


    It was an evident hint. As long as Zhang Tie said that he had not fully recovered or disguised that he had not fully recovered, His Majesty who was far away in Xuanyuan Hill would instantly use his power and relations to prevent the duel 100 days later. Relatively, this action could preserve Zhang Tie''s reputation to a certain degree and nullify the excuse of the top three sects which they used to send black invitation cards. If Taiyi Fantasy Sect didn''t want to be the notorious target of the public, it would definitely not take action when Zhang Tie was not fully recovered.


    "What would come would come sooner or later. If I''ve not fully recovered, of course, I could ignore those black invitation cards. However, I''ve already recovered and have already displayed my abilities in the Dongtian of Iron-Dragon Sect. If I want to stop the three top sects in this reason, they would not agree for sure. What if they let a top national doctor check me? How could I cheat them? If I don''t accept the examination, everyone across the country would know that I''m telling a lie. By then, Iron-Dragon Sect would become a laughingstock for sure and Jinwu Palace''s fame would be severely weakened!" Zhang Tie shook his head decisively as he answered.


    Zhang Tie didn''t value honor and fame; however, it didn''t mean that he would like to spoil them...

 1611 The Royal Princes Sincerity

    If Zhang Tie had not fully recovered, he could ignore the black invitation cards aboveboard. However, Zhang Tie had not imagined that the fact that he had fully recovered in the Dongtian and carried out a performance with Yun Zhongzi inside there provided a chance for the three top sects to attack him.


    The honor and fame of Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace didn''t belong to Zhang Tie alone. Therefore, Zhang Tie would not do anything to ruin the fame of Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace, as which would turn those people on his side into a laughingstock.


    After looking at Zhang Tie, Mr. Fang sighed inside as he thought Zhang Tie didn''t understand at all, saying, "Superficially, the black invitation cards indicate that the three top sects are going to end the animosity between you and them. In fact, they have long been intervening with the war for the throne of Taixia Country by choosing the third prince or the ninth prince for usurping the throne. Because you root for His Majesty, you became sore in their eyes. Therefore, they want to defeat you. Although His Majesty doesn''t know which prince is the three top sects colluding with, he''s already been investigating it. We would get the answer soon."


    ''I knew the existence of Imperial Alliance by accident; however, Mr. Fang could catch the secret behind the even of the delivery of black invitation cards from the three top sects through speculation. The royal prince really has a subordinate powerhouse!''


    As Zhang Tie thought, he revealed an amazed look as if it was his first time to hear that news, saying, "You mean there''s a war for the throne of Taixia Country behind this event?" Zhang Tie performed so vividly that even Mr. Fang couldn''t find any loophole from his performance.


    "Right, therefore, the event of black invitation cards is not your personal affair. The so-called black invitation card is neither an imperial decree nor a law. To be honest, it''s just an unwritten folklore rule between sects in Taixia Country. If immortal could stand it and give way to it this time, even though you''re mocked, you would regain your respect one day. As a hero, you should be flexible. You should bear the humiliation of passing one''s crotch sometimes, not to mention such a bit of trouble. When immortal promotes to a heavenly knight or a sage-level knight, you would be unrivaled. Immortal, as you''re free to make the choice, Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Heavens Holding Pavilion wouldn''t want to attack you..."


    Zhang Tie watched Mr. Fang calmly, asking, "His Majesty wants me to escape?"


    "Not escape; just evade its sharpness for the time being. Similarly, when two armies were fighting, when the enemy outnumbers our party, it''s great for us to fight them like an animal in a cage; however, it''s also wise for us to judge the current situation and evade their sharpness. His Majesty regards immortal as his good master and friend. In this case, His Majesty doesn''t want immortal to be involved in the conflict with the three top sects, nor does he want immortal to be in danger; therefore, he sent me here to persuade immortal!" Mr. Fang continued, "As long as immortal agrees to leave for the time being, His Majesty would deal with the rest for you!"


    "I wonder how His Majesty plans to deal with the rest for me."


    "First, the result of the investigation about the extermination of Great Wilderness Sect would be a piece of His Majesty. If immortal leaves, His Majesty has his way to frighten the three top sects using this case!"


    "What else?" Zhang Tie asked Fang Qingming with interest.


    "His Majesty has a daughter who''s 16 years old. His Majesty loves her pretty much. His Majesty knows that immortal has three sons in Heavenly Fortune Sect who''re all getting mature. Therefore, His Majesty would like to marry his daughter to one of your sons. By then, Zhang Clan of Jinwu Palace would be the relatives of the royal prince. Even though immortal leaves Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace for the time being, the three top sects dare not do any harm to Iron-Dragon Sect or Jinwu Palace!"


    Zhang Tie was really shocked by the second trick of His Majesty. To marry the daughter of a prince was always a big deal, not to mention that of the royal prince. According to the rule, when the royal prince ascended to the throne one day, it was equal to marry the daughter of the will-be Emperor Xuanyuan, which would have a great influence. As long as Jinwu Palace became the relative of the royal prince of Taixia Country, it would be unrivaled across the country.


    Zhang Tie didn''t answer him immediately; instead, he just watched Mr. Fang with a smile, saying, "Is the royal prince sure that I couldn''t win the combat 100 days later?"


    After throwing a glance at Zhang Tie, Mr. Fang took out a beautiful case out of the void. There was a bizarre piece of black crystal in the case on which hung a small symbol by a golden wire.


    Mr. Fang then gave the case to Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie took the piece of crystal as he found it was like secret knowledge crystal; however, it was a bit heavier. One end of the crystal was covered with mithril, on which were the runes of master-level consolidating skill. The runes could prevent the crystal from being destroyed. The symbol and the golden wire were tied to the mithril through a small hole.


    Zhang Tie saw three lines of tight, decent and clear words on the symbol.


    The first line was¡ª¡ªPavilion 360, Building Mou, Departure Secret, Treasures and Rune Items Center, Imperial Palace of Emperor Xuanyuan, Taixia Country.


    The second line was¡ª¡ªThe Combat of Taiyi Old Man in the Deities Region, Earth-elements Realm on the 763rd year of Black Iron Calendar.


    The third line was¡ª¡ªSage-level Knight''s Aiding Strength, Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Real Sun Flame.


    At the sight of the words, Zhang Tie had known that it was a classified file collected in the Archives of the imperial palace in Taixia Country. ''Mr. Fang might take it here at the request of His Majesty.''


    Like reading a secret knowledge crystal, Zhang Tie penetrated his spiritual energy into it. Closely after that, he saw a dynamic picture in his mind as if he was watching a film before the Catastrophe.


    The picture was vivid as it was from a person''s angle of view¡ª¡ªIt''s a flight at a high speed; actually, it''s more like a chase. Because Zhang Tie saw another figure wrestling with the main character at the same high speed. After flying across tens of thousands of meters in the air, the strong sword qi missed its target and finally struck against the ground, causing a huge ravine as long as thousands of meters, despite it could move thousands of meters in a split second in an overwhelming manner.


    Watching such great battle strength, Zhang Tie was full of excitement and shock.


    Given the anxious look of the one in the latter, Zhang Tie found it was a demon; given its battle strength, Zhang Tie confirmed that it was a sage-level demon knight.


    Of course, the one in front of it was also a sage-level knight. After evading one stroke from that sage-level demon knight, the main character rubbed his hands, causing a thunder-like rock in the air. At the same time, numerous, dense starlights besieged the demon knight behind him before striking it like tens of thousands of meteors.


    Meanwhile, the sage-level demon knight used a full moon to confront with those meteors.


    A heavy explosion was dazzling within 0.001 seconds. Flying starlights, 360-degree rolls, earth-shaking wrestles, strikes and collisions.


    The scenes changed so fast that commoners would definitely feel dazzled at the sight of it. Even ordinary knights might not catch up with its speed.


    Except for Zhang Tie; instead, Zhang Tie just felt a bit thirsty as it was combat between sage-level knights.


    The two sage-level powerhouses wrestled and moved fast. Only after a short while, they had flown over thousands of miles and entered another battle region.


    With the move of the angle of view and attention in the picture, another picture appeared, enlarged and was focused on...


    It was an old sage-level human knight in silver hair and gloomy face. He was fighting a sage-level demon knight in the air. At the same time, a heavenly demon knight was flying towards the battle region from hundreds of miles away. When the old man was focused, he suddenly gave out light. Closely after that, the entire sky became crimson like a furnace. In the crimson, the sage-level demon knight and that heavenly demon knight were flying back at pretty high speeds. Additionally, the elements realm appeared having been broken beside the old man as numerous berserk fire elements were pouring out like halos and storm, rocking the entire space. Even the angle of view from hundreds of miles away rocked two times out of control...


    After the halos of fiery elements rolled over, the sage-level demon knight instantly released a shrinking black light curtain, which wrapped it like a huge cocoon. Zhang Tie knew that the light curtain was a performance of sage-level realm.


    The fire element didn''t stop pouring down. Element storm was just the first round of strike. Fire element constantly gathered and finally realized a qualitative change. Closely after that, a burning blue sun appeared behind the sage-level human knight, whose high temperature appeared to be able to twist the space...


    The sage-level human knight pointed at the heavenly demon knight was escaping away over 60 miles away. Almost at the same time, the heavenly demon knight gave out a dazzling light as he had already been caught by three blue flames.


    The heavenly demon knight released its protective battle qi in vain. Facing the blue flames, even its protective battle qi caught fire along with his black outfit and zigzag weapon.


    The heavenly demon knight cried miserably as it shot into a bizarre, green lake. However, closely after that, it flew out of the green lake while still burning all over. It then hit itself against a mountain range and penetrated through the cliff. However, the flames didn''t die out either...


    The sage-level human knight in silver hair and gloomy face threw a cold glance at the escaping sage-level demon knight while flickering his eyes.


    The entire process only took a few seconds; although it was hard to describe.


    The picture was still rolling. After a few minutes'' wrestle, the angle of view finally caught the heavenly demon knight who had been caught by three blue flames. However, it had already deteriorated into burning ash on the ground...


    The picture then turned into dark.


    Zhang Tie exited his spiritual energy from that piece of crystal with a great shock as he asked, "What''s this..."


    "As long as one promotes to a sage-level knight, he would be able to duplicate what he see in form of this kind of crystal for the sake of memory. It records the scene that an employed sage-level human knight in the imperial palace of Xuanyuan Hill saw in the Earth-elements Realm. Less than 10 people could see this scene. Additionally, the items in the Treasures and Runes Items Center are forbidden to leave the imperial palace. However, His Majesty let me hand it to you, immortal!" Mr. Fang said calmly as he gently shook his feather fan. After that, he took a cup of tea and had a sip. At the same time, his frown relieved as a shocking look flashed by. He glanced at the teacup for two more times before transfixing onto Zhang Tie, saying, "Immortal, what you watched just now was the power of the aiding strength of Taiyi Old Man of Taiyi Fantasy Sect; it''s called Real Sun Flames. We''ve received the intelligence that the three top sects would recommend a sage-level knight to fight you. The one who was recommended is Taiyi Old Man. Immortal, do you think whether you could escape safe and sound facing such a sage-level knight..."


    Closing his eyes, Zhang Tie knocked at the table, sending the room into an absolute silence at a stroke. A few minutes'' silence was as long as a few hours.


    The tea water tasted special. Therefore, Mr. Fang couldn''t stand having a few more while waiting for Zhang Tie''s decision.


    After a while, Zhang Tie finally opened his eyes. He stopped knocking at the table as he pressed his hand onto the table, saying, "Please tell His Majesty, Zhang Tie extends his sincere thanks to His Majesty and would pay for His Majesty for sure. However, now that his opponents have come for him by force, it''s hard to avoid it; Zhang Tie would not retreat!"


    Mr. Fang watched Zhang Tie with a bit dumbfounded look as he saw Zhang Tie''s unwavering decision and will from his eyes...


    ...


    Half an hour later, Mr. Fang boarded on the airboat with five kgs'' tea leaves produced especially in Iron-Dragon Sect. Meanwhile, he felt confused, ''Why didn''t Immortal Qianji scare when he saw Taiyi Old Man displaying his aiding strength?''


    It was the first time for Mr. Fang to feel confused about someone. Zhang Tie had become a hot, hard mist in his heart...

 1612 Returning to

    Besides failing to accomplish a task requested by His Majesty, Fang Qingming left Iron-Dragon Sect with a puzzle.


    Actually, Fang Qingming had prepared well for this task as he had considered well for Zhang Tie. He didn''t know that Zhang Tie had wavered his mind for a second because of the condition provided by His Majesty and the scene in the memory crystal. Pitifully, when Zhang Tie closed his eyes and considered it, he further fixed his decision.


    Imperial Alliance had their conspiracy and methods. Zhang Tie had his decision and trump cards too.


    Imperial Alliance regarded this event of black invitation cards as an opportunity to deal with Zhang Tie; however, Zhang Tie also treated it as a chance to dissolve the threat of the Imperial Alliance.


    Through the event of Zhang Taixuan, Zhang Tie had been clear that he had long become sore in the eyes of the Imperial Alliance. He didn''t have the way to retreat at all. The contraction between both parties could barely be reconciled. Imperial Alliance had planned to frame Zhang Tie since he got acquainted with His Majesty.


    What was intolerant and annoying was that the Imperial Alliance also involved Zhang Tie''s family in the case and arranged a piece beside Zhang Tie''s elder brother, targeting at their parents. This violated Zhang Tie''s bottom line. Given this point alone, Zhang Tie would turn hostile against the Imperial Alliance. Therefore, Zhang Tie just treated the black invitation cards from the three top sects as an excuse and figleaf of Imperial Alliance, which was nothing but sh*t. When powerhouses above heavenly knights were needed to solve the problem, this excuse could be ignored as powerhouses on this level would always regard laws and imperial decrees as waster paper, not to mention unwritten folklore rules. Whereas, since Zhang Tie was too well-known and enjoyed an increasingly higher honor across the country, the Imperial Alliance had to find such an excuse for the sake of the condemnation from the public.


    Standing in an attic of Xuantian Peak, Zhang Tie squinted at the airboat disappearing in the skyline, hands back while his tender face revealed some resolute muscular lines.


    At this moment, he heard fine footsteps on his back, which were caused by Yan Feiqing, Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi.


    "Did you refuse the help of His Majesty?" Yan Feiqing asked Zhang Tie as she heaved a sigh slightly while Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi were watching Zhang Tie with concerns.


    Although Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi disliked each other, they didn''t make any trouble any more at this moment.


    After turning around, Zhang Tie watched the three women while slightly raising his mouth corners, saying, "Do you think the three top sects would not deal with me after I evade from facing the black invitation cards from them? They would find me trouble whether there are black invitation cards or not. They would fight me for sure no matter whether I choose to confront them this time or not. It''s not a matter of black invitation card; but the fundamental conflict of interest between me, Iron-Dragon Sect and the three top sects, which couldn''t be reconciled at all. We have to face it!"


    "But I think His Majesty''s concern is right!" Bai Suxian opened her mouth.


    "It''s right from his point of view. But it''s wrong from my perspective. Do you think that the top three sects have not considered that I might evade from confronting with their black invitation cards?" Zhang Tie shook his head as his eyes turned sharp, and he said, "The Great Wilderness Sect was much more powerful than Iron-Dragon Sect in South Border; however, it was still exterminated overnight. Although the three top sects look decent verbally, nobody knows how many dirty things have they done secretly. If I treat them as disciplined gentlemen, I would be the No. 1 idiot in this world. In the eyes of the three top sects, there are only life or death and the great plans of their sects. Do you think they would value Taixia laws or black invitation cards? Even if they couldn''t fight you aboveboard, they would also find you trouble secretly..."


    Zhang Tie''s words shocked the three women at the same time.


    Yan Feiqing said after being silent for a while, "But you have time!"


    "You know that, His Majesty knows that, the top three sects know that too. Therefore, I couldn''t give a compromise to them or escape this time. Time wouldn''t stand on our side unless we defeat them and have them feel the pain, making them restless. This time, I would strive for 2 decades for Iron-Dragon Sect, Jinwu Palace and our kids!" Zhang Tie moved two steps forward as he pulled the hands of the three women.


    "What? You mean we''ve got pregnant..."


    Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi widened their eyes with excitement at the same time.


    "Yes, you have got pregnant on the airboat when we came back two days ago. You would feel it in a few days!" Zhang Tie watched Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi with a faint smile. Closely after that, he took off the snake-shaped bracelet and put it on Yan Feiqing''s wrist, saying, "I am still 3 months away from the duel on January 29. I need to enter secluded cultivation and would leave the backroom through a secret tunnel to do something outside during this period. Therefore, you will be responsible for Iron-Dragon Sect!"


    The bracelet represented two heavenly powerhouses. With their help, Iron-Dragon Sect would be much safer even though Zhang Tie was absent.


    Yan Feiqing nodded.


    The snake-shaped bracelet understood Zhang Tie. When Zhang Tie handed it to Yan Feiqing, he delivered an order to the two snakes¡ª¡ªto follow the order of Yan Feiqing from now on in his absence.


    ...


    One hour later, after handling the affairs of Iron-Dragon Sect and leaving some words to Lu Yishan and Li Su, Zhang Tie frankly entered his backroom under the respectful gaze of the disciples and elders of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    After entering the backroom and closing its gate, Zhang Tie heaved a sigh in that tranquil environment as he turned calm at once.


    Since he returned to South Border with Bai Suxian, Zhang Tie had been surrounded by a lot of people. Therefore, he had not entered the Castle of Black Iron for over two months.


    After throwing a glance at the backroom, Zhang Tie triggered his spiritual energy and returned to Castle of Black Iron.


    As he had not been back to Castle of Black Iron for a long time, when he stood in the hall of the palace tree and sniffed the fresh air full of Reiki, Zhang Tie felt as safe and relaxed as being back home.


    "Welcome back, Castle Lord..."


    Heller''s familiar and intimate voice sounded in Zhang Tie''s ears at once...

 1613 Fiery Lotus Roots

    The lobby of the palace tree was almost as large as a football field. Although it looked a bit desolate because of less population, as the most hidden nestle and shelter of Zhang Tie, it felt safe and tranquil for Zhang Tie.


    It was absolutely a private space of Zhang Tie. Perhaps each man would like to have such a place where he could do whatever he wanted. In this place, he didn''t need to disguise, be scared, care about others'' eye lights and gossips, or wear thick outfits. It could be his base, harbor for relaxation and playground. Zhang Tie would not see any annoying people here; if there were, they must stay in the underground prison. Unless he agreed to let them free, they would not appear in front of him for real.


    Heller smiled and behaved as modestly and gently as usual. In black swallowtail, white shirt, golden collar, bright leather shoes, plus his look which could match that of Apollo, Heller looked perfect.


    Zhang Tie felt like meeting a long-awaited friend and partner; instead of treating Heller as an "artificial intelligent being". Therefore, he gave a big hug to Heller as he patted the latter''s shoulder forcefully.


    "Thank you, it''s great for me to come back!"


    Heller was not used to Zhang Tie''s passion as he turned a bit stiff when being embraced. He didn''t recover his composure until Zhang Tie loosed his grip. "Castle Lord, it''s been 120 days since you came to South Border..."


    "Aah, really?" Zhang Tie was shocked by Heller''s good memory.


    "It means that Castle Lord is growing more and more powerful and doesn''t always need Castle of Black Iron anymore!" Heller said with a smile.


    "Haha, I''ve not forgotten about you. I''ve not taken enough fruits from the small tree!" Zhang Tie said as he burst out laughing.


    "Castle Lord, you might have forgotten one thing in Castle of Black Iron which perhaps helps you this time!"


    "What''s that?"


    "Castle Lord, have you forgotten about the fiery lotus in the magma lake in the underground karst cave?"


    Patting his head, Zhang Tie instantly recalled it, "I almost forgot it. The seeds of fiery lotus could constantly strengthen my lotus-flower eyes! Are the new batch of seeds of fiery lotus ready?"


    Heller couldn''t stand heaving a sigh, "It seems that Castle Lord has forgotten it. The new batch of seeds of the fiery lotus is ready. But there''s something more important..."


    "What else?"


    "The root of fiery lotus!"


    Zhang Tie goggled his eyes at a stroke as he patted his head again. He finally remembered that Heller told him that at least earth knights who had formed earth chakra could absorb the effect of root of fiery lotus. After taking it, an earth knight would enjoy an unimaginable resistance to high temperature and lava. Additionally, the earth knight''s protective battle qi could also see a new round of evolution and carried the feature of fiery flame slightly. After that, he could do harm to his enemy when defending the opponent.


    "Castle Lord, when you promoted to an earth knight in the Earth-elements Realm, there were not enough roots of fiery lotus in Castle of Black Iron; nor did Castle Lord take them. After a few years, there have been many roots of fiery lotus here. I thought Castle Lord ignored it for the time being as you were busy. Therefore, I didn''t warn you. It turns out that Castle Lord has forgotten it for real..."


    "Heller, thank you. Without your warning, I wouldn''t have remembered it!" Zhang Tie patted Heller''s shoulder again as he added, "If roots of fiery lotus could greatly improve my resistance to fiery flames, I would have one more trump card when I face Taiyi Old Man of Taiyi Fantasy Sect..."


    "Castle Lord, do you want to take a look in the underground karst cave?"


    "You bet!"


    Zhang Tie threw a glance at the small tree when he entered the underground tunnel leading to the underground space of the Immortal Mountain with Heller.


    The small tree didn''t disappoint Zhang Tie as Zhang Tie saw over 100 fruits of redemption from golden uangs, gulf shrimps and hairy shells. It appeared that Paul and his team were still working diligently.


    When Zhang Tie came back two days ago, he contacted Paul by remote-sensing communications finger ring. Paul was in Huizhou Province, Taixia Country and couldn''t go back to meet Zhang Tie right away. However, Paul told Zhang Tie that he was brewing a big action.


    When Zhang Tie thought about the steady improvement of his overall strength, Zhang Tie instantly felt good as he paced up, not to mention those roots of fiery lotus.


    A few minutes later, Zhang Tie and Heller entered the underground karst cave beneath the Immortal Mountain again.


    The space of this karst cave had expanded many times than that Zhang Tie saw last time. It was fiery all over while the lava in the magma lake was flowing slowly.


    The temperature in the karst cave was above 60 degrees Celcius. It smelt like sulfur in the air. However, a special fragrance was drifting in the space which was full of Reiki like a fresh brook in the desert. The moment Zhang Tie sniffed it, he had been highly spirited.


    The entire magma lake was covered with dense fiery lotus. Looking into the distance, Zhang Tie saw golden light sparkling in the lake. Like a legendary world, it was full of open fiery lotus flowers. Even Zhang Tie couldn''t count the fiery lotus.


    The extremely rare fiery lotus in the outside world realized quantitive production in Castle of Black Iron.


    Even Zhang Tie felt dazzled about this scene.


    Who could imagine that Zhang Tie was racking his mind to take out the fiery lotus which was rare for others?


    "How many roots of the fiery lotus are there?" Zhang Tie asked Heller as he swallowed his saliva...

 1614 Ice and Fire

    "Fiery lotus roots keep growing every day in this magma lake. Therefore, its quantity is rising. If you need it, as long as you input sufficient aura value and moral value, I could increase the number of fiery lotus roots by two times within a short period. Even now the number of fiery lotus roots have already surpassed your absorptive capacity as a shadow knight!"


    "You mean I couldn''t eat all of them?"


    "Of course, fiery lotus root is the most powerful medicine to a certain degree. Nobody could eat them limitlessly. Due to the difference in physical condition, cultivation method, spiritual energy and level, knights would see different capacities in absorbing fiery lotus roots!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he said, "I see. How do I eat them? Soak them in liquor like seeds of the fiery lotus?"


    "No!" Heller shook his head as he explained, "If you insist on taking them in that way, you could absorb them well for real; in fact, if you want fiery lotus roots to play its effect to the utmost, you have to take them in a special environment!"


    "A special environment?"


    "Yup, you should freeze and soften these fiery lotus roots in an environment under minus 100 degrees Celcius before consuming them!"


    "Under minus 100 degrees Celcius?"


    "You bet. In natural environments such as underground world or where fiery lotus grows, when these fiery lotus roots are picked, they always carry the best effect. However, you couldn''t eat them right away when they''re so hot; whereas, you couldn''t find such a cold environment to take them so as to absorb their effect to the utmost. After being picked, if these fiery lotus roots could enter a super low temperature within a short period, their essence would not escape and one could absorb them easily and gain a great effect! To be honest, Castle Lord''s master might have taken some fiery lotus roots somewhere; however, the environment where he took them was not perfect. As a result, a greater part of the effect of those fiery lotus roots that he had taken was wasted..."


    "Don''t I worry about this issue?"


    "Sure thing. Castle of Black Iron could provide the best environment for Castle Lord. Therefore, Castle Lord could play the effect of fiery lotus roots to the utmost and absorb them well. As to how many could you take, it depends on you." Heller said confidently.


    Zhang Tie didn''t worry about it for real because he had long got a super large freezer for storing food in Castle of Black Iron. He even froze the flesh of the huge deep sea monster there. The temperature in that freezer was fully under Heller''s control. He could have Heller adjust its temperature for free. What was more, the freezer was right above this karst cave. It was just a few minutes'' walk from here. If he ran or move using his ability as a divine dominator, Zhang Tie could move faster.


    Zhang Tie sighed, and said, "I''ve not imagined that a fiery lotus root would play its utmost effect at such a low temperature!"


    "Fiery lotus grows in such a high temperature; especially its root which is soaked in the high-temperature lava all day long. If you want to fully absorb its effect, you need an utterly different environment. It''s like how water and fire, yin and yang mend up each other!"


    "After hearing your words, I couldn''t wait for it!" Zhang Tie said as he rubbed his hands, watching the fiery lotus over the lake with gleaming eyes.


    "Castle Lord, you don''t need to wait anymore!" Heller said with a smile as he pointed at the lava lake full of fiery lotus, continuing, "Castle Lord, you could use your ability as a divine dominator to cut off those fiery lotus roots and take them out of the lake. After that, you could take them to the freezer above us and enjoy their unusual effect!"


    "How long do I have to wait to consume them after moving them to the freezer?"


    "About 30 minutes. When these roots gradually lose their glow and start to freeze, you could take them one after another. Since eath fiery lotus root starts to freeze, Castle Lord had better take them within 1 hour. If it''s too long, their effect might decline. Castle Lord, you could cut off one section of root and take it to the freezer first. After eating it, you could come back for the second section. That would preserve its effect..."


    "Fine!"


    After figuring out its usage, Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to move his index finger. Soon after Heller''s words, Zhang Tie had fixated onto a fiery lotus not far from him. Under his lotus flower eyes, the high-temperature magma under it instantly became as transparent as water that Zhang Tie could clearly see each root under fiery lotus.


    The roots, being golden all over, were giving out the glow, like gold growing in the magma, large or small, long or short, thick or thin. Those fiery lotus roots were as same as ordinary lotus roots in shape and size.


    The entire magma lake had been covered with fiery lotus roots under its surface, which couldn''t even be carried away by trucks.


    "Split..." Zhang Tie murmured as strong spiritual energy penetrated through the magma and reached over 10 m deep. After cutting off a section of golden fiery lotus root as thick and long as a kid''s arm, Zhang Tie had it fly out of the lake and float in the air while giving out a brilliant glow.


    After making a hand gesture to Heller, Zhang Tie instantly caught that section of golden fiery lotus root and flew towards the freezer above.


    The fiery lotus root was as hot as the magma like a piece of hot iron sheet. Commoners would be scorched for real. However, as a powerful knight, Zhang Tie only released some protective battle qi before taking it easily by hand.


    Strangely, previously Zhang Tie thought this section of fiery lotus root would be very heavy, after taking it, he felt that it was just as heavy as ordinary lotus roots. What an amazing creation!

 1615 A Bizarre Capacity

    At the speed of divine dominator, Zhang Tie flashed across the underground tunnel as fast as a lightning bolt. Only in less than half a minute, he had flown out of the scorching karst cave and entered the freezer.


    The freezer was very large. For the sake of its effect, Zhang Tie didn''t stop at the edge of the freezer; instead, he came all the way into the center of the freezer where the temperature was stable. After that, he suspended the section of the root in the air using his ability as a divine dominator, having it bathe the cold.


    As a knight, Zhang Tie had the great cold-resistant ability, plus the assistance of the effect of fruits of redemption; Zhang Tie''s cold-resistant ability became much greater than that of ordinary knights.


    The temperature in the freezer had been declined to minus 100 degrees Celcius by Heller while a wisp of frost had already covered the center of the freezer. Rolling over there, the frost felt heart-piercing. Only by releasing a bit protective battle qi, Zhang Tie had not sensed the cold anymore.


    Widening his eyes, Zhang Tie watched the section of fiery lotus root suspending in the air.


    In the freezer, the glow over the section of fiery lotus root was gradually disappearing. At the same time, Zhang Tie sensed the cold qi gathering towards the section of fiery lotus root in a weird way.


    It felt like throwing a piece of dry sponge into the water as water would be automatically absorbed by sponge; it also felt like black holes in his mind sea and qi sea engulfing the surrounding energy. How amazing it was!


    Zhang Tie thought that even his master Zhao Yuan might not have a chance to see this.


    As cold qi was gradually gathering around that section of fiery lotus root, an icy swirl slowly came into being around it which rotated in a close-wise manner. The shape of the icy swirl was extremely similar to that of the Taiji diagram, which stunned Zhang Tie again.


    As time passed by, the glow over the section of fiery lotus root gradually faded away while the golden root slowly turned conspicuous. As smooth as polished metal surface, the section of the fiery lotus was clean and bright, having no trace of magma.


    After over 20 minutes, the glow over the section of fiery lotus root had completely disappeared. Zhang Tie then widened his eyes and watched it for 7-8 minutes more. Then, the golden section of fiery lotus became transparent while a pale layer of frost gradually froze over the root. Right then, Zhang Tie stretched out his hand and had the section of fiery lotus root fly into his hand.


    After throwing the last glance at it, Zhang Tie gave it a bite at once.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought it would be hard; unimaginably, the section of fiery lotus root tasted very soft, even a bit crispy. Besides, it tasted icy and fragrant. However, before Zhang Tie started to taste the fragrance carefully, the section of the root had already turned into liquid and flown all the way into his stomach from his throat.


    Zhang Tie''s stomach felt warm and comfortable. At the same time, bizarre energy instantly spread over Zhang Tie''s body like how a leakless fruit usually did. The greater part of its energy finally gathered in the void of his qi sea and was absorbed by the battle qi sun. The rest part scattered into his bones, meridians, muscles, blood, even guts.


    The process was as comfortable as taking a sauna bath.


    After taking this section of root for less than 5 minutes, Zhang Tie licked his lips as he felt a bit change in his qi sea and his body for real. However, he wondered whether it was because of King Roc Sutra and his strong physical condition as the change was too small, which was far away from the situation where he couldn''t absorb any more. Additionally, the root appeared to be unable to make him feel full. After taking the section of firey lotus root and absorbing its mysterious energy, Zhang Tie still felt hungry.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie flashed into the karst cave below. In the blink of an eye, he had brought back another section of fiery lotus root, which was much bigger than the first one.


    As Zhang Tie waited for the second section of root to turn cold, he sat on the ground with crossed legs as he ran his battle qi to digest and absorb the energy of the former section of root.


    After almost half an hour, the second section of the root was just frozen. Only after a short while, it had been engulfed by Zhang Tie. After that, Zhang Tie rushed towards the karst cave below for the third time.


    Later on, Zhang Tie kept traveling between the karst cave and the freezer with high spirit. He kept digesting the energy of the former section of the root while waiting for the next one. Basically, he could take and digest one section of the root in every 40 minutes. He was so interested in doing that he almost forgot time.


    ...


    After many hours, when Zhang Tie hurriedly flew towards the freezer with a section of fiery lotus root, he suddenly threw a glance at his hand. Closely after that, he became still in the air.


    At this moment, the section of fiery lotus root was still giving out sparkling glow with a pretty high temperature, just like a steel mold. However, Zhang Tie realized that he didn''t even release his battle qi at all; instead, he just held the section of high-temperature fiery lotus root by hand.


    Not until he moved his eyes onto his hand did he feel a bit warm. However, it was still acceptable.


    Zhang Tie''s palm was stuck to the section of root. After losing his grip and having it float in the air, Zhang Tie took a look at his hand as he found no scald on his palm at all; not even a blister; instead, he only found his palm a bit red like how it looked when he took a bowl of hot soup from the kitchen to the table when he was young. Additionally, his hand didn''t see any change. Neither it turned into a terrifying monster''s claw, nor it produced any surplus skin layer. His fine hair could still be seen clearly like before.


    Zhang Tie held it by another hand as he felt the same. That hand was not scaled either; instead, it just felt a bit warm.


    The fiery lotus roots had already started to change his physical condition and resistance to high temperature and flame.


    ...


    After almost 40 minutes, when he finished that section of root, Zhang Tie came back to the bank of the magma lake. Squatting down, Zhang Tie directly put his left hand into lava while stroking his forehead using his right hand with releasing any protective battle qi.


    His right hand felt as warm as before; instead of being icy or uncomfortable. His body temperature remained 35.5 degrees Celcius.


    He stirred his left hand in the lava like how he stirred warm water before. However, he didn''t feel uncomfortable at all. He only felt warm although Zhang Tie was clear that the lava''s temperature was 968 degrees Celcius.


    When his left hand was in the lava, bizarre energy in all the cells of that hand appeared having been activated by the high temperature. Closely after that, that hand could fit high temperature. When he pulled that hand out of there, the bizarre energy among those cells slowly recovered.


    The special energy in his cells was like mercury in a thermometer, which could adjust the energy level of his cells when feeling the change in temperature so that his body cells could bear it easily.


    When the temperature was high outside, the bizarre energy level in his body cells would rise for real; when the temperature outside was normal, the bizarre energy level in his body cells would recover.


    ''F*ck, it turns out that my sense and tolerance of temperature has been updated to an unimaginable degree. Fabulous!''


    Watching his hands, Zhang Tie squatted down there for a while. After that, he stood up as he found that he could take many more roots; therefore, he cut off another section of fiery lotus root before running towards the freezer above...

 1616 Zhang Ties Confidence

    Zhang Tie didn''t know how many fiery lotus roots had he eaten. When he felt full and the sun above his qi sea couldn''t absorb the special energy from fiery lotus roots anymore, Zhang Tie finally stopped.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how many days had passed. When he felt that he couldn''t absorb the special energy from fiery lotus roots anymore, Zhang Tie also felt very sleepy and tired. Closely after that, he rushed out of the freezer all the way to the lobby of Palace Tree before returning to his own bedroom and throwing himself onto the bed.


    Even knights needed sleep to recover their energy and physical strength.


    When Zhang Tie woke up in about two days, he became energetic again.


    After having a bumper dinner in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie called Heller, Aziz, Edward and Agan to test the effect of fiery lotus roots in Edward''s workshop beneath the Palace Tree, which could spout fire from the ground.


    ...


    "Wait a moment..." Edward hurriedly stopped Agan when Zhang Tie stood straight and had Agan pierce at him by a fine steel long sword so as to test the strengthening effect of his protective battle qi. Closely after that, Zhang Tie handed a pair of thick gloves to Agan, saying, "Here''s a pair of asbestos gloves. After putting on it, you would not be scalded..."


    After taking the pair of gloves, Agan put it on before holding the fine steel long sword again.


    "Come on, no worry..." Zhang Tie told Agan.


    Agan nodded as he threw a glance at Zhang Tie. Gritting his teeth, he then pierced his long sword at Zhang Tie''s shoulder.


    Before the fine steel long sword touched Zhang Tie''s shoulder, Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi had quivered as a glow flashed by. "Aah..." Agan screamed. With a crashing sound, he dropped his long sword while he was sent flying backward.


    The fine steel long sword, lying on the ground, turned pretty red just like having been taken out of the furnace while its tip had almost melted.


    After taking so many fiery lotus roots, Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi finally accomplished a powerful evolution and carried a bit power of the fiery flame. When his protective battle qi encountered a strike, as long as Zhang Tie ran his spirit, it would be able to bounce back the high-temperature strike.


    Agan, Aziz and Edward were all petrified by the red fine steel long sword, lying on the ground.


    "Hahaha, that''s unimaginable..." Zhang Tie couldn''t stand bursting into laughter as he watched them and that fine steel long sword.


    When Zhang Tie saw his master Zhaoyuan turn a LV 10 strong fighter''s arm into ash when being hunted by people in the Dragon Island, he was pretty shocked. Unimaginably, he could make it one day too. Additionally, Zhang Tie was confident that the anti-strike ability of his protective battle qi was much greater than that of his master Zhao Yuan after such a powerful and effective evolution.


    The fiery lotus roots that his master ate ought to not match him in quantity and quality.


    Protective battle qi was a pattern for a knight to apply his battle qi, which originated from the sun above one''s qi sea at one''s lower abdomen.


    At this moment, the sun above Zhang Tie''s qi sea appeared to have changed too¡ª¡ªit was more brilliant than that before and had expanded by two times. Not only that, the sun was surrounded by a bizarre golden flame which looked like a corona.


    Besides the power of his protective battle qi, Zhang Tie felt that his battle qi had grown more powerful too. After looking around, Zhang Tie flicked, sending a bit meteor-like battle qi towards the set of navyblue iron outfit on the rack and directly penetrating the location on its breast.


    Edward ran over there and got back the broken breast armor. There was a thumb-sized hole on the armor as the metal over there had been melted.


    Although Zhang Tie''s same trick could also penetrate through this armor easily several days ago; it would not be such easy. Several days ago, his battle qi couldn''t melt metal as it didn''t have the function of high-temperature destruction. Today, Zhang Tie had grasped this trick for real.


    Undoubtedly, fiery lotus roots helped Zhang Tie to accomplish a round of evolution of his protective battle qi and his aggressive battle qi. After that, flame and high-temperature destruction were not exclusive to others.


    There were some vents of eruption in different sizes and temperatures within Edward''s workshop. At this moment, the vents were still erupting high-temperature flames. After coming to one side of a vent, Zhang Tie felt as comfortable as the warm wind. By contrast, he felt pretty hot before.


    Watching the 1.7 m high red flame, Zhang Tie became hesitant for a second before putting his two feet on two sides of the vent above the flame.


    Under the high temperature, Zhang Tie''s boa silk robe and shoes turned into ash in a split second. However, Zhang Tie was safe and sound above the flame, while being naked...


    If outsiders saw this scene, they must have taken Zhang Tie as a fire god as it was too amazing.


    Zhang Tie stood in the flame for five minutes without releasing his protective battle qi. When his skin started to turn red like taking a bath, Zhang Tie walked out of it.


    After moving his hand, Zhang Tie took a robe out of his portable space-teleportation item and put it on.


    Although he wondered the power of the Real Sun Flame of Taiyi Old Man, Zhang Tie had strong confidence because of the power granted by fiery lotus roots. As long as he didn''t turn into ash in a split second under the so-called Real Sun Flame, he would be able to deal with the sage-level knight. No matter what, Zhang Tie had the greatest trump card¡ª¡ªCastle of Black Iron.


    Heller''s control of Castle of Black Iron was also unimaginable. Almost everything lifeless in this space was under his control.


    "If I catch fire and enter Castle of Black Iron, could you die out the d*mn Real Sun Flame for me or lower the temperature in the freezer so that the flame would die out itself?" Zhang Tie asked Heller "shamelessly"...

 1617 Preparation

    If Taiyi Old Man heard Zhang Tie''s question after taking such a pile of fiery lotus roots, he must have burst into tears.


    It took Taiyi Old Man hundreds of years to promote to a sage-level knight with aiding strength. However, Zhang Tie intended to deal with him using endless trump cards and cheats. Taiyi Old Man''s feeling could be imagined if he knew that.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Heller gazed at him for quite a while before asking Zhang Tie, "Castle Lord, could you enter Castle of Black Iron in combat?"


    "You bet. Why not?" Zhang Tie said as he shrugged, "Over these days, I''m actually pondering and deducing the tactics facing a sage-level knight. Facing a sage-level knight, the safest way for me is to extend the distance between us using my ability as a divine dominator. At the same time, I would strike him by golden spears so that he couldn''t catch me. In the worst scenario, we would confront each other and enter a stalemate. It depends on who could bear it in the end. If the old d**chebag treats me by Real Sun Flame, I would rapidly drill into earth or water before entering the Castle of Black Iron as soon as possible when he couldn''t see me!"


    "That''s a good method!"


    "Of course, I could enter Castle of Black Iron within 0.001 seconds. At the same time, I would release my duplicate for escaping outside on behalf of me. In that case, even if my opponent is a sage-level knight, as long as he doesn''t have lotus flower eyes, due to the long distance and the existences of rocks and water, he couldn''t discover that I''ve been substituted by my duplicate at all. Even though he could, he must think that I''m performing another weird hiding trick. Even though the Real Sun Flame couldn''t be seen on my duplicate, he must think that I have the special item or method to deal with it. I don''t need to explain it to anyone!"


    This was the benefit brought by the fame of Immortal Qianji. Given his rich achievements and military exploits and trump cards, in many cases, as long as Zhang Tie didn''t reveal too many loopholes, he would win proper reasons from others even if he was cheating.


    "Any flame should have its material foundation. As for ordinary flame, it could die out when it''s isolated from oxygen. Similarly, Real Sun Flame also needs a material condition and media. Given the material that His Majesty showed you, Real Sun Flame is completely under the control of the sage-level knight of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. It probably needs to withdraw the fire element from Elements Realm. It doesn''t need oxygen; instead, it only needs fire element from Elements Realm. Therefore, it could burn everything and is hard to die out. In the outside world, nothing could be used to fully isolate Elements Realm; however, in Castle of Black Iron, when in combat, I could have all the four elements in Castle of Black Iron gather around the Abyss of Elements; instead of spilling over. Additionally, I would build a super low temperature isolation zone for elements. No oxygen could be found there, nor the four elements. As long as Castle Lord''s body didn''t burn, you could take off all your clothes when you enter the super low temperature isolation zone. In that way, the Real Sun Flame should die out..."


    "Should?"


    ''Yup, it''s just my theoretical guess. After all, I''m not a sage-level knight. Nor do I grasp the aiding strength Real Sun Flame!" Heller said calmly, "Even if my guess is wrong, Castle Lord, you don''t need to worry about that either. Because as long as Real Sun Flame enters Castle of Black Iron, I would know its condition. Closely after that, I would invalid its burning condition!"


    "Good. I believe in you!" Zhang Tie nodded. After that, he thought up something as he told Edward, "As those fiery lotus leaves could be made into a top-class heat-resistant outfit. When I''m absent in the following days, you could build some more outfits with face masks for me!"


    After feeling his value, Edward instantly became thrilled as he replied, "As you wish, my master..."


    Fiery lotus was nice. Its roots could improve his heat-resistant capacity and help Zhang Tie accomplish the evolution of his battle qi. Additionally, its leaves could be made into a heat-resistant outfit. What was more, Zhang Tie had Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t worry about the Real Sun Flame of Taiyi Old Man anymore.


    Although Zhang Tie wondered about the aiding strength of a sage-level knight, he confirmed that the implementation of aiding the strength of a sage-level knight must consume one''s strength greatly and couldn''t be applied limitlessly. Otherwise, a sage-level knight grasping aiding strength would solve the problem at the bank of Weishui River. With the above three trump cards, if Zhang Tie really encountered the Real Sun Flame from Taiyi Old Man, as long as he could stand it for a few times until Taiyi Old Man couldn''t use it anymore, Zhang Tie would take advantage of his speed as a divine dominator and his kinetic strike to push the combat into a stalemate.


    That was Zhang Tie''s plan.


    Even at this moment, Zhang Tie was still not presumptuous and felt that he could defeat a sage-level knight.


    ...


    After that, Zhang Tie returned to the lobby of the Palace Tree and started to take those fruits on the small tree.


    Over these days, there were many more fruits on the small tree, all of which were fruits of redemption.


    Accurately, there were over 140 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs and over 20 fruits of redemption from hair shells and gulf shrimps.


    Only after taking over 140 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs, Zhang Tie''s strength had surged by 10 more tons which meant more powerful kinetic strikes.


    However, as Zhang Tie took more and more fruits from the gratitude of golden uangs, he felt all the weapons were growing lighter. How boring it was!


    Zhang Tie felt "boring" pleasantly...


    Besides, the small tree gave Zhang Tie one more surprise¡ª¡ªa fruit of redemption from the gratitude of earthworms that he had not seen for a long time.


    Realizing that Paul''s team had found a steady channel for setting free earthworms, Zhang Tie felt excited once again.


    "Fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs could increase Castle Lord''s strength, which is the most effective way to improve your battle strength. However, Castle Lord, your explosiveness couldn''t match the growing strength well as the explosiveness of humans is not very high among all the animals. If Castle Lord could find a fruit of redemption which could increase your explosiveness, Castle Lord would realize a great leap for real..."


    Heller''s voice sounded when Zhang Tie was about to put the first fruit of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs into his mouth. Zhang Tie stopped what he was doing...


    ''Explosiveness!''


    Zhang Tie was startled by this word...

 1618 The Stimulative of Xuanyuan Wujis Death

    Zhang Tie had soon stayed in secluded cultivation for over one month.


    During this period, the three black invitation cards constantly fermented, causing greater popularity across the forum of Mountain of Brightness and a hot discussion among the people. Even the censorate in Xuanyuan Hill was condemning the three top sects for neglecting the righteousness and the crisis from demons for the sake of their own interests. In this case, the black invitation cards became the accomplice of demons for real. That was too shameless! Some leftish imperial censors even requested His Majesty Xuanyuan Changying to go on a punitive expedition against the three top sects.


    All the people, the knights and the officialdom of Taixia Country were rooting for Zhang Tie. As a result, the three top sects had to bear great stress from them.


    In the same month, the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect was always crowded with knights and major clans. After knowing that Zhang Tie was in secluded cultivation, all of them left messages that they would cheer for Zhang Tie in the Yinghai Region, Gobi Desert on next January 29. Additionally, they left some gifts or contact information before leaving.


    At the critical moment, someone would sail with the wind and despise the future of Iron-Dragon Sect; some righteous and faithful ones who befriended and cooperated with Zhang Tie and Zhang family would stand on Zhang Tie''s side.


    The broad human relationship that Zhang Tie and Jinwu Business Group had established these years started to play its role.


    Guan Clan, Heavenly Fortune Sect, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Zuoqiu Clan of Biyong Palace, Demons-kill Valley, major clans within Northeast Military Region, provincial governors'' clans and sects, over 10 billion soldiers and officers within the territory of west theater of operations, even knights in the Earth-elements Realm, the censorate of Xuanyuan Hill, the officers of the top four armies and the barbarians in the South Border propped for Zhang Tie as they condemned Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion severely.


    Furthermore, due to the black invitation cards, Zhang Su and Zhang Tie''s old mansion suspended the chakra rotating ceremony for Zhang Su. These days, Zhang Su had already left his troop, which didn''t arouse any chaos in the troop.


    Nevertheless, Zhang Tie didn''t know anything about all these; instead, he just stayed in Castle of Black Iron and enjoyed his fiery lotus roots, fruits and gradually improved his overall strength. Nobody would disturb him at this critical moment.


    ...


    The first snow in Youzhou Province fell on December 4. After the heavy snow, the entire ground of Youzhou Province, including Iron-Dragon Sect''s territory was snow-white.


    On the evening of December 5, heavy snowflakes were falling in the wind, covering starlights and moonlights. As a result, it was dark all over. Nobody could be seen in the Wild Duck Lake over 60 miles away from Xuantian Peak. There were only reeds covering over 6 million square meters on the bank of the lake. Swaying in the desolate and cold wind, those reeds were wailing like ghosts.


    It had already become frozen near the bank. Of course, nobody would come here at this moment, except for one person.


    Right then, the water in the middle of the lake suddenly rippled and separated into two halves as Zhang Tie walked out of the lake.


    It was one of the three exits leading to the backroom of Iron-Dragon Sect. This lake connected to a subterranean stream through which Zhang Tie came all the way here.


    As Iron-Dragon Sect was eye-catching, Zhang Tie didn''t want others to know his trace; therefore, he chose to leave there through a secret tunnel when everybody else thought he was still in secluded cultivation.


    The cold wind and the dark didn''t influence Zhang Tie at all. After looking around, Zhang Tie instantly rushed into the sky and entered clouds. In the wuthering north wind, he flew towards south at a speed of almost 30 times that of sound wind.


    In the air, Zhang Tie activated his super hiding skill as he turned looming like mist, leaving no sound in the flight at all.


    When he was at the bank of Weishui River, he could already reach above 8221 m per second after promoting to a shadow knight; after full recovery; especially after promoting to three change realm of shadow knight in the tower of time, Zhang Tie had gained an overall improvement greatly.


    Each round of overall strengthening would mean a pretty sharp increase in his flight ability as a divine dominator. Actually, his flight ability would strengthen by almost 13% in each round of overall strengthening. Zhang Tie had not imagined such a high increase.


    According to his guess, perhaps shadow knight had formed a complete water chakra while the air was full of vapor which would be helpful to flight. What was more, shadow knight should form his wind chakra if he wanted to promote to a heavenly knight while wind chakra was related to speed. Therefore, whenever he formed 36 scales of wind chakra, he might get a great sharp increase in flight ability.


    After lighting 108 scales, Zhang Tie''s flight speed had easily broken 10,000 m per second.


    These days, Zhang Tie had taken a lot of fruits of redemption in Castle of Black Iron. As a result, he had gained a further improvement in his strength, resilience and his resistance in extreme situations. It could be said that Zhang Tie reached a new height and was full of confidence about the future.


    Heller''s words in Castle of Black Iron warned Zhang Tie. As he was taking fruits and adapting to the new strength brought by those fruits and fiery lotus roots, he continued to think about this question these days.


    To put it simply, the relationship between strength and explosiveness was like that between gunpowder and the burst time of gunpowder after being lit. The greater one''s strength was, the more "gunpowder" he would carry. The shorter the chemical reaction was after gunpowder of the same mass was lit, the greater the explosiveness of the gunpowder would be. The destructive effect for one barrel of 100 kg gunpowder to explode in one day after being lit was completely different than that of being exploded within 0.1 seconds. The so-called explosiveness referred to the release of one''s greater power within the shortest period. Although the golden uangs had great strength, they didn''t have great explosiveness. Similarly, although elephants had great strength, they didn''t have great explosiveness either.


    Theoretically, if Zhang Tie could increase his explosiveness by two times, he would increase the destructive effect of his kinetic strike by two more times even if he didn''t increase his strength anymore...


    Zhang Tie knew that many animals had great explosiveness, such a flea or mantis. Pitifully, flea or mantis was not sold in the market in Taixia Country. Even though pharmacists didn''t make pills using the two animals. At least now Zhang Tie couldn''t find anything that could cater to his condition of redemption and carry great explosiveness. Therefore, he could only imagine the fruit of redemption from the gratitude of an animal which could increase his explosiveness. Perhaps, it was a matter of karma.


    Heller''s words broadened Zhang Tie''s vision greatly. Now that the fruit of redemption could increase his strength and explosiveness, it would also increase his defensive capability. In other words, the fruit of redemption from the gratitude of an animal which could increase his defensive capability would definitely serve as new iron-body fruit. As long as the small tree could continue to produce the fruit of redemption, Zhang Tie would blaze a new trail and find another special route to improve his overall strength.


    Although Zhang Tie was really thrilled about this discovery, he couldn''t get those fruits easily.


    However, it was just an imagination. As for some things, they wouldn''t happen no matter how many times you imagined about them. For instance, if you wanted to kill someone; even if you had imagined about his death for 10,000 times, he would still not lose a fine hair in reality; instead, he might live better. If you insisted on waiting for karma, you might have to wait for hundreds of years before knowing that your opponent was dead.


    Even though you cursed your opponent to die for 10,000 times, it couldn''t be as effective as directly slaying him over his neck by a saber.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie silently left the backroom where he entered secluded cultivation and flashed southwards in the heavy wind and snow.


    The cold wind was bone-piercing in the high altitude; however, Zhang Tie felt his blood boiling as he was full of killing intent.


    Since the beginning, Zhang Tie had not seen his enemy.


    As for Zhang Tie, it was his first time to kill someone tentatively whom he had not even seen before. However, this person had to die. If not, Zhang Tie would be sleepless. Additionally, he would feel sorry about himself and Huaiyuan Palace as a whole.


    The one that Zhang Tie intended to kill was one son of Emperor Xuanyuan, the younger brother of His Majesty, the key figure of Imperial Alliance and the third prince of Taixia Country¡ª¡ªXuanyuan Wuji!


    After the event of Zhang Taixuan, Zhang Tie had known that Xuanyuan Wuji was framing him by arranging a mole on his elder brother''s side. From then on, Zhang Tie had intended to kill the third prince. However, Zhang Tie didn''t fully recover at that time; therefore, he could only stand it for the time being.


    After returning to Iron-Dragon Sect from South Border, Zhang Tie had fully recovered. Therefore, when he received the three black invitation cards, he had determined to kill Xuanyuan Wuji.


    Xuanyuan Wuji thought that Zhang Tie didn''t know the relationship between him and the three top sects as he was hiding behind Imperial Alliance and the three top sects. Therefore, he held that he could make Zhang Tie his steppingstone towards his ascension to the throne by playing his tricks presumptuously. However, he couldn''t imagine that Zhang Tie had long known his existence and those tricks he had played. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the three black invitation cards were stimulating his death for real.

 1619 A Long-Distance Raid

    If Imperial Alliance knew that Zhang Tie had known the identity of Xuanyuan Wuji in Imperial Alliance...


    If Xuanyuan Wuji knew that Zhang Tie dared kill him...


    If Xuanyuan Wuji knew that Zhang Tie dared turn completely hostile against his opponents when he was weak in Blackhot City...


    If Xuanyuan Wuji still regarded the word Qianji with a bit reverence...


    ...


    The three top sects might not deliver the black invitation cards and everything in the future might change greatly.


    Pitifully, none of the above conditions were real.


    Xuanyuan Wuji and those sage-level knights in Imperial Alliance had realized the necessity, urgency and benefits of cracking down Zhang Tie. Additionally, even a sweet rabbit would bite people, not to mention Zhang Tie, who was a divine dominator. If Zhang Tie was driven mad, many people would die for real; instead of only be bitten.


    They felt that they could defeat Zhang Tie for sure. Therefore, they didn''t spare any chance to survive Zhang Tie. Whereas, they didn''t know that their choice didn''t spare any chance to themselves either as Zhang Tie would not wait for the offense.


    Actually, the raid of Xuanyuan Wuji was an act of revenge and counter-strike for Zhang Tie; besides, the Imperial Alliance would be completely collapsed.


    Without third prince, Imperial Alliance would lose its largest reliance for fighting for the throne of Taixia Country. Except for rebellion, the three top sects had no other means to fight for the throne anymore. However, if they did that for real, they would become the public enemy of Taixia Country as a whole.


    After the two holy wars in the past 1,000 years, Taixia Country had not fallen facing the attack of demons, not to mention the attack of the three top sects whose total strength was weaker than demons. How could 3-4 sage-level knights and over 10,000 human knights become overwhelming among billions of humans and hundreds of thousands of Taixia knights?


    Don''t be naive!


    The three top sects were so presumptuous now; whereas, as long as they dared lift the banner of rebellion, they would face a completely different result.


    The third prince was a talented one among so many princes of Taixia Country surnamed Xuanyuan. He could match Xuanyuan Changying for real. If third prince died, of course the Imperial Alliance could collude with another prince. Nevertheless, even though the new prince could match third prince in ability, reputation and available resources and would like to collaborate with Imperial Alliance, it would take them at least 20 years to establish mutual trust and recover their existing power. Otherwise, it would only be a joke for the two forces to combine with each other to fight for the throne. However, within 2 decades, Xuanyuan Changying might have long ascended to the throne and Zhang Tie might have promoted to a heavenly knight.


    By then, Zhang Tie would be afraid of nobody.


    Therefore, now that Xuanyuan Wuji chose it, he had to die!


    However, Zhang Tie was suffering a high risk by intending to kill Xuanyuan Wuji. As long as his identity was revealed, he would be accused of intending to kill a prince, which was nothing different than being involved with a rebellion. By then, even His Majesty couldn''t protect him and speak for him. As both Xuanyuan Hill and Imperial Alliance would kill him, Zhang Tie would become the public enemy across the country; the undertakings of Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace would be destroyed overnight; his friends and family members would also be involved. Therefore, Zhang Tie behaved pretty meticulously this time. Although he had long intended to kill the third prince, he didn''t tell it to anyone else. Additionally, he chose to leave Iron-Dragon Sect during the period when he entered secluded cultivation secretly.


    When he was flying at supersonic speed, Zhang Tie''s eyes gradually turned into spiritual and bright amorous eyes with inclined eyebrows, thinner lips, white skin and long hair. At the same time, his face shape also adjusted...


    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had turned into a handsome youth at his 20s. To be honest, his new look was like Han Yuantu, the second abnormal prince of Han Zhengfang that Zhang Tie had killed on the airboat. His eyebrows looked debonair and would always be favored by women.


    Han Yuantu was eaten by mutated rats. Besides Zhang Tie and Zhang Gui, nobody in this world knew that Han Yuantu had died. Before the event of Han Zhengfang, Han Yuantu had already "disappeared". After the event of Han Zhengfang, Han Yuantu was also wanted by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country. However, over so many years, Han Yuantu didn''t show up in any continents or Heavens Reaching Empire. Therefore, few people could remember Han Yuantu''s look. Even if someone remembered the look of Han Yuantu from his wanted order, they would at most look at Zhang Tie for a few more seconds; instead of regarding Zhang Tie as Han Yuantu. No matter what, Zhang Tie was just like Han Yuantu.


    Of course, it depended. If Zhang Tie killed the third prince in this new look and performed some tricks of Bloody Soul Sutra in the process, this new look and the name of Han Yuantu would soon rise to the top of the name list of criminals in the Supreme Court of Taixia Country as everyone would take this new look as Han Yuantu which had undergone delicate disguise. By then, nobody would believe that this murderer was the famous Immortal Qianji Zhang Tie.


    ¡ª¡ªIt was the largest mistake that Imperial Alliance and the third prince had made by turning Zhang Tie into their enemy.


    Zhang Tie moved at 6 miles per second, namely 36,000 km per hour. That was to say, he could fly across many provinces in one hour. This speed could already match that of the fastest supersonic ballistic missiles when they returned to the atmospheric layer.


    At this speed, it was as difficult as a kid threw a copper coin into the slot of a piggy bank from over 20 m away if he wanted to arrive at a big city precisely over 120,000 miles away after penetrating through the greater part of Taixia Country, except for Zhang Tie.


    In the flight, Zhang Tie visualized the panoramic map of Taixia Country in his mind as he kept glancing over the 600 miles'' land using his lotus flower eyes. Through matching the cities, mountains and rivers with those in the map in his mind, he could fix his location and direction. In this case, even though Zhang Tie detoured some sensitive regions of major clans, after over 6 hours, he still entered the territory of the top nine immortal provinces outside Xuanyuan Hill. After less than half an hour''s flight, he finally saw a magnificent Class A city...

 1620 Datang City

    Wind and snow had disappeared soon after Zhang Tie left the territory of Northeast Military Region. At supersonic speed, only after 6-7 hours'' flight, Zhang Tie had already traveled across many climate zones. The southern it was, the high the temperature would be and the more tender the north wind would be. When Zhang Tie arrived at Jinghe Prefecture, Jiangzhou Province, the air was still a bit cold; however, it was warmer than that in Youzhou Province.


    The Class A city in Zhang Tie''s vision was many times larger than Youzhou Province.


    Xuanyuan Hill didn''t have a city wall; however, the Class A city in Zhang Tie''s eyes had eye-catching red city walls. From the sky, the 70-m higher red city wall was like four arms of a giant or four fortresses which surrounded the entire city.


    Given the prosperity of cities in Zhang Tie''s memory, besides Xuanyuan Hill, this city could rank among the top ten for sure.


    There were dense, high buildings inside the city and dotted towns outside the city. The broad Jinghe River was flowing by this big city from west to west. There were crowded ships at the wharf in the north bank of the river and endless field in the south bank...


    This city was Datang City, the private city of Xuanyuan Wuji the third prince of Taixia Country.


    It was still dark all over. Although it didn''t snow in Jiangzhou Province, the sky was still a bit gloomy due to weak starlight when winter was near. As the day had not broken, Datang City in the north bank of Jinghe River was still in a dream. Few people had woken up, except for the airships that took off from the airport and the steamers which were docking at the wharf outside the city while turning on lamplight, which indicated the diligence of crew and sailors.


    It only took Zhang Tie a few minutes to enter 120 miles of this city since he caught sight of it.


    The traffic in Datang City was pretty complex, which included water, land and air. When Zhang Tie was in the air, he saw crisscrossed roads and railways on the land like a cobweb; especially the latter. There were six railways connecting to Datang City as the hub of Jinghe Prefecture.


    When Zhang Tie was flying at a high speed, he saw a steam train moving towards Datang City at a speed of about 48 miles per hour while giving out steam and white smoke.


    Previously, Zhang Tie planned to fly all the way to the center of Datang City. When he saw the passenger train, he instantly lowered down and dove downwards from over 100,000 m high before landing on the staircase outside the end of the train.


    Nobody was monitoring the back of the last carriage. The train just kept running on the rails with clacking sounds. However, nobody discovered the stranger at the end of the train.


    As for passenger train, its last carriage was always used to store luggage. There was a door at the end of the train, through which, people could load and unload luggage. Additionally, the last carriage was also connected to other carriages. That was to say, he could enter the train through its end.


    Although the door was locked, it was a piece of cake for Zhang Tie. Only after throwing a glance at the lock, Zhang Tie had unlocked the door. After pulling open the door, Zhang Tie entered the carriage.


    Being filled with luggage, this carriage smelt like leather grease.


    The carriage was isolated like a can. Therefore, it was a bit breathless. There was an ordinary fluorite lamp above the aisle in the middle of the carriage, which gave out dim light. On both sides of the aisle were two-story racks, which were occupied by leather cases and crates in various sizes.


    Zhang Tie walked forward towards the other door along the aisle, during which process, he saw a corella. The moment the bird was going to chirp at the sight of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie made a hand gesture as he said, "Shh...". Closely after that, the parrot closed its mouth and eyes.


    The door in front was also locked. However, it opened itself like a humble servant when Zhang Tie came to its front.


    At this moment a fat male train attendant in dusty blue was snoring on the seat near the door. After leaving the last carriage, Zhang Tie continued to move forward.


    Most of the people were sleeping at this moment while all the curtains were closed. Few people were walking in the aisle. Zhang Tie could only hear monotonous and snoring sound from rails. The moment Zhang Tie passed through the two carriages, he had met the train conductor who was inspecting the train.


    With an evident mark on his clothes, this train conductor was almost as old as Zhang Tie''s dad.


    Zhang Tie instantly caught the attention of the middle-aged man. The train conductor walked towards Zhang Tie with a bit alert as he wanted to say something...


    "It''s not comfortable here. May you take me to my compartment?" Zhang Tie watched and told the train conductor by battle qi as a bizarre light flashed across his eyes.


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s order, the middle-aged man''s alert instantly disappeared as he revealed reverence and passion to Zhang Tie like meeting an old friend.


    "Aah, childe Liu. Follow me please. I''ve been keeping the luxurious compartment for you. It''s right in front of us. Please follow me..." After leaving the words, the train conductor turned around and led Zhang Tie to an empty compartment in front of them.


    "Sorry to trouble you!" Zhang Tie turned around and put a gold coin into the train conductor''s hand when he entered the compartment.


    "You bet. Childe Liu..." the train conductor smiled brilliantly. After declining it for a second, he had taken the gold coin as he said, "Childe Liu, just let me know if you have any need..."


    After closing the door of the compartment, Zhang Tie smiled and lay on the bed, eyes closed...


    When the train conductor left the compartment with a smile, a train attendant asked him out of curiosity, "Aah, head, who''s that guy..."


    "It''s Childe Liu!" the train conductor replied as he shook his head. After that, he foisted that gold coin into his own pocket under the gaze of that train attendant, continuing, "This childe from a rich clan is really special. When in Feiyu City, he wanted to try hard seat; however, he couldn''t stand it anymore in midnight. Therefore, I led him back to his compartment..."


    "Ohh!" the train attendant nodded as if he had understood it. At the same time, he admired that the train conductor acquainted with so many noble people. What a quick tip!


    ...


    Three hours later, the day broke. Zhang Tie also got off the train at the station of East Datang City...

 1621 Fame

    It was bustling at the station of East Datang City. Whistles of trains could be heard every once a while. With the sound "Tshh", the locomotive of the train was releasing the pressure of its boiler by blowing white steam. As a result, the rail and platform near the locomotive were suffused with white mist.


    After daybreak, the entire city had woken up and recovered its vigor, including this railway station.


    "Childe Liu, see you!"


    The train conductor saw Zhang Tie off the exit of his compartment with a big smile. After hearing his words, Zhang Tie replied with "hmm" as he got off the train and left the railway station leisurely.


    Not until he left the railway station and stood at the exit of the railway station among the people did Zhang Tie let out a sigh. He then started to squint at this city.


    The exit of this railway station was composed of two stories of roads. The roads above were overline bridges made of steel structure, which looked like huge centipedes. After leaving the railway station, the travelers had to go to the overpasses for the taxi. Along the staircase of the overpasses, they would see over ten lines of yellow-green taxis waiting orderly in an exclusive station. Only after a short while, they would leave there by taxi.


    The roads below were underground metro system.


    Both two stories of roads were in order.


    Among all the super large cities across the country, the underground metro system was taken as a symbol of the prosperous history of the city. As the underground metro system needed a pretty high cost, ordinary Class A cities didn''t have underground metro system; instead, only those super large cities which had seen its prosperity for over 100 years and especially reached a great scale in commercial prosperity and population could have such underground metro systems, in which pattern, the underground space of these cities could be fully utilized.


    It was said that Datang City grew more and more prosperous under the rule of Xuanyuan Wuji the third prince of Emperor Xuanyuan. Therefore, this city proved the administrative ability of Xuanyuan Wuji as it glittered like a medal on the third prince''s breast.


    It was of great significance for Zhang Tie to kill third prince. As long as it was revealed, many people would be involved. Therefore, the fewer people knew it, the better. That was why Zhang Tie didn''t inquire intelligence about Xuanyuan Wuji through Jinwu Business Group or other channels. After leaving the station of East Datang City, Zhang Tie felt very strange about the place and its people. Zhang Tie didn''t even know the trace of Xuanyuan Wuji; nor did he know how Xuanyuan Wuji look. Zhang Tie only knew that Datang City was the private city of Xuanyuan Wuji. According to the regulation, all the princes had their own cities. After growing mature, those princes were forbidden to leave their private cities without the consent or order of Xuanyuan Hill.


    Although being noble, princes'' freedom was limited. After gaining their private cities, many princes could only spend most of their time over there. If any prince violated the regulation, the censorate of Xuanyuan Hill would submerge that prince by impeaching him. Given this point, after growing mature, princes were not even as free as commoners.


    However, they were much freer than emperors who were even forbidden to leave the chief gate of the imperial palace. As each bounty land would cover over 6 million square miles, as long as those princes were not too ambitious, it''s enough for them to stay in their own city for their whole lives. Additionally, as most of their bounty cities were in prosperous prefectures or provinces, they would not feel bored at all. As bounty cities were the private properties of princes, they could manage it for free.


    In peaceful time, many national ceremonies and campaigns would be held in Xuanyuan Hill and the Imperial Palace of Emperor Xuanyuan annually. During these periods, princes could attend parties over there. In addition, as royal members, princes were always invited to attend public events such as paying a visit to foreign countries; attending foreign events held by Foreign Affairs Ministry; even paying a tour inspection to the other places and showing their condolence to disaster areas on behalf of imperial households or attend special tasks at the order of Emperor Xuanyuan, etc..


    However, as Emperor Xuanyuan had disappeared and the third holy war broke out, the current overall situation was rather sensitive. As a result, princes were forbidden to leave their own bounty cities or the prefectures where their bounty cities belonged to.


    Not like other princes who indulged in sex and drinks all day, as a prince known as able and diligent, Xuanyuan Wuji spent most of his time in a deal within various affairs in Datang City. Even though he was not in Datang City, his private mansion was also located in Datang City, from where his schedule could be acquired. That was why Zhang Tie came to Datang City.


    After standing at the exit of the railway station, Zhang Tie followed the others onto the overpass, then off it to the taxi station before getting on a steam taxi.


    "Man, I am hiring your taxi for one day. Take me around today. Show me all the tourist sites and amusement centers. Keep the changes..." Zhang Tie gave a gold coin to the taxi driver like a playboy as long as he entered the vehicle from the back.


    "That''s great, childe. You''ve got the right person. As I''ve been a driver for over 20 years, I''m familiar with every nook and corner of this city!"


    Facing such a person who treated gold coins as silver coins, the slightly bald driver at his 40s became spirited at once. After taking the gold coin, he answered Zhang Tie as he drove out of the station.


    "Childe, is this your first time in Datang City?"


    "Yes!"


    The taxi driver glanced at Zhang Tie with a smile from the rearview mirror as he said, "Haha, childe, given your noble look, you must be full of knowledge. There''s one place in Datang City that you have to see!"


    "What is it?"


    "Talents'' Pavilion!" the driver instantly started to introduce it to Zhang Tie, "Childe, don''t you know the famous Talents'' Pavilion in Datang City? Across Jinghe Prefecture, Jiang Zhou Province even other immortal provinces, many erudite people would come to Datang City especially for Talents'' Pavilion. As long as your poem, song, essay or a common administrative measure could rank the top of the list in Talents'' Pavilion for one month, you might be able to see the third prince within one year and become his VIP. That''s a shortcut to privilege. Third prince is the incarnation of the legendary deity of imperial examinations and literary affairs. The prosperous Datang City greatly benefits from third prince..."


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that even a taxi driver admired Xuanyuan Wuji so much...

 1622 Talentss Pavilion

    "The river comes from west in turns; I am startled by the featured scenery. Hundreds of houses gather here to form a county; although having no city walls, they lean against a mountain. The shadow of the sail is looming in the river not far away from the maple leaves. Water gurgled near my bed. In straw rain cape, I am close to Yan Ling; pitifully, I could only look at the crystal river and pass by...What a nice poem! This poem could at least stay in the list of Talents'' Pavilion for one year. It''s said that it was written by a talent surnamed Xu in Xintong City. Not bad! Not bad..."


    "Look at this one. I feel this poem is more artistic. The wild wind blows my white coat; I move on the river by boat. As the sun sets in the distance, green contours of mountains undulate. Feeling cold, flowers drop their heads; being tired, birds twittered occasionally. After seeing smoke rising, I anchor my fishing boat and come to Zhuxi Temple..."


    "I don''t agree with you, brother Ou. If this poem appears in a remote hotel or a residence of a hermit in the deep mountain, it would be amazing. However, it appears in the Talents'' Pavilion. Therefore, I think the poet perhaps want to show off his talent; instead of aiming to be a real hermit. I would not vote him..."


    "You''re right, brother Li; you''re right..."


    In the afternoon, after circling around the city for a few hours, Zhang Tie was finally sent to the Talents'' Pavilion in Datang City cordially by the taxi driver. Through the constant introduction of the taxi driver, Zhang Tie gradually learned more about Datang City and Xuanyuan Wuji and acquired a lot of useful information.


    Xuanyuan Wuji''s position in Datang City was like that of Zhang Tie in Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory. Each action of him would be eye-catching. Therefore, Zhang Tie easily got the message that Xuanyuan Wuji was in Datang City these days from the taxi driver.


    According to the taxi driver, at the end of each year, the adorable third prince would host philanthropic campaigns like providing porridge and money and giving condolence to soldiers, civilians and students in the city. Therefore, Xuanyuan Wuji would always stay in Datang City in the entire December. After hearing this message, Zhang Tie finally felt relaxed.


    After making a plan to pay a secret visit to the third prince''s mansion tonight and kill him when possible, Zhang Tie finished his lunch in a hotel before being led to the Talents'' Pavilion by the taxi driver. With the attitude of doing as the Romans do, Zhang Tie started to wander in the Talents'' Pavilion.


    Talents'' Pavilion was a vast octagonal traditional Hua building. Being located in the west of Datang City, Talents'' Pavilion was in a hill not far from Datang Learning Academy. It was surrounded by beautiful scenery. No ticket was required to enter the Talents'' Pavilion. Instead, each one could get a ticket for free at the entrance. As many people came here, after receiving tickets, they would vote for their most favorite works, political opinions, poems or essays of those "talents" by putting their tickets into the ballot boxes under the creators. In each fixed period, the ballot boxes would be opened and the tickets would be counted. Those with more tickets would rank higher on the list and would win chances to be promoted to high-level officials.


    On the taxi, Zhang Tie had been told about the game rules in Talents'' Pavilion. After entering it, Zhang Tie felt strange watching those literati concentrating on those works.


    As for Zhang Tie, the so-called Talents'' Pavilion was just a trick that Xuanyuan Wuji used to buy the hearts of people at the bottom of the society and control the public opinions. As he wanted to fight for the throne, Xuanyuan Wuji had to act like a "sagacious emperor". Such a trick would work more or less. However, the so-called talents in the Talents'' Pavilion were actually some bottom literati in Datang City and nearby provinces or prefectures. What about those knights of Taixia Country if these people could be called talents? Real knights always neglected these things. A real knight didn''t need to show off his literary talents for fame and wealth here.


    These literati had a big say at the bottom of society, who could influence many people''s opinions. That might be the reason that Xuanyuan Wuji played such a trick.


    In a world dominated by knights, literati who only thought about reading instead of cultivating their battle strength would not enjoy high positions. Even if these literati could make some achievements in literature, most of them could at most be some grass-root clerks and officials. Very few of them could become the trusted subordinates of third prince like Fang Qingming on His Majesty''s side. Right because of this reason, so many literati were longing for showing off their talents in the pavilion as they all dreamed to be the very trusted subordinate of the third prince and provide political suggestions to him.


    Zhang Tie was not interested in poems and essays; however, he was clear about the function of Talents'' Pavilion. Standing behind those literati and listening to their comments, Zhang Tie revealed a despised look as if he was watching some kids building a castle using sand.


    "Bro, I wonder about your noble opinion..." One of the literati in front of Zhang Tie asked when he caught Zhang Tie''s contemptuous look and became irritated. Hearing his words, all the other literati in front turned around and fixated onto Zhang Tie at a stroke.


    "Haha, I have no noble opinion; I have no noble opinion. Now that these poems and essays could be displayed here, they are nice for real..." Zhang Tie replied with a big smile as he cupped his hands towards them and intended to leave. Because Zhang Tie didn''t feel like wasting time with these humble literati at all.


    "Bro, you''re so presumptuous!" One of those literati was instantly driven mad by Zhang Tie''s response, although Zhang Tie didn''t have malicious intent. As a result, all of them were glaring at Zhang Tie as if Zhang Tie had insulted their belief. "These poems and essays are all top works among hundreds of millions of works. Bro, you might be erudite; how about showing us...We want to broaden our vision..."


    "When I watched the snow last year, I got a poem by accident. Its name is Falling Snow. If you want to hear it, this humble man would read it for you..."


    "Hmm, go ahead. I would like to appreciate your good piece..." a literati said with a sneer.


    After looking around, Zhang Tie cleared his voice. After that, he read his poem under the gaze of all the others, "What is flying in the sky? There''s a pile in the east, another pile in the west. Is the Jade Emperor building the Imperial Palace? Screening lime yo, screening lime!"


    After Zhang Tie finished his poem, all the onlooking literati were petrified as their faces turned purple, quivering all over...


    It appeared that Zhang Tie''s interest was aroused. Before those people opened their mouth, he continued, "This humble man got another one when I watched the lightning bolt in the sky. Its name is Singing the Lightning Bolt. Glad to hear your comments about it. Ahem, ahem. I suddenly see a fiery chain in the sky as if the Jade Emperor is smoking; if Jade Emperor doesn''t smoke, why is there a fiery chain...Eh, brothers, brothers, don''t run away; I''ve got some more..."


    Those literati who intended to make Zhang Tie embarrassed were severely injured by Zhang Tie''s two poems. Soon after Zhang Tie finished his second poem, those literati had covered their faces with sleeves and left there as they didn''t feel like talking with Zhang Tie any more.


    Zhang Tie pretended to persuade them to stay; however, those literati paced up in case of being influenced by the bad luck brought by Zhang Tie.


    Shaking his head, Zhang Tie smiled and was going to leave. Unimaginably, a burst of applaud sounded behind him.


    "What nice poems! What nice poems..."


    Zhang Tie turned around as he saw a hermit-like middle-aged literati in white robe clapping his hands.


    "Young brother. Your poems look coarse; however, they''re of great charisma. If charisma only is considered, your poems are much better than all the others in the Talents'' Pavilion..."


    After hearing the middle-aged literati''s comment, Zhang Tie knew that he was not jeering at him. Given his personality, Zhang Tie started to like him.


    "Haha, to tell the truth, the two poems are not created by me; instead, I read it from a book by accident. The writer is a rude soldier of Hua people before the Catastrophe..."


    "Oh, I see!" the literati replied as he continued, "Young brother, now that you could admit it frankly, you must be a straight-forward man. It must be your first time in Datang City. Me too! Young brother, how about traveling around the city with me..."


    "Nice..." Zhang Tie replied with a smile too.

 1623 Lord Fairysea

    The human relationship was marvelous. Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could get acquainted with a friend in Datang City even after disguising himself.


    The literati in white robe was Lin Yichen. After encountering with each other in Talents'' Pavilion, the two people traveled around the pavilion together, then Steles Tower, Feathered Temple and Dragonhiding Cave. When the night was going to fall, the two people had a drink in Rainflower Building at the bank of Swordswashing Lake.


    To be honest, Zhang Tie had read a lot of books and acquainted with many top figures in Taixia Country such as Meng Shidao and Zuoqiu Mingyue, ect.. However, the personality, rich learning and intelligence of Lin Yichen convinced Zhang Tie for real.


    In the Talents'' Pavilion, Lin Yichen commented those talents'' poems and essays in a humorous, incisive yet modest way.


    Among Steles Tower, Lin Yichen told all the allusions, anecdotes and inscriptions on the tablets. When it came to calligraphy, he became excited as he directly dipped the rainwater under eaves of the Steles Tower using fingers and performed 81 variants of one Hua character...


    In the Dragonhiding Cave, Lin Yichen introduced the history of the explorations about the dragon, starting from the Hua totem before the Catastrophe to the image of a dragon on Western Continent, from the legends of the immortal dragon in far-ancient times to the virtual image of the dragon of knights in this age. Zhang Tie learned a lot from him and figured out many things...


    After traveling around Datang City for half a day, although he couldn''t figure out the background of Lin Yichen, Zhang Tie was sure that this person was unusual.


    "Come on, Brother Lin, I will propose a toast to you..." Zhang Tie made a cup of spirit for Lin Yichen in the Rainflower Building. Closely after that, he took his cup and said, "Brother Lin, I know you''re unusual. It''s our fortune to meet each other in this city, cheers..."


    "Hahaha, I''m unusual; young brother, you''re unusual too. It''s our great fortune to meet each other in Datang City among hundreds of millions of people across the country..." Lin Yichen burst into laughter as he threw a glance at Zhang Tie with a smile. Closely after touching his glass with Zhang Tie''s, he bottomed up together with Zhang Tie.


    "Brother Lin, why are you here in Datang City?"


    "I''m here for a person."


    "Oh, Brother Lin, do you have relatives or friends here?"


    "Neither relatives nor old friends!"


    "Then it must be your enemy!"


    "Not enemy either!"


    "You make me puzzled. Brother Lin, have you found him?"


    "I made a prediction using Eight Diagrams last year. According to its implication, I would encounter the very person in Datang City. Therefore, I travel to Datang City from afar. Although I''ve met the person, he was far worse than that I imagined. Previously, I wanted to take him as my apprentice; unimaginably, that person shares the same branch with me and even have greater achievements than me. He would have a bright future. Therefore, I feel embarrassed proposing to take him as my apprentice..." Lin Yichen said as he suddenly heaved a sigh, "As for an emperor, it''s easy to establish an army of thousands of people; but it''s hard to get a good general. As for me, it might be harder to find a proper apprentice. Someone just waits there for his apprentice; however, I could only look for apprentice myself. If my apprentice lacks flair in cultivation, he would meet a bottleneck in the future and could barely break it. As a result, such an apprentice could only make limited achievements in his life and could inherit all of my profound learning..."


    "What a pity!" Zhang Tie sighed with a smile, "I''m afraid that if that person could meet Brother Lin a few years ago and becomes your apprentice, he would laugh out in dreams!"


    "Nothing to pity about. It''s destiny. Although I don''t have an apprentice, I feel also lucky having one more friend who could have a drink with me. It''s nice if I have an apprentice; if not, I won''t feel sad. Isn''t it also a pleasure in our lives? Come on, cheers..." Lin Yichen burst into laughter as he cheered with Zhang Tie again.


    Zhang Tie rented the entire top floor of the Rainflower Building, where they would not be disturbed by others. After drinking 18 jars of top-quality rain-flower liquor, it was already deep night. Lin Yichen then picked himself up while wavering his body. At this moment, one piece of bizarre secret knowledge crystal appeared in his hand. Closely after that, he gave it to Zhang Tie, saying, "I''ve not had such a drink with anyone for many years. I''m so happy to have a drink with an able young brother here today. Here''s my little gift. Keep it as a souvenir..."


    Zhang Tie didn''t look into the crystal; instead, he took out a top-quality nanobead from his inner pocket. When he took that crystal, he gave the nanobead to Lin Yichen, saying, "As a vulgar person, I don''t have anything valuable but this bead. Brother Lin, you can keep it as a souvenir too. There''re some spears inside that I usually used and some home-made medicament. Hopefully, I could see Brother Lin again in the future..."


    "I gift you a piece of crystal and you gift me a pearl. Thanks, young brother..." Lin Yichen instantly took the nanobead as he continued, "As each banquet would come to an end, before leaving, I''ve got one suggestion for you..."


    "Brother Lin, please..."


    "In the future, no matter which step have you reached, don''t forget about your original intention. If you could make it, you would be the real hero!" Lin Yichen watched Zhang Tie with gleaming eyes as he continued, "All the billions of people in Taixia Country are the beloved ones of you and me. With such great abilities, if we couldn''t safeguard these beloved ones, we would be surplus and be finally eliminated in accordance with the universal law..."


    Zhang Tie was shocked as he instantly stood up and made a deep bow towards Lin Yichen, saying, "Brother Lin, thanks for your precious warning. I would bear it in mind for sure..."


    "Hahaha, see you..." Lin Yichen bottomed up as he laughed and sang towards the sky, "Autumn wind the desolate; you wave the flowers and twigs; thin frost the white over the earth, you make cicada silent; swallows you leave north for south, flapping your wings towards the lingqiu Hill..."


    In the long tunes, Lin Yichen dropped his glass and strode out of the Rainflower Building, white robe swaying in the wind. Then he entered the sky and disappeared in the distance, leaving his song reverberating in the sky...


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could encounter such a great person in the Talents'' Pavilion, who could have a drink and talk with him. That was fate! Zhang Tie watched the sky with eager leisurely. Who dared call himself a talent in front of Lord Fairysea?


    Zhang Tie then threw a glance at the piece of crystal in his hand while some words instantly appeared in his mind explosively like a lightning bolt¡ª¡ªDeities Killing Swordsmanship. It was unrivaled swordsmanship of divine dominator in which the user could directly break the void above the opponent''s mind sea using spiritual swords...


    In the nanobead that Zhang Tie gifted Lord Fairysea, there were ten jars of top-quality all-purpose medicament that he brewed in Castle of Black Iron and nine golden spears.


    "Aah...knight...knight..." The waiter who served liquor stared at the disappearing Lord Fairysea as he stammered.


    Zhang Tie turned around. The moment the waiter caught Zhang Tie''s eye light, his dumbfounded look had disappeared as his memory about Lord Fairysea was erased by Zhang Tie. After being puzzled for a couple of seconds, the waiter had recovered his composure as he said, "Sir, here''s your liquor..." When he put down the jar, the waiter looked at the empty chair and glass in the opposite and asked Zhang Tie, "Yi? Where''s that guest..."


    "He''s got something urgent to deal with and has left. Check out..." Zhang Tie waved his hand while a handful of gold coins appeared on the table with clatters...


    "Aah, it''s too much, sir..."


    "Keep the changes..."


    After leaving the words, Zhang Tie walked out of the Rainflower Building.


    ...


    The taxi driver had long left. Zhang Tie walked at the bank of Swordswashing Lake alone as he felt a bit confused. It was an accident for him to encounter Lord Fairysea in Datang City. When the two divine dominators stayed together, their strong qi fields responded to each other like two fierce tigers on both sides of a hedge. No matter how well both parties hid, they still sensed the identity of the opposite. As a result, Zhang Tie''s plan of killing third prince met a bit of uncertainty.


    ''If I kill the third prince at this moment, the others might not know that; but Lord Fairysea would know it for sure. Perhaps Lord Fairysea had already noticed why I come to Datang City from Youzhou Province in another look in the current situation.''


    ''What should I do? Do I continue my plan?''


    After walking around half of the lake, Zhang Tie gradually became determined as before. ''As long as Lord Fairysea is not on the same side of Imperial Alliance, it would be fine for me to kill third prince. Given the last words of Lord Fairysea, he might be warning me that I should stick to my bottom line¡ª¡ªAs long as I don''t do harm to the country and the people, I would be his friend; instead of his enemy.


    ''Is it harmful to the country and its people by killing third prince? Of course not. In the holy war, third prince who wants to usurp and Imperial Alliance are the culprits who do harm to the country. Undoubtedly, domestic turmoils and consumption could be avoided by killing third prince and collapsing Imperial Alliance.''


    ''If Lord Fairysea wants to prevent me from doing something in Datang City, he would not give the Deities Killing Sutra to me. Now that he gives me Deities Killing Sutra, he must not want to interfere with my own plan.''


    ''In fact, Lord Fairysea has not asked me my purpose in Datang City even though I''ve asked him about his purpose here.''


    Right then, Zhang Tie quivered all over for a second as he instantly thought about a possibility, '' Lord Fairysea might...might have long known the conspiracy of third prince and Imperial Alliance. He might have known everything, including the black invitation cards and why I come here in another look?''


    ''He has to die! But I have to make a good plan. No loophole is allowed!''


    As Zhang Tie made his decision, he found he had already come to the front of a super high grand hotel at the bank of Swordswashing Lake...


    ...

 1624 Paying a Secret Visit to the Third Princes Mansion

    At midnight, Zhang Tie flew out of the window of a luxury room on Floor 38 of the grand hotel on the bank of Swordswashing Lake as a little black beetle towards the third prince''s mansion in the center of Datang City...


    In the daytime, the taxi driver had already shown Zhang Tie around the third prince''s mansion. Under his lotus flower eyes, Zhang Tie had already seen through the entire mansion and bore the location and routes of the third prince''s mansion in mind.


    The entire Datang City had been in sound sleep. Besides the streetlamps and the lamplights in a few buildings, the entire city had been in silence, being utterly different than the bustling scene in the daytime.


    It had been a long time since Zhang Tie used his little beetle as his incarnation last time. When he turned into a little black beetle again, Zhang Tie felt that sense of freedom coming back.


    At above 100 m in the air, the little beetle loomed and flew towards the third prince''s mansion like a speck of dust after being applied with super hiding rune. It only took Zhang Tie over 20 minutes to meet the third prince''s mansion that he had seen in the daytime.


    Located in the center of Datang City, the third prince''s mansion occupied 2.4 square miles or so. With a camp on one side, the entire mansion was on very strict alert. In the air, Zhang Tie saw all the road lamps outside the mansion bright as teams of soldiers were patrolling around the mansion, leaving no dead angles across the mansion at all.


    Of course, in Zhang Tie''s eyes, these guards were nothing but decorations. What Zhang Tie worried most were those hidden powerhouses beside Xuanyuan Wuji. Given Xuanyuan Wuji''s deeds, Zhang Tie didn''t believe that this guy didn''t have high-level bodyguards or had not considered about being assassinated. Before the move, Zhang Tie had to get hang of these messages for the sake of sec-kill. The more messages he acquired about the mansion, the calmer he would be in action.


    Right above the heads of a team of patrolling soldiers, Zhang Tie easily entered the high wall of the mansion. Then, he slowed down and flew towards the residential area of servants in the periphery of the mansion.


    Only after a short while, the little black beetle had already arrived there and entered one bedroom.


    Two servants were in sound sleep on two beds. It was pitch-dark inside. After entering the room, the little beetle flew around the bed for a short while before disappearing. Zhang Tie then appeared in the room like a looming spirit.


    The two servants were both tough guys. Zhang Tie then put his hand onto the forehead of one of them while reading his memory in recent months.


    Soul reading skill would bring a side effect to the one being read. If Zhang Tie read all the memories of this person, this guy might become an idiot. If he only read two months'' memory, the side effect of Soul Reading Skill could almost be ignored under his control. As for the person whose memory was read, he just made a bit longer yet spirit-consuming dream.


    The first one being read was a gardener who had worked in the mansion for almost 2 decades.


    After reading two months'' memory from this gardener, Zhang Tie gained a lot of useful messages such as the topography of the entire mansion including the location of the inner court, the residential area of waiters and maids, the residence of guards, the residence of the family members and trusted subordinates of third prince, the residence of Xuanyuan Wuji and who in the mansion usually touched Xuanyuan Wuji.


    Additionally, this gardener had encountered Xuanyuan Wuji when pruning flowers and plants in the garden. When he was pruning withered twigs, Xuanyuan Wuji and some followers suddenly negotiated from the back parlor. At that time, this gardener was so scared that he instantly bowed towards Xuanyuan Wuji on one side and remained still. Before lowering his head, he even threw a glance at Xuanyuan Wuji and bore his face in mind.


    ¡ª¡ªBeing tall and strong, Xuanyuan Wuji wore a light yellow boa silk robe, which felt very oppressive. He looked like Xuanyuan Changying except for slimmer eyes, thinner lips and higher cheekbones.


    The above was the look of Xuanyuan Wuji.


    After acquiring these messages, Zhang Tie didn''t stay in this room any longer. As the other one was also a gardener, he would not gain more information from the first one. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t waste time anymore. In a split second, Zhang Tie disappeared like a spirit, leaving no trace in the room. Closely after that, the little black beetle reappeared and flew out of the vent through the window of the room.


    A few minutes later, Zhang Tie appeared in a residential area not far from this room, where lived maids who could move in the inner court.


    As these maids could encounter Xuanyuan Wuji more frequently, they must know more information about the inner court and the people beside Xuanyuan Wuji. Like tonight, even though many people had fallen asleep, some maids were still on duty in the inner court, waiting for orders at any time.


    Only after ten more minutes, the little black beetle had flown out of the residence of these maids before heading for the residence of those guards.


    Guards in the mansion were in three shifts. While some guards were patrolling at night, the others were sleeping.


    All the guards of Xuanyuan Wuji were above LV 10. However, they were just commoners in Zhang Tie''s eyes. Each guard could have a single room like a dorm, which was much more advanced than that of gardeners. Zhang Tie easily entered those guards'' rooms. After reading two months'' memory of two guards and one LV 14 team leader of guards, Zhang Tie knew the mansion even better than elders who had lived in the mansion for dozens of years.


    After integrating with this information, some problems that he had to face before killing Xuanyuan Wuji occurred to Zhang Tie''s mind.


    First, Xuanyuan Wuji was not a weak literati; instead, he was a powerful knight who cultivated the emperor-level Xuanyuan God Sutra; of course, an ordinary black iron knight was trivial in Zhang Tie''s eyes; however, a black iron knight who cultivated emperor-level secret knowledge must arise his attention. Zhang Tie was clear about that. Given his realm, Zhang Tie could defeat Xuanyuan Wuji in an overwhelming manner; however, he didn''t know whether Xuanyuan Wuji had mastered any trump card to protect himself in an emergency.


    Second, there were also powerhouses beside Xuanyuan Wuji, two shadow knights and two earth knights who were called Four Kingkongs by the guards in the mansion. One of the two shadow knights was employed by Xuanyuan Wuji, especially for his safety. The other three knights were arranged by Xuanyuan Wuji''s mother, Madam Jiang in the Imperial Alliance of Emperor Xuanyuan, who was from the powerful Jiang Clan of Heavenly Stars Palace. Undoubtedly, the four of them were all loyal to him. When he launched a strike, he had to confront with these powerhouses.


    The last but not the least, he had to consider the mysterious figure beside Xuanyuan Wuji¡ª¡ªXue Fucius.


    This Xue Fucius had a strange background, which was also the hot topic of commoners in the city. According to the servants in the mansion, Xue Fucius'' background was as follows¡ª¡ªAfter being awarded Datang City, Xuanyuan Wuji had started to build Talents'' Pavilion. After Talents'' Pavilion was completed, the trivial Xue Fucius who wandered across the country for learning came to Datang City and became famous for his essay The Hymn of Jianghe River in the Talents'' Pavilion. As a result, everyone across Datang City read it, raising the cost of paper. Because of this hymn, Xue Fucius directly became the VIP of Xuanyuan Wuji; he even became the latter''s clerk, who was responsible for approving all the letters in the mansion on behalf of the third prince.


    However, in Zhang Tie''s eyes, the story of Xue Fucius could only cheat ordinary literati and servants in the mansion. Zhang Tie just took the legend as sh*t. It might be possible if Xuanyuan Wuji was a common prince who was interested in poems and essays; however, Zhang Tie was clear about Xuanyuan Wuji''s target. How could a prince who keeps thinking about fighting for the throne of Taixia Country favor an old man who only excels at pieces and calligraphy?


    Was there any story more fabricated than this one in this world? If it was real, all the demons might be vegetarians.


    As Xue Fucius was always with Xuanyuan Wuji, Zhang Tie realized that this old man might be the largest obstacle for him to kill Xuanyuan Wuji...

 1625 A Semi-sage Knigh

    As Zhang Tie had arrived at the third prince''s mansion and acquired the details about the daily life of Xuanyuan Wuji in his mansion, Zhang Tie would not leave here even if there was a lion on the road in front of him.


    If he wanted to know the real battle strength of Xue Fucius, besides having a direct fight with him, Zhang Tie could also choose to observe or test him.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had worked out a method. It was time for Zhang Tie to show the power of his Great Wilderness Sutra.


    There was only one animal in this world which could last over one hundred million years. It could always be found with people. It was cockroach who had a special name Xiao Qiang among Hua people.


    Although cockroaches had wings like other insects, ordinary ones couldn''t fly at all; instead, they could only glide. However, after the Catastrophe, as long as there were enough cockroaches, a few of them would experience a slight mutation. As a result, their flight ability would be strengthened as they could fly 300-500 m for a time. Additionally, the mutated ones were good at hiding themselves, which granted them greater viability. Some of them could even change their body colors or turn semi-transparent. Such mutated ones were called flying cockroaches. They were like special forces among cockroaches.


    By applying the Great Wilderness Sutra, it only took Zhang Tie a few seconds to fetch some flying cockroaches after circling around the mansion for a while. After that, Zhang Tie applied a super hiding rune to those flying cockroaches so that they were hardly discovered. Then, the little black beetle led those flying cockroaches towards the residence of the third prince.


    The residence of the third prince in the mansion was called Moonsviewing Pavilion. Everyone in the mansion knew that sometimes third prince would get off and view moons at midnight or deal with public affairs and documents in the Moonsviewing Pavilion. Therefore, the residence of Xue Fucius Guanlan Court was neighboring Moonsviewing Pavilion for the sake of the third prince.


    Under the leadership of the little black beetle, some flying cockcroaches were flying across the tiled roofs and twigs. As they couldn''t fly too long, they had to take a rest in each hundred of meters.


    After using the leapfrogging tactic for a few times, Zhang Tie finally led some flying cockroaches to the periphery of Moonsviewing Pavilion.


    The periphery of Moonsviewing Pavilion looked open. It was a bamboo wood 200 m away from Moonsviewing Pavilion, with an open grassland in between. They were connected with hollow, elegant corridors and a low, colorful parterre. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, such a design was for the sake of assassination; especially in the evening, after Xuanyuan Wuji went to bed, if someone wanted to be close to Moonsviewing Pavilion, he had to pass such a distance in between. As a result, he had to expose himself especially to the powerhouses beside Xuanyuan Wuji.


    There was only an accessible rockery between Guanlan Court and Moonsviewing Pavilion.


    After arriving at the bamboo wood, Zhang Tie stopped. For the sake of safety, he silently drilled a cave on bamboo which had insects inside and had his little black beetle hide inside, only exposing its head to observe the situation over Moonsviewing Pavilion.


    When Zhang Tie drilled inside the bamboo, those flying cockcroaches were all resting on bamboo leaves and ready for the coming task.


    It was pitch-dark in Moonsviewing Pavilion. Xuanyuan Wuji appeared having fallen asleep. At this moment, at least two of the four Kingkongs would guard in Moonsviewing Pavilion. Xu Fucius''s residence was also pitch-dark on one side.


    Bamboo shadows began to sway on the ground by the hint of a breeze in the still night air.


    Right now, Xiao Qiang special forces, go!


    The first batch of two flying cockcroaches then bounced off the bamboo leaves at the same time as they extended their wings and glided in the nightscape with the help of the wind. They flew towards the Moonsviewing Pavilion and Guanlan Court, one after another dauntlessly.


    Widening its eyes, the little black beetle hid in the bamboo as it observed the situation in Moonsviewing Pavilion and Guanlan Court.


    The little black beetle was actually the best agent of Zhang Tie; however, as Zhang Tie had been used to it, if it was hurt, Zhang Tie would feel painful about that. Therefore, Zhang Tie fetched some cannon fodder to replace it. If these Xiao Qiang special forces were safe, it would not be late for him to use the little black beetle by then.


    Under the gaze of Zhang Tie, the two flying cockcroaches soon flew over 100 m long in the night breeze. After a few seconds, when they were about 50 m away from Moonsviewing Pavilion and Guanlan Court, the two flying cockcroaches turned into ashes almost in 0.01 second as if they had flown into an invisible furnace, leaving two sparkles in the air. Closely after that, they had perished with the wind...


    Zhang Tie was shocked inside.


    It was a sage-level knight; no, it was a semi-sage knight. It was the strength of a semi-sage knight which was close to the realm. Zhang Tie had seen the same strength from the Sincerity Garden of Meng Shidao in Xuanyuan Hill.


    There was a semi-sage knight beside Xuanyuan Wuji.


    The moment the two flying cockcroaches perished, a shadow knight with sparkling triangle eyes in gloomy look and black robe appeared. After flying around Moonsviewing Pavilion as fast as a lightning bolt, the knight in black robe glanced around with gleaming eyes. After finding no abnormal situation, he disappeared again.


    This shadow knight in black robe was Jiang Qianchou the grand elder of Jiang Clan of Heavenly Stars Pavilion, one of the four Kingkongs beside Xuanyuan Wuji.


    Of course, the strength of semi-sage knight couldn''t be executed by Jiang Qianchou. Nor could Xuanyuan Wuji and the four Kingkongs beside him would do that. That semi-sage knight must be Xue Fucius! As Zhang Tie thought, he fixated onto Guanlan Court which was in dark.


    This person was a semi-sage knight beside Xuanyuan Wuji. Xue Fucius probably was a figure from the three top sects of Imperial Alliance who had changed his real name, look and identity. Besides protecting Xuanyuan Wuji, he was also responsible for communicating with Xuanyuan Wuji on behalf of the three top sects.


    With the help of such a semi-sage knight, Xuanyuan Wuji even escaped from the chase of a sage-level knight.


    After gaining such a discovery, it was unnecessary for Zhang Tie to investigate it any more. The little black beetle then came out of the bamboo hole and flew back to Zhang Tie''s hotel while the remaining cockcroaches also flew away.


    ...


    Over 20 minutes later, the little black beetle flew back to the room of that grand hotel on Floor 38 at the bank of Swordswashing Lake. After that, Zhang Tie appeared quietly. Standing by the window, he was watching the beautiful lake and mountains calmly.


    What a competitor! Zhang Tie had not imagined that Xuanyuan Wuji could have such a great trump card in defense.


    Zhang Tie was not afraid of Xue Fucius. In his opinion, Xue Fucius probably was one elder or deputy head of the three top sects who declared to enter secluded cultivation. It was normal for a knight to enter secluded cultivation for dozens of years in this stage. During this period, Xuanyuan Wuji favored him in the name of Talents'' Pavilion, which didn''t arouse people''s doubt at all.


    However, because of Xue Fucius, Zhang Tie''s plan of assassination might alter.


    Previously, Zhang Tie planned to kill Xuanyuan Wuji by a secret skill of Bloody Soul Sutra in this look and disappear. Given the current situation, it was almost impossible for him to kill Xuanyuan Wuji facing the protection of a semi-sage knight without using the ability of a divine dominator. However, as long as he revealed his ability of a divine dominator, even idiots would doubt him. As a result, Jinwu Palace, Iron-Dragon Sect and his relatives and friends would have endless troubles. That was not what Zhang Tie wanted.


    ''How could I kill Xuanyuan Wuji without arousing others'' suspicion?''


    Zhang Tie was thinking about it while squinting his eyes by the window. Only after a short while, a whim had occurred to his mind...


    ''I probably expose my ability of divine dominator if I kill Xuanyuan Wuji facing the protection of a semi-sage knight. If I don''t want to arouse any suspicion, I have to be in an eye-catching place when Xuanyuan Wuji was killed. In this way, even if Xuanyuan Wuji was killed by me, nobody would doubt me. Of course, it''s also not good if Lord Fairysea becomes the suspect. Perhaps Lord Fairysea doesn''t care and has his way to prove his innocence; it''s vile for me to do that. If I make him as a scapegoat soon after receiving his gift, it would be embarrassing for me to see Lord Fairysea later...''


    ''Therefore, the best moment to kill Xuanyuan Wuji is on the day of the duel in the Gobi Desert!''


    ''When my original being fights the sage-level knights of the three top sects on the Yinhai of Gobi Desert, I would seize the opportunity to kill Xuanyuan Wuji using my substitute.''


    ''I''d better die together with Xuanyuan Wuji.''


    ''I only need to alter the original plan a bit to make Han Zhengfang and his son and Heavens Reaching Church the scapegoat...''


    ''It seems that I should stay a few more days in Datang City and make a considerate plan!''


    Zhang Tie gradually revealed an icy smile...

 1626 Time Flies

    Time would not wait for anybody. The 906th year of Black Iron Calendar was a relatively peaceful year in Taixia Country since the third holy war broke out. This year, Since Immortal Qianji killed a heavenly demon knight and several shadow knights at the bank of Weishui River, the attack of demons on the east was curbed. As a result, the human army and demon army were in stalemate across the year. Although skirmishes still happened every day and the combat between ground troops in Helan Mountain continued, there were very few combats that over 1,000 knights joined.


    Such a situation was relatively peaceful than that two years ago.


    Although the fire ceased at the bank of Weishui River, fiery oil became hot across the country this year. Over 16,000 fiery oil production bases were increased this year. Across the country, Xuanyuan Hill, major clans and local governments all held great expectation and passion about fiery oil. As fiery oil production bases spread over the country, in the banner of combating demons and safeguarding Taixia Country, a tide of new industry represented by fiery oil planes and weapons officially came into being. The entire country started to burst its energy like a machine being started with fiery oil.


    Only in one year, independent air cavalries corps had been established in each province, at least their framework had been formed. The top four armies of Taixia Country had been ready for establishing wholly new full-mechanized corps. Such a grand situation might only be matched by those industrial revolutions of humans before the Catastrophe. Many people would like to share profits from this pie, including rune alchemists and traditional mechanical engineers as they all racked their minds to invent fiery-oil instruments or weapons. Therefore, a myriad of fiery-oil weapons and machines appeared across the country...


    Only in one year, there had been over 100 kinds of dual engines in Taixia Country. Besides, a large quantity of fiery-oil engines also appeared in order to fit various types and demands. The varieties of planes in the air also surged to hundreds from only a few. Even many provincial armies were matched with planes in local types. The top four armies which were well known by its powerful system and production ability started to develop new types of fiery-oil planes and weapons independently.


    In order to unify the outfits and logistic supply system of provincial armies, Xuanyuan Hill had to deliver strict, unified supply standards about fiery-oil weapons and equipment to the top four armies. Provincial armies and top four armies were forbidden to use illegal fiery-oil weapons or equipment.


    Nobody would deny the fact that Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory was the holy land of air cavalries. However, the industrial production capacity in Youzhou Province and Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory was poor. As long as the items produced by Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory were pushed into the market, they would soon be imitated by other provinces, prefectures and clans who had greater industrial production capacity. The latter might even bring more, better variants.


    When the tide of the industrial revolution was in its climax, provinces and prefectures across Taixia Country started to face sharply different problems brought by famine.


    In those provinces and prefectures being severely afflicted by famine, local governments had already opened the official storage to relieve the disaster while local officials were in panic. By contrast, the 2-year famine facing some provinces and prefectures had been relieved. Unimaginably, Youzhou Province and Fiery-Dragon Bounty gained an unprecedented harvest last year. Those official fields of Ninghe Prefecture that Zhang Tie rent brought a bumper harvest to the entire prefecture, which further stabilized and relieved the famine facing Yanzhou Province. As a result, all the forces across Northeast Military Region were gazing at Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory and Ninghe Prefecture. Before the grains of Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory and Ninghe Prefecture entered the warehouse, most of them had been purchased at high prices by people dispatched by major clans across the country.


    Northeast Military Region recovered its vigor firstly from the famine that spread over the country. Therefore, Cheng Honglie the commander of Northeast Military Region was even awarded by Xuanyuan Hill and became a good model for the other military regions across the country.


    In the same year, Zhang clan of Huaiyuan Palace was not peaceful. After Immortal Qianji recovered and returned to Youzhou Province from Xuanyuan Hill, his "disappearance" became a popular topic across the country. Closely after that, Zhang Taixuan the head of Huaiyuan Palace was possessed by a devil when in cultivation and committed suicide. Then, Huaiyuan Palace split up and Zhang family of Jinwu Palace became independent. After that, Immortal Qianji gained Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect in South Border and three top sects of Taixia Country sent black invitation cards to Iron-Dragon Sect, which aroused the fury of the rest of people...


    In such restless situations, the year 906 of Black Iron Calendar passed by silently and the 907th year arrived in an irresistible way...


    ...


    On January 18, after the new year, it was still snowing heavily in Xuanyuan Hill. In the weapons testing field of the base of God''s Decision Army, one of the top four armies of Taixia Country in the east of Xuanyuan Hill, Xuanyuan Changying, some generals of the top four armies and the commander-in-chief who came to Xuanyuan Hill for submitting his report were sitting in a rainshed temporarily built on a hill and watching the programs prepared by His Majesty...


    In a royal prince''s robe with dragon pattern and a cloak made of fiery fox''s hide, Xuanyuan Changying looked pretty awe-inspiring in wind and snow.


    "Your Majesty, they''re coming..." After being warned by a general of God''s Decision Army, Xuanyuan Changying took his telescope and looked at the sky in the north, followed by the some commanders of military regions. The others directly looked over there by gleaming eyes.


    By the telescope, Xuanyuan Changying saw two lines of black points in the sky at over 10,000 m high flying towards them in heavy wind and snow. Only after a short while, the image in the telescope had been recognized as two lines of planes.


    Being utterly different than the earliest air cavalry planes produced in Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory which had been matched for air cavalries at the frontline of Weishui River, these planes were absolute giants.


    Each plane was longer than 70 m, wider than 60 m and higher than 8 m. On each wing, there were four high-power engines.


    There were totally 8 planes. Like two rows of big birds, they were more shocking than airships. Undoubtedly, they could move faster than airships.


    Watching the increasingly clearer planes in the sky, all the commanders at present changed their looks. As for these high-level officers of Taixia Country, they had been used to airboats and airships; however, it was their first time to see such huge planes.


    Only after a short while, the two rows of planes had arrived above the Weapons Testing Center. In their earsplitting booms like trains running in the sky, everyone at present saw each plane opening an exit at their bottom and starting to lay eggs. The moment the eggs touched the valley between two mountains, fiery dragons had rushed into the sky while covering over 6 square miles'' land...


    The burning fiery dragon melted ice and snow and burned the land red. Some iron frames standing in the valley gradually turned red and soft as they started to melt. At the same time, a dark gray smoke started to suffuse over the entire region.


    Even though it was far away, people on the top of the mountain could still feel hot waves from the burning fiery dragon.


    Over 10 minutes later, when the fiery dragon and the dark gray smoke disappeared, the valley had been scorched black, leaving no vigor anymore.


    All the commanders were petrified by such a drill. Each of them was clear about the significance of those planes. Each of them was estimated to carry over 50 tons of ammo, which was even higher than that of heavy airships. However, their speed was many times faster than airships. Such planes were definitely sharp weapons at the battlefield and would cause a great loss to the ground demon corps in only one air raid. No matter how fast ground demon corps could move, they could never match that of such huge planes. Therefore, such planes could fix the loophole of airships in an air raid. Even if they were not used for the air raid, they could also bring great convenience to logistic troops in transportation.


    It was not an end yet. With the warning of a general of God''s Decision Army, all of them transfixed onto the end of the valley in the far.


    Right in the end of the valley, a square formation of forty odd-looking semi-caterpillar track heavy trucks was driving forth.


    They were strange because of rows of huge pipes above them.


    When they were about 20 miles away from this valley, the forty heavy trucks parked at the same time. Closely after that, they started to raise their pipes towards this valley.


    After reaching an angle, their pipes stopped moving. After half a minute, huge "rockets" were shot out of those huge pipes with flames. They fell in the same region of the valley which had been burned black, covering it with high-temperature flames again...


    "Commanders, how do you feel about the two sharp weapons?" Xuanyuan Changying put down his telescope as he asked those high-level officers with a smile...

 1627 The Gods Will

    After bidding farewell to those commanders and returning to the imperial palace, it was already dark while the snow turned lighter. With full ambition, Xuanyuan Changying felt pretty satisfied with what happened today.


    It was his first time to ask the commanders of military regions to submit their work report to him since he was in charge of supervising the administration of the country. All the commanders had arrived, which meant that they rooted for Xuanyuan Changying to a certain degree. As a result, Xuanyuan Changying was very happy.


    What was more, he revealed some trump cards in the Weapons Testing Center of God''s Will Army. Watching those officers'' awe-stricken looks, Xuanyuan Changying felt as cool as drinking iced sour plum soup in hot summer.


    If he wanted to ascend to the throne, he had to win the sincere support of these high-level officers. If these officers didn''t show enough respect and awe to him, it would be very difficult for Xuanyuan Changying to make it. Even if he could, his imperial decrees might not take effect at all. In history, from home and abroad, too many emperors were mere figureheads and always cheated by chancellors. Xuanyuan Changying didn''t want to be such an awkward emperor. Otherwise, it would be meaningless for him to be an emperor; instead, he was just a puppet, which was not even as powerful and cool as a provincial governor.


    In big and steady steps, Xuanyuan Changying passed by many winding corridors, on the way, all the guards, maids and female officials and butlers hurriedly gave way to him.


    The plum garden had been covered with silver snow while plum flowers were opening brilliantly with a faint fragrance. However, Xuanyuan Changying didn''t feel like enjoying the beautiful scenery. Only after a short while, he had come to his study room near the plum garden.


    After waving his hands towards some bodyguards, Xuanyuan Changying took in a deep breath as he tried to remain a bit relaxed before pushing open the door and entering the study.


    "Mr. Fang, as you''ve imagined, all the commanders were startled by the destructive effects of those new weapons. When I was bidding farewell to them, some of them even wanted to meet me alone..."


    The copper crane was spurting out the faint fragrance of burning eaglewood while the brazier made the room much warmer. In long fur coat, Mr. Fang was browsing official documents behind a table. The moment he saw Xuanyuan Changying, he hurriedly sprung up as he bowed towards Xuanyuan Changying.


    "The greatest virtue of an emperor lies in victory. Your virtue becomes more expensive in these chaotic times. All the commanders are the most practical and experienced high-level officers and the backbone of Taixia Country. As long as Your Majesty show them the hope of humans in this holy war and your efforts, Your Majesty would be a wise emperor in their eyes. All the commanders would prop for Your Majesty to stabilize the overall situation facing Taixia Country for sure..." Mr. Fang said with a smile as he had already seen through everything although being not at present.


    "I was also petrified by the earth-shaking power of those new weapons. They could boil the mountains and rivers in a split second..." Xuanyuan Changying said as he took a seat. At the same time, he let Fang Qingming sit down too.


    "Xuanyuan Hill is converged with many masters. Taixia Country has numerous able craftsmen and the best industrial production capacity. Given the overall national strength of Taixia Country, it''s not difficult for us to develop these mass destructive weapons as long as we have fiery oil. Plus Your Majesty''s concern, your subordinates would complete it carefully at a high speed. The top four armies shall be matched with such weapons step by step. Corps in Western Theater of Operations shall also share some of them. In a few years, the strength of ground demon corps would be offset by our new weapons. Even if Taixia Country couldn''t establish such a corps of LV 9 soldiers, we don''t need to fear demons. By then, the holy war would recover balance..."


    "You''re right, Mr. Fang. Fiery oil would definitely bring us long-term profits. As it could save people, it has great meritorious service!" Xuanyuan Changying commented as he made a cup of tea for himself...


    Mr. Fang hurriedly stopped His Majesty as he said, "Your Majesty, the tea has been cold. I''ve drunk the greater part of it..."


    "It''s fine. I''m not that fragile!" Xuanyuan Changying said as he bottomed up the tea water. Closely after that, his facial expression became slightly frozen before turning vivid.


    The tea water was not cold yet, but it tasted special. After drinking it, it tasted like ordinary tea leaves at the beginning. However, as it entered his throat, a flexible aura stayed at his mouth and tongue before suffusing over his body. Gradually it tasted sweet and aromatic endlessly...


    Xuanyuan Changying was proficient in teaism while all the tea leaves in the imperial palace were of top quality provided by all the provinces with the territory of Taixia Country. However, this tea water tasted different than any others that Xuanyuan Changying had tasted. Its flexible taste was unforgettable.


    Watching Xuanyuan Changying''s look, Fang Qingming revealed a bitter smile inside as he realized that he couldn''t keep those tea leaves anymore. He felt regretful bringing these tea leaves into the imperial palace. Since he came back from Youzhou Province, Fang Qingming would drink a few tea leaves gifted by Immortal Qianji every day. As a result, when he drunk other tea water, he always felt like lacking something. As he had been used to drink such a kind of tea, he brought them into the imperial palace to enjoy himself. Unimaginably, this secret was discovered by His Majesty.


    "Sir, what kind of tea it is? There''re totally 23 varieties of top-quality teas across the country. Each of them was unforgettable. However, this tea tasted utterly different than them. This tea is as unique as pure gold and jade. Despite its simple look, it had its specialty and flexible aura. With a long aftertaste, could intoxicate my spirit and lubricate my qi and blood. I wonder when did our country start to produce such a kind of top-quality tea?" Xuanyuan Changying asked Fang Qingming as he widened his eyes.


    "Aah, it''s gifted by Immortal Qianji when I paid a visit to Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory at your order, Your Majesty. It''s said that it''s planted by Immortal Qianji in Eighteen Xuantian Peaks. Only people in Iron-Dragon Sect could enjoy it. Therefore, it unknown to the public..." Fang Qingming could only make an explanation helplessly. After checking His Majesty''s look, he could only say, "Your Majesty, if you like, I''ve got some more at home; I will bring 1 kg to Your Majesty..."


    It was actually not planted by Zhang Tie; instead, this tea had long been existing in Eighteen Xuantian Peaks. It was not a top-quality tea either. After Zhang Tie had his disciples bury the ashes of Bloody Sacrifice Furnace under those tea trees, these tea leaves gradually evolved and became the favorite of elders and disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    His Majesty didn''t know about its background. After hearing that it was related to Zhang Tie, besides being shocked, he became silent for a while before heaving a long sigh, "Is there any news about Immortal Qianji recently?"


    "Since he received the black invitation cards, it''s said that Immortal Qianji has been in secluded cultivation!"


    "Really?" Xuanyuan Changying played with the teacup as he continued, "Air calvaries would be an independent force this year. If Immortal Qianji is here, he could be the commander of this air force, which would meet the expectation of the people. Pitifully, the three top sects are too presumptuous..." Xuanyuan Changying put the teacup onto the table forcefully. Closely after that, he watched Fang Qingming with a bit of hope as he said in a gloomy tone, "Mr. Fang, have you discovered which one do the three top sects root for through carding the reports from all parties these days, the third younger brother or the ninth younger brother..."


    "I indeed discovered something; however, I need to verify it..."


    "Oh, really?" Xuanyuan Changying was shocked by Mr. Fang''s answer.


    Fang Qingming then turned around and withdrew a report from a thick pile of documents before giving it to Xuanyuan Changying.


    After taking it, Xuanyuan Changying found it was from Zhifang Palace of Youzhou Province. ''Youzhou Province again?'' The royal prince frowned slightly...


    The report contained over 10,000 words, which included all the events in Youzhou Province over the past two months, large or small. Xuanyuan Changying paid special attention to a paragraph which was marked in red by Mr. Fang. Huaiyuan Palace announced on January 17 that Lan Yunxi would marry Xuanyuan Wuji...


    Datang City was the bounty city of Xuanyuan Changying''s third younger brother. Xuanyuan Changying was also clear about the relation between Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Tie. However, Xuanyuan Changying still didn''t imagine that he could see the name of Huaiyuan Palace here. After Immortal Qianji left Huaiyuan Palace, Huaiyuan Palace was just an ordinary clan, which was not eye-catching anymore. Since Jinwu Palace was founded in the latter half of last year, Xuanyuan Changying had not heard about Huaiyuan Palace for a long time as everyone was paying heed to Jinwu Palace. They gradually forgot about Huaiyuan Palace. No matter what, there were too many ordinary clans like Huaiyuan Palace across the country. Although being a bit well-known in a local place, Huaiyuan Palace was nothing but sh*t as for Xuanyuan Hill. Nobody would care about such an ordinary clan.


    Additionally, Xuanyuan Changying felt strange about the name of Lan Yunxi.


    "Lan Yunxi was the daughter of Zhang Taixuan, the former head of Huaiyuan Palace. It''s said that she has an exceptional flair. Later on, she joined Taiyi Fantasy Sect and became a popular candidate of the goddess of the sect. However, after the event of Zhang Taixuan, she left Taiyi Fantasy Sect and returned to Youzhou Province as the new head of Huaiyuan Palace. Now that Huaiyuan Palace has released this news to the public, it means that Taiyi Fantasy Sect has already agreed that Lan Yunxi had given up the chance to be the goddess of the sect..."


    "It''s my third younger brother behind the three top sects?" Xuanyuan Changying''s eyes turned cold at once.


    Shaking his head, Mr. Fang said, "It''s still uncertain given this message. It might also be a puzzle made by the three top sects. They intend to influence our judgment by this female disciple. A few days later, Zhang Tie would fight the sage-level knights of the three top sects, I believe that the three top sects would expose some loopholes. Your Majesty, you only need to stay calm to make the preemptive move..."


    "Yes, the date would come in 11 days!" Xuanyuan Hill said as he pinched the report. After being silent for a short while, he told Fang Qingming, "Mr. Fang, please go there on behalf of me again..."


    "It''s my pleasure, Your Majesty..."


    ...


    At the same time, Zhang Tie was standing in his room at the hotel in Datang City and watching the heavy snow and the frozen Swordswashing Lake. He remained still for over one hour like a stone statue while the flying snowflakes and those happy ones skating on the lake looked lifeless...


    One hour ago, he received the news that Lan Yunxi would marry Xuanyuan Wuji too.


    What a ridiculous God''s will!


    ...

 1628 The Gathering

    The duel would take place on Yinhai, Gobi Desert in the west of Taixia Country between 3 pm and 5 pm on January 29, the 907th year of Black Iron Calendar...


    Located in the west of Taixia Country, Gobi Desert precisely referred to the vast unpopulated zone in the north of Bingzhou Province and the west of Suizhou Province. This place belonged to a wild province within the territory of Liaoan Military Region of Taixia Country. It was so barren and desolate that only sands could be found here, it had a special name¡ª¡ªSand Province (Shazhou Province).


    Yinhai in Gobi Desert was not an ocean, but a huge basin covering 600,000 square miles. Long long ago, Yinhai was a vast inland lake which faced Yinshan Mountain. This lake existed at least before the Catastrophe. However, after the Catastrophe, nobody knew why the huge inland lake suddenly disappeared overnight, leaving a barren, concave basin. Now, shells and trace of water erosion in the withered region could still be seen in the basin. Whereas, no water existed here anymore.


    Yinhai''s sudden disappearance aroused many bizarre, terrifying legends; plus the desolate and hot environment, this region had become a real, unpopulated zone in Taixia Country. It was one of the most desolate regions among the wild provinces across the country. Even in the former two holy wars when Military Region deteriorated to a battlefield, the demon army still didn''t feel like crossing the vast Gobi Desert for opening another battlefield so as to fight Taixia Country in two lines at the same time.


    Nobody could cross this vast desert except for knights. Over 6,000 miles from east to west and from south to north, water was more precious than gold. As it was in summer, high temperature, sandstorm, thirst, hunger, despair, endless sands and those dangerous scorpions and insects in sands could easily eliminate any lives. This was the land of loneliness of Taixia Country.


    However, this lonely land was not alone anymore since January 20 as so many airboats, airships and knights arrived from all directions. Gathering above Yinhai, they all waited for the earth-shaking fight, which was going to happen here in a few days.


    Some knights would like to support Immortal Qianji; the others were just curious about the coming duel.


    Even those famous actors or actresses'' concerts or performance in a Class A city would attract numerous visitors and supporters, not to mention the duel between the most powerful human knight and the sage-level knights of three of the top six sects which might not be watched in hundreds of years. As a result, the whole world was shocked as knights and fighters were all longing for eying this top-level duel.


    Since the black invitation cards were delivered 100 days ago, those knights or fighters had come here from all directions out of curiosity.


    As a result, the space above Yinhai became unprecedented, boisterous.


    Between January 20 and 25, thousands of airships and airboats and over 10,000 knights had arrived there. Starting from January 25, more and more knights arrived, some came alone; some came in units; especially those knights from major clans or sects who came here in teams. Some knights came here by airboat, some by airship; the others even took enough water and dried grains here...


    On January 27, the airboats of super clans and top six sects also arrived there one after another three days in advance...


    ...


    Hair as dark as knight and eyes as blue as the ocean, Pandora in black longuette was standing on the highest deck of her airboat facing the strong wind at tens of thousands of meters high as her long hair swayed like a waterfall and black flame behind her.


    The airboat moved so fast that the rising and falling sandy area flashed backward. Relatively, the sand dunes turned turbulent.


    Pandora was watching the ground calmly with her blue eyes as she was as turbulent inside as the sand dunes below.


    As the princess of Demons-killing Valley, one of the top six sects of Taixia Country, Pandora''s identity was more distinguished than many secular princesses. Besides, she could own many things that many worldly people couldn''t even imagine.


    Today, her qi was not as same as that of the black iron knight in Earth-elements Realm anymore; instead, a looming qi was surrounding her, making the strong wind at such a high altitude tender.


    However, no matter what, Pandora still wore that black seal finger ring on her right third finger.


    At this moment, Pandora lightly stroked the black seal finger ring as her mind went back to the unknown railway station in Blackhot City on a heavily rainy knight many years ago, where a young man and a young woman made a pledge while dropping tears...


    That night, Pandora kept one sentence in mind¡ª¡ªShe hoped that she could marry him one day; she hoped not to see the man going to the battlefield alone. No matter where that man was going, she wished to go together with him, hand in hand, even if he was going to hell. She hoped that she could always stand on his side decisively. Even if he died, she still expected him to die in her arms and see her face in the end...


    Over these years, whenever she stayed in the tower of time alone, Pandora would stroke this finger ring, in which way she could pluck up her courage with warm expectations.


    As for Pandora, the greatest loneliness in this world was not the long periods in the tower of time, but the sadness caused by the separation of two beloved ones.


    Hopefully, there was no more.


    In this world, some things would change every day; the others would remain unchanged forever.


    At this moment, Pandora heard footsteps from behind as she turned around, calling, "Grandpa..."


    A powerful old man with convex forehead and silver hair in black robe appeared on the highest deck, causing the strong wind within hundreds of meters to disappear at once.


    The old man watched Pandora with a favorable yet concerned look as he asked, "Are you sure? You know, the felicity blessing skill of Wu Clan''s Heavenly Wish Bloodline could only be applied once in your life. If you apply it to yourself, you would make progress in your cultivation base smoothly by conquering all the difficulties. It''s just a matter of time for you to promote to a sage-level knight..."


    Shaking her head, Pandora smiled as she answered, "It''s meaningless if I only live for myself. I feel he needs me for real this time. Therefore, I came here. No matter what, I won''t regret. Grandpa, I think you must have not applied felicity blessing skill to yourself either, am I right?"


    After hearing Pandora''s question, the old man became silent for a second as a complex look flashed by as if he was recalling. After a short while, he burst out laughing, causing wind and clouds to surge, saying, "Good, that''s my granddaughter. Your temperament is as same as me. Seize your love even if you step on blades..." The old man heaved a sigh slightly after a short silence as he continued, "But Zhang Mushen has already married so many women. He''s not as innocent as before. Are you sure he would still treat you as same as before? Is he worthwhile?"


    "He told me there was a legend in Hua people. If a man really loves a woman, he would appear in front of her by colorful clouds. He had promised to appear in front of me in this manner when I could marry him one day. This time, he must know that I would come and he would definitely appear in front of me in this manner and tell me that he remains unchanged..." Pandora said with a strong belief as she blinked her blue eyes.


    Watching her eyes, even as a sage-level knight, Wu Dingtian could only sigh inside. ''How could she believe in such a naive appointment? It was not performance. Even if Immortal Qianji is something, I don''t think he could display the naive, fairytale scene in legend. Could Zhang Tie fire colorful crackers for her at this moment...''


    "Here come the representatives of Heavenly Fortune Sect..." Wu Dingtian suddenly turned around and looked at the left side of the airboat with a shrewd eye light as he heard the notice...


    Hundreds of miles away, another magnificent airboat was approaching from another direction...


    ...


    Some people were also standing on the highest deck of the airboat of Heavenly Fortune Sect and watching the vast yellow sandy dunes...


    In front of the group of Heavenly Fortune Sect were three handsome, vigorous young men. Due to protective battle qi, strong wind also detoured around their bodies. The corners of their garments didn''t even move.


    "Senior fellow apprentice Feng, is that Yinhai in front?" A young man with a resolute look turned around as he asked Feng Cangwu on his side.


    Feng Cangwu looked more mature with a beard over his lips. Given his qi, he was already an earth knight. After hearing that young man''s words, Feng Cangwu heaved a sigh full of frustration as he said, "Hmm, it''s Yinhai in front of us. When you see your dad in a couple of days, you''d better not call me senior fellow apprentice in front of your father. Although you''ve promoted to black iron knights, if you call me senior fellow apprentice, I would lose face in front of your father as we''ve got acquainted with each other for so many years..."

 1629 A Special Affection

    At noon of January 27, when Pandora and Demons-killing Valley arrived above Yinhai, an airboat was also slowly declining in the airport outside Datang City in the heavy wind and snow.


    It was hot over the Gobi Desert; by contrast, Datang City was snowing heavily.


    Climates varied in different regions. Therefore, people also had different feelings, one like fire, the other like ice.


    Standing by the window of her cabin room, Lan Yunxi watched the increasingly clearer city in a slight, vacant pattern. This city was more prosperous than any city in Youzhou Province and was larger than the size of all the cities under the affiliation of Huaiyuan Palace. Additionally, the owner of this city was a young, able prince. At this moment, the magnificent buildings and the crowd which were waiting to greet her on the ground in the heavy wind and snow became meaningless in Lan Yunxi''s eyes. Even though she became the female owner of this city, Lan Yunxi still felt irrelevant with this city.


    The wedding engagement between Xuanyuan Wuji and Lan Yunxi was a pure trade. The agent for this trade was Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    Not everyone would speak highly of this trade; even her master privately persuaded her to consider it prudently. All the elders of Huaiyuan Palace opposed it firmly. However, Lan Yunxi still stuck to it or follow the arrangement of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. In this trade, she treated herself as a commodity. In exchange, Huaiyuan Palace would become an imperial relative of Taixia Country.


    Xuanyuan Changying didn''t lack women. As for him, beautiful and able women became as meaningless as gold coins in the pockets of rich businessmen; they couldn''t even match his tools or decorations. However, besides her look and ability, Lan Yunxi carried a great bloodline.


    Besides the bloodline in cultivation base of Zhang Clan, Lan Yunxi also awakened a heavenly bloodline, which was very rare and could only be awakened by women. After awakening it, she could enable her babies to carry forward the powerful genes of their father and even break through the levels of original ancestral bloodlines to a certain degree.


    This ancestral bloodline was called Gold and Jade Good Fortune. Among all the heavenly bloodlines, this one was the strangest and rarest one. As this bloodline didn''t work on herself but on her babies, the number of women who awakened this bloodline was even fewer than that of sage-level knights in Taixia Country.


    Lan Yunxi was found to have awakened this bloodline when she had menses at the age of 14. Because her menses was golden for the first time and carried a special fragrance, from then on, it became the top secret of Huaiyuan Palace.


    Across Huaiyuan Palace, besides Zhang Taixuan the father of Lan Yunxi, nobody knew this secret, including clan elders.


    After Lan Yunxi joined Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Taiyi Fantasy Sect had known her secret.


    Lan Yunxin only thought about exchanging her felicity for the future of Huaiyuan Palace; instead of considering that Xuanyuan Wuji would like to gain something else through this marriage.


    As for Lan Yunxi, she had experienced the cruelest thing in the world. Therefore, nothing else could bring her greater pain or harm.


    It was sacrifice and self-torture to a certain degree. However, in pursuing it, Lan Yunxi felt abnormal pleasure through revenge.


    She wanted to see the furious, sad and tearful look of the man. If possible, she even wanted to see him kneeling down and begging for her forgiveness...


    However, she couldn''t see none of them now...


    When she agreed with this marriage, the black invitation card of Taiyi Fantasy Sect had not been sent to Iron-Dragon Sect. When Iron-Dragon Sect received the black invitation card from Taiyi Fantasy Sect, the marriage between Xuanyuan Wuji and Lan Yunxi had already been fixed. It was also Taiyi Fantasy Sect which declared the date of this marriage officially.


    She knew that man was in secluded cultivation in Iron-Dragon Sect these days. She also knew that the man would face a life-or-death duel above Yinhai two days later. As a result, Lan Yunxi became helpless and frustrated. She couldn''t even figure out how the relationship between this man and her sect deteriorated so fast.


    That man killed her father!


    That man split up the clan that she wanted to safeguard!


    Now, that man was going to have a duel with the sage-level knight of the sect which helped her a lot!


    It seemed that her vengeance would be realized by her sect soon. Lan Yunxi felt that she should be happy; however, she felt vacant facing this strange city. The cold air even made her suffocate and breathless.


    ''Am I wrong? Am I sorry to anyone?''


    Lan Yunxi asked herself inside with eyes closed when the airboat landed. However, the answer that she gave to herself let her take in a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, weakness had disappeared in her eyes.


    "Miss, we''ve arrived!" Elder Muyu said behind Lan Yunxi.


    "I see!" Lan Yunxi didn''t turn around; instead, she just said calmly, "I will come out soon..."


    "Fine!"


    Apparently, it was just a meeting between Lan Yunxi and Xuanyuan Wuji before their marriage. In fact, it was a negotiation about the trade. As for Lan Yunxi and Elder Muyu who came to Datang City together, they were not here as guests; instead, they were more like paying a visit to a foreign land as envoys. For the sake of the dignity of Huaiyuan Palace, Elder Muyu had argued with the butler of the third prince''s mansion in Datang City through remote-sensing communications for over half a month. Elder Muyu didn''t give any concession to this trade.


    Although they were arguing about details, it was concerning about their dignity.


    Previously, the third prince''s mansion would like to pick Lan Yunxi up by airboat; however, Elder Muyu refused it; instead, Elder Muyu rent one airboat from Golden Roc Bank for Lan Yunxi. With the death of Zhang Taixuan, the provincial governor''s private airboat of Zhang Taixuan was confiscated. Nor was there any relationship between Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect. Therefore, Huaiyuan Palace also gave back the private airboats of elders to Iron-Dragon Sect. As a result, airboat became a luxury for Huaiyuan Palace again. If they wanted, they could only rent it.


    Previously, the third prince''s mansion requested Lan Yunxi''s airboat to directly land in the square inside the mansion; however, Elder Muyu persisted in having it land at the airport outside Datang City and entering the third prince''s mansion by car.


    Previously, the third prince''s mansion would like to have Lan Yunxi live in the side courtyard of the mansion; however, Elder Muyu said it was not reasonable as he rent the highest-level hotel in Datang City as her residence and only allowed the third prince''s mansion to arrange some maids for her in the hotel.


    Elder Muyu gave no concession to any other details, like the entry or departure time.


    With strong self-respect, Lan Yunxi and Elder Muyu behaved like envoys of a small country paying a visit to a large country.


    After checking her look inside the airboat, Lan Yunxi left the cabin door leisurely in noble cloak.


    The prince''s mansion dispatched a team of guards, a butler and eight luxury sedans to welcome Lan Yunxi''s team. Actually, such a specification of personnel at the airport was also urged by Elder Muyu.


    The butler of the third prince''s mansion was an average-looking old man in gray hair, who looked pretty kind. However, his eyes were heart-piercing. Not until he saw Lan Yunxi walking out of the airboat did the butler come over there and slightly bow towards Lan Yunxi. After that, he straightened up and said calmly, "His Majesty especially told me to welcome Miss here. Please get on the car..."


    After seeing Elder Muyu slightly nod aside, Lan Yunxi got on the same vehicle with Elder Muyu.


    After that, the fleet left the airport for the third prince''s mansion.


    "Miss, I still hold that Xuanyuan Wuji is not only for the ancestral bloodline that you''ve awakened by marrying you. You''d better watch out..." Elder Muyu told Lan Yunxi secretly by battle qi as he watched the scenery of Datang City.


    The driver was only a common fighter. Even if he was a knight, he could not hear their communication either.


    "Elder Muyu, what else do you think Xuanyuan Wuji could get from Huaiyuan Palace except me?" Lan Yunxi made a self-deprecating smile as she asked Elder Muyu secretly.


    Elder Muyu became speechless. After a short while, he heaved a sigh helplessly, saying, "Miss, if you persist it, I don''t know what to say either. Perhaps we have something; however, we don''t know that we have. If..."


    "That person is already irrelevant to Huaiyuan Palace. I don''t want to hear his name anymore..." Lan Yunxi changed his face as she interrupted Elder Muyu.


    Then, the vehicle recovered its silence.


    As the guiding vehicle had the mark and banner of the third prince''s mansion and traffic control was executed, this fleet moved smoothly and fast in the heavy wind and snow. Only after a bit more than one hour, they had already entered the prince''s mansion from the main gate...

 1630 In the Princes Mansion

    After coming to the mansion, the moment Elder Muyu and Lan Yunxi got off the vehicle, the butler and an arrogant middle-aged female official with a tall bun in green imperial longuette had come over here.


    The woman then started to look at Lan Yunxi from her foot to her head in fastidious eyes as if she was checking a commodity.


    Watching her deed, Elder Muyu''s eyebrows instantly rose. Noticing his furious look, the woman made a cold harrumph as she moved her eyes above their heads.


    "This is the ceremonial official of the prince''s mansion. She is in charge of many affairs beside His Majesty!" The butler introduced that female official to Lan Yunxi and Elder Muyu with a glassy-eyed look.


    Hearing his introduction, the female official slightly nodded towards Elder Muyu and Lan Yunxi as she said distantly, "My family name is Feng. You could call me Feng Shangyi in the mansion. Miss, as you''ve traveled a long way and it''s heavily snowing and windy outside, how about taking a bath and changing to a new set of clothes? After that, I will take you to His Majesty..."


    Average people might not understand the meaning of this request; however, Elder Muyu was clear about it. It was almost like how major clans selected maids or concubines. In the name of taking bath, they were actually checking her body.


    Elder Muyu had not imagined that Lan Yunxi would receive such a poor treatment here. The moment the female official finished her words, Elder Muyu had asked the butler out of fury, "What do you mean? We''ve not negotiated about that..."


    The butler didn''t argue with Elder Muyu; instead, he just replied with a casual smile, "There''re always regulations as long it''s concerned about His Majesty. As it''s arranged by Feng Shangyi, I have no say in that..."


    "His Majesty is a prince. Given his noble identity, we must have regulations. Not like those remote and rustic small families, every woman has to follow my order before meeting His Majesty..." Feng Shangyi jeered with a cold harrumph.


    Elder Muyuan still wanted to argue something; however, Lan Yunxi stopped him by hand as she said, "After such a long trip, I really feel a bit tired. It''s not bad for me to take a bath and a nap..." After that, Lan Yunxi watched Feng Shangyi calmly, saying, "Please be my guide..."


    Feng Shangyi replied with a cold harrumph, saying, "Follow me". After that, she turned around and left. After taking a look at Elder Muyu, Lan Yunxi also followed that female official away.


    The butler remained silent as he had a servant lead Elder Muyu to the side parlor for a short rest by taking a look at him.


    Clenching his fists, Elder Muyu felt fully indignified. However, he couldn''t lose temper here; instead, he could only bear it. Watching the high wall of the third prince''s mansion and the arrogant looks of those servants, Elder Muyu felt a bit desolate. When Elder Mushen was with them, how honorable was Huaiyuan Palace! Even being in Xuanyuan Hill, Elder Mushen was still the VIP of the royal prince. Even the royal prince had to treat Elder Mushen politely and call him brother. Royal prince even gifted an imperial mansion to Elder Mushen. After Elder Mushen left Huaiyuan Palace, even the incumbent head of Huaiyuan Palace would be humiliated by the servants of the third prince''s mansion...


    Whose fault was it? Was it Zhang Taixuan''s fault? But Zhang Taixuan had died. It''s meaningless to complain about him. Was it Elder Mushen''s fault? When he remembered Zhang Tie, Elder Muyu didn''t feel hateful about him at all. Not only Elder Muyu, but even the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace were also speaking highly of Elder Mushen. To think it carefully, since he promoted to a knight, Elder Mushen had made the greatest meritorious deeds and borne the greatest hardships in Huaiyuan Palace. However, Elder Mushen didn''t complain about it at all. Nor did he scramble for power. What Elder Mushen had done couldn''t even be made by the former head of Huaiyuan Palace. When they thought that Elder Mushen was forced to establish Jinwu Palace, all the elders of Huaiyuan Palace felt extremely sorry and shameful about that.


    The servant led Elder Muyu in a winding corridor for a while. Before they arrived at the side parlor, at the sight of a person in front, the guide hurriedly gave way to him by moving aside. As Elder Muyu was thinking about something, he only took a look at the one in front. However, when they passed by each other, the one in front suddenly rammed against him using his shoulder forcefully and fiercely. Elder Muyu didn''t even have time to avoid it.


    In a split second, Elder Muyu was irritated as he rammed against the stranger too by stabilizing his balance.


    With a muffled sound "bang...", Elder Muyu was forced to retreat three steps backward while the rude man remained still. Besides being numb in half body, Elder Muyu felt bloody and suffocated as he changed his face at once...


    ''It''s an earth knight.'' Elder Muyu realized it when they rammed against each other.


    The stranger sneered at Elder Muyu as he apologized which sounded more like an irony, "I''m sorry to ram against you. Are you okay? Do you need my help..."


    Mouth closed, Elder Muyu swallowed his blood back as he glared at that person, chesting out, saying, "I''m fine...may I know your name, Your Excellency?"


    "Hahaha, I''m Jiang Feng, a humble guard of His Majesty!" that earth knight replied as he squinted at Elder Muyu, arms crossed, asking, "It''s said that a pretentious elder of Huaiyuan Palace keeps arguing with Butler Liu tentatively. It must be you..."


    "Right, I''m Zhang Muyu of Huaiyuan Palace. So what?" Elder Muyu looked straight into Jiang Feng''s eyes fearlessly, chesting out.


    Even facing an earth knight, Elder Muyu was still fearless with a strong qi field.


    "Hehhehheh, it''s fine. But I''ve got a suggestion for you. There''re strict regulations and many powerhouses in the prince''s mansion. Many places are forbidden in. Outsiders have to be careful and do as the Romans do. It''s not like Youzhou Province or Huaiyuan Palace. You''d better not take the regulations and temperament that you''ve formed in the tiny clan to the prince''s mansion..." Jiang Feng said gloomily. After throwing a glance at Elder Muyu whose face turned black, he laughed and walked away. At the same time, he shook his head with a sneer, "Huaiyuan Palace? Haha..."


    With a red face, Elder Muyu almost charged at Jiang Feng. However, he didn''t have a reason to stir up trouble at this moment. It was not pitiful if he died for justice and respect; however, it would mean greater indignation for Lan Yunxi and Huaiyuan Palace. When he thought about Lan Yunxi who was in the prince''s mansion alone and the poor situation facing Huaiyuan Palace, Elder Muyu could do nothing but grit his teeth and clench his fists.


    The side parlor was in a remote place. After coming to it, Elder Muyu stood by a window and watched the sparrows under the eaves with sadness and fury. After the maid served a cup of tea and left the parlor, Elder Muyu finally spurted out blood over the snowy garden.


    Some sparrows were scared away by flapping their wings, leaving an area of scarlet color over the snowy land.


    Elder Muyu didn''t notice that one of those sparrows circled around the garden and gazed at the scarlet blood stain on the ground for a short while before flying away...


    ...


    Lan Yunxi was taken into a bathroom by Feng Shangyi; where some maids in imperial robes were waiting aside orderly.


    All the women inside the prince''s mansion were almost most excellent; even maids could match Lan Yunxi in frame and look.


    After Lan Yunxi arrived, Feng Shangyi threw a glance at those maids. They exchanged glances with each other before walking forward to take off all the clothes and pendants of Lan Yunxi. After Lan Yunxi took a bath, those maids checked each inch of her skin in the name of wiping water for her.


    In this process, Feng Shangyi stood aside and inspected each inch of Lan Yunxi''s skin with a stern and fastidious look like an examiner. She didn''t nod until the maids cleaned water for Lan Yunxi as she slightly nodded and commented rigidly, "Skin as smooth as milk with no birthmark or scar; exceptionally fragrant; soft and orderly hair; no gap in between after pulling your legs together; even a piece of paper couldn''t be inserted in; plump yet not broad breasts; you could serve His Majesty on bed; tender yet not weak waist, you could deliver babies even sons. You don''t have any one of the 36 ominous pigmented naevi. Besides, you have one pigmented naevus which symbolizes that you could deliver a noble son. Not bad, not bad..."


    At this moment, nobody knew what Lan Yunxi was thinking about. After Feng Shangyi checked her body, Lan Yunxi asked distantly, "Is it okay now?"


    "Although the virgin symbol is still on your arm, I still need to check it. All the women who serve His Majesty should be virgin. Lie down on the bed over there and open your legs..."


    After Lan Yunxi lied down, Feng Shangyi walked there and checked her virginity carefully. After that, she let Lan Yunxin put on her clothes.


    In the process, Lan Yunxi just watched the roof in a glassy-eyed look.


    After dressing up, Lan Yunxi finally met Xuanyuan Wuji.


    ...


    In the prince''s costume, Xuanyuan Wuji was sitting in the main seat. The moment Feng Shangyi took Lan Yunxi in, Xuanyuan Wuji had started to observe Lan Yunxi from her foot to head with gleaming eyes. After Feng Shangyi came to his side and murmured to him, Xuanyuan Wuji revealed a strange smile.


    "I''ve not imagined that Zhang Taixuan has such a beautiful daughter; not bad, not bad..." Xuanyuan Wuji burst into laughter.


    Under the extremely aggressive eye light of Xuanyuan Wuji, Lan Yunxi sat decently and calmly in an inviolable manner as she replied, "Thank you, Your Majesty. You must have known my intention here!"


    "Go ahead, what''s your condition?" Xuanyuan Wuji asked casually as he watched Lan Yunxi. Besides presumptuous eye light, he was not too lecherous and behaved like what a prince should do. As a prince, he didn''t lack women.


    "If I marry Your Majesty, please confer my dad as state duke!"


    "Hahaha, that''s easy!" Xuanyuan Wuji agreed with her at once. Although living people could not win honor easily, as a dead man, Zhang Taixuan could be easily conferred with the title of state duke as long as Lan Yunxi married Xuanyuan Wuji. "What else?"


    "One tower of time for each kid of ours as the compensation for delivering babies for Your Majesty..." Lan Yunxi said calmly. Although it was shameless for her to bargain with Xuanyuan Wuji in this case, Lan Yunxi remained pretty calm.


    "Hahaha, don''t you feel it''s too excessive?" Xuanyuan Wuji asked distantly with a smile.


    "It might be a bit excessive for others to pose such a condition, but it''s not for me. If our kids could completely inherit the ancestral bloodlines of Your Majesty and make a further breakthrough, Your Majesty''s sons would be more powerful than that of the royal prince, isn''t it the God''s providence? Won''t the throne of Taixia Country be taken by the most powerful one?"


    With a shrewd eye light, Xuanyuan Wuji and Lan Yunxi looked straight into each other''s eyes for half a minute. Xuanyuan Wuji then recovered his composure as he continued, "You''re audacious!"


    "If not, how dare I marry a would-be emperor?"


    "Fine, I agree. It''s just a few towers of time. What else?"


    "Longwind Business Group should serve imperial households!"


    "Hmm! Any more?"


    After thinking for a while, Lan Yunxin shook her head. Not knowing why, after meeting all of her purposes, she felt empty.


    "Hmm, that''s a deal. After fixing the date of marriage, I will have people notice you. It should be within this year!" Xuanyuan Wuji suddenly revealed a smile as he shifted the topic, "As my fiancee, you could stay a few more days in Datang City. Let''s go hunt together on the 29th day of this month!"


    ''The 29th day of this month? Winter hunt?'' Lan Yunxi became silent for a second. Actually, Lan Yunxi had tried her best to avoid this day; unimaginably, Xuanyuan Wuji chose this day for hunting.


    "This is a good day. It''s the last winter hunt this year. I like to see those animals with sharp claws struggle in the snow land in vain..." Xuanyuan Wuji said with a smile, revealing his snow-white teeth...


    ...


    The meeting only lasted less than 10 minutes before they fixed the "trade".


    When she left Xuanyuan Wuji, Lan Yunxi felt empty. Although they had fixed everything, Lan Yunxi still didn''t feel good at all. It was more like losing something; instead of gaining anything.


    When Lan Yunxi saw Elder Muyu again, she found his look was poor.


    "What happened?"


    "Nothing!" Elder Muyu said as he shook his head. In the eyes of Elder Muyu, Lan Yunxi didn''t look good either. "Let''s go back..."


    "Hmm!"


    The two people then got on the vehicle and set off for their hotel. On the vehicle, Lan Yunxi told Elder Muyu what conditions she had reached with Xuanyuan Wuji and that Xuanyuan Wuji invited her for hunting two days later.


    Not knowing why, Elder Muyu felt a bit improper when he heard the news.


    "Miss, if you don''t want to do that, we could go back to Youzhou Province right now..."


    "It''s just hunting. Why not?" Lan Yunxi said calmly as she watched the scenery outside the window, "Perhaps time could be a bit faster this way!"


    After being silent for a short while, Elder Muyu said, "Elder Muyuan and Elder Muray should be in Yinhai, Gobi Desert now. They would watch the duel. If there''s any news, they would notice me at once..."


    Tilting her head, pursing her lips, Lan Yunxi watched the snow scene silently as her face turned white like snowflakes at a stroke...

 1631 A Long Rainbow

    It soon came to January 28, the date before the duel between Zhang Tie and the three top sects.


    Representatives of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion, Qionglou Pavilion, Heavenly Fortune Sect, Demons-Killing Valley, Gold and Power Law, major clans and sects in Taixia Country had already arrived at Yinhai, including the airboats of Iron-Dragon Sect, except Immortal Qianji Zhang Tie. As a result, the atmosphere of the entire Yinhai became weird.


    Due to Han Zhengfang''s event, Gold and Power Law had been silent for two years. It had almost been excluded by the other top sects and circle of knights in Taixia Country. However, Gold and Power Law appeared above Yinhai in a pretty flamboyant way.


    The other clans and sects only dispatched one airboat here; however, Gold and Power Law dispatched six airboats here, each of them was longer than 1,000 m. As a result, Gold and Power Law''s airboats alone were more domineering than the total of airboats dispatched by the other top sects.


    After the six airboats arrived at Yinhai, they divided into two groups, three in one, forming two huge airborne platforms with a short distance in between. The two huge platforms were open to all the human knights for free. All the knights who could fly onto the airboats would enjoy free drinks and accommodation. After the duel, they could even take a free ride out of the Gobi Desert.


    The arrival of the six airboats of Gold and Power Law brought good news to those independent knights and made the space above Yinhai more boisterous. On the day when the six airboats arrived there, the airborne platforms had become the most boisterous places above Yinhai. Tens of thousands of knights gathered in the two platforms. As they enjoyed the superior free services of Gold and Power Law, they exchanged with each other and waited for Zhang Tie. Some of them even made bets about the result of this duel on the airboats.


    In this case, only the rich Gold and Power Law could open a gamble and receive the stakes of so many knights.


    In this gamble, they only needed to take element crystals as stakes. If they believed that Zhang Tie was the winner, they should pay three times their stakes when Zhang Tie lost it; if they believed in that the three top sects was the winner, they should pay 1/3 of their stakes when Zhang Tie won it. Given the nature of black invitation cards, the two parties would never draw a tie.


    All the top decks of the six airboats of Gold and Power Law had been open to the public. Connecting to each other, they became the largest square in the sky. A large number of knights arrived here for watching, making it pretty boisterous.


    On the afternoon of January 28, it was hot. The sunshine was so strong that people couldn''t even open their eyes. The sky above the Gobi Desert was like a food steamer which was full of rising, twisting, hot air.


    What was hotter than the air was the atmosphere on the top decks of the six airboats of Gold and Power Law.


    The top six sects had arrived here yesterday. However, Zhang Tie was still not here now. On the decks, especially where they bet, a lot of knights were gathering there and discussing the rolling numbers on the stake plates.


    "What if Immortal Qianji doesn''t come? The duel is coming tomorrow. How could Immortal Qianji still not appear now..."


    "According to the news from Iron-Dragon Sect, Immortal Qianji is in secluded cultivation and would come here before the duel for real..."


    "Immortal Qianji is a hero! He didn''t even fear the demon army at the bank of Weishui River, how could he be scared by such a scene..."


    "Hmm, I agree with you. Immortal Qianji had already fought a sage-level knight in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect in South Border a few days ago and left there safe and sound. I don''t think the sage-level knights of the three top sects could frighten Immortal Qianji..."


    "It''s different. This might be a life-or-death fight. As was told by someone a few days ago, if Immortal Qianji is smart, even if he chooses to not come here in the risk of losing his reputation, he could also find it back when he promotes to a heavenly knight or sage-level knight!"


    "What would Iron-Dragon Sect do if Immortal Qianji didn''t come here? As black invitation cards have been delivered to him, if Immortal Qianji chooses to escape, won''t he fear about being mocked by the public? Would the three top sects let Iron-Dragon Sect go?"


    ''Hehheh, don''t forget that Immortal Qianji has the body changing bloodline and a myriad of secret methods. If Immortal Qianji doesn''t come, the three top sects dare never do any harm to Iron-Dragon Sect. If a divine dominator avenges them, the three top sects could never bear it. Therefore, the three top sects choose to fight Immortal Qianji aboveboard by sending black invitation cards to him..."


    "That sounds reasonable. It appears that we don''t need to worry too much about that even if Immortal Qianji doesn''t come here!"


    When those knights were engaged in hot discussions, a clear and decisive sound drifted over there, covering the buzz.


    "My dad would come for real!"


    All the knights became quiet in a split second as they turned around at the same time. At that moment, three young men landed on the deck from afar with flashes.


    The three young men were similar to each other in both look and height. They might be brothers at 14 or 15. All of them were so handsome that they didn''t look like knights at all. However, they were. All the knights on the deck were shocked by them; especially what the young man said¡ª¡ªmy dad would come for real!


    ''Are they sons of Immortal Qianji?''


    It was said that Immortal Qianji had a powerful bloodline and all of his sons had an exceptional flair in cultivation base. However, none of those at present could imagine that Zhang Tie''s sons had already promoted to knights at such a young age. Even among the top six sects, those who promoted to knights at 20 were already top talents. How could Immortal Qianji''s bloodline become so powerful and make his sons promote to knights at such a young age?


    As they were shocked too much, it was pretty quiet on the deck as everybody just watched Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei walking towards them.


    When the three brothers walked to one stake plate, after exchanging a glance with each other, Zhang Chenglei put one file of authorization onto the table before telling the personnel of Gold and Power Law behind the table in a muffled voice, "Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect bet my dad Immortal Qinji is the winner with 100,000 earth crystals and 100,000 water crystals..."


    This sentence finally "awakened" those knights as they were in uproar at once.


    This was the largest stake that God and Power Law had received since it opened the gamble. The personnel dared not receive it as he hurriedly fetched the manager of Gold and Power Law...


    ...


    At the same time, in the airboat of Iron-Dragon Sect, Yan Feiqing whose belly had been convex was sitting on the main seat decently with Mountain Lifting Hermit, Bai Suxian and the others on her left. Watching those representatives of major clans from Northeast Military Region who came here to pay a visit to Zhang Tie, Yan Feiqing said calmly and decisively, "Immortal Qianji would come for real..."


    ...


    On the deck of the airboat of Demons-killing Valley, Pandora had already been standing here for one day. Watching east, she appeared waiting for something with a smile. Although 24 hours might be long for others, it was very short for Pandora who had been used to the long-awaited period in the tower of time. With full expectation, she just waited there patiently.


    "Granddaughter, you''ve already stood here for one day. What if he doesn''t come?" Wu Dingtian said helplessly behind Pandora.


    Thankfully, Pandora was a knight; if it was another woman, Wu Dingtian would doubt that there was something wrong with her mind.


    "He would come for real!" Pandora said with a strong mind, "I could feel that he is coming. He must know that I''m waiting for him here..."


    "Didn''t he send someone to give you a remote-sensing finger ring? Have you contacted him?"


    "No need, grandpa, don''t you know telepathy?"


    Even a sage-level knight couldn''t do any help to a girl who fell in love. When Wu Dingtian wanted to say something, he suddenly felt something strange as he looked at east with a frown.


    Not only Wu Dingtian, but all the sage-level knights at Yinhai also looked at east while raising their eyebrows.


    It was where Suizhou Province located in the east of Sand Province.


    ...


    At tens of thousands meter high in the air, when Zhang Tie penetrated through a thick cumulonimbus cloud as long as 600 miles, the long-awaited sunshine finally reached him again.


    According to the map in his mind, Zhang Tie realized that he was above the land of Suizhou Province. Gobi Desert was right in front where many people were waiting for him, including Pandora.


    Although nobody told Zhang Tie that Pandora was waiting for him there, Zhang Tie knew that Pandora was waiting for him with full expectation. ''Perhaps, Pandora is looking at east and longing for my arrival...''


    With a long roar, Zhang Tie increased his speed by two times and reached over 10,000 m per second in a split second.


    He cancelled off the effect of super hiding skill and drove his spiritual energy to the utmost...


    At a speed over 30 times that of sound, Zhang Tie felt high-speed shock waves spreading in the air while the air around him appeared to be catching fire. Under Zhang Tie''s control, the moisture in the air and cloud within tens of thousands of meters were condensed, atomized and rocking before turning into a colorful rainbow...


    Under the brilliant sunshine, Zhang Tie flew towards Yinhai like driving earth-shaking thunders...


    Wherever Zhang Tie passed, numerous people on the ground in the cities, villages, and airboats in the sky would look up and listen to the earsplitting thunders, watching the dreamlike long rainbow crossing the sky with a dumbfounded look...


    In less than one hour, all the knights nearby Yinhai had been in uproar as they all looked at east.


    In the eastern sky, all the clouds had shattered, changed their color, steamed before turning into colorful auspicious clouds. Right among the auspicious clouds, a long rainbow crossing 7,000 miles arrived like how a heavenly god drove a chariot in the legend...


    "Here comes Immortal Qianji..."


    On the airboat of Demons-Killing Valley, Pandora revealed a smile as she flew off towards the long rainbow with a black phoenix closely behind her...

 1632 Zhang Ties Supporters

    When the long rainbow encountered the black phoenix, the long rainbow disappeared in a split second together with the virtual image of a black phoenix. Right in the colorful clouds, Zhang Tie stopped right in front of Pandora. They just stood there still and looked into each other''s eyes quietly.


    Zhang Tie felt pretty special when he met Pandora the moment he left Datang City. Something had left; that was why something else should be treasured.


    "Already a shadow knight?" Zhang Tie asked which sounded rigid.


    "Just like you. I would not be dropped by you this time!" Pandora pulsed her lips with an affectionate smile.


    "When did I drop you?" Zhang Tie asked as he scratched his head.


    Watching Zhang Tie scratching his head, Pandora replied with a bigger smile, "In Blackhot City!"


    After being silent for a second, Zhang Tie''s eyes turned tender at a stroke as he answered, "I won''t do that anymore!"


    "Hmm!"


    "You''re more beautiful than Miss Diana!"


    "But you''ve not changed. If we stay together, will you complain about age one day?" Pandora asked Zhang Tie with a sigh.


    "You will remain such beautiful forever. I''ve kept a cross-realm fruit for you!"


    "Do you think I''m still an innocent little girl? How could you buy my heart only with a cross-realm fruit?" Pandora said as she pouted her mouth.


    "Plus me?" Zhang Tie added with a smile as he stretched out his hand.


    "That sounds not bad!" Pandora then approached Zhang Tie and held Zhang Tie''s hand. Smiling at each other, they held each other''s hands tightly.


    "Let''s go. If not, the others would come over here soon..." Zhang Tie said as he pulled Pandora''s hand and flew towards the place where so many airboats were gathering.


    Only after a short while, a lot of knights had been flying towards them. The moment Zhang Tie and Pandora approached them, many people among them had recognized Zhang Tie as they shouted, "Immortal Qianji; it''s Immortal Qianji; here comes Immortal Qianji..."


    Zhang Tie''s momentum was so great what the long colorful rainbow over the sky shocked everyone. At the sight of Zhang Tie, most of tens of thousands of knights at Yinhai instantly flew towards him like a dark cloud as if they were welcoming Zhang Tie.


    "Hi, Immortal Qianji..."


    "Hi, Immortal Qianji..."


    "Hahaha, Immortal Qianji, do you remember our brothers of Gu Clan in Xunzhou Province? We''re especially here to support you with all of our element crystals as a stake..."


    "Don''t forget about us tough guys from Qilian Mountain. We''re also on Immortal Qianji''s side. If they dare launch a large-scale battle, we would fear nothing on Immortal Qianji''s side..."


    Zhang Tie looked around as he saw many familiar faces whom he "saved" in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect in South Border last year. With a glimpse, Zhang Tie saw 7,000-8,000 knights, all of them were watching him cordially. After knowing that Zhang Tie received the black invitation cards from the three top sects, they all traveled a long way to cheer for Zhang Tie. They were even ready to have a duel with the three top sects.


    Across the country, there were many patriotic and generous heroes who persisted in justice. By contrast, there were only a few evil guys.


    Zhang Tie was a bit moved as he cupped his hands towards the knights who came here from all directions.


    "We, knights from the great mountains in the South Border, have also come here for Immortal Qianji..." a barbarian knight with a tattoo on his face shouted, followed by over 1,000 barbarian knights in unison.


    "Long live Immortal Qianji..."


    "Long live Immortal Qianji..."


    "Long live Immortal Qianji..."


    In the loud cheers, all the barbarian knights from South Border of Taixia Country released their battle qi smokes and tornados and virtual images one after another which looked pretty magnificent. All the other onlookers released their battle smokes and tornados for Zhang Tie too.


    Therefore, over 10,000 colorful battle qi smokes and tornados rushed into the sky in one strand, changing the color of the sky, which could be seen from 7,000 miles away.


    "Thank you, thank you..." Zhang Tie kept cupping his hands and extending his thanks to the onlookers out of excitement.


    At the same time, a row of knights arrived in front of Zhang Tie, including Yan Feiqing, Bai Suxian, Guo Hongyi, Immortal Mountain Lifting, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi, Zhang Su and Feng Cangwu and three young knights who were watching Zhang Tie excitedly.


    Although Zhang Tie had not seen his sons for many years, he could still identify them at once.


    Zhang Tie became stunned as he had not imagined that his three sons had already promoted to knights.


    Those onlookers fixed their eyes onto Zhang Tie while Bai Suxian and the others of Iron-Dragon Sect started to observe Pandora.


    "Dad..."


    Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei came to Zhang Tie''s front before kneeling down and kowtowing towards him in the air.


    Over 10,000 onlooking knights witnessed this scene.


    "Hahaha, good, good, good!" Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he said, "I''ve not imagined that my sons are already knights. Zhang family has good heirs. Nice, nice..." Zhang Tie spoke as he let his three sons stand up. Meanwhile, he watched Feng Cangwu and extolled Heavenly Fortune Sect loudly, "Heavenly Fortune Sect is really great. You''re even as great as the creator. My sons have already promoted to knights soon after joining Heavenly Fortune Sect for a few years. They''re so lucky..."


    If Zhang Tie was telling a lie, he was the greatest liar in the world. With Zhang Tie''s praise and the performance of his three sons, Feng Cangwu could imagine that the reputation of Heavenly Fortune Sect would reach a new height in the future. Additionally, Heavenly Fortune Sect would have greater influence among knights of Taixia Country. As the greatest hero in the world, even Immortal Qianji let his sons join Heavenly Fortune Sect; besides, he even extolled that his sons were so lucky to join Heavenly Fortune Sect. What would other knights think about his comment?


    As for Heavenly Fortune Sect, Zhang Tie''s praise was priceless.


    Feng Cangwu threw a glance at Zhang Tie as he had not imagined that this guy could become so smart and make an advertisement for Heavenly Fortune Sect in such a secret and smooth way.


    "Thanks, Immortal Qianji, it''s mainly because Chenglei, Chengting and Chengpei carry forward your bloodline and have exceptional flair. Their bloodline couldn''t be found in 100 million people. Additionally, they have a strong mind and could bear the loneliness of the tower of time at such a young age. Therefore, they could promote to knights before 20..." Feng Cangwu "praised" Zhang Tie and Zhang Tie''s three sons loudly with a smile, causing Zhang Tie''s three sons to be famous across Taixia Country too.


    As Immortal Qianji''s sons, they had promoted to knights before 20. Such figures would have a bright future for real.


    Zhang Tie then exchanged a glance with Feng Cangwu in a tacit way quietly.


    "Friends, as Immortal Qianji needs to take a rest today so as to deal with the duel tomorrow, let''s leave here for the time being and come here to cheer for Immortal Qianji tomorrow!" A knight shouted when he saw Zhang Tie converging with the knights and family members of Iron-Dragon Sect. After hearing his suggestion, all the others felt reasonable as they all cupped their hands towards Zhang Tie and left for the airboats of Gold and Power Law.


    The space beside Zhang Tie became open at once.


    "Let''s go back to the airboat first..." Zhang Tie said straightforwardly after taking a look at Yan Feiqing and the others.


    Everyone nodded as they all flew towards the airboat of Iron-Dragon Sect together.


    Before reaching the airboat of Iron-Dragon Sect, Zhang Tie felt something special as he looked at west when he saw three special airboats among over 100 airboats over 400 miles away in the west.


    Zhang Tie saw three old men watching him on one airboat...


    ...


    Unlike the boisterous scene here, the location of the three airboats of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion was much less populated. Besides the airboats of the three top sects, there were only some airboats of major clans or sects which were affiliated to the three top sects or on the side of the three top sects. By contrast, besides so many airboats, there were also a lot of airships on Zhang Tie''s side. A couple of days ago, the airboats and airships over there were a bit scattered; however, after the six airboats of Gold and Power Law arrived there and started to provide free services to kights, many neutral ones had shifted to Zhang Tie''s side, not to mention those clans and independent knights who rooted for Zhang Tie originally. Today, the number of airboats and airships on Zhang Tie''s side was almost many times greater than that on the side of the three top sects. As a result, the strength contrast at Yinhai became sharp.


    Given the population and qi field, Zhang Tie had gained an advantage.


    Just now, when over 10,000 knights released their battle qi smokes and tornados on Zhang Tie''s side, except for a few people on the side of the three top sects, most of them changed their faces. In a split second, the sense of supremacy and calmness disappeared...

 1633 Fear

    When over 10,000 battle qi smokes and tornados rushed into the sky on Zhang Tie''s side, the three old men slightly frowned with profound eyesight on the highest deck of an airboat hundreds of miles away...


    Not until Zhang Tie met his family members and knights of Iron-Dragon Sect and the battle qi smokes and tornados gradually faded away did the three old men exchange a glance with each other and return to the back room of the airboat before sitting down together.


    Taiyi Old Man the head of Taiyi Fantasy Sect was in black and white robe with a taichi diagram in front. His eyebrows and hair were fully white; however, he didn''t have a single wrinkle. In classic heaven reaching crown, his nose was like eagle beak while his eyes were as shiny as stars. He gave out a looming, subtle qi. Given his look, he must be an extremely aggressive figure.


    The head of Heavens Holding Pavilion Heavenly Hunyuan was in white hair and black blade-shaped eyebrows. At the sight of his eyebrows, people would feel like being chopped by two machetes. He carried an extremely strong killing intent. In azure robe, Heavenly Hunyuan was playing with a glazed heavenly ruler, which was well-known across the country as a top treasure of Heavens Holding Pavilion. With great power, it was said to be a golden secret item by very few people in Taixia Country.


    Shenkong Old Man the head of Qionglou Pavilion was the only bald one among the three. He was a famous immortal craftsman in rune instrument manufacturing in Taixia Country. Due to his cultivation method or something else, Shenkong Old Man was always shrouded by fog. Besides his face, the greater part of his body was covered in changing fog mysteriously. He always looked down, which looked pretty benign.


    After sitting down, Taiyi Old Man took a look at the other two as he asked in a low tone, "I wonder whether do you think it''s still too early for us to deliver black invitation cards to Immortal Qianji?"


    "I''ve not imagined that Immortal Qianji could have such high popularity at such a young age. He could easily converge over 10,000 knights. That''s horrible..." Shenkong Old Man sighed.


    Nobody else knew the meaning of Zhang Tie''s high popularity better than the three sage-level knights on the top of the pyramid of cultivation. Zhang Tie''s high popularity was made by Zhang Tie step by step. From his excellent performance in the fight for the title of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province for Zhang Taixuan in White Tiger Platform, Youzhou Province to the fact that he caused a heavy loss to Heavens Reaching Church; from his escape with the crime of killing family members of Fan the household register official to his fight in the Earth-elements Realm; from when he became innocent to that he started to develop Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory; from when he started to produce fiery oil to that he was in charge of the logistics of the Western Theater of Operations; from the battle in Weishui River to the nearest fight in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect in South Border, it could be said that each of Zhang Tie''s deed in each identity in each place was perfect given his ability and moral standing. Therefore, Zhang Tie won such a great popularity among knights in Taixia Country which couldn''t be faltered easily.


    Popularity and prestige didn''t work without an emergency. Take this critical moment as an instance, as long as Zhang Tie raised his arm, he would have able helpers and gain an overwhelming momentum, which could become a paramount force across the country. At the critical moment, he could even manipulate the fate of Taixia Country as a whole. Zhang Tie might not have discovered such a hidden capacity of him. However, many major figures had the same experience with Zhang Tie before realizing their great undertaking since ancient times and from home and abroad.


    However, such a person chose to go against the Imperial Alliance, which couldn''t be borne by the latter.


    "Thankfully, it''s not too late for us to deal with him at this moment..." Heavenly Hunyuan said as his eyes were full of killing intent, "Those who follow us would stay alive; those who don''t follow us would die. As Emperor Xuanyuan has disappeared, who else could defeat us across the country? We''ve already spared a chance to him; if he sticks to be our opponent, we could only eliminate him..." After saying that, Heavenly Hunyuan sneered as he told Taiyi Old Man, "Perhaps they still think that you will fight him on behalf of us until now. He must be thinking about dealing with your Real Sun Flame..."


    "Heavenly Hunyuan, thanks for your help..."


    Heavenly Hunyuan nodded as he patted his Heavenly Ruler on his palm for a couple of times before letting out a sigh, "If only we could directly kill Zhang Tie. If we have to consider the responses from all parties and choose the battlefield above Yinhai, besides doing that ourselves, we have to lose at least 10 rare space-teleportation items to make it look like an accident. What a pity..."


    "Given Zhang Tie''s reputation, if we join hands to kill him, we would become the targets of the public at once. Xuanyuan Hill, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Heavenly Fortune Sect and Demons-Killing Valley would never deal with us for real. As a result, we would face more troubles. As long as we make it an accident, there would be no problem. Such a bit loss is nothing serious when we take Jinwu Palace in the future!" Taiyi Old Man said calmly.


    "Lan Yunxi should have arrived at Datang City..." Shenkong Old Man said as he lowered his eyes, "After marrying Lan Yunxi, the third prince would establish a relationship with Huaiyuan Palace. After Zhang Tie''s death, we would collapse Iron-Dragon Sect; given the relationship between Huaiyuan Palace and Jinwu Palace, we could fabricate many stories about the death of Zhang Taixuan. Along with this clue, we would have a reason to devour Jinwu Palace and control fiery oil and all-purpose medicament. But there''s an unknown factor, namely, Lan Yunxi does not know the relationship between us and the third prince. If she knows that, she might not follow our order. We need to make a preparation for that..."


    "As we''re seeking for the truth, anyone stopping us would be our enemies and deserve the death!" Taiyi Old Man said distantly, "By then, Taiyi Fantasy Sect would solve the problem of Lan Yunxi. No worries!"


    "That''s good; that''s good..." Shenkong Old Man suddenly looked up and took a look at Taiyi Old Man with a smile as he added, "We three have not met each other for a long time. Your cultivation base might have been greater than before. Have you touched the threshold a bit?"


    Heavenly Hunyuan''s eyes moved a bit as he looked at Taiyi Old Man too.


    Taiyi Old Man looked calm as he replied, "As for the new realm, you know, we three a closely tied with each other. How could I open a rebellious way myself? Before Taixia Country becomes the ideal country of us, we would barely make great progress in cultivation base. I''ve just got some gnosis from the secret methods of Taiyi Ture Sutra..."


    Being silent, Shenkong Old Man lowered down his eyes again as a weird look flashed by. Heavenly Hunyuan took a look at Shenkong Old Man silently.


    The back room was in silence at once...


    ...


    At the same time, soon after Zhang Tie returned to the airboat of Iron-Dragon Sect, some unexpected people had arrived and would like to see Zhang Tie...

 1634 New Elders of Iron-Dragon Sec

    Soon after Zhang Tie returned to the airboat of Iron-Dragon Sect and introduced Pandora to the others, his guests had arrived.


    Pandora acquainted with Zhang Tie in Blackhot City. In fact, she was one of those women that Zhang Tie knew first, which Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian had long known. Beverly and Fiona who were not at present had long been familiar with Pandora too. Even Zhang Tie''s parents had seen Pandora in Blackhot City. Therefore, those people at present soon accepted Pandora.


    As Zhang Tie had too many wives, they didn''t feel strange about Pandora''s appearance at all. Additionally, Pandora was the granddaughter of Wu Dingtian the head of Demons-Killing Valley. If she was with Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie would gain the assistance of Demons-Killing Valley and would tide over this crisis easily, which was what the others at present concerned most. As long as Zhang Tie was safe, Jinwu Palace, Iron-Dragon Sect, all the women on Zhang Tie''s side and Zhang Tie''s kids would be safe. Zhang Tie''s women had already reached a consensus about this point. This consensus was more realistic and gloomier than the little girls'' innocent comprehension and beautiful dream about love and marriage.


    This was life! Commoners, knights and major clans must survive themselves while life itself was a realistic and profound problem; especially at the advent of the holy war when everyone was in the overall environment full of surging hidden forces.


    Therefore, even if Zhang Tie took a male with him, all the women at present would also easily accept it, not to mention Pandora.


    After introducing Pandora to them, the moment Zhang Tie wanted his three sons to talk about their experience in Heavenly Fortune Sect these years, a disciple had entered and reported that a knight named Fang Sanguang who called himself an elder of Iron-Dragon Sect would like to see Zhang Tie with five more people.


    After hearing the name Fan Sanguang again, Zhang Tie was stunned for a second. This guy was too impressive in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. At that time, Zhang Tie just wanted to save him and didn''t expect his appreciation at all. Zhang Tie didn''t even care about it when that guy disappeared after leaving the Dongtian.


    Unimaginably, Fan Sanguang came back.


    Finding that Yan Feiqing, Mountain Lifting Hermit and all the others fixed their eyes on him, Zhang Tie told that disciple with a smile, "Let them in..."


    "Yes, sir..."


    Soon after that disciple left, he had led Fan Sanguang and the other five inside the parlor. Zhang Tie was familiar with all of them. Besides the four weird sages that Zhang Tie had met in South Border, Zhang Tie was more familiar with the rest person. Being a bit thin and short, that guy carried a huge gourd on his back. After entering the parlor of the airboat, he started to look around with an exaggerated expression. Before Zhang Tie greeted him, that guy had burst into laughter as he started to greet Zhang Tie with a wink.


    "Hahaha, Immortal Qianji, surprise, we meet again..."


    At the sight of this person, Zhang Tie also burst into laughter as he stood up and greeted him, "Medicine King, why are you here..."


    After hearing that thin and short old man with a gourd on his back was Sun Tiancheng the famous Herbal King, all those who had not seen Sun Tiancheng fixated onto him at a stroke. As a result, Sun Tiancheng appeared being not that thin or short anymore; instead, he became more eye-catching.


    With a frown, Sun Tiancheng heaved a sigh, "Alas, I have to. You know, it''s hard to survive myself as a freelance doctor. I''m always hungry. Therefore, I rack my mind and feel that only your family could survive me as you have fiery oil and all-purpose medicament. Here I am. Don''t you drive me away..."


    Herbal King Sun Tiancheng was a bizarre talent in Taixia Country with eccentric, witty and cynical temperament. Zhang Tie had contacted him before. As the most famous pharmacist master who had exceptional cultivation in medical treatment and medicinal powder, as long as he agreed, he could enjoy a pretty high treatment in any of the top six sects. Of course, it was just a joke that he was always hungry. However, Sun Tiancheng wanted to join Iron-Dragon Sect for real.


    Zhang Tie disguised to be serious as he asked, "Old man, are you kidding me? You want to join Iron-Dragon Sect at this moment?"


    "No kidding!" Sun Tiancheng rolled his eyes to Zhang Tie as he directly threw himself onto the ground, gourd in arms, eyes on Zhang Tie, saying, "When in Xuanyuan Hill, I had felt that you''re an honest man. You''re much better than those tricky guys in super clans and the top six sects (Feng Cangwu coughed twice aside); after providing medical treatment to you, I received your gift, a cross-realm fruit. At that time, I had told you that I would come for you after dealing with something. Do you treat my words as sh*t or what? No matter what, I''ve already gifted the cross-realm fruit to another person. I couldn''t give it back to you anymore. Don''t think about having me owe to you. I will pay off my debt with myself. From now on, my food and drinks would be provided by you. I''m destined to be with you. Don''t think about driving me away..."


    Feng Cangwu started to feel a little pain in teeth as he cursed, "F*ck" for many times inside. At this moment, Feng Cangwu finally realized that he had to accept the fact that Zhang Tie was something every once a while as long as he was with Zhang Tie. There would be no harm without comparison. However, it was impossible for him to not compare Zhang Tie with others as long he was with Zhang Tie. Since the battle at Weishui River, Feng Cangwu had given up competing with Zhang Tie. As for Zhang Tie''s sons, they were all born to be freaks; the little princess of Demons-Killing Valley had long fallen in love with Zhang Tie; Zhang Tie even dared to sleep with a hundreds of years old heavenly knight, and made her pregnant...unbelievable!


    ''But why Herbal King whom Heavenly Fortune Sect couldn''t employ at a high cost would stay with Zhang Tie whatever...who could tell me why? Why...I Feng Cangwu is not poor in moral standing and cultivation base. I''m even more handsome than Zhang Tie and have read more book than him. I''m always open-minded, frank and innocent. Why couldn''t I receive such treatment? I''m also one of the top four excellent youths of Heavenly Fortune Sect and am well-known among the young generation of the top six sects...''


    Although Feng Cangwu was sitting decently, he had long been tearful inside as his loneliness and sadness couldn''t be understood by anyone else at present.


    Watching the shameless Herbal King, Zhang Tie didn''t smile; instead, he felt like shedding tears. As Iron-Dragon Sect received three black invitation cards, he was not thought to have an advantage in the duel tomorrow. Ordinary people prefer to stay far away from Iron-Dragon Sect in case of being involved. However, Herbal King chose to join Iron-Dragon Sect at this moment. It was not simply righteous and timely assistance, but his highest agreement with Zhang Tie. The justice was always in people''s heart.


    "Immortal, since we separated from the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, our four brothers had been conquered by your gentleman''s light. From then on, we had determined to join Iron-Dragon Sec. After leaving the Dongtian, we ended our undertakings in South Border and disbanded our followers and servants and bade farewell to our friends. Previously, we wanted to extend our thanks to immortal in Iron-Dragon Sect. After hearing that Immortal had received the black invitation cards, we directly came here for you. Please don''t blame us for our rudeness. If Immortal agrees, we four would not complain a bit even as rangers or cleaners!" Mr. Bamboo said as he looked at Zhang Tie with frank and cordial eyes. Soon after his words, the four people had bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie.


    Watching the legendary, heroic scene in front of him in such a vivid way, Feng Cangwu, who was sympathizing himself was severely hurt as he couldn''t stand covering his chest.


    By contrast, Zhang Tie''s three sons were watching their father with worship like how they usually did before.


    "What about you?" Zhang Tie asked as he fixated onto Fan Sanguang.


    Looking into Zhang Tie''s eyes, Fan Sanguang''s face flushed as he shrugged, saying, "Head, as you''ve already admitted that I''m a knight of Iron-Dragon Sect when in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, if I don''t come back to face the trouble together with Iron-Dragon Sect, I''m afraid that I would be sleepless later on. I was born as timid as a rabbit. I always put personal safety first. If Iron-Dragon Sect has a large-scale duel with the three top sects, although I couldn''t be a vanguard; I would kill a couple of black iron knights with black brick stealthily..." After saying that, Fan Sanguang looked up at the sky with a sentimental expression as he sighed, "All the others say I''m vicious, but only I know that my greatest weakness is my kindness and a strong sense of righteousness..."


    Zhang Tie looked at Fan Sanguang, then Sun Tiancheng and the four weird sages before bursting out into laughter, and he ordered some disciples, "Quick, provide seats for the six new elders of Iron-Dragon Sect..."

 1635 Enlightenmen

    "It''s said that the possible enemy might be Taiyi Old Man of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. His Real Sun Flames is unusual. Here are some fire-isolation pills that I''ve made a few days ago. It''s more effective than fire-resistant medicament. Head, if it''s really Taiyi Old Man, you could take these fire-isolation pills before the duel. It could strengthen the fire-resistant capability of your protective battle qi!" Sun Tiancheng said as he took out a jade vial and gave it to Zhang Tie. Scratching his head, he continued, "I''m not sure whether my fire-resistant pill could be effective in defending Real Sun Flames; but ordinary knights could stay in high-temperature magma two times longer within one day after taking it. I''ve tried my best. Hopefully, it could be useful..."


    "Thanks, Elder Sun..." Zhang Tie took that jade vial as he opened its lid.


    There were three longan-sized crystal pills in the jade vial. The moment the vial was opened, Zhang Tie had felt a cold fragrance while a white fog rose out of the mouth of the vial. Zhang Tie instantly covered it. He knew the high value of this pill. Even though he had taken so many fiery lotus roots, it was also not bad to have one more guarantee.


    "It''s Iron-Dragon Sect''s honor to have Elder Sun join in!" Zhang Tie sighed with mood again.


    The Herbal King was too sincere. Although Sun Tiancheng behaved a bit weird sometimes, he was definitely a righteous and heroic man.


    Zhang Tie then put the pills into his portable space-teleportation equipment.


    "We four gained a piece of iced glaze in South Border a few years ago. With it, you would be resistant to low and high temperature. It might be useful to resist Real Sun Flames..." Mr. Bamboo said again as he took out a half-palm sized ice glaze and presented it to Zhang Tie.


    Watching their extremely sincere eyes, Zhang Tie instantly took it and put it on. After that, he appreciated them, "Thank you so much..."


    Watching Zhang Tie put on the piece of ice glaze, four weird sages revealed a happy smile at the same time. Bai Suxian pouted her mouth at that piece of ice glaze as she wanted to say something however, she swallowed her words back when Zhang Tie threw a glance at her by the corner of his eye.


    "Ahem ahem...erm, I''m really sorry. I''ve not taken any good gift for you!" Fan Sanguang coughed twice as he said bashfully.


    "It''s fine. Elder Fan, as our member. No need to be that polite!" Zhang Tie spoke with a smile as he wove his hand, saying, "Elder Fan, I wonder how did you meet them?"


    "Haha, it''s a coincidence. As an independent knight, I don''t have a private airboat. Therefore, I could only fly here alone. On the way, I encountered the four elders, Mr. Plum, Mr. Orchid, Mr. Bamboo and Mr. Chrysanthemum. They also come from Suizhou Province like me. As I''ve met them in the Dongtian, after greeting with each other, we come here together. As for Elder Sun, we encountered him outside the airboat just now..."


    After bursting out laughing, Zhang Tie said, "This is God''s will. It appears that you''re destined to join Iron-Dragon Sect!"


    "After having six new elders, Iron-Dragon Sect would further expand for real!" Mountain Lifting Hermit said as he nodded along with all the other old elders of Iron-Dragon Sect. Zhang Tie would have a duel with three sage-level knights tomorrow, who could imagine that Iron-Dragon Sect could have six new elders and realize a sharp increase in battle strength today? The value of the Herbal King was far greater than that of a shadow knight. As for the four weird sages, one of them was earth knight, three of them were black iron knights above seven changes. Although appearing to be a black iron knight, Fan Sanguang felt a bit unusual.


    It symbolized the prosperity of Iron-Dragon Sect when so many bizarre powerhouses joined it at such a critical moment. As long as they tided over this challenge, Iron-Dragon Sect would have a brighter future for real.


    "Head, have you heard the gossip about Yinhai?" Fan Sanguang straightened up as he asked Zhang Tie, attracting the attention of all the others at once.


    Zhang Tie''s eyebrows slightly moved as he answered, "It''s said that Yinhai was previously a huge inland lake; however, the water disappeared overnight!"


    "I don''t mean the gossip before the Catastrophe; I mean that about Yinhai recently!"


    "What''s that?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "Years ago, I wandered and traveled across Taixia Country, ahem ahem!" Fan Sanguang coughed twice as he continued, "I stayed in Suizhou Province for a few days and contacted figures at the bottom of the society. I was told that something happened to many airships of business groups and companies in Suizhou Province on Yinhai..."


    "Something? What''s that?" Zhang Tie turned serious.


    "They disappeared!"


    "Disappeared?" Yan Feiqing asked with a frown.


    "Yes, they disappeared. It''s said that those airships met sandstorms and disappeared in the Gobi Desert. In fact, those business groups and companies had dispatched people to discover the wrecks of those airships for many times. However, only a few wrecks were discovered. Because many airships disappeared in this region over the past 100-odd years, the local airships of Suizhou Province always detour around this region as those crews regard this region as an ominous land! I don''t know why the three top sects choose this region as the battlefield; perhaps it''s just a coincidence or the aiding strength of Taiyi Old Man could play its role to the utmost in this environment; it''s always no bad to be careful..."


    All the knights in the parlor remained silent at a stroke as they started to think about the connotation of this news. Elder Fan''s words gave them a warning.


    With a slight frown, Zhang Tie became silent for a few seconds before nodding and saying, "Thanks for your warning, Elder Fan, I will take care of myself tomorrow. I think it''s not that easy for the three top sects to play any trick in the public!"


    Whatever, it was just a speculation. They didn''t need to worry so much. Additionally, Yinhai was indeed suitable for a duel between powerful knights. Even a duel between sage-level knights wouldn''t do harm to the environment. Additionally, as was told by Elder Fan, the hot climate here might be suitable to the effect of Real Sun Flames of Taiyi Old Man.


    ...


    With six more elders, the parlor of the airboat became more boisterous. However, they all knew that Zhang Tie needed to prepare for the coming duel. Therefore, after chatting for a short while, they had left, leaving time to Zhang Tie and his family members.


    Feng Cangwu returned to the airboat of Heavenly Fortune Sect; Immortal Mountain Lifting, Lu Zhongming and Lin Huanxi led Sun Tiancheng, Fan Sanguang and the four weird sages to the small conference room of the airboat for a short chat. By the way, they introduced Iron-Dragon Sect to them from all aspects.


    Zhang Tie let Pandora have a chat with Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian. He then took Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei to the back room of the airboat.


    After entering the back room, the four people sat down. Zhang Tie then inquired them about their experience in Heavenly Fortune Sect over these years.


    When they were born in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie was in Waii Subcontinent. When they joined Heavenly Fortune Sect, Zhang Tie was framed as the killer of the household register official Fan in Fuhai City and was escaping everywhere. It could be imagined how much stress and hardships the three brothers were sustaining these years. Nobody could promote to a knight with a fluke mind. Even though having an exceptional flair, if one didn''t hone himself diligently, he could not become a knight.


    Zhang Tie felt sorry about his three sons.


    When in Heavenly Fortune Sect, the greatest driving force for the three brothers to cultivate hardly was that they could help their dad defeat enemies together.


    When Zhang Tie was told that the three brothers had entered the tower of time at the age of 12 and cultivated inside for over 10 years before promoting to knights, he couldn''t stand dropping tears as a father.


    Closing his eyes, Zhang Tie''s heart raced. Not until he recovered his composure and his tears disappeared did he open his eyes again as he sent an order.


    "Close your eyes and stay calm..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the three brothers exchanged a glance with each other before entering the state at the same time as was told by Zhang Tie.


    After taking a look at them, Zhang Tie gave out a dignified golden light all over as he stretched out his hand and touched Zhang Chenglei''s head. In a split second, Zhang Tie''s gnosis about swordsmanship, the essence of boxing and spear usage and secret methods such as Soul Forbidden Method were transferred into space above the mind sea of Zhang Chenglei in the form of seeds being waiting for sprouting.


    Zhang Tie was implementing a special, top enlightenment method of Bloody Soul Sutra; instead of Bright Enlightenment Method. In spiritual and bloodline-related realms, secret methods of Bloody Soul Temple ranked top among humans...

 1636 The Great Blessing Method

    Despite his great ability, it still took Zhang Tie over one hour to complete the enlightenment for his sons.


    After Zhang Tie moved his hand away from Zhang Chengpei''s head for quite a while, Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei opened their eyes one after another. They felt too many new things in their mind; especially Zhang Tie''s gnosis about cultivation base, which was too enormous and profound for them. Even if the gnosis had been enlightened to their mind sea, they could only sense it faintly. Before turning it into their own gnosis, they needed further cultivation by breaking some barriers. Some secret methods were just seeds for them, which couldn''t be absorbed until they reached higher levels.


    That was the power of the enlightenment skill in Bloody Soul Sutra, the one who implemented this enlightenment skill could not turn some abstruse gnosis and experience into the seeds of the mysterious awareness and bury them into the mind sea of the one being enlightened; besides, he could determine which knowledge and secret methods would show up at certain moments in the process.


    Except for the incomplete King Roc Sutra, Zhang Tie had already enlightened the seeds of Great Wilderness Sutra and Bloody Soul Sutra to the mind sea of his three sons. The seed of Great Wilderness Sutra would sprout until they promoted to earth knights while the seed of Bloody Soul Sutra would sprout when they were promoted to shadow knights.


    Zhang Tie didn''t force them to cultivate these classic secret methods in the future as they might have their reasons. However, at least they would know something about these classic secret methods. Additionally, they would transfer the seeds of these secret methods to the posterities of the Zhang family.


    After recovering their mind, the three brothers watched Zhang Tie with astonishing looks. When they were young, they had already been told that their father was very powerful; however, only when they promoted to knights did they understand how powerful was their father. In the process of enlightenment, they had sensed the surging spiritual energy in Zhang Tie''s mind sea. Being covered by Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy, they felt like being small boats in a billowy ocean. A single spray would turn them over.


    The three brothers exchanged a glance with each other as if they had understood something.


    Zhang Tie would fight a sage-level knight tomorrow; however, he enlightened so much knowledge to them today, the three brothers instantly understood their father''s intention.


    "Papa..."


    Raising his arm, Zhang Tie stopped Zhang Chenglei as he watched them with a smile, "I know what you''re going to say. But it''s the only thing that I could gift you now. If something unexpected happens to me tomorrow, you should carry forward these things in Jinwu Palace..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the three brothers'' eyes turned red at a stroke.


    "Never, papa, you would be safe..." Zhang Chengpei comforted him.


    "In this world, besides Emperor Xuanyuan, nobody dare say that he could defeat a sage-level knight. As you''ve promoted to knights, you know the power of high-level knights. I''m just a shadow knight; even though I''m a divine dominator, the gap between three levels couldn''t be neglected so easily. The duel tomorrow is full of risks. I have a low probability to win it. By far, I only have less than 40 % chance to turn the duel into a protracted war and enter a stalemate with the opponent. If something unexpected happens to me, you must promise me to not avenge me before promoting to sage-level knights!"


    The three brothers dropped tears silently. Zhang Tie took a look at them before turning stern, "Am I clear?"


    Under Zhang Tie''s serious eyes, the three brothers finally nodded.


    Zhang Tie then slightly recovered his composure as he watched Zhang Chenglei, saying, "I''ve already made an appointment with His Majesty. His Majesty has a daughter who''s as young and excellent as you. After this duel, that girl would marry you regardless of the outcome of the duel!" Chenglei and Chengpei, you should also marry the daughter of Zuoqiu Clan and Guan Clan. I''ve already reached agreements with them and informed your elder uncle. After this duel, you two will stay in Zuoqiu Clan and Guan Clan for a few days and contact their young generation. You could choose a favorable wife from their young generation!"


    "Yes, papa!" Zhang Chenglei, Zheng Chengting and Zhang Chengpei answered in unison as they lowered their heads.


    As Zhang Tie was not with them since they were young and the three brothers were a bit premature, of course, they were clear about their father''s purpose by having them marry a daughter of the three clans. Of course, they would not disobey him.


    "Well, you take a rest here tonight. You''d better recover your spiritual energy first. You could go out tomorrow..."


    ...


    When Zhang Tie opened the door of the room where Yan Feiqing, Guo Hongyi, Bai Suxian and Pandora were in, those women fixated onto him at a stroke.


    "Where are your sons?" Yan Feiqing asked.


    "I''ve imparted something to them. They need to take a rest in the back room for one night!" Zhang Tie said as he watched them and took a seat, "What are you talking about?"


    "We''re talking about how to transfer you to Pandora!" Guo Hongyi said calmly.


    "Transfer me to Pandora?" Zhang Tie asked with a speechless way.


    "Well, you could stay in this room tonight. Trust me, nobody would disturb you!" Yan Feiqing said as she stood up, followed by Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi. After taking a look at Zhang Tie, they left the room silently.


    ''That''s strange. How could they become so generous? Do they leave space and time for me to have a good stay with Pandora after so many years'' departure? Impossible. If so, Bai Suxian has long been unhappy. But why did she leave here so decisively?''


    Watching them leave and close the door from outside, Zhang Tie scratched his head as he asked Pandora out of curiosity, "What happened?"


    Pandora explained with a smile, "I told them I''m going to implement the Great Blessing Method for you. It might need one night!"


    "Great Blessing Method? What''s that?"


    "It''s a secret method that Wu Clan has adopted since far ancient times. The Hua people''s ancestral bloodline that I''ve awakened could help me implement this secret method. To put it simply, after adopting this secret method, you would have a good fortune and chance to survive yourself in crisis..." Pandora said as she undid her longuette, showing her perfect body to Zhang Tie.


    When he saw her unrivaled, perfect frame again, Zhang Tie almost couldn''t move his eyes away.


    "Take off yours too. When I implement the Great Blessing Method, there should be no obstacles such as clothes!" Pandora said with a smile when she saw Zhang Tie''s dumbfounded look. At the same time, she came over here and started to help Zhang Tie take off his clothes.


    In the process, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand putting his hands on Pandora''s waist as his instinctive physiological response happened at once.


    "The implementation of Great Blessing Method is sacred. No evil thought is allowed; otherwise, I would be devoured by the power of my bloodline!" Pandora whispered to Zhang Tie.


    Heart pounding, Zhang Tie hurriedly bit his tongue tip to remain as calm as water.


    ...


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie and Pandora were sitting naked face to face in the room with pretty solemn looks. Pandora was surrounded by a weird glow, in which many bizarre golden runes were flowing. Additionally, the glow was expanding and gradually including Zhang Tie.


    In the glow, Pandora''s body was like a burning furnace. Although Pandora didn''t speak, Zhang Tie could hear a dreamlike, eccentric and desolate mantra and drum beats...


    After breaking her finger, Pandora drew something towards Zhang Tie as many strands of blood flew out of the wound before turning into bizarre bloody runes in the air. After that, those bloody runes entered Zhang Tie''s body.


    Since the first bloody rune entered Zhang Tie''s chest, he had closed his eyes unconsciously. Closely after that, he entered an empty realm and all of his senses were isolated from outside. He was then immersed in pleasure and clear state that he had not experienced before.


    Pandora drew 360 bloody runes in the air, which gradually entered Zhang Tie''s body as a whole including his chest, lower abdomen, back, arms, shoulders, thighs and eyebrows...


    As each rune was drawn, Pandora''s glow gradually weakened while Zhang Tie''s gradually strengthened. When the last bloody rune entered Zhang Tie''s eyebrow, Pandora''s glow had fully disappeared; by contrast, Zhang Tie''s glow grew brilliantly.


    Watching Zhang Tie, Pandora revealed a reassuring smile on her pale and weak face as her body swayed. Finally, she couldn''t even sit decently; instead, she directly lay on the ground.


    After Zhang Tie completely absorbed the glow in two hours, he opened his eyes when he saw Pandora who had passed out and lain on the ground.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly helped her sit up and had her lean against his chest. After that, he poured two vials of senior medicament into her stomach to wake her up.


    When Pandora opened her eyes, she took a look at Zhang Tie and revealed a weak smile. Closely after that, she closed her eyes again and fell asleep. Before that, she moved herself a bit closer to Zhang Tie''s chest and murmured, "It''s so nice to sleep in your arms..."


    Zhang Tie kept this gesture overnight as he watched Pandora sleep quietly in his arms...


    ...


    As the sun rose, January 29 finally arrived...

 1637 Entering the Ring

    Starting from the early morning of January 29, the air around Yinhai had been warm. All the airboats and knights who were wandering above Yinhai had left the core fly zone above Yinhai before sunrise. Besides, the fly zone near the edge of Yinhai was clear.


    Everyone was longing for the response from Iron-Dragon Sect and the three top sects, causing the air above Yinhai restless in silence.


    A combat between a divine dominator and a sage-level knight had never happened aboveboard before. Therefore, even heavenly knights and sage-level knights were paying special heed to this combat, not to mention ordinary knights.


    Undoubtedly, sage-level knights were powerful; however, people were also looking forward to another miracle displayed by Immortal Qianji, who as a divine dominator could kill a heavenly knight by striking him by rod for nine times in this combat.


    Soon after the sun rose from the east, Zhang Tie in black combat outfit had flown off the airboat of Iron-Dragon Sect under the gaze of the public. At the same time, he accelerated to over 10 times that of the speed of sound in a split second towards the center of Yinhai with air-breaking rumbles.


    "Here comes Immortal Qianji; here comes Immortal Qianji..."


    Those knights around Yinhai were immediately in an uproar. Almost everyone who paid close attention to the airboat of Iron-Dragon Sect had known that it was Zhang Tie who had flown off given Zhang Tie''s pretty young look and his flight capability as a divine dominator. Even if someone could disguise himself as Zhang Tie, he wouldn''t be able to disguise Zhang Tie''s flight capability. Nobody else could reach such a high flight speed in the stage of shadow knight except Lord Fairysea.


    Additionally, the one who flew off the airboat of Iron-Dragon Sect carried a strong personality. Watching him fly towards the center of Yinhai, all the onlooking knights held their breaths as if they saw an invisible and brilliant light on the black robe. With a such strong qi field, it told everyone at present that it was the world-renowned Immortal Qianji.


    In the air, Zhang Tie stayed calm. He didn''t feel intense or restless at all. Since in Blackhot City, after experiencing so many battles, Zhang Tie had completely forgotten about tension and anxiety in any battle, even if it was a life-or-death one. Like those veterans who could survive hundreds of battles in ground corps, Zhang Tie had been used to all the battles and forgotten about life-or-death situations.


    As a knight and a veteran, after so many real life-or-death situations and experience in trouble-reappearance situations, Zhang Tie had become unrivaled in mentality and spirit.


    He took a bath, had a grand breakfast with his wives and three sons and have a short chat with the other elders of Iron-Dragon Sect. After that, he wore a set of simple black outfit before leaving the airboat.


    In the sky, Zhang Tie even enjoyed the scenery on the ground.


    The color of sands in Yinhai was a bit lighter compared to the surroundings. It might be because Yinhai was the inland lake of Gobi Desert. Even after nearly 1,000 years, a few heavily withered aquatic organisms such as shells and snails and evidently eroded rocks could still be seen among those sands.


    From the sky, the entire Yinhai was like a gourd-shaped basin, connected with two round shapes, one big, one small. Of course, this basin was large enough to be a battlefield between Zhang Tie and a sage-level knight. They didn''t need to worry about that the combat would destroy the terrain or do harm to innocent people.


    The air carried a hot qi. The wind above ground made dust and sands cover the sky. However, at such a high altitude, Zhang Tie couldn''t sense the dust and sands in the air at all unless a sandstorm.


    When Zhang Tie flew off his airboat, three figures flew off three airboats of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion at the same time. They all flew towards the center of Yinhai, namely the intersection between the two round regions of the gourd-shaped basin at almost the same speed, which was about 200 miles away from the edge of Yinhai in all directions.


    Under the gaze of the public, the four people soon arrived at the center of Yinhai and stopped there with a distance of about 10,000 m.


    "You''re Qianji Immortal Zhang Tie?" Taiyi Old Man asked as he took a look at Zhang Tie. His rumbles reflected from the dome of the heavens and spread over. As a result, all the people nearby Yinhai could hear it from hundreds of miles away.


    What powerful sage-level knights! Even as a shadow knight, Zhang Tie still admired the universal sound transmission skill very much. Although Zhang Tie couldn''t do it as casually as those sage-level knights, he could still make it by his super powerful battle qi manipulative ability and spiritual energy as a divine dominator. Although it sounded a bit rustic, it worked. When the opponent opened his mouth, Zhang Tie had already formed some dozens of meters long trumpets of air using his spiritual energy around him. After that, he exerted the largest stress on his voice by his battle qi and adjusted the "power" to the utmost. Then, he transmitted his voice into the invisible trumpets to disseminate it.


    At this moment, he could not lose face on behalf of Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace.


    "Ture, I''m Zhang Tie. Who are you?"


    As Zhang Tie opened his mouth, the three sage-level knights felt an impact wave of sound charging at their face at the same time from 10,000 m away. The air in the surroundings even rocked. At the same time, Zhang Tie''s voice spread far away as fast as a lightning bolt with a loud resonance, which was as powerful as that of the sage-level knight. As a result, the three sage-level knights'' hearts pounded at the same time and those onlooking knights were in exclamations.

 1638 A Quarrel

    "I''m Taiyi Old Man!" the sage-level knight of Taiyi Fantasy Sect replied calmly; which sounded patient and kind at least for those onlooking knights. He was not like having a duel with Zhang Tie. "This is Heavenly Hunyuan; this is Shenkong Old Man!" Taiyi Old Man then introduced the other two to Zhang Tie.


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t think Taiyi Old Man was a good man because of his tender attitude. As the old saying went, those dogs who bite people never bark. Taiyi Old Man''s attitude made Zhang Tie alert, and he realized it was not a simple battle.


    "Hahahaha, glad to see you!" Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards them calmly as he asked straightforwardly, "I wonder who would fight me?"


    "Don''t be so anxious, Immortal Qianji!" Taiyi Old Man said calmly and righteously, "It''s not that we three sects have turned hostile against Immortal, but we have to preserve our dignity. We must pay off the lives who sacrificed in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. The destructive snakes of Great Wilderness Sect killed so many knights of our three sects. It''s said that the snakes are in your hand. As long as Immortal could hand out the two destructive snakes, we will not make you embarrassed. No matter what, as human knights, if we fight each other in the holy war, demons would gain benefits from it. That would be irrational!"


    The three sects were expecting for a good honor as a whole. Strictly, the two destructive snakes were just weapons of Yun Zhongzi. Anyone who knew the details of Great Wilderness Sect should know that. As the destructive snakes killed their knights, it was shameless for the three sects to have Zhang Tie hand out his weapons instead of fighting Yun Zhongzi.


    Taiyi Old Man neglected the position of the two destructive snakes in the Great Wilderness Sect and the fact that they were under control; instead, he just took them as mutated beasts. Zhang Tie then became an accomplice to a certain degree. Therefore, the three sects sent black invitation cards to Zhang Tie.


    They were lying. Zhang Tie felt that the three sects might have already known that the two snakes were the key to the entire Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect. Therefore, they stuck to their opinion.


    After hearing Taiyi Old Man''s words, Zhang Tie understood that the three sects intended to stomp him to their feet or kill him. At the same time, they would continue to stand on the commanding height of morality and maintain their paramount positions in Taixia Country in case of any gossip. Therefore, they performed in this way.


    Perhaps some onlooking knights could be puzzled by Taiyi Old Man''s words; after Taiyi Old Man finished his words, Zhang Tie took a look at those knights hundreds of miles away as he found many people among them were nodding as if they felt reasonable about Taiyi Old Man''s words. Of course, it was reasonable for them to avenge their disciples'' murders.


    However, Zhang Tie instantly figured out the purpose of the three sects. Now that they longed for good honor, Zhang Tie would peel off their fake skin fiercely.


    "Hahaha, Taiyi Fantasy Sect is really righteous..." Zhang Tie burst into laughter generously as his sound rumbled across the region, "Given the words of Taiyi Old Man, this battle is completely a misunderstanding. We don''t need to fight anymore in case of breaking harmony between us. Why not judge the result of this combat using the number of heads of demon knights at the bank of Weishui River? See you at the bank of Weishui River..."


    Zhang Tie said as he turned around and intended to fly back.


    "Wait, Immortal Qianji!" Taiyi Old Man stopped Zhang Tie at once as he moved a few more steps forward, saying, "Immortal Qianji, why do you intend to leave now..."


    After turning around, Zhang Tie patted his forehead as if he suddenly thought up something. He then said with a solemn look, "Oh, my poor memory, I almost forgot that you just want the two snakes. To tell the truth, the two b*stards were reckless as before. Although being tamed, they were still recalcitrant; when I was in secluded cultivation a few days ago, they wanted to raid me and were finally killed by me. They''ve already become dust. I''ve already avenge your disciples'' murders for you..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the three sage-level knights became silent while all the onlooking knights were in an uproar. Many knights looked pleasant; those who cared about Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh.


    In the holy war, as top Hua powerhouses, such a battle should better stop. This was the consensus of many knights.


    After being silent for a short while, Taiyi Old Man opened his mouth again. This time, his voice became muffled and rigid, "Immortal Qianji, do you have any evidence?"


    "Evidence? The two animals have become dust. What else do you want, Taiyi Old Man? Oh, when I killed them, I kept some skin and scales. Here you go..." Zhang Tie said as he threw a piece of molt and some scales towards the three sage-level knights from 10,000 m away.


    As Yun Zhongzi said the snakes'' molt and scales would be very useful, Zhang Tie kept some. The two snakes were now with Yan Feiqing. Unless Yan Feiqing came out to reveal Zhang Tie''s lie, nobody could identify that Zhang Tie was lying.


    Under the control of Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy, the piece of molt and scales instantly arrived at the front of the three sage-level knights. Taiyi Old Man, Heavenly Hunyuan and Shenkong Old Man became silent once again. They didn''t take them; instead, they just had them float in front of them.


    As Zhang Tie threw the "remains" of the two destructive snakes to the three sage-level knights, the atmosphere above Yinhai became weird at a stroke. Nobody could imagine such a performance.


    "Hahaha, if there''s any doubt, you could take those things and have someone authenticate them!" Zhang Tie continued in a casual manner, "As I''ve avenged your disciples'' murders, I wonder how do you appreciate me. Are you negotiating about how to thank me? Hehheh, I like the Taiyi Soul-Building Pills of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. If Taiyi Old Man gifts me 8,000-10,000 pills, I would accept them. As for Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion, you could also gift me whatever you have. As Iron-Dragon Sect has just started, we won''t decline it..."


    The three sage-level knights were in weird silence. However, Zhang Tie knew that the three old d**chebags might be working out a solution secretly. They must have not imagined that Zhang Tie could be so "shameless". What was more, Zhang Tie had the molt and scales of the two destructive snakes, which verified that the two snakes had already been killed by him.


    "After reaching an agreement, please send your gifts to Iron-Dragon Sect. I have to go first. As for the piece of molt and scales, just take them as my gift. Take them back and offer a sacrifice to those knights and disciples of your sects in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect using them!" After saying these words, Zhang Tie flew back.


    "Wait..." A rigid voice drifted once again. All the three sage-level knights surrounded Zhang Tie soon after Zhang Tie moved back.


    "Immortal Qianji, your name is known to everyone across the country. Everyone knows that Immortal Qianji has a myriad of tricks. Therefore, we don''t believe in your words!" Shenkong Old Man said as he lowered his eyelids.


    "Even if I could tell a lie, the molt and the scales won''t. You could have someone authenticate it!" Zhang Tie said sarcastically with a smile, "What? Don''t you three want to avenge your disciples'' murders? Why do you ignore the remains of your foes? Why not even check it? Given the current situation, I''m afraid those who didn''t understand what happened might think it''s me who killed the knights and disciples of your sects."


    "Black invitation cards couldn''t be revoked. I''m afraid that Immortal would tell the truth after the duel!" Heavenly Hunyuan said.


    "Hahaha..." Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he wove his hand, causing the molt and scales to fly back. He then put them into his space-teleportation item before saying, "Therefore, no matter what, now that I''ve arrived, I should not leave. Why not say it earlier? Why do you find the excuse of avenging your disciples'' murders and make me the scapegoat of the death of your knights and disciples? Now that you want to be whores, how could you preserve your honor? Don''t be that mean anymore. Is that what Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou always do? Ridiculous, ridiculous, too ridiculous, hahaha..."


    All the onlooking knights were in an uproar. Many people immediately figured it out that the three sects didn''t send black invitation cards for the sake of the destructive snakes, but to have Zhang Tie involved in this battle so that the sage-level knights of the three sects could deal with Immortal Qianji aboveboard. A lot of knights'' faces turned red out of fury as they started to swear loudly in the distance...

 1639 Stay Calm

    Nobody could imagine that the combat would start from a quarrel, including those knights of Iron-Dragon Sect and the three sects. In the beginning, Taiyi Old Man''s words sounded a bit reasonable; however, after a few rounds of verbal argument, Zhang Tie had peeled off the fake face of the three sects and trod it on the ground.


    Under the gaze of so many knights, the faces of Taiyi Old Man, Heavenly Hunyuan and Shenkong Old Man turned black. They had not imagined that they could be fooled by Zhang Tie in this case.


    The onlooking knights were in hot discussions, some of whom became restless. By contrast, the Knights of the three sects remained silent.


    "Immortal Qianji, you''re really tricky. If Immortal thinks that you could evade our black invitation cards in this way, you''re too naive!" Taiyi Old Man put it straight as he ignored all the other onlooking knights'' opinions, wiping out what happened just now as if it had not happened at all.


    "If I wanted to escape, I would not be here!" Zhang Tie refuted with a solemn look, "As a knight, if you want a fight, do it. Why do you fabricate such an excuse? In this age, force talks. As you''ve got greater battle strength, you want to kill me by sending black invitation cards to me. But why do you find such a ridiculous, disgusting excuse?"


    "It appears that Immortal Qianji has long been dissatisfied with our three sects. No wonder Immortal went against the deputy heads of our sects in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect for a few times." Taiyi Old Man said distantly, "It seems that this duel becomes inevitable for hostility and reason. However, in order to show our frankness, only one of us would fight you. If Immortal could defeat one of us, you would win us three. We will then call it an end!"


    "Really? Is that you who will fight me on behalf of the three sects?"


    "Hahaha..." Taiyi Old Man finally revealed a smile as his voice turned righteous again, "My aiding strength is Real Sun Flames. I could kill a heavenly knight from 60 miles away. If I fight you, it would be unfair. Therefore, Heavenly Hunyuan would fight Immortal on behalf of us!"


    ''What? It''s Heavenly Hunyuan, instead of Taiyi Old Man?''


    Zhang Tie was shocked as he felt missing a punch.


    The noise in the surroundings lowered at a stroke. Those of Iron-Dragon Sect exchanged a glance with each other. Previously, everyone felt that Zhang Tie would have the greatest probability to win the combat if the opponent was Taiyi Old Man, including Iron-Dragon Sect and Gold and Power Law. However, none of them could imagine that the opponents would dispatch Heavenly Hunyuan to fight Zhang Tie.


    Were the three sects really merciful by making such an arrangement as was told by Taiyi Old Man?


    Many knights who despised the deed of the three sects wavered their mind again. If the three sects determined to kill Zhang Tie, they would dispatch Taiyi Old Man. Because everyone across the country knew that Taiyi Old Man was the number one sage-level knight among the six top sects. Besides Emperor Xuanyuan, none of the sage-level knights could defeat him in the world.


    ''Why?''


    ''The top sects are really tricky. Soon after I got the upper hand, they have got the upper hand back by disguising to be merciful.''


    Zhang Tie couldn''t figure out why Heavenly Hunyuan was dispatched to fight him on behalf of the three sects. However, there was one point that he was sure that the three top sects were not showing their mercy to him; instead, they must play a secret trick. They must be pretending to be gentlemen although being whores. Superficially, they treated me mercifully and righteously; in fact, they must have evil intentions.


    After Taiyi Old Man finished his words, Taiyi Old Man and Shenkong Old Man exchanged a glance with each other and didn''t say anything to Zhang Tie any more as if they were afraid that their Achilles heels were caught by Zhang Tie. Taiyi Old Man and Shenkong Old Man then flew back into their own airboats, leaving Heavenly Hunyuan and Zhang Tie face to face with a distance of 10,000 m in the center of Yinhai.


    The atmosphere grew intense at once.


    "Immortal Qianji, are you ready?" Heavenly Hunyuan frowned his black eyebrows as he looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes. A strong qi field charged at Zhang Tie at a stroke.


    ''No matter what, now that Heavenly Hunyuan couldn''t match Taiyi Old Man, it''s good news for me. I will break his strikes one after another.''


    With a lazy smile, Zhang Tie suddenly held a golden spear. Squinting his eyes, Heavenly Hunyuan appeared being ready to fight. Those who knew Zhang Tie were clear about the destructive power of his golden spear, which could kill low-level knights like killing dogs and cats.


    "Heavenly Hunyuan, take easy. It''s not for you. It''s used for timing!" Zhang Tie bantered as he shot his golden spear towards a hillside.


    The golden spear didn''t fully enter a huge piece of rock; instead, it only entered 3 cm. At the same time, it caused a huge platform whose diameter was a few meters with round scales on it. As the sun had just risen, the shadow of the spear rightly fell on a round scale of the boulder.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had created a huge sundial.


    "Our duel will start at 3 pm. It''s just 9 am. Are you that anxious? Heavenly Hunyuan could launch a strike at 3 pm. Now, I''m going to take a rest!" Zhang Tie said as a small cloud of moisture formed above his head which covered sunshine, despite Heavenly Huyuan''s bad look. After that, Zhang Tie sat in the air, legs crossed, eyes closed as if he was really taking a rest.


    Zhang Tie''s calmness facing the duel won the admiration of many onlooking knights.


    Heavenly Hunyuan sneered as he was not afraid that Zhang Tie would play any trick. It was just a few hours'' rest, which would pass in the blink of an eye as for high-level knights like them.


    When Heavenly Hunyuan thought this, he sat in the air, legs crossed and eyes closed too...


    ...


    In Datang City, it was a sunny day after the snow. Accompanied by Elder Muyu, Lan Yunxi entered the third prince''s mansion again. She would go for hunting at the invitation of the third prince...

 1640 The Hunt in Dragon-Tiger Mountain

    It was a major event for the prince''s mansion that the third prince was going to hunt today.


    This early morning, an airboat had hovered above a square inside the third''s mansion. Compared to various luxury airboats across the country, this pale airboat was only a bit longer than 100 m in the shape of sturgeon. It appeared pretty flexible. This kind of airboat was especially for hunting, being exclusive to princes.


    When Lan Yunxi and Elder Muyu arrived at the third prince''s mansion, everything in the mansion was almost ready. After being arranged to meet Xuanyuan Wuji by the butler of the mansion, they boarded the airboat. After that, the airboat left for the east of Datang City.


    Although being a simple hunt, Xuanyuan Wuji still took over 100 people, which felt like a bit grand. Besides the four bodyguards and Xue Fucius, there were also 60-70 guards and a lot of servants and cooks, even an employed professional animal controller.


    Of course, those servants and cooks were in charge of cooking the freshest food. The animal controller was necessary in this case. It would be too embarrassing if the prince failed to hunt anything. If there was an animal controller, the prince would catch something regardless.


    In remote subcontinents, such a legion could almost sweep over a small country. However, it was just a hunting team of the third prince.


    They would hunt in Dragon-Tiger Mountain, Jinghe Prefecture, which was over 400 miles away from Datang City. The region covering hundreds of miles around Dragon-Tiger Mountain had been purchased by Xuanyuan Wuji after Datang City became his bounty city. Additionally, he built a Dragon-Tiger Palace on Dragon-Tiger Mountain, where he would avoid heat stroke in summer and hunt in winter.


    400 miles was a bit far for commoners; however, it only took about 40 minutes to arrive there by airboat.


    ...


    "Miss Lan, don''t you feel comfortable today?"


    Xuanyuan Wuji fixated onto Lan Yunxi as he asked out of concern.


    Lan Yunxi appeared to be in a low mood as she didn''t look good. Since she boarded the prince''s mansion, she had been silent. Even in the airboat, when so many major figures were in the airboat, Lan Yunxi just squinted at the snow-covered landscape outside the airboat where rivers flowed by, mouth pursing. It appeared that she was thinking about something and didn''t feel like talking at all.


    Conversely, Xuanyuan Wuji looked pretty spirited today. In a trim blue suit and a pair of tiger-hide hunting boots, he was sitting there and playing with his fingerstall. Meanwhile, he talked with Xue Fucius about lending grain seeds to those cities within Jinghe Prefecture in the spring as if he was a merciful and able master of the country. Some guards were carrying some containers of arrows and a heavy crossbow for him.


    After talking with Xue Fucius, Xuanyuan Wuji found Lan Yunxi had been silent for a while, he then fixated onto her and asked her.


    "The cuisine in Datang City is a bit different than that in Youzhou Province. Miss isn''t used to the local food. Therefore, she feels a bit fatigued!" Elder Muyu explained for Lan Yunxi after finding that Lan Yunxi became silent for two seconds.


    Lan Yunxi was just in a bit low mood; however, Elder Muyu had been looking black since he entered the prince''s mansion.


    Commoners might not be suitable for the local food; however, it was just a decent reason for Lan Yunxi, as a knight, to be not suitable for the local food.


    "According to the rule in the prince''s mansion, the one being asked by His Majesty has to answer. As His Majesty was asking Miss Lan, Elder Muyu, you''d better not interrupt!"


    Jiang Feng who posed a threat to Elder Muyu in the prince''s mansion looked straight into Elder Muyu''s eyes as he said with a jeer.


    Elder Muyu raised his eyebrows as he couldn''t help standing up out of fury...


    "I''m thinking as same as Elder Muyu!" Lan Yunxi opened her mouth as she turned around and took a cold and sharp glance at Jiang Feng, "Although Huaiyuan Palace is not an imperial household, at least we know how to treat guests well. At least bodyguard or servant in Huaiyuan Palace is not allowed to interrupt when the master is talking with the guest. Is this rude behavior a rule in the prince''s mansion?"


    "You..." Jiang Feng changed his face at once...


    "Hahaha, we''re hunting. As it''s not in the prince''s mansion, we don''t pay attention to so many rules. From then on, we will be a family. Hopefully, we could live harmoniously..." Xuanyuan Wuji said with a smile as he waved his hand to calm down the two parties. After that, he watched Lan Yunxi with a smile, saying, "I thought you''re going to be silent for the whole day!"


    "Archery is an ancestral battle skill of Zhang Clan. Almost every one of Zhang Clan gets hang of archery. Huaiyuan Palace carries it forward from Lord Huaiyuan. Lord Huaiyuan is well known for using crossbows. I learned archery at a young age; therefore, I''m not interested in hunting! Please forgive me!" Lan Yunxin explained calmly.


    "Oh, really? I almost forgot it!" Xuanyuan Wuji smiled as he continued, "There''s a grand event above Yinhai, Gobi Desert; pitifully, as a prince, I couldn''t leave my bounty prefecture freely. Otherwise, I might have reached there if we set off a few days ago. Immortal Qianji was from Huaiyuan Palace. However, he might not excel at archery; instead, his spear throwing skill is well-known across the country!"


    Being expressionless, Lan Yunxi replied, "Not each posterity of Lord Huaiyuan could awaken the talent and bloodline of Lord Huaiyuan!"


    "True!" Xuanyuan Wuji nodded as he continued with a smile, "It''s said that Gold and Power Law opens a gamble on this duel. Miss Lan, which party would you support if you were there?"


    "Immortal Qianji has nothing to do with Huaiyuan Palace. Nor will Huaiyuan Palace pay attention to him!"


    "Really? I''m reassured by your words!" Xuanyuan Wuji said. After that, he turned around and asked Xue Fucius, "How many element crystals could I use?"


    "10,000 earth element crystals and 10,000 water element crystals in total!" Xue Fucius, who was always quiet, answered.


    Lan Yunxi and Elder Muyu both regarded Xue Fucius as an aide of Xuanyuan Wuji. Therefore, they didn''t pay much attention to him.


    "Has the battle at Yinhai come to a start?"


    "Not yet. It starts at 3 pm!"


    "Well, contact Gold and Power Law. I choose the sect of Miss Lan as the winner with all my available earth element crystals and water element crystals at stake!" Xuanyuan Wuji said with a smile.


    After hearing Xuanyuan Wuji''s words, Elder Muyu''s heart pounded as he clenched his fists. Lan Yunxi turned around and watched the scenery outside the airboat with a distant look again while her elegant cheek and neck looked as snow-white as ice sculpture...


    ...


    After such a small episode, the airboat soon arrived at Dragon-Tiger Palace.


    The Dragon-Tiger Palace had already prepared over 100 handsome rhino-dragon horses and over 20 hounds for them.


    Xuanyuan Wuji''s rhino-dragon horse was a stronger top-quality mutated species. It was pitch-black all over, except its snow-white hoofs. There was another outstanding snow-white one which was Lan Yunxi''s mount. The two rhino-dragon horses matched each other pretty well.


    The prince''s team mounted their rhino-dragon horses the moment they got off the airboat.


    Before mounting her horse, Lan Yun felt being noticed by a strange eye light from back using her instinct. She turned around at a stroke as she found the animal controller in fox hide was watching her.


    Lan Yunxi became slightly stunned. She had seen that animal controller before boarding airboat. He was an annoyed tough half-breed at his 40''s with slightly curled hair and a gloomy look.


    When Lan Yunxi turned around, the animal controller avoided her eyesight at once as he galloped the rhino-dragon horse and came to the front while blowing a long whistle.


    At the same time, a snow-white huge eagle flew out of the clouds and hovered above them for a while before flying away. Those hounds also barked and rushed onto the mountain slope and woods as fast as bolts, closely followed by the animal controller and over 100 mounts.


    The iron hoofs of over 100 handsome rhino-dragon horses broke the tranquility of Dragon-Tiger Mountain in a split second as they rushed into the woods.


    Only after a short while, some boars had been driven out of the woods by fierce hounds.


    Xuanyuan Wuji burst into laughter as he extended his arms and opened his crossbow to break through a strong boar''s head from over 300 m away on the mount...


    ...


    Half an hour later, over 20 beasts, including pheasants, boars and kelbi had fallen onto the ground.


    Lan Yunxi only shot off an arrow which was shot towards a doe coming out for food with her deerlets by one guard of Xuanyuan Wuji.


    After seeing that, Xuanyuan Wuji burst into laughter instead of condemning her. They then continued.


    ...


    "Your Majesty, a trace of a rare mutated iron-claw tiger is discovered in the woods ahead of us..."


    The animal controller who had just caught a snow fox turned around and reported Xuanyuan Wuji.


    As one of the top nine immortal provinces in Taixia Country, Jiangzhou Province contained many population and cities. Over the past hundreds of years, those fierce wild beasts had long been exterminated by people. In this case, a mutated iron-claw tiger became a rare fierce beast and unrivaled animal in the woods of Jiangzhou Province. It could even match a LV 9 fighter in battle strength. After hunting so many years here, Xuanyuan Wuji had not caught such a fierce beast at all. Therefore, after hearing the animal controller''s warning, Xuanyuan Wuji instantly became interested in it as he wove his hand and rushed into the woods, followed by his team.


    ...


    Ten minutes later, Xuanyuan Wuji got off his mount and squatted on a hillside, observing an area of blood stains and the incomplete corpses of some hounds. There were some deep claw prints of a fierce beast behind those corpses and blood stains, which stretched all the way to the depth of the woods. Over 100 mounts became restless as they circled on the ground as if they were wild and fierce.


    Xuanyuan Wuji wove his hand while everyone got off their mounts and entered the woods by foot, including Xue Fucius.


    "It''s rugged in front. Xue Fucius, do you go there too?" Elder Muyu warned Xue Fucius when he saw Xue Fucius following the team.


    "It''s fine. Thanks for your concern, Elder Muyu. After staying in the prince''s mansion for so long, I''d like to warm up outside. I could stand it!" Xue Fucius replied with a kind smile as he exhaled towards his hands and rubbed them before following the footstep of Xuanyuan Wuji, panting.


    Watching this scene, Elder Muyu became silent.


    After walking along the trace left by the iron-claw tiger for over 20 minutes, they had come out of the woods to a high granite. There were many broken stones on the ground near here while the trace of the claw prints disappeared. No snow could be found here.


    "Watch out, Your Majesty..."


    When Xuanyuan Wuji was discovering the trace of the iron-claw tiger, the beast had already shown up on a cliff nearby. With a growl, it charged at Xuanyuan Wuji from over 30 m high.


    Xuanyuan Wuji responded as fast as a lightning bolt. The moment the iron-claw tiger charged down, he had held his long crossbow. When the tiger reached half in the air, he had already made his crossbow round and shot into one eye of the animal.


    The iron-claw tiger fell down. When everyone recovered composure, Xue Fucius, who was panting, suddenly changed his face.


    The falling iron-claw tiger broke into a bloody rain in the air like a broken bag. Right in the bloody rain, a bloody figure came out of the location of its belly as he threw his spike towards Xuanyuan Wuji''s throat as fast as a lightning bolt with an extremely strong killing intent...

 1641 Killing Xuanyuan Wuji

    The bloody figure broke out from the abdomen of the iron-claw tiger and flashed towards the head of Xuanyuan Wuji out of everyone''s expectation. Even those knights beside Xuanyuan Wuji couldn''t make any response to it.


    Given the speed of the bloody figure, it must be a knight. Additionally, he appeared so abruptly. Therefore, when the others discovered him, his spike had almost reached Xuanyuan Wuji.


    It was a long-awaited, unimagined fatal strike.


    The bloody figure''s spike failed to hit Xuanyuan Wuji. In a split second, a flowing red semi-transparent light shield covered Xuanyuan Wuji like an overturned bell.


    The bloody figure''s black spike then slid over the light shield like the sickle of the deity of death, causing not even a single sparkle. Closely after that, it fell onto the throat of another person who was nearest to Xuanyuan Wuji.


    While spurting blood like a fountain through his neck, that person''s head was sent several meters high in the air in a split second as all of his blood started to burn like flames, closely followed by roars and sharp air-splitting sounds caused by a powerful battle qi.


    "Protect His Majesty..."


    Xuanyuan Wuji survived the first strike of the bloody figure due to his secret item; instead, a knight beside Xuanyuan Wuji was beheaded. As a black iron knight, that person had been killed before he realized what happened.


    With the call of "Protect His Majesty", two shadow knights of the four King Kongs and Xuanyuan Wuji flew off at the same time. With a growl, Jiang Feng, one of the four King Kongs instantly charged at that bloody figure who had easily avoided the counter-strike of the others by twisting his body in the air.


    On this occasion, the ground environment became more complex and perilous, which was not suitable to the exertion of battle strength of knights and left chances for assassins to launch a strike. By contrast, it was more open and safer in the air.


    When Xuanyuan Wuji and the two shadow knights flew off, Elder Muyu and Lan Yunxi flew off too, but they didn''t move closer to Xuanyuan Wuji; instead, they kept a distance with Xuanyuan Wuji in the air; otherwise, they might be the targets of the assassin and might be in danger or be attacked by the four King Kongs in the name of suspects.


    On the ground, the hunting team had been in a great disorder. Facing the coming earth knights, the bloody figure instantly split into nine and rushed in all directions at the same time.


    "Jiang Ming, protect Xue Fucius..." Being in the air, Xuanyuan Wuji left rapidly with the protection of two shadow knights. Before leaving, he even sent an order to an earth knight called Jiang Ming, one of four King Kongs.


    When the bloody figure charged down, Xue Fucius appeared a bit afraid as he instantly seized the arm of Jiang Ming while quivering all over...


    At this moment, a bloody figure flew towards Xuanyuan Wuji; however, before it reached Xuanyuan Wuji, it had been shattered into pieces and fell off like a bloody rain with a golden light.


    Lan Yunxi''s face turned pale as she had made her little red crossbow round again. After triggering her bow, she shattered another bloody figure on the ground with a golden light.


    Before flying off, Xuanyuan Wuji threw a glance at Lan Yunxi.


    When the third bloody figure was destroyed by Jiang Feng, the other bloody figures had already aroused bloody chaos in Xuanyuan Wuji''s hunting team.


    In the chaos, the animal controller who discovered the trace of the iron-claw tiger was struck by a bloody figure''s off-hand battle qi and spurted out blood. At the same time, he rammed against Xue Fucius and Jiang Ming.


    Lan Yunxi had already shattered three bloody figures by her little red crossbow in such a short period of time. Right then, Lan Yunxi suddenly squinted her eyes as an unimaginable scene suddenly appeared in her eyes, causing a sudden change on the ground...


    When the animal controller who was sent flying away by the bloody figure rammed against Xue Fucius and Xue Ming, an extremely terrifying, huge abyss iron battle hammer suddenly appeared in his hand. At the same time, the blood, which the animal controller had spurted, formed two bizarre tad-pole-shaped runes which were giving out a brilliant glow in front of his chest at a stroke.


    Like when the bloody figure suddenly launched a strike just now, this sudden change was also unimaginable.


    The terrifying, huge abyss iron battle hammer instantly struck Xue Fucius who looked emaciated. At the same time, one of the two bizarre runes entered the forehead of the animal controller while the other shot towards that knight beside Xue Fucius.


    Before the arrival of the battle hammer, Xue Fucius instantly released a frightening qi as he drew Jiang Ming and moved back as fast as possible. At the same time, he uttered a growl which could be heard within thousands of miles, "Who are you?"


    With a loud boom, a huge impact wave rose from the ground, causing Lan Yunxi and Elder Muyu hurriedly to fly away although being at a high altitude.


    The strong impact wave instantly blew over the woods and the high rock, breaking the high rock into pieces while rows of huge trees within 1,000 m were blown down towards a direction like a beach being affected by the flood. All the guards and servants of Xuanyuan Wuji were killed at once. Although being over 100 m away, Jiang Feng was also blown off by the strong impact wave.


    At the same time, a miserable shriek drifted from the ground.


    Xue Fucius was also blown off as fast as a meteor even if he had released his protective battle qi. At the same time, Xue Fucius held a section of a broken arm. The miserable shriek was not uttered by Xue Fucius, but Jiang Ming whose arm had been broken.


    When Xue Fucius was sent flying away and prepared to leave there with Jiang Ming by this chance, Jiang Ming stayed still like rooting in the ground. Besides the terrifying strength from the battle hammer, Jiang Ming couldn''t move even if he wanted. Therefore, one of his arms was broken by Xue Fucius, causing such a miserable shriek.


    Nobody could imagine such a sudden change, including Lan Yunxi and Elder Muyu.


    Watching the terrifying impact wave from the ground, Elder Muyu changed his face greatly as he drew Lan Yunxi back as fast as possible, saying, "Miss, back..."


    Lan Yunxi hurriedly flew back. By far, the ground combat couldn''t be dealt with by them anymore. If such a powerful strike was on them, they would be killed instantly.


    When the impact wave spread in all directions, the two shadow knights and Xuanyuan Wuji who had flown away turned around and flew towards the most perilous region at the risk of their lives.


    Watching such a weird scene, Lan Yunxi and Elder Muyu appeared to have realized something; however, they left there rapidly; instead of expressing their fury of being fooled.


    On the ground, dozens of meters deep pit was found where Xue Fucius and Jiang Ming once stood. With a heavy hammer in hand, the animal controller, no, that powerful and weird killer was standing in the air, facing that earth knight who had lost one arm. Xue Fucius who was blown off was accelerating towards the killer at a high speed with a domineering battle qi.


    The animal controller also flashed backward as fast as Xue Fucius. What was more, the earth knight who had lost one arm also moved back with the animal controller as if there was an invisible chain between him and that animal controller no matter how hard he struggled.


    The earth knight roared as he started to save himself by slashing a brilliant long sword towards the terrifying animal controller from many meters away.


    Pitifully, his self-relief was in vain due to the sharp gap between levels and the terrifying battle strength of that animal controller. Perhaps that knight who had lost one arm didn''t know how ridiculous his slash was in front of the animal controller.


    When the injured earth knight flashed backward, another battle hammer had arrived, breaking the aura of his long sword into pieces. When the battle hammer approached him, a golden light shield suddenly appeared, which was similar to the former one released by the earlier Xuanyuan Wuji. However, this light shield contained some flying runes.


    When the heavy hammer touched the earth knight, it broke his light shield along with the bizarre rune crystal plate that he wore; besides, his long sword was blown off. The region between the thumb and the index finger of his only hand was cracked while all the five fingers and the bones of his entire palm were shattered. Beside spurting blood constantly from the broken hand, his clothes were burned into ash at once, making him naked. At the same time, his skin cracked, revealing the original face, which was completely as same as the earlier Xuanyuan Wuji. However, this one looked more domineering between his eyebrows.


    "Let go Your Majesty..." Xue Fucius roared. However, after missing one piece, he had been destined to lose the combat although he was just bruised by the huge hammer. In this case, Xue Fucius couldn''t even touch the killer due to a great distance. When he was moving forward, the assassin was moving back while Xuanyuan Wuji was in between, facing him. If he launched a strike, he would hurt Xuanyuan Wuji first.


    "Bloody wheel lock. Who are you?" The real Xuanyuan Wuji roared, "Xuanyuan Golden Body..."


    At the same time, Xuanyuan Wuji released a bizarre qi while earth elements in Elements Realm suddenly poured towards Xuanyuan Wuji at a pretty high speed, gradually forming an outfit...


    The terrifying animal controller remained silent; instead, he responded to Xue Fucius and Xuanyuan Wuji with his battle hammer for the second time in an irresistible manner.


    The incomplete Xuanyuan Golden Body had been shattered once again, causing greater damage to Xuanyuan Wuji.


    When flashing backward, wounds over Xuanyuan Wuji had cracked, bones were broken, eyes, ears, nose and mouth spurted out blood; however, Xuanyuan Golden Body still survived this strike.


    "What an emperor-level Xuanyuan God Sutra, what a pity..." the animal controller suddenly opened his mouth.


    Xuanyuan Wuji was close to collapse. Watching that terrifying animal controller with an unwilling look, he exerted his utmost efforts to utter, "As long as you let me go, I could give you everything..."


    "I only want you dead. I will take it myself!"


    After saying such words, the terrifying battle hammer fell onto Xuanyuan Wuji for the third time, shattering his thin protective battle qi along with his unwillingness in the void.


    Time appeared to stop at this moment...


    Lan Yunxi and Elder Muyu in the far were petrified. Not until then did the two people not believe that the third prince Xuanyuan Wuji had been killed by an iron hammer in front of them.


    So were Xue Fucius and the rest knights. They all looked black.


    "Your Majesty..." Jiang Feng who had been blown away above the woods shouted miserably as he rushed over here.


    Holding his heavy hammer, the animal controller threw a glance at Jiang Feng as he accelerated towards Jiang Feng and rammed into him like a lightning bolt.


    Facing such terrifying strength, Jiang Feng, one of the four King Kongs was split into pieces at once.


    In the far, Elder Muyu quivered all over as he suddenly recalled Jiang Feng''s physical threat and words in the prince''s mansion.


    "Zhang Tie..." Xue Fucius suddenly roared, which caused Lan Yunxi and Elder Muyu to change their face again.


    The animal controller didn''t reply. After killing Jiang Feng, he instantly rushed to the fake Xuanyuan Wuji and the two shadow knights.


    With another strike, the Xuanyuan Wuji burned into ashes; with one more, Jiang Qianchou the shadow knight of Jiang Clan, Heavenly Stars Palace broke into pieces; by sweeping over his hammer horizontally, he beat the employed shadow knight down to the ground as if the latter was struck by a lightning bolt. After that, the animal controller rushed towards Xue Fucius. After the brawl broke out for less than one minute, a bloody qi spread over the entire zone with an explosion fiercer than the earlier impact wave, causing the sky within 60 miles scarlet...


    After that, a meteor quivered a few seconds in the sky before flying towards the south...


    The Dragon-Tiger Mountain was in silence. At this moment, besides Lan Yunxi and Elder Muyu in the sky, only one heavily injured shadow knight was lying on the ground.


    Watching all this with a pale look, Lan Yunxi and Elder Muyu felt like having a dream.


    ...


    In the imperial palace of Xuanyuan Hill...


    A series of hasty, flurried footsteps drifted outside Yanji Palace of the imperial palace, causing Xuanyuan Changying who was thinking about the coming combat in Shazhou Province frown at a stroke. However, before royal prince ordered his bodyguard to reproach him, the person had pushed away two bodyguards. With pale face and sweat drops over his head, it was one of Xuanyuan Changying''s uncles in charge of personnel affairs of the imperial households.


    "Fourth uncle, why are you so flurried?" Xuanyuan Changying put down his document and asked him calmly while relieving his frown.


    "The life lamp of the third prince...third prince...third prince Xuanyuan Wuji in God''s Bless Pavilion has...has died out just now..."


    Xuanyuan Changying instantly sprung up...


    "Your Majesty, here''s an emergency from the Provincial Military Department of Jiangzhou Province..." a bodyguard raised a cylinder sealed with fiery lacquer above his head as he rushed into Yanji Palace.


    ...


    Above Yinhai, Zhang Tie finally opened his eyes as he watched the location of the airboats of the three sects in the distance with a faint smile...


    ...

 1642 Donst Fear Vision being Blinded by Clouds

    The feeling of killing himself using the secret skill of Bloody Soul Sutra was a bit like the feeling of death in trouble-reappearance situations although it was not as strong as the latter.


    Zhang Tie almost exerted his full efforts to kill Xuanyuan Wuji by using the great strength of divine dominator, lotus-flower eyes and the secret skills of Great Wilderness Sutra and Bloody Soul Sutra; through a considerate plan, he finally figured out the maze and avoided the traps and killed Xuanyuan Wuji by hammer despite the protection of a semi-sage knight.


    In fact, before that bloody figure broke out from the belly of the iron-claw tiger under the control of Bloody Devil Enlightenment Method, Zhang Tie was not sure that the role of Xuanyuan Wuji in the prince''s mansion was his substitute. When two shadow knights escorted Xuanyuan Wuji''s substitute away and Xue Fucius stood in front of "Jiang Ming", Zhang Tie finally affirmed his judgment and fixed the real target in a split second.


    When the bloody figure broke out, nobody knew that the bloody figure was used to finding the real Xuanyuan Wuji at the critical moment instead of killing people.


    That original body of the bloody figure was the animal controller in the prince''s mansion whom Zhang Tie had replaced with his substitute.


    It was Xue Fucius who protected Xuanyuan Wuji for real. The real third prince was with him in the identity of one of four King Kongs. The other three of four King Kongs and Xuanyuan Wuji''s substitute were charge in covering the trace of real Xuanyuan Wuji and attract others'' attention on this occasion. This was a perfect layout and protection. Even Xuanyuan Changying the royal prince might not need such considerate protection when he left the imperial palace and Xuanyuan Hill.


    As a prince, Xuanyuan Wuji shouldn''t leave his bounty prefecture. However, as the core figure of the Imperial Alliance, Xuanyuan Wuji was vital in the organization as he was responsible for contacting all parties. It was almost impossible for such a person to work out major events without leaving his bounty prefecture.


    However, if not Zhang Tie had observed so long in the prince''s mansion and discovered the details, anyone else would be attracted by the fake Xuanyuan Wui when the two shadow knights escorted him away.


    It was a face-to-face collision between Zhang Tie and the Imperial Alliance and Zhang Tie''s first time to experience the great power of Xuanyuan Deity Sutra. Although he didn''t know how many secret skills were there in the complete version of Xuanyuan Deity Sutra, Zhang Tie thought the Xuanyuan Golden Body that Xuanyuan Wuji revealed at the critical moment and the ability to disguise as an earth knight although being a black iron knight probably was the secret skills of Xuanyuan Deity Sutra. To be honest, even Zhang Tie couldn''t see through these secret skills even by lotus-flower eyes.


    However, Xuanyuan Wuji died; he must die. Even if he cultivated an emperor-level secret method, given his ability as a black iron knight, no matter how powerful was Xuanyuan Deity Sutra, he could do nothing but being defeated by Zhang Tie who also cultivated an emperor-level secret method and had promoted to a shadow knight.


    In the three change realm of shadow knight, even though Zhang Tie''s substitute''s battle strength was 80-90 percent of his original body in Weishui Battle. No matter what, there was such a sharp gap between the two parties.


    By killing Xuanyuan Wuji and inflicting Jiang Clan of Heavenly Stars Palace, Zhang Tie broke the core bond and figures of Imperial Alliance and avenged Huaiyuan Palace''s destroyer. What was more, this assassination greatly undermined the risks of domestic war and internal frictions of Taixia Country and preserved the aura of the country.


    According to Zhang Tie''s thought, if he could save hundreds of millions of people by killing one person, he would do it even if he was a son of Emperor Xuanyuan.


    Even though hundreds of millions of civilians could die, why couldn''t a son of Emperor Xuanyuan?


    Zhang Tie didn''t think that a son of Emperor Xuanyuan was more valuable than hundreds of millions of people in Taixia Country.


    Besides time, Zhang Tie only cost a substitute, an abyss iron battle hammer lighter than 10 tons and space-teleportation equipment. Such a loss was nothing serious for Zhang Tie.


    It was an economical trade!


    With a smile, Zhang Tie watched the location of the airboats of the three top sects. After a short while, Zhang Tie had seen some shadow knights including Feng Yexiao hurriedly flying into the airboat of Taiyi Fantasy Sect as if they were called for a meeting in an emergency. From over 10,000 m away, Heavenly Hunyuan who used to close his eyes also revealed a shocking look as he opened his eyes.


    Needless to say, Heavenly Hunyuan had already known the death of Xuanyuan Wuji. Those who received the news in Imperial Alliance must mention that the assassin used the ability of divine dominator to kill Xuanyuan Wuji and the shriek of Xue Fucius on revealing the identity of the assassin.


    If Zhang Tie was not in Yinhai at this moment, he would definitely be accused of killing Xuanyuan Wuji. However, he was just sitting there and taking a rest under the gaze of the public and waiting for the coming combat. Who would say the assassination being hundreds of thousands of miles away was done by him?


    Additionally, the one who killed Xuanyuan Wuji committed suicide in bloody devil separation skill above Dragon-Tiger Mountain after having a fight with Xue Fucius, leaving bloody clouds over there, which could be seen from 60 miles away. With such firm evidence that Heavens Reaching Church or the remains of Bloody-Soul Temple killed the third prince, who could say that it was related to Zhang Tie only by a battle hammer which was available to everyone?


    A divine dominator who excelled at the secret skills of Bloody Soul Sutra committed suicide after killing the third prince Xuanyuan Wuji. All the clues then came to an end. This event would become a pending criminal case forever.


    Heavenly Hunyuan took a look at Zhang Tie when he found Zhang Tie was also looking at him...


    "Heavenly Hunyuan, why do you look surprised?" Zhang Tie asked Heavenly Hunyuan with a serious smile; instead of using his large trumpets.


    Zhang Tie had already been completely relaxed and pleasant. Because he knew that he had already defeat Imperial Alliance before the start of this combat.


    The fact of Xuanyuan Wuji''s being killed was a strategical failure for Imperial Alliance. Even though Zhang Tie lost this combat, the Imperial Alliance could only gain a tactical victory. No matter what, tactical victory couldn''t cover strategical failure.


    With this attitude, Zhang Tie had recovered his composure and didn''t even care about the result of this combat any more even if he was killed.


    After being told that Xuanyuan Wuji was assassinated, Heavenly Hunyuan had been restless. ''Now that Zhang Tie is in front of me, the assassin must be someone else. However, besides Immortal Fairysea and Immortal Qianji, he is the third divine dominator. Additionally, this one is proficient in secret skills of Bloody Soul Method. Is there any other people or force being involved in scrambling for the throne? Additionally, that person and force must be hostile against the Imperial Alliance...


    After the death of Xuanyuan Wuji, Imperial Alliance might fall apart as the three top sects'' conspiracy would fail.


    Besides being restless, Heavenly Hunyuan looked bad too.


    No matter what, after hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Heavenly Hunyuan instantly recovered his composure as he replied using battle strength, "Immortal, why don''t you continue your rest?"


    "I was told that we should live up to drinks, beauties and beautiful sceneries. Just now, I didn''t feel like enjoying such scenery. When I stay calm, I find the scenery in the Gobi Desert special! Oh, I remember a poem¡ª¡ªstraight smokes rose in the desert; the sun falls in the long river. Good poem! Good poem! After we start our combat, we will make straight smokes. Oh, there''re two more¡ª¡ªdon''t fear vision being blinded by clouds; because we''re at the highest point. I feel the latter lines are better. Look at where we are, we''re almost at the highest place. We could watch the scenery. As it''s open, even if there''re some clouds, they couldn''t blind our eyes at all. Everything is clear. Isn''t it cool..."


    Shaking his head, Zhang Tie started to assess a poem. Heavenly Hunyuan gritted his teeth as he said gloomily, "Immortal, don''t you worry about the result of this combat?"


    "Worry? Worry what?" Zhang Tie burst out laughing, "A person''s life varies from dozens of years to hundreds of years. I''ve already lived up to nature and the hundreds of millions of people in Taixia Country. Although I have regrets, I don''t feel sorry about myself. As I''ve killed powerful enemies, enjoyed sceneries and best, hottest drinks and slept with the most beautiful women; I''ve got the best brothers and friends. Therefore, I don''t fear nothing. Even if I were killed, it was just like having a dream..."


    Watching Zhang Tie, Heavenly Hunyuan started to feel a bit scared. If Immortal Qianji promoted to a heavenly knight, semi-sage knight or sage-level knight, he would be unrivaled. Therefore, they had to kill Zhang Tie.


    ¡ª¡ªNo matter what, we have to kill Immortal Qianji in this combat. Never let him leave here alive.


    Taixia Old Man sent a message to Heavenly Hunyuan by remote-sensing finger ring.


    Heavenly Hunyuan recovered his composure at once as he took a look at the sundial on the ground and revealed a smile, saying, "Now that Immortal is so heroic, why not start it now..."


    "Fine..." Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    Soon after his words, Zhang Tie had put on his Chaos Outfit within 0.001 seconds as he held a battle hammer weighing 36.6 tons. Zhang Tie and Heavenly Hunyuan disappeared almost at the same time.


    With a thunder-like boom, a strong impact wave appeared in the center of Yinhai in a split second, which swept over hundreds of meters high sandstorm, changing the color of the region at once.


    Not until then did the onlooking knights realize that the combat had already come to a start.

 1643 The Dragon in the Sky

    When Zhang Tie was fighting Heavenly Hunyuan, Yun Zhongzi was overlooking the mountain gate of Taiyi Fantasy Sect in clouds as his robe swayed in the air.


    The mountain gate of Taiyi Fantasy Sect was located in Taiyi Mountain. The core region of Taiyi Fantasy Sect was 6,000 miles around Taiyi Mountain. Taiyi City was less than 300 miles away from the mountain gate of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    Taiyi Mountain was a place endowed with the fine spirits of the universe, being enshrouded with smoke. A waterfall was pouring down in an overwhelming manner like a white curtain, making it pretty immortal.


    What the disciples of Taiyi Fantasy Sect were pleasant about and proud of was Misty Peak where the main palace of Taiyi Fantasy Sect was located.


    Misty Peak was an artificial peak. Instead of being built on the ground, it was floating in the sky on the basis of a large amount of air floating gold that Taiyi Fantasy Sect had gained. For hundreds of years, Taiyi Fantasy Sect built rockeries and pavilions on the peak. Floating on the main peak of Taiyi Mountain, Misty Peak was like a legendary immortal''s residence; it was the symbol of the prosperity of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and made Taiyi Fantasy Sect the first sect in the country.


    In latest years, Taiyi Fantasy Sect built 12 smaller air-borne sceneries and buildings around Misty Peak. Adorned with each other in the sky, they were a grand scenic spot.


    Each year, many people from both home and abroad would pay a visit to Taiyi City and look at the marvelous Misty Peak with reverence from far away.


    Being on the top of Taiyi Mountain, Misty Peak overlooked the rest of the world like the noble head above Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    After the duel at Yinhai started for a few minutes, Yun Zhongzi had received the message.


    It was a peddler selling news in Taiyi City who sent the message to Yun Zhongzi; instead of Zhang Tie. Yun Zhongzi only used one earth-element crystal to drive the peddler mad, who even gifted Yun Zhongzi a military remote-sensing communications device, telling Yun Zhongzi that he would receive the news soon after the duel started at Yinhai.


    Everyone across the country was paying attention to this duel. Besides Gold and Power Law, people from all walks of life had opened gambles with high attention. Therefore, that peddler didn''t even ask about Yun Zhongzi''s profession. He just treated it as a business of high profit.


    The news reached Xuantian City from the Gobi Desert outside Shazhou Province hundreds of thousands of miles away, then to the peddler, then to Yun Zhongzi. Although it was fast enough, the process took almost 7-8 minutes.


    After receiving the news, Yun Zhongzi reaffirmed it and took out that lowest-level, extremely crude cup-sized remote-sensing communications crystal device and rubbed it into ashes along with its metal shell, making it go with the wind.


    The order from the emperor could not be followed when the general was too far away.


    Yun Zhongzi was not a general. Neither was Zhang Tie an emperor. Therefore, Yun Zhongzi neglected the request of the "humble head" of the Great Wilderness Sect on not interfering with this conflict.


    Yun Zhongzi neither broke his promise nor violated the law or the intention of his superior. When in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect, Yun Zhongzi had told Zhang Tie unless Zhang Tie was greater than him in battle strength, he would not follow Zhang Tie''s order. As of now, Yun Zhongzi the elder of Great Wilderness Sect and Zhang Tie the head just "negotiated" with each other.


    The result of this negotiation was that Yun Zhongzi came to the nestle of Taiyi Fantasy Sect on the day the duel started at Yinhai.


    Taiyi Mountain looked beautiful from the sky. It was a prosperous sect. Covering thousands of miles'' land and rivers, it was domineering.


    Watching the scenery under foot, Yun Zhongzi''s eyes gradually turned gloomy. The prosperity of Taiyi Fantasy Sect reminded Yun Zhongzi of the tragedy of Great Wilderness Sect. Therefore, his killing intent gradually boiled.


    ...


    "Who are you? It''s the territory of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Nobody else is allowed to stay in this fly zone..."


    Soon after Yun Zhongzi crumbled that remote-sensing communications device, two black iron knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect had arrived in front of Yun Zhongzi, who looked like rangers. One of them instantly asked Yun Zhongzi in a stern pattern.


    In common linen robe, Yun Zhongzi almost hid his qi as a sage-level knight. Given his look, he was too common. Being utterly different than those young guys who promoted to knights at a very young age, he looked like a grey-haired person who finally promoted to a knight after 100-200 years'' cultivation.


    At the sight of Yun Zhongzi, the two rangers had listed Yun Zhongzi as such a kind of person.


    After throwing a faint glance at the two knights, Yun Zhongzi replied calmly, "I''m here for killing people..."


    The two knights became stunned. Before they realized what happened, Yun Zhongzi had made them into a bloody rain, one punch for one person.


    After seeing blood, Yun Zhongzi''s eyes turned red. Before the warning bell of Taiyi Fantasy Sect rang, Yun Zhongzi had shot towards Misty Peak like a shell with a large number of lightning bolts while the powerful battle qi wave of a sage-level knight appeared on him.


    His first earth-shaking strike fell onto the main palace of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    With a loud boom, the main palace of Taiyi Fantasy Sect was shattered while the entire Misty Peak rocked. The rising smoke and dust and the loud sound aroused the attention of the entire sect.


    The mountain gate of Taiyi Fantasy Sect had not been provoked like this for so many years. Therefore, their knights and disciples didn''t respond to it timely.


    When his second strike fell onto Misty Peak closely after the first strike, most of rockeries and pavilions over Misty Peak started to be broken while numerous boulders rolled down, causing a large amount of battle qi smokes and tornadoes to rise into the sky.


    "Audacious..." An earth knight rushed over here immediately. However, before he finished his words, Yun Zhongzi had punched him as fiercely as a mutated tiger, breaking his protective battle qi and turning him into ashes.


    When his third strike reached, Misty Peak had started to incline.


    At this moment, a female shadow knight in above 7 change realm who could pose a bit threat to Yun Zhongzi finally arrived with a slim long sword, a secret item. From 1,000 m away, she had slashed towards Yun Zhongzi in an overwhelming manner...


    ''Here comes someone great.'' Yun Zhongzi sneered while shielding the slash using his protective battle qi; at the same time, he launched his fourth strike.


    When the sword qi touched his protective battle qi, it directly penetrated through it in the void and exited from the other side, leaving Yun Zhongzi safe and sound.


    "Sage-level knight..." the female knight changed her look at once as she sent a warning to those knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect who were rushing over here, "Everyone, retreat. Quick..."


    Before she finished her words, Yun Zhongzi had accelerated towards her...


    ...


    On the airboat of the Supreme Court, Jianghe Prefecture, Jiangzhou Province...


    Lan Yunxi and Elder Muyu were telling what they saw in Dragon-Tiger Mountain to the chief justice of Jiangzhou Province in details.


    The news that the third prince was killed had long rocked the entire country. The Supreme Court had long dispatched imperial powerhouses to Jiangzhou Province for investigation. As witnesses, Lan Yunxi and Elder Muyu were "invited" into the airboat of the chief justice of Jiangzhou Province.


    "I''ve told you that Elder Muyu and I flew into the air the moment the first assassin appeared. Because the assassin''s target was the third prince, who was accompanied by two shadow knight bodyguards, we didn''t move closer in case of any misunderstanding. Therefore, we survived..."


    Lan Yunxin explained calmly to the chief justice of Jiangzhou Province. Right then, she suddenly stopped as her face turned pale. At the same time, her body rocked and quivered for a couple of seconds...


    The chief justice of Jiangzhou Province and Elder Muyu were both stunned by her abnormal movement.


    "Aah, miss, what happened..."


    Lan Yunxi didn''t speak. She was in a daze while pouring out tears.


    Just now, Lan Yunxi received a piece of news¡ª¡ªYun Zhongzi the sage-level knight of Great Wilderness Sect launched a raid to Taiyi Fantasy Sect and destroyed Misty Peak. The mountain gate of Taiyi Fantasy Sect was scattered around in a mess. Besides, Lan Yunxi''s master Zhu Qianqian, one of the four elders of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, who cared about Lan Yunxi so much these years was killed...


    The message was sent by her senior sister apprentice. When Lan Yunxi received this news, Taiyi Fantasy Sect had already sent an emergency gathering order to all of its knights and let them return to the location of the sect.


    Within one day, Lan Yunxi''s fiance and her master had been killed, which shocked Lan Yunxi greatly without any warning...


    After Xuanyuan Wuji was killed, Lan Yunxi didn''t cry; because they didn''t have any affection at all; instead, it was merely a trade. Since the beginning, Xuanyuan Wuji was strange to Lan Yunxi. Whereas, the death of her master made her extremely distressed. She felt that the whole world was dim. After her father''s death, she lacked one more person who cared about her most.


    ...


    At the same time, above Yinhai.


    With another boom, Zhang Tie''s 36.6 ton hammer which was applied with Class IV consolidating rune finally broke apart in the strong impact wave as it couldn''t bear the destructive strikes.


    It was the second heavy hammer that Zhang Tie lost in this combat. Except for silver secret items, ordinary metal weapons could never sustain the destructive strength of Zhang Tie''s kinetic strike.


    When the heavy hammer broke apart, the Heavens Ruler of Heavenly Hunyuan weirdly broke through Zhang Tie''s protective sword qi and three swirling silver secret shields and struck onto Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi like crossing the void.


    Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi rocked heavily as it collapsed. When the Heavens Ruler almost touched him, Zhang Tie roared as he forcefully clipped the sharp blade of the Heavens Ruler by hands like a pair of iron pliers.


    The armor over his arm collapsed as Zhang Tie''s hands bled heavily. However, such a milli-second delay enabled Zhang Tie to escape from it. When the Heavens Ruler touched his body, Zhang Tie had shifted to miles away, avoiding the sharp strike of the Heavens Ruler.


    The strike at tens of thousands of meters high fell onto the ground in vain, drawing a huge sand trench over 1,000 m long.


    Although Zhang Tie had avoided this strike, his chest armor still sustained a part of this strike, causing his chest armor and back armor to collapse and fall off completely.


    "One more..." Zhang Tie roared which could be heard 60 miles away. At the same time, the third heavy hammer appeared in his hand. Closely after that, Zhang Tie in broken outfit rushed towards Heavenly Hunyuan who was holding Heavens Ruler in a domineering manner at nearly 8 miles a second like a meteor or a fiery phoenix.


    On the airboat, Zhang Tie''s three sons and Bai Suxian had poured out tears when they saw heavily wounded Zhang Tie rushing towards Heavenly Hunyuan with the same weapon in an unyielding manner.


    All the onlooking knights were in silence as they were all shocked by Zhang Tie''s unyielding battle will and the weird Heavens Ruler in the hand of Heavenly Hunyuan instead of Zhang Tie''s battle strength as a divine dominator.


    "He better escape..." Wu Dingtian the head of Demons-Killing Valley murmured and shook his head as he saw Zhang Tie rushing towards Heavenly Hunyuan again.


    Even as a divine dominator, Zhang Tie was just a shadow knight, which was three levels lower than a sage-level knight. Every shadow knight would be hopeless facing a sage-level knight, even a heavenly knight; except Zhang Tie, who was still in battle. However, it was not most fatal. As for Zhang Tie, the most fatal thing was the Heavens Ruler in the hand of Heavenly Hunyuan besides the sharp gap between levels.


    Heavens Ruler was the most well-known golden secret item in Taixia Country. There were many legends about Heavens Ruler. Not until today was it unveiled to the public. This golden secret item had a powerful, mysterious space teleportation ability as it could almost ignore any spatial distance or physical defense and directly touch its opponent. Besides his protective battle qi, any external defense of Zhang Tie was ineffective for the Heavens Ruler. At the same time, Heavens Ruler appeared granting Heavens Hunyuan with an abnormally high speed spatial movement and powerful space defense ability, which could offset the high speed and long-distance striking ability that Zhang Tie was proud of as a divine dominator.


    "Grandpa, save him. I know you could save him..." Pandora pulled Wu Dingtian''s hand as she beseeched her grandpa who was also a sage-level knight with tears.


    "I could only give him a hand. It depends whether he could escape..." Wu Dingtian took a look at Pandora as he instantly closed his eyes. Meanwhile, he made a strange right hand gesture on his back.


    In the blink of an eye, the wind around Yinhai had grown stronger as onlooking knights were shocked by a black line rolling over the skyline in the distance.


    When Zhang Tie and Heavenly Hunyuan were in the fiercest combat, sandstorm the most terrifying natural disaster in the Gobi Desert arrived without any omen...


    After receiving the news from Taiyi Fantasy Sect, the face of Taiyi Old Man who was standing on the airboat had turned black as he felt pretty bad. Feeling the sandstorm behind him, Taiyi Old Man squinted his eyes as he immediately fixated onto Wu Dingtian from hundreds of miles away.


    Wu Dingtian threw a distant glance at Taiyi Old Man.


    By far, Shenkong Old Man of Qionglou Pavilion had already left Yinhai. After receiving the news that Yun Zhongzi launched a raid towards Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Shenkong Old Man instantly turned back to the nest of Qionglou Pavilion in case of the same disaster.


    After suffering a heavy loss, a semi-sage hermit forced Yun Zhongzi to leave there using three untriggered thunder of nirvana. Qionglou Pavilion was not as confident as Taiyi Fantasy Sect as there was not even a semi-sage knight in the nestle of Qionglou Pavilion; instead, there was only a heavenly knight deputy head. Therefore, Shenkong Old Man must go back. It was not a joke for a sage-level knight to raid his sect''s nest.


    Zhang Tie and Heavenly Hunyuan felt the terrifying sandstorm from afar too.


    Heavenly Hunyuan squinted his eyes as he threw a glance at the airboat of Demons-Killing Valley too. At the same time, he received the signal of acting right now from Taiyi Old Man.


    However, Zhang Tie launched another strike towards Heavenly Hunyuan.


    Zhang Tie had exerted his speed to the utmost. However, he couldn''t approach Heavenly Hunyuan at all like before. Not only that, Heavenly Hunyuan moved as fast as him as his Heavens Ruler could strike Zhang Tie from over 10,000 m away.


    Zhang Tie finally realized that the tactics and strategies that he had deducted before were nothing but sh*t facing a sage-level knight holding a golden secret item.


    Although Zhang Tie appeared moving as fast as a lightning bolt, he was actually having close combat with Heavenly Hunyuan. He couldn''t get rid of Heavenly Hunyuan''s strike at all; he could only seek for a chance of strike when being beaten.


    Since the duel started, the largest distance between them had not surpassed 20 miles. The distance of 20 miles was like a 3 m close combat between two LV 6 fighters as for Zhang Tie and Heavenly Hunyuan. Heavenly Hunyuan could pass half of such a distance in one second. What was more amazing was that the strike of his Heavens Ruler could easily cross 20,000 m.


    As of now, even though nobody warned him, Zhang Tie had felt that the "Ruler" appeared to be representing a powerful space-teleportation ability, which rightly curbed his strength in speed as a divine dominator on the level of shadow knight. If he promoted to a heavenly knight, the restrictive effect of Heavens Ruler might be dwarfed; however, now, he couldn''t do anything to undermine the effect of Heavens Ruler.


    Heavenly Hunyuan was not providing any chance of survival to him; instead, he was isolating any chance of survival for Zhang Tie.


    It was the toughest, most dangerous and inevitable combat for Zhang Tie.


    Before approaching Zhang Tie, the strike of Heavens Ruler had filled each inch of space within tens of thousands of meters with invisible thorns and obstacles. Each step forward, Zhang Tie''s protective sword qi and shields had to be cut and impacted for tens of thousands of times. His off-hand battle qi couldn''t reach Heavenly Hunyuan unless crossing so many blades in the air.


    If Zhang Tie was an ordinary shadow knight, he must have died over 100 times.


    "Go die..." With some more wounds, Zhang Tie''s kinetic strike fell on the semi-transparent bizarre battle qi which was similar to the mixture of protective battle qi and realm strength hundreds of meters away from Heavenly Hunyuan.


    The huge protective battle qi layer quivered a bit, yet it still didn''t break. The terrifying power of this kinetic strike penetrated through the protective battle qi layer and directly exited from its back, forming a strong impact wave which swept over the airspace within 10,000 m behind Heavenly Hunyuan and disappeared in the overwhelming black sandstorm...


    This was another terror of sage-level knights. After combining with the realm strength, sage-level knights'' protective battle qi had become a virtual entity. Any strength of strike would leak from the opposite point of this kind of protective battle qi as if it was invisible.


    No matter how powerful one''s kinetic strike was, it couldn''t work on the huge protective battle qi layer at all.


    However, Zhang Tie believed that Heavenly Hunyuan''s protective battle qi was not unrivaled or irresistible; instead, it must have its upper limit of bearing and transmission capacity. As long as that upper limit was broken through, the kinetic strike would work on Heavenly Hunyuan in the end. Additionally, it was not easy to drive Heavens Ruler. As for weapons that needed to be driven by force, the more powerful the weapon was, the greater would be the force needed to drive it. This point would remain unchanged forever.


    Zhang Tie didn''t think he would be defeated. Additionally, Zhang Tie had another trump card. No matter how tough this combat was, Zhang Tie knew that he still had a chance to topple Heavenly Hunyuan before the last moment.


    ...


    The irresistible sandstorm finally arrived, causing the center of Yinhai dark completely.


    However, the dark was not an obstacle for Zhang Tie or Heavenly Hunyuan.


    The high-speed rolling sands were like blades and bullets in the sandstorm, in which, Zhang Tie flew as fast as before; by contrast, the strength of Heavens Ruler appeared to have weakened facing this "natural disaster".


    After feeling that the power of Heavenly Hunyuan appeared to be influenced by this natural disaster, Zhang Tie felt relieved as he intended to extend the distance between him and Heavenly Hunyuan at his full speed.


    "You wanna escape? It''s too late..." Heavenly Hunyuan reproached gloomily as he had already come to the side of Zhang Tie, being less than 100 m away. Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he felt the Heavens Ruler was going to touch him. Strangely, it was not the terrifying strike of Heavens Ruler, but a familiar space wave.


    The space wave was not caused by Heavens Ruler; instead, it was similar to the faint space wave from a broken space-teleportation equipment. Zhang Tie was very familiar with this space wave because he had sensed it when his substitute detonated. However, this space wave was dozens of times greater than that caused by his broken space-teleportation equipment.


    Before Zhang Tie figured out what happened, he had felt his surrounding space wave being detonated and expanded by tens of thousands of times. The earlier space wave appeared to be a fuse of a powder keg.


    The entire space was collapsing while a huge hole appeared in the void. Everything on Zhang Tie''s side including the terrifying sandstorm and Zhang Tie himself was towed inside the hole in an irresistible manner like being throwing into a sinking swirl.


    Heavenly Hunyuan''s face reappeared in Zhang Tie''s vision with a sneer. Hundreds of meters away, the Heavens Ruler was hovering above the head of Heavenly Hunyuan and giving out a bizarre light, covering Heavenly Hunyuan. At the same time, it was dragging Heavenly Hunyuan out of the irresistible space suction like an upstream airboat.


    "See you, Immortal Qianji. The black invitation cards of three top sects are tricky. You must not have imagined that you''re going to die in this way. You''re going to be in the permanent dark. It''s a natural disaster. Don''t blame me, hahaha..." Heavenly Hunyuan''s voice reached Zhang Tie full of irony and killing intent.


    At the same time, Heavenly Hunyuan had been over 2,000 m away from Zhang Tie. Watching Zhang Tie with a sneer, Heavenly Hunyuan gradually extended the distance between them.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s entire outfit had been shattered. Each inch of Zhang Tie''s muscles was like under a mountain as he couldn''t move at all. Even his battle qi was diffusing while being torn by the terrifying strength.


    "Go to hell..." Zhang Tie roared as he fixed on Heavenly Hunyuan, eye corners almost burst. At the same time, a sword-shaped mark appeared on his forehead while a brilliant light shot out of the mark and entered the forehead of Heavenly Hunyuan from 10,000 m away after penetrating through the light of the Heavens Ruler around Heavenly Hunyuan...


    Deity-Killing Sword!


    It was the last trump card of Zhang Tie as a divine dominator, which was gifted by Lord Fairysea.


    Zhang Tie drove this trick with his full spiritual energy, which shocked the heavens and the earth.


    Heavenly Hunyuan could not imagine such a trick. As a result, he spurted out blood as his qi became disordered. At the same time, the light of the Heavens Ruler above the head of Heavenly Hunyuan disappeared. After being an ordinary item, the Heavens Ruler instantly rolled and flew towards Zhang Tie like a piece of paper in the wind.


    "No..." Heavenly Hunyuan uttered a shriek as he was also involved in the turbulence in an irresistible manner like Zhang Tie.


    Outside Yinhai, the weird sandstorm disappeared weirdly. In the eyes of tens of thousands of knights, Immortal Qianji and Heavenly Hunyuan rolled and disappeared in the pitch-dark chasm in the void. In the blink of an eye, the chasm had disappeared together with the two top powerhouses in Taixia Country.


    It was deadly silent above Yinhai...


    "Puhh..."Watching the final result, Taiyi Old Man''s face turned blue, red and blue again as he spurted out blood, making the Taiji diagram on his posterior chest scarlet...


    ...


    At the same time, in a back room of Heavenly Fortune Sect, Xuanzhou Province, the head and a great handful of top powerhouses and elders of Heavenly Fortune Sect were sitting decently and solemnly on the ground and watching the manifestation of divination on the tortoiseshell.


    All the powerhouses of Heavenly Fortune Sect had been exhausted for this divination. There was even blood at the mouth corner of an elder.


    However, no matter how weak they were, each one of them was widely opening their eyes and gazing at those tortoiseshells which they had tossed in a secret method on the ground.


    There was only one manifestation of divination on the classic shells!


    "Dragon in the sky..." The head of Heavenly Fortune Sect let out a deep sigh as he said in hoarse and firm voice after gazing at the manifestation of divination for a long while.


    ...

 1644 A Bizarre Land

    Not knowing how long it took, Zhang Tie''s consciousness recovered like a looming and jumping sparkle gradually got burned.


    Zhang Tie moved his fingers as he gradually became clear-minded. After that, he realized that he was lying on the ground, face down. Then, a sharp pain started to strike his central nervous system and brain.


    After feeling the sharp pain, Zhang Tie let out a sigh. Although nobody liked pain, sometimes, it was a lucky symbol for one to feel pain as it indicated that his physical functions still worked.


    Besides intermittent sharp pains, Zhang Tie also felt very fatigued and weak.


    In this case, he didn''t sit up at once; instead, he just lay there quietly as he tried to recover his physical strength and sensed the surroundings acutely.


    It was not very hot here. He was lying on soft sands as he could only hear the water flow nearby. He didn''t hear any human voice or notice any dangerous animals. It seemed to be safe here for the time being.


    Besides his wounds all over, the sense of emptiness in his mind sea made Zhang Tie dizzy. In the gloomy, jumping flames of his consciousness, Zhang Tie saw past scenes flowing by like water.


    Deity-Killing Swordsmanship was gifted by Lord Fairysea. It was not a fatal trick for the long-distance strike; however, Zhang Tie ignored it at the critical moment as he spent his full efforts in firing the sword-shaped spiritual energy into the mind sea of Heavenly Hunyuan from thousands of meters away.


    This strike exhausted Zhang Tie''s enormous spiritual energy in a split second. As a result, the Deity-Killing Sword played its utmost role and inflicted Heavenly Hunyuan severely from far away. Closely after that, Heavenly Hunyuan was involved in the turbulence of the space together with Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie recalled what happened and realized that he was still alive, he felt fortunate and scared.


    In the space turbulence, Zhang Tie felt like a leaf in the billows. There were tens of thousands of pitch-dark spiral entrances and chasms of different sizes in the turbulence, which looked like swirls in an ocean or cracks and holes on cheese. He was then sucked inside in an irresistible way.


    The cracks and holes gave Zhang Tie a near-death experience. It was even more terrifying than sustaining the thunder of nirvana. In the space turbulence, Zhang Tie couldn''t enter Castle of Black Iron through the portal in his mind sea at all. Each crack and hole carried death and destruction. Zhang Tie completely lost his way ahead.


    What survived Zhang Tie was the Great Blessing Method that Pandora had applied to him.


    At the most critical and dangerous moment, Zhang Tie felt a warm sense flowing over as if he immediately felt as pleasant and empty as that when Pandora applied the Great Blessing Method to him. Right then, with a sudden inspiration, Zhang Tie used his instinct feeling an entrance being in correspondence to his pleasure and emptiness among those cracks and holes. After that, out of his desire of surviving himself and instinctive response, the virtual image of king roc in the stage of shadow knight appeared behind Zhang Tie for the first time. The king roc then flapped its wings forcefully and got rid of the space turbulence before throwing itself into the very special swirl. After that, he lost his consciousness.


    As for Heavenly Hunyuan, Zhang Tie saw him being sucked in a space hole. When Heavenly Hunyuan noticed Zhang Tie''s virtual image of king roc and became speechless out of shock, his protective battle qi and body split up and turned into ashes in a split second.


    Even sage-level knight was as weak as an ant facing such a terrifying spatial strength.


    Without Pandora''s Great Blessing Method, Zhang Tie knew that he would never have such good luck.


    The recovery of his consciousness was like a hidden switch. His spiritual energy was gurgling out of the dry void in his mind sea like surging spring water. Meanwhile, the hot sun above his empty qi sea started to give out light too and a bit battle qi emerged in the void of his qi sea. The benefit of recovering from the strike of the thunder of nirvana started to appear at this moment as Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy and battle qi recovered at a higher speed essentially.


    As his spiritual energy recovered rapidly, he felt pretty cool in his mind. At the same time, the void of his qi sea gradually became full, making him more and more clear-minded and more perceptive about the surroundings. Despite the sharp pain, Zhang Tie felt his strength coming back. Therefore, he recovered his composure. As long as he had strength, his wounds could be ignored.


    Lying on the ground, Zhang Tie slowly adjusted his breath rhythm as he inhaled heavily. At the same time, each cell of Zhang Tie started to recover its vigor.


    After inhaling heavily for a few times, Zhang Tie suddenly found that the aura and energy in the air were 10 times more plentiful than that in Castle of Black Iron. After the aura and energy in the fresh air entered Zhang Tie''s blood through his lungs, all of his cells became jubilant.


    ''Where am I? How could there be such plentiful aura in the air?''


    A whim occurred to Zhang Tie when he slightly recovered.


    Zhang Tie tried to move his limbs and hardly turned over himself, face up. Soon after that, the dazzling sunlight had made him close his eyes. Zhang Tie then put one hand above his eyes to cover the scorching sunlight.


    In haziness, a huge shadow appeared in the sky, covering the dazzling sunlight for Zhang Tie at once. At the same time, he heard a voice.


    "Aah, boss, there''s one person downside there..."


    "Human or demon..."


    "It''s a man; I promise..."


    "Pick him up and check whether he''s still alive. A few days ago, a fierce battle broke out in Biliu City. This man might have escaped out of there..."


    Soon after his words, a person in red, bizarre outfit had extended his metal bird wings and dived down. When he landed beside Zhang Tie, he cradled Zhang Tie at once and flew off. Zhang Tie then saw a wonderful scene¡ª¡ªmany peaks were floating in the sky in the distance. He was lying on a coastal beach just now. Many black clouds of smoke were rising from the horizon in the distance, which was the trace of war...

 1645 Questions

    Watching those peaks in the sky, Zhang Tie was shocked greatly. He almost thought he was dizzy. However, after taking a look at it carefully, he found it was real. Those mountains were indeed floating in the sky, large and small. Small ones covered over 60,000 square meters while bigger ones were as large as cities.


    Undoubtedly, it was a strange world.


    ''But why there''re also Hua people and demons? Why the outfit of that person is so weird? Where am I...'' Many questions poured into Zhang Tie''s mind like a tide.


    After taking a look at the surroundings, Zhang Tie disguised to be in a coma for the time being as he felt those people wouldn''t do harm to him. He then allowed the person to take him into the airboat.


    It was indeed an airboat despite it was different than those in Taixia Country in the pattern. Zhang Tie knew it was an airboat even if he closed his eyes.


    Zhang Tie felt that person touching the artery in his neck. Then, he opened his mouth, "Boss, he''s still alive..."


    "A''zhi, check him in case he''s a disguised demon. If this person is found to be a disguised demon in Heavenly Square City, we would have big trouble!" a muffled voice sounded.


    After that, Zhang Tie heard blades coming out of sheaths as if someone was in alert. As long as he was found to be a disguised demon, they would poke him using those weapons in a split second.


    "Yes, sir!" Another strange voice sounded. Closely after that, Zhang Tie felt someone squatting in front of him. Then, his right hand was taken as the stranger tried to pierce his fingertip using something sharp.


    Pitifully, even if Zhang Tie didn''t use his protective battle qi, he still had an amazing defensive capability. His skin, despite being soft, had such a terrifying, defensive capability that it couldn''t even be pierced.


    "Aah, boss, his finger skin couldn''t be pierced by the demon detection needle. This person has a powerful defensive capability. He might be an immortal general..." the one on Zhang Tie''s side exclaimed after trying twice on Zhang Tie''s finger.


    His exclamation aroused chaos among the crew as if the term immortal general carried great power.


    "Let me try. Give me the demon detection needle..." the same muffled voice sounded. Closely after that, Zhang Tie''s right hand fell in the hand of another person. Feeling a bit cold, Zhang Tie realized a fine needle being pierced in his finger with the help of battle qi. Then, he extruded a drop of blood out of Zhang Tie''s finger.


    "He''s not a disguised demon, but a human..." the muffled voice sounded as all the others heaved a sigh. At the same time, they put their blades back in sheaths.


    "Boss, is he an immortal general?" someone asked him out of curiosity.


    "He''s indeed an immortal general. However, he''s still in a coma due to heavy wounds. A''Wu, A''Long, take him to the medical room and help him recover in the recovery pool. Let me known when he wakes up..."


    "Aah, boss, must we use the recovery pool? There are few recovery liquids inside..."


    "Shut up. Quick. We could replenish the recovery liquid in Heavenly Square City!"


    "Okay, okay..."


    Two people answered as Zhang Tie felt being carried away by them. After a few seconds'' walk, they came to a room. Zhang Tie felt his broken clothes being cut off by scissors. Then, he felt being carried into a container in naked while his neck was held by something soft. After that, the liquid slowly flowed into the container. In the blink of an eye, his body under neck was immersed in a liquid as warm as one''s body temperature, which felt pretty comfortable.


    "Wow, he has so many wounds..." a person exclaimed in a low tone.


    "Haven''t you heard that? He''s an immortal general. These wounds might be caused by demons. Immortal generals could always live long. As long as they were not beheaded or cut into halves, they would not die, despite heavy wounds..."


    "He''s too young. Less than 20; younger than me..."


    "Needless to say. If you could enter the temple and cultivate for dozens of years inside, you would also remain young..."


    "Let''s go. We could come back and check whether he''s awake after a while. It''s good for our boss to save an immortal general! He might help us a lot in the future!"


    As the footsteps left, the door was closed from outside. Feeling a sense of warmth entering his body for a while, Zhang Tie opened his eyes and started to look at the surroundings.


    It was a clean, buffy room. There were two one-meter higher tables inside, which looked like operating tables. Besides, there were some odd-looking small tools like surgical knives in some cabinets. One cabinet contained a lot of vials and jars where faint herbal fragrance came from. Zhang Tie was lying in a shell-shaped crystal bathtub, being filled with pale green water-like liquid. Some bizarre runes were giving out pale light, which slightly flew and loomed in the bathtub.


    Being driven by those bizarre runes, comfortable energy was peeping into his body from pores all over in the pale green liquid. Meanwhile, those wounds were recovering at a very high speed as a great strength was returning.


    ''Disguised demon? Immortal general? Temple?''


    ''Is disguised demon shadow knight, immortal general knight, temple tower of time?'' Zhang Tie thought.


    Watching those bizarre runes flowing in the huge bathtub which could cure him effectively, Zhang Tie became more and more interested in this place. ''Many things here are strange.''


    Although the huge bathtub could help him recover fast, it was still a bit inferior to senior recovery medicament. Given the unknown current situation, the faster he recovered, the safer and more confident he would be. Therefore, Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy and prepared to take out a vial of senior all-purpose medicament from Castle of Black Iron.


    However, he became stunned after trying it a few times.


    He couldn''t use Castle of Black Iron...


    ''What happened?''

 1646 Couldnst Go Back

    Castle of Black Iron was Zhang Tie''s most powerful trump card and reliance. As long as he could use Castle of Black Iron, he would tide over difficulties one after another. However, when Zhang Tie wanted to use Castle of Black Iron in this strange place, he found that he couldn''t. Therefore, he became a bit flurried at a stroke.


    "Heller, heller, could you hear me?" Zhang Tie hurriedly called Heller. Based on his experience, even if Castle of Black Iron didn''t work, he could still contact Heller. As long as the marvelous arch door of Castle of Black Iron was in his mind sea, he would be able to contact Heller.


    "I''m here, Castle Lord. Congratulations, Castle Lord, you''ve survived the combat..."


    Heller''s voice was as calm as before. Despite being a bit emotional, Heller''s words finally made Zhang Tie a bit calm.


    "What happened? Why couldn''t I use items in Castle of Black Iron? The space-teleportation function of Castle of Black Iron becomes ineffective!"


    "Castle Lord, do you remember your experience in the tower of time? In the tower of time, as long as it starts, Castle Lord would not be able to use Castle of Black Iron!"


    "Aah, what? You mean I''m in a tower of time?"


    "You''re not in a tower of time. However, the use of Castle of Black Iron is restricted to the irresistible strength in the twisted time-space structure of this world." Heller said calmly.


    "How could be that?"


    "Castle Lord, do you remember how you felt when you entered this world?"


    Zhang Tie recalled it carefully as he replied, "I might be sucked in. The moment my virtual image of king rock entered the entrance of this weird space, it had been sucked in an irresistible manner together with me!"


    "It is the bizarre strength of the twisted time-space structure of this world. Castle Lord, if you take this world as a huge balloon and Castle of Black Iron a smaller one, what would happen if the smaller one was put in the huge balloon or being connected to the larger one by a pipe?"


    "If the smaller balloon was put in the bigger one, it would sustain great stress. If the smaller one was connected with the bigger one, it would shrink and shriveled in the end!"


    "What space-teleportation items such as Castle of Black Iron is to this space is similar to what the smaller balloon is to the bigger one. Therefore, Castle of Black Iron is not available."


    "Is the space-teleportation as same as the others?"


    "Yes!"


    "But why?"


    "Precisely, this is not a complete world; nor a parallel universe. Given the strength of its time-space structure, it''s more like an artificial world. However, it is destroyed to a certain degree and becomes volatile!"


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he almost exclaimed, "An artificial world? Impossible?"


    "Castle Lord, have you forgotten that Castle of Black Iron would be as same as this world as time flies..."


    "You mean, I could not use Castle of Black Iron forever in this world?"


    "Not absolutely. Strength is always presented periodically like how grasses and woods wither and revive, the sun rises and falls, the moons wax and wane. The strength of the time-space structure in this world should be periodical too. On some junctures, Castle of Black Iron is still available!"


    Heller finally revealed a "good news" which could make Zhang Tie a bit relaxed. However, closely after that, Zhang Tie recalled something as his face suddenly changed. When he had not recovered his strength, Zhang Tie was thinking about recovering his strength as soon as possible; however, Heller''s words reminded Zhang Tie of a more serious problem. Unlike Castle of Black Iron, he couldn''t access this world whenever he liked. Additionally, as this world was isolated from the former world where he was, how could Zhang Tie return to the former world?


    "Could I go back?" Zhang Tie swallowed his saliva and asked Heller hardly after being shocked for a short while.


    Heller was in silence for a while too, which brought Zhang Tie an inauspicious premonition.


    After quite a while, Heller''s voice reappeared in Zhang Tie''s mind sea.


    "Castle Lord, I couldn''t answer you. Because I couldn''t foresee the future; nor help you from outside. I could only tell you that the strength of this time-space structure is shrinking. It''s similar to a swirl in the abyss under the ocean, Castle Lord must have a deep feeling about it. As long as you''re sucked into such a swirl, you could barely come out unless your strength is greater than the suction or the swirl disappears..."


    Zhang Tie was dumbfounded. After that, he hurriedly asked Heller, "Above Yinhai, I felt a wave caused by broken space-teleportation equipment beside Heavenly Hunyuan. It was like a powder keg being detonated by a sparkle, which instantly created a hole and entrance in the surroundings. If I return to the place where I appear at the beach and break some space-teleportation equipment over there, could I find the entrance and the route back?"


    "No, the reason is what I''ve mentioned. Because the strength of this time-space structure is shrinking, even if Castle Lord could find the entrance where you come to this world, you couldn''t go back along the same route. You should know that the entrance to space appears and disappears at any time. Even though the entrance doesn''t disappear, it''s just unidirectional..."


    Zhang Tie was petrified. Although Heller left some hope to him in his words, Zhang Tie realized that he could barely return to Taixia Country and the familiar world.


    When he remembered his parents, his wives and kids and those familiar and intimate faces that he might not see any longer, Zhang Tie dropped tears at once...


    After a while, the door was pushed open as a surprised voice sounded, "Aah, you''re awake..."

 1647 Motian Realm I

    Three days later, Airboat Flowingcloud reached the harbor of Heavenly Square City. Airboats were rising and falling there, making it pretty boisterous. Such a great number of airboats could only be matched by those in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Right in the boisterous airport, after Flowingcloud landed, Zhang Tie bade farewell to the crew.


    "There''s an immortal palace in Heavenly Square City. As long as Brother Zhang clarified your identity of immortal general, they would find the best doctor they could to cure your brain disease for real..." Captain Shi told Zhang Tie passionately as he held Zhang Tie''s hand, "Take it. Despite being not too much, I think Brother Zhang need money for the sake of convenience!"


    At the same time, Captain Shi foisted a little purse of crystal coins into Zhang Tie''s hand.


    "Fine, thanks, Captain Shi!" Zhang Tie accepted it as he looked at A''Wu, A''Long and the other crew, asking, "Have you borne in mind the gaits that I''ve taught you?"


    The crew nodded forcefully as they watched Zhang Tie and didn''t feel like leaving him.


    "Undertaking would improve due to diligence and go bad due to laziness. Great...great, Brother Zhang''s maxim is too profound and enlightening. I would take it as my motto..." Captain Shi pondered Zhang Tie''s words as he praised, "These days, I''ve learned a lot from Brother Zhang''s golden lines..."


    Zhang Tie became stunned for a second; then he realized that nobody else in this world should have talked about the proverb which was popular across Taixia Country. As he had been used to say it, Zhang Tie''s casual words would cause the others to consider it for a while. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt ashamed inside...


    "Captain Shi, you''re too polite..."


    "Two days later, it would be the first day of the lunar month. By then, Heavenly Square City would be converged with traders. Our airboat would stay a couple of more days in Heavenly Square City until we complete the trade. If Brother Zhang has any needs, let us know!"


    Zhang Tie nodded silently as he got off the airboat under the gaze of the public. When he was about to leave the harbor of Heavenly Square City, Zhang Tie turned around as he found that the crew was still watching him and waving their hands towards him. Zhang Tie waved his hands towards them too.


    "Alas, he''s leaving too fast. If he could stay with us a few more days, we would definitely learn a lot..." A''Wu and A''Long felt pitiful as they saw Zhang Tie leaving them. A''Long turned around and watched Captain Shi, "Captain, we''re in such a chaotic age, aren''t we recruiting immortal generals? Why not keep him. If Captain could take back an immortal general, the old man would be very happy for real..."


    Watching Zhang Tie disappearing, Captain Shi also let out a sigh, saying, "Brother Zhang Tie has a greater ambition; he doesn''t mean to be recruited by us..."


    "Captain, how do you know that? He didn''t say it..."


    "Some things don''t have to be clarified verbally. Given the fact that Brother Zhang Tie taught us Vigorous Grass Gaits, it indicates that he doesn''t want to owe anything to us at all. Additionally, Brother Zhang''s brain disease has not been cured. He couldn''t even remember his bygones. I''m afraid that immortal generals like Brother Zhang Tie have a good background. It''s not proper for us to propose to recruit him. Even if we couldn''t recruit him, it''s not bad for us to make friends with him!" Captain Shi explained as he turned around and looked at the others seriously, "I''ve not heard about Vigorous Grass Gaits. I couldn''t figure out its essence. These days, you''d better record it in the paper. Don''t tell others about it for the time being. When we got back home, show it to the old man. Given his vision, the old man should figure out its essence!"


    ...


    It was a prosperous avenue outside the harbor of Heavenly Square City. After leaving airboat for a short while, Zhang Tie had come to the busy avenue.


    All the people on the avenue were in black hair and eyeballs. Given their looks and language, Zhang Tie knew they were all Hua people. Furthermore, there were huge lizard-like mounts as long as 7-8 m with two horns on their heads on the avenue. Many people were riding them and wandering in the avenue leisurely. Some lizards even carried many items, large or small.


    A snow-white mountain was floating in the sky nearby. The melting snow cascaded from thousands of meters high in the form of waterfall or silver line. It reminded Zhang Tie of the vivid lines¡ª¡ªCascading from thousands of meters high, it''s like the Milk Way falling down from the heavens. Under the snow mountain and the waterfall, it was suffused with vapor while a rainbow crossed over the sky. What dreamland!


    Many fighters in metal wings were patrolling in the sky. Someone in metal wings was heading for his destination from hundreds of meters high in a pretty dreamlike way.


    Even though Zhang Tie had been in this world for a few days, he was still shocked by the scene in Heavenly Square City for quite a while.


    During the past three days in the airboat, Zhang Tie lied that he couldn''t remember anything due to a headache. As a result, he started to acknowledge this world from the crew.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could be in such a world.


    He learned that this world was called Motian Realm.


    Everything in Motian Realm appeared being similar to the former world which Zhang Tie was familiar with. However, everything seemed strange.


    First, this was a battle force-dominated world. Punch always meant the right to say.


    According to Captain Shi, immortal generals were knights. Similarly, immortal generals shared the same high positions in this world like knights in another. Besides, they could also have power, wealth and beauties.


    Like how knights were divided into levels by chakras, immortal generals were also divided by chakras. They were respectively fierce immortal general, earth immortal general, water immortal general, wind immortal general, fire immortal general and supreme immortal general, which corresponded to black iron knight, earth knight, shadow knight, heavenly knight, semi-sage knight and sage-level knight.


    Of course, what shocked Zhang Tie more was immortal emperor, a higher level above immortal general in this world...

 1648 Motian Realm II

    According to what Zhang Tie had been told in the airboat these days, undoubtedly, immortal emperor above supreme immortal general was the most powerful existence in this world.


    Captain Shi couldn''t interpret how powerful was immortal emperor. However, there was one affirmative point that immortal emperor was indeed a cultivator above sage-level knight or supreme immortal general in this world.


    Because of this new discovery, Zhang Tie had been spirited for a few days.


    In the former world, sage-level knights were already the highest class in cultivation base; unimaginably, in this bizarre Motian Realm, Zhang Tie knew a higher-level cultivator above sage-level knight. Therefore, he became spirited again like a wild wolf who had found its prey. At this moment, Zhang Tie had made a decision to promote to an immortal emperor.


    If he wanted to return to Taixia Country and meet his beloved ones, instead of dying in this world full of regret and unwillingness like a prisoner being exiled or in a cell, Zhang Tie had to promote to an immortal emperor so as to be the most powerful one.


    Although he might not go back after promoting to an immortal emperor, undoubtedly, facing the same dilemma and problem, the more powerful he was, the more possible it would be for him tackle them.


    Suppose he had 1/100 possibility to go back to Taixia Country based on his current situation, if he could raise the possibility to 2/100 after becoming an immortal emperor, Zhang Tie would exert his full efforts for this trivial hope.


    Motian Realm was not peaceful either. Conversely, this world was also filled with wars and killings, which was far greater than that in the former world.


    In this world, humans fought demons too. The war between humans and demons had been lasting for millions of years incessantly too, even longer. According to Captain Shi, since the birth of Motian Realm, humans and demons had been fighting each other. As for the origin of Motian Realm, Captain Shi didn''t know it either. As it was too far away, it gradually evolved into bizarre myths and legends.


    Besides immortal (human) general and demon general, fighters between LV 10 and LV 15 were called immortal human soldiers and demon soldiers.


    Besides the incessant war between humans and demons, it was also very chaotic inside the human world. It was common to see fights between immortal generals and between human forces. The major reason for the battles between immortal generals was for merging and plundering population. So was it between humans and demons.


    Yes, in this world, population counted most as the most precious resource. Humans and demons were both scrambling for merging and plundering the opposite population.


    When Zhang Tie heard this on the airboat, he was shocked too much. In his opinion, demons just wanted to wipe out all the humans. However, in Motian Realm, demons were for plundering human population.


    Not knowing whether it was because of the rich aura or something else in Motian Realm, all the newborns here had already lit their shrine surging point and all the surging points on their spines. In other words, all the people in Motian Realm came to this world as LV 9 fighters, which indicated their strong physical strength. Of course, they didn''t feel they were strong; because all of them were born to be the same. Only when they started to cultivate did they admit that they were growing stronger.


    In the mother nature, the stronger the individuals were, the fewer they would be and the stricter conditions they would face in reproduction. Conversely, the weaker the individuals were, the more they would be and the simpler conditions they would face in reproduction. The universal law was always fair even in Motian Realm.


    In Motian Realm, people were born to be strong. Even commoners could live longer than 120 years. Whereas, it was not easy for people to deliver babies here. In this world, a couple or a woman could only deliver twice in their whole lives. Few people could only deliver once or thrice at most. However, people would die in war; therefore, the population in Motian Realm couldn''t realize a sharp increase. In this world, a city with over 1 million people could be called a medium-sized city; by contrast, in Taixia Country, medium-sized cities always contained more than 10 million people; metro cities always contained over 100 million people.


    The population was a rare resource in Motian Realm; therefore immortal generals were major participants of battles in this world.


    Immortal soldiers and commoners below immortal generals were barely involved in battles. The results of battles between immortal generals and demon generals determined everything. Immortal soldiers and demon soldiers were just lackeys of immortal generals and demon generals. When immortal generals won, immortal soldiers won; when immortal general failed, immortal soldiers failed. Immortal soldiers or demon soldiers were mainly responsible for doing something that immortal generals or demon generals didn''t feel convenient to do such as plundering population and occupying territory.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t understand why so many knights or immortal generals in this world were fighting only for plundering population even if the population was a rare resource in this world.


    The answer to this question startled Zhang Tie a lot.


    Immortal generals plundered population for exchanging them with element crystals or secret methods in immortal palaces. In Motian Realm, all the element crystals were monopolized by immortal palaces. If immortal generals didn''t want to capture those element crystals in the Elements Realm slowly, they had to exchange for element crystals in immortal palaces. Some clans or forces would also exchange population for secret methods and classics in immortal palaces so as to enhance their positions in the society.


    In this world, there were an astonishing amount of secret classics and methods.


    Take the simplest example, in Taixia Country, only imperial households could master the skill to manufacture airboat using air-floating gold; however, in Motian Realm, people could exchange population for this skill in immortal palaces. A clan or immortal general could exchange 500,000 people for the skill of extracting air-floating gold and making airboat using air-floating gold.


    Whereas, in this world, all the immortal palaces were founded by supreme immortal generals. Not knowing why, each fire immortal general would start to establish their own immortal palace and belief soon after promoting to a supreme immortal general. By contrast, those population being exchanged with element crystals or resources became the immortal assistants and followers of the immortal palaces...


    Zhang Tie gloomily felt it was something special behind the immortal palaces and believes of supreme immortal generals in this world.

 1649 Applying for Immortal Generals

    To be honest, although being righteous, Zhang Tie would not rush forward the moment he heard that demons existed in this world. Perhaps Zhang Tie''s feelings had changed. After coming to this world and hearing about demons from the crew on the airboat, Zhang Tie had been less sensitive to demons in this world. Although he still disliked demons, he was not as passionate and responsible as that when he fought demons at the bank of Weishui River in Taixia Country.


    There were sage-level knights in this world, each of whom had founded their immortal palace. Additionally, there were greater existences above sage-level knights. Therefore, it was not Zhang Tie''s turn to show off his battle strength in front of demons.


    It appeared that Motian Realm was closely related to the world where he came from. However, Zhang Tie couldn''t figure out the details. Even so, as Zhang Tie was not here for archaeology or doing papers, he just dropped it which only nerds would care about, despite being curious. As for Zhang Tie, there were too many secrets and unknowns in this world. Even if he didn''t know, he would not lose hair. No need to waste time on these things which were far-fetched from his life.


    After leaving the harbor of Heavenly Square City, Zhang Tie hung out in the city as he started to observe this strange and fresh place. At the same time, he was pondering how to settle down in this new world, grow powerful step by step and finally go back to the world where he came from.


    Based on Zhang Tie''s wisdom and life experience, Zhang Tie reached a conclusion¡ª¡ªAs an outsider, the most convenient, steadiest and most realistic way for him to settle down in this new world was to join an organization.


    The organization was a platform and the center for collecting and disseminating information and resources. Based on this organization, he could adapt to this world as fast as possible and seize the opportunities for growing stronger constantly. It would be too silly if he just took actions alone in this world without any reliance. All the rural migrants who came to a strange city for dreams would find a job first for further development whether the job was good or not. This law also worked for Zhang Tie.


    As Zhang Tie was thinking about it, he found that he had arrived in front of a huge building while there were much fewer people nearby.


    It was an immortal palace being similar to Maya Pyramids in the world where he came from. The entire immortal palace was lofty. Looking up, Zhang Tie saw grey stone stairs all the way to the top of the building. Although being plain, the grey stone stairs had lost their luster. It seemed that they had been old. The entrance of the immortal palace was right on its top.


    When Zhang Tie came here, he saw two black iron knights, actually two fierce immortal generals landing not far from him in an advanced outfit, arousing a wind and blowing dust on the ground everywhere.


    Not knowing why, across Motian Realm, only those above wind immortal generals namely heavenly knights could fly without aiding equipment. It was like the no-fly zone above Lion Fortress. If immortal generals below wind immortal general wanted to fly, they had to carry a uniform. Zhang Tie got this message on the airboat. Closely after he got this message, Zhang Tie had stealthily tried his flight capability of the divine dominator. After finding that his flight capability of divine dominator was not influenced, he became reassured.


    "Aah, we''ve finally arrived. Hopefully, it''s not too late..." a fierce immortal general let out a long sigh as he put away his metal outfit.


    "Of course it''s not late. It only took us less than 7 days to come here since we received the news. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City should still be recruiting immortal generals!" Another black iron knight said as he put away his metal wings. At the same time, he took a look at Zhang Tie. Due to Zhang Tie''s young look and extremely calm qi, that person didn''t look at Zhang Tie any longer.


    "I''ve not imagined that Heavenly Square City also starts to recruit immortal generals. It''s a city with a branch of an emperor-level immortal palace..." the first speaker sighed with mood.


    "Dragon Emperor immortal palace is responsible for ruling over 1,000 cities. It contains over 10 billion people at its heyday. Dragon Emperor has been missing for over 900 years. As of now, demons were becoming more and more rampant. As a result, other immortal palaces couldn''t wait anymore. A few days ago, the largest city Biyao City of Dragon Emperor immortal palace in Sunshooting Plains was collapsed and merged by Star Emperor immortal palace. It was said that a branch head of Dragon Emperor immortal palace was severely injured and some immortal generals were killed. After these days, the Dragon Emperor still didn''t show up and condemn Star Emperor immortal palace. Of course, the other forces grew more and more audacious..."


    "Why do you urge me to join the Dragon Emperor immortal palace then?"


    "Dragon Emperor immortal palace is recruiting immortal generals with compensation of 10 element crystals per person monthly. Is there any job better than this one? If the Dragon Emperor is still there, we don''t need to worry about that. If the Dragon Emperor is still missing, high-level powerhouses would be responsible for that even if heavens collapse. Perhaps, Dragon Emperor would split up by then..."


    The two fierce immortal generals whispered as they walked upstairs towards the entrance. However, they didn''t know that Zhang Tie had heard all of their words.


    By staying with people from different industries, people could indeed receive various messages of different values. What the two fierce immortal generals talked about couldn''t be heard on the airboat.


    There was much valuable information in their talk. After hearing that, Zhang Tie considered it for a while. He then looked at the entrance on the top of the immortal palace as if he could feel the sorrow atmosphere over the immortal palace.


    In this world, battles between humans and demons especially competitions between humans were many carried out between high-level battle forces, which appeared to have nothing to do with commoners. As for civilians at the bottom of the class, the competitions between high-level battle forces would only lead to the change of their ruler. Civilians would eat and pay taxes as usual; the only difference was that their idol in the immortal palace might change.


    With a faint smile, Zhang Tie stepped on the stairs towards the entrance of the immortal palace.


    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had passed hundreds of stairs and arrived at the entrance of Dragon Emperor immortal palace.


    "Stop!" Two tall, tough, serious guards in full outfit shouted as they blocked their spears in front of Zhang Tie, continuing, "What are you doing here? It''s not the right moment for praying in the immortal palace!"


    "Don''t you need employees?"


    "Dragon Emperor immortal palace don''t need immortal soldiers!"


    "I''m not applying for immortal soldier; instead, I''m here for immortal general!"


    ''Immortal general?'' The two guards goggled at Zhang Tie''s young face and extremely ordinary clothes with eyes wide open. Before they answered, Zhang Tie had released his protective battle qi and slightly rocked off their spears before entering the immortal palace frankly.


    It was much more magnificent inside than outside. The moment Zhang Tie entered the immortal palace, he had seen a huge statue facing the gate in the distance¡ª¡ªA man was stepping on an immortal dragon, long sword in hand, who looked pretty handsome and lofty.


    It was pretty open from the statue all the way to the gate except for the rows of cattails being placed on the ground tidily.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, a decent and clean woman in white longuette standing at the gate became a bit stunned as she asked, "You''re also applying for immortal general?"


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "Sure!"


    "Please follow me!" The woman in white longuette said. After taking another look at Zhang Tie out of curiosity, she led Zhang Tie into a corridor beside the main gate.


    This woman was like a staff in the immortal palace being similar to nun. However, Zhang Tie didn''t know the concrete identity of this woman in the immortal palace of Motian Realm. In case of trouble, Zhang Tie directly remained silent as he just followed that woman in the corridor for a while before coming to the door of a room.


    "Please wait inside for a while. Our head would arrive soon. He would negotiate with you about the job!"


    "Fine, thank you!"


    The woman in white longuette then pushed open the door. When Zhang Tie entered the room, all the others in the room instantly fixated onto him.


    Given the furnishings, this room should be a parlor. There were already eight people here, including the two fierce immortal generals that Zhang Tie met just now. Like the other six people, Zhang Tie took a look at them as he found there were 4 males and 2 females. One of the 4 males was an earth immortal general, namely an earth knight, who was sitting in a chair arrogantly and lonely. One of the two females was also an earth immortal general. The two women appeared coming here together as they were sitting together. As for the remaining males, one in long hair was sitting alone, eyes closed. The rest two males should be brothers given their looks.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, all the eight people were shocked, including the two fierce knights that Zhang Tie met outside just now.


    Among all the 9 candidates, Zhang Tie was the youngest. Given his look, he was just 17 years old. Additionally, he was wearing the ordinary clothes of A''Long whom he got acquainted in the airboat.

 1650 In the Immortal Palace

    Except for the lonely man who was meditating, eyes closed, all the others at present were shocked by Zhang Tie''s young look with a myriad of facial expressions.


    The two fierce immortal generals whom Zhang Tie had met outside just now exchanged a glance with each other. One of them then smacked silently. The arrogant earth immortal general squinted his eyes towards Zhang Tie. The two brothers just stared at Zhang Tie for a short while out of shock. The two women''s responses were a bit funny: the female earth immortal general just threw a glance at Zhang Tie calmly before neglecting him; the other revealed a big smile and ogled at Zhang Tie; besides, she waved her hand towards Zhang Tie, saying, "Little young brother, come here and sit beside your sister!"


    The female who greeted Zhang Tie was in soft blue outfit. She was hot especially featured by her straight nose, big and watery eyes. The woman beside her was an earth immortal general in green longuette. With an oval face, slim eyebrows, she looked pretty beautiful despite being much more distant than the first one.


    After the female in blue soft outfit finished her words, the female earth immortal general beside her had glared at her in a helpless way.


    Zhang Tie wondered whether females on the way here were all decent and beautiful due to the plentiful aura in this space.


    Despite having such a good opportunity to get along with such beauty, Zhang Tie was neither shocked nor surprised; instead, he just revealed a frank smile, replying, "Ha, thank you, sister!" After saying that, Zhang Tie came over there and sat down closely beside that female in blue soft outfit decently.


    The two females were sitting in the middle of the same soft bench, which was not broad enough. After sitting down, Zhang Tie''s thigh almost touched that female''s thigh with less than one punch''s distance in between.


    The others didn''t make any response to that, except the two brothers who forcefully swallowed their saliva as they couldn''t hide their admiration for Zhang Tie.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie smelt the fragrance of orchid from the female earth immortal general and the strong fragrance of rose blossom from the female in soft blue outfit. Sitting next to such beauties, Zhang Tie really felt much better than smelling the stinky sweat of those men in the airboat.


    "Young brother, you''ve already been an immortal general at such a young age, you must come from a big clan..."


    The moment Zhang Tie sat down, the female beside him had started the talk passionately.


    Just now, this female called Zhang Tie little young brother. The moment Zhang Tie sat down, she had changed the appellation by removing the word little, which sounded a bit more intimate. Hearing that, the female beside her slightly frowned as she directly turned around as if she didn''t care about their talk at all.


    "I cannot remember where do I come from..."


    "Aah? But why..." the younger female exclaimed with an exaggerated look.


    "I''ve been injured. After waking up, I''ve forgotten many things!"


    Now that Zhang Tie could fabricate a lie in the airboat, he didn''t mind continuing the lie. No matter what, he felt this reason worked. He didn''t want to explain too much about that in case of trouble. Due to the plentiful aura in Motian Realm, despite being much less than that in Taixia Country in total population, the number of immortal generals here might not be less than knights in Taixia Country. So many immortal generals here were traveling around and looking for opportunities. Therefore, it was not a big deal for a fresh immortal general who had forgotten about his bygones to appear in a place. After all, it was much better than being caught and made into experimental slices after revealing his real identity as an alien.


    "Young brother, how did you come to Heavenly Square City then?"


    "I was saved by the crew of an airboat passing by when I passed out a few days ago. Therefore, I picked up their vehicle and came here!"


    "That''s good. That''s good!" the female said as she patted her plump breast as if she was afraid that Zhang Tie could not see that, asking, "Young brother, what''s your name?"


    "I''m Zhang Tie. Sister, may I know your fragrant name..."


    "Fragrant name..." the female in blue repeated the term as she tasted it for a while with a serious look.


    Watching her expression, Zhang Tie realized that nobody else in this world might have asked a female''s name in such an elegant way. Despite being succinct, this phrase contained a Hua culture which had been lasting for thousands of years in another world. Many ancient men of letters might have racked their mind to work out such a great phrase. When asking a female''s name, they realized their compliment, making the listener happy instead of feeling disgusting. Only Hua people''s words could be so charming and fantastic.


    According to the custom of Hebrew language, it would be¡ª¡ªsister, may I know your name which is as fragrant as flowers...if so, it would sound a bit vulgar and evident. In Motian Realm, where humans and demons had fought tens of thousands of years, a man of letters might be like rarities. At least in the airboat, when Zhang Tie talked about poets with Captain Shi, the entire crew had responded with confused looks as if they didn''t know the profession of the poet at all.


    "Is poem a kind of sharp immortal general?" A''Long asked Zhang Tie seriously. Zhang Tie thought A''Long was kidding. Later on, he realized that there was no such a profession of the poet in this world at all. Perhaps nobody in this world had once written a poem. People in this world might have not imagined that it could become a lofty profession or popular for a period of time by writing poems. In this world dominated by battle force, Everything''s value was related to strength.


    After hearing the phrase fragrant name, even the female earth immortal general who had looked aside couldn''t stand looking back at Zhang Tie again as if she was shocked by Zhang Tie''s eloquence too. The two words really sounded warm-hearted.


    It might be the first time for the female beside Zhang Tie to hear this phrase. After tasting it for half a minute, she suddenly revealed a brilliant smile, praising, "Young brother, you''re really talkative. Your words sound really comfortable. Bear it in mind, this sister''s name is Ji Yuelan. I would not always tell my name to a man easily."


    "Oh, I couldn''t bear such high praise!" Zhang Tie sighed as he looked up.


    "Why?"


    "Because the last girl who said it to me always urged to marry me!"


    "Really?" Ji Yuelan patted Zhang Tie''s shoulder as her face flushed. Closely after that, the punch''s distance between them disappeared.


    The two brothers just gazed at Zhang Tie like watching a deity.


    All the others in the room became silent as Zhang Tie and Ji Yuelan were talking freely. Ji Yuelan even burst into laughter every once a while...


    ...


    In another room of the immortal palace, an old man with some deep frowns on his forehead in black long robe which was embroidered with dragon patterns and a female immortal general in the fiery outfit and short hair were standing in front of a water basin where bizarre runes were flowing in water.


    Light flashed across the water basins as everything in the room where the eight candidates were in appeared in the water basin clearly like images in a mirror. The water slightly rocked as sounds in the room could be clearly heard too.


    Zhang Tie''s image appeared in the water basin. The old man and the female immortal general were gazing at Zhang Tie at the same time with different looks. The old man grew more and more serious while the female immortal general abhorred Zhang Tie evidently.


    "Go check which airboat he had come from and whether he was saved by the crew or not..."


    The female immortal general then watched the old man, saying, "Head, this man..."


    "Go check, I could handle with it..."


    "Yes, sir..."


    The female immortal general threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie before disappearing in a split second...

 1651 Zhang Ties Questions

    For almost three hours, when the others became impatient, Zhang Tie and Ji Yuelan were engrossed in conversation. In the beginning, they chatted in normal tones. Later on, they chatted secretly using their battle qis.


    The others at present didn''t know what they were talking about; however, Ji Yuelan''s laughter every once a while made her eye-catching.


    During the past three hours, when Zhang Tie entered here for over 1 hour, another tall and tough earth immortal general had arrived. Plus Zhang Tie, there were 10 immortal generals in the room in total.


    Being different than other women that Zhang Tie had ever known, Ji Yuelan had a very special feature, namely being interested in chatting. She was very talkative. As long as she started a talk, her petite mouth would keep chattering like a machine gun for a few hours without repetition. Additionally, she would become more and more excited through talking. As a result, she would feel thirsty and breathless as her eyes turned watery and her face flushed.


    When he found those people in the room were watching him with awe-stricken even despised eyes, Zhang Tie pledged that he was not flirting with Ji Yuelan. Actually, not like other women, this female immortal general would make herself extremely thrilled only by chattering at her will as if Zhang Tie was flirting with her.


    Zhang Tie had heard about such a kind of self-pleasing woman before. Unimaginably, he could meet one in Motian Realm. It was like having a pillow when he felt like going to bed.


    Over 3 hours might only mean a nap or short time sit-up for others; however, Zhang Tie learned a lot from Ji Yuelan about immortal palace during this period of time and fixed his shortage about the information of immortal palace. Additionally, he knew the Motian Realm better. No matter what, the knowledge and experience of an immortal general about this world; especially about the class of immortal general could never be matched by commoners.


    As was beforementioned, in Motian Realm, as long as one promoted to a supreme immortal general, he or she would be qualified to found an immortal palace. The immortal palaces founded by supreme immortal generals were easily identified. Generally, each immortal palace would be distinctive due to its name; as long as there was no word "emperor" in the name of an immortal palace, the immortal palace must be founded by a supreme immortal general or a sage-level knight.


    Immortal palaces like Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was founded by an immortal emperor, the top power in Motian Realm. The widely accepted name of the top power was Dragon Emperor.


    Before Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was founded, the person was just a supreme immortal general called Ying Canglong instead of Dragon Emperor. In the beginning, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was called Canglong Immortal Palace. About 1,200 years ago, Ying Canglong promoted to an immortal emperor and shocked the entire Motian Realm. As a result, Cang Long Immortal Palace was renamed as Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Among humans in Motian Realm, there were three emperor-level immortal palaces, namely three top forces, respectively Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace were the most time-honored immortal palaces in Motian Realm with the greatest influences. Previously, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was also prosperous; however, since Dragon Emperor gradually didn''t show up in the public 900 years ago, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had been declining. As of now, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had become fat prey in the eyes of other forces.


    Emperor-level immortal palaces had very great influence. Although Motian Realm was not divided by countries, an emperor-level immortal palace was almost like a top country in population, number of cities, influence and battle force. To a certain degree, the immortal palace was a combination of sect and country. One immortal palace was as powerful as a country in the world where Zhang Tie came from. Those who could found immoral palaces deserved to be the idols of all the others and worshipped by hundreds of millions of people.


    In Motian Realm, besides being power center, the immortal palace was also similar to trade unison of knights which could only be accessible to immortal generals, staff inside immortal palaces or some major figures within the territory of immortal palaces. Commoners could only enter the immortal halls in cities, which were affiliated to immortal palaces. Immortal palaces were divided into different scales and classes. In this world, immortal palaces were as hierarchical as troops.


    Being similar to those clans in Taixia Country, all the clans in this world aimed to found their own immortal palaces one day.


    In this world, immortal palaces were scrambling for the population. As a result, the relationships between immortal palaces and between immortal palaces and those clans which had not found their immortal palaces were very complex. Some clans would join immortal palaces voluntarily and give concession to immortal palaces; they would develop their own strength with the protection of immortal palaces; hopefully, one of their clan members could promote to a supreme immortal general one day and found their own immortal palace. Some clans would cooperate with each other and form a regional alliance so as to compete with immortal palaces.


    It was very difficult to found an immortal palace. Additionally, immortal palaces would collapse at any time. The main reason for the collapse of immortal palaces was the death of its core figures such as a supreme immortal general or an immortal emperor...


    When Zhang Tie was told that even an immortal emperor would die, he was startled again. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, even sage-level knights in the world where he came from could barely die unless they didn''t feel like living any longer. In Yun Zhongzi''s words, a sage-level knight could at least escape successfully if he couldn''t defeat his enemy. How could immortal emperors in Motian Realm be killed? That was unimaginable...


    Zhang Tie finally couldn''t stand asking Ji Yuelan secretly using his battle qi. "Wait...Sister Lan, how could immortal emperor die? As the most powerful ones in Motian Realm, how could they die..."


    "Young brother, it appears that you could remember nothing for real; otherwise, how could you not know the death of rune emperor 300 years ago..." Ji Yuelan rolled her eyes to Zhang Tie. As for Ji Yuelan, besides the fact that Zhang Tie had forgotten about everything, his surprising look and serious expression was too cute. Therefore, she felt that this rare young man was very interesting. "300 years ago, there were four emperor-level immortal palaces among humans. Rune Emperor was also unrivaled in Motian Realm. Pitifully, Rune Emperor was always conceited. When he was in the dark valley, he was trapped by Tricky Demon Emperor and mired in the deity-killing formation of over 10,000 demon generals. Finally, although he killed thousands of demon generals, he was also shattered. In the few days after his death, the Rune Emperor Immortal Palace had perished and been divided by the other three immortal palaces. Of course, it was just an accident. Besides, in every 360 years, when the Mountain Ruins open, all the top humans and demons who were qualified to found immortal palaces would fight to death in the Mountain Ruins. Over tens of thousands of years, many immortal emperors and demon emperors had perished in the Mountain Ruins..."


    ''A formation of over 10,000 demon generals could kill an immortal emperor who''s higher than a sage-level knight?''


    Zhang Tie didn''t believe in it. Given his experience in fighting demons in Earth-elements Realm and at the bank of Weishui River, even a formation of 100,000 demon knights could barely trap a sage-level knight, not to mention an immortal emperor. This message challenged Zhang Tie''s common sense. In the world where he came from, the biggest role of the formation of knights was to deter and resist the opposite formation of knights. Such a formation could always shatter low-level knights; however, its role was very limited for powers above heavenly knight. At least Zhang Tie had not heard that any heavenly knight was killed by the opposite formation of knights in the three holy wars. How could a formation of immortal generals in Motian Realm easily kill an immortal emperor?


    ''Is the formation of immortal generals in Motian Realm different than the formation of knights in Taixia Country? As long as the formation is large enough, it would be able to kill an immortal emperor? And what''s the Mountain Ruins? How could it attract sage-level knights and immortal emperors to fight each other in every hundred years?''


    Ji Yuelan''s introduction aroused more questions in Zhang Tie''s mind. The moment Zhang Tie wanted Ji Yuelan to continue her introduction, the door had been open. They finally saw the owner of this place after waiting for three hours.


    It was an old man in black long robe with dragon pattern and a woman in fiery outfit.


    Only after throwing a glance at them, Zhang Tie had known that the old man was a shadow knight while that woman was an earth knight. Of course, according to the standard of Motian Realm, the old man was a water immortal general while the woman was an earth immortal general.


    Watching them coming in, all the 10 people stood up and cupped their hands towards the old man with sincerity no matter how impatient they were.

 1652 Recruitment Through a Bloody Pledge

    Zhang Tie also stood up with the others as he made a special hand rite like others.


    There were too many rites in Taixia Country, including crossing hands rite, cupping hands rite, palms rite, bowing rite, kowtowing rite, ect.. Each rite was further divided into many categories. Among them, kowtowing rite contained nine varieties, which was really remarkable but confusing. So many rites were the products of social development at this age. However, in Motian Realm, as humans and demons had been fighting for tens of thousands of years, the rites here were much simpler and classic like those in the military camps. In Motian Realm, commoners would cup their hands towards each other. They would lower their heads and cup their hands only when they saw dignified clan elders or supreme immortal generals or immortal emperors who could open immortal palaces. They would pray in immortal palaces or immortal halls.


    As for hand rites, people would cross their hands on their chest before pushing them upwards quickly, regardless of gender.


    When the old man and the woman entered, Zhang Tie could only abandon the questions for the time being. As he had just been to Motian Realm for a couple of days, he had not communicated with many people. Nor did he know Motian Realm well; especially the secrets and knowledge of immortal general in this world. No matter what, as long as he could settle down in this world, he would have enough time and opportunities to learn from people.


    Zhang Tie then recovered his composure.


    Not knowing whether it was just an illusion or not, Zhang Tie felt that the two people had glanced at him stealthily when they entered.


    "Sorry for being late, please have a seat..." the old man replied calmly with a hands rite, which meant that he was the host of this job fair.


    Those immortal generals in the room had long been impatient; especially the two immortal generals whom Zhang Tie met outside. The moment everyone took a seat, one of the two guys had opened his mouth.


    "It''s said that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is recruiting immortal generals, is it true?"


    "It''s true. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is indeed recruiting immortal generals. Besides the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City, all the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palaces above 3 scales across Motian Realm are recruiting immortal generals!" the old man said calmly.


    After hearing the old man''s response, the fierce immortal general instantly let out a sigh as he continued, "I wonder about the regulations and requirements and whether treatment varies with level, 10 element crystals for each level higher?"


    "Each immortal general would have at least 10 element crystals monthly. If you make meritorious deeds or acquire major titles, you might get more!" the old man in black long robe with dragon pattern explained calmly. However, when the two fierce immortal generals'' eyes sparkled, the old man''s following words slightly changed their faces, "However, we''re recruiting immortal generals through bloody a pledge; instead of a contracted pledge..."


    Not only the two fierce generals, but even the other immortal generals in the room also looked pale after hearing the old man''s words. The two women beside Zhang Tie exchanged a glance with each other as they turned solemn at once.


    Zhang Tie was confused as he kept asking Ji Yuelan secretly using battle qi, "What''s a contracted pledge? What''s a bloody pledge?"


    Ji Yuelan had long treated Zhang Tie as an immortal general who had forgotten about everything. Therefore, after hearing Zhang Tie''s question, she told him secretly, "Contracted recruitment refers to signing a contract with immortal palace whose duration varies from one year to many years; at most dozen of years. After the contract is terminated, the employee would recover his or her freedom. It''s the most often pattern for recruiting immortal generals adopted by immortal palaces. As for recruitment through a bloody pledge, the immortal generals who join the immortal palace should make an immortal bloody pledge to serve the immortal palace faithfully. Unless they were hunted by the entire immortal palace due to betrayal, they could not be free any longer. Generally, most of the bloody pledges aim at recruiting immortal generals that immortal palaces cultivate since young or immortal generals of clans which have previously served immortal palaces. Few immortal generals are recruited from outside like this. You''d better watch out!"


    Zhang Tie understood it right away. The so-called contracted recruitment was equal to the recruitment of short-term staff or contracted staff; the so-called recruitment through a bloody pledge meant the business group was expanding its shareholders. The staff being recruited in the earlier pattern only served the business group for a limited period of time. By contrast, in the second pattern, employees were bound to the business group. If the business group could grow prosperous, it would be acceptable for real; however, if the business group was in the red, the employees would be trapped. Given the current situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, it might be more suitable to the latter kind.


    "Since Dragon Emperor has disappeared for over 900 years, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is on the brink of collapse. However, it is still recruiting immortal generals through a bloody pledge at our risk. We two are not interested in it. Sorry about that. See you..." The two fierce immortal generals whom Zhang Tie met outside instantly stood up and left after exchanging a glance with each other.


    The tall and tough earth immortal general who came here in the end also shook his head as he said, "What a pity! I''m leaving my clan for cultivation. I have to return to the future. See you..."


    In the blink of an eye, 3 of the 10 people had left.


    The old man watched the three people depart quietly.


    "As Dragon Emperor had disappeared for so many years, why would Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace still recruit immortal generals through the bloody pledge? I wonder how would the elders in the immortal palace develop Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace instead of having us die together with them." The calm man who used to keep his eyes closed finally opened his mouth.


    The old man took a look at that calm man with admiration as he answered in a low voice, "Although the Dragon Emperor is not here, it doesn''t mean that he has died. Perhaps, he would come back one day. Even if the Dragon Emperor has died, it doesn''t mean that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would perish. As long as someone in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace promotes to a supreme immortal general, he would heft the great banner of the immortal palace too!"


    "What if not?" the arrogant earth immortal general asked.


    "Within 100 years, if the Dragon Emperor doesn''t come back or nobody else in the immortal palace could heft the great banner of the immortal palace, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would perish itself. By then, you could leave freely..." the old man said as he glanced around the others at present, "Within 100 years, although you would sustain a bit more dangers, you would also gain bumper compensation. Although it appears that you''ve created a chance for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, you''re actually creating a chance for yourselves too..."

 1653 Joining Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace

    After hearing the old man''s words, Zhang Tie realized that this was the last effort of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace after Dragon Emperor disappeared. Although Zhang Tie didn''t know about the treatment for immortal generals in other immortal palaces, he believed that the compensation of 10 element crystals monthly was "high" in Motian Realm. They paid such high compensation because they were deeply convinced that a big figure in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would promote to a sage-level knight in 100 years. When Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was mired in dangers, they recruited a great handful of immortal generals so as to stabilize the foundation of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Even idiots could think through it.


    As all the immortal generals in the room were smart, they figured it out in the blink of an eye¡ª¡ªThere''s no free lunch for real. The high compensation provided by Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace cannot be easily earned.


    "I could make a bloody pledge to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. However, I need one year''s interval for free cultivation after serving Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for a year. During the period of my private cultivation, I have the right to refuse any task dispatched by Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace!"


    The arrogant earth immortal general in the room opened his mouth. After hearing such a condition, Zhang Tie smacked his lips as he thought, ''He wants high compensation and long holiday at the same time. One day work, one day rest. If Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace agreed with him, they would fail to manage other immortal generals well. However, without such high compensation, nobody would join it.''


    "Are you a supreme immortal general?" the woman in fiery outfit beside the old man in black robe asked him.


    "I''m an earth immortal general!"


    "If so, let''s talk about it when you promote to a supreme immortal general. By then, we could meet even higher requirements!" the woman said straightforwardly and aggressively as she looked up at that guy in a picky look with an embarrassing smile, "Or, if you could defeat a water immortal general and bring back the head of a water demon general from the black realm, your conditions might be more convincing!"


    "You..." The arrogant earth immortal general instantly sprung up as he wanted to lose his temper. However, at the sight of that woman and the old man in black robe, he replied with a cold harrumph before leaving by slamming the door behind him.


    The old man in black robe didn''t stop him.


    In this world, there were always conceited people who would like to enjoy the treatment of protagonists wherever they were as if they were princes or princesses. That earth immortal general might be that kind of person or he wanted to raise his value after noticing the dilemma facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Unimaginably, he was despised. Zhang Tie felt that these people were rather pretty funny. Seriously, these immortal generals in Motian Realm were almost like those knights in Taixia Country. People''s nature remained unchanged no matter where they were.


    "After making a bloody pledge to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, could we access to the Classics Palace and the Secret Palace of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace?" the calm man asked.


    "After making a bloody pledge to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, you need to adapt to it for a decade. Ten years later, you would enjoy the corresponding resources with the earlier immortal generals according to your contribution to the immortal palace..."


    ''There''s a 10-year trial period?'' Zhang Tie was amazed. However, it sounded reasonable. No matter what, as fresh members, if they shared the same treatment with elder members right now, they would dissatisfy elder members for real. As a result, internal turmoil might be aroused in the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. It was definitely not what the powers of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would like to see. Therefore, they set one decade''s transition so that the fresh ones could grow elder and make contributions to the immortal palace. Later on, they would gradually be accepted by the elder members and enjoy the resources inside the immortal palace.


    "Ten years?" the calm man let out a long sigh as he shook his head, saying, "It''s too long. I, Jiang Zixu, only strive for each second..."


    After saying such words, the calm man left the room too.


    As a result, there were only 5 candidates left at that moment, respectively Zhang Tie, the two women beside him and the two brothers.


    During this process, Ji Yuelan might be communicating with that woman on her side secretly using battle qi.


    Not knowing why, besides the two brothers and the two women, even the old man in black robe and that woman in fiery outfit fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie at this moment. Since Zhang Tie remained silent, of course, he aroused the attention of all the others at present.


    Scratching his head, Zhang Tie put straightforwardly, "As I''ve got injured, I couldn''t remember my past. I want to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Do you agree?"


    "As long as you''re not a demon and you''re willing to serve, even if you got injured, you could also join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Additionally, after joining us, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would try to cure your disease too!" the old man in black robe told Zhang Tie with a faint, gentle smile.


    "Great, I''m in!" Zhang Tie replied quickly.


    Zhang Tie''s quick decision slightly shocked the old man and the woman.


    "Are you sure?" the old man asked Zhang Tie seriously.


    "Haha, you bet. I feel your condition is very normal and reasonable. Rights and obligations should be equal. If one wants to enjoy something, he should pay for it accordingly. Your condition is fair. Therefore, I accept it!" Zhang Tie said calmly as he shrugged.


    "Rights and obligations should be equal..." the old man considered this sentence with a slight frown as he nodded and said, "Not bad, it''s a nice and philosophical sentence! What''s your name..."


    "I''m Zhang Tie!"


    "Who else among you four would like to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace?" the old man asked the remaining four.


    "We two are in!" Ji Yuelan answered as she revealed a brilliant smile at Zhang Tie. Meanwhile, the female immortal general beside her nodded.


    Previously, the two brothers were a bit hesitant. However, when they saw that the two women joined in, after exchanging a glance with each other, they hurriedly expressed, "Plus we two..."


    "Fine, now that you five would like to join in, you should settle down in the immortal palace first. A few days later, after this round of recruitment, you would hold a ceremony for making a bloody pledge with the other fresh immortal generals so as to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace officially. As for now, we need to confirm that you''re not demons in disguise. After that, you could go back to your residence to get some rest..."

 1654 Playing with Fire

    Within a few days, it was Zhang Tie''s second time to accept a blood test. The high frequency aroused him a doubt¡ª¡ªAre there many shadow knights or disguised demons in this world? Otherwise, why are humans so anxious about defending disguised demons as if they are facing great enemies?


    The test method in the immortal palace was stricter than that in the airboat. In the airboat, they only pierced Zhang Tie''s finger for a blood test; however, in the immortal palace, besides piercing each finger of his two hands, they even pierced his two earlobes.


    It was that hot girl in fiery outfit who tested Zhang Tie''s blood.


    Although Zhang Tie accepted the test frankly, he still had a question as he asked Ji Yuelan secretly using battle qi, "Why do they have to test four places? Isn''t one place enough?"


    "Previously, it indeed worked only by piercing the objective''s finger; however, disguised demons above wind demon general could master blood changing secret method and have human blood stay in their body locations for a long term. Through this secret method, they could cheat the examiners. Previously, we didn''t know that disguised demons mastered such a secret method. As a result, many disguised demons mixed with humans and caused a great loss. Some immortal palaces were even destroyed. Therefore, for the sake of safety, everyone who would join the immortal palace should accept the blood test on three body parts!"


    "Why on three?"


    "Because it''s said that disguised demons could store human blood in more body parts as they enhance their levels. Therefore, it would be safer by testing three body parts!"


    Zhang Tie finally understood as he continued, "Are there many disguised demons?"


    "Erm, my naive young brother. Don''t you remember anything? All right, the number of disguised demons could even run a demon emperor palace. Among disguised demons, there''s a Tricky Demon Emperor who plays a myriad of vicious tricks. Over the past thousands of years, Tricky Demon Emperor alone has toppled many human immortal palaces. That''s terrifying..."


    After hearing Ji Yuelan''s words, Zhang Tie didn''t fear at all; conversely, he became thrilled. Licking his lips, Zhang Tie exclaimed inside, ''Motherf*cker, previously I thought I couldn''t take the fruit of source of shadow demons anymore. It appears that I might have a chance to take such fruit in Motian Realm. I might even take some fruits of plunder.''


    As for the secret disgusing method of shadow demons, Zhang Tie just took it as sh*t because his lotus flower eyes were especially for identifying this ability.


    The hot girl tested Zhang Tie''s blood very carefully. The old man in black robe gazed at Zhang Tie during the whole process. Not until the four body parts of Zhang Tie were all proved safe did the hot girl take a look at the old man in black robe as she slightly nodded. The old man then revealed a slight smile.


    In a short period of time, the five people had undergone the blood test. They all passed it.


    "I''m Huang Baimei, the head of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City. This is our general deacon Leng Manxue. On the fifth day of next month, we would hold a ceremony of making a bloody pledge in the immortal palace officially. Before then, you could live in the immortal palace and get acquainted with each other meanwhile. If you have any question, come for me or General Deacon Leng..."


    After saying these words, the old man had the hot girl lead the five freshmen and women to their residence in the immortal palace.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie know that hot girl was called Leng Manxue, the general deacon of this immortal palace.


    After leaving the room, General Deacon Leng took the five people to their residence as she kept introducing the immortal palace for them.


    "The basement of the immortal palace is the immortal prison. The floor above the immortal prison is warehouse; the floor above warehouse is the residence for guardians, historians and deacons. Your residence is on two flanks of the top floor. Our head lives in the Head''s Pavilion on the top of the immortal palace. As the grand justice, commander and driver have been dispatched to other branches, these jobs were in vacancy in our branch. I''m assuming these titles for the time being. When you join the immortal palace officially and your abilities are approved by the head, you would take your jobs accordingly..."


    "Driver?" Zhang Tie asked as he looked at Leng Manxue with a weird expression.


    "Yes, is there any problem?"


    "Haha, it''s fine; it''s fine!" Zhang Tie shook his head with a smile as he realized that the title driver in the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace of Motian Realm was absolutely different than those drivers who were responsible for driving cars in Taixia Country; especially those "old drivers" in the pornographic stories in folk boites or teahouses or brothels. Therefore, he almost laughed out.


    Leng Manxue threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, she said distantly, "There''s a senior recovery pool in the immortal palace. You could stay inside for a few days. It might cure your brain disease. If not, when there''s a chance, we will find a top doctor for you in the headquarter of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    "Haha, it''s fine; thank you, thank you!" Zhang Tie said hastily.


    "You seemed to not really care about your bygones?" Leng Manxue threw another glance at Zhang Tie as if she was studying him.


    "Whatever, I feel good now. It''s like having a fresh start. Although I couldn''t remember what happened, I feel much relaxed!"


    "You really think so?"


    "Motian Realm is like a river. Each of us is just a fish in the river. To wet the others using one''s saliva could never match forgetting each other in the river!" Zhang Tie said in a poetic way, which was actually a classic line which had been carried forward for thousands of years in Taixia Country.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s last words, except for Liu Meng and Liu Yong, all the three women fixed their eyes on Zhang Tie with amazed looks as they slowed down their pace in the split second. Ji Yuelan''s eyes were flickering while a brilliant light flashed across Jiang Ruoxin''s eyes.


    The line actually originated from Zhuangtzi, a Hua sage in ancient times, a great philosopher and man of letters. His classic words contained exceptional thoughts and human moods, which were enlightening and shocking even after thousands of years.


    Not knowing why, after hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Leng Manxue didn''t say anything; instead she was thinking about something. After taking them to their residence, Leng Manxue opened her mouth again. According to Leng Manxue, Zhang Tie knew that the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City had already recruited three immortal generals before today. Two of the three fresh employees were cultivating in their own rooms while the other one was executing a task outside. Today, the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City recruited 5 more immortal generals, the most over these days.


    "Each one of you would have a private room. Each room is installed with rune instruments for the sake of your safety. Therefore, you could cultivate inside your room without any concern. Additionally, you would have two free meals a day in the immortal palace, one breakfast and one lunch. If you have any questions, you could reach to the deacons here..."


    The five people''s rooms were close to each other in the same corridor. Zhang Tie''s room was in the corner. After taking him to his room and handing him a rune metal plate which served as the key, Leng Manxue left there directly.


    Watching Leng Manxue leaving, Zhang Tie played the metal plate for a few seconds. Just now, he had already seen Ji Yuelan open the door using the key. Therefore, he imitated her to insert the metal plate into the slot on the doorframe. With a "click" sound, the door was unlocked. Zhang Tie then drew out the metal plate and pushed open the door before walking in.


    Being very large and clean, this room covered over 100 square meters. It was matched with the whole set of furniture and beddings. From the windows, he could take a bird''s-eye view over the entire Heavenly Square City as the immortal palace was the highest building in this city. He could even see the cascading waterfall from the airborne snow mountain in the distance.


    After taking a look around this room using his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie found the furnishings in this room were indeed safe and private as was told by Leng Manxue. He could cultivate in the cultivation room without any concern.


    ''It''s fixed?'' Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh.


    There was an empty bookshelf in the room. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt pitiful as he lost a chance to quickly learn about Motian Realm. Right then, he heard knocks.


    Zhang Tie opened the door as he found it was Ji Yuelan and her female partner Jiang Ruoxin.


    "Young brother, it''s said that flying pulp in Heavenly Square City tastes good. As there''s no supper in the immortal palace, how about hanging out and eating some food..." Ji Yuelan said as passionately as before. As for Jiang Ruoxin, although she remained distant, her eyes contained more curiosity about Zhang Tie as if she didn''t oppose to take a walk with Zhang Tie outside.


    "It would be nice..." Zhang Tie nodded as he walked out of his room and closed the door.


    When they arrived at the door of Liu Meng, Liu Meng''s door suddenly opened while two heads were exposed. At the sight of Zhang Tie and the two girls, Liu Meng and Liu Yong uttered, "Erm, what a coincidence...you...you''re going out too?"


    "Yes, we''re going to hang out and eat some food. Would you like to come with us?" Zhang Tie asked with a smile; instead of revealing the awkward "coincidence" created by the two brothers.


    "Yes, yes..." the two brothers hurriedly answered. Closely after that, they walked out and smirked before leaving with Zhang Tie, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin.


    Ji Yuelan didn''t know whether she should laugh or cry about the two brothers'' deed. As a result, she glared at Zhang Tie, not knowing whether he was really silly or not. By contrast, Jiang Ruoxin became more curious about Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªjust now, when Zhang Tie flirted with Ji Yuelan, he was like a handsome, romantic veteran; even Ji Yuelan couldn''t help being fascinated by him. Facing the two Liu brothers, he was so frank and generous. Very few men could do that. Besides, he was full of bizarre charisma, he could easily win the favor of a woman...


    "This man is very dangerous..." Jiang Ruoxin told Ji Yuelan secretly using his battle qi.


    "Hmm, do you want to scramble for this young man with me? If you want, I don''t mind sharing him with you..." Ji Yuelan answered with a joke.


    "This man is not young or innocent. I feel he''s different than any other men that you''ve met before. If you''re really fascinated by him, you might be fooled by him in the end. Hopefully, you don''t cry then..."


    "Impossible!"


    "Do you think you understand him?"


    "At least better than you do..."


    "If so, do you know his level?"


    After being silent for a second, Ji Yuelan replied, "He should be a fierce immortal general. Some immortal generals could cover their cultivation base through secret methods. It''s nothing strange at all..."


    "But I think he''s more than a fierce immortal general!"


    "Whatever, it''s better if he''s an earth immortal general. It''s fine as long as he''s not a disguised demon. Don''t you feel such a young man is charismatic? I would not say no even if he could fool me in the end..."


    "You''re playing with fire!"


    "Heh heh, I''m gonna burn him using my fingers..."

 1655 Heavenly Square Building

    Despite being a bit stupid, Liu brothers were not boring. Although the two brothers admired Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin very much, the two girls didn''t have any feelings toward them at all. As a result, they kept a distance with the two brothers politely. On the street, watching the two brothers scratching their faces and wanting to flirt with the two beauties every once a while, Zhang Tie felt speechless about them.


    Even so, as they would soon join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace officially and become colleagues, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin didn''t make the two brothers embarrassed. As a result, the two brothers were pretty inspired as they grew more diligent towards the two beauties. This made Zhang Tie absolutely speechless.


    Affection between male and female couldn''t be realized without practice besides personal comprehension. Evidently, the Liu brothers lacked comprehension and practice. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see such muddle-headed immortal generals.


    In Motian Realm, Heavenly Square City was a large city as it contained over 5 million population. Additionally, Heavenly Square City was a hub with advanced trade. After two days, at the beginning of the next month, traders from all directions would converge in Heavenly Square City. Therefore, it was pretty boisterous in Heavenly Square City recently. People from all walks of life could be seen here. It felt special when Zhang Tie wandered in the city and sensed the bizarre local customs.


    Through communication, Zhang Tie learned more about Motian Realm from the other four. When they passed by a store, Zhang Tie bought a complete map of Motian Realm.


    This map cost him the greater part of the crystal coins that Captain Shi gifted him.


    "Brother Zhang Tie, what did you buy this map for?"


    Watching Zhang Tie take out a map from the store, the Liu Brothers finally ended their description about their hardships in cultivation to Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin as they instantly shifted the topic to Zhang Tie as if they met their savior.


    "Haha, I feel empty in mind. I couldn''t remember anything; even where I am. Therefore, I bought a map to enrich my knowledge!" Zhang Tie said with a smile. The map looks to be made of leather. Even though it was put in a cylinder, it was also longer than 1 m. It would be a bit eye-catching in hand. Thankfully, there''s a string on it. Therefore, Zhang Tie carried it on back.


    Zhang Tie finally felt being inconvenient without space-teleportation equipment. Thankfully, space-teleportation equipment was also available in Motian Realm periodically. In the first day and the fifteenth day of each month, the special contracting force created by this space structure would decline to zero, during which period, traders across the Motian Realm would attend the trade fair. The first day of each month was called a big fair while the fifteenth day of each month was called a small fair. Most of the businessmen carried portable space-teleportation equipment which contained the most commodities. Actually, commodities couldn''t be accessed to space-teleportation equipment except for the first day and the fifteenth day of each month.


    On the airboat of Captain Shi, Zhang Tie had known it. It meant that Zhang Tie could use Castle of Black Iron twice from the first day of next month although he couldn''t use it freely like before. Therefore, Zhang Tie warned himself to not fight his enemies except on the first day or the fifteenth day of a month. In the two days, even if he couldn''t defeat his enemies, he could still seek protection in Castle of Black Iron. If not, he might not return to Castle of Black Iron at the critical moment, which meant a tragedy for him.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the Liu brothers instantly had a sense of superiority as they chested out. Liu Yong burst out laughing as he said, "We both have a good memory. As long as we''ve traveled somewhere, we would not forget its location. If Brother Zhang has any question about the map, just ask us. We''ve been to many places across Motian Realm. We''re definitely more effective than map, hahaha..."


    Watching the two brothers'' arrogant looks, Ji Yuelan rolled her eyes to them at once. Jiang Ruoxin directly turned around as she didn''t want to see them anymore. Whereas, Zhang Tie didn''t care about that; because he knew that the two brothers were just being straightforward instead of being a show-off or making him embarrassed. They just wanted to help him sincerely. However, they didn''t find Ji Yuelan''s response to them at all; instead, they kept telling Zhang Tie where they had been. Actually, neither of the two beauties were interested in the two brothers. Zhang Tie could only feel sorry for the two brothers inside. With such a low emotional quotient, it was more difficult for them to get beauties than promoting to immortal generals...


    After a while, the night gradually fell. Watching Zhang Tie listening to the hubbub of Liu brothers about their experience with a great interest, Ji Yuelan finally couldn''t stand throwing a glare at the two brothers before talking to Zhang Tie in a spoiled way with a smile, "I''m hungry, it might be the most famous Heavenly Square Building in Heavenly Square City in front of us. Flying pulp is their brand drink..."


    "Great, let''s go taste it!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile. Closely after that, he shook the remaining coins in his wallet, saying, "But I''ve not got enough money. I''m your guest!"


    "You''re all our guests, hahaha..." Liu Meng interrupted at once.


    "Hahaha, nice. I have no objection!"


    "Brother Zhang is very interesting, hahaha..." Liu Meng burst into laughter as he forcefully patted Zhang Tie''s shoulder after gaining Zhang Tie''s "quick support".


    Heavenly Square Building was a 7-storey high pavilion. Before the night fell, the Heavenly Square Building had almost been full. When the five people arrived, there was already no vacancy. Coincidentally, a servant of a major clan in Heavenly Square City ran over there and noticed the boss that they had to cancel off the order as their master had something important to deal with tonight. The boss then asked Zhang Tie whether they would "choose" the private room on the 7th storey. Because the seven private rooms on the 7th storey were the most expensive in Heavenly Square Building, ordinary people couldn''t afford it.


    As immortal generals, of course, Liu brothers didn''t care about expenditure. Therefore, they instantly let the boss dispatch someone to lead them to the private room on the 7th storey.


    Soon after they entered the private room, the boss had run upstairs flurriedly, sweat all over his forehead, and he said, "Five guests, I''m so sorry; I''m so sorry. This private room has been ordered by someone..."


    "Someone? Aren''t we someone?" Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    "No...I don''t mean that...five guests, how about waiting for a second? I will arrange another private room for you after a while. You could enjoy 20 percent off and some brand dishes of this store. We''ve got some VIPs..." the boss explained with an embarrassed smile.


    "Pah..." Liu Meng slapped onto the table as he glared at the boss, "Break win...win..." He instantly stopped as he realized that it was not suitable to abuse people in front of two beauties. As a result, Liu Meng went berserk, "Do you think we couldn''t afford you or what? We will stay here today. We will not go anywhere else. Quick, bring us drinks and dishes. If you''re late, we brothers would demolish your sh*t store..."


    "Who''s so presumptuous? Who dare demolish our Heavenly Square Building?" a gloomy voice suddenly drifted from outside...

 1656 The Reason

    At the same time, the door of the private room was pushed open from outside rudely while a youth at his 20''s swaggered in. With a foldable fan in his hand, he was followed in by some bodyguards.


    Elevated eye corners; a bit bluish black bags under eyes; abnormally white face; fickle footsteps. At the sight of him, Zhang Tie had known that he was indulged in liquor and sex. The four bodyguards behind the young man were all tough guys; however, they were at most LV 14. Therefore, the five people didn''t fear them even if 10,000 more bodyguards like them were at present.


    When the youth in brilliant garment entered the private room, his eyes instantly turned bright like two will-o''-the-wisps at the sight of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin. He directly ignored Zhang Tie and Liu brothers. As Zhang Tie looked too young and was in very cheap clothes, he was like a trivial lackey. Although Liu brothers were immortal generals, they were more like hatchet men given their look due to a shortage of personalities of bosses.


    What was more, the youth was lower than LV 11. When Zhang Tie''s group was low-key, he couldn''t even find that they were immortal generals; instead, he only took them as commoners. How could a playboy like him respect such "commoners"?


    "Hahaha, I see two beauties. I see; I see..." the youth in brilliant garment said in a fickle tone as he opened his foldable fan in a handsome way with a sound "Shhua". At the same time, he revealed a smile and told Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin, "Two girls, you look strange. I''ve not seen you in Heavenly Square City before. It must be your first time to Heavenly Square City."


    Jiang Ruoxin didn''t speak; however, Ji Yuelan replied as she smiled like an innocent little white rabbit, "Yes, it''s our sisters'' first time to visit Heavenly Square City!"


    ''First time; sisters.'' The youth instantly seized the key information as he looked at Ji Yuelan greedily. After looking at her plump breasts, his throat moved as he felt a bit warm, continuing, "I think you have just got acquainted with the three men today?"


    "Yes!" Ji Yuelan answered as she blinked her eyes as if she had determined to cheat the youth to death.


    The youth in noble garment instantly revealed a generous look as he said, "As the big trade fair would kick off in two days in Heavenly Square City, people from all walks of life have been here. As a result, it''s a bit messy here. Since you''re new here, you''d better watch out when making friends. You''d better stay away from those ruffians and humble people in case of being trapped. Otherwise, you would regret. A few days ago, I took some patrollers to catch some liars in the streets and put them behind bars..."


    Weirdos existed everywhere, even in Motian Realm. Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could encounter such a weirdo soon after entering Heavenly Square City. After hearing this guy depreciating others, speaking highly of himself blatantly and threatening him and Liu brothers, Zhang Tie was not angry; instead, he waited for this guy to continue his performance. By contrast, Liu brothers had long been infuriated. If not Ji Yuelan interrupted them, the two brothers might have long stomped onto the youth''s face fiercely for dozens of times.


    "Aah, dude, you could take patrollers to catch ruffians on streets. May I know your identity..." Ji Yuelan asked with a "surprise" as her eyes sparkled.


    "Heavenly Square City previously belonged to Zi Clan. I''m Zi Gui!" The youth became more pleasant after being bewildered by Ji Yuelan''s performance. As a result, he squinted his eyes and exposed his identity at a stroke. Closely after that, he struck the iron while it was hot, "Ladies, given your good looks and qualities, you should make friends with people of the top class. After a while, I will invite some people here. They''re all top figures among immortal generals. If you agree to stay, I could introduce those immortal generals to you after a while..."


    "Doesn''t Heavenly Square City belong to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace? Is there anything to do with Zi clan?" Zhang Tie instantly asked Jiang Ruoxin secretly using his battle qi soon after the youth finished his words. Because he was new here, he was still confused about the situation facing Heavenly Square City.


    "Heavenly Square City belonged to Zi clan previously. However, Zi clan sought for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace''s protection over 300 years ago. As a result, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could build immortal palaces and immortal halls in the city. The two parties cooperated with each other for their own needs..." Jiang Ruoxin explained it to Zhang Tie secretly as she tried to not laugh out.


    "Aah, dude, you even know top immortal generals? Don''t lie to me..." Ji Yuelan said with a curious look as she patted her plump breasts.


    "Haha, they''re immortal generals from Star Emperor Immortal Palace. Lady, if you stay here, you would see them soon!" the silly youth continued pleasantly.


    Zhang Tie finally understood that Zi Clan in Heavenly Square City had long prepared to seek for Star Emperor Immortal Palace''s protection. Therefore, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was recruiting immortal generals these days.


    "Does Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace know anything about Zi clan''s blatant deeds in Heavenly Square City? I''m afraid that the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace have long known Zi clan''s plan. However, they just bore it. No matter what, Star Emperor Immortal Palace is too aggressive. Given Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace''s weak power, it might be exerting its utmost effort to avoid from contradictions with Star Emperor Immortal Palace. Perhaps, the powers of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace are thinking about stabilizing the current situation."


    "The contradictions could barely be avoided. A few days ago, Biyao City the largest city where Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace''s branch was located in Sun Shooting Plains was merged by Star Emperor Immortal Palace. It''s said that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace suffered casualties. Now, the immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace have arrived at Heavenly Square City and stay with a dude of Zi clan. Their purpose is clear to us all. Nevertheless, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t make any response to it."


    Zhang Tie had known some laws when he was in the Seventh National Male Middle School in Blackhot City. In campus, as long as a male student was bullied, he should immediately fight back even risk bleeding in case of more troubles. ''How come some big figures don''t understand it?'' Zhang Tie sighed for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in his heart...

 1657 Gotta Get a Drink Tonigh

    "How great are immortal generals from Star Emperor Immortal Palace..." Ji Yuelan exclaimed. After that, she glanced at Zhang Tie and sighed, saying, "However, we''ve promised to hang out with this young brother tonight. If we stay here, this young brother would definitely not be happy. I''m so sorry. You''ve gotta get play yourselves..."


    The smile of the youth in noble garment froze at once. After saying so much, he thought he could coax Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin; after making them drunk in the banquet at night, he would take the two beauties into his private mansion and sleep with them. He had not imagined that he could be so easily turned down by them. In fact, the two beauties didn''t even care about him at all. Therefore, he was very embarrassed.


    "You..."


    "You were talking alone. But I''ve not promised you anything!" Ji Yuelan said as she blinked her eyes. After that, she looked at the manager, urging, "Why are you still here? Quick, bring us drinks and dishes. As we came here first, you cannot order us to give way to you even if your boss is coming!"


    After hearing Ji Yuelan''s words, the youth in noble garment finally changed his face as he glared at Ji Yuelan before pointing at Zhang Tie and roaring, "Quick, drive these people out of here. Go fetch a team of street patrollers. I doubt these people are planning to do evil things in Heavenly Square City. The robbery of the warehouse in the WestCity district a few days ago might be related to these people. Take them down and put them behind bars. I gotta interrogate them..."


    After hearing the youth in noble garment, those hatchet men behind him instantly charged at them like hungry tigers and wolves.


    Liu Meng and Liu Yong had long been furious like a powder keg which was going to explode. When Ji Yuelan said, they tried not to lose their temper. However, when those b*stards charged at them by accusing them of robbers, the two brothers growled and finally rushed out.


    The battle came to an end almost in the blink of an eye, accompanied by bone fractures and miserable shrieks.


    Facing the big palms of Liu brothers, all the hatchet men were sent flying out of the private room like kitties being rammed by a running rhino. Before the youth called Zi Gui responded, his neck had been grasped by Liu Meng''s hand. Closely after that, he was thrown onto the ground. Before he uttered, Liu Meng had stomped onto his face, causing him to pass out at once.


    Liu Meng''s huge sole fully covered the youth''s face. When Liu Meng removed his feet, a huge and pitch-dark footprint covered the youth''s face from his forehead to his jaw. The youth''s nose had become flat.


    Liu brothers were smart as they didn''t kill him; otherwise, Liu Meng had long broken the youth''s head by foot.


    "Pah..." Liu Meng spat his saliva onto Zi Gui''s body as he complained, "F*ck, this son of a b*tch really made this father angry..." After that, Liu Meng glared at the manager who had been petrified. Closely after that, he grasped the manager''s collar and urged, "What the f*ck are you doing here? Quick, bring us drinks and dishes. If you were too slow, we brothers would demolish your motherf*cking hotel today, along with your head..."


    After being thrown off, the manager hurriedly slipped out of the private room. However, the Liu brothers were still furious. After turning around and finding that Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were watching them, Liu brothers hurriedly changed their faces.


    "Ahem ahem...we''re always as gentle as Brother Zhang. We aren''t rude in general..." Liu Meng explained as he whipped his hair and kicked the youth off to one corner of the private room like kicking dumps. At the same time, he rubbed his hands with a bashful smile.


    "Yes, yes. We rarely curse. We don''t always stomp others'' faces in daily life..." Liu Yong interrupted.


    "Yes, yes, these people''s faces are too fragile. You could easily break them by foot. After that, those disgusting contents would spray everywhere like a rotten watermelon. They even made my shoes dirty. It''s boring and disgusting to clean them. Take those bandits that we met last year as an instance, that..."


    "¿È...¿È..."


    "Ahem...ahem..."


    After hearing Liu Yong''s coughs, Liu Meng stopped at once.


    Zhang Tie burst into laughter. The two brothers were really sweet. However, Liu Meng''s kick won Zhang Tie''s favor. Although the two brothers looked rude at that moment, they were still meticulous as they kept that guy as a living hostage. They were not fully muddle-headed. Zhang Tie then called the two brothers, "It''s over; come on, take a seat. The manager would definitely serve us drinks and dishes as fast as possible without playing any trick..."


    There were also noises and exclamations outside the private room as the two hatchet men being sent flying out of the private room aroused a bit of turmoil. Some diners in neighboring private rooms had recognized that the guardians being hurt were from Zi Clan in Heavenly Square City. After knowing that there might be big trouble here, they hurriedly left without even finishing their food.


    As for the manager, he had a servant report it to the relevant authority as he urged the waiter to serve their drinks and food. He wanted to stabilize Zhang Tie''s group for the time being. If they left now, the manager would assume responsibility for the casualties as he couldn''t prove his innocence anymore.


    "Erm...are we a bit...a bit excessive..." Jiang Ruoxin slightly frowned as he threw a glance at the youth in noble garment at the corner of the private room. Previously, Jiang Ruoxin just wanted to scare them off by presenting their identities. Unimaginably, Liu brothers made it worse except for killing them.


    Zhang Tie asked Jiang Ruoxin with a smile, "Haven''t you heard Zi Gui''s words? If we''re just commoners, we will not talk about the result facing three men of us, do you know your outcome? Try to imagine, our beauty Jiang is caught into the pitch-dark underground cell being tied to shackles. You couldn''t move or get any help. You just cry miserably. After being full, this playboy Zi Gui comes to the underground cell with a foul smell, where, he watches beauty Jiang with erotic eyes and orders all of his lackeys to leave out of there. He then changes his foldable fan into a leather whip. Feeling amorous inside, he approaches you and would like to interrogate you with an obscene smile..."


    "Gulu..."


    A strange sound was heard in the room. The Liu brothers were swallowing their saliva forcefully...


    "A dog''s mouth emits no ivory!" Jiang Ruoxin who used to be distant and calm finally threw a glare at Zhang Tie after hearing his words, face flushed.


    ''A dog''s mouth emits no ivory!'' Zhang Tie burst out laughing after being silent for a second when he heard such a familiar sentence in Motian Realm...


    Despite the sharp difference between this world and Taixia Country, the same human race using the same language would always make similar conclusions on their wisdom and experience no matter how two worlds developed.


    "What about me? If If you were that playboy and you caught me, how would you interrogate me?" Ji Yuelan asked Zhang Tie with a bit jealousy. Zhang Tie threw a glance at Ji Yuelan as he saw her watching him with a smile.


    "Ahem ahem, am I that kind of a person?" Zhang Tie answered with a serious look.


    "I feel you''re more evil than him!" Ji Yuelan urged in a mischievous and charming manner as she stretched out one leg and slightly rubbed Zhang Tie''s crus by it...


    "Your honors, here are the drinks and food..." The manager led some waiters to serve them food and drinks. When he entered the room, he glanced at the playboy of Zi clan lying at the corner of the room before hurriedly moving his eyes away.


    "The Flying Pulp is too less. Do you feel this grandpa is poor or what..." Liu Yong glared at the manager and slapped onto the table after noticing that small pot in the hand of the manager. The manager was so scared that he even quivered all over.


    "No, no, please enjoy it first. I will bring you big jars right away; right away; I promise you a drink; I promise you a drink..." the manager hurriedly explained with a smile.


    "Quick!"


    "Yes, sir; yes, sir..."


    After a short while, there were already over 30 jars of Flying Pulp in the room. It appeared that the manager had moved all the Flying Pulp to here.


    Flying Pulp was indeed a famous liquor in Heavenly Square City. The moment its lid was opened, the entire room had been filled with a rich fragrance. Although Zhang Tie was not obsessed with drinking, nor tasting liquors, after having a sip, Zhang Tie felt that it was utterly different than those famous liquors that he had drunk in Taixia Country or Waii Subcontinent. The rich aura in the liquor rushed to his scalp the moment he took it. It felt pretty special. It lived up to its name.


    "It seems that the manager would like to make us drunk, hahaha..." Liu Meng burst into laughter.


    "If so, they would not waste time fighting us. Stay clear-minded. We two females couldn''t drink as much as you!" Ji Yuelan said as she squinted her eyes.


    Jiang Ruoxin recovered her calm look once again. Even though the table was full of nice drinks, she didn''t even have a sip. According to Ji Yuelan, Jiang Ruoxin shouldn''t drink. However, Zhang Tie and Liu brothers didn''t mind it at all.


    "He said he''s inviting the immortal generals from Star Emperor Immortal Palace. I''m afraid that we might not be able to deal with them if too many of them came!"


    "Don''t worry. It''s Heavenly Square City, the territory of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. The powerhouses dispatched by Star Emperor Immortal Palace would not surpass water immortal generals. Imagine, if a wind immortal general suddenly appears in Heavenly Square City, would Head Huang stay calm in the immortal palace in the daytime?"


    Liu Yong then slapped the table, saying, "If there''s indeed a wind immortal general, we would cause chaos; I don''t believe that Head Huang would watch people from Star Emperor Immortal Palace create troubles inside the city ignoring his existence..."


    Watching the bright moon, Zhang Tie became poetic at once as it reminded him of the figures in the past.


    "When soldiers come, we tackle them using generals; when water comes, we cover it with soil. Don''t worry about that. Come on, cheer up. With liquor, we gotta get a drink tonight. Don''t break twigs alone when there''s no blossom..." Zhang Tie proposed a toast while his lines shocked the rest again.


    "That''s great! That''s great! Brother Zhang''s words always sound nice. Damn it, that''s awesome! We Liu brothers don''t admire anyone but you, Brother Zhang. Brother, don''t hide your talents in front of us. You gotta teach us so that we could also make poems freely..." Liu Yong screamed.


    "With liquor, we gotta get a drink tonight; don''t break twigs alone when there''s no blossom..." Ji Yuelan repeated it as she watched Zhang Tie in a more fascinated manner. Raising her glass, she proposed a toast, "Young brother, this sister propose a toast to you for your poetic lines!"


    Zhang Tie and Ji Yuelan then clinked their glasses before drinking it together.


    Liu brothers kicked up a fuss aside at a stroke. They opened the lids of three jars by patting their bodies as they urged, "One glass doesn''t work. We brothers gotta get one jar to show our respect to Brother Zhang!"


    "Alright, one jar!" Zhang Tie dropped off his glass as he picked a jar of Flying Pulp by one hand. After touching each other''s jar, the three people raised their heads and poured the entire jar of liquor into their mouths.


    After putting down the three empty jars, the three men exchanged a glance with each other before bursting into laughter in unison.


    As was imagined, before proposing a toast to each other for three rounds, the clatters of heavy footsteps of a large team had drifted into the private room.


    After a few seconds, a row of iron hooks being connected to ropes had been shot inside the door. Closely after that, the wooden door, the wall on the side of the door and the screen in the private room were pulled down from outside, revealing Zhang Tie''s group to the public.


    Seven men with star patterns on their collars were watching the five people who were drinking inside the private room distantly. Behind the seven men were two rows of street patrollers in Heavenly Square City. They all held weapons and surrounded the entire private room as if they were facing great enemies.


    At this moment, the boite had been in chaos while all the other diners had already checked out flurriedly.


    Watching the seven men outside, Liu brothers who were still drinking instantly stopped as they squinted their eyes. Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin exchanged a glance with each other with slight frowns. Given the faint qi from the seven men, the two women had known that two of them were earth immortal generals while the rest five were fierce immortal generals. The opponents were much more powerful than them.


    ...

 1658 Star

    "After a short while, I will defend the two earth generals, you and three of them leave here first..." Jiang Ruoxin told Ji Yuelan secretly using her battle qi before taking a look at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s performance shocked Jiang Ruoxin slightly because he was still drinking Flying Pulp frankly and calmly. Not only that, Zhang Tie appeared to have not seen the seven immortal generals in front of him; instead, he just played his glass with half-closed eyes.


    After glancing over the five people at the table, one earth immortal general among the seven people finally fixated onto Jiang Ruoxin as his eyes slightly contracted. He had not imagined that Jiang Ruoxin was an earth immortal general. They had received a message that the third young master of Zi clan broke out a quarrel with others when arranging banquet for them in Heavenly Square Building and was finally hurt by two immortal generals who were new in Heavenly Square City. After hearing it, the seven immortal generals realized that it was a chance for them to completely conquer Zi Clan by carrying forward their reputation and power in Heavenly Square City; therefore, they all came here aggressively; unimaginably, there was an earth immortal general among the five people.


    Like the young master of Zi clan who had been stomped and passed out, Zhang Tie didn''t arouse this person''s attraction due to his young age, coarse and cheap garments. Therefore, this person finally fixed his eyes on Jiang Ruoxin who looked most powerful among the five people.


    After taking a look aside, the other earth immortal general on his side had flashed out. Almost in one stride, that person had arrived at the corner and got the young master of Zi clan back to their side. The other immortal general on his side instantly took out a vial of a pill and fed one to the young master.


    Zhang Tie''s group didn''t move during this process; instead, they just watched it distantly.


    "Did you hurt the young master of Zi clan?" the earth immortal general asked coldly.


    "You bet! That motherf*cking young master is beaten by this grandpa, so what?" Liu Yong and Liu Meng instantly sprung up as they replied in unison, chesting out. They gazed at the seven people with red eyes like bulldogs, pushing a face.


    "Hmm, if you don''t want to be beaten, you two had better break your hands. The others gotta go with me!" the earth immortal general said coldly as if he had taken in control of everything.


    "Hahaha, you want me to break my own hands? It''s the best joke I''ve ever heard." Liu Meng burst into laughter. Closely after that, he changed his face and gazed at that person, asking, "Why?"


    "Because of the relationship between Zi clan and Star Emperor Immortal Palace. Isn''t it enough?"


    "Star Emperor Immortal Palace? There''s no Star Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City!"


    "Heh heh heh heh, there would be soon. You should know the outcome of offending Star Emperor Immortal Palace. You could not escape from the hunt of Star Emperor Immortal Palace no matter where you are!" the earth immortal general said mercilessly, causing Liu brothers, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan to change their faces.


    After taking a pill, the young master of Zi clan slowly woke up. After touching his collapsed nose, he inhaled twice before springing up. Pointing at Liu brothers and Zhang Tie, he shouted, "You dare beat me? You dare beat me? Kill them; kill them; I want to break them into pieces..."


    "I''ve just kept your life, do you have such a poor memory?" Zhang Tie put down his glass as he stood up, swaggering; watching the young master of Zi clan who was shouting madly, he continued, "It seems that you have to die..."


    "Who are you?" The earth immortal general fixated onto Zhang Ti at once.


    Zhang Tie completely hid his qi as an immortal general. However, the moment he stood up, he had aroused the attention of the earth immortal general from Star Emperor Immortal Palace. Meanwhile, the earth immortal general felt his heart racing.


    Zhang Tie smiled, revealing snow-white teeth, saying, "It''s meaningless for you to know that!"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Dead men don''t need to know my name!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, that earth immortal general instantly contracted his eyes as he flashed towards Zhang Tie''s group. Liu brothers, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan had been intense. When they saw the opponent move, they moved too. However, one person moved faster than all of them. Before they left the table, Zhang Tie had appeared in front of that earth immortal general weirdly. Before the earth immortal general strode out the second step, Zhang Tie had already stepped onto his foot, causing him to fall on the ground from the air.


    That person changed his face as he released his battle qi and punched towards Zhang Tie''s head.


    Zhang Tie punched against his fist.


    The air across Heavenly Square Building was frozen in a split second. Closely after that, all the surrounding air gathered around Zhang Tie''s fist with his roar as if being exhausted by a wind tunnel.


    Zhang Tie''s punch was like a mountain collapse. It was also a kinetic strike. Even if Zhang Tie didn''t use a weapon, he could also realize a kinetic strike using his punch and body weight. Combining with his gnosis of fist skill, his punch became fiercer and more irresistible.


    Everyone at present changed their face. All the other six people from Star Emperor Immortal Palace launched a strike towards Zhang Tie at the same time. However, they were much slower than Zhang Tie...


    Zhang Tie''s punch collided with the earth immortal general''s punch in a split second. Like how a fine steel bar inserted into a piece of soya bean curd, Zhang Tie''s fist easily broke the entire fist of the opponent, then his forearm, arm, shoulder, protective battle qi and head in the end...


    With a sound "Puffft...", the earth immortal general''s head was broken like a watermelon being struck by a 10,000-ton iron hammer. His brains sprayed out, some of which even fell onto the face of the young master of Zi clan who was shrieking insanely...

 1659 A Fast Move

    Zhang Tie moved too fast. In a split second, he had broken the earth immortal general''s head before the other six immortal generals approached him...


    "Swords come..."


    Zhang Tie jumped into the air as he stretched out his arms with gleaming eyes, shouting as loudly as a rumble of thunder. Closely after his words, the long sword in the hand of one of the six opponents had rocked as it shot towards Zhang Tie under the dumbfounded look of the immortal general as fast as a lightning bolt like how a young swallow returned to its nest in the woods.


    Not until then did the six opponents'' sharp battle qi strikes approach Zhang Tie along with the counterattack of Jiang Ruoxin, Ji Yuelan and Liu brothers. Heavenly Square Building would soon become a battlefield of a brawl between immortal generals...


    However, all this was dissipated into a sudden sword light.


    In a split second, a sword light spread across the room on the 7th floor of Heavenly Square Building like a bright moon outside the window and a peacock fanning out its tail in a splash of colors.


    The moonlight was as tender as water while the entire 7th storey of Heavenly Square Building was immersed in the glowing moonlight.


    The six opponents'' strikes were held, rolled and shattered by the moonlight. When they revealed dumbfounded looks, the moonlight flew by the six people. At the same time, they jumped up, charged forward, attacked or defended, still or active... However, their movements became useless at this moment.


    The sword light rose and fell, expanded or contracted while the rising bright moon also disappeared in a split second as if it was an illusion. It just blew over like a wisp of wind...


    Jiang Ruoxin, Ji Yuelan and Liu brothers'' counterstrikes were also defused by the moonlight.


    Zhang Tie then landed on the ground lightly like a stick of feather. The agile gestures of the six immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace became frozen on the 7th floor in a split second with a fine, bloody sword trace as long as 3 cm on each one''s forehead.


    When Zhang Tie landed on the ground, all the six immortal generals fell to the ground and became quiet.


    Liu brothers, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan were all petrified by Zhang Tie''s unrivaled, brilliant sword strike.


    Especially Liu brothers, who watched Zhang Tie with widely open mouths which could even contain a fist. Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan were also shocked. Watching the corpse of the earth immortal general whose head had been broken by Zhang Tie''s punch and the scarlet sword trace on the forehead of each of the six immortal generals from Star Emperor Immortal Palace, they felt having a dream.


    Zhang Tie''s terrifying strike couldn''t be sensed unless being involved in it. Besides blocking the four people''s counterstrikes easily, Zhang Tie''s strike also shattered the other six immortal opponents'' attack. It meant that Zhang Tie defused ten immortal general''s strikes at the same time before killing six of them.


    Why would the long sword of the immortal general from Star Emperor Immortal Palace fly towards Zhang Tie''s hand itself after Zhang Tie''s order? What the hell was the sword skill?


    The warm night breeze blew over Heavenly Square Building, causing aeolian bells hung over the window ring and swayed in the air, waking up the four people at a stroke. Watching Zhang Tie who was watching the long sword in his hand with a fascinating look, their hearts raced at once.


    Zhang Tie finally killed people in Motian Realm. At this moment, watching the blade as shiny as water in autumn, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh inside, ''I''m not killing people for revenge, love or human righteousness. It''s just a different stance. Publicly, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace were totally incompatible. Star Emperor Immortal Palace are drooling over Heavenly Square City and gotta harm me. Privately, if I want to return to Taixia Country, I gotta promote to an immortal emperor and win the respect and gather enough human resources as soon as possible.''


    ''If I cultivate for 500 years step by step in Motian Realm, I might also promote to an immortal emperor; however, by then, the holy war in Taixia Country might have long come to an end. It''s even not known whether humans in that world still exist. Even if I could return to Taixia Country, I would get nothing else but regret! In the final analysis, as is told by Elder Muyuan¡ª¡ªRetrospecting the 5,000 years'' history of Taixia Country, few people could be successful without fame!''


    ''After slashing this sword, I gotta keep going and killing everyone in front of me, deities or demons; instead of boggling at difficulties.''


    As the sword was connected to his heart, Zhang Tie''s strong will made the long sword ring itself while releasing and hiding sword light alternatively.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie heard the sound of "clatters...". It was the young master of Zi clan with a footprint on his face whose teeth were quivering. Standing afar, he watched Zhang Tie like seeing a ghost as he quivered all over. He wanted to leave there; however, he couldn''t move at all.


    Zhang Tie stretched out his claw before sucking the young master to his front; despite the latter''s struggles and miserable shrieks.


    "Forgive me...forgive me..." the young master uttered as he kept struggling by waving his arms and kicking his feet.


    Zhang Tie put his palm on the head of the young master. After reading his memory for a few seconds, Zhang Tie broke the young master''s neck, causing his head to rotate 360 degrees over his neck. Closely after that, the young master showed the white of his eyes as he slumped to the ground softly.


    "Piss off!" Zhang Tie shouted at those street patrollers who had been soft all over and couldn''t even hold their weapons steadily. Not until then did the two rows of street patrollers wake up as they all dropped their weapons and scrambled downstairs, crying miserably. They even regret having two legs less.


    "The head of the branch of Star Emperor Immortal Palace is in the old mansion of Zi clan in Heavenly Square City; Zi clan has determined to sell Heavenly Square City to Star Emperor Immortal Palace and choose their new owner. They prepare to destroy the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City. Do you want to chop off the heads of the head of the branch of Star Emperor Immortal Palace and the owner of Zi clan in the old mansion of Zi clan? Let''s topple over the nest of those b*stards..." Zhang Tie carried the map as he asked Liu brothers who were still in shock.


    After a short shock, Liu brothers instantly grew spirited as they answered, "Great, let''s chop off the heads of those people right away!"


    "We''re gonna kill more people. This case has nothing to do with two beauties. Help yourself, hahahaha..." Zhang Tie laughed as he broke the window by a palm. Closely after that, he jumped out of the window on the 7th floor, closely followed by Liu brothers, leaving Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan alone in the entire 7th storey of Heavenly Square Building. In a split second, the two women lost their mind. They didn''t know whether they should go with Zhang Tie or return to the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace or just pretended that nothing had happened. No matter what, it was a big event for them to kill immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace...


    Before the two beauties made their decisions, Zhang Tie had flashed back through the window.


    "Hahaha, I almost forgot an important thing. I''m poor, and we shouldn''t waste money..." As Zhang Tie said, he ran to the front of those dead immortal generals under the dumbfounded look of the two beauties. He searched over the seven immortal generals and the young master of Zi clan as he got two space-teleportation finger rings and a weapon from the two earth immortal generals, and storage bags and wallets from the other six. After carrying them all, he looked fatter.


    Before leaving, Zhang Tie threw a wallet full of crystal coins onto the table as he told the two beauties, "You''re my guest!"


    After leaving the words, Zhang Tie jumped out of the window once again and rushed towards the old mansion of Zi clan.


    Since Zhang Tie started to launch a sword strike, Ji Yuelan had been watching him in shock. When Zhang Tie left them for the first time, Ji Yuelan didn''t move; when he left them for the second time, Ji Yuelan gritted her teeth. After taking a look at Jiang Ruoxin, she also jumped out of the window on the 7th storey silently, closely after Zhang Tie.


    Sniffing the bloody smell that was going to diffuse in the boite and watching the disordered corpses of those immortal generals and the young master outside the private room, Jiang Ruoxin let out a sigh as he followed Ji Yuelan out of the window too...


    ...


    Due to the mysterious no-fly zone of Motian Realm, nobody below heavenly knight could fly with the help of chakras. Although Zhang Tie could fly as a divine dominator, he didn''t mean to expose his trump card at this moment; instead, Zhang Tie just stepped on the roofs of buildings in the downtown as fast as a lightning bolt together with Liu brothers. They strode hundreds of meters forward by each step towards the old mansion of Zi clan.


    The old mansion of Zi clan was in Zi Clan Castle in the downtown, which could be easily discovered; because it was the second highest building in Heavenly Square City after the building of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin followed up too. Zhang Tie just responded with a silent smile...


    Their speed was definitely much faster than the news transmission speed from the manager of Heavenly Square Building. In a few minutes, they had arrived at Zi Clan Castle. Those people inside Zi Clan Castle still knew nothing about what happened in Heavenly Square Building.


    With a sound "boom...", Liu brothers released their battle qi as two battle qi smokes rushed into the sky. Closely after that, they rammed against the gate of Zi Clan Castle like two locomotives, collapsing it instantly. Some guardians nearby the gate were pressed and hurt by the broken pieces of the gate as their miserable shrieks woke up everyone in the castle, arousing great chaos at a stroke...


    "Who dare break in Zi Clan Castle?" A furious sound drifted from the fortress. Closely after that, three people jumped out of the fortress, the garments of two of them were marked with Star Emperor Immortal Palace.


    "If any one of them dares to resist, kill them..." After leaving the order to Liu brothers, Zhang Tie rushed towards the three strangers at once while launching out his sword strike.


    A brilliant sword light swirled over Zi Clan Castle like a fiery dragon, causing the entire Zi Clan Castle dark and shocking the entire Heavenly Square City...

 1660 Deputy Head

    When Huang Baimei the head of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City and Leng Manxue the general deacon arrived at Zi Clan Castle, the brilliant sword light over Zi Clan Castle had long disappeared. Everything in Zi Clan Castle had come to an end.


    The owner of Zi clan in Heavenly Square City, an earth immortal general and a water immortal general of Star Emperor Immortal Palace were widely opening their eyes, heads chopped off while being put on the square in a line tidily. Those heads were chopped off by Zhang Tie before flying off their shoulders and going down orderly.


    After beheading the three people, the entire Zi Clan Castle had lost its defensive power. All the guardians, servants and disciples of Zi Clan Castle who dared launch a counterattack had long been swept over by Liu brothers, leaving some women and kids hiding in their rooms who dared not utter any voice or burst into cry due to fear.


    The bright moon was hanging over the sky as round as a wheel. Standing on the roof of the highest building of Zi Clan Castle, Zhang Tie was overlooking the entire region. Behind Zhang Tie was a huge, bright moon. At this time, Zhang Tie felt pretty presumptuous yet being a bit lonely and desolate.


    The berserk sword qi over Zi Clan Castle, the battle qis reaching the sky and the over 100 m high virtual image of war beast of water immortal general growled as loudly as a thunder which had already sent the entire city into turmoil. Zhang Tie took a look around as he found that all the soldiers in the city had been gathered while over 10,000 soldiers were rushing out of their camp. Some immortal generals of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were also speeding up towards here.


    Right then, two shadows collapsed the roof of one house before landing in front of Zhang Tie heavily.


    The two brothers had got their weapons. Liu Yong was holding a broad ax while Liu Meng was holding a machete. The two weapons were both bloody. They must have killed a lot of people. With scarlet faces, the brothers looked like terrifying deities of death. Even Zhang Tie wondered how did they make it with protective battle qi; perhaps the brothers just liked this way.


    "That''s cool; motherf*cker. We''ve almost killed all those who dared defend. All the remaining ones have lost their ability to resist us. They are all underprivileged, hiding or crying inside their rooms..." Liu Meng said with strong killing intent as he wiped off the blood from his face.


    "What do we do now?" Liu Yong asked Zhang Tie straightforwardly after wiping off the blood from his face too.


    After watching Zhang Tie behead the immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace who had revealed their virtual images, Liu brothers had been admiring Zhang Tie pretty much, and totally considered him as their head.


    "Head Huang would arrive in a few minutes. Do you want to make a fortune? Do you want element crystals?" Zhang Tie asked the two people secretly using battle qi.


    The two brothers blinked their eyes and considered it for three seconds before nodding together confidently¡ª¡ªeven idiots would not refuse element crystals! As many as possible!


    Zhang Tie then told them secretly about the location of those fortunes and how could they get them using his battle qi. The two brothers were stunned for a second by Zhang Tie''s words. Closely after that, they jumped off the roof, rushed into Zi Clan Castle and disappeared.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt being gazed by two pairs of eyes. He turned around as he found that Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan were watching him after laying down the last faithful guard in Zi Clan Castle.


    Just now, when Liu brothers took action, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan moved too. However, being different from the brothers, the two women were more like saving people than killing people. All the guards of Zi Clan Castle had lost their fighting ability due to wounds; instead of risking their lives. By contrast, Liu brothers just split every enemy they saw. If the two women didn''t join it, more people would have been killed in Zi Clan Castle.


    ...


    A few minutes later, Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue arrived. The moment they entered the Castle, they had seen the three heads in a row at the square of Zi Clan Castle. Closely after that, Zhang Tie jumped off the roof and came to the front of them.


    "Head; general deacon!"


    "Why are you here? What happened?" Huang Baimei looked around with alert as if he was checking whether there were other powerhouses here.


    "Head, there''s no more powerhouse here. I''ve killed them all!"


    "You killed them all?" Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue quivered at once as they watched Zhang Tie with an unbelievable look. When they saw Zhang Tie just now, they thought Zhang Tie was new here after finding something wrong here. Unexpectedly, he was killing people here.


    "Right, I killed them all. Just now, we encountered a young master of Zi clan who was with immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace. They offended me and I killed the young master and seven immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace. Later on, I found Zi clan had already colluded with Star Emperor Immortal Palace. Therefore, I directly swept over Zi Clan Castle..." Zhang Tie said calmly. Then, he pointed at two of the three heads, saying, "The two people are immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace despite their identities are unknown..."


    Closely after Zhang Tie''s words, Liu brothers, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan had arrived.


    The moment he arrived, Liu Yong had taken a secret glance at Zhang Tie which meant that they had already done it as was told by Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then revealed a faint smile towards the Liu brothers.


    Previously, Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue were a bit skeptic when they heard Zhang Tie''s words; however, they instantly believed it after watching Liu brothers'' bloody looks all over their bodies.


    Huang Baimei looked at them, then the situation facing Zi Clan Castle. After a few seconds'' consideration, he squinted as he told Leng Manxue, "The Immortal Force Camp would arrive soon. When they arrive, they would block the entire Zi Clan Castle. Additionally, the entire Heavenly Square City would be in curfew. You gotta get back to the immortal palace with me..."


    After leaving his words, Huang Baimei flashed towards the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City at once. After exchanging a glance with each other, Zhang Tie then followed Huang Baimei up, closely followed by the others.


    ...


    Half an hour later, in a room of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Huang Baimei was inquiring Zhang Tie and the other four about the details of the accidents tonight. After that, he was in meditation on the chair with a frown, his eyes flickering.


    "I''m in charge of all the casualties of Star Emperor Immortal Palace tonight, including the death of the owner of Zi clan. Head, if you feel embarrassed about that and feel tricky dealing with Star Emperor Immortal Palace''s revenge, just push everything to me. No matter what, it was done by me. As I''ve not officially joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, these events have nothing to do with Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; nor with Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan!"


    Given Huang Baimei''s expression, Zhang Tie knew what he was worried about. Therefore, Zhang Tie suggested voluntarily.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s attitude, Liu brothers, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan fixated onto Zhang Tie with complex looks at the same time.


    "We were in the actions too!" Liu Yong said.


    "It was me who killed those people in Heavenly Square Building. As you didn''t fight the members of Star Emperor Immortal Palace directly, the members of Zi clan are the only ones who would avenge you; however, Zi clan has almost been exterminated. Additionally, you''re immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Zi clan is affiliated to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. The events between you and Zi clan are actually internal affairs of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. It''s impossible for Star Emperor Immortal Palace to find you trouble for the sake of Zi clan!" Zhang Tie urged calmly, causing Liu brothers speechless.


    "I..."


    "Stop!" Huang Baimei finally raised his arm. After that, he watched Zhang Tie and suddenly asked, "You''re a...water immortal general?"


    "Yes, I''m a water immortal general!"


    Although they had long guessed Zhang Tie''s level, when Zhang Tie admitted it, Liu brothers, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan were still shocked. Previously, they all thought that Zhang Tie was a fierce immortal general at such a young age. Although Jiang Ruoxin didn''t feel Zhang Tie was a fierce immortal general, she thought he was at most an earth immortal general. They had never imagined that Zhang Tie was a water immortal general.


    In even Motian Realm where the top existence was immortal emperor above sage-level knight, water immortal general was also unrivaled in one region.


    "You excel at using swords?"


    Zhang Tie answered with a smile, "Sword, spear, boxing, shield, heavy hammer and spike, I could use all of them very well!"


    Zhang Tie''s response made the audience shocked. His swordsmanship was so great! They all wondered about his skills in using other weapons. Even Liu brothers could see that Zhang Tie fought the three immortal generals of Zi clan and killed a water immortal general of Star Emperor Immortal Palace easily which indicated that Zhang Tie had not fully revealed his talent yet.


    "Do you even know memory-reading skill?"


    "Yup!" Zhang Tie admitted frankly.


    Watching Zhang Tie, Huang Baimei raised his eyebrows as his eyes turned bright, which made him more dignified. He then tossed an unimaginable question, "Do you still want to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace now?"


    "Dare Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace accept me as of now?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "We do!" Huang Baimei said decisively.


    "I do like to join as long as Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace dare accept me!"


    "Could you tell me why didn''t you choose other immortal palaces or forces? Given your ability, you might have a brighter future if you did that!"


    Blinking his eyes, Zhang Tie replied, "It''s God''s will..."


    Huang Baimei remained silent. After watching Zhang Tie for a few seconds, he suddenly took out a 1.5 cm long transparent crystal tiny dragon made. It was so vivid and cute while its scales, mustache and horns could be clearly identified. Some bizarre runes were flickering inside the dragon, "Here''s the token for joining Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. As long as you drop a bit of your blood onto its head and write your name there using your blood, you would be with Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace forever as long as Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace exists. You would share reputation and humiliation with Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. If you betray Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, your cultivation base would be destroyed by your bloody pledge; you might even lose your life. Even if you could stay alive, you would not stay anywhere in Motian Realm..."


    After hearing his words, Zhang Tie looked at the tiny dragon for a short while. Closely after that, he pierced his finger and put two drops of blood onto the head of the tiny dragon before scribbling his name there¡ª¡ªZhang Tie.


    The moment he finished writing his name, Zhang Tie had felt a rune flying out of the tiny dragon''s mouth which then lurked into his forehead. It then disappeared and couldn''t be felt as if it had completely integrated with his own body.


    "You four could also join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace now!" Huang Baimei told Liu brothers, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan.


    The four people didn''t hesitate at all. Liu brothers then dropped their blood on the tiny dragon''s head and left their names after Zhang Tie, followed by Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin. After four names were left there, four odd runes shot into their foreheads at the same time.


    "I wonder why Zi clan still betrayed Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace now that this bloody pledge is so powerful?"


    "Bloody pledge only works for immortal generals. When Zi clan joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, they didn''t have a single immortal general. A few years ago, the owner of Zi clan promoted to an immortal general. However, he usually postponed in name of different excuses and failed to make a bloody pledge in the end. At that time, we''ve already known that Zi clan might betray us. However, as Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was facing troubles, we could only loosen our request on Zi clan!" Huang Baimei watched Zhang Tie as he added, "If you could promote to a supreme immortal knight, this bloody pledge would be invalid. By then, you could leave Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and even found your own sect without the restraint of bloody pledge..."


    "I see..." Zhang Tie finally understood that bloody pledge only worked for knights below supreme immortal knights which were sage-level knights in Taixia Country.


    In Motian Realm, almost every immortal general knew this knowledge. Even so, nobody would suspect Zhang Tie any more in this case as they had been used to him.


    "From today on, you''re the deputy head of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City. You''re directly responsible for me. If I am absent, you will be in the chair of the branch of the immortal palace in Heavens Square City!" Huang Baimei told Zhang Tie.


    ''Deputy head?'' Zhang Tie nodded as he stroked his jaw. It was indeed out of his imagination that he could get this title. Previously, he thought about being a chief justice of this branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; unimaginably, he could be a deputy head. ''It turns out that the manifestation of my power has taken effect today.'' Zhang Tie sighed with emotions inside.


    "I wonder about Star Emperor Immortal Palace''s response to my deed in Heavenly Square City?" Zhang Tie asked Huang Baimei.


    "Of course they would take revenge on us!" Huang Baimei replied as he took a glance at Zhang Tie with a sorrowful look, "I''m afraid that Star Emperor Immortal Palace would dispatch their powerhouses here soon after figuring out what happened in Heavenly Square City..."


    "What about Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace? How would Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace respond to them?"


    "Actually, before you came, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was ready to abandon Heavenly Square City..." Huang Baimei explained as he let out a long sigh, "After something happened in Heavenly Square City, of course, the headquarters of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would not send supporting unit here; instead, they would let us abandon Heavenly Square City in advance at most!"


    Zhang Tie felt slightly sad. According to Huang Baimei, he realized that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace might face more serious issues than he could imagine...

 1661 Changes

    The extermination of Zi clan in Heavenly Square City didn''t cause greater chaos in the city. After one night''s curfew, by the next day, the entire city had recovered except for the gossips. And, it was said that Heavenly Square Building was burned into ashes in a fire accident last night, leaving smoking ruin over there.


    The extermination of Zi clan didn''t pose too much influence on the commoners in the city. It was still Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace which ruled Heavenly Square City. The mere difference was that there were some more soldiers of Immortal Force Camp patrolling in the city. Additionally, it was said that those people being closely related to Zi clan had disappeared too over last night.


    After being intense overnight, those traders who converged in Heavenly Square City from all directions for the coming big trade fair found the city remained as same as usual. Those businesses were carried on as usual. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t restrict traders'' freedom any longer. Traders could stay or leave for free. Therefore, they became reassured at a stroke as they started to ask about what happened in Heavenly Square City last night. As for businessmen in Motian Realm, besides trading commodities for profits everywhere, they had another function, namely communication. As for the clans or forces behind traders, sometimes information was even more important than profit.


    In Motian Realm, of course, the information about the relationship between two star-level immortal palaces was critical and especially sensitive.


    Therefore, on the next early morning, all the boites, teahouses, stores and guilds in the city had been crowded with lads of itinerant traders or stores or people from all walks of lives who came here by airboats for news.


    Despite being various, none of the news was accurate.


    Someone said Zi clan and the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City colluded with each other to trap those immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace who wanted to occupy Heavenly Square City in order to take revenge for the fact that Star Emperor Immortal Palace occupied Biyao City in Sun Shooting Plains of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace a few days ago.


    Someone said that a wind immortal general of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace arrived at Heavenly Square City and killed the owner of Zi clan and those immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Someone said that disguised demons slipped into Heavenly Square City last night. In order to deteriorate the relationship between two emperor-level immortal palaces in Motian Realm, it made a massacre in Heavenly Square Building and Zi Clan Castle. The latter news sounded more vivid and accurate. It was said that someone even saw that disguised demon kill an immortal general of Star Emperor Immortal Palace and fight people being dispatched to Zi Clan Castle by Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. After injuring some immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, the disguised demon fled away.


    Someone said that other immortal palaces were involved in...


    Facing this news, those information inquirers became muddle-headed as they didn''t know which news was true. Even so, they could still confirm the following points.


    First, last night, in the downtown, some immortal generals broke out a fierce battle in Zi Clan Castle; however, the battle was short. At least one water immortal general was involved. It was said that water immortal general came from Star Emperor Immortal General. However, the opponent of the water immortal general was anonymous.


    Second, like Zi Clan Castle, Heavenly Square Building was also a battlefield between immortal generals. The fire accident facing Heavenly Square Building was related to immortal generals. This early morning, some corpses were discovered from the ruins.


    Third, Star Emperor Immortal Palace suffered a great loss in Heavenly Square City last night as many people were killed. Zi clan in Heavenly Square City perished overnight. Today, none of the immortal generals from Star Emperor Immortal Palace could be seen across the city anymore; nor were people of Zi clan.


    Fourth, it was a bit uncertain. Someone said the nine immortal generals from Star Emperor Immortal Palace were all cleared in Heavenly Square City; however, their corpses couldn''t be discovered.


    What everyone cared most was the information about the people who fought Star Emperor Immortal Palace last night. There were many versions of that. One of the most popular was that some disguised demons slipped into Heavenly Square City, killed many immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace and created the turmoil in the city last night. This saying could be proved by the fact that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace suddenly strengthened its check towards anyone accessing the city. Everyone accessing to Heavenly Square City should pass the test of the demon-detective needle.


    ...


    Whereas, Zhang Tie didn''t know about these changes in Heavenly Square City overnight. After coming back to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and making a bloody pledge to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace officially last night, Zhang Tie was requested to stay in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for calm cultivation these days as the deputy head of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal palace in Heavenly Square City by Huang Baimei.


    Zhang Tie was frank; therefore, he just stayed in the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal palace. No matter what, in the worst case scenario, he would be kicked out of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and face the revenge from Star Emperor Immortal Palace alone.


    As for others, they might face a tragedy; however, as for Zhang Tie, it was not a big deal as he would not lose hair. Ordinary immortal generals were nothing but sh*t in his eyes. Even if the Star Emperor hunted him, given his ability, Zhang Tie could easily avoid his hunt by changing his look and identity.


    Even some shadow demons could mess up these immortal palaces, not to mention him. By triggering body-changing bloodline, he could never be identified by people in Motian Realm.


    ''Whereas, given Huang Baimei''s attitude, it''s almost impossible for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to betray me. Otherwise, the brand of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could be thrown into sh*t. If the immortal general who fought for the immortal palace was kicked out, who else would work for it?''


    As it was not proper for him to ask about that last night, Zhang Tie didn''t do that. Nevertheless, Zhang Tie had made his decision to have a good talk with Huang Baimei when it was proper. He wanted to know the internal affairs about Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in case of unnecessary troubles.


    Last night, Zhang Tie slept pretty well. It was almost the soundest sleep that Zhang Tie had since he came to Motian Realm. Before daybreak, Zhang Tie had woken up. After cleansing himself, he took out the map of Motian Realm that he bought last night and paved it over a desk before reading it carefully. He started to absorb all the knowledge about Motian Realm as much as possible like a piece of sponge absorbing water...

 1662 The Divisions of Motian Realm

    Being different than ordinary people, when Zhang Tie read a map, he kept visualizing the images and data about terrains on the plane into a huge three-dimensional sand table. In this way, he could bear everything on the map in mind for the rest of his life.


    Whenever Zhang Tie wanted to use it, he could deepen into each detail on the map. Additionally, when in flight, Zhang Tie could match the coordinate on the map at any time. Therefore, he would not get lost no matter how long he had flown. Furthermore, Zhang Tie could match all the coordinates in mind and draw out the most precise map.


    After reading it, Zhang Tie realized the large size of Motian Realm. Those regions marked on the map were much larger than the world that he came from.


    However, the size of Motian Realm was relative.


    Strictly, the world where he came from was a celestial body, a vigorous yet trivial place in the complete universe. The world where he came from was connected to a vast world, which contained numerous celestial bodies, galaxies and lives. The world where he came from was just a small part of a larger world.


    Motian Realm was very large; however, strictly, it was not a complete universe; but an independent, bizarre space. Although being large, to a certain degree, Motian Realm was very small, independent and incomplete. Additionally, Motian Realm was not a celestial body; instead, it was more like some independent "pieces" floating in the sky.


    Motian Realm contained many "pieces", large or small. All the "pieces'' were called "domains" or "regions". There were three kinds of domains, namely, big domains, middle domains and small domains. Big domains in Motian Realm were like subcontinents, which usually covered hundreds of millions of square miles. Middle domains were smaller, the size of which ranged from 10 million to over 100 million square miles. As for small domains, their sizes ranged from millions of square miles to 10 million square miles. By contrast, regions were always less than 1 million square miles in size.


    All the domains and regions were like islands floating in the air of Motian Realm, large or small. They were connected by airboat.


    Motian Realm had 9 big domains, 64 middle domains and 360 small domains and numerous regions. Given its population and land size, Motian Realm was featured by sparse population and vast land.


    Demons and humans respectively occupied 4 big domains while the last big domain was shared by two parties. As a result, the two parties always broke out wars for resources. Additionally, humans and demons occupied almost the same number of middle domains and small domains. In other words, humans and demons were well-matched in strength.


    The three big domains that humans ruled were Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace. As was occupied by the three emperor-level immortal palaces, the three big domains were respectively called Dragon Emperor Big Domain, Star Emperor Big Domain and Force Emperor Big Domain. Besides the three big domains, the three emperor-level immortal palaces also ruled some middle domains and small domains and scrambled for many cities with demons in the last big domains. As for the 14 sage-level immortal palaces in Motian Realm, each of them ruled one or several middle and small domains.


    Zhang Tie was in the Heavens Big Domain in Motian Realm where humans and demons usually broke out wars. Additionally, given its size, Heavens Big Domain was the biggest domain in Motian Realm. The entire Heavens Big Domain was of the size of a military region of Taixia Country. Therefore, the wars between humans and demons were especially fierce here.


    Besides, Zhang Tie was surprised by a vast ocean in Motian Realm called Yao Ocean. The entire Yao Ocean was at the bottom of the Motian Realm. Above the Motian Realm, there was an extremely high, ethereal place called Mountain Ruins, which was not marked on the map.


    As Zhang Tie was immersed in the map of Motian Realm, he almost forgot time. Not until he was awakened by the knocks at the door did he move his eyes away from the map.


    Zhang Tie went off to open the door as he saw Leng Manxue the general deacon of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace standing outside the door with a lot of items in arms.


    The fiery outfit, undulated figure, sexy, long legs, beautiful short hair, bright eyes which bent upwards, forbidding qi field, this general deacon of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City was cultured.


    "Oh, General deacon Leng, what''s up?" Zhang Tie asked with a smile.


    Leng Manxue was like other strong professional women. Zhang Tie knew that she must dislike being called in an intimate way. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like joking with her. It was wise and easy to treat her as his colleague.


    After taking a serious look at Zhang Tie, Leng Manxue was instantly shocked. She had already been told that Zhang Tie was a water immortal general. Therefore, she couldn''t stand observing him for a short while. Even so, this woman still didn''t look very curious and shocked. She soon recovered her composure as she said, "Head asked me to send some exclusive sets of outfits to you as you have to get used to your current situation..."


    As she said, Leng Manxue had already entered Zhang Tie''s room.


    After knowing that she had something else to say, Zhang Tie smiled as he closed the door from inside.


    After entering the room, Leng Manxue directly went to the wardrobe and shoe cabinet before putting the pile of outfits in the cabinet. After that, she noticed that huge map of Motian Realm on the desk as she turned around and asked, "You''re studying the map of Motian Realm?"


    "Ahem...ahem...yes, as I couldn''t remember the terrains in Motian Realm anymore, I bought a map to review them..." Zhang Tie disguised to cough twice as he hurriedly moved his eyes away from Leng Manxue''s butts. Being attracted by her extremely rhythmic, twisting butt and waist, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand taking a look at them.


    "This map is too crude. It''s made by commoners. If you want, I can have someone bring you the complete jade map of Motian Realm. It''s stored in our immortal palace!" Leng Manxue didn''t look abnormal as if she had not discovered that Zhang Tie was gazing at her butt or just ignored it.


    "Thanks, general deacon!"


    "Pleasure. As the deputy head of the immortal palace, you have the right to use these resources!"


    Leng Manxue''s words reminded Zhang Tie of something as he asked, "I wonder whether there''re some other books in the immortal palace. If there is, please have people bring them to me too. I want to read them perhaps for the sake of my memory!"


    "Previously, there were many books in the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City; however, they were all taken away by the last batch of immortal generals. There were only a few left. If you want to read, perhaps you could when we return to the headquarters of Dragon Emperor Big Domain!" Leng Manxue said as she looked into Zhang Tie''s eyes with a faint frown, "If not you''re an immortal human general, I would even doubt that whether you were born in Motian Realm or not..."


    "I was indeed not born in Motian Realm!" Zhang Tie said as he watched Leng Manxue seriously. After hearing his reply, Leng Manxue slightly squinted. However, Zhang Tie''s following words defused the short solemn atmosphere at once, "You''re far-sighted. I''m actually dispatched by God to save commoners especially beauties in Motian Realm. Additionally, I''m destined to be a perfect man. I always hide it well; unexpectedly, you discovered that. Promise me, don''t reveal this secret to others!"


    "Huh!" Leng Manxue uttered as she raised her eyebrows and threw a glare at Zhang Tie, "As the deputy head of the immortal palace, please watch out your words and image. If those followers of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace saw you joking every day, their confidence and belief in the immortal palace would sharply decline. By then, if you were caught by the law enforcement elder back in Dragon Emperor Big Domain, you might suffer a severe punishment. Don''t blame me then..."


    "Head said that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is going to abandon Heavenly Square City, is that true?"


    Leng Manxue nodded rigidly as her face turned gloomy.


    "But why?"


    "It''s determined by the Church of the immortal palace. As Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is on the verge of collapse, besides Heavenly Square City, we''re also gradually giving up the other cities as all the strength of it would return to Dragon Emperor Big Domain..."


    Before reading the map, he was confused about this decision; however, after reading it, Zhang Tie realized that it was a method that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace adopted to contract its force for a better defense...

 1663 Thats Grea

    "It''s the so-called strategic retreat for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. I understand it. Sorry to bring troubles to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. I''m sure Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace doesn''t want to ram against Star Emperor Immortal Palace at this moment!" Zhang Tie said with a smile as he looked a bit helpless and guilty. Meanwhile, he appeared being disapproving as he asked, "If so, why would the head allow me to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace?"


    "Do you know what was I doing last night?" Leng Manxue asked Zhang Tie.


    "Tackling the awful mess in Heavenly Square City!"


    "Yup, additionally, I have had people put all the 37 street patrollers that you saw in Heavenly Square Building, the manager and two waiters of Heavenly Square Building and the remaining alive guards of Zi in the underground prison of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. After interrogating them, we erased their memory of yesterday. Except for them, nobody else in Heavenly Square City had seen you at the spot!" Leng Manxue said expressionlessly as she added, "We were taking the order of our head. Therefore, today, the entire city is filled with the gossips that disguised demons have entered Heavenly Square City and killed powerhouses from Star Emperor Immortal Palace as well as other gossips. However, none of them is about you. Therefore, Star Emperor Immortal Palace might not know that it was you who did it in Heavenly Square City last night!"


    Zhang Tie was stunned for a second. He had not imagined that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could fix it as a pending case overnight. As a result, even Star Emperor Immortal Palace couldn''t lose their temper to anyone while suffering a loss. Additionally, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace avoided being the direct objective of the revenge of Star Emperor Immortal Palace. ''No wonder head asked me to stay in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for a few days. Except for some staff in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, who else knows that I''ve joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace after killing those immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace?''


    ''What a sharp and shrewd plan!'' Zhang Tie started to admire Head Huang''s scheme. ''People from a big force is really something!''


    Zhang Tie might not care about the revenge of Star Emperor Immortal Palace; however, he knew that it was the safest way for him in the eyes of Head Huang.


    "Great! Great!" Zhang Tie admired, "Head Huang is really something. General deacon Leng, thank you for your work last night!"


    "It''s not a big deal for the sake of the immortal palace!" Leng Manxue raised her head arrogantly as she took a glance at Zhang Tie, continuing, "I just want to let you know that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is one of the top three emperor-level immortal palaces in Motian Realm no matter what. Although we have troubles now, we''re not gonna be a group of shallow wusses. When Star Emperor Immortal Palace attacked Biyao City, although we lost immortal generals, they lost immortal generals as many as ours too!"


    "What are we gonna do about Heavenly Square City? Now that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace has determined to abandon Heavenly Square City, does it mean that I will just now take care of it?"


    "Head has long got a plan. What you did yesterday disrupted Star Emperor Immortal Palace''s scheme. No matter what, Star Emperor Immortal Palace would not take Heavenly Square City in the end. You would know it in a few days!" Leng Manxue said as she took out a jade slip and gave it to Zhang Tie, saying, "Here''s the introduction of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. You''d better study it these couple of days in case of being a laughing stock when we''re back in Dragon Emperor Bid Realm. As for the jade map, I would have someone bring it to you in a few minutes!"


    "Thanks!" Zhang Tie took over the jade slip.


    "Oh, you''d better try those outfits. If they don''t fit you, let me know; I will have people alter them for you. Given your level, you could also enjoy space-teleportation equipment and special outfits; however, we ran out of them for the time being. We could only talk about it back in Dragon Emperor Big Realm. As for the weapons that you''ve gained from those immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace, you''d better not take them out."


    Stroking his nose, Zhang Tie replied, "Well!"


    After saying that, General deacon Leng turned around and intended to leave. Zhang Tie then walked her out of the door. After that, he closed the door and started to play with the jade slip.


    The jade slip was only of the size of a thumb. In a rectangular shape, it looked like a gold bar. This item didn''t exist in Taixia Country. In the world that he came from, crystals were the main carriers of information. Previously, Zhang Tie was told that silicon was the best media for information storage in the crust of the earth. As crystals contained a lot of silicon element, crystals were a pretty good information carrier. Zhang Tie guessed that this jade slip''s function was just like that of crystals.


    Zhang Tie tried to inject his spiritual energy into the jade slip. As was imagined, a great amount of information regarding Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace started to appear in his mind sea. Of course, Dragon Emperor was the ruler of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Below Dragon Emperor was the Church which contained five elders who were all fire immortal knights, namely semi-sage knights. Additionally, two chief justices were on the same level as the five elders. However, the two chief justices didn''t participate in making decisions. Below five elders were token owner, branch head and hall head. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was strictly hierarchical and organized. Below Dragon Emperor, immortal generals were divided into 15 ranks. Besides supreme immortal generals, each level of immortal general was divided into three ranks. There were six classes below immortal generals, whose treatment varied in the immortal palace.


    Additionally, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had its own Dragon Emperor Army, which was completely composed of immortal generals and was divided into army, division, brigade, regiment and camp.


    Furthermore, the jade slip also introduced the regulations and articles of rewards and punishments of the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. After skimming over them, Zhang Tie soon learned them all.


    After reading that, Zhang Tie started to check those outfits as he found they were pretty complete, including boots and trousers. Touching them comfortably, he found they were made of senior materials which could never be matched by what he was wearing. The material of robes and pants was similar to boa silk; whereas, it felt metallic. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not sure about it.


    Among these outfits, the black robe with dragon pattern was similar to the one that Head Huang wore. On the sleeves of the robe, Zhang Tie saw seven silver threads with dragon pattern which symbolized his identity in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. By contrast, there were nine silver threads with a dragon pattern on the sleeves of Head Huang, which meant that Huang Baimei was two classes higher than Zhang Tie within Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Even so, Zhang Tie''s battle strength was still greater than Head Huang. Therefore, he didn''t care too much about that. Actually, Zhang Tie was pretty satisfied as he had promoted to a deputy head of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace only after coming to Motian Realm for less than one week.


    After taking off his clothes and putting on a new set of outfits, Zhang Tie watched the handsome guy in the mirror as he raised his arms. After that, he made a face, murmuring," Zhang Tie, come on, you could go back..."

 1664 Early Month

    After Leng Manxue had one deacon bring the map of Motian Realm to Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie spent a day studying it. As a result, the day had quickly passed.


    The information about the map was stored in the jade slip. Zhang Tie admitted that the map in the jade slip was much more advanced than the map that he bought in Heavenly Square City on both quality and precision. In the map collected by the immortal palace, beside the 9 big domains, 64 middle domains and 360 small domains, even tens of thousands of regions were marked clearly. Additionally, the sphere of influence of humans, demons and clans as well as mines were also marked on the map. It was completely a military map of Motian Realm, which helped Zhang Tie a lot.


    By visualizing the map of Motian Realm completely, Zhang Tie also gained an increase in spiritual energy.


    What surprised Zhang Tie was that although Motian Realm was large, it didn''t produce element crystals except for one place, namely Mountain Ruins at the highest, ethereal part of Motian Realm. By contrast, air floating metal which was rarely seen in Taixia Country spread everywhere in Motian Realm as each domain contained mines of air floating metal.


    On the map, Mountain Ruins'' space was many times greater than that of the entire domains. However, Zhang Tie didn''t see any introduction of the terrain of Mountain Ruins on the map; instead, Mountain Ruins was just open land. A space between Mountain Ruins and domains was marked as Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer with a special line of annotation below¡ª¡ªDanger, only wind immortal generals are allowed in.


    Feeling mysterious about Mountain Ruins, Zhang Tie bore it in mind as he thought about further learning it when there was a chance.


    ...


    On the second day, precisely March 1st, the 3584th year of the fourth Hui of the ninth Yuan of the third Ji of Emperor NvWo Calendar, the monthly big trade fair kicked off. One Hui contained 10,800 years; one Yuan contained 108 Huis; one Ji contained 108 Yuans. These figures aroused Zhang Tie''s illusions. To put it simply, people in Motian Realm used to say Year, Month and Day while ignoring those time units Ji, Yuan and Hui.


    Therefore, the second day, also the sixth day since Zhang Tie entered Motian Realm, was March 1 of the 3584th year of Emperor NvWo Calendar.


    Before daybreak, Zhang Tie had woken up and cleansed himself. No sooner had he put on his clothes than he heard knocks at the door. After opening the door, he saw Liu Meng and Liu Yong who were still knocking at the door while looking left and right like thieves.


    Zhang Tie let them in.


    After coming in, the two brothers exchanged a glance with each other. Liu Yong rubbed his hands and licked his lips as he watched Zhang Tie, saying, "The big trade fair kicks off today. We could use space-teleportation equipment now; did we get those items of Zi Clan Castle back?"


    "Where did you hide them?"


    "Right in a lotus flower pond inside Zi Clan Castle!"


    "Weren''t they discovered?"


    "Not yet. Zi Clan Castle has been sealed. Many good items over there had been transferred to the warehouse of our immortal palace. We''ve checked the warehouse and didn''t see those items that we buried in the pond!" Liu Meng said with a smirk as his eyes flickered.


    "Could you leave Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace these two days?"


    "Yes, we could!" the two brothers nodded as Liu Meng added, "Head warned us to not hang out in crowded places. No matter what, nobody in Heavenly Square City knows us."


    "Great!" Zhang Tie took off a space-teleportation finger ring and passed it to Liu Meng, saying, "You could go there and take those things back. This space-teleportation finger ring should be enough..."


    After taking Zhang Tie''s finger ring, Liu Meng looked at it for a short while as he scratched his head and told Zhang Tie bashfully, "Erm, how to use it? I''ve not seen it before!"


    In Motian Realm, space-teleportation equipment was also a rarity. Not every immortal general could have one, not to mention fierce immortal generals. Therefore, it was not strange that the Liu brothers had not used it.


    "Go over there and catch that desk. Cover the desk with your spiritual energy and inject your spiritual energy into the finger ring. Think about putting the desk into the finger ring. You will do it after trying it a couple of times!" Zhang Tie told Liu Meng.


    Liu Meng then held a desk by one hand and tried twice as was told by Zhang Tie. In a split second, the desk was put into the finger ring and was taken out of there. Only after a short while, he had already mastered its usage.


    "Wow, this space-teleportation equipment is gorgeous..." Liu Meng said jubilantly.


    "Let me try..." Liu Yong urged with a strong desire as he came over there and took the finger ring. He also mastered it after a couple of times'' attempt. As for knights who used space-teleportation equipment for the first time, this trick was too marvelous. They loved it so much.


    "Well, quick. Let''s finish it before daybreak..."


    After taking the finger ring, the two brothers nodded at Zhang Tie excitedly before leaving his room.


    Watching them off, Zhang Tie closed the door with a smile.


    Since 1 am, the bizarre strength of time and space in Motian Realm had returned to zero when space-teleportation equipment became available. It also meant that Zhang Tie could access to Castle of Black Iron.


    After estimating when the two brothers would come back, Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy and knocked the mysterious arch door in his mind sea. In the next second, he disappeared from the room and appeared under the palace tree in Castle of Black Iron.


    The small tree gave out brilliant light, causing the entire hall of palace tree splendent. Being stimulated by it, Zhang Tie almost couldn''t open his eyes...

 1665 Pleasure and Sadness

    Surprise always came sudden. The moment Zhang Tie entered the parlor of the palace tree of Castle of Black Iron and noticed the brilliance over the small tree, his heart had started racing. He then knew that the small tree must bring him a surprise.


    Before entering Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie actually didn''t have any expectation. He just wanted to try whether Castle of Black Iron was available in Motian Realm. Of course, according to Zhang Tie''s estimation, after a few days since he received the three black invitations, Paul should have created some more fruits of redemption for him. What was more, Zhang Tie wanted to know whether the growth speed of fruits on the small tree in the world where he came from was consistent with that in Motian Realm. If the time flow rate here was slower such as one day here was equal to one month or one year in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie would be driven mad.


    Whenever he thought about this possibility, Zhang Tie would feel like breaking apart.


    There were over 10 fruits of redemption on the small tree, some of which were from the gratitude of golden uangs, some were from the gratitude of gulf shrimps; five of them were from the gratitude of hairy shells. These fruits of redemption covered strength, defensive ability, resilience and adaptability in extreme conditions. They increased Zhang Tie''s overall strength constantly.


    Seeing those fruits of redemption, Zhang Tie let out a sigh at once. Given the growth speed of fruits, Zhang Tie realized that the time flow rate here was almost like that in the world where he came from.


    The fruit which was giving out brilliant light was the fruit of brilliance. At this moment, this fruit was really resplendent.


    Besides, there was another fruit being covered with strong light, a fruit of bloodline.


    At the sight of the two fruits, Zhang Tie exclaimed inside, ''What a fortune!''


    Zhang Tie didn''t imagine that the death of Heavenly Hunyuan a few days ago could bring him the fruit of brilliance and fruit of bloodline at the same time.


    ''Precisely, Heavenly Hunyuan was not killed by me directly; instead, he was injured by my deity-killing sword, pulled down and finally killed by the strength in the crack of the former space.''


    ¡ª¡ªThe deteriorating glorious rays will definitely be used after the death of the sinners. The soul of the sinners shall return to the Dark Land, while the glorious rays of the soul shall remain. The glorious rays were a force that was granted to the soul by the Creator and should not be desecrated. The glorious rays belong to the brave men who spread the righteousness of the Gods. As a brave fighter who brandished your blade against evil, you will earn glorious rays as you judge evil. The glorious rays of the soul will coexist within you, making you stronger.


    ¡ª¡ªThe brave man who dares to wave saber towards the dark force, when you conquer your fear, everything would be possible. When you create a marvel in the dark, the marvel would manifest itself in the brightness for sure. This fruit of bloodline is your marvel and your greatest reward, with which you would acknowledge the secrets of the endless treasures of your body and have the power of determining your own fate. The power doesn''t come from your punch but from your strong will and heart of being a brave man.


    When Zhang Tie watched the two familiar paragraphs under the two fruits, he sighed with emotions inside. Superficially, Heavenly Hunyuan looked righteous and fair; however, he must have secretly done a lot of evil things and been pretty vicious so as to produce such fruits after death.


    The fruits were the last trial and accusation of Heavenly Hunyuan. If Heavenly Hunyuan was innocent or kept the bottom line as a human knight, his death would definitely not lead to the two fruits. Now that the small tree produced the two fruits, it indicated that Heavenly Hunyuan was as evil as Han Zhengfang who had done as many evil things as those knights of Three-eye Association had done.


    Watching the two fruits, Zhang Tie felt both happy and sad.


    He was happy because the two fruits could bring him power; he was sad because he was worried about Taixia Country and his family. Now that Heavenly Hunyuan was so rebellious, Taiyi Old Man and Shenkong Old Man must have been rebellious too. Three of the top six sects in Taixia Country were under the leadership of such douchebags, it was definitely not good news for Taixia Country and Jinwu Palace in Youzhou Province. The dark of the Imperial Alliance and the dirty methods adopted by the Imperial Alliance might be out of Zhang Tie''s imagination, which might be the largest crisis facing Taixai Country from inside...


    However, as Zhang Tie was trapped in Motian Realm, he could not give any favor to Taixia Country despite his concerns and strength.


    Watching the two fruits, Zhang Tie recalled those arrangements that he had made for Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect and the current situation facing Imperial Alliance after losing Xuanyuan Wuji and a sage-level knight, Zhang Tie was a bit composed. However, he didn''t know whether Taiyi Old Man and Shenkong Old Man had a plan B or would do harm to Jinwu Palace. Therefore, Zhang Tie was worried and helpless again...


    "Castle Lord..." Heller had already come to the back of Zhang Tie as he woke Zhang Tie up.


    After letting out a deep sigh, Zhang Tie thought, ''What counts most is to grow stronger using the resources in Motian Realm and find the way back!''


    "It''s so nice to see you again!" Zhang Tie turned around with a smile.


    "Me too. Castle Lord, congratulations. It''s so great for Castle Lord to survive the crack of space in fighting the sage-level knight!"


    Zhang Tie then pointed at the two special fruits on the small tree and said with a smile, "These fruits might be the best interpretation of my survival..."


    "Castle Lord deserves them!" Heller replied with a smile as he added, "There''re many resources in Motian Realm which we could not find in the world where you come from such as those rare and bizarre plants. Castle Lord might have already seen some in Motian Realm over these days. If they could be moved to Castle of Black Iron, they would benefit Castle of Black Iron a lot!"


    "Hmm, I will. I will collect some plant seeds when I get a chance!" Zhang Tie said as he nodded. These days, Zhang Tie indeed had seen some strange plants. Take that species that he saw on the ground when he was in the airboat as an instance, that kind of tree could grow higher than 200 m. He also saw some arbors which carried rich ears-of-wheat-like fruits. These plants couldn''t be seen in the world where he came from. Additionally, some resources in Motian Realm were amazingly rich.


    "Besides, Castle Lord perhaps gotta take care of some news!" Heller warned him.


    "Oh, what news?"


    "Now that there''s an existence above sage-level knight and many cultivation methods are well preserved, Castle Lord, have you thought about seeing a complete version of King Roc Sutra in this world?"


    Heller''s words shocked Zhang Tie in a split second as he became still under the small tree for a few seconds...


    Since he started to study the cultivation method of King Roc Sutra step by step hardly, Zhang Tie had long taken it as an incomplete version. He even had forgotten about the fact that there was a complete version of King Roc Sutra at the beginning. Heller''s words woke him up. He might not get the complete version of King Roc Sutra from the world where he came from; however, it didn''t mean that he couldn''t find one either in this world. The two worlds were too similar to each other in many aspects. Additionally, the cultivation methods in Motian Realm appeared to be more complete, what if there was one complete version of King Roc Sutra in this world?


    "Heller, thank you, I almost forgot about it..." Zhang Tie said as he watched Heller appreciatively.


    "It''s a pleasure. Even if I didn''t warn you, Castle Lord would have also thought about it soon!" Heller said with a modest smile.


    Zhang Tie then nodded quietly. After taking a look at the small tree, he picked the fruit of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs and started to engulf it. Closely after that, he returned to his private room in the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace where many immortal generals were living in. Additionally, many secret methods in this world aroused Zhang Tie''s alert too. For instance, when he was waiting for the head of the branch in the room with the others, Zhang Tie felt that the water molecules in the air were correlated with each other, being utterly different than that in other rooms. If not Zhang Tie could manipulate water as a divine dominator or was very sensitive to water, Zhang Tie might barely notice it. Therefore, Zhang Tie always became alert. He didn''t want to expose his greatest trump card. Therefore, unless an emergency, he would try his best to not stay in Castle of Black Iron too long; especially when there were a lot of immortal generals near him.


    After returning to his room, Zhang Tie walked to his bed and sat down with crossed legs while digesting the fruit, waiting for Liu brothers...

 1666 Sharing Booties

    @@


    As the fluid of fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs turned into bizarre pure and rich strength, it steadily spread over Zhang Tie''s body and integrated with Zhang Tie''s muscles, bones, meridians and blood vessels, increasing his strength unconsciously.


    When Liu brothers came back and knocked at his door, the day had completely broken. By then, Zhang Tie had already digested the three fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs and a fruit of redemption from the gratitude of hairy shells. As a result, he gained over 200 kgs more strength. In addition, his defensive ability and striking-resistant ability strengthened by 1.6% respectively. In a short period of time, Zhang Tie had made a small stride.


    That was got to be Zhang Tie. Within one or two hours, the others only made a trip around; however, Zhang Tie had grown a bit stronger even though he was just sitting there quietly. Gradually, the strength of the fruits flew into Zhang Tie''s bod@@

 1667 The Legend about Mountain Ruins

    @@


    "Where...where did you get these things from?" Ji Yuelan stammered as she looked at Zhang Tie after a few seconds of silence.


    "Star Emperor Immortal Palace used these things to acquire Zi Clan Castle. I read this information from the brains of the young master of Zi clan in Heavenly Square Building. That day, after killing those immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace in Zi Clan Castle, we found it inconvenient to take them back due to their weight. Therefore, I had Liu Yong and Liu Meng transfer them to a pond inside Zi Clan Castle. As space-teleportation equipment is available today, Liu Yong and Liu Meng have got them back!"


    Zhang Tie said as he stroked his nose. The contents of his words were partly true. In fact, Zhang Tie saw these element crystals by his lotus flower eyes instead of from the brains of the young master of Zi clan. At that time, these boxes were put in a back room of Zi Clan Castle. After seeing them, Zhang Tie had Liu brothers move them i@@

 1668 The Powerful Frui

    After sharing booties and getting some information about Mountain Ruins from Liu brothers, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin, Zhang Tie gained a lot. Although Zhang Tie wanted to learn more about Motian Realm, Liu brothers who couldn''t wait to count their bonus back in their rooms. Therefore, they bade a farewell to Zhang Tie. Watching the two brothers leaving, the two women also felt inconvenient in Zhang Tie''s room. Even Ji Yuelan didn''t feel like leaving there, she still left after Liu brothers in case of gossips.


    Zhang Tie walked the four people out.


    "If I insisted on leaving just now, what would you do?"


    Jiang Ruoxin who had left Zhang Tie''s room suddenly turned around and asked Zhang Tie secretly.


    "Humph humph..." Zhang Tie sneered as he disguised to be vicious and replied secretly, "As you''ve already got on the ship with us, it''s not up to you. As an insider, it is not that easy to let it go on the halfway. In case of trouble from Star Emperor Immortal Palace, I could only clear the witness!"


    "Clear the witness?"


    "Hmm, of course!" Zhang Tie said as he looked Jiang Ruoxin up and down, making her pretty uncomfortable. After that, Zhang Tie stroked his jaw, adding, "Heh heh, but it''s a bit pitiful clearing such a beauty. According to regular rules, of course, I get to do something to you; then something else..."


    "Bullsh*t!" Jiang Ruoxin threw a glare at Zhang Tie as she flushed.


    "What are you talking about?" Ji Yuelan looked at Zhang Tie and Jiang Ruoxin out of suspicion when she noticed Jiang Ruoxin glaring at Zhang Tie with an abnormal expression. Liu brothers also turned around, making Jiang Ruoxin flush more heavily.


    "Ahem ahem, nothing. We''re discussing a very abstruse question..." Zhang Tie said solemnly.


    "Really?" Ji Yuelan continued skeptically.


    "Of course, it''s an everlasting topic about men and women, trust and betray, survival and destruction, pleasure and pain, separation and integration!"


    "Bullsh*t. How could you talk so much only in such a short period of time?"


    "It''s my precise conclusion. If you don''t believe in me, you got to ask her..."


    Jian Ruoxin remained silent while her face turned warmer. She then pulled Ji Yuelan away.


    Only Liu brothers were still looking at Zhang Tie with worships. The two brothers didn''t understand Zhang Tie''s words; however, it didn''t hinder their admiration for Zhang Tie. Now, especially after sharing booties, the two brothers felt Zhang Tie''s words were always reasonable no matter what they were...


    "Well, quick, I know you guys can''t wait to pour out all the items and count them..." Zhang Tie wove his arm towards Liu brothers, driving them away.


    Watching the four people leaving, Zhang Tie smiled as he closed his door. Then, he rotated the metal button beside the door from inside. As a result, a special mark appeared above the door outside, which indicated that the owner inside the room was in cultivation. Unless an emergency, nobody would disturb him anymore. This function was exclusive to rooms of immortal generals inside the immortal palace, which was like the board "In service" outside the door of rooms in hotels in subcontinents in the world where Zhang Tie came from. As long as this board was displayed, nobody would disturb him.


    After sharing booties, Zhang Tie would focus on taking fruits, which counted most for him for the time being!


    Before Liu brothers got back, Zhang Tie had already taken some fruits of redemption; however, he had not eaten the two most important fruits yet. It was not because Zhang Tie didn''t want to eat them, but he was not allowed to digest the fruit of brilliance or fruit of bloodline in such a short time. The more important and powerful the fruits were, the longer it would take him to digest them completely. He couldn''t finish them in only a couple of hours. If he couldn''t digest them well, he might waste their energy and effects partly. Therefore, Zhang Tie put the work to the end.


    Of course, Zhang Tie gained a lot from sharing the booties. Although those element crystals and space-teleportation equipment could improve his battle strength, they could help Zhang Tie stabilize his position in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Motian Realm rapidly. At least, he would not feel alone with some friends and assistants. He was paying for righteousness.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t mean to pay any trick, now that Liu brothers, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan raided Zi Clan Castle and shared the booties of Star Emperor Immortal Palace, of course, they were in the same boat with Zhang Tie. As a result, their relationship became much closer than before.


    As they had killed people and shared booties together, how couldn''t their relationship be closer? Additionally, Zhang Tie''s generous deed and sense of responsibility impressed the four people a lot and let them feel reliable.


    Zhang Tie got back to his bed, legs crossed and entering Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie immediately appeared under the small tree as he picked the splendent fruit of brilliance.


    ''I wonder how much spiritual energy does this fruit of the sage-level knight contain?'' viewing the fruit in hand, Zhang Tie asked such a question inside.


    After watching it for a short while, Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he widely opened his mouth. It took him three mouths to engulf the fruit of brilliance.


    It was the most powerful one among all the fruits of brilliance that he had taken. This fruit contained all the spiritual energy of a sage-level human knight, the quantity and quality of which could never be matched by those in the previous fruits of brilliance and was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination.


    Soon after the fruit of brilliance entered his stomach, it had released its strength, making Zhang Tie change his face in a split second.


    Zhang Tie felt like taking an erupting volcano instead of a fruit as the prodigious spiritual energy rushed all the way to his scalp, shocking his entire mind sea...

 1669 The Inaugural Ceremony

    Two days later, on March 3rd, the 3584th year of Emperor Nvwa Calendar of Motian Realm, in the main hall of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City...


    Today, the entire branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace looked pretty solemn. It had been furnished again all over. Soon after 9 am, deacons in black ceremonial robes and immortal soldiers in bright outfits had stood well in rows in the main hall. In the long horns that drifted across Heavenly Square City outside the main hall, Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue entered the main hall with those immortal generals who were ready to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. The inaugural ceremony for immortal generals through the bloody pledge was going to be held here officially today.


    7 people were following Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue, who were respectively Liu brothers, Jiang Ruoxin, Ji Yuelan and the three strangers that Zhang Tie saw in the dining hall a couple of days ago. Each of the seven people was in a uniformed long robe and looked pretty serious and decent. They slowly followed the head and the general deacon towards the general altar under the statue of Dragon Emperor and the gaze of the other deacons and immortal soldiers.


    At least, they were superficial. In fact, since they entered the main hall, Liu brothers, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan had started to murmur secretly using battle qi. Although they closed their mouths superficially with serious looks, they could still communicate with each other freely.


    "Where''s Zhang Tie?" Ji Yuelan asked Liu brothers.


    "He''s not here yet. I went to see him this morning. Like yesterday, he was cultivating in his room!" Liu Meng answered right away.


    "What the hell! He''s indeed indolent..." Ji Yuelan mumbled. Only after two days of separation, Ji Yuelan had got bored.


    "He''s not indolent. If Zhang Tie did nothing and still got such a great battle strength, I would lose my confidence to further cultivate and doubt what I was doing over these years..." Jiang Ruoxin sighed, "These days, watching him enter closed cultivation in his room without even taking any food, I become composed as I find I''m not too stupid. I''ve gained some confidence. You reap what you sow. Powerful ones got to be more hard-working than others!"


    "Yes, we brothers also think so. I got to say, we felt a bit scared when we saw Zhang Tie''s performance a couple of days ago; we felt he was fake. However, after watching him work so hard these days, we feel him becoming a real person..." Liu Yong opened his mouth.


    After sharing booties with Zhang Tie, Liu brothers, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan became a bit closer to each other as they won more trust mutually. Therefore, they didn''t have too many concerns when talking. Gradually, they had formed a small group in the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City.


    "With the connivance of Head, how could Zhang Tie not be allowed to join such an official occasion? Although we''ve already completed the bloody pledge a few days ago, we got to keep the other three company today..."


    "Perhaps Head just hopes that Zhang Tie doesn''t show up too many times. As for us, Head just wanted to ensure that we were going to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace a few days ago. Strictly, this ceremony is also not unnecessary. After all, our titles in the branch have not been fixed except for that of Zhang Tie. General deacon has told us what happened in Heavens Square Building and Zi Clan Castle that day was classified in the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City. We should not expose it to the public; even the others in the immortal palace. We came over here to make it more secret..."


    As they communicated with each other secretly, head and general deacon had already taken them to the location below the general altar.


    After burning incenses, bowing and reading tributes to the statue, Huang Baimei in a serious hairstyle and violet golden crown turned around and watched them with a pretty solemn look.


    "These days, Heavenly Square City saw a great accident. Zi clan was exterminated. Those immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace were also killed in Heavenly Square City. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is mired in the swirl. No more people would like to join our branch these days. Therefore, the inaugural ceremony is held two days in advance so as to make you reassured..."


    After hearing the head''s words, Liu brothers, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin felt strange as they exchanged a glance with each other. None of the immortal generals were idiots. As Heavenly Square City was chaotic recently; especially after those immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace were killed by Zhang Tie, many people were speculating how would Star Emperor Immortal Palace take revenge on the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City. Therefore, nobody came over here for a job anymore in case of trouble. That also explained why only a few immortal generals attended the inaugural ceremony today.


    However, Zhang Tie alone was even more useful than dozens of common immortal generals. Therefore, Head Huang still remained composed when he talked. Because Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t suffer a loss in this trade.


    "Before the inaugural ceremony, you could think about it twice. If you want to exit, you could leave now. I would not force you to do that. However, as long as you join us, you got to follow the rules in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Within 100 years, if anyone dares exit, you would be treated as traitors and chased wherever you''re. You would not find a safe place in Motian Realm!" Huang Baimei said as he looked around them seriously, asking, "Have you made your decision?"


    "I''ve made my decision. I would not regret joining Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace!"


    The one who opened his mouth was the youth in white garment that Zhang Tie saw in the dining hall of the branch a couple of days ago. Today, he was in black garment and looked as handsome as before. As he said, he took a look at Jiang Ruoxin on his side. Jiang Ruoxin and this young man were both earth immortal generals who were more powerful than the other five.


    "I''ve made a decision. I would like to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace!" Jiang Ruoxin said calmly and decently.


    "Mee too..."


    "Count me..."


    "We brothers would like to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace..."


    All seven people expressed their attitudes.


    "Fine, now that you''ve all determined to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, we''re a family from today on. You would share felicity and troubles with Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace..." Head Huang declared as he turned around and removing a black cover over the general altar, exposing that 1.5 cm-long transparent crystal dragon, saying, "Those who want to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace please drop you blood on its head to complete this bloody pledge and become an official member of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace..."


    The seven people then moved forward and accomplished the bloody pledge by turns.


    Although it was their second time to do that, the four people accomplished it successfully without any side effect just like how they did the last time.


    During this process, the four people finally knew that handsome young man was called Zhou Baifei, the tough bald guy was called Lu Tianqiang while the old teacher was called Xun Zizhou.


    Since they met him in the dining hall, Zhou Baifei had been absent these couple of days. The other two were also frantic cultivators who kept cultivating in their rooms last day. As a result, the four people didn''t have a chance to contact them until now.


    Watching them finish the bloody pledge, Head Huang nodded, saying, "In the next, let''s declare your titles in the immortal palace..."


    "Zhou Baifei!"


    "I''m here!" the handsome young man strode one step out as he answered in a muffled voice.


    "You''re appointed as the general priest of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City, with class VI silver dragon pattern as your title rank!"


    "Yes, sir!" Zhou Baifei replied calmly. After making a hand gesture out of respect, he moved one step backward.


    "Jiang Ruoxin..."


    "I''m here!"


    "You''re appointed as the intelligence of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City with class V silver dragon pattern as your title rank!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Lu Tianqiang!"


    "I''m here!"


    "You''re appointed as the military commander of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City; you''re in charge of all the immortal soldiers and guards of the branch, with class III silver dragon pattern as the title rank!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Ji Yuelan!"


    "I''m here!"


    "You''re appointed as general inspector of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City with class III silver dragon pattern as the title rank!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Liu Yong, Liu Qiang!"


    After hearing their names, Liu brothers hurriedly moved one step forward, saying, "We''re here!"


    "You''re respectively appointed as the two judges of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City with class II silver dragon pattern as the title rank!"


    "Yes, sir..."


    "Xun Zizhou!"


    "I''m here!"


    "You''re appointed as the librarian of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City with class II silver dragon pattern as the title rank!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    Only after a short while, all the seven people had been granted with titles and ranks in the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City.


    "After joining the immortal palace, within three years, each of you would get 10 element crystals per month; namely 10 earth element crystals for fierce immortal generals and 10 water element crystals for earth immortal generals. Three years later, your compensation would be distributed according to your titles and ranks. In addition, 10 years later, you would be qualified to access to the Classics Pavilion and the Secret Palace of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and enjoy numerous resources over there. Although Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace faces troubles for the time being, we could tackle them. Hopefully, we could unite with each other and help each other and push Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to its apex in 100 years so as to live up to our expectation!" Huang Baimei encouraged all of them.


    "Yes, sir!"


    "If you have any questions about Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, you could ask me now..." Huang Baimei''s tone turned mild at a stroke after the inaugural ceremony.


    The others exchanged a glance with each other quietly. Only Zhou Baifei strode one step forward as he asked, "Head, I saw a young man in the immortal palace a few days ago. He''s already Class VII like the deputy head. I wonder whether he''s also a member of our immortal palace. I always admire talents and would like to learn from him..."


    "He''s Zhang Tie, the deputy head of our branch. As he''s in cultivation, I allow him to not participate in this ceremony. You got to get closer..."


    "Oh..." Zhou Baifeng replied as a shrewd light flashed across his eyes. Closely after that, he moved backward...


    ...


    As they were gathering in the main hall, they didn''t know that Zhang Tie was suffering a complete change in the void above his mind sea at the critical moment...

 1670 Breaking the Void

    Zhang Tie was immersed in the great spiritual energy brought by that fruit of brilliance; as a result, he couldn''t attend the inaugural ceremony. Since he took the fruit, he had been involved in the storm and shock brought by enormous spiritual energy contained in the fruit...


    If people didn''t eat food, they would die; conversely, if people ate too much, they would also die. Similarly, people would die if they didn''t take a breath; conversely, people would be intoxicated if they inhaled too much oxygen. After consuming so much spiritual energy in such a short period of time, Zhang Tie couldn''t adapt to it as he was almost submerged by the suddenly surging spiritual energy.


    Heavenly Hunyuan might not be the most powerful sage-level knight in Taixia Country; however, undoubtedly, as a head of top six sects, he was absolutely a human powerhouse.


    Sage-level knights were a top existence among knights. An experienced sage-level knight''s spiritual energy was essentially different than that of heavenly knights such as Han Zhengfang in quality and quantity, not to mention the others below heavenly knight.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t know the realm of sage-level knight, he knew that the strength of a sage-level knight''s realm was closely related to the strength of his spiritual energy. He could imagine the great strength of a sage-level knight''s spiritual energy which rooted for the latter''s sage-level realm.


    Since he took the fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie had lost his feeling about time as all of his senses had been occupied by the spiritual energy of the fruit.


    The unexpected prodigious spiritual energy erupted in the space of Zhang Tie''s mind sea like a volcanic eruption and integrated with Zhang Tie''s own. The entire space of Zhang Tie''s mind sea was rocking like experiencing a Magnitude Nine earthquake on the Richter scale in the storm, shocking each cell of Zhang Tie all over and making his qi and blood boil like flying dragons. On this occasion, besides absorbing spiritual energy, Zhang Tie was also trying every means to slow down the release of the spiritual energy from the fruit.


    Previously, Zhang Tie took fruits of brilliance freely. However, this time, when Zhang Tie tried to control the release speed of the spiritual energy of the fruit of brilliance, he realized it was pretty difficult. Even though Zhang Tie could control each organ, each muscle and each cell, he still couldn''t make it as the spiritual energy of the fruit of brilliance started to present its own state and change after being taken. Even though Zhang Tie tried every effort he could, he could only reduce the release speed of spiritual energy by one-third even if he had shrunk the contact area between his stomach and the fluid of the fruit.


    Zhang Tie wanted this process to go through a bit slower and smoother; however, he found it was almost impossible. Sand beach and rocks could buffer sea waves; however, when a terrifying tsunami surged over, its power could still be intolerant even though sand beach and rocks could work to a certain degree.


    With the surging spiritual energy, the stars in the void above his mind sea started to illuminate one after another. Zhang Tie could feel that all the stars in the void were gradually lit one by one from over 100 bright stars at the beginning to 360 stars in the end. As a result, the entire void above his mind sea became star-studded and extremely brilliant.


    If this scene was presented to the public, it would be absolutely fascinating. Any women who saw it would scream.


    Zhang Tie wanted to scream too; however, it was not because of excitement. After lighting up all the 360 stars, Zhang Tie felt that his brains were going to burst. A tin could only contain 0.5 kg sardines; but if 2.5 kg sardines were foisted into it, of course, it would burst. Therefore, the entire space of mind sea became so swollen that it was going to burst.


    Even so, the spiritual energy was still constantly surging into the space of Zhang Tie''s mind sea like a tsunami.


    Meanwhile, the two bright moons in the void above his mind sea started to absorb spiritual energy as they gradually turned brighter and bigger while giving out splendent light, which reflected with the stars over the void. As a result, the entire space of Zhang Tie''s mind sea turned as bright as daytime. Like a sacred church, the entire space of his mind sea was filled with golden light.


    As the two bright moons grew larger and larger like swollen balloons, Zhang Tie felt his mind sea more and more crowded as if it was going to explode.


    When the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was holding an inaugural ceremony, Zhang Tie''s two bright moons had reached their limits in scale; Zhang Tie reached his limit in pain too. The changes of the two bright moons caused Zhang Tie''s right and left brains to expand at the same time, one like fire, the other like ice. The pain was absolutely out of one''s imagination...


    In a split second, Zhang Tie was afraid that his brain would suddenly explode from inside like a rotten watermelon.


    The spiritual energy of the fruit of brilliance was still pouring in the space of his mind sea constantly as if it would never come to an end. However, the space of Zhang Tie''s mind sea had been extremely limited. The two moons were still growing larger and brighter as if they wanted to come out of his head...


    ''No, no. I have to stop them.''


    All of a sudden, a light flashed by. Even Zhang Tie didn''t know why he suddenly had such strong intuition and aspiration and instinct for taking an action. Zhang Tie immediately realized that the two bright moons were as vacant as sponge and ores which were not quenched yet. If he didn''t want his brains to explode, he had to compress and quench the two moons by turning them smaller and integrating them into one.


    ''Break...''


    With a boom, the entire space started to rock. Zhang Tie gathered his full spiritual energy and strong will and struck against the expanding bright moons like triggering a strike of the divine dominator.


    The moons rocked a second; however, they continued to expand by absorbing the spiritual energy.


    ''Break...''


    ''Break...''


    ''Break...''


    Zhang Tie gritted his teeth as he used his full efforts to strike against the two bright moons. In a second, he launched strikes which were hundreds of times powerful while the loud sounds resonated the entire space of mind sea...


    The invisible battle in the space of his mind sea could absolutely match the duel between him as a divine dominator and a top powerhouse. The two expanding moons brought Zhang Tie sharp pains. Meanwhile, the endless, surging spiritual energy brought by the swollen moons granted Zhang Tie with great energy and power. As a result, his invisible strikes were growing more and more destructive.


    It sounded a bit weird but Zhang Tie was tackling a strength using the same strength.


    Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom...


    Finally, the moment the two splendent moons contacted each other like two swollen balloons, they had faced Zhang Tie''s most powerful strike as the entire void above Zhang Tie''s mind sea became still in the split second.


    Boom...


    The entire void above his mind sea turned white while breaking apart...

 1671 Turning Real

    In the white and the debris of his space of mind sea, Zhang Tie''s consciousness became void and paused in the split second...


    The period of time appeared to be both short and long. The entire space of his mind sea seemed to have broken apart and disappeared while the two moons, stars, the All-spirits Tower, the marvelous arch door and those immortal runes in the space of his mind sea were contracting and collapsing limitlessly inwards. When everything in the space of his mind sea contracted onto an infinite, small point, time stopped running.


    After a while, the infinite, small point exploded in a split second. At the same time, Zhang Tie recovered his consciousness.


    Numerous rotating galaxies and stars appeared in the explosion when the entire space of Zhang Tie''s mind sea became over 10 times larger than before.


    360 huge, splendent stars appeared one after another.


    The two large rotating galaxies contracted and turned into two bright moons. After that, the two bright moons collided with each other and turned into a bigger brilliant moon with a dazzling light.


    The arch door of Castle of Black Iron reappeared right above the bright moon. However, it became completely golden.


    The All-spirits Tower reappeared in the bright moon like the Guanghan Moon Palace in Hua legend.


    Numerous immortal runes reappeared in the watery brilliance like musical notes and spirits on the staff. They danced with light. When the moonlight penetrated through those immortal runes, a bizarre, ethereal piece of music sounded in the moon palace while a breeze blew over the entire space of his mind sea as fast as light...


    When the bright moon came into being, Zhang Tie''s body also saw some changes, which made Zhang Tie so comfortable that he almost hummed. Because he felt that a mysterious pass between his left brain and his right brain disappeared at this moment while ice and fire integrated with each other before turning as harmonious and tranquil as water. The extreme pain brought by the conflict between ice and fire instantly turned into a cool sense all over his body as if he had become an immortal being.


    To tell the truth, this pleasure was even one hundred times greater than that in making love as it made each cell and pore of Zhang Tie thrilled, even in the marrows and the depth of his soul.


    The appearance of galaxies and the moon completely stabilized the new space of his mind sea. After that, the rotating galaxies and stars continued to collide with each other, giving out colorful splendent light. In this process, those galaxies and stars turned into the firmest debris and foundation as they gradually integrated with each other into a lofty, firm mountain as high as 300,000 m which was as transparent as crystals and rubies.


    A mysterious, looming flame was burning inside the crystal, firm mountain, reflecting a mysterious glow over the mountain.


    The moment the brilliant moonlight and starlight cast onto the firm mountain, they had turned into snowflakes and capped the mountain, turning the entire mountain into a snow mountain.


    As white snow gradually fell, a part of the top of the mountain turned snow-white. After the snow line extended almost 30,000 m downwards, the mysterious, looming light inside the mountain gradually stabilized. From then on, the white snow started to melt, forming numerous waterfalls and brooks.


    The snow water at the bottom of the mountain turned golden.


    Numerous water drops and flows started to converge in his space of mind sea. Right at the foot of the mountain, numerous rivers converged into a huge lake.


    When everything came to an end, the void of Zhang Tie''s mind sea had completely changed.


    Zhang Tie was dumbfounded by the changes over there.


    To be honest, Zhang Tie didn''t know the reason until now. He only knew that his spiritual energy had experienced an utter change.


    Previously, although Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy was powerful, it was always untouchable. He could only sense it. Even though he had promoted to a divine dominator and realized a round of improvement of his spiritual energy, his spiritual energy was still as virtual as the starlight and moonlight over the sky; however, now, everything had changed. His spiritual energy had completely turned real and touchable as the water in the golden lake.


    ''What is the real spiritual energy used for?''


    A whim occurred to him.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie was stunned by what he saw. He found that his sight and senses suddenly appeared in his room, which were watching him sitting on the bed, legs crossed. Everything in the room was under his eyes. It felt like triggering a body-separation skill while a substitute was watching him quietly from the ceiling.


    However, Zhang Tie was clear that it was not his body-separation skill but the perception of his spiritual energy and consciousness which was greater and more splendid than that of his substitute as his auditory sense and olfactory sense were also activated. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to know that his consciousness and perception could extend out of his body by his spiritual energy without the help of any carrier, substitute, insect or beast.


    It was an enthralling feeling.


    Zhang Tie tried it as he found he could freely move his visual angle from the ceiling and the bottom of the bed to the washroom and the window as fast as lightning bolt as if there was an invisible person traveling in the room. That was pretty interesting!


    The window of the room was still closed with curtains. When Zhang Tie "came" to the window, he took a look outside through the window as he found it was already dark outside as the entire city was brightly lit and pretty boisterous.


    Only after a short while, Zhang had circled around his room many times and grasped this ability.


    Zhang Tie found that his consciousness and spiritual energy could completely move freely in the room, which might help him reach far.


    ''I wonder whether this ability could penetrate through the wall.''


    As he thought about it, his perception had already penetrated through the wall smoothly and came to the neighboring room, which startled him a lot.


    Because each immortal general''s room was specially installed with a heavy-lead alloy layer for the sake of their privacy and safety, which could isolate all the trials of a spiritual look-in. Even sage-level knights couldn''t easily penetrate through such a protective layer spiritually and discover the situation outside.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie had already tried it and confirmed that he couldn''t penetrate through such an obstacle spiritually even as a divine dominator. Of course, his lotus-flower eyes could see through it; however, its principle was different than that of spiritual penetration.


    Nevertheless, this time, the obstacle in the wall appeared to have disappeared for Zhang Tie as he could easily penetrate through the thick wall spiritually like penetrating through the air.


    ''What happened?''


    Zhang Tie became puzzled as he drew his spiritual energy back into his room in a split second. After that, he meticulously controlled his consciousness and senses to penetrate through the same wall as slowly as he could.


    The real wall indeed became as transparent as air in front of his perception and consciousness.


    When he slowly penetrated through the wall spiritually and perceptively, he could clearly see the thick lead layer in the wall. This obstacle still existed in Zhang Tie''s perception and consciousness; however, it didn''t exist in front of Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy. Concerning Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy, the heavy lead layer was a sort of wave, which was not strictly coherent.


    As for Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy, there was no real substance in this world as everything was like a wave. Only Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy was real in this world.


    It was a universal law between yin and yang and an occult realm of the rules of creation. When Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy was virtual, everything in this world like a table, a stone, a wall, even air was real and touchable for Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy when his spiritual energy was like an untouchable wave. However, when his spiritual energy turned real, all the real objects in this world became virtual and turned into waves macroscopically. Additionally, he could easily penetrate through the huge space and gap between waves spiritually.


    It was Liu Meng''s room in the neighborhood. Nobody was in his room. Zhang Tie then penetrated through Liu Meng''s wall and came to Liu Yong''s room spiritually where he saw the two brothers.


    The two brothers were sitting in the cultivation room in front of a pile of over 100 earth element crystals. They were playing with those earth element crystals with mesmerizing looks.


    In this case, besides watching what they were doing, Zhang Tie could also hear their talk clearly as if he was right in front of them. However, the two brothers didn''t notice Zhang Tie''s "arrival" at all.


    "We should put these items into the space-teleportation equipment. If so many earth element crystals were noticed by others, it would be hard to explain it to them..." Li Yong suggested Liu Meng.


    "Explain what? No matter what, these things belong to us. It''s my first time to see so many earth element crystals since I was born. I would look at them and touch them before going to bed every night. Only in this way, could I sleep well. If you put them into the space-teleportation equipment, I could only see them once in each half a month. That is not cool..." Liu Meng refuted.


    "I wonder what Zhang Tie is cultivating. He''s been in his room for three days..."


    "He''s such a great powerhouse, a water immortal general at such a young age. Besides top flair, he must work pretty hard. We got to learn from him..."


    "You''re right. As we''ve got so many element crystals, let''s not waste them. We have to become earth immortal generals as soon as possible!"


    "Hmm, let''s absorb one more before going to bed!"


    After saying that, Liu Yong took an earth element crystal and held its upper half with one palm while Liu Meng held its lower half with one palm. After that, they palmed against each other using the other palm, eyes closed at the same time.


    Last time, Zhang Tie had felt that the two brothers were cultivating a two-in-one cultivation method. He was right.


    Zhang Tie didn''t stay too long in their room. Instead, he penetrated through the wall in a split second and came to the room neighboring Liu brothers. Nobody was in there. Zhang Tie then came to the other room in the neighborhood...


    ...


    He heard splashes and saw misty steam. After entering the room spiritually, Zhang Tie found that Jiang Ruoxin was taking off her clothes one piece after another, exposing her beautiful naked body. After that, she entered the bathroom elegantly while the mirror inside there turned blur due to steam.


    Jiang Ruoxin slightly mobbed over the mirror, exposing her infinite, beautiful naked body in the smooth mirror. After that, she cupped her two little white "rabbits" and watched them with a faint frown, murmuring, "Although you''re not as big as that of Yuelan, you''re not too small either..." after saying that, she let out a sigh before entering the bathtub full of fresh blossoms.


    Zhang Tie was completely petrified. Not until Jiang Ruoxin entered the bathtub and raised a naked, smooth leg mesmerizingly did Zhang Tie wake up and flash into a strange room after penetrating through some walls flurriedly while feeling like a thief.


    ...


    "Have you discovered Zhang Tie''s background?" a distant voice sounded inside there...

 1672 A Shock

    After hearing that voice, Zhang Tie became amazed at once. He had not imagined that someone in the immortal palace was interested in his background...


    As Zhang Tie looked over there spiritually, he saw two people sitting together in a room as same as his, one was the handsome youth in white garment whom he met in the dining hall of the immortal palace, the other, given her costume, was a deacon of the immortal palace, a beautiful female deacon.


    The youth was in black robe; instead of the white garment. Although his voice sounded cold, he still revealed a warm smile, which could even melt snow. The combination of the cold voice and the warm smile made him more mesmerizing.


    "You don''t even care about me. Do you know how much I miss you these days? I could only meet you by sending the customized robe to you..." the female deacon complained as she watched the handsome man beside her, and leaned against him.


    "We will have time when we get back to Dragon Emperor Big Realm. We could do whatever we want over there..." the handsome man said with a smile as he put one hand around the female deacon''s neck, causing her breasts to rise and fall in different shapes. At the same time, she groaned out of excitement while her cheeks flushed. As a result, the female deacon closed her eyes.


    "Hmm...you''re already...ah...the general priest of the immortal palace...why...do you care...ah...about him...ah..." the female deacon asked as she groaned.


    The handsome man let out a long sigh as he whispered to the female deacon, "Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is facing crises. As such a young powerhouse suddenly came to our immortal palace as the deputy head, of course, I gotta care about him. What if he''s dispatched by other immortal palaces? If so, our immortal palace would be in danger. As members of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, we would be involved in it too. It''s closely related to us all. Why don''t we care about that?"


    "Oh...I''ve inquired about him these days...but got no information...about his background...It seems that only the head and General Deacon Leng know about his background...It''s said that Zhang Tie firstly appeared in the airport of Heavenly Square City... He then went straight to our immortal palace..."


    "Where was he when Zi Clan Castle was in trouble that night?"


    "I...I...have no idea. He might have gone out...with Liu brothers and...the two new female immortal generals..."


    The handsome man slightly squinted as he stopped his movement at once, continuing, "When did they come back that day?"


    Being stimulated by the youth, the female deacon was already panting as she quivered slightly all over, answering, "It seems that...seems that they came back soon after head and general deacon went out..."


    "Before daybreak?"


    "They might have come back soon after Zi Clan Castle was in trouble..."


    "That''s not true..."


    "It''s said that the battle in Zi Clan Castle was very short...the person who killed those immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace was a wind immortal general...Zhang Tie doesn''t have such an ability..."


    "What about those in the underground prison? Did you get any information from those suspects?"


    "No...I didn''t go to the underground prison...after being caught...those suspects...were all interrogated by head...I didn''t get any information from them..."


    "Keep an eye on them these days. If there''s an abnormal situation in the immortal palace, let me know in no time. Additionally, I noticed that Head didn''t mean to stay in Heavenly Square City for long; but I don''t know his plan in details. If we know the arrangement of the headquarters, we could make plans a bit early..."


    "Hmm..."


    After saying these words, the man slowly removed his hand from the collar of the female deacon as he stood up. At the same time, his voice turned tender, "Alright, if you stay too long in my room, you might arouse others'' attention. There''s a long way to go. It''s not good if our relationship is exposed to the public. We should care about this point. When we get back to Dragon Emperor Big Realm, you can resign from the immortal palace. When we get married, we would not be afraid of gossips..."


    The female deacon nodded as she took a hopeful look at this handsome youth. Closely after that, she stood up and adjusted her dress so that the others couldn''t find any loophole from her.


    Watching the female deacon finish adjusting her skirt, the man opened the door, letting her leave there in a submissive manner.


    "Deacon Fan, the robe looks much better. Thanks..." the handsome man spoke loudly.


    "It''s my duty. If there''s any need, just let me know, General Priest Zhou..." The female deacon''s voice recovered normal too; instead of being that coquettish.


    "Thanks!"


    "See you..."


    After closing the door, the female deacon left decently and calmly. At this moment, the handsome man raised his head with a frown as his eyelight was flickering weirdly. Watching the ceiling, he murmured, "Is that not him for real?" After that, he shook his head and entered the cultivation room. Taking a water element crystal, he started his cultivation, legs crossed...


    Zhang Tie was watching the whole process in the room spiritually. As an experienced expert in affection, Zhang Tie instantly realized that this man was taking advantage of that female deacon. However, women were usually blind in love. That female deacon couldn''t find that she was just a tool; instead, she thought this man really loved her. She even would like to sacrifice everything for him. Whereas, this man was tricky and cunning, whose intention for joining Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace appeared to be bad.


    ''Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is becoming more and more interesting.''


    After taking another look at this man, Zhang Tie left his room freely in a split second.


    Zhang Tie almost traveled across the immortal palace, including each corner and nook.


    In head''s room, Zhang Tie saw Huang Baimei cultivating quietly over there. Even being a shadow knight, Huang Baimei still failed to notice Zhang Tie''s existence spiritually...


    In the underground prison, Zhang Tie saw Leng Manxue paying a tour inspection inside there with a cold look...


    At a hidden place close to the underground warehouse, Zhang Tie saw a young guard and a virgin having a date and expressing their love to each other...


    In the room of some guards, Zhang Tie found that some guards were writing words on the table while drinking. They were talking about the future of the immortal palace quietly as if they were intending to leave the immortal palace. However, nobody dared show their dissatisfaction because of the fear of strict punishment in the immortal palace...


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had known everyone''s condition and emotions.


    The tiny immortal palace couldn''t cater to Zhang Tie''s curiosity anymore; nor could it meet the travel of Zhang Tie''s utterly different spiritual energy. Given Zhang Tie''s current spiritual energy, it was like a whale in a fishing rod. Zhang Tie couldn''t fully exert his spiritual energy at all as he had traveled across the immortal palace.


    Zhang Tie instantly came to the air 10,000 m high outside the immortal palace spiritually. He could overlook the entire city over there. Zhang Tie intended to test the upper limit of the distance of his spiritual travel. Therefore, he extended his spiritual energy to the utmost as much as possible. In a split second, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy had broken out of Heavenly Square City and come to the place over 80 miles away from the immortal palace, where Zhang Tie felt his spiritual energy was shackled as he could barely further extend it. Within this range, Zhang Tie could casually appear in any place spiritually without any obstacle. He could notice the movement of any of the millions of people across the city.


    After having a nice trip outside, Zhang Tie returned to the sky spiritually, where he instantly felt two bizarre energy in the vapor and clouds.


    Before his spiritual energy turned real, Zhang Tie could sense and manipulate the invisible vapor in the air using his water chakra as a shadow knight and his spiritual energy as a divine dominator. However, after his spiritual energy turned real, Zhang Tie could not only sense the invisible vapor but also sense the two bizarre energy in the invisible vapor in the air.


    Of course, the energy that a drop of water contained was trivial. However, the connection between the energy of numerous vapor was prodigious and terrifying. It could be said that the two energies could reach everywhere from the sky to the earth which was as great as the ocean. One energy was above the other. They were resting in the air quietly and terrifyingly in response to the earth and the higher space as if they contained endless secrets. Zhang Tie could feel that they were correlated to his realm of combining his fist intention with the universe. However, the latter was dwarfed by the two energies as it was more like the tip of an iceberg.


    ''Could I use the two energies?''


    Since this whim occurred to him, Zhang Tie hadn''t forgotten about it. He then extended his spiritual energy into the two energies in the sky and started to draw the two energies out of there like drawing water out of the ocean. He didn''t stop until his spiritual energy couldn''t work anymore.


    Zhang Tie could already sense the two energies going a bit berserk while they were attracting each other as if they were going to integrate with each other. However, they were fastened by Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy. Previously, Zhang Tie planned to try it on Zi Clan Castle in Heavenly Square City; however, after taking a look at the buildings not far from brightly lit Heavenly Square City and Zi Clan Castle, Zhang Tie changed his opinion at a stroke. As it was his first time to try it, Zhang Tie didn''t know about its destructive ability. In case of casualties, Zhang Tie fixed his eyes onto a barren hill over 60 miles away from Heavenly Square City.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie integrated the two energies that he separated from the sky...


    ...


    A sudden white light appeared across Heavenly Square City, causing the sky as white as daybreak. When many people in Heavenly Square City looked up out of amazement, the earth across Heavenly Square City shocked heavily, the tablewares quivered, the lanterns swayed, many tiles fell off. When so many people in Heavenly Square City were in panic, the aftermath of a hurricane-sized impact wave swept over the entire city, sending the entire city into chaos...

 1673 The Terrifying Power

    On the next early morning, all the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City had arrived at the wilderness over 60 miles away from Heavenly Square City as they gazed at the huge pit in the middle of the barren land with solemn looks.


    "There was a hill yesterday. How could...how could it turn into a pit today..." Liu Meng told Zhang Tie using his battle qi as he took in a deep breath. Given Liu Meng''s tone, Zhang Tie could sense Liu brothers fear despite being always careless.


    In fact, almost none of the immortal generals at present could stay calm.


    Of course, Zhang Tie also disguised to be solemn like the others with a frown and serious look. Pursing his lips, he was watching this huge pit and those collapsed, destroyed even charred trees, mountain rocks and hills within dozens of miles. In fact, it had become a terrifying, depopulated zone within dozens of miles.


    All the people in Heavenly Square City were in turmoil last night. All the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace including Zhang Tie were requested to put on their flight suits and make tour inspection over the city in case of emergencies. Not until this early morning did the turmoil relieve slightly. All the immortal generals then got to the barren hill to check what happened here under the leadership of Head Huang.


    From the sky, it was a huge hundred of meters deep pit whose diameter was over 0.6 miles. The neighboring terrain was changed as all the hills within dozens of miles were compressed as if they had suffered an unimaginable disaster.


    Everyone above the huge, deep pit was shocked by what they saw as they remained quiet for quite a while.


    Zhang Tie''s look was half real because he was the "culprit" of all these. Zhang Tie was actually the first one who "saw" this scene last night. However, before he took a careful look at it, the entire immortal palace in Heavenly Square City had been mobilized. Zhang Tie was also "woken up" by Leng Manxue and was ready to fight. He even made a tour inspection in Heavenly Square City overnight.


    It was impactful to watch and sense the scene created by himself. Besides, Zhang Tie felt extremely lucky. Thankfully, he made the experiment within this hill over 60 miles away from Heavenly Square City. If he chose Zi Clan Castle as his target, Heavenly Square City might have been swept over by him while millions of people in the city would have been burned into ash by his trial strike. If so, he would have made big trouble.


    Zhang Tie didn''t imagine that his trial strike could realize such a terrifying effect as its power was far greater than his most powerful kinetic strike. Neither did Zhang Tie know how he could make this. Last night, he was crystal clear that the two energies annihilated the moment they collided with each other. At the same time, a strong light appeared from nowhere with a terrifying lightning bolt, and then, it became all these.


    "Let''s take a look down there..." Huang Baimei finally opened his mouth after suspending over there for quite a while. By flapping the wings of his flight suit, he instantly shot towards the huge pit, closely followed by Zhang Tie and the others.


    After coming to the bottom of the pit and watching the situation over there, everybody turned more solemn.


    Within the hundreds of meters deep pit, there was not a single drop of water. Besides, it was pretty smooth inside the pit since the bottom and the walls of the pit were as thick as the remains of burning candles.


    Watching the others checking around meticulously, Zhang Tie also squatted down as he easily got a piece of a palm-sized gray object out of the ground, it was like glass or glaze despite its color was not ordinary. It felt very strange. In the far, there were black, light-blue, greyish-green, even dark red objects just like being on a color palette.


    Kids might feel curious about this place; however, immortal generals were scared by this scene.


    Face turning slightly pale, Ji Yuelan slightly approached Zhang Tie. At this moment, she could feel safe only beside Zhang Tie.


    "These objects were left by rocks at high temperature. Its content was similar to that of glaze. The colors were reflected by metals inside the rocks and the soil..." Leng Manxue explained distantly as she took a dark green crystal.


    "Let''s take a look in the surroundings, we might find something important!" Head Huang ordered while all the others started to fly around the deep pit. In a few minutes, they all came back in vain as they shook their heads.


    "Let''s talk about it after getting back to the immortal palace..."


    They then flew back towards Heavenly Square City behind Head Huang.


    Under their foot, all the surrounding hills were destroyed. If not these hills offset the power of this huge, deep pit like walls, Heavenly Square City might have suffered a greater loss.


    Watching this, Zhang Tie felt lucky once again.


    The flight suit helped him to move fast and flexibly. The moment the wings extended, the flight suit would be completely driven by battle qi. At full speed, common immortal generals could reach about 600 miles per hour with the flight suit. It was said that there were more advanced flight suits. However, such a gadget didn''t exist in Taixia Country. Even though Zhang Tie had tried many kinds of flight modes, he still felt fresh about the flight suits today.


    On the way back, they all remained silent as the atmosphere became a bit solemn. Although being relaxed inside, Zhang Tie dared not display it; instead, he was just immersed in driving and studying the flight suit.


    Air floating metal was a key material of the flight suit. Besides, Zhang Tie found that the flight suit needed bizarre crystals which contained some strange runes. Only by combining the three elements could one fly freely in the sky by controlling the flight suit outfit using battle qi.


    "Deputy head, you have really worked hard these days, hah. You preferred to hide in your room for cultivation than reaching out to me..." Ji Yuelan asked Zhang Tie as she approached him.


    The moment this beauty glared at Liu brothers, the two guys had been pushed away from Zhang Tie.


    Liu brothers felt normal about Ji Yuelan approaching Zhang Tie; nor did Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue care about that. Only Zhou Baifei, who was not far away, turned around and took a look over here.


    By now, Zhang Tie had already known that they had held an inaugural ceremony when his mind sea saw an utter change. Everybody at present had already officially joined the immortal palace and got their own titles.


    For instance, that toy boy was called Zhou Baifei, who was the general priest of the immortal palace.


    A few days ago, Zhang Tie didn''t have a strong aversion to him. However, after seeing how he cheated a woman, Zhou Baifei instantly turned into a toy boy in Zhang Tie''s mind. Zhang Tie despised such men the most who cheated and took advantage of women on purpose. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, he was completely an idiot, despite his handsome look and high level in the immortal palace; he was even more inferior than those male staff who lived on meeting rich women''s sexual demand. No matter what, the latter would not betray his love or cheat a woman. However, the prior took advantage of one''s affection. That was disgusting!


    "I have to make progress..." Zhang Tie replied as kindly as before as if he had not noticed Ji Yuelan''s discontent.


    "Hah!" Ji Yuelan snorted as she continued, "Wish you promote to an immortal emperor as soon as possible..."


    "Thank you, sister. If I promote to an immortal emperor, I will let you be an elder of my immortal palace..." Zhang Tie replied solemnly.


    "Hah, who cares..."


    "You don''t like being an elder? Alright, it seems that sister wants to pave quilt for me..."


    "You''re so boring..."


    It sounded so enchanting; however, given the voice, the girl felt opposite.


    "What do you think of the huge pit?"


    "It seems to be a natural disaster! Zhang Tie said instantly.


    "But I don''t think so..."


    "If not, do you think it''s created by people?"


    "But even a supreme immortal general couldn''t make such a terrifying strike..."


    "That''s a natural disaster then!"


    "Alas, I always feel Motian Realm being more and more unsafe..." Ji Yuelan sighed with emotions.


    After a short while, those people had got back to Heavenly Square City.


    From the sky, the city had already recovered its order, except for many people on the open urban square, some of which had pitched up tents as if they were worried about another earthquake.


    Those immortal generals then landed at the entrance of the immortal palace on its top...

 1674 Zhang Ties Lesson

    After getting back to the immortal palace, they didn''t leave; instead, they were called to gather in an assembly hall by Huang Baimei.


    In the assembly hall, Huang Baimei was sitting on the main seat while Zhang Tie was sitting close to Huang Baimei on his left, facing Leng Manxue. Next to Zhang Tie was Zhou Baifei who looked solemn. Jiang Ruoxin was sitting beside Leng Manxue. The others took a seat according to their titles. It felt like a group of important personnel of a sect sitting together to discuss something.


    Although Zhang Tie looked solemn, he was actually absent-minded. Because he was very clear about what had happened last night. Watching the others in the opposite and recalling that scene when he made a spiritual journey that night, Zhang Tie unconsciously fixated onto Jiang Ruoxin''s breast...


    ''It really looks a bit small. 35 C is much smaller than that of Ji Yuelan''s. It couldn''t even match that of Leng Manxue. But it''s still plump. No matter what, she''s a female knight...''


    After comparing inside, Zhang Tie had felt two hot eyes fall on his face. He raised his head as he saw Jiang Ruoxin glaring at him bashfully. Even Ji Yuelan a few seats away was watching him while pouting her petite mouth. Leng Manxue moved her eyes over here at a stroke as if she had sensed something too.


    Being gazed by the three women at the same time, Zhang Tie immediately moved his eyes away as he felt being put on the spot. He then pretended to cough twice softly.


    Thankfully, at that moment, a female deacon entered which caught the others'' attention at a stroke. After coming to the back of Leng Manxue, she lowered her body and gave a document to Leng Manxue before leaving out of there respectfully.


    It was the very female deacon Fan who was with Zhou Baifei in his room that day. At this moment, deacon Fan and Zhou Baifei didn''t look at each other at all. However, when deacon Fan almost left the assembly hall, she made a glimpse at Zhou Baifei. Nobody else at present could discover the story between them except Zhang Tie.


    "What''s up?" Huang Baimei asked in a muffled voice.


    "I''ve had them count the losses in the city last night..." Leng Manxue answered calmly as she threw a glance at the piece of paper in hand.


    "How''s the loss in Heavenly Square City?"


    After hearing Huang Baimei''s question, even Zhang Tie pricked up his ears.


    "Last night, 17 houses had collapsed, 133 people were injured, 68 of which were slightly injured, 43 were commonly injured, 6 were heavily injured, 16 people''s eyes were scorched by the strong lightning and they had lost their sight for the time being; however, they''ve already been able to see partially now. Fortunately, it was not too late when the strong earthquake occurred last night. Most of the people were awake. The 17 houses were close to the border of the city. They were wooden structure and have not been repaired for long; besides, a small part of the 17 houses was empty. As for those with people, some people escaped at once, leaving some slower ones being hurt by logs. Four of them were heavily injured; however, they''re already out of danger..."


    "How did those guys lose their sight for the time being?"


    "They were a crew of a business airboat in Heavenly Square City and some people drinking and enjoying the moon at a high building. When the strong lightning struck, the airboat was just arriving at Heavenly Square City in open land and the crew was preparing commodities on the deck. At that time, all these guys facing the coming direction of the strong light were dazzled as they couldn''t see anything clearly until this morning.."


    "Thankfully, nobody died. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would cure those injured ones at our full efforts. We could allocate some medicinal pills from our warehouse to them. The 17 ruined houses would also be repaired by the immortal palace. All the other places that require restoration would be invested by the immortal palace..." Huang Baimei ordered. After being silent for a second, he fixated his eyes on the face of the most inferior immortal knight at present, saying, "Mr. Xun would take its charge..."


    "Yes, sir!" The old "teacher" stood up as he took the order.


    "Head, it was too eye-catching outside the city last night that everybody in the city became flurried. How do we explain if we''re asked about it by people in the city..." Zhou Baifei asked ahead of Zhang Tie.


    "I''m gonna talk about it. I''ll have someone post information across the city and tell them that we''ve already figured it out that a comet hit the earth last night. Let them stay calm. With the protection of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, they have survived this disaster; instead of suffering a great loss across the city..." Huang Baimei said fluently.


    After hearing his words, Zhang Tie instantly understood Huang Baimei¡ª¡ªit''s meaningless for civilians in the city to know what created such a loud noise and the huge pit outside the city. As a branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, as long as they could give a reasonable explanation to the urban civilians and tell them they were already out of danger, meanwhile having them appreciate the immortal palace, the truth was none of the civilians'' business. All the immortal generals at present would not expose the truth even if they knew something. In fact, even Huang Baimei himself might not be sure of the reason for that huge pit. This might be a pending case in Heavenly Square City.


    "Heavenly Square City is in a bit turmoil these days. Deputy head, you''d better work a bit harder these days by taking two justices and Siji Jiang to learn more about the situation outside the city. You could deal with common affairs at your discretion. When in emergencies, contact the immortal palace at any time or make an early warning..."


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had got a new job. Hearing Jiang Ruoxin being called Siji Jiang, Zhang Tie tried hard to not laugh out. The Siji, despite its pronunciation being similar to that of drivers in Taixia Country or old Siji, which meant an expert in love in Taixia Country, was utterly different in meaning. Loosely translated, it was similar to intelligence butler or a senior scout or personal assistant of head or deputy head. To put it simply, she was a jack of all trades.


    "Yes, sir!" Zhang Tie took the order calmly as he threw a glance at Jiang Ruoxin. Liu brothers and Jiang Ruoxin took the order in unison.


    "These days, Commander Lu would be in charge of the Immortal Force Camp. Anyone who dares bewilder the public or make evil deeds would be severely punished!"


    "Yes, sir!" The bald tough man Lu Tianqiang took the order.


    "General Priest Zhou and Inspector Ji could make a tour inspection across the city these days and contacted grassroots so as to make people reassured..."


    The two people took the order in unison too.


    "Alright, if there''s nothing else to deal with, you could go work!" After making an arrangement, Huang Baimei ended the first short meeting which all the immortal generals of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City attended. They then stood up and left the assembly hall.


    When he walked out of the gate, Zhang Tie still felt a bit strange. ''Why Head Huang didn''t dispatch a task to Leng Manxue who is most familiar with the situation facing Heavenly Square City? What would Leng Manxue do these days? Does she have another task that couldn''t be exposed to the others?''


    Zhang Tie thought, ''It seems that new immortal generals gotta do something for the immortal palace before fully acquiring the trust of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.''


    "Deputy head..." a voice sounded behind Zhang Tie. At the same time, Zhou Baifei paced up as he watched Zhang Tie with a big smile, "As it was too early to have a talk with you in the dining hall, after seeing deputy head, I finally understand that there''s always someone greater in the world!"


    Zhou Baifei''s words sounded like a proper compliment. The others wouldn''t think that he was flattering Zhang Tie. Given Zhang Tie''s age and achievement, Zhou Baifei''s compliment was implicit.


    "Hahahaha, thanks, thanks, General Priest Zhou, you''re really a ''young and able man''..." Zhang Tie replied perfunctorily.


    However, Zhou Baifei didn''t notice the irony in Zhang Tie''s words as he still maintained his smile, asking, "Deputy head, are you free? Let''s taste the flying pulp in Heavenly Square Building. You''re my guest!"


    "I''m really sorry. I''m too busy these days. As you know, Head Huang has just given a task to me. I dare not be relaxed at all. Oh, General Priest Zhou, as the deputy head of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City, I gotta give you a suggestion. As millions of people''s lives depend on us, we can''t afford to make any mistake on this occasion. General Priest Zhou, you gotta measure what counts the most, the drinks or the lives of millions of people. As immortal generals of the immortal palace, of course, we should concern about the common lives ahead of our own demands. Take hardships before pleasure. Prioritize the interests of the commoners in Heavenly Square City in our heart. Make a high standard for ourselves and treat ourselves strictly..." Zhang Tie looked up as he made such points in a pretty righteous and merciful manner and pointed out Zhou Baifei''s weakness in work in the public.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Zhou Baifei''s smile froze at a stroke. Although Zhang Tie''s words sounded a bit weird, it was their first time to hear that. They could only understand it partly. Under the gaze of the public, Zhou Baifei couldn''t refute directly. As a result, after twitching his facial muscles for a couple of times, Zhou Baifei forced a smile, replying, "Thanks for your lesson, deputy head..."


    "That''s great. As a young man, you should not be proud and impatient. You know, being modest, one could make progress; being proud, one would lag behind; especially in work, we shouldn''t be immersed in establishing relationships with each other. Keep it in your mind, General Priest Zhou..." Zhang Tie continued.


    Zhou Baifei''s face turned completely dark...


    "Am I clear, General Priest Zhou?"


    Gritting his teeth, Zhou Baifei forced a smile again as he replied, "Clear..."


    Watching Zhang Tie talking so seriously with Zhou Baifei, Liu brothers, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan bore so hard not to out loudly. They all wondered why Zhang Tie disliked Zhou Baifei...

 1675 Visitors

    It was a sunny day. Lying on the wildflowers which covered the field, Zhang Tie was biting a grass stalk and appeared to have fallen asleep, eyes closed, hands under his head, in the enchanting breeze.


    Above Zhang Tie''s head, there was a huge green umbrella of a dragon-pattern tree which was higher than 20 m. It could rightly serve as a shelter for Zhang Tie. Only broken sunlight penetrated through the gap between swaying tree leaves and cast onto Zhang Tie like silver pieces. It felt warm, pleasant yet dark.


    This hillside which was covered with red, pink, purple and white wildflowers was pretty vast. Looking into far, it was all a sea of blossoms within 10 miles. Nobody could be seen here. Besides happy bees flying among flowers, Zhang Tie could also smell the fragrance of flowers facing the breeze every once a while. In addition, Zhang Tie could hear the "rustles" of leaves of the dragon-pattern tree above his head rocking in the breeze.


    Behind the hillside, there was a snow-white mountain enshrouded by cloudy fog in the distance. Zhang Tie''s place was tranquil because it was an air-borne mountain called Cloud-floating Mountain over 150 miles away from Heavenly Square City.


    It was really an immortal feeling by having a nap at such an air-borne place at noon.


    Today was March 12, the 3584th year of Calendar of Emperor NvWa in Motian Realm; it was almost one week after the weird explosion outside Heavenly Square City.


    Superficially, Zhang Tie had fallen asleep under the crown on the blossoms; in fact, he was attempting to release the two bizarre energies that caused the "natural disaster" outside Heavenly Square City a few days ago in a more controllable manner so as to apply this skill in real combats...


    The pattern of release of the two energies that day was too terrifying. As long as he released them, he would lose control of them. Additionally, it took him too long to gather the two energies. The two problems determined that he would be greatly limited to the application of that power in fighting powerhouses. He could use that pattern of release to deal with still objects such as cities or fortresses; he could even raid some unprepared powerhouses in a long distance. However, it was inconvenient for him to deal with real powerhouses; especially those above heavenly knights.


    Therefore, if he wanted to turn the two energies completely into a strength at his will for real, he had to tackle the above two problems. In this process, he needed to explore the many things slowly alone. Similarly, things and experiments in the lab had to go through optimizations and meet realistic demands before turning into products on assembly lines in the factory.


    Therefore, as Zhang Tie accepted the task, he was pondering and trying to turn the two energies into his own fatal strike.


    This task might be important for others in the immortal palace, which made all the others intense; however, it rightly spared a chance for Zhang Tie to be "indolent". No matter what, Zhang Tie knew every detail of the "natural disaster". Head Huang mainly wanted him to watch out the situation outside the city; as long as he didn''t make trouble, it would be nothing serious outside there.


    After nearly one week''s training, Zhang Tie''s powerful spiritual energy had been able to gather the two energies in an efficiency two times higher than before. Additionally, he further learned about the feature of the two energies. Although Zhang Tie still couldn''t make it fast, he had already touched the slimmer light of success.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was trying to press the two bizarre energies. He used his spiritual energy to shape an invisible, empty ball in the void. The ball was divided into two halves, up and down. There was a "hole" on the top of each hemisphere, which could enable Zhang Tie to constantly "foist" the two bizarre energies into the two hemispheres respectively for "storage".


    As long as Zhang Tie was ready to launch a strike, he could fire the ball of two hemispheres towards his target. When the ball was close to the target or hit the target, Zhang Tie "withdrew" the spiritual partition from the middle of the ball, causing the two energies to integrate and annihilate with each other along with the same terrifying disaster that he made the other day.


    He didn''t need too much spiritual energy to capture the two energies. However, it would consume him a lot of spiritual energy to maintain the stability and balance of the two energies in the spiritual ball. Zhang Tie had tried many times these days. Given his current level of spiritual energy, it would be very hard for him to maintain an "energy ball" as powerful as that last time in the void for over 2 hours.


    Whereas, if the quantity of the two energies in the "energy ball" was reduced, he would be able to maintain the "energy ball" a bit longer. Accordingly, the destructive power of the energy ball would decrease too.


    However, as for Zhang Tie, if such a skill couldn''t match his kinetic strike in destructive power, it would not be meaningless. Therefore, in Zhang Tie''s opinion, the more powerful the wholly-new skill was, the better it would be. Additionally, it should be as convenient and perfect as how he applied his battle qi.


    ...


    Zhang Tie was doing muti-tasks at the same time. He captured the two energies from the void, checked through the consumption of that energy ball about his spiritual energy, adjusted the relation between the largest "pressure" that he could exert on the two energies and the capacity of the two energies of his ball and paid attention to the stability of the spiritual partition under different "pressure"...


    It was absolutely like how pharmacists did experiments in the lab. He always honed his powerful battle skills step by step in this way. At this moment, Zhang Tie even started to admire those who had experts and secret methods to refer to. By contrast, he didn''t borrow and learn from anyone in spiritual cultivation and sharpening battle skills; instead, he could only explore them bit by bit himself. ''King Roc Sutra'' and skills of divine dominator...


    Whenever Zhang Tie hit this point, he would think in a self-deprecating way, ''This is my fate...''


    When Zhang Tie was pondering about manipulating the two bizarre energies in the void, he suddenly found that someone was flying over here. Even though his eyes were closed, Zhang Tie could still clearly "see" Ji Yuelan flying towards this air-borne mountain. Only after a short while, she had been within 25 miles and entered Zhang Tie''s spiritual cordon.


    In a white skirt and a simplified flight suit¡ª¡ªa breast armor with wings. With this simplified version, although her safety was weakened, she could move flexibly and conveniently in the sky. Therefore, many immortal generals favored this simplified suit the most.


    When a woman, especially a beautiful woman flew in the sky in this suit, by extending the huge bird wings, she would look like a legendary angel that Zhang Tie heard of in subcontinent in the former world.


    Ji Yuelan was not an angel; however, the scene that Ji Yuelan flew in the sky in wings made her a beautiful angel. Therefore, Zhang Tie appreciated her for quite a while.


    Ji Yuelan appeared to have a clear target as she flew straight towards this hillside. As a result, Zhang Tie instantly understood her intention. He then only kept the spiritual partition between the two hemispheres of the energy ball. After losing his spiritual constraint and control, the two energies escaped away within 0.001 seconds and disappeared in the air. Before reaching Zhang Tie''s level spiritually, people could not sense the two energies at all; therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t worry about exposing his secret.


    As was imagined, after hovering above this hillside for a short while, Ji Yuelan had noticed Zhang Tie who was falling asleep in the wild blossoms under the dragon-pattern tree, snoring heavily. Closely after that, Ji Yuelan descended under the same tree like an angel with a fresh breeze.


    After hiding her wings, Ji Yuelan came to Zhang Tie''s side with a smile as she picked a purple flower and swept it over Zhang Tie''s face repetitively.


    Zhang Tie finally couldn''t pretend it anymore as he opened his eyes and looked straight into Ji Yuelan''s eyes.


    "Huh, the others are dying of tiredness; whereas, our deputy head is sleeping here. I''m going to accuse of your dereliction of duty to the head..." Ji Yuelan "sneered" threateningly.


    "Ahem...ahem..." Zhang Tie took off his grass stalk as he replied with a solemn look, "Inspector Ji, it''s not that serious. As you see, this place is high and hidden; it''s suitable for me to observe whether there''s someone lurking outside the city. How can you say that I''m sleeping here?"


    "If you''re waiting for suspects, why do you lie down here?" Ji Yuelan continued to ask with a sneer.


    "Those who could pose a threat to Heavenly Square City must be high-profile powerhouses. Therefore, I just lay down here for the sake of observation!" Zhang Tie continued to explain with a serious look.


    "Why did you close your eyes then?"


    "I just pretended to fall asleep; when I was sensing it spiritually in case of exposing myself..."


    "Why did you open your eyes now?"


    "A fairy descended. Such a beauty could even dwarf many fresh blossoms over the hillside. If not take a good look at her, I would suffer a great loss..." Zhang Tie answered as he made a face.


    "You''re so flirtatious. You only know how to take advantage of me..." Ji Yuelan finally broke into laughter as she pinched Zhang Tie''s arm once forcefully.


    "Ayo..." Zhang Tie accented his scream in a pretty enjoyable way.


    "Stop! Look at you. Even if you were stabbed by a machete, there would be no wound on you. You could never scream so loudly after being pinched by me. The others, if see it, would think, would think..." Ji Yuelan paused...


    "Think what?" Zhang Tie asked with a smile.


    "Think that I''m gonna eat you!" After saying that, Ji Yuelan blushed all of a sudden.


    "If Inspector Ji wants to eat me, I would not oppose!"


    "For real?"


    "For real. Besides, I would wash myself well for the sake of your convenience!" Zhang Tie joked again with a solemn look.


    "Bullsh*t!"


    "You don''t believe that?"


    "Unless you close your eyes!" Ji Yuelan said as she watched Zhang Tie with sparkling eyes.


    Zhang Tie then closed his eyes. However, closely after that, he sniffed a fragrance while scented and sweety petal-like lips fell onto his lips and kissed him once, then once again, then the third time. After that, the two lips were glued to each other.


    "Ahh..." Ji Yuelan groaned as Zhang Tie hugged her and put her under his body. Face to face, their nose tips almost touched each other as their qi reached the other''s face.


    Face flushed, eyes watery, panting heavily and exhaling as fragrant as orchid, Ji Yuelan was nearing the climax as her breasts kept rising and falling,


    After looking at Ji Yuelan for a while, Zhang Tie gradually revealed a smile, "Inspector Ji, is that how you eat me? But I don''t feel any pain at all. It appears that Inspector Ji didn''t eat people before. As the deputy head, I should give you a good lesson!"


    Being silent and eyes closed, Ji Yuelan dared not look into Zhang Tie''s eyes. Face turning red, breasts rising and falling more heavily, she was waiting for Zhang Tie''s favor.


    "When you eat something, you couldn''t eat it alive; nor could you eat its fur and drink its blood. You should do it step by step. It depends..." Zhang Tie said as he put one hand onto her breast armor and unbuttoned the first metal button.


    With a click, Ji Yuelan felt warm all over as she groaned out of satisfaction through her nostrils unconsciously.


    Three seconds later, the second click sounded...


    After that, Zhang Tie stopped!


    Ji Yuelan waited for a few minutes. When the flame in her heart was going to die out, Ji Yuelan gritted her teeth as she opened her eyes at a stroke.


    However, Zhang Tie was not watching her; but looking into the distance. Along Zhang Tie''s eyes, Ji Yuelan was also shocked.


    A large team of airboats with the banner of an immortal palace almost arrived at Heavenly Square City, making it dark over the sky.


    Zhang Tie turned around as he blinked his eyes towards Ji Yuelan and buttoned up her breast armor for her, saying, "It seems that head is going to call us back. I will continue to discuss this topic with Inspector Ji someday..."


    Ji Yuelan was irritated as she pinched Zhang Tie''s arm once fiercely. Zhang Tie screamed miserably before bursting into laughter. Before Ji Yuelan pinched him for the second time, he had jumped off her body, onto a high twig covered with dense tree leaves and took off his flight suit. After putting it on quickly, he then flew towards Heavenly Square City, followed by Ji Yuelan.


    Right then, their jade plates rocked which meant that Head Huang was calling for them...

 1676 Handover

    The formation of over 100 airboats was grand in the sky, which was barely seen even in Taixia Country.


    After coming to Motian Realm for a few days, Zhang Tie had been clear about many things in this world. Take those airboats as an instance, the emblem at the fore of the airboats was a yellow triangle flag with cloud edge, in the middle of which was a pattern of a fiery unicorn.


    In Motian Realm, a triangle flag with cloud edge was exclusive to immortal palaces. Only forces who had founded their own immortal palaces could use such a flag and emblem. Therefore, at the sight of the emblem, Zhang Tie had known that these airboats belonged to an immortal palace. As for the details, Zhang Tie was confused.


    Zhang Tie and Ji Yuelan flew towards Heavenly Square City rapidly.


    It appeared that those airboats were not here for trouble. When they arrived at Heavenly Square City, there was no trace of battle and chaos inside the city. Additionally, the call-up order from the immortal palace was not a warning. Therefore, Zhang Tie and Ji Yuelan became a bit reassured and was not in a hurry.


    "Which immortal palace do these airboats belong to?"


    "It should be Unicorn Immortal Palace..."


    Although Ji Yuelan didn''t have lotus flower eyes, she could still see clearly the emblem at the fore of the airboats within such a short distance.


    "Founded by a supreme immortal general?"


    "Yup!" Ji Yuelan took a look at Zhang Tie as her face had recovered. However, she looked a bit solemn, adding, "Whereas Unicorn Immortal Palace ranks top three among the 14 immortal palaces founded by supreme immortal knights. It''s said that Jiang Shang the King Unicorn who founded Unicorn Immortal Palace is a king-level powerhouse who probably promoted to an immortal emperor!"


    "King-level powerhouse?" Zhang Tie asked out of confusion.


    "Supreme immortal general. However, after founding their immortal palaces, supreme immortal generals would be called King XX in the public. Therefore, people used to call them king-level powerhouses. Staff within the immortal palace would like to call their head immortal king. If you call their boss supreme immortal general in front of so many immortal generals, someone might be unhappy about that!"


    Zhang Tie understood it right away as he said, "Oh, I see, it''s verbal bribery..."


    "Verbal bribery, what''s that?" Ji Yuelan asked.


    "Hahaha, nothing, it means to entertain someone by speaking highly of him or her..." Zhang Tie put it simply as he thought, ''Humans are the same no matter where they are. Powerhouses in this stage are called sage-level knights; however, in Motian Realm, they prefer to be called immortal kings in order to distinguish themselves from the class of immortal generals; meanwhile, it indicates that they''re only one step away from immortal emperor. Similarly, in Hua officialdom, deputy directors were usually called directors in order to entertain them. The speaker said it casually with some purpose while the listener felt happy. Why not?


    "If it''s called verbal bribery. You have such a glib tongue. I''m afraid that nobody else could match you in it as you''re bribing people all the time!" Ji Yuelan threw a glimpse at Zhang Tie.


    "I don''t have a glib tongue at all. Inspector Ji should have tasted it just now!"


    Ji Yuelan flushed slightly as she threw a glare at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, she came to Zhang Tie''s front.


    Zhang Tie smiled as he followed after her easily...


    Only after a short while, the two people had arrived at Heavenly Square City. Jiang Ruoxin was also flying over here from afar. She was shocked by Zhang Tie and Ji Yuelan coming back together. After looking at the two people for a second, she remained silent.


    These days, Zhang Tie divided the territory outside Heavenly Square City into east, south, west and north. He stayed in the south of the city for killing time while handing the other three to Liu brothers and Jiang Ruoxin. As nothing happened, he had not seen Jiang Ruoxin for about one week. It seems that Jiang Ruoxin was also trying to stay away from Zhang Tie. As Zhang Tie didn''t call her during this period of time, Jiang Ruoxin didn''t come to report to Zhang Tie at all. By contrast, Liu brothers came to report to Zhang Tie honestly every day.


    "What a coincidence, Siji Jiang!" Zhang Tie greeted Jiang Ruoxin jokingly.


    "Hmm..." Jiang Ruoxin replied casually as she came to Ji Yuelan''s side. Ignoring Zhang Tie, she directly started a talk with Ji Yuelan using her battle qi.


    "Why are you together..." Jiang Ruoxin asked Ji Yuelan.


    "Erm, I went for him just now. Long time no see, it feels boring. I missed him; so I went for him, why..." Ji Yuelan who talked with Zhang Tie a bit bashfully just now spoke to Jiang Ruoxin straightly.


    "Do you have a physical relationship with him?" Jiang Ruoxin asked straightforwardly too.


    "Stop it. If you want to do it with him, when I go for him next time, you can come with me; you could do it first!"


    "Peh..."


    The women talked using battle qi; however, they had not imagined that Zhang Tie had heard all of their words. It was a new ability that Zhang Tie acquired after his spiritual energy turned real. Within the range of his spiritual energy, he could hear every talks clearly even that between knights using battle qi.


    As Zhang Tie pricked up his ears to hear their private chat, he pretended to look front seriously. They soon arrived at the immortal palace.


    On the square of the immortal palace, many people were present. Besides Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue, Liu brothers, Zhou Baifei, Lu Tianqiang and Xun Zizhou had long arrived here. There were 14 more strangers, including 10 males and 4 females, who were all as excellent as them given their looks besides outnumbering them greatly.


    Huang Baimei was talking with someone who had the almost the same qi field as him and was introducing the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal to those strangers. Zhang Tie, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin directly entered the vision of the strange immortal generals.


    Due to his pretty young age, Zhang Tie instantly attracted the attention of 10 unfamiliar immortal generals.


    Huang Baimei smiled as he introduced Zhang Tie to them, "This is Deputy Head Zhang of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City; this is Intelligence Jiang; this is Inspector Ji..."


    All the 10 strangers were immortal generals from Unicorn Immortal Palace.


    A few minutes later, over 20 immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Unicorn Immortal Palace gathered in the assembly hall of the immortal palace.


    "At the order of the Church of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, three days later, all the immortal generals of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City would leave here, presenting Heavenly Square City to Unicorn Immortal Palace completely..."


    As Huang Baimei opened his mouth, everyone at present became dumbfounded except Leng Manxue. Closely after that, they understood it...

 1677 Heading for Dragon Emperor Big Domain

    Three days later, on the morning of March 15, the 3584th year of the calendar of Emperor NvWa in Motian Realm...


    It was the first rainy day since Zhang Tie came to Motian Realm. In the drizzle, Zhang Tie stood on the deck of an airboat as he watched over 10 lines of people boarding airboats quietly.


    The falling raindrops and the gloomy sky made the farewell more sentimental and tragic. The powerful Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had to bid a farewell to this city which contained millions of people in this way after Dragon Emperor disappeared for more than 900 years. They had to present this place to others given the current situation.


    Heavenly Square City was not the first city that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace abandoned in Nine Heavens Big Domains; of course, it was not the last city either. These days, the Church of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would gradually reveal their plan to the public. Within one week, the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would evacuate from Nine Heavenly Big Domain as a whole.


    Those who received the presents of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were Unicorn Immortal Palace, Tianlan Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace. The first two immortal palaces were founded by two of top three supreme immortal knights in Motian Realm while the latter one was founded by Emperor Force, one of the top three immortal emperors in this world. However, Star Emperor Immortal Palace which usually cast greedy eyes on these cities of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace failed to enter the list of powers sharing the cake of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Nine Heavens Big Domain.


    Zhang Tie knew that the elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace must have made negotiations and secret trades with powers of those sister immortal palaces. Therefore, it could proceed so smoothly. If Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t get guarantees or benefits from those sister forces, of course, it would not present those cities to them along with the population, even with discounts.


    That was like how geckos break their tails for surviving themselves when in danger.


    When Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace couldn''t protect these cities under its affiliation or deter the other forces, it was destined to narrow its scale. It had better exchange these cities and population for something when it could make a choice rather than being shared by the surrounding forces which looked like packs of wolves.


    The decision of the Church of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was understandable.


    The raindrops touched an invisible shield and fell down 1 m away from Zhang Tie. The open part of the deck of this airboat had been completely wet except the area of about 3 square meters centered on Zhang Tie. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt pretty special in moisture.


    It seemed that there was no movable deck on the airboats in Motian Realm. Such airboats were utterly different than that in Taixia Country in style. Additionally, airboats in Motian Realm were more classical as all the airboats here were related to the dragon. Take Zhang Tie''s fleet as an instance, they were all in the shape of a dragon or dragon''s sons and grandsons. The commonest shape of airboat here was Bixi, which was like a huge tortoise, the sixth son of Dragon King. It was said that Bixi liked carrying heavy loads. Therefore, airboats were usually made in the shape of Bixi, which was said to be steadiest and could avoid misfortunes.


    After coming to Motian Realm for a few days, Zhang Tie became more and more confident that this world had an inseparable relationship with Hua people and Taixia Country. Perhaps in far-ancient times, Hua people here lived together with those in Taixia Country. Due to some reason, the two worlds were separated.


    ''If the relationship between two worlds could be figured out, perhaps I would expose one of the biggest secrets in the history of Hua people.''


    Many whims occurred to Zhang Tie. Not until he heard footsteps from behind did Zhang Tie slightly become composed. He then turned around as he saw Leng Manxue walking towards him in the rain.


    Leng Manxue was in a black professional robe; instead of an outfit. Being reflected by her black robe, this woman''s face looked a bit fair in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    "Ha, General Deacon Leng, why are you here..." Zhang Tie greeted the beauty.


    "Aren''t you here too? Why not attend the handover ceremony?" Leng Manxue asked Zhang Tie as calmly as before, despite the faint complex moods that Zhang Tie could identify. When she watched the city, her eyes carried a depressive and gloomy mood.


    "Someone should be a watchdog here in case of trouble. Therefore, I requested to come over here from head..." Zhang Tie explained seriously which sounded perfect. Even Zhang Tie realized that he was more and more good at finding excuses for killing time. These days, Leng Manxue appeared being gloomy; however, Zhang Tie was not influenced. No matter what, this city was just like a hostel in his life trip, which was meaningless for him. No matter which party did this city belong to in the future, it had nothing to do with Zhang Tie. He only cared about improving his overall strength.


    This trip to Motian Realm was regarded as a tough and fantastic survival training, Zhang Tie aimed at maximizing his ability and achievement in this survival training. After that, he would find his way back. By contrast, nothing else counted, even the rise or fall of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    "Is that real?" Leng Manxue looked at Zhang Tie with crystal clear eyes as she unveiled Zhang Tie''s lie at once.


    "Hehhehheh, you know, the rite is too boring. It''s just killing time. Additionally, I''m not familiar with the people of Unicorn Immortal Palace. Therefore, I didn''t join in the fun!" Zhang Tie said frankly as he shrugged.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s sincere look, Leng Manxue''s eyes turned a bit tender. She turned around and continued to look at the city in the fog and rain. Her eyes narrowed emotionally as if she was murmuring, "You know, Heavenly Square City is more beautiful when it''s snowing. In November, if you''re here, you will see that heavenly waterfall outside the city would not freeze. However, the water''s steep fall would be blown away by the strong wind. Before those water drops fall down, many of them would become snowflakes flying in the sky; some would even become large areas of misty fog. As long as the sun comes out, you would see flying snowflakes under the rainbow..."


    "Yes, it''s indeed beautiful, I could imagine!" Zhang Tie answered as he stroked his chin and took a look at Leng Manxue, saying, "General Deacon Leng, you must have seen a lot of such scenes..."


    "Hmm, as I was born in Heavenly Square City, I have been used to this city..."


    "Aah, so your parents must be in Heavenly Square City too!"


    "No, they aren''t. They''re immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace!"


    Zhang Tie then continued with a smile. "Oh, they must be in Dragon Emperor Big Domain. General Deacon Leng is coming back home soon..."


    After being silent for a while, Leng Manxue opened her mouth, "They''re not in Dragon Emperor Big Domain either. When I was 3 years old, they had been killed by demons in a war between Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and demons..."


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he hid his smile and watched Leng Manxue seriously, "Sorry to hear that..."


    "It''s fine. I will take revenge for them one day!" Leng Manxue said stubbornly and decisively as she looked up.


    "Revenge?"


    "Yes, it''s a famous fire demon immortal general of Yanmo Palace who killed them. That demon immortal general is still alive. One day, I would catch up with him and chop off his head..."


    ''An earth knight would like to kill a semi-sage level knight?'' Zhang Tie thought Leng Manxue could barely succeed in her whole life. Because that semi-sage demon general immortal was also making progress all the time. Perhaps it would still be alive if Leng Manxue promoted to a semi-sage level knight one day; however, by then, the demon immortal general might have been a sage-level knight or on a higher level.


    This world was cruel. In many cases, you could not be the center of the world because you had a lofty and great target. Conversely, the merciless reality would crush your last target time and time again. As a result, you would have to lower your head in front of reality and gradually become a wuss. You would be humble and trivial in front of your target. When you grew old and retrospected to those lofty targets that you set at a young age, you would feel ashamed of those high ambitions. Everyone would encounter such a situation, not only Leng Manxue. Even knights were not an exception. ''If I didn''t have Castle of Black Iron and could survive the demon disaster in Waii Subcontinent, I believe that I would probably be the same kind of person.''


    Zhang Tie didn''t talk to Leng Manxue about that because he felt that this woman''s weak frame was only propped by such a belief. If he ruined her belief, it was nothing different than destroying this woman. Given this point, even being a knight, Leng Manxue was like the other common women. The only difference between them was that the belief of common females was not revenge but love. If a man destroyed the belief of a woman, that woman would fall apart. It was also the reason that many common women turned decadent and felt like committing suicide after suffering great frustration in love. Among Zhang Tie''s wives, Bai Suxian and Yan Feiqing were such examples. After suffering such a spiritual strike, Bai Suxian was decadent for quite a long period of time while Yan Feiqing shifted to cultivation and viewed all the men in the world as sh*t.


    "Good, ambitious! You have to take revenge for the death of your parents. Demon, fire immortal general, so what? He also has a head and a d*ck. As long as we chop off his head and d*ck, we would win, even if we have to do it 10 times or 100 times. In this world, nobody, not even demons are undefeatable..." Zhang Tie plucked up courage for Leng Manxue righteously while thumbing up, "If General Deacon Leng wants to revenge, don''t forget to call me there. I''d like to join the fun and kill some demons..."


    Zhang Tie''s "dirty words" won Leng Manxue''s frown successfully. However, she didn''t turn around and leave there; instead, she took a look at Zhang Tie as she asked, "Do you want to promote to an immortal emperor one day?"


    "You bet, every immortal general wants that!"


    "Hmm, take a good look at them then!" Leng Manxue suddenly pointed at those commoners who were entering the airboats in the rain as she continued using his battle qi, "When in the immortal palace, someone said His Majesty Dragon Emperor once mentioned that these commoners were the key for an immortal king to promote to an immortal emperor. Without them, nobody could break the bottleneck facing immortal king, humans or demons. Perhaps you would know their value one day..."


    After hearing Leng Manxue''s words, Zhang Tie became stunned, ''Immortal king is supreme immortal general or sage-level knight. According to Leng Manxue, the secret for breaking through sage-level knight are these commoners?''


    ''No way!''


    ''What does that mean?''


    In a split second, numerous questions occurred in Zhang Tie''s mind...


    "It''s said that the secret method is in the core region of Mountain Ruins..."


    As her voice was still lingering around Zhang Tie, Leng Manxue had almost left the deck...


    "Aah, why did you tell me this?" Zhang Tie asked Leng Manxue, causing her slightly slow down.


    "I just feel that you should know that. Perhaps you have known it before; however, you forgot about it. As for the reason, just take it as an award for your refusal of Unicorn Immortal Palace''s favor and the fact that you''ve killed so many immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace a few days ago..."


    After saying that, Leng Manxue in black had disappeared.


    Standing on the deck with a dumbfounded look, Zhang Tie watched the direction where Leng Manxue disappeared, then the lines of commoners entering the airboats in the rain, in meditation...


    ...


    Besides immortal soldiers, nuns and deacons, their families and some strong-willed followers of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace also followed them away, over 30,000 people in total. By noon, all of them and immortal generals of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City had left Heavenly Square City for Dragon Emperor Big Domain with wealth that they got from Zi Clan Castle by over 70 Unicorn Immortal Palaces in the heavy wind and rain...


    When these airboats flew off Heavenly Square City, a businessman in a high storey of a hostel near the airport inside Heavenly Square City was looking at these airboats through the window of his room gloomily in the rain. With one hand on a piece of rune jade plate, he sent out a message in a split second¡ª¡ªThe nine immortal generals and over 30,000 people of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City have left Heavenly Square City by 74 airboats.


    After a short while, the businessman got a reply when the airboats faded away.


    ¡ª¡ªDon''t worry, none of the immortal generals could return to Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Your mission is over. You could leave Heavenly Square City for the Immortal Palace.

 1678 In Cultivation

    Nine Heavens Big Domain was in the center of Motian Realm. The entire region was full of conflicts between humans and demons. Dragon Emperor Big Domain was over 23 miles away from Nine Heavens Big Domain in the southeast. It would take them almost 20 days or three weeks to arrive there even by airboat.


    74 airboats left the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City for Dragon Emperor Big Domain with over 30,000 people in total. The population was indeed not large for so many airboats. Given the replenishment and consumption on the way, according to the requirement of Head Huang, all the airboats had been loaded with enough water and food. Some airboats were fully loaded with materials for replenishing airboats. Therefore, these airboats could fly straight towards Dragon Emperor Big Domain.


    Since the airboats left Heavenly Square City, Zhang Tie had been in cultivation in his cabin, completely ignoring everything of outside.


    Cabins in airboats were not large; however, each immortal general could have one private cabin which was as large as over 30 square meters just like a small apartment. Additionally, each immortal general could have 60 L of water for both drinking and bathing per day. After taking a box of dried rations into his room, Zhang Tie had been concentrating on cultivation.


    Through cultivation, Zhang Tie gradually strengthened his ability in manipulating the two energies which were directly reflected by his higher efficiency in gathering the two energies.


    Spiritual energy was like a muscle, which couldn''t grow stronger without constant exercise. When Zhang Tie used his spiritual energy to manipulate the two bizarre energies, his spiritual energy was also growing under control. As a result, Zhang Tie could better apply his spiritual energy in the real form in more special skills. A stone for two birds!


    As it was too smooth for the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City to retreat, Zhang Tie always felt unnerved. If the immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace were not killed by him, of course, Zhang Tie would not care too much about that. However, Star Emperor Immortal Palace suffered a great loss and didn''t get Heavenly Square City in the end; instead, the city fell in the hand of Unicorn Immortal Palace. Star Emperor Immortal Palace really suffered a great loss. On this occasion, it would be a bit strange if Star Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t make any response to it.


    Additionally, Liu brothers told Zhang Tie that Star Emperor Immortal Palace used to be overbearing and vicious. Therefore, it was almost impossible for them to pass the event in Heavenly Square City without suffering any casualty.


    It was estimated that Head Huang had already well planned the route from Heavenly Square City back to Dragon Emperor Big Domain for the fleet of airboats as he knew that Star Emperor Immortal Palace was tricky. On the way, the fleet almost avoided and detoured the sphere of influence of Star Emperor Immortal Palace. They even had many sections of alternative routes. After leaving Heavenly Square City for one day, Huang Baimei altered the route once. On this occasion, it became difficult for Star Emperor Immortal Palace to have people look for the fleet on a large scale. Additionally, as the fleet didn''t land for replenishment, the opponent could barely discover their trace either.


    Zhang Tie knew what Huang Baimei was worried about. Because the conflict between the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace was aroused by him, Zhang Tie held that he was responsible for the safety of the tens of thousands of people on the airboats on the way. During the flight, although the others thought Zhang Tie was just cultivating in his own cabin, Zhang Tie was actually paying attention to the whole fleet all the time and safeguarding everyone quietly.


    Although Zhang Tie was in cultivation, he had already covered the entire fleet spiritually. He could "see" everything within 60 miles. Even a mosquito entering the range would be "caught", not to mention knights. As for those things in cabins, they were as crystal clear as they were in front of his eyes. Zhang Tie would know everything in this range as long as he wanted.


    On March 24, the 3584th year of the calendar of Emperor NvWa, namely 9 days since Zhang Tie entered his cultivation in his cabin, Zhang Tie''s jade plate rocked again as Head Huang was calling for all the immortal generals to attend a meeting in the conference room of an airboat.


    After receiving the news, Zhang Tie ended his cultivation right away. After taking a bath, he entered the conference room for the first time.


    It was sunny inside there as the wind and rain across Heavenly Square City had long disappeared; instead of being a piece of land, it was a patch of void in Motian Realm below the airboat. A few days ago, the fleet had already left Nine Heavens Big Domain.


    Watching Zhang Tie coming in, those immortal generals at present hurriedly greeted Zhang Tie. Only two of them looked at Zhang Tie in an uncomfortable way: Zhou Baifei, who, after being teased and ironized several times by Zhang Tie, had long been known disliked by the latter. Therefore, Zhou Baifei always felt being put on the spot whenever he saw Zhang Tie. Superficially, his face turned stiff like Bell''s palsy.


    And Ji Yuelan. The moment Zhang Tie boarded the airboat, he had forgotten about Ji Yuelan. Without being flirted with and favored for a few days, only Zhang Tie knew how many times had Ji Yuelan sworn him, "The fool who only has cultivation in heart" and "Selfish dirty man" when she pitied herself or complained to Jiang Ruoxin in her cabin.


    When she saw Zhang Tie again, Ji Yuelan snorted as she moved her eyes away.


    Only Liu brothers silently thumbed up for Zhang Tie. Since they joined the immortal palace, the two brothers had understood that they didn''t have any chance to be favored by Jiang Ruoxin or Ji Yuelan. Therefore, they gave up pursuing them. Additionally, although Ji Yuelan had a liking to Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie just treated such beauty as nothing; instead, he only cared about cultivation, which the two brothers admired pretty much. Being stimulated by Zhang Tie, the two brothers cultivated much harder on the airboat these days...

 1679 Being Alert on the Way

    Zhang Tie arrived at the conference room and greeted Liu brothers and the others closely followed by Leng Manxue and Huang Baimei''s appearance when all the immortal generals at present stood up, including Zhang Tie.


    "Take a seat, please..." Huang Baimei said kindly as he waved his hand without putting any airs. After everybody sat down, Huang Baimei looked around before sitting on the main seat at the desk. After that, he looked at Zhang Tie on his side, saying, "Deputy head, how was you cultivation these days?"


    It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that Huang Baimei would like to talk with him first. After hearing his question, Zhang Tie answered seriously, "As we know, perseverance is requested in cultivation; diligence is like a seedling in early spring; its growth could not be discovered within a short period of time; however, you would find it for long. Indolence is like a sharpening stone; its loss couldn''t be discovered within a short period of time; however, you would find it for long."


    Previously, Huang Baimei just asked Zhang Tie as a starting remark; unimaginably, Zhang Tie''s words made everyone at present spirited. Even Ji Yuelan who pretended to neglect Zhang Tie instantly turned around and looked at Zhang Tie. Jiang Ruoxin''s and Leng Manxue''s eyes shone at a split second as they took a deep look at Zhang Tie. As for others, Xun Zizhou was overemphasizing as he directly took out a notebook and scribbled down Zhang Tie''s proverb like an old teacher.


    Liu brothers who talked with Zhang Tie just now gazed at Zhang Tie as if he was their idol, putting Zhang Tie on the spot.


    Noticing their responses, Zhang Tie instantly realized that he had exposed one more classic proverb unconsciously.


    After being shocked for a few seconds, Huang Baimei looked at Zhang Tie from his head to toe again before saying leisurely, "I''ve long heard that the deputy head is good in both battle strength and literary talent. Deputy head always has thought-provoking proverbs. With such a great talent, you''re really wronged to be only a deputy head. When we get back to Dragon Emperor Big Domain, I will recommend deputy head to the Censorate of the immortal palace..."


    After hearing Huang Baimei''s words, even Zhou Baifei who pretended to stay calm couldn''t stand taking a look at Zhang Tie out of jealousy.


    The Censorate of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was directly affiliated to the Church of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, which was responsible for inspecting and supervising immortal generals of all the branches of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Each job in it was supreme and pretty distinguished. Serving as a staff in it, people would be able to contact the core powers of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Even if Zhang Tie''s title rank remained unchanged, his power and social status could exceed Huang Baimei.


    "Ahem ahem, forget about it; head, don''t make me embarrassed..."


    Even Zhang Tie felt bashful accepting such a benefit standing on the shoulder of the giant. Therefore, he declined it hurriedly.


    "That''s the deal. When we get back to Dragon Emperor Big Domain, I would definitely recommend deputy head to the elders when I make a report on my work!" Huang Baimei continued. After that, he took a look at the others at present as he spoke louder, "Not only deputy head, everyone at present would have a chance to be promoted as long as you''re talented and are faithful to the immortal palace!"


    Huang Baimei comforted the other immortal generals at present. Since they left Heavenly Square City, although they didn''t talk about it, they were all worried about losing their power after getting back to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. As all the cities in Dragon Emperor Big Domain were already under the control of the current branches and immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, as freshmen there, they could not assume the same titles within a short period of time. As a result, their titles and ranks were almost useless. In the worst scenario, they might be allocated with unimportant jobs. It would not be easy for them to be outstanding back there anymore.


    Element crystal was an incentive for them to join the immortal palace; however, it was not the mere reason. A manager of a big business group might not have high compensation; however, the benefits and resources that he could enjoy were far greater than that bit of compensation. If they could get good titles there, they would not lack element crystals at all.


    After the others nodded, Huang Baimei changed his tone again as he clarified the subject of this meeting, "However, before this, we should arrive at Dragon Emperor Big Domain safe and sound!"


    "Head, do you mean it''s dangerous on the way?" Xun Zizhou put away his notebook as he posed such a question properly.


    "Maybe; maybe not. However, we have to make corresponding preparations!"


    "Head, what do you mean?" Zhou Baifei asked.


    "You should remember the contradictions between Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Nine Heavens Big Domain a few months ago; especially that Star Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t make any response to the death of their immortal generals in Heavenly Square City before we left there. It''s never the style of Star Emperor Immortal Palace. Therefore, I''m afraid that Star Emperor Immortal Palace would not let it go."


    "Head, you''re worried that Star Emperor Immortal Palace is going to raid us?" Jiang Ruoxin asked with a faint frown.


    "Star Emperor Immortal Palace could barely fight us face-to-face. If two emperor-level immortal palaces are in a war, it would be a major event. After Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace evacuated its force out of Nine Heavens Big Domain, the Church of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace have already reached an agreement with the others immortal palaces such as Unicorn Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace. Those immortal palaces have already taken their stands; they would never stand Star Emperor Immortal Palace provoking the war and destroying the territory of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace or killing immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for no reason. If Star Emperor Immortal Palace want to raid us, they''re not only confronting with Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace alone; instead, they''re facing a greater part of human immortal palaces!"


    ''This might be one of the articles that the Church of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and the others immortal palaces have made with the compensation of those cities.'' Zhang Tie thought as he asked, "Head, you mean Star Emperor Immortal Palace would do it secretly?"


    "I think so!" Huang Baimei nodded as his face turned solemn, "These days, our fleet just traveled in populated areas; therefore, we were safe for the time being. Starting from this afternoon, our airboats would arrive at Brokenstars Ocean. Only by passing through Brokenstars Ocean could we arrive at Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Brokenstars Ocean is the most mysterious and dangerous area. If Star Emperor Immortal Palace want to raid us, they would definitely choose this area. Therefore, we have to be alert..."


    "From today on, we will patrol outside the airboats by three shifts every day. As long as we find anything abnormal, we need to send a warning at once. As me and deputy head are water immortal generals with the greatest battle strength among you, each of us is a team. The rest of you is a team under the leadership of General Deacon Leng. Each team would be on duty for one day. Am I clear?"


    All the people at present then nodded as it was a pretty proper arrangement. As Huang Baimei and Zhang Tie had the greatest battle strength, of course, they could be a team respectively. The others could assist each other when in an emergency.


    "I will be on duty today. You''d better perform this formation in the airboat today in case of emergency..." Huang Baimei said as he took out something odd and allocated one to each of them.


    It was a tan little ball as large as longan being covered with dense runes and bizarre patterns. Zhang Tie played with it with a confused look. However, the others had already put the little ball onto their central forehead. Closely after that, they all made a strange hand gesture. Closely after that, the little ball entered their central forehead with a golden light. Zhang Tie was shocked as he exclaimed inside, ''F*ck, is it a golden secret item?''


    In the end, only Zhang Tie was scratching his head and watching the others bashfully, asking, "Erm...erm, what''s this? How do I use it?"


    "Ah? You never used formation bead?" All the others exclaimed as they watched Zhang Tie unbelievably...

 1680 Creepy B*stards

    The Brokenstars Ocean was not an ocean; precisely, it should be Brokenstars Mountains as there were dense star-studded air-floating mountains and hills in various sizes whose areas varied from hundreds of square miles to tens of thousands of square miles. The largest one among those hills was smaller than 35,000 square miles in area. After entering Brokenstars Ocean, one would feel like entering a bizarre space composed of numerous pieces.


    Besides air-floating mountains and hills in various sizes, the most agonizing thing was the weird and variable environment here. The space environment of Brokenstars Ocean was very volatile. Many places here saw different extreme climates created by space cracks besides all-the-year-round heavy fog, such as ice storm under minus 100 degree Celcius, the high-temperature flame tide which could melt airboats into fluid, solid substances that were absorbed into this space through space cracks all of a sudden. All these made Brokenstars Ocean a perilous land of Motian Realm.


    However, this perilous land was connected to Nine Heavens Big Domain and the other big domains. None of the traders could detour around this route. Therefore, people had to pass through it even at the risk of their lives. It was similar to the world Zhang Tie came from, as long as there were enough interests, people would like to do some things even at the risk of their lives.


    Besides being dangerous, Brokenstars Ocean was abundant in air-floating metal. Air-floating metal could be easily exploited here. Additionally, nobody claimed its ownership of this perilous land. Therefore, since ancient times, these air-floating mountains had been exploited while there were many tunnels and mountain caves inside these air-floating mountains or hills.


    Dangerous environment, complex terrain, crazy air-floating metal miners, no owner, the only route for connecting big domains, all these factors made Brokenstars Ocean the most ideal place of dauntless guys.


    As long as there were people, there would be good guys and bad guys, commoners and evil guys even most merciless ones. It was determined by people''s nature. Motian Realm was not an exception. In Motian Realm, many notorious bandits and criminals being hunted by big forces were hiding in Brokenstars Ocean.


    It was also why Huang Baimei turned so meticulous and intense before arriving at Brokenstars Ocean. If Star Emperor Immortal Palace really wanted to do something, Brokenstars Ocean would be the most ideal place for them.


    On the afternoon of March 24, when Zhang Tie''s fleet entered Brokenstars Ocean, an air-floating metal exploitation airboat in flight was suddenly sent to hell somewhere...


    Before the crew responded, the two strangers who suddenly landed on the deck had broken the metal hatch door of the deck and entered the airboat, killing everyone on the way towards the command module.


    It happened so fast that soon after some crew in the command module heard the miserable shrieks and rushed out with weapons, the hatch door of the command module had been opened from outside with a loud boom. As a result, a crew was pressed down by the hatch door while his bones were crushed into pieces in a split second...


    Closely after that, two twins in green long robe walked into the command module with dim green eye lights, one in unkempt blue hair, the other in messy red hair. Neither of them had eyebrows. Their age was unidentified while their faces looked as fresh as babies.


    "Who are you..." The captain roared as he drew out of his saber and charged at them, followed by the other crew in the command module.


    The two strangers didn''t speak. The one in blue hair raised its hand, exposing its pitch-dark palm which was like withered twigs and could make kids cry. Meanwhile, the command module was filled with a terrifying battle qi while the captain and all the others at present were pale all over. In less than 0.5 seconds, the captain and all the crew were shattered into pieces...


    Licking its lips, the one in blue hair seemed to have not been satisfied.


    "Huh, here''s one more..." The one in red hair found that the crew being pressed under the metal hatch door was slightly twitching his fingers. Closely after that, it stomped onto the metal hatch door without any demur.


    The distance between the metal hatch door and the ground instantly disappeared after the one in red hair stomped onto it. At the same time, rich blood and flesh mud were squeezed out of the door from all directions like fluid being squeezed by a millstone.


    In the blink of an eye, everyone was dead in the command module while a rich bloody smell suffused over there.


    After moving away its foot, the one in red hair walked to one side of the hand rudder and pulled down a handle, stopping the airboat at once.


    After that, the two b*stards left the command module for the passenger compartment. Wherever they passed by, it would be full of blood and flesh. In less than one minute, nobody was alive on the airboat anymore; precisely, no men alive anymore.


    Ten minutes later, the only woman on the airboat, who appeared to be the female cook on this airboat, died naked after enduring the undescriptive pains and wallop. Her eyes were widely opened and blood flowed out of her nose, ears, eyes and mouth as her plump body gradually turned grey...


    After she died, her body was still quivering while the two b*stards were still moving on her body like gloomy, disgusting scavengers.


    "Alas, this common woman is too fragile. We''ve not been satisfied..."


    "Only female immortals could be helpful to our cultivation base..."


    "The airboats of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace should have arrived at Brokenstars Ocean. But if we offend Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace..."


    "Hehhehheh, don''t worry. As we''ve already offended Lightfeather Immortal Palace, it''s nothing serious for us to offend one more. No matter what, Dragon Emperor Immortal is far weaker than before. As long as we do it a bit faster and kill all of them, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace might not know that it''s done by us. Even if they find out, we won''t fear them. With 4,000 fire element crystals, we could make further improvement in cultivation base and promote to fire immortal generals in a short period of time. As long as we promote to fire immortal generals, even Lightfeather Immortal Palace couldn''t harm us. Additionally, we would have greater confidence in entering Mountain Ruins..."


    "You''re right, elder brother. It''s said that there''re some more female immortal generals on the airboats of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace..." the one in blue hair said as it licked its lips. At the same time, it pierced the female cook''s breast and took out her heart, biting off the greater part of it, blood ll over its mouth...


    The one in red hair punched the one in blue hair and sent it rolling far away, glaring at the latter. "I''ve told you so many times, don''t think about eating when we''re doing something great. When you do that, you make me feel like a f*cking piece of flesh. I''m disappointed by you..."


    "Hehheh, I see, I see..." The one in blue hair engulfed the rest of her heart. After that, it pulled up its pants, complaining in a low tone, "But elder brother, didn''t you eat it too last time?"


    "Is that the same? I ate it after f*cking her. Additionally, she was still alive and fresh by then!"


    "However, we could play with the last woman for a couple of more times. Weren''t you wasteful..."


    "How dare you argue with me?"


    "You''re unreasonable..."


    When the two b*stards were quarreling with each other, the one in red hair suddenly stopped as it watched the one in blue hair, saying, "I''ve got the message, the fleet of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace has already entered Brokenstars Ocean..."


    "Huh, here''s our deal..." The one in blue hair sighed with moods as it instantly rushed out of the hatch room, closely followed by the one in red hair. When the two b*stards came to the deck, they flew off and disappeared into the sky, leaving a dead, bloody airboat floating in the air territory of air-floating mountains...

 1681 An Earth-level Immortal Outfi

    For a few days, Zhang Tie had been immersed in the bizarre experience of formation bead. During this period, Zhang Tie finally realized why immortal emperors could be killed by a formation of common immortal generals in Motian Realm. Because of the formation bead that didn''t exist in the world that he came from.


    In Taixia Country, the foundation of knights'' formation was the connection of three-in-one knights'' consciousness. However, after experiencing the effect of the formation bead, Zhang Tie discovered that the so-called connection of three-in-one knights'' consciousness was most fundamental for knights'' formation. By contrast, the formation connected by beads was the most effective one.


    With the help of formation beads, all the immortal generals'' consciousness, spiritual energy and battle qi were connected and overlaid. Besides, the formation would see another increase in the three aspects besides pure addition. In addition, special unified attacking and defensive skills could be developed. In this way, it was possible for the formation of low-level immortal generals to kill a powerhouse.


    The formation bead that Huang Baimei gave to Zhang Tie was Winning Formation Bead. When in need, immortal generals on the airboats could instantly form a "Fatal Winning Formation" through connection. Fatal Winning Formation could increase the attacking and defensive strength of each unit by 10 to 20 percent individually. As for the details, it depended on the population of immortal generals and the other conditions. The more immortal generals were connected, the more powerful some immortal generals were in the formation, the more strong the battle qi of the fatal formation would be. Meanwhile, Fatal Winning Formation was featured by two unified attacking and defensive skills, called Variable Fatal Strike and Golden Wind Break respectively.


    In Taixia Country, if Zhang Tie was just a shadow knight in his three change realm, even with the help of these knights on the airboat, it was nothing different than seeking for death if they wanted to fight a heavenly knight face-to-face. However, in Motian Realm, with the help of Winning Formation Beads, Zhang Tie realized that the formation of them could have a chance to fight a heavenly knight at least; instead of being an overwhelming slaughter.


    If one wanted to combine himself with the formation bead, he or she had to cultivate a secret method called Burning Spirit Sutra, which was widely spread over Motian Realm. Every immortal general was familiar with it. With the passionate guidance of Liu brothers, Zhang Tie soon "recalled" this sutra as he started to taste the subtlety of formation bead.


    Curiously, there was neither formation bead nor Burning Spirit Sutra in Taixia Country. According to Liu brothers, formation bead and Burning Spirit Sutra had been spread for tens of thousands of years in Motian Realm, which might have already existed since the birth of Motian Realm. All the formation beads in this world originated from Mountain Ruins. In Motian Realm, formation bead was more advanced than element crystals, silver secret items or weapons in human-level immortal outfits. Winning Fatal Formation bead was a preliminary earth-level immortal outfit, which was pretty precious. There were high-end heavenly-level immortal outfits such as the whole set of formation beads that demons used to kill Rune Emperor, which were rarer and well-known across the world.


    Through formation beads, Zhang Tie knew better about the immortal outfits on different levels in Motian Realm. In Taixia Country, far-ancient secret items were simply divided into silver secret items and golden secret items. It appeared that Motian Realm carried forward a more complete division. In this world, there were professional immortal outfits appraisers. Besides being divided into heavenly-level immortal outfits, earth-level immortal outfits and human-level immortal outfits, each level was further divided into preliminary rank, middle rank, high rank and perfect rank; namely 12 ranks in total. Zhang Tie was really shocked by such a detailed division.


    Besides faintly feeling that the so-called earth-level immortal outfits were golden secret items, Zhang Tie was muddle-headed about the division of these immortal outfits, Therefore, he determined to have good learning about the division and criteria of these immortal outfits. Such knowledge could never be learned in Taixia Country. It could definitely match a high-end cultivation method in value.


    From a certain perspective, the entire Motian Realm was a huge treasure bank which was waiting for Zhang Tie to explore. After coming to this world for a short period of time, Zhang Tie had already acquired a lot.


    ...


    On March 29, the 3584th year of the calendar of Emperor NvWa, the fifth day since the airboats departed Heavenly Square City, it was Zhang Tie''s second time to be on duty outside the airboats. Soon after the daybreak, Zhang Tie had already put on his flight suit and flew off the airboat.


    After entering the Brokenstars Ocean, the airboats had slowed down to about 250 miles per hour, at which speed the airboats could timely avoid from the air-floating mountains drifting there.


    When Zhang Tie flew off the airboat, the first ray of sunshine had just reached the airboat in the front of the fleet in the distance. There was a rolling cloud sea below the airboats, which was covered with rose gold color by the first ray of sunshine. So many air-borne mountains were looming in the cloud sea. The clouds were driven by wind and slid over the airboats, leaving undulating white lines in the sky behind airboats. What a fairyland!


    Even Zhang Tie was shocked by such beautiful scenery as he felt like being a monk or a hermit.


    "Head, I''m here..." Zhang Tie contacted Huang Baimei using the formation bead in his mind sea.


    After combining with the formation bead, if the immortal general wanted to keep its function, they had to consume their spiritual energy and battle qi constantly. However, they couldn''t keep using it for a long time. In addition, after losing the formation beads, the formation''s power would be weakened. Even Zhang Tie felt this item was much more convenient than remote-sensing crystals. His voice could enter the opposite''s ears instantly regardless of distance just like how Zhang Tie contacted Heller.


    Because of formation beads, Ji Yuelan and the others were all in quiet cultivation these couple days while preserving their spiritual energy and battle qi. As a result, Zhang Tie felt much more tranquil.


    Soon after receiving Zhang Tie''s message, Huang Baimei had flown towards Zhang Tie from above the fleet, leaving some words to Zhang Tie, "Despite being dangerous, we''re safe for a time. However, we''ve already entered the core region of Brokenstars Ocean. Watch out..."


    "I see, head, don''t worry..."


    "Hmm, as long as you notice something abnormal, contact the others immediately; don''t try to show off your ability!" Huang Baimei warned as he took another look at Zhang Tie, adding, "After a few days, we would be able to leave Brokenstars Ocean!"


    "Hmm, I see, I won''t show off my ability!" Zhang Tie promised like an innocent baby.


    Huang Baimei then nodded and returned to the airboat.


    As for all the immortal generals below wind immortal generals, it meant a great consumption for them to fly one day by the flight suit using their battle qi, not to mention that they had to keep formation beads in working condition, which meant greater consumption. Therefore, it was absolutely not an easy job for them to be alert outside the airboats for one day; of course, it was an exception for Zhang Tie!


    Watching Huang Baimei returning to the airboat, Zhang Tie took two hours to circle around the fleet from thousands of meters to tens of thousands of meters away so that people in the airboats could see him through the command module and those portholes.


    Although Zhang Tie was just disgusted to do that, it was indeed the most effective means to make people reassured by having them see a powerful immortal general of their own side patrolling outside the fleet.


    After entering the Brokenstars Ocean, the immortal generals'' intention had spread over the other airboats.


    After circling the fleet for two hours, Zhang Tie directly ascended to tens of thousands of meters high in the air where he applied a hiding rune to himself and flew with the fleet in the easiest manner. At the same time, he started his cultivation by constantly capturing the two bizarre energies in the void using his spiritual energy.


    Soon after Zhang Tie extended his spiritual energy, he had been able to observe everything within 60 miles without any blind angle. Additionally, he could see clearly everything within hundreds of miles.


    At that time, Zhang Tie completed multiple tasks at the same time: he spared one consciousness to control his spiritual energy and spared another to control his flight and lotus-flower eyes. Meanwhile, he spent most of his efforts in cultivation.


    Although Zhang Tie was on duty alone, he could definitely provide greater protection to the entire fleet even than a heavenly knight.


    Not knowing why, the two energies in the Brokenstars Ocean were evidently more energetic than that in the other places. Therefore, Zhang Tie could cultivate much easily. Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had been immersed in his own world as he became as trivial as a particle of dust in the universe because of the effect of his hiding rune. High-end knights could not sense him at all without eyes.


    The entire fleet was safe and sound for over 10 hours. After night fell, Zhang Tie suddenly woke up and exited cultivation as he let go of the two energies in the void. Eyes sparkling, he threw a glance at the pitch-dark sky in the distance, where he found something abnormal...

 1682 Detection

    Zhang Tie sensed that someone was approaching the fleet of airboats from 60 miles away by his great spiritual energy, which had turned real.


    Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy spread over the void densely. As long as that thing entered the range of his perception, it had been discovered by Zhang Tie.


    It was a person who was approaching the fleet from ten o''clock in a pretty presumptuous yet meticulous manner.


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced; however, he didn''t turn around; instead, he just threw a glimpse at the target slightly. With his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie couldn''t see anything within 60 square miles. It was his first time to encounter such a situation. Therefore, he was shocked for a time.


    Although Zhang Tie''s lotus-flower eyes were not in the strongest color temperature, Zhang Tie had already triggered his dark vision ability and could look far in dark. In this state, he could usually see clearly hundreds of miles in dark; even mosquitoes and bugs couldn''t escape his eyes.


    However, Zhang Tie would not make a mistake in spiritual perception. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had sensed that person was about 50 miles away from the fleet; additionally, Zhang Tie was confident that the distance between the stranger and the fleet was increasingly narrowing. Although many things were invisible to the eyes, it didn''t mean that they didn''t exist.


    What if, what if that person was completely invisible!


    In Taixia Country, Zhang Tie would regard it as nonsense if someone said he could be invisible. However, there were too many unprecedented secret methods and items in Motian Realm. On this occasion, Zhang Tie wouldn''t feel strange if someone could hide himself with the help of some secret method or item.


    As Zhang Tie thought about it, he instantly brushed his lotus-flower eyes and input more spiritual energy into the surging points around his lotus-flower eyes like how a machine increased its operating power. As a result, his lotus-flower eyes immediately reached a higher level on which he could observe the color temperature.


    After brushing his lotus-flower eyes several times consecutively by adjusting the "frequency" of the six surging points around his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie finally captured a transparent human shape in the void.


    That person was in a bizarre state. Even in flight, he didn''t arouse any wave or response in the surrounding air; additionally, he completely hid his qi. With lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie found that the arriver''s color temperature as a whole was integrated with the surrounding environment perfectly. If not Zhang Tie''s unprecedented superb spiritual energy and his high-level lotus-flower eyes, he might not discover the target at a stroke.


    Even though, Zhang Tie still couldn''t see clearly the look of the stranger; instead, he could only see the shape of a transparent human which was caused by the trivial looming color temperatures of water molecules when in slight collisions and frictions with air.


    Zhang Tie was really startled by this. ''F*ck, if he uses a secret method, it must be amazing! The hiding effect is over 10 times greater than that of my master-level hiding skill. I couldn''t see through him even with my lotus-flower eyes.''


    Given his shape, Zhang Tie realized the arriver was flying himself without any flying outfit, which meant that the stranger was at least a heavenly knight, a wind immortal general as was widely accepted in Motian Realm.


    That person moved weirdly while hiding himself. For a time, Zhang Tie couldn''t identify whether he was a foe or friend. ''Is he coming here to take a look or harm the people of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace according to his conspiracy.''


    As several whims occurred to Zhang Tie, he became pretty alert as he was ready to release his battle qi and launch a kinetic strike. Apparently, Zhang Tie was still flying with the fleet leisurely like a shepherd dog watching a herd of sheep as if he didn''t find that person was approaching the fleet.


    Of course, the heavenly knight had discovered Zhang Tie; however, he didn''t head for Zhang Tie; instead, he circled around the fleet from less than 5,000 m to less than 10,000 m away in all directions at a high speed for a few times. After going through the fleet of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace carefully, he flew afar.


    It was absolutely a detective. ''It seems that I''ve got a business.''


    Watching that person leaving, Zhang Tie licked his lips. When the stranger was over 65 miles away from the fleet, Zhang Tie started an action as he applied a master-level hiding skill and closely caught up with that person from 65 miles away spiritually.


    In the dark, although Zhang Tie''s master-level hiding skill was not as exaggerated as being transparent, he was at least looming and almost combined with the dark; additionally, his qi as a whole was as trivial as a particle of dust in the universe.


    After positioning that person with his spiritual energy, Zhang Tie didn''t chase after him straightly; instead, he used those air-borne mountains as cover, creating blind angles for that person. After that, he chased him by triggering his flight ability as a divine dominator.


    Although being transparent, that person didn''t fly as fast as Zhang Tie; he could only fly about 2,500 miles per hour. Additionally, being positioned by Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy from over 65 miles away, he could barely escape Zhang Tie''s perception. Even if he looked back, he wouldn''t find Zhang Tie.


    Perhaps out of his confidence, that person didn''t even take a look back all the way.


    After flying over 600 miles, that person finally came to a cave of an air-borne mountain and entered it. Zhang Tie landed on the back of a smaller air-borne mountain which was only a bit higher than 80 m from over 50 miles away; meanwhile, he kept fixing his spiritual energy onto the person.


    As Zhang Tie extended his spiritual energy into the mountain cave, he instantly found another person inside there...

 1683 Red and Blue Devils

    The deserted mining tunnels inside the air-borne mountains of Brokenstars Ocean were damp and dark. Besides miners, very few people would visit such deserted tunnels. These deserted tunnels also became the ideal shelters of some people.


    There were sparkling fine metal sands on the walls of the mining tunnel like fireflies, which were raw ores of air-floating metal. In Taixia country, such a tunnel would definitely be exploited. However, as Motian Realm was abundant in air-floating metal, very few people cared about such remains.


    Zhang Tie was about 50 miles away; however, his spiritual energy had already reached here. As a result, he was crystal clear about this tunnel as if he was here himself.


    The one in the tunnel was in unkempt red hair and open green robe. Its face was as fresh as that of a baby. With no eyebrows and pitch-dark hands, it looked similar to a ghost. Eyes closed, it was cultivating in a slightly larger mountain cave at the other end of the tunnel.


    At the sight of this heart-wrenching scene, Zhang Tie had known it was definitely evil. The corpses beside that b*stard proved Zhang Tie''s judgment right.


    All the corpses lying there were of females. Being covered with dirty things, they were stinky and had been severely ruined. There was a huge bloody hole on the breasts of two corpses while the hearts had already been removed. From the bloody holes, Zhang Tie saw the destroyed guts. One corpse was still bleeding with a frightened and painful look. Given her look, she was newly dead. In a ripped flight suit, her lower body was naked being covered with terrifying scratches. Even her vagina had a bloody hole...


    Being surrounded by the female corpses, the one in red hair and green robe was cultivating calmly. At the sight of that scene, Zhang Tie''s killing intent boiled at once.


    Besides the territory of demons and the underground prison of Three-eye Association clans, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to see such a scene in Motian Realm. By comparing those wounds on the corpses and the ghosts'' claws of that one in green robe and red hair, Zhang Tie had confirmed its identity. That b*stard''s fingernails even held congealed blood stains. It was not a demon; however, someone was more terrifying and crueler than demons as long as they were possessed by a devil.


    When the invisible person came to the mountain cave, the guy in green robe and red hair finally opened its eyes. It flicked its finger to send out a sparkle, giving out looming glow in the mountain cave, making it as gloomy as hell.


    In the looming glow, with a slight air shock wave, the guy in blue hair and green robe who looked as same as the one in red hair appeared out of the void. If not Zhang Tie had followed it all the way here, he would think that the one in blue hair also had a Castle of Black Iron.


    "Ah, elder brother, why is this female immortal general already dead? I''ve just left here for such a short while..." the one in blue hair shouted the moment it saw the female corpse in ripped flight suit, saying, "We''ve not encountered such a great tonic for long; elder brother, you''re too wasteful. Why not leave some to me..."


    "We''re going to complete a task right now. Do you want to keep her alive here?" The one in red hair threw a glare at that one in blue hair as gloomy flames sparkled in eyes. "If this woman escaped, Yao Clan in Mirage Central Domain would dispatch people to hunt us. The head of Yao Clan is gonna promote to a supreme immortal general. Additionally, they have several elders, fire immortal generals and wind immortal generals. Therefore, we should avoid troubles as much as possible..."


    "But if we lock her here, she could not escape away at all. We could take advantage of her when we come back..." the one in blue hair said.


    "When we sweep over the fleet of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City, there would be new female immortal generals as our tonics. By then, you would not care about this one..." the one in red hair said distantly.


    The one in blue hair became stunned as it patted its head, replying with a smirk, "Yup, elder brother is right. I almost forgot about it..."


    "Cut the crap. Tell me about your detection. Is there any wind immortal general in the fleet of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City?"


    "I have no idea. It seems not. I only saw a common immortal general on duty outside the fleet. I didn''t see any wind immortal general; neither did I sense the qi of any wind immortal general with Heavenly Devil Sutra. Additionally, those airboats were close to each other as if they were ready to fight enemies. It doesn''t look like being guarded by powerhouses..."


    "We have to figure it out. Even though you didn''t see it, it doesn''t mean that there is not. Perhaps the opponent has a secret item or method to cover himself too. If there''s a wind immortal general in the fleet, it would be tricky. Those immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace were chopped like vegetables in Heavenly Square City, including a water immortal general. However, nobody could even see clearly the murder even if there were so many immortal generals in Heavenly Square City."


    Compared to that person in blue hair, this one in red hair was more considerate. As it said, it slightly squinted its eyes, two green lights flickering in its eyes. "If that person is in the fleet, even if we could kill all the others, we could not hold this one back easily. Additionally, if he''s smart and just kills time with us while sending out a message for rescue, those d**chebags of Lightfeather Immortal Palace would arrive at Brokenstars Ocean within two days. By then, we would be in danger!"


    The one in blue hair then kneaded its head, saying, "Erm...if we launch a straight strike, we might ruin this business; how about...how about having a try...if there''s a wind immortal general, we will give it up and evacuate right away. Given the safety of the fleet, that person would never chase after us..."


    The one in red hair became silent for a second before opening his mouth, "Which one did the fleet of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace head for, Heavenlyflame Hill or Colorful Hill? They are the necessary routes for Dragon Emperor Big Domain..."


    "Heavenlyflame Hill..."


    "It means the fleet would completely pass Heavenlyflame Hill in at least two days. We still have two days to prepare for it..."


    "Elder brother, shall we do it or not?" The one in blue hair licked its mouth as it couldn''t wait to do it.


    "You said you saw an immortal general being alert outside the fleet just now..."


    "Hmm, that immortal general appears to be young. He just stayed still at tens of thousands of meters high like an idiot in a flight suit. He''s at most a water immortal general!" the one in blue hair said disdainfully.


    "Someone is on alert, that''s much easier!" the one in red hair fleered as it continued, "Now that he''s an immortal general of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, he must know whether there''s any powerhouse in the fleet or not. Go catch him. We will inquire about it from him. If there''s a powerhouse above water immortal general, we will give it up. If not, we will take action tonight..."


    "Elder brother, it''s not that easy to make an immortal general open his mouth. Immortal general''s mind couldn''t be read..."


    "Did you forget that we''ve got one devilfire pill left? It''s time for us to use it!"


    "Huh, I forgot about it..."


    "Quick back. Don''t scare him away. I''ll wait for you in Waterelements Mountain 600 miles in front of you. After catching that immortal general, bring him to the Waterelements Mountain. After interrogation, we will take action near there..."


    "Haha, as I have an invisible bead, even a supreme immortal general could barely discover me if not being too close, not to mention a little immortal general in flight suit. I will go catch him back in no time..."


    As the one in blue hair said, it pressed its central forehead. Closely after that, it became invisible and disappeared from Zhang Tie''s "vision".


    Red and blue devils, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Invisible Bead, Zhang Tie understood everything at once.


    After the one in blue hair disappeared, Zhang Tie immediately sent out some tracing feathers wrapped by his strong spiritual energy, which landed at the entrance of the deserted tunnel in no time from over 50 miles away.


    It was a new skill that Zhang Tie had developed lately. After his spiritual energy became real, Zhang Tie''s immortal runes also improved. Take his tracing feather as an instance, previously, Zhang Tie could only release it in short distance; now, his tracing feather could reach everywhere within the reach of his spiritual energy in a split second, which was more unimaginable, pragmatic and variable...


    After releasing the tracing feathers, Zhang Tie instantly returned ahead of the one in blue hair and started to "patrol" leisurely tens of thousands of meters away from the fleet...

 1684 The Prey

    It only took Zhang Tie less than 2 minutes to catch up with the fleet of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace from over 600 miles away at a terrifyingly high speed.


    After Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy turned real, with his flight ability as a divine dominator, Zhang Tie''s speed increased by almost 8% in the air. He moved more leisurely in the air like a dual-drive engine being injected with high-efficient fiery oil. Although the engine remained unchanged, its output power became smoother and greater.


    Not until he fully extended his metal wings did Zhang Tie start to push forward slowly by battle qi. After releasing his breath, Zhang Tie rapidly retrospected his plan in mind and ensured there was no loophole.


    ''The red and blue devils were going to catch a captive so as to ask whether there was a powerhouse above heavenly knight in the fleet. It''s a good chance for me. Although I''m not afraid of them, I don''t want to expose my body separation skill. Therefore, I could only solve them one after another for the safety of the innocent people in the fleet. The separation of the two heavenly knights will spare a chance for me to kill them respectively.''


    The nickname red and blue devils were vivid. Although Zhang Tie didn''t know their real names, he didn''t care as he had already treated them as blue and red devils in his heart.


    ''The blue devil appears to be not as smart as the red one despite the secret item invisible (shen) bead. The invisible bead carries a pretty abnormal effect; however, I could take advantage of it. Because the blue devil doesn''t know that I''ve already seen through his intention. As the blue devil becomes absent-minded, I could deal with it as fast as I can. After that, I will raid the red one. I swear to turn the two scumbags into ashes.''


    Zhang Tie was not scared of the two weird scumbags; instead, he was thrilled inside.


    Zhang Tie felt like watching brilliant fruits of brilliance and bloody fruits of bloodlines and two complete water chakras which were waiting for him to be absorbed. Due to the fierce reaction of Purgatory Samsara Method, Zhang Tie was always very considerate about using it. Unless demons or big notorious criminals, he didn''t use such a secret method on his energies. As for Zhang Tie, the use of Purgatory Samsara Method was ethical. Zhang Tie didn''t mind shattering and absorbing the chakras of those real notorious b*stards. Take the water immortal general of Star Emperor Immortal Palace that he killed in Heavenly Square City a few days ago as an instance, although he was also Zhang Tie''s enemy due to different stances, Zhang Tie didn''t absorb his water chakra; instead, he just chopped off his head in the end.


    Zhang Tie paid tribute to his enemies and opponents, which could be killed; yet couldn''t be insulted or mistreated.


    Apparently, red and blue devils were opponents that didn''t need Zhang Tie''s respect. After hearing their talk in the mountain cave and seeing those terrifying, miserable female corpses in there, Zhang Tie had already treated the two people as demons. He could kill them in every means he could without a sense of guilt or mental burden.


    Zhang Tie circled around the fleet as he gradually left it. As a result, he was over 60 miles away from the last airboat.


    Such an alert distance was not far; especially for a fleet in the air.


    The airboats flew in a relatively open air zone while Zhang Tie penetrated through those air-borne mountains far away from the fleet. At the same time, he seriously kept "scanning" those airborne mountains for hidden dangerous things or figures. Anyone who saw Zhang Tie would feel him fulfilling his task sincerely.


    Of course, in the eyes of the blue devil, such a little immortal general was simply a gift from God. As Zhang Tie was far away from the fleet and there were so many airborne mountains in the surroundings, even if they made some noise, it would not arouse the attention of the powerhouses on the airboats, even if there were.


    When the blue devil flew off the mountain cave invisibly, it was not attached with those tracing feathers that Zhang Tie had set at the entrance. This really shocked Zhang Tie. However, watching the blue devil flying towards the fleet, Zhang Tie finally became reassured.


    It was definitely not because the blue devil made Zhang Tie''s tracing feathers ineffective; instead, it must be the invisible shen bead that blue devil carried.


    When the blue devil was over 120 miles away from the fleet, it caught sight of Zhang Tie who was penetrating through those airborne mountains. The blue devil instantly changed its direction and accelerated towards Zhang Tie with strong killing intent. When it was less than 10,000 m away from Zhang Tie, it slowed down its speed at a stroke in case of arousing Zhang Tie''s attention. After that, it continued to approach Zhang Tie at a speed slightly greater than that of Zhang Tie.


    Only after a few seconds, the blue devil had been less than 1,000 m away from Zhang Tie.


    The blue devil then became more meticulous like a fierce beast which was going to catch its prey. Besides slowing down, it even circled around Zhang Tie for a few seconds. After confirming that there weren''t any ambush in the surroundings, it didn''t charge at Zhang Tie directly; instead, it made a detour around Zhang Tie and stopped at thousands of meters ahead of Zhang Tie, where it was ready for the prey.


    The blue devil stayed in a valley of an airborne mountain which lasted dozens of miles. Zhang Tie was flying with the fleet in the same direction along this valley; meanwhile, he was "seriously" checking the situation in the valley in case of emergency.


    The terrain and space of the valley were relatively narrow. As a result, the response in an emergency would be limited. Additionally, the valley could block the inspection from the fleet. As long as the noise was not loud here, the powerhouses in the fleet in the distance would not discover it, including the wind immortal general.


    The blue devil was good predator; however, it didn''t know that it had selected the same location for action as Zhang Tie with the same reason.


    The blue devil was lurking there quietly like a poisonous spider who extended its web while accumulating its venom, waiting for the innocent "bug" and pricking its fangs into the prey. After completely paralyzing and disabling the prey, it would enjoy the good food.


    However, the confident blue devil didn''t know that it had long caught the attention of Zhang Tie. Since the beginning, Zhang Tie had been paying attention to its movement, even if it remained innocent apparently.


    The blue devil was making a trap to capture Zhang Tie, which was the same trap that Zhang Tie was using to kill it.


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had been less than 1,000 m away from the blue devil.


    Zhang Tie saw the blue devil raising its hand and moving its body in the air. It was calculating Zhang Tie''s route and waiting to incapacitate Zhang Tie when he arrived in front of it. As for a low-level knight, it would prove fatal if a heavenly knight touched his body by hand without releasing his protective battle qi. It was like sending a little white rabbit under the teeth of a timber wolf. The heavenly knight could use many methods to break the low-end immortal general into pieces or subdue him in a split second.


    It was definitely more difficult to subdue a knight than killing him without making a loud noise. The predator should launch a lightning strike when the prey was absent-minded.


    The blue devil made a perfect plan; pitifully, it chose the wrong target.


    Zhang Tie just flew leisurely, gradually narrowing the distance between him and the blue devil, 1,000 m, 800 m, 600 m, 400 m, 200 m and 100 m...in less than 7 seconds, Zhang Tie was already 50 m away from the blue devil.


    Even if he had not seen the face of the blue devil, Zhang Tie could still sense the evil fleer of the blue devil. Even so, Zhang Tie still remained relaxed.


    At 50 m, the blue devil raised its hand again; at 20 m, the blue devil extended its arms and was ready to charge out like a venomous snake catching its prey and a lion catching a rabbit.


    Within 0.001 s, the blue devil had reached 5 m away from Zhang Tie. When the blue devil thought the battle was coming to an end...


    Deity-killing Sword, out!


    Just when the blue devil''s hand was about to touch Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie''s central frown suddenly turned bright as he shot his deity-killing sword into the mind sea of the blue devil without any omen.


    After Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy turned real, his deity-killing sword also turned real. After flying off Zhang Tie''s central frown, it turned into a 3-cm long golden sword and hit the target...


    Like a fish being towed out of the water, the blue devil instantly became visible. Meanwhile, its ears, eyes, mouth and nose spurted out blood in a pretty miserable way as it watched Zhang Tie with a frightened look as if Zhang Tie was a ghost...

 1685 Killing the Two Devils

    In no time...


    When the blue devil was heavily struck by Zhang Tie''s deity-killing sword and sent flying away while losing its brain, Zhang Tie instantly charged at it like how a boa charged at its prey. Besides strangling its neck and throat using his arm, Zhang Tie also used his shackle of bloody chakra and locked its chakra.


    The deity-killing sword damaged the void of the opponent''s mind sea and destroyed its spiritual energy. However, as a powerful knight, even if it couldn''t run its spiritual energy, it could also launch a counter-strike.


    After leaving the water, even a fish could struggle for a few minutes on the bank, not to mention a heavenly knight.


    When Zhang Tie strangled its neck and throat by his arm and struck its chakra with his Purgatory Samsara Method like a heavy hammer, the blue devil started to resist. Groaning, it seized Zhang Tie''s irresistible arms, intending to break his constraint while wriggling all over.


    The blue devil tried to release its protective battle qi to break free of Zhang Tie''s arm; however, frictions and squeeze between their battle qis and strength caused cracks with terrifying light between Zhang Tie''s arm and the blue devil''s neck...


    In the void, with a boom, Zhang Tie struck the blue devil''s chakra using his Purgatory Samsara Method again, rocking its fire chakra...


    The blue devil couldn''t even utter a voice at this moment as Zhang Tie was strangling its neck irresistibly.


    Feeling that it couldn''t break free of Zhang Tie''s grasp, the blue devil started to pound Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen fiercely by its elbow.


    The armor on Zhang Tie''s lower abdomen was shattered at once.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie raised his right foot and pounded the blue devil''s caudal vertebra forcefully with his knee, causing a cracking sound as if a steel bar was broken.


    The blue devil intended to fly off by rolling itself in the air; however, Zhang Tie was tightly attached to it. As a result, the two people rolled and hit the ground heavily from above the valley, causing a big pit on the ground.


    Those who had not seen such a scene could imagine how a crazy boa wrestled with a huge crocodile and rolled in the mud. At this moment, Zhang Tie was that crazy boa while the blue devil was that huge crocodile.


    Whenever the blue devil pounded backward by its elbow, Zhang Tie would hit its body forcefully with his knee.


    In rolls, the blue devil moved its head forward before crashing back towards Zhang Tie''s head. Closely after that, Zhang Tie would give it a counter-strike by hitting his forehead towards the back side of the blue devil''s head forcefully.


    The valley was a complete mess. Wherever they rolled by, twigs and rocks would break while the strong qi which escaped away accidentally could reach 1,000 m away...


    This combat could definitely match that when Zhang Tie killed the heavenly demon knight by striking it for nine times by rod at the bank of Weishui River. This was close combat between knights, in which process, all the battle skills had returned to their primitive and instinctive conditions like how two boorish fellows fought each other. Mutual locations, strength, physique, strike-resistant ability and endurance became key factors. However, such combat was much more perilous and crueler than the so-called close combat between knights.


    Zhang Tie tightly strangled the blue devil''s neck as they kept hitting each other with foot and head. At the same time, Zhang Tie forcefully struck the blue devil''s chakra using Purgatory Samsara Method. Simply, the blue devil suffered from Zhang Tie''s three different strikes.


    However, because Zhang Tie was standing behind the blue devil, the blue devil''s counter-strike was greatly restricted. As a result, the blue devil could only attack Zhang Tie''s head and one elbow while withstanding Zhang Tie''s tightening arm by another hand.


    Zhang Tie''s great power almost popped out blue devil''s eyeballs as it gritted its teeth, breaking all of them.


    Since the beginning, Zhang Tie was merciless. His face remained unchanged in the combat. He was as sober-minded as running gear. However, the blue devil felt being more and more tightened in the process.


    Zhang Tie knew that the blue devil would definitely give it up earlier than him. Since he started to strangle the blue devil using his arm and shackle of bloody chakra, the result of this combat had been decided.


    Zhang Tie''s judgment was right. However, after wrestling with Zhang Tie for less than 5 minutes, the blue devil''s counter-strike became weaker. Later on, the blue devil gave up attacking Zhang Tie. It scratched Zhang Tie''s arm in vain as if it wanted Zhang Tie to let go of his arm. However, it was fixed onto the ground by Zhang Tie, face to face, feet kicking in vain...


    Zhang Tie just maintained this gesture, letting the blue devil struggle like that. After breaking the blue devil''s entire wind chakra, Zhang Tie started to take it bit by bit like how the crazy boa engulfed the huge crocodile after winning the battle...


    After taking the entire wind chakra of the blue devil, Zhang Tie added his strength and broke the blue devil''s neck in a split second, causing its eyeballs to pop out of its eye sockets. Closely after that, its feet became paralyzed. After convulsing a few times, it became still.


    The blue devil could never imagine that it would be killed in this way.


    After pushing off the blue devil, Zhang Tie picked himself up from the ground.


    After Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy, the two space-teleportation equipment on the blue devil''s hands, one bizarre bead and one silver secret item in its qi sea flew in the air at the same time. After taking a look at these items, Zhang Tie immediately put away all the items except the silver secret item.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t check the two space-teleportation equipment until the first day or the 15th day of next month. The bizarre bead contained changing fog, causing it blurry as a whole. Zhang Tie knew it was the invisible shen bead. However, it was not the right moment for him to study the bead; therefore, Zhang Tie put it away too.


    The silver secret item was a grim, over 2 m long mace with many 1.5 cm long spikes. In brilliant light, Zhang Tie had it turn real. Holding it and weighing it by hand, Zhang Tie nodded slightly.


    This mace weighed over 2,000 kg. Although being a bit light, it was enough for Zhang Tie to kill the red devil.


    "Peh..." Zhang Tie spat onto the ground after wiping out his blood stains at mouth corners. Watching its disgusting look, Zhang Tie raised his mace and made a several meters deep pit on the ground, turning the blue devil into sh*t. Closely after that, Zhang Tie flew off and shot towards the red devil at 10,000 m per second.


    After killing one, Zhang Tie was confident to get the other.


    Although the tracing feathers didn''t attach to the blue devil, they attached to the soles of the red devil when it left there. Therefore, Zhang Tie could precisely position the red devil.


    Perhaps twins had special telepathy. When Zhang Tie killed blue devil, the red devil who was lurking somewhere over 600 miles away suddenly moved. It didn''t fly towards the fleet of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; instead, it flew towards far at the fastest speed, starting its insane escape.


    However, that was impossible as the red devil had been positioned by Zhang Tie.


    The red and blue devils must only have one invisible shen bead. Besides positioning its trace using tracing feathers, Zhang Tie also saw it using his lotus-flower eyes after flying off the valley for 10 seconds.


    The red devil was fleeing for real. Being wrapped by a pitch-dark fog, the red devil reached the speed about 7 times the speed of sound, which was a terrifying speed for a heavenly knight. However, it was nothing different than waiting for Zhang Tie.


    Five minutes later, Zhang Tie had already arrived at the air zone above a hill being surrounded by air-borne mountains, which was over 1,000 miles away from the valley where Zhang Tie killed the blue devil just now.


    Zhang Tie kept striking an over 100 m high hill among those air-borne mountains, mace in hand. With each strike, he would release energy tantamount to hundreds of billions of Joule. With a white light and a terrifying impact wave, the hill was shattered and disappeared in a split second while the red devil flew out of there while spurting out blood, screaming miserably, "Who''re you? Who the hell are you? Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace doesn''t have such a great power..."


    Zhang Tie flashed towards his target once again silently. The moment he approached the red devil, he launched another strike, causing it to spurt out blood incessantly...


    The red devil was not more powerful than the heavenly demon knight that Zhang Tie had killed at the bank of Weishui River. However, Zhang Tie was much more powerful now than in the battle at Weishui River. Therefore, the result of this combat was already fixed. What Zhang Tie was concerned about the most was that he might not fully take the red devil''s wind chakra if he killed it too fast; he didn''t want to waste it. Waste was the most shameful thing.


    Therefore, the red devil had to face a much more tragical result than the blue devil.


    A few seconds later, Zhang Tie broke the red devil''s crus in a split second.


    Then, Zhang Tie broke its shoulders and elbow, sparing its hands where there were some space-teleportation finger rings in the principle of conservation. However, the red devil couldn''t move anymore.


    After that, Zhang Tie hit the red devil''s main body part, causing it to be almost breathless while breaking most of its bones as a whole.


    With the red devil''s miserable shrieks, Zhang Tie knocked it over by mace. Closely after that, Zhang Tie came close to it and pressed its head by hand. Closely after that, he triggered his Purgatory Samsara Method and started to refine its chakra. The entire combat lasted less than 10 minutes.


    In only a few minutes, Zhang Tie had absorbed its wind chakra. Closely after that, Zhang Tie broke its head forcefully.


    After killing another two sc*mbags and absorbing their wind chakras, Zhang Tie felt pretty satisfied while the remaining wind elements almost broke out of his mind.


    ...


    Just now, a team of four airboats passed by the location hundreds of miles away from where Zhang Tie fought the red devil. After sensing the combat, over 10 immortal generals in flight suit flew off their airboats under the leadership of a wind immortal general to check what was happening over there...


    The red devil didn''t have eyebrows. His weird baby face was too eye-catching. As for a heavenly knight, he could see clearly what was happening over there from hundreds of miles away.


    "Red and blue devils..." The wind immortal general changed his face greatly as he shouted.


    Closely after that, they saw Zhang Tie split the red devil''s head by his hand.


    From hundreds of miles away, Zhang Tie grinned towards the grey-haired wind immortal general. However, the old man''s face became white all of a sudden as he instantly fled at his full speed, followed by the others. The old man even looked back for a few times out of intention, afraid of being chased by Zhang Tie...


    Zhang Tie took off those space-teleportation finger rings and a rare silver secret item¡ª¡ªa pair of claw sleeves from the red devil. Closely after that, he tossed out red devil''s corpse and punched it into sh*t in the air...


    In the distance, watching their immortal generals returning to their airboats, the four airboats fled towards different directions in two groups at full speed. It was a popular strategy that fleet of airboats would adopt in fear of being chased by one powerful enemy. Because Zhang Tie could only chase after them in one direction within a short period of time, the other group of airboats would have a greater chance to survive themselves.


    Zhang Tie took a look at those airboats while a whim occurred to him. However, he vetoed it at once.


    If Zhang Tie wanted to chase after them, none of the commoners and immortal generals on the four airboats could survive; however, Zhang Tie couldn''t kill them just because they saw him killing the red devil by accident because he was always merciful.


    ''Well, whatever, it''s nothing a big deal even if they noticed it...''


    At this moment, none of the people on the airboats of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace discovered that Zhang Tie had already diffused a conspiracy for them within one hour in the dark of Brokenstars Ocean.


    Shaking his head, Zhang Tie ignored the four airboats; he then turned around and flew back towards the fleet of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Only after a short while, he had caught up with the fleet. After that, Zhang Tie continued to keep the fleet company leisurely above it as if nothing had happened.


    ...

 1686 The Marvelous Invisible Bead

    On the second day, it was raining. The fleet of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace entered a large rainy and cloudy area in Brokenstars Ocean. The entire air zone was facing heavy wind and rain. Even the sun was sheltered by clouds. The visible distance in the sky was only a few thousands of meters. On this occasion, the fleet moved more meticulously at the speed of only about 130 miles per hour.


    Despite such a cloudy and rainy day, Zhang Tie felt pretty joyful as he almost hummed a song.


    After killing the red and blue devils, Zhang Tie had been assimilating their wind chakras in flight. Only after a few hours, Zhang Tie had already lit 3 scales, reaching 119 scales of his wind chakra. With 25 more scales, he would be able to promote to the four change realm of shadow knight and be intensified by 10% in all aspects again.


    Zhang Tie had taken the complete wind chakras of the red and blue devils last night. According to Zhang Tie''s estimation, after assimilating all the wind elements, he would easily promote to five change realm of a shadow knight.


    What was more, Zhang Tie got far more than this from the red and blue devils. Zhang Tie didn''t know what was inside those space-teleportation finger rings until two days later, namely April 1, the 3584th year of Calendar of Emperor NvWa. However, the invisible shen bead was definitely a rarity. If not Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy had been completely real, even his lotus-flower eyes could barely discover the trace of the blue devil. It could be imagined how important this invisible shen bead was. What invisible shen bead to Zhang Tie was equivalent to what wings were to a tiger.


    Given the evil deeds of the red and blue devils, there must be one fruit of brilliance and one fruit of bloodline on the small tree.


    With such a great achievement overnight, Zhang Tie felt pretty good.


    If a person felt good, even the heavy rain would be taken as a drizzle, a gift from God. That felt pretty special!


    When his duty was on due, before Zhang Tie called the next team for a shift, Liu Yong, Liu Meng, Ji Yuelan, Jiang Ruoxin, Leng Manxue, Zhou Baifei, Lu Tianqiang and Xun Zizhou had already put on the flight suits and flew off the airboats one after another.


    When he saw them fly out, Zhang Tie flew downward and greeted them.


    They all released a thin protective battle qi which was closely attached to their outfit so that raindrops couldn''t penetrate through their outfits. The moment the fine raindrops fell onto the outfits, they had slid off. It felt like putting some oil on their outfits. Of course, it was widely accepted by ordinary fierce immortal generals and earth immortal generals. Because the long-term release of protective battle qi meant a large consumption, they had to conserve it. However, as for Zhang Tie who didn''t have the concept of exhaustion of battle qi, he directly released 1 m thick battle qi. As a result, fine raindrops couldn''t even approach him.


    Watching Zhang Tie fly towards them, all of them threw an admirable glance at Zhang Tie except for Zhou Baifei and Leng Manxue¡ª¡ªThis is the difference between nouveau rich and common working class.


    "Deputy head, didn''t you feel anything abnormal last night?" Leng Manxue asked Zhang Tie.


    "Everything is fine. But as it''s low visibility in the air today, you''d better not stay too far away from the airboats and not leave each other''s sight..." Zhang Tie told them as Leng Manxue nodded.


    "Thanks, deputy head..."


    "Hahaha, it''s my pleasure..." Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    "Hmm, what happened to your flight suit? I remember you wore the whole set of flight suit last night..." Ji Yuelan asked Zhang Tie with a confused look.


    Women usually paid special attention to details like outfits. After being warned by Ji Yuelan, the others also noticed that Zhang Tie only wore a pair of wings. If Ji Yuelan didn''t mention it, the others might have thought that Zhang Tie just came out in this way last night.


    "When I was patrolling outside last night, I found that this set of flight suit didn''t fit me. After wearing it for a while, it didn''t feel comfortable; besides, it even weakened my flexibility. Therefore, I just returned to the airboat and took off the other parts except for the pair of wings..." Zhang Tie told Ji Yuelan as he blinked his eyes towards her.


    Of course, it was a lie. In fact, in the process of killing the blue devil, Zhang Tie''s outfit was ruined partly; especially his abdomen armor and arms armor which had been completely destroyed. In case of not being asked about the reason, Zhang Tie directly dropped the other parts of the flying outfit.


    "Humph, deputy head is really prodigal. The flight suit is purchased at a high price in our immortal palace. How could you just drop it? According to one of the 36 regulations in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, nobody is allowed to destroy the items in the immortal palace. Of course, your battle armor is the property of the immortal palace. Deputy head, you dropped it on purpose when there''s no enemy, how would you be our role model..." Zhou Baifei finally caught a chance to give Zhang Tie a bite.


    "It''s really not easy for you!" Zhang Tie said as he watched Zhou Baifei with a smile, "General Priest Zhou, you must be bearing it too pitifully these days. You must be thinking about putting me on the spot every day. And you finally got a chance today..."


    Zhou Baifei changed his face at once as he pretended to stay calm, "Deputy head, why do you say so? I gave you the reason!"


    "General Priest Zhou, you''re right. I indeed should not drop the property of immortal palace. As a deputy head, of course, I should follow the rules so as to be a role model for you. How about deducting my one month''s compensation..."


    "The most precious part of the flight suit is this pair of wings. The others are not that precious. As the battle armor was not designed for deputy head, it might not fit him. Now that deputy head found it didn''t fit him in the execution of the task, it''s acceptable for him to drop it. When we come to Dragon Emperor Big Domain, I would apply for a customized, senior flying outfit for deputy head!" Leng Manxue said calmly as she took a look at Zhang Tie and Zhou Baifei.


    "Haha, thank you so much, General Deacon Leng. But I deserve the punishment. Everyone should follow the 36 rules of the immortal palace. If one destroys a property of the immortal palace, he should pay 10 times greater than it in value. As an immortal general, I''m absolutely not an exception. That''s the deal!" Zhang Tie wove his hand before taking a look at Zhou Baifei, asking him with a smile, "General Priest Zhou, how do you feel about my solution?"


    "Now that deputy head could follow the rules and become our good model, of course, we have nothing to say!" Zhou Baifei said with a glassy-eyed look.


    10 wind crystals were almost as valuable as over 100 sets of flying outfits in Motian Realm. It was even 100 even 1,000 times greater in value. Of course, Zhou Baifei couldn''t say anything else about it anymore.


    "You''d better bear it in mind. Ask about your consciousness before doing something. Don''t do it because it''s a trivial evil thing; don''t skip it because it''s a trivial kind thing. Laws are usually merciless. The 36 rules of the immortal palace is not a joke!" Zhang Tie told the others a lesson with a smile as he threw a stealthy glance at Zhou Baifei. Waving his hand towards the others in a handsome way, Zhang Tie said, "Well, I''m going back. It''s your job now..."


    When the others were still considering Zhang Tie''s proverb "Don''t do it because it''s a trivial evil thing; don''t skip it because it''s a trivial kind thing", Zhang Tie had already returned to his airboat. After being transfixed for a few seconds, Xun Zizhou instantly became thrilled as he took out his portable notebook and scribbled down Zhang Tie''s words on it.


    As for Zhou Baifei, after being glanced by Zhang Tie, his heart suddenly raced out of fear unconsciously.


    ''Did he know something? Impossible! Impossible. How could he know what I''ve done...''


    Zhou Baifei encouraged himself inside, ''Zhang Tie is just bluffing me.''


    However, soon after Zhang Tie returned to his airboat, he had received Ji Yuelan''s apology from the formation bead inside his mind sea, "I''m so sorry. I didn''t know it would make you so embarrassed today..."


    "It''s fine. It''s just 10 wind element crystals!"


    "Really?"


    "Hehheh, if Inspector Ji feels sorry about that and would like to compensate me in another way. I won''t refuse it. Oh, Inspector Ji, don''t you feel your breast armor is too tight?"


    "You''re so coquettish..."


    After flirting with Ji Yuelan for a few seconds, Zhang Tie hummed a song and returned to his room.


    After killing red and blue devils, Zhang Tie knew that Star Emperor Immortal Palace would have no other means to deal with their fleet anymore. That was to say, their fleet of airboats would not encounter any danger on the way anymore. After all, the heavenly knight was not as cheap as white cabbage; especially those who would like to do such a dirty job. Perhaps when Star Emperor Immortal Palace confirmed the death of red and blue devils, the fleet of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had already arrived at Dragon Emperor Big Domain.


    After returning to his room, Zhang Tie closed his door and took a seat for a short while quietly to recover his composure. After that, he couldn''t wait to take out that invisible shen bead which he was pretty curious about...


    Shen was one of the nine sons of the dragon king, who excelled at being invisible. Given its name, Zhang Tie could guess its function.


    Invisible shen bead was fixed onto a mithril necklace. The upper half of the bead was cupped by two delicate mithril feathers. On the two feathers, there was a special symbol of the divine dominator. If it were a few weeks ago, Zhang Tie definitely didn''t know the meaning of the symbol. However, after learning so much these days, Zhang Tie could identify that the symbol belonged to a big force in Motian Realm¡ª¡ªLightfeather Immortal Palace.


    This invisible shen bead didn''t belong to red and blue devils at the beginning; given their talk in the mountain cave, it should belong to Lightfeather Immortal Palace; however, nobody knew why it was in the hand of red and blue devils.


    Of course, this rarity belonged to Zhang Tie now. Zhang Tie was not as innocent as preliminary students who would hand everything they picked to the policemen. As he robbed this rarity from red and blue devils through a fight, which was pretty useful to him, of course, Zhang Tie would not return it to Lightfeather Immortal Palace which had nothing to do with him.


    The invisible shen bead contained an extremely blurry mist which was constantly changing its color. After playing with it for a while, Zhang Tie didn''t see any rune or trigger device outside this bead. According to his experience, it meant that this bead probably was driven by spiritual energy or battle qi.


    When Zhang Tie thought about it, he injected his spiritual energy into it to see whether there was any effect.


    However, Zhang Tie had not imagined that the blurry mist suddenly poured into his mind sea along the route the spiritual energy entered it as fast as a lightning bolt the moment he injected his spiritual energy into it.


    In the blink of an eye, the invisible shen bead lost its luster. Like a broken eggshell, it became powder at once, leaving an empty pendant in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    Zhang Tie was startled so much that he flurriedly checked his mind sea.


    At this moment, there was one misty bizarre bead on the marvelous arch door above his mind sea. Zhang Tie touched the bead using his spiritual energy, causing it to rock slightly; meanwhile, Zhang Tie felt being spread over by bizarre energy.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie couldn''t see any image in the mirror anymore as his body had completely disappeared. Just now he was evidently standing in front of the mirror; however, it was empty in front of it now. Zhang Tie became as transparent as the blue devil; even more than it. Unless using spiritual energy, Zhang Tie couldn''t see anything of his body even using his lotus-flower eyes...


    ''F*ck, what happened?''


    After being stunned for a few seconds, Zhang Tie contracted his spiritual energy, showing himself up in his room once again. In the mirror, he saw his amazed look.


    ''If this bead is used in this way, how could I get it from the blue devil?''


    ''Is it real usage? It should be stored in one''s mind sea instead of being hung out. Only real spiritual energy could completely activate and assimilate the energy of this bead...''


    After trying it many times, Zhang Tie finally confirmed that he had got one more powerful ability¡ª¡ªbeing completely invisible in front of others. ''As for the invisible shen bead, I might not be able to return it to Lightfeather Immortal Palace even if I want!''


    ...

 1687 Dragon Emperor City

    One week later, all the 70-odd airboats of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace finally arrived at Dragon Emperor City, the core city of Dragon Emperor Realm on April 7th, the 3584th year of Calendar of Emperor NvWa in Motian Realm after passing by so many air zones and Brokenstars Ocean for over 20 days.


    At the sight of Dragon Emperor City, Zhang Tie had been shocked by the high building of immortal palace which was higher than 10,000 m.


    For a time, the dense airboats in the sky almost reminded Zhang Tie of the scene that he had seen in Xuanyuan Hill. Undoubtedly, it was the largest city and most populated region that Zhang Tie saw since he came to this world. This place was definitely much more prosperous than that of Heavenly Square City.


    "Are we in Dragon Emperor City?" Zhang Tie asked Leng Manxue.


    "Yes, in Motian Realm, Dragon Emperor City is a large city with over 100 million population. Very few cities could have so many people!" Leng Manxue explained as she nodded. Closely after that, she turned around and asked Zhang Tie, "What do you feel about it?"


    "Hmm, not bad, not bad!" Zhang Tie replied in a perfunctory way.


    To be honest, after visiting Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie was not interested in any large cities anymore. No matter how large and prosperous these cities were, they could not match Xuanyuan Hill which was the center of all humans in that world.


    "As the immortal city of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, of course Dragon Emperor City is not bad..." Leng Manxue replied as she was not satisfied with Zhang Tie''s perfunctory reply.


    Zhang Tie just smiled while all the other immortal generals in the command module nodded.


    "Oh, General Deacon Leng, where are we settling down in Dragon Emperor City? I don''t think any branch of immortal palace is available to us here..." Liu Yong scratched his head as he asked Leng Manxue straightforwardly, which was rightly the common concern of all the others.


    After hearing Liu Yong''s question, all the other immortal generals exchanged a glance with each other.


    Leng Manxue became hesitant for a few seconds before answering, "We''re here for registration. As for the details, it depends on the arrangement of the superiors. After all, besides us from Heavenly Square City, there should be many immortal generals from other cities..." Leng Manxue raised her voice after a pause, "But don''t worry. No matter what, you will at least get your monthly compensation. Your rank in the immortal palace would not drop either!"


    "Ah, it means we might separate from each other. Couldn''t we..." Liu Meng asked.


    "After entering the immortal palace and becoming the immortal generals of the immortal palace, you have to follow the order of the superiors..." With this voice, Huang Baimei in black robe entered the hatch door of the command module leisurely.


    "Head Huang..." All the others paid their tribute to Huang Baimei.


    Nodding, Huang Baimei looked around. After looking at Zhang Tie''s brilliant face for a second, he turned to Liu brothers, slowing his tone, "It''s really uneasy for us to return to Dragon Emperor Realm from Heavenly Square City safe and sound. Factions that violate the will of the immortal palace is forbidden here. As long as we could live well, we would reunite sooner or later. Remember! Don''t talk to others about it in the public anymore.


    "Yes, sir!" Liu Meng promised in a low voice.


    "I''ve already received the signal from the ground. Send signals to the following airboats, let all of them park there..." Huang Baimei looked at the airport in the distance as he waved his hand towards the pilot behind him, sending an order.


    ...


    Twenty minutes later, Zhang Tie''s group saw over 30,000 people getting off their airboats. After taking an ID card, a bottle of water and a piece of dried rations respectively, those people were carried away by vehicles driven by giant beasts being similar to lizards with the guidance of people in deacon''s clothes.


    Being different than Zhang Tie''s group, although those commoners were vacant after getting off their airboats, most of them were full of prospect. Additionally, those deacons received them in Dragon Emperor City politely. Their vehicles were not shabby either. Everything was in order.


    After these people arrived here safe and sound; instead of being involved in his event, Zhang Tie finally became reassured.


    "Guess what head is talking about with that man?" Liu brothers silently approached Zhang Tie as Liu Yong asked Zhang Tie using his battle qi. Meanwhile, he threw a glance over there.


    After getting off the airboats, only two immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace received Zhang Tie''s group. One was a solemn old man in white beard and triangle eyes who looked tense. There were nine silver lines in dragon pattern on his sleeves like that of Huang Baimei. The other was a female who looked a bit kinder. Her rank was as same as Zhang Tie, namely VII rank with silver dragon pattern. However, she was just an earth immortal general.


    It looked a bit distant. Leng Manxue took Xun Zizhou and that female immortal general with VII rank in silver dragon pattern to hand over the materials and the household registration data of those commoners that they brought from Heavenly Square City. Huang Baimei was talking about something with the old immortal general using battle qi. As a result, none of Zhang Tie''s group knew what they were talking about except Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie looked over there as he found that Huang Baimei''s tender smile disappeared after a few seconds of talk. With a slight frown, Huang Baimei''s face turned solemn. However, that old man just took it as a public task as his face remained unchanged from the start as if Huang Baimei owed him thousands of element crystals.


    "How do I know what they''re talking about?" Zhang Tie rolled his eyes to Liu Yong, causing Liu Yong to smirk bashfully while stroking his nose.


    However, in fact, Zhang Tie had heard every detail of their talk. As long as it was within the sphere of Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy, there would be no secret for him.


    "General Manager Yu, couldn''t we further negotiate it? I remember it was not like that before..."


    "Head Huang, please forgive us. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is not as rich as before. As for these fresh immortal generals, the immortal palace has made its utmost efforts to pay them 10 element crystals per month. Everything is in short in Dragon Emperor City now. Additionally, you''re not the only immortal generals who evacuate to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Many people are waiting for the arrangement of elders. Therefore, please wait for a few more days. It would be fine when Head Huang finishes your work report and all the others get their new jobs..."


    "When will I make my work report to the Church?"


    "Head Huang, you could settle down your subordinate immortal generals first. After the Church became free, they would notice you!"


    ...

 1688 The Reality

    Not until all the 30,000-odd people left the airport did Huang Baimei, Leng Manxue and Xun Zizhou who had handled with the procedures come over here.


    Even being composed, Huang Baimei still didn''t look good.


    When Huang Baimei was approaching Zhang Tie, Liu brothers had been pushed aside by Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin. The two women were asking funny questions, which made Zhang Tie embarrassed.


    "What did you eat these days?"


    "Do you take care of your skin?"


    "How do you make yourself look younger?"


    Zhang Tie said he ate nothing; nor did he take care of his skin or know some method to make himself younger. However, the two women still watched him out of suspicion.


    "Liar, these days, I feel you look much better day by day while your skin looks increasingly brighter. If you don''t eat something or have some recipe for skin-care, how could your skin improve even better than mine and xin? You see, we take care of our skin every day!" Ji Yuelan pouted her mouth as she looked at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie indeed looked different these days. However, it was definitely not caused by improving his state of mind. In fact, Zhang Tie assimilated almost half of the wind chakras of the red and blue devils and promoted to four change realm of a shadow knight. On April 1, Zhang Tie even slipped into Castle of Black Iron for the fruit of brilliance.


    After promoting to four change realm of a shadow knight, Zhang Tie''s overall strength was strengthened once again, including his speed, physical strength, defensive ability and spiritual energy. The fruit of brilliance that he took contained all the spiritual energy of the two heavenly knights, which caused a sharp increase in Zhang Tie''s real spiritual energy. As a result, the brilliant light in his mind sea and his state reached a new height generally; especially Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy. These days, Zhang Tie gradually sensed that his real spiritual energy was silently penetrating downwards from his mind sea like invisible water every day, which lubricated Zhang Tie''s muscles, organs and cells as a whole. As a result, Zhang Tie experienced subtle changes all over.


    Take his skin which was admired by Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin as an instance, Zhang Tie''s skin gradually turned as smooth and bright as jade as if it was giving out a brilliant light. Especially for women, who doubted that Zhang Tie was using a secret recipe for skin-care.


    Skin change was external which could be seen by people; by contrast, some changes could only be known by Zhang Tie himself. These days, Zhang Tie felt his bones all over being joined with each other firmly, his tongue redder, teeth whiter, defensive ability higher while his hands, feet, shoulders, back and abdomen appearing being softer. What was more, Zhang Tie felt his saliva was turning sweeter and fresher. His mouth felt fresh and fragrant every day. Zhang Tie was even obsessed with swallowing his own saliva.


    Without exaggeration, Zhang Tie felt he was becoming more and more handsome these days whenever he looked into the mirror.


    "One''s look comes from one''s heart? Really? What a fresh saying!" Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin exchanged a glance with each other as they started to believe in Zhang Tie''s words.


    "Trust in me. As long as you stick to it, after a period of time, you would yell about your beautiful look in your dreams. I yelled about my beautiful look in my dream every day!"


    "Nonsense!" Ji Yuelan who had pouted her mouth finally revealed a big smile; even Jiang Ruoxin chuckled while covering her mouth by hand; meanwhile, she threw a pleasant glimpse at Zhang Tie. They always felt relaxed and pleasant being with Zhang Tie. Even if they knew Zhang Tie was talking nonsense, they still felt it was funny.


    Zhou Baifei was chatting with Lu Tianqiang and Liu brothers as he threw a glimpse over here every once a while. Zhang Tie directly ignored him.


    Watching Huang Baimei walking towards them, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin didn''t ask Zhang Tie anymore as they hid their smiles, turning solemn. At the same time, Zhou Baifei, Lu Tianqiang and Liu brothers also approached them.


    "Ahem ahem, head, have you handed it over?" Zhang Tie asked Huang Baimei, although he had long known the result.


    "The followers from Heavenly Square City will be properly arranged. They''ve already built a new area outside the city. These followers from Nine Heavens Big Domain would soon resettle in the new residential area, restart their lives and join the immortal palace over here. Dragon Emperor City is complex in many aspects. We need to live in Dragon Emperor City for a period of time. As you''ve just joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, your identities would be officially registered in the headquarters of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor City. After that, your titles would be fixed. Let''s leave here now. They''ve already arranged a residential area for us..."


    After leaving these words, Huang Baimei left the airport, followed by the others.


    When Zhang Tie exited the airport, he looked back and saw people from the headquarters of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace carrying crates of treasures that the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City confiscated from Zi Clan Castle, who had stored hundreds of years. The moment those crates were unloaded, they had been sealed and carried away. The two immortal generals who had talked with Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue just now were gazing at those crates, leaving the immortal generals from Heavenly Square City alone.


    ''They''re keeping wealth rather than people. How ironical it is!''


    Zhang Tie sighed as he shook his head inside.


    After hearing the complete talk between Huang Baimei and that person, Zhang Tie faintly felt that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace might face more serious problems than he could imagine. However, it had nothing to do with Zhang Tie for the time being. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t care about it...


    ...


    Outside the entrance of the airport, a deacon of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was waiting for them with a vehicle. Watching them coming out, he respectfully invited them to get on the vehicle.


    The vehicle was driven by the commonest animal in Motian Realm¡ª¡ªflying lizard.


    After realizing that they would take the same vehicle; instead of riding a flying lizard respectfully, they were all amazed except for Zhang Tie. However, watching Head Huang getting on the vehicle ahead of them, all the others just exchanged a glance with each other before getting on the vehicle with Huang Baimei.


    Being clean inside, it contained four rows of seats, each row for three people. However, it was far less than being luxurious. It was a popular traffic tool for the public, which was just a bit better than vehicles driven by ordinary lizards. Rich and privileged ones would ride flying lizards independently.


    After getting on the vehicle, Zhang Tie found a seat casually. Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were both next to Zhang Tie while Jiang Ruoxin neighbored the aisle.


    Liu brothers were behind Zhang Tie.


    "That''s too mean. Couldn''t Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace prepare a flying lizard for each of us? We two brothers have not taken a vehicle for long!" Liu Yong couldn''t stand complaining about it to Zhang Tie using his battle qi the moment he sat down.


    As Huang Baimei was also sitting in front of them, Liu brothers dared not complain it to Huang Baimei.


    "Haha, it''s fine. Better than having no vehicle. I''m afraid that the immortal palace wants to take us all to the residential area in case we get lost. You''re a man, don''t be so narrow-minded!" Zhang Tie replied.


    Liu Yong then became silent. Among so many people in the immortal palace, Liu brothers admired Zhang Tie the most. Although Zhang Tie had not lost temper at them, the two brothers would always take his order.


    "Head, could we go now?" the deacon turned around as he asked Huang Baimei through a little window.


    "Yes, please..." Huang Baimei nodded.


    "Hmm, watch out, we''re setting off..."


    With a sharp whipping sound, the vehicle started to move at a medium speed...


    Zhang Tie then enjoyed the streetscape of the Dragon Emperor City through the window.


    "What did you say to Liu brothers!" Ji Yuelan asked Zhang Tie.


    "They were complaining that the immortal palace is mean!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    "I notice it too. Do you feel that Head doesn''t look good..."


    "Hmm, I''m afraid that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace doesn''t live well recently. But it''s none of our business for the time being. Just take care of ourselves..."


    "Haven''t you seen that? All the 100-odd crates of treasures that we confiscated from Zi Clan Castle might have been taken away..." Ji Yuelan asked out of fury, "It''s you who swept over Zi Clan. The others don''t know about it; however, Head should know about it. According to your meritorious deed, you should at least share 20% of the booties. How could they directly take away all the booties without your consent? Even Head doesn''t mention about it!"


    "Haha, it''s a little treasure. As immortal generals, we don''t need such treasures!" Zhang Tie replied in a perfunctory manner.


    The red and blue devils must have done a lot of evil things in Motian Realm these years as the number of treasures in their space-teleportation finger rings shocked Zhang Tie too much. By contrast, Zi Clan Castle''s accumulation of wealth was just an odd of that in the space-teleportation finger rings of red and blue devils. Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t care about such a bit of loss.


    "Humph, you''re so generous. But even immortal generals couldn''t just live on element crystals..." Ji Yuelan continued to complain about it...

 1689 Concerns Facing Dragon Emperor City

    The vehicle driven by the flying lizard was not heading for the prosperous core region of Dragon Emperor City, but a village outside the city.


    It took them about 2 hours to arrive at a manor at the foot of a mountain in the east of Dragon Emperor City at dusk by the wonky vehicle.


    The manor was very large. Leaning against a high mountain, it was facing a village with a river in between. It was the suburb of Dragon Emperor City while a large area of farmlands was neighboring that village.


    After getting off the vehicle, they were all stunned by the manor and the wisps of smokes that rose from some households in the village on the opposite of the river.


    At the same time, an old man was passing by with a herd of sheep on the path leading to the manor, leaving so many fresh excrements which were like black pine nuts.


    With a different state of mind, Zhang Tie felt that everything here was interesting; instead of feeling embarrassed at all. By contrast, given Liu brother''s looks, Zhang Tie almost burst into laughter. They were like travelers being cheated by illegal guides.


    A stern water immortal general within a dragon pattern of seven red threads in white robe was standing on the stairs outside the manor and waiting for Huang Baimei''s group, hands on his back. Although he had seen them get off the vehicle, he didn''t mean to approach them; instead, he just threw a glimpse at them.


    "Head Huang, it''s Flyingdragon Manor, if I''m not needed here, I better get going..." The humble deacon bade farewell to Huang Baimei.


    "Hmm, thanks!" Huang Baimei forced a genial smile towards this deacon, adding, "How are those wind immortal palaces doing in Dragon Emperor City?"


    "Don''t you know about that, Head Huang? It''s said that those wind immortal palaces in Dragon Emperor City have been sold to the Emperor NvWa Palace by the church..." The humble deacon wanted to speak more; however, after taking a look at that person in white robe, he stopped. "As for others, Head Huang would know it after staying in Dragon Emperor City for a period of time..."


    "Thanks!"


    "See you!"


    The deacon then drove away. After taking a look at the others, Huang Baimei entered the gate of the manor, followed by the others.


    "Are you Huang Baimei''s group from Heavenly Square City of Nine Heavens Big Domain?" That person didn''t stop talking until Huang Baimei''s group came to his front.


    "Yes!" Huang Baimei replied calmly.


    "Follow me then!" That person turned around and entered the manor, followed by Huang Baimei''s group.


    "These days, you will be living in Flyingdragon Manor. The daily lifestyle here is nothing different than that in the immortal palace. Two meals a day, right in the canteen of the manor. No food after noon. Each one of you will have a room. New immortal generals should especially bear in mind the awards and punishment rules in the immortal palace. Anyone who dares violate the rules would be punished two times more severely! In addition, some immortal generals from other domains have already lived in Flyingdragon Manor. Brawl is forbidden between immortal generals here. Once being found, you would be severely punished." that person said coldly as he turned around and looked around the others with a warning. After noticing the silver dragon pattern of seven threads at Zhang Tie''s wristbands, he slightly frowned.


    "General Deacon Leng, where does this scumbag come from? Why do I feel like we owed a lot of money to him in our former lives..." Zhang Tie asked Leng Manxue using his battle qi.


    "Supervision Department!" Leng Manxue answered Zhang Tie straightforwardly.


    ''This is the Supervision Department?'' Zhang Tie shook his head. ''No wonder he''s cold to everyone else.''


    At the sight of Huang Baimei''s group, all the servants in the manor hurriedly moved aside, waiting there and showing their respect to them. They didn''t raise their heads and return to the aisles until Huang Baimei''s group passed by.


    Watching their deeds, Zhang Tie knew that it was even more hierarchical in Dragon Emperor City than Heavenly Square City.


    They were soon led to a courtyard by the person in white robe. The moment they entered it, they had heard broken sounds from a room along with one''s curse, "What the f*ck is this place? There''s not even a single cultivation room. This father didn''t join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to suffer from this mistreatment, nor did I come here to take others'' orders. Damn it! We''ve been here for five days; however, we''ve not even got a job. Besides 10 element crystals a month, we got nothing else. What the hell does that mean? If I knew that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was such a sh*t place, I would never have joined it..."


    At the same time, a fierce immortal general with whiskers slammed his door forcefully and left there, coincidentally encountered with Zhang Tie''s group. When he caught sight of the immortal general in white robe from the Supervision Department, he became stunned at once.


    The immortal general in white robe looked straight into that person''s eyes distantly as he scolded, "As you''ve ruined properties of the immortal palace, you need to pay tens times more for that. The fine would be deducted from your monthly compensation. As you''ve already joined the immortal palace, if you betray the immortal palace, even if you survive the damage of the bloody pledge, you would not survive the chase of the killers dispatched by Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace!"


    After saying these words, the immortal general in white robe ignored the fierce immortal general directly as he led Zhang Tie''s group through this courtyard and came to a neighboring courtyard, leaving that fierce immortal palace standing still with a flush, feeling being put on the spot.


    After penetrating through this courtyard and detouring around a pond, they came to their own courtyard.


    Their courtyard was neither large nor small. Covering 1,000 square meters, it was composed of two storeys and over 10 rooms. There were a lush huge tree and a pond in the courtyard. A butler was waiting there. After leaving some words to the butler and having the butler give a key to each of Zhang Tie''s group, the person in the white robe had left.


    Playing with the key in hand, Zhang Tie slightly shook his head. Commoners could live in such a courtyard; however, it was really improper for immortal generals to live here as immortal generals needed the secret environment for cultivation. This courtyard didn''t have any isolated or preventive measures at all. Therefore, nobody would feel reassured entering cultivation here. As long as they were disturbed in cultivation, they might be possessed by devils. No wonder that guy with whiskers lost his temper.


    "Zhang Tie, come to my room. I''ve got something to talk with you!" Before Zhang Tie returned to his room, he had heard Huang Baimei''s voice; therefore, Zhang Tie followed Huang Baimei to his room.


    At that time, Zhang Tie saw Zhou Baifei, who got his key first, catch up with that immortal general in white robe outside the courtyard and talk to him with a big smile.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was crystal clear about the contents of their talk even if he didn''t want to eavesdrop it.


    As Zhang Tie listened to the talk between Zhou Baifei and that person in white robe, he entered Huang Baimei''s room.


    "Take a seat..."


    After entering the room, Huang Baimei took a glance at the room before sitting down ahead of Zhang Tie.


    "Head Huang, go ahead if you have something to talk with me..." Zhang Tie smiled as he sat beside Huang Baimei.


    Huang Baimei took a look at Zhang Tie, feeling sorry about him. After being silent for one second, he started the talk using his battle qi, "The current situation facing Dragon Emperor City is out of my expectation. I just heard about it. The five elders and two grand justices of the Church are all busy cultivating so that they could promote to supreme immortal generals as soon as possible. Therefore...therefore...the atmosphere in Dragon Emperor City is a bit...a bit subtle..."


    Zhang Tie asked with an amazed look, "Head, what do you mean by ''subtle''?"


    "The five elders and two grand justices are all fire immortal generals. As long as one of them could promote to a supreme immortal general within one century, that person would become the immortal king and inherit everything of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace!"


    Zhang Tie acted like he finally understood it as he replied, "Oh, I see. Head, you mean the relationship between the five elders and the two grand justices are not harmonious..."


    "Alas, who could imagine that Dragon Emperor City would deteriorate to such a situation in such a short period of time!" Huang Baimei sighed as he added, "Last year, Dragon Emperor City was still fine. The relationship between the five elders and the two grand justices was not such intense yet. They were still working together for the sake of the immortal palace. However, during the past one year, the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace has changed a lot. You''re smart, you know what I mean!"


    "I see!" Zhang Tie let out a sigh too. ''As the dragon emperor is missing, it would be strange if Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, being such a large organization, was not a mess.'' Zhang Tie thought that the semi-sage knights in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace might have long started a fight if not being threatened by demons and being afraid of being shared by the other forces of immortal palaces. The action that Star Emperor Immortal Palace occupied Biyao City of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was the last straw that broke the camel''s back. The external stress led to the basic stability and divisions inside Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Those elders and grand justices had their own plans. Even if they didn''t start a brawl in the public, as they were all striving for one title, it was impossible for Dragon Emperor City to run smoothly...


    "I''ve not reported what you''ve done in Heavenly Square City to the Church. Previously, you should share those booties; however, if I told the truth to the Church, you might have trouble. Therefore..."


    "Thanks for your concern, head, it''s just a bit otherworldly wealth. It''s meaningless to me. Just let the bygones be bygones. I would not care about it!" Zhang Tie said sincerely as he understood Huang Baimei''s concern. Additionally, Zhang Tie didn''t want to expose what he had done in Heavenly Square City to the public. As too many people were competing inside Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and peoples'' hearts were most complex and unpredictable, in someone''s eyes, what Zhang Tie had done might be good; however, the others might not think so.


    "Glad to hear that!" Huang Baimei smiled, feeling reassured, "I got the right man!"


    "Previously I wanted to develop my undertaking in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. It seems that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is facing a more complex situation than I had imagined!" Zhang Tie said with a bitter smile, "Now that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is facing such a poor situation and didn''t welcome us, why did they determine to recruit more immortal generals in Nine Heavens Big Domain?"


    "Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is unstable. Previously, according to the Church, they wanted to recruit some more immortal generals so as to train a big formation of thousands of immortal generals after Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace contracted its force for the safety of the Dragon Emperor Big Domain. However, Elder Shi who masters the foundation of the big formation changed his opinion these days. As the other elders disagreed with him, they couldn''t make a decision; therefore, it''s a bit disordered in Dragon Emperor Big Domain now!"


    Zhang Tie shook his head as he asked, "Head, are you ready to join those elders and the two grand justices? I''m afraid that someone you know would come for you earlier than tomorrow..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Huang Baimei quivered slightly as he watched Zhang Tie with sparkling eyes. Zhang Tie just watched him with a smile. The room became pretty quiet at a stroke.


    After a short while, Huang Baimei hid his sparkling eye light as he revealed a bitter smile, saying, "It seems that you know everything. Would you believe that if I told you I don''t know either?"


    "Of course!" Zhang Tie nodded as he added, "Head, you should belong to the centrist that were loyal to the Dragon Emperor before. You always kept a distance with those elders and the two grand justices. Otherwise, they would not dispatch you to Heavenly Square City which was far away from Dragon Emperor Big Domain for so many years. Facing the complex situation inside Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, I understand why head couldn''t make a decision!"


    "What would you do if you were me?" Huang Baimei asked Zhang Tie.


    "On this occasion, if you choose to rely on an elder; of course you would be taken care of by that elder''s force. Meanwhile, you would be repelled by the other elders. If you don''t join any of them, you wouldn''t offend anybody; nor would you be favored by anyone. If I were you, head, I would choose the second way. I don''t care about them. I just do as same as before!"


    "Why?"


    Zhang Tie revealed a disdainful smile, replying, "They just care about profits. None of them could promote to a supreme immortal general after Dragon Emperor disappeared for 900 years. None of them could defeat the others and integrate the entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Even if all of them promoted to supreme immortal generals in 100 years, they would also be defeated by immoral emperors. By following them, people wouldn''t see a bright future. If so, why do we waste our time keeping them company? Why not jump out of this circle and find a place for cultivation. Just reply to yourself! Even if you prepare to rely on someone in the future, you should find someone with a prospect. At least, you will look clean in their eyes at that time!"


    Zhang Tie''s words shocked Huang Baimei for quite a while. After a few seconds, Huang Baimei asked Zhang Tie, "Now that you don''t look good at Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, why did you join it?"


    Zhang Tie shrugged, saying, "It''s a coincidence. Heavenly Square City was the first city that I visited after losing my memory. As everything was strange to me, I just joined the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City. It''s not bad to join an organization. I have not thought about getting anything from Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. If I came to Heavenly Square City a few days later, I might have already joined Unicorn Immortal Palace. If I came to Biyao City at that time, I might have already joined Star Emperor Immortal Palace...this might be God''s will!"


    "What if Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace disappears in 100 years..."


    "So what? Without Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, the immortal generals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace wouldn''t have to die for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; they would have other chances. Other immortal palaces would be founded in Motian Realm, and would assume their own responsibilities, fighting demons. Isn''t it good? It''s always better for human elites to fight demons under the leadership of talented ones than incompetent ones. A herd of sheep under the leadership of a lion is always more aggressive than a herd of lions under the leadership of a sheep!" Zhang Tie shrugged as if he didn''t care about anything, continuing, "After all, the current situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is not caused by me. Those who should be responsible for it is Dragon Emperor or the Church. If the Dragon Emperor didn''t disappear and the Church was not incompetent, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would not face such a poor situation. I don''t feel sorry about it at all. I just live up to my monthly compensation and consciousness!"


    Huang Baimei watched Zhang Tie, shaking his head, then nodding before revealing a bitter smile, "Whatever, I''ve promised you to recommend you to the Supervision Department. When I make my work report to the elders, I would fulfill my promise!"


    "Just let it be..."


    One minute later, watching Zhang Tie close his door, Huang Baimei was slowly in meditation as he murmured, "Just let it be...would such a person really lose all of his memory..."


    ...


    When Zhang Tie left Huang Baimei''s room, Zhou Baifei had returned to the courtyard. At the sight of Zhang Tie, Zhou Baifei turned solemn at once as he returned to his room!


    ''What a weirdo!''


    Zhang Tie pretended to not know about it. On the way back to his room, Zhang Tie saw Jiang Ruoxin pulling Ji Yuelan out of the latter''s room with a blush. Ji Yuelan didn''t look good either.


    "What''s up?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "We couldn''t live in such a broken house..." Ji Yuelan lost her temper. At the sight of Zhang Tie, she instantly grabbed Zhang Tie''s hand, saying shamelessly, "Whatever, we two would not live in such rooms. I''m afraid that General Deacon Leng would not live here either. As the deputy head, you have to solve this for us!"


    "Ahh? Is there a cockroach, rat or something else disgusting inside the room?" Zhang Tie took a cursory glance at Ji Yuelan''s room as he continued, "But I don''t see any!"


    "Alas, you don''t understand..." Ji Yuelan stomped her feet.


    After taking a look at Jiang Ruoxin who slightly blushed and hearing the splashes of water from Liu Yong''s room, Zhang Tie understood it at once¡ª¡ªerm, the reason is a bit ridiculous. Although they had their own rooms, all the men in the courtyard could hear clearly about those girls'' "songs" in their own rooms given the sharp auditory sense of knights. It was so embarrassing!


    Zhang Tie realized that Jiang Ruoxin might have not discovered this problem at the beginning; however, when she prepared to "sing a song", she suddenly felt something wrong. Therefore, she stopped it with a bashful look...


    After thinking through it, Zhang Tie burst into laughter at once.


    ...

 1690 Doing It Ourselves

    The lobbyist arrived faster than Zhang Tie could imagine.


    Zhang Tie didn''t even enter his room in the Flyingdragon Manor. When Zhang Tie, Jiang Ruoxin, and Ji Yuelan were leaving Flyingdragon Manor with Liu Yong and Liu Meng, they saw an aged, gentle immortal general with elegant bead getting off his flying lizard and was asking a butler of the manor about something at the entrance.


    "Has Head Huang''s group from Heavenly Square City of Nine Heavens Big Domain arrived here?"


    "Yes; they have arrived just now..." Watching the silver dragon pattern of 8 threads on the old man''s wristbands, the butler almost bowed his head to the ground.


    "Head Huang is my old friend. Quick, show me the way..."


    "Yes, sir; please come with me..."


    When that visitor encountered Zhang Tie''s group of 5, he revealed a smile at them. Zhang Tie also nodded towards him. After that, they passed by each other silently.


    After leaving Flyingdragon Manor, Liu Yong whispered, "Ah, that man..."


    "Hahaha, he''s a friend of Head Huang. He must be paying a visit to his old friend!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    "How do you solve the problem?" Ji Yuelan continued to care about the housing.


    Zhang Tie smiled as he pointed at that village on the opposite of the river, saying, "It''s not far from Flyingdragon Manor. We will know it right away over there if something happens here. Let''s go to that town and renovate a house!"


    "You can renovate a house?" Jiang Ruoxin asked as he took an amazed look at Zhang Tie. If Zhang Tie said he could kill people, the two women would never doubt him; however, it was really unbelievable that he could renovate a house. Even Liu brothers watched Zhang Tie in an unimaginable way.


    "You will see it!" Zhang Tie smiled. After exchanging a glance with each other, Liu brothers and the two women all became curious as they urged to go there with Zhang Tie.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t feel strange about their response; because the professions in Motian Realm were sharply different than those in the world where he came from. There was no coal or petroleum in Motian Realm; neither could steam engines or powerful machines be invented here. Perhaps people here didn''t think about developing those things which appeared useless. Generally, there was no common ground between engineers, common workers and immortal generals. By contrast, rune instrument master shared common grounds with engineers, common workers and knights in Taixia Country. At the low level, rune instrument masters would make a lot of things that were closely related to common lives. Even a rune instrument master was not a professional engineer, after promoting to an immortal craftsman, a rune instrument master could almost make everything that he saw using metals. On this occasion, it was a piece of cake for an immortal craftsman to act as an engineer and renovate a house.


    After passing by the river, the group of five came straight to the village along the flagstone pavement on the riverside.


    After staying with each other and executing tasks for so many days on the airboat, those women were getting along well with each other and almost became good sisters. Previously, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan wanted to call Leng Manxue to go together with them; however, they remembered that Leng Manxue had already left Flyingdragon Manor the moment she arrived.


    With over 600 households, this village was full of apricot blossoms. There was a large apricot wood on the hillside on one side. As it was close to Dragon Emperor City, villagers lived well. There was even a small shrine in the village. On the side neighboring an avenue of Dragon Emperor City, there were some hostels for travelers from all walks of life. Across the village, there were 20-30 households which looked nice. Outside the village, some courtyards looked pretty nice; those who lived in there might not be local villagers. After circling around the village for a while, the group of 5 focused on a new courtyard.


    Being built on the riverside, that courtyard in shape of the Chinese character "Ä¿" covered over 2,000 square meters. It was over 600 m away from the public road towards Dragon Emperor City, with an apricot wood in between. Therefore, it looked pretty tranquil. Two bluestone trails were connected to the village and the public road.


    After knocking at the gate, they waited there for half a minute before an old servant opened it. He took a look at the group of 5. When he noticed their special costumes of the immortal palace, the old servant instantly lowered his body to show his respect.


    After acknowledging their purpose, the old servant became stunned for a second as his smile became more passionate. He then hurriedly invited them in and called out the slightly fat master in brilliant silk clothes.


    "Are you introduced by Head Huo of the village''s shrine?" the master asked them out of curiosity.


    "No!" Zhang Tie replied as he shook his head with a smile.


    "Ah? If you''re not introduced by Head Huo, how did you know I was going to sell this house?" the master asked as he became more curious.


    "It''s a coincidence. We''ve just arrived at Dragon Emperor City today and are living in Flyingdragon Manor. Because it''s a bit inconvenient over there, we would like to buy a courtyard in the nearby. As your courtyard looks decent and is tranquil in the surroundings, we especially came here to ask whether you want to sell it or not!" Zhang Tie talked with the owner of this house as Ji Yuelan, Jiang Ruoxin and Liu brothers watched from aside.


    The master took a look at Zhang Tie, then Jiang Ruoxin, Ji Yuelan and Liu brothers, then Zhang Tie again as he instantly understood it and nodded hurriedly, "It''s true; it''s true. I''ve been told that many immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace came back from other domains these days, you must feel inconvenient living with the other immortal generals as you have wives and concubine and guards. However, my courtyard has recently been built at a high cost. I''ve just started living in it. Previously, it was built by my son for me. However, in the late couple of months, I urgently needed money because of business; otherwise, I would not sell it. Look at the furniture in the house, they''re all of the top quality. I don''t plan to remove these pieces of furniture anymore. The pond, the rockery and the woods took me too much time and money..."


    Ji Yuelan and Liu brothers didn''t even change their face when they heard the master''s words. Ji Yuelan even glanced at Jiang Ruoxin. Jiang Ruoxin even pinched Ji Yuelan stealthily with a blush.


    "It''s okay, how much do you want?"


    After watching Zhang Tie for a while, the master gritted his teeth before answering, "At least 620 purple crystal coins..."


    Zhang Tie directly took out an earth element crystal and put it on the table, saying, "I''ve not brought so many purple crystal coins. You must have seen the world and know what is this. This item is far more valuable than 620 purple crystal coins. How about exchanging your house with this element crystal?"


    Goggling at the element crystal on the table, the master screamed, "Are you...are you sure?"


    "Sure...but I need you to move out as soon as possible. We will live in tonight. As it''s not far away from Dragon Emperor City, you could have someone take you to the downtown to your son. Is there any problem?"


    "No problem, no problem. I could rent a flying lizard from the hostel on the roadside. If not, I could live in the hostel for one night..."


    "That''s the deal..." Zhang Tie smiled as he gave the earth element crystal to that master...


    ...


    Only after 10 minutes, an old servant of that master had already rent a flying-lizard vehicle and pulled over outside the gate of the courtyard. After loading on the master and some packages that his two servants had prepared, he drove away happily.


    Referring to the contract, Zhang Tie jostled down a list of items and gave it to Liu Yong, telling Liu brothers to rent two mounts from the hostel and inquire about the stores and markets where they could buy these items. Liu brothers were asked to come back as soon as possible.


    Taking Zhang Tie''s list, Liu brothers hurriedly left.


    "How did you know he was going to sell this house?" Ji Yuelan asked as she widely opened her eyes.


    "It''s a coincidence, more like God''s will!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile. After that, he started to take a tour of the house.


    This house was indeed a new one. Nobody had lived in it before. It''s proper to renovate it. Additionally, the furnishings inside the courtyard were not luxurious. With a small bridge over the pond, a rockery, green willows and red flowers, it was pretty tranquil.


    In over 2 hours, the night fell when Liu brothers came back with an assistant by two flying lizards full of loads.


    The vehicles were full of items, which were rightly what Zhang Tie had jostled on the paper¡ª¡ªbuilding materials, including iron sheets, copper wire, golden lacquer, silver sheets, lead foils and some processing tools.


    Under the gaze of the other 4, Zhang Tie adroitly used those tools. On a worktop, he extended a roll of an iron sheet before tailoring it into a vivid image of blossoms by a pair of scissors which could be pasted onto the wall. After fixing the image onto the wall, Zhang Tie dipped golden lacquer by brush and touched it on the image. In a split second, a bizarre rune appeared as it became alive; closely after that, it lurked in the image...


    "The skill of runes..." Jiang Ruoxin, Ji Yuelan and Liu brothers were startled at the same time.


    Zhang Tie turned around and took a look at Liu brothers, saying, "What are you staying there for? Give me a hand. Measure the size of those stone bricks on the floor of rooms and toilets and cut those copper wire into sections as long as the diagonal line of those stone bricks. I will use them after a while..."


    After that, Zhang Tie told Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan, "You two cut those lead foils into the shape of stone bricks..."


    Not until then the did the four people wake up.


    ...


    Four hours later, the first renovated room was completed.


    After Zhang Tie''s renovation, the common room became an artwork. The walls and floor had been covered with thin iron sheets in the shape of flowers which carried three-dimensional effect, leading to a bizarre space themed by a park. After being processed, those dead metals became completely alive. The perfect allocation of colors and those patterns that Zhang Tie drew on the walls were exceptional.


    Of course, those metals were not only for a good look or aesthetic effect. The runes that lurked in those metals had made this room a private space that couldn''t be peeped in from outside.


    No matter what, Zhang Tie was an immortal craftsman. Even though not too many rune skills were applied in renovating this room, numerous people would queue up to live in such a room in Taixia Country.


    Watching such a grand room, Jiang Ruoxin, Ji Yuelan and Liu brothers were shocked too much that they couldn''t utter a voice for quite a while. They could never believe that this perfect room was renovated by Zhang Tie if they did not watch him do that.


    Especially Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan, who felt this room was more like a piece of delicate jewelry.


    "Time limit, I couldn''t demolish the walls and add something inside. Therefore, this is the best that I could do for the time being. With these furnishings, the effect of privacy and safety inside the room would be a bit better than that of our hatch rooms on the airboat. It''s enough. Additionally, I''ve set some runes of recovery inside the room. As a result, people would sleep well inside it. It''s also suitable for cultivation. I''ve already improved the lock and the fixed structure of the door, it becomes firmer now. This room belongs to me. It''s a template. If you have any suggestions, just let me know. I will make a better one for you!"


    After exchanging a glance with each other, the two women uttered in unison, "What? Your room? It''s our room. Go, go, go..."


    Before Zhang Tie and Liu brothers made any response, they had been pushed out of the door by Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan.


    With a loud sound "bang", the three men looked at each other outside the door...


    "Boss..." Liu brothers changed their appellation to Zhang Tie as they rubbed their hands and watched him with fawning smiles, continuing, "Look, they''ve got one. We brothers are not inconvenient in Flyingdragon Manor either, how about..."


    Zhang Tie then let out a sigh, saying, "Alright, I owe you!" Closely after that, he turned solemn, adding, "But here''s the deal, your room won''t have so many flowers. Additionally, you two will live in one room. I don''t have time to make one room for each of you!"


    "Hehheh, we know, we know, just make it a bit private so that we could sleep a bit better!"


    "Which one do you want?"


    The two brothers then pointed at a room far away from here in another courtyard, saying, "That one!"


    "Hmm, but I will make it in the end. I have to make one for General Deacon Leng and me respectively first. Am I clear?"


    "Clear, boss, you could make it whenever you''re free!"


    ...


    Zhang Tie was busy for one night with the help of Liu brothers.


    When the day broke, Zhang Tie had already completed the renovation of two more rooms, one for Leng Manxue, the other for Zhang Tie himself.


    Watching the room of his own, Zhang Tie heaved a sigh satisfactorily...


    ''No matter how long would I stay in Dragon Emperor City for nothing, I finally got a place to take fruits and promote to five change realm of shadow knight.''


    ''Flyingdragon Manor is too populated and disordered. What is more, it is far from privacy and safety. On April 1st, I only took the fruit of brilliance. It took me more than one day to fully assimilate it. There''re still a lot of fruits on the small tree. Half of the new wind elements have not been refined and integrated yet. On this occasion, I couldn''t hide somewhere for one fruit in each half month. If I always do that, intentional persons like Zhou Baifei might find my loopholes. That would not be good!''


    ''Therefore, the best way is to stay in his eyes. As long as I close my door, he would not know what I''m doing inside....''


    When Zhang Tie was renovating his nest not far from Flyingdragon Manor, he didn''t forget about noticing the talk between Huang Baimei and his "old friend".


    As was imagined by Zhang Tie, that visitor was on behalf of Elder Xiong, one of five elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    What surprised Zhang Tie was that Huang Baimei refused Elder Xiong''s olive twig...

 1691 The Five Change Realm of Shadow Knigh

    When the last geometric patterns of the 189th scale of Zhang Tie''s wind chakra were lit, the long-awaited familiar feeling came to Zhang Tie again.


    A wholly new green feather-shaped seed rune of King Roc Sutra flew out of Zhang Tie''s chest, namely the core region of his chakras. After breaking Zhang Tie''s scalp, it suspended above Zhang Tie''s head while giving out brilliant light, covering Zhang Tie as a whole.


    Under the brilliance of this marvelous rune, all the surging points over Zhang Tie resonated again while each surging point gave out strong light. At the same time, bizarre runes flew out of Zhang Tie''s surging points one after another. Zhang Tie then felt being surrounded by stars.


    Zhang Tie had experienced the following scene for many times¡ª¡ªthe battle qi in his qi sea started to surge like a tide. At the same time, battle qi started to pour out of his surging points as a whole, which looked like wells at the seaside. After that, the spiritual energy in his mind sea flew off his central forehead like a waterfall and poured into his surging points as a whole in a split second. They combined with his battle qi and turned into bizarre energy, which lubricated his surging points a whole and brought new changes to his surging points all over.


    The changes facing his surging points appeared to be opening a marvelous door for him as four elements in the elements realm started to appear out of void beside Zhang Tie before pouring into the star-studded runes, making them more brilliant. Each rune was corresponding to a surging point. Only after a short while, battle qi, spiritual energy, four elements and those runes flying out of surging points had wrapped Zhang Tie like a huge egg.


    In the huge egg, all the cells, organs and the 987 surging points, the void above his mind sea and qi sea were growing "modestly".


    This was the amazing feather of an emperor-level secret method.


    The "modest" state was named by Zhang Tie himself. To be honest, he didn''t know how to describe that state. He just felt his body was wholly new in that state. Everything was a new start but not like that. When he recalled the old Hua saying¡ª¡ªbeing proud we would suffer a loss; being modest we would benefit ourselves. Zhang Tie named this state as "modest" as modesty helped people to make progress and pride made people lag behind. Undoubtedly, Zhang Tie would make great progress in each "modest" state.


    ...


    After almost 10 hours, Zhang Tie finished "hatching" himself as the huge egg shattered and disappeared in the form of light rain. Zhang Tie didn''t open his eyes at once; instead, he slowly sensed the endless wholly new strength and the wind chakra in his body. After realizing that he could light about 7 scales after assimilating all the wind elements of red and blue devils, Zhang Tie felt pretty satisfied as he opened his eyes with a smile.


    Zhang Tie was now in his room Apricot Blossom Courtyard that he bought on the riverside of Flowingblossom River in Apricot Blossom Village.


    Compared to that of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin, Zhang Tie''s room was evidently cruder. In his room, there was no decoration of flowers and grasses; instead, there was a huge pyramid-shaped metal frame between the floor and the beams in his room. The huge metal frame just covered the room like a huge pot cover, being connected with many odd-looking rune metal plates and grids over the floor and walls, making it a post-modern cage full of masculinity. It was far from being aesthetic. However, its sound-isolation effect was much greater than that of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin.


    After settling in this courtyard for six days, Zhang Tie finally silently promoted to the five change realm of shadow knight today.


    In the stage of shadow knight, he reached two changes higher within one month, which accounted for 1/5 of the total process of this stage. Such a speed would startle a lot of people if it was exposed to the public.


    After cleansing himself in his room and dressing himself up, Zhang Tie came to the front of the door and opened it. He was then shocked by the beautiful scene again...


    It was still dark outside; except for a faint orange color in the eastern skyline. The fields surrounding the courtyard was full of croaking frogs and twitters of insects. Besides, he heard a gurgling stream of the Flowingblossom River. Meanwhile, he heavily inhaled the fresh and spiritual aura in the air.


    These days, although there was no battle in the city, Zhang Tie had heard a lot of hidden contests as he became clearer about the things in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Zhang Tie would know some things even if he didn''t want to know at all. The contraditions between the five elders and the two grand justices had been exposed to the public in the city. Zhang Tie could easily learn it only by traveling across Flyingdragon Village spiritually every day whenever he was free like an onlooker in a teahouse listened to others''s private chats in their private rooms; even something that he shouldn''t know.


    More batches of immortal generals settled in Flyingdragon Village these days. With their arrival, lobbyists came to Flyingdragon Village one after another. Three batches of lobbyists had already paid a visit to Huang Baimei. Without exception, all of them were refused.


    There were totally 11 villages like Flyingdragon Village, all of which were crowded with new immortal generals who had just joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and evacuated from Nine Heavens Big Domain and the others domains. Most of these immortal generals were like new members of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. The total population of new immortal generals who joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was 1247, including 1047 fierce immortal generals, 187 earth immortal generals and 13 water immortal generals. Zhang Tie was one of the 13 water immortal generals.


    The 1247 new immortal generals had become the fat that all the five elders and two grand justices would like to take.


    However, because of the special administrative system of the immortal palace, all the new immortal generals would be affiliated to their own branch head. Namely, branch heads influenced their subordinates pretty much. As a result, the seven powers focused on drawing in those branch heads...


    When the hidden forces in the city were surging fiercely these days, Zhang Tie leisurely promoted to five change realm of shadow knight in the courtyard beside farmland in Apricot Blossom Village...

 1692 Watching Sunrise

    "Morning..."


    After taking a deep breath of the fresh air for a few times, Zhang Tie met Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin who were already well dressed in his courtyard. He greeted them.


    "Don''t you remember what you''re going to do today?" Ji Yuelan asked him while blinking her eyes as Jiang Ruoxin gazed at Zhang Tie with her beautiful eyes too.


    The longer they stayed with Zhang Tie, the more they felt confused about Zhang Tie. They couldn''t see through him at all. In Heavenly Square City, he drew out his sword and killed so many immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace out of fury and exterminated Zi Clan in Heavenly Square City. Outside Dragon Emperor City, he renovated a courtyard in Apricot Blossom Village as a rune instrument master, being free from the contradictions between immortal palaces. A few days ago, he flirted with Ji Yuelan like a veteran, being pretty romantic and Bohemian. Lately, although he lived in the same courtyard with them, he became a gentleman and treated the two girls politely; instead of harassing them. He could really understand the demands of women and take care of them well. As a result, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin appreciated him pretty much; despite they didn''t say it.


    Such a man was like a fog, fire and ice. He was full of irresistible attraction to women. During the short period of time, Ji Yuelan had been fully fascinated by him. Even if Jiang Ruoxin who intended to keep a distance with Zhang Tie gradually became open-minded and treated Zhang Tie as her reliable friend, revealing another side.


    "Haha, of course not. Ladies, haven''t you agreed to climb the mountain together with me and experience the marvels in my daily life?" Zhang Tie said with a smile like a waiter in a hotel, adding, "If ladies like it, I could show the way to you. This way please, ladies..."


    "Show us the way then. If you''re diligent and take care of us well, I will let this girl on my side give you a big award!" Jiang Ruoxin joked as she took a look at Ji Yuelan.


    "That''s great. I''m sure two ladies will enjoy it!" Zhang Tie promised as he hurriedly paced up to open the gate of the courtyard.


    The two girls smiled at each other before leaving the courtyard after Zhang Tie.


    "As we''re out together, why don''t you give him an award instead?" Ji Yuelan couldn''t stand complaining to Jiang Ruoxin using battle qi behind Zhang Tie.


    "Isn''t it what you dream for? You can directly express your love to him. Let''s see whether he would marry you or not." Jiang Ruoxin answered.


    "Humph, if I marry him, buy-one-get-one-free, you''re a gift!"


    "Dare you!"


    "Humph, let''s see it! Don''t you always dream about having a larger breast? How about letting him knead it for you. Besides being an award, it could also make your breast larger!"


    "Nonsense!" Jiang Ruoxin flushed at once as she stealthily pinched Ji Yuelan.


    "Ahem ahem...ladies, how do you feel about the scenery outside the courtyard?" Zhang Tie finally couldn''t stand interrupting their "private" talk. If not, he would feel like making a crime.


    "Hmm, not bad..." Ji Yuelan said perfunctorily.


    "Along this trail, we could go straight into the mountain on the riverside..."


    ...


    The courtyard was located on the riverside. A ridge unsurfaced rod along the river could lead straight to the depth of the mountain. The road was not broad; however, it was pretty firm. Although the day had not broken, it was fine for immortal generals to walk on it.


    These days, Zhang Tie got up early every day to climb the mountain so as to watch the sunrise on the top of it. After that, he would return to the courtyard. Lying on the sling chair beside the pond, he would leisurely read books for 4-5 hours; meanwhile, he practiced the two bizarre energies in the void using his spiritual energy. Not until the others went to bed in the evening did he sit on the bed for cultivation and forming chakra. He was not anxious at all.


    If not being leisure and comfortable, one would not sense the pleasure of mountain climbing. As for Zhang Tie, mountain climbing was not for strengthening his body; precisely, it was for improving his state of mind. After coming to Motian Realm for over one month, Zhang Tie had improved his overall strength greatly constantly. Lately, he even promoted to two changes realm higher and lit half of his wind chakra. With five changes realm higher, he would promote to a heavenly knight. This might be ecstatic for others; however, Zhang Tie could always stay calm on this occasion so that he could look everything around and his own cultivation process in a common state of mind.


    To improve one''s state of mind was supplementary to the progress of one''s overall strength. Without a strong state of mind, one could barely master a powerful overall strength. Zhang Tie had long realized it before.


    The tender grasses on the riverside were exuberant with some dew on them. After a short while, their garment corners and hemlines had been wet partly. Listening to frog croaks among grasses and water flows and sensing the great vigor of everything in the early morning, they gained a special taste like commoners, step and step forward.


    As for Zhang Tie, he was not lonely on the way, not to mention that two beauties kept him company.


    The mountain beside Apricot Blossom Village was called Flyingdragon Mountain. Being not dangerously steep, Flyingdragon Mountain had gorgeous scenery. With dense woods, it was pretty tranquil. Besides farming work, villagers at the bottom of the mountain always herded sheep, collected traditional Chinese herbal medicines or hunt on the mountain. For many years, many trails had been created that led straight to the depth of the mountain from the foot of the mountain. After coming here for a few times, Zhang Tie had been familiar with this terrain. Therefore, it took them less than one hour to arrive at the location where Zhang Tie usually watched the sunrise while talking and laughing with each other.


    When they arrived at the top of the mountain, the gloomy skyline had been broken while the sun was going to come out.


    It was on the top of a peak behind the peak where Flyingdragon Manor leaned against. It was higher than 1,000 m, from where people could get a bird''s-eye view of Flyingdragon Manor and Apricot Blossom Village. In the distance, it was Dragon Emperor City. This place rightly faced the east while undulating hills could be seen. A pile of boulders formed a disorderly and open platform here, which was surrounded by natural pits, holes and cracks between boulders. It was a nice place to watch the sunrise here. Zhang Tie took the two girls to a small platform connecting two boulders.


    "Ah, do you always come here to watch the sunrise?" Ji Yuelan asked as she looked around and nodded, "You''re really smart. It seems that very few people come here!"


    "Hahaha, few villagers at the foot of the mountain feel like watching the sunrise every day. As for the immortal generals in Flyingdragon Manor, all of them think they''re something. They are only interested in element crystals, cultivation methods and greater overall strength or being outstanding in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Very few of them would like to waste time watching the scenery which they could actually see every day." Zhang Tie explained with a smile.


    "Why are you here then?" Jiang Ruoxin fixated onto Zhang Tie from afar as she asked sharply, "Don''t you like element crystals, cultivation methods and greater overall strength? Don''t you want to be the most popular and the most powerful one in the immortal palace?"


    "Yup, don''t you want them?" Ji Yuelan asked too.


    "You bet!" Zhang Tie nodded without demur.


    "If so, why do you feel free traveling mountains and rivers and watching the sunrise here every day? Don''t you know that many immortal generals in Flyingdragon Manor are finding reliance in Dragon Emperor City these days for their future? Even immortal generals couldn''t be otherworldly in some aspects!" Jiang Ruoxin continued.


    Although it sounded like a question, Jiang Ruoxin was actually "warning" Zhang Tie euphemistically. There was one immortal general that met Jiang Ruoxin''s description beside them¡ª¡ªZhou Baifei. Zhou Baifei was pretty active these days. He didn''t stay in Flyingdragon Manor all day long; instead, he roped in people and found his reliance in Dragon Emperor City every day. Nobody knew what he was busy doing. According to Zhou Baifei, he knew someone in the city.


    "Because I''m not like them."


    "Why?"


    Zhang Tie made a face at once, saying, "Because, even if I don''t find those things, they would come for me. I could choose them. I don''t need to worry about that!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the two girls became slightly stunned. Watching Zhang Tie smiling at them, they thought Zhang Tie was joking about his future; for a time, they felt like beating him fiercely.


    Ji Yuelan finally couldn''t stand it as she said, "Don''t you know that over 10 water immortal generals join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace this time. Additionally, the elder sand grand justices of the immortal palace are not harmonious with each other. Even though being a water immortal general, you might not get any benefit in the end..."


    "It''s fine. I feel good now..." Zhang Tie shrugged.


    "You..."


    Zhang Tie suddenly made a "hush" gesture. Closely after that, he pointed at east. The two girls turned around as they saw a fiery arch in the eastern skyline while the morning glow tinted the entire sky as if it caught fire.


    For a time, the wind blew by; the three people became quiet as they were immersed in such fabulous scenery...


    ...


    When the sun fully rose, the three people were all bathing the first wisp of sunlight. At that time, even though they wanted to continue the former topic, they had lost the atmosphere. When Zhang Tie wanted to say something, he suddenly felt a vibration on his crystal plate. It was Huang Baimei who was calling for them. Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin received the notice at the same time...

 1693 Whose Bai

    @@


    Within a few minutes, all the immortal generals of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City had arrived in the parlor of the courtyard where they lived in Flyingdragon Manor, including Leng Manxue who had disappeared for a few days.


    Since the room was renovated by Zhang Tie, Leng Manxue had not moved in. Zhang Tie didn''t even talk to her about that.


    After coming to Dragon Emperor City for one week, Zhou Baimei was called to report his work to the elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor City yesterday. However, today, Zhang Tie couldn''t see anything abnormal on Huang Baimei''s face.


    By contrast, Zhou Baifei couldn''t hide his satisfaction even if he wanted to stay calm.


    "You''re all here. Take a seat!" Huang Baimei was much more easy-going than before. "I reported my work to the five elders in Dragon Emperor City yesterday. They have already agreed to my resignation!"


    Huang Baimei''s message made everyone at p@@

 1694 Personal Decisions

    As Huang Baimei resigned from the position of branch head of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and went to Blacksilver Snow Mountain in the northernmost part of Dragon Emperor Big Domain for ascetic cultivation, new immortal generals of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City made their own decisions.


    The banquets came to an end.


    Leng Manxue followed Huang Baimei away.


    Zhang Tie was not shocked by Leng Manxue''s decision. After joining Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for so many days, Zhang Tie had gradually known that the relationship between Leng Manxue and Huang Baimei was like that between master and disciple, between superior and subordinate and between foster father and adopted daughter. Therefore, it was nothing strange for Leng Manxue to follow Huang Baimei away.


    Huang Baimei was actually bidding farewell to them in Flyingdragon Manor. After that noon, Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue had already left Dragon Emperor City. Zhang Tie, Jiang Ruoxin, Ji Yuelan, Liu brothers and all the other immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Flyingdragon Manor went to the airport of Dragon Emperor City to see them off; even Zhou Baifei hurriedly came there from Dragon Emperor City out of courtesy.


    "Head Huang has already told me what you told him..." Leng Manxue took a complex look at Zhang Tie as she told him using his battle qi when the others were bidding farewell to Huang Baimei on one side before boarding the airboat.


    Zhang Tie just replied with a smile.


    "Is that true?"


    "It''s just a guess. The reality might not be like that!"


    "What if it''s true?"


    "I''m just a sha...water immortal general!" Zhang Tie hid his smile as he watched Leng Manxue seriously, "General Deacon Leng, do you feel a freshman of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace like me could change anything or win the trust of the public? Nobody is almighty. Each of us is just doing our own job well for our personal objective and dream. However, our dream might be trivial in this world, Head Huang, you and me, even the elders and grand justices of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Now that they''re in those positions, they''re not idiots. They should have already considered what they might face. Do you believe that some of them might have already realized what I''ve told Head Huang?"


    "Ah? But why..."


    "People could always tackle problems as long as they made necessary preparations for it. If someone was killed by demons coincidentally, doesn''t it mean that others would lack competitors? People of the other immortal palaces might have already realized it. However, as for the other immortal palaces, if Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace perishes, the entire Dragon Emperor Big Domain would be a big piece of fat, which is many times larger than that deserted by Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. On this occasion, the largest crisis facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would be neglected by people on purpose..." Zhang Tie''s reply was like an icy bloody saber which could even freeze the bright sunshine at noon.


    Leng Manxue suddenly heaved a sigh, saying, "Do you always doubt people in this way? After hearing your words, it''s already meaningless for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to exist."


    "Forgive me, I always carry the greatest hope for the bright side of humanity; however, I always stay alert about the dark side of humanity. As for those whom I''m not familiar with, I don''t regard them as benign and uncontentious persons who would like to sacrifice themselves for others'' sake!"


    "The brain disease and loss of memory thing is just a lie, right?"


    "Everyone has his own secret, Isn''t it?" Zhang Tie refuted Leng Manxue as he blinked his eyes.


    "Alas, I really wonder how did you hide your information in Motian Realm before. If not have checked your bloodline myself, I would even start to doubt that you''re a disguised demon!"


    "I''m not a benign and uncontentious person either; however, at least I''m not a bad guy. I''ve killed a lot of people and demons. However, I have never betrayed humans. Neither did I betray my friends and relatives. One should not impose on others what he himself does not desire. It''s what my parents taught me since I was young. I always bear it in mind..."


    ''One should not impose on others what he himself does not desire'', this classic proverb made Leng Manxue tremble slightly as she couldn''t help repeating it.


    "My dream is to avenge my parents one day. What about your dream? Don''t tell me that you want to be an immortal emperor. Each immortal general would like to be an immortal emperor. I''m asking what do you want to do after being an immortal emperor. Is it your secret?"


    "My dream is to...go back home!" Zhang Tie put it straight tenderly and emotionally, causing Leng Manxue dumbfounded at a stroke. However, given Zhang Tie''s voice, Leng Manxue could sense that Zhang Tie was not telling a lie.


    "Let''s go..." Huang Baimei came over here as he took a complex look at Zhang Tie and wanted to say something; however, he slightly shook his head and didn''t say it.


    After staying with Zhang Tie for so many days, Huang Baimei gradually felt that he couldn''t see through this person. As a result, he didn''t even know what to say to him before leaving.


    "Take care of yourselves..." Zhang Tie smiled as he waved his hand toward them.


    "Take care!"


    "Wish you could go back home earlier!" Leng Manxue finally told Zhang Tie using her battle qi.


    ...


    After a few minutes, watching the airboat flying off towards afar, Zhang Tie knew that this was the last union of all the immortal generals of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City. After today, the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City would disband completely. People here might not have the second chance to reunite with each other. They finally came to the crossroads.


    "Ahem ahem..." Zhou Baifei pretended to cough twice so as to attract the others'' attention after Huang Baimei''s leave. Watching them turning around at him, Zhou Baifei revealed a confident, reserved smile, saying, "I would have a drink with Brother Shaopeng, a disciple of Elder Shi of Immortal Generals Department today. Do you want to come with me? You could make new friends there. Immortal Generals Department is seeking for talents and recruiting new immortal generals. I''m sure Brother Shaopeng would be glad to see you all..."


    Zhou Baifei was roping in them directly. Being recommended by a disciple of an elder of Immortal Generals Department, an important agency of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Lu Tianqiang and Xun Zizhou were both moved to a certain degree.


    "Haha, thank you so much, Brother Zhou, I''m worried about that..." Lu Taiqiang said generously.


    "Hmm...this...this is great, great, thanks, thank you so much..." Xun Zizhou flattered Zhou Baifei as he peeped at Zhang Tie aside bashfully.


    "Wish you good luck, we will reunite when there''s a chance..." Zhang Tie told Lu Tianqiang and Xun Zizhou kindly. Ignoring Zhou Baifei, he directly walked towards the gate of the airport.


    Liu brothers threw a glance at Zhang Tie as they hurriedly caught up with Zhang Tie, ignoring Zhou Baifei.


    "What about you two..." Zhou Baifei smiled at Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan cordially.


    "Elder Luo who''s in charge of Earth Treasures Department is the only female among the five elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; additionally, the titles in Earth Treasures Department suit females better. We two have long dreamed about joining the Earth Treasures Department. As we''re going to take a look there today, we will not bother you!" Jiang Ruoxin explained to Zhou Baifei with a smile before leaving with Ji Yuelan.


    Jiang Ruoxin''s words fully considered Zhou Baifei''s feeling.


    The Church of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was composed of five major agencies, namely Immortal Generals Department, Supervision Department, Earth Treasures Department, Heavenly Craftsmen Department and Force Department. Earth Treasures Department was in charge of wealth and grains of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Elder Luo, the head of Earth Treasures Department was a female. Perhaps because of the same gender, Earth Treasures Department always treated female immortal generals well. As a result, Earth Treasures Department was full of beauties. It was the first choice of all the new female immortal generals. Therefore, Jiang Ruoxin''s words were not perfunctory.


    "Haha, if so, wish you good luck and hope you become the able subordinates of Elder Luo!" With a sudden stagnation, Zhou Baifei hurriedly smiled. Not until the two women left far away did Zhou Baifei throw a sharp glance at Zhang Tie.


    ...


    "You two want to join Earth Treasures Department?" Zhang Tie slowed down and asked them when Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan caught up with him from behind.


    "Sharp auditory sense..." Ji Yuelan peeped at Zhang Tie amorously as she let out a sigh gloomily, "Even if we want to join the Supervision Department together with you, nobody would recommend us!"


    "Nonsense!" Jiang Ruoxin became more sincere and easy-going in front of Zhang Tie. By contrast, she treated Zhou Baifei politely because she didn''t want to offend him. "Supervision doesn''t suit us. Earth Treasures Department is better. Besides nice compensation, we could have more chances to get extra element crystals over there. That''s why all female immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace like Earth Treasures Department!"


    "Extra element crystals? Is this the only reason?" Zhang Tie became stunned.


    "Of course, with more element crystals, we would make progress in cultivation faster. As immortal generals, element crystals are of great significance to us. If not for element crystals, who would like to work for others?" Ji Yuelan took it for granted, "Additionally, immortal generals in Earth Treasures Department barely fight demons. We''re relatively safer there. Earth Treasures Department has been our target since we joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. A couple of days ago, as Head Huang was with us, our future was bound to him. After Head Huang resigned, of course, we would make a choice. Do you think we''re snobbish?"


    "No, never!" Zhang Tie shook his head firmly.


    Since he mastered Purgatory Samsara Method, Zhang Tie''s cultivation base had improved fast. He didn''t worry about lacking element crystals anymore. Actually, he didn''t even need element crystals anymore. Not until he heard the two girls'' words did Zhang Tie realize that all the other immortal generals still took element crystals as the only source for them to make progress in cultivation. They could only gain element crystals from immortal palaces. Therefore, element crystals were more important for immortal generals. What he didn''t care about might be dreamed of by the others. Even Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan joined Earth Treasures Department for extra element crystals.


    "Are the element crystals that I gave you in Heavenly Square City enough?"


    "Although being a lot, they''re still far away from forming our chakras. Additionally, we have..." Ji Yuelan was instantly stopped by Jiang Ruoxin''s stern look.


    "Have what?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "It''s women''s stuff. You don''t need to understand it! I won''t say it!" Ji Yuelan smiled.


    "Well, I will not ask about it!" Zhang Tie smiled too. Like what he told Leng Manxue just now, each one had secrets, including Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan.


    "What about you? Where are you heading for?" Zhang Tie took a look at the Liu brothers.


    Liu brothers then became a bit bashful as if they felt sorry for Zhang Tie. After a few seconds'' silence, Liu Meng said, "Erm..previously, we two planned to follow you..."


    "Hahaha, well, I know you. I''m not presiding over the immortal palace. Otherwise, if I have chances, I would definitely have you follow me. The problem is that I''ve not found my own reliance yet. Even if you want to follow me, it''s not allowed in the immortal palace. What''s your plan..." after taking a look at them, Zhang Tie continued, "Tell me the truth!"


    "Erm...erm...we planned to...to join Military Department!" Liu Meng said as he scratched his head.


    "Military Department is in charge of military affairs in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. We learned that as long as we could make render meritorious service in this department, we would acquire a lot of powerful secret methods and battle skills..." Liu Yong added.


    Watching the two brothers, Zhang Tie heaved a sigh helplessly, saying, "Dragon Emperor has already disappeared for hundreds of years; Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is contracting its force; however, you think about joining Military Department at this moment?"


    "Erm...is there any problem?" Liu brothers asked out of curiosity after exchanging a glance with each other.


    The most powerful one in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had already disappeared. The entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had already shrunk to Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Therefore, the Military Department of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace which was in charge of expeditions was at an embarrassing point of time. Liu brothers'' stupid decision made Zhang Tie speechless. However, fortune favored fools. The Military Department of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace might least need to go on a punitive expedition since ever. Although it appeared dangerous joining the Military Department at this moment, it was not Liu brothers'' turn to be the scapegoats.


    After thinking about it for a few seconds, Zhang Tie told the two brothers, "Just take a try. But you''d better bear one thing in mind. Even if you''re enrolled in the Military Department, try your best to work outside the city!" After taking a look at Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan, he warned, "you too, you''d better not stay in Dragon Emperor City, either!"


    "Ahh? Why?" Ji Yuelan asked Zhang Tie out of curiosity.


    Zhang Tie directly repeated what he had told Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue, causing the four people to change their faces, "It''s just my personal judgment. Perhaps it won''t happen; however, once it happens, Dragon Emperor City where those elders stay in would be the most dangerous place. If something happens here, you two and Liu brothers might be involved. Therefore, you''d better leave Dragon Emperor City. The battle between high-end immortal generals is out of your imagination..."


    "What about you? Where are you heading for?" Liu brothers asked Zhang Tie out of concern.


    "Don''t care about me. If something really happens, I could protect myself. If possible, I want to stay in Dragon Emperor City..."


    "Ah? You want to stay?"


    "Haha, I want to see whether I could find a chance to get some benefits!" Zhang Tie shrugged.


    Liu brothers and the two women didn''t doubt Zhang Tie''s words as they knew that Zhang Tie was qualified to get some benefits when something really happened as was mentioned by Zhang Tie.


    They soon came out of the airport. In case of embarrassment, Zhou Baifei''s group left on the other side.


    There was a cross outside the airport. It was full of vehicles and passers-by while several sounds could be heard everywhere on the roadside, making it pretty boisterous.


    "Alright, you''d better go. It''s nice for you to ask around. It looks more sincere if you could be more active. It''s better than just waiting in Flyingdragon Manor..." Zhang Tie told the four people.


    "Aren''t you going there?" Liu Meng asked.


    "Before leaving, Head Huang recommended me to the Supervision Department. I''ve not received the news yet. I will wait for a while. No matter what, I''m free. If they forget about me for real, I will just settle in Apricot Blossom Village..." Zhang Tie said generously.


    As they were all straightforward, after hearing Zhang Tie''s words, they didn''t say anything anymore. Right outside the airport, they bade farewell to Zhang Tie.


    Watching the four heading for two different directions, Zhang Tie smiled as he walked towards another direction.


    "Uncle, do you want honey fruits? It''s made by my grandma. We plant the fruits. My grandpa raised the bees. It''s yummy. I enjoy eating it. Really..." Zhang Tie was stopped by a little girl with two black braids after walking a few meters forward. Watching Zhang Tie with her big and black eyes, the little girl was introducing honey fruits to Zhang Tie. On one side, there was a booth where a woman was selling various dried honey fruits in different colors such as red, yellow and white. Being packed in paper bags under silk cages, they were pretty attractive, giving out a sweet fragrance.


    At the sight of the woman, Zhang Tie had known that she was the little girl''s mother.


    The woman watched Zhang Tie with a smile, feeling sorry, saying, "Xiaoyun, come here, just stand on the roadside, don''t get in the way of this uncle..."


    "It''s fine; it''s fine. Coincidentally, I''m hungry. I''m looking for food!" Zhang Tie replied as he picked two bags of honey fruits, asking, "How much?"


    "Oh, one white crystal per bag!" the little girl replied immediately before her mother.


    Zhang Tie then took out two white crystals. Touching the little girl''s head, he gave two white crystals to the woman. After that, he kept one bag and gave the other to the little girl, saying, "Take it, you''re my guest!"


    "Ah, you don''t have to do it, sir; you don''t have to do it..." the woman urged as she hurriedly returned one white crystal to Zhang Tie.


    "It''s fine. Your daughter is cute. I just want to invite her for a bag of honey fruits. Your daughter reminds me of my childhood. When I was young, my mother sold rice brew when she enjoyed eating it too..." Zhang Tie explained as he shook his head. Without taking the money, he walked away hurriedly. As a result, the woman couldn''t even catch up with him.


    "Ah, Xiaoyun, quick, say thanks to your uncle..."


    "Thanks, uncle!"


    After walking far away, Zhang Tie turned around as he put one honey fruit into his mouth; then, he thumbed up towards the little girl and gave a sweet smile to her. The little girl smiled at a stroke, squinting her eyes into crescent moons.


    "Mom, could I eat it?" the little girl turned around as she asked her mother.


    "Yes..." the woman said as she found Zhang Tie had already disappeared among the people.


    After opening the paper bag, the little girl immediately picked a honey fruit and put it into her mouth. The sour and sweet taste made her drool at a stroke. She then took a stool and sat beside her mother, starting to enjoy that bag of honey fruits...


    After a few minutes, when the little girl put her hand into the paper bag, she suddenly revealed a strange look, saying, "Ahh, what''s that?"


    As the little girl took her hand out of the paper bag, she was holding a blue crystal coin; instead of a honey fruit. Blinking her eyes, she gave the blue crystal coin to her mother who had just sold one more bag of honey fruits.


    Her mother was startled by the blue crystal coin at a stroke as she hurriedly pulled the little girl into her arms, saying, "Ah, Xiaoyun, where did you get it? Did you pick it on the road? Have you seen who dropped it? Quick, tell me, we have to give it back to him..."


    "I didn''t pick it up; I took it out of the paper bag. Why this crystal coin is blue. I''ve never seen it before..." the little girl said as she gave her paper bag to her mother.


    The woman looked into the paper bag as she saw 7-8 more blue crystal coins among the rest honey fruits. As a result, she held her breath unconsciously.


    As for her family, these blue crystal coins were astronomical wealth. One blue crystal coin was equal to 100 purple crystal coins. Their family could at most make 20-30 purple crystal coins a year by selling honey fruits in Dragon Emperor City for one year.


    The woman immediately recalled Zhang Tie who bought their honey fruits just now. Nobody else touched this bag of honey fruits besides Zhang Tie.


    After looking left and right, the woman whispered to her daughter as she hurriedly put away the paper bag and the blue crystal coin.


    She had not imagined that their family could meet such a good person in Dragon Emperor City today...


    ...


    Eating honey fruits, Zhang Tie wandered in the bustling streets. The little girl indeed reminded him of his childhood. Therefore, he couldn''t help adding some blue crystal coins in the little girl''s paper bag.


    The honey fruits tasted pretty good. However, a whim suddenly occurred to him when Zhang Tie watched the crowd in the street.


    ¡ª¡ªF*ck, if Dragon Emperor City really becomes the battlefield between sage-level knights and semi-sage knights; if demon powerhouses really choose to start the war inside Dragon Emperor City, how many commoners here would be killed or wounded?


    Zhang Tie was transfixed at a stroke.


    "Brother Ying, long time no see. I''ve not imagined that we two could encounter once again..."


    "Yup, it''s been more than 80 years since we departed from each other in Mountain Ruins!"


    "Brother Ying, I wonder what are you here for..."


    "Young brother, you know that. Of course, I came here for the same purpose as you. It''s not clarified on the reward list of the Emperor NvWa Palace that we have to decapitate fire demon immortal generals in Mountain Ruins or demon realm..."


    "Hahaha, I see. Brother Ying, you''re really well-informed..."


    "Hehheh, I''m lucky. If we ambush here, it''s always much safer than fighting demons in Mountain Ruins. Even if we got nothing in the end, we won''t lose anything. Right?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t want to eavesdrop it; however, when he was in a daze in the street, he "coincidentally" heard the secret talk between two people in a boite in a lane 100 m ahead...

 1695 A Big Be

    Zhang Tie didn''t mean to eavesdrop it; nor did he extend his spiritual energy towards that place on purpose. However, with the "overflow" effect of his strong spiritual energy, he could easily sense any sound or wave in the air within hundreds of meters.


    On this occasion, Zhang Tie could receive enormous information. To put it simply, the total amount of information that poured into his ears per second could make commoners feel dizzy and crazy.


    Imagine how you would feel if you could hear the talks of hundreds of people, twitters of hundreds of insects, birds, cockcroaches, rats and fleas, intestines wriggling, blood running in blood vessels, hearts beating, earthworm creeping in earth, worms chewing the fibers of twigs and sucking juice of leaves, rats mating, birds'' feathers plucking in the air, fleas moving in animals'' furs, fish bubbling at the bottom of river per second incessantly. That was how Zhang Tie felt spiritually on that occasion.


    Zhang Tie was also fed up with that ability before; however, he soon found the solution¡ª¡ªfiltration. It was humans'' instinct. Even though it was full of people, as long as he focused on one person, all the surrounding sounds would be ignored and filtered out. As a result, Zhang Tie could keep the most important information. After a new round of evolution of his spiritual energy, Zhang Tie could use his spiritual energy to do many things with a greater filtering capability.


    After filtering all the information in his surroundings spiritually, Zhang Tie could frankly face this colorful world.


    After that, Zhang Tie only paid attention to some special sounds while all the others sounded nothing different than that in the ears of commoners.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie could hear the secret talks between knights.


    After hearing that voice, Zhang Tie''s heart raced. He then continued to walk forward and came to a teahouse on the roadside over 100 m away from the lane where the voice originated from. He entered a private room. While taking tea and honey fruits leisurely, he paid attention to the two mysterious "guests" in that boite.


    With the effect of his strong spiritual energy and lotus-flower eyes, the 100 m longer distance and the thick walls were as transparent as a piece of glass.


    The lane was called octagonal lane. It was only a bit wider than 2 m. There were so many small stores on both sides of the lane, selling fruits, tea, pastries, daily needs, shoes, hats and clothes, scissors, chopping blocks, wood tools and furniture. They were all commoners, who sold things and lived there. They chatted with neighbors while doing their jobs leisurely.


    At the end of the octagonal lane, there was a small boite called Yuean Boite. As lunchtime had passed, it was pretty empty inside it. A waiter and a cook were sitting outside the gate, bathing the sunlight while the boss was going through the account books behind the counter. Some tables on the first floor were empty. Only two guests were drinking in a private table isolated by screens on the second floor.


    "Xiao Gao, go ask guests what else do they need..."


    The boss called, as the waiter who was peeping at the plump widow Zhao in the tailor shop in the opposite hurriedly ran upstairs. After a short while, he came downstairs and served one flagon of liquor upstairs. Then, he ran downstairs again, saying, "Boss, they said it''s enough. They don''t want me to disturb them anymore. They want to have a private talk..."


    The boss waved his hand as the waiter hurriedly ran to the doorway and continued to peep at widow Zhao.


    On the 2nd floor, two commoners were sitting at a small table and proposing toasts to each other, one in green, the other in black as if they were old friends. There was not exotic food on the table, but some common dishes and two flagons of liquor.


    "Come on, Brother Zhao, finish it up..."


    "Brother Li, one more!"


    "Hahaha, I''ve not imagined that we could meet each other in Dragon Emperor City. It''s God''s will..."


    "Yeah..."


    "Brother Li, how do you do lately?"


    "It''s hard to say, I feel sweet and bitter..."


    Their talk faintly went downstairs, which sounded normal. Dragon Emperor City was the most prosperous city in Dragon Emperor Big Domain. These days, at least 300,000 to 500,000 people were seeking for opportunities in Dragon Emperor City.


    However, Zhang Tie was watching and hearing an utterly different talk in his eyes and ears.


    "Brother Ying, I''ve not heard about you for long. How long have you stayed in Dragon Emperor City..."


    "Only four years!"


    "Brother Ying, do you really prepare to stay here for long?"


    "Why not? I rented a house in Dragon Emperor City where I could cultivate. By contrast, wandering across the world is no better than waiting here for opportunities. I could even wait for four decades here, not to mention four years..."


    The one being called Brother Ying was the guy in green. With a big belly, he had whiskers. Although being a bit dark-faced, he looked sagacious as if he was an overambitious businessman. However, in Zhang Tie''s lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie saw a dreamlike fog under his face, where an utterly different face was looming. He was not wearing an ordinary disguising mask; neither was it a body-changing immortal bloodline; instead, it was an unknown marvelous disguising method.


    The other in black was in grey hair and wrinkles who looked humble with a meticulous smile just like a rural teacher. Also, there was a fantastic fog under his face, where lay another utterly different face.


    Given their superficial looks, they were both below LV 13. That one in green was a bit more powerful.


    In fact, the two people purposefully hid their true levels. Even Zhang Tie could see through their real levels. Whereas, given their talk, Zhang Tie realized that they were at least heavenly knights because those who could enter Mountain Ruins were at least heavenly knights. As they had met each other in Mountain Ruins 80 years ago, they might be higher than heavenly knights. Given the fact that they dared to seek for opportunities in Dragon Emperor City, they must be higher than semi-sage level knights or sage-level knights.


    One part of their talk was especially for people downstairs which sounded trivial while the other part was for themselves, which sounded a bit terrifying.


    The two people could never imagine that there was an abnormal person like Zhang Tie in this world. Even though they were chatting using battle qi in such a secret place, their "talk" was still discovered by Zhang Tie when he passed by in the distance. He could even eavesdrop their secret talk. That was really abnormal!


    Zhang Tie soon verified that the two people were all sage-level knights through their talk.


    "Brother Ying, when I saw you in Mountain Ruins last time, you were already a supreme immortal general. I thought you might have long found your own immortal palace. Why didn''t you..."


    "If not taste the Nine Heavens Immortal Spring in the core of Mountain Ruins, it''s meaningless for me to found an immortal palace. Even so, I still couldn''t find the way to promote to an immortal emperor..." the one being called Brother Ying said as he bottomed up with emotions.


    "Even though you didn''t drink Nine Heavens Immortal Spring, you could also found an immortal palace so as to prepare for the next plan. It''s only a few years left since the Mountain Ruins opens next time..."


    "Hahaha, young brother, you know, I couldn''t find a place to found an immortal palace among the big domains and middle domains occupied by humans in Motian Realm at all!" His voice was full of frustrations; additionally, it sounded a bit unsatisfied. "Over these years, the 3 emperor-level immortal palaces and 14 supreme immortal generals'' immortal palaces have already shared all the possible regions. On this occasion, it''s meaningless for me to persuade some small clans and occupy 3-5 cities. Even if I could drink Nine Heavens Immortal Spring, it''s still far away from promoting to an immortal emperor!"


    "I see. It turns out that Brother Ying has more than one purpose in Dragon Emperor City. If Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace collapses, Brother Ying, you could raise your arms and gather an army immediately. By then, you could found your immortal palace in Dragon Emperor Big Domain. That''s a good plan! That''s a good plan..."


    "More than one person has the same plan. The five elders and the two grand justices of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace are all average ones. Many powerhouses who couldn''t establish their immortal palaces after promoting to supreme immortal generals like me are also gazing at the situation facing Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Perhaps I''m not the only supreme immortal general in Dragon Emperor City. Look, even young brother, a powerhouse who has long joined Force Emperor Immortal Palace as a grand justice is here too. Young brother, I wonder whether Emperor Force is here?" the one being called Brother Ying asked tentatively.


    "If His Majesty does everything himself, what would we do?" the one in black sighed with moods as he said ambiguously, "Additionally, Brother Ying, I really couldn''t answer you. His Majesty always takes action secretly. Perhaps His Majesty is not here today, but His Majesty might come tomorrow. Conversely, perhaps His Majesty is here today; but His Majesty might leave here tomorrow. The targets of His Majesty are some demon emperors. If demon emperors don''t show up, how could His Majesty show up? Although Dragon Emperor Big Domain is important, it''s not our foundation..."


    "I see, hopefully young brother and I don''t meet each other on the battlefield. Come on, cheers..."


    The two people then cheered as they bottomed up the glass of wine again.


    "Brother Ying, you must be kidding. More powerhouses are casting covetous eyes on Dragon Emperor Big Domain and Dragon Emperor City, not only the two of us. The powerhouses of the other immortal palaces might have long lurked in Dragon Emperor City. If we two fight each other, neither of us could gain any benefit. Emperor Force is ambitious, wise and generous, who usually appreciates you. If Brother Ying would like to join Force Emperor Immortal Palace one day, I guarantee Brother Ying''s title would not be lower than mine. If Brother Ying could make meritorious deeds for Force Emperor Immortal Palace and gain popularity among people in Force Emperor Immortal Palace, you might have a chance to promote to an immortal emperor. This way might be easier than you founding an immortal palace yourself..."


    "Ohh? Would Emperor Force like to share the brilliance of his immortal palace with his subordinates?"


    "If not, why am I still in Force Emperor Immortal Palace? After Mountain Ruins opens, if I could drink immortal spring, His Majesty promises to allocate 20 cities and 30 million population to me as the assets for me to promote to an immortal emperor. If I could make greater meritorious deeds, I could share more profits. Brother Ying, think about it..."


    The one in green became silent at a stroke. Zhang Tie sensed that person became a bit moved, who replied, "Well, let me think about it..."


    "Brother Ying, as I could fight shoulder to shoulder with you in Mountain Ruins and meet you here again, I feel complex. I have one tip for you!"


    "Go ahead!"


    "In the final analysis, Dragon Emperor City is just a bet about the rise or fall of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, one of the three emperor-level immortal palaces. Demons might not know that we''re preventing demons from destroying Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Even the elders and grand justices of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace don''t know that they''re trapped in it. We''re just betting with different purposes. Although Force Emperor Immortal Palace won''t do it; it doesn''t mean that other immortal palaces would not do it. In someone''s eyes, Dragon Emperor Big Domain is a piece of fat. Now that Brother Ying wants to join it, you''re regarded as grabbing food from tigers'' mouths or taking chestnuts from fire by others. Brother Ying, bear it in mind, there''s still a long way to go. Never lose your life in Dragon Emperor Big Domain..." the one in black said with moods.


    "Thank you so much..."


    ...


    A few minutes later, the two sage-level knights finished their talk as they went downstairs while drunk. They then separated from each other at the entrance of the lane.


    However, the two people didn''t know that a tracing feather had been attached to their soles respectively when they left the boite.


    Zhang Tie was still drinking in the teahouse. Not until then did he realize that Dragon Emperor City was a dangerous swirl full of baits, which attracted many unexpected figures...


    A sage-level knight should have waited in Dragon Emperor City for a few years.


    Real knights were all something. What Zhang Tie had thought about might have been hit by someone else, who had long been preparing for that.


    After sitting there for a few more minutes, when the two sage-level knights had left far away, Zhang Tie checked out and went downstairs. From a few streets away, he slowly followed that one in green as he wanted to know where he lived...


    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had "seen" the one in green buy a small pack of cheap sugar. After that, he continued to move forward. Over 20 minutes later, that one in green negotiated into another lane.


    "Uncle Zhao, you''re back; Uncle Zhao is back..." A lot of kids swarmed up to take sugar when they saw the pack of sugar in the hand of the one in green.


    "Easy, easy, everyone has a share; everyone has a share, hahaha..." The one in green burst into laughter as he distributed the pack of sugar to those kids.


    "Ah, Uncle Zhao, I smell alcohol from you; you must have been drinking..." a kid sniffed the one in green as he said.


    "You''re a kid, you''d better not care about adults'' affairs. I met an old friend and had some drinks with him. Did anyone enter my room and make it messy when I was absent?"


    "Nobody. We watched it for you, uncle..." those kids answered in unison.


    "That''s great; that''s great..." the one in green said as he took out a key and unlocked a small house.


    After knowing where the one in green lived, Zhang Tie immediately turned around from a few blocks away as he walked towards the one in black.


    Two hours later, Zhang Tie strode to the avenue where a rich family lived in the east of Dragon Emperor City. After watching the location of Zhu Mansion two blocks away, Zhang Tie left. Within Zhu Mansion, the one in black was listening to the butler in the accountant''s office.


    Who could imagine that two sage-level knights were lurking in Dragon Emperor City in this way? There were definitely more powerhouses lurking in Dragon Emperor City. It was a coincidence for Zhang Tie to discover the two of them today. It was not that easy for him to find other disguising powerhouses in Dragon Emperor City. After all, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy was not almighty. If he didn''t have specific targets or directions, he could barely find more powerhouses in Dragon Emperor City and in the surroundings only by his spiritual energy.


    ''It''s becoming more and more interesting in Dragon Emperor City.'' Zhang Tie thought as he stroked his jaw.


    Zhang Tie wandered in Dragon Emperor City until the night had fallen. He then prepared to return to Flyingdragon Manor.


    After making a turn on the avenue and walking forward for a few minutes, Zhang Tie negotiated it where he crashed a group of people at the entrance of a top-level boite.


    When he saw Zhou Baifei, Lu Tianqiang and Xun Zizhou, Zhang Tie became slightly stunned; so did Zhou Baifei and the others.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could meet them here after following up that man in black to the east of Dragon Emperor City. What a coincidence! However, as the east of Dragon Emperor City always gathered dignitaries, of course, the boite was top level in Dragon Emperor City. Therefore, It was normal to see Zhou Baifei''s group here.


    "What a coincidence..." Zhang Tie greeted them with a smile and pretended to pass by. He didn''t want to say too much in case of trouble.


    However, when Zhang Tie passed by, a shrewd light suddenly flashed across Zhou Baifei''s eyes as he suddenly opened his mouth, "Zhang Tie, you don''t need to do that. Just now, I invited you to come with us for a drink; you declined it. But why did you follow us three here? Do you want to know whom we''re drinking with? I want to know why do you behave so stealthily..."


    Zhang Tie had already passed by them; however, Zhou Baifei''s words stopped him at once as he slowly turned around...


    "What did you say?"

 1696 As Fast As a Fierce Tiger

    "Isn''t it? Don''t disguise anymore. If you''re not following us, how could we encounter here since we separated from the airport in the afternoon." Zhou Baifei watched Zhang Tie as he said without any fear, "When I invited you this afternoon, you refused it disdainfully. However, you''re pretending to encounter us here coincidentally now. Why''d you do that? Your strategy is really strange!"


    Zhou Baifei criticized Zhang Tie straightforwardly by adding the trimmings when Lu Tianqiang and Xun Zizhou felt he was a bit...a bit radical. However, after hearing Zhou Baifei''s words, all the others who saw Zhang Tie first instantly fixated onto Zhang Tie with inspective eyes.


    Those with Zhou Baifei were all immortal generals. Besides Zhou Baifei, Lu Tianqiang and Xun Zizhou, there were 7 more. 2 of the 7 people had the greatest qi fields. One of them was as old as Zhou Baifei. In a blue garment, there were dragon patterns of six silver threads on this earth immortal general''s wristbands. Being similar to Zhou Baifei, this one was also like a playboy. However, his eyes were slimmer which seemed that he was tricky. This young man revealed a sense of superiority all over. Although pretending to be reserved superficially, he was full of aggressive arrogance deep inside.


    The other one was a bit elder. Being short, fat and sturdy, this one looked stable and experienced, a water immortal general. He was the most powerful one among the 10 people.


    Besides, all the other 5 were fierce immortal generals, two males and three females.


    Zhang Tie finally understood that Zhou Baifei was seizing the opportunity to make him embarrassed today. ''It''s not a misunderstanding; instead, he''s absolutely finding me trouble. He wants to ruin my reputation in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace today. What a vicious man!''


    ''If what happens today is spread to the public by these people at present, I would become a vicious two-sided man among people in Dragon Emperor City. My future would be ruined in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.''


    ''He''s killing me invisibly.''


    ''Perhaps Zhou Baifei has long thought about many means to avenge and strike me for many times these days. Otherwise, he couldn''t make such a decision in such a short period of time.''


    After hearing Zhou Baifei''s words, Zhang Tie noticed that he threw a quick glimpse at the most powerful one on his side with a vicious look.


    ''I''ve not met such a vicious person for long. However, Zhou Baifei made a big mistake if he thought that I could only argue with him here instead of beating him.''


    ''An ant always knows what an elephant is thinking about in front of a pit. Isn''t it ridiculous?''


    In front of absolute power, the so-called trick was just sh*t.


    Zhang Tie suddenly revealed a smile; then, he burst out laughing wildly which was ear-deafening as he watched the 10 people looking at each other in a daze. As a result, more passers-by in the street were attracted by them.


    "What are you laughing at? Young brother Baifei''s words are reasonable!" the one in blue garment asked Zhang Tie in a commanding manner all of a sudden as he watched Zhang Tie distantly.


    Even though Zhou Baifei didn''t introduce him to Zhang Tie, given his qi field among the group of 10 and Zhou Baifei''s stealthy glimpse, Zhang Tie had known that he might be the disciple of Elder Shi of Immortal Generals Department of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Brother "Shaopeng" whom Zhou Baifei had talked about for more than once.


    The lowest rank in front of the gate of prime minister was Class VII. As the disciple of an elder of Immortal Generals Department who had a great say in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and an earth knight, he had an infinitely bright future. Of course, his identity couldn''t be matched by the common immortal generals.


    However, how could he frighten Zhang Tie at this moment? Zhang Tie didn''t even fear Elder Shi, not to mention his disciple.


    Zhang Tie didn''t even take a look at the overbearing Brother "Shaopeng" as if he didn''t exist; instead, he just watched Zhou Baifei quietly, causing goosebumps all over him. Suddenly, Zhang Tie spat towards the ground. After that, he pointed at his saliva and said something that made everyone at present change their faces and dumbfounded.


    "Here''s my saliva. Take it for what you said just now. If you climb over here and clean it using your mouth and kowtow in front of me for 10 times loudly, I will apologize to you..."


    "What?" "Brother Shaopeng" instantly changed his face as he replied, "Audacious, how could you be so rude..."


    "Shut up!" Zhang Tie pointed at that disciple of Elder Shi as he roared which could be heard from 6 miles away, "Who the hell are you? How dare you interrupt me? Didn''t your master tell you that an inferior immortal general couldn''t interrupt a superior immortal general? I''m an immortal general with dragon pattern of seven silver threads, how dare you shout at me? Audacious! Who taught you? Piss off! If you dare utter a single word, I will slap you..."


    Everyone at present was transfixed. Nobody could imagine that this innocent young man at his 17''s could lose his temper in such an overwhelming way, the 9 immortal generals with Zhou Baifei or those onlookers.


    Zhang Tie''s words were overbearing as he directly flushed off Zhou Baifei''s frame. How could a person who wasn''t even scared of Elder Shi follow Zhou Baifei and play tricks in order to get acquainted with the disciple of Elder Shi for a higher level? Wasn''t he insane?


    "You..."


    The face of that disciple of Elder Shi had turned purple. He had not met a person like Zhang Tie. Even though immortal generals should not be irritated easily, Zhang Tie''s words instantly drove him mad as he forgot about his master''s warning in a split second...


    Soon after the word "You", Zhang Tie had disappeared from his original place as a stern light flashed across his eyes.


    "Watch out..." the stable and experienced water immortal palace instantly changed his face as he broke out of the crowd.


    With a loud sound "boom...", a strong qi broke out in the street. Before the others saw it clearly, the short, fat and sturdy man had been sent flying backward like a leather ball being hit by a stick. Before that disciple of Elder Shi realized what happened, he had been forcefully slapped by Zhang Tie in an overwhelming manner.


    Under the gaze of everyone else, the disciple of Elder Shi spurted out blood and many teeth as he rolled dozens of circles in the air like a kite with a broken line. After making a series of difficult movements, he fell on the ground over 30 m away.


    At the same time, Zhou Baifei''s neck was grabbed by Zhang Tie. Closely after that, Zhang Tie pressed his neck and pounded him onto the ground brutally, causing many greenstones broken, a pit on the ground and the sounds of broken bones at once.


    Zhang Tie was as ferocious and brutal as a tiger.


    Everyone at present was shocked by Zhang Tie''s lightning movements, including Zhou Baifei. He didn''t even spare half a second to them. He even dared slap the disciple of Elder Shi.


    Zhang Tie was so fast that he didn''t even spare a chance for them to release their battle qis. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had sent flying a water immortal general away, slapped talkative earth immortal general and forcefully pounded Zhou Baifei onto the ground.


    "Ah, what are you doing..."


    All the other immortal generals with Zhou Baifei finally realized what was happening as they hurriedly slipped away. At the same time, some of them released their battle qi smokes without demur. In a split second, the entire Dragon Emperor City was shocked.


    At this moment, Lu Tianqiang and Xun Zizhou were transfixed. They finally knew that Zhang Tie was not kind to any one.


    Only after throwing a glance at those immortal generals who released their battle qis cursorily, Zhang Tie had stretched out a hand as he drew one foot of Zhou Baifei towards where he stood just now like dragging a dead dog.


    Zhou Baifei screamed miserably as his face was full of blood. Given Zhang Tie''s distant look, he was like a demon butcher. However, Zhou Baifei became an animal being dragged into the slaughterhouse as he struggled in vain, shouting, "Ah, what are you doing? Let me go...let me go..."


    Zhang Tie turned around as he stomped onto his belly. As a result, Zhou Baifei''s eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets. While struggling, he kept pouring out yellowish green bitter liquid.


    After that, Zhang Tie drew Zhou Baifei to the place where he spat his saliva, saying emotionlessly, "Clean it with your mouth..."


    "No way..."


    With a sound of broken bones, Zhou Baifei''s one foot was broken.


    "Ahh..." Zhou Baifei shrieked miserably again.


    "Clean it..."


    "You..."


    Before he finished his words, Zhang Tie had stomped onto his face, pressing his nose and mouth onto the saliva where he had spat.


    Watching such a distant and overbearing person, all the others quivered...


    ...


    In two minutes, the immortal generals of Supervision Department had arrived here when they saw a disciple of Elder Shi in a coma, a water immortal general who protected him and some other immortal generals who dared not move forward. Everyone was looking at an innocent young man at his 17''s who was still stomping onto one person''s face, causing him froth at the mouth, despite his face had become deformed.


    "Stop, what''s happening..." One immortal general of Supervision Department roared as he drew a sword out of his sheath...


    ...


    In less than half an hour, the news that Ruan Shaopeng the disciple of Elder Shi was slapped on the street by a new immortal general of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had spread across the city, shocking everyone in Dragon Emperor City...

 1697 Detention

    At night, Supervision Department, Dragon Emperor City.


    Elder Xiang who was in charge of Supervision Department of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was listening to the report of a trusted subordinate in an attic.


    "You mean...those battle qi smokes didn''t arouse any trouble?"


    As one of the five elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Elder Xia Yangming had grey hair and black eyebrows, who didn''t look old. At this moment, he was sipping a simple green porridge as supper when he asked what happened just now calmly.


    "Those immortal generals who released battle qi smokes were all fresh. They were all shocked by Zhang Tie at that moment. Although they had released their battle qi smokes, they dared not approach Zhang Tie at all; neither did Zhang Tie continue to find them trouble. When our men arrived there, they were fine..." a person replied. As the trusted subordinate of Elder Xia, he was in a black robe with a golden dragon pattern of two threads at his wristbands. Given his costume, he could almost be unrivaled in Dragon Emperor Big Domain.


    "It''s Dragon Emperor City, how dare they release battle qi smokes here?" Xia Yangming said as he sipped his porridge without even looking up, "Fresh immortal generals are too silly and reckless. They need practice. How do you plan to deal with them..."


    "As those immortal generals have just joined Immortal Generals Department and were with the disciples of Elder Shi at that moment, this humble man especially came here for your order."


    "Hmm, given Immortal Generals Department and Elder Shi, don''t make those immortal generals who released battle qi smokes embarrassed. Just put them in jail for a week and set them free..."


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Oh, and you said that man called...Zhang Tie...it sounds familiar..."


    "Elder, as you hear a lot of new immortal generals a day, you might not remember it. Zhang Tie is the same person that Huang Baimei recommended to you before he left..."


    "The same person?" Xia Yangming slowed down his movement as he looked up, asking out of amazement.


    "Yes, the same person. He''s just joined the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City for a short period of time. Previously, elder arranged me to meet him in Flyingdragon Manor tomorrow; it seems that I don''t need to go there now..." the subordinate immortal general said with a smile.


    "Hoho, this man is funny. He''s bold and has great battle strength. He even sent a water immortal general flying away and defeated two earth immortal generals in the blink of an eye! Not bad!"


    "Mainly because those people didn''t imagine that Zhang Tie could attack them. Therefore, it was not difficult for him to defeat one water immortal general and two earth immortal generals. The water immortal general who was sent flying away had just been roped in by Elder Shi. That person is fine. He was just sent flying away by Zhang Tie''s great physical strength..." the reporter said as he asked in a low voice after a short silence, "I wonder how will you deal with Zhang Tie?"


    "Deal with? Why?" Elder Xia who was in charge of Supervision Department of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace put down his green porridge as he asked meaningfully.


    "But Elder Shi..."


    "No matter how Elder Shi thinks about it, he could not make Zhang Tie embarrassed in the public. By contrast, his disciple would be condemned for real..."


    The reporter became stunned for a second as he replied, "Ahh? But why..."


    "In Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, earth immortal general who''s not in charge of supervision is never allowed to offend a water immortal general. Zhang Tie''s slap is not bad. If Elder Shi is not silly enough, he would not speak for his disciple on this issue. No matter what, he has to bear it!"


    "I see, so we set Zhang free then..."


    "How do we punish immortal generals when they start a brawl in Dragon Emperor City?"


    "It depends. Put him in jail for 3 days at least or punish him to death in the worst scenario!"


    "Put him in jail for 3 days then!" Elder Xia said calmly as he added, "Three days later, go meet him and ask whether does he want to join Supervision Department or not!"


    "Ahh, patrolling inspector?"


    "No, the supervisor of Dragon Emperor Pavilion!" Elder Xia replied as he took a look at the subordinate, repeating, "Supervisor of Dragon Emperor Pavilion!"


    "Supervisor of Dragon Emperor Pavilion?" The reporter confirmed it with a dumbfounded look as this title was too humble instead of being too senior and profitable. He had not imagined that Elder Xia could arrange some a humble title to Zhang Tie as he appreciated Zhang Tie so much just now.


    "We should consider the feeling of Elder Shi. Don''t pour oil on the fire. Zhang Tie is a bit wild. He doesn''t even care about the disciples of Elder Shi. After being honed, he would become useful for us in the future!"


    "I see. But what if Zhang Tie doesn''t agree..."


    "He doesn''t have a say in it. If he dislikes, I will send a transfer order to him. Now, who else would like to offend Immortal Generals Department for him except us?"


    "There''s one more thing..."


    "Please go ahead, elder..."


    As a shrewd light flashed across Elder Xia''s eyes, he said, "Go through Zhou Baifei''s background..."


    ...


    The prison of Supervision Department was not as wet and dark as Zhang Tie could imagine; instead, it was pretty clean.


    When he was brought here by some immortal generals of the Supervision Department, Zhang Tie didn''t oppose them; instead, he coordinated with them pretty well. Five fierce immortal generals were also put in the same jail right beside Zhang Tie''s cell.


    When those immortal generals left, Zhang Tie immediately sat on the bed with crossed feet as he started to extend his spiritual energy into the sky limitlessly, trying to gather the two bizarre energies in the void as fast as possible.


    Starting from Heavenly Square City, Zhang Tie had made great progress with constant efforts and found the secret to improve this ability. As a result, he could gather the two energies in the void at an increasingly higher speed.


    In the beginning, it would take Zhang Tie 10 minutes to gather the two bizarre energies and made them as powerful as the most powerful kinetic strike that he could launch; now, he only needed five minutes. However, it was not Zhang Tie''s ultimate target. Zhang Tie intended to accomplish this process in a few seconds. He''d better complete it in a split second. Given the equivalent power, if it would take him a long time to gather the two energies in the void than to release his kinetic strike, it would be meaningless for him.


    As long as he could realize it, he would study how to use it in real combat. Zhang Tie had already got some preliminary plans about applying it in real combats. However, he still needed to further explore it...


    Three days passed while Zhang Tie was in silent cultivation...

 1698 Director Zhang

    The unlocking sound of the door aroused Zhang Tie''s attention as he instantly let go of the two bizarre energies that he had tried to gather for many times.


    After that, Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he saw the two immortal generals of the Supervision Department who brought him here three days ago.


    "Zhang Tie, you could leave now!" one of the two immortal generals said politely with a smile. Both of them looked peaceful.


    During the past three days, although Zhang Tie was in the cell, he was crystal clear about what had happened in Dragon Emperor City. During this short period of time, Zhang Tie would travel across those top boites in Dragon Emperor City at supper time spiritually and listen to what immortal generals were talking about at the table.


    Zhang Tie used "spiritual travel" to describe his special ability¡ª¡ªtravel across the neighborhood using his spiritual energy and observe everything silently. Being very vivid, this name became a new trump card of Zhang Tie.


    Ruan Shaopeng the disciple of Elder Shi was denounced by Elder Shi in front of the others in Immortal Generals Department and was forced to enter secluded cultivation for reflection for one year.


    As the culprit of this event, before fully recovering his wounds, Zhou Baifei had been allocated to a humble job outside Dragon Emperor City, staff in a small place called Baian City in the west of Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Therefore, Zhou Baifei''s future in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was almost ruined.


    In this event, the greatest beneficiary became Zhang Tie. Zhou Baifei might never imagine about this result.


    These days, Zhang Tie''s name had been spread across Dragon Emperor City along with the news that a new immortal general of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace slapped a disciple of one of the five elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and made him pass out in the street. Even commoners in Dragon Emperor City knew that. Therefore, Zhang Tie had become the most famous one among the new immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    In this event, Zhang Tie''s image in the eyes of the public was not bad. He was domineering and flamboyant with integrity. Many immortal generals were speaking highly of him in boites.


    The others were not influenced too much in this event.


    Zhang Tie knew that Lu Tianqiang and Xun Zizhou were received by Elder Shi in the Immortal Generals Department. Elder Shi asked them some questions about Zhang Tie and they replied honestly. After they left, the Immortal Generals Department adopted them by delivering transfer orders to them. Lu Tianqiang and Xun Zizhou were neither put in important positions nor neglected. Actually, their jobs were better than Zhou Baifei. After being trained in Dragon Emperor City for a period of time, they would be dispatched to their positions outside the city.


    ...


    After being told that he could leave here now, Zhang Tie got off the bed calmly. After flicking his clothes, he nodded at the two immortal generals of the Supervision Department, saying, "Thank you..." After that, Zhang Tie walked out of the cell calmly.


    The other 5 immortal generals who were "invited" in together with Zhang Tie on his sides were goggling at Zhang Tie as they had not imagined that Zhang Tie could leave here earlier than them.


    "Ah, why did he leave here? It was he who started the brawl that day..." an immortal general in the cell complained loudly.


    "Shut up. You are really shameless! Don''t you know how big trouble has been made because of your battle qi smokes? If not out of the respect of Elder Shi, you should have been fiercely beaten..." The immortal general who smiled at Zhang Tie just now instantly turned solemn as he started to denounce them. As a result, all the 5 immortal generals became silent.


    "See you..." Zhang Tie smiled at the 5 immortal generals as he walked out of the prison under their gaze.


    ...


    The immortal generals led Zhang Tie to a parlor above ground, Zhang Tie met Guo Zhengxian the president of the Supervision Department of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    "President Guo..." Zhang Tie immediately greeted him after taking a look at the dragons in two golden threads on his sleeves as the two immortal generals of the Supervision Department had long told him about this person''s identity.


    He was slightly fat at his 50''s and looked kind. Given his look, perhaps very few people could imagine that he was an influential figure in the Supervision Department, a wind immortal general who was pretty favored by Elder Xia.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, Guo Zhengxian was also startled by him. Of course, he didn''t know this immortal general was only at his 17''s. Perhaps Zhang Tie had practiced some secret methods or taken some rare tonics. However, the young vigor in Zhang Tie''s eyes meant that Zhang Tie was absolutely not old.


    "Not bad, not bad, Elder Xia is really right about you!" President Guo praised as he nodded. Closely after that, he invited Zhang Tie to take a seat as he put it straightforwardly, "Although you started the brawl, it''s the opponents who offended you verbally first. Therefore, we only put you in prison for three days in the crime of street brawl. It''s over now..."


    "Thanks!"


    "Before resigning, Huang Baimei had already recommended you to Elder Xia. Your deed was righteous and resolute. You don''t fear powers. Elder Xia admires you very much. I''m here to ask you on behalf of Elder Xia whether you would like to join the Supervision Department?"


    Everything was within Zhang Tie''s anticipation. Therefore Zhang Tie nodded, saying, "Thanks for the recommendation of Head Huang and the favor of Elder Xia, I''d like to join the Supervision Department and work for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace!"


    "Good!" President Guo revealed a faint smile, adding, "If you join the Supervision Department now, your level and monthly compensation would remain unchanged. How about you''re appointed as the director of Dragon Emperor Pavilion?"


    "I wonder about the responsibility of this position?" Zhang Tie asked. To be honest, he really didn''t know what was this title; but it sounded something.


    With a pretty solemn look, Guo Zhengxian said, "Dragon Emperor Pavilion was the residence of His Majesty in Dragon Emperor City. As His Majesty has disappeared for so many years, many items that His Majesty had used should be guarded. It''s the responsibility of the Supervision Department. The position of director of Dragon Emperor Pavilion is of great significance. It attracts the attention of everyone across Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. The director couldn''t make a single mistake. Therefore, Elder Xia selects you to do it!"


    ''F*ck, isn''t it just a concierge? Additionally, it might be a relics center, f*ck...''


    Zhang Tie swore inside. If he was a common immortal general, he might have long changed his face and turned on his heel. Whereas, Zhang Tie didn''t care about it at all. No matter what, he didn''t join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for wealth or higher ranks; instead, he had greater pursuit. After figuring out the opposite''s meaning, Zhang Tie became composed at a stroke.


    However, he should at least "think" about for a short while; otherwise, why would an immortal general who didn''t pose any requirement on official ranks and compensation join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace? It would be too suspicious. As the old saying went, if it was abnormal, something must be "weird".


    Zhang Tie didn''t want to be "weird" in the eyes of the elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    It was time to test Zhang Tie''s "disguising" talent again.


    Although being composed inside, Zhang Tie changed his face all of a sudden as if he wanted to spring up and turn on his heel. Although he didn''t leave the room, he looked to be struggling and contradicting. After being silent for a few seconds, Zhang Tie nodded, "Well, please tell Elder Xia that I would like to be the director of Dragon Emperor Pavilion!"


    When Guo Zhengxian saw Zhang Tie nod, he finally revealed a faint smile, saying, "Spare the rod and spoil the child. This position is not for a lifetime. You would know it later on. Elder Xia is testing you..."


    Zhang Tie finally "relieved" his look as he nodded firmly, saying, "I see!"


    "Here''s the transfer order and letter of appointment from the Supervision Department!" Guo Zhengxian said as he took out a 30-cm long scroll and a jade plate. He directly handed them to Zhang Tie, saying, "You could prepare to take the office in Dragon Emperor Pavilion the day after tomorrow!"


    "Fine!" Zhang Tie replied as he received the scroll and the jade plate.


    The jade plate of deputy branch head had been taken away since Zhang Tie came to Dragon Emperor City. Now, this jade plate became his new identity, through which people could contact him.


    ...


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie calmly walked out of the prison of the Supervision Department in the eastern district of Dragon Emperor City.


    It was already dark outside just as same as when he was taken in three days ago. It was really a 3-day custody.


    "Ah, he''s out..."


    The moment Zhang Tie was set free, he had heard an exclamation as Liu brothers, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan appeared in front of him at once.


    "What did I say? A boss is a boss! Soon after we left you that day, boss, your fame had been spread across Dragon Emperor City. You''ve become the No. 1 person among new immortal generals in Dragon Emperor City. We''ve heard about what you did that day. That''s really cool! Much cooler than me..." Liu Meng thumbed up as he watched Zhang Tie with admiration.


    To tell the truth, Zhang Tie''s battle strength was absolutely among the best ones in Motian Realm. It was too normal for him to be outstanding. Zhang Tie did the same in both Heavenly Square City and Dragon Emperor City. No matter how low-key he tried to be, as long as he encountered something that he disliked, Zhang Tie would immediately become the most eye-catching one.


    "I thought you would be severely punished inside. But you look nice!" Ji Yuelan looked at Zhang Tie from his head to his toe with her beautiful eyes as she said, pouting her mouth.


    Zhang Tie didn''t say anything. He just displayed the new jade plate in front of the four. The two words Supervision Department made all the others widely open their eyes.


    "F*ck, boss, you''ve already joined the Supervision Department? That''s too fast..."


    "Alright. I''m wondering why you''re set free so fast. It turns out you''ve already become a member of them..."


    "I''ve just joined it!" Zhang Tie said as he looked at the sky. After putting away his jade plate, he touched his belly, saying, "I''ve not eaten any food for three days. Come on, you choose a place and be my guests..."


    "Oh, what''s your position in the Supervision Department?" Jiang Ruoxin asked out of curiosity.


    "Director of Dragon Emperor Pavilion..."


    Soon after they heard his words, Liu brothers, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan had changed their faces. Liu brothers were apparently amazed while Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan became a bit stagnated before being surprised...


    If not the exceptional discernment of Zhang Tie''s disguising talent, he would not have discovered the trivial changes on the faces of Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan.


    ''The term Dragon Emperor Pavilion might be special for Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan; otherwise, the two people would not look so strange.'' Zhang Tie thought as he became curious about the purpose of Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan for joining Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for the first time...

 1699 Secrets

    "I''ve not imagined that Zhang Tie could become the director of Dragon Emperor Pavilion..."


    "Neither have I..."


    "On this occasion, we could implement our plan easily. I think he likes you. You must gain his trust..."


    "Didn''t you want me to not develop the relationship between him and I? Why did you change your decision now?"


    "It''s different. I think even our masters would agree with that if they were here!"


    "But I don''t want to cheat him; nor do I want to rope him in, it''s harmful to him..."


    "Did you really fall in love with him? Don''t forget about our purpose here!"


    "Of course, I''ve not forgotten about it. However, it depends whether the item of our masters is in Dragon Emperor Pavilion or not. After our grand master was defeated by Dragon Emperor, that item had been taken away by Dragon Emperor. Dragon Emperor said he would return it in a few years. However, he directly disappeared. That item might have disappeared together with Dragon Emperor..."


    "As this plan is dominated by me. You have to follow my order. You''re not allowed to do it at the risk of our entire sect. You know, Force Emperor Immortal Palace has not revoked the wanted circular for our sect. As long as Zhang Tie knows our identities, he might betray us facing the great reward of Force Emperor Pavilion. Do you think that you''re really important in his heart? By then, we might die. How about our masters and sisters then? Do you feel like framing them? We have to keep close contact with Zhang Tie and stay in Dragon Emperor City. Only in this way could we continue to ask around and look for that item..."


    "But he persuades us to leave here!"


    "He''s indeed sincere to us. But we''d better not forget about our purpose here. If Dragon Emperor City is really as chaotic as what he has described, we might get that item through this chance. Therefore, we have to stay. Don''t worry about that. I will work out a solution..."


    "Alas..."


    ...


    In his room of the Apricot Blossom Courtyard, Zhang Tie became awake at once after hearing the "secret talk" between Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan. After that, he revealed a bitter smile.


    Heavenly Square Department was a relatively remote location in Dragon Emperor City of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Any immortal general who was clear about the situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would refuse to join Military Department, despite this agency was still recruiting new immortal generals.


    Liu brothers'' silly choice satisfied Military Department pretty much. During the three days when Zhang Tie was put into prison, Liu brothers had already received the transfer orders and jobs from the Military Department and joined this agency officially. They had joined the Dragon Emperor Army and would leave Dragon Emperor City for a big city in Dragon Emperor Big Domain in the next early morning.


    Despite being stupid, Liu brothers were lucky. That elder of Military Department might have already roped in some branch heads of Dragon Emperor Big Domain. They were appointed as commander and vice commander of a branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace respectively as the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Army. The two positions were pretty profitable, which were much better than that of Lu Tianqi and Xun Zizhou.


    On this occasion, they drank a lot tonight. Besides congratulating for Zhang Tie''s "freedom", they also bade farewell to the Liu brothers.


    They all returned to the courtyard, being a bit drunk. Liu brothers who drank most directly threw themselves onto their beds and fell asleep. Previously Zhang Tie wanted to go to bed too; however, at that moment, Ji Yuelan who had been a bit drunk urged to sleep together with Jiang Ruoxin, take a bath together with her and see whose figure was better.


    This triggered Zhang Tie''s "erotic" awareness as he wanted to "see" how they took a bath together.


    The result was that Zhang Tie indeed enjoyed how they took a bath together in the bathtub; however, he also listened clearly their "secret" talk. As a result, Zhang Tie became clear-minded at once.


    Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin really had other identities. They joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace not only for element crystals but for a more important task.


    They looked like bosom friends; however, they were actually fellow sister apprentices. Additionally, their sect was very confidential in Motian Realm and had a deep vendetta with Force Emperor Immortal Palace. They were still being hunted by Force Emperor Immortal Palace.


    On this occasion, Zhang Tie couldn''t do anything but reveal a bitter smile. He could only pretend to not have heard it. Zhang Tie really didn''t want to be involved in the many years'' vendetta between the two girls'' sect, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace. Therefore, he just pretended to know nothing about that.


    However, after considering it for a short while, Zhang Tie was shocked by Huang Baimei''s "luck". 4 of the 8 new immortal generals that Huang Baimei recruited in Heavenly Square City had problems in identities. Similarly, Zhang Tie guessed that many new immortal generals recruited by other branches of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace might have problems too with their identities. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was already a dying camel, which everyone else would like to give a bite.


    ''Whatever...''


    Zhang Tie dropped these thoughts as he instantly fell asleep...


    Everyone got up early the next morning. Zhang Tie didn''t climb mountain anymore; instead, he walked Liu brothers all the way to the airport in Dragon Emperor City. Liu brothers grudged separating with him; however, they must go.


    After seeing off Liu brothers, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin would register in Earth Treasures Department today. Therefore, they bade farewell to Zhang Tie at the airport too.


    "Would you make another big trouble in Dragon Emperor City after we separate from each other today..." Ji Yuelan joked.


    "You could keep me company today..." Zhang Tie joked shamelessly as he pulled Ji Yuelan''s hand.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Jiang Ruoxin took a look at Ji Yuelan which even Zhang Tie understood. Ji Yuelan then immediately drew her hand out of Zhang Tie''s hand as she patted Zhang Tie''s hand, saying, "You wanna take advantage of this sister. No way! I''ve got something important to do today. No matter what big trouble you make, I don''t think you would suffer any loss..."


    After saying this, Ji Yuelan drew Jiang Ruoxin''s hand away.


    "Why not agree with him..." Jiang Ruoxin''s secret words entered Zhang Tie''s ears, "It''s a chance. Don''t you like to be with him..."


    "This miss doesn''t like him anymore!"


    "You don''t want to involve him in!"


    "Humph..."


    Watching them leave and listening to their talk, Zhang Tie felt a bit complex. In many cases, people could barely identify whether it was true love or not.


    Zhang Tie didn''t loiter in Dragon Emperor City; instead, he found an agency and employed a loyal and benevolent old couple who had no children there. After that, he bought a superb flying lizard and a carriage. He let the old male servant drive the lizard vehicle back to his Apricot Blossom Courtyard leisurely, carrying him and some luggage of the couple.


    "Uncle Qu, you and aunt Qu live in this room. When I''m absent, you''re responsible for taking care of this Apricot Blossom Courtyard. I will pay you 15 more purple crystal coins per month for daily expenditures besides your months'' compensation..."


    "Thanks, childe. Thanks, childe, I will definitely work hard. However, 15 purple crystal coins are too much. I''m afraid that we couldn''t use all of them..."


    "As long as you work hard, you could keep the rest as your change!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s generous reply, Uncle Qu and his wife revealed an appreciative smile on their wrinkled face as they realized that they had met a good employer this time.


    Zhang Tie gave them high monthly compensation. Additionally, 15 purple crystal coins were enough for a big household of over 10 people per month. On the way here, the couple had known that Zhang Tie was an immortal general of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Three people were living here. Additionally, they rarely ate food at home. Therefore, they could never spend all of the 15 purple crystal coins a month even if they procure good food ingredients. Additionally, food in the suburb of Dragon Emperor City was cheaper than that in the downtown.


    "Childe, have you had lunch? Do you need me to cook lunch for you?" Uncle Qu became active too.


    "No need. Just prepare supper for me. You could check the kitchen and the courtyard and decide to buy something yourselves..." Zhang Tie replied as he took out 15 purple crystal coins and gave them to the couple, adding, "Here''s this month''s expenditure. It depends on you. I like it to be tranquil..."


    "I see; I see. Childe, don''t worry about that!" Uncle Qu hurriedly took those purple crystal coins as his hands quivered a bit.


    "Well, do your work then!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s order, Uncle Qu hurriedly went to take care of the flying lizard while Uncle Qu started an inspection into the kitchen...


    Zhang Tie smiled as he returned to his courtyard...


    After employing two people to take care of the Apricot Blossom Courtyard, Zhang Tie didn''t need to worry about the odd jobs in the courtyard anymore.


    In the evening, when Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan came back, they found some new changes in Apricot Blossom Courtyard as Zhang Tie had employed two servants.


    Uncle Qu was really good at cooking...


    ...


    On the second day, Zhang Tie should register in Dragon Emperor Pavilion...

 1700 Dragon Emperor Pavilion

    Dragon Emperor Pavilion was close to the center of Dragon Emperor City in the north. All the four avenues Blue Dragon, White Tiger, Red Sparrow and Immortal Tortoise led to Dragon Emperor Pavilion. Therefore, Zhang Tie could arrive at Dragon Emperor Pavilion at just 8 am by a flying lizard. On the way here from Apricot Blossom Village, he almost didn''t ask anyone about the location of Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    The entire Dragon Emperor Pavilion occupied over 180,000 square meters. Although it was called pavilion, it was actually a mini palace. Dragon Emperor Pavilion was surrounded by a moat, which was planted with willows on both banks. Its river was a crystal with ripples while waterweeds swayed in the river. Fish jumped out of the river every time and then. It was nice scenery. From this bank, Zhang Tie could see the golden glazed tiles on those buildings and high trees in Dragon Emperor Pavilion on the other bank of the moat.


    "Stop, who''s that?"


    Zhang Tie was stopped by a team of guards at one end of the stone bridge over moat the moment he wanted his flying lizard to step on the moat.


    Saying nothing, Zhang Tie just presented his jade plate to them. Before the team of guards spoke, an armored old man with only a dragon pattern of two silver threads at his wristbands who looked like a general hurriedly came to Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie came to the bride, the two people had already gazed at him. After seeing Zhang Tie''s jade plate and confirming his identity, the two people dared not stay afar anymore; instead, they hurriedly came over here to greet Zhang Tie.


    "Welcome, head...I''m Huang Yukun, the internal guards head of Dragon Emperor Pavilion..."


    "I''m Xu Gang, the general of Dragon Emperor Pavilion..."


    Sitting on the flying lizard, only after taking a look at them, Zhang Tie had already known their battle strength. Being even elder than Xun Zizhou, Hong Yukun was just a fierce immortal general; however, he still looked good and humble as if he was arranged to live the rest of his life here. Xu Gang was just a LV 14 battle demon who looked valiant. He could scare commoners; however, he couldn''t withstand a single blow from an immortal knight. At least this general was smiling like a manager of a hotel when he saw Zhang Tie as his eyes were squinting into a crack.


    The two people were both Zhang Tie''s subordinates in Dragon Emperor Pavilion. As the head of Dragon Emperor Pavilion, although Zhang Tie was just a watchdog, he was not a single commander; instead, he had some subordinates for real. That was to say, it was enough for Zhang Tie to put on airs at least in Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    "Hmm!" Zhang Tie answered as he jumped off the back of the flying lizard by raising his legs. Closely after that, he patted his flying lizard. Before those guards made a response, his flying lizard had already walked towards the stable especially for lizards in the distance while shaking its head. Some guards hurriedly caught up with it and caught its rein.


    "Do you want to check my transfer order?" Zhang Tie asked politely.


    "No need, no need..." The internal guards head and the general changed their faces out of fear as they hurriedly waved their hands.


    Zhang Tie didn''t present his transfer order to them as he understood that his reputation in the city had already worked. It was estimated that the two people had already heard what Zhang Tie did in Dragon Emperor City. Zhang Tie didn''t even fear disciples of an elder and beat those who offended him fiercely, how would the two people dare find Zhang Tie trouble? Of course, they behaved as good as possible.


    This was the benefit of vice. Before you wanted others to show their tribute to you, you should have them fear about you. Sometimes, this method worked a lot.


    "Alright, you two keep me company in the Dragon Emperor Pavilion. As it''s my first time to be here, I don''t know anything about this place. Therefore, I have to depend on you from today on!" Zhang Tie said as he walked straight towards the gate of the Dragon Emperor Pavilion. After exchanging a glance with each other, Hong Yukun and Xugang hurriedly caught up with Zhang Tie, closely after him.


    "Head..." Watching Hong Yukun and Xugang keep Zhang Tie company towards them, the two teams of guards outside the gate of Dragon Emperor Pavilion roared at once as they chested out, giving a salute to Zhang Tie. It seemed that these guards had already known that they were going to have a new head today.


    "Hmm, not bad, these guards are spirited!" Zhang Tie nodded as he praised, asking Xu Gang, "How many guards are there in Dragon Emperor Pavilion in total?"


    Xu Gang immediately smiled as he approached Zhang Tie, replying, "Head, there''s a camp in Dragon Emperor Pavilion, 120 people in total. If head wants to deliver a speech to them, this humble man would gather them up..."


    "No need. Let them do their own jobs!" Zhang Tie said as he waved his hand, asking, "What about the shifts?"


    "Three shifts a day, 40 people per time!"


    "Hmm, keep it!" Zhang Tie said as he had already passed the gate of Dragon Emperor Pavilion and entered the pavilion.


    Compared to the outside world, the Dragon Emperor Pavilion was special.


    As the place where Dragon Emperor once lived in, Dragon Emperor Pavilion was full of terraces and pavilions, odd flowers and grasses. Each brick or wood here had its background. It was hard to find a place more luxurious than this place inside the city.


    "Head!"


    The moment Zhang Tie entered it, two more lines of people greeted him, half male and half female, 60 people in total. These people wore costumes of low-level disciples in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace with smaller dragon patterns of a different number of copper threads on their wristbands, varying from one to six. All the male disciples were common-looking; however, all the female disciples here were good-looking with elegant figures. At the sight of Zhang Tie, many female disciples'' eyes became bright at a stroke.


    Zhang Tie fixated onto Hong Yukun unconsciously.


    "These are all workers inside the Dragon Emperor Pavilion. They''re responsible for the repairs, renovation and cleaning of the garden. 60 people in total. They''re subordinate to this humble man. They''re all here for your order, head!" Hong Yukun said with a smile.


    "It''s fine, I have no order, go back to your positions as usual!" Zhang Tie threw a glance at them before continuing to walk inside. Hong Yukong then waved his hand towards them behind Zhang Tie, letting them leave there.


    After taking a cursory look at Dragon Emperor Pavilion, Zhang Tie found some attics were locked. He was then told that the Dragon Emperor usually stayed in those attics, which stored many items that the Dragon Emperor once used. Additionally, all the items had been registered. To put simply, Zhang Tie''s job was to protect the Dragon Emperor Pavilion and these items inside it...


    As the director of Dragon Emperor Pavilion, Zhang Tie had a private building where he could work or rest inside Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    After hearing that there were many items that the Dragon Emperor had used in Dragon Emperor Pavilion, Zhang Tie''s heart raced. After taking a cursory look at the pavilion, he let Xu Gang leave there and had Hong Yukun bring him the register book and count all the items on the book in front of him.


    After counting all of them, Zhang Tie had an amazing discovery in the study room of the Dragon Emperor.


    It was a gold coin, a gold coin from Taixia Country...

 1701 I Die, People Survive

    The gold coin was placed in a transparent rectangular crystal box on the desk of the study room. It appeared to be an ornament. Since it was a bit special, it was put in the crystal box.


    Zhang Tie was very familiar with this gold coin because it was one of the standard gold coins that the government of Taixia Country authorized Pangu Bank to produce. The positive side of this gold coin was the vivid and delicate image of Rate Bridge, one of the 12 bridges across Goldenwater River of Xuanyuan Hill while the back of it was an image of an open peony and the words "Pangu Bank".


    In Hua culture, rats could gather wealth. Water of Goldenwater River and open peony also meant wealth.


    In Taixia Country, there were over 100 kinds of legal gold coins. It was one of them. Zhang Tie got a large number of gold coins of the same kind.


    It was definitely not counterfeited by someone in Motian Realm as a whim occurred to him. Because there was no gold mine in Motian Realm at all; instead, in Motian Realm, currencies were made of special metal crystals that Zhang Tie had not seen before. Therefore, currencies here were also called crystal coins.


    Zhang Tie was shocked inside, but he didn''t display it.


    Taking that crystal box on the desk, Zhang Tie took a look at it out of curiosity. Then, he asked Hong Yukong who was holding some books of articles, "What''s this? I''ve not seen it before."


    "I don''t know either!" Hong Yukun replied as he shook his head.


    "Don''t you know why it is here?"


    "Over 300 years ago, it was said that Force Emperor had someone send this gift to Dragon Emperor at a ceremony of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. It was obtained by Force Emperor from the Mountain Ruins. Nobody knows what it is. It''s said that Force Emperor sent the same item to Star Emperor. However, as Dragon Emperor had not appeared for many years, it was just kept here..."


    ''It''s obtained in Mountain Ruins by Force Emperor?''


    When Mountain Ruins and gold coins of Taixia Country were connected with each other, a whim occurred to Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªMountain Ruins in Motian Realm might contain a space-teleportation tunnel leading to Taixia Country; otherwise, how could gold coins of Taixia Country appear here?


    Since he came to Motian Realm, Zhang Tie had been looking for means to return to Taixia Country; pitifully, he couldn''t find any clue no matter how much he asked around. Therefore, Zhang Tie became a bit restless. He didn''t expect to see a bit of hope in the study room of Dragon Emperor.


    This gold coin made Zhang Tie thrilled.


    Zhang Tie had not discovered that a common gold coin could be so endearing. The light over the gold coin was really full of hope. This gold coin represented the possibility that he could return to Taixia Country. If not being watched by Hong Yukun one side, Zhang Tie even would like to exclaim and dance with joy. Those who didn''t enter an alien world could not understand how excited was Zhang Tie at this moment.


    Additionally, it carried a special meaning for Force Emperor to gift a gold coin that he discovered in Mountain Ruins to Dragon Emperor and Star Emperor respectively. He might want to pass a message. As for powerhouses on the top of this world like Force Emperor, the message that he would like to pass to the other top powerhouses was absolutely significant. From the perspective of those top powerhouses, what would arouse their interests?


    The answer was evident.


    Before this, Zhang Tie had not thought about the connection between the disappearance of the Dragon Emperor and the world where he came from. However, the possibility indicated by this gold coin reminded Zhang Tie of one thing¡ª¡ªDragon Emperor has disappeared for over 900 years; however, the Catastrophe in the world where he came from broke out 907 years ago. Is there any connection between them?


    "Oh, I was told that His Majesty has disappeared for over 900 years. Do you know how long it is in detail?" Zhang Tie asked Hong Yukun.


    As Hong Yukun had been working here for over 200 years, he was in charge of many belongings and materials of Dragon Emperor. Although his battle strength was poor, he was the one who knew Dragon Emperor the most in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    "Director, you got the right man!" Hong Yukun said with a humble smile, "It''s said that His Majesty has disappeared for over 930 years; because His majesty always took actions secretly, very few people knew his schedule. Sometimes, His Majesty entered secluded cultivation or some bizarre lands when the others couldn''t see him at all. On this occasion, the others still thought the Dragon Emperor disappeared. Actually, it''s not that long. Last time His Majesty showed up was in Dragon Emperor Pavilion on the 2677th year of the calendar of Emperor NvWa when he entered secluded cultivation for over 1 month here. Then, he left with a lot of belongings. I read the records of "Dragon Emperor''s Daily" left by the former official. Therefore, precisely, His Majesty disappeared 907 years ago. In a few months, it would be 908 years..."


    ''907, 907, that''s it...''


    When Zhang Tie got the answer, he was dazed at a stroke.


    After a short while, when Zhang Tie started to recover his composure, one word occurred to him first¡ª¡ªf*ck! Then, f*ck again!


    Of course, it might be a coincidence. However, the odd was too low. Therefore, the fact probably was that the Catastrophe and the Star of God in the world where Zhang Tie came from were related to Dragon Emperor.


    ''It''s more like the Star of Dragon Emperor than Star of God.''


    "Erm...before His Majesty left, did he say where he was heading for?" Zhang Tie asked as he swallowed his saliva after a short while.


    "He didn''t mention it concretely; however, according to the record left by the former official, His Majesty might have discovered something great in Mountain Ruins. He went back to make preparation so that he could return to Mountain Ruins..."


    "Where''s the former official? Where''s he? Is he still in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace..."


    "The former official was a supreme immortal general in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, also the No. 1 powerhouse in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace after His Majesty. He was loyal to His Majesty and followed His Majesty for many years. As a trusted subordinate of Dragon Emperor, he stayed in Dragon Emperor Pavilion for a long time after His Majesty disappeared. As he couldn''t get any message about His Majesty, over 300 years ago, he entered Mountain Ruins at the risk of his life to look for His Majesty and Nine Heavens Immortal Spring. Unfortunately, he perished in Mountain Ruins..." Hong Yukun explained as he shook his head, revealing a mournful look, adding, "What a pity..."


    "Is there any image of His Majesty?"


    "There''s no image of His Majesty here. Previously, His Majesty didn''t like to hang his own image; however, there were some memory crystals in Dragon Emperor Pavilion which contained some images of His Majesty!"


    "Where''re they? Show me!"


    "Right on the 2nd floor of the study room. Director, wait for a moment, I will get them back soon..."


    "No need, let''s go upstairs together..." Zhang Tie couldn''t wait to check them.


    On a shelf of the 2nd floor, there were some jade boxes, which contained some memory crystals about the images of Dragon Emperor left by the former official.


    Hong Yukun opened the jade box which contained four memory crystals. Zhang Tie casually picked one as he penetrated his spiritual energy into it.


    One person in the memory crystal was playing guqin, a seven-stringed plucked instrument in the garden under the bright moonlight.


    Eyes half closed, that man was tall, classic and handsome with tender and kind eyes. He was watching the guqin and plucking it by his slim and powerful fingers which looked like sculptured jades. Even though he was just sitting there quietly, he still could barely cover the ethereal qi field of an emperor. This person could easily rank first among the people whom Zhang Tie had seen.


    In the piece of music, the falling moonlight started to twist as it became alive. Gradually, the moonlight became luminous butterflies and various small birds started to fly around that player. It was really a dreamland.


    Undoubtedly, the player was Dragon Emperor.


    The image was very clear. The audience was right on one side, from where Zhang Tie could clearly observe the look of Dragon Emperor¡ª¡ªThe image in this piece of memory crystal was absolutely Dragon Emperor himself. Undoubtedly, it was real.


    Dragon Emperor''s look was completely unfamiliar to Zhang Tie. After watching Dragon Emperor''s face for a short while, Zhang Tie moved his eyes onto Dragon Emperor''s ears.


    One''s ear carried much information about bloodline. In many situations, the ear was more important than one''s look.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie directly compared the ears of the Dragon Emperor with that of Xuanyuan Changying in his memory.


    After comparing some specific points, shapes and geometrical relations of their ears, Zhang Tie was petrified once again.


    Dragon Emperor didn''t leave any descendant in Motian Realm; however, Xuanyuan Changying, the royal prince of Taixia Country was the descendant of Dragon Emperor...


    ''Is Emperor Xuanyuan Dragon Emperor?''


    ''No, of course not, Dragon Emperor is above sage-level knight; however, Emperor Xuanyuan is just a sage-level knight. What''s more, the whole legendary life of Emperor Xuanyuan who has saved the humans and founded Taixia Country is recorded.''


    ''Therefore, the correct answer is that the entire royal households of Xuanyuan clan across Taixia Country are the descendants of Dragon Emperor. This might be the top secret of the royal households of Taixia Country!''


    ''The most mysterious Xuanyuan Deity Sutra in the legendary life of Emperor Xuanyuan got its origin then.''


    ''Where''s Dragon Emperor?''


    ''He''s dead!''


    ''This is closest to the fact. If Dragon Emperor, as an existence above sage-level knight, was still alive, Zhang Tie should have heard about him; nor would all the human knights across Taixia Country lose their targets after becoming a sage-level knight. If the Dragon Emperor was still alive, the history of over 900 years'' Black Iron Age of humans and Taixia Country would be rewritten.''


    ''Dragon Emperor is also a human, not a deity. Despite being powerful, he would die too.''


    ''The great price of crossing two worlds, the unknown dangers brought by Star of God and the Catastrophe or his experience in Mountain Ruins might do irreparable harm to Dragon Emperor.''


    ''However, before leaving the world where I came from, the Dragon Emperor left his descendants and Xuanyuan Deity Sutra. Additionally, he created hopes for people in that world to continue to fight demons in Black Iron Age...''


    ''Dragon Emperor himself ended demons'' hidden rule over humans and opened Black Iron Age.''


    In the study room of Dragon Emperor, Zhang Tie unveiled the biggest secret about the world he came from. Zhang Tie was not thrilled inside; instead, he felt frustrated as many whims occurred to him...


    "This calligraphy was left by His Majesty before leaving. It''s the only calligraphy that Dragon Emperor left in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace!"


    When Zhang Tie was in daze, Hong Yunkun found a box and took out calligraphy meticulously.


    After opening it, Zhang Tie felt an overwhelming qi which made him almost breathless.


    Dragon Emperor only left four words¡ª¡ªI die, people survive!


    Taking the calligraphy and watching the four words, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded all in a sudden as his hands couldn''t help quivering.


    "Dragon Emperor barely left calligraphy except for this one. Nobody knew why His Majesty would leave such calligraphy before leaving. When His Majesty disappeared, the humans in Motian Realm were not on the brink of death..." Hong Yukun said as he pointed at the calligraphy. All of a sudden, he found that a point of the calligraphy became wet as it started to spread over the blank space. He was shocked as he turned around and found that Zhang Tie''s eyes had turned red silently as he watched the calligraphy in shock...

 1702 The Spiritual Enlightenment of Dragon Emperor

    Generally, according to the rules of Dragon Emperor Pavilion, the study room of Dragon Emperor was only accessible to cleaners and inspectors. Most of the time, the study room was locked.


    However, Zhang Tie was an exception; because Zhang Tie was the highest official in Dragon Emperor Pavilion who had some privileges for real. Additionally, Dragon Emperor who had disappeared for over 900 years was already a symbol in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Although nobody would like to admit it in the public, everyone was crystal clear that the Dragon Emperor probably has been dead. On this occasion, the magnificent qi field over Dragon Emperor Pavilion gradually declined; especially after Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace shrunk their force back to Dragon Emperor Big Domain. The so-called Dragon Emperor Pavilion had already become a memorial hall, where nobody else would believe that the Dragon Emperor would come back.


    On this occasion, even Zhang Tie stayed all day long in the study room of Dragon Emperor, nobody criticized him.


    All day long, Zhang Tie was immersed in the four words left by Dragon Emperor¡ª¡ªI die, People Survive. As a result, Zhang Tie didn''t even feel like checking other corners in the study room. After letting Hong Yukun leave, he sat on the chair of Dragon Emperor and watched the four words while his head was full of whims.


    Not until Zhang Tie saw the four words did he confirm that it was Dragon Emperor''s self-destructive decision to bring the Star of God and the Catastrophe to humans in the world where Zhang Tie came from.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t know how Dragon Emperor knew the situation facing the world where he came from in the Mountain Ruins of Motian Realm, he was sure that Hua people in the world where he came from might not exist without Dragon Emperor or the Star of God. Even though Hua people still existed and survived Three-eye Association''s prosecution, Zhang Tie was afraid that all Hua people were also living in the thorny stereotyped cage woven by Three-eye Association and demons. They must be living like slaves with the insulative appellations "Sick men" and "Inferior Race".


    All these were definitely not fabricated by Zhang Tie; instead, they were "plans" that Three-eye Association made about the future of Hua people before the Catastrophe. Before the Catastrophe, these "plans" were condemned as a theory of conspiracy by the media manipulated by Three-eye Association. Three-eye Association and demons didn''t admit it at all. However, at this age, these so-called secrets had already become known to everyone. Numerous precious historical records about the civilizations before the Catastrophe in the Central Library of Xuanyuan Hill could prove this point.


    ¡ª¡ªControl Hua population and make them an ethnic minority in that world; destroy Hua''s national pride and use various methods to poison and break up the genes inheritance and succession of Hua people; constantly weaken Hua people''s physique and fix Hua people to the most humble class of slaves on quantity and quality, physically and spiritually. This was the future that demons and Three-eye Association created for Hua people before the Catastrophe.


    Many Hua people in Taixia Country in this age couldn''t imagine about the living environment of their predecessors before the Catastrophe. At that time, despite large Hua countries and population, they were still bullied by surrounding minor countries every time and then. Those small countries occupied Hua people''s islands overseas and border regions and usually slaughtered overseas Hua people, fishers and border residents. Hua people would easily be blackmailed by policemen and robbed by criminals in any other country...


    However, domestically, with the effect of demonized grains and poisonous substances that were added in Hua food and medicines even various viruses that were designed especially against Hua genes, a variety of diseases broke out among Hua people on a large scale; a great amount of male and female Hua people lost their fertility; Hua babies'' birth rate reached its minimal value with the highest malformation rate. Sudden death because of unknown reasons. The sudden stop of heartbeat and cracking brain blood vessels became the major reasons for the death of young adults...


    Three-eye Association cultivated a great number of speakers among Hua people who existed in each class and national agency of Hua people.


    The Catastrophe changed everything. From then on, Hua people''s fate moved onto an utterly different road and returned to its heyday.


    Zhang Tie wondered how Dragon Emperor knew Hua people''s situation at that time.


    Zhang Tie wondered how Dragon Emperor came to his world from Motian Realm.


    Zhang Tie wondered what was the complete Star of God and how could it change the entire world.


    Zhang Tie wondered why demons and Hua people went against each other in both worlds.


    Zhang Tie only knew that the answer of all these might lie in Mountain Ruins of Motian Realm.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie knew that from today on Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was not as same as before in his heart anymore; instead, it was left by Dragon Emperor in this world. Zhang Tie didn''t allow it to perish in this world. As long as Motian Realm existed and he was alive, Zhang Tie would keep Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace forever.


    Before that, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was just a landscape and station on his trip to Motian Realm. From now on, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would become his final destination in Motian Realm.


    Zhang Tie hung the four words on a wall of the study room as he watched it silently.


    Watching the overwhelming four words, Zhang Tie felt like seeing the Dragon Emperor himself. Although Dragon Emperor had already died, his spirit stayed forever. The four words were the essence of the Dragon Emperor''s spirit.


    Although being 900 years away from each other, the two men were connected with each other by the four words spiritually.


    The most beautiful scenery in the universe was always tranquil!


    The most righteous man always stayed silent!


    When Zhang Tie was immersed in the four words, he felt that the four words suddenly started to move.


    The word "I" moved first.


    It flew off the paper and turned into a fog of ink in the air. Closely after that, it rocked while numerous words and information flew out of it and shot into Zhang Tie''s central forehead as fast as a lightning bolt like a flock of birds returning to their nest.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie felt coming to the seaside.


    On the verge of the coastal cliff, Dragon Emperor was standing there with hands on his back, looking into the distance, his clothes fluttering heavily in the wind...


    "Remember it, it''s Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist..." Dragon Emperor turned around as he told Zhang Tie. At the same time, he jumped up and punched out his fist.


    In a split second, the sea level was broken while thunders fell like heavy rain. It was gloomy above and dark below like doomsday. Dragon Emperor was standing between the sky and the ocean. His punch intention was as fierce as the hot sun which could split the ocean into halves, forming a 10,000 m long oceanic trench. All the fishes and shrimps in the ocean jumped out of the ocean...


    Zhang Tie''s brain was full of punch shadows of Dragon Emperor...


    Closely after his punch shadows disappeared, the word "die" had started to move. Like the first word, this word also turned into numerous words and information before flowing into Zhang Tie''s central forehead.


    In the blink of an eye, before Zhang Tie realized what happened, he had got one more unrivaled secret method which was named Undying Dragon Body by Dragon Emperor...


    After that, the third word "people" started to move while numerous words flew into Zhang Tie''s central forehead too.


    The scene turned into a vast desert at a stroke. In the desert, Dragon Emperor was making strange hand gestures which changed dozens of times a second. After Dragon Emperor changed over 1,000 hand gestures, golden, hot sunlight shot into the Dragon Emperor''s body from the sky. Like being lit, the Dragon Emperor instantly gave out a golden dragon-shaped flame. In a split second, the desert within miles turned into an ocean of magma...


    "It''s Dragon True Flame..." Dragon Emperor''s words sounded...


    At this moment, the word "survive" also started to move as numerous words and information poured into Zhang Tie''s central forehead like a tide again...


    This time, Dragon Emperor just watched Zhang Tie silently without performing any unrivaled secret method. He stretched out his hand and pointed onto Zhang Tie''s central forehead. Feeling a rock, Zhang Tie realized that a classic secret method called Shocking the World was already in his mind sea.


    ...


    "Director, it''s too late. Do you want to live in Dragon Emperor Pavilion tonight..."


    Huang Yukun''s sound suddenly entered Zhang Tie''s ears, which woke Zhang Tie up at a stroke.


    The four words were still hanging over there; however, it was already dark outside as glazed lamps had been lit across Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    What happened just now was like a dream. However, Zhang Tie knew it was not a dream; because his brain had been filled with the unrivaled secret methods of Dragon Emperor...


    "His Majesty doesn''t like luxury; therefore, there''re not too many things left here. All the precious items such as immortal outfits were always carried by Dragon Emperor himself. Now, in the warehouse, there were only some small widgets that His Majesty liked to play with..." After finding Zhang Tie was looking at the wall in a daze, Hong Yukun explained it to Zhang Tie meticulously.


    "No need. I will go back. Dragon Emperor Pavilion will run as same as before..." Zhang Tie said as he finally picked himself up from the chair.


    "Erm...should I put this away?" Hong Yukun asked as he pointed at the four words on the wall.


    "Take it off. I will take it back home tonight. I need to understand the essence of the calligraphy. Is there any problem?"


    "No problem. Of course no problem. I really admire you for being so prudent about the calligraphy of His Majesty. It will be fine if the director takes it back after getting its essence!" Hong Yukun flattered Zhang Tie with a smile.


    ...


    In 10 minutes, Zhang Tie left Dragon Emperor Palace with a brocade box which contained the four-word calligraphy and crossed the bridge over the moat by his flying lizard which had been full. Watching the brightly-lit Dragon Emperor Palace in the nightscape, Zhang Tie felt like having a dream today.

 1703 The Background of the Two Girls

    Being the director of Dragon Emperor Pavilion was an easy job. He had nothing to do in the daytime and it depended on himself whether he was free in the evening.


    Before he took the office, this position had been vacant for many years. Over these years, there was no director in Dragon Emperor Pavilion; however, everything ran normally as usual. After Zhang Tie took the office, at his order, everything remained unchanged.


    On this occasion, Dragon Emperor Pavilion was like a teahouse for Zhang Tie. He could come here whenever he wanted. It was fine if he didn''t come here in business time. Because Dragon Emperor Pavilion was defended by immortal generals and a lot of guards under the gaze of so many people in Dragon Emperor City, nobody dared offend the "spiritual sacred" of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Therefore, it was absolutely a title that was suitable to live out one''s life in retirement and cultivation.


    Everybody knew the title director of Dragon Emperor Pavilion. In others'' opinion, Zhang Tie wouldn''t give vent to anybody here.


    Previously, nobody dared find trouble here. After Zhang Tie who beat disciples of an elder of Supervision Department fiercely and "furiously" took the office, those immortal generals preferred to detour around Dragon Emperor Pavilion in fear of stirring up Zhang Tie when they encountered him here. As a result, the Dragon Emperor Pavilion became more tranquil.


    The small building in Dragon Emperor Pavilion was the "luxurious dormitory" of this new immortal general of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor City. However, Zhang Tie didn''t live in Dragon Emperor Pavilion, but in Apricot Blossom Village.


    Since he registered in Dragon Emperor Pavilion, Zhang Tie would go to Dragon Emperor Pavilion from Apricot Blossom Village for work by flying lizard leisurely every day as long as it was a sunny day. When the weather was bad, Zhang Tie would not go there while nobody would criticize him.


    Even though Zhang Tie was in Dragon Emperor Pavilion, he would not care about the jobs of his subordinates. Everything about Dragon Emperor Pavilion remained unchanged. Xu Gang the garrison general of Dragon Emperor Pavilion was responsible for external affairs while Hong Yukun the internal guards head was responsible for internal affairs. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t need to worry about anything.


    Since Zhang Tie took the office, he would have some tea in his small building and chat with Hong Yunkun and Xu Gang. After listening to the anecdotes and gossips about Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Motian Realm from them, Zhang Tie would let them go. After that, he would lie beside the window and have a sound nap. After waking up, he would return to Apricot Blossom Village by flying lizard leisurely.


    After a few days, everyone in Dragon Emperor Pavilion had already figured out Zhang Tie''s temperament. They all became relaxed then. However, those beautiful maids who had expectations about the new director were pretty disappointed as they started to look at Zhang Tie gloomily.


    Hong Yukun was an immortal general, also an old scholar. Although being average in cultivation, he liked books and studying the lifetime experiences of legendary figures in Motian Realm. Therefore, he was transferred to the Dragon Emperor Pavilion as an internal guards head. He was more like Zhang Tie''s adviser. He could almost provide some hints to all of Zhang Tie''s questions.


    Although being a military officer, Xu Gang was pretty smart. He had a lot of pals in Dragon Emperor City. He would always know everything that happened in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Dragon Emperor Big Domain firstly.


    After having a short talk with them every day, Zhang Tie would make a great achievement.


    As Zhang Tie was curious about the background of Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan, only after asking Hong Yukun which party had vendetta with Force Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie had gained half an hour''s contents, during which process, the background of Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan was not a secret for Zhang Tie anymore.


    By far, there was only one sect being chased by Force Emperor Immortal Palace for many years in Motian Realm¡ª¡ªyin and yang sect.


    In Motian Realm, yin and yang sect didn''t enjoy a good reputation. This sect focused on dual cultivation between male and female. Speaking of dual cultivation, commoners would imagine the dirty things between male and female at once; plus some unworthy disciples of a sect killed some people outside the sect. Although being a sect of humans, yin and yang sect was already listed as a heresy of humans, which couldn''t see the light.


    The vendetta between yin and yang sect and Force Emperor Immortal Palace started from the death of a disciple of Force Emperor by an elder of yin and yang sect. As for the details, Hong Yukun didn''t know it either. No matter what, he knew that Force Emperor was driven mad after being told that his disciple was killed. He immediately swept over the yang branch of yin and yang sect, including all the elders and disciples. After that, Force Emperor Immortal Palace issued a wanted circular with a reward. As long as someone could kill one disciple or immortal general of yin and yang sect, he would get hundreds or tens of thousands of element crystals.


    After being damaged by Force Emperor and wanted by Force Emperor Immortal Palace, yin and yang sect gradually declined. As a result, the former yin and yang sect almost became yin sect alone. Over hundreds of years, male disciples of yin and yang sect had almost disappeared while the last time female disciples of yin and yang sect were found was over 200 years ago. Closely after that, they disappeared. As of now, many people even thought that yin and yang sect had already perished.


    As for the relationship between Dragon Emperor and yin and yang sect, Hong Yukun didn''t know it either.


    Zhang Tie guessed that Dragon Emperor might have not mentioned it to anyone else besides those inside yin and yang sect. Therefore, even people of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t know that Dragon Emperor had defeated a forebear of yin and yang sect and taken something away from it. However, before he returned it to them, Dragon Emperor had already "disappeared"...


    After knowing the background of Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan, Zhang Tie didn''t have any negative opinion about Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan; because he knew that many gossips were unreliable. Take his master Zhao Yuan as an instance, according to the gossips, Alchemist Devil Zhao Yuan was a brutal devil; however, Zhang Tie knew that Zhao Yuan was actually a lonely and miserable old man.


    ''Dual cultivation, so what? It had nothing to do with you. As for assholes, each major sect had some.'' Even Heavenly Fortune Sect which was known as being most strict and moral in enrolling disciples dared not say that there were no scumbags in it. As long as there were many people, some things couldn''t be avoided at all...

 1704 Zhang Ties Plan

    For the Yin and Yang Sect, some apologists or passionate young people might oppose; but for Zhang Tie, who was really experienced and had seen too much darkness and unfairness, he just laughed at it generously.


    In Zhang Tie''s opinion, the only unfortunate thing for Yin-Yang Sect was that it had provoked the Force Emperor; nothing else. Zhang Tie had nothing to do with the resentment between Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Yin-Yang Sect.


    Take Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan for an instance. Others said that the disciples of Yin-Yang Sect were both over dissolute and despicable, male and female; only Zhang Tie knew that Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan were clean. Jiang Ruoxin was innocent about the love affairs between male and female; even Ji Yuelan, who seemed to be bold and unconstrained, had never had a love affair with a man. Given their daily communication, the two women were nothing different than disciples of ordinary sects. Jiang Ruoxin had a strong purpose in doing things; even though she still had her bottom line.


    After Zhang Tie came to Longhuang Pavilion on duty for a few days, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan had received transfer orders from Earth-Treasures Department and stayed in Dragon Emperor City. Zhang Tie really wandered what means had Jiang Ruoxin adopted.


    These two women are somewhat competent.


    Jiang Ruoxin became the assistant of the auxiliary agency of Earth-Treasures Department, while Ji Yuelan became the guardian of the department.


    After joining the Dibao Courtyard, the two girls and Zhang Tie gathered in the Apricot Blossom Courtyard for a drink once more. Then, the two girls officially moved out of Zhang Tie''s Apricot Blossom Courtyard.


    According to Ji Yuelan, Elder Luo who presided over the Earth-Treasures Department was strict with the immortal generals in the Earth-Treasures Department. In addition to getting married, if she knew that Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan lived with a man, she would never allow Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan to stay in Earth-Treasures Department anymore, even if nothing special happened between them. Therefore, the two people had to move out of the Apricot Blossom Courtyard for a more proper place for them in Dragon Emperor City.


    After they left there, the Apricot Blossom Courtyard was thoroughly tranquil and became exclusive to Zhang Tie.


    In the eyes of outsiders, Zhang Tie was idle every day. In fact, Zhang Tie was busy every day completely beyond other people''s imagination, even on the way between Apricot Blossom Courtyard and Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    Zhang Tie''s daily route to the Dragon Emperor Pavilion was not fixed. While traveling across Dragon Emperor City by his flying lizard, Zhang Tie always widely opened his eyes and pricked up his ears to see and listen if there were any suspicious characters along the way; especially those shadow demons who pretended to be humans.


    Through chatting with Hong Yukun and Xu Gang every day, Zhang Tie enriched his understanding of the Motian Realm. He secretly paid attention to useful information and planned the future of the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Zhang Tie was superficially sleeping soundly in the Dragon Emperor Pavilion every day. In fact, he was traveling spiritually across Dragon Emperor City. The streets and houses in the Dragon Emperor City become Zhang Tie''s fields, where Zhang Tie plowed every day using his spiritual strength in order to find some useful information.


    Zhang Tie thought that if demons really wanted to do something in the Dragon Emperor City, they would definitely master the whereabouts of the five elders and two grand justices in Dragon Emperor City. Before demon powerhouses started a war, some demons would definitely lurk in Dragon Emperor City, collect or observe the whereabouts of those influential human figures. Shadow demons were evidently the best lurkers. In Motian Realm, shadow demons were common. As Dragon Emperor City was very large and open, it was very difficult to completely eliminate shadow demons here.


    After returning to the Apricot Blossom Courtyard every day, Zhang Tie either immersed himself in the trouble-reappearance situations to cultivate Dragon Emperor''s secret methods and battle skills or to improve the speed of gathering the two energy from the void using his spiritual strength. As a result, Zhang Tie could only sleep less than 3 hours a day.


    Dragon Emperor''s Shocking the World Sutra was a throne-level secret method and the exclusive brand of Dragon Emperor. Zhang Tie converted his brand secret method into Shocking the World Sutra in the shortest time.


    After mastering Shocking the World Sutra left by Dragon Emperor, Zhang Tie got a bold guess.


    Dragon Emperor''s words almost carried all of his strongest life-time battle skills, except for Xuanyuan Deity Sutra. There might be one possibility that when the Dragon Emperor left the words and went to the Mountain Ruins, he might have not obtained Xuanyuan Deity Sutra, which was acquired in the Mountain Ruins. Therefore, Dragon Emperor brought Xuanyuan Deity Sutra into the world where he came from; instead of leaving it in Motian Realm. Otherwise, given the character of the Dragon Emperor, if he had mastered the complete Xuanyuan Deity Sutra at that time, he would definitely have left it in Motian Realm.


    Mountain Ruins might contain complete emperor-level secret methods, which was confirmed by Hong Yukun''s words.


    According to Hong Yukun, long long ago, someone had acquired complete high-level secret methods in Mountain Ruins; actually, more than one person had acquired them over there. One important reason why Mountain Ruins could drive numerous demon and human powerhouses mad was that there had been a legend in Motian Realm that there were deities'' secret methods in Mountain Ruins such as Xuanyuan Deity Sutra.


    Now that there might be such a complete emperor-level secret method as Xuanyuan Deity Sutra in Mountain Ruins, didn''t that mean that there might be a complete King Roc Sutra in Mountain Ruins?


    The moment this whim occurred to Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie had felt blood boiling all over.


    Of course, it was not the time to ponder the treasures in Mountain Ruins. One of the most urgent problems facing Zhang Tie was the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    There were two challenges brought to Zhang Tie by Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. The first one was that Zhang Tie didn''t want ordinary people in the Dragon Emperor City to be involved in the coming battle of powerhouses. The second one was to let the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace continue to exist and develop in Motian Realm.


    Each of the two challenges was a problem for Zhang Tie, an "outsider". But in these days, when these two problems were placed in front of Zhang Tie at the same time, when Zhang Tie woke up on one morning, he suddenly found that the simplest way to solve the two problems was to make himself the new Dragon Emperor in the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and the representative of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Motian Realm; then, the two problems could be solved easily.


    If Zhang Tie did not get the secret methods and battle skills of the Dragon Emperor, the tasks would also be impossible to accomplish. However, Zhang Tie got them; especially after Zhang Tie read all the memory crystals left by the Dragon Emperor carefully and repeatedly, a plan suddenly came to his mind when Zhang Tie rode a flying lizard in the Dragon Emperor City every day.


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had lived in Dragon Emperor City for eight months.

 1705 Jinwu Palaces Prosperity

    The first snow in Youzhou this year came a bit late than that in previous years. Not until December did the heavy snow come slowly in the midst of the overflowing north wind.


    On December 26, the second day of the heavy snow, Dragon Bounty Territory of Youzhou Province became the focus of the world again.


    Today, Zhang Chenglei, the eldest son of the late Immortal Qianji, would marry the princess of Taixia Country, the daughter of Xuanyuan Changying, which meant that Jinwu Palace of Youzhou Province formally established a relationship with the Taixia royal households through marriage and became the royal relatives.


    This marriage symbolized that Jinwu Palace of Youzhou Province officially became a top sect and clan in Taixia Country.


    Qianji Zhenjun had passed away, but Jinwu Palace had just started to give out its brilliance.


    ...


    In the new ancestral hall of Jinwu Palace, Xuantian City, the flames were burning heavily and the bronze tripod was hot. Facing the dancing flames, Zhang Chenglei, in auspicious red costume, hands on his back, was pulsing his lips and clenching his fists. The young man stood quietly in front of the altar of the hall, raising his head and looking at the new statue of Zhang Tie which was tens of meters high.


    The statue looked young and handsome. Standing with a sword, Zhang Tie was looking ahead with tender and firm eyes, looking pretty heroic and profound.


    In front of the statue, the first ancestral tablet of the forebear of Jinwu Palace was set. The tablet was more than two meters high. Being made of pure gold, it was put in the middle of the sacrificial platform.


    In the middle of the tablet, there was a line of conspicuous scarlet words¡ª¡ª the spiritual position of Zhang Tie Zhang Mushen, the hero of Jinwu Palace.


    On both sides of the line, under the words "wives" and "sons", there were dense rows of names. At the bottom of these names, there were words "stand weeping".


    In the battle of Yinhai Desert, Zhang Tie and Heavenly Hunyuan were involved in the space crack. On the same day, news came from Heavens Holding Pavilion that the life lamp of Heavenly Hunyuan being placed in Zhitian Pavilion died out which meant the death of Heavenly Hunyuan.


    None of the people involved in space cracks could come back alive since ancient times.


    Life lamp was very rare. Across Taixia Country, in addition to some sage-level knights, only first-class figures like Royal Prince could light their life lamps. Although Zhang Tie did not leave his life lamp, he had been considered to die after falling into the space crack together with Heavenly Hunyuan.


    In the space crack, even sage-level knights could be killed instantly. It was impossible for Immortal Qianji to survive it even if he was something.


    Everyone held this opinion.


    According to the regulation in Taixia Country, after someone died for 49 days, his family members couldn''t stop worshipping them. Therefore, after the battle of Yinhai Desert broke out for 49 days, Zhang Tie''s family and disciples buried Zhang Tie''s clothes and made a tomb for him with great grief. At the same time, in the ancestral hall of Jinwu Palace, Zhang Tie''s statue and spiritual position were set.


    Zhang Chenglei raised his head and looked at the familiar and slightly unfamiliar face of the statue in the hall while the past scenes poured into his mind at once, which made Zhang Chenglei''s eyes more determined and firmer in grief.


    The statue was of his loving father who played with him in the water at home and let him ride around his neck and play madly. Outside the home, the man fought demons on the battlefield and saved numerous people. His father was absolutely the idol deep in his heart and the power that led him forward.


    Zhang Chenglei did not cry, or had forgotten how to cry. Disasters were a catalyst for men to grow up. When he knew what happened to his father and was sent to Heavenly Fortune Sect to learn battle skills together with his two brothers, as Zhang Tie''s eldest son, Zhang Chenglei gradually forgot tears.


    The blood debt must be paid for!


    "Dad, rest assured. I swear, one day, I will destroy Heavens Holding Pavilion, Taiyi Fantasy Sect, and Qionglou Pavilion for you. I will take good care of my brothers and sisters. None of them would suffer a little grievance..."


    On this special day, Zhang Chenglei made a silent oath in his heart in the face of Zhang Tie''s spiritual status and photo.


    Hearing the familiar footsteps coming from outside, Zhang Chenglei burned three incenses for Zhang Tie after taking an oath. Then, he kowtowed three times respectfully towards his father''s statue before walking towards the gate of the ancestral hall.


    Before he reached the gate of the ancestral hall, the gate had been pushed open from outside as Zhang Chengting came in.


    "Eldest brother, the airboats of Xuanyuan Hill are coming soon. Eldest uncle asked me to inform you..."


    "Okay, let''s go..."


    The moment he walked out of the front gate of the ancestral hall, Zhang Chenglei had seen over 100 imperial airboats over the sky without even looking up. The fleet of airboats had already reached outside Xuantian City, which indicated the arrival of princess of Taixia Country. With the arrival of the flying boat team, a total of 108,000 welcoming trumpets sounded while the longhorns instantly covered the entire Xuantian City.


    ...


    At this time, all the influential figures in Northeast Military Region from governor Cheng Honglie to the local major clans'' representatives within Fiery Dragon Bounty Territory had gathered in Xuantian City. In addition to the local major clans in the Northeast Military Region, Heavenly Fortune Sect, Demons-Killing Valley, the six main gates in Taixia, Bai clan of Lord Guangnan, Lu Clan of Lord Xuanwu, Sun Clan of Lord Jingtian, Cao Clan of Lord Dingxi and Qin Clan of Lord Yian had dispatched major figures to attend the ceremony. Besides, Zuoqiu Clan and Guan Clan also dispatched important people here. Even Meng Shidao had sent a congratulatory gift.


    497 of 875 clans surnamed Zhang Tie across Taixia Country had arrived. Additionally, dozens of ambassadors of big countries in the western continent and other sub-continents arrived.


    Because Xuantian City couldn''t accommodate so many guests'' airboats, these guests'' flying boats parked 200 kilometers away in the furthest so as to spare the place to the fleets of airboats which sent and brought the princess.


    This was the wedding of the eldest son of Immortal Qianji and the coronation ceremony of Jinwu Palace for being a major clan. Taixia Country had not held such a large-scale and spectacular wedding for many years. This wedding was qualified to be the wedding of the century.


    After Qianji Zhenjun''s death in the Yinhai Desert, Jinwu Palace''s influence did not fall; instead, it showed a flourishing trend.


    In June, Zhang Yang, the elder brother of Immortal Qianji Zhang Tie, was formally appointed by Xuanyuanqiu as the leader of Gold and Power Law. He was in charge of Gold and Power Law and served as the secretary of the agricultural minister of Taixia Country.


    In August, Xuanyuan Hill officially approved the establishment of Air Cavalry of Taixia Country. Zhang Tie''s cousin Zhang Su became the commander of the Air Cavalry in the Northeast Military Region, being formally responsible for the establishment of the Air Cavalry Corps in the Northeast Military Region.


    In September, Zhang Tie''s parents gained special honors from Xuanyuan Hill. Zhang Tie''s mother was crowned as Yihe Taijun and Zhang Tie''s father Lord Guanglu.


    In October, Zhang Tie''s second son served as general of Youzhou Province while Zhang Tie''s third son entered the Northeast Military Region and became the secretary of Cheng Honglie.


    The thriving Zhang clan of Jinwu Palace and the glories they had won made people envious and bloodshot.


    But that was not all. In December, Xuanyuan''s daughter, Xuanyuan Bing the Princess Peacepursuing of Taixia Country married Jinwu Palace which pushed it to a peak and attracted the attention of people from the rest of the world.


    Many people did not understand why Prince Xuanyuan Changying, who was far away in Xuanyuan Hill, relied upon and favored the deceased Immortal Qianji and Jinwu Palace so much...


    a respectful address for a high official''s mother.A high official in charge of the food provisions of the imperial court.

 1706 The Unexpected Future

    "Why does Prince Changying favor Jinwu Hall so much? You would understand it given the people who come to attend the ceremony of Jinwu Palace."


    "Why?"


    "To establish a close relationship with Jinwutang means to rope in Heavenly Fortune Sect, Demons-Killing Valley, Iron Dragon Sect, Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. It means Royal Prince Xuanyuan Changying establishes a stable relationship with Jinwu Palace for the trade of firey oil and all-purpose medicaments. He could increase his wealth internally and control people externally. By treating Immortal Qianji''s Clan generously, Royal Prince Xuanyuan Changying is actually showing his favor to tens of thousands of Hua knights and the air cavalries over the sky in the Western Theater of Operations and stabilizing the country. In the opinion of the important ministers and senior officials in Xuanyuan Hill, this is what a wise emperor should do. In this way, the royal prince''s throne couldn''t be shaken by anybody. I think someone in Xuanyuan Hill will persuade His Highness to remove the position of regent and officially ascend the throne. Compared with Meng Shidao and the Engulfing Party, Immortal Qianji is the one who really helps His Highness to ascend the throne."


    When Princess Peacepursuing''s airboat slowly landed in Xuantian City, an elder in Lord Xuanwu''s Mansion was whispering to a younger brother of Lord Jingtian secretly at the wedding ceremony.


    At this time, among the guests and the crowd, a great number of knights and heroes were communicating with their friends using their battle qis. Almost all of them were talking secretly with the people around them or with the people they knew. The difference between their talks was in the topic, even on the same occasion.


    It was also the first opportunity for many representatives of major clans who came to Youzhou first to observe Jinwu Palace from such a close distance.


    "Unexpectedly, His Royal Highness would send his daughter here. It''s really a high payment!"


    "If I were His Royal Highness, not to mention one princess, even if I have 100 princesses, as long as Immortal Qianji agrees, I would send all of them here. Royal ladies are especially used to play a great role at this critical moment. Unfortunately, the God envies Immortal Qianji and brought him away in the Yinhai Desert in Sand Province; what a pity! If Immortal Qianji was still alive, 20 years later, Taixia Country must see an utterly different situation..."


    "That''s right. It''s said that Fiery Dragon Bounty Territory is preparing to build some Class A cities at the same time!"


    "Not preparing, but already in progress. Xuantian City is said to be used for wedding temporarily. Given the wealth of Jinwu Palace, of course, it''s impossible for them to stay in such an ordinary small town."


    ...


    "I wonder how the three major sects will feel when they see this scene!"


    "Needless to say, the three major sects have already been too restless to take care of themselves. The Heavens Holding Pavilion has lost a sage-level knight. The mountain gate of Taiyi Fantasy Sect is still in a mess. The case of the collapse of Great Wilderness Sect was said to be transparent. Some people have come to the Supreme Court to testify that knights of Qionglou Pavilion were involved in this case. What''s more, the conspiracy of the black invites of the three major sects has been revealed to the public, arousing a hot discussion among the people..."


    "I have also heard that the three major sects have long known that the space above the Yinhai Desert is very unstable. The crack in the space was caused by people. Previously, the three major sects wanted to kill Immortal Qianji; however, because Immortal Qianji is a gentleman with a high reputation across the country, to kill him in the public will make the three major sects completely passive and cause great public anger. Therefore, they came up with the idea¡ª¡ªusing black invites to lead Immortal Qianji to the Yinhai Desert; then, they would kill Immortal Qianji using the space crack above Yinhai Desert, by making it look like an accident, they didn''t have to shoulder the condemnation from the rest of the country. Unexpectedly, there might be some problem at that time. As a result, even Heavenly Hunyuan was killed by the space crack, which was a great loss for Heavens Holding Pavilion..."


    "Karma..."


    ...


    "I heard that Immortal Qianji''s children were born a few days ago..."


    "You bet; look at those babies in the cradle of those females of Jinwu Palace. It''s said that they are all boys; besides, there are also a pair of boy-girl twins!"


    "They''re too poor. The babies were born with no father!"


    "Even if they only have mothers, they''re not too poor. Look at those women cradling their babies, the princess of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Yan Feiqing, who presides over Iron Dragon Sect, and Guo Hongyi. The mothers of these babies are not ordinary people!"


    "That''s true. The babies of Immortal Qianji will have a bright future..."


    "With such great parents, influential clan background and excellent relatives and brothers, these babies would definitely have a bright future!"


    Unlike those men, a few female guests on the auditorium were concerned more those special females who were cradling babies of Jinwu Palace.


    ...


    Yan Feiqing, Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi were all in plain white gorgeous thick mink velvet overcoat today. Because they had given birth to babies, the three women were more graceful and plump. Each of them was cradling a baby in their arms while attending Zhang Chenglei''s wedding ceremony as his seniors.


    Those babies had already opened their eyes and were watching everything around them quietly out of curiosity.


    "Mom said that these babies are still young and would easily catch a cold outside. Ladies, you could take a rest in the parlor with babies for the time being..." Zhang Tie''s sister-in-law walked to them as she suggested them in a low voice.


    "These babies are Zhang Tie''s descendants even if they are young. They could experience what their father has experienced. Such cold weather doesn''t matter for them at all." Yan Feiqing calmly replied, "It''s their eldest brother''s wedding ceremony. All the people of Zhang Clan are present. As members of the Zhang Clan, they cannot be absent. If Zhang Tie was here, he would never let them hide in the house!"


    After hearing Yan Feiqing''s words, Zhang Tie''s elder sister-in-law sighed slightly and did not speak anymore; but those people nearby were shocked by her words in their hearts.


    As the VIPs and guests were whispering to each other, the grand and luxurious airboat of the imperial households of Taixia Country had already arrived at the exclusive airport. The hatch door of the airboat was then opened when the gangway ladder was declined. Closely after that, the first man stepped out of the airboat.


    The person who came out first was not Princess Peacepursuing, but an elder of the Clansmen Affairs Department of royal households in Taixia Country. The first one who came forward to welcome him was not Zhang Chenglei, but his elder uncle Zhang Yang. The two men greeted each other in a low voice at the hatch door of the airboat. As the music sounded, Princess Peacepursuing, in auspicious clothes, came out of the airboat surrounded by some female officials and imperial maids. Zhang Chenglei then walked towards her calmly escorted by Zhang disciples. After holding Princess Peacepursuing''s hand, Zhang Chenglei took Princess Peacepursuing to the old lady and old master of Zhang Clan sitting on the main seats.


    The wedding ceremony officially kicked off.


    The loud sound of trumpets was accompanied by booms in the sky as a neat formation of air cavalry planes began to appear in the sky above Xuantian City, leaving rainbows across the sky above the wedding site while the entire Xuantian City was filled with deafening cheers.


    At the same time, the ceremonial bells began to ring in other big cities, Jinwu City and towns within Fiery Dragon Bounty Territory where hundreds of millions of people of Jinwu Palace gathered. In the bells, squads of planes flew through the main streets of these cities at a low altitude, leaving colorful smokes, in which process, their hatch doors opened, dropping countless red purses which contained gold or silver coins like a red flower rain. When they fell on the icy streets, squares, roofs, all the cities and towns within the territory were instantly in revelry.


    Jinwu Palace used tens of thousands of airplanes to sprinkle red purses containing tens of millions of gold coins over Fiery Dragon Bounty Territory. It favored tens of thousands of households and enjoyed the festive atmosphere with its people, which shocked the rest of the country.


    No other force could be compared with its generosity. Representatives of major clans in Taixia Country exchanged glances with each other silently while all the envoys from other countries who attended the wedding ceremony changed their faces out of shock...


    There was a proverb on the Western Continent that read "Pies did not fall from the sky." However, in Taixia Country today, people saw gold coins falling from the sky.


    ...


    "Look at the undertakings you leave here, b*stard. Your son is getting married, but you escaped..." In the heavy snow, Donder shouted on the top of the highest brand-new tower in the Blackhot City within Fiery Dragon Bounty Territory with the other brothers of Hit-Plane Brotherhood, such as Bali, Sharwin, Bagdad, Leiter and Hista. Drinking alcohol, facing the north wind, they were commemorating Zhang Tie in their own way.


    Looking at the airplanes sprinkling countless red envelopes and Blackhot City which was in jubilation as a whole, Donder''s eyes turned blurry as if he was drunk. He continued to shout towards the sky at the top of the tower, "Do you remember what you said in the grocery store? You said that one day you would have enough money that couldn''t be used up for ten generations, and if your son got married, you would sprinkle countless gold coins from the sky so that everyone else could have fun with you. You said you would invite the orphans in the orphanage of Blackhot City for a luxurious steak dinner. Now you have enough money that can''t be used up for 100 generations; one of your sons is getting married, and Jinwu Palace is sprinkling money. All children in numerous Jinwu Orphanages across Taixia Country can enjoy a luxurious dinner today. But where are you? Why are you not here to have a drink with us, b*stard..."


    In the exclamation, Donder sprinkled the alcohol from the top of the tower. The alcohol instantly turned into snow and mist when it met the cold air and the north wind.


    "You liar, you said you were going to be my son''s master. I''ve got a lot of sons; we rebuilt Blackhot City in Taixia Country, which belongs to us. But we couldn''t find you. Where are you enjoying yourself? You liar, liar. I will never believe you anymore." Doug burst into cries.


    When residents in the new Blackhot City were in the carnival, Bali and the others of Hit-Plane Brotherhood on the top of the tower burst into tears.


    ...


    At the same time, when the territory of Jinwu Palace in Youzhou Province was covered with joy, the atmosphere in the mountain gate of Taiyi Fantasy Sect was slightly depressed.


    Taiyi Old Man, in black and white Taoist gown, eyes half closed, was listening to the report about the business of Taiyi Fantasy Sect in latest months, together with several dignified figures of Taiyi Fantasy Sect from an elder in charge of the secular business of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    Although Taiyi Fantasy Sect looked something with so many knights, its foundation was still inseparable from the most basic secular things, such as firewood, rice, oil, salt, and treasures. Without these necessities, Taiyi Fantasy Sect couldn''t survive at all.


    "In recent months, the revenue of all the eight major business groups being affiliated to Tiayi Fantasy Sect have declined. Many customers who originally cooperated with our business groups have now chosen other business groups; especially the business between our subordinate business groups and the prefectures and governments of Taixia Country which have almost been replaced by other business groups of Gold and Power Law after Zhang Yang became the leader of Gold and Power Law in recent months. As for the business of fiery oil and all-purpose medicaments, our business groups are completely excluded. We can''t touch it at all. The Jinwu Business Group have completely blocked our supply channels and prohibited any business groups or clans from supplying us with fiery oil and all-purpose medicaments. Our Heavenly Craftsmen Business Group has been making airplanes since last year and has fixed sales channels. But a few months ago, those clans which would like to accept our airplanes suddenly violated the contracts by paying us liquidated damages. We asked them privately; they said that they couldn''t get a drop of fiery oil if they dared buy our airplanes; otherwise, they could only take the airplanes as ornaments as they could never fly."


    "Even in the traditional fields of cloth, tobacco, tea, medicinal materials, mineral deposits, high-end ordnance and grain trade, we are also facing a sudden number of competitors which are closely related to Gold and Power Law or Jinwu Business Group. As a result, many businesses of ours have been replaced by others..."


    "Over the past few months, the revenue of the business groups being affiliated to our sect has dropped by more than 20% in total..."


    The other heads of Taiyi Fantasy Sect just listened to the report quietly; none of them revealed a smile anymore. Instead, they just looked at Taiyi Old Man quietly.


    Everyone knew the reason for all these but they didn''t say it.


    In less than one year since the battle at Yinhai Desert broke out, the bright silver hair of Taiyi Old Man seemed to have become a bit grey.


    After sending out three black invites to Zhang Tie, although Zhang Tie was supposed to die, the three major sects also suffered an unexpected, great loss.


    The death of the Heavenly Hunyuan was beyond everyone''s expectation.


    The fact that Xuanyuan Wuji the third prince of Emperor Xuanyuan was assassinated was even more unacceptable.


    Everyone at present had a feeling of coming out empty-handed. No one knew why. It seemed that there was an invisible hand in charge of all these, which made people feel chilly.


    Was the case of black invites closed? No, it was just going on in another way.


    Zhang Tie was dead, but Zhang Tie''s sons and wives were still alive; so was Jinwu Palace. Therefore, this case had not come to an end.


    "In the past six months, the number of people who wanted to be the outside disciples of Taiyi Fantasy Sect has also decreased a lot..." The elder said in a low voice, and then looked at Taiyi''s ancestor secretly again.


    The room was then in silence. Taiyi Old Man was sitting there with half-closed eyes. Nobody knew what he was thinking about at this time. After a short while, Taiyi Old Man opened his eyes completely. After taking a look at all the others at present, he said leisurely, "I underestimated Immortal Qianji and Royal Prince..."


    It was the first time for Taiyi Old Man to admit his "error" in public since the battle at Yinhai Desert. For a time, the people in the room remained silent as they didn''t know what to say.


    However, Taiyi Old Man kept talking himself which shocked all the others at present.


    "But we''ve not been defeated yet; nor is it a time to admit defeat. Just like the holy war between Taixia Country and demons, it''s just a start. This little difficulty can''t shake Taiyi Fantasy Sect at all. Our goal will certainly be achieved. No one can stop it." Taiyi Old Man said as his eyes turned sharp as if his eye light could pierce through the void at a stroke. Looking at the distance with profound and cold eyes, he added, "Three years, in just three more years, demons will create opportunities for us..."


    Ah, demons? Why demons? The leaders of the Taiyi Fantasy Sect asked as they looked at each other.


    "Do you think demons have mobilized all of their force in this battle? Do you think the Western Theatre of Operations of Taixia can really stop them?" Taiyi Old Man asked as he smiled coldly, "If you think so, you must have looked down upon demons too much. It''s not come to the moment when Taixia Country is completely collapsed yet; but... It is not far away..."

 1707 Making the Decision

    "It might have long snowed in Youzhou Province. I wonder what are my parents, elder brother and children doing..."


    Within Dragon Emperor Pavilion, Zhang Tie looked at the distance from the window. The heavy snow immediately reminded him of the snow scene in Youzhou Province. In a split second, Zhang Tie felt homesick.


    ''I''m not in Waii Subcontinent, Earth-Elements Realm, or the Western Theater of Operations in Taixia Country; instead, I''m in Motian Realm, which is a marvelous place being utterly different than that in the world where I came from. Perhaps all of my family members believe that I''m already dead. Bai Suxian, Yan Feiqing and Guo Hongyi should have been mothers. I''ve got some more babies in that world.''


    Zhang Tie did not worry about his children, but his parents. He wondered whether his parents could stay healthy and as open-minded as before after losing him. Now, Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Palace must have been opposite to Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Qionglou Pavilion and Heavens Holding Pavilion.


    ''I''ve made a lot of arrangements over there. Therefore, within a short period of time, the three top sects cannot do any harm to Jinwu Palace. However, I''m not sure either after a long time. After all, it''s in the holy war. Taixia Country is not peaceful internally in addition to demons'' threats. As a result, everything might change. The high-end powers of the top three sects had an absolute advantage over Jinwu Palace. Despite the top three sects couldn''t do harm to Jinwu Palace for the time being, it''s hard to say in the future.''


    As Zhang Tie was crystal clear about the terror of the battle strength of high-end powerhouses, he knew what did it mean when a powerhouse above heavenly knight determined to fight a clan. Additionally, there were more than one such powerhouses facing Jinwu Palace.


    On this occasion, Zhang Tie realized that he had made a correct decision to have O''Laura, Sabrina and the other wives and concubines leave Eastern Continent for Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    When Zhang Tie came to Dragon Emperor Pavilion this morning, it was a bit gloomy. However, it was not snowing. At noon, the temperature declined sharply again when it started to snow. In the beginning, it was just light snow in the chilly wind. In less than half an hour, the scouther had become fluffy snow. The entire Dragon Emperor City was soon covered with white snow.


    Standing by the window of the Dragon Emperor Pavilion, Zhang Tie watched the snow scene with concerns silently.


    Meanwhile, the concerns drove Zhang Tie to make a decision in a split second.


    ''No need to wait anymore; just make it tonight...''


    ''There''re many powerhouses in Dragon Emperor City from all parties. I might have not discovered all the roles; however, what happened before could already push me to the throne of the Dragon Emperor.''


    ''Thank you, demons; thank you, shadow demons; thank you, the ancestors of shadow demons...''


    ...


    Outside the pavilion, Hong Yukun in fox-fur robe passed the arch door behind the shadow wall outside the pavilion, followed by two maids who were holding umbrellas and servants who were carrying one stove, some drinks and food. The moment Hong Yukun looked up, he had seen Zhang Tie who was standing by the window of the pavilion. Therefore, he hurriedly greeted Zhang Tie with a smile diligently.


    "Director, it''s snowing and a bit colder. I brought you a stove so that you could warm up in the pavilion..."


    Zhang Ti didn''t speak; instead, he raised his hand towards Hong Yukun. Hong Yukun then had the two maids and servants send those things in the pavilion. At the same time, Zhang Tie went downstairs.


    The charcoal in the stove was burning well without smoke. The moment the stove being covered with delicate patterns was put on the table on the first floor, the whole room had turned warm. Besides, a flagon was put on the table; some simple trays of food were held in a container. As the temperature rose, aroma started to fill the entire room, arousing people''s appetite at once.


    "You''re so kind..." Zhang Tie slowly went downstairs as he appreciated Hong Yukun.


    Hong Yukun waved his hand as those maids and servants moved backward and left there, heads down.


    Zhang Tie had come to Dragon Emperor Pavilion for almost 9 months. Everyone in Dragon Emperor Pavilion knew Zhang Tie''s temperament. Therefore, all the beauties in Dragon Emperor Pavilion gave up going off into wild flights of fancy. After trying for a few times, Hong Yunkun also dared not play the trick of roping in Zhang Tie with beauties anymore.


    "Director, I thought you were napping just now; therefore, I didn''t have people send them to you at that time. Now, I guess director might be interested in this snow scene; therefore I had people bring drinks and food here. It''s nice to enjoy snow scene while drinking. This is the latest rice wine in Dragon Emperor City. When Dragon Emperor was here, it was said that he used to enjoy snow scene while drinking rice wine..." Hong Yukun said with a smile and slightly bowed as if he was a butler.


    "With new rice wine and a red-clayed little stove, may I have a cup of drink facing the late snow?" Zhang Tie murmured two stylish lines of a poem, which shocked Hong Yukun in a split second.


    "Director, I''ve long been told that you are a talented scholar and could speak lines at any time. I''m finally convinced today..." Hong Yukun praised with a big smile after being shocked for a second when he showed his reverence to Zhang Tie very much.


    "Well, I forgot about it. I remember there was a lot of good wine in the cellar of Dragon Emperor Pavilion. As it''s snowing, send some to the military officials and soldiers, waiters and servants so that they could warm up. One flagon for one person."


    "Director, there''re 13 kinds of wines in the cellar of Dragon Emperor Pavilion. Which wine do you want to gift them?"


    Dragon Emperor Pavilion was not a beautiful garden, but the nominal residence of the Dragon Emperor. Although Dragon Emperor had not come back for hundreds of years, there was still a lot of tasteful wine in the cellar of Dragon Emperor Pavilion. Additionally, the new wine would be moved in there annually which carried a trivial hope of Dragon Emperor Pavilion and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. This wine was one of the invisible benefits of Dragon Emperor Pavilion, also the only materials that Zhang Tie could manipulate in Dragon Emperor Pavilion at his discretion.


    "Just send them a wine that they could never drink in usual days...let them enjoy too..."


    "Let''s make it Jade Spirit Pulp then. There''re many jars of Jade Spirit Pulp aged above 80 years in the cellar. Even many immortal generals in Dragon Emperor City could not drink it not to mention those common immortal soldiers outside. Additionally, Jade Spirit Pulp aged above 80 years was definitely a rarity. Besides those elders and grand justices who kept some, only Dragon Emperor Pavilion has it across Dragon Emperor Big Domain..." Hong Yukun said after gritting his teeth as he looked at Zhang Tie.


    "Okay, quick. By the way, fetch Xu Gang here. Let''s enjoy it together..." Zhang Tie sent an order by waving his hand. Hong Yukun hurriedly ran outside. Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had heard exclamations across Dragon Emperor Pavilion...

 1708 The Reappearance of Dragon Emperor

    Zhang Tie had Hong Yukun fetch Xu Gang so that they could have a drink and free chat in the pavilion together. When they almost finished those flagons of wine, the night gradually fell. However, it was still snowing.


    "Director, the guards would change shifts. I got to take a look outside..." Xu Gang stood up with a slight blush as he cleaned his mouth, asking to leave here, "As you''ve just delivered some good wine to them, those assh*les didn''t drink it when they were on duty; after hearing the news, I''m afraid they couldn''t wait anymore. Let me take a look over there. I will distribute the wine to them when they are off duty. Without director''s gift, those b*stards could never enjoy such a good wine for the rest of their lives. Those wine bibbers in the camp had already changed their eye colors when they smelled the wine; I have to go there to prevent them from stealing it..."


    "Well, you can leave!" Zhang Tie said as he waved his hand with blurry eyes. After that, he ordered Hong Yukun on his side, "Official Hong, spare a jar of wine for General Xu so that he could bring it back home!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Thanks for your gift, director..." Xu Gang said as he revealed a smile. After giving a salute to Zhang Tie, Xu Gang left the pavilion.


    "Director, do we need some more food?" Hong Yukun asked in a low voice.


    "No need. You could leave too. After taking a short rest upstairs, I will go back home too. I''m afraid that I will not come here tomorrow. Oh, prepare one more jar of Jade Spirit Pulp for me. Hang it on my flying lizard. I will take it back home..."


    "Yes, sir. Do you have any other order, director?"


    Zhang Tie waved his hand silently as he stood up and went upstairs.


    In a split second, Hong Yukun had fetched some maids and servants to clean the table. After that, he closed the gate and left the pavilion.


    On the second floor, lying on the bed, although Zhang Tie didn''t open his eyes, he still knew that everyone had left the pavilion. Actually, the entire Dragon Emperor Pavilion was within the sphere of the effect of Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy. Zhang Tie could even "see" clearly each snowflake in the sky.


    The moment Hong Yukun left the pavilion, Zhang Tie had opened his eyes as he didn''t look drunk at all.


    Within 1,000 m, no immortal human general was paying attention to this pavilion anymore.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie took off all of his clothes as fast as possible. After that, he pointed at his central forehead while a body-separation immortal rune flew out of there. In a split second, another Zhang Tie had appeared in the room. At the same time, Zhang Tie''s awareness divided into two halves, one on his original body, the other on his substitute.


    Zhang Tie''s substitute rapidly put on his original clothes and became another Zhang Tie vividly who even smelled as drunk as Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s original body took out a suit of green clothes from the secret tunnel under his bed and put them on.


    This set of clothes was taken out of his space-teleportation equipment on the first day of this month. They were very common. Additionally, Zhang Tie had forbidden anyone to enter his room without his consent, even for cleaning and arranging things. Zhang Tie even placed tracing feathers in the secret tunnel. He was sure that nobody else had come upstairs these days; nor had they opened his secret tunnel. Therefore, Zhang Tie was the only one who knew that a new set of clothes was put in the secret tunnel under his bed.


    Even if someone knew it or saw it, he or she couldn''t say anything about it. However, Zhang Tie was still meticulous.


    The new set of clothes didn''t fit Zhang Tie very well; they were evidently a bit loose for him.


    When Zhang Tie''s original body was putting on the set of clothes, he triggered his body-changing immortal bloodline as he gradually became old, his hair turned grey, his face turned wrinkled, graceful and ethereal, his eyes turned kind, dignified and a bit experienced. Dragon Emperor!


    In less than two minutes, Zhang Tie''s substitute had become himself while Zhang Tie''s original body became Dragon Emperor.


    The Dragon Emperor that Zhang Tie disguised was absolutely as same as the real one given his look and the secret methods that he cultivated.


    Given his look, Zhang Tie considered that Dragon Emperor should have changed a bit after hundreds of years. Therefore, he made Dragon Emperor a bit wrinkled. As for the unique temperament of Dragon Emperor, Zhang Tie had already watched the images of Dragon Emperor left in the memory crystals for many times during the past eight months. By triggering his disguising talent, Zhang Tie could imitate most of the Dragon Emperor''s behaviors. As for the bit of difference, it was caused by the environment that the Dragon Emperor experienced over the past 900 years.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, the fake Dragon Emperor and Zhang Tie''s original body nodded and clapped with each other. After that, the fake Dragon Emperor ran his spiritual energy as he triggered his invisible shen bead. In a split second, the fake Dragon Emperor disappeared while Zhang Tie''s substitute was still lying on the bed.


    ...


    20 minutes later, Zhang Tie''s substitute went downstairs and left the Dragon Emperor Pavilion. Under the respectful eyes of the officers and soldiers outside the pavilion, Zhang Tie mounted his flying lizard. Closely after that, he lightly released his battle qi to block off the wind and snow as he leisurely and wobbly crossed the moat.


    "Director, safe drive..." all the officers and soldiers shouted in unison under the leadership of Xu Gang.


    Zhang Tie didn''t turn around; instead, he just waved his hand backward...


    ''Time tries all.'' Since Zhang Tie served as the director of Dragon Emperor Pavilion, he treated his subordinates mercifully. Being known by his brutal deed across the city, Zhang Tie didn''t lose his temper in Dragon Emperor Pavilion at all; nor did he tyrannically abuse his power or torture his subordinates. Gradually, Zhang Tie won the reverence of his subordinates across the Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    "Alas, if only director could stay a few more years in Dragon Emperor Pavilion. We could live a bit better..." When Zhang Tie disappeared at the end of the street, a vice general beside Xu Gang sighed with emotions sincerely, "After Director came here, those people in Earth-Treasures Department dared not deduct our monthly compensation any more in case of trouble. Previously, those people always thought that we have other benefits besides monthly compensation in Dragon Emperor Pavilion; therefore they always deducted a part of our monthly compensation."


    "Nonsense, elder just want to improve director''s temperament here. Do you really think that there''re too many excellent immortal generals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace that a young immortal general would live the rest of his life here? You''ve just drunk Jade Spirit Pulp, take those b*stards to patrol around Dragon Emperor Pavilion right now..."


    "Elder brother, it''s said that director gifted you a jar of Jade Spirit Pulp. How about having a drink tonight..." the vice general asked as he licked his lips shamelessly. All the other officers swallowed their saliva forcefully as they fixated onto Xu Gang.


    Xu Gang''s face turned black at a stroke as he shouted, "Even this father grudges drinking it; I will gift it to someone else. How dare you think about it? Disappear right away..."


    ...


    Because of heavy snow, there were much fewer people on the streets. Many stores were closed earlier today.


    When Zhang Tie returned to the small courtyard in Apricot Blossom Village by flying lizard, it was already dark.


    Outside the small courtyard, two flying lizards were fastened to the stable. At the sight of them, Zhang Tie knew that Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan had arrived.


    As was imagined, the moment he got off the flying lizard, Uncle Qu had come out with a big smile kindly and passionately which felt mysterious. At the same time, he whispered to Zhang Tie, "Childe, Miss Ji and Miss Jiang are here..."


    "Hmm, I see..." Zhang Tie replied as he took off the two jars of wine from the back of the flying lizard. Uncle Qu then held the rein.


    "Two young ladies have already seen your invention...the chafing dish...they are curious about it...and want to have a try...we''ve already prepared everything. Two young ladies are waiting for childe in the pavilion on the roof..." Uncle Qu said as he led the flying lizard away.


    Zhang Tie nodded as he entered the courtyard and came to the roof which had been covered with some snow. However, it was the right moment to enjoy the snow scene in the surroundings over there. It was empty around the pavilion; however, after covering it with a two-layer curtain, they could avoid heavy wind while not feeling breathless.


    As was imagined by Zhang Tie, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan were studying a red copper chafing dish which Zhang Tie invented a few days ago in the pavilion. The moment Zhang Tie came back, the two girls'' beautiful eyes had fixated onto Zhang Tie''s face.


    "What''re you thinking about every day? How could you work out such a cooker that could make us feel warm? If you''re back a bit later, we would have already started to enjoy it..." Ji Yuelan said tenderly.


    "Hahaha, how could you just eat it in this way. I guess two beauties are coming today; therefore, I especially prepare some wine for you. 80 years old Jade Spirit Pulp. Few people across the city could have a chance to enjoy it. Today, with beauties and wine, I feel like an immortal being..." Zhang Tie said with a smile as he walked over there and sat between the two girls while putting the jars on the table.


    "How sweet you''re!" The two girls burst into laughter at the same time.


    "We could turn it up a bit. After a short while, we could put in dishes..." Zhang Tie said as he started to teach them how to use it...


    Only after a short while, the pavilion on the roof had been filled with laughter and cheers and aroma...


    Even though it was just Zhang Tie''s substitute, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan couldn''t identify it even if they were on its side...


    On the other side, the real original body of Zhang Tie had already arrived at a thousand meters high in the air and completely hid while targeting at someone in a manor in the east of Dragon Emperor City spiritually.


    Watching that target, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand swallowing his saliva.


    ''A heavenly shadow demon knight, what a nice piece of flesh...''

 1709 Charming Beauties

    In the heavy snow, the entire city was in silence...


    In the Apricot Blossom Court, Apricot Blossom Village outside Dragon Emperor City, Zhang Tie''s substitute was having a drink with Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan. Zhang Tie even taught them drinkers'' wager game and finger-guessing game. Three of them were pretty thrilled.


    As a result, the entire tranquil courtyard was filled with the exclamations between Zhang Tie and the two girls, which was pretty warm and boisterous.


    "Four-season wealth ya..."


    "Fine-chiefs ya..."


    "Six is happy ya..."


    "Ah, Zhang Tie, you lost it; you lost it. It''s your turn to drink..." Ji Yuelan''s voice reached downstairs from the roof.


    "Well, let''s continue!" Zhang Tie''s voice sounded again.


    In the courtyard, Uncle Qu and his wife were whispering to each other with smiles while listening to the cheers of the three people on the roof.


    "Which one do you think is in love with childe, Miss Ji or Miss Jiang?"


    "I think both of them!"


    "Men are always covetous. I feel that Miss Ji loves childe more. As a woman, I know it clearly. But Miss Jiang is also beautiful. Given her look, she could definitely bring happiness to her husband and could easily deliver babies..."


    "It''s normal for childe to marry a couple of wives..."


    "Humph, I feel childe is not that kind of person..."


    Although they didn''t eat food anymore, the chafing dish in the pavilion on the roof was still giving out heat, making the pavilion as warm as spring. Being tipsy and having heard the talk between Uncle Qu and his wife, Jiang Ruoxin blushed a bit as she leaned against the soft couch in the pavilion, squinting her eyes. At the same time, she watched Zhang Tie whose face turned red playing finger-guessing game with Ji Yuelan excitedly.


    Not knowing why, whenever Jiang Ruoxin came to Zhang Tie''s courtyard, she had felt especially relaxed where she didn''t need to think about or do anything; nor would she worry about anything. She only needed to have fun with Zhang Tie like what they''re doing now. Zhang Tie would always show them odd things which could bring them a lot of fun.


    In many cases, after staying long with Zhang Tie, Jiang Ruoxin even forgot about Zhang Tie''s identity as an immortal general and his brutal and resolute deed when killing people; instead, she treated Zhang Tie as a craftsman who could make a lot of delicate widgets and a man who could create poems whenever he wanted or an old friend whom she could confide to without any concern...


    ''If we could live on like this without any concern, it''s also not bad...''


    Such a whim occurred to Jiang Ruoxin.


    Right beside her...


    "Two bosom brothers..."


    "Eight horses ya..."


    "Hah, I win..." Zhang Tie shouted, "It''s your turn to drink..."


    "You''re shameless..." Ji Yuelan argued as she pouted.


    "What?" Zhang Tie widely opened his eyes as he exclaimed...


    "You were a bit late than me. I won''t drink it this time. One more..."


    "Even if you''re a woman, you should also be justified..."


    "Didn''t you say that men should give concession to women? I''m not justified, so what?" Ji Yuelan watched Zhang Tie with peach cheeks and sparkling eyes, chesting out.


    "Well, I give concession to you; I favor you; if you don''t drink; let me feed you..." After leaving the words, Zhang Tie bottomed up. Before Ji Yuelan responded, he put his arms around Ji Yuelan''s neck before sticking his lips to hers. When their tongues were twisting with each other, Zhang Tie poured the wine into Ji Yuelan''s mouth.


    Watching wine dropping off their mouths and hearing Ji Yuelan''s groan, Jiang Ruoxin''s face turned redder as she closed her eyes at once. However, closely after that, she opened her eyes again.


    After a long while, the two people separated. Zhang Tie smiled while Ji Yuelan looked drunk. Being thrilled, she instantly leaned against Zhang Tie''s chest softly as she patted Zhang Tie, complaining, "How dare you take advantage of this elder sister..."


    "You didn''t oppose it just now. I thought you liked it!"


    "If so, you shouldn''t have ended it so fast..." Ji Yuelan continued as she drew a circle on Zhang Tie''s chest...


    Zhang Tie...


    "Enough is enough. I''ve not been drunk yet. If you continue, I will leave..." Jiang Ruoxin couldn''t stand opening her mouth as she glared at Zhang Tie and Ji Yuelan. Although it sounded like a condemnation, it contained other meanings.


    "Ruoxin, how about having a try? It''s called skin cup. If you want to have a try, I will sacrifice myself. I swear that you could do it with me for free. It doesn''t matter even if you make me lose my innocense..." Zhang Tie turned around as he told Jiang Ruoxin solemnly.


    "Peh, you''re the last innocent person in the world..." Jiang Ruoxin turned around and argued as her face turned redder.


    "Pufttt..." Ji Yuelan burst into laughter at a stroke. After that, she incited Zhang Tie in fear of no trouble, "Well, well, let Ruoxin enjoy one skin cup too. She''s not tasted a skin cup since she was born..."


    "Drink it if you like, don''t draw me in!"


    "The voice box that you presented us like time is Ruoxin''s favorite. She directly put it at her bedside. Additionally, Ruxin usually recited the poem In the bright lamplight that you wrote last time. She''s really crazy about it. Today, as all the plum blossoms in the courtyard have opened these days in the heavy snow, if you could write a poem that contains snow and flowers and satisfy us, I will let Ruoxin feed you a skin cup!" Ji Yuelan promised as she clapped her hands.


    "It''s easy. Listen!" After having a cup of wine, Zhang Tie watched the two girls. After being silent for a few seconds, he sang, "In the snowwhite world, there''s a plum tree. The plum twigs being covered with ice were crystal. The plum blossoms at the top of the twigs are plump and pure white. These plum blossoms bring peope the news that the spring is coming. Being just open, how tender and beautiful they are! With rich fragrance, they''re like beauties who have just come out of the bathtub in new clothes. The mother nature might prefer these delicate and charming plum blossoms as they make moonlight especially pure and white, spreading over the ground. Come! Let''s cheer up for the good night with beautiful flowers and a round moon! Let''s appreciate the plum blossoms and have a drink. No other blossoms could match plum blossom!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s poem, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were transfixed as they both felt Zhang Tie''s line contained numerous meanings; especially the last line, "No other blossoms could match plum blossom!" which aroused the resonance of the two girls immediately...


    Ji Yuelan hid her smile at once; instead, her eyes turned wet. Jiang Ruoxin watched Zhang Tie with a dumbfounded look.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was watching them with a smile, far away from being drunk and profaning them.


    "The mother nature might prefer these delicate and charming plum blossoms...No other blossoms could match plum blossom..." Jiang Ruoxin murmured twice. Before Zhang Tie responded, Jiang Ruoxin had taken in a deep breath as she bottomed up. Closely after that, she put her arms around Zhang Tie''s neck as she kissed Zhang Tie''s lips, eyes closed...


    When the two people were immersed in it, a thunder-like battle qi roared and broke the sky in the shape of a berserk golden dragon, shocking the rest of the city...


    ...


    God helped those who helped themselves. After Zhang Tie traveled more than half a year in Dragon Emperor City, he finally discovered that heavenly shadow-demon knight one month ago.


    Of course, shadow demons were variable. However, Zhang Tie''s lotus-flower eyes were like a devil-identifying mirror which could reflect all the shadow demons in front of Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie found the right opportunity, he applied a master-level hiding skill aided by his invisible shen bead. As a result, his hiding effect was even greater than that of red and blue devils.


    Even when Zhang Tie reached 10 m away from the heavenly shadow demon knight, he was still not discovered.


    It was more like an earth-shaking assassination after an assassin fixed his target or prey; instead of being a fair face-to-face battle...


    When Zhang Tie launched a sudden strike, his Shackle of Bloody Chakra, Deity-Killing Sword and Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist acted onto the heavenly shadow demon knight at the same time who was hiding outside Dragon Emperor City in the identity of a rich businessman.


    Such an amazing strike severely inflicted that heavenly shadow demon knight almost in a split second. Meanwhile, the faint qi of Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist rushed into the sky, shocking the entire city...

 1710 A Big Stage

    When Zhang Tie grasped the shadow demon''s neck, he kept punching it using another fist for hundreds of times like a roaring tiger before the shadow knight recovered from the heavy strike of Zhang Tie''s Deity-Killing Sword.


    The berserk strength of Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist turned an area within dozens of meters into ruins. Meanwhile, his brutal punch intention invaded the shadow demon''s body crazily and destroyed most of its vitality.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie triggered his Purgatory Samsara Method. Before the shadow demon shrieked miserably, its entire wind chakra had been heavily struck as it quivered all over, spurting out blood from its mouth and nose.


    This heavenly shadow demon knight couldn''t match the red and blue devils in battle strength; however, Zhang Tie''s battle strength was much greater than that when he killed the red and blue devils nine months ago.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie raided it.


    The combination of Deity-Killing Sword and invisible shen bead was perfect. Like how an invisible assassin sneaked to the back of a shadow demon and fired at its head, it was irresistible.


    The key was Zhang Tie''s Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist.


    Dragon Emperor was famous for his Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist, which was one of the top nine emperor-level battle skills in Motian Realm.


    Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist was known as the best human fist skill in Motian Realm. It could be said without exaggeration that it was the most powerful fist skill that Zhang Tie had ever seen. Zhang Tie didn''t find or hear that any other people could match the Dragon Emperor in fist skill even when he was in Taixia Country. Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist even carried that strong qi field of a destructive fist skill that he saw from a forebear in mind.


    Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist was not only unrivaled but also unpredictable.


    If Zhang Tie was not a master in fist skill and Dragon Emperor didn''t leave his calligraphy to impart his fist skill to Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie could not get the essence of Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist. Even so, it took Zhang Tie 8 months to only reach 20% of the total power of Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist through many times'' life-or-death battles in trouble-reappearance situations and gnosis.


    Plus the skills of kinetic strikes that Zhang Tie concluded in close battles, each punch carried the strength of his kinetic strike. Therefore, hundreds of punches instantly broke apart the heavenly shadow demon knight''s bones, meridians, veins, muscles and guts as a whole in a split second. As a result, the heavenly shadow demon knight lost his ability to resist at once, revealing his grim original frame which looked like a reptile with a golden horn, sharp claws and horned tail.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie caught its neck as he rushed into the sky like catching a chick with a relaxed and disdainful look, from where he watched Dragon Emperor City silently.


    The jade plate that was used to contact the others and some widgets that the shadow demon carried had long been broken by Zhang Tie''s punches. At this moment, the shadow demon had almost lost its ability to move and resist; it couldn''t even utter a sound. It was going to die.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly refined its wind chakra.


    The complete wind chakra was Zhang Tie''s biggest achievement this time. Therefore, he didn''t want to waste any of it. Therefore, Zhang Tie disguised as Dragon Emperor.


    Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist was Dragon Emperor''s top battle skill. Its strong qi had long made the entire city boisterous.


    In the blink of an eye, numerous people had rushed into the sky towards Zhang Tie.


    All of the first batches of people were immortal generals, precisely immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Immortal generals below heavenly knights wore flight suit or wings simply while those above heavenly knights directly flew towards him driven by their chakras.


    Zhang Tie was as same as Dragon Emperor at this moment given his look, frame, the strong qi of his Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist and his temperament. All those who were familiar with Dragon Emperor were deeply convinced that he was Dragon Emperor.


    "Your Majesty..."


    The one who arrived there first was a heavenly knight of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. After catching sight of Zhang Tie in the distance, he instantly exclaimed as he quivered all over out of excitement. He almost fell from the sky.


    ''What? Your Majesty?''


    After hearing the voice, hundreds of immortal generals in the surroundings were in an uproar in a split second.


    The five elders and two grand justices of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace arrived there soon at the speed of many times that of sound transmission speed in the air. When they were far away, they had already noticed the Dragon Emperor...


    Among the five elders and the two grand justices, there was only one woman. With a pair of beautiful slim eyes on her round face, she was middle-aged. In purple clothes and high bun, she was Luo Yunshang who was in charge of the Earth-Treasures Department of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    As for the others such as Xia Yangming who was in charge of Supervision Department, Shi Zhongyu who was in charge of Immortal Generals Department, Hou Moyuan who was in charge of Heavenly Craftsmen Department, Wang Laisheng who was in charge of Military Department, Long Jiutian and Ying Gucheng the two grand justices of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to see them in the public.


    Of course, Zhang Tie had long seen them in his spiritual travel in the past 8 months. As semi-sage powerhouses, they had their distinctive temperaments; each of them was able. However, in Motian Realm which was filled with powers, these people were not qualified to preside over Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. As none of them could suppress the others, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace gradually lost its heads.


    Even though they had not seen Dragon Emperor for over 900 years, the five elders and the two grand justices'' veneration about Dragon Emperor was still aroused at once by the strong fist qi of Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist above Dragon Emperor City. When they caught sight of Dragon Emperor, each of them kept 5,000 m away from him as they all changed their faces greatly while staying in the air stiffly.


    "You disappoint me so much..." Zhang Tie performed vividly as he didn''t even throw a glance at those elders and grand justices; instead, he just looked up at the snowflakes in the air as an unrivaled and overwhelming qi suffused in the air. "Look at those presumptuous clowns and devils in Dragon Emperor City, do you really think I''m dead...ahem ahem ahem..." Zhang Tie pretended to cough which sounded more vivid and might arouse the audience''s suspicion that Dragon Emperor might have some health problem after hundreds of years.


    Then, under the gaze of the public, Zhang Tie broke the heavenly shadow demon knight''s head by hand. At the same time, he released a golden Dragon True Flame, burning its body into ashes in the air in the blink of an eye.


    Zhang Tie used Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist to attract the attention of the others. Then, he blamed the five elders and the two grand justices of the immortal palace and killed a heavenly shadow demon knight using Dragon True Flame. In a short period of time, Zhang Tie had intensified the image of Dragon Emperor in the hearts of the public.

 1711 Being Coronated

    As Zhang Tie was clear that he was not the real Dragon Emperor; nor did he reach the realm of Dragon Emperor. In case of trouble, he didn''t spare too much time for those elders and grand justices of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to think and respond; instead, he continued his strike so as to shock the others.


    After the heavenly shadow demon knight''s wind chakra was refined by Zhang Tie, it turned into ashes. Closely after that, Zhang Tie uttered a cold humph, "Come out..." as he punched towards a location in the Dragon Emperor City.


    Zhang Tie''s punch looked as light as the fresh wind blowing by willow twigs as if it was Dragon Emperor''s casual deed. In fact, Zhang Tie had exerted his full efforts.


    Zhang Tie''s punch only carried 20% of the total power of the Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist Skill.


    At the same time, an over 200 m long berserk golden dragon roared and flew off Zhang Tie''s hand. Closely after that, it fell into a small courtyard in a lane of Dragon Emperor City after crossing tens of thousands of meters in the air.


    Although it started fiercely, it finally became tender when it reached the small courtyard.


    In a split second, everything in the courtyard turned into ashes, including rooms, furniture and all the other furnishings. However, none of the neighboring houses were influenced. Of course, the audience would regard it as Dragon Emperor''s merciful deed for the sake of the safety of the others in the city as His Majesty didn''t use his full strength. In fact, it was the utmost effort that Zhang Tie could make.


    ''Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist Skill! It''s really Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist Skill!''


    Those immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were immediately in an uproar. Just now, many people only felt the qi field of Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist Skill. By contrast, when Zhang Tie applied his Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist Skill in the public, it brought people an utterly different shock. As Dragon Emperor''s signature skill, when Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist Skill was applied in the public, people were deeply convinced that Dragon Emperor was back.


    A figure then rushed into the sky from the ruined courtyard, who was the sage-level knight surnamed Ying that Zhang Tie followed spiritually in the boite of Octagonal Lane in Dragon Emperor City the other day. Of course, this guy surnamed Zhao was in another identity in Dragon Emperor City in the public. Additionally, he had already hidden his real identity here for many years.


    All those immortal generals, elders and grand justices in Dragon Emperor City were shocked by the person who rushed into the sky from the ruined small courtyard. Given his speed, he was a supreme immortal general.


    None of them knew when a supreme immortal general started to lurk in Dragon Emperor City. However, the moment Dragon Emperor arrived, this guy had been exposed to the public.


    After reaching 10,000 m high, that guy flickered his eyes as he watched "Dragon Emperor" out of shock and suspicion.


    Tonight, when Zhang Tie dealt with the heavenly shadow demon knight, this supreme immortal general had already sensed the strong qi field of Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist Skill. Hiding in the small courtyard, he stealthily observed what was happening in the sky. When he noticed Dragon Emperor, he was really shocked; however, he also doubted whether Zhang Tie was the real Dragon Emperor or not. Nevertheless, before he made any response, Zhang Tie''s punch had shattered his small courtyard, exposing him to the public.


    He didn''t know how "Dragon Emperor" discovered him until now. Therefore, he regarded "Dragon Emperor" with reverence.


    "Dragon Emperor" took a look at him with faintly distant and disdainful eyes which seemingly being able to penetrate through everything, and said, "As a supreme human immortal general, why not do things in the public? Why do you hide there and imitate demons..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, that person was shocked again as his last bit of fluke mind was shattered again. The supreme immortal general then heaved a deep sigh as his bones all over cracked suddenly. Then, he covered his face with palm and moved his palm away, revealing another more wrinkled black face with sword-shaped eyebrows, sharp eyes and a red nevus full of killing intent in his central forehead. The supreme immortal general bowed towards Zhang Tie respectfully as he said, "Your Majesty, it''s Ying Canghai''s great honor to see you..."


    ''Old Monster Ying? He''s Old Monster Ying!'' All the immortal generals and elders in the air were in uproar as they seemed to have recognized Ying Canghai.


    "I''ve been acquainted with Force Emperor for many years. I''ve not imagined that Force Emperor still remembers me after so many years..." Zhang Tie sighed as he looked up to the sky, hands on his back, his voice rumbling across the city, "That one in the Zhu Mansion in the Eastern District of Dragon Emperor City, are you waiting for me to invite you?"


    Closely after Zhang Tie''s words, a person had rushed into the sky from the Eastern District. Before Zhang Tie said anything else, he had covered his face with palm and moved it away, revealing his real look. He was a middle-aged literati with white face and slim eyebrows. He also bowed towards Zhang Tie from 10,000 m away as he said, "Your Majesty, it''s the great honor for Xiang Donglai the grand justice of Force Emperor Immortal Palace to see you. Over these years, as Your Majesty has not returned, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was like threading on eggs facing a lot of crises. As Force Emperor was afraid that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was invaded by demons, His Majesty ordered me to stay here for protecting Dragon Emperor City. Please forgive me, Your Majesty..."


    Xiang Donglai was indeed a smart guy as he really found a good reason for him to lurk in Dragon Emperor City.


    "Force Emperor is really considerate..." Zhang Tie still looked as calm as before. He didn''t even look at Xiang Donglai. His five words made Xiang Donglai shut up at once. If Xiang Donglai still wanted to say something, it was nothing different than insulting the IQ of Dragon Emperor.


    After knowing that the grand justice of Force Emperor Immortal Palace was also hiding in Dragon Emperor City, the five elders and the two grand justices of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were dumbfounded as they all lowered their heads and dared not look straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes anymore.


    "As there''re so many guests in Dragon Emperor City; if I don''t invite someone, it seems that you would not come out. Alright, let''s see it..." Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh as his qi field rose abruptly. At the same time, his eyes sparkled as he made a bizarre finger gesture and pointed towards a peak over 60 miles away, shouting "break".


    Under the gaze of so many immortal generals of Dragon Emperor City, a white light flashed across the sky without any omen. In a split second, the peak disappeared.


    Meanwhile, a person rushed into the sky, sprouting blood constantly as he had lost one arm and one leg. He escaped far away in bloody light. Given his speed, he should be a fiery immortal general.


    "Ahem ahem ahem..." Zhang Tie disguised to cough for a few times. Closely after that, his voice drifted over 60 m, "Tell Star Emperor, I will pay a visit to him in Star Emperor Big Realm when I''m free. I will ask him why he allowed his subordinates to plunder my cities and kill my immortal generals in the Nine Heavens Big Domain..."


    ''What''s that battle skill?''


    All the people above Dragon Emperor Big Domain were shocked so much as their faces turned pale and their backs turned completely wet, including the two supreme immortal generals.


    Just now, Dragon Emperor didn''t use his battle qi; instead, he used some mysterious strength. Only by pointing at a target, he had destroyed it. Its power could even match Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist Skill. Nobody could resist such a battle skill. It was far more than just terrifying.


    ''Is this the battle skill that Dragon Emperor grasped after having disappeared for more than 900 years?''


    The same whim occurred to a lot of people.


    Even Dragon Emperor was sprouting blood, his supreme position in the hearts of the public would not waver a bit; instead, he would win more respect from people, not to mention that he was just coughing.


    This was the real qi field of an emperor.


    Closely after they witnessed Zhang Tie''s strike, some more people had rushed into the sky, the weakest one among which was a wind immortal general. As for others, there were 3 fiery immortal generals and 2 supreme immortal generals. After bowing towards Zhang Tie together from far away, they flurriedly escaped away...


    Although Zhang Tie stayed calm, he was startled too as he had not imagined that there would be so many lurkers in Dragon Emperor City. Even Zhang Tie had not discovered these people over the past 8 months. Actually, Zhang Tie just wanted to deter them by killing or hurting a couple of them. Unimaginably, these people were really scared and exposed themselves to the public.


    All the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor City were in hubbubs. Those elders and grand justices started to quiver all over. They were scared by Zhang Tie''s powerful strikes and so many foreign powerhouses across Dragon Emperor City.


    "Look at that. Is this the Dragon Emperor City that you want to show me? If I came back a few years later, I''m afraid that my Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would have disappeared by then..." Zhang Tie heaved a long sigh as he turned around and watched those elders and grand justices calmly full of disappointment, "When you''re competing with each other, you don''t know that you''ve already become the baits and targets of the others. More innocent commoners might be involved in the war. You...you really made me disappointed..."


    After saying that, Zhang Tie turned around and looked at a place in Dragon Emperor City, calling in a low voice, "Zhang Tie..."


    "Master..."


    Under the gaze of all the others, Zhang Tie''s substitute flew towards his original body from afar as he bowed towards "His Majesty".


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s appellation about Dragon Emperor, all the immortal generals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were petrified.


    ''Zhang Tie...Zhang Tie is the disciple of His Majesty...''


    At this moment, many people''s hearts pounded as they thought they misheard it or were dreaming. However, the following words of Dragon Emperor indicated that they didn''t mishear it nor they were dreaming.


    "From today on, you''re the new Dragon Emperor of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace..."


    It was silent in the sky above Dragon Emperor City, except for Dragon Emperor''s voice drifting across the air facing heavy wind and snow. Everyone was clear that Dragon Emperor was sending the order to all the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Even the five elders and the two grand justices felt hearts racing and thirsty as they couldn''t utter a sound, not to mention common immortal generals.


    It was not strange for an immortal emperor to pass his throne to someone in Motian Realm; however, nobody had imagined that it would happen in front of them.


    "Ah, master, but I want to travel across Motian Realm for a few more years..." Zhang Tie urged as he looked reluctant under the gaze of the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    "I have no heir. As my only disciple, you''ve grasped all of my battle skills and secret methods. You''ve already seen that tonight, there should be a leader in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Later on, you will take my throne. You''re the new Dragon Emperor. I believe that you will not let me down...ahem ahem ahem..." The "Dragon Emperor" persuaded Zhang Tie''s substitute kindly as he started to cough hardly again.


    Zhang Tie then nodded as he moved one step forward with concerns, saying, "Master, you..."


    "I have something else to tell you, follow me..." After leaving his words, Dragon Emperor held Zhang Tie''s hand at a stroke under the gaze of all the others. In a split second, they had disappeared and reappeared over 6,000 m away. In the blink of an eye, the two people had disappeared into the sky. The speed could only be dreamed by people below the immortal emperor.


    Ying Canghai and Xiang Donglai exchanged a glance with each other silently as they left there in different directions, leaving long rainbows.


    Those immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace stayed still in the sky as they were still shocked by what they saw in the past minutes.


    "Dragon Emperor is back. Dragon Emperor is back..." It had become boisterous across the city while numerous burning torches and lamplight flew out of rooms and courtyards and poured in the streets of Dragon Emperor City. From the sky, the entire city was like a starry ocean in the snowy night...

 1712 Heading for Mountain Ruins

    In the pitch-dark heavenly curtain, it was snowing heavily with wuthering wind...


    Zhang Tie''s original body and his substitute were flashing as fast as lightning bolts like shadows. After leaving Dragon Emperor City over 600 miles, they entered a thick cloud, where Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy and had the mysterious energy of his invisible shen bead in his mind sea cover two of them at the same time. As a result, Zhang Tie and his substitute disappeared in a split second. Even an immortal emperor who followed them all the way here could barely find them any longer, not to mention that it was densely covered with snowy clouds in the evening.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether the red and blue devils could be invisible at the same time with invisible shen bead, but he and his substitute could be invisible at the same time after integrating with the mysterious energy of the invisible shen bead.


    After hiding them, Zhang Tie made a turn and accelerated towards a rare mountain range within Dragon Emperor Bid Domain according to his memory in the speed of over 10,000 m per second.


    In less than 20 minutes, a tall mountain range towering in the clouds lasting 6,000 miles had appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    The top of the mountain range was circled by a snow line. From the sky, Zhang Tie found clouds were rolling at the hillside. Above this mountain range, there were a lot of air-borne mountains, large or small.


    It was unpopulated here. After being fully exploited for tens of thousands of years, nobody would come to those air-borne mountains anymore.


    Like how the red and blue devils did, Zhang Tie looked around using his lotus-flower eyes at first. After finding nobody within hundreds of miles, he directly came to an air-borne mountain and entered a mountain cave.


    "Here we are..." Zhang Tie took a look inside after entering the mountain cave. He found it was dry inside and nobody was there not even animals. There was even no dirt in the high altitude. The mountain cave might have remained unchanged for many years. Besides some mining traces, it was pitch-dark inside. However, with his dark visual ability, it was as bright as day here.


    "Dragon Emperor" and Zhang Tie''s substitute exchanged a glance with each other as they burst into laughter in unison.


    Of course, Dragon Emperor was fake. If he stayed with others for a short period, his loophole would be identified for real. He could imitate others easily; however, he couldn''t imitate an immortal emperor''s cultivation realm and the memory of Dragon Emperor, which had evident loopholes. However, in the past minutes, Zhang Tie didn''t spare any chance for anyone to check whether he was real or not. He kept launching strikes for several times like a real immortal emperor which shocked everyone else; especially the battle skill that he used the two energies in the void to expose the fire immortal general from Star Emperor Immortal Palace.


    The others only saw "Dragon Emperor" mauling a powerhouse from Star Emperor Immortal Palace easily from over 50,000 m away. However, nobody knew how long had Zhang Tie prepared for that battle skill. Additionally, it cost him a great amount of spiritual energy by keeping the two energies in the void in a state of being ready for a strike. The point was that he had discovered the powerhouse from Star Emperor Immortal Palace lurking in Dragon Emperor City a few months ago. After combining with so many conditions, Zhang Tie finally shocked everyone by only one strike.


    It could be said that each step tonight was within Zhang Tie''s delicate plan and expectation. Except for Zhang Tie, all the people across Dragon Emperor City had been cheated. The heavenly shadow demon knight became the only sacrifice on this stage tonight.


    It took Zhang Tie 8 to 9 months in playing such a performance. As a result, he successfully turned himself into the disciple of Dragon Emperor and the new Dragon Emperor of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    To be honest, Zhang Tie was not completely fake because it was a reality that Zhang Tie had acquired the spiritual enlightenment of the Dragon Emperor from the latter''s calligraphy. As Dragon Emperor didn''t have any heir or disciple in Motian Realm, Zhang Tie was the only one who was qualified to carry forward everything of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace across the Motian Realm.


    What happened tonight just made the reality aboveboard. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie prevented a turmoil across Dragon Emperor City.


    If those powerhouses lurking in Dragon Emperor City started a brawl, very few of those commoners in the city could survive in the end.


    Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Dragon Emperor City had long been treading on eggs. However, Zhang Tie''s performance tonight changed everything.


    No matter what methods Zhang Tie adopted, Zhang Tie felt unregretful.


    In the mountain cave, Zhang Tie''s original body and substitute started to change again.


    Dragon Emperor slowly turned into Zhang Tie''s original look while Zhang Tie''s substitute slowly turned into a strange old man that nobody else had ever seen.


    "I will digest and refine the wind chakra of that heavenly shadow demon knight here. I could at least promote to one change higher..." Zhang Tie''s original body said as he took a look at this mountain cave.


    "Well, I will take a look at the Mountain Ruins by this opportunity..." Zhang Tie''s substitute said as he took off his metal wings, leaving it inside the mountain cave.


    The talk was like murmuring for Zhang Tie. He felt pretty interesting controlling two bodies to speak using his multi-tasking ability.


    After that, the two bodies smiled at and clapped against each other. Then, Zhang Tie''s substitute flew out of the mountain cave along the route that he came in. Zhang Tie himself then found a dry place and sat down. Eyes closed, Zhang Tie started to assimilate and refine the wind chakra.


    It was really a high-efficient way for Zhang Tie to use Purgatory Samsara Method. After killing the red and blue devils, Zhang Tie won another opportunity to improve his overall strength quickly overnight.


    As Zhang Tie was refining tonight''s achievement in the mountain cave, his substitute was heading for the Mountain Ruins...


    ...


    According to the map of Motian Realm, humans and demons lived in the middle space between Mountain Ruins and Yaohai Ocean.


    Mountain Ruins was very large; actually, it was the largest mysterious domain in Motian Realm, which was many times larger than the total of the other domains of humans and demons. Mountain Ruins existed everywhere. As long as one could reach over 200,000 miles high in the air, he or she would be able to touch the border of Mountain Ruins.


    After leaving the mountain cave, Zhang Tie''s substitute directly advanced toward the sky...

 1713 Ice and Fire Heavenly Strong Wind

    In the 5 change realm of shadow knight, Zhang Tie''s body separation skill was also improved. Although his substitute couldn''t fly as fast as his original body, it could also reach almost 10,000 m per second using the skill of divine dominator.


    At this speed, it took Zhang Tie''s substitute less than 20 minutes to reach over 6,000 miles higher and enter the high-altitude air zone of Motian Realm.


    Very few immortal generals could enter such a high altitude. Even though airboats could not reach such a height. At this altitude, he could see many air-borne mountains in the sky below. By contrast, there was nothing else but chilly wind above him.


    It was pitch-dark over there where only clear and bright moonlight and starlight could cast down dimly.


    There was only one moon in Motian Realm, which was utterly different than that in Kun''ang Continent. After staying in Motian Realm so long, each time Zhang Tie watched the sun, the moon and the stars, he would have a strange idea¡ª¡ªWere these things created together with Motian Realm?


    Heller said Motian Realm was bizarre space and world being similar to Castle of Black Iron; additionally, it was a bit incomplete. If Motian Realm was created by someone who created Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie really wondered about the great power who created Motian Realm and the sun, the moon and the stars in it.


    It explained why Zhang Tie always behaved modestly; because he knew that all the powers such as shadow knight, heavenly knight, semi-sage knight or sage-level knight were dwarfed in front of the power that created Motian Realm and Castle of Black Iron.


    In the world he came from, sage-level knights didn''t know how to make progress anymore. In this world, immortal emperors, above sage-level knights might reach high levels and new realms that the others couldn''t touch.


    Zhang Tie wondered about the realm of immortal emperors.


    Across the Motian Realm, the top secrets included how sage-level knights promoted to immortal emperors. As the legendary nine heavens immortal spring was in Mountain Ruins, Zhang Tie finally found an opportunity to explore it after preparing for it a few days.


    Mountain Ruins was vast. It was said that the core region of Mountain Ruins would open in a few years. It was necessary for Zhang Tie to take a look at the periphery of Mountain Ruins.


    The top secret about Mountain Ruins was in its core region. However, in the periphery of Mountain Ruins, there were also numerous secrets and resources. The entire Mountain Ruins was the battlefield of heavenly knights across the Motian Realm. Over the past hundreds of millions of years, numerous powerhouses above heavenly knights kept exploring and fighting in Mountain Ruins endlessly, whether humans or demons.


    Compared to the situation inside Mountain Ruins, although there were also contradictions and wars between immortal palaces in human domains, they were not as fierce as that in Mountain Ruins in most cases as they mainly plundered population and territory.


    According to the information that Zhang Tie had learned, the entire Mountain Ruins was completely the battlefield of knights above heavenly knights in Motian Realm.


    There was even a popular saying in Motian Realm that powerhouses who were not famous in Mountain Ruins were not qualified to found immortal human palaces or demon palaces.


    Zhang Tie had to take a look at Mountain Ruins since so many demon powerhouses above heavenly knights were in there, not to mention those treasures over there.


    As for Zhang Tie, those demon powerhouses were more like movable treasury than enemies. By reining their chakras, Zhang Tie could promote to real powers and return to Taixia Country as fast as possible.


    What Mountain Ruins was to Zhang Tie was what fresh flowers to bees and what flame to moths.


    As this substitute had already completed its most important performance and was useless in a short period of time. Therefore, Zhang Tie preferred to have his substitute take a look at Mountain Ruins for him before fading away itself.


    The substitute used his flight ability as a divine dominator. Although it was not fighting, such a flight also cost his substitute a great amount of spiritual energy. As a result, it could not fly at such a high speed for too long.


    As for Zhang Tie''s substitute, it was a tough challenge for it to fly 200,000 miles using the flight ability as a divine dominator.


    Zhang Tie''s substitute flew overnight before arriving at the area below Mountain Ruins at daybreak.


    It was not an easy trip from the area lower than Mountain Ruins to the periphery of Mountain Ruins as there was a special air zone in between called Ice and Fire Heavenly Strong Wind Layer (IFHSWL). According to the map, Zhang Tie knew that this layer was a barrier for some to enter Mountain Ruins from the air zone below it, which was perilous.


    Before Zhang Tie''s substitute touched the Ice and Fire Heavenly Strong Wind Layer, he had sensed the especially berserk wind element in this space.


    Zhang Tie''s substitute stopped there as he started to observe this barrier while his pupils revealed a beautiful lotus flower.


    The Ice and Fire Heavenly Strong Wind Layer was really as worse as its name.


    The over 600 miles thick void below the Ice and Fire Heavenly Strong Wind Layer was blue. Various shapes of icicles were coming into being and disappearing into the sky continuously; some of them were like fine sands; some were like rocks; some were like sharp sabers; some were like spears. Like meteors, these icicles faded away like heaving sand in strong wind in the blink of an eye.


    Above this blue air zone, there was an over 600 miles thick faintly rouge air zone, where sparkles, flames or fire rain appeared out of the void and disappeared. Before disappearing, some flames would leave long fiery tails or fireworks which gradually faded away themselves.


    Under painters'' brushes, the ice and fire heavenly strong wind layer might carry a bizarre aesthetic; however, in Zhang Tie''s eyes, what he saw meant dangers.


    It was wind elements that filled the entire IFHSWL, which were flying across the sky like hurricanes at high speed.


    The ice and fire in this layer were not pure water and fire; instead, they were the manifestation of the water element, fire element and wind element. They directly came from elements realm. Although they looked pure, they couldn''t be caught and refined by knights in this state.


    After observing it for a while below the IFHSWL, Zhang Tie''s substitute immediately entered it.


    The moment he entered the IFHSWL, Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi had been completely isolated by those icicles. It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that he lost his flight ability as a divine dominator for the first time in the layer.


    The entire IFHSWL was filled with the heavenly wind which was composed of manifested berserk wind elements as dense as mercury which moved at a pretty high speed.


    In this state, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy became water as it couldn''t combine with the air zone dominated by wind elements at all. Of course, his substitute couldn''t fly there. Not only that, even his protective battle qi felt like being broken apart by the heavenly wind.


    Zhang Tie was startled. After losing his flight ability, Zhang Tie felt like jumping into a torrent as a person who couldn''t swim.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had started to roll in the air zone like a piece of paper. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had been blown away hundreds of miles and fell out of the IFHSWL.


    The moment he left the IFHSWL, Zhang Tie had recovered his flight ability as a divine dominator.


    Zhang Tie tried several times and got the same result...


    In the end, due to the exhaustion of his spiritual energy, Zhang Tie''s substitute directly faded away in the IFHSWL. Even his clothes turned into ashes.


    ...


    In the mountain cave, Zhang Tie who had refined wind elements overnight opened his eyes at a stroke with a heavy frown.


    "That''s strange. Even heavenly knights could penetrate through it, why can''t I make it? Given battle strength, I have long reached the level of heavenly knights..." Zhang Tie murmured. After thinking about it for quite a while, Zhang Tie who was lighting his wind chakra suddenly patted his head as his heart raced, saying, "Does it mean that only after lighting the entire wind chakra could I combine my chakra''s energy and spiritual energy with the layer and fly in there? It must be like that! F*ck! What a barrier for knights..."


    Since he promoted to a divine dominator, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to encounter this situation¡ª¡ªeven heavenly knights could enter it; however, he couldn''t make it.


    This discovery directly over-ambitioned Zhang Tie.


    Although Zhang Tie felt unwilling, he still accepted the fact rapidly.


    This Ice and Fire Heavenly Strong Wind Layer warned Zhang Tie that although he was powerful as a divine dominator, he was not almighty. Sometimes, the realm couldn''t be replaced. Additionally, "weak" was always relative.


    Although a tiger was powerful enough to tear off a blue sheep, it couldn''t jump flexibly like a blue sheep on cliffs.


    After thinking through it, Zhang Tie soon adjusted his mentality as he continued to refine that wind chakra, eyes closed.


    A few days later, Zhang Tie promoted to 6 change realm of shadow knight. After that, he put on the pair of metal wings and left the mountain cave for Dragon Emperor City leisurely.


    During the past days, the news that Dragon Emperor was back and a new Dragon Emperor was appointed had spread over Motian Realm, arousing great responses...

 1714 Returning to Dragon Emperor City

    Besides being snow-white within hundreds of miles after a few days of heavy snow, Dragon Emperor City didn''t change too much. It just appeared to be much more tranquil than before.


    On the way here from the wilderness, Zhang Tie found that the mountains in the wild had been covered with 60 cm high snow.


    It took Zhang Tie 8 days to come back.


    Zhang Tie felt it should be January 18th, the 3585th year of Calendar of Emperor NvWa...


    On January 15th, Zhang Tie took a lot of fruits of redemption in Castle of Black Iron, more than ten of them came from the gratitude of golden uangs. Zhang Tie''s resilience, resistance and viability in extreme environments improved gradually. In Taixia Country, Paul was still setting free earthworms, golden uangs, gulf shrimps and hairy shells for him, steadily causing fruits of redemption from the gratitutde of these animals one after another.


    Zhang Tie already had a middle-level recovery body. He really wondered about the effect when he promoted to an advanced recovery body. Of course, he also wanted to see what other surprises could the small tree bring him after eating up all the fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs.


    In the past months, Zhang Tie had already taken over 1680 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs. With 100 more, he would meet the upper limit of the number of this kind of fruit. By then, Zhang Tie was sure that he would realize a qualitive change just like how he acquired the preliminary recovery body after eating up all the fruits of redemption from the gratitude of earth worms.


    Zhang Tie felt the qualitive change brought by golden uangs must be related to strength. As for the details, he didn''t know it either.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie craved for it pretty much.


    After killing the heavenly shadow demon knight, Zhang Tie didn''t gain any fruit from the small tree. It seemed that demons in this world were following the same rule with those demons in the world where he came from. Although Zhang Tie didn''t gain any new fruit, it indicated that this world was somewhat related to the world where he came from. As a result, Zhang Tie was more confident that he could go back home.


    After promoting to six change realm of shadow demon and taking a lot of fruits of redemption, Zhang Tie improved his overall strength greatly again within a few days. Of course, he was pretty thrilled as he went all the way back to Dragon Emperor City as if he was traveling.


    There was one thing that Zhang Tie was not used to most, namely the limit of using his space-teleportation equipment¡ª¡ªhe could only access to Castle of Black Iron for two days in one month here.


    Thankfully, the law of strength in Motian Realm was equal to all the knights. Even immortal emperors didn''t have a privilege to access to space-teleportation items whenever they wanted. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt a bit better.


    Dragon Emperor City was indeed a bit different than that a few days ago. At least some more teams of immortal generals were patrolling in the sky. Additionally, Zhang Tie saw many officers and soldiers patrolling on the ground even in the heavy snow. Therefore, the moment Zhang Tie arrived at the periphery of Dragon Emperor City, he had been noticed by a team of patrolling immortal generals.


    The team of immortal generals instantly flew towards Zhang Tie as if they wanted to check him. When they were 1,000 m away, one of them suddenly recognized Zhang Tie as he exclaimed, "Zhang Tie..."


    After hearing that, all the others of the team were shocked as they all stopped and fixated onto Zhang Tie.


    "Inform the five elders and the two grand justices. Tell them to see me in Dragon Emperor Pavilion in one hour..."


    If Zhang Tie said the same words the other day, he might be taken as a lunatic. However, at this moment, he spoke it calmly which sounded pretty dignified even if he didn''t put any air or speak it loudly.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the team leader turned around and left some words to the others while the greater part of the team hurriedly flew towards the Dragon Emperor City. Only that team leader and the one who recognized Zhang Tie just now continued to fly towards Zhang Tie.


    "We will escort...keep...keep...Your Majesty company..."


    The whiskered team leader bowed towards Zhang Tie with reverence. He didn''t know how to call Zhang Tie for the time being. Even though, he finally called him Your Majesty with a flush.


    That day, everyone across Dragon Emperor City had heard that Dragon Emperor passed his throne to Zhang Tie and had him rule Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace as the new Dragon Emperor. Therefore, in the hearts of many immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie had already been Dragon Emperor of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. However, he was not officially coronated; nor had the Church admitted it in the public.


    "What''s your name?" Zhang Tie asked as he took a look at that team leader.


    "This humble officer is Chang Qianxun!"


    "You must be an old man of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace!"


    "This humble man has already joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for over 200 years..." Chang Qianxun answered meticulously.


    Zhang Tie nodded. The longer these immortal generals joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, the more they would admit the authority of Dragon Emperor; because they could feel the embarrassing situation caused by the disappearance of Dragon Emperor much better than the others. When they joined it, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could still maintain its basic stability. Few people dared to discuss the whereabouts of Dragon Emperor at that time. Although Dragon Emperor had disappeared, many people felt that His Majesty might be in secluded cultivation. However, in late decades; especially in the latest decade, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace gradually lost its stability while the gossips about the disappearance even death of Dragon Emperor had been popular across Motian Realm. Therefore, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace''s overall strength shrunk greatly.


    "Did anything special happen in Dragon Emperor City these days?"


    "Nothing. Since the former Dragon Emperor and Your Majesty left here that night, Dragon Emperor City has maintained as normal as usual. Elders strengthened the security across the city by dispatching immortal generals to patrol both ground and air..."


    Chang Qianxun answered as he took a stealthy look at Zhang Tie again. Almost at the same time, he revealed a shocked look which he took it for granted¡ª¡ªthe closer he was to Zhang Tie, the more he was shocked by Zhang Tie''s young look. Given Zhang Tie''s amazingly young look and great battle strength, it was reasonable for him to have the former Dragon Emperor as his master.


    Only after having a short chat with Chang Qianxun, Zhang Tie had arrived at the space above Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    Zhang Tie suddenly released his battle qi as a wash drawing of mysterious starry pattern covering thousands of meters rushed into the sky. Closely after that, all the stars were lit one after another. The starry pattern was the virtual image of Shocking the World Sutra which the former Dragon Emperor cultivated.


    As the virtual image extended, Zhang Tie punched out a 200 longer berserk golden dragon which flew across the virtual image of Shocking the World Sutra around the space above Dragon Emperor Pavilion for a short while. After that, it roared which shocked the entire city.


    After a few days of silence, the entire Dragon Emperor City was in an uproar in the blink of an eye again.


    Zhang Tie declared his arrival in this pattern...

 1715 I Am Dragon Emperor

    Zhang Tie immediately landed in Dragon Emperor Pavilion. When Hong Yukun saw Zhang Tie again all of a sudden, he became flurried at a stroke.


    "Di...di...director..."


    After knowing that the familiar director of Dragon Emperor Pavilion suddenly became Dragon Emperor''s disciple and its owner, Hong Yukun also became flurried as he didn''t know how to call Zhang Tie. If he called Zhang Tie Your Majesty, it was a bit improper because the elders had just admitted it officially; if he called Zhang Tie director, it was a bit impolite. Therefore, Hong Yukun''s forehead oozed instantly. After saying that, he looked at Zhang Tie nervously as if he was afraid that Zhang Tie would be angry at him.


    How could Zhang Tie be mad at him because of such a trivial thing?


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was clear that his ambiguous identity would bring troubles to others.


    "Well, don''t be too polite to me. Have someone open the Heavenly Safe Building; I''ve already sent someone to fetch elders and grand justices here. They would arrive soon. Oh, I''m gonna take a bath and change clothes. You tell Chang Qianxun and the other immortal general to be alert outside the Dragon Emperor Pavilion..." Zhang Tie ordered Hong Yukun.


    Heavenly Safe Building was the assembly hall of Dragon Emperor Pavilion and the place where the former Dragon Emperor handled with public affairs. Since Dragon Emperor disappeared, Heavenly Safe Building had not been officially opened for over 900 years. When Zhang Tie took over as the director of Dragon Emperor Pavilion, he could visit Heavenly Safe Building; however, he was not qualified to use it. By contrast, Zhang Tie requested to use Heavenly Safe Building this time which implied his firm attitude to rejuvenate Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace as the new Dragon Emperor.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s order, Hong Yukun felt like finding his reliance at a stroke as he relieved a deep sigh. He didn''t need to worry about anything anymore as he hurriedly ran away to make arrangements. Before leaving there, he even took a look at that golden dragon circling around Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    According to the level of one''s cultivation base, the punch qi of Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist Skill could exist for a long period. One punch of the former Dragon Emperor could maintain over 3 months. Although Zhang Tie''s cultivation base on Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist Skill couldn''t match that of Dragon Emperor, his punch qi could maintain at least 2 days.


    The strong dragon-shaped punch qi and the virtual image of Shocking the World Sutra that Zhang Tie had released just now were Zhang Tie''s best brands.


    The streets outside Dragon Emperor Pavilion were already in hubbubs while numerous residents were gathering around Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    After having Chang Qianxun and the other immortal general be his bodyguards outside Dragon Emperor Pavilion, Zhang Tie rapidly took off his metal wings and clothes. After taking a comfortable bath and changing his clothes, Zhang Tie calmly came to Heavenly Safe Building within Dragon Emperor Pavilion in high spirits.


    Only after a short while, the streets outside Dragon Emperor Pavilion had been crowded with over 100,000 commoners. Those commoners were pretty thrilled as they were looking up at the dragon-shaped punch qi circling around Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    "Dragon Emperor, Dragon Emperor is coming back..." an old man by walking stick was watching the strong punch qi circling around Dragon Emperor Pavilion from afar as he kept dropping tears, saying, "As long as Dragon Emperor is back, nobody else dares offend our Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace any more..."


    "Grandpa, it''s said that it''s the disciple of Dragon Emperor who came back..."


    "He''s also a Dragon Emperor..."


    Those streets outside Dragon Emperor Pavilion had been crowded with over 100,000 commoners while more and more people were rushing towards here. All the officers and soldiers in the camps in the downtown had been mobilized to preserve the order while many more immortal generals were patrolling in the sky.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie arrived at Heavenly Safe Building, the five elders and the two grand justices were already waiting for him inside the assembly hall.


    Although they were requested to arrive here in 1 hour, all the elders and grand justices arrived here as fast as possible and were waiting for Zhang Tie in Heavenly Safe Building.


    When Zhang Tie entered Heavenly Safe Building, it was pretty quiet inside there.


    The 7 people sprung up at a stroke as 7 pairs of eyes fixated onto Zhang Tie at the same time.


    Seriously, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to meet the 7 giants of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace officially after joining it for almost one year.


    In silence, the atmosphere was a bit embarrassing.


    Especially for Elder Xia who was in charge of Supervision Department and Elder Shi who was in charge of Immortal Generals Department, the first one was once Zhang Tie''s direct superior and wanted to improve Zhang Tie here. He didn''t even meet Zhang Tie after Zhang Tie came to Dragon Emperor Pavilion for 8-9 months. The other one had a conflict with Zhang Tie as one of his disciples was once slapped by Zhang Tie fiercely. It was impossible for him to feel good when he saw Zhang Tie.


    Even so, the five elders dared not show any dissatisfaction at all. Even though Zhang Tie didn''t explain it, they could also imagine the details¡ª¡ªZhang Tie joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace at the request of the former Dragon Emperor so that he could preside over Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in the future. As for the fact that Zhang Tie dared beat the disciple of Elder Shi, how could a disciple of His Majesty be afraid of a disciple of an elder? As for why a water immortal general like Zhang Tie was unknown in Motian Realm before, they immediately figured it out when they thought about Dragon Emperor who had disappeared for over 900 years...


    Under the gaze of the 7 giants of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie leisurely and calmly came to the front of the chair at the highest place of the Assembly Hall as he stroked its handrail lightly.


    Dragon Emperor didn''t like luxury. Therefore, this chair looked common. It was just a bit bigger and higher than other chairs in the Assembly Hall. Being made of purple moonlight birch wood which was exclusive in Motian Realm, it was still shiny like moonlight after over 1,000 years.


    Of course, the meaning of the eye-catching location of this chair in Heavenly Safe Building was utterly different than its simple look. This chair symbolized the supreme authority in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. As the throne of Dragon Emperor, nobody else was qualified to sit on it except for Dragon Emperor.


    When Zhang Tie walked towards that chair, those elders'' and grand justices'' eye light turned complex. After exchanging a glance with each other, they all remained silent.


    Before taking a seat, Zhang Tie lightly stroked the shiny handrail for a few seconds. After that, he turned around and asked them, "Have you heard the words of the old man that night? From today on, this chair belongs to me. If any one of you opposes it, you could stand out now!"


    Zhang Tie said in an overbearing manner with a smile.


    Watching Zhang Tie, all the elders became hesitant as the former Dragon Emperor also behaved like him¡ª¡ªtreating commoners kindly and mercifully, but treating powerhouses straightforwardly and arbitrarily. If someone dared oppose the former Dragon Emperor, he would always deal with him or her by force immediately.


    Zhang Tie looked around as he only received silence. As the former Dragon Emperor had just left there for a few days who even left some words before leaving, who dared find trouble at this moment?


    "Now that you''ve all agreed, from today on, this seat will be exclusive to me!" Zhang Tie threw himself onto the chair, spreading his legs at once. Closely after that, he watched the others at present calmly as if he was waiting for them to say something.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, those elders and grand justices finally lowered their heads as they realized that they had to do that.


    "Your Majesty..." they bowed towards Zhang Tie as they shouted in unison.


    Zhang Tie finally revealed a faint smile...

 1716 Winning the Approval of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace

    "I know that five elders and two grand justices have many questions these days. You could ask me now..." after sitting on the throne of Dragon Emperor, Zhang Tie threw a glance at them calmly and said.


    Zhang Tie''s deed made elders and grand justices more meticulous.


    "Ahem...ahem...we wonder whether Grand Dragon Emperor had left some orders...or not..." after exchanging a glance with each other, Elder Xia opened his mouth first and said under the gaze of all the others.


    After Zhang Tie took the throne of Dragon Emperor, the former Dragon Emperor had become Grand Dragon Emperor according to the habit in Motian Realm.


    Since the former Dragon Emperor showed up suddenly a few days ago and solved the crisis facing Dragon Emperor City, none of the elders and grand justices in the assembly hall could sleep well as the words of the former Dragon Emperor always lingered in their ears. During these days, the elders and the grand justices were all restless. Even if they had plans for the sake of their own profits and had realized the possible problems in Dragon Emperor City, none of them could imagine that the problems would be so serious¡ª¡ªa great number of powerhouses of demons and humans from other immortal palaces were already lurking in Dragon Emperor City, the total power of which could easily crack down the five elders and the two grand justices of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. This time, if not the sudden appearance of the former Dragon Emperor, the outcome would be unpredictable.


    "Left some orders" was just a euphemistic expression. Actually, they were all worried about being punished by the former Dragon Emperor.


    "To be honest, the old man is really disappointed with you. So am I!" Zhang Tie replied as he shook his head, continuing, "The old man let me join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace so that I could observe the situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace secretly. However, after joining Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, I found that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace has already lost its enterprising spirit. Additionally, it faces many problems inside. Although you also want to preserve Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, to be honest, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is now lacking the spirit of cooperation. Elders and grand justices only care about own profit. That makes me disappointed. I think that is the reason why the old man handed this awful mess to me together with the right to dispose of you..."


    Zhang Tie then revealed a casual smile as he looked at them, saying, "You know that the old man has a bad temper. Imagine how His Majesty would deal with you if you made such a big mistake when His Majesty was here. To be honest, before coming back, I thought that you would have long fled away. I''ve not imagined that you''d still be here..."


    Those elders and grand justices changed their faces greatly. They knew that the former Dragon Emperor had a pretty bad temper. If His Majesty claimed for their responsibility, given the fact that they had lost all the territories of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace outside Dragon Emperor Big Domain and weakened the reputation of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, they already made a felony. If the former Dragon Emperor really wants to punish them, His Majesty would only give them two choices¡ª¡ªto die or to get back the immortal palaces and cities that they had lost.


    Not to mention this awful mess facing Dragon Emperor City. How dare they wait for the former Dragon Emperor to deal with it for them. As long as they recalled the performance of the former Dragon Emperor who didn''t even feel like taking a look at them, the elders and the grand justices had felt their heart racing. When the former Dragon Emperor was absent, they were indeed paramount; however, the moment the former Dragon Emperor came back, they had become commoners in front of the former Dragon Emperor. They dared not resist the former Dragon Emperor at all.


    Watching the faces of the five elders and the two grand justices, Zhang Tie lowered his voice, "You know how stubborn is the old man. You might have guessed how he planned to deal with you previously. These days, the old man had talked with me. I told him that if he wanted me to take over Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for him, he had to meet my condition¡ª¡ªfrom now on, I would take charge in everything about Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Even if he is the Grand Dragon Emperor, he''s still not entitled to interfere with it. He agreed, which means that he has handed the right of disposal of you to me!"


    The elders and grand justices just listened to Zhang Tie''s words silently as they held their breath.


    "I''m always discriminating in one''s rewards and punishments. As elders and grand justices are directly responsible for the problems facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; especially this crisis facing Dragon Emperor city, you couldn''t avoid punishment. Therefore, from now on, you will not assume as the presidents of departments and grand justices anymore. I will appoint other people as the presidents of Earth-Treasures Department, Supervision Department, Immortal Generals Department, Heavenly Craftsmen Department and Military Department and the title of grand justices..."


    After hearing that they were going to be fired without any chance of negotiation, the seven people''s faces turned bad at once.


    Previously, Elder Shi the president of Immortal Generals Department still wanted to argue something; however, the moment he touched Zhang Tie''s eye light, he had given up the whim.


    Zhang Tie watched them calmly, which carried a qi as hard and icy as steel. Zhang Tie didn''t fear them at all because he was two levels lower than them; instead, his eye light was as oppressive as that of a real emperor. As a result, Elder Shi could clearly feel that he would die for sure if he resisted Zhang Tie here in the public.


    When he recalled the terrifying strike that the former Dragon Emperor casually made to destroy half of a mountain peak from 60 miles away by only pointing at it by finger, Elder Shi''s bad mood disappeared at once.


    "We...follow the arrangement of Your Majesty..." After being silent for a short while, the 7 people lowered their heads towards Zhang Tie once again.


    Zhang Tie''s eye light then turned soft; instead of being that aggressive anymore.


    "After mentioning your punishment, I should talk about your meritorious services. During the past 900-odd years when the old man was absent, you could still preserve Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Although it''s benefited from the reputation of the old man, your meritorious services should not be ignored either. Although you''re a bit selfish, it''s reasonable; no matter what, you''re still loyal to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Therefore, after you leave your current positions, you will be given other positions!"


    Zhang Tie''s words gave hope to those elders and grand justices. As a result, 7 pairs of eyes fixated onto Zhang Tie again.


    Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly, "Five elders'' identities remain unchanged. You''re still elders of the immortal palace; the two grand justices also become the elders of the immortal palaces. Additionally, I prepare to found a new agency above the five departments called Qianji Agency, which is in charge of the five major immortal palaces and helps me to deal with all the affairs of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the 7 people were in a daze at once. Superficially, they had lost their privilege and power; however, Qianji Agency''s power was greater than any one of the 5 major departments. Previously, they had their own territories. Now, although they''re qualified to interfere with everything about the 5 major departments and the immortal palace, they couldn''t make decisions individually; instead, they had to make decisions together and should be responsible for Zhang Tie.


    The 7 people didn''t know whether they had been punished or rewarded; therefore, they all had a complex mood.


    Zhang Tie continued, "As for the presidents of the five major departments, I will promote the deputy presidents of the 5 major departments. As they''re all old ones in the 5 major departments and are familiar with you; it should be fine for them to collaborate with you. Nor would they influence the daily operation of the immortal palace. The candidates of the grand justices could be recruited from outside. Additionally, I will recruit two supreme immortal generals who have not founded their own immortal palaces or joined other immortal palaces..."


    "Ah? Supreme immortal generals?" Ying Jiutian, one of the original grand justices of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace exclaimed, "Wouldn''t it be..."


    "As long as they want to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, they are welcome. It''s not a big deal even if they''re supreme immortal generals..."


    The elders and grand justices then became silent. Although they were just fire immortal generals and were resistant to recruit supreme immortal generals, apparently, they couldn''t waver Zhang Tie''s mind at this moment. After hearing that Zhang Tie was going to recruit two supreme immortal generals as the grand justices of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, the 7 people who were a bit delighted just now immediately had a sense of crisis.


    If two supreme immortal generals really joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, they couldn''t replace the importance of the original five elders and two grand justices in the immortal palace within a short period of time for sure; however, after the new supreme immortal generals won Zhang Tie''s trust and made enough meritorious services that everybody else knew, how could the original elders and grand justices manifest their value in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace or in front of Zhang Tie? By then, how could the new supreme immortal generals respect them? By then, Zhang Tie could easily set another position above elders.


    "Will Grand Dragon Emperor stay in Dragon Emperor City from then on?" Elder Shi finally asked.


    "Later on, unless critical moments facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace or me encounter some crises, the old man would not show up any longer!" Zhang Tie said as he turned a bit solemn and meticulous as he said secretly using his battle qi, "You had already seen it that night. The old man has already mastered an unrivaled secret method. However, over these years, the old man has some health problems due to the cultivation of this secret method. He''s not fully mastered it. Additionally, the old man needs to have a good rest. He just entered secluded cultivation somewhere. If not Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace faces the life-or-death situation, the old man would not show up either. What I''ve told you are the top secrets in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. After leaving here, none of you''re allowed to expose them to anyone else..."


    When they recalled the power of the casual strike by the former Dragon Emperor''s finger and the hoarse coughs that night, they completely believed in Zhang Tie...


    By then, even if Zhang Tie told them the former Dragon Emperor was disguised by Zhang Tie himself that night, they would only think that Zhang Tie was joking with them.


    It was the former Dragon Emperor who showed up that night.


    And Zhang Tie was the very disciple of the former Dragon Emperor.


    It was true that Zhang Tie had taken the throne of the former Dragon Emperor.


    The only problem facing Zhang Tie was that his position and future in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace fully depended on his own performance...


    ...


    1 hour later, when the 7 people left Dragon Emperor Pavilion, they immediately noticed the entire Dragon Emperor Big Domain and all the branches of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace that they had officially admitted Zhang Tie''s identity as the new Dragon Emperor on behalf of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace...


    After coming to Motian Realm for less than one year, Zhang Tie''s name was followed by two words "Your Majesty"...

 1717 The Return of Friends

    At noon, sunlight penetrated through clouds and cast onto the earth, making it a bit warmer. When the snow was about to melt, such a rare good day also made it melt a bit faster.


    When Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue''s airboat landed at the airport of Dragon Emperor City again, the ground was wet over there, which meant that the snow had just melted. The remaining snow was made into piles in the parterres and lawns, which were becoming increasingly smaller. When they got off the airboat, before they had a chance to observe the changes in this airport, they had seen an immortal general who was waiting for them with reverence in front of the hatch door.


    The immortal general was Chang Qianxun the earth immortal general who escorted Zhang Tie back to Dragon Emperor Pavilion when he came back to Dragon Emperor City. At this moment, Chang Qianxun was spirited while his face was glowing with health. He was in a wholly new set of uniform, on the wristband of which, there was a dragon pattern of six silver threads. When Zhang Tie saw him a few days ago, there were only five silver threads over there.


    "May I know whether you''re Mr. Huang Baimei and Miss Leng Manxue?" Chang Qianxun immediately strode towards them and asked when he saw Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue getting off the airboat.


    After taking a look at Chang Qianxun, Huang Baimei nodded, "We are. You''re..."


    "I''m the guards'' leader of His Majesty. After knowing that you two are coming back today, His Majesty especially sent me here to pick you up. This way, please..." Chang Qianxun explained as he made a hand gesture to invite them to ride on two robust flying lizards right beside them. Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue threw an exchange with each other as they mounted the flying lizards respectively before heading for the exit of the airport together with Chang Qianxun.


    The two flying lizards were the best purple-pupil flying lizards in Motian Realm, which had strong endurance and high speed. Besides, they could wade into the water. As their wings had not fully degenerated, they could realize a short-distance flight, not to mention climb over mountains. Such a flying lizard could match hundreds of common flying lizard. Even the broad saddles were shiny as if they were new. With beautiful cloud patterns, they felt pleasant and comfortable.


    The moment the two people came to the avenue outside the airport, their rare, robust purple-pupil flying lizard had attracted the attention of the passers-by.


    Compared to the poor treatment when they came back to Dragon Emperor City from Heavenly Square City at the beginning, Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue couldn''t almost adapt to such a good treatment.


    In fact, the two people didn''t even believe in that Zhang Tie had already become the Dragon Emperor.


    When they left Dragon Emperor City last time, Zhang Tie had not even found his job yet. When they arrived at Blacksilver Snow Mountain, they heard that Zhang Tie beat a disciple of Elder Shi and Zhou Baifei on the day when they left Dragon Emperor City. After that, he was caught by people in Supervision Department. Finally, he was appointed as the director of Dragon Emperor Pavilion by Elder Xia. He was almost the poorest guy among all the water immortal generals who attended Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace lately. How could he become the owner of Dragon Emperor Pavilion in such a period of time? It was impossible even if it was an inside job.


    Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue were so amazed. Suppose, someone was eating kebabs with you a few days ago; he even borrowed 500 yuan from you. However, after you came back from a business trip, you found that the guy had already ranked top on the list of billionaires. That was how Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue felt at this moment.


    Unbelievable! It was unbelievable!


    When they heard what happened in Dragon Emperor City when Dragon Emperor appeared there that night, Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue felt completely like having a dream. However, it was real¡ª¡ªAfter Dragon Emperor came back, he swept over all the evil forces in Dragon Emperor City in the blink of an eye. Besides solving the greatest crisis facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, he also appointed Zhang Tie as the new Dragon Emperor.


    Therefore, the young man who lost his memory and attended Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace''s branch in Heavenly Square City became the figure that they had to look up to.


    Zhang Tie had the Immortal Generals Department to call them back to Dragon Emperor City.


    "Head, do you think Zhang Tie is really the disciple of Dragon Emperor?"


    Leng Manxue couldn''t help asking Huang Baimei on the flying lizard.


    As Chang Qianxun was riding a flying lizard ahead of them, Leng Manxue could only ask Huang Baimei secretly using her battle qi.


    Commoners would not ask this question. However, as Leng Manxue knew Zhang Tie better than anyone else, she couldn''t help asking it. Leng Manxue was crystal clear about Zhang Tie''s look when he came to Heavenly Square City. Therefore, she couldn''t believe that Zhang Tie who knew nothing about Motian Realm in the reason of losing his memory was Dragon Emperor''s disciple.


    Additionally, when Zhang Tie was discovered by someone at the beginning, he was in a coma due to heavy wounds. If he was Dragon Emperor''s disciple, who could make him so poor? If Zhang Tie was cultivating on Dragon Emperor''s side, he would not be hurt by anyone else. If Zhang Tie had experienced a lot of battles and difficulties after leaving Dragon Emperor, he must have long become well-known across Motian Realm over these years. That was an inexplicable paradox. As a result, Leng Manxue could barely accept the fact that Zhang Tie was the disciple of Dragon Emperor.


    After leaving the airport, Huang Baimei became composed on the flying lizard. Eyes half closed, he was observing the passers-by, the pedlars, the guests in stores and the patrolling soldiers. After hearing Leng Manxue''s question, he slowly turned around as he said using his battle qi, "Don''t ask me about that. You will know it after looking at these people on the streets. Haven''t you felt that these people in Dragon Emperor City were different than that when we left Dragon Emperor City..."


    "Different?"


    "Hmm, look at their faces and eyes!"


    After looking at them carefully, Leng Manxue gradually discovered the difference¡ª¡ªmany people''s faces and eyes looked more vigorous, hopeful even spirited than before.


    "I see..." Leng Manxue slowly said after a short silence.


    "Hmm, even the five elders and the two grand justices couldn''t refuse it. We''d better not worry about it. Manxue, keep it in mind¡ª¡ªfrom now on, that young man is the Dragon Emperor of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. You''d better not call Zhang Tie in the public from now on. Additionally, the fewer people know what happened to him in Heavenly Square City, the better!" Huang Baimei watched Leng Manxue as if he was warning her; meanwhile, he felt being reassured, adding, "I feel that nobody else in Motian Realm could be Dragon Emperor''s disciple better than him..."


    ...

 1718 When Ism Rich

    "Hahaha, Zhou Baifei the b*stard really escaped away..."


    "Thieves are always scared. If he was innocent, why would he escape away after knowing Your Majesty''s identity?"


    "Hmm!"


    "That b*stard might be a mole dispatched by another immortal palace. Supervision Department has already figured out his background. That guy disappeared for six years before coming to Heavenly Square City. Perhaps, he had long joined another immortal palace at that time!"


    Even though there were a small garden and a corridor in between, Liu brothers'' laughter and loud voices also drifted out of Heavenly Safe Building. After hearing their talks, Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue exchanged a glance with each other as they had not imagined that Liu brothers were also fetched here by Zhang Tie.


    "Wait a moment, please. I will go report His Majesty right away..." Chang Qianxun told Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue before walking into Heavenly Safe Building.


    Dragon Emperor Pavilion was already different than before. There was an immortal general in each a few meters; especially near Heavenly Safe Building. Only with a casual glimpse, Huang Baimei had already discovered at least two water immortal generals and four earth immortal generals outside the garden of Heavenly Safe Building.


    This interpreted the dignity of Dragon Emperor.


    "Bring Head Huang and General Deacon Leng in..."


    Only after Chang Qianxun walked a few steps forward, a voice had sounded around the three people. It was Zhang Tie''s voice. Zhang Tie had already discovered the arrival of the three people spiritually.


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s order, Chang Qianxun instantly led Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue in.


    After entering Heavenly Safe Building, Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue were a bit shocked as it was a bit different than before inside here. In the assembly hall on the first floor of Heavenly Safe Building, there was a huge sand table instead of a desk which looked like a complex of palaces and gardens, being a bit larger than Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    Zhang Tie was completely different than that when they saw him last time.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was dressed like Dragon Emperor. In black royal costume of heavenly silk with the pattern of golden coiling dragons, a pair of cloud-climbing boots with the pattern of unicorns, a golden crown and a jade waistband, he looked dignified. Meanwhile, he was like a playboy. Only Zhang Tie could display such a temperament in this set of costume.


    Sitting on the throne of Dragon Emperor in the assembly hall, Zhang Tie was listening to the experience of Liu brothers over the past days with strong interest.


    When Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue entered, Liu brothers stopped talking at once as they fixated onto the two people. Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue then bowed towards Zhang Tie officially.


    "It''s the great honor for Huang Baimei...Leng Manxue, immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to see Your Majesty!..."


    "I''ve been used to call you Head Huang and General Deacon Leng. So I couldn''t correct it at a stroke. Please forgive me!" Zhang Tie smiled as he pointed at the chairs on the opposite of Liu brothers, saying, "Please take a seat..."


    After saying that, Zhang Tie nodded towards Chang Qianxun. Chang Qianxun instantly left there politely as he closed the gate of Heavenly Safe Building from outside.


    The moment the gate was closed, secret bizarre energy had been triggered in the assembly hall of Heavenly Safe Building. As a result, the talk in the assembly hall couldn''t be heard from outside anymore. Just now, as the gate was open, Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue could hear Liu brothers'' talk from outside.


    Huang Baimei and Leng Manxue then sat down on the chairs opposite to Liu brothers. After that, Huang Baimei threw a deep glance at Zhang Tie as he asked, "Your Majesty, may I know why you called us back to Dragon Emperor City?"


    "Hahaha, when I''m rich, of course, you should share it with me!" Zhang Tie blinked his eyes towards Huang Baimei as he put it straightforwardly.


    Unimaginably, Zhang Tie remained as straightforward as before. When Zhang Tie was the deputy head of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace''s branch in Heavenly Square City, his deed had made Huang Baimei speechless. Now, as Dragon Emperor, his straightforward and sincere words broke Huang Baimei''s respectful look at once. As a result, Huang Baimei revealed a bitter smile as he shook his head.


    Leng Manxue also fixated onto Zhang Tie with her beautiful eyes as she slightly raised her mouth corners. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Leng Manxue immediately realized that Zhang Tie remained unchanged. Although his identity had changed, he could still make Leng Manxue feel relaxed.


    In many cases, sincerity was the most effective weapon.


    "How do you plan to deal with us then?" Leng Manxue asked casually. Huang Baimei didn''t stop her.


    "Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace has just recovered peace. The elders and grand justices are already faithful to me. However, I don''t have too many reliable ones on my side. Fewer than the total number of my fingers. As I know you two are good, I called you back. No matter what, you''re always more reliable than the others." Zhang Tie said as he shrugged, "General Deacon Leng, you don''t need to be general deacon anymore; just be the general manager of this Forbidden City. With your ability, you''re definitely entitled to this position..."


    "Forbidden City?" Leng Manxue watched Zhang Tie with a puzzled look as she had not heard about this name before.


    Zhang Tie then stood up and came to the center of the assembly hall. Pointing at the sand table over there, he said, "This is the Forbidden City, also my new palace. It would be built in the north of Dragon Emperor City. After its completion, I will move there from Dragon Emperor Pavilion together with the five departments and Qianji Agency. As the general manager of Forbidden City, you''re in charge of all the internal affairs across Forbidden City!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Huang Baimei''s long eyebrows raised at once.


    As the new Dragon Emperor, it was easy for Zhang Tie and the entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to have people build a new palace for him outside Dragon Emperor City. It was just a matter of some money and tens of thousands of workers. Although the name of this palace sounded a bit strange, as long as Zhang Tie liked it, he could even have people build 10 or 100 palaces.


    The title of general manager of Forbidden City was really something.


    After its completion, this palace would be the center of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. The title of general manager of this palace was much greater than that of the general deacon of a branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace...

 1719 Making Arrangements

    In Motian Realm, although there was not such a popular saying that any official in front of the gate of the prime minister was above LV 7, the phenomenon implied by this saying existed in Motian Realm too.


    The position that Zhang Tie promised Leng Manxue was only a general manager; however, she was the general manager of Dragon Emperor and elders, even the five major departments of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Qianji Agency. From now on, these figures would work in the territory of this general manager. Therefore, Leng Manxue was actually involved in many things.


    Zhang Tie really presented his sincerity through this position.


    It was out of Leng Manxue''s imagination that Zhang Tie could promise her such a position.


    "If I''m the general manager, what about Head Huang?" after being shortly silent, Leng Manxue took a look at Huang Baimei as she asked.


    "Of course, Head Huang will stay in Dragon Emperor City too!" Zhang Tie took a look at Huang Baimei who used to be silent before answering, "At the beginning, Head Huang told me that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace wanted to train some powerful big formations of immortal generals. However, due to the conflicts between elders and grand justices, they couldn''t coordinate with each other and resources. As a result, the powerful big formations of immortal generals aborted. I prepare to found a new agency in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace called Dragon''s Teeth Army. Head Huang would be the commander-in-chief of this army. The entire Dragon''s Teeth Army would be composed of immortal generals, which was responsible for controlling and training those big formations of immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace..."


    According to Zhang Tie, the position of commander-in-chief of Dragon''s Teeth Army was greater than the position of general manager. The one who could rule Dragon''s Teeth Army would control the greatest power of immortal generals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Huang Baimei had to open his mouth.


    "Erm...wouldn''t it be the responsibility of the two grand justices?" Huang Baimei said as he watched Zhang Tie with a slight frown, "I think only grand justices of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could assume such a high position!"


    "The two grand justices have become elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Later on, they would join Qianji Agency and concentrate on cultivation and assisting me to deal with the affairs in the immortal palace. I would recruit two supreme immortal generals and appoint them as the new grand justices. As new immortal generals are not suitable to lead the Dragon''s Teeth Army, I think it suits Head Huang most!"


    After heaving a deep sigh, Huang Baimei replied, "Your Majesty, you know, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is short of resources; especially element crystals which immortal generals need in cultivation. It could be said that the number of element crystals is decreasing constantly. If we want to found this Dragon''s Teeth Army, we have to consume a great number of element crystals, not to mention the fee for recruiting supreme immortal generals. Unlike common immortal generals, the immortal generals who join the big formations should be paid at least 20 element crystals per month so that they could follow your order!"


    "I know. In many cases, immortal generals who join the big formations might see a high casualty when fighting high-level immortal generals. Additionally, they would train hard in daily lives. High rewards would attract dauntless ones. Therefore, we have to pay them higher compensation so as to maintain the loyalty, morale and smooth operation of the big formations!" Zhang Tie said calmly as he nodded.


    It was not difficult for an immortal palace to recruit some loyal and dauntless immortal generals. Some immortal generals could even sacrifice themselves for the sake of the immortal palace without any compensation. There were always such immortal generals in each immortal palace, making immortal palaces immortal.


    However, it was different than the big formations of immortal generals as a big formation was composed of thousands of immortal generals; instead of 10 immortal generals or so. Nobody could make thousands of immortal general live on loyalty and greatness. Only high compensation and severe laws could drive them effectively.


    "Glad to hear that Your Majesty knows it. I''m afraid that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace couldn''t bear such great expenditure anymore. Besides contradictions between elders and grand justices, what counted most for the failure of the founding of big formations at the beginning was the high expenditure of the founding of big formations. Your Majesty, you know that elders have already sold Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace''s Immortal Wind Palace in Dragon Emperor City to the Emperor NvWa''s Palace. Daily consumption of element crystals would be a big problem facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace if we want to found the big formations of immortal generals. A fundamental big formation of 1,000 immortal generals would cost over 20,000 element crystals a month. Even if Your Majesty could persuade the elders and have Earth-Elements Department distribute element crystals, as long as the storage of element crystals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace decreased, the normal operation of the immortal palace would be stagnated severely for sure. By then, immortal generals might be not that loyal to Your Majesty and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace anymore. As for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, before we enjoy the benefits of the big formations of immortal generals, we might have already tasted its bad effects. Please think twice, Your Majesty!"


    Watching Huang Baimei''s serious face, Zhang Tie realized that he was right about the man. After being appointed as the commander-in-chief of Dragon''s Teeth Army, Huang Baimei kept talking about the threats and disadvantages facing Dragon''s Teeth Army. If not being loyal to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, how could he talk to Zhang Tie about these words?


    That was the right man that Zhang Tie needed.


    "What if I could meet the provision of element crystals for the big formations of immortal generals on the premise that the current storage and consumption of the element crystals are not influenced?" Zhang Tie refuted.


    "Your Majesty, you could meet the demand of element crystals for the big formations of immortal generals?" Huang Baimei asked as he took an amazed look at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, his heart raced as he suddenly realized something, "Has the Grand Dragon Emperor prepared enough element crystals for Your Majesty?"


    No wonder Huang Baimei would think so. Even though he still doubted Zhang Tie''s identity as the disciple of the Dragon Emperor, he immediately thought about the former Dragon Emperor after hearing Zhang Tie''s words. At the same time, he became more confident about Zhang Tie''s identity as the disciple of the former Dragon Emperor.


    "Never mind the details. No matter what, I will solve the provision problem by the end of this year!"


    "If Your Majesty could really solve this problem, I would have no regret following your orders!" Huang Baimei answered decisively.


    "Good!" Zhang Tie then fixated onto Leng Manxue, asking, "What about you?"


    Leng Manxue took a look at Huang Baimei as she nodded. All of a sudden, she posed another question, "I wonder what jobs have you offered to Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin?''


    "They''re still in Earth-Treasures Department. However, their positions are changed slightly. Ji Yuelan is the financial inspector of Earth-Treasures Department who is responsible for auditing and approving accounts over there; Jiang Ruoxin is the warehouse inspector who is responsible for supervising the treasuries in Earth-Treasures Department!"


    Although the two positions were not too powerful in Earth-Treasures Department, they were pretty important. With these appointments, even the president of Earth-Treasures Department would not carry out any big malpractice over there. Therefore, the right of property of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was firmly in the grasp of Zhang Tie.


    "What about us? What about us? Your Majesty, what good jobs have you arranged for us?" Liu Meng felt his heart racing as he couldn''t help asking Zhang Tie soon after Zhang Tie finished his words.


    "You and Liu Yong will help me take care of Dragon Emperor City. From then on, you two would be the municipal commanders-in-chief of Dragon Emperor City. You''re responsible for the officers and soldiers of the nine camps in Dragon Emperor City. As those officers and soldiers are all below immortal generals, you two could easily gain popularity among them!"


    "Ah? But I don''t have any experience." Liu Meng said as he scratched his head, "Additionally, I''m not familiar with Dragon Emperor City. I''m afraid..."


    "Don''t worry. I''ve fetched an assistant for you two. He''s Xu Gang, the local tyrant of Dragon Emperor City. If you have any questions, just ask him..." Zhang Tie said with a smile, "You two could take the office tomorrow..."


    After hearing that, Liu brothers were broth thrilled...


    Huang Baimei then took a deep look at Zhang Tie as he was shocked by Zhang Tie''s tactics. The others might not understand Zhang Tie''s arrangments; however, Huang Baimei understood it at once. With these pieces, Zhang Tie completely controlled the entire city, which meant that he controlled the entire Dragon Emperor Big Domain and the entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. No matter how chaotic were the other places in Dragon Emperor Big Domain, it would be in Zhang Tie''s control...


    When he thought about that, Huang Baimei started to feel a bit embarrassed for his faint suspicion of Zhang Tie.


    ''How could such a person come out of nowhere? He''s definitely the disciple of the former Dragon Emperor...''

 1720 Zhang Ties Considerations

    Zhang Tie only slept a few hours last night.


    It was 5 months ago when Huang Baimei, Leng Manxue and Liu brothers paid a visit to Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    It was Zhang Tie''s busiest period in the past half a year. During this period, besides handling public affairs, he didn''t even have time to cultivate.


    Last night, he received batches of branch heads and immortal generals who came to Dragon Emperor City for work report in Dragon Emperor Pavilion. He didn''t go to bed until 2 am.


    However, at about 6 am, before daybreak, Zhang Tie had gotten up. After taking imperial breakfast, he started to handle public affairs in Dragon Emperor Pavilion again.


    As for breakfast, commoners would only eat some fried oil stick doughs, rice porridge, noodles or steamed buns. However, Zhang Tie''s breakfast contained dozens of kinds of porridge. A lot of people were helping him eat it, making it pretty ceremonial. Even though Zhang Tie felt it was unnecessary to be that grand, he had to accept it. Because this was the life style of Dragon Emperor. Now that he chose to play this role, he should accept everything about this role. Even though Zhang Tie wanted to be a bit simpler, those immortal generals and followers would not allow that to happen; because that was how Dragon Emperor should be in the eyes of those immortal generals. If he lived in a plain and hardworking way or would like to be more intimate to the subordinates, he would definitely make his subordinates flurried as they would think that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was deteriorating or there was something wrong with Dragon Emperor.


    Zhang Tie had long figured it out when in Fiery Dragon Bounty Territory. Therefore, he didn''t feel like struggling after being Dragon Emperor. Just let nature take its course.


    Since Zhang Tie became Dragon Emperor, the reports from all the affiliated regions had been arriving like snowflakes. Before Qianji Agency was officially on the track, Dragon Emperor was absolutely not an easy job.


    Especially in the late period of time, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was going to rejuvenate as many problems needed to be solved. As the new Dragon Emperor, Zhang Tie was running around the clock every day. Perhaps the others didn''t believe in that. However, Zhang Tie indeed had not left Dragon Emperor Pavilion for over 2 months. In the past period of time, the immortal generals who came to meet Zhang Tie had to queue up for 7 days before entering Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    Although being pretty busy lately, Zhang Tie felt pretty fulfilled; because Zhang Tie knew that it was a necessary step for him to be a qualified Dragon Emperor.


    If he didn''t want to be a deputy Dragon Emperor, he had to do something himself so as to build his own power and influence in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. He couldn''t be indolent at this time.


    On the second day since Liu brothers left Dragon Emperor Pavilion, they had become the municipal commanders-in-chief of Dragon Emperor City and were responsible for the safety of the city. With the assistance of Xu Gang, Liu brothers completely became the patron of people from all walks of life in Dragon Emperor City, not to mention that this position was almost closely related to each commoner''s daily life in Dragon Emperor City.


    Although Liu brothers'' positions looked not that powerful; especially that they didn''t have too many subordinate immortal generals, even the officers below them were just immortal soldiers, Zhang Tie thought their position was as important as the high officials in Supervision Department.


    In Kun''ang Continent or Motian Realm, commoners accounted for most of the population; instead of knights or immortal generals. As long as they controlled most of the people, they would control great power.


    Over the past 5 months, Liu brothers were pretty successful as the municipal commanders-in-chief of Dragon Emperor City. They gradually tasted the benefits of this position and gradually increased their control over the city. With the help of Liu brothers, Zhang Tie could almost know everything in Dragon Emperor City, big or small.


    Similarly, over the same period of time, as the general manager of Forbidden City, Leng Manxue had been responsible for the building of the entire Forbidden City from its scratch. Within 4 months, with the coordination of Earth-Treasures Department and Heavenly Craftsmen Department, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace mobilized 50,000 workers from the other places. As a result, the power center of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was taking shape at the fastest speed in the north of Dragon Emperor City. It was almost completed.


    Huang Baimei had officially started to found Dragon''s Teeth Army by mobilizing over 1,000 immortal generals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. They resided in a mountain village beside Forbidden City for the time being. These days, Dragon''s Teeth Army had started their training in big formations.


    80% of the immortal generals in Dragon''s Teeth Army were those who joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace last year together with Zhang Tie. The rest 20% had long joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. After joining Dragon''s Teeth Army, they would be paid at least 20 element crystals a month. Therefore, many immortal generals were attracted to join them. As a result, the plan that the elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t implement due to different opinions gradually came true in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin also gradually adapted to the new positions in Earth-Treasures Department. Like how he was familiar with Dragon Emperor City, Zhang Tie gradually got hang of major flow of properties of Earth-Treasures Department.


    Through multiple channels, Zhang Tie gradually operated the entire Dragon Emperor City in the past months.


    By operating Dragon Emperor City, Zhang Tie could firmly control Dragon Emperor Big Domain and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Even though there were some problems in other places of Dragon Emperor Big Domain more or less, they couldn''t influence Zhang Tie''s control over the overall situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace anymore.


    After receiving so many immortal generals in Dragon Emperor Pavilion, Zhang Tie''s authority in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was gradually accepted by the rest of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Furthermore, by promoting some talented ones, Zhang Tie further stabilized his rule.


    While being busy endlessly, it soon came to June, the 3584th year of Calendar of Emperor NvWa in Motian Realm...


    ...


    In June, the entire Dragon Emperor Pavilion was like a garden as it was covered with fragrant colorful flowers.


    After receiving the branch heads and suzerains from some cities in the north of Dragon Emperor Big Domain, before Zhang Tie took his lunch, precisely imperial lunch, he had been blocked in the Heavenly Safe Building by Guan Minjun the new president of Earth-Treasures Department, followed by Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin.


    As a woman, Guan Minjun was once the deputy president of Earth-Treasures Department, also one of the trusted subordinates of Elder Luo Yunshang the former president of Earth-Treasures Department. In the past months, when Zhang Tie was busy, all the seven elders including Luo Yunshang were asked to enter secluded cultivation by Zhang Tie for the time being. Meanwhile, he appointed other people to be the presidents of the five major departments in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace...

 1721 The Most Important Thing

    "In the past months, since its founding, Dragon''s Teeth Army would consume over 30,000 element crystals a month. According to Commander-in-Chief Huang, the Dragon''s Teeth Army would hold over 2,000 people. It means that the entire Dragon''s Teeth Army would consume over 50,000 earth crystals a month, about 600,000 element crystals a year!"


    "Previously, Earth-Treasures Department kept over 300 element crystals warehouses. In the heyday of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, each warehouse contained 1 million element crystals, which meant hundreds of millions of element crystals in total. However, the number of element crystals in the warehouses of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had not replenished during the past years. Actually, most of the element crystals in the warehouses of Earth-Treasures Department had been consumed. By the end of last month, there were only 28 element crystals warehouses available across Earth-Treasures Department while the total amount of element crystals was 28 million, the lowest level in the history!"


    "However, there''re totally 7885 immortal generals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, which means almost 100,000 element crystals per month. As Your Majesty wants to expand the scale of Dragon''s Teeth Army, the monthly payment of element crystals from Earth-Treasures Department would increase by 20%, reaching over 120,000 element crystals per month. Aggravating the problem facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace..."


    "If we couldn''t replenish element crystals, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would run out of element crystals in 3 decades. As a result, we would not be able to attract immortal generals anymore!"


    "Time flies. As the incumbent president of Earth-Treasures Department, I have the responsibility to warn you, Your Majesty..."


    In the assembly hall of Heavenly Safe Building, Zhang Tie was sitting on the throne, head slightly tilted and listening to the words of the president of Earth-Treasures Department while stroking his face by hand. Meanwhile, he threw a casual glimpse at Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin every once a while.


    Opposite to Zhang Tie, Guan Minjun, as the president of Earth-Treasures Department, was talking about the "severe situation" facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to Zhang Tie loudly and clearly. In conclusion, her words contained three meanings: First, Zhang Tie was too extravagant; second, the current situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was severe; third, warning Zhang Tie that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would soon "go bankrupt" if Zhang Tie couldn''t work out any solution...


    Dozens of years was not a long period of time for an immortal palace in Motian Realm.


    As new powers being promoted by Zhang Tie, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were requested to "prove" the worse situation facing Earth-Treasures Department at present by Guan Minjun.


    When Guan Minjun talked about it, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin remained silent. When some data were mentioned, they looked at her and nodded seriously which proved that the incumbent president of Earth-Treasures Department was telling the truth.


    To be honest, none of the females in Motian Realm was ugly; especially female immortal generals, whose looks were all above average. As a water immortal general, although Zhang Tie didn''t know how old was Guan Minjun, given her look, she was just at her 40''s. With a good figure and tight skin, she was charming. With a classical slightly oval face, willow-shaped eyebrows, delicate five sense organs and a shrewd look, she was delightful. Except for the colors of her hair and skin, her look and temperament especially her shrewd qi of an able woman was pretty similar to that of Olina...


    Therefore, when Guan Minjun talked, even Zhang Tie couldn''t help glancing at her stealthily every once a while.


    Guan Minjun''s words were indeed out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that the stockpile of element crystals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could at least sustain 100 years for the entire immortal palace. Actually, the stockpile could not even sustain for 30 years. Zhang Tie really wondered what those elders being in secluded cultivation were thinking about at that time. How dared they sigh a century-long contract with the new immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace?


    ''Perhaps they have other arrangements, such as continuing to sell cities or population within Dragon Emperor Big Domain. At that time, they only considered stabilizing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for the time being. However, they all left the awful mess to me now. What old d**chebags!''


    ''If I''ve not made countermeasures timely or thought about staying long in Motian Realm, anyone else who takes my position would be in trouble. If an immortal palace lacks element crystals, it would lose the support from immortal generals. By then, it would not work even if I''m the master of the former Dragon Emperor, not to mention that I''m the disciple of the former Dragon Emperor.''


    Watching Guan Minjun, Zhang Tie suddenly felt like looking at Olina as endless nostalgia occurred to his mind, moving him in a daze...


    ...


    "Your Majesty, are you listening to me?"


    Guan Minjun abruptly raised her voice, waking Zhang Tie up at a stroke. Zhang Tie found she was looking at him with a bit fury, face slightly flushed. At the same time, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were watching him with interest.


    "Ahem...ahem...of course I''m listening to you; of course..." Zhang Tie pretended to cough twice as he hurriedly replied.


    "Your Majesty, what''s your solution then?"


    "Won''t the element crystals in Earth-Treasures Department sustain for 30 years? No matter what, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is not short of element crystals now. Don''t worry!" Zhang Tie said perfunctorily with a casual look.


    "Your Majesty..." Guan Minjun suddenly raised her eyebrows as she raised her voice greatly again, "Three decades would pass fast. If the other immortal generals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace know that our immortal palace is running out of element crystals, I''m afraid that the immortal palace would be in big trouble before we completely run out of element crystals. Your Majesty, you should be serious about that..."


    "Haha, what''s your solution then, President Guan?" Zhang Tie asked casually.


    "To gain more element crystals or to conserve the use. As for conservation, Your Majesty, you''d better control the population and scale of Dragon''s Teeth Army first. As for the gaining more element crystals, as the Mountain Ruins is going to open, more and more humans and demons are heading there this year. Your Majesty, it depends on you how to carry out the details!"


    "Everything about Dragon''s Teeth Army is still dominated by Commander-in-Chief Huang, I don''t plan to curtail the population and scale of Dragon''s Teeth Army. As for the daily expenditure of Dragon''s Teeth Army, Earth-Treasures Department should prop up it at your full efforts. You should timely distribute military supplies in case of influencing military plans." Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he vetoed Guan Minjun''s suggestion about conservation at once, "As for gaining more element crystals, Mountain Ruins is indeed a means; however, as the old man doesn''t care about Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace anymore, I shouldn''t disturb him with such a trivial affair. We should solve it depending on the current overall strength and capability of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. However, as Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace doesn''t have a supreme immortal general, we could barely defeat demons and the other immortal palaces in Mountain Ruins..."


    Guan Minjun let out a sigh as she continued, "It was just my suggestion. Hopefully, Your Majesty could work out the solution!"


    "Hahaha, don''t worry, President Guan. Perhaps, this problem would be easily solved within a couple of years..." Zhang Tie said casually.


    After taking a deep look at Zhang Tie, Guan Minjun felt profound about Zhang Tie given his casual deed. She wondered why Zhang Tie was so confident.


    Given the atmosphere, this meeting should come to an end.


    "Now that Your Majesty has known the recent situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, this humble subordinate would leave then!" Guan Minjun stood up as she said. After exchanging a look with each other, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin also stood up.


    Zhang Tie raised his hand while Hong Yukun came out of the back of Zhang Tie who then walked the three females out of Heavenly Safe Building. When she almost left there, Jiang Ruoxin suddenly turned around and took a look at Zhang Tie. She wanted to say something; however, Zhang Tie didn''t say anything even let Ji Yuelan and her stay, Jiang Ruoxin finally didn''t say it. With a bit of disappointment, she left the Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    Lowering his head, Zhang Tie was kneading his temples as if he was thinking about something.


    Zhang Tie didn''t see how Jiang Ruoxin looked back at him; however, he felt it. Zhang Tie knew what Jiang Ruoxin was longing for. However, Zhang Tie didn''t have time to play any love game with females for the time being.


    Over the past half a year, Zhang Tie only thought about stabilizing his throne as the new Dragon Emperor.


    As for Zhang Tie, the position of Dragon Emperor definitely meant more.


    As one of the top three emperor-level immortal palaces, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had a great influence across Motian Realm. It was a heaven-sent opportunity for Zhang Tie to persuade everyone else to believe in the return of the former Dragon Emperor and make himself the successor of the former Dragon Emperor. In Motian Realm, Zhang Tie could definitely smoothly promote to a heavenly knight and semi-sage level knight and realize another essential progress in the easiest way in the shortest period of time.


    ''As long as I could stabilize the throne of Dragon Emperor and control the entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace firmly, my success is just a matter of time.''


    ''In order to fulfill this objective, it''s worthwhile even if I''m as tired as a dog, being obsessed with a lot of otherworldly affairs all day long and couldn''t even spare a few hours for cultivation a day.''


    Grinding a chopper will not hold up the work of cutting firewood.


    ...


    "Your Majesty, the three people have already left Dragon Emperor Pavilion..." Hong Yukun had already returned to Heavenly Safe Building as he reported to Zhang Tie in a low voice.


    "Hmm, I know..." Zhang Tie put down his hands as he looked up, saying, "Is there any more immortal generals waiting outside? Let them in..."


    "No more for the time being!"


    "Ah? No more?" Zhang Tie was shocked.


    "Your Majesty, don''t you remember that? The two branch heads and immortal generals in Silvermaple City and Strongwind City had been received this morning. They were the last branch heads and immortal generals being received by Your Majesty. Over the past half a year, Your Majesty has already received all the branch heads and immortal generals in almost 1,000 branches of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace across Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Your Majesty''s diligence and fame have already spread across Dragon Emperor Big Domain..."


    After thinking about it for a second, Zhang Tie suddenly burst into laughter. "Hahaha, I''ve received all of them. I''ve finally ended up a big deal. That''s great! That''s great! From today on, I could be a bit relaxed..."


    "Your Majesty, as you''ve been busy for many hours, do you want to take a short rest or appreciate some dance and music..."


    "No need. I will take a walk outside and check the Forbidden City. By the way, I need some fresh air..."


    "I will make an arrangement right away..."


    "No need. I only need some bodyguards to go with me in metal wings. We will set off by air..." Zhang Tie said as he stood up and walked out of Heavenly Safe Building.


    After a short while, five people had left Dragon Emperor Pavilion for the north of Dragon Emperor City. In more than 10 minutes, Zhang Tie and four immortal generals had already arrived above the Forbidden City.


    No airboats that transported building materials and goods could be seen above Forbidden City anymore. With the common efforts of tens of thousands of able craftsmen, it only took them less than half a year to basically complete the construction of a complex of palaces which was bigger than Dragon Emperor Pavilion, except for some final procedures.


    This Forbidden City was a Hua complex from the world where Zhang Tie came from according to his memory.


    "Your Majesty..." Soon after Zhang Tie''s group arrived above the Forbidden City and hovered there for a short while, Leng Manxue in metal wings had already arrived at his side.


    "How''s everything going? How long until Forbidden City is completed?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Some palaces in Forbidden City are already available now. Some palaces and houses have not been completed yet. Forbidden City would be fully available in half a month!" Leng Manxue answered.


    "Good, I appreciate you for your hard work!"


    "It''s my pleasure!"


    Zhang Tie wanted to say something else. However, he suddenly stopped as he received a message from Dragon Emperor Pavilion through his portable jade plate¡ª¡ªa special envoy of Star Emperor Immortal Palace suddenly paid a visit to Dragon Emperor Pavilion and wanted to meet Zhang Tie accompanied by the general manager of Emperor NvWa''s Palace in Dragon Emperor City.


    Although Zhang Tie had been waiting for it for half a year, the arrival of the representative of Star Emperor Immortal Palace was still a bit earlier than that was predicted by Zhang Tie...


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that the representative of Star Emperor Immortal Palace would contact him after the Forbidden City was completely put in use. Given the current situation, the powers in Star Emperor Immortal Palace couldn''t wait anymore.


    After receiving the message, Zhang Tie remained unchanged superficially; however, he couldn''t stand bursting into laughter inside.


    After being busy for half a year, he would finally make an achievement...

 1722 An Invisible Wrestle

    Although Zhang Tie knew that Star Emperor Pavilion had dispatched its representatives here and felt thrilled, he didn''t return to Dragon Emperor Pavilion at once; instead, he loitered outside leisurely for quite a while. Accompanied by Leng Manxue, Zhang Tie traveled across the Forbidden City and posed some genuine suggestions before returning to Dragon Emperor Pavilion slowly.


    When he came back, it was already dusk.


    The moment Zhang Tie and his bodyguards arrived there, Hong Yukun had come to his side.


    "Where are they?" Zhang Tie asked straightforwardly.


    Of course, Hong Yukun knew whom Zhang Tie was referring to as he answered, "I''ve already arranged them to wait for Your Majesty in Yunshui Palace. Your Majesty, do you want to see them now?"


    "Hmm, I will meet them now!" Zhang Tie replied. At the sight of Zhang Tie''s gesture, some bodyguards immediately moved forward and helped him take off the metal wings. After that, Zhang Tie headed for Yunshui Palace.


    "That envoy from Star Emperor Immortal Palace is a wind immortal general. Do we need..." Hong Hukun hurriedly caught up with Zhang Tie as he asked.


    "Never mind. It''s just a wind immortal general..." Zhang Tie replied with a casual smile...


    Of course, a heavenly knight was not a big deal for Zhang Tie; not to mention that he was accompanied by a general manager of Emperor NvWa Palace, which was the best guarantee for safety.


    ...


    In Dragon Emperor Pavilion, Heavenly Safe Building provided the assembly hall for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Those who accessed to Heavenly Safe Building were all immortal generals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Additionally, if the foreign guests were important, they would be arranged in Yunshui Palace which meant a very solemn and official meeting.


    Being in the west of Dragon Emperor Pavilion, Yunshui Palace was a small artificial lake nearby Dragon Emperor Pavilion. Being girdled by a verdant purple bamboo wood, it was a tranquil place. Because of the arrival of important foreign guests, some immortal generals were guarding outside Yunshui Palace. At the sight of Zhang Tie, they hurriedly gave a salute to Zhang Tie.


    "Your Majesty!"


    Zhang Tie nodded as he strode into the gate of Yunshui Palace.


    After hearing the footsteps and the greetings of the bodyguards outside the gate, the two people inside Yunshui Palace had long stood up. When Zhang Tie walked in, he started to observe them.


    Given their costumes, Zhang Tie could easily identify them.


    The general manager of Emperor NvWa Palace in Dragon Emperor City was in the uniform of immortal generals of Emperor NvWa Palace, which was featured by yellow in the upper half and green in the lower half. The colors of the uniform were separated by the waistband. Additionally, there were many purple auspicious clouds in the shape of scales on it, which was said to be used to commemorate Emperor NvWa.


    In Motian Realm, Emperor NvWa Palace didn''t occupy a large area. Actually, it only had one city; however, Emperor NvWa Palace''s power was unpredictable, which was thought to be greater than all the other immortal human palaces. The other immortal palaces might perish or become prosperous; however, Emperor NvWa Palace remained unchanged since its founding. Given the beginning years of Motian Realm, people would know the profound background and history of Emperor NvWa Palace. Because of the magnificence and greatness of Emperor NvWa Palace''s position, people in the uniform of immortal general of Emperor NvWa Palace were all something. They would win respect from any force and anybody as long as they''re in the territory of humans.


    The general manager of Emperor NvWa Palace in Dragon Emperor City was fatty with three beautiful strokes of beard. Although he looked kind, his eye light was shrewd. Like Zhang Tie, he was also a water immortal general. In the past half a year, although this fatty was in Dragon Emperor City, he didn''t pay a visit to Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie had long heard about him and it was also his first time to meet this guy today.


    The envoy from Star Emperor Immortal Palace was more easily identified. Zhang Tie had seen many uniforms like that of his in Heavenly Square City. The difference between this guy and those in Heavenly Square City lay in his higher rank. Given his look, this envoy was genial and elegant, which felt like bathing the spring wind.


    Only after taking a look at this envoy from Star Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie had known that Star Emperor Immortal Palace was here for a cease-fire.


    Zhang Tie and the two guests looked at each other at the same time.


    To be honest, although the two guests were told that the new Dragon Emperor was young, they were still shocked by Zhang Tie''s look as it was as young as that of a 17 years old boy.


    Before Zhang Tie took the throne of Dragon Emperor, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin always thought that Zhang Tie had a formula or secret method for skin care. After Zhang Tie became the Dragon Emperor, his young look appeared being the best explanation for him to be the disciple of the former Dragon Emperor. As Zhang Tie couldn''t always show off his trump cards such as Dragon Emperor''s Immortal Fist Skill, commoners would regard his young look as the first standard for being the disciple of the former Dragon Emperor, an unrivaled person in Motian Realm.


    Gradually, Zhang Tie''s young look became an ID card of him as the new Dragon Emperor. Zhang Tie had not imagined about that; however, it was not bad for him.


    "Wu Qiankun from Emperor NvWa Palace..."


    "Yuan Lang from Star Emperor Immortal Palace..."


    "It''s our great honor to meet Your Majesty!"


    Despite their high social positions, the two people still dared not offend Zhang Tie when they saw Zhang Tie coming in.


    Zhang Tie went all the way to the main seat and sat down there. After that, he took a look at the two people and raised his arm, saying, "Please take a seat!"


    "Thank you, Your Majesty!"


    "May I know your purpose here?" Zhang Tie asked straightforwardly like how an emperor always did.


    Yuan Lang threw a glance at Wu Qiankun.


    "We''ve got two things!" Wu Qiankun said with a smile, "First, Emperor NvWa Palace determines to return the Immortal Wind Palaces to Dragon Emperor City as our gift for the return of Grand Dragon Emperor and the ascension to the throne of Your Majesty..."


    Previously, there were two immortal wind palaces in Dragon Emperor City, which were used to receive the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. In the heyday of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, immortal generals and their guards would make reports or pay visits to Dragon Emperor City from all the other cities due to different reasons constantly every day. These people lived in immortal wind palaces at that time.


    Immortal wind palace was like internal hostels of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. However, immortal wind palaces were not only used for reception. What was more important was that there were two sets of heavenly balls inside the two immortal wind palaces which the former Dragon Emperor gained from Mountain Ruins. Those immortal generals who came to Dragon Emperor City could not only live in immortal wind palaces but also improve their battle skills in the heavenly balls.


    Pitifully, before Huang Baimei''s group moved to Dragon Emperor City, the two immortal wind palaces together with the two sets of heavenly balls had been sold to Emperor NvWa Palace by the five elders. From then on, if immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace wanted to continue to use heavenly balls in immortal wind palaces, they had to pay money or element crystals.


    Later on, Zhang Tie was told that the two immortal wind palaces were sold at the price of 2 million earth element crystals.


    In order to sustain the awful mess facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, the five elders had tried every means they could. However, no matter what, Zhang Tie felt it was stupid to sell the two immortal wind palaces to Emperor NvWa Palace. Given Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace''s situation at that time, even if they had 2 million more earth element crystals, it didn''t work at all. Conversely, after selling immortal wind palace, they would demoralize the people of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace badly. The loss weighed out the gain.


    This might be a dilemma caused by the disappearance of the former Dragon Emperor. All the decisions across Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were made through negotiation, which were usually over conservative. Sometimes, the decisions would be inappropriate. As the old saying went, one monk will shoulder two buckets of water, two monks will share the load, but add a third and no one will want to fetch water due to considerations and mutual suspicions.


    It was definitely a bounty for Emperor NvWa Palace to return the two immortal wind palaces back to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Perhaps Emperor NvWa Palace was afraid of being avenged by "Dragon Emperor". However, Zhang Tie had to accept it.


    After hearing the words of the general manager of Emperor NvWa Palace, Zhang Tie became much more relaxed at a stroke. He even replied with a smile, "I appreciate Emperor NvWa Palace and General Manager Wu. I was thinking about negotiating with Emperor NvWa Palace about buying the two immortal wind palaces back in a few days. Now that General Manager Wu has mentioned it, I will accept your bounty. By the way, I will return the same 2 million element crystals to Emperor NvWa Palace!"


    "You''re too polite, Your Majesty. It''s just a gift that Emperor NvWa Palace presents to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. We don''t mean to take the 2 million element crystals back!" Wu Qiankun hurriedly explained.


    "Hahaha, I appreciate Emperor NvWa Palace''s sincerity. However, I have to return the 2 million element crystals back!" Zhang Tie urged generously as he continued in a firm and joking tone, "Otherwise if the old man knew about it, he would think that I made him embarrassed by taking advantage of Emperor NvWa Palace. By then, I would have big trouble. That''s a deal. The old man cares most about his dignity and reputation even today...!"


    If Zhang Tie wanted to cheat others, he had to make himself believe in that. Since Zhang Tie entered Yunshui Palace, the invisible wrestle between Zhang Tie and Star Emperor Immortal Palace had started. The 2 million element crystals were the first strike that Zhang Tie launched towards Star Emperor Immortal Palace.


    As was imagined, watching Zhang Tie presenting 2 million element crystals in such an overbearing and casual way, Wu Qiangkun and Yuan Lang were both shocked too much.


    Neither was it 2,000 nor 20,000 element crystals; it was 2 million element crystals. Fewer than 5 of the 3 emperor-level immortal generals and 14 throne-level immortal generals in Motian Realm could consume over 1 million element crystals annually. As for an emperor-level immortal general, 2 million element crystals was not a small figure. Actually, 2 million element crystals could meet the demand of a supreme immortal palace for 3-5 years.


    However, Zhang Tie casually presented 2 million element crystals to Emperor NvWa Palace. Few people across Motian Realm could be as generous as him...


    The astonishment of Wu Qiankun and Yuan Lang could be imagined.


    The key was that Emperor NvWa Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace were both crystal clear about the current situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. If Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace lived well, the five elders would not have exchanged two immortal wind palaces for 2 million element crystals. If Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was still as powerful as before, Star Emperor Immortal Palace would not have dared to plunder its cities blatantly.


    Because the two people were both clear about the current situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, they were shocked by Zhang Tie''s decision.

 1723 Zhang Ties Bai

    After Zhang Tie''s words, Xunshui Palace was in a short silence.


    Watching the dumbfounded look of Wu Qiankun and Yuan Lang, Zhang Tie smiled inside.


    By spending 2 million element crystals, Zhang Tie instantly had the initiative as he indirectly prevented Star Emperor Immortal Palace from solving the problem using element crystals.


    Zhang Tie''s generosity implied that Zhang Tie didn''t care about losing such an amount of element crystals at all despite the fact that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was facing difficulties for the time being. As for the reason why Zhang Tie ignored the 2 million element crystals, just let Wu Qiankun and Yuan Lang think about it themselves. No matter what, Zhang Tie knew that they must think that the reason was related to "his master". In this way, Zhang Tie could intensify the image of the former Dragon Emperor who had long passed away and told everyone else that the unrivaled Dragon Emperor was still alive.


    This was the result that Zhang Tie wanted.


    Average people could never know Zhang Tie''s considerations.


    "We''ve solved the first thing. I wonder about your second thing, General Manager Wu?" Zhang Tie took his teacup and slightly slid his teacup cover over the surface of the tea water. Closely after that, he slowly had a sip, not mentioning about the 2 million element crystals anymore.


    Wu Qiankun took a look at Yuan Lang as he let out a sigh, "As for the second thing, given your intelligence, Your Majesty must have already hit it. I''m not here for private affairs; instead, I''ve received the decree from Emperor NvWa''s Palace. Emperor NvWa''s Palace want to fix the conflicts between Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace over the past years as a middleman!"


    "Conflicts?" Zhang Tie smiled as he put down the teacup, adding, "Given your words, it seems that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace plundered the cities and killed the immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palaces over the past years. If you mean that, we don''t need to talk about it anymore!"


    "Of course, Emperor NvWa''s Palace doesn''t mean that!" Wu Qiankun hurriedly replied with a solemn look, "Over the past tens of thousands of years, Emperor NvWa''s Palace always kept neutral among the immortal palaces in Motian Realm. Even if Emperor NvWa''s Palace has its stance, it must be considering the benefits of all humans. Over the past tens of thousands of years, some immortal palaces survived; some perished. If humans want to strive for surviving space with demons, we couldn''t avoid metabolisms and the survival of law among immortal palaces. The population and land resources of humans have to flow towards the more powerful ones. Commoners might not understand it; however, Your Majesty must know that I''m not telling a lie!"


    Although Wu Qiankun''s words sounded comfortable, undeniably, his words were true in Motian Realm. Therefore, Zhang Tie nodded.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s positive response, Wu Qiankun let out a sigh inside as he hurriedly added, "The Grand Dragon Emperor has already disappeared for over 900 years, during which period, Dragon Emperpr Immortal Palace didn''t make any big triumph towards demons. The number of immortal demon generals that were killed by immortal generals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was also decreasing. Now, on the Rank of Contribution in the immortal palace of Emperor NvWa''s Palace, although being an emperor-level immortal palace, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace has been hitting the last five ranks steadily. It could be said without a bias that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was declining step by step over the past 900-odd years. Additionally, everyone else thought that the Grand Dragon Emperor might have encountered misfortunes. In this occasion, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had long become the target of many immortal palaces in Motian Realm. Although what Star Emperor Immortal Palaces did was not right, it didn''t mean to offend Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; nor did it have any conflict with Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace!"


    "I understand. From different perspectives, there''re reasons for what Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had encountered. However, although I understand it, it doesn''t mean that I have to accept it. No matter what, something wrong has happened. Now that Star Emperor Immortal Palace has done harm to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, of course, they need to assume responsibilities for it. Star Emperor Immortal Palace had not imagined that the old man is still alive and has made great progress. After losing your chips on the gaming table, you can not regret!" Zhang Tie said calmly and decisively.


    "I''m here to fix the relationship between Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace being entrusted by Star Emperor. I believe that everything could be fixed with sincerity in terms of cities or immortal generals. Everything has a price. No matter what, it''s better than having a fierce battle between two immortal palaces..." Yuan Lang finally opened his mouth sincerely which sounded kind and aggressive.


    Zhang Tie just watched Yuan Lang without losing his temper; instead, he said calmly, "You''re right. Everything has a price. However, I''m afraid that I couldn''t determine this thing myself!"


    "Why?" Wu Qiankun asked Zhang Tie out of curiosity.


    "When I departed from the old man. The old man said he would deal with Star Emperor about this thing himself by force..." After hearing the former Dragon Emperor ''s opinion, Wu Qiankun and Yuan Lang changed their faces in a split second. However, Zhang Tie continued as if he had not noticed their looks, "The old man is straightforward and cares about his fame. When he encounters powers, he would be more powerful than his opponents. As Star Emperor Immortal Palace hurt Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, the old man could never bear it. Therefore, it''s useless for you to talk about it with me. I admit that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace couldn''t match Star Emperor Immortal Palace in power. But listen, if Star Emperor Immortal Palace wants to start a war with Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace now, the 8,000 immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palaces would wait for you in Dragon Emperor Big Domain. If you have nothing else to talk with me, please go back..."


    Zhang Tie pretended to not talk with them any longer.


    "No!" The general manager of Emperor NvWa''s Palace had completely lost his calmness as he became extremely solemn and even a bit intense, saying, "As the Mountain Ruins is going to open soon, demons have been active and arousing battle flames in Nine Heavens Big Domain again, if immortal human emperors fought with each other at this moment, as long as one party was hurt, we might spare a chance for demons and demon emperors. By then, the foundation of humans in Motian Realm would be shaken. Your Majesty, could you contact Grand Dragon Emperor?"


    "Yes, I could; but..."


    "Your Majesty, given the lives of hundreds of millions of people in Motian Realm, you have to persuade Grand Dragon Emperor to stay calm for the time being. Don''t create the biggest regrets which would make friends and relatives hurt and enemies thrilled..." Wu Qiankun said as he stood up and bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie deeply frowned his forehead as he looked a bit contradictory and embarrassed.


    "I wonder whether the conflict between two emperor-level immortal palaces could be resolved if Star Emperor Immortal Palace would like to pay 6 million element crystals to Dragon Emperor Immortal Place..." Yuan Lang asked as he mentioned the "mental damage compensation"...

 1724 Isve Got Many Small Secrets

    "6 million element crystals?" Zhang Tie shook his head as he watched Yuan Lang, asking, "Do you think my master would make a concession only for a few element crystals? Star Emperor Immortal Palace is sincere; however, I''m afraid that the old man couldn''t be moved by such a poor sincerity.


    "Besides element crystals, we could make further negotiation if Your Majesty has other requirements!" Yuan Lang said after taking in a deep breath, "If this event went worse, it would not be good for both immortal palaces. Actually, Star Emperor Immortal Palace lost a lot of immortal generals too. I guess that Your Majesty must be in Heavenly Square City at that time. Your Majesty must be the one who attacked them. Why not stop avenging each other, Your Majesty..."


    Wu Qiankun took a look at Yuan Lang out of slight shock as if he had not imagined that Star Emperor Immortal Palace had known it.


    "Right, it was me who killed those immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City!" Zhang Tie confessed frankly as he didn''t mean to deny it at all; instead, he answered grimly, "That day, I didn''t know that Star Emperor Immortal Palace had dispatched its immortal generals to Heavenly Square City. I encountered them in a boite of Heavenly Square City. I''ve not imagined that the immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace had already colluded with Zi Clan and were scheming to occupy Heavenly Square City. How dared they ignore the existence of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace? What was more, they dared flirt with the female immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. If I kept them alive, it would not be helpful to my ruling. Of course, I killed them all. Not to mention that the old man was also nearby Heavenly Square City during that period. Even if I didn''t launch a strike, those people couldn''t survive either..."


    Zhang Tie''s last words fixed the problem of the huge pit outside Heavenly Square City and the chaos that he aroused in Heavenly Square City. He attributed everything to the late Dragon Emperor, by which, he could exert greater stress to the opponents and have everyone feel that the Dragon Emperor who had returned after over 900 years'' disappearance became more powerful and terrifying. Additionally, they believed that the Grand Dragon Emperor must have mastered a horrible, powerful secret method which contained amazing battle skills.


    If they fought such great power, they could barely win the battle.


    Before Star Emperor Immortal Palace dispatched people here for negotiation, they must have already had people investigate the collapsed mountain peak outside Dragon Emperor City so as to speculate the current battle strength of the Grand Dragon Emperor. Additionally, as long as the representatives of Star Emperor Immortal Palace arrived here, they could easily connect the collapsed mountain peak outside Dragon Emperor City with the catastrophe facing Zi Clan and the huge pit outside Heavenly Square City. Because there were so many similarities between the results of the two strikes, which could never be covered.


    Zhang Tie''s casual strike outside Heavenly Square City that day was attributed to the Grand Dragon Emperor which was a pretty delicate solution.


    Given Yuan Lang''s eyes, Zhang Tie had known that his scheme had worked. After hearing that the Grand Emperor was also nearby Heavenly Square City in those days, this ambassador of Star Emperor Immortal Palace turned solemn at a stroke as a shrewd light flashed across his eyes.


    "Additionally, didn''t Star Emperor Immortal Palace have countermeasures? How could Dragon Emperor Immortal match Star Emperor Immortal Palace in avenging the opponent?" Zhang Tie refuted with a smile, "I wonder whether His Majesty has known that you bribed red and blue devils to have them kill all the people of Dragon Emperor Immortal''s branch in Heavenly Square City in Brokenstars Ocean? But the old man has known it. He was driven mad. Therefore, Star Emperor Immortal Palace owed us two times..."


    "Erm...erm...neither Emperor NvWa Palace nor I know that..." Wu Qiankun became embarrassed at once as he threw a glance at Yuan Lang unpleasantly. Star Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t tell him about that at all. Now, this event made this peacemaker very passive in front of Zhang Tie. He knew that Zhang Tie had got a piece of evidence for that. Wu Qiankun answered, "Where are the red and blue devils!"


    "Of course, I''ve killed them. If I were not with the airboats that day, I''m afraid that all the tens of thousands of common followers and those immortals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in the branch of Heavenly Square City had already been killed..."


    "The two human scumbags should have long been killed..." Wu Qiankun said out of fury.


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh, saying, "Star Emperor Immortal Palace has gone too far in some aspects. Although Dragon Emperor Immortal has declined, it''s not the others'' turn to bully us by occupying our cities, killing our immortal generals through colluding with human scumbags. Star Emperor Immortal Palace even wants to kill all the followers of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in the branch of Heavenly Square City. How could we stand that? It could never be dealt verbally or through paying off some element crystals. If the old man avenges Star Emperor, he''s never seized with a sudden impulse..."


    The red and blue devils were notorious in Motian Realm. If this event was unveiled to the public, it would definitely inflict a great loss to Star Emperor Immortal Palace.


    "Ahem...ahem... His Majesty doesn''t know that; neither do I. I think it should be arranged by the subordinates. After going back, I would definitely report it to Star Emperor and make a strict investigation into it so as to satisfy Dragon Emperor..." Yuan Lang couldn''t disavow it at this moment; instead, he could only reply in a perfunctory way; meanwhile, he threw a glance at Wu Qiankun for help.


    "Your Majesty, you have to persuade the Grand Dragon Emperor to not declare war towards Star Emperor Immortal Palace for the sake of the billions of people in Motian Realm. Otherwise, as long as war broke out between Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace, it would be a great misfortune for all the living beings in the world as people''s blood would enable weapons to float..." Wu Qiankun told Zhang Tie sincerely.


    After hearing Wu Qiankun''s words, Zhang Tie stood up, hands on his back. He then started to walk slowly in the room with a solemn look. Sometimes, his face looked gloomy; sometimes, it turned sunny as he took a look at the two people as if he was thinking about something or making a difficult decision.


    Wu Qiankun and Yuan Lang remained silent as they fixated onto Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie walked slowly for 3 minutes in front of them as he stopped with a resolute expression. Closely after that, he turned around and watched the two people, saying, "General Manager Wu is right. If a war breaks out between Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace, a lot of immortal generals on both parties would lose their lives, not to mention the result of the combat between two emperor-level powers. Additionally, this might provide a chance for demons to raid us. If you want to resolve the conflict between two immortal palaces or persuade the old man to not avenge Star Emperor Immortal Palace, you have to meet a condition..."


    Wu Qiankun and Yuan Lang let out a sigh at the same time. After exchanging a glance with each other, Yuan Lang said, "Go ahead, Your Majesty!"


    Zhang Tie then took out an element crystal and put it on the teapoy in front of them, saying "I want to buy something from Star Emperor Immortal Palace using this element crystal. If Star Emperor Immortal Palace agrees with me, all the conflicts between us will be canceled off. I believe I could persuade the old man to not find Star Emperor Immortal Palace''s trouble. If Star Emperor Immortal Palace doesn''t agree, you two could go back. As for what happens in the future, it depends on God''s will!"


    "Your Majesty, what do you want to buy from Star Emperor Immortal Palace using this element crystal?" Yuan Lang asked as he turned extremely solemn.


    At the same time, Yuan Lang had got some different answers¡ª¡ªto buy all the cities of Star Emperor Immortal Palace in Nine Heavens Big Domain, to buy the heads of some immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace or to buy a public apology from Star Emperor...


    It was negotiable for the first answer. However, Yuan Lang would never agree with the rest two answers. If Star Emperor Immortal Palace gifted the heads of its own immortal generals to Dragon Emperor, how would Star Emperor Immortal Palace keep its fame in the world? It was also not acceptable for Star Emperor to apologize to Dragon Emperor in the public, no matter what powerful cultivation method has Dragon Emperor mastered over the past 900-odd years. As the latter two choices would ruin the fame of Star Emperor Immortal Palace, they had been denied by Yuan Lang inside in advance.


    However, Zhang Tie''s answer was completely out of the expectation of Wu Qiankun and Yuan Lang.


    "It''s very simple. I want to buy 10 living demon water generals and 5 living demon wind generals..." Zhang Tie said calmly.


    "What? Your Majesty wants Star Emperor Immortal Palace to exchange demon generals with..." Yuan Lang thought he misheard it. Did Zhang Tie want to buy a pile of demon generals? It''s more like having Star Emperor Immortal Palace catch living demon generals for him for free. What a weird and unimaginable condition!


    "Right, I want demon generals. 10 living demon water generals and 5 living demon wind generals, each of which should be above 5 change realm..."


    "You only want demon general?" Wu Qiankun asked out of curiosity.


    "Yeah, only demons. As long as they''re alive, I don''t care whether they''re disabled or idiots..."


    "Your Majesty...what do you want these demon generals for?" Yuan Lang asked with a frown.


    "It''s none of your business. Just answer me whether you will agree with me or not..."


    "Erm...erm, please wait for a second, I need to consider it for a short while, Your Majesty..."


    "Help yourself!"


    Zhang Tie then sat on his chair as he took his teacup and had a sip leisurely.


    Actually, Yuan Lang was going to negotiate about it with the top powers of Star Emperor Immortal Palace. Yuan Lang must carry a jade plate which he could use to contact the powers in Star Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Zhang Tie knew that his condition was completely out of the expectation of Star Emperor Immortal Palace, which couldn''t be made easily.


    However, it was easier than facing the revenge from the late Dragon Emperor that Zhang Tie had shaped successfully.


    To fight an immortal emperor or to catch some demon water generals and wind generals alive? The two choices were absolutely not on the same level in difficulty.


    Additionally, although Zhang Tie required 10 demon generals, only 5 of them were heavenly knights. It should be accepted by Star Emperor Immortal Palace. If Zhang Tie wanted 10 or 20 demon heavenly knights, it would be much more difficult for Star Emperor Immortal Palace to do that. After all, even though Star Emperor Immortal Palace had more than one power above heavenly knight, it was not that easy for them to catch some demon heavenly knights alive.


    The key was that this trade term or solution could keep the fame of Star Emperor and its powers.


    Additionally, as human immortal palaces were opposite to demon palaces, it was not sharply distinctive for them to kill demon generals or catch demon generals alive, despite being different in difficulty.


    As was predicted by Zhang Tie, in less than half a minute, Yuan Lang had taken a look at him before taking the element crystal in front of them and telling Zhang Tie in a muffled voice, "Star Emperor Immortal Palace agrees with this trade. Hopefully, Your Majesty could keep your promise..."


    "From now on, as long as Star Emperor Immortal Palace doesn''t find us trouble, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would not find Star Emperor Immortal Palace any trouble. Tit for tat is fair play..." Zhang Tie said solemnly.


    "That''s great. That''s great..." Wu Qianku let out a sigh as his round face revealed a smile.


    "Hopefully, Star Emperor Immortal Palace could complete its trade within 2 years. If it is overdue, this trade would be invalid..." Zhang Tie added.


    "2 years, no problem!" Yuan Lang took a look at Zhang Tie as he asked, "Your Majesty, do you want us to send these demon generals at once or in batches..."


    "In batches is acceptable!"


    "Well, Emperor NvWa Palace will be responsible for sending these demon generals to Your Majesty!"


    "Hmm, okay!"


    "We got to go then..." The envoy of Star Emperor Immortal stood up, followed by Wu Qiankun...


    ...


    As there was no Purgatory Samsara Method in Motian Realm, how could Emperor NvWa Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace know what those demon generals mean for Zhang Tie?


    Sometimes, many things that looked hard or impossible to gain could be gained pretty easily.


    After the representatives of Emperor NvWa Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace left, Zhang Tie sat in Yunshui Palace alone calmly as he started to drink his tea leisurely. Not until 10 minutes later when the tea water in his cup was finished did Zhang Tie reveal a smile. Finally, his smile turned into laughter and guffaw...


    ...


    "I''ve got a horn on my head.


    I''ve got a tail on my back.


    Nobody knows


    how many small secrets do I have?


    I''m a small cyan dragon.


    I''ve got many small secrets.


    I''m a small cyan dragon, a small cyan dragon, a small cyan dragon...


    However many small secrets, small secrets, small secrets do I have?


    I''ve got many secrets.


    I won''t tell you.


    I won''t tell you.


    I won''t tell you..."


    Hearing the strange song faintly, those guards outside Yunshui Palace exchanged a glance with each other as their faces turned weird.


    ''Is Dragon Emperor...okay?''

 1725 Zhang Ties Business

    Zhang Tie had been busy for half a year. The arrival of Wu Qiankun and Yuan Lang finally foreboded the auspicious day of Zhang Tie.


    10 shadow demon knights in five change realms or higher were enough to help Zhang Tie promote to a heavenly knight. By then, he would make wholly new progress in all aspects again.


    After promoting to a heavenly knight, Zhang Tie would be able to enter Mountain Ruins. He would have more freedom in moving forward or retreating. Additionally, Zhang Tie would be able to manipulate wind and air as a divine dominator. Zhang Tie didn''t know what he could do in details; however, he was sure that he would be more confident to face a sage-level knight after promoting to a heavenly knight.


    In Taixia Country, heavenly knight was the beginning of becoming a real powerhouse. In Motian Realm, wind immortal generals were also the pillar of immortal generals.


    This promotion would be the most important and easiest for Zhang Tie.


    When in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie could never imagine that someone would present demon powerhouses to him one day for refinement. However, in Motian Realm, it was real.


    After promoting to a heavenly knight, the 5 heavenly demon knights with over 5 change realm would help him promote to 2 change realm of the heavenly knight.


    However, it was just a start. After that, he could make the same trade with Emperor NvWa Palace, other immortal palaces, independent supreme immortal generals or fire immortal generals. He would have them provide wind demon immortal generals to him constantly. In this way, Zhang Tie could easily light his wind chakra and fire chakra and promote to a semi-sage knight within a couple of years.


    As long as Zhang Tie thought about it, he would be thrilled.


    Therefore, since Wu Qiankun and Yuan Lang left there, Zhang Tie had been in a good mood.


    Auspicious things arrived one after another.


    After Wu Qiankun left Dragon Emperor Pavilion for three days, Emperor NvWa Palace returned the two immortal wind palaces to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    The event raised the morale of immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace pretty much. From then on, the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor City would be able to improve their battle skills in heavenly balls again. By the way, Zhang Tie, the new Dragon Emperor, won much greater popularity among the people.


    No matter what, the two immortal wind palaces came back after Zhang Tie took the throne of Dragon Emperor. Therefore, everyone across Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace attributed it to Zhang Tie, including the commoners in Dragon Emperor City.


    As for returning 2 million earth element crystals to Emperor NvWa Palace, Zhang Tie did it too. He directly sent an order to Earth-Treasures Department and made them transfer 2 million earth element crystals to Emperor NvWa Palace. As a result, Guan Minjun, the new president of Earth-Treasures Department looked worse when she met Zhang Tie.


    On the day when the two immortal wind palaces returned to Dragon Emperor City, Zhang Tie even had people hold a takeover ceremony in the two immortal wind palaces. Zhang Tie attended this ceremony together with tens of thousands of people including the branch heads of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, the presidents of the 5 departments, the immortal generals of Dragon''s Teeth Army, some people from Emperor NvWa Palace, the immortal soldiers of the camps in Dragon Emperor City and some representatives of followers.


    At the ceremony, Zhang Tie told some succinct yet meaningful words to everyone at present.


    "From today on, we will get back everything that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace once lost!"


    After a short silence, ear-splitting cheers sounded among the people.


    "Long Live Dragon Emperor!"


    "Long Live Dragon Emperor!"


    "Long Live Dragon Emperor!"


    Influenced by Liu brothers, more and more people started to cheer up starting from those common soldiers at present.


    Hearing their cheers and watching their jubilant faces and their hopeful eyes, Zhang Tie asked Guan Minjun on his side secretly, "President Guan, which one is more important, the 2 million earth element crystals or the hope and happiness in their eyes?"


    Watching the scene, Guan Minjun was silent. However, Zhang Tie replied it for Guan Minjun, "As for me, the latter one counts the most. If one day, these people''s eyes lose brilliance, it means that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would perish for real no matter how many element crystals we have. By then, even if we have 2 million earth element crystals more, we could only struggle a couple of more years before being ruined. It would be meaningless..."


    "Your Majesty, you could say whatever you want at this moment. It''s indeed a happy thing for us to get back immortal wind palaces. However, Your Majesty, you have to know that Earth-Treasures Department only has 25.23 million element crystals in stockpile after we presented Emperor NvWa Palace 2 million earth element crystals..." Guan Minjun said calmly after taking a look at Zhang Tie.


    "Don''t worry, President Guan. I will start a business in 2 years. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace will have element crystals constantly. At least, I could keep its balance..." Zhang Tie revealed a secret to Guan Minjun as he felt good.


    Guan Minjun was shocked by Zhang Tie''s words. If Zhang Tie could really make it, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had to gain at least 1.2 million element crystals annually. Attention! The business that Zhang Tie referred to was not about exploitation in Mountain Ruins.


    "Ah, it''s impossible! Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace doesn''t have specialties compared to other immortal palaces. Even if we have specialties, it''s hard to keep the balance of element crystals by trading them with other immortal palaces." Guan Minjun said with a slight frown as she didn''t believe in Zhang Tie''s promise at all.


    "How about having a bet with me, President Guan!"


    "Bet what?"


    "If I could make it, President Guan, please don''t always frown in front of me. You should show me more smiles. If a beauty always frowns, she would easily become old!"


    Guan Minjun threw a bashful glare at Zhang Tie as she took in a deep breath, saying, "What if you couldn''t make it, Your Majesty?"


    "If I couldn''t make it, I will not force Earth-Treasures Department to make extra payment out of the budget. Additionally, I will reduce the population of Dragon''s Teeth Army to 1,500 people."


    "Well, that''s a deal!"


    In the uproar, Zhang Tie and Guan Minjun had made a bet secretly.


    ...


    The heavenly balls in the two immortal wind palaces were as same as the heavenly ball that Zhang Tie saw in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Being set in a hall of each immortal wind palace, the heavenly balls could imitate the images of supreme immortal generals and earth immortal generals for the other immortal generals or directly allow immortal generals to fight each other inside. Its only regret was that these heavenly balls could only be accessible to supreme immortal generals and earth immortal generals just like that in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Water immortal generals like Zhang Tie could not enter them to improve his battle skills.


    "There''s a more advanced heavenly ball in Emperor NvWa Palace, which could allow water immortal generals and wind immortal generals to fight and improve their battle skills inside. Your Majesty, you could have a try in Emperor NvWa Palace when you''re free..." Wu Qiankun found an opportunity to sneak to Zhang Tie''s side and talked to him with a smile when Zhang Tie felt a bit regretful.


    As the peacemaker, Wu Qiankun resolved the conflict between Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace without weakening each party''s power. Zhang Tie''s request even weakened demons'' power, which was more pleasant to Emperor NvWa Palace. However, given Wu Qiankun''s look, Zhang Tie estimated that he might have been praised or rewarded by Emperor NvWa.


    "Aw, really? I wonder where did Emperor NvWa''s heavenly ball come from?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "It also comes from Mountain Ruins!" Wu Qiankun said with a smile, "It''s said that the most advanced heavenly ball is in the hand of demons, which could be available to supreme immortal generals. They also gained it from Mountain Ruins. As for humans, the most advanced heavenly ball is in Emperor NvWa Palace..."


    "How do Star Emperor Immortal Palace prepare for the trade?" Zhang Tie asked Wu Qiankun secretly.


    "Yuan Lang has already passed the message to Star Emperor Immortal Palace three days ago. Star Emperor Immortal Palace has already delivered the order to wind immortal generals within the immortal palace. It''s said that a powerhouse of Star Emperor Immortal Palace had already caught a water demon immortal general alive after being severely hurt. After a few days, the first batch of goods would arrive..." Wu Qiankun replied secretly.


    ''So fast!''


    Zhang Tie felt calm at once as he slightly threw a glance at the general manager of Emperor NvWa Palace, saying, "It''s said that Emperor NvWa Palace has businesses and cooperations with all the human immortal palaces. I''ve got one more business to cooperate with Emperor NvWa Palace!"


    "Oh, go ahead please, Your Majesty!" Wu Qiankun became interested in it at a stroke.


    "When Emperor NvWa Palace sends the first batch of goods to me, I will show you something. I''m sure General Manager Wu would be interested in it..." Zhang Tie tantalized him...

 1726 Zhang Ties Gif

    After the two immortal wind palaces returned to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for two weeks, the Forbidden City, after over half a year''s construction, was finally completed in July, the 3585th year of Emperor NvWa Calendar. Zhang Tie also moved to Forbidden City the moment it was completed.


    As for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, the construction of Forbidden City was as simple as a billionaire buying a set of furniture.


    Although Earth-Treasures Department lacked element crystals, it had enough crystal coins which were usually used by commoners. The entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace across Dragon Emperor Big Domain would levy tens of billions of crystal coins'' tax annually. On this occasion, Zhang Tie could easily have people build Forbidden City. In the beginning, Earth-Treasures Department even thought that Forbidden City was not large enough as it wanted to expand it. However, Zhang Tie vetoed it; because it would be meaningless for Zhang Tie to expand Forbidden City. He only wanted it to be built according to his memory.


    The new Forbidden City covered less than 1 square miles. Being similar to a rectangle in shape, it faced south. It was longer than 980 m from south to north and wider than 750 m from east to west. The entire city was circled by a 10 m high wall. Additionally, there was a moat outside the city which was wider than 50 m. The entire city was divided into an external and internal courtyard. The external courtyard was centered on Dragon Emperor Palace, Qianji Palace and the Palace of Preserving Harmony while the internal courtyard was centered on Palace of Heavenly Purity, Jiaotai Palace and Palace of Earthly Tranquility.


    The entire Forbidden City was pretty beautiful. After its completion, many details were out of Zhang Tie''s imagination.


    After Zhang Tie moved to Forbidden City, the external courtyard of Forbidden City became the power center of the entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Dragon Emperor Palace replaced the role of Heavenly Safe Building in Dragon Emperor Pavilion as it became the place where Zhang Tie handled public affairs and the supreme assembly hall in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Qianji Agency being chaired by seven elders was located in Qianji Palace. The Palace of Preserving Harmony became the ceremonial site in Forbidden City.


    Besides the three palaces in the external courtyard, there were more than 30 yards and buildings and over 400 imperial rooms. The five major departments of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace also moved in the external courtyard of Forbidden City, each one for one yard. They all circled around Qianji Palace and Dragon Emperor Palace.


    Zhang Tie lived in the Palace of Heavenly Purity and entered secluded cultivation in Jiaotai Palace. As for the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, Zhang Tie had not decided how to use it. The original internal courtyard of Forbidden City was the imperial harem of the emperor while the original Palace of Earthly Tranquility belonged to the empress. However, Zhang Tie didn''t have any wife or concubine in Motian Realm; therefore, the Palace of Earthly Tranquility was vacant for the time being. Zhang Tie asked General Manager Leng to take care of it.


    On two sides of Forbidden City, there were two military camps of Dragon''s Teeth Army. Like two wings, Zhang Tie''s Dragon''s Teeth Army extended to the east and the west of Forbidden City, protecting the entire city.


    After Zhang Tie moved to Forbidden City, Qianji Agency had started to run officially.


    According to the requirements that Zhang Tie formulated for Qianji Agency, only 3 of the 7 elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were handling public affairs in Qianji Palace while the other 4 were in cultivation or handling their private affairs every day.


    Generally speaking, elders on duty would tackle daily problems facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace through negotiation. When they had a divergence of views, they could only accept the principle "the minority is subordinate to the majority". When they couldn''t make a decision on major events, they would notice the other 4 elders to negotiate about it together. Only when all the 7 elders couldn''t deal with the events or had a major divergence of views would they report it to Zhang Tie. Otherwise, Qianji Agency was able to deal with all the daily affairs facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Previously, when there was no Qianji Agency, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had already run for over 900 years. Although the road was rugged, there weren''t any big loopholes that couldn''t be fixed. After Zhang Tie became the new Dragon Emperor, he set Qianji Agency which was above the five major departments. As a result, the elders could only give up their plans and work together in Qianji Agency. Elders were mutually restricted. The five major departments and Qianji Agency were mutually restricted. Forbidden City, Dragon''s Teeth Army and the other authorities were mutually restricted. Additionally, Zhang Tie was above all of them. On this occasion, it was almost impossible for Qianji Agency and the five major departments to conceal anything from Zhang Tie.


    In ancient times, some emperors usually broke the former power and personnel framework by moving capitals. By founding the new power and personnel framework, they could consolidate their dominant positions. Zhang Tie''s move to Forbidden City was similar to that.


    It was a wholly new situation for the new Dragon Emperor to move to Forbidden City. However, as for Zhang Tie, his move to Forbidden City meant that he had almost adjusted the authorities and personnel within Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in an all-round manner and stabilized his position as the new Dragon Emperor. From then on, Zhang Tie didn''t need to worry about the internal affairs facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace anymore. From now on, Zhang Tie could spend most of his time in cultivation.


    On the evening of July 14, Zhang Tie became free completely as he invited Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin to the Palace of Heavenly Purity in Forbidden City for a drink and enjoyed the moonscape.


    Now, almost everyone in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace knew that Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were Zhang Tie''s soul mates and trusted subordinates. Although the two women didn''t have great battle strength, as they were familiar with Dragon Emperor, they had pretty high positions in Earth-Treasures Department. Together with Leng Manxue, the three females were in their heyday in Dragon Emperor City. Some gossipers were guessing which of the 3 females could rule the Palace of Heavenly Tranquility in the future.


    ...


    It was a pretty good day. In the evening, the moon was as bright and round as a wheel while the moonlight covered the sky. Within a garden of the Palace of Heavenly Purity, there were verdant trees. Golden fish were playing with water. Some crickets were rubbing their feet among the grasses. The garden was full of open peony blossoms, which smelt pretty fragrant. In a parterre, some red lanterns were hung over there where Zhang Tie was raising his cup together with the two girls.


    "I appreciate your hard work..." Zhang Tie sighed as he raised his cup towards the moon, saying, "It''s been more than half a year. Last time, we drank in the Apricot Blossom Courtyard. I''ve not imagined that we could have a drink in Forbidden City. I propose a toast to you for your hard work!"


    After clinking their cups, the three people bottomed up at the same time...


    "Your Majesty, glad you know that we worked hard..." Ji Yuelan threw a gloomy glance at Zhang Tie after putting down her cup as she said, "Over the past half a year, Your Majesty, you just dispatched a job to us and left us alone as if we''re your tools. We even thought that you''ve forgotten about us!"


    "Your Majesty, you are unrivaled now. We''re just your trivial subordinates. If Your Majesty let us keep an eye on Earth-Treasures Department, we will keep an eye on it. How dare we complain about our hard work!" Jiang Ruoxin let out a sigh too as if she was full of remorse. Since she had an unforgettable kiss with Zhang Tie in Apricot Blossom Courtyard, Jiang Ruoxin had felt special about Zhang Tie as her mentality started to change slightly. Especially after Zhang Tie became Dragon Emperor, perhaps Jiang Ruoxin had not realized that she had been more and more like a woman given her look, movements and tone in front of Zhang Tie.


    Although the two girls were complaining to him, Zhang Tie knew that they were happy inside given their grand costumes which were like open peonies and their delicate make-up. On many occasions, women''s mood could be reflected in their costumes and make-up.


    "When you''re with me, don''t call me Your Majesty. Just call me as same as before. In order to stabilize the position of Dragon Emperor, I''ve been too tired over the past half a year. How could I have time to have a drink or chat with you? Look, as long as I''m free, I think about you. You''re always in my heart!" Zhang Tie said with a smile. After that, he took out a palm-sized delicate box and pushed it to the front of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin. "Look, I''ve even prepared a delicate gift for you. I''m sure you like it..."


    As was imagined by Zhang Tie, the moment the two girls heard that Zhang Tie had prepared a gift for them, their eyes instantly shone as they gazed at that box at the same time.


    "You only prepare one gift for two of us? Do you have any sincerity?" Ji Yuelan asked like a spoiled girl, "How do we share it..."


    "You will know that after opening it." Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    After exchanging a glance with Ji Yuelan, Jiang Ruoxin stretched out her hand and opened the box.


    It was a vivid cute jade tortoise stretching out its head inside the box. On its shell, there were natural mysterious grains which faintly formed a seal character "Yang".


    At the sight of the object in the box, Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan became intense all over in a split second as their smiles disappeared...

 1727 A Heroic Person

    The jade tortoise that Zhang Tie gifted them was the very target of the two girls since they attended Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. It was an important item in Yin-Yang Sect.


    Although it looked like a jade tortoise, actually, it contained the original version of a secret method which was of great significance to Yin-Yang Sect.


    Was it a coincidence that Zhang Tie gifted it to them? Of course not. It could never be so accidental in this world. Now that it was not a coincidence, it could only be interpreted that Zhang Tie had already known that they were from Yin-Yang Sect.


    The sudden pleasure and fear brought by the jade tortoise made Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan change their faces in a split second.


    "Alas!" Ji Yuelan let out a long sigh as she moved her eyes onto Zhang Tie from the jade tortoise. In a complex mood, Ji Yuelan couldn''t stand dropping off tears. She then revealed a bleak yet beautiful smile towards Zhang Tie, saying, "Ruoxin and I both come from Yin-Yang Sect. Given the fact that our sect was abhorred by the rest of the world, we could only hide our identities. We didn''t mean to cheat you. Unexpectedly, you''ve known that. It seems that this is a farewell drink. After a while, this elder sister prefers to die in your hand. Given that we are bosom friends, please don''t let others spoil our corpses. If Your Majesty still treasures the friendship between us, please burn us up. After that, throw our ashes into the river outside the Apricot Blossom Courtyard. The river is crystal with apricot blossoms on its banks all the year round. It''s a good destination..."


    Just now, Jiang Ruoxin was intense all over. After hearing Ji Yuelan''s words, she became relaxed at a stroke. She had seen Zhang Tie''s great battle force. It was pretty easy for Zhang Tie to kill them. Not to mention that there were so many powerhouses in the Forbidden City. She preferred to accept her fate frankly than die in an embarrassed manner.


    Suddenly, Jiang Ruoxin felt more complex as if she felt that the faint hope and aspiration were completely shattered by Zhang Tie at this moment.


    After hearing Ji Yuelan''s words, Jiang Ruoxin also dropped off tears as she said, "I agree with Yuelan. If Your Majesty buries us together, we could be partners in the afterlife."


    "Have you really determined to go there?" Zhang Tie asked as he looked up at the sky, letting out a deep sigh, "It''s said that there''re always monsters and goblins in rivers. Besides being ugly, they''re all strong and like beauties. If the natives don''t offer sacrifice to them by throwing beauties into the rivers, they would arouse heavy wind and billows to hurt the local people. If you want to settle in the river, it''s nothing different than presenting yourselves to them."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Ji Yuelan''s and Jiang Ruoxin''s face turned pale. The two people both felt scared out of their wits. Though they didn''t find that Zhang Tie''s tone was weird, it sounded like a ghost story. Additionally, Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile.


    "Just...just bury us in the mountain in the opposite of the Apricot Blossom Village then..." Ji Yuelan said slowly and gloomily.


    "I can''t. There''re more spirits, goblins and ghosts in the mountain. If you settle down there, it''s nothing different than sending sheep to tigers'' den. Many spirits, goblins and ghosts would drool and smirk obscenely at you. If you''re buried in the mountain, you might be rat spirits'' wives today and wolf spirits'' wives tomorrow. Even brown bears would think about robbing you away all day long..."


    "If so...if so, we two couldn''t even be buried anywhere while being scolded by everyone when we''re alive?" Jiang Ruoxin asked while sobbing...


    After heaving a sigh, Zhang Tie said, "You two whiny beauties do not need to think about death. It would be pitiful if you die. Additionally, some ghosts, spirits or goblins would take advantage of you after your death. You''d better think about living well. Just be my female immortal generals. In the daytime, you could help me deal with public affairs. In the evening, you could dress up and have a drink with me while appreciating the moonscape. I prefer you over others to take care of me. At least I''m not that terrifying. Am I right?" Zhang Tie said as he wiped off tears for the two girls. After that, he draped around their waists together and kissed their cheeks.


    When Zhang Tie kissed them, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin finally realized that Zhang Tie was only having fun with them just now. He didn''t even mean to hurt them at all.


    With great pleasure and grief, the two women suddenly broke into laughter. Watching Zhang Tie with complex mood, they didn''t know what to say.


    "This item belongs to Yin-Yang Sect. After the old man took it away from Yin-Yang Sect, he didn''t return it to you. But I''m returning it to you today. If you want to report on your mission with it, I allow you several months'' leave. You could make an arrangement for free!" Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh as he added, "If you don''t want to go back; nor return to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace anymore. I don''t blame you. Nor would the immortal palace hunt you. I will just remove your names from the rolls of the immortal palace..." Zhang Tie couldn''t stand lightly pinching their cheeks as he complained, "We''ve known each other for so long, how could you not trust me at all? At the sight of the item, you''ve thought that I wanted to kill you. Am I that terrifying and vicious in your eyes? I gifted you something so that you could complete your mission easily. How could you think that I wanted to kill you? I just invited you for a drink on such a beautiful night, but you think I''m bidding farewell to you. That really makes me sad..."


    Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin felt bashful at once.


    "Don...don''t you mind our real identities?" Ji Yuelan asked him as she leaned against Zhang Tie''s shoulder.


    "I''ve already seen the secret cultivation method of Yin-Yang Sect. Although the male-female cultivation skill was weird, it originates from the universal law of coexistence of yin and yang. If there''s no yang, yin would not take shape; if there''s no yin, yang would not take shape. Additionally, don''t you advocate that only couples or a male and a female who loves each other could cultivate it together. It''s fine. You could cultivate in any form that you want. It has nothing to do with others. The bad reputation of Yin-Yang Sect was caused by some bad guys in your sect. The others of Yin-Yang Sect shouldn''t be involved. It''s normal for a big sect to have some assholes! Compared to the dirty things that some righteous sects could do, this is not worth mentioning."


    "Do you really think so?" Jiang Ruoxin asked as her eyes glittered.


    "You bet. After sending it back to your sect, you could tell the elders and directors of your sect that if they could barely find a place to stay outside, all of them could go to Dragon Emperor Big Domain. As long as you comply with the disciplines in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, I promise they will be safe here!"


    Ji Yuelan exchanged a glance with Jiang Ruoxin.


    "We cannot make a decision about it. We could only tell our masters what you said. As for the details, it depends on them. Over these years, as Yin-Yang Sect is hunted everywhere, our masters are very skeptical. Even if I tell them about that, I''m afraid that they would not make any response right away..." Jiang Ruoxin replied as she had gradually become composed.


    "It''s fine! It''s just my suggestion. Just take it as a choice. It depends on them. Additionally, even if they really come here, they don''t need to notice me at all. They''re free in Dragon Emperor Big Domain. As long as they don''t do anything in a big way which would arouse the attention of Force Emperor Immortal Palace, they could do whatever they like!" Zhang Tie said as he covered the lid and foisted it into Jiang Ruoxin''s hand as if nothing had happened before. "Come, have a drink!"


    After getting the No. 1 treasure of their sect, the two girls were so thrilled that they both thought about staying with Zhang Tie tonight. However, Zhang Tie didn''t make them drunk; instead, when they were tipsy, Zhang Tie had already persuaded them to leave.


    "Do you really want us to leave?" Jiang Ruoxin asked Zhang Tie audaciously while being tipsy.


    "If you stay in the Palace of Heavenly Purity tonight, many people would keep an eye on you if any one of you left Dragon Emperor City in a few days. Do you still want to stay here?" Zhang Tie asked with a smile. The two girls then became silent; because they knew that it was not good for them if they caught the attention of the public given their identities; especially when they wanted to find an opportunity to send the item back.


    When they left the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the two women revealed an extremely gloomy look at Zhang Tie as if they were going to melt Zhang Tie.


    After the two girls left, Zhang Tie continued to drink in his garden until midnight.


    Watching the bright moon rising to the highest point in the dome, Zhang Tie suddenly had a complex mood as he missed his family members pretty much.


    "After putting a flagon of liquor on the table in the flowers, I start a drink myself with no friend on my side. Raising my cup towards the sky, I invite the bright moon to join me and my shadow. Pitifully, the bright moon couldn''t understand the pleasure of a drink; and the shadow could only keep me company silently. I could only enjoy the beautiful nightscape together with the bright moon and the lonely shadow. When I make poems, the moon lingers about. When I dance, the shadow moves elegantly with me..." Zhang Tie drank, sang and laughed alone while his song reverberated across the Forbidden City. With his song, Zhang Tie trembled all the way to Jiaotai Palace. He then closed the gate and entered secluded cultivation...

 1728 The Arrival of the First Batch of Goods

    Zhang Tie was repeating the extremely boring process of cultivation using his spiritual energy in the void...


    This process was so monotonous that it almost drove Zhang Tie mad. After gathering the two energies in the void, Zhang Tie would let them dissipate themselves. Zhang Tie repeated this process tens of thousands of times. He still continued it even when he became completely numb spiritually and turned the whole process into an instinctive and mechanical response.


    Zhang Tie hoped that he could mobilize the two energies as freely as taking a breath one day.


    In order to reach this goal, Zhang Tie had to complete this process as easily as taking a breath.


    He had to repeat the hard process of cultivation for numerous times to make a bit of progress. In the process of cultivation, he was accompanied by loneliness.


    Very few things were fair in the world. Perhaps, the only fair thing was time. Everyone had 24 hours a day. The only difference between people lay in which had you spent time in? As time passed by, the seeds that you watered would strike roots and sprout. One day, they would grow up with luxuriant foliage, blossoms and fruits. Some fruits were kind; some were evil; some were beautiful; some were ugly; some tasted sweet; some tasted sour...


    There were powerhouses in each industry. The so-called powerhouses must have spent the most time in that industry.


    It was the first official secluded cultivation that Zhang Tie entered since he came to Motian Realm.


    In secluded cultivation, Zhang Tie forgot about time and the disturbance from the secular world. He was fully immersed in cultivation. Not until his portable jade plate started to wobble continuously did he exit the realm and open his eyes.


    It was a message from Leng Manxue¡ª¡ªYour Majesty, Wu Qiankun of Emperor NvWa Palace is waiting for you.


    ¡ª¡ªTake him to Yangxin Palace. I will be there soon.


    ¡ª¡ªYes, sir!


    After replying to the message, Zhang Tie stood up and did some warm-ups. He made some difficult movements that the others could never imagine, causing his muscles and bones to crack like firecrackers.


    After doing that, Zhang Tie felt that his mindset, spirit and body became active again.


    Zhang Tie took a look at the loop of special candles on the candlestick at one corner of the back room as he found one of them had already died out, leaving one foundation. The other 33 cm high candle which was divided into 30 scales had lost 12 scales. The rest 12 scales had not been lit yet, which meant that Zhang Tie had already stayed in the back room for 42 days.


    As there was no table clock in Motian Realm, they used candles to mark time. The candle was a specialty in Motian Realm which was called Jade Candle. There were several kinds of jade candles. The most common one was 33 cm in length, which could be divided into 30 scales, each scale for one day. Given the consumption of the jade candle, people would know the time. It was pretty convenient. Some jade candle could be burned for one year. The most endurable jade candle could last 60 years.


    Besides marking time, jade candles would produce a faint bizarre fragrance after being burned, which could drive away insects and beasts and could prevent people from being possessed with devils in cultivation. Therefore, jade candles became a daily product even a necessary item for cultivators and immortal generals in Motian Realm during cultivation.


    Jade candles gave out warm yellow light, making the corner of the back room a bit warmer while the greater part of the back room was in the dark.


    Zhang Tie came to the front of the candlesticks and blew them out. After that, he opened the cover of the luminous pearl, making the backroom bright at once.


    Zhang Tie then pushed open the gate of the backroom and entered a secret tunnel. Next to the secret tunnel was a flight of staircase leading upwards. The staircases were made of white marble stones. On both sides of the staircases, there were luminous pearls in each a few meters. Zhang Tie then went upstairs along the winding white steps. After walking about 200 m upstairs and passing by some special preventive facilities, he entered Jiaotai Palace.


    Of course, the others were forbidden in the place which Dragon Emperor used for secluded cultivation. Nor could it be easily destroyed. Of course, Zhang Tie could also cultivate in Jiaotai Palace for a short period of time; however, he preferred to enter the underground backroom of Jiaotai Palace for a long period of time for the sake of safety.


    Some secret tunnels connecting the underground backroom with the other places around Dragon Emperor City. The longest tunnel led to a mountain outside Dragon Emperor City. After building those secret tunnels, all the relevant workers'' memories were wiped out by medicine. Therefore, only Zhang Tie and Leng Manxue knew those secret tunnels across Dragon Emperor City.


    When Zhang Tie walked out of the gate of Jiaotai Palace, he felt coming back to the crowd as he felt the dazzling sunlight and the jubilant twitters.


    "Your Majesty..." Some immortal generals gave a salute to Zhang Tie together with Leng Manxue.


    During the period when Zhang Tie was in secluded cultivation downside there, the immortal generals in Forbidden City were on alert outside Jiaotai Palace by shifts ceaselessly. Leng Manxue especially came here to wait for Zhang Tie.


    "I appreciate your hard work!" Zhang Tie told those immortal generals with a smile.


    "It''s our responsibility!" those immortal generals felt being overwhelmed by an unexpected favor as they hurriedly replied in unison by bowing their bodies.


    "If everyone could fulfill their responsibilities, our Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would reinvigorate one day!" Zhang Tie encouraged them as he nodded. After that, he went to the Yangxin Palace with Leng Manxue.


    On the way, Leng Manxue stealthily glanced at Zhang Tie for a few times as she kept one step behind him.


    "What? Are there flowers on my face?" Zhang Tie asked.


    "Your Majesty, you might...might be much more relaxed after secluded cultivation!" Leng Manxue replied. Sometimes, women''s instinct was even greater than the knight''s consciousness of sage-level knights. Leng Manxue could easily catch something different just from Zhang Tie''s look.


    "Really? I also think so!" Zhang Tie replied as he nodded. As for Zhang Tie, he jettisoned sex, food, fame and sleep for dozens of days during the ascetic cultivation. As a result, he became relaxed spiritually. Additionally, he felt being completely free from the trivial affairs in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace just like struggling out of the mire and winning freedom once again.


    However, in many cases, people''s daily life was paradoxical. Zhang Tie didn''t mean to become Dragon Emperor; however, as he had paid a lot in this position, Zhang Tie could also enjoy many privileges and enormous resources that he could never enjoy before.


    "What does Wu Qiankun bring here?" Zhang Tie asked Leng Manxue.


    "He''s followed by some immortal generals of Emperor NvWa Palace. Those immortal generals bring here 5 huge iron boxes. According to Wu Qiankun, they''re demanded by Your Majesty. They don''t want me to check it. Therefore, I had them wait outside Yangxin Palace with the huge iron boxes..."

 1729 A Piece of News

    Yangxin Palace was on the west of the Palace of Heavenly Purity in the internal court of Forbidden City. It was just a few minutes of walk from Jiaotai Palace to Yangxin Palace.


    When Zhang Tie arrived at Yangxin Palace, he saw five immortal generals of Emperor NvWa Palace waiting for him outside Yangxin Palace. Beside the five immortal generals, there were five 1 m high metal safes. There was a special rune on each safe which could isolate from spiritual inspection. They could not be opened without special keys. Watching the five eye-catching metal cabinets, most of the people were curious about the treasures inside. None of them could imagine that each container had a live demon knight.


    With lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie could penetrate through the shells of the metal safes spiritually and see the five demon knights inside immediately.


    Two of the five demon knights were shadow wing demon knights, two were iron-armored shadow knights and one spider demon shadow knight which was the most miserable one among the five demon knights. Because of too many legs and its large body, all the limbs of that spider demon knight had been chopped off. It was caged in the metal cabinet in the form of a meatball.


    All the five demon knights were restrained and couldn''t move. Despite being completely subdued, they were still alive.


    Watching the five gifts, Zhang Tie felt like promoting to 8 change realm of shadow knight right away as he felt pretty happy.


    "Let these people carry the 5 iron cabinets to the entrance of my underground back room in Jiaotai Palace. I will deal with it myself..."


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s order, Leng Manxue nodded. Without asking Zhang Tie what were inside, Leng Manxue directly had some immortal generals, which were guarding Yangxin Palace outside the gate move away the 5 cabinets.


    Each cabinet weighed 700-800 kg, which was not a heavy weight for immortal generals. Each of the five immortal generals then carried one cabinet away.


    Zhang Tie then entered the main hall of Yangxin Palace alone.


    Yangxin Palace was not the leading palace in the internal court because it was too small. Its main hall was only 36 m in width and 12 m in depth. The richly ornamented structure across Yangxin Palace was also gorgeous. If not deal with important affairs in Dragon Emperor Palace, Zhang Tie would receive foreign guests here.


    "Your Majesty..." Wu Qiankun remained as same as that a few months ago. When Zhang Tie entered the main hall, he found Wu Qiankun was already bowing towards him with reverence inside there.


    "Take a seat. Don''t be so polite. I was in secluded cultivation in Jiaotai Palace these days. When I was told that you''re here, I just came out of there..." Zhang Tie said with a smile as he walked towards the main seat and sat down.


    "Your Majesty, your diligence is really admirable!" Wu Qiankun flattered Zhang Tie as he sat down on his own seat.


    Since Zhang Tie ascended to the throne of Dragon Emperor, he had been diligent in both Dragon Emperor Pavilion and the Forbidden City. He barely entertained himself. Although he had some trusted female immortal generals, everyone across Dragon Emperor City knew that His Majesty always remained restrained and didn''t have any love affairs with those female immortal generals; especially in Forbidden City. Wu Qiankun was not lying.


    "In Motian Realm, there''re too many powerhouses. As the Mountain Ruins is going to open soon, the large-scale war between humans and demons will break out. It''s pretty chaotic in Motian Realm now. If I don''t spend more time in cultivation, the old man would be made at me..." Zhang Tie joked.


    "Yup, Motian Realm is not peaceful now. It''s full of restless hidden forces. The scale of the war between humans and demons is expanding while more and more immortal human palaces and demon palaces are involved in. Besides Nine Heavens Big Domain, there''re also some abnormal responses over Dark Valley. Recently, more and more human and demon powerhouses head for Dark Valley. Otherwise, Star Emperor Immortal Palace would not have such a good opportunity to complete this trade smoothly!" Wu Qiankun talked with Zhang Tie secretly using his battle qi.


    Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Emperor NvWa Palace as the middleman were all very meticulous about this trade. They all kept it as a top secret.


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t hope that the fact that he needed alive demon knights was exposed to the public. Even though the Purgatory Samsara Method had not ever been discovered in Motian Realm, if more and more people knew about this trade, unavoidably, someone would guess something. It was better to keep secret than to expose his trump card.


    Of course, Star Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t want anyone else to know that it had sought for a peaceful settlement with Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; otherwise, Star Emperor Immortal Palace''s reputation would be destroyed. Additionally, if the "dirty job" made by Star Emperor Immortal Palace was known by demons, unavoidably, demons would avenge Star Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Therefore, this trade was carried out pretty confidentially. Within Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, nobody else knew about this trade except for Zhang Tie. On the side of Star Emperor Immortal Palace, only very few high-level immortal generals knew about it. Emperor NvWa Palace dispatched Wu Qiankun to mediate the event in the whole process. No matter what, given Emperor NvWa Palace''s neutral stance, it would not arouse any suspicion for Emperor NvWa''s Palace to contact each party.


    After hearing Wu Qiankun''s words, Zhang Tie raised his eyebrows as he asked straightforwardly, "Oh, I remember that Nine Heavens Big Domain was indeed not peaceful when Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace left there. As the entire Nine Heavens Big Domain was mixed with humans and demons, it''s not strange for it to be unpeaceful over there. But what''s the matter with Dark Valley?"


    "Your Majesty, do you know that there were four emperor-level immortal palaces among humans 300 years ago. At that time, besides Star Emperor Immortal Palace, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Force Emperor Immortal Palace, there was a Rune Emperor Immortal Palace whose secret skill of runes ranked first in Motian Realm..."


    "I know. Rune Emperor might have lost his life in Dark Valley!" Zhang Tie replied after thinking for a second. He remembered that Ji Yuelan once told him that Rune Emperor might be killed by the big battle formation of demons over there. Whereas, as it happened hundreds of years ago, Zhang Tie was not interested in it too much.


    "Yes. Although Rune Emperor has died; it''s said that Rune Emperor''s portable Tadpole Runes Sutra and a set of emperor-level immortal outfit didn''t fall in the hand of demons; instead, they disappeared in Dark Valley before his death. A few days ago, it''s said that someone saw the trace of the virtual object of his immortal outfit in Dark Valey. Therefore, a lot of human and demon powerhouses are pouring into Dark Valley these days..."


    ''Tadpole Runes Sutra? Emperor-level immortal outfit?'' Although Zhang Tie had not seen them, he knew they were something great given their names...

 1730 Mutation of Reiki Yeas

    To be honest, if Zhang Tie heard about rarities like Tadpole Runes Sutra and emperor-level immortal outfit in Taixia Country, he would go there right away. However, after hearing the news in the Forbidden City of Dragon Emperor City in Motian Realm, Zhang Tie just replied with a faint smile as he transferred the topic despite some whims occurred to him.


    Although Tadpole Runes Sutra and the emperor-level immortal outfit were eye-catching, Zhang Tie knew what counted most for him was to advance to a higher realm. The rarities would never disappear no matter who got it. However, he would not have another chance to receive living demon knights for refinement freely by staying somewhere in tens of thousands of years.


    Of course, Zhang Tie knew which was more important.


    Even if he was attracted by the Tadpole Runes Sutra and the emperor-level immortal outfit, he couldn''t occupy everything alone. Everyone should learn to give up something; not to mention that it was just a piece of news from Dark Valley. Even if it was true, now that people had not discovered them for over 300 years, it was normal for them to look for them for another 3-5 years. By then, Zhang Tie would have promoted to a heavenly knight or semi-sage level knight and would be more confident about his battle strength.


    "I wonder whether Star Emperor Immortal Palace has caught living demons hea...ahem...ahem...wind immortal generals or not this time?"


    "This time, Star Emperor Immortal Palace sent five water immortal generals here. Wind immortal generals are trickier than water immortal generals. It''s said that Star Emperor Immortal Palace has already dispatched some fire immortal generals and supreme immortal generals. Some have found their targets. I think they would send wind immortal generals here soon!"


    Wu Qiankun was very meticulous even now. Even if he got a lot of questions in mind, he dared not ask what Zhang Tie used these demon generals for. Perhaps he had already guessed that this might be related to some secret method that Zhang Tie cultivated; however, he could never imagine that Zhang Tie was using these demon generals to light his chakra. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, these demon generals were much more precious than element crystals.


    "Hmm, I really appreciate General Manager Wu for that!"


    "My pleasure, Your Majesty..."


    "Hahaha, I really appreciate you. Without the help of Emperor NvWa Palace and General Manager Wu, nobody could imagine how worse the relationship between Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal would be in the end!" Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he added, "Since General Manager Wu left here last time, I''ve been thinking about extending my thanks to you. Therefore, I especially prepared a small gift for you. Hope you like it!"


    Soon after Zhang Tie finished his words, Leng Manxue had already entered Yangxin Palace with a 70 cm long wooden box. After putting the wooden box in front of Wu Qiankun solemnly, she left there.


    Zhang Tie had long prepared this wooden box and the items inside it. He just waited for an opportunity to give it to Wu Qiankun.


    The wooden box caught Wu Qiankun''s attention as was imagined. Emperor NvWa Palace ranked first in wealth in Motian Realm, as the general manager of Emperor NvWa Palace, Wu Qiankun had almost seen everything.


    Wu Qiankun then fixated onto Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie raised his hand, saying, "General Manager Wu, you could open it..."


    After opening its cover, Wu Qiankun''s eyes turned wide at once.


    There were 10 rows of grooves in the wooden box, each row contained 10 special vials, 100 vials in total. They...appeared...appeared...to be a medicament...


    Wu Qiankun took out one vial and observed it carefully. He then confirmed it was indeed a medicament.


    The vials looked very delicate; additionally, its slim design was rarely seen in Motian Realm. The pale blue purified glazed vials contained golden red liquid. The surface of those vials was marked with the patterns of coiling dragons, which was rightly the symbol of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. The vials looked pretty delicate and grand. Curiously, there was no word on the surface of the vials.


    "Are they medicaments?"


    "Hmm, they are!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    "What''s their medical use?"


    "Hmm, you could use them to fix any improper symptoms!" Zhang Tie answered casually.


    "Haha, thanks, Your Majesty!" Wu Qiankun smiled as he covered its lid. As Zhang Tie just put it simply, Wu Qiankun didn''t feel it was special at all.


    In Motian Realm, everyone knew that the best means of recovery was to enter a pool of recovery if there was any health problem. In the pool of recovery, many health problems could be resolved. By contrast, medicinal pills and medicament were much worse than the pool of recovery in effect while the former were always ignored by people. Therefore, Wu Qiankun just took those vials of medicament as Zhang Tie''s sincere thanks.


    No matter what, Dragon Emperor''s gift carried a special meaning even if it was not practical. Therefore, Wu Qiankun still felt happy about that.


    After completing his mission and having a short chat with Zhang Tie, Wu Qiankun left a string of keys for the five metal cabinets. After that, he took away that box of medicament.


    Zhang Tie just watched Wu Qiankun leaving Yangxin Palace as he didn''t explain anything else about the 100 vials of medicament.


    Wu Qiankun left with all-purpose medicament, the wholly new all-purpose medicament.


    Coincidentally, Zhang Tie had not imagined that soon after he came to Motian Realm, precisely when he was in Heavenly Square City, the reiki yeasts in Castle of Black Iron had completed their secondary mutation after consuming numerous merit values, aura values and basic storage energy through Heller''s conscientious development.


    If not being reminded by Heller, Zhang Tie almost forgot that his reiki yeast could further mutate.


    After completing their secondary mutation, the reiki yeasts improved their basic abilities greatly in an all-round manner.


    ¡ª¡ªThe second generation of reiki yeasts'' viability in hypoxia enhanced by 36% compared to that of the first generation of reiki yeasts. In the common environment, the second generation of reiki yeasts was fermented 5% faster than that of the first generation of reiki yeasts. The new reiki yeasts could produce 21% more kinds of enzymes than that of the first generation of reiki yeasts, 31% more enzymes than that of the first generation in quantity. Additionally, the enzymes produced by the second generation of reiki yeasts were 46% more active than that of the first generation. The greatest improvement was that the second generation of reiki yeasts could produce 53.4 energy and reiki affine values during the process of decomposing fermentations. The energy and reiki value that the things being fermented by the second generation of reiki yeasts contained were four times higher than that being fermented by the first generation of reiki yeasts.


    As was told by Heller, the reason that the second generation of reiki yeasts couldn''t fully play their role in the world where Zhang Tie came from was that all the things being fermented and the air there contained less reiki.


    By contrast, the sufficient reiki in Motian Realm provided a good environment for the second generation of reiki yeasts in fermentation.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie''s all-purpose medicament upgraded with the help of the second generation of reiki yeasts in Motian Realm.


    In the beginning, although Zhang Tie was happy, he didn''t pay too much attention to the second generation of reiki yeasts. Previously, he thought that medium-level medicament didn''t have its market in Motian Realm where people were born to be LV 9 fighters. Additionally, as he had long become a knight, Zhang Tie had already been used to the high-end medicament. On this occasion, even though he could gain advanced all-purpose medicament, he would not be thrilled either. As the upgraded all-purpose medicament could at most match medium-level medicament comprehensively, even though it combined with the sufficient reiki in Motian Realm, it was only a bit more effective than medium-level medicament. It was still far away from advanced medicament.


    However, as Zhang Tie gradually learned about Motian Realm, he found that it was not like how he imagined.


    In Motian Realm, the most often used treatment and recovery method was not medicinal pills or medicament; instead, it''s a pool of recovery, which was a special treatment and recovery method combining runes and the strength of herbal medicine. When Zhang Tie came to Motian Realm, he had already experienced it on the airboat. The effect of a pool of recovery was indeed exceptional, which shocked him too much at that time.


    In Motian Realm, pools of recovery were divided into preliminary, medium and advanced. The more advanced the pools of recovery were, the greater their effect would be.


    However, pools of recovery also had their shortcomings. First, it had a large size. The more advanced the pool of recovery was, the bigger it would be. Even the preliminary pool of recovery was like a huge bathtub. By contrast, an advanced pool of recovery was like a swimming pool which could be seen in Dragon Emperor Pavilion and Forbidden City. Of course, such an advanced pool of recovery was not portable. Even if someone could put a pool of recovery into his portable space-teleportation item, the frequency of the use of the pool of recovery would be greatly limited¡ª¡ªat most twice a month.


    The second shortcoming of the pool of recovery was that it couldn''t detoxicate effectively even if it could cure one''s traumas. Many toxins in Motian Realm couldn''t be eliminated in the pool of recovery or even had an antidote.


    Then why did the pool of recovery become so popular in Motian Realm and emerge as the dominant treatment in Motian Realm?


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie thought it was because Motian Realm had a special inheritance of runes secret method. Later on, Zhang Tie found that the main reason behind the popularity of pools of recovery in Motian Realm was that there were very very few varieties and quantities of medicinal pills and medicament in Motian Realm which was mainly because that there were very few major plants in Motian Realm.


    Of course, there were some bizarre fauna and flora in Motian Realm. However, generally, the plants that could be used for making medicines in Motian Realm were 75% fewer than that in the world where Zhang Tie came from. People in this world had not even heard about some rare plants that existed in the world where he came from such as fiery lotus flowers and cross-realm flowers.


    Zhang Tie estimated that the only reason might be that Motian Realm was not a complete world. If Motian Realm was taken as Castle of Black Iron, the connection between this world and the world where the creator was in might have already cut off before the creator transferred all the plant seeds from the world where he was to Motian Realm.


    Therefore, although the world where he came from owned a lot of living beings and plants, Zhang Tie couldn''t see them in Motian Realm at all.


    Whereas, the foundation of the development of medicinal pills and medicament was the fundamental herbal medicines. Without those precious medicinal ingredients, nobody could make medicinal pills and medicament. An immortal emperor could barely make a stalk of grass or a glossy ganoderma even if he owned a destructive power.


    Therefore, pharmacists didn''t have a bright future in Motian Realm. In order to make up the shortage of medicinal pills and medicament, people in Motian Realm invented pools of recovery in the long river course of time which combined with runes secret methods and the effect of only a few herbal medicines.


    On this occasion, the wholly new all-purpose medicament benefited from the second generation of reiki yeasts was not useless in Motian Realm; instead, it was an epoch-making thing.


    When they severely lacked medicinal resources and even high-level knights who had portable space-teleportation equipment could not use pools of recovery for free, the value of a vial of all-purpose medicament was evident to all the knights.


    What was more, after making a batch of wholly new all-purpose medicament using the second generation of reiki yeasts, Heller once told Zhang Tie that the wholly new all-purpose medicament might solve the fertility problem of women in Motian Realm. Women would consume a lot of their reiki and energy through delivery, which was only related to some natural life instincts of women; instead of their battle strength. If a woman couldn''t stand such high consumption physically and spiritually, she would not get pregnant. When a bean was put in dry sands, of course, it would not grow. However, after taking the wholly new all-purpose medicament for long, women''s reiki and energy would improve effectively. As a result, one woman could definitely give birth to 4-5 babies after taking them...


    Zhang Tie had long been crystal clear about the value of the wholly new all-purpose medicament. However, when he gifted the 100 vials of wholly new all-purpose medicament to Wu Qiankun, Zhang Tie didn''t make it clear.


    Why did he gift Wu Qiankun 100 vials of wholly new all-purpose medicament? If he wanted Emperor NvWa Palace to be fully aware of the value of the wholly new all-purpose medicament, he had to give them enough samples for the experiment. If the number of samples was low, they might not know how effective was his medicament.


    When Zhang Tie worked in the grocery shop in Blackhot City, Donder had already taught Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªwhen you wanted to sell a good item, you''d better hide them than peddle them. When the others realized its value, they would come here to beg you for that. If you could take the initiative and adopted different sales and package strategies, you could sell it at a price several times higher even over 100 times higher.


    Zhang Tie believed in that Emperor NvWa Palace would dispatch people to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for the trade of all-purpose medicament soon.

 1731 Warning

    After Wu Qiankun left Yangxin Palace, Zhang Tie just sat still in Yangxin Palace while emptying his mind.


    One of the most important reasons why Zhang Tie chose to found another Forbidden City in Motian Realm was that Zhang Tie felt that Forbidden City was featured with Hua characteristics and traditions. Take the word "Yangxin" as an instance, it carried a lot of contents about behaving properly to improve one''s character. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, such a profound cultural background was the foundation for Hua people to be unrivaled in the world where Zhang Tie came from.


    Each brick, wood, tile or house even the names of those palaces and halls across Forbidden City contained special meanings. As for a person who left his hometown, such special meanings made Zhang Tie nostalgic and reassured. At least, he would not feel too lonely.


    Pitifully, after Zhang Tie started to stay still for less than 10 minutes, he had heard the familiar footsteps of Leng Manxue.


    "Your Majesty, here''s the work..report of Qianji Agency over past 1 month...!"


    When Leng Manxue uttered "work report", she felt unaccustomed to it. The phrase "work report" was created by Zhang Tie. Additionally, it was one of the missions that Zhang Tie handed to Leng Manxue. As the general manager of Forbidden City, Leng Manxue had to follow Zhang Tie''s orders while helping him keep the normal operation of Qianji Agency and the five major departments.


    After kneading his temples for a few seconds, Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he saw a document on his desk.


    Zhang Tie took that document and skimmed over it.


    It was all about what happened in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in the past one more month. They were listed chronologically in the form of titles of news, respectively followed by a succinct explanation below. Only after taking a look at it, Zhang Tie had almost known the situation facing Qianji Agency over the past 40-odd days.


    Zhang Tie felt that they were all trivial affairs on the work report.


    According to the work report, some events were about the transfer of the positions of some earth immortal generals in the immortal palace, some of whom had long joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; some events were about the allocation of funds for building roads and cities, expanding farms and relief. As Dragon Emperor Big Domain was so large, earthquakes, floods, heavy winds and mountain fire accidents couldn''t be avoided in so many cities. Such accidents would happen in many places annually, in which occasions, reliefs should be provided for them from Dragon Emperor City.


    According to the work report, some regions neighboring Brokenstars Ocean in the west of Dragon Emperor Big Domain had encountered a wind disaster at the end of July.


    Zhang Tie had skimmed over all the messages on the report, but he paid special attention to this wind disaster.


    Over 10 cities and tens of millions of people were afflicted by this disaster. As a result, over 100,000 people were injured or killed and many houses collapsed...


    Watching the names of those cities being afflicted, Zhang Tie immediately visualized the miserable scene after the heavy wind. He then heaved a sigh inside. On many occasions, humans, even sage-level human knights were as trivial as ants facing natural disasters. Even if Zhang Tie was something, he could only cope with the aftermath of the disasters.


    Thankfully, Earth-Treasures Department, Immortal Generals Department and Qianji Agency had made responses timely. Without Zhang Tie''s consent, they had already delivered the reliefs and crystal coins to the disaster-stricken areas.


    "Are there always wind disasters in the region near Brokenstars Ocean in the west of Dragon Emperor Big Domain?" Zhang Tie asked Leng Manxue as he scrutinized the work report.


    "No. This wind disaster is too weird and dangerous. We''ve not encountered such a heavy wind disaster for over 10 years!"


    "Hmm... Jadewood City, Jadebrilliance City and Yellowdragon City even occurred an earthquake on August 6..." Zhang Tie saw another message below as he slightly frowned. After realizing that the three cities didn''t suffer a big loss or heavy casualty and Qianji Agency has made a proper arrangement to cope with the aftermath of the earthquake, Zhang Tie slowly relieved his frown.


    At the end of the work report, Zhang Tie saw a message about the rarities left by the last Rune Emperor in the Dark Valley. Through discussion, the 7 elders of Qianji Agency determined to have Earth-Treasures Department dispatch some immortal generals to investigate it in the Dark Valley first. They had not determined whether Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was going to get them or not. They would make a further arrangement after receiving the message from those immortal generals in the Dark Valley.


    It only took Zhang Tie a couple of minutes to master all the information on the work report of Qianji Agency over the past 40-odd days.


    After he finished reading it, Zhang Tie let out a sigh inside. ''It''s really not easy to be an owner of an immortal palace; especially Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. After that, Zhang Tie felt a bit lucky. Thankfully, he had founded Qianji Agency and sort out the authorities in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Otherwise, he had to deal with these trivial affairs himself every day and would have no time to cultivate.


    "I appreciate your hard work. Just present the following work reports to me like this..." Zhang Tie told Leng Manxue after putting down the work report. When he raised his head, Zhang Tie found that Leng Manxue was watching him with a weird and exploratory expression. Stroking his face, Zhang Tie asked, "Why are you looking at me like that? Is there a flower on my face?"


    "No!" Leng Manxue answered as she shook her head. All of a sudden, she heaved a sigh, aking, "Did Wu Qiankun come here on behalf of Star Emperor Immortal Palace?"


    Zhang Tie was slightly shocked by Leng Manxue''s question as he nodded frankly, saying, "You''ve known that!"


    "Wu Qiankun came here with an immortal general of Star Emperor Immortal Palace for the first time. This time, he came here with some heavy iron cabinets. Therefore, I guess that an agreement has been reached on resolving the conflicts between Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace. Emperor NvWa Palace and Wu Qiankun are just mediators in this negotiation!"


    "Yes, you''re right. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace will not cross the line. All the conflicts between Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace have been canceled once and for all. After all, if we continue to go against each other, neither of us would gain any advantage from it; instead, the fisher would gain benefits from our contradictions!"


    "The fisher?" Leng Manxue slightly frowned her beautiful eyebrows. Given the context, although she could understand a bit of what Zhang Tie meant by "the fisher would gain benefits"; she was still confused about that.


    Watching Leng Manxue''s expression, Zhang Tie instantly realized that there wasn''t such an allusion¡ª¡ªwhen an aquatic bird fought a clam, the fisher took both of them away in Motian Realm.


    "Ahem...ahem...I mean...I mean demons would gain benefits from the contradictions between Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace!" Zhang Tie hurriedly added.


    "Yes. If demons know that Your Majesty is trading with Star Emperor Immortal Palace using living demon immortals, as it is concerned about the dignity of demons, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Your Majesty would definitely be revenged by demons. The 7 elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace might also complain about that!" Leng Manxue suddenly told Zhang Tie secretly using her battle qi.


    "You''ve known that?" Zhang Tie watched Leng Manxue with a surprised look. ''The keys of those safes are still in my hand. Leng Manxue couldn''t open them at all. But how did she know that?''


    "Your Majesty, I know it because it''s related to an ancestral bloodline that I''ve awakened. As long as a living demon is close to me, I would sense it even if there was a forbidden system in between. Just now, when I arranged some guys to move those iron cabinets to the entrance of backroom under Jiaotai Palace, I''ve already sensed it. I''ve tried several times and got the same result. Therefore, I know that the iron cabinets contain demon generals!"


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile as it was really out of his imagination that Leng Manxue had awakened such a special ancestral bloodline. He regarded it as a secret trade. Unimaginably, it was discovered by someone at a stroke.


    "You''re the only one in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace who knows this besides me. I hope nobody else would know about it!" Zhang Tie warned Leng Manxue slightly.


    Leng Manxue nodded. After that, she warned Zhang Tie solemnly, "Your Majesty, you might not know Star Emperor, no matter what trade you have made with Star Emperor, you''d better stay alert. Among all the human powers, Star Emperor is the trickiest one who has numerous schemes. He could almost match the Tricky Demon Emperor. Across Motian Realm, so many powers have been killed by Star Emperor..."


    "Well, I know. I appreciate your warning..." Zhang Tie took a serious look at Leng Manxue as he nodded and stood up, saying, "Well, I got to go back to the Palace of Heavenly Purity. Call the Imperial Kitchen to prepare a supper for me..."


    After returning to the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Zhang Tie took a bath and changed a set of clothes. After that, he made some arrangements and had a grand supper. By then, the tiredness caused by over one month''s cultivation finally faded away.


    After being a bit composed, Zhang Tie came to Jiaotai Palace where he moved the five safes into his backroom and continued to cultivate.


    He gradually shattered and refined all the 5 demon knights'' wind chakras...

 1732 Beautiful Flowers In the Snow

    In the blink of an eye, it had been late November. The winter was coming as Dragon Emperor City turned cold at once. All the imperial gardens in Forbidden City were covered with silver-like frost in each morning. There were no more brilliant peonies, osmanthus flowers or tiger chrysanthemums anymore. All the flowers in the imperial gardens had been withering, except for the red plum blossoms in the Plum Garden. They welcomed their own season with their brilliant glory.


    Leng Manxue was born in winter; therefore, she liked winter. She was more obsessed with plum blossoms which could still open arrogantly in winter. Leng Manxue''s residence in Forbidden City was close to the Plum Garden in the internal courtyard. In the small building where she lived, the moment she would open her windows, she would be able to see the beautiful scenery in the Plum Garden.


    Last night, it started to snow in Dragon Emperor City. On the second morning, when the general manager of Forbidden City got up and pushed open the vermilion windows, she saw that the purplish red plum blossoms were covered in pure white. In a split second, Leng Manxue felt good.


    "After wind and rain gave way to spring, the snow over the sky welcomed spring. Long icicles are hanging over the cliff; however, the plum blossoms are still contending with each other. Despite being beautiful, plum blossoms don''t contend with peach blossoms and apricot blossoms. You just notice the others that the spring is coming. When the mountain is covered with blossoms, you just smile in the flowering shrubs."


    Watching this scenery, Leng Manxue recited a poem unconsciously.


    Of course, it was not made by Leng Manxue herself, but made by Zhang Tie casually when he met Leng Manxue last month after exiting his cultivation. Zhang Tie expressed that this poem about plum blossoms was his favorite. Leng Manxue bore it in mind at once. Not only Zhang Tie liked it, but Leng Manxue also liked it; because she felt a heroic spirit in this poem, a strength that could give people hope and brilliance in despair. Such a heroic spirit and strength resonated with the depth of one''s soul. Implored by Leng Manxue, Zhang Tie could only write it down and gift it to Leng Manxue.


    At that moment, the poem was hanging on the wall of Leng Manxue''s bedroom. She would take a look at it every day.


    Although being not runes, Zhang Tie''s words also carried a marvelous strength.


    "Is spring coming?" Leng Manxue murmured with a faint smile as she watched the silver-covered Forbidden City and the golden glazed tiles of those houses and palaces under the white snow.


    "Now that winter has arrived, would spring be far away?"


    With such a good mood, General Manager Leng started her work.


    When Zhang Tie was in secluded cultivation, Leng Manxue mainly served as the general manager of the logistic affairs of Qianji Agency and the five major departments of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. All the materials that Qianji Agency and the five major departments required in Forbidden City were under her control. Those who passed messages between five major departments and Qianji Agency were also Leng Manxue''s subordinates. On this occasion, even if Leng Manxue didn''t participate in making decisions with the five major departments and Qianji Agency, everything that happened to the five major departments and Qianji Agency within Forbidden City was transparent to her.


    Leng Manxue sorted out the daily important things and prepared to present them to Zhang Tie when he exited his backroom.


    Zhang Tie didn''t leave his backroom especially for writing a poem for Leng Manxue last time; instead, he was finishing the second round of trade with Wu Qiankun from Emperor NvWa Palace.


    Leng Manxue knew that Wu Qiankun was here with the second batch of six demon generals. Leng Manxue arranged some people to send the six big iron cabinets to Jiaotai Palace where Zhang Tie was in secluded cultivation.


    The second round of trade underwent smoothly and calmly. After completing this round of trade, Wu Qiankun left there.


    After completing the second round of trade, Zhang Tie didn''t stay overnight in the Palace of Heavenly Purity; instead, he only stayed there in the afternoon. After writing a poem for Leng Manxue and taking a short rest, he had a grand supper. In the evening, he returned to Jiaotai Palace and entered secluded cultivation again.


    This made Leng Manxue admire Zhang Tie. As Dragon Emperor, Zhang Tie still spent so much time in cultivation. This really made many people ashamed.


    Given Zhang Tie''s diligence, all the 7 elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace felt shameful being indolent in cultivation as they stopped contending with each other for the sake of their profits. Besides those elders on duty in Qianji Agency, all the other elders were in secluded cultivation when they were free. They dared not interfere with the affairs of the five major departments anymore.


    The others might treat Zhang Tie''s diligence as a good example; however, Leng Manxue always felt that Zhang Tie had his own concerns. It seemed that he was not doing that only for growing more powerful.


    As she touched Zhang Tie in an increasingly higher frequency, Leng Manxue became more and more confused about him. She felt that he was becoming more and more profound and unpredictable.


    Sometimes, Leng Manxue felt that she and Zhang Tie came from two different worlds.


    ...


    Leng Manxue''s office was in the Westcold Pavilion beside Yangxin Palace.


    As each affair in Forbidden City was exclusive to some personnel, Leng Manxue only needed to command or arrange people to do things. She had over 10 subordinate immortal generals. Therefore, she didn''t need to do too many things herself.


    Like usual, the first thing that Leng Manxue did was to make a tour inspection around Forbidden City. Then, she would return to Westcold Pavilion to handle public affairs.


    "Last afternoon, Commander-in-Chief Huang quarreled with President Guan of Earth-Treasures Department for the sake of Dragon''s Teeth Army!"


    In Westcold Pavilion, soon after Leng Manxue handled some public affairs, she had received the report on the event that happened to Earth-Treasures Department last afternoon from one of her subordinates.


    "Hmm, why did Commander-in-Chief Huang quarrel with President Guan?"


    "It''s said that they quarreled over the compensation of Dragon''s Teeth Army. Last month, two more immortal generals joined Dragon''s Teeth Army. However, the monthly compensation that Earth-Treasures Department distributed to Dragon''s Teeth Army didn''t increase. Therefore, Commander-in-Chief came there to ask President Guan about that. However, President Guan told Commander-in-Chief that all the military compensation for Dragon''s Teeth Army were budgeted in advance. The new immortal generals of Dragon''s Teeth Army were not covered in the budget. Therefore, they couldn''t enjoy it. If Dragon''s Teeth Army wanted more compensation, they had to apply for it from Earth-Treasures Department in advance. According to Commander-in-Chief, only those qualified candidates who had passed the examination could join Dragon''s Teeth Army; however, he didn''t know how many candidates were recruited in advance precisely. He could estimate it at most. He hoped President Guan to not comply with the rules so strictly..."


    "What did President Guan say?"


    "No way. Therefore, Commander-in-Chief reported it to Qianji Agency and hoped those elders on duty to solve it through reconciliation..."


    "Hmm, I see. You could leave..." Watching the subordinate leaving, Leng Manxue let out a sigh inside. After that, she recorded this event briefly on her work report.


    Although Leng Manxue was standing on the side of Huang Baimei, she knew that President Guan was right too; because this was the responsibility of Earth-Treasures Department and the procedures that they followed. As for Commander-in-Chief Huang, he just followed Zhang Tie''s order to expand Dragon''s Teeth Army. Huang Baimei was always serious, he would never falsify a number for more element crystals than in need. Additionally, it was troublesome to do that. If he did that, he would commit a felony and couldn''t pass the examination of the Supervision Department at all. What was more, so many people in Earth-Treasures Department were keeping an eye on Dragon''s Teeth Army. They were crystal clear about the concrete strength of Dragon''s Teeth Army. If the population of Dragon''s Teeth Army that Huang Baimei reported was not right, Earth-Treasures Department would get a reason to go berserk and curtail the provision of element crystals for Dragon''s Teeth Army...


    In the final analysis, it was because of a shortage of element crystals. Although Leng Manxue didn''t know how many element crystals Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had, she knew that stockpile of element crystals might be limited given the deeds of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in the past couple of years. Otherwise, the 5 elders would not have sold immortal wind palaces to Emperor NvWa Palace and President Guan would never be so careful about the monthly compensation of Dragon''s Teeth Army.


    However, as long as they ran out of element crystals, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would collaspe for sure. As Leng Manxue grew up in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, she had a special affection for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. She never wanted to see the fall of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    When all the others were anxious about the supply of element crystals, Leng Manxue was curious that Zhang Tie didn''t even care a bit about it. Therefore, she thought Zhang Tie might have got a solution.


    "General Manager, Wu Qiankun from Emperor NvWa Palace is paying a visit to His Majesty outside the Forbidden City!"


    When Leng Manxue was thinking about Huang Baimei''s trouble in Westcold Pavilion and pondering how to give a favor to him, she received the message from her subordinate¡ª¡ªWu Qiankun is coming...


    ''Did he send the third batch of demon generals for His Majesty? That''s too fast. It''s not even been a month since he did it last time.''


    Leng Manxue knew that Zhang Tie liked those demon generals that Wu Qiankun brought here. Before noticing Zhang Tie, she asked, "Is he here alone or with the same iron cabinets like how he did the last two times?"


    "He''s here alone!"


    "Hmm!" Leng Manxue sent the order after a short silence, "Lead him to the Westcold Pavilion..."


    "Yes, sir!"


    After waiting in Westcold Pavilion for less than 10 minutes, Leng Manxue had seen Wu Qiankun.


    Wu Qiankun was here alone. Even though he tried to be composed, he still couldn''t cover his anxiety in front of Leng Manxue.


    After inviting him to take a seat in Westcold Pavilion and having people serve him a cup of tea, Leng Manxue asked him, "General Manager Wu, what are you here for this time?"


    "Is His Majesty free? I want to see His Majesty!"

 1733 1/2 Immortal Strength

    "This is..." Zhang Tie stopped at once as he goggled at the brilliant bizarre fruit on the small tree full of excitement.


    Being similar to the redemption fruit from the gratitude of golden uangs, this fruit was giving out a special colorful light, which, from afar, looked...looked...looked like a colorful bulb that kept changing their colors before the Catastrophe.


    Despite being similar in look, they were different in fact. This fruit reminded Zhang Tie of those fruits which granted him preliminary and medium-sized recovery bodies and waterproof bodies.


    The fruit that granted him the preliminary recovery body was similar to the other fruits of redemption from the gratitude of earthworms. They were just different in colors.


    The fruit that granted him the preliminary water-proof body was similar to the other fruits of redemption from the gratitude of sandscale fish. They were just different in colors.


    Therefore, only after a sudden shock, Zhang Tie had understood the significance of the new fruit.


    It''s the final achievement through setting free golden uangs.


    Zhang Tie instantly rushed to the small tree from the entrance of the palace tree. Closely after that, he started to check the attributes of the bizarre fruit out of compulsive excitement.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of redemption¡ª¡ªstrength of golden uangs. It has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter taking this fruit, Castle Lord could increase your overall strength by 71.5 kg.


    ¡ª¡ªGolden uangs could at most lift an object 1,800 times heavier than that of itself. Therefore, the small tree could at most produce 1,800 fruits of redemption. Each fruit could activate 1/1,800 of the gene segment in your body which carries the same strength as that of a golden uang.


    ¡ª¡ªThe current quantity of this kind of fruit¡ª¡ª1,800/1,800.


    ¡ª¡ªThis is the last fruit of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs. After taking it, the entire gene segment in your body that is related to strength would be completely activated.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter that, Castle Lord, your body will promote to 1/2 immortal strength.


    ¡ª¡ªHuman body with 1/2 immortal strength are as follows:


    1. The physical strength of Castle Lord would increase by 200%.


    2. Besides that your muscles, bones and organs would be strengthened, your anti-striking capability could also be increased by 15%. Additionally, your digestive ability would rise by 10%. That means you could acquire energy from food faster.


    3. When you''re overdrawn or in some extremes, you could recover your physical strength 28% faster.


    4. Your physical strength will keep increasing. At the same time, your overall body will be strengthened itself so as to adapt to the increasing strength.


    ¡ª¡ª1/2 immortal strength could further promote to the human body with complete immortal strength.


    This fruit really brought Zhang Tie another surprise. As this fruit could almost double his current overall strength, Zhang Tie''s strength would reach a terrifying level.


    Now, Zhang Tie''s overall strength was already so large that he couldn''t even find a proper weapon. What did it mean if his overall strength would increase by two more times?


    The second and the third tip was pretty helpful and effective practically.


    The fourth tip counted most. After reading it twice, Zhang Tie finally confirmed that as long as his physical strength constantly increased, his body would adapt to this change itself. As for how, it had been interpreted in the second and third tips, namely, his organs, muscles and bones would be constantly strengthened as they would grow stronger. At the same time, his defensive capability, digestive ability and recovery ability would constantly enhance so as to adapt to the new strength.


    The fourth tip strengthened Zhang Tie''s understanding about the proverb "The greatest strength is close to the universal law". In another way, all the physical exercises attributed to the growth of physical strength, which would bring a holistic growth to ones'' battle strength.


    The only part that Zhang Tie didn''t understand was 1/2 immortal strength. ''This expression is a bit different than the preliminary recovery body that I''ve achieved. Shouldn''t it be preliminary immortal strength?''


    Zhang Tie finally couldn''t stand to ask Heller.


    "It''s simple. As long as Castle Lord continues to set free earthworms, you would promote to medium-sized recovery body from preliminary recovery body. However, this fruit means that Castle Lord could not get any fruit or further improve your 1/2 immortal strength any more by setting free golden uangs. If you want to achieve the complete immortal strength, you should further activate the silent part of DNA concerning strength in your body..." Heller said calmly.


    After considering about it for a second, Zhang Tie''s eyes shone as he asked, "It means that I have to set free another species whose strength could match that of golden uangs so as to promote to complete immortal strength?"


    "Right!"


    "What should I set free then?"


    Heller answered with the same polite, modest and familiar smile which made Zhang Tie helpless, "Castle Lord, you should explore it yourself..."


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie didn''t ask him anymore. Watching those fruits hanging over the small tree, he immediately picked one fruit of redemption from gulf shrimp and started to take it.


    After promoting to a heavenly knight, Zhang Tie found that he could digest fruits faster. Soon after engulfing a fruit of gulf shrimp, Zhang Tie had sensed the faint changes.


    "Castle Lord, there''re still two chakras of demon shadow knights in Castle of Black Iron. They still have complete battle strength. How do you want to deal with them?"


    Heller asked Zhang Tie when the latter was chewing the fruit.


    Star Emperor Immortal Palace sent him 6 demon shadow knights in the second round. One of them in 3 change realm was a supplementary gift. Zhang Tie had already promoted to a heavenly knight only after refining 4 water chakras.


    "Throw them into the underground cells. Perhaps they might be useful in the future..." Zhang Tie said vaguely as his mouth was full of juice. At the same time, he reached the second fruit of redemption from the gratitude of gulf shrimp...


    There were still over 10 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs on the small tree. Of course, he would keep the fruit that could grant him the 1/2 immortal strength until the end.


    ...


    A few days later, on December 1st, Zhang Tie flashed back to the backroom under Jiaotai Palace from Castle of Black Iron.


    His substitute had already dissipated after staying there for a few days, leaving a pile of folded clothes in the wardrobe of the backroom. Over these days, if someone broke in the backroom, they would only think that Zhang Tie had long left the backroom through secret tunnels; instead of discovering anything special in the backroom.


    After taking a look in the backroom, Zhang Tie nodded as he prepared to sit on the platform and continued his cultivation over there. Unimaginably, the moment his hand touched the platform, the stony platform had been shattered into pieces. Zhang Tie watched his hand, then the platform. Finally, he shook his head helplessly as he murmured, "It seems that I have to adapt to this new strength for a period of time. Sometimes, when someone has great strength, he would also be up the creek. In the final analysis, I''m too handsome. Hahaha..."


    After flattering himself for a short while, Zhang Tie changed a place and sat down once again. Closely after that, he entered the trouble-reappearance situation of Xuanyuan Hill as a destroyer, ''I should learn to release such great strength when I want to restrain it.''


    This was Zhang Tie''s experience.


    During the short period of time, the sudden appearance of the immortal secret method had aroused an uproar across Motian Realm...


    As the one on the back of this event, Zhang Tie completely ignored people''s response; instead, he just stayed somewhere to improve his overall strength rapidly.

 1733 An Abnormal Phenomenon I

    "General Manager Wu, what are you here for?" Leng Manxue asked patiently after taking a look at Wu Qiankun.


    Wu Qiankun took in a deep breath, trying to be composed, and said, "Oh, His majesty gifted me 100 vials of medicaments last time. I want to inquire His Majesty about those medicaments!"


    "Is there any problem with those medicaments?"


    "No, of course not. Actually, I want to know whether there''re some more medicaments. If there are, I want...want to buy more vials of medicament..."


    ''Buy medicaments?''


    After hearing Wu Qiankun''s words, Leng Manxue rolled her eyes to him as her voice gradually turned icy. "If you want to buy medicament, you could look around those drugstores in Dragon Emperor City!"


    ''You really took Dragon Emperor as a waiter in a drugstore? How could you trouble His Majesty because of such a trivial thing? You''ve gone too far!''


    Leng Manxue cursed him inside. If not Wu Qiankun was from Emperor NvWa Palace and had personal stakes with Zhang Tie, she might have driven him out of here.


    After hearing Leng Manxue''s response, Wu Qiankun realized that Leng Manxue didn''t know the medicaments that Zhang Tie gifted him. Even the general manager of Forbidden City didn''t know it, it made Wu Qiankun confirm that the medicament was special. He was so regretful about his slow response. How could Dragon Emperor''s gift be average?


    "General Manager Leng, you don''t know that. The medicament that His Majesty gifted me couldn''t be bought from drugstores. Otherwise, I wouldn''t dare to disturb His Majesty for it. The medicament carries an exceptional effect. I''ve never seen it in Motian Realm at all. Therefore, I am so impolite to disturb His Majesty for it today..." Wu Qiankun hurriedly explained it. The moment he mentioned the medicament, he revealed a brilliant look at once.


    After hearing Wu Qiankun''s words, Leng Manxue looked a bit better. ''What''s all about the medicament?'' Leng Manxue wondered as she replied, "His Majesty is in secluded cultivation. If it''s not important, please don''t disturb him..."


    "Are you sure?''


    "I''m sure!"


    Wu Qiankun instantly looked disappointed. He still wanted to say something; however, he finally didn''t. The effect of the medicament that Zhang Tie gifted him was pretty magical. However, even Wu Qiankun felt improper disturbing Zhang Tie because of those vials of rare medicament.


    At this moment, Wu Qiankun had a cognitive blind zone which was caused by his thinking habit, namely, Zhang Tie couldn''t realize mass production of the medicament. If so, even if the medicament was precious, he didn''t have a reason to disturb Zhang Tie''s cultivation only for some vials of medicament. Even if Emperor NvWa Palace was powerful and famous, he couldn''t waste chances to meet Zhang Tie in this way.


    "However, before entering secluded cultivation, His Majesty left some words. If General Manager Wu comes here with iron safes, I could let him know. If General Manager Wu wants to negotiate about things with His Majesty, you might have to leave until you come back with the iron safes next time. Please forgive us!" Leng Manxue added after noticing Wu Qiankun.


    "If so, I...I got to go. I will come back to pay a visit to His Majesty next time!" Wu Qiankun didn''t waste time anymore after being told the details. Besides expecting that Star Emperor Immortal Palace could bring what Zhang Tie "needed" here as soon as possible so that he could have another chance to touch Zhang Tie, Wu Qiankun didn''t have any other means for the time being...


    Now that he couldn''t see Zhang Tie, Wu Qiankun could only bid farewell to Leng Manxue out of regret. Leng Manxue politely walked him out of Westcold Pavilion.


    "I''m really sorry about that. General Manager Wu, please forgive me, when you come here with iron safes next time, I will notice His Majesty for you."


    "It''s my fault. I shouldn''t be here for such a trivial thing. General Manager Leng, see you!"


    The two "general managers" then bade farewell to each other outside Westcold Pavilion.


    When a guard was walking Wu Qiankun out of Forbidden City and Leng Manxue was going to return to Westcold Pavilion, an abnormal phenomenon happened without any omen...


    As immortal generals who had formed their chakras, even if they were not in cultivation, they were still very sensitive to the Elements Realm.


    The powerful elements tide immediately swept over the entire Elements Realm of Motian Realm and shocked all the immortal generals. The moment they sensed the sudden elements tide, Wu Qiankun and Leng Manxue stopped at once as if they were petrified.


    "Erm..." Wu Qiankun tightly frowned as he suddenly felt the huge shock from the Elements Realm. He wondered what was happening.


    Leng Manxue also looked a bit strange.


    Because elements tide had never happened in Motian Realm at all, the two people were both curious about that. After exchanging a glance with each other, they closed their eyes at the same time as they would like to sense the situation facing Elements Realm spiritually. However, the moment their spirits touched it, they were bounced back by the berserk Elements Realm almost at the same time.


    Elements Realm, which was always tranquil before, became an ocean with berserk billows. There were hurricanes all over the surface of the ocean, causing amazing billows; while it was full of torrents under the surface of the ocean. On this occasion, any immortal general was as fragile as a leaf in front of this elements tide. They could never stay even for a second in such a berserk elements tide.


    Wu Qiankun and Leng Manxue opened their eyes at the same time as they found the other was amazed.


    Meanwhile, the entire Forbidden City was filled with exclamations as many immortal generals here sensed the abnormal phenomenon in the Elements Realm.


    In the encampment of the Dragon''s Teeth Army outside Forbidden City, the Dragon''s Teeth Army of over 1,000 immortal generals which were drilling immediately formed an aggressively large battle formation at Huang Baimei''s order as they surrounded the entire Forbidden City for its safety.


    "Ah, look up at the sky..." a guard outside Westcold Pavilion shouted.


    Leng Manxue and Wu Qianku looked up at the sky at the same time.


    The cloudy sky had been brightly cyan while the aurora of wind elements descended one after another while changing their shapes as if it was a brilliant dreamland.


    The same scene extended all the way to endless skyline.


    The aurora twisted and extended in different shapes. After a short while, the aurora had become hundreds even thousands of miles long. Hanging over the sky, they looked like numerous wriggling light beams whose outline gradually became clearer. Finally, they turned into feathers. Connecting the Heavens and the earth, they unfolded facing wind in the elements tide caused by berserk wind elements...


    The entire Forbidden City, even Dragon Emperor City was petrified by this scene, including Leng Manxue and Wu Qiankun.


    The feathers were so large that people on the ground could even see clearly the whole feathers.


    Seven elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace immediately rushed into the sky from the periphery of Forbidden City and Dragon Emperor City.


    When Wu Qiankun was in a daze, a voice drifted into his ears from Jiaotai Palace in the distance.


    "What''s happening?"


    Wu Qiankun turned around as he found that Zhang Tie was already standing on an eave of the roof of Jiaotai Palace and watching the abnormal phenomenon in the sky.


    Zhang Tie''s qi felt as same as that of the last time.


    The moment Wu Qiankun fixated onto Zhang Tie, the latter had sensed it. Zhang Tie turned around. In an instant, he flashed away and arrived at the front of Wu Qiankun and Leng Manxue.


    "What''s happening? When I was in secluded cultivation just now, I suddenly felt a huge shock in the Elements Realm. I came out and saw this!" Zhang Tie asked Leng Manxue and Wu Qiankun solemnly with a heavy frown.

 1734 An Abnormal Phenomenon II

    "I have no idea. Just now, when a wave spread over here from the Elements Realm, the sky turned cyan. Then, it started to look like this..." Leng Manxue answered Zhang Tie which sounded full of shock.


    "General Manager Wu?" Zhang Tie fixated onto Wu Qiankun as he looked around as if he was looking for the safes that Wu Qiankun usually came here with.


    "I''m not here with goods, Your Majesty. I have something to negotiate with you, Your Majesty. I didn''t know that you''re in secluded cultivation. When I was going to leave here, I encountered this abnormal phenomenon..." Wu Qiankun hurriedly grabbed the opportunity to talk with Zhang Tie. Meanwhile, he threw a glance at the abnormal phenomenon in the sky.


    "Oh? Go ahead, general manager."


    "It''s about the medicament that you gifted me a few days ago, Your Majesty..."


    "We could talk about it later. Given the abnormal phenomenon, I wonder whether a major event is going to happen in Motian Realm..." Zhang Tie said as he gazed at the sky with a solemn look.


    Wu Qiankun nodded silently. Compared to what was happening, he felt bashful to disturb Zhang Tie for the sake of medicament.


    Everyone was watching the abnormal phenomenon in the sky.


    Right then, the shock wave from Elements Realm became more powerful as the aurora-like brilliant feathers in the sky started to restrain like how a roc extended its feathers.


    Everyone on the ground was holding their breath.


    In the blink of an eye, the feathers in the sky had unfolded as the 600 miles long air zone changed its color. Those feathers were moving spirally with numerous flowing light. In a split second, cyan wind elements formed visible huge wind pillars which covered the sky. The feathers'' moving speed was out of everyone''s imagination. After restraining and unfolding a few times, the thousands of miles long feathers had already been moving spirally around the wind pillars and turning smaller rapidly as if they took it as steps towards the heavens. Closely after that, a roc like a rising hot sun appeared in the sky, which burned up and turned into cyan flowing flames. They then fell off the sky in terms of a meteor shower. Spreading over the sky, its brilliance and magnificence couldn''t be described in words.


    The wave of element tide in Elements Realm also reached its apex at this moment. Gradually, they started to fall off the apex by batches.


    The entire process lasted more than half an hour.


    The moment the abnormal phenomenon disappeared, the entire Forbidden City was in an uproar. The seven elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace landed in front of Zhang Tie at a stroke.


    Compared to Leng Manxue and Wu Qianku who were confused and shocked, the seven elders looked special. After exchanging a glance with each other, Luo Yunshang the former president of Earth-Treasures Department opened her mouth, "Your Majesty...".


    "I know. Let''s go to discuss it in Yangxin Palace; instead of Dragon Emperor Palace..." Zhang Tie shook his arm as he looked at Wu Qianku, saying, "General manager, if you''re not busy, you could take a short rest in the Westcold Pavilion, I will talk about the medicament with you after handling something with the elders!"


    "Okay, take your time, Your Majesty!" Wu Qiangku hurriedly said as he bowed his body.


    ...


    One minute later, Zhang Tie and the seven elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were already sitting in Yangxin Palace. Zhang Tie was in the main seat while the others were sitting on two sides with full sorrows and solemn looks.


    The gate of Yangxin Palace had been closed while being guarded by some immortal generals outside.


    After glancing over the elders, Zhang Tie opened his mouth, saying, "As you''ve seen the world, do you know what do the weird wave in Elements Realm and the abnormal phenomenon in the Elements Realm mean?"


    "We think it symbolizes the manifestation of an immortal secret cultivation method. In Motian Realm, someone is cultivating an immortal secret cultivation method and has already promoted to an immortal general..." Luo Yunshang opened her mouth after being silent for a second. After hearing her explanation, all the other 6 elders nodded.


    "Immortal secret cultivation method? What''s that?" Although Zhang Tie had already guessed what was an immortal secret cultivation method, Zhang Tie still pretended to be muddle-headed.


    "Your Majesty, didn''t Grand Dragon Emperor talk about immortal secret cultivation method with you?" Xia Yangming asked as he took a look at Zhang Tie out of curiosity.


    "During those years when I was on the old man''s side, besides having me cultivate, the old man rarely talked about the affairs in Motian Realm. He even just mentioned a few words about Dagon Emperor Immortal Palace..." Zhang Tie sighed as he looked a bit nostalgic.


    "Ohhh!" The 7 elders nodded at the same time as they were firmly convinced by Zhang Tie''s words.


    "Immortal secret cultivation method is a legendary secret cultivation method through which people could reach the supreme realm of far-ancient deities. Such an immortal secret cultivation method has not appeared in Motian Realm yet; despite it was said to be in Motian Realm. We heard about it from Grand Dragon Emperor occasionally..." Luo Yunshang replied.


    "Really? What did the old man say?" Zhang Tie instantly became interested in it for real.


    "Grand Dragon Emperor said that he once saw a record about immortal secret cultivation method in a place of Mountain Ruins. It''s said that when one forms a chakra using an immortal secret cultivation method, he would arouse an enormous abnormal astronomical phenomenon. The most remarkable symbol was that the elements in Elements Realm would go berserk as billows in the ocean. On that occasion, all the other immortal generals'' consciousness would be pushed out of the Elements Realm; nor could they continue their cultivation using Elements Realm for the time being. What happened just now was similar to that..." Shi Zhongyu said in a hoarse voice.


    Zhang Tie took in a deep breath as he turned pretty solemn at once. Slightly inclining forward, Zhang Tie squinted his eyes, saying, "You mean someone has already acquired an immortal secret cultivation method and promoted to an immortal general by forming a chakra..."


    "Maybe a demon has acquired it. If so, I''m afraid that all the humans in Motian Realm would encounter a catastrophe!" Long Jiutian said with a sad look.


    "The one who could acquire an immortal secret cultivation method must be something. Grand Dragon Emperor revealed that the core of Mountain Ruins was the only place which might hold immortal secret cultivation methods, precisely, two. However, over so many years, even immortal emperors or demon emperors have not discovered any immortal secret cultivation method in Mountain Ruins..."


    Ying Gucheng unveiled extremely critical information to Zhang Tie...

 1735 A Meeting

    In Yangxin Palace, through a discussion about the countermeasures of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace with each other, they determined to wait for the responses of other immortal human palaces or demon palaces. After all, the appearance of an immortal secret cultivation method was a major event which would definitely arouse a shock in Motian Realm. The powerhouses of the other immortal human palaces and demon palaces would definitely be shocked by this abnormal phenomenon. They might be looking for the people or demon who had acquired the immortal secret cultivation method...


    "It appears to be a good thing for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to retreat back to Dragon Big Domain. At least at this moment, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace doesn''t have to rush to the fore. Nor would we be condemned by the public. We could wait a few days and see which immortal palace is taking action first. I believe someone is more anxious than us..." Luo Yunshang said.


    "Yeah, but we have to be careful. The appearance of an immortal secret cultivation method is a major event in Motian Realm. We don''t know how it would influence Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in the future. It''s acceptable if it was a human who has acquired an immortal secret cultivation method; if it''s acquired by a demon, I''m afraid that humans would have to face a sanguinary slaughter..." Hou Moyuan, the former president of Heavenly Craftsmen Department finally opened his mouth out of concern.


    "Dragon''s Teeth Army is supposed to expand. I suggest it to hold at least 2,500 people. Meanwhile, Commander-in-Chief Huang should intensify the military drills in the form of large battle formations..." Long Jiutian suggested while all the others nodded.


    "Although Dragon''s Teeth Army cost a lot, we couldn''t save it!" Elder Shi said. After a short silence, he watched Zhang Tie with a generous look, accenting his voice, "Given the contradiction between Dragon''s Teeth Army and Earth-Treasures Department in the allocation of element crystals, I''d like to donate 20,000 earth element crystals and 10,000 wind element crystals to Dragon''s Teeth Army. Commander-in-Chief Huang could use them whenever he wants so as to relieve the contradiction between Dragon''s Teeth Army and Earth-Treasures Department..."


    Shi Zhongyu the former president of Immortal Generals Department was one of the seven elders who offended Zhang Tie first. His disciple was almost slapped to death by Zhang Tie on the avenue. Although Zhang Tie didn''t mean to blame him for that after becoming the new Dragon Emperor, Shi Zhongyue was always worried about Zhang Tie''s revenge. Therefore, by seizing this opportunity, Shi Zhongyu instantly showed his loyalty to Zhang Tie generously.


    After hearing Shi Zhongyu''s words, all the other 6 elders learned from him at once no matter how they thought inside or cursed Shi Zhongyu inside. None of them dared to be "outstanding" in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    "I will also donate 20,000 earth element crystals and 10,000 wind element crystals for Dragon''s Teeth Army..."


    "Me too..."


    "Plus me..."


    "I, Xia Yangming, never lags behind others for the sake of the immortal palace..."


    ...


    In an instant, Dragon''s Teeth Army had gained an aid of over 100,000 element crystals, which relieved the big problem facing Dragon''s Teeth Army at a stroke.


    As the 7 people had already taken vital positions in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palaces for so many years, they all had a lot of disciples. Undoubtedly, they were all rich. Although being less in quantity, the loss of these element crystals was trivial to those elders.


    The "bounties" of these elders moved Zhang Tie pretty much. After heaving a deep sigh, Zhang Tie spoke highly of those elders, "If everyone in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could be as solitary as you and sacrifice themselves at the critical moment for the sake of our immortal palace, we will not be afraid of any trouble in the future, no matter how big it is. I appreciate you on behalf of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. In the future, hopefully, elders could work harder in Qianji Agency. Meanwhile, please pay attention to improving your cultivation bases. If you could all promote to supreme immortal generals, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would instantly have 7 more powers. By then, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace will reinvigorate soon..."


    "It''s our responsibility..."


    "It''s our pleasure..."


    "It''s our pleasure..."


    ...


    Those elders hurriedly replied modestly.


    After becoming the new Dragon Emperor, Zhang Tie had been ruling by justice and force. He rarely communicated with elders. Unimaginably, after encountering such an abnormal phenomenon, they felt being closer to each other through communication. At least for Zhang Tie, the 7 people were not fully pieces of crap; they would be useful in the future.


    When he thought about it, Zhang Tie seized the opportunity to provide an incentive to the elders, "In the future, if any of you could promote to a supreme immortal general, you would be awarded three cities, each having over 3 million population. You will be allowed to open your own immortal palace in preparation for promoting to an immortal emperor. If you could make meritorious services to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace on the level of supreme immortal generals, you will have more private cities and population. You could bear it in mind. I will never regret..."


    After exchanging a glance with each other, all the 7 elders became spirited as they bowed towards Zhang Tie, appreciating him in unison, "Thanks for your bounty, Your Majesty!"


    Even though they had just donated tens of thousands of element crystals, they felt much better after hearing Zhang Tie''s promise.


    To a certain degree, in Motian Realm, supreme immortal generals were embarrassed as powers. In Motian Realm, more than 14 supreme immortal generals were qualified to found their own immortal palaces. However, only 14 of them could finally found it. Even if they knew how to go in the future, they couldn''t found their own immortal palaces as they didn''t win the favor of people. As a result, they could only march on the spot or ground on the shallows. They always waited for hundreds of years on the level of supreme immortal generals...


    Although the 7 elders were not supreme immortal generals yet, Zhang Tie''s promise made them reassured, giving them a bit of hope for the future at a stroke.


    "According to the old man, Motian Realm is full of powers. If there''s one more immortal human emperor, he prefers him to be a member of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace rather than a stranger or an immortal general in other immortal palaces. He treasures our relationships. I feel it reasonable..." Zhang Tie said calmly.


    All the 7 elders were deeply convinced by Zhang Tie''s words. Meanwhile, they were more confident that the Grand Dragon Emperor must have mastered an earth-shocking secret method. Even if someone else except Zhang Tie in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace promoted to an immortal emperor, Grand Dragon Emperor would still not be worried about that the new power could pose any threat to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    ...


    After almost half an hour''s negotiation with Zhang Tie, the elders finally left Yangxin Palace.


    After that, Zhang Tie sat for a while in Yangxin Palace alone as he gradually revealed a bizarre smile. Closely after that, he received Wu Qiankun there...


    What happened today was within Zhang Tie''s control except for the sudden arrival of Wu Qiankun.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that Wu Qiankun would discover the miraculous functions of the medicament in a few more days...

 1736 Zhang Ties Tricks

    It was absolutely an accident that Wu Qingkun realized the medicament that Zhang Tie gifted him was something great.


    Wu Qiankun had put Zhang Tie''s gift in his home at Dragon Emperor''s City for a few months. He didn''t find its medicinal value until Wu Qiankun''s servants had an accident two days ago.


    As the general manager of Emperor NvWa Palace, Wu Qiankun was obsessed with the delicacy in Dragon Emperor City despite being an outsider.


    A bizarre, tender, fresh and tasteful snowflake bamboo shoot would appear deep in the mountains outside Dragon Emperor City in every winter. They were available only for a short period of time in winter. Wu Qiankun loved them the most. However, snowflake bamboo shoots were rare. Additionally, it could only be preserved for only half a day. If it was not eaten in half a day after being dug out of the earth, it would turn soft like a snowflake and lose its fresh taste.


    Therefore, in each winter, the servants of Wu Qiankun would go to the woods outside Dragon Emperor City under the leadership of his butler to dig snowflake bamboo shoots for him.


    Two days ago, when some servants of Wu Qiankun entered the woods outside Dragon Emperor City to dig out snowflake bamboo shoots, they encountered an accident¡ª¡ªwhen those servants were digging out the bamboo shoots, they met a rare wind snake. In a split second, 7 of them were attacked and poisoned.


    The venom of wind snake was hypertoxic. If a commoner was bitten by it and couldn''t get timely treatment, he would die in a few hours. None of the people below immortal generals could survive its venom. Even if a wind immortal general was bitten by a wind snake, he or she would also lose a lot of vitality before gradual recovery.


    There was an antidote for the venom of wind snake, the most important raw material of which was the gall bladder of wind snake. However, as wind snake moved as fast as a lightning bolt and was rare in quantity, this kind of antidote was always in urgent need.


    When Wu Qiankun''s servants were sent back into his home, Wu Qiankun, after being noticed, instantly got three antidotes and saved three people. As for the rest four, they were not that fortunate anymore.


    It was already difficult for Wu Qiankun to find three antidotes in such a short period of time as the general manager of Emperor NvWa Palace. Who could imagine that the servants of Wu Clan were so unfortunate that 7 of the group of 10-odd people were poisoned by a wind snake in the blink of an eye when they went to dig snowflake bamboo shoots in the woods. Therefore, 3 antidotes were far from enough.


    At that time, Wu Qiankun could only arrange the rest 4 victims to stay in the pools of recovery so as to delay the effect of the venom of wind snake for the time being. After that, he hurriedly asked others to find the antidotes. Finally, he got enough antidotes; however, they were not in Dragon Emperor City. Even if he had people transport them by airboat, it would also take him at least one day. Nevertheless, the victims could at most stand a few more hours in the pools of recovery.


    When Wu Qiankun was in despair, he suddenly recalled those medicaments that Zhang Tie gifted him.


    He also recalled what Zhang Tie told him in the imperial palace, "As long as you feel uncomfortable physically or spiritually, you could use it". Of course being poisoned made people feel uncomfortable. Therefore, Wu Qiankun took out the medicament that Zhang Tie gifted him and distributed one vial of all-purpose medicament to each of the four servants.


    Wu Qiankun didn''t imagine that Zhang Tie''s gift could detoxify the venom of wind snake. Therefore, the result made him dumbfounded.


    Soon after the four servants took the medicament, the venom had been detoxified. The effective speed of the medicament could even match the professional antidote. As a result, before the antidotes arrived at Dragon Emperor City, all the four servants of Wu Qiankun had been as safe and sound as before.


    Not until then did Wu Qiankun know the exceptional effect of those medicaments.


    Had Zhang Tie predicted that Wu Qiankun needed the antidotes to the venom of wind snake? If not, why did he gift those medicaments to him? Were those medicaments especially effective to the venom of wind snake?


    Of course, Wu Qiankun didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could predict all these. Even if Zhang Tie was proficient in fortune telling, as Dragon Emperor, he would not be bored enough to care about the lives of Wu Qiankun''s servants. Therefore, the most reasonable explanation was that it was only one of its effects to detoxify the venom of wind snake.


    These couple of days, Wu Qiankun was testing the effects of those medicaments that Zhang Tie gifted him.


    In the beginning, he found some poisons which were as poisonous as the venom of wind snake and made experiments on animals. The result made Wu Qiankun widely open his eyes. Those poisons which didn''t even have antidotes were all successfully detoxified by the medicament that Zhang Tie gifted him.


    Besides, Wu Qiankun even made experiments on his servants and himself for a few times. He found that those medicaments could not only help people recover their spirit and physical strength fast but also cure people''s internal and external injuries remarkably; especially the latter effect, which could even match that of the preliminary pool of recovery.


    What did this recovery mean to immortal generals? It meant that immortal generals could take such a vial of medicament with them just like taking a preliminary pool of recovery. With them, they could recover their injuries in the shortest period of time. Actually, over 99% of immortal generals in Motian Realm couldn''t take a portable space-teleportation equipment with a pool of recovery inside. If it was in wartime, people''s lives would be greatly guaranteed by carrying such vials of medicament.


    Wu Qiankun was completely shocked by the effects of Zhang Tie''s gift. Before this, Wu Qiankun had never thought about the existence of such marvelous medicament in Motian Realm.


    After discovering the effects of those medicaments, Wu Qiankun even didn''t grudge making experiments with those medicaments.


    After discovering the exceptional effects of Zhang Tie''s medicament and their potential in the market, Wu Qiankun couldn''t wait to go to the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to purchase some more in case of emergencies. No immortal generals would complain about taking too many such vials of medicament.


    When Wu Qiankun described what happened, Zhang Tie just listened to him extremely patiently with a smile.


    Zhang Tie found that he had underestimated the shock and surprise that his all-purpose medicament could bring to the immortal generals of Motian Realm. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that Wu Qiankun would invite a professor to study his medicament. After figuring out all the effects of his all-purpose medicament, he would take the powers of Emperor NvWa Palace here to negotiate with Zhang Tie about the trade. Unimaginably, only after discovering a part of its effects, Wu Qiankun had already come for him impatiently.


    "If not for the accident in my mansion, I wouldn''t have known that Your Majesty had gifted me such precious medicament!" Wu Qiankun sighed with mood as he added, "I''ve never heard about such a marvelous medicament. I''m really stupid. I almost treated it as a common medicament and made a fool of myself. Oh, Your Majesty, what do you call it?"


    "It''s Dragon Emperor''s Medicament!" Zhang Tie answered solemnly.


    As pharmacists in Motian Realm were not popular; nor had people heard about all-purpose medicament. If Zhang Tie told Wu Qiankun it was called all-purpose medicament, Wu Qiankun must be muddle-headed about that. Therefore, Zhang Tie preferred to give the wholly new all-purpose medicament a grand and dignified name which might bring him more element crystals in the future. In Donder''s words, the name was brand. On many occasions, a commodity with a good name or a well-known brand had already succeeded half before being pushed into the market. A good name could bring him much more benefit. The name Dragon Emperor''s Medicament sounded grand and impressive. In the near future, it could definitely become the golden brand in Motian Realm.


    "Dragon Emperor''s Medicament...Dragon Emperor''s Medicament..." Wu Qiankun smacked his lips as he nodded forcefully, saying, "Right, only this name could match its marvelous effects!" Wu Qiankun commented as he took a meticulous look at Zhang Tie again, asking, "I wonder who invented it..."


    "I invented it..." Zhang Tie replied frankly, which was actually the truest words that Zhang Tie said today.


    As was imagined by Zhang Tie, the moment Wu Qiankun heard that Zhang Tie was the inventor, he instantly admired Zhang Tie as he spoke highly of him, "Your Majesty, you''re really a genius. No wonder the Grand Dragon Emperor would like to you to take his throne!"


    "Thanks. As the old man always drank my medicament, I named it after I became the disciple of the old man and knew his real identity!" Zhang Tie started to talk nonsense. However, on this occasion, Wu Qiankun would be deeply convinced by Zhang Tie no matter what the latter said. Nothing was more convincing than the effects of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament.


    That got to be Zhang Tie. Each lie or plan of Zhang Tie was based on some real convincing things. Therefore, Zhang Tie could easily allure everyone into his trap.


    "I''ve got two purposes here. First, I have to extend my thanks to Your Majesty. Without the medicament that Your Majesty gifted me, some of my loyal servants would have died of my greedy appetite. It would be against my conscience. I would feel guilty about it for a long time. Second, I want to know whether Your Majesty has more Dragon Emperor''s Medicament. If there are, I prepare to ask for some more from Your Majesty in case of emergencies. Emperor NvWa Palace''s disciples were always bitten by poisonous beasts across Dragon Emperor''s Big Domain. As we couldn''t find the corresponding antidotes in a short period of time, we couldn''t avoid tragedies. If I got some more such medicament, I might be able to save more people so as to fulfill my responsibility as the general manager of Emperor NvWa Palace..." Wu Qiankun started to show his eloquence, "I know the medicament is of a high price. However, I shouldn''t buy them from Your Majesty given your dignity. But, I want some more from Your Majesty shamelessly. Hopefully, you could forgive me, Your Majesty!"


    "Hahaha, now that General Manager Wu is so straightforward, if I don''t give them to you, I would be the mean guy!" Zhang Tie said as he burst into laughter, "How about giving you 200 vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament..."


    After hearing that, Wu Qiankun became so thrilled as he hurriedly appreciated Zhang Tie by bowing down deeply, "Thanks, Your Majesty. Thanks, Your Majesty!"


    "However, I''ve got one condition!"


    "Go ahead, please." Wu Qiankun became stunned for a second as he asked.


    "General Manager Wu should send 100 of the 200 vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament to Emperor NvWa Palace and have powers or pharmacists in Emperor NvWa Palace authenticate its effects. By the way, General Manager Wu needs to tell the powers of Emperor NvWa Palace that I could realize mass-production of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament. I wonder whether Emperor NvWa Palace is interested in Dragon Emperor''s Medicament or not!" Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly instead of wasting time anymore.


    "What? Mass Production?" Wu Qiankun raised his pitch at once with an unimaginable look as if he had misheard it or thought that Zhang Tie was kidding with him. The two words "mass production" made Wu Qiankun feel like that element crystals could be grown in the ground. That was amazing!


    "I mean it. General Manager Wu only needs to bring my words to them. I will be responsible for all the results!" Zhang Tie confirmed with a smile, "As for what happened in Motian Realm today, General Manager Wu might be able to know some intelligence from Emperor NvWa Palace. I have to enter secluded cultivation in no time. I hope General Manager Wu could come here with the gods of Star Emperor Immortal Palace next time!"


    After saying those words, Zhang Tie took his teacup and lightly blew on it...


    ...


    Wu Qiankun left Yangxin Palace and Forbidden City with two wooden boxes, each of which contained 100 vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how Wu Qiankun felt when he left Yangxin Palace; however, Zhang Tie felt pretty good when he left Yangxin Palace.


    Outside Yangxin Palace, Zhang Tie looked up at the sky as he found that the cyan flowing flames in the sky had not completely disappeared yet. The entire sky was slowly changing its color like porcelain being taken out of the kiln.


    The intense atmosphere across Forbidden City had not faded away yet. However, the uproar aroused by the abnormal phenomenon in the sky had just come to a start.


    Under the respectful eyes of Leng Manxue, Zhang Tie returned to his backroom in Jiaotai Palace and continued to cultivate.


    "This substitute is really helpful to me. Zhang Tie, you''re too smart! Hahaha..." Zhang Tie lowered his head and watched himself as he revealed an obscene smile. Closely after that, he closed his eyes.


    Not until then did the original body of Zhang Tie open his eyes in Castle of Black Iron with the same obscene smile.


    "Congratulations, Castle Lord, you''ve promoted to a heavenly knight..."


    The moment Zhang Tie opened his eyes, he instantly heard these words...


    ''I finally became a heavenly knight...'' Zhang Tie sighed with mood.

 1737 Being a Heavenly Knigh

    Heller''s smile was as familiar and warm as before. Whenever Zhang Tie promoted to a higher level in Castle of Black Iron and opened his eyes, he would be able to see Heller''s brilliant smile and listen to the familiar and genial greeting.


    Perhaps it was the sweetest gift that Zhang Tie could receive after promoting to a higher level.


    Feeling the perfect and powerful wind chakra, Zhang Tie slowly stood up from a boulder on the top of the mountain. Watching the snowy peaks of the verdant Immortal Mountain and the heavy mist around him, Zhang Tie felt complex.


    ''I''m already a heavenly knight. It''s really difficult for me to reach this level.''


    It only took him a few years from a shadow knight on the eve of the battle at Weishui River to a heavenly knight. Perhaps, it was impossible for others to promote to heavenly knights within such a short period of time; however, it was actually a long period for Zhang Tie as he had spent many years in the tower of time. During this period, Zhang Tie had experienced too many rises and falls such as departure of his family members, betrayal of his trusted clansman Zhang Taixuan, the hatred of Lan Yunxi whom he loved, the wrestle between him and the top three sects of Taixia Country, the founding of Jinwu Palace and falling into an alien world...


    Despite being a few years, it felt being like half a century to Zhang Tie.


    Some regrets could never be fixed...


    Some tears should be dry forever...


    Some people died...


    Some people were still alive...


    The perfect and brilliant chakra of a heavenly knight didn''t draw a period for his past; instead, it was a result of his efforts and struggles over these years.


    If Zhang Tie promoted to a heavenly knight in Taixia Country, he would be pretty proud of it. However, the heavenly knight was just the beginning towards a real power in Motian Realm.


    There were semi-sage level knights, sage-level knights and extremely powerful immortal emperors above heavenly knights. Being a heavenly knight was just a beginning for Zhang Tie to return to Taixia Country.


    Zhang Tie''s complex mood in his eyes was gradually replaced by a strong will.


    Although it was just a start, he was...a...heavenly knight...


    Zhang Tie revealed a faint arc at his mouth corners. He casually pointed at the sky while a sonic boom sounded in the air right in front of him at the edge of the cliff; its strong air flow made Zhang Tie''s hair and clothes sway in the air.


    The loud boom and the strong air flow originated from the changing state in the spatial territory. Only by pointing at it casually, Zhang Tie had made a huge vacuum space which was hundreds of meters in length, width and height while all the air in the vacuum space was withdrawn by Zhang Tie.


    This presented Zhang Tie''s ability after lighting his wind chakra as a divine dominator.


    Wind could take shape through air flow in space. However, wind, especially the attributes that wind elements could present was never just air flow.


    With the control of Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy, a piece of cloud took shape on the top of the huge vacuum region. After that, rains drops started to fall into the vacuum territory from its top.


    After falling into the vacuum territory, the raindrops turned into snow, ice, icicles, ice sabers, ice spears and ice swords. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of ice weapons had been manifested in the huge vacuum territory. Those weapons then started to shuttle back and forth and cut through the entire vacuum territory, turning it a large fatal battlefield at a stroke.


    After running about half a minute, the entire fatal battlefield suddenly stopped. All the ice weapons were just staying still in the vacuum territory. In an instant, all the weapons broke apart and turned into crystal ice particles, which then gradually turned into ice gears.


    With Zhang Tie''s control, the entire huge vacuum territory was like a piece of sponge which kept sucking more and more moisture, causing the temperature inside it to constantly drop. After that, the water gradually became ice gears, beads and machinery components which gradually started to assemble within the vacuum territory.


    Gradually, a transparent difference engine being composed of ice components appeared in the vacuum territory, giving out dull blue light. After that, all the gears and levers of the ice difference engine started to run as the "metal curtain" being connected with the difference engine started to output patterns and calculate. The "metal curtain" gradually displayed five words through numerous rising and falling ice beads and rollers¡ª¡ªI am a heavenly knight.


    Heller was watching on one side in the whole process.


    At this moment, if someone else was at present, he must be petrified by what he saw as he would treat it as magic. However, Heller knew that it was definitely not magic; instead, it displayed Zhang Tie''s great power after promoting to a heavenly knight as a divine dominator.


    When Zhang Tie was a shadow knight, he could control water by turning moisture into water droplets or ice or snow or realize a free conversion between the three conditions of water. At that time, he could already control the temperature to a certain degree.


    However, after lighting his wind chakra, Zhang Tie could not only turn water into ice, but also control the temperature between 0 degrees Celcius to -200 degree Celcius.


    Just now, when moisture turned into ice gears, the core region of the vacuum territory had been -200 degrees Celcius while the gap between molecules was compressed to the extreme.


    On this occasion, the ice cubes were not common; they were more like eternal ice cubes which were even harder than steel. Therefore, those gears and components could assemble a difference engine like how metal parts could do and make calculations and movements with Zhang Tie''s precise control.


    It was simple and not mysterious for Zhang Tie at all. However, Heller knew that nobody else among humans could do it like Zhang Tie. Even Lord Fairysea couldn''t do it. Even though Lord Fairysea was a divine dominator with strong spiritual energy, he couldn''t visualize a set of difference engine being composed of numerous parts and gears like how Zhang Tie did in his mind sea.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s ability to control ice and temperature alone had already surpassed the abilities of ice magicians or ice and snow queens in fantasy stories or novels...


    Whereas, it was not the full abilities that Zhang Tie had acquired after promoting to a heavenly knight...


    Under the gaze of Heller, the difference engine suddenly stopped running while everything in the vacuum territory turned into ice particles again. After that, a bizarre wave appeared on Zhang Tie''s side while the oxygen and hydrogen in the air were separated from air before being injected into the vacuum territory.


    As Zhang Tie snapped his fingers, an area of strong flames appeared in the vacuum territory at once.


    After the flames died out, everything in the vacuum space along with the vacuum space itself had disappeared. Everything recovered normal while some wisps of vapor rising up in front of Zhang Tie like nothing had happened before.


    "How about that?" Zhang Tie turned around as he asked Heller.


    "Amazing! It''s like magic. Besides Castle Lord, I''m afraid that nobody else in this world could have such a great ability..." Heller said sincerely.


    Zhang Tie burst into laughter while a pair of 20-m longer colorful and brilliant cyan wings appeared behind Zhang Tie. As the pair of wings flapped themselves tenderly, Zhang Tie slowly left the ground. After flapping his wings forcefully, Zhang Tie instantly disappeared on the top of the Immortal Mountain...


    ...

 1738 Super Lucky Day

    Zhang Tie was enjoying the flight brought by his wind wings in the sky of Castle of Black Iron as fast as a lightning bolt. Even if Zhang Tie didn''t trigger his ability as a divine dominator, he could still easily reach 15 times the speed of sound in the sky with the assistance of his wind wings.


    This speed of flight was amazing for a person who had just promoted to a heavenly knight.


    The appearance of wind wings was a surprise for Zhang Tie. Previously, Zhang Tie didn''t imagine that he could get such a pair of bizarre wings after promoting to a heavenly knight by cultivating King Roc Sutra. After lighting his complete wind chakra, the moment his wind chakra started to run, a mysterious rune had blown up in Zhang Tie''s mind sea while numerous information poured in. Closely after that, Zhang Tie got hang of the usage of this pair of wind wings.


    The pair of wind wings were the wings of king roc. After unfolding themselves, they became a pair of 40-m longer cyan wings on Zhang Tie''s back. With such a pair of wings, Zhang Tie was like a legendary winged angel in the air. The pair of wings were so cool that Zhang Tie felt being pushed forward by a manifested wind power from Elements Realm while flapping them. Only by flapping them casually, Zhang Tie could move far away. As a result, Zhang Tie flew as easily and freely as breathing in the sky.


    Zhang Tie was flying at the highest altitude of Castle of Black Iron, where he could almost touch the invisible barrier which was like cotton candy. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie could see clearly everything on the ground by his lotus-flower eyes. However, the people on the ground couldn''t see him at all.


    The colorful fog was right on Zhang Tie''s back. No kidding, Zhang Tie didn''t know what was the colorful fog even now; instead, he only felt that the colorful fog was special. Nor did Heller tell him about that. However, whenever the colorful fog started to roll, it meant that Castle of Black Iron could undergo another space and topographical expansion. It seemed that the colorful fog had endless magical power and could produce limitless land and space.


    Below Zhang Tie was the land and ocean across Castle of Black Iron.


    The land across Castle of Black iron was versant like a colorful drawing board, which had been completely covered with various plants and fertile soil.


    Currently, the land area of Castle of Black Iron had already surpassed over 1 million square miles. Being densely covered with rivers, valleys, woods, waterfalls and fields, it was full of vitality everywhere.


    Zhang Tie found that those people that he teleported into Castle of Black Iron at the beginning had already built a small city on the plain over 500 miles away from the Immortal Mountain.


    The city was poetic and picturesque. All the buildings in the city were made of logs or stones, which displayed a natural and plain atmosphere everywhere. The city was surrounded by fertile land and woods. Groups of children were running and playing in the fertile land. Given their expressions, Zhang Tie could almost feel their sounds of joyful laughter.


    In a mountain not far from the city, some people were lumbering; some youths were holding torches and entering a mountain cave, which led to the underground world of Castle of Black Iron. In the underground world, there was a myriad of karst caves, odd-looking stalactites, colorful shiny crystals and eye-opening underground plants. Apparently, the underground world of Castle of Black Iron had become an adventureland for young men.


    Many people were holding a bizarre rite on a hill far away from that city.


    Those priests in white tall hats were extolling the "creator" Zhang Tie, scepter in hand. They were followed by a 5,000 m-longer row of over 1,000 pious followers. Each of them carried a bag. As they chanted the "creator" after the priests one line after another, they kept sowing their plant seeds into the soil.


    "God gifted us homeland..."


    "God gifts us land..."


    "God gifts us seeds..."


    "God gifts us a bumper harvest..."


    "Our reliable God gifts..."


    "We pass this hill..."


    "We pass this plain..."


    "We pass the streamside and the riverside..."


    "We don''t fear any difficulties, thistles or horns..."


    "We follow God''s will..."


    "We sow the hopeful seeds..."


    "The grand land, you live up to the expectation of God..."


    The passionate and longlasting song drifted into Zhang Tie''s ears from far away.


    Although Zhang Tie had long heard about such a scene from Heller, it was his first time to witness it.


    After so many years, the over 20,000 people that Zhang Tie teleported into Castle of Black Iron had already become 50,000.


    Due to the leisure, stable life and the sufficient food in Castle of Black Iron, people who lived in here; especially those young couples would like to have more babies. Each family had at least 3-4 kids. Families with more than 5 kids could also be seen everywhere.


    Like the land where they were born, those young men and kids were pretty vigorous. Besides being native, they were also guardians of this land. They gradually called themselves herdsmen of the earth. There were over 120,000 kinds of underground plants, 30,000 kinds of aquatic plants and hundreds of thousands of land plants. Over these years, residents had sowed their seeds to every corner and nook of the land of Castle of Black Iron.


    Zhang Tie paid a tour inspection over the entire Castle of Black Iron in an extremely short period by flying over the land and the ocean with the help of his wind wings.


    The scene in Castle of Black Iron brought Zhang Tie a strong sense of achievement.


    After that, Zhang Tie attempted to fly by wind wings together with his flight ability as a divine dominator.


    Without using his wind wings, Zhang Tie had already broken through 80 times the speed of sound in the air only by the flight ability of divine dominator, namely about 27,000 m per second. With his wind wings, Zhang Tie broke through 30,000 m per second as a divine dominator.


    Such a super high speed meant that Zhang Tie could make a more destructive kinetic strike.


    After circling around the Castle of Black Iron for a while, Zhang Tie became satisfied. He then folded his wind wings and returned to the palace tree along a mountain path with Heller.


    "Castle Lord, how do you feel about Castle of Black Iron?" Heller asked Zhang Tie on the way back.


    "Unimaginably vigorous!" Zhang Tie concluded briefly.


    "Castle of Black Iron''s space and topography have not been renovated and upgraded for a long time. The basic energy storage, merit value and reiki value in Castle of Black Iron could afford a large-scale expansion!"


    "Oh, really?" Zhang Tie asked as he took a look at Heller. Since Heller took in charge of these aspects of Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie didn''t even feel like checking anything on the basic attributes panel of Castle of Black Iron. No matter what, as long as Heller was there, everything would become pretty easy. "How large could Castle of Black Iron get through this expansion?"


    "If the thickness of the earth shell remains unchanged, through this expansion, the total area of land and ocean of Castle of Black Iron could reach above 3 million square miles. All the ecological systems and species living environment in Castle of Black Iron could be further improved!"


    "Wow, so large!" Zhang Tie was startled by Heller''s answer as he asked, "The basic energy storage is provided by the Elements Abyss. The reiki value could be constantly supplied by so many plants. But could my merit value support such a large-scale renovation?"


    "Castle Lord, you must have not checked the basic attributes panel of Castle of Black Iron for long," Heller said with a smile.


    Zhang Tie answered in a bit bashful look, "Ahem...ahem...almost like that..."


    "Castle Lord, you''d better check it yourself. Perhaps you could get some surprise!"


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie opened the basic attributes panel of Castle of Black Iron with suspicion.


    In the panel, Zhang Tie found the basic energy storage and the reiki value were pretty enormous. What surprised him was that his merit values were also astronomical. When Zhang Tie watched it, the figure was still increasing like a running water meter as if it could be produced out of the void.


    "What happened? How could I have such high merit values? Additionally, they''re still increasing constantly. But I didn''t do anything at this moment!" Zhang Tie asked Heller after a short silence.


    "Castle Lord, do you remember those quality grains and mutated earthworms that you distributed to people so as to deal with the shortage of grains facing Taixia Country?"


    "Of course, what about that?"


    "The increasing merit values originate from those grain seeds and earthworms. They''re saving people''s lives!" Heller said seriously as he watched Zhang Tie, "In the beginning, those grain seeds were sowed in Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory and Ninghe Prefecture. After receiving a bumper harvest, Castle Lord distributed surplus grain seeds to the others; some of which were sold, but the greater part of which was sent to farmers in need for free through many channels as Castle Lord sympathized them..."


    "Yeah, I know it. But aren''t those merit values disposable?"


    "Because those grains being distributed are leading to bumper harvests constantly in wider areas and saving more and more people, it could be said that each grain contains Castle Lord''s merit. Therefore, as long as those grains that were distributed are reproductive, Castle Lord would gain merit values constantly. The principle of reproductive grains that Castle Lord has distributed leading to constant merit values also suits to earthworms. When Castle Lord released those earthworms, you didn''t even think about selling them at all. Now, those earthworms have been spread over Taixia Country; some of them were even introduced into other continents and subcontinents to fertilize the soil. Each grain that farmers get through those earthworms contains Castle Lord''s merit value..."


    ''What the f*ck!'' Zhang Tie understood it at once. He had not imagined that his benevolent deed could bring him such constant benefits and profits...


    "You mean...as long as I could create new things in Castle of Black Iron such as mutated grains and earthworms which could bring constant benefits to others for free, I would get merit values constantly?"


    "Exactly!" Heller nodded as he added, "If Castle Lord sells something such as an all-purpose medicament, it''s essentially a trade. The others have paid you for that. Additionally, each vial of all-purpose medicament is disposable. Therefore, you couldn''t get merit value from selling it..."


    "Ahh? If only you could warn me a bit earlier!"


    Heller shook his head with a smile, saying, "It''s already out of ability. Some things could only be learned by Castle Lord yourself. If I told you in advance, Castle Lord would lose your innocence and benevolence; instead, you would become utilitarian and purposeful, which might not lead to as many as merit values as now..."


    "Ahh? Merit values would vary from different means even for the same thing?"


    "Indeed. I couldn''t explain the cause and effect either. However, as long as you''re benevolent, you will have a different result..."


    Zhang Tie nodded seriously.


    The automatic increase of merit values fixed the last shortage of Castle of Black Iron. From now on, Zhang Tie would not worry about the resources for expanding the space and topography of Castle of Black Iron anymore.


    To a certain degree, Castle of Black Iron was becoming more and more perfect through another round of evolution.


    In the early stage, the increase of all the basic resources had to depend on Zhang Tie. Now, with a solid foundation, Castle of Black Iron had become self-sufficient as it could accumulate enough basic resources for its expansion without Zhang Tie''s concern.


    The significance for Castle of Black Iron to reach this step was definitely greater than that Zhang Tie promoted to a heavenly knight.


    It was another surprise that Zhang Tie received today.


    However, as Zhang Tie''s super lucky day, Zhang Tie''s surprises had not come to an end.


    When he entered the palace tree, he was instantly attracted by the brilliant fruits on the small tree, which lit up the entire hall of the palace tree, making it a crystal palace. A strange fruit was hanging over there...

 1739 1/2 Immortal Strength

    "This is..." Zhang Tie stopped at once as he goggled at the brilliant bizarre fruit on the small tree full of excitement.


    Being similar to the redemption fruit from the gratitude of golden uangs, this fruit was giving out a special colorful light, which, from afar, looked...looked...looked like a colorful bulb that kept changing their colors before the Catastrophe.


    Despite being similar in look, they were different in fact. This fruit reminded Zhang Tie of those fruits which granted him preliminary and medium-sized recovery bodies and waterproof bodies.


    The fruit that granted him the preliminary recovery body was similar to the other fruits of redemption from the gratitude of earthworms. They were just different in colors.


    The fruit that granted him the preliminary water-proof body was similar to the other fruits of redemption from the gratitude of sandscale fish. They were just different in colors.


    Therefore, only after a sudden shock, Zhang Tie had understood the significance of the new fruit.


    It''s the final achievement through setting free golden uangs.


    Zhang Tie instantly rushed to the small tree from the entrance of the palace tree. Closely after that, he started to check the attributes of the bizarre fruit out of compulsive excitement.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of redemption¡ª¡ªstrength of golden uangs. It has become ripe. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter taking this fruit, Castle Lord could increase your overall strength by 71.5 kg.


    ¡ª¡ªGolden uangs could at most lift an object 1,800 times heavier than that of itself. Therefore, the small tree could at most produce 1,800 fruits of redemption. Each fruit could activate 1/1,800 of the gene segment in your body which carries the same strength as that of a golden uang.


    ¡ª¡ªThe current quantity of this kind of fruit¡ª¡ª1,800/1,800.


    ¡ª¡ªThis is the last fruit of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs. After taking it, the entire gene segment in your body that is related to strength would be completely activated.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter that, Castle Lord, your body will promote to 1/2 immortal strength.


    ¡ª¡ªHuman body with 1/2 immortal strength are as follows:


    1. The physical strength of Castle Lord would increase by 200%.


    2. Besides that your muscles, bones and organs would be strengthened, your anti-striking capability could also be increased by 15%. Additionally, your digestive ability would rise by 10%. That means you could acquire energy from food faster.


    3. When you''re overdrawn or in some extremes, you could recover your physical strength 28% faster.


    4. Your physical strength will keep increasing. At the same time, your overall body will be strengthened itself so as to adapt to the increasing strength.


    ¡ª¡ª1/2 immortal strength could further promote to the human body with complete immortal strength.


    This fruit really brought Zhang Tie another surprise. As this fruit could almost double his current overall strength, Zhang Tie''s strength would reach a terrifying level.


    Now, Zhang Tie''s overall strength was already so large that he couldn''t even find a proper weapon. What did it mean if his overall strength would increase by two more times?


    The second and the third tip was pretty helpful and effective practically.


    The fourth tip counted most. After reading it twice, Zhang Tie finally confirmed that as long as his physical strength constantly increased, his body would adapt to this change itself. As for how, it had been interpreted in the second and third tips, namely, his organs, muscles and bones would be constantly strengthened as they would grow stronger. At the same time, his defensive capability, digestive ability and recovery ability would constantly enhance so as to adapt to the new strength.


    The fourth tip strengthened Zhang Tie''s understanding about the proverb "The greatest strength is close to the universal law". In another way, all the physical exercises attributed to the growth of physical strength, which would bring a holistic growth to ones'' battle strength.


    The only part that Zhang Tie didn''t understand was 1/2 immortal strength. ''This expression is a bit different than the preliminary recovery body that I''ve achieved. Shouldn''t it be preliminary immortal strength?''


    Zhang Tie finally couldn''t stand to ask Heller.


    "It''s simple. As long as Castle Lord continues to set free earthworms, you would promote to medium-sized recovery body from preliminary recovery body. However, this fruit means that Castle Lord could not get any fruit or further improve your 1/2 immortal strength any more by setting free golden uangs. If you want to achieve the complete immortal strength, you should further activate the silent part of DNA concerning strength in your body..." Heller said calmly.


    After considering about it for a second, Zhang Tie''s eyes shone as he asked, "It means that I have to set free another species whose strength could match that of golden uangs so as to promote to complete immortal strength?"


    "Right!"


    "What should I set free then?"


    Heller answered with the same polite, modest and familiar smile which made Zhang Tie helpless, "Castle Lord, you should explore it yourself..."


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie didn''t ask him anymore. Watching those fruits hanging over the small tree, he immediately picked one fruit of redemption from gulf shrimp and started to take it.


    After promoting to a heavenly knight, Zhang Tie found that he could digest fruits faster. Soon after engulfing a fruit of gulf shrimp, Zhang Tie had sensed the faint changes.


    "Castle Lord, there''re still two chakras of demon shadow knights in Castle of Black Iron. They still have complete battle strength. How do you want to deal with them?"


    Heller asked Zhang Tie when the latter was chewing the fruit.


    Star Emperor Immortal Palace sent him 6 demon shadow knights in the second round. One of them in 3 change realm was a supplementary gift. Zhang Tie had already promoted to a heavenly knight only after refining 4 water chakras.


    "Throw them into the underground cells. Perhaps they might be useful in the future..." Zhang Tie said vaguely as his mouth was full of juice. At the same time, he reached the second fruit of redemption from the gratitude of gulf shrimp...


    There were still over 10 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs on the small tree. Of course, he would keep the fruit that could grant him the 1/2 immortal strength until the end.


    ...


    A few days later, on December 1st, Zhang Tie flashed back to the backroom under Jiaotai Palace from Castle of Black Iron.


    His substitute had already dissipated after staying there for a few days, leaving a pile of folded clothes in the wardrobe of the backroom. Over these days, if someone broke in the backroom, they would only think that Zhang Tie had long left the backroom through secret tunnels; instead of discovering anything special in the backroom.


    After taking a look in the backroom, Zhang Tie nodded as he prepared to sit on the platform and continued his cultivation over there. Unimaginably, the moment his hand touched the platform, the stony platform had been shattered into pieces. Zhang Tie watched his hand, then the platform. Finally, he shook his head helplessly as he murmured, "It seems that I have to adapt to this new strength for a period of time. Sometimes, when someone has great strength, he would also be up the creek. In the final analysis, I''m too handsome. Hahaha..."


    After flattering himself for a short while, Zhang Tie changed a place and sat down once again. Closely after that, he entered the trouble-reappearance situation of Xuanyuan Hill as a destroyer, ''I should learn to release such great strength when I want to restrain it.''


    This was Zhang Tie''s experience.


    During the short period of time, the sudden appearance of the immortal secret method had aroused an uproar across Motian Realm...


    As the one on the back of this event, Zhang Tie completely ignored people''s response; instead, he just stayed somewhere to improve his overall strength rapidly.

 1740 Here Comes the Business

    More than three months flashed almost in the blink of an eye for Zhang Tie who had experienced cultivation in towers of time for a few times.


    As his portable jade plate caused a bizarre vibration, Zhang Tie who was seriously carving a piece of tofu using a 1,200 kg huge ax slightly became stagnated.


    "General Manager Leng, what''s up?"


    Zhang Tie sent a message to Leng Manxue as he continued his movement.


    The 1,200-odd kg huge ax was as light as a quill pen in Zhang Tie''s hand. Pinching the sharp edge of the huge ax like pinching a needle, Zhang Tie started to rotate the huge ax flexibly up and down. When the long handle of the huge ax wuthered in the air, it led to many delicate patterns on the piece of soft tofu in the tray.


    Facing the heavy edge, the piece of tofu just quivered slightly; instead of breaking apart. When Leng Manxue sent a message to Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie had already carved the piece of tofu for over 1 hour. As a result, the piece of shapeless tofu gradually turned into a dragon and a phoenix. The vivid living beings were almost completed full of spirit. In the tray, they were as delicate as a white marble sculpture. Nobody felt like destroying such a great artwork.


    As an immortal craftsman, his carving skill on a piece of tofu could never be matched by a common chef.


    As Zhang Tie carved it by the huge ax, he kept sending those remainings of the tofu into his mouth. He just ate and worked.


    It was the method that Zhang Tie had worked out during these days so as to adapt to his great power.


    Over these days, after Zhang Tie destroyed Xuanyuan Hill so many times in trouble-reappearance situations, he exited the trouble-reappearance situation and started to carve tofu by such a huge ax.


    In the beginning, with such an extremely terrifying strength, Zhang Tie could barely carve on such a soft piece of tofu. He could only carve on a piece of log using a huge saber. Gradually, he changed the log into a turnip while decreasing the size of his tool. When he could carve kinds of patterns on a turnip by a small knife, he changed turnip into tofu.


    Through so many failures, he could finally carve patterns on a piece of tofu by a small knife. Therefore, he started to increase the size of the tool. Finally, he changed his tool to this 1,200-odd kg huge ax.


    Practice proved that Zhang Tie''s method was unimaginably useful. In this method, Zhang Tie completely adapted to his own power and became more proficient in carving things and saber and ax skills. Additionally, Zhang Tie found himself pretty calm and free and felt massaging his soul when he was immersed in carving things. He had gradually taken this process as an enjoyment.


    "Wu Qiankun and a deputy head of Emperor NvWa Palace are already in Forbidden City with 5 big iron cabinets. They request to meet Your Majesty." Leng Manxue replied immediately.


    "Take them to Yangxin Palace. I will exit the backroom under Jiaotai Palace right now."


    "Yes, sir!"


    After sending an order to Leng Manxue, Zhang Tie continued to carve the piece of tofu for 10 more minutes. After making the eyes of the dragon, Zhang Tie finally moved one step back and appreciated his perfect work as he nodded satisfactorily. After that, he put his ax onto the table before engulfing the entire dragon and Phoenix. After enjoying it, he smacked his lips and washed his hands before leaving the backroom, humming a song.


    If the piece of tofu was put there for a few hours, it would go bad. Zhang Tie was not used to waste anything. Over these days, he always sold and bought his own works. He would eat all of his carvings which tasted pretty special.


    The representatives of Emperor NvWa Palace were not too late. After being told that they were here with 5 big iron cabinets, Zhang Tie felt good at once. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that they could at most bring a couple of big iron cabinets this time. Unimaginably, Star Emperor Immortal Palace was really something as they brought him 5 demon heavenly knights this time.


    This was the special treatment that Dragon Emperor could enjoy. Even if he didn''t care about anything in the Forbidden City, someone would also send powerful demon heavenly knights to him for his cultivation. As a result, Zhang Tie felt riding a rocket in improving his overall strength.


    ''I''m afraid that Zhao Yuan the old man could never imagine that I could be so lucky. The old man''s Purgatory Samsara Method is completely carried forward by me.''


    ...


    Five immortal generals of Emperor NvWa Palace were waiting outside Yangxin Palace with five iron cabinets like the last two times. Only after taking a look at the five big iron cabinets, Zhang Tie had implied Leng Manxue to have people carry them to Jiaotai Palace. After that, he entered Yangxin Palace frankly.


    Inside Yangxin Palace, Wu Qiankun and an old man slightly bowed towards Zhang Tie.


    The old man in white beard and hair looked pretty spirited. His outfit was similar to that of Wu Qiankun. The only difference between their outfit was that the upper part of the outfit of this old man was completely golden which appeared more brilliant and sober while there were more auspicious clouds on the lower part than that of Wu Qiankun''s.


    This old man was one of the deputy heads of Emperor NvWa Palace. Given his qi, Zhang Tie knew that he was a sage-level knight, namely a supreme immortal general.


    When Zhang Tie was observing the deputy head of Emperor NvWa Palace, the deputy head also took a look at Zhang Tie when he slightly bowed. Meanwhile, a bright light flashed across his eyes.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was still imitating the qi of a water immortal general using his King Roc Sutra. However, this time, his qi felt much purer than that when Wu Qiankun met him the last two times. Nobody could imagine that Zhang Tie had already promoted to a wind immortal general.


    "Your Majesty, this is the Deputy Head Yao of Emperor NvWa Palace. He''s especially here to negotiate the trade of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament on behalf of Emperor NvWa Palace today!" Wu Qiankun introduced the old man to Zhang Tie.


    In Motian Realm, there were 8 major family names among humans, namely Ji, Jiang, Yao, Ying, Si, Yun, Gui and Ji. All the 8 family names carried the radical "female" in Hua characters. It was said that they were all related to NvWa. Their forbears were created by NvWa. Therefore, they were time-honored Hua family names. Take Emperor Xuanyuan as an instance, he surnamed Ji. Even in the world where Zhang Tie came from, there were also many heroes, emperors and prime ministers with the above 8 family names. The 8 surnames occupied an important position in the history of Hua people. For instance, Dayu who was requested by Emperor Shun, a far-ancient emperor of Hua people, to deal with a floor surnamed Si. Emperor Yan surnamed Jiang. Emperor Shun surnamed Yao. Emperor Shihuang of Qin Dynasty surnamed Ying.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know the 8 major surnames were all related to the legendary NvWa until he came to Motian Realm. Although Zhang Tie didn''t know whether it was true or not, he felt it reasonable.


    "Your Majesty, I am Yao Qianyun, a deputy head of Emperor NvWa Palace!"


    "Be relaxed, Deputy Head Yao. Please take a seat!"


    After greeting each other, the three people sat down.


    "Before coming to Dragon Emperor City, I was told by General Manager Wu that Your Majesty was immersed in cultivation. As Dragon Emperor, you''re still more diligent than most of the immortal generals. You''re always cultivating in Forbidden City. It''s said that Your Majesty has been in cultivation since you received General Manager Wu last time. I really admire Your Majesty for your diligence!" Yao Qianyun spoke highly of Zhang Tie first.


    "Thank you, Deputy Head Yao. Despite such a high position, I''m pretty humble in level. Although I got some tricks, if not be diligent in ascetic cultivation, I would never live a stable life. I have to do all these. I also hope that Motian Realm is in peace and all the human palaces could coexist with each other harmoniously without the disturbance of demons. I also want to indulge in dances and songs. You know, the loneliness of the cultivation of immortal generals could barely be stood by commoners!" Zhang Tie said with a bitter smile as he triggered his disguising talent once again.


    Facing the sage-level knight, Zhang Tie said as he sighed inside, ''I was heavily mistreated by the three sage-level knights of the three top sects in Taixia Country that day. I''ve never imagined that a sage-level knight could gift me demon heavenly knights for cultivation. Life is variable!''


    "Motian Realm is indeed not peaceful!" Deputy Head Yao stroked his beard as he answered before shifting the subject, "Therefore, the Dragon Emperor''s Medicament that Your Majesty had invented could be so valuable!"


    "I wonder whether Emperor NvWa Palace has completely figured out the values of the medicament?"


    "Emperor NvWa Palace has already dispatched many people to study the 100 vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament. It could detoxify various highly toxic chemicals and cure all kinds of injuries and diseases. Besides, it could help people recover their wounds and physical strength fast. It''s really eye-opening. This medicament is powerful and very useful..."


    To be honest, it was really something for Emperor NvWa Palace to figure out so many medical effects of the medicament in such a short period of time using 100 vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament as samples. However, they were not all of them. As it was time for Zhang Tie to bargain with them, of course the higher the price of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament was, the better it would be. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to hide the very important function of his medicament any longer. Soon after Yao Qianyun finished his words, Zhang Tie had burst into laughter, saying, "More than that, Deputy Head Yao, you''ve lost something!"


    "Oh, what else?" Deputy Head Yao of Emperor NvWa Palace asked as he raised his eyebrows.


    "The old man has always used Dragon Emperor''s Medicament; therefore, he knew it better than all of us!" Zhang Tie said nostalgically, "I remember that the old man once told me that Dragon Emperor''s Medicament was actually more suitable to women. All the effects that it poses on men also suites to women. Besides, it could also help women look young. What''s more, the old man said that this medicament might be able to solve the problem of low fertility in Motian Realm..."


    "Ahh? Did Grand Dragon Emperor really say so..." Deputy Head Yao was only a bit amazed by Zhang Tie''s previous words; however, when it came to the point that Dragon Emperor''s Medicament could raise the birth rate of Motian Realm, he was utterly shocked.


    Everyone knew that the lack of population was a big problem in Motian Realm. The most important reason that led to that problem was that women could barely get pregnant. If Dragon Emperor''s Medicament really had such a marvelous effect, Dragon Emperor''s Medicament should catch the attention of everyone in Motian Realm.


    "As we''ve never applied it to women, I''m not sure about the words of the old man. However, it''s not hard to prove it through the experiment!" Zhang Tie confirmed. Meanwhile, he touched his face and advertised a little, "Previously I used to take Dragon Emperor''s Medicament. I''m sure that Dragon Emperor''s Medicament could help people look young..."


    After a short silence, Deputy Head Yao nodded. He didn''t want to argue with Zhang Tie on verification; instead, he asked Zhang Tie straightforwardly, "General Manager Wu said Your Majesty could realize mass-production of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament. Is that true?"


    "Yes!"


    "I wonder how many vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament Your Majesty could produce annually?"


    Zhang Tie stretched out 4 fingers...


    "40,000 vials?" Deputy Head Yao was surprised.


    Zhang Tie shook his head with a smile...


    "Four...thousands?"


    ''Given the marvelous effects of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament, even if Zhang Tie could only produce 4,000 vials a year, it could also be called mass production.'' Deputy Head Yao thought.


    Zhang Tie kept shaking his head with a smile...


    Deputy Head Yao''s eyes instantly gave out shrewd light, ''If it''s neither 40,000 nor 4,000, it should never be 400; because Zhang Tie had already gifted Wu Qiankun and Emperor NvWa Palace 300 vials in total. Therefore, it should be...''


    "400,000 vials?" Deputy Head Yao raised his voice at once.


    But Zhang Tie still shook his head. Closely after that, he revealed the truth, "I could at most produce 4 million vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament a year!"


    ''What?''


    Wu Qiankun and Yao Qianyun were both shocked by this figure as they almost sprung up. As they were crystal clear about the value of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament, they were really shocked by this figure.


    However, they didn''t know that Zhang Tie had made it smaller on purpose. If Zhang Tie wanted, he could provide Dragon Emperor''s Medicament constantly, such as thousands of millions of vials a year. However, Zhang Tie knew that a thing was valued if it was rare. Now that he wanted to exchange Dragon Emperor''s Medicament for element crystals, of course, he couldn''t make it too popular in Motian Realm; instead, he had to strictly control the quantity of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament and make it a quality product.


    The figure 4 million vials was set by Zhang Tie through consideration over these days. It was neither much nor less. If they were really pushed into the market, they could at most cover some knights and top figures with special family backgrounds in Motian Realm. Commoners could barely use it.


    Before he promoted to an immortal emperor and that he could only cheat people in the name of Dragon Emperor, the capacity of 4 million vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament was the "safe capacity". If he made it too much, he couldn''t keep his secret even from the rest of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, not to mention the other forces. Wealth would incur envy! This truth was not exclusive to the world where he came from...


    It was not the right time for him to make Dragon Emperor''s Medicament a welfare good or benefit numerous commoners across the Motian Realm with it. Perhaps, when Zhang Tie was powerful enough to ignore any threats in Motian Realm, he could make it as cheap as white cabbages. He might even gift mutated reiki yeasts to people for free. But now, he had to consider the problems of survival and development...


    ...

 1741 The Trade

    The output of 4 million vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament annually made Wu Qiankun and Yao Qianyun silent for quite a while...


    However, they both knew that Zhang Tie would not make fun of them on this topic; because emperors never lied; especially on such a solemn occasion.


    "4 million..." The deputy head of Emperor NvWa Palace became shortly silent. Closely after that, his eyes shone as he made a resolute decision, displaying his strong charisma and good appetite of Emperor NvWa Palace, saying, "Please offer a price, Your Majesty. Emperor NvWa Palace could take them all!"


    4 million vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament were indeed not much for Emperor NvWa Palace. Even if Emperor NvWa Palace couldn''t use them all, they could sell a part of them to others at higher prices. Dragon Emperor''s Medicament was almost available to everyone from commoners to immortal generals.


    "It''s impossible for me to sell all the 4 million vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament to Emperor NvWa Palace!" Zhang Tie shook his head as he confidently refused the proposal of the deputy head of Emperor NvWa Palace directly. If he sold all the Dragon Emperor''s Medicament to Emperor NvWa Palace, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would completely become Emperor NvWa Palace''s employee and lose greater invisible benefits even though it appeared to be a simple trade and that Emperor NvWa Palace had sufficient element crystals to buy them. Zhang Tie would never do such a stupid thing even when he was working in Donder''s grocery in Blackhot City, not to mention now. Watching Yao Qianyun''s slightly gloomier face, Zhang Tie added, "However, Emperor NvWa Palace could enjoy the greater part of this batch of medicament..." Zhang Tie said as he held up one finger towards Yao Qianyun, "I could provide 1 million vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament for Emperor NvWa Palace annually!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s last words, Deputy Head Yao turned a bit calm as he asked, "Your Majesty, may you tell me who else you''re going to sell the other medicament to?"


    "As for the rest 3 million vials of medicament, I prepared to divide them into many batches. 1,000,000 vials in two batches; 600,000 vials in two batches; 900,000 vials in 9 batches. As the rest 500,000 vials, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace will allocate them for free!" Zhang Tie explained his plan to Yao Qianyun calmly as he said, "Only the immortal generals in Motian Realm are qualified to buy Dragon Emperor''s Medicament. Additionally, the prices vary from their proportions..."


    "Could you make it clear?" Even Emperor NvWa Palace could only wait for Zhang Tie to offer a price as the latter took his initiative completely.


    "The price of the 1 million vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament for Emperor NvWa Palace is 1 million earth-element crystals. 600,000 earth-element crystals for each batch of 500,000 vials; 380,000 earth-element crystals for each batch of 300,000 vials. As for the 900,000 vials, I prepare to auction them in Dragon Emperor City. Besides immortal generals on different levels, any clan, force or individual could attend the auction of the 900,000 vials..."


    "Your Majesty, do you want to sell them to individuals and clans? But how could clans and individuals attend the auction with so many element crystals?" Wu Qiankun finally got an opportunity to ask Zhang Tie.


    Whatever, in front of Zhang Tie and the deputy head of Emperor NvWa Palace, Wu Qiankun despite being the general manager of Emperor NvWa Palace in Dragon Emperor City was too humble. He could barely have a chance to interfere with such big cooperation and trade between Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Emperor NvWa Palace; instead, he could only keep silent for most of the time.


    "The 900,000 vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament will be sold in terms of underbidding. As long as the buyers could satisfy me with something, I would also accept it even if it was not element crystal..." Zhang Tie said casually.


    The moment Deputy Head Yao heard the word undertaking, he had slightly frowned. After Zhang Tie finished his words, he suddenly let out a deep sigh, "Grand Dragon Emperor is really right about you. After enrolling Your Majesty as his disciple, Grand Dragon Emperor will never worry about anything regarding Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace anymore. Your Majesty''s abilities and methods are really admirable..."


    "Thanks, Deputy Head Yao!" Zhang Tie replied modestly as he added, "Deputy Head Yao, do you agree with my proposal?"


    "Let''s make it a deal then. Emperor NvWa Palace accepts the quantity and price completely. Dragon Emperor''s Medicament worth that price!"


    "Good. We will make our first round of trade on the first day of next month, namely the big trade fair on April 1st in Dragon Emperor City. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could provide 100,000 vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament for one time. Emperor NvWa Palace could try them and check whether their effects are as same as those samples. If Emperor NvWa Palace feels satisfied with our medicament, we could continue the rest rounds of trade. If you''re not satisfied with them, Emperor NvWa Palace could regret whenever you want and I will not take any cent from you. If Emperor NvWa Palace wants to continue the trade, you will get the rest 900,000 vials in the next half a year in three batches. As for the payment, Emperor NvWa Palace could pay them off by the end of this year. How do you feel, Deputy Head Yao?"


    "Your Majesty has already considered it well. It''s perfect!"


    "That''s a deal then! Enjoy our cooperation!"


    "It''s my great honor to meet Your Majesty in Dragon Emperor City today. I got to go!" Deputy Head Yao said as he picked himself up, adding, "As General Manager Wu is in Dragon Emperor City, if there''s any change about the agreement, Your Majesty could have someone notice General Manager Wu!"


    "Hmm!"


    ...


    After Wu Qiankun and Yao Qianyun left there for a short while, Leng Manxue came to Yangxin Palace.


    "The representatives of Emperor NvWa Palace have already left. I''ve had people sent those iron cabinets to Your Majesty''s backroom..."


    "Is Emperor NvWa Palace rich?" Zhang Tie suddenly asked Leng Manxue, which slightly shocked her.


    "Rich?"


    "I mean they''ve got a lot of element crystals in the stockpile?" Zhang Tie squinted his eyes as the deputy head''s appetite really scared him. At that time, although Zhang Tie refused him calmly, his heart was racing. He thought at that time, ''Damn! Do you want to take all the 4 million vials of all-purpose medicament without even quotation? That''s really awesome!''


    After thinking about it for a short while, Leng Manxue said, "True. I''ve been told that Emperor NvWa Palace has a far-ancient rarity!"


    "A far-ancient rarity? What''s that?" Zhang Tie became spirited at once.


    "Only very few people have seen it. It''s said that the rarity in Emperor NvWa Palace could constantly produce four element crystals from the Elements Realm!"


    Zhang Tie was shocked as this rarity sounded really like God''s Star. "If there''s such a great rarity, didn''t people rob it?"


    "You bet. Over the past thousands of years, it''s said that over 3 demon emperors had died in Emperor NvWa Palace for this rarity..."


    "Ahh? Really?"


    "It''s just a legend. Of course, I don''t know whether it''s true or not. As for the details, I don''t know either. After all, it''s said that any demon approaching Emperor NvWa Palace is destined to die. It''s said that that rarity is in the hand of the head of Emperor NvWa Palace. Across the Motian Realm, besides some powers of Emperor NvWa Palace, nobody has ever seen the head of Emperor NvWa Palace. Therefore, nobody knows his battle strength. It''s said that the head of Emperor NvWa Palace always wears a set of immortal outfit and a strange mask as the most powerful person in Motian Realm."


    ''There''re indeed many secrets in Motian Realm.'' Zhang Tie stroked his jaw as Leng Manxue''s words reminded him of many things.


    "Your Majesty, do you want to make a trade with Emperor NvWa Palace?" Leng Manxue asked.


    "Oh, you''ve got it..."


    "If not, why did the deputy head of Emperor NvWa Palace come here?"


    "Perhaps we''ve got something to talk about!"


    Leng Manxue watched Zhang Tie calmly as she said, "Even if you''ve got something to talk about, Emperor NvWa Palace must be asking for Your Majesty''s help. Otherwise, Your Majesty should have paid a visit to Emperor NvWa Palace. Although Your Majesty has a great battle strength and as the incumbent Dragon Emperor, Your Majesty''s identity and battle strength might not be admired by someone in Emperor NvWa Palace. Therefore, the arrival of the deputy head of Emperor NvWa Palace probably indicates that they want to trade something with Your Majesty. Your Majesty might have something that they want..."


    Touching his nose, Zhang Tie let out a sigh, "Hasn''t someone told you that if a woman is too clear, she would always make a man feel himself boring..."


    "Your Majesty, if you feel the Forbidden City is too tranquil and wants some adorable girls, just let me know. As long as Your Majesty sends a decree, many virgins and female immortal generals will be ready for your selection!"


    "What if I want you?" Zhang Tie teased Leng Manxue.


    Leng Manxue remained unchanged but her voice turned cold all of a sudden, "As a member of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, if Your Majesty sends a decree to me, I will follow your order for sure..."


    "Hehe, don''t be that serious. I''m just kidding..." Zhang Tie pretended to laugh twice as he stroked his nose, adding, "I indeed have made a trade with Emperor NvWa Palace. If everything goes well, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could receive 1 million earth-element crystals from Emperor NvWa Palace annually..."


    Leng Manxue was shocked by 1 million earth-element crystals. As an immortal general, of course, she knew the value of so many element crystals; especially given the current situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. It meant that Emperor NvWa Palace was transfusing blood for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    The problem was why would Emperor NvWa Palace transfuse blood for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace? Leng Manxue could think through as she took a deep look at Zhang Tie. Facing this familiar yet a bit strange man, Leng Manxue felt that this man had special magic as he could solve any tricky problem easily.


    Leng Manxue''s eyes satisfied Zhang Tie''s vanity to a certain degree as he smirked, "There were some boxes of medicament in Warehouse A. They''re as same as that I gifted Wu Qiankun. You could take one box after a while. Just take it as my gift. The medicament is pretty good for women!"


    "Ahh? The medicament is useful to female immortal general?"


    "You can try..." Zhang Tie didn''t clarify it so as to give her a surprise, "Oh, let President Guan and Hong Yukun meet me in Yangxin Palace!"


    "Your Majesty, won''t you go to Dragon Emperor Palace?"


    "I will just have a brief talk with them here. No trouble!" Zhang Tie said lazily.


    After moving to the Forbidden City, Zhang Tie rarely went back to Dragon Emperor Palace; instead, he often visited Yangxin Palace in the internal court.


    "Okay, please wait a minute, I will make an arrangement right now..."


    Seeing Leng Manxue off, Zhang Tie finally let out a deep sigh sitting on the main seat of Yangxin Palace. He looked up at the brilliant pattern on the caisson ceiling of Yangxin Palace as if his eyes could penetrate everything in front of him. He then murmured, "I never used to owe people nothing. Previously, I used your brand and your Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to gain some private benefits. I will pay you off with so many element crystals. Later on, with Dragon Emperor''s Medicament, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could continue to stand 1,000 years in Motian Realm even if I leave here..."


    Zhang Tie could barely have a real soul mate in Motian Realm.


    ...


    As the Earth-Treasures Department was in Forbidden City, Guan Minjun arrived first...


    She looked pretty serious as if she had owed Zhang Tie too much money...

 1742 Commercial Means

    "Your Majesty, may I know what''s the matter?"


    "Please take a seat, President Guan. Of course, I have something to negotiate with you, President Guan!" Zhang Tie answered as he put down his ink brush and took a look at Guan Minjun''s poker face. Not knowing why, Zhang Tie always felt pretty easy-going whenever he saw her. Perhaps she looked a bit like Olina.


    "Go ahead, Your Majesty!" Guan Minjun sat down straightly as she added, "Even the female immortal generals of Earth-Treasures Department could ask for leave from Your Majesty without my consent, if Your Majesty has any order, just let me know..."


    President Guan said with anger; because Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were agreed to leave Dragon Emperor City a few months ago by Zhang Tie. However, Zhang Tie didn''t even negotiate with Guan Minjun about anything before. No wonder this woman was always angry with him.


    Zhang Tie finally deeply understood the pet phrase of Donder¡ª¡ªI prefer to offend demons rather than women.


    Before Zhang Tie opened his mouth...


    "But I have to make it clear. Earth-Treasures Department couldn''t spare any surplus element crystal anymore. Each element crystal in Earth-Treasures Department has been in the budget by installment. I don''t have more element crystals if Your Majesty wants. You could kill me for that. Perhaps Your Majesty could choose another person to be the new president of Earth-Treasures Department!" Guan Minjun said distantly.


    After hearing her warning, Zhang Tie instantly became silent.


    "Alright. Now that President Guan couldn''t spare any more element crystals, I will not bother you anymore. I will find someone else to do that!" Zhang Tie sighed helplessly.


    "What else, Your Majesty?"


    "That''s all!"


    "I''ve got a lot of things to deal with in Earth-Treasures Department. This humble official got to go!" Guan Minjun immediately sprung up. After bowing towards Zhang Tie, she turned around and was going to leave as if she was escaping away from a trouble-maker.


    "Previously, I had some business that could help Earth-Treasures Department make hundreds of thousands of element crystals in a short period of time. Now that President Guan doesn''t want to make it, this plan has to abort..."


    Zhang Tie felt pitiful when Guan Minjun was about to leave the threshold of the gate of Yangxin Palace.


    As was imagined, Guan Minjun stopped at a stroke. Closely after that, she turned back as if nothing had happened. She returned to her seat and said as calmly as usual, "I''ve just remembered that some element crystals have not been budgeted in Earth-Treasures Department yet!"


    Zhang Tie said with a smile, "President Guan, you don''t have to be reluctant!"


    Guan Minjun replied with a solemn look, "It''s Earth-Treasures Department''s responsibility to help Your Majesty get over the difficulty!"


    "That''s great! I will dispatch this task to Earth-Treasures Department then. Earth-Treasures Department will be responsible for allocating the corresponding element crystals and crystal coins!" Zhang Tie said as he raised his arm, sending a piece of paper flying off Zhang Tie''s desk and falling on the table in front of Guan Minjun.


    Zhang Tie just casually used his battle qi to make it come true; instead of using his ability as a divine dominator.


    Guan Minjun then took the piece of paper and started to read it seriously.


    It was a sketch of a building that Zhang Tie had just drawn. Being similar to that of the Forbidden City, this one contained fewer drawings than the original look of the Forbidden City.


    There was nothing special about the contour of this building. As the president of Earth-Treasures Department, of course, Guan Minjun was not surprised at its contour. What made her eyes wide was the internal design of the building.


    The building contained over 20,000 square meters in size. However, the ground over 20,000 square meters was paved with brilliant beautiful patterns composed of element crystals. However, they looked so luxurious that they made her feel guilty.


    If Zhang Tie didn''t mark those things as element crystals, Guan Minjun might have thought that those beautiful patterns were made of something else.


    Guan Minjun turned around at a stroke as she watched Zhang Tie with a bit anger, disappointment and grief, tightly pursing her lips¡ª¡ªDragon Emperor Immortal Palace is going to run out of element crystals; however, you''re still indulged in extravagance. Do you want me to die?


    Zhang Tie got a lot of information from her eyes. However, he didn''t mean to explain anything about that; because it was a commercial means that was adopted in the world where he came from¡ª¡ªif you want others to spend a large sum of money on your commodities, you should pretend that you''re rich in advance. Only in this way could the others pay you fast. It was involved in people''s subtle mentality...


    ''All I have to do is popularize Dragon Emperor''s Medicament. By then, this woman would know...''


    "The more luxurious the building in the sketch is and the earlier it is completed, at least before next January 1st, the better. You could take it away and negotiate with the people in Heavenly Craftsmen Department. You could build it inside or outside Dragon Emperor City. I only have one sentence for you¡ª¡ªno matter how many crystal coins and element crystals will Earth-Treasures Department pay for this building, as you know, I promise you 5 times'' return in 1 year after its completion..."


    "5 times'' return," Guan Minjun asked while gritting her teeth, "Do you really mean it, Your Majesty?"


    "I do!"


    "What if you couldn''t pay it off?" Guan Minjun asked.


    "I will marry you..."


    "You...Your Majesty..."


    "Ahem...ahem. I was just kidding. Take it easy, President Guan. I was just spicing up the atmosphere. If women always looked serious, they would easily turn old. Additionally, it''s not beneficial to your marriage!" Zhang Tie explained as he hurriedly restrained his smile at the sight of Guan Minjun''s red face, "As I''ve said, President Guan should believe me. If you don''t, you could put down the sketch and leave here as per your will!"


    Guan Minjun gazed at Zhang Tie for a few seconds silently before taking the sketch, standing up and leaving there.


    ''F*ck, this woman is really special. How could she not even bid farewell to me? I''m Dragon Emperor. Does she treat all the men who couldn''t make money to raise his family in this way?''


    Zhang Tie thought helplessly.


    ...


    Outside Yangxin Palace, the moment she felt leaving the sight of Zhang Tie, President Guan had blushed. She touched her face as she felt hot. Closely after that, she paced up while her heart pounded...


    ...


    Soon after Guan Minjun left, Hong Yukun had arrived.


    Compared to Guan Minjun who looked bad and flurried, Hong Yukun the former internal guards head of Dragon Emperor Pavilion felt wronged like an angry young girl...


    After Zhang Tie moved to the Forbidden City from Dragon Emperor Pavilion, Hong Yukun thought that he was destined to be the general manager of the Forbidden City. However, His Majesty directly relieved his post and assigned him to the woods to fiddle with vials, bottles and jars.


    Over these days, Hong Yukun felt being a rural farmer who sold pickled vegetables; instead of being an immortal general. He couldn''t describe how disappointed he was...


    "Your Majesty..." Hong Yukun shouted with grief when he saw Zhang Tie...


    ...

 1743 Hong Yukuns Shock

    This former internal guards head was just a fierce immortal general. However, he was always conscientious and considerate. What was more, as he had been the internal guards head for long, Hong Yukun had concluded a systematic method to manage those maidens and guards in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Zhang Tie was quite right in having such a person take charge of the production of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament.


    The Dragon Emperor''s Medicament was produced in a valley with beautiful green hills and crystal river. Being about 10 miles away from Apricot Blossom Valley, the valley called Cloudriver Valley covered over 20 square miles. The entire Cloudriver Valley was the special supply base of greens and grains for Dragon Emperor Pavilion. It was filled with various fruits, herbal plants and herds of cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks. Because they were all provided for Dragon Emperor Pavilion, they were all of the best quality. In order to guarantee their quality, special farmers being affiliated to Dragon Emperor Pavilion were dispatched to Cloudriver Valley to take care of the plants and animals. Besides, a battalion of immortal soldiers was responsible for its safety.


    In Hong Yukun''s opinion, Cloudriver Valley was just the logistics supply place of Dragon Emperor Pavilion. Besides good environment and strict management, it was just farmland for plants and a ranch for cattle and sheep which was nothing different from rural villages outside Dragon Emperor City. If Zhang Tie didn''t ask him about this place, Hong Yukun would never feel like mentioning it.


    Cloudriver Valley was affiliated to Dragon Emperor Pavilion. Even though Hong Yukun had served as the internal guards head of Dragon Emperor Pavilion for so many years, he just took a glimpse at Cloudriver Valley when he passed it dozens of years ago. He just ignored it most of the time. What was an immortal general doing over there, farming or herding?


    Especially during the period when Dragon Emperor had disappeared, Cloudriver Valley was almost forgotten. Besides maintaining the basic operation, Cloudriver Valley had almost deteriorated into an average mountain village.


    However, in Zhang Tie''s opinion, Cloudriver Valley was a good place, an ideal place for producing Dragon Emperor''s Medicament.


    Cloudriver Valley was featured by good mountainscape, qualified water and air, sufficient reiki and juicy fruits. Those people spent a lot of efforts in renovating the terrain and water irrigation projects of Cloudriver Valley. They planted many kinds of plants here and even designed large-scale rune array underground and among the mountain ranges here. As a result, this region could gather reiki and regulate its temperature itself for higher yields. There were dozens of fruits and berries, some herbal plants gardens in Cloudriver Valley. Many kinds of fruits were especially cultivated by Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, which were local specialties of Cloudriver Valley.


    The annual output of fruits and berries in Cloudriver Valley could easily reach over 10,000 tons.


    When the Forbidden City was under construction, Zhang Tie had designed the blueprint of a castle; meanwhile, he had people build Cloudriver Castle in Cloudriver Valley according to the blueprint especially for producing Dragon Emperor''s Medicament.


    After the castle was completed, Zhang Tie handed it to Hong Yukun and asked him to select personnel to manage Cloudriver Valley so as to produce Dragon Emperor''s Medicament over there.


    Hong Yukun indeed didn''t let Zhang Tie down. A few months after he took over the mission, he had produced the first batch of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament. Zhang Tie was pretty satisfied by the effects of those Dragon Emperor''s Medicament. The hundreds of vials of medicament that Zhang Tie gifted Wu Qiankun and Emperor NvWa Palace also came from the first batch of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament which was produced in Cloudriver Castle.


    Besides Cloudriver Valley, Zhang Tie also had Hong Yukun take charge in a workshop of crystal glass of Heavenly Craftsmen Department in Dragon Emperor City. In other words, Hong Yukun was also responsible for the production of the vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament.


    However, Hong Yukun felt disappointed as he didn''t know the value of those things being processed and fermented by fruits. In Hong Yukun''s opinion, those things that Zhang Tie let him produce were just a drink with a curious package. Even though Zhang Tie said it was a medicament, Hong Yukun would think that he was kidding¡ª¡ªperhaps that medicament is only a bit effective to relieve baby cough.


    It was reasonable for Hong Yukun the former internal guards head of Dragon Emperor Pavilion to be unhappy after being dispatched to a valley as an owner of a small workshop.


    Watching Hong Yukun''s aggrieved look, Zhang Tie almost burst into laughter.


    "Yukun, didn''t you taste the medicament that I let you produce in Cloudriver Castle?"


    "Ahh? Your Majesty, you told me they were very important and didn''t allow me to use them. Therefore..." Hong Yukun whispered as he took a glimpse at Zhang Tie, "Once a vial was broken as some medicament spilled out. I dipped my fingers and tasted it. It was a bit sour and sweet. But I didn''t know its effect!"


    Hong Yukun''s answer made Zhang Tie want to laugh and weep all at once.


    Hong Yukun''s conscientious temperament made Zhang Tie reassured. However, when one person was too meticulous, he might go to extremes. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that Hong Yukun had long known that the medicament that he was producing was special; however, given his look, Zhang Tie suddenly realized that Hong Yukun might have not even tasted a complete vial of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament since the beginning. That was also the reason why Hong Yukun felt being ignored and disappointed.


    It was impossible for him to find its effects if he only tasted it by finger.


    "What about those maidens who were processing medicament in Cloudriver Castle? Didn''t they ever taste it or tell you about the effects of those medicaments?"


    Hong Yukun answered with a solemn look, "All the maidens in Cloudriver Castle are most loyal to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. They dared never taste it without Your Majesty''s consent. Additionally, I''ve arranged at least 3 supervisors for each step of the entire process. Nobody dared do that as everything is in compliance with the strictest requirements!"


    "Not bad, I like your work attitude!" Zhang Tie spoke highly of Hong Yukun with a smile, "I have a piece of news for you!"


    "Go ahead, Your Majesty?"


    "The medicament that you''re producing is Dragon Emperor''s Medicament. Before you came here, I''ve just made a trade with Emperor NvWa Palace in Yangxin Palace. Emperor NvWa Palace would pay us 1 million earth element crystals for 1 million vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament that you''ve produced in Cloudriver Castle!"


    Hong Yukun watched Zhang Tie with wide eyes and open mouth as he thought Zhang Tie was joking with him. He stammered, "Your Majesty...1...1..1 million earth element crystals...for...1...1 million vials of that medicament which is fermented by fruits and a bit average herbal medicine?"


    "The raw materials are average; however, it doesn''t mean that the medicament made of them is average. Something could turn stone into gold. The mysteries in the universe could not be fully understood by us!" Zhang Tie watched Hong Yukun, saying, "Each vial of medicament that you produced in Cloudriver Castle could at least match an earth-element crystal. It won''t be long when the annual output value that Cloudriver Castle could produce would shock the president of Earth-Treasures Department. Those vials of medicament are more precious than element crystals. Do you know why I dispatched you to Cloudriver Castle now?"


    "Your...Your Majesty, are you sure..."


    "If you feel aggrieved staying in Cloudriver Castle, I could give you a profitable job in Earth-Treasures Department or let you be the general manager of the Forbidden City. I will assign someone else to take over the production of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament in Cloudriver Castle. Do you like it..."


    After rolling his eyes for a second, Hong Yukun finally understood it as he instantly became thrilled like being drunk, kneeling down and kowtowing towards Zhang Tie, shouting, "I...I wish to stay in Cloudriver Castle and complete my mission at the request of Your...Your Majesty. After coming back, I will...will recruit some more people and expand the scale of the production of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament..."


    "No, we don''t need to expand the scale of production of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament for the time being. In the current stage, we will only produce a bit over 4 million vials. It''s the quantity that we announced to the outside. The well-made medicament will be stockpiled in the warehouses of Cloudriver Castle. Don''t let its stockpile exceed 8 million vials, namely 2 years'' production capability in Cloudriver Castle. Am I clear?"


    After thinking about it for a second, Hong Yukun nodded.


    "Good. When a thing is rare, it becomes precious. Additionally, we couldn''t be that unscrupulous given the overall strength of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in case of trouble!" Zhang Tie nodded as he warned Hong Yukun. Closely after that, he asked, "How many stockpiles are in the warehouses of Cloudriver Castle?"


    "Less than 2 million vials!"


    "Hmm, control the production capability..."


    "Given the significance of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament, I''m afraid about its safety by producing it in Cloudriver Castle..."


    "Don''t worry. I will have Commander-in-Chief Huang dispatch one camp of Dragon''s Teeth Army to Cloudriver Valley!" Zhang Tie said as he watched Hong Yukun seriously, "From now on, if any problem occurs, you and the others in Cloudriver Castle should take care of it yourselves. Life comes first. Even if we lose Dragon Emperor''s Medicament, as long as we''re alive, we could produce as many as possible. If you couldn''t handle something, someone would handle it for you..."


    Hong Yukun''s eyes turned wet at a stroke as he was really moved by Zhang Tie''s words. After wiping off his tears, Hong Yukun took in a deep breath, answering, "Your Majesty, trust me, I swear to manage Cloudriver Castle well. Being given such a vital position at such an old age by Your Majesty, I will have no pity even dying in Cloudriver Castle..."


    "Live well. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace will have its heyday in the future!" Zhang Tie plucked up his courage as he added, "The date of delivery of the first batch of medicament is the first day of next month. Prepare 100,000 vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament. Someone will get it by then. I''m after that you will not feel such relaxed after next month as more and more people would come for you. I allow you to freely use 1,000 vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament that you produce in Cloudriver Castle monthly as your personal benefit. Over these days, you''ve worked so hard. Therefore, your official rank should also be promoted. Let''s make it two ranks higher. I will notice the Immortal Generals Department to complete the relevant procedure for you..."


    "Thank you so much, Your Majesty..." Hong Yukun couldn''t stand kneeling down and kowtowing towards Zhang Tie again as his wrinkled face was covered with tears. At this moment, Hong Yukun finally felt that he got his heyday...


    ...

 1744 Nostalgia

    When encountering happy things, people would feel pretty spirited. After receiving some batches of people in Yangxin Palace, Zhang Tie had almost prepared well for the sale of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament. In the future, as long as there was no major accident, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would not lack element crystals anymore, which meant the foundation of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would be stabilized. It was finally Zhang Tie''s turn to achieve what he had sowed over the past one more year.


    Even facing major accidents such as being raided by demon powers, Zhang Tie had also made some plans to deal with them, including breaking the production of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament into parts and let each branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace take charge in the production of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament. He could even directly sell the second generation of reiki yeasts to each branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and guide each branch to produce on their own. Additionally, he even prepared to cooperate with Emperor NvWa Palace by founding production base in the territory of Emperor NvWa Palace...


    Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t need to worry about anything at all.


    When Dragon Emperor''s Medicament became popular across Motian Realm, Zhang Tie could exchange Dragon Emperor''s Medicament for some live demon heavenly knights in terms of auction for lighting his own fire chakra.


    Zhang Tie knew that a large number of people must be scrambling for exchanging an alive demon heavenly knight in above 5 change realm for 100,000 vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament; especially those independent immortal generals above fire immortal generals. As for them, as long as they could catch a demon heavenly knight alive, they would get 100,000 vials of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament, which could be further exchanged for more than 100,000 element crystals. They could do a lot of things with them, even have their own followers. To a certain degree, they could receive a large number of element crystals from somewhere else except those major immortal palaces across Motian Realm with an alive demon heavenly knight.


    If Zhang Tie was an independent supreme immortal general, he couldn''t wait to do such a trade.


    As long as he got demon heavenly knights, he would be easily promoted to a fire immortal general by lighting the fourth chakra.


    According to Zhang Tie''s plan, he would promote to a higher level in the shortest period of time only by taking chafing dish and singing songs in the Forbidden City.


    Especially today, soon after Zhang Tie adapted to his new strength and stabilized his realm of heavenly knight, Emperor NvWa Palace had people send five alive demon heavenly knights here. The trade of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament was also fixed. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt pretty good today.


    After handling these things in Yangxin Palace and reviewing the work report from Qianji Agency over the past a few months, Zhang Tie had directly returned to the Palace of Heavenly Purity. He finally spared one day to relax by taking a bath, enjoying a feast, having some drink and watching beauties dancing while singing. After that, he had a sound sleep.


    According to the work report from Qianji Agency, over the past a few months, the entire Motian Realm centered on three subjects: first, the rarities of Rune Emperor in the Dark Valley; second, the increasingly fiercer battle between humans and demons in the Nine Heavens Big Domain; third, the "mysterious figure" who aroused the "element tide" a few months ago. Especially the last event, at least all the human immortal palaces in Motian Realm had dispatched powers to look for the "immortal secret cultivation method", even though nobody knew whether demons had made a response to it.


    Like the other immortal palaces, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace also dispatched some people to look for the rarities of Rune Emperor. In this way, Zhang Tie could hide his real identity much better. Of course, Zhang Tie rooted for it very much.


    The Dark Valley became more boisterous. According to the message from some immortal generals dispatched by Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, supreme immortal generals had been discovered in the Dark Valley last month; however, nobody could find the legendary Tadpole Runes Sutra and the emperor-level immortal outfit left by Runed Emperor.


    Zhang Tie just kept an eye on its proceedings as he didn''t want to interfere with it for the time being. As for Zhang Tie, what counted most was to play the card of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament well and promote to a semi-sage as soon as possible. It would be a great waste and might do harm to him if he didn''t grab such a rare opportunity.


    If God provided a good opportunity for you and you didn''t grab it, you would be punished for sure.


    Now that it was God''s will, Zhang Tie should catch it timely.


    Today, Guan Minjun reminded Zhang Tie of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin. The two girls had already left Dragon Emperor City for a few months secretly. Even though they were going back to their own sect with the top rarity of Yin-Yang Sect, they should be fine and would make a great meritorious service for their sect. However, as Zhang Tie had not received their message for long, he was a bit worried about them. Therefore, tonight, he especially contacted Ji Yuelan through the jade plate.


    Ji Yulan soon sent back a short message to him¡ª¡ªThey''re going back to their sect''s residence soon. Over these months, the two girls hid their identities as immortal generals. After disguising themselves and making a detour, they were finally close to the residence of their original sect.


    After receiving her message, Zhang Tie finally became reassured.


    ...


    "How did you suddenly become so happy..."


    Jiang Ruoxin couldn''t stand to ask Ji Yuelan secretly at the sight of her sweet smile in a cabin of an airboat.


    Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin disguised as two average-looking young businesswomen as their voices also changed. Additionally, they were fatter than before. They lived in the same cabin of an airboat which had just left the airport of a city of Force Emperor Immortal Palace in the northeast of Nine Heavens Big Domain for another city under the rule of Force Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Nobody could imagine that the remnants of Yin-Yang Sect being wanted by Force Emperor Immortal Palace were hiding in the territory of Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Nine Heavenly Big Domain.


    Ji Yuelan put her hand on the chest where the jade plate was. After taking a look at Jiang Ruoxin, she said secretly, "He''s just sent a message to me and asked me about our current situation and whether everything is going fine..."


    "Alright, it''s just a message. Look at you, how thrilled you are..." Jiang Ruoxin joked as she felt a bit moved and reassured.


    "Why not? He asked me because he cares about me. He''s worried about me..."


    "It seems that you''ve really had a crush on him!"


    "Haven''t you?" Ji Yuelan asked Jiang Ruoxin, "On the evening when Dragon Emperor returned to the Apricot Blossom Courtyard, I found you''ve already been moved; otherwise, you would never have approached a man on purpose like that..."


    "Me? Perhaps!" Jiang Ruoxin gazed at Ji Yuelan seriously as she stayed calm, "I admit I was a bit moved then. But you know I couldn''t sense any excitement when I kissed him. He just regarded it as an accident. Of course, he enjoyed it; however, he was not thrilled at that time. From then on, I had known that that man would never allow us to touch the depth of his inner heart; nor would he fall in love with us. Such a man is the conqueror of all the women in Yin sect. If you still have a crush on him, you know the outcome as long as the love flame of Three-Lives Sutra that we cultivate is burned..."


    "So what even if I burn myself into ashes due to love?" Ji Yuelan smiled as she turned around. Avoiding from Jiang Ruoxin''s gaze, she watched the vast nightscape outside the porthole attentively and firmly, continuing, "If you also fall in love with someone, you will know that it''s enough as long as you could stay by his side and do something for him on many occasions. As for whether he loves you or not, it''s actually not important. If he''s a towering tree, I prefer to be a tweeting bird on it or a butterfly flying around him. I don''t ask too much..."


    After hearing Ji Yuelan''s reply, Jiang Ruoxin let out a deep sigh, "Alas, you''d better not reveal your love affairs to the elders of our sect..."


    ...

 1745 The Trick of Star Emperor

    On the bed of Palace of Heavenly Purity which was so broad that Zhang Tie even felt guilty lying on it alone. He had a pretty sound sleep on it and didn''t get up until the next sunrise. After that, Zhang Tie took a bath leisurely and rinsed his mouth. It was almost noon when he finished his hearty breakfast.


    Zhang Tie finally became relaxed after being intense for a few months. He could continue to concentrate on his cultivation at full spirit.


    The five iron cabinets that Emperor NnWa Palace had people deliver here had been moved to the backroom under Jiaotai Palace. After entering his backroom and closing its gate, Zhang Tie had opened all the five iron cabinets.


    There were indeed five demon heavenly knights inside the iron cabinets, including three iron-armored demons, one wing demon and one spider demon. All the five demon heavenly knights were disabled and covered with wounds. The wing demon''s two wings had been broken. The spider demon was more like a meatball. Additionally, all the five demon heavenly knights were inserted with a long purple bizarre metal spike respectively on their central forehead, chest, and qi sea.


    The metal spike was called demon-nailing spike. As a high-end rune weapon in Motian Realm, as long as it was inserted into the three locations, even demon heavenly knights couldn''t move anymore.


    All the earlier two batches of demon shadow knights that Star Emperor Immortal Palace dispatched here were subdued by some secret methods; however, demon heavenly knights couldn''t be completely subdued by a secret method; instead, they could only be controlled by demon-nailing spike.


    The five demon heavenly knights looked very miserable. Given their looks, Zhang Tie could imagine how they were caught alive.


    However, Zhang Tie felt pretty cool about their miserable looks. He preferred all the demons to die. Anyone who had witnessed the dark side of demons in the wars between demons and humans wouldn''t have any sympathy towards demons.


    Zhang Tie walked to the front of the first iron-armored demon and observed it for a few seconds. When he found no problem with this demon, he immediately drew the demon-nailing spike out of its central forehead.


    When the demon-nailing spike was drawn out of its central forehead, the iron-armored demon opened its eyes at a stroke.


    It gazed at Zhang Tie deadly with its bloody, insane eyes which were full of killing intent.


    "Who are you?" The demon heavenly knight growled as it tried to struggle. Pitifully, it couldn''t move at all as it still took the other two demon-nailing spikes with it while being fixed in the iron cabinet.


    "Idiot..." Zhang Tie twitched his mouth in a disdainful way.


    "What did you say...let me go...what do you want...I will tear you apart..." The demon heavenly knight kept growling.


    Zhang Tie didn''t say anything else as he put his hand on the head of the demon heavenly knight and triggered Purgatory Samsara Method to break the fire chakra of the demon heavenly knight.


    The demon-nailing spike in the central forehead of the demon heavenly knight was used to seal its consciousness and spiritual power. The demon-nailing spike was especially sensitive to any change of the demon''s spiritual power and chakra. If not draw it out of there, as long as Zhang Tie triggered Purgatory Samsara Method, the demon knight''s brains would be blown up by the demon-nailing spike. Therefore, before triggering Purgatory Samsara Method, Zhang Tie had to draw the demon-nailing spike out of its central forehead.


    As long as the Purgatory Samsara Method was applied, the demon knight instantly felt like falling into the purgatory. It instantly changed its face while blood spilled out of its eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Closely after that, he couldn''t stand to shriek loudly.


    "What''s this secret method...what do you want..."


    Zhang Tie ignored the growls of the demon heavenly knight; instead, he continued his spiritual strike. As it was in his backroom, nobody would care about the demon knight even if its voice became hoarse.


    As the demon heavenly knight shrieked miserably, its fire chakra broke into pieces at a stroke. Closely after that, Zhang Tie started to absorb them madly.


    By then, the demon heavenly knight didn''t look painful anymore; instead, it showed extreme fear.


    "My life...everything of mine belongs to the paramount dominator Demon God...You dirty and despicable blasphemer... Demon Emperor and the dominator Demon God will...will never let you go..." The demon heavenly knight directly broke all of its teeth as it kept wailing in front of Zhang Tie in despair.


    "Now that demons could eat humans, humans could also eat demons. They don''t let me go? I won''t let them go either..." Zhang Tie sneered as he soon absorbed the entire fire chakra of the demon heavenly knight. Closely after that, he inserted the demon-nailing spike into its central forehead again. As a result, the demon heavenly knight instantly became still as it closed its eyes.


    Licking his lips, Zhang Tie thought, ''The demon heavenly knight in above 5 change realm is really fat. This demon heavenly knight had already reached a bit above 6 change realm. The fire element that I''ve absorbed from it is equal to over 10 years'' ascetic cultivation of mine. If I refined all the fire element of its fire chakra, I should be able to reach above 2 change realm of the heavenly knight.


    ''What a nice promotion! However, pitifully, as long as I promote to a semi-sage knight and light all the four chakras, the Purgatory Samsara Method would be useless to me. If I want to promote to a sage-level knight or immortal emperor, I have to depend on myself.''


    After refining the fire chakra of one demon heavenly knight, Zhang Tie came to the second one. After drawing the demon-nailing spike out of the demon heavenly knight''s central forehead, Zhang Tie continued his refinement under growls and wails.


    Zhang Tie prepared to refine all the fire chakras of the five demon heavenly knights this time. After that, he would slowly absorb their fire element so as to light his own fire chakra.


    Zhang Tie soon refined three iron-armored demons'' fire chakras. Then, he came to the wing demon heavenly knight.


    Zhang Tie found that the wing demon heavenly knight was strange. When he drew the demon-nailing spike out of its central forehead, it instantly opened its eyes. However, it didn''t growl towards him like the other iron-armored demons; instead, it gazed at Zhang Tie deadly.


    Zhang Tie didn''t think too much about this fat on the kneading board as he started his refinement at once. Even when he shattered the wing demon''s fire chakra and started to refine its fire element, the wing demon still remained silent...


    Zhang Tie suddenly became alert.


    ''Impossible! Neither humans or demons could bear the sharp pain caused by Purgatory Samsara Method and stay silent, even the most strong-willed dauntless demon knights. Perhaps some demons could remain silent when their chakra was broken; however, the pain in the process of the refining their chakra was ten times greater than that of slicing and mashing up their meridians, flesh and bones alive using hot saber spiritually and physically. How does this wing demon heavenly knight make it?''


    There was only one reason for this demon knight to stay silent in this extreme situation, namely, it couldn''t feel pain at all.


    There were many ways to isolate someone from pain. However, there were only two ways to isolate a living demon heavenly knight from pain, being active or being negative. As for the active way, to cut off the connection between its senses and its neurons in some secret method so as to enclose its brains and awareness. In this way, it would lose its control over its own body while being isolated from pain. However, apparently this wing demon heavenly knight was captured alive in combat. Therefore, it couldn''t isolate itself from pain. What was more, demon knights were usually very valiant. Among all the demon knights that Zhang Tie had met, none of them were afraid of death, not to mention pain. Therefore, even if demon knights grasped this secret method to isolate themselves from pain, they would never use it; because it symbolized weakness and impotence and was the most contemptuous behavior in demon knights'' eyes...


    Therefore, this wing demon heavenly knight''s perception of pain must have been cut off by someone else after being captured alive. Among all the secret methods that could isolate one''s perception from pain, this one must be a high-end spiritual secret method which could keep the demon''s senses even spiritual perceptive capability after isolating it from pain...


    As a powerhouse who was proficient in spiritual tricks after grasping the Bloody Soul Sutra, Zhang Tie had a lot of secret skills. He then refined the entire fire chakra of the wing demon heavenly knight in the shortest period of time. Closely after that, under the gaze of the wing demon heavenly knight, he pointed at its central forehead.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie launched a runed secret strike of Bloody Soul Sutra into the mind sea of the wing demon heavenly knight using his great spiritual energy.


    Zhang Tie then felt the mind sea of the wing demon heavenly knight rock once. Closely after that, like a piece of wet sponge being squeezed, a bloody rune flew out of the deep mind sea of the wing demon heavenly knight. In the split second, it collided with Zhang Tie''s rune and shattered into pieces at the same time.


    When the two runes collided with each other, the head of the wing demon heavenly knight blew up in a split second as if a bomb was detonated in a watermelon.


    The invisible strength caused by colliding spiritual energy caused Zhang Tie to move one step back with a muffled harrumph.


    Meanwhile, a domineering yet a bit feminine face of a middle-aged Hua man appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind sea. That strange look even took a deep look at Zhang Tie out of a bit shock...


    Zhang Tie had never seen him before. However, Zhang Tie knew who he was; because he had viewed this man''s image in a collection of celebrities in the study room of Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    This man was Star Emperor!


    ''Through this late wing demon heavenly knight, Star Emperor should have already known that I''ve mastered Purgatory Samsara Method.''

 1746 Zhang Ties Counterattack

    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to experience the method of an immortal emperor since he came to Motian Realm for such a long time.


    Leng Manxue had already warned Zhang Tie to be alert about Star Emperor; therefore, Zhang Tie was also meticulous.


    In Zhang Tie''s opinion, Star Emperor could only take advantage of demon generals in two aspects: first, let those demon generals to arouse a big trouble in Dragon Emperor City after their iron cabinets were opened; second, after meeting Zhang Tie, demon generals would pass the image of the culprit of this trade to the side of demons, incurring a big trouble from demons.


    Therefore, when each batch of demon generals arrived there in iron cabinets, Zhang Tie would always confirm that those demon generals had lost their resistance and didn''t carry any hazardous objects; especially tools that could pass messages such as jade plate before starting to break and refine their chakras.


    Besides, Zhang Tie really didn''t know how else could Star Emperor take advantage of these dead fish.


    Just now, when Zhang Tie opened the iron cabinets and observed those demon generals, he had already seen through them using his lotus-flower eyes. After confirming that they could be used safely, Zhang Tie finally drew the demon-nailing spikes out of their central foreheads.


    With lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie could catch any real objects on these demon generals including silver-secret items and their physical conditions. However, lotus-flower eyes were not almighty; at least Zhang Tie couldn''t see through the effects of some soul-related secret method in the mind sea of demon generals by lotus-flower eyes just like that he couldn''t see one''s thoughts.


    The rune of the soul-related secret method applied by Star Emperor didn''t show up until Zhang Tie applied a secret skill called Mountains'' Reflection Skill of Bloody Soul Sutra. Zhang Tie soon realized how domineering and brutal was the secret skill. Even if the wing demon heavenly knight didn''t have any problem in his mind, its mind sea and brain would also blow up the moment the secret skill took effect.


    Like looking for rats in a china shop; if you didn''t break up those chinas, you could barely find those rats among the gaps of chinas. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t apply this secret skill until he fully refined the fire chakra of the wing demon knight. If he did it before refining its fire chakra, he would get nothing but a carcass.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Star Emperor was proficient in such a bizarre and powerful soul-related secret skill.


    Strictly, the effect of the secret skill was similar to that of Zhang Tie''s soul-transfer animal controlling skill. The difference was that by using Mountains'' Reflection Skill Zhang Tie turned the wind demon heavenly knight into an information collector who had been isolated from its pain despite with senses and spiritual perceptive capability. However, by applying soul-transfer animal controlling skill he transferred a part of his original soul and spirit into one carrier while maintaining all the senses and capabilities.


    Watching the blood and brain that sprout out of the wing demon heavenly knight''s head and sniffing the gradually diffusive bloody smell, Zhang Tie slightly frowned. Meanwhile, he racked his mind to sorted out this thing and work out a solution.


    Strictly, Zhang Tie had just ended a wrestle with Star Emperor in a draw.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Star Emperor could apply such a secret method to the demon heavenly knight. The Star Emperor simply took demon heavenly knights as sh*t. Meanwhile, Star Emperor didn''t imagine that his secret skill had been discovered by Zhang Tie due to the demon knight''s abnormal indifference of extreme pain. Nor could he imagine that Zhang Tie could notice his existence in this process.


    Although they didn''t see each other face-to-face, it was almost like that.


    It was absolutely embarrassing for Star Emperor and Star Emperor Immortal Palace to be caught on the spot when Dragon Emperor examined his commodities.


    As for Zhang Tie, his greatest loss was that the secret that he grasped Purgatory Samsara Method had been unveiled to Star Emperor.


    ''As I''m in Motian Realm, not in Taixia Country, I don''t have to carry a heavy burden because of Purgatory Samsara Method. Even though Star Emperor knows that, so what? Now that I dared ask for demon generals from Star Emperor Immortal Palace as compensation, I was not afraid of unveiling the secret of Purgatory Samsara Method to them. It was completely different than exposing Star Emperor himself to me.''


    Zhang Tie gradually revealed a sneer.


    ''Although Star Emperor''s trick makes me feel uncomfortable, it''s not necessarily bad; especially after Star Emperor was caught by me on the spot.''


    ''If I were Star Emperor, I would definitely think that Grand Dragon Emperor had grasped some more powerful secret methods during the past hundreds of years like what I applied that night and Purgatory Samsara Method that Star Emperor has already know. None of these secret methods exist in Motian Realm.''


    ''As I''ve grasped Purgatory Samsara Method as the disciple of Grand Dragon Emperor, Star Emperor must think that Grand Dragon Emperor has grasped this secret method too.''


    ''As an immortal emperor, how would Star Emperor, being always skeptical, feel after knowing so many trump cards of Grand Dragon Emperor?''


    ''Fear, Star Emperor must fear about the Grand Dragon Emperor which has long perished pretty much.''


    ''If not, Star Emperor would neither have proposed to cease fire with Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace nor peep into the reason that I asked for these demon knights. Therefore, what happened just now must have made Star Emperor more scared of Grand Dragon Emperor.''


    ''The real Dragon Emperor has already disappeared in this world; however, Star Emperor still don''t know about that yet, at least now.''


    ''It''s a good opportunity for me to strike the iron while it''s hot and hold high the banner of the late Dragon Emperor.''


    ''If the real Dragon Emperor is still alive and very powerful, what he would do after knowing that Star Emperor applied a trick on one of the demon knights that he sent to me.''


    After considering it for a short while, Zhang Tie''s eyes slowly turned bright. Finally, he almost laughed his ass off.


    ''Now that you''ve created such a good opportunity for me, of course, I will grab it to blackmail you!''


    Zhang Tie sent a message to Leng Manxue, "Notice Emperor NvWa Palace''s agency in Dragon Emperor City, let Wu Qiankun wait for me in Yangxin Palace. I will see him in 1 hour!"


    Apparently, Leng Manxue was amazed by Zhang Tie''s message. She thought that Zhang Tie might be in secluded cultivation for a few months again this time. Unimaginably, Zhang Tie wanted to see Wu Qiankun soon after he entered Jiaotai Palace.


    "Roger that!"


    After receiving Leng Manxue''s reply, Zhang Tie immediately came to the front of the last iron cabinet. After drawing the demon-nailing spike out of the central forehead of the spider demon heavenly knight, Zhang Tie started to break and refine its fire chakra in the ear-splitting wails.


    ...


    One hour later, Zhang Tie saw Wu Qiankun in Yangxin Palace once again with a cold look.


    Being muddle-headed, he didn''t know why Zhang Tie suddenly wanted to see him as he had just left Forbidden City yesterday.


    "Your Majesty, do you have any more requirement about the trade of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament?" Wu Qiankun asked conscientiously as he could easily notice that Zhang Tie was unpleasant.


    "The trade of Dragon Emperor''s Medicament remains unchanged. I''m not calling you for Dragon Emperor''s Medicament; but for Star Emperor Immortal Palace." Zhang Tie said distantly. After that, he even uttered a cold harrumph.


    Wu Qiankun finally became relieved. After rolling his eyes for a second, he asked, "Your Majesty, don''t you feel pleased about the last batch of commodities?"


    "General Manager Wu, do you think a pot of soup could drink with mouse dung? Last time, given the reputation of Emperor NvWa Palace and General Manager Wu, I forgave Star Emperor Immortal Palace for what they did. I didn''t want to plunge the people into misery and suffering. However, Star Emperor Immortal Palace has really gone too far. They bullied Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for a couple of times..." After saying that, Zhang Tie slapped his palm onto the desk in front of him as he added with full killing intent, "General Manager Wu, you could tell Star Emperor Immortal Palace, if Star Emperor Immortal Palace doesn''t mean to solve the problem in a peaceful way, our agreement will be invalid and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace will seek revenge from Star Emperor Immortal Palace for what they did before. Star Emperor Immortal Palace could use whatever methods they could. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is ready for that!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Wu Qiankun immediately realized that something was wrong with the last batch of demon generals. However, he still asked meticulously out of a bit fluke mind, "Err...we''ve checked each commodity that Emperor NvWa Palace has sent here. There should...should be no problem with them...Err...Your Majesty, there must be some misunderstanding."


    "Misunderstanding?" Zhang Tie sneered as he added, "Ask Star Emperor whether it''s a misunderstanding or not. You could tell Star Emperor Immortal Palace, all the conditions that I posed last time are invalid. If Star Emperor Immortal Palace still wants reconciliation with Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, they must send me 10 more demon wind immortal generals in over 5 change realm or something else of the same value by the end of this year. "


    "Of the same value?" Wu Qiankun watched Zhang Tie with wide eyes as he wondered about the value of a demon wind immortal general...


    "Star Emperor should be crystal clear about this. General Manager Wu could directly tell my words to him!"


    ...

 1747 The Nest of Yin-Yang Sec

    The northeast region of Nine Heavenly Big Domain belonged to Force Emperor Immortal Palace. Force Emperor Immortal Palace had hundreds of cities and over 2 billion population here. Therefore, this region was very prosperous.


    Among these cities, given the size of the population, Redmountain City was only a very inconspicuous city.


    Being almost in the northernmost edge of Nine Heavenly Big Domain, it was surrounded by mountains. There was no big city nearby. Redmountain City only had a bit more than 1 million people. It didn''t have local specialties; nor did it have a developed business. The entire city was predominated by agriculture, aided by minor iron ores and workshops. Like the other small cities that were affiliated to immortal palaces across Motian Realm, Redmountain City was self-sufficient. In this region, Force Emperor Immortal Palace was paramount while all the urban citizens were the followers of this immortal palace. Everything went in order here. If there was no major event in this city, it might still be strange to people outside after hundreds of years.


    The destination of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin was Redmountain City.


    After a few hours'' night flight, when the airboat arrived at Redmountain City, the day had just broken.


    At the airport outside Redmountain City, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin followed the others off the airboat as they headed for the downtown. After detouring quite a while in the city, they covered each other and took action independently. After confirming that they were not followed, they converged and came to a luxurious castle outside the city, which leaned against mountains and faced a river.


    This castle was only about 15 miles away from Force Emperor Immortal Palace''s branch in Redmountain City. As the largest and most brilliant castle in the city, this castle occupied the most beautiful region outside Redmountain City. Everyone across Redmountain City knew that this castle belonged to Ying Clan of Redmountain City. More than that, even the greater part of Redmountain City belonged to Ying Clan.


    Ying Clan''s forebears rooted in here and founded the Redmountain City at the beginning. Later on, Ying Can bound Force Emperor Immortal Palace close together with the entire Redmountain City and over 1 million people in the city. They built many sacred churches of Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City. All the heads of the branch of Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City came from Ying Clan.


    The relationship between Ying Clan, Redmountain City and Force Emperor Immortal Palace could be described in the following: Redmountain City belonged to Force Emperor Immortal Palace while the branch of Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City belonged to Ying Clan.


    This mode was usually seen in Motian Realm. After those small clans owning immortal generals and cities were annexed by immortal palaces or joined some immortal palaces, the immortal palaces and these small clans could always find a way of coexistence which satisfied both parties.


    Immortal palaces urgently needed population and sacred churches. Those small clans and immortal generals urgently needed a powerful reliance and element crystals. Therefore, they could easily give compromise to each other.


    However, nobody knew that Ying Clan in Redmountain City was the nest of Yin-Yang Sect being chased by Force Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Over hundreds of years, those people of Yin-Yang Sect already had their undertakings in the border of Nine Heavens Big Domain in a new identity, and joined Force Emperor Immortal Palace aboveboard, turning the most perilous place into the safest place.


    How could the immortal generals of Force Emperor Immortal Palace know that the sect that they were chasing had already become a part of themselves? They couldn''t even investigate it at all.


    The head of Ying Clan was an immortal general and the head of the branch of Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City. The head of Ying Clan was erotic as he had a lot of wives and concubines. Therefore, Ying Clan''s castle outside Redmountain City contained a lot of women. In the latest two months, Ying Clan''s castle outside Redmountain City had just recruited another batch of beautiful maidens.


    Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin had heard about this news the moment they arrived at Redmountain City.


    Actually, it was not a shortcoming for immortal generals to be erotic. In Motian Realm, as women could barely get pregnant, many immortal generals had a lot of wives and concubines so as to have more children. Because the branch of Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City was always free, everyone across Redmountain City knew that the head of Ying Clan spent most of his time in his private castle with his women. He rarely went to the branch of Force Emperor Immortal Palace. It was already a public secret.


    Everything had been arranged perfectly.


    ...


    After Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin told one guard at the side gate of the castle about the name of a butler inside the castle, a slightly fat woman in a decent dress walked out of the side gate two minutes later as she took a look at them seriously.


    "You are..." The woman glanced at Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin who had disguised as men skeptically.


    "Aunt Tang, don''t you remember us? We''re from Brightmoon Valley, Largesquare City. We''re relatives. I''m Tang Yi. He''s Tang An. A few years ago, Aunt Tang even visited our family and had a chat with my eldest uncle and his wife. Aunt Tang, you told us that you needed helpers here and told us to look for you if we want a job..." Ji Yuelan replied with a humble smile as she bowed towards her, which looked pretty real, "And here we are. These days, we two are free at home. Therefore, our eldest uncle managed some traveling expense for us and sent us here for you..."


    After hearing Ji Yuelan''s words, the woman instantly revealed a faint smile as a hidden bizarre look flashed across, saying, "Oh, you still remember that. As Ying Clan has large undertakings, we need a lot of workers. But if you want to work in Ying Clan, you should be obedient and work hard. If not, you could stay longer in Ying Clan..."


    "We know that. We will never make you embarrassed, Aunt Tang!"


    "Hmm, follow me in. I will find a residence for you!"


    "Hmm, hmm!" Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin hurriedly nodded.


    "In here, don''t look around or ask around. Don''t run about. You have to follow me no matter what you do!" As she warned them, the woman took Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin into the door. As they walked forward, she kept talking, "We need two gardeners and two doorkeepers of the rice mill. The latter two jobs are a bit relaxed with higher compensation. However, the doorkeepers should know mathematical calculations and be clever. I cannot assure you that Butler Ying would look good upon you..."


    "We know. We know. As we''re new here, we would like to do any job we could. After we''re familiar with the environment, we might do something else..."


    "Hmm, understanding boys. But you''d better call me Butler Tang in the castle instead of aunt!"


    "Okay, okay..."


    At this moment, even though some immortal generals were eavesdropping their talk, they would never doubt their contents.


    It was a high tall outside the castle. After passing this high wall, they saw a slightly shorter wall. There was a road that could allow two flying uran carriages to go shoulder to shoulder between the two walls. After a few more steps, they entered another gate where they came to the real inner court of the castle of Ying Clan.


    Yin Clan had been prosperous for many generals in Redmountain City; therefore, many designs in its castle were like that of the other major clans. For instance, Ying Clan had set preventive facilities against immortal generals in the shorter wall.


    After reaching the inner court of the castle, they passed by a vestibule. Then, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin became relaxed. However, Butler Tang in front of them became a bit more meticulous.


    "Tang Ling, tell those grand elders and head of our sect that we''re back. We''ve got something important to tell them. We''re waiting for them in the Sun and Moon Hall..." Jiang Ruoxin told Butler Tang secretly in front of them.


    Butler Tang didn''t look back. She even didn''t change her stride frequency. She just slightly nodded.


    After a short while, Butler Tang led Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin to a remotely unpopulated, small courtyard.


    "You two will live here for the time being. Take a good rest. I will come here for you tomorrow..."


    "Okay!"


    After leaving some words to them seriously, Butler Tang trotted away from the small courtyard. Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin then entered a room and closed the door from inside.


    Even though the two people knew that everyone in this castle belonged to Yin-Yang Sect including the entire Ying family, the guards, gardeners, even cooks and maidens. However, they had to follow the rules. The reason that Yin-Yang Sect could survive the chase of Force Emperor Immortal Palace lay in that they were always conscientious.


    Upon entering the room and looking around for a short while, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin finally let out a deep sigh.


    "We''re finally back. As we have to avoid from being followed, we''ve traveled a few more times longer. That almost killed me!" Ji Yuelan complained as she tore off her mask, revealing her beautiful look. Meanwhile, she restored her original voice.


    Jiang Ruoxin also turned into her original look in the blink of an eye as she put away her mask, saying, "Given the current situation, we have to be careful!"


    "What reward do you think we could receive after accomplishing this mission in such a short period of time?"


    "Do you really care about that bit of reward?"


    "Of course not!"


    "I''ve not imagined that a new batch of female disciples has just been recruited..."


    "Given the limited territory, we will meet a bottleneck in development. It''s not easy for us to cultivate more disciples. I think we should really consider about Zhang Tie''s suggestion. I mean, Yin-Yang Sect could have a try in Dragon Emperor Big Domain..."


    "We couldn''t decide that. It depends on our masters!"


    As the two girls talked, they casually cleaned up their room. After that, they fiddled somewhere in a wardrobe for a short while, causing the wardrobe to move away silently, exposing an entrance. Closely after that, the two girls entered the cave.


    There was a secret tunnel inside the cave which led all the way to a spacious space underground with some passes and blank doors on the way.


    Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin then came into the spacious underground space where there was a grand palace marked as "Sun and Moon Hall" above its gate.


    This was the core region of Yin-Yang Sect. Right inside there, the memorial tablets of the forebears of Yin-Yang Sect were placed in an order.


    After lighting some incense for those memorial tablets, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin started to wait quietly in Sun and Moon Hall. Not until 1 hour later did 4 women and 1 man enter the hall.


    At the sight of them, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed towards them.


    "Masters, grand elders and head, we''re back..."


    ...

 1748 In the Sun and Moon Hall

    The masters of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were two beautiful middle-aged women with tall buns and phoenix eyes. They were in red and purple respectively. The other two women being called grand elders were also as beautiful as their masters. The head of Yin-Yang Sect was a 50-odd-year-old man. In black hair, he looked decent and noble like the owner of a city.


    This man was Ying Canghai, the head of Ying Clan in Redmountain City and the head of the branch of Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City.


    Of course, it was just his public identity. Ying Canghai''s real identity was the incumbent head of Yin-Yang Sect. Superficially, the two masters of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin and the other two women being called grand elders were Ying Canghai''s wives, they were actually the four grand elders of Yin-Yang Sect. They were actually Ying Canghai''s junior female fellow apprentices. In fact, only the grand elder in blue was Ying Canghai''s wife.


    On the ground, those members of Yin-Yang Sect covered their real cultivation bases in secret methods and rarities.


    Ying Canghai''s real cultivation base was fire immortal general despite he only looked like an earth immortal general in the public. The four grand elders of Ying-Yang Sect were all water immortal generals despite they all looked like below immortal generals in the public. Their real identities could barely be discovered by the others in the public; especially in remote places such as Redmountain City.


    Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were already elders of Yin-Yang Sect; especially Jiang Ruoxin who was an excellent one among elders.


    "Yuelan, Ruoxin, haven''t you just joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace? Why did you come back so fast? Have you completed your mission?" Ying Canghai opened his mouth after the five influential figures of Yin-Yang Sect took their seats. At the same time, he glanced over Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin with his sharp eyes, saying, "I was told that the Grand Dragon Emperor had come back after disappearing for more than 900 years. The entire Dragon Emperor City was shocked by that. It''s also said that the new Dragon Emperor Zhang Tie is exceptionally tricky. All the elders and grand justices of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace have lost their power. Did you leave Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace because of your exposure?"


    The four beauties fixated onto Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin at the same time.


    Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin exchanged a glance with each other. Closely after that, Jiang Ruoxin replied, "Head, we''re back voluntarily. Because we''ve already completed our mission¡ª¡ªbringing back the No-Hatred Tortoise that the Grand Dragon Emperor borrowed from our sect!"


    Yin-Yang Sect was known as no hatred for three lives. Three Lives Sutra and No-Hatred Sutra were the independent secret cultivation method of Yin branch and Yang branch. No-Hatred Sutra was in the jade tortoise that the Grand Dragon Emperor once borrowed from them while the jade tortoise was called No-Hatred Tortoise in Yin-Yang Sect. When the Grand Emperor took away the No-Hatred Tortoise from Yin-Yang Sect, No-Hatred Sutra still spread among Yang branch of Yin-Yang Sect as some elders and branch heads mastered it. Whereas, when Yin-Yang Sect offended Force Emperor Immortal Palace and was almost wiped out by Force Emperor, No-Hatred Sutra was soon lost.


    Over these years, the remains of Yin-Yang Sect were hiding here and there. When they finally recovered a bit, they immediately tried to get back the No-Hatred Tortoise from Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Especially within the late 100-odd years, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were absolutely not the only two persons who assumed such a heavy responsibility. However, all the earlier ones failed their missions. Compared to the setbacks that the earlier ones encountered, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin got the No-Hatred Tortoise too smoothly.


    "What? You''ve already got back the No-Hatred Tortoise?", Ying Canghai almost sprung up from his throne after hearing Jiang Ruoxin''s words. The other four grand elders of Yin-Yang Sect also inclined a bit forward as they watched Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin in an unbelievable manner.


    "The No-Hatred Tortoise is in this space-teleportation finger ring. You could take it out on the first day of next month..." Jiang Ruoxin said as he took out a finger ring and handed it to Ying Canghai.


    After taking it, Ying Canghai closed his eyes as he penetrated his spiritual energy into the finger ring. Closely after that, he became thrilled.


    At this moment, even if he couldn''t use this space-teleportation finger ring, he could still check the object inside it spiritually.


    "Hmm...hmm...it is No-Hatred Tortoise...it''s as same as that being recorded in the illustrated book left by our sect. Even the hidden grains on its shell are the same. Our Yin-Yang Sect is going to develop vigorously. We''re going to invigorate..." Ying Canghai became excited as he handed it to the other grand elders of Yin-Yang Sect at present.


    After looking inside it spiritually, all the grand elders were shocked so much.


    "When I went with your head to Dragon Emperor City to look for No-Hatred Tortoise, we almost couldn''t come back due to heavy wounds as we encountered Long Jiutian the grand justice of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in the evening..." the beautiful woman in blue sitting beside Ying Canghai handed the finger ring back to Ying Canghai as she asked Ji Yuelan out of curiosity.


    "Oh, Yuelan, how did you get this No-Hatred Tortoise with Ruoxin? Tell us about the details!"


    "Actually, we didn''t get it on our own; instead, Zhang Tie gave it back to us voluntarily..." Ji Yuelan said calmly.


    "What..." After hearing Yuelan''s words, the head and all the four grand elders changed their faces at a stroke.


    "You''ve told Zhang Tie about your real identity?" Ying Canghai immediately turned grim as he asked them solemnly.


    "We joined the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City together with Zhang Tie. By then, we didn''t know that Zhang Tie was the disciple of Dragon Emperor. As Yuelan and I got along well with Zhang Tie, after Zhang Tie ascended to the throne, he had let us assume important positions in Earth-Treasures Department. In the opinion of the others of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, we two are Zhang Tie''s trusted subordinates. However, we didn''t tell Zhang Tie about our real identities. We usually behaved meticulously in case of failing the mission after exposing our real identity. However, as the disciple of Dragon Emperor, Zhang Tie was really something. He has mastered a lot of shocking secret methods. We two didn''t know how on earth Zhang Tie knew our real identities. One day, he suddenly appointed us to have a drink with him in the Forbidden City; closely after that, he took out the No-Hatred Tortoise at the table and wanted to give it back to us. Not until then did we know that Zhang Tie had already known our real identity..." Jiang Ruoxin explained.


    The head and all the four grand elders of Yin-Yang Sect exchanged a glance with each other in an unimaginable way.


    "Zhang Tie just returned it to you without any condition?" Jiang Ruoxin''s master asked her with a frown.


    "Yes!" Jiang Ruoxin nodded as she added, "Zhang Tie said it belonged to Yin-Yang Sect. After his master took it away, the Grand Dragon Emperor didn''t return it. According to him, it was reasonable for him to return it to us!"


    "Additionally, even though Zhang Tie had known our real identity, he didn''t discriminate us like others. He said that the secret methods of Yin-Yang Sect originated from the universal law¡ª¡ªSingle Yin or Yang couldn''t exist long in this world. Methods themselves were not good or bad. He even expressed that if Yin-Yang Sect couldn''t stay in other places, we could go to Dragon Emperor Big Domain. As long as we comply with the rules of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace there, he would never make us embarrassed; nor would he let Force Emperor Immortal Palace hurt us!" Ji Yuelan continued.


    "Did Zhang Tie really say so?"


    "Yes, he did. We two both heard it!"


    Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin''s firm expressions made those influential figures at present change their faces.


    "Have you met anything abnormal on the way back to Nine Heavens Big Domain?" Ying Canghai asked after a short silence.


    "No, we''ve tried everything we could to confirm it on the way. Nobody was following us. Therefore, we spent such a long time on the way!" Jiang Ruoxin replied.


    All those at present believed in the capabilities of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin; otherwise, they would not have assigned them to carry out such a vital task. After hearing Jiang Ruoxin''s reply, all of them looked a bit better.


    Ying Canghai exchanged a glance with the other four grand elders before saying, "No matter what, you''ve made a great meritorious service for Yin-Yang Sect by taking back the No-Hatred Tortoise. If you have any requirement, just let us know. I and grand elders would consider it. You should take a rest after such a long travel. I''ve got something to negotiate with grand elders!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin then left Sun and Moon Palace and returned to their courtyard along the way where they came from.


    ...


    "Sisters, what do you think about that?" Ying Canghai asked the other beauties after Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin left there. Although being the head of Yin-Yang Sect, Ying Canghai didn''t change the appellation of the four grand elders privately.


    "Yuelan and Ruoxin are always conscientious. They would never reveal their real identities to Zhang Tie. When the former Dragon Emperor came back, they were also in Dragon Emperor City. Perhaps they were recognized by the former Dragon Emperor because of this. It was said that the former Dragon Emperor immediately recognize a lot of foreign powerhouses hiding in Dragon Emperor City. Perhaps the former Dragon Emperor had already discovered that they were cultivating Three Lives Sutra and known their real identities. He then told Zhang Tie about that!" Jiang Ruoxin''s master opened her mouth while all the others nodded inside.


    "I also think so. The power of an immortal emperor is unimaginable. Over 900 years ago, Dragon Emperor was powerful. Over 900 years later, I really wonder what other secret earth-shaking methods Dragon Emperor has mastered. Because Dragon Emperor had already visited the mountain gate of Yin-Yang Sect many years ago, I''m afraid that he could sense the secret methods cultivated by members of Yin-Yang Sect!" Ying Canghai nodded as he agreed with what Jiang Ruoxin''s master said.


    "I feel it''s an opportunity for Yin-Yang Sect. If Zhang Tie could really keep his promise, we might be able to leave Redmountain City and gain greater development potential in Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Although we don''t need to worry about being chased by Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City, we could barely further develop our sect here. We have to leave Redmountain City if we want to further develop our sect!" the beauty in blue said.


    "We should stay calm. Yin-Yang Sect couldn''t endure any major frustration any longer. We still know nothing about the incumbent Dragon Emperor. After we transfer to Dragon Emperor Big Domain, if Zhang Tie suddenly changes his mind, Yin-Yang Sect would face a fatal catastrophe. I suggest we wait for a period. However, we couldn''t miss such a rare opportunity. No matter what, at least Zhang Tie has shown his sincerity by giving the No-Hatred Tortoise back to us. Additionally, he didn''t assign people to follow Yuelan and Ruoxin. Sisters, after Yuelan and Ruoxin return to Dragon Emperor City, one of you could go to Dragon Emperor City to contact Zhang Tie on behalf of us. We need to test Zhang Tie''s moral standing first!" Ying Canghai posed a relatively safer solution as the head of Yin-Yang Sect.


    All the others at present nodded...


    "Ahem...ahem...three sisters, as we''ve got back the No-Hatred Tortoise, do you consider about..."


    "Let''s talk about cultivating pals later. It''s voluntary..." Ji Yuelan''s master flushed slightly as she suggested.


    "Well, it depends on you!" Ying Canghai shifted the subject at once after being glared by the beauty in blue. He took a glance at the other 3 grand elders before fixating onto one of them, asking, "Oh, Sister Xue, are you alright? Why were you silent just now..."


    The beauty in green slightly quivered a bit as she raised her head with a smile, answering, "Elder brother, now that you''ve already made such a proper arrangement and the other sisters have already said everything in need, I will just take your advice..."


    ...

 1749 A Secret Danger

    "Sister Jiang, Sister Ji..."


    When Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin arrived at a blank door, a man suddenly jumped out from aside as he greeted the two girls.


    This young man was at his 30''s. Being a bit similar to Ying Canghai, this young man was handsome with white and clean skin. However, he looked more elegant than Ying Canghai. He was the son of the head of Yin-Yang Sect, also the senior fellow apprentice of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin.


    "Ahh, Brother Ying, why are you here..." Ji Yuelan greeted him while taking a look at Jiang Ruoxin.


    The moment he came out, this young man had been gazing at Jiang Ruoxin genially.


    Of course, Ji Yuelan knew that Brother Ying had a crush on her. Over these years, almost everyone knew that this young man loved her.


    "Brother Ying..." Jiang Ruoxin nodded politely with a smile. Because she was too polite to him, it felt a bit strange between them.


    "I''ve just heard from my father that you''re back and are going to negotiate about something in Sun and Moon Hall, therefore, I was just waiting for you here..." as the young man said, he revealed an honest smile as his eyes carried full concern about Jiang Ruoxin, "I know you''ve left the sect for a mission. As for the details, my father didn''t tell me. Were you smooth about that? Have you encountered any danger? Last time, I''ve told my father that I could also participate in the mission if there''s any danger; however, my father told me that you two were most suitable to do that..."


    Ji Yuelan could only let out a sigh inside, ''Brother Ying is good for everything. He has a good cultivation base, a good look and knows how to take care of girls. He''s regarded as the Mr. Right by many sisters in Yin-Yang Sect. However, love is strange. No matter how genial Brother Ying is to Jiang Ruoxin, she didn''t have any feelings about him over so many years.''


    After hearing Brother Ying''s question, Ji Yuelan answered on behalf of Jiang Ruoxin.


    "We''ve completed this mission successfully. We didn''t encounter any dangers. Brother Ying, Sister Jiang, you could have a chat here, I got to go. I''m so tired after coming a long way here..."


    After leaving these words, Ji Yuelan wanted to go; however, Jiang Ruoxin caught her hand.


    "Brother Ying, do you have anything else to talk with us? If not, Yuelan and I got to go back. I''m a bit tired..."


    "Nothing else. Nothing else. I''m especially here to greet you. Sister Jiang, Sister Ji, as you''ve come such a long way here, you indeed need a rest..." the young man said as he revealed a disappointed look. However, he still revealed a smile, giving way to Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin so that they could leave here through the blank door. When the two girls had walked far away upwards, the young man was still watching Jiang Ruoxin''s back in a daze.


    ...


    After returning to their room and closing the entrance, Ji Yuelan let out a sigh, saying secretly, "Weren''t you gone a bit far towards Brother Ying..."


    "I cannot endure anything willingly. Because Brother Ying is a good man, I cannot deceive him!" Jiang Ruoxin also sighed as she explained.


    "Is that fate?" Ji Yuelan murmured gloomily.


    "If there''s really something like fate, I would hold it in my hand..." Jiang Ruoxin replied resolutely.


    "Do you think head and masters will transfer Yin-Yang Sect to Dragon Emperor Big Domain?"


    "I don''t think so for the time being!" Jiang Ruoxin shook her head as she expressed her opinion, "However, I''m afraid that head would assign one of our masters to follow us back to Dragon Emperor Big Domain to contact Zhang Tie in advance at least!"


    "I also think so! I think we would be driven away by Butler Tang only after staying in Redmountain City for at most 2 days..."


    "After we return to Dragon Emperor City, one of our masters would go there for us a bit later!"


    "I don''t know why, after handing in the no-hatred tortoise, I feel much relaxed at a stroke!"


    "Do you think you''ve owed to our sect too less and would not feel guilty even if you elope with someone, disobeying your master''s order..." Jiang Ruoxin asked.


    The two girls exchanged a glance with each other before revealing a smile at the same time...


    ...


    The arrival of the two remote relatives of Butler Tang didn''t bring any difference to Ying Clan''s Castle. At least, Ying Clan''s Castle remained unchanged superficially. However, some insiders had already known that Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were already back. That got to be the rules of Yin-Yang Sect. In the castle, everyone was playing their own role and doing what they were ordered to do on the ground. Nobody dared break the rules.


    Unless the sect held a party underground, when all the members of the sect could forget about their identities on the ground and treated each other sincerely in their real identities of the sect.


    Therefore, nobody came here to visit Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin. At supper, Butler Tang sent some yummy dishes to the two girls with a servant which was seen as Butler Tang''s welcome for her remote relatives.


    ...


    It soon came to the deep evening...


    After one''s day''s uproar, the Ying Clan''s castle was lying at the foot of the mountain like a huge beast in sound sleep. Some lanterns were hanging over the gate of the castle while all the gates of the castle had been closed. Only the patrolling guards were on duty.


    In this season, there was no mist in the mountain. However, tonight, Ying Clan''s Castle was suddenly surrounded by a thin mist which was dreamlike reflected in the moonlight...


    A team of guards was patrolling around the castle. All of a sudden, the eyes of the team leader fell off, closely followed by his ears and nose. After touching the ground, they all turned into blood. However, the team leader didn''t even notice that as if he couldn''t feel his organs falling; instead he kept walking forward.


    Those guards behind this team leader appeared having discovered it at all as they were still walking forward. Additionally, their eyes, ears and noses were also falling down one after another.


    Closely after that, these guards'' skin, flesh and guts started to melt like burning candles and gradually turned into bloody water, falling onto the ground. Only after marching less than 30 steps forwards, this team of guards had lost all of their flesh. However, their skeletons were still moving forwards in clothes, shoes and hats, leaving a black bloody puddle behind.


    The bloody skeletons continued to march forward as if they had lost all of their senses. Only after a few more steps forward, all the skeletons gradually tuned dry and black. Finally, they started to disappear from their legs like sands and dust, leaving piles of empty clothes, shoes and hats on the ground...


    Each of the 6 teams of patrolling guards around Ying Clan''s Castle gradually melted and disappeared like candles in this way...


    The mist that surrounded Ying Clan''s Castle gradually turned thicker, denser and darker as it fully covered the entire Ying Clan''s Castle which occupied millions of square meters'' territory.

 1750 The Disaster Facing Yin-Yang Sec

    When the insects in Ying Clan''s castle stopped hissing, Jiang Ruoxin who was in sound sleep, immediately opened her eyes. Closely after that, she sat up on her bed.


    Almost at the same time, Ji Yuelan who was sleeping on her side also turned over and sat up, eyes shining.


    As immortal generals, even though they were in sound sleep, their perceptive capability still could never be matched by commoners. The two girls remained alert even in sound sleep. The moment they heard something outside, they immediately woke up.


    The two girls exchanged a glance with each other. However, before they made any response, a thunder-like growl and loud collisions between battle qis had sounded outside the house, which reverberated around Ying Clan''s castle.


    "Who are you? How dare you raid the castle of the head of the branch of Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City..."


    It was Ying Canghai the head of Yin-Yang Sect who roared. He wanted to frighten the raiders in the name of Force Emperor Immortal Palace. Meanwhile, he was loudly warning everyone else in the castle.


    "Hehhehheh, Yin-Yang Sect is really something. If Force Emperor knows that Yin-Yang Sect''s remains are hiding in Force Emperor Immortal Palace, I wonder what will you think about it?"


    Another extremely grim voice sounded.


    After hearing that, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin changed their faces at once. After exchanging a glance with each other, they broke the roof at the same time and rushed out of the room, causing broken tiles shooting in all directions.


    Now that they had already known that Yin-Yang Sect was rooted in here, the two girls didn''t feel it necessary to hide here anymore.


    After breaking out of the room, they stood on the roof and looked around as they were both shocked.


    At this moment, the entire Ying Clan''s castle had been fully covered by a pitch-dark fog. The fog had completely isolated the entire castle from the outside world. Something might be wriggling inside the gloomy fog. It was engulfing the castle inch by inch. In fact, this fog had completely covered the moonlight and the starlight.


    Ying Canghai the head of Yin-Yang Sect whom the two girls had met in the daytime was floating in the sky while giving out brilliant battle qi with a pretty solemn look.


    The four grand elders of Yin-Yang Sect had already been standing behind Ying Canghai, weapons in hand. In the blink of an eye, the five people had formed a battle formation being connected by their qis.


    Besides, there were more than 20 male and female immortal generals in total in Yin-Yang Sect. All of them had come to the top of their roofs. Many of them had already put on metal wings. All the immortal generals were moving towards Ying Canghai, including Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin. They moved as fast as lightning bolts towards Ying Canghai and their masters only by touching the roofs on foot.


    All the other disciples of Yin-Yang Sect under immortal generals had already been awakened as they were all converging on the center of the castle.


    Only one disciple in metal wings might not know the power of the black fog, and wanted to escape out of there rapidly. The moment he rushed out of a courtyard, he broke into the black fog. When he entered the black fog, he uttered a miserable shriek. In the eyes of everyone at present, his flesh separated from his bones. Closely after that, his flesh and bones turned into bloody foams and dust. Even his metal wings lost their luster and became mottled as they fell off the sky.


    All the disciples of Yin-Yang Sect were shocked by this scene as their faces turned pale.


    "This black fog is the earlier stage of immortal power battle formation, stay away from it..." Ying Canghai roared as his battle qi started to burn like a torch in a split second, lighting up the entire castle. As the head of Yin-Yang Sect, he had to do something. "All the disciples of Yin-Yang Sect, come to my side..."


    The so-called immortal power battle formation in Motian Realm was sage-level knight''s realm in Taixia Country. The earlier stage of immortal power battle formation was half-sage level knight''s realm and the fatal skill that fire immortal generals could apply.


    At this moment, a terrifying sneer came from the black fog, whose origin was in the east, west, south or north every once a while. Nobody knew where it came from.


    The moment Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin approached the main residence of Ying Canghai, Brother Ying whom they saw in the daytime had rushed over here with two boxes, saying, "Hurry, put them on..."


    They were metal wings in the boxes. The two girls immediately put on the two metal wings. Closely after that, they rose into the sky with the other immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect who had put on metal wings.


    With metal wings, they would have a greater probability to succeed even if they escaped.


    The other common disciples of Yin-Yang Sect were also flying towards here in metal wings at their fastest speed. Those who didn''t have metal wings were rushing over there as fast as they could too.


    "May I know your name. Do you mind showing me your face? As Yin-Yang Sect has been living in seclusion for so many years. We don''t mean to compete with anybody. I wonder whether we''ve offended someone or not. If you could forgive us and save us, I Ying Canghai will appreciate you very much. No matter how much reward will Force Emperor Immortal Palace provide you, Yin-Yang Sect will present you with the same reward..." Ying Canghai said loudly as he looked around.


    Now that outsiders had already known the residence of the remains of Yin-Yang Sect, they would not be able to stay in Redmountain City any longer. On this occasion, Ying Canghai still had a fluke mind as he still wanted to preserve Yin-Yang Sect. Just now, Yin Canghai had already fought the stranger who had released such a terrifying immortal power battle formation for one round. After that, he realized that the stranger must not be inferior to him in battle strength.


    As Ying Canghai didn''t know how many people were there among the opponents and that the powers of Force Emperor Immortal Palace might arrive here at any time, he didn''t want to waste any time with them at all; instead, he just wanted to leave here as soon as possible.


    Soon after Ying Canghai''s words, the area of black fog in the opposite of him had rolled. Closely after that, a team of people rushed out of there.


    The team contained 8 people, 1 in front of 7. All of them were in black long robes. The one in the front wore a mask of long-teeth green face who felt pretty grim. Additionally, he was holding a 65 cm-long black gourd, on which bizarre runes were flowing every once a while.


    All the 7 people behind him felt like immortal generals. In black expressionless masks and black metal wings, they were all like owls.


    The 8 people''s qi fields and costumes were all pitch-dark. They were never like those who lived on the rewards of Force Emperor Immortal Palace by killing the remains of Yin-Yang Sect. Although their costumes were similar to each other, they were different than the uniforms of any other human immortal palaces in Motian Realm. Given their frames, they were not demons; at least not demons except disguised demons. As disguised demons could change their faces whenever they wanted, it was not necessary for them to wear masks. Therefore, at the sight of the 8 people, Ying Canghai instantly felt a bit inauspicious.


    "May you tell me your names?" Ying Canghai asked in a muffled voice as he told those behind him to be ready for a fight using his battle qi.


    The team leader in iron long-teeth mask didn''t answer Ying Canghai; instead, he glanced over all the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect distantly through his mask. After being glanced by this guy, they felt being licked by a serpent''s tongue. Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin both felt goosebumps all over. The strange team leader finally uttered, "There''re 28 immortal generals in Yin-Yang Sect: 1 fire immortal general, 4 water immortal generals, 6 earth immortal generals and 17 fierce immortal generals. All of them are present. We didn''t come here in vain..."


    After hearing that, all the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect changed their faces right away. It was already astonishing that this stranger knew that the nest of Yin-Yang Sect was in Redmountain City. It was more heart-breaking and terrifying rather than shocking that this guy knew the concrete number of immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect.


    "Sister Jiang, after a short while, if the battle breaks out and we''re asked to escape in different directions, I will cover you..." Brother Ying told Jiang Ruoxin secretly.


    After taking a look at Brother Ying, Jiang Ruoxin let out a sigh inside as she remained silent.


    Watching the rolling black fog in the surroundings, Ji Yuelan bit her lips as she clenched one punch and put it onto the area between her breasts as if she was hesitating...


    All the other immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect revealed different expressions. At this moment, all of them felt a bit flurried unconsciously.


    "Who the hell are you?" Ying Canghai roared as he continued, "How did you know the situation facing Yin-Yang Sect?"


    "It''s none of your business. Hehhehheh, I also know that No-Hatred Tortoise the top rarity of your sect has just returned today. As for whom I am, you will know it soon!" the one in iron long-teeth mask said icily. Closely after that, he put his hand on the black gourd and opened its lid while some golden sparkles flew out of its gourd towards the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect.


    "Go to hell!" Ying Canghai launched a strike towards those golden sparkles while his fiery hot battle qi crossed the air zone of Ying Clan''s castle like a red rainbow. As a result, the entire air zone of Ying Clan''s castle turned scarlet.


    All the people around Ying Canghai had sensed the scorching heat wave caused by the terrifying strike of this fire immortal general. None of those below fire immortal generals might be able to resist such a powerful strike.


    However, an unexpected scene appeared...


    The golden sparkles thoroughly penetrated through the battle qi strike of Ying Canghai like dandelion seeds in the wind as if they were not real. Closely after that, they covered all the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect.


    There were 28 golden sparkles in total as same as the number of the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect. One golden sparkle targeted one immortal general.


    As Ying Canghai''s strike charged at those people in black gowns, the black fog instantly surged and surrounded them. After hitting the area of black fog, Ying Canghai''s strike had dissipated, only causing the black fog to undulate for a few seconds.


    Those golden sparkles moved so fast that very few people could see clearly what they were. Neither Ji Yuelan nor Jiang Ruoxin knew what they were. Watching the golden sparkles flying towards them, they all used their instincts to release their protective battle qi. Closely after that, they launched strikes to protect themselves...


    In a split second, the air zone of Ying Clan''s castle had become colorful and brilliant.


    When Jiang Ruoxin slashed towards that golden sparkle, the golden sparkle thoroughly penetrated through her sword shadow and her protective battle qi as if it was virtual...


    Jiang Ruoxin flashed backward, closely followed by the golden sparkle. At the same time, she warned secretly, "Watch out, this thing is not afraid of our strike..."


    "Ahh, what is this f*cking thing..." an immortal general of Yin-Yang Sect shouted.


    The black fog continued to diffuse as the team leader waved his hand, sending an order, "According to the old regulation, besides those immortal generals, wipe out all the others..."


    The 7 owl-like immortal generals then charged at those disciples of Yin-Yang Sect...


    Closely after that, the air zone of Ying Clan''s castle was filled with the growls and miserable shrieks of Ying Canghai and the disciples of Yin-Yang Sect. However, only after a short while, this region had become silent again.


    ...


    "Watch out, Redmountain City, I met..." Ji Yuelan sent an incomplete message to Zhang Tie using her jade plate calmly at the last moment; because Zhang Tie''s face suddenly appeared in her mind at this moment. Not knowing why, Ji Yuelan didn''t consider her own safety at all; instead, she only thought about what Zhang Tie would do if he encountered such an accident without any preparation.


    Before she sent the complete message, Ji Yuelan had felt a head shock a bit. Closely after that, she fell into the endless dark...


    ...


    At the same time...


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes at a strike in Jiaotai Palace, Dragon Emperor City while lighting up his own fire chakra...

 1751 A Lightning Move

    "What did you meet?"


    "Are you and Jiang Ruoxin in danger?"


    "Could you receive my message?"


    Zhang Tie sent a few questions one after another, trying to figure out what Ji Yuelan wanted to express. However, Zhang Tie''s messages were like clay oxen entering the sea as he couldn''t receive any more response.


    Although the relationship between Ji Yuelan and Zhang Tie was a bit ambiguous, Zhang Tie knew that this woman was understanding. She would never make fun of him at the critical moment. Zhang Tie immediately understood that Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were in danger in Redmountain City. Ji Yuelan had just sent him a warning, which meant that she might be in sudden trouble which was out of her imagination. Additionally, the entire Yin-Yang Sect might be up to the creek.


    Zhang Tie instantly sprung up in the backroom beneath Jiaotai Palace with shiny eyes. In a split second, he had visualized the map of the entire Motian Realm except for Mountain Ruins. He instantly got three answers concerning Redmountain.


    First, Redmountain Seashore. It was in Noworry Range in the north of Star Emperor Big Domain and belonged to the territory of Star Emperor.


    Second, Redmountain Range. It was in Brilliantmoon Domain in the west of Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Brilliantmoon Region was a middle domain, which might only be 1/3 of Dragon Emperor Big Domain in terms of area. Being the location of Brilliantmoon Immortal Palace of humans, it was a big mountain range in Brillintmoon Domain. There were many cities of Brilliantmoon Immortal Palace on both sides of the mountain range. However, none of those cities were called Redmountain City although one was called Redmountain Town.


    The only one being marked as Redmountain City was in the northeast region of Nine Heavens Continent. It was within the territory of Force Emperor Immortal Palace. Redmountain City was in the border of Nine Heavens Big Domain as a very remote place.


    As the nest of Yin-Yang Sect, nowhere else was safer than being in the territory of Force Emperor Immortal Palace.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had known that Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin must be in Redmountain City of Nine Heavens Big Domain.


    To a certain degree, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were not only Zhang Tie''s trusted subordinates; they were also his bosom friends in Motian Realm. When his friends were in trouble, of course Zhang Tie shouldn''t shirk his responsibility to save them.


    Zhang Tie instantly came up to the east wall of the backroom and pressed down a pearl on the wall, exposing a secret tunnel leading to the far at once. Zhang Tie flashed in at a stroke.


    3 minutes later, after activating his invisible shen bead and his master-level hiding skill and master-level rapid moving skill, Zhang Tie flew out of a mountain cave outside Dragon Emperor City and skyrocketed into the sky. Only in a few seconds, he had already reached over 100,000 m high. Closely after that, he unfolded his invisible roc wings and flashed towards Nine Heavens Big Domain at his full effort at the speed of 30,000 m per second like an invisible meteor.


    The route towards Nine Heavens Big Domain was opposite to the route where he came to Dragon Emperor Big Domain all the way from Nine Heavens Big Domain. After leaving Dragon Emperor Big Domain, he should pass by Brokenstars Sea, the eastern part of Nine Heavens Big Domain and turn northeast. He couldn''t arrive at Redmountain City unless crossing the greater part of the human zone of Nine Heavens Big Domain. The total distance would pass 400,000 miles.


    Saving people was like fighting a fire. Zhang Tie''s speed was astonishing. At hundreds of thousands of meters high, he was flying as fast as a lightning bolt while all the mountains, rivers, cities and towns were lagged far behind in a split second. As for those airboats, they were as slow as tortoises compared to Zhang Tie.


    On the way, Zhang Tie met a lot of immortal generals, some of which were above heavenly knights. In order to save time, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to keep away from them. However, none of these people discovered Zhang Tie at all. Even though a few powers above heavenly knights could sense the trivial change of air flow thousands of meters away, Zhang Tie had already been tens of thousands of meters away. Additionally, he didn''t leave any trace. Actually, his flight couldn''t be caught by anyone''s eyes at all. Those powers were just a bit amazed. Some of them even followed Zhang Tie for dozens of miles out of curiosity. However, they had to give it up because they soon lost their target.


    It took Zhang Tie less than 6 hours to arrive at the air zone of Redmountain City. The day had completely broken while the sun was hanging high in the sky. It was actually close to noon.


    The former tranquil Redmountain City had long been in chaos. Zhang Tie instantly discovered the abnormal situation in Ying Clan''s castle.


    The miserable situation facing Ying Clan''s castle was discovered by a farmer who sent vegetables to Ying Clan''s castle in the early morning.


    Overnight, nobody was alive in Ying Clan''s castle. Some managers of the branch of Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City hurriedly came over here to check it as they were greatly frightened. After then, over 1,000 immortal soldiers of Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City were dispatched to surround the Ying Clan''s castle.


    When Zhang Tie arrived at Redmountain City, everyone across Redmountain City had known what happened to Ying Clan''s castle. Many fearless people even poured out of Redmountain City to see what happened. Therefore, the roads leading to Yin Clan''s castle from Redmountain City became more crowded than before. In addition, the mountain slopes outside Ying Clan''s castle were also full of people, who were isolated by the immortal soldiers of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Only after taking a look at Ying Clan''s castle by his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie had seen the corpses and blood over the ground and those tunnels and buildings under the ground across the castle. Zhang Tie felt disappointed at a stroke.


    The periphery of Yin Clan''s castle had been blockaded. Only a few people in the uniform of Force Emperor Immortal Palace were inspecting the situation in the castle with pale face, followed by some subordinates. They appeared negotiating about something.


    After folding his roc wings, Zhan Tie instantly descended as he suspended at about 100 m high above those inspectors.


    "...Priest Hong, do...do we...need to search over the castle..." a member of Force Emperor Immortal Palace asked with a quivering voice.


    "I''ve already received the message from our headquarters. They don''t...don''t allow us to act rashly and blindly or destroy the site. Only after a short while, their people would arrive here. Therefore, no other people are allowed in now..."


    "I see. But why did the branch head''s clan suffer such a tragedy... Did someone dare offend Force Emperor Immortal Palace?"


    "I have no idea. However, no matter who they are, they have to pay off what they did. Commander-in-Chief Chai, go back to Redmountain City and take some people to make a tour inspection around the city. No trouble is allowed in the city. Additionally, ask onlookers whether they have seen something abnormal or someone strange near Ying Clan''s castle last night. I''m afraid the people from the headquarters would ask about it..."


    After listening to their talk for a short while, Zhang Tie knew a bit about the current situation. Closely after that, he directly flew towards a main house in the distance. After entering an empty room, he opened a blank door and entered it.


    2 minutes later, Zhang Tie flashed out of the secret tunnel. Given the scenes in the underground space of the castle, Zhang Tie had confirmed that he was in the nest of Yin-Yang Sect. However, nobody was alive across the castle now. Besides those on the ground, there were also dead male and female disciples who all looked pretty miserable. All of their heads had been broken. As a result, Zhang Tie could barely read what happened to them before death through their brains. Besides, all the living beings across the castle had been killed, including rats and cockcroaches.


    Force Emperor Immortal Palace might have not known that Ying Clan''s castle was the nest of Yin-Yang Sect. However, this secret might be exposed soon. Those people on the ground dared not to make an investigation on the spot; however, when the powers of the headquarters of Force Emperor Immortal Palace would arrive, they would soon discover this secret.


    However, this was not the point for Zhang Tie. The point was that Zhang Tie didn''t see the corpses of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin after searching over all the corpses in the shortest period. Therefore, there was still a bit of hope for him.

 1752 Collecting Clues

    After coming out of the secret tunnel of Ying Clan''s castle, Zhang Tie flew around Ying Clan''s castle to seek for clues. Pitifully, besides 7 underground secret tunnels leading to different locations, Zhang Tie saw nothing else valuable.


    In his lotus-flower eyes, those underground secret tunnels were almost transparent to Zhang Tie. After searching over the 7 secret underground tunnels from the sky, Zhang Tie didn''t see anything suspicious.


    The ends of these secret tunnels were all hidden in mountains, woods and lakes. Some were in a private residence; some were connected to the location of the branch of Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City. These secret underground tunnels varied from a few miles to dozens of miles in length in all directions. However, it was normal in the ends of these secret tunnels. There was no corpse or blood in these secret tunnels. Additionally, the switches in the secret tunnels were not triggered yet, which meant that the members of Yin-Yang Sect didn''t even have time to trigger these secret tunnels. Even though the fastest ones had just entered the underground space before being killed by the enemy that darted down.


    The enemy moved so fast that the members of Yin-Yang Sect didn''t even have time to make any response. Additionally, they appeared being pretty familiar with Ying Clan''s castle. That was a bit abnormal despite being real.


    After flying around for a while, Zhang Tie returned to the air zone above Ying Clan''s castle.


    The powers of the headquarters of Force Emperor Immortal Palace had not arrived yet. The immortal soldiers of the branch of Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City were still circling around the castle while numerous people were discussing on the mountain slopes around the castle.


    Needless to ask, only by concluding what he heard from those discussions, Zhang Tie had known the relationship between Ying Clan and Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City. These contents made the means of survival and background of Yin-Yang Sect clear in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    After confirming that he couldn''t find any people alive or complete head to know what happened to Ying Clan''s castle in details, Zhang Tie gave up collecting clues from alive people.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t know what methods did the opponents use to wipe out the entire Ying Clan''s castle, Zhang Tie''s methods might also be out of their imagination.


    If it was the 1st day or the 15th day of the month, Zhang Tie could be able to use his space-teleportation equipment. Then, the problem would be easily solved. As long as he took out an egg of soul-chasing butterfly from Castle of Black Iron, he would be able to catch up with those butchers and might save Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin. Pitifully, it was March 20th. Previously, Zhang Tie didn''t take some eggs of the soul-chasing butterfly out of Castle of Black Iron in case of emergencies; therefore, he could only wait until 11 days later, by when even the most powerful soul-chasing butterfly couldn''t catch any odor of the butchers anymore.


    As there was no soul-chasing butterfly in Motian Realm, those people might not imagine that Zhang Tie could trace them in such a magical way. Additionally, there was no Great Wilderness Sutra in Motian Realm either. Although there were powers above sage-level knights in Motian Realm, their animal-controlling skills were just close to that in Taixia Country before Great Wilderness Sutra became popular. Therefore, Zhang Tie could only use the secret skills in Great Wilderness Sutra.


    After taking a look at the surrounding environment, Zhang Tie flashed into the wood behind Ying Clan''s castle. In a split second, Zhang Tie became visible. Sitting on the crown of a dozens-meters-high tree, Zhang Tie made a bizarre handprint and pushed it into the void.


    In less than 2 minutes, more than 10 birds had flown towards him from different directions and stayed on the twigs beside Zhang Tie.


    There were 2 owls, 1 grey falcon, 1 woodpecker, 2 wild cranes, 1 eagle, 3 great tits, 1 cuckoo, some larks and 1 starling. These birds kept tweeting and capering vigorously beside Zhang Tie. However, these birds could barely stay together in usual days.


    With the rustling of leaves, a leopard cat drilled out of the shrubs. After climbing onto the tree, it squatted down right in front of Zhang Tie. Then, it looked at Zhang Tie in a flattering way with its shiny black eyes.


    "Stay calm. As you were in the wood when the tragedy happened to Ying Clan''s castle last night, you might have already seen it more or less. I could only ask you about that..." Zhang Tie told those animals as he stretched out his hand and stroked the leopard cat''s head, adding, "Let''s start from you..."


    In a split second, what this leopard cat had experienced last night had entered Zhang Tie''s mind sea.


    When the leopard cat was resting on a tree on the mountain slope behind the castle, the weird black fog sudden appeared. This leopard cat used its instinct to sense the danger from the black fog as it instantly escaped away without even looking back...


    This leopard cat didn''t see too much; however, it provided the first piece of news for Zhang Tie. It was useful information¡ª¡ªblack fog. At the sight of the black fog, Zhang Tie had felt it was like the realm thing grasped by a semi-sage level knight.


    After injecting a wisp of battle qi that could be conducive to its health as its reward, Zhang Tie patted it. The leopard cat then meowed lightly and rubbed its head against Zhang Tie''s leg for a couple of times. After that, it left the tree adroitly and soon disappeared into dense weeds.


    Zhang Tie moved his hand while the three great tits capered onto his palms and wrists at the same time.


    The three birds also saw something despite being not too much. Due to a different angle of view, they saw something different from that leopard cat.


    After receiving some rewards, the three great tits also flew away. Zhang Tie then got the second piece of information.


    Then, it came to the third piece and the fourth piece...


    None of these animals could see how those murders appeared; nor did they know what happened to Ying Clan''s castle. However, Zhang Tie became increasingly clear about the entire process starting from the appearance of the black fog to its dissipation. The entire process lasted less than 10 minutes. When the black fog suddenly dissipated, an owl in the wood saw 9 people fly out of Ying Clan''s castle from afar.


    8 of the 9 people were in mask and black robe; except one who was a female in blackish green skirt. This woman flew shoulder to shoulder with the head of the others who was in a bucktooth mask while the other 7 were in black metal wings while each of them was lifting some people in a coma being bound together.


    After flying away from Ying Clan''s castle, they entered an airboat behind the mountains. Then, the airboat flew towards the north...

 1753 Fish a Needle from the Sea

    It would soon come to the vast vacant space out of the territory of Nine Heavens Big Domain if it kept going northwards from Redmountain City.


    However, suppose the airboat''s speed was about 800 miles per hour. As the catastrophe facing Ying Clan''s castle had just happened over 6 hours, it means the airboat had just moved about 5,000 miles.


    ''If that airboat keeps moving northwards, I could catch up with it.''


    After reaching this conclusion, Zhang Tie instantly triggered his invisible shen beard as he set off the crown and shot like a lightning bolt towards the direction where the owl saw.


    When Zhang Tie left there, he looked back as he found that an airboat with the symbol of Force Emperor Immortal Palace had just reached about 300 miles away from Redmountain City. Zhang Tie estimated that the powers assigned by Force Emperor Immortal Palace would soon arrive at Redmountain City.


    Zhang Tie kept moving northwards in the air as fast as a lightning bolt. At the same time, he started to recall the look of the airboat according to what the owl had seen. After amplifying the scenes in his memory, Zhang Tie observed it carefully; because this airboat was the only clue for Zhang Tie at this moment.


    The airboat that carried the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect was the commonest mini airboat in Motian Realm. Being only a bit longer than 100 m, it was the most classical air-feather class airboat in Motian Realm. It''s look and performance had already well adapted to the environment in Motian Realm. Its manufacturing drawing was open to the public in Motian Realm; therefore, it could be produced in many places. Perhaps the internal design of air-feather class airboat would vary according to different customer demands; however, they all looked same externally. Like vehicles with the same brand and the same type in Taixia Country, they almost looked the same externally. What was more, there was no emblem or flag of an immortal palace or a clan on the airboat. Such airboats could be seen everywhere across Motian Realm. There would be 1 air-feather class airboat in every 5 airboats in the sky.


    Despite lotus-flower eyes, it was still impossible for Zhang Tie to look for such an average airboat from 5,000 miles away. If that airboat had just left Redmountain City for a couple of hours and was within 600 miles, Zhang Tie might be able to see it. However, the distance of 5,000 miles had already surpassed Zhang Tie''s maximal capability. Zhang Tie saw dense airboats within 1,300 miles in the air which were moving towards different directions. It was simply like fishing a needle from the sea for him.


    However, it was also possible for him to fish a needle from the sea. What counted was that he should remember the look of the needle.


    Even two leaves of the same tree were not absolutely same; so were airboats of the same brand and type. As long as the airboat had been used, it must have some distinctive features.


    Fortunately, that owl had a pretty good sight. Although the air feather-class airboat was the commonest type, Zhang Tie still found three distinguishable features on it.


    First, was it new or not? Given its look, that airboat was about 70% new. It was not painted yet. Given this feature alone, it could be distinguished from over 60% of air-feather class airboats.


    Second, the trivial deviation between some points being exposed to the metal universal mortise and tenon structure on the hatch door of the airboat, which was caused in manufacturing and manual assembly. The trivial deviation existed between each two air-feather class airboats which couldn''t be noticed by commoners. However, after connecting the opposite corners of the hatch door with diagonal lines, the diagonal lines would become coordinates. In this way, the deviation would become an instinctive feature of the airboat.


    Third, there were some trivial traces caused by light frictions on the left port side of the tail of the airboat which might be caused in the process of discharging cargo. There were always some light traces of friction near the discharging hatches on the tails of airboats.


    These were the three features that Zhang Tie found in such a short period of time through the image in the memory of the owl. Although the owl had very good sight, it still couldn''t see all the details. If it were Zhang Tie, as long as he took a look at something, he could even find 300 features, not to mention 3 features. However, the 3 features were enough for him.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t find the airboat with only 1 of the 3 features; however, after combining the 3 features, Zhang Tie would probably find it. Plus time and space factors, he was confident to find it.


    Zhang Tie kept flying northwards while calculating rapidly in mind. At the same time, the map of the north region of Nine Heavens Big Domain appeared in his mind. Zhang Tie was making analysis quickly.


    The airboat was flying northwards; however, it was just a general direction. Over the past hours, the airboat might have already adjusted its direction at any time. However, it would never turn around; otherwise, it would return to the territory of Nine Heavens Big Domin. Given the process of the raid last night, the leader of that action was definitely not an idiot. As long as he was not an idiot, he would never make such a stupid decision¡ª¡ªturn around and move southwards after moving northwards for a few hours; because they could not make puzzles for their action by doing that; instead, they were just wasting time. Therefore, the earliest direction that the airboat moved towards after leaving Redmountain City last night must be their general direction.


    However, it was Force Emperor Big Domain in the northwest of Redmountain City and Nine Heavens Big Domain.


    Were they from Force Emperor Immortal Palace? Of course not. If the members of Force Emperor Immortal Palace discovered that the remains of Yin-Yang Sect were hiding in Redmountain City, they would definitely assign powers to get all of them aboveboard; instead of being such mysterious. Nor would they kill all the disciples of Yin-Yang Sect in the castle. At least they should catch them alive, the more the better, so as to display the magnificence of Force Emperor Immortal Palace. Additionally, what happened in Ying Clan''s castle was slapping Force Emperor Immortal Palace''s face no matter whether Force Emperor Immortal Palace could find that the remains of Yin-Yang Sect were hiding in Redmountain City or not.


    Therefore, although those people were heading northwards, they would never go to Force Emperor Big Domain.


    Therefore, at this moment, the airboat''s location should be within a sector region whose angle was 110 degrees. Within this region, the largest distance between Redmountain City and the airboat was 5,000 miles. The left line of this sector region at most neighbored the border Dragon Emperor Big Domain while the right line was at most horizontal to the east direction of Nine Heavens Big Domain; instead of pointing southwards...


    As Zhang Tie thought about it, the map of Motian Realm in his mind had already become a holographic three-dimensional dynamic map. On the map, the sector region in the shape of a huge trumpet in the north of RedMountain City had already turned yellow. Meanwhile, hundreds of air routes covered this yellow region, which led to different destinations in various domains and regions across Motian Realm, the distance of which varied from thousands of miles to hundreds of thousands of miles. Now that the airboat had left Nine Heavens Big Domain, it should have a destination, which could only be one of the hundreds of targets in the sector region.


    By multiplying the hours since the airboat had left Redmountain City by the maximal speed of the airboat and 70% of its maximal speed, Zhang Tie got a region. After covering the region on the hundreds of routes in the sector region, Zhang Tie got an eye-catching oval red air territory near the mouth of the trumpet of the yellow sector region. The entire red region covered over 5 million square miles.


    Without emergency, Zhang Tie was sure the airboat was in the red air territory.


    Additionally, the red air territory was expanding in each second. After a few more hours, the red air territory would become very vast which would contain much more unpredictable factors. However, at this moment, this red air territory was still within Zhang Tie''s tolerance.


    So many airboats were lagged behind by Zhang Tie. At a high speed of about 30,000 m per second, it only took Zhang Tie a few minutes to travel 3,000-4,000 miles and reach the northern border of the red oval air territory in his mind. After that, Zhang Tie didn''t fly northward anymore; instead, he started to fly horizontally in a zigzag way.


    Any air cavalry was clear that such a flight route was the basic tactical action for searching over a sector region. Similarly, if one wanted to search over a circular region, he needed to fly spirally, which was equal to plow the entire air territory generally.


    Zhang Tie was the founder of the air force in Taixia Country. Even the books about air cavalries in Taixia Country were written by him. Of course, he could complete such a simple action easily.


    On this occasion, only Zhang Tie could accomplish this task by searching over such a vast air territory within a short period of time at such a terrifying high speed and with his lotus-flower eyes.


    As Zhang Tie crossed the red oval air territory at a high speed in a zigzag manner, he kept glancing over all the airboats within this air territory using his lotus-flower eyes.


    Finally, after a few minutes, an air-feather class airboat over 300 miles away from him on his left was spotted.


    At the sight of that airboat, Zhang Tie squinted his eyes at once. After confirming the 3 external features of the airboat, Zhang Tie sped up towards the airboat at once. When he was about 60 miles above it, Zhang Tie refreshed the airboat using his lotus-flower eyes. In a split second, the internal situation of the airboat became transparent to him. In the reinforced bilges at the bottom of the airboat, Zhang Tie finally saw the captives of Yin-Yang Sect.


    All the captives of Yin-Yang Sect were in a coma. Being still, they were locked in two bilges according to their genders. After discerning them carefully, Zhang Tie saw Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin who were also in a coma. Until then the two women were still in men''s clothes.


    After leaving Redmountain City for less than 15 minutes, Zhang Tie found Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin.


    After confirming the two women were still alive, Zhang Tie finally became reassured. Meanwhile, it proved that his judgment was absolutely correct. He finally fished the needle from the sea.


    The others on the airboat might never know that there was such a person with such an abnormal ability in this world. During the period of over 6 hours since they left Redmountain City, that person flew all the way from Dragon Emperor Big Domain to Nine Heavenly Big Domain; after that, it took him less than half an hour to find them among tens of thousands of airboats in the vast air territory from Redmountain City over 5,000 miles away¡ª¡ªF*ck, what a freak!


    Zhang Tie almost immediately arrived above the airboat. Being totally attached to the airboat, Zhang Tie started to check out the situation inside the airboat so that he could find an opportunity to save them...

 1754 Unexpected Figures

    The air feather-class airboat was heading forward at a speed of over 600 miles per hour. It was not its maximum speed, but its normal speed, at which it would not arouse the others'' attention.


    The airboat was flying above the white clouds in the air like a sailing boat traveling in the ocean. Zhang Tie was like a shell that attached itself to the sailing boat. The difference was that Zhang Tie was lying on the top of the airboat; instead of its bottom. Additionally, with the combined effects of invisible shen bead and the master-level hiding skill, Zhang Tie was completely invisible to the others.


    As he didn''t know about the situation inside the airboat, when he remembered Ji Yuelan''s warning, he didn''t directly make a spree killing inside the airboat to save the beauties; instead, he prepared to figure out the situation inside the airboat from outside first.


    With his lotus-flower eyes and the powerful spiritual energy, Zhang Tie could thoroughly see through this airboat as it looked like a transparent yet firm air in front of him.


    Zhang Tie immediately saw 7 immortal generals in black robes inside the airboat, 2 of them were keeping an eye on those captives at the bottom of the airboat while the other 5 were resting or cultivating in their own cabins above. Among the 7 immortal generals, 3 of them were earth immortal generals while the other 4 were fierce immortal generals. At this moment, all the 7 immortal generals in black robes had already taken off their masks and revealed their real faces. Given their looks, they were nothing different than the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace or Force Emperor Immortal. Neither were they grim such as having long fangs nor ugly such as having disgusting looks. One of them was even somewhat handsome.


    When Zhang Tie caught sight of that handsome immortal general, his heart raced at once as that guy was Zhou Baifei.


    Zhang Tie was too familiar with Zhou Baifei. This guy joined the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City together with him. After that, he seduced women in the immortal palace. Then, after failing his speculative action in Dragon Emperor City, he was dislodged to a barren land. Finally, after Zhang Tie promoted to Dragon Emperor, he escaped away. Zhang Tie could never imagine that he could see Zhou Baifei here.


    Under Zhang Tie''s gaze, Zhou Baifei was absorbing a water-element crystal in a cabin with crossed legs. After more than 1 year, Zhou Baifei had kept his beard, which made him look a bit maturer. Besides, he revealed a hint of sadness.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that Zhou Baifei might be a mole of an immortal palace in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. After Zhou Baifei escaped away, Zhang Tie didn''t catch him at all as he was a trivial figure in Zhang Tie''s eyes. Additionally, as Zhou Baifei was familiar with a disciple of Elder Shi, if Zhang Tie had gone too far, he might be taken as weakening Elder Shi''s power, which was not conducive to the internal solidarity of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. It was not worthwhile for Zhang Tie to chase after such a trivial figure. Therefore, Zhang Tie just let him go. Now, Zhang Tie realized that Zhou Baifei''s background might be not simple; because few human immortal palaces in Motian Realm dared offend Force Emperor Immortal Palace.


    ''Are they from Star Emperor Immortal Palace? But there does not seem to be such a fierce contradiction between Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Yin-Yang Sect. Why do Star Emperor Immortal Palace catch these people of Yin-Yang Sect in such a brutal way?''


    Such a whim occurred to Zhang Tie as he had witnessed the weird methods of Star Emperor,


    If one person was criticized by numerous people, he would die without a sickness. As Zhang Tie had a bad impression on Star Emperor, he instantly doubted it was schemed by Star Emperor.


    ''Are they from Star Emperor Immortal Palace?''


    ''They''re not given the direction of the airboat. Because Star Emperor Big Domain is in the south of Nine Heavens Big Domain, most of Star Emperor Immortal Palace''s territory is in the south of Nine Heavens Big Domain. However, this airboat is heading for the north.''


    Zhang Tie continued to search over the airboat spiritually. Zhang Tie remembered that at least a male team leader and a female immortal general should be in this airboat. Zhang Tie thought about finding some clues from that man or somewhere close to that man.


    The air feather-class airboat was not large. Besides the 7 immortal generals in black robes and some aloof and stereotyped crew members who were manipulating the airboat, Zhang Tie instantly found his target in a relatively luxurious berth cabin on the top floor... In fact, he found the man and the woman at the same time.


    On the big bed of the luxurious berth cabin, two human bodies were rolling together, one black, one white. In the loud crashes, the woman''s enchanting groans and exclamations almost broke out of the roof. If not this berth cabin had been installed with a special sound isolative device, the entire airboat might have been filled with the woman''s groans, precisely screams.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could see such a live show in the airboat. Additionally, given the disorderly big bed, Zhang Tie estimated that the two people had been wresting for quite a while.


    Zhang Tie had experienced such stimulating scenes for many times. He was a veteran in this aspect. However, previously, Zhang Tie was always the male main character of such a scene. Zhang Tie only remembered one time when he peeped at such a scene performed by Hanna''s elder brother and elder sister-in-law when he was a young soldier many years ago. From then on, Zhang Tie almost had not seen such a fierce scene anymore.


    As he was here to save people, Zhang Tie only threw a casual look at them. He really didn''t feel like enjoying such a live show at this critical moment.


    ¡ª¡ªNo matter what, your gestures are not as various as mine¡ª¡ªthis was what Zhang Tie thought in his inner heart.


    As his ears were full of the woman''s groans and loud sounds of "pah, pah, pah", Zhang Tie was going to move his spiritual energy and attention away from the cabin. Right then, the man who was making sprints with his back against Zhang Tie said something.


    "Three Lives Sutra of Yin-Yang Sect...is really...something...Ying Canghai really wasted a lot as he didn''t reclaim you..." the man stammered as he kept sprinting, sweat oozing all over.


    ''Three Lives Sutra? Is that woman a member of Yin-Yang Sect?'' Zhang Tie became stunned. After hearing this man''s words, Zhang Tie stayed there.

 1755 The Woman

    "Really..." The woman groaned with seductive eyes while her white thighs instantly twined with the man''s waist. Closely after that, she moved closer to the man''s body while putting her toes onto some surging points near the man''s waist, saying, "This is the real...Three Lives Sutra..."


    In an instant, the woman''s skin turned rosy. Closely after that, the man couldn''t stand exclaiming, "Ahh..." which sounded pretty cool.


    As a spectator, Zhang Tie was petrified by this scene. He knew that the woman was using a secret skill, which could cause a man to forget himself.


    ''F*ck, no wonder the others treated Yin-Yang Sect as a heresy.''


    After the woman''s skin turned rosy for less than 10 minutes, the man who was as valiant and fierce as the tiger couldn''t stand to exclaim, "Ahh, it''s enough...it''s enough...Stop sucking it..."


    The woman ignored him as she made her groan louder with a big smile in a more charming way. Meanwhile, her skin turned redder.


    Finally, the man''s body started to quiver. With another exclamation, he hugged the woman and jumped out of the bed. Closely after that, he threw the woman onto the bed like shirking off a snake or scorpion so that they could part with each other.


    After the fierce "fight", the man panted, lying on the bed as he couldn''t hide his weakness. Being satisfied very much, he took a look at that woman with some fear.


    At this moment, the woman''s rosy skin started to fade away as she lightly licked her fingers. At the same time, she tantalizingly watched that man as if she had not been satisfied yet, saying, "How do you like it? Grand Justice Qian, do you want to do it again..."


    This woman was the grand elder surnamed Xue, the junior female fellow apprentice of the head of Yin-Yang Sect.


    Besides a wisp of silver hair near his temples, all of his hair was silvery grey. Given his look, he might be at his 50''s or 60''s. With a gloomy hawk nose and a pair of narrow and long eyes which contained more white than black, he looked a bit violent. His eyebrows were like broken broadswords while his lips were pretty thin and a bit green. Given his look, Zhang Tie knew this man was vicious, cruel and merciless.


    Of course, the true age of immortal generals couldn''t be judged from their looks in Motian Realm.


    "You''re really a wh*re! It seems that you''ve not been satisfied after being put in Yin-Yang Sect for so long..." the man said as he panted. Meanwhile, he took another look at the woman with a complex mood.


    "Hoho, how could I be satisfied so easily!" The woman ignored what the man called her as she continued to reach her hand towards the man and started to tantalize him again. "You''re so strong. I have to make love with you for at least three times before being satisfied. Can''t you even match that guy surnamed You..."


    "Three times?" The man sat up at once as he moved the woman''s hand away. With a frown, he watched the woman, saying, "The guy surnamed You? When did you meet him?"


    "Did you forget that? A few years ago, I found a reason to leave Ying Clan''s castle to look for Heavenly Fragrant Dew outside. That guy surnamed You met me in Nine Heavens City!" The woman giggled as she didn''t feel ashamed doing that at all. She just talked about making love with other men like buying clothes in the market. "You Zhongshu is more straightforward than you. He f*cked me for a few times that night. Additionally, he looks better than you..."


    "No wonder You Zhongshu entered secluded cultivation the moment he returned to Cyandragon Palace. He didn''t recover until 1 year later..." The man''s face turned increasingly gloomier. Perhaps, no man liked such a comparison in this world. After a vicious light flashed across his eyes, Grand Justice Qian suddenly grabbed her neck and lifted her in the air. At the same time, he said in an icy tone, "How dare you seduce other men? Don''t you fear about death..."


    "I''m not exclusive to you. It''s none of your business whom I like to sleep with. Do you think that I have to follow your order after sleeping with you? Perhaps you''re the one being f*cked, not me..." Although her neck was grabbed, the woman still maintained a smile as if she didn''t dare look straight into this man''s eyes at all. Raising her head and exposing her neck, she watched the man in a domineering manner, saying, "Qian Changqing, remember it, I Xue Yuxiu belong to His Majesty; instead of you. Do you want to kill me? As long as I was hurt, let''s see whether His Majesty will let you go or not? I promise you will die in a way much more miserable than me. If you''re fearless, just try it. You''re not the only fire immortal general in Motian Realm. However, only I could interpret the complete version of Three Lives No-Hatred Method for His Majesty. You know which is more important for His Majesty, you or me..."


    The woman said with no fear at all.


    "But you''re not the only grand elder of Yin-Yang Sect!"


    "If you think the other grand elders of Yin-Yang Sect will stand on your side, you can have a try!"


    Grand Justice Qian''s eyes flickered as he suddenly sneered, "Hehheh, you might not know that His Majesty has already completed the production of Golden-Soul Rune Virus. These immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect were poisoned by the latest Golden-Soul Rune Virus. His Majesty has already promised to give all the captives of Yin-Yang Sect to me. After I offer a sacred sacrifice to them, I will have more slaves and subordinates. Not like those former immortal generals under control who only know about killing people, these people will be fully clear-minded and follow my orders. Do you think that His Majesty will have no other means without you?"


    After saying that, the man gradually increased his strength, causing the woman''s face turn redder. However, the woman still didn''t beg for his forgiveness; instead, she just watched him distantly, saying, "The latest Golden-Soul Rune Virus of His Majesty was produced 7 months ago. Do you think that I don''t know that? Are you frightening me with that? His Majesty made a sacred sacrifice for me earlier than you. I accepted the sacred sacrifice 3 months ago. However, you accepted it one month later than me. His Majesty has never said that he would give all the captives to you; instead, he just agreed to give Ying Canghai and those stinky men to you. Do you think you could occupy all the booties alone? Let''s see it..."


    Grand Justice Qian suddenly changed his face as he revealed a smile and loosened his grip at once, saying, "Haha, I was just kidding. Never mind..."


    The fingerprint on the woman''s neck was evident and terrifying. After kneading her neck, the woman turned serious at once as she slapped his face, causing another loud sound "Pah" in the room. Closely after that, the woman revealed an enchanting smile and gesture by raising her slim white leg, saying, "I was just kidding, Grand Justice Qian. Hopefully, Grand Justice Qian doesn''t mind that...I want more...Grand Justice Qin, do you want it again..."


    "We''re even..." after taking a look at the woman, Grand Justice Qian said calmly as he started to put on his clothes as if nothing had happened, "I need to take a rest. A few days later, I need to hold the sacred sacrifice in Cyandragon Palace..."


    "Those immortal generals outside the door are not bad, either. Will you feel jealous of them..." The woman covered her mouth by hand while giggling lightly as if she was referring to something special.


    "Hehheh, they''re indeed not bad. But they''re not idiots. Any men below water immortal generals will die after sleeping with you. Even if they''re still alive after doing that, they will lose many years'' cultivation base..." After putting on his clothes fast, Grand Justice Qian walked towards the door. Before he opened the door, he suddenly turned around as he said with a sneer, "I finally know why Ying Canghai didn''t select you. Because it''s easy for him to find a woman more coquettish than you on the bed; however, it''s hard for him to find any woman more shameless than you. So do I..."


    "Bang..." Before a bedside cupboard was thrown towards the door and shattered, Grand Justice Qian had already left the room.


    "Roll out of here..." The naked woman quivered all over with a blue face, sitting on the bed.


    She was not quivering because of feeling cold; instead, the man got his point before leaving.


    After appreciating the whole scene, Zhang Tie felt muddle-headed. ''The talk between the two people contained too many contents. Additionally, f*ck, their relationship is pretty complex. I wonder where on earth they come from...''


    What was more, Zhang Tie might have discovered a top-secret...

 1756 Sneaking into the Airboa

    Although the heads of Emperor NvWa Palace, the 3 immortal emperor-level imperial palaces and 14 supreme immortal general-level immortal palaces were also called His Majesty, given the direction of this airboat, Zhang Tie realized that they didn''t belong to any of the above organizations.


    It was really shocking that an unknown organization could arrange a mole in Yin-Yang Sect and destroy Yin-Yang Sect so easily. When he thought that Zhou Baifei might have joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace with the same purpose, Zhang Tie shuddered with fear even though he had seen the world. ''Perhaps Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was their target at the beginning. However, the return of "Dragon Emperor" disturbed their plan at a stroke. Therefore, Zhou Baifei flurriedly escaped away.''


    However, Zhou Baifei was not affected by the bloody pledge that he had made when he joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace after escaping away, which meant that these people had already mastered the method to avoid from being affected by the bloody pledge.


    What was more attractive to Zhang Tie was the Golden-Soul Rune Virus that the two people had just mentioned in the room. Although Zhang Tie had not heard about it before, according to Grand Justice Qian, Zhang Tie knew this thing was extremely terrifying; because people could control a lot of immortal generals or knights with it.


    Zhang Tie would never believe that there was such a terrifying thing in the world in Taixia Country. When in Taixia Country, the most powerful secret method that could be used to control knights that Zhang Tie had known was God''s baptism, the conditions of which were pretty demanding.


    Before accepting God''s baptism, the knights should be willing to completely open their bodies including their awareness, chakras even mysterious spiritual areas to the baptists. Such kind of knights could barely be found in that world. As all the knights were heroes who were arrogant and strong-willed and could get as much as wealth and honor as they wanted. Who would like to serve others after becoming knights? Therefore, 99% of knights couldn''t meet the first condition for God''s baptism.


    Second, the number of knights that could receive God''s baptism was also in compliance with the level of the baptist. Black iron knights could at most control 2 knights. Even sage-level knights could only control 13 knights.


    Third, the performance of God''s baptism would consume a large amount of life vitality of the baptist, which meant a high cost too.


    Being limited to the above three conditions, even Zhang Tie, who had mastered the secret method of God''s baptism, had only performed God''s baptism for Ockham. Zhang Tie had not encountered the second demon knight who would like to be loyal to him. There was indeed a demon coward in the jail of Castle of Black Iron; however, Zhang Tie didn''t feel that it could do any help to him at all. To be honest, Zhang Tie felt like wasting time performing God''s baptism for that guy.


    However, the Golden-Soul Rune Virus that the two people had just mentioned appeared being completely able to break through the limits of God''s baptism. It seemed that an immortal general or knight who had been affected by Golden-Soul Runed Virus could be easily manipulated by others only after attending to a simple rite called sacred sacrifice.


    ''What a terrifying secret method! It''s an ultimate challenge to manipulate knights or immortal generals in the world where I came from or in Motian Realm. It''s the target that numerous ambitionists and schemers are pursuing. Unimaginably, it has been reached by someone in Motian Realm.''


    Zhang Tie finally understood why Ji Yuelan sent him a warning; because she had already sensed the terror of Golden-Soul Rune Virus at that moment. Pitifully, before she had sent the whole message, she had lost her freedom.


    Lying on the surface of the airboat, Zhang Tie felt pretty cold physically and mentally facing the strong wind. However, he was racking his mind to think about solutions. Zhang Tie didn''t want to save the world. No matter how powerful was ''His Majesty'', Zhang Tie felt it was not his turn to worry about the destiny of humans in Motian Realm. Even though the heavens were going to fall, they were going to be supported by taller guys. He was just a heavenly knight. It was not necessary for him to do that. He only wanted to save the captives of Yin-Yang Sect including Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin first. After that, he would check out the background of this organization and figure out their plans. If this organization was really plotting a conspiracy or doing harm to the humans, he would work out a solution to expose this organization, "His Majesty" and their Golden-Soul Rune Virus so that the immortal emperors of Emperor NvWa Palace, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace could deal with them. Those people should be more anxious than Zhang Tie.


    After getting things in order and making his decision, Zhang Tie had started to move.


    Firstly, Zhang Tie triggered his body-changing immortal bloodline to change his look and frame. As he realized how powerful were his opponents, of course, Zhang Tie didn''t want himself and the members of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palaces to be cannon fodder. Only Zhang Tie knew that the "Dragon Emperor" didn''t exist at all. As the most powerful one in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, if he exposed himself to the opponents and caused a face-to-face clash between Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and this mysterious organization, he might become a martyr. It would influence Zhang Tie''s plan. Therefore, Zhang Tie would never expose his real identity to these people. If he changed his look, he would have enough space for manoeuvers.


    There was another benefit for changing his look¡ª¡ªwhen he saved Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin, he didn''t need to explain to them in details. Otherwise, if Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin found it was Zhang Tie who saved them, how would he explain it to them? Would he say that he spent a few hours to arrive at Nine Heavens Big Domain from Dragon Emperor Big Domain by triggering his flight ability as a divine dominator after receiving Ji Yuelan''s warning? Would he say that he caught up with them using an animal controlling skill and his lotus-flower eyes and helped them out?


    If he told them the truth, he would be an idiot; instead of a hero. If they believed in him, a lot of his trump cards would be exposed. If they didn''t, the captives of Yin-Yang Sect would even doubt that he was the culprit of this catastrophe facing Yin-Yang Sect. They would think that he might have made marks on Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin so that he could follow them all the way to the base of Yin-Yang Sect and caught them. They would also think that it was he who had bought over a grand elder of Yin-Yang Sect. Otherwise, he could not appear in front of them in such a short period of time "coincidentally"...


    Therefore, the best choice was to change his look for the sake of Zhang Tie himself, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace or Yin-Yang Sect.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie wanted to change into a person with an average look. However, not knowing why, he suddenly recalled Heller''s perfect frame, which could dwarf everyone else as each inch of his skin was made according to the golden section rule. Zhang Tie then turned his look and frame into a Hua man similar to that of Heller.


    At this moment, although Zhang Tie didn''t look into the mirror, he also knew that his look was extremely handsome which could definitely dwarf all the handsome youths in the history of Hua people.


    After doing that, Zhang Tie took a look into the airboat as he found no change inside except that Grand Justice Qian who had a ''fierce battle" with that woman took a look around the airboat after the woman left his room. After checking the bilges at the bottom of the airboat and finding all the captives of Yin-Yang Sect were still in a coma, Grand Justice Qian left some words to the two guards with an icy look before returning to a cabin and entering cultivation, eyes closed.


    Zhang Tie then flashed away and reached below the airboat. Closely after that, he slid to the hatch door of the belly-hold cargo bay near the tail of the airboat.


    There was nothing inside the belly-hold cargo bay. Its hatch door couldn''t be opened from outside; instead, it could only be opened from inside by moving the lever manually. However, it was too easy for Zhang Tie. Only by running his spiritual energy, he had slowly moved the level inside the door. As a result, the hatch door gradually opened.


    Previously, when the hatch door opened, it would always cause some low sounds and rocks; especially when the airboat was in flight, the external airflow would also change. However, with the control of Zhang Tie''s great power as a divine dominator, all the sounds, rocks and changing airflows were isolated.


    After the hatch door opened slightly, Zhang Tie had already sneaked into the belly-hold cargo bay. Closely after that, the hatch door was closed quietly as if it had not been opened at all.


    There was nothing but some empty crates inside this pitch-dark space. However, it was a problem for Zhang Tie.


    There was nobody neighboring the belly-hold cargo bay either. After opening the other hatch door of it, Zhang Tie came to the aisle.


    After closing the hatch door, Zhang Tie soon passed through two aisles. After moving half a flight upstairs, he passed by the powerhouse where three crew members were keeping an eye on before coming to the outside of the bilges where the captives of Yin-Yang Sect were in.


    Two immortal generals in black robe were guarding at the entrance of aisle leaving to the bilges, face to face. Zhang Tie murmured inside, ''Don''t they feel bored?''


    Zhang Tie then floated by right in front of them.


    When he passed by them, Zhang Tie was only a bit more than 1 m away from them. The two immortal generals in black robe appeared being able to reach Zhang Tie only by extending their hands. However, the guards didn''t notice him at all. Therefore, Zhang Tie could easily pass by them...

 1757 Saving People

    Previously, Zhang Tie didn''t know what was the optimum combination of a rarity and a secret method. But now, he knew.


    His invisible shen bead and the master-level hiding skill was such an optimum combination in effect.


    With an independent invisible shen bead or an independent hiding skill, Zhang Tie was not confident to pass by two immortal generals in front of them without being discovered. However, after combining the two things, Zhang Tie turned impossibility into possibility.


    When he passed by the two immortal generals, Zhang Tie suddenly thought about killing the two guarding immortal generals; instead of saving those captives of Yin-Yang Sect at the bottom of the airboat. Such skill of sneaking to the side of one''s opponent and giving him a sudden fatal strike was simply the skill that all the assassins and killers were dreaming of.


    It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that he had such an amazing ability.


    Despite the killing intent that rose in his inner heart, Zhang Tie finally gave up killing the two immortal generals in black robe.


    At this critical moment, even though Zhang Tie could kill the two immortal generals without arousing the attention of the others, it was meaningless for him to do so. Perhaps, he could change something by doing that, what counted most was saving the captives of Yin-Yang Sect. First, he needed to figure out the so-called Golden Soul Rune Miasma which had been applied to poison these people of Yin-Yang Sect and know whether he could relieve it by an antidote. If he couldn''t, after these people were taken away, and died a few days later, Zhang Tie would have done all these in vain.


    The aisle at the bottom of the airboat was longer than 50 m. The male and female captives of Yin-Yang Sect were respectively locked in the two bilges at the end of the aisle. Zhang Tie instantly came to the end of the aisle.


    Fortunately, the bilge where Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were locked in was at the corner of the aisle. Without being connected to any passage or portal, this bilge was at the blind spot for the two immortal generals in black robe. Additionally, the two guards didn''t worry that anyone could reach the bilges from other places except the entrance of the aisle where they were guarding.


    This bilge''s door was facing a wall of the aisle. If he didn''t make any noise, unless the two guards'' sightline could turn a corner or they had lotus-flower eyes, they could never see whether the door of the bilge had been opened or not. Therefore, Zhang Tie could take action easily. Although he could be invisible, after all he couldn''t penetrate through the wall himself. If he wanted to enter the bilge, he had to open its door. If the two guards saw that the door of the bilge had been opened, they would become alert for sure. On that occasion, it would be more difficult for Zhang Tie to save them.


    There was a black firm lock hanging over the hatch door. This lock was a senior product in Motian Realm called 7-star inter-link lock. Just now, Zhang Tie saw the Grand Justice Qian took out the key and opened this hatch door. If he wanted to open the hatch door, he had to unlock it first.


    However, as for Zhang Tie who was known as an immortal craftsman and a divine dominator and had lotus-flower eyes, it was no exaggeration to say that there was no lock in the world.


    The black 7-star inter-link lock had been opened silently as it started to float off the door without any noise. Closely after that, the door was opened by itself. Usually, when the door was opened, it would cause light creaks due to natural friction. Meanwhile, as the door was opened, it would cause a reciprocating motion inside the closed tubes of the door like a piston''s reciprocating motion inside a cylinder. It would further cause slight airflow changes which knights with sharp senses could notice. However, at this moment, the creaks disappeared along with the slight airflow changes. As a result, the guards at the entrance of the aisle could never hear any noise from the bilge near the corner.


    The door was closed and locked by the black 7-star inter-link lock from inside again. Zhang Tie then entered the bilge where those female immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect were imprisoned.


    This bilge covered more than 100 square meters and was over 6 m in height. Although 16 women were put inside, it still looked very spacious. It seemed that this bilge was specially designed for imprisoning immortal generals. One end of iron chains was fixed onto the top of the bilge being attached with some handcuffs and shackles. These shackles and iron chains could fix people onto the walls in case they rolled over or hurt themselves due to some intense flight maneuvers.


    It was pitch-dark inside the bilge. There was only a crimson altar lamp hanging over the wall on the left of the door which provided some dim light for this space.


    There was no peculiar smell inside the space; instead, the entire space was full of women''s body odor. Actually, given smells, Zhang Tie felt coming into the dorm of some women.


    All the 16 beauties of Yin-Yang Sect, which were shackled in a coma, had plump hourglass figures. Reflected by the dim lamplight, their looks were especially beautiful despite they looked weak. That got to be the feeling by watching beauties in the dim lamplight.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s heart raced. No wonder the guy surnamed Qian would carry its key with him. If he just handed its key to the two guards. Nobody knew what those immortal generals in black robes would do here. Of course, perhaps they thought that those women''s fates had been fixed. Therefore, they were not in a hurry to do that.


    There weren''t any ugly women in Motian Realm, not to mention Yin-Yang Sect. Many women in this bilge could match Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin in looks. The others were all above average. Three of them beside Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin had exceptionally beautiful looks.


    Zhang Tie guessed that the 3 beauties were the masters of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin. At this moment, the three women''s eyes were also closed, which made them look pretty weak.


    Zhang Tie immediately came to the front of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin as he gradually became visible.


    "Ji Yuelan, how are you? Can you hear me?" Zhang Tie patted Ji Yuelan''s face as he asked in a mature voice secretly. As long as Ji Yuelan was sane, she could definitely hear that.


    However, Ji Yuelan didn''t make any response. Nor did Jiang Ruoxin. Therefore, Zhang Tie took out two vials of senior antidote produced in Taixia Country from his portable container as he slightly pinched their cheeks so that they could slightly open their mouths. Then, he poured the two vials of senior antidote into their mouths...

 1758 Golden-Soul Rune Virus

    As portable space-teleportation equipment could only be accessible at a fixed time in Motian Realm, Zhang Tie did like the Romans¡ª¡ªput some life-saving items such as senior medicament into his portable luggage. Zhang Tie had long prepared the two vials of senior antidote in case of emergency. Unexpectedly, he applied them to Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin.


    Not being a master in medical science, Zhang Tie only knew a bit of pharmacology. However, now that the two women were affected by Golden-Soul Rune Virus, it was reasonable for Zhang Tie to have a try with a senior antidote. Even if the senior antidote didn''t work, at least it would not harm them or make them worse.


    With a bit of fluke mind, Zhang Tie wanted to try the effect of senior antidote. However, the result proved that Zhang Tie underestimated the power of Golden-Soul Rune Virus.


    After feeding them his medicament for 5 minutes, Zhang Tie checked the two girls as he found they didn''t make any response at all. Zhang Tie then waited there for another 5 minutes. Whereas, the two girls still didn''t make any response; nor did they recover their consciousness. Therefore, Zhang Tie realized that senior antidote was ineffective to Golden-Soul Rune Virus.


    ''It seems that the word "rune" might be the key of Golden-Soul Rune Virus''.


    Zhang Tie thought.


    Zhang Tie had never seen any rune virus before. As an immortal craftsman, although Zhang Tie was proficient in the study of runes, it was his first time to contact runes with poison. Additionally, the term golden soul might be involved in a mysterious, spiritual realm. That made it trickier.


    When Zhang Tie thought about the immortal runes in his mind sea, he immediately realized that the problem of Golden-Soul Rune Poison might be in the victims'' brains and mind sea.


    After putting his hand on Ji Yuelan''s forehead, Zhang Tie started to input his powerful spiritual energy into her brain and mind sea which felt as tender as trickles and flowing mercury.


    It was not an easy job for one person to input his spiritual energy into the other one''s head. If not grasp some secret skills of Bloody Soul Sutra and clearly know the details, nobody dared do it at such a high risk; because Ji Yuelan''s brain and mind sea might be severely inflicted due to any mistake.


    Zhang Tie was right.


    When his powerful spiritual energy resonated with the heartbeats of Ji Yuelan harmoniously, his spiritual energy started to immerse into Ji Yuelan''s brain and mind sea in the tenderest way before exploring it.


    Compared to the secret skill that Zhang Tie applied to that demon heavenly knight which Star Emperor had controlled using his spiritual trick a few days ago, this method was more like the most delicate surgical operation which would not do any harm to Ji Yuelan.


    As Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy immersed in, he gradually felt that Ji Yuelan''s spiritual energy was drawn by something like water in a pool being drawn by a pump. Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy also "flew" into a core part of her brain along with Ji Yuelan''s spiritual energy, where Zhang Tie "saw" a bizarre scene.


    This scene was like being seen by eyes. It was even more vivid than that.


    Zhang Tie "saw" a golden "insect" drawing and absorbing Ji Yuelan''s spiritual energy from her mind sea constantly in a mysterious central region of her brain; meanwhile, the "insect" was changing its frame as if it was hatching.


    What was more terrifying was that it was not a real insect; instead, with Zhang Tie''s close observation spiritually, he found that the "insect" was actually composed of numerous tiny bizarre tadpole-shaped golden runes. If that "insect" was taken as a set of machine, those tiny bizarre tadpole-shaped golden runes were like the parts of this machine.


    Zhang Tie was pretty shocked by such an unimaginable method. As an immortal craftsman, Zhang Tie was also petrified by such a "virus" or "insect" being completely composed of mysterious runes. He wondered who could create such a great, secret rune skill as this secret skill had long been out of the reach of Zhang Tie in the realm of runes.


    Zhang Tie finally knew why his senior antidote was ineffective to such a virus; because it could never be relieved by medicament at all.


    Despite the great shock, Zhang Tie was still seriously observing the golden "insect" which was composed of numerous tiny bizarre tadpole-shaped golden runes in order to discover some secrets.


    As time passed by, the "insect" was also slowly changing its frame. Watching its unfolding "insect", Zhang Tie gradually opened his mouth as he revealed an increasingly greater shock.


    Because Zhang Tie gradually found that this "insect" was more and more like the image of an egg of "puppet parent worm" in one''s brain that he had seen numerous times in the world where he came from. He was too familiar with it. Besides trampling too many eggs of puppet parent worm to death, he also owned some puppet parent worms. He even killed a lot of demons with the eggs of puppet parent worm. He was absolutely sure about that.


    Zhang Tie finally realized that the so-called Golden-Soul Rune Virus was an extremely bizarre item combining a powerful runed secret skill and a puppet worm owned by demons which was used to control people. It could thoroughly break through the great defensive abilities of knights or immortal generals. Being much more senior than puppet worms, they could directly turn knights or immortal generals into puppets under the control of others despite with clear consciousness.


    If someone could realize mass production of Golden-Soul Rune Virus and control all the immortal generals across Motian Realm using it, undoubtedly, that person would be able to dominate the entire Motian Realm.


    When he thought about that possibility, Zhang Tie''s back started to ooze sweat out of shock. Before coming here to save them, he had never imagined such a dirty and dangerous thing behind this event.


    Who the hell could master such an amazing method among the powers in Motian Realm?

 1759 Waking Up

    The one who created Golden-Soul Rune Virus must be pretty proficient in puppet worms and runes. Otherwise, he could never make such a terrifying virus using a powerful rune skill. Zhang Tie had not even heard about such a method.


    Not knowing why, perhaps puppet worm was not a specialty in Motian Realm, demons in Motian Realm didn''t have puppet worms. At least demons didn''t use it in the wars against humans. Many immortal generals didn''t even know such a terrifying thing. ''But the question is how did Grand Justice Qian know the principle of using puppet worm to control humans'' brains? How did he improve it and combine it with a rune skill to make Golden-Soul Rune Virus?''


    ''Who the hell is "His Majesty"?''


    A lot of questions occurred in Zhang Tie''s mind, making him muddle-headed at a stroke.


    When Zhang Tie was observing the Golden-Soul Rune Virus in Ji Yuelan''s mind sea, Zhang Tie felt that he could break it using Deity-killing Sword; however, the outcome was that he would blow up Ji Yuelan''s head too. It was nothing different than killing her.


    According to Zhang Tie''s understanding and speculation of puppet worm, after absorbing enough spiritual energy, Golden-Soul Rune Virus would wake them up. They would remain sober-minded. After experiencing the so-called "Sacred Sacrifice" and be branded with other''s spirit, Golden-Soul Rune Virus would force them to be fully under control.


    ''The current situation is pretty tricky. I still have time to check it out.''


    After examining the Golden-Soul Rune Virus in Ji Yuelan''s mind sea seriously again, Zhang Tie could be able to visualize all the tiny bizarre tadpole-shaped golden runes that made up the Golden-Soul Rune Virus in his own mind sea.


    The science of runes was extremely abstruse. Zhang Tie could not understand and master its principle only given their shapes. He could only remember the "looks" of the runes of Golden-Soul Rune Virus first so that he could further study and figure out its secrets. As a person who was proficient in runes, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand to keep a template of such an amazing thing for further study. It was like a person who liked calligraphy being obsessed with brass rubbing or a gourmet who wanted to try every amazing, delicious food.


    After "copying" the general situation of Golden-Soul Rune Virus in Ji Yuelan''s mind sea, Zhang Tie did the same to Jiang Ruoxin''s Golden-Soul Rune Virus.


    Ji Yuelan was a fierce immortal general while Jiang Ruoxin was an earth immortal general. Zhang Tie wondered whether the Golden-Soul Rune Virus that controlled the two people were different or not or whether all the immortal generals were under the control of the same Golden-Soul Rune Virus.


    After copying the two Golden-Soul Rune Virus and comparing them, Zhang Tie discovered that the Golden-Soul Rune Virus in Jiang Ruoxin''s mind sea could absorb more spiritual energy in quantity and quality and grow faster in the same period of time than that in Ji Yuelan''s mind sea. Although the two Golden-Soul Rune Virus were similar in look generally, they were evidently distinctive in the core region.


    Those fine tadpole-shaped runes in the core region of the Golden-Soul Rune Virus in the mind sea of Jiang Ruoxin were evidently more complex, advanced and denser than that of Ji Yuelan.


    It meant that the Golden-Soul Rune Virus in the mind sea of Jiang Ruoxin was more advanced than that in the mind sea of Ji Yuelan.


    After copying the Golden-Soul Rune Virus of Jiang Ruoxin, Zhang Tie copied the Golden-Soul Rune Virus of another female disciple beside her. After making another comparison, Zhang Tie found this female disciple shared the same Golden-Soul Rune Virus with Ji Yuelan. It indicated that there was more than one variety of Golden-Soul Rune Virus in this world, which were divided according to the levels of immortal generals. The higher level the immortal general had, the higher level the Golden-Soul Rune Virus which was used to control him or her would be.


    This discovery made Zhang Tie thrilled. Just now Zhang Tie was very afraid that all the Golden-Soul Rune Virus were same, which meant a real catastrophe for Zhang Tie as it reminded him of the products on the assembly line which meant a mass production.


    The fact that there were several varieties of Golden-Soul Rune Virus meant that "His Majesty" would spend a lot of efforts in making such terrifying things. In other words, they could barely realize mass production. Zhang Tie concluded easily¡ª¡ªif senior Golden-Soul Rune Virus could take effect on inferior immortal generals, "His Majesty" didn''t need to produce inferior Golden-Soul Rune Virus for inferior immortal generals at all. Now that he especially produced inferior Golden-Soul Rune Virus for inferior immortal generals, it implied that it was not easy to produce Golden-Soul Rune Virus. Otherwise, he only needed to produce one kind of Golden-Soul Runed Virus to deal with immortal generals on different levels.


    From a certain perspective, this was good news for Zhang Tie.


    After getting two templates of Golden-Soul Rune Virus, Zhang Tie took a look at the three beauties beside Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin who looked like elders of Yin-Yang Sect. Zhang Tie felt that they should have different Golden-Soul Rune Virus.


    Zhang Tie then came to the front of a beauty in blue longuette as he put his hand on her forehead, entering her mind sea spiritually and starting to copy her Golden-Soul Rune Virus.


    As a water immortal general, this woman''s spiritual energy in her mind sea was more energetic. Her Golden-Soul Rune Virus grew even faster than that of Jiang Ruoxin. Zhang Tie felt that she might recover her consciousness in a few hours.


    Those dense runes in the core area of her Golden-Soul Rune Virus were greater in quantity and more complex than that in Jiang Ruoxin''s mind sea. Zhang Tie''s speculation was verified again.


    After Zhang Tie copied her Golden-Soul Rune Virus, the beauty in purple beside her suddenly opened her eyes.


    Zhang Tie noticed her amazing look at once. Before she uttered any voice, Zhang Tie had rushed over there and covered her mouth.


    "Hush, I''m on your side. I''m here to save you. Those immortal generals in black robe are outside..." Zhang Tie told the woman secretly as he added, "Nod if you understand me..."


    Watching Zhang Tie''s look, the beauty gradually recovered her composure. At the same time, a blurry expression flashed across her face. After considering it for a few seconds, she nodded lightly.


    As all the alive members of Yin-Yang Sect had become the flesh on the kneading board, it was unnecessary for those people who caught them to perform in front of them.


    After designing a layer of vacuum space around the beauty and him, Zhang Tie slowly loosened his grip.


    "What''s your name?" Zhang Tie asked secretly.


    The beauty in purple just watched him in daze as she remained silent.


    Zhang Tie thought this woman might have not recovered completely. Therefore, he asked her again. The beauty gazed at Zhang Tie''s face for a short while before looking at his hand which was put on her mouth just now. Then, she cast her eyes down, murmuring, " This humble woman is...Su Haimei..."


    At that time, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like caring about her amazing look; instead, he continued, "How do you feel? Can you run your battle qi and spiritual energy?"


    "I feel soft all over... I don''t have strength. Even weaker than commoners. I can neither run my battle qi nor spiritual energy," the beauty said tenderly as she glanced at Zhang Tie rapidly.


    With a frown, Zhang Tie sighed inside, saying, "This Golden-Soul Rune Virus is too strange." Previously, Zhang Tie thought that these people could recover their ability to a certain degree after waking up. He didn''t imagine that they had completely lost their battle strength physically and spiritually. ''Does it mean that these victims won''t recover their battle strength until the so-called "Sacred Sacrifice"''


    "Sorry to offend you..." Zhang Tie left some words before putting his hands on her lower abdomen and forehead at the same time and starting to check her situation seriously, eyes closed.


    Watching Zhang Tie, the face of the beauty in purple gradually turned red, which looked pretty captivating.

 1760 A Talk

    The woman''s battle qi in her qi sea was normal; however, the Golden-Soul Rune Virus in her mind sea had already developed into the form of a puppet worm completely which was giving out golden light. Those bizarre tadpole-shaped runes had got many rune tentacles which covered the swirl of the spiritual energy in the mind sea of the woman. Some rune tentacles even deepened into her brain...


    The Golden-Soul Rune Virus didn''t make any response to Zhang Tie''s spiritual inspection. However, it had completely integrated with the woman''s mind sea and brain. As a result, it was more difficult for Zhang Tie to remove it.


    After withdrawing his hand, Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he found the woman was looking at him with rosy cheeks. After seeing that Zhang Tie had opened his eyes, she felt bashful.


    At the sight of her expression, Zhang Tie immediately felt her subtle mental condition. He then took a serious look at her as he found this beauty in purple was mature with plump breasts, almond-shaped eyes, rosy cheeks and elegant, enchanting frame. She was indeed a rare beauty. If Zhang Tie was favored by such a beauty in Blackhot City, he might have laughed out even in dreams. No, he wouldn''t even fall asleep in the evening. However, at this critical moment, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like flirting with her at all.


    To tell the truth, Zhang Tie was a bit regretful at this moment. ''Why did I become so handsome? It seems that I''ve underestimated the attraction of this look to women. I should become a bit average.''


    "There''s no problem with the battle qi in the void above your qi sea, try to run it..." Zhang Tie said calmly.


    Zhang Tie''s good look took effect at once. The moment the woman heard his suggestion, she inhaled and closed her eyes. In a split second, she had frowned as her face turned pale, oozing fine sweat all over her forehead. She then opened her eyes as she shook her head, saying, "I cannot do it. As long as I want to run my battle qi, I will feel a red-hot needle piercing into my brain through the central forehead. As a result, I have to stop it...I feel...feel that something might be in my mind sea. But I don''t know what it is..."


    Zhang Tie could feel the Golden-Soul Rune Virus because of his super great spiritual energy and the secret skill of Bloody Soul Sutra. As for these immortal generals who had been affected by Golden-Soul Runed Virus, even if Golden-Soul Runed Virus were in their bodies, they still didn''t know anything. It was like how commoners felt after being poisoned on many occasions. Despite feeling uncomfortable, they didn''t know where was the problem.


    It was another terrifying feature of Golden-Soul Runed Virus¡ª¡ªbeing invisible. People could barely check out where it was even if it was in their body.


    "Can you run your spiritual energy now?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s hint, Su Haimei tried it as she shook her head again, answering, "No, like how I ran my battle qi, the moment I run my spiritual energy, the part in the central forehead will ache sharply..."


    ''That got to be the effect of Golden-Soul Rune Virus. After these people wake up, they could maintain their consciousness; however, their abilities are restricted. They might have no ability to resist before the so-called "Sacred Sacrifice".''


    Zhang Tie remained silent as he was thinking about two questions rapidly.


    ''If so, even if all the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect wakes up, as they have lost their abilities, it would be difficult for me to take them away from here. What''s more, before "Sacred Sacrifice", the Golden-Soul Rune Virus might become more dangerous or experience other unexpected changes after I take them away from here. What if it directly kills these people?''


    ''The ideal condition was that I could postpone the date of "Sacred Sacrifice" endlessly after these people wake up, in which situation, I will have no worries even if they have lost their battle strength. They only need to stay alive. In this way, I could spare more time to work out a solution to relieve Golden-Soul Rune Virus.''


    However, Zhang Tie knew that the possibility for him to reach this real condition was pretty low. Given the ability and intelligence of the creator of Golden-Soul Rune Virus, he would never allow the batch of virus that he had spent great efforts to create to be ineffective.


    ''How could I help them out?''


    As Zhang Tie thought about the above two questions, he found that it became increasingly trickier.


    "Mr...Mr...hero, may I know your name? Why are you here?" watching Zhang Tie thinking about it with a frown, Su Haimei asked him.


    "Just call me Donder!" Zhang Tie instantly borrowed Donder''s name. No matter what, Donder was lecherous and shameless. He would definitely have drooled in front of such a rare beauty. As Zhang Tie recalled Donder''s look, he continued with a solemn look, "Last night, when I passed by Redmountain City accidentally, I saw some guys catch some people in the castle and fly out of it. Therefore, I stealthily followed them. Oh, I found they didn''t outnumber you. As you''re all immortal generals, why didn''t you fight them? Additionally, you have no external wounds, how did they catch you? It seems that you''ve been poisoned..."


    "I don''t know about it either. Last night, when we saw those people break in Ying Clan''s castle, one of the opponents in black robe took out a weird gourd. The moment the gourd''s lid was opened, some golden sparkles had flown out of it towards us. When a golden sparkle flew towards me, I slashed towards it. Unexpectedly, the golden sparkle thoroughly ignored my saber. Closely after that, my central forehead ached. Then, I felt dizzy and lost my consciousness!"


    After hearing Su Haimei''s description, Zhang Tie finally knew the situation where Ji Yuelan sent the half message to him. True love could be checked in crises. When Zhang Tie realized that Ji Yuelan was still worrying about him in such a critical situation, he felt complex at a stroke.


    ''No matter what, I have to save all the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect this time.'' Zhang Tie made a decision.


    Golden-Soul Rune Virus could be barely defended. It could almost ignore any defense and strike of immortal generals, which was similar to that of thunder of nirvana. No wonder the entire Ying Clan''s castle had completely collapsed in only a few minutes.


    "Oh, how are the common servants and guardians of Ying Clan''s castle?" Su Haimei hurriedly asked Zhang Tie.


    "Besides the 27 immortal generals which were caught on this airboat, all the other living beings in the castle had been killed, even chicken and dogs..." Zhang Tie replied lightly. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Su Haimei''s face turned completely pale as she burst into tears at once...

 1761 The Cause of the Ruin

    As a person who had survived mountains of corpses and seas of blood, Zhang Tie sympathized and took pity on the tragedy in Ying Clan''s castle very much. However, Zhang Tie was not shocked by such an accident as he had seen something much more terrifying than that.


    However, those people or elders of Yin-Yang Sect being involved felt pretty sad when they saw their own set being destroyed and their disciples and relatives being killed. It was definitely a tragedy in their lives.


    Zhang Tie understood Su Haimei''s mood at this moment very much. Therefore, he kept silent when he saw her dropping tears.


    To be honest, Yin-Yang Sect was really dogged by bad luck and suffering many a setback. After one of its branches was destroyed by Force Emperor, the remains of Yin-Yang Sect were chased by Force Emperor Immortal Palace across the globe. After the survivors of Yin-Yang Sect got a firm foothold in Redmountain City, they were raided by these quirky immortal generals in black robe. As a result, all the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect were caught alive. Few sects could be as tragic as Yin-Yang Sect.


    After almost 5 minutes, Su Haimei gradually stopped weeping.


    In a short period of time, Su Haimei was venting her grief. Meanwhile, she was thinking about the current situation facing the survivors of Yin-Yang Sect¡ª¡ªnow that this "Donder" has already witnessed the catastrophe facing Ying Clan''s castle and discovered over 20 immortal generals in the tiny castle as well as being able to enter this airboat secretly, he perhaps have long learned that the others and I belong to Yin-Yang Sect. I didn''t tell him the truth immediately out of this concern when I woke up. Now that the situation that Yin-Yang Sect faces couldn''t be worse, it seems that I don''t need to cover it anymore. Perhaps the slim chance of survival of Yin-Yang Sect is in the hand of "Donder". If I continue to keep the secret, it might arouse an adverse effect as Donder might feel being estranged. And then, he might not help us anymore.


    When she thought about that, Su Haimei a grand elder of Yin-Yang Sect stopped weeping. After gritting her teeth, she told Zhang Tie about the truth.


    "To tell the truth, all the captives here are immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect. The remains of Yin-Yang Sect have to hide in Redmountain City to survive ourselves while being chased across the world by Force Emperor Immortal Palace. Although there''re many gossips about us, Yin-Yang Sect as a whole never did anything that was against reason and nature. I wonder whether you would save us after knowing our real identity, senior."


    Zhang Tie''s cultivation base was unfathomable. When being checked, Su Haimei had already known that Zhang Tie''s cultivation base was above her as a wind immortal general. Plus Zhang Tie''s experienced face, Su Haimei directly called him senior.


    Zhang Tie praised Su Haimei''s fast response inside. It required her great wisdom, braveness and superb judgment to be sober-minded and unveil the real identity of her group at such a critical moment. Additionally, she woke up first among them. All these indicated a high cultivation base. It seemed that the remains of Yin-Yang Sect indeed had superb intelligence as they could hide in the territory of Force Emperor Immortal Palace while being chased by Force Emperor Immortal Palace over these years.


    "Yin-Yang Sect is not my enemy. I''m not biased about Yin-Yang Sect. Additionally, I''m not familiar with Force Emperor Immortal Palace. Furthermore, those immortal generals in black robe outside used quirky and vicious tricks and did evil things secretly. I know they''re from an evil force. Therefore, I will try my best to help you. However, the quirky virus that you''ve been affected has not appeared in Motian Realm before. I can''t help you for the time being. We need to work out a solution!"


    "Senior, I Su Haimei appreciate you so much on behalf of all the others of Yin-Yang Sect. If Yin-Yang Sect could survive this catastrophe, you will be our greatest savior. Yin-Yang Sect as a whole will never forget you!"


    "Forgot about it. Let''s think about how to help you out of the predicament..."


    "Oh, senior, you said they''ve caught 27 immortal generals in total. Did one of us escape away?" Su Haimei asked as she looked around. At the same time, she got a glimmer of hope, saying, "She''s almost as old as me in green skirt. Senior, have you seen her?"


    Being poker-faced, Zhang Tie asked, "You mean Xue Yuxiu?"


    After hearing Xue Yuxiu''s name, Su Haimei instantly became a bit thrilled as she answered, "Yea, yea, yea, it''s her. Did she escape? You''ve seen her, senior?"


    "Hehhehheh, she''s not escaped. She''s also on the airboat!"


    Su Haimei became confused, and said, "Ah? Is younger sister Xue locked in other room or being interrogated?"


    "Hehhehheh, that woman is free. When you and the others of Yin-Yang Sect were captured, I saw her boarding the airboat with those immortal generals in black robe..."


    "Ah..." Su Haimei became petrified as she looked into Zhang Tie''s eyes in an unbelievable manner, "Senior...senior...are you sure..."


    "That woman is on the side of those immortal generals in black robe. Just now, she was enjoying sex with that immortal general in robe who led the team to slaughter the base of Yin-Yang Sect last night in a room above..."


    "Impossible...impossible...younger sister Xue is not that kind of person. She''s not that kind of person. She could never do that...impossible..." Su Haimei shook her head as she refused to believe Zhang Tie in a complex mood.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie suddenly turned around and took a look outside. Then, he told Su Haimei, "You will soon know whether your younger sister Xue is that kind of person or not..." Zhang Tie said as he slowly retreated into the shadow of the room, adding, "Remember, don''t expose to anyone else that I''m here. If something uncontrollable happens, I could leave here; however, you will be in danger..."


    Right under the gaze of Su Haimei, Zhang Tie who had been in the shadow of the room gradually turned transparent. Finally, he directly disappeared as if he had never been here, leaving no trace at all.


    "Invisible shen bead..." Su Himei couldn''t help uttering. Just now she wondered how Zhang Tie could board the airboat with those immortal generals in black robe secretly. At the sight of this scene, she instantly understood it. Meanwhile, she got a bit of confidence in Zhang Tie.


    "Remember, we still have an opportunity. It''s not the right moment to fight them. After a short while, you''d better check out the virus that you''ve been affected by your younger sister Xue so that I could work out a solution for you!" Zhang Tie''s voice still appeared in Su Haimei''s ears clearly although he had already disappeared.


    Su Haimei still didn''t believe that younger sister Xue could behave like what Zhang Tie had described. However, Zhang Tie confirmed it confidently. Therefore, she just watched the hatch door with a complex mood...


    ...


    "Grand Justice Qian gave me the key. He''s already allowed me to take a look here..." In a green skirt, Xue Yuxiu the grand elder of Yin-Yang Sect said with an enchanting expression as she passed by the two immortal generals in black robe under their gaze and swayed with willowy motions towards the room where the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect were prisoned, a key in hand.


    When she passed by the two immortal generals in black robe, she even winked at them on purpose. As a result, the two immortal generals in black robe kept gazing at her wriggling butts under her longuette and kept swallowing their saliva. Not until Xue Yuxiu got past the tunnel did they move their eyes away.


    With a creak, the door of the room where all the female immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect were prisoned was opened. Under the shocked and distressed gaze of Su Haimei, Xue Yuxiu entered it with a smile as he saw Su Haimei who was watching her.


    After closing the door, Xue Yuxiu smoothed out the hair at her temples with fingers before revealing a smile at Su Haimei. After that, she walked towards Su Haimei, saying, "Elder sister Su, your cultivation base is the highest among us. You''ve mastered the "all flowers bloom together" skill of Three Lives Sutra better than us. You''re the most diligent one and has the greatest spiritual energy among us. I know you''ve already woken up. Therefore, I especially came here to see you..."


    "Young sister Xue...why...why it''s you..." Su Haimei asked with a distressed and unbelievable look.


    "Right, it''s indeed me. Now that elder sister Su has already known it, I will not cover it anymore. Right, those immortal generals in black robe were indeed fetched by me!" after throwing a look at Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin who were still in a coma, Xue Yuxiu said calmly, "I''ve informed them the moment I knew that Yuelan and Ruoxin came back to our base with No-Hatred Tortoise!"


    "Why? As a member of Yin-Yang Sect, why did you do that?"


    "Hahaha, elder sister Su, don''t ask me why. Elder sister Su, don''t you know that?" Xue Yuxiu suddenly giggled lightly. Gradually, she started to laugh hysterically. In guffaws, she dropped off tears as she explained, "The incumbent head of Yin-Yang Sect should be elder brother Luo; instead of Ying Canghai. How could Ying Canghai match elder brother Luo? However, Ying Canghai became the head of Yin-Yang Sect while elder brother Luo has died, leaving nothing anymore. Elder sister Su, don''t you know why I did that?"


    "I know you deeply loved elder brother Luo since young and were going to be partners in cultivation. However, elder brother Luo was discovered by the elder of Force Emperor Immortal Palace. He couldn''t escape and was finally killed..."


    "Really?" Xue Yuxiu continued to laugh out crazily as she asked, "If so, why is Ying Canghai still alive who executed the task together with elder brother Luo? His cultivation base and intelligence could never match that of elder brother Luo. But why could he survive and become the head of Yin-Yang Sect; instead of elder brother Luo..."


    "There''s always an accident!"


    "I also thought it was an accident before..." Xue Yuxiu smiled desolately, saying, "But elder sister Su, I realized it later that the reason why the elder of Force Emperor Immortal Palace knew the whereabouts of elder brother Luo lay in that he received a secret letter. Someone leaked the whereabouts of elder brother Luo in the letter. At that time, elder brother Luo was with Ying Canghai. Therefore, Ying Canghai was the only one who knew the whereabouts of elder brother Luo. Finally, when the elder of Force Emperor Immortal Palace arrived, Ying Canghai had long disappeared. As a result, elder brother Luo could only fight to death, leaving nothing at all. The position of the head of Yin-Yang Sect should belong to elder brother Luo. I will help elder brother Luo take it back from Ying Canghai. I will let Ying Canghai lose everything, including his family..."


    Zhang Tie finally understood why this woman colluded with outsiders and betrayed Yin-Yang Sect without a bottom line. It seemed that the cause of the ruin had been set many years ago. In this world, nothing could be more dreadful than a woman who was determined to take revenge for her beloved man full of hatred...


    After hearing Xue Yuxiu''s words, Su Haimei closed her eyes with a sharp grievance as she dropped off her tears once again, asking, "Do you want the entire Yin-Yang Sect to sacrifice for the death of elder brother Luo?"

 1762 Information

    "Not exactly. I only want Ying Canghai to die. As for the rest of Yin-Yang Sect, I''m actually providing you a bright way. Elder Sister Su, you will not need to hide from one place to another due to fear soon!" Xue Yuxiu gradually stopped her crazy guffaws as her face turned icy.


    "As we''re of the same sect, if you really think for us, let us go!"


    "Elder Sister Su, are you kidding me? Even if I let you go, do you think you could escape..." Xue Yuxiu let out a sigh as she continued, "To tell you the truth, you''ve been poisoned by a bizarre virus, the Golden-Soul Rune Virus. Besides His Majesty, nobody else in the world could detoxify it for you. Elder Sister Su, don''t you feel that you''re losing your battle strength? That got to be the effect of Golden-Soul Rune Virus. Even if you could escape away, if not attend the sacred sacrifice in half a month, all of you will die as Golden-Soul Rune Virus will blow up your brains!"


    "Sacred Sacrifice?"


    "Hmm, sacred sacrifice. I will preside over your sacred sacrifice. After that, you will become my subordinates. When His Majesty leads us to wipe out the entire Motian Realm and tread Force Emperor Immortal Palace and other immortal palaces underfoot, I will establish Yin-Yang Sect again. By then, Elder Sister Su, I will show you the power of Yin-Yang Sect. We would not be afraid of anybody; nor would we be chased by anybody..."


    "Younger Sister Xue, do you think that the rest of Yin-Yang Sect would allow you to do that?"


    "Hahaha, Elder Sister Su, you don''t know the power of Golden-Soul Rune Virus at all. After the sacred sacrifice, you would not say that. By then, you would do whatever I tell you to do voluntarily!" Xue Yuxiu said as she walked two steps forward and came to the front of a beauty in blue who was still in a coma beside Su Haimei. As she raised her jaw lightly, Xue Yuxiu revealed a vicious look, saying, "By then, even if I have Younger Sister Hua take off her clothes in front of Ying Canghai and look after other men and have her sleep with tens of thousands of men, she would do it obediently. Didn''t Ying Canghai want to be the head of Yin-Yang Sect by every means he could? By then, I will see how he would feel when his wife and daughter could be f*cked by any man in this world."


    After hearing her icy and vicious words, Zhang Tie couldn''t stand to quiver once all over. ''This woman is going to torture Ying Canghai to death.''


    "Younger Sister Xue, you were not such a kind of person..." Su Haimei gazed at Xue Yuxiu with deep hatred and resentment, saying, "You still have time to regret..."


    "Regret? How? Elder Sister Su, do you know how much have I paid for today? I couldn''t regret any more!" Xue Yuxiu turned around as she watched Su Haimei, continuing, "Among this batch of sisters, you''re the one I admire the most, Elder Sister Su. If not the head of Yin-Yang Sect has to be selected from the Yang branch according to the regulation, you were the most qualified one to be the head of Yin-Yang Sect closely after Brother Luo. Ying Canghai couldn''t catch up with you without receiving the enlightenment of the elders fortunately as the head of Yin-Yang Sect. I came down here not for your forgiveness; instead, I want to spare an opportunity for you. Even if you got to receive the sacred sacrifice, I hope you could understand me and assist me sincerely. In the future, when I establish Yin-Yang Sect again, I will let you be the head of Yin-Yang Sect. Additionally, Elder Sister Su, I know you''re still a virgin. As long as you could help me sincerely, I promise you that I will never let other men touch you..."


    "You''ve already unveiled the Three Lives No-Hatred Secret Method of Yin-Yang Sect to outsiders?"


    With a disdainful sneer, Xue Yuxiu replied, "Hoho, I''m living in hatred every minute. The Three-Lives No-Hatred Secret Method is meaningless for me. As His Majesty favors Yin-Yang Sect, besides enabling so many immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect to serve His Majesty, why not present the Three Lives No-Hatred Secret Method to His Majesty?"


    "What about those disciples of Yin-Yang Sect in Ying Clan''s castle? What did you do to them?"


    Su Haimei asked Xue Yuxiu with a fluke mind as she wanted to confirm whether Zhang Tie''s words were true or not.


    "Now that those people were loyal to Ying Canghai, just let them die for him..."


    "Xue Yuxiu...you''re too vicious..." Su Haimei gazed at this woman deadly. The simple change of her appellation of Xue Yuxiu revealed how much Su Haimei hated the latter.


    "Elder Sister Su, your temperament remains unchanged..." Xue Yuxiu sneered as she threw a glance at Jiang Ruoxin on Su Haimei''s side who was still in a coma, warning her, "Ruoxin is your disciple. You treat her as your own daughter. Even if you don''t think for yourself, you should at least think for Ruoxin. As there''re still a few days left for the sacred sacrifice. I will not force you to do that. You could calm down in this period of time..."


    ''I''ve not imagined that Su Haimei is Jiang Ruoxin''s master.'' Zhang Tie murmured inside, ''It seems that Jiang Ruoxin''s temperament is closely related to her master.''


    "Ask her about the background of ''His Majesty''"


    When Su Haimei prepared to keep silent, she suddenly heard Zhang Tie''s voice.


    "I''ve got one question. As you''ve treaded the dignity of Force Emperor Immortal Palace underfoot by raiding Redmountain City, doesn''t ''His Majesty" fear about offending Force Emperor Immortal Palace? If Force Emperor came after you, the remains of Yin-Yang Sect would be wiped out for sure. Don''t you realize that your blueprint would be ruined like soap bubbles? The ''His Majesty'' in your mouth would soon be killed by Force Emperor!"


    "Hahaha, although Force Emperor is an immortal emperor, I''m afraid that he still couldn''t match His Majesty..." Xue Yuxiu said as she raised her head arrogantly, "After a few days, when the entire Motian Realm is toppled over, Elder Sister Su, you will know the power of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. As there''re too many immortal palaces in Motian Realm, His Majesty said that the others don''t have to exist at all..."


    "How unscrupulous he is!"


    "It depends on his power. Even though Yin-Yang Sect have so many immortal generals, how long have you resisted us? Elder Sister Su, what do you feel would immortal generals of other immortal palaces do facing our raids? Elder Sister Su, you''d better consider it carefully."


    After saying these words, Xue Yuxiu turned around and opened the door before leaving there decisively.


    After Xue Yuxiu left there for 2 minutes, Zhang Tie reappeared in front of Su Haimei with a pretty solemn look...

 1763 Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra

    Zhang Tie learned a lot of information from Xue Yuxiu.


    After hearing that, Zhang Tie gradually aborted his plan of helping the captives of Yin-Yang Sect to escape away before slowly working out a solution to detoxify Golden-Soul Rune Virus for them.


    This also proved Zhang Tie''s speculation¡ª¡ª"His Majesty" would never let those being affected by Golden-Soul Rune Virus escape away. Even if he killed all the crew of the airboat and saved them, if these people didn''t receive the sacred sacrifice in half a month, they would die for sure.


    Additionally, these immortal generals in black robe belonged to Dark Emperor Immortal Palace which Zhang Tie had not heard at all. He didn''t know anything about it. However, given their style, they were definitely not good people. According to Xue Yuxiu, "His Majesty" of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was higher than that of Force Emperor. Zhang Tie didn''t know whether it was true or not. According to Zhang Tie''s knowledge, immortal emperors were the most powerful ones in this world. However, he knew all the immortal emperors in Motian Realm. Additionally, a sage-level knight couldn''t become an immortal emperor without having a large population and accumulating some mysterious power. However, this Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was unknown. He had not heard about it at all. ''Who''s that immortal emperor then?''


    Zhang Tie got 3 possible explanations: First, "His Majesty" had blazed a new trail to promote to an immortal emperor being different than that selected by other sage-level knights. Second, Xue Yuxiu was boasting. Actually, "His Majesty" couldn''t defeat Force Emperor at all. Third, that "His Majesty" was another identity of a known immortal emperor in Motian Realm.


    He was uncertain which was true for the time being; however, there was one point that Zhang Tie was sure that there were "His Honors" being closely subordinate to "His Majesty". Now that "His Honor" could subdue Xue Yuxiu who was a water immortal general and Grand Justice Qian who was a fire immortal general and won the admiration from two people, he probably was a supreme immortal general. As "His Majesty" was above "His Honors", he should have a terrifying power even if he was not an immortal emperor.


    ''It seems to be the prelude that Dark Emperor Immortal Palace wants to arouse chaos in Motian Realm by conquering Yin-Yang Sect...''


    ''I wonder how many immortal generals have been subdued by the Golden-Soul Rune Virus of "His Majesty" in the past 7 months before Yin-Yang Sect was wiped out.''


    ''F*ck, I really hit the jackpot this time.''


    ''It also proves that my choice of changing my look is correct. No matter how big trouble I arouse, I would never have the "weak" Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace involved in it for the time being.''


    A lot of whims occurred in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "What''s the Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra of Yin-Yang Sect? It might be the target of these people." Zhang Tie asked Su Haimei with a solemn look.


    Zhang Tie felt Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra was the major reason for Yin-Yang Sect to suffer from such a tragedy. As for the old stories between Xue Yuxiu and Ying Canghai, it''s just an excuse of those people. Xue Yuxiu was a qualified mole; however, a mole was decisive in a major event.


    Su Haimei gritted her teeth. On this occasion, it was meaningless for her to continue keeping the top-secret from this person in front of her. "The Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra of Yin-Yang Sect combines the features of water and fire. If two people who cultivate Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra with the same cultivation base work together, they could impart one''s cultivation base and chakras to the third person through enlightenment so that the third person could light his chakras rapidly and become a power within a short period of time. Besides..." Su Haimei''s face flushed. After one second''s silence, she continued, "A woman who cultivates Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra could facilitate the opponent''s battle qi, spiritual energy and body and improve the opponent''s cultivation base while making love with a man in the method of improving yang with yin..."


    ''Oh, I see.'' Zhang Tie realized that the effect of Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra was similar to the positive "Purgatory Samsara Method", which could transfer one''s cultivation base to the other one through enlightenment. ''What a powerful secret method! The method of improving yang with yin is marvelous too. A man could enhance his cultivation base by making love with a woman. Every man likes it. No wonder "His Majesty" would subdue Yin-Yang Sect. If he masters this secret method, plus Golden-Soul Rune Virus, Dark Emperor Immortal Palace could indeed control immortal generals effectively.''


    ''Meanwhile, it means that these immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect might face a very miserable fate in the future. I don''t know how would those men of Yin-Yang Sect live, I''m afraid that these women are similar to comfort women in Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. The precious stone lands its innocent possessor in jail!''


    "Does the person who receives enlightenment need to cultivate Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra?"


    "If the person receiving enlightenment is cultivating Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra, he could absorb the complete chakras of the opponent. For instance, a fire immortal general could transfer his whole cultivation base to a fierce immortal general in the extreme, enabling the fierce immortal general to promote all the way to a fire immortal general. If the person who receives enlightenment doesn''t cultivate Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra, he could at most absorb 70% of the cultivation base of the opponent..."


    "That''s great..." Zhang Tie sincerely praised it. In Motian Realm, there was a myriad of secret skills and methods. Although Purgatory Samsara Method was pretty powerful, at least the Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra dwarfed Purgatory Samsara Method in the efficiency of producing knights.


    "Although Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra is powerful, very few people could have a chance to receive the cultivation base of a high-level immortal general in Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra even in Yin-Yang Sect over the past hundreds of years. Generally, only heads are qualified to enjoy it when the high-level elders of Yin-Yang Sect are going to die naturally or due to heavy wounds. The conditions for receiving another high-level immortal general''s cultivation base are pretty rigid. Only heads and elders in Yin-Yang Sect know this secret. Since the forebear of Yin-Yang Sect founded it, this secret has not been exposed to the public. Unexpectedly, alas, perhaps this is the fate of Yin-Yang Sect..." Su Haimei sighed.


    "Don''t worry, I will not leak it to the third person except you and me..."


    Su Haimei revealed a bitter smile as she looked bleak, saying, "Senior, I''m afraid that this secret will not be kept anymore; even if you don''t say it, the others will leak it. Many more forces would like to catch the remains of Yin-Yang Sect from then on. I''m afraid that Yin-Yang Sect will never have a peaceful life in the future. Senior, I''ve got a request. Please help me..."


    "Go ahead!"


    "Senior, if you couldn''t help the captives of Yin-Yang Sect escape away before the rite of sacred sacrifice, please kill us. If the remaining ones from Yin-Yang Sect really deteriorate to that step to become others'' puppet slaves, we prefer death so as to maintain the last bit of dignity of Yin-Yang Sect..."


    After taking a serious look at this woman, Zhang Tie nodded, saying, "Don''t worry. If I couldn''t save you, I will never let you suffer humiliation alive!"


    "Thanks, senior. However, we could die, but the Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra shouldn''t be taken away by us as it carries the universal laws of the world. Otherwise, we would be guilty. Senior, I will tell you about the Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra right now. If you encounter some decent people in the future, please impart this sutra to them. By doing this, our Yin-Yang Sect will last forever..."


    To be honest, this woman was even more heroic than men. Zhang Tie admired her pretty much. ''No wonder Xue Yuxiu admires her.''


    Zhang Tie nodded. Su Haimei then told the entire Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra to Zhang Tie.


    Su Haimei had long mastered the Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra. After no-hatred tortoise returned to Yin-Yang Sect, all the other grand elders of Yin-Yang Sect had already grasped it through common study last night.


    In this way, Zhang Tie got the fundamental secret method of Yin-Yang Sect through Su Haimei.


    After Su Haimei imparted Three Lives No-Hatred Sutra to Zhang Tie orally, the airboat finally arrived at its destination after over 10 hours'' flight.


    "Trust me, I will not leave you. Every cloud has a silver lining. I wonder how will they hold the rite of sacred sacrifice. I will work out a solution to save you..."


    Watching those immortal generals in black robe and that Grand Justice Qian walking towards the bilges where the captives of Yin-Yang Sect were in, Zhang Tie left some words to Su Haimei before disappearing into the dark of the room quietly again.


    Watching Zhang Tie disappearing again and hearing his promise, Su Haimei gradually became composed as if she had got hope and didn''t fear too much anymore...


    ...


    The air feather-class airboat had been declining and slowing down. When it reached below the clouds from above them, the outline of a strange and prosperous city gradually became evident in the sunlight...

 1764 Destination

    Being larger and much more prosperous than Heavenly Square City, this city looked very magnificent. From the sky, the entire city was covered with continuous rows of houses. Besides the airboat where Zhang Tie was in, many other airboats were landing or taking off at the airport outside this city.


    In the center of this city, there was a high mountain. The urban complex extended all the way to the foot of the mountain from dozens of miles away.


    On the top of the mountain, there was another scene¡ª¡ªa huge castle featured by Motian Realm was overlooking the entire city. There was a huge red triangular flag swaying in the air above the castle, marked with a golden character "Si!".


    This character implied the status of the ruler of this city.


    When the air feather-class airboat penetrated through the clouds and approached the huge castle under the gaze of a row of soldiers in shiny outfits standing on the top of the tower gate, a general waved his blue flag for twice over there. Closely after that, a 100-m long metal gate slowly opened on the hillside, exposing the berths for airboats inside the hinterland of the mountain.


    Their airboat didn''t park in the airport outside the city; instead, after descending to a certain height, it slowly entered the hinterland of the mountain.


    Of course, outsiders couldn''t see these people getting off this airboat. It seemed that they had done a great job in confidentiality.


    It required them great comprehensive strength to empty the hinterland of a mountain and build berths for airboats inside there. Additionally, this castle was full of heavily guarded armored soldiers; especially the top of the city wall and tower gate which were standing denser armored guards. Besides, two teams of people in metal wings were patrolling in the sky. Such a layout and magnificent look was much greater than that of Zi Clan in Heavenly Square City. If this city was a bit larger and had a bit more immortal generals, it could almost match Dragon Emperor City.


    Even though Zhang Tie was hiding in the airboat, he could still see through everything outside using his lotus-flower eyes. At the sight of that mountain and the castle, Zhang Tie had known that it might be Cyandragon Palace of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace as was mentioned by the Grand Justice You.


    Of course, this was the secret identity of this place. Superficially, this place had another identity. Only after taking a look at it and recalling the route and distance all the way here, Zhang Tie immediately knew where he was.


    ¡ª¡ªCyan Lotus City in the Woods Medium-sized Domain.


    Woods Medium-sized Domain was among the vast human territory in the north of Nine Heavens Big Domain. It had prosperous commerce. As a famous clan in Woods Medium-sized Domain. Si Clan occupied 1/4 of the territory of Woods Medium-sized Domain with its base in Cyan Lotus City.


    Undoubtedly, Si Clan in Woods Medium-sized Domain was the force of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace.


    When the airboat parked in the hinterland of the mountain, the gate of the castle was closed. It was brightly lit in the hinterland of the mountain. Armored soldiers could be seen everywhere. The moment the hatch door at the bottom of the airboat was opened, a team of armored soldiers rushed into the airboat at once.


    At this moment, the two bilges had already been opened while Grand Justice Qian and Xue Yuxiu were watching some immortal generals in black robe taking the captives of Yin-Yang Sect out of there.


    Only two captives had already woken up, Su Haimei and Ying Canghai.


    Ying Canghai was taken out first.


    With a gloomy look, Ying Canghai had lost his battle strength too. When he was taken out of the bilge and caught sight of Xue Yuxiu who was standing outside the door, Ying Canghai instantly changed his face as he started to exclaim out of fury, "Sister Xue, why? Why are you staying with these people..."


    "Ying Canghai, you must have not imagined about it!" Xue Yuxiu watched Ying Canghai full of hatred, sneering, "You still don''t know why I''m standing here? How could such an idiot become the head of Yin-Yang Sect? That''s ridiculous. I''m afraid that you only know how to betray your fellow apprentice..."


    Ying Canghai changed his face at once. After struggling a bit, he exclaimed, "What are you talking about? When did I betray my fellow apprentice..."


    Xue Yuxiu watched him calmly, saying, "Don''t be such loud, nobody would like to listen to your argument and watch your performance anymore. If you want a performance, I could arrange Younger Sister Hua and your daughter to make a splendid performance for you..."


    The cruelty and hatred of Xue Yuqiu''s words made Ying Canghai shudder all over. No matter what methods did this man adopt to be the head of Yin-Yang Sect, he really cared about his wife and daughter. Glaring at Xue Yuxiu with bloody eyes, he roared hysterically, "Xue Yuxiu, you''re a traitor. You can torture me if you want. But if you dare hurt my wife and daughter, I would never let you go even being a ghost..."


    "Hoho, of course, I will torture you. As for whether I dare hurt your wife and daughter or not, you will see it..."


    Ying Canghai still wanted to struggle; however, Grand Justice Qian on his side waved his hand impatiently, saying, "Take them away and put them in the heavenly jail, one cell for one person. Take care of them. I don''t want to see any problem with them..."


    Ying Canghai was then taken away from the airboat, closely followed by the other immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect in that bilge and those female immortal generals in another.


    When Su Haimei was taken out of there, she took a look at Xue Yuxiu and Qian Changqing silently. Qian Changqing glanced over Su Haimei as a bizarre light flashed across his eyes.


    "This woman belongs to me. If you dare touch her without my consent, I will never let you be able to touch any woman for the rest of your life. You could try..." Xue Yuxiu watched Grand Justice Qian in an amorous way as her words sounded pretty icy.


    After hearing Xue Yuxiu''s warning, Grand Justice Qian moved his eyes away from Su Haimei. After that, he took a deep look at Xue Yuxiu. Xue Yuxiu didn''t fear about looking straight into his eyes at all. After looking at each other for a few seconds, the two people turned around at the same time.


    Only after a short while, all the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect had been taken away from the airboat.


    Xue Yuxiu and the other immortal generals in black robe then got off the airboat...

 1765 In the Dungeon

    "My respects to you, Grand Justice Qian, Elder Xue..."


    A middle-aged slightly fat person who looked shrewd and able with a walrus mustache was welcoming Grand Justice Qian, Xue Yuxiu and those immortal generals in black robe who got off the airboat with two rows of guardians.


    "General Manager Si, we''ve been waiting for you for so long!" Although this person was not an immortal general given his qi, even Xue Yuxiu nodded towards him politely. Grand Justice Qian also warned him politely, "All the immortal generals we carry back are from Yin-Yang Sect. His Honor favors them very much. We''ve been preparing for this action for a long time. General Manager Si, please take care of them in case of any trouble!"


    "Don''t worry, Grand Justice Qian, as long as they''ve arrived here, they could only follow my order no matter how great they are!" General Manager Si said confidently with a smile.


    "That''s great. Has His Honor come back?" Grand Justice Qian asked General Manager Si.


    "His Honor and Grand Justice You have gone to the Dark Valley. However, His Honor has expressed that Grand Justice Qian will be in charge of all the affairs in the castle these days. If you need any help, please let me know!"


    Qian Changqing took a look at Xue Yuxiu with a smile as he said, "General Manager Si, please prepare the sacrificial altar for us. When those people wake up, Elder Xue and I will hold the rite of sacred sacrifice!"


    "Those people should be able to wake up in a couple of days. Let them rest for one day. After they slightly recover and adapt to the Golden-Soul Rune Virus, it would be easier for us to hold sacred sacrifice for them. Grand Justice Qian, how about holding the rite of sacred sacrifice in 3 days?"


    "Fine, I''ll take your advice. Thank you for the preparation, General Manager Si!"


    "It''s my pleasure!"


    "Oh, General Manager Si, those female immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect are mine. They will be greatly useful to His Honor in the future. I know General Manager Si has some special hobby. But I don''t hope any of them to have an accident or be harassed before the sacred sacrifice. Am I clear, General Manager Si?"


    As a light flashed across his eyes, General Manager Si hurriedly smirked, answering, "Clear, clear. Elder Xue, don''t worry. I could control myself..."


    After leaving some words to this general manager, Qian Changqing and Xue Yuxiu left there with the other immortal generals in black robe.


    Qian Changqing, Xue Yuxiu and the other immortal generals in black robe walked upwards along the tunnel while the general manager walked downward along the tunnel with his guardians.


    However, none of them realized that Zhang Tie was gazing at them not far from them just now.


    Zhang Tie saw Grand Justice Qian''s team off. Seeing General Manager Si walking downward along the tunnel, Zhang Tie instantly moved and followed them up silently.


    As for Zhang Tie, this general manager appeared timely. Zhang Tie was thinking about reading the memories of some immortal generals so as to check out the background of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. Right then, General Manager Si appeared. Additionally, given the contents of the talk between General Manager Si and Grand Justice Qian, this guy should be a "senior" of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace who must know a lot of secret information. What was more, this General Manager Si knew the process of the rite of sacred sacrifice.


    A guy below immortal general who knew a lot of secrets! Zhang Tie felt he was simply a gift from God.


    It seemed that General Manager Si was taking his guardians towards the dungeon beneath the hinterland of the mountain.


    There were coarse rocks across the hinterland and on both sides of the underground tunnel, on which were altar lamps. On the way, Zhang Tie saw guardians everywhere. Additionally, there were some passes, which were all heavily guarded by fierce immortal generals and some inferior guardians.


    General Manager got past everywhere smoothly. Therefore, Zhang Tie followed him all the way to the dungeon like an invisible specter without even touching the ground.


    When Zhang Tie was invisible, even high-level knights couldn''t find him, not to mention these low-level immortal generals and immortal soldiers.


    The dungeon was beneath the hinterland. As fewer altar lamps were placed here, it looked a bit gloomy. The moment Zhang Tie entered the dungeon, he had smelt a bloody and stinky odor which combined moisture.


    The moment General Manager Si came to the dungeon, a grim person who looked like a head hurriedly ran over here to be his guide.


    There were hundreds of cells in the dungeon, large or small. It was an illegal jail with complete facilities. Although the dungeon was set beneath the hinterland, it contained a lot of forbidden facilities. As a result, outsiders could barely find this place. Additionally, those prisoners could barely escape out of here.


    The immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect were not lonely here; because the greater part of the cells was occupied. There were all kinds of prisoners here, male or female, old or young; some in shabby clothes; some in noble costumes. The only commonplace among these people was that many of them were so scared that they even huddled up in a corner of their cell and shuddered all over at the sight of General Manager Si; especially some women who even exclaimed in fear.


    General Manager Si was very satisfied with such an effect. Like patrolling his own territory, when he checked each pale face and watched them shudder their bodies, he couldn''t help laughing out loudly.


    "Let me go, you b*stards and sons of b*tches. Do you know who I am? If you dare stir up, I tell you, you''re dead! You''re dead. If my dad knows that you dare drugged me and locked me here, he will definitely grind your bones to powder. Let me go..."


    A playboy at his 20''s in noble costume instantly rushed to the bars and cursed the person who came over here as he heard the footsteps.


    Given his costume and look, this young man might have just come here. He should not have suffered any hardship.


    General Manager Si threw an icy glance at the young man who was roaring in his cell out of fury. Closely after that, he turned around and asked the officer beside him, "Who''s he? Why didn''t I see him last time?"


    "General Manager, this person is the young master of Han Clan in Cattlehead Mountain. He''s just been sent here by the subordinates of Grand Justice Qian at the order of Grand Justice You. In a few days, when the subordinates of Grand Justice You subdue Han Clan and Grand Justice You comes back, he will make a sacred sacrifice for this guy. After that, this guy will be sent back. From then on, Cattlehead Mountain will belong to us..."


    "Hmm, now that it''s arranged by Grand Justice You, I will say nothing about that. But this guy is really noisy. Let him taste the nailed bed for a couple of days so that he could be obedient. Attention, do not let him die..."


    "Yes, yes, don''t worry about that, General Manager Si..." the officer replied as he made a hand gesture. Some tough guys immediately opened the door of the cell and caught that young master of Han Clan out of there like catching a chick. After that, they drew him towards the chamber of punishment.


    "What are you doing? Hurry, let me go. Let me go..." The young master of Han Clan struggled in vain as he swore.


    The shadows of the chilling instruments of torture reflected by the flames onto the wall. The moment the young master of Han Clan was drawn into the chamber of punishment, he had uttered an earth-shaking miserable shriek as he almost turned hoarse.


    Zhang Tie took a look over there as he found the so-called nailed bed was indeed an iron bed being covered with nails, which were neither long nor dense. The nails on the surface of the bed were less than 3 cm. The moment the young master of Han Clan''s limbs and head were fixed onto the bed, he uttered a miserable shriek as many nails prodded into his back and chest, causing his chest and back full of blood. The more he struggled, the more pain he felt.


    Those nails would not kill him; instead, they would bring him sharp pains, great fear and despair.


    However, it was not over. When the young master of Han Clan was shrieking miserably, a hot-red furnace was moved under the nailed bed, heating up the nails gradually. As a result, the young master of Han Clan''s voice instantly turned hoarse as if he was wailing like a ghost...

 1766 Control

    Such instruments of torture and methods really got one''s hackles up. It was nothing different than those guards in the hell who used to torture people. Even though Zhang Tie had seen the world, it was also his first time to see them.


    Humans were taken as animals or meat on the instruments. In this way, besides physical pains, their spirits would also be tortured. After shrieking miserably for a few seconds, the young master of Han Clan had passed out because of sharp pains and deep fear.


    However, General Manager Si, that director of the prison, the guards even the executioners had been accustomed to it as they didn''t have any emotional lability at all.


    The filth and darkness here were far out of Zhang Tie''s imagination.


    "General Manager Si, are you here for those female immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect?" The director of the dungeon bowed in front of General Manager Si as if he didn''t hear the miserable shrieks reverberating around the dungeon. With faint flattery and obscene smile, he revealed his dark yellow teeth which looked like that of scavengers, saying, "When those people were brought here, I found that all the female immortal generals were hot. Some of them even have nice figures. General Manager Si, you must like them. If you want to play with them, I will have people make an arrangement for you..."


    "Hmm, not bad. You still remember my likes!" General Manager Si said as he patted the director''s shoulder and took a favorable look at him, saying, "Although I''ve not promoted to an immortal general yet, I like when those female immortal generals kneel down and wail in front of me very much, hahaha...but these female immortal generals are a bit special. As I''ve been requested to take care of them by His Honor and Elder Xue, I cannot deal with it if there''s any problem with them. You shall warn your subordinates to be careful. If Elder Xue loses her temper, you will lose your life. Even I cannot help you then..."


    "I know. I know. I appreciate your warning, General Manager Si..." the director replied as his heart raced. Meanwhile, his idea aborted at once. He then nodded with a serious look.


    As they talked, the director had already led General Manager Si into the area where the immortal generals of Yin-Yang were locked up.


    There were totally 27 cells here, one for one. Males and females were isolated. These cells were firmer and more confined than those for people below immortal generals. Additionally, these cells had better conditions. Despite being a bit dark, there were also beddings and sanitary facilities in these cells. A narrow iron door could completely isolate them from the tunnel. There were only two small windows on the iron door, one for people to look in, the other for people to pass food.


    Those guards had just taken the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect down here and locked them in independent cells.


    "27 in total?"


    "Yea, 27 immortal generals in total..."


    "Keep a close eye on them. Keep them safe and sound. These people are gonna attend sacred sacrifice in 3 days..."


    "Don''t worry, General Manager Si!"


    "Where is the female immortal general of Yin-Yang Sect who has just woken up?"


    After hearing his words, the director became hesitant for a second before behaving like seeing the light suddenly, "Here, here, do you want to "check" here, General Manager Si? Come on, please come with me..."


    After coming to the door of a cell, the director took out a key and opened the door. Closely after that, he exchanged glances with the other guards before staying outside the door. General Manager Si entered it. Closely after that, the door was closed from outside.


    It was Su Haimei who was inside this cell.


    Although she had already lost her battle strength, Su Haimei was still in shackles which were connected to a capstan inside the room by iron chains. The capstan could be manipulated from outside the iron door.


    After entering the room, General Manager Si started to watch Su Haimei greedily as he flushed. Before he moved, those people outside the door had already revolved the capstan. Only after a short while, Su Haimei had been fixed onto the wall by the iron chains.


    "Who are you? What do you want..." Watching General Manager Si''s greedy eyes, Su Haimei felt a bit fear instinctively as she screamed and struggled forcefully in the room.


    After hearing the screams, the director and the other guards revealed an obscene smile at the same time as if it was not the first time for them to hear such a sound.


    ''F*ck, is this guy going to do that to Su Haimei now? He''s really audacious!''


    Zhang Tie followed General Manager Si into the cell. Watching his performance, Zhang Tie determined to stop this guy if he really wanted to do something to Su Haimei at this moment even though it was not the right moment. However, if Zhang Tie did something here, he might be discovered by those right outside the door.


    "Don''t worry. I''m with you. He cannot hurt you..." watching Su Haimei''s pale and panic-stricken face, Zhang Tie told Su Haimei secretly.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Su Haimei became slightly reassured; however, she was still watching General Manager Si who was approaching her with alert.


    "Hehhehheh, be quiet. I won''t touch you. Elder Xue has requested me to specially take care of you. Of course, I will not touch you..." General Manager Si smirked as he came to the side of Su Haimei. He didn''t touch Su Haimei; instead, he moved his head close to Su Haimei''s neck. After sniffing heavily for a short while, he revealed an intoxicated look, saying, "Fragrant. That''s really fragrant. This must be the fragrance of virgin..." After saying that, he moved his head close to Su Haimei''s armpit as he sniffed greedily for another time. At the same time, given his expression, he felt as sprightly as a fairy.


    Su Haimei felt goosebumps all over.


    "No wonder His Honor favors you. Female immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect are indeed special..." As he extolled, General Manager Si was only 3 cm away from Su Haimie as he sniffed again. This time, he almost wanted to sniff Su Haimei as a whole.


    In the following 2 minutes, General Manager Si drooled and sniffed Su Haimei''s body from head to toe like a dog in terms of standing, lying and kneeling.


    What happened in the room made Zhang Tie petrified. He had not imagined that General Manager Si could be such a pervert. He indeed had not touched her; however, he sniffed her all over. After being hesitant for 2 seconds, Zhang Tie''s thought of stopping General Manager Si at the risk of disclosing himself to the public finally aborted. This guy, after all, just sniffed her, which was a bit disgusting.


    As Su Haimei was clear that Zhang Tie was by her side, her face turned pale and red alternatively facing such a pervert.


    After sniffing her for 2 minutes, General Manager Si finally stood up satisfactorily. Licking his lips, he watched Su Haimei and said, "You''re mine sooner or later..."


    Su Haimei disdainfully glared at him as if he was a mangy dog...


    "Hehheh, I like how you look at me. Let''s see it. One day, I will force you to kneel down and look after me. Let''s see how an ugly toad like me will eat wild swans like you..."


    After saying these words, General Manager Si opened the door and walked out.


    "Ah, General Manager Si, why..." Those guys, who were smiling obscenely, were startled by General Manager Si''s short stay in the cell.


    General Manager Si had already regained his composure. After taking a look at the director, he said, "This woman is a bit special. I was just checking her simply in case of any loophole..."


    "Yea, yea, yea. You''re really working hard..." The director made a response at once.


    "Okay, loosen the capstan..."


    ...


    After looking around the dungeon, General Manager Si left it and returned to the hinterland where the airboat was parked. After that, he returned to the castle above the ground.


    General Manager Si revealed a faint smile the moment he came back to the ground and saw the sunshine as if he was in a mask. Being utterly different than the evil and gloomy guy underground, he was now a real general butler of a major clan. After coming back to his office, he started to handle the daily affairs of the castle. He was in charge of the daily needs of over 10,000 people in the castle, the distribution of servants, capital and materials. 7 butlers were assisting him.


    However, General Manager Si didn''t know that someone was keeping a close eye on every movement of his.


    Like a fierce tiger who was waiting to hunt its prey, Zhang Tie was waiting for an opportunity.


    After General Manager Si coped with the trifles inside the castle, it was almost dark. The castle also gradually became quiet.


    General Manager had someone sent his supper to his office. After finishing supper, he took a short rest. After that, he returned to his private residence accompanied by two guards.


    General Manager Si''s private residence was an independent courtyard on the hillside in the west of the castle. It was only 5 minutes'' walk from his office building to his private residence.


    The courtyard was full of flowers'' fragrance and babbles of pretty poetic spring water. When General Manager Si arrived, the gate of the courtyard had already been opened while two beautiful maids in thin silk were kneeling down outside the gate by one leg, welcoming him back.


    The two maids wore too less. As a result, their body parts were looming in silk. After coming to the gate of his private residence, the two guards turned about and watched outside without even peeping at the two maids.


    "General Manager, you''re back..."


    After hearing their tender voice, General Manager Si replied with "Hmm" as he raised his arms.


    The two maids instantly got up. One of them helped him take off his clothes while the other closed the gate before turning about and helping him take off his shoes and socks. After taking off his clothes, they pulled General Manager Si into a bathroom. They had a bath together with him.


    It seemed to be the necessary step when General Manager Si returned to his private residence...


    "Let''s see it. One day, I will force you to kneel down and look after me..."


    Lying on a jade bed in the bathtub, he looked at the roof while Su Haimei''s image flashed by his mind. As he murmured, his white fat floated on the water.


    General Manager Si was not an immortal general; therefore, his greatest hobby was to subdue female immortal generals. Everyone who was familiar with him knew his hobby.


    The two maids started to move in the water...


    ...


    One hour later, General Manager Si waved his hands as the two maids left his bathtub, then the bathroom.


    Being a bit fatigued, General Manager Si had a nap in the bathtub, being completely relaxed.


    When he closed his eyes, Zhang Tie showed up on the edge of his bathtub being opposite to his face. Closely after that, Zhang Tie pointed at General Manager Si''s central forehead by finger. In a split second, General Manager Si''s consciousness was submerged in Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy with the brand of the soul-reading secret skill of Bloody Soul Sutra...

 1767 Reading Memory

    As steam was rolling in the bathtub, General Manager was lying on the jade bed while Zhang Tie was sitting in the air at the head of the bed, legs crossed, pointing at the forehead of General Manager Si by one finger.


    The gestures of the two people looked strange. This scene was a bit quirky. Meanwhile, more steam suddenly rose up from the bathtub as they completely covered Zhang Tie and General Manager Si. Even if someone pushed open the door and stood at the door at this moment, they could still not see clearly what happened in the bathroom.


    Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy had already covered the entire courtyard. Just now, the two maids had already been controlled by Zhang Tie by a secret method in the room next to the bathroom. Therefore, nobody would disturb Zhang Tie''s action at all.


    Like what Zhang Tie had speculated, this General Manager Si indeed had been controlled by His Honor or His Majesty.


    When Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy entered General Manager Si''s mind sea, he instantly discovered a complete puppet worm composed of Golden-Soul Rune Virus over there, which was as same as that of Ji Yuelan. This also proved Zhang Tie''s speculation¡ª¡ªa senior Golden-Soul Rune Virus could also take effect in the mind sea of low-level immortal generals or immortal soldiers.


    If there was a real puppet worm in the brains of General Manager Si, Zhang Tie''s soul-reading skill would be useless no matter how high Zhang Tie had reached its realm; because it indicated that the brains of General Manager Si had already died. However, the puppet worm in the mind sea of General Manager Si was simulated by runes and he was still sober-minded and even desired for women. Therefore, Zhang Tie wanted to see whether his soul-reading skill could work on people under immortal generals being affected by Golden-Soul Rune Virus or not.


    The fact was that it worked.


    As Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy, the life experience of General Manager Si started to flash in Zhang Tie''s mind like a three-dimensional animation. Everything about General Manager Si including his senses, memories, feelings and experience became open to Zhang Tie.


    In a split second, astronomical information had been transferred to Zhang Tie''s mind from the head of General Manager Si, including faces and scenes in memories. Zhang Tie then became clear about the Dark Emperor Immortal Palace or this castle in a split second.


    The nest of Si Clan in Cyan Lotus City of the Woods Medium-sized Domain was Cyan Dragon Palace.


    General Manager Si didn''t know who was "His Majesty" of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. He only knew about the existence of this person. However, General Manager Si was very familiar with "His Honor" who ruled Cyan Dragon Palace because "His Honor" was Si Dan the father of Si Hongen the incumbent head of Si Clan. In Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, Si Dan''s official title was His Honor Cyan Dragon.


    Si Dan the His Honor Cyan Dragon had already promoted to a sage-level knight. However, Si Clan didn''t expose it to the public. In the official announcements that Si Clan made to the public over these years, Si Dan was described as a wind immortal general who liked to travel across the world freely without a fixed residence. He always wanted to explore the secrets in Mountain Ruins so as to glorify the ancestors of Si Clan. Across the Woods Medium-sized Domain, nobody knew that the father of Si Hongen had already promoted to a supreme immortal general.


    All the people surnamed Si across Woods Medium-sized Domain belonged to Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. The young generation of Si Clan might not know the relationship between Si Clan and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace; however, all the immortal generals in Si Clan were clear about that. Many loyal servants of Si Clan also knew that although they were not immortal generals. Those who didn''t know the truth for the time being had been dispatched to places far away from Cyan Lotus City under secret observation. As long as there were good opportunities, they would be called back to join Dark Emperor Immortal Palace officially.


    Over these years, the captives of Yin-Yang Sect were not the only batch of immortal generals being abducted and brought here. In the past, many immortal generals had been locked in the dungeon of Si Clan, male or female, old or young.


    A few years ago, "His Majesty" even requested Cyan Dragon Palace to send him a batch of alive immortal generals to him for each period of time. "His Majesty" seemed to be making experiments with these live immortal generals.


    Consecutively for a few years, hundreds of immortal generals had been abducted by Si Clan, most of them were humans, including immortal generals who left the territories of their own immortal palaces for cultivation, immortal generals who came from clans or small sects and independent immortal generals. Most of these captives probably had already died.


    Motian Realm was full of complex forces and immortal generals. Humans and demons were fighting each other which would usually cause casualties. Additionally, many immortal generals'' whereabouts were quirky. Besides, some immortal generals always entered secluded cultivation for a long period of time. Due to such a complex situation, nobody could count how many immortal generals would disappear each year. Therefore, Si Clan won an opportunity to abduct immortal generals.


    Some immortal generals were independent who would not be discovered even if they died. Even if some immortal generals were found missing, nobody would link it with Si Clan; instead, they would think those immortal generals who had disappeared might have been killed by demons or were in dangerous places in Motian Realm.


    Over these years, Si Clan had been doing such a job smoothly. Superficially, Si Clan was a major clan in the Woods Medium-sized Domain. In fact, Woods Medium-sized Domain was like a gang''s base. Besides immortal generals, they even abducted people under immortal generals from many clans, business groups and small sects. After taking them here, they would use various means such as coercion, intimidation, lure by the promise of gain, murder, eradication of weeds and roots, fostering puppets and seizing the others'' territories. As a result, Si Clan realized a crazy expansion in Woods Medium-sized Domain and among some medium-sized and small domains and regions near Woods Medium-sized Domain. The hidden force of Si Clan was dozens of times greater than that it exposed to the public.


    As the representative force of Cyan Dragon Palace, a branch of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, the real territory of Cyan Dragon Palace under the control of Si Clan had long caught up with that of the supreme immortal palace.


    Especially in the late half a year, as "His Majesty" developed a new Golden-Soul Rune Virus, more and more immortal generals were abducted by Si Clan and Cyan Dragon Palace. After making the sacred sacrifice for these captives and turning all of them into the followers of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, the overall strength of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace would expand sharply.


    As of now, Cyan Dragon Palace had already controlled over 600 immortal generals...


    General Manager Si indeed knew a lot of secrets. Although he was not qualified to touch the most confidential information of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, as he was born in Si Clan with exceptional ability and deeply won the favor of His Honor Cyan Dragon, General Manager Si could almost see through everything in Cyan Dragon Palace. What he knew about Cyan Dragon Palace and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace shocked Zhang Tie too much.


    Cyan Dragon Palace was not the only branch of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. General Manager Si once heard from His Honor Cyan Dragon that the entire Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was composed of Cyan Dragon Palace, White Tiger Palace, Rosefinch Palace and Tortoisnake Palace, which were respectively in east, west, south and north with equal power...A deity composed of a tortoise and a snake.

 1768 The Part under the Tip of the Iceberg

    Zhang Tie had seen the great force of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace beneath the tip of the iceberg through the memory of General Manager Si.


    Each of the four palaces being affiliated to Dark Emperor Immortal Palace had their own His Honor. Besides His Honor Cyan Dragon, there were also His Honor White Tiger, His Honor Rosefinch and His Honor Tortoisnake.


    As His Honor Cyan Dragon was already a supreme immortal general or sage-level knight, Zhang Tie estimated that the other three should also be supreme immortal generals. Such a high-level combination could almost match Force Emperor Immortal Palace, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and defeat any supreme immortal general-level immortal palace.


    Among the four His Honors, besides His Honor Cyan Dragon, Zhang Tie got nothing about the other three His Honors and palaces under Dark Emperor Immortal Palace through the memory of General Manager Si.


    Undoubtedly, only powers on the level of immortal emperors could subdue four sage-level knights. Zhang Tie''s speculation was verified once again.


    This information put strong stress on Zhang Tie.


    As long as Zhang Tei thought that such a terrifying "monster" was hiding among humans across Motian Realm, he would feel like smelling the coming storm facing Motian Realm. "His Majesty" didn''t establish a Dark Emperor Immortal Palace for fun.


    Of course, Zhang Tie discovered the existence of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace by accident. However, even though he had not discovered it, he could also learn it through the memory of General Manager Si that this terrifying and powerful secret organization was already not unwilling to lurk here anymore as it kept expanding territory; instead, it wanted to expose itself to the public.


    The two grand justices of Cyan Dragon Palace Qian Changqing and You Zhongshu were both fire immortal generals.


    General Manager Si didn''t know how many powers were in the other three palaces either. However, according to the number of powers of Cyan Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie estimated that the other three palaces of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace should have as many powers as that in Cyan Dragon Palace. The difference between them should not be sharp even if there was. Therefore, the personnel system of the entire Dark Emperor Immortal Palace became transparent to Zhang Tie.


    Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was affiliated to 4 palaces, namely Cyan Dragon Palace, White Tiger Palace, Rosefinch Palace and Tortoisnake Palace. Each of palace was headed by 1 His Honor, 2 grand justices who were both fire immortal generals or semi-sage level knights and a lot of elders directly appointed by His Honor who were respectively responsible for different things. Elders were water or wind immortal generals. Plus Xue Yuxiu, Cyan Dragon Palace had five elders including 4 water immortal generals and 1 wind immortal general.


    Even though the elders of each palace were not included, the top powers of this Dark Emperor Immortal Palace also included 1 immortal emperor, 4 sage-level knights and 8 semi-sage level knights...


    Such a great power shuddered Zhang Tie for a short while. ''F*ck, it is almost equal to the total strength of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion.


    Before long, Zhang Tie couldn''t even defeat any of the top three sects in Taixia Country. At that time, he was almost overwhelmed by them. However, even though Zhang Tie had already promoted to a heavenly knight now, he still didn''t have any confidence to win Dark Emperor Immortal Palace which was even more powerful than the total of the three top sects in Taixia Country.


    Zhang Tie felt that he could easily kill a semi-sage level knight; however, it was still very difficult for him to defeat a sage-level knight.


    At the terrifying high speed of divine dominator, Zhang Tie could easily escape away from a sage-level knight; however, even if the sage-level knight didn''t use any golden secret item or aiding strength, Zhang Tie could still barely defeat a sage-level knight by butting heads with the each other. If he could escape at full speed, a sage-level knight might not be able to catch up with him. Therefore, Zhang Tie could at most go to deuce with a sage-level knight. Although this result was much better than that of the battle above Yinhai Desert, Zhang Tie still couldn''t guarantee that he would escape away if being besieged by 2 or 3 sage-level knights.


    After generally figuring out the background of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie realized that it was a wise decision for him to not have Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace involve in this action by changing his look. If someone should be the scapegoat for this action, just let it be Donder who actually existed in Taixia Country.


    After receiving this key information, Zhang Tie soon got the information about "sacred sacrifice" that he was concerned about the most.


    The sacred sacrifice would be held in the sacrificial altar of Cyan Dragon Palace, which was a large-scale rune array which Zhang Tie didn''t understand.


    As General Manager Si had already arranged and watched sacred sacrifice for a few times, he was crystal clear about the process of sacred sacrifice.


    The entire process of sacred sacrifice was divided into three steps.


    First, bring the sober-minded immortal generals to the sacrificial altar.


    Second, lead Golden-Soul Runed Virus out of their mind sea and have it resonate with the sacrificial altar.


    Third, let Golden-Soul Rune Virus recognize its owner by returning to the mind sea of those immortal generals. When those immortal generals woke up again after a second, this process of sacred sacrifice would be completed.


    Zhang Tie carefully analyzed each detail and scene in the memory of General Manager Si so as to discover something available. After studying them for quite a while, Zhang Tie finally realized that he could only do something in the third step of the process. Namely, he could only save the captives of Yin-Yang Sect in the third step of the process when Golden-Soul Rune Virus recognized its owner.


    In the first step of the process, Zhang Tie didn''t have any chance. As the second step was completely dominated by Grand Justice Qian and Xue Yuxiu, Zhang Tie couldn''t complete it without mastering their special secret method. If he took the captives away before they completed their sacred sacrifice, it would be as useless as taking them away from the airboat on the way here. In a few days, all the remaining immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect might die.


    As General Manager Si was not an immortal general, he couldn''t host the rite of sacred sacrifice; neither did he know how to apply the secret method that could resonate with Golden-Soul Rune Virus.


    The step of having Golden-Soul Runed Virus recognize its owner was most important in the whole process of sacred sacrifice. The most important detail in this step was that Grand Justice Qian and Xue Yuxiu should have a drop of their blood integrate with the Golden-Soul Rune Virus of those captives.


    According to what His Honor Cyan Dragon told General Manager Si, the drop of blood would determine who the Golden-Soul Rune Virus in the mind sea of the captive would recognize as their owner and who would be under control. If that drop of blood came from the immortal general himself who was affected by the Golden-Soul Rune Virus, the virus would be detoxified.


    After pondering it carefully, Zhang Tie finally found that there might be only one way left for him to save the captives of Yin-Yang Sect. However, the moment he did it, Grand Justice Qian and Xue Yuxiu would find it in an instant. Therefore, a fierce battle would be inevitable closely after that.


    Fortunately, Grand Justice Qian was the most powerful one in Cyan Dragon Palace at that time, as long as Zhang Tie could move fast enough, he would definitely escape away after destroying Cyan Dragon Palace and detoxifying the captives of Yin-Yang Sect...


    Zhang Tie felt it was a perfect plan!

 1769 Changing Looks Once Again

    Puppet worms and the parent worm could sense each other; especially when one of them was dead.


    As Zhang Tie didn''t know whether the controller of the Golden-Soul Rune Virus in the head of General Manager Si could sense the change of the Golden-Soul Rune Virus, Zhang Tie didn''t kill General Manager Si in case of alerting the enemy; instead, after thinking twice, he paralyzed General Manager Si by a secret method, surviving him by taking away his resistance.


    Zhang Tie then dragged General Manager Si out of the bathtub.


    Watching this slightly fat person, Zhang Tie took off his own clothes and became naked. After that, he triggered his body-changing immortal bloodline to gradually change his frame all over.


    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had turned into another General Manager Si from the super handsome "Donder", including the thumb-sized birthmark on his inner thigh. Everybody would believe that he was General Manager Si.


    Zhang Tie had already taken all the memory of General Manager Si, including the dark, abnormal and brutal part in his life experience and the relationship between him and the other people in Cyan Dragon Palace. Therefore, Zhang Tie was General Manager Si.


    After becoming General Manager Si, Zhang Tie looked into the mirror in the bathroom as he revealed a smile which the other high-level immortal generals thought was modest, murmuring, "Brother Si, I appreciate you for the sacred sacrifice of the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect!" Zhang Tie said in a bit hoarse voice as he had not fully changed his voice; his voice lacked the smooth sense of fat people.


    After saying that, Zhang Tie coughed twice as he stroked his throat, changing the expression and patting his chest, answering, "Don''t worry, I will make it!"


    This time, Zhang Tie''s voice became as same as that of General Manager Si''s.


    After changing his looks and voice, Zhang Tie put on the clothes which had absorbed the fragrance of lavenders. After that, he grasped General Manager Si''s neck like grasping a chick or a rabbit as he entered the cella of the courtyard from the side door of the bathroom.


    At this moment, the entire courtyard was covered by Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy. The two maids were also under Zhang Tie''s control. Therefore, Zhang Tie could do whatever he wanted in the room.


    Although General Manager Si was not an immortal general, he was only over 100 surging points left from being an immortal general. There was also a backroom for cultivation in General Manager Si''s courtyard. Being beneath one room, the backroom was very private. Only General Manager Si could access to it. Even the two maids couldn''t access it.


    After passing through some rooms, Zhang Tie entered the underground backroom as he dropped General Manager Si into a cabinet of the backroom. After closing the cabinet, he left the back room and closed the door from outside.


    If Castle of Black Iron was available, Zhang Tie could directly teleport General Manager Si into Castle of Black Iron. However, he couldn''t access it; besides, he might alert the enemy by killing General Manager Si. Given the current situation, it should be okay for him to close a person who had lost his resistance into his own backroom for 3 days. Even if Zhang Tie left him alone there, he should not die due to hunger or cold in such a short period of time.


    Given General Manager Si''s high position in this castle, nobody dared break in his courtyard and backroom out of no reason, even the grand justice and the elders of Cyan Dragon Palace.


    3 days later, as long as Zhang Tie saved the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect, General Manager Si could die at any time. Because Zhang Tie had already left a "bomb" in his mind sea, which was an unavoidable fatal secret skill of Bloody Soul Sutra especially for killing people below knights.


    After returning to his bedroom, Zhang Tie sat on his bed and clapped his hands. Closely after that, the two maids came in with a bowl of aromatic soup.


    "General Manager, we''ve just made your favorite nourishing decoction. Please enjoy it..."


    When one maid spoke, the other maid had already scooped up a spoonful of soup. After blowing it slightly, she put it close to Zhang Tie''s mouth.


    This was what General Manager Si always did after returning to his courtyard. Zhang Tie just followed his lifestyle. Being served by the two beautiful maids, Zhang Tie drank up the bowl of toad nourishing decoction. After that, he let the two maids leave his bedroom. Then, he went to bed alone and didn''t get up until daybreak.


    General Manage Si was very skeptic. One decade ago, a woman who had lived with him for 2 years wanted to kill him by a pair of scissors in the midnight when he fell asleep. From then on, General Manager Si started to sleep alone; instead of sleeping with any woman. As for him, women were just a tool for him to vent his sexual desires. As long as he fell asleep, he would never allow any woman to stay on his side.


    Even the bowl and spoon that he used to drink the toad nourishing decoction were able to test poison. The two maids couldn''t poison his food and drinks even if they wanted to.


    It saved a lot of trouble for Zhang Tie by not having to sleep with two women.


    ...


    On the second day, Zhang Tie got up as usual. Served by the two maids, he washed his face and rinsed his mouth, put on his clothes and finished his breakfast. After that, he left his courtyard and came to the public office building where he started to listen to reports and deal with trivial matters in the castle. After finishing all these, it was already noon. Zhang Tie then took a look around in the dungeon.


    1 day later, 21 of the 27 immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect had already woken up, including Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan. Only 6 of them were still in a coma.


    However, all the people who had woken up were very weak. Additionally, they were all put behind bars. Zhang Tie didn''t clarify his real identity to Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin; instead, he just let the guards take good care of them for the sake of sacred sacrifice.


    In the afternoon, Zhang Tie dispatched some people to receive necessities for the sacred sacrifice from the warehouse in the castle.


    Besides the secret method, this sacred sacrifice also needed a rarity called Heavenly-Soul Incense. It could help Grand Justice Qian and Xue Yuxiu to accomplish the process of owner-recognition of Golden-Soul Rune Virus after lightening up.


    Zhang Tie did his own job diligently and conscientiously for General Manager Si which didn''t arouse anyone''s doubt.


    One day later, all the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect had become sober-minded.


    3 days passed, which meant the start of the sacred sacrifice...

 1770 The Coming Sacred Sacrifice

    The immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect were going to receive the sacred sacrifice on March 23rd, the 3586th year of Emperor NvWa''s calendar.


    Soon after the sun came out, Zhang Tie had left "his" courtyard, when he saw two attendants of General Manager Si and an immortal general in black robe being subject to Qian Changqin waiting for him outside the courtyard with full respects.


    "General Manager Si, Grand Justice Qian sent me to ask you whether you''ve prepared well for the sacred sacrifice!"


    The immortal general in black robe treated "General Manager Si" very politely. Although General Manager Si was not an immortal general, everyone across the castle knew that he would definitely promote to an immortal general in the future. Additionally, General Manager Si deeply won the favor of His Honor. Such a person would definitely have a bright future in Cyan Dragon Palace. Of course, nobody in the palace dared neglect him.


    Zhang Tie revealed a smile as he said in the voice of General Manager Si, "Please tell Grand Justice Qian, I''ve already prepared well the sacrificial altar. We can hold the sacred sacrifice in the sacrificial altar in 1 hour!"


    "Okay, I will report to Grand Justice Qian right now!"


    The immortal general in black robe then left.


    After being silent for a second at the door of the courtyard, Zhang Tie told an attendant on his side, "Tell Elder Xue that we will hold the sacred sacrifice in the sacrificial altar in 1 hour!"


    "Yes, sir!" that attendant replied as he trotted away under Zhang Tie''s gaze.


    Zhang Tie then took in a deep breath as he looked up at the sky. Today, the weather in Cyan Lotus City of Woods Medium-sized Domain was pretty fine. In the early morning, it had been cloudless over the sky. The entire castle was as normal as usual.


    ''Hope it stays like this even after an hour!''


    Zhang Tie mumbled inside as he walked towards the dungeon in the hinterland of the mountain.


    As Grand Justice Qian was worried about having more troubles if it lasted long, he dispatched people here to ask "General Manager Si" in the early morning. This was what Zhang Tie expected. In fact, Zhang Tie wished to hold the sacred sacrifice as soon as possible so that he could save the captives of Yin-Yang Sect a bit earlier. Over these two days when he was in the castle, everything was smooth. Nobody had found that he was fake General Manager Si. However, he would have loopholes sooner or later which would cause more problems.


    Cyan Dragon City was definitely full of elites and powers. Zhang Tie shouldn''t stay here too long. He preferred to deal with it when the most part of the top powers of Cyan Dragon Palace was absent.


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t behave perfectly over the past 3 days.


    Take the two maids in the courtyard of General Manager Si as an instance, although they continued to serve him under his control over the past 2 days, Zhang Tie didn''t touch them at all. When Zhang Tie was taking a bath, the two maids were just under hypnosis. They thought that General Manager Si was touching them; actually, they were wrong.


    Zhang Tie had no other means but do that. He was not hypocritical or kept his integrity; instead, the two maids were destined to serve men with their sex. They were probably forced to do that here at the beginning; later on, they gradually admitted that they were destined to do that.


    On this occasion, of course, Zhang Tie would not tell them the truth; otherwise, Zhang Tie himself and the captives of Yin-Yang Sect would face greater risks. Additionally, he couldn''t escape with the two common women or bring them back to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace which would bring trouble to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Neither could he teleport them into Castle of Black Iron and let them start a new life there for the time being. He would never "consume" and "bully" the two poor women with the current identity as it was his bottom line. Therefore, Zhang Tie could only not have them involved in this event.


    There were a lot of servants, maids, handymen, hired men, gardeners and some guards that were recruited from areas nearby Cyan Lotus City who didn''t know anything about Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and the background of Si Clan like the two women in the castle. They didn''t know the dark side of this castle at all. As for these people, they only knew that the castle was severely controlled. Everyone''s whereabouts, jobs and words should comply with regulations. If they didn''t follow the rules, they would receive severe punishment. All of them were behaving meticulously in the castle and dared not make a single mistake.


    As for Si Clan, these people were decorations for outsiders. One of the duties of General Manager Si was to keep an eye on these people. If any one of them knew something that they shouldn''t know, General Manager Si would let them disappear from this world silently whenever he wanted. Over these years, some servants had already disappeared from the castle after knowing something that they shouldn''t have known.


    After becoming General Manager Si, nobody knew clearer than Zhang Tie that not everyone in the castle deserved death. Actually, there were a lot of innocent people in this castle.


    Because of these innocent people, Zhang Tie was not as relaxed as how he looked today. Actually, he felt pretty complex and contradictory.


    As long as he saved the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect, the secret of this castle would be exposed to the public. Even if Zhang Tie didn''t expose it to the public, he couldn''t prevent the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect from doing that. Additionally, this battle might affect a wide area while many innocent people inside the castle would be involved. After that, the members of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace would not think these innocent people as reliable anymore. However, outsiders would think that these innocent people belonged to Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. If these innocent people continued to stay here after today, they were destined to die.


    ''Both the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect and the innocent people in the castle are humans. When I save the 27 immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect, I might cause the death of more innocent people in the castle. However, each human has the same life value and personality as they are all delivered and raised up by their parents. Nobody is more precious than the other. Although knights are more powerful than commoners, they are not more advanced than commoners. I don''t have the right to determine the value of a person.''


    As Zhang Tie was growing up in Blackhot City in grassroots class and had received a good education from his parents, plus his personal belief, he sympathized those innocent commoners in the castle pretty much. However, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin were his friends who treated him well and loved him. He had to save them. Here came the paradox!


    Zhang Tie was in a dilemma.


    However, people had to face a similar situation in their lives. No matter how difficult and helpless it was, they had to make a decision. They had to try their utmost to do that so as to not feel regretful...


    With such a paradox, Zhang Tie came to the dungeon. Unimaginably, the moment he entered the dungeon, he had been told that his "acquaintance" Zhou Baifei was already here who were interrogating two female immortal generals, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin...

 1771 Re-encounter

    Because Ji Yuelan''s cell was close to that of Jiang Ruoxin''s, Zhou Baifei directly moved Ji Yuelan to Jiang Ruoxin''s cell so that the two girls could face his pleasant look at the same time.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the dungeon, he had been told that Zhou Baifei was interrogating Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin at the order of Grand Justice Qian. Although Zhang Tie stayed calm superficially, his heart pounded at once as he strode towards their cells; his spiritual energy arrived at Jiang Ruoxin''s cell in the blink of an eye earlier than his body.


    "Surprise, we re-encounter here..."


    Zhou Baifei in black robe said as he watched Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin with a smile.


    At the sight of Zhou Baifei who was safe and sound, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin became instantly dumbfounded. After exchanging a glance with each other, the two girls'' faces turned cold at once.


    Over this couple of days, because of "General Manager Si"''s warning and protection, those people in the dungeon dared not put them on the spot; nor dared them to do dirty things with the two girls. At this moment, although the two girls were a bit weak, they were okay except slightly pale faces and no freedom due to shackles.


    Although Zhou Baifei pretended to be a gentleman, he couldn''t cover his domineering feeling and pleasure. He was all done but waving a folding fan.


    "Zhou Baifei, why are you here?" Jiang Ruoxin asked calmly.


    "I''m also surprised about that. I''ve not imagined that you two belong to Yin-Yang Sect!" Zhou Baifei smirked as he glanced over the two girls, which felt like a flame passing by. "We''re destined to meet each other even away from Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace!"


    "You''ve not answered me."


    "Can''t you see that? I think the answer is crystal clear!" Zhou Baifei shrugged as he took a look around the cell, continuing, "I almost thought I was dazzled when I saw you in Ying Clan''s castle!"


    "You mean you''re with them?" Ji Yuelan who used to be hot-tempered glared at Zhou Baifei as her eyes turned red. Gritting her teeth, she asked, "What do you want? How''re the disciples of Yin-Yang Sect in Ying Clang''s castle?"


    Nobody had told them whether those disciples of Yin-Yang Sect in Ying Clan''s castle were still alive or not until now. Therefore, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin hoped that those disciples in the base of Yin-Yang Sect were still alive, despite the hope was slim.


    "Hehheh, from today on, there will be no Yin-Yang Sect in Motian Realm anymore. That night, besides immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect, none of the others in Ying Clan''s castle could escape..."


    Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin changed their faces greatly in a split second as they dropped tears, gritting their teeth, and cursed, "You animals..."


    If Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin still had battle strength, they had long charged at Zhou Baifei and tore him apart. Pitifully, the two girls even couldn''t match commoners in battle strength. They just struggled in vain as they couldn''t get rid of their shackles at all.


    "You should appreciate us. At least we didn''t let them die too miserably. Think about it, if I had leaked the base of Yin-Yang Sect to Force Emperor Immortal Palace, I''m afraid that your disciples in Yin-Yang Sect would not have died so easily!"


    "Even if only one person of Yin-Yang Sect survives, you won''t be alive..."


    "Hahaha..." Zhou Baifei burst into laughter as if he had heard a joke, saying, "Perhaps you will not say so tomorrow..."


    "Who the hell are you?" Jiang Ruoxin still remained calm although being extremely grieved.


    "We''re members of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. You may have not heard about it; however, you will know it soon..." Zhou Baifei said presumptuously.


    "Did you join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for another purpose?"


    "Didn''t you join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for another purpose? Otherwise, why would the excellent disciples of Yin-Yang Sect join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace? If you really want, you should join Force Emperor Immortal Palace!" Zhou Baifei confuted as he walked to the front of the two girls and wanted to raise Jiang Ruoxin''s jaw by his fingers. However, Jiang Ruoxin turned around at once. Zhou Baifei smiled as he pinched her jaw in a brutal and berserk manner and forced her to turn back, saying, "What a coincidence! Although the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavens Square City was small, it could attract so many dignified people, including Dragon Emperor''s disciple, the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect and I. We''re destined to know each other!"


    "Pah..." Jiang Ruoxin spat her saliva onto Zhou Baifei''s face coldly and arrogantly.


    Zhou Baifei was not angry; instead, he kept his smile. After moving his hand away from Jiang Ruoxin''s jaw, he wiped off her saliva from his face as a disgusting light flashed across his eyes, saying "It''s said that the female immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect could make a man feel pretty good on bed. I''m afraid that you two should have satisfied Zhang Tie pretty much on bed since I left Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Otherwise, why would he return the No-Hatred Tortoise to you, am I right?"


    "You''re right. So what! We two like Zhang Tie and would like to serve him even on bed. We would satisfy him no matter what he wanted. My elder sister and I contended with each other to make love with him. Are you jealous about that?" Ji Yuelan hid her tears as she revealed a brilliant smile. Her latter words pierced into Zhou Baifei''s heart like a sharp saber. "When in Heavenly Square City, you couldn''t match him. You were beaten up like a dog in the street of Dragon Emperor City. Now, he''s already Dragon Emperor who rules the entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and has been well-known across Motian Realm. He''s always the most excellent and dignified person wherever he is. No matter how powerful is Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, you''re just a lackey of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and have to follow others'' orders. By comparison, you couldn''t even match a toe of his. You''re not even qualified to carry shoes for him..."


    Ji Yuelan did understand men. At this moment, even if she couldn''t hack him with a machete, her words had also hit Zhou Baifei, causing his heart to almost bleed. Zhou Baifei went berserk in a split second.


    "B*tch..." Zhou Baifei who maintained a decent look instantly changed his look. With bloody eyes, he slapped Ji Yuelan''s face, causing her mouth corners to bleed. Closely after that, he grasped Ji Yuelan''s hair forcefully, raising her smiling and stubborn face.


    "Pah..." Ji Yuelan threw a disdainful look at him as she spat bloody saliva onto his face again before he opened his mouth.


    With a crash, Zhou Baifei revealed a fleer as he forcefully tore her collar, exposing the upper half of her white breasts at once, saying, "I will show you my ability now. I will let you prefer death than being alive. I will see how your Zhang Tie saves you this time. You wh*re..." Zhou Baifei roared as he tore the lower hem of her gown all the way up to her thigh.


    "Come on, this lady has seen all kinds of men. Do you think you could scare me this way? I just take it as being bitten by a mad dog..." Ji Yuelan looked up at Zhou Baifei proudly and fearlessly.


    Zhou Baifei changed his face again as his eyes turned bloody. When he wanted to continue, the door of the cell was forcefully pushed open from outside.


    Zhou Baifei turned around as he saw General Manager Si standing at the door of the cell who was looking straight into his eyes with an unexpected, gloomy expression under the dim light.


    "Elder Xue has especially told me to take care of these people. As we''re going to start the sacred sacrifice right now, Brother Zhou, what you did really put me on the spot..." Zhang Tie sighed...

 1772 Masks

    At the sight of ''General Manager Si'', Zhou Baifei''s face became slightly stiff. However, closely after that, he recovered to normal.


    "Oh, General Manager Si!" Zhou Baifei smiled as he explained, "I knew these two people previously. Although being immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect, they''re closely related to Dragon Emperor. After knowing their identities, Grand Justice Qian especially sent me to interrogate them here. We''d like to see what other secrets the two women have!"


    "Oh, I see!" Zhang Tie replied as he glanced over Ji Yuelan''s half-exposed breasts and snow-white thighs. Meanwhile, a special light flashed across his eyes which any man could understand as he forcefully swallowed his saliva, warning, "But as we''re going to hold the sacred sacrifice for these immortal generals, if there''s any problem with the two people, I don''t know how to explain it to superiors. No matter what, after the sacred sacrifice, the two people will belong to us. By then, Grand Justice Qian and Elder Xue should make other arrangements. Brother Zhou, it would be easier for you to ask something then, right?"


    "Erm..." Zhou Baifei revealed a faint, hesitant look.


    "I''m always responsible for this place. Brother Zhou, if you want to know something, just let me ask them about that. You could leave here first. I will interrogate them. I''m sure I will get everything out of their mind!" Zhang Tie suggested as he glanced over Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin with greedy eyes.


    ''F*ck, you will get everything out of their mind? I''m afraid that you''re going to foist something into their vaginas!'' Zhou Baifei swore inside. As an immortal general of Cyan Dragon Palace, of course, he knew how was General Manager Si. He knew that as long as he nodded, Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin would be trampled by General Manager Si. More than that, he and Grand Justice Qian would be the scapegoats for what General Manager Si did. General Manager Si perhaps had long been casting greedy eyes on the beautiful looks of the female immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect. However, he dared not do that in case of offending Elder Xue...


    After moving his eyeballs round and round for a second, Zhou Baifei revealed a smile as he responded, "General Manager Si, you''re right. After all, we''re going to hold the sacred sacrifice for them. They will not escape. Let''s talk about it later after the sacred sacrifice. If something happens to them, Elder Xue would be driven mad. That would be not good for us. Additionally, it would hurt our feelings. Oh, when will the sacred sacrifice start?"


    Zhou Baifei instantly stopped. Additionally, he implied that Grand Justice Qian and he would not take the blame for that if anything happened to Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin.


    "I''ve already had someone notice Grand Justice Qian and Elder Xue, the sacred sacrifice will start in 1 hour!"


    "Haha, 1 hour. That''s a short period of time. It''s fine. I could wait. I will not disturb General Manager Si then. I gotta get going. I have to give a reply to Grand Justice Qian!"


    "I will not walk you out, Brother Zhou..." Zhang Tie saw Zhou Baifei off with a big smile. Closely after that, Zhang Tie''s smile instantly disappeared. After that, he turned around and took a deep look at Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin.


    ''As Qian Changqing is going to hold the sacred sacrifice for the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect today, he should avoid troubles before the sacred sacrifice. Why did he assign Zhou Baifei here for interrogation? I think Zhou Baifei just wanted to show off his power in front of Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin when he estimated that they had already woken up. It has nothing to do with others; instead, it was just related to Zhou Baifei''s subtle mentality. When in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Dragon Emperor City, he was humiliated in front of the two girls. Of course, he wanted to find his respect back just now.''


    How could Zhou Baifei''s subtle mentality escape from Zhang Tie''s eyes? Zhang Tie just pretended to be muddle-headed just now. Zhou Baifei might never imagine that this General Manager Si was Zhang Tie whom he hated and feared the most.


    Jiang Ruoxin instinctively felt that Zhang Tie''s eye light was extremely disgusting and obscene. Therefore, she turned around to avoid it. However, Ji Yuelan didn''t care about it as if she had not noticed her half-exposed breasts and thighs. She kept watching Zhang Tie in a despised manner as a lopsided smile settled on her face, "After that b*stard leaves here, you also want to give this fair lady a bite like a mad dog? Come on. Let''s see whether this fair lady will frown or not. This fair lady has seen too many men like you..."


    Ji Yuelan behaved like a female gang leader. However, only Zhang Tie could sense her fear. She just wanted to protect Jiang Ruoxin and made him lose his interest in her. Generally speaking, the more the woman looked timid in this situation, the more she would make the man interested in her. Conversely, if she looked disgusting or displayed an attitude being utterly different than fear, she could scare the man away.


    Facing Ji Yuelan who revealed a fierce look, Zhang Tie didn''t move closer; instead, he turned around and sent an order to the officer on his side, "Find her a set of clothes!"


    "General Manager Si, err...are you sure about that?" an officer behind Zhang Tie asked him hesitantly; because he didn''t remember that General Manager Si had given such a good treatment to any female immortal general in the dungeon. Conversely, General Manager Si preferred these women to be naked in front of him. Finally, their last respect would be trampled. This was the personality and greatest quirk of General Manager Si.


    "What the hell are you doing standing there?" Zhang Tie became berserk as he turned around and slapped the officer who was peeping at Ji Yuelan behind him, "You know nothing! If Elder Xue saw this, she would think that it''s this father who did it. I didn''t even touch her just now; however, I would become a scapegoat of Zhou Baifei. If I explain it to her, Grand Justice Qian would think that I''m alienating him from Elder Xue. Hurry, do it right now..."


    That officer finally understood it as he hurriedly ran away. Only after a short while, he had come back with a set of clothes which were similar to that of Ji Yuelan''s in pattern and color.


    Zhang Tie directly threw them to Ji Yuelan. After that, he opened her shackles and moved two steps back, saying, "Put them on..."


    As Ji Yuelan had lost her battle strength, she couldn''t resist at all even after her shackles were opened. After taking a glance at Zhang Tie, she maintained a disdainful look as she said, "Haven''t you seen how a woman put on her clothes? This fair lady will show you. Whatever, I will not lose a piece of flesh..."


    After saying that, Ji Yuelan directly took off her clothes which had been torn by Zhou Baifei. After that, she started to put on the new clothes in front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie didn''t leave here just now because he had to behave like the real General Manager Si even on this occasion.


    "What is the sacred sacrifice that you mentioned just now?" Jiang Ruoxin asked.


    "Hehheh, you will know it soon..." Zhang Tie didn''t explain it. After she put on her clothes, Zhang Tie clapped his hands. Closely after that, some people poured into the jail. Zhang Tie''s face turned cold at once as he sent an order, "Take all the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect to the sacrificial altar..."

 1773 Being Fish on the Kneading Board

    @@


    Besides Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin, all the other immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect had been taken out of the jail.


    Since Yin-Yang Sect suffered from the catastrophe that night, it was the first time for them to meet each other while being sober-minded.


    The dungeon was a bit dim. However, when the doors of the cells were opened and the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect were taken out of there one after another, the aisle in the dungeon became pretty boisterous.


    "Master, you''re also here..."


    "Younger sister, are you alright..."


    "Younger brother, you''re still alive..."


    "Mother..."


    The former powerful immortal generals had already lost their battle strength. As long as they put on shackles, they had become pretty weak. However, they still looked a bit happy when they saw their fellow apprentices of the same sect.


    It was the instinctive response that a person would make on this occasion. However, many among them had not truly understoo@@

 1774 Old Scores

    @@


    There was a large rune array composed of tens of thousands of tadpole-shaped runes on the ground of the sacrificial altar. In the middle of the sacrificial altar, there was a huge cauldron. In the four corners of the sacrificial altar, there were four smaller cauldrons.


    Many immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect looked a bit flurried. However, it was too late. In the blink of an eye, all of them had been fixed onto the bronze pillars. They couldn''t even move.


    As the huge cauldron in the middle of the sacrificial altar and the smaller cauldrons in the four corners were lit, they gave out over 30 cm high green flame which looked like jack-o''-lanterns. As a result, the immortal generals'' pale looks turned green.


    "What do you want? I''m the head of Yin-Yang Sect. Just do it to me. Let go all of them!"


    After being fixed onto the copper pillar, Ying Canghai turned around as he exclaimed towards "General Manager Si". Many immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect then fixated@@

 1775 A Sudden Change

    @@


    "Elder Xue, who will do it, you or me..."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Watching Heavenly-Soul Incense''s golden smoke rising up, Grand Justice Qian asked Xue Yuxiu modestly as if he was inviting a guest to help herself at the table.


    "Grand Justice Qian, as you''re here, I''d better not show off in front of you. Please..." Xue Yuxiu said calmly after taking a look at Grand Justice Qian.


    "Well, let me do it then. These people of Yin-Yang Sect are really noisy..."


    After saying that, Grand Justice Qian turned solemn as he made a finger gesture. All of a sudden, the great spiritual energy of a semi-sage knight covered the entire sacrificial altar. As he changed his finger gesture, his spiritual energy was also changing invisibly as if it was filling the large-scale rune array on the ground. At the same time, the rune array on the edge of the sacrificial altar was lit up bit by bit like a string of bulbs.


    When Grand Justice Qian started to conjure, Xue Yuxiu was standing on his side as she@@

 1776 Killing a Semi-Sage Level Knigh

    @@


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Xue Yuxiu could start a raid right in front of him...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    The moment Xue Yuxiu moved, the overall situation in the sacrificial altar changed at once. Therefore, Zhang Tie had to adjust to the changing circumstance.


    The two shiny sickles that flew out of Xue Yuxiu''s sleeves were called mandarin duck battle axes. It was not a common pair of mandarin duck battle axes; instead, it was a silver secret item. The moment it flew out of her sleeves, it had displayed a great destructive power. As a result, the necks of the two immortal generals in black robe at the gate were instantly broken by her axes.


    The two late immortal generals were all fierce immortal generals. Undoubtedly, a water immortal general could kill two fierce immortal generals who didn''t take precautions against her using a pair of silver secret weapons within such a short distance.


    As Zhang Tie had an extremely strong spiritual energy and sharp lotus-flower eyes, he coul@@

 1777 True Love

    @@


    The terror of an assassin lay in that he could launch a fatal strike to his target at the most unexpected moment when the latter didn''t take precautions against him. The more terrifying the assassin was, the more relaxed and fragile his target would be before the latter was attacked. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    As for an assassin, the opportunity was even more important than the gap between two powers.


    As long as an assassin could launch a fatal strike at the right moment, he could definitely defeat his target. From ancient times, many famous powers were killed by commoners when they didn''t take any precautions. On the battlefield, 1,000 assassins might not be able to defeat a famous general. Because they seized the opportunity, they could make what the others couldn''t make.


    Undoubtedly, as for Qian Changqing, Zhang Tie was the most terrifying assassin. This was also why Zhang Tie''s body-changing immortal bloodline and soul-reading secret skill made everyone scared in Taixia Country. As lon@@

 1778 Racing against Time

    At this moment, every inch of space in the hinterland of the mountain was covered by Zhang Tie''s great spiritual energy. Zhang Tie could "see" and "sense" everything in this space.


    With the control of Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy, the pair of mandarin duck battle axes turned into the light as they kept reaping in all the tunnels and rooms in the hinterland of the mountain like the sickles of Satan.


    None of the disciples of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in the hinterland of the mountain could resist such weapons. After the light flashed by, the entire hinterland of the mountain had been covered with heads and blood, including those immortal generals who were guarding inside there. All of them had been cleaned up by Zhang Tie before meeting Zhang Tie.


    When such an amazing scene happened in the hinterland of the mountain, the castle above the hinterland was as same as before as if they had not noticed the abnormal phenomenon inside the hinterland.


    At this moment, the castle of Si Clan in Cyan Lotus City was lacking powers. His Honor Cyan Dragon, Grand Justice You and a lot of knights of Cyan Dragon Palace had left here. Qian Changqing, Xue Yuxiu and some immortal generals on their side were the only powers in the castle. After Qian Changqing and Xue Yuxiu died, Zhang Tie killed some immortal generals in black robe inside the hinterland of the mountain. Nobody in the castle of Si Clan in Cyan Lotus City could imagine that the entire space of the hinterland of the mountain beneath the castle had been subverted by Zhang Tie in such a short period of time.


    Additionally, the tunnels leading to the hinterland of the mountain were secret, which outsiders couldn''t access freely. Even the guards could only access it by shifts. Therefore, within a short period of time, those people above ground had not noticed that something was wrong downside there. Of course, they would definitely find it sooner or later. However, Zhang Tie wouldn''t postpone too long here.


    Actually, Zhang Tie was making the best use of time; because he knew that His Honor Cyan Dragon might have already sensed the death of Grand Justice Qian and Xue Yuxiu and might be on the way back at his full speed. Perhaps His Honor Cyan Dragon had already reported it to His Majesty. His Majesty of Cyan Dragon Palace had already assigned other powers of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace here at their full speed or had already adopted other action plans or countermeasures.


    When everything might happen, Zhang Tie shouldn''t stay here for too long.


    Zhang Tie cleaned up all the members of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in the hinterland of the mountain as fast as possible; additionally, he found a set of clothes in a residence of an immortal general of Cyan Dragon Palace and put them on before returning to the sacrificial altar quickly.


    The entire process only took Zhang Tie 3-4 minutes.


    Although it wasted some of his time by changing his clothes, it was a necessary step for him; because Zhang Tie was still in the clothes of General Manager Si after killing so many people. As for Zhang Tie, it was minor whether his clothes fit him or not; the key was if he was still in the clothes of General Manager Si, the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect would find something was wrong.


    Zhang Tie didn''t want to be misunderstood as a shadow demon or expose his trump card¡ª¡ªbody-changing immortal bloodline. In this situation, it would be pretty useful for him to change his clothes. Many people failed because of their negligence in details.


    When Zhang Tie returned to the sacrificial altar, the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect were still in a coma.


    Zhang Tie came to Su Haimei''s side and started to check her situation by putting his hand on her forehead.


    Zhang Tie prepared to wake up all of them right away. If not, he would move into the airboat in the hinterland of the mountain so as to save time.


    The situation in the mind sea of Su Haimei slightly shocked Zhang Tie.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought the Golden-Soul Rune Virus made of numerous dense runes might still exist in their mind sea although it was ineffective when these immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect could control themselves. The fact was after they were able to control themselves, the Golden-Soul Rune Virus became useless, which was unnecessary to exist any more. When Zhang Tie checked it, he found the puppet worm in Su Haimei''s mind sea was collapsing and dissipating rapidly. Numerous fine runes were just melting in her mind sea silently like ice and snow in the sunlight, leaving no trace at all.


    This saved a lot of trouble!


    Zhang Tie let out a sigh slightly. Although Golden-Soul Rune Virus was very powerful, it was also clear after it became ineffective.


    Besides the disappearing Golden-Soul Rune Virus, Su Haimei was fine. Only a bit of energy of Heavenly Soul Incense was lingering in her mind sea. However, the remaining energy of Heavenly Soul Incense was still slowly dissipating.


    Zhang Tie estimated that it would take the remaining energy of Heavenly Soul Incense to completely dissipate, which was equal to the time that these immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect needed to wake up.


    It seemed that it was the remaining energy of Heavenly Soul Incense in their mind sea which determined that those immortal generals couldn''t wake up completely within a short period of time after the sacred sacrifice. As long as he cleaned the remaining energy of Heavenly Soul Incense for them, these people would wake up at once.


    It was simple for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie wrapped the remaining energy of Heavenly Soul Incense with his spiritual energy and drew it out of her mind sea before releasing it into the air.


    Only after 3 seconds later, Su Haimei''s long eyelashes trembled once as she opened her eyes.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was the first person that she saw.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how Su Haimei felt at this moment. All in all, Su Haimei''s eyes shone the moment she saw him. After surviving the catastrophe, her eyes contained pleasure, excitement and unknown moods. She just looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes as drops of tears rolled down her face.


    "It''s not the right moment to talk. Hurry, save the others and get out of here. You should leave here as soon as possible..." Zhang Tie said as he hurriedly helped Su Haimei unlock her shackles.


    Now that Su Haimei was already awake, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to expose his power as a divine dominator anymore; instead, he just unlocked the other immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect by hand. Thankfully, it only took him 2-3 seconds to unlock one person.


    Su Haimei looked around as she saw so many corpses and blood in the sacrificial altar which could prove what had happened here just now. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, she hurriedly nodded as she helped Ying Feiqiong unlock her shackles.


    "Can you fight now?" Zhang Tie asked Su Haimei as he put his hand onto the forehead of Ying Feiqiong the master of Ji Yuelan, drawing the remaining energy of Heavenly Soul Incense out of her mind sea.


    "Although I feel a bit weak, I''ve already recovered some battle strength..." Su Haimei nodded.


    As Su Haimei replied, Ying Feiqiong opened her eyes.


    "Younger sister, don''t ask me for the time being. It''s not the right moment to explain it. We need to save the others right now. Hurry, younger sister, help me unlock the shackles of the others..." Su Haimei opened her mouth before Ying Feiqiong said anything.


    After moving her eyes away from Su Haimei, Ying Feiqiong saw Zhang Tie who was saving the others.


    Zhang Tie''s super handsome look made Ying Feiqiong''s eyes blurry at once. She kept gazing at Zhang Tie until Su Haimei called her for the second time. Not until then did this grand elder of Yin-Yang Sect slightly blush as she hurriedly stood up and helped them save others.


    Hua Meijuan was the third person that Zhang Tie saved. With the help of Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong, they saved people much faster. Soon after Zhang Tie drew the remaining energy of Heavenly Soul Incense out of the mind sea of them by stroking their forehead and Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong unlocked their shackles, they would open their eyes at once.


    After waking up, all the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect would join the team of saving the others. Therefore, the more people Zhang Tie saved, the faster it would be.


    Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruowin had also woken up soon.


    After waking up, all of them had received Su Haimei''s notice. Therefore, they hurriedly saved their partners instead of asking any question.


    In less than 2 minutes, all the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect had wakened up. Ying Canghai was the last one that Zhang Ti woke up...


    Ying Canghai instantly fixated onto Hua Meijuan the moment he woke up, causing the atmosphere in the sacrificial altar weird in a split second...

 1779 Making a Great Whoop and a Holler

    Zhang Tie sensed the embarrassing atmosphere and the self-conscious expressions of the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect inside the sacrificial altar too.


    It was just like that in many cases. When people realized that they were going to bid farewell to each other, they would say something or do something special. However, when they realized that they didn''t need to bid farewell to each other anymore, what they said and did appeared to be ill-timed and embarrassing.


    After Ying Canghai woke up, the sacrificial altar became quiet at once. At this moment, none of the immortal generals and elders of Yin-Yang Sect knew how to face their head. Meanwhile, Ying Canghai didn''t know how to face these immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect either. Ying Canghai didn''t even make any eye contact with the grand elders of Yin-Yang Sect. They just avoided eye contacts.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether Yin-Yang Sect could return to the previous state. He just wanted them to leave here as soon as possible.


    "Hurry, leave out of here. You''re in Cyan Dragon Palace of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. The supreme-level immortal generals of Cyan Dragon Palace are not here for the time being. But I''m afraid that they have already known what happened here. They might come back at any time. Therefore, you should leave here right now..."


    After confirming that everyone was awake and they had already known what happened with the brief introduction of Su Haimei, Zhang Tie put it straightforwardly.


    None of the immortal generals were idiots. Although the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect didn''t see how Zhang Tie saved them, when they found they were gradually recovering their battle strength and didn''t feel anything improper, they had already believed in Su Haimei''s words.


    Just now, they were already fish on the kneading board who didn''t have any strength to resist. Therefore, they didn''t find it necessary for others to disguise in front of them at this moment as they couldn''t provide any benefits for them at all.


    Not until then did the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect know that this young man who saved them was Donder, a senior power who saved them by accident for the sake of righteousness. Donder''s cultivation base was too profound to be understood. At the sight of the handsome face of Donder, none of the female immortals of Yin-Yang Sect could move their eyes away. As a result, all the male immortal generals felt ashamed in front of Zhang Tie.


    The corpses of the two immortal generals in black robe and the headless corpse that was hit into the ground of the sacrificial altar shocked them so much; especially when they knew that headless corpse belonged to Grand Justice Qian who was hosting the sacred sacrifice just now, all the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect watched Zhang Tie in deep awe and veneration, including Ying Canghai.


    Based on Ying Canghai''s ability, even if Grand Justice Qian had already lost his head, Ying Canghai could still recognize his corpse. Grand Justice Qian shared the same cultivation base with Ying Canghai. However, Zhang Tie buried a fire immortal general into the ground and beheaded him easily. His battle strength instantly rose by more than 10 times in the eyes of the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect.


    "Senior Donder, I wonder whether Xue Yuxiu the traitor of Yin-Yang Sect has already escaped away or not..." Ying Canghai asked Zhang Tie with a strong hatred.


    At this moment, Ying Canghai hated Xue Yuxiu too much. If that woman didn''t betray him, he and Yin-Yang Sect would not deteriorate to such a situation. Therefore, Xue Yuxiu was destined to die in Ying Canghai''s heart.


    The moment Ying Canghai opened his mouth, all the other immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect fixated onto Zhang Tie. When they woke up, they didn''t see Xue Yuxiu''s corpse. Therefore, they all had such a question. Ying Canghai asked it on behalf of them.


    "Xue Yuxiu is already dead. Her body has been burned into ashes..." Zhang Tie answered simply. He didn''t explain how Xue Yuxiu was killed. However, all the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect thought that Xue Yuxiu was killed by Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie didn''t feel like explaining it at all at this moment. He then strode towards the gate of the sacrificial altar as he told the members of Yin-Yang Sect, "Come with me, there''s an airboat in the hinterland of this mountain. Before the powers of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace return, you should leave here by airboat first..."


    After hearing that Xue Yuxiu was already dead, Su Haimei, Ying Feiqiong and the others looked complex; however, Ying Canghai sighed in relief.


    "Just take Senior Donder''s advice. Let''s leave out of here first..." Su Haimei looked around as she said and followed Zhang Tie out of the sacrificial altar. After exchanging a glance with each other, all the other immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect followed them out one after another.


    There were not too many corpses inside the sacrificial altar; however, the tunnel leading to the hinterland of the mountain outside the sacrificial altar was covered with blood and corpses, which startled everyone greatly. At the sight of this scene, everyone believed that Zhang Tie was making a spree killing all the way here from outside. Therefore, they regarded Zhang Tie with greater reverence.


    At the sight of the broken pieces of corpses over the tunnel, even Ying Canghai swallowed his saliva forcefully.


    They followed Zhang Tie towards the hinterland of the mountain. Ying Canghai gradually came closely after Zhang Tie as he asked, "Senior, do you know the location of this place in Motian Realm?"


    "This is the Cyan Lotus City of Woods Middle Domain. We''re in the hinterland of a mountain inside the castle of Cyan Lotus City. The head here is Si Dan the forebear of Si Clan. Si Dan has already promoted to a supreme-level immortal general and might come back at any time. When he comes back, I might not be able to protect you..."


    The information about Cyan Dragon Palace would be disclosed to the public soon. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to cover them. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Ying Canghai''s eyebrows jumped twice as he looked a bit intense. Closely after that, his face turned gloomy again.


    Just now, Ying Canghai was still a bit skeptical about Zhang Tie''s real identity; now he had completely believed in Zhang Tie; because Zhang Tie''s words could be proved true right away. If they were indeed in Cyan Lotus City of Woods Middle Domain, it could prove everything.


    Inside the hinterland of the mountain where the airboat was parked, many guards of Cyan Dragon Palace were also killed by Zhang Tie. However, that airboat was complete as before.


    "Can you drive an airboat?" Zhang Tie asked Ying Canghai.


    Ying Canghai nodded. Perhaps immortal generals of other sects might not be able to drive airboats; however, as for the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect who were chased everywhere, airboat driving skills were almost the compulsory course for indoor disciples. Because they had to escape at any time, it was necessary for them to master such a high-efficient vehicle to escape.


    "Those in the castle outside this hinterland of the mountain have not discovered what happened inside here. After a while, when I open the entrance of this space, you will fly out of here by airboat as soon as possible. The force of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace should not have reached the territory of the emperor-level immortal palaces and Emperor NvWa''s Palace, you could choose one of them as your destination. Even if Dark Emperor Immortal Palace knew that you''re hiding there, they would not dare to dispatch powers to deepen into the territory of those emperor-level immortal palaces to chase after you. Therefore, you will have a greater chance to survive..."


    "Senior, won''t you leave with us?" Su Haimei watched Zhang Tie as she finally asked.


    "I cannot leave now. Dark Emperor Immortal Palace is cancer. It must be related to demons. I have to stay here to cope with the aftermath. Additionally, everyone across Motian Realm needs to know the existence of this cancer. We have to separate from each other. After you leave here for a short while, I''m afraid that the entire Cyan Lotus City would fall into chaos..." Zhang Tie said generously which was half true. After saving the members of Yin-Yang Sect, Zhang Tie had determined to make a great whoop and a holler about this event. He would never let Dark Emperor Immortal Palace sleep well.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the survivors of Yin-Yang Sect cast admiring looks at him. They could only bid farewell to Zhang Tie at here and board the airboat rapidly. Only Su Haimei was struggling as she didn''t move her foot right in front of Zhang Tie.


    "Senior, I wonder...I wonder whether I could meet you again in the future..." Su Haimei asked as she directly looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes with a faint blush on her cheeks.


    "It depends..." Zhang Tie replied with a smile as he reached out his hand and pinched her hand. Meanwhile, he put the finger ring which contained No-Hatred Tortoise into Su Haimei''s hand.


    After taking a final look at Zhang Tie, Su Haimei gritted her teeth as she boarded the airboat.


    Zhang Tie then came to the central hub of the hinterland of the mountain and opened the entrance of this space rapidly. Closely after that, the airboat slid out of the hinterland of the mountain and disappeared into the clouds, moving towards the east.


    Watching the airboat leaving the hinterland of the mountain, those outside the hinterland of the mountain in the castle didn''t feel strange at all. Because of strict rules in the castle, they were not qualified to know the details.


    Yin Canghai didn''t brag. The survivors of Yin-Yang Sect drove the airboat very fluently. Zhang Tie saw them off by airboat inside the hinterland of the mountain. When the airboat left Cyan Lotus City for over 300 miles in half an hour later, it made a crafty turn and converged into a fleet of commercial airports towards the southeast. Not until then did Zhang Tie move his eyes away from the airboat.


    Yin-Yang Sect might have a lot of means to protect themselves. Otherwise, Yin-Yang Sect could not survive the chase of Force Emperor Immortal Palace. Therefore, when the airboat made a sudden turn after leaving Cyan Lotus City for over 300 miles, Zhang Tie knew that Dark Emperor Immortal Palace couldn''t catch up with them anymore.


    That airboat was just a tool for the survivors of Yin-Yang Sect to leave Cyan Lotus City. Zhang Tie was sure that the group of people would change an airboat when they arrived at a large city in a few hours. They would never allow people to find them based on the airboat that they drove out of the hinterland of the mountain. Perhaps they might abandon that airboat and escape in batches before they arrived at another city.


    ''Would Dark Emperor Immortal Palace dispatch people to chase them?''


    ''I''m afraid not. Because Dark Emperor Immortal Palace would soon become the common target for the rest of Motian Realm. They could hardly look after themselves, not to mention the remains of Yin-Yang Sect.


    After the survivors of Yin-Yang Sect left Cyan Lotus City by airboat for half an hour, a loud voice suddenly sounded above Cyan Lotus City. Over 1 million people in Cyan Lotus City even everyone within hundreds of miles could hear it.


    "Demon emperor founded Dark Emperor Immortal Palace to penetrate into human forces. Si Clan in Cyan Lotus City of Woods Middle Domain relied on demon emperor; enslaved and killed human immortal generals. Si Dan the forebear of Si Clan is actually His Honor Cyan Dragon of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. The sacrificial altar of Cyan Dragon Palace is right below the castle of Si Clan. The god is intolerant to demons; the god is intolerant to Si Clan..."


    The voice was so loud that everyone within hundreds of miles could hear it except the deaf.


    When this voice sounded, the entire Cyan Lotus City was like a watch that came to a standstill. Everyone became dumbfounded as they forgot about their jobs at once. They didn''t believe what they heard. They even thought they were in a hallucination.


    That one who uttered the voice seemingly knowing what they were thinking about as he repeated the same contents twice. In this way, everyone knew that it was not a hallucination.


    When they understood the information carried by the words, everyone became scared. However, before they made any response, the location of the Si Clan''s castle suddenly rocked heavily like being hit by tens of thousands of mines. The entire Cyan Lotus City was shocked...


    Cyan Lotus City was in great chaos at a stroke.

 1780 The Start of the Turmoil

    Dozens of people were still locked in the dungeon. Although being not immortal generals, all of them had special identities. Most of them were disciples of major clans such as the young master of Han Clan in Cattlehead Mountain. Some of them were even disciples of some major human immortal palaces who left their bases for survival training. One of them was a disciple of Star Emperor Immortal Palace.


    All of them being abducted and locked in the dungeon were tools that Dark Emperor Immortal Palace used to expand its territory and gain some illegal profits.


    Take these disciples of major clans being locked here as an instance, as long as they were taken advantage by Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, their clan power would be gradually encroached by Dark Emperor Immortal Palace through various means. Those disciples of the other immortal palaces might know the secrets of their own immortal palaces or had a relationship with some major figures of their immortal palaces which Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was interested in pretty much. After falling in the hands of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, these people would resort to both mild and severe measures or be killed after leaking some key information. The outcome was worse.


    These people were still imprisoned in the dungeon of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and had not been under the control of Golden-Soul Rune Virus. Dark Emperor Immortal Palace used the only Golden-Soul Rune Virus to control immortal generals which indicated that Golden-Soul Rune Virus was not easily made.


    After the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect left there, Zhang Tie returned to the dungeon and unlocked these prisoners'' jails.


    Although the doors were opened, none of them dared walk out of their jail; instead, they just watched Zhang Tie with frightened looks.


    There were corpses of the officers and guards of the dungeon on the aisles which looked pretty bloody. These people didn''t know what had happened. They only saw a light flash by the dungeon. Closely after that, all the officers and guards in the dungeon were decapitated, spurting blood everywhere. Those captives were all startled by what they saw. However, Zhang Tie didn''t show up just now. As a result, all the survivors in the dungeon didn''t know what had happened. When Zhang Tie showed up, as they were confused about his identity, they all became scared more or less.


    Zhang Tie looked around these people as he found they had almost lost their marbles due to the tortures of the people of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. Even their doors were opened, they still dared not come out of there. Take that young master of Han Clan who was exclaiming loudly in the dungeon 3 days ago as an instance, after his door was opened, he was so scared that he immediately cuddled himself in a shadowy corner as he kept trembling all over while hugging his knees.


    Zhang Tie didn''t explain anything to them; nor did he have time to comfort them. Standing in the aisle, he said, "You''re in the dungeon of Si Clan, Cyan Lotus City, Woods Medium-sized Domain. You were abducted by Si Clan, also the subordinates of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Cyan Dragon Palace. All the immortal generals and guardians inside the dungeon have already been killed by me. Besides, there will be big chaos above the dungeon soon as all the guardians have been cleaned up. It''s the only opportunity for you to escape out of here. It depends on you..."


    After leaving these words, Zhang Tie turned around and walked upwards. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, one of the captives finally walked out of his jail, closely followed by the others.


    After doing all these, Zhang Tie came to the ground along the aisle rapidly as he used his battle qi to release the dirty news about Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and Si Clan loudly.


    "Demon Emperor founded Dark Emperor Immortal Palace to penetrate through human forces. Si Clan in Cyan Lotus City of Woods Medium-sized Domain relied on Demon Emperor. They enslaved and killed human immortal generals. Si Dan the forebear of Si Clan serves as His Honor Cyan Dragon of Cyan Dragon Palace Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. The sacrificial altar of Cyan Dragon Palace is right below Si Clan''s castle. Demons are destined to be eliminated; Si Clan is doomed to be eliminated..."


    Zhang Tie''s muffled sound reflected from the sky, which could be heard across Cyan Lotus City and within hundreds of miles. Zhang Tie repeated it for 3 times.


    That His Majesty probably was an immortal emperor. To be honest, Zhang Tie didn''t know whether His majesty was a human or a demon. However, it didn''t matter. After all, Zhang Tie just wanted to release this news so that the entire Motian Realm could be shocked by it. Therefore, Zhang Tie directly labeled His Majesty as Demon Emperor and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace as a demon force. He wanted to take the initiative. No matter what, Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was not a good force. Additionally, His Majesty might be a demon. In this way, Zhang Tie didn''t believe in that those human immortal palaces in Motian Realm could ignore the existence of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace.


    This was Zhang Tie''s real, fatal skill. In many cases, the exposure of those illegal living beings and forces were much more destructive than that of killing some immortal generals.


    Even if His Majesty was a human, even though Zhang Tie slandered them, the entire Dark Emperor Immortal Palace couldn''t prove its innocence either. Even if they could prove that they were not demons, they were never tolerable to humans and had to be cleaned up as soon as possible given what they had done and Golden-Soul Rune Virus that His Majesty used to control human immortal generals.


    There were definitely many trading companies or business groups or henchmen of other clans in Cyan Lotus City. Those people would send the information that Zhang Tie had just released back to their bases as soon as possible. That was enough!


    Closely after Zhang Tie finished his words, Cyan Lotus City and Si Clan''s castle had become chaotic to a certain degree.


    "Who are you? Why are you here..."


    When Zhang Tie finished his words, a team of guardians inside Si Clan''s castle finally caught sight of him. The team leader instantly roared from 100 m away.


    There were three entrances leading to the hinterland of the mountain of Si Clan''s castle. Each entrance was in a fortress and strictly safeguarded by guardians of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. Those guardians of this entrance had long been killed by Zhang Tie. After Zhang Tie got upstairs and shouted loudly for a few seconds, he was finally discovered by the patrolling guardians in the castle.


    That team of guardians immediately advanced towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie casually pointed at that team leader from over 100 m away, exploding him into pieces in a split second. He spurted out blood heavily and covered the heads of those guardians behind him with blood.


    All the other guardians of the team stopped at once as they watched Zhang Tie with a frightened and pale look. Zhang Tie''s strike was overwhelming just like how an elephant stamped an ant to death. In an instant, they understood the gap between them and Zhang Tie.


    "As Si Clan had colluded with demons, they would soon become a target for all. If you don''t want to escape now, do you want to die together with the rest of Si Clan..." Zhang Tie asked distantly as he watched the other guardians.


    As Zhang Tie had disguised as "General Manager Si", he was crystal clear that those guardians on the ground didn''t know the background of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and Si Clan. Therefore, he didn''t want to kill more people. The team leader that Zhang Tie had just killed was familiar with General Manager Si, who belonged to Dark Emperor Immortal Palace.


    After leaving these words, those guardians stayed still in daze. They neither rushed towards Zhang Tie nor turned around to escape away.


    Zhang Tie instantly flew out of the fortress as he punched his fist in the air, causing a section of the wall of the castle to collapse and turn into ashes in a split second.


    "My..." Those guardians were finally woken up by Zhang Tie''s punch as they were almost scared out of their wits.


    "Who''s making trouble..." A foolish immortal general in black robe suddenly jumped out of a courtyard in the distance as he rushed towards Zhang Tie by stepping on the roofs and treetops.


    That immortal general was an earth immortal general on the side of Grand Justice Qian whom Zhang Tie had seen on the airboat. Pitifully, that guy had not figured out what had happened until now...


    Zhang Tie punched out his fist again as his battle qi crossed the sky and killed that earth immortal general on the top of an attic, turning him into a rain of blood.


    This scene scared many guardians and servants in the castle too much.


    Zhang Tie then flew above Si Clan''s castle as he started to bomb this region madly like a death deity and bomber, killing people everywhere and causing loud sounds.


    As long as Zhang Tie caught sight of the heads of those guardians, General Manager Si''s subordinates, the elites of Si Clan who had joined Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and some immortal generals of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace who guarded here above the ground, he would kill them.


    Watching Zhang Tie fly in the air, everyone realized that Zhang Tie was at least a wind immortal general. As Grand Justice Qian and his subordinates didn''t show up at this moment, they probably had been killed. Therefore, the morale of the entire Si Clan''s Castle collapsed in a split second.


    Zhang Tie made pretty loud sounds. Besides killing the backbone figures of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace inside Si Clan''s castle, Zhang Tie even broke some sections of wall of Si Clan''s castle along with its gate tower. After that, he lit a material warehouse of Si Clan''s castle, causing a big fire rush into the sky at once, along with heavy black smoke...


    At the sight of this scene, without receiving any order, all the common guardians and servants in Si Clan''s castle started to escape out of the broken wall and gate tower as they regretted having too few legs.


    Those people didn''t know that it was Zhang Tie who purposefully spared an opportunity for them. Otherwise, these people could only die together with Dark Emperor Immortal Palace if they still stayed inside Si Clan''s castle.


    Those captives who fled from the dungeon also escaped out of the broken wall of Si Clan''s castle with these people.


    As for the real General Manager Si, when Zhang Tie started the chaos, his head had been blown up by Zhang Tie by triggering the fuse in his mind sea.


    The two maids of General Manager Si in that courtyard also escaped out with them in chaos. When Zhang Tie flew over that small courtyard, he turned the entire house into a big pit by one punch, leaving no trace at all.


    When he messed up the entire Si Clan''s castle, Zhang Tie screamed again which spread over Cyan Lotus City in a muffled way.


    "Dark Emperor Immortal Palace use Golden-Soul Rune Virus to control human immortal generals. This virus is made by Demon Emperor of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. After it enters one''s mind sea, it would take control of the immortal general below supreme-level immortal general in an irresistible way..."


    Zhang Tie unveiled the most secret information of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. In this case, if His Majesty was in Cyan Lotus City, he might spurt out blood out of fury.


    In the chaos, Zhang Tie wanted to find Zhou Baifei and killed him. Pitifully, Zhang Tie didn''t see him after taking a look around Si Clan''s castle and Cyan Lotus City. Perhaps that guy has already left Cyan Cyan City due to alert.


    After messing up this region and seeing immortal generals of other forces flying towards here for investigation from hundreds of miles away, Zhang Tie gave up finding Zhou Baifei and killing him. He then flashed into the clouds. Closely after that, he triggered his invisible shen bead and master-level hiding skill. In a split second, Zhang Tie as a whole disappeared above Cyan Lotus City...


    However, even Zhang Tie didn''t know that the chaos in Cyan Lotus City implied the start of turmoil across the Motian Realm. Zhang Tie had lit a fuse that could overturn the overall situation facing Motian Realm...

 1781 The Possible Crisis

    The heavily burning Si Clan''s castle in Cyan Lotus City had been lagged far behind by Zhang Tie. Being invisible, Zhang Tie was flying towards Nine Heavens Big Domain as fast as a lightning bolt at hundreds of thousands of meters high in the air.


    No airboat and very few immortal generals could be seen at such a high altitude. Additionally, Zhang Tie didn''t need to race against time anymore. Even though he met a couple of immortal generals on the way accidentally, due to the large distance, those immortal generals couldn''t find Zhang Tie at all. Therefore, Zhang Tie just flew rapidly and leisurely.


    Although Zhang Tie didn''t reach his highest speed, his speed was absolutely shocking enough.


    After saving the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect and unveiling the conspiracy of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie finally became reassured. As for the future of Yin-Yang Sect and how would human immortal palaces deal with Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, it was none of Zhang Tie''s concern for the time being. It was not his turn to care about that at all. Zhang Tie only did what he could do so that he would not feel regretful. As for the success of this action, besides his great power, Zhang Tie also felt a bit lucky. If His Honor Cyan Dragon and Grand Justice You were in Cyan Dragon Palace, he would never complete this action so smoothly.


    Not knowing why, since he left Cyan Lotus City, Xue Yuxiu''s face had been looming in Zhang Tie''s mind. Therefore, Zhang Tie directly flew towards Sunnyprospect River in Nine Heavens Big Domain; instead of returning to Dragon Emperor Big Domain. He would like to meet the will of the woman.


    Sunnyprospect River was a big river in the north of Nine Heavens Big Domain which lasted thousands of miles. At such a speed, it only took Zhang Tie less than half an hour to arrive at the mountain ranges in the north of Nine Heavens Big Domain after leaving Cyan Lotus City. Sunnyprospect River was wriggling through those mountain ranges.


    With a flash, Zhang Tie came to a boulder on the riverside of Sunnyprospect River from the sky.


    Being on the sand beach, the boulder was surrounded by woods. There were purple wildflowers all over the sand beach. The crystal and tranquil river flew by the boulder. There wasn''t anybody within dozens of miles. Taking a broad view, Zhang Tie saw undulating green mountains and woods which were secluded and magnificent.


    Zhang Tie then took out those icy beads from his portable luggage. Closely after that, those icy beads flew off his palm and came to the center of the river the moment he ran his spiritual energy. Closely after that, the icy beads vaporized. As the breeze blew by, all the ashes of Xue Yuxiu sprayed over the river and became an integral part of the river.


    "Wish you stay with your Brother Luo happily and peacefully in the next life and never separate from each other..."


    Zhang Tie murmured. This was the last thing that he could do for Xue Yuxiu as he had promised her.


    Watching the flowing river silently, Zhang Tie suddenly felt a bit sad. He stayed silent for quite a while. Since her Brother Luo left this world, that woman had been living in hatred and grievance. She had tasted all the three bitterness in one''s life, namely failing to get what she wanted, separation from her beloved one and grievance. In order to avenge her beloved one, Xue Yuxiu had tried every means she could. Perhaps, she finally got rid of bitterness now.


    Xue Yuxiu''s death impressed Zhang Tie a lot. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie understood one thing¡ª¡ªGolden-Soul Rune Virus couldn''t control immortal generals completely. As "His Majesty" wanted to control immortal generals with Golden-Soul Runed Virus while keeping their consciousness, he had to sustain the risk of the resistance of the ego of those immortal generals that he controlled. Of course, the result of such a resistance would lead to the death of the immortal generals themselves as their guts would be heavily destroyed by Golden-Soul Rune Virus.


    Xue Yuxiu was not killed by Qian Changqing directly; instead, she was killed by Golden-Soul Rune Virus. Although Qian Changqing''s strike heavily hurt her, it was not fatal. By contrast, the response of Golden-Soul Rune Virus killed her in a short period of time.


    It was a loophole of Golden-Soul Rune Virus. However, less than 1 of 10,000 immortal knights might be brave enough to challenge that; because it meant that they were killing themselves by doing that. Even though immortal general were not brave enough to end their own lives.


    "His Majesty" was definitely familiar with people''s nature. That got to be humans. A person who used to live bitter lives or couldn''t see a bright future due to oppression probably committed suicide as they didn''t treasure their lives too much. However, almost no immortal generals or knights would commit suicide. Even in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie had not seen or heard that knights committed suicide. Because knights had high social positions and favorable living environment. They even had a bright future and greater life expectancy. Therefore, these people always treasured their lives very much. Unless they had to do that or on the battlefield, no knight would like to end their own lives.


    From this perspective, even though there was such a loophole, it would not influence Golden-Soul Rune Virus'' control over immortal generals.


    Standing on the bank of Sunnyprospect River, Zhang Tie thought for quite a while. After that, Zhang Tie rushed into the sky and flew towards Dragon Emperor Big Domain.


    The discovery of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was an alert for Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie realized that there might be more dangerous people or roles hiding on his side. To respond to these challenges and dangers, he had no other means but to improve his battle strength.


    After solving the problem facing Yin-Yang Sect, Zhang Tie would use all the favorable conditions to promote to a semi-sage level knight as soon as possible.


    On the way towards Dragon Emperor City, a question occurred to him¡ª¡ªI''ve exposed Dark Emperor Immortal Palace to the public. Although Dark Emperor Immortal Palace doesn''t know who is Donder; nor would I have Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace involved in this event, would Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace really make no response to this event?


    ''Dark Emperor Immortal Palace is composed of four palaces. Besides Cyan Dragon Palace, I know nothing about the other three palaces. Over the years when Dragon Emperor disappeared, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was like a piece of fat which many human forces and demon forces in Motian Realm were casting covetous eyes on. Given "His Majesty"''s shrewdness and the style of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, hasn''t "His Majesty" noticed that it was a great opportunity for him to subdue Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace? Even sage-level knights could be bought over by him, not to mention those elders and grand justices of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace who were semi-sage level knights.''


    ''Suppose the fake Dragon Emperor and I didn''t appear, over the hundreds of years, if "His Majesty" could really control those elders or grand justices of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and help an elder or grand justice of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace promote to a sage-level knight, that sage-level knight would be able to take over the entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace aboveboard. By then, wouldn''t Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Dragon Emperor Big Domain fall in the hand of "His Majesty"?''


    It was a profitable trade; additionally, it was the most important means for Dark Emperor Immortal Palace to expand its influence¡ª¡ªto control a clan or a force by controlling its head or some influential figures of the clan.


    Zhang Tie''s heart raced the moment he thought about that.

 1782 Stay Calm

    It took Zhang Tie only a bit more than 6 hours from Sunshineprospect River to Dragon Emperor City.


    Zhang Tie returned to Dragon Emperor City at around 4 pm. It was still sunny in Dragon Emperor City just like usually. During the past 4 days, nobody across Dragon Emperor City had discovered that Dragon Emperor was not in the Forbidden City; instead, he had left Dragon Emperor City and ''made a big harvest''...


    Just like he left there, Zhang Tie returned to Forbidden City secretly through the secret tunnel outside Dragon Emperor City before entering his own backroom for cultivation beneath Jiaotai Palace.


    As immortal generals always entered secluded cultivation for a long time, the short period of 4 days was not a big deal for immoral generals. The backroom was as same as before. Leng Manxue had not contacted Zhang Tie; perhaps she thought that Zhang Tie was still inside there.


    After coming back to his backroom, Zhang Tie triggered his body-changing immortal bloodline and recovered his original look. Closely after that, he put on that set of clothes that he got from Si Clan''s castle before burning it into ashes by true dragon flame. By then, he had destroyed all the pieces of evidence of his absence during this period.


    Of course, besides this set of clothes, Zhang Tie also achieved a lot from Cyan Lotus City.


    Qian Changqing''s space-teleportation finger ring, the space-teleportation finger ring that Xue Yuxiu had gifted him and the space-teleportation finger ring of general butler of Si Clan''s castle from General Manager Si were all in Zhang Tie''s hand. In a moment, Zhang Tie had got three more space-teleportation finger rings. Zhang Tie had been accustomed to this; because Zhang Tie found that he could easily get space-teleportation equipment since he acquired Castle of Black Iron. It might be very difficult for others to acquire a space-teleportation finger ring; however, Zhang Tie could always get them easily. Therefore, Zhang Tie almost lost his interest in space-teleportation equipment.


    Besides the three space-teleportation equipment, of course, Zhang Tie''s largest achievement was that he had almost completely refined and absorbed Grand Justice Qian''s fire chakra. Plus this nearly complete one, Zhang Tie had almost absorbed the chakras of 5 demon heavenly knights and 1 semi-sage level demon knight, which could enable him to promote to three change realm of heavenly knight steadily. Benefiting from this, Zhang Tie would soon complete one-third of the road towards the semi-sage level knight. What a terrifying cultivation speed!


    The space-teleportation finger ring of General Manager Si contained a lot of items that Si Clan''s castle had collected, mainly great piles of crystal coins, element crystals, some rarities such as Heavenly-Soul incense, some living necessities and some accounting books. Zhang Tie had seen them a few days ago; additionally, Zhang Tie treasured them too much.


    Zhang Tie had not checked the space-teleportation finger rings of Qian Changqing and Xue Yuxiu. After returning to the cultivation backroom of Forbidden City, Zhang Tie started to check them carefully.


    Xue Yuxiu''s space-teleportation finger ring had a volume of over 200 cubic meters. The finger ring contained a lot of water and wind element crystals, some medicinal powders, wealth, some living necessities and two silver secret items. It was a good treatment for the grand elder of Yin-Yang Sect. In the space-teleportation finger ring, the most eye-catching things were some items in a box. Zhang Tie penetrated his spiritual energy into it as he saw some letters, a piece of music score and some well-preserved maple leaves. Those letters were written by Brother Luo for her. The piece of music score was also gifted by Brother Luo. Although there was no signature on the maple leaves, Zhang Tie estimated that those maple leaves were also gifted by Brother Luo. Xue Yuxiu preserved these items well.


    Watching these items, Zhang Tie could let out a deep sigh. Pitifully, he couldn''t take all of them out of the space-teleportation equipment. Otherwise, Zhang Tie would have long burned them for Xue Yuxiu on the riverside of Sunshineprospect River a few hours ago.


    After checking Xue Yuxiu''s space-teleportation finger ring, Zhang Tie started to check Qian Changqing''s space-teleportation finger ring.


    Qian Changqing''s space-teleportation equipment was more senior than that of Xue Yuxiu''s. It contained greater space. By contrast, the space-teleportation equipment didn''t contain too many fashionable things. They were medicinal powders, crystal coins, element crystals, some living necessities which were available in emergencies and two secret books just like what the other immortal generals of his level would put in their space-teleportation equipment.


    If there weren''t anything special in Qian Changqing''s space-teleportation finger ring, Zhang Tie might be disappointed. Thankfully, Qian Changqing didn''t let Zhang Tie down. Right in his space-teleportation finger ring, Zhang Tie saw one item that he longed for the most¡ª¡ªa 65 cm high black gourd which was covered with flowing bizarre runes.


    Zhang Tie was ecstatic in a split second. This gourd was used for storing and releasing Golden-Soul Rune Virus.


    Zhang Tie had seen the same kind of gourd in Qian Changqing''s residence in Si Clan''s castle. However, that gourd was already empty as all the Golden-Soul Rune Virus had been released by Qian Changqing when he raided Yin-Yang Sect. That gourd was meaningless for Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie was afraid that it might incur troubles for him and easily expose his real identity if he carried it with him, he didn''t touch it, although the runes on the gourd had some research value.


    However, Zhang Tie found the same kind of gourd in the space-teleportation finger ring of Qian Changqing. Additionally, the mouth of this gourd was sealed. Given the information that Zhang Tie got from General Manager Si, the Golden-Soul Rune Virus inside this gourd probably had not been used. They might be kept for handing the next batch of targets by Qian Changqing after Yin-Yang Sect.


    If he could get the original Golden-Soul Rune Virus, Zhang Tie, as an immortal craftsman in runes, might be able to discover its secret through study step by step.


    Pitifully, he couldn''t take the gourd out of the space-teleportation finger ring to study it carefully. Even though Zhang Tie had lotus-flower eyes, he could still not see through the gourd. Even his spiritual energy could only tell him what was inside the gourd.


    However, he would be able to take this gourd out of the space-teleportation equipment in a few days.


    After putting away the two space-teleportation finger rings, Zhang Tie entered cultivation in this backroom.


    As Zhang Tie had already absorbed a lot of fire elements in Purgatory Samsara Method, it was the right moment for him to turn these fire elements into his own strength.


    As for Cyan Lotus City and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie didn''t worry about them for the time being. According to the saying before the Catastrophe in Taixia Country, let the bullet fly.


    If he wanted to figure out the threats facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace internally, he had to wait until the event in Cyan Lotus City and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace spread across Motian Realm. Otherwise, if Zhang Tie suddenly wanted to investigate those elders, it was equal to telling them that he had long known the existence of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and Golden-Soul Rune Virus that they used to control human immortal generals.


    Thankfully, as Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had tided over the difficulties for so many years, they could still wait for a few days.


    Zhang Tie then continued to light his fire chakra in the backroom rapidly as if nothing had happened.


    3 days later, on March 26th, the 3586th year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar, Zhang Tie promoted to one change realm of the heavenly knight. On the second day after that, Zhang Tie was finally "awakened" by Leng Manxue. He had to exit the backroom...

 1783 Men Should Have More Than One Side

    "Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, why didn''t I hear about it?"


    Sitting on the main chair in Yangxin Palace, Zhang Tie watched the 7 elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace with a faint frown.


    At this moment, Luo Yunshang, Xia Yanmging, Shi Zhongyu, Hou Moyuan, Wang Laisheng, Long Jiutian and Ying Gucheng were all watching Zhang Tie. From Zhang Tie''s look, none of them could discover any loophole. Zhang Tie''s performance was absolutely like as if he had heard this news for the first time.


    "When I was on duty with Elder Wang and Elder Ying in Qinji Agency, we received the emergency message from the Military Department. As we felt it was of great significance, we report it to His Majesty and called all the other elders here to discuss the countermeasures!" Luo Yunshang who looked dignified with a round face, beautiful eyes and a tall bun said as all the other elders nodded solemnly.


    "Dark Emperor Immortal Palace is related to demons and demon emperor. They have great ambitions. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace must pay attention to it!" Ying Gucheng opened his mouth.


    "How''s the Si Clan in Woods Medium-sized Domain?" Zhang Tie asked solemnly.


    "Since the event in Cyan Lotus City broke out a few days ago, all the backbones of Si Clan have either disappeared or escaped. Force Emperor Immortal Palace, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Emperor NvWa''s Palace have already dispatched large batches of powers to Woods Medium-sized Domain to investigate and confiscate the properties of Si Clan and chase the immortal generals and backbones of Si Clan. Besides, the other clans and Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace in Woods Medium-sized Domain are involved in. The entire Woods Medium-sized Domain is in chaos..." Wang Laisheng said in a muffled voice.


    "Why did Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace respond so fast?"


    "It''s said that some disciples of Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace were caught by Si Clan and imprisoned in the dungeon under Si Clan''s castle. They suffered all kinds of tortures. On the same day when Si Clan broke out the event, these people were saved by a secret power who unveiled the background of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and Si Clan. After escaping away, the disciples of Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace contacted their bases at once. After hearing that, Force Emperor and Star Emperor were both furious and shocked. Force Emperor immediately assigned a deputy head and a lot of immortal generals to Woods Medium-sized Domain, closely followed by the powers of Star Emperor Immortal Palace. Si Clan has great undertakings and deep foundation in Woods Medium-sized Domain. Even though some backbones of Si Clan could escape away in a short period, many members of Si Clan couldn''t. Therefore, after catching some members of Si Clan, Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace discovered more and more dirty deeds of Si Clan in Woods Medium-sized Domain. It was said that they found some quirky places like sacrificial altar under Si Clan''s castle. Therefore, the existence of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was proved. Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace have already sent wanted circulars to the backbones and immortal generals of Si Clan..."


    ''Is there any follower of His Majesty among the 7 elders? If there is, who on earth is he?''


    Hearing their words, Zhang Tie glanced over the solemn looks of the 7 elders calmly.


    According to Qian Changqing, Zhang Tie knew that His Majesty might have already made Golden-Soul Rune Virus many years ago. The earliest Golden-Soul Rune Virus was applied to some senior figures of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace by that His Majesty. However, it might have some defects. The latest Golden-Soul Rune Virus, also the perfect kind of Golden-Soul Rune Virus was made 7 months ago. If anyone among the 7 elders at present were subordinate to that His Majesty, his mind sea must contain Golden-Soul Rune Virus, whether it was new or old. However, Zhang Tie couldn''t see it by eyes; instead, he had to penetrate through his mind sea by his spiritual energy to check it. Whereas, this behavior was nothing different than asking these elders to give up resistance and take off their clothes for investigation. It was not an easy job as they would be averse to it instinctively. In the worst-case scenario, it would cause Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to split. As for the details, Zhang Tie had to make a considerate plan.


    As Zhang Tie thought about that, he asked another question.


    "Why did Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace receive this major news 4 days later?" Zhang Tie glanced over the 7 elders with a dissatisfied look.


    "Your Majesty, you''re crystal clear about the current situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. In recent years, especially after Dragon Emperor Immortal shrunk its power to Dragon Emperor Big Domain, our external forces and channels of information have been much worse than before. Those intelligence agents always respond a bit slower than branches..." Wang Laisheng coughed twice as he explained in a bit embarrassed way, "The Military Department didn''t know the event about Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Cyan Lotus City until one day later. Additionally, we didn''t know the details. Your Majesty, because this news was too shocking and was of great importance, before proving it, we dared not report it to you recklessly. Not until Force Emperor Immortal Palace assigned large batches of powers to Woods Medium-sized Domain and we proved the event from all aspects did the Military Department report the complete news to you..."


    After hearing Wang Laisheng''s explanation, Zhang Tie looked a bit better as he said, "According to your explanation, it''s not your fault. But this intelligence is of great significance, we have to pay special attention to it. Despite Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace couldn''t endure any more tortures, we should spend more efforts on intelligence collection. We couldn''t save money on this aspect. On the aspect of intelligence collection, Military Department, Immortal General Department and Supervision Department have their own systems. I suggest organizing a new agency being subordinate to Qianji Agency. The new agency will be mainly responsible for collecting intelligence. After a short while, elders, please work out a plan to fix this shortcoming. Although Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace doesn''t have other branches outside, we could be flexible in solving this problem..."


    All the 7 elders nodded.


    As a person from the other world, nobody was clearer about the significance of intelligence than Zhang Tie. Sometimes, the weaker the party was, the more it should pay attention to intelligence. Because this was a natural law¡ª¡ªfiercer and powerful beasts could live on their sharp fangs and teeth without any concern; the weaker ones have to be sensitive about intelligence.


    Previously, Zhang Tie might think that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace''s slow response indicated the poor abilities of the elders or poor internal coordination. Now, he got another possibility¡ª¡ªsomeone just wanted it. Because a weak, overstaffed and disunited Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was a piece of fat for someone which could be easily gulped down.


    Watching these elders, Zhang Tie''s eyes gradually turned profound. "Have you proved the existence of Demon Emperor on the back of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace?"


    "We''ve not proved it yet. However, according to intelligence, there probably is a top power behind Dark Emperor Immortal Palace!"


    "What about Golden-Soul Rune Virus? Could it really control human immortal generals?"


    "We don''t know that for the time being. The intelligence was unveiled by the secret power who knew the details of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace have not caught the major figures of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and Si Clan yet. Therefore, we still don''t know whether it''s true or not..."


    Closely after Luo Yunshang, Shi Zhongyu said, "I think there''s no Golden-Soul Rune Virus in Motian Realm at all. If human immortal generals could be controlled like puppets, they could be easily identified by others. I suggest to not fully believe in the words of the secret power who unveiled the background of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. That person is unknown in Motian Realm. Nobody knows him at all. He might just want to create chaos across the Motian Realm for other purposes. In that case, everyone might be in danger..."


    The other elders looked serious too as they took a deep look at Elder Shi and nodded, saying, "Elder Shi sounds reasonable. However, as Woods Medium-sized Domain is in chaos, we can''t just wait here. I think we should assign powers to learn about the latest situation facing Woods Medium-sized Domain. On the other hand, we need to contact Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace and ask them about other relevant intelligence. If Dark Emperor Immortal Palace is really related to demons, it would be a common problem facing all humans. The two immortal palaces would never hide such an important intelligence..."


    After discussing about it for 1 hour in Yangxin Palace, the elders finally left there.


    Through discussion, they summarized their attitude on the existence of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and what had happened in Woods Medium-sized Domain¡ª¡ªkeep out of the affair; keep a close eye on it; adjust to the changing atmosphere...


    What was happening in Woods Medium-sized Domain was completely within Zhang Tie''s prediction. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not curious about that at all. As for the development of this event, he insisted on observing it slowly and adjusting to the changing atmosphere. The preoccupation was to ensure the safety of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace internally. He had to pull the venomous spines out of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace at the least cost.


    Sitting on the main chair, Zhang Tie stroked a space-teleportation finger ring as whims occurred to him. Not until Leng Manxue entered Yangxin Palace again did Zhang Tie raise his head.


    "Call in Commander-in-Chief Huang here tonight. I will invite him for a drink!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Oh, help me check whether there''s a place called Redmountain City in Motian Realm. I wonder whether something unusual happened there recently!"


    Zhang Tie had to do that in order to explain to Ji Yuelan. Zhang Tie had even prepared well an excuse for avoiding from being embarrassed when he met Ji Yuelan again¡ª¡ªI was in secluded cultivation these days. Therefore, I didn''t notice her message until today. Therefore, I asked my subordinate to investigate it...


    On the premise that Zhang Tie couldn''t tell Ji Yuelan that he was Donder and couldn''t let Ji Yuelan feel that he didn''t care about her, this was the best lie that Zhang Tie could think about.


    After doing such a good deed, he couldn''t tell her; instead, he had to lie to her. Zhang Tie didn''t know what it was called. He could only reveal a bitter smile out of self-mockery.


    All of a sudden, a popular advertising slogan before the Catastrophe occurred to Zhang Tie...


    Men should have more than one side!


    ...

 1784 The Disclosure of Dragon Emperor Medicamen

    It soon came to April 1st, the 3586th year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar.


    On that day, due to the equilibrium of the quirky space strength in Motian Realm, space-teleportation equipment could be available again. Therefore, this day became the trading date in Motian Realm.


    It had been a few more days since the 7 elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace held a meeting together. Today, Zhang Tie had already steadily reached two change realm of the heavenly knight. Such fast improvement in cultivation was impressive.


    In the same period of time, the news of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace had already spread across the Motian Realm. Even commoners knew what had happened in Woods Medium-sized Domain.


    The situation facing Woods Medium-sized Domain was startling. According to Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace, the entire Woods Medium-sized Domain had almost been occupied by Si Clan, a fundamental force of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. In the past few days, the immortals of Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace swept across the entire Woods Medium-sized Domain. As a result, the greater part of Woods Medium-sized Domain fell in the hands of Force Emperor Immortal Palace which was closest to it. Star Emperor Immortal Palace also occupied some cities of Si Clan. Seizing the opportunity, the two major immortal palaces started to expand their territory in Woods Medium-sized Domain crazily by annexing the cities, land, population and the other resources of Si Clan.


    Previously, emperor-level immortal palaces were the most powerful and tyrannical powers in Motian Realm. After Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was exposed to the public, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace were infuriated as Si Clan dared prison their disciples and intended to violate the two immortal palaces. Therefore, it only took the two immortal palaces a few days to change the overall situation facing the entire Woods Medium-sized Domain.


    When Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace were annexing the land of Woods Medium-sized Domain, the relationship between them and Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace which occupied a region escalated.


    As a supreme immortal palace in Motian Realm, Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace had a great force too. Its base was in Heavenly Sunshine Medium-sized Domain. Besides, Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace was also a big force in Woods Medium-sized Domain as it almost occupied one-third of the land of the entire Woods Medium-sized Domain. Unavoidably, the crazy annexation of the two major immortal palaces in Woods Medium-sized Domain aroused the dissatisfaction of Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace.


    However, facing the tyrannical expansion of Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace, apparently, Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace was not confident enough to fight them. Besides the great powers of the two major immortal palaces, the fact that some branch heads and deputy heads of Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace escaped away and disappeared after the background of Si Clan was disclosed caused Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace which was already been infiltrated by Dark Emperor Immortal Palace more unjustifiable.


    However, Bu Qianchou the Heavenly Sunshine King also the boss of Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace was very aggressive. Even though Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace had some relationship with Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, facing the wanton expansion of Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace in Woods Medium-sized Domain, Bu Qianchou directly led the rest powers of Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace to confront with the deputy heads of the two major immortal palaces in Woods Medium-sized Domain which were at daggers drawn.


    As Woods Medium-sized Domain had completely become the fat that Force Emperor Immortal Palace, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace scrambled for, it attracted the attention of all the forces across Motian Realm.


    However, Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace didn''t fight Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace alone. When Heavenly Sunshine Immortal confronted with them, many supreme-level immortal palaces in Motian Realm propped for Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace. Some supreme-level immortal palaces directly assigned some immortal generals to Woods Medium-sized Domain so as to root for Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace. It seemed that those supreme-level immortal palaces were joining hands with each other to fight Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace.


    There were three emperor-level immortal palaces in Motian Realm; however, there were 14 supreme-level immortal palaces, the bosses of which were all supreme immortal generals who probably promoted to immortal emperors. In the history of tens of thousands of years of Motian Realm, there were too many cases that emperor-level immortal palaces chose to suppress supreme-level immortal palaces for the sake of their own profits and immortal emperors chose to inhibit supreme-level immortal generals from advancing to immortal emperors in order to maintain their point. As a result, many supreme-level immortal palaces joined hands with each other to confront with emperor-level immortal palaces and immortal emperors.


    What happened in Woods Medium-sized Domain was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination; however, it was reasonable. Zhang Tie had not imagined that the contradictions between human immortal palaces had already been escalated before Si Dan the boss of Si Clan and the immortal generals of Si Clan were caught and the threat from Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was resolved.


    Human nature was indeed the most complex in the world.


    As of now, Zhang Tie and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could only adopt a "wait-and-see" attitude. All in all, only by stabilizing the internal situation of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could he resist foreign aggression. As the problems facing the interior of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had not been solved, Zhang Tie really didn''t feel like caring about the affairs between other immortal palaces.


    On April 1st, when many outsiders were paying attention to the situation facing Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and Woods Medium-sized Domain, the entire Dragon Emperor City was shocked by another news.


    That day, an airboat of Emperor NvWa''s Palace landed in Dragon Emperor City. A special envoy of Emperor NvWa''s Palace exchanged 100,000 quality element crystals for 100,000 vials of Dragon Emperor Medicament produced in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    This news was supposed to be confidential. Before today, only some trusted subordinates and powers of Emperor NvWa''s Palace knew the details about this trade. Because Dragon Emperor Medicament belonged to Zhang Tie himself, this trade was the private trade between Zhang Tie and Emperor NvWa''s Palace. From a certain degree, this trade had nothing to do with Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. All the element crystals should belong to Zhang Tie himself. Therefore, even the presidents of the four major departments and the 7 elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t know that.


    However, on April 1st, they all had found out.


    Being purposely publicized by Zhang Tie, this news soon spread over Dragon Emperor City, causing the presidents of the four major departments and those immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace dumbfounded.


    "Dragon Emperor Medicament? When did Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace start to produce it? I''ve not heard about it. This name sounds too overbearing and noble. Even Emperor NvWa''s Palace would like to purchase it after traveling a long way here. It''s Emperor NvWa''s Palace. It has everything. Even Emperor NvWa''s Palace whose wealth ranks first in Motian Realm would purchase things from Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. That''s too unimaginable. What''s more, it''s 100,000 vials of Dragon Emperor Medicament! Which immortal palace in Motian Realm could sell 100,000 vials of medicament of the same kind in Motian Realm for one time?"


    This news quickly spread across Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Of course, all the immortal palaces and clans in Motian Realm found it out on the same day...


    Zhang Tie''s Dragon Emperor Medicament had shocked the Motian Realm the moment it was disclosed to the public. That day, Dragon Emperor Medicament and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace became the hotspots of the public...

 1785 Zhang Ties Achievement Through Blackmail

    On April 1st, Zhang Tie spent the whole day in his backroom for cultivation.


    As it was the first day of April, the businessmen in Motian Realm liked it pretty much; so did Zhang Tie. On the first day of each month, Zhang Tie would always be thrilled just like going to the fair. This day, Zhang Tie could enter Castle of Black Iron and use all of his space-teleportation equipment. He could eat fruits that grew on the small tree too.


    There were still fruits of redemption from the gratitude of gulf shrimps, hairy shells and earthworms as usual. Each time Zhang Tie ate these fruits, his overall strength would enhance accordingly. Although it might be not too evident per time, the quantitative change led to qualitative change. Zhang Tie had known this fact since young. Therefore, he didn''t ignore these fruits; nor would he waste them. As long as there were fruits on the small tree, he would definitely take them all.


    When Zhang Tie achieved a 1/2 immortal strength body, he ran out of the fruits of redemption from golden uangs. Since then, he could only get merit value by having people release golden uangs in Taixia Country.


    If he were in Taixia Country or in peaceful times, Zhang Tie might travel across the world to look for the other living beings which could help him acquire complete immortal strength body. However, in Motian Realm, time became a luxury for Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie could only spend all the available time in cultivation which could bring him predictable achievements or cope with emergencies.


    Eating fruits could bring Zhang Tie predictable achievements. Additionally, the preoccupation was to study Golden-Soul Rune Virus. Therefore, Zhang Tie took the metal gourd out of Grand Justice Qian''s space-teleportation equipment after eating all the fruits on the small tree and started to study the Golden-Soul Rune Virus inside the gourd.


    There were 17 Golden-Soul Rune Virus inside the metal gourd in the shape of ball.


    Like 17 fireflies in the dark, the 17 Golden-Soul Rune Virus were floating inside the gourd quietly. 13 of them could control fierce immortal generals, 3 of them could control earth immortal generals while the rest one was used for controlling water immortal general. The quantities and proportion were similar to the number of immortal generals on different levels of some small sects or clans. This also proved Zhang Tie''s judgment, namely these Golden-Soul Rune Virus were indeed used for the next target of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace.


    After killing Grand Justice Qian and getting the Golden-Soul Rune Virus, it was equal to saving some immortal generals indirectly.


    After consuming a ball of Golden-Soul Rune Virus, with his water-like spiritual energy, Zhang Tie soon mastered the function and usage of that black gourd which contained Golden-Soul Rune Virus and some features of Golden-Soul Rune Virus based on his expertise on runes.


    Undoubtedly, that black gourd was used to store and release Golden-Soul Rune Virus. Its function was similar to the fresh-keeping box of Golden-Soul Rune Virus and the "crossbow" which could fire Golden-Soul Rune Virus.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Soon after being produced, Golden-Soul Rune Virus had to be put in this black gourd. Otherwise, if they were exposed in the air for half an hour, they would dissipate themselves.


    It was very simple to release Golden-Soul Rune Virus. As long as he took off its lid, penetrated through this gourd using his spiritual energy and positioned his target, he would be able to fire the Golden-Soul Rune Virus.


    The Golden-Soul Rune Virus could be fired at over 2,000 m per second. Additionally, Golden-Soul Rune Virus on different levels could respond to different chakras. Within 1,000 m, common immortal generals could barely escape from Golden-Soul Rune Virus.


    The runes on the surface of the black gourd were similar to those runes of Golden-Soul Rune Virus. After studying it for a day, Zhang Tie only learned the general principles and secrets of some simple runes on the surface of the black gourd. As for the constitution and manufacturing of Golden-Soul Rune Virus, it was out of Zhang Tie''s ability and cognitive level. Zhang Tie confirmed that it was a rune system that he had never seen before. The one who could produce Golden-Soul Rune Virus was definitely a top expert of runes across Motian Realm.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie discovered that one of the materials of the black gourd was Tigermarrow metal, a rare metal in Motian Realm. According to Zhang Tie, this metal was exclusive to Whitetiger Region, which belonged to Immortalsword Mountain Villa. All the Tigermarrow metal that was produced in Immortalsword Mountain Villa were sold at auction in public. All the trades were recorded in Immortalsword Mountain Villa.


    Perhaps Zhang Tie could discover a bit of background of that "His Majesty" or Dark Emperor Immortal Palace through Tigermarrow metal and the top expertise in runes...


    However, Zhang Tie couldn''t expose this intelligence to the public. He only expected Force Emperor Immortal Palace or Star Emperor Immortal Palace to get the same black gourd in Si Clan''s castle and those items in the sacrificial altar so that the two immortal palaces could investigate it through these clues. ''I alone could really not endure any hardships in Motian Realm. It would be great as long as I know it. I prefer to not rush to the frontline.''


    Zhang Tie spent the whole day in eating fruits and studying the black gourd and Golden-Soul Rune Virus...


    Although Zhang Tie stayed in his backroom, he was crystal clear about what would happen and what great shock would be aroused outside. Because, on the same day, according to his arrangement, a grand ceremony was held in an Immortal Wind Palace of Dragon Emperor City for the first trade between Emperor NvWa''s Palace and Zhang Tie himself. On-site, Zhang Tie especially told Hong Yukun to display all the element crystals and Dragon Emperor Medicament to the public. The piles of 100,000 shiny element crystals and 100,000 brilliant vials of Dragon Emperor Medicament were absolutely shocking.


    Everyone across Dragon Emperor City had known the name of Dragon Emperor Medicament on that day.


    As for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace which was urgently demanding element crystals, the shock caused by Dragon Emperor Medicament became especially great.


    This was what Zhang Tie wanted...


    At noon of April 2nd, Zhang Tie left his backroom. As was predicted by him, as long as Dragon Emperor Medicament was exposed to the public, all the 7 elders and 4 presidents of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had been thrilled as they all urged to see Zhang Tie tomorrow. After receiving Zhang Tie''s order, Leng Manxue just noticed Zhang Tie by crystal plate; instead of calling him out of there by an emergency means. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t come out until one day later.


    Zhang Tie instantly caught sight of Leng Manxue who was waiting for him outside Jiaotai Palace the moment he exited there.


    "The envoy from Star Emperor Immortal Palace has already arrived at Dragon Emperor City this morning. He wanted to see Your Majesty!"


    Leng Manxue''s news shocked Zhang Tie slightly as he had not imagined that the envoy of Star Emperor Immortal Palace could arrive here when he was ready to solve the internal problem facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace by finding those elders who were moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace.


    As he walked towards Yangxin Palace, Zhang Tie asked Leng Manxue, "Who''s that envoy?"


    "Yuan Lang!"


    "Where''s he?"


    "He''s still waiting for Your Majesty outside the Forbidden City!"


    "Did he come here alone?"


    "He came here with some subordinates who carried a huge iron safe!"


    "Only one?" Zhang Tie slightly frowned. ''Star Emperor Immortal Palace really made a fast response. But what do they mean by only one huge iron safe?'' Zhang Tie then told Leng Manxue, "Bring him in Yangxin Palace..."


    "What about the elders and presidents..."


    "Haha, our internal affair is not that urgent. Inform them to wait until the envoy of Star Emperor Immortal Palace leaves here!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    ...


    After a few minutes, Zhang Tie saw Yuan Lang in Yangxin Palace again.


    This envoy was still kind and elegant. At the sight of Yuan Lang, Zhang Tie had to admit that this immortal general of Star Emperor Immortal palace carried the halos of affinity. After getting acquainted with him, Zhang Tie could barely lose his temper to him.


    Yuan Lang entered Yangxin Palace himself as his subordinates were waiting outside the palace.


    Yuan Lang smiled brilliantly the moment he entered Yangxin Palace. He then bowed towards Zhang Tie with full respect, saying, "My regards to you, Your Majesty!"


    "It''s fine, take a seat!" Zhang Tie replied as he waved his hand. Yuan Lang then took a seat elegantly and calmly.


    "Your Majesty, you look brilliant. You must have made a great improvement in cultivation base. I feel so happy for you. I admire you so much!"


    "Let''s come straight to the point. How does His Majesty Star Emperor plan to explain it to me, to go against Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace or to compensate me for that?" Zhang Tie asked calmly.


    "Ahem... ahem... it should be a misunderstanding. As the last batch of goods was exceptional, His Majesty Star Emperor just wanted to ensure the quality. Unexpectedly, it aroused such a misunderstanding. His Majesty Star Emperor especially told me to apologize to Your Majesty on behalf of him..." Yuan Lang said as he stood up and bowed towards Zhang Tie again.


    "Apologize?" Zhang Tie slightly turned cold as he continued, "Do you think that His Majesty Star Emperor could fob off such a word on me?"


    "Of course not. His Majesty Star Emperor especially sent me to give such compensation to you, a demon fire immortal general. I think it could represent the sincerity of Star Emperor Immortal Palace to Your Majesty!"


    Despite a fire immortal general, also a semi-sage level knight didn''t meet Zhang Tie''s requirement, with its complete fire chakra, Zhang Tie felt that he could promote to four change realm of heavenly knight steadily.


    ¡ª¡ªThis was indeed a precious gift. If Zhang Tie was asking for an exorbitant price, Star Emperor Immortal Palace was providing a reasonable counter-offer.


    The immortal emperor was indeed not easily frightened, even though Zhang Tie used Grand Dragon Emperor as his shield.


    However, as Zhang Tie was just blackmailing Star Emperor with the power of the Dragon Emperor, he didn''t lose his outlay no matter what. If Star Emperor Immortal Palace went against Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie would worry about that. Actually, Zhang Tie had been so thrilled about this demon fire immortal general that he almost whistled.


    With the platform of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and the identity of Dragon Emperor, Zhang Tie could indeed rapidly improve his battle force. If it were in Taixia Country, he could never enjoy such a great treatment¡ª¡ªget demon immortal generals for free from an immortal emperor the moment he opened his mouth. In Taixia Country, even the people of the three top sects could not dream about that. If it were in Taixia Country, he could never ask Meng Shidao, a semi-sage level knight to wait for his refinement.


    ''My decision is indeed correct.''


    Feeling happy, of course, Zhang Tie wouldn''t look bad...

 1786 Profit and Reputation

    In many cases, profit and reputation were integrated. If one had profit, he would have a reputation. If one had a reputation, he would have profit. It was similar to how people enriched their family and how people passed the imperial examination.


    Sometimes, profit and reputation were contradictory which couldn''t be gained at the same time. If one wanted a reputation, he had to lose some interest; if one wanted profit, he had to be shameless. It was similar to how one borrowed money from his relatives and friends and how fair ladies were forced to earn a living by prostitution or singing.


    Everyone wanted profit and reputation at the same time. However, in many cases, people would get into trouble through clever means. In the eyes of the others, they were their undeserved gain for granted; especially when a donkey blackmailed people in a lion''s hide, it''s not easy for it to gain some profit, not to mention save its reputation.


    If that fire immortal general gifted by Star Emperor Immortal Palace was taken as profit, the means that Zhang Tie adopted to save his reputation could match that of a master-level powerhouse. He only said one sentence which won Yuan Lang''s admiration at a stroke¡ª¡ª"I wonder whether Star Emperor Immortal Palace has discovered something in investigating Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Woods Medium-sized Domain or now?"


    Yuan Lan realized that His Majesty Dragon Emperor was pretty generous and deeply conscious of the righteousness of a cause.


    Zhang Tie didn''t mention compensation anymore; nor did he care about the sharp difference between the Star Emperor Immortal Palace''s compensation and his demand. He directly ignored that demon fire immortal general and the mistake of Star Emperor; instead, he asked the intelligence about Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and Demon Emperor.


    This sentence sounded pretty proficient. Yuan Lang realized that Zhang Tie was talking about it as a human leader. The meaning between lines was that let the bygones be bygones given the crisis from Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and the chaotic situation facing Motian Realm.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Yuan Lang admired him pretty much; because this was what Yuan Lang had planned to say when Zhang Tie was not satisfied with the compensation of Star Emperor Immortal Palace¡ª¡ªYour Majesty, as Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and demons are casting covetous eyes on us, we should not allow two major human immortal palaces to go against each other because of such a minor misunderstanding at this critical moment.


    Unimaginably, Zhang Tie spoke it earlier than Yuan Lang. This meant an utterly different result. Yuan Lang immediately understood the meaning between lines.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, the envoy of Star Emperor Immortal Palace chested out and straightened up his upper body at once as his eyes carried more respect. "Woods Medium-sized Domain is already rotten to the core. The power of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace has already penetrated through Woods Medium-sized Domain, including so many clans and immortal palaces such as Si Clan and Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace. Superficially, Woods Medium-sized Domain was shared by many forces; actually, it has long been controlled by Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. What Dark Emperor Immortal Palace did in Woods Medium-sized Domain covered up their sinister motives. They were brutal and bloody. In order to control those human clans and immortal palaces, they could choose every means just like how demons do!"


    "Do you know which demon emperor is on the back of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace?"


    "This point is still uncertain. However, some items that Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace discovered in Woods Medium-sized Domain brought people great shock and fear. Combining with the intelligence from all parties, Dark Emperor Immortal Palace might have already mastered a secret method to turn immortal generals into puppets. It should be a very occult rune skill!"


    "Golden-Soul Rune Virus?"


    "Yes, that secret method is Golden-Soul Rune Virus. Two disciples of Star Emperor Immortal Palace being imprisoned by Dark Emperor Immortal Palace heard those officers in the dungeon say that they would execute sacred sacrifice for a batch of immortal generals whom a grand justice and an elder have just caught using Golden-Soul Rune Virus. After the sacred sacrifice, those immortal generals might become the puppets of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. According to the disciples of Star Emperor Immortal Palace, that batch of immortal generals contained more than 20 people. All of them were caught from Nine Heavenly Big Domain."


    "Ah? They were caught from Nine Heavens Big Domain by Dark Emperor Immortal Palace?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity, "If any clan or immortal palace in Nine Heavenly Big Domain suddenly lost so many immortal generals, they would have long been in chaos. Why didn''t I hear that any clan or immortal palace in Nine Heavenly Big Domain lost so many immortal generals recently?"


    "Your Majesty, you could never imagine that. Those immortal generals being caught by Dark Emperor Immortal Palace were superficially subordinate to Force Emperor Immortal Palace; however, they were actually the remains of Yin-Yang Sect being wanted by Force Emperor Immortal Palace. I''ve not imagined that the remains of Yin-Yang Sect have already joined Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City, Nine Heavens Big Domain over these years. Besides, the head of Yin-Yang Sect even became the head of the branch of Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City. Yin-Yang Sect turned the most dangerous place into the safest place. Such a trick was really admirable..."


    "No way, how could the remains of Yin-Yang Sect join Force Emperor Immortal Palace?"


    "This intelligence is definitely true. Force Emperor Immortal Palace really lost their face greatly this time. Although the remains of Yin-Yang Sect are hiding in Force Emperor Immortal Palace, Dark Emperor Immortal Palace completely ruined the branch of Force Emperor Immortal Palace in Redmountain City. Additionally, they even took away some disciples of Force Emperor Immortal Palace over there. As a result, Force Emperor Immortal Palace was infuriated as they assigned a large batch of powers to Woods Medium-sized Domain and intended to turn Woods Medium-sized Domain upside down. Furthermore, they even used 1 million element crystals as a reward for catching the immortal generals of Si Clan and Si Dan the forbear of Si Clan."


    After hearing Yuan Lang''s words, Zhang Tie looked solemn. After a short silence, he opened his mouth in a dignified way, "Now that Dark Emperor Immortal Palace could use Golden-Soul Rune Virus to control immortal generals, I wonder whether Star Emperor Immortal Palace has discovered immortal generals being controlled by Golden-Soul Rune Virus?"


    Yuan Lang said with a bitter smile as he shook his head, "As of now, I only know the existence of Golden-Soul Rune Virus. As for the look of Golden-Soul Rune Virus, nobody has seen it. Nor do we know the features of immortal generals being controlled by Golden-Soul Rune Virus and the testing method. His Majesty Star Emperor thought that Golden-Soul Rune Virus should be living in one''s mind sea and brain. The people being affected by this virus didn''t look abnormal; however, when you immerse in their mind sea using your spiritual energy, you might be able to sense the existence of the Golden-Soul Rune Virus. Although we''ve not caught the immortal generals of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, His Majesty Star Emperor has already called many rune experts to study the principle of Golden-Soul Rune Virus and work out a solution to detoxify it. Force Emperor Immortal Palace should be doing the same thing!"


    "The rune skill of Golden-Soul Rune Virus might be the key clue for discovering the culprit on the back of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. There should be only a few ones in Motian Realm who could reach such a high level in rune expertise, humans or demons..."


    "Yes, His Majesty Star Emperor has the same opinion as Your Majesty. Additionally, His Majesty Star Emperor said that if Rune Emperor was still alive, he would probably be the one who could produce Golden-Soul Rune Virus. However, Rune Emperor has already died. Therefore, the one who has gained the Tadpole Rune Sutra of Rune Emperor probably produced Golden-Soul Rune Virus. His Majesty Star Emperor doubted that the one on the back of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace might be Versatile Demon Emperor, the quirkiest and trickiest one among demons. Versatile Demon Emperor excelled at assassinating influential humans and overthrowing human immortal palaces. We''ve not seen Versatile Demon Emperor for so many years. Therefore, Versatile Demon Emperor might be the culprit on the back of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. If it''s true, the news of the discovery of Tadpole Rune Sutra and immortal outfits in Dark Valley might be a trap..."


    Yuan Lang watched Zhang Tie seriously as he continued, "His Majesty Star Emperor asked me to warn Your Majesty that there might be moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Although it''s boisterous in Dark Valley, it''s not suitable for us to spend too many efforts in searching Tadpolde Rune Sutra and the immortal outfits left by Rune Emperor.


    Zhang Tie agreed with Star Emperor''s judgment at least no matter whether Star Emperor was sincere or not. As Zhang Tie thought the same, he released the news that Demon Emperor controlled Dark Emperor Immortal Palace loudly disguised as Donder the handsome man in Si Clan''s castle.


    "I appreciate Star Emperor''s good-intentioned warning. I will pay attention to it. We three major human immortal palaces should join hands with each other and communicate with each other timely so as to eliminate evil forces and maintain the stable situation of humans in Motian Realm facing the threat from Dark Emperor Immortal Palace no matter whether demons are on the back of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace or not.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Yuan Lang revealed a smile at once as he asked tentatively, "Speaking of communicating with each other timely, I was told that Your Majesty sold 100,000 vials of Dragon Emperor Medicament to Emperor NvWa''s Palace yesterday. It''s said that the Dragon Emperor Medicament has marvelous effects. I wonder..."


    "If you want to know the effects of Dragon Emperor Medicament, the best way is to try it yourself. I will gift Star Emperor Immortal Palace 2,000 vials of Dragon Emperor Medicament. You could take back and try it..."


    Yuan Lang became thrilled at once as he replied, "Thank you so much, Your Majesty!"


    "Pleasure. Courtesy demands reciprocity. Hopefully, from now on, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace could entirely forget old grudges and join hands with each other for a bright future!"


    "That''s what I wanted to say!" Yuan Lang nodded as he added, "I wonder whether Star Emperor Immortal Palace could purchase Dragon Emperor Medicament from Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace or not in the future!"


    "Emperor NvWa''s position is special in Motian Realm. We only sell Dragon Emperor Medicament to Emperor NvWa''s Palace!" Zhang Tie said as he found that Yuan Lang had slightly changed his face, "But if Star Emperor Immortal Palace wants more Dragon Emperor Medicament in the future, you could attend the auction. Except for those vials of Dragon Emperor Medicament that we sold to Emperor NvWa''s Palace, I will sell the other Dragon Emperor Medicament in terms of the auction!"


    "Could you please specify the procedure of auction, Your Majesty?"


    Zhang Tie then explained the auction rules that he had designed to Yuan Lang.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Yuan Lang heaved a deep sigh at once. If the effects of Dragon Emperor Medicament were really that marvelous, Star Emperor Immortal Palace would not worry about buying Dragon Emperor Medicament in terms of the auction. If Star Emperor Immortal Palace couldn''t get them through auction, the other immortal palaces wouldn''t get them either. However, what shocked Yuan Lang and made him confused was how Zhang Tie produced 1 million vials of Dragon Emperor Medicament? Generally speaking, the more precious the items were, the fewer they would be. How did Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace realize such a mass production?


    Whereas, it should be the top-secret of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Additionally, given its name, Yuan Lang realized that this medicament might be related to Grand Dragon Emperor.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Therefore, Yuan Lang didn''t ask about the details of Dragon Emperor Medicament anymore.


    ...


    After chatting with Zhang Tie in Yangxin Palace for a short while and completed his mission successfully, Yuan Lang bade farewell to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie asked Leng Manxue to have people carry the huge iron safe to his cultivation backroom the moment Yuan Lang left there.


    Because the huge iron safe contained spiritual strength, it would definitely take Zhang Tie more than one day to fully absorb it. Yesterday, after killing Grand Justice Qian and the other lackeys of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie gained a fruit of brilliance which he had not eaten yet. Additionally, he had not fully refined the fire chakras that he absorbed using Purgatory Samsara Method a few days ago. Now, he got one more demon fire immortal general. Such a high rhythm made Zhang Tie feel pretty happy. If he could enjoy such a special treatment every day, Zhang Tie was confident to promote to a semi-sage level knight by the end of this year. What a rocketing speed!


    ...


    After Yuan Lang left there for less than 2 minutes, a group of people had poured into Yangxin Palace.


    Watching the solemn and shiny eyes of those elders and presidents, Zhang Tie said before Guan Minjun opened his mouth, "I will allocate the 100,000 element crystals to Earth-Treasures Department. Today, each of you could take back 100 vials of Dragon Emperor Medicament and try their effects. Tomorrow, I will show you around the production base of Dragon Emperor Medicament. After knowing these, you will not be worried about the supply of element crystals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace anymore. From now on, Dragon Emperor Medicament will bring steady income to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, those people entering Yangxin Palace exchanged a glance with each other as they became silent at once...


    Right then, Leng Manxue had some people carry boxes of Dragon Emperor Medicament into Yangxin Palace.


    ...


    Seeing them off, sitting on the major chair of Yangxin Palace, Zhang Tie''s eyes shone icily and solemnly¡ª¡ªwe will know the moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace tomorrow.

 1787 Cloudriver Valley

    On the early afternoon of April 3rd, it was sunny. Zhang Tie and the elders and presidents of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace arrived at Cloudriver Valley outside Dragon Emperor City from Forbidden City by airboat.


    7 elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace came to Cloudriver Valley with Zhang Tie, namely Luo Yunshang, Xia Yangming, Shi Zhongyu, Hou Moyuan, Wang Laisheng, Long Jiutian and Ying Gucheng together with the presidents of the five major departments of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, namely Guan Minjun the president of Earth Treasures Department, Tang Shenghou the president of Personnel affairs Department also known as Immortal Generals Department, Xue Zhongkai the president of Heavenly Craftsmanship Department, Ji Hontao the president of Military Department and Huo Xianlai the president of Supervision Department.


    After the 4 elders resigned as the presidents of the four major departments of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, they nominated all the new presidents of the four major departments. Zhang Tie appointed these people as the new presidents of the four major departments. Among the four incumbent presidents of the four major departments, Zhang Tie was only a bit familiar with Guan Minjun as he had communicated with her for a few times. As for the others, he just met them for a few times and had some short chats with them. Therefore, he was not familiar with them. As for Zhang Tie, after becoming the new Dragon Emperor, the preoccupation was to enhance his battle strength. As long as he became a real powerhouse, he would be able to solve all the problems. Therefore, he didn''t feel like caring about the affairs of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace at all, not to mention showing carrots to those presidents of the four major departments.


    The semi-seclusion of the elders and grand justices and the successful hand-over of the powers of the four presidents ensured the stability of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace after Zhang Tie took the throne. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that he could realize a peaceful transition of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in this means by helping Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace tide over the toughest period. However, after discovering the existence and purpose of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie found that he was too naive.


    Superficially, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t face any crisis. However, it was actually facing crises from Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. If there was some problem with the loyalty of the elders, there would be a problem with the people that they had recommended for sure. If it was true, it would not be solved by tactics.


    Now that he couldn''t solve the problem by tactics, he could only solve it by force. But it required some technology for him to use force on them...


    ...


    The airboat landed on a vast patch of grassland outside Cloudriver Valley. Hong Yukun, some officers and the immortal generals of Dragon Teeth Army were already waiting for them on the lawn.


    Zhang Tie got off the airboat first, followed by the 7 elders and the 4 presidents of the major departments.


    "Our respects to you, Your Majesty..."


    "Get up!" Zhang Tie took a look at Hong Yukun as he found that Hong Yukun was glowing with health, being utterly different than that distressed state a few days ago. Pointing at Hong Yukun, Zhang Tie started to introduce him to the influential figures behind him, "This is Hong Yukun the former head of internal guards of Dragon Emperor Pavilion and the incumbent head of Cloudriver Valley. He''s in charge of the entire Cloudriver Valley and the production of Dragon Emperor Medicament..."


    This was the most brilliant moment that Hong Yukun had ever experienced. In Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, immortal generals like him could be seen everywhere. As elders and presidents in the highest positions of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, they might have not even heard about him before. Even if they had heard of him, they could barely remember his name. Even though they could remember his name or were a bit impressed by him, they would never mind it. However, today, so many influential figures came to his territory to see his achievements and the production of Dragon Emperor Medicament. Therefore, he felt a great honor. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    At this moment, Hong Yukun appreciated and admired Zhang Tie pretty much from his heart. He really had an impulse of sacrificing himself for Zhang Tie. Without Zhang Tie''s promotion, he might still be living a poor and boring life in Dragon Emperor Pavilion. 2 days ago, Hong Yukun had felt his whole life trajectory was changing. Previously, Hong Yunkun thought he liked that tranquil lifestyle; however, now, he found that it was also nice for him to enjoy the feeling of being flattered and valued by people in such an idyllic life; especially those who valued and flattered him were all immortal generals like him.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s introduction, Hong Yukun took in a deep breath as he bowed towards the elders and presidents, saying, "My respects to you, elders and presidents!"


    All the elders and presidents nodded towards Hong Yukun.


    "Thanks for your hard work..." Luo Yunshang said politely.


    "It''s my pleasure. It''s my pleasure. I''m just doing my job..."


    "Well, we''re especially here to visit the whole production process of Dragon Emperor Medicament. Yukun, as the landlord here, just show us around!" Zhang Tie opened his mouth.


    "Yes, Your Majesty!" Hong Yukun glanced at Zhang Tie as he made a hand gesture to invite them, "Please come with me, let me show you the fruits that are planted here!"


    "It''s unnecessary for us to see the orchards which have nothing to do with Dragon Emperor Medicament!" Elder Shi Zhongyu slightly frowned as he added, "We''ve already seen the orchards in Cloudriver Valley. Lord Hong, please show us around the herbal medicine park. The other elders and I are very curious about the herbal medicines which grant Dragon Emperor Medicament with such marvelous effects!"


    After replying with a modest and calm smile, Hong Yukun took a look at Zhang Tie. After Zhang Tie slightly nodded, Hong Yukun opened his mouth, "Elder Shi, you don''t know that the fruits that are planted in Cloudriver Valley are the important ingredients of Dragon Emperor Medicament. As for some herbal medicines that are planted in Cloudriver Valley, although they''re also useful, they''re not main the ingredients!"


    After hearing Hong Yukun''s explanation, all the elders and presidents exchanged a stupefying glance with each other. They had already tried the marvels of Dragon Emperor Medicament as Zhang Tie had gifted 100 vials of Dragon Emperor Medicament to each of them yesterday. Even though they were healthy, they still felt something exceptional after taking it. Additionally, they had long known why Emperor NvWa''s Palace purchased Dragon Emperor Medicament from Dragon Emperor. They believed that such a powerful Dragon Emperor Medicament must be made of many rare herbal medicines or rarities. Unimaginably, according to Hong Yukun, its main ingredients were only fruits. This completely subverted their knowledge.


    Being driven by curiosity, even Elder Shi Zhongyu didn''t insist on his opinion anymore; instead, they were all interested in the characteristics of the fruits in Cloudriver Valley.


    With the guidance of Hong Yukun, they started to look around the orchards in the valley.


    Hong Yukun kept introducing them about the situations facing each orchard adroitly.


    The closet orchard was less than 100 m away from the airport of Cloudriver Valley. In no time had they arrived at that orchard.


    It was a cherry orchard.


    In April, cherries were getting ripe. When they entered the orchard, they saw some virgins picking cherries and putting them into bamboo baskets. This orchard was suffused with the alluring fragrance of cherries...

 1788 Zhang Ties Trick

    "These golden cherries are exclusive to Dragon Emperor Big Domain. They are ripe in each April. The cherry orchard occupies 33,350 square meters in total. Every 1,000 square meters of orchard could produce 1130 kg cherries. This orchard could produce over 35,000 kg of cherries in total annually..."


    As they wandered in the cherry orchard, Hong Yukun asked those virgins who were picking cherries in the orchard to bow towards these visitors as he explained them the situation facing this region, "Besides cherry orchard, there''re also orchards of loquats, red bananas, mulberries, limes and bird wood fruits. The area of the orchards ranges from 33,350 square meters to over 133,400 square meters. Previously, these fruits were supplied for Dragon Emperor Pavilion, the four major departments and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor City. Few of them were gifted to the guardians and farmers in Cloudriver Valley. They were allowed to see them for profits. But now, most of the fresh fruits will be stored in Cloudriver Castle and become ingredients of Dragon Emperor Medicament through the process..."


    After hearing Hong Yukun''s words, more than one of the elders and presidents reached out their hands as they picked a golden cherry and tasted it.


    ''The golden cherry tastes as same as before. But how could it become the ingredient of Dragon Emperor Medicament? Has some conjuration been applied to these fruits? That''s marvelous!''


    Watching the surprised looks of those elders and presidents, Zhang Tie smiled inside because this was what Zhang Tie wanted. To be honest, this a subtle mind control just like how a magician conjured a rabbit out of his hat. After visiting Cloudriver Valley and finding that these fruits were nothing special, they would be more curious about the item that could make these fruits marvelous and would be more convinced by the effects of those ingredients. As a result, they would be less alert about Zhang Tie.


    The current step was like showing the empty hat to the audience before conjuring a rabbit out of the magician''s hat. The real splendid part had not come yet. That was why Zhang Tie publicized the trade between Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Emperor NvWa''s Palace. That day Zhang Tie was just beating gongs and drums to attract the attention of the public; today, he was going to perform it.


    "Is Dragon Emperor Medicament only made of this golden cherry?" Guan Minjun who was observing these cherries suddenly asked Zhang Tie.


    "Of course not, this cherry is just one of the ingredients of Dragon Emperor Medicament!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie, those elders and presidents exchanged a glance with each other as a whim occurred to them. ''Perhaps the other ingredients are special.''


    Therefore, they didn''t ask Zhang Tie anymore; instead, they just wandered across Cloudriver Valley with the guidance of Hong Yukun.


    Cloudriver Valley was indeed a good place with fresh air, crystal water and fertile land. When Grand Dragon Emperor was here, in order to manage the vegetable garden of Grand Dragon Emperor, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace spent a lot of efforts to improve it. Even now, they could still see a large-scale reiki-gathering rune array on a 1,000-m high cliff which had been flattened. This rune array was not the only one in the valley. Many rune arrays were buried under the earth of Cloudriver Valley; some were at the bottom of the river. Some rune arrays could adjust temperature; some could adjust moisture; some could drive away pests. What a luxurious arrangement!


    With such an arrangement, Cloudriver Valley became advantaged as the fruits and vegetables here were growing much better than that in other places.


    Plum orchard, watermelon orchard, nectarine orchard, casaba orchard, lemon orchard, wax apple orchard, nightshade orchard, peach orchard, snow pear orchard, longan orchard, passion fruit, grape orchard, strawberry orchard, pomegranate orchard and orange orchard...


    Cloudriver Valley was not large. Covering dozens of square miles, it was less than 7 miles in length. After deducting the areas of natural woods and sloping fields and benchlands being covered with natural woods and plants, there were not too many orchards here. Additionally, there were not too many kinds of fruits in Motian Realm. Therefore, it only took the immortal generals less than half an hour to visit everywhere possible in Cloudriver Valley.


    Many orchards didn''t bear fruits in this season. Farmers were taking care of them. In each of the orchards with fruits, all the elders and presidents would pick a couple of fruits to taste them. They would like to see whether there was something special with those fruits.


    After seeing and tasting all the fruits, they were more shocked as they became curious about the production of Dragon Emperor Medicament to the extreme.


    Therefore, Hong Yukun took them back to Cloudriver Castle where Dragon Emperor Medicament was produced. They couldn''t wait to see the production process of Dragon Emperor Medicament.


    After entering Cloudriver Castle, they found that all the virgins of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had become female workers. With a tall bun, they were all in eccentric pure white uniform.


    "Lord Hong... why do they look like putting on mourning apparels?" Elder Xia Yangming asked Hong Yukun as he goggled at the female workers who were sorting out fruits.


    "Ahem...ahem...Elder Xia, they are not putting on mourning apparels. They dress like that at the order of His Majesty. According to His Majesty, the production process of Dragon Emperor Medicament could remain clean in this way. All the female workers should dress like that. Any dirty things could be easily discovered..."


    "Oh, I see. Your Majesty''s arrangement is really considerate!" All the elders and presidents nodded as they acclaimed it in unison.


    Actually, the production process of Dragon Emperor Medicament was not complex; especially that each procedure was carried out in an independent workshop.


    After being picked in Cloudriver Valley, the ripe fruits were transported into Cloudriver Castle, where they would be sorted out and cleaned. After that, they would be mixed with each other and sealed in terrines. Then, they were moved to the warehouses for fomentation. After being well fermented, Dragon Emperor Medicament would be filled into vials by batches.


    Almost no man was needed in the whole production process. Those female workers could easily deal with everything with the help of simple tools and instruments.


    In the beginning, the elders and presidents thought that this production process was very mysterious. After watching it, they were all stunned. They could see clearly each procedure of the production of Dragon Emperor Medicament; however, according to their knowledge, such a process could only lead to pickled fruits. They could never imagine that it could lead to Dragon Emperor Medicament.


    ''No, there must be something that I''ve ignored, which is the key of Dragon Emperor Medicament! If Dragon Emperor Medicament could be produced in this way, it should have long been put into market millions of years ago. ''


    As all the elders and presidents were full of doubts, Hong Yukun took them to an underground room which was strictly guarded.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    They needed to pass three batches of guards, all of whom were immortal generals of Dragon Teeth Army. Therefore, this room felt like a treasure house being strictly guarded.


    After coming to the room, they instantly smelt a special fragrance which made them spirited. Closely after that, they fixated onto the only item in the room.


    It was a huge basin made of air-floating metal in the shape of lotus flower hovering 1 m higher in the air. A bead being covered with mysterious runes was rotating in the huge basin while a mysterious liquid was rolling and gurgling out, which gave out the special fragrance.


    Besides, a legendary luminous pearl was embedded in the huge basin. The light of the legendary luminous pearl covered the extremely delicate huge basin in terms of a beam of light through a red crystal plate of a bizarre optical block. The light and shade effect was evident, making the liquid in the basin as brilliant and eye-catching as a superstar. At the sight of it, people would know that the liquid in the basin was a rarity.


    After coming to this room, Hong Yukun became silent as he fixated onto Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie revealed a casual smile as he walked to the front of the huge basin. After taking a soulful look at the liquid inside the huge basin, Zhang Tie turned around and said, "You must be curious why those ordinary fruits would become Dragon Emperor Medicament after being well fermented. All the secrets lie in here. Before those pieces of fruits were sealed in terrines, this mysterious liquid has already been put in each terrine. Because of the effect of this liquid, those fruits finally become Dragon Emperor Medicament..."


    "Your Majesty, may I know what''s that liquid?" Long Jiutian asked as he kept a close eye on the liquid.


    Almost all the others had the same question at this moment.


    "It''s Dragon Emperor Liquid!" Zhang Tie said solemnly.


    "Dragon Emperor Liquid?"


    "Right, it''s Dragon Emperor Liquid. It''s developed by the old man. As for the details, I don''t know either. Whereas, it''s the key of Dragon Emperor Medicament..."


    Zhang Tie continued to bamboozle casually; however, none of the visitors doubted Zhang Tie at all¡ª¡ªIf not Dragon Emperor Liquid, how could those fruits be made into Dragon Emperor Medicament through fermentation?


    The so-called Dragon Emperor Liquid was made by Zhang Tie in Castle of Black Iron¡ª¡ªZhang Tie let Heller fill a large amount of reiki value and merit value into senior spiritual spring; after that, he added some original liquid of yeast which had been mutated for the second time, 2 vials of senior recovery medicament, a vial of immortal strength medicament and a vial of secret medicament. Actually, the so-called shiny Dragon Emperor Liquid which appeared having endless magic was such a mixture.


    Of course, in order to make Dragon Emperor Liquid more eye-catching, Zhang Tie especially had Edward build such a delicate container using air-floating metal which carried a nice light and shade effect. Through such a delicate package, Zhang Tie finally displayed Dragon Emperor Liquid to them.


    All the elders and presidents of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were goggling at Dragon Emperor Liquid with complex expressions.


    The fragrance of those senior medicaments made everyone''s throat dry as they couldn''t stand to swallow their saliva.


    Hong Yukun had already prepared some glasses.


    "Dragon Emperor Liquid is the key of Dragon Emperor Medicament. It''s very beneficial to immortal generals. Its effect is even greater than that of Dragon Emperor Medicament. Now that we''re here, let''s try Dragon Emperor Liquid. It would not be easy for you to drink it in the future..."


    Closely after Zhang Tie''s words, Hong Yukun had placed well some empty glasses. Zhang Tie reached out his hand as he released a wisp of battle qi into the huge basin, causing the liquid in the huge basin to surge heavily. In a split second, 13 water flows filled those glasses.


    Zhang Tie picked one glass as he implied the others to take one too. All the others moved forward and took one. Closely after that, they sniffed the special fragrance forcefully.


    As Dragon Emperor Liquid was very precious, Zhang Tie didn''t drink it instantly, not to mention the others.


    "Oh, the old man said Dragon Emperor Liquid goes against Heavenly Soul Incense despite having a lot of benefits. If some of you touched Heavenly Soul Incense in recent years, you''d better not drink it in case of trouble..." Zhang Tie warned them casually. Closely after that, he raised his head and drank it up.


    "Hahaha, Heavenly Soul Incense is rare and very expensive; additionally, it could cause hallucination. It''s said that only some lecherous thieves treasure Heavenly Soul Incense. How could we use that..." Ying Gucheng said as he burst into laughter. After watching Zhang Tie drink it up, he drank it too. Smacking his lips, he sighed with feeling, "It tastes special and carries a mysterious strength. Not bad! It''s indeed a rarity..."


    All the other elders and presidents drank up their own liquid...

 1789 The Mind Tes

    Thieves always had a guilty conscience. It was a truth that lasted for an eternity. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Before Zhang Tie became a knight, even before he became a real fighter, he had heard a story from his mother which was popular among Hua people for long. It was about how an ancient Hua official painted ink on the deity''s image so as to catch a thief. Despite being simple, that story had been widely spread among Hua people.


    In a dark room, an official painted the deity''s image with ink. After that, he told a lot of suspects that the deity image was pretty effective. As long as the suspects entered the room one after another and put their hands on the deity''s image, that deity''s image would tell him which one was the real thief.


    Those innocent ones would put their hands on the deity''s image without any concern. By contrast, the one who was guilty dared not put his hand on the deity''s image in fear that the deity''s image knew his secret. Finally, the official called everyone out and let them open their hands in front of him. The one whose hands had no ink was the thief for sure.


    Of course, the so-called Dragon Emperor Liquid didn''t go against Heavenly Soul Incense. Zhang Tie was telling a lie. However, the others didn''t know about that. Nor did they know that Zhang Tie had been considering long for this arrangement.


    Zhang Tie had already had people produce Dragon Emperor Medicament before Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was exposed to the public. After paying a visit to the whole production process of Dragon Emperor Medicament, all the elders and presidents of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had already deeply believed in the effect of Dragon Emperor Liquid. The moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace would never imagine that Zhang Tie especially fabricated "Dragon Emperor Liquid" for unveiling them. Due to the large span of the logical relationship between time, place, figures and events, very few people could associate with these factors.


    Those under the control of Golden-Soul Rune Virus must have smelt Heavenly Soul Incense, which was the necessity for Golden-Soul Rune Virus to recognize their owners.


    Common lackeys and average immortal generals of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace might not know the relationship between Heavenly Soul Incense and Golden-Soul Rune Virus. However, all the 7 elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were semi-sage level knights. If some of them were really lackeys of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, they must serve as the same position as Qian Changqing in Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. If His Majesty wanted to control Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace through some of them, the moles must have used Golden-Soul Rune Virus to control his subordinates and expand his influence in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    As for Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace must be more important than Yin-Yang Sect. Now that Qian Changqing the grand justice of Cyan Dragon Palace could acquire Golden-Soul Rune Virus to control the members of Yin-Yang Sect, undoubtedly, the moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could also acquire more Golden-Soul Rune Virus.


    Therefore, the moles must know what was Heavenly Soul Incense and that they had smelt Heavenly Soul Incense.


    On this occasion, the moles didn''t have enough time to consider Zhang Tie''s intention watching the others drinking "Dragon Emperor Liquid". What would you do if you were the mole of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace?


    The answer was¡ª¡ªpretend to drink it!


    When "Dragon Emperor Liquid" entered his mouth, he wrapped it using his battle qi and sent it into his intestines and stomach as if he had already drunk it. However, he didn''t absorb even a drop of it in case of leaking the fact that he had touched Heavenly Soul Incense. As long as he could leave here, he would spit it out, take a pee or whatever else.


    As for an immortal general, it was not difficult to make it at all.


    However, those people didn''t know that Zhang Tie could clearly see the entire process by his lotus flower eyes. Additionally, Zhang Tie could even absolutely sense the situation of Dragon Emperor Liquid in their bodies as it contained the yeast liquid that had mutated for the second time.


    Zhang Tie had planned the details of each step. Zhang Tie intended to discover the moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace by this trap. It was a mental test on humanity. Nobody else could escape.


    In the room, after drinking up one glass of Dragon Emperor Liquid, Zhang Tie watched the rest of the people with a smile.


    Their responses were within Zhang Tie''s expectation in a split second. Soon after they drank up a glass of Dragon Emperor Liquid, their real identities had been exposed to Zhang Tie.


    Luo Yunshang, Hou Moyuan, Wang Laisheng, Long Jiutian and Ying Gucheng frankly drank up their glass of Dragon Emperor Liquid. The other two instantly wrapped Dragon Emperor Liquid with battle qi the moment it entered their mouth. Closely after that, they let Dragon Emperor Liquid slide into their stomach. They were Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu.


    After finding the moles, Zhang Tie immediately understood the layout of that "His Majesty". ''Xia Yangming ruled Supervision Department of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; Shi Zhongyu ruled Immortal Generals Department. After subduing the two key figures, it was equal to getting the two major departments of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace indirectly. Given the rights of Supervision Department and Immortal Generals Department, the greater part of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would be under control of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. By contrast, Earth-Treasures Department, Heavenly Craftsmanship Department and Military Department were not as important as the two major departments.''


    ''Additionally, Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu are the most powerful ones among the 7 elders, who might promote to sage-level knights earlier than the others. Only Long Jiutian and Ying Gucheng could reluctantly fight them. If I didn''t come here, according to the appointment among the 7 elders that the one who could promote to a sage-level knight first would rule Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, the two people would probably control Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. If that His Majesty gave them a bit favor, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would become the host of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace unconsciously. ''


    What a good plan! What a good plan!


    Accordingly, Tang Shenghou the one who was recommended to be the new president of Immortal Generals Department by Shi Zhongyu and Huo Xianlai the one who was recommended to be the new president of Supervision Department by Xia Yangming also used the same means¡ª¡ªthey just pretended to drink up Dragon Emperor Liquid. This proved Zhang Tie''s judgment.


    As Zhang Tie paid special attention to the actions of the elders, Zhang Tie even found that Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu exchanged a glance with each other secretly before drinking up Dragon Emperor Liquid. Additionally, Xia Yangming even warned Huo Xianlai secretly¡ª¡ªDon''t drink it!


    Such a secret voice-transmission skill was nothing different than shouting loudly in front of Zhang Tie. ''F*ck, he''s too blatant!''


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had identified the enemies.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie revealed a bigger smile.


    After drinking up Dragon Emperor Liquid, the elders had different thoughts and looks.


    "Your Majesty, it''s not proper for us to produce Dragon Emperor Medicament only in Cloudriver Valley. As long as something happens here, we have to stop production. It''s too dangerous for us to put all the eggs in one basket!" Luo Yunshang said as she watched Zhang Tie with a serious look, "Many places within 60 miles around Dragon Emperor City are similar to Cloudriver Valley in environment and topography. As long as we renovate those places slightly, we would make them alternative production bases of Dragon Emperor Medicament. Even if something happens here, we won''t become flurried!"


    "Good idea. Elder Luo is right!" Wang Laisheng, Long Jiutian and Ying Gucheng nodded as they replied in unison.


    "I also think so!" Zhang Tie nodded. Closely after that, he looked at Guan Mingjun and the president of Heavenly Craftsmanship, saying, "You two and Yukun will be responsible for this. Will Earth-Treasures Department complain of being hard up this time?"


    "If you need money or element crystals for producing Dragon Emperor Medicament, you could get as much as possible!" President Guan who usually complained of being hard up in front of Zhang Tie finally became generous this time.


    Zhang Tie burst into laughter...


    "Now that Dragon Emperor Liquid is the key of Dragon Emperor Medicament, we have to keep a close eye on it. But I''m afraid that we will run out of Dragon Emperor Liquid soon. What will we do then?" Xia Yangming said seriously too.


    "Hmm, Elder Xia''s concern is plausible..." Shi Zhongyu nodded on one side.


    Zhang Tie might think that the two elders were concerned about Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace if it were before. However, after identifying their real identities, Zhang Tie realized that they were just checking out the origin of Dragon Emperor Liquid. As long as they knew the origin of Dragon Emperor Liquid, of course, they could get Dragon Emperor Medicament as much as possible.


    "Hmm, as the old man gave Dragon Emperor Liquid to me, I''m afraid that only the old man knows the details of Dragon Emperor Liquid. I''ve got some inventory, but not too much. After using it up, I will contact the old man and ask for some more Dragon Emperor Liquid from him!" Zhang Tie fabricated as he attributed Dragon Emperor Liquid to the old man. He didn''t want to be the target for all in Motian Realm.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu exchanged a glance with each other as they remained silent.


    "Have you prepared the 50,000 vials of Dragon Emperor Medicament?" Zhang Tie asked Hong Yukun.


    "Yes, I have!"


    "Elders and presidents, please come with me to enjoy the drill of Dragon Teeth Army. By the way, we will gift some Dragon Emperor Medicament to them. I''ve not watched the drill of Dragon Teeth Army since it was founded, choosing a day is not as good as hitting a day. Let''s do it today..." Zhang Tie waved his hand as he confirmed the next itinerary.


    As Dragon Teeth Army''s camp was in Dragon Emperor City not far away from here and it was reasonable for them to follow Zhang Tie''s arrangement, none of the elders and presidents had any objection...

 1790 Zhang Ties Intention

    The Dragon Teeth Army was composed of over 1,500 immortal generals. As the most powerful force of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Dragon Teeth Army was responsible for the safety of Forbidden City, Dragon Emperor City and Cloudriver Valley.


    All the immortal generals of Dragon Teeth Army had already heard about Dragon Emperor Medicament which had shocked the entire Dragon Emperor City these days. After knowing that Zhang Tie took 50,000 vials of Dragon Emperor Medicament to cheer up the troops, the morale of Dragon Teeth Army rose at a stroke as they all performed the large battle formation at their full efforts.


    With the hot sun above their heads, Zhang Tie, elders and presidents of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were watching the drill of the large battle formation of Dragon Teeth Army on a viewing platform at the hillside near the camp of Dragon Teeth Army keenly.


    Zhang Tie had seen large battle formations of knights for many times in Taixia Country. However, the large battle formations of knights in Motian Realm were utterly different than that in Taixia Country. The big battle formation of over 1,000 immortal generals was really earth-shaking. The moment the large battle formation was triggered, it became dark within dozens of miles at once. The power of the entire large battle formation could match the large battle formation of 10,000 knights in Taixia Country. Additionally, this battle formation of over 1,000 immortal generals was more variable and unified.


    In Taixia Country, there weren''t any sage-level knights in the large battle formation, over 1,000 average knights could never defeat a sage-level knight. However, in Motian Realm, according to Zhang Tie''s judgment, if a sage-level knight really fell in this large battle formation, he might be killed.


    Of course, the premise was that the sage-level knight really entered the big battle formation. Otherwise, given the speed and battle strength of sage-level knight, unless he fell into a trap, he could barely encounter such a dilemma.


    The real functions of the big battle formation of over 1,000 immortal generals were as follows: defense, deterrence, two armies pitting against each other and ambush. All in all, rare sage-level knights could be ambushed and killed by a big battle formation of over 1,000 immortal generals; especially after Rune Emperor''s death, no more supreme-level immortal general was killed by a big battle formation in Motian Realm anymore.


    Of course, it was formation beads being exclusive to Motian Realm which could enable a big battle formation of over 1,000 immortal generals to release 10 more times power.


    Formation bead was a kind of immortal outfit in Motian Realm, also a secret item in Taixia Country. In Motian Realm, immortal outfits were divided into heavenly-level immortal outfits, earth-level immortal outfits and human-level immortal outfits. Each level was further divided into preliminary, medium, advanced and perfect. Such a division was much more detailed than that in Taixia Country.


    At this moment, the Dragon Teeth Army was performing Four-Image Heavenly Battle Formation. This battle formation required 1,200 formation beads, each formation bead for an immortal general. This set of formation beads of Four-Image Heavenly Battle Formation was the set of the most advanced immortal outfit that was collected in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. It was of preliminary rank on a heavenly level. Over the past hundreds of years when the Dragon Emperor disappeared, this set of formation beads became one of the most precious rarities in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    When they performed the Four-Image Heavenly Battle Formation, 1,200 immortal generals integrated with their battle qi and spiritual energy. With the effect of formation beads, the entire battle formation formed a bizarre space which was similar to the virtual image of a knight. The so-called four images became constellations in east, south, west and north respectively. Immortal generals couldn''t be seen in the large battle formation anymore; instead, people could only see the virtual images of the large battle formation.


    As four constellations sparkled, various attacks launched out of the four constellations which rocked heaven and earth within that territory.


    After drilling for half an hour, the large battle formation gradually surrounded the viewing platform where Zhang Tie, the elders and presidents of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were. However, nobody found anything wrong except for Zhang Tie. They were all enjoying it pretty much.


    At this moment, there were totally 13 people on the viewing platform, including Zhang Tie. Hong Yukun was not qualified to be here. Huang Baimei became the center of the large battle formation as he was commanding the large battle formation, being invisible.


    Just now, when they were watching the drill, Zhang Tie kept silence. After finding that all the others were trapped, Zhang Tie finally revealed his intention.


    "How do you feel about Four-Image Heavenly Large Battle Formation?" Zhang Tie turned around as he watched the others with a smile.


    "With the protection of this large battle formation, Dragon Emperor City will have no worries!"


    "It''s indeed powerful!"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "I''m afraid that this large battle formation could defeat any power below the immortal emperor!"


    Elders started to acclaim it in unison as they were all very satisfied with the drill of Four-Image Heavenly Large Battle Formation.


    "Pitifully, there are not enough immortal weapons in Earth-Treasures Department anymore. Otherwise, if each immortal general of this large battle formation were matched with one more immortal outfit, the power of this large battle formation could increase by two more times!" Wang Laisheng sighed pitifully as he stroked his beard.


    "Only a few immortal weapons are left in Earth-Treasures Department!" Luo Yunshang interrupted in fear that Zhang Tie would misunderstand her. "There were hundreds of immortal weapons in the Earth-Treasures Department previously. Over the past hundreds of years, most of them had been rewarded to immortal generals who made meritorious deeds. Every immortal outfits'' whereabouts were recorded. You know that it''s a taboo for us to not reward someone with meritorious deeds. Because of the constant incentive of the hundreds of immortal weapons, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could maintain a bit of grace until the return of Your Majesty. Over so many years, almost all the immortal outfits in Earth-Treasures Department have been rewarded except for some sets of formation beads which have been allocated to Dragon Teeth Army. Even though Your Majesty asked me whether there were some heavy immortal weapons in Earth-Treasures Department, I could only tell you no..."


    Luo Yunshang didn''t lie. When Zhang Tie ascended to the throne of Dragon Emperor, he intended to find a super heavy secret weapon from the arsenal of Earth-Treasures Department. However, the number of immortal weapons in Earth-Treasures Department was fewer than that he could imagine. After knowing that, Zhang Tie abandoned this idea.


    Zhang Tie waved his hand as he said, "Let the bygones be bygones. After we start to auction Dragon Emperor Medicament, we will exchange some Dragon Emperor Medicament for immortal outfits annually. The warehouse of Earth-Treasures Department will also gradually become substantial in contents. I think Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace will be better and better in the future!"


    "It''s all because of you, Your Majesty!"


    "Not completely. I have to appreciate you for that as well!" Zhang Tie said while heaving a deep sigh, "Although Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace has a bright future, there''s a problem facing us that we have to solve as soon as possible. Otherwise, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace might perish overnight..."


    "Ah? No way!" All the elders and presidents goggled as they thought Zhang Tie was joking.


    "Do you know Dark Emperor Immortal Palace?"


    "Yes, we know!" All of them nodded.


    With a frown, Elder Shi asked, "Is there any relationship between Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace?"


    "The envoy of Star Emperor Immortal Palace came to the Forbidden City yesterday. Through communication with him, I knew that Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was far more complex than we could imagine. Dark Emperor Immortal Palace might have been lurking in Motian Realm for too many years. With great ambitions, they had already controlled many clans. Even Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace has been penetrated through. They even dared arrange moles in Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace. The envoy of Star Emperor Immortal Palace told me that Star Emperor and Force Emperor were both worried that some immortals of their immortal palaces were already under the control of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. Star Emperor even especially asked his envoy to warn me that some immortal generals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace might have already been controlled by Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. On this occasion, how could I stay calm as the head of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace?" Zhang Tie glanced over all the others as he continued, "Before the old man came back, you were crystal clear about the situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. If Dark Emperor Immortal Palace dared do that to Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace, how could they let Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace go?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the elders and presidents exchanged a glance with each other as they all looked pretty solemn. At the same time, the fervent atmosphere on the viewing platform slowly turned cold.


    "Your Majesty, what about your plan?" Long Jiutian asked Zhang Tie in a muffled voice, "Your Majesty, as long as you need us, we would definitely support you!"


    "Of course I want to find the moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace as soon as possible!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "I know the situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in the past. Excellent birds would rest on fine trees. Humans struggle upwards; water flows downwards. At that time, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had a poor prospect. Some of you might choose to rely on Dark Emperor Immortal Palace for the sake of your prospect. I understand that. Just let the bygones be bygones. I didn''t want to look into it. Now, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is becoming better and better. I want to spare a chance for those who have relied on Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. As long as you could stand out and admit that you''ve joined Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, you could leave here safely. I could allow you to exit Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and leave Dragon Emperor Big Domain safely. From then on, as for whether you''re going to be our foes or friends, it depends on you!"


    "I''ve got a question. As all the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace have already made a bloody pledge, how could they betray immortal palace without being destroyed by the bloody pledge?" Hou Moyuan asked.


    "According to the envoy of Star Emperor Immortal Palace, Dark Emperor Immortal Palace might have already mastered a solution to invalidate the bloody pledge. Additionally, Golden-Soul Rune Virus of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace could indeed enable immortal generals to be their puppets..." Zhang Tie said as he took a calm look at the others, "How do you feel about my method?"


    "Your Majesty, you''re really merciful!"


    "But I''m afraid that the moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace could barely admit their real identities!"


    "But we could have a try. If there''re really moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, this method might not lead to a big turmoil..."


    "How could we let these traitors go? I think we should kill them..."


    The elders and presidents started to air their views.


    Zhang Tie then fixated onto Xia Yangming with a smile as he asked, "Elder Xia, how do you feel about it?"


    "As I was in charge of the Supervision Department, I didn''t imagine that any alien force could penetrate into Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Please forgive me for my carelessness, Your Majesty!" Xia Yangming said shamefully, "Now that Dark Emperor Immortal Palace is already exposed to the public, I feel that we might have a try. If we could solve this problem in this way without arousing the turmoil in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, then why not!"


    "Elder Xia, you''ve agreed with me?"


    "Yes!"


    "That''s great!" Zhang Tie instantly turned solemn as he glanced over all the others at present. Finally, he fixated onto Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu as his eyes turned sharp at once, "Now that Elder Xia has already agreed, when will you leave Dragon Emperor Big Domain, Elder Xia, Elder Shi?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the air above the viewing platform became frozen at once as everyone else was shocked...

 1791 Unveiling the Truth

    Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu''s eyes shone out of shock. Closely after that, the two cunning guys looked surprised and furious.


    "Your Majesty, what do you mean by that?" Xia Yangming goggled at Zhang Tie out of fury as if he had suffered great insult and grievance, saying, "I''m always loyal to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Your Majesty, are you doubting me as a member of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace?"


    "Before Your Majesty became Dragon Emperor, there was some conflict between my disciple and Your Majesty. From then on, I have known that Your Majesty must have a preconception about me. Your Majesty, if you dislike me, just tell me that straightforwardly. I will leave the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace voluntarily. Why do you put me on the spot..." Shi Zhongyu sighed with a distressed look and said, "Your Majesty, if you''re cracking a joke, you''ve gone too far. Your Majesty, do you know how big trouble would your words arouse if it was exposed to the public?"


    The other elders looked at Zhang Tie, then Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu. Closely after that, they all became confused as they didn''t know whom to believe.


    Even elders were perplexed, not to mention those departments. At the same time, smart ones among them realized that Tang Shenghou and Huo Xianlai might also have a problem if Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu belonged to Dark Emperor Immortal Palace.


    If Zhang Tie was talking about something ordinary, the other elders must have believed him at once. However, this thing was too shocking. Additionally, the moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace that Zhang Tie accused were elders like them of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace whom they were familiar with. Therefore, they all became confused. If someone was involved with Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, he would become the target for all humans in Motian Realm. Even Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace would not let him go.


    ''Did Zhang Tie want to kill them with this excuse?'' Such a whim occurred to some elders at once; however, it wavered at once; because it was groundless. Zhang Tie had already established his authority in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and the elders didn''t pose any threat to him at all. Additionally, there was no sharp contradiction between Xia Yangming, Shi Zhongyu and Zhang Tie at all. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    In an instant, the air over the viewing platform seemed to freeze.


    Zhang Tie shook his head. If Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu could confess their real identities and take away their lackeys in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie would really allow them to leave here. He didn''t want to make Dragon Emperor the frontline of the war between humans and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace at all. However, Zhang Tie realized that the two people would never admit that until death. Additionally, as Dark Emperor Immortal Palace intended to annex Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Even if their conspiracy was exposed, they would never accept their failure.


    "Actually the old man has long noticed that something was wrong with you the moment he returned to Dragon Emperor City!" Zhang Tie watched Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu in a despicable manner as his words and expression were stabbing the two people like invisible swords. The words "old man" had already shaken their resolution. "Do you know why the old man didn''t kill you at that moment?''


    Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu kept their mouths closed. At this moment, if any one of them was low-witted, he might have asked why. However, the two elders had seen the world. Of course, they could never make such a joke at this critical moment.


    Zhang Tie didn''t expect them to answer him at all; instead, he continued, "I didn''t understand it either at the beginning. Later on, I realized that the old man still treasured the past relationship between you and him. He didn''t want to kill you the moment he came back in case that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace became the laughingstock across Motian Realm. Therefore, he handed me the right to dispose of you. He was sparing an opportunity for you. Additionally, the old man had seen through that you''ve got some problem; however, he was confused about the thing in your mind sea either. As he had not seen that before, he was not sure about its potential danger. Therefore, he didn''t hurt you. After Dark Emperor Immortal''s conspiracy was exposed, I understood it at once. If Dark Emperor Immortal Palace wanted to annex Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, they only need to control one or two puppets among the elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Finally, they would let the puppets take charge of the entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace aboveboard. In that way, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would cease to exist except in name. It would completely become subordinate to Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. This is the best way for Dark Emperor Immortal Palace to control Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace at the least cost. Not until then did I understand who have you really relied on and why didn''t you launch a strike to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace by force!"


    "Your Majesty, you''re giving a dog a bad name and hanging it..." Xia Yangming let out a deep sigh.


    Shi Zhongyu''s face turned gloomy as he took a look at the "Four-Image Heavenly Battle Formation". Closely after that, his eye corners slightly twitched. By then, Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu finally understood why Zhang Tie took them here to watch the drill of Dragon Teeth Army. This was evidently a trap. As long as they fell into it, they would barely come out.


    Zhang Tie ignored Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu; instead, he faced the other elders, saying, "Please think about it. Before the old man came back, who posed that anyone who promoted to a supreme-level immortal general first could take over Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace?"


    After being warned by Zhang Tie, these elders were shocked at once as they appeared to have understood the truth.


    "Your Majesty, I remember that it''s Elder Shi who posed it when we were talking about it..." Long Jiutian said as instantly moved one step back and gazed at Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu, being alert. He almost released his protective battle qi.


    "Your Majesty, do you really want to kill us? How could you frame Elder Xia and me without any evidence?" Shi Zhongyu suddenly provoked as he took a look at the other elders, saying, "I''m afraid that you would be the next!"


    "It''s easy to prove it. Elder Xia, Elder Shi, as long as you feel no shame, you could let me examine your mind sea right in front of the other elders. It'' said that Golden-Soul Rune Virus is in one''s mind sea. If you''re innocent, I will apologize to you by kowtowing to you right in front of the others..." Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    "Your Majesty, go ahead..." Xia Yangming replied as he shrugged.


    Zhang Tie sneered as he moved one step forward and reached out his hand towards Xia Yangming''s head.


    An emergency broke out abruptly...


    Before Zhang Tie''s hand touched Xia Yangming''s head, Shi Zhongyu suddenly squinted his eyes as he stomped onto the ground.


    Boom...


    In a split second, like a pile of alchemist''s bombs blew up under the viewing platform, a berserk battle qi surged out of the ground and shot thousands of meters away, collapsing the entire viewing platform into powder at once. Even the nearby hillside collapsed heavily.


    However, Zhang Tie had long taken precautions against that.


    Zhang Tie had already punched out his fist the moment Shi Zhongyu launched a strike. His Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist turned into a berserk dragon which immediately covered Xia Yangming, Shi Zhongyu, Tang Shenghou and Huo Xianlai...

 1792 The Start of the Battle

    Trash would not go into trash can themselves. Therefore, Zhang Tie had long taken precautions against the resistance of Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu.


    The battle broke out in a split second. Zhang Tie punched Xia Yangming, Shi Zhongyu, Tang Shenghou and Huo Xianlai using Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist, which clearly demarcated friends from enemies.


    Zhang Tie didn''t launch a sneak attack; instead, it was an aboveboard attack. Before his punch qi arrived, the four people had already released their protective battle qi. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s punch didn''t inflict heavy losses on the four people. He just separated them so that the four people could not join hands. That was also Zhang Tie''s purpose.


    Among the four people, 2 of them were semi-sage level knights while the other 2 were heavenly knights. They were all top powers in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Of course, they could not be easily defeated. Zhang Tie separated them by punch so that they could be defeated respectively here. With the large battle formation of Dragon Teeth Army, the other elders and presidents, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace definitely had an absolute advantage.


    Before Shi Zhongyu stomped onto the ground, all the other elders and presidents on the viewing deck had flown off and were ready for the fight. At the same time, the four-image heavenly battle formation declined and blocked all the routes of escape in the air and on the ground. They planned to catch the four turtles in the jar.


    "What shrewd enemies..." Long Jiutian roared as he charged at Tang Shenghou the president of Immortal Generals Department who had been sent flying backward by Zhang Tie''s punch.


    Ying Gucheng''s battle qi rushed into the sky as he reached his huge hand towards Huo Xianlai in the image of a huge mountain like how an eagle caught a rabbit.


    The other three elders Luo Yunshang, Hou Moyuan and Wang Laisheng shone all over as they took out their own immortal outfits and prepared to siege Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu. The five people were in a brawl immediately.


    Although Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu were powerful, they didn''t gain the upper hand at all.


    After realizing what had happened, Guan Minjun the president of Earth-Treasures Department, Xue Zhongkai the president of Heavenly Craftsmanship Department and Ji Hongtao the president of Military Department also joined the siege of Tang Shenghou and Huo Xianlai.


    As the light flashed, Zhang Tie took out that secret item mace weighing over 4,000 kg that he got from the red and blue devils. Closely after that, he charged at Huo Xianlai.


    "Elder Ying, take the other presidents back to Dragon Emperor City to stabilize the situation facing Dragon Emperor City. After we start this battle, the followers of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor City would be alert for sure. Don''t let those people cause more troubles in Dragon Emperor City. I and the other elders will be in charge of the battle here..."


    Zhang Tie told Ying Gucheng and the other three presidents using his battle qi before joining the battle for besieging Huo Xianlai.


    After receiving Zhang Tie''s order, Ying Gucheng, Guan Minjun, Xue Zhongkai and Ji Hongtao flew away at once. Not until then did they notice that Zhang Tie could fly freely in the air without metal wings. Ying Gucheng instantly realized something as he exclaimed, "Ah, Your Majesty has already promoted to a wind immortal general..."


    Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he brandished his mace towards Huo Xianlai...


    After taking 1,800 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of golden uangs, Zhang Tie''s physical strength had increased over 128 tons. Plus the terrifying strength of Zhang Tie''s original body, Zhang Tie''s physical strength had already reached over 300 tons in total. After gaining 1/2 immortal strength, Zhang Tie''s physical strength increased three times on the basis of 300 tons. It meant that Zhang Tie''s overall physical strength had already exceeded 900 tons. That was an abnormal level!


    The mace weighing over 4,000 kg was already a heavy weapon in the eyes of the others; however, in Zhang Tie''s hand, this silver item was as light as a straw.


    Therefore, without using kinetic strike skill, the mace had lit the air wherever it passed, turning itself into a huge burning torch. When the air in front of the mace faced a great press, it was lit and gave out a glow. At the same time, the air behind the mace became a vacuum, causing the cracking sound of broken steel bars. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    People saw the fierce flames caused by the mace, also the moving trajectory of the mace.


    At the sight of this strike, Huo Xianlai who could barely withstand Ying Gucheng''s attack changed his face at once. With a growl, he hurriedly intended to block Zhang Tie''s terrifying strike with his weapon.


    Huo Xianlai was using a flexible judge''s pen. On other occasions, it might feel very imposing fighting others with this judge''s pen. However, on this occasion, what this judge''s pen to Zhang Tie''s mace was what a pair of chopsticks to a huge ax.


    Huo Xianlai suffered a great loss in a split second.


    After his judge''s pen was easily broken by Zhang Tie''s mace, the place between Huo Xianlai''s thumb and index finger instantly cracked and started bleeding heavily. After that, Zhang Tie directly hit Huo Xianlai''s protective battle qi by his mace.


    After spurting out blood, Huo Xianlai was directly hit onto the ground from the air, causing a big pit on the ground.


    Ying Gucheng and the other three presidents became dumbfounded as they goggled at Zhang Tie like watching a monster. They all noticed how Zhang Tie launched his first strike. He didn''t even use any battle qi or skill. He was just using his extremely terrifying physical strength to inflict a heavy loss to Huo Xianlai with the help of his mace in an overwhelming manner.


    Since Zhang Tie ruled Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, it was the first time for the elders and presidents of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to sense Zhang Tie''s terrifying battle strength from such a short distance. Everyone was shocked as their hearts raced.


    Holding the huge mace, Zhang Tie was indeed like an unrivaled emperor¡ª¡ªthat got to be Dragon Emperor!


    "Hurry up..." Zhang Tie woke up Ying Gucheng and the other three presidents as they hurriedly flew towards Dragon Emperor City. Watching the four people flying towards the edge, the four-image heavenly battle formation opened a gap, allowing them to exit.


    "One more..." Watching Huo Xianlai flying out of the big pit, Zhang Tie licked his lips as he charged at him again. When Huo Xianlai changed his face greatly, Zhang Tie had brandished his mace again like how a hungry tiger charged at a sheep...

 1793 Multi-pronged

    When Zhang Tie launched a strike, the forces that he had arranged in the Forbidden City and the Dragon Emperor City took actions too.


    Even those elders and presidents didn''t know that the 300 immortal generals of Dragon Teeth Army that Zhang Tie arranged to protect the production of Dragon Emperor Medicament in Cloudriver Castle had already returned to the Forbidden City silently when Zhang Tie and they watched the large battle formation of Dragon Teeth Army.


    The 300 immortal generals were divided into three teams. Leng Manxue led one team of 200 immortal generals to the five major departments when Zhang Tie started the battle. Liu Yong and Liu Wu respectively led a team of 50 immortal generals to confiscate the properties of Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu in their private residences.


    At the same time, under the leadership of Xu Gang, all the soldiers in Dragon Emperor City had left their camps and started to maintain order and impose a curfew inside the city.


    In an instant, the entire Dragon Emperor City was filled with thunder-like clip-clops as soldiers and flying urans could be seen everywhere across the city. Dragon Emperor City was in an emergency.


    ...


    "At the order of His Majesty, we''re catching rebels in Dragon Emperor City and Forbidden City. Xia Yangming, Shi Zhongyu, Tang Shenghou and Huo Xianlai have betrayed Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. From now on, all the people across the five major departments should stick to your own positions. Nobody is allowed to leave. If there''s anyone who dares violate this order or cast spells on people, all the immortal generals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could join hands to kill them..."


    Leng Manxue in metal outfits was in the air above the five major departments with a dragon-pattern token in hand as her clear and indifferent voice spread over each nook and corner of the five major departments.


    200 immortal generals of Dragon Teeth Army had already formed a heavenly and earthly battle formation using formation beads and surrounded the five major departments of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Of course, there were more than 200 immortal generals in total in the five major departments. However, these immortal generals didn''t have formation beads; additionally, not all of them were under the control of Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu. Therefore, the 200 immortal generals of Dragon Teeth Army could definitely stabilize the situation facing the five major departments.


    After hearing Leng Manxue''s warning, all the immortal generals of the five major departments were shocked and confused. They didn''t know why the entire Forbidden City suddenly started to hunt rebels. Even so, most of the immortal generals followed the order instinctively and stuck to their own positions. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Don''t believe her. His Majesty is in trouble. Dragon Teeth Army and some elders had already rebelled Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. His Majesty, Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu and some presidents were trapped in the camp of Dragon Teeth Army. Follow me out of here and save His Majesty, charge forward..."


    Supervision Department and Immortal Generals Department suddenly became chaotic while more than 10 immortal generals suddenly broke out of the two departments. Some immortal generals in other major departments also propped up against them by stirring up trouble. They all wanted to break out of the five major departments. These immortal generals immediately collided fiercely with the 200 immortal generals under the leadership of Leng Manxue...


    ...


    With loud sounds "bang...", the gates of Xia Mansion and Shi Mansion were broken into pieces while some servants who looked arrogant were thrown inside the gates while wailing and struggling...


    At the same time, Liu Yong and Liu Meng rushed into Xia Mansion and Shi Mansion while brandishing their huge battle axes, followed by two teams of immortal generals.


    The mansions of the elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were all in a prosperous region inside Dragon Emperor City, which was less than 3 miles away from each other. This saved a lot of trouble for Liu Yong and Liu Meng.


    "At the order of His Majesty, we''re going to investigate and confiscate the properties of Xia Mansion (Shi Mansion). Everyone in the mansion, kneel down! If any of you dare resist, you are dead..."


    When they broke into the gates, Liu Yong and Liu Meng roared immediately so that the servants and neighbors of the two mansions could hear it clearly.


    "Who the hell dares find trouble here? How could elder Xia..." A head of guards inside Xia Mansion rushed towards Liu Yong with a sword. Before he finished his words, he had been split into two halves by Liu Yong, spraying blood and guts over the ground...


    Of course, an elder''s private mansion would be guarded by immortal generals. However, only 3-5 fierce and earth immortal generals guarded an elder''s private mansion in normal times. Therefore, a team of 50 immortal generals of Dragon Teeth Army was enough to crack down them.


    ...


    "Search over each store of Xia Clan and Shi Clan..." Xu Gang sent an order while pointing at a store on a prosperous avenue in Dragon Emperor City by a horsewhip.


    "Yes, sir..." Two teams of fierce fighters instantly rushed into a cloth store and a private bank. In a split second, the cloth store and the private bank were in chaos as all the bosses and waiters were bound and taken out of there...


    ...


    The battle in the five major deparmtents of Forbidden City didn''t last long.


    All the immortal generals of the five major departments were something. Facing the different explanations of Leng Manxue and the immortal generals who wanted to break out of the five major departments, those immortal generals instantly knew which party was real¡ª¡ªLeng Manxue was His Majesty''s trusted subordinate who had the token of His Majesty. Dragon Teeth Army was also founded by His Majesty. Additionally, the head of the Dragon Teeth Army was Huang Baimei who was also His Majesty''s trusted subordinate. On this occasion, how could Dragon Teeth Army and the trusted subordinates of His Majesty betray His Majesty? Apparently, those people who wanted to break out of the five major departments were telling a lie.


    Combining the information from the presidents and elders who didn''t rebel, the rest immortal generals of the five major departments instantly joined hands to kill 7-8 immortal generals who wanted to create chaos, and broke out of the five major departments. All the other immortal generals who wanted to escape were caught alive.


    When Ying Gucheng arrived at the Forbidden City, the chaos had already been suppressed.


    ...


    Inside the camp of Dragon Teeth Army, it only took Zhang Tie a few minutes to beat up Huo Xianlai who was also a heavenly knight with the mace weighing over 4,000 kg.


    When Zhang Tie was a shadow knight, he had already been able to kill a demon heavenly knight, not to mention now. Even though Zhang Tie didn''t trigger his kinetic strike skill, he could still defeat Huo Xianlai for sure.


    Whenever Zhang Tie brandished his mace towards Huo Xianlai, it would feel like an overwhelming mountain. As a result, Huo Xianlai could only try his best to resist Zhang Tie''s strike in butting heads.


    Zhang Tie''s physical strength was too terrifying; additionally, his speed was faster than that of Huo Xianlai. As a result, Huo Xianlan couldn''t even dodge his strike; nor escape away. On this occasion, Huo Xianlai would spurt out blood whenever he withstood Zhang Tie''s strike...

 1794 In High Spirits

    As for Huo Xianlai, Zhang Tie''s mace was his nightmare. With Zhang Tie''s great physical strength, crit and armor-breaking effect of his mace, each of his strike could almost break Huo Xianlai''s protective battle qi.


    As for Zhang Tie, Huo Xianlai was the first opponent to fight with him since he entered Motian Realm.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie was very thrilled as he couldn''t wait to shatter Huo Xianlai into pieces by mace. However, only after a short while, Zhang Tie''s excitement had gradually faded away. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    It was not because Zhang Tie had lost his battle ardor but he found that this heavenly knight couldn''t make him feel thrilled in the combat anymore.


    As for other immortal generals, Huo Xianlai was very powerful; however, as for Zhang Tie, he was not even a qualified training partner.


    It was not at the bank of Weishui River but in Motian Realm. Given the battle strength, Huo Xianlai was not weaker than the first demon heavenly knight that Zhang Tie had killed. However, Zhang Tie had become much more powerful. Therefore, he was just average in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    As for Zhang Tie, the combat between him and Huo Xianlai was just a warm-up.


    After the warm-up, Zhang Tie didn''t waste time anymore. After saying "It''s enough", Zhang Tie made a kinetic strike from such a short distance towards Huo Xianlai''s strike. The terrifying energy of his mace was released the moment it hit Huo Xianlan''s protective battle qi.


    This strike was at least 3 times more powerful than all the previous strikes of Zhang Tie.


    As a result, Huo Xianlai''s protective battle qi was broken into pieces in a split second. Besides, 1/3rd of Huo Xianlai''s bones were broken into pieces. Like a baseball, Huo Xianlai was sent flying into the large battle formation of Dragon Teeth Army while spurting out blood.


    Zhang Tie directly handed it to Dragon Teeth Army for their initial practice.


    As the large battle formation being composed of more than 1,000 immortal generals were watching them, Zhang Tie thought that he should at least spare a chance for Dragon Teeth Army to make some meritorious deed so as to award them in the future!


    After sending Huo Xianlai into the large battle formation, Zhang Tie wuthered and joined the battle between Luo Yunshang, Hou Moyuan, Wang Laisheng and Xia Yangming, Shi Zhongyu. The battle had long turned white-hot. Before Zhang Tie solved Huo Xianlai, Xia Yangming finally used his trump card¡ª¡ªsemi-sage level realm as he opened a blue light curtain which covered Luo Yunshang, Hou Moyuan, Wang Laisheng and Shi Zhongyu in a split second.


    At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie was afraid that the three elders might be in danger; therefore, he hurriedly solved Huo Xianlai and entered the semi-sage level realm of Xia Yangming.


    Zhang Tie had already seen Meng Shidao''s semi-sage level realm in Xuanyuan Hill. At that time, the semi-sage level realm was an unattainable existence for Zhang Tie which he could only look up to. At this moment, in Zhang Tie''s opinion, the semi-sage level realm was just ordinary; it was just the embryonic form of the sage-level realm. Although being powerful, it was not invincible.


    When Zhang Tie entered the semi-sage realm, Long Jiutian had just broken Tang Shenghou''s protective battle qi and hit his head, causing him to pass out. Closely after that, Long Jiutian sent Tang Shenghou into the large battle formation of Dragon Teeth Army.


    As these people were the powers of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, they should stay alive so that they could expose Dark Emperor Immortal Palace''s arrangement in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    ...


    Zhang Tie saw a wave of grim and icy, huge billows rolling towards him together with numerous terrifying sea monsters as if they were going to devour him.


    In the distance, Xia Yangming was standing on the clouds while being surrounded by billows. Numerous sea monsters came out of the billows beside him and rushed towards Luo Yunshang, Hou Moyuan and Wang Laisheng. Shi Zhongyu was flying around Xia Yangming as he coordinated with the latter to attack Luo Yunshang, Hou Moyuan and Wang Laisheng.


    Watching Zhang Tie and Long Jiutian breaking in, Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu changed their faces at once.


    "Break..." Zhang Tie roared as loud as a rumble of thunder as he brandished his mace towards the huge billows. The powerful kinetic strike carried over 2000 billion Joule energy and hot, flaming impact wave, which directly vaporized and shattered all the billows and sea monsters that charged at Zhang Tie.


    The huge billows and sea monsters were made of the four elements of the universe, which were neither real or virtual. Of course, such a strike couldn''t threaten Zhang Tie a bit facing Zhang Tie''s powerful kinetic strike.


    More than that, the impact wave of the kinetic strike rocked the entire semi-sage level realm.


    By then, Zhang Tie realized this mace was too light again. Such a light mace could be used to deal with average heavenly knights; however, facing the realm of a semi-sage level knight, Zhang Tie felt whipping a berserk buffalo by a rice straw. If this mace could be 10 times heavier, the former kinetic strike could be 10 times more powerful too, in which situation, Zhang Tie felt that he could directly break this semi-sage realm.


    In the semi-sage realm, Zhang Tie flew straight towards Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu like an arrow while the gloomy and icy billows continued to attack Zhang Tie from all directions. The moment they were close to Zhang Tie, the huge billows would become icebergs which wanted to crush Zhang Tie. Before that, numerous sea monsters and specters had already flown out of the billows and rushed towards Zhang Tie like thousands upon thousands of horses and soldiers on the battlefield.


    In a split second, the place where Zhang Tie was had become the core region of the entire semi-sage realm while the greater part of the battle force of the realm crushed pushed towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie was blocked by layer upon layer of icebergs which looked like sharp sabers and swords while those sea monsters and specters submerged Zhang Tie with weapons in claws like torrential sands...

 1795 Trump Cards

    Dense sabers and enemies were Zhang Tie''s favorite. Facing the attack in the semi-sage level realm, Zhang Tie became excited again.


    The over 2,000 kg mace became Zhang Tie''s most solid shield and most powerful spear.


    Zhang Tie combined his speed and strength perfectly.


    Bang...


    A heavy impact wave exploded next to Zhang Tie while the overwhelming icebergs and numerous aquatic specters became bubbles charging at high-speed huge steel wheel. They were broken into pieces by Zhang Tie''s mace the moment they came into contact with his protective battle qi. Some specters had been shattered by the great impact waves from Zhang Tie''s mace before they approached Zhang Tie.


    No matter how many sabers, specters and obstacles of four elements were in the semi-sage level realm, Zhang Tie would not stop even for a second.


    Being besieged by numerous enemies, Zhang Tie made his way through all the obstacles and advanced forth like a giant icebreaker sailing in the ocean. All the obstacles in front of Zhang Tie were cleared in a split second.


    At this moment, thousands of meters high iceberg moved rapidly towards Zhang Tie. He had to face it as it was the most powerful strike of Xia Yangming in his semi-sage level realm.


    "Break..." Zhang Tie roared as he released a powerful kinetic strike by brandishing his mace. In a split second, the entire iceberg was vaporized. Even the tens of thousands of specters who were baring fangs and brandishing claws within dozens of meters were shattered. Besides, the great impact wave of his strike caused the semi-sage level realm to tremble.


    Under the gaze of those elders and the two traitors of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie instantly cleared all the obstacles.


    After clearing all the obstacles, Zhang Tie rushed straight towards Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu, leaving a fiery line in the air in an overwhelming manner. He intended to decapitate the two semi-sage level knights in this semi-sage level realm among such a large army of enemies.


    Watching Zhang Tie, who was approaching him at such a high speed, Xia Yangming''s eyes shone as he made a finger gesture and launched another strike towards Zhang Tie, roaring, "Freeze..."


    In an instant, all the billows around Zhang Tie disappeared. Closely after that, they all turned into drizzles. The drizzles then became snowflakes and icicles. Finally, icicles turned into numerous arrows and shot towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie didn''t even dodge it; instead, he just prevented such a strike using his protective battle qi as he continued to advance towards Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu.


    On this occasion, Zhang Tie finally seized the opportunity to show off his protective battle qi. His protective battle qi was like an iron tortoiseshell which would only slightly shake facing the strikes of those icicles. Zhang Tie just defended the shocks and impact waves using his protective battle qi.


    When numerous icicles approached Zhang Tie, the temperature around Zhang Tie dropped to a terrifying low degree as layers of hard ice crystals appeared in front of Zhang Tie like glass, which intended to prevent Zhang Tie from moving forward.


    However, Zhang Tie ignored that; instead, he continued to rush straight towards them.


    Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu finally changed their faces as they didn''t understand why Zhang Tie was not scared of such a strike. If it were other heavenly knights, they had long been subdued. Even fire immortal generals couldn''t deal with it easily.


    They didn''t know that Zhang Tie''s battle qi was limitless. With the sufficient supply of powerful battle qi, any damage to his protective battle qi could be fixed in a split second. Even though he was imitating World Shocking Sutra using King Roc Sutra, he could still maintain unprecedented, constant protective battle qi with his endless powerful battle qi.


    The shock and waves of his protective battle qi would cause some stress and impact on his body. However, Zhang Tie''s body had long been pretty strong and had a superb resilience; not to mention that Zhang Tie''s resilience was enhanced by 15% after gaining 1/2 immortal strength body.


    As for the freezing effect, it was more like a joke for him. With a waterproof body, Zhang Tie''s resistance to cold had long improved a few times.


    With such effects, the powerful strike that even fire immortal generals could barely stand was like scratching an itch for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s real power scared Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu.


    Even Grand Dragon Emperor didn''t have such an exaggerated battle strength when he was a wind immortal general.


    Upon seeing this, Luo Yunshang and the other elders who had just rushed into this semi-sage level realm were in high spirits in a split second.


    Zhang Tie''s performance had completely refreshed his image in the hearts of the other elders. Besides inventing Dragon Emperor Medicament, he even set a trap to find the moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Additionally, all the elders were shocked by his performance in this battle. Being valiant and smart, Zhang Tie knew how to use carrot and stick. His means, intelligence and battle strength were all remarkable in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Those elders almost saw the bright future of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace under the leadership of Zhang Tie.


    It could be said that Zhang Tie was not really accepted as the new Dragon Emperor by the elders until today.


    After seeing Zhang Tie''s advantage, all the other elders became spirited. Luo Yunshang and the other two elders also joined hands to break their obstacles and approached Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu from another direction.


    As Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu were facing 4 semi-sage level knights and Zhang Tie at the same time, Xia Yangming''s semi-sage level realm started to shake and lose stability.


    In the blink of an eye, the two traitors were going to be besieged by Zhang Tie and the other elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    All of a sudden, Shi Zhongyu''s face turned solemn as a brilliant golden light appeared in his hand. It was a classic sword. Being scarlet all over, it must be a rarity with strong fierce qi.


    At the sight of this sword, the others instantly changed their faces. Long Jiu Tian''s eyes turned red as he roared, "You did that..."


    "Watch out, they got the Earth-River Vehicle too. They''re going to escape..." Luo Yunshang exclaimed out of fury and shock.


    Zhang Tie knew nothing about that sword in Shi Zhongyu''s hand. However, due to his instinctive feeling, Zhang Tie knew that it was a rarity. Its qi was different than all the silver secret swords that Zhang Tie had ever used. Precisely, it was similar to that of Heavenly-Measuring Ruler that Immortal Heavenly Chaos once used. It contained an irresistible, fierce qi and an unrivaled sharpness that could shatter everything.


    That sword was a golden secret item!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie who was breaking through various obstacles and moving forward was only fewer than 50,000 m away from Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu.


    With a sword in hand, Shi Zhongyu fixated onto Zhang Tie with a fleer...


    "Watch out, Your Majesty..." the other elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace roared furiously in unison.


    Zhang Tie instantly took out a shield which was a silver secret item. Closely after that, Shi Zhongyu''s face turned red as he slashed his sword towards Zhang Tie.


    Without feeling sword qi or earth-shaking momentum, Zhang Tie felt a strong qi approaching him in a split second. Zhang Tie instantly clashed his shield on it while changing his body position.


    The shield was instantly cut into two halves as it turned into a huge cyan tortoise with a bloody scar on its shell. The huge tortoise wailed as it immediately lurked in the void above Zhang Tie''s qi sea.


    Being not weakened even a bit, the sword qi collided with Zhang Tie''s mace. Under the powerful thrust, Zhang Tie was sent flying 10,000 m away in the air. Even a sword mark was left on his irresistible mace.


    Whereas, before Zhang Tie made any response, all of a sudden, the entire semi-sage level realm shattered into pieces like being blown up, causing it misty all over. The berserk four elements lowered the visibility to zero in an instant; especially water element which spread over like a flood. In the powerful turbulent flows of four elements, even Zhang Tie could fly freely. Therefore, he could only protect himself from being swept away by the turbulent flows using his protective battle qi...


    Although being still, Zhang Tie kept a close eye on Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu.


    With lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie saw a golden light surrounding Xia Yangming the moment the semi-sage level realm was blown up. In the golden light, there was a 7-8 m long bizarre item in the shape of a huge conch with spirals on its surface. The conch was broad in the middle and sharp on two ends. Closely after that, Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu hid inside. Then, the bizarre item lurked in the ground and disappeared.


    ''F*ck! I''ve not imagined that Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu could do that. Semi-sage level knights are really something.''


    Zhang Tie mobilized Dragon Teeth Army to form a large battle formation so that the two people couldn''t escape. Unimaginably, the two traitors escaped by disappearing into the ground...

 1796 Zhang Ties Decision

    The powerful turbulent flow of four elements came and went fast and fiercely.


    In less than half a minute, all the turbulent flows of elements had disappeared. As a result, Zhang Tie and the other elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace reappeared in the sky above the camp of Dragon Teeth Army. They were still surrounded by the rigorous Dragon Teeth Army. However, Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu had already disappeared.


    Zhang Tie advanced to the ground at once.


    Just now, Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu drilled into the ground just right below the viewing platform. However, there was not any hole on the ground at all.


    The other elders also landed beside Zhang Tie as they gazed at the earth with complex looks. Long Jiu Tian was infuriated as he fiercely punched at the ground, causing a huge pit.


    "What method did Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu use just now?" Zhang Tie asked the other elders in a muffled voice.


    "They were previously earth-level rarities of Earth-Treasures Department of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Shi Zhongyu''s sword is called Heavenly-Separation Sword while Xia Yangming''s item is Earth-River Vehicle..."


    "I''ve never heard about that?"


    "Because the two items have already lost in an accident over 7 decades ago!" Luo Yunshang watched the pit with deep fury and unwillingness. The other elders also revealed complex expressions.


    "Can you make it clear?"


    "The two rarities were gained by the former Dragon Emperor from the Mountain Ruins. Previously, the two items were collected in Dragon Emperor''s Pavilion. Later on, as the former Dragon Emperor didn''t come back for so many years and the two rarities were too eye-catching, elders determined to transfer the two rarities into a secret warehouse of Earth-Treasures Department through discussion for the sake of safety. A team of immortal generals was especially responsible for guarding them. Commoners could barely touch them. However, 7 decades ago, Earth-Treasures Department had an accident. The two rarities were stolen away. Besides, all the 60-odd immortal generals who were responsible for guarding the two rarities were killed..."


    "Ah? That''s a big accident. But why I haven''t heard about it in Heavenly Square City?" Zhang Tie asked with a frown.


    "This event was a big shame for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. We all knew that the two rarities were robbed away. However, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had almost collapsed. For the sake of the fame of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, we kept this accident a secret. We could only investigate it secretly in vain. Over these years, we especially paid attention to the two rarities; however, we never saw anyone use them. We even thought that they had fallen in the hands of demons. Unimaginably, it was Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu who robbed them. It seems that the two people have long got evil intents and ambitions..."


    "What''re the features of Heavenly-Separation Sword and Earth-River Vehicle?"


    "Heavenly-Separation Sword is very powerful and sharp. Within 100,000 m, it could easily tear human-level outfits and one''s protective battle qi. It''s known as the conqueror of human-level outfits and protective battle qi. When the former Dragon Emperor gained Heavenly-Separation Sword, he barely used it because of its strong lethality. Earth-River Vehicle is used to travel into the ground. As long as it''s started, it would be able to traverse freely into the ground even faster than common immortal generals in metal wings. If you don''t block it before it enters the ground, even immortal emperors couldn''t catch up with it. Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu might have already traveled tens of thousands of meters into the ground by Earth-River Vehicle..."


    ''As long as it enters into the ground, the ground would be the best shield. Also, high-level immortal generals could fly in the sky, nobody could fly into the ground. Even I could only travel a short distance inside the ground by some means. But I could never match the golden secret item.''


    Zhang Tie nodded as he listened to Luo Yunshang''s explanation. After that, he took a look at the deep scar on his mace as he felt terrified of Shi Zhongyu''s strike using Heavenly-Separation Sword. "Now that Heavenly-Separation Sword is so powerful, why didn''t Shi Zhongyu kill all of us using it?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Although Heavenly-Separation Sword is powerful, it requires enormous battle qi to drive it. The former Dragon Emperor said that even supreme-level immortal generals could barely use it for a long period of time. Average fire immortal generals could barely brandish Heavenly-Separation Sword for 4-5 times. The Grand Dragon Emperor said Heavenly-Separation Sword was suitable for assassination. Instead of being used on the battlefield, it was more suitable for sneak attacks. On many occasions, people who used it should kill their enemy instantly before escaping away..."


    "What about Earth-River Vehicle? How to drive it?"


    "Earth-River Vehicle should also be driven by battle qi. But it doesn''t need too much battle qi. As long as the driver''s battle qi is not exhausted, he would be able to travel into the ground by Earth-River Vehicle constantly. Given Xia Yangming''s battle strength, he could at least travel for a few days by Earth-River Vehicle, during which period, he could even leave the territory of Dragon Emperor''s Big Domain or lurk somewhere or directly stay underground..."


    After checking out the backgrounds of the two rarities, Zhang Tie instantly made a decision as he told those elders, "Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu betrayed Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. They even killed the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for the two rarities. Their sins should never be forgiven. We should never let them go. Now that the two people have already exposed their real identities, they must have henchmen in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. During this period, elders, please go back to Dragon Emperor City and clean up the two people''s henchmen in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace so as to stabilize the overall situation facing Dragon Emperor Big Domain in case of other conspiracies of the two people. You could determine everything about Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace through discussion!"


    "Ah, where are you going, Your Majesty?"


    "Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu have already exposed their real identities. As they''re crystal clear about Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, if not eliminate them, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would never be peaceful. Therefore... thank you so much..."


    After exchanging a glance with each other, those elders bowed towards Zhang Tie together, saying, "Don''t worry, Your Majesty, we swear to take care of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for you..."


    Zhang Tie nodded silently. Closely after that, he flew towards northwest after passing the large battle formation of Dragon Teeth Army.


    Seeing Zhang Tie off, all the elders thought Zhang Tie was looking for the "old man" to deal with Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu. Therefore, they all became reassured. Then, they rushed in the sky at the same time and returned to Dragon Emperor City to clean up the henchmen of Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu...

 1797 The Start of the Chaos

    After Zhang Tie flew towards the northwest of Dragon Emperor City for 6,000 miles and got out of the sight of everyone, Zhang Tie entered the thick clouds. Closely after that, he triggered his invisible shen bead and master-level hiding skill at the same time. Closely after that, he directly disappeared and couldn''t be discovered by anybody else.


    Of course, Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu were escaping to the southeast of Dragon Emperor City; instead of the northwest. In the beginning, they indeed moved towards the northwest. However, after traveling 5,000 m, they suddenly made a turn and escaped to the southeast.


    Even though those elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace couldn''t sense their traces any more, the two people''s whereabouts were as eye-catching as burning torches in the dark. After confirming their identities, Zhang Tie had long left some tracing feathers on them in case of emergency.


    Zhang Tie never took anybody lightly, not to mention that Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu were both semi-sage level knights who had high positions in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Such powers always hid their trump cards until the last moment. Therefore, Zhang Tie was always careful.


    The fact proved that Zhang Tie''s precautions were pretty correct.


    When they were in dilemma, Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu indeed showed their trump cards for the sake of safety.


    Perhaps the two people had got such a plan when Xia Yangming released his semi-sage realm. Given the effect of the automatic explosion of the semi-sage realm, it was just used to delay Zhang Tie and those elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Since Xia Yangming released his semi-sage realm, they had been ready to escape. However, they still pretended to fight to death. That got to be really cunning seniors.


    When Zhang Tie was not sure whether Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu had other henchmen in Dragon Emperor City, Zhang Tie purposefully chose a route which was opposite to the direction of the two people. Detail counted the most. If Zhang Tie chased after the two people in the same direction, as long as Zhang Tie''s action direction was leaked to Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu by the other moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, the two people would instantly think that Zhang Tie might have left marks on them. In this way, it would be much more difficult for Zhang Tie to catch them in the future.


    Details determined success or failure.


    As Zhang Tie flew, he kept checking the silver secret item in his qi sea which was heavily broken by Heavenly-Separation Sword...


    That shield had already manifested its original look¡ª¡ªa huge tortoise. The tortoise hid its head and limbs into its shell. Floating in the void above his qi sea quietly, the tortoise had a deep wound on its back, which almost split it into two halves.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Zhang Tie attempted to call it; however, the huge tortoise didn''t respond at all as if it was in hibernation. Zhang Tie even tried to inject his battle qi and spiritual energy into the huge tortoise''s body only to receive no response.


    It was Zhang Tie''s first time to meet such a situation. In Taixia Country, he had not heard that silver secret items could be broken; let alone fixing them. Realizing that he couldn''t recover the original body of the secret item, Zhang Tie gave it up.


    Silver secret items were precious. However, Zhang Tie had a lot of shields, which were all used to deal with extreme situations.


    Being invisible, it only took Zhang Tie a few minutes to catch up with the two people who were escaping by Earth-River Vehicle into the ground at a high speed. With the help of tracing feathers, Zhang Tie kept a straight distance of over 150 miles with the two people in the sky. Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu could never imagine that they had been precisely targeted by Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie just followed them like how a hunter traced his prey. Meanwhile, he was waiting for opportunities to catch them. Zhang Tie believed that the two people would not stay underground forever. As long as they came out of the ground, Zhang Tie would be able to find an opportunity to catch them.


    It was just a matter of patience.


    ...


    On April 3rd, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace delivered the wanted circular of Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu the former elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, which was the first wanted circular of elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. In the wanted circular, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace disclosed the fact that the two people were under the control of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. The entire Motian Realm was shocked the moment this wanted circular was delivered. Closely after that, the issue of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace began to heat up again.


    Nobody could imagine that the most high-level moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace were caught in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace first when Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace were still doubting whether there were moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in their systems.


    When Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace delivered the wanted circular, they also disclosed a piece of key information to the entire Motian Realm¡ª¡ªDark Emperor Immortal Palace could enable immortal generals to breach the bloody pledge without suffering any damage.


    Even an emperor-level immortal palace was penetrated by Dark Emperor Immortal Palace heavily and fire immortal general-level elders could become the puppets of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, not to mention the other inferior immortal palaces. How many immortal palaces dared say that they had more established systems than Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace?


    In a short period of time, all the human immortal palaces felt imperiled while all the dark forces were surging across the Motian Realm...


    It was said that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace also caught many immortal generals in the five major departments of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace while hunting Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu. All the captives were henchmen of Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu, who might have been controlled by Golden-Soul Rune Virus.


    After knowing this news, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace instantly dispatched powers and rune masters to Dragon Emperor Big Domain so that they could study the Golden-Soul Rune Virus in the heads of those captives. As of now, although the two immortal palaces had already confirmed the existence of Golden-Soul Rune Virus in Woods Middle Domain, they hadn''t found experimental subjects yet. Golden-Soul Rune Virus could even barely be confirmed, not to mention being detoxified. After hearing that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had caught some alive immortal generals, of course, they would seize this opportunity. If they could work out a solution to confirm Golden-Soul Rune Virus, it would be much easier for them to deal with Dark Emperor Immortal Palace...


    Pitifully, although Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal had a good plan, before their experts arrived at Dragon Emperor Big Domain, all the captives'' heads had already blown up on the premise that they were controlled by Demon-Fixing Spike.


    The clue of Golden-Soul Rune Virus was broken once again as the effect of Golden-Soul Rune Virus scared everyone...


    The event of Dragon Emperor City soon reached the rest of Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Many branches of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace released information that some immortal generals had disappeared after April 3rd...


    The entire Dragon Emperor Big Domain and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace soon entered a state of emergency. With elders on their back, the five presidents of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace took actions separately as they were responsible for cleaning up all the henchmen of Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu across Dragon Emperor Big Domain. As a result, the entire Dragon Emperor Big Domain was in chaos...


    At that time, Xia Yangming, Shi Zhongyu and Zhang Tie disappeared like how a clay oxen entered the sea...

 1798 Hunting People

    On the night of April 11, the 3586th year o Emperor NvWa''s Calendar, a profound silence ensued all over. In the barren land being covered with yellow sands in the western border of Dragon Emperor Big Domain.


    20 minutes ago, a team of immortal soldiers in metal wings of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had just flown over this region. The team of immortal soldiers belonged to the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Xiyuan City, who were closest to this region. They were making an inspection tour over this region at the order of the headquarters.


    Recently, Dragon Emperor Big Domain was in an intense atmosphere as more and more wanted circulars were issued from Dragon Emperor City. Besides Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu, more and more immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace who were suddenly missing recently were being wanted.


    In only a few days, 24 people had been wanted by Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. On the wanted circulars, all of their titles in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had been removed; instead, they were marked as the moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Therefore, each branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Big Domain started to take action after receiving the orders from the headquarters. Not only immortal generals and immortal soldiers were dispatched to investigate the traces of those missing immortal generals on the wanted list across Dragon Emperor Big Domain, but even civilians across Dragon Emperor Big Domain also started to take action. Plus powers of Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace, even Emperor NvWa''s Palace who traveled a long way here to catch the missing immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal palace, the entire Dragon Emperor Big Domain had been covered with eyes and patrollers. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace even assigned people to pay a tour inspection over the western barren border.


    To be honest, 5 of the 24 immortal generals were indeed caught after their traces were discovered.


    However, after they were caught for a few hours, their heads had been blown up no matter how their abilities were limited, leaving no clues at all. Nobody could acquire any specimen of Golden-Soul Rune Virus from these captives.


    However, Dragon Emperor Big Domain was too large; additionally, those being chased were all immortal generals. No matter how many immortal generals, immortal soldiers did Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace mobilize and how many external forces there poured in, they still couldn''t monitor each inch of land across Dragon Emperor Big Domain. As time passed by, the remaining people on the wanted list were more impossible to be caught as the immortal generals could find more and more loopholes from the huge net set by Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Many people guessed that Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu might have long left Dragon Emperor Big Domain in the past 10 days, just like the missing immortal generals of Si Clan in Woods Medium-sized Domain.


    Across Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, perhaps only one person knew that Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu had not left Dragon Emperor Big Domain; instead, they were still waiting for an opportunity to leave there.


    In the dark air, stars were sparkling as if a pair of mysterious and profound eyes were gazing at that patch of barren land.


    After the immortal soldiers of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Xiyuan City inspected this region for 10 minutes, another airboat of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace passed by as an immortal general was glancing over the surrounding air territory with bright eyes.


    After this airboat passed here for half an hour, with rustles, some sands slid away, revealing two pairs of shiny eyes, which started to glance over the tranquil sky.


    "The next round of inspection would be 2 hours later. Let''s leave now..."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Hmm!"


    After communicating with each other secretly, two people immediately rushed into the sky and flew westwards as fast as lightning bolts. In the blink of an eye, they had passed the territory of Dragon Emperor Big Domain and entered the dark clouds.


    After 2 hours'' flight in the clouds, they saw a large passenger airboat in the air which was also flying westwards. Closely after that, they left the clouds and hid themselves in the gap between some flying plates near the cloud rudder at the bottom of the airboat.


    Due to the large size of this airboat, the gap between flying plates was wider than 0.5 m. Unless someone approached it and checked it, nobody could see them.


    Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and the other immortal palaces set the final net of immortal generals in the periphery of Dragon Emperor Big Domain in order to block those immortal generals from flying away from Dragon Big Domain independently. In only 1 day, this airboat had already passed through the last net safely and entered Brokenstars Ocean.


    After 2 days'' flight, at one night, when the airboat was meticulously driving in a safe channel of Brokenstars Ocean, the two people flew off the airboat and entered the endless and unpredictable Brokenstars Ocean.


    As for commoners and airboats, Brokenstars Ocean was dangerous; however, as long as two semi-sage level knights didn''t want to commit suicide, they would be safe and sound in this region. Actually, Brokenstars Ocean could be their best cover. Many criminals were gathering in Brokenstars Ocean to escape their punishments.


    3 hours later, the two specters had already been thousands of miles deep in Brokenstars Ocean. They saw nobody on the way. Additionally, they caught two birds. After that, they entered a deserted mine of an air-floating mountain. Deep in the mine, they broke the birds'' necks and drank their blood. Then, they rubbed their hands, setting a fire in the air and lighting some woods in the mine. After cooking the birds, they gulped them down before gradually being composed.


    The burning woods caused light cracks every once a while while the sparkles and twisting flames reflected onto the dirty faces of Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu, causing their faces to look pretty gloomy; especially the bloodstains at their mouth corners and chins which made them a bit terrifying.


    After over 10 days'' escape, the two people finally got an opportunity to have a rest. As they couldn''t use space-teleportation equipment for the time being, they didn''t eat anything but the birds. Additionally, they were flurried like birds being startled by the mere twang of a bow-string. They were alert all the time in case the Grand Emperor showed up and killed them. Due to heavy mental and physical stress, the two former dignified elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace looked a bit embarrassed.


    Zhang Tie was right. Soon after he left Dragon Emperor City, Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu had received the news¡ª¡ªZhang Tie was looking for the "old man"''s help. When they recalled the powerful deeds of Grand Dragon Emperor when he came back last time, Xia Yangming''s and Shi Zhongyu''s hearts pounded heavily. Even though they could drill into the earth by Earth-River Vehicle, they still didn''t feel safe at all; instead, they were so vigilant every day that they even dared not close their eyes for a nap.


    After having a short rest, the two people gradually recovered their vitality. After being composed, when Shi Zhongyu recalled what he encountered these days, he became infuriated as he punched a piece of stone into pieces quietly. "I''ve not imagined that we could not succeed it. We were screwing others all the way; unexpectedly, we were screwed by Zhang Tie this time. I''m unreconciled..."


    "As the disciple of Grand Dragon Emperor, Zhang Tie''s tricks and intelligence are superb. We were too careless this time!" Xia Yangming heaved a deep sigh too, saying, "Previously I saw him being engrossed in cultivation in the Forbidden City without caring about the secular affairs and thought that he was as not interested in fame and politics. Unexpectedly, Zhang Tie could use such a trick! We''re trapped by him unconsciously that day. If not our trump cards, we might have long become specters!"


    "His Majesty has spent such great efforts in annexing Dragon Emperor Immortal palace. Through this event, the force of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was almost cleaned up overnight. Will we be severely punished after coming back..."


    "It''s not our mistake. We never knew that someone could identify Golden-Soul Rune Virus. Therefore, I think His Majesty will not punish us this time. Otherwise, he would not let us escape to Brokenstars Ocean and wait for him somewhere. His Majesty has been planning to expand the territory of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace with the territory of Dragon Emperor Big Domain for long. His Majesty would never give it up..."


    "Didn''t His Majesty say that nobody could identify the Golden-Soul Rune Virus in our body?"


    "Ordinary immortal generals couldn''t identify it for sure; however, you''ve already seen that when the old man showed up that day. Who could imagine what amazing secret methods has the old man mastered over so many years? After all, he''s an immortal emperor. The old man could even invent Dragon Emperor Medicament, not to mention discover us..."


    "I''ve not imagined that Zhang Tie has already promoted to a wind immortal general. That''s too fast. Additionally, he always kept the secret. He must have mastered a powerful cultivation method. Otherwise, he could not have promoted to a wind immortal general from a water immortal general in only a few years!" Shi Zhongyu said greedily, "When we meet His Majesty, I will definitely report it to His Majesty. Hopefully, His Majesty could catch Zhang Tie and get his secret cultivation method. According to the appointment between us and His Majesty, we could enjoy all the resources in Dragon Emperor Big Domain first, including the secret methods and immortal outfits that we acquire from it..."


    "Let''s talk about it later. I think this tumult will not be subsided in a short period of time. Dark Emperor Immortal Palace has already been exposed in Woods Medium-sized Domain. We''re exposed too in Dragon Emperor Big Domain. All the three top emperor-level immortal palaces have been vigilant. I think even His Majesty couldn''t do anything as easily as before!" Xia Yangming said as he squinted his eyes, revealing a shrewd expression, "As long as we could survive, we will have an opportunity to rejuvenate..."


    "Hmm..."


    "Let''s take a rest. We''re too tired after so many days'' escape. It will be the 15th day of this month in 2 days. By then, we could use our space-teleportation equipment. After completely recovering our vitality and making some preparation, we will change a place to settle down. We shall not stay here too long!"


    "Hmm..."


    Shi Zhongyu replied as he closed his eyes in front of the bonfire, legs crossed. Only after a short while, his breath had become deep.


    When they entered this mine, they set some spiritual marks near the entrance and on the road. If someone entered it, Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu would know that immediately. Therefore, the two people gradually relaxed their nerves.


    In the world, someone could become thieves for a long time; however, nobody could be vigilant against thieves all the way. Even though semi-sage level knights couldn''t be vigilant all the way. After fierce battles and escape, they needed moderate rest too.


    The flame gradually became dim. Finally, it died out, leaving some broken charcoal which was still giving out a faint glow in the pitch-dark pit. In the end, even the faint glow gradually faded away. The pit then became absolutely dark.


    2 hours later, although the two semi-level knights remained vigilant and sensitive to the surroundings instinctively, they had been completely relaxed...


    In such a state, thousands of kg mace suddenly showed up in the dark and hit Shi Zhongyu without any omen. At the same time, the light of deity-killing sword also shot into Xia Yangming''s central forehead. Additionally, Zhang Tie''s heavy hammer hit Xia Yangming too. Because Xi Yangming was relatively more powerful than Shi Zhongyu, Zhang Tie cared about him more...


    The above strikes were visible. As for the invisible strike, Zhang Tie''s shackle of chakra locked the two people''s chakras at the same time.

 1799 Kill Two Birds with One Stone

    A qualified hunter might spend a few months in chasing his prey after crossing mountains and rivers for thousands of miles. However, it was just the blink of an eye''s time for him to trigger his weapon to kill his prey...


    Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu could never imagine that they had been under Zhang Tie''s gaze since they escaped by Earth-River Vehicle; especially after they came out of the underground. Zhang Tie kept a close eye on them within 100,000 m.


    In this process, Zhang Tie had a few opportunities to launch a strike; however, he didn''t.


    At the border of Dragon Emperor Big Domain, Zhang Tie had an opportunity to launch a strike. However, as it was not far from Dragon Emperor Big Domain, if he started a battle there, the two people might continue to escape by Earth-River Vehicle. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t do it...


    When the two people used that airboat as their cover, Zhang Tie could also launch a strike; however, given the innocent lives on the airboat, Zhang Tie didn''t do it either.


    It was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that the two people would hide themselves in Brokenstars Ocean. It was a Heaven-sent opportunity.


    There were only mountains floating in the air of Brokenstars Ocean, large or small where Earth-River Vehicle became useless. Additionally, it was scarcely populated here. No matter what loud noise did he make, it could hardly be discovered or involved with innocent people. It was the ideal place for killing Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu.


    Previously, Zhang Tie still doubted whether he would refine and absorb the fire chakras of the two people or not in Dragon Emperor City. At this moment, after knowing that the two people had killed dozens of immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for two golden secret items of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie didn''t show any mercy to the two people anymore.


    After sneaking to the side of the two people secretly, Zhang Tie launched his strike. Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu who were in cultivation discovered it the moment Zhang Tie moved. However, it was too late. His heavy weapons and the kinetic strike had arrived the moment the two people started to release their protective battle qi.


    The physical strength of a semi-sage level knight was one more times greater than that of heavenly knights. However, no matter how irresistible are the bodies of semi-sage level knights, without the complete protection of protective battle qi, they were nothing but sh*t in front of Zhang Tie''s heavy weapons and kinetic strike. At this moment, even if their bodies were made of iron, they would also be smashed into pieces.


    The space of the mountain cave was relatively small. Additionally, the two people were justing sitting face-to-face beside the bonfire. This created a condition for Zhang Tie to kill them simultaneously.


    A heavy hammer, a heavy mace and a deity-killing sword hit targets almost concurrently.


    With a sound "pufff..." inside the cave, Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu were scattered into bloody ashes utterly the moment they opened their eyes out of shock...


    The aftermath of Zhang Tie''s strike heavily shocked the entire mountain at once while the hard ground, where Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu were, became a 3-m deep pit. The strong and extremely constrained impact wave broke out of the mountain cave along the tunnels with high airflows. With a loud sound "bang", the airflows outside this mountain went berserk, breaking the clouds and fog apart at once.


    The two people, who were discussing how to take revenge on Zhang Tie just now, instantly turned into ashes together with their conspiracies, dignity, wealth and dreams of dominating the entire Motian Realm.


    Kill two birds with one stone. Zhang Tie then started to refine and absorb the two people''s fire chakras crazily at the same time. Meanwhile, his huge hammer and huge mace disappeared and returned to his qi sea. Additionally, Zhang Tie caught the remains of Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu by hands rapidly.


    Each of them left three items, namely a space-teleportation finger ring, a silver secret weapon that they usually used and a golden secret item.


    All of them became Zhang Tie''s booties.


    As Zhang Tie had too many space-teleportation finger rings and silver secret weapons, he just put them away. As for the two golden secret items, they made Zhang Tie drool at a stroke.


    At this moment, the Heavenly-Separation Sword had not turned into its real form. It was just a 3 cm-long tiny golden sword. Levitating on Zhang Tie''s left hand, it looked pretty restless as it intended to escape from Zhang Tie''s hand. Being as small as Heavenly-Separation Sword, the Earth-River Vehicle was like a small spiral shell which kept rotating and struggling on his other hand and looked pretty cute.


    Like silver secret items, golden secret items should also recognize their owners. Closely after Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu were killed, their spiritual brands on the two golden secret items had disappeared. After losing their owners, the two golden secret items became restless, especially Heavenly-Separation Sword, which kept plunging forward on this side and dashing in on that.


    However, now that Zhang Tie had already caught them, he would never let them escape. Watching the recalcitrant Heavenly-Separation Sword, Zhang Tie slightly released a bit qi of his swordsmanship. Closely after that, Heavenly-Separation Sword became still like being fixed. Then, it started to hum slightly as if it was pretty thrilled. Zhang Tie then let it go. Heavenly-Separation Sword then left his hand and started to fly around Zhang Tie rapidly like a cute puppy dog. Finally, it suddenly drilled into Zhang Tie''s hair and stayed inside.


    Zhang Tie smiled as two drops of blood dripped out of his palm. One drop entered the Earth-River Vehicle. Closely after that, the restless golden secret item became still like a wild horse being reined. The other blood drop flew towards the Heavenly-Separation Sword inside his hair. However, before the blood drop arrived at the top of his head, the Heavenly-Separation Sword had already flown out of his hair as it couldn''t wait to absorb that blood drop.


    When the two drops completely entered the two golden secret items, the two golden secret items instantly turned into the light without Zhang Tie''s consent. Heavenly-Separation Sword then flew into Zhang Tie''s mind sea, closely followed by Earth-River Vehicle. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Zhang Tie became shortly stunned. When the two items entered his mind sea, Zhang Tie received two messages respectively. Not until then did he know that golden secret items should be lubricated by their owner''s spiritual energy in their owner''s mind sea after recognizing their owner.


    In Zhang Tie''s mind sea, Heavenly-Separation Sword and Earth-River Vehicle dived into the lake at the foot of King-Kong Mountain as if they felt pretty happy...


    Zhang Tie smiled as he didn''t care about them anymore; instead, he kept absorbing the two fire chakras that he had locked using his shackle of chakra.


    10 minutes later, after absorbing the two complete fire chakras, Zhang Tie felt full.


    As this mining cave was not suitable for lighting his fire chakra, after taking a glance at this place, Zhang Tie turned around and intended to fly out of there.


    Right then, an abrupt and strange voice sounded.


    It sounded calm. However, Zhang Tie was greatly shocked by the contents of the sound.


    "Everyone says that the No. 1 human assassin in Motian Realm was Ye Haoran the unrivaled killer who has disappeared in Mountain Ruines 400 years ago for Nine Heavenly Immortal Spring. In my opinion, if Ye Haoran saw how you killed Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu, he might also feel ashamed. A person who came from another world could become the immortal emperor of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and the most terrifying killer in Motian Realm. That''s interesting..."

 1800 The Manifestation of the Real Power

    Zhang Tie realized that this voice was transmitted by battle qi which directly entered in his ears. As a powerhouse who had experienced many fierce battles, when Zhang Tie heard the sound, he only did one thing¡ª¡ªtook out the silver secret items from the void of his qi sea and hit the ground on the premise that he couldn''t position the opponent...


    It was a real kinetic strike, also the most powerful kinetic strike that Zhang Tie could make. This strike was much more destructive than that he used to kill Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu.


    Just now, Zhang Tie''s strike was constrained. As long as he could destroy the two people''s bodies, he didn''t need to make a deafening noise or send the belongings of the two people flying away. By contrast, this time, Zhang Tie made his full efforts.


    As he released the strong impact wave and energy, he broke the entire mountain into pieces. Closely after that, hundreds of millions of broken stones and low-quality air-floating ores shot in all directions at a terrifying speed with a terrifying strength like a rainstorm.


    At this moment, if common low-level knights were within 1,000 m, they would be heavily injured or even be killed by the numerous broken stones and ores.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie became invisible in a split second and rushed along with those broken stones and ores.


    He did it so as to create chaos and cover himself. In this way, he could take the initiative. Meanwhile, the broken stones that shot in all directions could enable Zhang Tie to discover the position of the strange speaker. As long as that stranger was near the mountain, the broken stones would probably be able to expose the position of the stranger like tens of thousands of secret weapons. This trick was called beating the grass and frightening away the snake. Sometimes, such reckless behavior could cause bad outcomes; sometimes, it could expose the snake, which was always better than not knowing the position of the enemy.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that someone in Motian Realm knew that he was from another world. Since he came to Motian Realm, it was his first time to be recognized by someone else.


    When Zhang Tie rushed along the numerous broken stones, he had long released his spiritual energy to observe the abnormal situation in the surroundings.


    However, Zhang Tie found that nobody was outside there; instead, it was all white in the void. Strangely, the entire black space was surrounded by white fog.


    The fog was heavy and everywhere. Additionally, it was pretty strange. Zhang Tie remembered that he didn''t see that before entering the mining cave.


    ''Is that how it always goes here?'' Zhang Tie was not familiar with the situation facing Brokenstars Ocean; therefore, he didn''t know why. However, it was not the right moment for him to explore why there was such a heavy fog.


    Zhang Tie was shocked again when he looked into the white fog by lotus flower eyes; because he didn''t know how thick it was. The visibility was only 100 m.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t stay still; instead, based on the topography of this mountain that he remembered just now, Zhang Tie flew in one direction at the speed of over 10,000 m per second. After half a minute''s distance, Zhang Tie''s heart suddenly raced; because there should be a bigger mountain in the air. ''Why it''s still empty here and is surrounding by heavy fog?''


    ''No, something is wrong!''


    Zhang Tie stopped at a stroke as he started to extend his spiritual energy upwards. In the past, Zhang Tie always did this in cultivation or for gathering the two bizarre energies. Additionally, as long as he extended his spiritual energy upwards, his spiritual energy could reach a pretty high altitude in a short period of time like a rocket so that he could control and see everything in the surroundings.


    However, this time, the situation was different. Soon after he extended his spiritual energy upwards, he had touched an invisible, solid impenetrable ceiling. Spiritually, Zhang Tie saw fog only.


    The invisible, solid ceiling was similar to the border of the territory of sage-level knights; however, it was much more powerful than that. If the border of sage-level knight''s territory was taken as cardboard which could be penetrated by his spiritual energy, this invisible, solid ceiling was like steel plate which could never be penetrated through, even by his spiritual energy.


    ''What''s happening?''


    "You really have a quick response, hoho..." That stranger chuckled which Zhang Tie didn''t know whether it meant contempt or extolment. "I''ve not imagined that your spiritual energy has already become real. Not bad. Not bad. Many fresh supreme-level immortal generals couldn''t make it. You really bring me surprises one after another..."


    That voice sounded again. Although the stranger had positioned Zhang Tie''s location precisely, his position was still unknown to Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded as he showed up himself. Watching the heavy white fog, Zhang Tie''s eyes shone shrewdly as he spoke in the direction of the heavy fog calmly, "Your Excellency, given your great ability, you''re definitely famous in Motian Realm. You don''t need to hide yourself!"


    "You look calm!"


    "Death is the biggest problem in one''s life. I''ve already died for many times. What am I afraid of?" Zhang Tie said calmly. After realizing that he might be in danger, Zhang Tie became especially calm.


    "Not bad, not bad. I like your words. Your words are always interesting, more interesting than that of many people in Motian Realm. Death is the biggest problem in one''s life. I''m afraid that this phrase only exists in the world where you came from..."


    Closely after saying that, an old man in scarlet robe appeared over 10 m away from Zhang Tie. At the same time, the white fog started to shrink fast and finally became white cloths which shot back into the old man''s palm at a pretty high speed. Finally, they turned into a white rune, which was instantly broken by the old man with a light pinch.


    After the fog disappeared, Zhang Tie found that it was not Brokenstars Ocean at all as it was pitch-dark all over here; instead, it was more like someone''s realm. Zhang Tie wondered when did he and the mountain fall into this realm...


    At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie swallowed his saliva anxiously...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.

 1801 The Secrets

    Zhang Tie had seen a lot of sage-level knights, such as Yun Zhongzi of the Great Wilderness Sect, Zuoqiu Mingyue the Military God, the old guys of the three top sects, the Abyss Monarch of demons in Taixia Country. As Zhang Tie was acquainted with these sage-level knights, he was crystal clear about the overall strength of sage-level knights and the great power of sage-level realms.


    However, this old man in red robe looked so unfathomable that he was absolutely out of the reach of sage-level knights. This space was not like sage-level realm.


    In Motian Realm, only immortal emperors and demon emperors were higher than sage-level knight!


    Watching the old man, Zhang Tie''s pupils contracted as his heart raced unconsciously.


    In red robe and silver hair, the old man was heavily wrinkled as his eyes were as dark and profound as the eternal vacant space. Zhang Tie couldn''t identify whether he was kind or evil. Besides, the old man''s long nose was similar to the beak of a hawk which revealed his tough temperament; his thin lips felt merciless and fierce.


    Zhang Tie had seen the portraits of Star Emperor and Force Emperor. Given his look, this old man was neither Star Emperor nor Force Emperor. When Zhang Tie triggered his lotus-flower eyes, he found that the old man was surrounded by a layer of transparent fog, which couldn''t be seen through.


    "Senior, I wonder how I should refer to you. How do you know that I was not born in Motian Realm?" Zhang Tie asked the old man calmly.


    According to Zhang Tie''s temperament, he would always feel frank and calm when the situation had already reached the forefront. As for whether the old man was his friend or foe and whether they needed to fight or reach a peaceful agreement, just put it straightforward. ''Now that this old man could show up at this moment and he must have been paying attention to me for more than a day given his words, I believe that it''s not a coincidence for the old man to show up here.''


    The more powerful one was, the more confident and straightforward he would be about his own power instead of playing any tricks on this occasion. Even though they were going to die, they preferred to die without doubts.


    "Hahaha..." The old man in red robe laughed loudly. When he hid his laughter, he took a glance at Zhang Tie, saying, "I thought you would deny that you came from another world unless I used some tricks. It''s not bad for you to have such an act of courage and insight!"


    After hearing that the old man was going to use some tricks on him, Zhang Tie squinted his eyes as he had been ready to fight. "As a tough man, I should stand up and fight like a man. My background is diverse. It''s unnecessary for me to keep it from you. However, after coming to Motian Realm, I know that there are many differences between the two worlds. If I told others that I came from another world, I''m afraid that I would be taken as a lunatic and would arouse trouble. Therefore, I didn''t mean to publicize it. Now that senior has already known that, I should be honest to you. Oh, senior, you''ve not answered my question yet. Is there anything wrong with your name?"


    "You''ve just killed two of my subordinates and destroyed my plan in Cyan Lotus City, Woods Medium-sized Domain, don''t you know who I am?" the old man asked casually as he watched Zhang Tie with a smile, "As for why I know you were not born in Motian Realm, it''s simple. I''ve discovered it the moment I saw you. When humans and demons were born in Motian Realm, they had already lit all the surging points on their spines; additionally, there was a wisp of congenital qi in those surging points. However, all the surging points on your spine were lit up after you were born. You might think that others couldn''t discover it; whereas, in my eyes, they are as eye-catching as a jumby bean in a pile of mung beans!"


    "You''re the head of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace?" Zhang Tie asked as he contracted his muscles and released his protective battle qi and spiritual energy at his full efforts. Meanwhile, he was trying his best to work out solutions to respond to the old man''s attack.


    If Zhang Tie was out of the realm, he might have turned around and fled; because Zhang Tie was clear that he didn''t even have 1% of chance to defeat the immortal emperor, not to mention that he was in the realm of this immortal emperor-level enemy. He could never escape away unless he defeated this old man.


    "You can call me Your Majesty or Rune Emperor just like how the others called me before!" The old man in red robe revealed one more secret.


    "Rune Emperor?" Zhang Tie gazed at the old man out of great shock, "Wasn''t Rune Emperor screwed by Versatile Demon Emperor and killed by a large battle formation of over 10,000 demon immortal generals in the Dark Valley many years ago?"


    "I was almost killed at that time!" the old man in red robe replied with a faint smile, "However, at such a high realm, it''s not easy for me to die even if I wanted to. What''s more, Versatile Demon Emperor didn''t know the significance of my Tadpole Rune Sutra..."


    "Now that you''re a human immortal general, why did you establish Dark Emperor Immortal Palace to disrupt the overall situation facing humans?"


    "What do you think?"


    With a faint frown, Zhang Tie looked straight into the eyes of the old man in red robe as a whim occurred to him. In a split second, Zhang Tie realized why Rune Emperor had founded Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. "There''s only one reason. After being ambushed by Demon Emperor, although you were not dead, you suffered a great loss. When you almost recovered, you found that your influence couldn''t match that of before anymore. Additionally, you found that Rune Emperor Immortal Palace had already perished. As a top power, of course, you want to recover your influence as soon as possible. All this eventually led you to establish another immortal palace. However, as the territory of Motian Realm was shared between major human forces, it was not easy for you to establish another emperor-level immortal palace anymore aboveboard; therefore, you could only carry it out secretly..."


    "Right, you''re smart. I appreciate you more!" the old man in red robe clapped his hands as he said, "But you''ve only hit half. If you have any question, just let me know!"


    Another whim occurred to Zhang Tie as he asked, "When did you discover me?"


    "Now that you''re so smart, you could guess it again?"


    Being silent, Zhang Tie started to consider it with a tight frown. This question was very important. If he didn''t figure it out, he would not sleep well; nor would he have a good appetite. Zhang Tie was completely confused about his mistakes and loopholes. ''Although we are talking peacefully and calmly at this moment, I might be killed by this Rune Emperor after a short while.''


    When Zhang Tie was happy for getting the biggest achievement today, he fell into the realm of the immortal emperor. After putting one piece in the wrong place, he had already lost the game. Therefore, Zhang Tie wanted to find out his loopholes as he started to recall each detail and scene since he came to Motian Realm seriously.


    After a long while, Zhang Tie suddenly raised his head as he heaved a sigh, saying, "It turns out that you''ve already been in Dragon Emperor City when I arrived at Dragon Emperor City for the first time. You''ve already made your plan in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for many years and have long treated Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace as the flesh in your tray. When Dragon Emperor Immortal Place recruited immortal generals on a large scale and shrunk its force back to Dragon Emperor City, you might have already wanted to gulp it down. As for power, before you wanted to take an action, of course, you needed to confirm whether there were someone tricky or moles of other emperor-level immortal palaces among the new immortal generals in case of trouble. Therefore, you should have already noticed me the moment our airboat arrived at Dragon Emperor City or Flyingdragon Mountain Villa!"


    After saying that, Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile as he couldn''t imagine that he had won the attention of an immortal emperor-level power the moment he arrived at Dragon Emperor City. After retrospecting it carefully, Zhang Tie realized that he was indeed a bit careless. Before he came to Dragon Emperor City, he had already known the bad situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace might have already become the target of immortal-emperor powers. There were absolutely many surging hidden forces in Dragon Emperor City. However, Zhang Tie still chose to involve himself in. He realized that he was indeed a bit presumptuous inside.


    What was more, Zhang Tie felt that he was innocent. ''F*ck, there''s no immortal-emperor level powerhouses at all in Taixia Country.'' How could a shadow knight know the terrifying power of an immortal emperor-level powerhouse? How would he know that the fact that he was not an aborigine of Motian Realm was instantly exposed the moment someone took a look at him from somewhere secretly. This was Zhang Tie''s top secret in this world. Therefore, Zhang Tie realized that there was a sharp difference between him and this immortal-emperor level powerhouse...


    "Hmm, not bad. Exactly, I had intended to kill the other elders of Dragon Emperor Palace so as to pave a way for Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu at that time. But I didn''t imagine that I could discover you in Dragon Emperor City!" Rune Emperor said as his dark and profound eyes suddenly shone. Gazing at Zhang Tie, he looked a bit greedy and surprised, saying, "As for me, you''re my biggest achievement in Dragon Emperor City. You''re the real surprise. In my opinion, your value is far greater than that of the entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. You''re priceless. God really treats me good. After surviving the battle, I discovered you, hahaha..."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Rune Emperor started to laugh loudly. Facing his crazy laugh and greedy and surprised look, Zhang Tie felt cold inside as his heart raced while his anus contracted despite being always composed. ''Damn it! Hopefully, this old douchebag doesn''t have any abnormal hobby. I just look a bit handsome; instead of being very handsome. Even if this old douchebag has some strange hobby, he shouldn''t find me...''


    "I''ve already been trapped by you. Do you want to take revenge for Qian Changqing, Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu?" Zhang Tie asked as he pretended to be composed.


    "Take revenge for them?" Rune Emperor stopped laughing as he shook his head, saying, "You''re wrong. I would not avenge anybody''s death in the Motian Realm. They''re just some fire immortal generals. Their meaning of existence was to sacrifice themselves for me. If you want, I could find some more for you. You could refine their chakras and promote to a fire immortal general as soon as possible, even a supreme-level immortal general!"


    "What do you want then?"


    "I want you to be my guide!"


    "Be your guide?" Zhang Tie blinked his eyes as he thought he had misheard it, "You want me to be your guide?"


    "Right, I want you to be my guide." Rune Emperor nodded seriously.


    Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile as he replied, "Is there any place that you don''t know in Motian Realm?"


    "Take me to your world. Now that you could come here, you could leave too..." Rune Emperor watched Zhang Tie as two fierce flames blazed in his dark and profound eyes...

 1802 Rushing Towards A More Powerful One

    "You want to go to the world I came from? But why?" Zhang Tie shockingly watched the elder in red robe.


    Rune Emperor replied with a bit of grief, "The reason is simple. As for each immortal emperor, Motian Realm was just a cage that they could barely escape. All the immortal emperors know that Motian Realm is not a complete world. The entire Motian Realm is just a piece of space-teleportation equipment that has been amplified many times. In another world, Motian Realm is just subject to the real world where you came from. Over tens of thousands of years, immortal emperors in Motian Realm have been wishing to escape out of this cage and enter the real world for freedom. Pitifully, nobody has ever succeeded..."


    "Don''t you care about that I''ve destroyed your plan and killed your subordinates for this target?"


    "I''ve already told you. You''re more valuable than the entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. As long as you promise me, all the old scores will be even once and for all. I could even help you promote to a supreme-level immortal general rapidly!"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Zhang Tie revealed a brilliant smile as he watched Rune Emperor in an extreme sincere expression, saying, "Well, I agree. Do you have a crystal plate? I need one to notice you when I''m able to go back. By then, we will leave together..." After saying that, Zhang Tie rubbed his hands as his smile became more passionate and playful. "Look, I''ve already agreed with you. If you don''t have other things, you shall allow me to leave this... immortal emperor''s realm. I''m waiting for refining those fire elements. Oh, please keep secrets of my background. You could send fire immortal generals to the Forbidden City if there''re surplus fire immortal generals in Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. Thank you..."


    Zhang Tie''s words were pretty similar to how two familiar ones greeted each other before the Catastrophe: well, let''s have a journey together one day. Let''s contact by phone if there''s an emergency. If you don''t want your furniture and account-books any more, remember to post them to me. You know my address. Bye bye!


    Rune Emperor squinted his eyes at Zhang Tie straightly.


    "What? Anything else?" Zhang Tie asked with a smile.


    "It''s simple if you want to leave. Just accept my sacred sacrifice..." Rune Emperor said calmly as he pointed at the sky by his finger. At the same time, a bizarre golden light started to circle around his fingertip like a colorful butterfly.


    Golden-Soul Rune Virus!


    According to Zhang Tie''s knowledge about Golden-Soul Rune Virus, at the sight of the golden light, he had known that it was specially prepared for a supreme-level immortal general. ''Rune Emperor really think highly of me.''


    The bit of golden light at Rune Emperor''s fingertip made Zhang Tie''s smile shortly stiff as he replied, "Erm... if my master knows that..."


    "Your master? Who''s that?" Rune Emperor asked him calmly.


    "Grand Dragon Emperor..." Zhang Tie replied firmly. Of course, he was just telling a lie. Zhang Tie just wanted to know how many secrets did Rune Emperor know about him.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know how many secrets did Rune Emperor know about him besides monitoring him all the way till now. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt a bit worried. ''Rune Emperor knows my background; knows what I''ve done; knows my kinetic strike; knows my Purgatory Samsara Method; even knows my body-changing immortal bloodline. Does he know that I have Castle of Black Iron, body-separation skill and King Roc Sutra?''


    Rune Emperor burst into laughter as he replied, "Your body-separation skill is unrivaled across the Motian Realm. Even the shadow demon''s body-separation method of Versatile Demon Emperor couldn''t match that of yours. Additionally, there''s a heavenly-level immortal outfit on you. Being a piece of space-teleportation equipment, the heavenly-level immortal outfit was different than ordinary space-teleportation equipment as it could form an ecological system inside and enable you to access to it. Such a heavenly-level immortal outfit is rare even in Motian Realm. Additionally, you''re cultivating a special cultivation method. It could even enable you to imitate the effects of World Shocking Sutra which you acquired from the calligraphy of the former Dragon Emperor. Such a secret method has never appeared in Motian Realm before. Your spiritual attack is also very powerful. Do you want to hear more? I was speaking highly of you just now; don''t play such a trick in front of me anymore..."


    After hearing his reply, Zhang Tie gradually became worried. It was his first time to expose so many trump cards since he acquired Castle of Black Iron. At this moment, Zhang Tie really felt like standing in front of others naked.


    ''No, it''s impossible for him to know everything about me. Even though he could monitor me without being discovered, it''s still impossible for him to know everything about me. He could know and see what I''ve done; but he could never know why I did that!'' When Zhang Tie recalled what Rune Emperor said word by word, he instantly saw a beam of hope. ''Although he knows my body-separation skill, he doesn''t know how to use it and its limits. Although he knows the existence of Castle of Black Iron, he only treats it as a piece of heavenly-level space-teleportation equipment that could form a complete ecological system inside. He knows that I could imitate the effects of other cultivation methods; however, he doesn''t know that I''m cultivating an emperor-level classic King Roc Sutra. Additionally, he doesn''t know that I''m cultivating the Great Wilderness Sutra and is not sure about the ability of my lotus-flower eyes...''


    ''Therefore, he''s not almighty. Even the unrivaled immortal emperors are not almighty. They also don''t know everything. I still have opportunities to escape from him.''


    "I admit that you''re right. Now that you know so much about me, do you think that I would accept your sacred sacrifice?" Zhang Tie asked Versatile Demon Emperor as his face gradually turned solemn.


    "You know that you will not lose your life after accepting the sacred sacrifice. You could still keep your awareness. If you don''t accept my sacred sacrifice, I''m afraid that you will break your promise..."


    "I''m afraid that you will break your promise too..."


    "We could make an agreement. As long as you could take me away from Motian Realm, I will detoxify your Golden-Soul Rune Virus the moment we reach the world you came from!"


    Zhang Tie responded with a faint sneer, "It sounds good. But do you think that I will believe in a demon''s promise?"


    "What do you mean?" The Rune Emperor''s eyes turned fierce at a stroke.


    "After setting a trap to kill Rune Emperor, Versatile Demon Emperor has acquired the Tadpole Rune Sutra of the late Rune Emperor. Meanwhile, Versatile Demon Emperor was heavily injured by Rune Emperor and has not recovered completely. Therefore, Versatile Demon Emperor has been lurking over these years. After acquiring Tadpole Rune Sutra, Versatile Demon Emperor combined his knowledge about puppet worms which were under the control of demons and created Golden-Soul Rune Virus. Additionally, he lurked among the people in Motian Realm and founded Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. He wanted to divide and disintegrate human forces by the force of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and create chaos among humans. He even wanted to fix your heavy losses with the power of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. When he prepared to annex Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, he found an immortal general who had just joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was from another world. Through secret observation, he found many secrets about Zhang Tie. Additionally, this person called Zhang Tie probably knows the secret to leave Motian Realm. Therefore, he wanted to control Zhang Tie. However, he was afraid that Zhang Tie would not trust him if he exposed his identity of the demon emperor to Zhang Tie. Therefore, he decided to turn into Rune Emperor so that Zhang Tie could believe in his promise and follow his order. Do you think this story is more reasonable and could better explain the background of Golden-Soul Rune Virus than that you''ve fabricated?"


    Watching Rune Emperor, Zhang Tie continued, "I feel this story is more reliable. What do you think about it, Your Majesty Demon Emperor? Given intelligence and tricks, nobody else could match you across Motian Realm. I believe in only a bit of what you''ve said just now, namely Motian Realm is really too small for superb powerhouses like you. It''s just like a cage for you. Although being not a fire immortal general, I also feel it''s too small..."


    Watching Zhang Tie, the old man in red robe suddenly let out a sigh as he said, "It''s boring to make it so explicit. If you want to battle with me, you will suffer a great loss in the end for sure. Actually, you could accept Golden-Soul Rune Virus. Smart ones always go after profit and avoid harm. Do you think that you could really escape away from me?"


    "Whatever, I just don''t want to cheat myself. I have to follow my consciousness!" Zhang Tie shrugged as he added, "I''ve told you that nothing is more difficult than death in one''s life. There''s only one means of communication between demons and me..."


    After saying that, Zhang Tie instantly rushed forward as he shot a sword light towards the old man in red robe from his central forehead...


    As Zhang Tie launched a strike, his battle qi became berserk all over. Meanwhile, he kept advancing towards the demon emperor.


    ¡ª¡ªSomeone would rush towards weaker ones in order to prove that he''s more powerful; however, Zhang Tie always rushed towards more powerful ones in order to prove that he''s more powerful...


    "Go to hell..." Zhang Tie roared which was as loud as a thunder...

 1803 Like Iron

    The deity-killing sword arrived at the central forehead of Versatile Demon Emperor as fast as a lightning bolt. Versatile Demon Emperor revealed a faint smile as he reached out his hand and pinched the deity-killing sword immediately.


    The Versatile Demon Emperor''s speed was indescribably high, but it appeared extremely slow. Such extremely contradictory impressions made Zhang Tie feel his head numb.


    Zhang Tie had never imagined that his deity-killing sword could be pinched easily by someone like an arrow. The deity-killing sword was composed of Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy like a beam of light. It was virtual. Otherwise, it could not enter one''s mind sea.


    ''How could Versatile Demon Emperor pinch a virtual thing? How could he pinch a beam of light?''


    This whim occurred to Zhang Tie. With a scream, his huge mace had already arrived at the Versatile Demon Emperor''s side.


    Versatile Demon Emperor used his strength and cracked the shiny deity-killing swords in a split second. Almost at the same time, he lightly patted Zhang Tie''s mace using the same hand.


    With a bang, Zhang Tie released his kinetic strike in a split second. However, its power didn''t expand as Zhang Tie had expected; instead, like a directional blasting, the great energy of his kinetic strike bounced back towards Zhang Tie when it reached Versatile Demon Emperor''s hand. Precisely, the great power was more like being released by that hand; instead of Zhang Tie. More precisely, all the energy of Zhang Tie''s kinetic strike had been controlled as it bounced back the moment it was released.


    Facing the great impact wave, Zhang Tie was sent flying backward to 1,000 m away.


    Versatile Demon Emperor didn''t even lose a fine hair. By contrast, Zhang Tie''s mouth corners had started to bleed. Zhang Tie could always control the great strength of the kinetic strike. However, this time, the great strength of his kinetic strike was controlled by Versatile Demon Emperor and reacted onto Zhang Tie. As a result, Zhang Tie was injured.


    "You''re powerful. You''re very powerful. I''ve never seen such an attack mode before. You''re really something to reach such an amazing effect by combining your speed and the weight of your weapon..." Versatile Demon Emperor praised Zhang Tie''s kinetic strike without changing his face, "Given your current ability, none of the water immortal generals or fire immortal generals across Motian Realm could defeat you. You''re unrivaled among those below supreme-level immortal generals. However, your strike is useless for emperor-level powers. You could not imagine the realm of immortal emperors and demon emperors. However, there''s not been such a person like you in Motian Realm for thousands of years. Now that you could realize the secret methods left by Dragon Emperor, you''re almost qualified to be his disciple. Given the face of Dragon Emperor, I won''t launch a counterattack for 3 movements. If you couldn''t defeat me, you will have no opportunity to defeat me anymore. Just be my puppet then..."


    Wiping the blood off his mouth corners, Zhang Tie looked very decisive. In a split second, he rushed towards Versatile Demon Emperor again. This time, Zhang Tie had already taken out a hammer which weighed thousands of kgs by another hand. Zhang Tie brandished his huge hammer towards Versatile Demon Emperor ferociously as fast as a lightning bolt.


    When Zhang Tie approached Versatile Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie spun rapidly as he roared, "Double-Dragon Kill"¡ª¡ªZhang Tie then brandished the two heavy weapons towards Versatile Demon Emperor''s head...


    Double-Dragon Kill was a fatal skill that Zhang Tie had comprehended after the Battle at Weishui River. When he used this skill, he would hold two heavy weapons and brandished them towards the same target with the same rhythm. With Zhang Tie''s delicate movements, the two weapons'' weights could be integrated. If his weapons could be two times heavier, his kinetic strike would also be two times more powerful too. Additionally, as he spun rapidly, due to the great centrifugal force, the two weapons'' speed could increase by more than 20% before hitting their common target.


    Zhang Tie had not displayed this fatal skill before. However, at this moment, he used it without demur.


    The power of the second kinetic strike was 2 times more than that of the first kinetic strike.


    However, Versatile Demon Emperor just raised his same hand lightly like lifting a mountain, a city and an insurmountable city wall facing the second kinetic strike which was two times more powerful than that of last time. As a result, Zhang Tie''s kinetic strike was blocked completely. Almost at the same time, the great impact wave rolled back and sent Zhang Tie flying backward. Spurting out blood, Zhang Tie''s injuries aggravated.


    Before the second round of impact wave disappeared, Zhang Tie, with blood all over his face, had already gone against the impact wave as he lifted his two weapons and roared, "Go to hell..."


    It was Double-Dragon Kill again. Versatile Demon Emperor raised the same hand with a glassy-eyed look.


    However, this time, it was different than before. When the two heavy weapons approached Versatile Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie allowed them to go, letting them fly over Versatile Demon Emperor. Even Versatile Demon Emperor was shortly stunned by this trick.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie caught Versatile Demon Emperor''s wrist and moved to the latter''s back. Closely after that, Zhang Tie strangled Versatile Demon Emperor''s neck as fast as a lightning bolt in an overwhelming manner by another arm.


    The two secret weapons were as light as straws. As a result, Zhang Tie couldn''t give play to his terrifying strength at all. If the two weapons could be 10 times or 20 times heavier, their kinetic strikes would be 10 times or 20 times more lethal. However, Zhang Tie was unable to increase the weights of the two weapons at this moment. Therefore, he could only exert his utmost effort to fight Versatile Demon Emperor by taking advantage of the latter''s arrogance and his great strength.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether an immortal emperor-level power could have greater strength than him. However, at this moment, as his kinetic strike couldn''t hurt the opponent even a bit, Zhang Tie could only have a try...


    Zhang Tie''s arm really had terrifying strength. Before his arm approached Versatile Demon Emperor''s neck, it had caused sonic booms and terrifying cracks.


    A shocked look flashed across Versatile Demon Emperor''s face. However, it was just a little shock. "What a nice trick! But it''s still useless to me..."


    Zhang Tie''s arm finally touched Versatile Demon Emperor''s neck as his two arms formed a solid triangular shackle. At this moment, Zhang Tie exerted his utmost effort, causing his blood vessels, meridians and muscles to bulge out. Each muscle reflected terrifying power; blood boiling all over, Zhang Tie could even hear the sound of surging rivers.


    "Go die..." When Zhang Tie locked Versatile Demon Emperor''s neck, he roared and hit his forehead against the backside of Versatile Demon Emperor.


    Feeling Zhang Tie''s terrifying force, Versatile Demon Emperor''s face turned a bit pale; however, he still didn''t move; instead, he just released a golden flame all over.


    Zhang Tie was instantly heavily injured by the great force from the golden flame as he spurted out blood through his eyes, ears, mouth and nose at the same time.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    The great force was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. It seemed to be a protective battle qi of Versatile Demon Emperor which could realize negative protection. The defensive force of an immortal-emperor level power was too great. Zhang Tie felt like being run over by a tank or an armored vehicle.


    However, Zhang Tie still didn''t loosen his grip. As it was his first time to be so close to Versatile Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie knew that as long as he loosened his grip, he would not have an opportunity to approach and kill this top power anymore.


    "Let go of your hands..." Versatile Demon Emperor screamed icily. Being strangled by Zhang Tie, even this top power felt restless. Closely after his words, his golden flame had rocked again, breaking some of Zhang Tie''s bones and ribs at the same time.


    Zhang Tie didn''t loosen his grip at all; instead, gnashing his teeth, Zhang Tie used more force. Like iron being just forged, his hands turned hot while his eyes turned bloody. When Versatile Demon Emperor''s golden flame hit against Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie kept hitting against the backside of the former''s head using his forehead.


    Even Zhang Tie''s skull was almost cracked. Each time he hit against the backside of Versatile Demon Emperor''s head, he would spurt out blood through his nose, eyes and eyes. As a result, his clothes also had been tinted with blood, making him a bloody person. However, Zhang Tie still didn''t give it up. He just strangled Versatile Demon Emperor''s neck and hit against the backside of the latter''s head using his forehead time and time again.


    Zhang Tie''s decisiveness and persistence made Versatile Demon Emperor''s face turn paler. Not until then did Versatile Demon Emperor feel Zhang Tie''s strong will and decisiveness. Zhang Tie was not just fighting him or lingering on with his last breath of life; instead, Zhang Tie wanted to... kill him.


    "Let go of your hands..." Versatile Demon Emperor sounded a bit furious. Closely after that, his golden flame rocked again, shattering Zhang Tie''s bones and ribs immediately. At the same time, the golden flame became terrifyingly hot. In a split second, Zhang Tie felt like embracing a red-hot copper pillar and a burning flame.


    At such a high temperature, Zhang Tie''s clothes started to burn together with his hair and eyebrows. Although being burned, Zhang Tie still didn''t loosen his grip; instead, he used more force.


    Versatile Demon Emperor was shocked. He had not imagined that Zhang Tie still didn''t let go of his hand on this occasion. It was nothing different than jumping into the furnace. Almost nobody could sustain such great pain. It was more like corporal punishment in hell. The pain could not be described in words. Versatile Demon Emperor found that Zhang Tie might be extremely resistant to high temperature. However, his immortal protective flame was also special.


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie''s arm, face and skin close to Versatile Demon Emperor started to emit smoke. His hands'' skin in contact with Versatile Demon Emperor''s body started to carbonize, crack and break up in high temperature, exposing his muscles, blood vessels and meridians. Zhang Tie''s hand muscles and blood vessels were taut like steel, which soon started to emit smoke like fresh flesh being put on red-hot searing iron...


    Versatile Demon Emperor finally became a bit scared. He wondered what made Zhang Tie''s will so strong. At this moment, Zhang Tie was more like a terrifying lunatic than a human fighter. An immortal general could cut off his nerves causing pain when necessary. Meanwhile, it meant that immortal general gave up controlling his own body. However, Zhang Tie''s arm and hand were as powerful as before. Additionally, he continued to hit against the backside of Versatile Demon Emperor Demon''s head using his forehead. It indicated that Zhang Tie didn''t cut off his nerves at all. With what a strong will could a person sustain such terrifying pain?


    ''This person has to die! If such a person promotes to an immortal emperor, it would be doomsday of demons in Motian Realm...''


    This whim occurred to Versatile Demon Emperor. At the same time, his immortal protective flame changed into tens of thousands of spines and sharp edges as they hit against Zhang Tie once again. In a split second, Zhang Tie who was burning all over felt being penetrated through by dozens of sabers and swords while blood sprayed out of his back through numerous wounds. All of a sudden, Zhang Tie''s hands were full of bloody wounds, through some of which, Zhang Tie could even see his bones. Additionally, a sharp flame penetrated through Zhang Tie''s left eye, blowing up and causing his pupils to fly out of his eye sockets.


    "Hoho... it''s fewer than three movements...you couldn''t stand it anymore?" Zhang Tie said as he gnashed his teeth with a miserable smile. In the fierce flame, he watched his enemy with his right eye as his hands were still locking the neck of Versatile Demon Emperor like an iron shackle.


    "It''s the natural response of my immortal protective flame. If I wanted to launch a countermeasure, do you think you could still speak..." Versatile Demon Emperor replied icily, "Let go of your hands, it''s meaningless for you to do that..."


    "It''s meaningful; of course, it''s meaningful..."


    "What else besides bitterness..."


    "It means that I could die together with you..." Zhang Tie said as his sound turned abruptly heroic, "Xing Tian brandishes his axes with his fierce strong will forever..."


    Closely after Zhang Tie''s words, a beam of light had risen up. And Zhang Tie''s weak qi became terrifying once again. In the beam of light, a giant appeared behind Zhang Tie with endless and overwhelming qi. That giant was bloody all over with naked upper body. There were strange tattoos on his body. His head had been chopped off. There were new eyes on his chests. His navel became his new huge mouth. The giant was holding two huge towering axes and patting his own chests with them, causing thunders time and time again, rocking the entire space.


    At the critical moment, Zhang Tie activated his Xingtian Bloodline, which was one of the most powerful battle-god heavenly-level bloodlines among Hua people. It was always activated in heavy injuries. The heavier the injuries were, the more terrifying its power would be.


    In a split second, Zhang Tie''s arms had increased their force for more than 10 times. Versatile Demon Emperor''s face turned purple at once as his eyes almost popped out of his eyesockets¡ª¡ªAt this critical moment, the force of Zhang Tie''s hands had already surpassed the upper limit of Versatile Demon Emperor.


    Previously, Zhang Tie had already acquired 1/2 immortal strength body; plus the force of Xingtian Bloodline, his force became more terrifying.


    More than that. When Zhang Tie triggered his Xingtian Bloodline and made Versatile Demon Emperor suffocate, another beam of light rose up from Zhang Tie. In this beam of light, a magnificent and muscular immortal being hefting a mountain appeared behind Zhang Tie, right behind Xingtian.


    This immortal being was Kua''e of Hua people. Kua''e was known as a Hercules, one of the immortal beings of Hua people. It was said that people who had activated Kua''e Bloodline could heft a mountain. Taihang Mountain and Wangwu Mountain in the fable¡ª¡ªSilly Old Man Removes Mountains were removed by Kua''e. Kua''e Bloodline represented the top force among all the bloodlines of Hua people. It was the topmost heavenly-level bloodline. Zhang Tie had not heard that anyone could awaken this bloodline over the past hundreds of years in Taixia Country.


    Soon after he awakened the two bloodlines, Zhang Tie had felt endless force converging at him from the air.


    "Go die..." Zhang Tie roared as loudly as thunders as he hit against the backside of Versatile Demon Emperor''s head with his forehead again.


    "Puffff..." Versatile Demon Emperor spurted out blood as his face turned purple.


    Versatile Demon Emperor''s face turned dreadfully pale. At this moment, due to his great perception, Versatile Demon Emperor felt that another force was converging in Zhang Tie''s body which meant Zhang Tie was going to awaken the third bloodline. With a perilous qi, the third bloodline gradually boiled Zhang Tie''s battle qi, bloodline and mind sea all over... it... seems to be a bloodline which could enhance the power of Zhang Tie''s self-destruct... this bloodline was strengthening the effect of Xingtian Bloodline simultaneously...


    Versatile Demon Emperor''s golden flame became more brilliant as he thrust his left elbow backward. Meanwhile, his right hand cut Zhang Tie''s left arm like a saber...


    With a bang, Zhang Tie was sent flying 10,000 m away like a cannonball, meridians and bones broken all over. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie spurted out blood like rain.


    ...


    Zhang Tie picked himself up as he wobbled. His left arm had been broken while the broken part was instantly burned into ashes by the golden flame of Versatile Demon Emperor after losing its link with Zhang Tie.


    "Did you say 3 movements... it seems that ...ahem, ahem... Versatile Demon Emperor ...is just a pile of rubbish who talks like breaking wind. Peh... ahem, ahem, ahem..." None of Zhang Tie''s body parts were complete at this moment. However, he was still smiling with arrogance like a triumphant monarch. He watched Versatile Demon Emperor with the right eye in a disdainful way from over 10,000 m away.


    Closely after saying that, Zhang Tie spurted out the broken pieces of his guts through his mouth.


    "You''re indeed out of my imagination. I''ve really underestimated you. You should die. Previously, I planned to let you be my puppet; now, I don''t feel reassured making you my puppet with the control of Golden-Soul Rune Virus..." Versatile Demon Emperor said as he watched Zhang Tie icily.


    "Even if I fight to death...you''re still a loser in front of me... ahem, ahem... you''re still a pile of rubbish... ahem, ahem..." Zhang Tie covered his mouth using the only hand as his blood was flowing out of his fingers.


    "No matter what, I will live and you will die today. In the future, it will be only related to me, not you. Nobody would know what I''m I doing here today..." Versatile Demon Emperor said with a distant look...


    "Go die..." Zhang Tie roared again as he rushed towards Versatile Demon Emperor with his incomplete body again. Meanwhile, the huge mace and heavy hammer flew towards Versatile Demon Emperor as fast as lightning bolts under Zhang Tie''s control.


    Versatile Demon Emperor sneered as he raised one hand. Zhang Tie felt numerous mountains moving towards him. The air in the space froze at a stroke and turned as hard as steel as if it was not air in front of Zhang Tie, but layers of invisible steel plates and mountains. As a result, it became much more difficult for Zhang Tie to march ahead one more inch...


    The speed of Zhang Tie and the two heavy weapons immediately slowed down. Finally, they were squeezed and stayed still in the air. Even though Zhang Tie gnashed his teeth, he could hardly march even an inch forward.


    "This is immortal emperor''s fatal formation, also the realm that you''ve mentioned. In this space, all the rules are determined by me. Therefore, it''s time for you to..."


    Before Versatile Demon Emperor finished his words, the entire immortal emperor''s fatal formation suddenly rocked heavily like experiencing an earthquake of Richter scale magnitude 10. At the same time, the stress and resistance facing Zhang Tie became very volatile.


    An abrupt and playful voice suddenly sounded in the fatal formation, "It turns out to be a demon b*stard who''s applying his fatal battle formation secretly here. Hahaha, coincidentally, this grandpa has just acquired a rarity from Mountain Ruins. I will gift it to you. Take my Formating-Breaking Thunder..."


    The voice sounded very strange. When it appeared in the fatal formation, it entered Zhang Tie''s consciousness at the same time. Although the words sounded lengthy, actually it had been finished in 0.001 s.


    Soon after the words, Zhang Tie had found that Versatile Demon Emperor''s face turned pale as his fatal formation rocked heavily. In a split second, Versatile Demon Emperor rushed towards Zhang Tie as he pointed out at Zhang Tie by one finger, shooting one terrifying beam of light towards Zhang Tie''s head in an overwhelming way. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie felt that the forces around him had increased greatly again as numerous strong qi hit against him from all directions like thunders.


    Zhang Tie knew that he might directly disappear in this world as long as he was hit by it.


    Zhang Tie immediately released all the silver secret shields from his mind sea to protect his body...


    With a bang, Zhang Tie heard a loud explosion right beside him and outside the fatal formation at the same time. In the heavy rocks and impacts, Zhang Tie spurted out blood again as he felt his guts burning heavily. After that, he felt being involved in a destructive hurricane like a tiny leaf in a split second as his wounds all over crack again. As a result, Zhang Tie felt falling in the dark as he lost his consciousness completely...


    ...

 1805 The Incessant Chase

    Zhang Tie''s qi sea was empty. After clashing against Versatile Demon Emperor, all the silver secret items including the heavy mace and hammer in his qi sea had been destroyed. What counted the most was that all the battle qi in Zhang Tie''s qi sea had disappeared; instead, a sort of grey energy was occupying Zhang Tie''s qi sea like fog, which devoured all the battle qi in Zhang Tie''s qi sea.


    Zhang Tie was familiar with this sort of energy very much as it was the same as that left by the thunder of nirvana in his body last time.


    Zhang Tie almost spurted out blood due to this discovery. As for the energy of the thunder of nirvana in his body, if not the help of golden sage and silver sage, Zhang Tie didn''t even know whether he could find the solution or not. He had not imagined that he could encounter the same thing in Motian Realm for the second time.


    ''No, I should not be that hapless. Now that I could survive the strike of Versatile Demon Emperor, I should not lose my battle strength and become a good-for-nothing; additionally, I was not hit by the thunder of nirvana directly this time...''


    Zhang Tie consoled himself. Closely after that, he recovered his composure and continued to observe that energy in his qi sea.


    Through serious observation, Zhang Tie finally discovered the difference between this energy and the one left by the thunder of nirvana last time.


    This energy was not as much and terrifying as that in his qi sea last time.


    If the energy left by the thunder of nirvana in his qi sea was like a black hole with great suction which could devour everything, this energy was smaller, thinner and sparser like a huge dry piece of sponge. Last time, the energy was like real which made his qi sea a sieve. By contrast, this energy was like a grey fog which didn''t have such a great suction at all; nor was it too worse. Although being in his qi sea, it didn''t make his qi sea a sieve. Zhang Tie just felt that a foreign body was in the complete space of his qi sea.


    This situation was much better than last time.


    ''It''s empty in my qi sea. I think part of the reason lies in the overconsumption of my battle qi when fighting Versatile Demon Emperor; what''s more is the last fatal strike of Versatile Demon Emperor against me.''


    ''The last strike of Versatile Demon Emperor was too terrifying. Its energy was too weird. Although I could withstand the greater part of its energy, when the remaining energy of that strike broke my protective battle qi and hit me, I was still heavily shocked. When the remaining energy spread over my body, my qi sea was heavily damaged at a stroke. In a split second, the sun in my qi sea was shattered into pieces by the special energy. Meanwhile, all of my surging points were heavily shocked. After being invaded by that energy of Versatile Demon Emperor, besides scorching pains, I also felt being blown up.''


    Zhang Tie felt that Versatile Demon Emperor didn''t want to penetrate through him by the energy of his last strike; instead, he just wanted to detonate Zhang Tie''s battle qi in his qi sea and his surging points, destroying him in this world in a split second.


    It was definitely a fatal strike of Versatile Demon Emperor. However, Versatile Demon Emperor had not imagined that Zhang Tie could release a pile of silver secret items to withstand his fatal strike at that moment. Additionally, Versatile Demon Emperor''s fatal battle formation suddenly collapsed due to a strange foreign force; otherwise, Zhang Tie would never have survived.


    Without that fatal strike, Zhang Tie felt that the grey energy being similar to that energy left by the thunder of nirvana in his qi sea last time should not be able to empty his qi sea. Zhang Tie was already a heavenly knight who was many times more powerful than that when he had just been promoted to a shadow knight. Additionally, the grey energy was much weaker and sparser than that before; therefore, Zhang Tie confirmed that this grey energy would not cause the same severe effect as before.


    Therefore, the current situation facing his qi sea should be mainly related to the last strike of Versatile Demon Emperor.


    Through introspection, Zhang Tie gradually recovered his composure as he started to analyze his problem precisely and objectively. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    After studying that grey energy in his qi sea seriously, Zhang Tie finally confirmed that the "Immortal Formation-breaking Thunder" that he had heard in the fatal battle formation of Versatile Demon Emperor was absolutely the thunder of nirvana that he had suffered at Weishui Riverside.


    In the world where Zhang Tie came from, the thunder of nirvana was a weird existence. Someone took it as a silver secret item; someone took it a golden secret item because it was too destructive. However, it was a bit weird if a golden secret item was disposable. Therefore, there was not a unified way of expression about the thunder of nirvana.


    In the world where Zhang Tie came from, the thunder of nirvana was taken as a strategic weapon for killing sage-level knights and top powers. However, in Motian Realm, the thunder of nirvana was used for breaking the immortal emperor''s battle formation. Given its effect, the thunder of nirvana should be more destructive to the realms of immortal emperors directly. Perhaps this was the real purpose of the thunder of nirvana. Immortal battle formation-breaking thunder should be the real precise name of the thunder of nirvana.


    As there were no immortal emperor-level powers in the world where Zhang Tie came from, the immortal battle formation-breaking thunder was only used to kill sage-level knights.


    Zhang Tie gradually checked out the true purpose of the thunder of nirvana. After all, the accumulation in this aspect in Motian Realm couldn''t be matched by that world he came from.


    When Zhang Tie introspected his mind sea, he finally proved his speculation and judgment.


    There was also a grey fog in his mind sea. However, the situation facing his mind sea was much better than that facing his qi sea.


    Zhang Tie''s mind sea was not heavily injured. In the mysterious mind sea, the 360 brilliant stars and golden moon were still hanging over the sky. Starlight and moonlight were casting down like mercury and reflecting on the lofty Kingkong Mountain. Under the starlight and the moonlight, the deposited snow on the top of Kingkong Mountain slowly melted down and entered the lake at the foot of the mountain, which was composed of Zhang Tie''s real spiritual energy.


    At this moment, the lake was already dry as all the spiritual energy had been absorbed by that grey fog. However, his spiritual energy was still flowing off Kingkong Mountain constantly.


    Compared to Zhang Tie''s battle qi, his spiritual energy was several levels higher in quality and quantity and could better meet the demand of the grey fog. Zhang Tie found that as it absorbed more and more spiritual energy in his mind sea, a wisp of the grey fog over the lake of Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy had turned white. It seemed that the grey fog''s suction decreased a bit at the same time. At the same time, more spiritual energy flew off the Kingkong Mountain and entered the dry lake.


    The Heavens-Separation Sword and the Earth-River Vehicle which were flying across the surface of the dry lake became thrilled at a stroke.


    When he saw the two golden secret items and felt more and more available spiritual energy in his mind sea, Zhang Tie looked much better at once as he became a bit confident...


    Although his physical condition was a bit bad, it was not the worst yet. At least it was much better than that when he fought demons at Weishui river. He was confident to recover his mind sea in a short period of time. As for his broken arm and eye, as long as he could return to Castle of Black Iron and took a vial of super recovery medicament, they would grow again.


    After finishing his introspection, Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he found that half of the sun had been below the sea level and it was going to be dark. After taking a look at his naked body, Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile as he wobbled and picked himself up.


    ''Oh, hope I could take something out of Castle of Black Iron. At least, I don''t want to be naked in this isle.''


    Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy; however, he found that Castle of Black Iron was still unavailable.


    "Heller, can you hear me?"


    "Yes, I can!" Heller replied calmly and warmly. After 2 seconds'' silence, Heller added solemnly, "Congratulations, Castle Lord, you''ve survived the fatal strike of Versatile Demon Emperor!"


    "What time is it now? I remember that it was close to April 15 when I chased after Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu..."


    "It''s been a few more days. Precisely, it''s April 18, the 3586th year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar!"


    "Ah, I''ve already been in a coma for a few days..." Zhang Tie asked out of shock. Meanwhile, he took a look at those swollen and white wounds which had already healed automatically despite being soaked in seawater for a few days. Zhang Tie then started to feel lucky about his powerful physique. If not his super-powerful physique, his super great resistance to fatal strikes and superb self-healing ability, he must have been killed after being soaked in seawater for a few days, even though he was not directly killed by Versatile Demon Emperor.


    "Yes, Castle Lord, if you want to use the items in Castle of Black Iron, you have to wait for another 12 days..."


    "Alright, I will find other ways..."


    Zhang Tie then ended the talk with Heller. After taking a look around, he sighed inside, ''I''m afraid that I could only use tree leaves as a fig leaf.


    Zhang Tie then wobbled towards a coconut wood in the nearby. Meanwhile, a feeling of starvation hit his brain time and time again like a tsunami.


    It was good for him to have the feeling of starvation as it meant that his physical functions had started to work. What counted the most was to replenish water and energy.


    Bang!


    A coconut fell onto the sand the moment Zhang Tie entered the coconut wood.


    There were so many coconuts on the sand, some had been there for a few years. Some coconuts on the sand beach were carried into the ocean by rising and falling tides, leaving many remains of coconut shells on the sand beach.


    Licking his lips, Zhang Tie walked over there and picked that coconut.


    Previously Zhang Tie planned to break the coconut by his fingers; however, he found that he couldn''t even do it as he was even weaker than a commoner at this moment despite being able to lift a mountain in normal times.


    ''Alright...'' Zhang Tie gave up using sheer force. Holding the coconut, he formed an invisible force in the air by his spiritual energy and opened a hole in the center of the coconut shell in a split second.


    Closely after that, a fresh and aromatic juice flew out of the coconut. Raising the coconut, Zhang Tie then put his mouth on the hole and had a cool drink.


    At this moment, the juice in the coconut was the most precious thing for Zhang Tie in this world.


    The juice contained water and sugar which was urgently needed by Zhang Tie.


    After drinking it up, Zhang Tie immediately absorbed the energy of the sweet juice. Just now he felt a bit cold facing the sea wind; now, Zhang Tie felt warm. Closely after that, he felt having more force.


    After taking a rest for 2 minutes, Zhang Tie felt having recovered some force. At least he felt much better than before, although he had not completely recovered.


    At this moment, he picked the empty coconut shell and broke it by his fingers at once, revealing the snow-white meat inside.


    After looking at his dirty hands, Zhang Tie put down the coconut and fetched two finger-long clean shells from the sand beach. Closely after that, he started to dig coconut meat by shells and eat them...


    After eating up all the coconut meat, Zhang Tie felt a bit more energetic. As the dark fell, his wounds started to heal at a higher speed...


    ...


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie in a special pair of shorts made of coconut tree leaves had already collected a pile of coconuts. Sitting in the wood, he was going to open those coconuts to replenish water and energy. When he was eating coconut meat, his heart suddenly raced as he looked up at the sky in the distance.


    With the bit of spiritual energy that he had accumulated in his mind sea in such a short period of time, Zhang Tie immediately triggered his lotus-flower eyes. Closely after that, he found an immortal general was inspecting the sea level in the sky.


    As he didn''t wear any metal wings, it indicated that he was at least a heavenly knight. When Zhang Tie saw his face clearly, Zhang Tie''s heart pounded at a stroke¡ª¡ªhe saw another gloomy and slightly old face under the stranger''s mask.


    Although Zhang Tie had not seen him before, he had read it through the mind of the general butler of Si Clan in Cyan Lotus City in Woods Medium-sized Domain. This man was Si Dan the forbear of Si Clan, also the head of Cyan Dragon Branch of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace who was being chased by Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace!


    In a split second, Zhang Tie had understood that Si Dan must be looking for him after receiving the order of His majesty of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, also Versatile Demon Emperor. ''He''s searching for me in the possible regions. Although Versatile Demon Emperor didn''t kill me, he could generally judge where that hurricane could take me to. Given the force of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, of course, Versatile Demon Emperor could assign someone here to look for me. Perhaps, Versatile Demon Emperor himself is looking for me somewhere.''


    When Zhang Tie recognized the true identity of that person, Si Dan sensed Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy too as he fixated onto Zhang Tie and rushed towards this isle as fast as a lightning bolt, eyes shining...


    ''Motherf*cker, can''t you spare me a life?'' Zhang Tie sprung up as he passed through the coconut wood and escaped towards the ocean as fast as he could...

 1806 Escape and Kill

    Even if Zhang Tie had preserved his complete battle strength, it was almost impossible for him to defeat a sage-level knight. Zhang Tie had been deeply impressed by the great power of Immortal Heavenly Chaos in the air territory of Yinhai Desert. Zhang Tie knew that even sage-level knight''s protective battle qi alone was disappointing.


    The protective battle qi of a sage-level knight combined some power of realm which had nothing to do with space. Any strike on any point of a sage-level knight''s protective battle qi would be easily transferred to the other point and finally be dissolved. This feature alone had already made Zhang Tie''s most powerful kinetic strike ineffective. In such a combat, the mere protective battle qi of the enemy had already dissolved all of his strikes. Zhang Tie couldn''t even approach his enemy; nor could he do any harm to his enemy. What else could he do?


    When in Yinhai Desert, Zhang Tie couldn''t even break the protective battle qi of Immortal Heavenly Chaos by his 36.6-ton hammer, not to mention that he was severely injured and had no weapon at this moment.


    However, Zhang Tie could defeat a sage-level knight to a certain degree; because he believed in that there was an upper limit for a sage-level knight''s protective battle qi to resist and transfer energy. As long as Zhang Tie''s kinetic energy could break the upper limit of the tolerance of the sage-level knight''s protective battle qi, he would be able to win the combat.


    However, it was not easy for him to break this upper limit. If Zhang Tie had a silver secret weapon weighing more than 50 tons and preserved his complete power, he could have a try by clashing against this sage-level knight.


    However, at this moment, Zhang Tie could only try his best to escape.


    A few days ago, Zhang Tie was chasing after Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu all the way from Dragon Emperor Big Domain to Brokenstars Ocean. In the blink of an eye, the case had been reversed...


    ''F*ck! This father has been crippled and blind. However, you''re still chasing after me. Don''t you have even a bit of mercy?'' Zhang Tie swore inside, ''These b*stards of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace would never know the meaning offor visiting.


    Before Si Dan figured out Zhang Tie''s odd smile, all of a sudden, a white light flashed across the sky while a dazzling sun rose up, which was even more brilliant than the real sun which had just come out of the sea level.


    In a split second, clouds and mist in the air had disappeared while a huge pit whose diameter was thousands of meters was caused in the ocean by the great pressure in the air. Closely after that, the overwhelming impact wave struck the waters...


    Especially for the underprivileged.

 1807 Zhang Ties New Recognition

    The scorching white light made the surging seawater white. After it dissipated, Zhang Tie had long disappeared, leaving a person in bizarre shiny green full-body armor standing in the air. After shaking once, the person spurted out blood. Taking a look around, he unfolded the pair of metal wings on his back. Closely after that, he shot far away as fast as a lightning bolt and disappeared...


    Not until then did the red sun jump out of the sea level.


    After a few minutes, the air territory above the waters, where a fierce battle broke out, recovered its tranquility as if nothing had happened.


    In the distance, a flock of fish hawks was flying in the air. Some of them would dive into the water and catch a fish out of there every once a while...


    One of the flocks of fish hawks was hovering there while focusing on the air territory where the battle had just broken out with its sharp eyes.


    This fish hawk was Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie''s substitute or Zhang Tie''s eye in the air.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he still failed to kill Si Dan the forebear of Si Clan at the cost of one substitute after preparing for that strike for one night.


    Just now, Zhang Tie got two visual angles: the fish hawk under his control and that substitute. From the visual angle of his substitute, Zhang Tie could see what had happened more clearly¡ª¡ª


    When the overwhelming scorching white light descended, Si Dan the forbear of Si Clan revealed a stunned look which left a deep impression in Zhang Tie''s mind. At the most critical moment, a light suddenly appeared on Si Dan.


    The light implied the start of a golden secret item. When Zhang Tie thought that Si Dan would take out a powerful shield to defend it, he saw a bizarre, mighty shiny green full-body armor.


    Zhang Tie had not seen such a kind of powerful full-body armor silver secret items even in Taixia Country, not to mention a golden secret item.


    With the protection of that set of golden armor, Si Dan was heavily injured. However, Zhang Tie''s substitute disappeared the moment the white light approached him.


    ...


    "What a powerful golden secret item. Is this the real immortal outfit in Motian Realm?" Zhang Tie, who was absolutely invisible, exposed his head out of seawater over 160 miles away and murmured as he watched the direction in which Si Dan was heading for with a complex look.


    When Zhang Tie couldn''t even find a proper weapon, the sage-level knight, also the head of Cyan Dragon Palace of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace had already got a powerful golden secret item¡ª¡ªa powerful armor that Zhang Tie had never seen before. If Zhang Tie said he didn''t admire him, he must be cheating. Sage-level knight''s protective battle qi was already amazing. If each sage-level knight could have such a set of armor, a golden secret item, Zhang Tie had to assess the difficulty for him to kill a sage-level knight seriously in the future.


    As Zhang Tie was thinking about it, he dared not continue to stay in the waters any longer. After exposing his head for a short while, he dove into the water again. Closely after that, he swam fast towards afar quietly like a dark current.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie started to consider about his current situation. Meanwhile, it refreshed his recognition of Motian Realm...


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    ''If Si Dan has such a powerful golden secret item, it could be speculated that Versatile Demon Emperor who was Si Dan''s owner must have something more powerful than it. It seems that I''m really fortunate enough to survive Versatile Demon Emperor''s attack. In the beginning, Versatile Demon Emperor didn''t want to kill me as he felt I was useful. Later on, when he wanted to kill me, a stranger destroyed his plan. Therefore, I could seize the opportunity to escape. Otherwise, I might have long been killed.''


    ''If Versatile Demon Emperor is so powerful, those humans who could fight Versatile Demon Emperor or superb demon powers like Demon Emperor are definitely not bad.''


    ''There''re various powerful secret items that I''ve not seen and superb powers with powerful trump cards that are far out of my imagination. This might only be the tip of the iceberg.''


    After experiencing such a life-or-death situation in Motian Realm, Zhang Tie suddenly realized that he had not met any real powerhouses over the past 2 years. Nor had he encountered real tests and setbacks. Therefore, Motian Realm was far more complex than he could imagine.


    ''In the beginning, I took great advantage of the identity of Dragon Emperor and promoted to a heavenly knight from a shadow knight rapidly. However, at the same time, the halos brought by that identity covered my eyes too and limited my recognition about Motian Realm, causing me to lose alert and perception about real crises.''


    When Zhang Tie recalled how he blackmailed Star Emperor the other day, he really oozed sweat. If not with the protective halos of Dragon Emperor or expose the real identity that he was from the other world which meant great value for research, he might have long been killed by Star Emperor.


    Now, he couldn''t continue the game anymore. The halos of Dragon Emperor fabricated by him would also dissipate. Even though the other human immortal emperors in Motian Realm didn''t know Zhang Tie''s background, the Demon Emperor had already known that he was fake. Additionally, he must want to kill Zhang Tie by every means. Therefore, Zhang Tie could never go back to Dragon Emperor City or Dragon Emperor Big Domain anymore. As long as Demon Emperor was waiting for him in Dragon Emperor Big Domain or Dragon Emperor City, it was nothing different than seeking death the moment Zhang Tie showed up in Dragon Emperor Big Domain or Dragon Emperor City.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie couldn''t bamboozle other human immortal palaces in the name of Dragon Emperor anymore. Otherwise, he was seeking death too. As long as Demon Emperor revealed a bit of information about Zhang Tie to Star Emperor or Force Emperor, he would be able to kill Zhang Tie with the help of Star Emperor or Force Emperor. If the two human immortal emperors knew that the real Dragon Emperor was not back at all and Zhang Tie was justing cheating them, it was not hard to predict what would Star Emperor or Force Emperor do. In the worst scenario, two more human immortal emperors would join the team of chasing Zhang Tie.


    As Zhang Tie was already being chased by Versatile Demon Emperor and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, if he was taken as the thorn in the side of the two human emperor-level immortal palaces, it would be much harder for Zhang Tie to make progress step by step in Motian Realm...

 1808 Hiding inside a Whale

    If one offended someone, he had to pay for it.


    Not until now did Zhang Tie have a deep understanding of this sentence. Previously, he only wanted to stabilize his position in Motian Realm and acquire more requirements with the platform of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; unimaginably, when he enjoyed so many conveniences and benefits provided by that platform, he had to pay and sustain more.


    It was time for him to pay for that.


    Zhang Tie even didn''t know what Star Emperor would do after knowing his background given the latter''s grim temperament.


    It indeed felt satisfying to refine the chakras of demon immortal generals gifted by Star Emperor Immortal Palace; however, as long as Star Emperor knew that the return of Dragon Emperor was just Zhang Tie''s trick, the outcome might be not that pleasant anymore.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    ''Will Versatile Demon Emperor expose my background to other immortal emperors?''


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what Versatile Demon Emperor would do as the latter had the initiative absolutely. Additionally, even if Versatile Demon Emperor didn''t leak his background to the other immortal emperors, Zhang Tie couldn''t show up in the identity of Dragon Emperor and the disciple of Grand Dragon Emperor any more as the fact that Versatile Demon Emperor had already known his secret was the worst scenario.


    ''If I don''t return to Dragon Emperor Big Domain in the identity of Dragon Emperor, where else could I go? What else should I do?'' Zhang Tie was at a loss when he thought about the future.


    It was one''s normal psychological reaction. The other day, one was an emperor and a boss who owned numerous resources and population and could assume Dragon Emperor''s authority as his own; however, a couple of days later, he had to abandon his identity and all the benefits and conveniences that he could enjoy before; what''s more, he was chased everywhere and could only hide from one place to another. Anyone would feel blank and helpless on this occasion.


    People could barely adapt to the fast change of his identity and situation in a short period of time, except Zhang Tie.


    If others encountered such a thing, perhaps they would still be complaining about that and fidgety. However, it only took a few minutes for this man who grew up in Blackhot City as an ordinary person to drop all the negative emotions and thoughts and renew his spirit.


    ''I''ve acquired the secret methods of Grand Dragon Emperor; undoubtedly, I''m the successor of Grand Dragon Emperor. Additionally, who else across Motian Realm is more qualified to rule Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace than me?''


    ''I indeed have cheated others. So what? My meritorious services to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could never be neglected. If I didn''t join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, it might be a question whether Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace still exists or not. When I showed up, I unveiled the conspiracy of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and left Dragon Emperor Medicament to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. I don''t feel guilty about what I did at all. At least, I lived up to the expectation of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Even though I have used some means to ascend to the throne of Dragon Emperor, I never used this identity to bully people. Therefore, I don''t feel guilty about that at all.''


    ''It''s not a big deal even if I couldn''t return to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace as I came to Motian Realm alone. In the worst scenario, I just returned to the original state. I''ve lost nothing at all.''


    ''As long as I could promote to an immortal emperor; even if I returned to Dragon Emperor City aboveboard and declared that I''m Dragon Emperor, nobody would dare to deny it! If someone doesn''t agree, I will beat him up until he agrees. It''s just a piece of cake. As long as I promote to an immortal emperor, the position of Dragon Emperor would belong to me. I could protect Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace too. In the final analysis, it''s just a matter of power.''


    ''After getting rid of the limit of the identity of Dragon Emperor and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, I could gain freedom again. Isn''t it better? Previously, I just cultivated in the backroom beneath Jiaotai Palace by absorbing elements and lighting up my chakras; now, I can travel across Motian Realm for free, taste local customs and practices, attain secret methods and rarities and fight Versatile Demon Emperor and the other powers of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace using my intelligence. Isn''t it also a sort of cultivation? If I want to be a real unrivaled person, why do I fear about that?''


    Zhang Tie gradually revealed a faint smile as he swam in the ocean.


    ''I''d better settle down somewhere so as to heal my wounds first...''


    After thinking through it, Zhang Tie instantly felt as free as a bird in the sky. He then swam in a more pleasant and relaxed way...


    Most of the living beings in the ocean were similar to those in the world he came from.


    As Zhang Tie swam rapidly, he saw shoals of colorful fish, shrimps, jellyfish as large as tree crown, waterweeds, fierce sharks and various odd-looking aquatic lives even powerful aquatic beasts.


    After being saved by sea turtles and sand scale fish, Zhang Tie felt a sense of kinship with these aquatic lives.


    Ocean was Zhang Tie''s territory. Due to the power of Great Wilderness Sutra, waterproof body and powerful King Roc Sutra, Zhang Tie gained a supreme authority in this territory.


    When in water, as long as Zhang Tie released a bit battle qi, all the fierce aquatic beast would become as docile as kitties. All of them wanted to flatter Zhang Tie like lackeys.


    Zhang Tie swam at a high speed according to the memory of his substitute. Over 1 hour later, when he reached tens of thousands of meters deep into the ocean, he finally discovered his targets... A shoal of giant vegetarian whales.


    At the bottom of the ocean, a shoal of over 30 dusty blue grass-eating whales was swimming leisurely in the seaweeds as deep as tens of thousands of meters. The smallest one was longer than 100 m while all the others were longer than 500 m. The two largest ones were even longer than 1,000 m.


    Those grass-eating whales didn''t see Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie became thrilled at the sight of them...


    Right then, a 100 m longer ferocious sea serpent who was as thick as a gasoline tank blocked Zhang Tie''s way. There was already a bulging cockscomb-sized bone on the top of its head. Given its qi, this sea serpent had already reached LV 17. It was absolutely a sea serpent king.


    This sea serpent king was very sensitive to changes in water. Even though Zhang Tie was utterly transparent, his movement had still caught the attention of this sea serpent king. Being startled, this sea serpent king instantly stood up before swimming towards Zhang Tie. Although it couldn''t see Zhang Tie, it was ready to attack him...


    Zhang Tie released a bit of battle qi, paralyzing the sea serpent king at a stroke. As a result, it dared not even escape; instead, it stayed still, exposing its underside.


    Zhang Tie ignored its existence as he continued to swim towards that shoal of vergetarian whales.


    After feeling that Zhang Tie didn''t want to hurt it, the sea serpent king wiggled its body and followed Zhang Tie. Meanwhile, it started to perform itself beside Zhang Tie by swimming as fast as a lightning bolt or frightening the surrounding little fish and shrimps. Given its movements, Zhang Tie realized that it wanted to be his mount in the ocean in case that Zhang Tie was tired in water.


    Zhang Tie almost rolled his eyes. ''Are you kidding me? Look at how poor I am, how dare I take you as my mount? Am I afraid that Versatile Demon Emperor can find me or what? Piss off. Don''t tell others that you''ve met me in the water...''


    After feeling Zhang Tie''s will, the coquettish sea serpent king swam away while looking back every once a while as he dared not "harass" Zhang Tie any longer...


    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had arrived at the front of the shoal of vegetarian whales. In water, those grass-eating whales were like flat skyscrapers and underwater airboats.


    Zhang Tie selected a vegetarian whale which was longer than 600 m. Closely after that, he delivered an order to it. The vegetarian whale immediately widely opened its mouth. In a split second, a powerful swirl with great suction formed in front of Zhang Tie. He then dove into the huge mouth of the grass whale along with enormous seawater. Closely after that, the vegetarian whale closed its mouth.


    Zhang Tie then slid straight to the first stomach of the vegetarian whale with surging seawater which looked like a falling waterfall.


    As a huge space with over 20 m in length, width and height respectively just like a huge water tank, it was close to the esophagus of the vegetarian whale. On top of the space, there was a tube that could be closed whose diameter was over 1 m, leading straight to the blowhole on the back of the vegetarian whale...


    It was the first stomach of the vegetarian whale.


    Very few people knew that whales had 4 stomaches like cattle. The first stomach was a granary.


    Huge whale rarely chewed food; instead, it gulped its food down before sending all the food in the first stomach and storing them there. After that, it would spurt surplus water out of the blowhole on the back. When it needed nutritions, it would transfer the food into the next stomach.


    The first stomach of the whale was very clean. Its gastric wall was pink, smooth and wrinkled. Besides seawater, there were also long seaweeds, odd-looking items and small fish and shrimps which were swimming at the bottom of the stomach.


    When Zhang Tie came in here, the pink gastric wall started to wriggle, spurting surplus seawater out of its body through the blowhole on its back.


    After taking a look around, Zhang Tie finally understood why someone could still survive after being gulped down by a huge whale for 2 days. This place was simply like a room in the water.


    There were some white shells which were longer than 1 m in this stomach, which were especially gulped down by this grass whale. When it suffered from indigestion, it would send some big shells into the next stomach so that these shells could rub and squeeze food for the sake of digestion...


    Zhang Tie came straight to the top of a big shell as he started to take some rest, eyes closed, legs crossed...


    Zhang Tie needed to rest urgently so that he could slowly recover his vigor...


    If Zhang Tie stayed in the whale''s stomach, who could find him?


    It was the safest place for Zhang Tie.

 1809 Zhang Ties Arrangemen

    It was a bizarre experience to cultivate in a whale''s belly. To a certain degree, this place was even safer than the backroom beneath Jiaotai Palace of Dragon Emperor City.


    Only after staying in the whale''s belly for a week, due to his great resilience, Zhang Tie had almost recovered all of his traumas, internally and externally. These days, Zhang Tie mainly concentrated on cultivation and introspection.


    Zhang Tie had gradually recovered his spiritual energy in his mind sea as the grey fog in his mind sea slowly faded away and finally disappeared after consuming enough spiritual energy. Only after 10 days, the grey fog in his mind sea had already shrunk by 1/3. As a result, Zhang Tie let out a sigh as he realized that it would not be as troublesome as last time when he was struck by the thunder of nirvana; otherwise, Zhang Tie might be driven mad.


    Although the situation facing his mind sea made Zhang Tie reassured, the situation facing his qi sea made him restless again.


    The grey fog in his qi sea was not as powerful as that in his mind sea; however, as Zhang Tie''s mind sea was heavily inflicted by Versatile Demon Emperor, eroded by the weird energy of Versatile Demon Emperor and almost detonated, Zhang Tie''s battle qi in his mind sea recovered very slowly and could barely be stockpiled. Therefore, the grey fog seemed to be hungry forever.


    The current situation facing his qi sea was like how a water pipe with high-speed water flow was clogged. Zhang Tie couldn''t alleviate this problem at all. Additionally, he couldn''t form the hot sun in his qi sea even a bit. Therefore, Zhang Tie became flurried.


    It soon came to May 1, on which day Castle of Black Iron was available.


    The moment it came to May 1, Zhang Tie heard Heller''s warning that he could use Castle of Black Iron today. However, Zhang Tie didn''t enter Castle of Black Iron immediately; instead, he took some crystal plates out of Castle of Black Iron which he could use to contact the elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    This crystal plate was auxiliary. The main one had been destroyed by Versatile Demon Emperor''s fatal formation. Therefore, he could only use this one to contact Qianji Agency.


    Zhang Tie sent a message and received a response at once.


    Both parties soon confirmed the other''s identities. It was Ying Gucheng, one of the 5 elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace who contacted Zhang Tie in Qianji Agency.


    ¡ª¡ªYour Majesty, it''s great to receive your message. As we''ve not received your message for a few days, all the elders were worried about you...


    Ying Gucheng replied.


    ¡ª¡ªHow''s Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace?


    After slightly letting out a sigh, Zhang Tie asked a question. No matter how he was now, as Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was founded by the real Dragon Emperor who imparted secret methods to him, Zhang Tie was always concerned about Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    ¡ª¡ªDragon Emperor Immortal Palace is cleaning up the moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    ¡ª¡ªIs there any big trouble facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Dragon Emperor Big Domain?


    ¡ª¡ªJust a bit of turmoil. We''ve already cracked it down. This benefited from Your Majesty''s fast decision about dealing with Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu. Before the moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace were ready to make bigger trouble, they had already exposed themselves. The other elders were paying a tour inspection across Dragon Emperor Big Domain and placating all the other immortal generals and followers of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in the regions where branches of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were set. Some moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace have already escaped away since the day when the event broke out. Although some of them were caught, all of their heads were blown up, leaving no valuable information at all.


    ¡ª¡ªWhat are the responses of Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace recently?


    ¡ª¡ªThe event in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace shocked Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace greatly. It''s said that the two immortal palaces have already started to investigate all of their immortal generals. Previously, the two immortal palaces were still a bit hesitant about doing that. But now it''s said that all the deputy heads of the two immortal palaces have paid a tour inspection across their territories and started to check each immortal general''s mind sea.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    ¡ª¡ªWhat about the results?


    ¡ª¡ªIt''s said that some immortal generals of the two immortal generals are missing. As emperor-level immortal generals in Motian Realm have made such good examples, the other supreme-level immortal palaces also start to be intense.


    ¡ª¡ªIs there any news about me and the old man in Dragon Emperor Big Domain recently?


    As this question sounded a bit strange, Ying Gucheng didn''t respond until a few seconds later.


    ¡ª¡ªDuring this period when Your Majesty was missing, we''re all worried about Your Majesty very much. There''s no news about Your Majesty and Grand Dragon Emperor in Dragon Emperor Big Domain for the time being.


    After hearing this response, Zhang Tie was neither happy nor sad. He knew that the reason that Versatile Demon Emperor had not exposed his secret to the public lay in that the latter didn''t think it necessary to do that instead of showing his mercy to him. Even though he exposed this secret to the public, Versatile Demon Emperor would not gain any benefits. ''As long as Versatile Demon Emperor could hold this secret, he would have the initiative to choose any time he wants to expose my secret for his purpose.''


    ''Of course, even though he didn''t expose my secret to the public, I couldn''t go back to Dragon Emperor City either. I have to make an arrangement about the affairs in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in advance.''


    ¡ª¡ªElder Ying, inform the other elders that I will not return back to Dragon Emperor City for a long time in the future. I might enter secluded cultivation for a long time in a secret place. During this period, all the affairs in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace will be charged by you and the other four elders through negotiation. If you have any different opinions, you shall make a decision through votes. The minority is subordinate to the majority. As long as the three of you agree with it, you could make a decision. If you meet any major event concerning the existence of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace like that we have this time, you could contact me on the 1st day or the 15th day of each month.


    Previously, Zhang Tie always entered secluded cultivation in the backroom beneath Jiaotai Palace of Forbidden City. After the event concerning Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu broke out, although Zhang Tie''s decision was a bit abrupt, all the elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could understand it¡ª¡ªAs Dark Emperor Immortal Palace has already been casting greedy eyes on Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, if Zhang Tie continued to stay in the Forbidden City, as long as an immortal emperor or demon emperor raided the Forbidden City, Zhang Tie might be killed before the old man returned...


    As was imagined, after hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Ying Gucheng didn''t even ask him about the reason; instead, he directly replied to Zhang Tie,


    ¡ª¡ªOkay, I will deliver Your Majesty''s order to the other elders. But we still have not received any news about Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu...


    ¡ª¡ªI''ve already killed Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu!


    ¡ª¡ªAh? Your Majesty has already killed them?


    ¡ª¡ªYes, although the two people have already died, we should still not be vigilant. After this trick didn''t work, Dark Emperor Immortal Palace might be carrying out the other actions. Especially when I''m not in Dragon Emperor City and the old man won''t show up due to various reasons, Dark Emperor Immortal Palace might have other tricks and conspiracies. They might start rumors to shake the foundation of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. I found that Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu had relations with Versatile Demon Emperor. You should bear it in mind. In the future, when the old man and I return to Dragon Emperor City, we''re definitely holding Earth-River Vehicle and Heavens-Separation Sword. Meanwhile, we will definitely prove our identities by blood in front of you. If the old man and I don''t take Earth-River Vehicle or Heavens-Separation Sword or prove their identities by blood in front of you, they must be disguised by shadow demons. You have to bear it in mind and make countermeasures against this situation.


    ¡ª¡ªI have to warn you about the possible tricks of Versatile Demon Emperor in advance. On this occasion, the tricks that Versatile Demon Emperor could play will be greatly limited. We probably would be able to protect Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    ¡ª¡ªOkay, I see!


    ¡ª¡ªThe production of Dragon Emperor Medicament continues. Find some spare bases for producing Dragon Emperor Medicament in Dragon Emperor Big Domain as soon as possible. After that, carry out auction and trade according to my plan. In the future, besides meeting the demand of Dragon Teeth Army, all the other element crystals would be allocated by Earth-Treasures Departments!


    After arranging the production and trade of Dragon Emperor Medicament and receiving Ying Gu Cheng''s promise, Zhang Tie ended this talk.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie took out another crystal plate to contact Leng Manxue. After leaving some words to her, dispatching her into Dragon Teeth Army to make her a subordinate of Huang Baimei again and warning her to spend more time in cultivation, Zhang Tie ended this talk.


    After doing all this, Zhang Tie finally felt reassured. Closely after that, he entered long-awaited Castle of Black Iron...


    ...


    "Welcome back home, Castle Lord..."


    Heller''s voice sounded as euphonic as a piece of music from heavens...


    As a light flashed across his eyes, Zhang Tie was already standing in the lobby of the palace tree inside Castle of Black Iron. Standing in front of Zhang Tie with a smile, Heller was carrying Zhang Tie''s clothes...


    "It''s nice to see you again, Heller..." Zhang Tie said as he took in a deep breath. Closely after that, he took his clothes from Heller''s hands and started to put them on. Not until then did Zhang Tie realize that he had been hiding for more than 10 days nakedly. ''Damn it! That''s too shameful!'' Thankfully, nobody else was here; otherwise, Zhang Tie even would consider to kill them...


    ''I have to avenge my shame!''


    Zhang Tie made a decision...


    "Erm... this event..." After putting on the clothes rapidly, Zhang Tie watched Heller as he wanted to say something.


    "The other three don''t know that you''re coming back today, Castle Lord. They''re in the kitchen. I''ve not told them to greet you. I saw nothing just now. Additionally, I''m suffering from amnesia today..." Heller instantly talked nonsense as his face turned serious at once.


    "Amnesia? When did you suffer from such a disease..."


    "Hmm, it''s a common disease that space spiritual beings like me would always suffer from, once in a few decades. It shows its effect irregularly. Coincidentally, you encountered it, Castle Lord..."


    Zhang Tie nodded satisfactorily as he patted Heller''s shoulder heavily, "Hmm, it''s a fair disease. Don''t give up curing it. If you need any help, just let me know..."


    "Thanks for your concern, Castle Lord, what do you want first, having some medicament or a meal?"


    "Of course, having a meal first. I need to increase some energy so that I could grow out a new eye and a new arm after taking medicament. These days, I was really hungry. Inside the whale''s stomach, there are nothing but seaweeds, fish and shrimps. But I''m not used to eating food in a whale''s stomach..." Zhang Tie said as he strode towards the canteen as his loud sound reverberated around the lobby of palace tree, "Edward, Edward, hurry, serve my your best dishes..."


    Watching Zhang Tie striding towards the canteen, Heller revealed a faint smile as he felt Zhang Tie was full of energy again after coming back as if he returned back to Blackhot City despite losing one eye and one arm...


    Watching Zhang Tie walking away, Heller hurriedly followed him up.


    As a qualified butler, how could he not serve his master when the latter was enjoying food...

 1810 Recovery

    Besides pleasure, delicious food and drinks could also bring people more energy and elements which were necessary to one''s life.


    In the canteen of Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie unloaded his heavy burden and concentrated on enjoying the delicious food and drinks on the table.


    As for Zhang Tie, Castle of Black Iron was his harbor and asylum. Previously, this harbor helped him tide over crises one after another and witnessed his growth. After coming to Motian Realm, being restricted to the special time and space power in this world, Zhang Tie could only access to this harbor once per half a month. Therefore, each opportunity for him to enter Castle of Black Iron became pretty precious.


    It almost took Zhang Tie 3 hours to finish this meal. Due to his great physical and digestive ability, Zhang Tie didn''t stop until he ate as much as 8 tough men''s meals.


    Zhang Tie didn''t take recovery medicament right after that; instead, he returned to his room. After taking a warm bath, he threw himself onto the warm huge bed and fell asleep.


    Zhang Tie spent 2 days in his room. Except for going to the washroom, Zhang Tie almost didn''t get off the bed.


    Two days later, Zhang Tie got off the bed and drank a vial of super recovery medicament. After that, he lay in the bud of the Flower of Life in the open land outside the palace tree. According to Heller, his incomplete body parts could grow faster in this way.


    Last time, Zhang Tie lay in the bud of the Flower of Life so as to restore his human gene and become a man. This time, he used it to grow his incomplete body parts.


    The effect of Blossom of Life was indeed marvelous.


    If Zhang Tie only drank the vial of super recovery medicament, it would take him at least one month to grow one arm and one eye. However, with the combination of the effect of Flower of Life, only after 10 days later, when Zhang Tie stood up in the bud, he had restored his arm and eye. Additionally, Zhang Tie''s body was stronger than before.


    "Congratulations, Castle Lord, you''ve absolutely recovered!" Heller spoke beside the Flower of Life as he watched Zhang Tie coming out of it.


    At this moment, Zhang Ti was wet all over like having come out of a swimming pool. The liquid over Zhang Tie was the solution that the Flower of Life had secreted so as to help him recover his health. The solution was as fresh as water. Meanwhile, it carried a special fresh fragrance of Flower of Life. It could slide off Zhang Tie''s body without being wiped off by towel. Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had become clean and dry.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s body was as perfect as before just like a jade sculpture. He was pretty strong, flexible and elegant. Besides, his body displayed nice coordination between Yin and Yang, strength and beauty. It displayed the aesthetic feeling of the golden section everywhere. He was more like a supermodel.


    After looking at his fresh sturdy arm, Zhang Tie made a bonny gesture by his arm before nodding satisfactorily.


    Not knowing why, Zhang Tie felt that his body was more close to perfect. This time, the regeneration of his arm and eye felt like being reborn. Everything was so fresh and vigorous.


    "Hmm, not bad. I feel I''ve already absolutely recovered. The new arm felt being more powerful than that before..." Zhang Tie said as he walked out of the bud and started to put on his clothes.


    "It''s not that the new arm is more powerful. Castle Lord, you might have forgotten that when you fought Demon Emperor, you''ve already activated Kua''e Bloodline which represents the greatest strength in your ancestral bloodlines. Your strength as a whole has already bulged again. Castle Lord, even if you don''t mean to use this bloodline, you could also have greater strength than usual..." Heller warned him calmly.


    Zhang Tie patted his head as he revealed a smile, "If you didn''t remind me, I would have almost forgotten about it. I''ve already activated Kua''e Bloodline. When I trigger it, my strength will increase by 120%. Additionally, it will constantly increase as I gradually light my chakra. At ordinary times, it could increase my strength by almost 10%..." After saying that, Zhang Tie sighed with a fretful and happy feeling. "I indeed have increased my strength, but I lost so many bloodline energy..."


    When he fought Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie had completely activated Xingtian Bloodline and Kua''e Bloodline. Before he completely activated one bloodline which could increase his power of self destruct, he had already run out of the bloodline energy. Therefore, Zhang Tie sighed for that.


    "Castle Lord, but you''re still alive, isn''t it? This is your biggest triumph. Additionally, your overall strength has increased again. As the Hua saying goes, as long as the green hills are there, one need not worry about the firewood..."


    Zhang Tie became happy again as he waved his hand in the air heroically, saying, "Right, as long as I''m alive, it would be my biggest triumph. After spending all the money, we could still make it. It''s not a big deal for me to consume some bloodline energy...."


    "Glad to know you could think through it, Castle Lord..."


    "Hahaha, I''m going to check what I''ve made this time..." As he said that, Zhang Tie strode towards the lobby of the palace tree as the fruits on the small tree were still waiting for him.


    ...


    In the following half a month, Zhang Tie just stayed in Castle of Black Iron and ate the fruits on the small tree. Besides, he continued to restore the sequel left by this fierce combat.


    Speaking of fruits, Zhang Tie won a bumper harvest this time.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    The biggest achievement was that fruit of brilliance on the small tree.


    This fruit of brilliance contained enormous spiritual energy, which could almost match that of the fruit of brilliance that he got after he killed Immortal Heavenly Chaos.


    A few days ago, Zhang Tie almost destroyed the whole Cyan Dragon Palace, a branch of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Si Clan''s castle. He even killed some immortal generals and lackeys headed by Qian Changqing. Therefore, he acquired another fruit of brilliance which contained abundant spiritual energy.


    Because it would take Zhang Tie quite a few days to digest this fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie didn''t take it when he returned to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace from Si Clan''s castle, this fruit of brilliance just stayed on the small tree.


    After Zhang Tie killed Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu, the total spiritual energy of two semi-saged level knights was added to this fruit of brilliance too. As a result, the spiritual energy in this fruit was as surging as the ocean. After taking it, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy surged again as the bizarre Kingkung Mountain in his mind sea elevated for another thousand of meters, making it more magnificent. The 360 huge stars and that golden moon became more brilliant...

 1811 The Terrifying Sequela

    Besides the fruit of brilliance, Zhang Tie had another great achievement¡ª¡ªa fruit of bloodline, which increased Zhang Tie''s empty bloodline energy to 34,150 points. As a result, Zhang Tie could activate more bloodlines at the critical moment.


    As for how many bloodline energy points could a fruit of bloodline bring him, Zhang Tie didn''t figure it out until now. After all, it depended on the enemy, the difference in the battle strength between Zhang Tie and his enemy and the difficulty in killing his enemy. As for the details, perhaps only the small tree knew.


    For instance, the death of Han Zhengfang brought Zhang Tie 15,687 bloodline energy points. That was really a fierce battle. However, this time, after killing three semi-sage level knights, he only got 34,150 bloodline energy points. As for the reason, Zhang Tie didn''t feel like studying it. No matter what, he was already satisfied as long as he had a fruit of bloodline.


    Besides, the small tree also continued to bear fruits of redemption like before. After taking all the fruits, Zhang Tie''s overall strength increased again.


    However, when Zhang Tie was so thrilled that he thought he could completely recover his battle strength, he finally discovered the sequela of the combat between him and Versatile Demon Emperor...


    ...


    After taking the fruits, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy surged and reached a new level. However, the battle qi in his qi sea was still empty. At this moment, a whim occurred to Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªfilling the void above qi sea with his own spiritual energy.


    To put it simply, with Zhang Tie''s control, the enormous spiritual energy in his mind sea would rush into the grey fog in the void above his qi sea. He intended to fill the grey fog with sufficient spiritual energy so that it would not absorb his battle qi any more. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    According to Zhang Tie''s knowledge, now that the grey fog in his mind sea and in his qi sea were both left by the Breaking Formation Immortal Thunder, he could clean up the two balls of energy by the same method. The grey fog in his mind sea had already disappeared after eating enough spiritual energy; Zhang Tie thought that he could clean up the same grey fog in his qi sea in the same way.


    Although there was no spiritual energy in his qi sea, Zhang Tie could transfer his own spiritual energy into his qi sea.


    Zhang Tie''s conjecture was correct.


    After absorbing enough spiritual energy, the remaining grey fog in Zhang Tie''s qi sea gradually turned white; then, the white fog gradually faded away in the qi sea.


    Zhang Tie thought that he had already completely recovered. He only needed to wait for the battle qi to show up in his qi sea and gradually become as much as before. Unexpectedly, after driving the grey fog away, the battle qi in his qi sea still remained at a very low level...


    ...


    On April 4th, the 3586th year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar...


    Under the Manjusaka karma fruit tree, Zhang Tie was sitting there in a dignified way for silent cultivation, legs crossed. From the start, Heller had been watching him with a concern...


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie''s face and body looked normal; however, after sitting there for half an hour, Zhang Tie''s face gradually turned redder as he continued to tremble all over.


    One hour later, Zhang Tie''s face suddenly turned pale as he spurted out blood, which fell onto the cyan stone stairs leading to the sacrificial altar under the small tree...


    "Castle Lord..."


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie finally opened his eyes. Panting heavily, he slightly shook his head towards Heller, implying that he was fine. After that, he wiped the bloodstains off his mouth corners and watched the sacrificial altar in front of him.


    The scarlet blood was very eye-catching. Zhang Tie felt like being torn apart by five vehicles when he tried to light his chakras.


    Zhang Tie had adapted to light his own chakra by Purgatory Samsama Method. Whereas, he had not imagined that such a simple way could become a tough mission that would barely be completed.


    There was only one reason for that¡ª¡ªinsufficient battle qi!


    Without the propulsion of powerful battle qi, even if Zhang Tie had great spiritual energy, he could not light even a bit of chakra. Because the process of lighting one''s chakra was the most important cultivation process of knights. Besides spiritual energy, the one factor which could reflect the knight''s realm and battle strength was battle qi. Therefore, without the coordination of the most important battle qi, knights couldn''t continue the most important cultivation process anymore.


    Previously, Zhang Tie didn''t feel that battle qi could be so important in this process. Now he realized it. Facing this result, Zhang Tie didn''t know whether to laugh or cry.


    After closing his eyes and looking into his qi sea, Zhang Tie found that the grey fog had disappeared; however, the battle qi in his qi sea was as thin as oxygen in the plateau. The brilliant sun in the qi sea had disappeared. His battle qi was not as constant as rivers any more; instead, it became a lemon slice which was almost dry and would not produce any juice unless you squeeze it hard.


    It was more like a LV 9 soldier''s realm.


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile as he slowly calmed down. Then he picked himself up and came to the sacrificial altar under the small tree.


    "Castle Lord, doesn''t it work?"


    "No. Without the coordination of battle qi, even if I have enough fire elements, I couldn''t light a fire chakra!" Zhang Tie said as he shook his head. This feeling was too depressing. Even if there were a lot of fire elements available, Zhang Tie couldn''t take them. It was like how a hungry man couldn''t open his mouth when a pile of delicious food was placed right in front of him. He tried to engulf one piece of flesh without the coordination of his battle qi; finally, he had to spurt it out. What was more, he was hurt; despite being not severe. "The fatal strike of an immortal emperor is really tricky. At that time, I felt my qi sea was blown up. Although it was not blown up and I had finally survived, I couldn''t recover my battle qi in the qi sea anymore!" As Zhang Tie said, he took a look at Heller, asking, "Oh, do you have any idea..."


    "If I had, I would have long told you, Castle Lord!" Heller replied as he watched Zhang Tie seriously, "But I think the sequela left by immortal emperor could be cured in Motian Realm; otherwise, Versatile Demon Emperor has long been unrivaled in this world. Nobody else could defeat him at all..."


    "I also think so!" Zhang Tie took a look at the palace tree in a wistful manner as he added, "It seems that I have to finish my vacation in Castle of Black Iron..."


    "Castle Lord, where are you going?"


    After hearing Heller''s words, a place flashed into Zhang Tie''s mind at once...

 1812 Emperor NvWa City

    It was time to leave Castle of Black Iron.


    If Zhang Tie could solve all the problems in Castle of Black Iron and could promote all the way to immortal emperor successfully at the highest speed before returning to Taixia Country, it was okay for him to stay inside Castle of Black Iron. Pitifully, even if he could absorb four elements in Castle of Black Iron, it would also take him a long period of time to promote to a sage-level knight, not to mention an immortal emperor.


    Zhang Tie had been used to utilizing Purgatory Samsara Method for cultivation and had already jettisoned the stereotyped cultivation method step as the stereotyped way of cultivation was consuming too much time.


    Previously, Zhang Tie had planned to not exit Castle of Black Iron until he refined all the fire elements of Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu and reached at least six change realm of a heavenly knight. By then, he would be more confident when facing dangers. However, the reality would not always develop according to one''s will. Additionally, there was always a price for surviving the strike of Versatile Demon Emperor.


    If Zhang Tie could recover his battle qi in his qi sea, even if he stayed in Castle of Black Iron for 100 years, he still couldn''t make any progress.


    Perhaps his qi sea might recover itself in a few months or a few years; however, Zhang Tie didn''t have so much time to waste. Furthermore, Zhang Tie felt that his qi sea could barely recover itself. The fatal strike of Versatile Demon Emperor could never be ignored.


    On this occasion, Zhang Tie had to leave Castle of Black Iron so as to find other methods to recover his battle qi.


    Thankfully, despite the loss of his battle qi, Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy had surged again. Therefore, with the great ability of divine dominator, Zhang Tie could still defeat ordinary opponents.


    Zhang Tie was heading for Emperor NvWa City.


    Emperor NvWa City was the forbidden area of demons. As Versatile Demon Emperor was chasing after him, Zhang Tie realized that Emperor NvWa City was his safest shelter. Additionally, many talents were gathering at Emperor NvWa City from the other areas across Motian Realm. Even if he couldn''t find a way to recover his qi sea, he would still be able to collect some relevant information.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Coincidentally, Zhang Tie was in Yaohai Ocean, which was rightly connected to Emperor NvWa City to the west.


    ...


    On the night of June 17, the 3586th year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar, on the sea level in the east of Yaohai Ocean, a shoal of grass-eating whales bobbed to the surface of the water and spurted out water columns. Zhang Tie, being invisible, exited the whale''s body together with a water column through the blowhole of the whale, floating in the air.


    "Thank you..." Zhang Tie said with a smile as he waved his hand towards the shoal of grass-eating whales. Those grass-eating whales replied with a light sound wave which could only be heard by Zhang Tie. Closely after that, they beat the waves by tails, arousing billows as high as dozens of meters. Then, these grass whales dove in the water again and continued their carefree travel in the ocean.


    "Emperor NvWa City should be over there..." Zhang Tie mumbled as he looked around.


    Zhang Tie was in the easternmost border of the active region of those grass whales in Qionghai Ocean. If Zhang Tie asked these grass whales to continue to move eastwards and leave their usual active region, those grass whales would become eye-catching. That would cause troubles and increase the risk of exposing himself. Therefore, Zhang Tie asked them to stop here. He then left the whale''s belly and came outside.


    In the vast ocean, he couldn''t see anything but waves. There were not even any geographical coordinates for reference. Even though Zhang Tie had borne the map of the entire Motian Realm, he could only identify the general direction.


    The sky within 600 miles was in dead silence. Zhang Tie dared not stay in the sky for too long. After identifying the general direction and examining the environment in the vicinity, he entered the ocean once again. In a split second, he had joined with the ocean current. Being pushed by that ocean current, Zhang Tie swam towards the east along with fish who were migrating.


    ''As I encountered Si Dan near Yaohai Ocean a few days ago, it means that my whereabout has already been exposed.'' Although it was over 1 month later, Zhang Tie was not sure whether Versatile Demon Emperor was still wandering in Yaohai Ocean and looking for him. Given the amazing, unpredictable power of the immortal emperor, Zhang Tie held that it was the safest way to hide himself at the bottom of the ocean.


    ...


    At the afternoon 5 days later, it was sunny. A 20-year old swarthy sturdy youth who looked simple and honest with shiny eyes stood at the gate of Emperor NvWa City in the west in ordinary cyan warrior robe with a cheap long sword at his waist. In the crowd, he shaded his eyes with his hand as he looked up at the cloud-reaching city gate, mouth wide open...


    Of course, this youth was Zhang Tie.


    The city gate could really reach the clouds. It was neither an exaggeration nor a rhetorical device.


    Standing at the city gate of Emperor NvWa City, Zhang Tie could really see the cloud and mist on the top of the city gate.


    The city wall was higher than 4,000 m. It was as long as the Great Wall. The city wall appeared to be not made of ordinary stones, but metallic crystal stones just like that being used to construct the tower of time. On the cloud-reaching city wall were flowing numerous bizarre runes.


    There were 9 heavens-level gates, 36 earth-level gates and 108 human-level gates on the west of Emperor NvWa City. The reason for opening so many gates lay in that the length of the city wall was longer than 2,500 miles in the west of Emperor NvWa City.


    ''A city wall higher than 4,000 m and longer than 2,500 miles being made of metallic crystal stones with bizarre runes flowing on like tower of time?''


    If Zhang Tie didn''t see it, he would never believe that there was such a city wall in this world. Such a city wouldn''t even appear in his dream. However, it was true.


    ''Such a city could never be constructed by the labor force.'' Zhang Tie muttered.


    Not until then did he realize why Emperor NvWa''s Palace could enjoy such a supreme social position in Motian Realm only depending on its Emperor NvWa City.


    "Get out of the way..." Right then, Zhang Tie heard a voice. Closely after that, Zhang Tie felt being pushed by someone from his back. Of course, Zhang Tie could choose to not give way to him because that trivial force to his body was what an ant to an elephant. However, Zhang Tie "was" still pushed aside.


    A 20-year old rich playboy with a folding fan in brilliant robe passed by Zhang Tie, face upwards. He didn''t even take a look at Zhang Tie.


    The playboy was accompanied by two strong bodyguards, a butler and two followers. The two bodyguards were both fierce immortal generals.


    It was a bodyguard in front of that playboy who pushed away Zhang Tie. When the playboy''s butler passed by Zhang Tie, he even took a fast glance at Zhang Tie from his foot to his head. When he noticed Zhang Tie''s coarse warrior robe and his cheap long sword, he instantly revealed a disdainful look.


    Zhang Tie didn''t mind it; instead, he just stood aside. These people''s judgment about him served as his best protective color which he needed the most.


    "As I''m here for learning. Have you arranged for my residence?" The playboy opened his mouth arrogantly in front.


    "Don''t worry, young master, master has already chosen a quadrangle dwellings for you in downtown. We will buy it the moment we arrive there today. From then on, we will have someplace to settle down; instead of living in hotels..."


    "Hmm, I just don''t want to live together with those servants and rustics..." the playboy sighed as he complained, "Everything in Emperor NvWa City is good except that all kinds of people could enter. I think Emperor NvWa''s Palace should set the entrance fee. If one wants to enter the city, he or she has to pay 100,000 crystal coins. In this way, Emperor NvWa City could become a bit quieter. Like how our private cities do, when we don''t want rustics to enter our cities, we will raise the entrance free. The higher the entrance fee is, the fewer the number of rustics would be..."


    "That''s wise, wise, young master..." The butler nodded as he bowed towards him.


    "Listen, you have to plant thousands of square meters'' black bamboos in my courtyard. It''s said that Mr. Cyancliff likes bamboo the most. Only with bamboos would the courtyard feel elegant. Oh, if the pond in the courtyard is not large enough, it''s not beautiful either. Find someone to make it larger. Otherwise, demolish the courtyard and build a new one. As long as I''ve got the land, I will build it according to my own will. Additionally, I want to build a waterside pavilion above the pond. The waterside pavilion should be composed of at least 7 storeys. Just make it similar to Heavenly Spirit Tower. I only need 70-80 servants. Each of them should be excellent. Am I clear?"


    "Ahem, ahem... young master... err... err... I''m afraid that the quadrangle dwelling that the master has gotten for you is a bit small..."


    "Small?" The playboy stopped at a stroke as he turned around with a frown, "How small? 7 entries or 8?"


    "Ahem, ahem... it''s... it''s 2 entries..." the butler replied in a low voice.


    "What?" The playboy shrieked like a pig being slaughtered, arousing the attention of many people. "Is that a quadrangle dwelling? How could people live in there? Even our dogs'' residence has more than 2 entries..."


    The butler hurriedly explained to him, "Young master, young master, we''re in Emperor NvWa''s City. Each inch of land here is very expensive. It''s already great for us to buy a courtyard here..."


    "Don''t tell me about that. Don''t tell me about that. Tell my dad, I want a bigger one..."


    Watching the weird young master and his retinue entering the city gate while shrieking, Zhang Tie smirked as he followed them in...


    In ancient China, quadrangle dwellings were divided into many types.


    If there was only one courtyard with one entry, it would be called one entry quadrangle dwellings.


    If there were two courtyards with two entries, it would be called two-entry quadrangle dwellings.


    If there were three courtyards with three entries, it would be called three-entry quadrangle dwellings.


    ...


    If a quadrangle dwellings is called 7-entry or 8-entry quadrangle dwellings, it should belong to an emperor or a city owner...


    The fewer the number of entries is, the smaller the quadrangle dwellings is.

 1813 News

    A countless number of people were accessing to Emperor NvWa City. Even a small human-level gate in the west of Emperor NvWa City, where Zhang Tie stood, was almost 100 m in width.


    There were totally 108 human-level gates on the wall in the west of Emperor NvWa City. Those greater than human-level gates were earth-level gates and heaven-level gates. In Zhang Tie''s opinion, this human-level gate was like a highway in the world where he came from.


    The 100 m wider human-level gate was divided into four lanes. Humans were walking in the central two lanes; vehicles and flying uangs were moving on the two lanes on both sides. Each lane was about 30 m in width and isolated by railings. As a result, humans and vehicles could move in their own lane without being mutually influenced.


    The rustling crowd poured in this gate; at the same time, many people were pouring out.


    Besides Zhang Tie and that playboy, it was the first time for many people to come to Emperor NvWa City. Many people looked as amazed as Zhang Tie. Many of them even exclaimed as they entered the city.


    "Wow, this city wall is too high..."


    "Yep, this city wall is 4200 m in height. Additionally, it''s said that this city wall could prevent from being damaged forever. Even if it''s damaged, it could also restore itself..."


    "Really?"


    "Of course. It''s said that Emperor NvWa City was built by a deity hundreds of millions of years ago..."


    ...


    "But there are so many gates on the wall. How can we identify all of them?"


    "It''s easy. Have you seen the names on the top of the gates? We''re entering Earth Star Gate. The 108 human-level gates were named by the 36 heavenly stars and 72 earth stars. You only need to identify directions..."


    ...


    "We shall strive for honor in Emperor NvWa City. At least we should learn some skills before going back!"


    ...


    "We have to join Emperor NvWa Palace..."


    "Unlike you, I want to learn rune knowledge from a master..."


    ...


    "It''s said that people could barely afford to live in Emperor NvWa City without efforts. We should work hard..."


    "We could find a job and settle down in Emperor NvWa City before making a further plan..."


    ...


    Many young people on Zhang Tie''s side were coming here in groups, both male and female. All of them were in high spirits and full of hope about their future. As Zhang Tie entered the gate together with them, unavoidably, he could collect information from their discussions even though he didn''t want to eavesdrop.


    Zhang Tie could understand those young man''s thoughts. As for many people, Emperor NvWa City was the place for them to realize their life goals. People who came here first had various purposes. Some of them wanted to learn something; some just traveled here; some prepared to develop their own undertakings and make money...


    In the eyes of humans across Motian Realm, Emperor NvWa City was the most prosperous human city, the center of this world. The position of Emperor NvWa City among humans was even higher than that of Xuanyuan Hill in Taixia Country. After all, Xuanyuan Hill had just been founded for less than 1,000 years. However, Emperor NvWa City had already been existing in Motian Realm for tens of thousands of years. In Motian Realm, immortal palaces were rising and falling like dynasties with changing flags in the long course of history while talents came and went. However, Emperor NvWa''s Palace remained as prosperous as before.


    A team of immortal soldiers was maintaining order at the entrance of the Dizhou Star Gate under the leadership of some immortal generals of Emperor NvWa''s Palace. As Zhang Tie listened to the discussions, he entered the gate with the crowd.


    All of a sudden, Zhang Tie heard a sound in the uproar.


    "Ahem, ahem, ahem..."


    It was a weak yet hoarse cough. Zhang Tie didn''t pay special attention to it at the beginning. However, the following talk made Zhang Tie''s heart race.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He caught the talk coming from the carriage of a flying uran beside his lane accidentally.


    "Miss, hold on, we''ve already arrived at Emperor NvWa City. After entering it, we will go to Tigerback Mountain and look for Bian Heng the Yama''s help. Bian Heng is the No. 1 doctor in Motian Realm. It''s said that he could cure all the diseases. I believe that he could cure your disease, miss..." a middle-aged woman said. Additionally, an almost 2-m high tough man with thick whiskers was driving the vehicle. A pair of shiny huge axes were put under his seat. Ordinary evil guys might be scared away by the pair of huge axes and the tough man.


    "I''m suffering from cancer. I''m afraid that I couldn''t be cured. Additionally, it''s said that Bian Heng the Yama is not understanding. Many people were driven out of there..." A weak female voice sounded in the carriage. "I didn''t want to come here. But I''m afraid that my family members would be worried about me if I didn''t come here. Alas..."


    "Miss, don''t say that. You will get better for sure..."


    "Ahem... ahem..."


    Only after a short talk, the carriage had been filled with weak, hoarse coughs. Zhang Tie took a look at the vehicle twice. The tough man felt being gazed as he instantly turned around and gazed at Zhang Tie with an alert, eyes wide open. After finding that Zhang Tie was simple and honest and was not like a power, the tough man slightly became composed as he shook the rein, speeding up the flying uran and moving forward in the blink of an eye.


    ''Bian Heng the Yama... the No. 1 doctor in Motian Realm...''


    Zhang Tie recalled this name as he realized that he had not heard of this name at all. Stroking his face, he thought, ''Now that this Bian Heng is so famous in the medical community, he must be something. After all, I''m here for medical treatment. Even though this person couldn''t cure me, I could at least have a try... Tigerback Mountain... I will take a look over there...''


    The entrance of the gate of Emperor NvWa City was longer than 3,000 m just like a deep and mysterious tunnel. It was almost the longest, deepest and highest city gate that Zhang Tie had ever seen. Walking in this tunnel and watching the mysterious flowing runes on the dome of the tunnel, Zhang Tie felt like passing through another world...

 1814 Zhang Ties Help in the Rain

    It took Zhang Tie half an hour to pass through the tunnel-like entrance of the city gate of Emperor NvWa City.


    Zhang Tie just walked leisurely. However, many youngsters had started to run the moment they entered the tunnel.


    Half an hour later, Zhang Tie finally felt bright in front of him as he walked out of the tunnel and entered Emperor NvWa City.


    Zhang Tie saw a square covering about 1.5 square miles, which was paved with bluestones. The main road circled around the square like a roundabout. The roundabout extended to south, north and east respectively. Zhang Tie saw undulating mountains and villages in the distance.


    Before Zhang Tie came to Motian Realm, Xuanyuan Hill was the largest city that Zhang Tie could imagine. But the entire Xuanyuan Hill only covered over 70 square miles. However, Emperor NvWa City was 10 times larger than Xuanyuan Hill. Over 400 million people were living in Emperor NvWa City. Therefore, Emperor NvWa City could even match a country.


    Those entering this city by flying uran had long moved far away on the main road. The uran carriage that Zhang Tie saw at the entrance had already disappeared.


    The square was too crowded. All the youngsters who came to Emperor NvWa City for the first time were wandering in the square and watching this legendary Emperor NvWa City out of curiosity.


    There was a boisterous commercial district in the center of the square, where people could find all the living necessities. There might be some vehicles centers in the commercial district as cars were coming out of there constantly. Some directly left by flying urans.


    Many people were holding high signs and yelling around the commercial district as they were recruiting employees.


    Zhang Tie took in a deep breath. He had felt that reiki concentration in the air was two times higher than that outside the city. If people could live in such an environment all year round, their physique would be stronger.


    Zhang Tie looked up at the sky where white clouds were floating casually as he sensed bizarre energy covering the entire city. Coming from the city wall, that special energy interwove an invisible border in the sky. As long as one penetrated through the border in the sky, he would be sensed and suffer from secret strikes.


    When Zhang Tie passed by the tunnel of the city gate, he felt that those flowing runes on the wall of the tunnel were functional. He felt being scanned time and time again before entering Emperor NvWa City.


    ''It''s said that Emperor NvWa City is a forbidden land of demons. It''s really extraordinary. But I wonder whether these means could discover moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace being controlled by Golden-Soul Runed Virus or not.''


    "Uncle, do you want a map of Emperor NvWa City..." When Zhang Tie looked around, he felt that a corner of his garment was drawn by someone. A 12-year old smart boy had already sneaked to his side and was promoting a roll of the map of Emperor NvWa City as he watched Zhang Tie with a pair of black eyes.


    Zhang Tie smiled as he asked kindly, "How much?"


    Although Zhang Tie had already got a copy of the map of Motian Realm in his mind, that one couldn''t match the map of Emperor NvWa City in precision.


    "One purple crystal coin..." the little boy instantly quoted.


    Compared to the size of Emperor NvWa City, this was a very high price.


    "It''s a bit expensive!" Zhang Tie replied in a muffled voice as he watched the small boy seriously, "Do you know how one can reach Tigerback Mountain?"


    "If you buy my map, you will know how to get there. Without a map, it''s difficult for you to find a place in such a city!" the small boy continued to persuade Zhang Tie as he added, "Are you going there for medical treatment or to learn from Bian Heng?"


    "Ah? You know that?" Zhang Tie uttered as he glanced at the small boy out of astonishment.


    "Of course, almost all the people go to Tigerback Mountain for either medical treatment or learning from Bian Heng. However, as too many people are going there, if you waste too much time on the way, it would be too pitiful." the small boy said as he sniffed and held high that map in front of Zhang Tie.


    "Well, I will buy one..." Zhang Tie pretended to think about it for a few seconds before giving a purple crystal coin to the small boy and getting the map.


    After taking his purple crystal coin, the small boy instantly ran away.


    Zhang Tie opened the map. Only after glancing over it, he had been crystal clear about the details. Tigerback Mountain was about 400 miles away. There was an avenue leading straight to Tigerback Mountain. As long as he positioned his destination, he could arrive there without even detour. Not until then did Zhang Tie know why the small boy immediately ran away the moment he got the money. ''It turned out that he was afraid that I would regret.''


    Zhang Tie smiled as he put away the map and left for his destination instantly.


    After passing by the square, Zhang Tie came to an avenue. Each avenue in Emperor NvWa City was tightly paved with bluestones without crack and wider than 50 m. Nobody knew how they were paved. The trees on roadsides shaded the avenues. With each distance, Zhang Tie would see pavilions for rest. On the avenue, some drove cars; some rode urans; some were running a bit slower than urans.


    People in Motian Realm were born to be LV 9 fighters. Therefore, many people chose to run besides riding mounts in Motian Realm. An adult could run about 300 miles a day on foot. That was to say, it only took an adult about 10 days to cross Emperor NvWa City from south to north or from west to east.


    Many people could even chat with their partners while running.


    Zhang Tie was also one of the runners. He just ran towards Tigerback Mountain at an average speed.


    ...


    When the night fell, Zhang Tie had already run about 200 miles after crossing many villages and towns. Fewer people were on the roads as many of them had already chosen inns to stay overnight on the way. However, Zhang Tie prepared to run all night and arrive at Tigerback Mountain before daybreak.


    This distance was not a big deal for Zhang Tie at all. On the way, he just appreciated the roadside sceneries leisurely. Such an enjoyable pure running reminded Zhang Tie of his hearty running in the valley and the wild when he participated in the survival training in Blackhot City.


    It seemed that God didn''t want Zhang Tie to be so satisfied. Soon after the night fell, he had heard a rumble of thunder. In a few seconds, it had rained heavily.


    In the dark, soon after it started to rain, the road had become misty. Only when lightning bolts flashed by did it become suddenly white.


    Right in front of him, a flying uran carriage tilted on the roadside as a wheel had already left the carriage. The two strong urans had already been fastened to a roadside tree. Zhang Tie found the very tough man whom he saw before was squatting down with an anxious look, being wet all over. He was fixing the broken wheel. Under a big roadside tree, a middle-aged woman was holding an open umbrella for a young maiden in white skirt.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The young maiden in white skirt was wearing a hood. A white veil hung down and covered her face completely. Even so, the young maiden still looked very decent under the tree. In the misty rain, she was like a lonely and fabulous lily in the gloomy valley.


    Before Zhang Tie came here, the tough man who was fixing the wheel had already noticed Zhang Tie. Therefore, the tough man instantly sprung up as he stared at Zhang Tie, holding two broad axes.


    Zhang Tie directly passed by them. The tough man then became faintly relaxed as he slightly put down his huge axes. However, after passing them for dozens of meters, Zhang Tie stopped. Closely after that, he turned around and ran towards them.


    Watching Zhang Tie coming over here, the tough man became intense at once as he slightly raised the edges of huge axes as if he was ready to attack.


    However, Zhang Tie appeared to have not seen the tough man''s response and vigilant look; instead, he squatted down and took a look at that vehicle, saying, "The balls inside the spin axis of this vehicle were broken. As a result, the bearing bush was destroyed, causing an imbalance between two wheels. Finally, one wheel almost ran out. Do you have professional tools? Let me fix it for you..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, the tough man became shortly stunned. Closely after that, he put down the huge axes silently as he pushed one tool case near his foot to the front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie opened the tool case and took out the tools before moving the spin axis away from the bottom of the carriage. After that, he took the bearing out of the spin axis and dismantled it. Closely after that, he picked out the broken balls by a special tool. Then, he added some grease into the bearing before filling new balls back into it.


    As it was still raining. When Zhang Tie fixed the carriage, his clothes soon turned wet.


    "Aunt Wu, shelter this master with your umbrella. I''m okay here..." the young maiden in veil said lightly. After hearing her words, the middle-aged woman took a look at her before moving to the front of Zhang Tie, sheltering Zhang Tie with her umbrella.


    Zhang Tie focused on fixing the vehicle. The problem with this carriage was too simple. He could easily fix it when he was a soldier in Norman Empire, not to mention that he was already an immortal craftsman, who could create mechanical civilization by hands.


    In Motian Realm, people didn''t focus on mechanics. Therefore, the chassis and wheels of this carriage were relatively simpler than those in the world where he came from. Additionally, its shockproof block was very coarse. At the bottom of the carriage, there were two parts called carrying pole beams. In Taixia Country, these parts were used for trucks. It was already not bad for such a carriage to have metal liner bushing in its wheels.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, this uran carriage was even simpler than the toys of his sons at home. However, the others were all curious about his skillful movements as if he was playing conjurations.


    In the beginning, the tough man watched Zhang Tie with a bit vigilance. Gradually, the bit vigilance disappeared as he started to coordinate with Zhang Tie on one side.


    In only a few minutes, Zhang Tie had already assembled those parts and adjusted the two carrying pole beams. After that, he told the tough man to lift the 1-2 tons of carriage as he installed the wheel.


    After delving into the tool case, Zhang Tie raised his head as he told the tough man, "Sh*t, there''s no reserved liner bushing. If so, the wheel will also fall off in a short period of time. Where''s the former liner bushing?"


    "Ah? Bearing bush? What''s bearing bush?" The tough man asked with a confused look.


    Zhang Tie shook his head as he explained. Given this tough man''s look, he knew nothing about mechanics. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to waste time on explaining it to him; instead, he asked the tough man straightforwardly, "Where did you find the problem?"


    "On the road a few miles away..." the tough men replied.


    "I think the broken bearing bush should be lying on the road. Wait a moment, I will run back and get it for you..." After leaving the words, Zhang Tie instantly rushed into the rain along the way where they came from.


    10 minutes later, Zhang Tie came back, wet all over, with a deformed and broken part of the carriage in hand.


    He then used a hammer to knock it for a short while, making the deformed and broken bearing bush more and more regular and smooth. After that, he installed it.


    "As this bearing bush is already broken, it couldn''t last too long. But it could still stand 1 or 2 days. When you arrive at an inn or a town, you''d better replace it with a new one!" Zhang Tie warned the tough man as he put those tools back into the case before putting the tool case back under the seat.


    "Thank you so much..." the tough man told Zhang Tie seriously. At that time, the tough man had already confirmed that Zhang Tie was not a threat.


    "Pleasure..." Zhang Tie replied as he was going to leave.


    "According to my knowledge, this road leads to Tigerback Mountain. Master, are you also heading for Tigerback Mountain overnight?" the young maiden uttered.


    "Yea, I''m going to Tigerback Mountain!"


    "It''s raining now and it''s too late. Master, if you agree, you could go there together with us..." The young maiden in veil suggested kindly. Aunt Wu wanted to say something. However, after the young lady took a look at her, she became quiet.


    The tough man didn''t oppose it. It seemed that he also wanted Zhang Tie to go there together with them so that someone could help them fix the carriage when there was any problem. Additionally, he felt that Zhang Tie didn''t pose any threat to him in the battle force. Therefore, he became relaxed.


    Zhang Tie looked at that young lady with a smile as he replied, "Okay, sorry to trouble you..."


    ...


    After the carriage was fixed, the tough man continued to drive the uran carriage as Zhang Tie was sitting together with that young lady and Aunt Wu in the carriage.


    With a sound of whip, the uran carriage started to move rapidly towards Tigerback Mountain again...

 1815 Going With the Beauty

    It was raining heavily with thunders every once a while. The bean-sized raindrops hit the top of the carriage, causing rustles.


    Two sealed glazed lamps were hanging at the two corners of the carriage in front of them, making the road clear. Being driven by that tough man, two flying urans were galloping in the rain happily. Looking outside through the window, Zhang Tie saw trees and towering mountains flashing backward.


    Previously, Zhang Tie wanted to sit outside the carriage with the driver; however, he found that only one person was available outside there while a canopy above the head of the driver could shelter wind and rain. Even so, wind and raindrops could still hit the driver. Therefore, the tough man had already put on a waterproof raincoat. At the invitation of the maid in white, Zhang Tie was not affected. After wringing out his wet clothes, he got on the vehicle.


    In Motian Realm, there was no such stereotype that male and female should not be close to each other. Although there should be a prudent reserve between the genders in Motian Realm too, it was not excessive. If a male treated a female politely, they could sit together. This point was a bit similar to that of Taixia Country. Therefore, it was not offending public decency too much for Zhang Tie to stay with two strange women.


    It was as warm as spring in the carriage because a stove was set inside. Besides, Zhang Tie smelled the faint fragrance from the maid. It was nice for Zhang Tie to stay with a beauty in a carriage and listen to the raindrops at night.


    The maid was calm. As Zhang Tie didn''t mean to pursue her, he just looked outside. However, Aunt Wu had been gazing at Zhang Tie intensely since Zhang Tie got on the vehicle in fear that Zhang Tie suddenly turned into a timber wolf and charged at the "little white rabbit".


    There was a circle of soft seats inside the carriage. Sitting in the middle of the soft seats, Uncle Wu was facing the door with an eye on Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie was facing the maid with a stove in between.


    "Master, may I know your name?" the maid in veil asked Zhang Tie when the vehicle started to run at a high speed.


    "Hahaha, I''m not a master. I''m just a small figure traveling across the world. Miss, you could call me Jin Wu..." Zhang Tie replied with a laugh. Frankly, as Zhang Tie had changed his look and face, he couldn''t use the same name anymore. Therefore, he made another armor for himself. At this moment, Zhang Tie had already understood why Donder prepared so many masks and always changed his identities. Because it was nice to experience the lives of different identities. "Miss, may I know your name?" Zhang Tie asked her politely.


    "My family name is Tang; my given name is Mei. Master, you can call me Tang Mei!" the woman answered lightly. Meanwhile, she introduced the other two people to Zhang Tie, "This is Aunt Wu. The driver is Uncle Guan. I appreciate you so much for your help, Master Jin. Without your help, we don''t know how long will we wait there tonight!"


    "It''s my pleasure, Miss Tang. Actually, we''ve met each other at the city gate. I''ve not imagined that I could meet you again on the way. We might be predestined to know each other..."


    "Ah? Did we meet each other at the city gate?"


    Although she was wearing a veil, Zhang Tie could still sense being gazed by a pair of shiny eyes. The veil was unusual. Zhang Tie felt it was like a single-direction glass. The maid could see clearly everything; however, average people could not see her look through the veil. Although Zhang Tie could easily see her look through the veil using his lotus flower eyes, he didn''t mean to do that. Because Zhang Tie felt that it would not be surprising and interesting anymore if he could expose the trump cards of the others depending on his special ability, even if he could win each time. As a person, he didn''t want to square accounts in every detail. Sometimes, it was also enjoyment for one to be confused.


    The more powerful one was, the more one had seen, the more open-minded he would be. It was mental progress.


    "At that time, Uncle Guan was on the vehicle, Miss Tang didn''t see me as you were in the carriage. But I saw Uncle Guan!"


    "Oh, I see!" Tang Mei lightly nodded, "Master, given your look, you''re a warrior. I''ve not imagined that you''re proficient in craftsmanship. After you fixed this vehicle, it feels much more comfortable than before... It''s not bumpy any more..."


    "Hahaha, poor kids always learn more!" Zhang Tie replied to her with a popular proverb in Taixia Country, causing her eyes to shine at a stroke, "As I''ve adjusted the shockproof block at the bottom of the vehicle, it feels more comfortable!"


    "Master, given your sturdy frame, you could run as fast as flying uran and travel hundreds of miles a day. Do you want to learn from Bian Heng the Yama in Tigerback Mountain?"


    It was Zhang Tie''s second time to hear about it today. In the daytime, he had heard it from a little boy who sold him a map. Now, Tang Mei mentioned it again. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s curiosity was aroused as he asked her, "It''s the second time for me to hear it today. Does Bian Heng the Yama need apprentices in Tigerback Mountain?"


    "Bian Heng the Yama doesn''t have too many people in Tigerback Mountain. It''s said that Bian Heng only accepted 8 disciples over the past hundreds of years. All the 8 disciples have learned something from him and acquired a good reputation in the rest of the world. A few years ago, a piece of news was suddenly released from Tigerback Mountain that Bian Heng the Yama wanted to accept the last disciple. As a result, many people poured in Tigerback Mountain from the rest of the world and wanted to be the disciple of Bian Heng. They all want to learn something great so as to improve their social status. A few months ago, a news was released from Tigerback Mountain that Bian Heng was going to test people in Tigerback Mountain. The one who could pass his test would become his last disciple..."


    "Haha, that''s interesting!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.

 1816 A Boisterous Place

    After a few hours of journey, their carriage finally arrived at Tigerback Mountain at about 11 Pm.


    Tigerback Mountain was at the seaside. This waters was called Whitedragon Gulf. Being connected to Yaohai Ocean, Whitedragon Gulf was a part of Yaohai Ocean deep into Emperor NvWa''s City. At the foot of Tigerback Mountain, there was a prosperous town called Tigerback Town which lasted dozens of miles along the gulf.


    When they arrived at Tigerback Town, it had long stopped raining. Although being very late, it was still brightly lit and boisterous in Tigerback Town as if there was a night fair. Through the windows of the carriage, they could enjoy the scenery of Tigerback Town and the painted pleasure boats berthing at the offshore of Whitedragon Gulf being connected to Tigerback Town. The lamplights on the pleasure-boats made the water surface colorful.


    When the carriage arrived at Tigerback Town, Zhang Tie had gotten off the vehicle at a junction of three roads where he bade farewell to Tang Mei and the other two.


    Zhang Tie was broad-minded to get a lift and got along well with them on the way. When they arrived at Tigerback Town, of course, they should settle down respectively. If Zhang Tie lived in the same inn or hotel with them, Tang Mei would feel being put on the spot. Additionally, they would think that Zhang Tie had some evil purpose. Therefore, Zhang Tie proposed to get off the vehicle the moment they arrived at Tigerback Town. Before Tang Mei said anything, Aunt Wu instantly heaved a deep sigh as she finally became reassured.


    Tang Mei didn''t urge him to stay. As they met by chance, it would be improper for them to be too polite to each other.


    "Wish you a happy trip, Master Jin!"


    "Hahaha, wish you recover soon!"


    After bidding farewell to each other, Uncle Guan turned left as Zhang Tie turned right. No matter what, they had been in the town, they could easily find boites and inns. It was not difficult for them to find a place to settle down respectively.


    Both sides of the roads were lit by the lanterns. They didn''t even use roadside lamps. Additionally, Zhang Tie could hear drunkards playing wager games, singing and dancing in the boites. Many people were immersed in the boisterous scenery. Listening to the laughter and talks of males and females, Zhang Tie almost thought that he had entered a red-light district of a propserous metropolis.


    Zhang Tie really didn''t understand why it was so boisterous at the foot of Tigerback Mountain.


    Instead of strolling over there, Zhang Tie just took a walk on the avenues of the town for a short while before walking towards a tranquil place. When he saw a tranquil inn deep in a lane being paved with blue stones right with two red lanterns at its gate looming in the small bamboo wood, Zhang Tie walked in.


    When he entered the lane, he noticed the inn was called Bamboo Book Inn. It was an elegant name. Besides, there was a couplet of wood sculpture at the gate of the inn¡ª¡ªWith thousands of bamboos outside, we collect tens of thousands of books inside.


    With a smile, Zhang Tie entered the inn.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, a waiter in green clothes and hat hurriedly greeted him.


    "Do you have any vacancy?"


    "Yes, we have. There''re two top-level rooms available. Sir, do you want to live in?"


    "Hmm, what''s the price?"


    "5 purple crystal coins a day!"


    "What?" Zhang Tie was startled by this price. It was not because Zhang Tie didn''t have enough money, but Zhang Tie was aware that this price was pretty, pretty high across Motian Realm. Previously, Zhang Tie thought it would just cost him dozens of white crystal coins a day in such an inn. He had not imagined that its price was so exaggerated per night.


    With a passionate smile, the waiter explained, "Sir, it must be your first time to come to Emperor NvWa''s Palace. Everything is expensive here. The items at the foot of Tigerback Mountain were more expensive than that of the same kind in other places. If you don''t believe me, you could ask around the other inns. Although our price is not the lowest; it''s not the highest either. This price is on an intermediate level in Tigerback Town!"


    After taking a look at the waiter''s eyes, Zhang Tie knew that he was not lying. Therefore, he didn''t bargain with him anymore, "Well, I want a top-level room!"


    "Okay, I will take you to the room. Oh, according to the universal rule widely accepted by all the inns in Tigerback Town, you should pay first. When you leave here, we will give you the change. If you live too long and run out of your deposit, please pay more first..." The waiter started to talk to Zhang Tie as he took him into the inn.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Zhang Tie was shocked again as he asked straightforwardly, "How much should I pay in advance?"


    "One blue crystal coin..."


    A blue crystal coin was equal to 100 purple crystal coins. A purple crystal coin was equal to 100 white crystal coins. They were basic currency units in Motian Realm. One blue crystal coin was equal to the price of 20 days'' accommodation.


    Zhang Tie instantly took a blue crystal coin out of his purse and gave it to the waiter. By the way, he asked, "Why is Tigerback Town so boisterous in the evening?"


    "Because Sage Bian is in Tigerback Mountain. Over these years, all the people who would like to seek medical services from Sage Bian or dreamed to be his disciples are gathering in Tigerback Town. Many of them directly stayed here. Additionally, most of those who came here for Sage Bian or wanted to be his disciples were dignitaries. Many of them were famous and rich doctors across Motian Realm. They even brought their entourage and maids here. Therefore, Tigerback Town became boisterous. Gradually, those people started to acquaint with each other. As they''re free, they just gather in boites, drinking and entertaining themselves in the evening..."


    After hearing the waiter''s explanation, Zhang Tie finally understood that Tigerback Town became so prosperous and boisterous because of Bian Heng the Yama. This region was like a hot-spot tourist area. As townsmen became rich because of him, they gradually called Bian Heng the "Sage Bian"...


    Coincidentally, when the waiter took Zhang Tie into a courtyard, Zhang Tie saw someone sitting at a stone table in the middle of the courtyard and discussing something.


    "Brother Li, I don''t agree with you. According to you, the man who died abruptly in your clinic must suffer from disordered heartbeats. Additionally, his Jun fire and Xiang fire were imbalanced. If we have pierced his Shaoyang Meridian, then his Heart Meridian, we could have cured him for sure..."


    "I''ve noticed that at that time. Therefore, I pierced the Taiyin point and Shaoyin point on his hand as I expected to weaken his strong internal fire by stimulating his yin points. Why didn''t it work?"


    "Brother Li, you only thought that you could weaken his strong internal fire by stimulating his yin points; however, you forgot that Taiyin point carried the attribute of gold while Shaoyin carried the attribute of water. When his Taiyin point was stimulated, his internal fire would surpass his internal gold; when his Shaoyin point was stimulated, his internal water would defeat his internal fire. It''s nothing different than using fire to gulp down gold; then using water to die out the fire. Of course, he would die..."


    "Ah..." That person forcefully patted his thigh as he finally understood the reason.


    All the others fixated onto the speaker as they started to ask him questions...


    "But how do you distinguish Jun fire from Xiang fire..."


    "I feel Jun fire and Xiang fire are actually Yin fire and Yang fire respectively..."


    "No. As the saying goes, Zhuang fire leads to weak qi; Shao fire leads to strong qi; Zhuang fire eats qi; qi eats Shao fire. Zhuang fire drives away qi; Shao fire generates qi. I feel Jun fire and Xiang fire are essentially Zhuang fire and Shao fire respectively..."


    ...


    Zhang Tie was muddle-headed about the contents of their talk. Even though they were all here to be others'' disciples, some of them were having drinks in boites, the others were discussing principles of medical science. Such a tiny Tigerback Town really became the base of those people who were interested in medical science across Motian Realm. Such people could be seen everywhere across Tigerback Town. Zhang Tie wondered how many people would like to join Bian Heng''s force.


    When Zhang Tie passed by the corridor, those arguers noticed Zhang Tie immediately. One of them even invited Zhang Tie to join them as he said, "Friend, are you here to be Sage Bian''s disciple or not? As we''re from different regions, will you join us and discuss medical science with us? We may learn from each other!"


    "Ahem, ahem. Thanks, I know nothing about medical science. I''m here for something else..."


    "Sigh, he''s not with us!" That person slightly shook his head as he became silent. After hearing that Zhang Tie was not with them, they continued their talk.


    ...


    Zhang Tie came straight to his own room. After taking a look at it, Zhang Tie felt basically satisfied with it. Therefore, he settled down there.


    He prepared to take a rest here for one night. After daybreak, he would go to Tigerback Mountain to look for Bian Heng. Hopefully, Bian Heng could cure his problem in his qi sea. Now that that person was worshipped by so many people across Motian Realm, he must be something...

 1817 The Rule

    After resting one night in the inn, Zhang Tie got up on the next early morning. After asking the waiter how to reach Tigerback Mountain, Zhang Tie left the inn for Tigerback Mountain.


    Tigerback mountain was about 3 miles away from Zhang Tie''s inn. Therefore, it was just a few minutes of walk.


    Tigerback Mountain was not high; however, it was full of reiki. It was said that Bian Heng the Yama was on the mountain. There was a stone path that could lead straight to the hillside from the foot of the mountain. There was a decorated archway at the beginning of the stone path which was higher than 30 m. On the top of the archway, there was a line of huge golden words, shining in the first ray of sunshine, "The Immortal Doctor in Motian Realm" inscribed by Emperor NvWa''s Palace.


    This archway alone was awe-inspiring to everyone.


    When Zhang Tie came to the front of that archway, there were already hundreds of people in front of him, male or female, old or young, immortal generals or ordinary people, rich or poor. All of them were queuing up quietly and orderly outside the decorated archway.


    At the sight of them, Zhang Tie had known that they were here for medicines. According to the rule of Tigerback Mountain, all the patients should queue up here obediently.


    In other places across Motian Realm, someone might jump the queues; however, it would never happen here; as all those who dared jump the queue here would be driven out of Tigerback Mountain forever. Someone might wonder whether there were trouble-makers here or not? Of course, there were. However, the premise was that they should defeat Bian Heng the Yama first. Forgot to tell you, Bian Heng the Yama was also a supreme-level immortal general or a sage-level knight besides being famous in the medical community.


    Besides immortal emperors, who dared guarantee that he could defeat Bian Heng? If not being foolish, which human immortal emperor would treat Bian Heng by force?


    Zhang Tie stood at the end of the line consciously as he saw Uncle Guan who was driving the uran carriage yesterday in front of him. After greeting each other, Zhang Tie and Uncle Guan continued to queue up.


    ''It''s just like queuing up to register in the hospital!'' Zhang Tie muttered.


    Many people arrived behind Zhang Tie. Not until over 1 hour later when the total population in the queue was over 500 did Zhang Tie see two people going downhill. When they came to the archway, they opened a small room beside the archway and entered it. Closely after that, one of them said, "The first one could come in..."


    The first one looked like a butler. After hearing the words, the butler hurriedly smoothened his clothes and entered the small room before closing the door from inside.


    Zhang Tie noticed that the small room was soundproof. Common talks inside the room could never be heard by people outside.


    Only after 10 more seconds, the first one had left the room with a worried look. After taking a look at Tigerback Mountain behind him, he left there.


    The second one also came out in 10 more seconds. Then the 3rd one, the 4th one... The team just moved forward. Most of them could only stay in the room for more than 10 seconds. Few of them could stay inside for half a minute. Only a couple of them could stay inside for 1 minute.


    After about one hour later, Zhang Tie saw Uncle Guan entering the small room.


    However, Uncle Guan came out in a bit more than 10 seconds too.


    Zhang Tie immediately noticed that Uncle Guan looked a bit frustrated and indignant.


    "Uncle Guan, how about it?" Zhang Tie asked him when Uncle Guan approached him.


    After taking a look at Zhang Tie, Uncle Guan shook his head silently before leaving there with heavy steps.


    Not only Uncle Guan, but most of the people leaving that small room also looked worried.


    After Uncle Guan left there for about 20 minutes, it finally came to Zhang Tie.


    After entering the small room frankly, Zhang Tie closed the door from inside.


    There were a desk and a chair inside the small room. The elder one with pale hair was sitting on the chair with a distant look, eyes half-closed. He didn''t even take a look at Zhang Tie. The younger one at his 20''s standing beside him watching Zhang Tie in a domineering look.


    It was like how a business group or trading company interviewed their employees.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    When Zhang Tie saw them just now, he had known that they were both immortal generals. The elder one was a wind immortal general; the younger one was an earth immortal general. However, they all looked like servants.


    "Do you know the rule here?" The youth opened his mouth with a distant look as if Zhang Tie had owed him hundreds of element crystals or he was interrogating Zhang Tie given the latter''s ordinary costume.


    "I don''t know!" Zhang Tie replied as he pretended to be serious.


    "Why did you join in the fun if you don''t know about it?" The youth changed his face at once as he started to scold Zhang Tie.


    "That''s why I''m here!" Zhang Tie replied calmly as if he had not seen the youth''s face, "I don''t know where you publicize your rule. If there is, I don''t mind taking a look at it. If you''ve not publicized it, please explain it to me. Isn''t that your job?"


    Zhang Tie actually had heard about the rule in Tigerback Mountain from Tang Mei in the uran carriage yesterday. However, he disliked the expression of the youth. Therefore, he just denied it.


    At this moment, the old man who was sitting on the chair looked up at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, he lowered his head, eyes half-closed as if he was taking a nap.


    The youth slightly turned furious as he wanted to lose his temper. However, after taking a look at that old man beside him, he took in a deep breath and controlled his fury.


    "Well, now that you don''t know about the rule in Tigerback Mountain, I will explain it to you. Do you want my master to cure your disease?"


    "Yes!"


    "What items could you present to enable my master to cure your disease?" the youth asked Zhang Tie with a bit ironical expression as if he wanted to lose his temper, "You know, ordinary items couldn''t move my master at all. If you take out a human-level immortal outfit or element crystals, save it. Some years ago, someone even wanted to present earth-level immortal outfits to my master; however, my master refused them all. Ordinary immortal outfits and element crystals are like nothing but sh*t in my master''s eyes!"


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "My present is definitely unique in Motian Realm. I believe that your master will be interested in it the moment he sees it!"


    "Young man, you''d better leave here as soon as possible. I will not put you on the spot here!" The old man suddenly opened his mouth as he raised his head and watched Zhang Tie, saying, "We meet dozens of people like you annually. You couldn''t suffer the outcome of cheating people in Tigerback Mountain!"


    Zhang Tie smiled as he moved one step forward. Meanwhile, he reached out a fist, saying, "The item is in my hand. You will know it the moment you see it. However, the fewer people see it, the better..."


    "You''re still pretending to be something..." The youth was already furious as he couldn''t wait to throw Zhang Tie out of there.


    As Zhang Tie clenched his fist, the young man couldn''t see the item in his hand. Even if there was really something, as it could be held by one hand, it must be not precious.


    The old man took a calm look at Zhang Tie as he reached out his hand. Zhang Tie then put the item onto the old man''s hand.


    The old man slightly changed his face the moment he sensed the item in his hand.


    "Do you think you could find this in Motian Realm?" Zhang Tie asked with a smile.


    The old man''s expression kept changing for a short while before nodding and slowly picking himself up from the chair. Under the unbelievable gaze of the young man, the old man told Zhang Tie, "Come with me..."


    After saying that, the old man told the young immortal general, "Let''s stop it today!"


    Closely after that, the old man took Zhang Tie out of the small room beside the archway. Under the dumbfounded looks of all the others, he went uphill one step after another, followed by Zhang Tie, leaving many people discussing it behind them...


    "Who''s that young man? Why did he go uphill?"


    "Does he have any rarity..."


    "Impossible..."

 1818 Bian Heng the Yama

    Zhang Tie followed the old man all the way up the mountain along the stone trail. Besides beautiful scenery, Tigerback Mountain also had plentiful reiki. Right beside the stone trail, there was a crystal brook, inside which giant salamanders, mossbacks and fish could be seen everywhere. There were also dense woods beside the stone trail. Monkeys were jumping over treetops every once a while. Birds twittered from time to time. Zhang Tie looked around as he nodded inside, ''This is indeed a nice, inhabitable place.''


    Only after 10 more minutes, the two people had already come to the hillside of Tigerback Mountain where Zhang Tie saw a large complex. Additionally, many people were busy working here. Someone commanded some subordinates to carry a huge winnowing pan with a diameter of 1 m out of the room and air the contents inside bamboo winnowing pan in the square.


    Some rooms were filled with steam, which indicated that people were boiling herbal medicine inside. Some rooms were reflected with flames, which implied that people were cooking medicinal pills inside. Zhang Tie could sniff various herbal medicines and medicinal pills.


    Those people ignored Zhang Tie as they just paid attention to their own jobs. With the guidance of the old man, Zhang Tie came across two colorful herbal medicine gardens before coming to a relatively tranquil place. After leading Zhang Tie into a parlor and having people serve a cup of tea for Zhang Tie, the old man asked Zhang Tie to wait here for a short while. He then took Zhang Tie''s item to Bian Heng. If Bian Heng agreed to meet Zhang Tie, he would come here; if not, the old man would return Zhang Tie''s item back to him and walk him off the mountain.


    Zhang Tie nodded. He then sat in the parlor while drinking the aromatic tea, waiting for Bian Heng.


    Zhang Tie believed that Bian Heng would come here to meet him. If Bian Heng was an average person, he might not meet him; now that Bian Heng was a sage-level knight, he would come here for sure because Zhang Tie gave the old man a gold coin, a wholly new, common gold coin produced in Taixia Country.


    There was neither gold nor gold coin in Motian Realm. Therefore, that gold coin carried a lot of information and was of great significance. As for ordinary people, a gold coin might not count at all as it was not edible; however, that gold coin carried a great significance for these people on the top of Motian Realm. The same item meant different for people on different levels.


    Even immortal emperors were interested in that gold coin, Zhang Tie didn''t believe that Bian Heng wasn''t. Otherwise, the so-called Bian Heng the Yama was short-sighted.


    As he sipped tea, Zhang Tie started to release his spiritual energy to sense the surrounding situation.


    After the old man left the parlor, a wisp of Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy followed that old man through the winding corridor beside the parlor, the courtyard, then to the front of an attic, where the old man knocked at the gate.


    "Come in..." A slightly dry sound came out of the room.


    The old man entered the attic, closely followed by Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy...


    Under the gaze of Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy, he saw that a short small-eyed aggressive person with messy silver hair and flat bulbous nose was writing something on a piece of paper with a painful look by a writing brush.


    ''Is this average-looking, even a bit funny old guy the famous Bian Heng the Yama across Motian Realm?''


    Zhang Tie became slightly shocked.


    However, even though Bian Heng was a sage-level knight, he still didn''t find that Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy had already slowly invaded into his attic and was watching him silently from a viewpoint.


    It was messy inside the room. The walls, the desk and the ground were full of papers being covered with figures, line segments of different lengths and squares.


    "Master, a person brought you an item..."


    The old man''s first sentence unraveled Zhang Tie''s doubt. This unkempt man was indeed Bian Heng the Yama. The old wind immortal general was just Bian Heng the Yama''s servant.


    "Did someone ask me to give him favor in the name of an immortal emperor or king of an immortal palace again?" the unkempt old man asked as he continued to watch those figures on a piece of paper with a frown. Meanwhile, he waved his hand impatiently and roared, "Let him roll out of here. This father doesn''t want to waste time on them. Except for Star Emperor or Force Emperor, drive all of them away..."


    The old servant didn''t say anything as he just put that gold coin on the desk of Bian Heng the Yama lightly.


    In the beginning, Bian Heng didn''t notice it. However, when he glanced over that gold coin, he became shortly stunned. Closely after that, he put down his ink brush and picked that gold coin. After looking at it for a while, he gradually turned serious.


    This gold coin was different than that which Force Emperor gifted Dragon Emperor in style. However, they were both stand gold coins in Taixia Country. The positive pattern of this gold coin was a slender maid who was playing the zither while its back was the image of the magnificent headquarters of Xuanyuan Bank.


    "Who... brought this item?" Bian Heng asked as he gazed at the delicate patterns and the characters on the gold coin.


    "A young man at his 20''s given his look!" the old servant answered calmly.


    "Did he come from an immortal palace?"


    "I guess not. That young man came here alone. He has a poor battle strength. I don''t know his real power..."


    Bian Heng became shortly hesitant. After glancing at the gold coins for another a few times, he finally stood up and said, "Well, I''m going to meet this young man..."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    After leaving the words, Bian Heng strode out of the attic. The old servant closed the gate of the attic and followed him away.


    Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy still stayed in the attic. He found some patterns on the walls of the room which looked like deductions of eight diagrams and some lines and figures that Zhang Tie didn''t understand. Zhang Tie could only understand some 9 square patterns, 16 square patterns and 25 square patterns which were traditional patterns among Hua people.


    Mathematically, a 9 square pattern was a trimagic square; a 16 square pattern was a quadramagic square; a 25 square pattern was a pentamagic square...


    Zhang Tie saw some septuplemagic square on the walls. Just now, Bian Heng was struggling for drawing an octuplemagic square on the desk just now. Most of the balls of wasted paper on the ground were false octuplemagic squares and various calculations.


    ''What was Bian Heng the Yama doing here?''


    Watching various patterns and figures in the room, Zhang Tie became muddle-headed...


    However, there was on point that Zhang Tie could confirm that the so-called 9 square pattern was just a simple terminology; actually, it had another name Luo Book. It was said to be a secret item left by deities. As the foundation of 5 elements and the source of mathematics, it contained endless secrets...

 1819 Who Are You?

    Only after a short while, Bian Heng had appeared at the gate of the parlor. After striding in, he started to gaze at Zhang Tie who was drinking tea with a pair of small eyes.


    The former old man didn''t follow Bian Heng in; instead, he just waited outside.


    "Senior..." Zhang Tie stood up politely as he cupped his hands towards Bian Heng.


    "Is it yours?" Bian Heng went straight to the main seat before putting the gold coin on the desk and asking Zhang Tie straightforwardly.


    After sitting down, Zhang Tie nodded, answering, "Yes!"


    "Where did you get it?"


    "Senior, won''t you ask me why I''m here?" Zhang Tie asked with a smile.


    Bian Heng became shortly stunned as he realized that Zhang Tie was specifying terms with him. Bian Que had not seen a man as audacious as Zhang Tie for too many years. In the past, all the people who could be received by Bian Heng would respect him very much and meet all of his requirements. It was his first time to meet Zhang Tie.


    In this world, few people dared bargain with doctors, not to mention famous doctors. Almost nobody dared bargain with Bian Heng who was a top doctor and a supreme-level immortal general.


    "Although this item is made of a special metal that doesn''t exist in Motian Realm, it''s not useful at all. It''s neither edible nor drinkable. Do you think that you could specify terms with me only with this item?" Bian Heng''s face turned cold at once. Even though he knew the special meaning of that gold coin, as a sage-level knight, he had to maintain his dignity and social status.


    "Senior, you must have misunderstood me. Just keep it. I know it''s far from enough to let you help me..." Zhang Tie said as he shook his head. That gold coin was meaningless for Zhang Tie. He had tons of golds in Castle of Black Iron, not to mention gold coins. That gold coin was just a stepping stone for Zhang Tie. As long as he could meet Bian Heng using that gold coin, he had almost attained his goal.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bian Heng''s face looked a bit better as he had a good impression on Zhang Tie.


    "Go ahead."


    "Senior, how about checking my problem first?"


    Bian Heng rolled his eyes at Zhang Tie before saying straightforwardly, "Your guts, meridians, veins, organs, skeletons and muscles are pretty good. You don''t have any health problem. Now that you said you have some problem, it must be related to cultivation. I cannot see it by eyes..."


    Bian Heng the Yama was indeed something. Unimaginably, Bian Heng had already known that Zhang Tie had no health problem and only had some problem concerning cultivation the moment he took a look at Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie admired him so much.


    "Great! Great! Senior, I really admire your perception..." Zhang Tie complimented Bian Heng sincerely.


    "Look, listen, ask and touch are the basic skills of a doctor. If one gets sick, it could be judged from his look. As for the average diseases, as long as I take a look at the patient, I would know it. Only charlatans don''t know people''s health problems even in every means he could..." Bian Heng waved his hand casually. After that, he waved his hand towards Zhang Tie, saying, "Come over here, I need to touch your pulse..."


    Zhang Tie moved closer to him and reached out his hand. He just stood there instead of sitting down. Bian Heng put three fingers on Zhang Tie''s wrist...


    Zhang Tie had shown his sincerity. If Bian Heng wanted to know more secrets, of course, he needed to show his marvelous diagnostic skill to Zhang Tie. Just like how traders should check goods first before bargaining about the price. Otherwise, it was just tantamount to wasting time.


    Bian Heng''s fingers felt a bit cold. When Bian Heng put his fingers on Zhang Tie''s wrist, Zhang Tie felt warm and special energy entering his meridians from Bian Heng''s fingers. In less than 1 second, the special energy had already reached over Zhang Tie''s body like a drop of ink falling in a water vat and a fishing net being spread.


    Bian Heng raised a finger as he knocked it on Zhang Tie''s pulse once. Zhang Tie immediately felt his surging points all over rocking once which appeared responding to Bian Heng''s knock and resonating to the special energy.


    Closely after that, Bian Heng''s hand quivered once as his eyes shone and opened widely like seeing a ghost with deep shock and surprise.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what Bian Heng got as he asked the latter calmly, "Senior, did you check out the problem?"


    Bian Heng still watched Zhang Tie with his little eyes silently. At the same time, he waved his hand while an invisible strong qi shut all the doors of the room. Meanwhile, the soundproof block of the room was also activated. As a result, this parlor became a secret place where nobody else could eavesdrop their talk.


    "You... you were not born in Motian Realm?"


    "Senior, what do you mean?"


    "All the people have lit up all of their surging points on their spine when they came to this world. Those surging points carry congenital vigor. However, the surging points on your spine were lit up after you were born. Of course, you were not born in Motian Realm..."


    Zhang Tie continued to pretend to be innocent as he asked, "Senior, don''t you feel it too assertive to make such a conclusion only given this point? What if I have a special physique?"


    "Nonsense..." Bian Heng directly swore at him, spraying his saliva towards Zhang Tie, "If not have lit up their surging points and have strong vigor when they were fetuses, they could never absorb qi and blood from their mothers. This goes against the heavenly laws. Therefore, they would definitely have died before they came to this world, not to mention grow up like you..." After saying that, Bian Heng looked a bit composed as he squinted at Zhang Tie, adding, "Additionally, the qi core in your qi sea had been struck and was almost detonated. Across Motian Realm, only Versatile Demon Emperor''s Demon-Kill Skill could cause this effect. How did you survive the demon emperor''s fatal skill? Who the hell are you?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.

 1820 A Weirdo

    Zhang Tie had not imagined that Bian Heng could find out so many of his secrets only after touching his pulse.


    ''This Bian Heng the Yama is really something.''


    As Bian Heng could see through the seriousness of his injury, Zhang Tie was thrilled at once.


    On this occasion, Zhang Tie was not afraid that Bian Heng knew his background. If Bian Heng didn''t know that, it would take him some time to explain it to him; additionally, he might have made a futile trip.


    As for some secrets, even Versatile Demon Emperor who was the most dangerous to Zhang Tie had known them, Zhang Tie didn''t feel unacceptable that more people knew them.


    "Now that you''ve known that I was injured by Versatile Demon Emperor, you should know that Versatile Demon Emperor and I are not on the same boat. I would not do any harm to humans; nor would I make troubles in Tigerback Mountain..." Zhang Tie said as he watched Bian Heng calmly, "As for my true name, due to some reason, in case of bringing trouble to you, I don''t want to reveal it. You can call me Jin Wu!"


    Now that Zhang Tie wanted Bian Heng to help him recover his qi sea, he should establish the basic trust with Bian Heng. Therefore, Zhang Tie tried his best to not cheat Bian Heng. As for those secrets that he couldn''t expose, he didn''t say them. Zhang Tie didn''t believe that Bian Heng knew that he was the incumbent Dragon Emperor Zhang Tie.


    "Jin Wu?" Pondering his name, Bian Heng couldn''t help standing up from his chair, circling Zhang Tie for a short while and glancing over him from head to toe with shiny eyes as if he was watching a rare animal, asking, "Do you really come from another world?"


    Zhang Tie almost showed the white of his eyes as he replied, "Didn''t you know that after touching my pulse?"


    "Unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable..." Bian Heng muttered out of excitement. Then, he gradually recovered his composure, saying, "Previously, I''ve only heard that someone could enter Motian Realm from another world. Unexpectedly, I am seeing a living man from another world who had even survived the fatal strike of Versatile Demon Emperor!"


    "What? Someone had entered Motian Realm from another world before?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "Yea, of course. But it''s rare. There''re many legends about such kind of people in the history of Motian Realm. One or two people would enter Motian Realm out of some reason in each thousand of years or tens of thousands of years. However, all the people who entered Motian Realm from another world were emaciated and couldn''t live long. None of them had ever cultivated. Even though they entered Motian Realm, they would die soon. The latest alien came to Motian Realm, according to my knowledge, over 1,000 years ago. He died only after living in Motian Realm for a few years..."


    "Oh, I see!"


    ''Previously, I wondered why Versatile Demon Emperor soon accepted the fact that I came from another world. It turns out that I''m not the first one who has come to Motian Realm from another world. It''s comprehensible. Perhaps there are many space cracks like that above Yinhai Desert in the world where I came from.''


    ''In the long course of history, some people might be sucked into the space crack and come to Motian Realm coincidentally. It''s also recorded in the books before the catastrophe that I''ve read. As humans'' ability to explore space and nature increases, some planes and ferries would always disappear in some bizarre places or coincidentally enter open space cracks. Then, one or two of them would come to Motian Realm. It''s nothing strange at all. However, those lucky dogs didn''t have my ability; nor were they cultivators; therefore, they might not be able to adapt to the environment here.''


    "For how long have you been here?" Bian Heng asked Zhang Tie with strong interest.


    "A few years!"


    "Are there many people in your world?"


    "Many, many people. Our population is dozens of times greater than that in Moitan Realm..."


    "Is it large?"


    "Large, very large. It''s endless and contains numerous planets and galaxies. Nobody knows how large it is precisely."


    Bian Heng asked Zhang Tie about his world like a journalist out of great curiosity. Zhang Tie could understand Bian Heng''s feeling. Therefore, he just answered him patiently. If it were him who encountered an "alien", Zhang Tie might also ask him various questions out of curiosity.


    "None of those people who came to Motian Realm had any cultivation at all. Why are you different than them? Do you come from the same place?"


    "I''ve not seen those people whom you''ve mentioned. Therefore, I don''t know whether we''re from the same world or not. Did the one you mentioned come to Motian Realm over 1,000 years ago?"


    Bian Heng tilted his head and thought for a short while before answering, "I''ve read some information about him. I remember that guy said that people in the world where he came from could produce various strange machines. Some machines could fly in the air; some could swim in the water; some could run on the ground. They were pretty emaciated and didn''t know cultivation at all. However, he said that their most powerful weapon could easily destroy 100 cities. I feel it''s exaggerated. Even though immortal battle formation-breaking thunder is not that destructive. How could those emaciated people control such a powerful weapon?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t explain the concept of civilization development to Bian Heng at all; nor did he feel like comparing the differences between the two worlds; because he couldn''t figure out these things at all. Additionally, it happened thousands of years ago and could absolutely be taken as a story or myth. ''I''m not an old scholar. It''s useless for me to study them. I only need to live well now.''


    "You mean, that man who came to Motian Realm over 1,000 years ago was from the same world as me. The weapons that he mentioned indeed have existed. However, later on, due to a sharp change in that world, those weapons became useless. Therefore, everyone is thinking about being stronger and paying more attention to cultivation so as to survive themselves!"


    "Oh, I see!"


    "Are there demons in your world?"


    "Yes, many. When I came to Motian Realm, humans and demons are fighting in my world!"


    "Can... you come back?"


    "Even immortal-emperor level powers couldn''t do it, not to mention me!" Zhang Tie refuted.


    "It seems that the legend is true!" Bian Heng sighed all of a sudden.


    "What legend?"


    "This legend has been spread in Motian Realm for tens of thousands of years. It''s said that Motian Realm was connected to another world. Due to the wars between deities, the two worlds were separated!" Bian Heng suddenly gazed at Zhang Tie as he asked, "Why does Versatile Demon Emperor want to kill you?"


    With a smile, Zhang Tie replied briefly, "Because I want to kill him. He felt my threat and wanted to kill me. Previously I should have been dead; unexpectedly the God didn''t want me to die so fast. Therefore, due to an accident, I survived the fatal strike of Versatile Demon Emperor fortunately."


    "You really have guts!" Bain Heng instantly thumbed up as he spoke highly of Zhang Tie, "It''s the first time to hear someone wants to kill Versatile Demon Emperor!"


    "Pitifully, I cannot do it anymore. According to you, I was struck by Versatile Demon Emperor''s Heavens-breaking fatal skill. I''m almost like a crippled person. That''s why I came here for you!"


    "Who said you couldn''t. Hehheh, if you''re dead, I indeed couldn''t cure you; as long as you''re alive, I promise I could help you recover your qi sea." Bian Heng said pleasantly as he patted his chest.


    "Senior, you could help me recover my qi sea?" Zhang Tie became spirited as he realized that his honest communication with Bian Heng had worked.


    "Of course, Versatile Demon Emperor''s means were unusual; of course, ordinary means couldn''t work; however, as long as you could bear hardships, I will be able to cure your disease!"


    "Thank you so much, senior!" Zhang Tie appreciated Bian Heng as he felt relieving a deep burden. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "But..." Bian Heng started to glance over Zhang Tie again as he reiterated his classic words, "You know my rule. I never help people without benefit!"


    "Senior, what do you want?" Zhang Tie asked Bian Heng calmly.


    "My request is simple..." Bian Heng smirked as he added, "As long as you agree to be my disciple, of course, I will not ignore your disease as your master!"


    Zhang Tie became shortly stunned. After recovering his composure, he said, "Thanks for your favor, senior; but I don''t know nothing about medical science; nor do I have any talent..."


    Bian Heng waved his hand generously as he said, "It doesn''t matter. I don''t care whether my disciples know medical science or not; no matter what, they don''t know it better than me. Someone would be arrogant after knowing a bit; as a result, they won''t learn from me seriously!"


    When Zhang Tie recalled Zhao Yuan''s face, Zhang Tie shook his head again. "I''ve already got a master. If I admit you as my master, it would be a great mistake."


    "You''ve already got a master?" Bian Heng asked Zhang Tie as he blinked his little eyes.


    "Right!"


    "That would be tricky. If you deceive your master, even heavens and earth couldn''t tolerate that!" Bian Heng muttered as he paced to and fro in the room, scratching his messy hair with a pretty fretful look.


    "Senior, why do you favor me?" Zhang Tie shrugged as he asked Bian Heng.


    Blowing his beard, Bian Heng stared at Zhang Tie, saying, "If you become my disciple, I would be the first one in Motian Realm who could accept an alien as my disciple. Even Force Emperor, Star Emperor, Rune Emperor, Emperor NvWa and Dragon Emperor couldn''t match me. I think you''re fortunate. When you become famous in this world, I would become famous too. I would win greater reputation than Force Emperor, Star Emperor, Rune Emperor, Emperor NvWa and Dragon Emperor. If so, they would never be that arrogant in front of me anymore..."


    Zhang Tie goggled out his eyes. However, after thinking about it carefully, Zhang Tie felt it was a bit reasonable. Perhaps a person like Bian Heng was pursuing a different realm than that of ordinary people.


    "Haha, it''s easy. Now that I cannot become your disciple, I could become your sworn brother. By then, you will be my elder brother. If I become well-known in the future, you would be the first one who had admitted an alien as your sworn younger brother in Motian Realm; you could also become famous forever. By then, your reputation could also be greater than that of Force Emperor, Star Emperor, Rune Emperor, Emperor NvWa and Dragon Emperor..."


    Zhang Tie was joking as he wanted to see whether Bian Heng was lying or not. Unexpectedly, after hearing Zhang Tie''s suggestion, Bian Heng became still at a stroke. Closely after that, he knocked his forehead forcefully with a thrilled look, saying, "That''s a good idea. Why didn''t I think about it..." However, in the blink of an eye, Bian Heng had changed his face as he hurriedly shook his head, adding, "No, no, it''s not proper. In that way, your dad would become my dad; your mom would become my mom. When I touched your pulse, I found your bone age is not long, your parents'' age must not be old. How could I admit two younger aliens as my parents? That would be a great shame! No, we can never do that..."

 1821 Butler

    Hearing Bai Heng''s words and watching him shake his head constantly, Zhang Tie almost burst into laughter.


    "Senior, what do you want? How about gifting you something like the others do as your compensation!"


    Raising his head, Bian Heng watched Zhang Tie arrogantly, saying, "I have all kinds of things. I''ve been fed up with human-level immortal outfits. I don''t even treasure average earth-level immortal outfits. Rarities are almost meaningless for me. As long as I ask for them, a lot of people would queue up to gift them to me. I don''t think you could gift me Nine Heavens Immortal Spring and 10 billion population so that I could promote to an immortal emperor!"


    Zhang Tie became helpless as he shrugged, "What do you want then, senior?"


    "Let me think about it. Let me think about it. Coincidentally, I met you. I could never waste this opportunity..." Bian Heng continued to pace to and fro in front of Zhang Tie as he took a look at Zhang Tie every once a while. Given his look, he might have determined to make full use of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie could only wait aside as he also wondered about Bian Heng the Yama''s solution.


    After a few minutes of walk, Bian Heng suddenly patted his head as he became thrilled. Closely after that, he turned around and squinted at Zhang Tie in a bit obscene way, causing Zhang Tie''s butt to shrink at a stroke.


    "Ahem, ahem... erm... what could you do?"


    "Senior, you mean what jobs could I do?" Zhang Tie asked him while pointing at his own nose.


    "Cut the crap!"


    Scratching his head, Zhang Tie replied, "I could do a lot of jobs. I cannot list them all. Senior, which job are you referring to?"


    "Can you be a butler?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Butler?" Zhang Tie was shocked as he thought he had misheard it. "Senior, do you want me to be your butler and help you cope with chores and do odd jobs..."


    "Yes!" Bian Heng''s face turned extremely vivid at once as if his eyebrows were dancing, saying, "I''ve thought it through. Disciple or sworn brother couldn''t match this way. Think about it. If you''re my butler, when you become famous and powerful in the future, you''re still my butler and should still call me master and do chores and odd jobs for me. Isn''t it better than being my disciple and sworn brother? If so, I would be more well-known than Force Emperor, Star Emperor, Rune Emperor, Emperor NvWa and Dragon Emperor. They would not look that arrogant in front of me any longer..."


    Zhang Tie became speechless. Previously he had heard a saying¡ª¡ªpatients with mental disorder always have train of thoughts. He could really not understand what Bian Heng was thinking about.


    "Senior, why do you think that I will have a bright future?"


    "Nonsense, you''re just a wind immortal general; however, you escaped away from Versatile Demon Emperor. Even I couldn''t ensure that I would make it. How could such a person not have a bright future?" Bian Heng said as he took a glance at Zhang Tie with a bit jealousy and admiration, adding, "Additionally, your spiritual energy has already been real and as surging as an ocean. It''s the most powerful spiritual energy that I''ve ever seen. Even my spiritual energy couldn''t match yours. Given this point alone, I know that you have the confidence and trump card to have a bright future even if your qi sea is empty now. How could you be unknown in Motian Realm? Do you think I''m blind?"


    Watching Zhang Tie slightly changing his face, Bian Heng continued with a bit arrogance, "Don''t worry. Only I know your situation. Even if we couldn''t make an agreement, I would never leak this information to anybody else. I always have great medical ethics. Although I''m greedy, I always keep my word. I never leak any information about my patients to the public. You could ask about it outside!"


    "Of course, I believe in you, senior!" Zhang Tie became slightly reassured as he heaved a deep sigh. Bian Heng was really something. Although Zhang Tie had prepared for it mentally, as long as he thought that he had exposed so many secrets the moment Bian Heng touched his pulse, Zhang Tie would feel a bit intense. "Senior, for how long do you want me to serve you?"


    "How long? Heh heh, of course, for the rest of your life. As long as you''re still alive, you will serve me as my butler. It would be meaningless if you only serve me a couple of years or dozens of years..."


    Bian Heng''s words startled Zhang Tie at a stroke. ''F*ck, given his words, I have to sell myself to him.'' Zhang Tie finally understood why he was called Bian Heng the Yama. ''This guy is too sinister and greedy...''


    "No. No way..." Zhang Tie hurriedly shook his head decisively.


    "I''ve not finished my words..." Bian Heng shrugged with a pleasant look as he added, "Nominally, you need to serve me for the rest of your life and we need to sign a bloody pledge. However, I would not let you do chores. White Dragon Gulf was close to Tiger Back Mountain. It''s a fishing ground gifted by Emperor NvWa''s Palace. I''ve not cared about that place at all. As my butler, you will be responsible for that fishing ground. No matter what, you will take care of it, I will not intervene with your freedom. You could do whatever you want. I will not let you do other jobs. After you recover your qi sea, you could leave there too. But nominally you''re responsible for that fishing ground on behalf of me. How about that? Additionally, after becoming my butler, you shall call me master wherever you''re and whatever your identity is..."


    ''Are you serious?'' Zhang Tie was a bit moved as he wouldn''t suffer any loss. Additionally, it was not shameful for him to be a butler of Bian Heng the Yama. Perhaps in many people''s opinions, it was even a great glory to strike up an acquaintance with Bian Heng. ''I only need to call him master. It''s not a big deal. I have even become a flesh bag at the beginning, am I afraid of this? Furthermore, if Bian Heng could really cure me, it''s not a big deal for me to call him master publicly...


    But Zhang Tie had one more question...


    "Senior, why do you believe in me so much. What if you regretted it?"


    "Hehhehheh, do you want to know why I believe in you so much?"


    Zhang Tie nodded.


    Bian Heng replied with a mysterious smile, "Because I know you''ve not told a single lie since I entered this parlor. Of course, I believe in you. If you''ve told even one lie, I would have asked for more conditions to cure you..."


    After hearing Bian Heng''s words, Zhang Tie''s heart raced as he was indeed not telling any lies just now. ''But how did Bian Heng know that?''


    Zhang Tie glanced over Bian Heng. Finally, he caught sight of a bizarre finger ring on Bian Heng''s finger. Zhang Tie slightly squinted his eyes, ''Is it...''


    "Hahaha, although this finger ring is bizarre, it''s not as marvelous as you imagine. Stop guessing about it. After all, as long as someone is telling a lie in front of me, I will know it..." Bian Heng replied as he watched Zhang Tie, asking, "How do you feel about my condition?"


    "Well, I agree!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    Bian Heng then burst out laughing...

 1822 The No. 7 Figure

    The bloody pledge was prepared quickly. When Bian Heng let his old servant took the bloody pledge, Zhang Tie even doubted that Bian Heng always blackmailed his patients in this way.


    The process of the so-called bloody pledge was similar to that he made when he joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. The only difference was that this token, being used for the bloody pledge, was a little crystal dragon while the contract was a bizarre piece of semi-transparent paper being covered with dense runes.


    Bian Heng soon wrote rows of words on the contract by cinnabar which gave out bizarre light. It was an employment contract. After writing it, Bian Heng cut his own thumb slightly and pressed his fingerprint on it before passing it to Zhang Tie.


    After taking the bloody contract, Zhang Tie read it seriously. The contents of this bloody contrast mainly contained the following four contents, which specified the relationship between him and Bian Heng.


    ¡ª¡ªFrom today on, the employee (hereafter refer to Zhang Tie) would become the butler of Tigerback Mountain. He couldn''t pose to resign for the rest of his life. As long as Zhang Tie is alive, he would be the butler of Tigerback Mountain.


    ¡ª¡ªZhang Tie is responsible for the fishing ground in Whitedragon Gulf of Tigerback Mountain. Bian Heng the employer doesn''t make any requirement on the management of the fishing ground. Everything regarding the fishing ground will be determined by Zhang Tie. Additionally, Bian Heng shall not delegate other tasks and affairs to Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie enjoys the freedom of movement.


    ¡ª¡ªAs for compensation, Bian Heng agrees to help Zhang Tie recover his qi sea in one year. If Bian Heng couldn''t do it, this bloody contract would be null and void.


    ¡ª¡ªBoth parties shall keep secret for this bloody contract.


    "Do you really need one year to help me recover my qi sea?" Zhang Tie asked Bian Heng as he took the bloody contract.


    "Humph, it''s already the least period of time. If anyone else could help you recover your qi sea in one decade, that person would almost have no rivals in Motian Realm. If someone across Motian Realm could help you recover your qi sea, I would even call you master instead of making you my butler!" Bian Heng said confidently as he raised his head.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ''Alright, just make it one year. It''s neither long nor short. If he could really eliminate the trauma left by the demon emperor in one year, It shall be something. Many knights would suffer their traumas and sequels for dozens of years.''


    Zhang Tie then left his bloody fingerprint on the contract, too.


    Soon after that, the contract had given out strong red light while numerous runes were traveling across it. Closely after that, it burned up and disappeared. At the same time, two bean-sized runes flew into the central foreheads of Zhang Tie and Bian Heng respectively with a bit glow just like that when he promised to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    "My respects to you, master..." Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards Bian Heng as he said with a smile without feeling embarrassed at all. As for Zhang Tie, a master was just like a boss or a general manager. It was just a polite appellation. By calling Bian Heng master, he would not suffer any loss. After signing the bloody pledge, Bian Heng would get his reputation as Zhang Tie would recover his qi sea. They just took what they needed.


    "Hahaha, from now on, you will be my butler of Whitedragon Gulf..." Bian Heng said happily as he burst into laughter, watching Zhang Tie.


    "Err... master, when will you help me recover my qi sea?"


    "Don''t be anxious. It''s a bit complex. I need to prepare something. Three days later, we could start medical treatment. You should get familiar with Tigerback Mountain first in case of laughingstocks.'' Bian Heng said. Closely after that, he waved his hand and the gate of the parlor opened. The old man who took Zhang Tie up here just now entered again as he bowed towards Bian Heng.


    "This is Qin Mu, my old slave, also the general manager of Tigerback Mountain. He''s been following me for hundreds of years. When I''m not around, you could tell him if you need something..." Bian Heng told Zhang Tie as he pointed at the old man; closely after that, he pointed at Zhang Tie and told the old man, "This is Jin Wu. From now on, he would be the butler of Tigerback Mountain. He''s only responsible for me. He''s in charge of the entire fishing ground of Whitedragon Gulf. From now on, he could access to Tigerback Mountain freely. After a while, take him to see the other people on the mountain. Don''t forget to give him an ID card..."


    "General Manager Qin, nice to meet you!" Zhang Tie greeted the old man with a smile.


    The old man appeared having been used to see butlers of Tigerback Mountain. He just nodded towards Zhang Tie silently as he looked a bit kind.


    "Oh, I remember there''s a courtyard in Whitedragon Gulf." Bian Heng asked Qin Mu as he scratched his head.


    "Yes, owner, Tideviewing Courtyard is at the seaside near the foot of Tigerback Mountain. It''s close to Whitedragon Gulf, you''ve not been there for many years..."


    "Is it still habitable?"


    "I always have people clean it; it''s still habitable!"


    "Good!" Bian Heng then watched Zhang Tie as he said, "After a short while, let Qin Mu take you to Tideviewing Courtyard. You can live in there. A couple of days ago, I will treat you in that courtyard. As it''s close to the ocean, it''s convenient..."


    Zhang Tie nodded as he muttered inside, ''Why is it convenient for treatment because it''s close to the ocean...''


    After saying these words, Bian Heng left there hurriedly as he scratched his head, leaving Zhang Tie and Qin Mu alone...


    After Bian Heng left there, Qin Mu watched Zhang Tie, saying, "Butler Jin, let me show you around the mountain. You need to meet someone..."


    "Sure, thank you, General Manager Qin..."


    Qin Mu nodded as he left the room, followed by Zhang Tie.


    Qin Mu took Zhang Tie straight to the complex where many people were busy working. They then walked around that place as Qin Mu started to introduce important figures to Zhang Tie.


    There were totally four important figures on Tigerback Mountain besides Bian Heng. As Bian Heng''s four disciples, they were respectively responsible for managing herbal gardens, herbal medicine processing center, medicinal powder center and workers'' dorms.


    After walking around, Zhang Tie realized that he was the No. 7 figure in Tigerback Mountain. Of course, Bian Heng was ranked first in Tigerback Mountain. Under Bian Heng was General Manager Qin, then the four disciples of Bian Heng. Then, it came to Zhang Tie. Although there were many other people in the mountain, they were just doing odd jobs and were not even qualified to approach Bian Heng.


    As for those people who did odd jobs across the mountain, Zhang Tie was told that they were all enrolled for learning medical science from Bian Heng through strict tests. Some of them were famous doctors across Motian Realm. When they came to the foot of Tigerback Mountain, they were told that Bian Heng posed very strict requirements on selecting his disciples. Therefore, they made an inferior choice to do odd jobs on Tigerback Mountain. As for them, as long as they could enter Tigerback Mountain, even if they just did odd jobs, they would also learn a lot that they couldn''t get from other places being imperceptibly influenced by what they saw and heard. In the future, when they left Tigerback Mountain, as long as they publicized that they had stayed in Tigerback Mountain for a few years, their social status would surge immediately...


    Noticing how those people who were doing odd jobs watched him with admiring looks, Zhang Tie didn''t know whether he should cry or smile.


    ''Tigerback Mountain is really a sacred land for learning medical science across Motian Realm!''


    After figuring out the position of Tigerback Mountain across Motian Realm, another whim occurred to Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªNow that Versatile Demon Emperor knows that I''m still alive, does he know that I will come to Tigerback Mountain for medical treatment?


    ''As it''s in Emperor NvWa City, although demons couldn''t enter it, would those people being controlled by Golden-Soul Runed Virus like Si Dan enter it?''


    Zhang Tie became vigilant at once...

 1823 Just Stay

    Tideviewing Courtyard was at the foot of Tigerback Mountain near Whitedragon Gulf. A path led straight to Tideviewing Courtyard from Bian Heng''s residence on the mountain.


    Being a small courtyard of five rooms, Tideviewing Courtyard was leaning against a mountain and facing the ocean. Being covered by a mangrove forest, it looked pretty tranquil. It was as large as Zhang Tie''s courtyard in Apricotblossom Village. It was a silver sand beach over 300 m away from Tiderviewing Courtyard. Therefore, Zhang Tie could even hear surging waves in the courtyard.


    With the guidance of General Butler Qin, Zhang Tie looked around Tiderviewing Courtyard as he felt pretty satisfied.


    "This courtyard and the sandy beach are all behind Tigerback Mountain. Nobody else would come here. Previously, Tideviewing Courtyard was prepared for our master. When master visited here for the first time, he spoke highly of the scenery here; therefore, we built Tideviewing Courtyard for him. After it was completed, master lived in here for a couple of times. However, master has not been here for over 3 decades. Even so, there''re still people taking care of this place. You won''t lack anything here. Butler Jin, do you like it?"


    Tideviewing Courtyard was filled with triangle plums, yellow oleanders and crape myrtles. When the sea wind blew by, the faint fragrance filled the entire courtyard. Additionally, the entire ground of this courtyard was full of shadows of flowers and trees. Zhang Tie realized that this was indeed a good residence for viewing tide, listening to the sound of billows and cultivating oneself...


    With Qin Mu''s guidance, Zhang Tie looked around the entire courtyard. When he found there was a high-level backroom for cultivation in this courtyard, Zhang Tie nodded inside. If such a courtyard was located in Tigerback Town, it would cost all the properties of ordinary people for one night.


    "I like it. I like it pretty much. Thank you so much, General Butler Qin!"


    "We provide 2 meals a day for free. Butler Jin, if you''re hungry, you could go to the main courtyard or Tigerback Town. You could also cook food here. Given your identity, if you feel inconvenient to live here alone, you could recruit two servants to look after you. Your monthly compensation is 30 blue crystal coins, being exclusive to the reward of our master. Additionally, you should be responsible for the expenditure of employing your servants. As for grains, you could get them from the main courtyard or purchase them yourself..."


    Qin Mu told Zhang Tie as if he had already absolutely treated Zhang Tie as a butler of Tigerback Mountain. Zhang Tie just listened to it.


    "I will not invite any servant anymore. I feel free alone here. It''s fine. I could take care of myself. I could cook food myself or eat in the town!"


    "Good. Butler Jin, you will get your identification card tomorrow. Do you have any question?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Oh, I was told that our master had 8 disciples. But why I only saw 4 on the mountain?"


    "Our master indeed has 8 disciples. The other 4 have already left the mountain, one in Star Emperor Immortal Palace; the other in Force Emperor Immortal Palace; one in Emperor NvWa''s Palace as their employed elders respectively. The other one is traveling across the world..."


    3 of his 4 disciples leaving the mountain had become the employed elders of those major emperor-level immortal palaces. Zhang Tie really felt speechless about their positions and abilities. Not until then did Zhang Tie realize why so many people were here for learning from him. As long as they could be employed by Bian Heng, they would reach their heydays sooner or later.


    "Is there any more questions, Butler Jin?"


    "No more, thanks, General Butler Qin..."


    "Hmm, I gotta get going. Butler Jin, you could live in Tideviewing Courtyard first. Here''s the key of Tideviewing Courtyard..." After giving the key to Zhang Tie, General Butler Qin left, leaving Zhang Tie alone.


    Zhang Tie then came to a pavilion of Tideviewing Courtyard. Watching the sand beach and the shimmering sea level and listening to the billows every once in a while, Zhang Tie felt open-minded abruptly as he felt that fate was really marvelous. Yesterday, he had nothing to do with Tigerback Mountain; however, one day later, he had become the only butler of Tigerback Mountain besides the general butler.


    Zhang Tie found that some fishing boats were catching fish on the sea level. They might be fishermen from Tigerback Town. Although they were catching fish in the private waters of Bian Heng, Zhang Tie didn''t want to stop them at all. The title of the butler of the fishing ground was just an excuse that Zhang Tie used to settle down in Tigerback Mountain. Although this fishing ground belonged to Bian Heng, now that Bian Heng didn''t care about it, Zhang Tie would not care about it either. Zhang Tie didn''t even have an interest in the Emperor NvWa''s City which covered such a large area, not to mention such a little fishing ground. Otherwise, Zhang Tie would not have left Dragon Emperor City.


    Zhang Tie knew that Tang Mei must be in Tigerback Town. However, Zhang Tie didn''t know how to help them. After all, they didn''t lack money nor were in trouble. Additionally, it was out of Zhang Tie''s ability to ask Bian Heng to save her.


    Of course, Zhang Tie had a solution. For instance, if Zhang Tie gifted the two golden secret items to Bian Heng, he might enable Bian Heng to save her. However, it was too stupid if he determined to gift two golden secret items to Bian Heng and asked the latter to save this girl out of mercy whose face was still secret to him as he felt that he was destined to marry her. Perhaps such a silly plot only existed in novels of knights. In reality, such an event was neither rational nor sensible. Without a proper reason, he might even be mistaken as a playboy with evil intent.


    ''I shall not tell them about the fact that I''ve become the butler of Tigerback Mountain. After all, some secrets are involved in this case. Otherwise, they might think that I''m showing off in front of them, on which occasion, they would feel disgusting about me and I would not be able to help them successfully.''


    ''I could only figure out Tang Mei''s disease first. When I become familiar with Bian Heng, I will find an opportunity to ask Bian Heng for the treatment. Given Bian Heng''s ability, he might be able to save Tang Mei with only one sentence.


    ''The preoccupation is that I have to recover my qi sea as soon as possible so as to promote to a semi-sage level knight.''


    After thinking it through, Zhang Tie settled down calmly.


    ...


    Although Zhang Tie couldn''t use his battle qi to light up his chakra and cultivate, he could still use his spiritual energy to cultivate various secret methods such as Mental Cultivation by Abacus or the Great Wilderness Sutra; especially the secret method of gathering two special energies in the air using his spiritual energy to attack others...


    All in all, Zhang Tie would never be free in the Tideviewing Courtyard.


    ...


    On the second early morning, Qin Mu had already had people send Zhang Tie''s identification card in Tigerback Mountain to him. Besides being his identification card, it could also be used to contact Qin Mun and Bian Heng for the sake of convenience.


    Besides his identification card, Zhang Tie also got some sets of official uniforms in Tigerback Mountain. As the butler of Tigerbck Mountain, of course, he should not look poor.


    Zhang Tie put away all the items. At noon, he left Tigerback Mountain for Tigerback Town...


    After checking out the inn, Zhang Tie started to stroll around Tigerback Town.


    When he separated from Tang Mei, Zhang Tie remembered their direction. Additionally, their uran carriage could be easily identified outside if they lived in an inn. Therefore, it was not difficult for Zhang Tie to find them...

 1824 Cancer

    In the evening, Tigerback Town was full of drinkers accompanied by whistling. However, in the daytime, Tigerback Town was also very boisterous.


    Those doctors who couldn''t become Bian Heng''s disciples and those patients stayed together for sure.


    As for those doctors, now that they couldn''t go up the hill for the time being, they preferred to help those patients and make some money so as to increase their medical skills and experience.


    As for those patients, now that they couldn''t get medical treatment from Bian Heng, they didn''t refuse to see other doctors in Tigerback Town. Although there was not such a saying that two heads were better than one in Motian Realm, the common wisdom of doctors would bring confidence to patients more or less.


    Therefore, a huge and vigorous medical service industry came into being across Tigerback Town besides so many inns.


    There were many community clinics in the town. If those doctors wanted to diagnose patients, they could stay in any community clinic for free. Those patients could also causally choose clinics for medical treatment.


    In community clinics, doctors and patients could move freely. Doctors could diagnose patients in any clinic. Patients could also choose their patients at their own will. The one who opened the clinics only asked for some room fee and tea fee from doctors.


    In Tigerback Town, many counters in clinics were shared by more than one doctors. These doctors were all good friends. In normal times, they discussed medical skills. When they had patients, they would diagnose patients together. If they met any difficult and rare symptoms, they would communicate with each other for a possible solution.


    In the daytime, the atmosphere in Tigerback Town was pretty good. Although Bian Heng didn''t leave Tigerback Mountain, Bian Heng''s disciples would go downhill by shifts and communicate with the doctors there about the symptoms and solutions. Zhang Tie felt that Tigerback Mountain and Tigerback Town were like a spontaneous university and an academy with a strong learning atmosphere respectively that gathered doctors from the other regions of Motian Realm, various patients and odd diseases. Bian Heng the No. 1 doctor of Motian Realm was like a president of the university.


    Even those people that came to learn medical science in Tigerback Town couldn''t enter Tigerback Mountain, as long as they learned diligently in Tigerback Town for a few years through communication with people of their kind and diagnosing patients, they could definitely acquire more knowledge here than anywhere else.


    As for many patients here, even though they couldn''t enter Tigerback Mountain, they might also meet doctors who could cure their diseases; especially some odd diseases which would be known by all the doctors in the town in a couple of days. Through communication and study, these doctors might get wise thoughts in their mind.


    After taking a look around Tigerback Town, Zhang Tie even doubted that this atmosphere was what Bian Heng had expected. Although being eccentric, even a bit ruthless, Bian Heng was actually kind-hearted. Without Bian Heng''s acquiescence, his disciples might not come to Tigerback Town to diagnose patients or communicate with doctors by shifts at all.


    ...


    As Zhang Tie walked on the street and enjoyed the boisterous scene in the community clinics, he looked for the uran carriage of Tang Mei. Meanwhile, he was vigilant about dubious people in the town¡ª¡ªSince Versatile Deon Emperor might know that he had come to Tigerback Mountain for medical treatment, Zhang Tie would never be careless about such a potential threat.


    Even now, Zhang Tie still couldn''t confirm whether Versatile Demon Emperor had assigned people here to kill him. Meanwhile, he didn''t know whether the powerful defensive system of the city wall of Emperor NvWa City could discover the puppets being controlled by Golden-Soul Runed Virus. Therefore, Zhang Tie could only stay vigilant.


    Zhang Tie estimated that Versatile Demon Emperor must assign the heads of the four branches of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace if possible as others couldn''t kill Zhang Tie at all. Therefore, Zhang Tie only needed to pay attention to sage-level knights near Tigerback Mountain.


    ...


    After traveling around Tigerback Town for quite a while, Zhang Tie didn''t see any suspect; however, he found the uran carriage of Tang Mei in the stable outside the inn Safecome.


    Zhang Tie was sure Tang Mei was inside. After taking a look at the inn, Zhang Tie was going to enter it. Unexpectedly, at the gate, Zhang Tie saw Aunt Wu coming out with a bamboo basket.


    "Aunt Wu, what a coincidence! Do you live here?"


    "Ah, Master Jin!" Aunt Wu became shortly stunned at the sight of Zhang Tie. Closely after that, Aunt Wu glanced at Zhang Tie''s expensive robe; she became vigilant at once as she watched Zhang Tie as if he was a thief, "Master Jin, do you live nearby?"


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t live nearby. Meanwhile, he understood Aunt Wu''s meaning¡ª¡ªif you don''t live nearby, what''s your purpose here?


    "Ahem, ahem... I don''t live nearby. I''m especially here for Miss Tang!"


    Aunt Wu''s face turned cold at a stroke as she glanced at Zhang Tie from head to toe, saying coldly, "Miss Tang has left here just now. I''m going to buy food ingredients to cook a meal for her. Master, you''d better go back. You should know that Miss Tang has come here for medical treatment. She''s physically unwell. Therefore, she doesn''t receive any guests for the sake of her health. Master, please don''t disturb Miss Bai."


    Zhang Tie said with a smile, "If Miss Tang is not here, Aunt Wu also works!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Aunt Wu''s face flushed immediately out of fury as she lifted her bamboo basket and threw it onto Zhang Tie''s head, revealing her vixenish temperament as a middle-aged woman. "Jerk, how dare you! When this mother fed someone, you were still in split pants. Go die..."


    Aunt Wu immediately started to beat Zhang Tie by her bamboo basket at the gate of the inn.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly dodged her.


    Watching Aunt Wu''s angry look, Zhang Tie felt muddle-headed. ''What have I done to her? Does she think that I want to... f*ck!''


    Aunt Wu''s movements aroused the attention of people on the roadside at once.


    "Aunt Wu, you must have misunderstood me. I''ve got something to ask you..." Zhang Tie urged as he grasped Aunt Wu''s bamboo basket.


    After struggling a short while in vain, Aunt Wu watched Zhang Tie dubiously as she asked in an icy tone, "What do you want to ask..."


    After taking a look around, Zhang Tie drew Aunt Wu to one side with a bamboo basket between them, saying, "I met Uncle Guan at the foot of Tigerback Mountain yesterday. However, Uncle Guan didn''t seem too smooth yesterday. I want to ask about the disease of Miss Tang!"


    Aunt Wu said with an unbelievable look, "It''s none of your business. Don''t think that I don''t know what you''re thinking about. You could never get any message about Miss Tang from me. You''d better give up..."


    "After Uncle Guan left Tigerback Mountain yesterday, I found a job there. I could see Bian Heng. I just want to know Miss Tang''s disease. If possible, I could ask Bian Heng about the medical treatment of Miss Tang''s disease. Perhaps, Bian Heng''s brief answer could safe Miss Tang..."


    Aunt Wu became petrified as her face turned red and pale alternately. However, she was still suspicious about that. "You''ve found a job in Tigerback Mountain, is that true?"


    "Of course!"


    "But I heard all those who could enter Tigerback Mountain are elites, even the ones that do odd jobs there!" Aunt Wu asked Zhang Tie immediately vigilantly.


    "I don''t have any job on the mountain; precisely, I''m just responsible for taking care of the fishing ground. I couldn''t even match those who do odd jobs in the mountain. I don''t learn medical science; nor do I have any ability. Look at my clothes, it''s delivered by the general butler of the mountain..." Zhang Tie said as he pointed at his clothes.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Aunt Wu finally believed in it as she became shameless at a stroke, "I''m sorry. Master Jin. Just now, I thought you were like those people before. Please forgive me... could you really see Bian Heng?"


    "Hmm, I''ve already seen him yesterday. But it''s rare. It depends. Bian Heng''s temperament is a bit eccentric. I think I might get a chance to talk to him if I stay long in the mountain..."


    Aunt Wu finally relaxed her vigilance as she sighed gloomily. "Miss is too poor. She''s suffering from cancer. When she was young, she looked fine. However, after 18 years, her disease gradually aggravated. In the beginning, family members thought that it was just a common disease; later on, after seeing many doctors, we found out that she''s suffering from cancer. All the doctors said that she wouldn''t survive long. God really envies her good look and would take her away. Miss is kind since young. She doesn''t even kill an ant. She''s always kind-hearted for the sake of others. How could she suffer from such a severe disease..."


    Aunt Wu said with a sorrowful look as her eyes turned a bit wet...


    ''Cancer?'' It was Zhang Tie''s first time to hear such a disease. With a slight frown, Zhang Tie asked, "I wonder about her symptoms when the disease shows effect..."


    "When this cancer shows effect, Miss would feel fatigued all over and cough heavily. It would show effect almost once every day routinely. Previously, it lasted 20 minutes; recently, it has started to last longer and longer..."


    "Hmm, I know. When I get an opportunity, I will ask Bian Heng about the medical treatment for Miss Tang!"


    "Thank you so much, Master Jin!" Aunt Wu watched Zhang Tie appreciatively. Just now, she misunderstood Zhang Tie''s intention. Now, she found that Zhang Tie was really just here for asking about the disease of Tang Mei. Nothing else! Therefore, aunt Wu then completely changed her feeling about Zhang Tie.


    "Will Miss Tang leave Tigerback Town right now?"


    "No, after leaving Tigerback Town, Miss will not have any hope anymore. Therefore, we would live here for long. In Tigerback Town, even if we couldn''t see Bian Heng, we could also see other doctors. Maybe the other doctors could save her. We''ve already rented a courtyard in this inn..."


    "Fine, I will inform you when I get some good news..." Zhang Tie said as he intended to leave.


    "Ah, Master Jin, are you really going to leave? How about waiting here for a short while? I will buy some food ingredients to cook a meal. I''m afraid Miss will come back soon. Master Jin... just stay and have a meal with us..." Aunt Wu said as she watched Zhang Tie bashfully.


    "Sorry to disturb you, Aunt Wu, I gotta get going..." Zhang Tie said as he waved his hand towards her, leaving Aunt Wu standing there alone, watching his back in a daze.


    After a while, Aunt Wu slowly let out a sigh as she walked towards the nearby market with a bamboo basket...

 1825 The Start of Medical Treatmen

    After knowing the reason why Tang Mei came to Tigerback Mountain, Zhang Tie returned to Tideviewing Courtyard and settled down there, waiting for the first medical treatment.


    To be honest, Zhang Tie didn''t have a crush on Tang Mei; however, he felt that it was predestined for him to meet Tang Mei; now that he came to Tigerback Town with Tang Mei, he didn''t feel anything wrong about giving favor to her. In many cases, even commoners would do that. Zhang Tie didn''t feel noble doing that at all; of course, he didn''t feel selfish or distant either.


    After living in Tideviewing Courtyard for 2 days, on the noon of the third day, when Zhang Tie was in cultivation in his backroom, Bian Heng arrived as scheduled.


    As the gate of Tideviewing Courtyard was closed from inside. After hearing Bian Heng''s voice, Zhang Tie came out of the backroom and helped Bian Heng open the door.


    Even after three days, Bian Heng was as unkempt as before. He didn''t even change his clothes; instead, his clothes carried the smell of herbs. Additionally, he was carrying a wooden case.


    "You''re in cultivation?" Bian Heng asked as he glanced over Zhang Tie from head to toe.


    "Would I just wait here if not cultivate?" Zhang Tie replied as he let Bian Heng come in and closed the door. After taking look at that wooden case in Bian Heng''s hand, Zhang Tie asked, "Can I receive medical treatment today?"


    "Of course!" Bian Heng raised his head at once as he entered the room.


    "Where do we do that?"


    "Backroom!"


    After entering the backroom, Bian Heng opened his wooden case and took out of a longan-sized fiery pill which smelt spicy and pungent from the first layer of the case before giving it to Zhang Tie, saying, "Take it..."


    After taking a look at the pill, Zhang Tie instantly took it before asking Bian Heng, "What''s this..."


    "It''s fiery-dragon qi-gathering pill that I''ve made. Its effect is over 100 times greater than that of ordinary qi-gathering pills. Ordinary people would feel as if their guts being burned like committing suicide; however, it''s the best aiding medicament for you!" Bian Heng then squinted at Zhang Tie, adding, "You took it without demur. Aren''t you afraid of being poisoned?"


    "Hahaha, senior, if you''re that kind of person, I must be blind!" Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he continued, "The others said you''re Yama; but after traveling around Tigerback Town for 2 days, I realized that you''re merciful and kind but a bit weird in temperament. Senior, your arrangement around Tigerback Mountain is really saving people invisibly. You''re really a life-giving spring breeze and rain. Even ordinary people could notice that..."


    "Humph..." Bian Heng replied with a cold harrumph.


    Bian Heng didn''t care that Zhang Tie called him senior.


    After taking the fiery-dragon qi-gathering pill, Zhang Tie instantly felt his lower abdomen burning. Gradually, Zhang Tie''s skin started to turn red.


    "Take off your pants and clothes and lie on the bed, face up..."


    After hearing Bian Heng''s words, Zhang Tie took off his clothes rapidly, only in a pair of short pants. Then he lay on the stone bed in the cultivation room, face up. Bian Heng then took out a bundle of cloth from the second layer of the wooden case. When Bian Heng spread over the bundle of cloth, Zhang Tie saw hundreds of dense fine needles in different colors and shapes.


    Bian Heng took out a 20-cm long needle which was as thin as cattle''s hair. After that, he lightly shook it, uttering a ''hum''. Like how a sharp sword came out of its sheath, the tip of the fine needle became intense and straight at once. Additionally, a bizarre light started to flow on it.


    Closely after that, Bian Heng dabbed it into the Shrine surging point as fast as a lightning bolt. Although being a fine needle, Zhang Tie felt being stabbed by a dagger from his lower abdomen. Therefore, his face slightly turned pale.


    "The process would be very painful. If you cannot stand it, just bite this..." Bian Heng suggested as he took out a piece of wood for biting and gave it to Zhang Tie.


    "No need, I could stand it. Just do it at your will, senior..." Zhang Tie replied with a smile.


    Bian Heng revealed a smile. "Let''s see it. I''ve seen a lot of tough men in Motian Realm. My acupuncture skill was called heavens-fixing immortal needles. Less than one in a million people could stand 10 needles without a cry. Additionally, your injury was caused by Versatile Demon Emperor. If not suffered a lot, you could never recover. The process of setting needles is more painful than the strike. I thought you would have wailed just now..."


    "I will show you how many needles could I stand..."


    "Humph, I will see how long could you stand..." Bian Heng said before putting the piece of wood for biting to the head of the bed so that Zhang Tie could reach it by hand. Almost at the same time, he stabbed another needle into a surging point at Zhang Tie''s chest.


    It felt like a hot and red spike.


    However, as Zhang Tie was ready for it, he didn''t even change his face at all; instead, he just slightly frowned before recovering...


    Bian Heng didn''t know that this pain was not a big deal for Zhang Tie at all. Long ago, Zhang Tie had already experienced all kinds of unimaginable, overwhelming pains in his trouble-reappearance situations. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s nerves, pains-resistant ability and physique had long been much greater than that of commoners.


    As for Zhang Tie, this process was not more painful than being gulped down alive by a pack of wolves in trouble-reappearance situations.


    In the beginning, Bian Heng thought that Zhang Tie just pretended to be something as he wanted to see how long could Zhang Tie''s stand. However, as he set more and more needles, Bian Heng gradually changed his face. Bian Heng was aware of the sharp pain that each needle would bring to Zhang Tie. Some needles felt like being stabbed by saber; some felt scorching; some felt like being nibbled by tens of thousands of ants; some felt like being bone-broken and pulled out of tendons. He said that less than one of one million people could stand 10 needles without wail. He was not bragging...


    However, after being stabbed 30 times, Zhang Tie still looked as normal as before even though he would frown a bit each time.


    Watching Zhang Tie being covered with needles, even Bian Heng started to appreciate him as he said, "I finally know how you were able to survive the fatal strike of Versatile Demon Emperor. You have more lives than ordinary people..."


    If Zhang Tie knew that Bian Heng had not spoken highly of anyone for dozens of years, Zhang Tie would be proud of being acclaimed by Bian Heng.


    "Srrr..." With another stab, Zhang Tie felt numb and itchy across his upper half body as if numerous ants were climbing over there. Zhang Tie took in a deep breath. However, he soon recovered as he revealed a bitter smile. "My parents hope me to have more lives. How could I let them down..."


    "Tell me about the world where you came from? Is it bizarre..." Bian Heng asked as he took a look at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, he set another needle.


    Zhang Tie knew that Bian Heng wanted to transfer his attention and make him feel better through talking to him. Therefore Zhang Tie just asked Bian Heng straightforwardly, "Senior, what do you want to know?"


    "What''s the name of your country?"


    "Taixia Country..."


    "Taixia Country. Hmm... you must be special in your world!"


    "Actually I was born in an average family. Previously, we lived in a small town. My dad worked in a factory. My mom made and sold rice brew. I did odd jobs in a grocery. The boss of the grocery was an iron cock..."


    "What? Iron cock? Is that a legendary monster?" Bian Heng asked out of curiosity as he stopped his hands.


    ''Monster?'' Zhang Tie almost burst into laughter. However, he frowned again unconsciously due to the splitting pains. Not until then did Zhang Tie realize that the term "Iron Cock" might be unknown to people in Motian Realm as he explained, "Iron cock is not a monster; it means that man is mean. I worked for him for a few years; however, that guy didn''t pay me anything; he even made me a punching bag for others, I mean, a training partner of rich kids... srrr..."


    "Iron cock, interesting, interesting. What an interesting term..." Bian Heng smacked his lip as he smirked. Closely after that, he set another needle. Zhang Tie''s experience appeared arousing his resonance. Therefore, his eyes looked a bit tender...


    "Senior, how did you become a doctor..." Zhang Tie asked Bian Heng.


    "I don''t know. All I remember is that I was adopted by an old guy. He said he picked me up. When I was 5 years old, he started to teach me. If I couldn''t remember anything, I would be forbidden to eat. I was almost starved to death by that old guy for a few times..."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Bian Heng said with complaint. However, Zhang Tie could see that he was missing that period of time...


    "Ah? I''ve not heard that you have a master, senior..."


    Bian Heng sighed with emotion, "When I was in my 20''s, the old guy gave me 2 books. Then he told me that he was going to look for Nine Heavens Immortal Spring in Mountain Ruins. However, he didn''t come back since then..."


    "Sigh, my master also behaved like that. Generally, my master and I only stayed together for a few days. When he appeared last time, he saved my life and taught me a secret method. Then, he said he was going to a dangerous place. From then on, I didn''t receive his message anymore..."


    As they chatted, Zhang Tie was gradually covered with over 100 needles like a hedgehog...

 1826 Burning

    With over 100 needles over his body, Zhang Tie was like a hedgehog. However, it was not over yet. After doing that, Bian Heng started to brush over those needles like playing zither.


    Those long needles seemed to be strings. Each of them was corresponding to a surging point or some meridian or an organ. When Bian Heng brushed over them, he would pass a special energy and battle qi to Zhang Tie''s body through the long needles, causing the latter''s surging points and meridians all over restless at once.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, Bian Heng was just brushing over the needles disorderly. At first glance, he was just like an innocent kid who didn''t know how to play the piano casually. However, Zhang Tie felt his body, surging points and meridians were completely opened by Bian Heng''s long needles like a safe being input code.


    With Bian Heng''s control, the strong heat from the fire-dragon qi-gathering pill started to travel across Zhang Tie''s meridians and surging points in a marvelous order before gathering in Zhang Tie''s qi sea repetitively...


    The wisp of battle qi that Bian Heng injected into Zhang Tie''s body appeared to be the battle qi of Aimei and Aixue which was especially used to nourish others'' water and wood attributes; however, it was absolutely more advanced than the battle qi cultivated by Aimei and Aixue. After entering Zhang Tie''s body, the battle qi could nourish and smoothen one''s qi instead of destroying one''s qi.


    Only after half an hour, Bian Heng had oozed fine sweat, given which, Zhang Tie realized the medical treatment of the disease caused by Versatile Demon Emperor was not as easy as Bian Heng had said.


    Zhang Tie was really shocked by Bian Heng''s medical skill. Zhang Tie could only describe Bian Heng''s secret method of heavens-fixing immortal needles as extremely skillful! Perhaps, this term was improper, it was Zhang Tie''s true feeling at this moment.


    In the circulation of that heat, Zhang Tie''s qi sea almost caught fire as his surging points and meridians all over started to boil. Lying on the stone bed, Zhang Tie was steaming through his red skin like a red sweet tomato whose skin was peeled off. The temperature in the cultivation backroom also rose a few degrees due to the rise of Zhang Tie''s body temperature. There seemed to be a furnace in the room.


    The pain caused by internal combustion was too tortured. However, Zhang Tie just gritted his teeth and withstood it. Such a scorching feeling came from inside. Therefore, even though Zhang Tie had eaten so many fiery-lotus roots and was very resistant to fire and high temperature, it was still useless; because the fire came from Zhang Tie himself which burned internally. It was a sharp response of his battle qi to external stimulation; instead of being imposed externally.


    Zhang Tie really felt like being burned as his surging points, meridians, blood, bones, battle qi even spiritual energy started to be restless under that special high temperature. Even those long needles on his body slowly turned hot and red...


    Just now, Zhang Tie was talking to Bian Heng. At this moment, Zhang Tie could only withstand it at his full efforts. He even felt being burned into ashes in the next second.


    After a few hours, Bian Heng suddenly thrust his hands in the air as over 100 long needles flew out of Zhang Tie''s body at the same time before being caught by Bian Heng.


    "Hurry, jump into the sea and stay inside. Only water could help you dissipate the heat. If you keep burning up in this way, there must be some problem with your mind sea and brain..." After saying that, Bian Heng wiped off the sweat drops on his forehead before adding, "Don''t tell me that you cannot swim..."


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt that even the qi that he exhaled was going to burn; additionally, he started to feel dizzy. Zhang Tie didn''t care whether the last sentence of Bian Heng was just a joke or not, soon after Bian Heng''s words, Zhang Tie had sprung up from the bed as he strode out of the door of the cultivation backroom by one step. with the second step, Zhang Tie had jumped onto the roof; with the third step, Zhang Tie landed on the sand beach dozens of meters away; then, he sped up and rushed into the ocean, causing a white billow higher than 10 m, leaving shadows on the sand beach.


    Zhang Tie was the king of ocean. It was not Zhang Tie''s first time to jump into the ocean; however, he had never felt that icy seawater could be so comfortable.


    Zhang Tie instantly swam thousands of meters forth the moment he entered the ocean. Closely after that, he reached dozens of meters deep so as to cool himself down.


    It was as effective as using ice water to dissipated heat for a patient. Zhang Tie felt a bit cold and comfortable the moment he reached that depth as he gradually became sober-minded.


    Although being in the water, Zhang Tie was like a hot and red soldering iron, causing bubbles and vapor near him...


    At this moment, Bian Heng flashed over here. The seawater of Whitedragon Gulf was transparent; especially being close to the seashore. Even though Zhang Tie stayed dozens of meters deep in the water, he could also see blue sky, white clouds and Bian Heng. Meanwhile, Bian Heng could also see Zhang Tie who was staying in the water comfortably. He could even see clearly the fine sands and seaweeds below Zhang Tie and those swimming fish around Zhang Tie.


    Watching Zhang Tie staying there so leisurely, Bian Heng finally became reassured. Although it was almost impossible for Zhang Tie to not able to swim, Bian Heng was afraid that Zhang Tie was not good at swimming and directly lost his consciousness due to scorching heat. If Zhang Tie was drowned here, it would be a laughingstock and harm Bian Heng''s reputation.


    "Hoho, you''re really good at swimming. That''s great!" Bian Heng spoke to Zhang Tie using his battle qi.


    "I feel freer in water than on bank..." Zhang Tie replied secretly too. At the same time, Zhang Tie started to sit in water, legs crossed, revealing his superb swimming skill.


    "Just stay in the water for a few more hours then. The heat won''t completely dissipate until the sunrise. Therefore, you have to stay in seawater in this period of time. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Okay!"


    "You could swim away from Emperor NvWa City through Whitedragon Gulf. You''d better not swim too far away though. Now that Versatile Demon Emperor wants to kill you, he will not give up. He couldn''t enter Emperor NvWa City. With the territory of Tigerback Mountain, I could protect you; but if you swim out of my territory, it would be hard to say..."


    "Thanks for your concern, senior, I will take care of myself..."


    "Humph..." Bian Heng replied with a cold harrumph, "I just feel you''re something as you could withstand so many needles without a cry. It would be pitiful if you die. Additionally, if you die here, you will ruin my reputation. Therefore, I warned you about that. When I cure your disease, if you really want to seek death, it''s none of my business..."


    After saying these words, Bian Heng flashed away, leaving Zhang Tie at the bottom of the sea.


    Seeing Bian Heng off, Zhang Tie revealed a smile at the bottom of the sea as he knew Bian Heng was kind-hearted despite being ruthless superficially. If it was the first time for Bian Heng to meet Zhang Tie, he would never say that...

 1827 The Song of Ice and Fire

    After Bian Heng left, Zhang Tie stayed at the bottom of the ocean alone, waiting for the heat to dissipate.


    As long as he didn''t lose his mind, Zhang Tie didn''t worry about it at all. Additionally, Bian Heng told him to wait in the water until the sunrise. Even though he was requested to stay in the water for 10 more hours, Zhang Tie could only do that.


    When Zhang Tie recalled Bian Heng''s warning, he looked at southwest Whitedragon Gulf. With lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie saw the thousands of meters high city wall of Emperor NvWa City once again.


    The city wall was directly built above sea level. Beneath the city wall was the heavenly-level gate of the western city wall of Emperor NvWa City. Being more than 7 miles in width, the heavenly-level gate formed a huge arch. Like an aperture of a cross-ocean bridge, seawater was surging in the heavenly-level gate and just reached half of the gate. Inside the heavenly-level gate was Whitedragon Gulf; outside the heavenly-level gate was Yaohai Ocean. Besides, some earthly-level gates and human-level gates were also beneath sea level...


    Enormous seawater, numerous fish, people and ships could access to those huge portals. Because of the city wall, the entire Whitedragon Gulf looked especially tranquil and peaceful...


    Of course, Zhang Tie didn''t want to travel outside the gate. He just wanted to move to a deeper place where it would feel a bit more comfortable due to lower temperature.


    The temperature of seawater where Zhang Tie was in was about 18 degrees Celsius. According to Zhang Tie''s experience, the deeper it was, the cooler the water would be. On average, the temperature of seawater would drop 1-2 degrees Celsius in each 1,000 m deeper. Concretely, it varied with the concentration of salt in water and the longitude and latitude of the waters.


    Whitedragon Gulf covered over 600 miles. Within 60 miles, Zhang Tie found the deepest place was over 10,000 m in depth. Of course, the deepest place was 10 degrees Celsius cooler than the place where he was now.


    ''It would feel more confortable over there!''


    Zhang Tie then swam towards the deepest place as fast as a torpedo. It only took him a few minutes to finish half of the distance. Gradually, he reached over 3,000 m deeper as the surrounding water became increasingly cooler. Of course, Zhang Tie felt more and more comfortable.


    All of a sudden, Zhang Tie stopped in the water. As a light flashed across his eyes, he hit his head by his hand forcefully.


    ¡ª¡ªSigh! Sigh! Did you lose your mind? If you want a lower temperature, why do you have to go to the bottom of the ocean? Did you forget that you''re a divine dominator? As you''re in the water, isn''t it easy for you to lower the temperature of the surrounding water?


    ''After all, Bian Heng has already left there; additionally, I''m thousands of meters in depth. Even if I use my ability of divine dominator, it would not be discovered here.''


    After looking around, Zhang Tie saw a mountain at the bottom of the sea not far from him. The mountain was covered with many oceanic plants. Additionally, there were some secret caves on the mountain. Shoals of fish were swimming over there. Zhang Tie then headed for a mountain cave.


    It was an area of colorful corals outside the mountain cave. A patch of long green seaweeds was swaying with seawater above the mountain cave and covered the entrance. The entrance was over 10 m high. The mountain cave was dozens of meters in depth. It was vigorous here. Fish were swimming around in the corals and the mountain cave, making it an aquatic museum.


    Coincidentally, there was a smooth egg-sized boulder in the cave which was as large as a car. Zhang Tie came to the surface of the boulder before crossing his legs over there. At the same time, he ran his spiritual energy, cooling down the surrounding seawater in a split second as a piece of 30-cm thick ice surrounded Zhang Tie like a huge cocoon.


    It felt pretty nice just like drinking a bowl of icy, sweet-sour plum infusion in the hot days.


    Another whim occurred to Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªif the solid ice could flow, it would definitely bring me a better effect of heat dissipation and feel better.


    Zhang Tie then ran his spiritual energy again. Besides the ability to control water, Zhang Tie even used the ability to control wind. In an instant, the 30 cm thick ice around Zhang Tie broke into ice liquid as it started to flow around Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie felt more comfortable at a stroke.


    After 2 minutes'' comfortable experience, another whim occurred to him¡ª¡ªthe ice is zero degree Celsius; I wonder whether it would feel more comfortable at a lower temperature.


    Zhang Tie then ran his spiritual energy instantly as the icy fluid surrounding him started to become cooler.


    Minus 2 degrees Celsius, minus 4 degrees Celsius... minus 8 degrees Celsius, minus 10 degrees Celsius, minus 20 degrees Celsius... minus 40 degrees Celsius...minus 60 degrees Celsius...


    When the icy liquid declined to a degree Celsius below minus 60 degrees Celsius, Zhang Tie suddenly felt that the scorching heat inside his body and the icy liquid around him reached a perfect equilibrium. He didn''t feel cold or hot anymore; instead, he just felt bathing in warm water, being airy all over. Additionally, he felt extremely comfortable. As a result, Zhang Tie almost started to groan due to excitement.


    When Zhang Tie tried to decline one more degree Celsius, the perfect equilibrium was broken in a split second as the airy feeling disappeared. When it returned back to the equilibrium, he got the airy feeling back.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know why. However, it should not be bad for him to feel good at this moment. Therefore, Zhang Tie continued to immerse himself in this icy fluid at such temperature so as to maintain that airy and comfortable feeling...


    With such a marvelous feeling, Zhang Tie gradually forgot about himself and the surroundings as if he had fallen asleep...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ...


    All of a sudden, a cold feeling woke Zhang Tie up.


    After waking up, Zhang Tie found that the heat in his body had started to dissipate. Therefore, he felt cold at a stroke.


    After taking a look upward, Zhang Tie found that a red sun had just risen. He couldn''t imagine that more than 10 hours had already passed, just like how he became absent-minded when attending the class of Miss Diana in the 7th National Middle School of Blackhot City.


    Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy. In an instant, the icy fluid around him disappeared...


    When Zhang Tie felt his qi sea, he became thrilled in a split second¡ª¡ªthere was a tiny sparkle.


    Of course, this sparkle was dwarfed by the former hot sun in his qi sea. However, it brought Zhang Tie a hope for the recovery of his qi sea.


    ''He deserves his honor!''


    When Zhang Tie became thrilled, he heard his belly sing...


    Touching his belly, Zhang Tie felt very hungry as if he had been starved for half a month.


    Zhang Tie revealed a brilliant smile. Closely after that, he came out of the mountain cave and shot towards the bank as fast a lightning bolt...

 1828 A Super Surprise

    "Eh..." Bian Heng knitted his eyebrows at once the moment he put his fingers on Zhang Tie''s pulse. Closely after that, he took a look at Zhang Tie out of curiosity.


    It was June 30, the 3586th year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar. Bian Heng had started the first medical treatment for Zhang Tie in Tideviewing Courtyard since June 24th. It was already the 3rd medical treatment.


    The first two medical treatments were very smooth. Bian Heng visited here at noon once every three days. After that, he let Zhang Tie take a bath in the ocean so as to dissipate his heat. Zhang Tie just did accordingly. After taking a bath in the ocean, he would return to Tideviewing Courtyard and change his clothes before having a big meal in Tigerback Mountain. After that, he would go back to his courtyard and continue to improve his spiritual energy or cultivate Great Wilderness Sutra. When he felt bored, he would take a walk at the seaside or climb the mountain to enjoy the mountainscape. When he became spirited, he would take off his clothes and rush into the ocean before having a free swim and enjoying the bizarre scenery at the bottom of the ocean.


    Besides a bit of suffering in medical treatment, Zhang Tie felt pretty nice. He didn''t need to pay anything to secular affairs; instead, he only focused on cultivation and recovery. During these days in Tideviewing Courtyard, Zhang Tie felt like having a vacation. He had not been so relaxed since he came to Motian Realm.


    "Is that okay?" Zhang Tie asked Bian Heng with a bit concern when he heard Bian Heng''s exclamation and watched his strange look.


    In the previous two times, he bathed in the super-low icy fluid. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie started to worry about the side effect of his decision.


    "You''re okay!" Bian Heng replied as he shook his head and took a look at Zhang Tie out of admiration, "I''ve not imagined that you could recover so fast. You would receive medical treatment in every 2 days!"


    "Ah? Isn''t it 3 days a time? Why did you make it shorter?"


    "Previously I felt we needed to fix the interval at 3 days; but given your unexpectedly fast recovery, we only need to make it 2 days..." Bian Heng said as he took out of a vial of fiery-dragon qi-gathering pill from the little wooden case and gave it to Zhang Tie.


    "Let''s make it 2 days then..." After being told that he was okay, Zhang Tie became reassured as he took the vial and poured one pill out of it. After that, he gulped it down and lay on the bed.


    Bian Heng then took out of his set of long needles and prepared for the medical treatment. When the fiery-dragon qi-gathering pill started to take effect inside Zhang Tie''s body, Zhang Tie''s qi sea started to burn, Bian Heng inserted the first long needle into his shrine surging point in a split second.


    Through the former two tests, Zhang Tie was becoming more and more resistant to the sharp pain caused by the long needle. As he had long prepared for the coming pain, Zhang Tie didn''t even frown; instead, he started to chat with Bian Heng.


    "Senior, your set of heavens-fixing immortal needles could really shock the heavens and cause deities and ghosts to wail. That''s amazing..." After rolling his eyes, Zhang Tie started to flatter Bian Heng.


    It was Bian Heng''s first time to hear such an extolment. Therefore, he felt pleased. Additionally, it was Zhang Tie who flattered him. Therefore, Bian Heng replied with a slight harrumph which seemed to be his symbolic response. Although he appeared to have not heard it, he still revealed a bit pleasant look as he asked Zhang Tie reservedly, "Ahem, ahem... isn''t there such a secret method in Taixia Country?"


    "Of course not. Senior, your skill ranks first among humans even in the world I came from. Nobody could match you in medical skills..." Zhang Tie continued to flatter Bian Heng.


    "Of course heavens-fixing immortal needles are unrivaled in the world!" Bian Heng replied as he raised his eyebrows arrogantly, revealing his true thoughts, "It was a top-secret skill left from far-ancient times. I got it from a secret region in Mountain Ruins. This set of needles are able to survive the dead with the marvels of the mother nature. Therefore, it''s called heavens-fixing immortal needles. No secret skill could be named as heavens-fixing casually. If this set of immortal needles is not that great, how could I stabilize my position in Emperor NvWa''s City?"


    "It''s said that cancer could be healed. Senior, given the marvelous effect of your heavens-fixing immortal needles, I wonder whether it could cure cancer or not?" Zhang Tie finally revealed his true thought...


    "Although there''s no drug for cancer, cancer could still be cured. But..." Bian Heng said. However, he instantly realized Zhang Tie''s true thought as he turned around and fixated onto Zhang Tie with his little eyes, saying, "I''ve walked into your trap..."


    Closely after the word "trap", Bian Heng had forcefully stabbed Zhang Tie with another long needle. Not knowing whether he was doing that on purpose, Zhang Tie felt many times more painful in a split second as he almost cried out. Meanwhile, his face turned dreadfully pale...


    "Ah, senior, gentle..." Zhang Tie hurriedly shouted. It was not the right moment for him to pretend to be a tough man. "On the way here, I met a girl. She was suffering from cancer. The servants of the girl told me that there''s no drug for cancer. Therefore, I asked you about that out of curiosity..."


    Bian Heng revealed a sneer as he stabbed forcefully once more, causing Zhang Tie to wail poorly and exaggeratedly, "Humph, you''re still arguing for that. I think you''re fascinated by her beautiful look and want me to help you save her so that you could leave a good impression on her, right?"


    "I''m wronged! I''m wronged! On the way here with that girl, I didn''t even see her face. How could I be fascinated by her beautiful look..."


    "Didn''t you come here together? How could you not see her face?"


    "That girl always wore a veil. I really don''t have a crush on her..."


    "Oh, I see..." Bian Heng looked a bit better after knowing that Zhang Tie was telling the truth. At the same time, he injected the needles a bit gently. The former two needles caused Zhang Tie to ooze sweat heavily all over as his face turned dreadfully pale.


    "Well, it''s not a big deal for me to tell you about that. I could indeed cure her. Besides me, nobody else in Motian Realm could cure that disease. However, it would take me a lot of time to cure her. It would be more difficult for me to recover your qi sea. That girl is neither my friend nor my relative. Additionally, she and her family don''t have the ability to let me help her. Therefore, she''s not even qualified to go up the hill. I couldn''t break my rule for a person who''s nothing to do with me. There''re so many people who''re suffering from cancer in Motian Realm. If I spend time on saving her, how would I explain it if the others requested me to do the same time..."


    Zhang Tie didn''t refute Bian Heng as he understood him. It was already a big achievement for him to know that the girl could still be cured. As for whether Bian Heng could save her, it depended on Tang Mei''s fate. As Zhang Tie was not Bian Heng; nor was he Tang Mei''s friend or relative, he had already done as much as he could given that he got a hitchhike from her carriage.


    "You''re right, senior, nobody''s life is more important than that of others. However, it would take you time and resources to cure her. It depends on her fate..." Zhang Tie said with a sigh.


    ...


    The third medical treatment went smooth too. After a few hours, Bian Heng drew out those needles. Being scorching all over, Zhang Tie jumped out of Tideviewing Courtyard once again as he rushed into the ocean as fast as he could so as to lower his body temperature.


    After entering the ocean, Zhang Tie came all the way to that secret cave at the bottom of the ocean where he continued to wrap himself with the super cold icy fluid. Not until the next morning when his body heat completely dissipated did Zhang Tie leisurely wake up.


    It was already July 1st, when he could access to Castle of Blak Iron again...


    The cave at the bottom of the ocean was pretty secret. Zhang Tie didn''t return to Tideviewing Courtyard immediately; instead, he continued to stay in the cave and took out a crystal plate from the cave in order to contact Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was still cleaning up remains of Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu recently. All the others remained normal. However, Zhang Tie received a message¡ª¡ªduring these days when Zhang Tie was in Tigerback Mountain, Woods Medium-sized Domain was not peaceful. Dark Emperor Immortal Palace''s force directly disappeared in Woods Medium-sized Domain. None of those remains of Si Clan who were wanted by Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace were caught; instead, the relationship between the people assigned by the two emperor-level immortal palaces to Woods Medium-sized Domain and Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace became intense. After Si Clan was destroyed, Woods Medium-sized Domain became a cake. In the name of victims, Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace were holding high the banner of cleaning up Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and annexing regions in Woods Medium-sized Domain. As a result, Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace which had long treated Woods Medium-sized Domain as its own region started to show its dissatisfaction...


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    After knowing all these, Zhang Tie only told those elders to continue to protect Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    The swirl of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was involved with Versatile Demon Emperor. Therefore, Zhang Tie himself couldn''t solve it. As a human and the incumbent Dragon Emperor, Zhang Tie felt that he had exerted his utmost efforts. He almost lost his life for that. The trauma caused by Versatile Demon Emperor had not recovered yet. If the human forces in Motian Realm continued to fight Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, the ones in the frontier should not be a wind immortal general like him but top powers like Star Emperor, Force Emperor and those powerful immortal palaces. Even emperors were not worried about that, not to mention him. Additionally, Versatile Demon Emperor might be waiting for him.


    Therefore, the preoccupation for Zhang Tie was to recover his battle force. He only needed to watch the show aside.


    After finishing contacting Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie heard his belly rumbling which sounded like a protest. Therefore, he immediately entered Castle of Black Iron where he prepared to have a big meal before taking fruits.


    Soon after entering Castle of Black Iron and appearing in the lobby of the palace tree had he shouted, "Heller, hurry, prepare some food for me. I''m almost starved to death. The food and drinks on Tigerback Mountain could never match ours..."


    "Castle Lord, welcome back. I''ve already had Edward prepare well the food and drinks for you..." Heller watched Zhang Tie with a smile as he replied.


    After hearing Heller''s response, Zhang Tie almost drooled. He directly passed by Heller and walked towards the canteen, saying, "You''re so considerate..."


    Normally, Heller would definitely follow Zhang Tie all the way to the canteen. However, he didn''t move at this moment; instead, he still stood under the small tree as he suddenly warned Zhang Tie, "Castle Lord, don''t you want to take a look at the new fruit on the small tree?"


    "I will check them after having a meal. After all, they couldn''t run away themselves!" Zhang Tie shouted without even turning around.


    Heller became silent with a smile. After taking a look at the small tree, he followed Zhang Tie into the canteen.


    These days, whenever Bian Heng finished his medical treatment and the heat in his body dissipated, Zhang Tie would find that he was starved and could eat many times more food than usual. Therefore, Zhang Tie started to enjoy food and drinks in the canteen the moment he entered Castle of Black Iron.


    ...


    "Castle Lord, it turns out that your mentality has already reached a new height. Congratulations!"


    Heller said after a few minutes when Zhang Tie''s mouth was full of delicious food.


    Zhang Tie turned around as he watched Heller with confusion. He didn''t know why Heller said that. After swallowing his food forcefully, Zhang Tie looked at the food over the table, then his hands, before mumbling, ''Heller''s flattery sounds too weird. I was just eating food here, ignoring my image, is there anything to do with my mentality? Is that an irony?''


    "Ah, err... I''m too hungry. Therefore, I don''t pay special attention to table manners. Sorry about that..." Zhang Tie uttered a bitter smile as he took the napkins, knife and fork and started to chew carefully and swallow slowly.


    Heller revealed a smile as he explained, "Castle Lord, you must have misunderstood me. I was just shocked by a wholly new fruit on the small tree. After entering Castle of Black Iron, Castle Lord directly ignored it and kept eating food here calmly, I really admire you about stable mentality!"


    "Pufff..." Zhang Tie spurted out the sweet juice of mutated peach as he coughed and cleaned his mouth corners by napkins. Then he watched Heller with a great shock, asking, "What, you mean there''s a wholly new fruit on the small tree..."


    "Yes, Castle Lord, I thought you would have a lot of questions after catching sight of the new fruit..."


    "Are you kidding me?"


    "Of course not, Castle Lord..." Heller replied solemnly as he shook his head.


    When he recalled how Heller waited for him under the small tree, Zhang Tie instantly disappeared. Almost at the same time, he reappeared under the small tree...


    Watching the wholly new fruits behind some leaves, Zhang Tie''s mouth became agape...


    There were 3 new fruits, all of which were hiding behind the dense tree leaves. If not be careful, he could never discover them.


    They were three heavy black fruits...

 1829 The King Kong Frui

    The three fruits that Zhang Tie had not ever seen were hanging over the small tree; each of which was as large as a palm. They were flat with metallic texture and luster. At the sight of the shape of the fruits, Zhang Tie had a strange feeling because the fruits were humanoid.


    They were like the humanoid chocolate biscuits that Zhang Tie had ever eaten before when he was young.


    When Zhang Tie gazed at the three new fruits, mouth agape, a golden brilliant light flashed inside of the three black fruits.


    Zhang Tie stared blankly at the three fruits for a short while. Then he strode onto the sacrificial platform of the small tree and reached out his hand to check the attribute of the fruit.


    The moment his hand touched one fruit, he had seen lines of words in front of his eyes.


    ¡ª¡ªKing Kong Fruit, it''s already ripe.


    ¡ª¡ªUsage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªThe more you fight, the braver and more powerful you will be. After your qi sea is broken, you suffer from ice and fire at the same time. Then, you will recover your qi sea and build a King Kong body!


    ¡ª¡ªBrave man, iron-body fruits make your tendons and bones as firm as steel. It''s the foundation for you to make further progress. When the last iron-body fruit became ripe, it meant both the end and the start. At that moment, a broader road was presented to you. However, that road was blurry and full of thorns. It''s like a rarity deep in the earth and a pearl at the bottom of the ocean. Only those being blessed by God could take this road and finally get this rarity. The rarity is in your body which is even more precious than gold and all the other rarities in the world. Sabers and swords being forged in the furnace would be more consolidate after being quenched. Similarly, a body with iron-body fruits as the foundation would gradually become immortal and strongest after the quenching of ice and fire. Being large or small, it would never be destroyed. Being tight and inseparable, it''s called King Kong!


    After reading such a brief introduction, Zhang Tie became thrilled. He felt blood boiling all over, causing his face to turn red; especially when he read the word "strongest".


    If ordinary people said something was strongest, Zhang Tie would always reply with a sneer; because those people didn''t reach his realm. Most of the strongest things were fabricated and predicted by those people after what the others said. However, at this moment, the word "strongest" body was presented by Castle of Black Iron and the small tree. Of course, Zhang Tie would not doubt that.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ¡ª¡ªBeing large or small, it would never be destroyed. Being tight and inseparable, it''s called King Kong!


    Zhang Tie couldn''t stand taking another look at this line of words as he started to guffaw all of a sudden.


    The old frontiersman losing his horse, which was a blessing in disguise. If Zhang Tie didn''t discover the existence of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace or didn''t determine to clash against Dark Emperor Immortal Palace or fight Versatile Demon Emperor or Versatile Demon Emperor didn''t want to kill Zhang Tie or Zhang Tie didn''t come to Tigerback Mountain, he would never have such marvelous encounters and find the secrets behind iron-body fruits.


    Zhang Tie finally knew why he felt so comfortable in the icy fluid after each medical treatment. It was a sort of quenching just like how hot-red sabers and swords were quenched in liquid. Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could get King Kong Fruit by accident.


    ''Such great achievement!''


    Heller had already come to the front of the sacrificial platform of the small tree and was watching Zhang Tie who was almost dancing with joy with a big smile.


    "Congratulations on getting King Kong fruits, Castle Lord. With such fruits, you could definitely reach a new height!"


    "Previously I thought the fruit of the consciousness of universal laws was the last kind of fruit that the small tree could bear. I''ve not imagined that it could bear another kind of fruit. The God really treats me good; treats me good, hahaha..."


    "It''s all the results of your efforts, Castle Lord. Without your insistence and bravery, this fruit might never appear!" Heller watched Zhang Tie seriously as he said, "Additionally, I told you that the fruit of the LV 9 consciousness of universal laws was the last fruit the small tree could bear; but I''ve not said that the small tree would not bear any new kind of fruit from the fruit of the LV 1 consciousness of universal laws to the fruit of LV 9 consciousness of universal laws. If you think so, you must have misunderstood me..."


    "If you''ve long known that the small tree would bear such kind of fruit, you should have told me in advance!" Watching the three King Kong fruits, Zhang Tie sighed. "If I have long known about their existence, I would never have suffered so much these years!"


    "Castle Lord, you know, it''s out of my ability..." Heller replied as he shrugged.


    Zhang Tie suddenly got another question in mind. Now that iron-body fruits were followed by such a kind of fruit, whether the leakless fruits which had long disappeared were followed by greater fruits? As the conditions were not satisfied, those new fruits couldn''t manifest.


    This whim made Zhang Tie thrilled for quite a while. After that, Zhang Tie picked a King Kong fruit and sat down, legs crossed, before putting the fruit into his mouth. After chewing it for a couple of times, he swallowed it.


    Great energy started to spread across Zhang Tie''s body the moment the fruit entered his stomach. Then, it gradually penetrated into Zhang Tie''s guts, muscles, blood vessels, meridians, tendons, bones, even skin and hair while improving Zhang Tie''s body unconsciously.


    After a period of time, the energy finally melted into Zhang Tie''s body completely.


    Zhang Tie stood up and moved his limbs. Strangely, he didn''t feel hard; instead, he felt that his muscles and skin became soft, flexible and warm all over just like having taken a hot shower. He gained greater vigor. Additionally, he felt that his muscles and bones were getting tighter and more compact...


    Heller was still waiting under the small tree as if he was ready for Zhang Tie''s questions.


    "How long have I spent in digesting this fruit?"


    "Castle Lord, you''ve spent more than 3 hours in digesting this fruit..."


    After hearing Heller''s reply, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh. Even though he entered Castle of Black Iron once every 15 days, he could also have enough time to digest these fruits.


    Besides the new King Kong fruits, there were also many fruits of redemption as usual. Therefore, Zhang Tie picked another King Kong fruit and continued to digest it under the small tree...


    It almost took Zhang Tie 1 day to digest all the fruits. Then, he left Castle of Black Iron and appeared in the cave at the bottom of the ocean before returning to Tideviewing Courtyard...


    Bian Heng arrived again as he started the 4th medical treatment for Zhang Tie...


    "Eh..." Bian Heng exclaimed out of curiosity when he set the first needle.


    "What?"


    "Your skin appears even more flexible. I couldn''t stab it in as easily as before..."


    "Really? How about now..." Zhang Tie said as his skin became as same as before. Bian Heng then successfully stabbed it in.


    "Your protective secret method is not bad..." Bian Heng commented. Zhang Tie just replied with a smile...

 1830 Zhang Ties Paradise I

    At noon of July 14, in the hot sunshine, Bian Heng arrived at Tideviewing Courtyard with his case on time.


    When the gate was opened, Bian Heng saw Zhang Tie''s odd costume. He then raised his eyebrows as he glanced at Zhang Tie, saying, "Your costume is so weird!"


    "Haha, this is a pair of beach pants; this is T-shirt; this is a slipper..." Zhang Tie pointed at those things he wore as he introduced them to Bian Heng pleasantly, "How about that? If you like, I could get a suit for you..."


    These days, Zhang Tie was more and more familiar with Bian Heng. The weather was also becoming hotter. Additionally, being close to the beach of Whitedragon Gulf, Zhang Tie had to go to the sea in every two days. Therefore, Zhang Tie directly bought some cloth and made such a set of costume for himself when he was free.


    In the familiar costume, Zhang Tie felt like returning to Taixia Country and having a vacation at the seaside.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s costume, Bian Heng sneered, "Humph, your short pants look so fat and loose. It''s like chimneys. Look at your upper outer garment, it doesn''t even have sleeves. Additionally, it''s made of cheap cotton and linen coarsely. Look at your shoes, it''s made of a piece of wood and some strips of cloth. Even coolies in Emperor NvWa City don''t wear it. You''re asking me to wear it? Do you think that I will run wild with you? Have you lost your mind after the medical treatments?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t care about Bian Heng''s mean words; instead, he still smiled. "You don''t know that. In Taixia Country, such costume was very popular at the seaside in summer. It feels cool and comfortable. You asked me about the situation in my world; I''m presenting it to you..."


    "What an impenetrable and weird costume..." Bian Heng left a distant comment before heading for the backroom where Zhang Tie received his medical treatment.


    After shaking his head slightly with a smile, Zhang Tie followed him in.


    The aesthetics and living habits of the two worlds were pretty different in some aspects. Zhang Tie didn''t care too much. After all, nobody would come to Tideviewing Courtyard and this beach in usual. Those on Tigerback Mountain didn''t like to stroll behind the mountain. Additionally, people in Tigerback Town also knew that this territory belonged to Bian Heng; therefore, they dared not enter this region, people or boat. As a result, Zhang Tie felt pretty tranquil. He didn''t need to worry about arousing a hot discussion no matter what he wore. If it were a crowded place, Zhang Tie would never do that; otherwise, it would be like currying favor by claptrap or fearing that others didn''t know that he came from another world.


    After entering the backroom, Zhang Tie raised his arms, taking off his T-shirt rapidly before throwing it onto the bed, exposing his muscular frame. Bian Heng opened that small medical kit and took out a fiery-dragon qi-gathering pill and a vial that Zhang Tie was familiar with.


    "Drink it before taking the fiery-dragon qi-gathering pill!" Bian Heng said as he gave the vial and that fiery-dragon qi-gathering pill to Zhang Tie.


    "What''s this?" Zhang Tie asked about the vial of medicament as he pretended to be confused. After all, he only needed to tell the truth in front of Bian Heng. If he pretended to be confused, Bian Heng would never know that.


    "It''s Dragon Emperor Medicament. Emperor NvWa''s Palace assigned someone to gift some to me. I was studying it these days. If you drink one vial of it, I think you would feel better when I set the needles. It''s also beneficial to the recovery of your physical strength!"


    "Oh, but it doesn''t sound like being made in Emperor NvWa''s Palace."


    "Yup, it''s not produced in Emperor NvWa''s Palace. It''s from Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace!" Bian Heng sighed as he took a look at that vial of Dragon Emperor Medicament in Zhang Tie''s hand with a complex look before shaking his head, revealing a bitter smile, "I failed to make it after developing it for dozens of years. Unexpectedly, during these years when the Dragon Emperor disappeared, he developed it. He''s really something; really something..."


    "Ah, you know it?"


    "Humph, it''s not a big deal. Despite its terrifying name, its raw materials are just some common fruits and herbs!"


    "Ah, if so, why couldn''t you make it after developing it for dozens of years?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "Its raw materials are very common; however, the medical essence that could grant these common raw materials with marvelous effects is unusual. I failed to find the proper medical essence even though I''ve traveled across Motian Realm. Therefore, I couldn''t make it. The Dragon Emperor Medicament might be able to frighten others; but not me. I''m afraid that the Dragon Emperor discovered the medical essence that I was always longing for by accident..."


    Hearing Bian Heng''s words, Zhang Tie revealed great shock as he admired Bian Heng pretty much. Zhang Tie knew that the medical essence that he mentioned was the super yeast which was key to the production of all-purpose medicament. Unimaginably, Bian Heng once studied the principle of all-purpose medicament. However, as Bian Heng didn''t have Castle of Black Iron, he couldn''t get the proper yeast.


    "How could common fruits and herbs be made into such a marvelous medicament? If this medicament is so useful, why don''t we just eat those common fruits and herbs?"


    "Humph, when one dies, it''s just some ashes after cremation. But can you say that humans are ashes? Similarly, the same thing would have different properties in different conditions. Take fruits as an example, some fruits could be eaten independently; but if you eat some kinds of fruits together, you might be poisoned to death. The principle is very profound. Forget about it, it''s meaningless for me to talk about that to you. You won''t understand it. Hurry, take it..."


    After drinking the vial of Dragon Emperor Medicament and licking his lips interestedly, Zhang Tie took the fiery-dragon qi-gathering pill. Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had felt the familiar heat rising in his lower abdomen as the first needle had already entered his shrine surging point...


    "Oh, you said that there were other human races in your world, can you specify it? Do they have two eyes and one nose just like us?" Bian Heng asked as he carried out the medical treatment for Zhang Tie.


    These days, the two people kept chatting during medical treatment. Bian Heng was very curious about the world that Zhang Tie came from. Therefore, he always asked Zhang Tie about that world.


    "They look similar to us except that their skin, hair and pupils are different than ours in color. Hua people are black-haired and black-eyed. The other human races'' hair and pupils are different than ours in color. Someone''s skin is even black..."


    Bian Heng''s curiosity increased as he set the needle, asking, "Your mean someone''s skin is as dark as ink?"


    "Of course, someone'' skin is even brown..."


    "If so, aren''t those males whose skin is as dark as ink like fierce ghosts and those females in dark skin like yaksha?"


    "Not exactly, as long as you adapt to their skin color, you would find that some women in black skin are also very sweet and beautiful and some men in black skin are also very handsome and sturdy. Many of those in black skin are the best soldiers and infantries on battlefields. I''ve got a good brother whose skin is also black; his name is Bagdad..." Zhang Tie was a bit moved when he recalled his friends in Taixia Country.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "He is surnamed Ba? Strange, strange..."


    "His surname isn''t Ba, but Bagdad. Their names are different than ours. Our surname is in front of our given name; however, their surname is behind their given name. Due to different languages, after being translated, their names would contain a lot of words..."


    "Different languages? Can you speak their language?"


    "Yes, I can. I lived with a lot of foreigners before!"


    "Hahaha, interesting, interesting. I''ve not imagined that my butler could speak a foreign language. That''s unique in Motian Realm..." Bian Heng guffawed...

 1831 Zhang Ties Paradise II

    The medical treatment today was as same as before. After finishing it, Bian Heng instantly left with his case as Zhang Tie rushed towards the ocean and came to the cave at the bottom of the sea where he immersed himself in the airy and pleasant state, being wrapped by the icy fluid. This state was like quenching a hot saber or sword, which also stimulated the production of King Kong Fruit.


    In this process, Zhang Tie had long released his spiritual energy like tossing a big net, which covered himself within miles. Within this cover, any abnormal phenomenon would catch Zhang Tie''s attention. As long as anyone entered this spiritual region, Zhang Tie would sense it, be it an immortal emperor, a fish or a shrimp.


    This was Zhang Tie''s alert radar, also the way of applying his spiritual energy that he had pondered in Tideviewing Courtyard¡ª¡ªBy releasing his spiritual energy and contracting it, he would get a tight surveillance net. He didn''t expect that his spiritual energy could reach far away. He only wanted to control the situation within this net completely. Although it couldn''t kill enemies, it would completely avoid him from being raided by people; esepecially immortal emperors or demon emperors. After releasing his spiritual net, as long as he spared a wisp of spiritual energy to observe the alert radar, he would be safe.


    Since he survived Versatile Demon Emperor''s fatal strike, Zhang Tie had been pondering how to deal with Versatile Demon Emperor. Therefore, he worked out such a solution. Zhang Tie felt that even if he couldn''t defeat Versatile Demon Emperor for the time being, at least, he should avoid from entering Versatile Demon Emperor''s realm or being raided by Versatile Demon Emperor. This was the wisdom that weak living beings always survived on. If you didn''t have sharp claws and fangs like that of fierce beasts, you should be more sensitive, faster and more flexible than fierce beasts so that you could observe the surroundings at any time and survive yourself.


    ...


    One night passed by soon. When the heat in his body dissipated on the second morning, Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron in a split second.


    After half a month, there were already 7 King Kong fruits on the small tree. After entering Castle of Black Iron, instead of heading for the canteen, Zhang Tie flashed to the small tree and picked a King Kong fruit before sitting down and digesting it, eyes closed and legs crossed.


    3 hours later, Zhang Tie had digested that King Kong fruit; however, he was more hungry. When he was digesting the fruit, he had heard his belly growl like someone beating drums inside there. King Kong fruit could improve his physique; but it couldn''t make him full.


    After digesting the fruit, Zhang Tie opened his eyes when he saw Heller standing under the sacrificial platform of the small tree, followed by the other three servants who were holding three trays of delicious food and watching him with great admiration.


    Zhang Tie acclaimed that Heller was considerate before reaching out his hand and catching a piece of aromatic, sweet and tasty cheese bread which was as large as half a head from Edward''s tray from a few meters away. Then, he started to gulp it down.


    "There''re already 7 King Kong fruits on the small tree. Castle Lord, you don''t have enough time to digest all of them today. In order to save time for you, I have them serve food here..."


    "You''re so considerate..." Zhang Tie spoke highly of Heller unclearly as he ate the piece of bread, mouth full.


    It was already the morning of July 15; only 17 hours left for the portal to close. Zhang Tie didn''t have enough time to digest all of them. It would take him almost 1 day to digest all the 7 King Kong fruits. Therefore, Zhang Tie was eating as more as possible.


    Although Zhang Tie could enter Castle of Black Iron the moment the first day of the month arrived, he couldn''t do anything but soak himself in the icy fluid to quench his body for stimulating the production of King Kong fruit and wait for the dissipation of heat just like staying in the ocean.


    Therefore, if Zhang Tie received the medical treatment on the day before the first day of each month, he could only make use of 17 hours in Castle of Black Iron to eat King Kong fruits; instead of 24 hours.


    After having that huge piece of cheese bread, although being still hungry, his belly didn''t protest any more at least. Zhang Tie opened his mouth as a cup of drink mixing Dragon Emperor Medicament and sweet juice streamed into his mouth like a fountain. Closely after that, Zhang Tie stood up and picked a fruit of redemption before putting it in the mouth. After digesting it for over 10 minutes, Zhang Tie picked another fruit of redemption and digested it. Then, Zhang Tie waved his hand, causing all the three trays to fly to his side. Zhang Tie then waved his hand towards the three people, implying that they could leave here. After that, he picked the second King Kong fruit and ate it. Then, he sat down with crossed legs and started to digest it.


    During the 17 hours, Zhang Tie only did one thing under the small tree¡ª¡ªeating.


    When his belly started to rumble, Zhang Tie would catch some food from aside. As long as his belly didn''t protest, he would continue to eat various of fruits on the tree despite being hungry.


    ...


    "Castle Lord, you''ve got half an hour left. By then, the space force of Motian Realm will be imbalanced again and the portal of Castle of Black Iron accessing to the outside would be closed..."


    Heller warned as Zhang Tie had just digested the last fruit of redemption from the gratitude of earthworms.


    Zhang Tie took a look at the small tree. Besides two King Kong fruits, Zhang Tie had already eaten all the others. However, his belly started to rumble again.


    After taking a look at the delicious food in the trays beside him, Zhang Tie spent 20 minutes in finishing them up as he finally became full. In the last 10 minutes, he picked 2 King Kong fruits at the same time and ate them. When the two fruits'' energy started to spread across his body, Zhang Tie left Castle of Black Iron in a split second and reappeared in the mountain cave at the bottom of the ocean.


    King Kong fruit couldn''t be taken out of Castle of Black Iron; however, after eating it, he could digest the energy of the fruits outside Castle of Black Iron, in which way, Zhang Tie could save time in digesting them in Castle of Black Iron.


    "Ah, I''ve not imagined that I wouldn''t even have time to eat two fruits. Thankfully, I''m smart..." Zhang Tie mocked himself in the cave. Closely after that, he sat down, legs crossed, and started to digest the last two King Kong fruits.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    At this moment, it was pitch-dark at the bottom of the ocean at 00:45 in Motian Realm...


    It took Zhang Tie almost 7 hours to completely digest all the energy of the two King Kong fruits in the cave.


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes and let out a deep sigh before leaving the cave. At the bottom of the ocean, Zhang Tie swam towards the beach where Tideviewing Court was. After racing against time for one day, Zhang Tie finally became relaxed as he leisurely returned to Tideviewing Courtyard.


    When he entered the waters which were about 1,000 m in depth, under the morning sunshine, Zhang Tie could see golden light on the sea level as everything at the bottom of the ocean became vigorous.


    Various fish, oceanic organisms, colorful corals, floating seaweeds and the crystal sea water formed a beautiful picture at the bottom of the ocean.


    ...


    A cyan-white crab with a thick shell as large as a bowl was slowly walking among the sands at the bottom of the sea over 2,000 m away from Tiderviewing Courtyard. It discovered a crevice between two coral reefs which was suitable for settling in. However, the crevice had been occupied by a 10 cm-long yellowish shrimp which was semi-transparent.


    A mountain would never allow two tigers to stay. Similarly, a crevice would never allow a crab and a shrimp to stay. Of course, the crab and the shrimp started a fight.


    The bigger crab was waving his two powerful pliers and intended to kill that shrimp. However, when the crab appraoched the shrimp, the shrimp moved as he bent his body and launched a lightning attack towards the crab''s shell by its strong forelimbs...


    It was the most common scene in the ocean. It was vigorous at the bottom of the ocean; however, fish and the other oceanic organisms complied with their own survival laws. Fights between different species happened every once in a while at the bottom of the ocean.


    However, when the shrimp hit the crab, Zhang Tie was swimming by them over 100 m above...


    Although Zhang Tie felt it, he didn''t care about it at the beginning. However, after passing by 500-600 m, Zhang Tie suddenly stopped in the water!


    ''The shrimp...''


    Zhang Tie slightly frowned.


    Zhang Tie instantly turned around and returned to the battlefield where the shrimp fought with the crab at the bottom of the ocean.


    The shrimp had already returned to the crevice between the two coral reefs. After being hit by the shrimp, the crab became still in a split second as if the shrimp had just played a conjuration on it. When Zhang Tie was approaching them, he found the crab had already lost its balance in the flow. Meanwhile, its feet had already left the sands.


    Zhang Tie picked the crab as he found it was already dead...


    Zhang Tie was petrified at a stroke...

 1832 Being Leisure

    When Bian Heng set needles for him, Zhang Tie''s mind was occupied with that moment when the spike shrimp launched a fatal strike. It aroused an unprecedented palpitation deep in Zhang Tie''s heart. Therefore, Zhang Tie just chatted with Bian Heng absent-mindedly. Bian Heng appeared to have a load in his mind as he just set needles for Zhang Tie with a frown.


    "Starting from tomorrow, I have to leave Tigerback Mountain for a period which varies from one week to half a month. During this period, I won''t be carrying out medical treatment for you anymore. You could make your arrangement freely!" When Bian Heng almost finished his job, he warned Zhang Tie.


    After hearing Bian Heng''s words, Zhang Tie was shocked as he uttered, "Ah? You''re going to leave Tigerback Mountain? What for? Do you need my help?"


    "Glad that you remember that you''re my butler!" Bian Heng replied with a cold harrumph as he added, "But you cannot help me, I have to do it myself!"


    "It must be something very important!"


    "Star Emperor Immortal Palace got a sample of Golden-Soul Runed Virus. They''ve already sent it to Emperor NvWa''s Palace and wanted to have Emperor NvWa work out the therapy for detoxifying Golden-Soul Rune Virus. In the worst case scenario, we should find a solution to detect Golden-Soul Runed Virus. Emperor NvWa''s Palace had already invited many powers who are proficient in runes, medicinal pills, medical skills and secret skills to negotiate the countermeasures together. Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace have assigned powers to Emperor NvWa''s Palace too. Golden-Soul Rune Virus might have a connection with demons. This event is concerned about the safety of humans in Motian Realm. Now that Emperor NvWa''s Palace invited me, I have to go there..."


    Bian Heng was modest by using the word "proficient". All the powers that could be invited by Emperor NvWa''s Palace might be on the same level as Bian Heng. They were definitely top moguls or masters in each industry. Many of them were living somewhere in Emperor NvWa City just like Bian Heng.


    "Ah? Golden-Soul Rune Virus?" Zhang Tie uttered, mouth agape as he had not imagined that Star Emperor Immortal Palace was able to get a sample of Golden-Soul Rune Virus. Zhang Tie really admired Star Emperor Immortal Palace''s tricks.


    "You know about Golden-Soul Rune Virus?"


    "Of course!" Zhang Tie replied casually. Closely after that, he asked Bian Heng out of curiosity, "How did Star Emperor Immortal Palace get the sample of Golden-Soul Rune Virus?"


    "I don''t know. It''s said that Star Emperor made it himself. When he discovered a mole of Star Emperor Immortal Palace in Star Emperor Immortal Palace, he chopped off his head; meanwhile, he froze his head in a secret method. Therefore, that head didn''t explode itself. It contained a complete sample of Golden-Soul Runed Virus..."


    When he thought about Star Emperor''s unpredicted tricks, Zhang Tie admired him very much.


    To be honest, Zhang Tie had some complete samples of Golden-Soul Rune Virus which had not been used yet. He almost wanted to gift some to Bian Heng for study. However, he instantly closed his mouth due to reason.


    If Zhang Tie took out the samples of Golden-Soul Rune Virus, his identity and many secrets would be exposed to the public. Smart ones could know a lot of information about him. Therefore, Even though he wanted to gift it to Bian Heng, he had to choose the right moment. Now that Emperor NvWa''s Palace had already got one sample, Zhang Tie would not present those samples of Golden-Soul Rune Virus for the time being.


    "Master, take care of yourself!" Zhang Tie sighed as he added, "I could tell you that Golden-Soul Rune Virus definitely belongs to Demons. Because I''ve discovered that Versatile Demon Emperor was Dark Emperor of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, Versatile Demon Emperor wanted to kill me. Golden-Soul Rune Virus was produced by Versatile Demon Emperor. After killing Rune Emperor, Versatile Demon Emperor acquired the Tadpole Rune Sutra of Runed Emperor. He then developed Golden-Soul Runed Virus by combining a rune skill in Tadpole Rune Sutra with a demon puppet worm which could control one''s brain. To put it simply, Golden-Soul Rune Virus is used to control one''s brain and awareness in terms of a rune puppet worm in a rune skill!"


    Bian Heng watched Zhang Tie with great shock. Although he knew that Zhang Tie''s identity was special, he was still shocked by Zhang Tie''s words¡ª¡ªAcross Motian Realm, even top forces such as the two emperor-level immortal palaces and Emperor NvWa''s Palace didn''t know anything about Golden-Soul Rune Virus. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s intelligence was definitely strategic. The source and manufacturing principle of Golden-Soul Rune Virus is invaluable.


    "What''s puppet worm then?" Bian Heng asked Zhang Tie as he stopped his hand unconsciously.


    "Puppet worm is a kind of insect. The parent puppet worm is like a cocoon. However, it''s much bigger than a cocoon. At least as large as a sea cucumber!" Zhang Tie made a hand gesture as he added, "The parent puppet worm could lay numerous eggs a day which could barely be seen by naked eyes. As long as the eggs enter one''s body, it would come to one''s brain through blood circulation and lurk in one''s brain like a parasite. Then, it will grow up there. In this process, the host couldn''t sense its existence. When those eggs become mature, their hosts would die. Meanwhile, the mature puppet worm would control that dead body to kill people everywhere without feeling painful. When the parent puppet worm suddenly dies, the larvae will become mature all of a sudden. After killing their hosts, they would become very berserk and lose control..." Zhang Tie told Bian Heng about the features of puppet worms that he had learned. He also hoped that Emperor NvWa''s Palace could find a way to restrict or detect Golden-Soul Rune Virus. "Master, when you listen to me, don''t stop it, I''m still suffering..."


    Bian Heng then continued to set his needles as he asked, "How do you know that?"


    "Have you forgotten where I came from? In my world, demons created a lot of troubles using puppet worms..."


    "If one controls the parent puppet worm, could one control those walking dead''s through the parent puppet worm?"


    "You got me. Remember that, don''t expose the information to anyone else; especially those immortal emperors or demon emperors. If they know it''s me who told you about that, they would know my real identity the moment they see me..."


    "Humph, what kind of person do you think I am?" Bian Heng replied with a cold harrumph as he took a look at Zhang Tie, "Now that you knew that, why didn''t you tell me earlier?"


    Zhang Tie instantly complained, "Look at me, how weak I am! I was almost killed by Versatile Demon Emperor for the sake of righteousness of humans, and I am still being chased by Versatile Demon Emperor. I''m still receiving medical treatment now. Who do I talk to? If I told ordinary people about that, who would believe me? If Star Emperor and Force Emperor saw me, what if they sliced me into pieces?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Bian Heng became quiet with a frown. Looking up at the roof, he recalled the contents that Zhang Tie exposed to him seriously as he mumbled Tadpole Rune Sutra and puppet worm...


    "Ah..." Zhang Tie uttered a shrill cry all of a sudden.


    Bian Heng lowered his head as he found that he set a needle in the wrong place when he was absent-minded just now. It penetrated through Zhang Tie''s short pants and stood on one of Zhang Tie''s testicles, causing Zhang Tie''s face dreadfully pale in a split second...


    "Ah, sorry. I was absent-minded just now. I had already stopped. But you made me continue. Look, something is wrong..." Bian Heng blamed Zhang Tie first before drawing out that long needle and setting it in the right place.


    "Bro, watch out. You could have almost killed me. What you''re doing is concerned with my life. If I died, it would ruin your reputation..." Zhang Tie yelled.


    "Humph..." Bian Heng replied as he picked another needle and stared at Zhang Tie. Meanwhile, he looked a bit gloomy.


    "Well, forget about that; forget about that. Continue, continue..." Zhang Tie hurriedly replied with a smile in case that Bian Heng made another mistake by inserting his needle into his another egg. Although he had already eaten 10 King Kong fruits, if Bian Heng really made another mistake, the effect of the 10 King Kong fruits could withstand the power of the sage-level knight.


    When Bian Heng collected all the needles, Zhang Tie felt being burned all over. He then instantly sprung up and jumped out of Tideviewing Courtyard. In a split second, he had rushed into the ocean and disappeared.


    "Brat..." Bian Heng cursed as he closed his case and left there. When Bian Heng walked out of the backroom and looked back, Zhang Tie had long disappeared on the beach...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ...


    When he returned back to the cave at the bottom of the ocean and soaked himself in icy fluid quietly, Zhang Tie''s mind was occupied with that spike shrimp''s image once again.


    The period of over 10 hours was very tough. On second early morning, Zhang Tie rushed out of the cave the moment the heat in his body dissipated...


    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had come to a shallow sea of Whitedragon Gulf. Some fishing boats were casting nets in the waters. There were many coral reefs at the bottom of this shallow area, where lived many spike shrimps...

 1833 Scrambling Brilliance with the Sun

    Those shrimps had their own territories at the bottom of the ocean. They even fought with each other. After coming to this place, Zhang Tie could even hear cracks like broken bamboos in the fire.


    The clear cracks were caused by shrimps when they scrambled for private territories over there. When they waved their forelimbs in water, they would cause such clear cracks.


    These shrimp didn''t carry out close combats at all. According to Zhang Tie''s observation, those shrimps were like strong fighters above LV 10. They didn''t even touch each other during the fight.


    They could launch their attacks from dozens of cm away in terms of changing water flows and impact waves.


    Those shrimps survived on fish, crabs, conchs and seashells. After coming here for a short while, Zhang Tie had seen a shrimp catch a conch and draw it into his own cave. Feeling the danger, the conch hid into its shell. However, facing the punches of the shrimp, the conch''s shell was gradually broken into pieces. As a result, the conch became shrimp''s food.


    With his powerful knight''s consciousness, Zhang Tie acquired a higher-level visual angle and perception. As a result, the images of things that Zhang Tie could see and sense were absolutely different than what could be seen and sensed by ordinary people.


    Benefited from this, Zhang Tie could even reduce the moving speed of shrimps'' forelimbs by over 1,000 times; meanwhile, he could experience some mysterious micro changes.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, those shrimps became the most powerful fighters while their weapons were their forelimbs.


    Those shrimps had extremely powerful explosive force. Each time they punched out, they would carry destructive momentum and power.


    From a different visual angle, the calm bottom of the ocean became the battlefield of top powers.


    Through such micro observation and perception, Zhang Tie gradually discovered the subtle change in water temperature in the space being many times smaller than pinpoint right in front of their fists in a split second.


    Zhang Tie instantly triggered his lotus-flower eyes as he wanted to check out their combat process.


    Lotus-flower eyes were extremely sensitive to temperature; plus his powerful knight''s consciousness and spiritual energy, Zhang Tie finally "saw" the details...


    Zhang Tie saw many "suns" in front of those shrimp''s forelimbs.


    Yes, they were "suns", which appeared and disappeared in a split second in an extremely tiny space. When those powerful shrimps punched out, they caused "suns" due to friction.


    Although those "suns" were barely seen due to their size; although those "suns" appeared and disappeared in milliseconds, they were truly "suns". Under Zhang Tie''s lotus-flower eyes, the temperature of those "suns" could reach above 5,000 degrees Celsius, which was close to the surface temperature of the real sun. Additionally, he could see the color and brilliance which were like that of the real sun...


    Steel would be vaporized at 1510 degrees Celsius, which meant that the great energy that carried by one punch of those shrimps could even vaporize steel.


    Zhang Tie was shocked too much physically and spiritually as he almost couldn''t believe what he saw and sensed.


    At this moment, in the eyes of ordinary people, it was just some tiny shrimps who were punching out. These shrimps were not immortal generals; therefore, they couldn''t release battle qi or spiritual energy. However, these shrimps were displaying the most powerful fist skills in front of Zhang Tie. By contrast, all the fist skills that Zhang Tie had ever learned and seen were nothing but sh*t. Even the Real Sun Flame of Fantasy Old Man would be dwarfed by the highest temperature of their punch...


    A whim occurred to Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªThe greatest force was close to the truth!


    This sentence was the first sentence on the secret book of Iron Blood Fist Skill that Zhang Tie had learned at the beginning. After experiencing so many hardships, Zhang Tie became more and more powerful. However, he didn''t get the essence of this sentence until this moment.


    Zhang Tie had approximately watched such a great fist skill when he comprehended the realm of combining the heavens with himself and was in that mysterious realm. Not until now did Zhang Tie recall that scene in his mind¡ª¡ªon the battlefield between humans and fierce far-ancient beasts, all of a sudden, the battlefield was in the dark. At the same time, a flying Hua youth suddenly gave out great brilliance, in which all the fierce beasts across the world became still. Closely after that, a fist crossed the heavens like an eternal long rainbow or a sun, causing the heavens to collapse and earth to shake. In a split second, the day turned into night while stars loomed in the sunny sky; earth started to roll; rivers started to dry; grasses and woods started to wither. In an instant, all the fierce beasts that wreak havoc across the world trembled and perished...


    Even a shrimp could scramble brilliance with the sun, not to mention people.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Unconsciously, Zhang Tie had entered a bizarre realm.


    In this bizarre realm, it was his overwhelming, vast and berserk fist intention surging in the ocean; instead of seawater. Zhang Tie was absolutely immersed in the fist intention. All the shrimps were just swimming in his fist intention. Right in front of Zhang Tie, they kept punching out, causing billows and tens of thousands of suns appear and disappear beside Zhang Tie every once in a while...


    ''They don''t have battle qi. So what?''


    ''They don''t have spiritual energy. So what?''


    ''They have traumas. So what?''


    ''Couldn''t a man even match a shrimp? Couldn''t a man even match a shrimp? Couldn''t a man even match a shrimp?''


    ''How large is the distance between humbleness and greatness?''


    ''How large is the distance between weakness and power?''


    ''How large is the distance between cowardice and firmness?''


    ''How large is the distance between darkness and brightness?''


    ''It''s just a distance of one punch!''


    Unconsciously, Zhang Tie had closed his eyes as he was immersed in that bizarre realm and gnosis. Right at the bottom of the ocean which was thousands of meters deep, Zhang Tie slowly moved as he started to imitate the fist skill of those shrimps in water.


    When 1 day had passed, Zhang Tie was still imitating at the bottom of the ocean...


    When 3 days had passed, Zhang Tie was still imitating at the bottom of the ocean...


    When 10 days had passed, Zhang Tie was still imitating at the bottom of the ocean...


    ...

 1834 The Immortal Fist Skill

    19 days, Bian Heng finally returned to Tigerback Mountain on August 5, the 3586th year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar.


    When he was back, he looked very solemn. When he remembered that he told Zhang Tie that he would come back in at most half a month, Bian Heng felt a bit bashful. Due to some accidents, he wasted some time on the way.


    Bian Heng had come to the Tideviewing Courtyard behind Tigerback Mountain with his case soon after he returned to Tigerback Mountain.


    The gate of Tideviewing Courtyard was closed. After shouting twice outside the gate, Bian Heng received no response. Therefore, he directly flew inside.


    Nobody was inside Tideviewing Courtyard. Additionally, after looking around the Tideviewing Courtyard, Bian Heng found that everything inside the courtyard remained as same as last time when he left here. It seemed that Zhang Tie had not come back for a few days.


    ''Did that brat run away because I came back a few days later...''


    Bian Heng mumbled with a frown as he instantly contacted Qin Mu, "Where''s Butler Jin in Tideviewing Courtyard?"


    "Owner, since you left Tigerback Mountain, Butler Jin has entered the sea. He didn''t return to Tideviewing Courtyard these days; nor did he go to Tigerback Town!"


    As the general butler of Tiderback Mountain, although Qin Mu didn''t pay attention to Tideviewing Courtyard, it seemed that nothing across Tigerback Mountain could escape from his eyes.


    "Owner, do you need me to find him back..."


    "No need, that brat is a very good swimmer. I''m afraid that he''s still traveling across the ocean these days. I will go and find him..."


    After ending the conversation with Qin Mu and learning about Zhang Tie''s current situation, Bian Heng put his medical kit in Tideviewing Courtyard. Then, he flew off from Tideviewing Courtyard towards Whitedragon Gulf.


    Over these days, Bian Heng also knew that Zhang Tie often visited Whitedragon Gulf. However, Zhang Tie had never stayed there for over 10 days even once. Therefore, Bian Heng was also curious about Zhang Tie''s whereabouts.


    Flying over the sea of Whitedragon Gulf, Bian Heng searched over the waters by his shiny eyes.


    As a sage-level knight, even though Bian Heng didn''t have lotus-flower eyes, none of fish and shrimps at the bottom of the ocean as deep as tens of thousands of meters could escape from his eyes.


    Only after a short while, Bian Heng''s heart had palpitated as he turned around and looked at a direction on his left side.


    In that direction, Bian Heng caught sight of a huge swirl over 130 miles away. There were billows despite not being windy.


    The swirl was too huge. In the blink of an eye, it had aroused a huge turbulence whose diameter was over 13 miles. The moment this turbulence appeared, some small fishing boats near that waters were instantly involved in the huge swirl. Like tree leaves, those small boats started to rotate along the direction of the turbulence out of control.


    Whitedragon Gulf was inside Emperor NvWa City. With the protection of the city wall, there was even no heavy wind or billow, not to mention such a huge swirl all of a sudden.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Those fishers and sailors on those fishing boats were exclaiming out of panic, face turning dreadfully pale. They thought they had offended the legendary ocean deity or dragon king...


    After flashing to the waters, Bian Heng released his realm at once. In a split second, all the small fishing boats had been shifted into his own realm. Closely after that, Bian Heng flew far away and let go of those fishing boats.


    "Leave here right now. Admonish those people in Tigerback Town to not approach this waters..." After saying these words, Bian Heng flew towards that huge swirl again.


    Bian Heng was known to everyone in Tigerback Town. Although being flurried, those fishers and sailors still caught sight of Bian Heng as they all exclaimed, "Ah, it''s the old immortal on Tigerback Mountain..."


    Bian Heng''s words were even more effective than an imperial decree. After hearing Bian Heng''s waning, those fishers and sailors tried their most efforts to leave that waters.


    A fisher looked back as he instantly oozed sweat all over with a dreadfully pale face. Only after such a short while, that huge swirl had expanded by two times while the billows had been over 10 m high. Although being far away, the billows still caused the sea level to rock heavily.


    "Hurry, leave here..." the fisher shouted.


    "Look, what''s that?"


    A sailor pointed at the ocean as he shouted suddenly. The others looked at the direction along his finger as they found the sea level was giving out golden light as if hundreds of millions of gold coins were over there.


    After looking at it carefully, they realized that they were not gold coins, but numerous shrimps from the bottom of the sea. Out of some reason, all the shrimps jumped out of the sea level. As a result, it was like a storm as those shrimps were jumping under the hot sun cheerily as if they wanted to rush into the sky. As they flicked their forelimbs, the entire sea level was full of ear-splitting cracks...


    Even though they had caught fish for dozens of years, it was their first time to see this.


    "I''ve only heard about carps leaping into the Dragon''s Gate. Why do these shrimps leap into the Dragon''s Gate too. Crazy, crazy, crazy shrimps..." an old fisher mumbled with a pale face...


    Closely after his words, shoals of fish started to jump out of water one after another, causing another hubbub. In the sunshine, they rushed towards the sun before falling back into the ocean; then they came out of water again...


    The similar scene not only appeared in Whitedragon Gulf but also in Yaohai Ocean, the largest ocean in Motian Realm.


    On the part of city wall above the heavenly-level gate of Whitedragon Gulf, all the immortal soldiers and generals were watching Yaohai Ocean, mouths agape. The entire Yaohai Ocean was boiled as numerous shrimps started to leap out of the ocean, closely followed by shoals of fish, large or small.


    Dolphins reached dozens of meters high in the air before falling back into the ocean, one after another.


    Even those tens of thousands of years old turtles floated on the sea level as they called towards the sky, stretching out their necks.


    Being far away from the city wall, a huge whale rushed towards the sun before falling back into the ocean, arousing a tall billow...


    All the oceanic organisms appeared to be crazy because of some power.


    ...


    Bian Heng had already dived into the ocean. In a split second, he had been thousands of meters away from the core of the swirl at the bottom of the sea.


    Then, Bian Heng caught sight of Zhang Tie. Eyes closed, Zhang Tie was imitating something by hands...


    Zhang Tie''s hands moved very slowly. However, with the changing positions of his hands, he released an increasingly terrifying and esoteric power and punch intent. As a result, the entire waters started to move with his hands as if he was manipulating a puppet.


    At this moment, a light appeared on Zhang Tie''s body, in which, Bian Heng saw the light and shadow image of a huge shrimp on Zhang Tie''s back. Closely after that, the sun rose and fell with his punches one after another, causing ebb and flow of the ocean...


    At the sight of that, even though Bian Heng had seen the world and was always calm, he still changed his face as he exclaimed, "The immortal fist skill..."


    ...

 1835 Zhang Ties Realization Through Observing Shrimps

    Under Bian Heng''s gaze, 10 times later, Zhang Tie suddenly punched out at the bottom of the ocean, splitting the seawater all the way from the bottom to the surface of the sea, forming an empty well whose diameter was a few meters. The empty space was surrounded by seawater. At the same time, the huge swirl on the surface of seawater dissipated. Like a brilliant sun, Zhang Tie slowly rose to the surface of the seawater from the bottom together with a huge shadow of shrimp.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie opened his eyes.


    After the brilliant sun disappeared, seawater filled the well in an instant, causing billows at once on the surface of the seawater. All the jumping fish and shrimps also stayed calm in the water.


    "Ah, senior, why are you here? Didn''t you say you will not come back before a week?" When Zhang Tie opened his eyes, he saw Bian Heng watching him with tiny eyes and mouth agape. Zhang Tie then looked around as he asked Bian Heng out of confusion, "Ah, why am I here? Wasn''t I underwater just now?"


    Bian Heng''s face instantly heavily frowned like a dried tangerine peel as he flew towards Zhang Tie. After looking at Zhang Tie from his head to foot seriously, he asked Zhang Tie in a strange tone, "You asked me why I was here? Even I want to know why you are here?"


    "Senior, since you left here yesterday, I had been dissipating my heat in the sea. After that, I came here..."


    "Then?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Then, I found these shrimps strange and started to watch them punching out. Therefore... therefore, I forgot about time..."


    ''He could attain gnosis only through observing shrimps?''


    If it was another person who told Bian Heng about this, Bian Heng would have long slapped him and spat his saliva on that person. However, he had witnessed the abnormal phenomenon and known that Zhang Tie was not lying. Even so, Bian Heng still felt complex as he watched Zhang Tie strangely and smacked his lips, asking, "Do you know how long have you stayed at the bottom of the ocean?"


    Zhang Tie looked up at the sky as he answered, "Isn''t it just a short while?"


    "Just a short while?" Bian Heng revealed a quirky smile as he took a glance at Zhang Tie out of admiration and jealousy, saying, "I''ve already left Tigerback Mountain 19 days. Therefore, you should have already stayed in the state of gnosis for 18 days and already attained the Supreme Immortal Fist Skill."


    Zhang Tie widely opened his eyes as he asked, "18 days?"


    "Hmm!" Bian Heng confirmed as he nodded.


    "Supreme Immortal Fist Skill?"


    Bian Heng nodded again.


    "What''s Supreme Immortal Fist Skill?"


    After hearing this question, Bian Heng almost spurted out blood as he asked in reply, "You don''t know what you''ve got through gnosis?"


    Scratching his head, Zhang Tie replied, "I really don''t know..."


    "Recall your feeling just now."


    "Just now, I felt like becoming a shrimp and punching out..." Zhang Tie recalled carefully as he felt entering a state of consciousness of universal laws as a shrimp. He was experiencing the powerful fist intent of the shrimp which could scramble brilliance with the hot sun.


    "What else?"


    "Shrimps are trivial in the ocean. It''s a member of grassroots just like me when I was young. Unconsciously, I feel like becoming the shrimp and having resonance with it. Now that these shrimps could do it, I could do it too..." Zhang Tie was telling the truth, which was the most important reason for having such gnosis through watching shrimps. In his eyes, shrimps were like Zhang Tie himself who was struggling at the lowest social class. The fist skill of shrimps also reflected his life trajectory and fate through constant struggles and strikes in a humble situation.


    "The so-called Supreme Immortal Fist Skill is the supreme state among fist skills. It even carries the power of universal laws..."


    "My fist skill carries the power of universal laws?" Zhang Tie mumbled. Closely after that, his eyes shone, ''Does it mean that the fist skill that I''ve just attained has already carried the power of rules of LV 1 consciousness of universal laws? Zhang Tie then looked at his fists in an incredible way as he didn''t know the power of this fist skill. After that, he glanced at Bian Heng.


    Bian Heng instantly waved his hands as he urged, "Stop! If you want to find a training partner, you''d better find someone else..." After saying that, Bian Heng took a look at Zhang Tie as he frowned again, "Your qi sea..."


    ''My qi sea? What happened to my qi sea?"


    Zhang Tie thought that Bian Heng had found another problem facing his qi sea as he hurriedly introspected. In a split second, Zhang Tie was petrified as if he had been struck by a lightning bolt...


    At this moment, a brilliant golden sun was already hanging over Zhang Tie qi sea as the brilliance of the sun had become dense battle qi, filling the entire qi sea.


    This battle qi sun was even more brilliant than that before. Additionally, this one looked more vivid.


    Zhang Tie was especially here for curing his battle qi problem. However, he had not imagined that his qi sea had already recovered, even better than that before.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie felt that he had already reached 7 change realm of his fire chakra as all the fire elements that he had absorbed had been refined and become his own fire chakra automatically.


    Just now, Zhang Tie didn''t pay attention to his improvement. Now Zhang Tie felt being full of power all over including his qi sea and mind sea. He had already returned to his most powerful state, even 2 stages higher than that when he fought Versatile Demon Emperor...


    ''What happened? Did I heal myself during such a short period of time at the bottom of sea...''


    ''No matter what reason, I''ve already recovered completely.''


    Standing in the air, Zhang Tie was shortly dumbfounded; then he became ecstatic as he burst into laughter...


    As Zhang Tie who was laughing out had already figured it out, Bian Heng suddenly let out a sigh as he revealed a bitter smile and said, "When you were observing shrimps, your body had been gradually cleansed by the power of universal laws and reached a new height. Therefore, I cannot help you anymore. Our bloody pledge will be abolished..."

 1836 Zhang Ties Reques

    "Master, I appreciate you for your concern these days. I''ve benefited a lot in Tigerback Mountain. If you like it, I will continue to be your butler in charge of your fishing ground in case of being starved to death!" Zhang Tie said generously.


    Bian Heng watched Zhang Tie as he uttered a cold harrumph. Meanwhile, he rolled his eyes, saying, "Don''t call me master anymore. When we stayed with each other recently, I''ve not felt any sincerity of you by calling me that, not to mention now. It feels pretty awkward..."


    "How about calling you elder brother then? After all, I like Tideviewing Courtyard. From now on, that place will be my mine. I might continue to rely on Tigerback Mountain..." Zhang Tie said shamelessly.


    Over these days, the two people had long been familiar with each other. Zhang Tie knew that Bian Heng was kind-hearted despite being distant superficially. Despite his weird temperament, Bian Heng was actually a good man. Unconsciously, the two people had become good friends despite the great difference in age.


    "Humph, whatever..." Bian Heng tacitly approved Zhang Tie''s appellation of him.


    Only after a short while, an armored immortal general had already arrived dozens of miles away from the city wall of Emperor NvWa City in the distance. At the sight of Bian Heng and Zhang Tie standing still above the sea level, he flew straight towards them.


    "When you practiced your supreme immortal fist skill, you''ve aroused a great shock. The immortal general is flying towards us. You''d better keep silent. I will explain it to him..." Bian Heng told Zhang Tie secretly using his battle qi. Zhang Tie nodded.


    Only after a few seconds, that immortal general had already arrived.


    "My respects to you, senior..." The immortal general was a swarthy heavenly knight whose thick and black eyebrows carried a fierce intent. At the sight of Bian Heng, he instantly showed his respect. Evidently, he was clear about Bian Heng''s identity. Closely after that, he took a look at Zhang Tie beside Bian Heng as his eyes sparkled, asking, "This is..."


    As Zhang Tie looked so young and had a profound battle force, no wonder that immortal general paid special attention to Zhang Tie.


    "This is my butler in Tigerback Mountain!" Bian Heng said in a muffled voice.


    "Oh, I see!" The immortal general saw light suddenly as he moved his eyes away from Zhang Tie and asked Bian Heng, "Senior, have you noticed anything abnormal here?"


    "Because we found something abnormal in Whitedragon Gulf just now, we especially came over here to determine it. But we haven''t seen anybody here!" Bian Heng said seriously.


    "Oh, I see. Sorry to trouble you, senior..." After saying that, the immortal general continued to look around the sea with shiny eyes.


    Bian Heng took a look at Zhang Tie. The two people then nodded at each other before heading for Tigerback Mountain together. In the blink of an eye, they had arrived at Tideviewing Courtyard and landed there.


    Taking his medical kit, Bian Heng said, "As you''ve already completely recovered, will you continue to stay in Tigerback Mountain?"


    "I''m afraid that I will stay here for a few more days. Brother, will you chase me away, elder brother?"


    "Just stay as long as you want!" Bian Heng said casually, "Motian Realm is becoming more and more chaotic. As you''ve just got the gnosis of Supreme Immortal Fist Skill, you''d better strike the iron while it''s hot and consolidate your current state. In the future, you will be able to protect yourself..."


    "Thanks for your warning, elder brother. Oh, elder brother, how''s everything going about Golden-Soul Rune Virus?"


    "Speaking of Golden-Soul Rune Virus, I must appreciate you for your warning. If not have learned about it in advance, I would not put elder guys on the spot in Emperor NvWa''s Palace, hehhehheh..." Bian Heng said as he revealed a pleasant smile, "No matter how powerful Versatile Demon Emperor is, he''s not unrivaled. Although we''ve not worked out the solution to detoxify the Golden-Soul Rune Virus in Emperor NvWa''s Palace, we''ve already been able to determine whether a person is influenced by Golden-Soul Rune Virus or not. Even though Dark Emperor Immortal Palace is mysterious, we could still catch its tail..."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    After hearing Bian Heng''s words, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh. Now that humans could fight demons for so many years in Motian Realm, they must have countermeasures and confidence. The elites in Motian Realm had already developed a way to detect Golden-Soul Rune Virus the moment they received the specimen of Golden-Soul Rune Virus. That was really something! At least Zhang Tie was unable to make it himself.


    "That''s great, elder brother, you''ve made great contributions to humans across Motian Realm..." Zhang Tie spoke highly of Bian Heng. Closely after that, a whim occurred to him as he asked, "Oh, elder brother, could the city defense system of Emperor NvWa''s City detect people with Golden-Soul Rune Virus?"


    Zhang Tie cared about it very much as he wanted to know whether the powers of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace could enter Emperor NvWa''s City. Although being in Tigerback Mountain these days, Zhang Tie had not relaxed his vigilance at all.


    "Although being exceptional, Golden-Soul Rune Virus still couldn''t pass the city defense system of Emperor NvWa''s City. Emperor NvWa''s City was an immortal unity produced in far-ancient times. It''s much more powerful than the rune skills of Versatile Demon Emperor. Now that you''ve passed the city gate of Emperor NvWa''s City, you must have a fresh memory about the situation inside the city gate. The city gate was covered with numerous runes which could identify demons. The puppet worm of Golden-Soul Rune Virus had a deep relationship with demons. As long as people with Golden-Soul Rune Virus entered the city gates of Emperor NvWa''s City, they would be discovered at once. When I came to Emperor NvWa''s Palace, I was told that the head with Golden-Soul Runed Virus was discovered the moment the envoy of Star Emperor Immortal Palace entered the city gate of Emperor NvWa City with it..."


    After hearing Bian Heng''s explanation, Zhang Tie finally let out a sigh. Not until then did he understand why he was not assassinated after coming to Tigerback Mountain so long.


    According to Zhang Tie''s previous prediction, if Versatile Demon Emperor could conjecture that he would come to Tigerback Mountain for medical treatment, Versatile Demon Emperor would definitely make preparation in Tigerback Mountain as soon as possible. Because Zhang Tie would become increasingly powerful day by day, which meant that it would become more difficult for Versatile Demon Emperor to kill him. However, Tigerback Mountain was peaceful recently. Zhang Tie even thought that Versatile Demon Emperor was brewing another fatal trick and was going to launch a fatal lightning strike towards him when he relaxed his vigilance. After hearing Bian Heng''s words, Zhang Tie understood that it was not that Versatile Demon Emperor didn''t want to assassinate him, but all the powers of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace were blocked out of Emperor NvWa City.


    "Elder brother, could you give me a favor..." Zhang Tie asked as a whim occurred to him.


    "Go ahead!"


    "Don''t expose the news that I''ve already completely recovered to anyone else. Just treat me as a patient like before. If possible, elder brother, you could tell others that my disease couldn''t be cured in a short period of time. Additionally, the medicament treatment process is very troublesome..."


    Bian Heng was really smart as he immediately understood Zhang Tie''s meaning the moment he heard Zhang Tie''s request, "You want to screw someone?"


    "Can''t I?"


    "Whom do you want to screw?"


    "It had better be Versatile Demon Emperor or supreme-level immortal generals, namely the heads of the four branches of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace at least..." Zhang Tie replied with a faint weird smile...

 1837 Spike Shrimps

    "You want to trap Versatile Demon Emperor?" Bian Heng asked as he goggled at Zhang Tie as if Zhang Tie was a lunatic, "You''ve just survived his fatal strike. Are you courting death? Demon Emperor is not that foolish. Do you know how many demon generals were killed when Versatile Demon Emperor ambushed Runed Emperor? Even though you''ve got the essence of the Immortal Fist Skill, you still couldn''t defeat Versatile Demon Emperor. A wind immortal general wants to trap Versatile Demon Emperor, you must be sick..."


    "Of course, I can''t do it alone!" Zhang Tie smirked as he added, "I''m aware of my own ability. But if I could have some helpers such as elder brother, through a considerate plan, I think It''s possible for us to trap him!"


    "Forget about that. I don''t want to die so fast!" Bian Heng swung his sleeves as he intended to walk outside, saying, "Listen, if you want to kill such a power, you should find 2 immortal emperors or 7,000-8,000 fearless immortal generals to form an unrivaled battle formation..."


    "Elder brother, take it easy. Don''t be so serious. If I try my best, I could at least trap his subordinate supreme-level immortal generals, even if I couldn''t trap demon emperors!"


    "I will help you cure your disease and tell others that you''ve not healed yet. But I would never participate in this thing. It''s the job of Star Emperor, Force Emperor, Dragon Emperor and those people in Emperor NvWa''s Palace to kill Versatile Demon Emperor and the supreme-level immortal generals in Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. I would never take such a risk. Even if I could help you kill Versatile Demon Emperor and the supreme-level immortal generals of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, I would not get any benefits at all. I would even lose my life. Even idiots would not do that. Additionally, Versatile Demon Emperor is pretty cunning. Even if you want to trap his supreme-level immortal generals, you have to prevent from being trapping by him. Like those fishers on the ocean, previously they just wanted to catch some small fish; unexpectedly, many of them became the food of sharks. In many cases, after you threw out of your fishhook, you could not decide what you would get. Additionally, if I want something, as long as I ask for it, people would queue up to gift it to me. I don''t need to risk my life at all. Humph..."


    After saying that, Bian Heng took his medical kit and left Tiderviewing Courtyard rapidly, leaving Zhang Tie alone.


    Rubbing his face, Zhang Tie watched Bian Heng''s back and thought about his words. Bian Heng''s words really reminded him that it was not that easy for him to deal with Versatile Demon Emperor. The key was that it was very difficult for Zhang Tie to find some powerful helpers who dared fight Versatile Demon Emperor.


    Ordinary people wouldn''t do any help to him; however, powers like Bian Heng would not like to risk their lives doing that unless they were backed to a corner by Versatile Demon Emperor; because the benefits didn''t worth their payment.


    ''If I want to trap the heads of the branches of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, I have to be ready for the situation that it was Versatile Demon Emperor who enters the trap. Otherwise, I might be eaten by a shark before getting any small fish.''


    ''Only immortal emperors could deal with Versatile Demon Emperor. Across Motian Realm, there are only two immortal emperors, namely Star Emperor and Force Emperor. There might also be an immortal emperor in Emperor NvWa''s Palace; but I''m afraid that it''s not that easy to convince them.''


    ''The death of any immortal emperor or demon emperor was always an earthshaking event in Motian Realm. If I want to do it, I need good timing, geographical convenience and help of other powers. I shall never do that out of impulsion. If demon emperors or immortal emperors could be killed easily, they would never have stood on the top of the pyramid of power in this world.''


    ''It seems that I have to wait for the opportunity.''


    After Bian Heng left there, Zhang Tie started to think about all the possible situations as he gradually recovered composure.


    "If I''m already an immortal emperor..." Zhang Tie mumbled as he lowered his head and looked at his hands with a silent smile.


    Only innocent kids would dream about reaching their heyday in a short period of time. If Zhang Tie wanted to touch the top of the pyramid of power, he needed to make hard efforts step by step. Thankfully, he had discovered another shortcut for fast improvement.


    The shortcut lay in those shrimps.


    Zhang Tie had already got the essence of Immortal Fist Skill. However, thos shrimps had a greater benefit for him, namely, they could provide him fruits of redemption.


    Previously, Zhang Tie always wondered how to acquire a body with complete immortal strength. When he saw these shrimps, he finally confirmed that these shrimps were another helpers for him to acquire a body of complete immortal strength besides golden uangs.


    ''I''ve already got enough strength, but I lack explosive force. As long as I get enough explosive force, the power of my kinetic strike and Immortal Fist Skill that I''ve just got could surge.''


    ''As long as I''m powerful enough, it would be convenient for me to do whatever I want.''


    ''Oh, I might not even know the name of the shrimp. I don''t know too much about that kind of shrimp.''


    Zhang Tie then returned to his cultivation room and put on his clothes before sitting on the stone bed, legs crossed. After that, he ran his spiritual energy and activated a trouble-reappearance situation.


    ...


    Only after a few minutes, Zhang Tie had already appeared in the largest library of Xuanyuan Hill.


    Nobody was in the library. Walking in the library, Zhang Tie could only hear his clear footsteps from the mirror-like floor, which resonated across the library. It was the largest human library in Taixia Country. At this moment, it became Zhang Tie''s private library.


    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had come to a senior private reading room. After manipulating on the terminal of the difference engine for a few seconds, Zhang Tie immediately got over 100 relevant titles of articles.


    After clicking those titles, Zhang Tie got passages about that kind of shrimp and their photos.


    ¡ª¡ªSpike shrimp has a pair of pincers, one large, the other small. The larger one could reach half of its length. Being different than the smaller one, half of the larger one couldn''t move which contained a hollow cave; the other half of the larger one had a movable "piston" which could insert into the hollow cave. The larger pincer was muscular and strong. When the "piston" inserted in the hollow cave, the other half of the larger pincer would shoot out at a very high speed. Due to heavy frictions, a pressure lower than steam pressure formed near its larger pincer, in which state, the surrounding water would experience a bizarre physical change.


    "Essentially, this kind of bubble comes into being due to frictions," said Nancy Norton a biologist on coral reefs in Smith Association, "When the bubbles break up, the temperature surrounding those minor bubbles could reach almost 5,000 degree Celsius, which was almost as same as that on the surface of the sun. From a certain degree, spike shrimp is the most powerful animal which is closest to the sun..."¡ª¡ªA bizarre organism in the ocean.


    ¡ª¡ªDue to the terrifying explosive force of their muscles, they could released over 120 times more force than their muscle strength. The accelerated velocity of their punch could reach over 11,000 times more than that of the gravity of earth. They''re the most powerful boxer and preyer in the mother nature. All the humans should feel lucky that spike shrimps only live in the ocean; instead of climbing onto the ground. Additionally, as they''re small, they could be easily dealt with. If spike shrimps could be as large as sharps, when they go ashore, it would mean a doomsday catastrophe for humans.


    ¡ª¡ªYou might not understand the terror of spike shrimps when they punch out. Here''s a metaphor, if you could punch out like a spike shrimp, within 1/700 second, you could escape from the earth''s gravity and fly out of the atmospheric layer with the power of your fist¡ª¡ªspike shrimp, the king of explosive force


    ...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    After stayin the library for less than 20 minutes, Zhang Tie had already got what he needed.


    Although Zhang Tie had already made a mental preparation, he was still shocked by the descriptions that spike shrimp could release over 100 times more force than his own muscle strength and could reach over 11,000 times more gravitional acceleration.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t even imagine about the situation when he could release 100 times more force than his muscle strength in a split second. He really wondered about the power of his punch and the kinetic strike by then...


    ''F*ck!'' What made Zhang Tie''s heart palpitate was that the contents about spike shrimp recorded in the library were all before the Catastrophe. However, these spike shrimps in Motian Realm had already mutated evidently due to rich reiki in Motian Realm as if their explosive force would be greater than that of ordinary spike shrimps like that between golden uangs and ordinary uangs.


    ''It means that by setting free these spike shrimps in Motian Realm, I could get more powerful fruits of redemption.''


    ...


    After leaving the trouble-reappearance situation, Zhang Tie looked up and sighed with emotions in the cultivation room. ''Emperor NvWa City is really my paradise!''


    ...


    On the second early morning, Zhang Tie had left Tideviewing Courtyard and Tigerback Mountain for the fish market wharf in the east of Tigerback Town.


    When Zhang Tie arrived there, the fish market wharf was pretty boisterous. Fishers were discharging cargoes and discussing the abnormal situation on the sea level yesterday...

 1838 Visiting the Fish Market Again

    It was not Zhang Tie''s first time to go to a fish market.


    When in Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie had often visited fish markets. When in Youzhou Province, he also always went to fish markets. Fish markets being close to wharves were the best place for setting free marine organisms given the large quantities of marine organisms, low prices and geographical convenience. He could even rent ships to set free marine organisms away from the seaside, in which way, it would not arouse the attention of the others. Everything was ready.


    Compared to setting free marine organisms, it was not that convenient to release other terrestrial animals.


    Take setting free chickens, ducks, cattles or sheep as an instance, it was not difficult for him to buy them; but it would be very difficult for him to set free them in the wild.


    Firstly, these animals couldn''t adapt to the living environment in the wild. Secondly, even though he could find some suitable living environments for these animals, it was a big problem for him to transport them. Thirdly, even though he didn''t care about the cost of transportation, as long as he set free too many terrestrial animals in one place, people would go there to catch them for sure. This problem could barely be eradicated. If he wanted to eradicate this problem, he had to buy a large area of land and hire a lot of people to look after those animals. Even so, it would also arouse the attention of the public. Additionally, the operation would be very troublesome. Besides, many more problems would be derived from it.


    Therefore, since the Third Holy War between humans and demons broke out, Zhang Tie had only set free earthworms and golden uangs on land.


    It was not because that Zhang Tie didn''t want to set free more terrestrial animals for more fruits of redemption so as to increase his strength; instead, the concrete operation would be very troublesome. In peaceful times, Zhang Tie had enough time, money and land to do that; however, in the holy war, it would be like putting the cart before the horse by spending much time and labor forces on it.


    After the holy war broke out, Zhang Tie should protect humans ahead of animals.


    Zhang Tie once thought about releasing those animals into Castle of Black Iron; however, the biggest shortcoming for doing that was that it would easily expose the existence of Castle of Black Iron to the public. If he purchased a large number of animals once, which then disappeared in a short period of time, someone would definitely discover it. That might bring troubles to Zhang Tie. To be honest, Zhang Tie didn''t have time to stroll in fish markets to buy small animals since the holy war broke out.


    ...


    The fish market in Tigerback Town was not small. It lasted about 1,600 m alongside the wharf. Simple bamboo sheds were close to each other, large or small. Under those bamboo sheds were fish ponds made of stone. Many fresh sea products were put in the fish ponds closely after they were discharged from ships. Only a few of them were dead which would be put aside. As fresh sea products could be sold at high prices, fishers and street pedlars preferred fresh sea products.


    Besides satisfying the demands of Tigerback Town, this fish market could also cater to the demands of some towns in the farther distance around Whitedragon Gulf. As for the people in those towns, this place was the closest place where they could buy fresh sea products. Therefore, many people would come here to purchase fresh sea products on each early morning.


    As a country, Emperor NvWa City was very large and had a lot of people. Therefore, many populated commercial centers in Emperor NvWa City were called towns instead of cities, whether large or small. Small towns were almost like common towns outside Emperor NvWa City where lived thousands or even tens of thousands of people; big towns were vital towns which always contained millions of people just like cities. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie was confused about this; after staying in Tigerback Mountain for a few days, he finally figured it out.


    Therefore, although the fish market in Tigerback Town was available to only a few towns, it was not small given the sizes of those towns.


    The air in the fish market was stinky as the ground there was always wet. Uran carriages were accessing to those bamboo sheds with water tanks. Many purchasers often visited here; therefore, they were already familiar with the bosses. These customers almost didn''t bargain with the bosses as they had long fixed the prices. After checking goods, they would weigh them and load them on the uran carriages. After payment, the purchasers would drive uran carriages away.


    However, as for those strange customers or those who didn''t purchase too many once, they used to bargain with the bosses across the fish market.


    Zhang Tie didn''t stay too long under those bamboo sheds. Based on his experience in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie knew that he should find a couple of reliable agents to do that for him for the sake of efficiency. Those large fish stores'' bosses were ideal targets for him.


    In such a fish market, those small pedlars only needed to set up a bamboo shed. Those who had a bigger business or monopolized the pricing of one or two sea products would found fish stores as they had higher positions in the fish market and the wharf.


    As long as Zhang Tie could pay them enough money and use some spiritual secret method to control one or two able and obedient assistants in the fish stores, it would be easy for him to make it. By doing that, he didn''t have to care about it himself; instead, he only waited to eat fruits.


    After strolling in the fish market for a while, Zhang Tie saw a large fish store in front of him. It contained more than 100 bamboo sheds and fish ponds which were connected with each other. There was a magnificent 2-storey building in front of these bamboo sheds and fish ponds on the edge of the wharf. There were some golden words above the gate of the building¡ª¡ªDu''s Fish Store, which dwarfed all the other booths and bamboo sheds.


    When Zhang Tie came here, two people were talking at the gate of the fish store.


    "Butler Liu, the price of these hairtails remains unchanged. I even lost my capital. You know the situation facing the fish market today, after the abnormal phenomenon in Whitedragon Gulf, the prices of many sea products have risen. Take hair fish as an instance, its price is at least 30% higher than that before. When you go back, remember to put in a good word for me in front of the boss of Jadeocean Building. Don''t forget about me when you have other demands in the future..."


    "Mr. Du, was that real? I couldn''t believe it. How could the fish and shrimps deep in ocean jump out of the sea level? Previously I only heard that dolphins could jump into ships. If it was real, the fishing boats in Whitedragon Gulf must have got a big harvest. In that way, the prices of these sea products should be lower. How could they rise?"


    "A big harvest? Many fishermen were scared so much. Fishers respect the Dragon King the most. Whenever they go to sea, they would like to be safe. They have not even heard about such an abnormal phenomenon before. Previously, if fish or shrimps jumped into ships, they would be very happy about that as they felt it meant good luck. However, if all the fish and shrimps jumped out of water; even those marine organisms which could never be seen on the sea showed up, it would be utterly different. At the sight of it, they would feel cold. Even though those things jumped in boats, nobody dared take them. They all thought that the Dragon King must be losing his temper. They even set free all the sea products that you had caught on that day and came back soon for the sake of reassurance. Therefore, the total amount of sea products in the fish market today is at least 30%-40% less than that before. Of course, the general price should have risen. Butler Liu, if you don''t believe in me, you could ask around..."


    "Alright, I gotta get going. The boite is waiting for me. No matter what, we''ve cooperated for a couple of days. Sometimes, when the general price in the fish market was a bit lower, we still referred to the same price that we had fixed, right? Mr. Du, that''s what a business is supposed to be, right? Only in this way could our cooperation last long and Mr. Du''s business become better. If Jadeocean Building''s business in Xin''an Town becomes better, all the hundreds of boites and restaurants in Xin''an Town would know that we purchased fresh food ingredients from your fish store at reasonable prices. Of course, Du''s Fish Store would be well-known in the region..."


    "You''re right, Butler Liu; you''re right..."


    As they talked with each other, Mr. Du walked Butler Liu out. Outside Du''s Fish Store, four uran carriages had been loaded with sea products. Butler Liu directly got on one of them. After noticing his partners, those drivers drove away...


    Seeing Butler Liu off, Mr. Du shook his head with a bitter smile. When he was going back to his store, he heard a strange voice.


    "Are you Mr. Du?"


    Mr. Du turned around as he found a youth was smiling at him...


    Despite his average look, only after taking a look at the youth''s costumes, Mr. Du had revealed a passionate smile out of respect. There were too many important guests in Tigerback Town who came from all directions. To be honest, the boss of a fish store dared never offend anyone of them whether they were here for learning medical skills or for medical treatment. "I''m Du Dahai, the boss of Du''s Fish Store, may I help you, Your Excellency?"


    "It''s said that Du''s Fish Store is not bad in this region; therefore, I''m especially here for some goods!"


    After hearing that Zhang Tie was here for goods, Mr. Du''s smile became more enthusiastic as he hurriedly made a hand gesture to invite Zhang Tie in, "Please come in; please come in. Let''s talk inside..."

 1839 Communication

    After inviting Zhang Tie in, Boss Du told a waiter to serve a cup of tea for Zhang Tie. Before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, Boss Du had already taken out a brochure and gave it to Zhang Tie, saying, "Here''s the list of products that my store could provide, please take a look. Cuttlefish bone, starfish ash, abalone shell, pufferfish liver, short-necked clam, hawksbill turtle, billfish liver, reef, seven-star eel, sea horse, kelp, agar (a seaweed), tanaka, caloglossa leprieurii, sargasso weed are available immediately. You could get as many good products as possible. If you want some rarities such as scallop, sea cucumber and colorful sea snakes, you should reserve them. We could also assign people to catch them. But it would a bit more expensive and would be a bit later. You could leave your address to me. When the products are prepared well, I will have people invite you to check them..."


    After hearing his words, Zhang Tie became shortly stunned. Instead of opening the brochure, Zhang Tie directly put it onto the desk. Although the items that Boss Du listed were all sea products, they were mainly medicinal ingredients. ''Perhaps many people in Tigerback Town used to buy sea medicinal ingredients here; therefore Boss Du thinks I''m as also here to buy medicinal ingredients.''


    "I''m not here for medicinal ingredients!" Zhang Tie explained as he shook his head, "I just want to buy some ordinary sea products!"


    "I''m sorry; I''m sorry..." Boss Du became shortly stunned as he hurriedly put away that brochure and took another glance at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, he asked Zhang Tie meticulously with a big smile, "May I know your boite''s address? Are you going to order food ingredients for the boite?"


    "I don''t have a boite!" Zhang Tie replied as he shook his head again.


    Boss Du became shortly stunned again. Closely after that, he asked Zhang Tie patiently, "What kind of sea products do you want, sir?"


    "How about showing me around your warehouse?"


    "Sure, please... please..." After sitting down there for less than 2 minutes, the two people had already stood up again. Boss Du took Zhang Tie straight to his warehouse after leaving the back door of his store. All the sea products were put under rows of bamboo sheds.


    There were dozens of sufficient fresh sea products here, including fish, shrimps, shells, conches even kelps. Some assistants were busy doing their jobs under these bamboo sheds.


    After looking around these stockpiles with the introduction of Boss Du, Zhang Tie came to a fish pool covering over 20 square meters, which was filled with tens of thousands of pistol shrimps, weighing tons in total.


    Zhang Tie stopped his foot as he asked Boss Du, "What''s this shrimp?"


    As they were called spear shrimps in the world where he came from, Zhang Tie didn''t know its concrete name in Motian Realm. Therefore, he asked Boss Du about it.


    "Oh, it''s pistol shrimp. Although they''re not large, they have great force. Especially their forelimbs which are even more powerful than that of iron crabs. When they thrust out their forelimbs, it would be like shooting long spears. Therefore, they were called spear shrimps. Although their name sounds terrifying, their meat tastes nice. If you make shrimp meatballs using their meat, you will find it is pretty chewy..."


    ''I''ve not imagined that their name remains unchanged here. It seems that the people who named them were soul mates.''


    "What''s your price?" Zhang Tie asked Boss Du.


    "It depends on how many do you want?"


    "I will buy them all!" Zhang Tie took a look at Boss Du as he added, "Not only the spear shrimps in your store, I will even buy all the spear shrimps of the other stores in this fishing market in the future..."


    "All of them?" Boss Du was shocked too much. He knew Zhang Tie was rich; however, he had not imagined that Zhang Tie wanted so many.


    "Can''t I?"


    "You can. Of course, you can. If you want something, even though it''s not available immediately, I could get them for you from boatmen or other booths. But you know, the total weight of spear shrimps at this wharf ranges from 2,500 kg to 5,000 kg per day. A boite doesn''t need so many spear shrimps at all..."


    "It''s none of your business!"


    Boss Du frowned immediately. After calculating it for a few seconds, he asked, "Sir, are you going to carry them or need me to have people send them to the designated place? If you come here for them yourself, it would be a bit cheaper, 4 white crystal coins per kg; if you want us to send them to you, it depends on the distance, the longer it is, the higher the price would be!"


    "Send them to the designated place then!"


    "Sir, where do you want us to send them to?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Just send them to Whitedragon Gulf by boat every day and release all of them..."


    "What? Sir, you mean you want us to release all of them back to the ocean after buying these spear shrimps?"


    "Right!"


    After doing this business for so many years, it was Boss Du''s first time to meet such a guest. After buying fresh seafood, he didn''t eat them; instead, he preferred to release them back to the ocean. ''Does he have too much money and don''t know how to spend them or have any mental problem? Perhaps this guy is just making fool of me?''


    Boss Du then looked at Zhang Tie in a weird way. If not Zhang Tie''s noble clothes which implied that he was not poor, Boss Du might have already had people dislodge Zhang Tie from his store.


    However, rich people were always bosses. After taking another look at Zhang Tie, Boss Du quoted. In his opinion, if this guest agreed with his quotation, he would do such a business. As there were always some rich people who wanted to hear the sound of splatters by throwing money into the water. It was none of his business. However, if Zhang Tie disagreed, he would call his assistants to drive Zhang Tie out of there.


    "Generally speaking, paid on delivery. Frequent guests could pay us at the end of each month; however, you know, sir, your demand is so huge. We need to rent a huge ship and a lot of people to carry those spear shrimps. Plus transportation cost, each kilo of spear shrimps would be at least 22 white crystal coins. Therefore, you need to pay us enough advance payment..."


    Zhang Tie took a look at Boss Du with a smile as he took out a purse and threw it to Boss Du.


    After opening it and catching sight of the shimmering blue crystal coins, Boss Du''s heart raced at a stroke.


    "Take it as my advance payment. I accept your quotation. Boss Du, please arrange it now. I want to release them today..."

 1840 Plans

    "Butler Jin, take care, the handrail is a bit smooth..."


    When they disembarked the fishing boat, Boss Du bent over and followed Zhang Tie with flattery and humble smile. He was afraid that Zhang Tie, who was agile, strong and vigorous, would suddenly fall down. Even those crew and the boatman saw Zhang Tie off with extremely respectful looks as if they were welcoming an emperor.


    It had been more than 5 hours since they went to the sea to set free spike shrimps. Therefore, it was almost noon.


    5 hours ago, Zhang Tie proved that money could also make the mare go in Motian Realm.


    5 hours later, Zhang Tie proved that there was one thing which was even more useful than some secret skills of Soul Forbidden Method, namely the brand of Tigerback Mountain.


    They set free spike shrimps in Whitedragon Gulf. Out of curiosity, Boss Du followed Zhang Tie there too. Before going there, Boss Du still doubted about Zhang Tie''s true purpose as he wondered whether this man in front of him really wanted to throw money into the ocean and hear the ripples. However, after going there, when he caught sight of Zhang Tie''s ID card at his waist and found that Zhang Tie was a butler of Tigerback Mountain; especially the butler of the fishing ground of Tigerback Mountain, everything started to develop dramatically.


    Strictly, everyone in Tigerback Town even across Emperor NvWa City knew that Whitedragon Gulf belonged to Tigerback Mountain, also Bian Heng. Whitedragon Gulf was gifted to Bian Heng from Emperor NvWa. Precisely, it was a herbal garden of Bian Heng in the ocean. However, Bian Heng didn''t think highly of the output of sea products in Whitedragon Gulf at all. Therefore, Bian Heng had been tacitly approving the fishers and boatmen from Tigerback Town to fish in Whitedragon Gulf over these years. In fact, all the fishers and boatmen in Whitedragon Gulf were aware of the owner of Whitedragon Gulf.


    Of course, the owner of Whitedragon Gulf was that boss in Tigerback Mountain, the one who let Zhang Tie be the butler of the fishing ground close to Tigerback Mountain. Therefore, the one who could speak for Tigerback Mountain and execute the right of the owner in Whitedragon Gulf was actually Zhang Tie.


    Neither Bian Heng nor Zhang Tie felt that butler of a fishing ground was an important title or meant any social status. However, in the eyes of those commoners in Tigerback Town who lived on Whitedragon Gulf, this "humble" title was overwhelming. As long as Zhang Tie sent an order, they might lose their reliance and had to look for another job. Zhang Tie could even forbid any fishing boat from entering Whitedragon Gulf.


    Bian Heng had been tacitly approving them to earn their living in Whitedragon Gulf over these years. Similarly, as long as Bian Heng changed his idea, the tacit approval could become a ban at any time.


    After disembarking the fishing boat and coming back to Du''s Fish Store, Zhang Tie took a seat in the same lobby; however, Boss Du dared not sit anymore; instead, he just slightly bent over with a smile. Standing in front of Zhang Tie, he behaved very obediently.


    At this moment, a waiter in the fish store served him a cup of tea and took a look at Boss Du who was standing in front of Zhang Tie out of shock. After taking a look at the cup of tea, Boss Du instantly roared as if his tail was stamped.


    "Hurry, change this tea. How could Butler Jin drink such a kind of tea. Hurry, bring me the Floatinggold Tea that I collected. Additionally, change a tea set. Hurry, hurry..."


    The waiter was startled as he quivered once, almost causing the tea water to spray out of the cup. After taking another look at Boss Du''s angry look, he hurriedly ran away.


    When he took a look at Boss Du''s smile, Zhang Tie felt goosebumps all over at a stroke.


    "Ahem, ahem. Don''t publicize the event that I came here today..."


    "I see. I see..." Boss Du bent over as he asked meticulously, "Butler Jin, do you want me to introduce you about the bosses of the other fish stores in this fish market..."


    "No need. You only need to do a good job at my request. Later on, you will be responsible for this job. I want to hear your opinion on setting free spike shrimps..." Zhang Tie said calmly. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    From then on, Boss Du would be Zhang Tie''s agent. On the fishing boat, Zhang Tie had casually implied his position in Tigerback Mountain to Boss Du and planted a soul seed in his mind sea. The soul seed didn''t have any side effect; instead, it would only guarantee that Boss Du could do a good job honestly. With the two guarantees, Zhang Tie could absolutely trust Boss Du. He only needed to wait to eat fruits of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps.


    "Don''t worry, Butler Jin, I will definitely do a good job. Actually, since I understood your meaning on the fishing boat just now, I have been pondering about this thing. I''ve got three plans for your reference..." Boss Du said as he started to roll his eyes. Actually, Boss Du didn''t understand why this Butler Jin in Tigerback Mountain would do such a meaningless thing; however, he understood that there were always some things that he couldn''t understand in this world; especially about immortal generals. There were many reasons for setting free spike shrimps. Perhaps, Butler Jin liked spike shrimps; or Bian Heng longed for some effect of the overproduction of spike shrimps in Whitedragon Gulf; or Butler Jin just wanted to have fun. But it was nothing to do with the boss of a small fish store. Butler Jin only needed to do a good job.


    "Oh, you''ve got three plans? Go ahead..." Zhang Tie asked with strong interest.


    "The first plan is simple. I will take in here all the powers in this fish market. As long as Butler Jin sends an order to forbid any fishing boat catching spike shrimps in Whitedragon Gulf, I promise that no fishing boat or person would dare go against you. In this way, trade of spike shrimps could be absolutely forbidden in the fish market of Tigerback Town. From then on, spike shrimps would have a much better living condition in Whitedragon Gulf..." Boss Du pondered about Zhang Tie''s meaning as he stealthily glanced at Zhang Tie.


    It was almost the subordinates'' instinct to speculate about the meaning of their superiors. Boss Du was not an exception on this occasion. If Zhang Tie just wanted spike shrimps in Whitedragon Gulf to multiply, this plan would be the best. Additionally, Zhang Tie didn''t need to pay anything for that.


    After hearing Boss Du''s words, Zhang Tie asked him casually with a blank look, "Many people are living on fishing and the fish market in Tigerback Town. How many people''s living would be influenced if we adopt this plan?"


    "Over 30,000 people in Tigerback Town are living on the ocean. But spike shrimps account a minor proportion among the sea products. Generally, a fishing boat could only catch a couple of spike shrimps. People who especially catch spike shrimps always use shrimp cages or nets which would be sent to the bottom of the ocean. They always use a brass tube to listen to the sound under the water. There''s much expertise about it. All the spike shrimps in my fish store were collected from those fishing boats. There''re only 10-odd fishing boats who live on catching spike shrimps in Tigerback Town. Most of their skills were inherited from their ancestors. If we adopt this plan, only a few people will be influenced. Even if they couldn''t catch spike shrimps anymore, they would also catch something else in the ocean for sale..."


    "Continue!" Zhang Tie said calmly. Boss Du could never think through what Zhang Tie was thinking about at this moment.


    Before Boss Du opened his mouth, the waiter had already brought a new tea set as he served two cups of fragrant tea water in front of them. Closely after that, he left there as he dared not even peep at them.


    "As for the second plan, I will collect all the spike shrimps in the fish market every day and release them into Whitedragon Gulf..." Boss Du hurriedly added, "Even so, Butler Jin doesn''t need to pay anything for it. We''ve been appreciating Bian Heng''s kindness for allowing us to fish in Whitedragon Gulf over these years for free. How dare we take money from Tigerback Mountain for releasing spike shrimps! The expenditure for releasing spike shrimps will be solved by the fish stores in this fish market ourselves..."


    "What about the third plan?"


    Boss Du became spirited at a stroke as he said, "As for the third plan, we could set free spike shrimps in a wider territory!"


    "Oh, could you be a bit more clear?"


    "To be honest, the wharf and fish market in Tigerback Town nearby Whitedragon Gulf is not large. Only few spike shrimps are traded here. The largest fish market and the wharf are actually outside the city. There''re totally three wharves outside there, where the total trade volume of spike shrimps is dozens of times greater than that in Tigerback Town. Butler Jin, if you agree, we could organize a fleet and professional people to purchase spike shrimps and set free outside the city... But it would cost more money. But if you agree, Du''s Fish Store swear to do a good job for Butler Jin even at the risk of bankruptcy!"


    Boss Du finally revealed his true purpose and resolution.


    Did Tigerback Mountain lack money? Of course not. Many people in Tigerback Town were richer and more capable than Boss Du in Tigerback Town, even though those outsiders were excluded. Those people always wanted to flatter Bian Heng and found an opportunity to serve him; however, they couldn''t. How could Boss Du not seize such a great opportunity? If Boss Du was really capable of doing a job for Tigerback Mountain at the cost of all of its properties, many people would admire about that grossly; because it indicated the start of Du Clan''s prosperity.


    Zhang Tie took a look at Boss Du. Unexpectedly, this small boss of fish store was smart. But Boss Du''s last words made Zhang Tie reassured. With such a reliable person as his agent, Zhang Tie only needed to wait for fruits of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps...


    "The three plans are not bad, but I''ve got a better plan..." Zhang Tie said with a faint smile...

 1841 An Unexpected Piece of News

    To be honest, Zhang Tie''s plan was not complicated; actually, it combined the first plan and the third plan proposed by Boss Du.


    As for the second plan, in Zhang Tie''s opinion, it would never work.


    If Zhang Tie was not the butler of the fishing ground of Whitedragon Gulf, of course, there wouldn''t be a problem with this plan. Zhang Tie couldn''t force others to do anything; however, with this new identity, if he accepted the second plan, it would be a bit silly move¡ª¡ªWhitedragon Gulf belongs to Zhang Tie. The others came to his fishing ground for fishing spike shrimps freely; however, Zhang Tie bought their spike shrimps and set them free in Whitedragon Gulf so that they could catch them again...


    This sounded like playing house. Additionally, Zhang Tie played the most foolish role inside this game.


    Of course, this plan wouldn''t work. Even though Zhang Tie didn''t care about money, he didn''t want to be mocked by Bian Heng.


    Zhang Tie''s plan was simple, namely, forbid fishers to catch spike shrimps in Whitedragon Gulf in the future. Meanwhile, let Boss Du organize people to purchase more spike shrimps in those bigger harbors outside Emperor NvWa City and set them free.


    The domain that Emperor NvWa was in covered over 800 square km land. Emperor NvWa City was in the center of this domain. It was Yaohai Ocean in the west. Whitedragon Gulf was only a small part of Yaohai Ocean deepening into Emperor NvWa City. Additionally, those regions outside Emperor NvWa City also belonged to the sphere of influence of Emperor NvWa City. Many people also lived outside Emperor NvWa City, where there were cities and towns too. However, these cities and towns couldn''t match Emperor NvWa City in prosperity.


    Those bigger harbors mentioned by Boss Du were in the west of Emperor NvWa City. After leaving Emperor Nvwa City from Whitedragon Gulf, people would be able to reach there by sea. Additionally, it was not too far away.


    When people were forbidden to catch spike shrimps in Whitedragon Gulf, only 10-odd families in Tigerback Town who lived on shrimping by shrimp nets, cages and ancestral shrimping skills would be influenced; because spike shrimp was just an affiliated sea product for most of the fishers. But it was easy to fix their loss¡ª¡ªlet Boss Du employ them, rent their fishing boats and pay them more money for setting free spike shrimps than the profits of selling shrimping.


    This was a perfect solution. It guaranteed the basic living of those people who survived on the ocean and enabled Zhang Tie to take fruits of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps constantly. Additionally, it could also enhance the efficiency of setting free spike shrimps.


    Zhang Tie only needed to pay Boss Du. Then, Boss Du could make an arrangement about the following steps. If Boss Du couldn''t manage these people or complete such a simple thing, his fish store couldn''t have reached such a scale.


    With enough money, the identity of the butler of Tigerback Mountain, and the soul seed in the mind sea of Boss Du, did Zhang Tie need to worry about anything? Of course not.


    Therefore, before finishing a cup of tea water, Zhang Tie had told his plan to Boss Du and left Du''s Fish Store and the fish market.


    Despite being the butler in Tigerback Mountain, Zhang Tie didn''t let Boss Du do that for him without any compensation. He paid Boss Du 30% of the total value of the spike shrimps that he set free.


    If Boss Du could set free 10,000 blue crystal coins'' spike shrimps, he and his fish store could get 3,000 blue crystal coins as a compensation, which was almost equal to the profits of this fish store a day. Additionally, this business was of the lowest risk and the largest sustainability. It was no exaggeration to say that it implied Du''s Fish Store''s good luck. If Zhang Tie declared this condition to the public, those bosses of fish stores in Tigerback Town might scramble for this business fiercely.


    To be honest, it was just a matter of money. However, Zhang Tie didn''t lack money at all. Besides Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace which served as his cash dispenser, even the wealth that he robbed from red and blue devils could startle many clans in Motian Realm as it couldn''t be used up for 100,000 years. The expenditure for setting free spike shrimps could almost be ignored.


    Zhang Tie told Boss Du to start doing it these days. On the 15th day of this month, he would pay Boss Du some start-up funds. Then, he would leave Du''s Fish Store. Of course, he didn''t receive the bag of crystal coins that Boss Du intended to return to him.


    As for people in Motian Realm, these crystal coins meant wealth; however, as for Zhang Tie, they were just beautiful and meaningless stones. This was an economical way for him to eat fruits at a steady frequency.


    It was very worthwhile for him to do this although it took him 4 hours in the morning. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt pretty good. Humming a tune, he left the fish market.


    Unexpectedly, when he reached the end of the fish market, he saw a tough man coming out of another store called Whitedragon Fish Store.


    The tough man with whisker was sturdy. With a case in hand, he was not easy to be trifled with. Of course, he was Uncle Guan.


    Last time, when Zhang Tie went to look for Tang Mei, he didn''t see Uncle Guan. Unexpectedly, they encountered here. To be honest, Tigerback Town was not large.


    "Ah, Uncle Guan!" Zhang Tie greeted that tough man with a smile.


    "Mister Jin, you''re also here..." Uncle Guan became shortly stunned as he couldn''t imagine that he could encounter Zhang Tie here.


    "Uncle Guan, are you here for food ingredients?" Zhang Tie asked as he took a look at that case in Uncle Guan''s hand. The case was sealed and made of metal. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie knew it was used to contain medicine.


    "I''m here to buy some medicines for Miss. The fresh purple horseshoe crabs and pearl shells are all medicines. I could only buy fresh ones from this fish market..." Uncle Guan explained with a smile too. Although Uncle Guan thought that Zhang Tie wanted to approach their miss like Aunt Wu at the beginning, during these days when they were in Tigerback Town, they found that Zhang Tie was a "gentleman", who didn''t approach their Miss at all. Therefore, Uncle Guan treated Zhang Tie much better. "Oh, when you came to Peacecoming Courtyard last time, Miss and I were both absent. After coming back, Aunt Wu told us about that. Miss even wanted to appreciate you in person when there''s an opportunity!"


    As they talked, they left the fish market and entered the town.


    "Uncle Guan, it''s my pleasure. Additionally, I''ve not helped Miss Tang cure her disease even now!" Zhang Tie said bashfully. As Bian Heng was a sage-level knight and proficient in medical skills, Zhang Tie really didn''t have a say in front of him.


    "Mister Jin, it''s already enough for you to concern about Miss Tang!" After saying that, Uncle Guan glanced at Zhang Tie from his head to his toe as he asked with a bit confusion and hesitation, "You... you''ve really got a job in Tigerback Mountain..."


    To be honest, Uncle Guan didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could find this job in Tigerback Mountain within such a short period of time even now. Many people even scrambled for being a cleaner in Tigerback Mountain.


    "I''m in charge of a fishing ground just like managing a vegetable garden for Bian Heng. It''s not a good job. But I''m free every day. Therefore, I took a look over here..." Zhang Tie said casually.


    "Mister Jin, you''re really talented. It''s very difficult to find a job in Tigerback Mountain!" Uncle Guan sighed.


    "Oh, is Miss Tang better recently?"


    "There''re many doctors in Tigerback Town; some of them are famous doctors in other places across Motian Realm. We''ve invited them to take a look at her disease. They made some prescriptions for her; she''s receiving medical treatment..."


    Uncle Guan didn''t mention about the effects of the medical treatments. Zhang Tie knew that they must not work. If cancer could be cured by doctors easily, Bian Heng would not have put on airs in front of Zhang Tie.


    "Miss Tang is fortunate; I think God will bless her!" Zhang Tie condoled Uncle Zhong.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Uncle Guan revealed a reluctant smile. Closely after that, he pulled Zhang Tie to the roadside as he suddenly became shameful, "I''ve got one thing to ask for your help, Mister Jin..."


    "Please go ahead, Uncle Guan." Zhang Tie asked as his curiosity was aroused.


    "Mister Jin, can you give a favor to my Miss..."


    "Err... how?"


    "My Miss is intelligent. As she has been sick for many years, she has read a lot of medical books and communicated with many doctors. Her medical skills could even match many famous doctors. However, she never showed off. Yesterday, we received news that Bian Heng would select his disciple in the public at the foot of Tigerback Mountain next morning. My miss wants to have a try... err... Mister Jin, do you know... or have you heard about some contents of the test in Tigerback Mountain..."


    Uncle Guan was really embarrassed by stammering that as his face turned red.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Zhang Tie was really shocked upon hearing this. Previously he didn''t care about the affairs in Tigerback Mountain at all. Unexpectedly, soon after Bian Heng came back yesterday, he had wanted to select a disciple through test today. What was more, Tang Meng also wanted to have a try. Zhang Tie had not imagined that Tang Mei could have such a resolution despite being so weak physically.


    It was Tang Mei''s another way to save herself by becoming Bian Heng''s disciple.


    A seriously-illed girl with such a strong will was really admirable.


    Given Zhang Tie''s astonished look, he might not even know that Bian Heng was going to select a disciple; therefore the bit of hope in Uncle Guan''s eyes gradually faded away. Uncle Guan could understand it, ''How could a commoner in Tigerback Mountain know the contents of Bian Heng''s test? If even Zhang Tie has known it, everyone else in the tigerback Mountain must have known it. It seems that I''ve really been too reckless...''


    Zhang Tie replied with a bitter smile, "Err... it''s convenient for me to access to Tigerback Mountain. But I always lived behind Tigerback Mountain. I really don''t know about it. As for the contents of the test, I''m afraid that only Bian Heng himself knows it. If I get an opportunity to know the contents, I will definitely inform her in advance..."


    "Thank you so much, Mister Jin..."


    No matter what, as Zhang Tie had such a kind attitude, what else could Uncle Guan say?

 1842 Bian Hengs Tests

    In the early morning of August 7, the 3586th year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar, the foot of Tigerback Mountain had long been crowded like a fair.


    Being different than before, those who were here today were not those who wanted to seek Bian Heng''s medical treatment; instead, they were doctors who had been waiting for so long to learn from Bian Heng.


    Some doctors had already stayed in Tigerback Town for dozens of years in order to learn from Bian Heng; some had stayed there for a few months at least.


    The first kind of person had already improved their medical skills a lot through communicating with the other doctors in Tigerback Town even though they were not able to go uphill. What was more, many patients with different, rare diseases would come to Tigerback Town every day with the similar idea of these doctors¡ª¡ªnow that they could barely go uphill for Bian Heng''s medical treatment, they could at least try here. Maybe they could be cured. As a result, the medical industry in Tigerback Town gradually became vigorous.


    Zhang Tie also knew that it was the date for Bian Heng to select his disciple. Therefore, he came here to join the fun in the early morning. On one aspect, Zhang Tie wondered how Bian Heng selected his disciple; on the other hand, he wondered about Tang Mei''s performance as he remembered the talk between him and Uncle Guan.


    As for whether he could help Tang Mei or not, Zhang Tie was not confident about it at all. Speaking of medical skill, Zhang Tie was just an outsider. As for Bian Heng''s tests, even those in Tigerback Mountain didn''t know about it, not to mention Zhang Tie.


    In the early morning, over 10,000 people had been gathering at the foot of Tigerback Mountain, which scared Zhang Tie a lot. If not the open square which could park airboats, they couldn''t even be held here.


    Among 10,000-odd people, Tang Mei was still the most eye-catching one.


    At first, most of these people were male. Less than 1 in 100 people was female. Among those females, Tang Mei in veil, who smelled like the lily, was pretty eye-catching.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered the crowd in the square, he had caught sight of Tang Mei; however, Tang Mei didn''t see him.


    Tang Mei was very quiet. Many male doctors were surrounding her like a myriad of stars surrounding a moon. Meanwhile, they were communicating with each other in a low voice. Even so, it was still like shouting by a tweeter as for Zhang Tie.


    "I will definitely try my best to go uphill. As long as I could become Bian Sage''s disciple, I will definitely find a solution to cure Miss Tang''s disease..." a youth in blue said with a strong will beside Tang Mei. The youth was handsome and tall. As he said that, he kept looking at Tang Mei with an arrogant and eager look. Anyone could feel that youth had a crush on Tang Mei as long as they were not blind.


    "Hahaha, through competitions here, if I could go uphill, I would have a bright future. As I''ve learned medical skills for dozens of years, I will not give way to you this time, Lang..." Another youth who also looked excellent instantly interrupted the former one as he kept watching Tang Mei with the same eager look. He said, "No matter what, I will definitely find a solution to cure your cancer..."


    "Miss Tang has special expertise in medical skills. After discussing with you for a few days, I know Miss Tang has her special view. Although we always treated ourselves as famous doctors before coming to Tigerback Mountain, through communicating with Miss Tang, we also achieved a lot. Bian Sage has not taken any female as his disciple; additionally, we know nothing about his tests. Miss Tang might get an opportunity to go up the hill..." A middle-aged man said as he stroked his mustache with special respect...


    "Thank you. God helps those who help themselves. Let nature take its course..." Tang Mei slightly opened her mouth as she looked pretty calm.


    As for those who kept silent, they kept nodding their heads after hearing Tang Mei''s words...


    ...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Watching the performance of Tang Mei and the other males around her, Zhang Tie admired Tang Mei too. He wondered what she had done in Tigerback Town over the past few days. Given those people around her, they must be special in Tigerback Town...


    Although over 10,000 doctors were gathering in the square at the foot of Tigerback Mountain, there was not any loud noise. All of them were waiting for the tests. Additionally, more people were heading here from Tigerback Town in the distance to see the fun. The event that Bian Heng selected his disciple aroused the attention of numerous people.


    "Hahaha, it''s not late..." With a guffaw, a tough man flew towards here from afar. When his voice was over 7 miles away, a literati had already landed in the front of the square.


    The arrival of this man aroused a hubbub at a stroke. As he could fly, he was definitely an immortal general; additionally, given his flight ability, he should be a high-level immortal general.


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that even a wind immortal general would like to be Bian Heng''s disciple.


    Zhang Tie was here on time. Therefore, only in a few minutes, he had seen General Butler Qin going downstairs leisurely, followed by some people.


    General Butler Qin held nothing as those people behind him were holding writing brushes, inkstone, rice paper, and incense burner.


    At the sight of them, the square at the foot of the mountain became quiet instantly.


    "General Butler Qin, I''m here to see the fun, don''t care about me..." Zhang Tie told General Butler Qin secretly. After taking a look at Zhang Tie, General Butler Qin moved his eyes away calmly as if he had not seen anything special.


    Those people put writing brush, ink, rice paper and inkstone into the room next to the decorated archway before exiting the room.


    "Today, I want to select a disciple among you. Cut the crap. I''ve got three questions, namely three passes. If anyone among you could finish it correctly within the regulated period of time, you will be my disciple..."


    A voice reached the square from the top of the mountain. After hearing it, a few people among the crowd became excited.


    ¡ª¡ªThat''s Bian Heng''s voice.


    "The first test will cost you about 30 minutes. Within this period of time, anyone among you could write the answer inside the room. If your answer is correct, you could enter the second pass. If you fail, you have to leave..." General Butler Qin opened his mouth calmly.


    "Please start..." the immortal general who came here at the last moment shouted loudly.


    General Butler Qin clapped his hands. Closely after that, two people behind him directly took out a piece of white cloth. In the blink of an eye, the two people had hung the piece of white cloth on the decorated archway. With several meters in length and width respectively, it was like a curtain which was used for presenting film.


    When they watched the first question, all of them at present were petrified including Zhang Tie...


    After being shortly stunned, many people in the square exclaimed weirdly in a split second...


    "Ah? What''s that f*cking thing..."


    "Yes, what''s that..."


    "Why are there numbers and blank spaces..."


    "Won''t he test our medical skills?"


    ...


    "You''ve all known nine-check arithmetics. Please fill the 25 numbers into the 25 checks. My request is that the addition of numbers in each line should be the same, horizontally, vertically or diagonally..." General Butler Qin opened his mouth calmly again. Closely after his words, someone behind him started to insert an incense into the burner and started to calculate time...


    The square was in a hubbub at a stroke...


    ...

 1843 A Fairy Maiden in the Mortal Realm

    "What the hell? What the hell? I''ve read 12 volumes of medical books and recited 1,000 time-honored ancient prescriptions. Why did he give such a question to us? Why? That''s unimaginable, unimaginable..." An old man grasped his hair with a pale look as if he had seen a ghost right on Zhang Tie''s side.


    At this moment, many people felt deluded like this old man beside Zhang Tie.


    They all came here with great hope. Previously, they thought Bian Heng would test their medical science. Unexpectedly, the first pass was such a mathematical problem.


    It was like how a group of sportsmen went to a school to attend the examination for being P.E. teacher; however, when they arrived at the school gate, they found they were requested to play the violin; instead of finishing test items on the playground.


    Those numbers and checkers had nothing to do with medical science!


    Watching the 25-checker magic square, Zhang Tie''s face turned weird too. In a split second, Zhang Tie recalled those paper being filled with magic squares, numbers, patterns and lines in Bian Heng''s study room and Bian Heng''s frivolous words about enrolling disciples. Unimaginably, Bian Heng really did so only after a few days. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The words in ink were still fresh on the white piece of cloth. At the sight of those numbers, Zhang Tie had known that it was Bian Heng himself who left the question on it.


    ''Why did Bian Heng do this? What for?''


    Zhang Tie knew that Bian Heng was eccentric; however, he knew that Bian Heng would never play mischief in front of over 10,000 people.


    Therefore, even Zhang Tie was confused about Bian Heng''s intention to give such a question.


    At this moment, the most desperate ones were a few nerds who had not even heard about 9-checker patterns at all; instead of those like that old man beside Zhang Tie.


    "Ah? What''s a 9-checker pattern?"


    "It''s composed of 9 checkers in 3 rows and 3 columns. Each checker contains a number. The three numbers in the first row are 2, 9, 4 respectively; the three numbers in the second row are 3, 5,7 respectively; the three numbers in the third row are 6, 1, 8 respectively. However, if it''s composed of 25 checkers in 5 rows and 5 columns, it would be difficult to calculate..."


    Among 10,000-odd people, someone looked pale; someone looked distant; someone deeply frowned who were calculating silently.


    The incense in the burner had been lighted. They preferred to have a try rather than complain about it. If they could solve it, they might give an opportunity to be Bian Heng''s disciple.


    Bian Heng didn''t explain why he gave such a test; nobody asked about that either. Nor were they qualified to ask about that. If they couldn''t pass the first test, they wouldn''t even have an opportunity to meet Bian Heng.


    On Tang Mei''s side, all of them became silent including Tang Mei. They could never imagine that Bian Heng tested his disciple in this way.


    At this moment, Tang Mei remained as quiet as before. As she was in veil, her expression couldn''t be noticed by others. However, those beside her could sense her attentive look.


    This question was as easy as addition and subtraction within 10 for a university student. Even though Zhang Tie didn''t understand why Bian Heng did that, if he wanted the answer, he only needed to run the gears of the virtual difference engine for a short while. Almost in a split second, Zhang Tie had got all the solutions of this 25-checker pattern. It contained 24 solutions in total. Through rotation and reflection of three basic solutions, he could get 24 solutions. In each solution, the number of the addition of the neighboring 5 numbers was 65, horizontally, vertically or diagonally...


    When Zhang Tie was thinking about giving Tang Mei''s favor, someone had already come out of the crowd and entered the room beside the decorated archway.


    A person beside General Butler Qin also entered the room. Closely after that, he took out a piece of paper and gave it to General Manager Qin. After taking a look at it, the person who had entered the room was taken out of the room and stood right under the archway.


    Seeing someone pass the first test, the crowd at the square were in hubbubs at once.


    It was actually not strange. Among 10,000-odd people, there were always some smart ones. Although sportsmen were good at sports, some sportsmen could also play the violin.


    Unimaginably, the moment that person stood under the archway before Zhang Tie told the answer to Tang Mei, Tang Mei had already walked towards the cabin.


    Among 10,000-odd people, Tang Mei was the second one who found a solution of the 25-checker pattern.


    After coming out of the cabin, Tang Mei also stood under the archway, which meant that she had passed the first test.


    "Ah, a woman..." someone beside Zhang Tie exclaimed. In an instant, Tang Mei in veil became the focus of so many people.


    After Tang Mei, more and more people got the solutions; some of them were not invited to stand under the archway; apparently, their answers were not correct.


    The period of lighting incense was only about 40 minutes.


    During this period, over 200 people got the solutions. After passing the test, they all waited quietly under the archway. As the incense in the burner was becoming increasingly shorter, over 10,000 people at the square became more flurried.


    What was more interesting was that the two nice-looking youths beside Tang Mei and the immortal general who came here at the last moment also passed the first test.


    After the incense was lit up, General Butler Qin raised his hand, which meant that all the remaining people who couldn''t get the answer had lost the opportunity to be Bian Heng''s disciples from then on.


    It was pretty quiet at the square. Some looked ashy; some let out a deep sigh. All the remaining people were watching the 200-odd people under the archway who had passed the first test as they wondered about the second question.


    After taking a look at those people under the archway, General Butler Qin opened his mouth in an instant.


    "Very good. You''ve passed the first test. As for the second test, I will not explain too much about it. The second question is also a mathematical problem, but it''s more difficult than the first one. It''s a 36-checker pattern. You have 1 to 36 to choose from. Within the period of lighting half an incense, if you could get the answer, you will pass it..."


    Just now, they had about 40 minutes to solve the 25-checker pattern; but they only had about 20 minutes to solve the 36-checker pattern. It was definitely over two times more difficult than the first question.


    After hearing General Butler Qin''s words, many people who looked ashy at the square just now gradually recovered their composure; because they instantly understood that they could never pass the second test even though they had passed the first one, fortunately. When they thought that many people who had passed the first test would be eliminated in the second test, many people felt balanced.


    Zhang Tie became more curious about Bian Heng''s purpose. ''Does he want a mathematician or a disciple?''


    The period of burning half an incense was about 20 minutes. Under the gaze of everyone, only 4 of the 200-odd people could pass the second test.


    It was quiet at the square as everyone focused onto the 4 people who had passed the second test.


    Zhang Tie was shocked again as Tang Mei was the third one among the 4 people who got the solution of the second question.


    Everyone at present was waiting for the last question nervously and quietly.


    "Before I count 10, if anyone among you could get the answer of 64-checker pattern, he or she will pass the third test and become my disciple officially..."


    It was Bian Heng''s voice which originated from the mountain and reverberated at the foot of the mountain.


    After hearing his words, everyone at the square was in hubbubs. ''Before he counts 10? That''s impossible! The third test is thousands of times more difficult than that of the earlier two. It''s already out of people''s ability.''


    However, Bian Heng just ignored the astonished sounds of the crowd as his calm voice started to sound in their ears.


    "1...2...3..."


    The interval between the two numbers was only a bit more than 2 seconds. The period of time for consideration was limited to the minimum.


    When Bian Heng counted 2, Tang Mei''s body slightly quivered as an abrupt voice sounded in her ears.


    "5...6...7...8...9..."


    Tang Mei gnashed her teeth as she strode forward, saying, "I''ve got the answer..."


    "What, girl, you''ve got the answer..." Bian Heng stopped counting at a stroke. Besides Zhang Tie, nobody else at the foot of the mountain noticed how Bian Heng showed up. With a shadow, the old man with unkempt hair had already appeared under the decorated archway as he gazed at Tang Mei with his shrewd shiny little eyes.


    "My respects to you, owner..." General Butler Qin and some disciples and handymen hurriedly bowed towards Bian Heng.


    "Ah, Bian Heng. He''s Bian Heng..." Those people at the square were in hubbubs at once at the sight of Bian Heng.


    Bian Heng gazed at Tang Mei as he asked, "Girl, tell me your answer..."


    After being composed, Tang Mei opened her mouth, "From left to right, from top to bottom, the numbers in the first row are respectively, 1,63, 38,28,7,57,36,30, the addition of which is 260; the numbers in the second row are respectively 64, 2, 27..."


    It took Tang Mei 2 minutes to finish her answer. As she said, Bian Heng kept his eyes closed as if he was calculating it. When Tang Mei finished it, Bian Heng suddenly clapped his hands as he opened his eyes. With great excitement, Bian Heng asked, "Girl, what''s your name?"


    "Tang Mei!"


    "Hmm, you have my word. From now on, you''re my disciple..."


    As Bian Heng finished his words, if people''s eyes carried temperature, the air around Tang Mei might be burned.


    Tang Mei also slightly quivered as she looked very excited. After hearing Bian Heng''s words, she directly knelt down and kowtowed three times in front of Bian Heng, which was an official rite that a disciple should present to her master when being enrolled.


    "Get up. Now that you''re already my disciple, show us your look. Remove your veil..."


    After getting up, Tang Mei became slightly hesitant before removing her veil. In a split second, the square at the foot of Tigerback Mountain became quiet. The eyes of many people beside Tang Mei directly became dull...


    Zhang Tie had seen a lot of beauties. However, when Tang Mei unveiled her look, Zhang Tie''s face became shortly blank too as he felt having a dream just like seeing a brilliant moon coming out the clouds...


    What a beautiful look! Heller''s face was the perfect look of men; Tang Mei''s face was the perfect look of women. Being carved by the Mother Nature, each inch of her face was perfect. Even stones would be affected by her look.


    After being shortly blank, Zhang Tie recovered his composure as two words occurred to him¡ª¡ªfairy maiden!


    Only such a person could be envied by God and suffer from cancer...

 1844 The Piece of News about Infinite King Roc Sutra

    "Tang Mei, Tang Mei, what an unrivaled talented beauty... she deserves to be Bian Sage''s disciple; she deserves to be Bian Sage''s Disciple..."


    A youth stumbled out of a boite with a flagon in hand and brushed past Zhang Tie. At the same time, he kept drinking. Pitifully, soon after stumbling a few steps forward, he had stopped at a roadside parterre and started to vomit. As a result, the air was stinky at a stroke...


    Watching this youth, Zhang Tie slightly frowned as he hastened his pace.


    Zhang Tie had just come out of Du''s Fish Store where he guided Boss Du for the entire afternoon and negotiated with some fear-stricken spike shrimp fishermen about buying some fishing boats for setting free spike shrimps. After a few hours'' busy work, Zhang Tie finally became reassured.


    Bian Heng had already selected his disciple in the morning. At noon, Zhang Tie had already returned to Du''s Fish Store in Tigerback Town and urged Boss Du to start it.


    The fruits of redemption from spike shrimps were of great significance to Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie would have no grumble even if he went to Du''s Fish Store for 20 times or 200 times, not to mention 2 times. Thankfully, after this trip, Zhang Tie had almost arranged everything properly. He didn''t need to concern more about it. Even though Boss Du was in trouble, Zhang Tie still didn''t worry about that as he had already prepared plan B. All in all, spike shrimps could be set free constantly.


    Today, Tigerback Town was even more lively than before. When lamps were lit, those boites became even more boisterous than before. All the boites in Tigerback Town were filled with people. Drunk people could be seen everywhere across the streets. The name of Tang Mei could be heard everywhere.


    Due to grief and disappointment, those doctors, who would never have an opportunity to go up Tigerback Mountain, drank as much as possible with their friends in boites.


    In only one day, the name of Tang Mei had spread over Tigerback Town, together with her beautiful look and talent.


    Previously Zhang Tie wanted to have supper in a boite before going back to Tigerback Mountain. However, watching the boisterous situation facing those boites, Zhang Tie shook his head slightly as he gave it up.


    It was okay for him to not eat food for a day.


    Strolling on the streets of Tigerback Town and watching Tigerback Mountain which was brightly lit in the distance, Zhang Tie stroked his nose, ''I''m afraid that Bian Heng has already known that it was me who helped Tang Mei.''


    Although Tang Mei was smart, she still couldn''t pass the last test only with her intelligence; instead, it required a superb mathematical computing ability.


    Soon after going back to Tigerback Mountain, Bian Heng might have known that it was Zhang Tie who helped Tang Mei in the end. Tang Mei couldn''t cheat Bian Heng at all; nor would she cheat him given her intelligence.


    When he imagined Bian Heng''s dumbfounded look after knowing the truth, Zhang Tie couldn''t help revealing a cunning smile.


    ''No matter what, you have to cure your disciple''s cancer. If Tang Mei died, this No. 1 doctor in Motian Realm would feel disgraced.''


    ...


    When Zhang Tie returned to the foot of Tigerback Mountain, he noticed that General Butler Qin was waiting for him over there.


    "Butler Jin, owner asked me to wait for you here and take you to him when you come back!" General Butler Qin said calmly as he took a deep look at Zhang Tie.


    "Sorry for being late, let go..."


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that General Butler Qin would wait for him in Tideviewing Courtyard; unexpectedly he was waiting for him at the foot of Tigerback Mountain. It seemed that Bian Heng was already anxious. If Zhang Tie was a bit late, Bian Heng might have gone to Tigerback Town and brought him back.


    ...


    In the same parlor where Zhang Tie met Bian Heng for the first time, when Zhang Tie strode over the threshold, Bian Heng who was walking around in the parlor with his hands clasped behind his back had rushed forward with a furious look, "Was that you?"


    Zhang Tie blinked his eyes as he shrugged with an innocent look, saying, "Elder brother, what are you talking about? I don''t understand..."


    "You''re still pretending to be innocent?" Bian Heng roared as he almost sprayed his saliva on Zhang Tie''s face, "Tang Mei has admitted that someone told her the answer of the last question. Is she the very person suffering from cancer that you wanted me to cure? Even a fool could figure it out..."


    "Did Tang Mei say that it was me who told her the answer of the third question?" Zhang Tie asked calmly without any fear.


    Bian Heng became shortly stunned as he answered, "Not yet. She said that she couldn''t identify the owner of the voice..."


    "That''s it..." Zhang Tie walked to the front of a chair and sat down frankly. Closely after that, he picked a piece of pastry from the teapoy and put it in his mouth. As he ate it, he urged, "Even she couldn''t confirm that it was me, how could you confirm that? You should find evidence for that. Perhaps a powerhouse couldn''t stand Tang Mei from being killed by cancer; therefore, he warned her. Everyone likes beauty..."


    Bian Heng''s face almost twisted out of fury as he blew his beard and roared, "Powerhouse, sh*t! Nobody could play this trick in front of me except immortal emperors or demon emperors. At that time, at the foot of the mountain, you were the most powerful one after me. I''ve already seen through you. You''ve long known that she was beautiful; therefore, you had a crush on her. Then, you took advantage of me, right?"


    "It''s just your presumption..." Zhang Tie said seriously as he continued to pick the pastries from the teapoy.


    Sitting beside Zhang Tie with fury, Bian Heng reached out his hand and drew the tray of pastries to his own side so that Zhang Tie couldn''t get it, roaring, "You''ve cheated me, how dare you still take my food..."


    "Come on, I''ve not had supper yet!" Zhang Tie smiled shamelessly as he picked himself up, bending over and grasping all the remaining pastries in the tray. As he ate food, he said, "If you stick to that I''ve cheated you, I would never admit that. But I was born to be smart and adorable. I''m proficient in... mathematics. Elder brother, if you help me cure her, I owe you. If you have any questions about mathematics, you could seek my help. I would never refuse it... Oh, by the way, elder brother, the third question was called magic square in the world where I came from. I''m always good at filling magic square..."


    Apparently, Zhang Tie had already admitted that it was him who did it. Of course, Bian Heng understood it.


    Therefore, Bian Heng looked a bit better.


    "Mathematics... magic square..." Bian Heng mumbled as he peeped at Zhang Tie, saying, "Now that you''re proficient in mathematics, I''ve got a question..."


    "Go ahead..."


    "What''s 387 multiplied by 987 multiplied by 247 divided by 3?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "31,448,781..." Zhang Tie instantly answered with food in mouth.


    Bian Heng was shortly stunned. Actually even Bian Heng didn''t know the answer. Despite being a supreme-level immortal general, he was also not almighty. He just wanted to mock Zhang Tie and test his mathematics computing ability; however, Zhang Tie answered him in the blink of an eye. Therefore, Bian Heng became shortly stunned.


    He thought that Zhang Tie was fabricating it; how could the product of three 3-digit numbers being divided by 3 be completely divisible? However, given Zhang Tie''s calm and leisure look, Bian Heng wavered his mind as he poured out some tea water and started to calculate by finger on the teapoy.


    One minute later, Bian Heng raised his head as he watched Zhang Tie with an astonished look. The answer to the question was indeed 31,448,781. He got the same answer after computing it twice.


    "Do you believe in me?" Zhang Tie asked Bian Heng after gulping down the pastries and cleaning his mouth.


    Watching the bizarre light in Zhang Tie''s eyes, Bian Heng asked, "How long did it take you to work out the answer of the third question in the morning..."


    "Within one second..."


    "What about something more complex?"


    "It depends, approximately 1 or 2 seconds..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bian Heng looked at Zhang Tie with greater curiosity, "Does everyone in your world have such an amazing calculating ability like you?"


    "No, few of them could match me in calculating ability..." Zhang Tie replied with a smirk.


    Bian Heng suddenly became silent as his expression started to change, pleasant or sad. Zhang Tie wondered what he was thinking about.


    "Anything else? If no, I gotta get going..." Zhang Tie said as he stood up.


    When Zhang Tie walked to the gate of the parlor, Bian Heng suddenly opened his mouth, "Do you want to make a fortune?"


    "Make a fortune? Forget about it. In our stage, ordinary element crystals don''t work anymore. I''m not even interested in common immortal outfits..." Zhang Tie stopped as he turned around and answered.


    "I''m not interested in ordinary immortal outfits either; but what about immortal''s secret method and heavenly-level immortal outfits?"


    "Immortal''s secret method?" Zhang Tie thought it for a second as he realized that immortal''s secret method in Motian Realm were actually emperor-level classics. Therefore, his heart palpitated once. However, he said with a dubious look, "There are very few immortal''s secret methods. Elder brother, you must be cheating me."


    "Have you heard about Infinite King Roc Sutra?" Bian Heng watched Zhang Tie with gleaming eyes.


    ''F*ck! Infinite King Roc Sutra?'''' Zhang Tie was spirited at a stroke like being hit by a lightning bolt.


    "Where''s the Infinite King Roc Sutra?" Zhang Tie instantly asked as his eyes gave out bright light. As a cultivator, it was impossible for him to not be interested in an emperor-level secret method. A eunuch might not be interested in beauty, but the road and secret method that could lead to a supreme realm were irresistible to a cultivator.


    "I know where it is, but I can''t tell you about that..." Bian Heng said as he shook his head.


    "Whatever..." Zhang Tie continued to walk outward.


    "But if you want to know it, you could go to a place together with me. As long as you could prove your ability, you might get the opportunity to know its whereabouts..."


    "What do you mean?"


    Bian Heng watched Zhang Tie seriously as he said, "As this secret doesn''t belong to me alone, I don''t have the right to expose it to you. If you want to know it, you must join us. With the consent of all the others who know this secret, you will be able to know it..."


    also called King Roc Sutra

 1845 Making Preparations

    As for others, when they heard King Roc Sutra, they might consider the high risk of getting it. However, as for Zhang Tie, when he heard the three words, he had determined to verify it himself even though it might not exist.


    However, it was not easy to acquire information about King Roc Sutra. Besides this name, Bian Heng didn''t say anything else about King Roc Sutra. He just told Zhang Tie to wait patiently. In June of the next year, namely the 3587th year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar, he would take Zhang Tie to a place and introduce him to some people, who would determine whether Zhang Tie could join their small community or not through negotiation.


    Although Bian Heng didn''t tell him who all were in that small community, Zhang Tie knew that the members of this small community must not be ordinary given Bian Heng''s identity.


    Besides being a sage-level knight, Bian Heng was also the No. 1 doctor in Motian Realm. Now that they could win the favor of Bian Heng, of course, the other members of the small community were not worse than Bian Heng.


    It was already August. There were still 10 months left.


    Even though Zhang Tie was anxious, he could only wait for another 10 months patiently.


    King Roc Sutra was the most precious thing and would be scrambled for wherever it was; even the members of the small community which Bian Heng joined would also scramble for it. Although Zhang Tie was not sure how many people were in the small community, according to his estimation, only the one with the greatest battle force who had made greatest contribution to the small community could own King Roc Sutra no matter how many members were there. As Zhang Tie was just a heavenly knight. Even though he joined it, he would have no advantage in such a small community. Therefore, the preoccupation was to enhance his battle force in the following 10 months.


    ''I''d better promote to a semi-sage level knight in the following 10 months. In this way, I would have a bigger say in the small community.''


    ''I''ve already fully recovered; additionally, I''ve already reached 7 change realm of heavenly knight. With the help of Purgatory Samsara Method, as long as I could kill some demon wind immortal generals or a couple of demon fire immortal generals, I would get enough fire elements.''


    Zhang Tie once thought about setting a trap for Dark Emperor Immortal Palace with himself as a bait; it would be great if he could kill a head of a branch of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. However, the largest risk of such a trap was that he might attract the attention of Versatile Demon Emperor. Nobody else below immortal emperor could fight Versatile Demon Emperor. If Versatile Demon Emperor arrived, Zhang Tie would be trapped by himself. That would be too stupid!


    If Zhang Tie didn''t use this plan for the time being, the safest way for him to promote to the semi-sage level knight was to enter Mountain Ruins. Mountain Ruins was the battlefield of powers in Motian Realm. Demons in Mountain Ruins were at least heavenly knights, who were live fire chakras for him...


    When Zhang Tie tried to enter Mountain Ruins last time, he was blocked by Ice and Flame Heavenly Wind Layer as he had not formed his wind chakra. Now, he had already promoted to a heavenly knight. Therefore, he could enter Mountain Ruins with no problem.


    ''I have to promote to a semi-sage level knight in Mountain Ruins in the next 10 months. Only in this way could I have an opportunity to scramble for King Roc Sutra...''


    ''I will bid farewell to Bian Heng in a couple of days. In next June, I will return to Tigerback Mountain so that he could introduce me to the members of that small community.''


    After leaving that parlor, on the mountain trail back to Tideviewing Courtyard, Zhang Tie was considering about this. Finally, he made a decision¡ª¡ª


    If I want to get King Roc Sutra or something else in the world, I have to make a detailed preparation and efforts step by step conscientiously. Otherwise, no matter how much I desire it, without action or plan, I could never make it. Even pies would not fall from the sky, not to mention such a rarity that everyone scrambles for.


    Surprisingly, when Zhang Tie returned to Tideviewing Courtyard, he found that two people were already waiting for him outside the gate of Tideviewing Courtyard.


    It was already late. The moon had already hung up in the sky. Under the clear and bright moonlight, Tang Mei was standing outside the gate of Tideviewing Courtyard elegantly like a lily bathing the moonlight.


    In the moonlight, Tang Mei''s white skirt loomed like fog in the mountain. Her snowwhite skin was as transparent as crystal as if it could reflect moonlight.


    At this moment, Tang Mei was as beautiful as a moonlight fairy maiden. Facing her unparalleled look and unique temperament, even the sea wind from Whitedragon Gulf turned tender as if it didn''t want to disturb her.


    At the sight of Tang Mei, Zhang Tie was in a daze as he recalled a girl in red skirt who was sitting on a nail-sized boulder beside the brook and blowing a green jade flute under the clear moonlight, fair feet swaying in water lightly...


    Beauty could win people''s resonance. Tang Mei''s beautiful look reminded Zhang Tie of Lan Yunxi as he felt heart-wrenching at a stroke...


    It was Uncle Guan who was waiting for Zhang Tie together with Tang Mei. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Due to Tang Mei''s pretty weak physique, she couldn''t live without people''s care. Therefore, Bian Heng had already allowed Uncle Guan and Aunt Wu to live in Tigerback Mountain together with Tang Mei.


    Watching Zhang Tie coming back leisurely, Uncle Guan looked more thrilled than Tang Mei. Before saying anything, his eyes had turned red. Zhang Tie appreciated and admired him because he was a tough man who could clearly distinguish kindness and hatred.


    "My respects to you, Master Jin..." Tang Mei half squatted towards Zhang Tie which meant great respect in that world.


    After burying the sudden pain deep in his heart, Zhang Tie greeted Tang Mei with a smile. "Congratulations, Miss Tang, you''re already a disciple of Bian Heng. Your disease will be cured for sure. If not, Bian Heng would feel disgraced calling himself No. 1 doctor in Motian Realm..."


    ...

 1846 Tang Mei

    "Without Master Jin''s help, I would just be like others and could barely be enrolled as Sage Bian''s disciple..." Tang Mei said as she looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes with shiny eyes without any embarrassment; instead, she was curious and exploratory as if she didn''t recognize Zhang Tie until now.


    As for Zhang Tie, he didn''t need to cover anything in front of Tang Mei anymore at this moment. He didn''t deny it; he just waved his hand, saying, "You passed the former two tests yourself; as for the third test, I just pushed the boat in the direction of the current. When Uncle Guan met me, I didn''t know how to help you; coincidentally, I could give you a favor; it must be God''s will..."


    "No matter what, without Mister Jin, the result would be different today. What Mister Jin did is tantamount to saving my life..."


    "Hoho, don''t appreciate me..." Zhang Tie winked at Tang Mei as he said solemnly, "Let your master appreciate me if you want. I helped him find such a fairy-maiden as his disciple. It''s him who should be happy. As long as you stand beside him, you will gladden his heart and please his eye. You''re absolutely much greater than those stinky male disciples of his. In the future, he would be pleased. Just now, your master found me and appreciated me especially. He even promised me an enormous benefit..."


    Even though she knew that Zhang Tie was joking with her, Tang Mei''s face still flushed which was very mesmerizing. Uncle Guan smirked at Zhang Tie aside.


    As Zhang Tie made fun of them, he had already come to the gate of Tideviewing Courtyard. After taking out the key, he opened it, saying, "Please take a seat inside..."


    "Sorry to trouble you..." Tang Mei replied politely as she followed Zhang Tie in.


    Thoughtful Uncle Guan just shook his head as he said, "I will wait for Miss outside..."


    ...


    The small courtyard was full of faint fragrance. A sweet-scented osmanthus tree was already in blossom. At such a night, sniffing the fragrance and hearing the sea waves, Tang Mei felt pretty romantic about this small courtyard.


    "Master Jin, do you live here alone?" Tang Mei asked tenderly after looking at the environment in the courtyard.


    "Yes, I''m alone here. I''m just here to manage Sage Bian''s fishpond..."


    "Manage Sage Bian''s fishpond?"


    "Yes, Whitedragon Gulf is the fishpond of Tigerback Mountain. I, although being a butler, am actually managing the fishpond for your master!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Tang Mei''s face flushed a bit heavily, making her more charming than flowers. "When we were in the carriage, I didn''t notice that Master Jin is so funny!"


    "Hahaha..." Zhang Tie laughed as he directly took Tang Mei to the pavilion under the osmanthus tree frankly; instead of taking her into the parlor. Over there, they could sniff osmanthus fragrance and enjoy the nightscape of Whitedragon Gulf in the distance. Holding the wooden rail of the pavilion as he pointed at the coastline under the moonlight in the far. "I was always alone here. It was very tranquil. Therefore, I don''t have anything good to receive you, even a glass of warm water. I could only receive Miss Tang with the nightscape that the sea melts into the sky and the fragrance of the osmanthus blossoms. Hopefully, Miss Tang doesn''t mind it..."


    "Master Jin, you''re aboveboard; of course, you do things aboveboard. I won''t mind it!" Tang Mei watched Zhang Tie with bright eyes.


    Facing Tang Mei''s bright eyes, Zhang Tie silently moved his eyes away from Tang Mei''s face as he mocked, "Miss Tang, you might not understand me. I''m not aboveboard; to be honest, I''m just not a bad person. Of course, in the opinion of some people who can''t wait to turn me into ashes, I''m the evilest guy in the world..."


    Tang Mei''s eyes became slightly dim; however, she remained her look unchanged, saying, "Master Jin, is that your word of self-modesty?"


    "I was just telling the truth. If I were aboveboard, the grasses on my tomb have already been 1 m high..." Zhang Tie burst into laughter facing the sea wind.


    Tang Mei became silent for a second. Closely after that, he slowly nodded and sighed, "Master Jin, this must not be your real identity and name?"


    Tang Mei was indeed smart. Zhang Tie nodded as he admitted it frankly, "Right, it''s indeed not my real identity..."


    "I wonder about your real identity."


    "If you know that, you won''t get any benefits from it; instead, you will be in great danger!" Zhang Tie said with a smile as he shook his head, "Just treat me as the ordinary people whom you encountered on the way..."


    "I see!" Tang Mei revealed a charming smile like all flowers bloom together, "Master Jin, if you don''t mind it, I will call you Elder Brother Jin. You can call me Mei; instead of Miss Tang..."


    Mei sounded too intimate. However, if he called her Tang Mei, Zhang Tie always felt weird just like spraying some soil over a pearl. However, watching her hopeful look, Zhang Tie finally gnashed his teeth, ''Whatever, it''s just an appellation. Even she doesn''t care about it, why do I hesitate?''


    "Well, I will call you Mei from now on. You can call me Elder Brother Jin. Aunt Wu said that you were 21 years old. After all, I''m elder than you. Even if you call me Elder Brother, it''s also acceptable..."


    "Elder Brother Jin, will you look down upon me..." Tang Mei asked as she lowered her head at a stroke.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Ah, why''d you ask me about that?" Zhang Tie was confused.


    "Among those people who attended the tests with me today, the two youths were both famous doctors in Tigerback Town. They have greater popularity among the people. Additionally, they all come from dignified time-honored clans. Elder Brother Jin, you must be curious why so many people wanted to help me only after we separated from each other for a few days."


    "Err... I think it one''s fortune!" Zhang Tie also had such a question; however, he was always uninterested in figuring out such questions; especially when it was related to a woman.


    "The reason is simple. They glimpsed at my face behind the veil by accident!"


    "Oh, I see. Everyone likes beauty..." Zhang Tie understood. Tang Mei''s face was attractive to men. It was even as effective as a nuclear bomb.


    "However, I let them see my face on purpose!" Tang Mei said calmly as if it happened to others instead of her. At the same time, she watched Zhang Tie''s face calmly.


    Zhang Tie became shortly stunned. When he found Tang Mei became silent for a few seconds, Zhang Tie opened his mouth, "Why are you telling me about this? If you didn''t mention it, I might not know it forever!"


    Tang Mei revealed a short smile which carried a bit grievance. "When I was young, my parents passed away due to an accident. Over these years, I was living with my two elder brothers and aunts. Since I was 14 years old, through how those men beside me watched me, I knew what my look meant to men. From then on, I started to wear veil. Since I found that I was affected by cancer, I had not taken off my veil in the public. Even my two elder brothers could barely see my face..." Tang Mei then shook her head, adding, "I don''t know why I''m telling Elder Brother Jin about these. Perhaps, I couldn''t stand talking about that or didn''t want to cheat you. Elder Brother Jin, will you look down upon me after knowing this?"


    Zhang Tie finally understood it. Watching Tang Mei seriously, he took in a deep breath, saying, "It''s all in human nature. As a human, of course, I could understand you. I don''t feel there''s any problem with what you did. You just didn''t want to wait for death. You just wanted to make use of your advantage for a bit opportunity. You didn''t do anything wrong, why would I look down upon you?"


    "Really?" Tang Mei asked as she widely opened her eyes.


    "If I cheat you, I''m a puppy dog!" Zhang Tie replied solemnly.


    Tang Mei revealed another brilliant smile which caused all the blooms to feel bashful and Zhang Tie stunned in a split second...


    After staying in the Tideviewing Courtyard for a short while, Tang Mei got up and bade farewell to him politely. Zhang Tie didn''t ask her to stay a bit longer. After all, it was already late, if Tang Mei stayed here for too long, it might arouse gossips. As Bian Heng''s disciple who had to stay in Tigerback Mountain for a long time, Tang Mei should pay attention to the details.


    Zhang Tie walked Tang Mei out of the gate of Tideviewing Courtyard. When Tang Mei was going to leave the courtyard, she suddenly stopped and turned around, asking an unexpected question, "Elder Brother Jin, when you saw me waiting for you outside Tideviewing Courtyard, did you recall another woman?"


    "Ah?" Zhang Tie became utterly petrified. He didn''t understand how Tang Mei knew that. ''Women''s intuition and perception are too amazing.''


    "Elder Brother Jin, you don''t need to answer me. I''ve already known that the girl must be more beautiful than me in your heart..." Tang Mei smiled at Zhang Tie, saying, "Please go back, Elder Brother Jin. See you..." After saying that, Tang Mei strode out of the gate. Uncle Guan then helped her put on an outer garment before leaving there together.


    Seeing Tang Mei off, Zhang Tie didn''t recover his composure until the two people left.


    After closing his gate, Zhang Tie returned to his courtyard. Standing in the courtyard alone, he looked up at the bright moon for a short while as he wanted to shout out his desire hysterically¡ª¡ªAre you alright? However, he stayed silent in the end.


    After standing there for a while, Zhang Tie returned to his cultivation room. Taking off his outer garment, he ran his battle qi in his qi sea as hot waves started to flow in his body. Cold icy fluid was rapidly coming into being outside his body and gradually surrounded him.


    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had been in the song of ice and flame.


    The fire was Dragon''s True Flame. The icy fluid was flowing over Zhang Tie''s body like high-speed gears. Some hard ice needles and scums inside the icy fluid constantly hit Zhang Tie''s body at a high speed, strengthening Zhang Tie defensive ability...


    After his qi sea was completely recovered, even without Bian Heng''s needles, Zhang Tie could still create conditions to constantly quench his body. Previously, Bian Heng would carry out medical treatment for him two times per two days; but now Zhang Tie could quench his body two times a day. Such a quenching condition was stricter and could bring him better effect. Through quenching his body in this way, Zhang Tie didn''t feel any pain at all; instead he felt being more and more powerful in that airy condition...

 1847 Gifts

    After staying in Tigerback Mountain for another one week, Zhang Tie told Bian Heng on August 15, "Brother Bian, I gotta get going..."


    "What?" Bian Heng watched Zhang Tie with wide eyes out of shock as he asked, "Aren''t you interested in immortals'' secret books and heavenly-level immortal outfits?"


    "No, I''m going to leave Tigerback Mountain and hone myself somewhere. In next June, I will come back to Tigerback Mountain and go to meet those people with you..." Zhang Tie said with a smile as he added, "Of course, I''m interested in immortals'' secret books and heavenly-level secret items. However, you know, elder brother, those things are not white cabbages which could be selected for free. If I could be a bit more powerful, I would have more confidence in taking actions together with those powers; at least I could protect myself..."


    "Humph, you''re really shrewd!" Bian Heng replied with a cold harrumph as he gazed at Zhang Tie with his little eyes, saying, "Listen, if you didn''t come back on June 1st, I will not wait for you in Tigerback Mountain. Don''t think about immortals'' secret books or heavenly-level immortal outfits by then..."


    "Haha, no problem. I will come back on time and go to meet them together with you..." Zhang Tie said as he laughed.


    "Where are you going?"


    "Mountain Ruins!" Zhang Tie answered honestly.


    "Take this, roll out of here as soon as possible..." Bian Heng said as a jade vial appeared in his hand.


    Zhang Tie took it and shook it as he heard frictions inside the vial. Apparently, it contained a lot of medicinal pills inside.


    "What''s this?" Zhang Tie asked.


    Watching Zhang Tie with a bad look, Bian Heng said, "This is a soul-washing pill. After you take it, the wisp of primordial qi in the pill could invade the surging points at your shrine palace and on your spine. Although it couldn''t change your primordial physique, it could add a layer of disguise for those surging points. If you take these pills, the others could barely figure out whether these surging points were lit up after birth or not or whether you''re from another world or not unless an immortal emperor or demon emperor invades his battle qi into your body within a short distance. Therefore, you could keep alive..."


    Watching the vial of pills, Zhang Tie became shortly stunned. All of a sudden, he became ecstatic. With this vial of soul-washing pills, plus his body-changing immortal bloodline, the big loophole would be fixed. Even though he met a demon emperor, he would not be easily identified. Even Versatile Demon Emperor could barely recognize him as long as he changed his look unless within a short distance.


    These soul-washing pills were very useful; they were even more precious than golden secret items.


    Zhang Tie instantly teleported soul-washing pills into Castle of Black Iron. However, he didn''t appreciate Bian Heng; instead, he ridiculed Bian Heng, "Beauty''s power is really infinite. We''ve known each other for so long, but I didn''t see such a good item. After I found you such a beautiful disciple for a few days, you''ve suddenly become so generous and given me soul-washing pills. Listen, although she''s your disciple; given your old age, you''d better not make any mistake; otherwise, your good reputation would be ruined. That''s not worthwhile..."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Nonsense..." Bian Heng almost jumped up as he pretended to be angry, saying "If not that you''re smart and a bit useful, I would never care about you. It''s none of my business even if you were stamped into pieces by Versatile Demon Emperor. Do you know how many rarities have I used to make it? If you don''t want them, give them back to me. I will feed them to dog..."


    "Hahaha, it would be too wasteful if you fed them to dogs. Now that elder brother has spent so much time in making them, I will accept them; just take them as my compensation for watching the fishpond for you..." Zhang Tie smiled shamelessly; however, he didn''t take out those soul-washing pills.


    "Roll out of here; roll out of here as soon as possible..." Bian Heng instantly blew his beard as he opened his eyes wide, driving Zhang Tie away.


    "Take it easy, elder brother. I''m especially here to bid farewell to you. I have even prepared a gift for you. You could never find it in Motian Realm..." Zhang Tie said as he blinked his eyes.


    "Humph, I don''t believe in that. I''ve seen all kinds of rarities..." Although being stubborn, Bian Heng couldn''t help glancing over Zhang Tie. Apparently, his curiosity had been aroused. If it was someone else, he had long slapped that person. However, as he knew that Zhang Tie came from another world; therefore, he became curious about Zhang Tie''s gift.


    Zhang Tie moved his hand as a jade case appeared in his hand. He then gave it to Bian Heng.


    Bian Heng opened it out of curiosity. In a split second, he widely opened his eyes.


    That jade case contained a resplendent fruit. When he opened it, he smelt an ethereal, quirky fragrance as fragrant as musk and orchid. At the same time, the entire room was filled with glow as if the fragrance carried a bizarre magic power and an airy sense. Only after sniffing a bit of it, Bian Heng had felt being much younger as all of his cells became vigorous at a stroke...


    This fruit indeed didn''t exist in Motian Realm. Bian Heng''s eyes shone like bulbs as he immediately realized that this fruit was special as he asked, "This is..."


    "It''s the fruit of cross-realm flower. Elder brother, if you''ve got a lover, you could gift it to her. After taking it, she would definitely be obedient and tender to you..."


    "Nonsense, impossible. I don''t believe such a fruit could bewilder a supreme-level immortal general." Bian Heng said as he sniffed the bizarre fragrance, eyebrows quivering, as if he wanted to check the effect of this fruit.


    "In the world where I came from, the fruit of cross-realm flower is a top rarity. It won''t bewilder people; instead, it could keep someone forever young. No woman could endure its allure. It''s much more advanced than the low bewildering tricks..."


    "What? You mean this fruit could keep woman forever young?" Bian Heng asked as he watched Zhang Tie with excitement.


    "Elder brother, if you don''t believe me, just give it back to me. I got it at the risk of my life..." Zhang Tie said as he reached out his hand.


    ''Pah'', the jade case was closed. In a split second, it disappeared in Bian Heng''s hand. Raising his face, Bian Heng said, "Brat, you''re conscientious..."


    Zhang Tie said with a quirky smile, "Hehehheh, elder brother, you treasure it so much. It means, as a supreme-level immortal general, you really have a lover. Who''s her, tell me about that..."


    Bian Heng''s face blushed as he roared out of fury, "Roll out of here..."

 1848 Fighting Enemy with Wits and Bravery

    After bidding a farewell to Bian Heng, Zhang Tie planned to notice Tang Mei that he was going to leave too. However, as Bian Heng had started the medical treatment for her, Tang Mei was having a medicated bath in Pinkcloud Cave of Tigerback Mountain who couldn''t come out until 2 days later. After knowing that, Zhang Tie didn''t wait for her anymore. Swinging his sleeves, he left Tigerback Mountain.


    "See you!" After taking a look back at Tigerback Mountain, Zhang Tie jumped down and flew towards the east as fast as a lightning bolt. After hundreds of miles, he entered a cloud and activated his invisible shen bead. In a split second, he became invisible. Then, he made a detour and returned to the air territory above Whitedragon Gulf, where he dove into the ocean quietly.


    As his protective battle qi could isolate his body and clothes from seawater, Zhang immediately arrived at the bottom of the ocean. After confirming that nobody was following him, he swam towards Yaohai Ocean.


    Only after such a short while, Zhang Tie had already changed his look by activating his body-changing immortal bloodline. Additionally, he even changed a set of clothes whose colors were different than that when he left Tigerback Mountain.


    Zhang Tie didn''t swim at the fastest speed; instead, at an average speed in case of catching the eyes of the others.


    In less than one hour, Zhang Tie had come to the junction between Whitedragon Gulf and Yaohai Ocean.


    The thousands of meters high city wall was standing above the sea level while the huge city gate entrance beneath sea level was like a vault of a huge bridge. Enormous seawater were pouring in the city gate entrance. Ships were accessing to the city gate on the sea level. Under the sea level, it was like the Crystal Palace of Dragon King as fish and shrimps were crossing.


    Compared to the bustling scenery when he entered a city gate of Emperor NvWa City, it was much more tranquil in the water today. He could only see a few people accessing to the city gate beneath the water.


    Zhang Tie saw some immortal generals rushing inside the moment he arrived here. Those guys saw Zhang Tie too. However, they just swam by.


    Additionally, Zhang Tie met earth immortal general at his 40''s just now. It seemed that he also wanted to leave Emperor NvWa City.


    Compared to other means of accessing to Emperor NvWa City, it was more secret for them to travel in water. As there were all kinds of people accessing to Emperor NvWa City, including many immortal generals, of course, someone needed to take action secretly like Zhang Tie.


    Even though being underwater, when he passed by the city wall, he could still sense the powerful scanning system inside the city gate entrance. It seemed that the defensive system of Emperor NvWa City didn''t have any dead angle.


    Meanwhile, some armored immortal generals of Emperor NvWa City were monitoring people who were accessing to the city gate entrance in water.


    After passing by the city gate smoothly in water, Zhang Tie entered the vast Yaohai Ocean again. He became extremely vigilant the moment he left Emperor NvWa City by releasing his spiritual energy in all directions and paying attention to the situation in the surroundings at any time.


    When he exited the city gate of Emperor NvWa City, it meant that Zhang Tie had given up the protection of the city gate of Emperor NvWa City. The powers of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and demons might attack him at any time.


    Although demons and the backbones of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace who had been affected by Golden-Soul Rune Virus couldn''t enter Emperor NvWa City, Zhang Tie was deeply convinced that there were agents of demons and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace inside Emperor NvWa City.


    The head of Cyan Dragon Palace of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was Si Dan the ancestor of Si Clan. As long as the heads of the other 3 branches of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace were on the same level with Si Dan whose identities were still not exposed to the public yet, they could easily set some agents in Emperor NvWa City aboveboard. Even those who followed their arrangements might not know that they were working for Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and demons.


    This was the most terrifying and troublesome aspect of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. Theoretically, if one of the three branch heads of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was the boss of an immortal palace or a major clan, many immortal generals and people who followed the orders of that boss might not even know that they had already been the lackeys of demons.


    ''Could Versatile Demon Emperor predict that I would come to Tigerback Mountain for medical treatment?''


    Zhang Tie didn''t know. But Versatile Demon Emperor had 50% possibility to hit it. Therefore, he probably had already set agents in Tigerback Town and in the surroundings.


    ''Would Versatile Demon Emperor wait outside the city wall for me after confirming that I was receiving medical treatment in Tigerback Mountain?''


    Zhang Tie didn''t know it either. Even though there was 50% possibility, according to probability theory, Versatile Demon Emperor still had 25% possibility to set traps outside the city wall of Emperor NvWa City.


    Because Zhang Tie didn''t know whether Versatile Demon Emperor was waiting for him outside the city wall and going to give him a fatal strike, even if there was only 25% possibility, Zhang Tie had to be careful for the sake of his life.


    Therefore, he chose to leave Emperor NvWa City today, the 15th day of this month. He could use space-teleportation equipment today and access to Castle of Black Iron whenever he wanted. As long as something was not right, he would hide in Castle of Black Iron immediately. Castle of Black Iron had completely become his asylum.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The only piece of good news was that Zhang Tie could leave in any of the four directions through the four city walls of Emperor NvWa City. Even though Versatile Demon Emperor was waiting for Zhang Tie outside the city, he only had less than 1/16 possibility to meet Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie was flying towards east on purpose at the beginning. He was puzzling his enemy. If there were really some agents of demons or Dark Emperor Immortal Palace around Tigerback Mountain, they would definitely send a wrong signal to Versatile Demon Emperor.


    By changing his look, Zhang Tie could reduce the possibility of being discovered by his enemy.


    Since Zhang Tie prepared to leave Tigerback Mountain, he had started to fight Versatile Demon Emperor and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace by wits and bravery.


    The only loophole of Zhang Tie was that there was no primordial qi in the surging points on his spine. After getting the soul-washing pills from Bian Heng, he could have fixed it; however, through consideration, Zhang Tie determined to keep this loophole on purpose.


    Zhang Tie wanted to say whether Versatile Demon Emperor and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace were powerful enough to discover him through this loophole. If they were really able to discover him through this clue, they would fall in Zhang Tie''s trap and Zhang Tie would continue his trick...


    After leaving Emperor NvWa City, it became more boisterous as more and more immortal generals were traveling in water. Zhang Tie directly swam far away.


    Nothing unusual happened in the first 35 miles. When Zhang Tie left Emperor NvWa City for about 50 miles...


    With a bang, huge sprayes rushed into the sky as 5 immortal generals dove into water from the sky and had a fierce battle right in front of Zhang Tie.

 1849 Zhang Ties Prompt Decision

    The five immortal generals were all fierce immortal generals. In metal wings, they were fighting fiercely.


    There were three male immortal generals and two female immortal generals. In dark yellow clothes, the male immortal generals were sturdy. With machetes in hands, apparently, they were of the same gang. By contrast, the two female immortal generals in white skirt looked much weaker.


    It reminded Zhang Tie of the scene in which three jackals and wolves besieged two cute rabbits.


    The five people descended and blocked Zhang Tie''s way.


    "Younger sister, hurry, go, I will stop them..." a female immortal general shouted as she waved her long sword, involving the three men into her sword light at a stroke.


    "Catch them..." the three men roared in unison.


    "Elder sister..." the woman being called younger sister wailed.


    "Leave me alone. Hurry, go..." Elder sister tried her best to wave her sword. Pitifully, elder sister was not more powerful than any of the three men, not to mention that she had to fight three men at the same time. Therefore, in a split second, a machete had already shattered her protective battle qi, leaving a 30-cm longer scar on her arm, turning her white skirt to scarlet.


    The escaping younger sister directly rushed towards Zhang Tie. One of the three men also broke out of her sword light and chased closely after the younger sister.


    "Help..." At the sight of Zhang Tie in water, the younger sister immediately rushed towards him while asking for his help.


    To be honest, the younger sister was not as beautiful as Tang Mei; however, she was at least as beautiful as Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin. Especially at this moment, she was chased by a fierce man pitifully with panic and grief.


    As a powerful man with great righteousness, shouldn''t he help her at this moment? Even if he couldn''t help her, wouldn''t he stop them to ask the reason out of curiosity?


    Watching the beauty rushing towards him, Zhang Tie''s face turned weird.


    In the blink of an eye, the younger sister had come nearer to Zhang Tie.


    "Go die..." the tough man roared as his battle qi turned into an iron fist and hit the younger sister''s back from dozens of meters away.


    The younger sister spurted out blood. Closely after that, she rushed to the front of Zhang Tie and uttered "help" before spurting out blood as if she was heavily hurt; she almost passed out.


    Zhang Tie reached out his hand and quickly held this younger sister.


    "Brat, mind your own business. Give that woman back to me; otherwise, you will have to try this grandpa''s machete..." The fierce tough man had already arrived in front of Zhang Tie as he started to threaten Zhang Tie.


    As a man, who could not help her at this moment?


    Of course, Zhang Tie took action. Before the younger sister said anything else, Zhang Tie had reached out his hand and hit her back as fast as a lightning bolt.


    With a bang, the younger sister spurted out blood heavily as most of her bones on her back were broken, especially her spine, causing her to utter a shrill cry. At the same time, her protective battle qi dissipated as she passed out.


    F*ck, who could imagine that Zhang Tie would hit the younger sister; instead of that tough man?


    The fierce tough man was petrified as he didn''t know what to say. ''What the hell...''


    After hearing the younger sister''s shrill cry, all the other three people stopped out of shock...


    "Look, your punch was too light. You should hit her in this way!" Zhang Tie said with a smile as he threw the younger sister towards that fierce tough man, adding, "Take her if you want..."


    The grim tough man took the younger sister in a daze. Closely after that, Zhang Tie''s punch arrived as the tough man''s protective battle qi was broken in an instant. At the same time, his chest sunk as he spurted out pieces of his guts, passing out due to heavy injuries.


    In the next second, Zhang Tie punched towards the three people over 1,000 m away, causing them to pass out at once with a rumble of thunder in water.


    Zhang Tie reached out his hand as he teleported the grim tough man and the younger sister beside him into Castle of Black Iron at once. Closely after that, Zhang Tie flashed away, increasing his speed by dozens of times in a split second. When he passed by the other three people, he teleported them into Castle of Black Iron too.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie became transparent in water.


    The entire process lasted even less than 5 seconds...


    Nothing seemed to have happened in the tranquil water.


    However, after Zhang Tie disappeared here for 10 minutes, all of a sudden, the seawater within thousands of meters became still as if it was frozen. In such an extremely weird scene, Versatile Demon Emperor appeared in the water where Zhang Tie was just now.


    Eyes shining, Versatile Demon Emperor watched the surroundings as he turned gloomy and uttered a hoarse voice, "Good-for-nothing..."


    Closely after the word ''nothing'', Versatile Demon Emperor looked up at the Emperor NvWa City. In an instant, his eyes sparkled as he disappeared. The seawater within thousands of meters then started to surge again.


    After a few minutes, with a bang, as two battle qis entered the ocean, two immortal generals in the armor of Emperor NvWa City descended and came to the same waters with strong fierce qi.


    "Just now, the spiritual tower on the city wall has already sensed demonic qi here..." An immortal general took a look at the surroundings with wide eyes as he said.


    "It''s not strange at all. As this place is close to the periphery of the induction field of the spiritual tower, I''m afraid that those demons were sounding out our intentions. Those sons of b*tches would always come here once in a few days. We only need to pay a tour inspection in the surroundings. If there''s no problem, we will go back..." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    After a brief talk, the two immortal generals paid a tour inspection in the waters before flying out of water.


    ...

 1850 A Great Risk

    There were many kinds of marine organisms in Yaohai Ocean. The two immortal generals of Emperor NvWa City and Versatile Demon Emperor who came here with a time span of more than 10 minutes didn''t notice or didn''t care that a mutated big octopus who disguised itself as a reef was staring at this place from 1,000 m away.


    After the two immortals of Emperor NvWa City left here for half an hour, the big octopus started to move rapidly at the bottom of the sea.


    Cuttlefish could reach over 100 miles per hour in the water, not to mention a mutated big cuttlefish which could move over 150 miles per hour in water just like a torpedo. Therefore, after swimming for more than 2 hours, the mutated big cuttlefish came to a block of wood with dense tall corals. After traveling across the wood leisurely for a short while, the cuttlefish entered a coral cave.


    At first glance, there were only colorful, beautiful fish swimming leisurely in the cave. Only the mutated big cuttlefish knew that one person was in this coral cave.


    Of course, that person was Zhang Tie.


    After sensing the coming cuttlefish, Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he reached out one hand and touched the big cuttlefish''s head. Closely after that, what the big cuttlefish saw just now appeared in Zhang Tie''s mind sea.


    Besides high speed and being able to change its color to adapt to the surroundings, few people knew that big cuttlefish''s sight also ranked first in the ocean. Its sight was terrifyingly great. It could even change its pupils'' shape in order to observe the surroundings like a telescope in water. If a marine organism was selected to be scout or agent in ocean, mutated big cuttlefish was definitely the best one.


    Boldness of execution stems from superb skill. After leaving that waters, he didn''t enter Castle of Black Iron immediately; instead, he hid his qi and stayed in this coral cave. In order to not arouse the attention of his enemy, he didn''t even activate his lotus-flower eyes to observe the waters; instead, he delivered the mission to this mutated big cuttlefish near this waters.


    ''F*ck!''


    When he saw Versatile Demon Emperor again in the memory of the cuttlefish, Zhang Tie''s heart trembled once.


    Although Zhang Tie had guessed that Versatile Demon Emperor was waiting somewhere outside Emperor NvWa City for him, he was still startled by the reappearance of Versatile Demon Emperor. Meanwhile, he confirmed that he was ranked first in the blacklist of Versatile Demon Emperor. Otherwise, Versatile Demon Emperor would never wait for him patiently outside Emperor NvWa City.


    Zhang Tie felt lucky about his fast prompt decision of leaving that waters immediately. If Zhang Tie wasted time to save the beauties out of righteousness, he must have been in the same poor situation like last time. If Versatile Demon Emperor launched a strike towards him again, Zhang Tie knew that he could definitely not survive Versatile Demon Emperor''s strike anymore.


    ''The five immortal generals were not demons; nor were they affected by Golden-Soul Runed Virus. Their task was not to kill me; but to postpone my time leaving there. Meanwhile, they could confirm my direction. They probably not even know that it was Versatile Demon Emperor who was following them...''


    ''If I really saved the two beauties, I might have already been dead.''


    The mutated big cuttlefish couldn''t hear the words of Versatile Demon Emperor and the two immortal generals of Emperor NvWa City. However, as it could see them clearly, Zhang Tie could easily figure out what they were talking about through the images in its memory.


    After reading these images from the memory of the mutated big cuttlefish, Zhang Tie input some reinforcing energy into the body of the mutated big cuttlefish as a reward.


    Closely after that, a whim occurred to Zhang Tie, causing him to frown, ''when I left Emperor NvWa City, I''ve already changed my look; additionally, I''ve made a trick to bamboozle them. How did they discover me? How could those people position my whereabouts?''


    With this question, Zhang Tie returned to Castle of Black Iron.


    ...


    "Welcome back, Castle Lord..." Heller''s voice sounded. Zhang Tie felt dizzy as he had already been in the lobby of the palace tree.


    "Finally back..." Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh. Although it was risky today, it was almost equal to taking a circle around the gate of the netherworld. If he made one mistake, he would have been killed.


    "Castle Lord, you showed up..."


    "Ah, well, I almost forgot about it..." After being warned by Heller, Zhang Tie discovered that he was still invisible. Therefore, he ran his spiritual energy and exited that state at once.


    "Castle Lord, please take a look at this..." Heller said as he gave an item to Zhang Tie.


    It was a smooth metal shell without even grains on its surface as large as a pocket watch.


    After taking it, Zhang Tie asked, "What''s this?"


    "I got it from each of the space-teleportation equipments of the five immortal generals that you teleported into Castle of Black Iron. It might help you solve your puzzle!"


    "Oh!" Zhang Tie took a look at it as he found it could be opened. Therefore, he opened it.


    At the sight of its internal structure, Zhang Tie almost mistook it as a compass.


    There was a piece of crystal stone inside the metal shell. Zhang Tie saw a blood drop flowing in the center of the crystal stone; besides, dense runes were flowing in the small piece of crystal stone. Additionally, a tiny red needle was floating above the crystal stone.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The feature of the piece of crystal stone reminded Zhang Tie of Golden-Soul Rune Virus. When Zhang Tie opened the metal shell, he found that the tiny red neelde was pointing at him...

 1851 Making Use of Versatile Demon Emperors Trick

    Watching the small needle which was pointing at him, Zhang Tie thought it was a coincidence at the beginning. However, when he moved it a bit farther, he found the needle was still pointing at him. After changing another two directions, he found the needle was still pointing at him.


    ''Motherf*cker!'' Zhang Tie swore inside.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie''s face turned black as he gave that thing to Heller, asking, "What''s this?"


    After taking that item, Heller replied, "According to my analysis, I found it could sense your existence within 25,000 m..."


    "You mean I was discovered by others because of this when I left Emperor NvWa City?" Zhang Tie asked in an unbelievable way as he widely opened his eyes.


    "Yes!" Heller answered as he nodded, "Castle Lord, when you left the city gate, as long as someone was near this thing, they would be able to position and discover you!"


    "Impossible!"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Castle Lord, have you forgotten about the effect of your tracing feather?" Heller asked. After receiving no response, Heller added, "Castle Lord, your tracing feathers could sense the whereabouts of your targets within 600 miles. Therefore, it''s not strange for this item to sense your whereabouts within more than 20,000 m!"


    "I mean did they make it?"


    "Castle Lord, look at this drop of blood in the crystal stone..." Heller said as he pointed at the drop of blood inside the crystal stone, "This drop of blood is actually yours..."


    "How could it be mine?" Zhang Tie asked. However, before Heller answered, he had understood it. ''It must be Versatile Demon Emperor. When I fought Versatile Demon Emperor, I lost almost a barrel of blood in his realm. Only Versatile Demon Emperor could get my blood.''


    ''Those dense runes in this item are also consistent with the style of Golden-Soul Rune Virus. It means that it was made by Versatile Demon Emperor.''


    ''When he found that I went to Tigerback Mountain for medical treatment, Versatile Demon Emperor must have made a lot of items like this. After that, he had people deliver them to his subordinates using the network of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and told them to stay at the gates of Emperor NvWa City. When I left Emperor NvWa City, this item would sense my whereabouts at once; then those agents outside the gates of Emperor NvWa City would deliver the intelligence to their superiors. After receiving the intelligence, Versatile Demon Emperor would go there to kill me as fast as he could.''


    Only in this way could it be explained.


    Previously, Zhang Tie even wanted to trap Versatile Demon Emperor and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. But after what happened today, Zhang Tie started to feel the craftiness of Versatile Demon Emperor. Previously, Zhang Tie wanted to play tricks with Versatile Demon Emperor; unexpectedly, he was almost killed by Versatile Demon Emperor.


    If this item could really sense my whereabouts, it would be difficult for me to move in Motian Realm in the future.


    Feeling a bit cold, Zhang Tie swallowed his saliva as he looked at Heller, asking, "You mean this item could completely position me through my blood?"


    "Not exactly!" Heller shook his head under Zhang Tie''s gaze, "Through my analysis, I found that the drop of blood inside this item was just an indirect media. What counts most inside it is these runes. Castle Lord, did you see this little red needle? It''s made of a very special material which doesn''t exist in Taixia Country at all. It was very sensitive to the energy inside people''s surging points. It cannot position you only through this drop of blood; instead, it has to depend on the energy of the surging points on your spine!"


    Heller''s explanation sounded a bit incomprehensible. After thinking about it for a short while, Zhang Tie asked Heller solemnly, "You mean this drop of blood only meets one condition for discovering me. The other condition is that the energy in the surging points on my spine is not congenital. Only by meeting the two conditions could it discover me."


    "Exactly!" Heller nodded as he added, "Given its structure and design, based on the expertise of Versatile Demon Emperor in runes, if he could constantly acquire your fresh blood, he would absolutely make an item which would sense your whereabouts from tens of thousands of meters away or farther. Pitifully, Versatile Demon Emperor couldn''t acquire your fresh blood at any time. Even if he acquired it, it would only be available for 1 week. One week later, the blood that leaves your body will lose its precious activity and energy. Therefore, the item will lose its effect..."


    Blinking his eyes, Zhang Tie said, "Therefore, he made this kind of items. Although it couldn''t discover me directly through my blood, it could also sense the special energy inside my surging points on my spine through my blood and help him discover my whereabouts."


    "Correct!" Heller replied as he nodded, "Additionally, this item is available for a long time. As long as the drop of blood inside it is not completely used up by those runes and this small needle, it could even be available for more than one decade..."


    "If so, will it continue to sense my whereabouts after I take those soul-washing pills?" Zhang Tie hurriedly asked out of concern.


    "If soul-washing pills could really be as effective as it was described by Bian Heng, after you take those soul-washing pills, this little item will not be able to sense your whereabouts anymore, Castle Lord..." Heller said affirmatively.


    "If these soul-washing pills didn''t work, I would go back to Tigerback Mountain to ask Bian Heng to make effective ones for me..." After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie totally figured out Versatile Demon Emperor''s tricks. Therefore, he finally became reassured. Although it was risky today, the adventure was worthwhile. "When I step out again, I will see how they look for me around the world with this item..." Zhang Tie said as he burst out laughter...


    "Castle Lord, this small item could indeed cover you..." Heller said with a smile, "Castle Lord, I really admire your bravery!"


    "I''ve not imagined that Versatile Demon Emperor could play such a trick. But now that we''ve checked it out, I will be reassured in the future..." Zhang Tie said. Then, he suddenly thought up something as he answered, "Oh, what about those people that I''ve just sent inside?"


    "I''ve already dropped them into the dungeon. As for those who were heavily injured, I''ve already dealt with their wounds in case they were dead. They''re very stubborn. If you want to get some information from them, you have to wait for a few more days..."


    "It''s fine. Step by step. I''m afraid that they''re just trivial roles being used as cannon fodder. I don''t think they knew who I was; nor did they know that it was Versatile Demon Emperor who arrived there after receiving their intelligence. In the final analysis, they were just made use of!" Zhang Tie said casually as he waved his hand. At the same time, he walked towards the small tree. After waiting for half a month, he could finally enjoy fruits...

 1852 The Road Towards Greater Strength

    It had been one month since Zhang Tie entered Castle of Black Iron on July 15.


    During the past one month, too many things had happened. Through observing shrimps, Zhang Tie got the essence of Immortal Fist Skill. As a result, his battle strength recovered.


    During those days when he comprehended Immortal Fist Skill, Zhang Tie didn''t continue to quench his body. Therefore, it had been only 9 King Kong Fruits on the small tree since August 6.


    Besides King Kong Fruits, there were also a lot of fruits of redemption from the gratitude of gulf shrimps, hairy shells and earthworms.


    However, among those fruits, the most eye-catching one was the new one¡ª¡ªthe fruit of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps.


    When he imagined about the terrifying explosive force of spike shrimps, Zhang Tie came to the small tree with excitement as he touched the new fruit.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of redemption¡ª¡ªthe explosive force of spike shrimps; not ripe yet.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter this fruit became ripe, if Castle Lord takes it, the explosive force of the 700-odd pieces of muscles and over 300 million muscle fibers of your body would increase by two times.


    ¡ª¡ªThe explosive force of mutated spike shrimps could reach 240 times that of the total physical strength of their bodies. Therefore, the maximal number of the fruit of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps was 240. Each fruit will activate 1/240 of the gene segment of your body which was as same as the gene segment of golden uangs which represented strength.


    ¡ª¡ªThe current number of this fruit¡ª¡ª0/240.


    ¡ª¡ªThe current total explosive force of Castle Lord is 6 times that of your total explosive force. After taking 240 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps, Castle Lord''s total explosive force will reach 246 times that of your physical strength. Castle Lord will promote to a body with complete immortal strength.


    Watching this raw fruit, Zhang Tie finally burst into laughter. As a result, the entire lobby of the palace tree was filled with Zhang Tie''s laughter.


    The fruit of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps could increase Zhang Tie''s explosive force by 240 times. Zhang Tie''s current explosive force was 6 times that of his physical strength. That was to say, when Zhang Tie took 6 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps, his explosive force would increase by two times on the basis of the current data. As long as he took 240 fruits of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps, his explosive force would increase by 40 times on the basis of the current data.


    What did that mean?


    Even spike shrimps could scramble for brilliance with the sun by punching out in the ocean. As long as Zhang Tie''s explosive force broke through 240 times that of his physical strength, he would be able to output 40 times that of the current physical strength, which meant a new height.


    If a person''s physical strength was too small, even if he had hundreds of times greater explosive force, his battle strength would also be limited. Take spike shrimps as an instance, even though they had the most terrifying explosive force in the world, because of the small cardinal number of their physical strength, they didn''t pose threat to most of living beings in the ocean; instead, they were usually caught and became people''s food.


    However, Zhang Tie was different than spike shrimps. At this moment, Zhang Tie''s physical strength was already terrifying. Actually, none of the human and demon powers that Zhang Tie recognized could match Zhang Tie in physical strength.


    Besides the great power granted by Infinite King Roc Sutra in the level of heavenly knight, he also had the strength of 1,800 golden uangs and the fruit of source. With these strengths, Zhang Tie was already unrivaled; however, due to his body with 1/2 immortal strength, his physical strength had increased by 2 more times. Besides, after activating his Kua''e Bloodline when fighting Versatile Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie''s physical strength increased by 120% again...


    All the above data were just the most conservative estimates. Because the body with 1/2 immortal strength could also enable Zhang Tie''s physical strength to increase without limit. Additionally, Zhang Tie''s basic strength would increase with his growth and exercise, not to mention that when he acquired the body with complete immortal strength.


    Zhang Tie dared not imagine about the situation when his explosive force reached 240 times that of his physical strength...


    Zhang Tie suddenly realized that he had already started the road where the greatest strength was proved to be the truth. Spear strikes, kinetic strikes and Immortal Fist Skill were all the extension and usage of the most basic and purest strength...


    When Zhang Tie recalled it, he found that this road of cultivation had been fixed since he opened the book Iron Blood Immortal Fist as if everything was predestined...


    As for how to reach further on this road in the future, Zhang Tie had to consider and plan it seriously now.


    Raising his head, Zhang Tie watched the raw fruit of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps as his mind had long flown far away...


    After quite a while, Zhang Tie became composed as he revealed a smile and picked a fruit of redemption from the gratitude of earthworms. Then, he sat under the small tree with crossed legs and started to take the fruit...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ...


    The vial of soul-washing pills that Bian Heng gave Zhang Tie contained 35 pills in total. According to Bian Heng, Zhang Tie could eat one soul-washing pill per day based on his great physique. 35 days later, even immortal emperors could barely notice that there was any problem with Zhang Tie''s surging points.


    Many people might still be wandering with that "compass" near Emperor NvWa City. Versatile Demon Emperor should be near there too. Therefore, Zhang Tie determined to eat all the soul-washing pills so that Versatile Demon Emperor could never discover his whereabouts anymore. Then, he would leave Castle of Black Iron for Mountain Ruins.


    That was to say, Zhang Tie had to stay in Castle of Black Iron for over 1 month.


    ...


    As he had enough time to eat fruits, Zhang Tie was a bit relaxed.


    After taking one soul-washing pill and covering one surging point, Zhang Tie would take one or two fruits leisurely; then, he would quench his body for a few hours.


    Despite being relaxed, Zhang Tie''s overall strength was surging; especially whenever he took a King Kong Fruit, he would feel gaining greater defensive strength. Previously, his defensive strength was already amazing. But now, his defensive strength had been developing towards a terrifying level.


    Previously, Zhang Tie was worried about becoming an intimidating monster if he took too many such fruits. Therefore, he always cared about any change in his body whenever he took a King Kong Fruit.


    Someone might not care so much in order to be more powerful; however, if the price of being powerful was to be a monster in the eyes of his family members, Zhang Tie preferred to not be powerful. Zhang Tie once gave up the powerful demon body for recovering his human body; but now, if King Kong Fruit brought him any bad side effects, Zhang Tie would also abandon it decisively.


    However, the fact proved that King Kong Fruits didn''t bring Zhang Tie any bad side effects at all; unimaginably, after taking those King Kong Fruits, Zhang Tie found that his skin became whiter and shinier; his eyes became brighter; his bones became more agile and firm; his muscles and blood vessels became more flexible. King Kong Fruits'' side effect was that it could make him more handsome. Therefore, Zhang Tie became completely reassured.


    ...


    After staying in Castle of Black Iron for 8 days, Zhang Tie fetched Edward and gave a draft that he drew these days to Edward.


    "Castle Lord, this is..." Edward asked Zhang Tie with amazement after taking a look at the draft.


    "They are used for exercise. Just make it and apply some consolidating runes to it. No need for decorations. We''ve got enough golds in Castle of Black Iron. As gold''s density is large, it''s suitable to be bodyfitting tools..."


    "Are you going to use it?"


    "Yes!" Zhang Tie nodded.


    Edward took a look at Zhang Tie with great admiration as if he had understood a bit why Zhang Tie would ask for this odd thing. "Okay, Castle Lord, when do you need it?"


    "The faster the better..."


    "Castle Lord, give me 3 days. I promise to make it in 3 days..." Edward nodded forcefully with excitement. He almost made a military pledge.


    "Hmm, thank you..."


    "It''s my great honor to serve you, Castle Lord!" Edward bent over his body. Closely after that, he took Zhang Tie''s draft and left.


    ...


    3 days later, after taking a King Kong Fruit and digesting it, Zhang Tie opened his eyes when he saw Edward standing in front of him.


    "Castle Lord, I''ve made it!"


    "Hmm, show me!" Zhang Tie picked himself up and went off the sacrificial altar.


    "Please come with me, Castle Lord!"


    Edward led Zhang Tie to his workshop under the palace tree.


    With high-temperature underground fires, Edward''s workshop was giving out golden light as two huge things attracted Zhang Tie''s attention...

 1853 The Terrifying Mode of Exercise

    Agan and Aziz were both helping Edward in his workshop. Heller was also watching the item that Zhang Tie asked Edward to make. At the sight of Zhang Tie, the three people hurriedly came over here to greet him.


    "Castle Lord, this item is really... really amazing..." Heller got a proper adjective after taking another look at the item.


    That item was indeed amazing; it was at least unprecedented.


    If a pair of golden locks weighing 1,200 tons was not impressive, nothing else in the world would be impressive anymore.


    Yes, it was a pair of golden locks weighing 1,200 tons.


    Given its look, the pair of golden locks was nothing different than ordinary iron locks and stone locks which was used for improving one''s strength at home. It was just many times bigger. There were two golden locks, each weighing 600 tons, 1,200 tons in total.


    At this moment, facing those surging fires, the pair of golden locks were mesmerizing.


    The density of gold was very large. One cubic meter contained 19.32 tons of golds. The volume of the barbell weighing 1200 tons was less than 62.112 cubic meters in total; the volume of each golden lock was only a bit more than 31 cubic meters. The length, width and height of each cube was about 3.15 m respectively.


    Being different than ordinary iron locks and stone locks which only had one handle, the two golden locks were covered with handles. Being in pits, each black handle was covered with fine anti-skidding grains. The handles were made of abyss iron and affected by consolidating skill; otherwise, given the density of gold, the handles could never bear such a great weight despite being affected by consolidating skill.


    After being put together, the two golden cubes became an extra-large tool of exercise which even shocked Heller.


    Although Zhang Tie requested Edward to make it simple, the golden locks were still covered with beautiful grains on each side. Even though the anti-skidding grains on the handles were very delicate. Zhang Tie revealed a smile.


    Under the gaze of the four people, Zhang Tie walked to the front of a golden lock which weighed 600 tons. Without squatting down, he just reached out one hand and held a handle. Then, Zhang Tie took a deep breath as the image of Kua''e hefting a mountain appeared behind him again in the dense light.


    "Get up..." Zhang Tie roared as the single golden lock was lifted by him horizontally under the amazed looks of the other four people.


    This was the most difficult movement. It was much more difficult to lift it horizontally than vertically. Even Zhang Tie had a hard time lifting one object weighing 600 tons horizontally by one hand.


    When he was lifting it, his feet made deep footsteps on the hard ground; meanwhile, Zhang Tie''s face turned red.


    The other golden lock with the same weight was a few steps away. Zhang Tie then moved towards the other one step by step while keeping this gesture. When he reached there, he stretched another hand and held a handle on the other golden cube. Then he bent his knees and lifted the other golden lock horizontally at the same time.


    At this time, the hard ground instantly sank until the surface of the ground reached his crus.


    Zhang Tie kept this position for 10 minutes. Not until his forehead and neck were covered with dense fine sweat drops and his face turned red did Zhang Tie slowly straighten his body up. He then started to wave the two huge golden locks up and down like moving two huge fans. The air flows aroused by the golden locks caused the other four people to close their eyes.


    After playing it for half an hour, Zhang Tie felt the heat streaming up all over. His clothes were almost wet. He then put down the two huge golden locks.


    He found his feet had entered the pit.


    "Cool... cool... it''s too cool..." Zhang Tie exclaimed, "I''ve not been so thrilled since a long time. Hahaha..." Zhang Tie laughed as he wiped off the sweat on his face and strode out of the pit. Meanwhile, his bones and muscles cracked.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s pleasant look, Heller, Edward, Agan and Aziz revealed a smile at the same time.


    "Edward, there''s another thing in which I need your help. I feel that I could eat for a whole day. Please prepare a bumper supper for me..."


    "No problem. After taking a bath and changing my clothes, I will prepare it for Castle Lord right now..." Edward said with a big smile. After taking a pleasant look at Agan and Aziz, he ran upward jubilantly.


    "Castle Lord, actually, if you want a tool to improve your strength, I could make it even if you give me a mountain..." Agan hurriedly moved close to Zhang Tie as he talked to him.


    "Well, I know the abilities of you and Aziz; but this tool has to be made of metal with super high density. If it''s made of stone, it would be too large; additionally, it would be easily broken. Don''t worry. When I need your help, I will let you know..." Zhang Tie took a look at Agan and Aziz as he said with a smile. After hearing Zhang Tie''s promise, the two loyal servants finally became reassured.


    "Castle Lord, it seems that you''ve got a new sports item in Castle of Black Iron from now on..." Heller said with a smile.


    "I''ve thought through many things these days..." Zhang Tie said as his face gave out a special light, "After acquiring the body with 1/2 immortal strength, I''ve been training myself by carving patterns on a piece of bean curd using a huge ax. However, although it could improve my precise control of strength, it''s not enough. Additionally, it wastes the greatest effect of the body with immortal strength. With a body with immortal strength, my strength would not only increase by 2 times; but, it could constantly increase through doing exercise and other modes!"


    "Castle Lord, you finally thought it through!" Heller replied with a smile.


    "I didn''t realize it until I thought about how to cultivate these days! If there''s a bank which could enable you to gain a profit of 240 gold coins in the future by depositing one gold coin today, will you deposit your money in it? I don''t think that anyone could refuse such a high return. Besides depositing all of your money in it, you would deposit as much as possible, even if you had to borrow money and sell all of your property. The fruit of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps is that bank. Every bit of strength that I gain now would bring me 240 times more strength in the near future. Of course, it''s a valuable investment..."


    "What an anticipated future..." Heller sighed with emotions.


    "I also think so..." Zhang Tie watched the two huge golden locks and the two deep footprints on the ground as he continued, "But the two locks couldn''t be put here. I should find another place to store them..."


    "Castle Lord, do you need my help?"


    "Haha, no need. Heller, don''t forget about that. Besides great strength, I''ve got another ability to move them. Perhaps the two huge things could not only improve my physical strength, but also my spiritual energy..." Zhang Tie said as he gazed at the two huge golden locks. At the same time, he triggered his ability of divine dominator and started to output a powerful invisible spiritual strength, 2 times, 3 times, 10 times...30 times...50 times...100 times...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    When the spiritual energy that Zhang Tie output reached 220 times that he output in normal times, the two huge golden locks slowly left the ground. At this moment, the quantity of spiritual energy that Zhang Tie consumed per second was even greater than that he consumed in 4 minutes in the past. It was his first time to feel hard even with the ability of divine dominator...


    However, Zhang Tie was still spirited; because he felt that his spiritual energy was also recovering at a high speed with the fast consumption of his spiritual energy.


    With a roar, Zhang Tie instantly left the workshop with the two huge golden locks for the training ground in Castle of Black Iron...


    In a few hours, Edward prepared the delicious food over the table in the canteen. Zhang Tie then came to the canteen with his tired and grossly sour and painful body being soaked in sweat and started to gulp down food.


    After supper, Zhang Tie took a bath and threw himself onto the bed.


    It was a sound and sweet sleep. It felt as comfortable as how he felt when he returned home and fell asleep after being a punching bag in Blackhot City...


    When he got up on the second morning, Zhang Tie was pretty spirited as the fatigue and aches had disappeared after having delicious food, Dragon Emperor Medicament and a night of sound sleep with the help of his great resilience...


    Starting from this day, Zhang Tie came to the training ground covering 1,300 square miles in Castle of Black Iron every day. He brandished his huge golden locks which weighed 1,200 tons in total in various patterns. As long as he arrived there, the training ground would be filled with rumbly thunders.


    After Zhang Tie stayed in Castle of Black Iron for 21 days, the first fruit of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps finally became ripe.


    After Zhang Tie took it, the rumbly thunders in the training ground sounded much denser...


    ...


    When Zhang Tie was eating, exercising and resting freely in Castle of Black Iron, some major events took place in Motian Realm...

 1854 Breaking into the Mountain Ruins

    At noon of October 2, the 3586th year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar, the sun was hanging high in the sky. At a high altitude of an air territory of Motian Realm, a sturdy shadow was heading straight for the highest dome of Motian Realm like a rocket at a speed of nearly 1,000 m per second, penetrating through clouds one after another.


    At such a high-speed flight, a fiery air hood came into being in front of the shadow due to the sharp frictions between thin air and his protective battle qi. Additionally, there was a trail behind the air hood like a comet, making it pretty eye-catching even in the daytime.


    "Grandpa, grandpa, look, what''s that..."


    A formation of airboats was slowly flying above Yaohai Ocean. On the deck of one of the airboats in the middle of the formation, a 7-year old little boy was looking at Yaohai Ocean out of curiosity. When he looked up at the sky and caught sight of the glow caused by that meteor, the little boy pointed at the glow and exclaimed out of shock.


    After hearing his exclamation, an old man hurriedly walked out of the cabin behind the deck. In the beginning, the old man was a bit intense. When he saw the person heading straight for the heavens, he gazed at it for a few seconds before heaving a deep sigh, "Grandson, some immortal generals are breaking into the Mountain Ruins..."


    "Breaking in the Mountain Ruins?" the little boy rolled his eyes smartly as he asked, "Grandpa, what do you mean by breaking in the Mountain Ruins? You''re also an immortal general, can you break into the mountain ruins?"


    "Breaking into the mountain ruins means to break into Mountain Ruins from the lower strata of Motian Realm! Ahem... ahem, I''m only a water immortal general. I cannot break into Mountain Ruins. Additionally, I''m already old and could make further progress in cultivation. If one wants to break into the Mountain Ruins, one has to be a wind immortal general at least..." the old man said with great admiration as he watched the blurry light and shade in the sky.


    "Ah, it''s already something to be an immortal general, why do they have to break into the Mountain Ruins?"


    "It''s indeed something to be an immortal general. However, only after breaking into the Mountain Ruins could an immortal general become a real power. Breaking into the Mountain Ruins is a test to the real power. The Mountain Ruins is also the battlefield between real powers. Meanwhile, there''re many rarities in the Mountain Ruins. Do you remember what you should do if you want to be a superb power like an immortal emperor?" The old man seized the opportunity to encourage the little boy to be self-striving.


    "I remember that. Grandpa, you said one has to drink Nine Heavens Immortal Spring if one wants to be an immortal emperor..." the little boy said instantly out of excitement.


    "Yes, Nine Heavens Immortal Mountain is in the Mountain Ruins!"


    "When I grow up, I will also break into the Mountain Ruins and become an immortal emperor..." the little boy said immediately.


    "You have to study and cultivate very hard. Additionally, you need to suffer a lot. When the other kids are playing, you should endure your loneliness to light up your surging points. Only in this way could you be more powerful than me in the future. Can you do it?" the old man said with a smile as he touched his grandson''s head.


    "I can!" The little boy answered with a firm will as he nodded forcefully.


    "Have you finished your homework today?"


    The little boy spat out as he answered, "Grandpa, I will go to polish my surging points right now..."


    "Hmm, hurry..."


    The little boy returned to the cabin. The old man looked up at the blurry shadow with a sad look as he muttered, "It''s already the 4th one on the way. As Mountain Ruins is going to open, the powers have been ready to break into Mountain Ruins one after another. Dark Emperor Immortal Palace is raising winds and waves across Motian Realm, is Motian Realm going to be in great chaos?"


    "Master," a butler walked out of the hatch door as he came to the back of the old man, saying, "The eldest young master is still in Suian City. According to the news from Suian City, Qi Clan who has agreed to purchase our properties suddenly regrets. Qi Clan urged to decrease the purchasing price by 30% more..."


    "It''s okay. Let the eldest young master come back to Emperor NvWa City immediately after handling the affairs over there!" the old man said with a calm look as he added, "It''s just about money, not important at all..."


    "Yes, master. I will notice the eldest young master right now!"


    "Report my words to Zhi Heng. The survival of Hong Clan is most important. In the future, we could make 10 even 100 times more properties..." the old man said calmly.


    "Yes, master!"


    "We''re going to arrive at Emperor NvWa''s City soon. Let all the patrollers and observers to prick up their ears. After arriving at Emperor NvWa''s City, we will have a good rest!"


    "Yes, master!"


    After saying that, the old man took another look at the sky before slightly shaking his head and entering the cabin.


    Only after such a short while, a cloud had flown by, covering the shadow which was clear just now at a stroke...


    The person who was heading for the dome of Motian Realm might not know that his behavior was commonly called breaking into the Mountain Ruins by some immortal generals across Motian Realm.


    The term breaking into the Mountain Ruins was as special as " for visiting.


    After taking soul-washing pills for 35 days, it was September 20, the 3586th year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar. There were still some days left before the first day of October when Zhang Tie could leave Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, Zhang Tie stayed in Castle of Black Iron for another 10 days...


    In total, Zhang Tie stayed in Castle of Black Iron for 45 days.


    Of course, for the sake of safety, before exiting Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie even tried it using the "compass" made by Versatile Demon Emperor. After finding that compass didn''t work even right in front of him, Zhang Tie finally sneaked out of Castle of Black Iron and entered the dark ocean at the midnight of October 1...


    From 1860s to 1910s, a lot of Chinese intended to break through Shanhai Pass so as to survive themselves on the fertile land (northeast of China) which was called the land of dragon''s prosperity. Within Shanhai pass, Manchus adopted the policy ofapartheid.Government officials and staff gave up their stable jobs and chose to be businessmen.

 1855 An Unexpected Person

    During the 40-odd days when he stayed in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie ate more than 50 king kong fruits and two fruits of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps. Benefited from that, his explosive force increased by 2 more times. Additionally, with the baptism of the pair of huge golden locks which weighed 1,200 tons, his physical strength and spiritual energy both improved rapidly. What was more, he had already reached 7 change realm of the heavenly knight. Therefore, this Cui Li was far more powerful than the former one.


    It was no exaggeration to say that Zhang Tie had reached a new height after leaving Castle of Black Iron. It was also the process that power should experience. Powers referred to those who ascended to one peak from another.


    It was a distance of about 200,000 miles from the land to the Mountain Ruins. Zhang Tie had already experienced it before. If Zhang Tie activated his ability of Divine Dominator, it would just be a few hours of flight. However, now that he wanted to pretend to be an average heavenly knight who looked harmless to others, he had to move towards Mountain Ruins slowly.


    Of course, the speed of about 1,000 m per second was as slow as that of a snail for Zhang Tie. However, in the eyes of the other immortal generals, it was already a pretty high speed.


    Theoretically, if he stuck to this speed, it would take 4 days to reach the bottom of Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer. Actually, most of the heavenly knights couldn''t do it; because such a "high" speed meant a great consumption of one''s battle qi. As Zhang Tie cultivated Infinite King Roc Sutra, he could acquire battle qi constantly and wouldn''t worry about running out of his battle qi in flight no matter how long he flew. He was absolutely a freak. By contrast, the other heavenly knights who cultivated other secret methods had to consider the consumption of their battle qi at any time in such a long flight.


    Mountain Ruins was the battlefield of powers. It contained a lot of unexpected dangers. All the people who rushed towards Mountain Ruins would keep a high battle force when they entered Mountain Ruins. Therefore, it would take most of the wind immortal generals over 10 days, even longer time to reach the bottom of Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer. Most of them would choose to replenish their energy on the 1st day or the 15th day of one month so that they could enter Mountain Ruins in the best states.


    As for most of the heavenly knights who prepared to enter Mountain Ruins for the first time, the process of rushing towards Mountain Ruins was a tough test for them. During the long flight, they had to consume a lot of energy yet without any reliance.


    Zhang Tie flew at an average speed. When he entered the airspace of 6,000 miles high, everything in front of his eyes was uncovered. At such a height, besides cold heavy wind, there was nothing else, airboats or air-floating mountains where people could have a rest in. Additionally, immortal generals below heavenly knights couldn''t reach such a height at all. Therefore, the continuous clouds became endless white carpets under his foot, which covered all the domains, no matter big, medium-sized, or small.


    After reaching the high airspace, Zhang Tie felt as if he had entered into another world. Besides loneliness and cold wind, nothing else could be seen in the sky.


    After entering the high airspace, Zhang Tie started to control his flight speed like other wind immortal generals. He spent half a day in flying at a speed of 1,000 m per second and the other half a day in flying at a speed of about 200 m per second so as to "recover his physical and spiritual strength".


    If he wanted to enter Mountain Ruins, he had to repeat this boring and monotonous flight process.


    In this way, Zhang Tie believed that even Versatile Demon Emperor couldn''t recognize that he was Zhang Tie even if Versatile Demon Emperor passed by him.


    ...


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that he would arrive at the bottom of Ice and fire Heavenly Wind Layer alone in this way; unexpectedly, on the 5th day since he entered the high airspace, he had met a partner.


    In the beginning, that guy just flew at a speed of about 200 m per second hundreds of miles away. At this speed, that immortal general could take a rest and recover his mental and physical strength. Strangely, that guy just went around in circles horizontally; instead, of moving upward.


    When Zhang Tie caught sight of him, that guy also noticed Zhang Tie. In the beginning, Zhang Tie just ignored him. However, after seeing Zhang Tie, that guy changed his route and slightly sped up towards Zhang Tie.


    ''Is that a trap of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace? Impossible! Those surging points at my shrine palace and spine have been mixed with some primordial energy with the effect of soul-washing pills. The small item that Versatile Demon Emperor develops couldn''t sense my existence anymore; nor could he have people wait for me here...''Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    As some whims flashed by, Zhang Tie continued to fly towards Mountain Ruins silently; meanwhile, he kept an eye on that stranger who was approaching him.


    The stranger was an old man in white beard and hair. With a red, healthy face, his hair was neat. Given his qi, he should also be a heavenly knight. Given his look, he was like a mortal being; yet in a colorful robe which looked like the ragged robe of beggars. He looked weird with individuality. Additionally, a black hairpin was inserted into his hair obliquely. Additionally, this old man''s eyes felt very energetic... which looked a bit like... how Donder lay on his sling chair outside the gate of his grocery store and observed the passers-by on the street...


    "Ahem... ahem... friend, are you also heading for Mountain Ruins?" The old man opened his mouth from 1,000 m away which was taken as a "safe distance" between the two strange heavenly knights.


    "Yes, I''m heading for Mountain Ruins..." Zhang Tie took a look at the old man as he said in a muffled sound.


    "Hahaha, what a coincidence. I''m also heading for Mountain Ruins. Friend, do you mind going there together with me? We could look after each other on the way..." the old man said as if he was familiar with Zhang Tie.


    As Zhang Tie was confused about this old man''s intention, he just flew silently.


    After receiving no response, the old man appeared recalling something at a stroke as he continued with a smile, "Erm, do you think I''m a shadow demon? Friend, I''ve not imagined that you''re so meticulous. It''s good to be meticulous. You will not be cheated. If you recognize the wrong person in Mountain Ruins, you might lose your life," the old man muttered as he took out a demon-detector needle out of his sleeve and stabbed it into his finger. He then dripped blood onto his demon-detector needle. The demon-detector needle didn''t make any response to it. After that, he continued to talk to Zhang Tie, "Friend, now you know I''m not a shadow demon..."


    Zhang Tie just watched his performance silently. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see someone prove his innocence by dripping his blood on a portable demon-detector needle. Therefore, Zhang Tie became confused. It was like how those salesmen who knocked at your door and promoted their products or those liars nearby railway stations. Those people would like to prove their innocence the moment they started a talk with you for the sake of your trust.


    To be honest, this was an odd trick.


    Zhang Tie just felt weird about this heavenly knight who behaved that eagerly in front of a stranger.


    "Alright, I believe that you''re not a demon..." Zhang Tie opened his mouth like an innocent muscular guy, "But I was told that those being affected by Golden-Soul Rune Virus couldn''t be detected by a demon-detector needle. Don''t try to cheat me..."


    "You know Golden-Soul Rune Virus?"


    "What? Why not?" Zhang Tie glared at the old man.


    "Ahem, ahem, you must have misunderstood me. I mean you must know that Emperor NvWa Palace, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace had already developed something that could be used to discover Golden-Soul Rune Virus. But I don''t have that widget. So I can''t prove my innocence by it even if I want to..." the old man shrugged while he said helplessly.


    Zhang Tie kept flying upward silently. The old man then followed Zhang Tie upward silently too. When the old man sped up, he could also reach about 1,000 m per second as same as Zhang Tie.


    At the same time, the old man started to glance at Zhang Tie''s sturdy frame and face as he kept rolling his eyes. Nobody knew what he was thinking about. After over 10 minutes of silent flight, as he found that Zhang Tie didn''t urge him to stay away, the old man opened his mouth again, "Oh, my surname is Jiang, my given name is Hu. May I know your name, friend?"


    Zhang Tie just took a look at the old man as if he was still a bit vigilant. After a few seconds, he replied, "I''m Cui Li!"


    "Hahaha, Li, at the sight of you, I''ve know that you''re a tough man!" After knowing Zhang Tie''s name, the old man instantly called him "Li" as he continued with a solemn look, "Look at you, you could even match an ox-headed demon. Li, don''t blame me for having a big mouth, I was born to be talkative. I like to make friends. Don''t worry, I''m not a bad guy. I used to stay in Iron Cloud Medium-sized Domain. I have a nickname Immortal Being in Clouds. Li, if you have any friends in Iron Cloud Medium-sized Domain, you could ask them about my popularity. I didn''t cheat you..."

 1856 Going to Mountain Ruins Together

    The Name of Immortal Being in Clouds sounded otherworldly. However, the old man Jiang was like a salesman who knocked at your door. He kept talking like the surging Yangtze River.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether this person was a chatterbox or had been lonely for too long. Given the personality of the role of Cui Li, even though he was simple, honest and reticent, he still felt intolerant after hearing the old man talking about his glorious image in Iron Cloud Medium-sized Domain for half an hour.


    "What the hell do you want to say?" Zhang Tie glared at that old man impatiently who was 1,000 m away as he reproached, "I''m going to the Mountain Ruins. If you want to talk about your stories, you''d better talk about it in teahouses in the downtown. Stop being so garrulous. I prefer to fight you here rather than listening to your chatters."


    "Hehhehheh, Li, I was afraid that you didn''t believe in me. Therefore, I just made it clear!" Immortal Being in Clouds said with a hollow laugh as he stopped chattering.


    Zhang Tie ignored him as he continued to fly upward.


    Half an hour later, when Immortal Being in Clouds found that Zhang Tie was not angry at him anymore, he rolled his eyes for two circles before opening his mouth again.


    "Li, is it your first time to go to Mountain Ruins?"


    "Yes, so what?" Zhang Tie took a look at Immortal Being in Clouds as he replied.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Immortal Being in Clouds'' eyes shone at once. Closely after that, he asked Zhang Tie carefully, "Li, are you going there for friends?"


    "Haha, I''ve been used to be alone. I don''t have any friend in Mountain Ruins!"


    After finding that Zhang Tie didn''t refuse to answer his questions about Mountain Ruins, Immortal Being in Clouds became instantly spirited as if he had found the breakthrough to start a talk with Zhang Tie.


    "But, Li, it''s very dangerous to go to Mountain Ruins alone..." Immortal Being in Clouds warned Zhang Tie sincerely.


    "Not dangerous at all. It''s just some demons!"


    "Mountain Ruins is dangerous for every person. Even immortal emperors or demon emperors might lose their lives in Mountain Ruins, not to mention wind immortal generals like us!" Immortal Being in Clouds turned solemn at a stroke as he added, "In the domains under Mountain Ruins, wind immortal generals are glorious powers and could be unrivaled in one region; however, we''re the bottom class in Mountain Ruins. Above us are fire immortal generals, supreme immortal generals even immortal emperors and demon emperors. Even many human immortals are scheming against each other, not to mention demon immortal generals who want to chop us into pieces at the sight of us. Many human immortals like you were framed by the other human immortal generals. As a result, with great remorse, they were not killed by demons, but humans. If some become dark, they will be eviler than demons..."


    "Your words sound a bit reasonable..." Zhang Tie relieved his composure as the last words of Immortal Being in Clouds resonated around his ears. Over these years, after experiencing so many hardships and life-or-death situations, Zhang Tie could understand Immortal Being in Clouds'' words very well.


    "Li, when I entered Mountain Ruins for the first time like you, I was almost framed by a human immortal general. I still have a lingering fear even now..." Immortal Being in Clouds said with a fear.


    "Thanks for you warning. I will take care of myself!" Zhang Tie said in a gruff voice, "You know Mountain Ruins so well. Have you gone there before?"


    "To be honest, I''ve accessed to Mountain Ruins for dozens of times since I promoted to a wind immortal general. Except the center of Mountain Ruins, I''m sure that I know it better than most of people..." Immortal Being in Clouds said with a pleasant look.


    Scratching his head, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled a question, "I''ve got a question, why I can''t buy the map of Mountain Ruins across Motian Realm?"


    Zhang Tie didn''t know too much about Mountain Ruins.


    There were mainly two reasons.


    Firstly, Zhang Tie had just come to Motian Realm for a few years. It was almost impossible for him to understand this world. Additionally, ordinary people even average immortal generals couldn''t get the information of Mountain Ruins. Therefore, there were very few channels to known Mountain Ruins.


    Secondly, after becoming dragon emperor, Zhang Tie spent most of his time in secluded cultivation. Even though he was free occasionally, he still had a lot of worries about exposing his real identity by learning about that. If others knew that the disciple of grand dragon emperor didn''t know the situation of Mountain Ruins and had to ask others about that, it would be ridiculous.


    Therefore, over these years, Zhang Tie only had little information about Mountain Ruins. Comparably, even average wind immortal generals knew more about Motian Realm than him.


    "Hahaha..." Immortal Being in Clouds burst out laughing after hearing Zhang Tie''s question.


    "Why do you laugh?"


    "How could the map of Mountain Ruins be sold? Given your question, you must have not come to Mountain Ruins before!"


    "Why not?"


    "If you have a treasure map, will you sell it?"


    "Of course not!"


    "Yup. Although Mountain Ruins is very dangerous, it''s also a huge treasury. There''re numerous immortal outfits and rarities inside Mountain Ruins. Most of them are in secret realms and immortals'' relics. An immortal general might not travel across Mountain Ruins even in his whole life, not to mention figure out all the secret realms and immortals'' relics. As for most of the people, if they could discover a secret realm or immortal''s relics in their whole lives, it was already incredible. Additionally, those secret realms and relics couldn''t be taken away. Many rarities in secret realms and relics could be used repetitively such as immortal springs and immortal palaces. Besides using these rarities themselves, they could also provide them to their sons and grandsons. Besides some influential immortal palaces, nobody dares expose the locations of secret realms or immortal relics to the public after discovering them; nor do they want anyone else to know about them. Do you think they would mark the locations of those secret realms and immortal''s relics on the map?"


    "No, I don''t!" Zhang Tie shook his head resolutely after thinking about it for a short while.


    "What''s more, everything in the Mountain Ruins is changing all the time. Like sand dunes in deserts, the items and sceneries in some places or spaces might be utterly different in a few years. Even though someone knows the complete terrain of Mountain Ruins and would like to draw a map of Mountain Ruins, when the map is completed, it would be out-of-date and wrong basically. If you take a still map to explore Mountain Ruins, you might die a very miserable way!"


    "Isn''t there only Nine Heavens Immortal Spring inside Mountain Ruins? You mean there''re other immortal springs inside it?"


    "Hehheh, Nine Heavens Immortal Spring is in the core area of Mountain Ruins. It''s said that a supreme immortal general might promote to an immortal emperor after drinking a mouth of Nine Heavens Immortal Spring. Of course, Nine Heavens Immortal Spring is the most precious one inside Mountain Ruins. However, according to my knowledge, besides Nine Heavens Immortal Spring, there''re many more immortal springs with different functions inside Mountain Ruins. Some of them could increase one''s strength; some could increase one''s defensive power; some could increase one''s spiritual energy; some could help people break through the bottleneck facing their cultivation or realize the universal laws. It''s said that some immortal springs could help old men renew their youth, enlive a dead person or grow muscles on their white bones. I once saw an immortal spring. It''s said that people could live 100 years longer only by having a sip of it..."


    "Is that real?" Zhang Tie''s eyes sparkled as he couldn''t stand licking his lip. Zhang Tie had long heard that there were numerous rarities and treasures inside Mountain Ruins. Unexpectedly, there were so many marvelous immortal springs inside there. ''If there''s really an immortal spring where I could increase my strength by two times only by taking a bath inside it or drinking of it, won''t I become grossly powerful?''


    "I didn''t cheat you. As long as you enter Mountain Ruins, you will know this information only by asking around casually. However, these immortal springs are all in secret realms or immortals'' relics, at least half of which are in the hands of demons. It''s almost impossible for humans to enjoy them. Some immortal springs are in the hands of some major human immortal palaces. Even though someone knows them, they would never expose it to the public. It''s as difficult as going to the heavens for ordinary immortal generals to enjoy them. I prefer to take a look around for free in Mountain Ruins. Maybe we could have other discoveries..."


    As they chatted with each other, they gradually flew towards Mountain Ruins shoulder to shoulder...


    As for Zhang Tie who was a freshman in Motian Realm, with Immortal Being in Clouds on his side, he could really know a lot of information. At least, he could know something about Mountain Ruins. Therefore, he didn''t refuse to go there together with Immortal Being in Clouds any more.


    Of course, Zhang Tie knew that Immortal Being in Clouds was not finding pleasure in helping him, especially on the way. He had already realized that Immortal Being in Clouds might approach him for some other purpose.


    Even so, as Zhang Tie had met numerous people, he was sure that this old man was neither a demon nor a member of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. Even though he was a bit selfish, he was definitely not an evil person.


    Now that Immortal Being in Clouds didn''t mention about his purpose for the time being, Zhang Tie didn''t ask him. No matter what, Zhang Tie had the initiative; therefore, he was not afraid that this old man could do harm to him. Whatever, just chat with him to relieve boredom...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.

 1857 A Severe Situation

    After flying over 200,000 miles in over 10 days, they finally arrived at the bottom of Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer near the border of heavens of Motian Realm.


    Like a border, the thousands of miles thick Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer divided Motian Realm into two utterly different worlds.


    The world under Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer belonged to commoners. The world above Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer belonged to powers, which had numerous secrets, rarities and unimaginable dangers and tests.


    When he came here last time, Zhang Tie was only in the 5 changes realm of shadow knight. Despite his powerful ability as a divine dominator, Zhang Tie had to stop under the Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer. This time, Zhang Tie was already in the 7 change realm of the heavenly knight. The natural chasm couldn''t become Zhang Tie''s barrier anymore.


    Of course, this time, Zhang Tie got a partner called Immortal Being in Clouds.


    Suspending under the Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer, Zhang Tie looked up as red and blue lights flashed across Zhang Tie''s pure pupils like meteors and rainbows.


    When he observed the red and blue dreamlike border, Zhang Tie pretty much felt heroic. It only took Zhang Tie 2 years to promote to the 7 change realm of the heavenly knight from the 5 change realm of shadow knight. However, it was not an end; instead, it was a start towards a new height. This time, after entering the Mountain Ruins, Zhang Tie intended to promote to a semi-level sage in 10 months.


    In the 600 miles thick void at the bottom of Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer, it was misty blue. Different shapes of icicles appeared and disappeared every once in a while. Some icicles were like fine sands; some were like stones; some were like sharp blades; some were like spears. These icicles appeared in the void like meteors and disappeared like flowing sands in wind. It was the icy zone at the bottom of Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer.


    Above this icy zone, it was as fiery as faint rouge as thick as about 600 miles too. In that air zone, it was fire which appeared and disappeared every once in a while. Some were sparkles; some were flames; some were blazes and fire rains. It was a zone with the manifested fire element.


    "It''s already October 14. It will be the 15th day of this month tomorrow. We''d better not enter it for the time being. After replenishing our energy and battle qi tomorrow, we will penetrate through Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer..." Jiang Hu continued to impart his experience to Zhang Tie as he looked up at the Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer solemnly, "We should penetrate through it as fast as possible. It''s a taboo for people to stay inside for too long. The ice and fire heavenly wind could match the battle qi strikes of wind immortal generals. As long as we enter it, our protective battle qi will be hit by the ice and fire heavenly wind at any moment. The longer we stay inside, the more energy we have to consume. As long as our protective battle qi collapses, we will become sh*t in a split second. If we stay inside too long, we will consume too much energy. On this occasion, if we were ambushed by demons, we would suffer a great loss..."


    "Will demons ambush us over there?" Zhang Tie asked as he moved his eyes away from the Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer after a light flashed across his eyes.


    "Of course, when an ordinary wind immortal general penetrates through the complete Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer, he will lose at least 30% of overall strength. At that moment, he is in his weakest state!" Immortal Being in Clouds nodded as he continued, "Demons ambush humans; humans also ambush demons. It''s full of tricks. It depends who is ambushed. Sometimes, the one being ambushed will trap his enemy at the same time. Sometimes, the one being trapped will continue to trap the one who traps him. For instance, if I''m a supreme immortal general, I could follow you up secretly. When you fall into the trap of the enemy and find that a wind demon immortal general wants to hurt you, I will rush inside to kill the demon. If that wind demon immortal generals is followed by two supreme demon immortal generals, we could only escape..."


    Zhang Tie stroked his chin as he nodded, "Hmm, let''s rest one day then..."


    After saying that, Zhang Tie sat in the air with crossed legs, eyes closed. So did Immortal Being in Clouds. With a distance of dozens of meters, the two people started to adjust their qis and recover their energy as fast as possible.


    If commoners didn''t sleep for 100 hours continuously, they might die at any moment. As wind immortal generals, the two people had not eaten or drunk anything in the past half a month. Besides, as they were flying constantly, they had consumed a lot of energy. Even though Zhang Tie didn''t care about it, Immortal Being in Clouds looked a bit tired.


    Only after a few hours, it had been the 15th day of this month. The two people then took out their food and fresh water from their own space-teleportation equipment so as to replenish their energy.


    After drinking water and eating food, the two people started to recover their energy rapidly. Immortal Being in Clouds even took a medicinal pill. After replenishing enough energy, Immortal Being in Clouds'' face gradually turned red.


    Zhang Tie contacted Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and enquired about the situations facing Woods Medium-sized Domain and Dark Valley.


    It was Elder Hou Moyuan who was on duty in the Qianji Agency of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. After receiving Zhang Tie''s message, Hou Moyuan quickly gave feedback to Zhang Tie.


    In only a few days, the situations facing Woods Medium-sized Domain and Dark Valley turned worse.


    When Zhang Tie was eating fruits and soul-washing pills in Castle of Black Iron, some places in Motian Realm had been turned upside. The development of the situation rushed towards unknowns like derailed trains.


    Star Emperor Immortal Palace, Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace broke out a fierce war in Woods Medium-sized Domain. As a result, the entire Woods Medium-sized Domain became the battlefield of the three immortal palaces.


    As for the fuse of this war, the two emperor-level immortal palaces and Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace held different opinions.


    The two emperor-level immortal palaces condemned Bu Qianchou the Heavenly Sunshine King of Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace for raiding the residences of the two emperor-level immortal palaces in Woods Medium-sized Domain and killing 37 powers including the deputy heads of Force Emperor Immortal Palace. Therefore, they started the war. However, Heavenly Sunshine King accused the two emperor-level immortal palaces of carrying out a bloodbath in the headquarters of Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace in Goldensunshine City in the same day and killing over 50 powers who were attending a conference over there, including many branch heads in Woods Medium-sized Domain and over 3,000 immortal soldiers and guards. As a result, half of Goldensunshine City was destroyed in the battle flames...


    Force Emperor Immortal Palace, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace couldn''t ever bear such sufferings. Therefore, the conflicts between the three immortal palaces expanded in Woods Medium-sized Domain in an instant like how sparkles spread over a prairie...


    Actually, as long as they found those people being involved in this event, they would know who was the culprit. As a mediator with special status, Emperor NvWa Palace also prepared to do that. Pitifully, since September 14, when the war broke out, Bu Qianchou the Heavenly Sunshine King, head of Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace had been missing.


    According to Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace, as the two emperor-level immortal palaces were bringing pressure on Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace step by step, Bu Qianchu had long arrived at Woods Medium-sized Domain so as to stabilize the overall situation facing Golden Sunshine City. On September 14, some immortal generals that were assigned by Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace to keep an eye on the current situation facing the two emperor immortal palaces suddenly disappeared. Bu Qianchou felt it was unusual; therefore, he went out to look for them. Unexpectedly, after Bu Qianchou left Golden Sunshine City for a few hours, a lot of powers of the two emperor-level immortal palaces suddenly launched a sneak attack towards Golden Sunshine City and caused a bloodbath.


    Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace announced that Bu Qianchou had escaped away due to fear after killing so many powers of the two emperor-level immortal palaces. However, according to Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace, Bu Qianchou was enticed to leave his base first; then almost all the powers of Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace were swept over by people. The two emperor-level immortal palaces were all ruthless and greedy. As for Bu Qianchou, he must have been killed by Force Emperor or Star Emperor. With this opinion, all the remaining ones of Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace were in grief and indignation. Holding high the banner of avenging Bu Qianchou and the damage of Golden Sunshine City, the entire Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace had mobilized all of its members to launch a holistic war like a powder keg being lighted.


    These days, the war between Star Emperor Immortal Palace, Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace in Woods Medium-sized Domain had already shocked the entire Motian Realm. When everyone was dumbfounded by what had happened in Wood Medium-sized Domain, except for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace which didn''t take a stand, almost all the supreme immortal general''s immortal palaces namely king-level immortal palaces joined in hands with each other and prepared to support Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace. In only a few days, those powers of king-level immortal palaces had been ready to leave for Wood Medium-sized Domain facing the great stress from the two "aggressive" emperor-level immortal palaces.


    At this moment, of course Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace were reluctant to show weakness; especially the latter whose deputy heads had been killed assigned a lot of powers to Wood Medium-sized Domain.


    At this moment, refugees were escaping in all directions in Wood Medium-sized Domain. As a result, people could apprehend danger in every sound. If not Emperor NvWa''s Palace which was mediating this case, both parties might have long broke out a holistic war...


    However, in the past September, Wood Medium-sized Domain was not the only place that shocked Motian Realm. In Dark Valley, many immortal generals who went to Dark Valley for Runed Emperor''s immortal outfit and Tadpole Runes Sutra were said to disappear a few days ago.


    As for many people, the second news was more bone-chilling...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.

 1858 Entering Heavenly Wind

    Although he had not got any evidence about the connection between the events in Woods Medium-sized Domain, Dark Valley and Versatile Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie strongly felt that Versatile Demon Emperor and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace were on the back of the two events.


    Previously, Woods Medium-sized Domain was the sphere of influence of Cyan Dragon Palace of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. There were more stories about Dark Valley. Versatile Demon Emperor had spent a lot on the two regions. Given the periods of time that the events happened in the two regions, they were closely after Versatile Demon Emperor''s failure outside Emperor NvWa City and Zhang Tie''s disappearance.


    Would Versatile Demon Emperor continue to stay outside Emperor NvWa City after losing his target? Of course, he might continue to stay there. However, he probably would leave Emperor NvWa City rapidly and start his actions in Woods Medium-sized Domain and Dark Valley, which was exactly what a superpower would do in this case. Now that he was unsuccessful in the plan of killing Zhang Tie outside Emperor NvWa City, as a superpower, Versatile Demon Emperor preferred to carry forward the next action as soon as possible instead of wasting time.


    Big figures'' time was very precious. No matter how threatening was Zhang Tie to demons, Versatile Demon Emperor would not continue to waste time after losing his target. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    As for what had happened in Woods Medium-sized Domain, even though Versatile Demon Emperor and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace were on its back, in the final analysis, it was the outcome of the long-term conflicts between emperor-level immortal palaces and supreme immortal generals'' immortal palaces. If there were no such conflicts between these immortal palaces in Motian Realm, Versatile Demon Emperor could never instigate such major events easily no matter how powerful he was.


    What did Versatile Demon Emperor want to do? Did he only want to instigate internal frictions and turmoils among humans?


    Zhang Tie always felt it was not that simple. However, he couldn''t figure out the real purpose of Versatile Demon Emperor for doing these. Even so, due to Versatile Demon Emperor''s terrifying, unprecedented tricks, Zhang Tie still felt a great threat from him.


    Versatile Demon Emperor had already known that Zhang Tie came from another world and pretended to be dragon emperor. However, Versatile Demon Emperor didn''t expose it to the public. It was like a stone suspending above Zhang Tie and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. As Zhang Tie had escaped away, he would not be hurt by that stone anymore. Even though Versatile Demon Emperor exposed Zhang Tie''s real identity, he could not hurt Zhang Tie even a bit. Whereas, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was still there. After two traitors were discovered among the elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Versatile Demon Emperor was crystal clear of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace''s power. In this situation, why didn''t Versatile Demon Emperor expose the current situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and attack it?


    After Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu betrayed Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, their lackeys in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were cleaned up. As a result, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was heavily inflicted. Given the overall battle force of the powers in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, excluding Zhang Tie, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was even weaker than that before Zhang Tie joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. The others might not know it; however, Versatile Demon Emperor must be crystal clear about it.


    Even so, Versatile Demon Emperor still didn''t attack Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Therefore, the reason was worth pondering.


    No matter what, even though Zhang Tie didn''t know what Versatile Demon Emperor was going to do, he was sure that Versatile Demon Emperor would never treat Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace well.


    Since the center of Mountain Ruins was going to open, Motian Realm had started to be chaotic. In order to respond to the possible threats, through considerations, Zhang Tie delivered three orders to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace through Qianji Agency.


    Firstly, speed up the site selection and construction of many auxiliary production bases of Dragon Emperor Medicament in Dragon Emperor Big Domain. As long as Cloudriver Valley was damaged, the other production bases could be put into production at any time. At the same time, contact Emperor NvWa Palace as soon as possible and try to build a production base of Dragon Emperor Medicament inside Emperor NvWa City. Later on, the Dragon Emperor Medicament being sold to Emperor NvWa Palace would be produced in Emperor NvWa City. Within a short period of time, all the capacity of production of Dragon Emperor Medicament could even be transferred to Emperor NvWa City. After the production base in Emperor NvWa City was completed, 2 of the 5 elders and some immortal generals in Earthly Treasures Department could stay in Emperor NvWa City for long on duty like that in Qianji Agency, who would be responsible for the management of the production of Dragon Emperor Medicament.


    Secondly, from that day on, the 5 elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t need to appear in the same place or gather together if not necessary. Additionally, the duty system of the elders in Qianji Agency should also be slightly adjusted. From that day on, only one elder was required to stay in Qianji Agency for one time. All the others should find some safe places to cultivate secretly outside Dragon Emperor City.


    Thirdly, Zhang Tie asked Dragon Teeth Army to shorten the reaction time. Additionally, Zhang Tie forbade the heads and directors of the branches of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Big Domain to convene their subordinate immortal generals in a large scale without the order from Dragon Emperor City. Earthly Treasures Department, Supervision Department, Personnel Department, Heavenly Craftsmanship Department and Military Department which worked in the Forbidden City separated again. Besides Qianji Agency which continued to work in Dragon Emperor City, all the five departments should move out of Forbidden City as soon as possible and find another city as their station respectively...


    Zhang Tie''s three orders were very unusual. Apparently, he wanted to break up the complete battle readiness and top powers of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace into parts. Such an arrangement was only suited to unfavorable situations when Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace faced a powerful enemy and was in passive defense.


    Zhang Tie didn''t explain too much about his decisions. After delivering his orders to the elder in Qianji Agency, he contacted Huang Baimei and the other elders respectively and asked them to follow his requirement. After doing that, he cut off the contact with Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Later on, as long as the elders and powers of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were not caught together, even if there was some loss and his real identity was exposed to the public by Versatile Demon Emperor, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could continue to survive on with stable element crystals from selling Dragon Emperor Medicament.


    After doing that, Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh in relief.


    After arranging the future of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie could finally focus on promoting to a semi-level sage knight.


    In the blink of an eye, half a day had passed...


    Zhang Tie''s resilience was superb. As long as he got enough water and food, he could recover in the shortest period of time, not to mention that he drank some Dragon Emperor medicament that was brewed in Castle of Black Iron. By the evening of the 15th day of this month, Zhang Tie, sitting with crossed legs in the air, had opened his eyes at a stroke. As a shrewd light flashed across his eyes, he stood up and stretched himself as he watched the Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer in front of him.


    In the evening, red and blue lights flashed by inside Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer, making it more brilliant. Being reflected by the colorful lights, Cui Li''s bald head became a neon...


    After feeling that Zhang Tie was awake, Immortal Being in Clouds also opened his eyes as he watched Zhang Tie with a confused look.


    "Let''s go!" Zhang Tie suggested.


    "Ah? Now?" Immortal Being in Clouds asked while blinking his eyes.


    "Of course!"


    "But I''ve not completely recovered. Won''t it be better if we enter it tomorrow..."


    "Let''s enter Mountain Ruins now. Even if some demons are ambushing there, they won''t believe that someone entered Mountain Ruins today. Additionally, you could stay by my side. I will block off the greater part of Ice and Fire heavenly wind for you. Therefore, it won''t cost you too much energy..." Zhang Tie said in a domineering way.


    "But..."


    Zhang Tie then burst out laughing and broke into the azure blue zone at the bottom of Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer as fast as a lightning bolt before receiving Immortal Being in Cloud''s response. With a deep frown, Immortal Being in Cloud hurriedly followed him in.


    Zhang Tie still remembered how he entered Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer last time: his flight ability of divine dominator became ineffective for the first time. Besides, the high-speed wind elements as dense as mercury prevented him from extending his spiritual energy. Therefore, the moment he entered Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer, he had lost the control of his own body like a leaf in a hurricane.


    The fact proved that only wind could be accepted by the wind!


    This time, it was much better when Zhang Tie entered it with the ability of his wind chakra.


    With the drive of wind chakra, Zhang Tie instantly rushed into the blue torrent like a motorboat being installed with a powerful engine...


    At the same time, dozens of blue icicles started to cut and hit Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi at a terrifying, high speed like flying sabers. Their destructive power and penetrating power were definitely not weaker than that of a heavenly knight''s strike.


    Soon after these flying sabers disappeared, tens of thousands of sharp icy sands had appeared beside Zhang Tie. Like how raindrops hit a palm tree leaf, they caused dense cracks on Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi...


    "Wait for me..." Immortal Being in Cloud shouted behind him. Zhang Tie slowed down a bit as the latter caught up with him at once...


    The wind elements in Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer flew directionally. Therefore, those icicles and icy sands also attacked them directionally. When Zhang Tie entered it, all the strikes came from Zhang Tie''s right side. Therefore, Immortal Being in Cloud instantly came to Zhang Tie''s left side and march forward with Zhang Tie side by side. Zhang Tie''s huge body and outflowing protective battle qi immediately blocked off over 80% of Heavenly Wind like an irresistible wall...

 1859 The Mysterious Land

    The heavenly wind which flew at a super high speed in Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer was a great test to the protective battle qi of any immortal general. Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi was almost hit by heavenly wind per second. Therefore, he had to sustain great stress.


    The heavenly wind was composed of the wind element, water element and fire element. Heavenly ice wind was under heavenly fire wind. They both flew towards different directions. Like two big rivers, they were neighboring each other; however, they didn''t disturb each other. Such fantastic scenery in the world!


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was traveling in the heavenly ice wind at more than 1,500 m per second like a dauntless man crossing turbulence. It was a great speed for common wind immortal generals.


    Zhang Tie also felt the power and stress of the heavenly ice wind. The others might have to treat the power and stress meticulously; however, Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi could bear it easily. The brilliant sun in his qi sea was constantly releasing battle qi so as to replenish the protective qi that he had consumed in flight. Therefore, despite being in the Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer, Zhang Tie still had a strong interest in viewing the surrounding scenery.


    There were many heavenly winds in different shapes in the heavenly ice wind layer, no matter large or small. The heavenly ice winds at the bottom were as small as fine sands and saber edges. As he reached higher places, Zhang Tie found the heavenly ice winds gradually become larger. Some heavenly winds could even reach hundreds of meters long which flashed by like an ice belt or a train. In the blink of an eye, they had disappeared. Some heavenly ice winds looked like fish in water, no matter large or small. They looked pretty airy. However, they also disappeared in a wink. The wonders of the Mother Nature were well reflected in the Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer.


    By contrast, Immortal Being in Cloud looked a bit nervous. Being a few meters away from Zhang Tie on the left, he maintained the same speed with Zhang Tie. At the same time, he kept observing Zhang Tie in case that Zhang Tie couldn''t stand it.


    However, when he found that Zhang Tie looked very easy, Immortal Being in Cloud became a bit frustrated. He had accessed to Mountain Ruins for more than once; however, it was his first time to see someone behave so freely in the Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer.


    If not that he had already stayed with Zhang Tie for a few days and had confirmed that Zhang Tie was a wind immortal general, given Zhang Tie''s current performance, Immortal Being in Cloud even doubted that Zhang Tie was a fire immortal general.


    "Li, doesn''t your protective battle qi feel any stress? I found you''re flying very easily." After a short while, Immortal Being in Cloud finally broke the silence.


    "Hahaha, it''s fine..." Zhang Tie replied simply.


    "Li, have you cultivated a body-strengthening skill? I know that those immortal generals who have cultivated body-strengthening skills have especially strong bodies and more powerful protective battle qi..."


    ''Body-strengthening skill?''


    After hearing the words of Immortal Being in Cloud, Zhang Tie''s heart palpitated once as he nodded, "Yes, I''ve indeed cultivated a body-strengthening skill. My master suggested me to cultivate a body-strengthening skill; otherwise, I won''t live up to my frame..."


    "I see..." Stroking his beard, Immortal Being in Cloud revealed a pleasant expression which meant that "I''ve long guessed that"...


    At this moment, a 10-m longer blue heavenly ice wind appeared over 100 m ahead like an oarfish in water. Zhang Tie became suddenly stagnated so as to avoid it; however, Immortal Being in Cloud who was pleasant just now instantly rushed in front of Zhang Tie and almost hit the long heavenly ice wind. He was scared so much that his face instantly turned pale. He then hurriedly gazed at various heavenly winds in front of him attentively instead of showing off any more...


    What Immortal Being in Cloud said just now reminded Zhang Tie of a possibility in an instant¡ª¡ªI wonder whether ice and fire heavenly winds could help me strengthen my body and stimulate the growth of King Kong Fruit or not.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie couldn''t stay calm anymore as he instantly started to consider the possibility.


    ''Although these heavenly winds are different than the ice and fire created by my battle qi and spiritual energy, to be honest, the heavenly ice winds and the heavenly fire winds were the purest ice and fire in the world; because they were directly manifested by the two elements.''


    ''As long as I could control the number of heavenly ice winds that hit my body in a limited period of time, I could have a try. I would stop it once I couldn''t bear it...''


    Zhang Tie instantly exposed a crack on his protective battle qi on his right side. In a split second, a bit of invisible heavenly ice wind penetrated through that crack and slammed onto Zhang Tie''s palm...


    Despite his great physique, Zhang Tie still felt being hit by a bullet. When the bit of heavenly ice wind hit his palm, his entire arm felt numb in an instant. Closely after that, the bone-chilling cold spread over his whole body in a split second, causing him to tremble once.


    This happened too fast and quietly. Even though Immortal Being in Cloud on Zhang Tie''s left didn''t discover that; instead, Immortal Being in Cloud was focusing on the heavenly winds ahead. Additionally, Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi was a good shelter which could isolate sound. Even though Immortal Being in Cloud couldn''t imagine that a "fool" dared test the power of heavenly ice wind using his own body in the world...


    ...


    Zhang Tie took a look at the palm being hit as he found the bit of heavenly ice wind had long disappeared. His palm looked a bit red; however, it didn''t bleed. If it were before, when Zhang Tie''s palm was struck by such a bit of heavenly ice wind, there must have been a wound. However, after eating so many King Kong Fruits, Zhang Tie''s anti-striking ability had enhanced a few levels. Therefore, he would bear the bit of heavenly ice wind which could kill any fighters below knights.


    After finding that his palm was not hurt, Zhang Tie became much more confident at once. When the bone-chilling cold faded away, Zhang Tie let in a bit more heavenly ice wind through the crack in his protective battle qi and made it hit onto his hand...


    10 minutes later, Zhang Tie and Immortal Being in Cloud penetrated through the heavenly ice winds layer and entered the heavenly fire winds layer. Because the direction of heavenly fire winds was opposite to that of heavenly ice winds, Immortal Being in Cloud came to Zhang Tie''s right side so that Zhang Tie''s sturdy frame could continue to resist the strikes of heavenly fire winds.


    In the heavenly fire winds layer, there were fire rains, sabers and bolts at the bottom; as they gradually elevated, those heavenly fire winds would turn into animals like jackals, wolves, tigers, leopards and the other fierce beasts. Sometimes, they could even see hundreds of meters long fire dragons and snakes.


    In the heavenly fire winds layer, Zhang Tie continued to open a crack on his protective battle qi on the left and let in a bit heavenly fire wind and have it hit onto the other hand...


    It was not a real exercise, it was just his brave attempt. If this attempt was feasible, Zhang Tie planned to quench his body in Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer after promoting to a semi-level sage knight. If the result proved that this idea was in vain, he would adopt the former method.


    It depended on whether it could strengthen his body or not.


    It only took them over 20 minutes to penetrate the entire Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer. Soon after adapting to this method a bit, Zhang Tie had felt the stress on his protective battle qi disappear. He then found that he had already exited the Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer. A bizarre world was right in front of him...


    Everything in front of him was slowly flowing. They were mountains instead of water, no matter large or small.


    After entering Mountain Ruins, Zhang Tie took a cursory look as he saw mountains everywhere within thousands of miles. There was no ground here but floating mountains which varied from hills to mountain ranges which lasted dozens even hundreds of miles. They were flowing quietly like leaves in rivers and revolving galaxies in the sky.


    All of a sudden, a lightning bolt crossed the sky and hit a mountain peak. The dazzling light made the entire air zone bright and reflected some dark sunken places in the space...


    If it were before, Zhang Tie might not know the dark sunken places in the space; but after the battle at Yinhai Desert, he was familiar with that thing too much.


    They were space cracks...


    Watching the evident space cracks in the sky, Zhang Tie''s heart palpitated twice due to excitement.


    After the lightning bolt, there was no rain but rumbling thunders. The mountain peak being hit by the lightning bolt also slowly changed its direction and trace and floated towards the far while pushing away two mountain peaks nearby like a boat in the water as if someone was pushing it from behind.


    Zhang Tie finally knew why Old Jiang said there was no map of Mountain Ruins. In this case, map was nothing but sh*t. With one lightning bolt, the terrain in Mountain Ruins would change. Additionally, everything here was moving...


    Coincidentally, an over 100 m high mountain peak being pushed away by the bigger mountain peak just now was floating towards Zhang Tie. He found that it was covered with thick moss and some verdant grasses. After scanning over it spiritually, Zhang Tie widely opened his mouth.


    It was full of purest air-floating metal inside the mountain peak, which could become the key ingredient of airboat...


    All the floating mountain peaks in the Mountain Ruins contained the purest air-floating metal which was grossly precious in Taixia Country.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    If a fist-sized piece of air-floating metal could be taken back to Taixia Country, it could guarantee a person to live a happy and wealthy life. However, precious air-floating metal was as normal as sands in the desert here...


    ''F*ck!'' Zhang Tie was petrified¡ª¡ªwhat the hell is Mountain Ruins? How could it be so weird and filled with air-floating mountains? Additionally, there''re fatal space cracks everywhere in the sky...


    "Eh..." Immortal Being in Cloud uttered as he instantly flashed towards the 100-m longer mountain peak. After picking a green grass at the hillside, he flew back rapidly with excitement, exclaiming, "Haha, I''m really lucky today. Soon after entering the Mountain Ruins, I''ve got a nine-leaf dendrobium. It''s an immortal grass. It''s worth at least 1,000 earth-element crystals in the Watercloud Secret Realm of Emperor NvWa''s Palace..."


    Immortal Being in Cloud showed it to Zhang Tie pleasantly. Closely after that, he teleported it into his portable space-teleportation equipment as if he didn''t mean to share profits with Zhang Tie at all...

 1860 A Surprise

    After putting the nine-leaf dendrobium into his space-teleportation item, Immortal Being in Cloud looked around vigilantly as he told Zhang Tie secretly, "Li, we''d better find a place to settle down. We should not stay here for too long. Some demon powers might come here at any time..."


    After hearing the words of Immortal Being in Cloud, Zhang Tie became speechless in an instant. He felt that this guy had reversed the order. ''As a normal person, shouldn''t he observe the surroundings before taking any action in such a perilous region? However, this guy instantly picked the nine-leaf dendrobium the moment he caught sight of it without caring about any dangers at all. Given his deed, this guy definitely treasures wealth more than his life. He''s really similar to Donder.''


    Time tries all. Over these days, Zhang Tie had not found that Old Jiang was so obsessed with wealth. He only felt that this guy was well-informed. Zhang Tie even admired him; unexpectedly, this guy revealed his original look the moment he caught sight of a nine-leaf dendrobium in Motian Realm.


    "The nine-leaf dendrobium..." Zhang Tie said with a bit hesitation as he looked at the space-teleportation finger ring on a finger of Immortal Being in Cloud.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Immortal Being in Cloud instantly turned solemn as he started to explain, "Ahem, ahem, as I discovered it and picked it first, of course, I should own it. Li, don''t you know the regulation in Mountain Ruins? As for the ownerless objects inside Mountain Ruins, the one who gets it first will own it!"


    "Aren''t we partners?"


    "Erm... Li, do you remember what I told you that day? I''ve agreed with you to enter Mountain Ruins together as pals, but I''ve not said that I will share anything that I get in Mountain Ruins with you. Even blood brothers should keep careful accounts..." Immortal Being in Cloud explained with a smile as he looked like a shrewd businessman.


    "Well, as we''ve already entered Mountain Ruins, each pursues his onward journey, see you.." Zhang Tie said as he directly flew away towards a direction.


    After being shortly stunned, Immortal Being in Cloud hurriedly caught up with Zhang Tie as he urged, "Li, as it''s your first time to enter Mountain Ruins, it would be very dangerous for you without my guidance..."


    "It doesn''t matter. No matter how dangerous it is, I will take a look around here and learn about it..." Zhang Tie said calmly.


    "Li, how about this? Given that you''ve covered me to penetrate through Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer, after exchanging the nine-leaf dendrobium for element crystals, I will give you 100 element crystals..." Immortal Being in Cloud gnashed his teeth as he said reluctantly.


    "No need, don''t follow me anymore..." Zhang Tie sped up and reached 6 times the speed of sound in a split second, leaving Immortal Being in Cloud behind at a stroke.


    "200, Li, I will give you 200 element crystals..." Immortal Being in Cloud advanced it loudly.


    Zhang Tie continued to fly silently. Right then, Heller''s voice sounded, "Castle Lord, I feel the situation inside Mountain Ruins is a bit strange."


    "Strange, what do you mean?" Zhang Tie asked Heller in his mind sea.


    "The time-space force here is in a very fragile balance. Castle Lord, I think you''re able to see the space cracks in the distance..."


    "Yes, I could see them. But it''s the 15th day of this month, of course, the time-space force here is in balance. Otherwise, how do we use the space-teleportation item?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity.


    "I didn''t mean that. I mean the time-space force here might be different than that under the Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer. The time-space force here is in still balance; instead of being in dynamic change like those in the space under Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer which could only reach a balanced state for 2 days per month.


    "You mean..." Zhang Tie became slightly stunned.


    "I mean you could use space-teleportation item here without any limit just like that in Taixia Country..."


    ''F*ck!''


    Because of Heller''s words, Zhang Tie, who was flying at a high speed, instantly stopped in the air with an odd look with a slightly opened mouth which looked like neither smiling nor crying. However, if someone who was familiar with Zhang Tie was beside him, they could identify that Zhang Tie must have discovered a great surprise.


    Even God pitied Zhang Tie. Since he came to Motian Realm, as he couldn''t access to Castle of Black Iron at his will, Zhang Tie had suffered a lot. Recently, he was almost killed by Versatile Demon Emperor. If Castle of Black Iron was available at that time, the situation would be much better. If he could use Castle of Black Iron at his will in Mountain Ruins, it meant that Zhang Tie''s most powerful trump card was coming back. Of course, he was driven ecstatic.


    When in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie didn''t feel that it was a surprise for him to access to Castle of Black Iron at his will. Not until he entered the Motian Realm did Zhang Tie feel that it was a happy thing to use the space-teleportation item at his will. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Ah, Li, you''ve agreed to take 200 element crystals..." Watching Zhang Tie stopping there, Immortal Being in Cloud thought that Zhang Tie had agreed with his promise; therefore, he hurriedly flew over here like heaving a deep sigh in relief.


    "Can we use the space-teleportation item in Mountain Ruins at any time?" Zhang Tie turned around as he asked Immortal Being in Cloud at a stroke.


    "Yes!" Immortal Being in Cloud answered after a short silence.


    "Why not tell me about that earlier?"


    "Li, didn''t you know that before?" Immortal Being in Cloud asked Zhang Tie as he watched the latter like seeing a monster, explaining, "As wind immortal generals, I think almost everyone knows that. Below Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer, we could only use the space-teleportation item on the 1st day and the 15th day of each month. However, in Mountain Ruins, there''s no time limit. We could use the space-teleportation item at our will. If we couldn''t use the space-teleportation item in Mountain Ruins, those secret realms would collapse..."


    "Secret realms?"


    "Yea, didn''t I tell you about it, Li. There''re many secret realms in Mountain Ruins, which are connected to other private spaces inside Mountain ruins..."


    Zhang Tie forcefully patted his head. What Immortal Being in Cloud said should not be profound knowledge or a secret. However, as all those people who knew Zhang Tie thought that he had already known that, none of them told him about that. Therefore, he didn''t know about it until now. This was also one of the sequels for him to enter Motian Realm. He didn''t even know some common sense or always made wrong judgments. Before coming here, Zhang Tie always thought that space-teleportation items were not available in Mountain Ruins just like that under Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer except 2 days per month and the so-called secret realms were just some hidden places in Mountain Ruins.


    What a surprise...


    "Now that you''ve discovered the nine-leaf dendrobium first, just take it. I won''t share any element crystals with you. I have no interest in it at all. But as we''re already in Mountain Ruins, you''d better tell me about your purpose for insisting on coming to Mountain Ruins together with me. I''ve got something important to do in Mountain Ruins. I won''t waste time with you here. If you don''t tell me about the truth and keep following me, I could only think that you''re going to screw me up and I will launch attacks!" Zhang Tie glared at Immortal Being in Cloud as he said rudely and straightforwardly.


    "Ah, Li, I''ve not imagined that you''re so clear..." Immortal Being in Cloud became slightly surprised as he took an appreciative look at Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie then raised his eyebrows, eyes wide...


    "Well, well, I will tell you the truth; I will tell you the truth. Li, I want to cooperate with you for a profitable business in Mountain Ruins..." Immortal Being in Cloud hurriedly explained.


    "What business?"


    "It''s not a fresh business. Hunt demon immortal generals and exchange their heads for many good items in the secret realm of Emperor NvWa Palace in Mountain Ruins. Many human immortal generals would like to do that in Mountain Ruins..."


    "I could do that myself. Why would I cooperate with you?"


    "I''ve got a secret skill. I could make demon immortal generals fall into my trap. Li, as long as you promise to cooperate with me, we would definitely catch demon immortal generals..."

 1861 Waiting for Demons

    Half a month later, somewhere in Mountain Ruins...


    The air-floating mountain ranges lasted 600 miles and formed a continuous patch of land like islands in the void. The highest mountain peak was over 100,000 m. Like sharp swords pointing into the heavens, these lofty mountain peaks were accompanied by bottomless valleys among them...


    The higher the mountains were, the deeper the valleys would be.


    In the bottomless valleys, there was looming white fog. The white fog covered rugged odd-looking stones. These valleys couldn''t see sunshine all the year round; because they were always shrouded with fog. Therefore, those rugged odd stones became the gathering place of some bizarre living beings which favored dark.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was hiding somewhere at the hillside, from where he could overlook the entire valley. Compared to the barren valley below, there were dense woods and many grottoes at the hillside, which were suitable for ambushing.


    A red centipede longer than 1 m slowly climbed up. Right under Zhang Tie''s eyes, the centipede appeared to have sensed something abnormal as it became shortly still. Tentacles quivering, it started to explore the situation in the air.


    "Go away..." Zhang Tie sent a spiritual order to the centipede, which hurriedly sneaked into the grasses beside it and escaped away, causing rustles.


    After driving away from the centipede, Zhang Tie took a look at the valley again only to see nothing.


    Hiding in the pit, Zhang Tie had forgotten how many times he had observed the situation in the valley. However, he could see nothing within thousands of miles per time. The latest demon general that Zhang Tie noticed was 12 days ago. In the evening, that demon general flew by over 1,300 miles away, crossing the skyline like a meteor. Given its speed, Zhang Tie judged that it should be a fire immortal general.


    At that time, as he and Immortal Being in Cloud had set a "trap" here, Zhang Tie didn''t think it was necessary to catch that one at the cost of scaring more demon generals away. Therefore, he let that demon immortal general go.


    But now, Zhang Tie started to regret watching a complete fire chakra flying away.


    After that demon immortal general flew away, no more demon immortal generals appeared in Zhang Tie''s eyes, even in this valley where a "powerful trap" was set.


    Zhang Tie finally lost his patience today. He had stayed in this pit for half a month only to see insects crawling in front of him every day. Nobody else could stand that. If not the possibility that he might get some fire chakras of demons, Zhang Tie would never have stayed here so long.


    After a few hours'' stay, when the dark gradually fell, Zhang Tie finally lost his patience completely. Heart burning with fury, Zhang Tie instantly flew out of the pit where he had been hiding in for over 10 days. After entering the valley, he kicked an ox-sized huge stone into pieces, scaring all the insects and animals in the surroundings back into cracks or pits where they used to hide in. At the same time, Zhang Tie swore, "Trap sh*t..."


    At this moment, Immortal Being in Cloud also jumped out of a pit in the nearby. In the blink of an eye, he had come to Zhang Tie''s front. Watching Zhang Tie with an embarrassed look, he explained, "Erm... erm... the trap was always available before... I''ve tried it many times. Why... why doesn''t it work this time? This place is called Tranquil Valley. It''s gloomy and hidden. It''s covered with Tranquil Grasses. Wind spider demon immortal generals like to rest and lurk in such places most. Additionally, the paste that I daubed on the stone could be smelt by wind spider demon immortal generals from 600 miles away. They would definitely come over here to check it. By then..."


    Immortal Being in Wood''s idea was good, but the fact was unpleasant. It was like how a hunter set a trap. Sometimes, the trap could capture preys; sometimes, the trap could catch nothing until it was rotten and collapsed.


    "Didn''t you say that wind spider demon immortal generals would fall into the trap in 3 days on average, 5 days at most? It''s already half a month! But none of them was trapped. Did you really catch any wind demon immortal general with such a trap before?" Zhang Tie watched Immortal Being in Cloud with doubts.


    "It''s real. When I set a trap a few years ago, I killed two wind spider demon immortal generals with my friend. If not a fire spider demon general was attracted, we could continue to catch other demon immortal generals with that trap..." Immortal Being in Cloud frowned with a confused look, "I also wonder why it became useless this time. Have all the spider demons changed their temperament? That''s impossible..."


    "What did you daub on the stone?"


    "It''s a mixture of essence of 10,000-year-old Tranquil Grasses in flower, poison glands of spider demon immortal generals and the other elixirs. This recipe is classified. Average people don''t know about it. A drop of it cost me dozens of element crystals..." Immortal Being in Cloud said with a bitter smile. He didn''t tell Zhang Tie about this "secret" before; however, he could only explain it at this moment.


    "I spent a lot in getting one vial. Only wind spider demon generals could catch its odor by their nose. If spider demon immortal generals eat the essence of 10,000-year-old Tranquil Grasses which had been in flower, the toxicity in their battle qi could increase by more than 30%. It could increase their battle force greatly. Ordinary spider demon generals could never withstand such a big allure..." Immortal Being in Cloud said as he scratched his head. Closely after that, he suddenly changed his face as if he had recalled something, "Err, did that old guy sell me a fake good? No, I have to settle accounts with him..."


    Watching Immortal Being in Cloud''s changing expressions, Zhang Tie became speechless. At this moment, he couldn''t beat this old man and blame him for wasting half a month. If Immortal Being in Cloud really bought a "fake good", Zhang Tie could only accept the fact. Over the past half a month, he just took it as a rest. What else could he do? No matter what, Immortal Being in Cloud was his half guide in Mountain Ruins. He had learned a lot from this guy. He didn''t suffer a loss at all.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie became gradually composed. After taking a look at Immortal Being in Cloud, he said, "If you want to settle accounts with someone, I will not go there with you. Let''s bid farewell here. Green hills remain unchanged, green waters flow forever. Hopefully, we could meet each other again in the future..."


    "Ah, Li, won''t you come with me..." Immortal Being in Cloud still wanted to ask Zhang Tie to stay while rolling his eyes smartly, "Li, as long as you and I find that old guy and get the quality good from him, we could continue here. When we kill demon generals, I only need 40% of the profits, you could take the 60. Additionally, Li, you''re not familiar with Mountain Ruins..."


    "Haha, it doesn''t matter. I will be familiar with it after taking a look around. Additionally, I could make hundreds of thousands a second, I could really wait for any more. I''ve got something important to deal with. See you..." After leaving the words, Zhang Tie instantly rushed into the sky. With a few flashes, he had left Tranquil Valley and disappeared...


    Seeing off his "good helper" whom he had fetched with great efforts with a pitiful look, Immortal Being in Cloud slightly frowned as he mumbled, "Hundreds of thousands a second, what does that mean..."


    After standing there for a short while, when he couldn''t see Zhang Tie any longer, Immortal Being in Cloud took out of a red jade vial from his space-teleportation equipment. After taking a look at it, he immediately threw it onto a stone in the far, breaking it into pieces and spraying liquid everywhere.


    "Old guy, how dare you to cheat me with a fake good? I will demolish your nest this time..."


    After making a decision ferociously, Immortal Being in Cloud stamped to the ground once as he flashed towards another direction...


    The deep valley was tranquil; the white fog was rolling. Only after a short while, this place had become as tranquil as before...


    One day later...


    With a bang, a powerful battle qi crossed the air which cleaned up the rolling white fog in a split second, exposing an open land at the bottom of the valley being covered with rugged odd stones. With a red flash, 7 terrifying and powerful spider demon generals appeared on the ground.


    They were 7 powerful spider demon immortal generals. The one ahead of the other 6 was in black metal armor, exposing 6 arms. In a bloody cloak, his qi was domineering. It was this spider demon general who had cleaned up the white fog across the valley with only one strike. At this moment, if Zhang Tie was here and saw this spider demon immortal general, he must widely open his mouth. Given its qi, this spider demon immortal general was a powerful sage-level knight.


    Even though Zhang Tie was not here, if someone else saw the bloody cloak behind this spider demon immortal general, he could also judge the identity of this spider demon immortal general even though he couldn''t sense its domineering qi. Among the demon immortal generals in Motian Realm, those in bloody cloaks were supreme immortal generals, namely sage-level knights.


    During the past half a month, when Zhang Tie and Immortal Being in Cloud stayed here, they didn''t get sh*t; however, soon after they left here for a day, 7 demon powers had arrived here at the same time...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.

 1862 The Prey

    The color of cloak represented the identity of high-level demon general on the battlefield. Red cloak represented supreme demon general, namely sage-level demon knight; golden cloak implied demon emperor; black cloak represented fire demon general, also semi-sage level night. Those below fire demon generals were not qualified to wear cloaks.


    At this moment, that spider demon general in red cloak was followed by 2 spider demons in red cloaks and 4 spider demons who didn''t wear cloaks. Even the 4 spider demons who didn''t wear cloaks were also wind demon generals...


    Facing such a team, even though Zhang Tie and Immortal Being in Cloud were still hiding in that pit, they dared not come out either. They could only start Plan B to survive themselves, not to mention hunting demons.


    After glancing over the valley, the demon sage-level knight in red cloak instantly gazed at the place where Immortal Being in Cloud broke that jade vial one day ago. He rushed towards that place. Closely after that, some pieces of the jade vial flew towards his hand as he sucked the air.


    The sage-level knight slightly moved his nose. Closely after that, a gloomy green light flashed across his eyes. Then, he roared in a hoarse voice which sounded like how a rusty saber was used to scrape a stone, "Essence of 10,000-year-old Tranquil Grass in flower..."


    After hearing his growl, all the other 6 demon generals instantly flew away and started to search over the surroundings in 6 directions before the sage-level knight opened his mouth.


    They searched over the surrounding valleys and mountain peaks in the same way¡ª¡ªfirst, see and sense; then, strike those uncertain places with battle qi.


    In the rumbling battle qi strikes, only after a short while, all the surrounding places where people might hide in had been bombed. As a result, it was messy all over with broken stones over the ground. Some places even changed their topography.


    "Lord, there''s no human immortal generals in the surroundings..." After 6 demon generals flew back, a fire demon general in black cloak reported.


    "It means that they''ve already gone... for almost a day..." The sage-level spider demon knight opened his mouth icily.


    "Lord, do we need to..." that demon general in black cloak asked as a sharp fierce qi flashed across his eyes. At the same time, all the other demon generals started to breathe heavily.


    "No need. His Majesty summons us for something more important. We shouldn''t miss the more important thing only for such a small thing. Let''s go back to our gathering place and talk about it later!" As he said, the sage-level knight had already flown far away, closely followed by the other demon generals.


    "Inform all the demon generals, humans have already mastered the method to extract the essence of 10,000-year-old Tranquil Grass with flower. In the future, all the spider demon generals should take precautions against the trap that humans set with the essence of 10,000-year-old Tranquil Grass with flower..." The sage-level spider demon knight sent another order in the air.


    "Yes, sir..."


    Coincidentally, the 7 demon generals'' direction was consistent to where Zhang Tie left for yesterday...


    ...


    When these demon generals left the deep valley, Zhang Tie was hovering and looking for his prey like a goshawk in the sky with looming lotus-flower light in his pupils. Additionally, he kept scanning the air territory within 600 miles.


    After leaving the valley, Zhang Tie didn''t know where to go. Therefore, he determined to fly towards the direction where that demon general left for 13 days ago.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had already activated the ability of invisible Shen bead and applied a master-level hiding rune to himself. Although he was in the sky, he didn''t release any qi. He was absolutely transparent. If not being approached by a demon emperor, he could almost not be discovered.


    It was very risky in Mountain Ruins. Anyone here was above the level of wind immortal general. Even sage-level knights, immortal emperors or demon emperors always wandered in Mountain Ruins. Therefore, Zhang Tie had to be careful for the sake of safety.


    Of course, a prey that could conceal its body and its qi at the same time could barely be discovered by hunters. However, if a hunter could conceal his body and qi at the same time, it would be a catastrophe for preys.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was aware that he might be a prey; meanwhile, he was brave and decisive enough to be a hunter.


    Zhang Tie was not turning around blindly despite that he was trying his luck. He kept flying in zigzag in a huge fan-shaped air zone.


    Zhang Tie had determined to catch some demon knights. He believed that he could encounter some demon knights in this way sooner or later unless all the demon generals in Mountain Ruins had disappeared or died. He was already in the 7 change realm of the heavenly knight. If he was lucky enough, after killing 5-6 demon heavenly knights or semi-sage level knights, he could definitely promote to a semi-sage level knight.


    ''In this way, I could take the initiative. Even though I couldn''t get any achievement within a short period of time, it was definitely much better than staying in the valley and keeping a close eye on the still trap.''


    ''With so many secret methods, I should have long done that. Although it seems easier to wait for a target in a fixed place, it doesn''t suit me. I was really stupid these days...''


    Zhang Tie mocked himself in flight.


    Since he left that deep valley, Zhang Tie had been searching over enemies for a whole day in vain. However, Zhang Tie was not disappointed; because he had long learned to be strong-willed from wild wolves when he attended survival training in Blackhot City as a student.


    Even though he looked around for another month in vain, it was nothing a big deal. In the worst scenario, he would search over another air zone. As long as he stuck to it, he would acquire something sooner or later.


    With this mentality, Zhang Tie continued to wander in the sky at an average speed. At the same time, he scanned air-floating mountains one after another by extending his spiritual energy. Additionally, he meticulously stayed away from those space cracks in the sky.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, those air-floating mountains were even more brilliant than gold mountains. Zhang Tie had intended to teleport those air-floating mountains into Castle of Black Iron for many times; however, he stopped himself in the end. Zhang Tie kept warning himself¡ª¡ªmy primary target here is to promote to a semi-sage level knight. As long as I could increase my battle force constantly, I will have many opportunities to teleport as many air-floating mountains as possible into Castle of Black Iron in the future. If I did that now, it would be too eye-catching...


    Perhaps benefited from releasing spike shrimps during these days or because of good luck, a few hours later, Zhang Tie finally saw a demon general coming out of an undulating air-floating mountain over 600 miles away.


    Although it was over 600 miles away, with lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie could still spot the look of that demon general¡ª¡ªit was a spider demon. Given its speed of over 1,000 m per second, it should be a heavenly demon knight.


    Zhang Tie was ecstatic at a stroke as he immediately activated his flight ability as a divine dominator. At the same time, his speed surged by more than 10 times from over 1,000 m per second...


    Like a wild wolf which had discovered its prey, Zhang Tie instantly targeted at his prey with shiny eyes and rushed over there.


    The closer he was to his prey, the more meticulous he was and slower his speed would be. Only after a few minutes, the heavenly spider demon general had already appeared over 60 miles away ahead of Zhang Tie and gradually become clearer in Zhang Tie''s eyes, even though he didn''t activate his lotus-flower eyes.


    Licking his lips, Zhang Tie estimated the distance between him and the heavenly demon spider demon. If Zhang Tie sprinted, 10 seconds later, he would touch his target. However, that heavenly spider demon general was just a piece of cake for Zhang Tie.


    When Zhang Tie was ready for charging at his target like a wild wolf, another demon knight suddenly appeared in front of him...


    An iron-armored demon knight in red cloak was approaching him from 3 o''clock direction.


    Given the red cloak, Zhang Tie knew that it was a sage-level knight.


    At the sight of the sage-level demon knight, Zhang Tie who wanted to charge at his prey became slightly hesitant.


    Zhang Tie was confident that he could kill that heavenly spider demon knight and refine its chakra before the arrival of the iron-armored sage-level demon knight. However, if he suddenly showed up and escaped away right in front of the iron-armored sage-level demon knight, he would expose himself. Perhaps that iron-armored demon knight didn''t know who he was, as long as Versatile Demon Emperor know that it was him, he probably would discover his trace again.


    The fire chakra of the spider demon was indeed alluring; however, Zhang Tie had to consider the risk of exposing himself.


    When Zhang Tie became a bit hesitant, he caught sight of 3 more demon generals¡ª¡ªall of them were spider demons; 1 semi-sage demon knight in black cloak, 2 heavenly demon knights. All of them appeared at 4 o''clock direction in the sky.


    Zhang Tie was shocked at a stroke. ''What happened? Why did so many demon immortal generals gather here all of a sudden? They are flying towards the same direction...''


    In this case, Zhang Tie couldn''t launch a strike anymore. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    However, after a short while, two more demon generals in red cloaks appeared at 9 o''clock direction in the sky. The two demon generals might come together. At the sight of their red cloaks, Zhang Tie silently swallowed his saliva...

 1863 The Huge Black Tower

    Watching so many demon generals gathering, even idiots could guess that something was wrong, not to mention Zhang Tie.


    During these days when he stayed with Immortal Being in Cloud, Zhang Tie gained a lot of information and knowledge about demons in Mountain Ruins. Being different than that under Mountain Ruins, only a few places in Mountain Ruins could be controlled by humans or demons. If Mountain Ruins was taken as an ocean, humans and demons just occupied some isles in the ocean. These isles were secret realms in the Mountain Ruins which became the strongholds of humans or demons in Mountain Ruins.


    Immortal Being in Cloud told Zhang Tie that it was almost impossible for them to meet many demon generals at the same time unless they were close to those secret realms which were occupied by demons.


    Tranquil Valley where they set a trap and this air zone where Zhang Tie was searching over were both "barren zones" far away from the strongholds of demons and humans. To a certain degree, such places were "relatively safe" where he could barely meet the "main force" of demons...


    The experience of Immortal Being in Cloud was very useful. However, at this moment, his experience was subverted¡ª¡ªA few days ago, Immortal Being in Cloud patted his chest and promised Zhang Tie that they wouldn''t meet many demon generals at the same time; however, more and more demon generals started to appear in front of Zhang Tie''s eyes at this moment. All of them were flying towards one direction.


    ''Something big must have happened!''


    Zhang Tie mumbled.


    Generally, when a human immortal general met such an occasion, he must turn around and escape away right now. However, Zhang Tie was an exception. Although his heart was pounding, his desire for adventure surged instantly due to great curiosity. At the same time, a bizarre current reached all of his cells from his spine. Closely after that, his adrenaline soared. Besides being extremely thrilled, he started to secrete sweet saliva rapidly. Meanwhile, all of his spiritual energy in his mind sea and battle qi in his qi sea became active at a stroke...


    On this occasion, if Zhang Tie turned around and escaped away, he even felt not living up to the knowledge and secret methods that he had grasped.


    ''Don''t be motherf*cking afraid. In the worst scenario, I will expose my real identity. If I determine to escape, very few demons could catch up with me. Even if I were chased by demon emperors, I could hide myself in Castle of Black Iron at the critical moment. When I come out of Castle of Black Iron, I will change my look. I''m barefoot while demons are in shoes. No matter what, demons will suffer a greater loss than me...''


    After thinking it through, Zhang Tie''s bravery surged as he didn''t have any concern anymore. He just gazed at those demon generals and followed them towards one direction...


    Being invisible, Zhang Tie didn''t even reveal a bit of qi. At the same time, he flew towards one direction with those demon generals with a distance of at least 60 miles.


    After a few hours, the night gradually fell. However, Zhang Tie found more and more demon generals gathering in the sky. There were more than 20 demon generals in his eyes, most of which were spider demons.


    After the night fell, these demon generals didn''t completely release their protective battle qi in flight; nor did they give out any light or battle qi. All of them were traveling in the dark like specters. On this occasion, average human immortal generals could barely discover these demon generals from a bit farther away; within a short distance, both parties had the same possibility to find each other. Actually, these demon generals were also looking for their enemies on the way...


    ...


    At this moment, many air-floating mountains appeared in front, large or small. At first glance, there were tens of thousands of air-floating mountains in this air zone. They were just slowly moving in the air; some were like duckweeds in the ocean; some were like lofty heavens-reaching pillars; some were like creeping huge tortoises; some were like undulating, virile dragons, to name a few. Floating in the sky, they were like an artificial maze. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Those demon generals flew into this air zone one after another.


    People could barely see so many air-floating mountains in an air zone even in Mountain Ruins. When Zhang Tie followed these demon generals into this air zone, he recalled what Immortal Being in Cloud told him about Mountain Ruins. He faintly felt that this region was Mountains Plain as was described by Immortal Being in Cloud.


    ''But Immortal Being in Cloud didn''t mention that anything in Mountains Plain was worth so many demon generals to gather here. Did... did demons discover something or have any conspiracy here?''


    Zhang Tie''s heart pounded once as he kept a close eye on the heavenly spider demon knight ahead of those demon generals.


    After traveling across those air-floating mountains for more than 2 hours, Zhang Tie had followed that heavenly spider demon knight to the center of those mountains. In this central area, there were 7 eye-catching air-floating mountain peaks, each of which was higher than 100,000 m. At the sight of them, Zhang Tie had confirmed that he was in Mountain Plain; because it was as same as was described by Immortal Being in Cloud.


    According to Immortal Being in Cloud, the latest battle between human and demon powers in Mountains Plain was over 200 years ago. In ordinary days, as so many mountains were in Mountains Plain, it was easy to hide here; therefore, human immortal generals or demon generals could be easily ambushed in this region. Therefore, few human or demon powers would enter this region without any reason.


    After entering the central area of Mountains Plain, the heavenly spider demon knight instantly came to the back of a mountain and disappeared. All the other demon powers also followed him in.


    It was estimated that that valley was the gathering place of demon powers. Zhang Tie then meticulously flew to the place 10,000 m away from that mountain peak. After hiding himself in a smaller air-floating mountain, Zhang Tie released his spiritual energy, which then "swam" straight to the back of the mountain peak as if Zhang Tie was there himself...


    His spiritual energy could move much faster than him. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had traveled to the front of that mountain peak spiritually. Zhang Tie held his breath the moment his spiritual energy penetrated through that mountain peak.


    There was a vast, open, deep valley behind that over 100,000 m higher mountain peak. At this moment, the valley had been completely destroyed. The deep valley was divided into two halves from the center by a huge, deep, round pit whose diameter was tens of thousands of meters. It was caused after the ground was hit by a meteorolite. The surrounding region of that huge, deep pit was completely destroyed by the strong impact wave. However, a huge black, lofty tower higher than 10,000 m was standing in the huge pit. The entire black tower was covered with looming black runes. The entire huge tower was releasing a frightening, time-honored, powerful qi.


    If not that huge pit, this huge black tower could barely be discovered as it was 10,000 m beneath the ground of this valley.


    At this moment, the huge black tower had long been closely surrounded by large batches of demon powers. At the glance of them, Zhang Tie had known there were over 1,000 demon powers around the huge black tower. What shocked Zhang Tie was that over 70% of them were spider demon powers.


    Most of the 700-800 spider demons were in grim battle armors. Additionally, 40-50 spider demons were in black cloaks; over 10 spider demons were in red cloaks.


    ''F*ck, have all the spider demon powers in Motian Realm gathered here? What the hell!''


    Watching so many demon powers gathering here, Zhang Tie had gooseflesh all over. Not until then did Zhang Tie know why Immortal Being in Cloud''s trap became ineffective. If all the spider demons across Mountain Ruins were gathering here, how could the trap of Immortal Being in Cloud catch the attention of spider demons?


    All the demon knights were gazing at the top of that huge black tower with excitement.


    Zhang Tie''s spirit extended along the direction where those demon knights were looking at as he instantly noticed two people being in an impasse.


    One of the two people was an old man in blue robe. He was standing on the top of the huge black tower as a 33 cm-higher small black pagoda was suspending above his head and giving out a brilliant light. The brilliant light formed a semi-transparent round cover which covered the old man and the huge black tower under his foot like his protective battle qi.


    The other one was a tall and strong spider demon in black crown and golden cloak, who put his 6 palms on the semi-transparent cover as he was releasing a powerful battle qi wave. At the same time, the semi-transparent cover was undulating like ripples which might break at any time...


    Whenever the semi-transparent cover moved, the old man in blue robe would tremble all over and spurt out blood. As a result, his blue robe had been purplish-red...


    "If you surrender to me now, you could survive..." The demon emperor in golden cloak opened his mouth coldly...

 1864 Arrival of Powers

    "Hahaha..." The old man laughed heroically while his protective cover was undulating. "I, Zhong Ziqi, have lived in Motian Realm for over 600 years. Once, I have broken into demons'' battle formation for 7 times and killed numerous demon generals and soldiers. I have even slept with all the best girls in the 36 gaily-painted pleasure boats at the bank of Qingzhun River. I''ve enjoyed all the pleasures in the world. I could clearly differentiate kindness and hatred. I would fear nothing even if I die here today. If I could fight Six-armed Demon Emperor to death, it''s also worth my life, hahaha..."


    Six-armed Demon Emperor was one of the demon emperors in the Spider Demon Palace in Motian Realm, who was as powerful as Versatile Demon Emperor.


    Although Zhang Tie had long guessed that there was a Six-armed Demon Emperor, his heart still pounded after hearing Zhong Ziqi''s confirmation. Zhang Tie then made his qi more secret.


    Zhang Tie admired the unyielding temperament of Zhong Ziqi very much. However, he couldn''t even deal with those demon sage-level knights in red cloak around the huge black tower, not to mention Six-armed Demon Emperor. It was equal to the total force of a demon palace. Even two more Zhang Tie couldn''t defeat it. Therefore, Zhang Tie could only stay aside and watch it, gnashing his teeth. Meanwhile, he was pondering about the background of the huge black tower.


    It seemed that the huge black tower was beneath the valley at the beginning. Additionally, Zhong Ziqi had long known about it and had some relationship with the black huge pagoda. However, Six-armed Demon Emperor discovered it too due to some reason. Therefore, so many demon powers arrived here to scramble for the huge black tower.


    After hearing Zhong Ziqi''s words, Six-armed Demon Emperor''s face, which was as ugly as that of a spider, became grimmer as it opened its disgusting mouth. "Really? I will satisfy you. If you''re a sage-level knight, with this immortal hell hub, I might not defeat you. Pitifully, you''re just a fiery immortal general. Even though you''ve got it, you could not use 1% of the defensive ability of this immortal hell. Let''s see how long could you stand..."


    Zhong Ziqi laughed miserably. "Even though this immortal hell finally falls in your hand, you still couldn''t get what you want..."


    "Hahaha, as long as I could kill you and get this immortal hell hub, even if Emperor NvWa was here, he couldn''t defeat me either. By then, this immortal hell will be demon''s rarity. There''re always talented ones among demons. I don''t believe that we couldn''t get the items inside this immortal hell..." Six-armed Demon Emperor said with confidence as its battle qi waves started to be fiercer, causing the semi-transparent protective cover of Zhong Ziqi to undulate more heavily. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Those who had not fought demon emperors could never imagine how difficult was it to stand the attack of a demon emperor for one second. When such a power wanted to kill someone who was lower than him in level, it was like how an adult knocked over a baby with a hammer. Zhong Ziqi stood it hardly as his bones all over started to crack.


    One hour later, blood started to flow out of Zhong Ziqi''s nostrils and ears. 3 hours later, Zhong Ziqi''s silver hair and beard started to turn grey at a speed visible to eyes.


    Zhang Tie just watched it in the distance, gnashing his teeth. Meanwhile, he was racking his mind and looking for the opportunity to launch a strike. He didn''t know how long had Zhong Ziqi stood there. But apparently Zhong Ziqi had been running out of his energy. Given his look, Zhong Ziqi couldn''t stand for too long.


    Six-armed Demon Emperor was there while the huge black tower was tightly surrounded by those demon powers, leaking no cracks at all. Therefore, Zhang Tie couldn''t find an opportunity to launch a strike after gazing at them for quite a while.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what was immortal hell; however, given this scene, Zhang Tie couldn''t persuade himself to watch such a human hero dying.


    ''Whatever, in the worst scenario, I will hide in Castle of Black Iron. Nothing f*cking to fear about!''


    When Zhang Tie prepared to release one substitute to muddle the water, all of a sudden, he felt a powerful wave from his back, which even made those floating mountains in Mountains Plain quiver.


    Zhang Tie turned around as he saw a person in the skyline in an overwhelming manner. His battle qi was not a wisp of smoke, a tornado, but a rumble of thunder. It split the sky like a light beam, which could be seen clearly within tens of thousands of miles. Because of that person, the entire Mountain Ruins rocked...


    He moved too fast. A few seconds later, the man had already been 600 miles away from about 1400 miles away.


    With a square solemn, red face, a pair of sharp eyes, he was wearing an emperor''s crown, a pink gold battle outfit with a terrifying beast on its surface. Additionally, he was holding a 1 m long fiery machete which was as broad as a threshold by one hand and a spider demon''s head by the other hand. The spider demon''s eyes were agape. Apparently, it was extremely scared before death.


    Given his ferocious qi and power, he must be Force Emperor...


    Zhang Tie had not seen Force Emperor. However, he had seen his painting in Dragon Emperor Pavilion. Therefore, Zhang Tie knew that it was Force Emperor the moment he caught sight of his face by his lotus-flower eyes.


    Zhang Tie was shocked too much. He didn''t know what was that black immortal hell huge tower and wondered how it could arouse the attention of an immortal emperor and a demon emperor within such a short period of time.


    "Hahaha, I was wondering why I couldn''t see you 8-feet insects in Mountain Ruins these days. It turns out you''re hiding here. Hurry, come here for death..." Force Emperor''s voice reverberated around the Mountain Plain. Besides Six-armed Demon Emperor, all the other demon generals had changed their faces.


    Among human immortal emperors, given brutality towards demons, Force Emperor could rank first for sure. This man was definitely the No. 1 enemy of demons. His name had shocked demons across the Motian Realm for thousands of years. Demons being killed by him could almost fill the valleys in Mountains Plain...

 1865 Zhang Ties Resolute Response

    As Force Emperor was flying towards it at a surging speed, Six-armed Demon Emperor didn''t even move; instead, it only glanced at over 10 sage-level powers in red cloak around it. Closely after that, those sage-level powers then rushed towards Force Emperor in a triangular battle formation.


    On this occasion, a sage-level demon power could never defeat Force Emperor. However, when more than 10 sage-level demon powers formed a battle formation, they could fight that top power in Motian Realm.


    With a conjuration, the battle qi of those sage-level demon powers instantly integrated with each other. As a result, the triangular battle formation manifested the virtual image of a 3-headed demonic dragon which was higher than 1,000 m. With a roar, the virtual image was instantly tens of thousands of meters away and rushed towards Force Emperor.


    "Hahaha, I will try your Dragon Demon Battle Formation today. Let see which one is greater, you or me? Go to hell..." Force Emperor''s voice rumbled. As he finished the word "hell", both parties had already collided with each other in the air over 130 miles away from Zhang Tie.


    Force Emperor elevated rapidly as he raised his 1 m-longer terrifying machete and slashed towards the virtual image of the 3-headed demonic dragon from tens of thousands of meters away like a deity with swaying hair and shiny eyes, lightning bolts under his foot.


    In a split second, the air zone was brightly lit. At this moment, the machete gave out a tens of thousands of meters-long saber light which flew towards the virtual image of the 3-headed demonic dragon in an overwhelming way with rumbling thunders.


    That virtual image was unwilling to admit itself outdid as it was protected by a black flame from all directions at once. Closely after that, the demonic dragon widely opened its mouth as it released a purple light towards that saber light.


    "Bang..." The great impact wave came from over 130 miles away. As a result, a rumbling sound could be heard among those mountain peaks in Mountains Plain. Some air-floating mountains within dozens of meters broke apart immediately as all the plants on them turned into ashes and the stones and soil were vaporized. Even the high-purity air-floating metal deep inside them vanished in the great impact wave...


    ''That''s too powerful...''


    Watching the battle between such top powers, Zhang Tie felt his heart shuddering with fear. Such a scene could only be seen in Motian Realm. There were definitely no immortal emperor-level powers, so many sage-level powers or "secret item of formation beads" of dragon demon that could connect the power of these sage-level powers in other worlds...


    At this moment, the Dragon Demon Battle Formation resisted Force Emperor''s attack. As a result, the earth-shaking, terrifying boom sounded constantly over 130 miles away. Ordinary people could barely see how these powers moved and attacked. They could only see a shiny saber light lighting the entire air zone in an overwhelming way from hundreds of miles away. At the same time, black and purple flames were boiling around the saber light as if they wanted to melt it.


    The collisions released a powerful impact wave and colorful lightning bolts and demonic flames. All the surrounding air-floating mountains were broken and vaporized. In the fiercest place of the collision, Zhang Tie found the light in the space started to twist and change its length like shadows in a distorting mirror which was phantom.


    Heller said that the time-space force in Mountain Ruins was in a fragile balance. At this moment, the battle between Force Emperor and those sage-level demon powers made the fragile time and space overwhelmed as if it was going to break a big hole at any time.


    Six-armed Demon Emperor started to exert his full strength to attack Zhong Ziqi as the green blood vessels bulged on his hands the moment the 10-odd sage-level demon powers blocked Force Emperor. At the same time, wisps of black qi surged out of his sharp claws and started to cover and press the semi-transparent cover, causing the semi-transparent cover to undulate more heavily. In the blink of an eye, the cover had shrunk a lot. Even Zhong Ziqi who was trying his best to sustain it started to tremble heavily. At the same time, blood started to flow out of Zhong Ziqi''s eyes...


    If not that black tower above Zhong Ziqi''s head, given his ability as a fire immortal general or a semi-sage level knight, he could never stand for too long. However, due to the sharp gap between their battle forces, in the words of Six-armed Demon Emperor, Zhong Ziqi couldn''t even utilize 1/100 of the complete power of the small tower. Even so, it was also a miracle for Zhong Ziqi to resist Six-armed Demon Emperor so long...


    "Now that Force Emperor has already arrived, the other powers of Force Emperor Immortal Palace will come here soon too. Following which, those powers in humans'' secret realms will also come. As long as you could stop Force Emperor and the other powers of Force Emperor Immortal Palace for 40 minutes, I will get the hub of the Infinite Immortal Hell..." Six-armed Demon Emperor distantly told the other demon generals who were surrounding the huge black tower.


    Over 1,000 demon generals promised him in unison as all of their qis surged. At this moment, many demon generals even started to form various battle formations...


    Of course, at this moment, not all the demon generals had formation beads in their bodies. The most powerful formation beads might be in the bodies of those sage-level demon powers. As for the rest of demon generals, they could only form different battle formations due to different formation beads in their bodies.


    At this moment, some battle formations were composed of 3-5 demon generals; the biggest one was composed of 108 wind demon immortal generals...


    Many demon generals couldn''t join battle formations; even so, they were also ready for combat. Some demon generals were shining as they were in secret immortal outfits.


    However, only few of these high-level demon generals could own secret immortal outfits. Additionally, most of those secret immortal outfits were incomplete. Most of secret immortal outfits were single breast armor, shoulder armor, arm armor or skirt amor. Only 5 demon generals in black cloak near Six-armed Demon Emperor were in full purple immortal outfits.


    The complete immortal outfits could fully cover the five demon generals, even their faces. After putting them on, the five demon generals'' qis instantly raised to a new level and were almost equal to that of sage-level knights.


    In the blink of an eye, the blood that Zhong Ziqi spat out had turned purplish black inside the semi-transparent cover...


    With a crack, one forearm of Zhong Ziqi which was broken from his elbow. At the same time, it spurted out blood from the broken part. Zhong Ziqi''s face turned pale gold at a stroke...


    "Hahaha, do you think that someone could save you? I will see how long can you stand!" Six-armed Demon Emperor said with a grim smile.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie found that Zhong Ziqi couldn''t stand it any longer and Force Emperor might not be able to break through the Dragon Emperor Battle Formation in a short period of time, he felt his blood surging as he roared inside, ''F*ck you! Whatever!''


    On this occassion, even though Zhang Tie knew that he couldn''t defeat Demon Emperor and those demon generals; honestly, he couldn''t just watch dauntless human knights like Zhong Ziqi dying.


    ''I have to do something!''Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ...


    Before the arrival of Force Emperor, Zhang Tie had already activated a substitute. Therefore, he had his substitute put on clothes and take a weapon in Castle of Black Iron and let it be ready to fight demons at any time.


    When Zhang Tie determined to launch a strike, his substitute came out of Castle of Black Iron in a split second.


    "Go to hell..." Zhang Tie''s substitute roared as it rushed towards the huge black tower. At the same time, he threw out the 3.6-ton fantastic iron spear.


    When his substitute showed up, Zhang Tie had already lurked in a place less than 4,000 m away from the huge black tower, being invisible all over. The moment his substitute threw out the spear, Zhang Tie''s original body had already come to the other side of the huge black tower...


    The fantastic iron spear was targeting at the back of Six-Arm Demon Emperor.


    Zhang Tie found that Six-armed Demon Emperor kept putting his arms closely onto the semi-transparent cover as if his prey would escape the moment he moved his hands away. Therefore, Six-armed Demon Emperor became Zhang Tie''s first target.


    The 3.6-ton spear reached an amazing speed the moment he left the hand of Zhang Tie''s substitute given the great strength of Zhang Tie''s substitute, its high speed as a divine dominator and the great explosive strength benefited from setting free spear shrimps.


    The spear moved as fast as a lightning bolt. In a split second, it had struck those demon generals in the periphery of the huge black tower and come to the back of Six-Arm Demon Emperor before those demon generals made any response to it...


    When the sharp head of the spear was going to touch Six-armed Demon Emperor''s back, Six-armed Demon Emperor''s one hand suddenly left the semi-transparent cover and turned 180 degrees backward before catching the head of the spear...


    "Boom..."


    ...

 1866 Figh

    Zhang Tie''s 3.6-ton fantastic iron spear only slightly shook the arm of Six-armed Demon Emperor and caused it to move about 1.5 cm back. Following after, the spear started to be distorted, twisted, compressed and broken in the collision between the two forces. Finally, it turned into ashes and perished with the explosive impact wave...


    A drop of blood dripped off Six-armed Demon Emperor''s arm. It was the only wound caused by Zhang Tie''s spear.


    Six-armed Demon Emperor took a look at its injured palm; then, it fixated onto Zhang Tie''s substitute which was rushing towards it with an icy look. "Invisible Shen bead... not bad... you''re something. A little wind immortal general could hurt me... Kill him; bring me the invisible Shen bead..."


    After saying that, Six-armed Demon Emperor turned around and continued to greedily gaze at that black tower floating above Zhong Ziqi''s head. Meanwhile, it put that hand onto the semi-transparent cover again. Only after a few seconds, its palm had stopped bleeding as if it was not injured at all.


    Although Zhang Tie had already experienced the terror and power of demon emperor in the realm of Versatile Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie still felt a bit helpless when he clashed against Six-armed Demon Emperor. Although his substitute only had 70% of the battle force of himself, Zhang Tie had got an unprecedented, powerful battle force. Even so, such a decisive strike only caused Six-armed Demon Emperor to move back its hand a bit and leave a small wound on its hand. All the other hands of Six-armed Demon Emperor didn''t leave the semi-transparent cover at all.


    Six-armed Demon Emperor didn''t even completely release its protective battle qi. Despite the powerful, explosive impact wave, Six-armed Demon Emperor just swept away the broken pieces of the spear by its protective qi.


    Ordinary knights could barely hurt an immortal emperor, not to mention killing him.


    Two semi-sage spider demons in black cloak and three ordinary heavenly spider demons charged at Zhang Tie at the same time; all the others battle formations of demon generals didn''t even move, no matter large or small.


    "Go die..." Zhang Tie roared. When the 5 demon generals were approaching him, he suddenly increased his speed by almost two times. Due to their miscalculation of Zhang Tie''s speed, the two spider demons in black cloaks missed their attacks by passing near Zhang Tie''s back.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie instantly hit himself onto the protective battle qi of a wind spider demon general, causing that spider demon to fly backward. Zhang Tie and that wind spider demon general immediately broke out of the encirclement of the other 4 spider demons. The other 4 demon generals changed their faces at a stroke as they hurriedly turned around and chased after Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s strength was too terrifying. Only that spider demon who collided with Zhang Tie had the deepest feeling. He felt even being hit by a mountain; instead of a person. Zhang Tie''s sheer animal strength could compress his protective battle qi to the extreme and almost break it...


    When Zhang Tie and that spider demon collided against each other, they instantly started close combat. That wind spider demon was also ferocious. Although it had felt Zhang Tie''s great power, it still didn''t give any expression of weakness in fighting this powerhouse. Almost as soon as Zhang Tie hit him, that spider demon general had stabbed towards Zhang Tie''s head, neck, heart, ribs and lower abdomen by its six odd hands at the same time with a fleer.


    As for spider demons with 6 hands, they were good at close combats.


    However, that wind spider demon general still misjudged Zhang Tie''s battle force. When Zhang Tie had just promoted to a shadow knight, he could already kill a heavenly demon knight, not to mention this moment. After getting hang of shrimp punch and promoting to the 7 change realm of heavenly knight, even though he didn''t use a heavy weapon or only had 70% of his full battle force, Zhang Tie''s terrifying, powerful iron fists were still out of the imagination of the wind spider demon general.


    Facing the attack of the six odd hands of the spider demon, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to avoid it at all. Given his extremely rich experience in fierce battles and battle awareness, Zhang Tie punched out when the wind spider demon general''s protective battle qi was extremely compressed and had not rebounded where he was in the weakest situation.


    At the same time, the light and shadow of a spike shrimp appeared behind Zhang Tie. Before the other demon generals realized the meaning of that spike shrimp, that wind spider demon general''s protective battle qi had been shattered into pieces by Zhang Tie''s iron fist. Under its incredible look, its chest had been slammed by Zhang Tie''s fist...


    With a boom, the upper body of wind spider demon general was punched into pieces, causing its blood and broken bones to fly in all directions at a high speed.


    That wind spider demon general''s attack was still 15 cm away from Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi when its upper body was broken into pieces. It didn''t even hurt Zhang Tie at all...


    In a close combat between powers, such a short distance was as unsurmountable as a natural moat.


    This also explained why Zhang Tie didn''t even defend. Zhang Tie knew that he could punch this spider demon into pieces before it could attack.


    Zhang Tie killed the first demon general very smoothly from sudden acceleration, collision to punch at the most proper moments. Although it was just a punch, it had already combined military tactics, punch skills and battle skills perfectly. As a result, it could realize such an amazing effect.


    "Eh..." Six-armed Demon Emperor, who had already ignored Zhang Tie, turned around once again. Gazing at Zhang Tie who was rushing towards it, Six-armed Demon Emperor''s eyes flickered. The other demon generals, especially the 5 demon generals who had joined hands to besiege Zhang Tie became shocked and infuriated as their berserk battle qi strikes covered Zhang Tie like an escape-proof net at a stroke. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    When Zhang Tie punched again, his punch instantly broke through the battle qi strikes of two semi-sage spider demon generals and two wind spider demon generals in an instant like how a sharp saber penetrated through the paper. Almost at the same time, he rushed towards Six-armed Demon Emperor like a sharp bolt and punched the latter again...


    The battle qi of his fist instantly crossed thousands of meters in the air like a torrent and fell behind Six-Arm Demon Emperor.


    Six-armed Demon Emperor still didn''t move; instead, a spider demon in full-body purple outfit appeared behind Six-armed Demon Emperor and blocked Zhang Tie''s punch.


    Closely after that, the spider demon in full-body purple outfit sped up towards Zhang Tie. With a flash, it had appeared 1,000 m away as it raised two of its scissors-like hands towards Zhang Tie''s neck.


    Zhang Tie didn''t fear him at all; instead, he directly slammed the two pairs of scissors by his iron fists...


    In fierce collisions and booms, out of their imagination, Zhang Tie sped up once again as he instantly broke through the siege of the spider demon general in full-body purple outfit and continued to fly towards Six-armed Demon Emperor. At the same time, he punched at his target for the three times. This time, his punch was 30% more powerful than that before...


    In the eyes of Six-armed Demon Emperor, facing over 1,000 demon powers, Zhang Tie broke the siege of two batches of demon powers, killed one wind demon general and launched his strike towards Six-Arm Demon Emperor for the second time...


    Nobody believed that a wind immortal general could make such a great battle exploit.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s unyielding performance, over 1,000 demon generals became restless at once.


    As was imagined, Zhang Tie''s third strike didn''t fall on Six-armed Demon Emperor either; instead, it was blocked by another demon general in full-body outfit. Following after, that demon general rushed towards Zhang Tie...


    As a result, 6 demon powers were besieging Zhang Tie at the same time, 4 semi-sage powers and 2 ordinary wind demon generals. 2 of the 4 semi-sage demon powers were in full-body outfits whose battle force was close to that of a sage-level demon knight.


    Zhang Tie was blocked in all directions and was mired in an absolute hard battle...


    As demons outnumbered him in population and were more powerful than him, Zhang Tie had to fight them at his full strength.


    At the same time, over 130 miles away, with an extremely snow-white saber light, a demonic dragon''s head was chopped off. As a result, the greater part of the Dragon Demon Battle Formation was destroyed. Closely after that, the three-head demonic dragon which was covered with towering demonic flame instantly tottered.


    It seemed that it couldn''t trouble Force Emperor too long.


    Meanwhile, Zhong Ziqi''s final moment also arrived...


    ...


    Zhong Ziqi had seen the entire process since Zhang Tie suddenly appeared and threw out his spear, breaking the siege of demon powers and rushing towards Six-armed Demon Emperor time and time again and punching at Six-armed Demon Emperor for two times.


    Zhang Tie was in a hard battle; however, Zhong Ziqi suddenly burst out laughing. Although Zhong Ziqi had been covered with blood, he was still laughing out loudly. At the same time, his gloomy eyes turned increasingly brighter...


    "Hahaha, hero, although I don''t know your name, I, Zhong Ziqi have to appreciate you. If I could meet you in the afterlife, I will invite you for a drink..."


    Closely after saying that, Zhong Ziqi and that semi-transparent protective cover with flowing runes turned into a scorching light ball and exploded.


    Six-armed Demon Emperor was sent flying hundreds of meters away due to the aftermath. At the same time, the black tower turned into a light and shot towards Zhang Tie as fast as a lightning bolt...

 1867 Gathering of Powers

    Zhong Ziqi''s suicide was completely out of Zhang Tie''s imagination. He just watched this unyielding, dauntless human immortal general turning into a brilliant light ball. What was more unexpected was that Zhong Ziqi pushed the black tower towards Zhang Tie using the explosive force of his death!


    In this situation, perhaps Zhong Ziqi would like to have a try as long as he could keep the black tower from falling in the hand of demon emperor or other demons...


    Before Zhang Tie felt grieved about Zhong Ziqi''s death and studied the black tower, he had seen the black tower penetrating through some demon generals besieging Zhang Tie and moving towards himself.


    Zhang Tie would exert his full efforts to make Zhong Ziqi''s death valuable as the black tower was gifted by Zhong Ziqi at the cost of his life...


    The huge totem of spike shrimp reappeared behind Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie roared as he punched out 100 times in a split second, sending the 6 surrounding demon generals flying backward at once. One wind spider demon general''s protective battle qi was broken again by Zhang Tie''s iron fist. Closely after that, its body was broken into pieces by Zhang Tie''s punch and turned into a bloody rain.


    Zhang Tie instantly grabbed the small black tower as he resisted the power counterstrike of a semi-sage spider demon power by his protective battle qi and powerful body. Almost at the same time, Zhang Tie penetrated through the bloody rain of the second wind spider demon general that he had just killed...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ...


    Watching Zhang Tie getting the small black tower, Six-Arm Demon Emperor who was sent flying hundreds of meters away roared as he sped up towards Zhang Tie in an instant. Within one step, he had been thousands of meters away as he reached his claws towards Zhang Tie.


    Whims occurred to Zhang Tie the moment his substitute got the black tower¡ª¡ªmy substitute could never keep the tower. In this occasion, in order to prevent the small tower from falling in the hand of Six-armed Demon Emperor or other demons, the only solution is to throw the tower to me or Force Emperor...


    If my substitute gifts it to Force Emperor, my substitute might not be able to escape from Six-armed Demon Emperor''s chase as there were still about 130 miles between Force Emperor and my substitute.


    ¡ª¡ªIf the black tower was thrown to me, it would expose me. Even though I could get the tower, I''m still not sure whether I can escape or not. In that case, I might have to hide in Castle of Black Iron. But what if Six-armed Demon Emperor just waited here for me? If so, I would not be able to get out of Castle of Black Iron anymore. If Six-armed Demon Emperor contacted Versatile Demon Emperor, they could easily know that it was me who got the black tower and hid in the portable space. According to Versatile Demon Emperor, the others also have such portable spaces; but, they might not be as powerful as Castle of Black Iron...


    Those whims actually flashed by within 0.0001 seconds. In such a short period of time, Zhang Tie had already made a decision. On this occasion, he would never have demons get that black tower even at the risk of exposing his original body and Castle of Black Iron.


    ¡ª¡ªThis black tower looks unusual. If it fell into the hand of demons, it could only be exchanged with numerous people''s lives. If I could get it, even if I were forced to hide in Castle of Black Iron, I could always have some opportunities to reverse the situation in the future. I will take the initiative.


    When these whims flashed into his mind, he didn''t notice that the black tower slightly trembled and gave out a bizarre light when it touched his substitute. The light swept over Zhang Tie''s qi sea and disappeared.


    At this moment, all the 1,000 demon generals surrounding the huge black tower also moved. Almost all the demon generals rushed towards Zhang Tie.


    ...


    However, undoubtedly, Six-armed Demon Emperor was always the fastest one.


    "Give it to me..." Six-armed Demon Emperor roared as it charged at Zhang Tie with a grim look. It passed by those demon generals who were besieging Zhang Tie just now and instantly arrived ahead of all the other demon generals. Almost at the same time, it extended its six arms and gave out a towering black battle qi which covered the entire air zone, causing the air zone to turn dim in an instant like a solar eclipse. Its surging battle qi not only surrounded Zhang Tie from two sides but also isolated him from approaching the huge black tower...


    Zhang Tie discovered the intention of Six-armed Demon Emperor.


    ''It seems that Six-armed Demon Emperor doesn''t want me to approach the huge black tower.'' Zhang Tie''s heart suddenly palpitated.


    "Here you are..." Facing Six-armed Demon Emperor who was rushing towards his substitute, Zhang Tie''s substitute didn''t look scared at all; instead, in rapid retreat, Zhang Tie punched at Six-armed Demon Emperor. Zhang Tie accelerated towards the opposite direction of his original body the moment his punch was defended by Six-armed Demon Emperor.


    As was imagined, Six-armed Demon Emperor was trapped. It thought that Zhang Tie just wanted to get rid of it and escape. Despite being powerful, due to the unsurmountable difference in level, Zhang Tie''s punch qi was already shattered by Six-armed Demon Emperor before it approached the latter. Closely after that, Six-armed Demon Emperor flashed and blocked Zhang Tie. At the same time, it reached its claw towards Zhang Tie''s left chest...


    "Hahaha..." Zhang Tie burst out laughing as he punched at Six-armed Demon Emperor again without retreat. At the same time, the small black tower flew off his hand and shot towards Zhang Tie''s original body like a light when he charged at Six-armed Demon Emperor.


    There was no demon general in the air zone where Zhang Tie''s original body was. Additionally, no matter how fast Six-armed Demon Emperor was, he still couldn''t match the speed of the black tower which was thrown out by Zhang Tie at his full strength; not to mention that he was a bit slower in response and was blocked by Zhang Tie.


    Although being an unrivaled power in Motian Realm, Six-armed Demon Emperor was much more powerful than Zhang Tie. However, it had been challenged by Zhang Tie several times since the latter showed up within a short period of time. Zhang Tie had disrupted its plan which it was confident to make. Additionally, its subordinate demon generals and itself had been fooled by Zhang Tie for several times like monkeys. Therefore, Six-armed Demon Emperor had long been extremely furious as it couldn''t wait to tear Zhang Tie apart and slap him into sh*t...


    "Go die..." Watching Zhang Tie throwing out the black tower and speeding up towards it, Six-armed Demon Emperor didn''t let go of Zhang Tie. With an overwhelming black battle qi, it turned one claw into palm and slashed towards Zhang Tie like holding a saber.


    Facing Six-armed Demon Emperor''s strike, the fragile space in Mountain Ruins twisted again. After colliding with its terrifying strike, Zhang Tie''s iron fist was broken into pieces in an instant. Closely after that, the aftermath of the strike broke Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi and hit his body, sending him flying backward at once. Spurting blood heavily all over, Zhang Tie saw an over 1 m-long huge wound from his left shoulder to his right lower abdomen, which almost separated him into two halves.


    When it found its strike failed to split Zhang Tie''s substitute into two halves, Six-armed Demon Emperor became a bit shocked at once. It realized that Zhang Tie''s body was exceptionally hard. It was absolutely not like the body of a wind immortal general, but more like that of a supreme immortal general. However, when it found Zhang Tie had been sent flying backward and was heavily injured and besieged by a large batch of demon generals which implied that he was destined to die, Six-armed Demon Emperor instantly chased after the black tower which was flying towards far, ignoring whether Zhang Tie was alive or not any longer...


    ''Is that the real battle force of Six-armed Demon Emperor?''


    When Zhang Tie''s substitute was sent flying away by Six-armed Demon Emperor''s strike, his brain and nerves were heavily stimulated by the great pain. Additionally, Zhang Tie was pretty shocked at this moment. He finally realized how powerful was an immortal emperor or a demon emperor. Zhang Tie felt that Six-armed Demon Emperor didn''t purely use its battle qi or physical strength just now; instead, it used a bit strength of universal law¡ª¡ªcutting.


    When he was slammed by Six-armed Demon Emperor''s palm force, Zhang Tie felt that he was not hit by physical strength, but was split by a space crack. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie felt like falling in two spaces. It was similar to that feeling when half of his body was just sucked into the space crack while the other half was still above Yinhai Desert. At that moment, although being extremely temporal, Zhang Tie felt his body was split into two halves, one half in this space, the other in somewhere else unknown...


    A great batch of demon generals rushed over here with red eyes.


    Zhang Tie''s substitute didn''t think too much. Gnashing his teeth, he sped up towards a spider demon general in black cloak who only wore a skirt armor, ignoring the blood and terrifying wounds over his body and his rapid escaping essential energy.


    ''F*ck, even if my substitute has to die, he has to kill another demon general!''


    ...


    On the other side, watching the small black tower flying towards him, Zhang Tie''s original body rushed out of Castle of Black Iron in a split second. Almost at the same time, he released his spiritual energy as a divine dominator. When the small black tower was over 2,000 m away from him, it had been grabbed by Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy...


    However, a fair, powerful and slightly pale hand suddenly appeared out of the void and caught the small black tower soon after Zhang Tie''s spiritual energy touched the small tower and intended to pull it back.


    Almost at the same time, the fair yet a bit pale hand pointed at Zhang Tie''s original body. Closely after that, starlight flew towards Zhang Tie and hit his chest. In an instant, Zhang Tie trembled all over like being hit by a huge hammer. Spurting out blood, he was instantly sent flying 100 m backward. The contact between him and the black tower was also cut off at a stroke.


    At the same time, another starlight was released by another finger which then collided with Six-armed Demon Emperor''s palm. With a boom, it forced Six-armed Demon Emperor who was rushing towards here to retreat at once.


    Closely after that, a middle-aged Hua man suddenly appeared out of the void with a high forehead, slim eyes, a domineering yet a bit feminine look. After taking a look at the black tower in his hand, he suddenly burst out laughing wildly, ignoring Six-Arm Demon Emperor who had changed his face greatly and Zhang Tie who was retreating rapidly and spurting out blood. "Hahaha, look, this immortal prison is always mine in the end, hahaha..."


    As was imagined, this man was Star Emperor...


    ...

 1868 Being Completely Exposed

    There were always accidents in one''s life!


    Like how Six-armed Demon Emperor had not predicted that Zhang Tie was hiding aside and destroying his good plan, Zhang Tie had not imagined that Star Emperor was hiding aside either; not to mention that Star Emperor could grab the black tower at the critical moment.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie finally understood why Star Emperor and Force Emperor didn''t show up in Woods Medium-sized Domain although Woods Medium-sized Domain was in great turmoil and Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Heavenly Sunshine Immortal Palace were confronting each other with daggers and had caused heavy casualties. Perhaps what had happened in Mountain Ruins was more important than that in Woods Medium-sized Domain.


    However, compared to Force Emperor who always behaved in a righteous and heroic way, Star Emperor''s methods were more mysterious and unpredictable.


    Star Emperor''s strike sent Zhang Tie flying back and injured him. At this moment, although Zhang Tie had not acquired the black tower, he still didn''t feel too sad or unacceptable when he found that the black tower fell in the hands of Star Emperor. The pitiful whim just flashed by. Instead, he felt a bit reassured. After Star Emperor showed up and acquired the black tower, he could share some stress with Zhang Tie from demons.


    No matter how cunning and selfish was Star Emperor, he was after all a human. This point alone was enough for Zhang Tie. From ancient times, emperors or heroes were not necessarily kind-hearted men or sages who had perfect morals. As long as they could benefit most of the people, the ethnic groups and the country as a whole and hold their ground in front of enemies or major issues, they could still preserve their prestige despite they were vicious, merciless and use unscrupulous divisive tactics.


    The fact that the black tower fell in the hands of a human was definitely better than it fell in the hands of a demon.


    Zhang Tie was very scared of Star Emperor; however, he didn''t hate him too much.


    ...


    Soon after Star Emperor acquired the black tower, Zhang Tie''s substitute had been broken into pieces by that spider demon in black cloak. Before death, Zhang Tie''s substitute exerted his full efforts to penetrate through the spider demon''s protective battle qi; at the same time, the spider demon inserted one claw into Zhang Tie''s chest. In a split second, Zhang Tie and the spider demon turned into pieces...


    ''F*ck, I miss another fire chakra...''


    Zhang Tie pitied the fire chakra of spider demon in black cloak when his substitute died.


    At this moment, standing far away, Zhang Tie wiped off his mouth corners and watched Star Emperor, Six-armed Demon Emperor and so many demon generals with sparkling eyes as he racked his mind and considered how to get something from demons before getting rid of them.


    Although his substitute had already killed two demon generals, Zhang Tie''s original body had gotten no benefits. Zhang Tie couldn''t accept it; especially when there were so many fire chakras right in front of him...


    ...


    The appearance of Star Emperor reversed the situation at once; at the same time, Six-armed Demon Emperor and so many demon generals became still at a stroke too. None of them dared surround Star Emperor for the time being. Six-armed Demon Emperor glanced at Star Emperor, Force Emperor who was fighting those supreme-level immortal generals and Zhang Tie one after another with sparkling gloomy eyes. Nobody knew what it was thinking about.


    Perhaps they had already received the message of Six-armed Demon Emperor, those demon generals in form of Dragon Demon Battle Formation who were already disadvantaged didn''t mean to fight Force Emperor anymore. Facing a 10,000-m long snow-white saber light, the dragon demon battle formation collapsed in a split second. Force Emperor burst out into laughter as he approached Star Emperor, Six-armed Demon Emperor and Zhang Tie in only a few seconds.


    At the same time, those demon sage-level knights who had just formed the Dragon Demon Battle Formation also arrived there and surrounded Star Emperor, Force Emperor, Six-Arm Demon Emperor and Zhang Tie.


    Two human immortal emperors were here. By contrast, only Six-armed Demon Emperor could fight the two human immortal emperors. If the battle broke out, so many demon generals couldn''t form a complete battle formation at all. Even though they could fight a human immortal emperor, they couldn''t take the upper hand, not to mention stopping a human immortal emperor from leaving here. Therefore, both parties just confronted each other while holding their nerves.


    Force Emperor and Star Emperor were both dauntless. By contrast, demons were pretty unwilling to accept the fact. Gnashing its teeth, Six-armed Demon Emperor gazed at the black tower in the hand of Star Emperor with its strongest qi and surging black battle qi. It was ready for launching a strike at any time.


    As for Zhang Tie, he was absolutely neglected by those unrivaled powers given his battle force.


    "Hahaha, it''s really boisterous here..." Force Emperor flew over here with a huge saber on his shoulder. He stopped thousands of meters away from Star Emperor and Six-armed Demon Emperor. Following after, he glanced at Six-armed Demon Emperor with his sharp eyes under dense eyebrows. Finally, he fixed his eyes on "Cui Li". After glancing at Zhang Tie from his head to toe, Force Emperor said with a faint frown, "Invisible Shen bead, are you red and blue devils? But you don''t look like them according to the descriptions of the gossips..."


    Zhang Tie and his substitute had just shown up out of the air; no wonder Force Emperor would treat Zhang Tie and his substitute as red and blue devils.


    Before Zhang Tie spoke, Star Emperor had answered, "Lu Lanfeng the Lightfeather Lord of Light Feather Immortal Palace and I acquired two invisible Shen beads from Mountain Ruins. Lu Lanfeng even gifted his invisible Shen bead to one of his disciples. Pitifully, his disciple was killed by red and blue devils. Therefore, that invisible Shen bead fell in the hands of red and blue devils. However, red and blue devils had long been killed in Brokenstars Sea. Of course, their invisible Shen bead fell in the hands of someone else..." After saying that, Star Emperor glanced at Zhang Tie with his long, narrowed eyes with deep meaning in his eyes...


    After hearing Star Emperor''s words and having an eye contact with Star Emperor, Zhang Tie let out a sigh as he knew that Star Emperor had already guessed Zhang Tie''s real identity¡ª¡ªit was Star Emperor who employed red and blue devils to eliminate the crew of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City in Brokenstars Sea. Later on, Zhang Tie experienced Star Emperor''s spiritual trick in the mind sea of a demon general whom Star Emperor gifted to him. Given Star Emperor''s wisdom, he could easily know that red and blue devils were killed by Zhang Tie in Brokenstars Sea. Of course, the invisible Shen bead of red and blue devils fell in the hands of Zhang Tie. Although Zhang Tie had disguised as Cui Li, his invisible Shen bead could still expose a lot of information.


    "It''s not a big deal. No matter what, you''re better than red and blue devils the two scumbags. Given that you dared fight a demon emperor, you must be a tough man. I promise you to leave here alive today..." Force Emperor told Zhang Tie resolutely in an extremely domineering way, "Oh, may I know your name? I''ve not heard about you among the humans in Motian Realm."


    "Hahaha, he is Zhang Tie, the incumbent Dragon Emperor. Your Majesty Force Emperor, how could you not hear about him..." an abrupt voice suddenly sounded around them. After hearing this voice, Zhang Tie changed his face at a stroke because it was from Versatile Demon Emperor.


    At the same time, it appeared 70 miles away. Then, it came to the front of all the others only with a few flashes.


    It was in red robe with silver hair and beard, a wrinkled face, a pair of profound eyes and a tall nose which looked like a hawk beak. At the sight of this uninvited guest, Star Emperor and Force Emperor shrunk their eyes at once. At the same time, Six-armed Demon Emperor''s eyes flickered as if it was considering something; however, it was still a bit scared about it...


    "It''s a grand event for 5 human and demon emperors to gather together in Mountain Plain, Your Majesty Dragon Emperor, why do you hide yourself?" Versatile Demon Emperor spoke to Zhang Tie with a faint smile.


    ''Damn it!''


    Zhang Tie revealed a bitter smile. After his invisible Shen bead was exposed, Star Emperor might guess Zhang Tie''s real identity. In the eyes of Versatile-Demon Emperor, it was nothing different than admitting that he was Zhang Tie. As Star Emperor didn''t know that Zhang Tie had activated his body-changing immortal bloodline, he might still be a bit confused about that. However, Versatile Demon Emperor knew that Zhang Tie could disguise as Cui Li.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that he could promote to a semi-sage level knight secretly in Mountain Ruins; unexpectedly, after coming to Mountain Ruins for less than a month, his identity of Cui Li had been exposed; especially to those more powerful ones in Motian Realm.


    Watching Versatile Demon Emperor approaching them, Zhang Tie took in a deep breath as he changed back to his original look¡ª¡ªa 17-year old handsome teenager.


    "A disguised demon?" Force Emperor squinted his eyes as his qi surged all of a sudden.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "No, it''s a deity''s bloodline..." Star Emperor gazed at Zhang Tie as if it was his first time to recognize Zhang Tie.


    Watching Zhang Tie restoring his original look, Six-armed Demon Emperor looked around as if it was afraid that Zhang Tie''s "master" would come out again. At this moment, if one more human immortal emperor was here, it would be more impossible for Six-armed Demon Emperor to get the black tower...


    After restoring his original look, Zhang Tie felt reassured, frank and open-minded at a stroke. ''Those who should come would come sooner or later. After all, even Versatile Demon Emperor have known that, I won''t be afraid that it''s exposed to others.''


    After changing back to his original look, Zhang Tie talked to Force Emperor and Star Emperor with a smile, "Please forgive me, I''ve not imagined that I could meet you here. The reason that I disguised as Cui Li lay in that I was chased by Versatile Demon Emperor these days. Despite I''ve survived his traps for a few times, I have to protect myself to a certain degree..."


    "What? You were chased by Versatile Demon Emperor?" Force Emperor took a look at Zhang Tie, then Versatile Demon Emperor with deep confusion. Despite being an immortal emperor, Force Emperor still felt confused.


    Not only Force Emperor, even Star Emperor felt a bit confused. He didn''t know about the old scores between Dragon Emperor and Versatile Demon Emperor at all, not to mention that Zhang Tie was chased and hiding in such an embarrassed way.


    "Let me tell you. Zhang Tie was not born in Motian Realm; instead, he came from another world..." Versatile Demon Emperor said with a grim smile as it exposed another major news," When I met him for the first time, I found the surging points on his spine was lit after he was born. These days, he stayed with Bian Heng. I''m afraid that Bian Heng had mixed some primordial qi into his surging points on the spine; therefore, you couldn''t discover his difference. Additionally, this man has mastered a lot of odd secret skills. Even though the former Dragon Emperor in Dragon Emperor City was disguised by him. The real Dragon Emperor had been killed over 900 years ago. This man disguised as the late Dragon Emperor and Dragon Emperor''s disciple. In this way, he usurped the throne of Dragon Emperor and cheated people everywhere. Even I feel ashamed for his deed..."


    Of course, Versatile Demon Emperor had its deep meaning by saying that. Previously, it thought that Zhang Tie would be flurried by its words; unexpectedly, after hearing its words, Zhang Tie became completely calm...

 1869 Being Free

    After the thing that he was concerned about the most was exposed to the public by Versatile Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie should have the reason to feel frustrated or flurried facing so many unrivaled powers. However, after exposure, Zhang Tie felt being free like a person who was in mask could finally pick off his mask and breathe the air and enjoy the sunshine freely, exposing his real face to the public...


    Zhang Tie was also a bit amazed by his mental change. However, after analyzing his own mentality, Zhang Tie immediately figured it out. In the final analysis, his temperament determined that he was not that kind of a person who liked to play tricks or enjoyed living in the dark.


    Since he came to Motian Realm, although Zhang Tie had not hidden his name, he was always meticulous and afraid of exposing his own secrets. He had many concerns. Although he had promoted to higher levels at a high speed over these years in Motian Realm, he didn''t feel free at all; instead, he was also depressed and cautious subconsciously.


    After so many secrets were exposed to the public, Zhang Tie''s concerns were finally gone. He was finally free and could become himself.


    In the final analysis, in this world, battle force determined everything. As long as one had great battle force, he would be safe in this world as nobody dared hurt him. If one was weak, he couldn''t even hold one gold coin in his pocket as many people would cast greedy eyes on it.


    If one had great battle force, he would always be taken as a powerful and able one even if he pretended to be weak!


    If one didn''t have great battle force, he would always be taken as a coward even if he pretended to be something!


    It was a universal law in both Taixia Country and Motian Realm.


    After thinking it through and abandoning all the concerns, Zhang Tie looked frank with a faint smile; instead of the expression that Versatile Demon Emperor longed for.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie suddenly saw the light and won great wisdom. Meanwhile, his thoughts became clear and smooth. His mentality instantly reached a new height. With this new mentality, Zhang Tie instantly figured out Versatile Demon Emperor''s purpose by unveiling his background to the public.


    It was definitely not Versatile Demon Emperor''s sudden inspiration or that it purely wanted to strike Zhang Tie by exposing his background to Force Emperor and Star Emperor; instead, it had multiple purposes.


    Firstly, Versatile Demon Emperor wanted to tell Force Emperor and Star Emperor that the Dragon Emperor who had been missing for more than 900 years would never come back. Versatile Demon Emperor, Six-armed Demon Emperor and Black Mountain Demon Emperor and so many demon generals had already taken the upper hand.


    Secondly, it might be related to the chaos that Versatile Demon Emperor aroused in the domains below. The turmoil in Woods Medium-sized Domain and Dark Valley had been expanding. On this occasion, if everyone knew the background of the incumbent Dragon Emperor and that there was actually no immortal emperor on the back of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; instead, it was an alien who usurped the throne of Dragon Emperor, the Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace which had just recovered its vigor would become the target of many ambitious ones across Motian Realm again. The internal competitions among humans in Motian Realm would be further aggravated.


    Thirdly, Versatile Demon Emperor wanted Zhang Tie to be the target for all. It might even want to stimulate Force Emperor or Star Emperor to kill Zhang Tie so as to eliminate a big threat facing demons in the future.


    Although Zhang Tie was not crystal clear about the ultimate intention of Versatile Demon Emperor by arousing such great chaos among humans, he had absolutely known the general frame of Versatile Demon Emperor''s tricks.


    As Versatile Demon Emperor exposed Zhang Tie''s background, all the immortal emperors or demon emperors present including those demon generals who had just fought Zhang Tie just now fixated onto Zhang Tie at a stroke.


    At this moment, if Zhang Tie was a match, he might have long been lit by those sights.


    As for these powers, they didn''t care about Zhang Tie''s secret methods or the fact that he usurped the throne of Dragon Emperor at all; because they knew that the throne of Dragon Emperor would be usurped and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would break apart sooner or later given the former situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. What shocked them the most was that Zhang Tie was an "alien".


    Of course, a man who didn''t come from Motian Realm was almost like an alien compared with commoners in the eyes of those powers in Motian Realm.


    "Most of Versatile Demon Emperor''s words were real. I indeed came from an alien world. According to my knowledge, I''m not the first alien who had entered Motian Realm; probably not the last one either. Therefore, don''t be curious about that. As for my real name, I''m the very Zhang Tie..."


    Zhang Tie''s voice and look were both calm. Like an invisible strength, his calmness temporarily caused those eager, restless eyes to calm down. All the others just listened to him quietly.


    "But Versatile Demon Emperor made a mistake. Although I''ve not seen Dragon Emperor, I''m indeed the disciple of Dragon Emperor. When I came to Dragon Emperor City, I acquired the secret methods that His Majesty Dragon Emperor left in Dragon Emperor City. Nobody else across Motian Realm would be more qualified than me to inherit the throne of Dragon Emperor..." As he spoke, Zhang Tie released a golden dragon-shaped flame. In the blink of an eye, the air within tens of thousands of meters had been heated like being in a furnace. Although nobody present was afraid of this high temperature, everyone could recognize that the golden flame was the brand of the former Dragon Emperor¡ª¡ªReal Dragon Flame. Nobody would deny it.


    "As long as you could find someone who''s more qualified than me to inherit the throne of Dragon Emperor, I''d like to abdicate; instead of being unwilling to leave this throne!" Being surrounded by the golden realm dragon flame, Zhang Tie was safe and sound; instead, he watched Versatile Demon Emperor with a smile. "If you call it a usurpation, what about that you screwed up Runed Emperor and killed him, acquiring his Tadpole Rune Sutra and founding Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in the name of Rune Emperor secretly? What do you call it when you made the golden-soul rune virus and instigated internal competitions among human immortal palaces? You cannot wait to kill me because that I unveiled the background of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Cyanlotus City; destroyed the Cyandragon Palace and the branch of Si Clan of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace; knew your real identity and refused your profitable allure..."


    It was impolite not to reciprocate. Therefore, Zhang Tie unveiled Versatile Demon Emperor''s conspiracies among humans at once. Even Star Emperor and Force Emperor might not know these information.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Star Emperor and Force Emperor exchanged a glance with each other. Closely after that, Versatile Demon Emperor''s face turned gloomy. He squinted at Zhang Tie as a ferocious light flashed across his eyes. Versatile Demon Emperor knew that Zhang Tie was tricky; however, he had not imagined that Zhang Tie still stayed calm and fearless about him at this moment...


    "You mean you were the very person who unveiled the conspiracy of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace outside Cyanlotus City?" Force Emperor opened his mouth as he watched Zhang Tie.


    "Yes, two female disciples of Yin-Yang Sect are familiar with me. The branch of Cyandragon Palace of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace attacked Redmountain City from the inside and with the golden-soul rune virus and captured all the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect. Previously, they wanted to take these captives to space beneath the castle of Si Clan and offered sacred sacrifice with the captives before activating the golden-soul rune virus in their minds so as to make those captives their puppets. Unexpectedly, I caught up with them and saved all the captives of Yin-Yang Sect in Cyanlotus City. Additionally, I destroyed the plan of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and exposed the background of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace to the public..."


    "Why did you do that in Cyanlotus City?" Force Emperor asked. Force Emperor knew the tragedy outside Redmountain City. At that time, he was pretty infuriated; because he had not imagined that the remaining ones of Yin-Yang Sect that Force Emperor Immortal Palace had been chasing for so many years were hiding in the territory of Force Emperor Immortal Palace. Additionally, he had not imagined that someone in Motian Realm dared find trouble in his territory by exterminating a branch being subject to Force Emperor Immortal Palace. After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, he finally knew the details about the event outside Redmountain City.


    "Humans and demons are implacably opposite to each other. Even though I''m not a native in Motian Realm, I''m still a human. After discovering demons'' conspiracy on endangering humans in Motian Realm, of course I should stand on the side of humans and consider how to deal with it safe and sound..." Zhang Tie explained seriously.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Force Emperor raised his dense eyebrows and praised loudly, "Good, what a disciple of Dragon Emperor!"


    Superficially, Force Emperor was speaking highly of Zhang Tie; actually, he had accepted the fact that Zhang Tie had inherited the throne of Dragon Emperor. As an immortal emperor, of course, Force Emperor could sense the intention of Versatile Demon Emperor. However, we should oppose everything that our enemies support and support everything that our enemies oppose. This was the golden law of the competition between humans and demons. Versatile Demon Emperor wanted to use Force Emperor and Star Emperor to kill Zhang Tie and disrupt the overall situation facing humans; therefore, Force Emperor would stop Versatile Demon Emperor from doing that.


    "If you want to have a free chat, please change the place. I would never stop you. But you have to leave the tower here before leaving..." Six-armed Demon Emperor finally opened its mouth coldly as it kept a close eye on Star Emperor.


    "Hahaha, Infinite Immortal Prison is a legendary object in Motian Realm. Of course, the one who gets it would have it. If you want to stop me from leaving, it depends on whether demons have that ability!" Star Emperor said after taking a cold and arrogant look at Six-armed Demon Emperor and Versatile Demon Emperor. After that, Star Emperor took a look at Force Emperor and said, "If I could keep the Infinite Immortal Prison today, Star Emperor Immortal Palace would like to share everything inside the immortal prison with Force Emperor Immortal Palace, 60/40. If there''s really a deity''s secret method inside the immortal prison, we two could study it together..."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Force Emperor took a look at Star Emperor. Only after less than 1 second''s consideration, he had nodded and said in a muffled voice, "Good, let''s see whether the legendary immortal prison which was said to be used to suppress all the evil forces in the period of deities belongs to humans or demons..."


    Of course, Star Emperor didn''t think that Zhang Tie was qualified to share the benefits with him at this moment even though he represented Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace...


    After hearing the talk between Star Emperor and Force Emperor, although Zhang Tie looked calm, his inner heart had actually been pounding. ''Deity''s secret method? What does that mean? Deity''s secret method is an emperor-level secret method. Is there an emperor-level secret method in immortal prison? Is there any more emperor-level secret method besides Xuanyuan Deity Sutra and Infinite King Roc Sutra in Motian Realm?


    ''Wait!'' A whim suddenly flashed into his mind. ''What if Infinite King Roc Sutra that Bian Heng and the others discovered was inside the immortal prison?''


    Zhang Tie was shocked very much by this presumption. At the same time, Six-Arm Demon Emperor launched a strike...


    Six-armed Demon Emperor couldn''t wait anymore; because a large batch of human immortal generals were flying towards here from thousands of miles away as fast as they could...


    Force Emperor and Star Emperor were not single commanders...


    Six-armed Demon Emperor targeted at Star Emperor.


    When Six-armed Demon Emperor moved, Star Emperor moved too, closely followed by Versatile Demon Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor...


    Force Emperor rushed towards Versatile Demon Emperor so that the two demon emperors couldn''t attack Star Emperor at the same time...


    "Hurry, go. Six-armed Demon Emperor and Versatile Demon Emperor both want to kill you today. Human powers inside the Mountain Ruins are on the way here. You''re not qualified to join the following scramble..." Force Emperor told Zhang Tie.


    Following after, two sage-level spider demon knights in red cloaks had charged at Zhang Tie...


    The real battle broke out immediately...

 1870 The Sudden Change in the Black Tower

    Two sage-level demon generals charged at Zhang Tie simultaneously. Undoubtedly, it indicated that Six-armed Demon Emperor determined to kill Zhang Tie. In the eyes of Six-armed Demon Emperor, no matter how powerful was Zhang Tie, he could never surpass the insurmountable gap between the heavenly knight and sage-level knight. Generally, one sage-level knight would be able to kill Zhang Tie easily. For the sake of insurance, Six-armed Demon Emperor asked two sage-level demon knights to attack him. Given this point, Six-armed Demon Emperor must be hating Zhang Tie very much.


    Without Zhang Tie, the small black tower had long fallen in the hands of Six-armed Demon Emperor. Because of Zhang Tie, so many changes had happened. As a result, Six-armed Demon Emperor''s hard efforts became in vain. Therefore, Six-armed Demon Emperor determined to kill Zhang Tie out of benefit.


    From the stance of demons, no matter whether Zhang Tie was from another world or not, he was the heir of Dragon Emperor and the incumbent Dragon Emperor of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. If Six-armed Demon Emperor could kill such a person, it would gain greater prestige among demons. Demons in Motian Realm also valued reputation, the greatest one of which was to kill the heads of human immortal palaces.


    Undoubtedly, Six-armed Demon Emperor would win greater reputation if it killed the incumbent Dragon Emperor of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Therefore, Six-armed Demon Emperor determined to kill him.


    With the two above reasons, Six-Arm Demon Emperor determined to assign two subordinate sage-level knights to launch strikes at Zhang Tie at the same time and killed him as fast as possible.


    Zhang Tie had understood Six-armed Demon Emperor''s intention. Before the two sage-level demon knights approached him, Zhang Tie had accelerated towards the surrounding demon generals.


    Six-armed Demon Emperor wanted to kill Zhang Tie; however, he underestimated Zhang Tie''s real battle force. Nor did he imagine that Zhang Tie dared launch a strike with high morality at this critical moment; instead of escaping away.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the surrounding demon generals were more like movable chakras rather than demon generals.


    Regardless of the belonging issue of the small tower, if Zhang Tie didn''t seize this opportunity to make a big fortune, he would never forgive himself.


    When the two immortal emperors and the two demon emperors collided with each other, they caused the entire space to rock. All the other powers including Zhang Tie and the other demon generals stayed far away from their battlefield as fast as they could. At this moment, anyone being involved in the battlefield between those top powers would die for sure. Even sage-level powers were not an exception...


    "Listen, two supreme-level demon generals couldn''t kill him. All the supreme-level demon generals should form a battle formation to kill Zhang Tie..." Watching Zhang Tie charging at those surrounding demon generals, Versatile Demon Emperor who was fighting Force Emperor changed its face immediately as it roared at Six-armed Demon Emperor.


    Only Versatile Demon Emperor who had fought Zhang Tie before knew the terror of this humble "wind demon general". If they didn''t kill Zhang Tie as soon as possible, when he promoted to a fire immortal general or supreme-level immortal general, he would be unrivaled across Motian Realm. If Zhang Tie promoted to an immortal emperor, he would destroy all the demons in Motian Realm.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    In order to kill Zhang Tie, Versatile Demon Emperor even risked great dangers staying outside Emperor NvWa City for a few months and postponing his plan in Woods Medium-sized Domain. Pitifully, Zhang Tie finally escaped. Just now, when Versatile Demon Emperor moved and intended to kill Zhang Tie, it was instantly blocked by Force Emperor.


    What irritated Versatile Demon Emperor the most was that it had told Six-armed Demon Emperor secretly to kill Zhang Tie as soon as possible at their full efforts like tigers fighting a rabbit at any cost...


    However, Six-armed Demon Emperor didn''t take its words seriously; perhaps Six-armed Demon Emperor had taken its words seriously; however, Six-armed Demon Emperor thought that it was already like tigers fighting a rabbit at his full efforts by assigning two supreme-level demon generals to fight Zhang Tie. As for the other supreme-level demon knights, Six-armed Demon Emperor would keep them to restrict Star Emperor''s move in case that the tricky Star Emperor escaped away with the small tower...


    After hearing Versatile Demon Emperor''s words, Six-armed Demon Emperor actually didn''t take it seriously. In its eyes, Zhang Tie was just a wind immortal general. Two supreme-level demon generals could definitely kill him. Additionally, Versatile Demon Emperor and Six-armed Demon Emperor were on the same level. Even though Versatile Demon Emperor had killed Runed Emperor and had greater reputation in Motian Realm, almost all the demon generals here were subordinate to Six-armed Demon Emperor. Therefore, Six-armed Demon Emperor felt disgraced taking the advice of Versatile Demon Emperor...


    Six-armed Demon Emperor didn''t express its dissatisfaction; instead, it kept attacking Star Emperor with blazing eyes silently. However, Zhang Tie''s performance soon told Six-armed Demon Emperor that it was wrong.


    Zhang Tie moved so fast that even Six-armed Demon Emperor thought that it was dazzled. The two supreme-level demon generals who were charging at him were also dwarfed by him in speed.


    Only with a flash, Zhang Tie had passed over 10,000 m and entered the surrounding demon generals. Before a wind demon general made any response, its fire chakra had been locked by Zhang Tie''s shackle of chakra. In a split second, a punch had approached the wind demon general''s eyes...


    At the same time, a shadow of spike shrimp reappeared behind Zhang Tie. Being different than that before, a hot sun appeared behind the shadow this time.


    A shrimp''s force could scramble brilliance with the sun, not to mention a human''s force!


    Boom...


    Zhang Tie''s strong punch qi crossed the sky while the hot sun covered the wind demon general. In an instant, the wind demon general''s body had disappeared in the hot sun...


    Hundreds of meters away from that wind demon general, there was another single wind demon general who didn''t join the big formation with the others. When the first wind demon general disappeared in the hot sun, Zhang Tie''s second punch had already arrived at the front of the second wind demon general.


    Following after, another blazing sun rose up. The second wind demon general''s protective battle qi and body then melted in Zhang Tie''s terrifying punch qi immediately.


    All the other demon generals were startled. Before they made any response, the third single wind demon general had melted in the blazing sun of Zhang Tie''s punch qi.


    Compared to the former two late wind demon generals, this one was a bit more powerful; because it could defend 2 punches; so what...


    Given Zhang Tie''s speed, he could punch over 100 times per second, each punch with the same power. Therefore, there was no difference for Zhang Tie whether his opponents could resist one punch or two punches.


    As for those ordinary wind demon generals, they couldn''t move as fast as Zhang Tie; additionally, their protective battle qi was as fragile as a paper board facing Zhang Tie''s terrifying iron fists. They couldn''t escape away or defeat Zhang Tie. They could only wait for death!


    It was absolutely a one-sided massacre!


    When Zhang Tie avoided the siege and strikes of some sage-level demon knights and some demon battle formations, he kept chasing after those single wind demon generals. Only after a short while, he had broken two more wind demon generals into pieces by punches.


    The shadow of spike shrimp behind Zhang Tie gradually became the symbol of death deity. The demon generals'' battle formations would be chaotic wherever Zhang Tie passed by. It was like a tiger entering a flock of sheep...


    Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had already killed 5 wind demon generals. Therefore, all the other demons were startled by Zhang Tie''s great battle force except Versatile Demon Emperor.


    Six-armed Demon Emperor''s eyes turned bloody in an instant. He roared at some subordinate supreme-level demon generals, "Kill him..."


    ...


    Demons were not foolish. After Zhang Tie killed five "soft persimmons" as fast as he could, he found all the rest demon generals had made responses to his action. All the single demon generals gathered together and hid behind those battle formation of demon generals. At the same time, those battle formations of demon generals started to besiege him. Those supreme-level demon generals who didn''t attack him just now instantly fixed the gaps of the battle formations in all directions...


    The current situation was that over 1,000 demon powers were besieging Zhang Tie. In a split second, hundreds of battle qi strikes had been released towards Zhang Tie, leaving no space for him to escape...


    At a glance, Zhang Tie was going to be shattered into pieces like a mantis facing the huge wheel of demons.


    Pitifully, he only killed 5 wind demon generals...


    Zhang Tie was still a bit unsatisfied about his achievement.


    When the five wind demon generals were killed by Zhang Tie, their fire chakras were locked by Zhang Tie.


    What Zhang Tie didn''t like was that all the 5 wind demon generals were poor. The total of their fire chakras was only a bit more than that of a complete fire chakra of a fire demon general...


    If he could have a few more minutes, he could lock enough fire chakras to promote to a semi-sage level knight. However, the rapid reaction of demons closed the temporary time window.


    Hundreds of powerful battle qi strikes arrived in an overwhelming manner. When everyone thought that Zhang Tie was going to be shattered into pieces or at least be heavily injured, Zhang Tie responded with a battle qi strike by punch and broke it. Closely after that, he flew out of the encirclement through the route of that battle qi. Before over 1,000 demon generals adjusted the direction and fired, Zhang Tie had disappeared from their sight...


    Not until then did they remember that Zhang Tie had an invisible Shen bead, which had long integrated with Zhang Tie''s spirit. Zhang Tie could be invisible whenever he wanted without any omen. Given this point, he could even match Star Emperor.


    Now that they couldn''t see Zhang Tie, their battle qi strikes became disordered and couldn''t pose a threat to Zhang Tie any longer. Additionally, they had to prevent from Zhang Tie''s sneak attack...


    As a result, the battle formation of demon generals became chaotic again. In order to prevent from Zhang Tie''s sneak attack and figure out Zhang Tie''s trace, over 1,000 demon generals launched battle qi strikes forward and towards far like being crazy...


    ...


    When Star Emperor found that all the supreme-level demon generals were besieging Zhang Tie, he indeed had a whim¡ª¡ªleave here!


    The black tower was still in Star Emperor''s hand. Not knowing why, the small tower was getting increasingly hotter. However, as it was a far-ancient immortal item, Star Emperor didn''t think too much about it. He just took it as a natural response. On this occasion, now that Star Emperor wanted to leave, he wanted to teleport the small black tower into his portable space-teleportation equipment. However, when Star Emperor ran his spiritual energy, he found the small tower didn''t respond to his order at all. He tried again in vain. He was really shocked. He had not met such a thing before. When he wanted to put the small tower into his portable space-teleportation equipment, he found that the small tower became completely frozen in this space and couldn''t be moved at all.


    ''Couldn''t the control center be put in space-teleportation equipment?''


    When this whim flashed by, Star Emperor felt the black tower vibrate in his hand.


    With a buzz, the black tower quivered once. Closely after that, it gave out a brilliant golden light as if it suddenly woke up after sleeping for numerous years. Due to the high-frequency shock of the tower, Star Emperor almost failed to hold it. At the same time, his arm also started to shake with the small tower.


    ''What''s wrong with it?'' Star Emperor was dumbfounded...


    With another buzz, the small tower quivered again with a higher frequency. At the same time, the small tower gave out a brighter golden light. Despite being an immortal emperor, Star Emperor failed to hold the small tower this time. The small tower instantly got rid of his grip. After penetrating through a powerful strike of Six-Arm Demon Emperor, it flashed towards the place where those demon generals were gathering around in terms of golden light while passing the trembling and twisted space...


    The sudden change shocked the four unrivaled powers...


    After being temporarily stunned, Six-armed Demon Emperor became surprised. He then turned around and chased after the small tower. Meanwhile, he ordered those supreme-level demon generals to block Star Emperor for the time being...


    ...Refer to those single demon generals who were easily killed and eaten.

 1871 A Narrow Escape

    Over 1,000 demon powers'' battle qi intertwined into a three-dimensional huge net in the air. Although the huge net looked very terrifying, it was full of loopholes in Zhang Tie''s eyes.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    As ordinary demon generals couldn''t discover Zhang Tie when he was invisible, their strikes were always scattered. Therefore, Zhang Tie could always avoid their attacks easily.


    Being invisible, Zhang Tie moved as fast as a lightning bolt. When he activated his flight ability as a divine dominator, he became a flying fish which could travel across torrents and sprays. Traveling among the gaps between battle qi strikes, Zhang Tie was seeking opportunities for launching strikes.


    When over 1,000 demon powers gathered together, they were indeed very powerful; however, it was just relative. They would not be powerful any longer once they scattered. As for Zhang Tie, besides sage-level demon knights, most of the demon individuals among them were weak, even full-armored semi-sage demon knights.


    Blind strikes would consume a large amount of battle qi. Zhang Tie believed that these demon generals couldn''t stand launching blind strikes for too long when they couldn''t discover him. When these demon generals couldn''t stand it anymore or became disordered in attacking rhythm or weaker in battle forces, it would be the best moment for Zhang Tie to hunt them.


    There were many heavenly demon knights among them with complete fire chakras. Even though one heavenly demon knight wouldn''t do much help to Zhang Tie, as long as Zhang Tie could refine some more fire chakras of heavenly demon knights, he would also promote to a semi-sage level knight. He had already refined the fire chakras of five heavenly demon knights. Only after refining 10 more fire chakras of heavenly demon knights, he would be able to promote to a semi-sage level knight...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was pretty hyper. His mind was full of fire chakras. However, he didn''t find that he was already different than before. In his eyes, it was reasonable for him to kill some heavenly knights. It was nothing strange. However, if someone who understood Zhang Tie in Taixia Country were at present and saw him killing heavenly demon knights casually, they would definitely be shocked by Zhang Tie''s great change over these years. Zhang Tie had been unimaginably powerful.


    At the bank of Weishui River, Zhang Tie killed a heavenly demon knight by hitting it for 9 times with a rod, in which battle, he aroused the attention of the others in the world. Now, Zhang Tie could kill those heavenly demon knights like killing chickens and dogs and refine their fire charkas only by punches instead of using any weapons. Those heavenly demon knights could only gather together for survival. Due to great change, Zhang Tie had already been on a higher level unconsciously.


    However, those enemies that Zhang Tie encountered these years were too powerful. In Taixia Country, Zhang Tie''s enemies were sage-level knights at most; however, in Motian Realm, his most powerful enemies became demon emperors. All of these enemies were at the top of the food chain in the world. In front of these powers, due to great gap between levels, Zhang Tie always felt overwhelming stress. He even always felt tired escaping at the risk of his life. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t feel that he was too powerful.


    However, in the eyes of the others, even those demon generals who were gathering together, Zhang Tie was already able to frighten most of them.


    In Motian Realm, Zhang Tie was not the most powerful one; however, nobody else could casually overwhelm powers on the same level or even higher level except Zhang Tie. Facing Zhang Tie, those demon generals felt like facing an invincible rival instead of an immortal general of the same level. Zhang Tie''s overwhelming battle force could scare wind demon generals to death.


    Being invisible, Zhang Tie was flashing in the meshes of the huge net being intertwined by demons'' battle qi strikes flexibly. Like a wild wolf circling around its prey, Zhang Tie was seeking opportunities to approach those wind immortal generals. Not until the small golden tower rushed to his front was he astounded...


    The small tower started to rotate around Zhang Tie the moment it approached him. Before Zhang Tie realized what had happened, he had seen the Six-armed Demon Emperor rushing towards him with his palm strike and grim eyes.


    Invisible Shen bead and master-level hiding skill could enable Zhang Tie to be invisible and hide his qi; however, it didn''t mean that he could deceive the eyes of wind immortal generals or sage-level knights. Demon emperors and immortal emperors had powerful spiritual perceptions. They could notice any single micro speck of dust in the air within hundreds of meters. Therefore, if Six-armed Demon Emperor approached Zhang Tie, it could definitely sense his existence.


    Six-armed Demon Emperor definitely wanted to kill Zhang Tie by this palm strike.


    Due to its greed for the small tower and hatred about Zhang Tie, Six-armed Demon Emperor had already exerted its full efforts to attack Zhang Tie the moment it sensed his location.


    Zhang Tie sensed the powerful strength of universal law and the fierce intent of Six-armed Demon Emperor again. Last time, it was his substitute who sensed such a great power; now it was his own turn.


    This palm strike was at least 2 times more powerful than that suffered by Zhang Tie''s substitute.


    From hundreds of meters away, when Six-armed Demon Emperor released this palm strike, it twisted the fragile space immediately as an irresistible great force passed to Zhang Tie through the twisted space faster than any form of strike, causing Zhang Tie to show up at once.


    It was the greatest adventure in the eyes of demon emperors and immortal emperors. Even though he was fine one second ago, he might be in a dilemma the next second once the super unrivaled powers shifted their target and strikes onto him.


    Zhang Tie was in such a situation.


    Nobody could predict that the small tower could suddenly fly towards Zhang Tie, not even Force Emperor. Additionally, Force Emperor couldn''t do it even if he wanted to save Zhang Tie at this moment; because Versatile Demon Emperor had already found that Force Emperor wanted to save Zhang Tie when Six-armed Demon Emperor was launching a strike at Zhang Tie. As a light flashed across Versatile Demon Emperor''s eyes, it instantly seized the opportunity. In an instant, the space within thousands of meters shrunk and turned black. Almost at the same time, Versatile Demon Emperor drew Force Emperor into its own realm.


    Facing an immortal emperor on the same level, even though Versatile Demon Emperor drew Force Emperor into its own realm, it still couldn''t take any advantage of Force Emperor. Similarly, it was also impossible for Force Emperor to break through Versatile Demon Emperor''s realm in a short period of time. Only by trapping Force Emperor for a few minutes would Versatile Demon Emperor meet its purpose.


    The one who was closest to Zhang Tie and was most qualified to save him was Star Emperor.


    However, watching the small tower fly off his hand toward Zhang Tie, Star Emperor squinted his eyes at a stroke as he tightly pulped his mouth and revealed a faintly cold look.


    At this moment, a presumption occurred to Star Emperor¡ª¡ªdid Zhang Tie make some tricks on the small tower when he touched it just now?


    ''A wind immortal general dares scramble for an item with me. You''re seeking death. On this occasion, if your master Dragon Emperor was still alive, he would be qualified to scramble for it with me. If you died, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would lose its owner again..''


    Many whims occurred to Star Emperor. He soon made a decision. Star Emperor didn''t save Zhang Tie; instead, he just heavily inflicted two supreme-level demon generals in front of him and broke the encirclement of the battle formation of those supreme-level demon generals before rushing towards Six-armed Demon Emperor and the small tower.


    ...


    Facing Six-armed Demon Emperor''s fatal strike and sensing the strong power which enabled the space to undulate, Zhang Tie knew that he couldn''t resist it. At this moment, a whim occurred to him¡ª¡ªenter Castle of Black Iron.


    It was a method that Zhang Tie only used to protect himself at the critical moment.


    Pitifully, Zhang Tie still underestimated the ability of the unrivaled power. When he ran his spiritual energy and intended to enter Castle of Black Iron, he found that his body was bound by wisps of an odd space force, which was as shapeless as a cobweb. When Six-armed Demon Emperor launched a strike, its odd space force bound Zhang Tie tightly and fixed him in this space. As a result, Zhang Tie couldn''t move freely; additionally, being drawn by this force, he couldn''t leave this space at all.


    That got to be Six-armed Demon Emperor''s means. If it wanted to kill someone, its target could only wait for death.


    Zhang Tie roared as he retreated as fast as he could. Meanwhile, he took out his golden secret item Heavens-Separation Sword and slashed towards Six-armed Demon Emperor at a stroke.


    The light and sword qi of Heavens-Separation Sword surged out of Zhang Tie''s hand like discharging flood and collided with Six-armed Demon Emperor.


    In a split second, the sword qi flood was torn apart by Six-armed Demon Emperor''s iron palm; meanwhile, it weakened the momentum of the battle qi strike of Six-armed Demon Emperor. When the remaining battle qi approached him, it was instantly blocked by Zhang Tie''s Heavens-Separation Sword. As a golden secret item, Heavens-Separation Sword was even firmer than a shield which was a silver secret item.


    When Zhang Tie was ready to suffer this strike, he suddenly felt his battle qi becoming restless in his qi sea. Closely after that, all of his battle qi poured into the small tower which was rotating around him at a high speed. Only in an instant, a semi-transparent cover like that covering Zhong Ziqi just now had appeared around Zhang Tie''s body...


    The fatal strike of Six-armed Demon Emperor directly hit the semi-transparent protective cover.


    Due to a great shock from the protective cover, Zhang Tie spurted out blood at once. Closely after that, he flew towards the huge black tower as fast as a meteor...


    Watching Zhang Tie flying towards the huge black tower, Six-armed Demon Emperor changed its face greatly as it instantly chased after Zhang Tie towards the huge black tower.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was actually not severely injured; however, he was still greatly shocked; because it was the small tower that drew him towards the huge black tower with the inertia of Six-Arm Demon Emperor''s strike.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie''s battle qi was constantly absorbed by the small tower out of his control. Being driven by Zhang Tie''s battle qi, the small tower carried Zhang Tie towards the huge black tower like an ignited rocket engine by the semi-transparent protective cover even faster than a divine dominator.


    Of course, in others'' eyes, even in the eyes of Six-armed Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie intended to fly towards the huge black tower by this opportunity on purpose...


    When he flew towards the huge black tower, Zhang Tie suddenly became flurried as he felt being abducted by the small tower.


    ''Damn it, this father is a living powerful heavenly knight. How could I be abducted by a static object...''


    However, before Zhang Tie complained about it, he saw a huge gate at the bottom of the huge black tower, which revealed a space with rolling black fog. Almost at the same time, the small tower rushed inside the gate with Zhang Tie, blocking the last strike of Six-armed Demon Emperor out of the tower...


    When Six-armed Demon Emperor rushed to the front of the huge black portal, it changed its face again and stopped outside the gate at once. It became hesitant instead of following Zhang Tie in. However, right then, a black fog surged out of the open gate and turned into a huge black hand before drawing Six-armed Demon Emperor into the huge black tower.


    "Ah, no..."


    The black gate disappeared, leaving Six-Arm Demon Emperor''s wail reverberating around the Mountain Plain.


    All the powerhouses stopped fighting, including Star Emperor. Versatile Demon Emperor''s realm was broken. However, Force Emperor and Versatile Demon Emperor both stopped. All of them turned around and fixated onto the huge black tower.


    Force Emperor and Star Emperor looked incredible. It was just a few seconds after the small tower flew towards Zhang Tie. The two immortal emperors couldn''t figure out what had happened either...


    Watching the huge black tower, Versatile Demon Emperor suddenly trembled all over as its face turned dreadfully pale like that of a dead person. Versatile Demon Emperor had roared towards all the other demon generals who were in a daze and turned around and flashed away.


    Force Emperor''s 1 m-longer machete had already chopped a supreme-level spider demon general into pieces before those demon generals responded to what had happened...


    "Hahaha, son of b*tches, go die..." Force Emperor burst out laughing as he slashed towards another supreme-level spider demon general over 20,000 m away, shiny saber light breaking the space...


    Over 1,000 demon generals broke up in an uproar and escaped in all directions.


    When the army of immortal human generals within Mountain Ruins arrived here, there was no demon in the core of Mountains Plain anymore, except that huge black tower standing in the forbidding huge pit while giving out a strange light. Star Emperor was hacking the huge black tower by long sword time after time with numerous rays of starlights...


    However, no matter how hard he tried, he still couldn''t move the huge tower a bit; he couldn''t even leave any trace on the huge tower; instead, the huge pit was expanded by two more times. The ground around the tower had disappeared, leaving the huge tower floating in the air statically alone...


    Not until his long sword broke into pieces did Star Emperor let out a deep sigh. After turning around and taking a look at those immortal human generals, he flashed away and disappeared in an instant...


    ...


    Today, the news that the Infinite Immortal Prison which was said to have existed in far-ancient times showed up in Mountains Plain of Mountain Ruins shocked all the humans and demons across Motian Realm.


    Later on, too many human powers came to Mountains Plain to look at Infinite Immortal Prison with reverence. However, they could not do any harm to it no matter what means they used. By contrast, all the demons stayed far away from this place.


    One month later, a group of 10-odd powers with different features came to the foot of Infinite Immortal Prison, including 7-8 supreme-level immortal generals. Bian Heng was one of them.


    "Ziqi committed suicide here. He didn''t give the small tower to demons until death..." A supreme-level immortal general in violet gold crown sighed with grief as he took a look at that huge black tower.


    "Ziqi was straightforward and frank in his whole life. He died in a righteous way just like that he used to be..." Another person sighed.


    "If we''ve long known that this Infinite Immortal Prison was going to be another core of Mountain Ruins, our discovery of this Infinite Immortal Prison would become meaningless..." an old man beside Bian Heng said with a bitter look as he shook his head,"The core of Mountain Ruins might open in the future; however, I''m afraid that nobody could open this Infinite Immortal Prison in the future. As a result, it could only become a far-ancient relics..."


    "It''s said that Infinite Immortal Prison contains the deity''s secret book Infinite King Roc Sutra. Even though we''ve already known the result, we still don''t want to give up this opportunity, right?" a woman with a young look yet in grey hair spoke as she glared at Bian Heng,"It''s said that you cured Zhang Tie..."


    Bian Heng replied with a bitter smile, "I swear to God, I''ve not told him about the location of Infinite Immortal Prison. I even appointed with you to meet him in 10 months so that we could determine whether he was qualified to know this secret. After all, even though we could enter the tower, we have to pass the magic square battle formation. As Zhang Tie is good at math, I wanted him to give us a favor..."


    "It''s indeed none of Zhang Tie''s business. Before Zhang Tie came here, demons had already discovered the Infinite Immortal Prison and started to scramble for it. Zhang Tie just passed here by accident at that time..."


    "We''ve studied the small tower for so many years in vain. How could Zhang Tie and Six-armed Demon Emperor be sucked inside by this huge tower?"


    "As we''re not far-ancient deities, how do we know all the secrets about the deity''s relics? Otherwise, we would be deities. I''m afraid that Zhang Tie and Six-armed Demon Emperor probably have died inside it...''


    "Let''s go. Now that we couldn''t get this Infinite Immortal Prison, we need to think about finding something else in the core of Mountain Ruins..."


    After circling around the huge tower for a short while, they all sighed and left there, leaving their Miss, grief and despair.


    Coincidentally, when they left Mountains Plain, they met a wind immortal general in colorful clothes. He was Immortal in Clouds.


    Over these years, too many human powers came to Mountains Plain. When they found that the opponents were not demons, they just passed by each other silently.


    Only after a short while, Immortal in Clouds had come to the location Infinite Immortal Prison. After circling around it for a short while, he even approached the huge black tower. Then he took out of a small hammer from his portable space-teleportation item and knocked at it for a while. When he found that he couldn''t get anything valuable from this huge black tower, he squeezed out some turbid tears reluctantly and put away his small hammer. Stroking the black tower, he sighed with emotion. "Li, if you went with me, how could you lose your life in the Infinite Immortal Prison? These days, I''ve got a new trick to trap and kill ox-headed demon generals. If you''re still alive, we will definitely have numerous element crystals in the future. Pitifully, we cannot be partners anymore..."

 1872 Make You A Bit Stronger

    Zhang Tie was taken into the gate of the huge black tower by the small tower uncontrollably. When he entered it, Zhang Tie felt dark all over. It was like entering another space. Meanwhile, indescribable great stress approached him from all directions. He then felt being completely shattered by a meat grinder. After that, his meat pulp was squeezed out bit by bit through a gap or a small pipe.


    Of course, it was only his personal feeling. His body was actually not pulverized at all. When the small tower entered the huge tower, it gave out a golden light, which covered Zhang Tie''s body. Additionally, the semi-transparent energy cover around Zhang Tie was not broken.


    Even so, Zhang Tie still felt his whole body being pulverized into numerous fine particles. Closely after that, those fine particles formed his original look again.


    This process felt not like passing a door or space, but numerous nets. He couldn''t access to it until being filtered time and time again and divided into the smallest particles by these nets...


    Zhang Tie didn''t see what had happened behind him; nor did he know that Six-armed Demon Emperor had been grabbed in the huge black tower. Before recovering the injury caused by Six-armed Demon Emperor''s fatal strike, Zhang Tie had been filtered like this. As a result, the irresistible great stress and pain caused by those invisible huge nets almost blew Zhang Tie up.


    Gnashing his teeth and widening his eyes, Zhang Tie wanted to see what was in the dark. Pitifully, his lotus-flower eyes also became ineffective at this moment. After struggling for half a minute, Zhang Tie finally blacked out with honor as his self-protection procedure was activated.


    ...


    After a while, Zhang Tie gradually woke up as he got his consciousness back.


    Zhang Tie found that he was still alive! When he passed out, he almost thought that he was made into a ham sausage.


    After finding that he was still alive, Zhang Tie felt pretty happy like surviving a catastrophe.


    It was indeed something good for a person to stay alive; especially that he could survive the attacks of demon-emperors time and time again. Even Zhang Tie felt that he was too lucky.


    When he gradually recovered his composure, Zhang Tie''s face felt cold and hard as if it was on an ice brick. He quivered once all over when the cold penetrated into his head.


    When he opened his eyes, he found that his face was not on an ice brick, but on the cold floor.


    After rolling his eyes for a couple of circles, he moved his fingers a bit. When he felt his body was complete, Zhang Tie instantly picked himself up from the ground.


    He was in an open and quiet hall.


    Even though Zhang Tie had seen the world, he still widely opened his mouth facing such an open and large hall. He then pinched his thigh. When he felt the pain, he confirmed that he was not dreaming.


    This square hall covered over 60 square miles. It was over 6 miles in both length and width. It was even larger than an ordinary city.


    The floor was paved with icy and shiny black slab stones. Its dome was over 1,000 m high. Many huge, white pillars made of crystal white marble were supporting the entire hall. Each pillar was dozens of meters in diameter. On the dome, there was a mural of a huge 6-wing roc king descending to the mortal world. The domineering qi of the six-wing roc king caused Zhang Tie to hold his breath all of a sudden.


    On both sides of the central axis of the hall, two rows of huge bronze tripods were blazing, brightly lighting the entire hall. Zhang Tie''s shadow also twisted on the mirror-like floor. Zhang Tie could almost see his astonished look from his shadow on the floor.


    Just now, Zhang Tie was lying in the center of the hall. It was a huge hundreds-of-meters high platform ahead of him which could be reached by stairs. There were totally over 1,000 stairs, all of which were made of odd-looking heads with different expressions; some were vivid. Zhang Tie could recognize that some heads belonged to demons, some were strange heads that Zhang Tie had not seen before. All the heads were looking down and connected with each other, serving as the stepping stone towards the high platform.


    On both sides of the stairs, there were statues of 3-eyed giants kneeling down on the ground while holding burning lanterns by hands on their heads.


    On the high platform at the end of the stairs, there was a huge golden throne, which was like a brilliant, flaming mountain.


    Zhang Tie could sense a surging, shocking, domineering qi from the throne on such a high platform even though he kept his eyes closed.


    An elder in black robe with silvery eyebrows and hair was sitting on the golden throne in a domineering way. His eyes were even more profound than the night sky. He was looking straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    The small black tower that took Zhang Tie inside was rotating on the elder''s hand like a toy.


    Zhang Tie felt that his spirit, qi and vigor were caught by that elder the moment he looked straight into the elder''s eyes. Although the elder was just sitting there calmly, he was like the tallest peak in the world. Being lonely, tyrannical and independent, his strong temperament made Zhang Tie feel like kneeling down at the sight of him.


    Standing there hardly, Zhang Tie moved his throat and wanted to say something; however, he found his throat had become dry and hoarse like a desert and could barely utter any voice.


    "Are humans so frail now?" The elder lightly sighed on the golden throne as his voice immediately reverberated across the hall.


    ''Frail? Did he refer to me?''


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie didn''t think the elder was referring to him; because he had not heard anyone describe him with the word "frail" since he gained Castle of Black Iron. Zhang Tie didn''t think there was any connection between this word and him either.


    He thought that elder was talking to someone else. However, after a few seconds, Zhang Tie found that the elder didn''t move his eyes away from him. Then, he realized it¡ª¡ªthe elder on the golden throne was the only person besides him in this hall. Additionally, that elder said it while looking into his eyes. Undoubtedly, the elder was talking to him.


    "Are... are you talking to me?" Zhang Tie finally opened his mouth as he pointed at his own nose.


    "Do you think there''s a third person here besides you and me?" the elder asked Zhang Tie calmly, "As a human, you cannot even stand the stress facing the Infinite Prison Net. Such a human body is like rotten wood and withered grass. I couldn''t find any other word to describe it besides "frail". How could such a person cultivate Infinite King Roc Sutra? Even with the help of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree, you couldn''t even form all the chakras. You''re too frail! You have almost been killed so many times and always behaved as humble as a fly. You didn''t even dare tell others about your cultivation method. How could such a person be selected as the cultivator of Infinite King Roc Sutra? I feel ashamed of you..."


    To be honest, Zhang Tie had not felt he was living in such a poor way at all; sometimes, he even felt being a bit narcissistic. However, after hearing the elder''s comment, Zhang Tie suddenly realized that he didn''t live up to the Infinite King Roc Sutra before. He even wanted to hide himself into a crack on the ground out of shame.


    ''Wait!''


    ''How did this elder known so many secrets about me? How did he know my top secret?''


    Zhang Tie who had already lowered his head suddenly looked up at the elder with amazement...


    "I''ve known everything about you since your birth when you passed the Infinite Prison Net..."


    "Who are you?" Zhang Tie gazed at the elder and the rotating small tower in his hand fearlessly and continued, "Did you abduct me..."


    "I''m the owner of this place. You''re too weak to know my name now. As for abducting you..." The elder became temporarily silent as if he was tasting the meaning of this word. "Almost like that!"


    "Why did you do that?" Zhang Tie asked as he watched the elder with vigilance; meanwhile, he was ready to release his battle qi and spiritual energy strikes. Zhang Tie was confused about the elder''s real battle force. He just faintly felt that the elder was too much powerful than him. Actually, the elder''s battle force was absolutely unpredictable. Even though Zhang Tie knew he couldn''t defeat this elder, he was not that kind of person who dared not challenge those who were more powerful than him, be it demon emperor or this fathomless elder. Zhang Tie would never make any compromise once he confirmed that the elder was his enemy.


    "You don''t need to know the reason!" the elder said tyranically as he didn''t explain it to Zhang Tie at all. Watching Zhang Tie who was ready for a life-and-death battle, the elder continued with an odd smile, "You''re useless in my eyes. Only that bit bravery, uprightness and innocence live up to the fame of Infinite King Roc Sutra..."


    The elder then pointed at Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie then felt floating in the air as his body, battle qi and spiritual energy were completely out of his control. His battle force became zero.


    Zhang Tie felt being a fish on the kneading board. In front of such a power, the so-called fighting to death was as hilarious as a piece of bean curd wanting to break a kitchen knife.


    Zhang Tie just struggled in the air in vain as his face turned pale.


    The elder ignored Zhang Tie; then he pointed at the sky again. In an instant, a huge hole appeared in the air right in front of Zhang Tie. Closely after that, Six-armed Demon Emperor fell out of the hole and floated in front of Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know when was Six-armed Demon Emperor abducted either. Eyes wide open, Six-armed Demon Emperor, being bound by chains and shackles of black fog all over, was also struggling in vain like Zhang Tie. Additionally, a black chain sealed his mouth. Zhang Tie could still speak; however, Six-armed Demon Emperor couldn''t even open its mouth.


    "What do you want? Hurry, put me down..." Zhang Tie exclaimed as he started to feel flurried.


    Previously, when Zhang Tie was alone here, he thought he would be killed by the elder in the worst scenario. Actually, Zhang Tie felt that the elder wouldn''t kill him now that he could allow him to wake up. However, Six-armed Demon Emperor appeared here uncontrollably too. Therefore, Zhang Tie started to fear that the elder was a pervert who might do something strange and disgusting. That would be more painful than death. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "You''re too frail. Although this insect looks ugly, its body is one hundred times more powerful than yours. It''s a great tonic for you. I will use this insect to make you a bit stronger in case you ruin the fame of Infinite King Roc Sutra in the future..." the elder said as he pointed at Six-armed Demon Emperor again. Then, Zhang Tie saw a black flame over Six-armed Demon Emperor. Closely after that, it shrieked miserably as a wisp of red energy flew out of its body and poured into Zhang Tie''s body like a torrent, causing Zhang Tie''s blood to boil...


    Zhang Tie almost forgot about this feeling.


    When his qi and blood started to boil with the wisp of red energy that pouring into his body, Zhang Tie instantly recalled that this feeling was as same as that he had experienced many times before.


    The wisp of red energy was the strength of blood of Six-armed Demon Emperor. It was as same as the strength of blood that seven-strength fruits contained. However, it was thousands of times more powerful than the latter.


    If the strength of blood that a seven-strength fruit contained was taken as a bowl of water, the strength of blood that poured into Zhang Tie''s body from Six-Arm Demon Emperor was like a billowy big river...


    ...

 1873 Complete Assimilation

    As Zhang Tie gradually absorbed the powerful strength of blood of Six-armed Demon Emperor, he was shocked by the power of a demon emperor again.


    The demon emperor''s strength of blood was too powerful. If Zhang Tie absorbed so much strength of blood from other species or living beings, he could turn a powerful living being or fighter into a mummy in one second. However, he could constantly absorb so much strength of blood from Six-Arm Demon Emperor as if there was a vast ocean of strength of blood in the demon emperor''s body.


    Just now, Zhang Tie was still guessing about the elder''s identity; however, 10 minutes later, Zhang Tie was too busy to attend to it; because he started to feel that he was like a lake being gradually filled with water. As water level gradually elevated, water finally flowed out of the bank and started to spread over his body like a flood.


    Zhang Tie''s blood vessels and muscles all over would buzz under his skin wherever the flood passed. His blood vessels started to undulate like a dragon as his muscles started to bulge out.


    Zhang Tie felt like being blown up by the sufficient strength of blood.


    However, as more and more strength of blood poured in, Zhang Tie felt that his blood all over was slowly condensing like mercury.


    "Ah..." Zhang Tie roared as his forehead panted heavily. Meanwhile, his clothes were torn into pieces due to his inflated muscles; his skin turned red. Zhang Tie started to twist his body painfully in the air.


    As more and more strength of blood poured in, Zhang Tie''s body as a whole gradually expanded by 2 times...


    The sharp pain was indescribable. Despite his amazing pain tolerance, Zhang Tie still couldn''t help roaring and twisting his body in the air.


    At the same time, Six-armed Demon Emperor was also twisting its body and struggling with almost the same pain.


    Zhang Tie felt like a balloon which was inflating. In the end, Zhang Tie found that even his skin gradually became transparent due to intensive inflation of his muscles. He felt having reached the limit of his tolerance...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Even so, the strength of blood of Six-armed Demon Emperor was still pouring into his body like before, which didn''t mean to reduce its rate of flow at all.


    ''Will I die in the Infinite Immortal Prison today? The elder said he wanted to make me a bit stronger using Six-armed Demon Emperor. Doesn''t he care whether I''m alive or not?''


    This thought occurred to Zhang Tie when his body was going to be blown up by the surging strength of blood.


    "You cannot even take the food in your mouth. Too frail! You''re too frail..." The elder in black on the throne sighed as he shook his head and pointed at Zhang Tie. "Remember, it''s the skill Inclusive of Infinite King Roc Sutra..."


    Zhang Tie instantly felt the contents of an occult secret method poured into his mind as his mind sea rocked once.


    When his body was going to blow up, Zhang Tie instantly discovered the part about digesting strength of blood in the occult secret method and started to activate that part of secret method facing the threat of blowing up himself...


    The secret method should be boosted by the pure strength of Infinite King Roc Sutra. Therefore, it was not hard for Zhang Tie to do that.


    As he activated the part of the secret method, Zhang Tie gradually felt his body become a black hole which could constantly take and digest the strength of blood from a balloon which was going to be blown up. The feeling that his body was going to blow up gradually disappeared. Meanwhile, the strength of blood was absorbed by his blood which was as condensed as mercury. As he absorbed more and more strength of blood, his blood was becoming more and more powerful and flexible; meanwhile, it gave out a golden light.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie accepted it negatively. Gradually, he started to adapt to having his blood absorbing the strength of blood of Six-armed Demon Emperor crazily.


    At the same time, the pain also gradually faded away; instead, he started to feel airy. Zhang Tie then slowly closed his eyes and sat in the air with crossed legs while absorbing the strength of blood of Six-armed Demon Emperor.


    After a few hours, the strength of blood gradually became weaker like a water pipe running out of water, which meant that the strength of blood of Six-armed Demon Emperor finally became exhaustive.


    However, when the strength of blood became exhaustive, another wisp of wholly new energy started to pour into Zhang Tie''s body like a billowy river.


    It was the strength of qi of Six-armed Demon Emperor.


    This time, Zhang Tie became smarter. Without the elder''s warning, he had hurriedly activated the part of secret method about absorbing the strength of qi and started to absorb it rapidly. By then, if Zhang Tie still didn''t know that elder was helping him becoming stronger, he would be too stupid.


    Similar to its strength of blood, Six-armed Demon Emperor''s strength of qi was also as surging as the ocean as if it would never be exhausted.


    As Six-armed Demon Emperor''s strength of qi poured in his body, Zhang Tie''s qi sea started to change greatly.


    A few hours later, when Six-armed Demon Emperor''s strength of qi was exhausted, its powerful strength of tendon started to pour in Zhang Tie''s body...


    Closely followed by its strength of vein, bone, marrow and spirit...


    When he absorbed these powerful strengths, Zhang Tie gradually became familiar with the usage of the skill Inclusive in Infinite King Roc Sutra. Whenever he absorbed a kind of strength of Six-armed Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie''s body would change greatly.


    In the process of absorbing the seven strengths of Six-armed Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie felt like taking a pretty powerful seven-strength fruit of demon emperor.


    However, the seven strengths were not all the strength of Six-armed Demon Emperor.


    It was Six-armed Demon Emperor''s life source which poured into Zhang Tie''s body after the 7 strengths.


    Then, the hot sun, also the powerful essential core of the qi sea of Six-armed Demon Emperor poured into Zhang Tie''s body.


    The essential core of the battle qi of Six-armed Demon Emperor was constantly transferred into Zhang Tie''s qi sea and assimilated by him. After absorbing the battle qi energy of Six-armed Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie felt his qi sea become boundless as the hot sun in his qi sea became more than 10 times larger.


    It was not an end...


    After that, the materialized spiritual energy in the mind sea of Six-armed Demon Emperor poured into Zhang Tie''s body.


    Then, the energy inside the surging points of Six-armed Demon Emperor poured into Zhang Tie''s body too.


    All the energy carried by the 987 surging points were transferred to the corresponding surging points over Zhang Tie.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie know that the energy inside surging points could also be transferred. Zhang Tie could even feel that the brilliant lighthouses were dying out one after another over Six-armed Demon Emperor''s body.


    At the same time, more brilliant lighthouses appeared over Zhang Tie''s body one after another.


    After absorbing the energy of all the surging points, it was time for him to absorb the chakras of the Six-armed Demon Emperor starting from the first knight''s chakra all the way to the fire chakra...


    These chakras were also transferred to Zhang Tie''s corresponding chakras in terms of different energies and elements.


    As Zhang Tie had already formed his knight''s chakra, earth chakra, water chakra and wind chakra, after absorbing the energies and elements of the chakras of Six-armed Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie''s chakras became more condensed, heavier and larger.


    Based on the experience that he used the energy of the surging points of Six-armed Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie didn''t feel unacceptable further changing his chakras.


    After absorbing the energy and element of the complete fire chakra of Six-armed Demon Emperor together with those fire elements that Zhang Tie absorbed in Purgatory Samsara Method, Zhang Tie finally formed his last chakra of King Roc Sutra. It meant that Zhang Tie finally broke a vital bottleneck on the road ahead and promoted to a semi-sage level knight.


    ...


    When he constantly absorbed the energies and strengths of Six-Arm Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie was gradually familiar with the skill Inclusive in King Roc Sutra. The core of the skill Inclusive was that King Roc devoured everything in the universe imposingly.


    By contrast, Zhang Tie could only refine the opponents'' chakras in Purgatory Samsara Method.


    The small tree had to meet various conditions before bearing fruits. The more powerful the fruit was, the harder it would be to bear. By killing demon knights, Zhang Tie couldn''t even acquire any fruit from the small tree at all.


    However, the use of the secret skill Inclusive didn''t have so many limits.


    There was only one point that was out of Zhang Tie''s imagination¡ª¡ªthe secret skill Inclusive of Infinite King Roc Sutra only took effect on powers on the level of demon emperors who had mastered the force of universal laws. Those below demon emperors couldn''t even trigger the secret skill.


    Strictly, this secret skill didn''t suit to all the enemies...


    ...


    After losing everything, Six-armed Demon Emperor had long turned into ashes...


    ...


    After a few days, Zhang Tie finally opened his eyes after assimilating everything about Six-armed Demon Emperor. After running his spiritual energy, he instantly put on a set of clothes.


    Zhang Tie had already promoted to a semi-sage level knight. After assimilating the overall strength of Six-armed Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie was giving out a surging, powerful qi.


    "Senior, thanks for you help!" Zhang Tie bowed at the elder in the golden throne after dressing himself up.


    "Given your current level, although you''re still humble, your body is not too frail anymore..." the elder said with a smile as he pointed at Zhang Tie again. In a split second, Zhang Tie had felt many more secret skills of Infinite King Roc Sutra appear in his mind...


    "I''ve imparted all the secret skills of Infinite King Roc Sutra to you. I gotta get going. As for whether you could survive yourself and leave the immortal prison, it depends on yourself..."


    When Zhang Tie was shocked by so many new secret skills in his mind, he heard the elder''s words. Then he became more stunned. Before he asked about the reason, the elder had waved his hand as the whole space started to rotate. In a wink, Zhang Tie had come to a desolate and grim place. He was standing in the sky above a dark abyss, which was covered with heavy black fog. There might be surging, scorching magma at the bottom of the abyss...


    When Zhang Tie observed this place, he found many pairs of bloody eyes were watching him in the black fog. Zhang Tie felt dangerous and powerful qi approaching him at once...

 1874 Seven Years

    White clouds were floating in the sky slowly.


    Time passed by.


    It soon came to June, the 3593th year of Emperor NvWa''s calendar with the disputes across Motian Realm.


    It was already the 7th year since Zhang Tie entered the immortal prison. Over the past 7 years, many major events had happened in Motian Realm. The battle in the Mountains Plain of the Mountain Ruins where a demon emperor and dragon emperor were killed was gradually forgotten by people as time passed by. Finally, it became the topic of people like that Rune Emperor lost his life in Dark Valley and Dragon Emperor had been missing for over 900 years in Motian Realm.


    Over the past 7 years, everything seemed to have been changing, except the huge black tower which was standing in the air of Mountains Plain as same as before. Even when time passed by, it didn''t leave any trace on the black tower.


    All the humans and demons knew that huge black tower was the legendary Infinite Immortal Prison in Motian Realm.


    The immortal prison was used to confine all the devils, ghosts, specters, monsters and rebellious deities by deities in far-ancient times. Infinite Immortal Prison had been said to exist in Motian Realm for a long time; however, the immortal prison disappeared after the legendary war between deities and demons.


    Previously, immortal prison was the most thrilling legend in Motian Realm. According to the legend, each generation of King Roc was responsible for managing the immortal prison. There was the most powerful deity''s secret method Infinite King Roc Sutra inside the immortal prison. With the great power of Infinite King Roc Sutra, King Roc could conquer everything inside the immortal prison. Only those who had cultivated Infinite King Roc Sutra could control the entire immortal prison.


    Besides Infinite King Roc Sutra, it was said that there were many outfits, secret skills, treasures and sutras left by far-ancient deities inside the immortal prison...


    Of course, it was just a legend.


    If one could enter the immortal prison, he would enjoy everything inside the immortal prison; if one couldn''t enter it, the immortal prison was almost like a historic site.


    In the beginning, many human immortal generals came to the Mountains Plain in Mountain Ruins to look at the huge black tower with reverence with different purposes. Some of them were just here as tourists; someone came here with the fluke mind of getting some benefits. Someone even wanted to open the immortal prison and occupy all the rarities and secret skills inside the immortal prison...


    However, as time passed by, the third kind of people left there first. Even immortal emperors couldn''t leave any trace on the huge black tower, not to mention the others. Those people had tried every method that they could. Some even released Breaking Formation Mines here. However, when they found none of these methods worked, they all left.


    So did those who wanted to try their lucks in Mountains Plain. With a bit fluke mind, they might think that they were different than others; however, when those people really came to Mountains Plain and faced the integrated huge tower which didn''t even have a crack, they used every method they could including worship and prayer. When they found none of these methods worked, they gradually left too.


    As for the first kind of person, many travelers came here almost every day in the first couple of years. Many people were even here in groups. However, starting from the 3rd year, the population of travelers started to reduce. On the 4th year, it was said that demon generals were especially ambushing here for those human immortal generals who came here to watch the magnificent tower. From then on, fewer human immortal generals would like to go to Mountains Plain anymore. As a result, the Mountains Plain became as same as before¡ª¡ªdemons set traps here; humans then trap the demons who prepared to ambush human immortal generals here. Trap within a trap! After both parties fought here out of wits and courage for 2 years, Mountains Plain gradually became as desolate as before.


    Besides the fact that the huge black tower remained unchanged forever, the hatred and battle between humans and demons continued generation after generation...


    Death meant the end for many people. However, if death was regarded as a start for measuring one''s value, there might only be two kinds of people in the world: those who would be forgotten after death and those who would be remembered by many people after death.


    Although Zhang Tie had not come to Motian Realm for long, undoubtedly, he belonged to the second kind of person in many people''s hearts.


    On June 17, two immortal generals suddenly arrived at the front of the immortal prison in Mountains Plain¡ª¡ªSu Haimei and Ying Feiqiong.


    After a few years, the two people had already promoted to wind immortal generals from water immortal generals and could already enter Mountain Ruins.


    After over half a month''s flight and passing through the Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer, the two people finally came to the front of the huge black tower meticulously.


    They had already disguised themselves. At least the others couldn''t recognize their original identities and beautiful looks. Given their current looks, they were just two decent male literati.


    They had not leaked their real identities and beautiful looks at least before coming to the front of the huge black tower.


    However, when she saw the huge black tower; especially when she came to the front of the huge black tower, Su Haimei''s eyes suddenly turned red. Closely after that, she started to drop pearl-like tears. Watching Su Haimei''s look, Ying Feiqiong''s eyes also turned red.


    Departure between alive and dead was the most sentimental thing!


    "Why were you so stupid? They all said you could leave here that day. The demon emperor didn''t discover you at the beginning at all. However, you exposed your own identity for the sake of a stranger''s life and finally lost your own life. Why were you so stupid..." Su Haimei sobbed as she stroked the smooth surface of the tower.


    Even Zhang Tie didn''t know how many women were fascinated by him when he saved the immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect in Cyanlotus City. This grand elder of Yin-Yang Sect was one of them. Previously, Su Haimei had a crush on "Donder" who used to wander lonely and secretly; when she found Donder was Zhang Tie the incumbent Dragon Emperor, Su Haimei had transferred her love to Zhang Tie unconsciously.


    If Zhang Tie was still "alive", she might still not express her love to him in this way; when he found Zhang Tie was already "dead", Su Haimei didn''t need to hide her love for him anymore...


    At that time, only two people saw how Zhang Tie and Six-armed Demon Emperor entered the tower, namely Star Emperor and Force Emperor. However, neither of the two men were big mouths. Most of the people heard about it from others. Therefore, very few people knew the details.


    In the "legends", Zhang Tie and Six-armed Demon Emperor were sucked in the immortal prison together. Undoubtedly, if the situation inside the tower was worse, neither Zhang Tie nor Six-armed Demon Emperor could survive there; if the situation inside the tower was not worse, Zhang Tie must have been killed by Six-armed Demon Emperor.


    Nobody thought that Zhang Tie could survive inside; instead of Six-armed Demon Emperor.


    No matter what, Zhang Tie must have died.


    Additionally, this huge black tower remained silent over these years. Therefore, both Zhang Tie and Six-armed Demon Emperor must have died.


    "How poor we are..." Ying Feiqiong heaved a sigh. She knew that her disciple Ji Yuelan, her senior sister Su Haimei and Su Haimei''s disciple Jiang Ruoxin had long been fascinated by Zhang Tie.


    When she recalled that scene when she contacted Donder temporarily in Si Clan''s castle, even though Ying Feiqiong admitted that she almost had a crush on him. Thankfully, due to the short contact between them, she had not got a chance to fall in the same trap. She was relatively sober-minded. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The thing that two elders and one grand elder fell in love with the same man had almost never happened in the history of Yin-Yang Sect; not to mention that they all had an unrequited love with him.


    All the females who cultivated Three-lives Sutra had to face such a catastrophe in their lives. As long as these female disciples fell in love with someone, they would feel no regret even being heavily injured. Take Xue Yuxiu as an instance, when senior brother Luo died, Xue Yuxiu almost destroyed the entire Yin-Yang Sect out of fury; she even burned herself into ashes in the end.


    This time, if only Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin had promoted to heavenly immortal generals, they must also be hugging the tower and crying aloud like Su Haimei.


    After staying here for more than one hour, with the persuasion of Yin Feiqiong, Su Haimei finally wiped out her tears and left Mountains Plain with Ying Feiqiong.


    ...


    However, before getting out of Mountain Plain, Su Haimei suddenly told Ying Feiqiong, "Feiqiong, you can go back alone. I prepare to stay in Mountain Ruins for a few more months. When the core of Mountain Ruins is opened, I prepare to have a try inside..."


    "Ah? Haimei, are you crazy?" Ying Feiqiong asked as she watched Su Haimei with great shock, "We''ve just promoted to wind immortal generals. We''ve not even consolidated our realm. If we deepen into the Mountain Ruins, it''s nothing different than courting death. We''ve been risking a lot coming to Mountain Ruins..."


    "Therefore, Feiqiong, you should go back. Yin-Yang Sect could not run without you. I will go there alone!" Su Haimei said resolutely as she gnashed her teeth, "It''s said that there''re numerous immortal outfits and secret methods in the core of Mountain Ruins. Even though in the periphery of the core of Mountain Ruins, there''re also many superb items. If I could get a set of heavenly-level outfit, I might be able to break the immortal prison..."


    "Ah? But the immortal prison is said to be made of the king roc''s heart. Nobody or nothing could hurt it, even immortal emperors..."


    "But I want to have a try!"


    "But..."


    "It''s meaningless for me to live alone!" Su Haimei said with a desolate smile, "Even though I cannot break the immortal prison, I could at least kill some more demon generals for him with the help of immortal outfit..."


    Ying Feiqiong didn''t speak; however, her pupils suddenly contracted. Right then, a man in black robe flashed towards them from afar as fast as a lightning bolt.


    "Long time no see, I really miss you..." Si Dan, the grandmaster of Si Clan, greeted in a vicious tone, causing the two women to change their faces greatly at once.


    "Feiqiong, run..." Su Haimei roared as she forcefully pushed Ying Feiqiong...

 1875 Exiting the Tower

    After Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong left the huge black tower, the air zone near the huge black tower recovered its tranquility. Nobody could be seen within 600 miles like before.


    However, nobody could imagine that the 100-m high portal of the huge black tower suddenly opened after the two women left there for less than 2 hours, light flowing over its smooth and seamless surface.


    It was full of terrifying black fog inside the tower, which gradually formed a very deep black tunnel at the entrance like a swirl in the water.


    At this moment, if any human immortal generals or demon generals saw it, they must widely open their mouths out of shock.


    The tunnel was covered with swirling black fog on both sides. It was also pitch-dark at the end of the tunnel, which seemed to be leading to a mysterious time and space, which contained a terrifying, great power.


    A tall and straight person was walking towards the portal step by step steadfastly and calmly from the pitch-dark end of the black tunnel. Wherever he passed by, the black fog on both sides of the tunnel would stop swirling before falling and breaking into the original chaotic state.


    When that person reached the exit of the black tunnel, he finally showed his face and frame under the bright light outside the huge black tower in Mountain Ruins.


    Of course, this person was Zhang Tie who had disappeared in the tower for 7 years!


    Compared to that 7 years ago, Zhang Tie whose frame had remained unchanged for many years was a bit taller and his muscles became stronger. When the tall frame moved forward, it looked more like a moveable mountain.


    Over the past 7 years, perhaps Zhang Tie''s face was the only thing that had not changed.


    Zhang Tie''s face was still as innocent as that of teenagers. It was as if time couldn''t leave any trace on the surface of the huge black tower, Zhang Tie''s face remained unchanged over these years except his eyes.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s eyes looked bit indolent and carefree, which covered his imposing qi with a bit sun-like resplendent light in the depth of his dark pupils.


    He was such charismatic and manly.


    When he came to the portal, Zhang Tie temporarily stopped his foot as he looked around. After that, he shook his head and strode out of the gate...


    The past 7 years were like a dream. In Infinite Immortal Prison, the velocity of time flow was 20 times that of the world outside the tower. Although it had just been 7 years in Motian Realm, Zhang Tie had actually passed over 80 years inside Infinite Immortal Prison.


    During the period of 80-odd years, Zhang Tie had promoted to a sage-level knight on the 3rd year. By now, Zhang Tie had actually promoted to a sage-level knight for over 80 years.


    It was a very long period for others in Motian Realm; however, as for the elder formed by the bit of consciousness of the last generation of King Roc who controlled Infinite Immortal Prison, it was just a transient moment. In the long course of history, they had passed thousands, tens of thousands, millions even numerous transient moments like that...


    As for Zhang Tie, this period was also like transient moment.


    In the past 80-odd years, Zhang Tie was just fighting, cultivating, becoming stronger and escaping constantly. He made full use of his time inside the tower. He could only access to Castle of Black Iron for one second per day!


    Only one second; instead of one minute or one hour. In the past 80-odd years, Zhang Tie could only access to Castle of Black Iron for one second per day.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie could only enter Castle of Black Iron and pick a fruit and put it into the mouth. Before digesting it, he had to come out of there. The only reason that the elder allowed Zhang Tie to access to Castle of Black Iron was fruit.


    When one''s time was calculated in seconds, he would completely forget about the passing of time. That was the situation facing Zhang Tie inside the tower.


    When he recalled the experience in Infinite Immortal Prison over so many years, Zhang Tie felt like having a dream.


    Now, he was wide awake.


    According to the time inside Infinite Immortal Prison, it had been over 20 years since the bit of consciousness of the last generation of King Roc accomplished his mission and dissipated.


    Zhang Tie had become the new owner of Infinite Immortal Prison, the only heir of Infinite King Roc Sutra and the 11th King Roc.


    When he strode out of Infinite Immortal Prison, he realized that he could finally determine his own destiny!


    ...


    When he left the dark, he squinted his eyes in the dazzling sunlight unconsciously. Meanwhile, he put his hand above his eyes and took a look at the hot sun and the white clouds floating idly in the sky.


    The huge black tower which was in a deep pit was floating in the air. Its surrounding topography had changed greatly. Although there were still some mountain peaks nearby the core area of Mountains Plain, nobody else was in the nearby at all.


    "It''s so nice to see the sun!" Zhang Tie muttered with a brilliant smile.


    The air was filled with the smells of plants. It was so alluring for Zhang Tie that he even closed his eyes and took in a deep breath greedily.


    After a few seconds, Zhang Tie''s intoxicated smile gradually turned strange.


    Zhang Tie opened his eyes as he looked around with amazement. He almost doubted that there was some problem with his olfactory sensation.


    Zhang Tie had heard about visual and auditory hallucination; however, he had not heard about olfactory hallucination.


    "Is it because I''ve not seen women and beautiful female living beings inside Infinite Immortal Prison for too long? Even my nose starts to send a fake signal to deceive myself?" Zhang Tie muttered as he sniffed deeply again.


    After promoting to a sage-level knight, Zhang Tie had got an enhanced perceptive ability and viability through numerous battles in many dangerous situations. Therefore, Zhang Tie immediately captured two familiar smells from 164 smells of plants'' roots, stems, leaves and mud in the air. After inactivating the 162 smells'' stimulation of his senses, he gradually confirmed the two special smells.


    ''Yes, it''s not an olfactory hallucination. They''re indeed the smells of two women.''


    The two smells carried a bit fragrance of rouge and that of the expensive and delicate essential oil of hundreds of blossoms that beauties and noblewomen in Motian Realm usually daubed on their hair. Although it was not strong and could barely be recognized by others even in a short distance, it had become a part of their body because the two women always used it.


    The mixture of this smell and the body fragrance of virgins was as scented and mellow as a cocktail made by bartenders. Additionally, this smell contained the special qi of mature women. Zhang Tie was very familiar with one of the two smells. As he judged it carefully, he gradually recalled the beautiful face of Su Haimei, a grand elder of Yin-Yang Sect...


    The other one should be Ying Feiqiong.


    The two women should be here just now!


    Zhang Tie''s face instantly turned strange. It was out of his imagination that he could meet the two women the moment he exited the tower.


    Right then, a pinkish-blue battle qi rushed into the sky and dissipated thousands of miles away...


    It was used for early warning and asking for help. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie had known that only female immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect who cultivated Three-Lives Sutra could release such a battle qi. Given the look of the battle qi, the woman had just promoted to a wind immortal general.


    As a light flashed across his eyes, Zhang Tie instantly rushed towards the battle qi. Only with one step, he had been over 50,000 m away; with another step, he was already 100,000 m away. When he took the third step, he instantly recalled something as he patted his head and turned around before pointing at the huge black tower in the far.


    In an instant, the huge black tower flew towards Zhang Tie with light flowing over its surface. At the same time, the tower started to shrink. In the blink of an eye, it had become light and flown into Zhang Tie''s mouth. Finally, it rested in Zhang Tie''s Shrine surging point. Closely after that, the mysterious rune which represented Infinite King Roc Sutra inside the Shrine surging point suddenly gave out strong light and turned into an image of six-wing King Roc. When the huge tower integrated with Zhang Tie''s Shrine surging point, the six-arm King Roc unfolded its feather wings and stood on the top of the tower, which looked pretty harmonious with each other.


    Zhang Tie''s speed was out of the imagination of commoners.


    It only took Zhang Tie dozens of steps to cross the distance of thousands of miles.


    When he arrived there, he found Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong who disguised as men were being attacked ferociously by a sage-level knight.


    As the two women had just promoted to wind immortal generals, how could they defeat a sage-level knight even if they joined hands with each other?


    That sage-level knight was Si Dan, the grandmaster of Si Clan, the president of Cyandragon Palace of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace who once chased after Zhang Tie in Yaohai Sea.


    Si Dan guffawed and hit Ying Feiqiong''s breast by palm. Undoubtedly, he broke Ying Feiqiong''s protective battle qi and caused her to spurt out blood. At the same time, he tore off Ying Feiqiong''s hat and facial mask, exposing this grand elder''s black hair and bashful face at a stroke.


    How risky it was! If Si Dan wanted to kill her, he had already chopped off Ying Feiqiong''s head.


    Whereas, this president of Cyandragon Palace of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace had other thoughts.


    "Go die..." Watching Ying Feiqiong who didn''t want to escape away alone and almost lost her life, Su Haimei screamed with great indignation as she slashed her long sword at Si Dan at a stroke at the risk of her life. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Hahaha, just scream. It''s useless! Nobody''s here within thousands of miles. Even though some immortal generals could see that, do you think you could endure such long? When you fall into my hand after a short while, I will let you scream as long as you want in front of me!"


    "Who told you it was useless..." an indolent voice suddenly sounded. Before Si Dan responded, an irresistible force had fallen onto his body, causing him to spurt out blood and fly thousands of meters away like a meteor...

 1876 Surprises

    Zhang Tie just appeared without omen. Even Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong didn''t know how he appeared, not to mention Si Dan.


    As the two women had just promoted to wind immortal generals, they actually moved a bit slower than Si Dan.


    When Zhang Tie hit Si Dan and sent him flying away, he appeared in the location where Si Dan was just now. Therefore, Su Haimei''s and Ying Fei''s strikes directly hit Zhang Tie without any precaution.


    They both used swords which were secret items. At this moment, the two women were coordinating with each other at their full efforts; one was stabbing at Zhang Tie''s throat; the other was slashing towards Zhang Tie''s head. As they had not predicted such a sudden change, they didn''t have time to stop their movements at all.


    In a split second, they felt being dazzled. At the same time, a hand avoided their sword lights and fatal movements and seized their wrists, controlling them at a stroke.


    Right then, Su Haimei felt her wrist being grasped. A tender battle qi was released from that hand, making half of her body numb at once. In an instant, her chakra, qi, blood, battle qi and spiritual energy became frozen. She didn''t even have a bit strength at all and almost fell to the ground.


    ''I''m over! I''ve not imagined that Si Dan is so powerful. Junior sister Ying and I are destined to die once being caught by this evil demon. We can''t even commit suicide.''


    In a split second, this grand elder of Yin-Yang Sect felt cold and desperate.


    However, closely after that, she saw Si Dan thousands of meters away who was spurting blood and watching her with amazement...


    ''What happened? Why is Si Dan over there? Who''s the person that grabbed my wrist then?''


    Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong almost shared the same feeling at this moment. When they saw Si Dan in the far, they fixated onto the person who was grasping their wrists at the same time...


    That was a 17-year-old youth. He looked pretty young and energetic with a strong, bizarre charm all over.


    It was the two people''s first time to see this face. However, honestly, they were familiar with this face. Because they had seen this face many times on a painting drawn by Jiang Ruoxin. Su Haimei was more familiar with this face. In her bedroom, there were two paintings, one was Donder the most handsome man in her memory; the other was Zhang Tie which she copied from Jiang Ruoxin''s painting.


    "When we bid farewell to each other at Si Clan''s castle, I''ve already told you that it depended whether we could meet each other or not in the future; unexpectedly, we saw each other again today..." Zhang Tie turned around as he told Su Haimei who was watching him in a daze with a handsome smile.


    Through that battle, Zhang Tie had already frankly admitted his real identity and deeds in Cyanlotus City in front of those most powerful ones in Motian Realm. Zhang Tie believed that that news had already spread across Motian Realm. At this moment, in Mountains Plain, undoubtedly, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong had already known that he was Donder; otherwise, they would never come here. Therefore, Zhang Tie frankly greeted the two familiar ones of Yin-Yang Sect and admitted his real identity in case of their suspicion.


    ''His smile, eye expression and tone was as same as that of Donder. He could even remember the last words that Donder told me. Hmm, it must be him! It must be him! Am I dreaming...''


    Watching Zhang Tie smiling, Su Haimei instantly felt her heart pounding heavily as if a deer was ramming against her inside. She even felt a bit dizzy. At this moment, she finally confirmed that one of the two paintings in her bedroom was the very person in front of him.


    Even Ying Feiqiong was watching Zhang Tie with a dreamlike look. Today, the two people were especially here to pay homage to him; unexpectedly, the one who they came for appeared at the most dangerous moment and saved their lives again. Was there anything weirder than it in this world?


    "You''re... Zhang Tie!" Si Dan, the grandmaster of Si Clan, was also gazing at Zhang Tie with wide eyes thousands of meters away as if he saw a ghost.


    Being different than Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong, Si Dan once fought Zhang Tie in Yaohai Ocean; therefore, he was more familiar with Zhang Tie''s face. Although Zhang Tie had changed his physique slightly, his current look was still a bit similar to that Si Dan met last time.


    Zhang Tie loosened his grip when he heard Si Dan''s voice. It was an emergency just now. Given that Si Dan was near them, Zhang Tie had to control the two women first; otherwise, even he didn''t know what the two women would do in the next.


    The two women got their battle force back when their wrists were loosened. They exchanged a glance with each other when they saw shock, doubt and a bit surprise in the other''s eyes.


    "Si Dan, you''re becoming more and more ignoble. As a supreme-level immortal general, you always do such dirty things. When I was heavily injured, you wanted to kill me in Yaohai Ocean. Now, you''re bullying two women who had just promoted to wind immortal generals. None of the dignified demon generals could be ignoble as you..." Zhang Tie sighed with emotions as he watched Si Dan in a distressed and disgusted way. At the same time, he tilted his head and cleaned his ears by his little finger. After flicking his fingers, he added, "Look, you''re already such old. Why not do something good? Why not be a noble person, a person without vulgar interests, a person who''s useful to humans? Is that so difficult for you to do that? What do you want me to say? Look at your name. Your dad must have made a mistake. You should not be Si Dan, I think you should be Che Dan. Why not change your name into Che Dan? You''ve been Che Daning for your whole life. What are you f*cking doing every day..."


    Pufft...


    Closely after Zhang Tie''s words, Ying Feiqiong who was standing on his side had tittered with a faint blush. Su Haimei also fixated onto Zhang Tie with a weird expression while biting her lip.


    Not knowing why, this grand elder of Yin-Yang Sect who was almost mired in a dilemma just now instantly felt relaxed the moment Zhang Tie arrived. It seemed that as long as Zhang Tie was there, he could deal with everything for her; even propping up the sky when the sky collapsed, and making a grimace towards her...


    Actually, Si Dan had been confused since he recognized Zhang Tie. He couldn''t think through why Zhang Tie was here. ''Hasn''t Zhang Tie been sucked into Infinite Immortal Prison? How could he suddenly appear here? What the hell!''


    Si Dan had a lot of questions. Given his instinct as a sage-level knight, he was restless and felt like escaping at that moment unconsciously. However, his "experience" and "intelligence" enabled him to see the opportunity. He knew that Versatile Demon Emperor was looking for Zhang Tie and wanted to kill him. If he could kill Zhang Tie, he would definitely receive a great reward. Additionally, the two womanly grand elders of Yin-Yang Sect could also become his slaves...


    However, his instinct warned him just now...


    ''He just launched a sneak attack towards me just now. Although I''m slightly injured, it''s fine. Zhang Tie is said to be very cunning. It''s said that he has an invisible Shen bead. He must sneak to my side just now when I wanted to catch the two women; therefore, he could hurt me at his full strength.''


    ''Yes, it must be like that. Zhang Tie was just a wind immortal general 7 years ago. I don''t think he could be too powerful now. He''s a fire immortal general at most. So what! He''s still a loser.''


    Si Dan rolled his eyes as he gradually felt that his inference was reasonable.


    ''It was a rare good opportunity. Zhang Tie must have a benefit-based relationship with Yin-Yang Sect; otherwise, he would not have saved people of Yin-Yang Sect for a few times. I think Zhang Tie only wanted to pretend to be calm and postpone the time for backup by saying those words. I should never be cheated by him. I should kill him as soon as I can.''


    Si Dan then instantly became spirited. Almost at the same time, a 70 cm-long pitch-dark chisel with a sharp end appeared in his hand. Closely after that, Si Dan''s face turned grim as he released his battle qi to the utmost and stabbed at Zhang Tie ferociously who was thousands of meters away, roaring, "Go die..."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    In an instant, a black, sharp-headed black bolt-sized battle qi entity shot towards Zhang Tie''s left chest as fast as a lightning bolt in an overwhelming, fatal manner, breaking the air.


    That was Si Dan''s real battle force as a sage-level knight!


    "Watch out..." Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong exclaimed at the same time. However, they were still a bit slower in response as wind immortal generals. When they uttered, the black bolt had already come to the front of Zhang Tie''s left chest. Additionally, Zhang Tie had long moved his hand. They could even see the result.


    Zhang Tie indeed moved his hand; however, his body didn''t move. He didn''t even release his protective battle qi. At the sight of Si Dan''s attack, Zhang Tie revealed a short bizarre smile. Closely after that, he raised his hand, grasping the bolt and pinching it...


    When Si Dan saw Zhang Tie''s movement, his surprise froze at once.


    "Break..." Zhang Tie uttered as he directly pinched the powerful, fatal bolt entity, breaking it into pieces and blowing it away in all directions. The wind didn''t even blow towards Zhang Tie; instead, it blew towards Zhang Tie''s two sides and Si Dan.


    Zhang Tie resisted Si Dan''s fatal strike by his hand without any harm...


    "Impossible..." Si Dan wailed crazily like an old dog whose tail was chopped off, "Nobody could resist my Heavens-Breaking Immortal Bolt by hand..."

 1877 Killing Si Dan

    Under Si Dan''s exclamation and the astonished look of this grand elder of Yin-Yang Sect, Zhang Tie didn''t stay where he was; neither did he explain anything to Si Dan about it. He wouldn''t tell Si Dan that his anti-striking ability had already reached an unimaginable, terrifying level after eating over 10,000 King Kung Fruits or that he had already become a Manjusaka Fearless Nryana.


    With the combination of battle skill "Defend" of Infinite King Roc Sutra, Zhang Tie had already become a Manjusaka Fearless Immortal Nryana.


    Such a complex name was not given by Zhang Tie; nor was it Zhang Tie''s style. This name was given by that elder in Infinite Immortal Prison for Zhang Tie''s powerful body which was commonly built by so many fruits and the Emperor-level secret method. According to that elder, it was the correct name. "Insiders" could understand it well.


    "Powerful" was the last comment made the elder about Zhang Tie''s current body, being affiliated by one word "Temporarily"...


    Zhang Tie didn''t know who were "insiders". He even doubted that there was no "insider" in this age. After all, even the elder himself was formed by the bit of consciousness left by the last King Roc using the powerful time force inside Infinite Immortal Prison. Even the elder himself didn''t know where had the last King Roc gone and what had happened outside Infinite Immortal Prison in the long course of hundreds of millions of years. The meaning of the elder was to carry forward the secret method Infinite King Roc Sutra and find a new owner for Infinite Immortal Prison.


    It took Zhang Tie 6 decades to be powerful from "frail" inside Infinite Immortal Prison. Only he was aware of the hardships, blood and tears that he had paid in this period. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Si Dan''s shock and the exclamation were understandable. It would be a real laughing stock if Zhang Tie, whose current body was described as "powerful" by the last King Roc, couldn''t even resist his strike; otherwise, the small tree and the Emperor-level Secret Method could be thrown into the garbage.


    Zhang Tie did not have a big mouth. It was boring to explain to dying people about these things. Additionally, he would be thought about showing off in front of the two women. Therefore, Zhang Tie directly launched a strike silently.


    With only one step, Zhang Tie had crossed thousands of meters and come to the front of Si Dan and punched at Si Dan.


    Zhang Tie didn''t release his battle qi; neither did he use his brilliant battle skill; instead, he only relied on his purest physical strength.


    It was an awkward yet decent and natural punch!


    It was a formidable punch which all the powerful bandits succumbed to.


    The power of the punch came from Zhang Tie''s purest physical strength and speed.


    The punch combined the full strength of Six-armed Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie''s full strength before entering Infinite Immortal Prison, the strength that he increased during the past 6 decades and the explosive strength which was 240 times greater than that of his original explosive strength benefited from setting free spike shrimps...


    Zhang Tie''s punch caused the fragile space in Mountain Ruins to undulate.


    The protective battle qi of Si Dan, a sage-level knight, was directly broken into pieces. Si Dan, who was exclaiming just now, was instantly hit into a floating mountain like a steel ball being thrown into a piece of tofu.


    Closely after that, Si Dan spurted out 10 times more blood than before and became completely aware of the great difference between him and Zhang Tie in battle force.


    Si Dan sensed that Zhang Tie had already promoted to a supreme-level immortal general. However, Si Dan couldn''t understand why a supreme-level immortal general was so powerful. When his protective battle qi was broken, Si Dan felt great fear. He even felt that he was fighting an immortal emperor or demon emperor; instead of Zhang Tie.


    If he continued to fight such a powerhouse, he would definitely die. Therefore, a whim flashed into Si Dan''s mind when he was sent flying backward by Zhang Tie''s punch¡ª¡ªescape!


    Would Zhang Tie allow Si Dan to escape? Apparently, he wouldn''t. When he caught sight of Si Dan, Zhang Tie had determined to kill him.


    When he hit Si Dan into the mountain, Zhang Tie also followed him in. In the next second, under the wide-open eyes of Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong, the thousands of meters high mountain suddenly broke into thousands of pieces. Zhang Tie then chased Si Dan, who was spurting out blood all over, out of the mountain like chasing after a dog.


    Was that guy being chased by Zhang Tie the very supreme-level immortal general who almost exterminated Yin-Yang Sect and frightened all the survivors of Yin-Yang Sect very much?


    After all, Si Dan was a supreme-level immortal general. He could even fight an immortal emperor or demon emperor for a while. Si Dan''s real battle force was absolutely not bad; especially at this critical moment, he used every means possible to protect himself.


    With a flash of light, a set of bright green, exotic, mighty battle armor suddenly appeared on Si Dan''s body. In such a set of immortal outfit, Si Dan appeared to reverse the battle situation slightly as he gradually took some initiative in the combat.


    Even the two women could see Si Dan in immortal outfit releasing brilliant and powerful battle skills like setting fireworks in the night sky. The aftermaths of the powerful battle qi couldn''t be avoided even though they were tens of thousands of meters unless they released their own protective battle qi.


    Si Dan''s target was Zhang Tie. By contrast, Zhang Tie didn''t release any powerful battle qi since the combat broke out. He just used his fists. However, facing Zhang Tie''s simple movements, Si Dan''s battle qi strikes were released like fireworks and broken like bubbles.


    Although the two women couldn''t defeat the supreme-level immortal general, they had seen it through that Si Dan could never win the battle. Even though Si Dan had worn immortal outfit, he still couldn''t fix the sharp gap between their battle forces. Facing Zhang Tie strikes, although Si Dan could maintain counterattacks for a short while, he couldn''t do any essential harm to Zhang Tie at all.


    Soon after the combat broke out for less than 10 minutes, the aftermaths of their combat had broken many floating mountains into pieces. Meanwhile, as Si Dan wanted to escape, the battlefield had been transferred to over 130 miles away.


    No matter what, it was absolutely a fierce combat. Perhaps only immortal emperors and demon emperors could break out fierce combats. As for Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong who had just promoted to wind immortal generals, even though they were just watching it far away, they could still learn a lot from it. At this moment, the two women had long forgotten about that they were almost caught alive by Si Dan just now. They just chased after Zhang Tie and Si Dan and were fascinated by their fight.


    10 minutes later, Si Dan suddenly released a light curtain which instantly covered Zhang Tie.


    "Ah, Haimei, it''s one of the four fatal formations of supreme-level immortal general..." Ying Feiqiong exclaimed while watching it from afar.


    "Don''t worry. Zhang Tie will be fine..." Su Haimei comforted Ying Feiqiong as she gazed at Si Dan''s fatal formation with a bit intense look and strong will. After saying that, she even nodded and repeated it, "Yes, Zhang Tie will be fine..."


    Su Haimei was right. After Si Dan''s realm covered Zhang Tie for less than 5 minutes, it had started to expand all in a sudden. Closely after that, a brilliant sun tore apart the dark and got rid of all the limits before slowly rising up...


    It was such an imposing light&shade of a fierce spike shrimp inside the brilliant sun.


    The brilliant sun carried a terrifyingly high temperature. Even from tens of thousands of meters away, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong could still sense the hot waves when the sun rose. Even the surrounding air became scorching. As a result, they hurriedly retreated. At the same time, over 10 floating mountains near the hot sun were vaporized and disappeared in their eyes.


    The entire Mountains Plain seemed to rock.


    A bloody person rushed out of the brilliant sun and escaped afar as fast as a lightning bolt without even looking back...


    Of course, the embarrassed person was Si Dan!


    "Fight," Zhang Tie''s voice reverberated through the air of Mountains Plain like muffled thunders.


    It was like an order. Soon after this voice, an over 100-m long huge bird with golden wings had caught up with Si Dan as fast as a lightning bolt. Closely after that, the roc pierced through Si Dan''s body by its claw, ignoring his immortal outfit...


    The embarrassed person finally stopped. After taking a look back with strong disbelief, Si Dan started to spurt out black blood heavily. Although his immortal outfit was not damaged, his guts had been emptied, shattered and vaporized by the huge bird''s claw. Additionally, a scorching flame started to burn from his heart. Closely after that, the flame started to spread over his body like the blood coming out of his heart.


    "What... what is... this battle skill?" Si Dan asked Zhang Tie hardly as he turned around.


    "It''s a secret skill of Infinite King Roc Sutra..." Zhang Tie approached him with a calm look.


    "Infinite King Roc Sutra..." Si Dan muttered with a dubious look. Closely after that, he revealed an expression of relief as if he wanted to say something else. Pitifully, he couldn''t utter any voice anymore as a black flame suddenly appeared over his body. Only after 3-5 seconds, Si Dan had been burned into ashes and dispersed in the air, leaving the set of immortal outfit and a bizarre space-teleportation finger ring suspending in the air quietly.


    Zhang Tie waved his hand and teleported the two items into Castle of Black Iron at once...


    ...

 1878 In the Mountain Cave

    The night had fallen. Zhang Tie found a pile of firewoods and put them in a deep mountain cave of a floating mountain in Mountains Plain. Then, Zhang Tie flicked his fingers and released a sparkle, lighting the pile of firewoods after a short while. The ablaze flame leaped in the mountain cave, making it bright at a stroke while eliminating the cold. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie''s shadow was reflected on the maroon wall. With the leaping flame, Zhang Tie''s shadow started to twist on the wall like changing faces, a performing skill in peking opera.


    Zhang Tie watched the leaping flames attentively while squinting his eyes and sensing the warmth of the flame.


    As for a person who had not seen such a natural and brilliant flame in Infinite Immortal Prison for over 80 years, he really enjoyed the reassuring warmth of the flame.


    He heard some rustles in the dark near the corner of the mountain cave. It was aroused when women changed their clothes. Zhang Tie had not heard about such a sound for long. It was even longer than 80-odd years when he stayed in Infinite Immortal Prison. If the period that he stayed in Motian Realm was counted, Zhang Tie had not heard such a voice for over 90 years in such a short distance.


    When in Taixia Country, Zhang Tie also always heard similar sounds. It was the prelude before going to bed with his wives and concubines. At that time, he used to lie on the bed, drinking and listening to such rustles coming from neighboring rooms or the screen for changing clothes. His wives and concubines always changed their outfits so as to bring him greater pleasure when he conquered them. Perhaps, it came from Zhang Tie''s weird mentality caused by the fact that he was born as a grassroots or from Zhang Tie''s previous experiences and illusions. Such affairs in the bedroom had better be covered from outsiders.


    The rustles aroused Zhang Tie''s memory and some desires in Zhang Tie''s inner heart like flames over the dried firewoods. Hearing the sound from the corner of the mountain cave and gazing at the flame, Zhang Tie recalled many familiar faces.


    The images of Linda, Beverly, Fiona, Yan Feiqing, Bai Suxian, Guo Hongyi, Aimei and Aixue, O''Lina, Aurola, Sabrina, Pandora, even Alice and Miss Diana whom he had not seen for long started to flash by like the lamp shadow in the middle of carousel, which recalled endless whims and memories.


    ''Are they living well since I came to Motian Realm for so many years? How about my papa, mama, elder brother, elder sisters-in-law, Chenglei, Shini and Shixia? After so many years, they must have grown up... I wonder about the situation in the Western Theater of Operations of Taixia Country. O''Lina and the others have taken Alexander, Andre, Matvey back to Ice and Snow Wilderness and Western Continent. How are they... How is the holy war in that world going...''


    Zhang Tie''s whims leaped like flames with scorching temperature and unspoken loneliness in the dark.


    When he recalled the holy war in that world, Zhang Tie was temporarily shocked. It had been more than 20 years since the holy war broke out. Zhang Tie had already promoted to a powerful sage-level knight in Motian Realm from a poor guy in Blackhot City. Besides Zhang Tie himself, his family, those people on his side and the environment had changed too. Only the war between humans and demons continued in Motian Realm like before. Perhaps it would continue like this in the far future day by day until the entire universe was destroyed...


    When he heard footsteps approaching him, Zhang Tie turned around and saw Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong coming out of the corner.


    They both had recovered their original looks in charming purple and green longuettes respectively. Besides beautiful buns, they both wore pearls and green headwears. As a result, they were completely different than before. Only after a short while, they had already dressed up by painting their brows, applying some rouge onto their cheeks and some scarlet lipstick onto their mouths.


    There were no ugly women in Motian Realm. Those women who joined Yin-Yang Sect were all unrivaled beauties in Motian Realm. The two women were born to be coquettish and decent. After dressing themselves up, they made the entire mountain cave bright.


    At the sight of the two beauties, Zhang Tie''s eyes shone at a stroke as he glanced over the two grand elders'' bodies, especially their plump buttocks and legs for a few seconds. The two women were both superb beauties. Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong looked like Ji Yuelan; however, they had an unspoken and graceful bearing temperament like ripe honey peach as if each inch of their skin was smooth and as fragrant as congealed fat when you pinched it. As long as you used some more strength, you could squeeze out water.


    What was more amazing was that the two women both had huge "white rabbits". Su Haimei was 3 cm taller than Ying Feiqiong. Additionally, her huge white rabbits looked even bigger than that of Ying Feiqiong''s. By contrast, Ying Feiqiong''s huge white rabbits were plumper, which almost reached her armpits.


    Speaking of maturity, the two women were both maturer than Bai Suxian, even Yan Feiqing.


    Bai Suxian''s enchanting look was superficial. Yan Feiqing was absolutely an ice queen. If not break the iceberg, Zhang Tie never knew how scorching was the magma beneath the iceberg. By contrast, Su Haimeia and Ying Feiqiong were neither icebergs nor dissolute, enchanting women superficially; they were hiding their unique temperaments carefully right below their coquettish faces and decent demeanors. Zhang Tie could sense it; however, he couldn''t see it. Given this point, they were similar to Linda.


    Under Zhang Tie''s audacious, burning eyes, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong blushed at a stroke. After exchanging a glance with each other, they slightly lowered their upper bodies in a polite way and said, "Thanks for saving our lives again, Your Majesty..."


    Now that they had known Zhang Tie''s real identity, of course, they would not call him "Senior" like how they called Donder before. It would be rude for them to call him Zhang Tie. Therefore, the two women directly called him Your Majesty¡ª¡ªAs Zhang Tie was still the incumbent Dragon Emperor, it was suitable for them to call him Your Majesty.


    After acquiring the pure admiring looks from the two women, Zhang Tie nodded and replied, "Hmm, feel at home. Come here. Let''s have a chat around the bonfire..."


    The two women then picked themselves up and walked towards him with sparkling eyes. They dared not look straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes. Zhang Tie''s response to Si Dan really scared them to a certain degree.


    Watching the two women''s response, Zhang Tie just revealed a casual smile; instead of giving too much explanation to them about it. Before acquiring Infinite King Roc Sutra, he didn''t know that the cultivation and achievement of some secret skills and levels of Infinite King Roc Sutra were not only related to one''s flair, efforts and sufferings. One''s supreme level in one powerful secret method was not determined by one''s flair, efforts and sufferings, but by one''s disposition and spirit. The more advanced and more powerful the secret method was, the closer it would be related to the cultivator''s mentality and spirit. With more advanced mentality and spirit, one could make higher achievements in cultivation method.


    After Infinite Immortal Prison, Zhang Tie gradually figured it out.


    Previously, as he was in a grassroots family, he was not that kind of flamboyant and straight-forward person; conversely, Zhang Tie was always restrained and cautious. After acquiring Infinite King Roc Sutra, Zhang Tie always hid the secret and behaved meticulously as if treading on eggs.


    However, because of such a kind of temperament and life philosophy that he had formed for long, Zhang Tie couldn''t completely master some powerful secret skills of Infinite King Roc Sutra in the early dozens of years in Infinite Immortal Prison despite being a sage-level knight. Meanwhile, he would always have some problems when he applied his sage-level realm. Due to some loopholes, his sage-level realm couldn''t reach the perfect state.


    Until one day when Zhang Tie met the elder again with severe injuries, he instantly thought through the problems after hearing the elder''s tips. "Think about how you lived since young. After acquiring Infinite King Roc Sutra, what have you done? If the King Roc dares not even expose its original look and true moods, it''s nothing different than a sparrow. If you cannot sense the domineering mentality and spirit of King Roc, how can you fly high, reach the supreme level of Infinite King Roc Sutra and master the essence of those secret skills?"


    Zhang Tie figured it out all of a sudden. From then on, he finally entered the supreme level of Infinite King Roc Sutra.


    Zhang Tie was clear that he was a sage-level knight; instead of a sage. As an energetic man who had not touched any woman in Motian Realm for over 90 years, he didn''t need to cover his audacious behavior by appreciating the two beauties'' charming bodies and temperaments.


    Of course, he dared never do that if it was before. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie didn''t hide his true thoughts anymore just like that he didn''t keep the secret that he was cultivating the most powerful emperor-level secret method Infinite King Roc Sutra...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.

 1879 Roasting Potatoes

    Hearts racing, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong both slowly moved towards here. After coming to Zhang Tie''s side, they looked around and looked for a place to sit. However, there was no bench for the two beauties inside this mountain cave. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Sit right here..." Zhang Tie said as he looked around, sitting on a proper rock. There were two stalactites on both sides, each of which was over 12 cm high and 1 m in thickness. They were right beside the bonfire. Zhang Tie reached out his palm and slightly released some battle qi, cutting off the two stalactites from their roots silently like cutting a turnip by a sharp kitchen knife, exposing the smooth surface, where Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong could sit down.


    As the two stalactites were on both sides of Zhang Tie, the two women sat close to Zhang Tie on his left and right respectively. Their seats were convenient for Zhang Tie to put his arms around them. Additionally, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to move away after finding two seats for the two women. There was no other proper seat beside the bonfire either. Therefore, Ying Feiqiong took a bashful look at Su Haimei. Su Haimei then gnashed her teeth and sat on Zhang Tie''s right hand. Watching Su Haimei''s response, Ying Feiqiong then sat on Zhang Tie''s left hand. As a result, Zhang Tie sat in between.


    After taking a deep breath of his surrounding, faint fragrance, Zhang Tie started to move the ashes by stick attentively and added some firewoods inside the bonfire.


    He gradually made a small pit among the ashes. Then, he took out some potatoes and threw them into the ashes. After that, he covered those potatoes with the ashes. As Zhang Tie did it, he kept talking to the two women casually, "When you roast potatoes, you cannot use big fire. You cannot directly roast them above the fire; otherwise, the potatoes would be burned. You cannot keep the potatoes far away from the bonfire; otherwise, the core of potatoes will not be cooked and smell aromatic no matter for how long you roast them. The best method is to bury potatoes in the ashes so that the temperature of the bonfire could slowly pass to the potatoes through the ashes. In this way, the potatoes will gradually be cooked; instead of being burned. I guess you might have not eaten roasted potatoes since you were born..."


    Sitting on Zhang Tie''s sides, the two women were a bit intense previously. However, when they found Zhang Tie just roasted the potatoes attentively instead of flirting with them, the two women gradually became reassured.


    To be honest, Zhang Tie hit it. The two women indeed didn''t know how to roast potatoes. As disciples of Yin-Yang Sect, they didn''t have experience in roasting potatoes even when they participated in survival training when they were young. They had roasted wild animals; however, they could barely find potatoes in the wild. Even though they could, they didn''t necessarily dig them as the process of digging potatoes would always cover one''s face and head with dust and soil. When they promoted to immortal generals, they could prepare ready-to-eat food in their portable space-teleportation item. Of course, they didn''t need to prepare raw potatoes and roast them when they wanted to eat them.


    Because they didn''t know how to roast potatoes, when they saw Zhang Tie the incumbent Dragon Emperor of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace moving ashes and potatoes calmly and adroitly in front of them and imparting the "secret skill" of roasting potatoes to them, the two beauties suddenly felt such strange and weird. At this moment, Zhang Tie was never like the imposing Dragon Emperor who had just killed a supreme-level immortal general; he was absolutely a common teenager in the neighborhood¡ª¡ªAfter noticing their new looks, the teenager glanced over their bodies with scorching eyes audaciously while roasting potatoes quietly beside the bonfire.


    However, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong didn''t know that Zhang Tie was exposing his most natural side at this moment regardless of their feelings.


    King Roc could hover in the sky and swim in the deep ocean. Those who pretended to be powerful were not real powers; those who pretended to be humble were not really humble. Zhang Tie was just exposing his nature.


    Zhang Tie was essentially a teenager who had fallen secretly in love with his beautiful teacher; served as flesh bags in a fighting club and dreamed for beauties on his side.


    The only difference was as follows: Zhang Tie was not brave enough to take a look at Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong at the beginning. However, at this moment, he could frankly appreciate their beautiful looks.


    Everyone was an innocent and flamboyant teenager in heart!


    Teenagers would never die; they just traveled across the globe and waited for you to find them one day so that they could laugh heartily with you!


    "We two...indeed don''t know how to roast potatoes..." Su Haimei felt a bit embarrassed; however, she finally admitted it frankly.


    "Haha, it''s not difficult at all. You will know how to do it immediately after taking a look at my performance!" Zhang Tie told Su Haimei as he took a look at her with a smile, "It''s not difficult to roast potatoes; however, it''s very difficult to realize a life philosophy from the simple process. Many men couldn''t realize any life philosophy from roasting potatoes in their whole lives. However, these men might not win women''s favor and might be single for the rest of their lives!"


    "You could realize a life philosophy from roasting potatoes? It''s even concerned about whether a man could win any women''s favor or not?" Ying Feiqiong asked as she watched Zhang Tie.


    "Of course, actually, when a man woos a woman, it''s like roasting potatoes. There are two kinds of men who won''t win women''s favor. If a woman is regarded as potato, the first kind of man wants to roast potatoes right above the flame and intends to cook it and devour it at once. Such men are too anxious about love and sex. They couldn''t wait to sleep with the woman consecutively for 7 days only by having a cup of tea, having a meal or strolling down the street with her on the first day. In women''s eyes, such a kind of man is a lecher. As long as they approach this kind of man, they would be burned by his scorching temperature. Therefore, women are always afraid of such a kind of man. It''s like robbing. Am I right..."


    Hearing Zhang Tie explaining it to them in such a straightforward way, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong both felt a bit bashful with a blush. They had not heard about the expressions "woos a woman", "sleep with the woman" since they were born. After hearing such words, they felt pretty stimulative and odd. Zhang Tie''s words directly hit their hearts. They admitted that Zhang Tie was right.


    "What about the second kind of man?" Su Haimei couldn''t help asking him.


    "The first kind of men are like bandits. The second kind of men are like scholars who want to rebel. They want to roast potatoes; however, they''re afraid that the potatoes will be burned by the high temperature; therefore, they put the potatoes far away from the bonfire. As a result, when the bonfire dies out, the potatoes are still raw and couldn''t be eaten; someone beside them couldn''t stand it and directly move the potatoes into his own bonfire. When the bonfire dies out and the potatoes are gone, these men then start to complain about injustice and that women are tricky. They start to relieve their sorrows by drinks and become cynical. From then on, all the women in the world are the same in their eyes..."


    "Is there any explanation for you?" Ying Feiqiong asked Zhang Tie as she tried to not laugh out.


    "Of course there is..." Zhang Tie continued after blinking his eyes, "I''m the best kind of man when pursuing women. Cover women with ash. I don''t directly roast the women above the flame, nor throw them far in the wind; instead, I put them in ashes under the fire; meanwhile, I could prevent them from being noticed by the other men who want to eat potatoes. You should let them sense your heat and give them enough sense of security and let them think that they could enjoy the sunshine and take root and sprout in the soil. In this way, they will gradually become mature and eatable. Those bachelors who couldn''t find girlfriends or wives in their whole lives should learn how to roast potatoes..."


    "They all said that Your Majesty came from an alien world. In your world, could all the men understand women such well like you only by roasting potatoes? You even understand women better than disciples of Yang Branch of Yin-Yang Sect. If it''s true. I don''t know whether I should be happy or worried about those women in the alien world..." Su Haimei said while biting her lips with an enchanting and vivid look.


    "Haha, don''t worry. It''s just my realization. There are too many more bachelor men in my world than that in Motian Realm..."


    "Your Majesty, how many ''potatoes'' have you roasted by this method..." Ying Feiqiong asked him as she took a secret look at Su Haimei.


    After hearing Ying Feiqiong''s words, Zhang Tie''s smile gradually faded away. When Ying Feiqiong felt a bit flurried and realized that she should have asked him this question, she heard Zhang Tie''s self-mockery. "I''ve roasted a lot of potatoes; however, I couldn''t take all of them; some cooked potatoes even disappeared themselves..."


    Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong watched Zhang Tie in a daze. Su Haimei looked complex. Ying Feiqiong''s eyes were such sympathetic. Zhang Tie''s reply was ambiguous. As a woman, Ying Feiqiong instantly thought about a situation¡ª¡ªthe cooked potatoes must have fallen in other men''s bowls and taken roots and sprouted. The leaves of the potatoes must be verdant...


    Zhang Tie didn''t notice their expressions. He just didn''t want to continue this topic. He then waved his hands and continued to move the potatoes in the ashes. Meanwhile, he shifted the topic to the two women and Yin-Yang Sect. "Oh, I''ve not imagined that you''ve already promoted to wind immortal generals only after a few years. Congratulations. After parting with you in Cyanlotus City, although I''ve had Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace enquire your whereabouts and want to give a favor to you, I couldn''t find you anymore. How are Yin-Yang Sect, Yuelan and Ruoxin?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, the two women''s eyes gradually turned red...

 1880 Poor Peaches

    The story of Yin-Yang Sect was absolutely a tragedy. However, the source of this tragedy was the love and hatred between some elders of Yin-Yang Sect.


    Yin Canghai made a trick and took advantage of Force Emperor Immortal Palace to kill Elder Brother Luo who was more qualified to be the head of Yin-Yang Sect than him. However, Yin Canghhai had not imagined that the late Luo had already made Hua Meijuan pregnant. Although he got the throne of Yin-Yang Sect and his beloved junior sister apprentice, he had also taken Luo Huaiyu as his own son and brought him up.


    Xue Yuxiu who grew up together with Luo always bore this murder case in mind. After standing it for dozens of years, she finally joined Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and completely degenerated. With the power of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, she almost wiped out the entire Yin-Yang Sect.


    Without Zhang Tie, Yin-Yang Sect might have long been exterminated. It was Zhang Tie who granted Yin-Yang Sect a bit of hope in the dilemma.


    At that time, Yin-Yang Sect suffered a great loss. Besides immortal generals, all the disciples were killed. The internal contradictions of Yin-Yang Sect had been exposed. The position of Ying Canghai had long wavered. Additionally, he turned hostile against his wife and son and lost his power. Even though they were saved by Zhang Tie, the future of Yin-Yang Sect was also dark.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know whether the survivors of Yin-Yang Sect could remain like before after escaping away from Si Clan''s castle; as there was still someone in Yin-Yang Sect whom he was concerned about, of course, Zhang Tie would ask about Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong who were sitting beside him.


    "Ying Canghai is already dead; so is junior sister apprentice Hua. Yin-Yang Sect has been broken apart..." Su Haimei said in a sorrowful tone as she dropped off tears at a stroke.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    As Su Haimei called Ying Canghai by his name instead of his title or elder brother Ying, Zhang Tie knew that what had happened inside Yin-Yang Sect after they left Si Clan''s castle might be unpleasant. What Su Haimei said in the next proved Zhang Tie''s presumption right...


    "After leaving Cyanlotus City, we escaped to Emperor NvWa City for settlement temporarily. There was no demon in Emperor NvWa City. As Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was related to demons, the powers of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace might not be able to enter Emperor NvWa City either. Additionally, Yin-Yang Sect has a secret real estate in Emperor NvWa City. The manor could serve as our asylum in an emergency. At that time, we couldn''t go anywhere but Emperor NvWa City!"


    "At that time, although there''s no powers of demons or Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Emperor NvWa City, there were still powers of Force Emperor Immortal Palace. Therefore, it was not safe even though we hid in Emperor NvWa City. Additionally, as Yuxiu had joined Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, we were not sure whether Dark Emperor Immortal Palace knew this secret real estate of Yin-Yang Sect in Emperor NvWa City. If they knew, they only needed to notice Force Emperor Immortal Palace; then all the survivors of Yin-Yang Sect would be heavily injured. At that time, Yin-Yang Sect could suffer such a loss. Therefore, Feiqiong and I held that we''d better leave Emperor NvWa City as soon as possible. Ruoxin and Yuelan said that Your Majesty would like to protect us in Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Therefore, we wanted to go to Dragon Dragon Big Domain and settle down there..."


    "Yes, before Ruoxin and Yuelan left Dragon Emperor City, I had told them that the survivors of Yin-Yang Sect could go to Dragon Emperor Big Domain if they couldn''t live well in other places. I would prevent the powers of Force Emperor Immortal Palace from finding you trouble in my territory. Unexpectedly, you were also in Emperor NvWa City at that time. As I was severely injured at that time, I stayed in Tigerback Mountain for quite a long period of time..."


    Motian Realm was too small. However, Emperor NvWa City was too large. Zhang Tie had not imagined that the survivors of Yin-Yang Sect and he were all in Emperor NvWa City at that time. Pitifully, they missed such an opportunity to meet each other again. Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong were correct. On that occasion, it was indeed the best way for them to move to Dragon Emperor Big Domain.


    "Ah, Your Majesty, you were also in Emperor NvWa City at that time?"


    "Yes, after recognizing that Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu were pieces of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, I chased after them away from Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Later on, although I killed them, I was trapped by Versatile Demon Emperor and almost lost my life. Fortunately, I survived. Therefore, I went to Emperor NvWa City for medical treatment!" Zhang Tie said as he slightly nodded. Meanwhile, he fiddled with the potatoes under the firewoods.


    "We also knew that we couldn''t stay in Emperor NvWa City for long; however, after arriving at Emperor NvWa City, Ying Canghai suddenly imprisoned Meijuan and Luo Huaiyu. Additionally, he became grumpy, insolent and skeptical and didn''t take others'' advice anymore. Furthermore, he didn''t agree to leave Emperor NvWa City. Feiqiong and I couldn''t stand him anymore; therefore, we found an opportunity to save Meiuan, Luo Haiyu. Then, we left Emperor NvWa City with the other female disciples of Yin branch of Yin-Yang Sect for Dragon Emperor Big Domain!"


    "Right, you''re right. But I''ve not imagined that Ying Canghai could be so..." Zhang Tie shook his head helplessly.


    "I''ve not imagined that he could be that either. Before that, until the day when we left Cyanlotus City, Ying Canghai could still win our admiration as the head of Yin-Yang Sect. That was also the reason why we followed him to Emperor Nvwa City!"


    "Perhaps, he was stimulated too much by what had happened that day!" Zhang Tie sighed. As the head of Yin-Yang Sect, his sect was almost exterminated. As a family owner, he was told that his beloved woman had already got pregnant by some other guy before getting married to him; then, his son became his enemy. As a man, his dignity and reputation were severely destroyed in the prison beneath Si Clan''s castle. Zhang Tie really didn''t know how many men could continue to cheer up after experiencing so many hardships. Someone might be able to do that, but Yin Canghai was not that kind of person. "What happened to you later on?"


    "On the way towards Dragon Emperor Big Domain, we were chased by Ying Canghai. He wanted to take us back to Emperor NvWa City. But we didn''t. Therefore, he wanted to use force. We then went against Ying Canghai completely. As he was alone, he couldn''t defeat us all; therefore, he could only try his best to stop us. Unexpectedly, when we arrived at Feiyu Medium-sized Domain, we were discovered by Si Dan of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. Through a fierce battle, Ying Canghai was killed by Si Dan, Meijuan was also dead. Thankfully, a power passed by at that time. When he noticed the battle, he joined the battle. In case of being besieged, Si Dan hurriedly escaped away; otherwise, we would definitely have been dead..."


    "That power was a female, a head of a sect and an owner of a clan. After knowing that we were hunted by the powers of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, she pitied us and allowed us to settle down in her city. Through her care, we finally tided over the difficulties!"


    "Soon after we arrived at the female power''s city, we''ve been told that Yin-Yang Sect''s manor in Emperor NvWa City was raided by the powers of Force Emperor Immortal Palace. Most of the male disciples of Yin-Yang Sect who stayed in the manor were killed. Only very few of them survived it and disappeared from then on. After Meijuan was dead, Haiyu left alone without notice. From then on, only the yin branch of Yin-Yang Sect survived. After a few days, we heard that Infinite Immortal Hell was discovered in Mountain Ruins; however, Your Majesty disappeared in the Infinite Immortal Hell..."


    "If not meet Your Majesty today, Feiqiong and I would never agree to be humiliated by Si Dan and demons and become their pieces to control the other female disciples of Yin-Yang Sect. In the worst scenario, we might have detonated our own heart meridians and died..."


    When Su Haimei said it, she recalled the hardships that she had experienced over these years. Then, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong both lowered their heads and started to sob. They couldn''t help bursting into tears out of grief.


    Zhang Tie also sighed with emotions. These females of Yin-Yang Sect were too poor.


    These beauties were neither evil nor criminals. They were marked as evil and hunted all the way by Force Emperor Immortal Palace, one of the most powerful human forces in Motian Realm only because they joined a sect and cultivated a secret method. As a result, they were worried about losing their lives every day. Then, their secret method aroused the attention of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and brought them greater troubles. Finally, the sect broke apart. As these beauties were not tolerated by both humans and demons, they were hunted wherever they were. In this occasion, they could still survive. That was really a marvel. Even God couldn''t help pitying them and sparing them an opportunity to survive themselves when in a dilemma.


    Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong had never poured out such words to anyone else before. They must have hidden it in their hearts for a long period of time. Zhang Tie didn''t comfort them verbally; instead, he just let vent their emotions. When he found that they gradually stopped weeping, Zhang Tie fiddled with the well-baked potatoes and took them out. After patting them and blowing ashes off, he gave the potatoes to them, saying, "Don''t worry. From now on, as long as I''m here, nobody dares bully you anymore across Motian Realm. I will make Force Emperor Immortal Palace terminate their order to hunt the survivors of Yin-Yang Sect..."

 1881 Zhang Ties Anger

    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong wiped off their tears as they instantly raised their heads, gazing at Zhang Tie with their watery eyes out of gratitude, excitement, amazement and surprise...


    Given the great power that Zhang Tie displayed when he killed Si Dan and his identity as the incumbent Dragon Emperor, if Zhang Tie really made such a promise, it could be said that the sufferings of the remnants of Yin Yang Sect were coming to an end...


    "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, is it true?" Ying Feiqiong asked Zhang Tie meticulously as her eyes flickered.


    "If you two eat the potatoes that I''ve baked obediently, it will be true. Otherwise, it won''t be..." Zhang Tie answered solemnly.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong exchanged a glance with each other. Closely after that, they took the two hot potatoes from Zhang Tie''s hands with complex feelings.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was just kidding; because of this, the two women felt that his previous words were real.


    "Look, just peel off its skin like this; then you could eat it..." Zhang Tie demonstrated as he taught them how to peel off the potato''s skin and expose the golden content, adding, "Let the bygones be bygones. Previously, I heard such a sentence, I will tell you¡ª¡ªIf we have to suffer difficulties, the only meaning of difficulties is to make us firmer and tell us how to live better. As long as you''re alive with the secret methods of Yin-Yang Sect, I believe that Yin-Yang Sect will reinvigorate in the future..."


    Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong kept listening to Zhang Tie''s words as they slowly enjoyed the baked potatoes and felt warmer. In fact, after venting their feelings, the two women had become much more open-minded. When they focused on their potatoes, they found that the potatoes were really delicious.


    This kind of potato was the most successful mutated species that Zhang Tie had cultured in Castle of Black Iron. After being baked, it smelt pretty aromatic while keeping the pure taste of juice and content of the original species. Although it was simple to bake potatoes, it probably was the best way to cook potatoes. Additionally, the two women had not eaten any food these days; after a fierce battle today, they felt especially tired and hungry. Zhang Tie baked 6 potatoes, 2 for each. Only after a short while, the two women had eaten up their own potatoes almost as fast as Zhang Tie.


    When they ate food, none of them spoke, which was a hint of table manners.


    After eating the last potato in his hand, Zhang Tie sighed deeply due to satisfaction. Touching his belly, he suddenly recalled something as he said, "Oh, take this. I think they should be the rarities of Yin-Yang Sect; therefore, I will give them to you. You could find a proper owner for them..."


    As he said, Zhang Tie took out a pair of battle axes and a space-teleportation finger ring which once belonged to Xue Yuxiu and gave them to Su Haimei.


    At the sight of them, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong instantly recognized them.


    "Ah, they''re Yuxiu''s weapons and space-teleportation equipment..."


    "In the sacrificial altar of Cyandragon Palace, it was Xue Yuxiu who saved you first..."


    As it happened too fast and Xue Yuxiu had died, Zhang Tie didn''t mention the details to any member of Yin-Yang Sect. Those survivors of Yin-Yang Sect always thought that it was Zhang Tie who killed Xue Yuxiu and Grand Justice Qian and saved them. After hearing the truth, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong were both shocked. Their hatred towards Xue Yuxiu had long faded away with her death. To be honest, Xue Yuxiu was poor. Unexpectedly, at the critical moment, Xue Yuxiu could still fight to death for the son of her Elder Brother Luo.


    When they heard that Zhang Tie had already sprayed Xue Yuxiu''s ashes into Sunshine-Prospecting River at her will, they both gazed at Zhang Tie with a curious look as if there was a beautiful flower on his face.


    Stroking his face, Zhang Tie said, "Why are you looking at me this way?"


    "Your Majesty, it turns out that you treasure love and righteousness so much!" Ying Feiqiong said with a sigh.


    "Was I ruthless before?"


    "Of course not..." Su Haimei denied hurriedly. "But... but..." Su Haimei''s face blushed.


    "But what?" Zhang Tie asked.


    Su Haimei''s face turned redder out of shame; she even lowered her head silently as she dared not look into Zhang Tie''s eyes anymore.


    Zhang Tie then burst into laughter as he shifted the topic. "I forgot to ask you the whereabouts of the other female disciples of Yin-Yang Sect just now. Have they moved to Dragon Emperor City? What''s the situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal and Dragon Emperor City these years?"


    "None of the female disciples of Yin-Yang Sect are in Dragon Emperor City."


    "Why? Did someone in Dragon Emperor City find you trouble? When I left, I''ve already told those elders to take care of you!"


    "No..." Ying Feiqiong became shortly hesitant before saying, "Your Majesty, you didn''t know about the situation facing Dragon Emperor Big Domain and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace over these years?"


    "I was in a bizarre place over these years, during which period, I couldn''t contact Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. I''ve just come out today; therefore, I''ve not contacted Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace yet!"


    Zhang Tie had killed a sage-level knight the moment he exited Infinite Immortal Prison. Then, he flew out of Mountain Ruins and arrived here with the two women. With two living people in front of him, Zhang Tie didn''t need to learn about information from other places through crystal plates at all.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Watching their slightly hesitant looks, Zhang Tie gradually became disappointed as he got a bad premonition, asking, "What happened to Dragon Emperor Big Domain and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace over these years? Tell me about the details..."


    At Zhang Tie''s request, the two women could only tell him about what had happened in Dragon Dragon Immortal Palace and Dragon Emperor Big Domain over these years...


    Only after hearing for less than one minute, Zhang Tie had roared, "Sons of b*tches..."


    He then sprung up at a stroke as he released a strong fierce qi. In a split second, the bright flame became froze as it turned into black. The flame suddenly reached over 2 m high with a terrifying qi which could devour everything. When they observed the black flame carefully, they found that numerous dragons were rolling inside. In an instant, the entire space inside the mountain cave started to twist heavily. The flame seemed to burn everything in the mountain cave into ashes...


    In front of the sudden terrifying black flame, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong instantly felt that they were like two small ants at the crater of a supervolcano which was going to erupt. As long as the volcano erupted, it would arouse a big earthquake and they would never escape from being destroyed no matter how heavily they struggled.


    The two women were really scared by the black flame as they couldn''t utter any sound.


    As Zhang Tie sat down, the black flame disappeared at a stroke as the flame became as bright and warm as before, causing the entire mountain cave bright. They didn''t feel terrifying any more. What happened just now was just a hallucination and a dream.


    Zhang Tie took in a deep breath as he recovered his composure. Watching Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong who had not completely recovered, Zhang Tie apologized with a smile, "I''m so sorry for frightening you just now. I''m fine. Let''s continue. ..."

 1882 Shocking News

    After staying with the two beauties in the mountain cave for a few hours and learning about the events in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and the other places of Motian Realm during the past 7 years, Zhang Tie became completely reassured. He didn''t lose his temper anymore; because those events had already happened. It was meaningless for him to lose his temper at this moment.


    As night gradually fell, the two women closed their eyes for a rest in the mountain cave due to tiredness after experiencing what had happened in the daytime.


    Of course, they didn''t lie down for sleep; instead, the three people found a clean location nearby the bonfire respectively and sat around the bonfire as they closed their eyes and adjusted their respiratory rates.


    Besides the warmth, the burning bonfire could also prevent some mosquitoes and insects from approaching them. After adding some firewoods which could burn for a bit longer period into the bonfire, the heat of the bonfire could last for one night.


    Zhang Tie''s location was close to the entrance of the mountain cave. The two women''s locations were inside the cave. They were close to each other and could easily see each other the moment they opened their eyes. The light of the flame could reflect on the their faces at the same time.


    Besides the three people''s long and balanced breathing sounds, there were only light cracks of burning firewoods in the bonfire inside the mountain cave overnight. Therefore, it felt pretty tranquil over there.


    At about 5 am, the firewoods in the bonfire finally died out before daybreak, leaving a wisp of white smoke. Zhang Tie opened his eyes first.


    After one night''s rest, Zhang Tie''s spiritual and physical strength hit the peak again.


    Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong were still adjusting their respiratory rates, eyes closed. When they fought Si Dan yesterday, they indeed suffered a bit shock. Before closing their eyes, they both drank a vial of Dragon Emperor Medicament. Through one night''s adjustment, their light shock had almost been recovered given their respiratory rates.


    The two women had already become heavenly knights who had pretty sensitive senses. They almost opened their eyes at the same time the moment the bonfire died out and Zhang Tie fixated onto them.


    "Let''s go!" Zhang Tie stood up quickly as he suggested.


    The two women nodded as they stood up too.


    When the three people exited the mountain cave, they instantly flew towards the foot of the mountain.


    Yesterday, they had already negotiated with each other. Zhang Tie would return to Dragon Emperor Big Domain first. When the two women returned to Dragon Emperor Big Domain and settled down somewhere they liked, they would notice Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan to converge with them.


    The sky was still deep blue except a bit light in the eastern skyline. As heavenly knights, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong''s speed was not slower than that of average heavenly knights. However, even though they had exerted their utmost efforts, they were still as slow as tortoise in Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    "Sorry about that..." Feeling that the two women could move faster, Zhang Tie apologized to them before holding their hands and surrounding them with his protective battle qi. After that, he unfolded the 100-m long huge golden feathered wings behind him. In a few seconds, his speed had increased by more than 10 times and reached over 20,000 m per second. The two women were scared so much that they even exclaimed.


    Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong were really scared. At this speed, they only felt that floating mountains were flashing backwards one after another beside them. Within their vision, they could reach dozens of miles away in the blink of an eye. The farther place was also approaching them rapidly. They had not even heard about such an amazing speed in Motian Realm, not to mention experience.


    Even top powers like legendary immortal emperors or demon emperors couldn''t reach over 20,000 m per second.


    Additionally, that pair of golden feathered wings that Zhang Tie unfolded felt nice. This was the strangest secret method related to flight across Motian Realm.


    They were really flying as fast as a lightning bolt...


    At such a high speed, as long as they hit something, a wind immortal general would be broken apart at a stroke even if he or she had protective battle qi.


    Therefore, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong couldn''t help grasping Zhang Tie''s hands. Additionally, the two women''s hands oozed sweat heavily at a stroke as their faces turned nervous.


    "Don''t worry. Relax yourselves..." Zhang Tie said as he turned his head and pinched their hands for once. Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong then became slightly composed.


    "Watch out..." Some tens of thousands of meters-high floating mountains suddenly appeared in front of Zhang Tie. At the sight of that, the two women exclaimed out of panic in unison.


    Zhang Tie burst into laughter as he flipped his wings and penetrated through the gap between two huge floating mountains as fast as a lightning bolt just like performing a stunt.


    Zhang Tie moved so fast that they had seen Ice and Fiery Heavenly Wind Layer in more than 10 minutes. Like how a bolt penetrated through mist, Zhang Tie instantly entered the Ice and Fiery Heavenly Wind Layer. Only after a short while, they had came out of this layer. After that, he adjusted his direction and headed for Dragon Emperor Big Domain.


    As Mountain Ruins was going to open, on the way here, they met too many wind immortal generals and those above wind immortal generals. Many people had noticed them; however, they only saw a meteor driving a pair of golden feathered wings towards a direction in an unimaginable speed...


    After being shortly stunned, many powers with various backgrounds instantly transmitted what they had seen to the bases of their own clans, immortal palaces or sects.


    ...


    ¡ª¡ªAn unidentified powerhouse was flying out of Mountain Ruins; after penetrating through Ice and Fiery Heavenly Wind Layer, he''s heading for a human big doman. According to my judgment, it''s heading for the east. Attention, his speed could reach over 20,000 m per second, which is far greater than that of demon emperors.


    A fiery immortal general transmitted the message to Force Emperor Immortal Palace after a short silence.


    Almost at the same time, some superhuman forces such as Force Emperor Immortal Palace, Star Emperor Immortal Palace, Emperor NvWa''s Palace, even Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace which had been bearing trouble over the past few years had already received the similar intelligence through various channels.


    Many clans and other immortal palaces had received this news too.


    Flying out of Mountain Ruins¡ª¡ªA pair of unprecedented huge golden feathered wings¡ª¡ªa speed higher than that of demon emperors...


    After linking the three key points with each other, numerous people across Motian Realm, who used to be sensitive, were shocked. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Before Zhang Tie returned to Dragon Emperor Big Domain, all the human forces in Motian Realm had been in hubbubs...

 1883 The Change of Dragon Emperor Big Domain

    Zhang Tie was crystal clear of the great shock that he would cause when he returned to Motian Realm from Mountain Ruins in this way; however, he didn''t care about it. In another way, he was making such great shock on purpose. Zhang Tie wanted to tell everyone among humans and demons across Motian Realm that he, Zhang Tie, also the incumbent Dragon Emperor was coming back aboveboard...


    Infinite Immortal Prison had disappeared yesterday. As too few people went to Mountains Plain recently, few people could find the change. Otherwise, this news could definitely rock the entire Motian Realm.


    In Motian Realm, the battle force came first. In this world, human and demon powers and immortal generals could only accept one thing¡ª¡ªforce.


    If one wanted to let everyone else listen to his sound quietly and respect him; if one wanted his territory to be safe and secure; if one wanted to protect something, he had to prove that he was very powerful.


    To make it simpler, when everyone''s head was stamped into the mud by you, they would learn how to raise their dirty faces from the mud and look up at your great body with a humble smile; they would even fear that their bodies made your shiny leather shoes dirty.


    Zhang Tie had understood this truth many years ago. However, after knowing what Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had suffered during these years when he stayed in Infinite Immortal Prison, Zhang Tie confirmed one point¡ª¡ªover these years in Motian Realm, he had killed too few people or powers or celebrities. He was not notorious or dignified enough. Therefore, many people didn''t fear him. As a result, during the short period of time when he was in Infinite Immortal Prison, the entire Dragon Emperor immortal Palace became a ripe persimmon which everyone could pinch or give a bite at their will.


    ''Those attackers didn''t know that I was Dragon Emperor? Of course, they knew!''


    ''Didn''t those attackers know that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace belonged to me? Of course, they knew!''


    ''So what?''


    When Versatile Demon Emperor raided Dragon Emperor City 7 years ago, it killed Wang Laisheng, an elder of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace who was on duty in Qianji Agency and destroyed the entire Forbidden City, causing dozens of casualties inside Dragon Emperor City, exposing the weakness of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to the rest of Motian Realm at a stroke.


    Versatile Demon Emperor didn''t raid Dragon Emperor City only once; instead, thrice. During the eight months since Zhang Tie entered Infinite Immortal Prison, Versatile Demon Emperor raided Dragon Emperor City for 3 times, causing great losses to Dragon Emperor City and stamping the entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace into the mud pit.


    Versatile Demon Emperor thought that it could access to Dragon Emperor City, killing people and setting fires in Dragon Emperor City whenever it wanted. The false appearance that an immortal emperor was on the back of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace that Zhang Tie tried his best to fabricate was torn apart by Versatile Demon Emperor in a way which was close to humiliation.


    Versatile Demon Emperor was telling everyone in its own action: Dragon Emperor who had disappeared over 900 years was actually dead. The dragon emperor that appeared in Dragon Emperor City was just a fake one. Zhang Tie was just a wind immortal who stole the throne of Dragon Emperor using a trick. Even Zhang Tie himself had died in the Infinite Immortal Prison. Additionally, Zhang Tie was from another world; instead of Motian Realm.


    In Motian Realm, if an emperor-level immortal palace which occupied a big domain was suddenly supposed to be ruled by a person who didn''t have really great battle force or even lose its owner, its outcome could be imagined.


    When Versatile Demon Emperor raided Dragon Emperor City for the third time and retreated safe and sound, another great force in Broken Stars Sea called Black Blood Alliance finally couldn''t wait to charge at Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Closely followed by some throne-level immortal palaces, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and the other ambitious forces and powers from the rest of Motian Realm...


    In front of such greedy and powerful opponents, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace which had lost its owner and lacked morale kept collapsing time and time again. In only a few years, Dragon Emperor Big Domain had become a piece of flesh that all the other forces were scrambling for. As a result, the size of the region under the control of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace soon shrank to 1/5 of that before. They could only linger on with their last breath of lives.


    In many people''s eyes, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had already fallen. It was only lingering on with its last breath of life. This powerful immortal palace would soon be forgotten by the others like many other immortal palaces which had collapsed in the history of Motian Realm.


    The latest example was Rune Emperor Immortal Palace. Now it came to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    History and destiny had great inertia, which didn''t change with one''s will on many occasions. If Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was taken as an edifice, it had been heavily damaged before Zhang Tie came to Motian Realm. The huge pillars of the edifice had long been broken. The edifice was going to fall soon. Zhang Tie tried his best to find a pivot point and support this edifice in case that it further tilted. He even attempted to slowly help it stand straight and become as prosperous and brilliant as before by fixing those broken parts in the edifice.


    If he were in another environment or had enough time, Zhang Tie might really make it. Pitifully, he was in Motian Realm where Versatile Demon Emperor wouldn''t spare any time to him; nor would the other demons. Those ambitious people who had long been casting greedy eyes on the resources, land and population of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace wouldn''t spare any time to Zhang Tie either.


    Therefore, when the news that Zhang Tie "died" in the Infinite Immortal Prison, the entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace went back to the former track of destiny facing the great inertia of history. Unavoidably, it fell to the ground heavily and was stomped by numerous big feet and could barely pick itself up anymore. From then on, it could only be completely disintegrated...


    The historical inertia didn''t change; however, the result seemed to be a bit different.


    Because of the appearance of Zhang Tie, two elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were recognized as moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and cleaned up; Dragon Teeth Army was founded and was in the hands of those who were loyal to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Additionally, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was able to produce Dragon Emperor Medicament which was popular across Motian Realm. Zhang Tie even asked Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to establish close cooperation with Emperor NvWa''s Palace; furthermore, Zhang Tie unveiled the conspiracy of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and Versatile Demon Emperor and made great contributions to all the humans in Motian Realm. Zhang Tie''s performance in the battle outside Infinite Immortal Prison 7 years ago even won the favor of Force Emperor.


    Because of these differences, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace which had fallen to the ground and was bleeding weakly while being besieged by packs of wolves could still maintain its last breath and 1/5 of the territory of Dragon Emperor Big Domain; instead of being completely disintegrated. A lot of immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were still defending Dragon Emperor City so that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace''s banner could still sway in the air above Dragon Emperor City; instead of falling to the ground...


    This was the current situation facing Dragon Emperor Big Domain.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    After leaving Mountain Ruins, the fierce intent that Zhang Tie had been controlling for one night finally surged in his heart like a billowy tide.


    Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace belonged to Zhang Tie or Dragon Emperor. It had a special meaning in Zhang Tie''s heart. Given the four words that Dragon Emperor left, Zhang Tie would never allow Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to be disintegrated and stained.


    This time, he had to make a massacre. He had to ensure that nobody dared cast greedy eyes on Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace after leaving Motian Realm for 1,000 years.


    ...


    Since Zhang Tie left Mountain Ruins, the route from the bottom of Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer to Dragon Emperor Big Domain was a straight slant which was longer than 300,000 miles. Over half a month ago, it almost took Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong 18 days to travel about 200,000 miles before arriving at the bottom of Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer. However, it only took Zhang Tie and them over 6 hours to finish 300,000 miles this time.


    They left Mountain Ruins before daybreak; however, over 6 hours later, they had already arrived at Dragon Emperor Big Domain. When they arrived at the air zone above Dragon Emperor Big Domain, they found the sun was still hanging high over the sky, even half an hour before lunch.


    When Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong saw Dragon Emperor Big Domain below, they almost didn''t believe in their eyes.


    Zhang Tie was always silent. When they arrived at Dragon Emperor Big Domain, he asked the two women a question.


    "I remember there''re two big cities in the west of Dragon Emperor Big Domain, Weststart City and Dragonsea City. You said that Black Blood Alliance had already occupied the large area in the west of Dragon Emperor Big Domain near Brokenstars Sea with the banner of Black Blood Immortal Palace, do you know where the headquarters of Black Blood Immortal Palace is in, Weststart City or Dragonsea City?"


    "It''s in Dragonsea City!" Su Haimei answered, "But Dragonsea City has been renamed as Blackblood City!"


    "How many supreme immortal generals are in Black Blood Alliance?"


    "Two. They''re Two Blackblood Sages who presided over Black Blood Alliance before. They''re now called Left and Right Immortal Kings of Black Blood Immortal Palace..."


    "Are they always in Dragonsea City?"


    "Yes, they are!" Su Haimei nodded as she added,"Previously, all the immortal generals who joined Black Blood Alliance were evil criminals. They stayed in Brokenstars Sea and robbed airboats. Later on, they directly took Brokenstars Sea as their territory and asked tolls from airboats or asked them to submit 2/10 of goods and wealth to them. Besides immortal palaces, they ignored ordinary major clans. Since they occupied the large area in the west of Dragon Emperor Big Domain, Two Blackblood Sages had been said to convene their subordinate immortal generals for carnivals, drinks and sex all day long in the immortal palace in an extremely luxurious way..."


    "That''s great!" Zhang Tie revealed a bone-chilling smile as he added, "Hopefully, all the b*stards are gathering together in case of trouble..." As he said, Zhang Tie had already adjusted his direction and flew straightly towards Dragonsea City.


    ...

 1884 Release and Refusal

    Zhang Tie''s resolute deed startled Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong. Previously, they thought that Zhang Tie would go back to Dragon Emperor City first; unexpectedly, Zhang Tie directly flew towards Dragonsea City in the west of Dragon Emperor Big Domain. It seemed that he was going to clean up all the powers in Black Blood Immortal Palace...


    "Ah? Two Blackblood Sages are both supreme immortal generals. After occupying a large area in the west of Dragon Emperor Big Domain, Black Blood Immortal Palace have received more and more immortal generals over recent years. Are you going there alone..." Su Haimei asked Zhang Tie out of concern as she watched him...


    "Yea, Two Blackblood Sages promoted to supreme immortal generals much earlier than Si Dan. They have been running amuck for many years in Motian Realm. Over those years when they settled in Brokenstars Sea, they had gathered a lot of desperadoes. Besides emperor-level immortal palaces, none of the ordinary immortal palaces dared offend them!" Ying Feiqiong revealed more information to Zhang Tie while persuading him to not do that alone.


    Although the two women had seen how Zhang Tie killed Si Dan yesterday and found that Si Dan was greatly dwarfed in front of him; they knew that a supreme-level immortal general could never match the battle force of two supreme-level immortal generals. Two Blackblood Sages were much more famous than Si Dan in Motian Realm; not to mention that they had many subordinates. If their subordinates formed big battle formations, they might restrict or threaten Zhang Tie.


    "If you worry about me, you could leave here first. Find a place to reunite with Jiang Ruoxin and Ji Yuelan. I will go to Dragonsea City alone. After solving Black Blood Alliance, I will go to Five Elements Immortal Palace and the other places!" Zhang Tie said calmly after taking a look at Su Haimei and Ying Feiqing.


    "Feiqiong and I belong to Yin-Yang Sect and dislike to fight others; however, Your Majesty, after saving our lives twice, do you think that we''re afraid of death, having no concept of appreciation or couldn''t shoulder any responsibility?" Su Haimei suddenly watched Zhang Tie with watery eyes.


    Ying Feiqiong also bit her lip tightly and said with a resolute look, "Now that Your Majesty regards us as such kind of people, please let us go. We will repay for your help in another way for sure; in the worst-case scenario, we will give our lives back to you. What do you think about it, Haimei..."


    "Feiqiong is right. We will leave right now..."


    Su Haimei said as she exchanged a glance with Ying Feiqiong. They then intended to get rid of Zhang Tie.


    However, no matter how they struggled, they still couldn''t get rid of Zhang Tie''s grips. Even though their faces turned red, they still couldn''t change Zhang Tie''s movement a bit like how two ants tried to shake a huge tree.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know that his casual words could cause the two women to make such a great response. Given their looks, if they were really released, they would probably return their lives to him. Zhang Tie would never allow that to happen...


    "Your Majesty, please let Feiqiong and I go; please let us go..." Su Haimei turned around and urged coldly without looking at him.


    "Your Majesty..." Ying Feiqiong stared at Zhang Tie as her voice turned serious at once.


    "Well, I will let you go..." Zhang Tie said calmly after rolling his eyes for a short while. Then, he loosened his grip.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words and feeling that Zhang Tie had loosened his grip, Su Haimei suddenly held her breath. Closely after that, she had a sharp heartache. It felt strange. She felt like losing something. Therefore, her tears came out at a stroke. She then turned around so that her tears couldn''t be seen by Zhang Tie.


    Ying Feiqiong''s face turned pale at once the moment Zhang Tie let her go. Meanwhile, she felt empty and frustrated like losing something. Even the surrounding sky became empty in an instant.


    The two women gnashed their teeth as they intended to fly away from Zhang Tie.


    But...


    Even though Zhang Tie had already loosened his grips, his battle qi still covered the two women like a huge protective cover. Therefore, the two women continued to fly with Zhang Tie just like before. Previously, the three people were sitting in a row. Zhang Tie was sitting in the middle while holding their hands. Even though he loosened his grips, he was still sitting together with them in the plane. They had to stay with Zhang Tie unless they could jump off the airplane...


    Similarly, only when they broke Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi could they leave him. However, after struggling for a while, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong found that they could move freely in Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi. His protective battle qi was like air near them. They almost couldn''t sense its existence. However, the periphery of his protective battle qi was irresistible which couldn''t be moved at all no matter how they pushed, scratched, bit; Ying Feiqiong even hit his protective battle by palm for a few times. Ying Feiqiong also hit it for a few times at her full efforts; however, they received no response at all just like throwing some mushrooms onto a heap of stones.


    Su Haimei also hit Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi by palm for a few times; however, she received the same result.


    "Your Majesty, please open your protective battle qi and let Haimei and I go..." Ying Feiqiong asked Zhang Tie helplessly again when she found that she couldn''t break Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi.


    "I''m sorry. I''m flying at a high speed. In the process of executing this secret skill, I have to keep my protective battle qi..." Zhang Tie said solemnly while he looked forward.


    "Your Majesty, please wait for a second..."


    "I''m in a hurry..."


    "Your Majesty, when will you let us go?" Ying Feiqiong asked Zhang Tie while gnashing her teeth.


    "I''m sorry. I might be very busy for a long period. I have to chop off many heads. Therefore, I cannot stop releasing my protective battle qi even a second; otherwise, I might be in danger. You two have to continue to follow me..." Zhang Tie continued to talk nonsense but with a serious look.


    Ying Feiqiong and Su Haimei finally understood that Zhang Tie didn''t want them to leave at all. He was just fooling them from the start. The two women could never escape even though their hands were let go of by Zhang Tie. In an instant, they felt sweet, bitter, angry and warm. They didn''t know whether to laugh or cry.


    "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, how could you be so... so shameless..." Su Haimei instantly turned around and stared at Zhang Tie, breasts undulating, out of fury and excitement. Additionally, her slightly pale cheeks turned pretty red with some tears.


    "Now that you''re on my boat, don''t expect to leave it any more..." Zhang Tie burst out laughing as he reached out his hands and put his arms around their slender waists in a domineering way.


    "Ah..." Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong exclaimed in unison out of shock. Closely after that, they wanted to get rid of his arms; however, Zhang Tie''s arms and palms only told them that it was irresistible.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Watching Su Haimei''s slightly open mouth due to shock, Zhang Tie instantly kissed her; closely after that, Zhang Tie turned around and kissed Ying Feiqiong''s mouth too.


    The two women stopped struggling anymore. When they realized what had happened, their faces turned red at once...


    Sometimes, the action was indeed more useful than everything else.


    After half a minute, as the elder sister, Su Haimei finally gnashed her teeth and glared at Zhang Tie with a furious and humiliated look before saying, "Your Majesty, you''re excessive!"


    Zhang Tie didn''t explain it to them; instead, he just said in an indisputable tone, "The following battles don''t suit you. You''d better wait for me in Dragon Emperor City. If you dare run about, watch out your buttocks..."


    Closely after the word "buttocks", the two women felt that Zhang Tie had lightly patted their plump buttocks. Without any omen, the two women instantly became free. However, Zhang Tie had already arrived tens of thousands of meters away like a golden light. Only after a few flashes, he had disappeared in their eyes.


    The two women were in a daze. Watching the direction where Zhang Tie was heading for with confusing looks, they became silent for quite a while.


    "Haimei..." Ying Feiqiong broke the silence as she touched the place which was kissed by Zhang Tie and felt her face becoming warm. After taking a careful look at Su Haimei, she asked with a complex mood, "Erm... are... we... going to Dragon Emperor City?"

 1885 In Blackblood City

    When Zhang Tie was flying towards Dragonsea City, Dragonsea City or Blackblood City was as same as usual. Nobody had felt that a fierce battle god was coming.


    Blackblood Alliance had been renamed as Blackblood Immortal Palace; however, the members of Blackblood Alliance maintained their temperaments as bandits. Previously, Blackblood Alliance occupied Brokenstars Sea where Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Star Emperor immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t care. With Two Blackblood Sages on their back, Blackblood Alliance tyrannically abused their power in Brokenstars Sea and took in many fearless bandits. They set passes there and formed a local force. Almost nobody dared offend them. Even ordinary immortal palaces didn''t want to clash against them.


    A few years ago, as Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was heavily damaged and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace were causing turmoils in Motian Realm, Blackblood Alliance invaded Dragon Emperor Big Domain under the leaderships of Two Blackblood Sages. After defeating the garrisons of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, they instantly occupied a large area of land and over 100 cities in the west of Dragon Emperor Big Domain. As a result, Blackblood Alliance promoted to Blackblood Immortal Palace.


    In the beginning, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace assigned Dragon Teeth Army and powerhouses to suppress the alien force. Pitifully, before the army of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace arrived, more and more forces and immortal palaces had started to invade Dragon Emperor Big Domain while widely opening their bloody mouths and exposing their fangs. As a result, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could barely cope with them and gradually became weak due to great losses. After a few years, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace couldn''t even preserve itself facing so many hungry wolves and tigers. They were unable to make effective counterattacks to Blackblood Alliance which had two supreme-level immortal generals and take back their land and cities anymore. As a result, Blackblood Alliance became more blatant and unscrupulous in the land and cities of Dragon Emperor Big Domain where they occupied.


    In the cities that they occupied, those fearless bandits of Blackblood Alliance had intruded the mansions and assets of influential clans. Those lucky rich people had been driven away naked and became poor overnight. As for those unfortunate rich people, the immortal generals of Blackblood Alliance directly killed those men and became the lords themselves; besides occupying their mansions and properties, they even kept their wives, concubines and daughters.


    After Blackblood Alliance arrived there, dead people could be discovered in the rivers outside the cities every day. Those ruffians and scoundrels who were beaten and sworn like mice passing the streets inside the cities or put behind upon bars joined Blackblood Immortal Palace and found their reliances. Closely after that, they all became local dignitary and lived a well-off life assuming the authorities of immortal generals of Blackblood Alliance as their own. At the same time, they imitated their superiors and started to be tyrannical in cities too. In only a few years, few women in brilliant clothes could be seen on the streets of Dragonsea City in the daytime. Even though some women were on the streets, they only lowered their heads and trotted. If they had to raise their heads, they would cover their faces and hair with dust and soil in case of being robbed away...


    Previously, Dragonsea City was one of the biggest city in the west of Dragon Emperor Big Domain. The entire city and its surrounding areas contained over 22 million people. The city was pretty prosperous. However, after being occupied by Blackblood Alliance for only a few years, the city had gradually become sluggish.


    Even so, the powers of Blackblood Alliance still didn''t stop enjoying themselves. These fearless immortal generals and bandits lived in a humble abode in the cold and hard environment of Brokenstars Sea before; after occupying such a big city, of course, they would relax as if they wanted to compensate the former "losses".


    At noon, those fearless bandits of Blackblood Alliance had already gathered in the original location of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace again. They were holding a grand and luxurious banquet where they were exclaiming and drinking heartily like what they usually did in Brokenstars Sea...


    The former solemn Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragonsea City had already changed its look. The statue of Dragon Emperor standing in the hall which covered over 10,000 square meters had long been broken into pieces and thrown away; they were replaced by two wholly-new statues of Two Blackblood Sages who were both higher than 20 m. The entire hall was resplendent and magnificent. The fountain in the hall was spurting out quality liquor; the singers and dancers were top beauties; even those mermaids serving yummy food were beauties in semi-transparent yarn skirt.


    At this moment, Two Blackblood Sages were sitting behind the tables in front of their own statues and drinking while squinting their subordinates drinking heartily and exclaiming madly.


    Saber Sage was sitting before his statue on the left of the end of the hall. In black Samurai robe, he looked like a crazy lion featured by hawk nose, tall frame, silver hair, rugged and flamboyant look. Meanwhile, a cold light flashed across his eyes every once in a while.


    The one who was sitting behind the table over 10 m away from Saber Sage was Sword Sage. Compared to Saber Sage''s rugged and flamboyant look, Sword Sage in white robe looked like a decent and well-preserved middle-aged scholar. There was not even a wrinkle on Sword Sage''s face. His fair and slim fingers which were holding a glass made many women feel ashamed of their own inferiority.


    Sword Sage and Saber Sage were their nicknames. As for their true names, very few people knew that after they gradually established Blackblood Alliance.


    In the hall, immortal generals directly jumped into the dance pool and caught a dancer and drew her back to their own table every once in a while. Closely after that, they guffawed and made a cup of liquor before pouring it into the woman''s mouth. Meanwhile, they started to gnaw and lick her breast crazily. Additionally, soon after some mermaids served dishes, they had been caught by someone on their side and pressed down. Closely after that, they started to fumble crazily in her skirt...


    Among their guffaws, the hall was filled with women''s exclamations from time to time as if many devils were dancing in riotous revelry.


    However, there wasn''t any woman beside the Two Blackblood Sages. From the beginning, their eyes had been calm and cold. They just drank quietly as if nobody was in front of them.


    Two Blackblood Sages were always like that. Therefore, they could win the admiration of so many fearless bandits.


    When Saber Sage looked at Sword Sage for the third time, gentle Sword Sage finally drank up the glass of liquor. Closely after that, he flicked his glass by finger, causing a clear "buzz", which covered all the other sounds in the hall. Those immortal generals who were drinking heartily, guffawing crazily and burying their heads in the breasts of women gradually became quiet together with those musicians and women who were singing and dancing. A few seconds later, the boisterous hall was in dead silence.


    "Jia Zhang, how many people escaped away from Dragonsea City last month?" Sword Sage asked kindly as he looked at a nearby tall, thin and black-faced wind immortal general who had just drawn his hand back from inside the skirt of a quivering maid.


    "247 people escaped away from Dragonsea City last month. We''ve already caught 218 of them. 29 people are still missing. However, they can never escape away from the territory of Blackblood Immortal Palace. We might be able to catch all of them in a couple of days," the wind immortal general said as he licked his lips.


    "How do you cope with those whom you''ve caught back?"


    The wind immortal general named Jia Zhang grinned grimly and terrifyingly, exposing his metal teeth. "I''ve decapitated all of them and hung them over the city gate. 16 of them had family members. I decapitated their family members too. Some of them were decapitated together with their neighbors. I''ve chopped off 687 people''s heads in total. I believe these heads could scare many people..."


    "Not bad. Not bad!" Sword Sage nodded with a smile. After making a glass of drink for himself, he raised his glass and said, "Thanks for your help..."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    All the other immortal generals hurriedly responded to him by raising their glasses and bottomed up their glasses at a stroke.


    "How are you living these years after you came to Dragon Emperor Big Domain?" Sword Sage asked them with a smile.


    "Haha, needless to say, we''ve got drink and meat. We could have as many beauties as we want. We''re living much better than those days in Brokenstars Sea..."


    "Last night, I found 6 more beautiful virgins and played with them all night. Pitifully, two of them died. Hahaha..."


    "I''m living better. When I saw a mansion that I liked, I would rush inside and kill all the men. Then, I would have all the women, properties and servants. Those people had to serve me like how they served those men before. Heh, heh, heh, these rich people are really luxurious..."


    Those subordinates started to reminisce about their "good days".


    "Not bad, not bad!" Sword Sage nodded as he asked, "Do you want to continue or not..."


    "Of course..."


    "Jerks don''t like that..."


    "Did we mistreat you these years?" Sword Sage continued.


    "Never!"


    "Why did you say that?"


    "Your Majesty, what are you talking about? If I hear anyone say that Your Majesty mistreated him, I will chop off his head immediately..."


    "Sigh, but I''m afraid that we cannot continue to live on like this for long..." Sword Sage suddenly said with a deep sigh.


    "Ah? Is Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace going to launch counterattacks? How dare they do that? Even if they intend to do that, dare they fight Blackblood Immortal Palace?"


    "F*ck, Your Majesty, why not occupy Dragon Emperor City? If all the survivors of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace are killed, they will not dare to find troubles any more..."


    "It''s not that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace doesn''t want us to live well. After a short period of time, the core of Mountain Ruins will be opened. On that day, supreme-level immortal generals would enter the core of Mountain Ruins. If someone could drink Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, they''re going to promote to immortal emperors soon. By then, if there are a couple of more immortal emperors in Motian Realm; I''m afraid that we will not be able to live such well..."


    "Ah, but why?"


    "Think about it. As long as new immortal emperors appear, the pattern of human forces in Motian Realm will be changed. Will the new immortal emperors abandon such a huge piece of cake of Dragon Emperor Big Domain? We''ve already occupied such a large area in the west of Dragon Emperor Big Domain. It''s difficult for other human forces to not cast greedy eyes on this area..."


    "As long as Your Majesty could drink Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring and promote to immortal emperors, won''t the entire Dragon Emperor Big Domain will belong to us?" a smart immortal general instantly said.


    "Even if we could drink Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, due to the constant loss of population of Blackblood Immortal Palace, we would barely win the favor of those commoners. On this occasion, how could we promote to immortal emperors? What should we do to prevent those followers of Blackblood Immortal Palace from escaping and let them be loyal to Blackblood Immortal Palace?" Sword Sage said as he stroked the glass by two fingers and watched those fearless immortal generals with a smile...


    Watching the faint smile of Sword Sage, all the fearless immortal generals in the hall felt their hearts palpitating once. Those smart ones instantly got the meaning of Sword Sage after taking a look at Saber Sage who remained silent beside Sword Sage. Closely after that, they all trembled once due to fear...


    The atmosphere in the hall turned cold gradually...


    ...

 1886 Two Black Blood Sages

    Two Black Blood Sages were both crystal clear that they had to promote to immortal emperors if they wanted to further improve their cultivation base and reach their heyday.


    If they wanted to promote to immortal emperors, they must drink Nine Heavens Immortal Spring and win the support of a large population.


    Two Black Blood Sages were both fierce and ambitious people. They knew that bandits could help them conquer the world; however, bandits couldn''t help them manage the world. Needless to say, all the other immortal generals in Black Blood Alliance were dauntless bandits except for saber sage and sword sage. They could stimulate these people to help them occupy the vast land in the west of Dragon Emperor Big Domain in chaos with extravagant material and sexual support and maintain their high morality in the same means so that they could follow their orders; however after Black Blood Alliance became Black Blood Immortal Palace and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was going to perish instead of further competing with them, the overall situation facing Dragon Emperor Big Domain gradually stabilized. Therefore, Two Black Blood Sages got another plan.


    After a few months, the core of Mountain Ruins would open. It meant a rare opportunity for all the supreme-level immortal generals and supreme-level demon generals across Motian Realm to promote to immortal emperors that they would have to wait for another 360 years if they missed it. Even supreme-level immortal generals'' life expectancy only contained a few 360 years. Who could guarantee that they could still stay alive for another 360 years? Although supreme-level immortal generals could live a bit longer than those below, even immortal emperors and demon emperors would die in Motian Realm, not to mention the death of supreme-level immortal generals.


    Therefore, on this occasion, if their subordinates were still so presumptuous in their own territory and forced all the commoners in their territory to escape away; instead of attracting more population, undoubtedly, it would be a long way for them to promote to immortal emperors even though they could drink Nine Heavens Immortal Spring.


    Gradually, those subordinates had already become their obstacles on their way towards immortal emperors. However, without these people''s help, Two Black Blood Sages could barely manage Black Blood Immortal Palace.


    This was one reason that Two Black Blood Sages convened the backbones of Blackblood City here. It seemed that Two Black Blood Sages were preparing for a showdown with their subordinates.


    It was not their temporary decision but the final decision that Two Blood Sages made after carefully analyzing the current situation and intelligence about Motian Realm and Dragon Emperor Big Domain. 3 years ago, the two people had already got such a plan. However, the situation facing Dragon Emperor Big Domain was not that clear at that time and they still needed these people''s help; therefore, Two Black Blood Sages connived these people''s wanton deeds at that time. But now, it was time for them to make changes.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    It was not because Two Black Blood Sages were merciful, but out of their demands.


    The atmosphere in the hall cold down at once.


    None of those who could promote to immortal generals were idiots. Those who could survive in Brokenstars Sea and take root in Black Blood Alliance were all smart. Although Sword Sage was talking to them with a smile, his tone sounded like venting his grievances. When they recalled the terrifying means that Two Black Blood Sages used in Brokenstars Sea, many dauntless bandits who had followed them for many years felt bone-chilling at once.


    Over these years, none of those who were in the way of the two people could survive. They even lived as good as dead. All of them knew the outcome of becoming the steppingstone of Two Black Blood Sages.


    ...


    "Pah..." A clear and loud clap suddenly sounded in the quiet hall, which attracted everyone''s attention.


    The immortal general who said that he would kill the men, and occupy all the women, properties and servants inside the mansion whichever he liked was slapping his face ferociously. Watching the others'' response, he raised his hand and slapped the other cheek forcefully again. At the same time, he started to condemn himself with great hatred and regret.


    "I''m a jerk... I''m a jerk... I''m really a jerk. I''m not a human. Over these years, I only thought about enjoying myself; instead of considering the situation facing Your Majesties. I was happy; however, I destroyed Your Majesties'' good reputation of being merciful to people... wuh... wuh... I''ve not imagined that Your Majesties preferred to face troubles yourselves rather than displeasing our brothers... I, Wu Sansi, swear to correct all of my mistakes. I would always consider Your Majesties'' feelings... I will leave that mansion today and enter secluded cultivation for one year... Later on, if I still dare be so wanton and destroy Your Majesties'' reputation, please chop off my head..."


    This immortal general called Wu Sansi was really speaking sincerely. As he spoke, he started to burst into tears. After slapping himself, he even hammered his chest by punch. A prodigal became good...


    Watching Wu Sansi''s look, all the others in the hall ''woke up'' at once.


    "Ah, I''m also a jerk. After coming back, I will send back those women whom my subordinates gifted me a few days ago..." Another dauntless bandit started to slap himself.


    "Me too. Me too. I won''t take the business group anymore. I won''t take it... I cannot destroy Your Majesties'' good reputation of being merciful to people..." One more bandit condemned himself with a grieved look.


    "What we''ve done over these years indeed brought too many troubles to Your Majesties and made Your Majesties disgraced. After coming back, I will order my subordinates to not disturb commoners anymore," another one said seriously.


    "Hmm, we indeed have chopped off too many heads. Sigh, we will try not to do that in the future. We cannot destroy Your Majesties'' good reputation of being merciful to people..." Jia Zhang who showed off how many heads had he chopped off just now also became charitable at this moment.


    The hall was in hubbubs at once as all of them determined to correct their mistakes and make a fresh start in life for the sake of the good reputation of His Majesties...


    When they almost finished their words, Sword Sage lightly coughed twice, causing them to gradually become quiet.


    Sword Sage watched them and said with a smile, "Good, brothers, I''ve borne your words in mind. Just let the bygones be bygones. But from today on, hopefully, you could act on what you said. Brothers, you''ve already got aromatic drinks and beauties, wealth and mansions. You can enjoy them whenever you want at home; however, we have to follow some rules. Even though those cities and regions occupied by demons have to comply with rules. Even demons won''t behave without restraint, not to mention us. Additionally, when Saber Sage and I promote to immortal emperors, brothers, you will have a much brighter future than now. By then, you can have as many element crystals as you want and have female immortal generals serve you easily too..."


    "Yea, Your Majesty is wise..."


    "Yea, as long as Your Majesties promote to immortal emperors, which immortal palace could defeat us in Motian Realm? Even though Force Emperor Immortal Palace or Star Emperor Immortal Palace couldn''t defeat us. They only have one immortal emperor; however, we have two; haha, by then, the entire Dragon Emperor Big Domain will belong to us. Black Blood Immortal Palace will be the No. 1 immortal palace among humans..."


    "Right, I''ve not played a female immortal general yet. It''s said that female immortal generals are pretty special on bed which could never be matched by ordinary women. I will follow Your Majesties only for this reason and wait for Your Majesties to promote to immortal emperors..."


    Those dauntless bandits instantly changed their faces and started to look forward to the nice lives in the future...


    Sword Sage burst out laughing as he said, "3 days later, Black Blood Immortal Palace will officially deliver 36 disciplines and 72 articles. Brothers, hopefully, you could comply with them strictly. We will enjoy the banquet for another 3 days here. Brothers, you can enjoy everything here like before. But 3 days later, when you leave here, you should follow the rules..."


    Sword Sage then clapped his hands twice as two teams of slender beauties in chiffon walked in from the side door of the hall.


    After hearing that they could enjoy everything here for another 3 days, all the dauntless bandits'' eyes turned green again. Only after a short while, the entire hall had been foul and filled with women''s exclamations and men''s guffaws...


    The secret method that Saber Sage cultivated requested him to remain silent. If he opened his mouth, his secret method would be 30% weaker. He had remained silent for so many years. Therefore, Saber Sage just listened to their talks aside just now.


    Sword Sage took his glass as he looked at Saber Sage. Saber Sage then also took his glass. The two people then smiled at each other as if everything was under their control!


    ...


    If Zhang Tie was already dead, Black Blood Immortal Palace might really become a major force in Motian Realm and the Two Black Blood Sages might really stand in the peak of Motian Realm given the ferocious and powerful means of Saber Sage and Sword Sage. By then, who else could remember what these bandits had done over these years? Who would those innocent souls appeal to? Who could prove the dark and terror facing the western region of Dragon Emperor Big Domain under the control of Black Blood Immortal Palace over these years? Perhaps the good reputation that Two Black Blood Sages were merciful to people might really spread over Motian Realm and numerous people would really admire them by then. Meanwhile, these dauntless bandits gathering here would be promoted quickly in their official career...


    In the history, too many powers and overlords had to experience this process. Few of them were clean; none of them were born to be immortal emperors or overlook the others.


    Pitifully, Zhang Tie had arrived at Dragonsea City at this moment...

 1887 Punish Evil-doers and Forgive the Kind-Hearted People

    "Stop, who are you..." When those immortal generals of Black Blood Immortal Palace were in the carnival, a team of lackeys of Black Blood Immortal Palace patrolling in the sky over 60 miles away from Dragonsea City stopped Zhang Tie.


    In the eyes of commoners, this team of people was elites of Black Blood Immortal Palace. It was composed of one fierce immortal general and over 50 LV 12-LV 15 immortal soldiers. Patrolling in the sky in metal wings, they were the sentries in the periphery of Black Blood City. Most of the people escaping away from Black Blood City would be caught by them and sent back into the city for decapitation.


    Of course, in Zhang Tie''s eyes, they were just ants of Two Black Blood Sages, even though their head was a fierce immortal general.


    Zhang Tie had discovered them from 600 miles away. Of course, they were unable to stop Zhang Tie given their weak battle force. However, Zhang Tie stopped on purpose because he could get first-hand information of Black Blood Immortal Palace from these people.


    Zhang Tie glanced over the 50-odd people. He found all of their metal wings were as same as that of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. There supposed to be a mark of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace on their left chest armor; however, that mark had been replaced by a strange mark of Black Blood Immortal Palace that Zhang Tie had not seen. Needless to say, these metal wings were "booties" that Black Blood Alliance acquired from the cities of Dragon Emperor Immortal in the west region of Dragon Emperor Big Domain...


    Watching those ants of Black Blood Immortal Palace in the metal wings of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie felt complex at once.


    Zhang Tie just stood in the air without metal wings. Evidently, he was at least a wind immortal general. As a result, those ants of Black Blood Immortal Palace dared not attack Zhang Tie; instead, they all watched Zhang Tie with amazement.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Zhang Tie''s young look as a 17-year old teenager and his domineering qi field caused the team of ants to feel their heart pounding heavily. However, when they thought about Two Black Blood Sages and so many immortal generals on their back, they all became a bit confident. Few people dared offend Black Blood Immortal Palace within Dragon Emperor Big Domain.


    "It''s the periphery of Blackblood City. Friend, are you going to Blackblood City? If you''re, please tell us your name and your purpose here!" the fierce immortal general asked Zhang Tie in an imposing manner as he flew towards Zhang Tie.


    The fierce immortal general was at his 30''s. He was short and fat. With a scar on his face, he looked a bit grim and brutal.


    "You''re an immortal general of Black Blood Immortal General?" Zhang Tie asked calmly as he watched the fierce immortal general who was approaching him.


    "Yes, I..."


    "Break..."


    Zhang Tie pointed at the fierce immortal general and blew up his body before the latter finished his words like bursting a bubble. The fierce immortal general exploded together with his metal wings and fell off.


    The 50-odd people hundreds of meters away were all shocked greatly. Even the earlier one among them only saw Zhang Tie point at that fierce immortal general by finger.


    He was a powerful immortal general! How could a powerful immortal general be broken into pieces right in front of them in a split second?


    Many people even thought they had hallucinations; they even kneaded their eyes.


    Some people among them were smart and made responses to it rapidly. When Zhang Tie raised his finger and blew up the fierce immortal general, 7 or 8 among the 50-odd people had fully extended their metal wings and escaped in all directions at their full efforts like birds being startled by the mere twang of a bow-string.


    All the others realized what had happened too as they all escaped.


    The one who could kill their "boss" like killing an ant could never be offended by them. Those people were crystal clear about this point.


    However, how could Zhang Tie allow them to escape in his eyes?


    In the blink of an eye, the fastest one among them had been almost 300 m away. Right then, Zhang Tie raised his hand and advanced in the air towards those people. In a split second, the space within thousands of meters was frozen. All the rest 50-odd ants were fixed in the air while maintaining the odd gestures when they escaped like frozen flies.


    Someone wanted to scream; however, before they uttered any voice, they had felt their brains being empty while an irresistible strength invaded their brains violently like a monster tearing open a fragile plastic package film. Closely after that, all of their memories started to surge out of their brains as fast as lightning bolts like a flood breaking out of a dam.


    It only took Zhang Tie a few seconds to get the information that he needed from the memories of these people including the looks of Two Black Blood Sages, the information about those dauntless immortal generals of Black Blood Immortal Palaces, what Black Blood Immortal Palace had done in the western cities of Dragon Emperor Big Domain and the daily arrangements of these ants over these years.


    These patrollers were called flying yakshas in Black Blood Immortal Palace. They were responsible for the safety of the air zone of Dragonsea City. Over these years, many fugitives had been killed by these people. All the female fugitives would be mistreated and humiliated by them until death. Given their deeds, they were nothing different than demons.


    When Zhang Tie caught some scenes about their atrocities from their memories, he instantly released a strong, fierce qi as an icy, brutal intent flashed across his eyes.


    He gradually curved his five fingers as all the 50-odd people being fixed in the air within thousands of meters were forced to gather together like insects falling into a turbulent or a swirl or leaves being involved into a tornado without any ability to resist, except one person.


    "Ah, what happened? Help..."


    "Help..."


    "We''re members of Black Blood Immortal Palace... if you dare hurt us... Two Black Blood Sages would not let you go..."


    Those people started to scream loudly in the air; some of them even used the brand of Black Blood Immortal Palace to threaten Zhang Tie at the top of their voices.


    Zhang Tie clenched his fist with a sneer at a stroke. The 50-odd people were instantly squeezed into a bloody metal ball in the air together with their metal wings by an irresistible force. Nobody or no metal wing was in the metal ball anymore. Everyone just disappeared in front of Zhang Tie like that...


    Only a youth at his 20''s was quivering in the air with a dreadfully pale face as he was gazing at Zhang Tie with great panic. He couldn''t utter any voice as if his throat was congested by a stone.


    After taking a cold look at that person, Zhang Tie left some words, "Black Blood Alliance is going to be exterminated. Given that you''re not completely contaminated by them, conduct yourself well..."


    After that, Zhang Tie disappeared. When he reappeared, he was already over 20,000 m away. Then he disappeared again. When he reappeared, he was already over 40,000 m away. Closely after that, he disappeared in the eyes of the youth.


    This youth was previously a commoner in Dragonsea City. He had a bit greater flair in cultivation than his peers. After Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace''s branch in Dragonsea City was collapsed, he finally joined Black Blood Immortal Palace through a few years'' lonely consideration for a bright future. The only reason that Zhang Tie kept him alive was that this guy didn''t mistreat the two female fugitives together with the other flying yakshas when they intercepted a family who was escaping away from Dragonsea City a few days ago soon after he joined this team. He even persuaded them to stop doing that out of mercy.


    However, his persuasion only brought him two slaps from the team leader and all the others'' mock and contempt. But now, he became the only survivor among the 50-odd people just because of his simple kind persuasion. All those who mocked him had been integrated with the metal ball. The metal ball fell onto the ground the moment Zhang Tie left there.


    Facing a breeze, the youth in metal wings felt cold all over at once. Not until then did he realize that he had been wet all over due to sweat. He just watched the empty sky alone like in a dream...


    ''Was that real?''


    The youth was in a daze as he only smelt the rich bloody smell in the air...


    ...


    When Zhang Tie took his third step in the air, he instantly targeted at Two Black Blood Sages inside Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace after glancing over those major regions in Dragonsea City dozens of miles away through many walls and curtains...


    When he took his fourth step, he was already close to Dragonsea City...


    When he took his fifth step, he had seen city wall of Dragonsea City under his foot...


    When he took his sixth step, he had already stood in the brilliantly lit hall which was holding an extravagant orgy...


    ...

 1888 Zhang Ties Blackmail

    When Zhang Tie appeared in the palace, he found that all the immortal generals of Black Blood Immortal Palace were holding women in their arms and having a drink riotously. Almost nobody noticed this youth in black robe in the center of the palace.


    However, some were exceptions.


    Sword sage and Saber sage had already sensed it when Zhang Tie observed and targeted at Two Blackblood Sages by lotus-flower eyes presumptuously. At that moment, Sword Sage who took his glass and was going to have a sip suddenly stopped. Saber Sage knitted his brow as he looked at Sword Sage...


    However, they didn''t imagine that Zhang Tie could move so fast. Zhang Tie had appeared in the palace soon after Sword Sage put down his glass and before Saber Sage turned back.


    Standing straight, Zhang Tie watched Sword Sage and Saber Sage who were sitting under their own huge sculptures, hands on his back. Sword Sage and Saber Sage who were relaxed just now soon became froze as they squinted their eyes and looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    With their strong qi fields and great perceptions as sage-level knights, they instantly knew that uninvited guest was on the same level as them the moment they caught sight of him. The only difference was that Zhang Tie looked too younger than them. Additionally, Zhang Tie was releasing a great tension which powers on their level didn''t have.


    All the other immortal generals and women instantly became Zhang Tie''s inferior and blurry background when he stood there. They were all like bustling average people on the street or flickers who could never scramble for brilliance with the sun and the moon.


    From over 100 m away, the three people had already released light bolts through their eyes which collided, rocked, squeezed and surged in the air like sabers and swords. However, none of the surrounding immortal generals could sense it. When Zhang Tie''s light bolts collided with that of the other two blackblood sages, the 1 m-higher flames in the two bronze tripods beside the two blackblood sages instantly flickered and were finally pressed to 15 cm high...


    At this moment, the two blackblood sages were not only shocked but also a bit scared. Through the invisible fierce battle, Zhang Tie had already controlled the wind. He was standing straight there like an irresistible iron body. By contrast, the glass in the hand of Sword Sage had been transformed, one palm of Saber Sage had already made a 1.5-cm deep fingerprint on the table quietly.


    In Motian Realm, although there were numerous immortal generals, supreme-level immortal generals or demon generals were not as cheap and common as white cabbages. All of them were famous. However, Sword Sage and Saber Sage had not ever heard about such a young supreme-level immortal general at all.


    ''Is he cultivated by Star Emperor Immortal Palace or Force Emperor Immortal Palace secretly or a mysterious owner of a sect?''


    The same whim occurred to Two Blackblood Sages almost at the same time...


    Even at this moment, Two Blackblood Sages still didn''t know that Zhang Tie was the incumbent Dragon Emperor.


    Finally...


    "Ah, who are you? What are you standing there for?" An amazed and abrupt voice sounded in the palace.


    After pouring a glass of wine into the mouth of a woman on his side with an obscene smile, an immortal general turned around. Right then, he caught sight of Zhang Tie who was standing in the center of the palace. Therefore, he exclaimed at once.


    At this moment, besides those immortal generals of Black Blood Immortal Palace, Two Blackblood Sages and some waiters, there should be no other man. However, Zhang Tie didn''t wear the uniform of Black Blood Immortal Palace; neither was he a waiter; additionally, he looked strange. At the sight of him, they had known that he didn''t belong to Black Blood Immortal Palace. However, this stranger suddenly arrived and stood in the center of the palace, hands on his back. He even looked at the two "His Majesties" in the main seats of the palace. Therefore, the immortal general exclaimed in an instant.


    After hearing this sound, the entire palace became quiet at a stroke. At this moment, all the immortal generals who were enjoying drinks, food and beauties in all sorts of ugly behaviors immediately fixated onto Zhang Tie with surprise and deep confusion¡ª¡ªWho is he? When did he enter the palace?


    "Hahahaha..." When the entire palace became quiet, Sword Sage suddenly burst out laughing and uttered, "Friend, now that you could come here without notice, you must be an able man. Coincidentally, we''re holding a banquet to invite these immortal generals of Black Blood Immortal Palace. If you like, how about having some glasses with us?"


    Sword Sage then waved his hand. Closely after that, some waiters set a table right beside him and Saber Sage.


    When they found this stranger could stand beside the Two Blackblood Sages, all the immortal generals of Black Blood Immortal Palace widely opened their eyes. Someone even glared at Zhang Tie with sparkling eyes as they wondered where did this "brat" come from.


    ''What cunning bandits!''


    Zhang Tie mumbled inside. When he fought the Two Blackblood Sages with light bolts, he was also observing the two people. He wondered how could the two bandits devour such a large area in the west of Dragon Emperor Big Domain in only a few years. On one hand, the two people''s total battle force was far greater than ordinary forces; what was more, the two people; especially Sword Sage could take temporary setbacks, because of which Black Blood Alliance could occupy Brokenstars Sea for so long. Additionally, when they launched strikes, they were like cunning wild wolves and jackals who could instantly bite off a big piece of bloody flesh from Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace when their target was weak...


    "No need. I''m not here for a drink; I want to take something back!" Zhang Tie said calmly.


    ''Take something back?''


    Sword Sage and Saber Sage turned gloomy at once. After exchanging a glance with each other, they had known what the opponent was thinking about¡ª¡ªThis unknown supreme-level immortal general is really a dauntless guy. When he sees Black Blood Immortal Palace enjoying drinks and meat at Dragon Emperor Big Domain, he determines to blackmail us. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The two people were a bit confused and furious; however, they admitted that Zhang Tie was qualified to "take something back" given his excellent performance in the invisible combat just now. It was similar to that when they did business with no cost in Brokenstars Sea. When they met more powerful opponents, they had to pay for that no matter whether they wanted to kill him by force, rob him or ask him for the toll. If they really wanted to fight their opponents by force, they would suffer a great loss even though they could win in the end. Additionally, after killing these powerful opponents, they would face endless threats and might not even sleep well in the future.


    Sword Sage and Saber Sage watched Zhang Tie with flickering eyes as if they were considering whether they were going to fight him or share some wealth with him in case of disaster. After over 10 seconds'' silence, the two people had considered all the possible situations. After exchanging a glance with each other, Sword Sage who maintained a cold look suddenly revealed a smile and said, "Friend, now that you''ve opened your mouth, although being poor and humble, we are always generous to those poor friends in trouble. Here''s a space-teleportation finger-ring. It contains 30,000 element crystals and some gold coins. Please take it. We''re friends..."


    After saying that, Sword Sage waved his hand, sending a space-teleportation finger ring flying towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie remained expressionless. When he saw the space-teleportation finger ring flying towards him, he just took it calmly. After taking a look at the items inside it, he shook his head and said, "I will take those items in this finger ring, but I''m afraid that it''s not enough for you to make friends with me by them..."


    Sword Sage''s smile became shortly frozen. Closely after that, he recovered his smile. After taking a deep look at Zhang Tie for a couple of more times, he slightly knitted his brow and squinted his eyes. Closely after that, he waved his hand again. Then, two more silver secret items flew towards Zhang Tie, one long spear, one pair of wristers.


    "It should be enough with two more items. Friend, you could get 30,000 element crystals and two immortal outfits the moment you opened your mouth. We''ve tried our best to show our respect to you..."


    When the two items arrived at the front of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie put them away at a stroke. However, he maintained a cold look as he continued to shake his head, and said word by word,"Still not enough..."


    "F*ck, do you think Black Blood Immortal Palace is weak? How dare you blackmail us," a water immortal general over 50 m away from Zhang Tie at 5 o''clock direction swore at him as he stood up, pushing over a beauty who was accompanying him to drink. He then glared at Zhang Tie with bloody eyes and grinned in an odd way. "Fish, I really wonder how you sneaked in. Let me try you first..."


    When he said that, he found Zhang Tie didn''t even take a look at him. Therefore, a vicious light flashed across his eyes. Almost at the same time, his battle qi surged all over. Closely after that, a huge ax appeared in his hand. He then jumped up and slashed his ax towards Zhang Tie''s head while roaring, "Go die..."


    At the same time, a short and thin earth immortal general behind Zhang Tie flashed out from the bottom of his table and stabbed at Zhang Tie by a snake-shaped dagger.


    One was in the air; the other was close to the ground. One was blatant, the other was silent. What a perfect, fatal combination!

 1889 The Unrivaled Realm

    On many occasions, intelligence was even more important than the battle force for fearless bandits to survive in Brokenstars Sea.


    All the fearless bandits'' intelligence of survival combined ferocity and craftiness.


    Of course, immortal generals of Blackblood Immortal Palace were fearless bandits. They didn''t lack such ferocity and craftiness. With two supreme-level immortal generals on their back in their own territory, these bandits didn''t fear of launching a strike at the risk of their lives at all.


    Although the water immortal general who exclaimed and stood up looked like testing Zhang Tie''s real battle force while being drunk, he was actually sober-minded. In fact, it was not just a test, but a fatal strike.


    If he failed it, it was just a test. As he had warned Zhang Tie in advance, he had followed the rules in this line. Additionally, through Zhang Tie''s response, Two Blackblood Sages could better figure out Zhang Tie''s background and real battle force. They could even seize an opportunity to kill Zhang Tie in the process.


    If he made it and killed Zhang Tie, it was just Zhang Tie''s fault. Even though he could severely injured Zhang Tie, it was also a great triumph.


    However, the real fatal strike was not from the water immortal general who urged aloud, but that earth immortal general who rushed towards Zhang Tie close to the ground silently like a viper. The blade of the earth immortal general''s dagger was giving out a faint baby blue light, which indicated that it had been quenched in the high toxin. Additionally, snake-shaped dagger could break protective battle qi much easier than ordinary weapons. Once being hurt by such high toxin, ordinary immortal generals might lose their lives in a short period of time. Even though supreme-level immortal generals wouldn''t die for the time being, their battle force would be sharply reduced.


    They found that Zhang Tie had not released his protective battle qi. Therefore, they thought it was a good opportunity.


    The fat guy was called "venom fang"; the short one was called "Shadowless Snake".


    Venom Fang and Shadowless Snake didn''t even know that Zhang Tie was a supreme-level immortal general. They only felt that Zhang Tie was profound and unpredictable. They had got the acquiescence of Sword Sage through eye contact. As they had been subordinate to Two Blackblood Sages for many years, Venom Fang and Shadowless Snake immediately got the point of Sword Sage. As a result, they became much more dauntless at a stroke.


    With the acquiescence of Sword Sage, they knew that Sword Sage would interfere in the battle and save them once they were in the lower hand. Even if they were unsuccessful, they didn''t have to risk their lives.


    To be honest, Zhang Tie was not the first powerhouse who dared have a windfall in Blackblood Alliance. When they were in Brokenstars Sea, they had met more than one person like Zhang Tie. Not every one of them could leave the territory of Blackblood Alliance. They had been used to this trick; therefore, they could deal with this situation with ease. Although they were righteous and forthright verbally, they were actually brewing a grim, vicious and fatal strike...


    Blackblood Alliance was a ruthless and greedy organization; instead of a charitable organization which supported those in distress and aided those in misery.


    This trick was always useful in previous experiences. However, they hit the iron plate today... No, actually, they had jumped into the crater themselves...


    When Venom Fang and Shadowless Snake launched a sudden strike towards Zhang Tie, Saber Sage and Sword Sage had already been ready for giving them a favor. If they found that the test had failed, they would immediately save Venom Fang and Shadowless Snake. If they found the test had succeeded, they would seize the opportunity to attack Zhang Tie together.


    Not only Two Blackblood Sages had made preparations, but also all the other fearless immortal generals in Blackblood Immortal Palace had been ready.


    However, everything happened so fast that they had come to an end before Saber Sage and Sword Sage found an opportunity to launch a strike.


    During the whole process, Zhang Tie didn''t release his protective battle qi; nor did he move even a bit. He didn''t even raise his hand.


    He just turned around and watched the two attackers...


    Venom Fang jumped high and slashed his huge ax towards Zhang Tie from dozens of meters away in an overwhelming manner. The huge axe was shiny and contained strong battle qi. Only when it touched Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi or his body could it release the battle qi ferociously. Combining with the blade of the huge axe, this fatal strike could be two times more destructive...


    When he found that Zhang Tie didn''t move or even released his protective battle qi, Venom Fang became thrilled.


    Right then, he found Zhang Tie turning around and looking at him...


    What a pair of distant, calm, cold and lofty eyes! It was like a huge dragon in the sky overlooking ants on the ground... When Zhang Tie turned around, Venom Fang''s eyes were full of Zhang Tie''s eyes and the cold lights and sword shadows that abruptly shot out of the depth of the profound eyes...


    ''What happened? He doesn''t hold a sword. Why are there cold lights and sword shadows in his eyes?''


    A whim occurred to Venom Fang.


    Closely after that, Venom Fang''s entire body was pierced through by a wisp of powerful sword qi out of nowhere...


    Then, the 2nd wisp of sword qi, the 3rd, the 10th... the 100th... the 1000th... the 10,000th... the 100,000th...


    Each wisp of sword qi was aboveboard, extremely sharp, powerful and surging; each wisp of sword qi could easily pierce through Venom Fang''s protective battle qi and his body.


    Facing numerous wisps of sword qi out of nowhere, Venom Fang''s body as a whole was instantly shattered into pieces and became a bloody mist like being sliced up by swords. Even his huge ax, which was a silver secret item, couldn''t withstand the terrifying power of those wisps of sword qi. After the material form of the huge axe was shattered by those wisps of sword qi, the original body of the secret item showed up while wailing like a huge bird being hit by a spectacular crossbow¡ª¡ªa burning huge black hawk...


    At the same time, the phantom had already been 5 m away from Zhang Tie as the cold light over the surface of the snake-shaped dagger was 10 cm higher. He would almost touch Zhang Tie at his fingertips.


    Zhang Tie then fixated onto the earth immortal general called Shadowless Snake.


    All of a sudden, numerous wisps of sword qi spewed out of the earth in the hall.


    "Ah..." Shadowless Snake screamed. Closely after that, he was shattered into a bloody mist by those wisps of sword qi like a poor little snake reaching a cutting machine which was running at a high speed...


    "Puff..." Shadowless Snake disappeared too, leaving a bloody dark 10-cm wide shadow on the ground, which passed Zhang Tie right beside him.


    The snake-shaped dagger''s material form had been shattered and recovered its original look¡ª¡ªa small, cyan snake.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie raise his hand. Then, the small, cyan snake swam towards him obediently and twined about Zhang Tie''s fingers. At the same time, the burning black hawk which was hovering in the air also fell onto Zhang Tie''s hand.


    All of these took place too fast and came to an end in less than one second.


    ''What has happened...''


    ''Where are Venom Fang and Shadowless Snake?''


    ''Was that a hallucination?''


    Those immortal generals of Blackblood Immortal Palace in the hall were all in a daze as they didn''t know what had happened.


    Of course, what had happened was not a hallucination. Even now, a terrifying, domineering sword qi was still lingering in the hall like the halos and qi left by brilliant fireworks in the night sky. It was like an immortal dragon reaching out its claws which appeared out of nowhere and disappeared immediately, leaving no clues at all. Only the frightening, wet, dark red stroke on the ground made people feel falling into an ice house...


    The two people who had launched a strike were not two flies or mosquitoes, but two powerful immortal generals; one water immortal general and one earth immortal general. How could they be killed so easily?


    Sword Sage and Saber Sage had already stood up. Sword Sage who remained calm just now was watching Zhang Tie with wide eyes as if the latter was a ghost. At the same time, Sword Sage had been flurried as he muttered, "Pupil Swordsmanship... Pupil Swordsmanship... it''s unrivaled swordsmanship driven by pupils... people would be killed once being seen by him. It''s the legendary supreme realm in swordsmanship... Impossible... Impossible... This swordsmanship has already been extinct for tens of thousands of years in Motian Realm. Only the legendary Sword Emperor who once shocked both humans and demons in Motian Realm could use such terrifying swordsmanship..."


    Pupil Swordsmanship was the legendary supreme realm of swordsmanship in Motian Realm. In this realm, the master didn''t need to hold material sword anymore, nor any movements. People would die once being seen by him. He could absolutely kill people with his eyes. In front of Pupil Swordsmanship, the legendary skill of killing people with pupils was never a joke...


    When one reached this realm in swordsmanship, he could overlook everything just like standing on the top of the highest mountain.


    After muttering for a few seconds, Sword Sage suddenly became sober-minded as he gazed at Zhang Tie and roared, "Who are you... Who are you... How can you use Pupil Swordsmanship?"


    Sword Sage was looking straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes with fear and greed. The fear came from Pupil Swordsmanship; the greed also came from Pupil Swordsmanship. As a person who cultivated swordsmanship, he was aware of the meaning of Pupil Swordsmanship better than anyone else.


    It was not Zhang Tie who answered Sword Sage, but another person in the hall that nobody could expect...


    A woman suddenly wailed as she ran out of those musicians. After coming to Zhang Tie''s front, she suddenly knelt down on the ground and kowtowed towards Zhang Tie; then, she looked up at him who was standing in the hall solemnly with excitement while uttering in sobs, "My respects to you... Your Majesty Dragon Emperor... I''m Ying Yuhong... a maid in the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragonsea City..."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ...

 1890 Fighting Two Blackblood Sages

    The girl who suddenly ran out of the band shocked everyone at present...


    They were actually shocked by her words "Your Majesty Dragon Emperor".


    ''Your Majesty Dragon Emperor? Is this young man in black the legendary Dragon Emperor Zhang Tie who was said to have died with Six-Armed Demon Emperor in Infinite Immortal Prison?''


    What shocked Zhang Tie the most was that this girl had recognized him.


    Zhang Tie instantly fixated onto this girl''s elegant and beautiful face as he realized that he had a bit of impression on her.


    "I remember you... When Ying Zigui, the head of the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragonsea City, came to make a work report in Dragon Emperor Pavilion, was that you who followed him..."


    The girl was happy and grieved at the same time. She had not imagined that Zhang Tie could still remember her. She kept nodding and dropping tears as she said, "Yes... I''ve not imagined that Your Majesty still remembered me... Last time, when I followed my uncle to make a work report to Your Majesty in Dragon Emperor City, due to my humble identity, I could only wait for my uncle in the corridor outside Heavenly Safety Building in Dragon Emperor Pavilion. When Your Majesty walked my uncle out of Heavenly Safety Building, I could have a chance to look at Your Majesty from afar. I even thought that I mistook the wrong person just now. When I confirmed that Your Majesty was as dignified as before, I finally dare come out to greet you..."


    "Ying Zigui is your uncle?"


    "Yes!"


    "Where is he?"


    "In order to defend Dragonsea City, my uncle has already fought enemies to death with his subordinates..." Ying Yuhong clenched her teeth as she added, "Pitifully, I cannot avenge my uncle and his subordinates as a weak woman. Therefore, I joined Black Blood Immortal Palace and intended to seek for opportunities to avenge them. Your Majesty, please punish me..."


    "I''ve not imagiend that Ying Zigui has already fought to death!" Zhang Tie sighed with a bit grief when he recalled the image of Ying Zigui. In his memory, Ying Zigui was elegant and decent who could answer his questions briefly and excellently. He was one of the backbones of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Zhang Tie had not imagined that such a person could fight enemies to death for the sake of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace at the critical moment. Therefore, Zhang Tie admired him very much for his righteous and dauntless deed.


    "The main reason why Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had suffered such great losses lay in me. It was me who had not fulfilled the responsibility of a qualified dragon emperor and failed to protect Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace from being intruded. You''re innocent. Get up. I will avenge your uncle''s death. You can witness it here today..."


    "Thanks, Your Majesty..."


    Not until then did Two Blackblood Sages and the others in the palace finally confirm Zhang Tie''s identity and understand what he''s here for. Zhang Tie was not here to seek gratuitous financial help but for revenge.


    At this moment, all the dauntless immortal generals in Black Blood Immortal Palace had stood up with weapons in hands as if they were facing a great enemy; instead of feeling like drinking or molesting women anymore.


    However, after knowing Zhang Tie''s real identity, Sword Sage still planned to play his heroic tricks with a fluke mind after considering it.


    The Two Blackblood Sages didn''t know how Zhang Tie, who was said to have died in the Infinite Immortal Prison, could survive back; however, they were a bit depressed and indignant about being the first target of Zhang Tie.


    ''It''s not only us who intruded Dragon Emperor Big Domain; why don''t you deal with others first; instead of us? What the hell are you thinking about?''


    ''Even though we''re all bandits, when you came back, why only fight one of the bandits?''


    Sword Sage squinted his eyes, only leaving a saber-sized gap. He then watched Zhang Tie and said coldly, "Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is being gazed by too many powerful enemies. It''s not only Black Blood Immortal Palace that intruded Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Your Majesty Dragon Emperor, if you want both sides to suffer destruction, you will see other parties benefiting from our fight. Think about Versatile Demon Emperor, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Five Elements Immortal Palace, Your Majesty, do you really like to fight us to death and benefit them? If Your Majesty agrees to forget about the old scores for the time being, you might have a chance to cooperate with us. Black Blood Immortal Palace might help Your Majesty to retake the other territories and cities intruded by other immortal palaces and forces..."


    If someone else faced such a tough situation where many powerful enemies were nibbling his territory, they might really give compromise to Black Blood Immortal Palace. However, Two Blackblood Sages didn''t image that Zhang Tie didn''t mean to give compromise to anyone else at all, even Star Emperor or Demon Emperor. Two Blackblood Sages were the first targets of Zhang Tie, but not the last one.


    "I''ve told you. I''m here for something!" Zhang Tie reiterated as he watched Two Blackblood Sages calmly.


    "What?"


    "Your heads!"


    "Go die..."


    When Zhang Tie uttered the last word, Saber Sager who had been ready for fight abruptly charged at Zhang Tie with saber light as fast as a lightning bolt.


    Given its power and momentum, it was over one hundred times more powerful than the strike of the late Venom Fang.


    As powers, of course, Two Blackblood Sages would launch a strike first the moment they were refused by Zhang Tie.


    When Saber Sage started the strike, all the other immortal generals in Blackblood Immortal Palace had moved and formed a big battle formation in a split second...


    When the saber light was slashed towards Zhang Tie, Sword Sage had already flown off and charged at Zhang Tie with his unsheathed sword. In an instant, the entire palace became a battlefield...


    Zhang Tie maintained his expression. He just stomped to the ground. Closely after that, a bit of golden light appeared under Zhang Tie''s foot. Then, the bit of golden light started to spread over the ground of the palace centered on Zhang Tie...


    The Two Blackblood Sages'' strikes were fast; neither did the surrounding immortal generals act slowly; however, their attacks and responses could never be faster than light.


    Saber Sage''s saber blade had been less than 2 m away from Zhang Tie; however, this short distance became an insurmountable chasm.


    The terrifying saber light was still moving towards Zhang Tie; however, all of a sudden, the space and distance between Zhang Tie and Saber Sage was expanded. The entire space of the palace started to expand rapidly like a bubble when the golden wave started to spread from Zhang Tie''s foot. Previously, Saber Sage was only about 100 m away from Zhang Tie. However, in an instant, the distance had become over 1,000 m. Although the powerful saber light that he slashed towards Zhang Tie was still moving towards Zhang Tie, the distance between Saber Sage and Zhang Tie was further increased. When the saber light reached 1,000 m away, the distance between Zhang Tie and Saber Sage had become 10,000 m. When the saber light reached 10,000 m away, the distance between Zhang Tie and Saber Sage had become over 100,000 m...


    It was like standing on a train which was running in the opposite direction with Zhang Tie; although Saber Sage''s saber light was as powerful as before; the distance between Saber Sage and Zhang Tie was gradually increased due to the rapid movement of the train. As a result, his saber light could never reach Zhang Tie...


    It was same for sword sage. So were the dauntless immortal generals of Blackblood Immortal Palace.


    Those immortal generals felt that they were instantly far away from Zhang Tie as if the palace became an indescribable place; at the same time, the space beside them was still expanding. Closely after that, the sky and earth were spinning around. Except Two Blackblood Sages, all the others suddenly felt falling off a tall building or being shaken out of a cloth bag and falling into the water...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    When they exposed their heads out of the water, they found the immortal palace where they were had become a vast ocean with black huge billows. The sky was full of lightning bolts and thunders. At this moment, a huge billow came and all the immortal generals of Blackblood Immortal Palace were dispersed like seaweeds in ocean.


    Some immortal generals wanted to fly off the water; however, they found their bodies were as heavy as lead in the black ocean. They could even barely float on the surface of the water, not to mention flying off it. They only struggled and shrieked once before sinking into the ocean...

 1891 Turning Into Sh*

    When Zhang Tie released his realm of Infinite King Roc Sutra, he instantly covered all the fearless immortal generals below Two Blackblood Sages.


    It was Zhang Tie''s home field. In this realm, Zhang Tie was the real ruler. His will represented everything. Nobody could challenge his authority.


    Perhaps, unrivaled powerhouses like immortal emperors or demon emperors could fight Zhang Tie; however, this realm was destined to be the graveyard of Two Blackblood Sages and their subordinates.


    This realm was called Infernal Realm.


    Infernal Realm was said to be the Avici Hell, the bottom floor of 18-floor hell. Those being sent in Infernal Realm would never have a chance to get rid of it.


    Of course, the realm of Infinite King Roc Sutra was not a hell; however, the word "infernal" implied everything.


    It was the place where the imposing emperor-level secret method of Infinite King Roc Sutra was used to suppress all the enemies, bandits and various devils, ghosts and specters.


    The endless black ocean under the Infernal Realm was called Nether Ocean. The liquid in the Nether Ocean was called Xuan Water. Nobody below sage-level knights could get out of Xuan Water once falling inside.


    It was the blue sky above Nether Ocean. Blue sky was covered with cloud-like samsara flames. In an instant, it had become an ocean of samsara flames within millions of miles in the sky.


    Samsara flame was the most poisonous and ferocious flame in the world.


    According to the legends, King Roc ate dragons and snakes. It would eat one dragon king and 500 small dragons or big vipers. As King Roc survived on dragons and big vipers, it contained endless dragon''s toxin in its body. When the quantity of dragon''s toxin reached a degree, it would turn into a terrifying flame inside King Roc. When the dragon''s toxin took effect, it would burn the unrivaled King Roc into ashes except for its heart.


    King Roc survived on dragons and died of dragon''s toxin just like samsara. Therefore, the flame which could burn up King Roc was called Samsara Flame.


    Besides King Roc''s heart, nothing else could bear Samsara Flame, even Two Blackblood Sages...


    Standing in the air, Zhang Tie watched Saber Sage and Sword Sage dashing towards him while roaring and struggling in the black Samsara Flame.


    All the fearless immortal generals of Blackblood Immortal Palace were struggling in the Nether Ocean in vain like those drowning in water. Their protective battle qi, bodies, spirits, wills and hopes were slowly frozen by Xuan Water. Finally, they all died and gradually become a part of Nether Ocean.


    Zhang Tie didn''t sympathize these people at all. Given what they had done, they deserved death for 100 times.


    Two Blackblood Sages were still struggling and unwilling to perish this way.


    At this moment, a golden light rose from Saber Sage''s body. After forming a bizarre shield around Saber''s body, it shot in all directions and rotated, resisting Samsara Flame for the time being.


    At the same time, Sword Sage had put on a half set of immortal outfit. It only covered his upper body and prevented him from being burned into ashes in Samsara Flame.


    Saber Sage and Sword Sage used all of their skills to withstand the terrifying black flame in the surroundings as they flew towards Zhang Tie and intended to attack Zhang Tie. However, no matter how long they flew, they still couldn''t narrow the distance between them and Zhang Tie even a bit. Actually, when they were flying towards Zhang Tie, they found that the space beside them was retreating at the same speed. It was like rushing towards Zhang Tie on a conveyor belt which was moving as fast as them in the opposite direction. Even though Zhang Tie stood still, they still couldn''t narrow the distance between them and Zhang Tie.


    It was No Space, the first skill that Zhang Tie mastered in his sage-level realm of Infinite King Roc Sutra.


    In this realm, Zhang Tie had been able to control space to an unimaginable degree. It was also one of King Roc''s strengths for defeating everything else in the world. After promoting to a sage-level knight, Zhang Tie had been able to realize the first universal law¡ª¡ªthe rule of space.


    "Aiding strength of sage-level knight..." Zhang Tie was pretty shocked by the gold light over Saber Sage. He had not imagined that Saber Sage could realize the aiding strength of sage-level knight. This strength should be a powerful protective strength. If Sword Sage was not far away from Saber Sage, he might also be benefited by this aiding strength.


    Despite the aiding strength of Saber Sage and the half set of the immortal outfit of Sword Sage, Zhang Tie was still not afraid. As Zhang Tie moved his fingers, more and more Samsara Flame gathered around Two Blackblood Sages in the shape of dragon and snake as if they were alive. Only after a short while, the aiding strength of Saber Sage and the half set of the immortal outfit of Sword Sage had been dilapidated. The halos of aiding strength were shrinking constantly while the protective battle qi outside the immortal outfit was collapsing. The terrifying Samsara Flame was increasingly closer to their bodies.


    Being limited to his realm, Zhang Tie couldn''t give full play to the Samsara Flame. According to the elder in Infinite Immortal Prison, if he gave play to 1/10 of the total power of Samsara Flame, he could burn Six-Arm Demon Emperor into ashes in a split second.


    Even so, it also took Zhang Tie a few seconds to destroy the last fluke mind and hope of Two Blackblood Sages by this terrifying black flame. Like two animals in fire cages, Two Blackblood Sages just watched Zhang Tie from far away. Due to the long distance, they couldn''t hit Zhang Tie at all. Zhang Tie could burn Two Blackblood Sages into ashes in his terrifying realm like roasting ducks without even touching them...


    "If you''re a man, come here and fight me. If you want to defeat me by your realm, you''re just a coward!" Saber Sage roared as his eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets. At the same time, he brandished his long saber in the air and released saber lights, which crossed about 60 miles in an overwhelming manner. However, he still couldn''t hit Zhang Tie like before. No matter what, Zhang Tie was always far from him. Although he could see Zhang Tie, he couldn''t touch him. The terrifying black flame was still burning firmly regardless of his saber lights.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, Saber Sage was like a lunatic who lashed towards the air from afar.


    So was Sword Sage. Numerous wisps of powerful sword qi were circling around Sword Sage in the air. Sword Sage also wanted to break through the infinite Samsara Flame; however, he couldn''t make it. At this moment, intelligence and tricks became absolutely useless.


    Saber Sage and Sword Sage were both unwilling to face this result.


    As two supreme-level immortal generals who were only one step away from immortal emperors, of course, they were unwilling to die in this helpless and grieved way. After a few months, the core of Mountain Ruins would open. Additionally, they had already established Blackblood Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Big Domain. It seemed that the bright prospect was waving hands towards them; as long as they could drink Nine Heavens Immortal Spring, they would promote to immortal emperors smoothly... They both had many prospects and plans about the future of Blackblood Immortal Palace and wanted to leave a spectacular stroke in the history of Motian Realm. They had not been fed up with mellow drinks, beauties, prestige and social positions.


    However, if they couldn''t break through, they were doomed to be burned into ashes.


    They had already seen how those immortal generals of Blackblood Immortal Palace were killed. Only after a short while, those subordinate immortal generals had been drowned in the black ocean.


    Besides unwillingness, Two Blackblood Sages only had infinite fear in their hearts.


    Zhang Tie was not even interested in the clamor of Saber Sage; because Saber Sage and Sword Sage were already dead in his eyes. He didn''t need to prove anything to two dead men.


    ...


    Finally, a few minutes later, Sword Sage''s immortal outfit and protective battle qi were collapsed in the black Samsara Flame. In an instant, the terrifying black Samsara Flame had lit Sword Sage''s body under the neck.


    Once being touched by Samsara Flame, he had to die. Even Immortals couldn''t save Sword Sage.


    Sword Sage screamed aloud. However, only after a few seconds, his body had disappeared into the black Samsara Flame, not to mention uttering any voice. Two half sets of an immortal outfit, a long sword, two space-teleportation finger rings and a head with a flurried expression were floating at the place where Sword Sage was...


    Zhang Tie left these items on purpose.


    Only after 2 minutes, Saber Sage''s aiding strength and protective battle qi had been collapsed by the Samsara Flame, leaving almost the same things like that of Sword Sage.


    ...


    Zhang Tie strode out of his realm in one step. When he reappeared in the hall, he was followed by the heads of Saber Sage and Sword Sage floating in the air.


    The tables, drinks and dishes were still where they were; however, all the immortal generals of Blackblood Immortal Palace had disappeared. Only those maids were looking around with puzzled looks. Most of them didn''t know what had happened.


    When Zhang Tie released his realm, besides Ying Yuhong who saw clearly what Zhang Tie did in his realm at a special location, all the others felt like entering a misty world, where they could see nothing at all; nor could they move. These women were in great panic. However, only after a short while, when they felt dazzled, they returned to the hall again.


    All the immortal generals of Blackblood Immortal Palace had disappeared. The heads of powerful Two Blackblood Sages were floating in the air behind Zhang Tie.


    "Ah..." A maid screamed aloud in panic. At the same time, the entire hall was in chaos.


    "Wait here for people of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Nobody else could hurt you..." Zhang Tie left a sentence to Ying Yuhong. Closely after that, he punched out Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist as a berserk golden dragon flew out of his fist and broke the statues of Two Blackblood Sages. Then, it broke out of the roof of the hall and hovered in the air above Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, shocking the entire Dragonsea City with a growl.


    "Ah, Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist. His Majesty Dragon Emperor is coming back..." An elder exclaimed aloud due to excitement when he saw the strong qi of the berserk dragon hovering in the air above the original location of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    After seeing that huge dragon hovering in the air above Blackblood Immortal Palace, a group of lackeys of Blackblood Immortal Palace rushed towards the immortal palace immediately. However, when they arrived at the periphery of the immortal palace, they found the dragon-shaped punch qi charge at them, turning them into sh*t immediately. Closely after that, the huge dragon started to hover in the air above the immortal palace again...


    The punch qi of the Grand Dragon Emperor could linger around the immortal palace for 3 months. Zhang Tie''s punch could already match that of Grand Dragon Emperor''s in spirituality and power.


    Watching that scene, the entire Dragonsea City was in uproars...


    Zhang Tie then left Dragonsea City for Five Elements Immortal Palace incessantly as fast as a lightning bolt while unfolding his King Roc''s wings...


    ...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.

 1892 News

    Rapid footsteps reverberated in the corridor outside Qianji Agency. After hearing that, Guan Minjun, the president of Earthly Treasures Department who was on duty in Qianji Agency, knitted her brows. Closely after that, she moved her eyes away from the document unpleasantly.


    "Honglei, take a look outside who''s making such a loud noise. That''s too rude! It''s the hub of the immortal palace. How could it be so flurried?"


    Noticing that Guan Minjun was furious, her assistant bowed towards her and trotted out of Qianji Agency immediately.


    Seeing her assistant off, Guan Minjun didn''t want to review the document anymore. She put it down and looked outside through the window while heaving a deep sigh...


    It was a bright and beautiful spring day outside the window. She could smell a faint fragrance. Some little birds were chirping on the trees. The crape myrtle was in full blossoms. Additionally, there were some crimson twigs. At the sight of them, Guan Minjun felt relaxed.


    However, she didn''t feel good at all. As Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was in its tough period, the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace couldn''t feel pleasant or relax at all despite facing such a good scenery.


    Since Elder Wang Laisheng who was on duty in Qianji Agency was killed by Versatile Demon Emperor 7 years ago in a sneak attack, none of the rest elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were on duty in Qianji Agency anymore; because Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace couldn''t stand such a great loss anymore.


    As for the 7 elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu were killed by Zhang Tie as they worked for Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. After Elder Wang Laisheng was killed, there were only 4 elders. It was hard for 4 fire immortal generals to support Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. If another elder was killed, the morality of all the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would be severely weakened. By then, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would fall apart completely. Therefore, from then on, the remaining four elders chose to cultivate independently and secretly; instead of being on duty in Qianji Agency anymore. Later on, only the presidents of the five major departments were on duty in Qianji Agency.


    Guan Minjun was on duty today. Given that Versatile Demon Emperor had raided Dragon Emperor City for three times, Guan Minjun always remained highly vigilant. She had captured the rapid footsteps from 2,000 m away. Therefore, she instantly assigned someone to stop it.


    Over these years, such rapid footsteps always implied bad news. They had even formed a conditional reflex. Once they heard such rapid footsteps, their hearts would palpitate once as they realized that something bad had happened?


    Soon after that, various gossips would spread over the Dragon Emperor City, making people flurried.


    ''Since when has Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace become so weak? How could I be shocked by such rapid footsteps of a messenger?''


    Guan Minjun mocked herself.


    At the same time, Guan Minjun started to miss the vigorous scene facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace when Zhang Tie was here. Although some immortal generals and elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace doubted whether Zhang Tie was qualified to be the new Dragon Emperor, Guan Minjun was still one of the powers who supported Zhang Tie firmly.


    As the president of Earthly Treasures Department, Guan Minjun was in charge of the finance of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. She understood Zhang Tie''s value to the entire Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace much better than anyone else. On one hand, Zhang Tie had already acquired the secret skills of Grand Dragon Emperor; on the other hand, Zhang Tie could produce Dragon Emperor Medicament. Even though Zhang Tie was not an immortal general, Guan Minjun would also stand on his side. The reason was very simple. If Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was taken as a business group or boite, of course, the one being qualified to be the boss of the business group or boite should be the person who could afford his subordinates. Only such a person could maintain the cohesiveness of a business group or boite and further develop the business group or boite in case of bankruptcy.


    Besides Zhang Tie, nobody else in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could do it.


    Without Zhang Tie''s benevolence, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, which had been severely damaged, couldn''t sustain.


    Without Zhang Tie''s help, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would have long perished instead of maintaining this situation hardly in Dragon Emperor Big Domain.


    It was the greatest contribution that Zhang Tie had made to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; as for how Zhang Tie ascended to the throne of Dragon Emperor, it was not important. On that occasion, how could Zhang Tie enhance the cohesiveness of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace without any tricks?


    Even Guan Minjun felt that Zhang Tie''s performance of disguising as Grand Dragon Emperor was such wonderful. She admired Zhang Tie very much. She couldn''t think through how Zhang Tie made it.


    ''What if His Majesty has not died in Infinite Immortal Prison!''


    Guan Minjun heaved a deep sigh. Closely after that, she knitted her brow again because the rapid footsteps became louder. Just now, only one person was trotting in the corridor; but now it seemed that her assistant was pulling someone''s arm and running towards Qianji Agency.


    Even though she didn''t walk out, Guan Minjun could also imagine the eye-catching situation outside the door.


    Without notice or asking for instruction, her assistant directly broke into the door while pulling the arm of a low-rank official in the uniform of Supervision Department.


    The two people looked pretty thrilled with red faces. It seemed that they had something important to report; instead of being flurried at all. Watching their expressions, Guan Minjun finally became a bit reassured.


    "Honglei, why are you so rude? How can you run outside?" Guan Minjun watched her assistant and denounced her.


    After taking in a deep breath, the assistant didn''t speak; instead, she just watched that official of Supervision Department who was quivering all over and oozing sweat heavily due to excitement.


    "President Guan, something big happened in Dragonsea City!"


    "Take easy. Go ahead!" Guan Minjun said calmly.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "According to our agents in Dragonsea City, the missing His Majesty Dragon Emperor appeared in Dragonsea City. He killed Two Blackblood Sages and cleaned up all the bandit backbones of Blackblood Alliance in Dragonsea City..."


    "What?" Guan Minjun who denounced them just now instantly sprung up. She then asked her with an unbelievable look while giving out a shrewd light through her eyes, "Who appeared in Dragonsea City?"


    Two Dragon Emperors of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were missing. One had been missing for over 900 years; the other had been missing in Infinite Immortal Prison for a few years. After hearing that official''s words, Guan Minjun became dumbfounded at once.


    The official of the Supervision Department instantly realized it as she hurriedly made it clearer, "It''s His Majesty Zhang Tie. His Majesty Zhang Tie appeared in Dragonsea City and killed all the bandits and heads of Blackblood Alliance..."


    After hearing her words, Guan Minjun felt hot blood rushing straight to her scalp as if being struck by lightning. She slightly quivered once. "Is that intelligence reliable? Who saw His Majesty?"


    "The one who sent back the message was an agent that Supervision Department assigned in Dragonsea City. According to him, it was a maiden in the branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragonsea City who recognized His Majesty. When that maiden followed Ying Zigui to Dragon Emperor City, she once saw His Majesty far away. She witnessed the whole process in the palace of Dragonsea City. She even had a brief talk with His Majesty. After killing those bandits of Blackblood Alliance, His Majesty left there, leaving an especially strong punch qi of Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist, causing the entire Dragonsea City chaotic..."


    "What about other cities that Blackblood Alliance has occupied?"


    "According to the agents of Supervision Department in those cities, some big cities occupied by Blackblood Alliance are already in turmoil and chaos..."


    Guan Minjun''s breasts undulated as she closed her eyes. After a short while, she opened her eyes with some calmness and intelligence in her eyes. She then delivered two orders consecutively, "Fetch Commander-in-Chief Huang and the other presidents of departments here. We''re going to negotiate with something vital. Additionally, assign immortal general scouts of the Military Department and Supervision Department to Dragonsea City and the other cities occupied by Blackblood Alliance to check whether the intelligence is true or not..."


    The current Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace couldn''t endure any hardships anymore. Although the intelligence was sent by an agent of the Supervision Department in Dragonsea City and Guan Minjun hoped this intelligence was true, she must take precautions against it. Two Blackblood Sages were always tricky and so many powers were casting greedy eyes on Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in the surroundings. What if it was a trap that Blackblood Alliance set for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace?


    ...


    Only after a short while, those presidents of the five departments and Huang Baimei who was in charge of Dragon Teeth Army had already gathered in Qianji Agency.


    Among the five presidents of the departments of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace that Zhang Tie appointed, as Tang Shenghou and Huo Xianlai stood on the side of Shi Zhongyu and Xia Yangming, they had been sentenced to death on the same year. Later on, two more were killed by Versatile Demon Emperor in three sneak attacks. Therefore, besides Guan Minjun the president of Earthly Treasures Department and Xue Zhongkai the president of Heavenly Craftsmanship Department, all the others were fresh.


    As for Huang Baimei, his face had become more wrinkled and tenacious after 7 years. He had completely lost his left arm, which witnessed the hardships that he had experienced in the past 7 years.


    Guan Minjun then exposed the intelligence to them.


    In the beginning, they were in hubbubs. After gradually recovering their composure, they also doubted that it was a trap.


    "I suggest waiting until our immortal general scouts send back intelligence from Dragonsea City. If it''s true, we will notice those elders..." Xue Zhongkai the president of Heavenly Craftsmanship Department said in an experienced and reserved way, "Additionally, if that man is His Majesty, why doesn''t His Majesty return to Dragon Emperor City or contact those elders first after getting out of Infinite Immortal Prison?"


    All the others nodded!


    When he heard this news, Huang Baimei''s eyes sparkled as his heart palpitated faintly due to excitement. However, at this moment, he had to admit that Xue Zhongkai''s method was safer. If Dragonsea City was indeed in great chaos and Zhang Tie had killed Two Blackblood Sages and left the strong punch qi of Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist in Dragonsea City, their immortal general scouts could definitely send back the news...


    ...


    However, before these moguls of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace left there, they had heard rapid footsteps again from outside. According to this agent of Dragon Emperor Immortal, the base of Five Elements Immortal Palace in Heavenly Dragon City of Dragon Emperor Big Domain was suddenly raided by a powerhouse just now. One deputy president, three grand justices and over 50 immortal generals in Five Elements Immortal Palace were killed in a split second. The headquarters of Five Elements Immortal Palace in Heavenly Dragon City was destroyed. The attacker even left a powerful punch qi being similar to that of Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist. Heavenly Dragon City was already in chaos...


    ...


    Closely after that, they received the third news...


    Yun Clan which transferred its battlefield to Dragon Emperor Big Domain from Nine Heavens Big Domain and occupied a large area of Dragon Emperor Big Domain in the north 7 years ago was raided and suffered great casualties. Yun Tianhao the grand owner of Yun Clan, also a well-known supreme-level immortal general in Motian Realm was punched into pieces by the attacker in the eyes of many people...


    ...


    "His Majesty, His Majesty is back..." Huang Baimei sprung up at a stroke out of excitement...


    ...

 1893 Meeting An Acquaintance

    In the following combats, Zhang Tie didn''t completely release his fury. Such combats were merely one-sided massacres. They were just necessary intimidations, which were not cool at all.


    Among those who were qualified to be his opponents reluctantly, Yun Tianhao the grandmaster of Yun Clan was the most powerful one. However, Yun Tianhao was still broken into pieces by his Universal Immortal Fist only in a short period of time before Zhang Tie released his realm.


    In the headquarters of Five Elements Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie didn''t meet Tong Xuangui the immortal king of Five Elements Immortal Palace. Those immortal generals wanted to catch Zhang Tie or kill him in a domineering way. As was imagined, 1 deputy head of Five Elements Immortal Palace, 3 grand justices and over 50 immortal generals turned into ashes.


    But they were trivial. Zhang Tie actually wanted to kill Tong Xuangui the immortal king of Five Elements Immortal Palace. Only Tong Xuangui''s head could stop others from doing any harm to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for long.


    Wherever Zhang Tie made a massacre, he would leave a wisp of qi of Dragon Emperor Immortal Fist. Just like scratches that a fierce beast left on trees, it implied that Zhang Tie was back.


    Black Blood Alliance, Five Elements Immortal Palace and Yun Clan were all extremely presumptuous foreign forces in Dragon Emperor Big Domain in recent years. However, only after coming back for 2 hours, Zhang Tie had exterminated Black Blood Alliance and Yun Clan and completely chopped off the claws that Five Elements Immortal Palace reached into Dragon Emperor Big Domain.


    Zhang Tie''s next target was Star Emperor Immortal Palace.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Among those foreign forces that invaded Dragon Emperor Big Domain, Star Emperor Immortal Palace was the most powerful force with the deepest background. However, Star Emperor Immortal Palace only encroached 11 cities of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, which was the least among those foreign forces. It was not because that Star Emperor was kind, but that Star Emperor had too many concerns.


    There were very few examples in the history of Motian Realm that human emperor-level immortal palaces annexed or attacked each other. Compared to the other foreign forces, Star Emperor Immortal Palace had to bear greater stress by encroaching Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Additionally, over these years, Star Emperor Immortal Palace also had a hard time; therefore, Star Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t have too much time to encroach the territory of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Although Star Emperor Immortal Palace only encroached 11 cities of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, it didn''t mean that Star Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t want to encroach more. The 11 cities were just a nail or base that Star Emperor Immortal Palace set in Dragon Emperor Big Domain for further expansion. When Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was collapsed or the overall situation facing Motian Realm changed greatly, the factors that limited Star Emperor Immortal Palace''s expansion would disappear. By then, given the power of Star Emperor Immortal Palace, it could expand its territory by 10-100 times at any time. It could even grab the territories that the other forces encroached.


    Zhang Tie was crystal clear about Star Emperor''s plan. Zhang Tie had known that Star Emperor was a tricky, cunny and fierce opponent since Star Emperor left a spiritual mark in the mind of a demon knight that he paid Zhang Tie.


    The headquarters of Star Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Big Domain was in Northdragon City, which was a big city in the north of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Its scale could even match that of Dragonsea City.


    When Zhang Tie arrived at Northdragon City, it was no less than 1 pm. The sun was hanging high above his head. From the sky, Northdragon City looked very peaceful and bustling everywhere. In the air zone within hundreds of miles in the periphery of Northdragon City, there was not even a patrolling immortal soldier or immortal general.


    At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie mumbled inside. ''It''s almost common sense to assign patrolling immortal soldiers or immortal generals outside a big city like setting sentries outside military camps. Even though Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was declining, they still needed such a necessary setting. However, after being occupied by Star Emperor Immortal Palace, the city gate of Northdragon City is widely opened without any patrolling forces. I wonder whether Star Emperor Immortal Palace is overconfident or is playing a trick.''


    However, at this moment, Zhang Tie was not afraid of any trick anymore; he instantly flew towards the Star Emperor Immortal Palace in the city.


    The Star Emperor Immortal Palace in Northdragon City was new and very magnificent. The over 200-m high building was the highest one in the city. The former branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in the city had long been demolished. The Star Emperor Immortal Palace was just built in the location of the former branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Only with a few flashes, Zhang Tie had already appeared outside the entrance of the highest floor of Star Emperor Immortal Palace.


    It was empty inside Star Emperor Immortal Palace. Only one person was standing on the square outside the gate of the immortal palace. When he saw Zhang Tie, he let out a sigh and bowed towards Zhang Tie calmly with great reverence and greeted, "I''ve not imagined that Your Majesty has really come back. My respects to you, Your Majesty!"


    It was Yuan Lang who had met Zhang Tie for a few times as Zhang Tie''s acquaintance in Star Emperor Immortal Palace.


    After 7 years, Yuan Lang was as handsome and spirited as before. He didn''t even change a bit.


    After taking a look around the immortal palace, Zhang Tie saw nobody else. He then watched Yuan Lan and asked coldly with a slight frown, "Where are the others of Star Emperor Immortal Palace?"


    "Half an hour before, I''ve already ordered all the 17 immortal generals and over 3,000 immortal soldiers, deacons, maids and handymen to leave in batches by airboat. Your Majesty, please show your mercy on them. If you want to vent your anger, please take away my head!" Yuan Lang said calmly.


    "You knew that I was going back?"


    "A few hours ago, I''ve already received the news the moment Your Majesty left Mountain Ruins. It''s said that an unknown powerhouse was breaking through Ice and Fire Heavenly Wind Layer and heading for Dragon Emperor Big Domain as fast as a lightning bolt. Only in a few hours, Black Blood Alliance, Five Elements Immortal Palace, Yun Clan had been exterminated. Your Majesty, after killing Two Blackblood Sages and Yun Tianhao the grandmaster of Yun Clan, you even left your strong qi of Dragon Emperor Fist. Star Emperor Immortal Palace has so many ears and eyes. If I still didn''t know that Your Majesty was coming back, I would be too stupid!" After saying that, Yun Lang took a glance at Zhang Tie again as he said sincerely, "I''ve not imagined that Your Majesty has already gotten rid of Infinite Immortal Prison in only a few years. God blesses the good man. Congratulations..."


    "Do you really think that I won''t kill you?" Zhang Tie remained calm; however, he knitted his brows at once.


    In a split second, Yuan Lang felt that an invisible sharp sword was put on his neck. A terrifying and powerful sword qi was close to his fine hair and was going to stab at him. At the same time, his back felt pretty cold as if his head was going to fall as long as Zhang Tie moved his eyes.


    Yun Lang only sensed the same terrifying qi from Star Emperor.


    In the distant eyes of Zhang Tie, Yuan Lang''s heart palpitated as his back oozed sweat heavily. Even so, he still maintained a calm look and voice, "In the eyes of Your Majesty, of course, I''m nothing different than those bandits who broke in Your Majesty''s home. Your Majesty, it''s reasonable for you to kill me here. I won''t complain about that even a bit. When His Majesty Star Emperor wanted to attack Dragon Emperor Big Domain, I disagreed with him. However, His Majesty Star Emperor was much more ambitious and talented than me. Additionally, it was said that Your Majesty had already died in Infinite Immortal Prison at that time. Therefore, Dragon Emperor Big Domain didn''t have its owner at that time and would be shared by all the other forces. Of course, Star Emperor Immortal Palace wouldn''t lag behind. Now that His Majesty Star Emperor had sent an order, of course, I could only take his order and become the butler of Star Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Big Domain. I was loyal to my owner; therefore, I will have no grudges even if I was killed. Over these years, I was only satisfied by three aspects: first, there was no heavy tax; second, none of the innocent people were killed; third, my subordinates were all well restricted. Over the past 7 years, all the people in the 11 cities that Star Emperor Immortal Palace encroached in Dragon Emperor Big Domain were living and working in peace as same as before. I''m especially here to hand them back to Your Majesty..."


    Zhang Tie gazed at Yuan Lang for half a minute. Not until he caused Yuan Lang''s back to turn wet did he move his eyes away from Yuan Lang''s neck and say calmly, "It''s Star Emperor''s luck to have you as his subordinate!"


    "Star Emperor Immortal Palace has too many talents. I''m just a trivial person in Star Emperor Immortal Palace!"


    "Where''s Star Emperor? It''s meaningless to kill you. I will settle accounts with him!"


    Yuan Lang gnashed his teeth as he replied, "Nine Heavens Big Domain is facing a critical situation. His Majesty Star Emperor is confronting with the army of demons with his army in Deities Plain in Nine Heavens Big Domain..."


    Soon after he finished the word "Domain", Yuan Lang had seen a golden light flying towards Nine Heavens Big Domain with a pair of miraculous golden feather wings with the momentum of wind and thunder at an indescribable speed, leaving a rainbow...


    "What''s this secret method? The feather wings... they are... they are..."


    After staring at the sky while changing his face for a while, Yuan Lan finally heaved a deep sigh. Then, he turned around and took a look at the empty immortal palace. Shaking his head, he revealed a bitter smile and flew off Northdragon City in an instant...


    ...

 1894 The Domain of Battle Flames

    According to Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong, Zhang Tie had generally learned a lot of major events in Motian Realm over the past 7 years. When in cities like Dragonsea City and Incloud City, before killing Two Blackblood Sages, Yun Tianhao the grand owner of Yun Clan and those immortal generals of Five Elements Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie had acquired more information through the lackeys'' memories of these major forces. After combining these information, Zhang Tie had basically known the overall situation facing Motian Realm.


    Like the current situation facing Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, the overall situation facing mankind across Motian Realm were not positive either. Nine Heavens Big Domain had become the fiercest battlefield between humans and demons in Motian Realm.


    Like what Zhang Tie had predicted before entering Infinite Immortal Prison, Versatile Demon Emperor must have its purpose by establishing Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, instigating the internal conflicts between human immortal palaces and taking big actions in Dark Valley.


    At that time, Zhang Tie didn''t know the purpose of Versatile Demon Emperor. However, 7 years later, he finally knew that the target of Versatile Demon Emperor or all the demons was Nine Heavens Big Domain.


    Versatile Demon Emperor raided Dragon Emperor City thrice, exposing the background of Zhang Tie and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and throwing out Dragon Emperor Big Domain to the other human forces like a piece of meat. All these actions were serving demons'' strategy in Nine Heavens Big Domain.


    Dark Emperor Immortal Palace instigated humans'' civil strifes so that human immortal palaces and forces wouldn''t join hands with each other to fight demons. The chaos caused by the battle between supreme-level human immortal palaces and two emperor-level immortal palaces in Woods Medium-sized Domain and the fierce contradictions between immortal generals being affected by Golden-Soul Rune Virus and the other immortal generals who were not affected by Golden-Soul Rune Virus firstly collapsed the overall situation that human immortal palaces and forces joined hands with each other to fight demons.


    When human immortal palaces and immortal generals were going against each other and taking precautions against each other, how could you expect them to unite with each other to confront with the surging demons?


    Previously, whenever the contraditions between humans and demons were intensified in Nine Heavens Big Domain, all the human immortal palaces in Motian Realm would join hands with each other to defend demons'' strikes in Nine Heavens Big Domain. Additionally, thousands of immortal generals or clans participated in fighting demons with the purpose of making great contributions and accomplishing great tasks or various ambitions.


    A few years ago, the contradictions between human immortal palaces instigated by Dark Emperor Immortal Palace collapsed the trust of human immortal palaces and deteriorated the relationship between human immortal palaces. Such intense and unreliable state definitely reduced the cooperation between human immortal palaces and forces in Nine Heavens Big Domain.


    At this moment, Versatile Demon Emperor threw out the broken Dragon Emperor Big Domain and presented the weakness of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to the other forces and human immortal palaces. Meanwhile, it ruined the dignity of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. The broken Dragon Emperor Big Domain which was going to lose its owner provided a good opportunity for many human forces and immortal generals to make meritorious deeds and accomplish great tasks, even found clans and new immortal palaces outside Nine Heavens Big Domain. As a result, power of resistance, will of resistance and battle force of humans across Nine Heavens Big Domain were further divided and collapsed.


    According to the layout of Versatile Demon Emperor and the other demons, if Nine Heavens Big Domain was regarded as a city being besieged by demons, Dragon Emperor Big Domain became the only city gate that demons allowed to open after they launched a holistic attack towards humans in Nine Heavens Big Domain so that they could ambush the escaping humans in the preset region.


    When people didn''t have a route of retreat, they would fight demons to death. If they could kill one demon at the cost of their own lives, their death was valuable. If they could kill two demons at the cost of their own lives, they won. However, when they had a route of retreat, many people would not have such a resolution and strong will anymore.


    7 years ago, humans and demons drew a tie in Nine Heavens Big Domain. At that time, demons didn''t take any absolute advantage. However, in the short period of 7 years, the overall situation facing Nine Heavens Big Domain deteriorated greatly. Demon armies had occupied over 200 human cities and seized a large amount of population and materials in Nine Heavens Big Domain. Many humans clans and throne-level immortal palaces who once occupied an area in Nine Heavens Big Domain had been completely driven out of Nine Heavens Big Domain.


    Take Yun Clan and Five Elements Immortal Palace as an instance, they fixated onto Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace when they suffered great losses in Nine Heavens Big Domain. They wanted to compensate their losses from Dragon Emperor Big Domain. They had even shifted the focus of their clans to Dragon Emperor Big Domain from Nine Heavens Big Domain and determined to be the largest shareholders of Dragon Emperor Big Domain by establishing an immortal palace here...


    The stalemate between humans and demons in Nine Heavens Big Domain was formed through tens of thousands of years'' wars and battles in Motian Realm. To a certain degree, Nine Heavens Big Domain was a pair of scales which was used to balance the battle forces between humans and demons. If this pair of scales tilted to one party, the other party couldn''t bear it. Now, due to the overwhelming tricks of Versatile Demon Emperor, this pair of scales had been tilting to the side that was disadvantageious to humans...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Once demons occupied Nine Heavens Big Domain completely, they would directly attack some big domains and many small and medium-sized domains in the hinterland of the scope of influence of humans. By then, demons could easily cut off the contacts between human domains through Nine Heavens Big Domain and humans as a whole in Motian Realm would be completely passive in the war between humans and demons. The strategic parity would tilt to demons.


    This was the ultimate purpose of Versatile Demon Emperor''s layout among humans.


    After figuring out the current situation facing the human race in Motian Realm, even Zhang Tie admired Versatile Demon Emperor''s means and tricks. Versatile Demon Emperor was really the demon of demons. He could make all the humans in Motian Realm restless alone.


    However, facing the attack of demons in Nine Heavens Big Domain, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace which shared the biggest benefits in Nine Heavens Big Domain had to join hands with each other and organize their armies of immortal generals and the other forces to offend demons in Deities Plain.


    As of now, armies of humans and demons had already pitched their camps in Deities Plain and set formations. They had been confronting with each other for over one year.


    When Zhang Tie read souls, he didn''t get the news that Star Emperor was in Deities Plain. It seemed that Star Emperor had just come to Deities Plain or was hiding somewhere near Deities Plain.


    Now that Star Emperor was in Deities'' Plain, Force Emperor should be there too. If so, there should be at least 2 demon emperors on the battlefield. Perhaps Versatile Demon Emperor was also there.


    Deities Plain was a good place for enhancing his prestige...


    After fixing his goal, Zhang Tie instantly left Northdragon City for Nine Heavens Big Domain, leaving a rainbow in the sky...


    ...


    Deities Plain covered 1 million square miles. Being located in the middle of Nine Heavens Big Domain, it was a prairie with lush grasses.


    In the past, Deities Plain was always covered with bouquets of flowers and green grasses. Flocks of buffaloes were galloping everywhere. It was vigorous everywhere. However, this year, the entire Deities Plain was covered with battle flames and strong, fierce qi. Almost 200,000 immortal generals and demon generals were gathering and fighting here at the risk of their lives.


    Due to collisions between battle formations, battle qi strikes, burning cities, prodigious black smoke, homeless people''s tears, blood and battle calls of immortal generals and demon generals, Deities Plain was destroyed and lost its previous beautiful look completely...


    Their battlefield was in the middle of Deities Plain. The distance between their battle formations was less than 300 miles away. Now the ground within the 300 miles had been burned black. Over the past one more year, the soil in this region had been struck for many times, causing pits everywhere. Plainland could barely be seen. It was like the wilderness being hit by meteors. From the sky, only some shoots stood on the black ground stubbornly over hundreds of miles'' land, who were warning the humans and demons here that it was once a beautiful prairie.


    There was once a beatiful lake covering 60 square miles called Maiden. But now, the beautiful lake had already disappeared in the collisions between the terrifying battle formations being composed of tens of thousands of immortal generals and demon generals. The terrain of the lake was completely changed, leaving some pools and mires, large or small, and fish skeletons in the wild.


    At this moment, when Zhang Tie had just left Northdragon City, two heavenly knights were having a fierce battle above the dried Maiden on behalf of humans and demons respectively under the gaze of over 200,000 immortal generals and demon generals...

 1895 Battlefield

    If two commoners being well-matched in strength had a clash of saber, with battle calls and saber lights, one of them would definitely fall down. It would take them only a few minutes at most to end the fight. If one person could be a bit more dauntless with greater morality, he might become the winner through fierce collisions and crazy slashes. The braver one would win when two enemies met in a narrow way.


    If two parties became experienced veterans above LV 10, it would take them a bit longer to end the fight. It was similar to the battle between two professional boxers with the same heavyweight in the ring. As both parties had rich experiences and battle skills and had less difference in battle force, such combat could barely come to an end in a short period of time. The combat wouldn''t come to an end until the last stage due to a small mistake, weaker battle force, a bit slower movement, a bit lack of precision or a bit weaker strength, even a pure fluke mind.


    If it were two armies with the same strength on the battlefield, it would take them longer time to finish the battle due to more determinants. Additionally, there were more patterns and forms of the battle.


    The greater the armies were, the longer it would take them to finish the battle.


    It was like how wars between countries, groups and human races. Now that two parties could wrestle with each other on the same battlefield, they wouldn''t be easily defeated.


    In Motian Realm, humans and demons had been fighting for tens of thousands of years, of course, they were qualified to confront with demons.


    In the past a few years, due to the unpredictable tricks of Versatile Demon Emperor, there were indeed some problems among humans. Demons indeed had taken some advantage in Nine Heavens Big Domain and threatened humans step by step. However, humans had not lost their power of resistance. Their foundation was still solid. Therefore, humans were still able to confront demons in Nine Heavens Big Domain.


    When Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was not exposed to the public, it was more dangerous to humans. However, after it was exposed to the public, its dangers had been under control. Humans could always work out methods to deal with it.


    Versatile Demon Emperor was indeed the trickiest and most unpredictable demon emperor whom humans frightened most. However, no matter how powerful, smart, able and tricky Versatile Demon Emperor was, it still couldn''t confront all the humans in Motian Realm. Now that humans could live tens of thousands of years in Motian Realm, they must have a deep background and foundation.


    When Zhang Tie was receiving medical treatment in Emperor NvWa City, Emperor NvWa''s Palace had gathered talented ones to work out a solution to detect Golden-Soul Rune Virus. However, such detection means required some special tools. Even though it was for an emergency, it could barely be popularized in a short period of time. However, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace had joined hands with each other to work out a solution to deal with Dark Emperor Immortal Palace soon after Zhang Tie was mired in Infinite Immortal Prison.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    After getting the specimen of Golden-Soul Rune Virus provided by Star Emperor, Emperor NvWa''s Palace finally confirmed that Golden-Soul Rune Virus couldn''t pass the forbidden system of Emperor NvWa City. Closely after that, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace assigned their own immortal generals to Emperor NvWa City for the test by batches. Of course, it was a piece of cake for those immortal generals who had not been affected by Golden-Soul Rune Virus just like taking an immunization injection. However, it was like entering the hell for those immortal generals who knew that they had been affected by Golden-Soul Rune Virus. If they went there, they would expose their true identities and lose their lives immediately. Of course, they dared not go there.


    Although they didn''t know how Versatile Demon Emperor planted Golden-Soul Rune Virus in the brains of those immortal generals, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace would kill all the immortal generals who refused to go to Emperor NvWa City or escaped on the way there regardless of their titles and excuses! As for those who escaped away secretly before setting for Emperor NvWa City, they would investigate their human relations and actions inside the immortal palaces.


    Finally, in the shortest period of time, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace had used this simplest solution to clean up all the evil guys among those immortal generals of the two immortal palaces. Besides those immortal generals being affected by Golden-Soul Rune Virus, they even discovered some incarnate demons in their own immortal palaces. As a result, their teams were purified at a stroke; the morality of the two immortal palaces also became stabilized.


    After the two immortal palaces accomplished all these, Emperor NvWa''s Palace showed up and invited the immortal lords and powers of the 13 supreme-level immortal palaces who had broken out skirmishes and conflicts with the two emperor-level immortal palaces to Emperor NvWa City to discuss about dealing with the problems facing Woods Medium-sized Domain.


    Emperor NvWa''s Palace was definitely more distinguished than the other two emperor-level immortal palaces in Motian Realm. It was definitely the gilded signboard of humans in Motian Realm. After receiving the invitation of Emperor NvWa''s Palace, 12 of the immortal lords of 13 supreme-level immortal palaces arrived at Emperor NvWa City. The one absent was Lord Fengyun Jiang Hengtong.


    When those immortal lords gathered in Emperor NvWa''s Palace, Force Emperor had joined hands with the powers of Emperor NvWa''s Palace to raid the headquarters of Fengyun Immortal Palace in Fengyun City, Fengyun Medium-sized Domain and discovered Tortoisesnake Palace, a branch of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. Jiang Hengtong''s true identity was the president of Tortoisesnake Palace. After this news was exposed to the public, it aroused great shock in Motian Realm.


    Even an immortal lord had been under the control of Versatile Demon Emperor. This discovery shocked all the other immortal lords of 12 supreme-level immortal palaces.


    What happened next became smooth. After the two emperor-level immortal palaces, facing the urgent sense of crisis, the other 12 supreme-level immortal palaces also adopted the same measure to assign their immortal generals to Emperor NvWa City by batches for the test. After that, the two emperor-level immortal palaces and the 12 supreme-level immortal palaces made a roster and delivered a common notice to the public. All the immortal generals from fierce immortal generals to supreme-level immortal generals of all the sects and clans in all the big domains, medium-sized domains and small domains in Motian Realm must go to Emperor NvWa City for the test. Those who didn''t go there before the time limit would be taken as moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and killed regardless of your clans or sects. Even those guys who had escaped should also be hunted with high bounty and become the target of the public.


    Although such a straightforward solution was simple and rude, it was the best method for them to deal with Dark Emperor Immortal Palace and discover Golden-Soul Rune Virus. No moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace could make a narrow escape. Those immortal generals who had been affected by Golden-Soul Rune Virus, those moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in human domains, even those incarnate demons who hid among humans could only expose themselves in such a strict condition.


    Besides Tortoisesnake Palace in Fengyun City, Whitetiger Palace in Nine Heavens Big Domain, Rosefinch Palace in Red Sea and those sects and clans under the control of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace were also destroyed by the three emperor-level immortal palaces and 12 supreme-level immortal palaces. Those lackeys of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace were either killed or escaping everywhere. They couldn''t hurt people like before anymore.


    Even though Versatile Demon Emperor and Dark Emperor Immortal Palace had used many tricks to stop it, they still couldn''t reverse the overall situation.


    Over the past 7 years, human domains and immortal palaces had been in turmoils due to Dark Emperor Immortal Palace. Therefore, demons got opportunities to attack humans in Nine Heavens Immortal Palace on a large scale. However, Dark Emperor Immortal Palace also suffered a destructive strike during this period due to humans'' defensive mechanism. It interpreted how Dark Emperor Immortal Palace became prosperous secretly and be destroyed overnight.


    Although Dark Emperor Immortal Palace had not been completely uprooted among humans and many personnel of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace were still being chased, its force had been much weaker than that 7 years ago.


    Perhaps only Versatile Demon Emperor itself was clear whether his Dark Emperor Immortal Palace had accomplished the target that he had set to disrupt humans during the past 7 years. If Dark Emperor Immortal Palace was not exposed by Zhang Tie, it would not arouse the vigilance of all the human immortal palaces and forces so early; if Dark Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t get the secret impartation method of Yin-Yang Sect, it would not be able to transfer the battle force of those immortal generals who had been affected by Golden-Soul Rune Virus to the others; if Dark Emperor Immortal Palace could control Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Dragon Emperor Big Domain secretly, Dark Emperor Immortal Palace might have a brighter future.


    Humans were scrambling for each inch of the land of Nine Heavens Big Domain. They would never allow demons to predominate this region. All the human elites knew how significant was Nine Heavens Big Domain to humans.


    If a country wanted to resist the foreign forces, they had to ensure peace domestically. After basically solving the threat from Dark Emperor Immortal Palace, Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace mobilized their armies of immortal generals to resist demon''s vanguards in Deities Plain.


    When two armies were confronting with each other, the war could not come to an end in a couple of days; especially that both parties could receive constant assistance from their back.


    The war between two armies was not as simple and straightforward as a brawl between two people.


    The army of demons and the army of humans had been confronting each other in Deities Plain for many days. Over these days, the combats had never ceased, the participants of which varied from fierce immortal generals to supreme-level immortal generals; the population of participants also varied from 3 people to 10,000 immortal generals. The commanders-in-chief of two armies were in their own camps with rigorous barriers, each of which was composed of over 100,000 immortal generals. Besides observing the situation of the opponents, they were also commanding their own battle formation of immortal generals like how powerhouses fought each other. In interactive attacks, they defended strictly in case of being raided by the opponents; meanwhile, they were seeking loopholes of the opponents for launching a lightning strike.


    In the collisions between two armies, combats between generals could inspire morale the most!


    Combats between immortal generals and demon generals on the same level in front of hundreds of thousands of immortal generals at the cost of their own lives on the battlefield were the best pattern of individual heroism in Motian Realm.


    Commanders-in-chief liked this mode of combat too; because whenever a party won such combat, they would sap the morale of the opponents. If they won many such combats, they could make a big triumph in the end.


    Ordinary immortal generals and demon generals also liked such a mode of combat. Demons were always belligerent. There were many brave humans too. Those who could win such combats were real heroes. It was the best shortcut for an immortal general or demon general to accomplish both success and fame.


    As wars between humans and demons were common, of course, the same combat pattern between humans and demons would lead to the same mode of war.


    The so-called combat between generals was called Combat of Honor in the world where Zhang Tie came from.


    The combat between the two heavenly knights in the air above Deities Plain had entered the fiercest stage the moment it broke out. The collisions between their battle qi strikes and the relevant sonic booms were reverberating in the sky like muffled thunders.


    On such a remarkable occasion, even though the immortal general or demon general could fly fast, they would not take advantage of this strong point on the battlefield. Otherwise, once a man flew away at a high speed, it would look like that he was chased by the other and would sap the morale of over 100,000 population of their own. Commanders-in-chief didn''t like to assign such a guy to fight the opponent. Even though such a guy could take the upper hand in the end, he would still afflict a great loss to his own party.


    Combat between generals referred to that the two participants should clash against each other, teeth for teeth and blood for blood. The one who could kill the opponent in the shortest period of time in the most domineering and powerful manner would be the hero. Only such a combat could display the power of the winner.


    Additionally, given the tacit agreement that the two commanders-in-chief had made, none of the demon generals or immortal generals who participated in such combat was lower than 8 changes realm on their level. Those who participated in the combat were all in the peak stage of their level or were going to promote to a higher level soon. Of course, such combat would be more thrilling.


    After over 1 hour''s fierce collisions, the participants had started to bleed.


    Star Emperor had already heard the growls, battle calls of over 100,000 immortal generals on his side and over 100,000 demon general in the distance. Like hurricanes, they caused the air within thousands of miles to rock.


    The protective battle qi of that wind demon general had already been broken for the first time. Due to the great shock from its protective battle qi, the powerful ox-headed demon general had started to spew out blood. At the same time, the immortal general intensified his attacks. Watching this scene, immortal generals'' morale soared.


    At this moment, Star Emperor received a piece of news from Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Star Emperor became temporarily stunned. Closely after that, he looked at Force Emperor on his side. Star Emperor knew that Force Emperor must have already received the same news given the power of Force Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Force Emperor looked at Star Emperor too with a bit of surprise in his eyes¡ª¡ªhe''s still alive. I wonder whether Six-Armed Demon Emperor...


    Zhang Tie had made a great meritorious deed to humans in Motian Realm. Only by drawing Six-Armed Demon Emperor into Infinite Immortal Prison, he had already helped humans a lot in the eyes of immortal emperors like Star Emperor and Force Emperor. A wind immortal general who was actually more powerful than all the wind immortal generals, also the incumbent Dragon Emperor could perish together with Six-Armed Demon Emperor. That was a great contribution to humans from any perspective. If Six-Armed Demon Emperor was still alive, the process of exterminating Dark Emperor Immortal Palace would not be that smooth in the past 7 years and the situation facing Nine Heavens Big Domain would further deteriorate.


    A demon emperor was definitely more threatening to humans than a total of 10,000 ordinary demon generals.


    Six-Armed Demon Emperor was the first demon emperor being killed after Rune Emperor. The death of Six-Armed Demon Emperor was a piece of very good news for humans because it narrowed the difference between humans and demons in the number of top powers. Therefore, Star Emperor and Force Emperor heaved a sigh of relief.


    ¡ª¡ªHow could he come out of Infinite Immortal Prison?


    ¡ª¡ªPerhaps he''s got a stroke of good luck!


    ¡ª¡ªWhere''s Six-Armed Demon Emperor?


    ¡ª¡ªPerhaps we could only ask him about it!


    ¡ª¡ªGiven the reputation of Emperor NvWa''s Palace and Grand Dragon Emperor, and the fact that he had made some contribution to humans, I will keep him alive as long as he behaved obediently. However, he must hand the items that he had got from Infinite Immortal Prison and the method that he used to enter the Motian Realm. By then, I can share them with you!


    ¡ª¡ªAre you sure you could have him hand them to you?


    ¡ª¡ªNo matter what, he''s just a supreme-level immortal general. If he had promoted to an immortal emperor and lit his immortal chakra, we would have definitely sensed it the moment he came out of Infinite Immortal Prison. A supreme-level immortal general might have some trump cards. But it''s just average in front of us...


    ¡ª¡ªLet nature take its course. Such a person has made meritorious deeds for humans. He shouldn''t be killed by us...


    After exchanging a glance with each other, Star Emperor and Force Emperor had communicated a lot and got the bottom line of the opponent...

 1896 Reversal

    After Star Emperor and Force Emperor finished their eye contact for half an hour, the combat on the battlefield of Deities Plain had almost come to an end.


    After a shocking boom, the human immortal general tore apart the protective battle qi of the ox-headed demon and pierced through its armor at once by the long sword. Following after, his sword broke through the ox-head demon''s heart and came out of its back.


    Apparently, the long sword was an immortal outfit. Besides being extremely sharp, it also carried an effect of additional harm. After the ox-headed demon''s body was penetrated through, its body instantly formed a layer of white frost.


    When the human wind immortal general was going to draw his long sword out of the ox-headed demon''s body horizontally and expand the wound by 10 times, the ox-headed demon roared as it gave out a red light from its chest and back. At the same time, a demon-grain totem which represented the talent of ox-headed demons suddenly appeared on the ox-headed demon''s body. In a split second, the long sword was frozen and couldn''t be moved anymore. At the same time, the ox-headed demon slashed its 2 m-longer huge ax towards that human wind immortal general with a cold light.


    At the critical moment, the human immortal general didn''t retreat; instead, he roared and ram against the handle of his long sword using his shoulder ferociously. In a split second, the long sword totally penetrated through its back, leaving its handle on the armor of the ox-headed demon''s chest.


    When the ox-headed demon spewed out blood, the human wind immortal general hit its ribs on both sides by hand. At that moment, red light and demon-grain totem also appeared on the ox-headed demon''s legs. Closely after that, the ox-headed demon hit the human immortal general''s lower abdomen by its knee in a terrifying manner. As a result, the human immortal general''s protective battle qi and the armor over its lower abdomen were shattered at the same time. Closely after that, the ox-headed demon spewed out a mouthful of blood again.


    Although being heavily injured, the human immortal general used the inertia to hit the relatively softer chin of ox-headed demon by his hard helmet, raising the ox-head demon''s head and sending it flying backward and spewing out blood heavily. At the same time, he rushed to the ox-headed demon''s side and shattered the ox-headed demon''s protective battle qi by hand again. Closely after that, he grabbed the handle of his long sword by two hands and made another horizontal cut.


    At this moment, the ox-headed demon''s red lights started to rock. The demon-grain totem faded away too. The huge ax was not suitable to attack the enemy in such a short distance. However, on this occasion, the sharp handle of the huge ax separated from its blade and turned into a short spear. Closely after that, the ox-head demon held the short spear by two hands and penetrated through the human immortal general from his back and nailed him to itself forcefully...


    Blood and flesh flying in all directions, it had come to the last, miserable stage of the combat.


    The ox-headed demon lowered his shoulders and nipped the human immortal general using its strong forearms. Meanwhile, it kept stabbing the human immortal general''s back by the short spear and intended to make his body a hornet''s nest. The human immortal general just held the handle of the long sword and intended to split the ox-headed demon''s body into two halves from its chest.


    With growls, the two parties wrestled and rolled in the air with burning battle qi. They then fell to the ground from over 100,000 m high in the speed of many times that of sound, causing a huge pit as deep as dozens of meters and a heavy smoke like detonating an alchemist''s bomb...


    At this moment, over 200,000 immortal generals and demon generals were gazing at the huge pit in Deities'' Plain. Hearing the growls from the battlefield, they all became silent.


    After a few minutes, the smoke over the huge pit had dispersed while the ground within hundreds of meters had been covered with a layer of snow-white icicles. At this moment, a person flew out of the huge pit wobbly. It was that human immortal general. The human immortal general had been bloody all over with a short spear on his back and a long sword in hand. After taking a look at the demon army, he flew towards the human camp.


    The ox-headed demon had been split into two halves from its chest. The two halves of its corpse was a few meters away from each other. They had been frozen.


    After a short silence, over 100,000 human immortal generals suddenly burst out loud cheers. By contrast, the demon army just saw the wobbly human flying towards human camp silently.


    Only after a short while, that person had arrived at the most forefront and the highest point of the huge dozens of floors high airboat where Star Emperor and Force Emperor were sitting in.


    The human immortal general who fought that ox-headed demon general ferociously was a slightly thin middle-aged man with single-fold eyelids and a cold and common look. He knelt down by one knee towards Force Emperor who was sitting on the throne as he uttered hardly...


    "Xin Qianlong... has lived up to Your Majesty''s expectation and killed the enemy..."


    At the same time, the place where he was kneeling down became a small bloody pond...


    "Xin Qianlong has made a meritorious deed by killing one demon general. His deed has greatly risen the morale of Force Emperor Immortal Palace and humans. I reward Xin Qianlong 100,000 fire elements. Have a good rest; hope you can recover soon..." After looking around the other people around him, Force Emperor said calmly.


    "Thank you, Your Majesty..." The human hero picked himself up as he was led somewhere for medical treatment.


    In an instant, Force Emperor''s throne was surrounded by congratulations.


    At this moment, besides Force Emperor and Star Emperor, the grandmasters and owners of over 20 major clans and sects in Nine Heavens Big Domain were also here. Additionally, there were three immortal lords of supreme-level immortal palaces. The three immortal palaces had many cities and interest foundations in Nine Heavens Big Domain. They were not brave enough to face the demon army independently; neither dared they not join the army of two emperor-level immortal palaces and those human forces of Nine Heavens Big Domain on this occasion.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Of course, Force Emperor and Star Emperor had promised something to those immortal lords. Therefore, those immortal lords could forget the previous conflicts between them and join this war together with their subordinates.


    After winning one battle, humans'' morale soared. At the same time, a wing demon calmly flew out of the demon army and came to the center of the battlefield. It then gazed at the human army with an aggressive look.


    The wing demon didn''t speak. He released his battle qi. Closely after that, a light flashed across.


    The light symbolized the fatal formation of a supreme-level immortal general, also a sage-level knight''s realm.


    It was not the first time for two supreme-level immortal generals to fight each other on this occasion. After taking a look at that supreme-level demon general whom they had not seen before, then the three immortal lords on their sides, Star Emperor asked them calmly, "It''s a supreme-level demon general. Which subordinate of yours would like to fight it?"


    They assigned participants by turns. As the two emperor-level immortal palaces had just won one combat, all the human forces had assigned participants to fight enemies as long as they could, except for the three supreme-level immortal palaces.


    After exchanging a glance with each other, the three immortal lords then took a glance at the wing demon in the distance. One of them then slightly nodded. An elder in white robe behind him instantly took one step forward and said in a muffled voice, "Ye Guyu the grand justice of Lanling Immortal Palace would like to fight it..."


    As supreme-level immortal generals or demon generals were all experienced, powerful and owned their own fatal formations. It was very difficult for them to kill the opponent in close combat. On many occasions, both parties would be defeated and wounded. Closely after that, they would come back to their own camps. The former combats between supreme-level immortal generals and demon generals saw the same results. Given the danger, such combat was far less dangerous than those combats between low-level immortal generals and demon generals. The lower the levels of immortal generals and demon generals were, the more easily he would be killed.


    Ye Guyu the grand justice of Lanling Immortal Palace then flew towards the center of the battlefield...


    ...


    However, after only one hour, Ye Guyu''s body had been broken into pieces and turned into a bloody rain...


    The battlefield was in short silence. Then, demons burst into cheers. At the same time, Force Emperor, Star Emperor and all the other human immortal generals changed their faces...


    "Next!" The supreme-level wing demon general uttered icily which sounded like a gust of cold wind blowing over the human army...

 1897 The Appearance of Demon Prince

    "Impossible..." Qi Tai, also known as Lord Lanling, turned such gloomy at once on the huge fleet as he instantly sprung up from his chair...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    As a supreme-level immortal general, how could he be killed in such a short period of time?


    In the beginning, the supreme-level demon general didn''t express such an overwhelming advantage. However, all of a sudden, the wing demon''s battle force surged. After launching some lightning attacks at Ye Guyu, it tore open his protective battle qi using its wings on its back which were as sharp as blades. Closely after that, it caught up with Ye Guyu. Before the latter released his protective battle qi, the wing demon had already torn apart Ye Guyu''s body...


    Ye Guyu didn''t even have time to activate his battle formation.


    As a supreme-level immortal general, his battle formation was even more powerful than his protective battle qi at the critical moment. In his battle formation, a supreme-level immortal general could control everything. Even if he met a more powerful opponent, with the protection of his battle formation, he could also use many times more tricks and counterattacks than common immortal generals. It was very difficult for supreme-level immortal generals to kill someone on the same level. That also explained why very few supreme-level immortal generals or demon generals could be killed by the opponent on the same level in combats.


    The battle formation was the most powerful means that supreme-level immortal generals used to defend and attack at the same time which could be activated only by a whim. The activation of one''s battle formation would not be considered as a cowardly performance even though in the process of combat between two generals. Why would Ye Guanyu give up using this means at that critical moment?


    The exclamations of demons were earth-shaking. By contrast, humans became silent at a stroke. Just now, human immortal generals were excited that their wind immortal general killed a wind demon general. Unexpectedly, their supreme-level immortal general was killed by the opponent in such a short period of time. Therefore, many human immortal generals couldn''t believe their own eyes.


    It was a supreme-level immortal general, who could establish an immortal palace and might promote to an immortal emperor!


    "Isn''t there any human who could defeat me?" The wing demon''s voice drifted to the humans'' side from far away with the wave of air, which also declined the morale of all the human immortal generals.


    Over 100,000 demon generals burst out laughing. Star Emperor and Force Emperor looked a bit gloomy.


    The battle just now was a bit weird. If another human supreme-level immortal general was killed, it would be a greater loss for humans. Supreme-level immortal generals were not as cheap and common as white cabbages. Over so many years when humans and demons confronted each other in Nine Heavens Big Domain, humans barely lost two supreme-level immortal generals on the battlefield the same day.


    "F*ck..." A person suddenly flashed by Star Emperor and Force Emperor. It was Qi Tai the Lord Lanling. Given Qi Tai''s burning eyes, he might want to avenge Ye Guyu.


    Star Emperor and Force Emperor just exchanged a glance with each other as they became silent at the same time.


    Qi Tai had already established Lanling Immortal Palace for over 300 years. Undoubtedly, his battle force was great. Given his rank, although he was also a supreme-level immortal general, his battle force couldn''t be matched by common supreme-level immortal generals. As long as a fire immortal general could completely realize the rules of forming his battle formation and the strength of the four elements, he or she would be able to promote to a supreme-level immortal general. In the eyes of most of the people, if a supreme-level immortal general didn''t drink Nine Heavens Immortal Spring, he would not be able to form an immortal chakra. Even though that supreme-level immortal general could found an immortal palace, his road of cultivation would come to an end. There was only one rank for supreme-level immortal generals, namely supreme-level immortal generals couldn''t be further divided in detail. Therefore, the difference between supreme-level immortal generals couldn''t be too great.


    In fact, even though supreme-level immortal generals didn''t drink Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, there might still be a terrifyingly great difference between their battle forces. The difference mainly came from two aspects. First, spiritual energy and battle qi could increase limitlessly when a supreme-level immortal general was in ascetic cultivation. Although it would not enhance the stage of a supreme-level immortal general, it could lead to a qualitative effect and enable a supreme-level immortal general to output several times more even dozens of times more destructive ability than other supreme-level immortal generals in each strike and overwhelmed the other supreme-level immortal generals. Second, supreme-level immortal generals'' realization about universal laws, which could be directly applied in a supreme-level immortal general''s battle formation, enhancing his battle formation''s destructive force greatly.


    Therefore, although there were many supreme-level immortal generals in Motian Realm, very few of them could establish immortal palaces or promote to be immortal emperors. If they were almost the same on the battle force, how could a supreme-level immortal general conquer the other supreme-level immortal generals and declare to be immortal kings?


    Qi Tai didn''t attend the battle easily because his battle force ranked closely after Force Emperor and Star Emperor. Of course, such a powerhouse would not fight other supreme-level immortal generals at the risk of his life. Otherwise, the entire Lanling Immortal Palace might collapse once he was in danger.


    However, watching a grand justice of Lanling Immortal Palace being killed by a demon general, Qi Tai finally couldn''t wait to rush into the battlefield.


    ...


    Hanging in the air, the wing demon who had killed Ye Guyu just watched Qi Tai approaching him with a cold grim smile without any fear on its face.


    "Go die..." Qi Tai roared as he slashed his 2-m longer saber towards that wing demon from 10,000 m away with a saber light.


    In a split second, the saber light charged at the wing demon, causing the entire sky above Deities Plain to change its color.


    At this moment, a pair of spike suddenly appeared in the hand of the wing demon which appeared to able to absorb all the saber lights. Facing the surging saber lights, the wing demon didn''t retreat at all; instead, it flapped its wings and shot towards Qi Tai like a black lightning bolt.


    When they collided with each other, Qi Tai''s saber light was split up by the wing demon''s spike. Closely after that, they started fierce close combat between two sage-level knights.


    ...


    At this moment, all the human immortal generals were gazing at Qi Tai with wide eyes. Many low-level immortal generals even held their breaths. The uproars on the demon''s side also stopped the moment the combat started. Both parties were gazing at the combat on the battlefield.


    As an immortal king of Lanling Immortal Palace, Qi Tai was indeed much greater than Ye Guyu in movement, speed, momentum and attacking force in the close combat.


    The wing demon seemed to have hidden its battle force just now. When it fought Qi Tai, it became much more powerful than before. Actually, they were neck and neck.


    The entire battlefield was filled with Qi Tai''s roars and his surging battle qi and saber lights.


    "You hid your battle force on purpose and induced weaker human immortal generals to fight you!"


    The wing demon remained silent. It just fought and circled Qi Tai like a black vulture and was not inferior to Qi Tai''s surging battle qi and saber lights.


    Such high-level close combat was a rare opportunity for human immortal generals and demon generals to watch and learn. Therefore, over 200,000 powerhouses were watching it with wide eyes.


    As for ordinary fierce immortal generals, earth immortal generals and water immortal generals, they couldn''t completely catch up with the two lights&shades on the battlefield by eyes. Those who could see clearly or perceive the details of the close combat were at least wind immortal generals or demon generals.


    Such fierce close combat between two high-level powerhouses soon lasted 2 hours.


    The wing demon slightly took the upper hand in collisions with Qi Tai and was gradually able to suppress the latter. Qi Tai''s protective battle qi was also fluctuating at an increasingly higher frequency.


    ...


    ''Something is not right...''


    Watching that wing demon''s performance, Star Emperor and Force Emperor felt something was wrong. Their hearts suddenly palpitated as a whim flashed by.


    Force Emperor then looked at the army of demons when he found Versatile Demon Emperor who had revealed its original body as a disguised demon and Black Mountain Demon Emperor who was an iron-armored demon emperor were sitting at the stem of the huge fleet of demons with faint weird and brutal sneer from over 300 miles away in the air.


    ¡ª¡ªIt''s too late for you to realize it!


    ...


    "No, why I cannot activate my battle formation. It feels being locked..." Qi Tai who felt being in an inferior position roared again with great shock and faint imperceptible panic.


    In the beginning, Qi Tai was pretty furious; after over 2 hours'' battle, he gradually became shocked by the wing demon, even a bit flurried. Not until then did he understand why Ye Guyu didn''t use his battle formation at the critical moment.


    "Nothing is impossible. This is the dark aiding strength that His Highness Demon Prince has carried since he was born. It''s able to seal all the four elements. Facing such great strength, any change of the four elements which could form battle formation would be locked in the space. Any supreme-level immortal general would not be able to use their battle formation once they were locked by Your Highness Demon Prince..." Versatile Demon Emperor said coldly as each of its words sounded like a heavy hammer that struck the hearts of over 100,000 human immortal generals and Qi Tai at the same time.


    ''Demon prince. That wing demon is a demon prince...'' At this moment, all the humans at present changed their faces, including Star Emperor and Force Emperor.


    In the hearts of all the human immortal generals across Motian Realm, the two words demon prince was like magic, which could always make them feel cold deep in hearts out of control.

 1898 Being As Silent As Winter Cicadas

    People in Motian Realm didn''t know the whereabouts of the demon prince till now. Over the past tens of thousands of years, humans almost had not seen or heard about such demon generals before the appearance of each demon prince. They couldn''t get any intelligence about the demon prince at all. However, each demon prince could bring humans bloody rain or put humans and demons into a miserable situation.


    Undoubtedly, the most frightening feature of the demon princes was their power; instead of their brutality or craft!


    Each demon prince could easily overwhelm immortal generals or demon generals on their same levels before promoting to a demon emperor; additionally, they all mastered many incredible secret methods and abilities.


    Besides being powerful, the other frightening feature of demon princes was their great potential.


    Ordinary demon generals could barely promote to a demon emperor as that very few immortal generals could promote to immortal emperors. However, a demon prince could have more than 50% possibility to promote to a demon emperor. On average, at least one of each two demon princes could promote to powerful demon emperors and rattle humans'' cage.


    Watching the demon prince who had already taken the upper hand, all the humans felt seeing another demon emperor in the future.


    Watching the demon prince''s performance, Star Emperor squinted his eyes as a perilous light flashed across his eyes. He then took a look at Force Emperor...


    ¡ª¡ªHow about...


    ¡ª¡ªIf we move, Versatile Demon Emperor and Black Mountain Demon Emperor will move at the same time. We don''t have an opportunity to do that. Additionally, if we disrupt the combat, human immortal generals will feel shameless about it in front of demons in the following 1,000 years; the 100,000-odd human immortal generals will also lose their morality in fighting demons. If so, how could we protect our territory in Nine Heavens Big Domain? It''s just a battle. Humans could be defeated; however, we cannot be humiliated. Despite being broken into pieces, we should still keep our morality...


    Force Emperor didn''t speak. He just pulsed his mouth with a frown as his face became clear-cut like a steel sculpture. At the same time, he watched the combat with a resolute and icy expression.


    Star Emperor became silent too; because he knew that Force Emperor was right. Additionally, if they followed his risky whim, they might not kill the demon prince; instead, they might make it worse.


    What Versatile Demon Emperor said shocked Qi Tai pretty much. After knowing that he was fighting a demon prince and realizing that he couldn''t use his battle formation, Qi Tai''s attacking rhythm was completely disrupted by that demon prince.


    Watching this scene, over 100,000 human immortal generals became silent and looked gloomy.


    Right then, Force Emperor broke the silence in a muffled and domineering voice that reverberated around the entire battlefield. "Lord Lanling, if you kill the demon prince here today, Star Emperor and I promise to escort you all the way to the core of the Mountain Ruins and help you find the Nine Heavens Immortal Spring. If you fight the demon prince to death for humans, one of your sons could become my disciple. I promise to cultivate him to a supreme-level immortal general and reinvigorate Qi Clan!"


    After hearing Force Emperor''s words, over 100,000 human immortal generals became spirited at once; especially those supreme-level immortal generals in the army and those people beside Star Emperor and Force Emperor. When they saw the demon prince''s performance just now, they felt a bit scared; but now, that demon prince became different in the eyes of the public. The demon prince was dangerous; however, if someone could kill him, with the guarantee of Star Emperor and Force Emperor, he would have 50% of the possibility to promote to an immortal emperor. Dangers and opportunities always coexisted.


    "Hahaha, thanks, Your Majesty Force Emperor. If so, I will have no regret fighting the demon prince to death..." Lord Lanling''s voice reverberated around the battlefield. At this moment, although being in an inferior situation, Lord Lanling still maintained his style as the owner of an immortal palace. The hero''s boldness was indeed admirable. Over 100,000 human immortal generals instantly roared and cheered up for him, "Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!"...


    Among the cheers of the human army, a light flashed across Qi Tai''s body while a classic huge saber and the light&shade of a mountain range appeared behind him. Qi Tai then slashed at the light&shade of the mountain range by his saber and split it into two halves. Closely after that, the light&shade flashed into Qi Tai''s body. Then, Qi Tai''s saber suddenly became much sharper and more powerful, involving the demon prince into his saber light at a stroke.


    "Mountain-broken saber, it''s mountain-broken saber, I''ve not imagined that Lord Lanling has awakened the ancestral bloodline of mountain-broken saber..." Someone behind Star Emperor and Force Emperor exclaimed with excitement and surprise.


    Nobody knew that Lord Lanling had awakened this ancestral bloodline. All the human immortal generals widely opened their eyes as they expected to see Lord Lanling creating a marvel here.


    If Lord Lanling could kill the demon prince, nobody would be jealous of him when he acquired Nine Heavens Immortal Spring and promoted to an immortal emperor.


    However, in Qi Tai''s saber lights, a wisp of black qi suddenly appeared on the demon prince. Almost at the same time, the space around the demon prince started to rotate like an invisible swirl. As a result, Qi Tai and his saber light which almost covered demon prince just now immediately started to quiver like a boat being involved in turbulence and deviate the former direction. Qi Tai couldn''t control his saber light easily anymore...


    Watching this scene, the cheers of human army gradually faded.


    ...


    One hour later...


    Qi Tai lived up to his appellation of Lord Lanling. He exerted his full efforts and used all of his trump cards to fight demon prince from the sky to the ground, then from the ground back to the sky. His battle qi strikes were like thunders as his saber lights were like lightning bolts, which caused the space to change their colors. The landform on the battlefield was almost changed completely. The former prairie had already been full of crisscrossed gullies and couldn''t be recognized anymore...


    If Lord Lanling was just fighting an ordinary supreme-level demon general, he had long killed his opponent.


    However, the demon prince was unusual...


    When that wing demon slashed into the air by its black spike and pierced through the gap between the armor and the helmet of Qi Tai, it sent Qi Tai''s head flying away. The battlefield was in dead silence at once...


    The spike which had pierced into Qi Tai''s neck instantly disappeared. Closely after that, it stabbed into Qi Tai''s heart. At the same time, the wing demon released another spike that caught up with the head of Qi Tai who was still widely opening his eyes. With a boom, his head was exploded together with the rest of his body. The bloody light being full of a supreme-level immortal general''s surging battle qi and essential energy, qi and spiritual energy spread over the sky, leaving an over 2,000 m-long bloody rainbow in the sky. That was the last trace that Qi Tai left in this world.


    Qi Tai''s blue shiny battle armor had already been divided into several parts, which were floating in the air independently and became the demon prince''s booty.


    The human army of over 100,000 human immortal generals became quiet at once.


    The demon prince opened its mouth and sucked the remaining bloody rainbow in the sky into its mouth in an instant.


    It even burped. Red light was flying over its body as its eyes completely turned bloody with a bit demonic and brutal qi as if it had taken a great tonic. As a result, it became more powerful than before.


    "Who else?" the demon prince roared at the army of over 100,000 human immortal generals while it extended its wings and hammered its chest as if it was driven crazy.


    On this occasion, the army of over 100,000 human immortal generals became silent as the demon army was in uproars.


    All the supreme-level immortal generals and some immortal kings avoided the eyes of demon prince on purpose.


    Today, two supreme-level immortal generals had been killed by the demon prince. Lanling Immortal Palace... was already over...


    Nobody else would like to be the 3rd supreme-level immortal general to lose his life here...


    "Is there any real hero among humans? Dare you fight me to death? You''ve got so many immortal palaces and over 100,000 immortal generals. Don''t you have such a person? Dare anyone among you court death? Hahahaha..." The demon prince laughed aloud.


    Facing such a domineering demon prince, many human immortal generals felt desperate as their faces all turned ashy. This demon prince couldn''t be matched by ordinary supreme-level immortal generals any more; any supreme-level immortal general would be killed by it. On this level, demons had already gained an overwhelming victory...


    ''Can we defend our territory in Nine Heavens Big Domain?''


    ''As long as this demon prince promotes to a demon emperor, it will...''


    Humans were always variable. Among over 100,000 human immortal generals, some were furious and gnashing their teeth; some people''s eyes started to be hesitant; especially those who didn''t belong to Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace.


    "I will fight you..."


    All of a sudden, a firm and resolute voice reverberated in the sky of Deities Plain, which stopped the demon prince''s laugh at once.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    After hearing this voice, Versatile Demon Emperor''s smile also froze in an instant...


    When all the human immortal generals were looking for the source of this voice, Star Emperor and Force Emperor immediately fixated onto the back of the human army.


    A pair of golden feather wings had already appeared in the skyline like clouds hanging over the sky with wuthering wind and rumbling thunders!


    Under that pair of golden feather wings was a youth who was as innocent and flamboyant as before...

 1899 Sweeping Over Demons I

    The golden king roc''s wings had been thousands of meters in length as they broke the sky in an imposing manner. When the king roc flew off, it soared up into the sky, shocking the universe!


    On the way towards Nine Heavens Big Domain, Zhang Tie gradually became two times faster than that when he left Mountain Ruins for Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Therefore, it took him half the time to finish the distance of over 500,000 miles. When he arrived there, he saw the Demon Prince killing Lord Lanling and demons'' morale soaring. At the same time, over 100,000 human immortal generals were in dead silence...


    At this critical moment, as a human, of course, Zhang Tie could not stand such great humiliation!


    "Let me try it..."


    Under the gaze of the two armies, two demon emperors, two immortal emperors and numerous powers, Zhang Tie flew over the human army from its back and landed in the battlefield being 10,000 m away from the Demon Prince above Deities Plain silently. Closely after that, he folded his golden wings and stood still as carefree as an immortal.


    Watching Zhang Tie flying over here, the Demon Prince stopped laughing. At the same time, it gazed at Zhang Tie with its bloody thorn-like eyes while releasing its strong black demonic qi. It couldn''t help giving out its surging fierce qi.


    Not knowing why, when it saw the beautiful and majestic king roc wings behind Zhang Tie, although the Demon Prince didn''t know who was Zhang Tie, it heard a voice from its inner heart. Therefore, its eyes became bloodier. It unfolded its wings to the greatest degree as if it wanted to scramble with Zhang Tie for the brilliance of their wings...


    ''Kill him. Kill him. Kill him. I must tear him into pieces. How could his feather wings be greater and more magnificent and beautiful than mine...''


    Demons'' hearts were full of greed, enmity and envy. When it saw Zhang Tie''s king roc wings, it had determined to kill Zhang Tie as it stared at him.


    As for hundreds of thousands of human immortal generals and demon generals, after hearing that voice, most of them were looking for the source of the voice with shock. Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, a teenager at his 17s had shown up on the battlefield shockingly. After a short silence, humans and demons burst into uproars at a stroke¡ª¡ªWho is he? How dare he challenge the Demon Prince?


    "Amazingly, Zhang Tie, you''re still alive. When you fought Six-Armed Demon Emperor outside Infinite Immortal Prison and fell inside it at the same time, we all thought that you had died..." Under whispers, Force Emperor''s voice reverberated across the battlefield. At the sight of Zhang Tie, even Force Emperor sighed with emotions.


    ''What? He''s Zhang Tie, the incumbent Dragon Emperor and the very person who came from another world and acquired the inheritance of Dragon Emperor? Hasn''t he died in the Mountain Ruins? How could he appear here?''


    The noises on the battlefield disappeared at once. Not only humans, but even demon powerhouses were also greatly shocked with many questions in their hearts after knowing Zhang Tie''s identity. After Zhang Tie perished with Six-Armed Demon Emperor inside Infinite Immortal Prison, unavoidably, Zhang Tie''s name had aroused great attention among demons.


    "I''ve survived from great danger!" Zhang Tie talked to Force Emperor aloud with a smile when everyone else could hear his voice, "Infinite Immortal Prison is not accessible for others; however, it means top treasure land for me; because I''m cultivating Infinite King Roc Sutra..."


    After hearing that Zhang Tie had admitted that he was cultivating the legendary deity''s secret method Infinite King Roc Sutra, all the others were in hubbubs. None of them had imagined that Zhang Tie could admit that he was cultivating the legendary secret method. Therefore, those eyes on Zhang Tie became scorching as though he was being scorched by many invisible lenses. Those eyes contained greed, envy, passion, and shock, etc...


    Previously, the Demon Prince was staring at Zhang Tie with strong, fierce qi in its eyes; now its eyes were much more scorching. The wing demon couldn''t help sticking out of its tongue and licking its own lips. At the same time, its greedy and envious thoughts spewed out of his mind like a volcanic eruption. The Demon Prince couldn''t wait to have a try...


    In the demon army, Versatile Demon Emperor and Black Mountain Demon Emperor became more profound at a stroke as they were gazing at Zhang Tie. Versatile Demon Emperor''s eyes even flickered. Black Mountain Demon Emperor''s eyes contained endless greed and fierce intent. At the same time, the two demon emperors turned around and made silent communication with each other through eye contact...


    After cultivating Infinite King Roc Sutra, Zhang Tie might be powerful; however, he had not promoted to an immortal emperor. By contrast, the Demon Prince was always unrivaled on the same level. Therefore, the Demon Prince treated it as a good opportunity to make a meritorious deed...


    Under the gaze of so many people, Zhang Tie stayed calm and fearless. If a person who had suffered so many hardships and cultivated the most powerful secret method found that he couldn''t even defend the right to expose the fact to the public, the supreme secret method would just be a paradox, a joke, a trap...


    "Didn''t you acquire the inheritance from Dragon Emperor? Why do you cultivate Infinite King Roc Sutra now? Could you change your secret method and chakras by Infinite King Roc Sutra at your will?" Force Emperor asked out of curiosity. Of course, many onlookers had the same question.


    "King Roc wasfor visiting.


    "When you and Six-Armed Demon Emperor entered Infinite Immortal Prison, I thought you were already dead. Now that if you were dead, of course, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was not qualified to own Dragon Emperor Big Domain alone. Of course, those with greater moral integrity could share it. In Motian Realm, the rise and fall of immortal palaces are pretty normal. What Star Emperor Immortal Palace did was reasonable!" Star Emperor said calmly as he squinted at Zhang Tie with a faint smile, "If you could kill Demon Prince here, I will return 10 times more areas to you as my compensation. If you''re not able to make it... hahaha..."


    By contrast, Star Emperor was selfish. He was instigating Zhang Tie to fight the Demon Prince to death; even causing destruction to both sides.


    Zhang Tie was crystal clear of Star Emperor''s selfishness. However, he didn''t mean to argue with Star Emperor about it at this moment. Except for showing off his battle force, Zhang Tie could never win Star Emperor''s respect.


    Zhang Tie then revealed a disdainful smile...


    "Have you left your will?" the Demon Prince roared with endless madness, fierce intent, and bloody restlessness, "I''ve not imagined that I could kill Dragon Emperor besides Lord Lanling here..."


    Zhang Tie then turned around calmly. Watching Demon Prince over 10,000 m away, then the rigorous army of demon generals in the further distance and Versatile Demon Emperor and Black Mountain Demon Emperor in the demon army before letting out a deep sigh. ''So many heads!''


    "Are you so anxious for death?"


    "What?" The Demon Prince instantly released berserk qi.


    Zhang Tie then talked to the Demon Prince with a smile, "I mean you''re going to die..." Zhang Tie then raised his hands and displayed them in front of Demon Prince, "Before death, you''d better take a careful look at this pair of hand. After a short while, this pair of hands will tear your body into pieces and pull out of your heart. You will see how I crumb your heart by hand..."


    The Demon Prince instantly rushed towards Zhang Tie with a flash. At the same time, the spike shot towards Zhang Tie from 10,000 m away with a cold light as fast as a lightning bolt.


    The distance of 10,000 m was as short as a couple of steps between commoners for supreme-level immortal generals and demon generals. With one step forward, they would approach each other and enter the scope of the most ferocious close combat...


    "Watch out..." Some powerhouses beside Force Emperor couldn''t stand exclaiming at this moment.


    Because Zhang Tie had not even moved or released his protective battle qi when Demon Prince launched a strike.


    The black spike in the hand of Demon Prince tore the space and immediately approached Zhang Tie''s neck with a black cold light...


    An enormous legendary fishAn enormous legendary bird

 1900 Sweeping Over Demons II

    The Demon Prince''s first strike was so smooth that it couldn''t help becoming ecstatic when its black spike reached a few meters away from Zhang Tie. However, Zhang Tie didn''t even release his protective battle qi. That was nothing different than seeking death.


    The black spike in the Demon Prince''s hand was not ordinary, but a powerful earth-level immortal outfit, also a golden secret item. Although the black spike looked average, it could easily break through immortal outfits and battle armors, not to mention human bodies. Besides, the black spike had other powerful functions. It could enable the opponent to be weak by absorbing his qi, blood and energy. Additionally, it could transfer the opponent''s qi, blood and energy to his own body as a supplement.


    In this case, if the opponent was injured, the Demon Prince would become more and more powerful in the combat. As a result, the opponent would become weaker.


    This also explained why the Demon Prince became more powerful than before after killing Ye Guyu and Lord Lanling. It didn''t need any rest or take in a deep breath. To be honest, it was in its peak state.


    The black spike targeted at Zhang Tie''s fragile neck and throat. When the black spike approached Zhang Tie, the Demon Prince instantly saw a weird smile on Zhang Tie''s face.


    If the Demon Prince had fought Zhang Tie in Infinite Immortal Prison, it would never feel happy about Zhang Tie''s "slow response", neither would it shorten the distance between it and Zhang Tie so easily and intended to carry out a close combat with Zhang Tie. The Demon Prince didn''t know Zhang Tie''s real terror at all.


    Those living beings who were killed by Zhang Tie in Infinite Immortal Prison would never tell the Demon Prince about how unimaginable was Zhang Tei''s physical strength. He was like a supervolcano which would erupt at any time. The only way to prevent itself from being submerged by the supervolcano was to stay far away from the volcano; instead of approaching it; not to mention approaching the steaming crater and looking downside there.


    The Demon Prince would realize it soon; however, when it realized it, it was too late...


    When it fought a powerhouse like Zhang Tie, one mistake would lead to death. There would never be another opportunity for it to make a new choice.


    The Demon Prince''s fatal strike didn''t target at Zhang Tie''s neck, but his heart. When he attacked Zhang Tie''s neck, he stabbed at Zhang Tie''s heart by another black spike silently from another direction.


    When he saw the black spike approaching his neck, Zhang Tie slightly tilted his head and avoided it. At the same time, he punched out.


    Zhang Tie''s iron fist didn''t aim at the neck of Demon Prince, but its arm which was targeting at Zhang Tie''s heart with a black spike in hand.


    Zhang Tie didn''t release his protective battle qi; because he wanted to shorten the distance between him and the Demon Prince to the minimal distance.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The great physical strength of his iron fist plus the inertia of the wing demon could enable his iron fist to be more powerful and destructive in a short distance.


    The protective battle qi at the Demon Prince''s arm was relatively more fragile.


    Zhang Tie had long predicted all these. He just waited for the wing demon to confront with his iron fist...


    When Zhang Tie punched out, the wing demon changed its face immediately. In such a short moment, the wing demon couldn''t stop itself; therefore, it could only gnash its teeth and stab at Zhang Tie''s heart ferociously.


    At this moment, the Demon Prince even felt that Zhang Tie''s counter-attack was a bit absurd. It wanted to break Zhang Tie''s heart; however, the opponent wanted to hit its arm. No matter what, it wouldn''t suffer greater loss than Zhang Tie. If Zhang Tie punched at its head, it might defend Zhang Tie''s attack by adopting an emergency measure. As for the arm...


    When the wind demon''s black spike almost reached Zhang Tie''s heart, Zhang Tie suddenly put down another arm and clamped the black spike like how a pair of pincer pliers clamped a mosquito. As a result, the Demon Prince couldn''t move his spike even a bit. However, Zhang Tie''s fist had already hit the protective battle qi over the Demon Prince''s arm.


    "Bang..." A loud sound reverberated around the entire Deities Plain.


    Undoubtedly, the layer of protective battle qi was broken. Before the Demon Prince took its hand back, Zhang Tie had already caught the wing demon''s wrist firmly which was clamping its black spike.


    The wing demon was startled. Closely after that, it let go of the black spike; meanwhile, it rotated its wrist and caught Zhang Tie''s wrist firmly too.


    It was a counter-measure that Demon Prince used in such a close combat. No matter what tricks and attacking skills would Zhang Tie use in the next, the Demon Prince would not be in the lower hand. Any other powerhouse would take the same response like the Demon Prince on this occasion.


    However, the wing demon didn''t know that his response was the second fatal mistake that it had made in the combat between him and Zhang Tie.


    As for other supreme-level immortal generals, such a response was correct. However, as for Zhang Tie, its response was accelerating its death.


    When the wing demon caught Zhang Tie''s wrist, it started to release its battle qi crazily. It wanted to transfer its battle qi into Zhang Tie''s body through Zhang Tie''s wrist. At least, it wanted to offset the battle qi that Zhang Tie wanted to transfer into its body.


    However, amazingly, when it tried to transfer its battle qi into Zhang Tie''s body, it found that its battle qi was isolated by Zhang Tie''s skin as if it was holding an iron plate or a piece of extremely fine metal which could hardly be invaded by people''s battle qi.


    ''What the hell!''


    The Demon Prince almost cried out. What was more shocking was that Zhang Tie didn''t release his battle qi; neither did he transfer his battle qi into the Demon Prince''s body.


    How could the incumbent Dragon Emperor not know how to use such a simple combat skill?


    ''Impossible...''


    "Good boy..." Zhang Tie said as he grinned towards the Demon Prince.


    The Demon Prince didn''t know what trick Zhang Tie was going to play; now that Zhang Tie didn''t adopt this effective attacking skill, it would never show mercy on Zhang Tie. With a fierce fleer, Demon Prince stabbed at Zhang Tie''s eyes with the black spike by another hand after the first unsuccessful strike...


    At this moment, many immortal generals in human army felt their hearts almost jump out of their throats. Even Force Emperor was worried about Zhang Tie.


    Now that the Demon Prince could kill Ye Guyu and Lord Lanling consecutively, its battle force and reflexes were already the best among supreme-level immortal generals. Even Force Emperor didn''t know why Zhang Tie adopted such a dangerous movement.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie finally moved.


    He slightly pulled the Demon Prince''s hand towards one side of him. Due to the change of relative positions, the Demon Prince''s body tilted as it failed the second strike.


    Closely after that, before the Demon Prince launched out the third strike, Zhang Tie had already launched his fatal strike. The Demon Prince finally understood why Zhang Tie caught its wrist and appraised him "good boy" when it caught Zhang Tie''s wrist...


    Rice was good; however, when one ate too much rice, he would die too; because his digestive system couldn''t hold more rice.


    Iron wires and steel bars had strong tension and could barely be broken. However, when the strength which was applied to the iron wire or the steel bar surpassed their bearing capacity, the iron wire or the steel bar would be broken. Even steel rails, bridges or edifices would be broken in similar situations.


    A truck that could hold two tons of goods would definitely be destroyed if let it carry 100 tons.


    All the objects in the world could bear limited stress. So were humans and demons.


    Some experienced snake-catchers didn''t need to pinch the location of the heart of a viper; instead, they only held the viper''s tail and quivered it adroitly. In an instant, the viper would feel weak all over and couldn''t move anymore. They didn''t have to use too much force when they quivered the viper. If they beat the viper with the same force, they wouldn''t even kill the viper or even hurt it heavily. On that occasion, the viper might even give you a bite and kill you. Why could they cause the viper to stay still only after quivering its body? Because when you quivered it, the viper''s tendons, bones and muscles couldn''t bear such sharp twists in a short period of time. Vipers couldn''t do such a movement themselves. Now that vipers couldn''t do it themselves, it indicated that their body couldn''t bear the outcome of such heavy twists.


    When powerhouse fought each other, they usually depended on their strength, which was the most straightforward and average from of strike!


    Even boorish fellows fought each other by strength!


    People couldn''t realize off-hand strike by pure strength like battle qi.


    Pure strength couldn''t lead to too many brilliant battle skills. Those brilliant battle skills could bewilder people and enhance their attacking efficiency; however, if battle skills couldn''t increase one''s strength, all the strikes would be superfluous and useless.


    Strength was pure, ordinary and natural just like air beside everyone and people''s shadow which always appeared with light.


    The extreme strength was close to the universal law!


    Universal law was right under one''s foot and beside people. Universal law was within reach. Universal law existed with people.


    The most powerful one was also the most average. The most average was also the most irresistible.


    All the brilliant battle skills and powerful attacking skills became average and exposed their natures in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    Now that he was close to universal law, he could certify the universal law with pure strength. Universal law was with him!


    After pulling Demon Prince to one side, Zhang Tie pushed and twisted it smoothly like flowing clouds and water without any light&shadow effect. Everything looked peaceful.


    However, through the two simplest movements, Zhang Tie transferred his overwhelming force as powerful as the ocean and volcano to its body through the Demon Prince''s wrist. He made full use of Demon Prince''s response and realized the best effect.


    It was not a strike, but a transfer!


    All the attacking means could be dissolved, intercepted or weakened by protective battle qi except the transfer of pure strength.


    When Zhang Tie generated the strength, he transferred it to the Demon Prince''s body at the same time.


    It was Zhang Tie''s full strength, plus his current terrifying explosiveness brought by spike shrimps which was hundreds of times greater than his original explosiveness...


    Did Demon Prince have such great strength?


    Of course not, even after it promoted to a demon emperor.


    Did Demon Prince have such great explosiveness?


    Neither.


    Now that it didn''t have such great strength and explosiveness, it couldn''t bear them. If it had to bear them, it must suffer an irresistible, destructive outcome.


    At this moment, the Demon Prince''s protective battle qi, the myriad of secret methods and powerful battle skills, high level became useless. Because Zhang Tie was not attacking it but transferring his pure strength to it. It could never refuse or avoid it. The great strength of Zhang Tie was testing its tendons, bones, blood, meridians, muscle fibers, blood vessels, joints, skin, even guts.


    It was bearing the total strength of Six-Armed Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie and the explosiveness from spike shrimps.


    The former were added with each other; however, the third aspect should be multiplied by the addition of the former two.


    In a split second, the Demon Prince had started to explode from its wrist to its elbow, then its shoulder, chest, lower abdomen, legs, neck and head. Each piece of bone, tendon, meridian, blood vessel, muscle fibers were destroyed by that terrifying strength as they were connected to each other.


    It was the most tragic punishment in the world. With the Demon Prince''s earth-shaking wails, its body started to blow up into pieces in the eyes of hundreds of thousands of humans and demon generals inch by inch.


    "Bang..." Under the Demon Prince''s wail, Zhang Tie punched through its chest. When his hand came out of the wing demon''s back, it was holding the Demon Prince''s beating heart.


    Zhang Tie took his hand back and crumbed its heart into pieces right in front of the Demon Prince...


    At this moment, all the humans and demons over Deities Plain were in dead silence...

 1901 Sweeping Over Demons III

    When Zhang Tie broke through the demon prince''s body and crumbed its heart, the demon prince''s body directly turned into a bloody mist and dispersed facing the terrifying, powerful strength...


    There was neither fierce combat nor heavy collisions between battle qis.


    The powerful demon prince had already become a dispersing bloody mist in the sky beside Zhang Tie only after a few seconds'' combats.


    At this moment, many human and demon powers felt their hearts being clenched by an icy hand as the entire battlefield was in suffocating silence.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ''What secret method and battle skill could be so powerful?''


    Only two demon emperors and two immortal emperors had seen clearly the terrifying power in Zhang Tie simple movements¡ª¡ªpush and twist. However, they couldn''t understand the secret of the manipulation and application of strength as they were too far away. Zhang Tie''s simple movements were close to the most original yet useful state. This battle skill definitely ranked first among all the battle skills in close combat across Motian Realm. Even though those immortal emperors or demon emperors couldn''t imitate it. It was actually exclusive to Zhang Tie.


    "Long Live Your Majesty Dragon Emperor..."


    "Long Live Your Majesty Dragon Emperor..."


    "Long Live Your Majesty Dragon Emperor..."


    After a temporary silence, over 100,000 human immortal generals suddenly uttered earthshaking exclamations which cleared the gloomy mood of all the human immortal generals at once.


    ''That''s cool! That''s too cool!''


    ''He''s powerful! He''s too powerful!''


    Watching Zhang Tie in black who stayed calm after killing the demon prince on the battlefield, the human army was in uproars at a stroke. Out of excitement, all the human immortal generals exclaimed as their faces turned red.


    Such a person really lived up to the name of Dragon Emperor.


    By contrast, the demon army felt breathless like being pressed by a piece of iron plate as a whole as most of the demon generals were watching Zhang Tie with only fear from deep within their hearts.


    Even the demon prince was killed by Dragon Emperor in only one round, not to mention other demon generals.


    Those demon generals then fixated onto Versatile Demon Emperor and Black Mountain Demon Emperor who were sitting ahead of the demon army.


    At this moment, Versatile Demon Emperor''s and Black Mountain Demon Emperor''s faces froze as they had already crumbed the handrails of their seats.


    Zhang Tie was not an immortal emperor yet; however, he was already able to kill the demon prince easily. When the core of Mountain Ruins was going to open, as long as Zhang Tie drank Nine Heavens Immortal Spring inside there and promoted to an immortal emperor, the entire Motian Realm would face its doomsday. By then, nobody could imagine how powerful was Zhang Tie who mastered Infinite King Roc Sutra. Even if all the demon emperors joined hands with each other, they still couldn''t defeat Zhang Tie.


    They had to kill Zhang Tie today. If they missed this opportunity, demons might face a catastrophe even extermination.


    However, who else among supreme-level demon generals could kill Zhang Tie at this moment.


    Only demon emperors or a large battle formation of demon generals could kill Zhang Tie on the premise that the latter didn''t escape away and Star Emperor and Force Emperor didn''t join the battle. Versatile Demon Emperor and Black Mountain Demon Emperor were hundreds of miles away from Zhang Tie. Given Zhang Tie''s speed when he arrived at Deities Plain, even if the two demon emperors wanted to raid him, they might not be able to catch up with him; unless... they used that item...


    That item was previously prepared by Versatile Demon Emperor and Black Mountain Demon Emperor for Force Emperor or Star Emperor. Superficially, demons and humans were scrambling for the territory in Nine Heavens Big Domain; actually, it was just a trick for demons. Demons had a bigger target in Nine Heavens Big Domain.


    They had already confirmed that the Dragon Emperor was dead. Besides Emperor NvWa, only Force Emperor and Star Emperor were on the back of humans. If demons could kill another human immortal emperor in Nine Heavens Big Domain, humans would be in a totally inferior situation in the following scramble for the resources in the core of Mountain Ruins.


    It was the fundamental reason for demons to mobilize so many demon generals here. As long as they could kill one human immortal emperor, they would completely defeat humans in Motian Realm and occupy all the territories of humans.


    ''It seems that we only have one solution...''


    Versatile Demon Emperor exchanged a glance with Black Mountain Demon Emperor. Black Mountain Demon Emperor then slightly nodded. The two demon emperors had seen the same resolution from the other''s eyes. If they didn''t kill Zhang Tie today, demons in Motian Realm would always be flurried. They had to prevent Zhang Tie from promoting to an immortal emperor. It was worthwhile for them to apply this item to Zhang Tie even though it shattered their original plan...


    ...


    "Your Majesty Dragon Emperor has killed the demon prince and aroused the morality of humans greatly. Through negotiation, Star Emperor and I have agreed to help you get the Nine Heavens Immortal Spring when the core of Mountain Ruins was opened. Your Majesty Dragon Emperor, please come back. Demons couldn''t dispatch any supreme-level immortal general to fight us anymore..." Force Emperor asked Zhang Tie to come back in case of an accident as he had already realized that the two demon emperor was determined to kill Zhang Tie.


    "Thanks, Your Majesty Force Emperor, but I''ve not solved my things yet. The old scores between Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and demons have not been solved yet!" After declining Force Emperor''s good intention, Zhang Tie watched the silent army of demons and said, "Where''s Versatile Demon Emperor? You''ve trapped me and intended to kill me a few times. When I was in the Infinite Immortal Prison, you raided Dragon Emperor City three times and killed an elder of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; besides, you instigated turmoils among humans and wanted to destroy Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Why do you hide among the demons and dare not come out to see me?"


    ''What? Zhang Tie is challenging a demon emperor?''


    Over 100,000 human immortal generals were watching Zhang Tie. Those who were cheering up for Zhang Tie just now instantly felt that Zhang Tie was insane.


    Over tens of thousands of years, only immortal emperors could fight demon emperors. Zhang Tie was just a supreme-level immortal general even though he had just killed the demon prince. He had not even drunk Nine Heavens Immortal Spring. No matter how powerful a supreme-level immortal general was and how weak an immortal emperor was, the sharp difference between levels was insurmountable.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Versatile Demon Emperor walked out of the army of demons with a gloomy look. It stopped 20,000 m away from Zhang Tie. After that, it looked at Zhang Tie with a bizarre expression; then Force Emperor who had been ready to rush over here to help Zhang Tie. Versatile Demon Emperor then sighed with emotions, saying, "When I saw you for the first time, I''ve felt that you would be a great threat for demons in Motian Realm in the future. Therefore, I wanted to kill you in my battle formation. Unexpectedly, you''ve already reached such a high level only after a few years. Sigh... what I''m regretful most now is that I failed to kill you when I found you were exceptional in Dragon Emperor City. I''m almost ruined by my wisdom. If I''ve long known about this current situation, I would have killed you even at the cost of giving up the entire Dragon Emperor Big Domain and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace..."


    "You want to kill me? I want to kill you too!" Zhang Tie said with a smile, "As a demon emperor, you could disrupt the peaceful lives of all the humans in Motian Realm. You''re the greatest threat facing humans. Additionally, the old scores between you and me have to be solved until one of us falls..."


    "Hoho, you want to kill me? It''s not that easy..." Versatile Demon Emperor said with a bizarre smile, "Oh, how''s Six-Armed Demon Emperor now?"


    "Nonsense! Six-Armed Demon Emperor has already entered Infinite Immortal Prison. Only his death could live up to the name of Infinite Immortal Prison..."


    "The others might not know what is Infinite Immortal Prison, but I''m crystal clear about it. Additionally, I know that only immortal emperor who has formed an immortal chakra could manipulate the Infinite Immortal Prison. Even though you''ve cultivated the Infinite King Roc Sutra, you''ve not formed your immortal chakra yet. Therefore, you cannot completely give full play to the Infinite Immortal Prison. Am I right? Even though Six-Armed Demon Emperor was killed in Infinite Immortal Prison, it doesn''t mean that it''s you who did that; instead, it was because of the terrifying, powerful function of Infinite Immortal Prison..."


    "Yea, you''re right. I''ve not formed an immortal chakra yet. I indeed couldn''t completely manipulate Infinite Immortal Prison..."


    "If you promote to an immortal emperor and completely manipulate Infinite Immortal Prison, you will be able to kill any demons in Motian Realm easily; you might even exterminate all the demons. Pitifully, as I said just now, I''m almost ruined by my wisdom. Unexpectedly, you could also make such a mistake..." Versatile Demon Emperor said as he shook his head.


    "You mean I''m almost ruined by my wisdom? Your confidence must come from the item that Black Mountain Demon Emperor had just taken out secretly behind you..." Zhang Tie said with a smile, causing Versatile Demon Emperor''s face to freeze at a stroke.


    ...


    "Watch out..."


    "Go die..."


    The first words were from Force Emperor.


    The second words were from Black Mountain Demon Emperor.


    Both parties almost roared at the same time. Meanwhile, a colorful glazed bead suddenly appeared in Black Mountain Demon Emperor''s hand which gave out a green light towards Zhang Tie from over 130 miles away at a stroke...


    Like that Zhang Tie couldn''t avoid the green light from the bead, Versatile Demon Emperor couldn''t avoid being locked by Zhang Tie''s lock of bloody chakra too. Almost at the same time, with a red light, a red rune flew off Zhang Tie''s body and hit Versatile Demon Emperor''s body as fast as a light bolt after penetrating through Versatile Demon Emperor''s strike and his protective battle qi.

 1902 Sweeping Over Demons IV

    When the bead''s green light reached Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie''s Shackle of Bloody Chakra also confined Versatile Demon Emperor. As a result, Zhang Tie and Versatile Demon Emperor disappeared in the middle of the battlefield above Deities Plain almost at the same time. Closely after that, a pale green light instantly poured down from over 100,000 m high in the air and covered tens of thousands of square miles where the demon army was in like a huge, semi-transparent heavenly curtain, causing the space to tremble like water waves. As a result, the demon army was completely isolated from the human army at once...


    Watching this scene, all the humans changed their faces immediately.


    "Heavenly Bead, you''re too mean..." Force Emperor roared at once as he flew towards the demon army. At the same time, the terrifying huge saber appeared in his hand. "Immortal generals, follow me to get Dragon Emperor out of there..."


    With growls, Force Emperor rushed towards the semi-transparent light cover in the periphery of the demon army firstly.


    Over 100,000 human immortal generals realized it at once as they all roared and rushed over there in form of battle formations. Star Emperor, the immortal lords of supreme-level immortal palaces, the owners of sects and clans from Nine Heavens Big Domain also launched a strike towards the Demon Army closely after Force Emperor.


    At this moment, even though many immortal generals didn''t know what was Heavenly Bead, their eyes had reflected the effect of the Heavenly Bead. Through the semi-transparent, odd-looking heavenly curtain and barrier in the periphery of the demon army, many people saw a light inside the big battle formation of the demon army. Closely after that, Zhang Tie appeared inside there and was being besieged by demons. He was in deadly danger...


    ''No matter what, His Majesty Dragon Emperor cannot die in front of us.''


    This whim occurred to many human immortal generals.


    ...


    According to the plan of Versatile Demon Emperor and Black Mountain Demon Emperor, after trapping Zhang Tie into the big battle formation of over 100,000 demon generals, they would coordinate with the big battle formation to crush Zhang Tie into pieces as soon as possible. Previously, they wanted to kill Star Emperor or Force Emperor in such a way; unexpectedly, they used it to deal with Zhang Tie. Additionally, an unexpected thing happened at once.


    Zhang Tie locked Versatile Demon Emperor by Shackle of Bloody Chakra and pulled it into the big battle formation of demon generals too. On this occasion, if they wanted to kill Zhang Tie by the big battle formation, they had to kill Versatile Demon Emperor at the same time. Therefore, Versatile Demon Emperor, Black Mountain Demon Emperor and the demon army became dazed at a stroke.


    "Kill him..." Black Mountain Demon Emperor roared as it rushed towards Zhang Tie. Black Mountain Demon had already made a decision to give up killing Zhang Tie using the big battle formation; instead, it intended to join hands with Versatile Demon Emperor and the other supreme-level demon generals to kill him as soon as possible. With such a great battle formation, they were confident to kill even Star Emperor or Force Emperor, not to mention Zhang Tie.


    In an instant, Black Mountain Demon Emperor and dozens of supreme-level demon generals in the demon army and Versatile Demon Emperor who had been gnashing its teeth due to anger had charged at Zhang Tie. The demon army of over 100,000 demons formed a tight, huge net and trapped Zhang Tie in many layers.


    Zhang Tie frightened those demon generals; however, fear might make demons crazier sometimes.


    In an instant, Zhang Tie was in dilemma...


    What shocked everyone including the two demon emperors was that Zhang Tie just opened his arms to embrace those attacks with a smile; instead of dodging them.


    "Boom..." The great shock caused the space beside Zhang Tie to rock and twist. Almost at the same time, all the strikes hit Zhang Tie. Colorful battle qi strikes were like firecrackers beside Zhang Tie. The space within thousands of meters was filled with destructive battle qi. Zhang Tie himself was also submerged in those battle qi strikes.


    As a result, all the demons became dumbfounded. Even Force Emperor who was rushing towards the demon army also became dazzled.


    However, before the second round of attacks arrived, an extremely terrifying qi suddenly rose up from those fierce battle qis.


    It was a headless giant''s light&shade. Holding his ax by two hands, he instantly broke those battle qi and reached tens of thousands of meters in height. At the same time, he was patting his own chest by his huge ax, causing thunder-like sounds while overlooking the demon army.


    At the sight of this light&shade, Versatile Demon Emperor changed its face immediately. At the same time, it recalled one scene which was the last scene that it wanted to recall. It finally realized why Zhang Tie didn''t avoid those battle qi strikes.


    "Hurry, kill him..." Versatile Demon Emperor, who was closest to Zhang Tie, rushed to his front firstly. Closely after that, it roared. Almost at the same time, a long sword suddenly appeared in its hand. It then slashed towards the neck of Zhang Tie who was faintly smiling while the blood streamed out of his mouth.


    Zhang Tie didn''t avoid; instead, he just raised one arm to block the strike right in front of his neck.


    However, Versatile Demon Emperor''s long sword only grazed half of Zhang Tie''s arm. Versatile Demon Emperor couldn''t even believe in its eyes. It couldn''t believe that its sword didn''t even break Zhang Tie''s arm. How terrifyingly strong was his body!


    ¡ª¡ªI cannot reach your realm now. But realm doesn''t mean everything. Even the demon emperor could only bear limited strikes. If the limit was broken, you could only die just like the Demon Prince...


    Zhang Tie didn''t speak; instead, he passed his words to Versatile Demon Emperor''s consciousness through his eyes.


    ¡ª¡ªImpossible, isn''t this the means of communication being exclusive to immortal emperors and demon emperors? How can you...


    ¡ª¡ªNothing is impossible. In someone''s eyes, the so-called demon emperors are just insects. You think you''ve mastered the strength of universal rules; actually, you know nothing about real strength.


    After the strike of Versatile Demon Emperor, the head grew out of Xing Tian the battle god''s neck again behind Zhang Tie.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie let out a strange sound beep, which reverberated through the air zone of the demon army and shocked the eardrums of all the demon knights. The sound surged across Zhang Tie''s body like an overwhelming, billowy river. However, it was not purposely made by Zhang Tie, but the sound of flowing blood in his body...


    Hearing this sound from such a short distance, Versatile Demon Emperor''s face turned dreadfully pale at once. As a demon emperor, of course, it knew what terrifying strength did that sound represent. Versatile Demon Emperor then roared and slashed its long sword towards Zhang Tie''s neck again at its full strength. However, Zhang Tie just slightly took one step back. When he reappeared, he was already tens of thousands of meters away. As a result, all the other supreme-level demon generals and Black Mountain Demon Emperor failed to hit him.


    The two demon emperors and those demon supreme-level generals rushed towards Zhang Tie again.


    However, Zhang Tie just smiled at these demons as a 30 cm long short saber suddenly appeared in his hand. Closely after that, he stabbed the short saber into his own chest and exposed its tip out of his back, leaving the handle of the short saber in front of his chest.


    In an instant, two golden flames started to burn in the eye sockets of Xing Tian. At the same time, Xing Tian''s qi reached its peak and became overwhelming.


    Bang... bang... bang... bang... closely after the sound of billowy river, Zhang Tie''s chest uttered another sound like muffled thunders which reverberated through the air zone of the demon army. It was like beating a huge drum in the sky. Even the sands, weeds and water pits on the ground started to rock, not to mention the air. Over 100,000 demon generals felt that their hearts were resonating with this sound unconsciously. In a split second, many demon generals had felt that their qi and blood were surging, causing them to feel like vomiting blood.


    After hearing this sound, even Black Mountain Demon Emperor changed its face. It immediately rushed towards Zhang Tie and roared towards the demon army of 100,000 demons, "Hurry, crush him using the huge battle formation..."


    ...


    "Boom..." When Force Emperor''s saber light was over 10,000 m away, it had already turned into a crescent moon and broken the air before hitting the semi-transparent light curtain of the demon army.


    Closely after Force Emperor''s strike were more battle qi strikes, causing the light curtain to undulate like water waves...


    ...


    At the same time, tens of thousands of demons were releasing their battle qi towards Zhang Tie in an overwhelming way like a berserk black tide, shocking the air.


    Facing these overwhelming battle qi strikes, Zhang Tie sang a desolate and heroic song...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Men should kill demons..."


    Following his song, Infinite Immortal Prison flew out of his Shrine surging point and turned into an over 30 m-long black rod which a few meters in thickness in his hand.


    "When killing demons, we don''t show our mercy..."


    Closely after the word "mercy", Zhang Tie flew off and poked the tip of the huge tower into the black tide, breaking a hole as if it the battle qi tide was as fragile as a piece of paper.


    "The eternal meritorious deeds lie in killing demons..."


    While singing, Zhang Tie flew off as lightly as a feather and broke through the hole while brandishing his huge rod towards Versatile Demon Emperor who was rushing to him...


    In a split second, the whole world turned upside down...


    ...

 1903 Sweeping Over Demons V

    Even the last generation of king roc couldn''t imagine that Zhang Tie used Infinite Immortal Prison to hit people.


    As Zhang Tie had not formed his immortal chakras, he couldn''t make full use of the strength of Infinite Immortal Prison. However, Zhang Tie could change Infinite Immortal Prison''s size and weight in his hand at his will. Therefore, Infinite Immortal Prison could become his proper weapon.


    What was more, it was a huge tower formed by king roc''s heart.


    The black, huge rod was 37 m in length and 3,690 tons in weight. Besides Zhang Tie, who had completely activated his battle god bloodline and gained 10 more times strength and battle force, nobody else across Motian Realm could use it.


    If such a heavy weapon fell to the ground, it could cause an earthquake and even kill people due to its heavyweight, not to mention the energy of kinetic strike that Zhang Tie released due to his explosive strength which was hundreds of times greater than before.


    Through this strike, Zhang Tie immediately released terrifying, unimaginable energy.


    It was the real kinetic strike, which had already entered an unrivaled state.


    If Zhang Tie just made a casual demonstration of his ability by killing the Demon Prince just now, at this moment, he was showing off his real power, which was sharp and irresistible. The universal law of strength was in his hand as his rod could reach to the heavens!


    Versatile Demon Emperor had hidden somewhere and observed Zhang Tie secretly for a long time. It thought that it had already understood Zhang Tie well and known all of his trump cards. However, at this moment, watching the huge rod approaching him, Versatile Demon Emperor found that its previous recognition was too ridiculous.


    When Zhang Tie brandished the huge rod, the entire space caved down like a piece of sponge. Wherever the huge rod moved in the air, the surrounding air and battle qi naturally gathered and condensed on two sides of the huge rod like how water flew into a pit. Closely after that, they were lit due to heavy frictions between them and the huge rod and turned into scorching, white flames. With the high temperature which could melt everything, they approached Versatile Demon Emperor in an overwhelming way in the twisting space with muffled sounds.


    Versatile Demon Emperor''s face twisted at once. It revealed fear through its eyes for the first time. At this moment, after being locked by the Shackle of Bloody Chakra, Versatile Demon Emperor could not avoid this sudden strike at all; instead, it could only bear this strike. Versatile Demon Emperor roared as many black scales and spikes suddenly appeared on its ugly body and face; at the same time, it wore a black odd outfit. Closely after that, it released its realm of demon emperor and disappeared in the air immediately. It then entered its own realm, which blocked the huge rod like a grey and invisible shield.


    The huge rod of Infinite Immortal Prison was hit onto the realm of Versatile Demon Emperor...


    In a split second, a scorching white light had dazzled all the demons in the light curtain.


    The entire space inside the Heavenly Bead started to rock. In an instant, the space was broken into pieces. Closely after that, terrifying space chasms appeared as the space was suffused with wisps of black qi like those dangerous places inside Mountain Ruins. As a result, the space around Versatile Demon Emperor instantly broke into thousands of pieces.


    Realm depended on space. Even the space broke into pieces, not to mention realm.


    The grey, invisible shield of Versatile Demon Emperor was crushed immediately as it suddenly spewed out blood which shot straight towards the ground like a meteor just like how drunk people usually threw up.


    At this moment, the great, white, scorching, impact wave immediately swept across the air zone in an overwhelming way like a berserk tide, separating and stopping Black Mountain Demon Emperor and the other supreme-level demon generals who were rushing towards Zhang Tie at a stroke.


    Versatile Demon Emperor was even slammed onto the ground, causing a huge bottomless pit over 2,000 m in depth at once.


    Zhang Tie directly neglected Versatile Demon Emperor as the latter had already been confined by his Shackle of Bloody Chakra and couldn''t escape anyway.


    "Long long ago, there was a heroic man who remained faithful to humans and kept his promise. He would kill demons whenever he widely opened his eyes with fury..." Humming the song, Zhang Tie flashed by the space chasms being suffused with black qi and came to the front of a sage-level shadow demon which was closest to him while brandishing his rod again.


    The sage-level shadow demon might be subordinate to Versatile Demon Emperor. When it found that Versatile Demon Emperor was in danger, it was ahead of all the others. However, when it found that Zhang Tie''s burning huge rod was falling towards him like a falling heavenly pillar, the shadow demon could only raise its shield and a long sword, which were both secret items, to defend Zhang Tie''s strike...


    "Bang..."


    Another scorching white light appeared as the space next to the sage-level shadow demon shattered into pieces again facing the overwhelming strength of Zhang Tie''s kinetic strike.


    The shield, the long sword, the shadow demon''s protective battle qi and its body were crushed into pieces in a split second. In the scorching white light, all of them dispersed like snow under the sunshine...


    Facing such an overwhelming strength, any brilliant battle skills, swift movements, tricks and ambitions would become useless. Facing such a huge rod, everything became a simple choice¡ª¡ªif you can stand it, you will live! If not, you will die! The result became crystal clear. There was neither the third possibility nor change nor good luck.


    "Heroes killed numerous demons while traveling across the world with their sabers and spears..."


    Zhang Tie''s song reverberated across the army of over 100,000 demons. Under the song, Zhang Tie flashed in the air and easily avoided a battle qi strike from Black Mountain Demon Emperor by moving 10,000 m away in one step. After that, he came to the front of the second sage-level iron-armored demon and brandished his rod.


    The airy feeling was a hallucination. It was like how the sun and the moon moved. Due to their great size, their movements became unnoticeable. When the heavens and the earth broke apart, people would have such a hallucination. Zhang Tie''s body and his huge rod just crushed the berserk black tide of the big battle formation of demons with wind as airy as feather. Facing such an airy feather, the army and battle formation of demons abruptly became clumsy.


    The second sage-level iron-armored demon should have already seen the result facing that sage-level shadow demon and the poor look of Versatile Demon Emperor. Facing the huge rod, it didn''t choose to defend it by his body; instead, it instantly entered its own realm and chose to defend it with its own realm.


    Pitifully, it was not Versatile Demon Emperor.


    When the sage-level iron-armored demon''s realm was broken into pieces, it spewed out bloody remains like that came out of meat grinder and juicer instead of the complete body of the iron-armored demon...


    At this moment, the second round of strikes of the big battle formation of demons arrived. They might have already absorbed the experience of the first round of strikes as their battle qi formed into a light beam instead of an overwhelming, berserk tide. The light beam shot at Zhang Tie in a pretty condensed way, which vaporized everything on the way.


    Facing such a strike, Zhang Tie didn''t use his huge rod to defend; instead, he took one step aside and easily avoided it, allowing the light beam to brush against him. As a result, his hair was sent flying in the air, making him look like an immortal...


    Battle required both strength and skills.


    "I want to find such heroes and tyrants today in vain. You don''t know that more and more literati became frivolous; however, toughmen and soldiers fought enemies to death. From then on, the country advocated righteousness. When demons encroached the Taixia Country, those officials escaped away, leaving those underprivileged weeps. "


    "I''d like to learn from ancient people and reinvigorate the spirit of heroes. I regard reputation as sh*t; I will ignore the merciful ones'' ridicules. With sharp sword, I will kill demons when I become angry. I will cut off my own flesh and eat it together with alcohol; but I can still talk cheerfully and humorously. Even the deities and ghosts are shocked by my deeds..."


    After avoiding the second round of attack from the big battle formation, Zhang Tie continued to avoid the strike from Black Mountain Demon Emperor again. As he sang, he rushed towards the highest point of the dome of the Heavenly Bead from the demon army while cupping his huge rod by hand, where he looked down while his eyes flashed like lightning.


    Only after a few seconds'' collusions, the two demon emperors had been scared and numerous demon generals had been frightened out of their wits. Therefore, the big battle formation of over 100,000 demon generals waved a tight net in all directions and moved towards Zhang Tie like a huge wheel in an overwhelming way.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie appeared to not be able to avoid it anymore.


    "Anyone who kills Zhang Tie will gain 1,000 cities as a reward..."


    Versatile Demon Emperor roared. After hearing its words, all the demon generals'' eyes turned bloody at once as numerous grim faces, greedy eyes, firecracker-like battle qi, sabers, swords, axes and spears shot towards Zhang Tie.


    Watching this scene, over 100,000 human immortal generals outside the light curtain were so angry that their eyes almost popped out of their eye sockets. At the same time, they all tried their best to hit the light curtain between them and the demon army. However, the light curtain just quivered; instead of breaking apart...


    "I''ll chase demons 1,000 miles to kill them. I''ll make friends with late righteous heroes like Zhuanzhu and Tianguang. Leave west city gate at dawn and come back with the enemy''s head at dusk. When I''m tired, I want to sleep; however, I hear the clarion call at this moment..."


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the army of over 10,000 demons were like sh*t, their sharp sabers and swords were like average weapons. Zhang Tie sang aloud. Closely after the word "moment", the virtual image of the huge golden six-wing king roc appeared behind Zhang Tie. After unfolding its 6 wings, king roc instantly covered the demon army which was bouncing back towards Zhang Tie.


    At this moment, the closest battle formation of demons was already 30,000 m away from Zhang Tie.


    King Roc suddenly flapped down its six wings as an occult strength covered the entire air zone at once...


    The army of 100,000 demons that had been close to Zhang Tie immediately fell to the ground in a flurried manner like raining.


    At this moment, all the low-level demon generals who flew by metal wings, those wind immortal generals who had formed wind chakras, even supreme-level demon generals couldn''t fly any longer. They all fell to the ground immediately. As a result, that air zone became out of their reach...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The big battle formation of over 100,000 demons instantly collapsed...

 1904 Sweeping Over Demons VI

    Neither Versatile Demon Emperor nor Black Mountain Demon Emperor could imagine that Zhang Tie could collapse the battle formation of demons and the army of over 100,000 demon generals in a split second.


    As for all the knights, their battlefield was in the sky. Various battle formations were carried out in the sky. Even though they could still form battle formations with formation beads on the ground, they were just like eagles whose feathers had been plucked and couldn''t pose any threat to Zhang Tie who was still in the sky; instead, they could only look up at the sky, sigh and wait to be slaughtered by Zhang Tie.


    King roc was absolutely a dominator and ruler in the sky. How could a powerful and arrogant king roc be besieged by a flock of birds and avoid here and there?


    The secret skills that Zhang Tie used just now were "fight" sutra¡ª¡ªno-fly wings, one of the Nine-Words secret method in Infinite King Roc Sutra.


    Soon after he activated "fight" sutra, the entire world had been quiet.


    All the enemies below Zhang Tie''s realm fell to the ground. As a result, only Zhang Tie, Versatile Demon Emperor and Black Mountain Demon Emperor were still in the sky.


    At this moment, Black Mountain Demon Emperor and Versatile Demon Emperor both felt that it might be their most regretful mistake to use the precious heavenly ball to bound Zhang Tie stick to the army of demons in their lives. Previously, they thought that Zhang Tie was just a tiger, which could be surrounded by a pack of wolves, caught by a net, then killed easily. Unexpectedly, Zhang Tie was not a tiger, but a dragon, a berserk dragon that nobody could conquer.


    However, it had already happened.


    "I parted with my mother at the west door. My mother is sad yet I''m not. I''ve promised to do a heroic deed and not return until I succeed. The battle up into the sky and down to the ground shock the netherworld. I will kill a demon in 3 steps until my heart stops beating. Our blood will flow tens of thousands of miles long with billows; our bodies will rest on thousands of mountains. After battles, heroes just sleep among enemies'' corpses. We kill demons even in dreams with big smiles under the white sunshine..."


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s loud and melodious song became a nightmare that lingered in every demons'' ears. With this song, Zhang Tie dove sharply with his huge tower-sized hammer at the highest speed. Versatile Demon Emperor had already lost his freedom at this moment. The moment Zhang Tie activated his chakra lock, he had sucked Versatile Demon Emperor out of the huge pit like a magnet attracted a nail who was forced to fly directly towards Zhang Tie''s huge tower-sized hammer.


    Versatile Demon Emperor''s face turned deeply green, even near purple.


    Zhang Tie had left Black Mountain Demon Emperor behind and rushed towards Versatile Demon Emperor the moment he moved. With a wuthering wind and rumbling thunders, he then slashed his huge burning hammer towards Versatile Demon Emperor in an overwhelming, earthshaking manner.


    When Versatile Demon Emperor flew towards the sky unwillingly like a boat going against the current, he saw demon generals falling down flurriedly like putting dumplings into a pot with boiling water. Although being in the army of 100,000 demons, Versatile Demon Emperor felt being isolated and lonely without any help.


    Versatile Demon Emperor might have not played yo-yo which could bounce back itself with the help of a rubber band that human kids used to play. Otherwise, he might feel like dying at this moment.


    "Go die..." Versatile Demon Emperor roared in an unyielding, furious and resolute way like how Zhang Tie roared in his own realm.


    With the dignity of a demon emperor and the belligerent gene, Versatile Demon Emperor could only choose to fight to death at this moment.


    Among growls, Versatile Demon''s body shone as his outfit and body expanded at the same time. Just now, Versatile Demon Emperor was shorter than 2 m; now, he had expanded by 4 times and became a giant. In an instant, he had been taller than 10 m who was muscular all over with sharp black spikes on his spine while being covered with black scales. He was a shadow demon!


    That was the real look of Versatile Demon Emperor!


    Roaring Versatile Demon Emperor punched at Zhang Tie by two fists constantly causing rumbling thunders. The battle qi torrent that was released by his fists even caused the space to twist and undulate like a light beam. This was definitely the most powerful strike that Versatile Demon Emperor could make.


    However, it was useless to Zhang Tie!


    No matter what, Versatile Demon Emperor couldn''t scrape Infinite Immortal Hell even a bit.


    The huge tower-sized hammer was both Zhang Tie''s weapon and his shield. The kinetic energy of the huge 3680-ton hammer itself was already amazing when it fell down freely, not to mention being held by Zhang Tie.


    Therefore, when the light beam hit the huge tower-sized hammer, it instantly became pure resistance facing the huge hammer''s stress and poke no matter how cool and powerful it was.


    Given force, Versatle Demon Emperor and Six-Armed Demon Emperor were on the same level; however, they were not on the same level with Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie''s huge hammer easily broke Versatile Demon Emperor''s strike. Closely after that, he hit his hammer onto Versatile Demon Emperor''s protective battle qi.


    In a split second, the space around Versatile Demon Emperor was broken into pieces; closely followed by his protective battle qi and half of his outfit. In the overwhelming impact wave, the giant who was taller than 10 m instantly became a bit taller than 2 m as before as his tendons and bones were broken all over. Meanwhile, he spurted out blood through his eyes, ears, mouth and nostrils heavily; his black scales were sent flying in all directions; the spikes on his spine were broken. He was sent back to the ground, causing dust to rise nearby.


    "Women don''t need to ask why men are so brutal! Since ancient times, mercy and virtues were always fake. Don''t you know that lions and tigers win their dignity by capturing prey? Who will pity the deer? In this world, the power usually eats the weak; even though the weak ones hold justice. Don''t ask why! Men should do like men! Men should be ferocious and have nothing to do with mercy. Men should fight enemies on battlefields and be as dauntless as bears with fierce wolf eyes. Now that you were born as a man, you should kill demons. Don''t be a woman..."


    Zhang Tie''s bleak and melodious song was abrupt, loud and sonorous. It contained the collisions between metals and bone-chilling fierce qi. Zhang Tie chased after Versatile Demon Emperor at a faster speed aggressively and hit his target again the moment Versatile Demon Emperor touched the ground by brandishing his hammer as round as a wheel...


    At this moment, the universe seemed to be frozen as over 100,000 demons in the heavenly ball and numerous humans outside it were petrified by Zhang Tie''s earthshaking strike.


    At the same time, a scorching flame and impact wave spread in all directions at a stroke, vaporizing everything on the ground in a split second. As a result, over 100 ordinary demon generals within 1,000 m turned into ashes as the ground started to undulate like billows in an ocean. It shocked within 1,000 miles.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    All the immortal generals and demon generals almost blacked out due to shock as they watched at the place where Zhang Tie''s hit Versatile Demon Emperor in a daze...


    In an instant, an over 10-m wide purplish-red qi beam rushed into 700,000 miles high in the sky and froze while being surrounded by many surging earth, water, wind and fire elements. At the same time, those four elements started to gradually fade away...


    At the sight of this purplish qi beam and the disappearing earth, water, wind and fire elements, the army of over 100,000 demons were almost scared to death. Black Mountain Demon Emperor also wailed due to grief...


    When a leopard died, its fur remained; when a wild goose passed by, it left its honks...


    The qi beam was not a battle qi smoke, but the remains of all the qi, blood, spirit, charka and battle qi of an unrivaled immortal emperor or demon emperor in the world.


    Undoubtedly, Versatile Demon Emperor had just died in front of the public!

 1905 Sweeping Over Demons VII

    The aftermath of Zhang Tie''s strike was also powerful. The powerful impact wave was even spreading towards all directions like billows, causing the ground to undulate like waves. Due to Zhang Tie''s strike, the entire light curtain of Heavenly Ball was quivering heavily. At the same time, the barrier of the light curtain was undulating like ripples as though a tranquil pond was being blown up by a shell. Additionally, the ripples were spreading...


    A huge pit whose diameter was over 20,000 m appeared on the ground where the huge rod struck. Additionally, Zhang Tie''s strike had already touched the bottom of the light curtain over 200 m in depth in the pit and passed much energy onto the barrier through the rod. Therefore, it could cause such great shock. Besides, the huge pit was surrounded by a heavy purplish-red bloody mist being made of Versatile Demon Emperor''s qi, blood, energy and prodigious elements.


    Watching the qi beam rushing into the sky, many immortal generals and demon generals couldn''t even believe their eyes.


    Versatile Demon Emperor, an unrivaled powerhouse in Motian Realm was killed by Zhang Tie by slashing his huge rod three times.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    It was not one-to-one combat, but combat between one person and the army of 100,000 demon generals and two demon emperors. However, in such a combat, Zhang Tie made something which he couldn''t even imagine before¡ª¡ªhe crushed Versatile Demon Emperor who made humans restless among the army of 100,000 demons.


    Watching the purplish-red qi beam rushing into the sky inside the light curtain of Heavenly Ball, even Star Emperor who was hitting the barrier revealed a faintly, fearful look.


    ''Zhang Tie could kill Versatile Demon Emperor by slashing his huge rod three times, what if he fought me?''


    The shocking temporary silence and the temporary confusion of many humans and demons didn''t disturb Zhang Tie''s rhythm. Under the loud and sonorous song, Zhang Tie had killed Versatile Demon Emperor in an overwhelming way. Closely after that, a more impassioned song continued to drift from the qi beam left by late Versatile Demon Emperor.


    As for all the demon generals and Blackmountain Demon Emperor, such a song had become a life-demanding spell and sound of death which even caused their souls to tremble.


    "Men should never treasure their lives. We would maintain smiles even being killed by enemies. Despite scattering my intestines over the battlefield, I would not feel regretful accompanying with green weeds. Men should never shudder with fear. I will share a song with you: If we kill one living being, we''re guilty; if we slaughter tens of thousands of enemies, we''re heroes. If we could kill millions of enemies, we''re heroes of heroes..."


    While humming the song, Zhang Tie shot out the light beam left by Versatile Demon Emperor and rushed towards Blackmountain Demon Emperor.


    Blackmountain Demon Emperor finally realized that it was wrong. If it continued to trap Zhang Tie in the light curtain of Heavenly Ball, it would definitely be killed by Zhang Tie. Then, all the other demon generals on the ground would be cleaned up.


    ''How many strikes could I stand in front of Zhang Tie''s huge rod, 4 or 5?''


    ''I must fix this mistake myself even with my own flesh; otherwise, I have to fix it with my life.''


    Watching Zhang Tie rushing towards it and the army of human immortal generals being such close to it, Blackmountain Demon Emperor finally gnashed its teeth and made the only correct decision today¡ª¡ªhe crumbed the Heavenly Ball by hand before escaping far away as fast as he could.


    The barrier of Heavenly Ball broke apart in a split second. When they found that Blackmountain Demon Emperor was escaping far away instead of fighting with Zhang Tie, all those supreme-level demon generals immediately realized what they should do without receiving any order. They all exerted their full efforts to escape in all directions.


    The fall of Versatile Demon Emperor had already destroyed the morale of the army of demons. However, the escape of Blackmountain Demon Emperor became the last straw that broke the camel''s back.


    The army of demons collapsed like a mountain as all the demon generals were escaping in all directions.


    On many occasions, whether you could survive or not on the battlefield was not related to your battle force; but your speed of escape.


    "Go die..." Force Emperor instantly slashed his huge saber towards some demon generals. Only with the flash of a saber light, some hapless demon generals had been crushed into pieces.


    The army of 100,000 human immortal generals swarmed towards their enemies with sonorous battle calls. At this moment, the big battle formation of demons had been in chaos. It was a rare heaven-sent opportunity. Even idiots knew that it was the best moment for beating drowning dogs and reaping their booties.


    When the army of human immortal generals entered the barrier which had already disappeared, those vanguards instantly fell to the ground too. Watching this, all the human immortal generals became instantly flurried.


    "Watch out, immortal generals couldn''t fly in this region. Let''s descend to the ground and keep a battle formation before rushing in the barrier!" an elder of an immortal palace exclaimed to stop all the other surging immortal generals behind him in case of trouble; otherwise, the big battle formation of human immortal generals might also collapse like that of demons.


    In this air zone, after being affected by the battle skill of "fight" of Zhang Tie''s Infinite King Roc Sutra, neither demons nor humans could fly. Therefore, all the human immortal generals hurriedly descended to the ground and rushed towards the demon generals who were fleeing away with sonorous battle calls.


    The army of over 100,000 demon generals was retreating on the ground, closely followed by the army of over 100,000 human immortal generals. Such a scene had never happened in the history of the wars between humans and demons in Motian Realm. What a shocking thing!


    To be honest, Zhang Tie had not imagined that Blackmountain Demon Emperor could be such decisive to escape. As a result, the entire army of demons would collapse after Versatile Demon Emperor was killed. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s plan of sweeping over the army of 100,000 demons couldn''t work anymore.


    Blackmountain Demon Emperor was right in front of Zhang Tie. The demon emperor''s speed of escape was really great. However, watching so many demons escaping in all directions like ants on the ground in such a flurried manner, Zhang Tie realized that it was a rare opportunity for beating such drowning dogs. If he missed it, it would be too pitiful.


    ''Well, I will make a killing spree today.''


    Just now within the barrier of Heavenly Bead, Zhang Tie couldn''t apply some battle skills. After Blackmountain Demon Emperor broke the barrier, he spared a chance for the army of demons to escape and allowed Zhang Tie to give full play to his ability.


    Only by running his spirit for a few seconds, he had separated the two strands of energy from the void. Closely after that, a lightning bolt hit those demons in front of the escaping army of demons.


    In a split second, a dazzling white light appeared on the ground like a hot sun. Under the white light and the heat waves, over 1,000 demon generals disappeared within 13 miles...


    After a few more seconds, before the last light disappeared, those panic-stricken demons had seen another white light hitting an area with most demon generals over 30 miles away. As a result, over 1,000 demon generals vanished like smoke too...


    Then, the 3rd white light, the 4th, the 5th... the 10th... the 20th...


    White lights fell in the areas with the most demons one after another like judgment in the doomsday. Whenever a white light fell, few supreme-level demon generals within 13 miles could survive. All the others demon generals below supreme-level demon generals within those areas immediately vanished.


    Although Blackmountain Demon Emperor was ahead of the demon army, it kept a close eye on Zhang Tie. When it saw those white lights, it could sense that they were aroused by Zhang Tie despite the other demon generals who didn''t know what had happened. Such a battle skill was fatal to the big battle formation of demon generals. Those white lights directly destroyed the last bit of bravery of Blackmountain Demon Emperor. As a result, it instantly broke the tip of its tongue and escaped as fast as a lightning bolt.


    Therefore, over 100,000 demon generals and one demon emperor were chased by Zhang Tie like stray dogs. All of them only thought about fleeing, leaving corpses over the region.


    Demon generals'' speeds were not slow. Additionally, soon after they escaped out of the scope of the Heavenly Bead for a few miles, all the demon generals had found that they got their flight ability back. They then became thrilled as they all flew in all directions like flies in the sky.


    "Form the battle formation to block Zhang Tie..." Blackmountain Demon Emperor sent an order to those supreme-level demon generals who escaped at the highest speed among his subordinates in a flurried manner as it escaped as fast as a lightning bolt.


    ...


    Facing Zhang Tie''s huge rod strike, the battle formation of three iron-armored supreme-level demon generals instantly became ashes.


    Only after such a short while, the distance between Blackmountain Demon Emperor and Zhang Tie had been over 70 miles more...


    At this moment, a pair of golden wings of king roc appeared behind Zhang Tie. In a split second, Zhang Tie sped up again as he chased after Blackmountain Demon Emperor with his eyes on his target...


    ...


    In the eyes of the army of human immortal generals, Force Emperor and Star Emperor, Zhang Tie chased after Blackmountain Demon Emperor in terms of golden light. In the blink of an eye, they had disappeared on the battlefield of Deities Plain.


    Over 100,000 human immortal generals swarmed forward and crushed those escaping teams of demon generals easily. In the end, as demon generals were escaping in all directions, human immortal generals also couldn''t maintain the formation of their army in order to chase these demons.


    Those demon generals who had completely lost their morale only wanted to escape instead of fighting humans at all.


    Over 100,000 human immortal generals chased those demon generals and made a killing spree. Half an hour later, human immortal generals had already chased the remains of demon generals out of Deities Plain...


    Right then, a scarlet qi beam rushed into the sky tens of thousands of meters away from Deities Plain in the west, which faced the qi beam left by Versatile Demon Emperor above Deities Plain. The two qi beams didn''t disperse for a long time...


    All the human immortal generals became dumbfounded as they all watched the second qi beam as though they were witnessing a legend.


    ...


    After a short while, a pair of golden feather wings flew over here, breaking the sky of Deities Plain before heading for Dragon Emperor Big Domain in the distance...


    ...

 1906 Leaving Dragon Emperor Pavilion

    On July 28, the 3593rd year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar...


    In Qianji Agency, Dragon Emperor City...


    "I think we have to deal with those bandits in Brokenstars Sea. When His Majesty Grand Dragon Emperor was here, our immortal palace assigned airboats and immortal generals to patrol in Brokenstars Sea every month. Although Brokenstars Sea didn''t belong to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, we could at least maintain the safety and stability in that region. At that time, there were no such bandits in Brokenstars Sea at all. Few airboats, merchants or travelers passing by Brokenstars Sea met accidents at that time..."


    Elder Long Jiutian said as he took the cup of tea water and sipped it. Then, he took a look at the other three elders and continued with a faintly nostalgic look, "When I patrolled in Brokenstars Sea by airboat at that time, all the passing-by airboats would show their politeness to us when they saw the airboats of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace by hanging over the banner of etiquette. However, when Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace gradually lost the power to patrol in Brokenstars Sea, those bandits started to threaten those passing-by airboats. Now, Two Blackblood Sages and the other backbones of Blackblood Alliance had been cleaned up by His Majesty. Nobody could block us in Brokenstars Sea. Therefore, it''s time for us to recover the routine to patrol in Brokenstars Sea..."


    "I agree. Additionally, I think we can directly occupy the city that Blackblood Alliance built in Brokenstars Sea over these years and take it as the base of the airboat fleet of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Brokenstars Sea. It''s reasonable for us to occupy it now. Nobody else would complain to us about doing that!" Ying Gucheng said at once.


    "Yes!"


    "I agree!"


    Luo Yunshang and Hou Moyuan nodded too after thinking about it for a few seconds.


    "Who''s suitable to do that?" Elder Luo Yunshang asked.


    "How about assigning Sui Bo who''s dealing with the follow-up affairs of Blackblood Alliance in Dragonsea City? As a water immortal general, Sui Bo is always loyal to our immortal general. He''s experienced and reserved. He could deal with those small fish and shrimps in Brokenstars Sea of Blackblood Alliance!"


    "Good idea, we will assign Sui Bo there together with a team of immortal generals. After occupying that city, we will name it Pinghai City. Additionally, we will build another branch of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace inside the city!"


    "Good!"


    Only after a short talk, those elders had already reached an agreement on dealing with the remains of Blackblood Alliance in Brokenstars Sea. Then, they all nodded and sipped tea water with a smile.


    At this moment, the assistant of Qianji Agency entered the hall with full spirits and glowing ruddy cheeks. After bowing towards those elders, he said with full respect, "Ji Li, the grand owner of Ji Clan in Huitian Medium-sized Domain, has come to Dragon Emperor City. He wants to pay a formal visit to His Majesty. Here are the letter and the list of gifts!" the assistant said as he put the two things on the desk between those elders.


    Ji Clan was a major clan in Huitian Medium-sized Domain. Ji Li, the grand owner of Ji Clan, was also a prestigious supreme-level immortal general in Motian Realm. Huitian Medium-sized Domain was over 200,000 miles away from Dragon Emperor Big Domain. If these elders heard these words and experienced such an occasion one month ago, they would have been excited and felt hot blood rushing to their brains; but now, they had been numb about such occasions.


    Over the past one month, the envoys and suzerains of two emperor-level immortal palaces, supreme-level immortal palaces and major clans and sects had been gathered at Dragon Emperor City. Even Tong Xuangui, the immortal lord of Five Elements Immortal Palace, was kneeling down outside Dragon Emperor''s Pavilion to show his contrition. He had already been kneeling down there for over 20 days. It was hard for an immortal lord to be such humble in order to meet Zhang Tie. Who had ever seen such an occasion before? Who could imagine that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace could recover its prosperity in Motian Realm one day?


    Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had reinvigorated so fast that those elders couldn''t even adapt to it. However, they still formed a strong immunity to this change within a short period of time.


    After taking a look at the letter and the list of gifts, Luo Yunshang put them back and said, "Arrange Ji Clan''s representatives to settle in Heavenlywind Palace. Tell them that His Majesty is still in secluded cultivation and won''t receive guests for the time being..."


    After hearing Elder Luo Yunshang''s words, the assistant of Qianji Agency left there.


    All the envoys of Star Emperor Immortal Palace, Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Emperor NvWa''s Palace were still waiting for Zhang Tie in Dragon Emperor City. Besides, the envoys of the other supreme-level immortal palaces, even immortal lords were also waiting in Dragon Emperor City. If Ji Li queued up, he might have to wait long. Even though Zhang Tie exited his backroom, he might not have time to meet the owner of Ji Clan in Huitian Medium-sized Domain.


    "Which elder would like to meet the owner of Ji Clan in Heavenlywind Palace at night?" Luo Yunshang asked as she looked around the other elders.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "I will go there..." Ying Gucheng said.


    It was almost impossible for Ji Li to meet Zhang Tie; however, out of courtesy, given the list of gifts that Ji Clan presented, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace should at least send one elder to pay a visit to him in Heavenlywind Palace and communicate with him so as to further enhance the relationship between two parties.


    Over one month ago, there was only one assistant in Qianji Agency; but now the number of assistants had become five. Even so, they were still too busy in some cases.


    After the assistant left there for less than a minute, another one had entered and reported another piece of news, "Those immortal generals and family members of Yun Clan who escaped away were discovered and caught by the owner of Firedragon Sect in Sands Region. They had been taken back to Dragon Emperor City under the escort of the owner of Firedragon Sect. The president of the Supervision Department is over there."


    Pieces of good news arrived one after another. Everything was becoming better and better. Everything was vigorous. In the blink of an eye, the wanted circular delivered by Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had already seen its effect. Those elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace started to understand the proverb that God helps those who help themselves.


    "Sigh, if Elder Wang is still alive and could see the prosperity of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, he must be very happy." After that assistant left there, Elder Hou Moyuan heaved a deep sigh.


    All the other elders became silent too.


    "Elder Wang sacrificed for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. His Majesty Dragon Emperor has already avenged Elder Wang''s death in Deities Plain."


    This might be the best form of comfort to the late.


    "I wonder when will His Majesty finish his secluded cultivation this time..."


    "Don''t worry, Dragon Emperor Palace will inform us when His Majesty comes out..."


    The Forbidden City was destroyed by Versatile Demon Emperor and had not been restored yet. After Zhang Tie came back, he immediately entered the backroom of Dragon Emperor Pavilion for secluded cultivation. It had been over one month. However, Zhang Tie still didn''t come out of there; therefore, the entire Dragon Emperor City, even Motian Realm as a whole were gazing Dragon Emperor Pavilion...


    That common park had gradually touched the nerves of everyone in Motian Realm.


    ...


    When those elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were in Qianji Agency, Zhang Tie who had exited the back room and came back to the ground with a bit pale look had lightly pushed open the door of Cangxin Pavilion and entered the courtyard leisurely.


    The courtyard was fully under the bright sunshine in July. The pond of lotus flowers inside the courtyard was in full blossom. The fragrance of lotus flowers instantly attacked him. At the same time, some birds were twittering in the trees. The entire courtyard was full of vigor.


    When he saw this courtyard and sniffed the air which contained various scents of flowers and grasses, Zhang Tie who had not seen such scenery for long really enjoyed it.


    When Zhang Tie raised his hand, a bird capered into his palm and started to twitter cheerfully.


    When Zhang Tie was playing with the bird and listening to what had happened in Dragon Emperor Palace over these days, he suddenly heard a human voice from aside.


    "Your... Your Majesty..." Liu Meng stammered with wide eyes as he couldn''t believe his eyes. After rubbing his eyes, he became ecstatic as his voice turned louder. When Zhang Tie wanted to ask him to lower his voice, Liu Meng''s eyes turned red at once. Closely after that, he widely opened his mouth and started to scream like a loudspeaker. As a result, the entire Dragon Emperor Pavilion could hear his voice, "His Majesty has returned. His Majesty has returned..."

 1907 Reunion

    The information that Zhang Tie had finished the secluded cultivation was a big event for everyone else, especially those members of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. As Liu Meng exclaimed, the entire Dragon Emperor City, even Motian Realm as a whole had known that news.


    When the bird was still capering and twittering on Zhang Tie''s hand, Long Jiutian, Ying Gucheng, Luo Yunshang, Hou Moyuan, Guan Minjun, Xue Zhongkai, Huang Baimei and the other three new presidents had already come to Dragon Emperor Pavilion.


    After hearing the footsteps from outside the courtyard, Zhang Tie pouted his mouth toward the bird on his hand. Closely after that, he raised his hand and said with a smile, "Well, I got it. Many people came to Dragon Emperor City these days. There were many airboats in the sky. Some people even knelt outside the Dragon Emperor Pavilion for many days while being sun-scorched and rain-drenched without eating or drinking anything. They''re not even afraid of being starved to death. That''s what silly people usually do. You can go and play..."


    After getting Zhang Tie''s reward, the bird flapped its wings and capered off Zhang Tie''s hand cheerfully. In the blink of an eye, it had flown out of the courtyard.


    "Let elders and presidents go to Heavenlysafety Building..." Before that footstep entered the courtyard, Zhang Tie had talked to him. The footstep then stopped and left.


    ''This position of Dragon Emperor is too occupied... now that I''m the incumbent Dragon Emperor, of course, I cannot avoid something; especially that I''ve just done such an earthshaking thing in Nine Heavens Big Domain.'' Zhang Tie muttered as he shook his head. After that, he left the courtyard for Heavenlysafety Building.


    Outside this courtyard, Dragon Emperor Pavilion had long been covered with immortal generals on duty in each 3-5 steps. Watching Zhang Tie coming out of the courtyard, those immortal generals immediately straightened up their bodies as they all watched him pass by with great admiration and excitement. This man in front of them was not only the incumbent Dragon Emperor of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, but also a legend and the most revered and respected among humans in Motian Realm.


    When he came to Heavenlysafety Building again, he found all the people inside Heavenlysafety Building were standing there and waiting for him. Those elders and presidents inside Heavenlysafety Building looked as thrilled as those immortal generals outside when they saw Zhang Tie again.


    "Our respects to you, Your Majesty!"


    Those elders bowed towards Zhang Tie deeply with great admiration, excitement and honor.


    When he watched them in Heavenlysafety Building again, Zhang Tie felt a bit complex too. A few years ago, when he met these people in Heavenlysafety Building first, he played tricks to confine them as the new Dragon Emperor in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. But now, he didn''t need to play any tricks anymore. His great battle force meant everything. At this moment, he became the real undisputed Dragon Emperor of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Heavenlysafety Building remained unchanged. However, the Forbidden City had been destroyed. When he entered Heavenlysafety Building again, he found that most of the people inside there had been changed. Some had already been killed; someone had already sacrificed for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace gloriously.


    Zhang Tie became silent for a short while as he glanced over these faces. Then, he said calmly, "Sit down!"


    "Thank you, Your Majesty!"


    After those elders and presidents sat down, Zhang Tie also walked to his throne. Watching Zhang Tie who looked such calm, those elders and presidents who were familiar with him felt that their Dragon Emperor was not the same Dragon Emperor a few years ago any more. This Dragon Emperor was really formidable. Nobody had any fluke mind to challenge his prestige.


    "Where''s Leng Manxue?" Zhang Tie asked Huang Baimei.


    "I appreciate Your Majesty''s concern for her. Leng Manxue has been in secluded cultivation for many years. She''s trying to break through the 7 changes realm of shadow knight. I''m afraid that she will come out in 2 years..." Huang Baimei said with respect.


    Compared to Zhang Tie, what Leng Manxue was doing was normal for all the immortal generals on the road of cultivation. Each scale and each change realm forward could only be acquired through hardships and lonely ascetic cultivation.


    After knowing that Leng Manxue was still alive, Zhang Tie let out a deep sigh at once as he nodded and said, "Good, good, glad to know she''s alive..." At the same time, he took out a vial of medicament from his portable medicament container. Under Zhang Tie''s control, the vial of medicament floated to the front of Huang Baimei. Zhang Tie then said, "Here is a vial of regeneration medicament. After drinking it, you can get a new arm. Appreciate your hardwork over these years..."


    After hearing Zhang Tei''s words, all the others in the surroundings fixated onto that vial of odd medicament with amazement.


    Some resources in Motian Realm were not as bountiful as those in that world where Zhang Tie was. For instance, there was no regeneration medicament in Motian Realm at all. Few people in Motian Realm could enable people to regenerate limbs. Bian Heng was one. However, the price was very high, which couldn''t be afforded by commoners. After losing his arm, Huang Baimei stuck to his post and continued to safeguard Dragonsea City as the commander-in-chief of Dragonteeth Army. He didn''t even have time to receive medical treatment in Emperor NvWa City. Therefore, he had not got a new arm till now. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Huang Baimei''s long eyebrows quivered as he took the vial of medicament and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"


    "Your Majesty, you were mired in Infinite Immortal Prison a few years ago. Versatile Demon Emperor raided Dragon Emperor City three times. The presidents of Military Department, Personnel Affairs Department and Supervision Department and Elder Wang fought to death. We couldn''t contact Your Majesty at that time. However, given that someone had to take charge of the three departments in case of chaos, we made a decision to appoint Peng Tainwu, Ji Wubing and Ying Teng as the deputy presidents of the three departments without your consent. Please punish us, Your Majesty!"


    Zhang Tie was Dragon Emperor. Only Zhang Tie could appoint the presidents and deputy departments of the five departments. Those elders had already acted beyond their authority too much. After Long Jiutian''s explanation, all the other elders stood up and asked for Zhang Tie''s punishment. Those deputy presidents also stood up and followed Zhang Tie''s arrangement.


    "Elders, you''ve been racking your brains for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. It was an emergency. You had to do that. You''re innocent, innocent!" Zhang Tie took a look at the four elders with a smile. Then, he looked at the three deputy presidents who behaved a bit reserved in front of him and nodded, "Now that you were favored by the four elders, received the order at the critical moment and managed the three presidents orderly and conscientiously over these years, I think the word "deputy" could be removed from the title of Peng Tianwu, Ji Wubing and Ying Teng!"


    "Thank you, Your Majesty!"


    Although they had already guessed that Zhang Tie would not lose his temper on this event, they had not imagined that Zhang Tie could praise and reward them. Therefore, all the seven people became thrilled as they hurriedly appreciated Zhang Tie for that.


    Closely after that, the atmosphere in Heavenlysafety Building became absolutely easy and lively. Those elders then started to report what had happened in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace recently to Zhang Tie and waited for his decisions.


    "I will meet the envoys of Star Emperor Immortal Palace, Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Emperor NvWa''s Palace tomorrow. As for others, I will not meet them!" Zhang Tie flicked at the desk as he continued calmly, "As for the reconstruction of Forbidden City and Dragon Emperor City, I take your advice. The recovery of those cities and land in Dragon Emperor Big Domain and the establishment of the new city in Brokenstars Sea confirm to the routines!"


    Zhang Tie fixed the overall plan about the development of Dragon Emperor Big Domain with only a few words.


    "Here''s the atlas of the 110 cities that Star Emperor Immortal Palace compensated to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and the list of populations and resources of these cities. Please take a look at it, Your Majesty..." Luo Yunshang said as she took out a booklet and continued, "As Your Majesty had already made an appointment with Star Emperor on it, soon after Your Majesty returned to Dragon Emperor City and entered secluded cultivation, Star Emperor Immortal Palace had already arranged people to bring the atlas and the list of populations and resources of these cities to us. The 110 cities included 46 cities from Nine Heavens Big Domain which belonged to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace previously and all the 64 cities in Juntian Small Domain which Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace occupied before..."


    It was absolutely a big, glorious event for those elders and immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace that Star Emperor Immortal Palace admitted defeat and ceded cities and gave them to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Even though they had already known that before. When they saw the atlas and the booklet that Elder Luo Yunshang presented to Dragon Emperor, they all became such spirited.


    "I don''t need to see them. Elders and presidents can make arrangements in receiving them. This time, Star Emperor Immortal Palace definitely dare not play any trick any more. Otherwise, I will break Star Emperor''s head!" Zhang Tie didn''t even take a look at the 110 cities. He only waved his hand and implied Luo Yunshang to take them back. Zhang Tie even doubted that Star Emperor dared not see him any more. "Oh, what is Star Emperor doing now?"


    "Ahem, ahem... it''s said that Star Emperor has been in secluded cultivation after the battle in Deities Plain. Those who scrambled for the land of demons in Nine Heavens Big Domain are the grand justices of Star Emperor Immortal Palace!" Elder Hou Moyuan said in a low tone. All the other at present revealed a faint smile.


    Since Zhang Tie came back, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace''s immortal generals had already become a big force in Nine Heavens Big Domain. Nine Heavens Big Domain had already been covered with battle flames. By ceding land and giving it to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Star Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t suffer a great loss; because Star Emperor Immortal Palace had already occupied a lot of cities and land of demons in Nine Heavens Big Domain when demons retreated. As a result, Star Emperor Immortal Palace had almost fixed its loss.


    "Do you have any intelligence about Dark Emperor Immortal Palace?"


    "It''s said that someone found some human lackeys being wanted who relied on Dark Emperor Immortal Palace after Your Majesty killed Versatile Demon Emperor. However, all of their heads have been blown up. Dark Emperor Immortal Palace is absolutely over..."


    That was what Zhang Tie guessed before. However, he had not imagined that Versatile Demon Emperor could be so resolute that it even turned itself into the parent worm of puppet worms. After his death, all the lackeys being affected by Golden-Soul Runed Virus who relied on Dark Emperor Immortal Palace would die. That really saved a lot of trouble.


    When he thought about Versatile Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie instantly ran his spirit. Right then, he found the Tadpole Runes Sutra was still floating in his mind sea. Zhang Tie had not imagined that Tadpole Runes Sutra itself existed in the form of golden secret item. As Zhang Tie was in secluded cultivation for recovery these days, he had not got a chance to take a look at the contents of Tadpole Runes Sutra...


    ...

 1908 Sailing on the Same Tack

    When Zhang Tie killed Versatile Demon Emperor in Deities Plain, Zhang Tie had already acquired Tadpole Runes Sutra. Until now, Zhang Tie''s state still told him that he could only gradually recover despite with Tadpole Runes Sutra. His current state was actually much worse than that in others'' eyes.


    To a certain degree, everything in this world complied with the law of cause and effect or the principle of equivalent exchange.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The law or the principle was suitable for energy exchange, individual achievements, trade, life for life and the development of a country or a society. If one wanted to acquire great strength in a short period of time, he had to pay a high price for that.


    After activating his ancestral bloodline of battle god, Zhang Tie acquired 10 times more battle force immediately. Of course, he felt pretty satisfied killing two demon emperors and so many demon generals in Nine Heavens Big Domain. He even acquired great prestige across Motian Realm due to that. However, he had to pay a high price for that. To be honest, if it were not Zhang Tie, anyone else who could activate his ancestral bloodline to such a level must die together with his opponents in the end. For instance, in the contest for the position of the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, when the elder of Lu Clan was heavily injured in the heavenly treasure ball, he activated his battle god bloodline and killed 6 opponents in a split second; meanwhile, he blew up himself too.


    If not Zhang Tie''s abnormal Manjusaka Immortal Fearless Kingkong Roc King Body, his senior recovery body, his superb recovery speed of spiritual energy and battle qi, so many fruits, especially fruits of source that he had taken and everything of Six-Armed Demon Emperor, Zhang Tie might have long left a supreme legend about dying in his prime in Motian Realm.


    To a certain degree, Elder Lu''s result was normal. By contrast, Zhang Tie''s current result was a bit abnormal.


    After over one month''s recovery, although Zhang Tie had already come out, he had not fully recovered yet. He only got 70% of his overall battle force. It would take him at least 2 more months to completely recover his battle force. Even though he could completely recover his battle force in over 2 months, he could not activate his battle god bloodline in at least one decade. If he had to activate it, he had to face a sharp decline of his overall strength and the collapse of his chakras, in which situation, he would drop to a lower realm.


    However, the others didn''t know these secrets at all. After seeing Zhang Tie killing two demon emperors in such a short period of time, no immortal emperors or demon emperors dared challenge Zhang Tie anymore. Even though someone had guessed that Zhang Tie had to pay for that to a certain degree, nobody would like to try it at the risk of their own lives. Additionally, it was easy for Zhang Tie to kill ordinary supreme immortal generals even now.


    In the eyes of those elders and presidents of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, even though Zhang Tie looked a bit pale, nobody would doubt his battle force. However, if Zhang Tie had to kill another demon emperor at this moment, he might have to pay an unaffordable price for that.


    Not knowing why, the Tadpole Runes Sutra floating in his mind sea suddenly reminded Zhang Tie of the bet between him and Feng Cangwu. ''I wonder how Feng Cangwu would look like if the contents of Tadpole Runes Sutra could make my conception come true.''


    Zhang Tie then revealed a faintly odd smile.


    ''Dear friends in Taixia Country, I should come back soon.''


    ''And Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion, when they see me back as a sage-level knight, Taiyi Old Man and the other sage-level knights might look very splendid.''


    Unconsciously, Zhang Tie became a bit absent-minded...


    ...


    "Ahem... ahem... there''s another thing that needs Your Majesty''s agreement!" When those elders and presidents saw Zhang Tie''s odd smile, they didn''t know what he was thinking about. They even thought that Zhang Tie was confident of completely destroying Dark Emperor Immortal Palace before killing Versatile Demon Emperor. Therefore, they were more in awe of him for his farsightedness and prudence.


    "Go ahead." Zhang Tie replied as he watched Elder Ying Gucheng.


    "Over the past one month, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace has already received the requests of many supreme-level immortal generals for joining us. There are three supreme-level immortal generals in Dragon Emperor City who want to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Some supreme-level immortal generals have already sent their letters to pay a formal visit to Your Majesty."


    When Ying Gucheng spoke, Heavenlysafety Building became quiet at once. They could even hear their own heartbeats. Those presidents moved their eyes onto their own desks as if there was a flower on their desks. Those elders just lowered their eyes and watched their noses.


    It was a sensitive and tricky problem. Besides Zhang Tie, those elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were not even supreme-level immortal generals; instead, they were just fire-level immortal generals. Therefore, their positions would be threatened once new supreme-level immortal generals joined them. However, without the help of new supreme-level immortal generals, these elders couldn''t win enough respect on some occasions. Actually, their battle forces couldn''t even match the current position of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Star Emperor Immortal Palace and Force Emperor Immortal Palace had already absorbed a large number of supreme-level immortal generals. How could Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace lose the battle in talent contest?


    Zhang Tie looked around as he became crystal clear about their thoughts immediately. He then asked them, "Elders, what do you think about it?"


    "Your Majesty, I remember that you wanted to recruit some supreme-level immortal generals for Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Now that some supreme-level immortal generals want to join us, it symbolizes the rejuvenation of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Additionally, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace indeed needs more supreme-level immortal generals. We''ve negotiated with each other about it. We will support Your Majesty''s decision!"


    "Hahaha..." Zhang Tie burst out laughing suddenly as he said, "Elders, what was true then isn''t true now. At that time, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace indeed needed supreme-level immortal generals'' protection. Of course, I dreamed about having some supreme-level immortal generals'' help. But now, what those supreme-level immortal generals can do for us? Over these years, when Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was at the critical moment, it was you who sailed on the same tack and forged ahead with Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is finally reaching its heyday. Why didn''t those supreme-level immortal generals join us at that time but now? Now that they didn''t share hardships with Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, why do they ask for sharing happiness with us now? Therefore, it''s not necessary for them to join us, not necessary..."


    Watching the heroic Dragon Emperor, all the elders almost dropped off tears sincerely. After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, they all felt worthwhile about their persistence over these years, worthwhile...


    "Your Majesty, you can never do that. We''ve already known your opinion. We already feel do not regretful after hearing your words. However, we four will never hinder the development of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Your Majesty. We''ve already determined to resign and enter secluded cultivation after Your Majesty comes out and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is on the right track so that Your Majesty could choose other capable talents!" Long Jiutian said immediately.


    "Capable talents? What are capable talents? You''re capable of talents in my eyes. You''ve been fire immortal generals for hundreds of years. You''ve long laid a solid foundation. You''re only one step away from being supreme-level immortal generals. It''s just a piece of window paper. It''s easy to break it!" Zhang Tie said decisively with a smile.


    After being temporarily stunned, those elders widely opened their eyes at once as they all gazed at Zhang Tie with unbelievable looks.


    "Your Majesty, have... have... you got a method to help us... promote to supreme-level immortal generals?" Luo Yunshang asked as her voice quivered.


    If others said such words, those elders would never believe in that. However, it was Zhang Tie who said that. Therefore, those elders became spirited at once out of their control...

 1909 Zhang Ties Supreme Enlightenment I

    Even though those department presidents were more shocked than hearing Zhang Tie''s military feats in Immortals Plains over 1 month ago, not to mention those elders.


    In the history of tens of thousands of years in Motian Realm, more than one demon emperor had been killed by human powers. More than one human immortal emperors or powers had gained their supreme honor and dignity through killing demon emperors; however, in Motian Realm, nobody had ever heard that someone could help a power who had been stagnated at the level of fire immortal general for a long time to break through the bottleneck and become a supreme immortal general.


    In Motian Realm, if one wanted to be a supreme immortal general, one had to light a complete supreme chakra, also a sage-level knight''s chakra and form four battle formations (realms) by communicating with the Elements Realm through chakra. Many fire immortal generals couldn''t break through this bottleneck in their whole lives. Pitifully, they could only stay on the level of fire immortal generals and suffer hardships for the rest of their lives.


    To light supreme chakra was the most difficult pass for a fire immortal general to promote to a supreme immortal general because it couldn''t be made only through ascetic cultivation.


    When they lit the chakras of earth, water, wind and fire, they indeed needed ascetic cultivation. However, after lighting the four chakras, if they wanted to make further progress, they had to depend on gnosis; they shall comprehend the universal laws in blooming and fading flowers, billows and moving clouds, mountains and flowing rivers and rising and falling sun and moon; they shall discover intelligence and abilities through forces of earth, water, wind and fire.


    The latter depended on one''s fortune and comprehensive ability which couldn''t be expressed in words. Like being enlightened, it was absolutely a process which couldn''t be explained and named. Someone might not think it through even after sitting in a backroom for hundreds of years and reciting numerous books while scratching their ears and cheeks everyday; however, someone could be suddenly crystal clear about the universal laws and feel that evening was as same as that in the daytime only by splitting firewoods, carrying water with a carrying pole, stiking a bell and doing farming work everyday.


    Long Jiutian, Ying Gucheng, Luo Yunshang and Hou Moyuan might have opportunities to promote to supreme immortal generals through ascetic cultivation. Pitifully, over the hundreds of years, before Zhang Tie showed up, due to the disappearance of the Grand Dragon Emperor, these guys who had top powers in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace just controlled a department or a force of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace respectively in a pretty long period. Each of them had their own sphere of influence and plans. They only thought about scheming against each other for benefits inside Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace...


    If not Zhang Tie, they might still be the department presidents or grand justices even now. In this way, they would gradually be puzzled about their cultivation and could barely wake up, not to mention comprehend universal laws and the forces of earth, water, wind and fire; in that case, they could never have any chance to promote to supreme immortal generals anymore and would stay in the current level for sure.


    After hearing that Zhang Tie could help them promote to supreme immortal generals, they had long been thrilled.


    "Elder Long, may I know the secret method that you cultivate?" Zhang Tie asked Long Jiutian under the excited and eager eyes of the other elders.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "I cultivate Heavy Wind Sutra!" Long Jiutian hurriedly answered.


    "Do you have it with you, Elder Long?"


    Long Jiutian nodded.


    "May I take a look at it?"


    Everyone across Motian Realm knew that Zhang Tie cultivated an immortal''s secret method Infinite King Roc Sutra; additionally, Zhang Tie had acquired the World Shocking Sutra from the Grand Dragon Emperor. These two secret methods were both more advanced than Heavy Wind Sutra cultivated by Long Jiutian. Of course, Long Jiutian didn''t think that Zhang Tie would like to take advantage of him. Therefore, soon after Zhang Tie asked for it, Long Jiutian had taken off his necklace and gave the white jade plate on his necklace to Zhang Tie through air, "Here you are, Your Majesty!"


    With the control of Long Jiutian''s battle qi, the jade plate slowly flew towards Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie took it as he instantly injected his powerful spiritual energy into it and skimming over the entire Heavy Wind Sutra. After that, Zhang Tie closed his eyes under the eyes of all the others. In less than 2 minutes, Zhang Tie''s qi had started to change. Under their dumbfounded looks, all the elders and department presidents felt that Zhang Tie''s qi was becoming as same as Long Jiutian. However, his qi was more powerful than that of Long Jiutian. All of a sudden, Zhang Tie''s qi became as same as a supreme immortal general.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie open his eyes with a faint smile and brilliant light in his eyes.


    Although Zhang Tie had admitted that he could imitate the effects of other secret methods through Infinite King Roc Sutra, those elders and department presidents were still petrified, mouths agape as it was their first time to see such a mysterious secret method.


    Feeling Zhang Tie''s qi, Long Jiutian instantly stood up with great excitement as he said, "Your Majesty... is... is... this the qi of a supreme immortal general who cultivates Heavy Wind Sutra..."


    "Yes, I''ve almost known the realm of a sa..." Zhang Tie hurriedly pretended to cough twice as he continued, "Supreme immortal general who cultivates Heavy Wind Sutra..."


    Watching Zhang Tie, Long Jiutian who used to be steady couldn''t help but scratch his ears and cheeks as he felt being scratched by cats and bitten by dogs inside due to anxiety. "Your Majesty... could you... could you release the battle formation of Heavy Wind Sutra and let me experience it so that I can have a goal in cultivation in the future..."


    "Hoho, do you know how to light your supreme chakra only by entering the battle formation?"


    "No... no... no..." Long Jiutian didn''t even know what to say. Actually he wanted to say¡ª¡ªeven though I''ve not eaten pork, I could see how pig walks. But if he really said that at this moment, he would offend Zhang Tie. Therefore, Long Jiutian stammered at a stroke...


    At this moment, everyone at present thought that Zhang Tie would let those elders who had not promoted to supreme immortal generals to experience the battle formations of their own secret methods. To be honest, as for fire immortal generals who had not formed their battle formations, if they could experience the battle formations of their own secret methods, they would benefit a lot from it for sure. It was almost the best treatment that they could enjoy with a supreme immortal general as their master.


    However, if he could only let them experience the battle formations of their secret methods, how could Zhang Tie say that there was only a small step between them and supreme immortal generals just like breaking paper window? Even though they could experience the battle formations of their secret methods for half a month and see everything in their battle formations, they still couldn''t light their supreme chakras necessarily.


    Even though one had seen how pigs walked, how did they know how pigs were raised only through imagination?


    Zhang Tie then stood up and walked to the back of Long Jiutian''s seat. Then, he put his hand on Long Jiutian''s shoulder who looked excited, letting him sit down.


    When Long Jiutian sat down, his scalp had been covered by Zhang Tie''s hand...

 1910 Zhang Ties Supreme Enlightenment II

    When Zhang Tie put his hand on Long Jiutian''s head, Long Jiutian quivered once all over. Closely after that, he closed his eyes. By contrast, the other elders and presidents widely opened their eyes as much as possible.


    Heavenlysafety Building was in dead silence at a stroke.


    10 minutes later, Zhang Tie''s palm left Long Jiutian''s head. All of a sudden, an earthy yellow light suddenly appeared in Long Jiutian''s central forehead. Closely after that, a light spot as large as a firefly appeared out of nowhere and flew towards Long Jiutian, who was still closing his eyes...


    "Eh? How can we see a firefly in the daytime in Heavenlysafety Building?" Xue Zhongkai mumbled out of curiosity as he caught sight of the firefly. Whereas, closely after that, he changed his face and widely opened his eyes at a stroke. "No, it''s not a firefly. It... it''s... it''s..."


    Of course, the light spot was not a firefly; because dozens of more light spots appeared in the Heavenlysafety Building right beside those people soon after Xue Zhongkai''s words. Soon after that, they flew towards Long Jiutian like how flying moths darted into the fire.


    When they approached Long Jiutian, they gradually gathered there from about 30 cm away.


    Only after a few seconds, over 100 firefly-like light spots had gathered there in the eyes of the other elders and presidents. Additionally, the number of light spots was still increasing. After appearing out of nowhere in the lobby of Heavenlysafety Building, they all flew towards Long Jiutian and gathered in front of his chest as large as a mirror.


    Those light spots were earth elements swarming out of the Elements Realm...


    "They''re cocooning... cocooning... cocooning earth element..." Ying Gucheng stammered in a daze as he watched Long Jiutian.


    The other elders and presidents had already stood up as they all watched Long Jiutian with indescribable looks.


    Cocooning earth element was a response that a fire immortal general would encounter when he or she promoted to a supreme-level immortal general. When a fire immortal general completely realized the rule of forming his fatal formation and started to form his formation chakra, he would encounter such a response outside his body.


    In the beginning, earth elements would gather around that cultivator who was going to promote to a supreme-level immortal general and form a thick cocoon of earth element outside that person. Closely after that, the water element, wind element and fire element would be cocooned consecutively layer after layer. When the four layers of cocoons were completed, the cultivator would start to form his formation chakra. After completing forming his formation chakra, he would break out of the cocoons and absorb the energy of these elements before promoting to a supreme-level immortal general.


    This process carried a strong bizarre sense of ritual.


    Supreme-level immortal generals were new lives!


    When a fire immortal general promoted to a supreme-level immortal general, he would gain a new life just like how a butterfly broke out of its cocoon.


    Even though those elders and presidents had not experienced this process, they had already heard about it for thousands or tens of thousands of times.


    However, none of them had imagined that Elder Long Jiutian who couldn''t break through the bottleneck started this process right in the eyes of them.


    More and more earth elements gathered in front of Long Jiutian''s chest. Gradually, they became as large as a basin. Meanwhile, more and more light spots of earth elements were coming into being.


    Among the golden light spots that flew in the air like fireflies, the inside of Heavenlysafety Building became as dreamlike as a world of fairy tales. Meanwhile, those earth elements that gathered at Long Jiutian''s chest made his face golden and dignified.


    All of a sudden, Long Jiutian opened his eyes with golden flickers. Closely after that, he sprung up and bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie again. Then, he rushed out of Heavenlysafety Building and flew away with a long howl...


    The whole process from cocooning to promoting to a supreme-level immortal general would take him at least half a month. As for a fire immortal general, this process was as difficult as delivering a baby. Therefore, Long Jiutian left there at once. When a woman delivered a baby, she might go to a hospital or at least need a midwife; however, fire immortal general had to enter secluded cultivation so as to promote to a supreme-level immortal general. Thankfully, all the elders had some fixed place for secluded cultivation in Dragon Emperor City. After Zhang Tie''s return, those elders didn''t worry about being raided by demon emperors when in secluded cultivation anymore.


    Tens of thousands of fireflies also flew out of Heavenlysafety Building closely after Long Jiutian like the tail of a comet. Soon after that, Heavenlysafety Building which had just been dreamlike recovered its original look.


    However, at this moment, those people in Heavenlysafety Building had changed their states of mind.


    "Commander Huang, assign a team of Dragonteeth Army to safeguard the backroom where Elder Long was in. Prevent people from disturbing Elder Long for promoting to a supreme-level immortal general..." Zhang Tie sent an order to Huang Baimei. After hearing his voice, all the others in the Dragon Emperor Pavilion had woken up and recovered their composure.


    "Yes, I will arrange it right now," Huang Baimei answered as he took a complex look at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, he took out of his token and made an arrangement according to Zhang Tie''s order.


    "Your Majesty... that was... that was." Luo Yunshang''s breasts undulated with a blush on her face. She could barely stay calm anymore.


    "It''s the Supreme Enlightenment Secret Method!"


    ''Supreme Enlightenment Secret method?'' Everyone in the lobby bore this name in mind firmly.


    "Supreme Enlightenment Secret Method? Did... did Your Majesty create this secret method?" Ying Gucheng asked as he watched Zhang Tie with deep shock. In the history of tens of thousands of years of Motian Realm, there was never such a secret method. Therefore, Ying Gucheng made such a wild guess.


    "Yes. I created it!" Zhang Tie admitted it frankly.


    Before promoting to a sage-level knight, Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could create such an amazing secret method. After promoting to a sage-level knight, he easily created it. As the old saying goes¡ª¡ªwhen water flows, a channel is formed.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ¡ª¡ªInfinite King Roc Sutra could simulate the sage-level state and realm of each secret method.


    ¡ª¡ªWith LV 1 consciousness of universal laws, the rules of sage-level realms and the changing patterns of four elements of secret methods under emperor-level classics became crystal clear.


    ¡ª¡ªThe enlightenment method in the No-Hatred Sutra of Yin-Yang Sect was unrivaled across Motian Realm.


    ¡ª¡ªZhang Tie had mastered Bloody Soul Sutra, which contained some numinous secret skills and powerful spiritual energy...


    With the above four conditions, Zhang Tie could integrate his abilities to create the Supreme Enlightenment Method. In this secret method, Zhang Tie could directly impart the most important gnosis that he had acquired from those classic secret methods about how a fire immortal general promoted to a supreme-level immortal general and formed his sage chakra into the consciousness of the person who cultivated this secret method in terms of powerful spiritual brand and soul seed.


    On this occasion, the one receiving the enlightenment would feel like tracing in black ink over words printed in red. Even though they couldn''t display the charm of those words and even didn''t need to understand those words, as long as he could use a pen, he could also imitate the complete words. In this way, the receiver could integrate with the spiritual brand and soul seed and smoothly promote to a sage-level knight.


    The reason that the Grand Dragon Emperor borrowed Yin-Yang Sect''s No-Hatred Tortoise might be because he was absorbed by the enlightenment skill of No-Hatred Sutra. However, Grand Dragon Emperor didn''t meet the above four conditions like Zhang Tie. Even though he could figure out No-Hatred Sutra of Yin-Yang Sect, he still couldn''t create the Supreme Enlightenment Secret Method.


    It was a secret method that was really exclusive to Zhang Tie. It was famous throughout the ages.


    "I wonder whether I... could also... promote to a supreme-level immortal general like Elder Long after receiving Your Majesty''s supreme enlightenment?" Luo Yunshang asked shamefully.


    "Of course you can. Through my supreme enlightenment, fire immortal generals who had a solid foundation like Elder Long could smoothly promote to supreme-level immortal generals!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "Elder Luo has also accumulated on the level of fire immortal general for hundreds of years. If Elder Luo doesn''t mind it, you can show me the secret method that you cultivate. After that, I will carry out enlightenment for you here!"


    "Here''s my Smoke and Rain Sutra. Please take a look at it, Your Majesty..." Luo Yunshang instantly took off a blue bracelet and gave it to Zhang Tie.


    Watching all these, Ying Gucheng and Hou Moyuan finally couldn''t stand anymore.


    "Your Majesty..." Ying Gucheng also asked as he watched Zhang Tie bashfully.


    "If you don''t take your secret methods today, it''s fine. I will be in Dragon Emperor Pavilion these days. You can come for me with your secret methods at any time..."


    "No need, although I''ve not taken it with me now, I can take it back in half an hour as my secret method is not far from here..." Ying Gucheng hurriedly explained.


    "Me too. I can also come back in about half an hour!" Hou Moyuan answered closely after Ying Gucheng as though he was afraid of being forgotten.


    "Hmm, you can go take them..." Zhang Tie said as he waved his hand.


    "Thanks, Your Majesty!"


    "Thanks, Your Majesty!"


    Ying Gucheng and Hou Moyuan instantly became thrilled. After apologizing to Zhang Tie for their rudeness, they immediately rushed out of Heavenlysafety Building.


    ...


    In the following 2 hours, Zhang Tie accomplished supreme enlightenment for Luo Yunshang, Hou Moyuan and Ying Gucheng consecutively. Closely after receiving the supreme enlightenment, the three people had left Dragon Emperor Pavilion rapidly and returned to their own backrooms for secluded cultivation in Dragon Emperor City.


    After accomplishing supreme enlightenment for the four elders and encouraged those presidents and Huang Baimei, Zhang Tie had let them go.


    When those presidents and Huang Baimei left Dragon Emperor Pavilion, they had been utterly different spiritually although it was not them who accepted enlightenment.


    ¡ª¡ªAs His Majesty masters the Supreme Enlightenment Secret Method, as long as I work in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace diligently and make meritorious deeds for it, I will definitely promote to a supreme-level immortal general in the future. Only a few fire immortal generals in Motian Realm were confident to promote to supreme-level immortals in the future.


    ...


    After all of them left there, Zhang Tie also walked out of Heavenlysafety Building. He felt like lacking something. Therefore, he asked a guard about the whereabouts of those women of Yin-Yang Sect. He was told that they were not in Dragon Emperor City...

 1911 The Invitation of Emperor NvWa

    On the second day after he ended his secluded cultivation, Zhang Tie had received the ambassadors from Star Emperor Immortal Palace, Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Emperor NvWa''s Palace. These people had been waiting for Zhang Tie for about one month in Dragon Emperor City.


    Zhang Tie was crystal clear about the reason that the three top forces were eager to meet him so much.


    Superficially, the ambassadors of the three top forces were here to congratulate Zhang Tie for his military exploits in Nine Heavens Big Domain; actually, they were here to acknowledge Zhang Tie''s current situation and his plan in the future out of fear.


    Through the battle in Deities Plain, Zhang Tie''s name had been regarded as an unrivaled powerhouse in Motian Realm. Now that he could easily kill two demon emperors and the army of 100,000 demo generals in Deities Plain, Nine Heavens Big Domain, he could also inflict heavy losses on Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace if he wanted. If Zhang Tie was more ambitious, he could definitely break the existing pattern of human forces in Motian Realm.


    Therefore, it was reasonable that the three top human forces in Motian Realm would like to care about and confirm his plan. Otherwise, if Zhang Tie really cast greedy eyes on the three top human forces, Star Emperor might have to be in secluded cultivation for a long time. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Actually, not only the three top human forces, at the critical moment when Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace rose and human forces in Motian Realm might face sharp turbulence, the other human immortal palaces, major sects and clans were also keeping a close eye on Dragon Emperor City. They''ve pricked up their ears and widened their eyes so as to get any intelligence possible from Dragon Emperor City.


    As for those supreme-level immortal generals who wanted to join Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace at this moment, some of them might really admire Zhang Tie; undeniably, some of them had a deep speculative incentive. If Zhang Tie wanted to shuffle the human forces in Motian Realm, they would definitely win great benefits by standing on Zhang Tie''s side at this moment. Such adventurists were always seen among supreme-level immortal generals in Motian Realm.


    If Zhang Tie was born in Motian Realm, he might really have such a plan. Pitifully, Zhang Tie had never intended to be an overlord in Motian Realm. The original intention that he ascended to the throne of Dragon Emperor and safeguarded the benefits of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was to prevent the properties left by the former Dragon Emperor in Motian Realm from being destroyed; instead of his desire for authority.


    This original intention remained unchanged until now.


    After ending the battle in Deities Plain, Zhang Tie most wanted to return to Taixia Country; instead of ruling Motian Realm.


    Therefore, he cleared the obstacles for those elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace on the way to supreme-level immortal palaces. With the four supreme-level immortal generals on the back of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and the prestige that he had built in Dragon Emperor Big Domain and Deities Plain with the heads of numerous powerhouses, Zhang Tie was firmly convinced that no force in Motian Realm dared cast greedy eyes on Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace even though he disappeared in Motian Realm for 1,000 years in the name of entering secluded cultivation.


    The former Dragon Emperor didn''t kill Demon Emperors in Motian Realm. Even so, his prestige still safeguarded Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace for over 900 years after he disappeared, during which period, nobody dared attack Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Zhang Tie believed that the quality guarantee period of his prestige in Motian Realm should not be shorter than that of the former Dragon Emperor.


    Before meeting the ambassadors of Star Emperor Immortal Palace, Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Emperor NvWa''s Palace, also in the early morning of the next day after Zhang Tie finished his secluded cultivation, Zhang Tie received a person in the study room of the former Dragon Emperor Pavilion¡ª¡ªTong Xuangui, the immortal lord of Five Elements Immortal Palace.


    Tong Xuangui had been kneeling outside Dragon Emperor Pavilion for over one month. After Zhang Tie killed those immortal generals of Five Elements Immortal Palace and two demon emperors in Dragon Emperor Big Domain, Tong Xuangui had come here alone; instead of being bound or forced.


    Besides the two demon emperors, Zhang Tie had killed more than 5 supreme-level demon generals in Deities Plain alone. Therefore, a supreme-level immortal general of Five Elements Immortal Palace was nothing but sh*t in front of Zhang Tie.


    The slim chance of survival of Five Elements Immortal Palace and Tong Xuangui was in Zhang Tie''s hand. Tong Xuangui''s deed might be wise and sincere. Additionally, people could judge how Zhang Tie would treat those people who once offended Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace through Tong Xuangui''s result.


    As Five Elements Immortal Palace once invaded Dragon Emperor Big Domain. After Zhang Tie''s return, even if Zhang Tie killed Tong Xuangui and asked Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to completely devour all the territories and cities of Five Elements Immortal Palace, nobody dared say no to his decision.


    ...


    "Your Majesty, I''ve brought Tong Xuangui here!" a guard reported outside the room.


    "Let him in..." Zhang Tie didn''t turn around; instead, he just watched the four words "I Die, People Live" on a wall that the former Dragon Emperor once hung. Previously, Zhang Tie took it away; now, he had people hang it over there again.


    After the door of the study room was opened from outside, he heard a footstep from behind. Closely after that, he heard someone kneeling down on the ground as someone''s quivering and hoarse voice sounded, "My respect to Your Majesty, I''m Tong Xungui, the guilty person of Five Elements Immortal Palace..."


    "Do you know why I have people take you here?" Zhang Tie didn''t turn around; neither did he feel like looking at Tong Xuangui and his expression.


    "I... don''t," Tong Xuangui said hardly.


    Zhang Tie pointed at the calligraphy on the wall and said calmly, "Raise your head and watch the four words carefully. The four words were left by the former Dragon Emperor. It also explains why I chose to be Dragon Emperor. When I returned to Dragon Emperor Big Domain over one month ago, if you were in Dragon Emperor Big Domain, I would definitely have decapitated you. But now, I will keep you alive because of the four words; neither will I punish the actions of Five Elements Immortal Palace in the past. If you can promote to an immortal emperor in the future, hopefully, you bear in mind the four words which saved your life here today. Okay, you can leave now..."


    ...


    Tong Xuangui left there. He entered Dragon Emperor Pavilion alive and left there alive too. Finally, he flew off Dragon Emperor City. It was said that Tong Xuangui entered Dragon Emperor''s study room. Although nobody knew what had happened in the study room, Tong Xuangui who once knelt down outside Dragon Emperor Pavilion finally left Dragon Emperor City alive.


    When many people in Dragon Emperor City were hesitant, they heard another piece of news.


    The Supervision Department of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had received the oral decree from Zhang Tie the incumbent Dragon Emperor¡ª¡ªRelease all the immortal generals and clansmen of Yun Clan who had been caught and taken back to Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Just drive them out of Dragon Emperor Big Domain.


    After hearing the two pieces of news, many human forces were shocked. Meanwhile, the Dragon Emperor City which made numerous people''s hearts race finally became tranquil.


    After that, all the other domains and forces in Motian Realm which had been restless for over one month also gradually became tranquil.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie sat below the four words in the study room of Dragon Emperor Pavilion and received the ambassadors of Star Emperor Immortal Palace, Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Emperor NvWa''s Palace.


    Facing the ambassadors of the three top human forces, Zhang Tie only said a few words, "Emperor NvWa''s Palace, Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace are the pillars of humans in Motian Realm, as a member of humans, I don''t expect to see great turbulence in human domains of Motian Realm; neither do I want to see numerous families being destroyed and humans being killed or the fall of the three pillars of humans in Motian Realm. It took me prodigious energy to kill the two demon emperors. I''ve not fully recovered even now. I might be in secluded cultivation for a long period of time. During this period, hopefully, His Majesty Star Emperor and His Majesty Force Emperor could shoulder the responsibility to deal with demons..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s stance, all the ambassadors of the top three human forces became completely reassured.


    "Her Majesty Emperor NvWa asked me to invite Your Majesty Dragon Emperor to meet her when you''re free. The gate of Emperor NvWa''s Palace will be open to Your Majesty at any time!" Emperor NvWa''s Palace assigned a deputy president here, who was a supreme-level immortal general, also a woman with white hair and ruddy complexion who looked pretty noble. She then gave Zhang Tie a space-teleportation finger ring in front of the other two elders of Force Emperor Immortal Palace and Star Emperor Immortal Palace, "Here''s the item that Her Majesty Emperor NvWa asked me to present to you..."


    "Oh, what''s inside it?" Zhang Tie asked out of curiosity when he received it.


    "Her Majesty Emperor NvWa said the item inside it should belong to Your Majesty, Your Majesty can take a look at it!"


    When he received the finger ring, Zhang Tie casually peeped his spiritual energy into it. Closely after that, he caught sight of the brilliant Heavens-Measuring Ruler...


    ''Heavens-Measuring Ruler! It''s Heavenly Immortal Hunyuan''s Heavens-Measuring Ruler?'' This Heavens-Measuring Ruler once disappeared after being involved in the turbulence of time and space with him. Previously, Zhang Tie thought he couldn''t see this rarity anymore. Unexpectedly, it appeared again after so many turns and twists.


    ''How did Emperor NvWa know that Heavens-Measuring Ruler was related to me? How did she get it?'' Many questions filled Zhang Tie''s mind in an instant. At this moment, the identity of Emperor NvWa whom Zhang Tie had not seen before instantly became profound and unpredictable...


    After being stunned for a few seconds and considering a lot of possibilities, Zhang Tie instantly raised his head and watched the ambassador of Emperor NvWa''s Palace with bright piercing eyes before saying in a muffled sound, "Please tell Her Majesty Emperor NvWa that I will meet her in Emperor NvWa''s Palace in 2 months..."


    ...


    After seeing off the ambassadors of the three top human forces, Zhang Tie watched the Heavens-Measuring Ruler inside the space-teleportation finger ring in the study room alone. Meanwhile, those familiar yet remote faces started to loom in Zhang Tie''s mind...


    ...


    11 days later, Long Jiutian and Luo Yunshang promoted to supreme-level immortal generals in consecutive two hours on the same day. The abnormal phenomena that they aroused the attention of people within 1,600 miles centered on Dragon Emperor City. As a result, the entire Dragon Emperor Big Domain was shocked.


    On the same day, after having a drink with Liu brothers and ending his concerns about Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie left Dragon Emperor City alone secretly...

 1912 Naturesound Valley

    "Uncle, do you know where''s Naturesound Valley?"


    "Naturesound Valley? I''ve not heard about this place!" The strong uncle took a look at Zhang Tie on the mountain path with a herbal medicine basket on his back. When he found that Zhang Tie didn''t look like a bad guy and was smiling at him, he had a good impression on Zhang Tie; therefore, he asked Zhang Tie impatiently, "Is the Naturesound Valley that you said in the Clouddragon Mountain Range?"


    "Yes!" Zhang Tie replied while nodded his head.


    "It must be not in the nearby. I''ve picked herbal medicines in this mountain for 60 years. I''m familiar with every place within hundreds of miles. However, I''ve not heard about Naturesound Valley at all!" The uncle then looked up at the sky. When he found the sun had been over the top of the mountain in the west, he warned Zhang Tie, "It''s too late. It would be too dangerous for you to enter the mountain alone. Those fierce beasts in the mountain could not be easily dealt with. The other day, someone saw a huge boa in the valley. It was about 17 m in length. That huge boa must have lived in the valley for long as its already covered with mosses. It could already cultivate battle skills. If commoners saw it, they would be scared to death. There''re many terrifying old things in the mountain, you''d better go down the mountain as soon as possible!"


    "Thanks for suggesting, Uncle. Oh, is there any town nearby?"


    "Besides Brilliantmoon City, the closest town is Plentifulgrains Town. You will get there in this way after crossing three mountains," the uncle said as he pointed at a mountain peak in front of Zhang Tie, "But it''s too late now. I suggest you to not go there today. If you set off tomorrow, as you''re young, you can arrive there in four hours. Oh, if you want to ask about the location of Naturesound Valley, you can try your luck in Plentifulgrains Town. There''re many herbal medicine traders over there. Some herbal medicine traders have traveled many places and wandered in in Clouddragon Mountain Range all the year round. They might know that place!"


    After leaving a few words to Zhang Tie, the uncle went down the hill vigorously. After revealing a bitter smile towards the mountain path, Zhang Tie watched the direction where Plentifulgrains Town was. Closely after that, he disappeared.


    As Zhang Tie had just come out of Brilliantmoon City, of course, he didn''t want to go back anymore.


    If that uncle saw Zhang Tie''s response, he might have been startled.


    It was August 13th, the 3593rd year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar. It had been 3 days since Zhang Tie left Dragon Emperor City. Over the past 3 days, Zhang Tie actually had not left Dragon Emperor Big Domain. Precisely, he was looking for Naturesound Valley in Clouddragon Mountain Range of Dragon Emperor Big Domain.


    Of course, Zhang Tie was not traveling here; instead, he was here to look for the remaining ones of Yin-Yang Sect. Before leaving Motian Realm, he wanted to meet Ji Yuelan, Jiang Ruoxin and their masters Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong for the last time and bid farewell to them in case of concern.


    Previously, Zhang Tie asked those women of Yin-Yang Sect to wait for him back in Dragon Emperor City. Unexpectedly, they didn''t take his suggestion. When Zhang Tie finished his secluded cultivation in Dragon Emperor Pavilion, he found that none of these women were in Dragon Emperor City. Only Jiang Ruoxin came to Dragon Emperor Pavilion alone during the period when he was in secluded cultivation and left a message¡ª¡ªNaturesound Valley, Clouddragon Mountain Range.


    Zhang Tie realized that women couldn''t be judged in normal way again.


    Clouddragon Mountain Range was the largest and longest mountain range in Dragon Emperor Big Domain. The entire mountain range lasted over 45,000 miles and had 8-9 branches. However, he couldn''t find a place called Naturesound Valley on the map.


    This mountain range was vast which contained tens of thousands of hills and valleys. It was not easy for Zhang Tie to find Naturesound Valley in Clouddragone Mountain Range.


    During the past three days, Zhang Tie had traveled tens of thousands of miles in Clouddragon Mountain Range and asked numerous people. However, he still didn''t know the location of Naturesound Valley.


    ...


    The 4 hours'' foot walk for youths in the mouth of the uncle was only a few seconds'' trips for Zhang Tie. With a few flashes, it had crossed some mountain peaks and appeared on a path outside Plentifulgrains Town.


    When he arrived there, Zhang Tie found that the entire Plentifulgrains Town was only a small village in the mountain. There was only one street in the village, on both sides of which were boites, herbal medicine shops and various stores. Beside that street, there was an open medicine market, which was close to an open patch of grassland. Some small airboats with symbols of herbal medicine shops parked there.


    As the sun was going to set, many people were busy taking the medicines that they put under the sunshine into rooms. Some people were even carrying medicines into airboats.


    As the big trading fair would come in 2 days, this medicines market in Clouddragon Mountain Range was very boisterous. The only street was bustling at this moment while being crowded with herbal medicine traders and herbal medicine collectors. The boites on both sides of the street were also flourishing.


    Zhang Tie strode over there. When he saw many decent herbal medicine traders accessing to a boite, he thought for a short while before entering it.


    It was supper time. It was very boisterous inside the boite. 80% of the tables had been occupied. Over 200 people were inside it.


    "Sir, are you alone or having some friends with you?" Watching Zhang Tie coming in, a responsive waiter instantly came forward to greet him.


    "I''m alone!"


    "This way please..."


    The waiter led Zhang Tie to a small table at a corner as he asked with a smile, "Sir, what do you want? Our medicated food is very famous..."


    "Just give me 3 or 4 dishes that you''re good at!" Zhang Tie said as he threw two purple crystal coins to the waiter and added, "Here''s the payment. Keep the change!"


    Two purple crystal coins was a large sum of money. It could even afford 10 people to have three meals in this store. Therefore, after taking the two purple crystal coins, the waiter nodded and bent over towards Zhang Tie with a brilliant smile, "Generous, generous, sir, you''re really generous!"


    "Oh, I wanted to ask you about a place!"


    As too many guests who always traveled across the country bragged here, the waiter must have known a lot of information from their mouths.


    "Please go ahead."


    "Do you know Naturesound Valley in Clouddragon Mountain Range?"


    The waiter scratched his head. After thinking about it for a short while seriously, he replied with a shameful smile, "Erm... erm, I''ve really not heard about it...". The smart guy then put the two purple crystal coins back as he knew that he shouldn''t take such a great reward without a meritorious deed.


    Zhang Tie then waved his hand as he said, "Take them. It''s okay. It''s yours!"


    "Thank you, thank you!" The waiter took back the money again with a big smile as he added, "Sir, please wait for a second, I will arrange the cooks to cook you dishes right now..."


    After a short while, the waiter had cupped a tray here with 6 dishes and 1 soup. All of them were delicacies, including meat and vegetables and a flagon of liquor.


    "Here''s the wild plum liquor that we brewed ourselves. It tastes special. Please have a try..."


    After taking the two purple crystal coins, the waiter courteously served Zhang Tie more than he needed.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "I''ve got one blue crystal coin..." Zhang Tie said with a smile as he took out a blue crystal coin and put it under the bowl of soup. Only the waiter could see it. "Before I finish this supper, if you can get the message about the location of Naturesound Valley, you will have this blue crystal coin..."


    At the sight of that blue crystal coin, the waiter became stunned at once. A blue crystal coin was equal to 100 purple crystal coins. He might not be able to make so much money after working in this boite for a few years. He even didn''t have a chance to touch a blue crystal coin before. It was even greater than the total amount of money that a drug-dealer used to purchase goods. The tip that Zhang Tie paid him just now had already implied that Zhang Tie was not kidding. He didn''t care about it at all. It depended on whether the waiter could make it.


    The waiter swallowed a mouthful of saliva as he gnashed his teeth and spoke to Zhang Tie, "Please enjoy it, sir, wait for a while..." He then hurriedly left there.


    The waiter didn''t go to the kitchen; instead, he called the other two waiters and whispered to them.


    The other two waiters took a look at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, one of them ran out of the boite. He didn''t come back until a few minutes later.


    During this short period of time, when they served water, dishes or drinks for their guests at each table and in each room, all the waiters asked their guests with full respect, "Sir, you must have traveled a lot of places and seen the world. Do you know a place called Naturesound Valley in Clouddragon Mountain Range?"


    Many guests didn''t know it. Some guests would even ask them, "Why do you ask about this?"


    "Nothing, I''m betting with some people. If anyone knows the location of Naturesound Valley, he or she can enjoy 20% off with their friends..."


    Watching such a scene, Zhang Tie faintly smiled as he lightly moved his chopsticks and drank. He just waited for the message from the waiter. On this occasion, the unrivaled battle force couldn''t even match a blue crystal coin...


    At sunset, the boite was finally fully occupied as those drug dealers started to talk aloud.


    Among those guests, one drug dealer who had just sat down with his friends suddenly spoke aloud, which could almost be heard by all the others in the boite.


    "Our boss said a major event happened in Dragon Emperor City yesterday. The two elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace Ying Gucheng and Hou Moyuan promoted to supreme-level immortal generals too..."

 1913 Discovery

    "Ah, haven''t the two elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace promoted to supreme-level immortal generals the other day? I''ve heard this news a couple of days ago. Why did you say it happened yesterday?"


    Soon after the loud voice, another guest at the other table had instantly refuted out of curiosity.


    The boites and hotels in Motian Realm used to be like forums and bars. When guests ate food here, they would also exchange news with each other. When someone talked about something, the others in the surroundings would join the discussion.


    "The two elders who promoted to supreme-level immortal generals the other day were Long Jiutian and Luo Yunshang. Those who promoted to supreme-level immortal generals yesterday were Ying Gucheng and Hou Moyuan..." A guest at a table beside them rectified him at once.


    "Does it mean that there''re four more supreme-level immortal generals in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palaces in only a few days?"


    "You got it!"


    "It''s so strange. The four elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace were once fire immortal generals. How could all of them promote to supreme-level immortal generals in such a short period? Does Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace really have the favor of God?"


    When they talked about Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and Dragon Emperor City, all the other guests in the boite were involved in this topic. When they ate and drank, they started to discuss this topic with strong interest. More people pricked up their ears and focused on the others'' talks.


    As they were in Dragon Emperor Big Domain, of course major events in Dragon Emperor Big Domain could influence their lives. For instance, when Zhang Tie returned to Dragon Emperor Big Domain and entered secluded cultivation one month ago, the prices of all the ingredients of various herbal medicines and finished drugs in human regions across Motian Realm started to surge. Some even increased by a few times in one month. The rise was stunning. Many drug dealers, who had stockpiles, had made a big fortune in the past one month. When Zhang Tie finished his secluded cultivation, the prices of bulk medicines and various finished drugs started to fall back on the same day. In over half a month, the prices of many ingredients of medicines and finished drugs had reduced to their previous levels.


    The reason for the rise and fall of the prices of ingredients of medicines and finished drugs afforded much food for thought. As commoners, their lives were greatly influenced inevitably. Those big drug dealers who had some stockpiles at the beginning had made a big fortune; by contrast, those who rushed in later on and intended to stockpile more ingredients of drugs and finished drugs had suffered great losses. As the participants in this line, of course, these guests in the boite had the deepest feelings.


    "It''s hard to say whether Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace is blessed by God or not. If it was blessed by God, it would have not deteriorated to such a poor situation!"


    "Right, right!"


    "It''s said that His Majesty Dragon Emperor has just finished his secluded cultivation a few days ago. What a coincidence! Soon after His Majesty Dragon Emperor finished his secluded cultivation, the four elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had promoted to supreme-level immortal generals." A smart drugdeal instantly realized the contact between the two events.


    "All the four fire immortal generals promoted to supreme immortal generals in 10-15 days due to different cultivation bases. Given the time, soon after His Majesty Dragon Emperor finished his secluded cultivation, the four elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had already started to promoted to fire immortal generals consecutively. What a coincidence! Four fire immortal generals who had not promoted to supreme immortal generals in hundreds of years suddenly broke their bottlenecks in the same short period of time. There must be some relationship between the two events."


    "Yea, yea, you got that!" the one who said aloud just now instantly burst out laughing again as he continued, "The other day, when Long Jiutian and Luo Yunshang promoted to supreme immortal generals almost at the same time, many people in Dragon Emperor City had been discussing it. They all thought it was such a coincidence. After Ying Gucheng and Hou Moyuan promoted to supreme immortal generals in such a short period of time, the entire Dragon Emperor City became quiet. Of course, it''s just a superficial phenomenon. Actually, the entire Dragon Emperor City is filled with the gossip that His Majesty Dragon Emperor helped the four elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace promote to supreme immortal generals by secret methods..."


    "Impossible, nobody in Motian Realm could do that!"


    "Everything is possible. Before His Majesty Dragon Emperor came back, who could imagine that His Majesty Dragon Emperor could kill two demon emperors and inflict heavy losses to the army of 100,000 demon generals alone. His Majesty Dragon Emperor is absolutely the No. 1 powerhouse in Motian Realm!"


    "It''s said that His Majesty Dragon Emperor might not be born in Motian Realm. Perhaps," a person whispered. After hearing his words, the entire boite became quiet in a split second.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    However, only after a few seconds, someone had started to refute him,


    "Nonsense, of course, His Majesty Dragon Emperor was born in Motian Realm. But you could never imagine where His Majesty Dragon Emperor was born."


    "Where?"


    "It''s said that His Majesty Dragon Emperor was actually born in the core region of Mountain Ruins. His Majesty was different than commoners since young. He almost had started to form his chakras when he was still a fetus..."


    "Ah, impossible..."


    "Nothing is impossible. It''s said that if a pregnant woman could drink Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, her fetus would be able to cultivate and be different when it comes to this world. It has infinite strength and could tear apart tigers and cheetahs by hand. Additionally, it would never be drowned by water and hurt by fire..."


    Just now, they were talking about the major events in Dragon Emperor City and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. When they transferred the topic to Zhang Tie, they all started to talk nonsense. Their talks could even be listed as myths or legends. Zhang Tie couldn''t stand that anymore.


    Hearing their words, Zhang Tie who was drinking beside them didn''t know whether he should cry or laugh. He had not imagined that he had been said to have drunk Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring and stated to form chakras when he was a fetus in Dragon Emperor Big Domain only after such a short period of time. To be honest, when he was young, he even felt reluctant to drink a bowl of rice brew which could be sold at the price of 3 copper coins. If he drank too much, his mother had to work harder to make the 3 copper coins that he had drunk.


    What a familiar trick! When he heard the gossips about him, Zhang Tie immediately remembered those legends about ancient emperors in his world. All the emperors were said to be distinct from others since they were born, such as they were born with glow, their mothers dreamed about the reincarnation of a deity or embracing a meteor, etc...


    Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could also become the potagonist of such a story.


    Of course, smart ones could discover the subtle relationship between the events that the four elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace promoted to supreme immortal generals in such a short period of time and Zhang Tie. However, Zhang Tie didn''t want to care about the affairs in Dragon Emperor City now. There were only four elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace whom he could apply the Supreme Enlightenment Method to as of now. He didn''t care about whether the others could promote to higher levels or not; neither was he committed to help all of them do that. He only wanted to find those women of Yin-Yang Sect and press Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong who dared leave him alone onto the ground; then lift their skirts and... slap... their butts ferociously!


    According to Zhang Tie''s understanding of Yin-Yang Sect, only Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong could make such a decision. Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin would never do that; especially Ji Yuelan who must have charged at Zhang Tie if she knew that he had come back. She would never hide herself; because it was not what her personality usually went. Perhaps Jiang Ruoxin wanted to play hide-and-seek with him. Zhang Tie really wondered what were these women thinking of.


    Before Zhang Tie finished his supper, the waiter had already come back. After taking a look at the blue crystal coin under the bowl of soup, he swallowed his saliva. Then he became a bit hesitant to say something.


    "Just go ahead. I will not blame you even if the message is not precise!"


    "Erm, I''ve had a friend ask about it in other boites and inns just now. We''ve got a message. There''s indeed a place being related to Naturesound Valley in Clouddragon Mountain Range. However, it''s not called Naturesound Valley..."


    "Hmm?" Zhang Tie put down his glass as he slightly raised his eyebrows and asked, "Go ahead, why that place is related to Naturesound Valley; yet is not called Naturesound Valley?"


    "Yes, sir!" the waiter nodded as he plucked his courage and continued, "According to a guest in another hotel, there''s a place called Naturesound Cave in Clouddragon Mountain Range. Naturesound Cave is a marvelous place. There''s a river under Naturesound Cave. On the first day and the 15th day of each month, the water in the subterranean river will surge and run back into the cave. When water surges in the cave, it will hit stalagmites and stony walls and produce metallic sounds and string music at a fixed rhythm just like the sound of nature. Therefore, local people call it Naturesound Cave. Outside Naturesound Cave, there''s indeed a valley; however, it''s not called Naturesound Valley. Actually, that valley doesn''t have a name. Because of Naturesound Cave, local people used to call it Cave Valley or Fish Valley!"


    "How did the guest know about that Naturesound Cave?"


    "He''s a drug dealer who used to travel across Clouddragon Mountain Range. It''s said that he reached that place when he got lost in the mountain. There was a village. Those villagers lived in half seclusion and were very hospitable. When he reached that village, it was the first day of the month, therefore, the villagers caught much fish outside Naturesound Cave to treat him. Whenever water runs back into the cave, some 20-cm long slim fish will be flushed into the brook in the valley along the subterranean river. Those fish are tender and don''t have fishbones. They''re rare local delicacies. On the first day and the 15th day of each month, local villagers would catch fish outside the cave. He heard all these from local people. Later on, he even took a look outside the cave out of curiosity and found it was true!"


    "What about the situation facing the valley?"


    "The valley has nice scenery. However, its walls are steep and don''t a path. Ordinary people could barely enter it. A hermit might have built a manor in the valley..."


    "Where is that place?"


    "It''s over 130 miles away from Yuhua Peak, Clouddragon Mountain Range in the north. Dongliang City is over 250 miles away from that place in the west. Plentifulgrains Town is over 5,000 miles away from that place..."


    When the waiter said that, Zhang Tie instantly found Yuhua Peak and Dongliang City on the map in his mind. The two places could be easily discovered on the map. After that, he drew a line from the two places respectively according to the distances between them and that valley. Closely after that, he got the location of Naturesound Cave and the valley out that cave.


    "Well, I don''t care whether that place is Naturesound Valley or not, you have that thing on the table..."


    When the waiter became thrilled, Zhang Tie had already stood up and walked towards the gate of the boite.


    Not knowing why, as he had already found those women of Yin-Yang Sect for a few days, when he heard about Naturesound Cave, he instinctively felt that that valley outside Naturesound Cave was the right place that he was looking for.


    After leaving the boite and Plentifulgrains Town, Zhang Tie instantly flew towards the place that he had fixed on the map in his mind at a speed of about 10,000 m per second.


    Only after 10 minutes, soon after dark fell, Zhang Tie had already arrived at the air zone which was tens of thousands of meters high above the valley.


    The valley was over 30 miles in length. It was verdant and had a great scenary. It was indeed an untraversed region. A brook was winding its way through the valley. Both sides of the valley were steep cliffs. Zhang Tie instantly saw a skyline above a cliff in the east side of the valley.


    Soon after he arrived there, Zhang Tie had seen a woman in purple skirt and metal wings flying into the skyline and disappeared...


    Zhang Tie had seen that woman in Cyanlotus City. She was a disciple of Yin-Yang Sect.


    When he caught sight of the skyline, Zhang Tie rolled his eyes. With a smirk, he instantly activated his Invisible Shen Bead and disappeared into the sky...

 1914 Taking Them Once In All

    After entering the skyline, Zhang Tie found it was such a hidden place. The skyline was not straight, but as curved as a snake. It was a crevice above the skyline. There were some vigorous pine trees in the crevice. Those pine trees were twisting their bodies in the crimson crevice and reached part of their bodies out of the skyline. They desired the sunshine, rain and dew. Those pine needles made this place more hidden. It was indeed difficult for commoners to find this place.


    The entire crevice was higher than 20 m. The narrowest place could allow two people to pass shoulder to shoulder. Under the crevice, Zhang Tie could see an artificially paved path and stone stairs. However, the path seemed to have existed for long. Few people might use that path. Therefore, the stone stairs in shadows had been covered with mosses.


    After passing by this crevice, Zhang Tie found the scenary suddenly became open. It was another spectacular scenary.


    The mountain peaks on both sides formed a huge gap here. Being surrounded by mountain peaks and cliffs, this place looked very tranquil. A patch of pine trees covered hundreds of thousands of square meters on the plain land at the hillside. There was a classical mansion in the pine trees. It contained more than 30 rooms. Trees made pleasant shades; fresh flowers could be seen everywhere. A lively mountain brook flew by the west side of the mansion. It twisted among the rooms like a jade belt, leading to some more classical and natural stone bridges and water ponds in the mansion. After then, the brook flew towards the pine woods in the far. Finally, it turned into a mist and flew off the hillside, spraying over the valley, making this place more mysterious...


    This place was indeed a good place for living in seclusion. It was elegant, tranquil and natural. It was far away from bustles. Even Zhang Tie wondered how did these women of Yin-Yang Sect find this place.


    At this moment, he vaguely saw some female disciples of Yin-Yang Sect in this mansion and the pine woods.


    Some female disciples were playing zither in the patch of pine woods; some were reading books in the pavilion of that mansion. Some were in cultivation with crossed legs. They all looked very leisure...


    In such a secluded place, when he caught sight of so many beauties living here, he almost thought they were fairy maidens in the mountain.


    After the maiden in purple skirt and metal wings entered this place, she directly landed in front of an attic in the mansion before folding her metal wings.


    "Master, I''ve got back the herbal medicine seeds," the maiden spoke to a person inside the attic with great respect.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    When the maiden spoke, Zhang Tie had already secretly followed her to the front of this attic.


    At this moment, the gate on the first floor of the attic was opened from inside as a top beauty with a coquettish frame in white skirt walked out of there.


    Of course, she was Su Haimei.


    "Great. We can plant those seeds tomorrow. Zi Yi, you and Bingbing will be in charge of the herbal garden from now on..."


    "Yes, master!"


    "Have you met any trouble on the way back from Dongliang City?"


    "Smooth on the way. I didn''t find being traced by anyone!"


    "Hmm, you can leave..."


    "Yes, master!"


    The maiden called Zi Yi then left there. Su Haimei stood outside the gate and gazed at the valley in the far for a short while. After that, she heaved a sigh slightly before turning around and going back into her room.


    Zhang Tie, being invisible, had already flashed into the room before Su Haimei entered her room.


    The room was simple, elegant, warm and cozy. It was filled with the special qi of women.


    There was another woman in the room¡ª¡ªYing Feiqiong.


    Ying Feiqiong was sitting on a soft bed. There was a small teapoy on the soft bed. On the teapoy was a checkerboard. Apparently, the two women were playing the game of go over there.


    "Haimei, why do you take the trouble to do this?" Ying Feiqiong sighed as she watched Su Haimei with a complex expression, "You stood 20 seconds outside the door. Haimei, your mind is somewhat unhinged. Now that you miss him so much, why do you insist on hiding yourself from him?"


    After returning to the opposite of Ying Feiqiong, Su Haimei sighed slightly and said, "In the eyes of outsiders, Yin-Yang Sect is a notorious heresy that everyone wants to exterminate; you and I are shameless sluts. If we''re on his side, how would the other people judge him? How would those people in Dragon Emperor City and Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace judge him? If he keeps sluts like us on his side, he would become regarded as being indulged in lewdness. After killing two demon emperors in Nine Heavens Big Domain, he has been the No.1 powerhouse in Motian Realm and is going to have his heyday with great prestige and a bright future. At this moment, we couldn''t do any help to him; instead, we could only stain his fame. If so, why not just enter secluded cultivate here? We will stay away from the secular world and don''t have to worry about being chased by others. Neither will we be stained with secular affairs. Isn''t that what we wanted before..."


    "He should be crystal clear of our moral standing. How could he mistake us as sluts?"


    "I know he won''t mistake us as that kind of person. He saved us once in Cyanlotus City; he saved us in Deities Plain again. From then on, we don''t have to live in such a flurried way anymore. Additionally, he saved you and me for the third time in Mountain Ruins. I don''t know how to pay him back. On this occasion, how could we ruin his reputation?" Su Haimei said as she took a look at Ying Feiqiong.


    "Feiqiong, if you want to find him, just leave here. I''m afraid that you might not be able to hold another man in your heart anymore. When in Cyanlotus City, you had already been moved by him. However, you didn''t fall in love with him as deeply as I did at that moment. However, when you and I were saved by Zhang Tie in Mountain Ruins that day, I found you''ve completely fallen in love with him..."


    "Haimei..." Ying Feiqiong''s face flushed at once.


    "Feiqiong, you don''t have to speak anymore. We''re all women. We''ve been staying with each other since we joined Yin-Yang Sect. I understand you just like how you understand me. If you meet him, don''t tell him that I''m here..."


    "Haimei, I''m not that kind of a person. Now that you like to stay here. I would like to stay here too..."


    At this moment, the two women both became silent. After heaving a sigh, they both watched the checkerboard with complex looks as they didn''t feel like continuing playing it.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie finally knew why those women of the Yin-Yang sect didn''t wait for him in Dragon Emperor City; instead, they all hid here. As a result, Zhang Tie was moved and was at a loss of whether to cry or laugh. He had not imagined that the reason that they left him was for the sake of his fame. They didn''t want his fame to be ruined because of them.


    Listening to their talk, Zhang Tie realized that they might have not known that their secluded place had been exposed to the public. ''Was it Jiang Ruoxin who went to Dragon Emperor City and left those words to him without their consent?''


    "It''s late. Ruoxin, go to bed first. I''m going back to sleep..." After losing interest in playing the game of go, Ying Feiqiong left the soft bed and picked herself up. Then, she bad a farewell to Su Haimei and intended to leave.


    "Hmm, I will walk you out..." Su Haimei also picked herself up.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s voice appeared in the room, "Are you going to leave now? But I''ve just come here!"


    After hearing his voice, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong who had just picked themselves up were instantly frozen.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie showed up and stood right in front of them.


    "Your... Your Majesty..." Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong almost didn''t believe in their eyes. But Zhang Tie was indeed in front of them. They felt like having a dream.


    "Hahaha, I''m looking for you hard!" Zhang Tie watched them with a smile as he continued, "Call Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin here. I''ve not seen them for long..."


    ...


    After a few minutes, when Ji Yuelan and Jiang Ruoxin entered this room and saw Zhang Tie, their expressions became frozen just like their masters did.


    The door was then closed from inside. At this moment, the other female disciples of Yin-Yang Sect might not have known about Zhang Tie''s arrival. As a result, the five people were in weird silence at once. The four women exchanged glances with each other silently as their faces blushed strangely.


    Previously, as masters and apprentices, it was normal for the four women to stay together. However, when Zhang Tie was among them, a bizarre chemical reaction happened.


    When embarrassment, amorous feeling, restlessness and excitement mixed with the subtlety in the air, the odd atmosphere became as rich as a sage-level powerhouse''s realm.


    To be honest, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to face such a situation. However, as a man, he had to break the silence first.


    Facing this situation, Zhang Tie had no other choice but to cut the knot.


    "Ahem, ahem..." After coughing twice slightly, Zhang Tie glanced over the four women''s faces and said, "I''m going to leave soon. I''m going to leave Motian Realm. I might not come back for a long period of time. I''m especially here to bid a farewell to you. But now I''ve got a question to ask you. Who would like to leave Motian Realm together with me and be my woman? After marrying me, you have to be contented with me. Consider about it. If you don''t like it, just take it as a farewell. From then on, we will separate from each other without any concern. If any of you like it, just go upstairs for me..."


    After leaving these words, Zhang Tie went upstairs and left the four women downstairs.


    "Master, I''d like to leave with Zhang Tie. I''d like to be with him wherever he goes..." Ji Yuelan instantly stood up and went upstairs with strong will closely after Zhang Tie.


    "As a disciple of Yin-Yang Sect, it''s too tired for me to live in Motian Realm. I want to change my living style..." Jiang Ruoxin said with a smile. After stroking the hair near her temples, she stood up and followed Ji Yuelan upstairs too, leaving Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong downstairs.


    Faces flushed, they couldn''t move their feet.


    Finally, after a few minutes, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong exchanged a glance with each other. Then, they gritted their teeth and went upstairs at the same time...


    ...


    When Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong went upstairs, Zhang Tie''s voice finally drifted from upstairs.


    "Ahem... ahem... it''s late. Let''s take a rest..."


    Closely after his voice, faint bizarre energy covered the attic immediately. As a result, none of the sounds upstairs could be heard from outside...


    At this moment, the moon had already come out; however, it hid in clouds bashfully in the blink of an eye...

 1915 Returning to Emperor NvWa City

    In Tigerback Town, Emperor NvWa City, at noon of September 21st, the 3593rd year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar...


    Compared to that a few years ago, Tigerback Town seemed to not have changed at all. It was as boisterous as before and was covered with doctors and odd patients from the rest places across Motian Realm. Walking in the streets and watching those roadside clinics and inns, Zhang Tie sighed with emotion. The experience that he received medical treatment here before felt like happening yesterday.


    There were so many passers-by in the streets of Tigerback Town. Walking among the people, Zhang Tie drifted with the current. Besides his outstanding personality which could arouse the attention of the passers-by, he was just like a young master of major clan in Motian Realm.


    Many people who traveled to Emperor NvWa City like him would come to Tigerback Mountain to experience the exotic local customs and try their luck. They dreamed of making friends with the No. 1 doctor in Motian Realm. Of course, nobody would refuse being enrolled as Bian Heng''s apprentice if possible.


    When in Tigerback Mountain, Zhang Tie was very low-key. Many people didn''t even know Butler Jin in Tigerback Mountain who was in charge of the fishing ground at that time, not to mention about 7-8 years later.


    After passing by the familiar streets in Tigerback Town, Zhang Tie entered the fish market of Tigerback Town.


    The fish market was very boisterous in the morning. When it came to noon; especially near lunch, many stalls in the fish market would be removed.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The atmosphere of the fish market was unpleasant. It was fishy and wet everywhere. There were bloodstains left by aquatic lives on the ground between sewage pools. As a result, people could barely find a clean place to put their feet. Those with a bit of social status would not like to come to this place. However, Zhang Tie didn''t care about that. Now that he could come here 7-8 years ago, he would also come here now.


    When he strolled in the fish market, Zhang Tie found that more people were watching him than before with curious looks.


    "These young masters of major clans must have not seen a fish market. He must be here out of curiosity..."


    "Maybe you''re right..."


    "Perhaps he''s here for medical treatment. He might want to take a look at the marine medicines here..."


    Many people in the fish market couldn''t stand to whisper to each other after seeing Zhang Tie.


    Du''s fish store was still in the original place as its signboard and layout remained unchanged. The only difference was that there were some more assistants in the sheds whom Zhang Tie had not seen before.


    When a waiter saw Zhang Tie walking towards Du''s fish store, he instantly approached him and asked politely with a big smile, "Young master, who are you looking for?"


    Given Zhang Tie''s look, the assistant realized that he was not here to buy fish. Therefore, he directly asked him who he wanted to see.


    "I''m looking for Boss Du. Is he here or not?" Zhang Tie asked politely.


    "Ah, our boss is inside," the assistant answered as he instantly turned around and shouted towards the lobby of Du''s Fish Store, "Boss, someone is looking for you..."


    "Who''s that? What are you shouting for?" Du Dahai asked as he walked out of the lobby. When he caught sight of Zhang Tie who was watching him with a smile, he was shocked at once as he greeted, "But... Butler Jin..."


    "Hahaha, long time no see, Boss Du is still as bright as before."


    "Please, please, Butler Jin, please come in." Du Dahai who was denouncing his assistant instantly changed greatly. He immediately invited Zhang Tie to come in as he bowed constantly like a waiter in a boite. After inviting Zhang Tie into his store, Du Dahai asked Zhang Tie to take a seat courteously. Then, he hurriedly made a cup of tea for Zhang Tie and served him a fruit tray and a tray of pastries. He then rubbed his hands before Zhang Tie with tension as he said, "Erm... Butler Jin, please forgive me for that. As I didn''t know you were coming, I really couldn''t prepare anything good for you. It''s too shabby. Please forgive me for that; please forgive me for that!"


    "Boss Du, never mind. I will leave after having a brief talk with you!" Zhang Tie said, smiling.


    "Ah? Butler Jin, are you not satisfied with what we''ve done for you?" Boss Du instantly became anxious as he hurriedly explained, "These years, Butler Jin, although you didn''t supervise us yourself, Du''s Fish Store always set free spike shrimps according to your request these years. We dared never be slack about it at all. I kept a close eye on them here. My eldest son just stayed in the port outside Emperor NvWa City. The money that Butler Jin left to us have not been used up. We''ve got accounts for trading and releasing spike spears for each month. Butler Jin, do you want to take a look at it?"


    "No need. I''m very satisfied with what you''ve done!" Zhang Tie said as he took off a finger ring from his finger and gave it to Boss Du. He then said, "Here''s my bit appreciation. Please take it, Boss Du!"


    The finger ring was just an average space-teleportation finger ring; however, it contained a few boxes of blue crystal coins and a piece of silver secret item. All these items were left by Red and Blue Devils. Zhang Tie took a trivial part of them and used them to appreciate Boss Du''s hard efforts over these years. Without Du''s Fish Store''s hard efforts, Zhang Tie could never acquire all the fruits of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps over the past few years. Fruits of redemption from the gratitude of spike shrimps were of great significance to Zhang Tie. Therefore, besides meeting Bian Heng in Emperor NvWa City, Zhang Tie came to Du''s Fish Store to expression his appreciation to Boss Du by the way.


    Boss Du didn''t know Zhang Tie''s real identity until now. He still thought that Zhang Tie was a butler in Tigerback Mountain. During the past a few years, Boss Du thought that Zhang Tie was in secluded cultivation and went out for other works; he dared not ask about the reason that Zhang Tie didn''t come to his fish store anymore.


    Watching Zhang Tie giving him a space-teleportation finger ring, Boss Du felt strange about it at the beginning as he wondered why Zhang Tie would gift him an average-looking finger ring. When he took it and injected his spiritual energy into it, his face turned pale with fear at once.


    This finger ring and the items inside it were not even a hair off a bull''s back. However, Boss Du couldn''t make them even in ten generations.


    "It''s too precious. It''s too precious. Butler Jin, please take it back..."


    "Just take it. Even over 1,000 times more than this bit of things couldn''t match a hair of him. Don''t be such polite with him..."


    Before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, a weird voice had came out of the gate. Closely after that, Bian Heng had walked in with a painful look with his little eyes on Zhang Tie.


    Watching Bian Heng coming in, Boss Du was almost scared daylights out of him. As he had lived in Tigerback Town for many years and even once saw Bian Heng from afar, he had a clear memory of Bian Heng''s image. He would never forget Bian Heng''s look until death.


    Watching Bian Heng coming in, Boss Du started to quiver all over as he stammered, "Bian... Bian... Bian Sage..."


    "I even want to find you in Tigerback Mountain after leaving here; unexpectedly, you came here first!" Zhang Tie told Bian Heng.


    "Qin Mu had known that the moment you came to Tigerback Town. He noticed me instantly. I''ve only got one head. How dare I let Your Majesty Dragon Emperor come to see me? Of course, I''d come here first!" Bian Heng said in a weird tone. His temperament remained unchanged.


    After hearing their talk, Boss Du became petrified.


    "Am I that kind of person?" Zhang Tie shrugged as he asked Bian Heng.


    "Humph, it''s hard to tell what''s going on in the minds of other people!" Bian Heng replied with a cold harrumph.


    "Let''s go. Let''s talk about it in Tigerback Mountain. Don''t frighten people here..." Zhang Tie said as he stood up and walked outside.


    "I frighten people or you frighten people..."


    "Of course you..."


    "Humph..."


    When they came outside the fish store, the two people instantly disappeared with a flash.


    Watching the two people suddenly disappear, Boss Du quivered once all over as he instantly realized that the finger ring that Zhang Tie gifted him was still in his hand.


    Boss Du hurriedly ran out of the parlor and looked around. However, the two people had long gone.


    Just now Bian Heng was talking with Zhang Tie secretly with battle qi in the latter half. Boss Du didn''t hear it at all. He only heard that Bian Heng asked him to accept Zhang Tie''s gift...


    He couldn''t stand taking a look at the space-teleportation finger ring and those items inside it; closely after that, Boss Du quivered once again, despite at noon, as he hurriedly clenched the finger ring and looked around like a thief. Then, he returned to his fish store and hid the space-teleportation finger ring in his inner pocket...


    ...

 1916 Zhang Ties Lure

    "Are you here for Tang Mei?"


    After arriving at Bian Heng''s residence in Tigerback Mountain, Zhang Tie and Bian Heng took a seat in the parlor. Before Zhang Tie had a mouthful of tea water, Bian Heng had turned around and asked him in a sharp tone as if Zhang Tie was a thief.


    ''What an old douchebag!'' Zhang Tie swore inside.


    "Am I that kind of person?" Zhang Tie refuted Bian Heng.


    "If you''re not such a kind of person, who else in the world is such a kind of person?" Bian Heng "scanned" Zhang Tie from his toe to his head with his shrewd eyes, causing the latter to break out gooseflesh all over. After that, Bian Heng said with a sneer as if he wanted to say ''don''t try to cheat me!'', "When I was in Emperor NvWa City, I''ve heard that you asked Force Emperor to cancel his wanted circular of the remains of Yin-Yang Sect before showing off your power in Deities'' Plain. Those elders and immortal generals of Yin-Yang Sect must taste good these days. It''s said that all of the women of Yin-Yang Sect are rare beauties. After winning that battle and becoming such prestigious in Motian Realm in an instant, whether did you take in those women of Yin-Yang Sect by the way so that they could marry you for the rest of their lives? Humph, humph, you really have a great appetite. Those women of Yin-Yang Sect are masters and apprentices or sisters. You really didn''t care about that?"


    "I don''t know what you are talking about!" Zhang Tie said righteously with a solemn look.


    "Stop talking nonsense!" Bian Heng who had just sat down instantly sprung up as if there was a spring under his butts. He then pointed at Zhang Tie and said with excitement with froth at his mouth corners, "If I am wrong, I will dig out my eyes and gift them to you. Even though you''ve survived the battle in Deities'' Plain, you must have suffered a great loss after activating your battle god bloodline. But look at you, you''re glowing with health. Additionally, a fantastic yin qi reaches straight to your skull. The fantastic yin qi could fix the loss of your yang qi. The harmony between yin and yang could nourish your qi and blood, battle qi and guts. You said you had not pushed those women of Yin-Yang Sect onto the bed, tell me where does this fantastic yin qi come from? Did you take any tonic or change your sex? Only virgins of Yin-Yang Sect who have cultivated Three-Lives Sutra could transfer their purest fantastic yin essence of Three-Lives Sutra into your body. Do you think I don''t know about it..."


    Bian Heng then glanced at Zhang Tie for a short while with his little eyes again as if he was discerning something carefully. Then, he continued, "These wisps of fantastic yin qi should have invaded your body for over one month. Definitely less than two months. Because these wisps of fantastic yin qi have not completely combined with each other. Two wisps of fantastic yin qi are stronger. They should belong to the two elders of Yin-Yang Sect; they''re wind immortal generals. The other 13 wisps of fantastic yin qi are relatively weaker; they''re between that of fierce immortal generals and water immortal generals. Now there might only be about 10 female immortal generals in Yin-Yang Sect. You''ve pushed all of them onto the bed and made them exclusive meat to you, leaving no soup for others. How dare you say you don''t know about it?"


    ''F*ck, Bian Heng''s eyes are really unusual. I wonder what secret method is this old guy cultivating. How could his eyes be such sharp!''


    In Bian Heng''s piercing eyes, Zhang Tie''s secret was unveiled completely. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s face flushed with a tinge of embarrassment. However, Zhang Tie was more shameless than before. No matter what Bian Heng said, he just shrugged and didn''t admit it. "No matter what, it''s just your guess. I''ve not admitted it!"


    "Humph!" Bian Heng replied with a cold harrumph as he sat back and continued, "When you helped Tang Mei pass my test, I had already realized that you had some purpose. Few women in Motian Realm could match Tang Mei''s beautiful look. You''re throwing a long line to catch a big fish. Given her physique, if she cultivates secret skills of Three-Lives Sutra, her fantastic yin qi could fix all your losses. However, it''s too late for you to come here now. Tang Mei has long left Tigerback Mountain."


    Zhang Tie didn''t talk about Tang Mei anymore. He didn''t even want to know where Tang Mei was. No matter what, if he continued to talk about Tang Mei at this moment, Bian Heng would definitely make it more inexplicable. Zhang Tie was really not here for Tang Mei this time. If Tang Mei was here, he just wanted to bid farewell to her by the way.


    Zhang Tie remained silent. After that, he took out a finger ring from his portable container and gave it to Bian Heng.


    "What? You want to bribe me?" Bian Heng asked as he squinted at the finger ring.


    Zhang Tie said calmly, "Take a good look at this finger ring. It should belong to Zhong Ziqi. He should be one of your partners that you talked about. He dropped it in Infinite Immortal Prison. It contains the secret method that he cultivated, some objects and immortal outfits that he collected. You had him safeguard the entrance of Infinite Immortal Prison and study the magical formation over there. However, when he was raided by Six-Armed Demon Emperor and some demon powerhouses, he might know that he couldn''t survive that disaster. Therefore, he threw this space-teleportation finger-ring into Infinite Immortal Prison in case that these items fell in the hands of demon emperor and demons. I don''t know whether Zhong Ziqi has any descent or apprentice. Please hand these items to proper ones."


    Hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bian Heng changed his face. He then reached out his hand and took that finger-ring. After taking a glimpse inside spiritually, his hand had started to quiver slightly as he said, "Right... right... these items indeed belong to... Ziqi... besides his secret method of cultivation, there''s also the vial of all-win pills that I once gifted him..."


    When he saw the remains of his friend whom he had got acquainted with for half-life and recalled that his friend had determined to fight the demons to death before the fight, he couldn''t help but drop off tears with excitement. Previously, they thought these items had been perished together with Zhong Ziqi or had fallen in the hands of demons. Unexpectedly, they were finally in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    "The magical formation at the entrance of Infinite Immortal Prison is just a door leading to Infinite Immortal Prison. There''s a real gate behind this door¡ª¡ªthe Infinite King Roc Sutra. Only those who have cultivated Infinite King Roc Sutra could enter the gate. Even though you could break the magical formation and enter it, you would also die there for sure. If someone among you has promoted to an immortal emperor, he might be able to stay inside for a short while; otherwise, anyone below immortal emperor who doesn''t cultivate Infinite King Roc Sutra would enter the fatal trap the moment you pass the magical formation at the entrance. You would be crushed into powder by the strength of the net of Infinite Immortal Prison..." After saying these words, Zhang Tie opened his mouth. Closely after that, the Infinite Immortal Prison flew out of his mouth and fell in his hand and started to rotate there. In the blink of an eye, it became about 30 cm in height while giving out odd lights.


    "It''s... it''s... it''s Infinite Immortal Prison." Bian Heng became panic-stricken when he saw the Infinite Immortal Prison in front of his eyes.


    "Yes, it''s Infinite Immortal Prison. When I was dragged into Infinite Immortal Prison, I knew that the last King Roc had left some spiritual image in the Infinite Immortal Prison in order to wait for a person who cultivated Infinite King Roc Sutra to be the new owner of the Infinite Immortal Prison."


    Bian Heng finally understood it. Even though they had discovered Infinite Immortal Prison, it was useless. Because they couldn''t enter Infinite Immortal Prison at all. They were racking their minds to work out the solution to enter Infinite Immortal Prison. However, they didn''t know that they would die for sure if they really broke the magical formation at the entrance. Fortunes and misfortunes really coexisted with each other. Commoners could never see it through.


    "When you were in Tigerback Mountain at the beginning, why not tell me that you cultivated Infinite King Roc Sutra?" Bian Heng asked with fury when he recalled it.


    "When you met me today, you didn''t tell me who''s your wife either!" Zhang Tie replied calmly. Bian Heng then stared at Zhang Tie once. However, Zhang Tie still stayed calm. "Everyone has secrets. You knew my situation at that time. I was chased by Versatile Demon Emperor. If I exposed the secret that I owned Infinite King Roc Sutra, I must be courting death! If it were you, would you say that?"


    Bian Heng gradually became reassured before shaking his head.


    "I''m especially here to bid farewell to you. After a few days, I will leave Motian Realm!"


    "Ah, you can leave here?"


    "The others might not make it. But don''t forget what secret method I cultivate. There''s a secret skill in Infinite King Roc Sutra that could help me find the way back. The entrance of the way is in the core of Mountain Ruins!"


    "If you want to go back, just leave. Why do you tell me about that?"


    Zhang Tie watched Bian Heng as he said with a smile, "I wonder whether you want to take a look outside Motian Realm. It''s a vast world. It owns endless secrets. What Motian Realm to that world was a cup of water to an ocean. Do you feel like staying in Motian Realm for the rest of your life..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Bian Heng became stunned as he asked, "What... what do you mean?"


    "I mean, I can take you away from Motian Realm if you want."


    Zhang Tie finally exposed his purpose. As a top doctor and a sage-level immortal general, if Bian Heng could be bound to his chariot, Zhang Tie would get one more super able assistant and hatchet man when he returned to Taixia Country.


    ''I can leave Motian Realm with him?'' Bian Heng became stunned at once...


    "Don''t need to answer me now. You can consider it for a few days. If you want to leave here, you can contact me before the first day of next month..."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.

 1917 Fathomless Emperor NvWa

    ''Busy ones are always vulgar!''


    Zhang Tie suddenly muttered on the way towards Emperor NvWa''s Palace incessantly.


    Bian Heng didn''t promise to leave Motian Realm with Zhang Tie at once. As he had lived in Motian Realm for so many years, he was nostalgic for the good old days; additionally, there might meet unpredictable great dangers on the way back to Taixia Country. Therefore, it was normal for him to be hesitant before going to the strange world.


    Compared to the world where Zhang Tie came from, Motian Realm was indeed too small. It lacked many splendid things. However, the size was just a relative concept. Many people might not leave the village, that city or that palace within many high walls where they were born for their whole lives; however, they could still live peacefully, calmly or happily.


    No matter what, Motian Realm was endless compared to a village, a city or a palace within many high walls.


    As Zhang Tie understood Bian Heng, he spared some days for him to consider it. They could contact at any time. After Bian Heng made a decision to leave Motian Realm, he could come for Zhang Tie at any time within the time limit.


    After doing all these, Zhang Tie left Tigerback Mountain. He didn''t have a meal or enough sleep in Tigerback Mountain. Actually, he didn''t even have a mouthful of tea water over there.


    When Zhang Tie was going to leave, Bian Heng suddenly asked him, "Where are you going?"


    "Emperor NvWa''s Palace!" Zhang Tie answered.


    However, after hearing the three words, Bian Heng who had just recovered his composure instantly jumped up and started to blame Zhang Tie. His froth was almost sprayed over Zhang Tie''s face.


    "How dare you urge that you haven''t cast greedy eyes on Tang Mei? You''re going to follow here there soon after she arrives at Emperor NvWa''s Palace. Do you think that I don''t know what you''re thinking about?"


    "Old douchebag! I''m not as dirty as you. I''m going there to meet Emperor NvWa. When I finished my secluded cultivation a few days ago, I''ve already promised Emperor NvWa that I was going to visit her in a few days!"


    "Really?" Bian Heng watched Zhang Tie with deep confusion.


    Zhang Tie felt unnecessary explaining it to Bian Heng because his moral standing had "gone bankrupt" in Bian Heng''s eyes to a certain degree.


    "Listen, no matter what, Tang Mei is my apprentice. I can almost decide her marriage. If you want to ask her to be as same as those women of Yin-Yang Sect, I will never forgive you for that. Even though I cannot defeat you by force, I could at least drug you and make you sexually impotent. In the future, you could only watch women helplessly..."


    Seeing Zhang Tie off, Bian Heng continued to threaten him with his battle qi from Tigerback Mountain in case the latter couldn''t hear it.


    Bian Heng might be the only one who dared "threaten" Zhang Tie in Motian Realm now, but his method of "threat" was too weird.


    ''What an old douchebag!'' Zhang Tie swore inside.


    However, although Bian Heng was a bit weird, he was cunning more or less. Additionally, he was one of Zhang Tie''s good friends in Motian Realm, despite the great difference between them in age. If he really couldn''t meet this man in the future, Zhang Tie would definitely miss him.


    ...


    Emperor NvWa City was large; however, given Zhang Tie''s speed, it was not large.


    As Bian Heng''s weird voice was still lingering in his ears and he was sighing about his vulgar deeds with emotion, Zhang Tie had already seen Emperor NvWa''s Palace on the horizon ahead at his terrifyingly high speed soon after leaving Tigerback Mountain. Additionally, Zhang Tie saw two people flying out of Emperor NvWa''s Palace towards him, one in red, the other in green.


    One of the two people was Shen Bijun, the deputy president of Emperor NvWa''s Palace who was a bit fat with white hair and a ruddy complexion. Zhang Tie had met her in Dragon Emperor Pavilion soon after he finished his secluded cultivation. Shen Bijun was wearing a green longuette today.


    Next to Shen Bijun was an old man in red clothing whom Zhang Tie had not seen before. Though he was bald, he looked pretty attractive. He was evidently fatter than Shen Bijun. Given his qi, he was also a sage-level immortal general.


    A man in red indeed matched a woman in green well.


    Watching them flying towards him, Zhang Tie didn''t feel unusual. Given the ability of Emperor NvWa, if she didn''t know that Zhang Tie was coming, it would be a joke.


    When they were approaching each other, Zhang Tie instantly lowered his speed. Finally, he suspended in the air.


    "Your Majesty, you''re really faithful. Her Majesty Emperor NvWa has known that you''re coming here. Therefore, she especially asked us to greet you here!" Shen Bijun instantly greeted Zhang Tie as she bowed towards Zhang Tie with that old man on her side soon after they arrived in front of Zhang Tie.


    "Her Majesty Emperor NvWa is too polite. Now that I had promised Her Majesty Emperor NvWa to pay a visit to her in 2 months, of course, I must keep my promise..."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Hahaha, His Majesty Dragon Emperor killed two demon emperors and shattered the f*cking army of 100,000 demons in Nine-Heavens Big Domain. That''s too cool! You''ve really strengthened the morality of humans. I''ve long wanted to pay a visit to Your Majesty Dragon Emperor. Your Majesty is really more heroic than your fame." The old man next to Shen Bijun burst out laughing.


    After hearing the old man''s voice, Zhang Tie instantly recalled something as his heart suddenly palpitated once. Closely after that, Zhang Tie widened his eyes. Watching that old man, he asked Shen Bijun, "This is..."


    "This is Xiang Kui the deputy president of Emperor NvWa''s Palace!" Shen Bijun introduced.


    "Deputy president Xiang, did you find Versatile Demon Emperor''s fatal formation accidentally 7 years ago and threw a Formation Broken Mine into its fatal formation to break it?" Zhang Tie suddenly asked him.


    "Ah, how do you know that?" Deputy President Xiang watched Zhang Tie with a curious look as he stroked his bald head. "I got a powerful heavenly-level formation broken mine from Mountain Ruins. Soon after leaving Mountain Ruins, I had received the message from Her Majesty. She asked me to go to a region in Brokenstars Sea and break any fatal formation of demons that I found there with the formation broken mine. No matter what, those f*cking demons wouldn''t do anything good to humans. Therefore, I instantly threw the formation broken mine into the fatal formation. Your Majesty Dragon Emperor, if you know it, you must be nearby at that time!"


    Zhang Tie became stunned. He instantly recognized Xiang Kui given his voice. However, unexpectedly, Xiang Kui saved him because of the order from Emperor NvWa.


    ''How did Emperor NvWa know that I was in danger?''


    When he recalled that Emperor NvWa asked Shen Bijun to give the Heavens-Measurement Ruler to him a few days ago, Zhang Tie instantly felt Emperor NvWa was fathomless.


    With various thoughts in mind, Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh and replied Xiang Kui, "I was in the fatal formation of Versatile Demon Emperor at that time. If not for your formation broken mine, I might have already been killed by Versatile Demon Emperor. Soon after hearing Deputy President Xiang''s voice, I''ve remembered the voice that I heard in the fatal formation. Unexpectedly, it was really Deputy President Xiang who saved me at that time..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Shen Bijun and Xiang Kui exchanged a glance with each other as they felt both surprised and undisturbed.


    "Your Majesty Dragon Emperor, why were you trapped in the fatal formation of Versatile Demon Emperor at that time?" Shen Bijun asked Zhang Tie.


    "I was chasing after Shi Zhongyu and Xia Yangming who joined Dark Emperor Immortal Palace at that time. After killing the two people in Brokenstars Sea, I fell in Versatile Demon Emperor''s trap. If not Her Majesty Emperor NvWa and Deputy President Xiang, I might have already died. After surviving that day, I even thought that it was an immortal emperor who helped me. Later on, when I met Force Emperor and Star Emperor, I found it was not them. Therefore, I became a bit confused. I was worried that the one who saved me could barely escape from Versatile Demon Emperor''s chase. I''ve not imagined that the one who helped me was in Emperor NvWa''s Palace!"


    "Hahaha, it''s a coincidence; it''s just a coincidence!" Xiang Kui burst out laughing as he waved his hand and said, "I''ve not imagined that I could save Your Majesty with a formation broken mine. However, to be honest, the one who really saved Your Majesty that day was not me, but Her Majesty Emperor NvWa..."


    "No matter what, Deputy President Xiang once saved my life. Please accept my bow!" Zhang Tie said as he cupped his hands and bowed towards Xiang Kui.


    "You''re too polite. You''re too polite. Your Majesty, don''t make me embarrassed me anymore..." Xiang Kui was startled as he hurriedly dodged aside and dared not accept Zhang Tie''s courteous appreciation. Given Zhang Tie''s current social status, very few people across Motian Realm could accept his bow frankly.


    Zhang Tie didn''t care whether Xiang Kui would dodge away or not. After insisting on finishing his bow, he asked Xiang Kui, "Deputy President Xiang, as you destroyed Versatile Demon Emperor''s plan that day. The latter would definitely take vengeance on you. How did you get rid of its chase that day?"


    "Hey, hey, hey, I used to travel outside. With the life-saving heavenly immortal outfit and some other rare artifacts gifted by Emperor NvWa''s Palace, if I want to leave, even Versatile Demon Emperor couldn''t chase me!"


    "How did Emperor NvWa know that I was in trouble in Brokenstars Sea?"


    "Haha, as for this question, Your Majesty, you can ask Her Majesty Emperor NvWa about this question. Her Majesty would definitely tell you the answer!" Shen Bijun said with a smile.


    Zhang Tie realized that Shen Bijun and Xiang Kui should know the reasons; however, they wouldn''t like to tell him here. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t ask them about it anymore. No matter what, he would meet Emperor NvWa after a while. He could ask her about that.


    After greeting each other for a short while, they instantly got acquainted with each other. Shen Bijun and Xiang Kui then led Zhang Tie to Emperor NvWa''s Palace.


    Emperor NvWa''s Palace was a city in Emperor NvWa City. It was such magnificent. Even though they were flying in the sky, they could still see the brilliant skyscrapers and crowded people on the ground. This place was the most excellent place in Motian Realm.


    There were many layers of immortal generals in the periphery of Emperor NvWa''s Palace. With the guidance of Shen Bijun and Xiang Kui, Zhang Tie passed many layers'' guards in the air and came to the core region of Emperor NvWa''s Palace only after a short while.


    Shen Bijun and Xuang Kui directly landed at the entrance of a palace with Zhang Tie. At the entrance of the palace, there were two fire-level immortal generals in golden immortal outfits who served as guards.


    "Your Majesty, Her Majesty Emperor NvWa is waiting for you inside. Please come in!"

 1918 Drinking Tea

    Shen Bijun and Xiang Kui were only responsible for greeting Zhang Tie. It was the treatment that Zhang Tie, as the incumbent Dragon Emperor and the No. 1 hero among humans in Motian Realm, should enjoy.


    When he found that the two people didn''t intend to enter the palace in front with him, Zhang Tie realized that Emperor NvWa must want to have a talk with him alone. Therefore, he stepped onto the stairs and walked to the gate of the palace leisurely.


    The two fire-level immortal generals who served as guards at the gate just pushed open the gate silently and allowed Zhang Tie to walk in.


    The moment Zhang Tie entered it, he had become temporarily stunned. He felt like coming to another world. While being brilliant and magnificent from the outside, its inside was like another world. There was a beautiful garden inside the palace. Birds were chirping everywhere. The entire palace was filled with the fragrance of flowers with brilliant spring sunlight. The moment Zhang Tie entered the palace, he had seen some colorful butterflies flying round and round beside him. Some birds were chirping on those huge trees beside him.


    Due to the sharp difference, Zhang Tie almost felt like entering the palace tree of Castle of Black Iron from the wild.


    Cyan slabs extended to the deep place of the garden. Zhang Tie wanted to look inside with his lotus-flower eyes. However, after triggering his lotus-flower eyes, he found his lotus-flower eyes suddenly lost their effect here. The entire palace appeared to be filled with a mysterious space strength, which prevented him from peeping it with lotus-flower eyes. It felt like that he couldn''t see through others'' space-teleportation finger rings with his lotus-flower eyes.


    ''Is this palace a bizarre space-teleportation item?''


    Although being a bit amazed, as he had Castle of Black Iron and seen too many odd similar rarities, Zhang Tie still stayed calm as he walked towards the deep place of the garden leisurely.


    Autumn was going to come outside the palace; however, it was spring scenery in April inside the palace. Songs and flute tones could be heard everywhere among the flowers.


    As he walked along the winding path, he saw a pavilion in a patch of apricot woods with fiery flowers. A woman in a snow-white skirt and black, smooth hair was sitting in the pavilion on her feet. She was fiddling with a small stove, boiling water and preparing a tea set...


    When he caught sight of that maiden, Zhang Tie felt familiar with her although she didn''t raise her head. As he gradually approached her, he saw the maiden raising her head and looking at him.


    When the maiden raised her head, she dwarfed all the flowers in the garden at once.


    That was a superbly beautiful face that could enable all the flowers to envy and cause all the men and women to fall in fascination.


    ''Tang Mei!''


    ''It''s Tang Mei!''


    Previously, Tang Mei was as beautiful as a fairy maiden. With delicate make-up, she even caused Zhang Tie to hold his breath slightly at this moment.


    Zhang Tie was stunned as he came to a stop at once. Although he had already known that Tang Mei had returned to Emperor NvWa''s Palace after leaving Tigerback Mountain, he didn''t imagine that he could meet her here. What a coincidence!


    "Ah, it''s you?"


    "Brother Jin, you called me Xiaomei in Tigerback Mountain. Only after a few years, you''ve become Your Majesty Dragon Emperor and shocked the entire Motian Realm with power. However, when you saw me again, you even don''t feel like calling my name." Tang Mei instantly lowered her enthralling face. Following after, she heaved a sigh slightly with a plaintive expression. Watching her response, Zhang Tie felt pitiful of her.


    When he saw Tang Mei at the beginning, he didn''t look like this. After hearing that Tang Mei called him Brother Jin, Zhang Tie thought that Bian Heng had told Tang Mei all of his secrets.


    Zhang Tie instantly felt a bit embarrassed. Her plaintive look made Zhang Tie feel guilty. He directly walked over there as he greeted, "Ahem... ahem... Xiaomei, why are you here?"


    Zhang Tie said as he looked around. However, he could see nobody in the vicinity except apricot blossoms. "Does Emperor NvWa want to play any trick through Tang Mei after knowing that I got acquainted with her?" Zhang Tie mumbled inside as he stayed alert at any time.


    "Of course, I''m here to wait for you, Brother Jin. Am I still Brother Jin''s Xiaomei?" Tang Mei raised her face as she watched Zhang Tie with great expectation. At this moment, she was far from being plaintive; instead, she revealed a bit sly smile elegantly.


    "Erm, of course, you''re..." Zhang Tie didn''t ask her about the whereabouts of Emperor NvWa when he found Emperor NvWa was not here. He just sat down opposite to Tang Mei and watched her seriously with the attitude "since I am already here in this situation, just take it easy". Perhaps because of her cancer, Tang Mei always looked a bit frail before. However, after being cured, she gave out brilliance all over just like morning glow. She was vibrant and healthy. Additionally, besides her health, given Zhang Tie''s sensitive perception about women, he could even feel that Tang Mei''s temperament had experienced subtle changes. She appeared to be a bit sly and profound. As a result, even Zhang Tie couldn''t see through her.


    "Brother Jin, do you like me to call you Brother Jin or Your Majesty Dragon Emperor?"


    "Haha, I''ve told you that was not my original look at that time. Of course, that name is not my real name either. As we''re frank and honest with each other now, my real name is Zhang Tie, But Xiaomei, you''d better not call me Your Majesty Dragon Emperor. As I''m a bit elder than you, just call me brother!" Zhang Tie said straightforwardly.


    "Fine, I will call you brother then!" Tang Mei giggled pleasantly. Then, she elegantly made a cup of hot tea for Zhang Tie after finishing a set of procedures as she said, "Brother, please have a taste."


    Even though Zhang Tie had no knowledge in this, he knew that the tea that Tang Mei made for him was absolutely not average. When the tea leaves were rolling in the cup of water, the mist that rose out of the cup formed a wash painting of a myriad of mountains, billows, clouds, sun and moon above the cup. Zhang Tie had not even heard about such a kind of tea, not to mention see it.


    After seeing Tang Mei''s eye hint, Zhang Tie picked his cup and had a mouthful of tea. Closely after that, he widened his eyes and revealed an unbelievable look.


    Only after a small mouthful of tea water, Zhang Tie had felt a wisp of indescribable energy and Reiki spreading over his body through his throat, arousing resonance between his battle qi and the essential spiritual energy in his mind. At his chest, he felt as light as mixing water with milk as he almost floated in the air. Only with one mouthful of tea, he had almost been fascinated by it.


    Zhang Tie had eaten various fruits. Many fruits tasted special and indescribable. However, after having a mouthful of tea, Zhang Tie felt that none of the fruits that he had eaten could match this tea water.


    Watching the remaining tea water in the cup, Zhang Tie had another sip.


    This time, the 15 wisps of fantastic yin qi inside his body which had been discovered by Bian Heng immediately integrated with each other with the effect of the tea water and spread over his guts, blood, veins, tendons and bones all over his body. The extreme Yin qi started to generate Yang qi and nourish all the cells over his body.


    With another mouthful of tea water, Zhang Tie felt his body which had been suffering a loss after the battle in Deities'' Plain because of triggering Battle Deity Bloodline was slowly recovering. Wisps of surging strength of qi, blood, veins, tendons, bones, marrows and spirit started to reappear inside his body and integrated with his body.


    Watching Zhang Tie finish the cup of tea so fast, Tang Mei looked very happy. Before Zhang Tie asked for it, she had made the second cup of tea for her.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie appeared to have forgotten about being reserved. Since he took the first cup of tea, his inexplicable instinct and aspiration had been awakened. He wanted to have some more. Therefore, when he saw Tang Mei make another cup of tea for him, he instantly took it and drank it up...


    After the second cup of tea, the bright moon and the stars in his mind sea became 10 times more brilliant in a split second. He even felt the sun in his qi sea breaking out of his body and illuminating everything in the world...


    Zhang Tie''s body experienced a great change while being flushed by the tea water. At the same time, Zhang Tie''s awareness sublimed to a bizarre ethereal realm.


    Third cup...


    Forth cup...


    Fifth cup...


    ...


    Eighth cup...


    Ninth cup...


    Unconsciously, Zhang Tie had already taken 9 cups of tea water. All of a sudden, he felt the hard city wall or invisible barrier in his head breaking into pieces and collapsing facing the impact of the surging tide...


    Zhang Tie''s awareness instantly entered a bizarre world.


    That world was filled with colorful light balls, red, black, green, blue, grey and golden; some were like fireflies; some were like jade plates; some were like silk balls; some were like spraying rain drops; some were like hazy clouds. They all floated beside him, looming and changing at any time; some were appearing; some were disappearing; some were changing their shapes.


    Those things in the world were definitely not be composed of four elements. Although Zhang Tie didn''t know what those things were, he felt that those things might... might be... edible¡ª¡ªYes, edible; those things are like some food, which adapts to my current state. Different lights represent different energies. As long as I could eat them, I will become more powerful.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t eat them; because he was shocked by this idea.


    After being spirited, Zhang Tie opened his eyes at once...


    In the blink of an eye, the brilliant garden had been in the dim light of night and covered with stars over the sky.


    Zhang Tie instantly realized that he might have stayed for long in that state. He couldn''t even sense time elapse...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    However, Tang Mei was still there. Cupping her face by hands on the teapoy, she just watched Zhang Tie while flickering her eyes like a girl who was in her puberty.


    When Zhang Tie opened his eyes, he instantly noticed that Tang Mei was watching him.


    Zhang Tie blinked his eyes. Tang Mei imitated him and blinked her eyes too...


    "Ah, how long I''ve been in this state?"


    "Not too long. It''s just one day and a half!" Tang Mei replied with a smile.


    ''One day and a half?''


    Zhang Tie became stunned for a short while. Then, he looked at the empty cup before him and Tang Mei. He couldn''t help swallowing his saliva and stammered, "What do I...drin...drink?"


    "Nothing serious. It''s just some tea leaves of Far-ancient Enlightening Tree being flushed with Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring..." Tang Mei said casually.


    ...

 1919 Unimaginable!

    ''Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring? Far-ancient Enlightening Tree?''


    After hearing his words, Zhang Tie became stunned at once.


    He had not imagined that he had drunk 9 cups of Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring which could help a sage-level immortal general promote to an immortal emperor just now unconsciously. No wonder the tea tasted such weird. It turned out that they were made with Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring. Although Zhang Tie had not heard the name of Far-ancient Enlightening Tree, he thought it must not be average.


    Zhang Tie widened his eyes and watched Tang Mei was who smiling right in front of him, he felt that Tang Mei''s image became blurry. This fascinating face appeared to be both close to him and far away from him. It was blurry and absolutely untouchable.


    In an instant, Zhang Tie couldn''t even utter any voice.


    "Brother, will you blame me for having you drink Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring?" Tang Mei asked elegantly and bashfully as she watched Zhang Tie with her bright eyes, "But you''ve already promoted to a supreme-level immortal general now. If you don''t drink Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, you cannot break the deity-human barrier. If cannot break the deity-human barrier, you will not be able to sense the existence of the realm of thoughts and couldn''t form your first immortal chakra."


    ''Deity-human barrier? Realm of thoughts? First immortal chakra?''Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    After hearing Tang Mei''s words, Zhang Tie''s head almost blew up. After a few seconds, Zhang Tie recovered his composure as he asked her in a muffled voice, "Did Emperor NvWa ask you to do that"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Tang Mei suddenly smiled. She just watched Zhang Tie silently.


    ''Did Tang Mei hide some words or feel inconvenient to say it here facing the coercion?''


    When he thought he was in Emperor NvWa''s Palace, the nestle of Emperor NvWa, Zhang Tie''s face turned gloomy at once as he instantly sprung up. After circling around the teapoy, he came to Tang Mei''s side and instantly grasped Tang Mei''s hand. Under Tang Mei''s amazed eyes, he pulled her up to his side and stood in front of her with half of his body as if he was protecting her. After that, he looked around and said aloud with sparkling eyes, "Now that Her Majesty Emperor NvWa invited me here, why not deal with me aboveboard? Why do you have a girl as your shield? From now on, Tang Mei is my woman. She''s under my protection. If Your Majesty Emperor NvWa doesn''t show up and clarify it, I will take Tang Mei away from Emperor NvWa''s Palace!"


    As her hand was grasped by Zhang Tie, Tang Mei''s cheeks suddenly turned red bashfully. She then couldn''t help approaching Zhang Tie as she whispered, "Brother..."


    "Don''t be afraid. You don''t have to say anything about it. I will help you solve your trouble. Emperor NvWa is strange and unpredictable. It''s not a good idea for you to continue to stay here. I will take you away from here. Who dares to block me!" Zhang Tie said as he squinted his eyes and looked around while being ready to release his battle qi at any time.


    Soon after waking up, Zhang Tie found that he had recovered the strength that he had consumed during the battle in Deities'' Plain. Additionally, he even felt he was much more powerful than that in Deities'' Plain before he activated his Battle God Bloodline. In the current state, he could activate his Battle God Bloodline at any time. He didn''t believe that Emperor NvWa could defeat him in this state.


    Zhang Tie thought Emperor NvWa who was hiding somewhere should show up and clarify everything at this moment as he had already been ready to overturn the table. However, unimaginably, after waiting for quite a while, he still didn''t see anybody else in the vicinity of the pavilion. He didn''t even hear any human voice.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie''s face flushed with embarrassment!


    ''Did Emperor NvWa really think that I dare not take Tang Mei away from here? Let''s see it...''


    "Let''s go..." Zhang Tie''s muffled voice broke the silence as he drew Tang Mei out of the pavilion towards the gate of the palace. When they walked out of the pavilion, Zhang Tie even released his protective battle qi to protect Tang Mei. Meanwhile, he warned her with battle qi, "After a while, if the battle breaks out, you just stay beside me. I will never allow the people of Emperor NvWa''s Palace to hurt you. If they dare fight me and make you embarrassed today, I will destroy this f*cking palace..."


    When being drawn away by Zhang Tie, Tang Mei just stayed with him with a blush like a young wife. Not until Zhang Tie said that he wanted to destroy this f*cking palace did Tang Mei lower her head and whisper shamefully, "Brother, don''t you like this Four-Season Palace..."


    "Oh, is this Four-Season Palace?" Zhang Tie answered casually as he drew her hand and walked in the garden. He didn''t notice Tang Mei''s odd expression; because he was focusing on the surroundings. He couldn''t even see through this garden with his lotus-flower eyes. If Emperor NvWa played any trick inside here, it was time for her to do it now. Although Zhang Tie appeared to walk here casually; actually, he was intense all over. He was not worried about it if it were him alone; however, with Tang Mei on his side, he had to behave meticulously.


    "Hmm, we''re in Four-Season Palace; because the season in this palace could alter casually. Brother, don''t worry about that. Nobody dares raid us here..."


    Zhang Tie instantly stopped his footsteps as he turned around and took a look at Tang Mei before asking her, "Why?"


    "Because there''s nobody else in this Four-Season Palace except you and me. Nobody else in Motian Realm could enter this palace either..."


    Zhang Tie became temporarily stunned as he asked her, "Doesn''t Emperor NvWa live in here?"


    "Yes, she does..."


    "Why did you say nobody else was here then?" Zhang Tie asked as he instantly became silent. He then watched Tang Mei with great shock in a daze.


    At this moment, even an idiot could get Tang Mei''s point. Additionally, Zhang Tie was smart. He just had never thought about that possibility...


    ''How could Tang Mei be Emperor NvWa?''


    "I didn''t mean to cheat you, brother. I''ve already known you since you came to Motian Realm. As you came from an alien world, I was curious about you and always observed your traces and actions. When you were trapped in the fatal formation of Versatile Demon Emperor, as I couldn''t leave Emperor NvWa City, I could only have Deputy President Xiang go to save you. However, I''ve not imagined that you fell into the Yaohai Ocean after the fatal formation of Versatile Demon Emperor was broken and came to Emperor NvWa City after getting rid of the chase of the grand owner of Si Clan. In the beginning, I was just curious about you and wanted to observe you from a short distance; therefore, I especially encountered with you at the city gate of Emperor NvWa City..."


    "That''s incredible!" Zhang Tie became dumbfounded. According to Tang Mei, she had known him since he entered Motian Realm; additionally, she was observing him all the way without being discovered. Although Tang Mei spoke it calmly, her words sounded almost shocked Zhang Tie to death.


    Tang Mei watched Zhang Tie with a smile quietly. Then, she casually waved her hand. Zhang Tie immediately felt the whole space was revolving; meanwhile, the surrounding scenary was changing in a split second. He instantly came to a room that covered hundreds of square meters. There were odd reliefs that were humans in the upper bodies and snakes in the lower bodies on the four walls. Additionally, a bizarre rune was flowing over the walls. Besides, a huge mirror higher than 5 m which appeared to be made of bronze was standing in the middle of the room...

 1920 Bloodline of Space Spiri

    When they appeared in the room, they were standing in front of a huge mirror shoulder to shoulder. When Zhang Tie was guessing about the secret of this mirror, Tang Mei lightly reached out one fair finger and pointed at the mirror. Closely after that, the mirror started to give out the brilliance and revealed different scenes...


    It revealed the image when Zhang Tie entered Motian Realm at the beginning. Back upwards, he was lying on the ground in a coma. Besides Zhang Tie himself, the surrounding scenary was also very clear.


    When he gradually woke up, Zhang Tie attempted to move his hands and body. He then turned over himself hardly so that he could face the sky. The glaring sunlight instantly caused him to close his eyes. Zhang Tie then raised one hand and put in front of his eyes so as to cover the strong sunlight.


    After a short while, an airboat appeared in the sky.


    "Ah, boss, someone is downside there..."


    "Make it clear whether he''s a human or a demon..."


    "He''s a human. He''s definitely a human..."


    "Carry him in. Check whether he''s still alive or not. A war broke out in Greenglaze City a few days ago. This man might have escaped out of there..."


    Zhang Tie and Tang Mei could even hear clearly the sounds in the mirror...


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie was carried in the airboat. Zhang Tie and Tang Mei could even see clearly the situation inside the airboat.


    Zhang Tie was dumbfounded as he felt that he was watching a movie starred by him before the Catastrophe. Precisely, it was a 360-degree 3D film whose lens could be changed at any time.


    After this scene, the fast forward mode was activated. It was not ordinarily fast, but relative to Zhang Tie''s strong spiritual energy. Almost in the blink of an eye, thousands of pictures had flashed by the mirror. Besides Zhang Tie, who could see the scenes in the mirror, ordinary supreme immortal generals couldn''t even see the scenes in the mirror at all.


    Zhang Tie watched how he joined Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; however he made a massacre in Heavenly Square City; how he flirted with Ji Yuelan in an air-floating mountain; how he left there with the others people of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City by airboat; how he killed red and blue devils in Brokenstars Sea; how he acquired the secret methods of Dragon Emperor and how he ascended to the throne of Dragon Emperor in the mirror...


    Then, his trade with Star Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor City, his cultivation in backroom, the first trial of strength with Star Emperor, saving the remains of Yin-Yang Sect in Cyanlotus City, cleaning the moles of Dark Emperor Immortal Palace in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and falling in the trap of Versatile Demon Emperor...


    The scene that Zhang Tie was in the battle formation of the Versatile Demon Emperor was not displayed in the mirror. However, he could see how Versatile Demon Emperor applied its battle formation.


    Then, Zhang Tie fell into the Yaohai Ocean and came to Emperor NvWa City, etc...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Watching these scenes, Zhang Tie felt like recalling his entire experience in Motian Realm. He was watching all that he had done in Motian Realm as an outsider. Therefore, he got an indescribable feeling.


    The mirror could display too many details. Except for those periods when Zhang Tie was in Castle of Black Iron, in others'' realms, and in Infinite Immortal Prison, everything about him could be reflected in the mirror.


    Zhang Tie saw himself showing off his power in Deities Plain and coming out of Dragon Emperor Pavilion after secluded cultivation. When he saw him coming to Naturesound Valley, he almost broke down...


    "Stop..." Zhang Tie couldn''t help shouting aloud as he pinched Tang Mei''s hand once.


    The scene on the huge copper mirror came to a stop at once. In the mirror, Zhang Tie was staying upstairs with Ji Yuelan, Jiang Ruoxin, Su Haimei and Ying Feiqiong.


    He couldn''t watch it anymore. If not, Zhang Tie felt that he was going to be the hero in a legendary AV which had long disappeared in the long course of human history.


    Although Zhang Tie was still confused and didn''t know the details, he had already believed in Tang Mei''s words¡ª¡ªTang Mei is Emperor NvWa; Emperor NvWa is Tang Mei.


    "Brother, now do you believe my words?" Tang Mei still called Zhang Tie "brother" at this moment. Therefore, Zhang Tie felt a bit odd about it.


    "Ahem... ahem... how... how could this copper mirror display these pictures?"


    "This copper mirror is called Magical Motian Mirror!" Tang Mei explained with a faint smile while covering her small mouth by hand. After taking a look at Zhang Tie whose face blushed heavily due to embarrassment, she added, "Before being completely destroyed, it could display everything, everyone and everything that people do in a certain period of time. However, after the catastrophe in Motian Realm, it has lost such a holistic capability. It only keeps two abilities now: monitor the situation facing the chance of the space of Motian Realm; monitor everything that enters the Motian Realm from the other spaces, people or object. Without the Magical Motian Mirror, I cannot find Heavens-Measurement Ruler. Brother, I think you have already known it..."


    "Erm... haven''t you seen what happened in the following?" Zhang Tie asked her with fear. At this moment, Zhang Tie really hoped this odd copper mirror could divide movies into different classes like those before the Catastrophe. Although human society was bizarre, those kind of films with naked bodies and sex were not allowed to be broadcast in cinemas.


    "No, I haven''t..."


    After hearing her simple reply, Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh of relief at once as he said, "Glad to hear that. Glad to hear that. Erm... leave out of here!"


    In the next second, Zhang Tie and Tang Mei reappeared in the pavilion of the garden where they were just now. This scene was also displayed in the mirror.


    After coming back to the pavilion, Zhang Tie found he was still holding Tang Mei''s hand. Therefore, he instantly loosened his hand. Tang Mei didn''t mind that at all.


    Zhang Tie and Tang Mei then returned to their seats.


    "Tell me, what are all these?" Zhang Tie said with a helpless look as he scratched his head.


    "Before telling you about that, I wonder whether I''m still that Xiaomei in your heart or not?"


    "Is that your real name?"


    "Previously, I only got one name¡ª¡ªEmperor NvWa. But now I''ve got one more name¡ª¡ªTang Mei!"


    "Why it''s that name?"


    "Brother, do you remember how you disguised as Donder and saved people in Cyanlotus City?"


    "You mean you''ve imitated my family name?" Zhang Tie asked with eyes wide open as he had not imagined that Tang Mei got her name in this way.


    "Hmm. I name it for myself. I feel it sounds good!" Tang Mei said with a smile.


    "What about your parents and master? Haven''t they given your a name?"


    "Brother, does that space spirit in your private space have any master and parents?"


    "You mean... you''re a space spirit? The space spirit of Motian Realm?" At this moment, Zhang Tie was even more stunned than that when he heard that Tang Mei was Emperor NvWa. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie also knew why Tang Mei could have such a perfect look. Besides living beings like Heller, who else could look such perfect?


    "Precisely, I''m a human, also the 6th generation of space spirit of Motian Realm. After Motian Realm was broken, starting from the second generation of space spirit, no pure space spirit could be produced in Motian Realm. Therefore, from then on, all the space spirits of Motian Realm had been mixed with the bloodlines of humans and become Emperor NvWa. We all shoulder the responsibilities of ruling Emperor NvWa City and protecting all the humans in Motian Realm..."

 1921 Tang Meis Purpose

    After thinking about Tang Mei''s words for a few seconds silently again, Zhang Tie finally accepted this fact.


    However, Zhang Tie was still confused as to why Tang Mei would do that. Whatever happened today was too abrupt for Zhang Tie.


    "Wu, you must want to know why I did it today." Tang Mei added, "My reason might be a bit selfish; because I want you to save me again!"


    "Save you? Can any human or demon in Motian Realm threaten you?" Zhang Tie asked her out of curiosity.


    "All the space instrumental spirits have to depend on their spaces, including me. As long as I''m in Emperor NvWa City, nobody across Motian Realm could threaten me. However, if the space of Motian Realm collapsed, of course, I would die too. All the people in Motian Realm would perish, even immortal emperors!"


    Tang Mei revealed such a terrifying topic calmly.


    Zhang Tie frowned at a stroke as he asked, "How could the space of Motian Realm collapse?"


    "Wu, when you came to Motian Realm, you should have sensed that the time-space force under Mountain Ruins was very unstable. Due to this instability, space-teleportation items are not available across Motian Realm for most of the time of each month, except the first day and the 15th day when the time-space force could recover balance for the time being. Additionally, the time-space in Motian Realm is very fragile recently. Battles between powers could cause the space to shock, even cause space cracks inside Mountain Ruins or under Mountain Ruins..."


    Zhang Tie nodded as he replied, "That''s true!"


    "Long long ago, Motian Realm was a very stable and vigorous complete space that could constantly expand. Later on, due to some accidents, the entire space was severely destroyed. From then on, the time-space force in Motian Realm had become more and more unstable. Millions of years ago, the time-space force under Mountain Ruins was stable for more than 20 days of each month when space-teleportation items could be used. But now, the stable period for each month is only 2 days. Additionally, this stable period is becoming shorter. When the time-space force in Motian Realm couldn''t maintain its stability one day, the entire Motian Realm will be compressed into powders by this terrifying time-space force like a fragile ware being thrown into the deep sea. Nobody could survive..."


    "Now that Motian Realm has already existed for millions of years, M... Mei, that crisis won''t arrive so fast, right?"


    As for Zhang Tie, neither Tang Mei''s identity as an instrumental spirit of Motian Realm nor the identity of Emperor NvWa could win Zhang Tie''s admiration. Speaking of instrument spirit, Heller was one. Speaking of Emperor NvWa, Zhang Tie himself was Dragon Emperor. Therefore, after knowing the real identity of Tang Mei, Zhang Tie could also face it with a calm attitude. Like how he faced Tang Mei before, he could easily call her Mei, despite being a bit hesitant.


    After hearing Zhang Tie calling her "Mei", she revealed a smile again. Closely after that, she let out a sigh and said, "Recently, Motian Realm is like china being covered with cracks. As more and more cracks appear on its surface, the more fragile it will be and the faster it will break apart. If this situation couldn''t be improved, the entire Motian Realm would perish completely like a bubble in less than 1,000 years!"


    "1,000 years?"


    "Even shorter. For instance, Wu, after the battle in Deities Plain a few months ago, many space cracks have appeared over there. Like cracks on plates, these space cracks could barely be fixed..."


    Zhang Tie then shrugged with a bitter smile, "Mei, thank you for your belief. But Motian Realm is so large; how can I prevent it from being destroyed. I indeed have a portable space. I even named it Castle of Black Iron. However, given the current size of that space, it can''t even hold the population of a medium-sized domain. Mei, do you want me to teleport all the people of Motian Realm into that space?"


    Tang Mei shook his head as she said, "Actually, there''s a simple method. Wu, you can allow Castle of Black Iron to eat Motian Realm!"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Can Castle of Black Iron eat Motian Realm? Impossible..." Zhang Tie almost burst out laughing.


    "Generally, a low-end space-teleportation item couldn''t eat Motian Realm; however, Castle of Black Iron is an exception. Given the fact that your private space has an instrumental spirit and Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree, it means that Castle of Black Iron is not inferior to Motian Realm. Therefore, it''s absolutely possible for you to make it!"


    Zhang Tie became shortly stunned. Even though he knew that Tang Mei had already seen through him through Motian Magical Mirror, when he heard that Tang Mei mentioned about Manjusaka Fruit Tree, he was still a bit shocked as he asked her, "How do you know about Majusaka Karma Fruit Tree in my space?"


    "Wu, without that tree, how can you gain the Immortal Manjusaka Fearless King Roc King Kong Body?"


    Zhang Tie finally understood that Tang Mei was the "Insider" mentioned by the last king roc...


    "Even so, I still have no idea how we can have Castle of Black Iron eat Motian Realm..."


    "When spaces like Motian Realm reach a certain size through expansion, it would form a hub called space ball. Wu, you can make it only by having Castle of Black Iron integrate with this space ball. In this way, you can prevent the Motian Realm from being destroyed. If you have any questions about it, you can ask the instrumental spirit in your space..."


    "Heller, is that true?" Zhang Tie asked Heller in his mind without demur given the importance of the event.


    "It''s true. If Castle of Black Iron can integrate with the space ball of Motian Realm, it will eat the entire Motian Realm and make the latter a part of it..." Heller''s voice sounded clearly in Zhang Tie''s mind.


    "It means all the resources across Motian Realm including numerous air-floating metal in those air-floating mountins and those secret items within Mountain Ruins will belong to me?" Zhang Tie asked as he almost blacked out due to excitement.


    "Right, but the current time-space force in Motian Realm is very imbalanced. The entire space is very fragile. After eating the space ball of Motian Realm, it will take Castle of Black Iron a long time to completely integrate with Motian Realm. After complete integration, Castle Lord will be able to control and dominate the entire Motian Realm!"


    "What about Tang Mei?"


    "She will lose her ability as an instrumental spirit and become pure Emperor NvWa. Besides gaining Motian Realm, Castle Lord will gain a 2nd stage fruit of universal laws."


    ''What a profitable trade! I can get humans, wealth and reputation at the same time!''


    ''But will it be so easy?''


    "Where''s the space ball of Motian Realm?" Zhang Tie asked Tang Mei.


    "It''s at a very dangerous place in Mountain Ruins..."

 1922 The Opening Day

    October 10, the 3593rd year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar...


    Inside Mountain Ruins...


    As the hot sun was hanging high, many human immortal generals were gathering in the sky within hundreds of miles. Some of them were in a team of two or three while some were alone. All the human immortal generals were gazing at the bizarre air zone thousands of miles away as if they were waiting for something.


    From afar, that bizarre air zone was a colossal broken space hole. It was as large as a small domain. Being shrouded with grey mist, it gave out fatal qi. They could see a blurry huge mountain peak as high as thousands of meters in the grey mist. Its size was indescribable. The entire mountain peak appeared to be in the mountain ruins or in the broken space hole. It was like a fishbone in one''s throat. What a coincidence!


    That place was the core region of Mountain Ruins, also the most mysterious and dangerous place in Motian Realm. If any immortal general entered it in ordinary days, they would definitely lose their lives there. However, in the coming short period of time, immortal generals who entered the core region of Mountain Ruins might acquire great opportunities, immortal outfits, secret methods, element crystals or the Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring that everyone was casting a covetous eye on.


    The core region of Mountain Ruins would open in every six jiazi, namely 360 years. It opened today.


    Starting from many days ago, human immortal generals inside Mountain Ruins had gathered here. Today, the population of human immortal generals here reached its peak. Even many old freaks who were always in secluded cultivation inside Mountain Ruins had arrived. Additionally, many powerhouses above wind immortal generals had arrived here from human domains below Mountain Ruins.


    Some immortal generals were arriving here until now.


    A silver-haired old man was flying over here from afar while releasing a strong sage-level qi. After arriving here, the old man looked around. Closely after that, he became temporarily stunned; because this scene looked very different than what he had experienced before.


    When he saw three wind immortal generals gathering together in the nearby, the elder flew over there and asked them.


    "It''s strange. Why don''t I see any demon general this time? Previously, when the core region of Mountain Ruins was opened, weren''t demon generals in our opposite and preparing to rush inside together with us?"


    When they found the elder was powerful, the three wind immortal generals treated the elder politely. One of them replied, "Senior, were you in secluded cultivation these days?"


    "Yes, I''ve been in secluded cultivation for over 8 decades. I finished it yesterday!" The elder said as he stroked his mustache pleasantly.


    "That''s it. Senior, you don''t know that, I''m afraid that few demon generals dared clashed against us this time. Even though some demon generals dared come, they would definitely enter it in the end secretly. They dare never contend with us now!"


    "Why?"


    "Months ago, after His Majesty Dragon Emperor finished his secluded cultivation, he killed two demon emperors and smashed the army of 100,000 demon generals alone in Deities Plain of Nine-Heavens Big Domain." The one who replied to him added some trimmings to Zhang Tie''s meritorious deed and prestige in Nine-Heavens Big Domain and directly frightened that elder out of wits. He even couldn''t believe his ears.


    "Am I clear, senior? As long as His Majesty Dragon Emperor is here, those demon generals and demon emperors dare never be such rampant like before. Without the competition from demon generals, humans could definitely make more achievements in the core region of Mountain Ruins..."


    "Really? When did such a supreme figure appear in Motian Realm?"


    "Everyone knows that. Senior, if you don''t believe in me, you can ask about..."


    Right then, they heard a voice from some immortal generals in the distance.


    "Here come the people of Force Emperor Immortal Palace..."


    Those immortal generals became slightly shocked as many people turned around and looked back.


    Force Emperor and many immortal generals of Force Emperor Immortal Palace were coming. As one of the three emperor-level immortal palaces, Force Emperor Immortal Palace''s representatives were really domineering. The moment they arrived, they instantly became the most crowded group here. Many immortal generals started to fly towards them and greet Force Emperor or show their courtesy to Force Emperor by nodding heads from afar.


    Over the past months, Force Emperor and Force Emperor Immortal Palace took cities and seized territory in Nine-Heavens Big Domain heavily. Therefore, at this moment, Force Emperor and the other immortal generals of Force Emperor Immortal Palace looked pleasant and confident.


    Closely after that, another group of immortal generals approached from afar.


    Although its population was fewer than that of Force Emperor Immortal Palace, it was also a large group with great power. Those sharp-eyed guys instantly identified that they were representatives of Star Emperor Immortal Palace.


    However, being different than Force Emperor, Star Emperor didn''t appear together with the immortal generals of Star Emperor Immortal Palace.


    After a short while, a group of people with fewer population arrived. However, they instantly aroused a shock among all the immortal generals here.


    They were representatives of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Since the former Dragon Emperor disappeared, Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace had not assigned such a formation of representatives to attend such a grand meeting over the past 720 years.


    Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace only had more than 20 immortal generals. It was Long Jiutian and Ying Gucheng who led them here.


    Everyone was focusing on the team of immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. However, they didn''t see Zhang Tie the incumbent Dragon Emperor either.


    ''Won''t His Majesty Dragon Emperor come here either?''


    Many people started to have such a question in mind. Many people who had not seen Zhang Tie even became a bit disappointed.


    The group of people of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t stop until they reached dozens of miles away from the group of representatives of Force Emperor Immortal Palace. They waited there with the other immortal generals.


    "Elder Long, I wonder where is His Majesty Dragon Emperor? Will he attend this grand meeting?"


    That got to be Force Emperor. When the others could only keep the question in mind, Force Emperor directly posed his question. His muffled sound instantly spread over.


    "My respect to you, Your Majesty Force Emperor, we don''t know where His Majesty Dragon Emperor is. However, His Majesty Dragon Emperor sent a message to me just now and said that he would definitely come here!" Long Jiutian answered Force Emperor aloud in neither a humble nor pushy way.


    The arrival of the two elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace instantly transferred people''s attention from the core region of Mountain Ruins to Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. At this moment, the piece of news that Dragon Emperor mastered a secret method that could enable 4 fire immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace to promote to supreme immortal generals in half a month had long spread over Motian Realm and aroused a great shock among humans.


    At this moment, many people here were fire immortal generals. Many fire immortal generals had been stagnated at this level for too long. Therefore, they paid special attention to this piece of news.


    Even though Zhang Tie didn''t come, many immortal generals still flew over here from afar and greeted the two elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace; some even asked about the events that four elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace promoted to supreme immortal generals in half a month indirectly. The scene was even more boisterous than that on Force Emperor''s side. Even Star Emperor Immortal Palace assigned immortal generals to greet them.


    However, Force Emperor and Force Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t envy them; because it was the proper treatment that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace should receive. As long as one could kill two demon emperors and smash the army of 100,000 demon generals, it was not strange for his men to receive such a treatment wherever they were. Even though Zhang Tie was not here, nobody dared despise the people of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    When they saw Star Emperor Immortal Palace''s man going there to greet the two elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, after having eye contact with a grand justice of Force Emperor Immortal Palace, an immortal general of Force Emperor Immortal Palace also went there to greet them.


    If Force Emperor Immortal Palace didn''t assign anyone to greet them, some people would think that there was some contradiction between Force Emperor Immortal Palace and His Majesty Dragon Emperor. If some believed in this gossip, it would be troublesome. Even the members of Force Emperor Immortal Palace might be panicky.


    The two elders and the other immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace here had the deepest feeling about such a boisterous scene. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace was still struggling on the verge of death not long ago. However, they were soon back at their peak.


    As for those who had not tumbled, they might never know the taste of picking oneself up from the ground after tumbling. However, all the changes were brought by one person.


    "Hahaha, it''s such boisterous here..."


    When those immortal generals were in hot discussion about the arrival of the representatives of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, a voice suddenly drifted from afar. After hearing this voice, all the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace instantly looked pleasant. However, before they turned around and looked back, they found that Zhang Tie had already appeared in front of the immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    Zhang Tie wore a white robe with a black waistband. He looked as stately and handsome as an immortal.


    Nobody had seen clearly how Zhang Tie arrived.


    "Our respects to you, Your Majesty Dragon Emperor..." Long Jiutian and those immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace hurriedly bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie.


    "As Mountain Ruins is like a battlefield, don''t be such polite to me..." Zhang Tie said as he lightly raised his hand; meanwhile, an irresistible yet very tender strength instantly helped Long Jiutian and the other immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace strengthen their bodies. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The others might not have a sharp feeling; however, Long Jiutian and Ying Gucheng, who were supreme immortal generals felt their hearts pounding once heavily after feeling this force. They instantly held Zhang Tie in infinite awe and veneration. Only after a few months, Zhang Tie''s power appeared to have entered an unimaginable realm. That was too shocking.


    "Hahaha, Your Majesty Dragon Emperor is still such charming after a few months. Congratulations..." Force Emperor greeted Zhang Tie as he laughed aloud.


    When in Deities'' Plain, Zhang Tie showed great respect to Force Emperor. Of course, Force Emperor was crystal clear about it¡ª¡ªZhang Tie asked for Force Emperor''s mercy on Yin-Yang Sect before killing the two demon emperors; instead of posing such a request after killing the two demon emperors. If it was the second situation, even though Force Emperor agreed with him, the others would also regard it as Force Emperor''s concession to Dragon Emperor.


    Zhang Tie mentioned it before he defeated the army of demons, which displayed that Zhang Tie was bright, frank and considerate. Combining with his attitude about those forces which once encroached Dragon Emperor Big Domain, of course, such a person could easily win the recognition and respect from Force Emperor.


    "Hahaha, I was told that Your Majesty Force Emperor''s saber really scared daylights out of those demons in the past months. They would escape away the moment they saw your shadow..." Zhang Tie greeted Force Emperor with a smile.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, not only Force Emperor, even the other immortal generals of Force Emperor Immortal Palace chested out with pride. If others said the same words, it would be a simple compliment; however, when His Majesty Dragon Emperor said it, it would have a much greater effect.


    "Your Majesty Force Emperor, how about contending with me who could get more rarities in the core region of Mountain Ruins..."


    "That''s what I''m thinking about!"


    Zhang Tie and Force Emperor exchanged a glance with each other with a distance of dozens of miles. Closely after that, they burst out laughing at the same time.


    The optimistic moods of the two top human powers instantly affected the surrounding immortal generals as those human immortal generals were itching for the coming critical moment...


    ...

 1923 The Buzhou Mountain

    ''Is it the legendary Buzhou Mountain?''


    When Zhang Tie watched the core of Mountain Ruins being covered with the black mist of the broken space, his shock and odd whims couldn''t be understood by others.


    The legend about Buzhou Mountain had been spread among Hua people for thousands of years; however, Zhang Tie had not imagined that he could really see such a legendary relic in the age of deities.


    Mountain Ruins was the relics of Buzhou Mountain!


    It was a secret that Zhang Tie had known in Emperor NvWa''s Palace lately. Across the Motian Realm, only Emperor NvWa''s Palace preserved the complete history of hundreds of millions of years and could enable Zhang Tie to know the truth about Mountain Ruins.


    All the floating mountains across Motian Realm were actually the broken pieces of Mountain Ruins, also Buzhou Mountain.


    The legendary Buzhou Mountain among Hua people was a tunnel connecting the Mortal Realm with Immortal Realm. However, this tunnel was destroyed in the war between deities.


    Zhang Tie had heard about the legend of Buzhou Mountain from his dad in Blackhot City at the beginning. After hearing this story, Zhang Tie wondered why that mountain was called "Buzhou".


    As of now, Zhang Tie finally understood that the so-called "Buzhou" meant incomplete. Given its name, Zhang Tie knew that the so-called Buzhou Mountain was an incomplete mountain. Natural Mountains shouldn''t be incomplete as everything of natural mountains was created and gifted by the mother nature. Only when one mountain was built by a non-natural force out of a purpose and was not completed could it be called "Buzhou". Actually, the mountain was just its pictographic meaning, which meant that it was as lofty and magnificent as a mountain. It was a feature of the word-formation skills of ancient Hua People.


    Similar legends could also be discovered in the western world¡ª¡ªthe legend about Babel.


    Babel was also called Heavens-Reaching Tower. According to the legend, Babel was also the bridge connecting the Mortal Realm with the paradise.


    Finally, Babel was not completed either because it was destroyed in the contradictions between builders.


    After comparing Babel Tower and Buzhou Mountain, Zhang Tie found that Babel Tower in western legend probably was Buzhou Mountain. It was the common memory between eastern civilization and western civilization. Finally, it was deduced in different words and legends. However, the core of the two legends was consistent.


    However, Motian Realm was not the "Immortal Realm" that Buzhou Mountain was designed to reach; instead, it was only a space that expanded itself being attached to the powerful energy field of Buzhou Mountain and a base which was used to support the construction of Buzhou Mountain. In the beginning, Motian Realm was connected to the world where Zhang Tie came from. However, the collapse of the Buzhou Mountain destroyed everything. Besides cutting off the connection between the two worlds, it also caused irreparable damage to Motian Realm.


    According to Tang Mei, the secret about the reason for the wars between deities and between humans and demons was in the core region of Buzhou Mountain. In the most dangerous place of the core region, besides the space ball of Motian Realm, there was also a secret item that recorded the secrets about deities. As for the details, even Tang Mei didn''t know about it; because the history of that item was far longer than that of Motian Realm.


    Zhang Tie looked determined. After traversing thousands of miles, he finally targeted at the highest place of the blurry building in the core region of Mountain Ruins.


    Even though there was no space ball and he couldn''t integrate Motian Realm with Castle of Black Iron, now that he had known the existence of that item, he must take a look over there no matter what...


    "Mountain Ruins is going to open..."


    Soon after Zhang Tie came here, someone among human immortal generals had suddenly shouted.


    Closely after that immortal general''s shout, the highest place of the blurry building in the core region of Mountain Ruins suddenly sparkled brilliantly. Closely after that, the sparkle enlarged and appeared above the top of the core region of Mountain Ruins like a hot sun. Meanwhile, the entire core region of Mountain Ruins started to rock while the mist that covered Mountain Ruins gradually dispersed, revealing the original look of the core region of Mountain Ruins.


    The strong rock and wave spread over the surrounding air zone from the core region of Mountain Ruins like ripples in water and cleaned all the clouds in the air zone. Even though Zhang Tie and the other human immortal generals were thousands of miles away from there, they could also sense the strong wave from the core region of Mountain Ruins.


    After the heavy rock and wave, the entire core region of Mountain Ruins which was like being stuck in the broken hole of space appeared to be pushed towards Motian Realm by a great force and completely appeared in the space of Motian Realm. However, with the move of the core region of Mountain Ruins, the broken hole of space being blocked by the core region of Mountain Ruins instantly released hundreds of millions of blue or red meteors from above Mountain Ruins like turning on a water faucet. Closely after that, those meteors rolled down towards all directions, submerging the air zone of thousands of miles in the vicinity of the core region of Mountain Ruins.


    They were ice and fire heavenly winds as same as those at the bottom of Mountain Ruins. At the speed of over 600,000 miles per hour, their power became more terrifying as they could easily penetrate through supreme-level immortal general''s protective battle qi. Of course, they could last less time than those at the bottom of Mountain Ruins.


    The ice and fire heavenly winds that flew off the top of the highest building in the core region of Mountain Ruins could reach 60 miles away ahead of Zhang Tie in the furthest distance.


    That was why so many immortal generals were waiting here; instead of rushing into the neighborhood of Mountain Ruins.


    A few minutes later, those ice and fire heavenly winds that sprayed over the core region of Mountain Ruins had vanished. Closely after that, bizarre tens of thousands of miles-long rainbow crossed the top of the core region of Mountain Ruins, revealing the entire core region of Mountain Ruins to the public completely under the cover of a looming golden light.


    In Zhang Tie''s eyes, the core region of Mountain Ruins was more like the tip of a damaged huge pyramid. Although the tip of the huge pyramid had lost its edges and smoothness on the surface, Zhang Tie could still clearly identify that the core region was similar to a pyramid from all sides.


    ''Is Buzhou Mountain''s overall look a huge pyramid? Because this pyramid has not been completed and lacks a couple of corners, it''s called "Buzhou", which means incomplete...''


    Zhang Tie realized it at once.


    After the core region of Mountain Ruins was completely exposed, many human immortal generals started to pant. Many people could barely move their eyes away from Mountain Ruins thousands of miles away. However, nobody moved; instead, they all fixated onto Force Emperor and Zhang Tie.


    At this moment, the most powerful one would fly towards the Mountain Ruins first just like that the most powerful and dignified one at the table would nip dish by chopsticks first.


    "Your Majesty Dragon Emperor, please!" Force Emperor made a hand gesture to invite Zhang Tie with a generous smile.


    "Please!" Zhang Tie didn''t decline at this moment. He instantly flew towards the core region of Mountain Ruins first.


    Watching Zhang Tie flying away, Force Emperor also followed him towards the core region of Mountain Ruins, closely after the other immortal generals.


    In the periphery of the core region of Mountain Ruins, there were some smaller mountain ranges and mountain peaks. Although they were not as large as the core region of Mountain Ruins, they were greater in quantity and occupied a larger air zone. Immortal generals under supreme immortal generals could enter the periphery of the core region of Mountain Ruins. If they were fortunate, they could also acquire some immortal outfits or other rarities over there.


    When Zhang Tie started to move, he didn''t reach his highest speed. Neither did Force Emperor. In less than one hour, they had arrived at the periphery of the core region of Mountain Ruins.


    There were many relics of damaged palaces and buildings and many looming space cracks giving out odd light over those mountain ranges in the periphery of the core region of Mountain Ruins. Many wind immortal generals and fire immortal generals didn''t fly ahead any more when they arrived in this region. They then started to scatter and look for their own lucky chances...


    Only Zhang Tie, Force Emperor and some supreme immortal generals continued to fly ahead.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Between the periphery of the core region of Mountain Ruins and its core region, there was a golden light curtain which was cascading from the highest place of the core region of Mountain Ruins like a waterfall, isolating the core region of Mountain Ruins from its periphery...


    The light curtain carried a force that was similar to that of the realm. Just like a filter, it was only accessible to supreme immortal generals and those above.


    After penetrating through the light curtain, Zhang Tie and Force Emperor almost entered the core region of Mountain Ruins at the same time.


    "Watch out..."


    Zhang Tie suddenly heard Force Emperor''s force.


    Zhang Tie had already discovered that a 3-m higher fiery human-faced snake was darting towards him like a sharp bolt with two long swords in its hands the moment it entered the light curtain. Being covered with runes all over, it was giving out a bizarre metallic luster. Its upper body was similar to that of humans; its lower part was similar to a snake.


    This metallic human-shaped snake was a guard of the core region of Mountain Ruins, a deities'' battle puppet whose battle force could match that of supreme immortal generals...


    Bang... Infinite Immortal Prison had already appeared in Zhang Tie''s hand and turned into a huge 10 m longer black mallet. Before that deities'' battle puppet approached him, Zhang Tie had already flown over there. With one strike, that deities'' battle puppet had been broken into two halves and sent flying tens of thousands of meters away.


    Zhang Tie became temporarily stunned. He didn''t use his full strength. However, his strike could never be resisted by ordinary supreme immortal generals. Previously, he thought that he could break the deities'' battle puppet into pieces with one strike; unexpectedly, he only broke it into two halves.


    The body of deities'' battle puppet was really unimaginably hard...

 1924 A Breakthrough

    This deities'' battle puppet''s body was terrifyingly hard. Ordinary far-distance strikes couldn''t hurt it at all. It could only be solved in close combat. Additionally, like those battle puppets that Zhang Tie met before on some special occasions, it was immortal in a restricted area. It would always recover itself no matter how many times it was shattered.


    Soon after the deities'' battle puppet was sent flying tens of thousands of meters away, the cut of its body had turned into soft liquid. Closely after that, the two halves of the body flew towards each other and started to stick to themselves.


    Additionally, soon after Zhang Tie made such a boom, two more deities'' battle puppets had flown over here from afar. Only after a short while, they had been within 30 miles with strong fierce qi.


    "We cannot spend too much time on these deities'' battle puppets. We must solve them as soon as possible and move fast. Once being haunted by them, more and more deities'' battle puppets would arrive from different directions. Additionally, they are undying. Although they couldn''t form a powerful battle formation and overlie their battle forces, if a colony contains too many ants, they could also bite an elephant to death." Force Emperor warned Zhang Tie secretly with his battle qi.


    Closely after that, the terrifying, huge saber appeared in the hand of Force Emperor. Before Zhang Tie moved, he had darted towards the two deities'' battle puppets.


    Under Zhang Tie''s gaze, Force Emperor broke the sky with his saber light. With the tactic of killing them respectively, he soon shattered the two deities'' battle puppets into pieces and turned them into drops of bloody liquid suspending in the air.


    As runes flew inside them, those drops of bloody liquid started to gather up.


    "Elder Long, Elder Ying, as you''re new here, you''d better stay close to the light curtain. Don''t deepen inside and try your luck until you''re familiar with the combat pattern with these deities'' battle puppets. Once you feel you can''t defeat them, you must exit the light curtain at once. These things couldn''t chase you out of the core region!" Zhang Tie turned around as he warned Long Jiutian and Ying Gucheng who had just come to his side.


    "Don''t worry, Your Majesty, we won''t be greedy this time. We''ve just come here to figure out the situation in the core region and the battle force of these deities'' battle puppets. We will stay together. If we do not feel good, we will exit right away. Your Majesty, don''t worry about us. Hurry, your top priority is to find Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring!" Long Jiutian said in a muffled voice. After that, Long Jiutian and Ying Gucheng exchanged a glance with each other. Then, they didn''t follow Zhang Tie anymore; instead, they all rushed towards the deities'' battle puppet which had just been broken into two halves by Zhang Tie. Closely after that, the two people started to fight that deities'' battle puppet which had just revived.


    At this moment, those supreme immortal generals of Force Emperor Immortal Palace and the other palaces who had entered the core region of Mountain Ruins had rushed in all directions. They all scattered. Many people directly entered the closest entrances as they couldn''t wait to try their lucks.


    After shattering two deities'' battle puppets, Force Emperor didn''t stay there; instead, he rushed upwards.


    As of now, Zhang Tie didn''t have any concerns. He then flew upwards at a speed of tens of thousands of meters per second.


    If people wanted to try their lucks in the core region of Mountain Ruins, they could only enter the core region of Mountain Ruins. There were two entrances accessing to the inside of the core region of Mountain Ruins. One was not far away from the place where they entered just now; the other was on the second floor. It was dozens of times more difficult for people to enter the inside of the core region of Mountain Ruins through the entrance on the top than that at the bottom.


    Both Zhang Tie and Force Emperor wanted to enter the core region of Mountain Ruins through the entrance on the top.


    Zhang Tie flew towards the entrance on the top at a lightning speed. Those deities'' battle puppets rushed towards Zhang Tie from the sky by batches, at least dozens in total. However, Zhang Tie didn''t waste time on these deities'' battle puppets at all. He had already dodged away and left them far behind at a super high speed before these deities'' battle puppets approached him.


    Force Emperor didn''t mean to waste time on these deities'' battle puppets either; instead, he also rushed towards the entrance on the top with Zhang Tie.


    As a result, those deities'' battle puppets instantly blocked some supreme immortal generals who were following Zhang Tie and Force Emperor in the air.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Previously, those supreme immortal generals wanted to rush towards the entrance on the top after Zhang Tie and Force Emperor in case of greater loss. Pitifully, after Zhang Tie and Force Emperor adopted the same tactic to push forward rapidly, their plan was destroyed at once.


    On the second floor of the core region of Mountain Ruins, there were 8 entrances in total, which were respectively on four sides, 2 on each side.


    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie and Force Emperor had surpassed everyone else and flew into an entrance respectively. After flying thousands of miles inside, the two people completely separated from each other.


    After avoiding some batches of deities'' battle puppets on the way, Zhang Tie finally came to an entrance accessing the inside of the core region of Mountain Ruins.


    That entrance was a huge archway higher than 100 m. On both sides of the archway, there were two mighty huge statues of snake-human with overwhelming qi; each of them was higher than 100 m. It was an open square in front of the two statues.


    360 deities'' battle puppets were standing over the square in a huge battle formation.


    When Zhang Tie appeared, those deities'' battle puppet opened their bloody eyes at the same time as they all fixated onto Zhang Tie at once.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie couldn''t avoid anymore.


    "Go die..." Zhang Tie shouted with wide, furious eyes as he waved his black huge tower and rushed towards those deities'' battle puppets.


    The 360 deities'' battle puppets surged towards Zhang Tie like a tide.


    Bang... the first deities'' battle puppet was shattered...


    Bang... the second deities'' battle puppet was shattered...


    Bang... the third deities'' battle puppet was shattered...


    With loud sonic booms, Zhang Tie entered the encirclement of those deities'' battle puppets like a fierce tiger rushing into a flock of sheep. Meanwhile, he hit those deities'' battle puppets one after another with his black huge tower in an overwhelming manner like landslide and tsunami.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had exerted his full strength; instead of hiding his real battle force anymore. When those deities'' battle puppets touched the black huge tower, they were broken into red raindrops spraying over the sky, which didn''t start to gather up until they were sent flying tens of thousands of meters away.


    Zhang Tie kept waving his huge mallet as he triggered his protective battle qi, protective sword wind and pupil swordsmanship at the same time. As a result, the region within hundreds of meters absolutely became a terrifyingly, fatal region. While sustaining the attacks of those deities'' battle puppets, Zhang Tie broke through the encirclement of the 360 deities'' battle puppets as fast as possible in the fiercest and directest way like a red-hot sharp sword. Closely after that, he strode into the high archway. Almost at the same time, those deities'' battle puppets which were baring their fangs and waving their claws behind Zhang Tie suddenly paused...


    An irresistible force inside the archway instantly drew Zhang Tie onto the ground from the air the moment he entered.


    When Zhang Tie fell to the ground, he instantly knelt down on the ground as he felt weak.


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie spurted out a mouthful of blood, which drew a bloody sector on the ground.


    Face pale, Zhang Tie panted heavily. Meanwhile, he turned around and took a look at those deities'' battle puppets. At this moment, all the deities'' battle puppets which were besieging Zhang Tie hardly just now had already stopped their movements as if they couldn''t see Zhang Tie. They started to queue up on the square outside the archway again. Then, they all closed their scarlet eyes again as if nothing had happened just now...


    It was the price that Zhang Tie had to pay for turning the greater part of the 360 deities'' battle puppets into a bloody rain over the sky. After being besieged by 360 deities'' battle puppets, Zhang Tie would never be safe and sound no matter how powerful he was.


    Actually, it was the solution with the least price that Zhang Tie could work out. At this moment, the deities'' battle puppet which was broken into pieces by him first had just recovered. It didn''t have a chance to join the battle for the second time; instead, it returned to the battle formation outside the archway. If Zhang Tie stayed in the square for a few more seconds, he might have suffered a greater loss...

 1925 Surprise!

    @@


    Kneeling on the ground, Zhang Tie panted for quite a while. After that, he wiped off the blood at his mouth corners and slowly picked himself up. Then, he started to look around this bizarre place.


    There was a huge palace behind the archway. This palace was higher than 200 m. It was so magnificent that it didn''t seem like being built by humans. Many odd runes were flowing over the walls and the ground faintly. The ground of the palace was as clean as a mirror, which could clearly reflect Zhang Tie''s shadow. Besides Zhang Tie, nobody else was in the palace. There was not even any decoration inside the palace. There were only 5 closed gates at the end of the palace which looked such mysterious and profound.


    Based on his great resilience, Zhang Tie had almost recovered his wounds.


    This palace should be inside Buzhou Mountain.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Zhang Tie felt an irresistible power inside this palace, which drew him to the ground. As a result, he couldn''t fly in the palace. However@@

 1926 Joining Hands in Breaking Through

    @@


    Watching Tang Mei flashing inside ahead of him, of course, Zhang Tie, as a man, was unwilling to lag behind. He followed Tang Mei in closely through the gap of the gate.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    There was a long tunnel higher than 100 m behind the gate. It was a bit dim inside the tunnel. There were evident damages and collapses inside it. In the well-preserved places, gloomy odd rune light was flowing over the ground. The entire tunnel was in dead silence just like a tunnel in an underground grave. They felt restless.


    Watching those broken places in the tunnel, Zhang Tie took in a deep breath.


    If they were broken rocks or metals, Zhang Tie wouldn''t feel strange about them; however, all the broken places were made of a special material being neither stone nor metal. It was similar to the material of time tower that he once saw in Earth-Element Realm in Taixia Country. In Zhang Tie''s eyes, this material was almost as indestructible as Infinite Immortal Prison. However, there was many damage@@

 1927 Wonders

    @@


    Unlike water, it was bone-chilling and was about minus 100 Celcius degrees. Weirdly, it was not frozen; instead, it was still flowing. Meanwhile, the water could heavily erode one''s protective battle qi. Therefore, Zhang Tie had to fix his protective battle qi while swimming.


    The tunnel inside the pond was as complex as a max. It was connected to many other ponds of different styles and sizes. Zhang Tie could see one pond in each a few minutes. There were odd black sands at the bottoms of those ponds which appeared to be used to plant something. Additionally, Zhang Tie saw some withered and broken roots which were thicker than 3 m in those black sands. As they had been there for so many years, they immediately turned into powders floating in the water after being lightly touched by hand.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The density of water was even several times greater than that of mercury; additionally, it formed a very high pressure at the bottom of ponds. As a result, they couldn''t swim fast even i@@

 1928 The Ultimate Goal

    @@


    When he heard Tang Mei talking about the benefits of Heavenly Sandalwood, Zhang Tie rolled his eyeballs. He was thinking about teleporting all the Heavenly Sandalwoods into Castle of Black Iron.


    Watching Zhang Tie''s look, smart Emperor NvWa instantly guessed what Zhang Tie was thinking about as she said, "Brother, do you want to teleport these Heavenly Sandalwood in Castle of Black Iron?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Zhang Tie scratched his head bashfully as he smirked, "I''m indeed thinking about doing that. After all, my Castle of Black Iron has enough space to hold all of them. Additionally, although the greater part of their surface has been carbonized, the part of the wood in the middle of these trees should still preserve some great effect. These items couldn''t even be bought in the world where I came from. Therefore, I want to take them back..."


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s mentality was like that of a man who had worked many years outside and was going back home¡ª¡ªbring some local special@@

 1929 Fierce Deities

    @@


    ''Heavens of Light?''


    This name was strange. Zhang Tie had never heard about it before. When he heard it, he immediately felt it was ethereal.


    Zhang Tie gazed at that three-dimensional map in his mind sea for quite a while as he found that there was only one route leading to the top of Mountain Ruins. There was a huge tower called Babel on the floor under Heavens Light. It was the mere tunnel that connected the two floors like a huge pillar.


    "You said it was the most dangerous place in Buzhou Mountain. Do you know what fierce things are inside there?" Zhang Tie asked Tang Mei out of curiosity.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "To be honest, I don''t know it either!" Tang Mei replied as she slightly shook her head.


    "You don''t know?" Zhang Tie raised his voice at once.


    "Brother, do you think I''m almighty God? How could I know everything?" Tang Mei rolled her eyes at Zhang Tie. After that, she stroked the hair beside her temple, which made her more womanly. "Since Buzhou Mountian was @@

 1930 Escape

    @@


    One month later, at the entrance of a palace under the Heaven of Light inside Buzhou Mountain...


    Bang, facing heavy battle qi strikes, the broken gate which had already lost its luster was broken into tens of hundreds of pieces by Zhang Tie''s back which then shot outside the palace at a high speed. Inside those pieces, Zhang Tie was moving faster.


    A bloody immortal battle puppet was chasing after Zhang Tie closely with a spear in hand. When Zhang Tie flew out of the gate, the immortal battle puppet instantly threw its spear towards Zhang Tie.


    The spear shot towards Zhang Tie''s chest as fast as a lightning bolt...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Watching the spear shooting towards him, Zhang Tie leaned to one side. When the spear was going to pass by his chest, Zhang Tie suddenly caught the middle part of the spear by two hands. In an instant, like being attached to the spear, Zhang Tie rotated 180 degrees as the spear shot back towards the immortal battle puppet in a marvelous way. Additio@@

 1931 Out of Imagination

    The entrance of this tower still remained complete. Additionally, there were looming lights on both sides of the 100 m high white entrance. It was a white light curtain at the entrance; instead of a gate. When they approached the entrance, a semi-transparent palm-sized token suddenly appeared in Tang Mei''s hand. The token then gave out a light towards the white light curtain, reflecting a portal on the light curtain. Zhang Tie and Tang Mei rushed in at a stroke.


    When Zhang Tie entered the portal, he saw colorful light and shade. At the same time, a huge transparent bubble appeared on Zhang Tie''s side and wrapped him. Closely after that, the bubble flew upwards. Zhang Tie felt weightless as if he were sent into the sky by a rapid ascending air. In less than 1 second, when the light and shadow disappeared, the bubble also burst. Zhang Tie found that he was already in a spacious and bright palace.


    Behind Zhang Tie, there were three circular portals, each one contained a light curtain, forming a triangular pyramid which was higher than 10 m. In front of Zhang Tie, there were two rows of deities'' battle puppets on both sides of the palace.


    When Zhang Tie and Tang Mei arrived here, the two rows of deities'' battle puppets suddenly opened their eyes and fixated onto them at the same time.


    There were only about 20 deities'' battle puppets. However, two of them were blue, which meant that their battle force was close to that of immortal emperor. When Zhang Tie found all of them had fixated onto him, he felt like having goosebumps over his scalp and was ready for a battle...


    "Wait a moment..." Tang Mei said as she raised the same token. The token gave out another light, which scanned over the entire palace. Those deity battle puppets whose eyes had turned red instantly closed their eyes and continued to sleep.


    Zhang Tie was petrified. Gazing at that token in Tang Mei''s hand, Zhang Tie asked, "What''s that?"


    "It''s a token for instrumental spirit in Motian Realm to access to the Heavens of Light. I didn''t use it before beause it only works here..."


    Zhang Tie looked around as he asked, "Is this the entrance of the Heavens of Light?"


    "No, we''re in the Instrumental Spirit Palace for instrumental spirits of Motian Realm. We could take a rest here. When we''re ready, we could enter the Heavens of Light..."


    Zhang Tie nodded. After taking another look at those motionless deities'' battle puppets, he became completely relaxed as he put away his Heavens Separation Sword and said, "Why does the instrumental spirit of Motian Realm have an Instrumental Spirit Palace in Buzhou Mountain?"


    "At the beginning, the function of Motian Realm was to help deities construct Buzhou Mountain. The instrumental spirit of Motian Realm was like the general logistics butler of Buzhou Mountain. Of course, there''s a Instrumental Spirit Palace..."


    "Oh, I see!"


    Zhang Tie and Tang Mei could really take a short rest here and make preparation to climb the higher floor. The two people had already advanced all the way here in various means and tricks over the past one more month. Therefore, they were intense all the way.


    Tang Mei had already found a place to sit down with crossed legs and closed eyes. Zhang Tie then started to stroll in the Instrumental Spirit Palace.


    Besides this lobby, there were some rooms in the palace. However, all the rooms were as clean as this lobby. Therefore, Zhang Tie became a bit disappointed. Over the past one month, Zhang Tie had been used to acquiring something more or less.


    "Why it''s none here. The former instrumental spirit was too poor. The former king roc at least left the infinite immortal hell to me..." Zhang Tie heaved a sigh helplessly when he came back to Tang Mei''s side and said.


    "There were many objects here. But all of them have been moved to Emperor NvWa''s Palace after the war between deities..."


    "Is there any similar place in this tower?"


    "Yes, there is; but those places are all relatively private. We couldn''t access them without a specific token!"


    After hearing Tang Mei''s words, Zhang Tie became completely disappointed as he also closed his eyes and started to recover himself. At the same time, he started to form a body-separation run in his mind sea...


    Over these days, Zhang Tie''s body-separation rune played a great role all the way here.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Although deities'' battle puppets were powerful, they had limited intelligence. They couldn''t find any difference between Zhang Tie''s body-separation skill and his original body at all. Each time, when they met a difficult pass or section, Zhang Tie would release his substitute. By luring those deities'' battle puppets out of that region at the cost of one substitute, Zhang Tei could create favorable conditions for him and Tang Mei to pass there.


    Without the sacrifice of Zhang Tie''s substitutes, they could never reach here in such a short period even if they had a map of the structure inside Buzhou Mountain.


    ...


    3 days later, Zhang Tie and Tang Mei had reached their peak states as they stood in front of the light curtains of the three portals inside the Instrumental Spirit Palace.


    "You mean we could reach Heavens of Light directly through this portal?"


    "Right!"


    "Hmm, I will release a substitute into it and have it figure out the situation up there. Then, we will negotiate about the countermeasure!"


    "Elder brother, your substitute doesn''t need to clash against them. It must figure out the quantity and battle forces of the living fierce deities up there. The two fierce deities with more than 2 immortal chakras are surrounded by a bloody light forever. Given the darkness of the bloody lights, you could judge their concrete battle forces!" Tang Mei warned Zhang Tie with a solemn look.


    "If this one doesn''t work, I will use some more substitutes at most!" Zhang Tie nodded. Closely after that, he pointed at his central forehead by finger and shot out a body-separation rune from there. In the blink of an eye, the rune had become another Zhang Tie in front of him.


    Zhang Tie and his substitute nodded towards each other. Closely after that, Zhang Tie''s substitute released its protective battle qi and turned around before entering the light curtain by one step.


    The bizarre bubble then wrapped Zhang Tie''s substitute and flew upwards as fast as a lightning bolt.


    When the bubble broke, it released Zhang Tie''s substitute into the Heavens of Light, which was going to figure out the situation inside Heavens of Light before sacrifice!


    Heavens of Light was covered with a glow on its ground. However, the glow was not from fierce deities, but from the pieces of fierce deities'' bodies...


    When Zhang Tie entered Heavens of Light, he stepped onto a palm which was giving out a glow.


    Nothing else inside Heavens of Light could stand and move except Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie became petrified...

 1932 Immortal Spring and Space Ball

    Zhang Tie''s life was always full of surprises.


    Over the one-odd month, Zhang Tie suffered many hardships and sacrificed more than 10 substitutes before coming to the floor closely after the Heavens of Light. Zhang Tie thought that there were more powerful opponents inside the Heavens of Light. He had been ready to activate his bloodline of battle deity and fight those fierce deities who had formed 2 or 3 immortal charkas as was described by Tang Mei.


    However, Zhang Tie felt like punching at a piece of cotton at his full strength. So did Tang Mei.


    Therefore, after confirming that there was no living object in the Heavens of Light, Zhang Tie and Tang Mei finally entered the highest space inside Buzhou Mountain with a complex and unbelievable mood.


    Heavens of Light was at the top of Buzhou Mountain. The complete Buzhou Mountain was a standard pyramid. Therefore, the Heavens of Light was less than 6 square miles in total. Only after taking a look around this space, Zhang Tie and Tang Mei had confirmed that there was no movable object inside this space.


    The ground was covered with pieces of fierce deities. The longest pieces were shorter than an adult''s finger; most of them were only as long as half an adult''s finger. Based on Zhang Tie''s insight and judgment, only after taking a cursory look at those pieces, Zhang Tie had known they were the remains of 4 fierce deities.


    Tang Mei squatted down as she observed a piece for a few seconds. Then she stood up and shook her head with a solemn look, saying, "I couldn''t figure out how these fierce deities were killed. However, given these pieces, I know the 4 fierce deities must have formed at least 2 immortal chakras..."


    "Whatever. To be honest, I couldn''t figure it out either!" Zhang Tie shook his head as he heaved a sigh, "Ahem ahem... these pieces really looked terrifying. Let''s clean them..."


    After saying that, Zhang Tie collected all the pieces with his surging battle qi like a tornado. Closely after that, he teleported all of them into Castle of Black Iron..."


    The ground of Heavens of Light became clean in an instant.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Elder brother, you look happy."


    "Of course, I''m happy. It means that I could return home safe and sound without having to fight these fierce deities at the risk of my life..." Zhang Tie said with a smile as he walked towards the high platform which was 1,000 m higher than the ground in the middle of the Heavens of Light.


    As for Zhang Tie, it was much better for him to punch at a piece of cotton than an iron sheet.


    "Elder brother, aren''t you curious about that?" Tang Mei also sighed as she followed Zhang Tie in.


    "About what?"


    "About how these fierce deities were killed?"


    "Perhaps these fierce deities had already died when the earliest war broke out in Buzhou Mountain. After killing them, their opponents left here, leaving these pieces!" Zhang Tie shrugged as he continued, "Don''t forget that Buzhou Mountain is a battlefield. It''s nothing strange for us to see some corpses on this battlefield."


    "Maybe, but what if these fierce deities were not killed at that time?"


    "Whatever!" Zhang Tie said carelessly, "I prefer they were killed by someone. Otherwise, we would have big trouble. There''re too many strange things in this world. We''re not deities. Neither you nor I could control and know everything. We only need to seize current opportunities. As for me, there are only two most important things: first, go back home; second, let Castle of Black Iron integrate with Motian Realm. All the others are subsidiary."


    "Maybe you''re right..." Tang Mei said with a helpless smile.


    "Of course I''m right..." Zhang Tie answered solemnly, "Think about it if these fierce deities were really killed by someone in the earliest war or yesterday, would you like to look for that person who killed so many fierce deities even if you know whom he is? I won''t do that. As long as that person doesn''t offend me, I will never offend him. If we''re really enemies, I would try my best to avoid fighting against him before promoting to an immortal emperor unless necessary. I''m not living for being a detective. Even if I want, it''s not the right place for being a detective as it''s the battlefield..."


    "Detective?"


    "Oh, I almost forgot that there''s no detective in Motian Realm. Detectives are those who always want to figure out everything!"


    "Elder brother, aren''t you such a kind of person?"


    "Of course not!"


    As they talked, they had come to the high platform. There was a huge 10-m higher brilliant, metallic, rugged stone on the platform and a spring mouth on the top of the stone. Springwater was gurgling out of that spring mouth, leading to a small pond under the huge stone.


    Next to that pond was a treasure ball giving out golden light whose diameter was greater than 5 m.


    Although Zhang Tie looked calm, at the sight of that golden treasure ball and the gurgling huge stone, he still couldn''t cover his excitement.


    "Is this the space ball of Motian Realm?"


    "Yes, this is the space ball of Motian Realm. Elder brother, there should be no problem for you to have Castle of Black Iron integrate with it now. As long as you teleport this space ball into Castle of Black Iron, it will be gradually swallowed by Castle of Black Iron. From then on, the entire Motian Realm will become yours!"


    "It will take Castle of Black Iron many years to take Mountain Ruins, not to mention the entire Motian Realm. But I''ve really not imagined that Nine Heavens Immortal Spring comes from this bizarre stone..." Zhang Tie said as he came to the side of that huge stone and the pond. Then, he squatted down and cupped some water by hand before drinking it. The bizarre feeling was utterly different than what he had experienced in Emperor NvWa Palace the other day. ''Now that I''ve got this, what else do I want!''

 1933 The Future of Demons

    Only after having a few mouthfuls of Nine Heavens Immortal Spring, Zhang Tie had become spirited again. He felt that his battle qi and spiritual energy were going to spill out of his qi sea and mind sea. Additionally, he felt that the remaining bit of resistance from the immortal-human barrier between him and the Energy Realm was instantly destroyed by Nine Heavens Immortal Spring. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Previously, after drinking Nine Heavens Immortal Spring in Emperor NvWa''s Palace, Zhang Tie felt that the gate leading to the immortal emperor was half opened, through which, Zhang Tie could already touch the splendid world by edging in. Now, the gate had been completely demolished by Zhang Tie.


    The bizarre colorful energies in various shapes in the Energy Realm were flickering on Zhang Tie''s side every once in a while. Compared to those energies that Zhang Tie sensed before, these energies were clearer and more surging and concrete. They could be touched by hands. The sieve and barrier between Zhang Tie and those energies had long been disappeared. Zhang Tie felt like entering a vast ocean from a river.


    Zhang Tie was drinking the Nine Heavens Immortal Spring which many immortal generals were scrambling for even at the risk of their lives to his heart''s content. Across the Motian Realm, nobody else could have such a nice experience, no matter humans or demons.


    When Zhang Tie was drinking Nine Heavens Immortal Spring, he felt pretty pleasant. After drinking about one barrel of Nine Heavens Immortal Spring, Zhang Tie turned around and asked Tang Mei with a grin, "Do you want to have some mouthfuls..."


    "No need. No matter how much Nine Heavens Immortal Spring I drink, I cannot improve my overall strength anymore. Nine Heavens Immortal Spring only works before one lights his or her immortal chakra. After one lights his or her immortal chakra, it will be meaningless to drink it!" Tang Mei explained with a smile as she stood aside and watched Zhang Tie drinking it attentively.


    "Don''t you want to take some back to Emperor NvWa''s Palace? After all, there''s no stockpile in Emperor NvWa''s Palace anymore..."


    A few days ago, Zhang Tie had drunk up all the remaining Nine Heavens Immortal Palace in Emperor NvWa''s Palace. However, due to some reasons, it didn''t live up to Tang Mei''s expectations. Therefore, when Zhang Tie caught sight of Nine Heavens Immortal Spring, he had another drink.


    "Previously, I didn''t know that the Infinite King Roc Sutra that you cultivated required more Nine Heavens Immortal Spring to completely break the immortal-human barrier and restore your health. After drinking those Nine Heavens Immortal Spring, you only broke the immortal-human barrier basically and sensed the existence of the energies in the Energy Realm. But now, elder brother, you''re already able to absorb the energies in the Energy Realm. You''re destined to promote to an immortal emperor in the future. As long as you integrate the Space Ball of Motian Realm into Castle of Black Iron, Emperor NvWa''s Palace will not need Nine Heavens Immortal Spring anymore in the future!" Tang Mei said calmly.


    Zhang Tie stood up as he burst out laughing. "If so, I will take away all the Nine Heavens Immortal Spring!"


    "Elder brother, just take it away. There''re a few ponds of Nine Heavens Immortal Spring in Buzhou Mountain, all of which originate from this stone. If you take away this stone, from then on, nobody else will be able to find Nine Heavens Immortal Spring here anymore, no matter humans or demons. That means there will be no demon emperors in Motian Realm. It''s good news for humans in Motian Realm. Demons in Motian Realm are doomed to degenerate and be extinct in the future. When your Castle of Black Iron completely integrates with Motian Realm, demons in Motian Realm will die out..."


    That was what Zhang Tie wanted. Besides that Nine Heavens Immortal Spring was a rarity, an important reason why Zhang Tie wanted to take it away was that human and demon sages in Motian Realm would never promote to immortal emperors or demon emperors anymore. From then on, the power contrast between humans and demons would be basically balanced.


    At this moment, even if Zhang Tie left Motian Realm, there were still 3 human immortal emperors in Motian Realm. However, there was only one demon emperor hiding in the Demon Realm. Demons could never bear such a sharp difference in power.


    When the core area of Mountain Ruins was opened this time, demons might have given up competing with humans in Mountain Ruins. As of now, according to the intelligence that Zhang Tie received from outside Mountain Ruins, not a single demon sage had entered Mountain Ruins. Not until 3 days ago did Zhang Tie know that Star Emperor who has disappeared after the war in Deities'' Plain didn''t come to the core area of Mountain Ruins for possible rarities; instead, he entered the demons'' territory and was plundering unscrupulously in the territory of Versatile Demon Emperor.


    Of course, Star Emperor was not selfless; instead, he seized the opportunity period when demons suffered a great loss. He could acquire more benefits in demons'' territory than in Mountain Ruins. Although Star Emperor was selfish, objectively, his raid gave a heavy blow to demons and caused demons to regenerate at a faster speed. This was why Zhang Tie didn''t avenge Star Emperor for attacking Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Deities'' Plain. Those who were not of his kind must not stand on his side. Although Star Emperor was cunning, the power of Star Emperor and Star Emperor Immortal Palace also meant the power of humans as a whole. Such a power was beneficial to humans and not to demons.


    "I suggest Emperor NvWa''s Palace to keep some Nine Heavens Immortal Spring!" Zhang Tie said with an experienced and profound smile, "There''re too many unexpected things in this world. Many things are variable. Take this Heavens of Light as an instance, previously, neither you nor I could imagine that the most dangerous place in Motian Realm was so peaceful. There might not be any more demon emperors in Motian Realm, but humans must have the confidence to have more supreme immortal generals promote to immortal emperors. As the guardian of humans in Motian Realm, Emperor NvWa''s Palace have to stockpile some Nine Heavens Immortal Spring so that I could leave here without any concern!"


    After thinking about it for a short while, Tang Mei finally nodded as she said, "Well, elder brother, you''re right. But Emperor NvWa''s Palace doesn''t need too much Nine Heavens Immortal Spring!"


    "Keep some Nine Heavens Immortal Palace for enabling at least 10 supreme immortal generals to promote to immortal emperors!"


    "Okay!" Tang Mei said as she raised her hand towards the pond. Closely after that, a stream of water flew out of the pond and entered one of her portable finger rings.


    After that, there were still more than 2/3 of Nine Heavens Immortal Spring left. When Zhang Tie wanted to teleport the Nine Heavens Immortal Spring and the colorful huge stone into Castle of Black Iron, he was stunned by Tang Mei''s words...


    "Elder brother, don''t you want to take a look at the source of the conflict between humans and demons?"


    ...

 1934 The Secrets About Deities

    "Don''t you want to know the source of the conflicts between humans and demons?"


    After hearing Tang Mei''s question, Zhang Tie instantly asked her with high spirits.


    "The source of the conflicts between humans and demons is here!" Tang Mei said certainly as she pointed at that colorful huge rock which was gurgling out Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring.


    "That rock?" Zhang Tie asked as he started to observe that piece of rock seriously again, "You mean humans and demons are scrambling for this piece of rock?"


    This piece of rock meant Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring. This explanation might be reasonable in Motian Realm; however, there was no Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring in the world where Zhang Tie came from at all. Even so, the conflicts between humans and demons were still ceaseless over there. How to explain this?


    "Of course, humans and demons are not scrambling for this piece of rock!" Tang Mei said as she shook her head, "Nobody in Motian Realm knows where did this piece of rock come from, including all the former Emperor NvWa in Emperor NvWa''s Palace. However, according to the legends of Emperor NvWa''s Palace, this piece of magical rock contains the secrets of far-ancient deities, including the origin of the conflicts between humans and demons!"


    "Oh, I see!" Zhang Tie got her point. When he thought about the secrets about the deities, he said out of curiosity, "Let me have a try then..."


    Meanwhile, Zhang Tie injected a wisp of spiritual energy into the piece of magical rock. However, that wisp of powerful spiritual energy had been absorbed the moment it touched its surface just like a drop of water in a desert.


    ''Strange! Why!''


    Noticing Zhang Tie''s odd look, Tang Mei also tried to inject a wisp of spiritual energy into the piece of magical rock; however, her spiritual energy was also absorbed the moment it touched the surface of the piece of magical rock. She didn''t get any feedback from the rock either.


    Therefore, Tang Mei was also shocked.


    Generally speaking, if an item contained some information, as long as one injected his spiritual energy inside it, one would be able to sense the information. It was as easy as reading the contents of a secret method from a piece of crystal. However, this piece of rock appeared to be special as it couldn''t be activated by the two people''s spiritual energy.


    "Let me have another try..." Zhang Tie said as he pointed at his central forehead. Closely after that, another wisp of powerful spiritual energy shot into that piece of magical rock in terms of a streak of golden light from his central forehead.


    This time, Zhang Tie felt that that piece of magical rock was indeed absorbing his spiritual energy as his spiritual energy gradually entered the piece of magical rock. The former two wisps of spiritual energy were too trivial to cause this piece of magical rock to make any response. Even though Zhang Tie input his spiritual energy into it with the highest power, it was still far from enough for this piece of magical rock.


    Out of great curiosity, Zhang Tie clenched his teeth as he constantly inputted his spiritual energy into that piece of magical rock. Meanwhile, his central forehead was giving out brilliant, golden light. After inputting his spiritual energy into the piece of magical rock for about one hour with the largest "power", Zhang Tie''s forehead had been oozing. When Zhang Tie felt running out of his spiritual energy, he heard a "boom..." from the piece of magical rock with a wave.


    Closely after that, a piece of message entered Zhang Tie''s mind sea, which suddenly blew up in Zhang Tie''s mind sea like a seed, submerging Zhang Tie''s complete awareness in strong light...


    In an instant, numerous pieces of information poured in Zhang Tie''s mind sea. Zhang Tie felt like losing everything, including his body and awareness. Meanwhile, he felt owning everything. Everything became nothing.


    Millions of years later, a sparkle appeared in that nihility. Closely after that, the nihility exploded as galaxies and planets flew out of there like flames. Meanwhile, the entire nihility started to expand sharply.


    Hundreds of millions of years later, a huge blue planet came into being in a violent explosion, which had two moons and was neither far from or close to the sun.


    After another hundred of millions of years, a flock of odd living beings torn open the air and descended to this galaxy.


    These odd living beings could travel between sun and the nihility. Their upper body was like that of humans; their lower body was like a snake. Their lower body was not tail, but a kind of magical foot. Only by swinging their tail, they could fly casually in the nihility and arrive everywhere. These powerful living beings could communicate with each other and survive on thoughts.


    A strange brilliant pulp was gurgling out of the ground of that new huge blue planet which had unimaginably rich reiki and energy. Meanwhile, its aroma penetrated through the nihility. As a result, those strange living beings in this galaxy were all attracted by this special pulp as they all came to the ground of this planet to enjoy it.


    However, after eating those pulp, those odd living beings with magical feet who could break the nihility casually lost their ability to leave this planet. As a result, they could only stay in the space of this planet.


    However, they didn''t want to lose this ability to break the nihility or they wanted to return to the previous world. Therefore, those odd living beings started to build an unimaginably magnificent pyramid-sized building on a magnetic pole of the planet.


    However, before that building was completed, those odd living beings''s bodies had started to change evidently.


    Those odd living beings who came to this planet and ate the essence on the top of the pulp at the beginning started to turn into humans who were more handsome and beautiful than before. As for those who came here later, they gradually turned into ugly and terrifying reptiles like snakes.


    Those ugly and terrifying living beings started to envy and hate those who were more beautiful than them. The two parties gradually broke out more and more conflicts and lacked communication. As a result, this species which once came from the same place and owned the same capacity divided into two groups due to the change of their external looks and became totally incompatible.


    Finally the war between the ugly reptiles and the beatiful humans broke out before the great building being commonly built by two groups was completed.


    That was a destructive war. Any individual of the two parties had overwhelming and destructive strength.


    In that war, the great building being commonly built by the two parties was directly destroyed. When that great building collapsed, it overturned the entire planet. Even the magnetic poles of the entire planet were changed as its rotation axis which revolved around the sun started to tilt. As a result, many lands sunk into the ocean...


    Flood, earthquake, tsunami and flames falling from the heavens submerged everything. At the fiercest place of the war, the space was directly shattered...


    This war almost destroyed the entire planet; additionally, it brought great casualties to the two groups. Almost all the most powerful individuals of the two groups were exterminated. Some powerful individuals couldn''t descend to this planet and this world due to various reasons...


    Those who survived this war were the descendants of the two groups. When the ware broke out, their descendants couldn''t join the war as they were too weak. Fortunately, they survived.


    When their descendants grew up on this planet, this planet had been different than before. No pulp gurgled out of the ground anymore; neither the reiki on the planet was as plentiful as before. Additionally, their descendants couldn''t fly in the air or move on the ground like before.


    Later on, their descendants carried on their bodies and looks. Those whose parents were beautiful were still beautiful; those whose parents were ugly and terrifying were still ugly and terrifying. Additionally, they inherited the hostility and hatred between both parties. When both parties were ready for a war, a war would break out.


    Ceaseless wars led to damages, destructions, death and loss. As a result, the civilization and population across the globe constantly deteriorated and degenerated...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The descendants of the two groups finally became humans and demons. Their ancestors were called human deities or demon deities...


    ...


    "Brother, wake up..."


    At this moment, his face felt a bit cold. When Zhang Tie opened his eyes, he found that he had just passed out and lain on the ground, face upwards; however, Tang Mei was just squatting beside him with great concern while patting his face with the water of Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring. Being lubricated by Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, the spiritual energy in Zhang Tie''s mind sea was recovering rapidly. As a result, his mind which had just been blown up with prodigious information and images gradually recovered.


    Zhang Tie''s eyes became increasingly brighter. He then muttered with an increasingly louder voice, "I see... I see... I see..." Zhang Tie instantly sprung up as he raised his head and roared inside Heavens of Light, "I finally see..."

 1935 Setting Off

    Tang Mei watched Zhang Tie in a daze as she didn''t understand why Zhang Tie became so excited.


    Zhang Tie indeed had not been such excited for a long time. However, he couldn''t control his mood at this moment; because he had figured out the origin of the war between deities and the conflicts between humans and demons.


    Zhang Tie was still muttering with excitement as he almost danced with joy, "According to the records, Gong Gong hit Buzhou Mountain and shattered it, causing the sky to tilt towards the northwest and the Earth to tilt towards the southeast. As a result, the sun, moon and stars moved towards the northwest and water flowed towards the southeast. The war between Gong Gong and Zhu Rong was actually not the war between water deity and fire deity, but the war between two incompatible groups originated from the same race. In the beginning, Buzhou Mountain was built on the north magnetic pole, also the rotation axis of the Earth. After Buzhou Mountain was damaged, the two magnetic poles of the Earth altered together with the rotation axis. Therefore, people could see the sun, moon and stars moving towards the same direction..."


    Additionally, at this moment, Zhang Tie finally understood why Satan in western legends was a serpent, why dragon which had the features of reptiles symbolized evil in the west, why the combination of demons and humans could lead to hybrids, why Adam and Eva would degenerate after eating fruits in the Eden in the Holy Bible and why Hua people took Nvwa and Fuxi as the forebears of Hua people...


    Deities and demons shared the same origin!


    The pulp that gurgled out of the ground divided the same batch of deities into two utterly different camps, gods and demons. From then on, humans had turned utterly hostile against demons. The conflicts between humans and demons also lasted for numerous years.


    Unexpectedly, the real history and truth were such absurd; perhaps even those deities who arrived at this world had not imagined that they could walk on two utterly different roads because they had eaten different parts of the yummy pulp.


    A far-ancient version of "A bloody case aroused by a steamed bun"?


    Zhang Tie wanted to laugh; however, he finally didn''t do it.


    ''The origin of all these is the pulp that gurgled out of the ground?''


    ''No, it''s people''s heart which caused all these. It''s because of people''s heart which discerns beauty, ugliness, kindness and evil. It''s greed, envy, hatred and hostility in people''s hearts which caused all these.''


    Even though there was no pulp, as long as those deities could discern things and have these demonic thoughts, they could never avoid disputes and casualties. Such disputes and casualties would happen between brothers, in the same clan or the same race due to issues of profits and contradictions, not to mention between different races.


    According to the records, when demons disappeared and Three-Eye Association didn''t spread over humans, humans were still not in peace as humans were still fighting and killing each other and troubled with a lot of issues.


    Even though in the intervals between those holy wars between humans and demons, were there fewer wars and contradictions among humans? No!


    Were all the contradictions in the imperial court of Taixia Country, between sects and inside clans because of demons? Did Zhang Taixuan screw Zhang Tie up because of demons? Did those major sects in Taixia Country exclude Zhang Tie because of demons?


    As long as people had demonic thoughts in mind, they would never avoid disputes and killings.


    After unveiling the secrets, Zhang Tie became excited and ecstatic at the beginning. However, when he gradually recovered his composure, he realized that he couldn''t do anything to change this situation at all even though he knew all these.


    Could truth stop wars between demons and humans? No!


    Could truth enable people to unite with each other and treat each other cordially? No! Could truth turn the fierce jungles into mortal paradise? No!


    The truth told you about the reason; however, it could never tell you what to do!


    Time was the most ruthless law. Nobody could change what had happened, even deities. If deities could make it, there would not be wars between deities and demons. Now that what had happened couldn''t be altered, what would you do when demons'' sabers and swords almost approached your neck, turned your wives and children into their food and ingredients for walking deads and wanted to destroy your hometown?


    Would you persuade demons with the evidence, reason and virtues and tell them that our forebears were of the same kind billions of years ago? Would you hope that demons could become peace envoys...


    Would you want to give up resistance and reach out your neck for the coming death like a coward or expect to be demons'' slave for a better life?


    Otherwise, you took battle sabers and chopped off demons'' heads and kicked them away before demons'' sabers approached you, tit for tat?


    Actually, there was only one way! Zhang Tie only had one choice, whether his enemy was the owner of Huaiyuan Palace or demon.


    On many occasions, the truth must succumb to reality. They just did as same as before. Nothing changed their original trace due to the disclosure of truth. At least Zhang Tie didn''t find that the truth inside the magical rock could do any help to the current situation facing Taixia Country and Motian Realm for the time being.


    Tang Mei found that Zhang Tie gradually became excited, open-minded and finally recovered his composure. He even heaved a deep sigh.


    "What''s wrong?" Tang Mei asked Zhang Tie.


    "I''ve spent so much spiritual energy in vain. The secret in the magical rock should be useful more or less!" Zhang Tie said with a bitter smile as he told Tang Mei the key information that he had learned from the magical rock.


    "Alright, I''ve not imagined that, either." Tang Mei became temporarily stunned too before heaving a deep sigh and said, "Even though we know the truth, we cannot change any bit of it..."


    Zhang Tie said, "Yes, even if I was almighty and could make pulp gurgle out of the ground again and turn all the demons into humans, the wars between humans and demons would never stop either. By then, someone could enjoy the sunshine, rain and dew and the starry nightscape on the ground; someone had to live underground, where were grim, dark and full of poisonous living beings. Those on the ground admired numerous precious mineral resources. By contrast, those underground envied the good living conditions and rich food that people enjoyed on the ground. Some ambitious and greedy people wanted to own everything on the ground and underground. As a result, humans were still generally divided into two parties, who were hostile against each other. There were still different populations, nations and beliefs; however, by then, the wars between humans would not be called holy wars, but something else!"


    "That''s true!" Tang Mei replied.


    Zhang Tie then shook head. After taking in a deep breath, he was back to reality. After taking a look at the two rarities on the high platform, Zhang Tie instantly made a decision. "I will teleport this piece of magical rock and the space ball of Motian Realm into Castle of Black Iron first in case of trouble!"


    "Okay!"


    Tang Mei didn''t pose any request. Neither did Zhang Tie waste time anymore. He then teleported that piece of magical rock, the remaining Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring and the space ball of Motian Realm into Castle of Black Iron at once.


    As long as the space ball of Motian Realm was teleported in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie had heard Heller''s hint. "Castle Lord, a space ball has entered Castle of Black Iron. Will we have Castle of Black Iron engulf it and integrate with it?"


    Zhang Tie took a glance at Tang Mei. Tang Mei then nodded.


    "Yes, start it!"


    "When Castle of Black Iron starts to integrate with the space ball of Motian Realm, there might be some abnormal phenomena in Motian Realm. Because Buzhou Mountain is in Motian Realm, the inside of Buzhou Mountain would be influenced at first. These changes will be closely related to Castle Lord. Please stay calm about it!"


    "Okay!"


    "It starts then..."


    After saying these words, the Heavens of Light abruptly became dark as if it suddenly turned into the deep evening from daytime. Only the ground was giving out tender white light, which avoided the entire Heavens of Light from being pitch-dark.


    Tang Mei blinked her eyes towards Zhang Tie as if she had understood it. She then asked, "Has Castle of Black Iron started to integrate with the space ball of Motian Realm?"


    "Yes!" Zhang Tie looked up at the dome of the Heavens of light as he sighed. "I''ve finished the affairs in Motian Realm, I gotta get back to Taixia Country!"


    Soon after saying these words, Zhang Tie found that his flight ability had recovered. He tried it as he slowly floated up.


    "Brother, you don''t have to worry about being blocked by those deities'' battle puppets anymore when you leave." Tang Mei said with a smile. Closely after that, she sighed, "As you''re going to leave Motian Realm, I will return to Emperor NvWa City too..."


    ...


    When Castle of Black Iron started to integrate with the space ball of Motian Realm, the entire Motian Realm was suddenly in dark. In the dark, the sky of Motian Realm was glittering as many brilliant light bands were floating in the air, arousing great panic among people...


    The dark lasted half a month until the sun reappeared in the sky of Motian Realm.


    Very few people in Motian Realm knew why.


    ...


    When the sun reappeared in the sky of Motian Realm, Zhang Tie took the last glance at Motian Realm on the top of the Buzhou Mountain before turning into a virtual image of huge 6-wing king roc which was longer than 10,000 m and diving into the space crack above the core region of Mountain Ruins...


    ...


    The space crack was suffused with black mist. When he flew into the entrance of the space crack, Zhang Tie felt like being involved in the eye of the storm. It was an endless tunnel ahead being covered with black mist on both sides. It was even releasing terrifying blue lightning bolts.


    Zhang Tie had already activated the secret skill "arrival" of "King Roc Sutra". He was flying across the mysterious dark space in terms of a golden king roc. By flapping his wings, he could break all the obstacles, pass through thick mist and lightning bolts and fly forward like a streak of golden light given his sense about the location of Taixia Country...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    After entering this space crack for less than one hour, Zhang Tie suddenly caught sight of a pair of bloody and fierce eyes in the black-gray nihility ahead.


    Each eye covered hundreds of square miles. The bloody eyes contained a pair of golden pupils with infinite stress and fierce qi. They were staring at Zhang Tie like light&shade of mirage in the dark space.


    At the sight of that pair of weird eyes, Zhang Tie''s heart suddenly pounded. What the golden king roc to the pair of terrifying, bloody eyes was what a little bird to a giant.


    Right in front of Zhang Tie, the black mist in the space suddenly turned into a huge black hand which was thousands of miles in length. Closely after that, the black hand intended to pinch the golden king roc...


    The golden king roc screeched as it instantly sped up by many times and avoided that black hand. Closely after that, it intended to peck that pair of bloody eyes like a lightning bolt with fierce golden flame all over.


    That pair of bloody eyes looked a bit furious as the lightning bolts in the space instantly turned 10 times denser. After that, another huge hand of black mist came into being.


    The second black huge hand didn''t punch Zhang Tie; instead, it punched the space tunnel directly...


    As a result, the black mist became chaotic and the entire space tunnel was shattered. The tide of the earth element, water element, wind element and fire element instantly submerged the golden king roc...

 1936 Battle Situation Facing Taixia Country

    The sun had already set. The battle in the daytime had already come to an end. In the evening, the flames in the downtown became more glaring...


    After a few days'' crazy bombardments by Sacred Alliance Empire, the region in the south region of Coldwater City had been completely ruined with flames.


    In the daytime, the airplanes of the human allied forces on the Western Continent had carried a fierce war with the air force of the Sacred Alliance Empire above Coldwater City. Both parties had suffered great casualties. In the evening, after the air force of human allied forces on Western Continent retreated, the dark air zone was soon occupied by the wing demons of Sacred Alliance Emperor.


    In the daytime, when the visibility was high, the damage ratio between two parties could almost reach 1: 1 when the human air force fought wing demons in the sky. However, in the evening, due to darkness and rainy or snowy weather which might impede the airplanes'' performance and the visibility of pilots, the damage ration between both parties might reach higher than 1: 4. As a result, the human allied forces on the Western Continent couldn''t bear such a high casualty in the evening. Therefore, the air force of human allied forces would retreat in the evening and mainly depend on ground forces.


    The battlefield between human allied forces and demons had already been divided into two battle lines¡ª¡ªEast Line and North Line. Both battle lines were like meat grinders. Over the past 10-odd years, both parties had inputted numerous corpses and soldiers on this battlefield. As for how many people had died, nobody cared. After all, human allied forces only had one bottom line, namely, they would never allow the Sacred Alliance Emperor to connect the two battle lines. Once the two battle lines were connected, the sea-land passage between Western Continent and Eastern Continent would be cut off by demons, which meant a great failure strategically or a great calamity for human allied forces on Western Continent.


    By then, without the support of Taixia Country, a powerful empire on the Eastern Continent, the people and social orders in other countries would collapse, not to mention the casualties that armies of human allied forces would suffer. When they thought about the result that Western Continent might be isolated, all the presidents, leaders and big figures of those countries on Western Continent determined to block the armies of Sacred Alliance Empire at any price.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    In the eyes of human allied forces, Sacred Alliance Empire was neither sacred nor an alliance; instead, it was just a trick that demons and lackeys of the Three-Eye Association of demons played in the region occupied by demons on Western Continent. Although the emperor of the Sacred Alliance Empire was a human, everyone in human allied forces knew that the emperor was just a puppet selected by demons from the Three-Eye Association.


    In the beginning, the Sacred Alliance Empire indeed played a trick. However, after Sacred Alliance Empire was founded for one decade, also after the holy war broke out for 15 years, when more and more human fighters of Sacred Alliance Empire appeared on the battlefield and started to slash towards the other human fighters of human allied forces, it had become a trump card in the hand of demons; instead of a trick anymore.


    Today, the Sacred Alliance Empire had already become a terrifying war machine in the hand of demons, also the greatest threat and main opponents facing human allied forces of the Western Continent on the battlefield.


    Coldwater City was located in the Hicks Peninsula, which was a part of the East Line of human allied forces. In order to scramble for the power of control of Hicks Peninsula, the human allied forces on the Western Continent and the armies of Sacred Alliance Empire had already carried out a seesaw battle in this peninsula which covered less than 60 square miles for many years.


    Over the past years, so many beautiful human cities, villages and towns in Hicks Peninsula had become scraps of paper and bubbles under this huge seesaw. Due to skirmishes between two parties, they were gradually destroyed and turned into ruins.


    Now, this sawteeth had moved to Coldwater City. Only in half a year, this city which once owned over 12 million people and was called the Pearl of Hicks Peninsula had become completely different. It was like a ghost domain as it was covered with demons and human blood...


    However, the seesaw battle had not ceased. Despite being covered with blood, the sawteeth didn''t make the seesaw colder; instead, the seesaw became hotter and bloodier...


    In this seesaw battle, the No. 1 Field Infantry Regiment of the No. 6 Imperial Corps that Aota Empire of Western Continent assigned to the East Line was thrown into the theater of operations in Hicks Peninsula by those big figures like a piece of wood, then into Coldwater City casually by generals in the theater of operations of Hicks Peninsula. According to the command of the headquarters of the theater of operations in Hicks Peninsula, they must guarantee that Coldwater City didn''t fall in the hand of those sons of b*tches in the following two months. Otherwise, everyone of the No. 1 Field Infantry Regiment of the No. 6 Imperial Corps must die, including the regimental commander and the entire logistics department!


    As for how they would be killed, it was not depicted in the command. However, everyone of the No. 1 Field Infantry Regiment was clear that they would be beheaded by the sabers of knights of the supervision troop if they couldn''t complete the order of the headquarters of the human allied forces.


    Since the war broke out, the heads of big figures like the so-called noblemen, generals, royal relatives, prime ministers and imperial chancellors being chopped off by knights of supervision troops of the human allied forces could circle around Coldwater City for two times, not to mention the heads of a small infantry regiment.


    The command was simple, rude, hard, which didn''t spare any chance for them to negotiate or bargain. What made the infantry regiment reassured was that there was a knight from Francia Empire, two battalions of barbarian fighters of Barbarian Alliance, one mixed armored regiment which retreated from the frontline for readjustment. Of course, what was more important was that they didn''t need to worry about the sky of Coldwater City; because the headquarters of the theater of operations in Hicks Peninsula would assign those air cavalry regiments in the field airport in the rear of Coldwater City to support their battle in Coldwater City at any time in case the enemies occupied the air zone of Coldwater City.


    ...


    Mud, blood and rain that had fallen last night made the ground wet. Hawbon Stoik was lying on the ground which was covered with debris, scorched thresholds and muddy rainwater. He was seriously observing a half-collapsed building 200 m away with the flame from the bell tower being lit by a fiery-oil combustible bomb over 100 m away.


    The half-collapsed building was previously composed of 5 floors. At this moment, the entire 5th floor and the greater part of the 4th floor had collapsed. There were only some pitch-dark holes on the side facing him. Additionally, the greater part of the facade of the building appeared to have been smudged by smoke. He could blurrily identify the bright and elegantly yellow mosaic on the wall.


    Just now, Hawbon Stoic heard a bit noise from the building, which sounded like tableware falling off the table. Although being light and no other noise was heard after that, he still caught it. As a fighter who had already promoted to LV 9, Hawbon Stoic whose nickname was wolf-dog in the No. 1 Field Infantry Regiment definitely had sharper auditory sense than others.


    He was in a dusty cloak being covered with the body fluid of a mutated octopus. As a result, the greater part of his body was covered. In the evening, the coak''s color could completely integrate with the surrounding ruins. No matter how much night viewing medicament had enemies drunk, they still couldn''t identify him.


    The noise might be caused by a rat when it slammed against the tableware on the table and caused it to fall to the ground. It might also be caused by a stray dog when it looked for food in the building. As the entire city was filled with a disgusting and rotten stink, the city had become the paradise of rats and stray dogs. Rats and stray dogs here had been used to eating flesh of humans and demons, no matter fresh or rotten. They dared to attack those lonely fighters or sleeping fighters in the public. Some fighters of No. 1 Field Infantry Regiment had been injured by rats or stray dogs before. Therefore, it was not strange for those rats or stray dogs to make a noise...


    Of course, some b*stards who called demons dads probably hid in that building. The appellation "b*stard" was the standard appellation that all the human fighters of the human allied forces on Western Continent called those human fighters of Sacred Alliance Empire who would like to be the lackeys of demons.


    Like all the other human fighters of the human allied forces on the Western Continent, Hawbon Stoic didn''t care about how those commoners in the territory of Sacred Alliance Empire were enslaved over these years. As long as those b*stards appeared on the battlefield, they would be exterminated like demons. Of course, those b*stards would also feel unhesitant to kill these "stubborn" heretics who didn''t want to accept the rule of Dragon Deities; instead, they would kill them in a more fanatical way...


    Hawbon Stoic took a glance at the sky secretly. He found that it might rain soon as the clouds had become thick and gradually covered the moonlight. The key was there were no wing demons above this theater of operations at this moment.


    When raindrops fell to the ground, Hawbon Stoic secretly made some complex hand gestures to the followers.


    After seeing his hand gestures, some changes happened in some places within dozens of meters as those fighters started to move out of their color-changing field cloaks and approached the building from different directions secretly.


    After taking a inflammable grenade, Hawbon Stoic crept towards the gate of the collapsed building stealthily...


    ...

 1937 Fight!

    Soon after Hawbon Stoic felt the first raindrop, heavy rain had poured down.


    In the heavy rain, the flames over the building ruins being lit in the south of Coldwater City turned much smaller; however, many buildings being lit by inflammable bombs were still burning in the rain, turning raindrops and moisture in the air into misty vapor. As a result, visibility was severely weakened in this situation.


    When the raindrops fell to the ground, they didn''t cause loud sounds; however, they could completely cover the footsteps of Hawbon Stoic and his followers. Even in the misty rain, Hawbon Stoic and his 9 subordinates soon arrived at the corresponding locations for assault according to Hawbon Stoic''s arrangement. They were all waiting for Hawbon Stoic''s order and prepared to rush into the half-collapsed building.


    As of now, all the soldiers between LV 2 and LV 5 among the elite force in the frontline had almost entered airplanes and armored vehicles to drive those machines. The manipulation of those machines didn''t require high battle force; however, those machines were lethal to enemies. Two LV 2 soldiers probably turned a LV 9 wing demon into a fireball in the sky by driving the airplane. It was a cost-efficient trade in the eyes of those big figures. As a result, fighters who had promoted to LV 9 like Hawbon Stoic became the main force on the ground in scrambling for a city.


    Hawbon Stoic was the team leader of an elite special squad of a special force regiment being directly affiliated to the 3rd brigade of No. 1 field infantry corps of No. 6 Royal Army of Aoto Empire. Besides Hawbon Stoic who was a LV 9 fighter, all the other 9 subordinates ranged from LV 6 to LV 8. Such a formation was first-rate among the ground troops in East Line, although it was not the best.


    If a standard demon ground squad was in front of them, only 3 demon fighters could inflict heavily losses to them. However, demons were not foolish. Before consuming all the b*stards of Sacred Alliance Empire in the frontline, they would barely assign regular and established demon corps to the battlefield. Some demons that could be spotted on the battlefield were all officers above average or high priests in the troops of Sacred Alliance Empire. Before those b*stards and cannon fodder were killed, those demons would never appear in the frontline. Of course, those wing demons who were fearless in the evening or rainy days were an exception.


    Hawbon Stoic had already approached the gate of the half-ruined building. The gate had been demolished. There was a broken sofa and cabinet outside the gate. Beside a corner of the wall, there was a discarded truck that had been half-buried by the ruins. The truck was 2 m higher than the ground. The top of the truck was close to a window of the second floor, from where his team members could rush upstairs at the fastest speed.


    The elite squad of 10 people had been divided into 3 teams by Hawbon Stoick. Two snipers with heavy crossbows in hands were covering them outside the building. Hawbon Stoick would break in from the front gate, followed by two people. If there were enemies in this building, after hearing the sound, the 5 people of the second team would rush upstairs from the top of the truck and fought enemies inside the building together with him.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    After sniffing the air with moisture deeply, Hawbon Stoic made a hand gesture towards the sniper in the distance. After seeing Hawbon Stoic''s hand gesture, the sniper threw a glass bottle that he had picked into the window on the second floor.


    After hearing the glass bottle breaking into pieces on the second floor, Hawbon Stoic rushed inside from the front gate immediately.


    The fact proved that such a small trick of making a feint to the east but attack in the west was very useful on such occasions. On many occasions, people would make a response to the surrounding environment without consideration.


    When he rushed into the building, he instantly caught sight of a fighter of Sacred Alliance Empire who was hiding at the staircase near the gate in the same field camouflage clothing while raising a huge ax whose snow-white edge was daubed with mud on purpose. The fighter was turning around and watching upstairs after hearing the noise.


    The 0.1 second was critical for an attacker as Hawbon Stoic''s short sword had already cut through the neck of the fighter of Sacred Alliance Empire with a cold light in this short period of time...


    This slash was precise, brutal and sharp. Closely after that, that fighter''s head was sent flying away while spurting out blood through his neck. Hawbon Stoic then rushed to the platform between two flights of stairs, closely followed by two fighters.


    With a growl, a shadow charged at Hawbon Stoick from upstairs. However, before that shadow approached him, Hawbon Stoick had already tossed out his inflammable grenade which had been set to explode in the shortest period.


    A bright flame immediately covered that shadow which charged at him.


    The flame didn''t kill that shadow in an instant; it only burned the shadow all over. The shadow roared as he still slashed his long sword towards Hawbon Stoic in a ferocious way. He wanted to die with Hawbon Stoic.


    Hawbon Stoic stepped onto the handrail and as he directly passed by that attacker from the latter''s head. Meanwhile, he threw out his short sword and had stabbed into the shadow''s back.


    When Hawbon Stoic tossed out that inflammable grenade, he didn''t imagine that that weapon could kill the attacker in an instant in such close combat; he only wanted to burn up that fighter all over and drive the opponent mad. As long as the opponent''s visual and auditory senses and responsive capability were reduced a bit, it would be enough for Hawbon Stoic to kill him.


    When Hawbon Stoic landed on the second floor, he had already unsheathed his long sword.


    Some shadows charged at Hawbon Stoic. Hawbon Stoic also charged at those shadows without demur. Meanwhile, his 5 subordinates broke in through that window. A fierce and bloody battle happened in this ruined building in a split second...


    ...


    There were 7 enemies in total. After Hawbon Stoic killed 2 of them, there were only 5 enemies, one of them was a LV 9 fighter too. This LV 9 fighter caused the largest casualty to Hawbon Stoic''s squad.


    When Hawbon Stoic was fighting that LV 9 fighter, two of the 5 team members who broke in through the window on the second floor had already been killed by that LV 9 fighter of Sacred Alliance Empire. Hawbon Stoic had killed another enemy and injured one. As a result, there were only 3 enemies and a wounded man.


    All the rest 5 fighters of the Aoto Empire who broke in with Hawbon Stoic were clenching their teeth with fury and roaring with red eyes. When Hawbon Stoic was fighting that LV 9 fighter, his 5 subordinates divided into 3 groups tacitly, one person was responsible for dealing with that wounded personnel; the other 4 were responsible for dealing with the rest two opponents in two groups.


    The two fighters of the Sacred Alliance Empire fell to the ground in the blink of an eye. At this moment, the wounded opponent roared. When a subordinate of Hawbon Stoic pierced through his heart with a long sword, that wounded person instantly hugged his opponent and bit his throat like a wild beast, breaking the latter''s throat and windpipe in an instant. Hawbon Stoic''s subordinate instantly moved his long sword horizontally through his opponent''s heart and reached the latter''s left armpit.


    "Long Live, God!" that fighter of Sacred Alliance Empire roared as he instantly detonated a portable inflammable grenade. As a result, the two people turned into a fireball at the same time before rolling down the second floor through the window.


    When he found all of his subordinates had been killed, that LV 9 fighter who was fighting Hawbon Stoick forced Hawbon Stoick to retreat with one strike. Closely after that, he intended to escape through the window.


    The moment he jumped off the window, he had sensed a sharp and powerful bolt shooting at him in the dark.


    With a clank, the LV 9 fighter of Sacred Alliance Empire blocked off the first bolt with his long sword. However, at the same time, the bolt gave out a flame that instantly covered him, turning him into a fireball. Meanwhile, he started to wail aloud.


    Hawbon Stoic also jumped out of the window as he slashed the fireball into two halves with his long sword before falling to the ground...


    Watching the flames inside and outside the building, Hawbon Stoic wiped off the raindrops from his face as he roared in a muffled voice, "Retreat..."


    Only 4 of the 7 people who rushed in the building with Hawbon Stoick came out. After chopping off their enemies'' heads as fast as possible and held their booties, they clenched their teeth and gradually disappeared in the heavy rain with Hawbon Stoick while mixing their tears with raindrops...

 1938 Descension

    In the heavy rain and the dark, it only took Hawbon Stoic and his 6 subordinates a few minutes to transfer to a temporary foothold that they had fixed in advance. It was an underground cellar deserted by a business group less than 500 m away from the place where they fought just now in the south of the city.


    This underground cellar had two exits. Even though one exit was blocked by the enemy from outside, they could still escape away from the other exit. It was why Hawbon Stoic chose this place as the temporary foothold for his team.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Leaving one person outside the exit as a watchdog, all the others entered the underground cellar which was messy yet safe for the time being. After lighting up the fluorescent lamps inside the cellar, someone finally couldn''t help weeping.


    The battle happened so fast. In the 2-minute battle, their team killed 7 enemies at the cost of 3 lives. As a result, the entire team depleted by almost one third in population.


    They would not see those familiar faces any more in the future.


    Wister, Sandor and Nagi...


    Half an hour ago, they were still with each other and fighting shoulder to shoulder. In the daytime, they were talking about having a revelry after the battle in Coldwater City. Unexpectedly...


    It was very depressed in the underground cellar. They all remained quiet as they hugged their knees and sat against the wall. Those heads that they brought back looked grim in the pale green fluorescent light.


    The cheeks, chins, noses, even foreheads of those human heads were covered with tattoos in the shape of snake scale, cobweb and ox horn, which symbolized that they were fighters in Sacred Alliance Empire.


    Under the ruling of demons, all the men in the Sacred Alliance Empire took such tattoos which symbolized demons as their glory. In the Sacred Alliance Empire, these tattoos couldn''t be made for free. They had to undergo some rites. The more tattoos were on their bodies, the higher their positions would be in Sacred Alliance Empire. Those who had such "disgusting" tattoos on their faces were all fighters in the Sacred Alliance Empire.


    "Captain, I''m sorry. I didn''t know that person was a LV 9 fighter. Therefore, I fired an inflammable bolt at him the moment he jumped out of the window. On that occasion, I should have used an armor-piercing bolt. In that way, I could bring back that b*stard''s head." Mole apologized to Hawbon Stoic in a low mood with a metal sniper''s crossbow in hand.


    If they brought back the head of a LV 9 fighter of Sacred Alliance Empire, they would receive a greater reward as it represented greater meritorious deed.


    "Never mind!" Hawbon Stoic said as he took in a deep breath and patted Mole''s shoulder, continuing, "That''s a powerful enemy. He had a swift reflex. Even though I could barely deal with him. Without your bolt, he probably had already fled away. In the future, more brothers might be killed by him. You''ve avenged the death of Wister and Sandor..."


    After hearing his words, Mole felt much better; however, he still felt pitiful about that, "But..."


    "It''s just a head. It''s not a big deal. Additionally, we''ve already brought back some heads. If we want more, we could have many opportunities in Coldwater City as long as we''re alive!" Hawbon Stoic asked Mole to take a seat. After that, he turned around and watched those people who rushed into the destroyed building with him just now, saying, "Lanktol, did you set the time bomb when you left there?"


    A youth with red eyes raised his head under the hood of his field cloak before watching Hawbon Stoic and nodding while biting his lip.


    "It''s the best method for us to prevent the corpses of Wister and Sandor from being humiliated and being eaten by stray dogs and rats." Hawbon Stoic said, "As for Nagy... he doesn''t need it... If I lay on the battlefield one day, you could also prepare a time bomb for me before leaving." His voice instantly turned lower.


    "Captain, do you think someone... could still remember us after this holy war? Would they still remember that we once fought enemies in Coldwater City at the risk of our lives?" a person with a fresh scar on his face left by a saber sitting in the fluorescent lamp suddenly raised his head and asked Hawbon Stoic with a self-mockery smile, "Regimental commander said that someone could definitely bear us in mind; however, I feel that regimental commander was lying. So many people have died in the last holy war; however, only some big figures'' names could be remembered in the end. At least, I cannot remember any name of small figures who died in the last holy war like us..."


    After hearing his words, all the others also raised their heads and fixated onto Hawbon Stoic.


    "I don''t care whether my name could be remembered by someone else or not!" Hawbon Stoic said as he shook his head. At the same time, he pointed at those heads being covered with ugly tattoos and said in a muffled sound, "As for me, the most important was that I don''t want to live like them; neither do I want my sons and grandsons to live like them by kneeling down on the ground and calling demons dad!"


    "I see!"


    "Glad to hear that!" Hawbon Stoic then glanced at the others while he said, "Rest one hour here to restore your physical strength. One hour later, we will leave here and continue our search."


    After hearing his words, all of them took out their portable dried rations and started to eat them.


    The battle in Coldwater City had not come to an end; neither had their battle tonight come to an end. Even though they had already fought their enemies once and had lost some comrades-in-arms and brothers somewhere near them, they should also leave here and continue to look for the opportunities to annihilate their enemies outside after a short rest.


    When they were having a rest, Hawbon Stoic came to the exit and asked the watchdog upside there to take a rest. He would like to stand sentry for his subordinates.


    It was a warehouse above the cellar, which had already collapsed. In the ruins, a triangular steel frame formed a secret entrance above the cellar. Therefore, Hawbon Stoic chose this place as the temporary foothold for his squad after discovering it.


    It was raining heavier and heavier. In the rumbling thunders, the visibility across Coldwater City was even lower than before. It was misty all over over 50 m away. They could barely see any people out of this distance. Only when a lightning streak flashed could they see further.


    Besides thunders, they faintly heard growls of fighters of Barbarian Alliance from some blocks over 1,000 m away. Meanwhile, a streak of red light faintly flashed. The red light was the battle qi totem of a barbarian fighter. There was a vast and open square in the block. It was the most proper place for fighters of Barbarian Alliance to display their ability, also the defense area of barbarian fighters.


    The battle in Coldwater City didn''t come to a stop. The bloodshed didn''t cease even on such a rainy night. More people were fighting in this ruined city in the distance.


    When Hawbon Stoic was seriously observing the situation outside, he silently counted down the resting time for his subordinates.


    Not knowing why, Hawbon Stoic felt that the lightning bolts in the sky above Coldwater City appeared to be a bit dense tonight, almost one lightning bolt per 3-5 seconds. It appeared to be a rare thunderstorm.


    However, as he had neither been to Coldwater City before nor was a weather expert, Hawbon Stoic didn''t know whether this weather was abnormal or not here; instead, based on the lightning bolts that happened per few seconds, he could better observe the situation outside.


    Only in 10 more minutes, Hawbon Stoic had seen a thick and odd red lightning bolt tearing open a dark cloud that looked like a lead plate and hit a ruined two-storey shopping mall over 200 m ahead. At the same time, Hawbon Stoic suddenly felt the surrounding ground trembling once heavily. He then caught sight of a streak of golden light flashing across the broken wall of the shopping mall...


    ''Is that a piece of meteorite? Did I have a hallucination...''


    A thought occurred to Hawbon Stoick.


    At this moment, he heard a voice from the cellar as Mole had exposed his head out of there. "Captain, was that an earthquake? Are some powerhouses fighting nearby?"


    "Something is wrong. Call out all the brothers..."


    "Yes, captain!"


    In the blink of an eye, all the team members who were having a nap downside there had already come out of the cellar. Closely after that, they all stealthily moved towards the ruined shopping mall after Hawbon Stoic.


    There was a big hole in the floor slab between the first floor and the second floor. Right under the big hole, there was a huge pit that was deeper than 10 m on the ground in the central courtyard of the shopping mall. Everything around that huge pit appeared to be melted. The stones near the pit on the ground were also giving out glow like melted candles. When they arrived there, they saw heavy rain and water columns pouring down through the big hole and hitting the ground around the big pit, causing sizzle, The moment the raindrops and water columns touched the ground, they would be vaporized. As a result, it was like a sauna room; however, the ground was also cooling down rapidly.


    The group of fighters in steel-sole battle boots was approaching that big pit meticulously. When they reached the edge of the big pit and watched inside, they all became petrified.


    Because they saw an egg at the bottom of the big pit!


    It was a huge golden egg higher than 1 m...

 1939 Breaking out of the Egg

    Hawbon Stoic and his team members could never imagine that it was an egg that fell to the ground together with the lightning streak; instead of a meteorite!


    It was a huge golden egg that they had never seen before!


    Meanwhile, golden light was faintly flowing over the surface of the huge golden egg.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ''Is that demons'' conspiracy?''


    In an instant, this thought occurred to Hawbon Stoic, an officer of the royal corps of the Aoto Empire. However, at the same time, Hawbon Stoic felt that something was wrong; because he had never heard that demons came out in this pattern. Additionally, this huge egg appeared to be relevant to the odd purple lightning bolt that they had seen before. Demon knights were not able to do that. Even if they were able to do that, it was unnecessary for a demon knight to play tricks on him and his subordinates who were all low-level fish on the battlefield.


    "Watch out, stay alert..." Hawbon Stoic whispered to his team members beside him as he took out his weapon and walked towards the huge egg at the bottom of the huge pit while stepping on the steamingly hot ground.


    If ordinary people met such a dangerous and odd event, of course, they would turn around and escape right away. However, on the battlefield, as a fighter, also an officer, Hawbon Stoic couldn''t retreat at all; because their task was to face dangers. If they retreated at the sight of this odd huge egg, once their deed was known by their superiors, Hawbon Stoic and his team members might face military trials and bloody guillotine; instead of receiving any reward.


    Under the gaze of his team members, Hawbon Stoic meticulously came to the bottom of that huge pit.


    When he was less than 2 m away from the huge egg, Hawbon Stoic sensed the heatwave and high temperature from the huge golden egg.


    That huge golden egg was like a crimson iron embryo which had just been completed in the workshop with boiling liquified steel. When the raindrops fell to the surface of the huge egg, it caused sizzle. All the raindrops that touched the surface of the huge egg would be vaporized and turned into misty vapor.


    As rainwater flowed into the huge pit, the melting ground at the bottom of the huge pit instantly cooled down. Meanwhile, misty vapor poured out of the huge pit and turned increasingly thicker in the vicinity. When Hawbon Stoic reached the bottom of the huge pit, his subordinates could already not see him clearly from less than 10 m away outside the pit.


    "Captain, are you alright?" A voice sounded from outside the huge pit.


    "I''m fine. Take care of yourself..."


    The huge egg was also rapidly cooling down as the scorching heatwave was fading away at a high speed. When Hawbon Stoic was over 1 m away from the huge egg, he reached out his long sword and slightly touched the eggshell with his sword blade.


    According to the sound and the touch, Hawbon Stoic felt that he was touching a piece of metal.


    When Hawbon Stoic wanted to further check it.


    Crackle...


    A fist suddenly broke out of the eggshell from inside on its top. At the same time, some odd runes flashed near the eggshell. Meanwhile, an odd and powerful field of force spewed out of the huge egg and covered the space within hundreds of square meters around the huge pit.


    In an instant, Hawbon Stoic and his team members had been absolutely frozen together with the tumbling vapor. Even the falling raindrops were suspending in the air.


    At this moment, nothing outside the eggshell within hundreds of square meters could move.


    After a few seconds, another fist broke out of the eggshell from the other side. In the following half a minute, the entire eggshell was completely shattered as they slowly turned into four elements and dispersed, leaving no trace at all. At the same time, a wholly naked man was standing in the place where the egg was.


    Panting heavily, Zhang Tie strode out of there in one step. When he broke the eggshell, he felt frail. At this moment, he was like a small bird who had just hatched from his eggshell. He was weakest at this moment.


    The effect of the secret skill "arrival" of "King Roc Sutra" had not disappeared when Zhang Tie broke out of the eggshell. As a result, everything in the vicinity was frozen by the powerful force of field of the secret skill.


    Zhang Tie looked up at the sky through the two huge holes in the roof as he slowly revealed a brilliant smile on his fatigued face. He then muttered towards the sky which was filled with rumbling thunders, "You''re powerful! So What! I am back..."


    Eyes wide open, Hawbon Stoic still maintained the gesture of retreating rapidly. Pitifully, he was also frozen like a waxen statue. Zhang Tie then walked to the side of Hawbon Stoic. After observing him for a few seconds, he put his palm on Hawbon Stoic''s forehead while closing his own eyes.


    After a few seconds, Zhang Tie opened his eyes with faint grief and pity in his eyes.


    When he started to read Hawbon Stoic''s memory, Zhang Tie instantly knew his identity. In order to not cause irretrievable damages to this loyal human fighter''s brains, Zhang Tie didn''t read all of his memories; instead, he just read a part of his memory in the past one year. However, this small part of memory shocked Zhang Tie greatly.


    It was the 932nd year of Black Iron Calendar, 42 years away from the holy war...


    He was in Coldwater City, the frontline between allied human forces and demons in the Western Continent...


    As of now, demons'' force had reached a terrifying degree in this world. With the support of demons, few puppet countries were founded in the Western Continent and some subcontinents. Therefore, humans were fighting each other on many battlefields...


    Over one-third of Taixia Country''s territory had been occupied by demons. All the western administrative districts of Taixia Country had been occupied by demons...


    Over these years when he was in Motian Realm, the manufacturing skills of fiery-oil had been disclosed unavoidably and mastered by demons and Three-eye Association...


    Royal Prince Changying was assassinated by a demon sage in Jinzhou Province of Taixia Country 12 years ago. Taixia Country still didn''t have an emperor even now; instead, it was commonly supervised by the three ministers, nine royal chancellors and six lords of Taixia Country...


    ...


    Zhang Tie didn''t recover his composure until a few seconds later; especially the death of Xuanyuan Changying was absolutely out of Zhang Tie''s expectation. When he recalled those images when he stayed with Xuanyuan Changying, Zhang Tie couldn''t help revealing faint grief and pity through his eyes.


    What made Zhang Tie a bit reassured was that he didn''t discover any bad news about Jinwu Palace in the memory of Hawbon Stoic over the past one year. Jinwu Palace didn''t deteriorate; instead, it appeared to be more powerful than before; because all the all-purpose medicaments used by allied human forces across Western Continent were produced in those logistics bases co-founded by Jinwu Palace and the Rhesa Republic, Barbarian Alliance, Francia Empire and Holy Light Empire.


    The production recipe of all-purpose medicament had not been disclosed yet.


    The current situation facing the holy war and Taixia Country was more complex than that Zhang Tie could imagine. However, Zhang Tie''s current condition...


    Many thoughts occurred to Zhang Tie...


    After taking another glance at this officer of the royal corps of the Aoto Empire in the Western Continent and the other team members above the huge pit, Zhang Tie soon made a decision.


    ...


    He instantly erased Hawbon Stoic''s memory about what had happened just now...


    Zhang Tie then walked out of the huge pit in one step. Closely after that, he stroked the heads of all the other team members by turns. Then, he activated his invisible Shen bead and disappeared in a split second...


    ...


    10 seconds later, the last piece of eggshell completely turned into four elements and disappeared at the bottom of the huge pit; raindrops continued to fall into the huge pit; vapor continued to tumble in the huge pit; Hawbon Stoic rapidly moved backward and came out of the huge pit.


    "Captain, what''s downside there?"


    "Nothing is there. That lightning bolt was so strange. We gotta get going..."


    Hawbon Stoic felt being a bit dizzy. He didn''t know whether it was affected by the remaining force of the lightning bolt in this huge pit, he determined to leave here as soon as possible given such a loud noise. As for the mysterious relation between that lightning bolt and this huge pit and whether it was related to any numinous force, it was not what he was interested in and would like to explore. As the huge pit was just here, anyone who was not afraid of death could come here...


    What Hawbon Stoic should consider was to survive on and kill more enemies...


    ...


    It was already deep night; however, the battle in Coldwater City was ongoing...

 1940 The Sequel of Secret Skill

    It was raining heavily with lightning streaks and thunders. Soon after triggering his invisible Shen bead and leaving the destroyed building for half a minute, Zhang Tie had felt dizzy. At the same time, he couldn''t even sustain the effect of his invisible Shen bead.


    With the secret skill "Arrival" of Infinite King Roc Sutra, Zhang Tie was wrapped by a huge egg. Zhang Tie crossed many dangerous space barriers, element tides and obstructions of the dominating demon deity before seizing the rare opportunity and returning to the main world.


    However, he started to suffer from a sequel of the secret skill "Arrival" of Infinite King Roc Sutra the moment he came out of the shell. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Arrival" meant new birth, while new birth meant weakness. It was an inviolable universal law!


    It was also the price for Zhang Tie to choose to come back instead of wandering in the endless space interlayers until death.


    Otherwise, he couldn''t come back and the dominating demon deity''s will would come true. Finally, Zhang Tie would become a handful of dust in an unknown space or wander there until death. If he wanted to come back, he had to sustain the "weak period" after triggering the secret skill of "Arrival" of Infinite King Roc Sutra.


    By comparing two harms with each other, Zhang Tie chose the smaller one without demur¡ª¡ªcoming back alive.


    This "weak period" lasted 3 years. During this period, Zhang Tie''s power couldn''t even match 1/100 of his original power. 3 years later, he would gradually recover his top power as a sage. During this period, he couldn''t even use the Castle of Black Iron. Zhang Tie couldn''t even communicate with Heller now.


    ''F*ck!''


    ''Did it cost me too much spiritual energy by carrying out secret skills of Bloody Soul Sutra constantly just now? I almost couldn''t stand it.''


    Feeling that his spiritual energy couldn''t sustain the effect of invisible Shen bead and the overconsumption of his battle qi, Zhang Tie hurriedly rushed into a deserted roadside inn for temporary sheltering. A wall of the inn had already collapsed...


    The deserted inn smelt moldy; its ground was covered with dust and sundries.


    Although being weak, Zhang Tie still kept the simplest night-viewing effect of lotus-flower eyes.


    Besides lotus-flower eyes, the hiding rune in Zhang Tie''s mind sea still worked. Additionally, its effect didn''t reduce. Therefore, Zhang Tie triggered a powerful master-level hiding rune the moment he entered the inn. Closely after that, Zhang Tie disappeared in the dark quietly.


    Being naked, closely after Zhang Tie hid his protective battle qi, his butt had felt cold. Therefore, the preoccupation for him was to find some clothes and shoes.


    It was already empty in the inn. However, guests would never take away all of their belongings because of the emergency of war. They would take away some valuable things at most. Despite armies had already searched over this place, they only wanted to find something valuable; they might have no interest in clothes.


    Zhang Tie started to look around the inn. When he came to a disordered room on the second floor, Zhang Tie found an open wardrobe, which contained a pile of clothes and some pairs of shoes. Although they had been left here for a long time, they were still well preserved.


    Although Zhang Tie couldn''t make a selection, he soon found a 70% new grey linen shirt, a black cheap open-necked sweater, a deep blue short outer garment and a pair of black pants.


    After putting them on, Zhang Tie finally didn''t have to be naked.


    After opening a drawer of the wardrobe, he found two pairs of cotton socks. He then took out a pair of cotton socks immediately. After that, he found a pair of half-worn leather shoes and a cow''s skin belt. At least, he didn''t need to be naked anymore.


    They must not be left by guests. Those living in this room must be waiters or cooks who were as young as Zhang Tie given the types and sizes of these clothes. Except for the waist of trousers and the pair of shoes which were a bit larger, everything else almost fitted Zhang Tie well. After fastening the belt, the problem of the waist of trousers was solved. As for the shoes, Zhang Tie made them a bit larger using the spiritual energy that he had just recovered.


    After putting them on, Zhang Tie looked at the mirror which had been covered with some cracks as he mumbled with a self-mockery smile, ''As the Chinese saying goes, a hero will also die without a penny. As the former unrivaled dragon emperor in Motian Realm, I could only put on some old clothes left by others the moment I return to the main world.''


    After putting on his clothes, Zhang Tie started to feel hungry. However, he couldn''t find anything to eat in this deserted inn. Therefore, he stayed in a room on the second floor for a short rest. At the same time, he made his next plan.


    Zhang Tie could enter the rear end of the human defense line in Hicks Peninsula over 300 miles away from Coldwater City in the south. Previously, Zhang Tie planned to leave the Hicks Peninsula theater of operations first. However, he had not imagined that his current condition was even weaker than that he could imagine. It became difficult and dangerous for him to travel across hundreds of miles'' long human defense line.


    Weakness meant dangers. Especially on the battlefield, young tigers couldn''t even defeat a stray dog. Therefore, Zhang Tie had to be careful.


    If Zhang Tie left for the regions occupied by demons, it was nothing different than seeking death. Based on his current battle force, it would be even more dangerous for him to travel across the hundreds of miles'' long human defense zone.


    Currently, the entire human defense zone was managed in a military way. It was full of troops of allied forces in the Western Continent. No commoners could be seen in this region. If Zhang Tie was discovered by those fighters of allied human forces, he would absolutely be taken as an agent of the Three-eye Association and Sacred Alliance Empire and would be executed to death immediately without interrogation...

 1941 Loss And Gain

    On the battlefield, Zhang Tie really felt like a dragon getting stranded or a tiger leaving its hill and descending to the plains at this moment.


    No matter how powerful he was, Zhang Tie could only stay in the deserted inn for the time being and ponder about his next plan.


    If he could enter Castle of Black Iron now, everything would become simple. No matter what, as long as he could stay in Castle of Black Iron for three years, after the "frail" period caused by the use of the secret skill "arrival" of Infinite King Roc Sutra, he would recover his battle force. By then, nobody in this world could defeat him, neither humans nor demons. He could even end the holy war in a short period of time.


    However, he couldn''t access to Castle of Black Iron now; neither had he recovered his battle force. Therefore, all the problems became complex.


    The key was to live on. As a man, he should be able to take temporary setbacks. As long as he passed this "frail" period of three years successfully, nothing else was serious.


    Although the projection of demon overlord in the chaotic space failed to prevent him from coming back and couldn''t position the egg of King Roc that Zhang Tie had created in the secret skill "arrival" of Infinite King Roc Sutra, the demon overlord probably knew the sequel of this secret skill of Infinite King Roc Sutra and Zhang Tie''s current condition. Although the demon overlord couldn''t descend to this world, as an undying creature, it could definitely pass its own awareness to the top figures among demons. Those top figures among demons might have already known that Zhang Tie was back. They might be looking for Zhang Tie everywhere and determined to kill Zhang Tie at any price.


    Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion never wanted to see Zhang Tie coming back alive, either.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie shouldn''t expose his own identity for the time being...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    At this moment, the situation facing Taixia Country was very bad. In the following three years, Zhang Tie didn''t know how many Hua fighters would die on the battlefields and whether the situation facing Xuanyuan Hill could maintain steady or not.


    When they knew that Zhang Tie was already back, would demons attack Jinwu Palace in order to force Zhang Tie to show up?


    Zhang Tie became anxious more or less...


    Although he could only come back in this way, when he was back, he gradually realized the importance of the battle force.


    ...


    In a room on the second floor of the deserted inn, Zhang Tie considered his current situation while cultivating and recovering his own battle force.


    Just now, Zhang Tie was surprised by his current "frail" state. However, unexpectedly, when he recovered his composure, he found that his battle force was recovering at an amazing speed. In less than half an hour, after he changed his clothes and took a short rest, his spiritual energy in mind sea and battle qi in qi sea had been "refilled".


    Although the "refilled" state was relative, Zhang Tie was also shocked by it. Previously, Zhang Tie thought that it would take him a few hours to reach this state, even the next morning; however, he had not imagined that he could recover so fast. Such a recovering speed was even 10 times greater than that Zhang Tie had predicted.


    ''Incredible!''


    Zhang Tie hurriedly looked inside.


    Closely after that, he became dumbfounded...


    He didn''t have any problem but the Infinite Immortal Prison in his shrine surging point...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie found that the Infinite Immortal Prison in his shrine surging point was giving out bright light. The entrance at the first floor of Infinite Immortal Prison was widely opened as colorful energy was pouring out of the entrance like flood.


    After flowing out of Infinite Immortal Prison, the colorful energy instantly split into two halves; one was rushing into his mind sea like a reversal brilliant Milky Way from bottom to top and converting into the purest spiritual energy in his mind sea; the other was flowing into his qi sea; meanwhile, battle qi was surging out of the colorful energy at a speed greater than ever before.


    Zhang Tie became dumbfounded. He didn''t know why Infinite Immortal Prison could have such a great change; however, he felt familiar with the colorful energy that was flowing out of Infinite Immortal Prison...


    ''Wait...'' Zhang Tie suddenly recalled something...


    It was the first time for the projection of the demon overlord to destroy the space tunnel connecting Motian Realm with this world. At that time, the virtual image of King Roc was looking for the entrance for returning to Taixia Country among endless chaos and space mezzanines. Zhang Tie remembered that it was over 10 years ago. When the projection of demon overlord appeared in the chaos and space mezzanines for the second time, Zhang Tie entered a bizarre space crack by mistake while avoiding from the chase of the projection of demon overlord. When he entered the endless black fog and the large, bizarre space behind that space crack, he saw a vast, brilliant ocean.


    At that time, he knew nothing about the place hiding in the chaos and the mezzanine; because it was just like a huge bubble in the chaos and the mezzanine. Zhang Tie didn''t know what was in the colorful ocean. When he dove into it, the virtual image of King Roc was almost suffocated and shattered into pieces by the brilliant ocean. When he bore it hardly, his Infinite Immortal Prison suddenly flew out of his shrine surging point and hovered above the brilliant ocean. Closely after that, it turned into a mountain-like huge tower as high as 600 miles and opened the entrance on the first floor before absorbing all the brilliant energy like how a magical dragon absorbed water. As a result, Zhang Tie was saved.


    After the Infinite Immortal Prison dried up the brilliant ocean, it returned to Zhang Tie''s shrine surging point. That huge bubble suddenly broke up. Closely after that, the virtual image of King Roc was carried to somewhere else unknown by the space storm aroused by the broken bubble.


    This event had happened for so long. Additionally, after Infinite Immortal Prison dried up the brilliant ocean, it didn''t have any special response; neither did Zhang Tie have any special response. Therefore, he didn''t pay attention to this event anymore. He thought that thing in the brilliant ocean was just something common in the chaos and the mezzanines which he didn''t know and could be absorbed by Infinite Immortal Prison. Therefore, Zhang Tie had completely forgotten about it.


    After Zhang Tie came back, the empty state facing his mind sea and qi sea coincidentally satisfied one condition. As a result, Infinite Immortal Prison poured out of the brilliant energy.


    When he saw Infinite Immortal Prison pouring out that rainbow-like colorful energy, Zhang Tie finally realized that he was wrong. That brilliant ocean was never commonly seen in chaos and space mezzanines.


    At this moment, the wisp of energy that entered his mind sea became his spiritual energy; the wisp of energy that entered his qi sea became his battle qi.


    Zhang Tie had never imagined that something in this world could turn into spiritual energy and battle qi at the same time. It was out of Zhang Tie''s cognitive scope.


    When he remembered the vast ocean being absorbed by Infinite Immortal Prison, Zhang Tie almost blacked out. Compared to that vast ocean, the capacity of his mind sea and qi sea was just like that of a small pool, although he was a sage-level knight.


    ''What is this energy!?''


    When Zhang Tie became greatly shocked, something even more shocking happened. After his mind sea and qi sea was filled by his spiritual energy and battle qi respectively, the energy which was more brilliant than the rainbow was still flowing out of the Infinite Immortal Prison and inputting the two energies into his qi sea and mind sea. As a result, his mind sea and qi sea felt like being blown up by a strong force. It was like a balloon being connected to a steamingly high-pressure pump...


    However, Zhang Tie''s qi sea and mind sea couldn''t be blown up because of his Magical King Kong Body of Manjusaka Narayana Fearless King Roc.


    Zhang Tie gradually found that the fresh spiritual energy and battle qi were being condensed constantly by the powerful rainbow-like energy. After that, the spiritual energy in his mind sea and the battle qi in his qi sea both became the same colorful energy...

 1942 Zhang Ties Choice

    The change of his spiritual energy and battle qi in his mind sea and qi sea was too abrupt. Zhang Tie had never imagined that his spiritual energy and battle qi could turn into the same energy one day...


    The change was ongoing. After his battle qi and spiritual energy both turned into the brilliant energy, the same energy was still pouring into the hot sun in his qi sea and the bright moon and stars in his mind sea. When Zhang Tie felt that the hot sun in his qi sea and the bright moon and stars in his mind sea were going to be blown up, Zhang Tie''s mind sea and qi sea rocked at the same time. Closely after that, the brilliance that the hot sun in his qi sea and the bright moon and stars gave out turned colorful at the same time.


    The entrance of Infinite Immortal Prison in his shrine surging point was still open. The colorful energy was still surging out of the entrance. Gradually, the energy overflew his mind sea and qi sea. Then, it started to flow across his body like water that flew out of a water vat. As a result, his body as a whole was filled with that colorful energy.


    When Zhang Tie was worried about whether the energy would blow up his body or not, the entrance of Infinite Immortal Prison suddenly closed like a sluice gate. Then, his body quivered once as all the energy inside his body faded away like an ebb tide and entered his surging points. Zhang Tie''s body recovered in an instant.


    After standing there still for a short while, Zhang Tie discovered that his mind sea had already been connected to his qi sea by two tunnels like how two ponds were connected. In those tunnels, the colorful energy was circulating. The energy could flow into the mind sea from his qi sea, vice versa.


    ''Incredible!''


    Zhang Tie tried to regulate the energy in his qi sea to release a layer of protective battle qi outside his body.


    There was no problem for him to do this. His battle qi could be regulated as same as before. However, this time he could release his protective battle qi the moment he regulated the energy in his qi sea. Additionally, Zhang Tie found that the protective battle qi that he had just formed appeared to be a bit different than that before. It was not an evident change. However, Zhang Tie felt that his protective battle qi had reached a new level. His protective battle qi appeared to be more powerful with greater defensive power and tenacity. After sensing it slightly, Zhang Tie found that the tenacity and strength of his protective battle qi had enhanced by 40% or so.


    It was great progress!


    ''Is that colorful energy something more advanced than battle qi? How could it have such a strange effect?''


    The protective battle qi was constantly consuming the colorful energy in his qi sea; meanwhile, the energy in his mind sea and the energy in his qi sea started to circulate so as to fix the missing energy in the qi sea at a higher speed.


    Now, the spiritual energy in his mind sea and the battle qi in his qi sea could recover respectively. Although this resilience couldn''t match that in his heyday, once the two spaces were connected, the energy could flow into his qi sea from his mind sea to fix the missing spiritual energy, vice versa. It indicated that Zhang Tie''s resilience had increased by two times. In battles, it was equal to that Zhang Tie had two qi seas or two mind seas no matter whether he fought in the pattern of a divine dominator or a common knight...


    Zhang Tie then stopped releasing his protective battle qi. Then, he ran his spiritual energy and started to form a master-level hiding rune in his mind sea with the colorful energy. This process was as same as before. At this moment, the colorful energy appeared to be his spiritual energy again. With the consumption of the colorful energy in his mind sea, an unprecedented master-level hiding rune came into being in his mind sea.


    Compared to the other golden runes, this master-level hiding rune was colorful. Giving out a special brilliance in Zhang Tie''s mind sea, it looked outstanding.


    Additionally, when the energy in his mind sea was being consumed, the energy in his qi sea started to flow into his mind sea in order to fix the missing energy in his mind sea.


    ''That''s true!''


    Watching the colorful master-level hiding rune, Zhang Tie gritted his teeth as he activated another one regardless of the loss of his energy.


    The effect of the fresh master-level hiding rune instantly covered the effect of the former one.


    As he had experienced the effect of invisible Shen bead, Zhang Tie instantly felt that the effect of the fresh master-level hiding rune was about 40% greater than that of the former one, which was on the same level of his protective battle qi.


    Zhang Tie became ecstatic in an instant!


    Previously, Tang Mei said that with the increasing number of immortal chakras, the spiritual energy and battle qi of powerhouses above immortal emperor would gradually combine into one energy just like the colorful energy that he felt now. However, Zhang tie was not sure whether this energy was left by powerhouses above immortal emperors. He had sensed Tang Mei''s battle qi, which appeared to be not that pure and variable. Additionally, the ocean of energy that he had discovered in the space bubble contained too much energy. Even though Zhang Tie had promoted to an immortal emperor, 10,000 Zhang Tie still couldn''t produce so much energy. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not sure about the colorful energy and didn''t know why he could discover that energy in that chaotic space. However, it didn''t matter. What counted most was that Zhang Tie found that energy was available to him.


    Zhang Tie was crystal clear that his overall battle force would increase by 40% than that before leaving Motian Realm once he passed his "frail" period and completely recovered. By then, he would definitely be at the peak stage of the sage-level knight, which meant that he would almost enhance half realm.


    He really got good out of misfortune!


    Additionally, he didn''t have to pass the "frail" period of three years in the real world. He could actually make it shorter if he stayed in a tower of time!


    As for the towers of time that he knew, there was one under Ice and Snow Wilderness; however, that tower of time''s cycle was 60 years. It was not available for the time being.


    There were many towers of time in the Dongtian of Great Wilderness Sect; however, he was not sure whether there was a tower of time available inside it. Those towers of time must have played a great role in Jinwu Palace''s prosperity over these years facing the hard times in Taixia Country. Yan Feiqing and Zhang Tie''s elder brother would never waste those towers of time. If Zhang Tie went back to Jinwu Palace now, he would definitely arouse the attention of the enemies. That might be what his enemies were craving for.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    So was the tower of time where Zhang Tie and Yan Feiqing once stayed in. It was less possible for that tower of time to be vacant. Additionally, the location of that tower of time was completely in the control region of demons.


    The best way was to find a tower of time in the Western Continent. Only by staying inside it for a few days would he recover completely.


    It was already difficult for him to find a tower of time in the Western Continent, not to mention that he had to cover his identity from someone...


    ''Oh!''


    ''Ockham!''


    A name instantly occurred to Zhang Tie...


    When he read the memory of that low-level officer of the No. 6 royal corps of Aoto Empire, Zhang Tie got a message that officer heard from someone else in the camp a few months ago¡ª¡ªthere were two corps of Holy Light Empire among the forces in the Hicks Peninsula Theater of Operations. The two Holy Light Grand Priests of Holy Light Empire might also be supervising their soldiers in the East Line of Western Continent...


    The low-level officer of the No. 6 Royal Corps of the Aoto Empire couldn''t touch too much high-level information of the allied human forces, therefore Zhang Tie was not sure whether Ockham was supervising his soldiers in the East Line or not. However, there were only 3 Holy Light Grand Priests in the Holy Light Empire in total, two of them were in the East Line; therefore, Ockham probably also be in the East Line.


    When he recalled Ockham, Zhang Tie observed the bloody seal produced by that god''s baptism rune floating somewhere in his mind sea. The bloody seal was still there, which meant that Ockham was still alive and had not betrayed him; neither did he expose the relationship between him and Zhang Tie to the public. As Ockham and Zhang Tie were still connected with each other by the strong bond of the god''s baptism rune, Ockham must know that Zhang Tie was still alive...


    Unexpectedly, this piece that Zhang Tie casually set in the Western Continent still worked now. Zhang Tie then revealed a faint smile as he instantly felt bright in the future.


    However, before meeting Ockham, he must deal with something and make some preparation...


    At least he should not feel hungry. He had not eaten anything for a few years inside that huge egg.


    After taking a look at the city which was full of battle flames, Zhang Tie activated his invisible Shen bead again as he floated out of the window...


    Even a camel that was going to die due to starvation was bigger than a cat. Even though his current battle force was less than 1/100 of that in his peak, as long as he didn''t expose his identity to the public and his spiritual energy and battle qi became full, he could recover his vitality at once...


    It was actually very easy for him to find food; especially on the battlefield. The troop where the low-level officers of the No. 6 royal corps of Aoto Empire were in had set many secrets, temporary, free supply points in Coldwater City, which had a stockpile of food. Although those military field food were not yummy, they carried great heat. After taking them, people could recover their strength rapidly.


    After being starved in the huge egg for a few years, Zhang Tie felt that he could eat up a whole ox.


    ...

 1943 Whose Holy War

    The rain stopped at midnight. In the next early morning, soon after daybreak, the air zone of Coldwater City had become the battlefield of warplanes of both parties again, despite being cold in the air. The fiery-oil inflammable bombs that those warplanes dropped caused heavy flames to rise into the sky from the ground in Coldwater City. The large ground forces of both parties which fought fiercely in the city last night had already retreated to the safety areas. At this moment, only small units were carrying out street battles occasionally. Besides burning sounds caused by fiery-oil inflammable bombs and loud sounds caused by collapsing buildings, only low battle calls and growls were drifted out of the nearby ruins. However, closely after that, everything recovered silence. If one unit which was composed of more than 10 people were exposed outside those buildings, their location would turn into a sea of fire by one or several fiery-oil gel bombs after a short while...


    It was only a part of the most brutal battle. The party which couldn''t bear such a loss would retreat. By then, the other party would naturally become the last winner of Coldwater City, which could choose to chase after the opponent or not; however, the other party must retreat...


    In the daytime, the air supremacy became the focus that warplanes of both parties scrambled for in the air zone of Coldwater City; the air cavalries of allied human forces and Sacred Alliance Empire became the main forces on the battlefield. Zhang Tie wondered whether he should feel glorious or helpless about this situation. As of now, even demons'' puppet countries had got warplanes; additionally, all the pilots had inherited the appellation that Zhang Tie acquired in Selnes Theater of Operations¡ª¡ªair cavalry!


    Zhang Tie was the first air cavalry in this holy war. Additionally, he invented fiery oil and manufactured the dual drive engine. He drove the first plane and flew into the sky. Furthermore, he created the most classical theory about air battle and founded the first air cavalries training college. Therefore, Zhang Tie was undoubtedly the father of air cavalries among both humans and demons.


    There was one different point: Zhang Tie was certainly a human hero and a powerful knight among humans; however, he also became the hero of demons, at least demon puppets in the Sacred Alliance Empire in the Western Continent. Those puppets became the pious followers of their god. According to the latter''s propagation, the allied human forces killed their hero and had someone disguise as Zhang Tie so as to enhance troop morale and intended to subvert their belief and country...


    From the perspective of the God, perhaps all the information about Zhang Tie in Sacred Alliance Empire were the most stupid lies as for allied human forces; however, such lies were accepted by all the fighters of Sacred Alliance Empire. In an enclosed totalitarian and religious system, if a person was born with lies, he would be strictly brainwashed. When he grew up, he would lose the basic judgment.


    Last night, after being full, Zhang Tie didn''t waste time; instead, he killed some demon soldiers in Coldwater City so as to kill time. From those soldiers'' memories, Zhang Tie learned well the means that demons and Three-eye Association used to control these puppet countries and brainwash their followers. After knowing all these, Zhang Tie shuddered with fear.


    In Sacred Alliance Empire, everyone was deeply marked as a demon since birth.


    There was a simple animal controlling skill that even idiots could master. It was called imprinting. This animal controlling skill originated from a biological behavior and instinct that some birds and mammals were born with. That instinctive behavior was called imprinting. To put it simply, some birds and mammals would treat the first moving object that they saw after birth as their parents. If one wanted to control a bird, the simplest way was to let the bird see you when it came to this world. Additionally, as long as that bird lived with you for a period of time, it would definitely become your most pious follower. Humans also had the same instinct.


    Similarly, each human in Sacred Alliance Empire would see demons the moment they came to this world. These kids couldn''t live with their natural parents until 7 years old; instead, they all lived with demons. After 7 years, when they completed the most period of brainwashing, they would return to the side of their real parents. By then, the terrifying and utterly different body of demons would be the most perfect, intimate and sacred symbol in their eyes...Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    Across the territory of Sacred Alliance Empire, demon was the most dignified and sacred symbol.


    After 7 years, those kids would continue to be brainwashed systematically. They would have their own language and treat everything that was marked with different words as dirty and profanatory items and everyone who spoke different languages as dirty and blasphemous people. They would confess no matter what they heard or saw. As for the former, they would burn and destroy them; as for the latter, if the opponents were men, they would be slaughtered and buried; if the opponents were women, their tongues would be cut off as they would become their tools for reproduction. As long as these women lost the ability to reproduce, they would also be slaughtered and buried...


    When the fighters of Sacred Alliance Empire rushed into the battlefields, many people carried great feelings. They wanted to save all the humans by drawing those of their same kind being brainwashed by lies and dark into the arms and brilliance of their real god. Finally, they intended to create a perfect world.


    That was the real thought of many fighters of Sacred Alliance Empire who were called "b*stards" by the fighters of allied human forces. Many of them were like martyrs who defied death and treated it as their greatest glory by killing fighters of allied human forces and fighting to death.


    After the holy war broke out 4 decades, demons had already turned a part of people into the most terrifying enemies of the other humans, who wanted to exterminate all the humans.


    It took Zhang Tie one night to read the memories of over 20 fighters and low-level officers of Sacred Alliance Empire who invaded Coldwater City. Besides mastering the language in these puppet countries, Zhang Tie also verified a conjecture¡ª¡ªOckham, as one of the three holy light bishops of Holy Light Empire, was indeed in the East Line of Western Continent.


    One low-level officer of Sacred Alliance Officer heard about the name of Ockham in a military conference.


    ...


    Those warplanes were chasing after each other in the air above Coldwater City and the neighborhoods. All the warplanes that both parties inputted on the battlefield were light multi-purpose warplanes. Each warplane could hold two air cavalries. Besides air combats, each warplane even carried two fiery-oil inflammable bombs. Soon after the air battle broke out, some warplanes had been hit and got burnt. They then fell to the ground with wuthering sounds and heavy black smoke.


    When the sun rose, a warplane of Sacred Alliance Empire which had just come to the battle field above Coldwater City had dove down like a javelin. Coincidentally, it hit the deserted building where Zhang Tie''s huge egg fell to yesterday.


    Under the loud booms, the deserted building collapsed at once, covering the huge pit created by Zhang Tie''s huge egg in an instant. As a result, the flame of fiery-oil inflammable bomb rose higher than 50 m and heavily burned the ground over hundreds of square meters in the surroundings...


    The only clue that Zhang Tie left was then covered in the ruins of Coldwater City.


    ...


    After doing all these, Zhang Tie rested all day long as he watched the air battle above Coldwater City.


    In the following one week, Zhang Tie slowly recovered in Coldwater City as he formed his first body-separation rune with the brilliant energy in his mind sea.


    The former body-separation rune had long been consumed in the chaos and the space mezzanines before he turned into a huge egg.


    With body-separation rune, Zhang Tie became a bit more confident.


    On the evening of the 8th day, Zhang Tie finally activated the bloody pledge of his god''s baptism rune and summoned Ockham from a mountain over 60 miles away from Coldwater City...

 1944 The Realization of the Truth

    After activating the bloody seal of the rune god''s baptism, Zhang Tie immediately activated his invisible Shen bead. Then, he quietly waited in a mountain cave where some brown bears once lived.


    Since the night had just fallen, Coldwater City in the distance looked tranquil. However, the battles between human allied forces and the Sacred Alliance Empire in Coldwater City in the evening had just come to a start. In the ruins, both parties had inputted a large number of troops. Bloody and cold fights were undergoing continuously. As it was dark, the air cavalries of both parties couldn''t identify the situation on the ground. Therefore, the squads of special forces of human allied forces completely mixed with the army of the Sacred Alliance Empire like pine nuts in bread.


    Some wing demons flew by Coldwater City every once in a while. They always hid in clouds and would come out to investigate the situation in Coldwater City every now and then or observe the action of the base of human corps in the south of Coldwater City. Even though some wing demons flew at a low altitude, they dared never enter the air zone within 300 m above the ground; because human allied forces'' heavy crossbows could pose a fatal threat to wing demons within this distance.


    Before fiery-oil was invented, ground weapons especially crossbows didn''t pose great threat to wing demons. However, after the invention of fiery-oil, especially a myriad of fiery-oil weapons, inflammable bolts that could turn into fireballs in the air became fatal to wing demons. Wing demons could barely defend them. Ordinary wing demons that couldn''t move as fast as bolts might be shot down by the latter. When bolts exploded in the air, they would produce heavy fire rains. Those flames could barely be extinguished the moment they touched wing demons. Therefore, wing demons were afraid of them the most.


    Inflammable crossbows on airplanes could turn wing demons into fireballs in the sky. The air-defense armored vehicles on the ground were also fatal to wing demons. Additionally, there were human snipers who especially targeted at wing demons at high altitude. These snipers were all equipped with special crossbows.


    The air cavalries of Sacred Alliance Empire didn''t take the upper hand in the air zone of Coldwater City at all. Without the coordination of wing demons, the air zone of Coldwater City might have long been occupied by the air cavalries of human allied forces.


    It was a large camp of human allied forces not far from the foot of this mountain where Zhang Tie was.


    There was even an air-defense regiment of human allied forces on this mountain. Some air-defense battlefields being filled with air-defense armored vehicles were set on the mountain, which was used to protect those field airports behind the mountain.


    High spruces, red pines and shrubs could be seen everywhere over the mountain. After Coldwater City turned into a battlefield, many plants on the mountain had been cut down and made into various armaments and materials; even though the greater part of the mountain was still covered with plants.


    The bloody seal of the rune god''s baptism was similar to those seals in the Great Wilderness Sutra. After all, the rune god''s baptism originated from the animal controlling secret skills of Great Wilderness Sect. Through the bloody pledge of the rune god''s baptism, Zhang Tie could summon Ockham; however, he couldn''t realize remote communication with Ockham through the bloody pledge.


    When he waited for the arrival of Ockham, Zhang Tie compared the rune god''s baptism with the Golden-Soul Rune Virus and got some new realization. The two secret skills were both used to control knights with their own strong points. To be precise, Golden-Soul Rune Virus was more profound. To be honest, Golden-Soul Rune Virus had been the standard configuration of ambitious men.


    When Zhang Tie learned the rune god''s baptism, he had already doubted the identity of the one who created this secret skill. Now, Zhang Tie had already confirmed it.


    If this god''s baptism was really created by the pope of Sacred Light Church, the pope of Sacred Light Church must be Taiyi Old Man.


    Even Zhang Tie had not imagined that Taiyi Fantasy Sect could control the Sacred Light Empire and create a puppet religious regime in the Western Continent. Who would believe in that...


    However, that was the fact. Many truths always made people dumbfounded once being unveiled to the public.


    Take those energies that Zhang Tie sensed in the world of thoughts in this mountain cave as an instance, as it was in the theater of operations, those energies in the world of thoughts were very powerful. What on earth are those energies in the world of thoughts? They were all negative energies like kill, fear, enmity, greed, fury, grief, distress and despair. These energies came from each soldier on the battlefield. These energies were the most favorite food of the demon overlord. They were the source of the power of demon overlord. In front of demon overlord or those powerhouses who had already formed immortal chakras, the entire battlefield was actually a huge juicer. Those being thrown into this juicer were all soldiers of both parties. The juice was composed of these negative energies released by the minds of those soldiers on the battlefield.


    The so-called world of thoughts was actually the odd realm where these energies existed. The thoughts that flashed by each one''s mind per second carried different attributes of energies. Ordinary people couldn''t see or sense those energies and their attributes in their minds. However, what these energies to someone were like what water to fish and what grasses to ox and sheep...


    At this moment, those negative thoughts and energies being extruded from the theater of operations in the East Line of the Western Continent were disappearing right in front of Zhang Tie. Even though Zhang Tie couldn''t see demon overlord, he could sense that those thoughts and energies in the world of thoughts were being engulfed by many invisible huge mouths. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    Some truths, once being figured out, could really overturn your recognition about everything in this world, even enable you to reconstruct your opinions about values.


    Those negative thoughts in one''s mind didn''t only exist on the battlefields; however, they would be more active on battlefields. Even in normal times, everyone would have a myriad of thoughts per second. Different thoughts represented different energies. However, when one felt stressful, painful, dangerous, fearful or being tortured by diseases, the energies of those thoughts would be regarded as yummy food in someone''s eyes...


    What was the meaning of the Three-Eye Association? Previously, Zhang Tie thought that he had already understood it. Actually, he didn''t. When he came back, observed and realized it from a higher angle of view, Zhang Tie completely realized and learned the core logic that Three-Eye Association used to rule and control humans...


    ...

 1945 Meeting Ockham Again

    It was deep night and tranquil. The deep place of the pitch-dark mountain cave reverberated with the sound of water dripping off stalactites that hung upside down from the top of the mountain cave. A salamander was silently creeping on the bank of a pond and capturing fleas in water in the gloomiest and most humid environment.


    As they had been used to such a dark environment, these salamanders'' visual sense had completely degenerated; however, their olfactory sense was still very sensitive.


    All of a sudden, that salamander suddenly stopped catching fleas as it instantly fled into crannies of the rocks and dared not expose his head as if it had seen something dangerous.


    Not knowing why, a cluster of mist had already appeared in this mountain cave. When the mist faded away, a person showed up like a specter.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    He was thin and tall. His entire body was covered with a black cloak. In a golden mask, he looked mysterious and terrifying. Under the golden mask, there was a pair of glittering eyes, which were observing the environment here meticulously with alert.


    His hands were inside the black robe. He was ready for the fight. Before a drop of water fell onto his body from the top of the mountain, it had been bounced off by a layer of invisible protective battle qi.


    Besides alert and prudence, his eyes also contained a bit of shock and doubt.


    "Long time no see, Ockham..." A voice suddenly entered his ears. He quivered once as he instantly turned around and looked ahead.


    10 m ahead, Zhang Tie slowly exited the "invisible" state.


    There was no invisible Shen bead in this world. Therefore, when he saw Zhang Tie''s body becoming real from transparent, undoubtedly, he was greatly shocked.


    After several decades, Zhang Tie''s looks still remained as same as before. However, his qi turned more unfathomable.


    He slightly quivered with fear and shock. After a few seconds, he instantly recalled something as he hurriedly knelt down by one knee in front of Zhang Tie and lowered his head. Meanwhile, he picked off his golden mask and greeted in a hoarse tone, "My respect to you, owner, I''m Ockahm..."


    "Unexpectedly, you''re already in the 7 change realm of shadow knight. You''ve made great progress too..." Zhang Tie sighed while continuing, "You don''t have to kneel down there. Get up. I will not eat you..."


    When he saw Zhang Tie, this holy light bishop of the Holy Light Empire felt weak all over and even lost his bravery to revolt just like how a new-born mouse caught sight of a cat. When Zhang Tie took him in, Zhang Tie was only an earth knight. Zhang Tie became world-renowned at the bank of Weishui River and slaughtered demons as if they were dogs. Later on, he "died" with a sage-level knight of Taixia Country at Yinhai Desert. From then on, Zhang Tie''s name had been a legend over the past decades.


    Over the past years, all the others thought that Zhang Tie was already dead; except Ockham. If Zhang Tie was dead, the effect of the god''s baptism rune on him would be relieved. However, the effect of the rune was not relieved yet; despite that he couldn''t sense Zhang Tie''s existence.


    When he saw Zhang Tie again, Ockham''s head buzzed with confusion. Before coming here, he was worried and doubted that it might be a trap. However, he dared not disobey Zhang Tie''s order. When he came here and saw Zhang Tie again, Ockham knew that it was not a trap. Therefore, his shock was beyond words.


    Ockham had confirmed two things in the shortest period of time. This Zhang Tie was real. He appeared to be more powerful than before. Not knowing whether Zhang Tie had promoted to a heavenly knight or a semi-sage knight, even though Zhang Tie didn''t make any progress in his cultivation base, he could also easily kill Ockham given the bond between them because of the god''s baptism rune.


    Although he still had a lot of questions, Ockham had figured out his own role in the shortest period of time.


    "It''s so nice to see you back, owner..." After standing up, the holy light bishop instantly "choked". Closely after that, his eyes turned red as he dropped off tears. Meanwhile, he watched Zhang Tie with excitement as he behaved like a humble slave...


    As long as a person promoted to a knight, it was too easy for him to control his tear gland. Zhang Tie didn''t want to learn whether Ockham''s tears were real or not; because it was meaningless. He only needed Ockham to be loyal to him. Ockham''s performance didn''t let Zhang Tie down either.


    After being "excited" for a short while, Ockham stopped dropping off tears. Zhang Tie then spoke in a serious way, "After falling in the space crack, I almost couldn''t come back. When I came back, I found I was in Coldwater City. Additionally, I lost many things and couldn''t contact my family for the time being. Therefore, I called you here to ask you some questions!"


    "Owner, do you need me to contact Jinwu Palace?" Ockham asked Zhang Tie carefully. Being not a fool, Ockham didn''t ask Zhang Tie why he didn''t go back to Taixia Country and found his family; because he was crystal clear about Zhang Tie''s enemies. Each of the three major sects of Taixia Country was a huge mountain that couldn''t be rocked. Now that Zhang Tie had come back, the sage-level knight which disappeared together with Zhang Tie at Yinhai Desert might not come back. As for a knight and a clan, it was as troublesome as facing demons for them to offend such an enemy.


    "I don''t want to contact my clan for the time being. I want to know the situation facing my clan over these years. Have they met any accident?"


    This was indeed the question that Zhang Tie was concerned about the most. Over these days, although Zhang Tie had read the memories of dozens of people in Coldwater City, he didn''t learn too much about the affairs of top powers as all the dozens of people were low-level roles, especially those lackeys being brainwashed by demons. He only learned some empty things and a couple of major events. Of course, Zhang Tie couldn''t gather too much information from those people''s brains.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, Ockham hurriedly told Zhang Tie about all the information of Jinwu Palace that he knew.


    Ockham paid closer attention to the information about Taixia Country and Jinwu Palace because of Zhang Tie; therefore, he knew more than ordinary people. Therefore, he poured out all the relevant information that he knew at this moment.


    Over the past 30-odd years, Jinwu Palace didn''t decline; instead, it developed into a super major clan being well-known across both Eastern Continent and the Western Continent.


    Jinwu Palace''s enemies in Taixia Country were Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion. Over the past 30-odd years, the three sects were totally incompatible with Jinwu Palace; however, they could do nothing to Jinwu Palace''s rise.


    After Elder Heavenly Chaos, also the owner of Heavens Holding Pavilion died in the battle at Yinhai Desert, Heavens Holding Pavilion''s power declined heavily. As those grand elders of Heavens Holding Pavilion didn''t reach an agreement about the next owner of Heavens Holding Pavilion, Heavens Holding Pavilion had been troubled with internal disputes over the past three decades. 6 years later after the battle between Zhang Tie and Elder Heavenly Chaos at Yinhai Desert, although the new owner of Heavens Holding Pavilion was selected with the interference of Old Man Taiyi and Elder Shenkong, he couldn''t completely conquer the other two grand elders who were also semi-level sages.


    On this occasion, that grand elder who ascended to the position of the owner of Heavens Holding Pavilion with the support of Old Man Taiyi and Elder Shenkong was killed by Yun Zhongzi, the sage-level elder of the Great Wilderness Sect. In that battle, Heavens Holding Pavilion suffered heavy losses.


    Therefore, there was still no owner of Heavens Holding Pavilion even now. The other two grand elders who always wanted to scramble for the position of the owner of Heavens Holding Pavilion finally stopped; instead, they both developed their own force in Heavens Holding Pavilion. As a result, Heavens Holding Pavilion''s reputation declined greatly. It almost dropped out of the top 6 sects in Taixia Country.


    In this situation, nobody in Heavens Holding Pavilion felt like offending Jinwu Palace which was in the heyday.


    By contrast, Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Qionglou Pavilion were both tired of coping with Yun Zhongzi, the elder of Great Wilderness Sect who treated them as his top enemies over the past three decades.


    Over 30 years ago, on the day of the battle at Yinhai Desert, Yun Zhongzi had raided the headquarters of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, inflicting a heavy loss to the latter. In the following a few years, he raided some branches of Qionglou Pavilion consecutively and killed many elders and knights of Qionglou Pavilion. Those elders and knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Qionglou Pavilion who went out to carry out tasks also became the preys of Yun Zhongzi. They would die for sure once they fell in the hands of Yun Zhongzi.


    By now, Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Qionglou Pavilion finally knew that people in barefoot was not afraid of those in shoes. The two major sects were afraid of Yun Zhongzi so much that everyone felt insecure.


    In the two major sects, besides sage-level knights like Taiyi Old Man and Elder Shenkong, almost nobody else could defeat Yun Zhongzi. The two major sects both had their bases; however, Yun Zhongzi, being such powerful, was alone. His trace was uncertain. Therefore, he always carried out guerrillas with the two major sects. Of course, the two major sects wouldn''t be in danger every day.


    Additionally, Yun Zhongzi''s animal controlling skill was amazing. Old Man Taiyi and Elder Shenkong set two traps in vain because Yun Zongzi used his animal controlling skill. As for the second time, Yun Zongzi even met trick with a trick. He induced Old Man Taiyi out of Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s headquarters and raided their headquarters for the second time. As a result, a lot of knights in the headquarters were heavily injured. Even the palace of the sect was destroyed again...

 1946 The Rise of Jinwu Palace

    When the three major sects of Taixia Country were heavily disturbed by Yun Zhongzi who used to take action secretly and had terrifying battle force, Jinwu Palace which established connections with the royal households of Taixia Country through marriage had been rising in an irresistible way based on businesses of fiery-oil and all-purpose medicament...


    As the holy war turned white-hot, the demand for fiery-oil and all-purpose medicament was increasing. In this situation, Jinwu Palace''s position in Taixia Country became more and more important. It could be said that Jinwu Palace was as rich as a country. Besides fiery-oil, starting from the second year after the battle at Yinhai Desert, Jinwu Palace had already determined to produce all-purpose medicament together with royal households and some major sects through cooperation...


    Zhang Tie was the son-in-law of Lord Guangnan''s Mansion. Zhang Tie''s sons were royal prince''s son-in-law, son-in-law of Zuoqiu Ming, son-in-law of Guang Clan. Additionally, Zhang Clan had established close relations with Heavenly Fortune Sect, Gold and Power Law, Taixia military and local major sects across Taixia Country. Furthermore, almost all the air cavalries across Taixia Country were the disciples or disciples'' disciples in Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Over the past 30-odd years since Zhang Tie left Taixia Country, Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Chengting and Zhang Chengpei had long promoted to earth knights. Soon after getting married, they had given birth to grandsons for Zhang Tie. Even many grandsons of Zhang Tie''s, also the fourth generation of Jinwu Palace had been promoting to knights one after another. Jinwu Palace was full of talents. Additionally, many powerhouses were joining Jinwu Palace from all directions.


    Yan Feiqing lived up to her identity as Zhang Tie''s No. 1 wife. After the battle at Yinhai Desert finished for 14 years, Yan Feiqing had formed her fire chakra and promoted to a semi-sage knight. Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi had promoted to shadow knights...


    After the battle at Yinhai Desert, Jinwu Palace suffered the largest crisis. On the 914th year of Black Iron Calendar, a semi-sage wing demon knight assaulted Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory. However, the final result was that the semi-sage wing demon knight was killed by golden sage and silver sage. Not until then did people across Taixia Country know that Jinwu Palace and Iron Dragon Sect had two super magical beasts on their back. Both magical beasts were close to semi-sage knights. However, their overall battle force was greater than that of a semi-sage level knight. Nobody could hurt them, except sage-level knights.


    As for Ice and Snow Wilderness, O''Laura became the empress dowager of Sacred Iceland Kingdom. Andre, the son between Zhang Tie and O''Laura, officially ascended to the throne at 18 and had become the Tsar of Ice and Snow Wilderness. He had long promoted to an earth knight and had a lot of children.


    Alexander, the son of Zhang Tie and Ms. Olina was called the king of islands. He owned 10,000 warships and had a big influence on the sea...


    Additionally, Anatori, Victor, Igor, Oreg, Nigolas and Lev, the six sons between Zhang Tie and the six women of Spencer Clan, cleared all the obstacles in Fadiland, Western Continent where Zhang Tie once promised to gift them and founded a new kingdom called the Sacred Eschyle Kingdom.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    Anatori, the son of Zhang Tie and Matia, became the first king of Sacred Eschyle Kingdom. All the other five sons became the princes of Sacred Eschyle Kingdom. The names of the six brothers had been spread over Sacred Eschyle Kingdom.


    The first private city of Spencer Clan in Ice and Snow Wilderness was Eschyle City. Eschyle meant the land where their lord arrived in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Unimaginably, wise Spencer Clan finally turned this name into a country''s name after dozens of years. The investment that Spencer Clan made in Zhang Tie at the beginning finally brought them a great harvest after dozens of years. Speaking of business and sagacity, Spencer Clan indeed ranked first in Ice and Snow Wilderness.


    With the foundation of Sacred Eschyle Kingdom, the reputation of Spencer women also spread over the Western Continent.


    Listening to the information about Jinwu Palace and his children from Ockham, Zhang Tie felt complex as he became silent for a while.


    Zhang Tie was born as a grassroots in Blackhot City. However, he didn''t imagine that even his sons could become kings one day. Over the past 30-odd years, even his grandsons had promoted to knights.


    Zhang Tie was at a loss of whether to cry or laugh.


    "What about Matveyev? I didn''t hear any news about Matveyev." Zhang Tie suddenly asked Ockham after a short silence.


    Matveyev was the son of Zhang Tie and Sabrina. Of course, he didn''t forget about him.


    Ockham replied with a bit flurried look, "Please forgive me, owner. I know very little about Matveyev. I only heard that Sacred Iceland Kingdom and Sacred Eschyle Kingdom both conferred Matveyev as a prince. Alexander even gifted a big island in Xiqin Waters to Matveyev. However, after promoting to a knight, Matveyev has not shown up in the public. I didn''t hear any news about him over these years."


    "What about Matveyev''s mother Sabrina?"


    "Ms. Sabrina''s whereabouts is uncertain. 10 years ago, she traveled across the Western Continent. Later on, she was said to have been to Taixia Country. A few years ago, she was said to return to Wildbear City in Ice and Snow Wilderness. I''ve not received any news about her recently..."


    ''Has Wildbear Tribe founded a city?'' Zhang Tie slightly shook his head. Matveyev was born to be restless and explore just like his mother. Perhaps Matveyev was looking for the life that he wanted. If something had really happened to Matveyev, Sabrina would never travel everywhere given her personality.


    Zhang Tie then asked about Olina and the other wives. According to Ockham, they were all good. Everyone knew that they were Zhang Tie''s wives. Given Zhang Tie''s prestige among humans and the Jinwu Palace''s influential position in Taixia Country, of course, nobody dared cast greedy eyes on their beautiful looks. Additionally, they were not common as they had means and forces to protect themselves. All of their sons were freaks who had promoted to knights at about the age of 18.


    Over the past dozens of years since the holy war broke out, humans and Taixia Country were swaying in the midst of a raging storm. However, Jinwu Palace and Zhang Tie''s bloodline were developing prosperously. That was all the information that Zhang Tie had acquired from Ockham.


    After knowing all these, Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh.


    There was the last problem to be solved.


    "I need you to arrange a free tower of time for me now at any price. It had better be on the Western Continent!" Zhang Tie told Ockham straightforwardly.


    "Owner, you need a tower of time?" Ockham asked with great shock, "It''s said that Jinwu Palace has a lot of towers of time in the south border of Taixia Country..."


    "Due to some reasons, I don''t want to expose my identity. Neither do I want to contact my family for the time being..." Zhang Tie interrupted with Ockham.


    "There''re very few advanced towers of time which could enable a person to cultivate in for over 50 years in Western Continent," Ockham replied with an embarrassed look, "There''re two advanced towers of time in Holy Light Empire; however, they couldn''t be available without the consent of His Majesty Pope..."


    "I don''t need such an advanced tower of time. I only need to cultivate 3-5 years in a tower of time. Can you find it?" Zhang Tie asked Ockham with burning eyes.


    "A tower of time which could be available for 3-5 years?"


    "Yes, I don''t need to cultivate for too long!"


    Ockham then rolled his eyes as he started to consider it rapidly. Half a minute later, Ockham raised his eyebrows and replied, "Owner, if you don''t mind changing your identity, I might... find it..."


    "Might?"


    "No, owner, as long as you don''t mind changing your identity, I can definitely find it!" Ockham clenched his teeth and said when he saw Zhang Tie slightly knitting his brows.


    "Tell me about your plan..."


    "Here''s my plan..."


    Listening to Ockham''s words, Zhang Tie slightly relieved his brows...

 1947 Finding His New Identity

    On the evening of July 18th, the 932nd year of Black Iron Calendar, in the mountains 200 miles away in the east of Coldwater City, Hicks Peninsula...


    With a wuthering sound, a bolt flew over a 50 m high red pine in a valley and struck the people in front of the team who were groping their way and advancing among the rocks on the hillside.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    The bolt instantly penetrated through the soft armor in front of that man''s chest at lightning speed. Closely after that, the bolt ejected flames that covered that man...


    Once being hit by such an inflammable bolt, nobody could survive.


    The flames looked very eye-catching in the dark. It brightly lit the space over thousands of square meters in the valley.


    The team being raided only had four people. When the one in front of the team was struck, the remaining three people instantly made a response as they all charged at different directions so as to avoid being the second target. At the same time, one of the three people who was holding a metal crossbow had already triggered his string. With a buzz, three bolts instantly shot into the leaves of that red pine where the bolt came from in the shape of a triangle.


    With a muffled sound, a black shadow fell to the ground heavily from the high red pine.


    "Crewe..." With a low growl, seven fighters of Sacred Alliance Empire whose faces were covered with the tattoo of snake scales suddenly rushed out of bushes and darted towards the remaining three people whom they were ambushing.


    Among the 7 people, at least 5 of them had released their battle qi and revealed their battle qi totems¡ª¡ªtwo black spiders, one centipede, one king serpent and a huge bloody scorpion.


    Crewe meant "kill" in the language of Sacred Alliance Empire.


    "Holy Light remains forever..."


    The three people who had just charged at different directions roared in unison. At the same time, they took out their weapons and released bloody battle qi. Closely after that, the three people rushed towards the seven people of the Sacred Alliance Empire at the same time.


    The battle was short, fierce and bloody. It lasted less than two minutes. In the blood sprays, muffled sounds of being pierced through by sabers and swords and people''s growls, the team of three people instantly reduced to one people. By contrast, the team of seven fighters of Sacred Alliance Empire reduced to three people in the short period of time...


    Finally, the one who had just fired three bolts in the team of three people stabbed his long sword into the heart of the most powerful bloody scorpion fighter in the team of Sacred Alliance Empire while being pierced through by three long swords. Closely after that, the two people rolled down the hillside and fell into the pitch-dark valley, leaving no sound anymore.


    As a result, the team of seven people of the Sacred Alliance Empire was reduced to two people. The remaining two fighters didn''t waste time. They rapidly cut off the heads of two enemies. After that, they took a look at the deep valley and the steep cliff. After gabbling a few seconds, they soon disappeared in the dark, leaving blood and corpses on the hillside...


    ...


    Ten minutes later, Zhang Tie, being invisible, arrived at the battlefield. After taking a look at those corpses and the blood stains on the ground, he flew into the deep valley along the steep hillside and cliff.


    The two corpses in the valley had been badly mutilated and completely lost their qi. However, Zhang Tie could still identify the identities of the two people.


    The fighter who perished together with that fighter of Sacred Alliance Empire was widening his eyes with fury until death. Meanwhile, his face was covered with bloodstains.


    Zhang Tie reached out his hand and lightly helped him cover his eyes. After that, he put his hand on this fighter''s head. It took him less than half a minute to read all the memory of this fighter since he was born.


    According to the secret skill of Bloody Soul Sutra, one''s memory could still be captured even if he had just died.


    This fighter was indeed a LV 9member of Sword of Brilliance, the most elite legion in the Holy Light Empire. His name was Fred.


    "From now on, I will live with your identity and name for a period of time as the return. I could help you get revenge. Let me bury you now..." Zhang Tie sighed as he took off the metal nameplate which was hung over the fighter''s neck. Then, he waved his hand and silently made a 2 m deep pit beside that fighter of Holy Light Empire. Zhang Tie then put the corpse of that Holy Light Empire into the pit before covering him with soil and stones. After that, he exited the "invisible" state.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was already as same as that late fighter of Holy Light Empire.


    With a pair of black field boots, a leather belt, a sharp top-quality long sword, a short saber, a soft armor being close to his skin, a field leather waist container being exclusive to the legion Sword of Brilliance of Holy Light Empire, a field camouflage uniform and a standard color-changing field cloak, Zhang Tie was absolutely a member of legion Sword of Brilliance of Holy Light Empire.


    Zhang Tie hung that nameplate over his own neck. After that, his body as a whole undulated like a ripple. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Tie had copied the look of Fred¡ª¡ªover 20 years old, beige hair, light green eyeballs, flat nose, thin lips, fair fingers, prominent bone joints on his palms and a 3 cm long faint scar.


    Fred was neither handsome nor ugly. He was just a common youth on the Western Continent. As a member of the legion Sword of Brilliance, he had experienced many things that outsiders didn''t know. Therefore, his face looked a bit grim and solemn.


    Besides the face, Zhang Tie also imitated his secret method and level at the same time.


    When Zhang Tie turned into Fred, he suddenly heard trotting sounds approaching him from afar. The remaining two fighters of Sacred Alliance Empire had already come to the valley from another gentle slope. They were running towards here. Soon after they negotiated a huge rock in the valley, they had caught sight of Zhang Tie.


    There were moonlight and starlight tonight. Although this valley looked a bit dark, they could still see clearly everything within dozens of meters.


    At the sight of Zhang Tie, the two fighters of Sacred Alliance Empire instantly became stunned for a couple of seconds as if they had seen a ghost.


    The enemy who was pierced through by three swords and rolled down with their captain was standing right in front of them safe and sound. By contrast, their captain''s corpse was lying beside Zhang Tie.


    As fighters had been familiar with many situations, they didn''t think too much on this occasion. They found that Zhang Tie just stood there still. Therefore, after being temporarily stunned, they roared, "Crewe.." in a low tone before brandishing their long swords and rushing towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie drew out the long sword from the sheath. Without using any powerful secret skill or battle skill, he charged at them like a tiger.


    Zhang Tie waved his long sword, sending an enemy''s head flying in the air immediately. After that, he slightly avoided the attack of the other enemy and prodded the long sword forward, piercing through the second enemy''s chest. The battle soon came to an end.


    After putting his long sword back into the sheath, Zhang Tie gropped over the two corpses for a short while. After taking two inflammable grenades, he took a glance at this place for the last time. Then, he jumped agilely and disappeared in the dense wood beside the valley...


    After a few minutes, a pack of huge wolves appeared in the valley with green light in their eyes. After the pack of huge wolves left there, there were only some broken bones over there...

 1948 Leaving the Mountain Range

    ÕÅÌúÔÚÄÇƬɽÁëÖ®ÖдôÁËÊ®Ìì,Ëæºó,Ëû¾ÍÀ뿪ÁËÄÇƬɽÁë.


    Zhang Tie didn''t leave that mountain range until 10 days later.


    ÕâÕâÊ®ÌìÄÚ,ÕÅÌúÒ»¸öÈËÔÚɽÁëÖ®ÖвμÓÁ˲»ÏÂÊ®´ÎµÄÕ½¶·,¿³Á˼¸Ê®¸öÄÔ´ü,×îºóÒ»´Î,ÔÚ·ü»÷ÁËÒ»¶ÓÉñÊ¥ÁªÃ˵۹úµÄսʿ֮ºó,»¯Éí¸¥ÈðµÂµÄÕÅÌú"¾ªÆæµÄ·¢ÏÖ"×Ô¼ºÍ»È»Ö®¼äËƺõÒѾ­¿ÉÒÔµãȼ³ýÁ˼¹×µÃ÷µãÖ®ÍâµÄÉíÌåµÄÆäËûÃ÷µã,ÔÚÓÐÁËÕâ¸ö·¢ÏÖÖ®ºó,ÕÅÌú°´ÕÕ¹â»ÔÖ®½£µÄÒªÇó,Ö÷¶¯Í˳öÁËÄÇƬɽÁë,×¼±¸»ØÓªµØ±¨µÀ.


    During this period, Zhang Tie joined more than 10 battles and chopped off dozens of heads in the mountain range. After ambushing a team of fighters of Sacred Alliance Empire, Zhang Tie who disguised himself as Frederick suddenly found that he could light all the other surging points except those on his spine. After that, Zhang Tie exited that mountain range and prepared to go back to the camp at the order of the Sword of Brilliance.


    ÕâÊ®ÌìµÄÕ½¶·,ÎÞÐè׸Êö,ÒòΪÄÇÒ»³¡³¡µÄÕ½¶·,¶ÔÕÅÌúÀ´Ëµ,Á¬ÑÝÏ·¶¼Ëã²»ÉÏ,Ҳ̸²»ÉÏÈκεľªÏÕ,ÒÔËûÊ¥½×µÄ¾³½ç,ÄÄÅÂÔÚÐéÈõÖ®ÖÐ,¼Ù×°Ò»¸ö¾Å¼¶µÄսʿ,ºÍͬ¼¶±ð,ÉõÖÁ¸üµÍ¼¶±ðµÄħ×å×ß¹·ÃÇÈ¥Õ½¶·,ÕâÑùµÄÕ½¶·,¶ÔÕÅÌúÀ´Ëµ,¸É°Í°ÍµÄ,ÓÖÓкγɾ͸пÉÑÔ.


    The battles in the 10 days could be ignored as they were not even performances and far from risks. Given his realm as a sage-level knight, even being weak, he still didn''t have any sense of fulfillment by disguising as a LV 9 fighter and fighting demon lackeys at LV 9 or below LV 9. It was far from being satisfying.


    ΨһÉÔ΢Óеã"¾ªÏÕ"µÄ,ÊÇÓÐÒ»´ÎÕÅÌúÔÚɽÖз¢ÏÖÁËÒ»¸öÉñÊ¥ÁªÃ˵۹úµÄʮһ¼¶µÄսʦ,È»ºó,ÕÅÌú¿¼ÂÇÔÙÈý,¾õµÃÒÔ×Ô¼º¾Å¼¶µÄʵÁ¦,È¥ÌøÁ½¼¶»÷ɱһ¸öʮһ¼¶µÄսʦʵÔÚÓÐЩ˵²»¹ýÈ¥,Ì«ÄæÌìÁËÒ»µã,Ò²»á¶³öÆÆÕÀ,ËùÒÔÕÅÌúÒÔ"ÄþËÀ²»Çü"µÄÒâÖ¾,ÔÚÄǸöʮһ¼¶µÄսʦµÄ׷ɱÏÂ×îºó"ÌøÑÂ",ÖÕÓÚ"¶ã¹ý"ÁËÄǸöսʦµÄ׷ɱ...


    There was only a relatively "risky" battle: Zhang Tie discovered a LV 11 battle master of Sacred Alliance Emperor in the mountain. After thinking twice, Zhang Tie felt it was too eye-catching if he killed him with the gap of two levels, therefore, Zhang Tie chose to "dodge" the battle master''s chase through jumping off the "cliff" with an "unyielding" will...


    Ò²¾ÍÊÇÔÚÄÇ´Î"ÌøÑÂÌÓÃü"ºóµÄÁ½Ìì,ÕÅÌú·¢ÏÖ×Ô¼º´óÄѲ»ËÀºóËƺõÈ¡µÃÁËijЩͻÆÆ,"ÖÕÓÚ"¿ÉÒÔµãȼ¼¹×µÍâµÄÃ÷µã,ËùÒÔËû½áÊøÁËÔÚɽÁëÖ®ÖеÄÊ®Ìì"̤ÇོÓÎ",½øÈë¼Æ»®µÄÏÂÒ»²½.


    2 days later after that "survival", Zhang Tie found that he gained some breakthrough¡ª¡ªhe could finally light the surging points except those on his spine. Therefore, he finished the 10 days'' "outing in the spring" in the mountain range and came to the next step.


    ·ÑÄϾàÀëÀäË®³Ç230¹«Àï,»¤ÎÀ×ÅÀäË®³ÇµÄ²àÒí,ºÍÏÖÔÚÒѾ­³ÉΪһƬ·ÏÐæµÄÀäË®³ÇÏà±È,·ÑÄÏÏÖÔÚ»¹ÍêÈ«ÕÆÎÕÔÚÈË×åÁª¾üµÄÊÖÉÏ,Õû¸ö·ÑÄÏÏÖÔÚ¾ÍÊÇÒ»¸ö±øÓª,ÉñÊ¥ÁªÃ˵۹úµÄ¾ü¶ÓÏëÒª¶áÈ¡·ÑÄÏ,Ö»ÓÐÁ½Ìõ·,ÕâÁ½Ìõ·,Ò»ÌõÊÇ´©¹ý·ÑÄϱ±ÃæµÄÄÇһƬ³çɽ¾þÁë,°Ñ´ó¾ü¿ªµ½·ÑÄϳÇÏÂ,»¹ÓÐÒ»Ìõ,¾ÍÊÇÔÚ³¹µ×Õ¼ÁìÀäË®³Çºó,´ÓÀäË®³Ç»Óʦ¶«½ø,²ÅÓÐÍþв·ÑÄϵĿÉÄÜ.


    Feinan was about 160 miles away from Coldwater City. Protecting a flank of Coldwater City, it was completely under the control of allied human forces compared to the deserted Coldwater City. Feinan was like a human camp. If the forces of Sacred Alliance Emperor wanted to occupy Feinan, they could only have two ways: pass the lofty mountains in the north of Feinan and came to the city gate of Feinan City or completely occupy Coldwater City and march eastward from Coldwater City so as to threaten Feinan.


    ÕâÁ½Ìõ·,¶ÔÉñÊ¥ÁªÃ˵۹úÀ´Ëµ,ÄÄÒ»Ìõ¶¼²»ÈÝÒ×,ÿǰ½øÒ»²½,¶¼Òª¸¶³öѪµÄ´ú¼Û.


    As for Sacred Alliance Emperor, each of the two ways was difficult. They had to pay a great loss whenever they marched one step forward.


    ÀäË®³ÇÒѾ­±ä³ÉÁËһƬ·ÏÐæ,µ«Ë«·½»¹ÔÚÕù¶á,¶øÔÚ·ÑÄϳDZ±ÃæµÄɽÁëÖ®ÖÐ,´ó¾üÎÞ·¨¿ª½ø,ËùÓеÄÖØÐÍ×°±¸ÎÞ·¨½øÈë,ËùÒÔÄÇƬɽÁëÖ®ÖÐÓÖ³ÉÁËÁíÍâһƬս³¡,ÄܽøÈëÆäÖÐÓëµÐÈËÕ½¶·µÄ,¶¼ÊÇÕæÕýµÄ¾«ÈñÁ¦Á¿,Áù¼¶ÒÔÉϵÄսʿ³ÉÁËÄÇƬɽÁëÖ®ÖеÄÖ÷½Ç,¶øÔÚɽÁëÖ®Íâ,ÈË×åÁª¾üÑÏÕóÒÔ´ý,²¼ÖÃÁËÒ»ÌõÓÉÒ»Á¬´®Õ½±¤×é³ÉµÄ·ÀÏß,¾ÍËãÉñÊ¥ÁªÃ˵۹úµÄ¾«ÈñÁ¦Á¿¿ÉÒÔ´ÓÄÇƬɽÁëÖ®ÖÐɱ³öÀ´,Ò²ÒªÔÚÄÇЩ¸ÖÌúÕ½±¤×é³ÉµÄÊÈѪ¾â³ÝÃæǰײµÃÍ·ÆÆѪÁ÷.


    Coldwater City had already become ruins; however, humans and demon lackeys were still scrambling for it. Additionally, the demon army couldn''t move forward in the mountain range in the north of Feinan City as none of the heavy weapons could enter it. Therefore, that mountain range became another battlefield. Those who could fight in that region were all elites. They were mainly fighters above LV 6. Outside the mountain range, allied human forces were waiting for enemies in a series of defense line composed of battle fortresses. Even though the elites of Allied Sacred Emperor passed that mountain range, they would also be badly battered by the bloody forces in the steel battle fortresses.


    ...


    "վס..."


    "Stop..."


    ÔÚÄÇƬɽÁëÄÏÃæµÄÒ»¸ö¹Ø°¯´¦,Ò»¸ö»ÒÉ«µÄ¸ß´óµÄ¸ÖÌúÕ½±¤ËÊÁ¢×Å,¿¨Ö÷Á˽ø³öÄÇƬɽÁëµÄÑʺí,7ÔÂ29ÈÕµÄÔçÉÏ,ÌìÉ«´óÁÁ,Ì«Ñô¸Õ¸Õ³öÀ´,Ò»Éí¶ˮ,´ÓÊ÷ÁÖÖ®ÖÐ×ê³öÀ´µÄÕÅÌú,ÔÚ¾àÀëÄÇƬ¹Ø°¯´¦500Ã×Ö®Íâ,¾ÍÒýÆðÁËÕ½±¤ÊؾüµÄ×¢Òâ,Õ½±¤Éϼ¸Ì¨ÍþÁ¦¾Þ´óµÄÕôÆûåóÅÚ,ÒѾ­ÇÄÈ»Ãé×¼ÁËÕÅÌúµÄÉíÓ°,ÔÚÕÅÌú°ÑÒ°Õ½Åû·çµÄñ¶µÀ­ÏÂÀ´,¶³ö×Ô¼ººú×ÓÀ­²êÀú¾­·ç˪µÄÁ³¼ÕºÍÃæÈÝÖ®ºó,Õ½±¤ÉϵÄÊؾüÉÔ΢·ÅËÉÁËÒ»µã,µ«ÈÔÈ»¶¢×ų¯×ÅÕ½±¤×ßÀ´µÄÕÅÌú.


    A tall gray-colored steel battle fortress was standing at a pass in the south of that mountain range, controlling the main road accessing the mountain range. On the early morning of July 29, soon after the sun came out, Zhang Tie had caught the attention of the garrisons in the battle fortress. Some powerful steam crossbow cannons had already targeted at Zhang Tie silently. When Zhang Tie pulled off the hood of his field cape, revealing his bearded and experienced face, he caused the garrisons to be slightly relaxed. However, they were still gazing at Zhang Tie who was walking towards the battle fortress.


    ÔÚÕÅÌú¾àÀëÕ½±¤70Ã××óÓÒµÄʱºò,µØÉÏÓÐÒ»ÌõºìÏß,Ëæ×ÅÕ½±¤ÉϵÄÄǸöÉùÒô´«À´,ÕÅÌúÒ²¾ÍÔÚÄÇÌõºìÏßÖ®ÍâÍ£ÏÂÁ˽Ų½. "±¨Éϲ¿¶Ó·¬ºÅ,»¹ÓÐͨÐпÚÁî!"¸ÖÌúÕ½±¤Ö®ÉÏ,Ò»¸ö´©×Å°µºìÉ«¾ü×°µÄ¾ü¹ÙÕ½ÔÚ¼ý¶âµÄºóÃæ,¶Ô×ÅÕÅÌúº°ÁËÒ»Éù.


    When Zhang Tie was about 70 m away from the battle fortress, he saw a red line on the ground. At this time, Zhang Tie heard a voice from the battle fortress, "Report the designation of your troop and your passcode!" from an officer in crimson military uniform hiding behind the arrow buttress.


    "Ê¥¹âµÛ¹ú¹â»ÔÖ®½£¾üÍÅÏ£¿Ë˹°ëµºÅÉDz±øÍŵÚÈý´ó¶ÓµÚ76С¶Ó,ͨ¹Ø¿ÚÁî,ÎíÖÐÖ®¹â..."ÕÅÌú³ÁÉù»Ø´ðµÀ.


    "No. 76 squad, the 3rd brigade, designated corps in Hicks Peninsula, Sword of Brilliance Army Group, Sacred Light Empire. Passcode, Light in Mist..." Zhang Tie answered in a muffled voice.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    Õ½±¤Éϵľü¹Ù¹À¼ÆÊÇÈ¥ºË¶Ô76С¶ÓÁôϵÄͨ¹Ø¿ÚÁî,×ã×ã¹ýÁË°ë·ÖÖÓ,ÄǸö¾ü¹ÙµÄÉùÒô²ÅÖØÐÂÔÚÕ½±¤ÉÏÃæÏìÁËÆðÀ´,"·¬ºÅ¿ÚÁîÎÞÎó,×¼Óèͨ¹ý..."


    After that, the officer might go to check the passcode of No. 76 Squad. In half a minute, the officer finally responded in the battle fortress, "Correct designation and passcode. Permitted..."


    ÔÚÈ·ÈÏÁËÕÅÌúµÄÉí·ÝÖ®ºó,Ãé×¼×ÅÕÅÌúµÄåóÅÚ̧ÁËÆðÀ´,´ÓÕÅÌúÉíÉÏÒÆ¿ª,Õ½±¤ÉϵÄÒ»¸ÉÊؾü,¶¼Óø´ÔÓÖ®ÖмÐÔÓ×Åһ˿×ðÖصÄÑ۹⿴×ų¯×ÅÕ½±¤×ß¹ýÀ´µÄÕÅÌú.


    After confirming Zhang Tie''s identity, the crossbow cannon was moved upward, then changed to another direction. All the garrisons in the battle fortress were watching Zhang Tie with complex looks which contained a bit of respect.


    Èý¸öÐÇÆÚÇ°´ÓÕâÀï½øÈëµ½ÄÇƬɽÁëÖ®ÖеÄС¶ÓÊÇÁù¸öÈË,Èý¸öÐÇÆÚºó,Õû¸öС¶Ó»ØÀ´µÄÖ»ÓÐÒ»¸ö,ÆäÓàÎå¸öµ½µ×ÔõôÑùÁË,×ÔÈ»²»ÓöàÎÊ,¶øÕÅÌúÄÜ»ØÀ´,¼ÈÊÇÔËÆø,Ò²ÊDZ¾ÊÂ.


    3 weeks ago, No. 76 squad entering this mountain range contained 6 people. 3 weeks later, only one of them survived back. Needless to say, the other 5 had died. Now that Fred could come back, he must be fortunate and competent.


    ÔÚ±ðÈ˵ÄÑÛÖÐ,ÕÅÌúÊÇÕ½³¡ÉϵÄÐÒ´æÕß,Õû¸öÈËÉíÉÏËƺõ¶¼ÄÜÎŵüûѪÐÈζ,ÌýµÃµ½ÄÇØËɱ֮Éù.


    In others'' eyes, Zhang Tie was a survivor on the battlefield as he was wounded; besides, they could almost hear battle calls given Zhang Tie''s look.


    ÕÅÌú³¯×ÅÕ½±¤×ßÈ¥,ÎÞÂÛËûÍâ±íÈçºÎ,µ«ÄÚÐÄÖ®ÖÐ,ȴƽ¾²µÃºÜ,ËûÒ»±ß×ßÒ»±ßÃÐ×ÅÑÛ¾¦´òÁ¿×ÅÕ½±¤ÉÏÃæµÄÎäÆ÷,ÐÄÖÐÓÐЩ¸Ð̾.


    When Zhang Tie walked towards the battle fortress, no matter how poor he looked, he still stayed calm inside. As he walked, he squinted at those weapons in the battle fortress. Meanwhile, he sighed with emotions inside.


    Õ½Õù¹ûÈ»ÊÇм¼ÊõºÍгɹûµÄ´ß»¯¼Á,¾ÍÏñ×Ô¼ºÉíÉϵÄÕâ¼þÓñäÒìÎÚÔôÌåÒº¼Ó¹¤³öÀ´¿ÉÒÔ±äÉ«µÄÒ°Õ½Åû·çÒ»Ñù,ÔÚ×Ô¼ºÀ뿪µÄʱºò,Õû¸öÈË×åµÄ²¿¶Ó,ÉõÖÁ°üÀ¨Ì«ÏĵIJ¿¶Ó,¶¼Ã»ÓÐÕâÑùµÄ×°±¸,ûÏëµ½Õâ´Î»ØÀ´,ÈýÊ®¶àÄêµÄʱ¼ä,ÕâÑùµÄ×°±¸,È´ÒѾ­Å䱸µ½ÁËÎ÷·½´ó½һÏß²¿¶ÓÖ®Öеľ«Èñ¾üÍÅÒ»¼¶µÄսʿÊÖÖÐ.


    War was indeed the catalyzer of new technologies and achievements. Take this color-changing field cape being processed with mutated cuttlefish''s body fluid as an instance. When he left this world, this equipment didn''t exist among human troops, even troops in Taixia Country. Unexpectedly, more than 3 decades later, fighters of elite army groups in the frontier of the Western Continent had been equipped with it.


    ÃæÇ°ÕâÕ½±¤ÉϵÄÎäÆ÷,Ò²±ÈÆð×Ô¼ºÀ뿪µÄʱºò¸ü¼ÓµÄϬÀûÁËÐí¶à,еĺϽð²ÄÁÏÓë·ûÎļ¼ÊõµÄÁªºÏÔËÓÃÈÃÕ½±¤ÉÏÃ漸̨ÒÀ¿¿ÕôÆûΪ¶¯Á¦µÄÎäÆ÷µÄ´¢Ñ¹¹ÞµÄ´¢Ñ¹ÄÜÁ¦Ìá¸ßÁËÒ»¸öµÈ¼¶,Óɴ˾ʹøÀ´ÎäÆ÷ÍþÁ¦µÄ¾Þ´óÌáÉý,ÖòÓ͵ķ¢Ã÷,¸üÊÇÈÃÕâ¸öÕ½±¤ÔÚÓµÓÐÁ˵ڶþÌ×±¸ÓõĶ¯Á¦ÏµÍ³µÄͬʱ,ÓÖÔö¼ÓÁ˼¸¼þÈÃÈËÍû¶øÉúηµÄÖòÓͱ¬Ñ×ÎäÆ÷.


    The weapons in the battle fortress were also much more powerful than that when he left. With the combination of new alloy materials and rune technologies, the pressure storage ability of the storage tanks of the steam weapons was one level higher than before, which meant great improvement in destructive capability. With the invention of fiery oil, this battle fortress got a reserved dynamic system and some awe-stricken fiery-oil inflammable weapons.


    Èç¹û²»ÕÆÎÕÖÆ¿ÕȨµÄ»°,ÒªÄÃÏÂÕâÑùµÄÕ½±¤,ħ×å»òÕßħ×åµÄ¹·ÍÈÐèÒªÓñÈÈýÊ®ÄêÇ°¶àÁ÷Ò»±¶µÄÏÊѪ²ÅÄÜ°ÑÕâ¸öÕ½±¤°Îµô,¶øÈç¹ûÕÆÎÕÁËÖÆ¿ÕȨ,ÔòÒ»·¢Ò»¶Ö¼¶±ðµÄÖØÐͱ¬Ñ×µ¯,¾Í¿ÉÒÔ°ÑÕâ¸öÕ½±¤±ä³ÉÒ»¶Ñ·ÏÌú,°ÑÕ½±¤ÀïµÄÕâÒ»¸öÓªµÄսʿ±ä³É·É»Ò.


    If not take the air supremacy in advance, it would take demons or demon lackeys two times more lives than that needed over 3 decades ago to eliminate this battle fortress. However, if they took the air supremacy, they only needed one 1-ton heavy inflammable bomb to turn this battle fortress into ruins and the battalion of soldiers in the battle fortress into ashes.


    ²»Öª²»¾õ,¿ÕÆï±øÔÚÕ½ÕùÖ®ÖÐÔ½À´Ô½ÖØÒªÁË.


    Air cavalries gradually became more and more important in wars.


    ̧ͷ¿´ÁË¿´Ìì¿Õ...


    Zhang Tie looked up at the sky...


    ¹ûÈ»,Ò»¸ö±à¶ÓµÄÕ½Ó¥ÕýÔÚÌì¿ÕÖ®ÖÐÅÌÐý×Å,¼È±£»¤×ÅÏÂÃæµÄÕ½±¤,Ò²¼àÊÓ×ÅÄÇƬɽÁëÉϿյĶ¯¾²...


    As was imagined, a formation of "battle eagles" was hovering in the sky. Besides protecting the battle fortress, they were also monitoring the situation facing the air territory above the mountain range...

 1949 Ockhams Plan

    After passing the fortress, Zhang Tie found that the terrain in front suddenly became open. There were many well-paved broad roads leading to all directions. However, those broad roads were covered with black-green military vehicles and soldiers at this moment.


    Fiery oil was an important strategical material, which could only be used at critical moments. In order to relieve stress facing fiery-oil supply, many military vehicles being responsible for communicating and freight were driven by steam engines like before. These steam engines were not picky. They could run with burning coal or firewoods and some water. They had very high adaptability and were convenient for maintenance. They were still useful on the battlefields.


    Of course, some fiery-oil vehicles were also driving rapidly on the roads, leaving dust rising in the air. However, those fiery-oil vehicles were all exclusive to senior officers of troops. Zhang Tie met two fiery-oil vehicles on the way. All the officers in the fiery-oil vehicles were colonels.


    The roadside fertile farmland had been deserted. If not war, the roadside farmland should be filled with gratifying maizes or wheat in July. At this moment, walking on the road, Zhang Tie found all the farmlands were filled with weeds. Many fields had been built into training grounds, camps or temporarily field airports. It was busy all over. Air cavalries would fly over those fields by airplane towards Coldwater City every once in a while. Those field airports were most busy.


    When Zhang Tie walked on the road alone, many passing-by vehicles and soldiers took a glance at him. After that, they would just pass by. After a few minutes, a truck parked beside Zhang Tie with a full load of vegetables and some twigs on the broken fishing net over the vehicle.


    An uncle with a brandy nose and unkempt beard in flaxen military uniform which smelt like coal ash exposed half head out of the window and shouted at Zhang Tie, "GI, do you need a lift? I''m heading for Feinan City..."


    Zhang Tie turned around and took a glance at that middle-aged man. Then, he nodded silently and came to the other side of the driver''s cab. After opening the door, he entered it.


    The middle-aged man was fat. He occupied two seats in the driver''s cab alone, leaving only one position close to the door to Zhang Tie. However, even that seat was already occupied by a cage which contained a big white goose.


    "Just put that white goose on the back seat. Those privileged figures don''t forget to enjoy the taste of goose liver wherever they are, even on the battlefields!" the middle-aged man mumbled. Zhang Tie then put that cage on the back seat and closed the door. The driver then took another glance at Zhang Tie before pulling the brake and starting the truck, causing loud noises.


    "You''re from Holy Light Empire?"


    "Yes!"


    "Why are you alone..."


    "The others are dead!"


    "Erm..."


    After being choked by Zhang Tie''s reply, the driver took another look at Zhang Tie. Then, he mumbled some words and started to drive attentively.


    Fred''s personality was solemn and distant. Actually, all the fighters in the legion Sword of Brilliance were like him. Therefore, it was nothing strange for Zhang Tie to behave like that.


    ...


    10 minutes later, the truck passed a crossroad outside Feinan City. That crossroad led to a town nearby. At this moment, Zhang Tie uttered, "Let me out." The driver then pulled over the truck. Zhang Tie then got off the vehicle and closed the door. He didn''t even appreciate the driver; instead, he just slightly nodded towards the middle-aged man. He then walked inside the town.


    This town was the encampment of the third military unit of Sword of Brilliance of Holy Light Empire in the Hicks Peninsula. All the aborigines in the town had gone, leaving all the houses empty. Even though over 2,000 fighters of Sword of Brilliance of Holy Light Empire were living inside, it still looked empty here. However, it was also for the sake of air defense. If they scattered over the town, even though this town suffered the air attack of the air cavalries of Sacred Alliance Empire, they would also not suffer a great casualty.


    After presenting his nameplate to the guards at the pass, Zhang Tie entered the town.


    Compared to the other camps, this town that gathered the fighters of Sword of Brilliance of Holy Light Empire looked such tranquil; it was even a bit depressed. Besides some sounds from the training grounds, this town was as quiet as a remote area. All the fighters walking in the town were silent and barely communicated with each other. Those troops gathering around Feinan City were afraid of this town.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what kind of church was in this town before. After the third unit arrived here, the mark of the former church on the roof had been replaced by the mark of Holy Light Church. After that, this church became the temporary headquarters of the third unit of Sword of Brilliance of Holy Light Empire. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    After coming here silently, Zhang Tie introduced himself to those guards outside the headquarters. A guard then entered it to make a report. In less than half a minute, that guard had come out. After taking a look at Zhang Tie with admiration, he took him in.


    ...


    A grey-haired elder in noble red robe embroidered with the pattern of brilliant golden sun and golden priest''s crown similar to a fish head observed Zhang Tie with exploratory eyes.


    "My respect to you, Your Honor Saguli. I''m Fred, the captain of the No. 76 squad. Wish your holy light remains brilliant forever..."


    Zhang Tie made a bow towards that elder politely before greeting him calmly.


    This elder was responsible for the 3rd unit of the legion Sword of Brilliance of Holy Light Empire in Hicks Peninsula, Fred''s immediate superior and a brilliant priest of Holy Light Empire who had already promoted to a battle spirit. If this man could promote to a knight, he would become a truncheon chief priest, which meant that he would be one of the powers of the Holy Light Empire.


    "You said you''ve sensed the god''s favor?" Saguli asked Zhang Tie calmly.


    "Yea, therefore, I return to the encampment in advance!"


    "Prove it!" Saguli didn''t test Zhang Tie''s words himself; instead, he just implied a retinue to give a piece of red crystal in front of Saguli to Zhang Tie.


    After taking that piece of red crystal, Zhang Tie inputted a wisp of battle qi into it. Closely after that, that piece of crystal gave out dim redlight.


    After the retinue took away the piece of crystal, Saguli nodded. However, he still didn''t reveal any smile on his stuffy face. He spoke reservedly, "Not bad, it seems that you''ve indeed got the God''s favor. From now on, you don''t need to execute tasks anymore. Take a rest in the encampment for a few days. Someone will pick you here!"


    "Thanks, Your Honor!"


    The brilliant priest then waved his hand, having people take Zhang Tie out of the room...


    Saguli didn''t ask Zhang Tie about his pals at all as if it had nothing to do with him...


    ...


    After leaving the church for a few minutes on foot, Zhang Tie came to his rest place in his encampment. It was a two-storey common civilian building with a small courtyard covering over 30 square meters. Some firewoods were left in the courtyard by the former owner. There were some rooms in the house, which were previously the "dorms" of Fred and his pals. However, at this moment, only Zhang Tie lived in this house. Therefore, it looked deserted here.


    After closing the gate of the civilian building, Zhang Tie came to the front of a room on the second floor near the staircase. He then took out a key through the chink on the doorframe. He then opened the door and entered it. After closing the door, Zhang Tie shook his head with a bitter smile.


    There was no curtain in the room. The window was directly covered with a piece of wood. Only some slim sunlight penetrated through the chink on the wood. A simplified military sleeping bag was lying on the floor on the left of the door. Besides, nothing else could be seen inside the room.


    After taking off his cloak, leather belt, luggage and long sword and hanging them over a hook, he took out a piece of remote-sensing crystal from a portable space-teleportation finger ring. After that, he sent a very simple message to Ockham¡ª¡ªFred.


    Soon after receiving Zhang Tie''s message, Ockham had replied¡ª¡ªowner, please wait for a few days patiently. I''ve already arranged it well. Everything will go well...


    After taking his remote-sensing finger ring, Zhang Tie sat on the ground with crossed legs and started to recover himself.


    In the eyes of outsiders, the legion Sword of Brilliance of Holy Light Empire was an frightening force; because all the members of this legion were above LV 6. Most of them were LV 7, LV 8 and LV 9. Although this legion couldn''t match that of a demon legion which was completely composed of LV 9 fighters, it was already powerful enough among human forces.


    The fundamental reason that Holy Light Empire could have such a legion lay in that all the fighters of this legion were accelerated to be "mature" with an odd medicine by Holy Light Empire.


    Previously, Fred was just a LV 5 soldier, which was even a bit distance from fighter. However, after bathing the favor of the God of Brilliance, he promoted to a LV 9 fighter in only half a year.


    At that time, 50 common soldiers of the Holy Light Empire bathed the favor of the God of Brilliance with Fred. However, only 6 of them survived in the end. All the other 44 soldiers were summoned back to the heavenly kingdom by God after bathing the favor of the God of Brilliance.


    Even though some of them could survive it. Most of them couldn''t light any more surging point for the rest of their lives. They could at most promote to LV 9 fighters. Additionally, their life expectancy was very short. They could barely live longer than 70 years old...


    However, there were very few exceptions among them. About one of 700-800 people could continue to light their surging points for further cultivation; additionally, they would make a spurt of progress in cultivation. Those exceptions would be taken care of by Holy Light Empire in special and be dispatched out of the legion Sword of Brilliance. As lucky dogs, they would own different destinies.


    Very few people knew that one of the most important targets for the Holy Light Empire to dispatch Sword of Brilliance to the frontline was to select people like Zhang Tie besides fulfilling the obligation of defending demons.


    As long as this defense line was not collapsed, fighters like real Fred would enter this encampment constantly and serve as fresh cannon fodder on the battlefields...


    According to Ockham''s plan, Zhang Tie would disguise himself as such a special person being favored by the God of Brilliance. Then, he would be dispatched out of Sword of Brilliance and get a new identity that could have a chance to touch the tower of time. Later on, it would be easy to deal with...


    This plan was simple and effective. It could cover Zhang Tie''s real identity well. Therefore, Zhang Tie agreed.

 1950 The Change of Zhang Ties Identity

    Sometimes, small figures had their strong points, namely, nobody would remember them; neither would they meet any big trouble. Given their poor abilities, little responsibilities and small targets, they could barely catch the eyes of big figures. During these couple of days in the encampment, everything was calm. The 3rd unit of the legion of Sword of Brilliance in Hicks Peninsula appeared to forget about him. Zhang Tie also enjoyed leisure time. Besides taking food at two fixed periods per day, he just sat in the room with crossed legs and slowly recovered his battle force. Additionally, he would wash his clothes and clean up himself...


    Almost all the fighters of the 3rd unit of the legion of Sword of Brilliance in Hicks Peninsula were dispatched from the other places across Holy Light Empire. Most of them were unfamiliar with each other. As more and more people fought to the death, fresh men constantly entered this unit. As a result, there were increasing fewer familiar people in the unit. Those comrades-in-arms whom Fred knew had already sacrificed in the mountain woods or were still executing tasks. Additionally, there were many strict regulations and commands in Sword of Brilliance such as members of Sword of Brilliance were forced to drink, act as pimps, gamble or gather up in a group of more than 3 people. It was desolate everywhere in the encampment. Zhang Tie just stayed in the small house alone. Nobody disturbed him at all.


    On the 6th morning after Fred''s return, a bodyguard of Sagula came to Zhang Tie''s house and asked him to tidy up well and register at the gate of the headquarters.


    After tidying himself up and his luggage as fast as he could, Zhang Tie followed the bodyguard of Sagula to the gate of the headquarters.


    Sagula and a black colonel in regular uniform of Holy Light Empire whom Zhang Tie had not seen before were already waiting for him there.


    "My respects to you, Lord Sagula!" Zhang Tie greeted Saguli. Closely after that, he made a salute to the two people.


    In the armies of the Holy Light Empire, they always called clergies like priests lord. Those pure officers who assumed positions in the armies were called sir. There was no general in the armies of the Holy Light Empire. The highest rank in the armies of the Holy Light Empire was colonel; because those who could assume the position of general were all knights. If they became knights, they would promote to truncheon chief priest in the Holy Light Empire automatically.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    "You''re Fred?" the colonel asked as he took a look at Zhang Tie.


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Do you know why I''m here?"


    "Yes, I do!"


    "Hmm, get in the car!" The black colonel sent order as he pointed at a military SUV next to him.


    Zhang Tie then sat on the front seat.


    This vehicle was driven by dual-engine and fiery oil. In the theater of operations, it was the symbol of high identity.


    After talking with Saguli for a short while, the black colonel made a salute to Saguli. After that, he got on the vehicle and started the car. Then, they left the encampment.


    The black colonel was a bit reticent. He didn''t introduce anything to Zhang Tie; neither did Zhang Tie ask any question.


    They came straight to an expanded military airport in Feinan City. A large transport airplane with the symbol of the Holy Light Empire was waiting there. The hatch door of the warehouse at the stern of transport airplane was open. The SUV then directly drove into the warehouse of the transport airplane through the hatch door.


    When the black colonel opened the door of the SUV, some fighters on the transport airplane had already fixed the wheels of the SUV onto the parking place with steel wire and metal buttons. Meanwhile, the hatch door at the stern of the transport airplane was slowly closing up.


    "Sit here!" the black colonel said as he pointed at a seat inside the airplane. After that, he entered the cockpit, leaving Zhang Tie in this warehouse alone.


    Disguising as such a small figure, Zhang Tie didn''t mind it. Therefore, he walked to the front of the seat and sat down there before buckling up his seat belt. In less than one minute, the four engines of the transport airport had been started. With the earsplitting noises of engines, the transport airport slowly moved. After making a vertical turn, it started to accelerate on the runway. Finally, after moving over 1,000 m forward, Zhang Tie felt that the nose of the airport suddenly raised as the transport airport took off.


    ...


    After over 8 hours'' flight, the transport airport finally landed at the airport outside a big city which was 10 times larger than that of Coldwater City. After running for a while on the ground, it finally parked.


    The black colonel then returned to the warehouse and asked Zhang Tie to get on the SUV. Then, he opened the warehouse and backed out. After that, he drove out of the airport at high speed. After driving dozens of miles, he took Zhang Tie to another camp with the banner of Holy Light Empire...


    Everything was in the plane. Step by step...


    It was Garby City, the capital of Sterland Republic and the encampment of the headquarters of allied human forces in the East Line of Western Continent.


    Ockham was in this city. However, Zhang Tie was not here to meet Ockham. Given his current level, even though he was not cannon fodder anymore, he was still not qualified to meet the holy light chief priest of Holy Light Empire at his will.


    Zhang Tie was here to acquire another identity.


    ...


    Two days later, Zhang Tie changed a set of uniform with the military rank of fire lieutenant in the camp. After that, he was taken into a large tent inside the camp and stood well among two teams of high-level fighters whose level ranged from LV 10 to LV 13.


    Given his low level, Zhang Tie could only stand close to the gate. Among the two teams of fighters, there were only 4 LV 9 officers like him.


    All the fighters here were highly spirited. Chesting out, they were waiting for something. So was Zhang Tie.


    Ten minutes later, two truncheon chief priests were welcomed in the large tent respectfully by some officers and guards.


    One of the two truncheon chief priests looked gray-haired, the other looked in the prime of his life.


    "Your Excellency Bordili, these people are all excellent officers in the encampment of Garby City. Please select them at your will. It''s the God of Brilliance''s favor for them to have an opportunity to be your personal attendant and follow your orders..." The gray-haired truncheon chief priest then pointed at the two rows of officers standing in the large tent and said in a passionate and ingratiating manner.


    The young truncheon chief priest then nodded reservedly. After that, he slowly passed by the two rows of officers and scanned their faces one after another.


    When this young truncheon chief priest passed by, all the officers held their breath as they all tried to display their best side.


    The personal attendant of Bordili had already sacrificed in the battle in Fengzi City 3 months ago. In the same battle, Bordili killed a knight of Sacred Alliance Empire and won his fame immediately. He then became an elite among all the truncheon chief priests of Holy Light Empire in the frontline. It was said that he was even received by a holy light chief priest. His future would be unpredictable.


    This time, Bordili would like to select a personal attendant from these people. It was a very rare opportunity for these officers and fighters who were still far away from promoting to knights to be a truncheon chief priest''s personal attendant in the Holy Light Empire.


    Under the silent gaze of everyone else, the proud truncheon chief priest stopped in front of Zhang Tie. He then glanced over Zhang Tie from his head to toe with sharp eyes as if he wanted to see through Zhang Tie.


    "You are from Sword of Brilliance?" Bordili asked Zhang Tie in a low voice; however, it didn''t feel oppressive. He appeared to have recognized Zhang Tie''s identity given the latter''s qi.


    "Yes, Lord!"


    "What''s your name?"


    "Fred!"


    "How many people have you killed on the battlefields?"


    "27!"


    "How many on the same level?"


    "3!"


    "Not bad!" Bordili then nodded as he pointed at Zhang Tie and said, "I will choose you. Come over here."


    "Yes, Lord!" Under the admiring, jealous and hateful eyes of all the others, Zhang Tie took one step back and stood on Bordili''s side.


    "Your Excellency Rooney, now that Fred comes from Sword of Brilliance, I think he could work as a good example for all the fighters of Sword of Brilliance on my side. Is there any problem?" Bordili told the old truncheon chief priest.


    "No problem. Of course, no problem. All the members of Sword of Brilliance here will follow my arrangement. Even though Your Excellency Bordili doesn''t favor anyone of them, they still couldn''t go to the battlefield without receiving hard training. Of course, it would be better for any one of them with Your Excellency''s guidance and supervision..." The truncheon chief priest called Rooney with a smile. Closely after that, he turned around and fixated onto Zhang Tie with a serious look, "Now that Your Excellency Bordili has selected you as his personal attendant, I hope you live up to the expectation of His Excellency Bordili and bear your responsibility in mind all the time!"


    "Yes, Lord!"


    "Your Excellency Rooney, I got get going!"


    After saying these words, Bordili took a glance at him and walked out of the large tent, followed by Zhang Tie.


    A pitch-dark limousine was parked somewhere not far from the large tent. An officer of the Holy Light Empire was standing beside the door of the vehicle. When he saw Bordili coming here, he instantly opened the door for Bordili with full respect and had Bordili sit on the back seat. After that, he closed the door. Zhang Tie came to the door near the co-pilot seat. As the personal attendant of the truncheon chief priest, he could only sit in front.


    "Fred, come to the back seat. I''ve got something to talk to you."


    After hearing the truncheon chief priest''s words, Zhang Tie sat on the back seat.


    After Zhang Tie closed the door, the black limousine had started and left for Garby City outside the encampment. The glass between the front row and the back row of the vehicle had risen up. As a result, the backspace of the vehicle was completely isolated. No matter what the two people talked about in the back, the driver and outsiders could never hear or see it.


    Licking his lips, Bordili watched Zhang Tie with deep curiosity. Zhang Tie then didn''t behave meticulously and humbly anymore. He didn''t even look at Bordili; instead, he took out a bottle of Brandy and two glasses in the car. He made two glasses of liquor, one for himself, the other for Bordili.


    In this process, Bordili remained silent as he still gazed at Zhang Tie as if there were some rarities on Zhang Tie.


    After being hesitant for half a minute, Bordili took the glass frankly.


    After sipping a mouthful of liquor, Zhang Tie closed his eyes and sighed satisfactorily. "I''ve not drunk such a pure cherry Brandy for long. What a memorable taste!"


    ...

 1951 Garby City

    Garby City, the capital of Sterland Republic was a well-known magnificent city in the Western Continent. This magnificent city was even known as the capital of gold in the Western Continent. This city appeared to gather all the glory of the Sterland Republic.


    The black limousine was running on the broad road with two flags of the Holy Light Empire on the nose. As a result, this vehicle looked such wild.


    Drinking wine, Zhang Tie started to watch the scenery outside the vehicle through the dark one-way window. Being stimulated by the special liquid, many memories instantly became fresh. At this moment, Blackhot City, Kalur City and Brapei City in his memory appeared to be crumbed and turned into those building materials on the streets. Therefore, those buildings felt such intimate yet strange, fresh and solemn...


    There were many vehicles on the roads, including steam vehicles and fiery-oil vehicles. Almost 1/3 of them were fiery-oil vehicles. Small flags were standing on the noses of many vehicles that represented different countries in the Western Continent.


    There were also many military vehicles and soldiers on the roads. There were some camps outside the city. At some crossroads, Zhang Tie found that military policemen of allied human forces in white arm badges were paying special attention to those ordinary military vehicles and soldiers on the streets. Even armored vehicles were parking at some crossroads.


    Perhaps because many big figures were gathering in this city at this moment, the streets were in good order. Although soldiers in different uniforms were mixing with so many ordinary people here, there was no chaos. Soldiers from different countries could even be seen at the gates of inns. Some boys were even circling around some armored vehicles jubilantly.


    "Garby City has a high-quality gold ore which could rank among the top 10 in the Western Continent. Since the Catastrophe, the underground gold ore has been exploited for over 900 years. However, it was still not completely exploited yet. Being different than the gold ores in other places, the gold ore in Garby City has rich associated ores such as silver, copper, lead and zinc. The endless ores supported the prosperity of the entire Sterland Republic. The revenue of Garby City alone occupied half of the total financial revenue of the Sterland Republic as a whole. As a result, many countries mocked that there was only one city in the Sterland Republic!"


    Finding that Zhang Tie was observing the streetscape outside the window with strong interest, Bordili the truncheon chief priest seized the opportunity to start the talk. To observe one''s behavior and speech was not exclusive to small figures.


    "A small country owns a huge gold ore which is equal to a treasure bowl. I wonder how the Sterland Republic survive itself over these years?" Zhang Tie turned around and asked Bordili instead of pretending to be profound.


    Zhang Tie controlled Ockham with the help of god''s baptism rune. Ockham controlled Bordili with the help of god''s baptism rune too. Therefore, the relationship between Zhang Tie and Bordili the truncheon chief priest of Holy Light Empire was established in this way.


    Zhang Tie knew the relationship between Bordili and Ockham. However, Bordili didn''t know Zhang Tie''s relationship with Ockham; neither did he know Zhang Tie''s real identity. According to Ockham, Bordili must follow Zhang Tie''s order after meeting him.


    Zhang Tie was crystal clear about Bordili; however, Bordili was just a prop and costar.


    Zhang Tie knew that Bordili must be very curious about his identity. However, now that Ockham didn''t tell him about Zhang Tie''s identity, Bordili didn''t feel it was convenient to ask about it; instead, he wanted to judge Zhang Tie''s identity and purpose through communication. As a knight, who could serve as truncheon chief priest of Holy Light Empire, of course Bordili was not a fool. He was smart and had his own way of existence.


    "At the beginning, the surrounding countries and forces indeed wanted to encroach Sterland Republic; especially the emperor of Aoto Empire, who craved for occupying Garby City at any time. However, Rhesa Republic was on the back of the Sterland Republic. Therefore, the emperor of Aoto Empire didn''t succeed. Finally Sterland Republic exploited the gold ore together with Golden Roc Bank. Golden Roc Bank took the greater part of gold coins and benefits that they acquired in Sterland Republic as long-term low-interest loan and investment for Aoto Empire and Rhesa Republic. Therefore, Starland Republic could survive on and Garby City could become the capital of gold."


    "Oh, I see!" Zhang Tie nodded as he indeed admired about Golden King Bank''s means.


    "Over the past hundreds of years, almost all the golden ores 15,000 m under the earth of Garby City have been emptied. In the process of exploiting those golden ores, they discovered towers of time in an underground karst cave!" Bordili said as he made a glass of wine for Zhang Tie, "That karst cave is called the crown of gold. It contains four towers of time. The most precious one could enable people to cultivate 20 years inside; the inferior one could enable people to cultivate 10 years inside. The rest two towers of time could enable people to cultivate 5 years inside respectively. All the towers of time that were discovered across the Western Continent had been taken over by the headquarters of the allied human forces of the Western Continent two decades ago. Of course, the so-called "take over" is just for small countries, small forces and those common clans. As for the towers of time that were discovered in the territories of big countries or big forces like Rhesa Republic or Barbarian Alliance are actually still distributed to knights in Rhesa Republic and Barbarian Alliance; so are those in Holy Light Empire; although they were taken over by the headquarters of allied human forces and distributed to people according to their meritorious deeds nominally!"


    Zhang Tie implied Bordili to continue as he drank his wine. Of course, Fred, as a cannon fodder, was not qualified to use tower of time. If "Fred" wanted to use a tower of time, he could only rely on someone else. Additionally, there was an easier solution¡ª¡ªZhang Tie directly turned into Bordili. However, if he disguised as Bordili, he couldn''t read one''s memory. Additionally, once he touched someone being familiar with Bordili, he probably expose his loopholes. Additionally, the knight was too eye-catching. By contrast, the identity of "Fred" was much more proper than the identity of "Bordili".


    "I killed a knight of the Sacred Alliance Empire in Fengzi City a couple of months ago by good fortune. Plus my trivial meritorious deeds and the help of two holy light chief priests, I could have a chance to cultivate in the crown of gold. Even though, I could only cultivate 5 years in one tower of time, during which period, I could only form about 20 scales. It''s my great honor to solve problems for His Honor Ockham!" Bordili started to ask about Zhang Tie''s identity indirectly. "How do I call you, Your Excellency?"


    "Just call me Fred!" Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "Don''t worry! I guarantee that you will get greater compensation than your payment. You won''t regret. Actually, it''s a good job that Ockham has found for you!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie directly calling Ockham''s name without any respect, Bordili''s heart raced once. On this occasion, he could never guess the relationship between Ockham and Zhang Tie.


    "I only hope to not let down His Honor Ockham!" Bordili said meticulously.


    "Oh, when did they arrange you to enter the crown of gold?"


    "August 12!"


    "8 days left!"


    "Right, that tower of time will be available on August 12. We only need to stay in Garby City for a few days. By then, you can enter Crown of Gold with me as my personal guard. After that, you can enter the tower of time!"


    "If someone finds that it''s me who enters the tower of time instead of you, will it bring any trouble to you outside the tower of time?"


    "Your Majesty, don''t worry. Only the user of tower of time and two personal guards are allowed to enter Crown of Gold each time. When we enter it, there would be nobody else in the Crown of Gold. All the other three towers of time are still not available. Even if someone finds out, it doesn''t matter; because I have the right to use that tower of time; I could dispose of it at my will. Some knights who have the right to use towers of time would even auction or transfer their right through some channels in order to acquire something else that they needed such as element crystals or secret items. It''s normal!"


    "Well, wish us a smooth cooperation..." Zhang Tie said as he raised his glass.


    Bordili raised his glass too.


    After clinking their glasses, the two people then bottomed up.


    ...


    Only after a short while, the black limousine had parked outside the gate of a super five-star grand hotel called Moonlight Hotel in Garby City.


    After the vehicle parked, Zhang Tie got off the vehicle first. Closely after that, he walked to the side of Bordili and opened the door for Bordili.


    This grand hotel in the downtown area of Garby City had already become the residence of some senior personnel of Holy Light Empire. All the people inside the hotel were reliable ones from Holy Light Empire including guards, cooks, waiters, florists and handymen. Over these days, Bordili just lived here. It was said that the name of this hotel catered to the taste of Holy Light Empire; therefore, they chose this hotel as their residence. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    Ockham and the other two holy light chief priests were also in Garby City. However, they didn''t live in this hotel; instead, they lived in the luxurious mansions that Sterland Republic especially built for people above earth knights in Garby City. Of course, the residence of shadow knights should be more luxurious and safer...

 1952 The Banquet on the National Day

    "This is Fred, my aide. Please prepare a set of proper field officer''s uniform and find an etiquette teacher for him. On August 10, I''m going to attend the wine party of the national day of the Sderland Republic held in the presidential palace!"


    Zhang Tie followed Bertiri to the door of a presidential suite on the top of Area A, Moonlight Hotel, closely followed by a priest. When they were going to enter the door, Bertiri told that priest calmly.


    "Okay, my lord, I will arrange it right now. What else could I help you with?" the priest asked Bertiri with a big smile. To be honest, Zhang Tie had not seen anyone in clerical dress with such a kind of smile.


    "I''m going to cultivate in my room these days. Don''t disturb me unless it''s an emergency!" Bertiri told that priest. Closely after that, he told Zhang Tie, "Fred, you''d better learn etiquettes for a few days. You could apply battle skills on the battlefield; however, if you follow me, you have to know how to get along well with nobles and big figures in many cases. A person with a long sword and good manners could go further in the future!"


    "Yes, sir!" Zhang Tie bowed obediently.


    Bertiri''s "decision" to cultivate in the room satisfied Zhang Tie very much. In this way, the two people would barely expose themselves to the public and have few troubles. They could carry out the following plan smoothly. However, Bertiri had to attend the national day banquet on August 10. Therefore, Zhang Tie had to follow him there. However, that date was only 2 days away from entering Golden Crown. Zhang Tie didn''t think that anything could happen in such a short period of time. Additionally, as an aide of a knight, in that kind of banquet, Zhang Tie was like a walking background wall. Very few people would pay attention to him.


    After leaving some words to Zhang Tie and the brilliant priest, Bertiri opened the door and exited the room, leaving Zhang Tie alone.


    When the door was closed from outside, the priest instantly hid 95% of his smile. With a faintly polite smile, he took a look at Zhang Tie and nodded before saying, "Please come with me, your room is over there..."


    As the aide of Bertiri, a major priest, Zhang Tie also had his private room next to the presidential suite in Moonlight Hotel, Gabydu City.


    The room was considerate. If the real Fred was here, he might really become a bit thrilled about this place; however, Zhang Tie just pretended to be "thrilled". Closely after entering the room, he had become very curious as he started to look around with strong interest.


    The priest, who took Zhang Tie in the room, took a scornful look at Zhang Tie. When Zhang Tie turned around, he recovered his normal look as he asked, "I wonder how much do you know about etiquette?" The priest especially emphasized in case that Zhang Tie didn''t get his point. "I mean court etiquette, diplomatic etiquette and knight''s aides etiquette?"


    "Ah? Are etiquettes so complex?" Zhang Tie pretended to be surprised.


    "It seems that you should learn it from the scratch!" The priest took another look at Zhang Tie out of admiration and jealousy. After that, he said arrogantly, "There are only 6 days left from the national day wine party in the presidential palace on August 10, you cannot get hang of too much etiquette and regulations in such a short period of time. Fortunately, you don''t have to talk to too many people on that day. You only need to come in with Lord Bertiri. After that, you should respond to the eyes and requirements of Lord Bertiri. Therefore, I will mainly teach you what you should pay attention to on that occasion. Am I clear?"


    "Clear!" Zhang Tie nodded as he behaved like a dutiful, obedient aide...


    Closely after that, the priest left Zhang Tie''s private room. After closing the room, Zhang Tie even heard that guy sighing and muttering outside the door, "Sigh, why don''t I have such a good luck? I''m not even qualified to attend the national day wine party."


    Zhang Tie almost burst out laughing...


    Although that priest admired and envied that Zhang Tie had become Bertiri''s aide, he dared not offend him; instead, he had someone measure Zhang Tie''s body. After that, he found an etiquette teacher for Zhang Tie. In the following days, Zhang Tie "tried his best" to learn how to not make his owner embarrassed in public as a knight''s aide. Time passed by...


    ...


    August 10 was the national day of Sderland Republic. Although the entire Sderland Republic couldn''t commemorate it on a large scale because of the holy war, it was necessary for it to hold a banquet in the presidential palace of Gabydu City. If it didn''t even hold such a banquet, it might arouse great disputes.


    In the evening, Zhang Tie followed Bertiri to the presidential palace in Gabydu City by car in a wholly new crimson field officer''s uniform of Sacred Light Empire.


    It was a grand banquet. Sacred Light Empire assigned two sacred light major priests, 5 throne priests and over 10 major priests to attend this banquet.


    Besides Sacred Light Empire''s representatives, president and prime minister, ministers, generals, representatives of major clans and top-class celebrities of Sderland Republic attended it too.


    The greater part of the influential figures in the eastern theater of operations of the Western Continent had arrived.


    The fleet coming out of Moonlight Hotel directly parked outside the banquet hall of the presidential palace which could even match an imperial palace. After the car parked, some waiters in black swallowtail, high hat and white gloves opened the doors of the car. Zhang Tie then stepped onto the red carpet with the other major priests and their aides. After roll call, they entered the banquet hall of the presidential palace which had started to be boisterous.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    Influential figures would always attend such banquets in the end.


    "Wait for me at the entrance when the banquet is coming to an end..." The major priest left some words to Zhang Tie before walking towards those generals of Sderland Republic.


    After getting Bertiri''s point, Zhang Tie took a glass of cocktail from the tray of a waiter who had just passed by leisurely. Then, he walked to a corner of the banquet hall which was close to the band behind the fountain and waited for the end of this banquet...

 1953 A Secret Talk

    Zhang Tie was in a relatively remote place in the banquet hall. He was far from people''s attention. This also favored his current identity. Zhang Tie was listening to music and drinking alone. Watching people accessing to the gate, he just enjoyed himself. Those personal attendants of the other chief priests who came in with Zhang Tie were either in a group of two or three in the far or went somewhere boisterous. None of them came here to invite Zhang Tie or would like to make friends with him.


    In the Holy Light Empire, the circle of personal attendants of chief priests was also full of conflicts of interest. In the others'' eyes, it was Zhang Tie''s good luck to become Bordili''s personal attendant. Few personal attendants of chief priests were below LV 10. Most of them were between LV 11 and LV 14. The former personal attendant of Bordili was a great battle master. Even Zhang Tie''s experience was far from that of the other experienced personal attendants, not to mention his battle force as a LV 9 fighter.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie was gradually isolated from the other personal attendants.


    ...


    "It''s said that he has just received etiquette training in the hotel the other day. It''s a wise decision for him to stay aside..."


    "Hopefully, that brat doesn''t make any joke this time...''


    "Hahaha, he might have been dumbfounded by such a grand scene!"


    Those personal attendants in ceremonial robe were whispering afar. Every once in a while, someone among them would turn around and take a disdainful look at Zhang Tie.


    ...


    There were only two days left from entering the tower of time to completely recovering his battle force. Therefore, Zhang Tie became relaxed. He just watched everything in the banquet like a calm onlooker as he didn''t mind those discussions about him at all; instead, he felt that everything was ridiculous.


    In the melodious tone of the violin, those well-decorated dignified celebrities and noblewomen in longuette entered the banquet hall elegantly. As a result, the entire banquet hall became boisterous soon.


    Even in the holy war, in those places far from battlefield in the frontline, banquet and salon were also necessary for the daily lives of dignitaries and celebrities. Like salt in food, these necessary parts could be few in difficult periods; however, they couldn''t be deleted.


    Wars could change many things; however, there were some things that could never be changed by wars.


    On such occasions, men could make friends with beautiful and sexy women; women could make friends with powerful men; influential men could obtain useful information and make many trades here. Beautiful women also shared many common topics. Additionally, if those expensive pieces of jewelry in boxes and brilliant longuettes in wardrobes that women collected were not exposed to light for long, many women would even worry that those items would go moldy.


    Knights who made meritorious deeds on the battlefields could hear compliments and enjoy glory on such occasions. Big figures felt that such banquets and commemorations could boost morale and show people the twilight of victory. As for a few people, even though they couldn''t go to the frontline, they would also feel like participating in the holy war or satisfied with making a contribution to the holy war only by talking with eloquence and toasting each other under the resplendent crystal lamps.


    Holding a glass, Zhang Tie watched such a brilliant scene of a myriad of images with a faint smile.


    Zhang Tie felt that he was just an onlooker and remained pretty low-key tonight; however, he didn''t know that one could display his personality causally with a smile, an expression even a standing posture.


    In someone''s eyes, a low-key onlooker might be distinguished and had a special attraction.


    When he just finished half of the drink, he had seen a beautiful maiden at her 20''s in brilliant red bobtail swaying her buttocks towards him with golden, long hair which reached her shoulder, wearing a necklace. She asked Zhang Tie with a smile, "Are you alone?"


    This blonde was young, sunny and had an awesome figure. Given her age and personality, she should have a nice family background. She should be a young married woman or a junior of a dignitary or celebrity who attended this banquet tonight.


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "I was, but not now!"


    At this moment, a waiter served them a plate. Zhang Tie then took a glass of champagne from the plate and gave it to the blonde.


    "Thank you..." The blonde appreciated him with a brighter smile. Only after hearing one sentence and receiving one glass of drink from Zhang Tie, the blonde had been much more interested in Zhang Tie at once as her passion surged.


    The blonde was called Reddies, the granddaughter of the president of Sterland Republic. She was an unmarried girl of a rich and influential family. She followed her father and the minister of finance of Sterland Republic to attend the banquet of the national day. Soon after entering the gate, she had caught sight of Zhang Tie. After that, she was attracted by Zhang Tie.


    Only after having a half glass of drink in less than 3 minutes, the distance between Reddies and Zhang Tie had been much intimate like lovers.


    ...


    Only after those chief priests'' personal attendants ignored Zhang Tie for a few minutes, when someone among them turned around and looked at Zhang Tie, he had seen Reddies almost sticking herself to Zhang Tie with an amorous look...


    ...


    Following after, Zhang Tie had seen Ockham.


    In the brilliant and majestic robe of holy light chief priest, Ockham entered the banquet hall with someone else almost at the same time.


    Zhang Tie saw a Hua man next to Ockham. In blue Hua people''s robe made of boa silk, he seemed to be in his 40''s. Being slightly fat, he had small eyes and a walrus mustache. Given his qi, he was not a knight; however, he had a strong qi field with a paramount look. Those beside him held him in great veneration.


    That man entered the banquet hall together with Ockham; however, Ockham''s feet never surpassed that of his. Meanwhile, Ockham remained at that man''s side. Even the president of Sterland Republic closely followed after him and whispered to him while slightly inclining his body.


    Zhang Tie once saw the half painting of the president of Sterland Republic; therefore, he could recognize him here.


    Soon after they entered the banquet hall, a lot of people had surrounded them like how a myriad of stars surrounded the moon.


    Ockham spotted Zhang Tie too. However, after an eye contact with Zhang Tie, he took a glance at the blonde beside Zhang Tie. Then, he moved his eyes away like nothing had happened without arousing the attention of anyone else.


    "Who''s that Hua man?" Zhang Tie whispered to Reddies.


    "He''s Taixia Country''s ambassador in the Sterland Republic!" Candis had long leaned against Zhang Tie as her face turned warm due to love. When she talked to Zhang Tie, she almost exhaled her qi into Zhang Tie''s ear.


    "Why an ambassador is such prestigious? Why do I feel that all the others are flattering him?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    "Of course, Taixia Country''s ambassadors in Western Continent have special positions. They focus wherever they are. However, this person is different than ordinary Taixia ambassadors. My father told me that this ambassador in the Sterland Republic has a very deep background in Taixia Country. He was born in a very powerful party in Taixia Country..."


    "Are there also parties in Taixia Country?" Zhang Tie asked her after being temporarily stunned.


    "My father told me about that. I''m not clear about it either. That party might have a very great influence in Xuanyuan Hill..."


    Zhang Tie understood that Reddies referred to the Gobbling Party. Parties in Taixia Country were absolutely different than parties in republic countries like the Sterland Republic essentially. It was reasonable that Reddies couldn''t clarify it.


    After ten more minutes, the two people had finished two glasses of liquor respectively. Reddies'' face had blushed evidently.


    "How about breathing the fresh air outside..." Reddies whispered to Zhang Tie as her alluring red lips rubbed Zhang Tie''s earlobes.


    "Outside?" Of course, Zhang Tie was crystal clear about Reddies'' hint. However, he preferred to stay with this lovely beauty secretly than waste a few hours in such a boring banquet. The former one might be more interesting.


    "No, it''s too noisy outside there. I know a garden upstairs...''


    With the guidance of Reddies, the two people walked out of a side door of the banquet hall where there were two guards. After that, they twisted here and there before coming upstairs.


    There were guards of the presidential palace on the entrances of corridors and staircases. Therefore, ordinary people could never assess them; however, as Reddies usually came to the presidential palace, of course those guards recognized her. Therefore, when they saw her coming here with Zhang Tie, they didn''t stop them.


    There was indeed an indoor small garden upstairs. It was covered with roses. The garden was tranquil and filled with fragrance of rose flowers. It was really a good place to "breathe fresh air". Candis directly took Zhang Tie to a small parlor being connected to this small garden...


    ...


    Over 10 minutes later, they heard the next door being open and the president''s voice, "Ambassador Sun, please come in. This is my private study room. Nobody would disturb us..."


    There was a door between the small parlor and the study room. At this moment, the door was not completely closed; actually, it left a small crack, through which they could hear the talk.


    Zhang Tie hurriedly made a hand gesture to Reddies and asked her to be quiet...

 1954 New Emperor

    The Sterland Republic was a democratic country on the Western Continent. Its president England was not a knight. In the Sterland Republic, the position of president was always assumed by a literati. It was a political tradition of Sterland Republic in order to prevent someone with great battle force from turning the republic country into a monarchical country or a country under the rule of generals.


    That Taixia''s ambassador in the Sterland Republic was not a knight either; he was not even a high-level fighter. Because the position ambassador didn''t have to be assumed by a knight at all; neither were there surplus knights in Taixia Country to be wasted. Therefore, the two people didn''t hear the abnormal sound in the neighborhood when they entered the study room or notice that the door between the study room and the small parlor was actually not completely closed. As a result, the two people''s talk could be eavesdropped by Zhang Tie and Reddies. If that door was closed, the sound-proof system inside the wall would work. What a coincidence!


    At this moment, Reddies was hugging Zhang Tie tightly as she had already fallen in love with him. When she heard the sound from the study room, Reddies was also startled. She then slowed her breath. Unexpectedly, her grandpa was going to have a secret talk with the ambassador of Taixia Country in the neighborhood at this moment.


    Zhang Tie had long released his spiritual energy, which formed a barrier in the room. As a result, the voices of Zhang Tie and Reddies were restrained in this barrier. Additionally, another wisp of spiritual energy "swam" into the neighboring study room easily and "saw" everything in the president''s study room as if Zhang Tie was there himself.


    The president of Sterland Republic was grey-haired and pot-bellied. Although this literati president didn''t look as powerful as knights, he looked like an experienced politician.


    Ambassador Sun who was closely related to the Gobbling Party still looked as domineering as before in the banquet hall.


    Besides England and Ambassador Sun, nobody else was in the study room.


    They were sitting on the same sofa in the study room with solemn looks.


    "There''s going to be an emperor in Taixia Country soon." Ambassador Sun broke the silence, which caused Zhang Tie''s heart to palpitate once in an instant.


    After being temporarily stunned, the president of Sterland President revealed a brilliant smile. Nobody could see through the disguise behind his smile. "Emperor Xuanyuan is coming back. This news is the best gift that Mr. Sun gave the Sterland Republic on the national day. It''s an inspiring good news for both Eastern Continent and Western Continent. I believe that the battle situation facing Taixia Country would be improved soon. Congratulations..."


    They were talking fluently in Hua language. In this age, those who didn''t speak Hua language could never become top figures.


    "It''s not that Emperor Xuanyuan is coming back; but there''s going to be a new emperor in Taixia Country!" Ambassador Sun immediately rectified it as if he had not noticed the well-disguised dumbfounded look of the president of Sterland Republic. "Since the holy war broke out, there was never any emperor in Taixia Country. This situation will soon be improved!" Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    "Hmm, I think so too. It''s unimaginable for a country like Taixia Country to have no emperor for long!" The president of Sterland Republic replied meticulously as his passionate and brilliant smile faded away at once.


    "When the new emperor ascends to the throne, I think the embassy of Sterland Republic in Xuanyuan Hill should convey its congratulations to Taixia Country immediately and present a letter of credence!" Ambassador Sun continued as he looked straight into the eyes of the president of Sterland Republic.


    The president of Sterland Republic didn''t reply at once this time. After a few seconds of silence, he took a wise look at Ambassador Sun before asking him, "May I know the new owner of Xuanyuan Hill?"


    "The ninth prince of Taixia Country!''''


    England revealed a dumbfounded look; however, he didn''t make any comment about it. After a few seconds of consideration, he nodded and replied, "If the ninth prince could really ascend to the throne, of course, Sterland Republic should convey congratulations to that with the relevant diplomatic etiquettes. We will never fall behind other countries on this point!"


    "I want the Sterland Republic to be the first country which conveys congratulations to that among those countries in the Western Continent. Hopefully, you could serve as a good example instead of falling behind other countries. There should always be the first one before the second, the third." Ambassador Sun said aggressively, "If it''s really like what you said, do you think there''s any meaning about our talk here?"


    "Have those top powers in Taixia Country reached a consistent opinion about the ascension of the ninth prince of Emperor Xuanyuan?"


    "It''s none of your business. I will notice you by then. You only need to ask the embassy of Sterland Republic in Xuanyuan Hill to do that!" Ambassador Sun replied as he waved his hand with a solemn look, "Cut the crap. Now, tell me whether do you agree or not!"


    Under the gaze of Ambassador Sun, the forehead of the president of Sterland Republic oozed sweat at once. Such a small study room instantly turned into a torture room, which was even more perilous than the frontline of the war between humans and demons. When he thought about Xuanyuan Hill, the experienced politician''s heart instantly froze with panic. He wanted to open the cigar box on the desk and take a puff so as to calm down; however, he found that his hand was quivering out of control. As a result, he couldn''t even open the lock catch on the box...


    The president of Sterland Republic knew that his stance at this moment might determine the fate of him and his clan. As a small country on the Western Continent, the most powerful ones in which were just black knights, Sterland Republic and its president would be devastated immediately once Xuanyuan Hill took any action on it. It was not that kind of game that he could participate in. However, he had to make a choice now...


    When Ambassador Sun found that the president of Sterland Republic wanted to open the cigar box on the desk with quivering hand, he cast a stern glance at England before standing up with a gloomy look and walking towards the door.


    "I... agree!" When Ambassador Sun almost touched the doorknob of the study room with hand, he finally heard a fatigued and quivering voice from behind.


    Ambassador Sun then stopped as he turned around and spoke with a smile, "It''s the wisest choice that you''ve ever made. Don''t regret. Well, I gotta get going downstairs. I''m craving for your thrilling speech, Mr. President! Oh, you''d better not reveal what I told you just now to the public for the time being..."


    After saying these words, Ambassador Sun opened the door and left there.


    The president of Sterland Republic felt weak all over as he sat on the sofa with a pale look for 5 minutes. Then he took out of a vial of red medicament from another box on the desk, hand quivering. After drinking it for a short while, his complexion finally recovered. Then, he left the study room.


    ...


    ''Xuanyuan Lie, the ninth prince is going to be the new Xuanyuan Emperor?''


    ''Isn''t Xuanyuan Hill commonly supervised by the three councilors and nine ministers?''


    ''Didn''t Ockham say that those chancellors of Xuanyuan Hill want to select one of Xuanyuan Changying''s sons to ascend to the throne? What happened? When did the Gobbling Party and Meng Shidao stand on the side of Xuanyuan Lie, the ninth prince?''


    A lot of questions occurred to Zhang Tie.


    According to the performance of Ambassador Sun, a member of the Gobbling Party, he appeared to want Sterland Republic to wave flags and shout battle calls behind them so as to make it an established fact. It seemed to mean that the situation facing Xuanyuan Hill was very intense. In Taixia Country, not everyone supported the ninth prince of Xuanyuan Emperor to ascend to the throne.


    "Have my grandpa and Ambassador Sun left?" Reddies whispered to Zhang Tie as she hugged Zhang Tie. They hadn''t heard any more voice from the neighborhood for a short while.


    After taking a look at this blonde who had fallen in love with him and wanted to further develop the affection between them, Zhang Tie slightly stroked Reddies'' head, causing her to close her eyes and fall asleep at once.


    After having her lie on the sofa of the parlor lightly, Zhang Tie sat on the other sofa and thought about the affairs of Taixia Country with a frown.


    ''Something unknown must have happened in Taixia Country; otherwise, Xuanyuan Lie, the ninth prince would never ascend to the throne all of a sudden...''


    Zhang Tie then took a remote-sensing crystal out of his portable space-teleportation equipment and sent a message to Ockham who was right in the banquet hall downstair¡ª¡ªHas any major event happened in Taixia Country recently?


    Only after a few minutes, Ockham had replied. "According to the intelligence that my moles in Xuanyuan Hill sent back, everything is normal in Taixia Country except that the war between humans and demons continued."


    ''As usual sh*t!''


    ''Something must have happened in Taixia Country; however, Ockham''s moles didn''t know about it, not to mention Ockham. When they know it, everything would have been established facts.''


    ¡ª¡ªDo you need me to ask for any information?


    When he received no reply, Ockham sent another message.


    ¡ª¡ªWhere''s Meng Shidao now?


    After a few minutes...


    ¡ª¡ªSince Xuanyuan Changying, the royal prince was assassinated, Meng Shidao had been in secluded cultivation!


    ¡ª¡ªAre you sure that Meng Shidao is still in secluded cultivation?


    After a few minutes...


    ¡ª¡ªMy moles in Xuanyuan Hill said that they couldn''t approach the place where Meng Shidao was in secluded cultivation. Therefore...


    ¡ª¡ªWell, it''s okay!


    Zhang Tie didn''t expect that Ockham knew any information about the top powers in Taixia Country anymore. A shadow knight of the Holy Light Empire on the Western Continent was nothing but sh*t for Taixia Country. His influence was nearly zero; even though not being zero, not to mention his moles in Xuanyuan Hill. Those moles might only tell Ockham about some major events that had already happened in Taixia Country; they knew nothing about those major events which have not happened yet in Taixia Country yet. If Meng Shidao didn''t mean to let everyone know it when he finished his secluded cultivation, those moles might still not know about that even now.


    ...


    After a while, Reddies finally woke up slowly. However, she couldn''t remember what had happened just now at all. She only remembered that she had some drink and hugged Fred just now. Then, she felt drunk and lay on the sofa, being far away from a fair lady when she shouldn''t be drunk at that moment.


    Her clothes were still complete. She didn''t feel strange at all as if nothing had happened to her after getting drunk.


    "Ah, I''m so sorry. I didn''t expect that I could be drunk so easily today..." Reddies immediately apologized to Zhang Tie after waking up. As for some men who always had strict requirements on others, they might have their spirits dampened facing a drunk woman.


    "It''s fine. Let''s go downstairs. The banquet should almost come to an end..." Zhang Tie replied as he stood up. After slightly smoothening her ball gown, Reddies also stood up and returned to the banquet hall with Zhang Tie.


    ...


    This banquet didn''t come to an end until about 10 pm. After that, Zhang Tie and Bordili returned to Moonlight Hotel by car.


    ...


    Two days later, Bordili took Zhang Tie to the entrance of the Golden Crown in Garby City...

 1955 Decision and Defense

    The entrance of Golden Crown in Garby City was on a mountain inside the city.


    That mountain was actually a gold mine hundreds of years ago. When miners reached the deep place of the mine, they discovered that karst cave and the towers of time in the karst cave. From then on, the mountain which had three average peaks became the encampment of the national defense department of Sterland Republic and was heavily guarded all the years round. After hundreds of years, this mountain had been utterly different than that hundreds of years before. It was verdant everywhere. Additionally, guards could be seen in each a few steps.


    Zhang Tie took a car which was dispatched to Moonlight Hotel by the national defense department of Sterland Republic especially for them with Bordili and a colonel all the way to the entrance of Golden Crown smoothly.


    Being on the hillside, that entrance was higher than 5 m and thicker than 2 m like a round alloy gate of the vault in a bank. After checking the document presented by the colonel, that officer asked his men to open the entrance.


    There was a long downward tunnel being reinforced with steel rails and steel plates behind the gate. On both sides of the tunnel were eternal fluorescent lamps. The entire tunnel was dimly green like a secluded backroom of the knight. Besides their footsteps, they could hear no more sound inside.


    After walking over 1,000 m in the underground tunnel, they saw another same gate. That colonel then presented the same document to the guard before being allowed to access it. There was another reinforced 1,000 m long downward tunnel behind the gate. After passing the third protective gate, they saw a crude elevator that looked like an iron cage at the end of the tunnel. After entering the elevator, the three people started to descend rapidly with squeaks and slight tremble.


    "Many objects inside Golden Crown are mining facilities. Only these mining facilities are available here. This steam elevator is especially for miners hundreds of years ago. Although it looked crude, it was safe as people provide regular maintenance for it!" Sitting in the elevator, that colonel of the national defense department of Sterland Republic introduced it to Zhang Tie and Bordili as if he didn''t want the two "foreigners" to look down the power of Sterland Republic.


    "If demon knights launch a sneak attack towards the entrance and collapse the tunnel, won''t people be trapped downside?" Bordili asked him.


    "We''ve already considered this possibility. Therefore, there''s an emergency tunnel in the karst cave below. However, that alternative emergency tunnel''s location is confidential. Even I don''t know about the location of its entrance or exit. That emergency tunnel couldn''t be used until this tunnel is closed!"


    Bordili then nodded. After taking a look at Zhang Tie who remained silent, he didn''t speak anymore.


    Zhang Tie remained silent today. As he was going to enter the tower of time, he had been absolutely reassured.


    No matter how bad was the situation facing Taixia Country, it wouldn''t deteriorate too much in a couple of days. It was not late for him to deal with that when he left the tower of time. It was time for him to clean up those evil forces and trashes in the three major clans, even Taixia Country as a whole.


    This ''frail'' period was a rare experience for Zhang Tie. In this short period of time, Zhang Tie returned to the frontline of the battlefield and experienced the brutality of the holy war again as an ordinary fighter.


    Since ancient times, the middle- and low-class commoners and grassroots always suffered the greatest losses in each war, turmoil and crisis. Watching the Coldwater City which had turned into ruins and been covered with the blood of humans and those rotten skeletons in the mountains outside Coldwater City, Zhang Tie made up his mind for the first time¡ª¡ªto end the holy war and drive all the demons back into the underground abyss.  Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    ...


    7-8 minutes later, this elevator came to a stop with a squeak. That colonel of the national defense department of Sterland Republic then pulled open the door of the elevator. The three people then walked out of this elevator and entered another elevator for further discussions as they couldn''t enter the very deep underground space with only one elevator.


    After taking 5 elevators, the three people traveled in the underground mine cave being covered with rails by bogie truck for over half an hour. Finally, they came to the front of a huge protective door as same as before. The colonel then presented the last document to a guard. After that, the thick door was opened, revealing another tunnel behind it.


    "It''s the karst cave of No. 3 tower of time right at the end of this tunnel. According to the rule, I must stop here," the colonel said as he took a look at the watch on his hand, "As long as you leave the tower of time and enter this tunnel 5 days later, the protective door will be opened. By then, I will pick you up!"


    "Okay!" Bordili nodded with a stern look. After that, he walked towards the tunnel together with Zhang Tie.


    When Bordili and Zhang Tie was going to access the last protective door, the colonel opened his mouth again.


    "The code name of our troop here is Golden Crown. All the fighters of Golden Crown are the most loyal and fearless warriors in Sterland Republic. They are ready to sacrifice themselves for Golden Crown. Additionally, they''re the most reticent ones in this country. After joining Golden Crown, they must defend this dark underground space all year round; they must leave their family members, friends, and honors. The comrades-in-arms could even call each other by code names; instead of their real names. They didn''t have an opportunity to enter the tower of time; neither are they qualified to enter it. They are not allowed to take a glance at the tower of time which they defend until they''re going to leave here. When they return to the surface of the ground, their memory about the period when they were in Golden Crown would be erased with medicine. The image about towers of time that they defend could only stay in their mind for a few hours..."


    Zhang Tie instantly stopped his foot as he turned around and looked at that colonel.


    When he saw Zhang Tie coming to a stop, Bordili stopped too.


    After noticing Zhang Tie''s response, that colonel instantly moved his eyes from Bordili to Zhang Tie as he looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes fearlessly and talked to him in a low tone, "The reason that these fighters wish to defend towers of time here and bury their youth underground is that their duty is meaningful. They''re firmly convinced that each person leaving any tower of time here would kill more demons in the battlefield above ground. Each knight who grew more powerful here would become the hardcore of humans and the guarantee for humans'' existence. They wish to defend here for such people, even at the cost of their own lives!"


    Zhang Tie glanced over the calm faces of that colonel and the two rows of fighters in silence. After that, he nodded and entered the tunnel. That colonel then gave a military salute to Zhang Tie.


    The thick protective door was slowly closed from outside, leaving two people''s footsteps in the tunnel.


    "Sigh..." Bordili didn''t maintain his majesty and arrogance anymore when he faced Zhang Tie alone. He suddenly sighed. "Perhaps humans could finally survive on the former two holy wars because of the sacrifice of these people!"


    "Do you think it is righteous for Holy Light Empire to establish Sword of Brilliance at the cost of so many people''s lives in that means?" Zhang Tie suddenly asked Bordili after taking a glance at the latter.


    After considering it for a short while, Bordili answered, "Not righteous; but it''s necessary. Because righteousness couldn''t kill demons; however, powerful fighters could!"


    After taking a look at Bordili, Zhang Tie didn''t speak anymore. Because a huge karst cave had already appeared in front of them.


    This colossal karst cave was higher than 10,000 m. It was giving out golden lights everywhere because of raw gold ore. A tower of time higher than 1,000 m was standing loftily right in the middle of the karst cave.


    The exit of that tunnel was above the karst cave. Standing on the platform at the entrance of the karst cave, they could well overlook the entire karst space. The huge tower of time was right under their foot. Additionally, there was a tunnel on the stone wall which connected the platform to the bottom of the space.


    It might also be the first time for Bordili to the watchtower of time. He was greatly shocked by the flowing rune light over the tower of time.


    "See you 5 days later..." Zhang Tie left one sentence to Bordili. Closely after that, he flew off the platform and came to the entrance of the tower of time with a flash. When he pushed open the gate of the tower of time, a streak of white light instantly poured out of the crack between the gate and its frame. When Zhang Tie entered the tower of time, the gate closed at once.


    Standing on the platform at the entrance, Bordili was stunned by Zhang Tie''s movement. Not until then did he find that Zhang Tie was a knight. Additionally, Zhang Tie''s moving speed was far from his imagination.


    ...


    This tower of time was very similar to that one which he entered in Ice and Snow Wilderness before.


    There was a long and profound crystal tunnel being covered with flowing odd runes behind the gate of the tower of time. As it gathered the energy of this tower of time, it felt pretty comfortable when Zhang Tie took a breath...

 1956 Dark Clouds Bearing Down On the City

    After coming to the end of the crystal tunnel, Zhang Tie instantly entered the light film. Closely after that, he appeared in the center of a colossal space.


    This space was surrounded by crystals. When Zhang Tie entered it, the runes in those crystals started to flow at an increasingly higher speed. Gradually, those runes turned into streaks of light and covered the entire space with a thick light cocoon. Closely after that, a brilliant Milky Way appeared above Zhang Tie''s head.


    Meanwhile, many lines of words appeared in front of Zhang Tie.


    ¡ª¡ªTower of time starts. The space-time torsion force is equal to the standard difference between rotation time and revolution time of this planet; namely, one year in this space is equal to one day outside.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter 1/3 period of lunar phase change, namely 5 days outside or 5 years in this space, the space-time torsion force would return to zero. By then, the tower of time will enter the silent energy storage period again.


    ¡ª¡ªDuring this period, the essential vigor inside this space will meet all the essential necessities for the entrant and prevent the entrant''s cells from aging or degeneration.


    ¡ª¡ªIf you want to leave here in advance, you could rotate the time ball on the ground in an anti-clockwise manner.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter 20 standard years outside, the tower of time will restart.


    Reading this message, Zhang Tie recalled the scene when he entered the tower of time for the first time.


    After coming to the front of the time ball of this tower of time, Zhang Tie injected some spiritual energy into it; then, he saw the same sentence.


    ¡ª¡ªAnts gather up for survival; powerful ones are accompanied by loneliness and the starry sky.


    "Hahahaha..." After being silent for a few seconds, Zhang Tie burst out laughing inside the tower of time.


    If the tower of time was built by engineers, this tower of time and that one which he entered for the first time must share the same builder; because the two time balls shared the same "autograph".


    Zhang Tie felt that a mysterious force was helping him enter the same kind of tower of time at the most critical moments.


    When he stopped laughing, Zhang Tie sat in front of the time ball and started to improve his spiritual energy, legs crossed and eyes closed.


    As for a powerhouse like Zhang Tie, 5 years in the tower of time was just a short period of time which would soon elapse through secluded cultivation.


    He could use the first three years to fix his "frail" state. As for the following two years, he could start to form his immortal chakra...


    ...


    On the same evening, an airboat arrived at Embracing Tiger City, Yanghe Prefecture, Youzhou Province in the brilliant sunset glow. It slowly landed at Embracing Tiger City.


    Lan Yunxi, the owner of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhang Muray and Zhang Muyu were welcoming the special guest at the airport.


    Time was merciful to knights; especially female knights. Over 20 years didn''t leave any trace on Lan Yunxi''s face. It was just like 3 years for her. Lan Yunxi remained as same as before. However, her personality became much more profound and distant. Those deacons and disciples of Huaiyuan Palace in Embracing Tiger Mountain had not seen any expression which represented her mental activities for many years. Even casual eye contact with her would bring very great stress to them. Therefore, everyone behaved meticulously in front of her.


    In Huaiyuan Palace, Lan Yunxi became more and more majestic. Even those clan elders dared not offend this clan owner easily.


    Today, Lan Yunxi looked more distant, arrogant and domineering in a black pleated skirt made of golden boa silk and a tall uighur bun. Her dignity as a clan owner was almost overwhelming.


    Watching the airboat slowly descending, Lan Yunxi''s eyes stayed calm as if she was watching a white cloud floating by or a tree leaf falling off.


    By contrast, Elder Muray and Elder Mu Yu on her side watched that airboat with a bit complex expression.


    The others might not recognize that airboat; however, as elders of Huaiyuan Palace, they recognized it. Actually, they bore it deep in mind.


    Because that airboat once belonged to Huaiyuan Palace. Precisely, it belonged to Elder Mushen. Elder Mushen won it from Taiyi Fantasy Sect through bet in the Earth-element Realm. Later on, Elder Mushen returned it to Taiyi Fantasy Sect for the sake of the overall situation and the fame of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Although it had happened dozens of years ago, at the sight of this airboat, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu still clearly recalled how Elder Mushen returned to Youzhou Province by this airboat for the first time...


    However, when the same airboat arrived at EmbracingTiger City, there was no Elder Mushen in Huaiyuan Palace anymore. Time flies. Everything had changed.


    Not far from Lan Yunxi, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu, clan deacons and disciples of Huaiyuan Palace were waiting for the special guest with respect. By contrast, these clan deacons and disciples were watching the airboat with animosity.


    The mark of Taiyi Fantasy Sect on the airboat was too easily identified. All the people in the mountain could see it clearly. However, in the hearts of many deacons and disciples of Huaiyuan Palace, Taiyi Fantasy Sect was their No. 2 enemy, closely after demons or in the same position with demons.


    It was the black invitation cards of Taiyi Fantasy Sect and the other two sects which led to the death of Elder Mushen.


    Although Huaiyuan Palace and Jinwu Palace sounded like two clans, their blood ties couldn''t be fully separated by their names. Over dozens of years, under the gaze of the new clan owner, although Huaiyuan Palace and Jinwu Palace didn''t communicate with each other superficially, their exchanges were actually unavoidable; especially between those at the bottom.


    Over dozens of years, Jinwu Palace made a lot of progress and had become a top clan in Taixia Country. Meanwhile, Jinwu Palace took care of Huaiyuan Palace very much on many aspects including the provision of fiery oil and all-purpose medicament. Those businesses and benefits that the other clans could get from Jinwu Palace would also be acquired by Huaiyuan Palace. The latter even enjoyed more. Without Jinwu Palace''s concern, all these were impossible.


    When disciples of Huaiyuan Palace left Youzhou Province to handle affairs, they would usually receive the concern of Jinwu Palace. Even though they didn''t mention Jinwu Palace, those who knew Huaiyuan Palace would also regard it with special respect given the contribution of Elder Mushen. In the territory of Youzhou Province, even the entire Northeast Military Region, nobody dared do harm to disciples of Huaiyuan Palace. Although clan owner and top powers of Huaiyuan Palace might not feel these deeply, deacons and disciples who were on the middle-and-low class of the clan had deep feelings about them.


    Although Elder Mushen had already died at Yinhai Desert for more than two decades, those old men in Huaiyuan Palace were still educating those juniors in their clan with the heroic deeds of Elder Mushen and always recalled the prosperity of Huaiyuan Palace when Elder Mushen was alive. After hearing too many stories about Zhang Tie, many young disciples in Huaiyuan Palace hated Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion very much.


    Watching the airboat of Taiyi Fantasy Sect slowly descending, many deacons and disciples of Huaiyuan Palace had a big question.


    They had not seen any airboat of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion entering Youzhou Province for over two decades after the battle at Yinhai Desert on the 907th year of Black Iron Calendar. The entire Youzhou Province almost became the forbidden area of the three major sects. Not only airboats, but even the disciples of the three major sects also dared not appear in the forbidden area. Not knowing why, the airboat of Taiyi Fantasy Sect suddenly arrived at Youzhou Province today. What was more, the airboat was once used by Elder Mushen. It was of great significance from all perspectives. Which people in Taiyi Fantasy Sect dared behave such presumptuously in Youzhou Province...


    When the airboat landed and the hatch door was going to open, Lan Yunxi glanced around her deacons and disciples, causing them who were watching the airboat with animosity to lower their eyes.


    At this moment, the hatch door opened outward as a staircase reached the ground. Feng Yexiao, the grand elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect then walked out of the airboat.


    Over two decades, Feng Yexiao looked a bit thinner; his hair became silver; some more wrinkles appeared on his forehead and cheeks. He looked sharper than before.


    "My respect to you, Elder Feng." Lan Yunxi bowed towards Feng Yexiao as a disciple of Taiyi Fantasy Sect!


    "Nice to see you, Elder Feng!" Elder Muray and Elder Muyu greeted Feng Yexiao calmly. Although being a shadow knight, Feng Yexiao couldn''t cause the elders of Huaiyuan Palace to succumb to him.


    "Hahaha, I''ve not been in a remote place like Youzhou Province for over two decades. Embracing Tiger City looks much more prosperous than before." Feng Yexiao opened his mouth with a fake smile. After hearing his words, Elder Muray''s and Elder Muyu''s face became temporarily frozen.


    Of course, the two people knew that Feng Yexiao came to Youzhou Province to send a black invitation card to Jinwu Palace over two decades ago. Elder Mushen also died because of it.


    "I''ve already prepared some drinks for you, Elder Feng, please..." Lan Yunxi invited Feng Yexiao with the same calm look as if she had not heard Feng Yexiao''s words.


    "No need. I''m not here for a drink. I''ve got something to negotiate with you!" Feng Yexiao said as his face turned solemn. Meanwhile, he waved his hand and talked to Lan Yunxi in a domineering way, "Let''s talk somewhere privately!"


    "Well. Now that Elder Feng has something to negotiate with me, let''s talk about it in the Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace!" Lan Yunxi directly turned around and walked towards the Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace with Feng Yexiao.


    When he came to the entrance of the Shrine Palace, Feng Yexiao took a glance at Elder Muray and Elder Muyu before talking to Lan Yunxi, "As the affair is only about you, I think the others don''t have to follow us in..."


    After hearing Feng Yexiao''s words, Elder Muray''s face instantly turned red in fury as he stared at Feng Yexiao and wanted to lose his temper. However, he was stopped by Elder Muyu.


    "I''m a disciple of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, also the owner of Huaiyuan Palace. All that I could know about Taiyi Fantasy Sect and Huaiyuan Palace should also be known by the two elders..." Lan Yunxi said calmly.


    "Whatever." Feng Yexiao replied with a sneer and he swung his sleeves and entered the Shrine Palace ahead of Lan Yunxi which looked such rude.


    After sitting well in the Shrine Palace according to etiquette, Lan Yunxi asked a deacon to serve them tea. After unveiling the lid of the teacup, Feng Yexiao didn''t drink it; instead, he directly covered it with a clear sound ''pah'' as if he disliked the tea leaves or the tea water. He even shook his head and said, "It seems that Huaiyuan Palace is really going to decline. Everyone knows that top-quality bloody spirit tea in Youzhou Province is the best tea in Taixia Country. Doesn''t Huaiyuan Palace prepare some for your guest?"


    "Top-quality bloody spirit tea is a specialty in Iron Dragon Sect. Its yield is very less annually. Additionally, few of them flow outside. Neither is there any stockpile in Huaiyuan Palace!" Lan Yunxi took her teacup and had a sip before saying calmly.


    "Really? But Huaiyuan Palace also has a lot of all-purpose medicament and fiery oil which are the specialties of Jinwu Palace..." Feng Yexiao continued ironically as he gazed at Lan Yunxi with a smirk.


    "Fiery oil and all-purpose medicament are available across the world. Not only Taixia Country, but even the other continents and sub-continents also have them; so does Taiyi Fantasy Sect. It''s the normal commercial intercourse between Huaiyuan Palace and Jinwu Palace. My subordinate is in charge of it. I rarely care about it. If Elder Feng is interested in it, I could call my subordinate here. Elder Feng could ask about him..."


    Of course, the grand elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, also a shadow knight with 6 changes would not like to discuss this trifle with a subordinate of Huaiyuan Palace for the sake of his fame. Although Lan Yunxi''s words sounded respectful, it instantly caused Feng Yexiao to become mute. He could only reply with a cold harrumph, "I''m actually not here to negotiate with you; strictly, I''m here to notify you!"


    "Please go ahead."


    "Since the third prince was assassinated, you''re still unmarried. The owner of our sect has found a good husband for you!"


    "I wonder who''s the good husband that Taiyi Fantasy Sect has found for our clan owner!" Elder Muyu asked Feng Yexiao with a poker face.


    "Xuanyuan Lie, the ninth prince of Emperor Xuanyuan!"


    "Doesn''t Xuanyuan Lie already have a wife? How could our clan owner marry him?" Elder Muyu continued.


    "Of course, she''s not going to be his wife; but Xuanyuan Lie''s concubine..." Feng Yexiao smirked as he took a disdainful look at Elder Muyu.


    Elder Muyu and Elder Muray instantly changed their faces as they sprung up and released their fierce battle qi...

 1957 The Sudden Arrival of Dark Clouds

    "No, never. The owner of Huaiyuan Palace could never be anyone''s concubine!" Elder Muray looked straight into Feng Yexiao with a red face out of great fury. He didn''t fear Feng Yexiao''s power as a shadow knight at all; instead, he just pointed at Feng Yexiao by finger out of fury and said seriously, "Even if I, Zhang Muray, had to die here, I would never allow anyone to insult Huaiyuan Palace!"


    "Although our owner is a disciple of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, she''s also the owner of Zhang Clan. Across Taixia Country, if any order from a person''s sect violates the benefits of the person''s own clan, it will be regarded as a reasonable order. Any disciple could refuse to accept it!" Elder Muyu said with high spirits as he watched Lan Yunxi.


    However, Feng Yexiao just ignored the two furious elders of Huaiyuan Palace. After glancing at them, he fixated onto Lan Yunxi, saying, "The 9th prince is going to ascend to the throne of Xuanyuan Emperor. Even though the concubine of the 9th prince couldn''t take charge of the imperial harem in the future, she will also be a highest-ranking imperial concubine. Many women in the world dream for that position. Huaiyuan Palace shall be wise!"


    ''What?''


    ''9th prince is going to ascend to the throne of Xuanyuan Emperor?''


    After hearing Feng Yexiao''s words, Lan Yunxi, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu felt their hearts palpitating once.


    "Huaiyuan Palace is not qualified to intervene with the disputes in Xuanyuan Hill; however, the owner of Huaiyuan Palace shall never be a concubine!" Elder Muray stuck to his opinion with the same fury.


    "Yea, even Xuanyuan Emperor could make our owner as his concubine, not to mention his 9th prince!" Elder Muyu said in a muffled sound.


    "What''s your opinion?" Feng Yexiao asked as he watched Lan Yunxi.


    "Yunxi is inauspicious. I''ve already prepared to stay alone for the rest of my life for the sake of Huaiyuan Palace. Thanks for your kindness, but I cannot take it..." Lan Yunxi said calmly as she lowered her head.


    Lan Yunxi''s father and master were both killed. Even her fiance Xuanyuan Wuji who was going to be engaged to her was also killed. Her sufferings had long been spread across Taixia Country 30 years ago. According to a fortune-teller, Lan Yunxi was so inauspicious that she would cause her husband to die. Therefore, over 30 years, none of the major clans across Taixia Country dared to propose marriage to her.


    After hearing Lan Yunxi''s opinion, Elder Muray and Elder Muyu finally relieved a sigh.


    "You also know that you''re inauspicious. It means that you''ve not forgotten about Elder Zhu''s kindness towards you. Previously, Elder Zhu always protected you in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Finally, she was killed by Yun Zhongzi for the protection of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Don''t you want to avenge your master?"


    When she heard her master Zhu Qianqian, Lan Yunxi finally revealed a grieved look. Zhu Qianqian treated Lan Yunxi like her daughter. However, she was killed by Yun Zhongzi. As for Lan Yunxi, such a strike was as painful and impressive as losing her father. She could never forget about that.


    "Is there any connection between marrying the 9th prince and avenging my master?"


    "Yun Zhongzi is already a sage-level knight. You could barely avenge Elder Zhu even in 200 years. Additionally, even though you could promote to a sage-level knight, you will find that Yun Zhongzi is more powerful than you. It could be said that you have no hope to avenge your master for the rest of your life. However, if you marry the 9th prince and give birth to a son, as long as the 9th prince ascends to the throne, he will have people bring Yun Zhongzi''s head to you. It''s tantamount to avenging your master..."


    "Does the 9th prince know where is Yun Zhongzi?"


    "Of course!"


    "Where''s Yun Zhongzi?"


    "Where do you think he is?" Feng Yexiao sneered as he watched Lan Yunxi in a profound look, adding, "Yun Zhongzi is a member of Great Wilderness Sect. When the Great Wilderness Dongtian in the southern region of Taixia Country was discovered, it fell in the hands of Immortal Qianji together with its top rarity. When Taiyi Fantasy Sect sent a black card to Immortal Qianji with the other two major clans, Taiyi Fantasy Sect suffered a sneak attack by Yun Zhongzi on the same day so as to reduce our battle force in the battle of Yinhai Desert. Do you think it''s just a coincidence?"


    Feng Yexiao''s words hit Lan Yunxi''s heart like a heavy hammer. In an instant, Lan Yunxi''s calm face turned pale, dreadfully pale!


    Elder Muray and Elder Muyu changed their faces greatly.


    "Impossible... impossible... he wouldn''t do that... he wouldn''t do that..." Lan Yunxi mumbled as she shook her head.


    Zhang Tie had already killed her father. As for the detailed reason, Lan Yunxi didn''t want to think about it anymore. However, she couldn''t accept the fact that even her master''s death was because of Zhang Tie.


    Feng Yexiao''s words rove Lan Yunxi''s scar in her deep inner heart, poked it ferociously and scattered some salt on it.


    Some place in Lan Yunxi''s heart had completely been shattered into pieces. This world was too cruel to her.


    "Nothing is impossible. You''re too naive. According to Yun Zhongzi''s flagrant crimes in the holy war, he shall never be forgiven. Additionally, he shall be severely punished. He''s already the No. 1 criminal being wanted by the Supreme Court in Taixia Country. If Huaiyuan Palace hides such an important criminal, Huaiyuan Palace shall be exterminated as a whole!" Feng Yexiao then took a look at the sky outside the Shrine Palace of Huaiyuan Palace with a sneer, "At this moment, I''m afraid that the supreme justice, one of the nine cabinet members of Taixia Country and the 13 censors of the censorate might have already arrived at Irondragon City. Additionally, thousands of knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion have already arrived at Yanzhou Province. They''ve not entered Youzhou Province yet. As long as Jinwu Palace dares find trouble, our three major sects will exterminate Jinwu Palace and Iron Dragon Sect, leaving not a single tile."


    Elder Muray and Elder Muyu finally knew why Feng Yexiao dared come to Youzhou Province by that airboat.


    ...


    Iron Dragon City that Feng Yexiao mentioned it was the region where Irondragon Sect''s mountain gate was located. Since the 907th year of Black Iron Calendar, as Jinwu Palace developed rapidly, Iron Dragon Sect had started to build a city according to Zhang Tie''s opinion based on Xuantian 18 mountain peaks. With almost constant financial assistance, Iron Dragon City''s construction almost carried on every day without any stop. Even so, it still took nearly 20 years to complete its construction.


    After Iron Dragon City was completed, it became the biggest city in Youzhou Province, even in the northern region of Taixia Country.


    At this moment, Iron Dragon City was already famous across the world. With the popularity and promotion of fiery oil, this region where fiery oil and the first airplane in Black Iron Age were created had long been the most famous, sacred region for rune equipment manufacturers and machine craftsmen with the halos of Immortal Qianji and the financial assistance of enormous gold coins of Jinwu Palace; especially after Military Province was collapsed and Craftsmanship City was occupied by demons when all the craftsmen and technicians had been moved to Iron Dragon City by Jinwu Palace by airboat and settled down there. The rune equipment and various quality machinery produced in Iron Dragon City had already become the third brand and "fist" product of Jinwu Palace after all-purpose medicament and fiery oil...


    The dark clouds which had long been schemed finally arrived, making the atmosphere in Iron Dragon City intense at this moment...

 1958 The Fatal Trick

    Bang, bang, bang...


    When the night was going to fall, neat and muffled sound of footsteps suddenly drifted from the main road inside Iron Dragon City which hit the hearts of people on the roadside like hitting battle drums.


    Many people looked outside through the windows of roadside stores, boites and houses one after another. All the passers-by stopped their footsteps and looked at the direction where the sound came from. They found that a brigade of soldiers of the Fiery Dragon Army were trotting neatly and solemnly on the main road.


    All the soldiers were in fiery full-body alloy outfits and carrying various weapons as if they were going to fight.


    The brigade of over 10,000 people marched forward silently like a fiery dragon. They raised and landed their feet at the same time. As a result, the entire brigade only made one neat sound of footsteps at the same time. With heavy outfits and battle boots, their sound became more shocking as if a giant was walking in the city.


    Behind this brigade were many latest Iron-Armor 3 multi-purpose caterpillar armored vehicles.


    The same scene appeared on different roads of Iron Dragon City at the same time.


    A part of the Fiery Dragon Army had started to enter the city.


    The passers-by and those people who looked outside through windows were surprised first; then they became dumbfounded; finally they became confused¡ª¡ªis that another drill...


    They had only seen such a grand scene twice since Iron Dragon City was founded. However, both times were drills. Additionally, a few days before the drills, the officials in Iron Dragon City had already noticed the citizens in the city. The two drills were all for responding to the sneak attacks of demon knights.


    However, this situation became abrupt as nobody had noticed them in advance.


    When people looked up at the sky, they found that air cavalries became dense over there. Additionally, they saw brilliant meteors flying towards somewhere inside Iron Dragon City one after another. Of course, those shiny meteors were the battle qi responses of knights at their full speeds. They all flew towards the same direction, where the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect was located...


    When everyone inside Iron Dragon City was shocked, confused and guessing various possibilities, the soldiers and armored vehicles of Fiery Dragon Army entering Iron Dragon City started to control main roads and intersections while declaring to enforce martial law.


    ...


    On the city wall of Iron Dragon City, ballistas'' coverings had been unveiled while centrifugal cannons had been lit and pressurized. Soldiers of Fiery Dragon Army were running everywhere on the city wall.


    Not only Iron Dragon City, all the cities across Fiery Dragon Bounty Territory and Jinwu Palace started to enforce martial law at the same time. All the corps outside the city started to set off their encampments. Those airports for air cavalries were in a shocking commotion. Air cavalries and ground crew were running rapidly between runways and hangars. Battle airplanes started to fly off one after another.


    Jinwu Palace had already started an emergency plan.


    Of course, such a sudden action aroused the attention of commoners. As a result, the entire Youzhou Province was startled.


    ...


    Everyone knew that Iron Dragon City was going to have a big trouble.


    ''Are demons coming? Not like that. Why does Iron Dragon City suddenly feel so intense?''


    Nobody knew what was going to happen.


    According to the intelligence from the Yanzhou Provincial Government, the airboats of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion suddenly arrived at Yanzhou Province. They were hovering on the border between Youzhou Province and Yanzhou Province.


    However, Youzhou Provincial Government didn''t receive any intelligence about the arrival of the airboats of the three top sects. It was those patrolling air cavalries who found over 10 airboats without any marks of clans or sects in that air territory. As they felt those airboats were a bit weird, they reported it to Yanzhou Provincial Government. The Cheji General of Yanzhou Province went there to check them when he found that they were airboats of the three top sects which carried over 1,000 knights in total.


    ...


    The atmosphere inside the lobby of the headquarters of Iron Dragon Sect in Xuantian Mountain Peak, the main peak of the 18 mountain peaks, had long been at daggers drawn.


    Nobody across Iron Dragon Sect could imagine these uninvited guests who came from the airboat, which suddenly arrived at the mountain gate of Iron Dragon Sect, could pose such a requirement.


    If they were ordinary knights, given their frivolous words and behaviors in the base of Iron Dragon Sect, they might have long become sh*t.


    However, these uninvited guests were of significant roles. What was more, they were here on behalf of Taixia Country and Xuanyuan Hill, the power center of the country.


    Strangely, Iron Dragon Sect didn''t receive any message about their arrival in advance.


    Therefore, Iron Dragon Sect became passive.


    ''Did anything happen to Xuanyuan Hill?''


    ...


    Watching the supreme justice, one of the 9 cabinet members of Taixia Country, with a solemn look, Zhang Tie said decisively, "Even if you want to catch the important criminal, it''s nothing to do with Iron Dragon Sect. In the base of Iron Dragon Sect, the backroom being exclusive to the owner of Iron Dragon Sect in Xuantian Peak could not be casually searched even by the Supreme Court of Taixia Country!"


    "Presumptuous, unscrupulous!" An old sergeant in official uniform with a black face and gray hair stood straight as he roared in the lobby of the base of Iron Dragon Sect. "The Supreme Court is investigating the case and chasing after important criminals. Do we have to notice Iron Dragon Sect in advance for that? This old man has long heard that Iron Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace are shutting out the heavens with one palm in Northeast Military Region and Youzhou Province when in Xuanyuan Hill, even Youzhou provincial governor would be in a blue funk in front of Iron Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace. I''ve not imagined that it''s true. Open your eyes and look at what''s in the hand of supreme justice?" the old sergeant pointed at a token in the shape of a bizarre beast in the hand of the supreme justice as he continued, "This is golden xiemao token. People who hold it could even search the imperial palace in Xuanyuan Hill, not to mention Iron Dragon Sect. Does Iron Dragon Sect want to rebel?"


    "Motherf*cking break wind. Do you think that you can frame Iron Dragon Sect only by speaking nonsense?" Sun Tiancheng, the herbal king, jumped out as his saliva shot onto the imperial sergeant''s face. "When Immortal Qianji was killing demons at the bank of Weishui River, where the f*ck were you? When the Fiery Dragon Army fought demons, where the f*ck were you? Open your f*cking eyes and look at the sky of Taixia Country, without Iron Dragon Sect or Jinwu Palace, there wouldn''t be any air cavalries? Without our help, old useless things like you have long been demons'' snacks. Do you think that you could frame people up casually in the uniform of imperial sergeant..."

 1959 The Looming Crisis on Iron Dragon Sec

    After receiving the news, the knights of Iron-Dragon Sect hurriedly rushed towards the main palace of Iron-Dragon Sect in Xuantian Peak constantly like meteors from all the places across Youzhou Province. Closely after that, they entered the main palace with solemn looks and surrounded those people of the Supreme Court and imperial officers.


    Even Liu Xing and Zhao Bing of Iron-Dragon Sect had come back from the other cities within the territory of the Fiery-Dragon Bounty Territory.


    Over three decades, Liu Xing had already promoted to a black iron knight. Iron-Dragon Sect was full of talents and knights. Even Zhang Tie''s disciples had become masters.


    At this moment, Liu Xing was already an intelligent and capable middle-aged man. As he cultivated Fiery Dragon Sutra, his pupils emitted strong light which looked like flames. As the first one who promoted to a knight and became one of the second generations of elders of Iron Dragon Sect among Zhang Tie''s disciples, he was qualified as the No. 1 senior fellow apprentice in Iron Dragon Sect.


    "Sister Yu, what happened?" Liu Xing asked Yu Xiaoai secretly, who was waiting in the square, the moment he landed in the square outside the main palace with a glow.


    Among Zhang Tie''s female disciples, Yu Xiaoai had the best flair. She was also the first female disciple who promoted to a knight over three decades.


    Yu Xiaoai was a maiden over three decades ago. But now she was already an intelligent, beautiful knight with an exceptional personality.


    "About 1 hour ago, the president of the Supreme Court of Xuanyuan Hill suddenly arrived at Xuantian Peak with a lot of knights and imperial censors. He said that they were going to search the backroom of suzerain in Xuantian Peak and catch Yun Zhongzi. Elders are negotiating with him about that in the main palace..." Yu Xiaoai made it clear in a few words.


    After hearing Yu Xiaoai''s words, Liu Xing strode towards the gate of the main palace. When he approached the gate, he heard a passionate voice from the inside.


    "I, Yuan Hua, was appointed as the imperial officer by Emperor Xuanyuan on the 857th year of Black Iron Calendar. I''ve been working as an imperial officer for over 70 years. I don''t feel regretful about my compensation. As I receive compensation from the country, I must be loyal to the country. Although I didn''t kill enemies on the battlefields, I''m also determined to die for my country. If demons approached Xuanyuan Hill, all the 178 people of my family will fight demons on the battlefield regardless of age. We all know that the meritorious deeds of Immortal Qianji shine through history. Therefore, we''ve followed the Youzhou Provincial Court''s officers here to catch the top criminals. We intend to supervise the Youzhou Provincial Court''s deeds. We dare never overstep our authorities for the sake of the fame of Immortal Qianji, Jinwu Palace and Iron Dragon Sect as a whole. Unexpectedly, you dare behave such presumptuously and despise the nine ministers. Do you want to rebel? If all the major sects in Taixia Country behave presumptuously and break laws forcefully like you, how could Taixia Country and Hua people be in peace? According to your deeds, you''re like demons; you''re the culprit of the world-wide disaster. You deserve death; you deserve death! Immortal Qianji was also the chief justice of the Youzhou Provincial Court. After being framed as the murderer of the tragedy in Fuhai City, Immortal Qianji still implied with Taixia laws even though he concealed his identity and had to leave his hometown. He was always frank and straightforward until the real murderer was found and he was claimed to be innocent. He didn''t break any law at all. However, you, as disciples of Immortal Qianji, don''t carry forward his patriotism; instead, you''ve already defied the law in the public before being wronged. If Immortal Qianji knew it, he would definitely feel ashamed of you!"


    When he roared ''deserve death; deserve death'', he almost used his full strength. Therefore, the entire main palace reverberated with his words. As a result, all the people of Iron-Dragon Sect here were in dead silence.


    Even though Liu Xing only stayed in Xuanyuan Hill for a few days, he also heard about Yuan Hua, an imperial officer of Xuanyuan Hill.


    When Emperor Xuanyuan went to Weizhou Province to investigate the civilian''s situation in plain clothes, he met a case¡ª¡ªa major clan outside Weizhou City encroached the mountain forest of over 100 households of the same village and wanted to take that mountain forest as their ancestral graveyard. As that major clan had established marital relations with the provincial governor of Weizhou Province, local officials always preserved their interests. Therefore, victims dared not accuse them in fear of their power. However, a poor, diligent scholar outside Weizhou City who could barely afford his three meals a day claimed justice everywhere for the sake of the civilians by beating the drum in fear of threats and didn''t succumb to lure by the promise of gain. He wanted to punish that major clan who encroached the mountain forest of civilians; he even wanted to submit a written statement to a higher authority to accuse the officials of Weizhou City of harboring the major clan.


    Therefore, the poor scholar had a hairbreadth escape. He didn''t die; instead, he encountered Emperor Xuanyuan. What he did was greatly favored by Emperor Xuanyuan. Emperor Xuanyuan instantly promoted him to a 5-class imperial officer in Xuanyuan Hill. As a result, due to Yuan Hua''s charge, the provincial governor of Weizhou Province was dismissed from his post; dozens of officials and the powers of the major clan who were in charge of encroaching the mountain forest were put behind the bars. From then on, the name of Yuan Hua spread across the country and was praised by people. Emperor Xuanyuan investigated the civilian''s situation in plain clothes and appointed Yuan Hua as an imperial officer also became a good story on everyone''s lips with great educative significance.


    Over these years, Yuan Hua had paid an inspection tour across the country. His memorials could reach straight to the desk of Emperor Xuanyuan. Too many major clans, officials and evil gentries across the country had been accused by him. Therefore, many major clans were afraid of him very much as if he was a tiger. Due to his great achievements, Yuan Hua had accumulated sublime fame of being frank and straightforward and abhorring evils as deadly foes among the people.


    Unexpectedly, this man also arrived. Liu Xing became greatly shocked. When he came to the front of the crowd who were surrounding the main palace, Liu Xing saw a gray-haired elder in the uniform of imperial officer reproaching Elder Sun with righteous words.


    "Old stale and pedantic scholar, you make me so angry, so angry." Sun Tiancheng, the herb king was panting heavily like an ox as his eyes almost popped out of his eyesockets with fury. However, he didn''t know how to refute Yuan Hua.


    The duty of imperial officers was to find faults; of course, his words sounded reasonable.


    The other elders and grand elders of Iron-Dragon Sect were all here. Liu Xing then stood aside with a solemn look. After exchanging a glance with those elders and grand elders, he just saw them coping with the current situation.


    "As it''s in the holy war, Hua people should unite with each other to defend demons. However, Yun Zhongzi broke laws by force. He acted recklessly in the territory of Taixia Country like burning, killing and pillage. Over dozens of years, hundreds of innocent Taixia knights have been killed by Yun Zhongzi. Yun Zhongzi has already become the No. 1 criminal in Taixia Country. The number of Taixia knights that he killed was even greater than that Abyss Monarch once killed. According to the intelligence of the Supreme Court, Yun Zhongzi is already severely injured and is recovering in Xuantian Peak of Iron-Dragon Sect. Iron-Dragon Sect is frank and straightforward. Why not allow the Supreme Court to search him?"


    Another imperial officer stood out as he roared with righteous words.


    "If Iron Dragon Sect doesn''t coordinate with the Supreme Court''s investigation, I will hit my head against the pillar today in no fear of spraying my brains over the ground. I will sacrifice myself for the country!"


    "Yun Zhongzi might have already surrendered to demons; therefore, he caused damages across Taixia Country. Don''t you fear being blamed by people across the world? Or maybe Iron-Dragon Sect is really colluding with that ghost?"


    All the imperial officers here were innocent and had a distinguished reputation. Most of them were gray-haired. They were even well-renowned in Xuanyuan Hill and Taixia Country as a whole. At this moment, all the imperial officers were reproaching Iron-Dragon Sect with high spirits and eloquent words.


    It was not a battle between knights; however, it was fiercer than a battle between knights. If an imperial censor really died here by hitting against the pillar with his head, the prestige that Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace had established over the decades might be destroyed. If Iron-Dragon Sect didn''t coordinate with these imperial censors, these imperial censors would submit written statements to Xuanyuan Hill and arise public condemnation about Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace. By then, Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace might really be accused of rebelling or colluding with demons. On that occasion, the prestige of Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace would also be destroyed. Besides, it would even arouse a series of severe outcomes.


    "Damn! Who dare find trouble in this f*ther''s territory..." Right then, they heard a thunder-like growl from the gate of the main palace of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    After hearing this voice, those disciples and knights of Iron-Dragon Sect in the main palace instantly gave way to him.


    With a black face, Cheng Honglie, the commander-in-chief of Northeast Military Region, Lu Dingzhi, the Youzhou provincial governor and a youth entered. Being similar to Zhang Tie, that youth was Zhang Chenglei, Zhang Tie''s eldest son. Over three decades, the teenager had already become a real man with a powerful qi field. Even though he entered with the commander-in-chief of Northeast Military Region and the Youzhou provincial governor, he also released terrifying qi.


    "Commander-in-Chief!"


    "Provincial governor!"


    "Young suzerain!"


    Those disciples, knights and the three elders of Iron Dragon Sect hurriedly came over here to greet the three people.


    Cheng Honglie''s face was always black; however, at this moment, his face turned shiny black with fury. When he entered the main palace, he glared at the president of the Supreme Court and complained, "Lord Li, what do you want? You take people to my territory stealthily and want to overturn the table without even noticing me in advance. Do you think that my place is not chaotic enough? Do you know that the entire Youzhou Province and Northeast Military Province have become chaotic because of your action? Only after such a short while, many owners of clans, leaders of armies, provincial governors and cheji generals in the territory of Northeast Military Territory have already contacted me and asked me whether demons are approaching us. Do you think it''s funny to do that..."

 1960 A Sudden Reversal

    Lord Li was the president of the Supreme Court, a major official in Xuanyuan Hill; Lord Cheng was the commander-in-chief of the Northeast Military Region. They were both shadow knights with independent responsibilities. Even though Lord Li''s agency was in Xuanyuan Hill, he couldn''t subdue Cheng Honglie with his official title either.


    After hearing Cheng Honglie''s words, the president of the Supreme Court who was in the main palace instantly turned gloomy as he refuted, "Lord Cheng, what do you mean? Couldn''t Supreme Court handle cases and chase important criminals without your consent?"


    "I don''t care how you handle cases or chase important criminals in other places, but your deed has already declined the stability of the entire Northeast Military Region and made everyone panic-stricken. You did that without my consent; however, you want me to clean your butt. Never dream about that!" Cheng Honglie urged with a black face in a very domineering way. He didn''t spare any chance for Lord Li to refute. As a result, the president of the Supreme Court instantly changed his face.


    "Which is more authoritative, Taixia Law or you?" the president of Supreme Court roared, "Do you want to rebel?"


    "Hahaha, don''t frighten me with that word. Do you think that I, Cheng Honglie, am afraid of threat? If you''re something, try to let those lords in Xuanyuan Hill take off my black gauze cap!" Lord Cheng burst into laughing shamelessly like meat with thick tendons that could barely be cut off. Closely after that, he took a glance at those imperial officers, pointing at their noses and cursing them aloud in fury, "You think you''re good men. You think you''re righteous, abhorring evils as deadly foes and enforcing justice on behalf of Heaven, right? You must have been stupid after reading too many books. You think you are upholding awe-inspiring righteousness while being taken as a gun by someone else. Do you know what situation would face Taixia Country without Jinwu Palace? Do you know how many hundreds of millions of people would die and how many provinces and prefectures would collapse in order to stop demons without Iron Dragon Sect? Who could defend the army of overwhelming LV 9 demon fighters? You... you... you... or you..."


    At this moment, those imperial officers who were roaring and cursing aloud just now were absolutely subdued by Cheng Honglie as they all trembled their lips and couldn''t utter any word. Finally, Cheng Honglie pointed at Yuan Hua who spoke just now.


    "Although you could impeach a provincial governor with a memorial to the throne, your memorial is nothing but sh*t in front of demons. Why not impeach a LV 9 demon? Let''s see whether the demon cares about you or not? Let''s see which is more powerful, demon fighter''s saber or your memorial? You can present your memorial to the hundreds of millions of generals and fighters in the frontline. Let''s see which is more useful, the great truths in your memorial or the inflammable grenades of Iron Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace? Do you know how many vials of all-purpose medicament, inflammable weapons, grains and chariots will Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect provide for the generals and fighters in the frontline for free annually over the past decades?"


    Listening to Lord Cheng''s furious words, Yuan Hua, the imperial officer, became silent. The duty of the imperial officer was to find faults. However, he didn''t know how many materials had Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect donated to the generals and fighters in the frontline of Taixia Country last year. Although he had heard about it before, he still couldn''t remember the concrete figures.


    "Let me tell you about that. Last year, Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect donated 120 million vials of all-purpose medicament, over 180 million inflammable grenades and bolts and over 370 million tons of grains to the generals and fighters in the frontline. Do you know their value? Do you know how many lives could they save? Do you think all of your lives could match 1/10,000 of the value of these items? You''re imperial officers; however, you don''t maintain the reputation of Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect which are pillars of Taixia Country; instead, you''re instigated to show your righteousness, loyalty and dauntless spirit in Youzhou Province. When the generals and fighters in the frontline are drinking all-purpose medicament and fighting demons at the risk of their lives with fiery-oil weapons in order to protect stale and pedantic scholars like you from being beheaded; however, you want to stir up trouble in the rear end and have fighters in the frontline run out of grains. Without any sharp weapon, you even claimed to do all these for the sake of Taixia Country. How dare you talk about righteousness and law here? Do you know what is righteousness and law? This father will tell you about that, anyone who could kill demons would be righteous; anyone who props up fighters in the frontline would be law! If this father were the emperor, I would chop off all your heads and feed dogs with them in case of trouble. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Idiots!"


    "Who said that you were going to ram against the column with your head in no fear of spraying your brains over the ground? Give way to him. Spare that column over there to him. You stale and pedantic scholars, queue up and ram against it one after another. I, Black Face Cheng, would like to see how many drops of blood do you have. Motherf*cker, even this father has chopped off so many demons'' heads since I was a LV 9 fighter, I still dare not say such words. The corpses of demons that Immortal Qianji killed at the bank of Weishui River were like mountains; their blood almost formed an ocean; however, when Immortal Qianji woke up, he still didn''t say that he would die for the country; how dare trashes like you who could only wait for death with closed eyes in front of demons dare say such heroic words in the place where Immortal Qianji founded his sect? Hurry, do it! If you''re not able to kill yourself, I could give you a push. Today, this father will see you die here. President of the Supreme Court and all the others here will be the witnesses. If you die here, this father will assume responsibility for that... life for life in the worst scenario..."


    Cheng Honglie cursed those imperial officers straightforwardly while pointing at their noses, causing them to tremble all over in fury. They almost spurted out blood.


    However, nobody really hit it. If someone rammed against the column just now, they might get a good reputation of being not afraid of major clan and dying for Taixia laws; additionally, their lives would be assumed by Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace. However, if they rammed against it now, they would be regarded as committing suicide out of spite with Black Face Cheng, the shameless guy. As it was in the holy war, how could the commander-in-chief die for those scholars. Therefore, they would die for nothing.


    When scholars met a general, their reasons would become useless. As a result, after Cheng Honglie arrived, those imperial officers who absolutely subdued Iron-Dragon Sect just now immediately declined their morale and dauntless spirit and wilted like eggplants being covered with frost...


    "Was that you who wanted to ram against it just now? Just do it! Don''t wait. Be a good model for them. Hurry, die as fast as you can! This father will definitely bury you in a place with good Fengshui in the territory of Northeast Military Region!" Cheng Honglie said as he pointed at that imperial officer who urged to die for righteousness just now.


    "You''re too rude! You''re too rude! You''re impervious to reason; impervious to reason..." That imperial officer who was impassioned just now mumbled a few words as his face changed colors with shame and fury. Closely after that, he swung his sleeves and turned around in an innocent way. He avoided from Lord Cheng''s condemnation like an ostrich who buried its head in sands in order to ignore what happened outside. Of course, he would never commit suicide at this moment.


    "Lord Cheng, enough is enough..." The president of the Supreme Court finally couldn''t bear it anymore.


    "Enough? Alright. Go back where you come from!" Cheng Honglie followed the trend and seized the opportunity.


    "Lord Cheng, I mean don''t you consider your future by behaving such unreasonable? Even though it''s Northeast Military Region here, you''re still unable to shut out the heavens with one palm!" The president of the Supreme Court threatened.


    "Hahahaha, I, Cheng Honglie, never care about my future. On this point, I know that I cannot match you. Lord Li must have considered your own future well and made proper arrangement before coming to Youzhou Province. Therefore, you behaved such dauntlessly. Lord Li, you know that one''s future could never be determined by oneself. If the relief that Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect provide to the frontline is declined and cause any severe outcome, do you think that there''re no dauntless men among those hundreds of millions of generals and fighters in the frontline who dare not avenge their brothers'' death in the name of cleaning up evil forces in Xuanyuan Hill?"


    After hearing Lord Cheng''s words, Lord Li''s face turned gloomy as he clenched his teeth and determined his mind before saying, "No matter what, I must search Xuantian Peak today. Supreme court has already received a certain message¡ª¡ªYun Zhongzi is hiding in the backroom under Xuantian Peak. It''s supreme court''s responsibility to preserve laws across the country. We don''t mind offending someone!"


    "Iron-Dragon Sect is founded by Immortal Qianji. Due to the marital relations between Immortal Qianji and late Royal Prince Changying, Iron-Dragon Sect is a royal clan. Even though Lord Li is the president of Supreme Court, you still couldn''t search this place casually. Lord Li has mentioned about laws just now. As the president of supreme court, do you want to break the laws?"


    The president of Supreme Court sneered as he thought that he finally seized the opportunity to strike back Cheng Honglie. He then took out the golden Xiemao amulet from his portable space-teleportation finger ring and asked, "Lord Cheng, do you know this item? It''s made by Emperor Xuanyuan. Nobody dare say no to it. With this item, I could even search the imperial palace of the emperor, not to mention Xuantian Peak!"


    "Hahaha..." Watching that golden Xiemao amulet in the hand of the president of the Supreme Court, Cheng Honglie suddenly burst into laughter. "Lord Li, how could you show off your power in Youzhou Province with a fake golden Xiemao amulet?"


    "What?"


    "I mean your golden Xiemao amulet is fake!" Cheng Honglie said with a stern look.


    "Nonsense. How could my golden Xiemao amulet be fake?" the president of the Supreme Court yelled.


    "Of course, it''s fake; because the real one has long been sealed up somewhere by the late His Highness royal prince!" Cheng Honglie explained. He then looked up at the beams in the main palace and sighed, "Before being assassinated, His Highness royal prince felt that the Supreme Court was too authoritative; if Supreme Court is taken advantage of by evil forces in the holy war, the entire country would be in great trouble. Therefore, His Highness wanted to decline the authority of supreme court. He has long taken back the golden Xiemao amulet that he once gifted to supreme court. When I went to court before, I saw His Highness leaving a mark on the golden Xiemao amulet in Xuanyuan God Sutra. This one doesn''t carry that mark at all; of course, it''s fake..." After saying these words, Cheng Honglie directly talked to the elders and disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect in the main palace, "The golden Xiemao amulet in the hand of the president of supreme court is fake; if he dares tread on Xuantian Peak today, Iron-Dragon Sect could kill him immediately. I will assume all the responsibilities!"


    The young owner of Iron-Dragon Sect took a glance at those elders and disciples in the main palace silently. Those elders and disciples then promised in unison, "Yes, Lord Cheng!"


    "Lord Li, I''ve not imagined that you could show off your power in Iron-Dragon Sect with a fake golden Xiemao amulet today. If not that your fake golden Xiemao rune was identified by Lord Cheng, I was almost cheated by you. Given that we''re fellowmen of Taixia Country, Iron-Dragon Sect will not make you embarrassed today. Please leave here. If you don''t know what''s good for yourself, don''t blame for our merciless deed..." Zhang Chenglei warned the president of the supreme court in a muffled tone.


    "Good... very good..." The president of the Supreme Court shuddered all over with fury. After looking at the solemn looks of those members of Iron-Dragon Sect and Cheng Honglie, he pointed at Cheng Honglie with a quivering finger and said, "We will know whether the golden Xiemao amulet is real or not when we come back to Xuanyuan Hill... Cheng Honglie, how dare you commit such a capital crime here for the sake of Iron-Dragon Sect? Even your nine generations will be sentenced to death. You will face a poor outcome! Many heads will be chopped off because of you. Let''s see it..."

 1961 A Vicious Trick!

    At this moment, the golden Xiemao plate in the hand of the president of the supreme court was actually not important anymore. What counted was that Cheng Honglie the commander-in-chief of the northeast military region, as an influential official in Taixia Country, had pointed out publicly that the golden Xiemao plate was "fake". Iron Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace had believed in Cheng Honglie''s words too. On this occasion, if the president of the supreme court insisted on searching over Xuantian Peak with the "fake" golden Xiemao plate, even though Iron Dragon Sect killed the president of the supreme court, they would not shoulder any responsibility for that.


    On this occasion, the president of the supreme court only had two choices: first, to continue searching across Xuantian Peak at a high price even at the cost of his life; second, to leave here first and prove that his golden Xiemao plate was real; arrest Cheng Honglie the commander-in-chief of northeast military region; search across the entire territory of Iron Dragon Sect; make Jinwu Palace disgraceful; finally, completely ruin the reputation of Iron Dragon Sect.


    The president of the supreme court wisely chose the latter between committing suicide and killing Cheng Honglie and Iron Dragon Sect in a few days.


    Now that he had made a decision, the president of the supreme court left there fast with those sergeants and powerhouses of the supreme court.


    "Lord Cheng, you''ve made a capital offense. Hopefully, you don''t feel regretful of your decision today," the president of the supreme court told Cheng Honglie with a gloomy look when he left there.


    "Hahahaha, hopefully, Lord Li doesn''t feel regretful of your decision today. I remember that Immortal Qianji once said that everything in this world had a price. You cannot rely on someone without any cost!" Cheng Honglie said as he burst out laughing.


    The president of the supreme court then swayed his sleeves and left there with fury.


    However, when he left there, the president of the supreme court suddenly had a question¡ª¡ªWhy did Cheng Honglie show up at this moment and force me to delay it for a few days at the cost of his life and future?


    ...


    The president of the supreme court and those sergeants then boarded their airship and left the base of Iron Dragon Sect. After Zhang Chenglei left some words, those knights and disciples of Iron Dragon Sect who had just surrounded those people from the supreme court also left the main palace of Iron Dragon Sect. Cheng Honglie, Lu Dingzhi, Zhang Chenglei and some core elders of Iron Dragon Sect then came to the backroom in the palace of the sect.


    A person was waiting for them in the backroom.


    He was Feng Cangwu.


    Before entering the main palace of the Iron Dragon Sect, Cheng Honglie, Lu Dingzhi and Zhang Chenglei were actually with Feng Cangwu. When they arrived at Xuantian Peak, given that it was inconvenient for Feng Cangwu to show up in that situation, he just waited for them in the backroom of the main palace.


    After about 30 years, Feng Cangwu, who was once young and handsome, also got his beard. He looked much more mature now. However, he still maintained his debonair nature. As time passed by, he carried an indescribable, profound demeanor. If those maidens, who preferred elder men, caught sight of Feng Cangwu, most of them would screech with excitement.


    "Uncle Feng..." Zhang Chenglei greeted Feng Cangwu with full respect when he entered the backroom.


    "What''s going outside?" Feng Cangwu whispered.


    "They''ve gone!"


    Feng Cangwu then nodded.


    They then sat down in the backroom.


    After taking a seat, Cheng Honglie, who behaved like a hero outside just now, suddenly heaved a deep sigh. "I''ve already taken my life as the stake. If Heavenly Fortune Sect screwed me, my name might rank among the top 10 in the supreme court''s wanted list after a few days. Immortal Qianji had a body-changing immortal bloodline and could travel wherever he wanted in the identity of Cui Li without being recognized; however, I don''t have that skill. My black face is like my brand. I will definitely be recognized wherever I am. I could only hide in Heavenly Fortune Sect. I will never leave the Dongtian of Heavenly Fortune Sect until I promote to a heavenly knight.


    "Commander-in-chief, don''t worry! The owner of Heavenly Fortune Sect has deduced the result and delivered the verbal order. No matter what, as long as we could delay it for a few days i.e., 5 days to 7 days, we will have good luck and be able to reverse the situation!" Feng Cangwu explained in a low tone.


    "Hope so!" Cheng Honglie nodded. Closely after that, he looked at Zhang Chenglei. After being hesitant for a second, he asked, "Is Yun Zhongzi..."


    "Senior Yun Zhongzi is in the underground backroom of Xuantian Peak..." Zhang Chenglei said frankly.


    After hearing Zhang Chenglei''s confession, Cheng Honglie was still startled although he had already guessed it. If those people of the supreme court didn''t have great confidence, they would never come to Iron Dragon Sect''s base for Yun Zhongzi suddenly; because it was meaningless; not to mention that they took action with the three major sects. Apparently they were ready to frame up Iron Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace with the event of Yun Zhongzi.


    "Why is Yun Zhongzi staying in Iron Dragon Sect?"


    "Senior Yun Zongzi suffered heavy injuries. He''s recuperating in Iron Dragon Sect..."


    After hearing his words, Cheng Honglie widened his eyes in amazement. "Who could heavily injure Yun Zhongzi? Did Taiyi Old Man and Grand Master Shenkong fight him together?"


    "Taiyi Old Man, Grand Master Shenkong and Meng Shidao!"


    "What?"


    After hearing this reply, everyone in the backroom was greatly shocked.


    "Meng Shidao has already promoted to a sage-level knight and has already finished his secluded cultivation. Additionally, he has many unpredictable, odd tricks. Previously, Senior Yun Zhongzi always paid attention to the situation of the three major sects; meanwhile, he also restricted Old Man Taiyi and Grand Master Shenkong. He had not imagined that his trace was discovered by Meng Shidao who had promoted to a sage-level knight. A few days ago, Senior Yun Zhongzi fell in the trap of the opponents. After Meng Shidao restricted him by launching a sneak attack towards him, Old Man Taiyi and Grand Master Shenkong suddenly arrived. Senior Yun Zhongzi broke the siege of the three sage-level knights in the end; however, he also suffered heavy injuries..." Zhang Chenglei explained in a low voice.


    This piece of news was too shocking. As it was the first time for Cheng Honglie and the others to hear about it, they remained silent for quite a while. Cheng Honglie suddenly understood why the opponents dared launch an attack towards Iron Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace all of a sudden. It turned out that they had long prepared for it.


    "There should be secret tunnels in the backroom of Xuantian Peak. Actually, as long as Senior Yun Zhongzi could leave Iron Dragon Sect secretly and hide somewhere for a few days, even though the president of the supreme court comes back, he won''t do any harm to Iron Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace anymore!" Lu Dingzhi said with a frown.


    As the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, Lu Dingzhi had long been marked as a bosom friend of Jinwu Palace; Lu Clan had long been sharing weal and woe with Zhang Clan. They were inseparable from each other.


    "Uncle Lu, you don''t know that. Senior Yun Zhongzi''s situation is special. The wounds that Meng Shidao left on Senior Yun Zhongzi are very odd. When the people of the Supreme Court urged to look for him in the underground backroom of Xuantian Peak, my eldest aunt has already guessed that someone could sense the wounds of Senior Yun Zhongzi. If Senior Yun Zhongzi leaves Iron Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace at this moment, he would definitely be killed by the three major sects. As Iron Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace have been under the protection of Senior Yun Zhongzi for dozens of years, of course, we should return his kindness. This time, Zhang clansmen of Jinwu Palace swear to protect Senior Yun Zhongzi even though we have to fight the three major sects at the cost of our lives..." Zhang Chenglei said firmly.


    "Meng Shidao and the three major clans are too vicious..." Feng Cangwu sighed suddenly.


    ...

 1962 Life or Death

    In the backroom under Xuantian Peak which was exclusive to the Suzerain of Iron-Dragon Sect, Yun Zhongzi was being lingered with bloody mist as his face turned pale golden. Golden sage and silver sage were flying around him and gnawing the bloody mist and those carps which were coming out of Yun Zhongzi''s body every once in a while...


    Carps in different sizes being absolutely made of black battle qi were indeed coming out of Yun Zhongzi''s chest, back, nostrils and ears and swimming back every once in a while.


    If someone could realize such a magical effect on the stage, he could definitely make the audience feel fresh and win universal applause. However, this scene was not a magical performance; therefore, it looked very terrifying. When people saw it, their hair would definitely stand on the ends with fear.


    Yun Zhongzis'' body appeared to be a carp nest. Whenever a carp came out of his body, Yun Zhongzi would knit his brow once slightly as if he was suffering a sharp pain. Meanwhile, the surrounding smell would be much bloodier.


    Yan Feiqing was sitting in the air in the opposite of Yun Zhongzi, legs crossed. There was a fist-sized scarlet bead in her hand. Yan Feiqing was injecting her spiritual energy into that scarlet bead. Meanwhile, a wisp of scarlet qi was flying out of the bead and entered the top of Yun Zhongzi''s skull.


    That scarlet bead was becoming smaller at a speed that could barely be noticed with human eyes.


    When those black carps came out of Yun Zhongzi''s body, a wisp of odd energy came out of the scarlet bead and entered his body. Therefore, the balance between consumption and replenishment was maintained...


    After one hour, the scarlet fog that lingered around Yun Zhongzi''s body gradually became thinner and finally dispersed. No more carps came out of his body anymore. That bead stopped releasing scarlet qi as well.


    "Wuh..." Yun Zhongzi spewed out a mouthful of black blood. When the blood splashed onto the ground at lightning speed, it directly caused thousands of holes on the floor which was made of rocks. The black blood could even erode rocks.


    "I must leave Iron-Dragon Sect..." Yun Zhongzi urged as he panted and wiped the blood froth off his mouth corners. Although being a bit weak, he could already speak, "I feel the wounds that Meng Shidao left on me are unusual. His battle qi was poisonous and could form constantly. I cannot eliminate it. Additionally, I feel that his battle qi was undulating in my body strangely recently. He might have already sensed my location. I''m afraid of bringing trouble to Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace..."


    "Two hours ago, the president of the Supreme Court has already come to Iron-Dragon Sect with many imperial officers. They requested to search Xuantian Peak. The knights of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion have already converged in the border of Youzhou Province. They have already known that you''re in Iron-Dragon Sect. They''ve already known your location," Yan Feiqing said calmly as she teleported her scarlet bead in her portable space-teleportation finger ring, "Your concern is reasonable. The wounds that Meng Shidao left on you could indeed help him find you!"


    After hearing Yan Feiqing''s words, Yun Zhongzi changed his face immediately as he sprung up and said decisively, "I will leave right now..."


    "Those people from the Supreme Court have already gone. They will not come back in a few days!" Yan Feiqing explained calmly, "Additionally, you should never leave Iron-Dragon Sect at this moment. Now that they have known that you''re in the backroom of Xuantian Peak and could know your location at any time, they must have to take precautious measures to prevent you from leaving here through a secret tunnel, given their shrewdness when they ask powerhouses of the Supreme Court to search Xuantian Peak aboveboard. " Yan Feiqing then let out a sigh. "I''m afraid that at least two people of Meng Shidao, Taiyi Old Man and Forebear Shenkong have already come to Iron-Dragon City. They might be waiting for you to leave the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect through a secret tunnel and directly kill you on the spot. Once you die, the three major sects will treat Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Palace more unscrupulously. They will definitely have more means to deal with us. The Supreme Court is just a piece that was used to help them cross the river on the checkerboard. They just want to use the Supreme Court to force you to leave Iron-Dragon Sect superficially..."


    Yun Zhongzi was not stupid. After hearing Yan Feiqing''s words, he instantly realized that Yan Feiqing''s judgment was correct; additionally, he figured out the current situation¡ª¡ªif he didn''t leave here, the three major sects and Meng Shidao could only use the Supreme Court to force him to leave there. When the Supreme Court confirmed that he was in Iron-Dragon Sect, someone in the three major sects and Xuanyuan Hill would launch an attack towards Yun Zhongzi and Jinwu Palace at the same time. If Yun Zhongzi left Iron-Dragon Sect, given his current situation, once being discovered, he probably was killed by Meng Shidao and Taiyi Old Man.


    At this moment, even though they knew that Yun Zhongzi was in Iron-Dragon Sect, Meng Shidao and the three major sects dared not blatantly attack Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace; because Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace were top sect and clan respectively in Taixia Country and had marital relations with royal households. They were related to Taixia Country on many aspects and had a very deep background. If the three major sects and Meng Shidao launched an attack, once Yun Zhongzi determined to detonate himself, they would not get any evidence of his existence here. By then, the three major sects and Meng Shidao would have big trouble. By attacking Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace aboveboard and arousing civil strifes in Taixia Country, they committed a felony and would incur condemnation across the country. Even the three major sects and Meng Shidao could barely bear such a consequence. Therefore, they could only take the Supreme Court as their shield.


    As for the three major sects and Meng Shidao, Yun Zhongzi was a turtle in a jar. There were only two results: Yun Zhongzi left Iron-Dragon Sect and was killed by them; they would further deal with Jinwu Palace and kill Yun Zhongzi in the end...


    After figuring out all these, Yun Zhongzi closed his eyes and looked calm. After a short while, he opened his eyes and let out a sigh lightly in a pretty calm way although his voice still sounded a bit frail, "Mistake after mistake! I''ve not imagined that Meng Shidao has already promoted to a sage-level knight and would collude with the three major sects. Therefore, he seized the opportunity and involved Jinwu Palace in this predicament!"


    "Senior, it''s not your fault. Nobody could predict that Meng Shidao has promoted to a sage-level knight and colluded with the three major sects. They indeed have made use of you; however, it''s not your fault. Nobody is almighty. Senior, never mind it!"


    "Previously, I was just the only disciple of Great Wilderness Sect. Actually, it doesn''t matter whether I''m alive or not now; because the secret methods of Great Wilderness Sect have already been carried forward by someone else; I''ve almost satisfied my dream. Over these years, I''ve killed enough knights of the three major sects. Even though I die now, I will have no regret either!" Yun Zhongzi then stroked golden sage and silver sage who were still flying around him and said, "The spiritual bonds between golden sage and silver sage and master have not disappeared. It means that the master is still alive. He will come back sooner or later. Even if I die, Jinwu Palace will definitely rejuvenate again after tiding over a short period of time. I feel that the master will be much more powerful than before when he comes back. He can definitely take revenge for the Great Wilderness Sect and I and return a bright day to Taixia Country by wiping out all the evil forces in the three major sects. Therefore, I''m not afraid of death. If Jinwu Palace could chop off the claws that they reached towards Jinwu Palace at the cost of my life, I will regard it as a valuable death!"


    At this moment, Yun Zhongzi was not afraid of death at all. He was just thinking about dying in the most valuable way.


    "Senior, if you didn''t constrain the three major sects and the two sage-level knights alone and prevented the three major sects from dealing with Jinwu Palace at their full strength, how could Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect reach this scale so smoothly? Senior, although you''re an elder of Great Wilderness Sect superficially, you have already been taken as an elder of Jinwu Palace by all the members of Jinwu Palace over the decades, not to mention the bosom relationship between you and my husband. You even taught and took care of some juniors of Jinwu Palace well. They have absolutely treated you as their teacher and grandpa. Therefore, Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect would never allow you to die in the hand of the three major sects and Meng Shidao. Otherwise, the members of Jinwu Palace would feel ashamed staying in Taixia Country!"


    "But, if so, Jinwu Palace will be involved in this predicament..."


    "The three major sects have been thinking about devastating Jinwu Palace for long. Without your case, Jinwu Palace has long been totally incompatible with the three major sects. Additionally, senior, do you think that Meng Shidao only wants to deal with you and Jinwu Palace this time?"


    After hearing Yan Feiqing''s warning, Yun Zhongzi knitted his brows and asked, "What do you mean?"


    "Their ultimate target is neither you nor Jinwu Palace, but that throne in the royal palace of Xuanyuan Hill. By dealing with you, they''re actually dealing with Jinwu Palace and the direct descendants of the royal prince that we prop up. However, they''re overambitious. They want to shut out the heavens with one palm only with three sage-level knights. Of course, they cannot meet their demands in all aspects. When they care for this, they must lose for that. Jinwu Palace is not afraid of any tricks. Senior, you only need to recuperate here without any concern. Even if the president of the Supreme Court couldn'' access to Youzhou Province casually. Additionally, Heavenly Fortune Sect says that this case will see a favorable turn in a few days. Let''s see what''s that favorable turn. In the worst scenario, even the royal prince of Taixia Country could be assassinated, it''s not a big deal for a president of the Supreme Court who left Xuanyuan Hill to be killed by demon powerhouses..." Yan Feiqing''s face turned a bit cold in the end...


    Half an hour later, Wu Dingtian, the owner of Demon-Killing Valley arrived at Iron-Dragon Sect alone. He said that he favored the winter landscape in 18 Xuantian peaks of Iron-Dragon Sect; especially the rime which was the No. 1 scenery in Youzhou Province. Therefore, he wanted to live in Iron-Dragon Sect for a few days...


    However, it was just August now. He needed to wait at least 4 months for the rime.


    Only after a few hours, the news that the president of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country suddenly arrived at Iron-Dragon Sect and intended to catch Yun Zhongzi had spread over the country and aroused shock from all parties. In an instant, all the forces across the country focused on Iron-Dragon City in Youzhou City...


    ...

 1963 A Long, Hard Trip

    Li Yunji, the president of the Supreme Court, knew that Jinwu Palace and Iron Dragon Sect were tricky. He was stirring up hornets'' nest for someone else. After Black Face Cheng suddenly came out and turned the contradiction between the Supreme Court and Iron-Dragon Sect into that between the Supreme Court and Northeast Military Region through threat and argument, Li Yunji had left Youzhou Province by airboat for Xuanyuan Hill as fast as he could.


    Given the current situation, if he didn''t subdue Cheng Honglie, he would not carry out the following plan.


    He soon contacted the one who assigned him to Youzhou Province and received a decisive response¡ª¡ªNow that Cheng Honglie is so stupid that he wants to bound himself to Jinwu Palace till death, we could only clean up the weeds to beat the rabbits. After cutting off Jinwu Palace''s wing in Northeast Military Region by controlling Cheng Honglie, we will continue to carry out plan A. By then, we will deal with Jinwu Palace easily.


    When they left Youzhou Province by airboat, those imperial officers who came there with Li Yunji had already started to write memorials to impeach Cheng Honglie''s presumptuous deeds and ignorance of laws. Their memorials reached the censorate in Xuanyuan Hill earlier than their airboat through remote-sensing crystals and started to whip up public opinion in Xuanyuan Hill which served as a preparation to arrest Cheng Honglie.


    Li Yunji knew that Jinwu Palace would never do anything but wait for death. Therefore, when he boarded the airboat, he instantly ordered all the local courts on the way to assign their forces to escort him and those imperial officers in case of any accident. However, he could never imagine that the accident happened so fast. When they just entered the territory of Gaozhou Province on the second day, they had met an accident.


    The day had just broken. When Li Yunji was sitting on his bed and cultivating, legs crossed, he felt that the airboat suddenly decelerated. Before he asked about the reason, he had heard a loud "boom". In an instant, he had been tossed in the air with great shock.


    Thankfully, he was a shadow knight. When he was tossed in the air, he instantly floated in the air in case of hitting anything. Meanwhile, he changed his face greatly as he found that their airboat was descending rapidly.


    Li Yunji rushed out of his room immediately. He then saw an imperial officer lying on the floor with a fist-sized lump on his head, who was groaning and couldn''t pick himself up anymore.


    These imperial officers were not knights. Most of them were scholars. Very few of them could surpass LV 9. Therefore, as for them, the great shock felt like that their vehicle was suddenly crashed by another car on the road. Many people among them didn''t feel good about it.


    "What happened..."


    "What happened..."


    "What happened just now..."


    At this moment, all the hatch doors on both sides of the corridor were opened from inside as many imperial officers who looked untidy looked around with great panic and asked each other about it, heads bleeding.


    Li Yunji ignored these imperial censors'' responses; instead, he rushed into the command module of the airboat at the greatest speed and roared, "What happened?"


    "Lord! We... crashed another airboat just now!" the captain reported to Li Yuni with a gloomy look, "The main body and flight system of the airboat have already been damaged and couldn''t work anymore. The airboat is descending in emergency..."


    "How could our airboat crash another airboat when we''re flying according to the regular route in the air?" Li Yunji asked him.


    Airboats compiled a set of complex flight rules. To put it simply, airboats in different directions were on different altitudes. Even though airboats in the same direction complied with established avoidance and intersection rules. Therefore, airboats could barely crash in the air, less than two times per decade. However, it happened right in front of Li Yunji.


    "We don''t know. Just now, we found that the airboat was flying towards us from our flank on the same altitude. It invaded our route. We sent a signal to let them avoid; however, they ignored it. When we''re going to crash them, we hurriedly decelerated to avoid them; pitifully, we still crashed them..."


    Due to the visual angle in the command module, they couldn''t see the overall look of the airboat which crashed theirs. Therefore, after hearing the captain''s explanation, Li Yunji directly flew out of the airboat with some knights of local court through an exit beside the command module in fury so as to check the situation.


    The two airboats were crashing above the wilderness and woods in the territory of Gaozhou Province. The airboat that crashed the airboat of the Supreme Court was also slowly descending at thousands of meters high in the air. The two airboats'' hulks were both damaged to a certain degree. The section between the middle part and the stern of the airboat of the Supreme Court was distorted and damaged. Maybe the water pipes inside the airboat had already been damaged; because water being stockpiled was flowing out of the airboat constantly.


    The other airboat was also damaged and distorted from the flank to the middle at its bow. However, it didn''t look as bad as that of the Supreme Court.


    At the sight of the other airboat, Li Yunji''s face instantly turned gloomy; because that airboat was not common. Given its grey color and pattern, it was a purple-cloud airboat which belonged to the military of Taixia Country. Given the mark on the airboat, it belonged to the God''s Will Army, one of the top four armies in Taixia Country.


    That airboat of God''s Will Army had already parked on the ground.


    Li Yunji and the powerhouses of the local court then flew over there. At that moment, the hatch door of the airboat was opened as a major of God''s Will Army in outfit walked out of there. Watching those knights flying towards him, the major didn''t look fearless at all; instead, with his hands on hips, he stood on the ground, looked up and reproached them. "Audacious! Who''re you? Which sect do you come from? How dare you block my way? How dare you disturb military affairs by damaging God''s Will Army''s airboat?"


    Li Yunji was so furious that his nose was almost crooked.


    "Audacious! This is Lord Li Yunji, the president of the Supreme Court. Why did you crash Lord Li''s vehicle?" A knight beside Li Yunji hurriedly condemned with fury.


    "Don''t cheat me with a lord in Xuanyuan Hill. This father doesn''t know Lord Li; neither did I meet him before. Don''t think that you can pretend to be members of the Supreme Court in official uniform. Who''s Lord Li, show me your official badge!" That major urged with a fearless look.


    Of course, Li Yunji would not show him the official badge as he didn''t need to argue with and prove his identity to a major of God''s Will Army. When a knight on Li Yunji''s side showed his portable ID card of the Supreme Court to the major, the major finally believed in their identities to a certain degree. Even so, he still argued verbally. "In order to prevent demons and the b*stards of Heavens-Reaching Church from launching a sneak attack towards us, yesterday God''s Will Army has already declared to carry out temporary air control in Gaozhou Province starting from this morning. We''re going to transport military materials to the frontline from Gaozhou Province. How dare the airboat of the Supreme Court ignore the military decree and break in the military control air zone? I will definitely report it to my superior. You must take responsibility for all these!"


    It was a typical military tactic of using a low-quality horse to deal with a high-quality horse. Despite being one of the 9 ministers of Taixia Country, he had no right to deal with the top four armies. As for the major, it was useless for Li Yunji to kill him; instead, it would bring him big trouble. Of course, it would be beneath his dignity to quarrel with the major.


    Therefore, Li Yunji''s face turned gloomy at once. Eyes beaming, he left one sentence to a knight subordinate beside him secretly. Closely after that, he turned around and returned to his airboat, leaving his subordinates to deal with it.


    After returning to the airboat of the Supreme Court, Li Yunji called the captain of the airboat.


    "Could it continue to fly or not?"


    "Lord, it could continue to fly; however, its speed would be at most 1/10 of that before. Additionally, we''ve lost too much water. Therefore, water consumption must be fixed!"


    "Can you fix it?"


    "We can; but not here. At least in Class A cities. Additionally, it will take us at least half a month to fix it!"


    Li Yunji clenched his teeth as he waved his hand and let the captain leave. After that, he contacted the Gaozhou Provincial Court with remote-sensing crystal and asked them to assign an airboat to take over him. However, according to the reply from Gaozhou Provincial Court, they didn''t have any airboat available for the time being. All the airboats of Gaozhou Provincial Court have been taken over for use by the Gaozhou Provincial Governor yesterday. They must coordinate with God''s Will Army to transport important military materials to the frontline. Actually, all the airboats of local courts across the Northeast Military Region had almost been taken over for use by the Headquarters of Northeast Military Region or Gaozhou Provincial Governor''s Mansion last night or this morning...


    In the end, Gaozhou Provincial Court even asked Li Yunji with concern, "Lord Li, do you need us to dispatch an airship for you?''


    ''Airship? Sh*t airship...''


    If he really took an airship to Xuanyuan Hill from here, it would take him years; instead of days to come back.


    Li Yunji smashed the desk in front of him with fury with one slap.


    However, some major sects and clans in the Northeast Military Region had relationships with the Supreme Court more or less. Some major sects and clans would even present bountiful gifts to the Supreme Court in Xuanyuan Hill annually. Take Mo Clan of Fraternity Palace in Mozhou Province as an instance, Mo Clan''s machinery was delicate. Some products of Mo Clan were very suitable to the criminal hunters in local courts across Northeast Military Region. The Supreme court would purchase a lot of products from Mo Clan annually. Therefore, both parties always maintained a nice relationship.


    Li Yunji had his assistant contact the Supreme Court in Xuanyuan Hill. After that, he let the Supreme Court contact Mo Clan and ask Mo Clan to dispatch an airboat here to pick him.


    However, Mo Clan''s response was... no response...


    After a few hours'' hard work, the Supreme Court finally found an available airboat nearby for Lord Li. However, that airboat was in Quzhou Province. Given the 40,000-odd miles distance between Quzhou Province and Gaozhou Province, it would take that airboat at least 2 days to arrive here...


    As one of nine ministers in Taixia Country, Lord Li was isolated in the territory of Taixia Country. He could even barely find an airboat available.


    Everyone on the airboat of the Supreme Court felt bone-chilling when they knew their predicament. Even those imperial officers didn''t clamor anymore.


    Just now, Yuan Hua, the most dignified one among the imperial censors was directly tossed in the air and hit the ceiling. One of his legs was broken...


    Soon after leaving Youzhou Province for one day, they had met these tricky affairs, not to mention that on the way back to Youzhou Province from Xuanyuan Hill.


    ...


    After staying in the wilderness of Gaozhou Province for 2 days, the rescue airboat finally arrived at Li Yunji''s side from Quzhou Provincial Court.


    In the 2 days, two elders of Heavens Fortune Sect also arrived at Iron-Dragon Sect with 300 knights. So did knights of Demon-Killing Valley.


    On one side, it was Heavens Fortune Sect and Demon-Killing Valley; on the other side, it was Taiyi Fantasy Sect, Heavens Holding Pavilion and Qionglou Pavilion. As a result, the atmosphere in Youzhou Province became more and more intense.


    ...


    After boarding the airboat from Quzhou Provincial Court and starting to leave for Xuanyuan Hill, Li Yunji felt a bit better. However, this good mood only lasted a few hours.


    At night, when Li Yunji returned to his berth cabin and was going to bed, he discovered something beneath his pillow. He reached out his hand and took out an envelope. There was no word on the envelope. However, he could sense a letter inside it.


    Li Yunji opened the envelope and took out the letter. There was only one short paragraph on the letter¡ª¡ª


    Taixia Country is troubled with demons. Even Royal Prince Chang Ying was assassinated in Jinzhou Province which was close to Xuanyuan Hill for the sake of national affairs. It''s a long trip from Youzhou Province to Xuanyuan Hill. Lord Li, as a major official in Taixia Country, take care of yourself. Bon Voyage!


    Watching the simple lines, the president of the Supreme Court, also the minister of justice, slowly quivered his hands with fear...

 1964 Zhang Ties Return

    On the noon of August 17, the 932nd year of Black Iron Calendar, inside the tower of time of Golden Crown beneath Garby City, the capital of Sterland Republic on the Western Continent, Zhang Tie finally opened his eyes after sensing that the time torsion inside it was reduced to zero. Meanwhile, the brilliant Milky Way behind him also slowly faded away like how a peacock contracted its beautiful tail feather.


    Zhang Tie then slowly picked himself up. After taking a deep breath, he relieved his limbs and looked up at the Milky Way overhead. Then, he said with a smile, "It''s been 5 years. I''ve finally recovered..."


    Gradually, Zhang Tie started to laugh loudly inside the tower of time, causing the entire tower of time to tremble.


    Over the past 5 years, Zhang Tie had not only easily passed the ''frail'' period which was left by his secret skills. Additionally, he had already reached one change realm of his first immortal chakra. As a result, his overall strength had reached a higher level than that of his heyday in Motian Realm.


    When in Motian Realm, he didn''t have the colorful energy which he acquired from the mezzanine between spaces. The colorful energy alone could enable Zhang Tie''s overall strength to increase at least 30% than before. Plus so many secret skills, he was much more powerful than before.


    As he started to form an immortal chakra, he was going to promote to an immortal emperor from a sage-level knight and become the No. 1 powerhouse in this world.


    Being different than sage-level chakra, earth chakra, water chakra, wind chakra and fire chakra. Immortal chakra carried endless secrets. Each scale of immortal chakra would bring Zhang Tie wholly new strength and enable him to better understand universal laws.


    Zhang Tie didn''t understand the immortal chakra till now.


    Immortal chakra was free, mysterious and ever-changing. It was the most concrete product of the combination of universal laws and individuals. The combination of universal laws and individuals was as different as one''s face and DNA. Even the twins who looked alike had different DNAs.


    The universal laws that people could realize determined the variety of their immortal chakras. Even for those two people who cultivated the same secret method and both promoted to immortal emperors, their immortal chakras were also different; because they couldn''t have the same feeling about anything in the universe. Even though their feelings were almost the same, they were different in depth and breadth.


    The sharp differences between different secret methods couldn''t be discovered until their cultivators started to form their immortal chakras.


    When he started to form his immortal chakra of ''Infinite King Roc Sutra'', he displayed a 9-level light halo, which indicated that Zhang Tie could at most form 9 immortal chakras, which was the supreme realm of cultivation. By contrast, those who cultivated throne-level secret methods below emperor-level secret methods could at most form 7 immortal chakras. It meant that those who cultivated throne-level secret methods could never reach the supreme realm of cultivation, not to mention those who cultivated inferior secret methods. The highest realm and achievement of a cultivator had been fixed since the beginning.


    When he formed the first immortal chakra, Zhang Tie had a deep realization of rules about strength, speed and space. The former two came from his comprehension and accumulation that Zhang Tie had since he started to cultivate. His realization about the rules of space benefited from the secret skills of Infinite King Roc Sutra and various hardships and realizations that he had in the chaos and the mezzanine between spaces in the decades after he left Motian Realm.


    After realizing the universal laws, Zhang Tie started to better form his immortal chakra, which further deepened his realization about universal laws and constantly enhanced his control ability about strength, speed and space. To be honest, with each scale, his control ability of strength, speed and space would enhance evidently.


    It was the right moment for the emperor-level secret method to show its power. The process of forming earth chakra, water chakra, wind chakra and fire chakra in the former stage was a couple of times even dozens of times harder than that of other secret methods. By then, he finally started to get his great return. In the process of forming immortal chakras of Infinite King Roc Sutra, each scale would bring him a couple of times even dozens of times greater overall strength than the other secret methods.


    No pain, no gain. You reap what you sow. The previous hardships, blood and tears finally turned into sweet pulp and great halos, which was Zhang Tie''s great return.


    It was no exaggeration to say that Zhang Tie had already been in the peak of both human and demon cultivators. He was unrivaled.


    "Congratulations, Castle Lord, you''ve been at the peak of cultivators!" Zhang Tie heard the familiar voice from his mind sea again. Meanwhile, he got the same feeling of controlling the Castle of Black Iron at his will.


    "Was everything in Castle of Black Iron okay over these years?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.


    "Everything is well in Castle of Black Iron. Thanks for your concern, Castle Lord. Additionally, I''ve got good news for you. Castle of Black Iron has already completely integrated the space ball in Motian Realm. As the space force in Mountains Ruins was steadiest in Motian Realm, Castle of Black Iron has already engulfed the entire Mountain Ruins. Mountain Ruins has already been one part of Castle of Black Iron!"


    "One part? What does that mean?" Zhang Tie asked Heller as he walked towards the gate of the tower of time.


    "It means that there''s no mountain ruins in Motian Realm any longer. Neither humans nor demons in Motian Realm could enter mountain ruins anymore; instead, the mountain ruins appeared in Castle of Black Iron. Everything in mountain ruins belongs to Castle Lord..."


    "Everything in mountain ruins?" Zhang Tie slowly slowed down his footsteps.


    "Yes, everything in mountain ruins, including thousands of air-floating mountains, Buzhou Mountain in the core of mountain ruins and those mysterious areas..."


    "What about those humans and demons in mountain ruins?"


    "They have been driven out of mountain ruins in the process!"


    When Zhang Tie realized that those immortal palaces of demons and humans could not scramble for treasures in mountain ruins later on, Star Emperor and the other immortal palaces might not know that mountain ruins had already become his private property and the entire Motian Realm would be in his hand in the future, Zhang Tie suddenly felt funny about it. Therefore, he burst out laughing and pushed open the gate of the tower of time.


    What shocked Zhang Tie was that it was Ockham who was waiting outside the tower of time; instead of Bordili.


    Strangely, Zhang Tie wondered why Ockham was here.


    Ockham looked a bit anxious and intense. When he saw Zhang Tie push open the gate of the tower of time, he instantly revealed a big smile as if he had relieved a heavy burden. Closely after that, he explained, "Jinwu Palace has big trouble. The three top sects have already surrounded the entire Iron-Dragon Sect..."


    "What?" Zhang Tie abruptly raised his eyebrows as his eyes turned cold. Closely after that, he said, "I''ve not found them trouble yet; how dare they find Iron-Dragon Sect trouble first?"


    Ockham explained the whole thing about Yun Zhongzi as quickly as possible. Closely after that, Zhang Tie disappeared right in front of him...


    Ockham didn''t confirm that Zhang Tie had already left there till he stood there for a few minutes in a daze.


    ¡ª¡ªSacred Alliance Empire will not be able to produce fiery-oil soon. The overall situation facing the Western Continent will change. Make preparations for that...


    When Ockham tried his best to curb his shock and was going to leave there, he suddenly received such a message through the remote-sensing finger ring which he used to contact Zhang Tie...


    ...


    After hearing that the three top sects had been going hostile against Iron-Dragon Sect, Zhang Tie instantly left Garby City for Taixia Country at the greatest speed.


    Before dusk, the Embracing Tiger City in Youzhou Province had already appeared in front of Zhang Tie...


    Zhang Tie was finally back after leaving Taixia Country for over three decades...

 1965 Torture

    Because of the sudden interruption of Cheng Honglie, Li Yunji the supreme justice was forced to return to Xuanyuan Hill, the three major sects'' plans against Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace were temporarily disrupted. When everyone focused on Youzhou Province and waited for supreme justice''s return, two deacons of Iron-Dragon Sect suddenly rebelled two days ago. They declared in the Brightness Building in Youzhou Province that the No. 1 criminal Yun Zongzi in Taixia Country was hiding in the underground backroom beneath Xuantian Peak of Iron-Dragon Sect and hoped that all the bounty criminal hunters could come to Youzhou Province to kill Yun Zhongzi...


    Such a sudden change aroused hot discussions across the country.


    The two rebels were the native people of Youzhou Province. They had already joined Iron-Dragon Sect and become Zhang Tie''s disciples when Zhang Tie was in charge of Iron-Dragon Sect. Over the past three decades, they had promoted to deacons of the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect. Their sudden rebellion and public condemnation caused Iron-Dragon Sect to be in great danger.


    According to the two deacons, the reason that they rebelled Iron-Dragon Sect lay in that they discovered that Iron-Dragon Sect was hiding the No. 1 criminal in Taixia Country. They felt deeply disappointed about Iron-Dragon Sect''s dirty and illegal behavior. Therefore, the two people determined to choose to cut ties with Iron-Dragon Sect for justice by exposing Iron-Dragon Sect''s "contemptible" and "dirty" behavior to the public and urged all the righteous men in the world to kill Yun Zhongzi together.


    Coincidentally, when the two people were unveiling Iron-Dragon Sect''s dirty deed, a grand elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect was also asking about Yun Zhongzi''s whereabouts in the Brightness Building secretly. Therefore, the grand elder then escorted the two people back to an airboat of the three major clans. Out of "great fury", the fleet of airboats which were suspending in the border between Youzhou Province and Yanzhou Province rapidly arrived at the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect of Fiery Dragon Bounty Territory in an aggressive way as they urged Iron-Dragon Sect to give them Yun Zhongzi. Iron Dragon Sect asked for the two rebels from Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Both parties refused the opponent''s requirement. Taiyi Fantasy Sect and the other two major sects blamed Iron-Dragon Sect for hiding their common enemy and the No. 1 criminal in Taixia Country; Iron-Dragon Sect blamed the three major sects for arranging moles in Iron Dragon Sect. Therefore, the contradiction between the two parties was finally intensified.


    Iron Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace blocked the bolt from Supreme Court by a commander of a military region. However, the two rebels of Iron Dragon Sect pushed Iron Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace back to the front of the three major sects. After one round of the match, they finally collided with each other.


    Being similar to how rogues preferred to fight each other privately on the street rather than asking for help from the criminal authorities, the Supreme Court couldn''t interfere with contradictions between major sects in Taixia Country on many occasions just like that the six major sects sent black invitation cards to Iron Dragon Sect...


    ...


    The attle qi was colliding and booming in the sky above Yangui Mountain Range like fireworks. The protective battle qi and attacking battle qi looked more brilliant when the darkness fell.


    It was a special battle. The onlookers had been in dead silence and the atmosphere on the battlefield had became depressed immediately since the battle broke out. All the people of the three major sects were watching the battlefield with a sneer. By contrast, many people on the side of Iron-Dragon Sect were clenching their fists and watching the battlefield with complex looks.


    Iron-Dragon Sect assigned Mr. Bamboo of the Four Sages to attend the battle. Since the Four Freaks became the elders of Iron Dragon Sect, they had become Four Sages. After over 3 decades, Four Sages became much more powerful than before. Almost everyone across Taixia Country knew that there were four elders who were congenial with each other in Iron Dragon Sect, not to mention South Border.


    The one who fought Mr. Bamboo on behalf of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, one of the three major sects was Lan Yunxi, the incumbent owner of Huaiyuan Palace.


    The atmosphere across Iron-Dragon Sect had become pretty intense since Lan Yunxi drew her sword out of the sheath.


    Nobody across Iron Dragon Sect, Jinwu Palace could imagine that they must fight Lan Yunxi in the public here.


    Among those onlooking forces, those knights who knew the identity and story of Lan Yunxi became silent as they all heaved a sigh in relief and shook their heads inside; especially those knights of the major sects and clans within Northeast Military Region.


    ''You are from the same clan. Why do you torture each other so much? What an anguished scene! After this battle, Jinwu Palace and Huaiyuan Palace might never reach a peaceful settlement anymore.


    ...


    With a boom, the light&shade suddenly broke apart. Mr. Bamboo''s protective battle qi was collapsed as he was sent flying backward with a dreadfully pale face, which was almost covered with his blood.


    Three light&shades hurriedly flew out of the camp of Iron Dragon Sect and escorted Mr. Bamboo back. They were Mr. Plum, Mr. Orchid and Mr. Chrysanthemum.


    Lowering her eyes, Lan Yunxi was standing still in the air while holding her sword; instead of chasing after Mr. Bamboo.


    She was in white mourning dress made of linen. Besides, her black and beautiful hair was also bound by a white cloth strap.


    Lan Yunxi was avenging her master''s death. Although being solemn and resolute, she felt weak.


    Many powers in the sky were focusing on Lan Yunxi.


    "The 34th round, Taiyi Fantasy Sect wins..." A cold voice reverberated in the sky above Iron Dragon Sect.


    When Lin Huanxi was going to fly out of the camp of Iron Dragon Sect, she was stopped by Zhang Yang. After taking a complexed look at Lan Yunxi in the distance, Zhang Yang shook his head and said, "Elder Lin, it''s the private affair of Zhang Clan. Just let us solve it ourselves..." After saying that, Zhang Yang took a look at a junior on the airboat as he said, "Chengting..."


    Among Zhang Tie''s sons, Zhang Chengting was the most powerful one so far. He had just come back from South Border and was already in the nine changes realm of earth knight. He would soon promote to a shadow knight. Additionally, Zhang Chengting had mastered a lot of secret methods and battle skills just like Zhang Tie when he was young. He could definitely defeat Lan Yunxi.


    Zhang Chengting stood up and took a look at Yan Feiqing who stayed calm. When he saw Yan Feiqing nodding slightly towards him, Zhang Chengting flew towards the battlefield at once.


    "President Lan, whatever happened today had nothing to do with Huaiyuan Palace. What are you doing this for!" Zhang Chengting said as he heaved a sigh. At this moment, Zhang Chengting felt pretty complex facing Lan Yunxi. Through his seniors, Zhang Chengting had already known the old scores between Lan Yunxi and his father Zhang Tie.


    "Cut the crap. I won''t show mercy on you. You don''t need to show mercy on me either. Yun Zongzi couldn''t live under the same sky as me. He''s already been severely injured. Now that you want to protect him, you''re my enemy. Let''s start!" Lan Yunxi said icily.


    Zhang Chengting didn''t explain too much; nor did he launch a strike first. He then reached out his hand and said in an imposing manner, "If so, President Lan, please!"


    "He''s Zhang Tie''s son. If you killed him, Jinwu Palace will definitely be in great chaos. By then, you can use tricks to force Yun Zhongzi to come out of there himself..." Feng Yexiao uttered secretly. After hearing his warning, Lan Yunxi felt his heart palpitate once.


    However, when Lan Yunxi was going to launch a strike, she suddenly heard a long, grieved sigh over the sky above Iron Dragon Sect.


    ''Sigh..."


    It was a light sigh; however, it reverberated around the 18 fantasy mountain peaks of Iron Dragon Sect over 600 square miles.


    After hearing this sigh, Yan Feiqing and Zhang Yang suddenly sprung up...


    Lan Yunxi''s heart trembled together with her hand. At the same time, she gnashed her teeth and slashed towards Zhang Chengting...


    However, her sword qi didn''t fell on Zhang Chengting; instead, her sword got rid of her hand and rushed into the sky in terms of light with a boom...


    Almost at the same time, all the long swords within 600 square miles rushed into the sky from the ground, knights'' hands and inside knights'' bodies like living objects with booms including ordinary long swords made of high-quality steel and silver secret items hiding inside knights'' bodies, forming shiny stars in the sky.


    Zhang Tie appeared at the highest step in the sky as he slowly descended like a deity...


    ...

 1966 Shocking!

    Watching Zhang Tie walking out of the void and going downstairs along the tens of thousands of sword blades, all the knights above 18 Xuantian Peaks were dumbfounded...


    After more than three decades, Zhang Tie''s look remained as same as that at Yinhai Desert. The only difference was his qi. It was an unprecedented, powerful and sacred qi that none of the knights on the spot had ever felt. As Zhang Tie went downstairs step by step, they felt that all the elements across the Elements Realm had rocked. Those restless elements started to escape out of the Elements Realm and formed many colorful strips of light belts like Aurora on polar regions in different shapes in the sky. These light belts twisted and lasted thousands of miles in the sky like flying colorful banners and flags in temples as if they were welcoming Zhang Tie. As a result, the sky which had just turned dark became as bright as daytime again...


    When the four elements swarmed out of the earth, they directly turned into golden lotus flowers. From the sky, trillions of golden lotus flowers poured out of the undulating earth-centered with 18 Xuantian Peaks. As a result, the land became a grand ocean of lotus flowers. Even the greater part of the Northeast Military Region could see these abnormal phenomena in the sky and on the earth.


    Besides, the four elements even combined into an ethereal and airy fragrance that smelt as fragrant as orchid and musk. Floating over thousands of miles, they could even be smelt by almost everyone across the Northeast Military Region.


    After coming back, when Zhang Tie released his full qi in this world, he had reached the state of combining the heavens with himself. In an instant, he had caused many brilliant abnormal phenomena. Not to mention those onlookers, even those knights of the three major sects became petrified. Some were kneading their eyes as they wanted to check whether they had a visual hallucination; some were pinching their own thighs and wanted to check whether they were having a dream; some were even sniffing the special fragrance in the air forcefully.


    Zhang Tie walked onto the battlefield step by step and came to the front of Lan Yunxi.


    Watching Zhang Tie, Zhang Chengting became so thrilled that he even started to choke with sobs as an earth knight in the 9 change realm.


    "Papa..."


    "Not bad. You didn''t let me down. As for the following, it''s my business..." Zhang Tie said as he nodded towards his son with a smile. After that, he waved his hand and slightly sent Zhang Chengting flying 60 miles back into the crowd of Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect with an irresistibly tender wind of elements like how a golden king flapped its wings. Watching this scene, all the excited people on the side of Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect became quiet at once.


    At this moment, facing so many powerful enemies, it was not the right moment for them to chat with each other. Some even didn''t believe that Zhang Tie was back till now...


    At this moment, thousands of knights were watching Zhang Tie.


    However, Zhang Tie was watching Lan Yunxi who was right in front of him with a complex expression.


    Lan Yunxi''s face suddenly turned ashen. Her white mourning uniform and her sudden ashen face made her especially sorrowful and beautiful. Therefore, Zhang Tie''s heart ached all of a sudden.


    Lan Yunxi''s eyes were filled with tears; however, tears didn''t roll down her eyes. Meanwhile, her fingers were quivering. However, Lan Yunxi didn''t notice her natural responses. She just raised her head and watched Zhang Tie with a pale smile. "It was you who killed Xuanyuan Wuji in front of me, right?"


    After hearing Lan Yunxi''s first question, all the surrounding knights felt that their hearts palpitated heavily. Even those people of Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect were in dead silence at once.


    After two seconds'' silence, Zhang Tie nodded as he broke the silence. "Yea, I killed Xuanyuan Wuji!"


    Zhang Tie''s words caused all the knights around 18 Xuantian peaks to feel dizzy.


    ''Wasn''t Zhang Tie at Yinhai Desert on that day? How could he appear in Jiangzhou Province hundreds of thousands of miles away and kill Xuanyuan Wuji over there?''


    Even though it had been so many years, the case of Xuanyuan Wuji''s assassination was still the biggest pending criminal case in Taixia Country.


    Nobody could imagine that the No. 1 pending criminal case in Taixia Country would be unveiled in such a strange way by Lan Yunxi at this moment.


    "Did you know that Xuanyuan Wuji was already my fiancee at that time?"


    "Yes, I did!"


    Lan Yunxi revealed another pale smile as she asked in a heart-broken voice, "Did I tell you that the one who cared about me the most in Taiyi Fantasy Sect was my master?"


    "Yes, you did!"


    "What''s the relationship between Yun Zhongzi and you then?"


    Zhang Tie closed his eyes. He didn''t open his eyes until two seconds later. He knew what his answer meant for Lan Yunxi. However, he couldn''t cover it anymore at this moment, "By a lucky chance, I acquired Great Wilderness Sutra in Ice and Snow Wilderness. Later on, the secret cave of Great Wilderness Sect was discovered. I entered the secret cave and became the new owner of the Great Wilderness Sect coincidentally. Yun Zhongzi was the only elder of Great Wilderness Sect!"


    When those knights, who were still immersed in the news that Zhang Tie killed Xuanyuan Wuji, heard that Zhang Tie was the new owner of Great Wilderness Sect and had mastered Great Wilderness Sutra, many people became absolutely dumbfounded like being hit by a heavy hammer.


    "Hahahaha..." Lan Yunxi guffawed as her hairband fell off, causing her black hair to flutter crazily in the wind. Her guffaws were filled with grief and despair. Meanwhile, her tears finally rolled down her eyes. "Well done. Well done. Who else on my side can you not kill? Here I am. A humble earth knight is nothing in your eyes. Just kill me..."


    With the cold guffaws, a dagger instantly appeared in Lan Yunxi''s hand. Closely after that, Lan Yunxi charged at Zhang Tie as she determined to fight Zhang Tie to death.


    Zhang Tie didn''t even dodge. He just allowed Lan Yunxi to hit his chest with the dagger casually.


    As a result, Zhang Tie was safe and sound; however, Lan Yunxi''s dagger was completely broken into pieces...


    Zhang Tie lightly put his hand on Lan Yunxi''s forehead, causing her to back out at once defencelessly.


    In front of Zhang Tie, earth knights were as weak as kittens.


    When Zhang Tie moved his hand, some onlooking knights had already flown out of the crowd in a flurried way. Of course, they were Elder Muray and Elder Muyu of Huaiyuan Palace.


    As for these elders of Huaiyuan Palace, they would never join the team of the three major sects and besiege Jinwu Palace. However, as Lan Yunxi was in the team of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, those elders of Huaiyuan Palace couldn''t join Jinwu Palace and go against Lan Yunxi. On this occasion, they could only become onlookers and pay heed to the development of the situation and prepare to make corresponding responses to the change.


    Zhang Tie lightly swung his sleeve and sent Lan Yunxi to the front of Elder Muray and Elder Muyu with a wind. Meanwhile, he left a sentence to those elders. After taking Lan Yunxi, those elders hurriedly left there silently.


    "Previously, three major sects joined hands to exterminate Great Wilderness Sect by arousing an earthshaking bloody case for Great Wilderness Sutra. As a disciple of Great Wilderness Sect, it was reasonable for him to look for the murderers and take revenge for the Great Wilderness Sect. I, as the incumbent owner of Great Wilderness Sect, will uphold justice for Great Wilderness Sect here today!" Zhang Tie said firmly as he watched the fleet of airboats of the three major sects in the distance.


    "Nonsense. We''ve already got the irrefutable evidence that Yun Zhongzi killed the disciples of our three sects. We will definitely turn Yun Zhongzi into ashes. Zhang Tie, do you have any evidence that Great Wilderness Sect was destroyed by our three major sects?" Feng Yexiao refuted Zhang Tie aloud in the team of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    Not knowing whether it was because of the great shock by Zhang Tie''s sudden appearance or a guilty conscience, Feng Yexiao felt a bit timid inside despite a serious look. Even his voice quivered slightly.


    "Evidence?" Zhang Tie looked up at the sky and guffawed, "My words are the evidence. If you don''t believe me, look at your side..."


    Closely after the word ''side'', thousands of streaks of sword light had suddenly appeared in the air next to Feng Yexiao. Before he made any response, he had been smashed.


    The grand elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, also a shadow knight like Cheng Honglie, became defenseless in front of Zhang Tie''s Pupil Swordsmanship. Before making any response, he had already disappeared.


    After turning Feng Yexiao into ashes, countless long swords in the sky hit a mountain peak hundreds of miles away in terms of lightning sword light.


    Facing countless streaks of sword light, the mountain peak was shattered. All of a sudden, a person with a grim look and silver hair rushed into the sky over there. He was Taiyi Old Man.


    Meanwhile, Taiyi Old Man emanated odd light as he gazed at Zhang Tie with strong fierce qi in his eyes. Closely after that, he roared at Zhang Tie, "Go to hell..."


    The space near Zhang Tie instantly turned dark red like a furnace...


    "Watch out, it''s Real Sun Flame..." Zhang Tie suddenly heard the voice of Wu Dingtian, the owner of Demon-Killing Valley. Closely after that, Wu Dingtian advanced towards Zhang Tie with a flash. However, Shenkong Grand Master suddenly appeared and blocked Wu Dingtian.


    Meanwhile, numerous fiery fire elements poured into the space near Zhang Tie as if the Elements Realm was broken. The violent fire element circled Zhang Tie like a fire ring and started to burn...


    ...

 1967 Whos the Best?

    Zhang Tie was covered with the overwhelming Taiyi Old Man''s Real Sun Flame; meanwhile, the space near Zhang Tie became crimson. It seemed as if Zhang Tie was near a crater. All the knights of Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect felt that their hearts would explode in anxiety as they wanted to rush over there; however, they were all blocked by those elders of Heavens Fortune Sect.


    Real Sun Flame was unusual. It was the most powerful, fatal skill of Taiyi Old Man. Even Heavenly knights would be killed by Real Sun Flame, not to mention ordinary knights.


    Yan Feiqing, Bai Suxian, Guo Hongyi, Zhang Yang, Zhang Su, Immortal Pengshan and Zhang Tie''s sons wanted to rush over there; right then, they were stopped by Zhang Tie''s secret words.


    "Hahaha..." Taiyi Old Man guffawed, silver hair fluttering in the wind. His voice sounded loud with strong fierce qi. "Did you hear what Zhang Tie said? He killed Xuanyuan Wuji, the third prince of Emperor Xuanyuan. That was a monstrous crime like plotting treason. Why not devastate Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect together with our three sects for the sake of justice now..."


    "Devastate Jinwu Palace; wipe out Iron-Dragon Sect..." Over 1,000 knights of the three major sects coordinated with Taiyi Old Man on their airboats at once. Some shadow knights and heavenly knights, also elders, took the lead and released their strong battle qi before leaving their airboats for Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace at high speeds.


    Watching this scene, all the onlooking knights changed their faces. Nobody could imagine that the contest between majors sects could deteriorate into a life-or-death war. Ordinary people dared never be involved in this war. No matter which party was the final winner, this war would definitely shock the whole world and influence the overall pattern and situation facing sects in Taixia Country and Xuanyuan Hill in the following hundreds of years.


    "Xuanyuan Wuji broke the ban of Emperor Xuanyuan. As a prince, he colluded with your three major sects and founded Royal Alliance as your puppet. He even wanted to abolish the royal prince and ascend to the throne himself in the holy war. His crime deserves more than death! Your three major sects are too ambitious. You even wanted to prop up the ninth prince to control Xuanyuan Hill and the country as a whole. Taiyi Old Man, didn''t you hear one sentence¡ª¡ªthe one who plays fire must burn himself in the end!"


    Zhang Tie''s voice drifted out of the domineering blaze of Real Sun Flame calmly. When he finished the word ''end'', the Real Sun Flame near him suddenly grew fiercer. Closely after that, it turned into more than 10 fire dragons and ferociously rushed towards those shadow knights and heavenly knights in front of the forces of the three major sects. In the blink of an eye, those fire dragons had devoured the 10-odd knights of the three major sects, causing them to shriek miserably, their skins split and their flesh cut forth...


    Due to such a sudden accident, the team of the forces of the three major sects were instantly disordered and lost their morale. Even those onlooking knights didn''t know why the Real Sun Flame of Taiyi Old Man suddenly transferred onto his pals.


    "Ah..." A grand elder of Taiyi Fantasy Sect wailed as his beard, hair and clothes were burned by Real Sun Flame. He implored Taiyi Old Man aloud, "Suzerain, suzerain, it''s me. Why is the Real Sun Flame burning me? Hurry, stop it..."


    However, the grand elder didn''t know that Taiyi Old Man had already lost his marbles facing this situation; because Taiyi Old Man suddenly discovered that the Real Sun Flame which was supposed to burn Zhang Tie was completely out of his control.


    "Impossible, impossible, why..." Taiyi Old Man roared as he gave out greater glow. As a result, the place where Zhang Tie stayed was like a heavenly furnace as fire element poured in the space ten times heavier than before and turned into real sun flame, covering Zhang Tie again. It appeared to burn Zhang Tie into ashes in an instant.


    "Your Real Sun Flame is just so so..." Zhang Tie said calmly as the real sun flame separated and formed an arched door. Zhang Tie then walked out of the arched door decently.


    Unbelievably, Zhang Tie was safe and sound. There''s not even a fold on his clothes. Additionally, a huge, mysterious and majestic wheel like a Ferris wheel higher than 100 m was around Zhang Tie. The wheel contained four colorful regions, golden, blue, cyan and red. A mysterious rune was rotating in each colorful region.


    That huge wheel was like a mysterious metal object; however, it appeared to not belong to this world as it was only a phantom.


    Facing the rotating wheel, the Real Sun Flame around Zhang Tie became as tame as a chick. When Zhang Tie reached out his hand, he immediately gathered the infinite Real Sun Flame and condensed them. As a result, the terrifying Real Sun Flame turned into a little golden fire dragon and started to hover in Zhang Tie''s palm...


    No matter how Taiyi Old Man tried to trigger his Real Sun Flame, all of his Real Sun Flame finally fell in Zhang Tie''s hand lightly.


    Not only the knights of the three major sects, even the members of Jinwu Palace, Iron-Dragon Sect, Demon-Killing Valley and Heavens Fortune Sect were dumbfounded by such a marvelous secret skill. They all paid heed to that rotating chakra behind Zhang Tie. They all wondered whether it was Zhang Tie''s secret rarity or his secret realm...


    Even so, they all confirmed that the Real Sun Flame of Taiyi Old Man could be casually controlled by Zhang Tie in front of that huge rotating chakra just like a grandson in front of a grandpa.


    The most proud secret skill and trump card suddenly became useless and couldn''t even hurt even a hair of his enemy. Taiyi Old Man could barely accept such a shocking strike.


    "No, this father is unrivaled across the world. Nobody could face my Real Sun Flame..." Taiyi Old Man roared.


    "Nothing is impossible!" A voice suddenly appeared in the sky of the battlefield. At the same time, a ethereal scholar in white appeared there. He was watching that huge wheel behind Zhang Tie with appreciation, admiration, faint piety and confusion in his eyes.


    "Lord Fairyocean!?" a grand elder of Heavens Fortune Sect exclaimed in great shock.


    The name Lord Fairyocean represented a legend in Taixia Country as if it carried endless magic.


    All the knights on the spot were greatly shocked as the battlefield was in hubbubs at once. Even Wu Dingtian and Shenkong Grand Master separated at once. As for the two sage-level knights, the sudden appearance of a powerhouse with uncertain stance on the battlefield made them alert at the same time.


    However, Lord Fairyocean ignored the others; instead, he just gazed at Zhang Tie and that huge rotating wheel behind him.


    "Divine dominator doesn''t have private realm. Therefore, even though I''ve formed four chakras and have already reached the level of sage-level knight, I cannot become a sage-level knight. However, according to the legend, when a divine dominator masters the aiding strength of sage-level divine domination of divine dominator, he will become unusual as he will form his dominator''s immortal chakra. If a divine dominator forms his dominator''s divine chakra, he will be able to control all the four elements, realize endless changes and dominate all kinds of the aiding strength of sage-level knight by including them in his private realm. Unexpectedly, I could have a chance to see dominator''s divine chakra on a human in Youzhou Province. That''s the real divine dominator. With the dominator''s divine chakra, the younger brother will become the No. 1 powerhouse among humans. Nobody could defeat you anymore!" Lord Fairyocean suddenly let out a sigh as he continued, "The three major sects are bringing trouble to themselves. However, many knight-level disciples in their sects don''t know anything about the plan of the powers. As holy war is still ongoing, younger brother, please prioritize the lives of people across the world and leave some vigor for Taixia Country and humans as a whole!"


    After saying all these, Lord Fairyocean bowed towards Zhang Tie. Closely after that, he disappeared like how he appeared all of a sudden.


    ''Dominator''s divine chakra!''


    After hearing Lord Fairyocean''s words, Taiyi Old Man changed his face greatly as he instantly turned around and escaped.


    How could Zhang Tie let him go.


    Only by pointing at Taiyi Old Man casually, the fire dragon that was flying around Zhang Tie had darted to Taiyi Old Man and covered him.


    Being in the ablaze furnace, Taiyi Old Man wailed at once.


    The fire dragon was more condense and had more terrifying power. Taiyi Old Man''s Real Sun Flame was red; however, this fire dragon was gold-red, which carried many times greater power.


    "It''s not Real Sun Flame!" Taiyi Old Man wailed in the blaze.


    "Wrong. It''s the real, real, real, Real Sun Flame. You only know ABC about Real Sun Flame..." Zhang Tie said in a low tone.


    Only after a short while, the overambitious Taiyi Old Man, the suzerain of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, the president of Royal Alliance and one of the most powerful sage-level knights in Taixia Country had been burned into ashes by Zhang Tie''s real sun flame under the gaze of tens of thousands of knights in Taixia Country, only leaving a portable odd token...


    ...

 1968 Being Unrivaled

    When Old Man Taiyi was burned into ashes by Real Sun Flame, the first batch of 10-odd powerhouses above shadow knights among the three major sects who rushed towards Jinwu Palace''s men were also burned into ashes by the Real Sun Flame which Old Man Taiyi once used to attack Zhang Tie. As a result, the three major sects suffered heavy losses almost in an instant.


    Zhang Tie reached out his hand as the token left by Old Man Taiyi flew towards his hand with a streak of light before being teleported into Castle of Black Iron.


    Watching Old Man Taiyi being burned into ashes by Zhang Tie in one movement, Grand Master Shen Kong who was colliding with Wu Dingtian had long been scared of him. He then expanded the distance between him and Wu Dingtian before escaping away. However, like Old Man Taiyi, how could he have a chance to escape under Zhang Tie''s eyes?


    Zhang Tie''s divine chakra was rotating silently. Right then, the red part on the divine chakra rocked once as numerous fire elements poured out of Elements Realm and turned into a golden-red Real Sun Flame, which caught up with Grand Master Shen Kong and submerged his body completely in the blink of an eye.


    "Ah..." Grand Master Shenkong wailed. In the life-or-death situation, the dignity of a sage-level knight had long been forgotten about. He just screamed in the Real Sun Flame, "If you keep me alive, Qionglou Pavilion will follow the lead of Jinwu Palace... Ah..."


    "If you''re alive, how could tens of thousands of spirits of late people of Great Wilderness Sect who were killed by Royal Alliance rest in peace? How could Taixia Country, which has long been on the verge of collapse, recover peace?" Zhang Tie''s icy and resolute voice resounded through 600 miles in the air above Yangui Mountain Range, "Since the Holy War broke out, how many Taixia men have died for the country by tinting the battlefields red with their blood without any regret? How many gray-haired parents have lost their sons? How many babbling babies have lost their fathers and brothers? How many white bones in the wild are still unmarried? As sage-level knights, you don''t shed your blood and sacrifice your lives on the battlefields for Taixia Country and humans; instead, you hustle about and want to subvert the regime and arouse chaos across the country for the sake of private benefits. You''re not demons; however, you''re more vicious than demons. Samsara of heaven, cause and effect are not empty. Now that your ability is not beneficial to the country or the humans, you''re surplus. You don''t need to exist in this world at all. According to the universal laws, those surpluses would be cut off; those insufficient would be fixed. Today, I will enforce justice on behalf of Heavens and cut off surplus things like you..."


    "If so, we could only have a duel..." Grand Master Shen Kong''s voice drifted out of the flame. He didn''t wail anymore; instead, he started to threaten Zhang Tie with a cold voice.


    At this moment, an odd hexagon shield had already appeared beside Grand Master Shen Kong who was being submerged in the real sun flame. That odd shield appeared to be a golden secret item. It gave out special light which completely covered Grand Master Shenkong. As a result, even the real sun flame couldn''t hurt him for the time being.


    When he found that Zhang Tie had determined to kill him, Grand Master Shenkong wanted to escape; however, he found that the air around him had been as hard as iron plates. Despite being a sage-level knight, he still moved as slowly as a tortoise.


    "Hahaha, you really made a good performance just now. You''re still playing tricks with me till now. Do you think that you could escape with only one golden secret item?" Zhang Tie said as he shook his head. Meanwhile, he walked towards Grand Master Shenkong, tens of thousands of meters per step. He came to the front of Grand Master Shenkong only in a few steps at lightning speed. At this moment, the huge mallet of Infinite Immortal Prison had already appeared in his hand.


    Zhang Tie brandished his mallet...


    Almost at the same time, Grand Master Shenkong roared and launched a counterattack. He pierced the tip of his tongue and spurted out a mouthful of blood, forming a bloody rune in the air. When the rune touched his body, he instantly expanded as his battle qi rushed into the heavens. He then brandished a huge golden hammer towards Zhang Tie''s huge tower-sized mallet.


    Bang...


    Under the gaze of all the knights, the owner of Qionglou Pavilion was crushed into pieces by Zhang Tie''s huge tower-sized mallet in a split second as all of his counterattacks and struggles became useless.


    In such a short period of time, two sage-level knights of Taixia Country had been killed by Zhang Tie.


    All the remaining knights of the three major sects on the spot became petrified. They were too scared to utter any voice like cicadas in winter. They were not even brave enough to look straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes. Many people had been ready to escape.


    Zhang Tie took a glance at the remaining knights of the three major sects on the spot. After that, the aqua blue and cyan areas on his immortal chakra emitted strong light. All of a sudden, water elements and wind elements surged and poured out of Elements Realm like a tide.


    When the water elements came into contact with the wind element, it instantly turned into ice. Only after a short while, over 1,000 knights of the three major sects in the air had been flushed into the ground in an irresistible way. Closely after that, they were all frozen by dull blue fantastic ice. Nobody could move any more just like ice sculptures.


    Up to now, not a single knight of the three major sects was still flying in the sky outside the mountain gate of 18 Xuantian peaks of Iron-Dragon Sect. Under the gaze of everyone else, Zhang Tie easily wiped out all the knights of the three major sects outside the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect.


    "Hubby..."


    "Hubby..."


    "Hubby..."


    At this moment, Yan Feiqing, Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi who had been watching Zhang Tie doing all these finally called him and rushed towards him like three meteors.


    Meanwhile, Zhang Yang, Zhang Su, Zhang Tie''s sons and grandsons, elders of Iron-Dragon Sect, Zhang Tie''s disciples, heroes of Demons-Killing Valley, Heavens Fortune Sect and those within Northeast Military Territory and those onlooking knights gathered around Zhang Tie like a dark cloud.


    ...


    Yan Feiqing lived up to her flight ability as a semi sage-level knight. She rushed into Zhang Tie''s arms firstly, closely followed by Bai Suxian and Guo Hongyi.


    It had been over 30 years; however, because of cross-realm fruits, the three women remained as young as before. When they saw Zhang Tie, they all dropped off tears with excitement, including Yan Feiqing.


    Zhang Tie opened his arms and embraced his three wives, full of emotion.


    When he recalled Lan Yunxi, Zhang Tie felt complex as he didn''t know whether he should be happy or sad.


    "Suzerain..."


    "Papa..."


    "Grandpa..."


    "Master..."


    All the members of Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect surrounded Zhang Tie at once with excitement in eyes...


    ...

 1969 Striking While the Iron is Ho

    Among those faces which gathered around Zhang Tie, some were familiar; some were strange. Many familiar faces had changed over the past 30-odd years. Additionally, those strange faces also looked a bit familiar because of the resonance and intimacy of blood lineage.


    It was the first time for Zhang Tie to hear many people call him grandpa.


    Zhang Tie glanced over those genial and excited faces with a smile. After that, he nodded towards them and said calmly, "I appreciate your hard work."


    "You finally came back..." Yan Feiqing wiped off her tears as she tried to stay calm. After that, she looked around those tens of thousands of knights who gathered around and told those members of Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect, "Suzerain is already back. Let''s go back and talk about it later!"


    They all had many things to talk to Zhang Tie about. However, it was not the right moment for them to talk about it.


    "Yea, yea, yea. Let''s go back and talk about it later..." Zhang Yang also nodded after wiping off the tears.


    Now that Yan Feiqing and Zhang Yang both opened their mouths, all the others of Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect could only follow their order.


    Zhang Tie also took in a deep breath. It was not the right moment for him to stop. He had many things to deal with overnight.


    Zhang Tie''s face instantly turned solemn as he talked to Mountain Lifting Hermit, "Brother Mountain Lifting, please arrange people to put those knights of the three major sects behind upon bars. Interrogate them when their fantastic ice melts down. Someone among them must know the secrets that the three major sects once exterminated Great Wilderness Sect and organized Royal Alliance!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, they realized that those frozen knights of the three major sects were still alive.


    Of course, Mountain Lifting Hermit could get Zhang Tie''s point. If not expose the dirty things that the three major sects once did, the other people across the country would mistake Zhang Tie as a tyrant after his return. Of course, they shouldn''t underestimate the impact of the public opinion. They must tear off the hypocritical mask of the three major sects and disclose those dirty things that the three major sects once did secretly. They must expose the three major sects'' heinous secrets to the public. Otherwise, the death of Old Man Taiyi and Grand Master Shenkong today and the death of Xuanyuan Wuji three decades ago would not be justifiable.


    Mountain Lifting Hermit nodded towards Zhang Tie solemnly. Closely after that, he flew downwards and called disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect to move those frozen knights of the three major sects into the prison.


    "Lord Cheng..." Zhang Tie moved his eyes onto Cheng Honglie, the commander-in-chief of Northeast Military Region as he continued, "Please inform Xuanyuan Hill, let them assign top four armies and cheji generals of all the provinces to block the mountain gates of the three major sects. Forbid all the remaining knights of the three major sects from leaving their bases. Additionally, strictly control those clans which had close relationships with the three major sects in each province in case of any trouble. I will assume the consequence for everything that happens today!"


    "Yes, sir!" Black Face Cheng cupped his hands with a solmen look.


    To be honest, Zhang Tie was not a senior official of Taixia Country. Therefore, he was not qualified to deliver an order to a commander-in-chief of the Northeast Military Region. However, given Zhang Tie''s power of killing two sage-level knights easily, Cheng Honglie knew that Zhang Tie was absolutely the No. 1 powerhouses among humans in Taixia Country. The entire country was going to be turned upside down. The overall situation facing holy war might also change completely. Zhang Tie alone might even be more powerful than the total of the 6 major sects. Based on the prestige that Zhang Tie had accumulated among humans over these years, Jinwu Palace''s power in Taixia Country and Zhang Tie''s amazing battle force of killing two sage-level knights easily, even though Zhang Tie was unknown, nobody in the country dared despise his words.


    Additionally, strictly, Zhang Tie was not unknown. He had another identity¡ª¡ªgeneral of guerrilla warfare of Taixia Country. Since the war at Weishui bank, this identity had been with Zhang Tie. As the general of guerrilla warfare of Taixia Country, he was also entitled to contact Xuanyuan Hill and express his opinion to the powers in emergency like Cheng Honglie did.


    If those lords in Xuanyuan Hill heard about the battle in Youzhou Province, as long as they didn''t want to die, Cheng Honglie believed in that they would take actions on the three major sects as fast as they could for both public benefit and private benefit. If they dealt with it a bit later, when the three major sects aroused a turmoil, they might be another Heavens Reaching Church. Taixia Country couldn''t endure such great domestic consumption anymore.


    ''I wonder where''s Lord Li. Will he come back to search Xuantian Peak after returning to Xuanyuan Hill, heh heh heh...'' Black Face Cheng smirked inside when he recalled someone who was still on the way...


    "Additionally, Lord Cheng, please tell those elders and disciples of the three major sects and those major sects who''re closely related to the three major sects with my words¡ª¡ªI don''t like killing. However, when I determine to kill someone, I will never show any mercy on him. It depends on their decision!"


    Cheng Honglie nodded towards Zhang Tie solemnly.


    Zhang Tie then glanced over those knights, elders, Feng Cangwu and Wu Dingtian of Heavens Fortune Sect and Demons-Killing Valley, then those knights who were especially here to prop up Jinwu Palace and Iron Dragon Palace from other provinces and sects. After that, he cupped his hands towards them heavily and bent over towards them, saying, "Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect will never forget about your help today!"


    "Pleasure..."


    "Pleasure..."


    All the onlooking knights hurriedly returned him with a bow.


    Given the battle force that Zhang Tie performed just now, his words were too polite. Therefore, all the others were completely convinced by him. Actually, besides Wu Dingtian of Demons-Killing Valley who once blocked Grand Master Shenkong, none of the others had ever got an opportunity to help Iron Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace yet. All the battles on the battlefields today were between Iron-Dragon Sect, Jinwu Palace and the three major sects.


    When they saw Zhang Tie, all the knights, owners and elders of those major sects and ordinary sects who were closely related to Jinwu Palace knew that they hit the jackpot today. Many people still felt like they were having a dream till now.


    "When will you make a proposal to my granddaughter in Demons-Killing Valley?" Wu Dingtian suddenly asked Zhang Tie.


    "Pandora has long been my wife. It''s needless for me to make a proposal to her at all!" Zhang Tie answered.


    "Hahahaa..." Wu Dingtian burst out laughing as he said, "Not bad, not bad. Your words live up to Pandora''s deep affection to you. You know, after the battle at Yinhai Desert, Pandora said that you were still alive. Therefore, she was always in secluded cultivation and intended to promote to a sage-level knight. After that, she wanted to look for you through the space crack above Yinhai Desert. Your return finally makes me reassured. The girl will not enter secluded cultivation for another hundred years. If one only wants to be more powerful, it will be meaningless..."


    "Yea, if one only has this target in his life, it would be too desolate!"


    "After hearing that you cultivated Great Wilderness Sutra, I remembered one thing. Was that you who unveiled that Han Zhengfang, the finance minister, was the owner of Heavens Reaching Church?" Wu Dingtian asked another question.


    After hearing Wu Dingtian''s words, all the others remembered that event that many swans formed big words in the sky to unveil that Han Zhengfang was the owner of Heavens Reaching Church dozens of years ago. It was also a pending criminal case in Taixia Country. The turmoil on the 15th day of that month aroused by that case destroyed Heavens Reaching Church''s plan in Taixia Country and aborted the conspiracy of blood ponds across Taixia Country. It was of an inestimable, profound influence. Over these years, that case had been a pending criminal case in Taixia Country. Nobody knew who on earth did such an amazing thing in Xuanyuan Hill.


    "Hmm, it was me who unveiled the conspiracy of Han Zhengfang and Heavens Reaching Church in Xuanyuan Hill!" Zhang Tie admitted it frankly.


    "What about Han Zhengfang and his two sons? They have been missing after that turmoil. It''s said that they were hiding in a secret place of Heavens Reaching Church for secluded cultivation and recovery. Although they have been wanted by supreme court over these years, nobody had ever found them!"


    "To be honest, I''ve already killed Han Zhengfang and his two sons after the turmoil!"


    "Heroes are always special when they were young. You deserve your current achievements..." Wu Dingtian heaved a sigh after hearing Zhang Tie''s reply.


    "I just did what I should do!" Zhang Tie said as he looked around. After that, he cupped his hands and said, "Please take a rest in Iron-Dragon Sect tonight. You''re the guests of Iron-Dragon Sect and Jinwu Palace. I''ve got one more thing to deal with today. I will go back soon..."


    After saying these words, Zhang Tie left some words to Bai Suxian and Zhang Yang before rushing into the sky and disappearing...


    Many people wondered what else was Zhang Tie going to do after returning to Iron-Dragon Sect. ''Is he going to meet Pandora in Demons-Killing Valley or wipe out all the recalcitrant members of the three major sects?


    Only very few people among them could guess what Zhang Tie was going to do.


    When Zhang Tie left Iron-Dragon Sect, the news that Immortal Qianji who disappeared at Yinhai Desert suddenly returned and killed Old Man Taiyi and Grand Master Shenkong outside the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect had already spread over the country and aroused hot discussions...

 1970 The Overall Situation Facing Taixia Country

    A huge sand table of the map of Taixia Country covering 2,000 square meters was under Zuoqiu Mingyue''s foot. On this map, all the provinces in the western part of Taixia Country had turned black.


    Since the sand table was too large, It was impossible for Zuoqiu Mingyue to watch the overall map on the same level. Therefore, his office was on the second floor. It was a unidirectional crystal floor under Zuoqiu Mingyue''s feet which had been processed with alchemy. Standing on the transparent floor, he could see the overall battle situation facing Taixia Country as long as he lowered his head.


    At this moment, Zuoqiu Mingyue was focusing on that black area on the map. He scanned those places, cities, mountains, plains and rivers in the black area inch by inch. If the black color was a piece of magnet, Zuoqiu Mingyue''s eyes would be sharp sabers and swords, which were attracted by that black area.


    Yezhou Province, Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province, Yinzhou Province, Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province, Force Province, Shazhou Province, Lizhou Province, Ganzhou Province, Liangzhou Province, Weizhou Province, Yizhou Province, Jingzhou Province, Dingzhou Province, Tongzhou Province, Luozhou Province, Xianzhou Province, Pingzhou Province, Yuzhou Province, Anzhou Province...


    These provinces of Taixia Country, where hundreds of millions of Huaxia people once lived, had already turned black.


    Black was a gloomy color, which was opposite to bright. It represented demons on the sand table. It was also the color of frozen blood.


    At this moment, the shape of the black area on the map was like a huge, bottomless, bloody mouth of a monster. Baring its sharp fangs, it was going to devour all the other places on the map.


    The above two sharp fangs in the huge mouth were Ganzhou Province and Liangzhou Province in the north; the lower two sharp fangs were Yuzhou Province and Anzhou Province in the south. They were tearing Lingzhou Province, Lizhou Province and Tongzhou Province on the map, which appeared to be hardly eaten.


    Lingzhou Province, Lizhou Province and Tongzhou Province, when being connected with each other, looked like a rough and hard irregular iron block. It was rubbing the demonic fangs heavily. The monster couldn''t completely devour this rough and hard iron block; neither would it spit it out...


    Once the monster devoured Lingzhou Province, Lizhou Province and Tongzhou Province and tore them into pieces, the hinterland of the entire Taixia Country would be completely exposed to the black fangs and huge mouth of the monster. By then, demons would break through the country from south to north and further deteriorate the overall situation facing Taixia Country. As a result, Taixia Country and humans would have their doomsday.


    When Yezhou Province, Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province collapsed, people could transfer to Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province and Force Province. When Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Ningzhou Province, Force Province, Shazhou Province and Lizhou Province collapsed, people in Ganzhou Province, Liangzhou Province, Weizhou Province, Kangzhou Province, Yizhou Province and Jingzhou Province could continue to retreat to Dingzhou Province, Tongzhou Province, Luozhou Province and Xianzhou Province step by step. However, if Lingzhou Province, Lizhou Province and Tongzhou Province collapsed, those people in the provinces behind them would have no place to retreat. By then, casualties would surge and reach hundreds of times greater than that before.


    Since the holy war broke out over 40 years ago, Hua people and Taixia Country had got no more place to retreat as the wide area of land had been covered with blood and battle flames.


    At this moment, Lingzhou Province, Lizhou Province and Tongzhou Province became the fiercest battlefield in this holy war.


    Over 10 billion Hua soldiers and almost 100,000 human knights covered the three provinces with Tongguan Pass as the center and Lingshan Mountain and Lijiang River as two flanks and carried out bloody battles with the army of demons around the clock. Over 600,000 miles'' land was covered with battle flames and heroic battle calls from heavens to abysses. The tragical situation was indescribable...


    At this moment, Zuoqiu Mingyue, the military god of Taixia Country was in Tongguan Pass, Tongzhou Province, the fiercest place of the holy war like the pillar of the country.


    In the large room, Zuoqiu Mingyue was watching the sand table under foot inch by inch while slightly knitting his brow. Meanwhile, his personal attendant was gazing at him silently with a bit of concern behind him.


    It had been over 20 years since the battle at Weishui Bank. Zuoqiu Mingyue remained graceful and hale; however, the hair near his temples had been silver like snow. Additionally, there was a wisp of red hair on his forehead, which was such eye-catching. It implied that he had been thinking too much and even hurt his medullary blood. In the others'' eyes, Zuoqiu Mingyue almost remained unchanged. Only his personal attendant knew that the 20-odd years were like 200 years for this undying military god of Taixia Country.


    In the past 20-odd years, Zuoqiu Mingyue slept less than one hour a day on average. On many occasions, he didn''t even sleep for ten days. Even so, Zuoqiu Mingyue still fought sage-level demon knights on the level of Abyss Monarch on the battlefield for more than 10 times. Sometimes, he even kept fighting the two sage-level demon knights alone until the arrival of sage-level knights of Taixia Country...


    That sand table under his foot was not still; instead, it was dynamic. At this moment, numerous soldiers and staff officers of Taixia Country were busy working in dozens of rooms around that sand table. In the communication room, over 1,000 crystal remote-sensing devices were vibrating, transmitting or receiving messages from the other places across Taixia Country. For the sake of confidentiality, each remote-sensing device was managed by three Taixia soldiers, one for receiving and sending messages, one for supervision, one for translation. All the messages that they received about the battle situations would be input into a super steam computer. That super steam computer controlled that machine-based sand table below, presenting the live battle situation to Zuoqiu Mingyue in the directest way.


    Those below were only busy working intensely and quietly. They couldn''t see the situation in the room on the second floor; however, they knew that the military god of Taixia Country could see their achievements. Therefore, nobody dared be slack. It was worth mentioning that almost all the people who were safeguarding those remote-sensing devices were beautiful Hua women in military uniforms. In the hub of the Taixia Army, Hua women were contributing to the holy war with their special patience, prudence and loyalty.


    "Lord, it''s been 9 pm..." Zuoqiu Mingyue''s personal attendant couldn''t wait to warn him when he found Zuoqiu Mingyue was paying heed to the dynamic sand table under his foot.


    Military god had overused his nerves and hurt his medullary blood. Du Zhongling, the Pills Immortal in Taixia Country especially made some Heavenly Pure Marrow Fixing Pills for military god. He told Zuoqiu Mingyue''s personal attendant to warn Zuoqiu Mingyue to take it at each 9 pm, when qi and blood returned to one''s liver.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue didn''t turn around; neither did he take the medicine; instead, he asked his personal attendant calmly, "Zixia, what do you think about the result of this holy war?"


    "Of course, humans will be the final winner!" his personal attendant immediately replied aloud.


    "Oh, really?" Zuoqiu Mingyue turned around and took a glance at his personal attendant. After that, he said with a smile, "Glad to hear about it. People of Heavens Fortune Sect always said that the result of the holy war depended on people''s hearts. If people''s hearts don''t die, humans will always have opportunities to win. We kept retreating all the way from the bank of Weishui River to here, almost all the provinces and prefectures in the western part of Taixia Country have collapsed. We have no way to retreat anymore. I''m ready to fight to the death in Tongzhou Province. The future of Taixia Country still depends on youngsters like you..."


    After hearing Zuoqiu Mingyue''s words, his personal attendant''s heart palpitated once as he replied, "Without your support, Taixia Country''s situation might be worse now. Actually, you deserted those provinces and prefectures in the western part of Taixia Country on purpose. You exchanged land for people''s time of retreat. According to your policy of strengthening defense works, evacuating noncombatants and hiding provisions and livestock, demons didn''t capture the Hua people; despite they have acquired the land. Compared to the situation on the Western Continent, over these years, if not Lord''s support here, Hua men might be fighting Hua people of Heavens Reaching Empire who have been enslaved and brainwashed by demons at this moment. Demons are too powerful. Additionally, there''re too many problems domestically. Three of the top six sects have their own plans. They don''t contribute to Hua people in the holy war; instead, they always drag our feet..."


    Zuoqiu Mingyue''s personal attendant continued with faint enmity, "If not them, how could brilliant, world-renowned Immortal Qianji die at Yinhai Desert, Shazhou Province? At this moment, Taixia Country doesn''t input all of its power on the battlefields of the holy war. The failures on the battlefields didn''t attribute to you. Who could imagine that the army of demons made a detour around Lion Fortress and directly broke in Force Province from Earth-Element Realm? Therefore, we have to abandon the defense lines of Weishui River and Helan Mountain and retreat all the way here..."


    Zuoqiu Mingyue shook his head with a smile silently as he looked a bit bitter and helpless...


    That personal attendant knew that it was useless to talk about these now. When he spotted Zuoqiu Mingyue''s response, he shifted the topic. "Lord, it''s time to take the Heavenly Pure Marrow Fix Pills that Pill Immortal made for you..."


    Before Zuoqiu Mingyue opened his mouth, their door had been pushed open from the outside. The assistant of the minister of war broke in rudely, without even informing in advance. He then handed the intelligence to Zuoqiu Mingyue and shouted, "Lord, an important intelligence from Youzhou Province..."


    After opening the envelope and taking a glance at the letter, Zuoqiu Mingyue instantly widely opened his eyes as he released an indescribable, powerful qi.


    He then closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes after 2 seconds, he emitted strong light through his eyes. Then, he gave a resolute and decisive order. "Inform all the generals of the top four armies and air cavalries in the three provinces and the guardians at Lion Fortress and Tongguan Pass to be ready for launching a holistic attack. Wait for my order..."


    ''A holistic attack?''


    His personal attendant became stunned. He then looked at Zuoqiu Mingyue, then the sand table under his foot. On the map, demons were still attacking armies in Taixia Country. Demons took the initiative and advantage on the battlefields. ''What intelligence comes from Youzhou Province? How could military god ask all the guardians and knights in the three provinces to be ready for launching a holistic attack in such a flurried manner?''


    Zuoqiu Mingyue raised his head as if his gloomy eyes could penetrate through the roof and see the situation outside the battle fortress. Meanwhile, a young and vivid face appeared in his mind...


    Zuoqiu Mingyue knew that that man would definitely do the same as he was thinking about if that man came back...


    Old Man Taiyi and Grand Master Shenkong both died in Youzhou Province. As a result, Taixia Country lost two sage-level knights. Three major sects were involved in this case. It would definitely arouse a big turmoil and domestic instability. That man would definitely not create such a good opportunity for demons to further encroach Taixia Country. The only way for preventing demons from further encroaching Taixia Country at this moment was to inflict heavier losses to the army of demons. If demons were in greater chaos and were almost scared sh*t out of them, they would not think about encroaching Taixia Country any longer...


    As the military god of Taixia Country, of course, Zuoqiu Mingyue would seize all the opportunities possible to gain greater victory and more beneficial situation for humans. Therefore, Zuoqiu Mingyue made such a major decision in a split second.


    At this moment, the only uncertain factor was how great damages would that man who suddenly came back bring to demons. There were 4 sage-level demons knights and over 100,000 demon knights in the western provinces of Taixia Country now...


    ...

 1971 Overwhelming Strikes I

    Zuoqiu Mingyue was on the right side. Zhang Tie was indeed leaving Youzhou Province for demons'' encampments.


    After Old Man Taiyi and Grand Master Shenkong were killed, the conspiracy that the three major sects founded Royal Alliance would definitely be exposed to the public. In the near future, Taixia Country would face an ordeal¡ª¡ªhow to deal with the three major sects and those major clans which were closely related to the three major sects. If it couldn''t be dealt with properly, Taixia Country might face another disruption, even civil strife.


    Given the white-hot state of the holy war between Taixia Country and demons, would demons ignore the opportunity of arousing disruption among humans in Taixia Country?


    Of course not!


    Actually, demons would add the trimmings and try every possible method to make Taixia Country more chaotic internally.


    Therefore, if Taixia Country wanted to defuse the crises caused by Royal Alliance and the three major sects at the least price, they must launch a destructive strike towards the armies of demons in Taixia Country. Only in this way could demons not bring troubles to humans anymore. Meanwhile, by striking demons, they could create good external conditions for clearing up the Royal Alliance. Kill two birds with one stone!


    Only part of humans in Taixia country saw Zhang Tie killing Old Man Taiyi and Grand Master Shenkong. Neither did the three major sects dispatch all of their forces to Youzhou Province this time. Even though they had lost Old Man Taiyi and Grand Master Shenkong, some people in Royal Alliance and the three major sects might still think about reversing the situation. If Zhang Tie launched a destructive strike towards the armies of demons at this moment, he would completely smash those people''s fluke mind and tell them that they would die altogether as long as they dared to resist and make Taixia Country chaotic no matter how many forces did they gather up. Additionally, the greater the trouble they made, the faster they would die. They could never live unless behaving carefully and cooperatively. As long as those people had such a sensible recognition, Taixia Country would be stable domestically.


    As tens of thousands of ordinary human fighters would sacrifice for the country in the frontlines every day. As long as Zhang Tie could clear up the core powers of demons one day earlier, even one hour earlier, the overall situation facing humans would be reversed and tens of thousands of human fighters would be saved on the battlefields.


    After leaving Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie had already activated his invisible Shen bead and flown towards the Force Province in the western part of Taixia Country silently at a high speed like a lightning bolt.


    It was Zhang Tie''s highest speed. After his spiritual energy and battle qi turned into that rainbow-like energy, Zhang Tie found that his full speed had increased by almost 40%.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie was afraid that demon commanders would make a fast response by separating the army of demon knights in the frontline and having them escape in all directions. If it really happened, it would be trouble. With this concern, Zhang Tie didn''t tell the others about his destination when he left Youzhou Province.


    If not the three major sects had already arrived at Youzhou Province and put Jinwu Palace in great danger, Zhang Tie even planned to solve the armies of demon knights in Taixia Country first before returning to Youzhou Province and reuniting with his family members.


    Zhang Tie was carrying out a war of time.


    Zhang Tie had aroused such a great shock in Youzhou Province, the commanders of demon armies must know that he had already come back. However, when this message reached the commanders of demon armies, it might be late. No matter what, very few people would like to succumb to demons. Additionally, Heavens Reaching Church had almost disappeared over these years. Their influence could never match that when Zhang Tie arrived in Taixia Country from Waii Subcontinent at the beginning. Even though Heavens Reaching Church still had some ears and eyes in Taixia Country, it would take them some time to transmit the message to the territory of demons.


    Would the commanders of demon armies declare to retreat their forces and ask all the demon knights to escape individually in all directions after knowing that Zhang Tie killed two sage-level knights in Taixia Country after coming back?


    According to Zhang Tie''s estimation, they might not do that! Even though they knew that Zhang Tie was already back, the commanders of demon armies would not make such an incredible decision in only a few hours. They must hesitate, consider it, even negotiate with their colleagues or subordinates about dealing with Zhang Tie who might launch a sneak attack towards them in the frontline. Therefore, they spared a few hours for Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie could spend such a few hours to leave Youzhou Province for Force Province. Actually, these few hours were the last golden window for the main forces of demon knights to escape. However, demons might not have such great foresight. They didn''t know how each second was precious for them until Zhang Tie closed this golden window.


    Zhang Tie was not afraid of the great population of demon knights; he was actually worried about demons'' separation.


    Thankfully, over 90% of demon knights were gathered in the three major encampments, respectively in Liangzhou Province, Anzhou Province and Force Province.


    The first two were attacking the garrisons and armies of the knights of Taixia Country in Lingzhou Province, Lizhou Province and Tongzhou Province. The third encampment was in the rear end of demons. Over half demon knights and powerhouses were in this encampment.


    Although Force Province was far as compared to Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie''s first target was demons'' encampment in Force Province.


    After wiping out demons'' encampment in Force Province, Zhang Tie would make a back thrust by blocking the other two encampments respectively in Liangzhou Province and Anzhou Province and cleaned them all one after another. If Zhang Tie solved demons'' encampment in Anzhou Province or Liangzhou Province first, he might scare off all the other demon knights and would barely have such a rare opportunity any longer.


    When Zhang Tie flew by Lingzhou Province and Tongzhou Province, he found that all the airports for air cavalries in Lingzhou Province and Tongzhou Province had been busy working. On those airports, those heavy bombers had been drawn out of the warehouses and started to form a formation on the runways for a quick attack. Additionally, artillery caissons and supply trucks were loading bombs for those bombers. Tens of thousands of ground crew and air cavalries were running in the field airports and air cavalries bases with anxiety as if their butts got a fire...


    Besides air cavalries, all the field corps'' bases had been boiling as many armored vehicles had been started and troops were moving towards the frontline.


    In the sky, the population of knights being responsible for patrolling and warning was abnormally much greater than before. These knights blocked the air territory of the three provinces so that demons didn''t discover the abnormal actions over there.


    What a military god! Zhang Tie knew that Zuoqiu Mingyue had already known what he wanted to do in the following...


    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had flown by the frontline near Tongguan Pass, where he saw Hua people''s huge battle fortresses in the sky and on the ground. Hiding in the dark, they were as lofty as mountains and iron Great Wall.


    The Lion Fortress where Zhang Tie once stayed in Earth-elements Realm was also at the frontline nearTongguan Pass.


    After coming back, Zhang Tie had learned about the reason why Lion Fortress retreated from Earth-elements Realm¡ª¡ªfive years later after the battle at Yinhai Desert, demons broke through a secret tunnel from Earth-elements Realm to Force Province, making a detour from Lion Fortress. Facing the oppression from the armies of demons, Lion Fortress must retreat from Earth-elements Realm and return to the earth''s surface in Force Province and cover Taixia corps from evacuating from Weishui River and Helan Mountain. From then on, the overall situation facing the Western Theater of Operations of Taixia Country could be barely maintained. As a result, Taixia armies must keep retreating. Over the past two decades, all the three military regions in the west of Taixia Country had been occupied by demon armies. The territory of Heavens Reaching Empire had also expanded constantly...


    However, when they lost their land, Zuoqiu Mingyue made the right decision, namely, he didn''t leave humans to demons. With the policy of strengthening defense works, evacuating noncombatants and hiding provisions and livestock, demons could get nothing but land.


    In the sky, Zhang Tie could see dim sparkles and shiny battle qi over 600 miles'' land sparsely. Even in the evening, they were still fighting incessantly. The dim flames like fireflies implied the death call of inflammable grenades and inflammable bolts.


    After entering the territory within the control of demons, Zhang Tie found all the dim sparkles and shiny battle qi had disappeared. Meanwhile, he saw many camps of ground forces of demons. Those in these camps were all low-level demons.


    Behind these demon camps, most of the human cities had deteriorated into ruins. All the city-defense system inside those cities which couldn''t be taken away had been completely destroyed. All the water channels in the farmlands in the field had been filled with soil. Even though woods had been burned up.


    Zhang Tie saw some demon battle fortresses which were like odd-looking towering trees after completing their transformation. As few resources could be available on the ground, the number of demon battle fortresses was limited.


    At this moment, the encampment of demons in Liangzhou Province entered Zhang Tie''s eyes. It was a huge block of 30 demonic beehive-sized air battle fortresses. Tens of thousands of wing demons and demon knights were flying here and there outside their nest-like encampment.


    Watching the situation facing demons'' encampment in Liangzhou Province, Zhang Tie finally became reassured. Demon commanders indeed had not ordered their encampments to evacuate and separate. Perhaps the demon commanders had not even received the message about Zhang Tie''s return yet.


    Only after half an hour, Zhang Tie had flown by Liangzhou Province and Lizhou Province and entered Force Province.


    Previously, Force Province was covered with human battle fortresses. But now, it was covered with ugly demon battle fortresses.


    Only after a short while, the encampment of demons in Force Province had already appeared in Zhang Tie''s eyes, which was over 3 times greater than that of demons'' encampment in Liangzhou Province. Over 100 beehive-sized battle fortresses of demons were connected with each other and floating over 2,000 m high in the sky like a huge mountain range hiding in the dark, which was such awe-struck.


    There were tens of thousands of tents on the ground. The encampment lasted thousands of miles like huge cities.


    Thousands of wing demons were flying around the encampment of demon army working as patrollers and guardians in the air.


    Inside the demons'' encampment in Force Province, demon knights were accessing to the holes on those beehive-sized battle fortresses. Besides, many demon knights were on the alert in the surroundings. Only with a glance, Zhang Tie had spotted at least 1,000 demon knights outside the encampment.


    This encampment gathered at least 70,000 demon knights. There were over 500 demon corps over the 600 square miles'' land. It was said that two demon abyss monarchs were guarding here too...


    Zhang Tie didn''t directly rush over there, instead, he stopped over 400 miles away from the encampment. Licking his lips, he instantly released his terrifyingly powerful spiritual energy into the endless sky. In an instant, the two separate mysterious energies in the sky started to surge and gather within Zhang Tie''s spiritual control like water flooding out of a sluice gate...


    ...

 1972 Overwhelming Strikes II

    If you asked a human immortal general who had experienced the war at Deities'' Plain in Motian Realm about Zhang Tie''s most powerful trump card, he would definitely say that his most powerful trump card was the huge mallet strike after completely activating his battle god bloodline. Facing his huge tower-sized mallet, even immortal emperors would perish. Of course, it was Zhang Tie''s most powerful trump card...


    However, if you asked a Taixia knight who had seen the power of Zhang Tie''s divine chakra outside the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect in Youzhou Province about the same question, he would definitely say that Zhang Tie''s divine chakra was the most powerful trump card; because Zhang Tie had just turned Old Man Taiyi and Grand Master Shenkong into ashes only by slightly rotating his divine chakra. Even the 1,000-odd knights of the three major sects were captured without any resistance.


    However, if someone asked Zhang Tie about this question, the answer must be different.


    Zhang Tie thought his most powerful trump card had not been displayed in the public since he left Infinite Immortal Prison.


    When in Deities'' Plain, Zhang Tie prepared to use that trump card; unexpectedly, the two demon emperors used Heavenly Ball to involve him in the large formation of demons; even his spiritual energy was restricted to the space within the boundary of the effect of Heavenly Ball.


    On that occasion, Zhang Tie couldn''t use his most powerful trump card; therefore, he could only activate his battle god bloodline.


    At this moment, facing the fixed target¡ª¡ªthe encampment of demons over 400 miles away, Zhang Tie finally used his most powerful trump card.


    On many occasions, Zhang Tie had another set of criteria for the most powerful trump card, namely large enough attacking range, enough targets involved, enough lethality and destructive effect. He might not kill a super powerhouse like the immortal emperor with such a trump card; however, the effect of this trump card might never be imagined by immortal emperors.


    Due to enhancement of realm and level, spiritual energy and his practice in Infinite Immortal Prison over decades, Zhang Tie had long improved the effect of that skill of capturing the two mysterious energies in the sky and having them collide with each other with his spiritual energy for a destructive effect which he tried in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace in Heavenly Square City.


    Zhang Tie gave it a pretty romantic name¡ª¡ªthe Embrace of Goddess Twilight!


    In this world, the two mysterious energies in the sky were many times greater than that Zhang Tie could sense in Motian Realm. When he touched them spiritually, Zhang Tie was greatly shocked. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie urgently needed the two powerful energies.


    With his spiritual control, the two energies flew into the two invisible energy fields that Zhang Tie created with his spiritual energy and were constantly condensed by his spiritual energy. In this process, Zhang Tie kept separating wind element and fire element from Elements Realm and inputting them into the two different energies in different proportions. As a result, the two energies gradually changed subtly.


    In less than 5 minutes, 1/4 of the colorful spiritual energy in his mind sea had almost been consumed. Meanwhile, those colorful energy in his qi sea started to flow into his mind sea to fix his consumption. After that, the spiritual energy in his mind sea and qi sea started to recover at the same time...


    Only after such a short while, the power of the two energies that Zhang Tie separated from the void was already over 1,000 times greater than that he could control for the first time in Heavenly Square City...


    The encampment of demons in Force Province remained unchanged.


    When he was ready, Zhang Tie released the Embrace of Goddess Twilight towards the encampment of demons in Force Province over 400 miles away!


    It indeed looked like embracing the twilight. Being pretty quiet and mild, it penetrated through the dark and finally descended to the encampment of demons in Force Province.


    The precise time was 10:27 pm, August 17, the 932th year of Black Iron Calendar...


    ¡ª¡ªTime froze at this moment!


    ¡ª¡ªThe third holy war froze at this moment too!


    Under Zhang Tie''s gaze, the cloudy sky above the encampment of demons in Force Province suddenly shone. In the following seconds, the entire air territory of that encampment was filled with numerous crystal light spots like hundreds of millions of fireflies. Meanwhile, those light spots were slowly ascending in the air...


    Zhang Tie found that all the wing demons and demon knights in that territory were dumbfounded at this moment. They didn''t know what this scene indicated. They had never seen such an occasion; neither had they ever experienced it.


    Some demon knights and wing demons even touched those light spots beside them which were slowly ascending. Some demon knights and wing demons looked up as they found the clouds were a bit abnormal...


    On many occasions, there were only a few seconds, precisely less than 10 seconds between life or death...


    In such a short period of time, even sage-level demon knights in the encampment might not know what was happening.


    In a split second, the shiny clouds split open and formed a huge hole.


    A mild light beam came out of that hole and descended to the high mountains composed of beehive-shaped airborne battle fortresses like twilight.


    That light beam was over 1,000 m thick. It was descending from the highest peak of the encampment of demons in Force Province. Like how a silver secret item penetrated through a pile of bean curds, it easily penetrated through the encampment from the highest point to the lowest point before falling on the ground.


    The light suddenly turned dazzling white. Gradually, the twilight turned into a hot sun. After that, it suddenly expanded several times and covered the entire encampment...


    Over 100 beehive-sized battle fortresses of demons'' diminished and disappeared in the strong white light.


    In the white light, a terrifying purely white flame started to expand over 100 times faster than that of a hurricane. It devoured and melted everything. All the wing demons had been burned into ashes by the white light before being involved in the purely white flame. In a split second, the encampment and battle fortresses of demons'' on the ground had been melted and disappeared.


    Almost at the same time, a dense mass of red lightning bolts started to appear in the core region of the terrifying white light beam and flame.


    A Richter scale 10 earthquake happened. From the sky, Zhang Tie saw the ground in Force Province undulate like the wind...


    Two minutes later, the purely white light beam disappeared together with the entire encampment of demons'' in Force Province. A terrifying, crimson huge pit like super crater appeared over the 130 square miles'' land. Everything on the earth''s surface had been melted and turned into the fluid. The fluid was flowing back into the huge pit. The white flame didn''t disappear completely. Heat waves were rising from the earth''s surface with the aftermaths of the earthquake. Not a single demon could be seen in the sky or on the earth''s surface...

 1973 Overwhelming Strikes III

    All the stationary targets on the earth''s surface or above the earth''s surface were targets of the fatal strike Embrace of Twilight Goddess. Its power couldn''t be matched by any bloodline. Even though Zhang Tie activated his battle god bloodline to the utmost after promoting to an immortal emperor, he couldn''t accomplish such a terrifying effect with one movement either.


    Despite being the creator of this movement, Zhang Tie also held it in great awe facing the ruins within thousands of square miles after using this movement.


    It was really a heavenly power. It couldn''t be purely made artificially.


    When he stayed with Tang Mei in Motian Realm, Zhang Tie once discussed the two marvelous energies in the sky with Tang Mei. At that time, Zhang Tie thought that Tang Mei might know the two energies given her power. Unexpectedly, even Tang Mei didn''t know them. Tang Mei couldn''t even sense the two energies in the sky with his spiritual energy. Actually, nobody else in Motian Realm could sense the two energies in the sky, even superb powerhouses like immortal emperors, except Zhang Tie himself.


    Zhang Tie thought it was because of the small tree. However, Heller denied him. According to Heller, this capacity had nothing to do with the small tree. Through the close relationship between Zhang Tie and the small tree, Zhang Tie gradually acquired a leakless body; meanwhile, his cells stopped aging. All the special abilities that Zhang Tie owned must be related to the fruits that he got from the small tree.


    After getting this point, Zhang Tie suddenly understood why nobody else could sense the two energies spiritually besides himself. After excluding the reason of the small tree, he realized that it might be related to the fact that he cultivated Infinite King Roc Sutra and he advanced to a divine dominator.


    Only Zhang Tie met the following three conditions in Motian Realm and the main world: cultivate an emperor-level secret method; advance to a divine dominator; materialize his spiritual energy.


    Emperor Xuanyuan cultivated an emperor-level secret method; however, he didn''t advance to a divine dominator. Lord Fairysea was a divine dominator; however, he didn''t cultivate an emperor-level secret method. As for those immortal emperors in Motian Realm, their spiritual energies had been materialized; however, they didn''t cultivate emperor-level secret methods. Neither did they advance to divine dominators...


    Therefore, only Zhang Tie could make the Embrace of Twilight Goddess.


    What on earth were the two special energies in the sky then?


    Zhang Tie didn''t get the answer from either Tang Mei or Heller. However, during the five years when he stayed in the Golden Crown, Zhang Tie discovered a possible answer from the scientific literature and research materials of humans before the Catastrophe in the library of his trouble-reappearance situation¡ª¡ªThe two energies might be electron and positron or antielectron in the material world. Naturally, electron and the antielectron would not collide with each other. However, once being bound and collided with each other by an external force, they would be devastated with a powerful, destructive energy and strong light. It was similar to the Embrace of Twilight Goddess.


    Of course, Zhang Tie also introduced wind elements and fire elements in the Embrace of Twilight Goddess, making it more destructive; meanwhile, it caused high temperature and flames.


    On the battlefield, principles and truths were not that important any longer. Fighters would use them as long as they were helpful to them. Take sabers and swords in the hands of fighters as an instance, fighters only minded whether their sabers and swords were sharp or not. They didn''t care how ores were made into sabers and swords. No matter whether the two energies were electron and antielectron, they didn''t weaken the power of Zhang Tie''s strike and the great shock to demons. Zhang Tie held the Embrace of Twilight Goddess in great awe. However, he would never be hesitant about using it.


    After destroying demons'' encampment in Force Province, Zhang Tie only took a glance at the huge pit before turning around and flying towards demons'' encampment in Liangzhou Province as fast as he could.


    ...


    When the hot-white light beam appeared in the sky of the demons'' encampment in Force Province, Zuoqiu Mingyue was standing in a high airborne battle fortress at Tongguan Pass with many fierce generals of top four armies of Taixia Country and knights who guarded Tongguan Pass and watching the west in the distance.


    In the dark, the white-hot light beam was too glaring. Even though it was tens of thousands of miles away, it was also spotted by Zuoqiu Mingyue and the other generals and knights at Tongguan Pass. In the dark, the light beam in Force Province became a white, shiny, fine needle in the center of their pupils.


    "It''s the direction where demons'' encampment in Force Province is in. Is there..." One of those knights behind Zuoqiu Mingyue instantly thought that demons had got a new trump card or a capability to hide themselves at the sight of that white beam. Therefore, he uttered with fear.


    Facing demons'' evident advantages in force and the population of knights, it was impossible for those people on the spot to not fear the demons'' method. When Zuoqiu Mingyue suddenly ordered the all the forces to be ready for attack a few hours ago, many people became anxious and fearful as they all guessed that Military God had discovered some special actions or trump card of demons''. Therefore, he prepared to launch a strike towards demons tonight so as to disrupt the attacking rhythm of demons''.


    Before that person finished his words and many people had just got more questions, the light beam suddenly turned into a white light and made the entire air zone over Force Province such white as if the sun was rising from the earth surface of Force Province.


    In the next two minutes, the white light slowly descended, leaving crimson clouds in the sky in the far.


    ''What the hell are demons doing?''


    Many generals and knights changed their faces. Even sage-level knights could barely make it.


    However, nobody realized that Zuoqiu Mingyue looked different than all the others at this moment.


    Actually, Zuoqiu Mingyue was also greatly shocked inside at this moment. They just wanted to watch response of demons'' encampment in Liangzhou Province and Anzhou Province here and what Zhang Tie could make for them on the earth. Unexpectedly, it was demons'' encampment in Force Province which met an abnormal situation first.


    If Zhang Tie launched an attack towards demons'' encampment in Force Province, it would be utterly different than attacking demons'' encampments in Liangzhou Province and Anzhou Province on the military. Meanwhile, it indicated that Zuoqiu Mingyue had a false judgment about Zhang Tie''s battle force. Previously, Zuoqiu Mingyue thought that Zhang Tie would attack demons'' encampment in Liangzhou Province and Anzhou Province. If Zhang Tie could really kill one or two demon abyss monarchs on the battlefield of Liangzhou Province or Anzhou Province, he would weaken the defense of demons'' encampments. Then, Zuoqiu Mingyue would seize the opportunity and order human armies to launch a holistic attack towards demons'' encampment. With the coordination of Zhang Tie, they would reduce demons'' morale in Liangzhou Province or Anzhou Province; occupy the communications hubs of the two provinces at most and forced demons'' vanguards to return to the west. Then, they would extract one or two of the demons'' four fangs that were around Lingzhou Province, Lizhou Province and Tongzhou Province. In that way, the overall situation facing Taixia Country would be improved. Taixia Country would not fight enemies such hard.


    Unexpectedly, Zhang Tie directly launched a sudden attack towards demons'' encampment in Force Province. When Zuoqiu Mingyue calculated the shortest time that Zhang Tie spent from Youzhou Province to Force Province and compared it to that he himself would take from Youzhou Province to Force Province, he even doubted that it was not done by Zhang Tie as it was too fast.


    ...


    When those powers in the high tower were in temporary shock and silence, they suddenly heard a voice from behind.


    "News..." Zuoqiu Mingyue''s assistant rushed as fast as he could and shouted aloud in a quivering tone before seeing Zuoqiu Mingyue, "Lord, emergency intelligence from No. 1 scout in Force Province..."


    The No. 1 scout that Zuoqiu Mingyue dispatched to Force Province was not special. He was an earth knight who was proficient in hiding and assassination. The task of No. 1 scout was to lurk somewhere nearby the encampment of demons'' in Force Province and monitored the actions of the demon army over there.


    After hearing his words, all the generals and knights beside Zuoqiu Mingyue instantly fixated onto Zuoqiu Mingyue''s assistant.


    "Read it..." As they had already seen the abnormal phenomenon over Force Province just now, Zuoqiu Mingyue couldn''t cover any intelligence about Force Province from the others anymore. Therefore, he directly sent an order and asked his assistant to read it aloud.


    "Demons'' encampment in Force Province has just been destroyed by a light beam falling from the heavens just now. At this moment, it was absolutely destroyed within 600 square miles over there. Not a single demon could be discovered. According to my initial estimation, all the 70,000-odd demon knights, the two abyss monarchs and over 500 demon corps nearby the demons'' encampment in Force Province have already been devastated..."


    ''What?''


    Hearing his report, everyone else on the spot was in a daze.


    ''Did the heaven punish demons or No. 1 scout is making such a dull joke with them at the risk of his life?''


    Zuoqiu Mingyue looked calm; however, he clenched his hands and sent an order calmly, hands slightly quivering. "Ask No. 2 scout to check it!"


    "I didn''t receive the response from No. 2 scout..."


    "Continue to contact him. From now on, pay special heed to demons'' encampments in Liangzhou Province and Anzhou Province. Report me every minute!"


    "Yes, Lord!"


    Zuoqiu Mingyue''s assistant trotted out of there. All the other generals and knights in the high tower were gazing at Zuoqiu Mingyue with a dumbfounded look as many people were still confused about all these at this moment.


    "Lord..." A commander of Black Armor Army took one step forward as he wanted to say something...


    "Wait..." Zuoqiu Mingyue squeezed a word out his mouth. Closely after that, he turned around and continually stared at the sky in the far. Meanwhile, a streak of shrewd light appeared in his pupils...

 1974 Overwhelming Strikes IV

    Soon after waiting for a few minutes, Zuoqiu Mingyue and the other powers in the high tower had already received many intelligence one after another, almost all of which were related to the abnormal phenomenon in Force Province.


    Of course, there were not only 2 human scouts in Force Province. All the other human scouts in Force Province could also discover the abnormal phenomenon facing demons'' encampment in Force Province even though they were far away.


    ¡ª¡ªEarthquake!


    ¡ª¡ªStrong light!


    Almost all the human scouts had mentioned the two words when they described the abnormal phenomenon facing demons'' encampment in Force Province.


    In only 10-odd minutes, demons'' encampment in Liangzhou Province and Anzhou Province had already become chaotic as all the demon knights started to fly out of their battle fortresses and gathered around their battle fortresses in a vigilant state. At the same time, demon knights in the encampment of Anzhou Province appeared to retreat. Closely after that, demon knights in the encampment of Liangzhou Province also started to retreat. Additionally, ground demon forces in the two encampments also started to move.


    Although they hadn''t waited for the intelligence for too long, those generals and knights in the high tower were really in anxiety.


    Finally...


    "Lord, we''ve contacted the scout No. 2 in Force Province..." the assistant of the military minister rushed inside with great excitement again as he shouted, "The Scout No. 2 was hiding underground hundreds of miles away from the demons'' encampment in Force Province just now. The earthquake from the demons'' encampment caused him to blackout. He had just woken up. After that, he came out of the ground and checked the situation facing demons'' encampment in Force Province. Then, he found the demons'' encampment in Force Provincie had vanished like suffering from a natural disaster. The intelligence from scout No. 2 was consistent with that of scout No. 1!"


    All the generals and knights in the high tower were petrified. After confirming the intelligence from scout No. 1, all of them felt it was unbelievable. ''Was it a real natural disaster?''


    After a short period of shock, everybody became ecstatic. They were so thrilled that they felt their blood rushing straight to their heads. The faces of all the generals of the top four armies turned pretty red at a stroke. All the other human knights'' eyes shone as they even wanted to howl to the heavens.


    ''Demons'' encampment in Force Province has converged more than half of demon knights and more than 1/3 of ground demon forces in Taixia Country. They''re gone!''


    "God bless Taixia Country!" A general of God''s Will Army couldn''t help raising his arms and howling to the heavens.


    "God bless Taixia Country!" All the people at present then howled to the heavens.


    "It''s not the God who blesses Taixia Country, but Qianji Immortal..." Zuoqiu Mingyue calmly revealed the intelligence that he had just received as he watched those excited generals and knights on his side.


    According to the regulation in the army in Taixia Country, these generals and knights beside Zuoqiu Mingyue were not allowed to take any remote-sensing communication devices which they could use to contact outside and their clans except those allocated in the army for the sake of confidentiality. Otherwise, someone might contact these people in the army or those in the rear end so as to disturb the actions of the army. In No. 17 military regulation, people who dared complain about their superiors, raping women, framing soldiers or superiors, asking for intelligence or betraying the army would be sentenced to death. All five items were about leaking intelligence. Of course, they were not allowed to take the remote-sensing communication devices for free. Therefore, they didn''t know that Zhang Tie was already back until now.


    "A few hours ago, Qianji Immortal appeared in Youzhou Province and killed Old Man Taiyi, Old Man Shenkong, over 10 powers who were above shadow knights of the three top sects which intended to invade Iron-Dragon Sect''s base and captured over 1,000 knights of the three sects..."


    When those generals and knights who were howling to the heavens heard this news, they all became dumbfounded.


    Qianji Immortal had become a legendary figure for dozens of years since he disappeared in the battle in Yinhai Desert. Everyone at present almost thought that Zhang Tie had died. Unexpectedly, they could receive news about Zhang Tie from Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    "Perhaps we can''t call him Qianji Immortal anymore. According to the news from Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie is at least a sage-level knight. Besides, Lord Fairysea also appeared outside the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect. He said that Zhang Tie was already the most powerful human. He''s unrivaled. Because I guess that Zhang Tie appeared on the battlefield and gave a heavy blow to the demons after leaving Youzhou Province tonight, I told you to make preparation to launch a holistic attack. What happened to demons'' encampment in Force Province was not a publishment from the God, but Zhang Tie''s destructive strike!"


    Hearing Zuoqiu Mingyue''s calm narration, all the cheers disappeared as everyone else thought that they had misheard it.


    "Lord, that''s impossible!" A general of Imperial Guards refuted as he watched Zuoqiu Mingyue with wide eyes and swallowed his saliva forcefully. "Forgive me for my impoliteness, that''s impossible! Even though Qian... even though Zhang Tie has promoted to a sage-level knight and become the most powerful human, it''s still impossible for him to destroy the entire demons'' encampment in Force Province. There''re over 70,000 demon knights, 2 abyss monarchs and over 500 demon corps. Even those demon knights queued up and waited to be decapitated, they still couldn''t be killed in such a short period of time, not to mention those ground demon forces..."


    When the general said, no one else spoke. However, given their looks, they all agreed with this general''s words.


    Zhang Tie alone destroyed the entire demons'' encampment in Force Province in the blink of an eye. That was unbelievable. Even though they racked their minds, they still couldn''t figure out how Zhang Tie did it. ''Did he release tens of thousands of nirvana thunders at the same time?''


    "I don''t believe in it either. However, we will know whether Zhang Tie has that ability or not soon!" Zuoqiu Mingyue took a look at the others with a shrewd light sparkling in his eyes as he added in a muffled voice, "If the demons'' encampment in Force Province was indeed destroyed by Zhang Tie alone, we will soon see how demons'' encampments in Liangzhou Province and Anzhou Province are destroyed..."


    "Lord, look..."


    A knight facing Zuoqiu Mingyue suddenly exclaimed as he pointed at the air zone in Liangzhou Province in the northwest of Tongguan Pass.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue turned around as he saw that the air zone in Liangzhou Province suddenly became bright. Closely after that, a huge light column fell to the ground from the clouds. In a few seconds, the entire region became white...


    Because Liangzhou Province was closer to them, they could sense that the disaster was much better this time.


    The strong earthquake and wave soon approached them from Liangzhou Province, causing Tongguan Pass and all the battle fortresses nearby to rock...

 1975 Overwhelming Strikes V

    Under Zhang Tie''s gaze, demons'' encampment in Liangzhou Province melted like ice and snow too, facing the Embrace of Twilight Goddess.


    The power of this Embrace of Twilight Goddess was only half of that in Force Province, but it was enough to deal with those honeycomb-sized battle fortresses in the sky above demons'' encampment in Liangzhou Province which was retreating.


    The demon commander of demons'' encampment in Liangzhou Province might have sensed that their encampment in Force Province was destroyed soon after it happened. Although he didn''t know about the details, he had already asked all the demon knights to fly out of their encampment in Liangzhou Province and covered the encampment to evacuate. Of course, it was always the steadiest action and response plan; however, it was fatal on this occasion; because Zhang Tie could kill all of them easily.


    After losing two main encampments, demons only had one main encampment left in Anzhou Province. If there was no problem with the mind of the commander of demons'' encampment in Anzhou Province, he should have already asked all the demons to evacuate in different directions; instead of staying with each other for death...


    It was a rare opportunity. In order to realize the best effect, Zhang Tie didn''t hide himself anymore. Before the aftermath of his strike in demons'' encampment in Liangzhou Province disappeared, Zhang Tie had already rushed into the sky and manifested his virtual image of king roc. In the sky above Liangzhou Province, he turned into a huge six-wing king roc. After that, he howled and flew towards Anzhou Province at his full speed with wuthering wind and thunders...


    In an instant, the clouds within tens of thousands of miles had turned golden as they started to roll and undulate like billows in an ocean as if they were welcoming the first manifestation of Zhang Tie''s virtual image of king roc in this world.


    ...


    In the high tower, Zuoqiu Mingyue and his subordinates were still immersed in the disaster facing demons'' encampment in Liangzhou Province. Right then, someone noticed that the clouds in the sky of Liangzhou Province turned golden while the virtual image of a domineering brilliant six-wing king roc turned into a golden light and flew towards Anzhou Province...


    "Virtual image of king roc, virtual image of king roc; it''s the legendary virtual image of six-wing king roc..." All the generals and knights in the high tower exclaimed due to excitement. The virtual image of six-wing king roc shocked them too much.


    Only the emperor-level classic Infinite King Roc Sutra could form the virtual image of king roc...


    After thinking about it for a short while, some smart ones immediately understood that Zhang Tie cultivated Infinite King Roc Sutra...


    Additionally, Zhang Tie had promoted to a sage-level knight!


    It was the supreme realm that only the missing Emperor Xuanyuan could reach!


    Zhang Tie''s performance today couldn''t even be matched by Emperor Xuanyuan.


    The key reason that Emperor Xuanyuan was so prestigious in Taixia Country and could become the emperor and spiritual leader of billions of Hua people in Taixia Country lay in that Emperor Xuanyuan, who cultivated "Xuanyuan Deity-Converting Sutra", had promoted to a sage-level knight. He became the most powerful one who could protect Hua people in Taixia Country. Nobody could defeat Emperor Xuanyuan, no matter human or demon...


    In the earlier two holy wars, all the Hua people were deeply convinced that they would never be extinct and would win the holy wars as long as Emperor Xuanyuan was still alive. None of the sage-level demon knights could defeat Emperor Xuanyuan at all.


    Powers in a chaotic world were like a beacon in a vast ocean or a high mountain in the plain that could always give people hope and win people''s admiration and loyalty.


    Starting from the holy war, the entire Taixia Country was in a precarious situation especially in the period of dozens of years when Emperor Xuanyuan was missing. Everyone Hua people had a question¡ª¡ªcould Hua people win this holy war without Emperor Xuanyuan? Additionally, demons were much more powerful than before. They were overwhelming across the Eastern Continent. Facing powerful demons, even Taixia Country started to tremble and be constantly nibbled. The overall situation facing Taixia Country was so depressed that it almost made people desperate...


    The sudden appearance of the virtual image of king roc in the air instantly lit up the hearts of all the humans on the battlefield. As a result, everyone saw hope in confusion and dark for the first time.


    After confirming the news that demons'' encampment in Liangzhou Province was destroyed too, Zuoqiu Mingyue instantly sent an order¡ª¡ªLion Fortress entered Ganzhou Province and Liangzhou Province and cleaned up all the remaining demon knights over there under the leadership of Du Guyi, the Demon-Suppression General. Zuoqiu Mingyue directly exited Tongguan Pass and cleaned up demons in Anzhou Province and Yuzhou Province with those knights who defended Tongguan Pass.


    At this moment, all the Hua knights in Lingzhou Province, Lizhou Province and Tongzhou Province started to move. As vanguards, they all rushed into the areas occupied by demons and cleaned up the remaining knights and wing demon forces. At the same time, many heavy bombers which were responsible for attacking ground targets had been fully loaded with fiery-oil inflammable bombs and set off the airports and air cavalry bases in the rear end. After entering the sky, they formed into huge battle formations and flew towards demons'' strongholds in Ganzhou Province, Liangzhou Province, Anzhou Province and Yuzhou Province like dark clouds.


    Colorful and brilliant battle qi smokes and tornadoes of Hua knights rushed into the sky across Taixia Country like flying banners.


    Over 1,000 ground human corps rushed out of their defense lines and battle fortresses as numerous Hua fighters roared and rushed towards demons.


    At this moment, the booms of hundreds of thousands of tanks and armored vehicles shook the ground. They rushed towards demons in a hundreds-of-miles long row on the vast and open plain...


    Cavalry archers on rhino-dragon horses holding their long iron crossbows rolled over hills and plains like the flood in clarion calls...


    ...


    Before Zhang Tie arrived at Anzhou Province, he found that those honeycomb-sized battle fortresses of the demons'' encampment had been separated. They all evacuated towards the west of Anzhou Province like water being poured out while their distances varied from dozens of miles to hundreds of miles.


    Those demon knights also evacuated towards the rear end of demons in groups in small teams. From afar, those demon knights were like sesame over a pie and could be seen everywhere. Some demon knights reached tens of thousands of meters high and evacuated as fast as they could; some were flying close to the ground. They might have received the order. Additionally, they were in different directions.


    On this occasion, the Embrace of Twilight Goddess became useless...


    However, Zhang Tie had already found his target, namely Sagus, another abyss monarch of demons and the sage-level knight who was in charge of demons'' encampment in Anzhou Province...


    To be honest, Zhang Tie was familiar with Sagus...

 1976 Overwhelming Strikes VI

    The giant image of six-wing kin roc appeared above clouds, facing towards the ground. Under such a giant frame, all the demon knights were escaping in all directions with fear like insects...


    "Ah..." Before a shadow wing demon who was flying tens of thousands of meters high in the air under clouds made any response, Zhang Tie''s image of king roc had approached it. The six-wing king roc then broke through the clouds with its over 10,000 m long huge claw and crushed the shadow wing demon like how an eagle caught an insect.


    The shadow wing demon''s miserable shrieks rocked the air zone. All the wing demons were afraid of king rock instinctively.


    The clouds as long as hundreds of miles were instantly smashed as the powerful image of king roc finally approached those demon knights with destructive momentum.


    At this moment, besides demon knights, even thousands of wing demons were escaping as fast as they could. When Zhang Tie''s virtual image of king roc covered the sky, many ordinary wing demons instantly felt soft all over as they all fell off the sky like how weak animals saw terrifying natural enemies.


    When king roc''s virtual image flapped its wings, the wind element surged out of Elements Realm at once and attacked those demons in terms of two heavenly cyan tornadoes. In an instant, thousands of wing demons had been involved in. Even ordinary black iron demon knights could barely survive it in the air. On the ground, whenever Fuyao passed, it would devastate those ground demon forces like how hurricanes killed ants. When the two tornadoes passed by, they instantly collapsed some demon armies. As a result, a greater part of ground demon forces disappeared in such a short period of time.


    The cyan tornadoes were called Fuyao, which was a powerful, wide-range lethal skill carried by the virtual image of king roc.


    "Boom..." When the virtual image of king roc reached out its claw again, it instantly broke a moving air-borne beehive-sized battle fortress into pieces.


    "Sagus..." Zhang Tie shouted as his virtual image of king roc disappeared, revealing his original look.


    As an abyss monarch of demons, when the army of demons evacuated from the encampment in Anzhou Province, of course, Sagus was not good enough to bring up the rear for the demon army by blocking the pursuing troops of Taixia Country. Additionally, as the situation in the direction of Force Province was unclear, Sagus was not foolish enough to rush to the front of the evacuating demon army and explore the way forward for its team. It just hid in the middle of the evacuating demon army together with more than 10 senior demon knights. They were leaving for the northwest of Anzhou Province. Given their route, they appeared to want to enter Pingzhou Province and Xianzhou Province before evacuating from Dingzhou Province or Tongzhou Province. In this way, they could make a detour around Force Province.


    Of course, Zhang Tie would not allow Sagus to leave. When the virtual image of six-wing king roc passed through the clouds, Zhang Tie had blocked the way of Sagus'' team.


    When the powerful virtual image of king roc descended, it greatly frightened Sagus and its core subordinates. However, Sagus didn''t imagine that it was a "familiar person" in front after the disappearance of the virtual image of king roc.


    Compared to that person at the bank of Weishui River, Zhang Tie''s look almost remained unchanged. He was still like a teenager. However, his qi had been different than before.


    "Zhang Tie..." Sagus screamed while it spotted Zhang Tie who was over 50,000 m away in front, eyes red.


    "It''s me, Sagus..." Zhang Tie replied as he watched Sagus calmly.


    "Impossible. Didn''t you die at Yinhai Desert in Shazhou Province?" Nobody else would bring Sagus greater shock than Zhang Tie; because it could never forget the lesson that Zhang Tie gave it at the bank of Weishui River. Given Sagus'' words, it didn''t know that Zhang Tie had already returned to Youzhou yet or the news from demons'' encampment in Force Province had been discontinued before reaching him.


    "Of course, it''s me!" Zhang Tie lowered his tone, "You''re still alive. So were those demon knights who''re encroaching Taixia Country and human territory. How could I die? If I died in that way, who would pick your head and avenge the death of Crown Prince Changying?"


    Zhang Tie said as Heavens-Separation Sword appeared in his hand.


    He could choose to not kill Sagus with Heavens Separation Sword; however, if he wanted to kill more demon knights in the shortest period of time, Heavens Separation Sword was his best choice; because this weapon''s strike could cross 100,000 m in a split second; additionally, it could break silver secret items and break knights'' protective battle qi easily. As a golden secret item, Heavens Separation Sword was the natural enemy of silver secret items and protective battle qi. Additionally, there were very few golden secret items in this world. Therefore, Heavens Separation Sword''s sharpness appeared to be more brilliant.


    It was Sagus who assassinated Crown Prince in Jinzhou Province. After knowing that Sagus was at demons'' encampment in Anzhou Province, Zhang Tie especially dealt with demons'' encampment in Anzhou Province in the end. He just wanted to chop off Sagus'' head himself to avenge the death of Crown Prince Changying, consoling his friend''s soul and boosting the morale of soldiers and commoners across Taixia Country. He wanted to show hope of victory to all the people in this holy war. That also explained why Zhang Tie showed the trump card Infinite King Roc Sutra; because Zhang Tie knew what a powerhouse who cultivated an emperor-level secret method and had promoted to a sage-level knight meant for Taixia Country and Hua people.


    Although the emperor could die, people''s hearts shouldn''t!


    "Kill him..." Sagus roared with fury as it pointed at Zhang Tie. Almost at the same time, over 10 demon knights above heavenly knights formed 4 three-in-one battle formation and rushed towards Zhang Tie with Sagus.


    Zhang Tie slightly shook his head as the battle formation without formation beads was not a real battle formation at all. Previously, Zhang Tie felt that such a battle formation was great. However, when he came back from Motian Realm, he found such battle formations were rough, not to mention a battle formation composed of heavenly knights.


    Before the 10-odd heavenly knights rushed to Zhang Tie''s front, Zhang Tie had already slashed his Heavens Separation Sword.


    In an instant, an overwhelming sword qi had submerged those heavenly demon knights...


    The battle formation of heavenly demon knights was shattered; their silver secret items'' material forms were crushed; their protective battle qi was smashed; closely after that, their bodies were shattered into pieces too.


    The battle formation of more than 10 heavenly demon knights couldn''t even withstand Zhang Tie''s one sword strike.


    Watching Zhang Tie rushing over there, Sagus almost cracked its eyes out of fury. Meanwhile, it emitted a purple-red light, involving Zhang Tie in his private territory immediately.


    It was like a misty ocean inside Sagus'' private territory. It was covered with heavy black fog. Numerous demon knights appeared in the black fog and charged at Zhang Tie.


    However, before those demon knights approached Zhang Tie, they had been crushed by the ubiquitous protective sword wind around Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie stepped in the air and flew towards Sagus at lightning speed.


    Meanwhile, the black fog turned into towering billows and charged at Zhang Tie from all directions.


    Sagus roared as he took out an odd-looking black saber. He then slashed towards Zhang Tie with the huge saber. The surging saber qi then turned into a black boa with a horn on its head before lurking in the billows, arousing heavier wind and greater billows. Meanwhile, it widely opened its mouth and bared its sharp fangs before charging at Zhang Tie...


    Zhang Tie slashed his sword, filling the entire private territory of Sagus with his surging sword qi at once just like how a hot sun broke out of the clouds...


    The towering billows were instantly shattered. The black boa was beheaded too.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had already come to Sagus'' front. Before Sagus launched a second strike, its head had been chopped off and was caught by Zhang Tie''s hand.


    "Zhang Tie, even though you could kill me, you can not change the fate that Taixia Country is destined to die."


    Although its head had been chopped off and was in Zhang Tie''s hand, Sagus still spoke with a faint, weird and grim smile. It didn''t close its eyes until it finished these words.


    "Boom..." Sagus'' body and private territory were crushed in a split second. Lifting Sagus'' head, Zhang Tie reappeared on the battlefield.


    Sagus'' last words and grim and weird expression caused Zhang Tie''s heart to palpitate once. However, on this occasion, Zhang Tie didn''t think too much about that. After teleporting Sagus'' head into his portable space-teleportation equipment, Zhang Tie looked around and spotted a shadow iron-armored demon knight who was escaping in a flurried manner over hundreds of miles away. Zhang Tie then darted towards that demon knight.


    A shadow demon knight was as weak as an insect in Zhang Tie''s eyes. However, Zhang Tie knew that this shadow demon knight was an insurmountable mountain in front of black iron human knights and earth human knights, not to mention those ordinary human fighters. If he killed that shadow demon knight, he probably would save a lot of people''s lives.


    In less than 10 seconds, Zhang Tie had narrowed the distance between him and that shadow demon knight to tens of thousands of meters. With a flash of his Heavens Separation Sword, that shadow demon knight''s body had been smashed by his sword qi...


    After that, Zhang Tie spotted another shadow demon knight who was escaping over 250 miles away. Zhang Tie then chased after it...


    Half a minute later, after killing two more black iron demon knights and one earth demon knight, Zhang Tie shattered the second shadow demon knight with his Heavens Separation Sword.


    In this way, Zhang Tie alone chased after tens of thousands of demon knights like how a fierce tiger chased after a pack of rabbits, causing those demon knights to wail like ghosts as they were almost scared sh*t out of them...


    Not knowing how long had passed, after shattering the last shadow wing demon knight, Zhang Tie looked around as he found that he had already left Anzhou Province and entered Pingzhou Province. He couldn''t even see any more shadow demon knights within 600 miles. Only some small fishes and shrimps were fleeing in a flurried way.


    After feeling something abnormal behind him, Zhang Tie turned around as he saw a streak of white light shooting towards him.


    In the direction of Anzhou Province, he saw tens of thousands of Taixia knights'' battle qi rushing into the sky. It meant that Taixia knights had already arrived and were chasing after those demon knights. As a result, those air-borne demon battle fortresses were smashed into pieces by Taixia powerhouses with booms or falling to the ground...


    That streak of white light stopped 1,000 m away in front of Zhang Tie, revealing Zuoqiu Mingyue''s original look, sword in hand.


    "Hahaha, Lord Military God, long time no see..." Zhang Tie laughed as he greeted Zuoqiu Mingyue.


    "It''s really you!" When he confirmed that was Zhang Tie, Zuoqiu Mingyue sighed with gratification; especially shock. "Where''s Sagus?"


    "I''ve already killed Sagus. As for the rest things, it''s your job, lord. I will not scramble for meritorious deeds with your subordinates. I have to return to Youzhou Province to reunite with my family..." Zhang Tie hid his Heavens Separation Sword as he cupped his hands towards Zuoqiu Mingyue with a smile. After that, he rushed into the sky and revealed his virtual image of king roc. He then flapped his feathered wings and flew towards Youzhou Province...


    On August 17, the 932th year of Black Iron Calendar, Zhang Tie returned to Taixia Country. On the same day, he destroyed three demons'' encampments in the collapsed territory of Taixia Country; killed four sage-level knights and over 100,000 demon knights alone and destroyed thousands of demon corps. The turning point of the third holy war between humans and demons arrived...


    ...

 1977 The Leader I

    White clouds were slowly moving in the azure sky which was as clean as a mirror. A golden airboat longer than 7,000 m was flying in the sky at a low speed like a huge whale. The shadow of the huge airboat was like that of a cloud. With the movement of the airboat, its huge shadow passed by those hillsides, rivers, villages and cities, causing numerous people to look up at the sky with awestruck exclamations inside...


    Those who were familiar with Taixia Country knew that airboats in Taixia Country were basically divided into three levels given their sizes, namely cyancloud level, purplecloud level and heavenlycloud level. According to strict regulation, different levels of airboats were exclusive to different people. Cyancloud level airboats were exclusive to provincial governors and those on the same level. Many major clans had cyancloud level airboats. Purplecloud level airboats were exclusive to ministers, which were usually taken by the 9 high-level ministers of Taixia Country and could be seen in some major sects and clans in Taixia Country. Heavenlycloud level airboats were exclusive to three counselors and six lords or some talents being deeply appreciated by the emperor. In Taixia Country, there were very few heavenlycloud level airboats. However, the longest one among the three levels of airboats was less than 5,000 m. Across Taixia Country, only one kind of airboat could be longer than 7,000 m¡ª¡ªXuanyuan Level airboats.


    Xuanyuan level airboats were exclusive to imperial households of Taixia Country. It belonged to ritual vessels. Generally, only Xuanyuan Emperor could take Xuanxuan level airboat when he was making an inspection tour across the country so as to manifest the dignity of imperial households. Crown prince and the other princes could only take Xuanyuan level airboats in special cases. Besides, someone who was invited and treated in the most solemn of ceremony by the imperial households of Taixia Country could also take Xuanyuan level airboats. However, very few people could receive such a great treatment since the founding of Taixia Country.


    At this moment, there were four heavenly level airboats being marked with the emblems of the top four armies of Taixia Country were opening a path ahead of the Xuanyuan level airboat. On both sides and the back of this Xuanyuan level airboat, there were 36 purplecloud level airboats. Therefore, it was like a huge pair of feathered wings crossing the skyline.


    In the periphery of these 36 purplecloud level airboats, it was a huge double-wing formation composed of over 2,000 airplanes driven by air cavalries in Taixia Country who were escorting the Xuanyuan level airboat.


    As one of the 9 big immortal provinces in Taixia Country, Pingzhou was grossly prosperous. In normal times, it was bustling in the air zone of Pingzhou Province as many airboats and airships were accessing to this air zone. However, it was very clean in this air zone today. Besides this Xuanyuan level airboat''s fleet and those air cavalries, no more airboats or aircraft could be seen in that air zone.


    The air zone of Pingzhou Province had already carried out air control today.


    When the Xuanyuan level airboat entered Enping Prefecture in Pingzhou Province, although the other airboats were still flying at a low speed, those escorting air cavalries were reluctant to transfer the escort mission to their colleagues who had already set off Enping Prefecture.


    The air cavalries in Enping Prefecture couldn''t wait to drive over 2,000 airplanes and join the glorious escort mission. For a few hours'' accompanying flights today, over 2,000 air cavalries were selected from millions of air cavalries in Enping Prefecture and had accepted over one month''s tough training.


    When the Xuanyuan level airboat left Youzhou Province, it meant the start of a glorious and great review for those air cavalries across Taixia Country. Those being selected to join the escort mission would be admired by people. Those airboats didn''t need to stay; however, air cavalries would change one batch after another. The Xuanyuan level airboat had already been escorted all the way from Youzhou Province to Pingzhou Province and would go to Xuanyuan Hill in the end.


    ...


    Standing on the observation deck on the top of the Xuanyuan level airboat, hands behind his back, Zhang Tie was watching the ground moving slowly under his foot. Standing next to Zhang Tie, Bian Heng the Yama was watching the scenery on the ground with great interest and the escorting airplanes in the distance.


    As for a person who came to the main world from Motian Realm, he wouldn''t be fed up with the scenery in Taixia Country even if he kept on watching it for one more year.


    Bian Heng was still Bian Heng, however, he got a more special identity¡ª¡ªemployed elder of Jinwu Palace.


    When Zhang Tie destroyed the three major camps of demons, he had already invited Bian Heng to come out of Castle of Black Iron so that they could go back to Youzhou Province together.


    Except for Zhang Tie, nobody else knew the background of Bian Heng. Zhang Tie only introduced Bian Heng''s name and his current identity as the employed elder of Jinwu Palace to the public; nothing else.


    Now that Zhang Tie didn''t want to expose more information about Bian Heng, of course, nobody would ask him about that.


    Besides Bian Heng, his old lover in Motian Realm also came to Taixia Country with him. The cross-realm flower that Zhang Tie gifted to Bian Heng was eaten by his old lover.


    Of course, now that she could win the favor of Bian Heng the Yama, this woman was not average. Bian Heng''s old lover was Jiang Mingyue. As a sage-level knight, she was known as Woods Goddess in Motian Realm. Additionally, she was a founder and grandmaster of Woods Sect, a major clan in Motian Realm.


    Given their names, Yama and Goddess, they were a perfect match. As for how they fell in love with each other, Zhang Tie didn''t care. He only cared that Bian Heng brought another employed elder to Jinwu Palace apart from himself.


    Therefore, there were two sage-level knights among the employed elders of Jinwu Palace.


    In the past months, Bian Heng lived up to the expectation of so many people and cured Yun Zhongzi''s disease. Yan Feiqing, who had long promoted to a semi-sage level knight, also promoted to a sage with Zhang Tie''s help.


    Zhang Tie brought back 2 sage-level employed elders; Yun Zhongzi''s disease was cured; Yan Feiqing promoted to a sage-level knight. In only a few days, Zhang Tie had got 4 sage-level knights on his side. Plus him, the power of Jinwu Palace was already overwhelming.

 1978 The Leader II

    "The scenery in Taixia Country is indeed different than that in Motian Realm. There''re so many marvelous things here. After entering the air zone of Pingzhou Province, I feel this province appears to be more prosperous than the other provinces and prefectures." Bian Heng spoke to Zhang Tie as he watched the mountains, rivers, land, cities and villages that were elapsing under his foot.


    There were a total of more than 10 observation decks in the Xuanyuan-level airboat that could meet the demands of different people. Zhang Tie and Bian Heng were on the highest point at the prow of the airboat, from where they could view most sceneries. As the deck had been surrounded with a crystal cover that had processed with alchemic skill, they didn''t worry about heavy wind and strong sunlight here; meanwhile, they could enjoy the sceneries across the country.


    ''I wonder whether Emperor Xuanyuan always stood here and enjoyed the beautiful rivers and mountains of Taixia Country previously or not.''


    Such a weird whim occurred to Zhang Tie while he answered Bian Heng, "Pingzhou is one of the top 9 immortal provinces in Taixia Country. The 9 immortal provinces are all essential zones of Hua people. Each province contains tens of billions of people. Their prosperity could never be matched by other provinces and prefectures. But when you arrive at Xuanyuan Hill, you will see the most prosperous and magnificent city in the world!"


    "It''s strange. There''re so many people and cities in Taixia Country; however, nobody could form an immortal chakra and promote to an immortal emperor!" Bian Heng sighed, shaking his head. "It seems that when one gets something, one will lose something else. Such a large population is unimaginable in Motian Realm!"


    Although being on the observation deck, they were still talking secretly with battle qi; because their contents were not suitable to be eavesdropped by the third people. It was also a habit that Bian Heng had formed since he came to Taixia Country. When someone else was beside them, Bian Heng would pay attention to his words; when he was with Zhang Tie alone, he would not care so much as he just put it straight.


    "There''s a large population in Taixia Country; however, there''s no Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring in this world. Therefore, the ultimate level of knights here is just sage-level knight. As you and your wife have already formed sage-level chakras, you''re already top powerhouses in this world..."


    "Top sh*t!" Bian Heng rolled his eyes while he cast a glare at Zhang Tie, continuing, "You killed demon emperors like chopping melons and vegetables in Motian Realm. The so-called sage-level knights are nothing but sh*t in front of you. Additionally, you''ve long drunk Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring. Even the entire Mountain Ruins is in your hand. There''s one point that I''m confused about. Now that you''ve got the Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, why not have your wife Yan Feiqing drink some? Additionally, Yun Zhongzi has already taken you as his owner sincerely. He will never disobey your order in the future. He could also have some. Why don''t you gift him some? As long as the two people advance to immortal emperors, won''t your force be more powerful? Additionally, even though they promote to immortal emperors, they won''t pose any threat to you. By then, you will definitely be more powerful than them..."


    The reason that Bian Heng and Jiang Mingyue promised to be Jinwu Palace''s employed elders and follow Zhang Tie''s order lay in the verbal agreement between them and Zhang Tie out of trust¡ª¡ªAs long as they could serve as the employed elders of Jinwu Palace for 100 years, if they determined to return to Motian Realm, they would be gifted Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring by Zhang Tie before leaving.


    Of course, it had nothing to do with Zhang Tie whether Bian Heng and Jiang Mingyue could establish an immortal palace and promote to immortal emperors in Motian Realm or not. It depended on themselves.


    Out of the temptation of Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, Bian Heng and Jiang Mingyue left Motian Realm for Taixia Country with Zhang Tie.


    After hearing Bian Heng''s questions, Zhang Tie shook his head silently. After a short while, he asked Bian Heng, "How do you feel about Taixia Country?"


    "Not bad! What do you mean?"


    "Taixia Country is indeed not bad. But do you think the current situation facing Taixia Country could remain unchanged if I gift them Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring?"


    Bian Heng instantly thought up something as he said, "You mean..."


    "After drinking Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, they would see clearly their cultivation road forward. That road might be nice; but in the long run, it might not be good for Taixia Country and humans. The fame of a general means tens of thousands of lives, not to mention an immortal emperor. Zhang Tie looked forward with profound eyes as he said, "If there were Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring in this world, Taixia Country''s territory has long been shared by immortal palaces; instead of being such a complete country like today. If Taixia Country were split up, how could it defend demons? From then on, when human powerhouses rise, they would definitely scramble for their personal territories through fight so as to seize the opportunity to form their immortal chakras. Even if I have Feiqing and Yun Zhongzi drink Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, if they don''t establish immortal palaces, they would not be able to absorb forces of moods or advance to immortal emperors. If they found immortal palaces, do you think Taixia Country will be peaceful or not? Even if they found immortal palaces in the other continents or subcontinents; instead of Taixia Country, they would also pose endless threats to humans too..." Zhang Tie sighed as he continued, "Once Feiqin and Yun Zhongzi form their immortal chakras, Zhang clan of Jinwu Palace will only have two ways to go: rule all the humans through wars; or become the common target of humans and demons. It''s also possible for human and demon knights to join hands with each other to deal with Jinwu Palace. On many occasions, human heart is even more terrifying than demons. No matter which way we will choose, the descendants of Zhang clan would never live peacefully any more..."


    If one wanted to form his immortal chakra, he must absorb forces of moods. The forces of moods referred to the energies of moods with different attributes in people''s minds. In the realm of moods, these energies existed everywhere. Actually, when one formed his first immortal chakra, only very little energy carried by one''s pious belief was available in the realm of mind. Additionally, if one wanted to produce such kind of energy, he must found an immortal palace or have his own belief.


    Theoretically, after one formed his first immortal chakra and promoted to an immortal emperor, he could form another 8 immortal chakras. In fact, nobody else among humans or demons in Motian Realm could form the second immortal chakra.


    The force of moods being used to form the second immortal chakra was not completely limited to the energy of belief from one''s immortal palace. One could also absorb the energies of other moods with different attributes. Although it appeared to be easier than forming the first immortal chakra, the key point for one to form his second immortal chakra was to realize rules on higher levels. If one couldn''t make it, he would not form the second immortal chakra.


    When in Motian Realm, Zhang Tie could acquire the energy of belief from Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. In this world, he could acquire the energy of belief from the Ancient-God Church. The Ancient-God Church that Zhang Tie founded at the beginning casually by disguising as a damned priest at the beginning helped him promote to an immortal emperor. The two immortal palaces provided the force of mood for Zhang Tie to form his first immortal chakra.


    It sounded a bit strange. Although the population of followers of Ancient-God Church was smaller than that of the followers of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, Zhang Tie found the energy of belief that the Ancient-God Church provided to him was even greater than that from Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.


    "I finally know why you promised Jiang Mingyue and me to gift us Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring when we return to Motian Realm in 100 years..." Bian Heng bared his teeth as he stroked his face and took a glance at Zhang Tie, saying, "I feel being cheated by you..."


    "Ahem... ahem... you''re thinking too much!" Zhang Tie answered with a solemn look.


    When Bian Heng wanted to say something else, he heard regular footsteps and knocks from behind.


    "Come in..." Zhang Tie said without looking back.


    Zhang Chenglei entered. After making a military salute to Zhang Tie and Bian Heng with full respect, he talked to Zhang Tie, "Dad, I''ve got a message from the royal palace of Xuanyuan Hill. Those civilians in Xuanyuan Hill have been in uproars after knowing that you''re going to Xuanyuan Hill. Over 100 million people have already surged into those airports outside Xuanyuan Hill. They''re waiting to see you. As too many people were gathering in those airports, the royal palace was afraid that you''re unhappy about that. Therefore, they wanted to remove the air forbidden zone above Xuanyuan Hill so that our airboat could directly land in the square outside the royal palace. I''m waiting for your decision!"


    Watching his dad kill two sage-level knights and destroy the three encampments of demons in Taixia Country alone, Zhang Chenglei, as Zhang Tie''s eldest son, held Zhang Tie in greater awe.


    Before promoting to a knight, Zhang Chenglei and his brothers had taken Zhang Tie as their idol. When he became a knight, especially an earth knight, Zhang Chenglei and his brothers gradually realized how powerful was their father.


    Zhang Tie watched Zhang Chenglei with a smile as he asked, "Chenglei, what do you think Royal Palace means?"


    Zhang Chenglei became silent for a few seconds. Then, he took a glance at Zhang Tie and said straightforwardly, "I think Royal Palace is testing you!"


    "Why do the Royal Palace test me?" Zhang Tie continued to ask Zhang Chenglei with a calm look.


    Zhang Chenglei gritted his teeth before saying, "Father, because everyone across Taixia Country said that you''re going to be the new Emperor Xuanyuan; of course, those royal households in the Royal Palace feel panicky. Only Emperor Xuanyuan could have Xuanyuan Hill remove the air forbidden zone and directly land his airboat in the square outside the Royal Palace..."

 1979 The Leader III

    As Zhang Tie''s son, Zhang Chenglei looked straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes and put it straight. "Dad, after coming back, you killed Taiyi Old Man and Old Man Shenkong and cracked down three major clans with your own power. Additionally, you destroyed three major demon camps, numerous demon corps and killed 4 sage-level demon knights and over 100,000 demon knights. You''ve almost reversed the overall situation of the holy war and curbed the raging waves of domestic and demon forces with your own strength. That''s an unprecedented and earthshaking achievement! Even if Xuanyuan Emperor himself returned, he could barely do that. Additionally, dad, you cultivate the unrivaled emperor-level classic Infinite King Roc Sutra, although there are numerous human and demon powers, none of them could match you!"


    "Emperor Xuanyuan once said the emperor should be responsible for the safety of the country and humans; instead of only pursuing for top power. Dad, although you don''t have the authority of emperor, you''ve already taken the responsibility of the emperor. Each of your actions would attract worldwide attention. Dad, if you''re willing to move to Xuanyuan Hill, most of the people in Taixia Country would definitely support you!"


    "Really?" Zhang Tie asked calmly without expressing his opinion.


    "Dad, although you didn''t receive many guests in late months, many owners of major clans who had cooperation with Jinwu Business Group had contacted my eldest uncle and implied that if you wanted to enter and host Xuanyuan Hill, most of them would definitely stand on your side."


    After hearing his eldest son''s words, Zhang Tie looked calm and composed; however, he felt a bit complex inside. Zhang Tie had long known these things. Actually, not only these major clans, even Heavens Fortune Sect, Demons-Slaughter Valley, Cheng Honglie and Lu Dingzhi had implied that. Those major clans and sects, even provincial governors and ministers didn''t change their attitudes because they favored those in power. In the final analysis, Taixia Country contained too many forces. Commoners, major clans and sects had their own concerns respectively. However, the biggest concern of different classes and communities of interest was same¡ª¡ªdefeating demons!


    Only when the demons were defeated could commoners stay alive, major clans and sects maintain their powers and interests, Hua people and Taixia continue to exist, officials continue to have authorities with high compensations, individual lives and family honor be guaranteed. In other words, defeating demons was tantamount to maintaining the maximal interest of everyone.


    In the holy war, anyone who could lead Hua people to defeat demons and maintain the maximal interest of billions of commoners and major clans in Taixia Country would gain most people''s support and enter and host Xuanyuan Hill.


    By contrast, the current imperial households of Taixia Country were swaying in the midst of a raging storm. Emperor Xuanyuan had already disappeared before the start of the holy war. In many people''s eyes, Emperor Xuanyuan had not fulfilled his obligation. Many people even felt that Emperor Xuanyuan had already died. After that, the crown prince Changying was assassinated by demons; Xuanyuan Wuji the 3rd prince and Xuanyuan Lie the 8th prince colluded with Imperial Alliance. All the princes who were possible to ascend to the throne of emperor had been killed or abolished. None of the current princes could live up to the expectation of the public and assume such a heavy burden. How could such imperial households compare with Zhang Tie?


    "Chenglei, where do you think I should park my airboat?" Zhang Tie asked his son calmly.


    This question was very simple for Zhang Tie; however, it was not for Zhang Chenglei; because he knew that his father was testing his abilities. If Zhang Tie became the emperor, Zhang Chenglei, as Zhang Tie''s son would have a new identity in Taixia Country.


    After being silent for a few seconds, Zhang Chenglei answered seriously, "Dad, to be honest, when I stayed with my brothers these days, we''ve already discussed this thing privately. Our opinions are consistent. No matter where you''re going to park the airboat, we will support your decision!"


    Zhang Tie then replied with a reassured smile, "If so, notice Xuanyuan Hill that we''re going to park at the airport outside Xuanyuan Hill according to the schedule!"


    "Yes, dad!" Zhang Chenglei bowed and left.


    Bian Heng just squinted at the two people with his small eyes when they talked. Not until Zhang Chenglei left there did he smirk and ask Zhang Tie in a weird tone, "The throne of the emperor is right in front of you, aren''t you moved by that even a bit?"


    "Do you know my parents'' biggest hope for me when I was young?" Zhang Tie asked Bian Heng.


    "Of course, they hoped you to become outstanding and glorify your ancestors!" Bian Heng answered with a cold harrumph.


    "My name contains the word "Tie", which means that my parents hoped me to live a bit longer instead of dying at a young age. Besides, my parents hoped me to open a grocery store or shop covering 100 square meters in a prime location nearby the railway station or those high-end blocks. If I could make dozens of golden coins annually steadily, they would be reassured!" Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    Bian Heng was dumbfounded. He absolutely believed in Zhang Tie''s words; because he had met Zhang Tie''s parents more than once these days. He even wrote some prescriptions to improve his parents'' health. Bian Heng knew that Zhang Tie''s parents didn''t have so many desires.


    "What about you? Don''t tell me that you have the same expectations!" Bian Heng asked Zhang Tie with curiosity.


    "Of course, I had greater expectations for myself!" Zhang Tie watched Bian Heng seriously as he said, "My expectations were over 10 times greater than that expected by my parents. I determined to make at least hundreds of gold coins a year, marry a lot of wives and give birth to many babies and let my parents move in a villa with a garden..."


    Bian Heng asked, astounded, "No more?"


    "If it''s not enough, I have one more!"


    "Go ahead."


    Zhang Tie heaved a sigh and said, "I''ve already received the leftovers of Dragon Emperor in Motian Realm, how could I receive His Majesty''s posterities too in Taixia Country!"


    "What?" Bian Heng almost jumped up as he widely opened his eyes and asked, "You mean the imperial households of Taixia Country are the posterities of Dragon Emperor!"


    "Right..."

 1980 Inside And Outside the Royal Palace

    Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace, Xuanyuan Hill...


    When Zhang Tie and Bian Heng were enjoying the view, Fang Qingming and two dignified women in phoenix-shaped headwear sat silently in an attic in the east palace of Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace.


    As the adviser of late Crown Prince Changying, Fang Qingming''s hair near his temples had been silver over the past 20-odd years after Crown Prince Changying''s assassination. Additionally, there were some wrinkles over his forehead. Even so, his eyes were still as crystal and quiet as water. Although he didn''t look as spirited as before, he was more profound with age.


    Although Crown Prince Changying was already dead, Fang Qingming won greater favor from those people on Crown Prince Changying''s side.


    There were mainly two people on late Crown Prince Changying''s side: Queen Shaoyi, mother of Crown Prince Changying; Mrs. Xiao, wife of late Crown Prince Changying.


    When Emperor Xuanyuan was on the throne, there was once an Empress Wen who once ruled the harem of Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace. However, Empress Wen was not a knight. Therefore, she died at only 200 years old or so. After Empress Wen, nobody was conferred as empress in Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace any longer. Instead, ceremonial empresses were conferred, whose positions were above that of concubines and were as same as that of empress ceremonially. Even though, ceremonial empresses were not real empresses. All the mothers of those princes in Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace were ceremonial empresses. There were 17 ceremonial empresses and 39 princes and princesses of Emperor Xuanyuan in total.


    Inside Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace, all the ceremonial empresses were briefly called empresses. They all had their own ranks and titles and were responsible for one department respectively.


    At this moment, the two women on the opposite of Fang Qingming were Empress Shaoyi, mother of late Crown Prince Changying and Mrs. Xiao, the wife of late Crown Prince Changying.


    Late Crown Prince Changying''s mother was a very beautiful woman at her 50''s. She looked very dignified with a smooth, delicate and wrinkled face in brilliant longuette made of boa silk. With tassels, a decorated shoulder covering, a belt decorated with jade, a floral waistband and a five-phoenix coronet, she looked pretty much like a royal dignitary.


    By contrast, Mrs. Xiao, the wife of late Crown Prince Changying was much younger at her 30''s. Now that she could marry Crown Prince Changying, she must have an unparalleled beauty. Additionally, Mrs. Xiao was also in brilliant clothes and a 4-phoenix coronet.


    At this moment, Fang Qingming looked as calm as water in a time-honored well. He was tasting the tea water in front of him. By contrast, Empress Shaoyi and Mrs. Xiao looked worried as they both knitted their brows deeply.


    Right then, they heard rapid footsteps. It was the female personal attendant of Empress Shaoyi. After passing through the two doors, she opened the bead curtain and trotted in.


    "Your Majesty, I''ve got a message from there..." The personal attendant hurriedly bent over and reported.


    "Stand up. What''s the message? Mr. Fang is here, hurry, tell us about it honestly..." Empress Shaoyi urged after taking a glance at Fang Qingming.


    "Yes, Your Majesty!" the personal attendant nodded at Fang Qingming before replying clearly, "According to the message from General Wei, Monarch Qianji''s airboat is approaching Pingzhou City. However, Immortal Qianji didn''t allow the airboat to land outside Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace; instead, he insisted on landing at the airport outside Xuanyuan Hill..."


    Monarch Qianji was Zhang Tie''s current title in Taixia country. Since he destroyed three demons'' encampment on the battlefield and displayed his secret method Infinite King Roc Sutra, his title Monarch Qianji had been spreading across the entire country among people.


    This title was of great significance to many people. The word monarch couldn''t be enjoyed by ordinary people. As Zhang Tie cultivated an emperor-level secret method and had promoted to a sage-level knight, his meritorious deeds were going to shine through ages. He deserved this title. However, at this moment, there was no emperor in Taixia Country and nobody in Xuanyuan Emperor''s royal palace was expected to ascend to the throne of Emperor Xuanyuan; therefore, when they heard the title Monarch Qianji, many royal households in Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace would feel terrified and complex.


    At this moment, Xuanyuan Hill had already been converged with talented people and influential forces. Numerous people were craving for Zhang Tie''s arrival. Among them, those in Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace were most fidgety.


    After hearing the personal attendant''s words, Empress Shaoyi and Mrs. Xiao finally heaved a deep sigh. After waving her hand and asking the personal attendant to leave, Empress Shaoyi watched Fang Qingming with great admiration and opened her mouth again. "Like you''ve predicted, sir, Zhang Tie didn''t have his airboat land outside Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace. As for the followings, we have to depend on you!"


    Mrs. Xiao then stood up and bowed towards Fang Qingming before saying, "Over these years, without Mr. Fang''s help, my son and I didn''t even know how to survive in Xuanyuan Hill!" Mrs. Xiao said as she almost dropped off her tears, "Meng Shidao was Crown Prince''s master and was recommended as the finance minister by Crown Prince. However, after Crown Prince''s death, Meng Shidao instantly forgot about the friendship between him and Crown Prince and wanted to prop up someone else to ascend to the throne. That''s too merciless!"


    Fang Qingming also stood up and bowed towards Mrs. Xiao out of kindness. Closely after that, he replied with a sigh, "His Highness Crown Prince had great talent and bold vision. However, he died for the country and failed to meet his ambitions. Although Crown Prince is already dead, he left his brilliant fame and still won the respect from people across the country and could bring good fortune to us. This time, I will try my best efforts to make it. If we succeed, it''s not my meritorious deed; but the blessing from heaven. As for Meng Shidao, Mrs. Xiao, please don''t worry about him. After Monarch Qianji arrives at Xuanyuan Hill, the Gobbling Party will be rooted up. As long as we win the support of Monarch Qianji, we could make everything. I will pay an official visit to Lord Guangnan right now!"


    ...


    At the same time, Meng Shidao, the finance minister of Taixia Country was feeding his golden fish in a pool of the Sincerity Garden not far from Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace.


    This Sincerity Garden was newly built. Its name and owner remained unchanged. The only difference was that this one was at least 10 times larger than that when Meng Shidao served as late Crown Prince''s master. The garden was surrounded by high, verdant birches. The entire courtyard was in the wood of birches. The high birches not only prevented curious people from peeping into the garden but also covered the sunshine. Although the sun was hanging high in the sky, Sincerity Garden was covered with tree shades while only a hint of sunshine could penetrate through the birches. As a result, Sincerity Garden looked a bit gloomy. Although Xuanyuan Hill was in the early spring, it felt a bit cold here.


    "You mean Zhang Tie won''t let his airboat to land outside Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace. Unexpectedly, he''s such a gentleman..." Meng Shidao fed his golden fish conscientiously as he muttered, "Since they have received the news that Zhang Tie was going to Xuanyuan Hill, very few people showed up to my Sincerity Garden these days..."


    Meng Shidao didn''t look back. Nobody was behind him. However, there appeared to be a human shadow in the dense trade shades close to the ground which looked such weird...


    That shadow appeared to say something. However, nobody else could hear that voice except Meng Shidao.


    "As of now, these small tricks won''t work anymore. Even though 100 million or 1 billion people die in Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie would not lose even a strand of hair..." Meng Shidao said as he dropped some feed into water and shook his head, "You can leave. Just follow the plan. I even want to meet Zhang Tie here. I''m afraid that I will not have such a rare opportunity in the future..."


    The human shadow faded away as if it had never appeared there at all. Meng Shidao was still feeding his golden fish attentively.


    When he dropped off a bit larger feed into water, an ordinary golden fish suddenly darted out of water from the bottom of the pool and engulfed that piece of feed before the other golden fish approached it.


    "Why did you move so fast?" Meng Shidao slightly knitted his brow as he watched that golden fish and muttered. He then became hesitant for a few seconds while holding some feed. Only the odd gloomy light deep in his pupils were sparkling like jack-o''-lanterns...


    After a few seconds, Meng Shidao loosened his fingers, dropping that bit feed into water. At the same time, a red and black golden fish swam over there and engulfed that bit of fish feed at once.


    In less than 5 seconds, the red and black golden fish, which had just engulfed the feed suddenly went berserk as two rows of dense, sharp teeth grew out of its mouth. Closely after that, it broke another golden fish into two halves and swallowed half of its body. Watching this scene, all the other golden fish in the pool became panicky at once. At the same time, the berserk golden fish started a massacre in water. As a result, the entire pool became bloody only after a short while...

 1981 The Welcome Ceremony

    On February 6, the 933rd year of Black Iron Calendar, Zhang Tie''s airboat finally landed at the airport of Xuanyuan Hill slowly.


    Although Bian Heng had seen the world, when he saw the prosperous Xuanyuan Hill in the sky, he was still greatly shocked for quite a while. He didn''t recover his composure until he was awakened by Zhang Tie. After that, he followed Zhang Tie towards the hatch door of the airboat and prepared to get off the airboat.


    Besides Bian Heng, only Zhang Tie''s eldest son Zhang Chenglei and his cousin Zhang Su followed Zhang Tie here. The others in Jinwu Palace and Iron-Dragon Sect and those women of Yin-Yang Sect in Castle of Black Iron didn''t come with him.


    Those women of Yin-Yang Sect were busy doing their own jobs in Castle of Black Iron. Their lives were pretty full every day. Therefore, they didn''t have time to pay attention to other things. Additionally, the holy war was ongoing; therefore, those women of Yin-Yang Sect didn''t want to come out of there for the time being. Zhang Tie just let them do whatever they wanted in Castle of Black Iron. As for Yan Feiqing and the other family members, it was not suitable for them to follow Zhang Tie here as he was here to negotiate about the warfare of the holy war which determined the future of Taixia Country and humans; instead of making a sightseeing tour. Therefore, they just stayed in Youzhou Province.


    Before opening the hatch door completely, Bian Heng suddenly heard muffled booms from outside. Closely after that, he released his protective battle qi with shock as he asked, "Is there an assassin?"


    "It''s not an assassin, but gun salute!" Zhang Tie told Bian Heng with a smile.


    "Gun salute? What''s that?" Bian Heng asked Zhang Tie out of curiosity.


    There was no gun salute in Motian Realm. Therefore, Bian Heng felt very strange about this kind of ritual.


    Hearing the thunder-like bangs, Zhang Tie started to explain about gun salute and its purpose to Bian Heng.


    "It''s so strange; so strange!" After hearing him, Bian Heng shook his head while he replied with an unbelievable look, "According to you, guns were mass destructive weapons on battlefields; however, they finally work as gun salute. I''ve really not seen people greeting their guests with gun salute!"


    "This tradition is not exclusive to Hua people, but originated from the Western Continent. I''m afraid that it''s similar to using axes and spikes as ceremonial instruments by Hua people!"


    Gun salute in this age was greatly different than that before the Catastrophe. In Black Iron Age, gun salute was an effect of loud sound caused by the fast release of the compressed stream. In order to make it louder, the gun barrels for the ceremonial purposes were even processed with rune technology. The vehicles for gun salute were especially huge. These things could only be seen in Xuanyuan Hill. They belonged to the honor guards of Taixia Country.


    In order to welcome Zhang Tie, an over 20,000 m long runway had been cleared at this airport. A square matrix of salute guns was set in the nearby and was discharging their gun salutes tidily and orderly.


    The airport was covered with banners and people. Almost all the big figures in Xuanyuan Hill had arrived here.


    Three princes were assigned here, who were standing in front of all the others and in the middle location. On the left side of the three princes were the high-level officials of Taixia Country represented by the three councilors of the state and nine ministers. On the right side of the three princes were Hua dignitaries represented by the six lords in Taixia Country.


    At this moment, almost all the major officials above LV 3 in the royal court of Xuanyuan Hill had arrived. They were all welcoming Zhang Tie respectfully. Actually, two of the three councilors and nine ministers were not here, namely Meng Shidao, the Premier of State Council of Taixia Country and Li Yunji the former justice minister who was put behind the bars in the prison of Xuanyuan Hill.


    It was said that Meng Shidao was sick; therefore, he didn''t come here to welcome Zhang Tie. Li Yunji the justice minister was the most unfortunate. Although he showed off his power in Youzhou Province, he was arrested by a commander of God''s Will Army on the way back to Xuanyuan Hill and put behind the bars in the Xuanyuan Hill. As for his crime, he colluded with the three major sects, fabricated an unjust case and framed up loyal and upright people. The golden Xiemao rune that Li Yunji presented outside the mountain gate of Iron-Dragon Sect was also proved to be fake. Since Li Yunji was put behind the bars, the position of the justice minister had been vacant.


    Except for Lord Fairysea; Lord Guangnan, Lord Xuanwu, Lord Jingtian, Lord Dingxi and Lord Yian were all here and standing in the first row, closely followed by noblemen like dukes, marquises and counts. Those below counts were not even qualified to stand here.


    Bai Runtian the Lord Guangnan was standing in the middle of the five lords and looking around complacently. Standing on both sides of Lord Guangnan, Lord Xuanwu, Lord Jingtian, Lord Dingxi and Lord Yian were watching Lord Guangnan with admiration in their eyes.


    Previously, except Cao Clan, the clan of Lord Dingxi slightly declined due to various reasons, Lu Clan, the clan of Lord Xuanwu, Sun Clan, the clan of Lord Jingtian and Qin Clan, the clan of Yian were not weaker than Bai Clan, the clan of Lord Guangnan. They were all on the same level. Although Qin Clan''s base was in Xuanyuan Hill and didn''t appear to own too much territory, Qin Clan controlled Xuanyuan Bank, the largest bank in Taixia Country. Xuanyuan Bank''s influence covered the entire country. Therefore, Qin Clan was almost the No. 1 clan among the five lords. However, it was already history. As Zhang Tie was Bai Runtian''s son-in-law, of course, Bai Runtian became the lord of lords. Nobody had any dissent about it.


    Behind the royal households and major officials and officers were ambassadors, even kings or princes from countries on the Western Continent and subcontinents. They were of different skin colors and in different kinds of uniforms. The population of these people was greater than 3,000.


    With gun salutes, all of them were standing there silently, raising their heads and waiting for Zhang Tie.


    Such a grand ceremony had been held for over 100 years in Xuanyuan Hill.


    After 108 gun salutes, with the long bugles of the honor guards, the Xuanyuan-level airboat''s hatch door slowly opened. Zhang Tie then slowly got off the airport and stepped onto the red carpet on the ground, followed by Bian Heng.


    The three princes instantly came forward to greet Zhang Tie.


    The three princes were respectively the eldest prince Xuanyuan Changqing, the sixth prince Xuanyuan Changhong and the eighteenth prince Xuanyuan Feng.


    Xuanyuan Changqing was already a heavenly knight. Xuanyuan Changhong and Xuanyuan Feng were already shadow knights. Pitifully, none of them cultivated the emperor-level secret method Xuanyuan God Sutra.


    Zhang Tie didn''t see Xuanyuan God Sutra before. He just heard about that the conditions for cultivating this emperor-level secret method were very strict, which required exceptional qualification. Therefore, not all the princes of Emperor Xuanyuan were qualified to cultivate Xuanyuan God Sutra. Those who could cultivate Xuanyuan God Sutra and had promoted to knights were only late Crown Prince, the third prince and the ninth prince.


    However, the Crown Prince had been assassinated, the third prince was killed by Zhang Tie; the ninth prince had been put under house arrest as he was involved with the three major sects and Royal Alliance. Therefore, the entire royal households looked a bit bleak. None of them could bring hope to the royal households anymore.


    Perhaps the word bleak was too acerbic. To be honest, as the descendants of Emperor Xuanyuan, all the three princes in front of Zhang Tie were talents with superb flair. It was not hard for them to be outstanding. However, as princes, since they were asserted that they couldn''t cultivate Xuanyuan God Sutra by Emperor Xuanyuan and had to cultivate other inferior secret methods, they had been doomed to not be outstanding in Xuanyuan Hill which was full of elites and heroes for their whole lives, not to mention ascending to the throne.


    After greeting Zhang Tie, the three princes stood aside. After that, a young wife in 3-phoenix coronet and with red eyes and a handsome and stable youth walked to the front of the representatives of royal households, holding the hands of a 7-year old boy in golden royal costume. The three people then knelt down and touched the ground with their foreheads towards Zhang Tie at the same time.


    "Father-in-law, my respect to you. I''m Xuanyuan Yunfei..."


    "Father, my respect to you. I''m Shini..."


    "Grandpa, my respect to you. I''m Xuanyuan Zhu..."


    As the 7-year old boy knelt down and crept on the ground, he raised his head and watched Zhang Tie with his black eyes in a flexible and smart way stealthily. The boy''s look reminded Zhang Tie of himself in his childhood...

 1982 Question and Answer

    Watching the three people in front of him, especially his daughter Zhang Shini and the little boy who called him grandpa next to his daughter, Zhang Tie felt complex. Before the battle at Yinhai Desert, Shini, Zhang Tie''s favorite daughter was still behaving in a spoiled manner in his arms. Unexpectedly, after he came back, his daughter had already become a wife and a mother...


    All parents would be moved to see their children become parents.


    Being purely political, the marriage between Zhang Chenglei and Princess Peacepursuit was the bond between Jinwu Palace and the late Crown Prince Changying. It had been fixed before the battle at Yinhai Desert. Additionally, Zhang Chenglei and Zhang Tie''s daughter-in-law were always courteous to each other and had already had three sons and one daughter. Both parties were very satisfied with this marriage.


    However, the marriage between Zhang Shini and Xuanyuan Yunfei was not out of political purpose; instead, it was love.


    Xuanyuan Yunfei was Princess Peacepursuit''s junior brother who shared the same father with Princess Peacepursuit. After marrying Zhang Chenglei, Princess Peacepursuit gave birth to two sons after a few years. Then, the new family went to Xuanyuan Hill to visit Princess Peacepursuit''s parents. At that time, Zhang Shini followed her eldest brother and eldest sister-in-law to Xuanyuan Hill for the purpose of sightseeing, where she got acquainted with Xuanyuan Yunfei. As Zhang Shini and Xuanyuan Yunfei were both in their puberty, they gradually fell in love with each other.


    Later on, although Zhang Shini had already left Xuanyuan Hill, she always contacted Xuanyuan Yunfei. The two people would meet once or twice a year.


    When the two people grew mature and reached the proper age for marriage, Zhang Shini and Xuanyuan Yunfei confessed their secret to their own families. With the consent of the parents of both parties, the two people smoothly got married. The marriage between Zhang Shini and Xuanyuan Yunfei further strengthened the relationship between Jinwu Palace and the party of late Crown Prince Changying.


    Zhang Shini, who had already become a mother, was already a black iron knight. Her battle force was even much greater than that of Xuanyuan Yunfei, who was not even a knight. Xuanyuan Yunfei looked handsome and similar to late Crown Prince Changying; however, he was not as domineering as late Crown Prince Changying; instead, he looked like an elegant scholar. Zhang Shini was also lenient and tender like Linda. They were really a perfect couple.


    "Shini, you''ve already grown up. Get up. Let''s talk about it later..." Zhang Tie watched the three people for a few seconds with complex moods. After that, he slightly waved his hand, causing the three people to stand up with a wisp of tender battle qi, which poured out of the earth''s surface.


    It might be Xuanyuan Zhu''s first time to be lifted by a sage-level knight with battle qi. When he slowly got up, he was apparently shocked with a flurried look. However, he didn''t shout; instead, he recovered his composure immediately. It was hard for a 7-year old boy to make it. Therefore, Zhang Tie cast one more glance at his grandson.


    "Who taught you in normal times?" Zhang Tie bent over and asked Xuanyuan Zhu with a pleasant look.


    "Grandpa, My parents teach me and supervise my learning usually. Since last year when I was 6 years old, I have started to attend Mr. Fang''s classes five days a week!" Xuanyuan Zhu answered with a clear and innocent voice.


    ''Mr. Fang...'' Zhang Tie immediately recalled a familiar image. Only one person could be called Mr. Fang by the party of late Crown Prince Changying, namely the adviser of late Crown Prince Changying.


    "I''ve got a question for you." Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    After hearing that Zhang Tie was going to ask Xuanyuan Zhu about one question, all the others near the airboat fixated onto Xuanyuan Zhu.


    "Please go ahead, grandpa!" Xuanyuan Zhu took in a deep breath before chesting out and saying, "I will definitely tell you all that I know honestly. If I don''t know about the answer, I will study hard when I come back!"


    "Okay, do you know how to make rice brew?"


    "Yes, I do!"


    Zhang Tie''s question sounded a bit strange; however, Xuanyuan Zhu''s answer was such resolute without any hesitation. Watching this scene, all the others in the surroundings remained silent.


    "How do you know it?"


    "Mom always made rice brew in the mansion. Mom''s rice brew is aromatic and sweet. I like eating it the most. As I always saw mom cook it at home, I helped mom to make it and gradually learned to make it independently!"


    Zhang Tie stroked Xuanyuan Zhu''s head before saying, "Not bad! When I was as old as you, I''ve also learned how to make rice brew. Do you feel it interesting to make rice brew?"


    "Interesting!" Xuanyuan Zhu replied as he nodded seriously, "Well-made rice brew is yummy. Besides, Mr. Fang has taught me about the philosophy of rice brew!"


    "What philosophy?"


    "Mr. Fang told me that all the affairs concerning rice and food are very significant in the world. Nothing else is more important than that. With rice and food, we could live, work, read and cultivate; with rice and food, Xuanyuan Hill could run, fighters in the frontline could have strength to fight demons. Therefore, before deciding whether one could do something or not or what degree could he reach by doing that, he should see whether he could have food or not by doing that. For instance, when one is hungry, one would not be able to cultivate, go too far or have a good play. Mr. Fang said that demons were bad; because they didn''t want us to enjoy food steadfastly. If we''re happy or have enough food, demons would be unhappy about that and would destroy such good days..."


    "Hahaha, not bad..." Zhang Tie laughed as he stroked Xuanyuan Zhu''s head. After that, he drew Xuanyuan Zhu''s hand and asked Xuanyuan Zhu to walk together with him.


    Watching this scene, many people changed their attitude about Xuanyuan Zhu at once.


    ...


    Later on, Zhang Tie coordinated with them and had brief talks with or nodded towards all the three councilors, nine ministers and all the other dignitaries and ambassadors from all the other countries. After that, being escorted by big crowds, he pulled Xuanyuan Zhu into an open limo and had Xuanyuan Zhu sit on his side. After that, the vehicle drove out of the airport with the guard of honor.


    It was Pangu Avenue on the central axis of Xuanyuan Hill outside the airport. It had long been in a shocking commotion on both sides of Pangu Avenue. There were full of colorful flags and a dark sense of people on both sides of the avenue and the square. Many people reached their upper bodies and heads out of the windows of the buildings on both sides of Pangu Avenue. Even the roofs of the buildings on both sides of Pangu Avenue had been crowded with people.


    Elite fighters in full-body armors which were responsible for the safety of Xuanyuan Hill were standing on both sides of Pangu Avenue, one person per meter. They were maintaining the order on the avenue and preventing onlookers from pouring into the road.


    "Monarch Qianji..."


    "Monarch Qianji is coming..."


    As Zhang Tie appeared, the crowd on both sides of the avenue were instantly in hubbubs as their cheers became as overwhelming as a tsunami. In an instant, the entire Xuanyuan Hill roared like a silent volcano suddenly erupted.


    With the boom of engines, 108 heavy airplanes flew over the sky above Pangu Avenue with colorful smokes, leaving a brilliant rainbow in the sky...


    Sitting in the open limo, Zhang Tie was waving his hand towards those civilians on both sides of the avenue. Tens of thousands of maidens were scattering their peach petals towards Zhang Tie''s fleet on roadside stones and on the roadside buildings. The entire Pangu Avenue was instantly submerged in the ocean of cheer and fresh flowers.  Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    After being depressed by the holy war for so long, Taixia Country and the civilians in Xuanyuan Hill urgently demanded such a spirited and festive celebration...


    In such a festive and inspiring celebration, Zhang Tie could clearly sense that numerous moods turned into colorful energies that couldn''t be discovered by ordinary people and entered the realm of moods at any time across Xuanyuan Hill. The jubilant and inspiring positive energy was completely opposite to those kinds of negative energy on the battlefields. Such energies couldn''t be absorbed by and were hated by the supreme demon powerhouses.


    Xuanyuan Hill was the heart of Taixia Country. What happened here could instantly reach the rest of the country. Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had felt that more and more positive energy was entering the realm of moods within tens of thousands of miles in Xuanyuan Hill, many of them were completely consistent with the energy of belief. Zhang Tie could directly absorb and utilize such energy and form his own immortal chakra...


    At this moment, Zhang Tie finally understood why Emperor Xuanyuan as the descendant of Dragon Emperor didn''t establish an immortal palace in Taixia Country; because the title and position of Emperor Xuanyuan was the very belief of hundreds of millions of Hua civilians...

 1983 Mourning for Late Crown Prince Changying

    ¡ª¡ªPaved with peach blossoms, the road is for Monarch Qianji; covered with red, they will open for you today every year under sunlight and in the breeze!


    The grand welcome ceremony for Zhang Tie''s arrival could definitely be described in the above lines.


    That poem was not created by Zhang Tie. Actually, Zhang Tie spotted this poem on the piece of red cloth being held high by some excited scholars with bamboo poles on the roof of a building.


    The entire Xuanyuan Hill was in hubbubs. Zhang Tie''s fleet bathed the rain of brilliant peach flowers and the cheer of the onlookers on the way to Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal city.


    When Zhang Tie''s fleet came to the entrance of the royal cemetery in Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal city, Zhang Tie saw Fang Qingming standing at the entrance of the royal cemetery and waiting for him.


    After Crown Prince Changying was assassinated, he was buried in the royal cemetery in the Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal city in Xuanyuan Hill.


    Zhang Tie''s first destination in Xuanyuan Hill was the royal cemetery. He would like to mourn for late Crown Prince Changying first. All the other major figures of the royal households and late Crown Prince Changying''s family had long been waiting for Zhang Tie in the cemetery. Those officials, officers and ambassadors in Xuanyuan Hill also followed him here.


    One of the most important reasons why Zhang Tie chose to come to Xuanyuan Hill today was that it was Crown Prince''s memorial day.


    Zhang Tie got off the vehicle and walked towards Fang Qingming who was standing at the entrance of the cemetery while holding Xuanyuan Zhu''s hand. The three princes then led Zhang Tie towards the mausoleum of Crown Prince Xuanyuan Changying, followed by all the others.


    When he saw Xuanyuan Zhu getting off the same vehicle with Zhang Tie, Fang Qingming''s eyes sparkled with shock. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.


    "My respect to you, Monarch Qianji!" Fang Qingming greeted Zhang Tie with full respect when he saw Zhang Tie approaching him. Xuanyuan Zhu called Fang Qingming, "Master."


    "Mr. Fang, long time no see!" Zhang Tie sighed when he saw Fang Qingming who was old and firm instead of being as young as that over 20 years ago, "Unexpectedly, the departure with Crown Prince Changying in Xuanyuan Hill is for always!"


    "If His Highness knew that Monarch Qianji is back safe and sound, he would definitely be very happy!"


    "Zhu said that Mr. Fang always lived in the cemetery and kept vigil beside Crown Prince''s mausoleum over these years."


    "A man cannot serve two masters. Now that I couldn''t protect His Highness with my weak ability, I would feel satisfied with guarding His Highness'' mausoleum!" Fang Qingming said as he made a hand gesture and led Zhang Tie inside the cemetery.


    The royal cemetery was on a hill inside Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal city. This hill was verdant all the year round. The two sides of the aisle were full of solemn giant dark steel land turtles which carried 5-6 m high steles with inscriptions. These stony sculptures made the cemetery more solemn and respectful.


    Besides the late empress, the most remarkable royal person being buried here was Crown Prince Changying.


    With the guidance of Fang Qingming, Zhang Tie climbed the mountain for a short while along the broad main road before entering the exclusive cemetery of Crown Prince Changying.


    The table and sacrificial articles had been prepared well for Zhang Tie.


    Mrs. Xiao, the wife of late Crown Prince Changying, and all the concubines and descendants of late Crown Prince Changying were standing on both sides of the table and waiting for Zhang Tie. When Zhang Tie burned the joss sticks and scattered alcohol for late Crown Prince Changying, all the family members of Xuanyuan Changying bent over towards him.


    With great ambitions, he was buried in the loess. As Zhang Tie''s old friend, he became white bones and rested with the evergreen mountain. When Zhang Tie recalled Crown Prince Changying''s voice and expression and watched this graveyard, he couldn''t help feeling sad.


    "Brother Changying, you and I have parted with each other for almost 30 years. I''m especially here to visit you. As it''s your memorial day today, I will offer a demon''s head to you as the sacrifice. Hopefully, I''ve avenged your death and could help you rest in peace..." Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh with tears at his eye corners. Meanwhile, he took out of the head of Sagus, an abyss monarch whose eyes were still wide open and put it onto the sacrificial table.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words and watching Zhang Tie taking out of the head of a sage-level demon knight, all the others on the spot were greatly shocked. Mrs. Xiao and Crown Prince Changying''s concubines burst into tears at once. All the descendants of Crown Prince Changying then bent over deeply towards Zhang Tie. All the major officials and officers over there were greatly shocked as they sighed with moods.


    "Monarch Qianji, thank you for taking revenge for His Highness. When Crown Prince was alive, he told me that only Monarch Qianji was his bosom friend in this world. After Monarch Qianji disappeared in the battle at Yinhai Desert, His Highness sighed day and night and didn''t have any appetite. If His Highness knew that Monarch Qianji was back safe and sound and had wiped out demons and evil forces as well as made Taixia Country and humans much more powerful than before, he would definitely feel happy for you!" Mrs. Xiao talked to Zhang Tie as she wiped off her tears.


    "I hate I was back late. If I could come back a few years earlier, Brother Changying might not have died for the country!" Zhang Tie said as he shook his head.


    "His Highness always said that human power was always limited. It''s not Monarch Qianji''s fault. Please don''t blame yourself!" Mrs. Xiao said as she took a glance at Fang Qingming.


    Fang Qingming then implied the four royal knights beside him to carry a dark steel turtle with a huge stone stele on its back over here and put it in front of Zhang Tie and said, "Monarch Qianji, please leave memorial words for His Highness!"


    There were already two rows of similar dark steel turtles in the Crown Prince''s cemetery. The giant steles on the backs of those turtles were all funeral orations and sacrificial couplets which depicted the lifetime meritorious deeds and meaningful events of Crown Prince Changying. Of course, those who were qualified to leave memorial words here were all top figures like three counselors and six lords.


    Zhang Tie also spotted a memorial article left by Meng Shidao among them which was composed of thousands of words.


    Watching the dark steel turtle and huge stele on its back, Zhang Tie only considered it for two seconds before reaching out a finger and leaving two lines of sublime words on it with his sparkling battle qi.


    ¡ª¡ªNot being regretful about surname Xuanyuan, you''re still a hero after death!


    Given Xuanyuan Changying''s lifetime meritorious deeds, he afforded such great praise and comment. Few crown prince in the history of humans could behave better and contribute more than Crown Prince Xuanyuan at the critical moment of the country.


    ...


    After Zhang Tie''s mourning, all the officers, officials and ambassadors consecutively mourned Crown Prince Changying. Then, the welcome ceremony almost came to an end superficially.


    After leaving the royal cemetery, Zhang Tie directly returned to Qianji Mansion.


    Soon after Zhang Tie entering the gate of Qianji Mansion, Fang Qingming had paid a visit to him. Zhang Tie asked people to take Fang Qingming into the parlor of Qianji Mansion.


    "Xuanyuan Zhu, the grandson of Monarch Qianji will administer affairs of state, Monarch Qianji will be conferred as Lord Xuanyuan and act as regent. Your position is above three lords. In this way, the friendship between Monarch Qianji and His Highness could be preserved; the descendants and royal households of Emperor Xuanyuan could still remain decent; the overall situation facing Taixia Country as a whole could be stabilized and people could be reassured; a new situation facing holy war could be opened up; Jinwu Palace''s foundation as the No. 1 clan in Taixia Country could be laid. Jinwu Palace doesn''t belong to royal households; however, it''s more like royal households. If Monarch Qianji agrees, it would bring boundless beneficence to Taixia Country and humans. Even our descendants would benefit from your kindness. Any other choice that Monarch Qianji makes would cause great casualties and turmoil across the country even humans. Besides, even the holy war would not come to an end in a short period of time. It''s my sincere words, please consider it carefully, Monarch Qianji!"


    Before Zhang Tie opened his mouth, Fang Qingming had deeply bowed towards Zhang Tie and said without any polite greeting or prelude.


    ...

 1984 Fixing the Major Even

    Gazing at Fang Qingming who was bowing deeply towards him expressionlessly in the parlor, Zhang Tie admired the great convincing power of this adviser of late Crown Prince Changying.


    Fang Qingming was crystal clear about his target here in Xuanyuan Hill; therefore, he put it straight with enough reasons the moment he saw Zhang Tie.


    "Mr. Fang, please get up!" Zhang Tie walked to the main seat and sat down, continuing, "Is that Empress Shaoyi and Mrs. Xiao who asked Mr. Fang to come here? Mr. Fang, do you think I want Xuanyuan Zhu to be the new emperor only because I let him stay with me today?"


    Empress Shaoyi was late Crown Prince Changying''s mother. Zhang Tie had not seen her; however, he heard that she was a powerful figure in the royal palace. Only after having a brief talk with Mrs. Xiao today, Zhang Tie had known that Mrs. Xiao could never be matched by ordinary women.


    It was said that Monarch Qianji was going to replace the royal households across Xuanyuan Hill. Therefore, all the members of the royal household were in panic. Zhang Tie had sensed it as he was firstly welcomed by three princes today. It was a very rare courteous reception. It was very abnormal for the royal household to do that. It might display the royal household''s fear and concern about Zhang Tie''s ambition. However, the royal household could do nothing to relieve their fear and concern; because most of the people across Taixia Country were standing on Zhang Tie''s side; especially the military and local major clans and sects. The royal households had very few trump cards; additionally, Zhang Tie was not afraid of their trump cards at all. Besides the identity of the royal household of Taixia Country, there was an employed sage-level knight who was said to never leave the royal palace. As for the branch of late Crown Prince Changying, they might not even match the three princes who welcomed Zhang Tie today after Crown Prince Changying was assassinated and Meng Shidao chose another wise owner. Given seniority and cultivation level alone, the three princes could definitely suppress Xuanyuan Yunfei and his brothers and sisters.


    Actually, before Zhang Tie returned to Taixia Country, Xuanyuan Lie the ninth prince of Emperor Xuanyuan had already been ready to ascend to the throne and the branch of late Crown Prince Changying had already been completely marginalized. If Zhang Tie didn''t come back, the last obstacles for Xuanyuan Lie to ascend to the throne might have been completely cleaned up after the three major sects joined hands to crack down Jinwu Palace.


    Given political tactics alone, if Xuanyuan Zhu became the new emperor, those who benefited the most would be the branch of late Crown Prince Changying, then the entire royal household, Zhang Tie and Jinwu Palace in the end.


    Fang Qingming had already got up and sat on his seat calmly.


    "Of course Empress Shaoyi and Mrs. Xiao hoped that the descendant of Crown Prince Changying could rule Xuanyuan Hill. It''s human nature!" Fang Qingming admitted in a euphemistic way, "Monarch Qianji, you must be crystal clear about the current situation facing the royal household of Taixia Country. Although those princes are excellent, they''re unable to ascend to the throne without the support of people. Although Xuanyuan Zhu is late Crown Prince''s grandson, he inherits a part of your powerful bloodlines. His flair in cultivation could definitely rank first among the descendants of late Crown Prince Changying. He could definitely cultivate Xuanyuan God Sutra in a couple of years; he has infinite potential in the future. What''s more, as long as Xuanyuan Zhu could win your support, nobody else in the royal household would be qualified to scramble with him for the throne. He will smoothly become the new emperor of Taixia Country. Taixia Country has not got a ruler for too long. Many problems have been aroused because of this. Even the third prince and ninth prince have lost their lives. Royal Alliance also raised winds and waves across the country. The whole country urgently requires an emperor to maintain its stability, even though it''s just a nominal emperor!"


    "Without Monarch Qianji''s support, nobody else could take that seat. Of course, you could take that seat yourself; however, if you really do that, the turmoil across the country might not come to an end in a short period of time. When you pacify the entire country by force and have the royal household to give the seat to you with sincerity, it would be many years later. During these years, many more people would lose their lives. I know Monarch Qianji is always magnanimous and compassionate. You would never allow hundreds of millions of Taixia people to suffer from more hardships. As for whether Emperor Xuanyuan could come, it''s still of uncertainty. On this occasion, the complete alliance between Jinwu Palace and the royal household of Taixia Country would be the best choice for both parties!"


    "Xuanyuan Zhu behaves like a wise emperor. As his teacher, I''m crystal clear about this point. Besides the late Crown Prince''s bloodline, he also has your bloodline. He''s also your grandson. If you assist him to ascend to the throne, he will never betray his bloodline in the future. It''s nothing different than ruling the country yourself. It''s just a title! When Xuanyuan Zhu promotes to a knight and could wield power officially, the holy war might have already come to an end!"


    Fang Qingming said everything possible. His reasons were sufficient and convincing. As a result, Zhang Tie became silent. Even though Zhang Tie had made a decision, he didn''t want to state his own stand so fast. At least Zhang Tie wanted to communicate with the three councilors and the nine ministers and his father-in-law Lord Guangnan. Even though he just went through the moves, it was very necessary for him to inquire about these moguls'' opinions. It was of great significance for the overall stability of Taixia Country in the future.


    Fang Qingming was the first person who paid a visit to Qianji Mansion. After Fang Qingming left there, more and more people came to Qianji Mansion. After making exchanges with those major officials, officers and influential figures of local major clans and sects in Taixia Country except for Meng Shidao, Zhang Tie gradually formed a unified opinion with them.


    The major event was fixed!


    ...


    On February 14, the 933rd year of Black Iron Calendar, namely one week after Zhang Tie came to Xuanyuan Hill, Xuanyuan Hill had been in commotions; because on the same day, two pieces of news spread over Taixia Country and the other continents and subcontinents from Xuanyuan Hill. The shocks aroused by the two pieces of news almost immediately covered the situation facing the holy war in the west of Taixia Country.


    The first piece of news was Xuanyuan Zhu, the 8-year old grandson of late Crown Prince''s ascended to the throne officially and administered affairs of the state on this day and became the supreme ruler of Taixia Country nominally. After Emperor Xuanyuan missed so many years, Taixia Country finally got a new emperor.


    The second piece of news was that Zhang Tie, also Monarch Qianji, was conferred as Lord Xuanyuan, the head of seven lords in Taixia Country.


    Zhang Tie was conferred as Lord Xuanyuan without the process of dripping his blood on a strange crystal and displaying his meritorious deeds on Heavens Fortune List. However, nobody across Taixia country had any dissent about it; because Zhang Tie''s meritorious deeds were greater than that of any lord...


    Therefore, Zhang Tie became the only one who was conferred as the supreme lord and was widely accepted by all the humans without the process of dripping his blood on a strange crystal and displaying his meritorious deeds on Heavens Fortune List in the three holy wars.

 1985 The Regen

    Given that the holy war had not come to an end, the procedures of Xuanyuan Zhu''s ascension to the throne were simplified. Even though, the entire process still lasted three days from the early morning of February 14 to the evening of February 16.


    On February 14, Xuanyuan Zhu offered sacrifice to the heavens and the earth in the round sacrificial altar of Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace escorted by his royal relatives.


    On February 15, after finishing the sacrifice, the three councilors and the nine ministers led all the major officials and officers to the round sacrificial altar to welcome Xuanyuan Zhu. "As Your Majesty has already finished the sacrifice, please ascend to the throne right now." Xuanyuan Zhu then bade farewell to his royal relatives and was escorted by those major officials and officers to the Heavenly Heart Gate of the royal palace, where the councilors, ministers and lords were waiting for him. At Heavenly Heart Gate, there was a golden desk, on which there were the coronet and uniform, especially for the crown prince. When they saw Xuanyuan Zhu, all the dignitaries uttered in unison, "Your Majesty, please put on your coronet and uniform". Xuanyuan Zhu then walked to the front of the golden chair. The protocol officials then helped him put on the uniform. After that, they bowed towards him. Zhang Tie then helped him put on the coronet. Then, Zhang Tie held his hand and walked all the way towards the Nine Heavens Palace from Heavenly Heart Gate while being escorted by the officials and officers. Xuanyuan Zhu then took the jade seal of Taixia Country from the hands of the employed sage-level knight of the royal household who served as a seal keeper at this moment. After that, he ascended to the throne. After all the officers and officials of Taixia Country deeply bowed towards him for three times, he left Nine Heavens Palace for the Imperial Ancestral Temple.


    When he came to the Imperial Ancestral Temple, he presented the roster and jewelry and conferred his parents, his grandparents, his grandparents'' parents and his grandparents'' grandparents with important titles out of courtesy.


    On February 16, all the officials and officers wrote letters and congratulated his ascension to the throne. All the ambassadors from other countries in Xuanyuan Hill then presented the letters of credence to meet Xuanyuan Zhu. When those ambassadors finished their visits in the evening, Xuanyuan Zhu handed the jade seal of Taixia Country to Zhang Tie and officially entrusted Zhang Tie as the regent who would supervise the affairs of the state. After that, Xuanyuan Zhu left Nine Heavens Palace, which symbolized the accomplishment of the entire succession ceremony.


    From then on, as Xuanyuan Zhu was still a minor, his preoccupancy was to learn and grow up. Therefore, he could only administer the affairs of the state on the morning of the first day and the 15th day of each month. As for the other days, he had to study in the royal palace. When he finished his coming-of-age ceremony at 20 years old, Zhang Tie would return the power to him. By then, Xuanyuan Zhu would administer the affairs of the state officially.


    ...


    On February 17, the 933rd year of Black Iron Calendar, Zhang Tie in lord''s boa-silk uniform was sitting in the Nine Heavens Palace and watching the three councilors, nine ministers, those officers and officials and the five lords with complex moods.


    When he came to Xuanyuan Hill in the beginning, he could only hide his real identity and do everything stealthily. But now he was standing on the highest point of the supreme palace on behalf of Taixia Country and humans. When he retrospected the past, he felt like having a big dream.


    Zhang Tie''s seat was in front of Xuanyuan Zhu''s throne, which was only one step lower than the 9-step stairs of Xuanyuan Zhu''s. It was the regent''s seat. When Xuanyuan Zhu was not in the Nine Heavens Palace, the place, where Zhang Tie was, became the highest location in Nine Heavens Palace. He would be able to watch everything in the palace.


    The officials and officers were standing on two sides respectively. Under Zhang Tie''s seat, there were 8 chairs, respectively for the commander-in-chief, the one being responsible for public works, the premier, Lord Guangnan, Lord Xuanwu, Lod Jingtian, Lord Dingxi and Lord Yian.


    There were respectively two rows of imperial guards in shiny helmets and armors on both sides on the royal stairs. These guards were at least knights.


    Meng Shidao was sitting in the seat of premier and watching Zhang Tie calmly. Zhang Tie also watched him calmly.


    One day before Xuanyuan Zhu ascended to the throne, Meng Shidao who was "a bit sick" finally "recovered" and attended the following three ceremonies. In the three days, Zhang Tie had seen Meng Shidao for more than once. However, the two parties didn''t make any exchange with each other. Today, it was the first time for Zhang Tie and Meng Shidao to meet each other officially after Zhang Tie''s return.


    However, one was in a higher position while the other in a lower position.


    It was the first day for Zhang Tie to administer the affairs of the state. It was pretty solemn in the Nine Heavens Palace. All the officers and officials in the palace looked calm like Meng Shidao, no matter what they thought. Many people had noticed the subtle qi field between Zhang Tie and Meng Shidao when the two people watched each other. However, nobody opened their mouth. They were all waiting for Zhang Tie to break the silence.


    Watching Meng Shidao''s calm look, Zhang Tie felt like watching capricious mist. Actually, Zhang Tie always felt that something in Meng Shidao''s eyes was observing him secretly.


    Meng Shidao behaved very calmly. He didn''t even look afraid or flurried at all after knowing that Zhang Tie had entered Xuanyuan Hill.


    Meng Shidao was the premier of Taixia Country, one of the three councilors of the country. After Meng Shidao promoted to a sage-level knight, it was absolutely reasonable for him to hurt Yun Zhongzi who was wanted by the supreme court. Even though Zhang Tie couldn''t find any loophole from Meng Shidao on this event. Even though he knew that Meng Shidao might have made an agreement with Old Man Taiyi and Grand Master Shenkong privately, he still couldn''t condemn Meng Shidao because of this because of the two sage-level knights had already died.


    Those knights of the three major sects who were captured by Iron-Dragon Sect didn''t even know that Meng Shidao had connections with Old Man Taiyi and Grand Master Shenkong, not to mention the agreement between them. Even Xuanyuan Lie, the ninth prince of Emperor Xuanyuan, couldn''t get any intelligence from their mouths; because Meng Shidao didn''t have any contact with Xuanyuan Lie at all. Given the above points, Zhang Tie couldn''t find any loophole from Meng Shidao at all.


    Over 30 years ago, Zhang Tie returned to Taixia Country for the first time. At that time, the Gobbling Party was already a great force in Taixia Country. During these years when Meng Shidao served as the premier of Taixia Country, the influence of the Gobbling Party expanded in Taixia Country rapidly. Besides those disciples of Meng Shidao''s, hundreds of millions of people were bewildered by the specious theory of humanity, justice and morality of the Gobbling Party. After so many years, many such people had already become the grass-roots or even middle-level officials in Taixia Country. Their tentacles had already reached every nook and corner of the country; some of them had even become provincial governors and had great influence in the provinces, prefectures and cities across Taixia Country. It was no exaggeration to say that the influence that Gobbling Party posed to the grass-roots civilians of Taixia Country was absolutely greater than that of the three major sects. This explained why Zhang Tie didn''t catch Meng Shidao for the time being.


    However, it didn''t mean that Zhang Tie could tolerate Meng Shidao bringing trouble to him on the position of premier of Taixia Country.


    In order to end the holy war as soon as possible, Meng Shidao must leave the position of premier and leave Xuanyuan Hill.


    ...


    "When I arrived at Xuanyuan Hill a few days ago, I''ve heard that Chancellor Meng was sick. I wonder whether do you feel a bit better these days?" Under the gaze of so many officers and officials in the Nine Heavens Palace, Zhang Tie asked Meng Shidao calmly on the high seat.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s first words, many officials and officers in the palace felt that their hearts pounded slightly. Everyone knew the old scores between Jinwu Palace and Gobbling Party. They all knew that Zhang Tie was not actually concerned about Meng Shidao''s physical condition.


    "Thanks for your concern, Lord!" Meng Shidao replied with a smile, "A few years ago, in order to promote to a sage-level knight, I got into a devil''s way when in cultivation and got some sequela. I''ve not been completely cured even now. Sometimes, I feel a lack of spirit. As it''s at the critical moment of holy war, the position of premier is closely related to the holistic situation facing Taixia Country, I feel that I couldn''t be qualified for this position any longer; therefore, I especially come here to resign. After resignation, I prepare to return to the Gobbling Province and open a college. I''m going to be immersed in learning and continue to realize the secrets in the far-ancient moral stele!"


    Zhang Tie was slightly shocked by Meng Shidao''s words. Zhang Tie indeed planned to kick off Meng Shidao today. He had long prepared well some tricks and was going to try them on Meng Shidao. Unexpectedly, Meng Shidao asked for resignation voluntarily. He drew back wisely in the face of overwhelming odds. This really saved Zhang Tie''s time.


    "I agree!" Zhang Tie didn''t even urge him to stay out of politeness; instead, he directly agreed with Meng Shidao to leave like pushing a boat along the current. Meng Shidao appeared to be choked by Zhang Tie''s words. However, Zhang Tie didn''t continue to see Meng Shidao; instead, he told some guards in the palace in a decisive tone, "We''re going to discuss the current situation facing Taixia Country and humans in the holy war; additionally, we should work out the solutions. It would last long. Now that Chancellor Meng doesn''t feel good and always lacks spirit, you''d better leave here for recuperation; otherwise, if there''s something bad happens to you, people would complain to me about not respecting the elder. Accompany Chancellor Meng to go back to his mansion for rest; have imperial doctors make a diagnosis for and give treatment to Chancellor Meng carefully. Chancellor Meng, if you need any pills, just have people take them from the royal warehouse!"


    "Thanks for your concern, Lord!" Meng Shidao appreciated Zhang Tie as he took got up and took a gloomy glance at Zhang Tie calmly. Before those guards approached him, Meng Shidao had walked towards the gate of Nine Heavens Palace.


    "Chancellor Meng, please leave the seal of premier in case that I have to have someone to take it!" Zhang Tie said calmly, "Chancellor Meng could leave Xuanyuan Hill at any time; however, Xuanyuan Hill must have a premier every day!"


    The entire palace was in dead silence. All the officials and officers in the palace were watching Meng Shidao who had stopped his foot.


    Even though Emperor Xuanyuan couldn''t dismiss premier, one of the three councilors, in such a simple way. Zhang Tie''s strong resolute decision caused many people''s heart to palpitate.


    Meng Shidao turned around and took a glance at Zhang Tie with a smile. He then lightly took off a space-teleportation finger ring and gave it to a guard. Then, he left the Nine Heavens Palace with the "company" of two guards.


    Watching Meng Shidao leaving in such a calm way, Zhang Tie didn''t feel relaxed at all; instead, he became intense at once. Actually, Zhang Tie didn''t mean to fiercely maul Meng Shidao by the last two sentences; instead, he was just testing Meng Shidao on purpose. Previously, he thought that Meng Shidao would resist him; unimaginably, Meng Shidao just accepted his arrangement calmly. That was too abnormal.


    ''Did he swallow insult and humiliation wisely or have Plan B?''


    Zhang Tie looked a bit solemn...


    ...

 1986 The Harm of the Gobbling Party

    Zhang Tie saw Meng Shidao off the stairs outside the Nine Heavens Hall with slightly narrowing eyes. Then he glanced over those civilian ministers and military officers in the hall.


    Many people among them at present dared not look straight into Zhang Tie''s eyes.


    ''No matter what, I''ve completed the first step¡ª¡ªdrive Meng Shidao out of here...'' Zhang Tie muttered inside. ''I''ve got only two things to deal with. Stabilize the domestic situation before resisting foreign aggression. I will completely end this holy war in the homeland of humans and drive all the damn demons back to the underground...''


    At this moment, it was the supreme target in Zhang Tie''s inner heart.


    In order to reach this target, Zhang Tie could do many things that he didn''t want to do or felt reluctant to do in the past such as being regent and being completely merciless to all the enemies and opponents.


    "The position of the Finance Minister is of great significance and should not be vacant. Now that Mr. Meng has resigned, do you have any proper commendation?" Zhang Tie continued to ask.


    Ordinary officers were not qualified to recommend someone to assume such an important position. After hearing Zhang Tie''s question, all the Civil Ministers and military officers in the hall fixated onto those people right under the throne of Zhang Tie.


    ''I''m afraid that Qianji Monarch has long reached a tacit agreement with someone; otherwise, he could never drive Meng Shidao away so decisively.'' Many people at present were crystal clear about it.


    "I''ve got a candidate!" Zuoqiu Mingyue stood up and opened his mouth.


    "Please go ahead, Military Minister!" Zhang Tie said seriously.


    "I recommend Tang Ling the former commander-in-chief and Senior General Bearpower of Imperial Guards to be the new Finance Minister!" Zuoqiu Mingyue took a look at all the others as he opened his mouth. "Before assuming the former commander-in-chief of Imperial Guards, he once assumed the position of minister of agriculture. He has rich experience in political affairs. Later on, when Tang Ling promoted to a heavenly knight and ruled the Imperial Guards, he made illustrious military exploits. Before the holy war broke out, Tang Ling intended to promote to a semi-sage level knight. He then resigned with the consent of Emperor Xuanyuan. According to my knowledge, Tang Ling had promoted to a semi-level sage knight at the end of last year and has just stabilized his realm. He could stop secluded cultivation at any time. My lord, if you send an order, Tang Ling would definitely like to assume this position and contribute to Taixia Country!"


    Zuoqiu Mingyu indeed had already communicated with Zhang Tie about this candidate. After knowing that Zhang Tie would never allow Meng Shidao to assume the position of Finance Minister, Zuoqiu Mingyue proposed the most proper candidate in their hearts on behalf of the military and top four armies of Taixia Country.


    Undoubtedly, the most proper candidate for Finance Minister that could satisfy the military must be a mogul in the army.


    The position of Finance Minister was of great significance which could influence many aspects. If it could be assumed by a mogul in the top four armies, it was definitely a good piece of news for the military of Taixia Country.


    Actually, before Meng Shidao assumed the position of finance minister, the military of Taixia Country had been looking for a person who could assume this position. However, at that moment, nobody in the military of Taixia Country could compete with Meng Shidao. Plus the crown prince''s great support and many military moguls'' unrealistic expectations towards Meng Shidao, the position of Finance Minister finally fell in the hands of Meng Shidao.


    Over so many years, the military of Taixia Country had long been disgruntled with Meng Shidao; especially after Crown Prince Xuanyuan Changying was assassinated, Meng Shidao''s deeds made many military moguls furious, which mainly contained two points: firstly, since the holy war broke out, a wide area of land had been lost; however, Meng Shidao still didn''t give full support to the military; armies still couldn''t use many products of official enterprises and receive logistics replenishment timely. Additionally, the trade of fiery oil and fiery-oil weapons were levied with heavy taxes among the people. Secondly, through the interpretation of some members of the Gobbling Party, the theory about humanity, justice and morality publicized by Meng Shidao couldn''t be accepted by people at all.


    According to some backbones of the Gobbling Party, demons started the holy war because of the problems facing Hua people themselves; instead of demons. If all the Hua people''s moral integrity could reach the standard¡ª¡ªmatch moral integrity with one''s position, demons would never start the holy war; nor would Hua people suffer from any other disasters.


    Generally, in the theory of the Gobbling Party, if someone wanted to kill you ferociously with a saber, you should not resist and kill the opponent first; instead, you should review yourself and check whether there was any defect with your own moral integrity or not. Only people with mistakes could incur others'' attacks and encounter disasters. A person with perfect moral integrity would never encounter such things and would live in a perfect world.


    Over these years, due to the surging attacks of demons, Taixia Country lost lands constantly and suffered from many domestic issues. Many people at the bottom of the society gradually lost their confidence in humans in the holy war, and had been gradually bewildered by the Gobbling Party and accepted the interpretation and theory of the Gobbling Party¡ª¡ªFacing the sabers of demons, many people being influenced by the Gobbling Party didn''t think about defeating demons and chopping off demons'' heads; instead, they were praying and confessing every day and hoping to find reasons from themselves. They thought it was their own mistakes that incurred the attacks of demons. They wanted to resolve the disasters by becoming perfect people morally and reaching the "free realm" of matching their moral integrity with their positions.


    Zuoqiu Mingyue said, if this theory of the Gobbling Party was really publicized, Hua people would kneel down and fight their enemies from then on. Evidently, Hua armies would be heavily inflicted.


    Given his current position, even Zhang Tie wanted to jump up and swear at the Gobbling Party after hearing those words. Zhang Tie couldn''t understand how humble were those members of Gobbling Party who could attribute the harms brought by bandits and wild beasts to their own mistakes and confess about that.


    Before Zhang Tie came back, nobody across Taixia Country could defeat Meng Shidao and the Gobbling Party, not even Zuoqiu Mingyue. After Zhang Tie''s return, Zuoqiu Mingyue and the military of Taixia Country finally saw hope...


    They had to defeat Meng Shidao. This was a tacit agreement and common view that Zhang Tie had reached with Zuoqiu Mingyue and the other military moguls of Taixia Country.


    Even though there were no old scores between Jinwu Palace and the Gobbling Party, given the empty theory that Gobbling Party publicized alone, Zhang Tie would never allow Meng Shidao to continue to assume the position of finance minister. As long as Meng Shidao held this position, the theory of the Gobbling Party would continue to spread across the country which would castrate the spirit of Taixia Country and Hua people completely...

 1987 Zhang Ties Arrangements

    After hearing Zuoqiu Mingyue''s proposal, Zhang Tie instantly agreed with it...


    It only took Zhang Tie less than 10 minutes to dismiss Meng Shidao and appoint Tang Ling as the new premier. Additionally, Tang Ling was requested to take office in Xuanyuan Hill right now. Zhang Tie was more efficient compared to those major officials and officers who had to discuss all kinds of issues in the Nine Heavens Palace over these years.


    "As Li Yunji, the former justice minister, also one of the nine ministers of Taixia Country, is involved with the case of Royal Alliance, he has already been dismissed and put behind the bars. The position of the justice minister couldn''t be vacant. Do you have any proper candidate?" Zhang Tie''s voice reverberated around the palace soon after he fixed the position of premier.


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, all the others on the spot remained silent. As the new justice minister had to deal with a major criminal case of Royal Alliance and Jinwu Palace, nobody knew what Zhang Tie was thinking about at this moment. Therefore, they all waited for Zhang Tie to make a decision.


    The position of the justice minister was now a pair of scissors in Zhang Tie''s hand. As for whether this pair of scissors was suitable or not, it depended on its owner.


    Zhang Tie waited there for half a minute. When he found that everybody in the palace was silent, he continued.


    "Now that you''re silent, I will directly appoint the justice minister..." Zhang Tie said with a smile. Meanwhile, he looked around those major officials and officers who were standing in the palace. When the others were guessing whom Zhang Tie wanted to appoint as the new justice minister, Zhang Tie called out an unpredictable name, "Where''s Xue Bingdao, the assistant of the minister of rituals (the head of nine ministers)?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, many people fixated onto a Class II official (being closely inferior to Class I officials and officers like the three councilors and the nine ministers of Taixia Country) who was standing in a relatively front position among the officials.


    In his 50''s, the assistant of the minister of rituals had a beautiful beard, a fair face and stable temperament. Now that he could take this office, he must be a shadow knight. After hearing his name being called out, he looked a bit surprised. Closely after that, he took one step forward and replied while holding a jade plate. "I''m here, Lord!"


    "From today on, you''re the justice minister of Taixia Country!" Zhang Tie said calmly without any explanation as he watched Xue Bingdao.


    After being silent for a few seconds, Xue Bingdao bowed deeply towards Zhang Tie before replying, "Yes, Lord!"


    Many people in the palace were greatly shocked by Zhang Tie''s appointment. They could understand why Zhang Tie dismissed Meng Shidao; however, they were completely confused by this appointment. Xue Bingdao appeared to not have any connection with Jinwu Palace. He was absolutely nobody for Zhang Tie. Why would Zhang Tie suddenly have Xue Binhao carry this heavy burden by appointing him as the justice minister?


    Many people didn''t get Zhang Tie''s point; however, some understood it immediately. The commander-in-chief, the councilor of public works, Lord Guangnan, Lord Yi''an and some of the nine ministers got Zhang Tie''s point first as they all watched Zhang Tie with great admiration. Xue Bingdao also understood it too.


    Xue Bingdao was not exceptional among those major officials and officers in the palace; however, he had one advantage over all the others. Before entering Xuanyuan Hill, Xue Bingdao once served as the provincial governor of Xuanzhou Province for over 4 decades. Xuanzhou Province was a big province where Taiyi Fantasy Sect''s base was located. As the provincial governor and the provincial governor''s clan of Xuanzhou Province, even though Xue Bingdao and Xue Clan were not members of Royal Alliance, they could never avoid having relationships with Taiyi Fantasy Sects or those major sects which propped up Taiyi Fantasy Sect. At this moment, it was a good piece of news for the three flurried top sects and those major sects across the country that supported the three top sects that Zhang Tie appointed Xue Bingdao as the justice minister of Taixia Country. It meant that Zhang Tie didn''t want to wipe out the three top sects by force; instead, he would keep them alive. Additionally, he could stabilize the overall situation facing Taixia Country to the utmost degree by making this decision.


    Zhang Tie''s saber became a stick. Therefore, many people preferred to be beaten by a stick rather than hopelessly face that saber at the risk of their lives and losing their clans without any hesitation.


    "Over 1,000 knights of the three top sects are still being in the prison of Iron-Dragon Sect. After a while, the Supreme Court should assign people to take over all the knights of the three top sects in Youzhou Province and deal with them in accordance with laws. However, in the past a few months, Iron-Dragon Sect got a lot of secrets about the details of a major case in Mojiang City, Songzhou Province many years ago. At that time, the three top sects set a trap to intimidate and ambush Zhao Yuan in Mojiang City in order to get his secret methods. Unexpectedly, Zhao Yuan''s power was far greater than they could imagine. Later on, Zhao Yuan killed many knights and broke out of the predicament. Even the entire Mojiang City was destroyed in the battle. Those who should claim responsibility for the tragedy in Mojiang City should be Royal Alliance and the three top sects!"


    Zhang Tie then sighed. "As an alchemist master, Zhao Yuan should be serving humans on the battlefield at this moment; however, he''s always being sworn by the public and wanted by the supreme court because of the tragedy in Mojiang City. It''s time for the supreme court to clarify his innocence!"


    Before knowing Royal Alliance, Zhang Tie also thought that his master Zhao Yuan should be responsible for the tragedy in Mojiang City. However, after knowing the hideous nature of Royal Alliance, Zhang Tie started to doubt the truth of the tragedy in Mojiang City. This time, after Iron Dragon Sect captured so many knights of the three top sects, Zhang Tie asked his men to interrogate those knights tentatively. As was imagined, they indeed got the details about the tragedy in Mojiang City. Actually, it Royal Alliance was the culprit of that tragedy. His master Zhao Yuan was the greatest victim in the tragedy. His sufferings were difficult to put in a nutshell. When Zhao Yuan witnessed all of his family members being killed by the young owner of Heavens Holding Pavilion in Mojiang City, Zhao Yuan almost lost his marbles with stimulation. Therefore, he usually behaved like a madman later on...


    When Zhang Tie thought that the famous alchemist master was thrown out of the Zhao Mansion by the guards like a mad beggar in Whitedragon Town, Hidden Dragon Island, he almost dropped off tears out of pity.


    Today, in the Nine Heavens Palace of Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace, Zhang Tie determined his mind to clarify his master''s innocence and expose the truth of the tragedy in Mojiang City to the public.


    After having the supreme court cancel off its wanted circular about Zhao Yuan, Zhang Tie felt relieving his burden as his master Zhao Yuan could finally show up in Xuanyuan Hill aboveboard. He finally could do something for his master.


    ...


    After adjournment, Zhang Tie independently met Xue Bingdao, the new justice minister in a study room of Nine Heavens Palace.


    "Do you know why I have appointed you as the justice minister of Taixia Country?" Zhang Tie watched Xue Bingdao and asked him, sitting behind the desk.


    "Yes, I do!" Xue Bingdao said straightforwardly, "Lord, do you want to keep them alive in case of more trouble in Taixia Country because of Royal Alliance?"


    "Glad you know!" Zhang Tie nodded as he continued, "As for this case of Royal Alliance, you will be responsible for dealing with it!"


    "Lord, I''m waiting for your guidance!"


    "If they tell the truth, they will receive a lighter sentence; if they refuse to confess, they will face harsher punishment; the chief criminal will be severely punished; those being forced to do it will be pardoned. Neither punish those innocent people nor let them go. All of these are my requirements!" Zhang Tie flicked the desk as he specified with profound eyes. "Concretely, there''re three points. Firstly, from now on, the three top sects of Royal Alliance will not set the position of owner or suzerain anymore. If they want, Xuanyuan Hill will appoint proper people as their owners and suzerains. It''s the necessary price that the three top sects shall pay for their intention to rule the country. Secondly, the three dongtians of the three top sects must be taken over the top four armies of Taixia Country in the following 100 years. All the preferential policies for reassuring the three top sects across the country shall be canceled off. Thirdly, half of the properties of major clans in Royal Alliance shall be confiscated. Meanwhile, none of the descendants of these major sects in the next five generations are forbidden to be officials and officers. Those who have already been serving as officials and officers shall be demoted for consecutive three levels and shall not be promoted for the rest of their lives. Additionally, they''re forbidden to serve as provincial governors, prefectural magistrates or local main officials or officers!"


    "The latter two points are reasonable. As for the first point, it might arouse great turmoil among the three top sects. If so, it would be in contradictory with your original intention..." Xue Bingdao said with a worried look.


    "Count the quantity and cultivation levels of those disciples and knights in the three top sects and tell those elder knights in the three top sects, if the three top sects want to select their owners and suzerains, they must behave righteously for the sake of humans. They must show me three times the number of heads of demon knights and fighters if they want to atone for their crimes. Any top sect which meets this demand first could select their own owners and suzerains!"


    "Lord, It turns out that you have long been considerate about your decision." Xue Bingdao sighed with moods. Closely after that, he left there.


    After Xue Bingdao left there, Fang Qingming appeared in front of Zhang Tie with a frown as he said, "I suggest you to keep Meng Shidao in Xuanyuan Hill with an excuse; instead of having him return to the Gobbling Province. If Meng Shidao leaves here so easily, the Gobbling Party would definitely bring us great trouble in the future!"


    Fang Qingming had been conferred as Zhang Tie''s adviser who helped Zhang Tie deal with major events.


    "I am letting him go back to the Gobbling Province on purpose!" Zhang Tie watched Fang Qingming as he said slowly and calmly, "Now that the Gobbling Party was born in Gobbling Province, I will let it die in Gobbling Province too. However, the holy war counts the most. We''d better sweep over the demons in Taixia Country first!"


    ...


    Tang Ling served as the chief minister of the interior...


    The case of Royal Alliance started to enter the ending stage...


    The armies of Taixia Country resumed Ganzhou Province, Liangzhou Province, Yuzhou Province and Anzhou Province consecutively. The battle situation facing the west territory of Taixia Country started to be reversed. The whole country was in hubbubs.


    After making arrangements for personnel affairs and preparations, the entire country had been running at its full speed for ending the holy war. It was the first time for the slogan that "resume homeland and eliminate demons" to spread across the country since the holy war broke out...


    On May 1, the 933rd year of Black Iron Calendar, Zhang Tie made an oath convention with a corps of about 500,000 Zodiac guards and over 100 battle general in Xuanyuan Hill. After that, they left for the frontline by airboat with the hope of hundreds of millions of people in Xuanyuan Hill...


    "We will never come back if we don''t bury all the demons into the ground!" Zhang Tie declared to all the officials, officers, generals and soldiers on the rostrum. Closely after that, the army of 500,000 soldiers, over 100 generals and Zhang Tie bottomed up their glasses of liquor.


    "Kill demons! Kill demons! Kill demons..."


    All the 500,000 people roared in unison on the drill ground...

 1988 Five Years

    Starting from the 933rd year of Black Iron Calendar, after Zhang Tie destroyed the three major demon camps and killed four sage-level demon knights, the overall situation facing Taixia Country had been immediately reversed in an overwhelming manner like surging rivers. As a result, the armies in Taixia Country which were always in defense started to attack. They broke into the territory under the control of demons and started to recover their lost territory. Only after more than half a year, Taixia forces had already regained Ganzhou Province, Liangzhou Province, Yuzhou Province and Anzhou Province which were once occupied and managed by massive demon forces in order to threaten Lingzhou Province, Lizhou Province and humans'' defense line at Tongguan Pass.


    Even historians considered it as a symbolic event which should be spoken highly off. As it was the first time for Taixia forces to resume its lost territory on a large scale and for demon forces and knights to retreat since the holy war broke out, it was a great turn for humans on the battlefields.


    Like the great turn on the oriental battle fields, the north and south battle lines on the Western Continent also came to a turn.


    Since the 932nd year of Black Iron Calendar, the allied forces on the Western Continent had suddenly found that those puppet forces of the Sacred Alliance Empire slowed down their offensive tempo. In the beginning, the Sacred Alliance Empire decreased its offensive tempo on the land along with the use of fiery-oil weapons. Then, the air cavalries of Sacred Alliance Empire became slow to respond to attacks of humans in the air; instead, more wing demons appeared. Through constant tentative attacks, the allied human forces on the Western Continent had already secured its advantage in the sky. Later on, through a holistic analysis of intelligence, the allied human forces on the Western Continent finally confirmed that Sacred Alliance Empire couldn''t produce fiery oil within its territory anymore.


    As for armies that had been used to rely on fiery oil, as long as they lost fiery oil, it meant that their planes would not fly anymore. Besides, all the fighters would lack frightening fiery-oil weapons. On this occasion, even though the forces of Sacred Alliance Empire had demons on their backs, it was also impossible for them to maintain the previous offensive tempo.


    Additionally, when demons'' three major camps were destroyed overnight in Taixia Country, people on the Western Continent could barely see major camps that gathered a large batch of demons anymore. Even the two major demon camps within the territory of Sacred Alliance Empire had disappeared overnight. On this occasion, the morale of allied human forces on the Western Continent soared. After stabilizing the north and the south battle lines, they finally started to launch counterattacks in some theaters of operations.


    Through half a year''s preparation, on May 1, the 933rd year of Black Iron Calendar, also the same day when Zhang Tie took a mass pledge in Xuanyuan Hill, , the allied human forces in the south and the north battle lines on the Western Continent finally started a massive counter-attack. Meanwhile, human forces rapidly took the upper hand on both Eastern Continent and Western Continent. The forces of demons and demon lackeys started to collapse like avalanches.


    In June, the 933rd year of Black Iron Calendar, Zhang Tie arrived at the battlefield in Taixia Country. In the same month, hundreds of corps of top four armies like Black Armor Army, God''s Will Army and Forbidden Army divided into five main forces and respectively broke in demon''s territory from Tongguan Pass, Ganzhou Province, Liangzhou Province, Yuzhou Province and Anzhou Province which had already been resumed in an overwhelming manner like splitting bamboo. On the 934th year of Black Iron Calendar, the allied human forces continued to recover Xianzhou Province, Pingzhou Province, Jingzhou Province, Dingzhou Province and Luozhou Province. The whole country was in a festive atmosphere.


    ...


    In April, Weishui River had long thawed. From the sky, the Weishui River was running like a green belt on the ground. At noon, the sun was hanging over the sky. The huge air-borne battle fortress of Taixia Country flew over here from the east, leaving a sliding huge shadow on the devastated land.


    A 1,000 m high demon battle fortress was standing on the east bank of Weishui River like an odd-looking tree. Only after a short while, the shadow of human battle fortress had covered the demon battle fortress.


    Many beetles with iron scales were looking up at the human battle fortress in the sky on the ground nearby the demon battle fortress. Apparently, some iron-scaled beetles appeared to be intense as they were running about. Some beetles were spurting out mucus towards the sky. However, the mucus that the beetle spurted out could at most reach dozens of meters high. Therefore, their attack could be ignored by the air-borne battle fortress which was at dozens of thousands of meters high in the sky. It was like how ants crawling on the ground wanted to drown an eagle hovering in the sky with their saliva.


    The responses of those beetles were instantly transmitted to the demon battle fortress. At the same time, the demon battle fortress which looked like an odd-looking towering tree appeared to feel a danger as it started to spew black fog out of its mouthparts, which covered the air zone in the nearby.


    However, all these were in vain.


    As long as demon battle fortress completely transformed, it would not move anymore. Without the protection of other demons, its air-defense ability would almost become zero.


    Pitifully, within 600 miles around that huge airborne battle fortress, they couldn''t see any demon knight at all. There were only a few wing demons.


    When the demon battle fortress was spewing out black fog forcefully, a hot-white lightning bolt shot down from the human battle fortress in the sky, crushing the demon battle fortress on the ground immediately like a sandcastle encountering tsunami on the sand beach. In an instant, the ground within a few square miles around that demon battle fortress was swept over by the terrifying great heat and strong impact wave. Those beetles on the ground nearby this demon battle fortress were instantly vaporized and perished...


    Only after a few seconds, the ground where the demon battle fortress was located left nothing but a huge pit. Meanwhile, some beetles over 10,000 m away from the demon battle fortress screeched with great grief and ran about on the ground like headless flies.


    On the air-borne battle fortress, Zhang Tie slowly drew back his hand with a faint frown. When he watched Weishui River in front of him, he still felt fidgety out of no reason.


    Hundreds of generals and knights of Taixia Country were watching his back. As a result, very few people noticed that Zhang Tie had just destroyed a demon battle fortress on the ground. In the eyes of these generals and knights, without the protection of demon knights, demon battle fortresses were destined to turn into ashes. Even the air cavalries behind them could easily destroy that demon battle fortress on the ground.


    Just now, Zhang Tie might only want to enjoy himself just like how people who walked on the riverside would skip stones on the river occasionally.


    These generals and knights of Taixia Country behind Zhang Tie had not seen him launch a strike for almost 2 years. Zhang Tie''s latest attack was in Ningzhou Province. At that time, a heavenly demon knight was in 600 miles away from this battle fortress. Zhang Tie then flew out of the battle fortress. Only after about 10 minutes, Zhang Tie had taken back the head of a heavenly iron-armored demon knight. From then on, there was no target on the battlefields which was worth Zhang Tie''s attack.


    Nobody behind Zhang Tie spoke. Over these years, everyone behind him had formed a habit. As long as Zhang Tie didn''t send an order to have them stop. This air-borne battle fortress which worked as the vanguard of the five major forces of Taixia Country would keep flying forward and crush all the enemies that they could see on the way. Nobody could prevent them. All the obstacles on the way could be ignored in front of this airborne battle fortress. Everyone was deeply convinced that they could clean up demons all the way to the Realm of Disasters...


    "Stop..." Zhang Tie opened his mouth. He didn''t turn around; instead, he just raised his hand. Closely after that, the airborne battle fortress which was slowly flowing in the sky came to a stop. "We will wait for the ground forces and the other major forces here. When Weishui River freezes in winter, we will cross the river. After that, we will pluck up our courage to drive all the demons back into the earth, end the holy war on the earth''s surface and resume the lost land of the whole country..."


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, those generals and knights behind him instantly became thrilled as their eyes almost beamed. Right on the opposite of the Weishui River, demons were still occupying Yinzhou Province, Wuzhou Province, Zhuzhou Province, Yezhou Province and the area from wild provinces to the Realm of Disasters. They would regain these areas sooner or later. However, the speed of recovery didn''t depend on these knights who served as vanguards, but how fast the army corps of engineers behind the five major ground forces paved railways and build roads. Only after they fixed railways and roads could the logistics personnel behind them transport materials forward constantly and stabilize the ground forces.


    ...


    As the airborne battle fortress stopped in the air above the south bank of Weishui River, thousands of knights had already hurriedly flown out of the airborne battle fortress squads after squads and started to wipe out the region within thousands of miles. Generally, after they wiped out this region, the air cavalries of Taixia Country would carry out another round of search and attack here. After that, the vanguard ground troops would arrive, followed by the four major forces of the top four armies. Dozens of corps of engineers were following the four major forces and fixing railways, roads and airports for field operations at their utmost efforts. After that, provincial forces arrived. Finally, the first batch of local officials and officers and experts from all walks of life and business groups which had discovered business opportunities...


    There were few demon knights within 600 miles in the sky. Therefore, those knights who were responsible for wiping out demons firstly swore inside. They knew that another batch of people had already penetrated through this region earlier than them¡ª¡ªthe knights of major sects and clans in Taixia Country.


    When Taixia Country was in a poor overall situation in the holy war, these major sects and clans behaved more conservatively than regular troops of Taixia Country as they all hid somewhere for the sake of their own safety. When the overall situation started to reverse, these major sects and clans behaved more radical and dauntless than the regular troops of Taixia Country. As a result, all the conservative major sects and clans which hid themselves for the sake of their safety scrambled to assign their elites to the battlefields and served as the vanguards of the countries'' regular forces voluntarily.


    It had almost been 5 years since Zhang Tie left Xuanyuan Hill and took a mass pledge. The overall situation facing the holy war had long been greatly reversed...


    However, not knowing why, Zhang Tie always felt restless these days...

 1989 The Source of Zhang Ties Concern

    "As the vanguard troops of Black Armor Army, No.117 corps, No.15 corps and Black Armor Battle Fortress have already pushed forward to Peaceuniverse Prefecture in the north of Huanzhou Province, which is about 3,800 miles away from Xuanyuan Battle Fortress. Some demon forces are still resisting stubbornly. According to our estimation, Black Armor Army''s vanguard corps will clear up all the small demons quads in Peaceuniverse Prefecture in 2-3 weeks. After that, the vanguard corps will march into Fieryfield Prefecture..."


    "As the vanguard troops of God''s Will Army, No. 38 corps, No. 215 corps and God''s Will Battle Fortress have already arrived at Phoenixwing Prefecture in the south of Huanzhou Province, which is about 4,100 miles away from Xuanyuan Battle Fortress. The vanguard troops of God''s Will Army have already discovered a team of 15 demon knights in Phoenixwing Mountain Range in Phoenixwing Prefecture, the most powerful one among them were earth knights. The knights of God''s Will Army have already fought those demon knights. After killing 5 demon knights, they have already collapsed the demon team and are chasing after the remains. Three teams of 60 knights in Xuanyuan Battle Fortress have already flown towards Phoenixwing Prefecture and joined the besiege towards the remaining demon knights under the leadership of 9 earth knights..."


    "As the vanguards of the middle route army, the two corps of Zodiac Guards have already arrived at Whitetiger Prefecture in Kangzhou Province, which is about 1,500 miles away from Xuanyuan Battle Fortress. As the middle route army always marched forward with Your Highness, they encountered the least enemies. The knights of Zodiac Guards have not seen demon knights for a few months..."


    As he always felt restless, Zhang Tie directly came to the command center of the Xuanyuan Battle Fortress and had people report the situations facing the five major forces to him. He wanted to know whether he had forgotten about something or not.


    The floor under Zhang Tie''s foot was transparent high-intensity crystal glass. The sand table of the map of the entire country was in the lobby of the lower storey under his foot. Many staff officers were busy collecting various information and present them on the machine sand table. As long as Zhang Tie lowered his head, he could see clearly the overall situation facing Taixia Country in the holy war.


    Zhang Tie was standing on the bank of Weishui River on the sand table. A huge convex arrowhead was marked on this place on the sand table. Additionally, there were another four huge arrowheads in Huanzhou Province, Kangzhou Province and Ningzhou Province pointing at the battleline Weishui River-Helan Mountain Range on two sides of this huge arrowhead in a row. The five huge arrowheads coordinated with each other. The distance between them and Zhang Tie''s location was varied from 3,000 miles to 5,000 miles.


    Taixia''s forces pushed forward smoothly. Given the current situation, demons were unable to prevent the five arrowheads from gathering at the bank of Weishui River. After that, the five arrowheads would cross Weishui River together and enter Wuzhou Province and Yinzhou Province.


    Zhang Tie lowered his head and watched the map under his foot. Meanwhile, he paced back and forth and slightly knitted his brows. Given the intelligence, the five main forces were marching forward without obstacles like splitting bamboos as usual. However, Zhang Tie still felt restless; even severer than before.


    It was a young and handsome knight called Zhang Yuteng who was reporting about the situations facing the five main forces to Zhang Tie. He looked similar to Zhang Tie. Zhang Yuteng was Zhang Chengting''s son, also one of Zhang Tie''s grandsons. At this moment, many young knights of Jinwu Palace also joined those main forces and followed Zhang Tie to regain the lost territory and make meritorious deeds all the way here. Because Zhang Yuteng was sensitive and had extensive experience and a good memory as well as a great military talent, Zhang Tie asked him to stay with him as his personal guard. In this way, Zhang Yuteng could also widen his knowledge.


    "How''s the Lion Fortress?" Zhang Tie asked Zhang Yuteng.


    After resuming Force Province, Lion Fortress had gone back to the Earth-Elements Realm through Force Province. They pushed all the way to the entrance of the first abyss in Earth-Elements Realm. They were safeguarding Earth-Elements Realm and prevented demons from using the same trick. Besides Du Guyi the Demons-Suppressing Commander, Zuoqiu Mingyue was also in the Lion Fortress in Earth-Elements Realm.


    "Demon knights in the first abyss are constantly raiding Lion Fortress. However, as they are all small forces, they couldn''t pose any threat to Lion Fortress!"


    "When did Lion Fortress meet a heavenly demon knight recently?"


    "Four months ago!"


    "Where are all the allied human forces on the Western Continent?"


    "The allied human forces on the Western Continent have already crossed Gradis Mountain Range. Yesterday, the vanguard corps of the allied human forces had already collapsed Dante City, a major town in the middle of Sacred Alliance Empire. The defense line of the Sacred Alliance Empire has already been full of loopholes!"


    Not knowing why, Zhang Tie couldn''t be happy, although they were all good news.


    "Well, you can leave!" Zhang Tie waved his hand as he added, "I''m going to be in secret cultivation recently. Don''t bother me unless it''s important!"


    "Yes, sir!" Zhang Yuteng made a military salute to Zhang Tie fast. After that, he walked towards the door.


    As for Zhang Tie, only heavenly demon knights could attract his attention on the battlefield. Nothing else was important. Everyone in Xuanyuan Battle Fortress was crystal clear about this point.


    When Zhang Yuteng pulled open the door and was going to leave there, Zhang Tie abruptly added, "Yuteng, if you don''t plan to marry that girl, you''d better not let her misunderstand you. Zhang descendants could behave romantically; however, you couldn''t fondle with any woman. If a woman would like to stay with a man, she must want something. Some women could be bought; however, some couldn''t be bought. Before going to bed with a woman, you should confirm whether you could give her what she wants or not. If you can''t, don''t touch her. It''s like ordering food in a hotel, don''t order something you can''t afford. Don''t think about having food for free. It''s the lowest request for a man."


    Zhang Yuteng stopped at once. Closely after that, he turned around and said with a bit embarrassed look, "I see, grandpa!"


    Zhang Tie nodded and implied Zhang Yuteng to leave.


    As Zhang Tie''s grandpa, Zhang Yuteng was born in a distinguished family; additionally, he was young, able and handsome. Such a man would always be the focus of women wherever he was, even in Xuanyuan Battle Fortress. Zhang Tie was crystal clear about the movements of his grandson. When the other knights hunt demons outside, his grandson also became the prey of many people in the battle fortress. Those tender traps could also hone Zhang Yuteng who had just promoted to a knight and didn''t have too many love experiences.


    After Zhang Yuteng left, Zhang Tie contacted Jinwu Palace and Xuanyuan hill and was told that everything in Jinwu Palace and Xuanyuan Hill remained normal. After that, Zhang Tie sat in his chair and half-closed his eyes with hands crossed on his lower abdomen. He then started to smooth out his mind.


    Recently, it was even out of Zhang Tie''s imagination that Taixia forces were too smooth on the battlefields. The others might feel delighted about this victory; however, Zhang Tie couldn''t become delighted; because he knew that demons'' tactics and war potential were far greater than that.


    Even though demons had lost three major camps, 4 sages and over 10,000 demon knights, they would never be willing to be defeated. Given the demon''s craze and aggressivity, if they were doomed to fail this holy war, they would definitely launch a counter-attack ferociously at this moment. Like that in the previous two holy wars, when demons couldn''t conquer humans, they would always bring damage to humans as much as they could. That was demons'' style.


    Currently, demons could still use a lot of tactics.


    Demon princes didn''t appear at this moment, which implied that demons had not fully tapped their war potential.


    Demons had not used puppet worms in Taixia Country on a large scale. If demons were doomed to lose this holy war, they would at least use puppet worms without any concern despite the existence of moon-miasma; instead, due to the existence of moon-miasma, demons would even intensify the use of puppet worms in order to consume more humans and turn more places into barren lands where humans could barely survive. Even though demons couldn''t use them in the territory of Taixia Country; they could at least use them in the territory under the control of Heavens Reaching Empire. However, demons didn''t use puppet worms in their territory; instead, they left the territory to humans. That might contain greater dangers...


    There should be many more sage-level demon knights and demon knights below sage in the underground abysses besides those being killed in the three major camps by Zhang Tie.


    Now that demons were not driven completely mad, how could they be willing to accept failure?


    Therefore, demons must have another trump card that Zhang Tie didn''t know about...


    It was the source that made Zhang Tie restless when they were going to win the holy war.


    ''What''s the trump card of demons? Why do demons believe that they could reverse the overall situation facing holy war even though I''ve regained all the lost lands on the Eastern Continent?''


    Zhang Tie was in meditation...

 1990 Zhang Ties Precaution

    Through 2 hours'' meditation, Zhang Tie had smoothened out all the detailed information; however, he still didn''t know about the demons'' trump card.


    In order to prevent demons from arousing catastrophe in Taixia Country with puppet worms, strictest food and water source control measures and selective examination about the physical health of mass personnel had been carried out in each household, each town, each city, each prefecture, each province, even each military region across Taixia Country 3 years ago.


    Each pass of the city''s running water pipe network was strictly defended by people from the source to the water outlets. The water sources of cities were actually even under the strict control of the military of Taixia Country. A drop of water would be tested five times before entering a citizen''s home in the city. Additionally, the government of Taixia Country promoted the water source distribution system. Even though those cities could be available to running water, the government of Taixia Country still suggested people to use water separately. For instance, all the eligible families could make a well in their own courtyard, from where they could get their daily water. Otherwise, they could use stream water or spring water which was close to their homes.


    Recently, the government on different levels was looking for people to make wells everywhere across the country. Many public wells were made in each street, each community, each village, each city. Each well was guarded by people around the clock so that people could get water separately and safely. In this way, even though demons wanted to add puppet worms'' eggs in water sources, they could only impact very few people.


    Even ordinary families had started to pay attention to water safety, not to mention major clans. Starting from the tragedy in Heavenly Cold City dozens of years ago, capable major clans in Taixia Country had already paid attention to the prevention of the risks brought by puppet worms.


    Besides water sources, grains and food circulation across Taixia Country were also under strict control.


    The circulation of all the preliminary agricultural products was free. However, all the processed ready-to-eat food must stay in the prefectures where they were produced.


    It was such strictly controlled among the people, not to mention that in the military. All the food that soldiers ate every day was tested many times.


    With these arrangements, Zhang Tie believed that Taixia Country was able to control demon disasters in a small area even if there was another demon disaster aroused by puppet worms.


    The ultimate goal for Lion Fortress to enter Earth-Elements Realm from Force Province was to monitor the abnormal actions of the demon army in Earth-Elements Realm and prevent the army of demon knights from reappearing in Force Province.


    The army of demon knights was not horrible. They were just seeking death, no matter how many demon knights were there. What Zhang Tie was worried about the most was that the army of demon knights separated and spread across the country. He was afraid that these demon knights would break into the hinterland of Taixia Country, burning, killing and destroying there aggressively. And then, even though these demon knights could be wiped out, Taixia Country would also suffer great losses in the end.


    ...


    The Taixia Country had been ready to cope with various emergencies; however, what was more fatal was that all the precautions appeared to be useless now.


    ...


    ''What is the trump card of demons?!''


    This question always lingered in Zhang Tie''s mind and was hard to catch like a spirit in dark fog.


    Among the train of thoughts, Meng Shidao and the Gobbling Party suddenly occurred to Zhang Tie, causing him to pause temporarily.


    Zhang Tie and Zuoqiu Mingyue had already reached an agreement that they would drive demons into the Earth-Elements Realm when they dealt with Meng Shidao and the Gobbling Party. It was not the right moment for them to do that. Tang Ling the chief minister of the Interior had been weakening the influence of the Gobbling Party and disarming the Gobbling Party step by step over these years. The backbones of the Gobbling Party had gradually left the hub of Xuanyuan Hill. Meng Shidao''s influence in Taixia Country was gradually weakening. Local forces of the Gobbling Party were also under control. When humans were fighting demons, they should never allow the Gobbling Party to arouse big trouble in Taixia Country...


    Zhang Tie then didn''t think about Meng Shidao and the Gobbling Party anymore.


    ...


    Even though Zhang Tie had already started to form his immortal chakra, he was still a human. He was not as almighty as legendary gods, who could always have everything in control and reckon accurately.


    ...


    After thinking for a few more minutes in vain, Zhang Tie directly stood up and left for the cultivation room.


    After entering his backroom, Zhang Tie instantly disappeared and entered Castle of Black Iron.


    The lobby of the palace tree was empty. Nobody was there. The small tree remained unchanged. However, a water pool appeared not far from the small tree. That immortal stone was in the water pool. Nine Heavens Immortal Spring was pouring out of the immortal stone and flowing in the water pool below the immortal stone. Everything was as same as what Zhang Tie had seen in the Heavens of Light.


    Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy as he sensed that Heller was making experiments in the species lab upstairs. A''Gan, Edward and those women of Yin-Yang Sect were not here.


    Heller knew that Zhang Tie had returned as he stopped what he was doing.


    "Heller, you don''t have to go downstairs. I''m heading for the Mountain Ruins..."


    "Okay!"


    "Where are the others?"


    "They''re building an immortal palace at the foot of the mountain!"


    Zhang Tie then turned around and walked out of the lobby of the palace quietly. After that, he rushed into the sky...


    ...


    Castle of Black Iron had changed greatly.


    Its land covered hundreds of millions of square miles, which looked vast just like a small subcontinent being girdled with an ocean. There were also many isles as large as pearls in the ocean. After combining Mountain Ruins, the air zone of Castle of Black Iron instantly increased by dozens of times. Those air-floating mountains were floating in the sky like isles. All the air-floating mountains in Mountain Ruins in Motian Realm had become decorations in the sky of Castle of Black Iron. In the highest place of the sky, it was the remaining core of Buzhou Mountain.


    At this moment, some new cities appeared at the foot of the immortal mountain. When Zhang Tie left Motian Realm, he traveled across those cities which were under the control of demons and teleported all the 10 million-odd people there into Castle of Black Iron. Therefore, the current population in Castle of Black Iron was many times greater than that before.


    After mastering the force of realm, Zhang Tie could teleport people into Castle of Black Iron easily. As long as he covered a city with his realm, he could teleport a lot of people into Castle of Black Iron with the force of realm.


    At this moment, those women of Yin-Yang Sect were in those cities at the foot of the mountain. They were their leaders.


    Those women appeared to be too depressed in Motian Realm and they had to behave meticulously over there. Therefore, when they found they could display their capacities in the vast space of Castle of Black Iron, they all became such passionate as they started to have apprentices for the further development of Yin-Yang Sect.


    In front of those women who pursued their undertakings, even Zhang Tie was forgotten.


    ...


    Only after a short while, Zhang Tie had entered an air-floating mountain which was as high as tens of thousands of meters deep in Mountain Ruins.


    There was a maze-like time-honored mountain cave inside the air-floating mountain. After moving quite a while inside, Zhang Tie deeply entered the mountain cave.


    It was pitch-dark all over in the mountain cave. However, there was a cyan 2 m higher light curtain that loomed like a portal. Zhang Tie instantly penetrated through it and came to a strange space.


    It was a colossal space being similar to the secret places of major clans that contained many time towers. There were 36 towers of time in this space, no matter large or small. These time towers were divided into three kinds given their sizes; each kind containing 12 towers of time. The three kinds of time towers could allow him to cultivate in for 20 years, 10 years and 5 years respectively.


    35 towers of time in this secret place were still freezing. Only a small time tower was already available a few days ago. Zhang Tie could cultivate five years inside...


    This secret place once belonged to demons in Motian Realm. Almost none of the humans in Motian Realm knew that demons had such a secret place here. However, after Castle of Black Iron combined Mountain Ruins, all the secrets in Mountain Ruins had been exposed to Zhang Tie; all the secret places in Mountain Ruins had been exposed to Zhang Tie. Therefore, Zhang Tie instantly became the person who understood Mountain Ruins the most in the two worlds closely after Heller. Of course, this secret place which was once occupied by demons became Zhang Tie''s rear garden.


    Castle of Black Iron had just combined Mountain Ruins. Most of these towers of time were still freezing as they had just been used by demons.


    Two years ago, Zhang Tie used a time tower in another secret place in Mountain Ruins. He stayed inside for 10 years, during which period, he reached the 3-change realm of his immortal chakra. Now it was enough for Zhang Tie to reach the 5-change realm of his immortal chakra.


    When Zhang Tie reached the front of that time tower, he directly entered it and started his cultivation.


    When problems couldn''t be solved with intelligence and mindset and he didn''t know demons'' trump card, the best solution for Zhang Tie to respond to unknown crises was to strength his battle force and make him more powerful.


    ...


    When Zhang Tie was thinking about demons'' trump card on the bank of Weishui River, the entire Gobbling Province, the nestle of Gobbling Party became boisterous; because Opening Stele Festival would kick off on April 17, namely two days later.


    Opening Stele Festival was not a traditional festival in Taixia Country. It was actually a festival exclusive to the Gobbling Party. Many years ago, the far-ancient morality stele was discovered on the same day.


    In order to celebrate the discovery of the far-ancient morality stele, Gobbling Party would hold grand campaign on the same day annually across Gobbling Province. Gradually, this campaign developed into the Opening Stele Festival of the Gobbling Party in Gobbling Province.


    In recent years, with the return of Zhang Tie in an unrivaled manner and the dismission of Meng Shidao as the premier, the influence of Gobbling Party in Taixia Country had already weakened; however, in Gobbling Province, Gobbling Party was still the leading force even though a new provincial governor had taken office...

 1991 The Catastrophe I

    On April 16, one day before the Opening Stele Festival, the entire Morality Prefecture of Gobbling Province had been boisterous before sunrise.


    Actually, Morality Prefecture was called Safescreen Prefecture before the 687th year of Black Iron Calendar. However, after that year, Safescreen Prefecture became Morality Prefecture, because an earthquake took place in Safescreen Prefecture on April 17, the 687th year of Black Iron Calendar. As a result, Vast Universe Mountain had collapsed, exposing the far-ancient mortality stele, which shocked the entire country.


    15 years later, a teenager, who was born on the same day as far-ancient morality stele, realized the truth and cultivated 3 years in front of the stele. He then promoted to a black iron knight at 18 years old. From then on, the far-ancient morality stele became an immortal item in the hearts of many people in Safescreen Prefecture. 30 years later, when the teenager became a middle-aged man, he promoted to an earth knight. Then, the influence of far-ancient morality stele covered the entire Gobbling Province and aroused the attention of all the people across the country. From then on, Safescreen Prefecture gradually became Morality Prefecture. Later on, Meng Shidao started to write books and set up his theory and win popularity across the country. As Gobbling Party gradually came into being, of course, Meng Shidao became the leader of the Gobbling Party.


    In the following 200 years, with the increasingly greater cultivation base and meritorious deeds of Meng Shidao, he finally became famous across the country. When Meng Shidao became the crown prince''s teacher and the premier, one of the top three counselors of the state, the influence of the Gobbling Party spread across the country and almost matched that of the top six sects...


    Like how natives in Youzhou Province treated Zhang Tie as the pride of Youzhou Province, Meng Shidao was also taken as the pride of Gobbling Province by natives in Gobbling Province. Since the founding of the Gobbling Party, the entire Gobbling Province had been covered with thousands of morality agencies. Each city in Gobbling Province contained dozens of morality agencies. Morality agencies could even be seen in towns and villages outside cities. All the morality agencies were united under the control of the backbones of Gobbling Party. In the beginning, people joined morality agencies voluntarily. Later on, as more and more morality agencies were founded, the influence of the Gobbling Party gradually expanded. As a result, those who didn''t join morality agencies would gradually be repelled by Gobbling Party and morality agencies as heretics. They would have trouble, no matter what they did. On this occasion, those people and families who didn''t want to join morality agencies had to leave Gobbling Province and find somewhere else to live.


    During the past over 200 years, with the promotion of Meng Shidao, almost nobody could live in Gobbling Province without joining morality agencies from officials in major clans to small tradesmen and porters.


    On April 16, one day before Opening Stele Festival, many capable men had arrived at Morality Prefecture by airboat or airships with piety, as if making a pilgrimage. The entire Morality Prefecture was filled with human exclamations and horse neighs. All the hotels and inns had been occupied. More people were heading for Morality Prefecture from surrounding cities and prefectures, rubbing shoulders and following the steps. As a result, all the official roads had been occupied.


    ...


    At 1 am of April 17, Zhu Laosan, the boss of a bean curd workshop in the east street of Zhujia Village outside Yellowrock City of Morality Prefecture had got up. After lighting the oil lamp, he woke up his 13-year old son who was sleeping in the same room with him.


    "Guangsi, get up..."


    The 13-year old boy was having a sound sleep at 1 am. Zhu Laosan called him twice and pushed him by hand before waking him up.


    "Ah, papa, what''s up..." Zhu Laosan''s son finally opened his eyes; however, his eyes were sleepy. Therefore, Zhu Guangsi didn''t know why his father woke him up.


    "Did you forget what I''ve told you? The Opening Stele Festival starts today. We''re going to "touch the Morality Stele". We have to arrive at Vast Universe Mountain before daybreak. Hurry, get up. Wash your face and rinse your mouth. Put on the new clothes that I''ve prepared for you!" Zhu Laosan''s tone instantly turned strict. After hearing his father''s strict words, Zhu Guangsi who was usually strictly taught by his father rubbed his eyes and hurriedly got up. He started to prepare for the trip.


    Zhu Laosan was a widower. Since his wife died of complications during pregnancy, he didn''t marry any other woman. He and his son survived on the ancestral skill of making bean curds in Zhujia Village.


    Last night, Zhu Laosan almost stayed awake. Although he was also lying on the bed with closed eyes, he became sleepless with excitement before attending the Opening Stele Festival.


    Actually, since the director of the morality agency in Zhujia Village, also the police inspector of Zhujia Village gave him a piece of big ceremonial plate and told him that he could take his son to "touch the Morality Stele" seven years ago, Zhu Laosan had been sleepless.


    Zhu Laosan had been waiting for this day for 10 years. During the past 10 years, he almost donated half of his annual revenue to the morality agency of Zhujia Village in order to get a piece of huge ceremonial plate one day and "touch the Morality Stele" together with his son on the Opening Stele Festival.


    Perhaps it was pious and sacred for someone to "touch the Morality Stele". However, as for Zhu Laosan who lived at the bottom of the society, he joined Morality Agency because all the others in Zhujia Village had joined it. If he didn''t join it, he couldn''t live in Zhujia Village. Even though he sold bean curd, he might also be in debt. Additionally, he might have a lot of trouble. By insisting on accomplishing the rite of "touch the Morality Stele", he was courageous and realistic. He wanted to take his son to try their lucks. He wanted to scramble for an opportunity for his son to make his ancestors illustrious. But, he didn''t want his son to stay at Zhujia Village and sell bean curd for the rest of his life like him.


    Zhu Laosan didn''t attach any extravagant hope that his son was favored by Meng Shidao. Although, 7 or 8 kids would be favored by Meng Shidao annually, given the number of kids who came to Morality Prefecture to "touch the Morality Stele" from the other places across the country annually, the possibility for them to be favored by Meng Shidao was less than 1/10,000. Besides Meng Shidao, the chief directors of morality agencies across the country would also come here on the same day and take back some qualified kids for cultivation.


    Zhu Laosan hoped that his son could be favored by chief directors of morality agencies in the other big cities. Otherwise, he hoped that his son could find a reliance in the morality agency of Yellowrock City after coming at with the experience of "touch the Morality Stele" at this young age. As a person who only knew how to make bean curds since young could only try his best to help his son become outstanding in this way.


    In less than 30 minutes, Zhu Laosan and his son had prepared it well. They put on new clothes. After taking some food that they prepared last night, Zhu Laosan carried some dried rations and a utility box. After that, he carried a fluorite lamp in one hand and his son in the other before leaving their home.


    It was midnight with bright moons and sparse stars illuminating the sky. Meanwhile, the lotus-covered pond near Zhu Laosan''s home was reverberating with the croaking of frogs; crickets were singing in weeds nearby.


    When Zhu Laosan and his son left their home, they saw many villagers had prepared to leave their homes too, old and young.


    When they spotted Zhu Laosan and his son, many people greeted him as they watched Zhu Laosan with admiration in their eyes. The news that Zhu Laosan acquired a piece of big ceremonial plate for attending the Opening Stele Festival had spread across Zhujia Village. Besides the director of the morality agency in Zhujia Village and Zhu Laosan, only two more families had received one big ceremonial plate respectively.


    Watching the admirable eyes and hearing the passionate greetings of those people in Zhujia Village, Zhu Laosan felt inspired. Pinching the big ceremonial plate close to his skin and holding his son''s hand, he walked out of Zhujia Village, chesting out.


    Thankfully, it was nice weather today. Even though there was no fluorite lamp, they could also see clearly the road. After a short while, Zhu Laosan and his son had walked out of Zhujia Village and come to a path on a mountain slope outside Zhujia Village which connected with an official road.


    From the mountain slope, although it was midnight, they found the entire official road downside there was already brightly lit. It was even more boisterous than the most boisterous night market. So many people were walking on the official road with portable luggage on their backs and lanterns or fluorite lamps in hands, no matter male or female, old or young. Some youths took nothing at all. They just walked on the road jubilantly in groups towards the same direction.


    Zhu Laosan and his son also entered the great stream of people and hurried on with their journey.


    Zhujia Village was about 33 miles away from Vast Universe Mountain. As long as they kept going, they would almost arrive there before daybreak.


    In order to display their piety, nobody took any traffic tools like horses or carriages any more from 60 miles away from Vast Universe Mountain. All of them were walking towards Vast Universe Mountain on foot.


    "Papa, my feet hurt..." After walking about 13 miles, Zhu Laosan''s son couldn''t move anymore.


    "Take a short break. Drink some water. Then we have to continue..." Zhu Laosan took off the utility box and passed it to his son.


    A few minutes later, although Zhu Guangsi had not recovered, he was already encouraged by his dad to continue. When his son really couldn''t walk anymore, Zhu Laosan''s face turned gloomy as he even dragged his son forward.


    On the way, Zhu Laosan was tired and thirsty; however, he still arrived at the foot of Vast Universe Mountain before daybreak with his persistence.


    The greater part of people who came here stopped around the Vast Universe Mountain. After that, they all gathered on dozens of huge squares over there. Each square could match a large airport in size and could hold hundreds of thousands of people. These squares led to roads towards Vast Universe Mountain. In normal times, there were not so many people on these squares; however, on the day of the Opening Stele Festival, all the squares around Vast Universe Mountain would be fully crowded.


    With the big ceremonial plate, Zhu Laosan and his son Zhu Guangsi passed two checks under the admiring eyes of many people and entered Vast Universe Mountain along the well-paved road. After walking another a few miles hardly, they finally saw a 7-mile long team in front of them which was twisting like a boa. The end of the team was right in front of them while the head of the team had come to the back of a mountain ridge.


    They were all waiting there. Therefore, Zhu Laosan and his son had to stop there.


    All the people here were going to "touch the Morality Stele" when the first ray of sunlight cast on the far-ancient morality stele. As it was still a few hours left from daybreak, they were all waiting there quietly...

 1992 The Catastrophe II

    When Zhu Laosan and his son caught sight of the far-ancient morality stele from afar, it was already the afternoon of April 17. The sun that rose from the east had already been hanging over the sky, scorching Zhu Laosan''s head. As he had walked and stood too long today, Zhu Laosan''s soles had been stinging like standing on a hot-red iron plate. If not he had prepared some dried rations and water in advance, he might not stick to it.


    His 13-year old son''s face had turned dreadfully pale. If not Zhu Laosan supported him with one hand, Zhu Guangsi had long fallen to the ground.


    Zhu Laosan felt distressed about his son; however, he couldn''t allow his son to sit on the ground. Otherwise, they would be regarded as impious or indecent. In that way, all the efforts that he had made over the past 10 years would be in vain.


    However, even though they couldn''t bear it anymore, they must keep standing; because the long team had already nipped Zhu Laosan and his son like a twisting giant boa. Therefore, Zhu Lansan and his son could only slowly move forward with the others of the team.


    "Son, hold on. When we come back, I will let you eat half a month''s sugar-coated haws..." Zhu Lan could only comfort his son in this way; meanwhile, he secretly took out a slice of ginseng and put it in his son''s mouth. In this way, they finally negotiated the mountain ridge and caught sight of the far-ancient morality stele.


    When Zhu Laosan caught sight of the far-ancient morality stele, he was instantly fascinated by it although Zhu Laosan was an atheist.


    The far-ancient morality stele was 210 m in height and over 50 m in width. It was pitch-dark and smooth all over like a mirror. Standing in a basin of Vast Universe Mountain, it was lofty, cold and fierce and looked a bit mysterious. Although sunshine shone on the high far-ancient morality stele, the smooth stele was still pitch-dark as if it could absolutely absorb sunlight.


    At the sight of the far-ancient morality stele, Zhu Lansan had felt that it was not an artifact. Meanwhile, he held the huge, black stele in great awe even a bit fearful. Additionally, all the tiredness had gone.


    When the far-ancient morality stele was discovered at the beginning, it was not like this. At that time, it was inlaid in a cliff which had collapsed. However, over the past 200-odd year, through the Gobbling Party''s renovation, all the terrain and landforms within 6 miles had been changed. As a result, this place became a vast, open square, which could almost hold over 1 million people. When far-ancient morality stele was discovered, this place was completely open to the public. Anyone could come to see it whenever they wanted. But now, this place had become the sacred land of the Gobbling Party. In normal times, only some backbones of the Gobbling Party could enter this place. Ordinary people couldn''t have a chance to watch this far-ancient morality stele which shocked the entire country unless the annual Opening Stele Festival.


    There were totally 4 teams who came here to ''touch the stele'' like Zhu Laosan coming from east, south, west and north. Each team was crowded with people. Far-ancient morality stele was girdled with a four-storey viaduct. People from different directions could enter different corridors to ''touch the stele''. After that, they would enter different areas on the square.


    It took Zhu Laosan about one hour to come to the front of far-ancient morality stele from he caught sight of it. Those people, who came from the same direction as Zhu Laosan, entered the second corridor. The surging people slightly cut their own fingers with their teeth as they reached out their hands and painted their blood on the smooth surface of the stele. After walking around the far-ancient morality stele in an anti-clockwise manner, they left the corridor and entered the square.


    Some fanatical followers and backbones of Gobbling Party even pierced their own palms with sabers and painted their entire bloody fingerprints on the stele so as to display their piety.


    It was said that Meng Shidao slightly cut his own fingers and painted his blood on the far-ancient morality stele every day when he realized the truth in front of it. Finally, Meng Shidao established a relationship with the far-ancient morality stele. As this legend spread over, it gradually developed into the ''touching the stele'' rite today.


    From the visual angle in the second-storey corridor, far-ancient morality stele became a black wall. When he Zhu Laosan watched the blood and bloody fingerprints over the ''wall'', he didn''t feel pious at all; instead, he felt cold all over. He even shuddered with fear.


    Zhu Laosan also imitated the others to slightly cut his own fingers. Additionally, he asked his son to do it like him. Then, he painted his own blood on the surface of the far-ancient morality stele as his fingers quivered. As he was intense, he even forgot about the feeling of this expensive touch which he exchanged with the greater part of his income over the past 10 years by selling bean curds.


    Being pushed by the others, after touching the far-ancient stele flurriedly, Zhu Laosan and his son had left there from the exit of the corridor. After that, they were guided to the area close to the periphery of the square, where they could finally slump to the ground on their butts.


    The surging crowd flew into the square like water. When the dark fell, the entire square had been filled with people. The population there was definitely greater than 1 million. It was a dark dense of people everywhere. After completing the ''touch the stele'' rite, those who were closer to the far-ancient morality stele represented higher positions in Gobbling Party.


    The climax of the Opening Stele Festival had not come. The climax of each Opening Stele Festival was after the last streak of sunlight left far-ancient morality stele. By then, Meng Shidao would arrive and give one hour''s lesson before enrolling some of them as his apprentices.


    Since he promoted to a heavenly knight, Meng Shidao would come here in almost every Opening Stele Festival. Despite being the premier of Taixia Country over these years, he would also come here from Xuanyuan Hill on this day and celebrate the Opening Stele Festival with all the other members of Gobbling Party.


    A vast array of backbones, heads and members of morality agencies would come here from afar in order to meet Meng Shidao and listen to his lesson. Those who were favored by Meng Shidao would even be imparted with Returning Truth Sutra by Meng Shidao.


    Zhu Laosan and his son sat on the edge of the square for rest as they waited for Meng Shidao in an intense and restless way. To be honest, if they could meet Meng Shidao here, when they came back home, they could bluff it for many years to the villagers in Zhujia Village even though they were far from Meng Shidao. If his son was selected as Meng Shidao''s apprentice among tens of thousands of kids, the Zhu family would definitely have a bright future.


    Not all the apprentices of Meng Shidao''s came from major sects or backbone families of the Gobbling Party. Actually, some kids from ordinary families would be selected as Meng Shidao''s apprentices every year. From then on, they would reach the sky in a single bound and became the legendary figures in their hometowns. Being encouraged by these models, Zhu Laosan was brave enough to take his son here to try their lucks.


    Before sunset, thousands of people in white had arrived. They were students in Vast Universe School. After completing ''touch the stele'' rite, those people sat in the area where was closest to the far-ancient morality stele.


    By then, the entire square had been occupied.


    "Mercy is the core of Dao; morality is the body of Dao; rite is the reflection of Dao; righteousness is the motive of Dao. Dao, as a real object, is faintly discernible. It looks blurry; however, it has an image; it looks virtual; however, it''s real; although it looks profound and dark, it has real essence. Since far-ancient times, it has been existing. We could learn the original state of everything in the universe from it..."


    Since they came to the square, the students of Vast Universe School had been reading aloud, gradually followed by over 1 million people. Their voices were earthshaking. Almost all the members of Gobbling Party could recite this paragraph.


    When the last streak of sunlight left the highest point of far-ancient morality stele, the entire square was gradually in dead silence.


    "Stand up and welcome our master..." At this moment, a loud and majestic voice reverberated in the air above the square. After hearing this voice, all the people stood up straight with full respect.


    "Papa, I cannot see him..." Zhu Guangsi whispered as he rocked Zhu Laosan''s hand.


    Because he was young and was standing at the periphery of the square, Zhu Guangsi was submerged in the crowd of adults when everyone stood up. As a result, he could only see the waists and legs of people in front of him and couldn''t see anything in the distance at all.


    Zhu Laosan hurriedly made a hand gesture to tell his son to keep silent. He then watched the far-ancient morality stele in the far with wide eyes.


    Zhu Laosan didn''t see how Meng Shidao arrived at all. When everyone stood up and the entire square was in dead silence, a shadow in black instantly appeared on the top of the far-ancient morality stele like playing magic. He then overlooked the over 1 million fanatical followers of Gobbling Party over the square.


    "Our respects to you, master. Wish your chakras to rotate forever and your great Dao to consolidate forever!" Over 1 million people congratulated him at the same time as they all bent towards the shadow on the top of the far-ancient morality stele...


    In the past years, after their greetings, that shadow would usually say, "The great Dao doesn''t belong to one person; instead, it belongs to the public. Please take a seat. I will tell you something about Dao..." After that, they would settle down as that shadow on the top of the far-ancient morality stele would start to give a lesson to them about Dao.


    But today that shadow remained silent abnormally. After their greetings, he didn''t speak for a few seconds. Therefore, all the 1 million-odd followers of Gobbling Party just stood there and watched the shadow on the top of far-ancient morality stele with eager eyes. They didn''t know what to do next. Therefore, the atmosphere on the spot became weird.


    Finally, that man on the top of the far-ancient morality stele sighed. "This day has finally come..."


    When they heard this gloomy sigh clearly, all the 1 million-odd people became frustrated at this moment.


    ''This day has finally come... what does Master mean?''

 1993 The Catastrophe III

    Nobody got the point of Meng Shidao. Therefore, all the 1 million-odd people over the square became a bit restless. Even though backbones of the Gobbling Party and the disciples of Meng Shidao had been greatly shocked as they didn''t know what to do next.


    Zhu Laosan''s heart was pounding heavily. Not knowing why, when he saw the shadow on the top of the far-ancient morality stele and listening to the shadow''s voice, he felt thirsty as his excitement was gradually replaced by fear instinctively. At this moment, he finally felt regretful taking his son here to attend this motherf*cking Opening Stele Festival.


    "Dad, I''m afraid..." Zhu Laosan''s son also became restless as he pulled Zhu Laosan''s hand and raised his head, muttering, "Let''s go back..."


    ''Go back?''


    ''Yea, we should go back, but...''


    After looking around the dense mass of people, Zhu Laosan realized that he and his son had been confined in the crowd. They could barely leave this place. Additionally, if they wanted to leave here at this moment, the result would be...


    On this occasion, small figures would always worry about their personal gains and losses. Zhu Laosan didn''t know what would happen next; however, he was crystal clear about the outcome if he dared leave here at this moment; because it meant that he and his son didn''t respect Meng Shidao. If they really left here at this moment, Zhu Laosan and his son might not be able to live in Zhujia Village at all. They might even lose their lives. Given the influence of the Gobbling Party, if they wanted to kill them, it was like how an elephant killed an ant with its foot.


    When Zhu Laosan was struggling inside for a few seconds, that shadow on the top of the far-ancient morality stele didn''t spare any slim chance for him to hesitate or struggle. That shadow raised his hand. Closely after that, he gave out a streak of bloody light which shot in the far-ancient morality stele. Then, Zhu Laosan saw a terrifying, odd scene¡ª¡ªthe black far-ancient morality stele suddenly gave out strong red light. Meanwhile, a huge black hole suddenly appeared on the smooth surface of the far-ancient morality stele like a huge black swirl or a ghost''s wide mouth. At the same time, those backbones of Gobbling Party and the disciples of Meng Shidao who were closest to the far-ancient morality stele exclaimed and flew off towards huge black mouth in a flurried way. When they approached the huge black mouth, those people were instantly shattered and turned into blood mist before being engulfed...


    The entire square was covered with great fear. Everyone on the square flustered as they all exclaimed with panic. Zhu Laosan even saw some knights suddenly flying off the crowd and wanting to escape. However, in an instant, the red light that the far-ancient morality stele gave out had covered all the people on the square. Those knights who were already in the air were then being absorbed in the huge mouth with exclamations and turned into blood mist like fish being hooked...


    Zhu Laosan became greatly panic-stricken. He found that he and his son were both floating up; meanwhile, his blood appeared to be pulled out of his body by a great force.


    He shouted with tears and nasal mucus as he held his son''s hand tightly. His son and many people in the surroundings were frightened so much that they all burst out tears.


    Zhu Laosan and all the people in the surroundings were towed by that huge hole in the middle of far-ancient morality stele out of control like a leaf in a hurricane.


    When they almost entered the huge hole, Zhu Laosan saw much grim black qi coming out of the top of the huge hole and binding a golden light&shade like shackles from all directions.


    "Meng Shidao..." That light&shade being confined uttered a majestic and furious growl.


    It was the last voice that Zhu Laosan heard. Closely after that, he and his son had turned into blood mist like all the other 1 million-odd people on the square...


    ...


    The area being covered with the red light from the far-ancient morality stele was expanding. Only after a short while, the red light had absolutely covered the entire region within 35 miles like water that flowed out of a bowl. As a result, millions of people who were celebrating the Opening Stele Festival on the squares in the periphery of Vast Universe Mountain were blown up. All of their blood completely left their bodies and turned into scarlet carps. Following after, those carps shot towards the far-ancient morality stele in an overwhelming manner. Only after a short while, all the scarlet carps had entered the far-ancient morality stele through the huge black hole. Meanwhile, the huge black mouth was expanding as it gradually covered 2/3 of the entire morality stele...


    The entire far-ancient morality stele had already floated up. Meanwhile, thick clouds came into being within thousands of miles in the sky together with lightning bolts and roaring thunders. They formed a funnel-shaped huge cyclone in the sky above the far-ancient morality stele. Meng Shidao was standing on the top of the far-ancient morality stele with glow in his eyes as his hair fluttered in the wind.


    Meanwhile, wisps of black qi flew out of the huge mouth of the far-ancient morality stele and were absorbed by Meng Shidao''s body. As he absorbed more and more black qi, Meng Shidao''s look gradually changed. His skin was gradually covered with fine black scales as his brow ridge bulged while being covered with a hard horny layer. Meanwhile, long fingernails grew out of his hands like that of ghosts. Even a black sharp horn grew out of his central forehead.


    As Meng Shidao transformed, his qi was also growing stronger. In an instant, all the earth, water, wind and fire elements within thousands of miles became energetic as a huge black immortal chakra being circled by numerous runes appeared behind Meng Shidao.


    "Is this the power above sage-level knight?" Meng Shidao muttered as he watched his hands with a smile. Meanwhile, he broke a mountain peak of Vast Universe Range into pieces dozens of miles away with a punch, causing an earthquake.


    "Hahaha..." Meng Shidao finally guffawed.


    However, before he finished his words, as more and more black qi poured in his body from the far-ancient morality stele, the second black immortal chakra started to appear behind Meng Shidao.


    "Meng Shidao..." the golden light being confined by the shackles of black qi inside the far-ancient morality stele roared again.


    "Your Majesty, even though you don''t want to cooperate with us, you can never prevent the demon overlord from coming to this world anymore. Humans and Taixia Country will succumb to the demon overlord again. As for that item in Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace, I will take it myself..."


    When Meng Shidao spoke, the scene in the huge, black mouth had changed. A world being filled with black fog and flames appeared in the huge mouth. A terrifying giant as huge as a mountain with scarlet blood was filling that whole world. When he waved his hand, dense mass of demon knights instantly poured out of the huge mouth and came to this world. They then started to look around with greedy and grim eyes.


    "Go, destroy everything you see. As you''re created by the demon overlord, welcome the demon overlord with damages and massacre..."


    Those knights flew in all directions like destructive tides ceaselessly. Only after a short while, the quantity of demon knight who had poured out of the far-ancient morality stele had already been greater than 200,000. Additionally, more and more demon knights were pouring out of there...

 1994 Heroic Sacrifice

    When Zhang Tie arrived at Xuanyuan hill, he found that the entire city had been covered with blood and battle flames...


    The flames that rushed into the sky from Xuanyuan hill brightened the entire city. It was full of battle qi smokes and tornadoes in the night sky within 6,000 miles. The most tragic scene facing humans and Taixia Country in the 3rd holy war was undergoing.


    Over one night, the country''s land sunk; the heavens and the earth were toppled over and numerous cities deteriorated into purgatories.


    ...


    The battle planes of Zodiac Guards were hovering above Xuanyuan Hill. Those air cavalries were attacking demon knights tirelessly and desperately in vain. The inflammable bolts that were fired by battle planes left battle flames in the sky, which implied the final moments of air cavalries at the risk of their lives.


    However, although inflammable bolts could threaten enemies under knights, they were absolutely as weak as toys as for demon knights.


    Demon knights could pass those battle flames in the sky safe and sound. Additionally, they could shatter a battle plane and cause it to fall to the ground with a casual strike.


    Even so, those air cavalries were still rushing towards those demon knights. All the air cavalries were implementing their responsibilities to safeguard the air zone of Xuanyuan Hill. Like how moths flew towards the flames, although they knew that they would die, they would still carry all before one; instead of retreating.


    Those Hua knights in Xuanyuan Hill were also fighting at the risk of their own lives.


    ...


    There were countless demon knights. Almost each Taixia knight was being besieged by many times more demon knights. As a result, Hua knights'' battle qi smokes and tornadoes were disappearing constantly.


    "Go to hell..." An earth knight of Zodiac Guards penetrated through a demon knight''s heart with his long sword. Meanwhile, his body was penetrated through by two more demon knights'' palms. However, before the other two demon knights pulled out their palms, all the earth elements around the earth human knight suddenly poured out of the Elements Realm in a weird pattern. He was detonating himself. As a result, the earth human knight and the three demon knights were killed by the violent explosion and strong impact wave.


    ...


    An airboat was hit down. The impact wave of the hundreds of meters long airboat instantly crushed half of a small town outside Xuanyuan Hill where flames were springing up to the heaven...


    ...


    Many teams of demon knights were flying in Xuanyuan Hill and attacking savagely. None of the high-rise buildings across Xuanyuan hill were complete. It was filled with battle flames, collapsed bildings and rumblings of demon knights'' battle qi. Millions of Hua people in Xuanyuan Hill were being slaughtered by demons wantonly, regardless of gender and age.


    The No. 1 human city had already become the purgatory.


    ...


    Zhang Tie had already killed over 1,000 demons at the bank of Weishui River, Gobbling Province all the way to Xuanyuan Hill. What he saw on the way almost caused his eye corners to crack with fury¡ª¡ªThe entire Gobbling Province had been in ruins. At least 1 million demon knights were ravaging in Taixia Country. At this moment, demon knights fully displayed their evil nature; despite being knights...


    Boom, Zhang Tie shattered a heavenly demon knight into pieces with one punch. It was full of invisible sword winds in the nihility within tens of thousands of meters. All the demon knights approaching this region would be shattered. Zhang Tie darted straight to the air zone of Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal city in Xuanyuan Hill.


    The no-fly zone above Xuanyuan Hill had long been invalid. The entire city was in a mess and was filled with cries and screams. The Goldenwater river had already turned red. All the Zodiac bridges cross Goldenwater River had been broken. When those people escaped to the bank of Goldenwater River, they were slaughtered by demon knights batch after batch, causing blood and flesh to fly in all directions and filling the Goldenwater River with incomplete corpses and limbs...


    Zhang Tie punched all the demon knights on his way into a blood mist and rushed straight towards Xuanyuan Emperor''s royal palace.


    The former brilliant royal palace had long become ruins. Additionally, a 10,000 m deeper pit appeared on the ground of the royal palace. Far-ancient morality stele was floating in the air above the royal palace. Hundreds even thousands of demon knights were pouring out of the far-ancient morality stele and rushing towards all directions in an overwhelming manner.


    At the entrance of the hole of the far-ancient morality stele, a heart was jumping in the nihility while giving out red light. Meanwhile, wisps of black qi were coming out of the far-ancient morality stele and injecting into that heart. The heart''s red light gradually became stronger and jumped at a greater frequency. Additionally, other organs started to grow out around the heart.


    Whenever the heart beat, it was like beating a huge drum throbbing in the sky, causing the entire ground across the royal palace to rock.


    Zhang Tie didn''t know what was that heart. However, at the sight of it from afar, Zhang Tie had sensed the terrifying qi on that heart.


    Meng Shidao, who was already a half-human and half-demon, was standing in the sky above the royal palace and calmly watching Zhang Tie who was rushing towards him, a brilliant rare sword in hand.


    When Zhang Tie killed thousands of demon knights and in an overwhelming way and arrived at 20,000 m away from the royal palace, Meng Shidao instantly slashed towards Zhang Tie with his brilliant long sword.


    The long sword didn''t carry any sword qi; neither was it sharp. However, when Meng Shidao launched a strike, Zhang Tie instantly felt a terrifying sword qi coming to his side.


    It was not a usual sword qi. When it appeared, Zhang Tie immediately felt a fatal threat.


    Even though Zhang Tie was capable, he was unable to avoid it at this moment. In an emergency, Zhang Tie roared as Infinite Immortal Prison instantly appeared in his hand. Almost at the same time, Zhang Tie brandished his huge ''stick'' towards the sword qi...


    Bang...


    The sky was full of rumblings. Closely after that, the violent sword qi crushed all the streets and buildings within 60 square miles. Some sword qi absolutely ignored Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi. After penetrating through his protective qi, they instantly left dozens of fine wounds on his skin. One wound was even on his face. Additionally, Zhang Tie was sent flying over 1,000 m away before coming to a stop. In an instant, Zhang Tie''s face turned gloomy.


    This slash could even kill an immortal emperor.


    Anyone else would have been split up by the slash.


    Meng Shidao''s power had already been greater than any other immortal emperors that Zhang Tie had ever met in Motian Realm. What was more terrifying was his sword.


    After sending Zhang Tie flying away with one slash, Meng Shidao took an appreciative look at that long sword. After that, he flicked the blade of the sword and said with a smile, "What an immortal item in the royal household. This Xuanyuan Sword is indeed powerful. If those who cultivate Xuanyuan God Sutra use it, they could at least release 5 times greater power..."


    Zhang Tie was sure that Meng Shidao was not a demon; however, given his look, Zhang Tie knew that Meng Shidao had been demonized. Like that Zhang Tie absorbed the energy of a shadow demon by a mistake and turned into a shadow demon, a human could also be demonized after absorbing the energy of a powerful demon. According to Zhang Tie''s conjecture, Meng Shidao was demonized by the far-ancient morality stele behind him.


    Watching the hole in the middle of the far-ancient morality stele where demon knights were pouring out like a flood and flying towards all directions and that heart which was gradually growing out of a terrifying demon''s body with the injection of black qi, Zhang Tie closed his eyes. After a short while, he opened his eyes calmly.


    "You''ve already been a premier and have supreme power, being close to Emperor Xuanyuan, why do you do this?"


    "Premier? So what?" Meng Shidao watched Zhang Tie, as calm as he was in the Nine Heavens Palace. If not that his face was covered with black scales and looked a bit terrifying, Meng Shidao was still decent and handsome. "Even though a premier must follow a person''s order and look up at someone else. Even though I could promote to a sage-level knight, when I reach the end of my longevity, I would also turn into white bones and die. Now that others could stand at the peak of humans, couldn''t I, Meng Shidao, do that too? Now that there''s a way of being immortal, why not pursue it?"


    "Therefore, you''re willing to join demons and destroy the whole country?"


    "As for me, there''re only two kinds of power, strong and weak. Power couldn''t be divided into righteousness and evil. The heaven is not merciful; it just takes everything as a lifeless sacrifice; sages are not merciful; they just take civilians as nothing. In this world, what millions died might Caesar be great? Now that the hundreds of millions of people could do that for someone else, why not they do it for me?" Meng Shidao watched Zhang Tie as he continued with a smile, "Take you as an example, you''ve made remarkable meritorious deeds to humans. Nobody could match you on that. However, even though you''re the regent of Taixia Country and are faithful to the royal households, the royal households of Taixia Country also stay alert about you. Did anyone of the royal households tell you anything about the immortal item Xuanyuan Sword and those secrets about Xuanyuan Sword which are hidden in the royal palace? Have they ever shown it to you? Did anyone tell you that the Xuanyuan God Sutra was with Xuanyuan Sword? Can you guarantee that those royal princes might not deal with you with Xuanyuan Sword one day? Maybe when someone among them promotes to a sage-level knight with Xuanyuan God Sutra, the royal households would deal with you. If you say demons should be killed, all the humans should be killed too because everyone had a demon in their heart..."


    "Where''s Xuanyuan Zhu?"


    "He''s dead!" Meng Shidao answered straightforwardly, "Your daughter wanted to block me; therefore, she was killed too. After this catastrophe, all the humans in the future would take me as their ancestor and emperor. But now all of you must die..."


    After hearing Meng Shidao''s words, Zhang Tie closed his eyes as bloody tears rolled down his eye corners.


    Before the two drops of bloody tears dropped off his face, Zhang Tie had poked his fingers into his eyes and dug out his eyes. After that, two daggers appeared in his hand. Zhang Tie then stabbed them into his ears. After making himself deaf, Zhang Tie pricked two daggers into his heart and lower abdomen respectively...


    Zhang Tie was bloody all over from foot to head...


    Meanwhile, a light&shade of battle god Xing Tian who was taller and more powerful than that before appeared behind Zhang Tie; many substitute runes flew out of Zhang Tie''s central forehead¡ª¡ªone...two...three...seven...eight...nine...


    Nine substitute runes flew out of Zhang Tie''s central forehead.


    It was Zhang Tie''s most powerful trump card that he had never exposed to the public. At this moment, Zhang Tie exposed them all without demur.


    A matrix and nine substitutes roared at the same time.


    "Go to hell..."


    A few substitutes rushed towards Meng Shidao; the rest substitutes were responsible for killing those demon knights. His matrix rushed towards that heart which was jumping in the middle of the far-ancient morality stele, Infinite Immortal Prison in hand.


    In an instant, the entire Xuanyuan Hill was experiencing drastic changes within 6,000 miles.


    All the substitutes of Zhang Tie''s manifested their virtual images of king roc at the same time.


    In an instant, the exit of the hole in the middle of far-ancient morality stele was filled with black fog. A pair of familiar, terrifying and huge scarlet eyes with golden pupils appeared in the black fog and stared at Zhang Tie. Closely after that, the entire far-ancient morality stele flew towards Zhang Tie''s matrix in an overwhelming manner like Mount Tai...


    Zhang Tie''s matrix instantly darted towards the far-ancient morality stele without any fear, leaving a streak of light and a flame.


    Bang...


    The heavens and the earth rocked at the same time. The land cracked as the entire royal city in Xuanyuan Hill disappeared.


    In this collision, the far-ancient morality stele just rocked once; however, the small frame of Zhang Tie''s matrix was hit into the crust of earth immediately. However, in the blink of an eye, a streak of light and a huge pagoda rushed out of the crust towards the overwhelming far-ancient morality stele again like an undying bird...


    The far-ancient morality stele hit that streak of light again...


    In the collisions, a pathetic song drifted out of that streak of light...


    Spikes in hand, soldiers in rhino hide fought with sabers and swords on chariots.


    Flags blotting out the sun; enemies were like dark clouds; bolts clashed, brave fighters fought in the frontline bravely.


    Enemies are encroaching our battlefield and treading on our troops; the horse on the left of the chariot died; the horse on the right was hurt.


    The two wheels were buried; the four horses were trapped. Jade hammers in hand, we beat battle drums.


    The heaven became dark; the deities were driven mad. Die! Die! Your corpses spread over the wild.


    After launching a punitive expedition, you don''t come back. You keep marching on! The plain was vast in the long way.


    Brandishing Long swords; opening powerful bolts, we never change our mind until death.


    You''re always brave; you''re always aggressive; you''re always strong-willed. No one could violate the country.


    You die; however, your spirits remain forever! Your souls are the heroes!


    In the last sonorous line, that streak of light became extremely strong and brightly lit the entire city as Zhang Tie rushed towards the far-ancient morality stele for the last time.


    Bang...


    That streak of light dispersed in the night sky like a meteor or firefly. Meanwhile, all the rest substitutes broke apart...


    Watching that streak of light disappear, a thunder hawk which had just arrived at Xuanyuan Hill in terms of a golden streak of light looked up at the sky and wailed like how the cuckoo dripped off blood through its mouth. Closely after that, it rushed towards the mountain-like far-ancient morality stele and dispersed in terms of light...In a village of eastern Fujian Province, there were two brothers. The elder brother lived on selling salt.


    One day, the elder brother carried 150 kg'' salt with a pole and two baskets on two ends of the pole on his shoulder on the way. However, he failed to maintain the balance and caused one basket of salt to fall and kill a boy. The elder brother was then sent into the prison. Given that only his elder brother could make money in their family, the younger elder served as a scapegoat voluntarily. After the younger brother died for his elder brother, the elder brother hid somewhere and dared not go back home to look after his mother. The younger brother then turned into a cuckoo and called his elder brother everywhere, "Brother, come back. Brother, come back!" Meanwhile, the cuckoo dripped off blood through its mouth. When the blood fell to the ground, it turned into azalea. People said the younger brother was fulfilling his filial piety to his mother very well.

 1995 The Enlightening Force

    "Ah..." Zhang Tie shouted as he opened his eyes. Then, he found that Tang Mei was sitting right in the opposite. Supporting her chin with one hand, she was watching Zhang Tie with her wide, beautiful eyes out of curiosity as if she had been waiting for him to wake up for long.


    Her clothes were as white as snow; her black hair was as smooth as a waterfall. There was a small stove and tea set on the teapoy. Dense tea aroma still existed in the air. They were in a small pavilion that was surrounded by fiery apricot trees.


    After opening his eyes, Zhang Tie looked straight in Tang Mei''s eyes.


    "What happened? Why am I here? Hasn''t Taixia Country been destroyed? Haven''t I fought to the death in Xuanyuan Hill?"


    Zhang Tie still clearly remembered the true feeling when he was shattered in the last collision with the far-ancient morality stele which was under the manipulation of the demon overlord. Zhang Tie even faintly saw his Little Thunder sacrificing with him in a tragic way...


    ''Was I having a dream? Was it the world after death?''


    At this moment, Zhang Tie felt confused as he became petrified.


    "Brother, are you awake?" Tang Mei asked him in a tender voice.


    "Where are we?"


    "Emperor NvWa''s Palace!" Tang Mei replied as she blinked her eyes.


    Pah...


    Zhang Tie slapped himself.


    He felt the sharp pain immediately. He then ensured that he was not in a dream. Meanwhile, his hand was a bit wet. He touched his face as he found that his face had been covered with tears. Even the front part of his coat had been a bit wet. He then carefully sensed his current state as he found he was in the peak state, the same state when he had just drunk Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring.


    "How long has it been?" Zhang Tie asked Tang Mei, confused.


    "Not too long, just one day and a half!" Tang Mei replied with a smile.


    "I mean what time is it now?"


    "It''s September 23, the 3593th year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar!" Tang Mei said as she gave a piece of fragrant towel to Zhang Tie tenderly, "Brother, I wonder why you suddenly dropped tears just now!"


    Zhang Tie didn''t take Tang Mei''s towel, but instead, he became dumbfounded.


    ''September 23, the 3593th year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar?''


    ''Isn''t it the first time when I came to Emperor NvWa''s Palace? What happened? Shouldn''t I have already left Motian Realm? Additionally, it should have been dozens of years. I''ve even experienced so many things. How could I go back to Motian Realm after death? And at this time? Was everything that I experienced my hallucination?


    Zhang Tie became stupefied for quite a while. Unconsciously, he moved his eyes onto the empty cup on the teapoy in front of him. His heart suddenly palpitated once. After taking a look at the empty cup and Tang mei, Zhang Tie swallowed his saliva and stammered, "What... what... did I drink?"


    Soon after saying these words, Zhang Tie suddenly became stunned, because he suddenly remembered that he asked the same question when he woke up in memory. Unconsciously, what was happening now aligned with the former experience in his memory completely.


    He still remembered Tang Mei''s answer...


    "Nothing. It''s just the tea leaves of far-ancient Enlightening Tree being soaked with Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring..." Tang Mei said briefly.


    In an instant, Zhang Tie couldn''t even utter a voice. He felt like catching something in mind; however, he didn''t understand it completely.


    "Brother, do you blame me for making you drink Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring?" Tang Mei asked Zhang Tie elegantly as she moved her bright eyes onto Zhang Tie, "But Brother, you''re already a supreme immortal general now. If you don''t drink Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, you could barely break the barrier between God and humans. If you don''t break the barrier, you couldn''t sense the Realm of Moods or form your first immortal chakra."


    Tang Mei was as same as before, including her behaviors and words. However, at this moment, Zhang Tie had already known that Tang Mei was Emperor NvWa. Of course, he would not feel that someone forced Tang Mei to do that.


    "What''s the function of the tree leaves of far-ancient Enlightening Tree?" Zhang Tie asked Tang Mei meticulously.


    Not until then did Zhang Tie suddenly realize that he appeared to have very little information about tree leaves of far-ancient Enlightening Tree, as if a mysterious power forced him to forget about the function of the tree leaves of far-ancient Enlightening Tree.


    Of course, tea leaves counted the most in tea culture; followed by water. It was common sense. Now that Tang Mei made tea for Zhang Tie with the tea leaves of far-ancient Enlightening Tree and Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, the importance of tree leaves of far-ancient Enlightening Tree had been evident. However, after waking up, Zhang Tie forgot about this thing. Later on, he appeared to not have a deep impression on the tree leaves of far-ancient Enlightening Tree either. Zhang Tie found it was unusual.


    "Brother, did you have a very long dream just now? Was everything in the dream like real?"


    ''Is that a dream?'' Zhang Tie was not sure about it till now. Therefore, he could only nod towards Tang Mei silently.


    "That''s the function of the tree leaves of far-ancient Enlightening Tree. When you have the tea of far-ancient Enlightening Tree, you will have a dream for 100 years. It''s like real; however, it elapses as fast as a lightning bolt!" Tang Mei watched Zhang Tie as she continued with a smile, "The tree leaves of far-ancient Enlightening Tree didn''t come from Motian Realm. They were actually rarities in Emperor NvWa''s Palace. According to the legend, far-ancient Enlightening Tree was a marvelous tree that existed when the chaos separated into heaven and earth. The tree leaves of far-ancient Enlightening Tree were born with a strong time force. They could help people experience everything and see what''s going to happen in the future in a dream. It''s my gift to you. Don''t you like it, Brother?"


    ''It seems that I was having a dream after drinking the tea water of the tree leaves of far-ancient Enlightening Tree. I''ve experienced a long dream which was akin to the reality-based trouble-reappearance situations...''


    ''Actually, those things had not happened in Taixia Country yet!''


    ''I''m still alive. I''ve not even returned to Taixia Country yet. I could still redeem everything!''


    After being silent for a few seconds, Zhang Tie suddenly exclaimed, "Ah...". Closely after that, he jumped up and shouted. At the same time, he guffawed and dropped off tears. He danced with joy like being mad. After that, he rushed out of the pavilion, running in the apricot trees and guffawing. "Hahaha, I''m still alive; I''m still alive. There''s still time. There''s still time. Hahaha, Demon Overlord, Meng Shidao, let''s see it. Let''s see it. Hahaha..."


    Zhang Tie then rushed to the front of Tang Mei with a red face with excitement. Closely after that, he cradled Tang Mei and circled in the air for dozens of times under her astonished eyes. After putting her down, he kissed Tang Mei''s face for more than 10 times as he continued, "Hahaha, that''s my favorite gift. I love it too much. It''s the best gift that I''ve ever received. Thank you. Thank you. You''re my baby! You''re my lucky angel..."


    Tang Mei''s face turned into a piece of red cloth immediately. Closely after that, she became this bashful and uttered in a low voice, "Brother..."


    At this moment, Zhang Tie had completely forgotten about Tang mei''s identity. He tightly cradled Tang Mei and directly kissed her lips...


    ...


    Seven days later, on October 1st, Zhang Tie returned to Tigerback Mountain with high spirits.


    Soon after he watched Bian Heng entering the parlor, Zhang Tie had rushed forward and gave him an embrace. Bian Heng became flurried as he instantly turned gloomy and pushed Zhang Tie away. Meanwhile, he urged, "No! No! I''m not a woman..."


    If not know that Zhang Tie''s sexual orientation was normal, Bian Heng might have long driven Zhang Tie away with battle qi.


    Zhang Tie moved two steps back as he watched Bian Heng and apologized seriously, "I''m sorry..."


    Bian Heng felt odd as he looked Zhang Tie up and down before asking, "What wrong thing have you done to me?"


    "Nothing, I just feel that I miss you after leaving you for a few days..." Zhang Tie replied as he shook his head and sat down. In this world, nobody else might know what Zhang Tie''s apology meant to Bian Heng¡ª¡ªIn that real "dream", Zhang Tie took Bian Heng to Taixia Country. However, it meant a trap for Bian Heng. When Zhang Tie fought to the death in Xuanyuan Hill, Bian Heng was traveling across the country. If everything in the dream was real, Bian Heng must face a poor outcome after Taixia and Hua people were destroyed. That was why Zhang Tie felt sorry about Bian Heng.


    "Tang Mei, it must be related to Tang Mei..." Bian Heng instantly became furious as he suddenly recalled something. After glaring at Zhang Tie ferociously, he gritted his teeth with fury and continued, "I wondered why your face looked such red and energetic like taking philter. You must have a guilty conscience after sleeping with Tang Mei. Therefore, you''re apologizing to me!"


    "Ahem, ahem..." Zhang Tie turned solemn immediately as he explained, "Brother Bian, you must have thought too much. I''m here to ask you whether you will leave Motian Realm with me or not..."


    After hearing the topic, Bian Heng gradually recovered his composure. After making a glimpse at Zhang Tie, he rubbed his beard with two fingers and said with a serious look, "Erm... I need to think about it carefully. I''m not as smart as you. If you sell me, I might even count money for you."


    Bian Heng wanted to leave Motian Realm with Zhang Tie; however, he felt bashful talking Zhang Tie about that. Of course, Zhang Tie was aware of Bian Heng''s tactic. Zhang Tie laughed inside as he even knew what Bian Heng wanted to say next.


    "Brother Bian, what about taking another man with you? Had better be a woman. Because women are always delicate in mind. If you got a partner with you, I might not cheat you easily anymore. How about that?"


    Bian Heng widely opened his mouth and eyes as he watched Zhang Tie who was smiling at him as if the latter was a ghost, because he found that Zhang Tie had mentioned the excuse he had prepared well...


    ...

 1996 Changing Plan Bit by Bi

    "Your Majesty''s eyes are really crystal and could observe the details. I hold you in great admiration..."


    When Bian Heng was agape and tongue-tied, a woman''s voice sounded outside the parlor where Bian Heng and Zhang Tie met. At the same time, a brisk and elegant woman with long and slim eyes entered the parlor frankly.


    At the sight of this woman, Bian Heng instantly sprang up like how a mouse would respond to a cat. After that, he rubbed his hands and greeted her with a bit bashful smile. "Why... why are you here?"


    "I just want to know how you fabricated lies about me in front of His Majesty!" the woman replied as she took a glance at Bian Heng, causing him to draw back his neck at once. Closely after that, he bent deeply towards Zhang Tie elegantly as she greeted Zhang Tie, "My respect to you, Your Majesty, I''m Jiang Mingyue the elder of Mountains Sect from Snowcloud Middle Domain!"


    ''Eyes are crystal... could observe the details...'' After hearing Jiang Mingyue''s extolment, even Zhang Tie felt a bit bashful.


    "When I gifted Brother Bian the fruit of Cross-Realm Flower, given Brother Bian''s joyful look, I knew that Brother Bian had already had someone in his heart. Additionally, that man must be a supreme immortal general and an outstanding woman. At the sight of Elder Jiang, I realized that the one whose eyes are crystal is Brother Bian, hahaha..."


    Zhang Tie spoke highly of both Bian Heng and Jiang Mingyue in such brief words. After that, he told them how he guessed that Bian Heng would not leave Motian Realm alone. After hearing his words, Bian Heng and Jiang Mingyue both laughed. At the same time, the atmosphere in the parlor became much more harmonious. After that, the three people sat down.


    As Jiang Mingyue was here, Bian Heng almost became silent and became the audience of Zhang Tie and Jiang Mingyue.


    Like what he "dreamed", Jiang Mingyue asked Zhang Tie about the information of the world where he came from. Zhang Tie answered her patiently. After answering some questions, Zhang Tie directly took two atlases with photos of different sceneries out of Castle of Black Iron and showed them to Bian Heng and Jiang Mingyue. Reading the two atlases, the two people were greatly amazed by the special sceneries and didn''t doubt Zhang Tie''s words any longer.


    "Over hundreds of millions of years, too many immortal emperors in Motian Realm would like to break the nihility and leave Motian Realm. However, I''ve never heard that anyone succeeded in it. Many people were crushed and perished in the chaotic nihility. Although Bian Heng and I are supreme immortal generals, we''re crystal clear about our abilities. Given our abilities, we could never leave Motian Realm. Your Majesty, I wonder how do you plan to take us away from Motian Realm?" Jiang Mingyue finally asked Zhang Tie the key question. Bian Heng also pricked up his ears at once.


    It was the most crucial question.


    Jiang Mingyue posed this question as same as that in Zhang Tie''s "dream". Therefore, Zhang Tie knew that it was definitely the problem that Jiang Mingyue and Bian Heng concerned about the most after negotiation. They wanted to leave Motian Realm. However, Zhang Tie must guarantee their safety; instead of taking them to die with him.


    Last time, after hearing this question, as the core area of Mountain Ruins was going to open and Zhang Tie planned to leave Motian Realm after discovering the Mountain Ruins, he proved his ability in the simplest way¡ª¡ªHe directly teleported Bian Heng and Jiang Mingyue into Castle of Black Iron and let the two people stay in Castle of Black Iron in advance. He prepared to leave Motian Realm with the two people a few days later.


    Previously, Zhang Tie thought that he could execute the plan to wipe out all the demons without any loophole when he returned to Taixia Country. Finally, humans were exterminated, including him. This time, Zhang Tie had completely returned to reality and recognized the demons'' trump card. Of course, Zhang Tie would not return to Taixia Country with the two people without considerate preparation like last time.


    If he did it like last time, Zhang Tie confirmed that the Demon Overlord must still be waiting for him in the Chaos Space. Would he waste 10 more years being chased after by the Demon Overlord and return to the main world with his secret method at a great price again? Of course, not!


    Over these days, through well considerations in Emperor NvWa''s Palace, Zhang Tie concluded some reasons for his failure in the "dream". The first reason was that he didn''t predict that the Demon Overlord who was hiding on the back of demons could stop him in the Chaotic Space. After killing two demon emperors in a row, Zhang Tie''s confidence soared too much in a short period of time. He thought that he could even solve everything by force. Due to poor judgment and inefficient preparation about difficulties and accidents, he wasted more than 10 years in Chaotic Space.


    If he made good use of the 10-odd years, he could definitely help humans win the holy war...


    "I''m not confident enough to take you two to that world safely!" Zhang Tie adopted the absolutely different tactic and words when he watched Bian Heng and Jiang Mingyue. "If you''ve determined to go there, I will prove to you my ability within 10 years. You could consider it well within the following 10 years. It depends on you whether you will go there with me or not by then!"


    "10 years?"


    "10 years?"


    Zhang Tie nodded firmly. When the two people heard that he was going to leave Motian Realm soon the last time, they both looked surprised. However, this time, when they heard that they were going to wait for 10 years, they looked relatively calmer. Perhaps the two people felt that they should indeed make sufficient preparations before leaving Motian Realm. In fact, 10 years were not too long for them.


    "Well, that''s a deal!" Jiang Mingyue agreed. Bian Heng just nodded like a fool on one side; meanwhile, he watched Jiang Mingyue in an infatuated way...


    ...


    After leaving Tigerback Mountain, Zhang Tie darted towards Nine-Heavens Big Domain at lightning speed.


    ...


    On October 10, the 3593rd year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar, many powerhouses were converging outside the core area of Mountain Ruins. Everything was as same as that in Zhang Tie''s "dream". The arrival of Long Jiutian, Ying Gucheng and the other immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace aroused the attraction and discussions of those immortal generals outside the core area of Mountain Ruins. However, what they were discussing was already different than that in Zhang Tie''s "dream". In the past 10 days, Zhang Tie, who had just shown off his power in Deities'' Plain, made another world-shocking deed in Nine Heavens Big Domain¡ª¡ªhe almost swept over all the demons'' cities in Nine Heavens Big Domain alone at lightning speed and pushed his fame to the apex again...


    "Hahaha, it''s so boisterous here. See you again..."


    Zhang Tie appeared with greetings; however, nobody else could identify the "poor taste" in his words. Of course, very few immortal generals were mumbling inside, "Why did he use ''again''? Did His Majesty Dragon Emperor greet someone whom he was familiar with?"


    Zhang Tie flew over there as handsome as a celestial being in a white robe and a black waistband...

 1997 Zhang Ties Firm Resoluteness

    Zhang Tie moved tens of thousands of meters in one go. He arrived at the front of the other immortal general of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace soon after his voice at lightning speed.


    "My respect to you, Your Majesty..."


    Long Jiutian, Ying Gucheng and the other 20-odd immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace hurriedly greeted Zhang Tie with full respect. Previously, Zhang Tie had told them that he would come here to converge with them before the core area of Mountain Ruins opened. When they watched Zhang Tie, all the 20-odd immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace became greatly reassured.


    "Get up, please!" Zhang Tie said as he raised his hand, lifting up the two elders and those immortal generals gently with his tender battle qi.


    Watching these familiar yet strange faces in front of him, Zhang Tie had a complex feeling. In his dream, after leaving Motian Realm, he would never see these immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace any longer. Unexpectedly, heaven bestowed upon him another opportunity.


    Long Jiutian and Ying Gucheng exchanged a glance with each other with faint shock in their eyes. Only after a few months, they felt that Zhang Tie had been much more powerful than before. Additionally, what Zhang Tie did in Nine Heavens Big Domain over the past 10 days shocked the entire Motian Realm too. However, what Long Jiutian and Ying Gucheng were confused about was that Zhang Tie didn''t have Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace take over those demons'' cities that he had swept across Nine Heavens Big Domain. As a result, those cities were anarchic at this moment. All the immortal demon general had already escaped away. The army of demons had been broken up. However, those immortal palaces and forces in Nine Heavens Big Domain dared not occupy those cities where Zhang Tie had wiped out either. If they dared pick free peaches from Dragon Emperor, they must be courting death.


    The current situation facing Nine Heavens Big Domain was actually a bit chaotic; because nobody knew Zhang Tie''s plan in Nine-Heavens Big Domain.


    However, as the core area of Mountain Ruins was going to open, they all focused on the core area of Mountain Ruins.


    "Hahaha, long time no see, Dragon Emperor is still as brilliant as before. Congratulations! Recently, Dragon Emperor caused all the demons to wail like ghosts and howl like wolves in Nine-Heavens Big Domain. They almost retreated from Nine Heavens Big Domain completely. Your heroic deed really caused our humans'' morality to soar..." Force Emperor greeted Zhang Tie with laughter from afar.


    As the actual situation had changed, Force Emperor''s greetings were also different than that in Zhang Tie''s ''dream''.


    In the "dream", Zhang Tie didn''t make such a great meritorious deed in Nine-Heavens Big Domain. Because Zhang Tie wanted to go back to Taixia Country as fast as possible, he was not interested in the remaining demons and demon cities in Nine-Heavens Big Domain. He then left that "cake" to those immortal palaces and forces across the Motian Realm. However, this time, Zhang Tie swept across all the main demon forces in Nine-Heavens Big Domain in 10 days and aroused a sharp reversal over there. Therefore, even Force Emperor paid attention to Zhang Tie''s great deed in Nine-Heavens Big Domain and intended to sound out Zhang Tie''s purpose by doing that.


    "Hahaha, Force Emperor, thanks for your appreciation!" Zhang Tie laughed. After saying something that everyone else could hear, he asked Force Emperor secretly, "Force Emperor, are you interested in those demon cities in Nine-Heavens Big Domain?"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Force Emperor''s eyes gleamed. At the same time, he asked Zhang Tie secretly, "Dragon Emperor, you mean?"


    "It''s simple. I want to exchange 40 demon cities that I wiped out in Nine-Heavens Big Domain with 20 years'' cultivation access in the secret realms under the control of Your Majesty in Mountain Ruins. I know that a tower of time could be available for 20 years one year later in the secret realm under your control!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s request, Force Emperor''s heart instantly palpitated once. If Force Emperor agreed to exchange one year''s cultivation access for two demon cities that Zhang Tie had wiped out, Force Emperor Immortal Palace must make great profits from that. However, that secret realm in the Mountain Ruins under the control of Force Emperor Immortal Palace was a top-secret in Force Emperor Immortal Palace, only Force Emperor and some elders knew about it. How did Zhang Tie know about it? How could he know clearly when a tower of time in the secret realm was available? That was too terrifying!


    "Your Majesty, how do you know that I''ve got a secret realm and there''re towers of time in that secret realm?" Force Emperor asked Zhang Tie as he squinted his eyes.


    The true reason was that Zhang Tie had been crystal clear about everything in the Mountain Ruins after his Castle of Black Iron engulfed the space ball of Motian Realm for 20 years when the entire Mountain Ruins had become Zhang Tie''s private belongings. This was also Zhang Tie''s great achievement in "dream".


    "There''s a rarity called Motian Mirror in Emperor NvWa''s Palace. When I paid a visit to Emperor NvWa''s Palace a few days ago, due to good luck, I learned a lot of secrets about Mountain Ruins from Motian Mirror, including that Force Emperor had a secret realm and a time tower in that secret realm is going to be available soon!" Zhang Tie fabricated with a serious look. At this moment, if he told Force Emperor that he learned about it in a dream, Force Emperor would not believe it. Therefore, he preferred to fabricate a lie that Force Emperor could believe and would never be revealed by Force Emperor for the rest of his life.


    "Dragon Emperor, why do you need that tower of time so urgently?"


    "Because time is very precious for me. I want to promote to an immortal emperor as soon as possible!"


    Four years later, Xuanyuan Changying would be assassinated by demons. Last time, Zhang could do nothing about it in his dream. Therefore, he could only hold his wrist, sighing and making a pair of elegiac couplets for Xuanyuan Changying''s death. This time, Zhang Tie must have a try for Xuanyuan Changying, Taixia Country and himself no matter what.


    If he had enough available towers of time, he could promote to an immortal emperor in 4 years and return to Taixia Country as an immortal emperor so as to prevent all these things. The difference between an immortal emperor and a sage-level knight was even greater than that between a knight and a common fighter. Zhang Tie was confident that he would not fear the projection of demon overlord in the Chaotic Space if he promoted to an immortal emperor...


    Force Emperor asked Zhang Tie with a smile, "What if I don''t agree with it?"


    Zhang Tie then lowered his head and remained silent for half a minute. Finally, he raised his head and watched Force Emperor, replying decisively, "Your secret realm is in an air-floating ocean over 4,000 miles away from Brokensmoke Ocean in the east. One year later, that time tower will be available again. I will enter that secret realm by then. Anyone who blocks me at that time must die!"


    Force Emperor watched Zhang Tie...


    Zhang Tie watched Force Emperor too...


    The air within tens of thousands of meters between them appeared to be frozen. Besides Zhang Tie and Force Emperor, none of the other immortal generals there knew that the two most powerful humans in Motian Realm were on the verge of breaking out a battle...


    ...

 1998 Quick Reaction

    After gazing at Zhang Tie for one minute, Force Emperor suddenly let out a sigh as his domineering qi reduced at a stroke. He uttered, "I regard my respect to you. That tower of time will belong to you in one year. I have to agree with you. Unexpectedly, you could force me to drink!"


    Force Emperor knew that the result was the same if he or Force Emperor''s Immortal Palace blocked Zhang Tie given Zhang Tie''s battle force in the battle of Deities Plain. What was more, Zhang Tie had already known the location of the secret realm in the hand of Force Emperor. If Zhang Tie determined to go there, nobody else across Motian Realm could stop him. Now that Zhang Tie talked about this trade with Force Emperor secretly, he might have already considered the possibility of being refused, and maintained the dignity of Force Emperor to a certain degree.


    Of course, Force Emperor felt complex at this moment. He had a good impression of Zhang Tie; however, at this moment, he realized that Zhang Tie had already "changed"...


    Zhang Tie knew what Force Emperor was thinking about. However, due to emergency, he couldn''t be hesitant or merciful anymore; instead, he explained to Force Emperor while shaking his head, "Please forgive me, Force Emperor, I have to do that. I have to promote to an immortal emperor as fast as possible. Nobody could stop me. Even if it was sworn by numerous people, I''d still have to do that!"


    "Dragon Emperor, did you clean up demons across Nine Heavens Big Domain recently in order to exchange those cities under the control of demons for access to my tower of time?"


    "You got it!" Zhang Tie admitted it frankly, "If I got it by force, my reputation would be destroyed. Therefore, I prefer to exchange it with cities; one year for two cities, both of us could benefit from it. Why not?"


    "Dragon Emperor, do you know that demons also have secret realms in Mountain Ruins? Do you know that there are also towers of time in the secret realms under the control of demons?"


    Zhang Tie replied with a smile, "Of course I know the secret realms under the control of demons which contain towers of time. After exploring the core of Mountain Ruins, I will take demons'' secret realms by force!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s explanation, Force Emperor became speechless.


    The atmosphere between the two people became much cooler at once; instead of being that passionate like before.


    Although being heroic and generous, Force Emperor was also very domineering. Force Emperor and Zhang Tie had a good relationship before; however, at this moment, Zhang Tie had to conquer Force Emperor for the sake of his purpose. No matter what, the relationship between him and Force Emperor could never match that of the survival of Taixia Country and humans as a whole. If he had to choose one between his friendship with Force Emperor and the survival of Taixia Country, Zhang Tie preferred to choose the second one. As for what Force Emperor would do and judge him in the future, it was not that important any more...


    "The core of Mountain Ruins is going to open..."


    A human immortal general shouted in the far the moment Zhang Tie and Force Emperor reached an agreement. What happened in the next was as same as that in Zhang Tie''s dream...


    A brilliant sparkle suddenly appeared at the highest point of the core of Mountain Ruins in the distance. The sparkle soon became a hot sun. At the same time, the entire core of Mountain Ruins started to rock as the fog started to fade away bit by bit, revealing the original look of the core of Mountain Ruins.


    The great shock and wave came from the core of Mountain Ruins and swept over the surrounding air zone like ripples, cleaning up all the clouds in the sky. At the same time, numerous blue and red meteors flew out of the space above Mountain Ruins and shot in all directions like an earthshaking avalanche, submerging the air zone within thousands of miles near the core of Mountain Ruins...


    Zhang Tie squinted his eyes and watched all these. The traces of the meteors of those blue and red ice and fire heavenly winds were as same as that he saw in his dream as if their routes had been fixed in advance.


    Before the waves disappeared, Zhang Tie left some words to two elders and some immortal generals of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace silently and cupped his hands towards Force Emperor, saying, "Force Emperor, I gotta get going!" After saying that, Zhang Tie advanced towards the core of Mountain Ruins where numerous meteors were falling down under the dumbfounded gaze of the other immortal generals outside the core of Mountain Ruins, leaving a light in the sky.


    When Zhang Tie was going to be hit by a meteor, he activated his invisible Shen bead and disappeared in front of the public at a stroke. Nobody could see him or trace anymore.


    Force Emperor who was still depressed by the trade between him and Zhang Tie also gnashed his teeth and rushed towards the core of Mountain Ruins in an unyielding way. However, he was not able to predict the trace of each meteor; therefore, only after a few minutes, he had seen a huge icy blue meteor flying towards him... he couldn''t avoid it...


    Being extremely depressed, Force Emperor roared and slashed his huge saber towards the meteor at once...


    ...


    The shock and meteors of ice and fire heavenly winds across the central area of Mountain Ruins had just disappeared when Zhang Tie arrived there. At the same time, the Infinite Immortal Hell appeared in Zhang Tie''s hand like a hammer. Zhang Tie then flew towards that entrance on the second floor in the central area of Mountain Ruins according to his memory at a high speed.


    Only after a short while, with a loud sound "bang", a deities'' battle puppet was finally shattered into pieces by Zhang Tie''s Infinite Immortal Hell. Then, Zhang Tie saw the familiar scene again¡ª¡ªA huge archway, a huge sculpture, a vast and open square and a square matrix of 360 deities'' battle puppets...


    When the 360 deities'' battle puppets'' eyes slowly turned red, Zhang Tie punched his own chest twice heavily and caused blood to flow out of his nostrils, ears and mouth corners. Closely after that, the light and shade of battle god reappeared behind Zhang Tie.


    "Come on..." Zhang Tie roared as he rushed towards those deities'' battle puppets. Meanwhile, the power of his Infinite Immortal Hell surged by 10 times in a split second. With cracks and booms, Zhang Tie rushed into the entrance as fast as he could.


    It was still that Instrumental Spirit Palace with 5 gates. However, this time, Zhang Tie didn''t enter the other four gates to collect element crystals any longer; instead, he directly rushed in the one in the center.


    It was a tunnel behind that gate. Zhang Tie soon reached the turning.


    The corpse of that human power in broken immortal outfit was leaning against the wall of the tunnel. Before that corpse made any response, Zhang Tie had struck the corpse with his big hammer and crushed it into pieces...


    "F*ck, you almost scared me to death last time..."

 1999 When Good Luck Come, One Has Good Ideas

    Bang...


    The terrifying strike brought by Infinite Immortal Prison almost burned the entire palace on the floor below Heaven of Light into ashes.


    With one strike, the air there had become even hotter than magma. Meanwhile, the ground on that floor was shaking heavily like experiencing an earthquake.


    The last blue deities'' battle puppet in the palace, who was as powerful as an immortal emperor was shattered by Zhang Tie''s strike. His broken body parts were sent flying tens of thousands of meters away. Even the 10-odd bloody deities'' battle puppets rushing towards him were destroyed by the strong impact wave of Zhang Tie''s strike.


    Over 1,000 deities'' battle puppets were heavily injured by Zhang Tie''s constant strikes. Their tight formation finally revealed a loophole. Zhang Tie then broke out of the palace with his huge stick and came to the palace under the magnificent brilliant starry sky immediately.


    It was an area of dilapidated ruins that was giving out time-honored qi under the starry sky.


    Although it was his second time to see such a scene, Zhang Tie''s heart still palpitated once when he saw everything in this space. The interwoven scenery of the brilliant and eternal starry sky and the far-ancient dilapidated buildings in the long course of history carried a great impact force. It caused Zhang Tie to meditate like an abstruse subject.


    In that ruins, a purely white, high tower was standing still and even reached the starry sky.


    The Heavens-Reaching Tower was already in front of him.


    However, Zhang Tie didn''t have time to meditate as a great batch of deities'' battle puppets were chasing after him. Those deities'' battle puppets feared nothing.


    Zhang Tie didn''t waste time on those deities'' battle puppets, because he had already felt that the effect of triggering Battle God Bloodline was declining. He then rushed towards the purely white Heavens-Reaching Tower with a streak of light, tens of thousands of meters per step.


    The entrance of the Heavens-Reaching Tower was still complete. Light was flowing faintly on both sides of the entrance. The entrance was not a gate, but a white light curtain. As Zhang Tie was being closely chased after by those deities'' battle puppets, he soon arrived at the entrance at the bottom of Heavens-Reaching Tower before entering the light curtain...


    When Zhang Tie entered that light curtain, those deities'' battle puppets instantly stopped.


    In the "dream", when Zhang Tie and Tang Mei came here, they entered the Space Spirit''s Palace and rested a few days over there. After recovering their energy, they continued to explore the Heaven of Light meticulously. This time, as Zhang Tie had already known the situation in the Heaven of Light, he directly entered the Heaven of Light on the highest floor of the Heavens-Reaching Tower from the entrance without any concern or rest.


    When Zhang Tie entered the light curtain, a huge transparent bubble wrapped him immediately, causing him to rush into the sky, as if taking a high-speed lift. Only after a short while, the bubble had burst. Zhang Tie then entered the Heaven of Light.


    When he arrived at the Heaven of Light, the light&shade of Battle God disappeared immediately. Meanwhile, he almost staggered forward due to the strong dizziness.


    Everything here was as same as that he saw last time in his "dream". The ground here was covered with corpses and body parts of fierce deities, which were giving out brilliant red light like gemstones.


    As Zhang Tie had already started to sense the aftermath of triggering Battle God bloodline, he rushed to the side of Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring as fast as he could. Closely after that, he threw himself onto the side of the pool and immersed his head into the Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring before having a drink.


    If he did not know that he could fix the aftermath of triggering Battle God bloodline in the shortest period soon after coming here and drinking Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring to his hearts'' content, he would never trigger his Battle God bloodline in the Heavens-Reaching Tower.


    In his "dream", it took Zhang Tie almost one month from the entrance at the second floor of Mountain Ruins to the Heaven of Light at the top floor. However, this time, it only took him one day to reach the floor where Heaven of Light was from the bottom.


    Zhang Tie made it at the cost of triggering his Battle God bloodline and six substitutes. Additionally, he ignored all the element crystals and heavenly sandalwood on the way. He only wanted to come to the Heaven of Light in the shortest period of time.


    The important reason that Zhang Tie accomplished it so fast lay in that he knew that a tower of time inside the secret realm of Mountain Ruins under the control of demons was available in half a month. Zhang Tie could cultivate inside for two decades, during which period of time he could reach four change realm of his immortal chakra. Zhang Tie must grasp this opportunity.


    In the "dream", in order to leave Motian Realm for Taixia Country as soon as possible, Zhang Tie missed many things and opportunities in Motian Realm and Mountain Ruins. This time, he would not repeat it.


    After drinking Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, he saw the effect immediately. In an instant, the weakening effect of triggering Battle God bloodline came to a stop. Closely after that, Zhang Tie felt that his vigor was recovering slowly.


    In case of more trouble, Zhang Tie stood up and started to teleport the items in the Heaven of Light into Castle of Black Iron.


    Those entered his eyes first were body parts of fierce deities that spread everywhere over the floor.


    All the body parts of those fierce deities had been energized. Each of their body parts was emitting brilliant bloody light. According to Tang Mei, only fierce deities who had formed two immortal chakras and above could keep this kind of eternal bloody light after death. According to the depth of the color of bloody light, one could even identify the cultivation base of that fierce deity before death. The color of bloody light that body parts of late fierce deities who had formed two immortal chakras emitted was a bit lighter than those who had formed three immortal chakras.


    The floor of Heaven of Light was covered with body parts of fierce deities. After counting it roughly, Zhang Tie found there were at least hundreds of late fierce deities here. If these fierce deities were still alive, anyone of them could become a superb powerhouse higher than human or demon emperors and topple over the entire Motian Realm.


    However, at this moment, all the fierce deities had died like extinct dinosaurs, leaving their remains displaying their great power. Zhang Tie was lost in wonder.


    To be honest, Zhang Tie didn''t know the purpose of the body parts of these fierce deities even now. However, it was his instinct to feel that these things could help him a lot, therefore, he teleported all of them into Castle of Black Iron.


    After moving all the body parts of fierce deities into Castle of Black Iron, he moved the space ball of Motian Realm into Castle of Black Iron too...


    When the space ball of Motian Realm entered Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie heard Heller''s tip immediately, "Castle Lord, a space ball has entered Castle of Black Iron. Do you want to integrate it right now?"


    Zhang Tie wanted to agree; however, he immediately recalled that he encountered the Demon Overlord in the chaotic space when he left Motian Realm in the "dream".


    ''When I came to Motian Realm from Taixia Country, I didn''t encounter the Demon Overlord on the way. However, when I left Motian Realm for Taixia Country, I encountered the Demon Overlord. Why?''


    ''If the Demon Overlord could completely control all the situations across the Chaotic Space, he should have already killed me when I came to Motian Realm for the first time. At that time, I was in the weakest state. If the Demon Overlord launched a strike at me at that time, he would have long killed me. On that occasion, even the former Dragon Emperor could not leave Motian Realm.''


    ''Now that I could come to Motian Realm and the former dragon emperor could leave Motian Realm without any obstacle, it meant that the Demon Overlord didn''t know all the affairs in the chaotic space timely.''


    ''If so, why did the Demon Overlord block me when I left Motian Realm?''


    ''Something that happened in Motian Realm aroused the attention of the Demon Overlord or what I did in Deities'' Plain was transmitted to the Demon Overlord through some channels of demons'' and aroused the attention of the Demon Overlord. Otherwise, both reasons counted. If it was because of the first reason, the abnormal situations that lasted for half a month in Motian Realm caused by the integration of Castle of Black Iron and the space ball of Motian Realm must have aroused the attention of the Demon Overlord.''


    As these thoughts occurred in his mind, Zhang Tie made a decision immediately.


    "Heller, don''t integrate it for the time being. I will go back to Taixia Country first. No matter what, the space ball is already in Castle of Black Iron. Just a few years later!"


    "As you wish, Castle Lord!"


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie moved Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring into Castle of Black Iron too.


    There was one proverb among Hua people¡ª¡ªwhen one has good luck, he would have good ideas. There was also a term called being possessed by ghosts. They referred to two utterly different mental states which would lead to good luck or misfortunes.


    After deciding not to have Heller integrate Castle of Black Iron with the space ball of Motian Realm, Zhang Tie suddenly felt relaxed. Soon after he moved Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring into Castle of Black Iron, he had got another whim, ''Ordinary fruit trees would grow taller and bigger and bear more fruits with water. Now that that small tree in Castle of Black Iron is a tree, will it grow better with Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring?''


    ''Plus those body parts of fierce deities. Now that the ashes of those demon knights'' bodies inside the Bloody Sacrifice Furnace are top-class fertilizers and could be used to cultivate Demon Spirit Tea, I wonder whether that small tree will grow better with the body parts of those fierce deities as the fertilizers?''


    When this whim occurred to him, Zhang Tie became petrified immediately, because he realized that he had not provided any water or fertilizer to the small tree since he acquired it. He always picked off fruits from the small tree; however, he had not imagined that the small tree might have his own living necessities...


    After swallowing his saliva forcefully for a short while, Zhang Tie tried to recover his composure as he asked Heller in mind, "Heller, what would the small tree change... if I water it with Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring?"


    This time, Heller remained silent for more than 10 seconds before answering Zhang Tie calmly, "Castle Lord, you know that I cannot answer you some questions!"


    After hearing Heller''s answer, Zhang Tie didn''t feel frustrated; instead, he became ecstatic in an instant and almost jumped up. Meanwhile, his heart raced. There were mainly two kinds of questions that Heller couldn''t answer, those about his cultivation and those about the triggering conditions of the fruits on the small tree.


    The answers to the first kind of question needed Zhang Tie to explore. As for the answers to the second kind of question, it depended on his fortune. If he triggered the switch on bearing fruits, he would have fruits. Heller would never provide any tip or hint to him unless Zhang Tie took positive actions.


    Over those years in the "dream", Heller didn''t mention Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring at all. Neither did Zhang Tie ever think about the connection between Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring and the small tree...


    ''F*ck, doesn''t it say that water could lead to the wood in the Five-Elements Earthly-Look Sutra that I cultivate? Why did I forget this simple law...''


    ...

 2000 The Small Trees Change

    It was still half a month away from the time when the tower of time in the demons'' secret realm in Mountain Ruins would be available. However, it would take Zhang Tie at most 2 days to arrive there from the core region of Mountain Ruins, including the period during which he passed through those deities'' battle puppets. Therefore, Zhang Tie had more than ten days to check his ideas.


    He did it right now.


    As it was empty in the Heaven of Light, nobody disturbed him at all. Zhang Tie then entered Castle of Black Iron with excitement and showed up in the lobby of the Palace Tree immediately.


    Those women of Yin-Yang Sect were fully immersing themselves in a great job¡ª¡ªarranging those people whom Zhang Tie saved and moved into Castle of Black Iron outside the Immortal Mountain. Even Agan, Edward and Aziz were helping them over there. As a result, the Palace Tree became tranquil. Only Heller was there.


    The space ball of Motian Realm and Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring were both in the lobby of the Palace Tree.


    Floating in the air, the space ball matched the lobby of the Palace Tree very well. So did the Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring. With Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring and Immortal Stone, the lobby of the Palace Tree became vigorous. All the body parts of fierce deities were stored in the underground garage beneath Palace Tree.


    "Welcome back, Castle Lord..." Heller greeted Zhang Tie with an elegant bow as if he had already guessed Zhang Tie''s intention. After that, he stood under the high platform of the small tree and watched Zhang Tie with an anticipated look.


    "Hahaha, Heller, I appreciate you so much this time..." Zhang Tie laughed as he came under the small tree with a flash.


    "Castle Lord, you should think it all by yourself. I''m just your butler and can assist you to manage Castle of Black Iron. I don''t know anything. Neither did I say anything!" Heller said as he shrugged while talking to Zhang Tie with a solemn look.


    "Heller, I find that you''re very cute now..."


    "Erm..." Heller became speechless.


    Rubbing his hands, Zhang Tie circled around the small tree with great excitement as he thought about the next step.


    ¡ª¡ªwhich should come first, apply fertilizer or water?


    After circling around the small tree for a short while, Zhang Tie slightly recovered his composure. After that, he decided to try the small tree''s response to Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring first. Step by step!


    This process was like growing flowers and trees. All the flowers, grass and trees needed watering. They adapted to water the most. Therefore, Zhang Tie decided to try the small tree''s response to Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring first. As for whether the body parts of fierce deities could become the fertilizer and be absorbed by the small tree or not and whether they were beneficial or harmful to the small tree after being absorbed, it was unknown. Perhaps it was just his conjecture. He would try the effect of the fertilizer after Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring.


    Therefore, Zhang Tie ran his spiritual energy. Only by waving his hand, a stream of water had flown out of the pool of Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring like a fountain and crossed the sky like a water bridge before entering the soil where the root of the small tree was.


    In the beginning, Zhang Tie only watered about 500 ml Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, which was only equal to a bottle of water. Zhang Tie thought it was not too much.


    The soil was a bit special. Zhang Tie had found that the soil was special a long time ago. It looked dark brown and nothing different than ordinary soil; though, it was very odd. When he slightly grabbed the soil, he could take it like taking ordinary soil. However, when he grabbed it forcefully, he found the soil would become even harder than iron.


    The Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring entered the soil immediately.


    Standing beside the small tree, Zhang Tie was observing the small tree''s response with wide eyes.


    One minute later, the small tree didn''t make any response.


    Two minutes later, the small tree still remained unchanged.


    Five minutes later, the small tree didn''t change at all.


    ''Is Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring useless to the small tree or the Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring is not enough?''


    When Zhang Tie muttered, he found that a small leaf in front of him suddenly moved a bit. Closely after that, the leaves around that small leaf also moved. Then, all the twigs and leaves started to move with rustles which sounded like a spring breeze blowing over beautiful aeolian bells. What a piece of euphonic music! In an instant, the entire Palace Tree reverberated with the euphonious sound from the leaves of the small tree.


    The small tree was singing jubilantly. Additionally, a faint rainbow-like light appeared over the trunk and each leaf of the small tree. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie saw new leaves growing out of the ends of the twigs.


    Zhang Tie became this ecstatic.


    ''Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring is really useful to the small tree. It seems to be very useful to the small tree!''


    The small tree''s change lasted for almost 10 minutes. When the small tree''s song gradually sank and the rainbow-like light slowly turned weaker, Zhang Tie waved his hand towards Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring in the far. Closely after that, a stream of spring water flew over there and fell on the root of the small tree. In an instant, the small tree''s jubilant song went louder; meanwhile, the rainbow-like light over the small tree became brilliant again.


    Being watered by the Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, the small tree started to change. Many new leaves and twigs grew out. As the small tree was covered with more and more leaves, its twigs grew longer; even its trunk grew thicker and higher. Meanwhile, the small tree was gradually growing higher and bigger.


    After consuming almost half of the Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring in the pool, the soil finally became saturated. Therefore, Zhang Tie stopped watering it.


    At this moment, the light that the small tree gave out was so strong that Zhang Tie couldn''t even open his eyes. The entire small tree was covered with brilliant light. Even Zhang Tie was forced to jump away from the small tree which was growing bigger.


    The entire lobby of Palace Tree was filled with brilliant light, euphonious sounds and various odd fragrances.


    The small tree''s change lasted for a whole day. After the brilliant light disappeared, a 10-m higher big tree whose crown was like a cloud appeared in the lobby of Palace Tree. Additionally, there was a very eye-catching fruit on the big tree which was giving out brilliant golden light...

 2001 The Fruit of Achievemen

    When he watched the small tree in front of him, Zhang Tie felt ecstatic and indescribably delighted and satisfied like watching a close friend, a partner or a brother growing powerful. Zhang Tie felt happy with the small tree''s growth sincerely.


    After taking so many fruits and receiving so many benefits from this small tree, Zhang Tie suddenly found that he could do something for the small tree. He was not purely asking for something from the small tree; he could also pay it off or return something to it. Such a feeling of satisfaction was much cooler than taking any fruit.


    Even if there was no fruit on the small tree, Zhang Tie would also be happy about it; not to mention that an odd fruit was handing over there.


    It was a fruit that Zhang Tie had never seen before. Like a huge golden pine cone, the fruit was giving out a golden light.


    Over the past day, Zhang Tie witnessed sharp changes in the small tree. After drinking enough Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, Zhang Tie completely recovered from the aftermath of triggering Battle God Bloodline.


    "Congratulations, Castle Lord, Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree has accomplished unusual growth after being watered with Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring!" Heller''s excited and pleasant voice sounded in Zhang Tie''s ears which drew Zhang Tie back to the reality from the feeling of satisfaction that he was immersed in.


    Zhang Tie took a glance at Heller as he nodded silently. After that, he walked towards the small tree and ascended to the high platform where the small tree was step by step. When he came below the crown of the small tree, he looked up at the brilliant leaves and felt indescribably moved.


    The small tree had grown bigger. Even the high platform and the lobby of Palace Tree became several times bigger. A large open area covering thousands of square meters had already appeared under the small tree''s crown. Meanwhile, light gradually came into being among the leaves of the small tree like crystal dew. After that, they fluttered down like feathers and melted with the earth below in a sacred, lofty and natural way.


    When Zhang Tie approached the small tree, he found its leaves were quivering with euphonious rustles like plucking strings. The crystal light that came into being among those leaves then slowly fluttered down and melted on Zhang Tie''s body. In an instant, Zhang Tie felt pretty cool all over from inside. The rustles and the crystal light that fluttered down appeared to talk to Zhang Tie¡ª¡ªThank you!


    The small tree was communicating with Zhang Tie. After the small tree experienced such important growth, it was Zhang Tie''s first time to sense that the small tree owned its thoughts.


    All the living beings in the universe had their spirits, not to mention the small tree. Zhang Tie was not surprised about it at all.


    "I should appreciate you!" Zhang Tie said with a smile as he opened his arms and embraced the small tree. Meanwhile, he put his face on the trunk. The 15-cm thick trunk had already become 3-m thick. Although Zhang Tie''s arms were not short, he could barely touch his fingers when he embraced the tree''s trunk.


    At the same time, Zhang Tie received many messages.


    ¡ª¡ªAfter being watered with Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring, Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree has already grown into Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree King.


    ¡ª¡ªManjusaka Karma Fruit Tree King will own a greater ability to bear fruits.


    ¡ª¡ªAll the fruits of god''s runes that it bears will upgrade to epic level from master level.


    ¡ª¡ªIt could bear fruits concerning demon knights.


    ¡ª¡ªIn the energy field of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree King, you can figure out the truths with a 500% greater probability.


    ''The small tree has grown into a tree king; no wonder Heller said it was "special growth".''


    Reading these messages, Zhang Tie couldn''t inhibit his ecstasy and excitement any longer. He started to guffaw under the tree. Meanwhile, he wondered about the function of that new fruit.


    When he looked up along the trunk, Zhang Tie could only see the verdant tree shade of various shapes of leaves and the thick and big twigs. He didn''t see the entire tree and the golden fruit among leaves till he moved back more than 20 m.


    Because of long-distance, Zhang Tie couldn''t touch the fruit by hand. Therefore, he touched that huge golden pine-cone like fruit with spiritual energy on behalf of his hand.


    When his spiritual energy touched that fruit, Zhang Tie''s heart slightly trembled as he felt enormous energy of Realm of Emotions from inside the fruit. The energy was purer than that he absorbed to form his immortal chakra in his "dream".


    ''Was any connection between the small tree and the Realm of Emotions established after watering the small tree with Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring?''


    Zhang Tie didn''t know. However, this fruit would definitely tell him the answer.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Achievement. The fruit has become ripe. Usage: Pick and direct eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.


    ¡ª¡ªThe brave and generous person, when you suffer hardships to acquire the immortal spring that only deities could drink and water Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree with the immortal spring, you''ve already pushed open the sacred gate of power with your generosity and intelligence. Those who bring achievements to others must acquire achievements from others. The one who gives is always happier than the one receives. This tree king''s fruit contains the tree''s appreciation for you. After taking it, you will enter the realm of immortal sage and form an immortal chakra.


    ¡ª¡ªYou deserve it!


    Reading the introduction about this fruit, Zhang Tie was dumbstruck with astonishment. He had not imagined that he could form the first immortal chakra so easily as he was thinking about forming it through hardships.


    Zhang Tie wiped out all the demons'' areas in Nine-Heavens Big Domain; precisely calculated the time when those time towers in the secret realms of the Mountain Ruins would be available again and made a trade with Force Emperor. He had mobilized all the resources that he could imagine only to form the first immortal chakra in 4 years and pass the most important difficulty since he promoted to a knight.


    But now, he found he could easily promote to an immortal emperor and form the first immortal chakra only after taking this fruit.


    All he did was to help the small tree grow up with Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring. The whole process was simple.


    At this moment, watching the fruit of achievement, Zhang Tie suddenly understood the difference between smartness and intelligence.


    Those smart ones just racked their minds to make full use of the available resources in order to reach their target. By contrast, the ultimate intelligence was actually the perception of the law of cause and effect. When there was a cause, there must be an effect...


    Watching that fruit of achievement, Zhang Tie released his spiritual energy immediately. Closely after that, that fruit flew off the tree and fell in Zhang Tie''s hand.


    After taking in a deep breath, Zhang Tie widely opened his mouth and gulped down the fruit of achievement as fast as possible...


    In an instant, the vast ocean-like power of Realm of Emotions started to spread over Zhang Tie''s body...

 2002 Promoting to An Immortal Emperor

    After a period of time, Zhang Tie opened his eyes. He then saw Heller, A''Gan, Aziz, Edward, Su Haimei, Ying Feiqiong, Ji Yuelan, Jiang Ruoxin and the other women of Yin-Yang Sect standing under the high platform of the small tree and watching him with eyes wide open.


    "Castle Lord, you''re awake. Castle Lord is awake..." A''Gan exclaimed with great excitement.


    Of course, the others saw Zhang Tie opening his eyes too as their facial expressions became vivid immediately.


    "Castle Lord, congratulations on forming your first immortal chakra!" Heller and the other three servants bowed towards Zhang Tie with sincerity as they congratulated him in unison at the same time.


    "Your Majesty, congratulations for promoting to an immortal emperor..." Su Haimei, Ying Feiqiong and the other women of Yin-Yang Sect congratulated Zhang Tie in unison as they all watched him with great admiration in their eyes and slightly bent their knees.


    Zhang Tie smiled as he slowly picked himself up from the high platform. After that, he closed his eyes and sensed his new changes carefully.


    The biggest change was that he had formed an immortal chakra of the force of emotions outside his sage-level chakra.


    The mysterious, huge immortal chakra was rotating slowly. Meanwhile, the powerful energy that carried wisps of qi of universal rules was roaring around him like big rivers and oceans. His body had been modified and strengthened by that energy for one more time. After closing his eyes, Zhang Tie had been able to sense the overwhelming power in each cell.


    At this moment, even though he didn''t activate his Battle God bloodline, Zhang Tie also felt that his power had been far greater than his maximal power in Deities Plain. If a sage-level knight was in the peak of knights, Zhang Tie felt like promoting to a knight from a battle spirit at this moment. They were in two utterly different worlds. Given force purely, Zhang Tie felt that the power that he could release now was at least 20 times greater than that before.


    Besides the increase in power, he found many changes, which were difficult to put in a nutshell. After forming his immortal chakra, Zhang Tie could already apply some powerful secret skills in Infinite King Roc Sutra. When he recalled those secret skills, he instantly became much more confident.


    After a while, Zhang Tie opened his eyes with a smile. After that, he walked downstairs toward the others. Meanwhile, Zhang Tie watched Heller and asked him, "How long would it take me to form this immortal chakra?"


    "49 days!" Heller replied.


    "Really?" Zhang Tie asked with a bit amazement.


    "Castle Lord, do you feel it''s long?" Heller asked Zhang Tie with a smile.


    Zhang Tie smiled too.


    ''It''s been 49 days. It means that I''ve already missed the tower of time in the secret realm under the control of demons. However, I''ve already formed my immortal chakra; therefore, it''s nothing pitiful at all.'' According to his plan, it would take him at least 3 years to form the first immortal chakra. Unexpectedly, he could form it in 49 days. Therefore, Zhang Tie relieved a deep sigh and didn''t feel urgent anymore. From now on, he could return to Taixia Country whenever he wanted.


    Zhang Tie had already had the initiative completely.


    "Edward, please prepare a grand supper for me and these beautiful ladies. I feel that I could eat up a mountain!" Zhang Tie talked to Edward as he stroked his belly.


    "As you wish, Castle Lord!" Edward replied with a smile as his eyes squinted. After each secluded cultivation, Zhang Tie would have a big meal. At that time, Edward always felt pretty happy.


    "Will you enjoy it in the canteen?"


    "On the roof!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s brief answer, all the ladies of Yin-Yang Sect blushed¡ª¡ªthere was a huge hot spring bath pool in the garden on the rooftop of Palace Tree. It was the most secret place for Zhang Tie and these ladies. Although those ladies had just come to Castle of Black Iron, they were deeply impressed by that place.


    ...


    Happy time was always transient.


    After watching the large-scale abnormal phenomenon inside Castle of Black Iron which was caused by Zhang Tie''s promotion to an immortal emperor, those ladies of Yin-Yang Sect hurriedly returned to the Palace Tree. However, they only stayed with Zhang Tie for three days.


    At this moment, those ladies of Yin-Yang Sect were concentrating on those people whom Zhang Tie moved in Castle of Black Iron. They were going to carry forward Yin-Yang Sect inside Castle of Black Iron. Of course, the earliest "aborigines" inside Castle of Black Iron had already spread their belief about Zhang Tie over the new ones. All the people here treated Castle of Black Iron as paradise and Zhang Tie as the Almighty God who got them out of predicaments. Those ladies of Yin-Yang Sect also became the Almighty God''s "messengers and women"...


    ...


    After those ladies of Yin-Yang Sect left Palace Tree on an early morning, Zhang Tie and Heller entered an underground warehouse under the Palace Tree with high spirits.


    When he opened the gate, Zhang Tie found the ground of the entire warehouse was covered with a brilliant red light.


    All the body parts of those fierce deities that Zhang Tie moved in here from Heaven of Light had been connected into complete bodies by Heller like jigsaws.


    Lying on the ground in more than 40 rows vividly, all the fierce deities looked grim like sculptures made of gemstones that were giving out red light. The entire underground warehouse appeared to be covered with broken artifacts.


    "Castle Lord, there are 42,159 pieces in total of body parts of fierce deities. After putting them together, we get 217 complete fierce deities'' corpses. All of them have the physical features of demons. Given the levels of these fierce deities, 166 fierce deities have two immortal chakras; 51 fierce deities have three immortal chakras..."


    Walking in this storehouse being covered with fierce deities'' corpses with Heller, Zhang Tie sighed. "I''m afraid that only in far-ancient battles between deities could so many powerhouses with more than 2 immortal chakras die in one place..."


    As for Zhang Tie who had just formed his immortal chakra, these fierce deities'' corpses might not only be the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree King''s "fertilizers", they also warned Zhang Tie and made him more sober-minded. Zhang Tie couldn''t even imagine what powerful people could shatter so many fierce deities in Heaven of Light.


    "Castle Lord, don''t you think these fierce deities'' corpses are strange?" Heller suddenly asked Zhang Tie...


    "Hmm? Strange what?" Zhang Tie paused at once.


    Heller took a glance at Zhang Tie out of curiosity as he said, "According to my speculation, these powerhouses'' bodies had been absolutely energized when they became fierce deities. They should cultivate a secret method. When their consciousnesses died, all of their energy would be integrated with their bodies. Meanwhile, their bodies maintained aggressive instincts. Castle Lord, as you''ve already formed the first immortal chakra, you could discover something from these body parts..."


    After hearing Heller''s words, Zhang Tie released his spiritual energy as he reached out his hands. At the same time, a fierce deity''s head flew over there and fell in his hand. Zhang Tie then started to observe it carefully...


    ...

 2003 The Best Rarity

    Shamefully, Zhang Tie had not studied the pieces of these fierce deities that he acquired from the Heavens of Light during those years in the "dream". When he acquired their pieces, he was busy returning to Taixia Country. When he returned to Taixia Country, he was busy dealing with demons. Like other rarities and materials that he collected in the Castle of Black Iron, these pieces of fierce deities were just put in the warehouse in idle. Previously, he wanted to study the functions of these pieces; however, Meng Shidao and the dominant demon deity didn''t leave time to him...


    Now, Zhang Tie had enough time.


    That fierce deity''s head was a typical head of an ox-headed demon. It felt as heavy as a huge rock in hand. The cut was as smooth and neat as glass. After taking a closer look at it, Zhang Tie could see, blood vessels, bones, muscles, structures and organs inside the cut. However, all of them turned as hard as fossils.


    Zhang Tie wrapped this fierce deity''s head by his spiritual energy. Through careful observation, he gradually found the weird place that Heller once mentioned.


    The cells of the muscles and bones of this fierce deity''s head were completely filled with bizarre energy. After studying that special energy carefully, Zhang Tie found that it contained the fierce deity''s spiritual energy, battle qi, four chakras, seven strengths, even the enormous force of energy realm in the immortal chakras of the fierce deity. Like Heller had said, this special energy had been completely consolidated in each cell of the pieces. Although a part of them had dissipated after such a long period of time, the remaining energy was still very considerable.


    Perhaps this was the reason that fierce deity could still fight after death. When this energy was consolidated into his cells, the fierce deity''s body actually became a set of machine. It was the instinct and awareness of combat left in his cells that manipulated this machine.


    "The ''all'' sutra in Infinite King Roc Sutra is powerful. However, ''all'' sutra is only effective to living powers. It was ineffective to the pieces of fierce deities who had died for billions of years, even elder than dinosaur fossils.''


    ''Could these pieces of fierce deities become the fertilizer of the small tree?''


    Zhang Tie, who was confident and fanciful just now, started to waver his mind.


    ''Whatever. Hopefully, they could; if not, I will suffer no loss.''


    With such a composed mind, Zhang Tie directly returned to the lobby of the palace tree and came to the place under the small tree with the head of the fierce deity, also the energy field of the small tree.


    Since the small tree evolved into a king tree, bits of light had started to drift down the crown, which looked sacred and fantastic.


    "Can it become your fertilizer..." Zhang Tie asked the king tree straightforwardly.


    The king tree didn''t speak; however, its leaves caused clear and euphonic rustles like how wind bells rang. Additionally, the bits of light that the falling leaves carried felt as pleasant and cold as before. Given the king tree''s response, it didn''t refuse at all.


    ''I shall have a try!''


    When Zhang Tie was thinking about digging a pit under the king tree and burying this fierce deity''s head inside or thinking about grinding it into ashes and spraying it over the soil under the king tree, he found the soil, which was not far away from the trunk, suddenly turn soft as a big pit covering a few square meters slowly appeared there.


    Zhang Tie widely opened his eyes at a stroke¡ª¡ªdoes the king tree want me to drop this fierce deity''s head into the pit?


    Only after thinking about 2 seconds, Zhang Tie had come to the edge of the big pit and put inside the fierce deity''s head.


    Closely after the fierce deity''s head was put inside, it had sunk into the fine sands like a stone; in the blink of an eye, it had been covered by the fine and soft soil.


    Watching that, Zhang Tie became more confident at a stroke.


    Previously, Zhang Tie wanted to try the bearing capacity and receiving ability of the king tree by slowly adding "fertilizer" to it. Given the king tree''s active response, he realized that he could be a bit more radical.


    Zhang Tie then gnashed his teeth as he directly moved all the pieces of that fierce deity out of the warehouse and put them into the huge, soft pit.


    Strangely, when Zhang Tie intended to put all the pieces of the fierce deity inside it, the huge soft pit reappeared as if the king tree was waiting for him to put all the pieces of the fierce deity inside the pit.


    The king tree didn''t make any response for the time being.


    Zhang Tie was not anxious; because he knew that it required a period of time for the king tree to digest it. Similarly, you couldn''t expect your crops to grow taller soon after you applied fertilizer to your crops. You needed a bit of patience! Patience was a virtue!


    Additionally, it was unknown how would the king tree respond. The pieces of fierce deity might lead to fruits; however, they might only be beneficial to the king tree; as for whether they could lead to fruits or not, Zhang Tie would accept it frankly.


    After waiting in the lobby of the palace tree for a few hours, he didn''t see the small tree make any response. Therefore, Zhang Tie entered the secluded cultivation.


    Before entering secluded cultivation, Zhang Tie told Heller to call him when the king tree had any change.


    ...


    7 days later, when Zhang Tie was consolidating his realm and adapting to his new strength in the backroom by destroying cities and mountains in Blackson Human Corridor in his trouble-reappearance situation, he suddenly heard Heller''s voice.


    "Castle Lord, I think you should take a look in the lobby of the palace tree. There''s something that you''re waiting for!"


    The entire trouble-reappearance situation broke into a light rain at a stroke. Zhang Tie, who was sitting in the backroom with his legs crossed, instantly opened his eyes. Closely after that, Zhang Tie stood up and left the room before coming to the lobby of the palace tree.


    When Zhang Tie arrived, the lobby of the palace tree had been brilliant as a brilliant fruit was hanging over the king tree.


    Although with a bit of hope, Zhang Tie didn''t imagine that the king tree could bring him a new brilliant fruit. That was too powerful.


    Zhang Tie then released his spiritual energy towards the new fruit.


    ¡ª¡ªFruit of Immortal Essence; not ripe yet.


    ¡ª¡ªAs long as this fruit becomes ripe, Castle Lord could take it and light your second immortal chakra which meant that Castle Lord could sense the LV 2 universal laws and acquire the whole energy of a fierce deity...


    ¡ª¡ªDust will return to dust; soil will return to soil...


    Before reading all the explanations of the source of the new fruit...


    "Pah..."


    Zhang Tie, being shocked by the two paragraphs, forcefully slapped his face in order to confirm that he was not having a dream!


    ''It hurts!''


    ''I''m not dreaming!''


    Closely after that, Zhang Tie was in surging ecstasy!

 2004 Forming Three Immortal Chakras

    On November 18, the 3596th year of Emperor NvWa''s Calendar, a man suddenly appeared in the empty Heaven of Light on the highest floor of the core area of Mountain Ruins with a flash...


    Dressy indigo-blue robe, white belt with jade pendant, black moire boots, short hair, a pair of crystal eyes and a faint smile, Zhang Tie looked as bosom as a teenager in the neighborhood and felt like facing spring breeze.


    At this moment, Zhang Tie''s arbitrary qi had already disappeared. He felt like returning to his original nature in Blackhot City. Even if he walked on the street, he would not look too eye-catching.


    When a butterfly emerged from its cocoon, it would always complain that its wings were not good enough. When an eaglet flew in the sky, it would always complain that the sky was too low. However, the universe remained unchanged since its birth. The sun rose and the moon set every day. Sometimes, the more magnificent the scene was, the simpler it might look. As the old saying went, the most beautiful sound was silence; the most magnificent scene was invisible; the most perfect thing was like being incomplete.


    The more powerful one was, the better he could return to his own nature!


    "It''s been 3 years? Time really flies!" Zhang Tie looked around the Heaven of Light as he shook his head and muttered with a smile. After that, he raised his right foot and walked into the nihility. When Zhang Tie put down his right foot and moved his left foot, he came to the entrance on the second floor of the core area of Mountain Ruins.


    Zhang Tie entered this entrance three years ago in his "dream". This entrance was a 100-m high huge archway. On both sides of the archway, there were two huge and majestic half-human and half-snake statues higher than 100m with overwhelming momentum. In front of the statues, there was a vast, open square. 360 deities'' battle puppets were standing on the square in terms of a square matrix. As long as someone wanted to enter this archway, all the 360 deities'' battle puppets would be activated.


    It took Zhang Tie almost one month to enter Heaven of Light from here in his "dream" three years ago for the first time. Three years ago, it only took Zhang Tie one day to enter Heaven of Light from here after activating his Battle God bloodline. However, Zhang Tie left Heaven of Light immediately by moving his foot.


    When he saw the 360 terrifying and arbitrary deities'' battle puppets, whom even immortal emperors were scared of, Zhang Tie felt like watching 360 huge toy figurines of Pikachu standing in rows neatly. Besides feeling cute and interesting, Zhang Tie had not more feeling about them anymore.


    Intensive battle qi waves came from thousands of miles away from the periphery of the bottom of the core area of Mountain Ruins time and then. Three years after the core area of Mountain Ruins was opened, many human immortal generals were still looking for fortunes and rarities in the core area of Mountain Ruins or in the periphery of the core area of Mountain Ruins. Many people would take such a rare opportunity that would come in every 360 years.


    "The tower of time in the secret realm of Force Emperor Immortal Palace should still be prepared for me. I''ve exchanged it with 40 cities. I told Force Emperor that I would enter it after one year, but I didn''t tell him the precise time. Although it''s been less than two years, I think Force Emperor should not break his promise. If I cultivate 20 years in the tower of time, I will absolutely consolidate the realm after forming the third immortal chakra. Meanwhile, I could further cultivate the Great Wilderness Sutra!" Zhang Tie muttered, stroking his face. When he took another look at the core area of Mountain Ruins, where a lot of human immortal generals were going after like a flock of ducks, Zhang Tie walked towards Brokensmoke Ocean outside the core area of Mountain Ruins.


    Zhang Tie was indeed walking; instead of flying. He just strolled in the air. However, when he took one step forward, he''d already appeared over 200 miles away. With another step, he reached another 200 miles away. Three steps later, Zhang Tie had reached 600 miles away from the core area of Mountain Ruins.


    Such a speed couldn''t even be described with the word "fast" as it was close to the speed of light.


    ...


    Two powerhouses who had just promoted to fire immortal generals or semi sages were flying towards Mountain Ruins from outside the core area of Mountain Ruins. All of a sudden, one of them stopped as he shouted with great shock on his face, "Ah..."


    "What''s wrong?" After hearing his exclamation, the other fire immortal general stopped immediately as he took precautions and looked around.


    "I saw a young man over there. But he disappeared in the blink of an eye," that fire immortal general said as he pointed at a place in front of him with great shock on his face.


    "Impossible. You must have a visual hallucination. I didn''t see anything. Even an immortal emperor couldn''t disappear out of the void. Too many powerhouses are heading for the core area of Mountain Ruins. Additionally, there are too many odd things in the core area. As it''s our first time to be here, we must be careful!"


    After hearing his partner''s words, that fire immortal general also doubted that he had a visual hallucination. He saw that man appear and disappear in a split second.


    ''Perhaps I''ve really got a visual hallucination as it''s close to Mountain Ruins. But I saw him smiling at me just now...''


    After such a sudden shock, the two fire immortal generals who discovered Mountain Ruins for the first time became careful immediately.


    ...


    Brokensmoke Ocean was about 130,000 miles away from the core area of Mountain Ruins. Zhang Tie walked towards Brokensmoke Ocean step by step. It only took him about 10 minutes to arrive at Brokensmoke Ocean with less than 1,000 steps.


    Brokensmoke Ocean was a floating ocean inside Mountain Ruins. The entire ocean was like a huge piece of blue jelly which constantly changed its shape. Floating in the sky of Mountain Ruins and being adorned with a lot of floating mountains, the entire Brokensmoke Ocean looked this odd.


    The secret realm of Force Emperor Immortal Palace was in a hidden place inside Brokensmoke Ocean. Except for some powers of Force Emperor Immortal Palace, nobody else knew about it.


    Zhang Tie entered that secret realm from outside Brokensmoke Ocean with one step.


    "Who..." Two supreme immortal generals were guarding the secret realm. When they saw Zhang Tie showing up out of the void, they were both stunned.


    "Our respects to you, Your Majesty..." An elder once saw Zhang Tie in Deities Plain. He recognized Zhang Tie at once when the latter appeared. Closely after that, the elder bent towards Zhang Tie with great respect.


    The two elders didn''t know the details about the trade between Zhang Tie and Force Emperor. Of course, Force Emperor would not tell his subordinates about the fact that he was intimidated by Zhang Tie. Force Emperor told them that Zhang Tie exchanged 40 cities in Nine-Heavens Big Domain with the right of use of a time tower in the secret realm for 20 years. In the opinion of the two elders, Force Emperor Immortal Palace benefited a lot through this trade.


    When the two people saw Zhang Tie, they both relieved a deep sigh. The two people had already been waiting for Zhang Tie here for almost two years.


    Zhang Tie talked to the two elders with a warm smile, "You must have known about the trade between Force Emperor and me. I''m especially here to keep an appointment!"


    "That time tower is available for Your Majesty at any time. Please come in!" That elder who had recognized Zhang Tie pointed at a time tower in the far and talked to Zhang Tie politely.


    "I appreciate your hard work!" Zhang Tie nodded. Closely after that, he flew straight to the front of that time tower and entered it.


    ...


    "Is he Dragon Emperor?" The other elder who had seen Zhang Tie for the first time continued with great shock on his face. "Unbelievable. He''s so young!"


    "Yes, it''s said that Dragon Emperor has mastered a secret skill to stay young forever!"


    "Why didn''t I feel any powerful qi from Dragon Emperor?"


    "Did you find how Dragon Emperor enter here just now?" the other elder asked him with a bitter smile and great awe in his tone, "Although we are in cultivation with eyes closed, we''ve already sealed the entrance of the secret realm with our spiritual force. However, when the Dragon Emperor entered, our spiritual force didn''t even respond to it. If Dragon Emperor wants to kill us, we don''t even know how we''re killed. We could never see through the cultivation base of a powerhouse like Dragon Emperor!"


    After hearing his words, the other elder heaved a deep sigh as he didn''t speak anymore.


    ...


    20 days later, Zhang Tie walked out of that tower of time calmly. After bidding a farewell to the two elders, he left there immediately.


    On the same day, Zhang Tie came to Emperor NvWa''s Palace again.


    When Tang Mei saw Zhang Tie again, she became stunned. After 2 minutes'' silence, she let out a deep sigh and uttered with a smile, "Powerhouses who could form two immortal chakras have not appeared among humans and demons for tens of thousands of years in Motian Realm since the far-ancient war between deities. Unexpectedly, you''ve already formed three immortal chakras in only 3 years. Brother, Motian Realm was already like a toy for you!"


    "Haha, everything in the universe follows their rule. There are numerous living beings in Motian Realm. I''m just an ordinary person who has good luck!" Zhang Tie said with a smile.


    "Brother, are you here to bid farewell to me?" Tang Mei walked towards Zhang Tie. Closely after that, she put her arms around Zhang Tie and leaned against him tenderly.


    "Hmm, I am. I''ve got only one thing to deal with in Motian Realm. After dealing with it, I will leave here!" Zhang Tie said with a smile as he stroked Tang Mei''s hair.


    "What''s it?"


    "The Abyss Demon Domain and the last demon emperor hiding in there. After Abyss Demon Domain was wiped out, the remaining demons in Motian Realm will not arouse any trouble like grasshoppers at the end of autumn!"


    ...


    After staying in Emperor NvWa''s Palace for one day, Zhang Tie came to Tigerback Mountain and stayed there with Bian Heng for one day. On the third day, he calmly left Tigerback Mountain for the nest of demons in Motian Realm¡ª¡ªAbyss Demon Domain...

 2005 The Judgment of Ligh

    Located in the west of Nine Heavens Big Domain, Demon Realm was the largest domain across Motian Realm and the nest of demons in Motian Realm.


    Like Emperor NvWa City which could hardly be violated by demons, there was also a region in Demon Realm which could become the last shelter of demons.


    This region was called Demon Deity''s Abyss.


    All the human powers would change their faces when they heard Demon Deity''s Abyss. In the history of tens of thousands of years in Motian Realm, many unrivaled talented human powers had raided Demon Deity''s Abyss. Without exception, none of them could survive back. One of the most important reasons was that humans could only use 1/3 of their total battle force in the Demon Deity''s Abyss due to the restriction and invasion of the force in the abyss.


    If a human immortal emperor entered the Demon Deity''s Abyss that gathered most of the demon powers with 1/3 of his total battle force, of course, he would die.


    There were numerous demon cities in Demon Realm. Besides, demons also occupied two big domains and many small and medium-sized domains. However, Zhang Tie''s target was only Demon Deity''s Abyss.


    Across Motian Realm, besides Demon Deity''s Abyss, Zhang Tie couldn''t find any other target that was worth his attack. Demon Deity''s Abyss was the nest of demons in Motian Realm. As long as Zhang Tie destroyed Demon Deity''s Abyss, the other demons across Motian Realm would be exterminated sooner or later.


    On the noon of December 11, the 3596th year of Emperor NvWa Calendar, Zhang Tie came to the air territory above Demon Deity''s Abyss in Demon Realm.


    From the sky, Demon Deity''s Abyss was like a bottomless abyss whose diameter was over 6,000 miles. It was emitting heavy black qi, which covered the entire air territory as high as over 600 miles above Demon Deity''s Abyss. Even though the sun was hanging high, Zhang Tie still felt a flowing terrifying, invisible qi here.


    Starting from the entrance to the bottom of the abyss, there were dense caves on the walls which made his toes curl. Numerous demons were accessing to the caves. A lot of demons were accessing to the abyss every once in a while. The entire Demon Deity''s Abyss was completely a huge nest of demons.


    The moment Zhang Tie appeared in the air above Demon Deity''s Abyss, he had caught the attention of the surrounding black demonic qi. Like sharks who sniffed the smell of blood, the demonic qi instantly started to move towards Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile as a light ring appeared around him. The black demonic qi instantly disappeared the moment it touched the light ring.


    The black demonic qi could frighten commoners; however, at the sight of it, Zhang Tie had known what it was.


    The demonic qi was completely composed of the energy of negative moods in the Energy Realm. The demonic qi was very erosive to human powers who had lighted one immortal chakra or two immortal chakras based on the energy of their moods. After coming here, these human powers would constantly absorb this demonic qi like how the positive pole of a magnet absorbed its negative pole. As a result, their immortal chakras even their bodies would be eroded in an irresistible way.


    In this case, all the human powers would change their faces due to fear the moment they heard Demon Deity''s Abyss. Almost nobody could survive back.


    However, such an erosion was totally useless for Zhang Tie who had lit 3 immortal chakras. Actually, Zhang Tie could completely ignore it with his Manjusaka Narayana Fearless King Roc''s King Kong Immortal Body.


    When Zhang Tie was suspending there and observing the Demon Deity''s Abyss, he was suddenly discovered by a team of patrolling wing demon immortal generals.


    Zhang Tie had long noticed them. Therefore, he stayed calm. When the team of wing demon immortal generals was over 10,000 m away from Zhang Tie, they found that a human youth was standing in the demonic qi, hands clasped behind his back, and observing the Demon Deity''s Abyss in a calm and composed way. The team of wing demon immortal generals were startled as they instantly shrieked weirdly and rushed towards Zhang Tie while sending a warning to the others.


    "Noisy..." Zhang Tie took a look at that team of wing demon immortal generals. Closely after that, an invisible terrifying sword wind blew over them, turning them into ashes from 10,000 m away.


    After killing them, Zhang Tie instantly noticed the turmoil at the entrance of Demon Deity''s Abyss as many wing demons flew over here by flapping their wings. The odd shrieks of those wing demon immortal generals might have aroused the attention of the other wing demons. However, due to the rolling heavy demonic qi above Demon Deity''s Abyss, they couldn''t see Zhang Tie immediately.


    Zhang Tie couldn''t wait anymore.


    At this moment, facing so demons in the Demon Deity''s Abyss, of course, Zhang Tie chose to close the door to beat the dogs, precisely releasing his bolts, as his first round of strike.


    Without any omen...


    White light as thick as 100 m shot out of the clouds. After penetrating through the dense demonic qi above Demon Deity''s Abyss, it shot straight to the dark bottom like a sharp bolt...


    On the way, the white light vaporized hundreds of wing demons who had just flown off their caves.


    In only 4-5 seconds, another white light as thick as 100 m shot off the clouds towards the bottom of Demon Deity''s Abyss...


    Then, the 3rd one...


    The 4th...the 5th...


    In 10 minutes, over 100 white lights had already shot out of the clouds in the sky towards the dark bottom of Demon Deity''s Abyss.


    When those white lights came into being, due to the gathering of two powerful energies, the sky within thousands of miles looked weirdly orange and covered the entire Demon Deity''s Abyss like a huge canopy.


    People in the other places outside Demon Realm could see white lights being shot out of the orange clouds one after another...


    A team of human immortal general scouts who were wandering outside Demon Realm was dumbfounded by those white lights which shot into the Demon Deity''s Abyss from the orange clouds.


    As those white lights shot into the Demon Deity''s Abyss one after another, the entire Demon Realm started to quiver with fear...

 2006 Destroying Abyss Demon Domain

    After releasing over 100 lightning bolts inside Demon Deity''s Abyss, Zhang Tie started to move.


    In the dense demonic qi over the sky, Zhang Tie reached out his finger. Closely after that, a tiny golden flame appeared on his finger. Then, the golden flame became longer than 3 m in the shape of a dragon. After that, the dragon-shaped flame grew longer and bigger. In a few seconds, it had become a giant dragon longer than 100 m. Circling around Zhang Tie, it constantly devoured the black demonic qi beside Zhang Tie. Then, many colorful fire dragons and snakes separated from this giant fire dragon like fission. One for two; two for four; four for eight...


    Only after a short while, there were already tens of billions of colorful fire dragons and fire snakes within thousands of miles. When they connected with each other, they formed a terrifying fire ocean and over 60 miles-thick fire clouds. As long as the demonic qi that came out of Demon Deity''s Abyss touched the flame, it would disperse immediately like ice or snow entering a steelmaking furnace.


    It was an ocean of chakra flame.


    Those fire dragons and fire snakes were the original looks of chakra flames. Such a fierce flame could burn up almost the entire King Roc which had eaten numerous dragons in the universe except for its heart.


    The original looks of chakra flames didn''t manifest until Zhang Tie formed his first immortal chakra. By then, the chakra flame that Zhang Tie formed was more than tens times more powerful than that when he promoted to a sage knight.


    Zhang Tie then flew into Demon Deity''s Abyss with the endless chakra flames.


    The chakra flames that Zhang Tie released could just cover the entire Demon Deity''s Abyss. Zhang Tie flew downwards leisurely along with the 6,000 miles long chakra flames in an overwhelming manner...


    Facing the terrifying chakra flames, the demonic qi inside Demon Deity''s Abyss was burned up and dispersed. Meanwhile, those demons'' nests on the cliffs were being melted and batches of demons flew out of the dense mass of nests in a flurried way. However, before these demons figured out what happened, they had been caught in the chakra flames and turned into ashes.


    Some demons'' nests were very deep. Additionally, the tunnels inside their nests were very complex. Those chakra flames in shape of dragons and snakes flew into those nests and burned everything along the sinuous maze-like route. Before Zhang Tie''s arrival, his fire dragons or fire snakes had already spurted out of the nests below.


    Almost none of the demons could survive Zhang Tie''s chakra flames. Tens of thousands of demon generals and ordinary demon soldiers would turn into ashes per second. Even supreme immortal demon generals had been devoured by Zhang Tie''s chakra flames when Zhang Tie was 10,000 m away from them.


    Wherever Zhang Tie passed by, not a single demon would survive. The cliffs of Demon Deity''s Abyss were completely meltdown like candles as their surface turned as smooth as silk. The surface of the overall Demon Deity''s Abyss changed greatly.


    There were relatively more demons and demon nests left near the entrance of Demon Deity''s Abyss on the top. When Zhang Tie reached increasingly deeper, he found the effect of his lightning strikes became more and more evident and fewer demons could survive.


    Zhang Tie didn''t even calculate how many demons had turned into ashes all the way from the top to the bottom of Demon Deity''s Abyss; because it was definitely an enormous figure.


    The entire Demon Deity''s Abyss was deeper than 20,000 miles. When Zhang Tie reached its bottom, the night had fallen.


    The original topography at the bottom of Demon Deity''s Abyss couldn''t be seen at all. When Zhang Tie came here with overwhelming chakra flames, he found the bottom of Demon Deity''s Abyss was like hell. It was steaming everywhere. Not a single demon could be seen here. Additionally, he saw over 100 huge basin-like pits here evenly. Those huge pits were filled with scorching magma.


    There was a pitch-dark cave on a place thousands of meters high on a cliff. The diameter of the cave was thousands of meters. All the black demonic qi was coming out of that pitch-dark cave. Because the cave was almost vertical to the bottom of Demon Deity''s Abyss, only a part of its entrance was affected by Zhang Tie''s lightning bolts.


    After taking a look at that entrance, Zhang Tie instantly hid his chakra flames and entered that entrance frankly, 60 miles per step. Only after more than 10 steps, he had crossed the 600 miles long cave and came to the deepest place of that cave.


    It was a colossal underground karst space in the deepest place of the cave. A 10,000 m high statue of demon deity with bloody eyes, sharp ears, four arms and cattle hoofs was standing inside this underground space. It was covered with pitch-dark scales.


    This statue was giving out black demonic qi through its mouth constantly. Meanwhile, the last 70,000-80,000 demon generals and Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor inside the Demon Deity''s Abyss were gathering around the statue and watching Zhang Tie entering here from air leisurely with panic, enmity and despair in their eyes.


    Zhang Tie burned down all the way here from the entrance of Demon Deity''s Abyss, sparing no chance for them to escape at all. As a result, they could only gather here and prepared to have a duel with Zhang Tie.


    Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor was the most powerful ox-head demon. Because of his pair of huge golden horns, he was called Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor. According to the legend, there were four demon emperors, namely Six-Armed Demon Emperor, Versatile Demon Emperor, Black Mountain Demon Emperor and Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor. Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor was the most powerful one among them. As Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor always defended in Abyss Demon Domain, when humans heard his name, they would become fearful at once. Over 200 years ago, Star Emperor and Force Emperor launched a common attack towards Abyss Demon Domain. Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor blocked the two human immortal emperor''s common attack alone till the other demon emperors'' arrival.


    However, no matter how powerful this demon emperor was, he was just an animal in a cage for Zhang Tie.


    "Dragon Emperor, Zhang Tie..." Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor almost squeezed out the four words through his teeth, causing the air in the karst cave to undulate.


    Zhang Tie only took a casual glance at Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor and tens of thousands of demon generals behind him as if they were nothing. Closely after that, he fixated onto that huge statue. The pair of bloody, grim eyes with golden pupils of the statue looked familiar.


    Undoubtedly, it should be the statue of the Demon Overlord. It was Zhang Tie''s first time to see Demon Overlord''s look.


    When he wanted to return to Taixia Country from Motian Realm in terms of King Roc in the "dream", Zhang Tie only encountered the projection of a pair of eyes and a huge arm of the Demon Overlord in the Chaos Space; instead of his matrix.


    There was a high platform for sacrifice at the foot of this statue, on which was a huge bloody pool. The surroundings of the entire bloody pool were embedded with human bones. Additionally, there were mountains of human skulls around the bloody pool, each of which was higher than 1,000 m. There were hundreds of millions of human skulls. Given the size and volume of those human skulls and bones around the bloody pool, Zhang Tie found they belonged to kids; instead of adults.


    Demons were offering sacrifice to demon overlord with human kids here. Zhang Tie didn''t know for how many years had they carried out this evil rite.


    When Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor found that he was neglected by Zhang Tie, he roared as he rushed toward Zhang Tie with a mace. He then slashed toward Zhang Tie with his mace from 10,000 m away, arousing a strong battle qi in an overwhelming manner...


    However, Zhang Tie disappeared immediately. Before Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor''s attack arrived, Zhang Tie had already reappeared next to Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor. At the same time, he went through Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor''s protective battle qi easily like going through a layer of silk. Under the astonished eyes of Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor''s, Zhang Tie lightly put his hand on the latter''s head.


    "Now that you like to offer sacrifice so much, you should enjoy being sacrificed!" Zhang Tie''s voice reverberated in each demon''s awareness.


    "Ah..." Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor shrieked. In the blink of an eye, his 2-m high frame had started to shrink and deflate like a balloon. Meanwhile, that pair of golden horns were losing their luster. Finally, his frame collapsed and turned into ashes. The most powerful one in Motian Realm died in Zhang Tie''s hand in this way without any resistance and became the first sacrificial offering with Zhang Tie''s secret skill All of Infinite King Roc Sutra.


    It was not that Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor was not powerful; but that Zhang Tie was much more powerful than him. What Heavens-Reaching Demon Emperor to Zhang Tie was what a toddler to a heavyweight champion in the ring. The former was too weak.


    "Kill him." Watching their most powerful one being killed by Zhang Tie with great fear, all the remaining demon generals broke down mentally completely. Before Zhang Tie launched a strike toward them, some demon generals had roared. In an instant, all the remaining demon generals rushed toward Zhang Tie disorderly with furious red eyes. To kill Zhang Tie or to be killed!


    Looking straight into the bloody eyes of that statue of Demon Overlord, Zhang Tie said, "You''re powerful. Pitifully, you''ve already repelled by all the universal rules in this world. As a result, your matrix couldn''t even enter this world or those neighboring space. Additionally, none of your descendants or your projections could defeat me. I know that you can see what''s happening here. You should see how I am gonna burn all of your descendants into ashes," Zhang Tie said with a sneer, "From today on, the nightmare will not belong to humans, but demons! If you want wars, I will give you wars..."


    After leaving these words, Zhang Tie punched out.


    All of a sudden, a sun appeared in the underground karst space. There was a huge light&shade of golden spike shrimp in the core of the sun.


    If not form his immortal chakra, he could not realize the universal rules. Only when he formed his immortal chakra could Zhang Tie release the power of his punch of universal rules.


    At this moment, the whole world was quivering.


    The windstorm higher than 20 million Celsius degrees devoured everything in the karst cave immediately.


    The 70,000-80,000 demon generals who were rushing toward Zhang Tie...


    The colossal statue of Demon Overlord...


    The blood pool and the mountains of bones...


    All the terrifying, grim and sorrowful things...


    All those above were wiped out by Zhang Tie''s punch!


    The entire underground karst space was shattered and disappeared. Meanwhile, a huge space entrance like that above the core area of Mountain Ruins appeared here.


    "Heller, let Castle of Black Iron integrate with the space ball of Motian Realm!"


    After leaving a sentence to Heller, Zhang Tie entered that space entrance with one stride.


    ...


    In the weird and unpredictable chaos space, Zhang Tie was wandering leisurely while being circled with golden light. However, his speed was even faster than that of the king roc in his "dream".


    At this moment, the pair of golden pupils reappeared in the black mist in the nihility with infinite fury and fierce qi. Closely after that, the black mist in the nihility formed into the projection of the huge Demon Overlord as same as the statue he saw just now. Meanwhile, the Demon Overlord''s projection punched at Zhang Tie with his four fists.


    At this moment, a giant pagoda appeared in Zhang Tie''s hand as numerous runes were flowing over its surface. When the giant pagoda cast strong light onto the projection of demon overlord in the Chaos Space, it instantly shattered the latter. Meanwhile, the giant pagoda''s gate opened and absorbed all the broken black mist.


    At the same time, a growl drifted from the Chaotic Space...


    ...


    Not knowing how long had passed, Zhang Tie finally saw the space bubble in his memory in a space mezzanine of the Chaos Space which was much more complex than a maze.


    When he flew in the space bubble, he instantly saw a vast brilliant ocean.


    Right then, the Infinite Immortal Prison flew out of the mouth of King Roc''s and turned into a huge pagoda as high as 600 miles. After that, it opened the gate at its bottom and absorbed the entire ocean before returning to Zhang Tie''s mouth.


    ...


    After absorbing the ocean of energy, the king roc went through heavy black mist and space mezzanines toward one direction, leaving a streak of golden light...


    ''Taixia Country, I''m back...''


    ...

 2007 A Rainy Day in the Capital City

    It had been drizzling since the early morning. At noon, it started to rain heavily. As a result, the entire Xuanyuan Hill was covered with misty rain.


    Because of the heavy rain, very few people appeared on the streets of Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal city. Only some people were trotting hurriedly in raincoats.


    In late months, with the soaring attack of demons in the west and the loss of Lizhou Province and Xianzhou Province, the atmosphere across Xuanyuan Hill was as gloomy as the weather. Everyone felt being depressed like having a huge stone in the heart. It was a bit better inside Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal city; however, outside the royal city, all the boites and clubs were suffering economic depression abruptly.


    As the country was faced with a crisis, few people felt like pursuing pleasure anymore.


    In order to support generals and soldiers in the frontline, it was said that even His Highness had sent an order to curtail various expenditures in the royal palace. Even all the diplomatic receptions of the court of state ceremonial and those ambassadors of the other countries had been canceled off. Of course, the subordinates dared not go too far. Even if some guys who were lavish with their money could only close their own doors and enjoy themselves. Everybody kept a low profile in the public.


    The entire royal palace was also covered in the gloomy misty rain.


    The rainwater that poured down the dark clouds which were like lead and ink washed the pink golden glazed tiles above the magnificent palaces which carried cornice brackets. After that, it turned into pure white water curtains and flew off the eaves like tens of thousands of small waterfalls. As a result, the entire Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace was suffused with vapor.


    Many armored knights of Royal Guards were standing still under the eaves and on the stairs outside the palace solemnly with weapons in hand. They were safeguarding the Nine-Heavens Palace in the heavy rain and fog. At this moment, even these knights could hear His Highness'' growls from Nine-Heavens Palace.


    "What do they mean by ''They''re too busy to attend to other things''? Did the three major sects reply to you in this way? The entire country is facing a crisis. It''s the right moment for those major sects to serve the country. Heavens-Fortune Sect and Demonic-Slaughter Valley have already assigned semi sage-level powerhouses to the west with their knights. How could the three major sects refuse to assign their forces to the frontline because of Yun Zhongzi? How could they just fold their arms and look on demons?"


    Standing on the royal stairs inside Nine-Heavens Palace, Xuanyuan Changying became such furious that he roared towards a chancellor with flame in his eyes, "Don''t the three major sects know the proverb ''with the skin gone, to what can the hair attach itself?''"


    The entire Nine-Heavens Palace was reverberating with Crown Prince Changying''s voice. The chancellor who had just reported to His Highness looked gloomy as he became silent. All the other senior officers and officials in the palace were in dead silence. Even a pin drop could be heard. Everyone knew that Yun Zhongzi was taken as a shield by the three major sects. If they assigned all of their knights to the west, I don''t think that Yun Zhongzi would attack the three major sects'' bases during that period. The true reason was that the three major sects were so powerful that they didn''t even hold Crown Prince Changying in awe. Since the battle at Yinhai Desert, the three major sects'' actions had been increasingly more arbitrary. However, Xuanyuan Hill couldn''t do anything to curb the three major sects.


    After losing his temper, Crown Prince who was panting gradually recovered his composure. He knew that it was useless for him to lose temper towards the three major sects no matter how furious he was; instead, it might be jeered by the three major sects or be taken as the evidence to waver his authority by the three major sects. If he continued to lose his temper, the rumor that Crown Prince was incompetent and roared at his major officers and officials in Nine-Heavens Palace would spread across the entire country in a few days.


    "Li Yunji, is there any news about Yun Zhongzi?" After recovering his composure, Crown Prince Chang Ying waved his hand, asking the official to return to his team. Closely after that, he fixated onto Li Yunji, the president of the supreme court.


    "Erm... Yun Zhongzi is a sage-level knight whose trace is erratic. The Supreme Court has already sent an order to arrest him; however, we have not got any news about Yun Zongzi till now!" Li Yunji answered with a guilty conscience.


    After hearing Li Yunji''s words, Crown Prince Chang Ying''s face turned gloomy at once as he continued, "Does it mean that the Supreme Court could do nothing to deal with Yun Zhongzi? He could do whatever he wants to do?"


    "Erm..." After hearing Crown Prince ChangYing''s words, Li Yunji became silent at once.


    Watching Li Yunji''s look, Crown Prince Changying almost lost his temper again. However, when he took a look at Meng Shidao who was always silent, he controlled his anger again.


    As Li Yunji was recommended by Meng Shidao, Crown Prince Changying had to respect Meng Shidao to a certain degree. To be honest, shadow knights were not weak. However, Li Yunji''s capability could barely match his position. He behaved too regularly. He could do nothing about those slightly excessive things. As the president of the Supreme Court who had so many human and material resources, Li Yunji couldn''t share Crown Prince''s burden at this critical moment at all; therefore, he let Crown Prince down very much.


    At this moment, Crown Prince Changying had already regretted that he followed Meng Shidao''s words and declared Yun Zhongzi guilty too early. If he followed Mr. Fang''s opinion, namely not to declare Yun Zhongzi guilty too early; instead, owe Yun Zhongzi''s vengeance to the three major sects to the old scores between the two parties. In this way, a sharp sword would hang over the three major sects'' heads while their tails were stamped. At this moment, the three major sects dared never behave such presumptuously.


    The current situation was absolutely opposite to the judgment that Meng Shidao made when he suggested Crown Prince. Yun Zhongzi became a criminal. The three major sects didn''t appreciate Xuanyuan Hill; instead, they didn''t have any concern anymore. As a result, Xuanyuan Hill''s influence on the three major sects was becoming weaker.


    Crown Prince Changying then took another look at Meng Shidao. After the battle at Yinhai Desert, Crown Prince Chang Ying gradually felt that he couldn''t see through his master anymore. Only after a few years, the relationship between the two people had not been as bosom as that before anymore. Recently, Zuoqiu Mingyue the commander-in-chief was defending demons with his army outside. Given that Meng Shidao was said to promote to a sage-level knight soon, even the interior minister as a heavenly knight also favored Meng Shidao. Therefore, Meng Shidao the premier almost became the most influential person in the Nine-Heavens Palace. Meanwhile, the Gobbling Party was also expanding rapidly. As a result, Crown Prince Changying became a bit fearful.


    "Is there any other proposal?" Crown Prince asked all the major officers and officials in the court with a hint of tiredness. If there were no more questions, he planned to declare adjournment. Over these days, because of the poor battle situation facing Taixia Country, each early meeting would last long; sometimes, it would last till the evening. All the stress facing the entire empire appeared to be borne by Crown Prince.


    "I''ve got a proposal, Your Highness!" a general of the top four armies walked out of the team as he said in a muffled sound, "The battle situation in the frontline is critical. Demons are encroaching our territory step by step. It has been the life-or-death situation facing the entire country and Hua people. As long as demons broke through Tongguan Pass, the overall situation facing Taixia Country will completely deteriorate. Although the commander-in-chief was in charge of the frontline, the materials and human resources in the rear end have not been in a good place. It was like how two people were fighting at the risk of their lives. However, Taixia Country still has one hand for free. Therefore, I suggest Your Highness to issue the decree of military control in all the provinces across the country. The commander-in-chief and the top four armies will coordinate with all the demands for the warfare so that we could exert our full efforts to fight demons!"


    Soon after this general opened his mouth, he instantly got the favor of many officers. However, before Xuanyuan Changying opened his mouth, the interior minister had jumped out and opposed him after taking a look at Meng Shidao who remained silent, "Ridiculous. The main force of demons has not reached Tongguan Pass yet. Why did you say that Tongguan Pass was going to be broken through? It''s an alarmist talk. Recently, many provinces in the western theater of operations have been under the control of the top four armies and Lord Zuoqiu, isn''t it enough? If all the provinces across Taixia Country are under military control, the country might have been in chaos before demons arrived. The Ministry of Interior Affairs never agreed with military control across the country..."


    When the Interior Minister posed his opinion, he instantly won the favor of many officials.


    If Taixia Country as a whole was under military control, the authorities of the commander-in-chief and officers would definitely soar. By contrast, Premier and those officials would become humble. Of course, the general''s suggestion would arouse officials'' opposition.


    Both parties then started to quarrel in the Nine-Heavens Palace immediately. They could barely reach an agreement. This proposal had already appeared in the court for more than once. So were similar quarrels.


    "Let''s talk about it later!" Xuanyuan Changying waved his hand as he decided to postpone this proposal for the time being.


    When Xuanyuan Changying prepared to declare adjournment, Meng Shidao who had been silent for long in front of the team of officials suddenly took one step forward and spoke to Xuanyuan Changying, "A few days ago, the provincial governor of Jinzhou Province has submitted a written statement to me that the Youzhou paddies that Your Highness introduced to Jinzhou Province two years ago had already had a big harvest this year after one year''s breeding and planting. This autumn, all the first batch of Youzhou paddies across 266 million square meters'' land in Jinzhou Province have won a big harvest with 20% more yield than one year before. The entire Jinzhou Province was shocked. All the civilians and major clans in Jinzhou Province are going around spreading the news with great pleasure. Therefore, Jinzhou Province prepares to expand 10 times more planting area of Youzhou paddies. According to the written statement of the provincial governor and major officials in Jinzhou Province, Your Highness is invited to preside the spring sacrifice in Jinzhou Province this year for the sake of the morale of all the civilians in Jinzhou Province."


    This was almost the only good news that Xuanyuan Changying had heard in the Nine-Heavens Palace today. After asking about the situation facing Youzhou paddies in Jinzhou Province, Xuanyuan Changying laughed out aloud as he said, "Agriculture is the foundation of the country. Of course, we should encourage them to do that. Now that Jinzhou Province has such great passion as a whole, I will go to Jinzhou Province to preside the spring sacrifice for them this year!"


    After hearing this news, Xuanyuan Changying was inspired greatly. Because spring sacrifice was always presided by Emperor Xuanyuan in the past. When Emperor Xuanyuan was here, he would select one of those provinces which won big harvests in each year and preside spring sacrifice in that province so as to encourage agriculture and stabilize the country. Since Crown Prince was in charge of the country, it was the first time for a provincial governor to submit a written statement to invite Xuanyuan Changying to preside spring sacrifice.


    Youzhou paddies were known as high yield. Two years ago, Xuanyuan Changying suggested planting Youzhou paddies in Jinzhou Province. Unexpectedly, he saw such a great harvest two years later. What a great meritorious deed! Therefore, Xuanyuan Changying felt very happy.


    When Xuanyuan Changying declared adjournment, he suddenly saw a white light beam shooting down the clouds outside.


    Bang!


    Closely after that, all of them in the Nine-Heavens Palace were greatly shocked by the loud explosion in the air above Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace. Even the water in the two pools under the imperial stairs, where Xuanyuan Changying was at, was covered with ripples due to shock...


    There were few thunders in winter, not to mention such a destructive earthshaking thunder.


    ''Who''s that?''


    Clank!


    Before the shiny, white light beam disappeared, a person had appeared at the gate of Nine-Heavens Palace in the abrupt thunder. Watching him, a knight guard instantly roared.


    With clanks, everyone in the palace looked at the gate, including Xuanyuan Changying.


    A teenager was looking straight into Xuanyuan Changying''s eyes at the gate of Nine-Heavens Palace with a calm look.


    Xuanyuan Changying became dumbfounded as he rubbed his eyes...


    "Brother Changying, long time no see..." Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh as he entered the gate decently...

 2008 Killing the Craftiest Man

    At this moment, those imperial guards outside Nine-Heavens Palace appeared to be frozen. One knight had just left the ground and was going to charge at Zhang Tie; the other had already drawn out his long sword and tilted his body forward as he wanted to block Zhang Tie; however, when Zhang Tie strode in Nine-Heavens Palace, the two knights were both fastened by an invisible force. The knight in the air maintained his gesture when he left the ground; the other knight who wanted to block Zhang Tie was also holding high his long sword still.


    A force that was similar to that of one''s private realm yet was greater than it had already covered the entire royal palace.


    Not only the two imperial guards outside the gate, besides Xuanyuan Changying, everyone else in the Nine-Heavens Palace was being frozen by that great force. They could neither utter any voice nor make any movement besides moving their eyes and head.


    Zhang Tie''s sudden arrival greatly shocked all the major officials and officers in the palace. They also found that they couldn''t make any movement anymore at this moment as they were frozen by a terrifying qi including their spiritual energy, battle qi and bodies.


    They could see, hear and move their heads; however, they couldn''t do anything else including uttering a voice.


    So did Meng Shidao. He just watched Zhang Tie with great shock and disbelief on his face.


    Being thrilled, Xuanyuan Changying found the weird behaviors of all the others in the palace immediately. Although Zhang Tie appeared, those officers and officials in the palace didn''t have to stay still and remain silent at all.


    ''What happens...''


    Zhang Tie remained unchanged; however, his qi felt a bit strange.


    Zhang Tie didn''t feel powerful; instead, he felt pretty leisure and comfortable like a teenager; instead of a knight.


    "You''re really... Zhang Tie?" Watching Zhang Tie walking over here calmly, Xuanyuan Changying stammered. Even though Zhang Tie had already walked to the front of him, Xuanyuan Changying still didn''t believe that this man was Zhang Tie.


    Immortal Qianji had disappeared in the space crack in the battle at Yinhai Desert. How could he suddenly appear in the royal palace all in this way? All these were weird and hard to understand for Xuanyuan Changying. Therefore, he had a lot of questions about that.


    ''Is this Zhang Tie disguised by a wing demon?'' Xuanyuan Changying was ready to take precautions against Zhang Tie when this whim occurred to him.


    "Brother Changying, I am Zhang Tie. Please take it easy. You will know everything in the future..."


    Zhang Tie had already predicted the responses of everyone in the palace; therefore, he instantly controlled the entire royal palace the moment he arrived. Besides Xuanyuan Changying who was still able to move to a certain degree, all the others could only watch Zhang Tie and listen to his words at this moment. Zhang Tie was especially here to kill Meng Shidao and cleaning the biggest threat facing Taixia Country; instead of holding a public hearing with those major officials and officers in the palace on revealing the crimes of the premier.


    Although Xuanyuan Changying always missed Zhang Tie, he found that he didn''t know what to say in front of Zhang Tie; instead, he could only watch Zhang Tie walking towards Meng Shidao calmly.


    Watching Meng Shidao''s amazed look, Zhang Tie slightly shook his head. In his "dream", Zhang Tie saw Meng Shidao leaving Nine-Heavens Palace. After that, the entire country faced a great catastrophe. Who knew that the most insidious and dangerous enemy facing Hua people were not Abyss Throne and tens of thousands of demon knights who ate humans'' hearts and dug out humans'' brains in the frontline, but the premier whose power was closely next to Crown Prince Changying?


    "Do you want to say something to me?" Zhang Tie asked Meng Shidao.


    Closely after Zhang Tie''s words, Meng Shidao found that he could open his mouth.


    After hundreds of whims occurred to him, Meng Shidao asked Zhang Tie as he pretended to be calm in front of so many officers and officials in the palace, "What do you want?"


    "I want to kill you!" Zhang Tie replied. Almost at the same time, he punched at Meng Shidao and shattered the entire person, one of the three top chancellors in Taixia Country, in front of those officials and officers in the palace.


    Watching that blood mist in front of him, Zhang Tie flicked his finger. Closely after that, a terrifying chakra flame appeared out of void and burned up the blood mist, leaving nothing at all.


    Although those officials and officers in Taixia Country couldn''t move, almost all of them had been petrified by this scene, including Xuanyuan Changying...


    As one of the three top chancellors of Taixia Country, the leader of the Gobbling Party and a sage-level knight, Meng Shidao was talking about national affairs with the others just now; however, in such a short period of time, Zhang Tie had suddenly appeared and killed him in front of them like killing an ant in the Nine-Heavens Palace. They might not even see such a crazy scene in their dreams. However, it truly happened right in front of their eyes.


    After killing Meng Shidao, Zhang Tie suddenly felt that a mountain in his heart was moved away. All of a sudden, he felt relaxed. Although Meng Shidao was just a semi-sage level knight, it felt even cooler than killing an immortal emperor for Zhang Tie.


    "That thing being suppressed by Xuanyuan Sword beneath the royal palace is too dangerous. As for the royal households, that thing is a gold ore and rarity which could be explored and a bottomless abyss and source of disaster. That thing couldn''t be left in this world any longer!"


    After killing Meng Shidao, Zhang Tie left some words to Xuanyuan Changying secretly. After that, he turned around and walked out of the palace in one step. Then, he disappeared in front of Xuanyuan Changying.


    Everything in the palace was still frozen. The rain that fell off the eaves were still in the air. All the humans and things in the palace were still too. With only one step, Zhang Tie had entered the Imperial Ancestral Temple inside the royal palace. In a backroom that was designed for Emperor Xuanyuan to meditate in, a secret tunnel leading to the underground space had been opened.


    Zhang Tie then walked in frankly. The tunnel was full of traps and thick metal doors. Even the walls were made of alloy steel and heavy lead which could isolate sound and spiritual strength. However, these things were useless in front of Zhang Tie. All the doors had been fully opened before Zhang Tie approached them. Of course, those traps were useless for him.


    At the end of the tunnel, Zhang Tie saw the two items in a backroom at the deepest place of the royal palace which he saw in "dream": the bright Xuanyuan Sword which was suspending in the air and the huge heart under the sword.


    That heart was almost like a human heart. However, it was many times bigger than that of a human heart. The entire heart was giving out crimson light. Its surface looked like being covered with magma which was cooling down. Additionally, that heart would jump once per 10-odd seconds. Additionally, it was releasing a qi which was even much more terrifying and powerful than that of a sage-level knight.


    Zhang Tie tried to move the heart into his portable space-teleportation equipment; however, he couldn''t. Zhang Tie wondered when Emperor Xuanyuan or Dragon Emperor acquired this heart. However, evidently, Emperor Xuanyuan and Dragon Emperor must have treated this heart as the key and tunnel leading to the greater power. Therefore, they didn''t destroy it. Otherwise, with the power of Xuanyuan Sword and the emperor-level secret method, even though Emperor Xuanyuan was only a sage-level knight, he could also destroy this heart at his full efforts.


    Zhang Tie guessed that this heart belonged to a substitute of Demon Overlord who arrived here hundreds of millions of years ago. Given the qi of this heart, Zhang Tie knew the substitute of Demon Overlord who arrived here had already formed 4 immortal chakras. Fortunately, at that time, people killed his substitute through common efforts or a superhero appeared and killed him, leaving his heart alone.


    Last time, in his "dream", Zhang Tie remembered that Demon Overlord would like to arrive at this world again through this heart. It might be the most important task for Meng Shidao to protect this heart in Xuanyuan Hill.


    The small tower of Infinite Immortal Prison directly flew out of Zhang Tie''s mouth. Feeling the existence of Demon Overlord''s heart, the small tower started to fly around the heart fast as if it was very happy. Before Zhang Tie sent an order, the small tower had opened its portal and absorbed in that heart. Closely after that, Zhang Tie opened his mouth and allowed the small tower to flow into his mouth.


    After taking another look at Xuanyuan Sword, Zhang Tie didn''t move it; instead, he turned around and left this backroom.


    After Zhang Tie left there, all the portals in this tunnel closed themselves.


    Zhang Tie then reappeared in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. With one step, he had come to the air above the royal palace. Closely after that, Zhang Tie walked towards the Gobbling Province, 60 miles per step.


    After Zhang Tie left Nine-Heavens Palace for more than one minute, all the officials and officers in the palace could move and speak at once.


    In an instant, the Nine-Heavens Palace was in hubbubs.


    Almost at the same time, the news that Zhang Tie suddenly appeared in the royal palace and killed Meng Shidao with one punch had spread over the country.


    As hundreds of officers and officials in the royal palace had seen it, of course, they couldn''t cover this news.


    In their eyes, Zhang Tie''s battle force had reached an unpredictable level and was far greater than a sage-level knight. What a semi-sage level knight to Zhang Tie was what a baby to a knight! Meng Shidao didn''t even have a chance to launch a counter-attack...

 2009 Shattering Morality Stele

    After leaving Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Tie arrived at the Gobbling Province soon. He directly came to the place where the Far-Ancient Morality Stele was located, VastUniverse Mountain in Morality Prefecture.


    It was the holy land of Gobbling Party. Many backbones of the Gobbling Party always came here and executed the rite "Touch the Stele". At this moment, the Far-Ancient Morality Stele had been tinged with red by the glow of the setting sun.


    Zhang Tie directly stood on the top of the over 210-m high Far-Ancient Morality Stele as he observed this huge black stele which became the source of the nationwide catastrophe in his "dream".


    He saw at least 200 backbones executing the rite "Touching the Stele". However, those people had not found that one person was on the top of the stele for the time being.


    However, only after a few seconds later, Zhang Tie had heard someone growl.


    "Audacious, who are you? How dare you profane the holy thing!"


    At this moment, an exasperated voice drifted from a close distance. Zhang Tie realized that he had been discovered by a knight of the Gobbling Party who was responsible for the safety here without even raising his head.


    It was an earth knight. When he was 1,000 m away, he had already shouted as he slashed towards Zhang Tie''s head with a brilliant long sword which was a silver secret item without any mercy. He wanted to kill Zhang Tie and shatter him into shreds.


    In his "dream", Meng Shidao offered sacrifice to the Morality Stele with the lives of millions of backbones of the Gobbling Party. However, in the eyes of these backbones of the Gobbling Party, the Far-Ancient Morality Stele under Zhang Tie''s foot was still a holy thing that could never be profaned.


    After hearing that knight''s voice, those followers of the Gobbling Party who were executing the rite "Touching the Stele" finally noticed that someone was standing on the top of the Far-Ancient Morality Stele. Therefore, they all looked up and swore at Zhang Tie.


    When that earth knight''s sword qi approached 100 m away from Zhang Tie, it had disappeared silently.


    Before touching Zhang Tie''s protective battle qi, the sword qi had disappeared as if it was devoured by an invisible huge mouth.


    There appeared to be an unsurmountable invisible obstacle in the space around Zhang Tie.


    This situation had been completely out of that earth knight''s understanding. He didn''t know why his sword qi suddenly disappeared when it approached Zhang Tie. That earth knight could barely accept the fact as he slashed towards Zhang Tie with his sword again. The second slash was more powerful...


    ...


    Zhang Tie lowered his head and watched the Far-Ancient Morality Stele under his foot. His great spiritual energy had already penetrated into the stele. He was observing and learning the structure of the Far-Ancient Morality Stele, ignoring all the attacks and the curses of those people downside there.


    According to the legend, the raw material of Far-Ancient Morality Stele violated the ionization rule of all the materials. The stele was said to be able to defend the attack from any element, energy and material. The atoms and porous structure of the material of that stele were fixed in any state. Therefore, in many people''s eyes, Far-Ancient Morality Stele was eternal and could never be destroyed. Any strike would be ineffective to it. Even time couldn''t leave any trace on its surface.


    Previously Zhang Tie also believed in it; however, at this moment, this legend was nonsense for Zhang Tie.


    On his level, Zhang Tie understood that nothing in the world was eternal. Anything would perish in the end. It was one of the universal laws. Nobody or nothing was an exception. Even the universe itself was destined to break up one day since it came into being in the infinite time and space.


    As for ordinary forces, Far-Ancient Morality Stele was eternal.


    Through Zhang Tie''s observation, he apparently felt two powerful forces of universal laws inside the Far-Ancient Morality Stele. One force was related to time; the other was related to space. The first one froze the raw material of the Far-Ancient Morality Stele in the macro world; therefore, time didn''t exist for the Far-Ancient Morality Stele. As long as Zhang Tie could break the force of the universal law of time, he would break the stele.


    The force of the universal law of space formed an entrance leading to another space inside the stele which had not been opened yet. The two forces of universal laws were bond with each other in a powerful secret method. The secret method was releasing a qi which could devour all the powerful, negative energies. When Zhang Tie observed the Far-Ancient Morality Stele, he found that the powerful secret method inside the Far-Ancient Morality Stele was still absorbing the negative energy from the realm of thoughts.


    A golden light was fixed on the convergence of the two spaces by the two forces of universal laws inside the Far-Ancient Morality Stele.


    In his "dream", when Zhang Tie clashed against the Far-Ancient Morality Stele, he found something wrong with the space tunnel inside the Far-Ancient Morality Stele. A golden light appeared to be fixed by the stele. Now, he felt the existence of that golden light, which was similar to that of Xuanyuan Chang Ying. It was the qi of Xuanyuan God Sutra.


    All these couldn''t be seen by lotus-flower eyes or sensed by pure spiritual energy. If one wanted to sense everything inside the Far-Ancient Morality Stele, he had to form at least two immortal chakras.


    Perhaps this explained why Meng Shidao could expose Far-Ancient Morality Stele to the public without any concern.


    The movement of material and relative displacement variation between two materials led to time. All the movement of materials was caused by force. With an extreme force, one could touch the secret of the universal law of time.


    According to the Hua legend, when the universe came into being, the clean energies rose and became the sky; the dirty energy declined and formed the earth. It actually referred to the evolution of energies of different frequencies in the space and materials. The clean energies were high-frequency energies, which represented an extremely divergent state of energies; the dirty energies represented the extremely convergent state of energies.


    According to Zhang Tie''s prediction, the ultimate direction of Infinite King Roc Sutra and Xuanyuan God Sutra might both lead to the pursuit of force. The ultimate purpose of Infinite King Roc Sutra might be the extreme divergence of force, with which one could be unrivaled across the universe. By contrast, the ultimate purpose of Xuanyuan God Sutra might be the extreme convergence of force, with which one could create everything in the universe based on the four elements. In the end, both sutras could help people completely realize and master the universal laws of force.


    Those above explained why one with extreme force could almost approach the truth. It was also Zhang Tie''s wholly new realization about force after forming three immortal chakras.


    The forces of universal laws in the Far-Ancient Morality Stele could only be broken by force of universal law.


    That knight of Gobbling Party was still attacking Zhang Tie. In an instant, he had slashed towards Zhang Tie with his sword for the fourth time. Meanwhile, those backbones of Gobbling Party were still jumping and swearing at Zhang Tie at the foot of the stele.


    Standing on the top of the stele, Zhang Tie ignored all these. After closing his eyes for two seconds, he opened his eyes and punched at the stele.


    Meanwhile, Zhang Tie inserted half arm into the Far-Ancient Morality Stele.


    As a result, the entire stele rocked once while releasing a terrifying, invisible impact wave immediately. In an instant, all the backbones at the foot of the stele and that earth knight who was attacking Zhang Tie became basic particles and dispersed.


    All the mountains and buildings within 14 miles turned into powder at once.


    Additionally, the ground across Morality Prefecture of Gobbling Province rocked once like suffering an earthquake.


    Closely after that, a golden crack started to radiate from the place where Zhang Tie inserted his arm in. In a wink, the crack had started to expand as more cracks appeared over the Far-Ancient Morality Stele.


    Bang!


    After a short silence, the Far-Ancient Morality Stele which was taken as the holy thing by the Gobbling Party was shattered by Zhang Tie with one punch. From then on, there was no Far-Ancient Morality Stele in the world anymore.


    At the same time, that golden light flew out of the stele and became a majestic middle-aged man in front of Zhang Tie...


    ...

 2010 Going Back Home

    Zhang Tie was familiar with this man in front of him too much. Perhaps nobody across Taixia Country was familiar with this image; because this man''s picture was on the gold coins issued by Xuanyuan Bank.


    He was the only man who could leave his picture on the gold coins in Taixia Country. Undoubtedly, this man was Xuanyuan Emperor who had disappeared before the third holy war between humans and demons.


    After a long growl which undulated 600 miles'' clouds, the streak of golden light turned into Xuanyuan Emperor in front of Zhang Tie. What a shock! However, Zhang Tie thought it through immediately.


    In an instant, Zhang Tie finally met Emperor Xuanyuan above Vast Universe Mountain.


    "My respect to you, Your Majesty, I''m Zhang Tie!" Zhang Tie cupped his hands towards Emperor Xuanyuan with a smile.


    Emperor Xuanyuan watched Zhang Tie for a short while; then he fixated onto the place where Vast Universe Mountain covering 600 square miles was just now with a complex look. After that, he let out a long sigh, "Infinite King Roc Sutra, you must be Zhang Huaiyuan''s descendant!"


    As an emperor, it was not difficult for him to master some knowledge about identifying people from his ears. Therefore, Zhang Tie was not curious about how Emperor Xuanyuan knew his background. As for the secret method, Zhang Tie didn''t even cover it. Given the delicate responses between two emperor-level secret methods, Emperor Xuanyuan knew Zhang Tie''s trump card immediately.


    "Zhang Huaiyuan is indeed my ancestor. Your Majesty really have sharp eyes!"


    After watching Zhang Tie for a short while, Emperor Xuanyuan asked him again, "Have you been to Motian Realm?"


    Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring only existed in Motian Realm. People couldn''t form their immortal chakra without drinking Nine-Heavens Immortal Spring. Only those who had formed immortal chakras could break the far-ancient mortality stele. After listening to Emperor Xuanyuan''s words, Zhang Tie knew that Dragon Emperor must have already told Emperor Xuanyuan about everything clearly.


    "Here''s the calligraphy work that Dragon Emperor left in Dragon Emperor''s Pavilion before leaving Motian Realm. Dragon Emperor has already left his lifetime learnings inside this calligraphy work. Your Majesty, I think you''d better keep it!" Zhang Tie said as he took that calligraphy work "I die, people live" out of Castle of Black Iron and gave it to Emperor Xuanyuan.


    When Zhang Tie handed the calligraphy work left by Dragon Emperor to Emperor Xuanyuan, the latter realized that Zhang Tie had already known everything that he could immediately.


    After taking that calligraphy work, Emperor Xuanyuan became silent for half a minute before opening his mouth again, "Does Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace still exist?"


    "I''ve already inherited all the learnings of Dragon Emperor in Motian Realm and become the new dragon emperor. Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace still exists. It''s even more powerful than before. To a certain degree, perhaps I should call you brother!" Zhang Tie stroked his nose as he continued, "But I''ve established marital relations with Brother Chang Ying. From this aspect, I shall call you uncle. But I feel uncomfortable about the two appellations. I prefer to call you Your Majesty!"


    After hearing Zhang Tie''s words, Emperor Xuanyuan became stunned for a short while. After that, he shook his head with a bitter smile. Finally, he guffawed. When he finished his guffaw, Emperor Xuanyuan asked Zhang Tie calmly, "Where''s Meng Shidao?"


    "I''ve already killed him!"


    "Well done!''''


    "Your Majesty, why were you trapped in the far-ancient morality stele?"


    "It''s difficult to embody in a simple sentence!" Emperor Xuanyuan said as he shook his head.


    Zhang Tie then stopped asking him about that. After looking afar, Zhang Tie found that many knights in Morality Prefecture had already discovered the abnormal situation here and were on the way here.


    Although Emperor Xuanyuan was a bit weak now, he was still the most powerful sage-level knight in Taixia Country and could barely be defeated. Therefore, Zhang Tie didn''t worry about his safety.


    "As I''m already the ruler in Motian Realm, I don''t mean to be called His Majesty in Taixia Country anymore. However, the bloodline, rivers and mountains of Dragon Emperor should be sustained in this world!" Zhang Tie talked to Emperor Xuanyuan straightforwardly, "The overall situation facing Taixia Country is forbidding. Xuanyuan Hill needs to be chaired by Your Majesty. Demons are capturing territories in the frontline of Taixia Country. Hundreds of millions of Hua generals and soldiers are fighting demons. See you, Your Majesty!"


    After leaving these words, before Emperor Xuanyuan replied, Zhang Tie had strode towards west, 60 miles per step. Closely after that, he had disappeared in the eyes of Emperor Xuanyuan.


    Watching the direction where Zhang Tie disappeared for quite a while, Emperor Xuanyuan flew towards Xuanyuan Hill before the arrival of those knights from Morality Prefecture, leaving a streak of golden light.


    Before returning to Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie went to the frontline.


    Ten minutes later, a terrifying white light beam suddenly broke through the clouds and descended to demons'' encampment in Military Province, where gathered tens of thousands of demon knights and corps. It was a reinforced Embrace of Twilight Goddess...


    That white light beam could be seen from tens of thousands of miles away.


    Two minutes later, before that light beam''s remaining halos in the clouds and the sky dispersed, another light beam descended to the encampment of demons in Lizhou Province. After a short while, the third light beam appeared in Xianzhou Province.


    This action was not different than that one in Zhang Tie''s "dream" essentially. If there was, Zhang Tie was more powerful than that one in his "dream". Demons'' strategy remained unchanged. After occupying the Military Province, and fixing their encampment over there, the army of demons continued to capture territory in Taixia Country in two routes. However, they had not pushed to the Tongguan Pass yet.


    When Zhang Tie launched a strike, he destroyed an encampment and two main forces of demons immediately.


    ...


    Zhang Mansion, Jinwu City, Youzhou Province...


    After receiving the news from Xuanyuan Hill, Zhang Yang hurriedly returned to Jinwu City by airboat and told his parents that Zhang Tie had returned to Taixia Country and appeared in Xuanyuan Hill. When they heard the news, the entire family was in silence at once.


    "Zhang Yang, is... is that real? Has Zhang Tie really come back?" Zhang Tie''s mom asked Zhang Yang while her hands trembled, dropping her chopsticks onto the floor. Meanwhile, her eyes were filled with tears.


    Zhang Tie''s dad dropped off tears too. Meanwhile, his lips quivered silently.


    "I''ve received the news from Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal palace. Zhang Tie killed Meng Shidao in the Nine-Heavens Palace. The entire Xuanyuan Hill has been in uproars. Just now, I''ve received the same news from Commander Cheng and Jinwu Business Group''s director in Xuanyuan Hill. I''ve already had people contact His Highness. His Highness said that man was definitely Zhang Tie..." Zhang Yang said in a wobbly voice with excitement as his eyes turned a bit red. He was kneeling down on the ground and reporting it to his parents; instead of just standing there.


    "Ah, hurry, take out the rice brew that I''ve made for Guoguo. When Zhang Tie comes back, he must want to eat my rice brew..." Zhang Tie''s mom stood up, quivering all over with excitement. Meanwhile, she walked towards the kitchen and said, "Have them prepare for it, I will cook some dishes for Guoguo. Guoguo must come back..."


    "Yea, yea, Guoguo should have not taken food..."


    At the moment, Zhang Mansion had over 100 famous cooks and a multitude of servants and maids. The old man and the old woman didn''t have to cook food themselves at all. Therefore, after hearing Zhang Tie''s mom''s words, the entire family fixated onto Zhang Yang with puzzle...


    However, Zhang Tie''s mom insisted on going to the kitchen herself. So did his father...


    "Dad, mom..."


    At this moment, they suddenly heard a familiar voice. Zhang Tie''s dad and mom stopped their movement immediately. When they turned around, they saw Zhang Tie standing outside the gate with tears over his face...

 2011 Aftermaths

    Zhang Tie moved too fast!


    He appeared in the Nine-Heavens Palace of Xuanyuan Hill and killed Meng Shidao all of a sudden. Closely after that, he arrived at the Gobbling Province and destroyed the Far-Ancient Morality Stele. Then, he came to the Western Theater of Operations of Taixia Country and wiped out demon camps and two routes of main demon forces. After that, he returned home. During this period, none of the parties being involved was able to make a timely response to it, including demons, the Gobbling Party and all parties in Taixia Country.


    When the news that Meng Shidao the premier of Taixia Country was killed by Zhang Tie in Nine-Heavens Palace was spread, the entire Xuanyuan Hill entered a state of emergency.


    In an instant, all the streets across Emperor Xuanyuan''s royal city were in hubbubs when it was raining heavily. All the knights and troops of Zodiac Guards in Xuanyuan Hill had been mobilized and started to carry out curfew in Xuanyuan Hill. All the troops of Top Four Armies outside Xuanyuan Hill started to enter Xuanyuan Hill. As a result, the bleak streets in Xuanyuan Hill were covered with fully-armored fighters and armored vehicles.


    So many disciples, butlers, interest spokesmen, ears and eyes of major clans in Xuanyuan Hill started to ask about the details of the assassination in Nine-Heavens Palace. All the ambassadors and envoys in the other countries'' embassies in Xuanyuan Hill had made full use of their relationships so as to acquire more genuine details.


    After hearing the dreamlike information from Emperor Xuanyuan''s Royal Palace, everyone became petrified as they couldn''t identify whether it was true or not. Zhang Tie was said to descend from the sky with an earth-shaking thunder. When he appeared, the entire royal palace seemed to have frozen. All the knights of royal guards and maids of honor, even all the officers and officials inside the royal palace were frightened by that great power. They could neither speak nor move. Zhang Tie just walked in the Nine-Heavens Palace and turned Meng Shidao, who could neither speak nor move, into ashes with one punch.


    Meng Shidao the premier of Taixia Country probably promoted to a sage-level knight. Additionally, there were a large number of knights among those officers and officials in the palace. Who could control tens of thousands of knights inside the royal palace and kill them at his will? This sounded like a myth fabricated by a kid. Zhang Tie couldn''t become such powerful even though he had promoted to a sage-level knight. This news posed a great challenge to the intelligence and nonsense of the listeners.


    Many senior guild halls, boites and clubs inside Emperor Xuanyuan''s Royal City which were bleak just now immediately became as boisterous as markets while many limos started to drive out of those large mansions or ambassies and appeared on the streets of Xuanyuan Hill.


    After hearing the gossip that Meng Shidao was killed by Zhang Tie, a large batch of backbones of the Gobbling Party; especially students of the imperial college gathered outside Emperor Xuanyuan''s Royal Palace and urged to meet Meng Shidao with high spirits...


    In the forum of Mountain of Brightness, a passage written by Mr. Knoweverything called "Did Immortal Qianji come back and kill Meng Shidao inside Emperor Xuanyuan''s Royal Palace?" became the hottest post in the forum. In the blink of an eye, over 100,000 people had viewed it...


    Even though Crown Prince Changying had been ruling the country for so many years, it was his first time encountering such an emergency. Therefore, he also felt helpless.


    All the officers and officials were still quarreling aloud inside Nine-Heavens Palace.


    "Lord Meng is one of the three top chancellors of Taixia Country. Even though that man is Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie must be killed as he violated the majesty of the royal palace in the public. He''s nothing different than demons. Your Highness, please issue Zhang Tie''s crime and assign people to catch him at once..." Some imperial officers who had joined Gobbling Party roared exhaustedly in the palace and urged to claim for Zhang Tie''s responsibility.


    "Immortal Qianji has disappeared for so many years. His whereabouts are always mysterious. We''re not sure whether that man was Immortal Qianji or not. Perhaps he''s disguised by a shadow demon. Even though he was Immortal Qianji, now that he killed Meng Shidao the moment he arrived, he must have his reason..." Some officers of the top four armies refuted those imperial officers aloud.


    Those imperial officers were not knights; therefore, they urged to kill Zhang Tie. However, all the knights inside the Nine-Heavens Palace had already sensed the terrifying power of Zhang Tie. Who could catch him? Who could kill him? If anyone of them wanted to catch Zhang Tie, they might face the same tragic outcome as Meng Shidao when Zhang Tie appeared in the palace next time.


    Compared to the quarrels between those imperial censors and some officers, most of the officers and officials inside Nine-Heavens Palace were in silence. Some looked solemn; some''s eyes were full of fear; someone looked thrilled; some were in meditation; some were as dumb as cicadas in the winter...


    The only common point between them was that all the officers and officials and those who carried portable remote-sensing devices immediately noticed those people who had great stakes with them about what happened in Nine-Heavens Palace.


    Zhang Tie returned and killed Meng Shidao. This was a great event that definitely shocked the entire country...


    At this moment, Xuanyuan Changying still felt contradictory and puzzled.


    His Highness didn''t know why Zhang Tie would appear in Nine-Heavens Palace; neither did he know what Zhang Tie had experienced over these years. However, he could feel that man was indeed Zhang Tie. As Zhang Tie killed one of the top three chancellors of Taixia Country in front of His Highness, he had already committed a capital crime. However, would His Highness send an order to catch Zhang Tie?


    ''If not catch Zhang Tie, the laws of the imperial court would be useless? How do I deal with the Gobbling Party? If I send an order to catch him, it would bring us more terrifying trouble...''


    ''Why did Zhang Tie kill Meng Shidao? How did he know that item was suppressed beneath Emperor Xuanyua''s Royal Palace?''


    These questions always lingered in Xuanyuan Changying''s mind, making him upset.


    Since he became the crown prince, Xuanyuan Changying had almost not been in such a tricky dilemma.


    "Your Highness, a large batch of people of Morality Agencies in Xuanyuan Hill have been gathering outside the royal palace and are urging to meet... meet the premier..." When Xuanyuan Changying was upset, an armored guard rushed in and reported to him loudly at the gate of Nine-Heavens Palace.


    As for Xuanyuan Changying, this news was like pouring fuel on the fire.


    When Xuanyuan Changying asked people to pacify those members of Morality Agency of Gobbling Party outside the Nine-Heavens Palace, he received a message from a finger ring which had been silent for dozens of years...


    All the officers and officials in the imperial court found that Xuanyuan Changying suddenly became stunned. One minute later, Xuanyuan Changying''s face flushed. After that, he sent an order in a wobbly voice, "Let Zodiac Guards catch all the rioters outside Nine-Heavens Palace and put them into jails. Seal up the Morality Agency in Xuanyuan Hill. Any member of the Morality Agency who dares resist must die!"


    All the officers and officials in the imperial court were in a daze as they didn''t know why His Highness wanted to deal with Gobbling Party all of a sudden. In this case, shouldn''t His Highness reassure the Gobbling Party?


    However, it was not an end. Closely after that, Xuanyuan Changying took a glance at those officers and officials in the imperial court and sent an order to those commanders of the top four armies, "Meng Shidao and Gobbling Party collude with demons. All the forces of the top four armies across the country should ban all the morality agencies and catch all the presidents and backbones of those morality agencies. If anyone of them dares resist, kill them, even though they''re involved with local major clans and sects. You have to right to kill them before reporting it to me!"


    All the moguls in the military of Taixia Country had been complaining about Gobbling Party over these years, including Zuoqiu Mingyue and those influential figures in the top four armies. They had long been disgruntled about Meng Shidao. After hearing His Highness'' order, those armored commanders of top four armies immediately walked out of the team of officers and took the order.


    "Your Highness..." Li Yunji, the president of the supreme court screamed.


    After taking a look at Li Yunji, Xuanyuan Changying directly pointed at him as he sent a merciless order, "Arrest him!''''


    ...


    When such a sharp reversal happened in the Nine-Heavens Palace, some ambassadors of some big countries on the Western Continent were gathering in the room and exchanging intelligence with each other in a secret small parlor of a club in the diplomatic quarter of Emperor Xuanyuan''s Royal Palace.


    The event that Zhang Tie killed Meng Shidao with one punch in Nine-Heavens Palace also touched the nerves of all the ambassadors in Taixia Country.


    All the big changes that happened in Taixia Country would influence the battle situation facing Taixia Country in the holy war. The changing battle situation was also related to the future of all the humans on the Western Continent. Therefore, these ambassadors had to figure out what had happened in Emperor Xuanyuan''s Royal Palace and Nine-Heavens Palace as fast as possible.


    When Mr. Knoweverything wrote that passage in the Mountain of Brightness, all the ambassadors had already received the strictest decrees from their own countries.


    There were too many unbelivable, magical gossips.


    As those ambassadors had different agents, they might get the complete intelligence through exchanges.


    After analyzing it together for a short while, almost nobody believed that the gossip from Emperor Xuanyuan''s Royal Palace was true. They all believed that Meng Shidao was already dead; however, the murderer might not be Zhang Tie.


    "Does anyone in Xuanyuan Hill want to stage a coup?"


    "If it true, it must be the military of Taixia Country. However, Zuoqiu Mingyue is still in the frontline. It doesn''t seem true."


    "Perhaps His Highness has already been tired of his current role. Meng Shidao has already become the stumbling block on his way!" Francia Empire''s ambassador shook the wine in his glass as he squinted his eyes and said, "We''ve got intelligence. In recent years, the relationship between Meng Shidao and His Highness has long deteriorated. Although being the former master of His Highness, Meng Shidao couldn''t win any trust from His Highness any longer..."


    "If it''s true, Immortal Qianji might be disguised by someone else at the request of His Highness. There''s an employed sage-level knight in the royal palace. It''s not hard to do that. I think the gossip is hyperbole. It probably is the conspiracy between His Highness and the military of Taixia Country..." the ambassador of Rhesa Republic said as he nodded with a solemn look.


    "Probably. If the gossip is true, Zhang Tie''s power must be out of our imagination. I''m afraid that even sage-level knights are not able to resist his strike. That''s amazing and absolutely impossible..." the ambassador of Barbarian Alliance said as he raised his chin and joked, "If there''s really such an amazing guy among humans who could match a god, Zhang Tie should be in the Western Theater of Operations of Taixia Country at this moment and kill all the demon knights over there. If possible, he''d better destroy the entire encampment of demons in Military Province. Apparently the gossip from the royal palace is just a lie, hehe..."


    Crackle...


    Soon after the ambassador of Barbarian Alliance finished his words... the ambassador of Francia Empire had already dropped his glass of wine onto the carpet, leaving an area of deep wine stain on the expensive carpet made of camel''s hair.


    In an instant, all the other ambassadors in the room fixated onto the ambassador of Francia Empire.


    The ambassador who was talking with confidence widened his mouth like an idiot, pupils expanded. After a short while, he forcefully swallowed his saliva as he rolled his eyes once before watching the ambassador of Barbarian Alliance, saying "Demons... demons'' encampment in Military Province and the two routes of main forces of demons... were... just destroyed by someone..."


    The entire room was in dead silence at once...


    Right then, a terrifying qi came from Emperor Xuanyuan''s Royal Palace as a light&shade suddenly rushed into the sky from the royal palace with a powerful sword qi and flew far away in a streak of golden light...


    ...


    "Old Man Taiyi, come out and see me!" A majestic voice suddenly sounded above the base of Taiyi Fantasy Sect, which rocked the ground over 600 miles.


    All the knights and disciples in the base of Taixia Fantasy Sect were stupefied by this sudden voice.


    After getting out of the Morality Stele in Gobbling Province, Emperor Xuanyuan didn''t return to Xuanyuan Hill right away; instead, he came to the base of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    Soon after his voice, that streak of golden light came to Emperor Xuanyuan''s hand. It was Xuanyuan Sword.


    Xuanyuan Sword in hand, Emperor Xuanyuan''s qi soared many times in an instant, Closely after that, he slashed towards the main palace of Taiyi Fantasy Sect.


    ¡ª¡ªThe main palace of Taiyi Fantasy Sect which had just been restored for a couple of years was smashed again...


    ...


    In Lord Guangnan''s Mansion in the southwest of Taixia Country...


    Only after half a day, the entire Taixia Country had been in uproars because of news one after another.


    Lord Guangnan even wanted to fetch all of his trusted subordinates to analyze the overall situation and discuss the countermeasures.


    At this moment, Fang Xinyi, as Lord Guangna''s concubine entered his study room. Despite Lord Guangnan''s brothers and subordinated generals were there, Fang Xinyi directly knelt down in front of Lord Guangnan and kowtowed towards him, urging, "Lord, please save Qionglou Pavilion given that I''ve been serving you sincerely for so many years..."


    "Heaven may be forgiven for its iniquities, but man shall not live for his sins!" Lord Guangnan sighed as he shook his head. "I could only save you. As for the future of Qionglou Pavilion, it''s out of my control..."

 2012 The Agreement between Zhang Tie and Demon Overlord

    "Lizhou Province and Xianzhou Province have recovered three days ago. Lion Fortress has reentered Military Province. The overall situation facing Taixia Country on the frontline is good. It''s said that demons on the Western Continent have started to return to the underground world. The allied human forces on the Western Continent have started to launch counter-attacks..."


    When Zhang Gui, the old slave of Zhang Tie, reported it to Zhang Tie, he bowed with great respect. He dared not even raise his head. When he did not receive any reply from Zhang Tie, Zhang Gui continued, "Emperor Xuanyuan has already sent invitations to the presidents of countries in those continents and sub-continents and prepared to hold a conference in Xuanyuan Hill after recovering Military Province. They want to negotiate about the overall war plan and attempt to drive all the demons back to the underground world. Given the information from Xuanyuan Hill, Taixia Country and Western Continent probably prepare to join forces in the Realm of Disasters in the end..."


    "Hmm, not bad!" Zhang Tie who was standing behind Pandora replied as he loosened his grasp. After that, he took one step backward and took a look at the lines and painting scroll that he and Pandora left on the paper and nodded.


    It was a brisk and natural landscape map that Zhang Tie and Pandora created together. A slim and graceful maiden was standing in a pavilion on the hillside and watching the valley in the far with a gloomy look. This painting looked such vivid. She looked very similar to Pandora given her back, long hair on her back and her frame.


    After they finished this painting, all the other women hurriedly gathered around the table and spoke highly of the painting.


    At this moment, besides Bai Suxian, Yan Feiqing, Guo Hongyi, Linda, Beverly, Fiona, Aimei, Aixue and Pandora, Aurola, O''Lina, Sabrina and the six Spencer sisters were all present. All of Zhang Tie''s wives and concubines were here.


    Because all the women had taken cross-realm fruits, their faces remained unchanged even after so many years.


    They were in one of Zhang Tie''s attics in Xuantian Peak. At this moment, besides Zhang Tie''s beautiful wives and concubines, only Zhang Gui was here and reporting something to Zhang Tie.


    It was already March, a few months later after Zhang Tie''s return. Over the past months, too many things had happened in Taixia Country and Western Continent. The overall situation facing Taixia Country in the holy war had long reversed.


    Since he returned to Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie had not left Youzhou Province at all over the past months; instead, he always stayed with his family. Besides the first days after he returned when he met Zuoqiu Mingming, Cheng Honglie and the other batches of guests from Heavenly Fortune Sect and Lord Guangnan''s Mansion, Zhang Tie didn''t see anybody else. He just spent all of his time on his family.


    Zhang Tie had already got married to Pandora and brought her to Youzhou Province from Demons Slaughter Valley. The news that Zhang Tie picked Pandora in Demons Slaughter Valley had already spread across the country. With a son-in-law like Zhang Tie, Demonic Slaughter Valley''s reputation soared.


    After taking Pandora back to Youzhou Province, Zhang Tie took Aurola, O''Lina and the six Spencer sisters back to Youzhou Province from Ice and Snow Wilderness too. As for Zhang Tie, it was like a home-centered man going to the market to buy ingredients for food.


    With such a great power, Zhang Tie could safeguard humans by fighting demons; sometimes, he found that he could also protect his family with the same power and enable these women to go back to his side.


    Although Zhang Tie had long been a grandpa, the entire Youzhou Province was busy doing one thing¡ª¡ªprepare for Zhang Tie''s marriage.


    Zhang Tie had already promised these women to hold a grand wedding ceremony for them in Youzhou Province. He wanted them to wear wedding gowns and ceremonial robes again.


    Zhang Tie felt as if he owed them something. Since they chose to stay with Zhang Tie, although they had got their status and positions in Zhang family and already bore children, they had not held a wedding ceremony and wore wedding gowns yet, including Beverly, Fiona, Yan Feiqing and Bai Suxian. However, Zhang Tie always felt pitiful about that. Therefore, after coming back, he determined to hold an unprecedented, grand wedding ceremony for those women so as to fix all the regrets.


    Zhang Tie still remembered their expressions when he gathered all the women and told them that he wanted to hold a real wedding ceremony for them.


    "This painting still lacks a corresponding poem!" Aimei and Aixue suggested in unison as their mind acted upon the mind as twins.


    "Of course, the landscape of Taixia Country should match a Taixia poem. I''m not good at Taixia poem; Feiqing, it''s your turn..." Pandora said with a smile as she gave the painting brush to Yan Feiqing.


    Yan Feiqing didn''t refuse her; instead, she took the painting brush and left two lines of small graceful words on the painting.


    ¡ª¡ªRain takes away the clouds with the fresh wind. River accompanies green mountains with flying birds.


    ¡ª¡ªWith morning glow, tea culture and night-illuminating glass, we miss you both awake and drunk!


    "Nice..." They all acclaimed it in unison. Yan Feiqing''s last words perfectly expressed the mood of those women.


    Zhang Tie burst out laughing as he put his arms around Yan Feiqing and kissed her face like a playboy. After that, he turned around and asked Zhang Gui as if he was asking something trivial, "How''s Gobbling Party recently?"


    "The forces of Gobbling Party across the country have almost been exterminated. Most of members of Morality Agencies have already exited those agencies. Besides Northeastern Military Region, former members of Morality Agencies are exposing the dirty things about Morality Agencies to the public everywhere across the country. As local authorities showed mercy on those who admitted their mistakes sincerely, few people were sent into the jails. Almost everyone is speaking highly of His Majesty''s kindness and Your Honor''s righteous deed of killing Meng Shidao the great evil force in Taixia Country..."


    As for an organization like Gobbling Party, after Meng Shidao was killed, the Far-Ancient Morality Stele which was taken as the spiritual ballast of many die-hard fans of Gobbling Party was broken up, Emperor Xuanyuan returned to Taixia Country and that Meng Shidao framed Emperor Xuanyuan was exposed to the public, it was doomed to fall in an instant. Nobody would like to be involved with it.


    Zhang Tie was very gratified by Xuanyuan Hill''s deed. It was indeed boundless beneficence for them to eliminate hidden threats and reduce turmoils across the country at the minimal cost. To the final analysis, the reason that many commoners joined Gobbling Party lay in that they wanted to gain extra benefits from doing that; instead of their belief or high requirement on their own ethics. Even though many people of major clans and officials joined Gobbling Party with no nobler motive and purpose.


    "Aw, there''s one more thing..."


    "Go ahead!"


    "I heard some gossip in Xuanyuan Hill that when humans on Eastern Continent and Western Continent drive demons back to the underground space, they will establish allied human forces of 300,000 human knights. Those people in Xuanyuan Hill and those ambassadors of countries on the Western Continent in Xuanyuan Hill have already secretly released the news that they would like to recommend you as the commander-in-chief of allied human forces. They hope that the allied human forces could enter the underground world and wipe out all the demons under the leadership of Your Honor..."


    Closely after hearing Zhang Gui''s words, none of those women in the room commented on that painting and poem any longer; instead, they all watched Zhang Tie with wide eyes.


    Zhang Tie then replied which nobody else could understand as he shook his head, "Demons couldn''t only be wiped out through wars or massacres!"


    Those people had such a simple idea. On the way back to Taixia Country from Motian Realm, Zhang Tie had already traveled across demons'' nest in the underground abyss of Earth-Element Realm, they all thought that demons came from the underground abyss. Actually it was not absolutely right. In fact, under the underground abyss in Earth-Element Realm, there was an odd black ocean in the core of this planet. That place is linked with the world where Demon Overlord is in. Although Demon Overlord couldn''t come to this world from there, the powerful demonic qi and energy could peep into the black demon ocean and breed demons one after another over there. Even though allied human forces could reach there and wipe out all the demons over there, they would find that new demons came into being from there.


    If they wanted to eliminate demons; they must kill the Demon Overlord. If they wanted to kill the Demon Overlord, they must eliminate the greed, envy, animosity, fool and stupidity in their hearts. Only these negative moods and behaviors of humans which could hurt themselves were the source of the power of Demon Overlord.


    Real demons were neither in abyss nor in hell, but in the grimmest and grinnest place in people''s heart.


    Unless their hearts were filled with light, the wars between humans and demons would never cease.


    The real holy war was not the battle between human and demons; but between people and the dark and grimness deep in everyone''s heart.


    They might not understand it for the time being; neither did Zhang Tie want to explain about it.


    Perhaps it was not bad for them to maintain the current situation. From then on, humans would live above earth; demons would live underground. The two species just did whatever they wanted in their own territory. Without demons, humans would also be troubled with wars, killings, turmoils and oppressions. With the help of such a terrifying species which always cast covetous eyes on humans, there might be fewer killings and wars between humans and the order above earth might be more harmonious.


    Their holy war might not have come to an end yet; however, it had already almost come to an end for Zhang Tie.


    Over these days, through that heart that was suppressed in the Infinite Immortal Prison, Zhang Tie had reached a secret agreement with the Demon Overlord. After the agreement was reached, Zhang Tie would not fight demons who had returned to the underground world any longer; neither would Demon Overlord allow its demon army to appear above earth. None of the human cities would be collapsed by demons anymore. Additionally, all the remaining demon forces would evacuate back to the underground world. As long as Zhang Tie was alive, this agreement would remain valid and all the humans and human cities above the earth would be under Zhang Tie''s protection.


    This agreement meant that the vast Earth-Element Realm between earth and the abyss where demons lived in would be the real battlefield between humans and demons in the future.


    When they were all pondering Zhang Tie''s words, they suddenly heard an urgent voice from outside the attic.


    "I''ve got something important to report to Elder Mushen..."


    Zhang Tie realized that it was Elder Muen''s voice...

 2013 An Ant Was Trying to Shake a Giant Tree

    Elder Mushen...


    Only those elders and some disciples of Huaiyuan Palace still called Zhang Tie Elder Mushen till now across the country. However, Zhang Tie didn''t mind it. Besides these people, nobody else across Taixia Country dared call Zhang Tie in that way; especially after Zhang Tie killed Meng Shidao, destroyed the Far-Ancient Morality Stele and reached his heyday.


    The arrival of Elder Muen shocked Zhang Tie to a certain degree. Recognizing that Elder Muen was urgent given his voice, Zhang Tie directly had someone take Elder Muen into a parlor of the Suzerain''s Pavilion.


    When Elder Muen reached the sky above Xuantian Peak, he was instantly blocked by patrollers headed by Zhao Bing, who were Zhang Tie''s disciples. Therefore, he directly opened his mouth over there and transmitted his voice into the Suzerain''s Pavilion. He hoped to shock Zhang Tie and meet the latter with this trick.


    "Elder Muen, what are you here for?" Zhang Tie asked Elder Muen straightforwardly at the sight of him without any greetings.


    With a grave look, Elder Muen didn''t waste any time either. However, after hearing Elder Muen''s first words, Zhang Tie''s face turned gloomy at once. "Yunxi is in trouble!"


    Zhang Tie instantly sprung up as he asked Elder Muen with shiny eyes, "What happened to her?"


    "10 days ago, Yunxi suddenly left TigerEmbracing City with the reason that her master called her. All the elders of Huaiyuan Palace thought that Yunxi was going to receive the interrogation from the Supreme Court back in Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Therefore, we didn''t mind it. Although Yunxi grew up in Taiyi Fantasy Sect, she had been staying in Huaiyuan Palace over there and didn''t have any relation with Taiyi Fantasy Sect. Neither was she involved in the conspiracy that Taiyi Fantasy Sect exterminated the Great Wilderness Sect and Royal Alliance. We thought that Yunxi would come back soon. Unexpectedly, someone sent this item to Tiger Embracing Mountain last night and urged to give it to me and the other elders. After reading it, we had no other means but to seek for your help, Elder Mushen!"


    As Elder Muen explained, he took out of a piece of crystal and gave it to Zhang Tie.


    Only sage-level knight could leave motion pictures in a piece of crystal. The first piece of crystal of motion pictures that Zhang Tie saw was from Fang Qingming.


    With bit confusion, Zhang Tie injected a bit of spiritual energy into that piece of crystal. In an instant, he saw motion pictures¡ª¡ªIn a gloomy backroom whose floor was covered with red light, Lan Yunxi was quietly lying on a stony bed well dressed, as if asleep. Closely after that, he saw a mirror in the space, the image on the mirror was Taiyi Old Man who looked gloomy.


    As it was presented from the first perspective, as long as Taiyi Old Man was facing the mirror, Zhang Tie could see Taiyi Old Man''s face too.


    With a bit hatred on his grim face, Taiyi Old Man in the mirror uttered, "Zhang Tie, Lan Yunxi is in my hand. If you want to meet Lan Yunxi, you''d better follow my arrangement... ahem... ahem..." Taiyi Old Man said with a gloomier face as he coughed weakly, "After this piece of crystal reaches Huaiyuan Palace, you must go to the Vast Peace Inn, Fighting Righteous City, Flying Dragon Prefecture, Light Province in three days. There''s a letter in the wardrobe of No. Heavenly 7 room. Follow the order in the letter first. If you don''t do that, I will have people send you Lan Yunxi''s head next time!"


    Closely after these words, the motion pictures in the piece of crystal turned dark.


    After putting away that piece of crystal, Zhang Tie asked Elder Muen with a calm look, "Who sent it to Huaiyuan Palace?"


    "It''s a boss of an inn in TigerEmbracing City. We''ve checked him. He was hypnotized by someone. He just sent this item to Huaiyuan Palace involuntarily like a puppet. He received this item from someone else 5 days ago. However, that inn didn''t remember that man''s look any longer!"


    "I will deal with it. I will take back Lan Yunxi!"


    "Although the other elders of Huaiyuan Palace and I don''t know why Taiyi Old Man threatened you, we all believe that it''s not something good. I''m afraid..." Elder Muen said with a worried look.


    "Don''t worry. I will deal with it," Zhang Tie said with a calm look.


    When he saw Zhang Tie recovering his composure again, Elder Muen also became reassured.


    "Thank you!" Elder Muen then stood up and prepared to bow towards Zhang Tie. However, before he made it, Zhang Tie had already stopped him by pulling his hands.


    "Elder Muen, you don''t have to do that. I was also a member of Huaiyuan Palace. Even though I''m not now, I won''t allow Huaiyuan Palace to be humiliated..."


    "After that event, although Yunxi always looked strong-willed, we all knew that she was heart-broken. If not that event, you and Yunxi..." Elder Muen stopped with a deep sigh, "The destiny is making fool of you!"


    After being silent for half a minute, Zhang Tie talked to Elder Muen again, "Elder Muen, go back to Huaiyuan Palace please. You will receive my message soon!"


    "Hmm, see you!" Elder Muen could only leave here for the time being. The entire Huaiyuan Palace couldn''t deal with this event except Zhang Tie.


    At this moment, Taiyi Old Man was already the No. 1 criminal as for the Supreme Court of Taixia Country; instead, Zhao Yun and Yun Zhongzi had been acquitted. A few months ago, Taiyi Old Man was heavily injured by Emperor Xuanyuan in the base of Taiyi Fantasy Sect. However, he escaped in the end. The entire Taiyi Fantasy Sect was being rectified in recent months, which shocked the world. As a result, Taiyi Old Man didn''t show up over these days. When he showed up, he targeted at Huaiyuan Palace and Zhang Tie. On this occasion, those elders of Huaiyuan Palace could never defeat Taiyi Old Man who was a sage-level knight and save Lan Yunxi! Of course, they could only seek for Zhang Tie''s help.


    After Elder Muen left there, Zhang Tie returned to his attic and told those women that he was going to leave Iron-Dragon Sect for a couple of days at most. After saying these brief words, Zhang Tie took to the skies with one step from the Suzerain''s Pavilion and flew towards one place at a high speed. He moved 60 miles with one step. In the blink of an eye, he had already seen a vast ocean under his foot...


    Given the direction, Zhang Tie didn''t go to the Light Province of Taixia Country; instead, he left Taixia Country for the Western Continent at a high speed.


    As he had experienced an absolute failure in "dream", Zhang Tie would never allow Taiyi Old Man and Ancestor Shenkong to threaten Huaiyuan Palace and Jinwu Palace when he came back again.


    After saving Emperor Xuanyuan, Zhang Tie prepared to have Emperor Xuanyuan deal with the awful mess of the three major sects. No matter what, Emperor Xuanyuan was the most suitable person who could deal with it. However, it didn''t mean that Zhang Tie wouldn''t take any precautions about emergencies.


    Actually, Zhang Tie had already been to the bases of Qionglou Pavilion and Taiyi Fantasy Sect before Emperor Xuanyuan arrived there on the day when he left the Gobbling Province. He left special marks on the two old d**chebags. As long as the special marks were with them, they could never escape from Zhang Tie''s chase even though they were in another space.


    Taiyi Old Man and Ancestor Shenkong could never imagine that the gap between them and Zhang Tie was insurmountable. Zhang Tie''s tricks were completely out of their imaginations. They had long been in Zhang Tie''s control. However, they didn''t know it yet.


    The reason why Zhang Tie didn''t kill them when he came back was that he wanted to leave them to Emperor Xuanyuan and wanted to know their secrets in case of other unprecedented cases.


    Ancestor Shenkong was not as fortunate as Taiyi Old Man. After Ancestor Shenkong received the news that Taiyi Fantasy Sect was in trouble and was going to escape, he was blocked by Yun Zhongzi and finally killed by Emperor Xuanyuan.


    However, Taiyi Old Man was seeking death this time; therefore, Zhang Tie had no other choice but kill him.


    At this moment, nobody else might know Taiyi Old Man''s whereabouts except Zhang Tie.


    Zhang Tie soon came to a mountain cave in an unpopulated area in the west of Holy Light Empire in the Western Continent. In the blink of an eye, he had found a hidden portal in the deep mountain cave. He then released a bit of spiritual energy and opened the portal quietly, revealing a tunnel that was covered with red light. Zhang Tie then walked in the tunnel leisurely...

 2014 Love and Hate

    The walls of the tunnel were embedded with very rare red eternal fluorescent lamps. As a result, the floor was covered with a bloody light. The red light and the material of the walls were absolutely as same as that Zhang Tie saw in the piece of crystal.


    After taking a look at the deep place of the tunnel with his lotus-flower eyes, Zhang Tie completely became reassured at once.


    It was very easy for him to kill Old Man Taiyi. However, he was afraid of hurting Lan Yunxi. After taking a look at the deep place of the tunnel, Zhang Tie instantly recovered his composure.


    After marching downwards for thousands of meters in the tunnel, Zhang Tie came to the door of a backroom.


    The door of the backroom was opened quietly. Almost at the same time, Old Man Taiyi opened his eyes with amazement as he saw Zhang Tie walking in.


    "Zhang Tie..." Old Man Taiyi exclaimed with an amazing look.


    At this moment, no words could describe Old Man Taiyi''s mood. Old Man Taiyi could never imagine that it was Zhang Tie who opened the door of the backroom at that moment.


    ''Isn''t Zhang Tie supposed to have just received my crystal? Why is he here?''


    Old Man Taiyi couldn''t imagine that Zhang Tie showed up at this moment in such an unbelievable and inexplicable way when he was working out a considerate plan and wanted to reverse the overall situation or at least made Jinwu Palace and Zhang Tie restless all the way. He didn''t believe that Zhang Tie could come to this asylum far away from Taixia Country that only he knew.


    Even though Old Man Taiyi was a man of the times, he also became dumbfounded at this moment. He even felt as if he was numb all over.


    Expressionless, Zhang Tie said, "I''m sorry. I must kill you again!"


    ''Again? Why did Zhang Tie say that he ought to kill me again?''


    A whim occurred to Old Man Taiyi all of a sudden.


    Of course, nobody replied him.


    Before Old Man Taiyi wanted to struggle to do something, Zhang Tie erected a finger and pointed at him casually. In a split second, he blocked the space around Old Man Taiyi. Old Man Taiyi became frozen in an instant. With wide, furious eyes, Old Man Taiyi instantly felt an indescribable force enter his central forehead.


    At the same time, Old Man Taiyi''s body exploded and turned into a blood mist, leaving an odd token in the blood mist.


    After taking that token, Zhang Tie released his chakra flame and burned up the remaining blood mist of Old Man Taiyi, leaving nothing else.


    Old Man Taiyi, who was once overambitious and had cooked so many events in Taixia Country, was killed in a backroom in an underground mountain cave of a depopulated area in the Western Continent quietly like a withered and yellow leaf fell off a tree naturally and rotted. At this moment, all of his ambitious dreams and conspiracies perished.


    There was another portal in this backroom which led to another place through a secret tunnel. After opening the portal, Zhang Tie entered the tunnel. After over 1,000 m''s walk downward, he saw another hidden door that was closed from outside. Zhang Tie then pushed it open.


    There was a room behind the hidden door. A person who always appeared in Zhang Tie''s dreams was standing there, back against the door. There was some food on the table. However, she didn''t eat them at all.


    "Don''t waste time on me. Even if you kill me, I would never cooperate with you and frame up Jinwu Palace and Zhang Tie. I will take revenge for my dad''s death aboveboard. Zhang Tie is going to hold his wedding ceremony. Previously, I wanted to avenge my dad on his wedding day even at the cost of my life. I prefer to be killed by him. Do you think that I still care about my own life today?"


    After hearing the sound from behind, Lan Yunxi didn''t turn around; instead, she urged in a faint, miserable and decisive tone.


    After being silent for half a minute, Zhang Tie opened his mouth gloomily, "Do you still hate me so much?"


    After hearing his voice, Lan Yunxi whose face turned pale instantly quivered once all over. After that, she slowly turned around as she saw Zhang Tie watching her from outside the door with a complex look, which contained pity.


    Lan Yunxi would never forget Zhang Tie''s expression for the rest of her life. Nobody else could watch her like that.


    Lan Yunxi quivered all over as she instantly burst into tears.


    Zhang Tie then walked towards Lan Yunxi slowly.


    "Go away..." Lan Yunxi screeched as she moved one step back. Leaning against the wall weakly, she pointed at the door and exclaimed, "I don''t need your pity. I don''t need your help. It''s none of your business even if I die here. Roll out of here. Roll out of here..."


    As was expected, Zhang Tie didn''t roll out of there; instead, he walked straight to the front of Lan Yunxi and embraced her tightly. Meanwhile, he kissed her lips despite tears over her face.


    Lan Yunxi beat Zhang Tie by her palm forcefully. Her battle qi had already been restrained by Old Man Taiyi; therefore, she was almost like an ordinary woman. Even though she had recovered her full battle force and had promoted to a heavenly knight, she could never stop Zhang Tie...


    ...


    7 months later, on a sunny day, Zhang Tie held his wedding ceremony. On that day, the entire Youzhou Province and Taixia Country as a whole were in uproars.


    Representatives of major clans, dignitaries in Taixia Country and royal households, noblemen and special envoys from Western Continent and subcontinents had converged in Youzhou Province, hundreds of thousands of people in total. As a result, airboats were like clouds; knights were like rain...


    On the special day, Crown Prince Changying came to Youzhou Province and brought Zhang Tie gifts from Emperor Xuanyuan¡ª¡ªa pair of iron whips which were silver secret items and the imperial edict of conferring Zhang Tie as Lord Qianji. With this pair of iron whips, Zhang Tie could beat the fatuous emperor and the cunning officers and officials. Lord Qianji was the head of all the other lords. As the No. 1 knight of Taixia Country, Zhang Tie was entitled to be regent.


    Additionally, the owners and elders of all the Zhang clans across Zhang Tie arrived on the same day. They hung a golden board on the top of the Shrine Palace of Jinwu Palace with some words on it¡ª¡ªNo.1 Zhang Clan.


    The bounty gifts and honors from other representatives were hard to describe. From the Western Continent alone, Zhang Tie received a lot of titles of princes, bounty lands, honors and supreme reputations like Saint.


    On that day, Lan Yunxi didn''t show up at the wedding ceremony; instead, she was watching the shimmering sea level in an attic that was leaning against a mountain and facing a brilliant seascape. Meanwhile, she stroked her swollen lower abdomen.


    The fetus had been elder than 6 months. It could already move. Each time the new life kicked their legs, Lan Yunxi would feel complex as a mother.


    The movement of the new life was melting Lan Yunxi''s icy mood. When love and hate wrestled with each other in her blood, they could never separate from each other. The blessing of the powerful bloodline brought infinite possibilities to the future of the new life. Because of this, Lan Yunxi got infinite hope and a possible pattern of "revenge"¡ª¡ªRaise him up and let him become more brilliant than all the other children of that man. Additionally, Huaiyuan Palace will become more prosperous than Jinwu Palace and even tread that man underfoot...


    Before the fetus came to the world, Lan Yunix had already got a name for it¡ª¡ªZhang Jixuan.


    A new life meant a new start...

 2015 The End

    "...the household register official in Fuhai City always behaved meticulously and was happy about turning down Zhang Tie''s engagement. He thought that he had avoided a big problem; unexpectedly, he was going to have big trouble because of this. A catastrophe soon occurred to his family. In the evening when Zhang Tie left Fuhai City, a shadow rushed into Fuhai City like a wisp of smoke. In an instant, it had passed by batches of patrollers and come to the outside of the wall of Household Register Official Fan''s courtyard. What the 7 cm high wall to the shadow was what the threshold of a boite to a 1.7 m tall man. With a wuthering wind, the shadow instantly disappeared outside the wall and appeared in the courtyard of Fan''s house..."


    The boite was pretty quiet as all the guests were listening to the story described by a man who was standing in the middle of the lobby on the first floor in front of the 2 m high screen while pricking up their ears. The man was talking about the splendid plot in the Legend of Black Iron Hero vividly, despite fabrications.


    As for those who liked to listen to stories, they had listened to the following plots for more than once. However, even the same interesting plot would carry different splendid features in the mouth of different storytellers. Therefore, they keenly listened to it as many people among them held their breath.


    In a box on the second floor of this boite, a young master at his 20''s with thick eyebrows and big eyes in brilliant clothes was sipping tea and listening to the storyteller''s performance with strong interest.


    Two muscular bodyguards were standing behind this young master outside the door like two iron towers with crossed arms.


    When the storyteller said that some guards of Fan''s household were beheaded after a wuthering cold wind, he heard a "bang". Trembling once with fear, the young master who was immersed in the plots of the Legend of Black Iron Hero found that the door was pushed open from outside. At the same time, his cup of half-full tea sprayed over his hand, causing him to draw in his breath due to heat.


    Out of fury, the young master turned around and wanted to scold his bodyguards. However, after hearing the words of the boy in green who was oozing sweat heavily over his forehead, the young master became stunned at once. "Young master, the grocery store has just opened..."


    "What? You mean, that grocery store has just opened!" the young master instantly forgot about the hot tea water in his hand as he grabbed the boy and continued, "Are you sure?"


    "I''m sure. Of course!" the young man replied as he panted heavily and wiped off the sweat over his forehead, "I''ve already waited there for half a month. I would never miss it. I found that it was opened just now; therefore, I hurriedly came here to inform you, Young Master!"


    "Let''s go!" After hearing the young man''s words, the young master immediately became excited as his rage suddenly disappeared. He didn''t even listen to the legend any longer; instead, he dropped a gold coin on the table. Following after, he turned around and rushed downstairs, coming to the street, followed by his two bodyguards and the boy.


    This young master especially came here for that grocery store in Blackhot City. However, that grocery store was always closed. It only opened twice a month. The boss always disappeared. Therefore, he had been waiting here for more than half a month.


    The street was crowded and boisterous. There were only 3 or 4 Hua people among every 10 people. Those foreigners and uniforms came from the other continents like Western Continent. Even barbarians, ascetics and pioneers from Western Continent and female jungle warriors from subcontinents could be spotted here.


    The two sides of the street were full of brands in different languages. Besides Hua language, Hebrew and Slav that were widely accepted in Western Continent, even some rare languages could be seen here. Additionally, there was a myriad of items and commodities in those roadside stores. People could almost find everything here.


    With different human races, commodities and cultures, the street was full of strange voices.


    Many foreigners could be seen somewhere in Taixia Country such as Guizhou Province; however, only one place was crowded with so many foreigners on one ordinary street, namely Blackhot City in Youzhou Province.


    It was Blackhot City in Youzhou Province, a city named after a city in Waii Subcontinent which was filled with western buildings. The two blackhot cities were similar to each other in both infrastructure and block plans. This city was also the most charming and legendary city in the eyes of "foreigners". The owner of the city was Barly, a fat man whom people both loved and hated. It was Barly and his famous brothers who ruled this city.


    The one who made this city well-known among humans was the hero in the Legend of Black Iron Hero. Almost everyone who had heard that name would come here to visit Blackhot City.


    On the 928th year of Black Iron Calendar, almost all the demons had been driven back to the underground space from the earth surface of those continents and subcontinents. It was said that human knights were still fighting demons in the Earth-Element Realm and urging that the holy war had not come to an end till now; however, in many people''s eyes, the holy war had almost come to an end when all the demons were driven back to the underground space.


    It was April 5, the 941st year of Black Iron Calendar. Youzhou Province was in the period between spring and summer and full of vigor.


    It took the young master, the boy and two bodyguards half an hour to come to a lane connected to an avenue that was neither boisterous nor remote near the Railway Station of Blackhot City.


    It was a spontaneous, boisterous fleamarket not far from the lane. The avenue was crowded with people who left the railway station. In a commonplace at the corner of the lane, the grocery store that the young master had been waiting for half a month finally opened.


    Watching the grocery store, the young master heaved a heavy sigh. He then slowed down so as to make himself look calm. Then, he walked toward that grocery with his followers.


    A middle-aged man in slippers wearing a very crude look was lying on a sling chair with closed eyes as his T-shirt was half open. Soaking in the sunlight and rocking his sling chair, he looked pretty happy.


    Undoubtedly, this crude middle-aged man was the owner of this grocery store.


    "All the commodities are sold at market price. No credit is given..." that crude tough man said as he lay on the sling chair, eyes closed. Facing the coming young master and the other three guests, he just squinted his eyes. After taking a glance at them, he closed his eyes again. He didn''t even get up at all.


    The young master remained silent. After entering the grocery, he started to look around casually.


    The grocery only covered about 70 square meters. It contained all kinds of items, including crystals, ordinary low-rank medicaments and equipments and maps for exploration, etc..


    After pretending to look around casually, the young master took three crystals which were worth about 15 gold coins. After that, he walked to a corner of the grocery and secretly looked at the items at the corner.


    There was a 1 m high crude iron cabinet over there. It had been rusty. A plate was hanging on the cabinet, which wrote¡ª¡ªThose who spent more than 10 gold coins could enjoy a lucky gold ore for free.


    In the eyes of insiders, the so-called lucky gold ore was just a trick that was used to cheat fools. Although those items in the cabinet were giving out golden light, they were just cheap pyrites. It was definitely a very poor method of promotion if it was.


    After spending 10 gold coins, one could only acquire pyrite that was worth 10 odd copper coins as a gift, even fools would not be cheated.


    Perhaps this explained why this grocery''s business was such slack.


    However, the young master''s eyes shone when he saw those cheap pyrites. Last year, his honest and simple cousin bought something from this grocery and acquired pyrite as a gift. Unexpectedly, one month ago, when the pyrite that was taken as the paperweight in the study fell to the ground and broke up, a nano bead rolled out of it.


    It was a nano bead, space-teleportation equipment, also a silver secret item. As a result, his cousin was completely dumbfounded by this sudden big meat pie that fell off the sky.


    This event was supposed to be a secret. After acquiring that nano bead, his cousin always kept it as a secret. Not until the other day did his cousin expose the secret to him while being drunk.


    After hearing this piece of news, the young master kept the secret for his cousin; meanwhile, he admired his cousin pretty much. Therefore, he couldn''t help coming to this grocery and taking a look inside.


    This grocery looked ordinary. Some commodities were even highly-priced. The boss was a crude middle-aged man, who didn''t look special whatsoever. It seemed that this boss didn''t know the existence of that nano bead among those pyrites. Otherwise, he might not gift those pyrites to people any longer.


    "Boss, my young master wants to buy the three crystals, here are 15 gold coins..." The boy in green instantly walked to the front of the boss after receiving the acquiescence of his young master; meanwhile, he gave 15 gold coins to that boss.


    That boss became slightly spirited only when he received money. After picking him up from the sling chair, he instantly took the 15 gold coins and put them into his pocket with a smile. After that, he pointed at the big iron cabinet at the corner and said, "Your young master could choose one piece of lucky gold from them. Haha, you cannot take it..."


    "These pyrites feel good. I wonder whether do you sell them or not. I want to buy them and show the disciples of my clan the difference between gold and pyrite in case that they''re cheated outside!" the young master said calmly as he waved his fan.


    "Haha, if young master wants them, of course, you can take them away!"


    "What''s the price then?''


    After taking a serious look at the young master, the boss suddenly said with a cunning smile, "Young master, if you want them, you can take them away with the same weight of gold coins!"


    "What?" the two bodyguards behind the young master instantly became furious before their young master replied, "They''re just pyrites. How can you sell them like gold? Why not rob?"


    At the sight of those pyrites in the big iron cabinet, they realized that it weighed 700-800 kg. How much would it cost! Even though the young master was born in a major clan, he could never spend gold coins so lavishly.


    "Robbery is never as safe and fast as this!" the boss refuted straightforwardly as he showed the white of his eyes to the bodyguard, "No matter what, it''s my price. It depends on you!" After leaving these words, the boss yawned as he lay back on his sling chair and rocked it, bathing the sunshine again.


    The young master gazed at that crude and cunning boss for a while as he wondered whether he had let the cat out of the bag. He doubted that there was something wrong with his excuse. As a result, the boss noticed the secret and started to rip off him. It couldn''t be otherwise. ''These businessmen are good at corresponding to guests'' looks and words. Given my identity, I must have already let the cat out of the bag when I expressed that I wanted to buy these pyrites.''


    After thinking about it for a short while, the young master gritted his teeth and took out some gold notes. It took him 16,000 gold coins to buy all the pyrites in the big iron cabinets. After that, he asked his two bodyguards to pack all the pyrites and take them away.


    Of course, as for whether he could find something special from those pyrites, nobody knew. After that, that young master never came to this grocery any longer. However, soon after that young master left there with his followers, the big iron cabinet was full of pyrites again.


    The boss was still lying on the sling chair outside the door with closed eyes. Bathing in the sunshine, he couldn''t help revealing a faint smile...


    When the sun was going to set and the last beam of light left the boss, he stretched himself and stood up as he prepared to close the door.


    At this moment, an ordinary black car parked outside the door. A fat man then got off the car. After looking around, he smirked and rubbed his hands before helping the boss close the door.


    Only after a short while, another car parked outside the door of the grocery. A tall black tough man and four middle-aged men then got off the car and trotted in the grocery.


    Closely after, they entered the grocery store, a man in black walked out of the other end of the lane and drove the car.


    Only after a short while, loud cheers had drifted from the grocery store. Those middle-aged men appeared to discuss who was most handsome in the photo while drinking...


    "Bagdad, you''re just displaying your chest muscles. You''re strong, but you''re not as handsome as me..."


    "Lester, look at your shiny hair, you look like those pimps in brothels..."


    "Forgot about it, Sharwin, look at your forever naive smile; don''t participate in such an adult topic..."


    "As for two of them, due to reasons that everyone knows, they don''t air their views at this moment..."


    "And that guy who''s showing his "V" fingers, do you know that? When I saw your pose, I always felt ashamed of you. I even wanted the photo studio to clean that pose. With your awkward pose, the level of our Brotherhood instantly declines greatly. Have you seen any big figure use his "V" fingers when taking a photo?"


    "And that brat with black hair, I remember that he has not circumcised at that time..."


    It was a time-honored photo in a photo frame. After being drunk, those middle-aged men took off the photo frame from the wall and put it on the table which was full of dishes and drinks. Then, they started to watch it, pass it and comment on it.


    The photo was always yellowish. Seven horny youngsters were standing in a line on the photo. Bagdad was crossing his arms on the leftmost side, chesting out. Lester''s hair was shiny and looked mature. Sarwin was smiling shamefully. Doug was grinning as he put one arm around fatty Barly''s neck. Barly looked a bit sorrowful, yet he still pretended to smile. Hista made a pose of "V" fingers. Standing on the rightmost side, Zhang Tie looked a bit depressed and frozen.


    Right behind them was a line of huge words on the gate of Blackhot City No. 7 Middle School¡ª¡ªWelcome to the Black Iron Age!


    ...


    End!